Fireworks Spectacular and Dismantling of a Society

Photo by: Katharine Egli/The Jersey Journal
[More photos of the fireworks here]

Whatever may be going on in America, it is still the greatest country in the world. The Fourth of July fireworks by Macy's, over the Hudson River, were the most spectacular I've ever seen. Of course I wasn't there, but NBC programmed the full hour live last night.

But one thought that came to mind as I watched the event was that in order to appease the masses, totalitarian regimes produce spectacle: through huge processions, displays of might with military marches, and various mind-numbing techniques like action packed films and streams of empty television shows. It is a strategy to wipe out people's thinking processes by a constant barrage of noise.

Perhaps Macy's planned this spectacle to quieten (however temporarily) the agitated mood in American politics, to distract the people, and to let Obama proceed with his dismantling of the fundamentals of the society.

Guy Debord, a philosopher whose book The Society of the Spectacle we studied during my film/photography studies, although a Marxist, understood this society of the spectacle, although he attributes it to capitalist societies. But socialists are even better at programming spectacles, often ignoring their bankrupt coffers to temporarily appease the masses.

George Orwell, another socialist writer, described the omnipresent telescreens in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which were used both for surveillance and as propaganda monitors on the citizens of Oceania.

These days, spectacle is presented through brilliantly orchestrated images right into our living rooms, via our television screens, now wider, bigger and better through High Definition technology, with cheap, made in China screens made available even for the poor proletariat.

Here is what Wikipedia writes about Orwell's telescreens:

Telescreens, in addition to being surveillance devices, are also the equivalent of televisions (hence the name), regularly broadcasting false news reports about Oceania's military victories, economic production figures, spirited renditions of the national anthem to heighten patriotism, and Two Minutes Hate, which is a two-minute film of Emmanuel Goldstein's wishes for freedom of speech and press, which the citizens have been trained to disagree with.

Home monitors as surveillance isn't so farfetched anymore. Already, it is easy to monitor the internet "history" of a computer, and to collect data on the internet user.

From World Net Daily:

The Barack Obama administration has announced plans to lift a government ban on tracking visitors to government websites, and potentially, collect their personal data through the use of "cookies" – an effort some suspect may already be in place on White House sites.

From Politico:

[A]ccording to a campaign official and former Obama staffer, the campaign’s Chicago-based headquarters has built a centralized digital database of information about millions of potential Obama voters.

More at Politico on the Obama Newspeak/Doublespeak:

"The Obama campaign has to confront the contradiction that the president talks about ‘timeless privacy values,’ and then, his campaign using contemporary digital tools to operate a stunning commercial surveillance system,” says Jeff Chester, executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Digital Democracy. “The idea that the Obama campaign can create a political dossier on you that they can act upon without asking permission first is outrageous."

Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth of July Cake, from Make My Cake in New York
[Image source: New York Post]

July 1 (dubbed Canada Day) doesn't come close to the holiday celebrated across the border."Happy Fourth of July!" really does evoke a holiday, in the middle of summer, with fireworks, barbecues, street festivals, and generally happy people, and of course independence.

But Lawrence Auster, at the View From the Right, presents a different perspective:

How can I—how can anyone—read the Declaration aloud this year in honor of American existence and American liberty? The colonies that were acting in unison as "one people," and in the act named themselves the United States of America, the free country that brought itself into existence with that Declaration on the basis of God-ordained limits on government power, has, as of June 28, 2012, officially come to an end. As a commenter at Lucianne.com has put it, "Think of Obamacare as the Declaration of Dependence."

The Declaration of Independence no longer represents what our country actually is. It represents our past country, and, perhaps, a future country. If we are to read the Declaration together, it can only be in that spirit, as patriotism to a non-existent country. As I said on the morning of June 28, patriotism to the United States as it actually exists "is simply subscription to, loyalty to, patriotism to, obedience to, a leftist unlimited state."

Wikipedia on Canada Day explains that:

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act, 1867 (today called the Constitution Act, 1867, in Canada), which united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire. Originally called Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), the name was changed in 1982, the year the Canada Act* was passed. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as by Canadians internationally.

The operative word is "within the British Empire."

