Book Review.

I've never written a book review before.Maybe this isn't so much a review as it is just some thoughts on one of the books I've read recently and that appears in my reading list at the bottom of this blog.Expect to see that from time to time.

The book"Death Of The Liberal Class"by Chris Hedges is very self explanatory in terms of its title.Hedges notes that Classical Liberalism arose as a product of the Enlightenment and is characterized by the ideas of Egalitarianism,individualism,human rights and the idea that the human condition can be continually improved by the application of reason.He notes that Liberal society,through its institutions of organized labour,liberal churches,universities and the press has been largely successful in holding off the excesses of unrestrained Capitalism until the first world war.However,Liberalism since that time has been under constant and ever increasing attack as "permanent war"identifies threats from without about which we need to be on guard:Communism,terrorism,the list continues to expand.The result is more and more surrender of freedom to the state,which he characterizes as being commodity driven and uncaring towards persons and the environment.Ultimately,Hedges sees this as being unsustainable.Liberals have played a well orchestrated part in their own downfall by allowing themselves to become corrupted by the economic forces they were intended to do battle against  to the betterment of humankind.In Hedges view,the future is bleak because the Liberal cause is dead and cannot be revived.

While a world as described by Hedges is indeed a bleak place,I don't see an absence of hope because,while Hedges is informative and raises a number of issues which we all need to give a lot of thought to,he really does not make the case for the Liberal cause being dead.That's not to say that his observations are substantially false.His argument is a kind of political/social "salt and light"argument:if the Liberal Class is indistinguishable from the other forces around it,especially capitalism,globalization and tyranny,then it ceases to be a viable force and optimism for the continued improvement of mankind and we decend into a new dark age.As much as it's a well articulated opinion,all of that is a big if.

Hedges proves his point regarding the corruption of Liberal principles to a greater or lesser degree with respect to each of the Liberal institutions.But he has not recognized that each of these entities is affected by politics unique to it's own situation.So,while the press may be greatly corrupted by virtue of it's growth into big business,universities would appear to be less so( most graduates I know tend to be more liberal in their outlook with greater degrees of education).Hedges also seems to miss a central point with regard to Liberal religious institutions.That is that there are a number of movements within religion that are unique to religion that tend sway believers toward the right politically.Briefly those issues tend to be concerned with eschatology and manifest as support for Israel in the form of Christian Zionism or Dominion theology(the belief that we should pursue political policies which will hasten the establishment gods coming Kingdom).So,if the religious communities are occupied with coming kingdoms,can we really expect them to take up the Liberal crusades as in the past?

One other thing seems to receive only passing note in Hedges book.That being that morals in general have seen a notable decline that more or less corresponds with Hedges perceived decline of Liberal society.At the beginning of the Enlightenment people were morally engaged-all people,not just liberals.But we have seen the rise of moral systems of thought such as Utilitarianism,Humanism,Subjective morality,morality of pure convenience or even nihilism.Briefly,it would seem that people are not nearly so morally involved as they once were in being their brothers keepers and in safeguarding democracy for the benefit of all.Moral discourse has declined in quality because each of these moral systems are poor replacements for belief in God and the moral accountability that belief implied.

Capitalism,power and tyranny tend to be what morality comes to be defined as when there is poor moral discourse.Survival and enhancement of the already advantaged.So at the very time we need to defend liberal ideals the most we tend to have the least ammunition with which to do this.Liberals have tended to be seen as an "anything goes"movement by its detractors and so becomes  at risk of being seen as the enemy.But,far from being the authors of declining moral values,Liberal values still exist in classical form and are articulated by some of history's best political and philosophical minds.Those values are about freeing individuals to respond morally to the world without fear of reprisal from powers that be.And those values are far from dead,though they may need to be re articulated.Liberals need to  get back to first principles and to let the world know that they are doing just that.And despite the corruption of some,they are fully capable of doing so

So,while I encourage you to read "Death Of The Liberal Class" and to consider its premises at length and in detail,I must respectfully disagree with it's conclusions.

Memoir Writers Homework.Installment 3.

Here is the third of the memoir writers homework series,based on the topic "mountains"from the session opn Monday,May 7.

