Tom gilleon edition

METANOIA JANUARY 2014

METANOIA EXECUTIVE AND STAFF

A NEW WAY OF THINKING

PUBLISHERS

SALME JOHANNES LEIS & ALLISON PATTON

COPY CHIEF

CALEB NG

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

JR LEIS AND HEINO LEIS

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

DAL FLEISCHER

PHOTO ARCHIVIST CONTRIBUTORS

GALINA BOGATCH Maureen Bader Alex Barberis Andy Belanger Donald J. Boudreaux Tim Brown Brian Croft Miki Dawson Cheryl Gauld Kulraj Gurm Marilyn Hurst Richard King IV Peter and Maria Kingsley Marilyn Lawrie

Cover Artist: Tom Gilleon Artist for Article on Stressing Out, Jon Pitre

METANOIA MAGAZINE is a publication of METANOIA CONCEPTS INC. For questions, comments, or advertising contact by Phone: 604 538 8837, Email: metanoiamagazine@gmail.com, Mail: 3566 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC, Canada, V4P 1B5 2

Hank Leis Salme Leis Chris MacClure Seth Meltzer Caleb Ng Janice Oleandros Allison Patton Cara Roth Kaela Scott Pepe Serna Dan Walker Harvey White

METANOIA CONTENTS

A NEW WAY OF THINKING

Executive Summary

Kings

Stressing Out!

by Hank Leis

Art of Tom Gilleon

By Richard King

The Subterranean Mind

By Hank Leis

The Power of Pussy Riot

By Salme Leis

Tony Joe White

HooDoo Music

Epigenetics & Economics

By Dr Allison Patton

Conservative Convention

In Calgary

The Rant

The Lightness of being King

China Adventure

By Glen MacPherson

A Model of Leadership

By Dr Allison Patton

The Black Sea

Sudans to Novorossiysk

The METANOIA Horoscope

Happy New Year

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Executive Summary ONLY KINGS UNDERSTAND KINGS AND ON THE PAGES OF METANOIA MAGAZINE WE HAVE TWO KINGS REPRESENTING THEIR POINTS OF VIEW AND INTERESTS. STRESS AND ANXIETY APPEAR TO HAVE BECOME A CONTAGION. IT IS NO SURPRISE THEN THAT STRESSING ABOUT BEING STRESSED HAS BECOME EVEN THE GREATER ISSUE. HANK LEIS WRITES ON THE SUBJECT. NOW RECOGNIZED AROUND THE WORLD, “PUSSY RIOT” HAS BECOME A SYMBOL OF RUSSIAN DISSIDENCE AGAINST THE PUTIN REGIME. SALME LEIS WRITES, EVER SO BRIEFLY ON THE POWER OF “PUSSY RIOT”, A MEANINGFUL SUBJECT MEANT FOR INTERNATIONAL CONSUMPTION. ALLISON PATTON WRITES ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE AT THE CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION, IN CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA. AS WITH EVERY CONVENTION THE POLITICS IS ALWAYS THE SAME-ONLY THE PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT. AND THERE IS MORE.

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METANOIA

METANOIA

METANOIA METANOIA March/April 2012 Edition

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NEW WAY OF THINKING

The New Face of BC Politics

By Hank Leis

President of the BC Conservatives White Rock-Surrey Constituency Association

Dr. Allison Patton, MBA

The Greek origins of the word Metanoia [met-uh-noi-uh] convey the notion of an experience or a moment that is transformative.

In fact the change itself would be so remarkable as to shift paradigms and these shifts actually would cause a change in behavior and ultimately the consequences of those behaviors.

The articles in this magazine are intended to introduce a different way of thinking so that ideas and notions we take for granted can be reframed in such a way as to renew our life by making it more interesting, challenging and rewarding.

Many of us have abandoned our intelligence, our ability to think, our various gifts for being able to create and instead joined the masses whose only goal is to perpetuate the species and dwell in a complacent and apathetic state amounting to nothing more than mere existence.