The first sentence on the Wikipedia entry on Canada tells us that:

Canada is a federal state governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.

This ambiguous notion of independence brought about the awful multiculturalism, where a burqad, Muslim woman, jarring and alien to Canadian culture and history, can happily stand at a Canada Day "celebration" and talk about being a "Canadian."

But no country is immune to destructive forces, so I will cautiously wish Americans a Happy Fourth of July, but also heed them to pay close attention to those forces rising in their country.

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*

The Canada Act 1982 (1982 c. 11) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed at the request of the Canadian federal government to "patriate" Canada's constitution, ending the necessity for the country to request certain types of amendment to the Constitution of Canada to be made by the British parliament. The Act also formally ended the "request and consent" provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in relation to Canada, whereby the British parliament had a general power to pass laws extending to Canada at its own request. [Source: Canada Act 1982, from Wikipedia]

Sasha's Ordeal

Various news sources are reporting that Obama is using his daughters for his re-election campaign. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Times:

The Obamas can be fiercely protective of their daughters’ privacy in some ways - complaining if the girls are photographed while out on their own, for example - but they’ve been more than willing to keep bringing them up in the national conversation. And to keep them in the minds of voters as the general election approaches.

Presidential children are always in the limelight, but I've always felt that the Obamas are especially ready to bring their daughters to the forefront when it suits their agendas. The media are picking up on this now, particularly since Obama is so blatant about "including" his daughters in his re-election campaign. In any case, I've found more Easter photos (this time from this year's Easter egg roll at the White House) of the family together. And, as I've previously noted, it seems that Sasha is the vulnerable one.

Above is a photo of Michelle, Sasha and Malia at an ideal photo-op to show some kind of unity (and dress taste). It is, after all, the White House Easter egg roll, a fun holiday event. Malia looks sullen and resentful, walking slightly apart from the small group. I'm sure it cannot be much fun to have these periodic family parades in front of the whole world, but Sasha always manages to put on a brave face.

Malia and her mother are in skin-tight pants, both showing bulging thighs, while Sasha seems to be modestly trying to cover up her legs with a pretty, long shirt. Sasha even tries at ornament with dangling earrings. Malia has opted for an austerity (coupled with exhibitionism, two sartorial elements which are often found together) which matches her expression. But Sasha's cropped jacket may be her way of trying to copy the cropped sweaters that make up Michelle's wardrobe. As I've noted before, these incongruous (unfashionable) additions may be her way of trying to fit in with her family, and especially her mother.

Once again, I can't help noticing Sasha's sad expression, which by now must have caught the attention of some concerned family member (a grandmother, perhaps?).

Happy Easter

The Rose Trellis Fabergé Egg was acquired by

American businessman Henry Walters in 1930,

and is now at theWalters Art Museum in Baltimore.

I have re-posted below a post from last Easter Sunday. Even though Fabergé eggs are a Russian Orthodox tradition (Orthodox churches celebrate Easter next Sunday), the tradition of the egg is relevant in all Easter celebrations. I remember visiting my grandparents as a young girl on Easter day, and the best part of visit were the "chicken and egg" stews which were especially made for the day.

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Fabergé eggs were made between 1885 and 1917, and:

[W]ere designed primarily at the behest of Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as annual Easter gifts for Tsarinas Maria and Alexandra.

This is the Easter gift that Tzar Alexander III gave Tzarina Maria Fedorovna in 1885, which also marked their twentieth wedding anniversary:

Easter is the most joyful celebration of the Orthodox faith in Russia. After the devout church services, families gather to exchange gifts of decorated eggs, symbols of renewed life and hope. The Easter of 1885 also marks the twentieth anniversary of Czar Alexander III and Czarina Maria Fedorovna, and the Czar needs an exceptional gift for his wife.

So he places an order with a young jeweler, Peter Carl Fabergé, whose beautiful creations have recently caught Maria's eye.

On Easter morning, Fabergé delivers to the palace what appears to be a simple enameled egg. But to the delight of the Empress, inside is a golden yolk; within the yolk is a golden hen; and concealed within the hen is a diamond miniature of the royal crown and a tiny ruby egg – both now lost to history.

