HubSpot | Dashboard

HubSpot | Dashboard

Taking Wall Street

Today is the day that the "Taking Wall Street" movement comes to Canada. I have been following with great interest the progress of this movement. Watching the news this morning, I see that it has spread to Europe and Asia, as well as to many cities in North America. Good for them!! I see this movement as one of frustration by many different groups of people. There are young people who wonder when and where they are ever going to find the kind of work that they have spent many thousands of dollars and hours training for. There are the Middle Aged, who have lost their jobs, their pension funds and quite possibly their futures. And the 60's generation, which includes me. We perhaps feel guilty that all the marvelous things WE were going to accomplish never materialized, as we began to worry about families and housing, health care and that second or third car, and forgot the things we were so vehemently against!! Remember how we rallied against the "Military-Industrial Complex",which seemed to be in real control of the governments of Western countries? Are things any different today? Who really has made the decisions to go to war over the last thirty or forty years?? It seems we have learned nothing from Vietnam!! George Bush Senior and Junior both instigated attacks against Iraq. Who made those decisions? Who decided that Iraq had "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? The United States at that time had so many security agencies, that the information had to come from one of them. But, once the truth was found out, and it was determined that Iraq had NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS, the war was conveniently turned into a witch hunt for Saddam Hussein. We have to justify our wars somehow!! Even after he was found, hiding and terrified, the war continued, as they were by that time in too deep to just walk away. There had to be some kind of victory in order for the United States and Great Britain to pull out their troops, in spite of the hundreds of lives already lost. Finally victory was declared, and the re-building started. And who profited from this? The same damn companies who had encouraged war in the first place. Having destroyed Iraq with their weapons, they were now getting the contracts to do the clean up!! Talk about a great country to live in and do business. The leaders of these businesses are part of the one percent who are making obscene profits while much of America goes down the tube. But the people of the USA seem to have a "tax phobia". As soon as someone mentions raising taxes, even if it is on taxes on Billionaires, the extreme right, i.e. the "Tea Party" puts so much pressure on the Republican politicians, that even if they know (they MUST know!!) that the U.S, is in such dire economic trouble, that taxes are going to HAVE TO BE RAISED, in order to pay down the colossal debt that has been piling up, much of it due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan-from which they made huge profits on the backs of dead soldiers!! I am sorry to be so blunt-no, really I'm not. THE OBSCENE PROFITS MADE BY THE USA, CANADIAN AND EUROPEAN COMPANIES DURING THESE WARS WERE ON THE BACKS OF THE DEAD SOLDIERS!! And now, with the United States and many European countries nearing bankruptcy, these same corporations, banks and individuals feel that they should not have to pay higher taxes to help their own countries out of the mess they are in. It is easy to blame it on consumers, who were practically hoodwinked into taking mortgages the banks KNEW they would never be able to afford to pay. Blame it on the little guy. Isn't she the one who is always at fault for the mess? Blame it on the Black President. Even though most of this mess was inherited from a man who was probably one of the WORST PRESIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC, blame Obama. He inherited a bankrupt country, already in a banking crisis thanks to eight years of neglect and pandering to the rich by George Bush! Obama took over as President in perhaps the worst crisis the United Sates had ever been in, including the "Great Depression" of the 1930's. What has Obama done that is so terribly wrong? Why are the wealthy, who can afford the best of Health Care, so opposed to others having just a little bit of the same?? Why are people being tossed into the Streets by the very same banks who practically begged them to take mortgages that the banks KNEW these people could not afford to pay? Why were so many trillions of dollars spent to save these banks and corporations when it was THEIR OWN FAULT for the mess they were in?? And how do they show their gratitude?? They are doing the same damn things all over again. Why weren't some of those trillions used to help people keep their homes? Why were hundreds of thousands of people being thrown out of work by the same companies that had been bailed out?? Why are obscene bonuses being paid to the same companies that just recently were sucking at the Government teat to save their asses?? Dear god, that would smack of Socialism. If there is anything the TEA PARTY and their ilk fear more than taxes, it is that. They have no inkling what it is, but that doesn't stop them from being terrified of it anyway. So they go to church. Church attendance, especially amongst the evangelistic churches, has skyrocketed. Why?? The church is complicit in this whole mess in the USA. What is it's main message? Don't worry about what's happening to you today, you will get your reward when you die!! I am sure that is great comfort to the homeless, sick and mentally ill!!! Of course, they would not be welcomed in these huge temples of GREED that these churches have built in any case. They aren't dressed properly, they smell, they can't follow along with the hymn singing and the preaching. We'll just donate a few items to the food bank, and we can forget all about them. Just like the OTHER huge corporations (yes, I look at these churches as just other corporations), they throw a few scraps to salve what conscience they have, and then go on living their lives, oblivious to what is really happening in the world. Yet, these are the people that the Historical Jesus says the churches should be caring for. (For the record, I believe that Jesus did exist, he was not the son of any god, as there are none. That was a marvelous way that women in ancient times justified the fact that they were pregnant, but not by their mates-a visitation from a god!! Who could argue with that?? Jesus, I believe, was a Rabbi who attracted the attention of Rome for his "radical" views, and was probably crucified as a result. Unlike gods from many other cultures, he did not return from the dead. The Egyptian god Osiris did the same thing, as did many others. In fact, most of the Christian beliefs were borrowed from other cultures, and put together at a meeting of churchmen long after the real Jesus had died. His death and resurrection, along with the words put in his mouth by Paul and others, form the basis of what Christians believe today. I would rather have the REAL Jesus, thank you very much, when I look at the death and destruction religions have been responsible for over the last 5000 years-but this will be a topic for another post. So, get out and protest today, whatever it is you are protesting. Our world is becoming increasingly unfair to the average person. Occupy your own "Wall Street" and don't stop. Those in power will not listen ,and they have all the power on their side if you want to make them listen, so please don't give them an excuse to use it. Do not confront the police, clean up your litter, and show the world your concern, the way it should be done, practicing non-violence. A little guy named Gandhi found that to be VERY effective!!

