ART SUNDAY - VISUAL DIARIES 4

“… Look deep into my eyes, dear Bride, and see what you have not yet seen. For a stranger I have become, and a stranger I am indeed. The one you have forgotten, my dear, is Me. I am your Beloved, your first love. Remember how we loved to be together? Why did you not call upon Me in your time of woe? Why did you not call My name aloud? My love for you is sweeter than wine. Why did you not run after Me?”
George Davis

ART SUNDAY - VISUAL DIARIES 3

The Hateful Colour

I'd like to go out into the world,
Out into the wide world;
If only it weren't so green, so green,
Out there in the forest and field!

I would like to pluck all the green leaves
From every branch,
I would like to weep on all the grass
Until it is deathly pale.

Ah, Green, you hateful colour, you,
Why do you always look at me,
So proud, so bold, so gloating,
And me only a poor, flour-covered man?

I would like to lay in front of her door,
In storm and rain and snow.
And sing so softly by day and by night
One little word: farewell!

Hark, when in the forest a hunter's horn sounds -
Her window clicks!
And she looks out, but not for me;
Yet I can certainly look in.

O do unwind from your brow
That green, green ribbon;
Farewell, farewell! And give me
Your hand in parting!

Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827)

ART SUNDAY - VISUAL DIARIES 2

The Sick Rose

O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm.
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy;
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

William Blake (1757-1827)

ART SUNDAY - VISUAL DIARIES 1

“The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do.” - James Allen

I keep a “visual diary” and have done so for several years; I have now collected many of these little journals and it is always interesting to look back into them and recall the times I documented there. These diaries are sketchbooks that I keep at hand and whenever the fancy strikes me, I scrawl some sketches, draw with coloured pencils, or markers, write little snippets here and there, or cut and paste interesting things that I have seen and would like to keep. So for Art Sunday today, I’m sharing with you some of my visual diary pages.

“It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.” - Walter Bagehot

BACH & GOULD

“I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results.” - Johann Sebastian Bach

Today I shall let two great musicians talk for me using music rather than words to say what is in my heart. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is my favourite composer, and what better interpreter of one of his keyboard pieces than Glenn Gould? I immerse myself in such music and words become superfluous, unnecessary, redundant.

Glenn Gould is playing here the Bach Partita No.6 in E minor for keyboard, its first movement titled: Toccata. Luxuriate in it and let the beautiful sounds wash over your soul.





Enjoy your weekend!

OF PHYTOESTROGENS, SOUP & PRIMOGENITURE

“Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. It's time to start making soup again.” - Leslie Newman

You may have heard a lot about phytoestrogens in the news, on TV, or your reading in newspapers and magazines. Phytoestrogens are natural compounds that are found in plants, which when consumed may act somewhat like oestrogen, the body’s own hormone (found in females in high concentration, and in males in low concentration, in the blood). Foods high in phytoestrogens include soy products (soy milk, tofu, tempeh and soy yoghurt), flaxseed, legumes (lentils, beans, peas, etc) and whole grains. The phytoestrogens in soy foods are also known as isoflavones.

As phytoestrogens have a very similar chemical structure to the body's own oestrogen hormone, phytoestrogens can bind to oestrogen receptors on the surface of body cells. The effects of phytoestrogens on the body are not fully understood, but it is believed that phytoestrogens may act like weak oestrogen in some situations, or also block the actions of oestrogen in other situations.

Phytoestrogens have the ability to interact with the actions of sex hormones (oestrogens and androgens –female and male sex hormones respectively) in the body. Phytoestrogens have become a topic of interest for the possible prevention of hormonal cancers. High levels of sex hormones (oestrogen in women and androgens in men) over a person's lifetime are believed to be associated with an increased risk of hormonal cancers such as breast and prostate cancer.

Lower rates of breast and prostate cancer in some Asian countries, where soy is very common in the diet, have led scientists to investigate if there is a link between eating soy foods and protection against breast and prostate cancer. It is important to remember that people in these countries also differ from Westerners in many other aspects of their diets: For example, they eat more vegetables and fish, and less meat. They may also have different risks for these cancers because of genetic factors. So it is not completely clear whether it is the soy in the diet, or some other factor, that is responsible for the lower rates of cancer in these countries.

Animal and laboratory studies do support the hypothesis that phytoestrogens have a direct anti-cancer effect. Overall in large studies on people it seems like a high consumption of soy foods may lower the risk of breast and prostate cancers, but only a little. There is no association between soy foods and the risk of other types of cancers. More studies are needed to examine if phytoestrogens have a protective effect against breast and prostate cancer. From the current evidence, it is believed that a moderate consumption of soy foods (eg 1-2 serves of soy foods/day) along with an overall healthy eating plan is unlikely to have adverse effects. This is consistent with The Cancer Council's recommendations and dietary guidelines to eat a diet rich in plant foods. There is no evidence supplements that contain high doses of soy or soy isoflavones are effective in preventing cancer, and are therefore not recommended.

