hi all !

ya, so the world is panicking about money. argh. money sucks, especially money that doesn’t really exist but just pretends to exist so that we can someday cash it in and make some real money. in the meantime, we should probably turn to more serious matters, like art, love and music — not necessarily in that order, but not necessarily not in that order either! 

alright, i am feeling a little silly tonight, i’ll admit it. very tired, but also kind of excited about the music i have been listening to tonight (and for the past month and a half really). you see, cbc radio 2 has recently changed its format from predominantly classical music to a mix of all kinds of tunes. there is a pretty heavy dose of canadian music, but since canada has a great music scene (including folks like arcade fire, the besnard lakes and the new pornographers) you don’t need to worry about a thing.

one of the shows i am enjoying the most is rich terfry’s show, called drive, from 3pm to 6pm every evening (eastern time; but, you can stream online, and since there are like 5 time zones in canada, you can always pretty much find some rich to listen to in the evenings). rich is a kooky kind of guy. he is actually a hip-hop artist from the maritimes known as buck 65, but he has taken to the national broadcaster because he has always had a penchant for ‘radio’. who wouldn’t really? radio is community, open road getaways, and sitting around the hearth, with a coffee and whiskey, playing scrabble and laughing at hikes gone wrong in the rocky mountains of your youth (or something like that, anyway).

he is funny. he has this deep voice, and a measured way of speaking that might turn you off at first. don’t be deterred! he writes poetry to introduce artists; he tells tales of fateful tours across the great white north; and he ponders the existential matters of heart, mind and metaphor. i pretty much really enjoy the guy!

…and, whenever i imitate him in a deep rich baritone, saying: “you’re listening to radio 2 drive, with rich terfry”, my 10-month-old, lil’ guy cracks up like you wouldn’t believe! … it’s gotta be a good sign!

here it is, radio2. enjoy! … check around the site as there are concerts to be had, some video fun, and other interneterly sorts of fare. 

see ya soon,

c.

you can reserve one now, and hopefully if everything goes well you’ll be driving one in 2010!

if you’ve visited this site before, you might have recognized that i am not a fan of the automobile … not in our cities anyway. a fantastic film like who killed the electric car frustrates me from two levels … the first being that we have the technology available to have zero-emission cars, but the car companies don’t want them to roll out … so they keep them from us. if you haven’t heard of this, watch this documentary …

the second level being that electric cars aren’t even the answer! … they are simple the worse-case scenario that we should allow ourselves. there are countless other environmental and social consequences that our car culture contributes to. roads are a huge issue for wildlife and waterways, and in the cities they take up so much space that room for people and their kids is very limited.

if we didn’t have to build so many roads for cars, what would we do with the space filled by roads today? look out your front window and imagine that as a grass (wild grasses, not lawn) covered lane, with more trees, some wildflowers, and maybe a small creek flowing by … the point being: there doesn’t have to be a road there.

not only would such alternate uses of roads make life more enjoyable, it would make being a kid so much wonderous … just run out the door and there is a world ready to explore and run around in, where there aren’t cars zipping by every 2 seconds … kids should catch frogs, not car exhaust when they are playing outside with their friends.

… my very convoluted point being that electric cars are not the answer. the answer is that we need to replan our cities, creating transportation systems that allow us to live without automobiles on a daily basis. we need to do this for the environment (there is no doubt), but also because it will improve our lives, it will bring beauty back into places that are currently rather ugly, and because it is simply a better way to live.

… but in the meantime, we still need to get around while our cities are being reimagined … and to do that, we should only be using all-electric cars (hybrids are not enough).

so, put your name on the list, and drive one off the lot in 2010!!

ps - there are a bunch of electric car options out there, some smaller than these … do some searching and see if you find something that interests you! … this treehugger article might be a place to start …

c.

there isn’t a day that goes by that i don’t long for parts of montreal to do the same, although with greater vision. i say pull up the asphalt on some neighbourhood streets, and turn them into green zones, with grasses, shrubs and flowers giving our kids (and adults) places to play.

the time for roads is done in my opinion.

… and yes, there will be adjustments that need to be made … figuring out deliveries for businesses, and helping those with limited mobility and/or large parcels get around … but these are small problems that can be solved …

but first we have to give ourselves the right to solve these problems, and make our lives more liveable.

here is the article on new york’s experiment.