Sea Of Heartbreak

Shooting whales for no reason. Torturing birds. Throwing bags of garbage into the ocean. Cutting loose nets that will fish the waters forever. These are some of the violations of nature that Michael Dwyer had to endure seeing while on board a fishing expedition in the waters off the coast of Labrador Canada.

After the expedition Michael put into words everything he saw and wrote Sea Of Heartbreak. Living in a place like Newfoundland and writing a book like Sea Of Heartbreak was a very brave thing for him to do. In a small town in a province where jobs are hard to find, and fishing is still one the biggest industries; Michael has been blacklisted from ever getting another job aboard a fishing vessel because of this book!

In August of 1998 Michael was in desperate need of work. Not just financially was he in need but not being able to provide as a husband and father was also taking its toll. So when the opportunity came up for a job on a fishing trip with the prospect of making good money he took it right away. What followed was about a month and a half at sea, sailing along Iceburg Alley, trying to fish for Turbot that were not nearly as plentiful as hoped.

From what I can tell it wasn’t the small paycheck or the time away from home or the often violent sea that really made this trip difficult, it was the attitude the men on board had for the very waters that they earn their living from.

Michael’s first experience with this attitude or “way of life” came after dinner during his first day on board. He had been on clean up duty for that meal. One of the crew members asked Michael to throw the compressed bag of garbage over the side of the boat. Being his first day on the job and not wanting to ruffle any feathers Michael followed the orders.
“Watching the bag fall astern, playing peekabo in the swells, I tried to remember the last time I had done such a shameful thing as to deliberately pollute the sea with garbage.”

The day this ship set sail, it was loaded with truckloads of supplies.
“After the five-week voyage, the only garbage left onboard was a little bit in the galley at the bottom of the gum bucket.”
What?? That’s it!!?? My family just went camping in Algonquin park for a few days and we carried all of our garbage including dirty diapers in backpacks until we got back to our vehicle. Then it stayed in there until we were out of the park and we found our first garbage can. Surely a boat can figure out how to store a bit of garbage till their next stop.

Throughout the book Michael gives some great descriptions of the amazing nature he’s able to observe. From iceburgs to glacier carved cliffs and the tundra of the north to wild birds and seals and polar bears and caribou. He also describes a visit they made to an abandoned Inuit village where he saw his first polar bear. He also describes how the majority of the crew seemed to do what they could to destroy what he was enjoying so much.

Some members of the crew were always looking for polar bears just so they could try to shoot one. They would also often use the wild birds that fly around the ship for target practice. It seemed they really didn’t like these birds. Michael describes how one time they caught two of these birds and proceeded to smear fish parts on their bodies. Then they tied two birds together at the legs and watched them peck each other to death.

Continued next entry . . .

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A New Friend, An Amazing Story

My posts seem to be on a theme right now. Talking about the gifts we have been given my next couple of posts are going to fit in quite well.

I’ve had an interesting and unusual experience over the past couple of days. About three or four days ago I finished a book called Sea Of Heartbreak. This book is an account of a fishing voyage that took place in Newfoundland Canada in 1998. Because of my family connections with Newfoundland, (birthplace of my wife and Mother) it has always been a place I’ve been interested in. There is something romantic about the ruggedness and barrenness of the land and sea there. And of course the people there are some of the most enjoyable people to spend time with anywhere.

So I picked up this book because it had a forward by Farley Mowat. Farley Mowat is a well known Canadian writer who has written many books. I’ve only read a couple and wanted to find another one by him to read. In fact, I only picked up Sea Of Heartbreak because it showed up when I searched Farley’s name! It looked interesting enough so I brought it home.

I started reading it on my way down to West Palm Beach, Florida where the band was going to be playing for a week. One night I was awake between 1:30am and 5:00am reading until I finished it off! I’ve always been interested in life at sea but this was not the romantic story of a fisherman at sea that I have always conjured up in my mind. When I finished the book at 5:00am that morning I decided I needed to contact the author to get some resolution to what I had just read. After all, this was a true account.

I was unable to find any contact information on the book which didn’t surprise me but there’s the good old handy dandy internet to help one find whatever it is they need. So I searched and searched, but still no email address for him. Finally I decided to just look him up in the city where he lives, that was on the book after all. Sure enough I found his name and phone number and without hesitation I made the call to Newfoundland.

