A Montrealer in San Miguel

  

Magic versus misery

 

By Nancy Snipper

You may think it absurd to compare Montreal with San Miguel. After all, one is a huge North American metropolis; the other a tight-knit colonial Mexican town. You may assume that Montreal’s international festivals, remarkable restaurants, stadiums, ski resorts and opera houses are the prime ingredients for happy habitation. You might also imagine that because people from all over the world are adding further culture to la belle-ville - life in the city is fun and stimulating. The truth is no amount of sleek buildings, wide sidewalks, hockey games, hip hoppers, newcomers, notables  and  fashionistas  can make up for the sprit of warmth and acceptability that San Miguel offers.  A city must embrace an ethos and ambiance that cherishes personal freedoms and values difference.  So lucky are those who wake up and say: “I’m so glad I live in San Miguel!”  Here, North Americans and Mexicans with their two languages co-exist in harmony. Each enjoys the difference - in language, customs and way of life; it makes life more fun.  Most importantly, one culture does not attempt to repress the other.  That is what I most cherish about San Miguel.  

When I walk on the streets here, I can smile at the kids, even give them a little hug, and of course say hello in Spanish to strangers I pass on the sidewalks – if they don´t beat me to it.  It`s really sweet. Do that in Montreal, and you are given a menacing look. You may even be perceived as a weirdo. No problema in San Miguel; Here all eccentrics, nerds, wannabes, nobodies, some-bodies and VIPS are accepted – even welcomed with open arms, and age  knows no boundaries here.   

As for Montreal`s old folks, they don’t seem to be anywhere outside. They`re shut away in senior “care” homes where their only company is the one nurse tending to 45 other poor souls. Such is the norm in Montreal. Here in San Miguel, all family members go out together to partake in the evening activities.  There is laughter, music and endless people watching. 

I fear getting old in Montreal. What happens if I become senile, and end up blurting out something in English instead of French?  Will I be fined? Thanks to Bill 101, the French language police of the province happily spend their days walking the streets of Montréal in disguise checking to make sure that no English signs appear anywhere outside the establishment. If you must use English for your business, it can only appear inside the building and in much smaller letters than the French. Unlucky are those who have vision problems. Once again, no consideration is given to the elderly when it comes to reading English outside the home.  Mark my words: you will be fined a handsome sum!  

Such was the case for a famous Italian restaurant on St-Laurent Street, a hotspot for movie stars and local celebrities. The menu had the word ‘pasta’ in it, and for that the owner was handed a humongous fine.       

Word spread all over the world about this ludicrous fine and the malevolence behind the action. The province’s leader, Pauline Marois said it was a mistake and sent her henchmen to scout out lesser known places to punish anyone sporting English signs, and avoid the media. 

 By the way, all those immigrants I referred to - they can`t send their children to English schools, nor can anyone whose native language is English, except if one is born in Canada. 

San Miguel is a community that nurtures us all regardless of language, looks, age and background. I love this place, so for you ex-Montréalers, enjoy the rest of your happy life here. As for those nay-sayers, who will surely castigate me for being so negative about Montreal, just come up for another harsh winter, insufferably humid summer and take a drive on the streets cratered in potholes. Then try to get help if you get a flat tire. You may be standing there for a very long time ... but less longer if you speak French.

Also posted on / Également affiché sur: Culture Plus

Related Articles by / Articles relié par Nancy Snipper:  http://smrcultureplus.blogspot.ca/2013/04/cumpanio.html  

http://smrcultureplus.blogspot.ca/2013/04/meeting-miracles-in-san-miguel-de.html

 

The House that Herman Built

Herman's House, Canada 2012, 82m, Angad Singh Bhalla

This very important film was seen at this year’s Montreal International Documentary Festival / Ce film très important a été visionnés lors des Rencontres Internationale du Documentaires a Montréal de cette année CLICK HERE FOR COVERAGE / CLIQUER ICI POUR COUVERTURE

 In 1967, Herman Wallace along with fellow Black Panthers Robert Hillary King and Albert Woodfox, were sent to Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana after being caught robbing a bank. They became known as the Angola 3. In 1972, during a series of prison strikes, 23-year-old guard Brent Miller was stabbed to death. The 3 were put in solitary confinement as a result. In 2001, a young activist artist Jackie Sumell, outraged by the apparent cruelty, got into contact with Herman and asked him to participate in a very ambitious art project. What would be your ‘dream house’ after being in solitary confinement for nearly 4 decades?
What follows is a heart-wrenching portrait of how one man can survive physically, emotionally and spiritually despite being subjected to a cruel and barbaric punishment. What struck me as most amazing is that Herman, despite being in such an exceptionally bad situation, was the one who provided the strength to continue not only to Jackie but also to his sister and many others with whom he has come into contact with over the years.

