Monthly Archives: April 2011

The Christians and the Pagans – Chocolate Style

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(Anyone get the reference to the Dar Willams song? It’s a favourite in our house!)

It’s the Easter weekend and I’ve just finished re-watching Chocolat, one of my favourite movies-with-pagan-undertones *based on the book by Joanne Harris with some changes). The movie circles around the themes of patrichary/morality and matrifocal/sensuality through an ongoing conflict between the mayor and the owner of a chocolate shop during Lent (the 40 days prior to Easter). 

Any witch can explain how Easter has its roots in paganism: Eostre is actually a Germanic Goddess, and bunnies/eggs are symbols of fertility (which is what spring is all about) and so on. This appears in the movie in a scene where the mayor attacks the display created for the chocolate shop’s fertility festival,. The first thing he destroys is a chocolate statue of Ixacacao, the Mayan Goddess of Chocolate; he then destroys other, more common, symbols of the holiday.

While some pagans get upset that our festivals/gods/ideas are reshaped by Christianity, I recognize that the original purpose (taking over/destroying the symbols of the Goddess) no longer holds power over us. Instead, I celebrate the common themes that bring our religions together: first the sacrifice, then the celebration. Jesus was the original hippie, after all, and his stand against the dominant ideas of the day have stood the test of time. I may not make it to sunrise service, but I’ll be celebrating the power of life over death just the same. Blessed Be!

Elizabeth May Comes to Calgary (and Shares a Car)

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Out and about on Calgary’s streets.
 It was great to see Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, come visit Calgarians today. She’s the first party leader to stop in since the election was called and it was great to see so many people come out and hear what she had to say about the environment, foreign policy, poverty and how the federal government should support cities. My favourite quote: “Are we are warmaking country or a peacemaking country? Canada should be a country that supports conflict resolution and stands for peace.”
Waving goodbye from the Calgary Carshare Prius.
It was also exciting to see a leader who “gets it” when it comes to transportation. She came down from Edmonton on the Red Arrow (our inter-city bus) and commented on how it would be great to have high-speed rail between the two (which I support). Calgary Carshare (our local carshare co-op, where I’m on the board), which is being used by some of the local Green Party candidates, was booked to take her from the bus to the event and eventually to the airport. (She had to be back in her BC riding for an all-candidates forum tonight, which necessitated a quick trip back.) IMHO, climate change is THE issue for this election, and while I’m disappointed/frustrated/angry that it’s not being talked about, I am glad that May and others recognize that it also impacts the way campaigning is done. Well done!

Carsharing rocks! (Photo by @Tisin)
Edit: There’s story/photos/video in the Calgary Herald and I’m in the background of one. (It’s like “Where’s Waldo?” if he had a pink scarf.)

(Political and Transportational) Choices

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I’ll admit it – I have a political crush on NDPer Megan Leslie (who’s running for re-election in Halifax). Why? 

  • She was voted “Rookie MP of the Year” in 2009.
  • When she spoke on Bill C-449 (giving seniors free access to transit in off-peak hours) she talked about the impact of free transit (“Free transit would greatly increase the quality of life by removing the terrible choice between rent, food, or heat and bus tickets.”) and called for the development of a National Transit Strategy for Canada.
  • She’s had some great clips recently on CBC because of her role as NDP spokesperson on health.

But, most of all, she’s running a carbon-neutral campaign that includes transit, cycling and carsharing. It’s nice to see someone who actually gets it – how we do the work matters as much as the work we’re doing. I look forward to the day when this is the norm, not the exception. Until then, I’ll work on convincing people that I’m not a saint just because I use Calgary Transit to get to work-related events, ok? (I’ll point out the other reasons instead, hehe.)


**Bonus points for her reference of climate-change discussions in this election campaign as an “issue of inter-generational equity” because, really, isn’t it?

(Cross-posted at Zero-Fare Canada who kindly invited me to post with them. Go check them out!)

Putting the "Over" in "Overachiever"

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So, I’ve been a little quiet on the blogging front lately, but there’s actually a good reason for that. As of April 1, I’ve taken on a new position in the community: Director of Senior Centres at Calgary Seniors Resource Society. I’m overseeing the “big picture” pieces of community building/collaboration, funding, marketing, research /advocacy and human resources as the Executive Director at three senior centres (Bow Cliff Seniors, Ogden House Seniors and Parkdale Nifty Fifties). The title of the post says it all, really.