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the politics of the alphabet…

OK, maybe on Sesame Street the alphabet is a big deal.  Most of the time it is something we learn as children and never really pay attention to once we have it memorized.

In prior Olympics I had noted the alphabet a bit but most of the opening ceremonies had not held my attention sufficiently to pay too much attention – and I didn’t have a blog 🙂

Even with the blog I wouldn’t have paid a lot of attention if the show had not been so engaging it was hard to just watch casually so by the time the athletes appeared, I was watching.  It is THEIR show after all!

While not as entertaining as the volunteers mostly (!) directed by Danny Boyle, it was really supposed to be about them and it was fascinating to see the national parade.  CTV also did a great job of providing random facts for every country represented so one could learn a bit if one wished.

First, one got an entertaining dose of British history… and then lots of random facts about geography and history.   Education writ as entertainment – or vice-versa.  A great achievement in either direction.

I’m watching NBC as I type this.  I have been fooling around watching round two but some of the sequences were fascinating and this one was the last to broadcast so I got to see a few things three times.  I’ve already seen CTV’s take – so we will see what the Americans think of it all.

CTV did a great job of giving some context to all 204 countries.  It is actually a great test of your knowledge of geography – and history.  There were even a couple of countries I had never heard of!  Islands somewhere in the South Pacific.  Still, it makes one humble.

What I found more fascinating was the wild dots that get connected when you put countries in alphabetical order.  Canada gets sandwiched between Cambodia, Cameroon and China.  Quite the disparate group!

Our uniforms looked very functional but pretty dull compared to Cameroon 🙂  And we share the colour red with China.  Those small details that normally get missed 😉

Some of the details just confirmed what the world already knows.  I have no idea how well Italy does at the summer Olympics.  They definitely didn’t score many medals on snow or ice.  But at both they win a gold medal for style!  They looked fantastic!  Not a surprise to find out their uniforms were designed by Giorgio Armani.  And maybe even made in Italy…  (really, USA, you would have your uniforms made in CHINA and then gripe about American jobs being lost…)

And then there are the athletes with stories that make them bigger than their national uniform.  I am sure there will more stories told as the medals are handed out but so far Usain Bolt looks hard to beat for that unique combination of athleticism and philanthropy.

And the politics of the world are there.  If you are paying attention.  Or watching an intelligent broadcast (so far NBC looks like they prepped by chatting with other random Americans on the plane over.  Apparently the athletes are marching faster than normal (kudos, Danny 🙂 so reading the crib notes when you know nothing about the world is proving tricky…)

But the politics here are fascinating.  The Olympics are trying to be a showcase for world cooperation – and leave your prejudices at home.  To the credit of IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge, Brunei sent its first female athlete – and she is carrying the flag!  Even Saudi Arabia has sent women.

Sadly some Muslim women need to cover up so much religion may interfere with sport.  Come on, Islam, get with the 21st century.  Religion has never been very female friendly.  And hatred does not make the world a better place…

But that is the nice thing with the Olympics.  While it’s pretty tough in certain corners, politics is officially left off the playing field.  So Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria all showed up – without AK47s.  You do really have to feel for the athletes from some countries where just training amid sniper fire or being allowed to get on a plane to London is an Olympian feat in itself.

And then there are the interesting facts if you are really paying attention… the number of new countries that didn’t used to exist… the strong showing of new countries that used to be part of the Soviet block and its emphasis on developing athletes to prove its might against the evil capitalist empire… the Jordanian women gorgeous and scarfless yet obviously Arab…  Chinese Taipei, not Taiwan, as the rest of us know it…  Norway, likely the most gorgeous team with politicians to match…  Spain, the most entertaining – giving Italy a run for its money in style 🙂

But more impressive Qatar…  a tiny team.  Medal hopes low.  But a woman is carrying the flag.  Another woman without a headscarf is on the team.   Apparently the IOC pressured Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – who had never sent female athletes – to change their ways… and it worked!

The most interesting alphabetical juxtaposition has to be the USA followed by Vietnam… of course it should have been the USSR in the old days… you gotta love the alphabet!

