…counting down….

I might not like their coffee at all, but this picture really sums up the last couple of days here in TO.

Well.

That was interesting.  We got a bit of ice hereabouts.  And that ice weighed down all the hydro lines and left electrical power just a fading memory to a fair number of folks here in our sleepy little burgh.

The temperature has plummeted and it’s not looking like some peeps are going to get the electricity back before Wednesday.  Generally speaking my little part of the town is all okay.  I have hydro, and the commute to work is such that the streetcar and subway closures didn’t affect me.  Hoping that the situation stays okay- but preparing just in case.

The shopping is all done- so there’s no more running around required, at least.  A little more in the way of food prep for the day itself- and for some parties in the days following, but I’m basically feeling like I have a pretty solid handle on things.

Does that mean I’ve captured some of the spirit that has been so elusive this year?  Hmmm.  Not sure I can go that far.  But I think I’m getting there.

Despite an incredible night of Skydiggers fun and games on Friday (GREAT show) and some solid face-time and catching up accomplished with part of my extended fam/friends, I’m still not sure I’m feeling all that holiday-motivated.

One of my dearest buds- a good Irish/French Canadian Roman Catholic lad- is always asking me (seriously dude, it’s been something like 25 years- you really don’t know by now?) how I prefer to address the ‘greetings of the season’.  There has been a whole lot of nonsense about ‘wars on Christmas’ and that sort of rot on the ‘news’ channels of late, but I, personally, am in a very comfortable place with regards to my non-belief in the deity driving the holiday but my FIRM belief in the goodness of humanity.  And that does tend to get a good, solid airing at this time of the year.

I tell him (over and over) that any variation of Merry/Happy Christmas is fine by me- and not something that offends in the slightest.  I do celebrate the holiday- after a fashion.  I certainly celebrate the STORY behind the holiday- probably more ‘devoutly’ (for lack of a better word) than some of those who make claims of belief.  The story of Jesus- and the Nativity- is one of the greatest and most enduring of all our many and varied myths.  It chokes me up with its beauty- especially the Adoration of the Magi (an ecumenical touch that very much speaks to me- and you know I love the Zoroastrians), and it has had such an impact on our history and culture… what’s not to love?

Do I have to believe in the divinity of Jesus- or of the details of the story- to appreciate it?  I’d argue that I do not.  The same way I do not have to subscribe to the entirety of the belief system behind the story of Hanukkah to find grace and hope in that miraculous triumph of light over darkness.  Especially at this time of year- and in with Toronto’s current state of emergency (or non-emergency, according to the ‘mayor)- when any and all light in the darkness is welcome and appreciated.

The story of Christmas- in all its variations and off-shoots- permeates our culture.  The music, the subsequent stories- of giving, of love, of acceptance- it represents, to me, one of the many flavours of the strength of our humanity, and the love and hope we cling to as we share our time with those closest to us. Traditional Christmas carols can make me a little teary.  Especially Good King Wenceslas with its wonderful message and example…

This time of year is also always one of pretty heavy introspection.  That’s the pagan in me, I guess.  The longer nights, the turning of the year.  There’s just a whole lot of looking back happening, and a little bit of looking forward that seems to go along with that.  Such thoughts seem to be of weightier import this year, since I’m in a state of flux at the moment- next directions and contributions to the betterment of those things that I’ve been complaining of for the past year (and more) are still being ruminated upon- with no easy solutions found, thus far.  I’m getting close to a game plan- so we’ll see how that pans out, once the city is actually up and running again.

Christmas Eve is generally my night to sit and just feel the feelings of the season.  With a glass of wine- or some rummy eggnog- and the solstice tree all lit up, I take myself back over the past year and use the memories as a starting point for the goals and plans for the one that’s up-coming.  It’s a space of quiet amongst all the hustle and bustle of running to and from friends and family and shopping and cooking/baking.

The past couple of weeks have involved even more rushing about than is even the norm at this time of year, so the respite will be even more welcome- if increasingly plagued by concerns and lack of knowledge just what to do about them.  As usual, I will have some great stories to keep me company- a movie or two (have to re-watch the first installment of The Hobbit in anticipation of seeing Part Two on Boxing Day, and It’s a Wonderful Life is pretty much always on the playlist on the 24th), and I have a novel I’ve been trying to finish for weeks now.  My brain has been running in far too many directions to give it the attention it deserves (Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl, if you’re curious) but I will try again this evening, for a bit, at least.

While I’m reading, there will be, of course, a soundtrack.  It varies little from year to year, and I’ve mentioned some of the songs here before, but this will be the playlist on the Shuffle Daemon that will see me through to the holiday festivities of Wednesday.

This song exemplifies so much of what the season means to me.  Pared down- just those familiar Monkee voices in wonderful harmonies, candlelight and quiet.  It’s comforting in a way I can’t really articulate.  Even if one of them is now missing.

I’m not going to say more about Ray, specifically (but I did link one of the other posts I wrote about him, if you’re interested).  If you’re not a Kinks fan (but seriously, how can you NOT be?), I know you’re probably sick of me going on about him as I have been doing lately.  But this song remains so very culturally relevant that it is tied for my favourite holiday tune.  Remembering those less fortunate.  THAT’S a message that too often gets lost in the iPads and PS-whatevers and stuffstuffstuff (Steve Austin outfits?) that become the focus.

