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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-06-06, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013. PAGE 5. “They’ve just found a gene for shyness. They would have found it earlier but it was hiding behind a couple of other genes.” – Jonathan Katz Ah yes…shyness. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so…excruciating. I speak as a certified Shy Guy. Sure, I’m the clown who talks too loud, warbles off- key and has been known to wear a lampshade for a fedora. It’s all just an act to cover up my basic shyness. Shy people are not welcome in our society. Well-meaning friends devise plots to ‘bring us out of our shells’ and get us to ‘assert ourselves’. Type A personalities call us wusses, chicken-bleeps, even cowards. T’ain’t true, but we’re too shy to correct our detractors. In China, shyness is seen as a welcome and respected character trait. There, it bespeaks a person who thinks before he/she acts; someone who has control of their impulses and behaves rationally, rather than emotionally. It’s a different story on this continent where we don’t place much value on introspection. Gasbags like Don Cherry get celebrity status; thinkers like Michael Ignatieff get the boot. The Bible claims the meek are blessed; try to prove it at a hockey game or on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The worst thing about shyness? Opportunities missed. Shy people don’t go for the brass ring. And that’s a shame – especially when the brass ring isn’t so far out of reach. James Matthew Barrie, the man who gave us Peter Pan, was pathologically shy. Invited to a dinner with A.E. Housman he sat mute beside him– even though he’d longed to meet the famous poet for a long time. Afterwards, Barrie wrote this letter: ‘Dear Professor Houseman, I am sorry about last night, when I sat next to you and did not say a word. You must have thought I was a very rude man: I am really a very shy man. Sincerely yours, J.M. Barrie. Housman wrote back: ‘Dear Sir, I am sorry about last night, when I sat next to you and did not say a word. You must have thought I was a very rude man: I am really a very shy man. Sincerely yours, A.E. Housman. P.S. And now you’ve made it worse for you’ve spelled my name wrong.’ I’ll leave the last word to another man of letters, Garrison Keillor, who had to overcome painful shyness to become the best-selling author and story-telling genius that he is. But he never forgot (or vanquished) his shyness. In the end, he decided he doesn’t want to: Keillor wrote: “Shyness is not a disability or a disease to be overcome. It is simply the way we are. And in our own quiet way we are secretly proud of it.” Amen to that: I’m shy – wanna make something of it? Arthur Black Other Views Say it loud; Say it proud; I’m shy The news that the Blyth Festival has once again been nominated for the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts for Best Arts Organization shines a light on the community that supports the Festival. In an interview with The Citizen earlier this week, interim Artistic Director Peter Smith said that if the Festival was to win the award, it would belong to all of the community, above and beyond the Festival and its supporters. He said that while the Blyth Centre for the Arts is a wide-ranging organization that united performers, visual artists and musicians, some of the most important support the Festival receives comes from businesses and community members up and down main street throughout Huron County. He said that if the Festival was to win the award, it would belong as much to people like Citizen Publisher Keith Roulston, Anne Chislett and James Roy, who founded the Festival, as it would to the businesses that have supported the Festival year after year. For this year’s guide to the Blyth Festival which The Citizen compiles every year, which will be on newsstands Thursday, June 27, the majority of the artists I spoke with were blown away with the generosity and openness that community members displayed earlier this year in the early stages of the production of Beyond The Farm Show. The show’s director Severn Thompson organized approximately 25 different visits for the cast with farmers and community members during three one-week visits between March and May. The show followed the lead of its predecessor from 1972, The Farm Show, where a group of Theatre Passe Muraille actors spent a summer living and working on a handful of farms near Clinton for the summer, eventually creating The Farm Show out of their time in Huron County. After spending time with cast members and interviewing many of them, one thing was clear: this is a community that loves its theatre. Cast members commented time and time again about how welcoming people had been. Families invited the actors into their homes for coffee, for dinner and for conversations that would last for hours. Actress Catherine Fitch talked about the time that touched her the most, spending time with an Amish family and discussing topics very close to the family’s heart, including the death of a family member. Actors Jamie Robinson and Tony Munch talked about the hours they spent with RR3, Blyth’s Cliff and Don Schultz, characters that left a permanent imprint of them, so much so when Cliff passed away late last month, both Robinson and Munch attended his funeral at Ball’s Cemetery. The show’s cast, which began rehearsals this week, has woven itself into the fabric of the community and forged relationships that will forever stay with them, as well as members of the community. It’s no surprise then, that Huron County was the setting for The Farm Show. It’s a community that opens its arms and its doors to the theatre, and so too does the theatre open to the community from its home community of Blyth throughout the entire county. So when Smith says that the community and supporters share in the Festival’s success, he is very correct, because this is a theatre community where the community and the theatre both know what they mean to one another; probably more than they will ever really know. A