Writer's Block

I didn't realize how hard it would be to wrote another blog entry after my last one. I guess I dried up for quite a while-didn't even get on Twitter very much until just recently. Sorry for that.

There hasn't been much improvement. My son doesn't talk to me. I guess I was somehow to blame for what happened/. Maybe I wasn't meant to go to the wedding. If someone had told me, I sure wouldn't.

Hell,I don't have anything earth shattering I want to say. It is taking me longer to get over all this than I thought it would. Forgive me wasting your time!

Gary

Relationships

Relationships are a wonderful, strange, tragic thing. My first wife and I divorced over 20 years ago. We had one son, who I love more than life. He was six. My wife eventually moved in and married her boss, a lawyer. My son lived with them, but I made every effort to stay in touch. Attended all his hockey games, baseball games, talked on the phone, spent weekends and traveled together-everything I could do.

 After the divorce I spent two long sessions in hospital suffering from severe depression. The circumstances of the marriage and the divorce damned near killed me. I never recovered, and finally had to take early retirement on a disability pension. I have given up on Psychiatry and Psychology, as I think they are a sham, not even a Science. That topic later, I promise.

Eventually, I re-married.  I found it necessary to leave my home town to move where my new wife could find work. I cannot tell you how many tears I cried at leaving my beloved son behind. He says now that I took him on a 15 year emotional roller coaster.I guess I did, I felt so guilty about leaving him, although I did my best to stay in touch no matter where I lived. I guess it wasn't enough.  To wit:

Flash forward to the present. My son, now age 29 is getting married back in my home Province. Thinking it would be one of the greatest days of my life, I make plans to attend. Looking back, I can see strange signals I should have picked up on. His future wife did not want to communicate with me-even by email-until "after she met me". Other signs as well. But I blundered ahead, sent all kinds of gifts, getting more and more excited. Arrived at wedding site early, expecting some pre-wedding get togethers, but spent most of my time sitting in a motel room. Thankfully,I had had the sense to invite a beloved Aunt, and two close friends of over 40 years. My sub-conscious must have been sending out warnings.

The wedding day. I arrived at the church to find that there was no reserved space for the "Father of the Groom". I sit near the middle of the church. His mother and step father in the front row. The reception- I asked to make a short speech telling a short cute anecdote about my son. Not called on. When I got up to speak anyway, my ex blocked my way and refused to allow me to speak (guess who was running that wedding!!). I found myself completely excluded from the wedding pictures-I had to tell the photographer I was the groom's father-and he grudgingly took a couple of pictures- of me standing alone. The wedding pictures were published on line two weeks later- the step father in the role of father in all the pictures. Not ONE PICTURE of my son and I together. Heart broken, I complain to my son, who now will not speak to me or answer my emails.

