MAY DAY - 2009

“Earth laughs in flowers.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is May Day, which for many people has come to symbolise the ideals and aspirations of workers all around the world. It is a public holiday in many countries, being celebrated as a Labour Day, commemorating the fight for the eight hour working day. This is the reason May Day called International Workers’ Day. The idea for a “workers holiday” began in Australia in 1856. This idea spread to the rest of the world and became associated with May 1st in connection with the Haymarket affair, which occurred during the course of a three-day general strike in Chicago, Illinois that involved workers of many kinds.

An incident at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant, in which police opened fire and killed four strikers was the reason for a rally to be organized the next day at Haymarket Square. Even though things started peacefully enough, as police moved in to disperse the event, an unknown person threw a bomb into the group of policemen. A dozen people died, including seven policemen. A sensational trial followed in which eight defendants were tried for their political beliefs, and not necessarily for any involvement in the bombing. The trial led to the public hanging of seven anarchists. The Haymarket incident outraged people around the world and in following years, memory of the "Haymarket martyrs" was commemorated in various May Day job actions and demonstrations.

Although May Day began in the United States, the U.S. Congress designated May 1st as “Loyalty Day” in 1958 due to the Soviet Union taking on the day as a large scale Communist festival with workers marching and taking part in all sorts of labour-devoted activities. “Labor Day” is on the first Monday in September in the United States. People around the world often use May Day as a day for political protest.

In the past however, this day was traditionally a fertility festival. Young people would rise well before sunrise and go out in the countryside to gather “May”. May is any kind of blossom and greenery but especially hawthorn blossom (May-blossom), birch or rowan. Sloe or blackthorn are avoided as they are ill-omened. To leave a branch of May-blossom on a friend’s door is compliment and will them luck.
Good morning, Mistress and Master,
I wish you a happy day;
Please to smell my garland
‘Cause it is the First of May.
A branch of may I have brought you,
And at your door I stand;
It is but a sprout, but it’s well sprouted out,
The work of our Lord’s hand.

However, other gifts can be insulting!
Nut for a slut; plum for the glum;
Bramble if she ramble; gorse for the whores.

The jaunts in the countryside often ended up in the couples cavorting in the fields and more than one match was made under the observances of tradition. The Maypole is a tradition in many countries and is a relic of a fertility ritual where the Maypole has phallic associations. It is a tall pole adorned with greenery and all kinds of flowers. Ribbons are fixed to the top and hang down to the ground. Men and women each take hold of a ribbon and proceed to dance around the pole to the strains of joyful music.

The dew from the hawthorn tree, Crataegus monogyna, was thought to make young girls beautiful if they washed with it on May morn:
The fair maid who the first of May,
Goes to the field at break of day
And washes in dew from hawthorn tree
Will ever after handsome be.

In Greece, on May Day people go out into the countryside in order to have a good time, pic nic and gather flowers. The season is symbolised by Spring flowers gathered in the morning and brought home in order to be woven into a wreath, which will adorn the front door of the house. The wreath is left to dry on the door, not to be taken down until Midsummer’s Day when it is ritually burnt in St John’s Fires.

APRIL

“Even the gods love jokes.” - Plato

April |ˈāprəl| noun
The fourth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the second month of spring: The flower festival was to be held in mid-April | [as adj.] April showers.
ORIGIN Old English, from Latin Aprilis.

The derivation of the name Aprilis is uncertain. The classical etymology is from the Latin aperire, “to open”, in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to “open up”, which is supported by comparison with the Modern Greek use of άνοιξις (anoixis = opening) for Spring. Since most of the Roman months were named in honour of gods and goddesses, and as April was sacred to Venus (the Festum Veneris et Fortunae Virilis being held on the first day of April), it has been suggested that Aprilis was originally her month Aphrilis, from her Greek name Aphrodite (Aphros = sea foam as she rose from the sea), or from her Etruscan name Apru.

I’ve left this rather late for April, but I still managed to get this in for Word Thursday, being the last day of the month. We are well advanced into Autumn now in the Southern Hemisphere, of course, and as the days shorten here and an early winter chill is making its teeth felt, we can only dream of the Northern Spring.

April is a favourite months of mine – Autumn or Spring, warm or cool, dreary or bright. Why? Some of sort of strange affinity? Some unexplained seasonal affectivity? Some deep-seated memory? Who knows?

Scorpio

Dying April,
Newborn May.
Northern spring showers
Unseasonal southern heat.
My flesh burns
As the cool moonlight
Touches it, lightly, from a distance
As softly as the memory
Of your single embrace,
When our frigidities did for a
Single moment briefly unite us.

The sun in Taurus.
Approaching Gemini,
Yet Scorpio stirs in my flesh
Awakening dark desires,
Readying his deadly sting.
I yearn for your kiss
My lips already parted;
Irises wide open, coals burning.
Mercury runs, his silver shadow fleeting.
Venus smiles knowingly
And Eros loosens his bow –
If only this time, his arrow would not miss its mark!

