Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

I’m not really a huge fan of the griefstricken singer-songwriter types (a la Rufus Wainwright et al.), but last night I head Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah and my goodness… well, check it out for yourself.

UPDATE: Syncrude files lawsuit against Greenpeace?!?!

29 August 2008 (Edmonton) – Greenpeace today condemned a lawsuit launched against it by Syncrude, Canada’s largest tar sands producer and polluter. The civil suit follows a Greenpeace action at Syncrude’s “Aurora” site in northern Alberta on July 24th when activists deployed two banners at the same toxic tailings pond where 500 ducks were killed last April.

Although Syncrude acknowledged the civil disobedience action by Greenpeace did not affect production and the RCMP found no criminal behaviour in the peaceful protest, the company is seeking an injunction against Greenpeace, $20,000 in general damages, and $100,000 in punitive damages, in addition to legal costs.

“This is a punitive lawsuit designed to financially cripple a non-profit organization and intimidate critics of the tar sands,” said Mike Hudema, a tar sands campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. “Syncrude does not want a lantern hung on the world’s dirtiest oil project.”

Syncrude has two active tar sands mining and upgrading facilities north of Fort McMurray. The company produces 350,000 barrels of synthetic crude per day, and released over 12.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2006 alone – the highest in the industry. Syncrude was recently ranked dead last amongst tar sands operators for its environmental record.

“It’s ironic that with all of Syncrude’s environmental damage in the tar sands, we are the ones facing court,” said Hudema. “Syncrude has clearly violated Alberta’s environmental laws but the Province has still not pressed charges.”

Greenpeace says the Syncrude claim resembles a typical SLAPP lawsuit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) which is generally intended to intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense and punitive damages.

Syncrude is a joint venture, the largest partner of which is Canadian Oil Sands Trust, an investment trust with little public profile. However, the second largest partner, with a 25 per cent stake, is Imperial Oil – a fully integrated oil and gas company with 2,000 ESSO gas stations across Canada. The Calgary-based Imperial earned profits of $3.19 billion in 2007, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil.

Quite a summer, from Africa to the Yukon in a month. The result? I am so very broke but am left feeling incredibly fulfilled. After being hunkered down with University work for the past 7 years, I needed to shake things up a bit. In Africa, I gained an appreciation for a continent I’ve only read about and a way of life I could have never imagined. This experience seems to have more and more of an impact on me as time goes by. Examples? I seem to have withdrawn from various digital communication (de)vices and I’m having a hard time enjoying a lot of the music I used to listen to. Heavy, technical music seems heartless and neurotic more than anything. What came first? Angry, depressed people? Or the music they seem to enjoy. Shows too. I went to a hall show before I left for home and couldn’t help but feel completely alienated by the experience of standing with my arms crossed, watching a band that I didn’t really enjoy anyways. I guess it’s the polite thing to do when four people are working within the current economic framework, attempting to advance their musical careers.

Then it was to the Yukon, which I still refer to as my home. On Labadi Beach, outside of Accra, I met a rastaman who told me that one of the most important things a person can do is not forget their roots. A short anecdote: I have a friend who, though he does not consider himself a Christian or Catholic, still reads from the Bible everyday for guidance and inspiration. He says that by throwing it away, he would be denying his formative years. An interesting take on the whole thing, I thought. So I went back to enjoy the sights and smells of home. In the past while, I’ve upped the amount of Buddhist literature I’ve been reading, something that was highly influential in me being mindful of enjoying the time I had up there without attaching past suffering (or any other kind of negative garbage) that has previously stifled the experience. If only I had more time (and money), because I think it was the best visit back there I’ve ever had.

But since all things come to and end, young Master Vanderbyl and I packed up early Monday morning and set off to drive back to our second lives. En route, we saw a bunch of elk, moose, 4 bears and a bison. Also, in an attempt to swerve out of it’s way, I think I may have hit a bat. Sorry bat. Between podcasts of This American Life we listened to Operation Ivy, something I haven’t done in at least 7 years. Jesse’s lyrics are still fantastic btw. We also stopped into the Liard hotsprings, for which my back was very thankful.

So now I’m back. After 8 months of living out of a suitcase, I’m back. What to do with myself?

I still don’t have my teaching certificate, and I can’t teach without it. According to the Ministry of Education, they’re waiting for the Dean’s list so they can issue it. But it looks like in the meantime, I will be picking up more work with the Y than I originally thought. So starting next week, I guess the title of this blog will once again be relevant to the content. Until then, I will live out the rest of the summer working at the Cafe, tending bar and pondering an entirely new set of things I’d like to have accomplish in the next little while.

Met some new friends yesterday who live off the grid just outside city limits. Excellent Yukoners with a gigantic potato gun and a view of this:

Before I came up here, a friend of mine loaded up my ipod with a bunch of road tunes. He included the new Pogues boxset (or at least 3 of the 5 disks) of rarities and outtakes. They’ve got some stuff with Joe Strummer and Steve Earle on there, plus different versions of a bunch of songs, but my favorite is their cover of Maggie May. Here’s the live version.

