optimism for the disheartened

I know the following ted talk may be a little dry at times but it's definitely worth the watch, it makes me optimistic about the future, particularly given the current state of canadian politics, which is described in the  2nd link.

the third link below is food for thought, what if the world were a better place, lets try to not ask the questions what if and just get to work on solutions.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_pahlka_coding_a_better_government.html

http://youtu.be/HDPaRKXoVeA

http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html

today is the day

I like all those motivational movies where the little guy wins, where the underdog succeeds where the impossible struggle seems possible.. today I'm focusing on those.

I'm also a fan of those videos where you see what humans are truly capable of, people that have dedicated there life towards something and you get to see them at their peak, videos of trial bike riders, free running, rock climbing. I mention this is because it has become increasingly clear that my so called dream life is not in fact what I thought it was and I need to work on making it my dream life and not what society deems as a good life...

my first small step that I took today was deleting my Facebook account, it's something that I've talked about for a long time and now feel like I should actually do. all the time I spend wandering around cyberspace that used to be spent on Facebook can now be utilized doing other more productive, healthier things.

I'm also going to make a point of not gripping so much about petty things, whining about how I"m not the person I want to be, I've fallen into a rut, where I'm far to egocentric, I think the world of blogs, Facebook and social media sites are all pushing the culture in this egocentric direction, and I fear that even by writing this I'm guilty of a moral solipsism. I don't want to live a life where the only validation is given through others reflecting there life from yours, I'd like to not require external evaluation, to know that I am living a good life.

That is why today is the day; because a new leaf is turned. and steps are taken in a new direction... albeit really small steps...

procrastination and self reflection

This post is completely the result of having a less then productive day, everything I had planned on doing got hijacked by a stomach bug that decided to show up between the hours of 2 am and 2 pm... I won't elaborate on the details as not everyone of my friends is nurse and has the same iron stomach and objectivity when it comes to the human body's direct response to germ theory...

in any-case I've slept most of the day away and now that I'm feeling a marginally better... i.e. can leave the bathroom floor... I'm feeling like I'm not about to accomplish anything that I had planned for today...

what has peeked my interest enough to comment on in my online surfing is the American Republican debates... or more specifically the waves being cast by President Obama's decision when if comes to women's health. I personally think that his policy is decades late, and it is a good bit of legislation, not that I really pay that much attention to american legislation. But all the alarmist comments are being made by men, mainly men from the catholic religion who I don't think should even have a voice when it comes to the reproductive health of women...
This  is a good clip that illustrates my point.... http://shows.ctv.ca/DailyShowwithJonStewart.aspx#clip618900
starting at about the 3:30min mark, I am happy that I live in canada where there is at least a small amount of separation between church and government.

anyway my lazy day which has progressed into a procrastination day also got me thinking about my picture a day for 365 day project, which seemed a bit daunting at the beginning but now seems a bit mundane, there are definitely days that I am just shooting stuff that has no meaning, i.e. picture of the phone, sharpening the blender... etc. I guess I'm a little disappointed with my self for that, I've yet to take a picture today and wonder how I can catch a photo that displays my general discontent with photos for photos sake... I feel as though I'm definitely becoming a better photographer simply by having my camera with me everywhere, and taking so many pictures; but I can't help but feeling like I'm just documenting a less then exciting life, I think that this likely has to do with being in Inuvik and being as isolated as I am, but thats not to say that if I lived in a bigger place that I would be doing something different... I guess I'm just searching for photographs that have a bit more of story to them then simply "this is a blank... " even some of my more beautiful pictures have started to irritate me, as they seem to say the same thing as well... "these are the northern lights aren't they beautiful" I guess the positive upshot here is I know I don't want to be a journalist in this small town (I write that because the local paper is looking to hire a new reporter), but thats not to say that I'm going to stop taking photos, but that I'm going to focus on telling more of a story with the photo then previously...
some inspirations photos can be found here,
http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2011/11/21/best-photos-of-the-year-2011/#a=1
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/?source=NavPhoPOD

Granted Reuters and National Geographic have substantially larger budgets and can span the globe for conflict/events worth sharing, I will none the less focus my efforts on  limiting the amount of photos of just stuff and instead sharing a more interesting perspective of life in Inuvik, or wherever I may be....