We at Metanoia believe we are all capable of more than that and more importantly are able to generate epiphanous moments for you. We hope that our plethora of deep-thinking writers will be able to transform your life into something meaningful and wondrous. Every one of us, to a varying degree, has experienced these moments and most of us who have been so transformed are driven to rediscovering the process that first allowed us our enlightened clarity of mind.

Naturopathic Medicine Week 2011 May 9-15

METANOIA METANOIA METANOIA March 2011

June /July 2012 Edition

METANO Apollonia Vanova

Sings us...

Thank you for 10 years Present

The Rant

the December 7

Steve Nash Christmas Bash

DECEMBER 2011 SPECIAL EDITION

METANOIA 778-788-0073/604-542-5213 jninkovich@stevenashsportsclub.com

Vancouver Is Burning June 2011

CAND Health Fusion Issue

An Interview with

Events list & schedule

Betty Mobley

H

George P. Shultz

cont.

METANOIA

ie ab ull er Lynx, Her Pa ssion, Her L

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magazine

July 2011

TOUR DE WHITE ROCK

“Lullabies”

WILL JOHN CUMMINS BE ABLE TO CHANGE BC’S POLITICAL LANDSCAPE?

THE RANT GEORGE SHULTZ PART 3 Interview with a Statesman

Daughter of Texas

La lumiere d’une Chandelle

METANOIA METANO

In the last decade, scientific advancements have given insights into human phenomena that were previously thought science fiction, such as the viral theory as a contributing factor in the feeling of “love”. Anthropologists may have noticed nuances in human behavior early in our development, but these scientific discoveries now actually explain the physiology of “metanoic thinking”. Our own behaviors are being re-examined in light of these discoveries about brain function, and in particular that our usual way of thinking leads us to our usual results. Moreover mostly we do not think- but react- not unlike reptiles- and this process does not always serve us well.

WeThank You For 10 Years!

magazine

Humankind is evolving, and more and more the primitive fears that govern our behaviors are being discovered to be limiting rather than opportunistic. What we are discovering about ourselves is what our evolution is all about; the beast within will soon be quelled and what will emerge is anybody’s guess.

2011 magazine Media Kit

METANOIA magazine

2011 Media Kit magazine Special Fall 2011 Edition

METANOIA February/March 2012 Edition

METANOIA

Individually, the context of one individual within a population of seven billion suggests his/her insignificance – let alone a lifetime in the span of eternity. And yet we still have this narcissistic sense that our existence is of tremendous relevance.

And while there may be something to this belief, how do these enormous discrepancies in size and time fit together to explain the relevance of this epic story? Simplified, what is the relevance of a person making a living to pay for food and shelter to the formula E=mc2. Our mission, certainly for Metanoia is to explore all those ideas, and to change ourselves and you in pursuit of this intelligence. To put it another way, we want your brain to be engaged in ways it never has been before. Are you ready for the challenge?

METANOIA

Pepe Serna

Actor, Artist & Motivational Speaker The Scarface Anniversary what it was like on set

2011 Media K 5

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Stressing Out About Stressing

By Hank Leis

I love watching documentaries about lions. There is something about watching these intelligent powerful beasts that distinguish themselves with their survival techniques as top predator. Their ability to organize and outwit their often much larger prey has behind it the brilliance of manipulative planning that would equal the contemplative works of Nicolo Machiavelli.

But as it is with us, every endeavour is not rewarded by a kill and not all prey are willing to die so that the lions can survive. Lions get killed by elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, and even lesser animals. And sometimes it is the microbes that deliver the fatal disease that does them in.

We people are the top predators on the planet but we also are in constant danger. Like lions, something inevitably gets to us – and we are no more.

In the meantime we stress out about everything that might do us in – and more and more what might do us in, is what we ourselves have created.

While it is true that diseases have not been totally eradicated and in cities located near the Rocky Mountains, once in a while a mountain lion does someone in, on the whole we live longer and healthier. But now the enemy of gracious living is ourselves. As we become confined to narrow spaces, because of human population growth, the systems and developments that brought us old age were accompanied by a vast array of silent stressors.

