Anyone who knows me at all well will know that I am not a big believer in our current political process.
Actually, I'm kind of an anti-believer in our current political process, since it seems that in most cases, even people with the best of intentions are hopelessly compromised just by the trip to any position of relative power. And most people going into politics DO NOT have the best of intentions.
Sigh. Anyway, the municipal elections are coming up and Stuart and I have found a candidate that stirs a feeble spark of hope. So much so that we hosted a "coffee party" on Tuesday, for Naheed Nenshi to attend and impress us. The turn out wasn't huge, but everyone seemed to want to be there. I don't think we asked him any questions he hadn't heard before, but we hadn't heard the answers, so that's ok. I think my friend Michelle summed it up well in her blog, so I'm stealing it (she's much more politically savvy than me anyway):
"I had the opportunity to attend a "Coffee Meeting" with Nenshi at a friend's place this past week. It was a smallish group - only about 8 of us. But Nenshi still showed up, and we all had a very engaging time talking about the politics and policy. Nenshi might not be as slick as Bronconnier was, or as polished as McIver tries to be, but he's clear and articulate ... and more importantly he has ideas that show that he's actually thought about things and is aware of the realities of the extent of city council's authority.
Above all, he comes across as pragmatic. Nenshi doesn't label himself as a "conservative" or a "liberal" ... or any other stripe. He seems to be willing to draw from the valuable ideas of any perspective and use to solve problems. We've had too much of people confining themselves to a particular notion of a given political ideology in this province - a pragmatist would be good for Calgary."I might have said "political pathology", but maybe that's me. Personally, I was mostly interested in what sort of "vibe" I got off the man, as opposed to the polished writings on his website. (Although, given some of the other candidate's websites, I should probably have been happy that there was polish!) He comes across as a thoughtful human being, who is willing to admit imperfections and laugh at his own mistakes and foibles. I can deal with that.
Too bad our selection of candidates for Alderman doesn't offer someone similar.
That was just one evening this week, but it's been busy the last few
This is the first time I've got my act together to see Cirque and I have to say that it absolutely lives up to its hype. At heart, yes, it's a circus. Nothing paradigm breaking here; just sublimely well done. Gorgeous live music, costuming that had me drooling and taking mental notes all through the show and the pinnacle of performers. Tightrope walkers, a couple doing an assortment of lifts on a UNICYCLE for god's sake, contortionists, clowns, tumblers... in fact, thinking back, the only things they didn't have were animals or fire. Hmmmm...
They did have some lovely glittering stuff in the souvenir section, but the prices put them right out of consideration. $89 for a T-SHIRT?!?!? And the masks were gorgeous, but I can make my own for far less than $250. Oy.
But I'd say that we got every cent worth of the ticket price. I'd go again. I probably will go again. ;)
It ran until almost 11pm though, so I've been dragging my butt today. The good news though, is that my mom is here to puppysit and I'm off to the mountains with Stuart for the weekend. We're using the gift certificate I won at work to spend two nights at the Fairmont Banff Springs. I've never stayed there, so I can't wait to see how plush the cheap rooms can actually be. Other than dinner at our favourite restaurant and a trip to the hot springs, we have no plans. We may take some DVDs, sleep a whole lot and generally laze about where no one can get to us and there's nothing that has to get done.
Bliss.
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