mtl3p

I’m in mexico. or will be tomorrow ’till x-mas in toronto then back to mtl for NY.

I attended this in ottawa yesterday - Canadian Study of Parliament Group’s annual conference “Parliament, Technology and Citizens” (pdf). It was mostly a beginner’s level thing, with a good/great talk by Darin Barney from Mcgill in the middle. I’m looking forward to speaking with him in the new year. I received some FUD when I asked my second question about getting some XML from Parliament instead of having Cory have to screenscrape. It pissed me off to hear the “we don’t have the resources to keep up” at the same time as “citizens aren’t ready for un-packaged information” thing. grr. Hiding behind PDF-ing in 2007 is not what I respect from my legislature. Having a quick chat / debrief after with Liss Jeffery was helpful.

Anyways. Have a good rest of the month. I’m going to go and be_offline (to think that I resented being offline when I was in Ouga) ;-) and hopefully stumble onto some perspective.

There’s a good quote about traveling allowing us to learn the poverty of our culture (exaggeration). and it reminds me of another similar quote I heard that I have since shared with a few friends.

later.

I had a really good Weber class the other day. Instead of looking at some modern practices as “globalization”, I started to think of it as just another step towards organic solidarity. If organic solidarity is an organizing principal, and our current western, urban society is not finished in that transition, just somewhere along the scale of organic and less mechanically solidaire than “primitive” societies (as he defines them), than can’t we look at the practices of globalization as a next step? In that case we would have to look at all of the things we love about the city (organically solidarity-based society) and ask ourselves if it’s coherent (or productive) to try to work against them at a larger scale?

If social facts are not facts, just presentations/practices that need interpretation, then perhaps the widespread complaint of loneliness in modern / organic society might not be a fact of actual isolation, but a presentation of something else. Are we looking at social interdependence in an organic way when we express what we love about the city, but from a mechanical solidarity kind of way when we criticize it? If so, how does it mean for us to have access to both of those forms of conception at the same time? And to be using one framework exclusively for praise and the other exclusively for condemnation.

I feel myself caught in this trap every time I try to meaningfully criticize technology. I think.

We had a good discussion of what it means to transgress in an organic society. If it’s possible, etc. I think that if we look at what we consider transgressions socially, than we can see that we still have a lot of investment in the mechanical solidarity form of organization of society.

I’m trying not to descend too far into solutions. It’s hard, but I’m trying out to figure what questions to ask. The questions dictate their own specific solutions. Which is annoying, because I enjoy dialectics, and a system of thought that diverge and ultimately converge. I have to stop myself from following these trails in the woods and instead ask “why an I choosing this path over another”.

“Why do we attend to the things to which we attend?. - James Ten Brooke
I’m trying to figure out my answer for that, and the meaning for me as a practitioner of being alive and human in 2006, Canada, Montreal, white, male, etc to try and gain an understanding of the relevance and larger meaning of my choice.

Bart wrote a great post that has some contains some distance from his own practice as convener (and more) of GameCODE. So wonderful to see critical distance from one’s supposed domain, especially in academics, and even more so in activism. I’m trying to allow / encourage distance, non-espousal to one form of activist practice or another, (and even to the question of how/whether activism (or resistance) is useful.

“You see this kind of sensationalizing mentality even in discussions about media and media technology themselves, as in statements by media maven John Perry Barlow about computers or the Internet – or whatever – being the most transforming technological breakthrough since the discovery of fire; or Znaimer’s milder, more Canadian assertion that television is the most important communications development in 500 years. What might have intrigued Innis is not which breakthrough was more stunning, but where does this mentality of sensational breakthroughs come from altogether? One follows another with monotonous predictability. If you take a step back, the whole mindset can seem a little embarrassing; it is not impossible to imagine a society in which sensational breakthroughs and firsts are not constantly being declared. Where does such a need, such a mentality, come from? Innis answers that the technologies of communications themselves have engendered a sort of breakthrough-mongering, which extended even to the attitude toward new technologies.”

Last Call for Harold Innis - really good read, actually. I just found it looking for that James Ten Brooke quote.

