Parking the car in Harvard Yard

The Better Third and I just got back from our five-day trip to the beautiful city of Boston. She was there to attend the Yoga Journal 2008 Boston Conference along with her brother and sister (last year, the three traveled to San Francisco for the same) while I was simply along for the ride.

Thought I’d share a few photos for all y’all.

A general shot of the financial district from the wharf area

“The Cradle of Liberty” — Fanueil Hall — is located near Quincy Market, and is where such revolutionary patriots as Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock would debate the ideas of the Enlightenment and democracy. The upper levels of the building were designed by self-taught architect Charles Bulfinch, who popularized the “federalist” style of the early 1800s, defining Boston for the ages.

Faneuil Hall

As could be expected, plenty of churches dominate the Bostonian skyline, even to this day. While the first were made primarily of wood, thus being prone to fire and other damage, brick and mortar churches soon developed. Many have since been removed to make way for progressive development, but there remain more than a few notable houses of worship which beautify the city today.

New North Church

King’s Chapel

Old South Meeting House

The architecture in this city cannot be described as anything other than phenomenal. The aforementioned Charles Bulfinch left an enduring legacy on the city, as did the considerably more modern I.M. Pei, the world famous graduate from Harvard University.

New State House by Charles Bulfinch, 1797

Trinity Church by Henry Hobson Richardson, 1877

Boston Public Library by McKim, Mead and White, 1895

Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge, 2002

The First Church of Christ, Scientist (not to be confused with the Church of Scientology) was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879. In addition to being home of the Christian Science Monitor, the Christ the Scientist Park deserves special mention when it comes to Boston architecture:

Church of Christ, Scientist, Park

The Original Mother Church, 1894

The Mother Church Extension, 1906

Christian Science Center and Reflecting Pool by I.M. Pei, 1968 and 1974

Patriots abound throughout the Boston area, even those who eventually won the big game:

Paul Revere, he of the ride made famous by Longfellow

George Washington was given control of the Continental army in nearby Cambridge

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston and attended the Latin School

Samuel Adams — brewer, philosopher, politician, writer, rabble-rouser, and Founding Father of the United States of America

The Boston Holocaust Memorial is a subtle yet profoundly moving commemoration to that infamous time. The six towers symbolize the six major concentration camps; upon the towers are etched 6 million numbers, the numbers which were assigned those destined to extermination in those death camps. Steam rises from grates below, and visitors are encouraged to walk beneath the towers, reflect on the quotations featured inside, and feel the suffocating effects of the steam as representative of the Nazi gas chambers.

Again, it was very moving.

The Holocaust Memorial

Last, but not least, while the Better Third was stretching in some ridiculous poses at the yoga conference, I took the opportunity to do the ultimate Boston adventure — seeing the Red Sox play at Fenway Park.

Bumf enters Fenway

Fenway Park

The Green Monstah

Big Pappi up to bat

All in all, we had a wonderful time. We didn’t get to the North End for a classic Italian dinner, and I didn’t run into Cam Neely, but the weather was decent and we got to see plenty of sights.

The city is very walkable and beautiful. Its eye-catching red brick buildings contrast beautifully with the ubiquitous green foliage, and the lovely banks of the harbour and the Charles River offer plenty of sights well worth seeing. The New World history is second-to-none, while the city prides itself on its ability to renew itself time and time again.

If you ever make it out to the Mass Bay region, I can recommend that you do both a walking tour of the Freedom Trail, as well as take a Duck Tour. Harvard University is a short subway ride north from the city and features some of the most beautiful neighbourhoods anywhere. The Boston Children’s Museum is a terrific place for young’uns, while the Science Center is a treat for kids and grown-ups alike. And, really, I can’t say enough about how fun a ball game at Fenway can be.

Good times were had by all. Bumf recommends.

The Myth of Alberta Culture

Sorry about the lack of posts recently. I’ve undertaken a new research assignment through my little company which has kept me somewhat more busy than my last job. In this case, I’m doing some writing for an Alberta jobs placement website, trying to entice people to move to this province for some God-forsaken reason.

I noticed through my research that much of the factual evidence in Alberta government web pages comes from the Canadian Encyclopedia, a reference material which can be found in every library in this great dominion — if you’re willing to accept a considerably dated edition.

Whilst in research mode, I came across this little gem under the heading of “Culture” within the Alberta section of the 2003 Canadian Encyclopedia:

[Alberta culture] has had to combat 2 major negative forces: the persistence of a “frontier ethos” that emphasizes economic materialism and rugged individualism, and a cultural dependency on external metropolitan centres as New York, London, Toronto and Los Angeles.

[...]

Yet it has its advantages.

Who wrote this, Pierre Trudeau?