Now I sit alone, depressed, heart broken, and humiliated. What could I  possibly have done to be treated in this manner?? My friends say it is water under the bridge, I have to let go. (But they are 5000 km away!!) How do you let go of a relationship of almost 30 years with your own child, when I can't even identify what I did to be so horribly treated in this way?? It will be a long time before I get over this, but I will have to try. Appealing for mercy has certainly done no good. And, I guess my son has made his decision. He will have to live with it. I don't know if I can.

USA: Whither Goest Thou Olde Friend??

I just finished reading the latest issue of The Economist, probably the most respected news magazine in the  world, and the cover story, "Why America Locks UP TOO Many People", and I got to thinking about my old friend, the USA. To be honest, my friend, it is hard to recognize you anymore. I began paying you visits in the 1960's, before the horrors of the Vietnam War became all too apparent, and we really were buddies. I felt right at home in your living rooms, loved to visit Florida for Xmas vacation, made a trek to Maine two or three times a year, and though you laughed at MY accent, and thought it snowed 12 months of the year in my living room, I always felt at home with you. We were "kissing cousins" who were really comfortable together, and together accomplished a lot that was good.

I have to say, old buddy, that I don't feel welcome there any more!! You seem to cast your best friends into the same net as all "foreigners". And you seem to dislike those you label foreigners more and more all the time. Having just flown through your country, and gone through many Customs stops along the way, I fear you are suffering from xenophobia, old friend, and would be just as happy if we "foreigners" did not enter your country at all. You seem to forget that there have been many times when you needed your friends, and that today, you just might need them more than ever. Vietnam tainted your soul, and further wars have darkened it even more. Your attempts to keep "foreigners" out, forgetting all the time that you were all once foreigners yourself, is very puzzling to your long time friends. Your security, heightened to an almost ridiculous extent, really makes us feel unwanted by our old friends. The hassle is hardly worth the trouble any more. And your fences-well it might be funny if you weren't so serious about it.

But back to the magazine article. You are trying to rival China in the number of your citizens you are locking up and throwing away the proverbial key. And young black men more than ever!! Do you really think that you can lock your problems away behind prison walls? How many will have to be locked away before the fortunate few finally feel safe? And don't get me started on Arizona and other such states!

We still want to love you, but you are making it very hard for us, old friend. Be very careful, the number of friends you have around the world is dwindling, and there are only a few you can always count on. Be careful not to lose them too. We are finding it harder and harder to understand you. And we DO still want to be friends!! Remember, we are with you arm in arm in the gawdawful hole called Afghanistan.

Canada

Can I Go Home Again??? Not if Canada Post can help it!!!

I have been looking forward to going home to my son's wedding for almost two years. But I had no idea what a hassle it would be. The Travel Agents screwed me around, gave me ridiculous flights, didn't tell me that I had to pay for baggage when traveling in the good old US of A, failed to mention the cost of getting to Seattle, and made the return flight such a fuck up that I have to spend the might in Seattle because my flight from PHILA BLOODY DELPHIA, of all places, does not get in to Seattle in time for me to catch the shuttle bus home. The name of the travel agency is FLIGHT CENTER, in case you want to avoid them at all fucking costs!!


Not to be outdone, Canada Post has added immeasurably to the misery!! I thought I had a great idea. In order to avoid wreaking my brand new suit, tie and shirt by cramming them into a suitcase, I would box them and send them to my son, who would have them dry cleaned and ready for me when I arrived. What a mistake that was!! Looking up the tracking number, it said the parcel was delivered. My son and his lovely partner to be assure me it was never delivered. It then somehow ended up in Montreal-I believe the idiots mistook the name of the city, MONCTON, and sent it to MONTREAL instead. It sat there with no record of anything happening. I checked the web site tonight and find that it is know back here in Richmond, BC, from which I mailed it FOUR weeks ago!!