An old poem, of April and of the Northern/Southern contrasts… Enjoy the month of May tomorrow! The image is from a fresco in the Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, Italy. It is the “Allegory of April: Triumph of Venus” (1476-84) by Francesco del Cossa.

WORMWOOD

“We do not remember days; we remember moments.” - Cesare Pavese

The birthday plant for this day is wormwood, Artemisia absinthium. It derived its name from Artemis, the ancient Greek goddess of the moon and the hunt. Wormwood is probably linked to the belief that the herb grew along the track left by the serpent when it slithered out of the Garden of Eden. The herb is used to flavour the potent liquor absinth and also used in making the liqueur Chartreuse. It symbolises absence, calamity, false judgment and affection. In the Old Testament, wormwood signifies moral bitterness. It is under the rule of Mars, astrologically.

The Waking Stones

The April moon waxes its crescent
Its keen cold edge a-shaving eaves;
As wormwood green unfurls its leaves
The wan moonlight shines iridescent.

The night its ancient magic weaves
My eyelids turn to lead, quiescent;
Drab night birds raise cries incessant,
Unseen, as secretive as furtive thieves.

Dark stones are touched by moon
And in their heart a waking spell
Is roused; they shake, they swell
And they stir none but too soon.

Absinth undrunk, curt note, farewell;
The serpent gone, its tracks strewn
With Artemisia grey, a sad old tune,
An empty house where once I used to dwell.

The stones have woken, and they walk
I sleep and dream and lie alone.
Rocks run, and all the while they talk
In voices loud, in endless monotone:

“She’s left you now, she’s up and gone
Nevermore will the doors unlock…”
I dream, and waking stones do mock
My hopes betrayed, but taken hostage until dawn.

SWINE 'FLU

“From the bitterness of disease man learns the sweetness of health.” - Catalan Proverb

The outbreak of swine influenza in Mexico was no surprise to epidemiologists. A pandemic (a worldwide epidemic) of influenza was long overdue. The last one was in 1968 and it began in Southeast Asia, becoming known as the “Hong Kong ‘flu”. That one in the late 60s killed about a million people worldwide. Virologists advise that a major pandemic of influenza occurs once every couple of decades or so. The present strain of influenza virus that is causing us problems has killed about 160 people in Mexico and more than 50 confirmed cases in the US, two in Scotland, one in Spain, and possible cases in New Zealand, France, Norway Germany, Sweden and Israel. One of the ominous signs is that most people who died were between the ages of 20 and 50 years. A hallmark of past influenza pandemics is deaths in previously healthy young adults.

Influenza comes from the Italian, meaning literally ‘influence’ (from medieval Latin influentia). The Italian word also has the sense ‘an outbreak of an epidemic,’ hence ‘epidemic.’ It was applied specifically to an influenza epidemic that began in Italy in 1743, later adopted in English as the name of the disease. In the past, people thought these epidemic diseases arose out of the evil influence of malaligned planets. In the late 19th and early 20th century, people thought influenza could be due to bacteria, as the then newly-discovered micro-organisms were proven to be the cause of many diseases: Diphtheria, cholera, plague, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, tetanus, whooping cough, etc. Microbiologists looked for bacteria in the lungs of people who had died of influenza and found them in the billions. An almost ubiquitous bacterium that was found in these cases was one that was subsequently called Haemophilus influenzae (literally: The blood-loving bacterium of influenza). However, this was a false lead. It was only a secondary infection that colonised the diseased lungs of influenza sufferers (the name stuck!).

That influenza was caused by viruses was demonstrated by Richard Shope in 1931 in swine. Patrick Laidlaw and his group at the Medical research Council of UK in 1933 isolated the virus. Since then, we have learnt much about the biology of the disease. There are three main types of the virus: Influenza A (birds are the natural hosts with humans being affected and suffering the most severe disease. Horses and pigs can also be infected by this type); Influenza B (almost exclusively human hosts); and Influenza C (the natural hosts of which are swine and humans).

All of these influenza viruses share certain characteristics, for example they all have genetic material made of RNA, which exists in eight segments inside the virus. Also, all of these viruses have a coating of proteins, which are known as haemaglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Numbers after the H and N proteins indicate the specific form that these proteins take. For example, the Spanish ‘flu of 1918 that killed 40 million people worldwide was the H1N1 subtype of the infuenza A virus; the Asian ‘flu of 1957/8 that killed 1.5 million people worldwide was the H2N2 subtype of the influenza A virus. The Hong Kong ‘flu of 1968 was the H3N2 subtype of the influenza A virus.

The current strain of swine ‘flu was first detected in Mexico in March 2009. It is a recombinant influenza virus derived in part from H1N1. By recombinant we mean that the virus has had a rearrangement of its genetic material. This happens naturally in cells, typically in animals that are infected by more than one strain of virus. As the viruses multiply in infected cells, the genetic material from two strains of virus gets mixed up and a new “recombinant” virus is created spontaneously. These double infections and such recombinations of viral genetic material are more likely to occur where there are overcrowded conditions and people live close to animals.