I live on a continent that has mountains on both sides and I have been fortunate to see both of these wonderful mountain ranges,both very different from one another.In part it was the desire to see the Rockies that led me to the west,and they have never disappointed me.They inspire awe every time I see or pass through them.The first time I ventured into the Rocky Mountains would have been in a frightfully hot August of 1979,near Jasper Alberta.The road,the main highway that is was impassable for the many heards of mountain goats.I thought I would have to walk far into the backcountry to see them,but they venture right out on the road and show no fear of humans or cars.Later that evening I made camp on the west side of the Rockies near Blue River ,British Columbia.The rain came quickly at sunset and I was forced to abandon the idea of sleeping in my tent and lay out across the front seat of my car.There I got to see the most violent thunder storm I'd ever seen light up those majestic peaks as I drifted off to sleep.In the morning the world was fresh and clean and very cold as mountain mornings can be even in summer.Sunshine returned and burned off the fog as I drove onward into the mountains of the interior of British Columbia.Those mountains turned from cool and wet to very dry in the Okanogan Valley to wet and thick with trees at the Pacific coast.A couple of years later I visited Mount Ranier in Washington state.It was and remains the single largest thing I've ever seen and to be truthfull,it filled me with awe and made me realize how very small I was.

The other side of North America has smaller mountains.People out west would call them hills,not mountains.But really,I think of them as my favorite mountains,a place I would like to live in the way of people from long ago.Back in the hills where there are no Homedepots or Walmarts.Just the sounds and sights of the Applachians.They may not be as big as western mountains,but they are more embracing,more like home.

Part of the problem with all the traveling I've been doing these last few years is that I haven't been able to keep many books of my own.that of course doesn't mean that I've been reading any less,it just means that I've been buying less at the bookstore.I made extensive use of a world class library system when I lived in Toronto and it was a truly amazing resource.But it's just not the same as owning my own books,because,you see,I like to mark up my own books a lot by putting extensive notes in the margins,side columns and even between the lines.And to so that,you must own the book.Until last weekend I hadn't written in a book in over three years so its nice to be getting back a sense of normalcy that way.When I was small,adults used to say never to write in a book,but I've learned to do so apologetically.You see,I bought the book and it's mine.Part of what I intended in buying it was being able to interact with it's author and I don't know how to do that without keeping my own notes.Moreover,someday those books will be passed along to someone else and having those notes will help that person understand how my mind was interacting with the books author.That is providing,of course that books survive as a distinct form of media.Perish the very thought that they might not.

Speaking of books,if you are reading this blog on a regular basis,you will notice that I keep a list of what I am reading.From time to time I expect to be making comments on some of those books as well.You will likely find that my reading interests are quite varied.But I hope you will take some time to check out some those books that I've listed.If I especially like one,or find that a certain book makes an important point,you can look forward to seeing a review of sorts of it,though I'm really not a book reviewer.In fact,I've got just such an undertaking planned for a bit later this week.So keep checking my updated list.

Crotchety,A%*@ Retentive Old Man

I used to have a certain view of older people when I was twenty something.By older,I meant anyone over forty.They were all stodgy,conservative old men and women with perpetual frowns,set in their ways who would wear any colour suit to church-so long as it was black.

But somewhere along the line,after I passed fifty,I seem to have turned into a crotchety,retentive old man.When I ssay "retentive",I'll leave it to my readers to figure out the word that goes with it to make a complete phrase.

The twenty somethings I've had to deal with over the past couple of days are beginning to make me fear I'm turning into Walter Matheau or Jack Lemon.I never thought it would happen,but I don't seem to understand young kids.

We've  spent the last couple of days out building a golf course in South Calgary and the days have been very hot and dusty.Rather unpleasant work for everyone.But after only four hours,two of our staff simply left without bothering to finish out the day.In truth,I think we were better off without them.As an older person I don't know why someone would bother coming to the work site if they didn't intend to put in a whole day.Don't like the work,then don't come back tomorrow-believe me not many of us are going to miss you.The one kid looked to be just short of twenty and was complaining all morning-"the works too hard,its too hot,when do we get a break,I'm not getting paid enough"etc.Guess what kid.We are all hot and breathing dust and I have sore knees and didn't get enough sleep and I have gout too-you'll get that when you get older,if selling cell phones in the mall doesn't break your back first.The second of the two?He was hot and dusty too.But it was really the supervisor trying to explain to him that,no matter how hot you are,you really can't take off your shirt in the middle off a golf course surrounded by high end family homes.And,guess what-you can't urinate anyplace you want either.Kids and their values,these days.Well,I'm not going to miss him much either,brilliant conversationist that he was.Can't seem to say a seven word sentence without using at least three  F bombs.Maybe next time I see him I will expand his linguistic horizons by bringing up the subject of fire trucks.That way he can actually learn to rhyme without having to waste his intellect on learning another letter of the alphabet.One weants to make certain they've mastered F before going on to G.But the thing that got me most was watching this...whatever, take out his lunch,filled up with a nice green salad and a fine cheese and ham sandwich on fresh brown bread and saying"My,F-bomb,b word put the wrong kind of F-bomb mustard on my F-bomb sandwich.Maybe it's just me,but when someone cared enough for me to make me a lunch like that,it was a great thing and I appreciated it.But at least as I was standing there working for the rest of the day I didn't have to be burdened by that sort of attitude from a co-worker.After all,the attitudes packed it in early.Praise the Lord for small blessings.But I seem to be becoming what I hoped I never would.The thing is though,it seems to fit me better than I thought it would years ago.Just as long as I can keep wearing that bright orange tie to church...or no tie at all if that suits me on any given Sunday.