Each time any danger is perceived – we demand new laws to protect us – but each law we invoke is accompanied by the silent killer, stress: the stress of greater confinement, limits to freedom and confrontations with our neighbors. In other words, as we limit and expect from others, so we limit ourselves and others expect more from us. And the time to just live is in short supply.

While life expectancy is longer, life quality (measured by time not “having to be busy”) is not. No matter how comfortable the chair, entertaining the TV, or nutritious the food we eat, if the brain continues to work – it worries and these worries for both the young and old become overwhelming.

It is mostly the future we worry about because we know our past and that is what will do us in. And while senility can be regarded as an escape or blessing, even that as a possibility is stressing. But the problems of stress start much earlier in life now. Schooling starts for some at the age of three.

And a child judged “not a genius” is of great concern to parents, who eventually dump their disappointment on the child. To be found wanting – because one does not fit into the system – can affect the child’s entire future. But what might be considerably worse is making it and striving to remain there.

In our continued system of pitting the successful against the unsuccessful – we create stress for all - and we work it off by jogging – another contrivance. The circle is complete, because jogging, once called running, was the method of escaping the lion. The lions have been caged, but the stress they once caused is not. Now keeping the lion in the cage is a greater stressor than letting the lion roam free. There are not enough lions to feed us to, so we prey on each other, and we do so with alacrity.

The desire for longevity seems to be fundamental in our genetics. And the more we use and produce in order to live longer – the more of us there are. And ultimately there will be so many more of us – even more stressed out and angry. So if space and time are not constraints – which apparently they are not – then all things are possible and the question that remains is, “How are we going to get from here to there and what will there look like?”

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The Art of Tom Gilleon

By Richard King

Meeting up with friends at the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival this September, I found myself flowing around the town plaza being led by art consultant, Steve Zabel, from Bozeman, Montana.

He not only knew the finest galleries, but also the ones with the finest food and wine for tonight’s Gallery Walk.

And we were hungry. And mighty parched.

After gulping down some delicious buffalo sliders and elk kabobs, we finally began to slow down and absorb the art.

We feasted on hundreds of paintings from the Hudson River School, French Impressionism, Cubism, the Taos School, Pop, Psychedelic, Electronic, Young British Artists, Western, Cowboy and masters from the Russell Skull Society of Artists.

Steve recognized the artist of every painting without reading its title card. I absorbed his flood of information. Each artist’s story, how they began, what makes them collectable. And how they’re currently priced in the market. Some of these pieces were millions of dollars and some were a thousand. It made for a full evening. Toward the end, we walked down a side street away from the hustle bustle. We had one last gallery to go.

We walked into Altamira Fine Arts and quickly observed the finest contemporary Western art of the evening: Ed Mell, Howard Post, Bill Schenck, Travis Walker, Rocky Hawkins. One after another. All modern. Not traditional scenes of cowboys, horses, wildlife and Indians. Yes, there were cottonwoods lining a river and sweeping billowing landscapes with flat-planed nods to Maynard Dixon, John Nieto and the spirit of the west. But these burned with a new energy.

Some with a bit of Picasso and Lichtenstein. Some with soft flourishes to fiery, garish colors. Some with cowboys at the buck rail fence. Some with full faces of hardened Indians. With happy cowgirls throwing lassoes. And topless cowgirls with pursed lips, blowing smoke from the end of a just-fired pistol.

And then I found myself in front of a large colorful painting of three tipis. Lanterns on the prairie, they glowed from within. 8-feet by 5-feet, the painting filled the room. The scene depicted a moment of beautiful peace. Firelight incandescing through translucent hides.

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Native Trilogy 2003, Oil on Canvas, 56 x 90"

Lanterns on the Prairie Native Trilogy 2003, Oil on Canvas, 56 x 90" Lanterns on the Prairie The tipis in the foreground popped from the picture as dark grasslands fell back. Clouds deepened into sunset. I felt the cold gathering of night on the prairie. And the people and warmth inside. The sophistication of colors comThe tipis in the foreground popped the pinks, pictureblues as dark fellthis. back.