Now, I have to beg Canada Post to get it to me on Monday before 3:30 PM PST, so that I can take it with me. If not, I either have to hope they will ship it very quickly back to Moncton, or my wife will take the package to UPS and try to have i sent over night to me at my motel so that I can have it for the wedding on Saturday!!

I have been under so  much stress from my health problems, trying to get everything done for travel, I REALLY DIDN'T NEED THE INCOMPETENCE OF CANADA POST TO ADD TO MY MISERY. I will never send a parcel by Canada Post again as long as I live. This is completely inexcusable!!

Gary in agony!!

Robin Hoodwinked!!

Let me start off by saying that I LOVE movies. I can't help it. Not all movies, but many genres, to be sure. I grew up watching "dusters" (Westerns), and whatever fare I could watch on a Saturday afternoon.
I also LOVE to read. I was one of those very fortunate kids who could read at a very early age. And one of the first books I read, and one of the first black and white TV shows I loved, was the legend of Robin Hood. Now maybe you see where I am going with this.
I had the misfortune of seeing the latest version of "robin hood" (I refuse to even capitalize!!) recently, with Russell Crowe as the hero I had idolized as a kid, having read, watched movies and TV about Robin Hood.

Now granted, no one is absolutely certain that Robin Hood is anything more than a legend. But, we have discovered in studying History, that many legends have a basis in fact, and many believe this to be true of this hero. Movies love to re-write history and legends, hoping it will appeal to a new generation of readers or watchers. I have forgiven a lot of revisionists doing this. I even enjoyed Mel Brooks farce "Robin Hood, Men in Tights", which poked fun at the legend. But this latest movie has gone too far!!

Anyone who knows anything about the story would not even recognize this as Robin. The movie bears absolutely no resemblance to the accepted legend or facts!! It has even changed the identity of Robin Hood, and Maid Marion is not even recognizable, in spite of being played by one of my very favourite actors, Cate Blanchette.

But the best revenge is the result!! This movie BOMBED!! TANKED!! It should have gone straight to DVD and into the $1.99 bin at WalMart. Terrible movie. Horrible Story. And you had damned well NOT mess around with the childhood hero of me, and many others of my generation!!

Don't mess with ROBIN HOOD!! The money the idiots who made this movie lost is their just reward!!!

Apology

I must apologize to the one or two of you who have been reading my blogs! In May, I think old age set in all at once, and I have been in so much pain for a variety of reasons, that to sit in front of the computer for long has been very difficult. I think I'll have to invest in one of those "talking" programs so that I can dictate my blogs!! I have a lot to say-ask anyone who knows me- but it has been very hard, especially for a two finger typist. I so envy younger people who grew up learning to type and use computers. I have been in front of a computer since the first PC, but my typing has never improved very much. Actually, I sat in front of terminals producing punch cards to feed to a computer before that!! Look it up young folks!! :) Bought my first computer around 1983-4, an Atari 400 with 8 KB of Ram! You can Google that too, those of you under 40.

I will return, come hell or high water. That is a promise. And I am more grateful than ever for Social programs to keep in touch, even if I have been mostly absent (in more ways than one, for the last couple of months due to my health.

PS- Can't believe the errors I had to correct in this tiny post. REALLY getting rusty!!

Gary

Social Networking

I have given a lot of thought to the question I posed concerning Social Networking, and have decided that they are, in fact necessary, though perhaps a necessary evil. It seems that people spend more time socializing on the  Internet that they do interacting  with "real people". On second thought, maybe they ARE better off!!!

That is true of me as well. I moved to the Vancouver area, and decided to live in an area called Richmond. just across the Fraser River from Vancouver. I am pretty much surrounded by Chinese, both recent immigrants and long tme residents. There are so many Chinese in Richmond, in fact, that it is possible to live and work here with a minimum of English. Now, believe it not, I am not going in to a rant about immigration, government etc. My poimt is, that I have no friends here, and if it wasn't for social networking and email, along with the occasional phone call, I would be completely isolated socially. Even then, besides my blog, the only other site I use is Twitter. I did use Facebook, but got tired of listening to the mundane in others lives and, basically, got very tired of it. Socializing at its worst!!