Furthermore, the influenza virus is notorious for its spontaneous mutations. It is these spontaneous mutations (slight changes in its genetic material occurring naturally) that cause the influenza epidemics every few years or so. The more genetically different a new influenza virus is to its predecessors the more “foreign” it looks to our immune system (even if we have been immunised against influenza in the past). Essentially, each new subtype of virus is regarded by our immune system as a completely different virus and this is the reason why we have to get immunised every now and then with the latest “version” of influenza that is around a the time. The recombinant virus causing the current swine ‘flu is very different to past strains and people all over the world have no immunity against it. This means the virus spreads easily between individuals and causes severe disease before the immune system “kicks in” with an effective response. In many cases of course, this immune response is much too late and the infected patient dies as the virus multiplies out of control in their body.

How do we fight such pandemics of influenza? Firstly by trying to check the spread of infection: Isolating patients, preventing close contact between large numbers of people in confined spaces (hence the closing of schools) and destroying infected animals. Also by good hygiene, washing of hands, not touching the face and the wearing of face masks (however, these face masks rapidly become ineffective barriers as they become moistened ). Patients who present with the infection may be given antiviral drugs. These are not antibiotics (antibiotics will not kill viruses, they are only effective against bacteria), although antibiotics may be prescribed to deal with secondary bacterial infections (remember the Haemophilus influenzae?). On April 27, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) recommended the use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) for both treatment and prevention of the new strain of swine influenza virus, but it warned that it was resistant to amantadine and remantadine.

A new vaccine can be manufactured as soon as new virus samples are isolated and purified, but such a process can take as long as six months. Given the gravity of the present situation, this development time may be shortened somewhat. The WHO has already warned that to try to contain the new influenza virus outbreak is impossible. All we can do is try to mitigate its effects. This is in the wake of the WHO upgrading the pandemic status to phase 4 (phase 4, implies sustained human to human transmission with community-wide outbreaks). Phase 5 is widespread human infection, with human-to-human transmission in at least two countries in one WHO region. Phase 6 is a global pandemic proper.

So how do you know if you have swine ‘flu? The symptoms are fever, chills, sore throat, cough, body aches and pains, muscle aches, headache and fatigue. Some patients have also reported diarrhoea and vomiting. All of these symptoms are not specific to swine ‘flu, so a great deal of suspicion must also accompany the diagnostic process and there needs to have been some contact with a suspected case of the disease.

Should we be afraid? Being apprehensive makes us cautious, and discretion is the better part of valour. Being sensible and avoiding travel if we can, taking good care of our health, having a good diet, good hygiene and avoiding crowded places are all good strategies. And of course see a doctor at the first sign of a ‘flu-like illness!

MOVIE MONDAY - OUTSOURCED

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” - Thomas Edison

We watched a pleasant and amusing movie at the weekend, which was quite a good way to pass the time for a little while. Escapist bubbles to relax by, although once we started watching it, there were sharks swimming in the bubble bath… It is the 2006 John Jeffcoat movie “Outsourced”. It starred Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker, Matt Smith, Asif Basra and Sudha Shivpuri. I had not seen any of these actors play in any other film before but they were quite good and did the light and fluffy script justice.

The story starts in Seattle where Todd (Hamilton) is the manager of a call centre peddling trashy and tacky novelties. Todd’s boss, Dave, (Smith) gives him the news that his whole department has been outsourced to India and that he has been made redundant. To add insult to injury, Dave tells Todd that he has to go Mumbai to train his Indian replacement. Todd cannot even resign as his stock options in the company will rendered worthless, so he goes to India… Todd’s adventures begin with all of the usual cross-cultural misunderstandings and traveller’s woes, but to his dismay he soon discovers that his new temporary place of employment and his staff are not what he expected. He has the job to teach Indians to talk “American”, improve their efficiency and work ethic and make the workplace paralysed by cultural clashes function effectively. Furthermore, he cannot go back home until the call centre average per call falls to 6.00 minutes. Just when he thinks that he is battling with an invincible adversary he notices Asha (Dharker) who shows him that it takes more than Indians understanding Americans to make the enterprise successful.

The film won several audience awards in various film festivals (Cinequest Film fest; Indian Film Fest LA, Seattle International Film Fest, etc) and also the Best of Fest in the International Palm Springs International Film Festival and was an official selection for the Toronto Film Festival. This is not a laugh until you cry film, but rather a chuckle often film. It does not probe too deeply into the serious issues it raises but rather gently introduces these issues to us so that we can sympathise with both the Americans and the Indians, by seeing the situation from both sides.

Although the film is for the main part quite sanitised, we are given a glimpse of the true India here and there and one is interested to learn more, discover more, read more, see more. There is quite a bit of fun being poked at both Americans and Indians, but it is good natured fun, not catty nor vindictive. There are differences that are highlighted, but these are respected. The inevitable romance that develops between Asha and Todd is rather refreshing in its intensity and uncharacteristic earthiness (compare to most Indian films out of Bollywood).

The film concerns itself with themes of our time, one of disappearing jobs, forced intermingling of different cultures, and what it means to broaden our horizons, learn about our fellow human beings and how they live, and how in order to survive we must expand our world view. It’s well worth watching if you can lay your hands on it.

