WordStorm

Tonight, I attended WordStorm for the first time in two years. For anyone who may not be aware, WordStorm is held once a month at Centre Stage in Nanaimo. I'd tell you what time but I think they're changing it again. WordStorm begins with an open mic for poets which is judged by selected members of the audience (last time I went I won second place!) and continues with a series of featured readers.

This month, my aunt Leanne Boschman was one of the featured poets, so I was going mostly to support her. My aunt read a selection from her new book, Precipitous Signs: A Rain Journal, published locally by Leaf Press. I have the book at home and was pleased to hear her read a favourite of mine, "Night Rain", which I heard her read previously at Word on the Street, a few years ago. Her reading tonight was a great success!

Although I enjoyed myself, and enjoyed meeting some of the other poets in the audience, Centre Stage was freezing, and I was nearly shivering in my premature Spring jacket. I was a little relieved to get back into my car at the end of the night.

When I arrived at home I had just missed Joannie Rochette's long form performance (some of my family was in tears), and I waited around to watch her take the podium! A glorious moment indeed.

The Olympics

The Olympics has been a highly contested issue lately. Everything from advertising to the cost, from the infrastructure to the opening ceremony screw-ups has been on the tip of everybody's tongue. Until the Olympics began, it seemed like nobody had a positive thought for them, and I've heard that people aren't too impressed with us over seas either.

But now that the Olympics have begun, people's outlooks have changed a little. Now all I hear are the scores. I thought that might happen. We hum and haw, but once things get going, it's hard not to get carried away with the games. Honestly, there isn't one sport that interests me at any other time of the year – it's just not my thing – but even I get a little bit excited.

I think my favourite is figure skating, but I don't know if I really agree that it's a sport. What if they tried to make ballet an Olympic sport? It's the same idea. But I have fond memories watching the skaters in 2006 when I was in Japan. The family I was staying with was excited about the strong women on their team, and we sat up after dinner to watch the women's singles. I can still remember Shizuka Arakawa's performance clearly as if I'd just seen it. She was so tall,

and carried herself like a queen. We were breathless when she did her signature layback—it was one of those moments when time stands still. She was transcendental. Nothing mattered except her winning gold. And then she did.

I haven't been able to follow the Olympics much this year, because I have classes and work, but I get updates from everyone I see. I'm glad that the tension over the Olympics has abated a little. I get more joy from watching people get carried away with the spirit of the games, than with the criticism.

The Winter of My Discontent

This has been an odd season – I resist calling it winter. I think we may have had a couple days of winter in there somewhere, but it looks like we're going to move from autumn straight into spring. The leaves haven't started to grow yet, but there are snowdrops blossoming in front of my parents' doorstep, and a pair have ducks have moved into our pond!

I can't believe we're halfway through the semestre already! That's right, we are! It always sneaks up on me when I don't have midterms, but I've been able to count the weeks this year by massage therapy appointments...

Don't worry readers, I'm alright, but over the winter break I hit some black ice while driving up the North Island Highway, and I drove my dad's Cherokee off a cliff. The vehicle didn't roll, but I fell about one hundred feet into a ravine! I was lucky to have my iPod with me to use as a flashlight (ha ha), because I had to climb back up the cliff in darkness to hitch a ride to the hospital.

What do students do for winter break? I was on my way up island to work on a salmon farm. The magical combo of living with my parents and doing labour on my time off is the only way I can stay off student loans! I may take an actual break for the reading break though. What will you be doing?

Looking for a little grace...

"Were the world mine" is a fantastic phrase that comes out of Helena's mouth in A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Shakespeare. Helena wishes she could learn the traits of Hermia that Demetrius is attracted to. If the world were her's, Demetrius would love her and not Hermia.

For me it's about open-mindedness. On Wednesday last week a friend of mine convinced me to go to the Queens with her for another friend's birthday. It was lady's night, she said. When we were getting ready she decided to wear her gold, lamé dress and asked if I would wear my silver lamé jacket so we could match. Since my scene is more the Level 2 Dance + Lounge, I guess I'm used to a more open group of people, because showing up at the Queens on a Wednesday night in silver probably wasn't a good idea. I don't think I've ever gotten so many dirty looks. I felt like every guy there wanted to kick my ass. I wasn't really worried, but I wasn't exactly made to feel comfortable.

And it's not like I'm an incredibly marginalized person or anything. I'm a white, middle-class guy from the Island – I just have an odd sense of style. If I were a noticeably different colour or ethnicity, I imagine I would have been made to feel this way more than once in my life. I know this is a pretty trivial event, and I'm not really any worse for wear for it, but still it got me thinking.

What I'm trying to say is: were the world mine, I'd be expecting a little more grace from people. How are we supposed to find truth if our prejudices are dividing us?

I'd like to finish with a quote from Abdu'l-Bahá who says better than I can that

"Man must cut himself free from all prejudice and from the result of his own imagination, so that he may be able to search for truth unhindered. Truth is one in all religions, and by means of it the unity of the world can be realized.

All the peoples have a fundamental belief in common. Being one, truth cannot be divided, and the differences that appear to exist among the nations only result from their attachment to prejudice. If only men would search out truth, they would find themselves united."

(Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 129)