At the same time, it is important to mention, that it is not known whether a diet high in phytoestrogens for women who have breast cancer is safe. Tamoxifen is a common treatment for women with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Tamoxifen works by blocking the actions of oestrogen, and therefore stopping or reducing tumour growth. For women with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer who are taking tamoxifen, it is still unclear whether eating soy foods or taking soy supplements will block or enhance the actions of tamoxifen. The results of scientific studies are contradictory, and unfortunately there are no clinical trials to definitively answer this question. A moderate consumption of soy foods, as part of an overall healthy eating plan, is unlikely to have any harmful effects.

Supplements that contain high doses of soy or soy isoflavones have not been tested for safety in women who have breast cancer or who are taking tamoxifen. The best advice is to eat soy foods in moderation as part of an overall healthy eating pattern, and not to suddenly increase the amount of soy phytoestrogens in the diet. The Cancer Council recommends that women with breast cancer avoid soy and phytoestrogen supplements.

Research is underway looking at the types of eating patterns that are protective for women who have had breast cancer. Evidence is starting to emerge that maintaining a healthy weight by eating a low-fat diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables and being physically active can improve survival and the overall health of breast cancer survivors.

GREEK LENTIL SOUP À LA PRIMOGENITURE

Lentil soup is mentioned in the Bible: In Genesis 25:34, Esau is prepared to give up his birthright for a pot of fragrant red lentil soup being cooked by his brother, Jacob. The ancient Greek dramatist, Aristophanes, mentions lentil soup in his plays and describes it as the "sweetest of delicacies."

INGREDIENTS
• ½ cup of olive oil
• 3 onions
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 500 mL of tomato puree
• 250 mL of V8 juice
• 500 g of lentils
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 2 bay leaves
• Pepper, salt, a few leaves of rosemary, touch of oregano, some paprika

METHOD
Soak the lentils overnight in about 2 litres of water. Drain the next day and reserve the lentils until later – reserve half the water. Heat the oil and add the chopped onion stirring until golden-brown. Add the sliced garlic and the diced peeled tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes and then add the drained lentils. Stir thoroughly in order to coat the lentils with the oil and onion mixture. Add the tomato puree and V8 juice. Heat to boiling point and add the stock cubes, bay leaves and seasonings. Stir for a few minutes until the stock cubes are dissolved. Add some of the reserved water to obtain a thick soup-like consistency. Simmer for about 1.5-2 hours until the lentils are thoroughly cooked, adding water from time to time so that the lentils do not dry out or become too gluggy. Serve very hot with herb foccacia bread and kokkineli wine (Greek dry red wine).

Nice vegetarian dish with lots of phytoestrogens! You never know you may be able to trade someone’s primogeniture with it too!

HAPPY NAME DAY TO ALL THE NICKS!

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” - Oprah Winfrey

Today is St Nicholas’ Day, celebrated by Catholics, Orthodox and some other Christian groups. As my name is Nicholas, it is also my Name Day, or Onomastic Feast Day, to be more precise. In many countries, and certainly including Greece, one’s Name Day (which is celebrated on the Feast Day of the saint whose name one bears) is a big personal cause for celebration, equivalent to (or even more so) importance to one’s birthday.

Usually in Greece, the person celebrating their Name Day has an open house that day so that friends and relatives may drop in and give their wishes, give presents of flowers, sweets or drinks and in turn be regaled with various treats in return. Formal dinners may also be given, but generally the celebration is an informal reception at one’s home. As everyone should know what Saint’s Feast Day falls on what calendar day, it is rather a big insult not to wish one’s friends’ celebrating their Name Day, Χρόνια Πολλά (Chrónia Pollá - “Many Happy Returns of the Day”), or not to visit.

I’ve had a very nice day already, with family, friends and colleagues wishing me well. Tonight we have a dinner party for some close friends and we shall celebrate quietly with some good food, a little wine and pleasant conversation. Fittingly, my word for this Thesaurus Thursday is:

onomastic |ˌänəˈmastik|adjective
Of or relating to the study of the history and origin of proper names.
ORIGIN late 16th cent. (as a noun in the sense [alphabetical list of proper nouns], from Greek onomastikos, from onoma ‘name.’ The adjective dates from the early 18th century.

To all my 360 friends called Nicholas, Nick, Nicky, Nikos, Nikolas, Nikolaus, Colin, Col, Klaus, Klaas, Nicolette, Colette, Colinne, I wish you Many Happy Returns of your Name Day! Χρόνια Πολλά!

HAPPY SINTERKLAAS DAY!

“A person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” - Shirley Maclaine

December the 5th is a very special day in Holland (where I lived on and off for a few months). It is the day when the Feast of Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) is celebrated. This is an annual event which has been uniquely Dutch and Flemish for centuries. St. Nicholas' Feast Day, December 6th, is observed in most Roman Catholic and Orthodox countries. But it is only in the Low Countries, especially in the Netherlands, that the eve of his feast day (December 5th) is celebrated nationwide by young and old, Christian and non-Christian, and without any religious overtones.

Sinterklaas is always portrayed in the vestments of the bishop he once was, but his status as a saint has had little to do with the way the Dutch think of him. He is thought of as a benevolent old man, who is intent on been kind to children who have been good all year, by giving them all sorts of goodies as a reward. The eve of his feast day is observed by exchanging gifts and making good-natured fun of each other. Hence the corruption of “Sinterklaas” (= St Nicholas) into Santa Claus.