ART SUNDAY - MOREAU

“The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.” - Benjamin Disraeli

We had our first truly winter’s day here in Melbourne today with rain, cold and wind. A little early this year, but we should all get used to the wildly changing climate around the world. And it’s going to get worse in the years ahead…

For Art Sunday today, Gustave Moreau (1826-1898). He was a French artist, one of the leading Symbolists. He was a pupil of Chassériau and was influenced by his master's exotic Romanticism, but Moreau went far beyond him in his feeling for the bizarre and developed a style that is highly distinctive in subject and technique. His preference was for mystically intense images evoking long-dead civilizations and mythologies, treated with an extraordinary sensuousness, his paint encrusted and jewel-like. Although he had some success at the Salon, he had no need to court this as he had private means, and much of his life was spent in seclusion. In 1892 he became a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts and proved an inspired teacher, bringing out his pupils' individual talents rather than trying to impose ideas on them. His pupils included Marquet and Matisse, but his favorite was Rouault, who became the first curator of the Moreau Museum in Paris (the artist's house), which Moreau left to the nation on his death. The bulk of his work is preserved there.

The work here is his “Perseus and Andromeda” of 1870. It illustrates the Greek myth, which is so reminiscent of the story of St George and the Princess:

Cepheus and Cassiopeia the king and queen of Ethiopia had a daughter called Andromeda. Andromeda was beautiful. Cassiopeia was proud of her daughter and boasted about her beauty constantly. Cassiopeia even said that Andromeda was more beautiful than all the daughters of Poseidon the sea god. This made them very angry, so Poseidon decided to punish Cassiopeia. Poseidon sent a huge sea monster (called the Kraken) to ravage the land of Ethiopia. In order to calm Poseidon down, Andromeda was to be sacrificed to the monster. Unable to change Poseidon's mind, she was chained to a large rock by the seashore to await her fate.

Luckily Perseus happened to be flying by. He had winged sandals! He was carrying with him the severed head of the Gorgon, Medusa. It had snakes for hair and was so ugly that any creature that gazed directly at it was turned to stone. Perseus saw Andromeda and the dangerous position she was in. With quick thinking he uncovered the head of Medusa, pointing it straight at the eyes of the sea monster. Just in the nick of time the sea monster turned to stone. Perseus and Andromeda fell in love and were married to save the kingdom. The Greeks said that when Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia died their images were put into the night sky as constellations of stars.

Enjoy your week!

ANZAC DAY - 2009

“The tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick

Anzac Day in Australia is one of the most moving and universally commemorated days on the Australian holiday Calendar. The Anzacs are the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought against the Turks in the battle of Gallipoli in 1915. This was a major campaign of World War I that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula, on the European side of the Dardanelles in 1915–16. The Allies (with heavy involvement of troops from Australia and New Zealand) hoped to gain control of the strait, but the campaign reached stalemate after each side suffered heavy casualties. Total Allied deaths were around 21,000 British, 10,000 French, 8,700 Australians, 2,700 New Zealanders and 1,370 Indians. Total Turkish deaths were around 86,700 - nearly twice as many as all the Allies combined. New Zealanders suffered the highest percentage of Allied deaths compared with the population size of New Zealand.

The song "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle is about the Gallipoli campaign and gives a heart-wrenching personal message about the solders who sacrificed all for “king and country”.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

On this Anzac Day, I wish you peace whoever and wherever you are.

SYNTHETIC FOOD

“Chemicals, n: Noxious substances from which modern foods are made.” - Author Unknown

Pierre Gagnaire is a famous French chef who has a restaurant in the Hôtel Balzac in Paris’s seventh arrondissement. A meal there will cost you about $400 AUD per person for the food, house wine included. The type of food you can have there is interesting, to say the least, in the best tradition of nouvelle cuisine. For example, A veal gelée topped with a single white haricot bean; maize cooked in a consommé and served with egg yolk and a slice of melon. A single strawberry with a sugar glaze with stewed mango and a caramelised hazelnut, topped with a chorizo crisp and a marshmallow with red pepper purée and raw red onion. A frozen pink grapefruit ice cream topped with a radish, chives inside filo pastry, puff pastry served with goat’s cheese and seaweed and a wholemeal bread stick. And that’s only for starters!

For main course, you can sample sole with apple and pink grapefruit, served with braised lettuce, turnip, spring onion, peas and cream sauce. Shellfish consommé and five very tender crayfish with a cream sauce. Duck cooked in small pieces in a gravy of the cooking juices, along with a dish of potato with a crisp outside and laced with foie gras and girolles. While dessert can include a caramel soufflé with allspice, served with liquorice ice cream and a glass of caramel syrup topped with a swirl of spun caramel; or maybe you would fancy a chocolate soufflé with a chocolate sauce served on a dessert bowl rather than a soufflé dish. Maybe all you would want would be a little ice cream of pistachio and chocolate, a few almonds and hazelnuts, a raspberry purée, vanilla cream and chocolate cream and a parfait of pistachio, vanilla and chocolate.