Twitter, however, is a different bird (sorry couldn't resist.). You are always dropping in in the middle of something. People use Twitter in various ways, and enjoy it very much. The problem I find, though, is that is not very social in terms of communication. It is hard to even get a conversation started, or to have feedback on your posts. It seems at times that, in spite of the thousands of people on line with Twitter, that everyone is talking and no one is listening. TWITTER NEEDS MORE CONVERSATION, AND LESS PROCLAMATION!!  Most people seem to be happy with this, so I don't know the solution. I do, however, enjoy Twitter.In the early web, years ago, we had what were called Chat Rooms. Maybe we need something like that again, only on a larger scale. I wish I could think of a way of doing it-I might be the next Internet Millionaire!! Yeah right!! I can't even win a dollar on a six dollar lottery ticket!!


Ye Olde Munner

Liquida Widgets for your blog

Liquida Widgets for your blog

Social Computing Part the First!

I began computing when the first IBM PC was produced. In fact, I had an Atari Computer before that, which was pretty much a toy, but great (if expensive) for my son to play some learning games. He has been a computing whiz ever since. However, I am not. I know a lot about computers, having had so many things go wrong over the last 25 years and often fixing them myself (as all early computing geeks did!!) I downloaded Firefox before it was foxy, and connected to the very elementary internet by telephone, using the old cradle modem. When dial up became available by connecting a very basic modem, a new world began to open up. One could connect to new sites with the internet, and a new world began to open!


Next came email, which made it fun to stay in touch with the few people of that time, but it was usually the kids who had the know how and the computers. Business was rather slow to get involved, but when Bill Gates et al came out with the first version of his Windows OS, computing became available for everyone, and prices began to plummet. Windows meant you could actually surf the web, rather than get a URL from someone, and made sending emails so much easier.


Emails were the first form of communication online, but they were soon supplanted by others. The first form of Social Communication I remember was the "Chat Room". They evolved very quickly into chats of any and all varieties, and a room for every whim. Here, pretending to be someone you weren't became popular, and of course continues to this day on sites like Facebook and Twitter.


Are these Social Sites valuable, however??

Religion Part One, OR The old TestaBlog!!

One of the taboo subjects that most try to avoid: however I am going to wade in up to my neck, and see if anyone would like to disagree. Please feel free!!
I have been first an Agnostic, then an Atheist since my early teen years, when I started to have the sense to look around my world and the Universe surrounding it, and having all this created by a "god" just didn't make sense to me. What kind of being could create a Universe 13 billion years old, with hundreds of billions of stars, and probably even more planets? How could a god design the genetic code which ties all life on our Planet together? What about Evolution. Notice I didn't use the word "theory" as it is often misunderstood by those not versed in Science terminology.

However, this is not the main thrust of my Blog post today. I WANT PEOPLE TO SIGN A PETITION, CONDEMNING ALL, YES ALL ORGANIZED RELIGION.I want to see how many people would sign such a petition, and how far it will spread.

It is my thesis, then, that religion always has, and continues to be, the most dangerous of all the systems invented by humankind.Anyone who has studied World History must see that more people have died in the name of some god or other, than for any other cause. Humans, in the past, seemed to have a need for religion, probably to help explain what they didn't understand. The gods could be blamed when things went wrong, and praised when things went right-whether winning a battle or hitting the jackpot. Great work if you can get it!!

Please don't get me wrong-we are far from understanding everything, as a scientist tried to say around 1900. In fact, the great thing about science is that the more we discover, the more we find still to discover and explain, using SCIENTIFIC methods! I'm afraid the fundamentalist argument that a god hid all these clues around us to fool us in some way, and created the universe 5000 years ago is extremely ridiculous, and would even be funny, if so many people didn't believe it.

Watched an Episode of a Canadian TV show recently,(The Hour--if you can pick up CBC where you live, and want to see a talk show that is actually intelligent and thought provoking-watch it!!) and a guest (I forget his name)was a Christian who tried to argue that Atheists are as dangerous and indoctrinated as Fundamentalists, Christian or otherwise!! Now, I didn't understand what his argument really was, but I guess he felt he had to strike out some how!

I will say this now, and I mean it most sincerely: I don't give a damn if you worship a particular tree in the woods of Costa Rica or Russia. Feel free to worship who or what you want!! Just don't try to push your beliefs on someone else, and don't fight over the beliefs of someone else!! I am not trying to convince anyone that a god doesn't exist. I would never do that. But I will stand up for my beliefs, or the beliefs of anyone,as long as they don't try to push others into believing what they do. That was not said very well, and I will probably correct it when I am thinking a little more clearly.

