After many years of taking second place to the United Church Observer, Geez magazine won top honours for general excellence at  the Canadian Church Press convention in May this year. We received a total of six awards, including an additional first place awards for layout and design of an issue. Way to go, Geez team! – Aiden Enns, editor.

First Place 
General Excellence – Denominational and Interdenominational Magazine

First Place
Layout and Design of an Edition – Magazine - The Jesus Issue 

Second Place
Features – Turning Over the Classroom Tables, by David Jackson Cook

Second Place
Black and White Photo – Woman in Glass Jar by Darryl Brown

Second Place 
Magazine Front Cover - Experiments with Truth - Issue 13

Third Place 
Colour Photo – Magazine – Experiments with Truth by Aiden Enns

Nevertheless, such sentiment serves as a convenient rallying cry for corporations that stand to profit from the rapacious development of Olympic venues and public consumption of events, schwag and advertisements. It’s a feel-good moneymaker.

Corporate fingerprints are all over these games. From the iCoke.ca torch relay “bringing communities throughout Canada together” to decorated speed skaters shilling for McDonalds, the Olympics has become a platform and playground for the wealthy.

The Government of Canada is also using this Olympic Spirit to cloak soft-nationalism. It’s about pride. “Own the Podium” is a gaudy $118 million project (complete with $20,000 bonuses for winning athletes) to erase some of the “embarrassment” of having failed to win a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. The Seattle Times calls this Canada’s “non-nuclear Manhattan project.”

All told, the cost of these Olympics is in the neighbourhood of $6 billion. That’s an expensive spectacle. And while we watch more than 2,600 athletes compete, over 2,000 people remain homeless in the Greater Vancouver Area alone. As for the causal connection here, I cannot speculate. But it’s an interesting numerical correlation that points to a problem with priorities in interests and spending.

The rising tide of Olympic riches hasn’t helped the displaced homeless. Property values have risen while low-income housing has decreased. But pay no attention to the poverty and drug abuse on, say, East Hastings. Instead, feast your eyes upon and wave at the torch-wielding Wayne Gretzky, riding in the back of a pickup truck. The man scored over 2,000 NHL points for goodness sakes. That’s one for every homeless person and then some.

This is the elephant at the party, and it’s one that has a habit of turning white after the closing ceremonies.

But there are people making noise over this corporate and governmental duping. Groups like No 2010 Olympics on Stolen Native Land, the Olympic Tent Village, 2010watch,  and the Poverty Olympics are giving voice to concerns over headlong development, public debt, corporate invasion, police state encroachments and ecological destruction.

As the rest of these games unfold, consider what the Associated French Press once defined as the “real” Olympic spirit:

“True Olympic spirit is often found away from gold medalists with their agents and sponsorship deals – it is found in its purest sense in those that come last.”

Those coming in last, though, are not the athletes. – Chris Paetkau, editorial intern

Call for pitches: The Body Issue

We all have a body. It is home to our self, the amazing site of our sensations, a piece of the material world which we alone inhabit. But if the body is uniquely ours, it is also subject to forces beyond our control, be they biological and physical – birth, growth, illness, accidents, death, and decay – or political, geographic, economic, and technological.

This issue seeks to both to honour the body in all its pleasures, its limitations, and its specificity, and to think about these questions: How do we achieve greater freedom and well-being for all bodies? What bodily practices can we use (have been used) to interact with, rebel against, subvert or revolutionize those wider forces that affect us right where we live – in our bodies? Is it possible to pay attention to the individual body but also to think of ourselves as part of a larger collective body in order to make the changes we want to see in the world?

We are accepting two kinds of submissions:

1. Creative nonfiction essay, investigative or research article. Length: 750 or 1500 words

Topics: Expand on one of the approaches listed below, using some sources (research or other people) besides your own experience. Or, suggest a topic of your own. Pitches should be one page, touch on the wider context of your topic, and name at least one other source you will be consulting.

Deadline for pitches: February 24

2. Flash nonfiction (and flash fiction). Length: 50-500 words

Topic: How do you experience your body? (See suggestions below.)