Clouds deepened sunset. I .felt pletely captured me. I’d never seen from yellows, andgrasslands greens like The simplicity of theinto composition .. the cold clean andgathering vibrant. of night on the prairie. And the people and warmth inside. The sophistication of colors completely captured me. I’d never seen yellows, pinks, blues and greens like this. The simplicity of the composition . . . and vibrant.

Iclean was to return to this painting many times over the next month. I could not stop looking at it. One Sunday morning

I was to return to this painting many times over the next month. I could not stop looking at it. One Sunday

I came to it as if I were going to church. I just wanted to be with it. With no one around. To feel the presence of something so much bigger than myself . . . that I can’t expresence of something soItmuch bigger than . .to. that I can’t drawn it. It felt a longing.

Iplain. came Itowas it as if I were tolike church.

I justmyself wanted Alllike in one.

This drawn to it.going felt a longing.

That connected to meexplain. the past,I was present andto future. be with it.

With no one around.

To feel the presence of something so much bigger than myself . . . that I can’t painting holds a power to transform me.

In whatever frame of mind I’m in.

It calms me when I walk into its company.

That connected to me the past, present and future. All in one. This painting holds a power to transform me.exIn plain.connects I was drawn to it.everything It felt likeI aknow. longing.

That connected to things me theI past, present and future. All in one. This And me with And to the mystery of don’t.

I feel a completeness. whatever frame of mind I’m in. It calms me when I walk into its company. And connects me with everything I painting holds a power to transform me. In whatever frame of mind I’m in. It calms me when I walk into its company. know. And to the mystery of things I don’t. I feel a completeness.

And connects me withwas everything And toAthe mystery of things don’t.

I feel a completeness.

I learned this painting created byI know.

Tom Gilleon. breath of fresh air in Ithe contemporary Western art movement.

morning I came to it as if I were going to church. I just wanted to be with it. With no one around. To feel the I was to return to this painting many times over the next month. I could not stop looking at it. One Sunday morning

“Technically speaking, Gilleon is a brilliant colorist. And he uses color in unusual ways to communicate the heroic qualities of “Technically speaking, a brilliant And heways” uses Western themes, so thatGilleon they areisseen in newcolorist. and refreshing color in unusual ways to communicate the heroic qualities of Western themes, so that they are seen in new and refreshing ways” “Technically speaking, Gilleon is a brilliant colorist. And he uses color in unusual ways to communicate the heroic I learned this painting was created by Tom Gilleon. A breath of fresh air in the contemporary Western art movement.

qualities of Western themes, so that they are seen in new and refreshing ways”, says Sarah Burt, the chief curator of “Technically speaking, Gilleon is a brilliant colorist. The AndRussell he usesMuseum color in unusual ways to communicate heroic the C.M. Russell Museum, in Great Falls, Montana. in collaboration with Altamirathe Fine Art qualities of Western that they arein seen in new and ways”, says Sarah Burt, theI drove chief curator has organized the firstthemes, Gilleonsoretrospective a museum westrefreshing of the Mississippi.

Needless to say, 8-hoursofto the Russell Museum, in his Great Falls, Montana. The Russell Museum in collaboration with Altamira Fine Art be inC.M. the company of forty of paintings. has organized the first Gilleon retrospective in a museum west of the Mississippi. Needless to say, I drove 8-hours to be in the company of forty of his paintings.

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“While I was painting my first tipi, I thought, ‘Who in their right mind would buy a tipi?” says Tom Gilleon.

“I painted it as a study in color and light. But I deliberately set out to fill a huge hole I perceived in Western art.

To paint not in detail, but in the silence. And let my colors and composition connect with the viewer in a visceral, elemental way.”

There is a Zen serenity to Tom's paintings. His tipi paintings are not exactly Native American encampments, but settings that infer an encampment. The viewer is invited to dream in the details of Indian life. Where it's simply enough to feel the beauty of the coloring in the tipis and sky and horizon.

“The subject itself isn’t as important as the emotion it evokes. It’s the implication of a story being told, the visual connection between shapes that makes a good painting,” says Tom. Earlier this year, Gilleon set a new personal price record of $225,000 for a painting, “Hair Apparent”, at this year’s live auction fundraiser for the C.M. Russell Museum. Founded in 1969 by the Great Falls Advertising Federation, the Russell fundraiser is now one of the premier sales events of Western art in the world.