Here is what the Walters Art Museum says about the (above) Rose Trellis egg:

On April 22, 1907 [on Easter], Tsar Nicholas II presented this egg to his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, to commemorate the birth of the tsarevich, Alexei Nicholaievich, three years earlier. Because of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, no Imperial Easter eggs had been produced for two years. The egg contained as a surprise a diamond necklace and an ivory miniature portrait of the tsarevich framed in diamonds (now lost). Fabergé's invoice, dated April 21, 1907, listed the egg at 8,300 rubles.

Many Fabergé eggs were either sold or taken out of Russia during the Russian revolution. Eight eggs are lost. Ten are now on display in the Kermlin Armory Museum. Sotheby's put up nine eggs for auction in 2004, and the entire collection went (back) to Russia, purchased by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Madonna Lily

Madonna Lily (circa 1802)
Pierre-Joseph Redouté


I cannot find any Easter lilies by botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté, but I have found instead his Madonna Lily.

Ichthys

Happy April Fool's

This used to be a day to be careful. Small pranks (some actually larger for the receiver than the giver) were expected all day, mostly from friends and family, but also from strangers. It was a fun and festive day, in its own right. Yet, it has diminished in importance.

Partly, I think this is because it doesn't have the commercial clout of a holiday like Halloween. Partly it is because its religious and Christian origins have been forgotten (unlike Halloween, which still retains some of its Christian and religious significance). Who cares about fish, and what amount of money can be made from cheap fish-shaped candies, and paper cut-outs sold to lazy people who cannot make their own "April Fool's Day" cardboard fish?

Yet, Jesus fed the multitude with a couple of lowly fish.

The fish was an important symbol (and sign) in early Christian history. Below is information on how the early Christians recognized each other through Ichthys:

According to tradition, ancient Christians, during their persecution by the Roman Empire in the first few centuries after Christ, used the fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes...

...when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company. Current bumper-sticker and business-card uses of the fish hearken back to this practice. The symbol is still used today to show that the bearer is a practicing Christian. [Christianity Today, Elesha Coffman, "Ask the Editors" October 26, 2001 - Ask the Editors - Christian History].

Jesus' fishermen disciples were preceded in various Old Testament stories:

Jeremiah 16:16:
Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them.

Ezekiel 49:10:
Fishermen will stand beside the sea; from En-gedi to En-eglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.

And their analogous stories in the New Testament:

John 21:11:
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.

These fishermen were also "fishers of men" or saviors of men:

Jeramiah 16:14-16:
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers."

Luke 5:7-11:
After bringing the boats back to the shore, Peter, Andrew, James, and John responded to the call to follow Jesus.

Fish are also used in many Biblical stories, Old and New Testament, from the giant fish which housed and saved Jonah, to Jesus comparing his disciples to fishermen. They are also recommended as food, which includes instructions on how to clean them and make them edible:

Fish were a favorite food and a chief source of protein (Numbers 11:5; Nehemiah 13:16). The law regarded all fish with fins and scales as clean. Water animals that did not have fins and scales were unclean (Leviticus 11:9-12)...

Fish provided food for the common people (Matthew 14:17; Matthew 15:34). The risen Lord ate fish with the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:42) and by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:13). The primary method of preparing fish was broiling (John 21:9). The most famous New Testament fish was the one used to pay the Temple tax for Jesus and Peter (Matthew 17:27).
[Source]

Lilium longiflorum:The Easter Lily

Easter Lilies in the Allan Gardens Conservatory
[Photo by KPA]

The Allan Gardens Conservatory has a smattering of Easter lilies planted around the conservatory. I was expecting more. Perhaps there might be more closer to the holiday (April 8th), or more decoratively arranged. I went in to see what flowers had been planted for spring (the conservatory commemorates each season or holiday with a special display), but so far it looks sparse with cacti and leafy plants dominating. I hope it is a just matter of time before we see the holiday and seasonal plants.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Kate wearing a green dress for St. Patrick's Day

Her brown hat, not black as most
stylists would chose, is a
perfect match for the dark
green dress

I've always liked Kate. She seems quiet, smart and has adjusted remarkably well to royal life, unlike her sad mother-in-law Diana and her aunt Sarah. Perhaps she learned from their sad mistakes. I've got a few blog posts I've meaning to do on her, and her modest but elegant style, which I'll get to.