Bonus postcard option: Flash nonfiction and fiction submissions (including visual artwork, or combinations of words and visuals) sent on postcards will be considered for reproduction as sent.

Deadline for completed piece: March 15

Ways to approach this issue: 

Go tactile: talk about the five senses or name a sixth (pain, balance, proprioception, or…) and say how it works.

Go emotional: what do your feelings feel like?

Go micro: ride a red blood cell through a vein.

Go macro: has your body been marked (by race, disability, size, gender, poverty or what-have-you) as part of a larger population that needs surveillance and control?

Go structural: does the standard airplane seat or theme park ride fit you?

Go messy: our bodies shit, piss, sweat, come, breastfeed, bleed, and fart.

Go tech-y: is your ipod or your wheelchair an extension of your body?

Go feral: express your animal body.

Go virtual: do you play a Wii or come alive in Second Life?

Go religious: how does being Christian or Muslim or pagan relate to enjoying your body?

Go West Coast: how do you cultivate your mind-spirit connection?

Go skin-deep: what are your beauty rituals?

Go analytical: how does pop culture determine what you see in the mirror?

Go end-of-life: how do you want to be buried?

Go out on a limb: why do you love smoking?

Go Olympic: celebrate your sport.

Go funny: explore the ridiculous, the ungainly, the bawdy about your body.

Send pitches to

Miriam Meinders
Geez 18 Features Editor
email: stories [at] geezmagazine {dot} org
mail: see the address below

We also invite pitches for departments:

A good way to start writing for Geez magazine is with a piece in one of our four departments. Send original stories (50-500 words) or ideas for any of these:

News

Geez looks for under-reported stories on topics such as workers’ rights, nature, Aboriginal affairs, social services, education, health care, foreign policy, militarism and peacemaking, race/racism, youth, media, science, queer issues, feminism. In most cases, but not all, there will be a connection — direct or implied — to a gospel of social justice. This could include the justice/environmental/political work of any religious group. Or the story could point to neglect or misconduct done by churches and others.

Culturosities

This is a soft news, arts-and-culture section, with agenda similar to what’s described above under News. Here we highlight fun, disturbing, creative, inspiring things that would not otherwise fit as news. It does not have to relate to the theme of the issue, but it would be good if one or two elements did. An emphasis on public art and creative activism is prime. When making decisions, we refer to phrases such as “holy mischief in an age of fast faith,” and “for people on the fringes of faith.” Length: 50-500 words

Experiments

In this section we throw the spotlight on the actors and activists in the Geez community of readers. Look for personal stories of people putting words into action. Grand experiments are welcome (I bought nothing for a year), but a well-told, mini-experiment is welcome as well (I stopped to help a homeless woman crush her pop tins). There does not have to be an overt reference to faith, although that is welcome. Length: 50-500 words

Reviews

In this section we highlight movies, books, websites, magazines, zines or other cultural products that connect somehow to  the “Geez agenda” (see topics mentioned under News above). Explain what cultural event or product makes you gag, wince, rejoice or exclaim. Length: 50-500 words

Tips for pitches

The Geez project is a discussion among people of faith seeking social justice. Our readers and writers express this through art, activism (that is, an creative critique of those in power and the structures that keep them there, or the promotion of alternative practices that subvert them), contemplation and a “more-grounded, inter-connected” approach to living.

Keep pitches brief, write the way you speak, tell us why your idea or story is important, indicate sources you plan to use, and say something about why you are qualified to write this piece. If you already have a completed manuscript, poem, photo or design, feel free to submit it as well. For more, see the previews of past issues on our website as well as the guidelines for writers: submission guidelines.

Unfortunately we are not able to respond to every pitch. If you do not hear from us within six weeks of the deadline, assume we were not able to use your idea or article.

Send emails to: stories [at] geezmagazine {dot} org

Looking ahead

We welcome pitches, especially ambitious/whacky/quirky ones for upcoming issues.

Geez 19 Explore the wild. Have we become tame, domesticated, broken-spirited, docile; are we  heading for ruin? One response to the ills of civilization is to go feral. Learn from the animals and our innate selves. Isn’t that the ultimate in eco-friendliness. What wisdom is missing from our rational lives? Is this the pro-locusts and honey issue? You tell us.

