Posts from — September 2008

The Federal Conservatives cut 60 million dollars from funding to arts and culture groups this year. This probably isn’t a big deal for most of us. I mean, what’s more important creating jobs or creating art. That is the comparison the Conservatives want us to make. Jobs or Arts.

Therein lays the problem. It should never be an either/or situation. Art plays a very important role in a healthy society and we risk a great deal by not understanding this.

History shows that civilizations that are successful and at the top of their game have a thriving arts and cultural community. The arts are like the canary in the mine. So I would suggest that investing in the arts community makes sense. More practically speaking, a thriving arts and cultural community is an indication that the government is strong and not afraid of criticism. The arts community is very often critical of government and the establishment, rightly or wrongly. The arts community often holds up a mirror to the establishment pointing out the follies. A strong society values this and is able to laugh at its self or in more serious cases attempt to make the changes needed to correct problems.

There is an ideology that would have us believe that each person will survive, succeed or excel on their own merit and that government should not interfere in that process. While at some level we all would like to believe this, it just doesn’t work very well.

Being a dancer, writer, painter, doesn’t pay very well. I don’t know any artists who don’t have to work at other jobs in order to support their passion. In fact, I would venture to say that in the majority of cases pursuing one’s love of art leads most often to a life of being economically strapped. Not a life most of us would put up with. So when an artist gets a Canada Council for the Arts grant that allows her or him to focus on their work they feel like they have died and gone to heaven. Now they can focus! Now they can dedicate time to their first love! Not many will produce masterpieces but that’s not what it is all about. For me it’s about valuing the importance art and artists play in a healthy society.

I support tax dollars going to Canadian artists. In the big picture of where tax dollars are spent it’s not very much at all. If as a society we start to make cuts here I fear that it could mean we are on a slippery slope.

See if you can figure out what these words have in common. 
 
1 Banana
2 Dresser
3 Grammar
4 Potato
5 Revive
6 Uneven
7 Assess
     
Are you peeking or have you already given up?
 Give it another try .  Look at each word carefully.
(You’ll kick yourself when you discover the answer.)
 
This Is Cool.
Answer:
In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word. 

I hate this sign. Not the message. The location. It is a couple of kilometers this side of the USA border. One of the first billboards that greet visitors to Canada. Each time I pass it I can’t help but feel embarrassed.

I think there are a number of reactions people could have. One might be, “Gee! Guess I better not beat my wife now that I’m in Canada. It’s not allowed. Haw haw.” Another might be, “Boy there must be a real problem with woman beating in Canada.” Another might be “Yep we sure are in the backwoods up here. They beat their women.” Or it might imply that people from the States beat women and they had better not try that in Canada.

Some how it just doesn’t feel very welcoming but then it could just be me. 

I’m not a Republican supporter. I mean, even if I lived in the States I won’t be. I hope Barack Obama gets elected. We need a gentler American neighbor.
Having said this I did go to Minneapolis the week of the Republican Convention. My cousin, Wegger Strommen was going to be there and it had been over 35 years since we had last gone fishing in Ear Falls with his dad, Knut and my dad, Arny. Knut and Wegger are Norwegian.
Dad was from a family of 10 children and his oldest sister, Ester was left in Norway to be raised by her grandparents when dad’s parents left for the new world. The intention was for them to bring Ester over to Canada when they were settled. It never happened.
Most of Ester’s brothers and sisters got back to Norway for a visit and she came a couple of times to Canada and the USA. I visited them in Norway in 1981 so while the connection was not as close as we would have wanted, we did keep in touch.
Last winter, I started doing the Nymark family tree and so had been emailing family for information. When I got in touch with Wegger he said he was going to be in Minneapolis for the Republican Convention and that we should meet. As the Norwegian Ambassador to the United States, Wegger was invited to both the Democratic and Republican conventions and so the stage was set for a mini reunion.
My cousin Cheryl and her friend John, who live in the twin cities, acted as event planners, notified the rest of the US cousins and we all got together at cousin, Marlys’ home. Brad did the cooking. It was a great time.
Wegger invited us all back to his home in Washington for the next get together and I would love to make that trip. Wegger’s two daughters are the same age as my kids so I would like them to meet. That is of course if I am ever allowed back into the States as explained in the post below…

Marlys, Dale, Cheryl, Sara, Wegger, Joanne, Keith, Millie

There are times when I wish I wasn’t so slow. Mentally, I mean. Maybe you have experienced situations where you are not sure what someone is thinking and you just wish you knew where the conversation was going so you could say something appropriate and not look too foolish.
I went to a family reunion in Minneapolis at the beginning of September. My cousin from Norway was going to be there for the Republican Convention and I hadn’t seen him for well over 30 years. I also have other cousins who live around Minneapolis and they offered to host a small reunion.
I have made many trips to the States. Michael, my son, plays soccer so I have taken a van load of kids to Blaine for soccer tournaments. Three or four times a year I buy stuff on EBay and get it shipped to Ryden’s store and like most other Thunder Bay folk we enjoy going to Grand Marais.
So when I was asked to pull over and come into the Pigeon River Border Crossing station I was a little surprised but not overly concerned. 
A young woman approached me and asked me to fill out the form she put in front of me. Before filling it out she clearly stated that I was to read the top and bottom paragraphs first. The line that caught my attention went something like this.  “Giving false information on this form will result in you not being allowed to enter the United States of America for 5 years.” I felt my testicles tighten and suck up. Somehow I knew I wasn’t going to like the questions. My immediate reaction was “What have I done?”
The form had the usual questions. Name, address, nationality and have you ever been arrested, charged, convicted, spent time in jail etc.
40 years ago this year I was arrested in Vancouver. I was in a car that the RCMP pulled over. One of the occupants dropped an aspirin size container of marijuana seeds onto the floor of the car. As a result we all got arrested and I actually spent two weeks in jail before I got bail and finally let off.
“Surely they don’t know about that.” I thought. “I open a whole new can of worms if I mention that one.” I decided to answer the question with a no. When I indicated I had finished, the young lady looked at the paper and asked me to re read the first and last paragraphs while she stood there. Then she asked me to answer each of the questions on the paper one by one. Name, address, nationality… When we got to the dreaded, “Have you ever been arrested question? I stuck to my guns. “No!” I stated. She then asked me to read the first and last paragraph again. By now I knew something was up and as much as I dislike American politics I was starting to worry that I might be refused entry to the States for 5 years.
“We have information that contradicts what you have written on the paper,” she said. She tapped a piece of paper that was turned upside down on the counter. Problem was that she wasn’t saying what it was. “Umm, do you mean the time 40 years ago when I was arrested in Vancouver for marijuana seeds?” She was stone faced. “I was acquitted.” I said. “Another guy was charged for that.”

