You can’t call Vernon a cultural backwater. This week has been book-ended by Hollywood and Bollywood. The film society showed ‘A Most Dangerous Method’ on Monday. Admittedly, it’s after the Oscars, but at least it’s within the year. I wasn’t wild about it, but as with all David Cronenberg movies, there were moments when it made my skin crawl, and I like that sensation. I sometimes find Keira Knightly a bit tick-ridden, but for this role, as Sabina Spielrein, she was perfect. She went well beyond ticks to violent, chin-thrusting contortions. I was relieved when Jung finally gave her the beatings she needed. I left the theatre relieved that my psyche is relatively untroubled. As for the Bollywood, that was in Polson Park today as part of a celebration welcoming Rick Henson to Vernon. As is usual at these city events, much of the entertainment was provided by the local ‘ethnic’ communities. This time the most colorful were the dancers from the Punjab, at least as far as I saw. Mo and I stopped by after the hike because some of the people in our adaptive skiing group were putting on a display. But we were cold and hungry, so we went to my place for a bowl of soup and then to hers for a hot tub. The hike was good but it was raining a bit as we gathered, and although the sun came out later, it never got hot and I never got dry.
As for local news, a teacher who was accused of sexual impropriety involving one of her 12 year-old students was found not guilty at the end of her second trial this week. This time she went before a judge because in the first trial the jury could not reach a verdict. As a result of all this, I had a lively discussion with one of the women I sort library books with. As a retired social worker who worked with abused kids, she was on the side of the boy, and I as a retired teacher was giving the benefit of the doubt to the teacher. The other women stood around and let us go at it. Eventually we withdrew to our corners and threw in our towels with no clear winner. Not, as in Ottawa this week, where Justin Trudeau T,K.O,ed his opponent in their farcical fisticuffs. And Stephen Harper appears to be as eager to get to Korea as I am. He seems to be pretty single mindedly pushing some of our natural resources at the Orient while leaving the rest of the environment to the bleeding hearts who are funded by Americans whose secret agenda is to undermine our economy. I’m not sure that I even get the connection, but something about this makes me think of the joke about the patient who goes to the doctor to see if he can cure his cold. The doctor says, no, but that he should come back if it develops into pneumonia because that he can cure.
A dead pine with moss covered stumps of branches that looked like young antlers, but green.
A huge ant hill at the base of the dead pine
Bollywood comes to Vernon. I especially loved the little girl in yellow on the far left who was very focused on doing it right but whose face broke into the most wonderful smile when she caught one of the other girl's attention.
The boys were less numerous, but most were equally enthusiastic.
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