EDWISE
EDITOR AND EDUCATION CONSULTANT
EDITOR AND EDUCATION CONSULTANT
Blog
Just Peace-Review of 2018
| Posted on January 1, 2019 at 3:24 PM |
Time to sum up the year, I guess. I did review my short- and
long-term goals in the fall, finding myself mostly on track and arriving at the
decisions I had wanted to make by then. I have made some adjustments to the
goals regarding financial planning. I am feeling good—refreshed after a break and very positive
from assessing my present situation. Christmas Holiday First, let me talk about my holiday. I took the plunge,
splurged and did a Mayan Riviera resort stay. My first time in Mexico and on an
all-inclusive holiday package at a big resort. It was wonderful and worth it,
even though I traveled solo. Just shy of a week away, it was a nice break that
did the trick however short. I swam every day, lazed around by the beach or
snoozed in my room, enjoyed the food and hospitality. I watched the live shows
a couple of evenings and worked out at the spa gym a couple of times. It felt great to be able to have a holiday at Christmas and
to experience Christmas in a different way. Probably the most worthwhile thing I did on this holiday was
to take a day-long, guided excursion inland to see Mayan ruins. I had always
wanted to visit a Mayan pyramid. There I was under the sun on the day of Winter
Solstice at the pyramid of Chichen Ixta witnessing a Mayan procession and soaking
in the history, art and spirituality of the place. En route, we stopped to marvel at some high-quality, local
handicrafts. We also paused to view a Spanish church made from stones of the
Mayan structures. I witnessed Mayan youths performing indigenous dances, games,
songs and prayers. We also took time out to explore and swim in an underground
lake (“cenote”). What’s more, I had the chance to chat with some travel
companions and listen to their extraordinary stories along the way. In
addition, I relished the unanticipated sights of wildlife around the resort—birds
of prey, other birds such as magpies and pelicans, small mammals including coatis
(“tercones”) and a raccoon, deer, lizards and butterflies. It was super special to be there at the time of Winter
Solstice. I am sure I felt the power and beauty of the occasion. At least, the
view from the quiet beach under the clear sky lit by the light of the full moon
over the Caribbean Sea was perfection itself. It felt exhilarating to be there.
This is the moment when I felt my spirits lift and the tensions and worries
built up over the past months dissipate. The exposure to the moonlight and the good
waters of the region acted like a balm. I was re-energized. A great way to
conclude a year. Decisions this year. This past fall, I had pledged to myself to make some
decisions regarding financing, livelihood, living arrangements, retirement and
more. Here are some reflections on most of these decisions. -I concluded that it is best to continue renting at least
for about three more years because of the housing benefits for seniors that I
can now access. That means I have opted not to try to buy a place, for now. Therefore,
I am making improvements to my apartment with enhanced décor and proper
furniture to replace makeshift set-ups. I am reorganizing things and making use
of storage space that has just come available. That is, I am settling in here
for a long haul. -As for my livelihood, I have decided to rely on teaching
employment no longer. I am instead making more progress with self-employment:
writing projects, private tutoring, official testing. More work seems to be
coming to me. For instance, a private institute contacted me today to set up an
interview. If we go through with the job, I’ll have two or three shifts (12-16
hours a week) tutoring children. Also, a prospective student contacted me
directly, circumventing the tutoring agency, to schedule French lessons four
hours a week. To add, I recently had a couple of short projects reviewing
English translations. Finally, I am maintaining a role as an official speaking
examiner for some hours of testing most weeks. The hourly rate for most of this
work is fairly high. I have been getting some unemployment benefits due to my
previous months of employment with the academic English programs. Perhaps I’ll
have enough income from other sources to do without it in January. I am feeling
relieved to have more self-employment. It was my plan to depend more on
self-employment after returning from teaching in Korea two years ago, it is
apparently panning out. -Finances. What to do with the retirement savings so far
accumulated? My nest egg was release from some investment programs this past
fall. I was avoiding using that money for living and luxury/ leisure expenses
until I decided about buying a home. Now that I have decided not to buy a home,
I have decided to make some of it available for travel every year and for