Western Art: In the Mainstream Indeed, scholarship is creating a renewed appreciation for frontier imagery. In a New York Times article in October 2013, Esteem For The Art of The American West, by Carol Kino, the art of the American West is profiled as an emerging art form.

“The art of the American West has long been honored in the states whose history it records, but it hasn’t always been accepted in the larger art world. Thirty years ago, it was often seen as an out-of-touch genre, fed by a love of nostalgia and history”, says Ms. Kino.

Not anymore. “Western art should be considered in the mainstream,” says Thayer Tolles, curator of American paintings and sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Hair Apparent 2013, Oil on Canvas, 50 x 50"

Ms. Tolles helped organize “The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925.” This is the first major exhibition to examine the aesthetic tastes, technical achievements and cultural attitudes that led American artists to create bronze statuettes of cowboys, Indians, buffalo and other symbols of the West. Exhibiting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from December 18 to April 13, it will then travel to the Nanjing Museum in China.

“The scholarship around the art of the American West has really grown up,” says Thomas Smith, a director of the Denver Museum of Art. He notes that his own Institute of Western Art was founded only 12 years ago. “This exhibition is a moment that shows Western American art’s place within the larger canon.”

In similar recognition of the emerging Western art movement, the C.M. Russell Museum inaugurated the Russell Skull Society of Artists this year - a designation of living Western artists who the Museum honors as best exemplifying the authenticity and spirit of Charles Russell - one of the greatest Western artist of all time. Tom Gilleon was invited to be among its founding group.

Mark Tarrant, owner of Altamira Fine Art in Jackson, Wyoming, describes Gilleon as one of the leading figures in Western contemporary art. “Gilleon is a master of composition and palette. His style produces an immediacy of impact on the viewer,” Tarrant says. “A Gilleon painting commands a room; there is an energy that gets projected, like the sun in the sky. His artwork creates the spirit of enchantment on the American West more powerfully than most of what we see in traditional Western art.”

“Gilleon is a master of composition and palette.

His style produces an immediacy of impact on the viewer,” Tom does not paint detail like most Western artists. There are no scenes of cowboys working cattle, camped around campfires or shooting it up in the saloons. There’s no wildlife ambling through the woods. Or Indians looking off to a column of American cavalry. He rarely paints people in his pictures and there are few objects.

“Many of my tipi paintings depict a lodge on the plains,” says Tom. “With little or no distant mountains or trees.

None of the accoutrements of daily life. And only a suggestion of a fire within a lodge. They have been referred to as ‘hauntingly vacant compositions’. In some paintings, I show a time of year when being on the open plains was not advisable, when shelter from the wind and abundant firewood was a necessity.”

“I am attracted to the elements, to the basics,” he says. “Many of my designs are basic shapes and executed through variations on primary colors - square, triangle and circle; red, yellow and blue.”

His experimentation with geometric format is based on his study of ancient and timeless notions of natural order: Druid, Greco-Roman, Asian, Babylonian, Cartesian and, of course, Native American. “Philosophically, I feel the square denotes fairness and justice. The triangle introduces mystery and intrigue or romance. The flat horizon in many of my paintings is intended to give a feel of stability.”

“The tipi paintings connect to our primal understanding of simple shapes. We all relate to the circle, triangle and square,” Gilleon says. “Using basic shapes might seem a simple formula, but ‘simple’ does not equate with ‘easy’ in the visual arts. Simplicity is the hardest city on earth to find.”

“A brilliant invention, the tipi facilitated a nomadic way of life, while also standing at the center of social, religious and creative traditions. By the very definition of its triangular shape, the tipi symbolizes stability and endurance,” says Sarah Burt of the C.M. Russell Museum.

To evoke a sense of place and its people, Gilleon paints the same symbols and drawings that Native Americans painted on their tipis and war shields: antelope, bear, buffalo skulls, horses and riders. They tell a story, standing out in the quiet expanse of the Great Plains. He reminds viewers that the relationship between nature and humanity is not separable. Then, now or in the future.

