Friday, November 30, 2007
Goodbye Jane Rule
Lately I've been bringing out a lot of old material from a journal I kept on a west-coast swing in '01, particularly from a stay on Galiano Island.
A year later I took a trip back. I was working in Trana at the time and took a vacation at the Galiano Island Film & Television School.
As the Americans dropped million-tonne bombs on brown people, I had the great luck of meeting the effervescent Jane Rule, and even appearing with her in a student documentary called Navel-gazing. I looked incredibly inarticulate as I complained about vanity, primarily because my talking head followed Jane's, and she delivered a spoken treatise on the tremendous importance of navelgazing. She said something like this:
"In the lottery win that is life, having been lucky enough to be born out of all those millions of sperms and eggs, it is our sacred duty to gaze at our navels, to contemplate the source of our existence and of the universe, to live a thoughtful life, and to make the most of every living moment."
Jane passed away the other day at the age of 76, and the news made me sad. I met her just that once, and hadn't even heard of her beforehand, but those brief moments in her Galiano home had an indelible impact on me, and I have tried to follow her sage advice ever since.
Labels: 2002, non-fiction, Travel, west coast
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Huh. I've never really thought about that. For us to have been born "of those millions sperm and eggs", not have any major health defects, and at least have enough money to (apparently) afford computers, I guess we really are lucky. And in a minority, or sorts.
it's a good way to look at life i think. keeps me from taking things for granted too much. indeed, we are a minority, both in our cosmic existence and our material affluence.
Jane Rule. Noteworthy author, to be sure.
But don't follow her advice too far.
At the risk of introducing an oxymoron here, you might become an articulate lesbian.
..Sorry. too much beer.
But don't follow her advice too far.
At the risk of introducing an oxymoron here, you might become an articulate lesbian.
..Sorry. too much beer.
# posted by 
: 12:50 PM
: 12:50 PM
Benji, I too shall miss her.
Note to self:
If Benji becomes a lesbian, stay at least 2 feet away at all times! ;-)
Note to self:
If Benji becomes a lesbian, stay at least 2 feet away at all times! ;-)
Ivan: there are far worse things I could be than an articulate lesbian.
TC: are lesbians known carcinogens to tomcats?
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TC: are lesbians known carcinogens to tomcats?
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