En 1967, Herman Wallace ainsi que ses compatriotes des Black Panthers Robert Hillary King et Albert Woodfox, ont été envoyés à l’Angola, un pénitencier de l'État en Louisiane après avoir été arrêter pour un braquage de banque. Ils sont devenus connus comme les Angola 3. En 1972, au cours d'une série de grèves prisonnier, Brent Miller, un gardien de 23 ans, a été poignardé à mort. Les 3 ont été mis en cellule d'isolement par conséquence. En 2001, un jeune artiste activiste Jackie Sumell, scandalisé par la cruauté apparente, prend contact avec Herman et lui a demandé de participer à un projet très ambitieux. Quelle serait votre «maison de rêve» après avoir été en cellule d'isolement pendant près de 4 décennies?
Ce qui suit est qu'un portrait déchirant de comment un homme peut survivre physiquement, émotionnellement et spirituellement malgré une punition cruelle et barbare. Ce qui m'a frappé comme la plus étonnante est que Herman, malgré dans une telle situation exceptionnellement mauvaise, était celui qui a fourni à la force de continuer non seulement à Jackie, mais aussi à sa sœur et beaucoup d'autres avec qui il est venu en contact avec au fil des ans.

 

Nancy Snipper's letter to Pauline Marois:

 PAULINE MAROIS:

Je vous déteste. Vous m’avez enlevé tout mon amour pour la langue française que j’adorais - dans mon enfance et à l’université;  c’était ma matière principale là. C’était ma vie. J’ai été au pair en France; j’ai passé des étés à étudier la langue à Québec au Collège Laval. En plus, les livres que j’ai écrits pour les enfants étaient en français. J’ai  même déménagé de Toronto à Montréal pour être plus avec les francophones - pour vivre avec les canadiens francophones qui partagent notre pays, tellement riche et divers -  respecté pour ses  politiques démocratiques.

MAINTENANT. JE N’AIME PLUS PARLER le français PARCE QUE VOUS  ME L’ENFONCER DANS LA GORGE.  CA M’ÉTOUFFE.  VOUS M’ENLEVEZ TOUT LE PLAISIR DE CETTE BELLE LANGUE EN LA CHANGEANT EN UNE LANGUE D’OBLIGATION ET D’AUTORITÉ.
LE FRANCAIS N’EST PLUS UNE LANGUE DE POÉSIE NI DE LIBERTÉ MAIS DE FASCISME.
MAINTENANT  QUAND JE LE PARLE, J’AI L’IMPRESSION QUE MA GORGE EST PLEINE DE SERPENTS  ET QUE TOUS MES AMIS SONT ENTOURÉS DE  CES SERPENTS QUI VIENNENT DE VOS CHEVEUX ET QUI  NOUS ÉTRANGLENT.
MEME SI VOUS VOUS ÊTES FAIT COUPER LES CHEVEUX, VOUS RESTEZ UNE MEDUSE.

Nancy Snipper

[Related posts / postes liés:

http://mattersofpersonalinterests.blogspot.ca/2013/07/legislating-language-is-unfair.html#.Uz_-21ca2So

The Agony of the Artistic Temperament

                                                          by Nancy Snipper

Have you ever been told you have an artistic temperament?

Vincent Van Gogh, Schumann, Beethoven and poet, Sylvia Plath (top to bottom).

