Jerry Falwell is dead.

A friend of mine said, "I do not believe in speaking ill of the dead, they can do that for themselves." Generally, I agree with this sentiment, but there are some people, particularly vile blights upon the face of humanity for whom I am willing to make an exception.

Jerry Falwell had no idea what it means to be a 'true Christian'. If he did, he would not have spouted his cancerous hatred and intolerance for those different from himself. I hope, that if there is a heaven and hell (and I'm by no means convinced that there is), he has woken up to find himself in eternal burning agony from which there is no respite.

And now, I offer you, gentle reader, some of Jerry Falwell's legacy to the world:

“AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

“If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.”

“It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.”

“The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability.”

"I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time."

"I think hell's a real place where real people spend a real eternity."

Well, Jerry, if you can figure out how to communicate from beyond the grave, tell us what it's like, okay?

I am listening to Russian folk songs on Voice of Russia, the English language international service, which is broadcast on CBC Overnight. It is folk music from each of Russia's geographical regions. I have so far enjoyed that from the North the most, which is sung by women. What I'm noticing is that the music sort of reflects the regions from which it comes. For instance, that northern music sounds full of longing and sadness. It was traditionally sung by women together as they did their chores and kept house. It sounds like the kind of music you'd sing in the middle of the dark winter when the men had gone out hunting. It is dark and haunting. And then there's the Cossack music, which is sung by both men and women, which sounds more like dramatic, windswept, hot and dusty fields, which is kind of like the steppes the Cossacks inhabited. Now, I'm generalising here, quite a bit, as they're really only playing one or two songs from each region, but presumably, they're playing those songs that are characteristic of the areas. Anyway, I think it's an interesting show. Often the Russian broadcast is quite dry and news-heavy, but this is quite different.

In other news, my car was scratched up by some asshole. I cannot afford to have it sanded and repainted, so I am first going to talk to a colleague who has a friend that does body work on cars. If he can't do anything with it, I'm going to go into Canadian Tire and buy some "Rally Blue" paint, which the man at Kia is a fair match. Whoever did the scratches managed to slightly dent the metal, too, which makes me quite upset. Usually up here, people drive with busted windshields. Not quite six months in, with just shy of 5000km on her, this happens. I'd call my insurance, but I think that the deductible will be almost as much as the repair cost anyway. So, I'll see if my co-worker can hook me up.

I don't have much else to say. Allow me to offer these salient facts: Yesterday was the anniversary of the Kent State University shooting. We recently had another college shooting in the news, but instead of troopers, it was a disturbed student. Not the same at all, but still terrible. There is a Mumps outbreak spreading across Canada, which follows on the same thread, because it started on a school campus down East. No shootings, though.

I see that the powers behind Blogger finally stopped being assy and fixed the account association problem so many of us users were having. I never bothered to do the manual fix, it was a hassel. I figured, and apparently quite rightly, that eventually the Google folk would fix Blogger so that the lazy, like me, and the less savvy users would be able to sign in and post anew. It's nice when I'm right.

Much has been happening since my lsat post. I went through the initial depression of having to return to Whitehorse and leave my beloved behind, but it was abreviated due to the hectic business of Gallery installation. I felt very much like a chicken with her head cut off, running hither and thither doing various things that were not part of my usual routine. It went alright, if a bit stressfully down to the wire, but it's up and running. As usual, the visiting artist was a champ, pitching in and helping with other gallery set-ups, and the tech sent up to us from the National Gallery was lots of fun. It was a bit strange to not have the old Curator kicking around and making us miserable in his sort of lovable way. The Acting Curator is a lot more evenly tempered. On the other hand, I don't think she'd take my abuse the same way.

Speaking of the Gallery, we're well on our way to having a Beadwork show. This is the show I'm sort of co-curating. It's very exciting for me. I'm nervous about it, too, because this kind of goes on my CV, you know? And I want it not to suck ! I guess any curator goes through that, or should do, anyway.

I'm winding up another semester of schooling, too. Currently, I'm having a heck of a time finishing my final paper. It's making me crazy. I suspect my writing style is going to get me a lower grade this time. I am feeling like I'm not being formal enough, but at the same time, the informal kind of chatty style I've fallen into just seems appropriate for the material. Well, we shall see - some time in July, when we get our marks. Hah.

Travel plans for my mother and I have been set. We'll be arriving in Vancouver June 23rd, visiting Vancouver and the Island together over about five days, and then taking the Alaska Ferry from Bellingham, WA to Skagway. We'll spend a night in Skagway and then take the White Pass Yukon Route train to Carcross where we shall be picked up by a friend of mine and driven the remaining hour to Whitehorse. I am quite excited about this. Possibly not as excited as my mother, but close. I really am looking forward to the whole adventure. Then, she'll stay with me for close to two weeks. I presume I'll give up my bed and take the futon - no one over 40 should sleep on a futon, it's just wrong. Additionally, while I'm down in Vancouver, I'm going to pop over to Burnaby for the White Stripes concert. I bought my ticket today. Woo !

And, the last exciting bit of news I have is that I have a horse to ride now ! I'm thrilled beyond words to be riding again. She, Marina, is a very nice mare. She's well schooled in her groundwork and has a sweet and gentle personality. I mean, she's no Peak, who is the best of all horses, but she's pretty nice.



She's part Andalusian and 1/4 each Appaloosa and Arab. I am looking forward to this summer ! If I could just know when next I'm seeing Gareth, I'd be set.