For NBC, apparently this keeping track of the alphabet is sufficient commentary… Dudes, someone should tell you about Wikipedia and the concept of preparation!  But if your nation only has a fourth grade education, I guess they won’t notice… and will love how you take every country and only comment on how it might impact the AMERICAN team – or if that is not applicable, where you could find it on a world map…

Seriously, people???   Hong Kong and capitalism?  Iceland and some swimmer’s shakedown with Michael Phelps… oh, and India and Indonesia have a huge population.  That’s news?  Not to anyone who  knows ANYTHING about the world… I think you are supposed to telling us stuff we don’t already know…

Anyway, NBC does tons of commercials so I swapped back to CTV and caught the brilliant Arctic Monkeys for a second time.  I’ve never seen them live – even better than on CD.  The symbolic doves and the Arctic Monkeys covering the Beatles (so much better than Sir Paul!)  WOW!

Salt Lake never had ANYTHING like this, Mitt 🙂   I guess that’s partly why the American commentators sound so gauche.  I know Americans think they are cooler.  And they are good at marketing – you can’t take that away.  But the Brits just have that je ne sais quoi.

London is the only city to host the Olympics three times.  It has done it in times of trouble.  The 1948 games far more poignant than 2012.  But one has to focus on the positives I think.  It is easy to diss the Olympics.  And the commercialisation of sport in general.

But you don’t have to pay attention to the advertising (this post has taken far longer cause I switch channels every time advertising comes on!)  And the spirit of the Olympics is the kind of world we should all strive for.

I really like how far Danny Boyle pushed people’s imaginations.  Now we just need to harness that imagination and use it for the greatest good.  That is far more challenging.  But Great Britain is an inspiring place.  Let us hope that what everyone – athletes and spectators – takes away is the inspiration.  And brings home something far more important than medals – a spirit of tolerance, striving for excellence and competition within the spirit of sportsmanship – all the ideals of the games before you could be arrested for wearing a Pepsi (as opposed to Coca Cola) T-shirt…

Let’s bring those ideals back.  And celebrate the real “cool Britainnia”…  the nation that promoted concepts like honour, fair play and literacy as though they were cards we could all play… and win J

Category:

social commentary

putting the Great in Britain!!!

Mitt Romney, shame on you for trying to claim a special relationship with the Brits.  You are not worthy, dude.  As Danny Boyle has shown us all 🙂

Maybe their most glorious days are behind them and Hollywood captures the collective imagination of the twitterish 21st century world but the accomplishments of the British.  It’s really tough to rival – and by comparison they look like the wise grownups while the Americans look like spoiled children.

I recently read a very depressing book called Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.  There were some interesting points but the author offered no hope or solutions so for me it didn’t live up to its potential.  I am all about hope – and solutions.

I recognize there are no easy solutions.  But that doesn’t mean we should all throw our hands in the air and give up.  And while the world is not developing into a better place in a straight line, there are always positive developments happening every day – and that is what we need to nurture and celebrate.

That is why I was so wowed by Danny Boyle.  Who else could turn the National Health Service into a spectacle worthy of entertaining – but also enlightening.  And celebrating one of the great tenets of British society.

He also showed suffragettes, the industrial revolution (the good and the bad) and the invention of the world wide web.  All incredible advances in the modern world in which Great Britain played a key role.

He also highlighted the cultural achievements of a nation unsurpassed by any other on the world stage.  What other nation can start with Kenneth Branagh quoting from Shakespeare, put together Voldemort, JK Rowling, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh and multiple Mary Poppins in a way that makes sense, flow into a gigantic electronic house party that showcases how Britpop became a word known all over the globe and then showcasing the energy and talent of the Arctic Monkeys.  How many countries have an indie band that good?

From the pastoral bucolic England of William Blake to the high energy multicultural Great Britain ushered in by Tim Berners-Lee’s world wide web, it’s been a place that influenced the world and its history.  There were many history lessons to be learned from Danny Boyle’s spectacle.  A great example of how spectacle can be used to teach, not just to titillate.  I think the most memorable image is the forging of the Olympic rings and their subsequent air flight.

So many things flew!  Or were lit up.  Or sparkled.  Sound, image and motion blended seamlessly from frame to frame, moving so fast, with so much to see, that I know I need to watch it twice to catch everything.

Only two years ago my home city hosted the Olympics.  And we did a great job.  But it was homespun.  We aren’t very famous.  Or rich.  The Queen didn’t come.  We put on a great show for someone in the middle of nowhere.  That’s the thing you gotta learn, Mitt.  You are in one of the most impressive cities in the history of the world, in a country that definitely has its faults (as they all do) but that has also contributed to the world so many of the advances that have made it a better place.