Is this a compliment or a softly delivered insult? I can remember being told by my mother that I was different, that I didn’t see the world as others did, that writing poetry at the age of nine was not an activity most pursued with élan, even if it would earn you a gold star from your teacher.
The fact is, I was kind of a word nerd, a dreamy escapist who felt my way as the only way, and the condition worsened when I discovered Herman and the Hermits. Great! Now I could travel across the Mercy, get inspired write poetry and then put the words to music. I could become a lyric goddess, inspired by the water under the ferry I was riding!
My imagination seemed to control most of my life. Even when I had my tonsils out, I woke up and began writing a poem about darkness. Heavens to Betsy, what was happening to me?
One day when my turtle died and I cried for a week, my mother sat down to explain that I had an artistic temperament. I felt rather happy to hear this, because I didn’t understand what this meant, but I found the phrase to be poetically pleasing to the ear. I immediately began writing little verses whose words rhymed with ‘ment’ – ‘bent’, ‘lent’ and ‘sent‘could fit nicely into a 4-line verse. Then I became really excited with the word ’resent’. It was secretly aimed at people in my teens who did not accept my ‘artistic temperament’.
Later on in life, I began to see that I was overly sensitive to people’s joking about me. In fact, I was an emotional dragon, spewing out invectives against the world in my poetry and songs.at the world.not even a diva. I had achieved nothing, so there was no justification for that title. I just had a lot of ideas that wanted to be expressed in poetry and music.
Now decades later, I am proud to say I no longer have that artistic temperament, where the universe where my feelings and thoughts were all that mattered.
Working with other artists as an interviewer and collaborator on projects I began to see that some artists lack a connection to the real humdrum very necessary aspects to daily living. Many of the people I interviewed seemed to live in an altered state and in a different reality from the one I and most other face every day. Getting up, feeling aches and pains, going to work, struggling with traffic, getting annoyed by a co-worker who did not want to do his fair share of a teaching project, even feeling bored and turning on the sleep tube (TV).
So what was it that changed me?
Maturity I hope, and the fascination I have with others rather than myself as a writer, observation is tantamount to the craft. Meeting a new person or catching up with a friend you haven’t seen for a while is like unwrapping a new gift - surprises galore. Everyone is an exclusive package, and even if they have that artistic temperament which to me translates as picky-picky, inability to laugh at one’s weakness, sensitive to every comment made or dodgy in responsibility (this may not be your take on the term), I find this über fascinating.
Take the composer Mahler: he totally disallowed his wife to pursue her musical career as a composer. He insisted that she must remain subservient to him and that, as his muse, her role was to be present and supportive of his moods. He guarded his artistic temperament, putting his creativity above his marriage.
Plato said that artistic temperament is divine madness. Freud called it a dark angel of destruction. Psychiatrists have noted that many great artists suffer from a deep neurosis that can result in self destructive behavior: Vincent Van Gogh, Schumann, Beethoven and poet, Sylvia Plath.

                                                                   Sigmund Freud

An artistic temperament can work for you though. It is the driving force behind all those obsessive creative ideas that won’t leave you alone until you make them real. So next time someone tells you that you have an AT, say thank you and get on with that new thing you want to bring to life.
 

Also posted on / Aussi attesté sur : SMR Cultureplus

moved to another site / déplacé vers un autre site

                                                   
                                          

Verdun’s Smoking Gun

                                                               by Nancy Snipper

 Tobacco kills. We all know that. Imperial Tobacco should be called Perilous Tobacco. Regardless of our government’s massive campaign warning us all of nicotine’s lethal effects, and doctors’ stern words to quit smoking, it seems to be going up in smoke in Verdun, Montreal. Having recently moved from NDG, I am appalled at the sea of smokers striding Verdun’s sidewalks. The area is congested with coughers at almost every corner! Some look as old as 14. The stench of cigarette smoke in the air is pungent. Our downstairs epitomize what goes on here - in their backyard from 10 a.m. - stopping at 8 pm. Forget about opening the windows of my walk-up one floor above. Much as I find Verdun, colourful, friendly and full of outdoor recreational facilities, I think a more fitting name for my newly adopted neighbourhood would be Vraidumb!