Above, she's celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the Aldershot Barracks with the Irish Guards. Here's more on her visit:

For St. Patrick's Day 2012, Catherine visited the Aldershot Barracks in Aldershot, England, where she presented shamrocks to 40 members of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards during the St. Patrick's Day parade. The regiment was formed in 1900 by Queen Victoria, to honor the Irish soldiers who served in the British army during the second Boer War in South Africa.

Here in Toronto, there was emerald green everywhere today, although the official parade took place last Sunday. It was a rather cloudy day, so the green could be seen from a distance, peppering the streets. What a refreshing gathering of people, who are having a good time, and remembering a good thing. Let's not forget that this is all for St. Patrick, as one girl reminded me when I wished her group "Happy Irish..." "St. Patrick's Day!" we both finished at the same time.

I overheard some guy say that the Irish Embassy will be pretty busy tonight. I suspect he means with drinking Irish. I was going to reply to his stereotypical remark (he looked Anglo-Canadian to me, with the strict, no-nonsense demeanor, since clearly he was unable to join in the mini festivity), but I left him alone.

Toronto hosts the largest "gay pride" parade in North America, where half naked men and women prance around the streets, rerouting traffic and unsuspecting pedestrians away from the main streets. And the Caribbean Carnival, where there is at least one gun shot, if not murder, every year, brings in thousands of tourists from the Caribbean. The city foots a portion of the bills for both these events. These parades take over the several blocks of streets, and fill the television and newspaper news for days.

The official St. Patrick's Day parade was last Sunday, and was hardly noticeable. There were no dramatic stories other than a few green-haired jumping leprechauns. It is organized by the The St. Patrick's Parade Society of Toronto, and if you look at their sponsors, not one is a government agency.

A footloose leprechaun on Yonge Street
An early start last Sunday

Allan Gardens Conservatory Decorations

The Allan Gardens Conservatory (I've posted about it here and here) has put up Christmas decorations. They are interspersed, almost like a treasure hunt, throughout the conservatory. Above are photos I took of giant baubles at the entrance, of one of many Christmas trees decorated with flowers, and of Christmas wreaths.

I also took many of poinsettias, which give a lovely festive air to the conservatory. They are everywhere. I asked the gardener about the dramatic names placed before some of the poinsettias (Shimmer Pink, Snow Cap, Da Vinci), and he told me that they were the names of the hybrids. They are created in Mexico, which apparently has a large poinsettia hybrid export industry, and come as far north as Toronto. I wanted to ask him why they cannot be bred right here in Toronto. Instead I wished him a Merry Christmas, and thanked him for keeping the conservatory so beautiful, especially during the holidays.







[Photos by KPA]

Merry Christmas!

The Clutching Obamas, Again

Ample space on the sofa for several others

The Obamas during their interview by Barbara Walters for
her Christmas at the White House special

[Video here]

I've written (or more precisely posted many images) on the formality and decorum that US presidents showed in public appearances, and how that has devolved into some kind of public display of exaggerated clutchings and hand-holdings. The Obamas are big on clutching and hand-holding. Linked above is their Christmas at the White House interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20 just yesterday, where they don't once let go of each other's hands, and sit so close together that I thought the seat was too narrow. As the picture above shows, there is ample space for several others.

Presidential Family Portraits

Early presidential family portraits tend to be less formal than the presidents' portraits. Families are often sitting, gathered around a table, engaged in small activities which often consist of reading to one another.

Despite this casual air, almost all presidential family portraits nonetheless display some air of formality. Parents sit upright. Small children may be on laps, but seated, not sprawling. Standing members don't lounge, but lean gracefully on the backs of chairs or on a shoulder.

The Washington Family
By Edward Savage
Oil on Canvas
1789-1796
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
National Gallery of Art

President Lincoln And Family Circle.
Respectfully Dedicated To The People Of The United States
Lithograph by A. Hohenstein.
Published by John Smith, 1865.
18 5/8 x 24 3/4.
[An interesting anecdote is that this lithograph was after a painting of Lincoln and his family by Francis Bicknell Carpenter, where he is reading to his son Tad. In Hohenstein's lithograph, Tad reads to his father.]