Geez 20 Techno-obsessive. At what point does technology take over,  or has it already? Is virtual reality virtuous or pernicious? The twittering world of 140-character communication: has this penchant for brevity and speed cost us our lives?

Geez 21, 22, 23… we’re collecting info on colonialism, policing, spectacle /spectators, femininity, suffering.

Send emails to: stories [at] geezmagazine {dot} org

I look forward to hearing from you,

Aiden Enns
Editor
Geez magazine
400 Edmonton St
Winnipeg MB R3B 2M2
Canada
p. 204 942-1058

That is the phrase that will chime through the streets, Feb 14th in central park. Rev. Billy and his gospel choir are at it again. This time they are inviting married couples to unmarry. Ditch the vows. Shed the rings. No marriage until all can marry.

A mass ceremony, conducted by Rev. Billy himself, will unmarry those who are standing up for the rights of the gay community. Is this really official? I don’t know if you can actually unmarry, but who says you are married anyways? Or what defines marriage since it varies from culture to culture and religion to religion? It seems unconvincing that by a simple ceremony you are deemed fit to cohabit until death, produce offspring, receive certain tax breaks and share toothpaste.

My cousin and her partner are sincerely committed to each other, have lived together for ten years and have never participated in any sort of ceremony that declares them legally married. Then there are those who have grand ceremonies declaring their commitment and love for each other and they don’t make it past raised toilette seats and maxed-out visa cards. If a ceremony is so trivial in both these instances why is it being withheld from same-sex couples?

Unlike Canada, there are still states in our neighbor country where gay marriage is illegal. For details about same-sex marriage in the U.S. see here. Same-sex marriage has been legal everywhere in Canada since July, 2005.

I don’t know what I think of the whole thing as you can see from the scads of question marks. If you are like me and have more questions than answers you can check out freedomtomarry.org and see what questions they are answering. – megan kamei, editorial assistant

I asked Aiden what his thoughts were and here is what he said:

I like the references to your cousin and other attitudes to the marriage ceremony, but I’m left with the feeling that you think it’s just a ceremony and not a powerful institution of control: of men over women, of dominant culture over those who don’t choose partners of the opposite sex. I look at how institutions attain, retain and abuse power. In the case of the institution of marriage, it’s a very tangible expression of the “family values” that are so problematic for many people. Feminists, women who suffer, singles, childless couples, men who don’t identify as heterosexual, young people who are dating: each of these (and other) important groups of people are invited (often coerced) into conformity, at the cost of their humanity and the loss of diversity in our community. – Aiden Enns, editor

Have questions about the church? I know I do. Is the church really living up to the example Jesus gave? I don’t have all the answers, heck no one has all the answers. But a good starting point is to start talking about it. Roy Peters, a friend of Geez, is doing just that. Read on to hear some of his thoughts on church. – megan kamei, editorial assistant

I grew up going to church.  I’ve gone all my life.  I’ve had a sense for a long time that the church isn’t all that it could be.  Six years ago my son began college at a private liberal arts Christian college.  Two years later his sister enrolled at the same college.  They have both brought home ideas and suggested readings that have challenged me and given me new insights.  To both of them and my beloved wife who has always figured out a lot of things before I have, I owe a great deal.

In the last year I read a book called Everything Must Change that made a statement regarding the church that summed up what I’d been feeling.  “a message purporting to be the best news in the world should be doing better than this.”  He made one other statement that I will quote here “The church has specialized in people’s destination in the afterlife but has failed to address significant ….injustices in this life.  It has focused on ‘me’ and ‘my soul’ and ‘my spiritual life’ and my eternal destiny’ but has failed to address …. realities of their lifetime:  …injustice, poverty, and ecological crisis.”

I just started to read another book that summarizes research by the Barna group on what people outside the church are saying.  It was assigned reading for my daughter on her summer mission assignment this past summer.  The book is titled UN-Christian. It reports that those age 16 to 29 and outsiders to the church number 24 million.  Of these, nearly seven million said they have a negative impression of evangelicals; another seven million said they have no opinion; and ten million have never heard the term” evangelical”.  That leaves less than a half a million young outsiders–out of the 24 million – who see evangelicals in a positive light.