living comforts such as the furniture. I think I may end up arranging something
like an annuity so that the savings can go towards what they were intended,
which is supporting my retirement life. I am so relieved to have resolved this
question, for I was beginning to feel very constrained practicing frugality and
continuing to endure makeshift arrangements such as the sleeping mat I’ve used
for a year and a half, the shabby lighting here, and the sagging work table that’s
been in the dining alcove. My place is more comfortable and pleasant now. Summing up the year. My life progressed. It generally moved in a positive
direction. I received blows, of course. The worst was being thrown out
summarily in the middle of a new sessional instructor contract. I blame it on
the unreasonable fear and negative imagination of people in charge at least of
the program I was working in, as well as poor institutional communication and
management. That was hard to live through. There was also the ongoing strain of unfair and erroneous federal
tax assessments. The assessments have been demanding a large payment, including
interest and penalties. It is difficult fighting this anonymous bureaucracy in
the series of blunders and misunderstandings and oversights about my financial
situation. Gradually, it is getting sorted out, after a ministerial inquiry,
meetings with a bank financial advisor, and numerous letters. The strain is
easing. Despite these problems, I have been able to keep income
flowing in. Self-employment activities are increasing, without me making huge
efforts to solicit the business. Though recent experience has turned off the
desire to rely mostly on employment in teaching, I still have teaching
prospects. I am meeting a children’s after-school ESL institute later this
week. I am also meeting a new private student this week. Finally, there is a
new writing project. If I complete a book that another ghost writer started,
and books are sold, I am to receive a percentage of the sales revenue. It is an
important book connected to my just peace activism as it is based on research
and experiences of an activist seeking reforms to nuclear power plants and
nuclear accident evacuation procedures in the US. Furthermore, I am settling into this rental apartment,
having made a decision about planning my retirement and using my retirement
funds. This is a relief, as I now feel grounded in a place and position in
life. Though I am not yet declaring myself retired and applying for senior’s
pension benefits, I am enjoying some other kinds of senior’s benefits, which offer
some relief. Finally, I ended the year with a warming, distracting and
relaxing vacation outside the country, getting away from it all, and also fit
in some celebrating with co-workers and relatives. There was a fine Christmas
party paid by the English testing company in late December, and I hosted a nice
dinner party for family yesterday. If I want, I can attend a friend’s house
party to welcome in 2019 tonight. Things are looking and feeling good for me just as 2019 is launched. |
Categories: communication, living, positive thinking, just peace, late career development, social justice and change, teaching, transition
Thinking and Doing It Positively
Thinking and Doing It Positively
Household Treasures
11 January 2021
I heard an interviewee speaking over the radio talk about cherishing items in the home. It is one way to explore and enjoy surroundings without traveling, he said. I'll try it.
A lot of objects on display in my apartment are artifacts from my travels, ironically. They refresh my most poignant memories of precious and mind-opening explorations.
Sitting atop the filing cabinet next to my desk are to souvenirs from South Korea, where I worked and resided for 10 years. After such a lengthy stay, I have loads of memories prompted by numerous artifacts of my experiences in that country. These two are among the best reflections of cultural and historical particularities of South Korea. They are a framed photo of a hero central to the labour and national democratic struggles and an ornament from folk culture in the countryside of the southern part of South Korea.
Jun Tae-Il was a courageous student activist leading actions against the last dictatorship in his country. He represents the heart of the movement and the victory for democracy. He became a martyr when the police fatally shot him while he was demonstrating in the street in Seoul, the capitol. The ornament is an ceramic fertility fetish, an image of a penis from one of several such parks in the southern region where I used to live. This part of the country remained tribal longer than other parts, so folk traditions such as shamanism and superstitions have endured. Fertility monuments were erected (pun intended), of course, bring about more healthy children. The foreigner exploring such parks giggle at the sights.