Within a couple of rings he answered the phone. I was a little surprised how quick it all happened. What was I doing calling the author of a book I had just read? I’ve never done that before. I nervously explained to him that I just finished his book and that I wasn’t a stalker but I just wanted some resolution to the book. We had a great conversation that lasted about twenty minutes. I feel like we made some sort of connection with each other during that time. We exchanged email addresses and later that night and the next day sent a couple of emails back and forth.

Michael has an amazing story. It is full of beauty and harshness and recklessness and ignorance. It is one you need to know about, one that everyone needs to know about. I want to tell you more but this entry may already be too long so until my next post . . .

GL

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Gifts and Heaven

“Then how can tongue describe all the beauty and use of the creation, which the divine bounty has poured out for man to see and take, although he is condemned to such toils and miseries? The diverse and varied beauty of sky and earth and sea, the abundance and loveliness of light in sun and moon and stars, the shady woods, the colours and perfumes of flowers, the many species of bright and chattering birds, the vast variety of living creatures, the smallest of which move us to the greatest wonder (for we are more surprised by the accomplishments of ants and bees than by the size of whales)! The grand spectacle of the sea, dressing itself in its different garments, now green, now blue, now purple: what a lovely sight it is when it is rough – much more agreeable to the spectator from the shore than to the sailor tossed upon it! What abundance of food to meet our hunger! What a variety of flavours to suit our taste, all distributed by the bounty of nature, not produced by the skill and labour of the cook! In so many circumstances what remedies for protecting or recovering health! How pleasant the alternation of day and night! How soothing the coolness of the breeze! How much material for clothing in trees and beasts! All blessings who can enumerate?

Here I have just dealt with a casual collection, but if I wished to open up the whole store and deal with each and every one, how tedious should I be! And these are all consolations of mankind under judgement, not the rewards of those in bliss. What then must they be like, if these are so many and so great? What will God give to all those whom he has predestined to life, if he has given all this to those whom he has predestined to death?”

St. Augustine, City Of God

I just read this the other day and I thought it was a great continuation from my last blog. The way he describes all the gifts in nature we have been given really paints a beautiful picture. Then it is this sentence that gets me, “And these are all consolations of mankind under judgement, not the rewards of those in bliss.” How wonderful heaven will be!

GL

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Take advantage of what you've been given.

Many of you will know that over the past few years I have become a runner, thanks to some friends and fellow bloggers. (Ethos, This Guy Falls Down, Normal Rockstar) I’ve even been able to complete a marathon! My sister (running blog and normal blog) tells me all this running inspired her to start running too and now we are planning on running the Toronto Marathon together in October. How cool is that?

Over the weekend we were able to run our 20 mile training run together. It was a great run! We finished it in 3 hours and 20 something minutes. Way to go Krista!! It was the longest run she’s ever done, and doing it in that time is awesome.

Being healthy enough to put on some shoes and go out for a run is such a huge blessing. It got me thinking about how many people waste their perfectly good health. If we believe that everything we have is a gift from God then why would we squander it? I guess it just happens eventually. Maybe not enough focus or direct thought. I don’t know. I know I squander my brain often. I know I also squander time that I could be using to improve my relationship with God. What a waste!!

But if we have the ability to go out for a walk or play tennis or golf or swim or run then spending our nights at home in front of the tube (TV or computer) just doesn’t seem right.

I know that when I give a gift to someone and I see him or her using it, it makes me happy. Imagine the confusion you would have if you gave someone a nice new car but they rarely used it. On top of that they never washed it or got the oil changed. I’d be left scratching my head.

I don’t suppose God is scratching His head as His understanding is way beyond ours but at the same time not using our gifts can’t be all that pleasing to Him.

All that said, we all have many gifts; things like family, friends, good health, an income, a church, a pet, and different abilities like reading, writing, playing music, playing a sport, leading some social activity. We have much to be thankful for. Please don’t let opportunities to take advantage of your gifts pass you by.

GL

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Organic Food

It's true, Blogger. I have not been here for many days and I'm sorry. I really do miss you too but there are times in one's life where new friends take up more time than old ones and I'm afraid you have become an old friend. I hope that we can hang out more in the future like we used to. But for now I need to spend more time with some of my other friends like myspace and downhere website and family and trying to make a living in music. They just demand more of my time right now. But for today, let's spend a little time together.