The legend of St. Nicholas is based on historical fact. Nicholas lived from 271 AD to December 6th, 342 AD (or 343). His 4th century tomb in the town of Myra, in Anatolia in present-day Turkey, has even been dug up by archaeologists. Nicholas was brought up as a devout Christian by his wealthy family. When his parents died in an epidemic, he distributed his wealth among the poor and became a priest. Later he became Archbishop of Myra, and it is from here that the fame of his good deeds began to spread across the Mediterranean.

Sailors especially venerated him, as they believed he had the power to calm the stormy seas. Young children were saved by the saint from the butcher's knife and he dropped dowries into the shoes of penniless maidens. Over time, St. Nicholas became the patron saint of sailors and merchants, but especially of children. After his death, the cult of St. Nicholas spread rapidly via southern Italy throughout the rest of the Mediterranean and eventually to coastal towns along the Atlantic and the North Sea.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Holland built no fewer than 23 churches dedicated to St. Nicholas, many of which are still standing today. Amsterdam adopted St. Nicholas as its patron saint, and Rome decreed that December 6th, the anniversary of his death, should be his official Feast Day. St. Nicholas' strong influence in the Low Countries (heavily engaged in trade and navigation) was primarily due to his role as patron of sailors and merchants.

However, his fame as protector of children eventually became more important in these countries. In the 14th century, choir boys of St. Nicholas’ churches were given a gift of money and the day off on December 6th. Somewhat later, the pupils of convent schools would be rewarded or punished by a monk dressed up as the Good Bishop, with his long white beard, his red mantle and mitre holding his golden crosier just as he is still represented today.

All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas (the name is a corruption of Sint Nikolaas) lives in Spain. Exactly why he lives there, remains a mystery, but that is what all the old songs and nursery rhymes say. He spends most of the year recording the behaviour of all children in a big red book, while his helper, Black Peter ("Zwarte Piet") stocks up on presents for the next December 5th. In the first weeks of November, Sinterklaas gets on his white horse, Peter ("Piet") swings a huge sack full of gifts over his shoulder, and the three of them board a steamship headed for the Netherlands. Around mid-November they arrive in a harbour town (a different one every year) where they are formally greeted by the Mayor and a delegation of citizens. Their parade through town is watched live on television by the whole country and marks the beginning of the "Sinterklaas season".

The Dutch are busy shopping for, or more importantly, making presents. Tradition demands that all packages be camouflaged in some imaginative way, and that every gift be accompanied by a fitting poem. This is the essence of Sinterklaas: Lots of fun on a day when people are not only allowed, but expected, to make fun of each other in a friendly way. Children, parents, teachers, employers and employees, friends and co-workers tease each other and make fun of each others' habits and mannerisms. Another part of the fun is how presents are hidden or disguised. Recipients often have to go on a treasure hunt all over the house, aided by hints, to look for them. They must be prepared to dig their gifts out of the potato bin, to find them in jelly, in a glove filled with wet sand, in some crazy dummy or doll. Working hard for your presents and working even harder to think up other peoples' presents and get them ready is what the fun is all about.

The original poem accompanying each present is another old custom and a particularly challenging one. Here the author has a field day with his subject (the recipient of the gift). Foibles, love interests, embarrassing incidents, funny habits and well-kept secrets are all fair game. The recipient, who is the butt of the joke, has to open his/her package in public and read the poem aloud amid general hilarity. The real giver is supposed to remain anonymous because all presents technically come from Sinterklaas, and recipients say out aloud: “Thank you, Sinterklaas!”, even if they no longer believe in him.

Towards December 5th, St. Nicholas poems pop up everywhere in the Netherlands: In newspapers and magazines, at school, at work and in both Houses of Parliament. On the day of the 5th, most places of business close a bit earlier than normal. The Dutch head home to a table laden with the same traditional sweets and baked goods eaten for St. Nicholas as shown in the 17th-century paintings of the Old Masters. Large chocolate letters (the initial of each person present) serve as place settings. They share the table along with large gingerbread men and women known as "lovers". A basket filled with mysterious packages stands close by and scissors are at hand. Early in the evening sweets are eaten while those gathered take turns unwrapping their gifts and reading their poems out loud so that everyone can enjoy the impact of the surprise. The emphasis is on originality and personal effort rather than the commercial value of the gift, which is one reason why Sinterklaas is such a delightful event for young and old alike.

A Sinterklaas Poem for my 360 Friends

A funny day, a lovely day,
A zany day so full of play!
To friends, with wishes sung
A happy day to old and young.

As Sinterklaas comes by again,
With Zwarte Piet from Spain,
I wish to you his gifts does bring,
A toy, a book, …a golden ring!

We all enjoy the fun, the laughter
And lots of sweets to eat straight after.
There’s cake and chocolate lots of candy,
But as for me, I’d rather drink the brandy!

Seek high and low, go out and in
You’ll find your presents with a grin:
In sawdust smothered, under beds,
In socks, in wardrobes or in bread!

The kindly saint, he smiles and blesses,
The youngsters’ heads bends and caresses.
To all who’ve been good all year,
Old Sinterklass will give good cheer.

Happy Sinterklaas Day to all!

