Unchanging Dark

In 1967, when I first began working with Native Indian ex-convicts, the recidivism rate for aboriginals in Canada was 97%.

97%.

That is not a typo.

Of every 100 male Aboriginal inmates released from a prison in Canada at that time, 97 could be assured of a return trip.

And soon.

Inmates and guards alike used to joke with someone being set free, "We'll keep your bunk warm for you, Buddy."

How much have things improved over the years?

Not much.

Here's the front page of this morning's Globe:

"Courts falling short on effort to keep natives out of jail

Ten years after landmark ruling, prison numbers tell a dismal story

Statistics tell a dismal story. Aboriginals amount to fewer than 4 per cent of the Canadian population, yet accounted for 24 per cent of those admitted to provincial or federal custody in 2006-2007 – up from 21 per cent the previous year. In Ontario, twice as many aboriginal youth are being jailed as non-aboriginal youth who commit the same offence."

Everyone is to blame.

Aboriginal communities and people themselves.

Courts, police, parole, probation, me and you.

We won't spend the necessary money on good rehab programs, substance abuse treatment, early childhood ed, you name it.

And native peoples are not demanding enough of themselves and their children.

Success, pride and hard work are the interlocking circle that makes for better lives.

Not easily come by, of course.

But they are always there, waiting for the willing.

Until then, we live with a national disgrace.

One that has persisted for over 40 years.

How much longer?

Deja Vu

Over the last few holi-days, the NFL Network has been runningand re-running a very special football game in their Classic Games series.

It is the January 10, 1982, NFC Championship match between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Fransisco 49ers.

Dallas, "America's Team," came into Candlestick Park full of themselves and their press releases confident that they would destroy the upstart who-are-they-anyway 49ers who had suffered through so many years with some great players but bad management and many losing seasons.

Now the Bay area team had Bill Walsh coaching, but he was at that time a guy with a record something like 22-37.

And they had a young, slight Joe Montana from Notre Dame at quarterback.

It was a great game and the final minute was unbelievable.

You can see it below in the video.

So...I watched this thing two days ago and I knew the outcome and I've seen "The Catch" only about 900 times over the years.

Nevertheless, I was sitting on the edge of the sofa, bouncing up and down, almost unable to watch because of the tension.

When The Catch happened, I leaped up screaming as if this were right here in front of me in real time.

Craziness, I know.

But great fun.

This game marked the end of Dallas' great run and the beginning of the 49ers dynasty.

San Fransisco went on to the Super Bowl to beat Cincinnati and quite a few championships after that.

The Catch

"The Rent" is Now for Public Viewing...sorry about that

Yet Another Test

Low Key

The Globe & Mail was heavy and thick this morning.

With what?

Twaddle, that's what.

It was all about "decoding" and "parsing" the decade.

Better it should have been parsniping.

(That's a Jewish sentence structure...although parsnips may not necessarily be considered a Jewish vegetable. Pickles are a Jewish vegetable and I know many people who have pickle trees in their back yards...although that doesn't necessarily make them Jewish, just people with exquisite taste and very high hopes.)

The Globe.

One of the many reasons I don't go to parties (The main one being that I'm rarely invited...) is that there is always one genius standing around the cheese and crackers table parsing and decoding practically everything in sight.

Some people just feel that it is given unto them to interpret the last 40 or 400 or 4000 years to everyone.

I say, "If you can make a convincing argument, Buddy, and convince Scribner or Knopf or someone to swallow your story whole, good on you, but in the meantime, let me at the appies and get the eff outta the way."

So all of the talent at the Globe got together and told me that Y2K didn't happen and that texting did. And MJ died and Tiger is in hiding. And "The Song of Bernadette" never did get remade for Tori Spelling. (I made that one up.)

Look why don't they just keep it simple?

Send out a one-pager on December 26th.

"Nut job tried to blow up a plane over Detroit, everything else is cool, shop till you drop."

I took my own advice yesterday.

I walked for about 90 minutes on one of my all-time favorite walks - English Bay.

I've been walking that walk since the first day I arrived here over 40 years ago.

I've walked in many wild and weird and wonderful places, and English Bay continues to be great.

Yesterday it was sunny and unseasonably warm and thousands of others were walking as well.

Lovely.

Today, a quiet stroll to the 'hood, a double espresso, a couple more lamb chops for the grill and that's a wrap, kids.

Cherish a day or two without da news.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

What follows below are just a scarce few of the many, many zillions of things that make me laugh and sing and cry and dance and generally, between all the troubles, remember all the great joys and pleasures of this inexplicable mad journey.

The sun is shining here today.

Walk off that cake.

Near the water...

Soupy & Bob Costas - Wait for it...

Hartman/Coltrane - Wait for the Voice...

West Side Story - The Opening

Rhapsody, Part I

Rhapsody, Part II

Peggy Lee

Rosemary Clooney

Fred/Cyd Dancing in the Dark

Tony/Stevie

A Word About "The Test"

Thanks for the many kind and encouraging comments about yesterday's test run of a video.

The content, the actually video, is an old piece I have had sitting on my desktop for ages. It is a sampler, what is called a "demo reel," that I have used for one purpose or another over the years.

The "testing" part was getting the thing uploaded to my blog.

I have been encouraged by a few friends to post video monologues or even interviews on the blog and to that end I have now tried about 14,000 different methods of doing so.

I bought a JVC Everio Camcorder.

It's wonderful.

The picture and sound are movie-quality, first-rate.

The thing boasts "one-touch YouTube upload."

Ha!

I have two friends who are computer-wizards and even they have been pulling out their hair trying to solve this dilemma.

So yesterday, I tried a different system, "Vimeo."

Well, as you can see, it worked with that old demo reel.

BUT!

It still won't take the material from my camera.

As of this morning, I think I may have another solution.

Hm...

So, bear with me while I continue to try to solve this little annoying mystery.

In the meantime...

Would you be so kind as to tell me if you would prefer that I post video monologues or continue writing or offer a mix of the two?

Have a wonderful Christmas and holiday.

There is still nothing wrong and everything right with the old traditional greeting:

Peace on earth and good will to men.

Almost There

No country in the world spends more money in total or more money per capita on Health Care than the United States of America and gets less meager results.

The highest infant mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy for openers.

America also has almost 50 million citizens with no health insurance.

But it is likely that by end of day today a Health Care Reform Bill will pass.

That's the good news.

The not-so-very-great news is that, according to a wide-ranging piece in this morning's Globe by Konrad Yakabuski, the bill is an unwieldy mess.

"It will serve to fatten insurer profits and deepen the country's budget crisis. It's not clear it will make Americans any healthier. And it certainly won't make the system any simpler."

Under the current American system, "as much as a quarter of the $2.5-trillion Americans spend on health care annually goes toward administrative costs, compared to less than 10 per cent in most developed countries with universal health coverage."

"No wonder insurance company stocks have soared as investors contemplate 30 million new insurance consumers and the absence of new competition in the form of a public health-insurance plan for Americans under 65."

I understand the Americans' long-bred and almost natural hate of government.

But the evidence is in.

Canada, England, France, Denmark, among other Western democracies have been operating single-payer, government-based universal health insurance programs with considerable success for many years now.

For the Americans to ignore this, and worse, to hiss at these successes and call them names (COMMIES! SOCIALISTS!) is childish and self-destructive.

I repeat that I can only hope that this reform, watered down and confusing at it is, might be the first step in moving an adolescent culture into maturity.

When the USA creates and supports a universal health care insurance program, we will know that a New Day has truly arrived.

David Oistrach is my All-Time Favorite Fiddler

Mel Torme's Classic Christmas Gift...by Nat