Joseph Allard 1873-1947 From The Virtual Gramophone The National Library of Canada has published hundreds of 78s of early Canadian music in their Virtual gramophone project. Joseph Allard was a superstar in his day, recording dozens of traditional tunes on fiddle with a sparse and tasteful guitar accompaniment. Sample Reel du capitaine (mp3) and then head over to the audio page to hear more. Do what I did: spend the day there.
Circle of Courage, from the Reclaiming Youth Network Port Hardy, BC Port Hardy is near the northern most tip of Vancouver Island. The fastest way to get here is by a Pacific Coastal Airlines Short 360 which is the only plane I know of with a square fuselage. We flew up through the first rains of the late summer, a storm system that has tracked low into Southern BC as the jet stream has begun to sink southwards. in the mist and fog, two ravens were playing next to the runway as we touched down. I�m here to open space …
Harrison Hot Springs, BC. Spent the day in a meeting at Seabird Island First Nation, a large community which is part of the Sto:lo Nation located in the upper Fraser Valley about 150 kms east of Vancouver. I was working with a group who was in some internal conflict, and I was very privileged to be working with Herb and Helen Joe, two respected Sto:lo Elders and traditional teachers. Herb told a very interesting story today. It was part of the Sto:lo creation story and it had to do with the destiny of human beings. In the story, the Creator …
The other day Michael Herman and were talking about compassion and mutuality. The idea is that mutuality is making someone appear as real to you as you appear to yourself. Naturally this means understanding that the person sitting across the room from you at this moment is full of an inner life that is as rich as yours. Confidence, self-esteem, confusion, love, pain, grief, celebration – all of these things are known to them too. It sounds so trite on one hand, but it is incredibly powerful the more I dig into this thought. So often we see others as …
A picture of earth from the edge of the solar system, by Voyager 1 Carl Sagan: Relfections on a Mote of Dust Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, …