The World of Elias Wakan

Elias Wakan makes wooden sculptures based on shapes. How do the shapes come together? How does he get them to fit? What is the philosophy of art, shapes and design? The Arts On Gabriola.

This sculpture is called The Meeting of Infinity

"The sculptures I make develop a common theme in nature: structure (particularly geometric structure) evolving out of repetition. We see it all around us, from flower petals and the leaves of a tree to the cells that make up our fingernails and the molecular structure of absolutely everything, repeating elements that come together to make form. The phenomena is even more evident in the work of man, particularly in architecture and engineering, but really in almost everything."

https://theartsongabriola.ca/artists?store-page=Elias-Wakan-c127733008

www.eliaswakan.com

Imagine if we saw the world as patterns rather than a competition to the top? 

 

Canada Must Investigate Convoy Money - David Climenhaga Today | Alberta Politics

 “If you think there’s something extremely fishy about the GoFundMe ‘Freedom’ campaign, you’re onto something,” Sandy Garrosino  wrote in the National Observer.

...

GoFundMe did not attempt to verify the identities of donors and admitted accepting foreign donations for a campaign to dissolve Parliament less than five months after a free and fair election in which a clear majority of voters supported parties in favour of vaccine mandates.

...

According to the Ottawa Police, as reported by the Washington Post, “a ‘significant element’ from the United States has been involved in the participation, funding and organization of a self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ that has for several days jammed streets in the capital.” The revelation of U.S. interference in Canadian affairs seems to have been greeted with little concern in the United States.

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/02/08/Canada-Must-Investigate-Convoy-Money/? 

The Eighth Principle

 

We are climates weathering this moment

thinking and feeling the minutes

as they pass unnoticed

or stabbed by past errors

our eyes witness longing

in another’s eyes

read words that conspire

to marginalize colour and shape

as if a blackboard is wiped clean

words written by tears 

history or herstory

their story and ours

looks for a road to walk down

up and around like the number 8

its infinite circling over the same old

arguments guzzling gas

we cannot move forward

on that street while a truck

hogs the road silencing our minds

into submission we leave the city

its modelling of rationality

its spread sheets of plus

or minus as though

white supremacy is a truck

that sits on top of the moon

and sun guiding our spirits—

no! Turn off that engine now.

Breathe again and return the world

to stargazers and fruit flies

flowers and trees—love these 

more than metallic toys built to be used

not worshipped.

Fred Guerin: Anti-Vaxxers, Anti-Maskers and Trucker Freedom-Convoy

Fred's blog post is the most coherent article I have read on this issue and I think its worth the time to read it:  https://www.fredguerin.com/post/anti-vaxxers-anti-maskers-and-the-trucker-freedom-convoy?

"Finally, I am not a huge fan of government paternalism, of vaccine passports and mandates. I don’t really like the idea of government tracking and surveilling me any more than I like it when corporations or social media does this. However, I have yet to hear any compelling social or ethical argument that persuades me that there is never a time when individual privacy concerns should absolutely prevail over public good. I think a lethal pandemic qualifies here for very obvious reasons. 

The choice to remain unvaccinated poses a real risk of harm to others unless those who refuse vaccinations are willing to self-quarantine—which most refuse to do. It turns out that the majority of those who remain unvaccinated also resist social distancing and mask-wearing. As I have said before, if this pandemic has taught us anything it is that we are all a fact of each other’s reality, and we, therefore, share some responsibility towards one another."

Daily Life in Modern Chelm by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin

 

Comic-a-day February 3 2022 aka Daily Life in Modern Chelm

Go here: Elizabeth Shefrin <simaelizabeth@gmail.com> 

to sign up for daily comics - the effect of humour on these stressful times is bigger than the biggest honking truck. 

Using Force for Protection or Protest

There is a fine line between demanding people get vaccinated and protesting it.

Big trucks honking horns and blocking roads, destroying statues, in a city where you don't live is an invasion not a protest.

Kneeling on a protester so he can't breathe is murder not policing.

TV media that glorifies violence for entertainment over and over again, is emotional propaganda. Replacing civil society with greed and violence is war.

Taking children from their parents and sending them to residential school where they have no contact with relatives or parents and where they are punished for speaking their language is genocide.

Allowing an established elite to decide what is broadcast,  is propaganda.

A society that presents violence as normal human behaviour is corruption. 

We are living in a time where we have very little say in how our nation is run while being told we live in a democracy and our leadership is directed by vote. 

Integrity, compassion, love and connection are very important, in a just and democratic society. 

I am sympathetic to those whose beliefs are different from mine.

This pandemic is not just the virus, it is about the structural violence of patriarchy, capitalism, nationalism and the glorification of power-over. Playing one group of victims against another is how nations have been ruled since the Roman empire.

We can't stop "them" from using their power to control us but we can educate ourselves and future generations by building just societies. We are all poor when some of us are poor. We are all bullies when some of us are bullies. We all grieve when some of us are hurting.

What Can One Woman Do?

Thanks to String Band and all Folk Singers whose primary goal is not personal wealth and profit but messaging for freedom and survival. You are part of our salvation.