As a Canadian, I share a lot of the British sensibility.  And a lot more than crass Americans like you, Mitt.  We never fled from the mothership.  Even fought for her many times.  Of course King George III was advised by William Pitt to consider trading us for Guadeloupe.  Of course, at the time they had sugar plantations and we just had beavers so you couldn’t totally blame them.

(Discovered some fascinating facts about the American Revolution, the Tea Party (version 1.0) and King George III trying to make sure I had the names of the players right.  Kind of guessing Mitt (and the vast majority of Americans) unaware of these facts (cause Americans appear to hate FACTS… so dull and disconcerting) but definitely fuel for another post…

But tonight we are celebrating the Brits.  Sure, they have some flaws.  We all do, nationally and individually.  But, on the whole, the Brits show many more signs than other nations of being polite to others and worrying about the collective over the individual, valuing literacy and a complex world view and – my personal favourite – having a self-depreciating wit that can showcase humility and arrogance all in the right balance.

You will have to watch the show!  I was privileged to watch it live.  And was shocked by the lack of commercials.  It was hard to even time a bathroom visit 🙂  So much happened I will have to watch it again in prime time.  It was so spectacular it has even inspired a second post 🙂

On a personal note, I’d really like to thank my parents for being such strong proponents of the concept of literacy.  There was lots of flash to the London show and – like any great spectacle – it can be watched on more than one level.  But it was my childhood experience that informed my favourite sequences.

I liked the ones with intellectual content.  With a moral message.  I think my favourite was the tribute to the National Health Service.  Where I also learned about GOSH.

According to Wikipedia, Great Ormond Street is closely associated with University College London (UCL) and in partnership with the UCL Institute of Child Health, which it is located adjacent to, is the largest centre for research and postgraduate teaching in children’s health in Europe.  It is part of both the Great Ormond Street Hospital/UCL Institute of Child Health Biomedical Research Centre and the UCL Partners academic health science centre.  It was apparently the first sick children’s hospital in the world.

Great Ormond Street is known internationally for receiving the rights from J. M. Barrie to his play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up in 1929, which have provided significant funding for the institution.

Watching children reading stories reminded me of MY childhood 🙂  And I know ALL of these stories and characters.  My parents read to us until we could read to them – and finally to ourselves.  Books were revered.  It’s how a great civilization is built.  From the King James Bible to Harry Potter, English books have touched most of the world.  As will the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremonies.

I think they mostly got it all right.  Beckham looked cool and was gracious in his role in the ceremonies, showcasing the best kind of Englishman.  The Queen actually got into a helicopter with Daniel Craig, a few minutes that showed the entire history of the monarchy in a few frames of film, highlighting how she great she is at playing Queen and keeping the monarchy popular when it should be an anachronism.

The only moment that made me shake my head… really, WHO would want to follow those fireworks???  And an aging Beatle with a creaky voice singing “Hey Jude”.  Danny boy, you ended on a low note.  But I guess someone had to pay for all that flash.  And Britain might have the smarts and the talent… but not so much cash.  So I’m guessing Paul flashed some cash and paid for his advertising spot like the other sponsors.

But, hey, London, you have definitely grown up in the last 12 years.  I was there in 1999 for the big Millennium.  It really sucked.  The highlights: Peter Gabriel’s high wire show and Black Adder making fun of English history in the Millennium Dome.  You learned from your mistakes.  A great show by Danny Boyle combining spectacle and intellect.  A very funny Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.  And a real River of Fire on the Thames this time!  You even have the Millennium Wheel working – unlike at the actual Millennium 😉

Now, if you had really wanted to end with a bang, you would have had Paul McCartney sing John Lennon’s “Imagine”.  A song that fits the message the Olympics like to preach at least.  Paul honouring John and saying he is above the rivalry.  And first you would have had a minute of silence for the Israeli athletes killed in Munich in 1972.  That would have sent a message that the Olympics really want to be about more than cash and advertising.

Unlike the American presidency…  Mitt, they kicked ass!  They may make you “eat humble pie”.  That’s “eat crow” to you.  Don’t worry, I don’t think you have to eat actual crows – or offal… but you are in a foreign country so you never know… and there are a lot of pigeons in Trafalgar Square…

 

Category:

artsy stuff, shining examples, social commentary

Beckham not so bendy these days…

Last night I finally got to see David Beckham play football.  Last year the rumour was he picked a fight so he would get suspended and be able to rest up for the MLS Final so the LA Galaxy came but without Beckham.