theatre community Shawn Loughlin Shawn’s Sense I’ve got a vested interest in how this whole Rob Ford/crack addict situation plays out. My fiancée lives in Brampton which is part of the Greater Toronto Area and, therefore, directly affected by how this all ends. Now, from the get-go, there has been no doubt in my mind that the video likely exists and that it wasn’t likely doctored (I mean, if you’re going to take the time to properly doctor a video, you’re going to need more than $200,000 to cover the equipment, software and know-how alone) and there is no doubt in my mind that Ford is capable of participating in drug use. I mean, it’s not like it’s out of character. Let’s not forget he has been caught with marijuana, the so-called “gateway” drug. There are a lot of angles from which to approach this issue, but regardless of how you feel about the video or recent stories that have targeted both Ford and his brother Doug (whether rightfully or not), there is still one major issue that Torontonians need to deal with when it comes to Mayor Ford. I’m not talking about the late night talk show hosts mocking Ford due to the incident and I’m not even talking about how Ford seems to have caught the attention of major media outlets from our neighbour to the south, I’m talking about something that goes beyond validity: believability. As I stated above, I have no problem believing the video exists, I have no problem believing it wasn’t faked and I have no problem believing that Ford would participate in using the drug. That’s the problem, believability. (I would also not be surprised to learn that the disappearance of the people with the video and the fact that the Ford’s office was told the location of said people are somehow connected.) While many people are debating the validity of the video and asking whether it’s been doctored or not, I haven’t seen a single argument say, “but doing crack-cocaine isn’t part of Mayor Ford’s character,” or, “I just can’t see him doing that.” Even his denial, in which he says he doesn’t use and is not addicted to crack- cocaine does not state he hasn’t done crack- cocaine. It only stated he doesn’t now and isn’t addicted. I’m not addicted to alcohol. I’m not drinking as a I write this. That, however, certainly doesn’t mean I’ve never had a drink. Anyway, back to the issue. Regardless of whether there are supporters out there or not, no one is claiming that the tape can’t be believed because of its content, only because of its validity as a recording. To me, whether Ford is innocent or guilty of using a narcotic on the level of crack is inconsequential at this point. What matters, what is at the heart of this issue, is would we be surprised if Rob Ford smoked crack? The answer to that question is one that I think people need to think long and hard on before they spend $200,000 obtaining proof of him doing it. School boards are firing him from volunteer positions, which is enough of a damning remark on its own. However, beyond that fellow councillors are urging him to ‘get help’, and none of them are saying, “You did drugs.” The suggestion to get help comes just from his out-of-control lifestyle and no specific relation to this incident. To me, each thing that happens and each comment that is made from someone not in “Ford Nation” could be prefaced by the statement, “Whether you did drugs or not...” and it would still make sense. Of course, as I was taught in school, I have to prove my thesis, so here are some gems: • “[Whether you did drugs or not] go away and get help,” - Reportedly, the part outside of the square brackets is what Chief of Staff Mark Towhey said before he got fired. • “[Whether Ford did drugs or not] this decision was based on what is best for our students, our school and the Don Bosco community.” A quote taken from the Toronto Catholic District School Board when explaining Ford’s removal as a football coach in the Don Bosco Eagles football program. • “[Whether Ford did drugs or not] Rob has not been the main activator of work at city hall over the past few years. He’s been there from time to time, but we’re not sure his main attention has been at city hall,” Toronto Councillor John Parker said. There are many other examples, but the crux of my point is: Whether Rob Ford did crack or not, whether he was in possession of marijuana or was smoking marijuana, whether he was drunk when he was escorted from a charity gala or not, one thing is clear: it wouldn’t surprise anyone (except maybe Ford himself, he always seems to have a half- stunned look on his face) if one of the aforementioned allegations turned out to be true. Canada’s most populous city, its most famous city and the fourth largest city in North American behind Mexico City, New York City and Los Angeles is going to eventually reach its apex, its high-point at which everything goes downhill, and I can’t help but think that Ford, or another of his ilk, will be at the helm when that occurs. Why do I think that? Well if you have a leader like Ford, where the question isn’t “Did he do it,” but “Did he actually get recorded doing it,” you’ve already signed the death certificate for your city. I think of the area we live in. If someone said they had video proof of a North Huron councillor, or a Huron East councillor or a Central Huron councillor participating in illicit drugs, my first statement would be that the video is a fake. I know that some council members and I don’t see eye to eye on issues. I know, however, that the voters of Huron County aren’t foolhardy enough to put a man like Ford in any position of power. I would not believe that any council member from any level of government in Huron County would be capable of being caught in half of the gaffes that Ford has been. In the end, however, I guess the only opinion that matters is that of the public court. I hope they find Ford guilty this time. Denny Scott Denny’s Den The crime or likelihood: what’s worse? “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if it were possible, speak a few reasonable words.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Final Thought