Self help

My supervisor gave me a book to read. Eek. It's a help your self help yourself book. Oh goodness. I have been trying to humour her, because she said she enjoyed it and thought I might like what the author has to say. But try as I might I cannot read more than a paragraph without the urge to launch the book across the room (Sadly it's not my book so I'm not allowed to trash it...its a good thing there are lots of pillows in my house). I'm not sure why she gave me the book to read (perhaps a favour returned as I lent her a Paulo Coelho book from my shelf). But i just don't think I can do it.

My problem with this book is not just that its a help your self help yourself but that the underlying message, the principle that drives the book is basically that old Lebeau adage that our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction are the same thing, and they are satisfied by the consumption of things. And, well, I guess I'm just too much of a communist or a socialist to believe that material things bring any sort of happiness. In fact, I'm quite certain it's the other way round: that the happier you are, the more happiness you will be able to elicit from material things (i.e. the more simple your needs for material things).

Material wealth does not equal Happiness.
Happiness equals Happiness.

At least my youthful optimism suggests to me that this is the case. Perhaps thats all it is. Youthful optimism. Perhaps my boss just doesn't know I'm not old enough to want things yet. People have never really believed I'm as young as I am. In fact lately the disparity between my assumed age and my actually age has been growing larger and larger. I try to console people "My Korean age is 25..." but this does little to cover embarrassment of people who assumed I was in my mid thirties. I don't mind, I'm a pretty serious person, not nearly as light hearted as those we assume are actually 23. And perhaps this is why I've been offered this book to read.

Still I hope that I will never benefit from this kind of help. God doesn't want you to have a bigger house. You want to have a bigger house. Learning to be honest about that sort of thing is a greater key to happiness than "just believe that God wants you to have it."

A New View

I just read a remarkable story, that I want to share and send out to as many people as possible. This is the story of a young woman with autism. She is non-verbal, and displays many behaviours that would upset any who are faint of heart, and lack the patience to accept someone who is different in so many ways from themselves. Check out some of Carly's writing to get a sense of this remarkable young woman.

After reading.

I think one particular lesson that Carly highlights is the power written language has for so many people who are unable (for many reasons) to express themselves. It is a way in, and out, for many of us. It is a way to stradel all sorts of language barriers. Many of my students tell me they prefer reading English than listening to it. Verbal English is very difficult, but reading you can see words, and start sorting what are the important words and what ones are less important.

In Carly's case, to be apraxic (to understand a language without being able to speak it), writing is an amazing way to see the normal in that distorting and challenging word abnormal. It is another way to find our many stigmas, to be reminded even, are once again unfairly placed to burden those who are not the same, in everyway, as us.

It took a law 2...

A month or two ago, I wrote about a Norwegian law requiring large corporations (200 employees +) to have a 50/50 gender divide on executive boards. I applauded the move discussing the belief that it takes a law to cause change, that it is in our interests and for our benefits that we create and attempt to follow laws. Further, that laws are one of our greatest tools for social change.

Today I popped into BBC hoping to find the Asian markets had picked up overnight, and instead I see several different stories making my earlier, very simplistic view explanation of the role of law in a society seems like nonsense. The first article is about a youtube I happened to have been sent, made by Saudi women protesting laws against women drivers in their country! This is brilliant, I think, and highlights what laws are, why we have them and how they work. Laws are temporary explanations about how we agree to behave. I.e. all laws must at all times be subject to change. As a woman of western/catholic socialization I cannot really understand how barring women from driving is for their benefit, to protect them and their families or any of that. But I can imagine in a volatile country it is possible that limiting the movement of people is of benefit to the society. But now as Saudi Arabia is far more stable, it is time to let go of that and allow for a new social order.

The next article was about the reaffirmation of mortal sin by the Vatican. A move that has been made perhaps as an attempt to demonstrate to people how to interpret words like avarice or sloth. As I read, I worried about the loftiness of these new interpretations though. There are surely no more than a million billionaires, and not more than a hundred million millionaires, but that leave 5.9-6.1 billion people on the planet who need moral guidance. Which is the problem for us when we create laws. They are often almost always to narrow in their scope, leaving more people without guidance than need it.

Then there was an article about 24 hour drinking in the UK. This seems to me to highlight the UKs endemic dependence on law to order their society. Guidelines are necessary, they help us understand and interpret ways to communicate with those around us. Particularly as we have less and less of a close common history with our neighbours as we move from country to country, it is important that we have ways to open communication, to network and build community.

Which brings me to the last article, which I haven't read and don't want to read, but which is titled "STDs rife among US teenage girls." I'm assuming there are going to be some horrible statistics about the big 4 (HPV, herpes, Chlamydia, tric) and talk about vaccinating them all against cervicle cancer. No talk about guidance, about a growing desire to talk about and think about giving our kids less information and more guidence in how to behave.

So we do like laws. They do help us figure out ways to behave, but we should also keep in mind Sir Thomas More's idea: In his Utopia there were no laws, and each time it seemed an injustice had occured, it was weighed and discussed. The society debated and thought about it, and even when they came to a decision, it was only about that one case. Laws must be flexible enough to act as real and useful tools in the greater functioning of society.