For me it likely worked out for the best.  I am starting to get an understanding of the game and can appreciate a lot more what players are bringing to the table than last year when sometimes it just felt like I was watching a bunch of incredibly fit guys in shorts and tight T-shirts run around getting sweaty (which does have its pleasures even if you don’t understand what all the running is about 🙂

At first I couldn’t figure out why the lines for the ladies’ washrooms were so much longer than usual.  It was a sold out stadium thanks to Becks.  But then my friend Rodz pointed out that it was likely not that the female soccer fan population had increased substantially in the last week but that a lot of women had come to the game to watch David Beckham run around and get sweaty!  At the end, he stripped off his shirt and gave it to someone.  Why would you want some dude’s sweaty clothes?  Yuck!  And he was sporting some strange mustache that made him look creepy, like he might take off more than his shirt if he got you in a dark alley…

But he DID get a goal!  And he’s an old guy so you have to give him a few accolades.   But it was Barry Robson who impressed.  We are being invaded by the Scots – and it is a fortuitous thing.  He’s a new addition to the Whitecaps from Scotland.  I am getting better at reading the press releases and understanding more about what they mean but I am still no soccer geek who can yell commentary at the field.  And I think I won’t start doing that… I always wonder just HOW good the people on the benches would actually DO if they were out there following their own advice.

But I do know a lot about business.  And Beckham is a great businessman!  The poor guy got booed every time he got the ball.  But I am sure he knows every boo puts more money in his pocket 🙂  It’s interesting  talking soccer instead of football.  In North America where we call it soccer, Beckham is a demi-god.   I never hear anyone talk about Beckham in Europe.  He got punted for the British Olympic team because other players were better.  In Europe everyone talks about Messi.

So, my first Beckham sighting was underwhelming.  But the guy is smart!  For world class players outside North America, the MLS is the stuff of dreams.  Play in a “real” league, make a name for yourself and then when you get too old to really count against the young kids in the big leagues, sign a deal with a North American team in the MLS where you will look awesome.  Becks developed the prototype.  Apparently he’s not just a pretty boy.  It’s too bad “cheap celebrity” runs so rampant through English speaking culture but Beckham actually seems like a good guy – and his rise from regular East London kid to one of the most famous men in the world is the stuff of dreams.  But he should be famous for being a great football player, not for taking his shirt off and posing through a heavily Vaselined camera lense.

But that isn’t his fault.  He is only capitalizing on the craziness of the culture he inherited.  Barry Robson isn’t nearly as pretty.  Or famous.  So he is going to have to play good football.  His first home match with the new team shows that looks promising 🙂

I don’t know enough yet to be able to analyze one player’s impact on the team but the boys were in fine form last night.  Last year the Galaxy came just before they took the MLS Cup home and we looked bedraggled.  But last night they were on fire!  In the first half it looked like an amateur Spanish team trouncing an amateur Italian team in the EU Final.  We lost our way in the last 20 minutes or so.  But we didn’t lose!  And Barry scored an impressive goal.  And certainly seemed to make the entire team better and brighter.

So, give us your cast-off European football league players.  We can make good use of them – and give their careers a second act.  You should all thank David.  But, please, don’t create your own fragrance!  Just play football… 😉

 http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2012/07/highlights-whitecaps-fc-vs-la-galaxy

Category:

social commentary

I’m civilizing you :)

What a concept! 🙂  I have been thinking of plenty of posts but still catching up from my time in Manitoba so not quite sure when they will hit the internet but I just watched episode 4 of “The Newsroom” and it has already inspired one unwritten post before this one so I decided it was time…

I’ve never been much of a TV watcher.  It’s almost always “background” to me… and the sophistication of the plot and dialogue of most TV shows doesn’t require much real attention… but it’s nice to have the comforting noise so I often have the TV on even though I am not officially watching and can always catch more of the details in future re-runs.

But sometimes you stumble across something that arrests your attention and you can’t even just google stuff while watching and actually follow the entire show…  That would be “The Newsroom”, Aaron Sorkin’s newest baby.  I happened to stumble across the pilot in the last week or so.  I was planning to write about it with a heading, “america is not the greatest country in the world.”

