Posts

What Is (Fill-in-the-blank) Privilege?

Image
  It was a post by Ageless Possibilities that got me thinking about privilege. What does being privileged mean? Does it mean having a comfortably well-off life? Having doors open easily for you? Not being subjected to discrimination?   Sometimes I think we tend to mix up terms, equating being privileged with being well-to-do or affluent. Although I think the real meaning is not being disadvantaged, being part of a group that gets preferential treatment that others do not, simply because you’re automatically assumed to be in a higher echelon of society. Being privileged means one is not subjected to automatic demeaning perceptions, judgments and hardships that others may face daily. Words become buzz words and then after a while some tire of them and begin to sneer and speak of them with ‘air-quotes’. I’ve listened to conversations where people bemoan the fact they are now hard done by because of their so-called ‘white privilege’. They believe they’re not privileged at all because th
Post a Comment
Read more

April Shuffle

Image
  What I’ve been watching : I went with a couple of friends (who once lived in Bhutan) to see the movie “The Monk And the Gun” which was part of a film festival last year. It is set in Bhutan, where the king is abdicating in favour of transitioning the country to democracy. The Bhutanese don’t know how to vote in an election, and so officials stage a mock election, while a visiting American is there to secure an antique gun. A monk is also out searching for two guns, an odd request by his lama, which he carries out unquestioningly but finds difficult in a country where guns are scarce. When the American and the monk cross paths, and the monk learns of the number of guns in the U.S., he exclaims, wide-eyed, “More guns than people?” The film gently, subtly, and humourously displays the contrasts between the Western world (the drive for money, power, and more, more, more), the divisions and violence and greed it creates in western society against the contented, simple, polite Bhutanese. T
3 comments
Read more

My Ideal Book Club

Image
  I've belonged to writing groups for many years, but I've never belonged to a book club. Nor have I ever wanted to. Why? Because part of my stubborn nature means I do not wish to be forced to read a book not of my choosing. I have friends who belong to book clubs, even writing group friends who straddle both kinds of gatherings. One format is: they meet once a month, and each woman chooses one book for the year and hosts that session. That would mean I would be reading ELEVEN books not of my choosing in a year. I don’t think so! Sure, they might be books I'd have chosen to read anyway. But that's not quite the point. I may have chosen to read them at another time, in another year, in another decade. If we’re not enrolled in some kind of educational course, any book one reads should be something you've personally chosen to read, depending on mood or interest or topic or circumstances. To be directed to read something takes the pleasure out of reading. I'
5 comments
Read more

Reflections On Reading

Image
  “ I opened a book and in I strode Now nobody can find me" Those are the first two lines of Julia Donaldson’s poem (you can find the full poem in the pic below). And that pretty much captures the essence of why readers read. In an online discussion group with Ageless Possibilities , we were talking about our relationship with books, and Kerry Clare’s essay came up which describes so beautifully a reader’s journey blossoming into a lifelong love affair. My love affair with books began early. As a child I LOVED Enid Blyton. In the early years, the Noddy picture books and Brer Rabbit, then the mysteries with the Secret Seven and Famous Five. And the Mallory Towers series. Why did English parents always send their kids to boarding school and why couldn’t mine? Boarding school was where it was at! I longed to go (the reality of course would have been quite different, but children’s imaginations don’t deal with reality). Then there were The Bobbsey Twins and along came Nancy Drew.
3 comments
Read more

On What We Need (Chocolate being one)

Image
  In our Spanish conversation group last week, the theme was: You plan to run for the office of president or prime minister of your country.  What are the four pillars of your political platform? All four proposals should be humorous or bordering on being ridiculous. It’s a mixed group with people from Canada, U.S., U.K. (the English speakers) and Spain and Mexico (the Spanish speakers). The format is one-on-one (or two-on-one depending on who shows up) for the first two breakouts where you speak about the topic in Spanish, then two more breakouts, but in English. The English speakers learn from native Spanish speakers and vice-versa, but it is invariably the Spanish speakers who master a foreign language better and can ad-lib without sputtering. Now, don’t get the impression that I’m in any way proficient in this language (given the themes). I prepare a few simple sentences in advance (using google translate and easy words I can pronounce), and I struggle but everyone in the g
1 comment
Read more

I Have Not Been . . .

Image
Some phrases that you come across, in reading or listening, stick with you and rattle around in your head. Here’s one from a Portuguese poet (unknown) that I’m paraphrasing: You are what you’ve been,  but you also are what you haven’t been. Here’s another from the novel BLACK CAKE by Charmaine Wilkerson: “ Sometimes, the stories we don’t tell people about ourselves matter even more than the things we say .” Both speak of the gaps, the silences, the unspoken, the things not done, the path taken and not taken. What have we not been because of conscious choice, or missed opportunity, or resistance, or worse – because of fear? It’s easy to interpret this in a broad, vague sense: I have not been an astronaut. I have not been a pilot or an underwater explorer. I have not been to Antarctica. But that’s too simple. There are many things we haven’t been because those things have never beckoned. But what about those that did? What about those that hovered on the edge of our conscious
8 comments
Read more

Jubilación

Image
  At the start of the year, I made the decision that this year I would ‘retire’.   I have been on a phased retirement track, working three days a week, for a couple of years now. But what does it actually mean to ‘retire’? The dictionary defines retirement as: “ Withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from active working life ” . The word ‘retirement’ seems outdated and  has a lot of negative connotations in an ageist society hell-bent on productivity. What does it mean to withdraw from active working life ? To give up an occupation you are skilled at, and have been doing for many, many years? I know I won’t be looking for ways to fill my time, because I do have plenty of options. In the past couple of years, I have been adding to my interests. But the transition for many retirees is difficult because for so long they have been doing something they’re good at, and for which they’ve received accolades and recognition. When they retire, they’re at the top of their game,
2 comments
Read more