In Tom’s paintings, you see Square Butte, a small plateau that juts up from the prairie outside Great Falls, Montana.

“The tipi paintings connect to our primal understanding of simple shapes. We all relate to the circle, triangle and square,” You see the front of the Rockies from the ocean of grass where Lewis and Clark first looked up and saw the American West. And you see many of the same landmarks chronicled in Russell’s paintings. You feel the spirit of the West.

It’s not surprising. Since 1980, Tom has lived on ranches outside Great Falls, Montana, for 32-years. Since 1880, Russell lived in Montana for 46-years, coming to the region as a bright-eyed sixteen year old. Both have been shaped by this place. In many ways, it still looks like 1805 when the Discovery Corps first witnessed vast herds of buffalo on the Old North Trail - grasslands from Canada to Mexico - where millions of Indians journeyed for thousands of years.

“Russell wintered his horses at a place on my ranch,” says Tom. “In the same barn I keep my horses. A hundred years later, when I walk out my house to the barn, I see the same things he did. And when I saddle up and ride up the hills, I ride beside the same cedar posts he did. Fenced in the 1800s.”

Tom’s grandfather, a Scotsman, immigrated to the United States and became an acclaimed cabinetmaker. His grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, descended from the tribe that was traumatically uprooted from its landscape and identity.

Gilleon grew up in Florida. He was recruited to play baseball at the University of Florida and served in the Navy just prior to Vietnam. He used his draftsman skills to land a job with NASA’s budding space program and turned out illustrations of rockets and mechanical parts. His talent for illustration came to the attention of the Walt Disney Company and he was soon designing schematics for what became Disney World in Orlando.

Shanghai Disneyland 2011 Illustration

From Illustrator to Artist Recruited by Disney’s renowned “Imagineering Studio”, he helped design the look and feel for Disneyland’s Epcot Center and theme parks in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. In the early 1980’s, he and his wife attended an outdoor painting workshop in Montana and were soon buying a small ranch on the Dearborn River. They moved to Montana and paid for construction from income they both earned as illustrators in the Hollywood film industry.

“I was never in need of work and was able to live in Montana while we were building our home and yet still maintain a presence in the industry,” he says of his commuting. “I did this for 30-plus years.”

When I travelled to the C.M. Russell Museum to see Tom’s retrospective of forty paintings, Tom agreed to meet me.

I asked him about his transition from illustrator to artist and what defined that difference. He said, “When I worked for NASA, Disney and Hollywood - I created specific images required in a scope of work, to a small defined audience.

When I was able to afford the freedom to be an artist - I created my own ideas, in my own medium, painting to an unknown audience. It was a leap. I deliberately set out to free myself of detail. To deconstruct the confines of traditional Western art. To connect with myself and my viewers in a deeper, more elemental way.”

As we parted, I began contemplating Tom’s arc from illustrator to artist. From a hired hand to being his own man.

And how he transformed himself. I walked through the Museum and ran into Sarah Burt, its chief curator. She asked me if I’d seen the Charles Russell exhibition yet. I hadn’t, so she volunteered to give me a personal tour.

Russell learned mostly by observation. He ventured to Montana in 1880 to cowboy out west. At thirteen, he was already painting cowboys and Indians in watercolors and oils. In the 1890s, his compositional skills steadily improved using diagonals to create drama and energy. At his pivotal trip to New York City in 1904, he began to pick up lessons in color theory by observing professionally trained illustrators Phillip Goodwin, John Marchand and Will Crawford.

At this point in the chronology of the exhibition, Russell’s oil palette brightens. His watercolor technique shifts from transparent to opaque. And his paintings begin to shimmer with color. His last painting from 1926, Father Desmet’s First Meeting With The Flathead Indians, was unfinished and unsigned. A wide panorama of an Indian encampment, it’s his most colorful painting in the retrospective. Color and composition enabled him new to achieve new heights in his career and I could see the transformation right in front of me.

Both Russell and Gilleon’s career took off when they acquired the master skills of an illustrator and applied them to their own brand of art.