Please go to this site and click on the Hunger Site and other great causes. Sign up for a reminder and click every day. It's an easy was to help people, animals, and the environment!!

Einstein Does it Again!!

The Beatles Continued Forever!!

I found an answer on an unlikely source!! The CBC was carrying a BBC Docu called "How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin". In that very fine documentary, a reporter goes to Russia because he has heard of the continuing popularity of The Beatles there. On interviewing people old enough to remember, he discovers that many thank the Beatles for helping to eventually bring down the wall and end Communism (it wasn't really!!) in Russia. People had to break the law to get a hold of Beatles albums and singles. They went to far as to smuggle them in on thin plastic which they could hide easily on there body, and share with others. Clubs formed where people shared music and information. And they could be arrested for even listening to the Beatles music. Some lucky folks could pick up there music from the BBC or Radio Luxembourg.

The whole point being, they would break the law and risk punishment to listen to the Beatles. And The Beatles are still VERY popular with young people there.

I guess Russia would have been VERY different without the Beatles, as would we all!!

The World Without The Beatles?

Image by erjkprunczyk via Flickr

I have been trying to do a "thought" experiment concerning the Beatles. I have been trying to imagine what the music world would have been like, and what direction music would have taken withought "The Beatles" (god forbid!!!)
I am trying to remember the state of music before the arrival of the Beatles. I have a handicap here (only one, says the chubby one?? :) ), I grew up in the Capitol City of the Province of New Brunswick, Canada-Fredericton. When I was growing up, yes even I did that, back in the Dark Ages of Commies and "Russkies", and scaring the HELL out of us with Nuclear Bomb drills. As if hiding under the desk was going to save your ass in a Nuclear Explosion!!! But I digress ( I do that a lot!). Our "city" had ONE radio station, CFNB, which was owned by a local family, led by Jack, who felt he had the right to tell all and sundry what they should listen to!!
We had ONE hour per day of what they euphemistically referred to as "Rock and Roll". That meant, white only,(no Elvis even), music! Sinatra was okay. So were groups like the Four Crewtops or Gene Vincent, Ricky Nelson, and their ilk--better forgotten.

The Beatles created a Revolution (unlike most artists of the time who couldn't even write their own songs, right Elvis??) Their place in music history is assured. But, wherefore music sans Beatles??

twitter

My Twitter site is http://twitter.com/munner2010. Also on Facebook as munner. See you there!!

Beatles in Music History

With the new Beatles Re-mastered CD's coming out, I am more than ever trying to decide their place in music history. I know that their music is still enjoyed by millions, but what I am trying to imagine is: where would music have gone without the Beatles? Would we still have been listening to those syrupy songs by people like Gene Vincent (was that his name?), and contrived groups like those created by Phil Spector (he should have been jailed then!!). What about the white bread singers like Pat Boone who sang many songs that were hits because they covered music by African American singers-songs that a huge number of radio stations wouldn't play! Or how about the "California sound"from the likes of Jan and Dean and yes, the Beach Boys.(How people can compare their "Pet Sounds" album to Sgt Pepper is still beyond my comprehension!!!) Or maybe the male quartet singers like the Crewcuts and many others??

Don't get me wrong, thankfully there were some Rockers, and some great ones!! But would the "Rock Group" have existed? The Beatles were unusual in so many ways, but in particular-they wrote their own music-with a few covers at first. Their ability as musicians and song writers set them apart from any musicians of that time.

It is also amazing to see how quickly the Beatkes evolved-in fact over and over again, in such a relatively short time! (Of course, it didn;t hurt having an absolute musical genius like George Martin working with them!!).

I have no doubt the Beatles have joined the ranks of the great composers and musicians of all time. But where would music have gone without them?? I hope that people will read this and leave their thoughts. It is a hard concept to get your brain around!

The Beatles In Music History!?

Mandarin Immersion in Vancouver

It seems the Vancouver School Board may be about to open a "can of worms" if it decides to consider or implement Mandarin Immersion in schools where there is a high concentration of Chinese families and students. Having had experience with the implementation of French Immersion in schools in New Brunswick, back in the last century (Yikes!! That makes me feel olde!!), let me lay a few lessons on Vancouver Teachers first, and then on the School Board and the people of B.C.