Good night from hot,dusty,attitude infested Calgary Alberta,Canada.

Memoir Group Homework-Our First Television

Here is the second installment of Memoir Writers Homework,based on the memoir group that I used to attend while living in Toronto.This topic was one I contributed some time ago and the writers wrote on it at their May 7 meeting.I am trying to undertake at least some of their writing topics though I now live in Calgary and no longer meet with the group.So here is installment two,entitled "Our First Television".

To my way of thinking we must have gotten our first television sometime in 1964.It was sometime after we moved from Goose Bay to Moncton.That is to say,there was a period of time we lived in Moncton in which we had no television,so the year 1964 strikes me as about right.But it strikes me as being right for another reason as well.Some of the first images I can recall seeing were associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the American South.Today some of that footage troubles me deeply,but at the time it was just something that was happening and that we could watch.People being sprayed with water cannons,politicians proselytizing the virtues of segregation now and forever,policemen,who we were taught to respect using using words we were not permitted to use-"nigger!"I Didn't fully understand  the difference between the term "nigger"and "negro" at the time.I knew one word was forbidden and the other was alright,that they had similar though different meanings,but I didn't know for certain which word was witch.So our first television brought controversy to our household almost immediately

Television also brought fun,harmless entertainment.There was "The Beverly Hillbillies","Gilligans Island" and the "Flintstones",not to mention evening cartoons which always conflicted with supper time.And we used to love the show "Get Smart"that always aired on Friday night just before bed time.Of course now I understand the show,but at the time what I liked most about it was the show intro with the doors opening and closing in front of and behind Don Adams the shows star.I guess I was a bit young for the story line.

On Saturday evening we watched the "Don Messer Show"Everyone in Canada seems to have enjoyed this iconic show.Nearly everyone of my age says that their parents watched this country music show,and  nearly all of them  relate that it was a very good idea to be quiet and well behaved while this show was on.I can hardly think of anything on television either then or now that was more distinctly Canadian.

Our first television was a huge, very heavy box that could not be eaisly lifted or moved.Many people had Television antennas on their roof,but our television had rabbit ears which were adjusted to tune in reception.It didn't always work especially well.Neither did the vertical hold.Eventually the set had to be taken next door to Mr.Cormier,who worked at the railway shops,but who also repaired televisions in his basement.I tried to look through his basement window once,where he repaired the televisions but I didn't see our set.Just a room full of a bewildering array of glass tubes that I knew went inside televisions which caused them to work.Televisions of that day were crammed full of ghostly glowin tubes and it was nearly as interesting to peer into the back of them as it was to watch the front.Except,of course that it was very difficult to gain that vantage point because of the sets size and weight and the fact that it was always pressed hard up against the wall.

Mothers Day

First,just a note to readers.Since I no longer have access to the laptop I was using it is possible that blog entries may be appearing less frequently for a while.I apologize for this problem  and hope that it can be corrected in the near future.

Since tomorrow is Mothers Day ,I just thought I would take this blog entry to say a few words about my mother.It also fits with one of the ongoing themes of this blog,that being memoir.Consider it a tribute to my mother(Elva Mae Davis,1934-2006) as well as a bit of back story,in the sense of memoir.

My mother was born and raised in the back country of Western New Brunswick,not far from the border of Maine.Today its forgotten country with not nearly as many farms as there were years ago.But that is where my mother grew up,on the side of a hill that some people call a "mountain"The land is not especially good,with a lot of rocks and rather thin soil.There are ,and were a lot of trees about and it was mainly the trees that provided a livelihood in my mothers day.

Only shortly after my mothers birth,her and her family were burned out by a wildfire and had to start over again on very little.It's a fascinating story and maybe someday I'll write about it.When I'm convinced I have the facts straight enough in my mind.

But this was about my mother.Her life so far as I can tell must have been rather ordinary.She never really told me a lot about what it was like growing up,or perhaps I just don't remember a lot.My grandfather chopped trees and my grandmother ran the farm.I do recall that my mother told me that they would go to school by horse and sleigh in the winter.She once told me that her horse got stuck going to school.Usually there was a lot of snow in that part of the world in winter.She must have attended school in one of the nearby one room school houses,and she must have been reasonably clever,as she graduated from high school in 1950.Her diploma hung on her bedroom wall for as long as I can remember.