Father Christmas is neck-and-neck with that one there ^^^.  I love the Pogues.  Surprised I haven’t already written about them, actually.  I think Shane MacGowan (who was born on December 25th, interestingly) is one of the great lyricists of the 20th century- despite (or perhaps because of) his seemingly-significant personal demons.  I once saw a copy of a book of his lyrics, called Poguetry, in a music/bookstore at Yonge/Eglinton.  I didn’t buy it, since I was on my way somewhere and didn’t want to carry it around, and I’ve yet to find a copy.  Big regret.  Anyway… the song demonstrates the investment we have in the time of year- and the disappointment of those expectations that sometimes happens.  Or often happens.  But we keep on, and there are memories and new experiences to celebrate.

I wrote about this one before.  Strong, beautiful message.  And it’s Midge.  Co-author of a song that changed the world for a time.

This song.  That changed the world.  I wrote about it before too– and about how Bob and Midge started something incredible with a tune about giving and just being aware of something outside of ourselves.  All year round.

From the sublime to the Canadian… Nav65 and I were talking about this the other day.  A bit of the best of this place I call home.  A bit of funny.  A bit of silly.  A bit of Canada.

Thank you to all of you who have graciously joined me here in this little corner of the WordPress world and demonstrated that community isn’t an anachronism.  My wish for all is that you celebrate, with those you love best (either in realized or remembered festivities) and let go of the hardships of the past year while looking forward to the one to come with hope and the true sense of giving and receiving that the stories of this time of year evoke- once the material trapping are stripped away from the core.

Happy Christmas everyone.  May all your stories be wonderful this season.

‘Hoping all the verses rhyme’

This interworld can really be an incredible place at times.  Being relatively new to the blogsphere, it still constantly amazes me the many ways in which messages can be spread and different communities can be formed.

The other day I posted a little piece about some shenanigans going on in the world of popular music, and the fact that such shenanigans become the focus of a great deal of discussion, while other, more important, occurrences remain shockingly overshadowed.

I ended the post with some optimism- in the form of my discovery that Ray Davies, storyteller and songsmith, was releasing a new book soon (although not, sadly, soon enough for it to be my cottage book in 2 weeks), reassuring me that there are still vibrant, talented, relevant voices out there.  I let his brother, Dave, sum up my feelings in his own talented manner, and sent the post out into the interworld to illuminate, educate or entertain as it would.

Imagine my surprise when the hits on my little blog started increasing, like, exponentially.  Turned out that the master of a Kinks website included a link to humble ol’ colemining, and wonderful Kinks fans from all over the world have subsequently been kind enough to click and have a look.

Although I am not remotely mathematical (Humanities Ph.D. and proud of it), I do have a certain fascination for statistics and tracing patterns (it must be my sociological training), so watching new countries pop up in the site stats not only excites me in a geekish way, it really brings home just how unifying something as global as music can be.

All these people, first connected through their love of an amazing band, came to check out what I have to say, and from there kept on clicking and visited some of my fellows in the WordPress community whose icons or site names caught their attention.

Kinks fans rock.  Truly.

A big part of my studies of world religions has been focused on the transmission- the communication– of texts.  The stories we tell- about ourselves, our gods, our communities- have been historically subject to a an incredible degree of dissemination.

With the omnipresence of the interworld these days, it’s easy to forget that texts- and letters- have always been wont to travel widely.

We can trace the overlapping similarities in the mythologies of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Israel through the trade routes that expanded their respective audiences and brought elements of significance into the stories and practices of the other cultures they bumped into along the way.

Likewise, early Christian writers took (or sent) their writings to other communities as a means of spreading, discussing and evolving the precepts and practices of their developing beliefs.

That early webmaster, Paul of Tarsus, communicated regularly with the church houses that had been established- in his name- throughout the western Mediterranean region.  Many of the later doctrines of the Christian Church(es) were drawn from these letters- from his interpretations of the character and message of Jesus of Nazareth.

Historically, as a species, we like to hear from other people, to discuss what they think about things, look at how they deal with times of trouble and benefit from wisdom that has a different origin from that which is immediately familiar.

Nowadays, those of us who are fortunate enough to be party to the constant accessibility of online communications can exchange ideas and opinions instantaneously.  And get responses back almost as immediately.

Brave new world indeed.  The interworld at its best.

One of the bloggers that I think is pretty groovy, Opinionated Man, has undertaken an exciting experiment here in the interworld.  He has started something he calls Project O, as a means of creating and furthering dialogue about opinions- where they come from, how they are expressed, and whether they are universal rights (that’s a very brief synopsis- check out the link for the full template and game plan).

My input is currently scheduled to be offered up at 6:00 AM on September 8.  I have no doubt that there will be insightful perspectives, lively debates and windows into the mores and realities of cultures from all around the world.

The Opinionated Man really knows how to strike a chord- and this experiment in communication is right up my alley.  The discussions are already starting- I encourage you to participate if it’s something you’d be into.  Regardless, responding to the template made me stop and think about my opinions- and how they were/are formed.  Can’t wait to see what everyone else has to contribute.

In any case, all this togetherness, connectivity and talking ’bout stuff has put a pretty positive spin on a week that wasn’t all that great in many ways.

It’s the beginning of the last long weekend of summer- which can sometimes be a little melancholy (since it’s one more indication that winter will show up sooner rather than later, and I hate the winter)- and I’ve been locked in my head with some pretty heavy reflection over the past few days weeks.

The positive energy that has come my way is helping to shift my view forward.

I wish you a happy Labour Day weekend with heartfelt thanks to all of you who choose to spend some time following along with my (often somewhat derailed) trains of thought about people and our stories and/or whatever little ditties may be floating around in my brain.

As a special shout out to the oh-so-many of my fellow Kinks peeps who have stopped by today, I leave you tonight with the words and wonder of Ray Davies, and a shared hope that we all find some ‘better things’.

Let’s keep talking folks.  Pretty awesome stuff can happen when we communicate with one another.