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and family
In Washington D.C.
June 12, 1919
(Picture courtesy the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)

The Truman Family
By Greta Kempton
1952

The cut-off point for formal turning to casual seems to be the late 1950s. The reasons for this are complex, although they are mostly to do with the decline in authority and hierarchy in modern life, which brought forth the tumultuous 1960s. The Truman family portrait of 1952 subtly shows this change, where despite the parents' still formalized presentation, the young member of the family, the daughter, is sitting casually perched on the arm of her mother's chair.

The 1959 family portrait of Vice President Nixon has his younger daughter Julie leaning on her sister Tricia, with her arm draped around Tricia's shoulder. And rather than placing her hand on her father's arm, she seems to be clutching on to it. This is very different from the gentle hand President Roosevelt's son places on his father's shoulder, or even the soft placement of Margaret's hand on the back of the chair. Still, while Julie is less restrained, all the rest are sitting upright. Perhaps such informality can be allowed for a young child. A later portrait, with the daughters as grown young women, shows the family in a more formal air (despite those 1960s mini-skirts).

Vice President Richard Nixon and his family, 1959

President Richard Nixon and his family, 1969

The sprawling, informal family portraits began with the Kennedys' 1962 Christmas photo, where the extended family, which included Jacqueline Kennedy's sister and her family, were part of the unofficial portrait that was available for the public. Previously, portraits were of the nuclear family: parents and children (without their spouses). And family members were carefully positioned to compose a structured tableau. Was it the catholic nature of the Kennedy family that allowed this departure from tradition?

The Reagan, and especially the Bush, families follow this example of extended family inclusion, albeit with somewhat more formal photographs.

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
on Christmas Day at the White House Dec. 25, 1962.
Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr. , Anthony Radziwill ,
Prince Stanislaus Radziwill, Lee Radziwill, Ann Christine Radziwill.
(John F. Kennedy Library/ Getty Images)

A later Kennedy "family portrait" is even more casual, where instead of the formal interior setting of the White House, the Kennedys posed at the porch of their Cape Cod vacation home, where Jackie is in a summer dress, and President Kennedy is in jeans and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

The Kennedy family at their Cape Cod vacation home,
Hyannis Port, August 4, 1962

This is perhaps one of the first photographs of children clutching at their mother which we will see in an exaggerated and inelegant form in the Obama photographs. But, Caroline seems to be holding on to her mother to avoid tumbling off her somewhat unstable perch.

The Kennedys also posed in an informal manner sitting on stairs for a Christmas card family portrait, to have been released in December 1963, but which was cancelled after President Kennedy's assassination. Little John Kennedy is bare foot, and is held tightly (and somewhat clumsy) by his president father. The photo is endearing, but still I wonder at the (uncomfortable) casualness of it all.

A never-released Kennedy family portrait from 1963,
photographed just before President Kennedy's assassination

Portraits where all the protagonists are standing were rare in the past. I think that such portraits are imposing, especially if there is a large number of people. They are not necessarily formal. I'm not sure why this "tradition" started, and it seemed to have been initiated by the Fords, and later on followed by the Reagans.

A family portrait of Gerald Ford's family in the White House in 1974
Left to right:
Son Steven Ford, son John Ford,
First Lady Betty Ford, President Gerald Ford,
daughter Susan Ford,
and daughter-in-law Gayle Ann Ford
and her husband, Michael Ford.

The Reagan family also opted to stand for their Christmas photo in 1983. Despite the "extended" family of children's spouses, with only two children and no grandchildren, this portrait is less of a sprawl compared to the Kennedy portrait.

Reagan family Christmas portrait, December 25, 1983

A sprawling Bush family portrait, which still has a formal air, includes:

President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, former first lady Barbara Bush and former President George H.W. Bush sit surrounded by family in the Red Room of the White House January 6, 2005 in Washington, DC. Friends and family joined former President Bush and Barbara Bush in celebrating their 60th wedding

A 2005 Bush "extended" family portrait

The Clintons avoid chaos in numbers in their family portraits because there is only three of them. Yet, Chelsea is too old to be sitting at her parents' feet (and wearing such a short skirt), and Hillary opts to perch on the chair's arm. These casual interjections distract from their well-groomed appearance. It's as though they want to contain casual and formal in one photograph.