I guess the only take home message from today is that I really take for granted the things that I do have, I spent a good portion of the day watching George Stroumboulopoulos episodes online and have realized that for all the petty things I could write about/do with my life I'm really living a dream life for many millions people, I'm lucky to have a house in which to be sick in, I'm fortunate to have a job that will give me sick leave, I'm fortuitous to have been born a canadian citizen and have had access to healthcare and education throughout my entire life. I should be grateful that I have enough time to pursue a hobby,  and that nothing catastrophic or detrimental happens in any of the places I live for me to document. In hindsight I feel as though I'm greatly lacking when it comes to being a global citizen.

I wonder if I'm really doing enough? and what meaning does my life have in the big picture?

perhaps thats what my next large goal, I mean I've enjoyed my volunteering in the past but have comeback thinking that I've been ale to walk away from the problems that X people have and theres still living with the problems they started with perhaps they have a bit of pain relief as a result of the nursing actions we initiate when were there, but big picture there life will be relatively unchanged.
I think I need to find a capacity building project that I can contribute too.

year in review, an excessive ramble

Well it's nearing the end of 2011 and why not review... all the news outlets are looking for stories in this void between Christmas and new years, hopefully no earthquakes, tsunami's or man made fulminant disasters should happen in the coming days, or weeks to stop the trend of non-news news... but, every time I see a Television, it’s compiled lists of best of's, worst of's, newsmakers of the year, top 1000, biggest sales, on and on and on.

Now I'm not totally against reflecting on where you came from but when it's spewed from every media type repeatedly, my question is where are we going... there are a few things that I want to address and even though I'm but one blogger in the arctic, but who knows maybe someone will read this and think. Yeah I feel the same way... so here’s my year end reflection...

1. The economy is shitty and the prospects on the horizon are pretty bleak, with "European instability" and the recession in full swing in the US, now China's growth is showing signs of slowing if you have a job count your blessings and don't go and overburden yourself with debt... Canadians are carrying more debt now then before the 2008 crash and I don't know how long this whole capitalism thing is going to work out for. I can only hope that a slowing Chinese economy means less low quality plastic single use items, maybe boxing day sales will cease to exist and maybe the economy will start to reflect the ecology of the planet, economy and ecology - there based on the same root word meaning home, as in earth a finite amount of resources a limited amount of food a limited amount of fresh water.  David Suzuki has many quotes and books about the intergenerational crime that the "economy" is because it doesn't reflect accurately the present day ecological responsibilities the business of today on the planet today;  hence the intergenerational crime is that corporations today are leaving messes for tomorrows generations to deal with.

which brings me to

#2.  Fuck the whole idea of ‘out there is bad and in here were good’ the 99% vs the 1%, this is what bothers me about people, its not taking responsibility for your own actions. I'd say it's not some entity out there that is responsible for the plastic in albatross bellies, it's me I produce plastic garbage I am a consumer (if this doesn’t make sense then read my last post), it's not the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs’ in the world that are at fault for marketing something so well that they become a billionaires, it's my fault that I bought the product.  It's not the conservatives fault for quitting Kyoto, it's every Canadians for not stepping up and saying that they demand there workplace reduce emissions, shrink it's carbon footprint, or make some change, it's really easy to point a finger at someone and blame them but like the saying goes when you point a finger in blame three are pointed back at yourself... and yes I know that in order for an economy that is based on ecology would result in catastrophic failings of the current world order, but perhaps that’s necessary,  I know its a ridiculous thing to wish for, but all civilizations eventually fail, perhaps our hubris is oil and technology and were fast approaching the end of an era, only time will tell I guess, I just hope that the next generation, (which as a concept is bogus, the population doesn't produce in waves, it's a constant, and a growing constant...) isn't totally doomed to a poisoned, painful life of carcinogens and flooded cities, my parents got me composting and recycling at a young age, and now I have peers with children, nieces and a nephew, and I feel like the global conscious is still just lusting for more things.

#3. My grammar and English have paid the price for being in such an isolated place with so much broken English around, also I swear a lot more. I'm constantly catching myself poorly articulate words and it worries me that I'll likely be around it for another 2-4 years.

#4. I've changed my hobby focus from cycling to photography... I'd like to reconcile the 2 in the New Year... sadly, I think until I leave the Arctic this will be a struggle that pesters me.

#5. I'm struggling with the reconciliation of being an environmentalist and living in the Arctic... Canadian winters in general are not so carbon footprint friendly, when it's winter 8 months of the year and most if not all your food travels at least 3000 km before it arrives at your house, it's constantly on my mind and it makes me a huge hypocrite particularly when looking at point #2.