Next to the filing cabinet is a bookshelf. One of the most noticeable objects near the top of this piece of furniture is a tacky, plastic, white alarm clock. It is significant because I bought it to ensure I woke up on time on my last morning living in South Korea. I had an early flight. As a small travel alarm clock had recently failed, and I was not sure my phone alarm would wake me fully, I picked up a cheap clock at a local general store. I don't use it as its ticking is noisy, but I have not thought to give it away. It remains perched on the shelf, deprived of a battery, as a reminder of my departure from the ex-pat life and return to Canada.
I also have items saved from two trips to Cuba, one in 2003 and one in 2019. Both trips were organized political events. The first took me there with a political choral group to meet Cuban choirs, learn some of their songs, perform with Cubans, attend the May 1st rally, meet labour associations and tour the island for two weeks. I am looking at a typical replication of a sketch of Che Gevarra which one can find easily in street markets. Our choir, supportive of the Cuban revolution, valued the Cuban revolutionary democracy, social arrangements and political principals which that image, the most famous in all the world, represents to millions of people. It inspires and gives hope. I remember strolling through the streets, visiting markets and restaurants, chatting with locals and attending all the meetings on our hectic schedule. I have other little treasures such as a ceramic, hand painted ashtray, photos of our Cuban comrades, and an African-Cuban, wooden statuette.
Above my desk hang a pair of water colour paintings in wood frames. They portray sites in southern Manitoba in the general area where my grandparents met, married and bore my mother. They feature two views of the banks of the Red River, a river highly important to Canadian history. There were battles against invading Americans launched there and a key struggle of the Métis nation. The city of Winnipeg lies nearby, which used to be the industrial hub of Canada until the Panama Canal opened up and undermined the Canadian railway system. I have only passed through Winnipeg by car. This area is not one I remember, for I have never visited it.
On the floor near my desk lies a wicker hamper. I have mixed feelings about it, but it has been very useful, so I have kept it. You see, it belonged to my father's second wife. My father remarried this odd, older person rather quickly after my mother passed, which denied her children necessary time to adjust. I carried resentment about her, but chose to avoid them rather than say anything or show my negative feelings. As I said, it is a practical item for it holds linens and Christmas stuff and allows aeration through the woven stems.
I originally bought the filing cabinet to organize research, not academic information but information found in the course of activism and stabs at political journalism. It therefore stores records of several international and regional conferences. Though I purge it once in awhile, there are still clippings, leaflets and pamphlets. They cover issues such as Canadian mining firms abroad, human rights cases, privacy rights, student concerns and transportation. I have been replacing old articles and folders with my own writing pieces. Among them are also old, self-published newsletters addressing local and international issues, some of my published articles and unpublished poems.
Household Treasures
11 January 2021
I heard an interviewee speaking over the radio talk about cherishing items in the home. It is one way to explore and enjoy surroundings without traveling, he said. I'll try it.
A lot of objects on display in my apartment are artifacts from my travels, ironically. They refresh my most poignant memories of precious and mind-opening explorations.
Sitting atop the filing cabinet next to my desk are to souvenirs from South Korea, where I worked and resided for 10 years. After such a lengthy stay, I have loads of memories prompted by numerous artifacts of my experiences in that country. These two are among the best reflections of cultural and historical particularities of South Korea. They are a framed photo of a hero central to the labour and national democratic struggles and an ornament from folk culture in the countryside of the southern part of South Korea.
Jun Tae-Il was a courageous student activist leading actions against the last dictatorship in his country. He represents the heart of the movement and the victory for democracy. He became a martyr when the police fatally shot him while he was demonstrating in the street in Seoul, the capitol. The ornament is an ceramic fertility fetish, an image of a penis from one of several such parks in the southern region where I used to live. This part of the country remained tribal longer than other parts, so folk traditions such as shamanism and superstitions have endured. Fertility monuments were erected (pun intended), of course, bring about more healthy children. The foreigner exploring such parks giggle at the sights.
