Happy New Year!

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Around we go again. Here’s hoping that 2018 moves us forwards as a species — more compassion, more critical thinking, more action, less talk, less religion. A gal can dream.

Gary and I send out a New Year’s greeting to family and friends every year with a light-hearted selfie. When putting together this year’s greeting, I got to wondering how many times have we have done that. Looks like, we’ve been at it for 17 years – 2002-2018. Oh my. So, for fun I put together a super short video to share those seventeen seasonal selfies. (Who says to avoid alliteration?)

In Quebec, one can use the word selfie — everyone knows what that is — but the “official” word is un égoportrait.

The tune underscoring the video is “L’Amour Persiste” from our latest album “Naked Ladies“.

Pussy Power

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Gary and I gathered with 2,000+ others today at L’Esplanade de la Place des Arts, Montréal to support the worldwide Women’s March. It was a “moderate” winter’s day here in Quebec at 1° celsius. The crowd’s was energized.

The battle for women’s rights continues. It is unbelievable and maddening that even now in the 21st century we are still fighting for basic human rights. Today’s amazing display by millions of people everywhere was encouraging. It tells me we are all so not interested in going backwards.

Onward, Pussy Cats!

Early estimates:
Washington D.C. over 500,000
Los Angeles over 500,000
Denver over 100,000
New York over 200,000
Chicago over 200,000
Boston over 100,000
Paris over 5,000
Sydney over 5,000

My Man in the Snow

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We had a nice, big snowfall yesterday — close to 8 inches.

Gary usually walks to meet me after I finish exercise class. It’s a 4k (2.50 mile) round-trip walk. For this “Montreal Minute” I followed him through our “arrondissement” as we headed home through the snow.

It is a pleasure to walk when it’s snowing as long as you have the right clothes and shoes!

The music is a synth piece I wrote for a Mixed Company show. The show was “Mixed Reviews”. The tune title is “Star Material”.

Other MTL Minutes:
MTL Minute: le Métro
Les Tams Tams at Parc Mont-Royal
First Snowfall of the Season
A Steel Forge in Montreal

A Long Struggle Ahead

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HOPE FOR THE BEST. PREPARE FOR THE WORST.

Get in fighting shape! Seriously. Get fit. Stay informed. Put your affairs in order. Make sure your passport is up to date.

This is going to be a long, long struggle to save the planet and reclaim fairness, equality, kindness and truth. The forces unleashed by the 2016 presidential election/political coup in the US are spectacularly dangerous.

And I am not exaggerating for effect. Oh, how I wish I were.

Sure, all is in flux all of the time. Human existence is one big changing adventure. Yet some earthquakes are more devastating than others.

Copious Russian meddling, a con man as the “leader of the free world”, zealous populist zombies roaming freely no longer chained by common decency, disinformation as the new reality and no plans for protecting the environment or the nation’s infrastructure are just a handful of the woes we face now.

Democracies fail when people lose faith in them and elites abandon their norms for pure political advantage.

— “Democracy in Decline” by Larry Diamond in the Atlantic

I do not want to see the end of democracy. I admire the ideals of the American experiment born of the Enlightenment. I do not want to slip backwards to a world governed by tyrants, kings and religious potentates. I won’t despair. I will fight.

the Battle of Grunwald of 1410 by Polish painter Jan Matejko (1838-1893)

COMPARE & CONTRAST

Some reading from different perspectives:
The Myth of America’s Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies by Josef Joffe

The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World by Immanuel Wallerstein

5 Places World War III Could Start by Robert Farley in the National Interest

Il Neige! It’s Snowing!

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Snow fell on Monday, November 21, 2016 here in Montreal — the first snowfall of the season. For this Montreal minute, I take you along on my walk, in that snow, through the streets of our arrondissement (district) “Rosemont-La Petite Patrie” to my exercise class at the local “Energie-Cardio”.

I love walking in the snowy weather. The trick is to dress right. As the old Scandinavian saying goes: There’s no bad weather, only bad clothes.

A quick search on the web and I found this fun bit of language info.

In Swedish/Norwegian the word for “weather” rhymes with the word for “clothes”.

Swedish: Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder
Norwegian: Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær

On dit en français, «Il n’y a pas de mauvais temps, juste des mauvais vêtements. »

The Art of Illusion

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If: Trompe l’œil = painting/drawing intended to create the illusion of a 3-dimensional object.
Then: Trump l’œil = the art of making a racist, sexist, self-serving, demagogue, asshole appear normal.*

I suggest paying attention to how quickly folks are going to try and normalize the grotesque con artist now heading toward the White House.

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* So many pejoratives to choose from …

The Ugly American President

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Throughout the months of the 2016 presidential campaign, much of the public and many in the media framed this odious man as a normal politician. His outrageous utterances and behavior were simply “rough politics”. His supporters were simply exercising their rights to free expression.

He is not normal. His statements and actions were and are crass and malevolent. His supporters are terrifyingly likewise.

This pussy grabbing creep epitomizes the “loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric behavior” of an ugly American.

Congratulations. America will now have its very own ugly American president.

The question now is can he and his supporters get any uglier?

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