“Write that down,” she said. I did.
“Please have a seat.” Away she went to do some research on her computer. “I can’t believe they are going to stop me for something I did forty years ago.” I thought.
She came back. She pointed to the form again and asked if I had anything else I wanted to say. I managed to squeak out that I just wanted to go to Minneapolis for the family reunion. “My cousin is the Norwegian Ambassador to the United States and he is going to be there and I haven’t seen him in years.” Please sit down. Off she went to do some more research. She then came back and asked if it was ok that she search my car. I wasn’t about to say “No!”
When she came back she said, “Mr. Nymark, I am going to allow you to go to your reunion but before you will be allowed entry into the states again you will have to prove that you weren’t charged for the incident in Vancouver.”
It wasn’t until I got home and called the RCMP to see if they could get me information that proved I wasn’t charged in Vancouver that I realized I had been caught in the Homeland Security’s fishing net.
The RCMP search of their data base turned up nothing. According to them I had no criminal record. In fact I had no record at all. It was then that I remembered the time, 44 years ago, that I had been charged in California. We had just graduated from high school and a buddy and I had painted a Volkswagen Beetle pink and left to see the world. That was back in the days when California was the dream destination of all young people, The Beach Boys, surfing, beautiful girls, and so that’s where we headed. It was only natural that we buy some beer in Oregon to celebrate our entry to the sunshine state. It was also there that I got charged with impaired driving when I rolled that Volkswagen three times into the ditch. I had completely forgotten about that incident. That was what that sweet lady at the border knew about. I had been caught in the net she had thrown. She hadn’t known about Vancouver at all. Now she does. Shit!
Yes. Sometimes I just wish I wasn’t so slow.

Can I moralize for a minute? Hey, of course, it is my blog! The young woman at customs was firm buy nice. The situation was intimidating and it was ment to be. I realize that Homeland Security is responsible for the safety of the American people and that they are a people living in fear of another terrorist attack but… you would think that they could cut an old guy like me some slack. Making me prove I wasn’t convicted of a charge that happened forty years ago is a bit of overkill. I know other people who can’t get into the states because they did stupid things when they were young. With today’s technology Homeland security can tell who is a threat and who isn’t. Hazzling people about 40 year old convictions doesn’t do anyone any good.

Here’s a little humour about another guy who got caught.

It’s time to get back to blog’n. Lindsay headed off to college in Ottawa in late August and while we miss her we are happy for her. We drove down early in August to our nieces wedding in Ottawa which gave us a chance to load the van with Lindsay essentials. We decided to go via Toronto so we could visit son Brook and his wife Colleen. Leaving at 6 a.m. got us into the big city at 11 p.m. A long day’s drive. Our 1991 Ford Areostar van with 289,000 k on it ran like a breeze for the whole trip. I love that van.

The trip was also a chance for our son Michael to check out a few universities. He is in grade 12 this year. While in T.O. we slipped up to Guelph University. I liked Guelph’s university. Michael didn’t. I thought that I could go there. In fact, I told Cathy that instead of selling the house and buying a condo that I wanted to sell the house and move into residence. They have great meal plans, lots of opportunities to learn things and pretty attractive students. She wasn’t as excited as I was.

We also went to Queens in Kingston and Carlton in Ottawa. Mike’s favorite was Carlton because he got to meet the soccer coach who offered to pay his way done to Ottawa for soccer try outs next spring. When I pointed out that Carlton didn’t have the course Mike wanted to take he just shrugged and suggested that he could take something else. Gone are the days when we choose our colleges for the course matter. I found it interesting that our tour guides, at all three universities we visited, changed their courses after the first year. Maybe course matter really isn’t important in the first year?

I have to say that Algonquin College where Lindsay is studying Biotechnology was the school that I liked the most. The variety of courses was amazing and the residence was far and away the best. Students in residence share a small pod like setup with another student. Each pod consists of 2 bedrooms with double beds in each room and a small common area with fridge and table and chairs. The double bed has its draw backs. Lindsay’s roommate dropped the intention of having her boy friend sleeping over when she said that “She just couldn’t fall asleep without him.” Fortunately Lindsay, at this point, likes them both.

Of special note is the wedding of our niece. The wedding took place in a large tent on the Museum of Civilization grounds in Hull, Quebec. The view was spectacular with the Ottawa River and the Parliament Buildings in the background.

Parliament Buildings

The bride radiated happiness (she is special) and everyone enjoyed themselves. These special events are great reasons for families to get together. In today’s world we all live so far apart it often takes something other than visiting to get us all together.

The other highlight for Mike was tubing behind Uncle Mark’s boat. My father lived to fish and boat and I don’t think Mike will ever forgive me for not following in my Dad’s footsteps. I am so happy that we have relatives willing to provide these opportunities for him.

Mark & Mike