#6. Somehow the 80's are cool again, which scares me that fashion is being recycled so fast... pretty soon we'll be just parodies of ourselves.... how did fashion make my list... it must be late..

#7. List of things annoy me, I'll refer you to points #5 and 7 to hi-light how much of a hypocrite I am.

#8. Ignorance isn't bliss, and more then ever this year I've become hardened in my atheist beliefs, it amazes me that people still try to argue with me that what they believe is right and yet any attempts at a discussion lead to accusations that I'm personally attacking them. In starting a conversation about what you believe, and questioning me on a religious level, is in its self an accusation at my beliefs. People don’t know how rude they are, and I have done my best to bite my tongue and not get into these philosophical debates. I’m not a scholar in Atheism I don’t suspect that you are in your beliefs either, but please don’t be so bloody rude… I have someone tell me they were sorry for me, sorry that I was an atheist… WTF, I mean really, apparently as an atheist people seem to believe that I believe in nothing... the most common atheist conversation that I had this year is "how can you live without a god, you would have no morals, you could rape, pillage, murder and it would be okay, because you don't believe in god." I'm just going to retype this argument out because I really really hope that I don't have to have it in 2012. My thought's on this view of atheism is wow, you really don't give yourself much credit, it's like saying if you didn't have a god you would rape and murder and pillage because no one would be watching... that you would be accountable to no-one... I think that in any world with or without a deity you are accountable to yourself. I think that people have an innately good character, that people have a conscious, and when able to (when the basic needs of humanity (food, water, shelter, safety) are met), people do more then indulge themselves but actually care for others, contribute to society, follow a universally human code of behaviour, make mistakes because they are human and most importantly are capable of enormous growth, compassion and beauty. I believe that morality is more then a book in a place of worship, it is ones actions, ones behaviour, it is learned from ones parents, community and a part of it is intrinsically linked to our ability to communicate and interact with other living things. More then anything I know I am tired of defending Atheism, I'm not a bad person, I may be a hypocrite in some aspects of my life but I don't think I'm living some greatly immoral life.  I've made mistakes, I'll make more in the future but life is short and I'm not going to live in the past... 

A psychiatrist once told me that life is like driving a car, you have to look forward through the windshield to see where you going, if you spend all your time looking in the rearview mirror then you will crash. 

So that’s my philosophy and my goal of reflecting, see where you came from, don't forget who it made you but have a plan, be responsible and enjoy the ride because this car doesn’t have a reverse.

Yes, I know I'm being very verbose and perhaps not really reflecting as I set out to do but I guess that’s the way todays blog is going to roll... pardon the pun

so to summarize

1. The economy is bad, ecology is what we should focus on, 2. do it with action and not just words. 3 if my words don't add up, or are too abrasive please tell me, 4. I miss cycling, but I'll work on it, 5-7 I'm a hypocrite when it comes to the environment, and lists... I’ll work on that too, apparently I'm a critic... however I once dismissed capri pants and 3/4 length anything... the world didn't listen then either I don't expect them to now... and 8 please for the love of [your] god (pun intended) unless your willing to ceed something or at least listen to a different perspective don't push your ideologies on me. and I guess 9  don't live in the past.

Thanks for reading as always


M

feel free to wander over to my photostream at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewhamilton1/
or shoot me an e-mail @ m.hamilton.email@gmail.com

Hello again and thanks for reading, I had this whole post written and then as I was adding the last hyperlink when the computer froze… super frustrating but alas here I am again typing it all out, so I really hope you enjoy today’s post… in my head it counts as two posts…

 I’ve been on a string of nights and haven’t seen the sun or any sign of it for 4 days, I’m beginning to wonder if in fact the Earths gravitation forces are askew and were actually now hurtling towards deep space… what with the Researchers at CERN telling us about superluminal particles existing, my Einstienian worldview is challenged and anything is possible… if I lost you there fret not, the whole idea of superluminal particles is where my brain starts to frizzle and I get confused; it means time travel, special relativity  isn’t relative, and string theories just as confusing as it was before… (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superluminal#FTL_communication_possibility) if you want some light reading, anyhow moving on…

Quite sad news as the world has lost a great thinker in the death of Christopher Hitchens, while I empathize with many of his convictions I didn’t agree with everything the man had to say, that said you have to respect someone who knows what he believes and will intellectually defend his Ideas.