I don’t know about you, but just reading all that puts me right off. I mean, grapefruit ice cream topped with a radish? Strawberries and chorizos? Give me a break! I would like my food more honest and earthy, simple (how difficult it is to do good simple!) and tasty, savoury flavours separate to sweet ones (no I do not like sugar in my savoury dishes, nor salt in my sweet ones). Fruit is delicious on its own or in desserts - fish with apple and grapefruit? No! Nevertheless, his restaurant enjoys the status of three Michelin stars!

More recently, M. Gagnaire has outdone himself. He has created a menu based on totally synthetic ingredients! How does this sound to you: “Jelly balls in apple and lemon flavours made entirely of ascorbic acid, glucose, citric acid and maltitol (otherwise known as: 4-O-a-glucopyranosyl-D-sorbitol).” Or maybe this is more appealing: “Polyphenol sauce – made with pure tartaric acid, glucose and polyphenols”. Yummy! I hear you say…

The chef says: “In the future, chefs would shun vegetables, such as carrots, and would instead use the molecules, which make up carrots - carotenoids, pectins, fructose and glucuronic acid - instead.” M Gagnaire purports that: “If you use pure compounds, you open up billions and billions of new possibilities. It’s like a painter using primary colours or a musician composing note by note. Compound cooking not only can taste good but can also end food shortages and rural poverty because farmers could increase profitability by fractioning their vegetables.”

Oh, to have a slice of home-baked crusty bread, a freshly cut garden salad of tomato, cucumber, onion, lettuce with natural virgin olive oil and some balsamic vinegar! A plate of home-made gnocchi with delicious pasta sauce made slowly and naturally! M. Gagnaire can keep his Michelin stars and his 4-O-a-glucopyranosyl-D-sorbitol…

ST GEORGE'S DAY

"The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future." - Oscar Wilde

Today is Saint George’s Day. He is the patron saint of England and Greece and remarkably little is known about his life. Other countries and cities that claim him as patron saint include: Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany, Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice. He is also the patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy, plague and syphilis. In recent years he has been adopted as patron saint of Scouts.

He is popularly identified with the knightly ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry. Pope Gelasius said that George is one of the saints “whose names are rightly reverenced among us, but whose actions are known only to God.” What we know about him is confined to the following few bits and pieces.

Saint George was born in Cappadocia, an area which is now in Turkey, and he lived in 3rd century AD. His parents were Christian and the family later lived in Palestine. George became a Roman soldier, but protested against Rome’s persecution of Christians. Although he was imprisoned and tortured for these ideals, he stayed true to his faith. He was beheaded at Lydda in Palestine.

His life story has been embroidered with chivalrous and valorous deeds, including the slaying of a dragon and the rescue of a princess. This is a remarkably similar tale to the ancient Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda. He was martyred and died on this day in 303 AD. He became the patron saint of England after the Crusades, upstaging St Edmund in this role. He was reportedly always rushing to England’s aid whenever he was needed in battle and as late as in World War I, soldiers reported seeing him on his horse on the battlefield.

On St George’s Day, when blue is worn, The blue harebells the fields adorn.

Word of the day:
patron saint (noun)
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person.
ORIGIN Middle English: From Old French, from Latin patronus ‘protector of clients, defender,’ from pater, patr- ‘father.’
Middle English, from Old French seint, from Latin sanctus ‘holy,’ past participle of sancire ‘consecrate.’

EARTH DAY 2009

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.” - Cree Indian Proverb

It is Earth Day today, a day devoted to environmental issues and a day when we highlight the plight that our planet is in and we take part in activities where we show each other that we can all do something to save the Earth. Senator Gaylord Nelson of the USA, Founder of Earth Day, had the idea for Earth Day in the early 1960s and his idea evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962.

He recalls:
“For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political "limelight" once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.”

We are running out of time and the signs of the destruction of our environment are manifested all around us. It is up to everyone of us to do something to make a difference! Here is my poem, a little gloomy, but nevertheless unfortunately true… We must remember the words of Chief Seattle (1855):
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

Earth Day, 2009

The Earth shakes, shudders, sick
Covered in dark pall of smoke
Lost in hopeless contemplation
Of an uncertain future.

The moon looks on
And mirrors her sister’s fate
As stars impassively
Witness the decadence.

The Earth dejected, weeps
Black tears; coughs up polluted phlegm
Regurgitates poisoned food
And dies an ever-quickening death.

The oceans froth and spew up
Choking fish, dead algae,
Mercury-tainted jellyfish,
Suicidal whales by the score.

The Earth despairs, breeding
Sterile offspring, mutated monsters,
Dead plants, addled eggs,
Species driven to extinction.

The air is charred, ice melts,
Cyclones, bushfires, earthquakes
Vie with Tsunamis and errant climate
As to which will seal our fate.

The Earth remembers, wistful,
Past springs, all green and flowery;
Summers golden with ripening grain,
Autumns replete with bountiful harvest.
The Earth recalls, regretful,
A million birdsongs, playful fish,
Pure rain and limpid waters,
With winters when snow was still white.