MENTAL NOURISHMENT

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” - Mark Twain

Do you like lists? Are you a compulsive jotter-downer, lister, organiser? Do you sit there religiously writing out your shopping lists, laundry lists, Christmas card lists, birthdays lists, invitation lists to parties, weddings, funerals? I must confess that I went through such a phase and then I grew out of it. Still, I do catch myself sometimes writing one or another list. Rarely, well not often, anyway!

For our Book Tuesday today, I give you the ultimate book of lists. It is a book of books. A must for the book lover, a perfect Christmas gift for yourself of any other special bibliophile in your life. It is Peter Boxall’s “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die”. Now just a little simple arithmetic will tell you that if you read an average of two books a week, then it will take you 10 years and three-and-a-half days to read 1001 books! There you are, I’ve solved your “I-don’t know-what-to-read-next” problem for the next 10 years!

Dr Peter Boxall is a young English academic who together with his colleagues at the University of Sussex, chose the 1001 books and wrote 300 words about each in this book of “lists”. About 70 per cent of the editors’ choices are from the 20th century, but surprisingly there is also good representation of books written originally in languages other than English. The Australian contingent was rather under-represented with only 6/1001 being by Australians (Grrrrrrrrrr!). Of course any list of “favourites” is quite subjective and it is hard to find within the list all of one’s personal favourites. However, I was delighted by this list book and I was surprised by the gems of information that the editors have crammed into it.

It really is a book for book lovers and serves to give you a brief introduction to classic and cult books and authors, that you may have heard of but know little about. It contains more than 600 photos and book covers and is a good check-list of what you have read and what you are yet to read. Obviously, one would not read all that is recommended, but it really is a piquant menu for your mental nourishment and one delights in making up an elegant reading dinner party for the next month.

The ISBN for the book is 9780733321214 and in Australia it was published in July 2007. It follows the success of “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” by the same author (also a good read!).

MOVIE MONDAY - MARIE ANTOINETTE

"Let Them Eat Cake..." - Misattributed to Marie Antoinette

Last weekend we watched Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (2006) on DVD. We had heard conflicting reviews about this movie and it was interesting to watch it and compare it with the 1938 MGM classic “Marie Antoinette”. Visually, the Coppola version is sumptuous and stunning. The cinematography, the costumes, the sets, the sweeping landscapes and the brilliant colour bring the decadence of 18th century Versailles to life. It is a beautiful movie in terms of this visual feast. Kirsten Dunst cast as the ill-fated young queen plays well, although she has to deal with a difficult script and dialogue that totters between modern slang and stilted “olde-worlde” period-speak. Good supporting performances by Jason Schwartzman, Judy Davis, Rip Torn, Marianne Faithfull and Asia Argento make the film watchable.

However, there are many problems and things that cannot be forgiven. This is definitely a movie where “Hollywood-does-history” in a self-indulgent and ultimately “box-office success” way so as to reassure the producers of a reasonable profit for their investment. The film has been made so as to appeal to a young audience. One reviewer called it “Gidget Goes to Versailles” and it was with good reason, too. The film concentrates much on Marie Antoinette’s life in Versailles on her occasional escapades to Paris, but there is nothing there to place her fairy-tale existence into context, no suggestion of how the final scenes in the film came about. One can expect a young impressionable person with little knowledge of history to see it and go away thinking: “Poor, sweet thing, whatever did she do to deserve a beheading? She was extravagant and owned lots of shoes and clothes and jewels, but she had to, didn’t she? She was a queen after all!”

I was uneasy about the other devices used to attract the young film-viewers. The anachronistic touches were heavy-handed and gimmicky. Putting in a pair of sneakers amongst the period shoes in the closet, for example? Funny? Hmmmmm. The soundtrack where modern rock alternated with 18th century music was particularly grating. It made the scenes where this occurred to look like some modern costume party. Hot pink dresses and pastries were really an eyesore, and in there obviously to appeal to the young irises that need the stimulation so that they do not wander away. I’ve mentioned already the language and slang used – perhaps the most forgivable of the anachronisms.

The other objection we had to the movie was the superficial way in which the politics of the era was handled. In the scenes where Louis XVI is having conferences with his advisors, matters of momentous national and international importance are treated in seconds and are oversimplified, as though the young things that watch the movie couldn’t possibly handle anything except “fun” and “exuberance” and “joie-de-vivre” and “pot-parties” and “love affairs”. That is really pandering to much of the youth of today, but at the same time it is making the mind-rot that has set in even worse.

The film was over-long at two-hours and there was only so much partying and extravagance and wild dancing and court parading that one could take. Contrasting scenes with what the ordinary people were experiencing in the streets of Paris would have made the movie more powerful and more engaging for me.

The earlier version of “Marie Antoinette” even though in black and white (sepia-tone) provided an equally sumptuous recreation of 18th century Versailles, but was balanced by more of the underlying sociopolitical situation in France at the time. Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette does a good job, although there is some melodrama (but it was the 1930s, remember!) and she is complemented by Robert Morley and Tyrone Power as Louis XVI and Count Axel respectively. This version of the film was based on Stefan Zweig’s biography, as opposed to Antonia Fraser’s biography, which was the basis of the Coppola film. There are flaws in this earlier film, also (history according to Hollywood can be very patchy and flaky), but overall, I enjoyed the earlier film more.