Another news story recently that made me saddened was the official Canadian withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord, the conservatives in typical fashion blamed the liberals for their actions… I mean you’re the government… why not instead of saying were not on track and were going to have to pay costly fines do something great and go about making Canada a Global leader, aim to meet the targets or better yet exceed them… oh right, it’s the conservatives and they don’t care about the environment, silly me… when I heard Peter Kent make the announcement I was ashamed to be Canadian… I know that I shouldn’t rely on the government to dictate my environmental impact, as a global citizen the responsibility lies within.  It would be nice if they offered up some policy to push people/businesses/industry in the right direction but with the conservatives in power I’m not holding my breath.

On the same note of Environmental impact, I think everyone should watch “The Clean bin Project” a movie/documentary of a couple that challenges each other to produce no waste for 1 year. I’m now reading all of their blog (http://cleanbinproject.com/) and loving it. The movie which I saw at the Inuvik Community Greenhouse Film Festival this past fall is both motivational and entertaining. Because I live in the arctic my carbon footprint in enormous, resultantly, I have become a bit of a fanatic of late about waste reduction, hoarding recyclables, saving paper and boxboard for fire-starter, and composting as much as possible… I actually chided Andrea (my wife) for spitting cherry pits into the garbage instead of the compost bucket yesterday…. Furthermore, after realizing what I’d done, I was too stubborn to admit that cherry pits in the Inuvik landfill really won’t make a difference to anything… so I’ll use this as an apology, I’m sorry Andrea, I may get carried away sometimes.

Those of you that know me or are getting to know me will soon find out about my ever growing passion for photography, I’ve started a 365 project when I’m going to take a picture everyday for a year… I’ll be posting to my flickr account. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewhamilton1/)More and more I’m getting past photography of just “this is where I am”, “here’s a photo of people” or “this looks pretty” but trying to tell a story with pictures. Also featured in the clean bin project are some of the works of Chris Jordan. Everyone should see his works, his photography is raw and emotion evoking. I hope that you’ll look at his photos and art work and see the commentary about the consumerism culture that we live in. (http://chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24)

To close, here’s a video that will let you know that it’s not all doom and gloom, I came across it and literally laughed out loud for a long time, I also now want a pet porcupine. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dnB3IapeAA)

Thanks for reading

Matt

October, Movember and "holiday season"

so I've not posted in a long while...  sorry about that, I had written a long blog post but then thought I should edit it down and then just lost track of time, movember came round I was focused on my moustache efforts, I took a holiday to off the grid Cabin in whitehorse and now it seems were head long into christmas, hanukkah, and solstice celebrations... all of which are marginally skewed with the sun not actually crossing the horizon anymore...

first let me recap some of the lost blog posts...

Gaddafi's dead.... and the east is less stable then ever... super!
Little girl run over in China and no one cares... how empty does that make you feel.....
Desi my chow chow possibly has cancer... (hence prompting the trip to Whitehorse)... shitty...

and now to quote Andrea, my wife, "life is tough, more shit can happen. The good news is that shit fertilizes... beautiful things can sprout out of it, now its just a matter of focusing on the beautiful things..."

so with that lets look for the mushrooms...

Gaddafi's gone, less unjust persecution of the Libyan people, perhaps their is a civil war, but maybe good things will come of it.

a spotlight has been cast again on the chinese culture, maybe people will look at their own habits and value human life with greater dignity, maybe China will improve it's human rights record as a result of the increased media attention...

Maybe Desi doesn't have cancer... were still waiting for the pathology report, but I'd rather know and be able to make her comfortable then have her suffer and be unaware...

moving back to the present, I'd like to thank all the People that contributed to my fundraising Efforts,
(in alphabetical order)

Barb Ness
Trish Campney
Andrea Hamilton
Joshua Hamilton
Susanne Hamilton
Michael Marchant

and the staff at the Inuvik Regional Hospital for supporting the moustache cookie bake sale

now on to the solstice, Hanukkah and christmas for everyone south of the Arctic or north of the Antarctic the solstice is associated with being either the shortest or longest day of the year, however when the sun doesn't in fact come up it's a little different... I'd like to remind everyone that the solstice is in fact the point at which the earth observer notes that the suns northern or southern change in declination ceases.  it can also be referred to as the time of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.

I know thats a mouthful but essentially days not any longer or shorter up here because the suns not up period. which brings me to hanukkah.. I wonder how jewish people celebrate up here because google tells me "Hanukkah begins at sunset on Tuesday, Dec 20, 2011, and Ends at sunset on Wednesday Dec 28, 2011." thats going to be hard because the sun went down on the 5th and it's not coming up till January....

and now to Christmas or "holiday season" for the politically correct christians out there...