Alright, so this summer it has been ten years since I graduated from high school. There were no reunions or anything like that, but I felt like I needed to check out the old hood in an effort to not forget my roots.

A photo of the view I had for a better part of a decade.

The hill used to be pretty bare from all of the sledding. One night, I had an argument with another kid over how Punk In Drublic was better than Let’s go.

Some fireweed.

This will surely sound cliche, but I used to come down to this pond to catch frogs when I was a kid.

This place was known as Patty’s Pond. Legend had it some girl died out there one time. We thought we saw a ghost once when we were down there in the winter.

Heh.

Yesterday I went up to the Alaskan summit with the sister and young master Hendrik. I used to go up when I was younger to snowboard or skidoo, but I don’t think I’ve been up there for about 10 years. Anyways, we were careful for bears as we walked around looking for blue and low-bush cranberries.

Then we went to Skagway Alaska, which was a main port during the goldrush up here in 1898. There we did something we’ve always wanted to do, take a tour of the hundred year old brothel! It doesn’t function that way anymore, but the history of the building is neat and apparently it’s haunted by a girl who used to work there.

Then I saw what looked to be the triforce from Zelda, painted on a cliff.

Grandfather cut my hair today, saw some northern lights, heading to Alaska tomorrow…

Two things:

First, I received my Global Citizenship paper back from my prof. It was good, I was proud of it. Last paper of the old B.Ed. I got the credit for it so that’s that, degree finito. If you’d like to read it, I posted it here.

Second, people are insane. Check this out. First a price was put on water, now people are selling canned air. That’s right, Commodified Oxygen: Coming to a Supermarket Near You!

Wait, three things. The new Hold Steady record, Stay Positive, is totally rockin’.

I saw Tom Petty the other night which (besides the carnie-riffic light show) was fantastic. The set was laden with hits and even included a Traveling Wilburys tune. A tune which, now that I think about it, I haven’t heard since rocking a tamborine on it with the Weakerthans and Constantines a few years back. I dig Tom Petty though, honest pop tunes that transcend generation gaps and party politics. Now if Neil Young and the Boss would just come back to town, I don’t think I would have to see another arena-rock show.

Speaking of bands, the singer-man in my current rock and roll band has decided to move away, leaving us with 2 more shows to play, then we’ll be calling it a day. (Perhaps I should make a house out of hay, what do you say?). Bad Adam Sandler references aside, it was kind of a bummer for about 5 minutes, then I realized that there are a bunch of things I’d like to do that I’ve been putting off because of band matters. After putting the better part of a decade towards making records and touring, there are things I haven’t been able to do because my energies always seem to be funneled into either booking dates or paying for things like van repairs. However, this summer has been the first in 5 I didn’t spend on tour. That being said, I still feel like I need to hit the road so myself and a good friend (who just so happens to be one of the people I spent those 5 years with in a smelly van) are going to head up north to the Yukon. I spent my formative years in the territory, but haven’t been home for a Yukon summer in about 8 years. Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to it.

Please learn about the country of Tibet, and China’s occupation of it.

“How did you fall in (the river) Eeyore?” asked Rabbit, as he dried him with Piglet’s handkerchief.

“I didn’t”, said Eeyore.

“But how-”

“I was BOUNCED,” said Eeyore.

“Oo,” said Roo excitedly, “did somebody push you?”

“Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the river-thinking, if any of you know what that means, when I received a loud BOUNCE.”

“Oh, Eeyore!” said everybody.

“Are you sure you didn’t slip?” asked Rabbit wisely.

“Of course I slipped. If you’re standing on the slippery bank of a river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did you think I did?”

“But who did it?” asked Roo.

“I expect it was Tigger,” said Piglet nervously.

“But, Eeyore,” said Pooh, “was it a Joke or and Accident? I mean-”

“I didn’t stop to ask, Pooh. Even at the very bottom of the river I didn’t stop to say to myself, ‘Is this a Hearty Joke, or is it the Merest Accident?’ I just floated to the surface, and said to myself ‘It’s wet.’ If you know what I mean.”

So I will soon be working 5 part time jobs, which is nice. The best part is that I have no such thing as routine these days, which keeps things fresh. Besides sleeping at night, petting my cats when I’m at home and eating, my days consist of “working” at places that I would be hanging out at anyways, playing music with friends I would be hanging out with anyway and finding things to do in the sun. My teaching certificate is in the mail, once I get it I will be employable by a school board. Until then, I will be picking up more work with the YWCA (turns out they want to hire me after all) and so on and so fourth.

I have been listening to MIA a lot lately. That song of hers, Paper Planes, with the Clash riff had me at hello.

OK, I finally put together a few of the photos I took on my trip and synced ‘em up to some music. Pops, this one’s for you.