Do I recommend seeing Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”? Yes, I do. However, if you have not done so already do read a good history book on the French Revolution first. And watch it at home with lots of popcorn and a few members of the family and friends around so you can amuse one another when the movie starts to drag.

ART SUNDAY - MAURICE UTRILLO 4

La Butte rouge de Monthéus

« Sur c’te butt’-là, y’avait pas d’ gigolettes
Pas de marlous, ni de beaux muscadins ;
Ah ! c’était loin du moulin de la galette…
La Butt’ roug’, c'est son nom
L’ baptêm’ s’fit un matin
Où tous ceux qui montaient
Roulaient dans le ravin
Aujourd’hui, y a des vign’s
Il y pouss’ du raisin
Qui boira ce vin-là
Boira l’ sang des copains »

“La Maison Bernot” – 1924, Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie

ART SUNDAY - MAURICE UTRILLO 3

The finest examples of this are shown throughout his White Period. In his paintings of the White Period, calm and serenity reign, enhanced by the colour white that Utrillo, better than any other painter, could modulate to such poetic effect. During this period, Maurice Utrillo was experiencing one of the happiest times of his life with his marriage to Lucie Valore in 1935 and an established career – he signed his first contract with Paul Pétridès, who was to be his art dealer until the artist’s death in 1955.

“Le Lapin Agile” – 1910 Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou

ART SUNDAY - MAURICE UTRILLO 2

For most of his life, Maurice would be in and out of hospitals and institutions for drunkenness and mental illness due to drinking. His mother, herself an alcoholic, was a great contributor to the problem. For many years they lived together in Montmartre and in Brittany (where they later had a large country house), the elderly Madeleine, Maurice, Suzanne, and her lover and then husband, André Utter. They drank and fought and scrounged for money, living from the sale of a painting here and there. Utter began to act as agent for both Maurice and Suzanne, and gradually they both became respected artists in Montmartre and with this new found success, life became slightly easier for Suzanne and Utter. Maurice, however, would never lead a stable life. He drank and painted, and when it was very bad would ask his friends to lock him up and not let him drink. He would scream until someone let him out or he could escape.

"Windmills of Montmartre" (1949) Collection Dr. and Mrs. Harry Bakwin, N. Y.

ART SUNDAY - MAURICE UTRILLO 1

For Art Sunday, today, a tragic figure who is associated with Paris and Monmartre, more than any other painter, perhaps. It is Maurice Utrillo, born in Paris on December 26, 1883. He was the illegitimate son of Suzanne Valadon, the model and painter. She was only 18 when he was born and even she had very little idea of the father’s identity. It seems that it could have been any one of several artists in Montmartre, though, the strongest evidence seems to point to a young artist/wanderer by the name of Boissy.

Suzanne adored her son, but in his infancy he inconvenienced her lifestyle and so she often neglected him. His maternal grandmother, Madeleine, raised him. She lived with them and took in washing to add to her daughter’s income. At that time, Suzanne was one of the most popular models in Montmartre. Madeleine started giving wine to baby Maurice to put him to sleep, thus forming his future penchant to drink excessively. He was known as a drunk from before the age of thirteen.

Utrillo got his name from Miguel Utrillo, a friend of his mother’s, who agreed to adopt Maurice so that the boy would appear to have a father. Maurice became “Maurice Utrillo” on April 8, 1891. At first, Maurice resented this change terribly and he refused to use the name, adopting it only when he was 27, finally settling on “Maurice Utrillo, V.” Maurice, was untrained as an artist, like his mother, but he had a raw, natural style. He almost always painted Montmartre and often it was from memory. In this, Suzanne did all she could to encourage him, and he gradually developed his own style.

"View of the Sacré-Coeur from the Rue St Rustique"

WORLD AIDS DAY

“Sometimes I have a terrible feeling that I am dying not from the virus, but from being untouchable.” - Amanda Heggs

The first of December is recognised internationally as World AIDS Day. It is the culmination of AIDS Awareness Week, which begins annually on the 24th of November. Both events aim to raise community awareness throughout the world about HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), including the need for support for and understanding of people with HIV/AIDS, and the need for ongoing education and prevention initiatives.

The theme for the 2007 Australian World AIDS Day campaign is: ‘HIV/AIDS: Prevention is everybody’s business’. The theme was chosen to remind people that HIV/AIDS remains a serious disease for which there is still no cure, and that awareness and prevention remain the best defences against its spread.

The campaign aims to increase knowledge about the impact of HIV/AIDS on everyone in the community. It is a health issue that affects everyone and therefore prevention is everybody’s responsibility. The World AIDS Day campaign also aims to inform people about the important care and support services that are available for people affected by HIV, and to emphasise that people with HIV/AIDS need encouragement, understanding and acceptance.

Africa remains the country in which AIDS exacts the greatest toll and it still is the place where poverty, warfare, corruption and misinformation make HIV infection difficult to prevent and treat. Many countries are becoming grossly crippled socially and politically by the increasing numbers of AIDS deaths Malawi is one of these. Hundreds of thousands of deaths mean that an equally high number of AIDS orphans are found in the population.