Next to the filing cabinet is a bookshelf. One of the most noticeable objects near the top of this piece of furniture is a tacky, plastic, white alarm clock. It is significant because I bought it to ensure I woke up on time on my last morning living in South Korea. I had an early flight. As a small travel alarm clock had recently failed, and I was not sure my phone alarm would wake me fully, I picked up a cheap clock at a local general store. I don't use it as its ticking is noisy, but I have not thought to give it away. It remains perched on the shelf, deprived of a battery, as a reminder of my departure from the ex-pat life and return to Canada.
I also have items saved from two trips to Cuba, one in 2003 and one in 2019. Both trips were organized political events. The first took me there with a political choral group to meet Cuban choirs, learn some of their songs, perform with Cubans, attend the May 1st rally, meet labour associations and tour the island for two weeks. I am looking at a typical replication of a sketch of Che Gevarra which one can find easily in street markets. Our choir, supportive of the Cuban revolution, valued the Cuban revolutionary democracy, social arrangements and political principals which that image, the most famous in all the world, represents to millions of people. It inspires and gives hope. I remember strolling through the streets, visiting markets and restaurants, chatting with locals and attending all the meetings on our hectic schedule. I have other little treasures such as a ceramic, hand painted ashtray, photos of our Cuban comrades, and an African-Cuban, wooden statuette.
Above my desk hang a pair of water colour paintings in wood frames. They portray sites in southern Manitoba in the general area where my grandparents met, married and bore my mother. They feature two views of the banks of the Red River, a river highly important to Canadian history. There were battles against invading Americans launched there and a key struggle of the Métis nation. The city of Winnipeg lies nearby, which used to be the industrial hub of Canada until the Panama Canal opened up and undermined the Canadian railway system. I have only passed through Winnipeg by car. This area is not one I remember, for I have never visited it.
On the floor near my desk lies a wicker hamper. I have mixed feelings about it, but it has been very useful, so I have kept it. You see, it belonged to my father's second wife. My father remarried this odd, older person rather quickly after my mother passed, which denied her children necessary time to adjust. I carried resentment about her, but chose to avoid them rather than say anything or show my negative feelings. As I said, it is a practical item for it holds linens and Christmas stuff and allows aeration through the woven stems.
I originally bought the filing cabinet to organize research, not academic information but information found in the course of activism and stabs at political journalism. It therefore stores records of several international and regional conferences. Though I purge it once in awhile, there are still clippings, leaflets and pamphlets. They cover issues such as Canadian mining firms abroad, human rights cases, privacy rights, student concerns and transportation. I have been replacing old articles and folders with my own writing pieces. Among them are also old, self-published newsletters addressing local and international issues, some of my published articles and unpublished poems.
Conversational News
Conversational News
10 January 2021
It is so good to be able to express myself and have contact with readers through this blog again. The loss of the access to my blog along with other aspects of confinement and restrictions really affected me. There were added unsettling restrictions due to circumstances, even including access to my games when Adobe Flash Player was removed. I was feeling the mounting stress of rising COVID cases and the awareness of the damages inflicted by this disease as well as the damage inflicted by states that remain focused on helping profitable enterprises more than addressing the disease and health care and financial interventions fully and equitably. Most such as Canada are handing the responsibility of pandemic management to individuals. Very unjust!
I had been handling the conditions of the pandemic fairly well, but emotions were catching up to me in December as I personally began to feel tired and stressed. I started to feel irritable and alarmed. I looked forward to two weekends at home over Christmas and New Years, but the employer wanted me to work on the Saturdays. Saturday being the heaviest work day for me with five hours straight teaching and two hours travel, I had been wanting relief to get a chance to rest and calm down. I ended up taking the Saturday following NY Day off, which certainly helped. I am much better now.
I did not carry through with my usual practice of personal assessment and planning in December as is my habit. I was too agitated. I did not want to reflect on this past year, actually. Not then.