Clinton Family Portrait, 1993

And finally to the clutching Obamas:

Obama Family Christmas card, 2006

The caption reads:

Happy Holidays [not Merry Christmas]
Wishing you and your family all the joy of the holiday season [no mention of Christmas, again. "Holiday season" uncapitalized...] and the hope that the New Year brings ["New Year" capitalized].
Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha [we are on first-name basis with the president].

Obama family portrait, 2009

Just released Obama family portrait, 2011

The Obamas have released their family portrait, two years after their last one. I blogged about their 2009 portrait here, where I ask:

Why does Michelle allow her daughter to wrap herself around her like that?

I found the "wrapping around" odd behavior, despite the relaxed, family-oriented rather than formal, intent of the photograph. But, the collection of other presidential family portraits I've posted above, and even in the most casual shots, have a certain formality and decorum.

I continue:

What kind of daughter anyway (except for these self-conscious "low-self-esteem" types, who are always looking for attention) behaves like that?

I try to answer the question thus:

I think Michelle must be a distant, and not very affectionate mother, for all the talk she does about her daughters. And I think that Malia has to seek that affection.

In any case, irrespective of any psychological dynamics that go on within their house, many people avoid bringing them to the outside. Such an onus is especially placed on the First Family. Granted, modern-day presidential privileges are few, or tainted, such as having images of the couple and its family get taken at the oddest moments. But, such an adroit person as Michelle Obama surely could handle these difficulties. As I showed above, families with deep internal difficulties, including even the Clintons, often put on a brave and solid face before the public. The Obamas seem to just "let it all hang out."

Christmas Songs by Frank Sinatra

A $5:00(CAN) Christmas CD by the inimitable Frank Sinatra is more than a bargain. Yes, Christmas is being downgraded (why buy classic Christmas songs, and music by a legendary singer, when rap, hip-hop, and all the rest are around, all year round?). But that only means we should celebrate Christmas more. Listening to a bargain Christmas CD doesn't diminish the music.

This CD, Christmas Songs by Frank Sinatra, was released as a record in 1948 and has an introduction by General Reynolds, Chief of Special Services. What current General would lend his voice to a popular musician's CD, who might deign to release a Christmas album? We might get an insipid "holiday greetings" if anything at all, to music that is full of, well, holiday greetings. Sinatra's Christmas album is interspersed with his own Christmas wishes.

Here are transcripts from the CD:

General Russell Burton Reynolds, Major General of the United States Army, delivers his short message:

This is General Reynolds, Chief of Special Services. I am bringing you the Season's Greetings for the sixth Christmas since V-Discs [V for Victory] began coming to you through the cooperation of artists and musicians who have given freely of their time and talents. It is our desire to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world. With these records, here are my very best wishes for a pleasant Christmas season wherever you are. And this Christmas, here is Frank Sinatra.

General Reynolds's grave, serious voice is contrasted with Frank Sinatra's:

Thank you General Reynolds, and hi there gang. It's time for me to hitch another ride around the world, and a V-Disc, and as usual it's a big thrill, especially with December 25th coming up. At Christmas, we should all count our blessings, and high among mine I count this opportunity to send you a heart-felt Merry Christmas, and to sing you these Christmas Carols.

With our bland "Season's Greetings" and "Holiday Songs" it is refreshing to hear the world Christmas being used so uninhibitedly.

Here is an Amazon.com MP3 download of the album. Track 11 has a brief excerpt of General Reynolds's introduction, with Sinatra's full message.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Frank Sinatra

Poinsettias

[Photo by KPA]

I love poinsettias. I love their deep (almost bluish) red which contrasts with the dark green. I love that the red “petals” are really leaves themselves, and that sometimes the green leaves have strands of red in them. But best of all, I love the feeling of Christmas that poinsettias inspire, almost as much as a Christmas tree. But, as I’ve written here and here, Christmas trees are reflecting less and less that Christmas spirit, since even their name has been denied them to avoid the Christmas season altogether.

How can poinsettias be offensive to anyone? And what can they be re-named, to avoid their association with this particular holiday? Poinsettias they will remain, and they may be one of the few symbols left of a true Christmas.