My next step to seek distance is to go to Mexico. A trip that I feel is completely undeserved, but with people that I lucky even to know, let alone to count as friends. (I’m gone from the 9th to the 24th). In the new year I should be signing up for a contact dance to try to gain some more understanding or more access to better questions.

Yeah - so basically right now I’m respecting and trying to understand my own resistance towards continuing the same type of work that I’ve been doing. Questions that keep popping up are the Brooke one and the Einstein one - “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Partially I’m looking to my own physical practice of sex, dance, and presentation (presentation specifically around gender) to try to identify areas of blindness (areas outside my (and possibly our) cultural clearings). Yes, it’s definitely self-serving (focusing on sex and taking trips to mexico?), but I’m not going to disqualify it on only those grounds. If ‘neath can enrich himself through walking around, taking pictures and sharing, then maybe I can become a better communications activist/community organizer by becoming comfortable with touch and movement.

More personally importantly right now than learning for it’s own sake, is to address the dissatisfaction and reluctance I feel with my field of work.

I’m waiting for us to get over the whole mass-collaboration part of wikipedia and see the actual product of it as something that fits right into existing power dynamics. Like roads for an industrial age, a free encyclopedia is something that an information economy makes more money because of than off of. Same thing with ISF as a purely free wifi group (as opposed to an independently run community media group). I see Stephane’s unswerving insistence (please correct me if I’m pegging you wrongly, Steph) that FLOSS really is about liberation, and I can’t help but feel/worry that 1) it’s just certain subgroups transforming something from a commodity to a basic infrastructure for reasons that have little to do with high-minded ideals (anyways so much FLOSS is really about the “F” :economic market - like IBM’s support, not the “L”, and two I’m still out on the idea of whether I want my revolution (read: societal infrastructure) dictated (read: created) by guys that don’t/can’t dance.

UPDATE - next day. Tracey posted a funnyrelevant xkcd comic.

The Gift of Therapy: An open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients

“But offering guidance and inspiration to the next generation of psychotherapists is exceedingly problematic today because our field is in such crises. An economically-driven health care system mandates a radical modification in psychological treatment and psychotherapy is now obliged to be streamlined — that is, above all, inexpensive and, perforce, brief, superficial, and insubstantial.

I worry where the next generation of effective psychotherapists will be trained. Not in psychiatry residency training programs. Psychiatry is on the verge of abandoning the field of psychotherapy. Young psychiatrists are forced to specialize in psycho-pharmacology because third-party payers now reimburse for psychotherapy only if it is delivered by low-fee (in other words, minimally trained) practitioners. It seems certain that the present generation of psychiatric clinicians, skilled in both dynamic psychotherapy and in pharmacological treatment, is an endangered species.

What about clinical psychology training programs — the obvious choice to fill the gap? Unfortunately, clinical psychologists face the same market pressures and doctorate-granting schools of psychology are responding by teaching a therapy which is symptom-oriented, brief, and, hence, reimbursable.

So I worry about psychotherapy — about its deformation by economic pressures and about its impoverishment by radically abbreviated training programs. Nonetheless I am confident that, in the future, a cohort of therapists coming from a variety of educational disciplines (psychology, counseling, social work, pastoral counseling, clinical philosophy) will continue to pursue rigorous post-graduate training and, even in the crush of HMO reality, will find patients desiring extensive growth and change who are willing to make an open-ended commitment to therapy. It is for these therapists and these patients that I write The Gift of Therapy. … Throughout these pages I advise students against sectarianism and suggest a therapeutic pluralism in which effective interventions are drawn from several different therapy approaches. ”

it’s really good. lots of stuff on the “here and now” of the theraputic relationship, transference and counter transference being “grist for the mill” of therapy, and about mastering the tools so that intution can play a role. i’m pretty much finished. I’ve had to make sure not to read it too quickly.

and Out of the Flames by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone.

