This Blog

This blog always cracks me up. No one posts for days and days, and then there is a flurry all at once. Great minds think alike I guess.

Every now and then it sinks in that I'm in my last year here. Mostly it's just normal school busy, but then I think about all the things I don't know yet, and worry that I'll be done too soon. Then I look at all the reading I have to do and decide the soon I'm out of here the happier I'll be.

Classes are all quite interesting. The one with the most general interest would have to be "Opening the Hurt Locker: Religious and Spiritual Pedegogies of Pain". It's a course on how we look at and deal with pain, culturally and within various religious traditions (mostly looking at Christian, Jewish and Buddhist). Part of the idea is that pain can teach us something, or that at the least there is a positive aspect to pain, which we miss when we medicate it all away. One of the students is a medical doctor, so that makes for some interesting discussions. We have to do a presentation on a "practicable pedegogy of pain"; I've asked if I can do country music, or more specifically, John Wort Hannam. We'll see if I'm allowed!

On November 15 there is a religious trialog between a Rabbi, one of the profs from the school and a Muslim theologian, discussing the character of Job through the lens of the Cohen Brothers movie " A Serious Man". Should be pretty interesting if anyone is planning on being in Vancouver in November!

John Wort Hannam

I'm starting to feel like this blog is turning into Will's Awesome Olympic Adventures Blog! There has just been so much cool stuff happening around here. The Olympics are a pain in a lot of ways, but they've been good enough to me that I think they can come back again sometime.

Anyway, the latest tale of awesomeness has to do with John Wort Hannam, who is a folk singer from Alberta. He's been at Folk Fest a few times, and I borrowed his CDs from Mom last summer when I was looking for any music to get me through the driving from Rocky to Vancouver to Barkerville. Turns out, I really like his music. I found out that he was going to be in town last night, and managed to get tickets.

It was part of a four part show of Canadian singer-songwriters. The others were the Gordie Tentrees band (from the Yukon), Christina Martin (from New Brunswick, who was hilarious. She talked a lot in between songs about random stuff- she introduced one song by saying "so, in New Brunswick, if you need to make a living, you rob a bank". Then she sang a song about her father, who apparently robbed a bank) and Jimmy Rankin to round out the evening. Everyone was really good, but John Wort Hannam was the best.

He played right before the intermission, and I was walking out with my two friends Shantel and Chelsea, who are both from southern Alberta. They were talking about how it is surprising that they don't know of him, since he is from Fort McLeod. Just then we hear a voice behind us "hey, don't talk about me, I'm right here!" Sure enough, JWH was standing right behind us. Shantel told him that I was singing along to every song, and he said that he should have had me on stage. I assured him that was a terrible idea. Anyway, he was really nice and down to earth, and I managed to talk him into this picture.

What will the Olympics bring me next? Who knows! I can't wait to find out though.

John Wort Hannam

What a great kickoff to the new year music wise, Geoff, Theresa, Grace and I all went to see him last night at Queen Alexandra Hall, and it was a fabulous concert. There is something about seeing a person perform in a small venue, that seems to make it seem as though he sings right to you. Theresa was sitting on the first seat in the row, and when John came in he passed right next to her, she could have reached out and touched him. The musicians playing JWH (as Will calls him) were amazing as well. You could tell that they had spent quite a bit of time playing together. I think all of them were with John in the summer at folk fest. The concert was a CD release, for his new one, so we did our part and picked one up. I listened to a bit of it last night after we got home and of course he played a lot of songs from it at the concert. Next up Fiddler on the Roof at the Jube on Thursday.

I had supper last week with a woman I worked with on the project at the Government last year. One of the things I have found about project work is that I usually find at least one person, that I keep in touch with after the project ends. Usually it is through email, but in this case Karen lives in Sherwood Park and works at the government, so we actually get to meet in person. She was living in Red Deer, but got a job working in Edmonton with the group that administers the HR/Payroll system, so she and her husband and dog, moved here. I admire anyone who can make a change like that in the middle of their career. I am not sure I could just pack up and leave all my friends and family to permanently live somewhere else.

I had an email last week about a potential project with Alberta Health services, starting sometime in the spring. The timing would work out nicely, about the time I am done with my current project. I knew they had put my resume in with the proposal, but was not sure what our chances were of getting the contract. It is still not for sure, but if it works out then it means more time at home, at least I think it would be at home, I guess it could be in Calgary. anyway will keep you posted on the outcome.