“When Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it wasn’t because one morning he awoke and got inspired to paint a mural on the ceiling of a church. He was an illustrator for the Pope.”

“People still refer to illustrators with a negative connotation,” Gilleon says, musing. “When Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it wasn’t because one morning he awoke and got inspired to paint a mural on the ceiling of a church. He was an illustrator for the Pope.”

“Looking back, I was probably most influenced by the old era art directors and illustrators, Herb Ryman especially, who had the amazing ability to quickly and simply tell a story or convey a feeling with their artwork. I believe that this simplicity and strength is the key to fine art. Light, color, value, composition and line are paramount in importance.

A good work of art is so much more than a copied photograph. In eliminating the unnecessary elements and being as direct as possible, an artist has the opportunity to tell a story, to guide the viewer’s eye and emotion.”

Finishing my private tour of Russell’s retrospective, I walked back upstairs to see Gilleon’s own retrospective one last time.

Visiting his paintings is like going to church for me. He made the transition from a Disney illustrator to a disruptive Western artist. From a craftsman to a unique expressionist. And he had the courage to reinvent himself once again.

Tom recently debuted his stunning new-media digital artwork, Eternal Triangle at the Russell Museum.

Eternal Triangle 2013, Digital Art, 49 x 86"

Eternal Triangle Presented on a triptych of vertical HD-monitors, the scene is three tipis on the prairie. Twelve different paintings of this scene morph together over a single day and night - in five minutes. Native American flute music plays.

Sunlight sweeps slowly across the monitors. At first, you don't know if it's your eyes - or is the scene really changing?

As the sun wheels overhead, the shadows and colors of the tipis change with the day. And then, as darkness falls, the moon rises and sets. Peace on the Great Plains. Again, the calmness of Tom Gilleon.

Richard King IV comes from a family of Texas ranchers and business people.

During school breaks in the summers he was a roughneck on oil wells. In addition to being in the oil industry he was also President of The VideoCall Company, a videoconference integrator. Currently, Richard heads R. King and Co. which is a mineral management and development services company with offices in Austin, Texas.

Mr. King is the consummate renaissance man, and art is his passion. Although he does not consider himself an artist, he is an art collector and writes about art. Moreover he is an explorer of new ways of thinking R.and Kingspends & Co.his spare time researching the intricacies that affect our changing world. In this edition (512) 478-2700 of Metanoia, he writes about art. In subsequent editions he will write about www.rkingco.com leadership.

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I SUPPOSE, SOMEHOW MY SENSE OF BEING FREE, NO MATTER THE JUDGMENTS OR OPPRESSION AROUND ME, IS MY WILLFUL FREE THINKING. BUT MOREOVER, I’VE DEVELOPED OVERTHEYEARS, A NEED TO ALSO EXPRESS MY THOUGHTS AND ON OCCASION TO GO EVEN ONE STEP FURTHERAND THAT IS TO ACT ON THEM. 16

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n a u e b t S erran

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By Hank Leis

It seems to me that the least obtrusive or offensive of this sense of freedom is to think, the more offensive is to express – because the expression of my thoughts can be judged stupid, dangerous or without merit. I thrive in making such statements.

I am then putting myself out there, vulnerable – but only if care. I am now content and occasionally proud to reveal my stupidity – because by doing so I have freed myself from all condemnation that causes me to contain them inside.

But it is in the doing that conflict always occurs.

There is always someone who takes great offence and either acts against it or willfully neglects to meet expectations. And they too can do so almost with impunity to stop those who take on the task even if they lose. But I am never sure of that, because either way I am a winner – because no one can stop my thoughts without risk to themselves.

In conversations whether they be “The View” on TV or a small group in a living room, a good part of the conversations consist of apologies or explanations so that the speaker will be judged politically correct. And rightly so, because once the judgment is made, it sticks. And so if we want to maintain our image and that is all it is, we doublespeak. We say what comes out, and then just in case we frame it to ensure that we will not be ostracized.

We create fake stories (as victims), false complements, fake hugs – everyone pretends to love everyone else – we find something good to say about everyone – we give phony thanks, false gratitude and pretend that we care – and commiserate by saying how sad, how terrible their condition is.