“Both a scientist and a freethinking theologian, Michael Servetus is credited with the discovery of pulmonary circulation in the human body as well as the authorship of a polemical masterpiece that cost him his life. The Christianismi Restitutio, a heretical work of biblical scholarship, written in 1553, aimed to refute the orthodx Christianity that Servetus’s old colleague, John Calvin, supported. After the book spread through the ranks of the Protestant hierarchy, Servetus was tried and agonizingly burned at the stake, the last known copy of the Restitutio chained to his leg.

Three copies of the Restitutio managed to survive, despite every effort on the part of his enemies to destroy them. Out of the Flames trackes the work’s history, examining Servetus’s life and times and the politics of the first information revolution during the sixteenth century. It is an extraordinary story providing testament to the power of ideas, the enduring legacy of books, and the triumph of individual courage.”

This review sold me on reading it:

“Though once an influence on Voltaire, Jefferson, and Emerson, Servetus has received little attention in recent decades. This fascinating study should help remedy that neglect.” -Booklist

This book, more than any other reading/learning I’ve done in the field of the history of communication technology, has given me reason to persist in my work as a communication activist. I’ve read and been part of many failures to advance public interest through ICT, but the story of the effect of the gutenberg press on protestantism (in terms of allowing it to happen) is amazing. The power it gave people to learn about alternatives and to speak to each other literally changed the world, and in some wonderful ways. And what’s important to me is that I can connect my own practice of reading to a really positive impact on my life, as opposed to my practice of interneting (mixed good and bad) and watching television + video (more bad than good).

The idea that there are people who can track the flow of intellectual thought in that way is amazing. I want to be one of them one day.

I like this quote by Calvin against blogging (well, against using the new power of the printing press to publish for the sake of it - ie: I write, therefore I am):

“Whoever in this day has been born with more than average ability … generally rushes out with it into the world, fired with the ambition of getting fame, so that posterity may venerate his memory with monuments to his greatness … Hence the insane passion to write something … Publishing inchoate books the writers often plead the inexperience of youth, or the wanton entreaties of their friends, and chatter I know not what triffles to escape the imputation of having committed a mistake. As for me, I should want to bring forth no embryos at all if I could produce only premature ones; in fact, I should rather abandon them as abortions than bring them forth before their time. My purpose is not so much to commend myself to the benevolent reader as to the critical one, the more so since I come from the common class of people and even if I should be gifted in erudition to a moderate degree, I have nothing that could excite any hope of fame.”

;-) erm, yeah. (feeling sheepish).

warning: this is a “look at me and my friends” post, but that’s what’s running through my head this last week. sorry.

First, meet neath. Is my idea. I’m the “someone”.

I wish I were here for that. I’m going to Providence on Sat to hang out with my best friend, Dylan, the only guy I’ve kept in touch with from american prep school. Then to Boston to spend time with my lovely sister and her family. They finally just relocated back to the east coast. So great. Lastly, I’m really psyched that Ethan Zuckerman is in town on tuesday and is able to meet up. He’s been an inspiration for 5 years now and having a chat in person will be a real treat.

Flying back to montreal on wed and then leaving the same day with Daniel Drouet to Toronto for a Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP) workshop on thurs/fri. We’re trying the new Porter Airline right into downtown Toronto, so that’s kinda neat. Alison, Tracey and Gabe will be there so I’ll be totally friend powered-up for a while. Grandparents on the weekend and then talking with Phillip of Community Bandwidth before I return. He’s been active for a while now, and although I’ve met him several times, I haven’t ever really talked with him about his work and what his specific goals and strategies are. I want to do that in conjunction with finalizing a vision/strategy for Oppidan.

I probably should go plant a thousand or two trees to offset my flying. Especially the whole boston - montreal - toronto on the same day. :-\ That was kinda of a cluster@#4, but it’s difficult when partners cover transport.

and I wanted to share that I dressed up as St. Laurent street for Halloween. It felt very civic. Of course, all done with found objects.
Right now there are stretches of mountain ranges of old asphalt shards up and down the street. I walk / clamber / jump / do small dances on them and think of infrastructure.

too many crazy dreams. Last night was a weird combination of watching a movie about Bukowski, finishing a not-so-good sci-fi book about lying and truth and their overlap, and falling asleep reading more of “Souls on Fire” by Elie Wiesel. No more reading about the Ba’al Shem Tov before bed.

and I watched the Simpsons episode about the Golem at Soli’s house the other day. It all made a noxious stew in my head. Psychic indigestion. Belch!

oh - speaking of which - I’m going to try to attend this lecture next week. I live amongst them (scary!) and I’m super curious. Especially because we both seem to hate the internet (this is where i repeat that I don’t have internet access at home and haven’t for almost 2 years mostly because it’s evil. or smthng.).