I have been in love with Jeff Daniels for a couple of decades… and Emily Mortimer is one of those actresses who should be described as “one of the leading lights of her generation”.  And it has Sam Waterson and even Jane Fonda, for god’s sake.  For those who appreciate great acting and actors who can deliver great writing… well, it just restores your faith in humanity.  It really is trying to civilize us 🙂

The speech that Jeff Daniels (aka Will McAvoy) delivers in the pilot is one of the most intelligent, introspective, inspiring descriptions of the current state of the American nation and the American mindset I’ve encountered.  Both the dialogue and the delivery are astonishing.  At first Will is trying to avoid saying anything because he has become a meaningless rich celebrity without a point of view.  The question is why is America the greatest country in the world.  Not “is.”  Then he thinks he sees his old girlfriend in the audience, a journalist who he thinks is in Iraq dodging bullets.  She is holding up a sign that says, “it’s not.”  It inspires him.  Unlike his fellow pundits who cite something stupid like “freedom” he cites facts (remember those little nuggets, Fox News???), trying to explain to the underliterate audience just what America IS good at…  We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. 

I am sure there will be more to be said.  As I type this, I am trying to follow Jon Stewart skewering Mitt Romney.  It is pretty sad that all the best news in the United States of America is not really “the news”.  That’s the message of “The Newsroom.”  Pundits and infotainment replacing actual facts and analysis that made us all smarter and better world citizens… Will McAvoy-aka Jeff Daniels-channelling Aaron Sorkin really IS trying to civilize us.  We need it.

Once upon a time I was in an elevator with Rupert Murdoch… back when he was just famous in Australia and there was no Fox News.  I shoulda slugged him.  But that would have been bad for my career 🙂  I made a lot of statements about my dad at his funeral but the one that fits tonight…

He watched Lloyd Robertson every night.  (I actually saw Lloyd in the CTV cafeteria but was never brave enough to talk to him.  I wanted to tell him about my dad.)  He knew way more about the world than George W. Bush ever will and he would have made a far better President.  You would think there should be an IQ test for the leader of the free world.  At least a few skill testing questions… and no calculators!

My dad was the one who taught me about the importance of civilization – and my role in keeping it alive.  Let’s hope “The Newsroom” is a hit – and we all learn how to be more civilized.  America can be great.  Will talks about that too – and it’s worth hearing.  America is your promising child who turned into a drug dealer when you weren’t paying attention.  Maybe the big mistake was giving Murdoch American citizenship?  Apparently points for character are not a big part of the criteria…

http://www.hbo.com/the-newsroom/index.html

Category:

artsy stuff, social commentary

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Messi, not Messier…

Messi, not Messier

It is my mom’s 70th birthday this Friday (with the party that involves most of the town it seems 🙂 on Saturday) so party prep has been preventing me from boring you with my thoughts on the internet… but the party is getting under control so hoping to write a little bit over the next few days and get back to regular missives next week.

As part of the festivities I flew into Regina and we stayed at the Hotel Saskatchewan.  As my niece said, the hotel where the queen stays when she is in town…  It had one of those fancy hotel brunches to die for – and a great cocktail lounge.  But I have now been indoctrinated into European football sufficiently that I was looking for a place to watch the 2012 Euro Cup on Canada Day.

Not something I would have ever expected to happen in my youth… it all started with a guy… don’t so many things in life? 😉  The journey that took me from someone who knew nothing about soccer to someone who was obsessed with watching the Euro Cup final is a long one.  It started 10 years ago… in 2002, when I went to the Jazz Festival with my friend Keyvan and he was talking about the World Cup.  At that point, it was merely a term I had heard – with no knowledge of the history or meaning behind it.

He is from Iran.  And I had my first inkling of the importance of what North Americans call “soccer” in world culture.  He went to the World Cup.  And seemed a bit obsessed with the game.  At that point I was just impressed with his passion.  And the international flavour of the sport.  All he had done was pique my interest.

It took a number of years before that kernel grew into a seedling.  That was 2010, two World Cups later.  I was in New York City for a magical weekend that spanned both Canada Day and the 4th of July.  And the World Cup!  It happened the hotel I was staying in had a beer garden and each day there was a chalkboard announcing the World Cup games.