It seems wise that we at least listen to what this large number of people from this age group thinks.  One thing stood out, Christians are primarily perceived for what they stand against.  The three most common perceptions of present-day Christians are: antihomosexual (an image held by 91 percent of young outsiders), judgemental (87%), and hypocritical (85%).

And then what about those who were in the church but left?  I quote from the book Colossians Remixed:  “Of the friends of mine who have abandoned Christian faith, very few of them stopped believing in Christ because of intellectual problems with the Bible or because they were seduced by some other worldview or belief system.  Rather, they tend to abandon Christian faith because of the irrelevance, judgementalism and internal dissension and lack of compassion they experience within the Christian community.  Rather than finding the church to be the community that most deeply encouraged them in their struggles, they lost heart in their discouragement and lost their faith in the process. Rather than experiencing the church as the site of the most profound hospitality, love and acceptance, they felt excluded because of their doubts and struggles…What makes an argument that is alternative to the gospel plausible is the implausibility of the Christian community itself.”

And then the words from John 13:35 occurred to me: “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  And that in turn reminds me of a saying I have heard quoted:  “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. – Roy Peters DVM

In a way, this question has been around since the dreamy elementary school days when “astronaut” was an acceptable response to: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” But it seems there’s confusion between the verbs to be and to do that has somewhat collapsed the distinction between profession and person, between my job and my self.

I think this is why I’m unemployed. There’s a paralyzing fear that I’ll end up doing something I hate – something that’s not me – in order to eat, drink, and (if lucky) be merry. There’s a lot of work in life and I want jobs where meaning and money are married, where my identity is enhanced by what I do.

Inspired by this desire and Alain de Button’s The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, I went to an avuncular Larry King-looking career counselor to lay bare my personal and limited professional history through interviews, tests, and questionnaires in exchange for “self-actualization” culminating in the discovery of my vocational destiny. I’m only two hours into the 50-hour process, but it got me thinking about the privileged nature of the aim itself.

Over a billion people work for less than a dollar a day and don’t have access to career counselors. My grandmother’s post-Depression mind wouldn’t even think about job satisfaction – any job is better than no job. De Button blames the bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century for transposing pleasure previously identified with leisure and hobbies onto work.

Wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place if work wasn’t toil and we all got to do what we wanted to do? Well, yes. But this “progression” in work has created a monster of anxiety: if I don’t do what I’m meant or want to do, if I’m toiling, then I’m missing a vital component to a fulfilling life. I’m missing part of what it is to be me.

Worse still, I wonder if happiness has replaced religion as the opiate of the masses. Those fortunate souls who have happiness or satisfaction in their work might just be propping up false hope that others can do the same in an economic system that isn’t set up for it. 

While it’s true that some people find enjoyment in their jobs, it’s not a necessary rule of work. And I think those that have fulfillment have it not because of but in spite of the demands of an economy that requires dual incomes, long commutes, over-40-hour workweeks, has immigrants working even longer hours for less money, treats humans as capital, and ravages resources. Achieving happiness in the workplace seems a depressing miracle in this context. No wonder so many people hate their jobs.

What do you think about work? I’m three months away from graduating and getting a job is on my mind. Geez magazine has it on theirs too in the upcoming work issue. – Christopher Paetkau, editorial intern

His work includes research for the upcoming issue of Geez on the topic of work, writing for the Geez blog, and collecting material for future issues. Welcome aboard, Chris! - Aiden Enns, editor.

While I was reading the freeconomy blog by Mark Boyle yesterday I came across a link to watch Earthlings (you can watch the full film here). Anyone who eats meat, heck, anyone who is a consumer needs to watch this film. If you do watch it make sure to bring a snot rag and a puke bucket.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, Earthlings exposes humans’ oppression of animals in five ways: pets, food, clothing, entertainment and science. I balled through the whole thing and didn’t sleep much last night because the cruelties I saw were appalling.

