PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: Arts Literature Entertainment

Night

At night I am alone.
Lonely is just a state of mind
Or so they say
This bed is big
It once held my whole world
Now it’s just a bed
Night time used to be enchanting
Filled with soft words of forever
Forever has come and gone
The night belongs to me now
Shared with ghosts of yesterday
My pillow will save me
At night I am alone.
Loneliness is just a state of mind
Or so they say

Follow the Dragonfly

Watching the birds flying high over head, the muskrat slips out of his nesting bed.
The feel of the sun beaming from above, nature is the place that I love.
The smell of the forest in the air; listen quietly there is nothing to fear.
Hear the river trickling and the bugs flickering.
See the fish jumping for the sky: in search for food to survive.
The man in the canoe now feels one with nature too.
I watched the dragon fly close, the refection I got this day was stronger than most.

“Mental Illness”

We constantly see the tv ads:
“Improve your depression symptoms
by taking this pill, this serum,
this miracle drug”

We identify our symptoms,
type them into search engines,
looking for answers.
Maybe we get them,
Maybe we don’t.

We talk to our doctors,
Ask them questions,
Take their drugs.
Sometimes we get better,
Sometimes we don’t.
Sometimes we forget that we’re more than our illness.
Sometimes we’re not the sick ones,
it’s our sister, brother, mother, father, friend.

There is no ‘one’ face of mental illness.

In that Pink

Carnival sun sinks,
lurid,
into a bed of lilac.

Everything out here is so
smooth.

To the foot this island is gently rounded,
charged with just enough altitude,
to make a heart pound
with the effort of walking
over it.

The heart?s eye only
cares about colour.
Mossy trees,
sky-blue, enough for a Dutchman?s britches
shimmering greens up to a rusty lip.
It takes note too of tiny speedwell,
bird?s claw,
deep fox den,
crab shell
and needles.

A sky view shows
little depth to tidal rivers
gradations of ochre and henna
a slim channel of blue-bottle
now all silted in
where tall ships once passed through

Shaped by wind and water
the land tends to a rolling flatness,
a constant performance sculpture.

This, a band of borrowed beauty
in that pink
between sky and sea.

The Same Yet Different

People say there is no black there is no white
I disagree, there is black and there is white but that doesn’t make us any different from each other.
We are all human, we are all different and special in our own unique way.
We shouldn’t judge people based on skin color
Ethnicity,
economic backgrounds,
sexual orientation,
beliefs and what not;
bottom line, do not judge at all
We were all created by one God and he made us in his own image and likeness.

Yes we are from different backgrounds,
we were brought up differently and with different beliefs.
Your right may be my wrong and vice versa,
instead of raising our noses in superiority,
we should try to understand each other and see reason in each others train of thought.
bottom line, understanding is the key.

DO NOT try to make the other person conform to your way of life and;
do not push yourself too hard to “blend” into another’s culture.
mix and socialize with people from various backgrounds and ethnicities
but never ever forget the home from whence you came.
bottom line, you are who you are
no matter how hard you try, u cannot be who you are not.
you are who you are meant to be.

When the Provincial Liberal Party of PEI met for their annual general meeting on Saturday - it was a chance for policy initiatives to come forward and the goal of working to establish the Provincial Museum made it to the list.

According to The Guardian,

The resolutions focused on 12 areas, including agriculture, education, economic development, health care and energy, although it was not the party?s official policy booklet and some may change before the election.

Some of the resolutions included continuing to work on a poverty reduction strategy, working to establish a provincial museum and taking measures to preserve the inshore fishing fleet.

While this topic has been of keen interest across the Island, it is good news that the party policy mechanism that generates policy initiatives from a grass roots level has also recognized that the establishment of a provincial museum is worth of action.

Any discussion among heritage-minded Islanders on the topic of a provincial museum always ends the same way - on a down note.

The idea of building an Island museum has been around for years. And it's an idea that everyone appears to support.

But in spite of all the support, not only have we not finished the project, we haven't even gotten to the start line.

One of the main stumbling blocks, one common throughout the province's history, is finding the money to build a museum. Some estimates say it will cost in the range of $40 million or more.

Tapping an adequate source of money is important because if there is another thing everyone agrees on, it's the fact the museum must be built properly the first time around. We'll get one shot at it, unlike a tricky chowder recipe that can be tried over and over again until it tastes just right. In culinary terms, the museum needs to taste and look right as soon as it comes off the stove.

The topic of a provincial museum came up recently in Summerside. Mayor Basil Stewart, always on the hunt for positive additions to his city, would like to see the museum located there.

Harry Holman, director of culture, heritage and libraries with the provincial Department of Tourism and Culture, says while the museum project is very much alive, it hasn't moved to a decision-making stage.

He added it's not just Summerside that is pining for the museum, a number of other communities are as well.

Speaking on May 25, 2007, Liberal Leader Robert Ghiz said if elected he would begin "a comprehensive planning process dedicated to creating a new Prince Edward Island museum worthy of our beautiful province."

He promised a Liberal government would consult with Islanders to explore options for a museum. To be fair to the Liberals, they have consulted, in the sense the government commissioned a museumreport that outlined a number of options. All the options would carry a heavy price tag.

And that's where things now stand. Everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop. It might be an infusion of federal money to help the province celebrate the150th anniversary of the historic 1864 Fathers of Confederation meeting or, better still, it might be a firm commitment and timeline from a provincial government.

Islanders can expect to hear lots of talk about an Island museum during this fall's provincial election campaign. When the topic comes up, Islanders should push for more than rhetoric. The Liberal promise four years ago was vague and so have been its actions on the issue.

In today's world it is as easy to communicate with someone on the other side of the world as it is someone in this province. In fact, in some instances it is easier.

It's also easy for our younger generations to become disconnected with Prince Edward Island's past, caught up as they are in everyone else's history and news. A vibrant museum dedicated to celebrating our proud and colourful past would go a long way towards fighting that disconnect.

Pictured above is a 1947 Shure Model 55 I scored on Ebay for $60. It had no cartridge in it, but I fixed that with a Yamaha MZ203 cartridge I had kicking around. It took some time to get the pacement right so that the polar patern worked, but it's now my live mic of choice.

I have entrirely too much time on my hands.