L'intimidation: Il est temps de prendre une position

Version Français de:
                                                                           Bully (cultureplus)

                                Bullying: it’s time to take a stand (Culture Plus / Matters of Personal Interest)

Related posts / Attestations relie:

http://smrcultureplus.blogspot.ca/2012/04/bully-by-lee-hirsch.html
http://smrcultureplus.blogspot.ca/2012/04/intimidation-par-lee-hirsch.html
http://mattersofpersonalinterests.blogspot.ca/2012/04/bullying-its-time-to-take-stand.html

Le dernier film «Bully (Intimidation)» réalisé par Lee Hirsch est un documentaire ou «le moment est venu de s’exprimer». C'est un film provocateur et très important sur un sujet qui est en train de crée beaucoup de tumulte dans le monde entier. L'intimidation est un problème universel qui touché un grand nombre. L'intimidation peut se produire dans les écoles, au travail et même sur l’Internet (cyber intimidation). Elle transcende toutes les frontières, y compris géographique, raciale, ethnique et statut sociale. Ainsi, il peut avoir un effet dévastateur sur ceux qui en ont été victimes. Elle a mené beaucoup à s'isoler de la société du à la terreur d'être intimidé. Certains se suicident (appelé bullycide); d'autres deviennent des tyrans eux même ou se déchaîne violemment, habituellement pars la vengeance. Les victimes ont tendance à être exclus de la société, incapables de s’intégré, tandis que le tyran est souvent une personne anxieux, il se sent qu’il doit «prouver» quelque chose. Au fond le tyran se sent menacée par sa victime.
L'intimidation existe depuis le début de l'homme mais aujourd'hui du à les progrès technologiques dans les communications, les effets peuvent être plus dévastateurs souvent due a l'affichage sur les réseaux sociaux tels que Facebook et You Tube.
Ce documentaire très important, qui, à mon avis, devrait être visionnée par tous (malheureusement il a reçu un classement de ‘R’ au États-Unis, qui signifie que l'auditoire auquel elle est principalement dirigée, les jeunes moins de 17 ans ne sera pas admit pour le voir), suit les histoires de cinq élevés du secondaires qui sont (ou on été) des victimes d'intimidation, les effets sur eux même et sur leurs familles. Il documente également les réactions des professeurs, administrateurs, la police, la communauté et la société dans son ensemble. Il est temps de résisté et de décrier cette forme de violence et de réaliser que le cliché «les enfants seront les enfants» est dépassé, usé et carrément dangereux. 

Ajouté le 28 Février 2018

 Blue Helix - Vidéo HD Officielle de d’Anti-Social Butterfly

Les cinq histoires sont :
Alex 12 de Sioux City en Iowa, qui doit endurer les insultes, les malédictions et les menaces tout en voyageant dans le bus à et de l'école. Il dit à ses parents qu’ils sont ses amis et ils sont simplement «déconner» comme il est si désespéré pour s'intégrer.

Alex

Kelby 16 de Tuttle Oklahoma, qui, avec sa famille, a été traités comme un paria dans cette petite ville profondément dans la Bible Belt des États-Unis depuis qu’elle a admis qu’elle est gay. Elle a dû faire face à la haine non seulement de ses camarades de classe, mais aussi de ses professeurs.
Ja'Meya 14 comté de Yazoo en Mississippi a dû endurer d'être harcelé chaque jour, le matin et l’après-midi sur le voyage de bus aller-retour de l'école d’une durée d’une heure. Le premier jour de septembre, elle avait eu assez. Ja'Meya, calme et modeste, a pris le pistolet de sa mère dans une tentative de faire peur a ceux qui la tourmentait. Elle a été en suite accusée de plusieurs d’infractions majeures.
David et Tina Long, comté de Murray en Géorgie, sont en deuil. Leur fils Tyler, âgé de 17 ans, s'est pendu après des années d’avoir endurer des comportements abusifs envers lui. Ils se sentent coupable à être incapables de le protéger et de colère envers le système scolaire qui a échoué lamentablement en lui offrant un refuge.
Après que Ty Smalley a l’âge de 11 ans s'est suicidé en raison de l'intimidation, ses parents, Kirk et Laura a lancé une organisation contre l'intimidation, appelée «Stand for the Silent.»
On a tous besoin de s'impliquer et de crier à haut voix «L'INTIMIDATION: IL FAUT C’ARRÊT».

Lee Hirsch