Missing conversations at What the Book? Used Books Shop, Itaewon, Seoul.

1.
"I mean, look at our fucking society!" Standing in front of the pop culture rack this late-twenty something exclaimed to his friend, "Fucking pregnant, pregnant, suspected pregnant, just had, broke up, broke down, broke out, got engaged, got divorced; this is our generation man and it sucks."
"Yea, i know what you mean. Look at this rubbish"

[Now, I suggest you take one step to your left, take a look at the alternative culture rack, Bitch, AdBusters; or two steps to the left for The New Yorker, Time, National Geographic. Or maybe turn around and se a tiny underground bookstore in the heart of Seoul packed with 20-30 something foreigners looking for something else to read on a Sunday afternoon. Yea, you're going to get a rather skewed and depressing perspective of our culture and generation if you judge it by the tabloid section. Open your eyes a little, delay judgement a moment, get a perspective from the girl behind you.]

2.
"I can't find the book I'm looking for, and its pissing me off," she claimed, her harsh south-central American accent grating against her sinus congestion.
"What book is that?" Her friend inquired, though I'm sure the question wasn't needed for the answer to come forth.
"The Kite Runner."
"Why do you want to read it, the film is coming out soon."
"Its just interesting the way things connect. Like the Russians in the 70s and now everyone in Afghanistan. Whatever. The computer says its here, but i can't see it. This is dumb. Let's go."

[Sigh. I thought, The Kite Runner tucked under my arm with a chuckle...I should give it to her, the film is coming out soon.]

3.
"Its supposed to be really good. Man Sherlock Holmes is brilliant. Do you know why?" No pause, "He sees the things that aren't there. He sees whats missing."
"Yea, maybe."
"Com'on you can tell its good! Look at it."
Look at the book in stunned silence.
"Thats how you find a good book at a used bookstore. If its all beat up, you know its been read lots."

[Other possibilities, it was written in 1986, published on crappy paper, with weak glue, and low grade ink, and it has moved from from some English speaking country to Korea, in someones carry-on. Or its been read by people like me, with a propensity for throwing books that are upsetting, crappy, uninteresting or full of plot holes. I'm sorry to say my copy of The Kite Runner now looks like a good book to read.]

4.
"I like to pick up a bunch of books then decide which one I want, I usually walk out of here with nothing, to be perfectly honest."

[So long as you put back those "bunch of books" where you found them, so those of us who usually walk out with a months supply can find them.]

If there is one thing I really miss about living in an country where I can understand what stranger are talking about, its listening to the nonsense that we strangers say everyday.

Smoking: I just don't get it.

A UK health advisory body "Health England" has proposed that smokers should require a permit in order to buy cigarettes. The permit could cost £10 and would need to be renewed annually. It would require completing an application form and supplying a photo. Health England suggests that the permit process would help deter first time smokers, and would aid those who want to quit smoking in quitting by making it that much more difficult to get cigarettes.

There are so many mind-boggling plot holes in this lovely idea its just wonderful. First, the people proposing it suggest the form will be highly complex, perhaps this could be seen as a form of discrimination against those of lower literacy levels. Second, you think tobacco taxation is bad in Canada, its batty in the UK. A pack of smoke that will cost $9 in Canada will cost £9 in the UK...ie $21 CDN. So on top of paying outrageous levels of tax their will be an additional annual fee, which HE claim will go to NHS, to help bolster the system, but surely the cost of developing and implementing the system, then of enforcing it will cost far more than the £10 surcharge. What about elderly people, like my grandmother, who barely can leave their houses, how will they register each year? At this time in her life, the negative health impacts of quitting might be more than her system could handle...is such a proposal discriminating against people in her situation. What about foreigners, who come for vacations in England for a week or two or three...will they have to pay ten-quid and get an id card, will their be exceptions...or will they be expected to give up smoking for the duration of their stay in England?

HE suggests that it is necessary to have tight controls on tobacco, but to be honest it seems absurd. I think many Muslim states have it right, just ban it...if its such a monstrous thing. I think a more logical step is much like the steps taken in Canada around alcohol. Take it out of stores. Don't cell cigarettes at every venue in the country. Have Tobacconists and thats the only place you can buy it, that makes it more difficult to get cigarettes, and enforces a tighter control to keep younger cohorts away from the drug. It also centralizes profits from tobacco sales, so only the government makes money from it, then the money can be appropriately directed towards NHS.

Or maybe, if we really believe that cigarettes are harmful to health, the energy should be put into putting pressure on cigarette companies, to produce less toxic products. Ban preservatives in cigarettes, ban the use of glue on the paper, enforce the use or organic locally grown tobacco, enforce the use of non-toxic filters, either cotton or recycled paper-fiber. If the government is really so concerned over the health impacts of cigarettes, then why not put effort and energy into reshaping how the drug is retailed, rather than continually punishing the consumer.

Personally, I agree there is more that can be done to help burn tobacco companies out of our lives, but i think that it has a lot to do with ignoring them. Rather than wasting money contriving new and exotic forms of punishment, create more real, tangible and realistic rewards for those who refrain. Scholarships for kids who have never had a smoke; discounts on food for people who don't buy cigarettes; taxbreaks for families that are committed to smoke free living. Why not?