Haredim Confront Modernity: Children & the Internet

Tuesday, 6th November 2007

The relationship between traditionalist Orthodox Judaism and modernity is a complex one. In this lecture, Steven Lapidus will examine a range of Ultra-Orthodox responses to modernity and the contemporary challenge of the Internet.

Steven Lapidus, former co-curator of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, is currently pursuing his Doctoral degree in the Department of Religion at Concordia University. While his primary focus is the history of Montreal’s Orthodox community, he has also published and lectured in such diverse areas as sexuality and religion, Canadian Hasidism, and the history of the Orthodox Jewish community in North America.

Time: 4:30p.m. – 5:30p.m.
Location: Concordia University Religion Building , FA 202, 2060 Mackay Street

Free Admission

If you’re new here or missed my links to him in the past - for some really insightful stuff about the digital divide as an act of resistance go read Ulises Ali Mejías - In Defense of the Digital Divide as Paralogy (v 1.0). It’s not too long and he will make you smarter.

I’m tired. I don’t know if it’s the conference organizing (it’s going well, btw), the 3 houseguests (two Indian folklorists / ethnologists and a German multimedia artist and academic studying bordercrossing), my unabashable roommate or a current desire to avoid self-reflection. Frankly, I think it’s the houseguests. They smoke, which means I smoke, they drink and stay up late, so …

Anyways, I appreciated reading this (Ursula K. Le Guin commencement speech) the other day (via Galloway). I wish that I had more people to share failure with, to discuss it, embrace it. I have more than enough of my own “success” for the moment as well as the ability to share it.

Maybe we’ve had enough words of power and talk about the battle of life. Maybe we need some words of weakness. Instead of saying now that I hope you will all go forth from this ivory tower of college into the Real World and forge a triumphant career or at least help your husband to and keep our country strong and be a success in everything - instead of talking about power, what if I talked like a woman right here in public? It won’t sound right. It’s going to sound terrible. What if I said what I hope for you is first, if — only if — you want kids, I hope you have them. Not hordes of them. A couple, enough. I hope they’re beautiful. I hope you and they have enough to eat, and a place to be warm and clean in, and friends, and work you like doing. Well, is that what you went to college for? Is that all? What about success?

Success is somebody else’s failure. Success is the American Dream we can keep dreaming because most people in most places, including thirty million of ourselves, live wide awake in the terrible reality of poverty. No, I do not wish you success. I don’t even want to talk about it. I want to talk about failure.

Because you are human beings you are going to meet failure. You are going to meet disappointment, injustice, betrayal, and irreparable loss. You will find you’re weak where you thought yourself strong. You’ll work for possessions and then find they possess you. You will find yourself - as I know you already have - in dark places, alone, and afraid.

What I hope for you, for all my sisters and daughters, brothers and sons, is that you will be able to live there, in the dark place. To live in the place that our rationalizing culture of success denies, calling it a place of exile, uninhabitable, foreign.

You should read the rest though. It’s not much longer.

It’s funny. When I write this stuff it’s often interpreted as coming from a mood of depression. Far from it, it’s when I inflate myself, when I need to trumpet my actions and my thoughts that I need checking in with.

Also, I was educated in places that taught us very standard and very high ideas of success. I remember my dad encouraging me to try to get my grades up so that I could apply for the Rhodes scholarships. Less and less do I get myself wound up about that kind of success. It’s there as a possibility, I have some of the necessary capabilities (intelligence, white skin, a full head of hair) and training that are valued and social networks for achieving in that manner. But those fantasies are being replaced, slowly. I’m becoming more and more excited about the idea of being part of my own family, having progeny, enjoying my own company, and a hopefully increasing capacity to enjoy others. I think it (the change) reflects a healthier person.

