To Be Irish

    In eighteen something or other a blight hit the worlds potato crop. It hit everywhere. The problem with Ireland is the political and social pressures meant that for a painful amount of people potatoes were literally all they had. It was move or die for a lot of people and they did move. The world was introduced to a variety of dynamic world changing minds that brought social justice, unions to protect workers and a lot more besides. 

    I claim a few of those immigrants as my maternal ancestors though I don't know much more than that.  We weren't the sort of family that talked about family tree's or where we came from. I only know that generally a lot of Toronto Irish came from County Cork so that's a possibility.

    I have do have one story. It's that of a woman, a great great grandmother, who went into labor on an English ship. She insisted on being carried to land before giving birth. If she gave birth on the ship legally her child would be English and she wasn't having THAT. 

    Fast forward to this past weekend. St. Patrick's day might have been in the middle of the week but Sunday was when Toronto had the parade.  I'll be making a You Tube of some of what I saw. The link to my you tube is below this text. There was a really big crowd. Its clear the city in general was and probably still is parade deficient.

 

    One of the people there seemed to be warm weather deficient. Let me be clear. It was a nice day maybe 11 or 12 degrees C. That's, I think, upper 40s low 50s F. Someone needs to tell this guy its -dress for the job you want- not - dress for the weather you want-.

    I've actually made use of the Irish wave of immigrants in one of my novellas. 

    Its a ghost story set in a real school located in modern day inner city Toronto.  You can find it on my amazon page.

amazon.com/author/tabithabaumander

    On a side note I will point out most in the crowd still wore masks. I know that the lifting of the mask mandate not withstanding there are still situations when I will mask up. Our over crowded transit system to name but one. Be science smart. Think and if it makes sense mask up. 

Running on Empty

 The world is going to heck in a hand cart and I think most of us are running on empty. Very important point though; that's okay.

Its okay to be worn out from everything that's happened the last couple of years. 

Its okay to wonder if the world has ever been anything but falling apart.

Its even okay to wonder if it was dumb to make fun of those films that taught 50s kids to DUCK AND COVER. 

Now make a cup of tea or grab your caffeine of choice and listen for a minute. 

    I'm not going to stick labels on trauma that's a mine field I'm not qualified to walk through. Unless your reality involves holding out hands to help those running away or on the ground and in the fight its okay to walk away for a bit. See a movie, read, buy some honey because you know a piece of bread and honey late in the day lifts your mood. Or is that last one just me?

    If your reality involves counseling or personally dealing with trauma generations in the making; its okay to take a break from dealing with same and just drift for a bit letting your nervous system get grounded again before the next session of sorting things out. Crap like that does not get fixed all at once.

    Its okay to turn the news off.  This part is very important. Politics and other things that make your left eye twitch will be there tomorrow. 

    Here, think about reading something. There's a hero and a love interest and the action is far away from today's reality. 

There's even other adventures.

amazon.com/author/tabithabaumander 

Whatever you do take a break.

public art

    Its not something that I was that aware of growing up. It certainly wasn't an issue. I'll admit up front that's probably a -white privilege- point of view. That being said its nothing but the truth. When I was a kid that Victorian era statue in the park down town simply registered as a guy on a horse. It was someplace your school trip sat beside so the class could eat their packed lunches before going somewhere else. 

    Time skip and we have protests and riots pulling down statues in the American south. Even in Canada we have protests over statues of politicians that had (unpopular from a modern point of view) views over a great many things that I wont go into here because this isn't that kind of blog.

    Fact is if we take a step away and look at the statues dispassionately as art, most of it just isn't that great. It makes a statement and says THIS PERSON WAS HERE. The people who put the thing up never pictured that others in the future would be saying THIS PERSON WAS ALSO A TWAT. 

    A twat that's boring to look at. Can we have some nice art please. Mind you that's a bit of a mine field on its own. There's a bronze statue in front of Toronto city hall called the Archer. Its by someone named Henry Moor. He was very big in the sixties and seventies. Even back then the thing got a lot of flack from the ordinary man in the street because to be honest it looks less like a archer and more like a couple of pelvic bones trying to fit together at a very odd angle. That being said its interesting and no one is ever going to riot over the thing.

    So here's a suggestion. Teach people in school about the notable persons of the past. That way you can learn their good sides and their not so good sides. Both can be placed in a historical context and understood. Let public squares and spaces in front of government buildings be filled with images of what we want for the future. Or maybe just something interesting to fill the space. 

    

    Mind you I'm not sure this is the best example. Its in front of a condo building down town. To me it looks like a big silver noodle man. The sort that you see in front of car lots with a fan to make them dance around. It is metal and stands four stories tall. It fills the space and its not boring. I guess it will do.

TOKEN BOOK PLUG

If you thought having your teacher bug you to hand in your work on time was annoying, be glad you aren't being pushed to finish by aliens who wont even tell you why they want what they want. Two film students are trying to deal with reality but it feels like someone is playing a game. 

find it at    amazon.com/author/tabithabaumander