Touchy Subject

The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.



A difficult time we are in: has been so many years since the Olympics were held in a controversial location we are not entirely sure what to do about it? Maybe we should remember the mission of the games...I know some people are leary of China, mostly out of pure ignorance, having no clue what goes on in the "Far East." [Its scary to not know] But well, these games are filling with touchy debates about things that have little to do with the games.

England is currently working on the Team Members Agreement, in which they want athletes to agree not to make politically sensitive comments or gestures during the games. Supposedly this is either because England is afraid of tarnishing its business relationships with China, or perhaps a more sinister fear that something might happen to its athletes should they speak harshly of their hosts. Of course Human Rights activists are upset about such a move, as it is their intention to use the games as a time to highlight China's human rights violations, and lack of intervention in Darfur, and suggest that moves like the possible anti-political speeche clause in the TMA is not only a violation of the freedom of speech, but also shows cowardice on the part of the UK in facing the ongoing problems in China.

Now Steven Spielberg has pulled out as an artistic advisor (i guess that means no aliens in the show this year) citing his conscience can't allow him to participate, when their are global catastorphies and human rights violations going on. [There is a little known film with animated puppets called "Team America" that sheds some interesting light on the role of actors and movie types in politics]

I'm not sure why we think that on one hand we can award the games to a country, and then think that is excuse enough to chastise and criticize the country into changing to be more like US. Who are we anyway?

While it is clear that it is probably problematic to force athletes or anyone to agree to be a-political during the games, perhaps it is an unfounded fear. The amount of physical, mental, emotional focus that an athlete needs to put into competing at an Olympic Game, should be enough, why would a government want to deliberately add more pressure to athletes by giving them reason to fear their behaviour could have them booted off the team. It's understandable, many democratic governments are nervous about what will happen when China welcomes the world this summer, but let's not forget the spirit of the games, and the motivation for reviving and for participating in them. It is not the athletes who need to be signing agreements to just play their sport... really its a move that creates unnecessary tension for athletes without doing anything to either promote open political dialogue with China about its human rights record...Further, why are we suddenly so concerned and putting all this pressure on China? Because the games are going to be there? That's silly. Human rights are an ever present and ongoing concern, YOU DON'T NEED A REASON TO BULLY SOMEONE ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS. They are on their own, sufficient reason.

I'm glad Mr. Spielberg has a conscience. But how does his pulling out from participating in the games in any way going to benefit those persecuted in China, or the outrage that rages on in Sudan? If anything his actions further alientate the West and close means of creating meaningful and productive paths of communication.

There was an interesting debate about Canada's business relationship with China, maybe a year ago. Canadians were up set that we were doing business with a country with human rights violations (which i think is a bit posh to begin...but anyway). In the debate, the minister said we cannot do anything about problems in another nation,if we have no relationship with that nation. If we are not friends or partners in some respect, how can we even begin to talk about a nations problems.

But then it is in the Olympic charter that the mission of the Olympic movement is to place sport at the service of humanity, and thereby promote peace, to act against discrimination. So i guess its difficult (my new favourite word). Perhaps it is right to tarnish the sport in favour of the other political agendas that are catching fire on all sides. Perhaps.

Home Sweet Homeish

Wow, what an adventure. So I'm back from Japan! Totally sweet and wicked. Way better than the trip in September. I guess the stress of trying to function without being able to speak the language or communicate directly is becoming more and more apparent to me, and I guess I'm learning about being the linguistic minority (weird for an English speaker, but I must say a life lesson in patience). It's an interesting position though, working on different ways to communicate. Through infinitive verbs and gestures. Writing things down, carrying maps all these secondary communicative tools become primary. Then learning to speak in a simplified English. Shorter sentences, simpler tenses, basic adjectives, slow down, emulate Japanese pronunciation.

Anyway. Here's a sense of where i was, in a quiet mountain town. It snowed like a bastard. about 45 cm my second day there. And how do they handle the snow...not with salt, as that would damage the rice fields, nope...they use water. Even though it snows like a bastard, the temperatures rarely go below 0 C. So they have sprinklers basically, that run water to melt the snow and wash it away.

But i went to visit Nate's host family. The father is a 5th generation vinegar maker. Amazing! The factory is attached to the house (although now he has a second factory for the fermenting and bottling processes). Really amazing tour. Then great temaki...i had temaki twice, and maki three times...now I'm super sad to be in Korea where sushi is usually with kimchi and not fish :(

Also listened to some killer jazz. Built a tobogganing hill, even though the village is surrounded by mountains on all sides, the mountains don't really have any good sled runs.
Even the lack of heating in the houses was a small trifle, it was cold...don't get me wrong, but somehow a pleasant cold. I know i couldn't stand it back in Canada, but i suppose that is the difference when temperatures don't go below 0, or maybe at night get down to -5. Anyway, anyone traveling in Japan, a strongly suggest you forgo the big cities, for little Fukui prefecture. It's just a lovely little hideaway in what I had always thought of as a country of metropolitan cities stretching across the expanses.