My wife and son gave me a subscription to Runner's World Magazine for Father's Day and I really enjoy it. There was a really helpful article in this months issue about organic food that I wanted to share part of.

I have always wondered about what the real big deal is with organic food. I know organic farming is supposed to be better for the Earth and organic food is supposed to be better for my body. I guess that should be enough to convince me. The hard part is the price. OUCH! So Runner's World created a list of organic foods that are worth spending money on and a list that you don't need to worry about quite so much. Enjoy!

"Spend Wisely
These 12 fruits and vegetables contain the highest levels of pesticides; buy organic to reduce your exposure.

Apples
Bell Peppers
Celery
Cherries
Imported Grapes
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Potatoes
Raspberries
Spinach
Strawberries

Also buy organic meats, poultry, eggs and dairy to limit your exposure to antibiotics and growth hormones.

Don't Worry (As Much)
The pesticide levels of these 12 fruits and vegetables are low to undetectable; okay to buy conventional.

Asparagus
Avocados
Bananas
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kiwi
Mangoes
Onions
Papaya
Pineapples
Sweet Corn
Sweet peas


Choose organic breads, pastas, cereals and other processed foods when cost and availability allow it."

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Flying with no ID.

Yes I'm still here. I sort of disappeared for the last month on here though. Sorry about that.

I just figured out since April 20th I've been on about 19 different planes! Man!! I've spent time in Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Manitoba, Morocco, Holland and Denmark. Quite a busy few weeks. I think that's the most planes I've ever been on in that stretch of time. My passport is definitely being well used.




So after a couple of months of this kind of insano flying, an article from Wired.com caught my attention. As I'm sure you all know travelling is a little tricky now with security the way it is. For instance, leaving Denmark I had to put my carry on luggage through the scanner. Then when I arrived in Amsterdam for my layover I had to go through another one. Then to get on the plane to Toronto I had to do it yet again. And you need to have your passport and boarding card with you at all times too. I went to buy my son Jonah a gift at the airport in Holland and they needed to see both my passport and my boarding pass before I could purchase! Crazy.

So the title of this Wired.com article is "The Great No-ID Airport Challenge". Sounds interesting to me. And impossible! But I guess the deal is (at least in the USA) that "airline passengers either present identification or be subjected to a more extensive search." And that's where the controversy begins. The man who issued the challenge is John Gilmore. He did this at a meeting in San Francisco of the Homeland Security's privacy advisory committee. I guess he feels some of his rights are being infringed upon by having to show his ID all the time. Call me simple but, if you have nothing to hide what's the big deal? Signs at airports and on the TSA's web site say that showing ID is mandatory and John Gilmore wants to make it known that it's not. I guess.

So he challenged the members of this committee to mail their drivers licenses home and try to fly home without any ID. One took him up on it. Very interesting result.

I think you should read the whole article here but if you just want to know what happens continue reading below.

"At 6:00 a.m. the next morning, Harper handed this reporter a green self-addressed stamped envelope and entered the checkpoint line, which even at that early hour was filled with travelers facing a 20 minute crawl to the magnetometers.

Harper told the identification checker he had no ID, and the attendant quickly wrote "No ID" with a red marker on his ticket and shunted him off to an extra screening line -- generously allowing him to bypass the longer queue of card-carrying passengers.

There Harper was directed into the belly of a GE EntryScan puffer machine which shot bits of air at his suit in order to see if he had been handling explosives.

TSA employees wearing baby blue surgical gloves then swiped his Sidekick and his laptop for traces of explosives and searched through his carry-on, while a supervisor took his ticket, conferred with other employees and made a phone call.

Meanwhile, a TSA employee approached this reporter, who was watching the search through Plexiglas, and said, "It's pretty awkward you are standing here taking notes," but he did not ask for identification or call for a halt to the note-taking.

The TSA supervisor returned from her phone call and asked Harper why he didn't have identification and to where he was traveling. But she was satisfied enough with his answer -- that he had mailed his driver's license home to Washington D.C. -- that she allowed him to pass."

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An Islamic America and Thin-Slicing

While I was away on this last trip I finished a couple of books I have been wanting to read.