The change in desires makes me think two things - that weird Ray Bradbury short story where the uncle/father helps his kid change from thinking about becoming a dinosaur and starting to grow canines to thinking about being a railroad engineer - and Einstein’s “A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants”. I think about it a lot, but maybe it’s less than 100% true.

So yeah, there’s many different reasons to blog, yada yada. Really, there’s just one and as we (bloggers) get used to blogging and move on to year 3,4,5, of it the shine wears off and a lot of us forget it. I love reading a lot of my friends’ blogs but there used to be a lot more posts like this. Thank you, Catherine for giving a wonderful example of the power of indy media. It’s not about personal promotion, it’s not about running your own business and it’s not really about “citizen journalism” (whatever that is). It’s about affirming elements of yourself publicly, sharing yourself with people known to you, and creating/contributing to a conversation that doesn’t get space in any other public spheres/media.

Or maybe I’m just saying this to validate my “gay” post. ;-)

Same difference by Catherine.

For the rest of the people that are in my media neighborhood, I would love to know actually what you think about. I hope you share.

You should come. Super fun, and I’ve got this idea that the parties on fri+sat are going to rock out. I dig activist (militants) / young academic (before they get their doctorate) parties.

(french version below)
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[ please distribute appropriately ]

ARTIVISTIC 2007
[ UN.OCCUPIED SPACES ]
25 to 27 October 2007 :: Montreal
http://www.artivistic.org

Artivistic is an international transdisciplinary three-day gathering on the interPlay between art, information and activism. Artivistic emerges out of the proposition that not only artists talk about art, academics about theory, and activists about activism. Founded in 2004, the event aims to promote transdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue on activist art beyond critique, to create and facilitate a human network of diverse peoples, and to inspire, proliferate, activate.

For the third edition of Artivistic, the expression [ un.occupied spaces ] was chosen to stimulate new ideas in response to the hidden confusions caused by the infinite networks of 21C globalization and neo-liberalism. [ un.occupied spaces ] dares to link the charged issues of environmentalism, indigenous and migrant struggles, and urban practices together through the angle of occupation. In an interconnected world, critical thought and action cannot but become flexible and uncompromising at once. To think with occupation consequently becomes a strategy for approaching these issues in a way that will reveal their interdependence, and fuel creative and tactical collaborative actions between “co-artists” (artists and non-artists). Built around three interrelated questions, the event consists of roundtables, workshops, interventions, exhibitions, performances, and screenings at our temporary headquarters at 5455 av. de Gaspé, #701, and in different venues and spaces of Montreal.

< what is indigenous? >
The very use of the term “indigenous” presupposes a claim to the existence of certain rights. The right to traditional uses of territory. The right to live on the land from which one has been displaced. The right to status. The right to self-determination. The right to a life with dignity. In what context does indigenous mean something and how is it represented today? What is the relationship between identity based on place, the land and/or territories and the right to resources? What is indigenous in the context of globalisation, migrations and mobility?

< what is natural (space) ? >
The environment is in a pretty bad shape. Yet, does not typical environmentalism often propose “solutions” which alienate the very people that could make a difference by using a false dichotomy (natural/artificial, nature/culture) and by perpetuating the myth of a pristine nature? Current strategies often make use of fear and guilt to provoke action, yet will we not be helping our environment in a more efficient way once we let go of our arrogance as humans and start living with and in the world rather than of, and alienated from, the world?

< what is (there) to occupy? >
The term “occupation” often inspires images of invasion, enclosure and rape. How are spaces and bodies ruled over? What is public space, ultimately? Why do reserves exist? To ask what is occupation is in fact to ask what is left to occupy for occupation is more pervasive than it first appears. At the same time, occupation echoes resistance when it comes to certain forms of appropriation. How does one occupy appropriation or how can one appropriate occupation?

The Autonomous Conference >> Artivistic also includes an open-source component. Participants will be able to sign up on the day-of to hold an ad-hoc session that is not in the official program but is fully part of the event. You can prepare in advance, but you don’t need to submit anything.

