Random Sample of 2014 by thirteens
It may not be personally annotated but I did put some effort in with the hyper-links!
Monday, January 13th
My morning was occupied with a meeting with the program directors and the afternoon with a nice long coffee break with one of our volunteers. The Morag was to fly out to begin what became a ten month trip in Europe and one of her flights was cancelled so it made her connections impossible. The two of us spent most of the evening on the phone trying to straighten that out; we did!
Thursday, February 13th
Occasionally the prisons have “resource fairs” where various agencies make themselves available to the inmates. I attended one at Stony Mountain this morning where I just realize how many people I know there. It is also a day where all sorts of guys express interest in our program which can take us months to follow up on as we are only allowed to visit people for two hours a week. My daily notes indicate that I shoveled at night. The longest it could ever take to shovel our walk and driveway would be about 20 minutes. Compared to both Hazelton and West Bay where hours or days would be the measure.
Thursday, March 13th
I was in Toronto for meetings and Matt was in Houston for a conference at NASA. We set things up where I would come to get him at the airport and then drive him to Waterloo. But an incredible storm in the east made it that he got in about three in the morning and I had arrived in Toronto a whole lot earlier. So I could try and avoid the worst of driving (even though it was still pretty bad.) As it turned out I found a hotel and he showed up in the middle of the night and we got up at about 6:30am to head to Waterloo. What is normally about a 90 minute drive took us well over three hours. I got him to his lab just on time for a meeting with a prof. I drove on to Barrie where I stayed with a couple of friends. I was starting quite a journey with a week tour of north east of Toronto, seeing a number of friends. One thing I remember is that I had a shootload of pain in a tooth that had a root canal done the previous fall. I ended up seeing a dentist (randomly) in Peterborough who turned out to be a high school classmate. He gave me a severe antibiotic that did the trick. Early in October it flared up again and this time the tooth had to be pulled. I was still on painkillers a month later due to a dry socket infection and other complications with pieces of my jaw breaking loose. After my weeklong journey I flew to Washington DC where I met up with Alex and we had a lovely three week holiday taking in museums and cultural events and enjoying the great food to be had. In addition to the expected we took in the Laogai Museum, the Grande Fête de la Francophonie at the French Embassy and a few other off the regular path gems.
Sunday, April 13th
Alex and I continue to enjoy our involvement with the Winnipeg Quaker Meeting. Once a month there is “Quaker 101” and this day, one of the members talked about an intentional community, that was connected to the Quakers, that she lived in during the 1960s in London, England. Our year was marked by Matthew being away in Waterloo working on a graduate degree in Hydrology and the Morag being on a ten month trip of Europe where she saw 18 countries and settled down several times in rural volunteer work settings. By April we had developed some of the new rhythm we required. Sunday dinner is a tradition we always honoured as a family so without Matt and Mo we made a habit of inviting folks almost every week. My diary only says “nice ensemble for dinner” and the following week says “good crowd” - a full table had become the norm and was a delight in our life. Enough of Alex and staring blankly wondering what to do!
Tuesday, May 13th
My work year was marked by a restructuring that came as a result of government cutbacks of restorative justice programs. A friend and trusted colleague was given a layoff and I was given her responsibilities. It wasn’t until several months later that my mind caught up with stomach in realizing that these two jobs did not conflate into one. I ended up having to say that I was not able to do the two jobs and thankfully did not get the answer that “we will find someone who will.” There remains ongoing financial insecurity that undermines what is otherwise a dream job for me. I am also bothered by the “get tough on crime” rhetoric and fear mongering that prevents us from using effective crime prevention strategies. I guess a Christmas letter is not the place to give a rant about the current government’s war on science in Canada other than to say that phrase produces over sixteen million hits on a Google search. However, this day was spent at a gathering in Calgary that was part of my preparation to take on the new work. The presenter was inspiring yet grounded, intelligent yet relevant and humble yet confident. In a word: awesome. The trip also made for some nice time with my brothers and a few strolls around downtown Calgary.