It all meant nothing to me but Keyvan had piqued my interest in the concept.  And everywhere that I went guys were talking about the World Cup.  Especially Italian guys.  And New York is full of them.  But it’s the most international sport there is.  And New York is a very international city.  So all sorts of people were talking about the World Cup.  And given Keyvan’s enthusiasm, I took an interest.

At that point, I was also involved in some crazy flirtation with a Dutch guy… and the Netherlands made it through to the World Cup final that year.  And I watched the game from a bar in Calgary during the Stampede… texting Engelbert at the appropriate moments.  I barely knew what the players were doing… but I liked the atmosphere of the crowd.  And their enthusiasm.  Even in Canada where no one cared about soccer…

So, last year, when my friend Rodz and I decided we would try and watch as many Canucks games as possible once they were in the playoffs… and during game two the topic of Whitecaps season’s tickets came up… I decided that would be my new project.  I would buy season’s tickets for the inaugural season of the Whitecaps – and invite guys (or girls) to games who knew about soccer so that I could learn how to watch the game… and in 2014 I would be able to watch the World Cup – and actually know what was going on!

My friend Alex (aka Alessandro, actually born in Italy, where the gene to watch a football match involving an Italian team with the passionate intensity of a love affair is given at birth) has been my biggest coach in learning to appreciate “the beautiful game”.

And he has done a spectacular job.  He is the one who taught me how incredible Messi is.  I’ve had conversations with European guys about soccer.  I really wanted Italy to win on Sunday because it was Alex’s birthdays so a win by Italy would have been spectacular.  But he is a very gracious guy and accepted Spain had played a beautiful game.

And he would have been proud.  I rushed through brunch, paid the bill and left my mom and niece to finish at their leisure.  I went to the lounge and said to the server, “I thought you would be playing the game.”  (They had had TSN on the night before.)  He said they would so switched channels so I could watch the pre-game show.  When I said I would have to go to my room cause I couldn’t watch it without sound, he turned up the volume.

I was one of the tiny minority watching a soccer match in Regina.  A few people drifted in and out of the lounge but I was the only one watching the entire match.  My mom came to find me near the end and I explained to her the Spanish style of play and why Italy was having trouble getting the ball.  I also tried to explain the historic importance of that game and what Spain had accomplished.

I’m ready for the World Cup ahead of schedule.  Now when the commentators say stuff or the guys run around on the field, I am not ONLY thinking, “wow, lots of cute, super fit guys in tight shorts.”  I am also thinking, “wow, I know what they are doing.”  Thanks, Alex, Rodz, Peter and any of my other soccer coaches 🙂

Mark Messier was very impressive but Lionel Messi… check him out 🙂

Category:

social commentary

sucking it up to make the world a better place :)

Yesterday I was at the bank trying to figure out how to transfer euros to a German bank account.  The purpose of this mission was to pay my share of the fees related to my German divorce.  It is one of the most amicable splits in history so it was a little shocking to see how much it was going to cost me.

But Germans are good at logic so it was explained to me that we were not paying for the actual time incurred by the professionals to deal with our actual situation.  Instead, we were subsidising other couples who had made less sensible decisions.  The fees to be paid are based on a schedule determined by the net worth of the divorcing couples.  The concept behind this is to make sure that even couples with few assets and lots of anger can afford to get a divorce and don’t have to stay together because they can’t afford to be apart.

I am a socialist at heart.  So happy to pay a little more than my fair share for the greater good of the entire social framework.  It’s a concept that doesn’t go down so well with the average Republican.  I just don’t get it.  HOW rich does anyone really need to be?

I like to live my life all over the map.  I purposely tried to spend time in my room at the Four Seasons because, hey, I was staying at the Four Seasons!  And my mom and I postponed our visit to the National Gallery because they offered us free champagne when we checked into Claridge’s – and who says “no” to free champagne???  One of the best meals of my life was my private five course chef’s menu dinner at the Meridien in Shanghai with the cute French chef taking my order and then popping out to check on me after every course.

So I appreciate how enjoyable it is to have a little cash to throw around 🙂 But I enjoy it more when there is someone there with me to spoil.  And most of the best memories of my life cost less than $100, sometimes less than 10.  Most of my happiness comes from interacting with others – and that is free.  Too much money can lure you away from actually living your life.