Our events are free admission, with a suggested donation of $10 for waged participants.

Please register to secure a place: participation.artivistic@gmail.com

For updates / more information: http://www.artivistic.org

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[ merci de diffuser ]

ARTIVISTIC 2007
[ ESPACES IN.OCCUPÉS ]
25 au 27 octobre 2007 :: Montréal
http://www.artivistic.org/index_fr.html

Artivistic est une rencontre transdisciplinaire internationale de trois jours sur l’interAction entre art, information et activisme. Artivistic émerge de la proposition selon laquelle les artistes ne sont pas les seul(e)s à parler de l’art, les théoriciens de la théorie, et les activistes de l’activisme. Fondée en 2004, la manifestation a pour objectif de promouvoir un dialogue transdisciplinaire et interculturel sur l’art activiste au-delà de la critique, de créer et de faciliter un réseau d’individus divers, et d’inspirer, proliférer, activer.

Pour la troisième édition d’Artivistic, l’expression [ espaces in.occupés ] a été choisie afin de développer de nouvelles idées et pratiques relatives à la notion de territoire, qu’il soit concret ou virtuel. En effet, diverses définitions et confusions sont provoquées par les réseaux infinis composant la réalité néo-libérale du XXIe siècle. [ espaces in.occupés ] se donne le défi de rassembler des questions portant sur l’environnement, les luttes des autochtones et des immigrants ainsi que les pratiques urbaines, tout en les abordant sous l’angle de l’occupation. Dans un contexte où chaque geste a des répercussions multiples, la pensée et l’action critiques se doivent de devenir à la fois flexibles et intransigeantes. Penser en termes d’occupation devient par conséquent une stratégie pour souligner l’interdépendance de ces questions, et permet des actions de collaboration créatrices et tactiques entre “co-artistes” (artistes et non-artistes). La rencontre est conçue sous forme de trois questions interreliées et se compose de tables-rondes, d’ateliers, d’interventions, d’expositions, de performances et de projections qui auront lieu à notre quartier général temporaire au 5455, avenue de Gaspé, #701, et dans divers autres endroits à Montréal.

< que veut dire autochtone? >
L’utilisation du terme présuppose une revendication quant à l’existence de certains droits. Le droit aux usages traditionnels du territoire. Le droit de retour à l’endroit d’où l’on a été déplacé. Le droit au statut. Le droit à l’auto-détermination. Le droit à une vie avec dignité. Dans quel contexte le mot “autochtone” prend t-il une signification et comment est-il représenté de nos jours? Quelle est la relation entre une identité ancrée dans le lieu, la terre et/ou le territoire et le droit aux ressources? Que veut dire autochtone dans un contexte de mondialisation, de migrations, et de mobilité?

< (espace) naturel comment? >
L’environnement est dans un triste état. Cependant, les « solutions » proposées par les environnementalistes n’aliènent-elles pas, bien souvent, les personnes qui pourraient faire une différence en employant une pensée dualiste (naturel/artificiel, nature/culture) et en perpétuant le mythe d’une nature vierge? La culpabilité et la peur sont des moyens courants d’inciter à l’action. Mais, ne serons-nous pas plus en mesure d’aider notre environnement une fois que nous aurons cédé à notre arrogance comme êtres humains, et lorsque nous commencerons à vivre avec et dans le monde et non pas de, et aliénés de celui-ci?

< occuper quoi? >
Le terme « occupation » inspire souvent des images d’invasion, d’enclos et de viol. Comment les corps et les espaces sont-ils conquis? Qu’est-ce ultimement qu’un espace public? À quoi servent les réserves? S’interroger sur la notion d’occupation nous mène à nous demander ce qu’il reste à occuper puisque le phénomène est plus répandu qu’il ne paraît. D’autre part, l’occupation fait écho à la résistance quand il est question de certaines formes d’appropriation. Comment peut-on occuper l’appropriation ou alors s’approprier l’occupation?