First off, culture is what it is; it does not always have to mean classical music, modern art, interpretive dance and what have you. A culture of a community or region is defined by its people and institutions, not by some hack editor sitting in a dimly-lit cubicle in suburban Toronto.

While it is true that Alberta is still a young province, it has a deep history through its original inhabitants, through their early European settlers, and through the diverse influx of foreign immigrants of the past 120 years or more. As such, it culture is still evolving and obtaining an identity. Hence, the “frontier ethos” and “rugged individualism” unique to the place and time.

Second, what North American regional culture is itself not defined in some way by London, New York or Los Angeles? Which Canadian province is not affected by the cultural in-roads of the Toronto-based CBC which, in itself, is often influenced by London through the BBC?

The province is not the best place for everybody, and it seems that the rapidly growing economy has changed the Alberta culture yet again. Yet, to say that it has no positive culture of its own outside of that which is “dependent” on external centres is as elitist as it is wrong.

There are good people here, creative people doing creative things. Culture can not be confined to the dance hall or poetry readings; it is in the communities, in the boardrooms, during public festivals, through its businesses and organizations. In fact, it is because of — not despite — the independent spirit that Alberta has been able to develop its own unique identity in the world.

Which is something I would not expect the editors of the Canadian Encyclopedia to recognize. Apparently, Wikipedia is not the only source of biased information out there.

But at least wiki is current.

Duck Pimping

One of my favorite quotes, from Mordecai Richler’s Barney’s Version:

No sooner did I hang up when Irv Nussbaum, United Jewish Appeal capo di tutti capi, phoned. “Seen this morning’s Gazette? Terrific news. Big-time drug lawyer was shot dead in his Jaguar, outside his mansion on Sunnyside last night, and it’s splashed all over the front page. He’s Jewish, thank God. Name’s Larry Bercovich. Today’s going to be a hummer. I’m sitting here going through my pledge cards.”

Now, consider the attention given to Greenpeace “spokesman” Mike Hudema, fresh off his innovative and completely un-idiotic stunt a few days back. You might remember Hudema’s crack team of environmental covert-ops who crashed the premier’s dinner by repelling from the ceiling and unfurling a banner which stated their goal to “stop the tar sands”. If you don’t recall (by either ignorance of the action or your inherent survival instinct’s way of avoiding stupidity), please refer to Rob Breakenridge’s suggestion that we no longer take seriously any further consideration of Greenpeace as a mature and responsible partner in the future of energy production in Canada.

Unfortunately, the Sun Media chain never got the memo. Not only did this venerable media institution prominently and seriously consider Hudema’s demand for an “independent public inquiry” over this catastrophic catastrophe (more than 22,000 people have perished in the Burmese Cyclone to date, by the way), but their top legislative hack in Edmonton goes one step further.

Neil Waugh, while ridiculing the Tory government of “putting a bad spin” on the situation, credits Hudema as a reasonable interested party whose advice we should all heed. He agrees that a public inquiry should be called immediately, even though investigators are still rummaging through the obviously confusing situation. But hold yer horses! Waugh also suggests that the government has failed in its duty because — wait for it — they were “not serious enough to get a search warrant and seize Syncrude documents to determine exactly why the scare guns hadn’t been turned on”.

You read that correctly. Waugh is ridiculing Stelmach for not dispatching government agents to rifle through the drawers of a private corporation as a result of several hundred waterfowl who landed on a tailings pond because someone, somewhere, screwed up. Eliot Ness must be weeping from above.

I would expect Hudema to call for such a measure — the kid’s an enviro-fascist meathead who won’t stop until we’re all driving the latest model of the Red River cart. It’s the “professional” journalists who ought to be embarrassed when they are licking their chops at any further environmental “disaster” which will allow self-righteous pontificating and increased sales of their stories.

For a group of people who spend most of their working hours chiding others about their so-called greed, they are sure making a lot of hay from this stupid little incident.

Orthodoxy versus heresy

From Marvin Meyer’s The Gnostic Discoveries:

But what are orthodoxy and heresy? What is the source of the authority of the “orthodox” texts in the canon of scripture? From an historical point of view, orthodoxy and heresy may be understood as rhetorical constructs, as Karen King states, fashioned in the arena of political debate. Understood in this light, orthodoxy and heresy have little to do with truth and falsehood and everything to do with power and position. In a vote, the majority defines what is orthodox, and the minority is charged with being heretical. Among competing political factions, the dominant force dictates what is orthodox; those less powerful are designated as heretical. And the winners define the Bible.

Training Day

Kate McMillan:

Got to hand it to those environmentalists – they have the media well trained. A few hundred ducks expire in a Syncrude tailings pond and it’s international news. The tens of thousands sliced and diced each year (in the US alone) by wind generators? Not so much.