When the subject of Immersion first came up in N.B., I was still a fresh, young idealistic moron, who believed all the bullshit the government of the time were feeding us. (Richard Hatfield!! Need I say more??) We were assured that no English teachers would lose their jobs as a result of the programme, and that English speaking teachers would be given training in speaking and teaching the French language. Now, most of us had suffered through French classes from Grades 1-12, and those in Liberal Arts had added a few credits in University, so we were not entirely unfamiliar with Francais ( ask me to go into ``the hundreds`` the Olde Fart tends to exxagerate on occasion!! of conjugations of French verbs and my eyes still start rolling in my head, as happens as well when the old fart has had a few too many ales!!). And in the beginning, it seemed that would be the case. We were offered a Summer School Class at the expense of the School Board (UNHEARD OF, then or since!!), and we had, I have to admit, an enjoyable time, listening to tapes en Francais, and experiencing other sights and sounds -for example we got to know French wines rather well!! I guess the then ``young fart`` was more gullible then most; only about a dozen Teachers signed up!! At the end of this arduous session we were assured that the classes would continue during those cold New Brunswick winters, as well as during the summers, and that we would all be ready to go into the immersion classroom in jig time (for you Westerners, a jig is a dance, done usually after half a quart of rum, at great speed, with no discernible rhyme or reason)

Need I continue?? When we went back to classes in the fall, having given up our summer, there was nary a class in sight scheduled for the Fall , Winter, or Spring. The promised Summer session was somehow neglected as well. Nothing was heard of training English Teachers for Immersion again!! Instead, almost all Teachers in Immersion classes had French as their Mother Tongue. We were told that, although there were fewer and fewer English teachers, that this was being made up for by that good old bureaucratic word, "ATTRITION"! There weren't really any English jobs lost,they told the still gullible, English Teachers were retiring in record numbers-or perhaps dying!

But what really broke my heart, and does to this day, is that we lost most of the best and brightest students!!! Every year, there were fewer and fewer in our classrooms, as the upwardly mobile and advantaged parents of these students enrolled their kids more and more frequently in Immersion.And, of course, later parents could say they enrolled their students in Immersion BECAUSE there was a `better class`of student!!! English class sizes grew and remained MUCH larger, while the government could point to AVERAGES, and say that class sizes were falling! They were: in the Immersion classes!! They would have 10 or 12 fewer students than the English classes, and their "disciplinary problems" became a joke to we over-manned English Teachers.



All of this rambling has a point (believe it or not!!) for today's Teachers in Vancouver, and I am sure that Richmond will be close on the heels of the Vancouver Board. Is Immersion really necessary? It was politically expedient in the 60's and 70's to introduce French Immersion-after all it IS one of our OFFICIAL LANGUAGES! But ask those students, including Ye olde farts son, how many of them actually USED their new found French abilities when they left school? I can assure you that that not many would answer in the positive.

AND,LISTEN TO ME TEACHERS: who are some of the best students in your classes right now?? Who are the ones who always have their homework done, contribute to class in innumerable ways, and who continue on to University ( I don't count other "Post-Secondary" institutions, I do apologize! Give me all the job statistics and yearly wages you want- it just "ain't" the same!!) Then wait until the Moronocrats start comparing schools and see the correlation between Mandarin Immersion schools and those without!! (I think that is a despicable practise anyway, but I will leave that for another Blog!!) They (The Moroncrats) are not in the classroom anyway-most haven't been for years, if ever.

School Boards, prepare yourselves for an escalation in absenteeism, requests for counselling and Psychiatric help, and finally: burn out amongst non-Immersion teachers. You won't see it right away, it might take 10 years or more to manifest itself, but mark this down right now, IT WILL HAPPEN!! You will begin to see some of your best and brightest TEACHERS, leaving the schools for other Vocations. Those top students are what bring a little joy to our lives-they often help us get through the day and make it all worth while. Don't take that away! Teachers, don't let it happen. You WILL regret it.

After all, are there not Mandarin schools offered on Weekends anyway? In my experience, children only speak Mandarin at home, because their PARENTS cannot speak English!!!

To be continued, I am sure!!!