IN PRAISE OF ROME

“In Rome you long for the country; in the country - oh inconstant! - you praise the distant city to the stars.” – Horace

According to legend, the City of Rome was founded on this day in 753 BC. This was linked with the festival honouring the Pales, a pair of deities who guarded cattle and other livestock. Farmers ritually cleaned farm stalls, made offerings to the gods and purified the animals. A bonfire was lit and herdsmen jumped over it three times. A feast followed with much drinking and eating. As the predominantly rural population migrated to the cities and the metropolis of Rome, this rural festival became transformed into the feast that celebrated the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

Rome, also called the “Eternal City”, is situated in the west central part of the country, on the Tiber River, about 25 km inland. It has a population of about three million people. The city was founded on the Palatine Hill, but as it grew it spread to the other six hills of Rome (the Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal). Rome was made capital of a unified Italy in 1871. Within its confines it has a self-contained sovereign country, Vatican City, which at 44 hectares and with a population of 900 people is the smallest country in the world. This came into existence in 1929 and is distinct from the Holy See, which was in existence long before this date.

Some expressions in English referring to Rome:
“All roads lead to Rome” is a proverb that means there are many different ways of reaching the same goal or conclusion.
“Rome was not built in a day” means a complex task is bound to take a long time and should not be rushed.
“When in Rome do as the Romans do” implies that when abroad or in an unfamiliar environment you should adopt the customs or behaviour of those around you.

Rome is one of my favourite cities and I love visiting there. The people are friendly and vivacious, the monuments and antiquities stunning, the museums wonderful and the food good. It is a place that always offers something new and there are many beautiful day trips around it also.

MOVIE MONDAY - YOUR CHOICE

“Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing?” - Samuel Goldwyn

I was in Adelaide for the day today with a very heavy schedule, however, we had some very good news at the end of the day, which made the trip worthwhile. It was a very long day when one considers I got up at four in the morning and only managed to get home at about 8:45 pm this evening.

Something different for Movie Monday today as I haven’t had a chance to watch anything at the weekend. I would like the readers of my blog to give me their suggestions for watching a film that they have recently watched and which they would recommend for us to see. I will comment on a movie we watched recently.

My suggestion is the 2008 John Patrick Shanley film “Doubt” with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is not everyone’s cup of tea, I am sure but it is a good film (sure enough betraying its theatrical origins from Shanley’s play), and which manages to maintain viewer interest and it is really a showcase for the actors who give satisfying performances (especially so the two leads). Amy Adams and Viola Davis who have supporting roles also do a marvellous job, as do the child actors. The film is set in the mid-1960s in a Catholic school where a nun and priest clash over a perceived impropriety where a child is involved. Powerful theme and a highly critical film of the church as an institution, and of the religious people in it as defenders of the faith… A good solid drama, with great performances but with a bit of a fizzler of an ending.

So, what good film have you seen recently that you would recommend to us?

EASTER (II)

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRISTOS ANESTI!

It is Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday today. This is a relic of the older calendrical system of the Julian reckoning. The Greek Orthodox Church has (grudgingly) embraced the Gregorian calendar for all “fixed festivals” (e.g. Christmas and the commemorative Feast Days of Saints) that recur on the same date every year. However, when it comes to calculating the “moveable festivals” (e.g. Easter and all of the associated feasts such as Ash Wednesday, Ascension, Pentecost, etc), the Orthodox Church uses the Julian Calendar. This leads to the curious situation of the Greek Orthodox and Catholic devotees celebrating Christmas together on the same date and Easter at different times.

Easter is an interesting example as the Paschal dates are calculated on the seasonal calendar, re-enforcing the fact that Easter is an old Spring fertility festival (Eostra was the name of the Celtic Spring goddess). Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first “Paschal” full moon following the Spring Equinox on the 21st of March. The dates of all other moveable feasts are calculated in connection with the date set for Easter in that year. If there is no full moon between the Spring equinox calculated according to the Gregorian calendar and the Spring Equinox according to the Julian calendar, then Catholic and Orthodox Easter occur at the same time. This recently happened in 1977, 1987, 1991, 2001, 2004, 2007 and will periodically recur (2010, 2011, 2014) until reason prevails and the Gregorian calendar is adopted universally. An even more logical approach would be to specify Easter as always being celebrated on the third Sunday in April, for example. What a boon for time-tablers, schedulers and forward planners that would be!

Today was a relaxing day with family and friends. Because Greek Orthodox people still fast during Lent, and especially so the Holy Week before Easter, Easter Sunday is a day when eating and feasting is universally adopted. The feasting starts after the midnight mass where the joyful announcement of “Christós Anésti” (Christ is Risen) is made. Everyone takes out their red dyed eggs and they try to crack each other’s by hitting them end to end. The lucky winner is the one with the uncracked egg. The eating begins after the mass when everyone goes home and eats a traditional soup made of lamb offal (liver, lung, intestine), spring onions, dill and egg and lemon.

The next day, even the poorest families will consume the Paschal lamb, roasted on the spit. It is time for families to get together (and usually go out of the cities in order to enjoy the Springtime and visit other family members who live in villages or smaller towns. The feasting continues all of the following week (even on Wednesday and Friday, which are the usual fast days when meat should not be consumed right throughout the year).