Anyway, there is not any change in my goals. I generally carried through with financial, livelihood, social, family, health and growth goals. However, the social and family goals were frustrated by Covid-19 rules. However, there are elder relatives with multiple health problems whose mental health was being upset by the situation, so I have been visiting with them in cafes and such. They are better now. I have also been aiding an elderly neighbour whose health, already in decline this year, was getting worse partially because of Covid-related restraints. (Her degrading sight and hearing, as well as shaking and loss of balance, caused her to stop driving permanently, and skeletal issues caused her to stop regular exercise. She is worried she will be forced to consider entering a facility while many care homes are in crisis!) My exercise regime was also compromised. The local fitness center remains open but I perceive it as risky, so I do not go there. Aside from some hiking and walking to accomplish transit and errands, I haven't been exercising much until recently. Now I do some yoga, lunging, stretching and weighted arm raises sometimes. I am prevented this week because of an inflammation (hemorrhoid caused by lengthy sitting!).
One big factor affecting stress and anxiety levels is news reportage. State and private corporate news services, like most enterprises today, try to streamline by relying more on tech and web browsing to find news topics. There are fewer reporters and there is less extended, investigative reporting. For the past decade at least, such services have resorted to "conversational journalism." It is an adjustment to distrust of news and official authorities during a trend of democratization, I feel. However, it tends to keep popularity and viewer or reader stats in mind. Topics can be sensationalized by rehashing events and speculation. Commentators are brought in to discuss as are senior reporters, but the discussion is not very productive in that it does not lead to increased knowledge. Rather, it keeps generating more questions. Conversations often entertain unanswerable questions, particularly because there can be no resolution. They just push the topic and stimulate possible answers to stir up controversy and alarm in order to improve ratings. Pertinent information might be omitted if it actually answers a question. Once audiences abandon a thread, they turn to some other topic and start over. It is really unconscionable because of the innuendo, speculation, rumour, omission, lack of investigation, assumptions and biases.
The COVID coverage is a clear case in point. Partial information is supplied, such as a medical official's announcement that is partly based in some truth. The announcement is questioned. Opponents are recruited to present the false arguments. Sideline topics are raised to create more friction. Proper sources are ignored. Questions are recycled and spin round and round with no conclusion. The affect is understandable: alarm, anxiety, fear, stress, accusations, complaints, etc.
I follow a couple of doctors who produce daily videos to update viewers on scientific developments and explore reasoning behind government and medical decisions regarding the pandemic. I rely on Dr. John Campble and Doctor Moran. Find them on Youtube. Campbell is the most digestable, for he uses plain English, which Moran is more technical. The latter seems to be addressing people in the medical field. By following Campbell, in particular, I can see the gaps in the regional and national news reporting. I can see that they are lagging behind the news by ignoring or failing to search for reliable information.
We're Back
We're Back
07 January 2021
Apologies to my followers and viewers. You have been very supportive and encouraging for many years. I might have disappointed some of you who were looking for new entries from me.
Let me explain. VISTAPRINT changed its platform last year. When they did that, the method for making blog entries changed. I had no information from them about what to do. It simply appeared that I know longer had any blogging service.
However, I just spoke to a VISTAPRINT rep who guided me. I can now write blog entries, as you can see.
It was a strange year all the way around. Things seemed kind of more chaotic than usual. I felt agitated and stressed last month for no definite reason. I had trouble sleeping. I felt exhausted.
My general astrology reading asserted that the pulling away of Jupiter, one of my planets and a very powerful one, from Saturn would make Sagitarians feel exhausted by the end of December. Despite the restrictions imposed because of the pandemic, it does indeed feel like I worked and accomplished a lot (activism, teaching, writing). Things are supposed to get easier for us Sagges.
There was added stress because of the effects of the pandemic. Not only that but worse, state aggression seemed to increased around the world, causing civilian mass responses. Though I had handled it pretty well until the end of 2020, I guess it finally got to me and I started soaking up some of the stress and anxiety emitting from my region and beyond.
2021 is starting out a bit weird, too. Just look at yesterday's events. U.S. Whitehouse invasion. Solar flare sending rays that caused several storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. More lockdowns.
I wish all my readers well. I will resume entering focused pieces when I have more time. Please stick with me. Thank you for your comments to date.
Ed Wise
TEST
TEST
15 January 2020
THIS IS A TEST OF THE NEW PLATFORM FORMAT AND BLOG ENTRY SYSTEM.
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