Here is an AIDS orphans musical group singing out in hope, with their spirit soaring high above their poverty and their adversity. Their instruments are discarded gas cans, animals hides and whatever else they can scavenge to produce a tune. But they do make music. Listen to the music of children orphaned by AIDS and visit www.ministryofhope.org

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD

“Whenever science makes a discovery, the devil grabs it while the angels are debating the best way to use it.” - Alan Valentine

Just this week, our state Government publicised its decision to legislate that genetically modified (GM) food crops that until now were banned, could be cultivated freely in our State. This was in response to pressure from farmers who maintain that GM crops are more profitable and their deregulation will save their livelihoods. There has been quite an outcry from many groups in the community, first and foremost the environmentalists and following them the more conservative political groups. The first GM crop to be grown is canola, from whose seed much of the vegetable oil used widely in the food industry is extracted.

GM foods are derived from GM organisms, whose genes have been modified using modern biotechnology. This is a process that occurs in research labs and which creates organisms containing an improved genetic make-up, making GM crops more resistant to disease, higher yielding and more robust. This is a process akin to eugenics (the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. Developed largely by Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race, it fell into disfavour only after the perversion of its doctrines by the Nazis).

Without knowing the exact mechanism, farmers centuries ago made use of various breeding methods to produce farm animals, grain and plants which were bigger, healthier, tastier or easier to raise and grow. This natural process is not objectionable to anyone, but it achieves the same ends as GM processes in laboratories. Nowadays, scientists are identifying and modifying genes controlling specific characteristics in the laboratory, in a process that is much faster and more efficient than the centuries old method of animal husbandry and crop improvement through laborious cross-breeding and trial/error methods.

The question foremost in people’s minds is: Are GM foods safe for human consumption? The short answer to that is, yes. If you have ever eaten corn, corn meal, pop corn, corn flour, you have been eating a GM food. Only, the genetic modification has occurred over many generations by selective breeding. The wild American corn was small, stumpy, with few seeds and not as nutritious nor as tasty as modern corn. Many generations of farmers improved the quality of corn by selective breeding, which in effect genetically modified the corn.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have concluded that the use of modern biotechnology (including genetic modification) does not result in food which is inherently less safe than that produced by conventional techniques. In fact, all GM foods are subjected to rigorous safety assessments by the industry and regulatory agencies of the places of origin before they are put into the market. To date, none of them have been proved as unfit for human consumption.

There have been reports that GM foods available in the market may cause allergy and have health implications. In fact, all GM foods have been subject to stringent safety assessment before they are available in the market. While it is possible to develop foods containing toxins or allergens by both traditional breeding and genetic engineering, the advantage of genetic engineering is that the gene of interest can be well defined and introduced into organisms more precisely. Hence, the possibility of developing a food with toxins and allergens can be better recognised when compared with conventional breeding.

Increasing world population numbers, reduction in arable land, increasingly variable and unsuitable climactic conditions and scarcity of fresh water means that farming of the future will be much different from that which we were used to up till now. In some situations around the planet, the only solution to overcome these problems is to develop GM foods that are better adapted to these new, adverse conditions and they have a higher yield than traditional foods raised by conventional means. I have no problem consuming GM food, my stomach digestive juices will treat it the same way they do conventional food and my body will derive the same nourishment from it. However, I respect the objections that some people may have to the growing of GM food and its consumption. Their reasons for their objections have to be valid, nevertheless, and not some garbled rant about GM foods being bad because they are “unnatural”. We do not live in a “natural” environment and we have ceased to do so for several millennia.

LEXICOGRAPHY

“Cough: A convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity.” – Samuel Johnson

I am going to be very busy over the next few months. The reason is that as well as my regular job I am going to be working above and beyond the call of duty on another project that I have just consented to. Some of you may know that in 2005/6 I was involved in a massive project, that being the editing of the first ever, comprehensive Australian Medical Dictionary. It is the “Mosby’s Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions”, a monumental work of over 2100 pages with many tens of thousands of entries. It was a gruelling task, but at the same time extremely satisfying and amazingly interesting. The hard work paid off and currently this dictionary is the most popular in Australasia.

I have just consented to be one of the three editors-in-chief for the second edition of the dictionary that will be published in 2008. That is the way that scientific publications go. With the break-neck speed of innovative developments, evolving new knowledge and practice in medicine and all of the health professions, it is imperative to keep up and constantly correct, amend, update and improve. So for the next few months I shall be doing that as well as working my day job and I’ll definitely try to keep up blogging away as well.

Writing a dictionary is much more difficult than writing a book, even if it is a scientific book that one is considering. For this dictionary, we have 50 specialist consultants, 20 appendix consultants, and 21 reviewers, and they are all under the editorial control of the three editors-in-chief, myself and two other wonderful (if slightly crazy people, as we lexicographers must be to agree to do this type of work!). I am in charge of 20 consultants (in as many general topic areas), and as well as that, I look after the entries in four specialist areas. This implies that I shall define over a couple of thousand terms in the dictionary myself, and have the final say over the definition of several thousand of other terms. This is quite a powerful position to find oneself in, but at the same time it is a position of great responsibility.

So on this Thesaurus Thursday, what better word to give you, than:

lexicographer |ˌleksəˈkägrəfər| noun
A person who compiles dictionaries.
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: modern Latin, from Greek lexikon (biblion) ‘(book) of words,’ from lexis ‘word,’ from legein ‘speak’ and Greek graphé ‘writing.’