For Art Sunday today, Mikhail Nesterov’s “Resurrection” from the end of the 1890s.

BACK HOME...

“Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.” - Mary Baker Eddy

Have just got home from Brisbane. It has been a very busy three days and today was particularly long and arduous, finishing with the graduation of our Queensland students. Graduation ceremonies are always big occasions, especially for the graduates, and this was a very good one, staged in the Concert Hall of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

Tonight is Easter Saturday and the midnight mass at Greek Orthodox churches will announce the happy message of the Resurrection. Today at lunchtime we had time to visit the Greek Church in Brisbane, St George’s in South Brisbane. It is a beautiful church and we heard the chant of the Resurrection in a pre-emptive resurrection mass.

The church was full of young people, which was pleasing to see. Also the parish seemed to be a particularly well-off one, with the whole of the church decorated with huge bouquets of flowers, many richly decorated icons, votive offerings, etc.

Happy Easter to all my Greek readers! Καλό Πάσχα και Καλή Ανάσταση!

GOOD FRIDAY (II)

“Where man sees but withered leaves, God sees sweet flowers growing.” - Albert Laighton

Today is the Greek Orthodox Good Friday, which is the most solemn and sorrowful day in the Christian calendar. No work should be done on this day of prayer and reflection when one should mourn for Christ’s death on the cross. No iron tools should be handled and hammers and nails are to be avoided especially it is said, lest you crucify Christ anew. If clothes are washed on this day, a member of the family will die. As the clothes hang out to dry they will be spotted with blood. This belief is from the apocryphal story that relates of a washerwoman mockingly throwing dirty washing water on Christ on his way to Calvary. Parsley seed can be planted on this day, provided a wooden spade is used.

The Greek Orthodox religion is particularly rich in tradition on this day. During the whole day, church masses are said with the most moving and mournful chanting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZm7SY-DqkM). The church icons are covered with dark purple cloth and the mighty church bells fall silent until Easter Sunday. The Epitaphios (a symbolic representation of Christ's bier), is decorated with flowers and the faithful parade past it in order to worship a embroidered icon with the dead Christ depicted on it. On Good Friday evening, the Epitaphios is ceremoniously carried through the parish in a magnificent candlelit procession, followed by the priest and the entire congregation who hold lit candles.

Fasting is mandatory and only fruit, vegetables and boiled pulses are to be eaten without any trace of oil. It is customary to drink some vinegar on this day to remember the vinegar Christ was given to drink on the cross when he was athirst.

POSTCARD FROM BRISBANE

“We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.” - Hilaire Belloc

In Brisbane for work for a few days. A very busy day today but at least I got the chance to enjoy a little of the glorious weather as I had a few meetings outside the campus. The hustle and bustle of the city was quite remarkable today and there also seemed to be a general holiday air. Quite a few tourists were around but even the locals were very lively. School holidays are still on and several children were making their presence felt in no uncertain ways…

As I got up very early this morning an early night is called for. Hence the microblog…
Enjoy your day (or night, as the case may be)!

A POEM PAST

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." – LP Hartley

Running after the Past

A walk in well worn paths
Shaded by the fragrant roses
Of the passage of time.
Familiar faces, accustomed places
Sunlight and laughter
Remembered embraces.

Your eyes are sadder, maybe wiser
By memories of old mistakes,
Ageing misunderstandings
Finally understood;
But your hand reluctant
To stop history repeating itself.

You yearn for the past,
Your remembrances precious:
Of friends, sweet wine, good times.
You yearn for a past
When I was writhing in agonies
Impaled like a butterfly by the pin of your love.
Each passing second a tear
Each of your smiles a dagger
Each of your nostalgic moments one of my hells.

THE POISON TREE

“Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.” - Abraham Lincoln

Last Saturday a 19-year-old gunman opened fire in a vocational college in Athens, wounding three people before taking his own life. He left a note accusing his fellow students of picking on him and an even more graphic document of his planned actions on his internet site. An 18-year-old fellow student of his was seriously injured and two men outside the college building were shot and lightly injured. Stabbings at Greek schools have happened previously, but such a shooting is unprecedented.

The gunman was an immigrant from the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. His notes said he couldn’t take it any more and he wanted to kill as many as possible to take revenge for perceived wrongs against him. The shooter was armed with two handguns and a knife was found in his bag. He shot his fellow student four times at about 8:45 am, a quarter of an hour after lessons had started. He shot two workers at a nearby shop who tried to stop him while he was running out. He then went to a park close to the school and shot himself in the head.

This is a shooting following a recent surge of bloody bank robberies, homicides, muggings and violent burglaries in Greece. The country has no history of violent crime and the incidents have overwhelmed the country’s conservative government, which has been shaken by a series of financial scandals and holds a slim one-seat majority in parliament. Last week, unknown gunmen shot and injured two policemen who stopped them for a routine check in Athens, while recently a gunman fired shots in an Athens hospital during a bank robbery. In addition to the increase in crime, police have had to deal with a surge in political violence by anarchist and far-left groups, who frequently carry out arson attacks on symbols of state authority, banks and foreign diplomats' cars.