Washington: The Legend

George Washington
(The Athenaeum Portrait), 1796.
Oil on canvas. By Stuart Gilbert.
Jointly owned by the National
Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, and the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
[Click here to view a larger version]

[Portrait originally posted at Camera Lucida here: Happy Thanksgiving and here: Forces of Nature].

I'm reading a thick, new book on Washington titled Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow (released in 2010). I'm going very slow to digest the dense information, so I'm still at the very beginning. The book brings Washington to life. It is very comprehensive, and the chapters are divided into six parts (plus a prelude on one of Washington's portrait artists, Gilbert Stuart):

- Prelude: The Portrait Artist
- Part One: The Frontiersman
- Part Two: The Planter
- Part Three: The General
- Part Four: The Statesman
- Part Five: The President
- Part Six: The Legend

From the Prelude (p. XXII):

The goal of this biography is to create a fresh portrait of Washington that will make him real, credible, and charismatic in the same way that he was perceived by his contemporaries. By gleaning anecdotes and quotes from myriad sources, especially from hundreds of eyewitness accounts, I have tried to make him vivid and immediate, rather than the lifeless waxwork he has become for many Americans, and thereby elucidate the secrets of his uncanny ability to lead a nation. His unerring judgment, sterling character, rectitude, steadfast patriotism, unflagging sense of duty, and civic-mindedness - these exemplary virtues were achieved only by his ability to subdue the underlying volatility of his nature and direct his entire psychological makeup to the single-minded achievement of a noble cause.

"What Do You Wish For?"

[Photo by KPA]

Last year's Sears Canada's billboard advertizement for its Christmas catalog (right by the Baubles Tree at Dundas Square) was "Holiday Wish." The word "Christmas" was carefully omitted, but there was a clear reference to it.

This year, it is "What do you wish for?" The reference to Christmas is now vague and indirect, with a question which was designed to elicit a materialistic response, as in "I wish/want a fur coat for Christmas," not something like "I wish/want world peace for Christmas." The holiday (the holy day) is gone, but the shopping spirit still lives on.

The fine print on the online catalog version of this year's sign elaborates:

If you were wishing for a little help with your Christmas shopping, check out these inspired gift ideas. There's something for everyone and every budget.

Wedding Baubles

"Mounds of Chiffon"
Vera Wang's wedding dress
from her 2010 collection

I wrote recently about a wedding I was invited to which involved not having a religious (Christian) ceremony.

I recently saw the photographs of this wedding, and was surprised at the formality of it all. The groom was in a tuxedo, and the bride chose a frilly, fluffy, long, white wedding dress.

People want their important days to be memorable. One way we show their importance is by the rituals and traditions that surround these occasions, which are often serious and beautiful. Also, these serious and beautiful celebrations are recognizable, and to deviate (too much) from these well-known practices would confuse the attendees, and thus diminish the seriousness of the celebrations.

So, rather than do away with these beautiful traditions and rituals, many keep their materialistic aspects, but remove their spiritual dimensions.

It is the same with Christmas. As I showed in my previous post, Christmas trees are still around, replete with Victorian baubles and decorations. Yet, calling them "Christmas Trees" and following the traditions that would evoke the real Christmas, the religious Christmas, with angels and stars and gifts, all alluding to the birth of Christ, is unacceptable. So Christmas is erased even from the vocabulary of the holiday, and a tree becomes a Wish Tree, and Santa's gifts get siphoned to children's charities, preferably charities for those really sick children to whom we can make a difference out of our kindness and and generosity. We have become Santas, after all.

In the wedding described above, God is discarded, yet all the other gravitas - the dress, the formal dinner, the mother of the bride, the specially hired photographer to take those pictures to be viewed by several generations - are present. But, as I wrote in my Christmas tree post:

I wonder when there finally will be no "Wish Tree" since it has too strong a resemblance to Christmas? Perhaps next year, we will just be left with the ungainly reindeer that are hanging over the banisters, with Santa still conspicuously absent.

