The West Wind

03 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music, Nature

Tags

Beethoven, Canada, godliness, Nature, Ontario, The Group of Seven, The West Wind, Tom Thomson

The West Wind by Tom Thomson (Photo credit: Wikiart.org)

The “West Wind” is a major character in The Song of Hiawatha. It is Mudjekeewis, Hiawatha’s father, presuming he has a father.

In April 2012, I published a post featuring Tom Thomson‘s “West Wind” (1917). The “West Wind” is also a major character in the art of Tom Thomson (5 August 1877 – 8 July 1977). I sense similarities.

Thomson died before the Group of Seven was formed. However, given the subject matter of his paintings, his style as an artist, not to mention his lifestyle, that of a woodsman, he is considered as a precursor to members of the Group of Seven, arguably Canada’s most renowned group of artists. However, his lifestyle and the very title of the painting featured above also suggest cultural kinship with the Amerindians of the Central Woodland, thus identified by Stith Thompson.[1]

Tom Thomson settled in Algonquin Park in 1914, where he worked as a firefighter and guide, but lived in a cabin, devoting most of his time to his art. Thomson died during a canoeing trip. He was only 39. His premature death has served to transform him into a legend. The legend, however, is his art.

Landscape by Tom Thomson 1915

Evening, Canoe Lake by Tom Thomson, 1916

Pine Island, Georgian Bay by Tom Thomson 1916

The Jack Pine by Tom Thomson, 1917

Testimonials to a virgin past about to be destroyed for profit are numerous. Climate protected the Central Woodland. It was cold and therefore uninviting to loggers. But ‘improved’ harvesting technologies won the day. The Arctic is melting down.

There’s land left, but too much was harvested in a way that could not allow regrowth. It was harvested in the name of profit, and the prospect of profit numbs reason.

Humans kill. They kill in the name of profit. They also kill in the name of God. They kill.

Manabozho created land and whatever land had been lost to a flood, he created again. Such was his godliness.

RELATED ARTICLE

Tom Thomson’s “The West Wind” (14 April 2012)

____________________

[1] Stith Thompson, The Folktale (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1977 [1946]), pp. 306-307.

—ooo—

Glenn Gould plays Beethoven‘s Piano concerto No. 1, Op. 15, Largo

A Message for Michele Bachmann

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in United States

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Don Lemon, frivolous promises, godliness, Michele Bachmann, presidential hopefuls, respect, tax cuts, the middle-class, the poor, treating with dignity

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Michele Bachmann

It saddened me to learn that, during one of your recent public appearances, a member of your entourage had forcibly pushed CNN’s Don Lemon into a golf cart. Therefore, I would ask that you never again allow your staff to push people around. I consider that behaviour to be inappropriate, rude and arrogant.

There are and there have been bad apples among us. Yet I believe most of us possess, to a lesser or greater extent, a degree of godliness, hence the need to respect others and to treat them with dignity. If human beings were kind to one another, there would be no wars and members of Congress would think, first and foremost, of the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the unemployed, the veterans and the needs of the children.

With all due respect, if you continue to permit aides to accost others, you should remove yourself for consideration from the list of Presidential hopefuls.

On November 4^th, 2008, when Barack Obama was elected to his post as President of the United States, I was delighted. However, I did not suspect that he would subsequently earn my admiration because of his courtesy and humanity. Former President Bush had brought the US to the brink of a financial collapse, but President Obama treated him with dignity, the dignity the former President deserved and still deserves as a human being, whatever his failings. I was very impressed and very touched. The new President was a good human being.

Some individuals are more gifted than others or are born in a family that will encourage them to pursue their goals and has the means to help them do so. However, others are less gifted, or are not receiving an education for want of financial resources.

Consequently, the poor may not have access to the information they require to choose a leader or may not be capable of understanding fully the information they are given. Yet, they are to be treated with respect rather than be made to swallow the poisoned and vacuous rhetoric of irresponsible politicians, particularly those politicians who make frivolous promises.

As human beings, the citizens of the United States should not be induced into thinking that, under a different administration, America would not have a debt and that the price of gasoline can be magically reduced to $2.00 a gallon.

Let us be realistic. If the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes, America’s debt will beleaguer several administrations. If there are to be tax cuts, the poor and the middle-class should be given a break. For example, if one builds a mansion when a humbler dwelling would suffice, why should mortgage interest for the oversized mansion be tax deductible?

As well, the US has to create and repatriate jobs, which, initially, may cost money, but will eventually benefit the citizens of the United States. It is money well invested. Suffice it to say that even the most ill-informed citizen knows that the government has a role to play in this endeavor.

So, if ever again any of your mignons shoves a person into a golf cart, the people may come to realize that your manners are unbefitting a presidential hopeful and, moreover, that, if elected, you are unlikely to serve your nation with the dignity it