After school,my mother told me she went to work for the Royal Canadian Mounted  Police,as a secretary,in Truro,Nova Scotia.She told me that she could type 90 words per minute,and I don't doubt it,having seen her type.I'm not sure why she never went to university as she certainly had the mind for it.It was likely a matter of finance when she got out of school,and likely a matter of dedication to her family after I came along in 1961.Most of the time she worked,after we moved back to New Brunswick in the early 60's.For a short time she taught school in a tiny school house near where we lived.She told me that most of her students were from the Mormon family that lived on the farm next to us and that sometimes her kids would bring beer to school.I often wonder how she managed to teach at all.All I remember of that time is that she used to write out copies of exams at home using a fountain pen and carbon paper.

Later my mother worked at a bank just down the street from our house.A rather ordinary job that she held until after I moved out west.

On a cold winters night in 2006,my mother lost her life in a car accident just ten minutes from home.It was,in my mind a needless event.Needless in the sense of her not needing to be where she was when the accident occurred,but then,it's God that allows such things to be.Her and the driver of the car that hit her were both killed at the scene.

It was and still is hard sometimes because I never really got a chance to say good-bye.I'd talked to her a few days earlier and she said she was trying to figure out where I lived on her computer,and asked me how far it was from the Calgary airport.I never dreamed it would be the last time we spoke as she was still in good health.We exchanged some emails after that last phone call,and there were some emails on my computer from her a few days after the accident but I never could bring myself to open them.

In her final years my mother was a dedicated caregiver to both her husband of 46 years and to her grandchildren.That's what she was doing when she passed from this world.

I believe my mother is in Heaven.She believed in Church and God and family,though for the most part I really didn't understand the exact nature of her belief.I didn't share her denominational view after I came to belief in Christ.I often wondered what she saw in the church she attended.But she was good and kind,had a lot of wisdom about how to live well with others in this world,and believed that the world was a better place than what it really is.She never really went so far,in terms of distance from that small farm upbringing and tended to view the world in overly idealistic ways.Most people she believed were good,but our world was out running her ideals.Still,all her life she reflected a lot of Gods grace.She was Mother,Grandmother,wife and Matriarch.Gone,but not forgotten.

So tomorrow,be sure to spend quality time with your mother if you can.Because you never really know when you're saying good-bye.

I try to keep a positive attitude about being back in Alberta.Sometimes thats easy because there really is a lot to be grateful for here.Other times it is amazingly difficult.Like last night for instance.It was a beautiful spring evening and I was walking to my Monday night jam session in the east village.As I neared my destination I was approached by two people on bicycles.Now I know the Alberta mindset:"I'm entitled-to make as much money as I can,to no government interference in my life and to whatever I can put over on my fellow citizens.In short to do as I please so long as I am sneaky enough or forceful enough to get away with it."So then,the fact that I was struck and injured by one of these spandex clad buffoons is likely my own fault.After all I only gave them two thirds of the sidewalk that they are"entitled"to use,even though the law regarding such use is phrased somewhat differently.I guess the expectation on their part was that I should step out into a busy street to allow them to pass.Silly me for thinking otherwise.But you see,I tend to view such enviromentalists as doing something responsible with their lives,like relieving downtown traffic congestion or not fouling our air with more exhaust fumes.On the other hand,maybe it's more about parking for free when everyone else pays.After all there are so many places one can chain up a bike at no cost at all.Like to mailboxes,fire hydrants,trees and even other peoples bicycles that are already using the designated bike posts.Or,maybe its really all about the fact that bicycles are not licensed or insured in this city,thus allowing this person to enjoy his entitlement to it's fullest degree.That is to say,without fear of accountability.And that state of affairs continues to exist despite at least one fatal hit and run collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian in the time I've lived in Calgary.So to this moron in tights I have this to say.By the rules of your own logic you are also "entitled"to ride your bike the wrong way down the Deerfoot Trail at rush hour.So I was thinking that you might like to do that sometime soon so as to come to a greater appreciation that every other citizen is also "entitled".As for me,I'll survive.I have a large bruise on my wrist,thumb and forearm where I caught this guys handlebars but no real damage done.And,oh did I mention,after his incident with me Mr.Responsible Cyclist speeds off past a construction flagman holding up a stop sign.It's not like he didn't see the sign.He was standing on his pedals and cranking as hard as he could.Now why do that if he's covered by "entitlement"At least it seems as though he really does understand the difference between right and wrong-and chooses to avoid the inconveniance that doing the right thing implies.So much for the forward thinking responsible enviromentalist.Aside from saving some burrowing owl,this guy obviously doesn't have much consideration for the rest of God's creatures,especially human ones.