Such events in Greece lately have caused quite a great deal of consternation for the locals who now not only have to cope with a financial crisis of unprecedented severity, but now also have to live in an increasingly violent society, which seems to be becoming more unstable. This is a phenomenon that we are witnessing around the world. Wherever one turns there are such reports of violent crimes, robberies, senseless murders, pointless acts of intimidation and brutal aggression. Similar crimes in the USA, in Germany, in Finland, in Australia, where young men have gone on a bloody rampage in attacks that mimic one another and copy video games, movies, TV shows…

How many of our young people who are growing up in a society that is losing its collective mind in ever-increasing numbers, find that the only way to be noticed, to become a “hero”, to be strong and powerful is through the agency of a gun? How many people find it easier to squeeze a trigger and murder, than to wield a pen, use a tool, or work hard in order to contribute something to the whole of society and be thus “noticed”? How many find solace in the blood lust that a gun can engender? To kill is to be in command. To be able to kill commands everyone’s respect…

What next? Anarchy? Lynch law? Mob rule? Gangs? Pirates? Murderers ruling with an iron fist and a gun ready to fire? Next? Not so for I believe it’s all happening around us presently. Where are we going in our collective insanity? Can we stop ourselves on the brink of disaster before it’s too late?

MOVIE MONDAY - HULA GIRLS

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” - Japanese Proverb

This weekend we watched a wonderful 2006 Japanese movie directed by Sang-il Lee, who also co-wrote it. It is the poignant comedy/drama “Hula Girls”. The film is simple in its premise, but touches subtly on many important social issues including progress, change, unemployment, social inequality, and what it means to be an “outsider”.

The film is set in 1965 in rural northeastern Japan, in a small mining town where almost all of the residents live employed by the coal mine. The changing times and the advent of oil will force the closure of the coal mine and about 2,000 people will lose their jobs. The mining company, in an effort to provide something for the town and give some means of a livelihood to about 500 people, plans to open a “Hawaiian Centre” complete with palm trees and hula dancers right in the middle of the harsh winter climate of Iwaki. The union bosses are set dead against the plan but some girls decide they want to become hula dancers and join a class that is to be taught by a professional dancer who arrives from Tokyo (fleeing from her creditors, it appears). The film depicts the struggle of the young girls to become accomplished dancers amidst an inimical climate, with even their families against them. Kimiko, Sanae and Yasuri are the leaders of the girls and Mrs Hirayana, the dancer from Tokyo first confronts them and then wins them over.

The film is a tender memoir of a different time and pays tribute to the fascination the Japanese have with things Hawaiian. Like the Peter Cattaneo film “The Full Monty”, “Hula Girls” looks at a group of misfits who conquer their insecurities and problems through learning of a particular skill or utilising a hidden talent (in this case, hula dancing). The film was inspired by the real life Jouban Hawaiian Centre (at present called 'Spa Resort Hawaiians') in Iwaki City, Fukushima, which was developed in 1961 in an attempt to stimulate the local prefecture’s economy.

Yû Aoi who plays Kimiko, one of the hula girls, does a wonderful job and is perfectly counterfoiled against Matsuyuki Yasuko who plays the dancing instructress from Tokyo. Kimiko’s mother (and union leader) is also well cast and the supporting actors all make for a good show. The music is well chosen and in keeping with the theme, while the cinematography is also very good. The dancing is excellent and one must remember that this is the Japanese interpretation of Pacific island dancing and even though many Hawaiians may object to the authenticity of the dances, the Japanese versions are a quintessential distillation of hula dancing which is presented in a marvellous way. The final dance sequence is quite stunning.

Although the film contains many humorous moments, its dramatic elements are more of its strength and there are many poignant and teary moments in it. Overall, an unexpectedly enjoyable film that surprised and delighted us.

ART SUNDAY - EASTER (I)

“Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
 Death is strong, but Life is stronger.” - Phillips Brooks

Happy Easter!

For Art Sunday today, a topical painting, the resurrection of Jesus Christ by Hans Memling. Hans Memling (1430?-94) was known as a master of Flemish painting, however, he was born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. Memling first established himself as a painter in Brussels and his work shows the strong influence of Rogier van der Weyden in style and composition. This is the reason Memling is thought to have studied under the older artist.

In about 1466 Memling moved to Bruges, where his career prospered. Like many other Flemish masters, Memling painted with glowing colours and fine craftsmanship. Unlike most artists, his style varied little throughout his career. Many of Memling's well-known religious works were painted for the Hospital of St. John in Bruges.

Memling was a master of portraiture. The faces he painted with careful detail glow with life and the character of each sitter is subtly suggested. In addition to the portraits Memling painted for the notables of Bruges, he also received commissions from foreign visitors such as Tommaso Portinari of the Florentine Medici. Memling died in Bruges on August 11, 1494.
“The Resurrection”, with the “Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian” and “The Ascension”
Triptych, Oil on Wood. Central panel 62 x 45 cm; Wings 62 x 19 cm; Musee du Louvre, Paris.