Or if you prefer Samuel Johnson’s (1709-1784) definition from his dictionary (1755) of the English Language:

Lexicographer: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.

Wish me luck!

KARYOTAKIS - POETRY WEDNESDAY

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.” – Albert Camus

To An Old, Fellow-University Student

Friend, my heart has grown so old
Now that my life in Athens is over,
The same life, sweet, as when we partied,
And bitter, as when we starved.

It won’t be a homecoming, like it was in this place
In the celebrations of youth,
But rather I’ll be a visitor accompanying my hope,
A traveller with a dream that faded away.

I’ll stand like a pilgrim outside your house,
And they’ll tell me they know not where you’ve gone.
Another man will accompany your Aphrodite,
And strangers will now live in Irene’s house.

I’ll go to the Samian’s tavern
Where we used to drink, and I’ll ask for wine,
It will taste different, as you won’t be there,
But I’ll drink it anyway to get drunk.

I’ll go towards the Zappeion singing,
Staggering, just as we used to do together;
The plaza will be beautiful, the horizon broad,
But my song will be like a dirge.
Kostas Karyotakis (1896-1928)

Σε Παλιό Συμφοιτητή

Φίλε, η καρδιά μου τώρα σα να γέρασε
Τελειώσε η ζωή μου της Αθήνας,
Που όμοια γλυκά και με το γλέντι επέρασε,
Και με την πίκρα κάποτε της πείνας.

Δε θα ‘ρθω πια στον τόπο που πατρίδα μου
Τον έδωκε το γιόρτασμα της νιότης
Παρά περαστικός με την ελπίδα μου,
Με τ’ όνειρο που εσβήστει, ταξιδιώτης.

Προσκυνητής θα πάω κατά το σπίτι σου
Και θα μου πουν δεν ξέρουνε τι εγίνεις.
Μ’ άλλον μαζί θα ειδώ την Αφροδίτη σου
Κι άλλοι το σπίτι θα ‘χουν της Ειρήνης.

Θα πάω προς στην ταβέρνα, του Σαμιώτικου,
Που επίναμε για να ξαναζητήσω.
Θα λείπεις, το κρασί τους θα ΄ναι αλλιώτικο,
Όμως εγώ θα πιω και θα μεθύσω.

Θ΄ανέβω τραγουδώντας και τρεκλίζοντας
Στο Ζάππειο που ετραβούσαμεν αντάμα,
Τριγύρω θα ΄ναι ωραία, πλατύς ορίζοντας
Και θα ΄ναι το τραγούδι μου σαν κλάμα.
Κώστας Καρυωτάκης (1896-1928)

Kostas Karyotakis (1896-1928) is a Greek poet, one of the most important of the 1920s and amongst the first to write in a modernist style in Greece. There are rich images, often surrealistic, but always rich in expression and adorned by a sensitivity to nature and the emotions it arouses. He was not greatly thought of during his life, but after he committed suicide his poems came to the forefront and were critically acclaimed.

He was born in Tripoli but because his father was an engineer the family moved all over Greece, causing the child to become introspective and solitary. He got a law degree from the University of Athens and became a public servant in Thessaloniki. He disliked his work and loathed the very bureaucracy he was forced to uphold. In 1919 he published his first collection of poems, followed by two more collections in 1921 and 1927. Critics ignored or wrote bad reviews of these collections of fine poems.

In June 1928 he was transferred to the provincial town of Preveza. He wrote letters to friends and relatives describing his loneliness and desperation there. On the 20th of July he tried to drown in the sea for ten hours, but failed in his attempt. The following morning he purchased a gun and went to a little café. After a few hours, he went to a nearby beach and there, under a gum tree he shot himself through the heart.

More of his poems may be read here in English translation:




The poem above set to music by Lena Platonos is sung by Savina Yannatou.

ALPHA TO OMEGA

“Thou hadst better eat salt with the Philosophers of Greece, than sugar with the Courtiers of Italy.”
- Benjamin Franklin

For Book Tuesday today, I am considering an extremely interesting book that I have just finished reading. It is “Alpha to Omega: The Life and Times of the Greek Alphabet” by Alexander and Nicholas Humez. The book was re-issued in 2000 after a successful first run a few years back and it is available online. I was fortunate enough to get a used copy of the fine first edition, which is absolutely delicious in typographical quality as well as well as in content, being printed in wonderful creamy, archival, acid-free paper and using a graceful, easy to read font, the layout well designed and set. Books that are produced beautifully and with craftsmanship, as well as having good content are rarer and rarer to get nowadays.

This is the sort of non-fiction book that I love to read as every page has interesting facts, amusing anecdotes, historical trivia, engaging tangents and a solid backbone of linguistic analysis with the flesh of historical and sociological erudition. The authors take the Greek alphabet (from which the Latin and subsequently all Western alphabets are derived) and dissect it. Each chapter is devoted to a letter, beginning with alpha and ending with omega and beyond (beyond as even three disused or little used Greek letters are covered too: Koppa, Digamma and Sampi)!