The first one is called Blink. It’s written by Malcolm Gladwell, the same guy who wrote The Tipping Point. Blink is a book about the decisions we seem to make in the blink of an eye. The decisions that we don’t really seem to even think about, but just happen. I find this book difficult to describe quickly here so I'll just descibe one concept from it called thin-slicing.

“Thin-slicing refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.”

An example of thin-slicing would be . . . let’s say you are walking through the mall and you pass a women’s clothing store. While you are walking past you notice near the front of the store a man shaking his head looking exasperated and a woman close by rolling her eyes as she puts a piece of clothing back on the shelf. In that brief moment you may be able to put together a pretty good idea of what their relationship is like.

Or, let’s say you are a quarterback in a football game. The ball is snapped to you and you have maybe a second or two to decide if the play you called is going to work or if you need to decide something else based on everyone’s position.

These are all decisions that happen very quickly and we all make variations of them daily. Anyway, a good read if you are into understanding how you think.

The second book I read is called Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Forigno. Imagine America is now an Islamic nation. Seattle is the new capitol. DC, NYC, Chicago and Detroit have all been destroyed. Nevada is its own thing called the “Morman Territories” and the old “South” is now the hard fought for “Bible Belt” with its own president. Well that was enough to interest me. I wanted to see if the author could pull of a convincing story given those parameters. Oh yeah, Coca-Cola has been outlawed and replaced with Jihad-Cola too.

The basic story here is about a renegade ex-Fedayeen fighter named Rakkim and his woman, Sarah. They are after the truth of why the Islamic Republic became the Islamic Republic. The widely held belief is that the Jews nuked parts of America which is why everyone rallied against them and all Christians.

Did the author pull it off? Mostly he did. I think he made up for what he missed with the energy of the story. If you are looking for a page-turner adventure you may enjoy this one. However, be warned, the language isn’t always great and there are a couple of sections that should be rated R.

Glenn

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a short update

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Marrakech Morocco. In the interest of time I'll post a few excerpts from my last two emails home along with a couple of pictures.

"After we ate Marc, Jay, me and Dave all went for a beauty walk. We checked out a couple of shops, found an internet connection,(that was when we talked) and found some bank machines. We eventually found this cool market area set up with tents. That's the picture of Marc with his camera.


There was some pretty cool stuff in there. I have no idea what kind of thing you might like. I'm thinking jewellery but I'm not sure what colours or anything. I'll find something you love. Jason visited the guy with all the musical instruments. I got caught talking to another guy who invited me into his tent-shop to talk and have tea. So of course I said yes. He was interested in Canada and practising his English. He kept showing me all of the things in his shop he had made and what the significance of each item was. He came from a Berber/Nomad background and almost every piece he showed me had some sort of mystic meaning to it. I think he considered them selling features! He was real nice. Eventually the other guys joined us and we all had this awfully sweet tea together. It was almost unbearably sweet in fact. The with the turban is him with Dave behind and a big ugly flash. Marc got some great pictures of us in there talking that I'll have to get from him.
















After lunch is was back to the van for an almost 2 hour trip south into the Atlas mountains to visit a Berber village. It was a beautiful drive. It scared the crap out of most people. We heard that the other van was singing hymns as they were driving up. On the way back, after the scariest sections the driver of the other van had to stop and have a smoke break!! It was pretty funny, and sort of dangerous. So we climbed up about 4500 feet to get to where we eventually ended up. There's no way I can really describe where we were too well. It felt like a dream or a movie set. It didn't feel like a place people actually lived. Anyway, we stopped driving and got out and walked uphill for the next 15-20min. We walked up this windy path through this "settlement" to reach the top where our hosts were. The pictures will explain the best.

When we reached the top we heard music. We walked into a hallway where we were greeted by two people. The first a girl with a tray of face clothes to wipe our faces with and the second was a man with perfume for us to put on our faces. They also had a tray of dates and figs and olives that we were supposed to eat as we entered. The perfume is apparently from the flower of orange trees. I need to ask about that again to be sure. We eventually all reached the top and there they had a very cool looking spread of pita-like bread with olive oil, butter, fig and apricot spread, nuts and of course the mint tea which I'm having trouble choking down. Mainly because of the sweetness. We sat and ate then they pulled out their drums again and began to sing and encouraged us to join. We played together for a while. I had my cornet out too. It was difficult to find any sort of tonal center to their songs but we would eventually land on something."

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