I couldn’t believe what is done to animals that are part of product testing. According to the Humane Society“25 million vertebrate animals are used annually in research, testing, and education in the United States.” It is difficult to get accurate information about animal testing, how many are used and what they are used for. But one thing is for sure, many are not treated with any mercy.

After seeing what happens in slaughter houses I know now that at the very least I want to know where my meat comes from but I am leaning towards scrapping meat altogether. I have gone without meat for the last couple of weeks and I haven’t missed it. At first I felt so overwhelmed by my new knowledge and didn’t know what to do with it. Then I started doing some research and thinking about what I can do or at least what I should not do.

For those who enjoy eating meat but want to do it as humanely as is possible, Temple Grandin has high standards for slaughter houses and there is a story on her work here.

Leaping bunny is a company that certifies cosmetic companies that are cruelty-free. You can print out a pdf guide  to cruelty-free companies or they will even mail you a pocket size guide  for free.

Caring Consumer  gives two lists: companies that do test on animals and companies that don’t.

After reading through these lists I was shocked at all the products that I had and thought were good and safe, that have been tested on animals. I also had never put too much thought into where my meat was coming from and just blindly trusted my supplier. But I guess the first step to change is awareness. Now I know, so now I can change. – Megan Kamei, editorial assistant

Yesterday at Safeway an older woman in a navy windbreaker, sweatpants, neon skirt and torn sneakers shuffled her way around the tables by the Starbucks station. She held out her hand that contained a quarter and a dime to a guy enjoying a coffee and a newspaper. He looked up at her with wide eyes and then furrowed brow as he tried to make out her slurred words and muffled sounds. He soon looked back at his newspaper and the woman became invisible.

She tried her luck with the next man sitting alone who had already been shifting in his chair. He was staring so intensely at his book without blinking and I began to wonder if he was attempting to see through it to the scuffed-up floor below. Obviously the woman would get nowhere with this guy and so she dropped her hand by her side and continued her shuffling.

I was the only option left and so new I was next. She came to me without making eye contact and went for round three. Thirty-five cents rested in her palm and crooked fingers. I couldn’t understand her but knew by her outstretched arm that she wanted money.

“What do you want money for,” I asked. I admit that I was suspicious of where she might spend it. She mumbled something and then pointed to my partially eaten sandwich. Instead of giving money I offered to share my sandwich with her. She gladly accepted, sat down next to me and took a bite. She picked up a mustard packet and attempted to open it but her fingers were her own enemy. She handed it to me and opened her sandwich.

We sat in silence for the most part as conversation seemed pointless. I asked her if she liked her sandwich. Without a word, she looked at me in the eyes for the first time and as the corners of her mouth turned upwards she exposed her four teeth. Her eyes twinkled and she reminded me of a child who was holding in a secret she wanted to tell so badly.

Panhandling is forcing people to look and think about poverty. It is hard to ignore when it stares you in the face and asks for money.

Some, especially business owners, say we need to combat panhandlers, or at least not encourage them because they scare people, threaten their safety and drive business away. See here.

Other communities, Like Bloomington, put legislation in place to curb “aggressive panhandling.”  In Bloomington, “aggressive” includes approaching an individual who is “in the sidewalk dining area of a restaurant.”

I haven’t seen them yet, but apparently Winnipeg is experimenting with kiosks operated by the downtown business folks to solicit money for employment programs, such as those offered by The Salvation Army.

Are these appropriate human-to-human responses to physical need? Street minster Shane Claiborne, suggests that Christians not use “brokers” to provide hospitality to strangers in need, but to do it directly ourselves, as Christ demonstrated. “When the church becomes a place of brokerage rather than an organic community, she ceases to be alive,” he says.

When we rely on agencies (soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc.) the “rich and poor are kept in separate worlds and inequality is carefully managed but not dismantled,” says Claiborne in Irresistible Revolution, page 159.

The Columbus Catholic Worker says, “There are no easy answers to panhandling. This is why the Catholic Worker movement has always stressed the importance of personal involvement with the poor.” I’m still confused by it all. But I know I’m not alone. – Megan Kamei, editorial assistant