Friday, June 13th
I ate breakfast at McDonald’s once last year. This was it. I met up with a friend who used to do my work at Open Circle and a guy connected to our program who has been in the community for eight years after serving twenty-seven. As you will see in August, I try to knock off early on Fridays and succeeded in doing so and met up with a friend in the afternoon who was in the process of releasing a book that gives “a guided tour of the Bible.” At night we went out to a free Latin Jazz concert in Old Market Square… to mark the beginning of the Jazz Festival.
Sunday, July 13th
The second weekend of July always marks the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Someone once said to me “Could you have a better vacation? All you have are two choices. Which wonderful music stage shall I sit in front of and which great food line will I get in. The day ended up with pretty heavy rain and we went home early but not before seeing Baskery, Chic Gamine, Elephant Revival, Boy & Bear, Aimee Mann and Joan Baez. A big plus at the Folk Festival is access to my friend, Joan Hreno, a local folk and roots impresario. It is hard to imagine being anywhere other than Winnipeg in July and easy to imagine being anywhere but Winnipeg for the seven months of winter. The festival also included some ukulele heaven for Alex and a whack of her friends.
Wednesday, August 13th
Matthew is in his final year of his MSc. in Hydrology at Waterloo. He expects to be done in April 2015. He spent most of the summer of 2014 in Churchill doing research but had a number of visits to Winnipeg. He arrived at 7am on this day. On Wednesdays I have the habit of spending the morning visiting guys at the jail in Headingley, then going to the library there to do my work on my phone and their computer before going to the Women’s jail, also in Headingley, for the afternoon. This was a habitual day. Alex likes to go for walks and I like to go for runs so we found a compromise and go for bike rides. We went for a bike ride that night.
Saturday, September 13th
I was up early as I had been invited to speak to a men’s breakfast group at a Paraguayan Mennonite Church. I picked up a guy who had recently been released from a lengthy sentence. I have known him for several years and he was true to form in his speech: a complex blend of insecurity and overconfidence with generous presence of affability and undertones of quiet resentment. He did a good job of describing both the experience of conviction and imprisonment and the need for support and friendship. From there I met a young man who was volunteering to visit inmates through our program. All I want to say is that finding someone his age who is so calm, thoughtful, patient and careful is a rare thing. My first reaction was wondering if he had anything at all to say but as I joined in his spirit, I realized how much he had to offer. In the evening, Alex and I went to Temple Shalom, where our friend runs the “movie night.” We watched The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Our friend Steve gave an introduction which included an overview of the history of Jews in Italy. Steve, literally, wrote the book on the director! A full and rewarding day!
Monday, October 13th
The pain I referred to in March had returned with a vengeance. I could use this as tangent to talk about the Baker’s Cyst in my knee that grew to the size of an IPhone but I won’t! Instead, just know that 2014 included more pain that I wanted it to. It being Thanksgiving Day (well at least the day Canadians celebrate for some reason) Alex and Morag (just home from her trip) went for a great big walk in a lovely urban forest. Otherwise, I napped.
Thursday, November 13th
In the morning I prepared a lecture I gave at a Mennonite Central Committee Conference. It ended up being an overview of radical theoretical approaches to criminology. I was given the topic of “Frontiers of Restorative Justice… and that is how I responded. Preparing it and giving it reminded me of the fact that I do not pine after the academic world. Although one participant called me on it, so much seems to be either splitting hairs or making up new words for old things so they appear new. That being said it was a change of gears to spend the time preparing and it was well received when I delivered it. I spent the afternoon out visiting at the Women’s Jail and then took time to try and start a habit of running on our treadmill two or three nights a week. I ran for the entire third period of the Jets game, listening on the radio and increasing the speed for power plays. Twenty minutes playing time but closer to thirty-five. Jets won! Go Jets Go!
Saturday, December 13th
I am writing this before it happened. How about, played basketball in the morning, took a nap in the afternoon and went out with friends at night. Fun was had by all?