Why I became a socialist.  It all started when I was about 12.  I was always good with my allowance and have those strong fiscal Scottish genes.  So I was a young conservative, a Republican wrapped in the Canadian flag really.  I thought my father shared all my views.  But one day I said something and his response shook up my world.  He said we did not all start with the same advantages so it was unfair – and wrong – to adopt that great conservative stance that a social safety net was not required. Making it hard would make everyone try harder.

Right now I am reading two fantastic books about money, Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money and Roger Lowenstein’s Origins of the Crash.  You will be hearing more about them in future posts.  Lots of information to support my arguments 🙂  and food for thought.

Last night I was reading about the origin of the welfare state.  Not surprisingly, Germany invented it!  German society runs really well.  Having seen it in action, I am happy to pay the fees for my divorce.  Sucking it up, paying your share and contributing to the greater good of your society really is a lot more rewarding than a pair of Jimmy Choos…

Category:

life philosophy, social commentary

if you can’t join the club, try being a rebel :)

Thursday night was the monthly alumni networking session for Ivy Business School.  I never really thought I would be someone who would go to business school, let alone become part of a business school alumni organization.  But I really like the organizers so I go to chat with people – and cause trouble 😉

This week I said inflammatory things about executive pay levels and expressed the view that Quebec is the equivalent to a whiny spoiled brat within confederation (of course, part of that audience included French Canadians – otherwise it would have been boring 😉

No one kicked me out of the club though.  And since it’s principally men I think they secretly like the fact that I normally show up in short skirts and flirt with them.  Because I don’t have a proper job so am rarely coming there from an office.

But I turned out more business school than I would have ever thought possible.  I may not have a proper job but I have a decently successfully consulting practice that I am hoping will allow me to semi-retire by 55 and keep bringing in a little cash flow as long as it’s entertaining.

So I did learn a thing or two at Western… as the business school was known back in my day – before the rebranding and corporate sponsorship.  In those days, it was the most famous business school in Canada and trying hard to be the Canadian version of “Harvard Business School.”  We used the case study method and a lot of the cases we discussed had been written at Harvard.

This was the 80’s, people.  You’ve seen Wall Street?  The 80s were actually a really interesting time.  The world was full of poverty and protest.  We were well past the glories of the post-war renaissance and everyone was trying to come to grips with what to do with the western world.  Somehow Germany and Japan had lost the political war but won economically.

So everyone in North America was trying to figure out how to kick start the economy.  Some things worked.  Some things didn’t.  It was a decade filled with both serious recession and economic excess.  It was actually a pretty interesting time to be in business school with academics trying to figure it all out.

I’m not entirely sure how I got into Western Business School in 1983.  I had to work every minute to pay for it so managed to convince them I didn’t need to do the requisite courses and would parachute in from a Bachelor of Commerce program at the University of Manitoba to third year business school at the University of Western Ontario.

I had planned on the challenge being the academic part of my life but that was pretty easy.  What I was completely unprepared for was the fact that I was now part of one of the “country club” university choices made by children of privilege from Toronto who had attended private schools in the great British tradition.

I felt like a complete alien.  I had no idea what to say and no chance of blending in.  Luckily, I spent the summer between third and fourth year in Calgary at the lucrative summer job in an oil company I had secured from my University of Manitoba connections.  The summer of 1983 will remain one of the most important periods of my life.  I still have a number of friends from those four months.

But what changed my Western experience was meeting Mike.  He was from Toronto.  He had gone to private school.  He was impossibly sophisticated to a country bumpkin like me.  I spent the first party we threw together in the kitchen cutting fruit cause I had no idea how to talk to his friends.  It was as though I had been transported into the Bloomsburg circle without a manual.

Mike taught me a lot about life – and was the catalyst for my conversion to city girl and eventually to globe-trotting adventuress.  But what was most important for me that summer was Mike introducing me into his world of “faux punks”.  He was obsessed with music so that was the crux of it.  But the people he knew dressed funny.  We tried to be shocking.  We wanted to shake up society.

There is a lot more to say about the 80s.  But what changed for me at the country club is that I went back into fourth year not caring about trying to fit it anymore.  I didn’t have the background.  I didn’t have the cash.  So I wouldn’t be Eliza Doolittle.  I would be Siouxsie Sioux.

It was a wonderful lesson.  If you don’t care about fitting in and don’t try, people will gravitate to you.  They will be fascinated.  Nobody kicked me out of the Ivy Alumni.  I think they like that I liven up the events a little 😉

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life philosophy, social commentary

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