Of course, many rituals surrounding weddings have already been discarded. And couples live in common law arrangements without going through these rituals. Yet, they speak of their "partnership" with sombre, serious voices, giving it the importance of a marriage, and some do in fact get "married" the common law way. But, without the religious and traditional elements, common law marriage is a mere shadow of the real thing. Common law marriage is simply a technical (legal) condition which helps two people living together as some kind of unit (and not roommates) to maneuver legal and procedural elements. In Canada, merely living together for three years constitutes a common law marriage.

Marriage and Christmas, and other formal elements of culture, have been reduced to their celebrations and festivities, or their legal definitions. Yet these celebrations are tightly linked to their religious components. We can have the glamorous wedding dress and the glittering Christmas tree without their deeper meanings and symbolisms, but how long can this last? Why have a Christmas tree, or a Santa, when Christmas is no longer on the calendar, and is called some name like "Season's Holiday" or better yet "A Celebration of Wishes" that gets rid of the Christmas that "Season's Holiday" alludes to? Why have a full wedding ritual, with its serious religious component, when a couple can say its own vows, and use the occasion to have an elaborate party (which, along with the wedding dress, every bride dreams of)?

Eventually, all the beauty and festivities that these hangers-on clamor for in these religious occasions will be destroyed together with the religion that they have discarded. A beautiful tree without Christmas becomes absurd. An elaborate party to celebrate a couple living together, which is already living together, becomes a joke. A beautifully crafted wedding dress becomes too traditional, and some mound of chiffon is a better substitute.

Soon, we (they) will be living in a godless world which is also devoid of beauty.

The square right in front of the Eaton Center has the ultimate, treeless Christmas tree, made of a stack of baubles.

The ultimate Christmas Baubles at Dundas Square
(in front of the Eaton Centre),
sending out "Holiday Wishes"

The Crystal Christmas Tree, And Toronto Style Political Correctness

[Photo by KPA]

Finally the Christmas tree is up at the Eaton Centre. Last year, the theme was gold baubles and Swarovski crystals. The year, we have big bows, red baubles and the Swarovski crystals are back again.

I'm not sure which tree I like better, although the red baubles have a more festive air.

Once again, though, political correctness and multicultural censoring is on display in Toronto. The Eaton Centre website calls the tree the "Swarovski Crystal Wish Tree." Eaton's, along with Swarovski, will donate $100,000 to the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada.

A Christmas tree becomes a "Wish Tree" and Santa's absence is bought with $100,000. I wonder when there finally will be no "Wish Tree" since it has too strong a resemblance to Christmas? Perhaps next year, we will just be left with the ungainly reindeer that are hanging over the banisters, with Santa still conspicuously absent.

Bay Department Store Christmas Windows

The Bay has its Christmas displays up again. Tradition continues for another more year.

Here is what I took, and wrote, last year. The displays are the same this year.
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The Bay department store continues with the tradition of decorating its windows during Christmas with seasonal scenes. Even the mice get to enjoy this holiday- the "underground" scene in the image above is the mice quarters, replete with matchbox beds. (Click on the image to view a larger version). The bottom image with what look like Salvation Army carolers has a realistic dog (more so than the humans) sitting by the paper boy. Everyone, animal and human, gets to participate - or is at least placed in the created scene by a generous artist. The scenes evoke Victorian Toronto, traditional and confident.

Both these scenes are filled with comfort and color. Yet in the real world of Toronto, despite adorned Christmas trees coming (sprouting) up everywhere, and carols filling every space we walk in, there still isn't the sense of a holiday. But, I've already talked about the multi-culti aura that permeates the city, which seems to affect even this most vigorous of our Christian holidays.

In front of the Bay yesterday, there was a bus load of people who looked like out-of-town Canadian tourists. They had made it part of their itinerary to stop and look at the windows. Parents with small children in tow are also frequent visitors to these windows. This will be a special memory for these small children to have: going all the way to Queen and Yonge on a cold winter's day, just before Christmas, to look at the window displays with carols sounding from the speakers. The Victorian era is an apt time for a return to tradition. It evokes nostalgia. Yet it is not too far gone, since the tradition is still practiced, and it still affects our modern spirit. The Bay (and Eaton's) haven't given up on continuing the tradition of Christmas, at least in their modest store decorations. We will have to wait and see if that is enough.


(Photos by KPA)