La Conférence Autonome >> Artivistic comprend aussi un volet source-contenu libre (”open-source”). Les participant(e)s seront en mesure de s’inscrire le jour même pour tenir des sessions ad hoc qui ne figureront pas dans le programme officiel, mais néanmoins feront partie intégrante de l’évènement. Vous pouvez vous préparer d’avance, mais vous ne devez pas soumettre quoi que ce soit.

L’entrée est libre. Une contribution volontaire de 10$ est suggérée aux participant(e)s salarié(e)s.

Veuillez vous inscrire pour vous assurer une place : participation.artivistic@gmail.com

Pour mises à jour / informations complémentaires : http://www.artivistic.org

I’ve only fooled around with guys a few times. Never as the “teenage exploration” thing, I think the first time I kissed a guy was in my early 20’s. Since I’ve been single I’ve found myself being interested in guys again. It’s kinda fun.

I keep feeling like it (having homosexual interests) is somehow supposed to be a big fucking deal and something that I should be circumspect about mentioning. That emotion (shame of any degree) is really a lame feeling to walk around with, so I figure mentioning it here will shoo it away.

I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but only as an aside a couple of years ago. Sometimes you I one need to re-say things, especially when ones actions can be construed as effacing / obscuring them.

I *love* university of the streets. If I live to 100 I don’t think I’ll do any project cooler or more effective for a holistic intervention than this. I’m hoping to go to this on thurs. And hopefully Catherine will be coming to check it out.

I went to the Concordia discussion on Happiness last week and really enjoyed it. I spoke about how dropping out of university helped me along in terms of happiness because I knew from age 21 that I wasn’t going to be able to follow the normal route and live my life for other people’s expectations. Very liberating and something that can take a lot longer to figure out. It was tough at the time, but I’m glad to have had that lesson foisted on me early.

Also- one of the invited guests is quadreplegic and mute. I’m really curious to see how he’s going to present.

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Beyond a Handicap: Are you and I really that different? / Au delà de l’handicap, vous et moi, sommes-nous si différents?

University of the Streets Café / L’Université autrement: Dans les cafés
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: Santropol Roulant
Street: 4050 Saint-Urbain

Are we not all searching to become fully autonomous individuals? For a person living with a disability, daily life brings many constraints, and challenges the very notion of autonomy. How can an individual, when influenced by the perception and attitudes of others, find a way beyond this and simply be a full member of society. During this public conversation Madeleine Picard and Robert Jean, both born with cerebral palsy, will share their thoughts on these questions.

Moderator:

Daniel Bouchard is the volunteer coordinator for Santropol Roulant, a not-for-profit organization, bringing people together across generations and cultures through an innovative meals-on-wheels service, intergenerational activities and volunteer programs.

Madeleine Picard is a tough and tenacious woman, whose life experience has given her a fresh perspective and the strength to overcome what is inaccessible. Joyfulness inhabits all of her undertakings.

Robert Jean is a man of action and willfulness. Quadraplegic and mute, he is both a writer and public speaker and is involved in many projects supporting people with disabilities. He is especially concerned with the plight of children.

Ne cherchons-nous pas tous à nous réaliser comme personnes autonomes? Pour une personne vivant avec la paralysie cérébrale, le quotidien amène des défis et des contraintes particulières. Influencée par la perception et les attitudes des autres, comment prendre et garder sa place? Au cours de cette conversation publique, Madeleine Picard et Robert Jean, tous deux vivant avec cette condition depuis la naissance, partageront leurs réflexions sur cette question.

Modérateur:

Daniel Bouchard est le coordonnateur des bénévoles au Santropol Roulant, un organisme à but non lucratif, reposant sur le bénévolat et offrant un service de popote roulante à des personnes aux prises avec une perte d’autonomie.

Invités:

Madeleine Picard est une femme tenace et combative, capable de défier l’inaccessible. Ses études en enfance inadaptée lui ont donné un nouveau regard sur la vie. La gaieté l’habite dans tous ses projets.

Robert Jean est un homme d’action et de volonté. Quadriplégique et muet, il est auteur-conférencier et s’implique socialement pour les personnes à mobilité réduite. Généreux de coeur, il consacre ses talents surtout aux enfants et rien ne l’arrête.