I like being the shit disturber, someone in a Facebook chat message said "happy holidays" to me and I asked "oh which holidays are those?" the responded "like christmas, and new years...and those other religious ones" and I said "no which one's?" and they said "you know like the other religions version of christmas, when there Jesus guy was born....." my point proven that people that say happy holidays are just christians who don't want to offend....

anyway, I'm not a big fan of the season, I like the family get togethers and coming together of people, but the commercial aspect and fundamental religious undertones have always cause me grief... I'm an atheist thats not changed but i'm not going to be all scroogy this year... I'll wish a happy solstice on the 22nd and will say same to you if someone wishes me a merry christmas, happy hanukkah, or any other religious holiday.....

that I guess is all for now, I'll try and write more frequently

Occupy, wherever you are

So I get it, I'm in the Arctic and a little removed from a lot of things, but I keep reading about these occupy wall street, occupy vancouver, occupy the globe things because people are feeling disenfranchised and are to the point where they feel they need to say something about it... I'm totally cool with that.

What I'm not cool with is saying "I'm part of the 99%, so give me your money 1%" or worse off people walking around toting signs advocating for anarchy, because thats a solution... I get the issue of 1% of the population having such an enormous amount of money and power that they can influence government, and wring people dry of every last penny and then drive them into debt, in effect, enslaving them for every penny they will ever own, but if you want higher education subsidized, or if you want interest rates lowered, or renewable resources, or clean energy, or tax breaks for the poor then do 2 things, ask directly for them, and show your face... nothing bugs me more then saying I'm the 99% and you wear a mask, it's illogical to me. 

I also don't particularly enjoy the idea that violence or destruction is a tool to use, despite what the movies fight club and V for Vendetta would have you believe...  

I like Adbusters, I applaud them for inspiring so many in this hopefully successful movement away from capitalism, however, I don't know if just protesting an institution or place, like wall street, will do anything. I'm a little worried that lots of people camping and parading around Toronto's downtown core, are going to be disappointed when nothing changes. I like the premise don't get me wrong, but why not have some uniform plan, some sort of manifesto, it could be broad, like 'we want Corporations to be Taxed more and the General public less', or 'We want corporations to stop being treated as persons' or something to the effect of 'we want more social funding, tax corporations to find the money" I think that perhaps the best message could be "we want proportional representation in government, were not leaving till this is reality" but really anything, so long as it comes as a cohesive clear message from everyone. Yes there is power in numbers, but only if the numbers are organized... in order for anything to change you need to know what needs to change. 

I disagree that just being somewhere will cause something to happen, particularly, if you don't know what you want to have happen. Yes there are enormous inequalities in the world, Yes there is immense areas of poverty both in Canada, and around the world, Yes. I feel that this is wrong. But no, I'm not going to sit outside my town office with a sign that says "make the world a better place" for 3 reasons. 

1. it's cold outside, snowing actually, and I know in the grand scheme of things it won't change a thing in my small town. I think in larger urban areas rallies are great ways to meet people and network but in a town of 3000 my networks already included 90% of the town...

2. I'm going to write my local MP, my local town office, and my local MLA, and Tell them what I want.  Directly, I want Proportional representation in the house of commons and Think that the Senate seats should be elected, have a maximum term of 6 years,  and senators should be only paid when they show up to work. and if they don't show up to work for 6 weeks in a row, baring extenuating circumstance, they get fired and the position then goes up for re election have 2 election dates set a year, say may 1st and November 1st. No more of this you can hold your job but not show up for up to 2 consecutive parliamentary sittings...  Parliamentary reform thats what we really need, perhaps then voters would cast a ballot and not have to sit in parks in October.

3. I'm going to talk about it, blog about it, and post it online if we really are calling for societal changes then we need to have the majority of people on board. I think that the power is with the people but people need to acknowledge that point fingers and picket signs aren't a solution. 

Chances are a lot of the people at these rallies forget that corporations are made up of hard working people who are just trying to make ends meet. it's the heads of these businesses that make the exorbitant sums of money. Destroying the company's buildings, calling for anarchy, defacement of property, hacking of their computers will only harm the people who are working just to meet the status quo. 

and yes the Status quo needs changing, but hurting your neighbour isn't going to yield the change you want.