Each chapter has as its starting point a few Greek words beginning with the letter which is the subject of that chapter, and these words are analysed, examined in a historical context, with the connections to other languages (but especially to English) being highlighted. The style is witty, amusing, light, digressive, but always accurate and involving, and never losing sight of the concept of the book, which is a tribute to Greek thought and civilisation through the letters of the alphabet, and of course its words.

The authors who are extremely learned and must have enjoyed the writing of this book immensely, demonstrate without doubt that “the Greeks had a word for it”; it, being everything! If you enjoy words, word origins, history, Greek myth, culture, languages or simply a good old amusing read, this book is a gem and I cannot recommend it too highly.

HAPPINESS I$...

“The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances.” -
Martha Washington

Happiness… What is it? When do we feel happy? When can we truly say we are content with our lot in life and be satisfied, pleased, joyful? For me personally, happiness is health, a comfortable home, a job I enjoy doing and people around me whom I love and who love me. That sort of existence provides me with many moments of delight, instances of enjoyment, long-term satisfaction and pleasure that is additive with each passing day. Much of that state of happiness depends on giving rather than receiving. I am happiest when I can make others happy too. Happiness hinges on our interactions with other people, it is a state that withers if we are living in isolation, relying only on selfish goals to provide us with feelings of well-being.

And money, what about money? I am reminded of the old adage: “Anyone who says you can't buy happiness just doesn't know where to shop.” But a surplus of money will often only allow us to buy luxuries and superfluities. This will make people go into a consumer frenzy because as Marvin J. Ashton says: “You can never get enough of the things you don't need, because the things you don't need can never satisfy.” Imagine being surrounded by every material comfort and all the consumer goods you ever wanted. Imagine being able to have anything you ever dreamed of having. And as soon as you saw something that can be bought you could buy it. Would that make you happy? Bertrand Russell maintains that to be happy we must always be hankering after something: “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” With this I tend to agree…

Having prefaced my Movie Monday entry in this way, let me now consider the film that I’ll talk about: Gabriele Muccino’s 2006 film “The Pursuit of Happyness”. This is a film inspired by a true story, that of Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith in one of his better roles. Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s own son) plays Gardner’s young son very well and the movie is a predictable rags to riches story, a glorification of the “American Dream”, a “success-rewards-those-who pursue-it” story.

I must admit, I enjoyed the film; there was poignancy and pathos in it, there was some humour and even though the plot was conventional and unsurprising, the film could be watched with enjoyment. The portrayal of the relationship between father and young son was sensitively done and one could forgive the heavy-handedness of the plot and the repetition of some scenes (how many times can someone lose and find a portable bone scanner in a big city like San Francisco?). One could even forgive the Hollywood sandpaper and veneer job over some of reality’s harder edges. Upon seeing the film ending, one could rejoice in the personal success of Chris Gardner - at least all of this on first viewing.

However, on reflection (and I suspect on second viewing of the film), the sugar coating dissolves somewhat. I thought about the relationship Chris has with his long-suffering wife and her desperation that causes her to abandon him and their son. The scene where the child asks his father “is it my fault that mommy left us?” caused me to ask, which brand of happiness is Chris Gardner pursuing? Is happiness in his case equated with earning a big salary and achieving success as stockbroker (that arch-stalwart of capitalistic vocations!)? What has he sacrificed to achieve that? At what cost, success?

If a family is united, if the parents love one another and their prime goal is the happiness of their children, then surely their first goal is to keep the family together? Chris wants to be a successful salesman selling expensive (and unnecessary) medical equipment. He sacrifices the integrity of his family in order to be a success in this job. He becomes a trainee stockbroker and often puts his son in situations that could prove to be threatening for the child, physically and psychologically. He realises his dream, he succeeds in his quest for status, prestige and all importantly, money. He too can have a private box at the football game now. That is his happiness.

I think on reflection, what I found objectionable about the movie was that it obliterates the middle classes from its vision of the world. Chris Gardner must be either a down-and-outer living in poverty, or alternatively he must be a high-flying executive earning hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars by advising people how to invest and play the stock market. The world is black or white. Black is poverty and misery, white is luxury and happiness. His love for his son is the only middle ground, but even that is secondary to his first priority, which is his personal “success”, whatever that is, at whichever time. Chris Gardner on second consideration is quite selfish. He is someone who knows what skid row is like and will do anything to raise himself up by the scruff of his neck to the upper echelons where money means everything. Is this what the American Dream is all about? Is success on a personal, selfish level more important than anything else? Is to have money the only way we can be successful, worthy of respect, happy?

The bad guys are the needy, the impoverished the people of Gardner’s class (consider how his friend does not give him the $14 he owes him – although he does help him move). The good guys are the rich ones – they give Gardner opportunities, a perfect day at the football in a private box, ultimately a job and his boss who borrows $5 from him even has the integrity to return it! It IS all about money, isn’t it?

The film is quite disturbing the more I think about it and I wonder how I will feel about it on second viewing. On the one hand there is nobility, higher values, love between a father and his son, the just reward of effort, and the success that crowns the struggle of a worthy person. On the other hand there is the undercurrent of overt, implicit and subliminal capitalistic propaganda. “You too can succeed and be happy (provided you make enough money)”…

Going back to what I started out with in this blog, I think Norman MacEwan sums it up pretty well: “Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Maybe I have it wrong. If you have seen this movie, tell me where I misinterpreted what it is all about.