We articulate nothing. The media is not the message. There is no message and we cannot trust anyone- it’s all meaningless, because what we mean is deep inside of ten times even hidden from ourselves.

For generations we have faked our thoughts and intent, in order to survive; the penalty for openness being so severe that the subterranean mind is not revealed until something explodes inside and we can no longer hold it. Current political situations in North Africa are a consequence of such explosions. The U.S. is not so far behind with the stalemate in Washington. We have all hidden what we feel to avoid dealing with what is coming at us.

The Power of Pussy Riot

By Salme Leis

No matter Putin’s attempts to marginalize “Pussy Riot”, the more he is rebuked for imprisoning members of the band by using his corrupt system. Having been released Dec. 23, 2013 members of “Pussy Riot” did not emerge cowed, repentant or immensely scarred by the experience. They are at it again more powerful and more precocious than ever.

Those who support Putin get what they can out of the system and forget the rest, or are part of an ancient oligarchy- a remnant of the ugly past of Stalinists and Leninists. Members of Pussy Riot are still found dangerous even though they are young. Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are not yet out of the woods. The two may be unsophisticated- but Putin knows the West is watching and that there would be repercussions if they become too zealous in their efforts to marginalize them.

Mikhail Khordorkovsky- the other former billionaire dissident has fled to England because he feels safer there. But as all Russians know the long arm of Putin can exact revenge anywhere on the planet. Alexander Litvinenko found out what happens to those who get Putin’s attention- no matter where their hiding place.

Even Putin now realizes that punishing those young girls for singing nasty songs about him in church was not on his part, strategically a wise move.

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Tony Joe White

“I’ve had unbelievable, beautiful freedom with the music

for the last several years…” reflects Tony Joe White as a grainy dusk settles. Just entering his seventh decade, White spends his days off the road coaxing inspiration from his surroundings. Not one to write songs on command, they seem to find him—usually when he’s out on his property, a quiet couple of riverside acres some forty miles or so outside of Nashville. “All I can hear from where I sit,” he notes, “are coyotes, birds, or wolves.”

Amidst that tranquility was born Hoodoo, his latest album, which emerges via Yep-Roc Records on September 17, 2013. “I never try to sit down and come up with something,” White says. “But I can be running down the white perch by the river or sitting by a campfire, and suddenly a line will come up, and it stays with me for a week or two.” These fragments reveal themselves to him as time passes, coalescing into songs of uncommon 18

power whose humble beginnings and earthy parables reveal universal truths. And, sometimes, the truth stings…

Awash in danger, spiritual uncertainty, and environmental fury, Hoodoo’s lyrical concerns are matched by a particularly intense strain of White’s trademark swamp funk. Hence the title’s double-edged meaning: “hoodoo” referring both to the songs’ ominous tone and the palpable vibe that filled the studio as the songs were cut. “Our studio is an old antebellum house,” White says, describing his Church Street Studio in Franklin, Tennessee. “I hear it was used early in the Civil War days as a doctor’s office. Wood floor, lotta wood everywhere—good for the acoustics.”

Cut mostly live to tape—vocals and all—much of Hoodoo consists of first takes. “There’s some actual magic that came over all of us when we were doing this,” White recalls. “I would sit down with my drummer Cadillac [Bryan Owings] and my bass player the Troll [Steve Forrest], play twenty seconds of the tune, and then say ‘We’re gonna hit record, and you just play what comes into your heart.’ It’s like everyone is getting the hoodoo sensation. Spontaneity is beautiful. And,” he adds, “since it’s our studio, there’s no hurry: no one is over our shoulder saying when we gotta get in and when we gotta get out…we were the record company.”

Culled from an initial stack of seventeen or eighteen tunes, the nine songs that comprise Hoodoo come alive in the haunting atmosphere and intensity of the strippeddown recording process. Whether writing alone or with collaborators (including his wife Leann, who has been composing songs with and for her husband for over four decades), White gives the listener just enough to fire the imagination while leaving some elements tantalizingly unsaid. “Sometimes, he says slyly, “I like to let people figure out what happens next.”

Hoodoo fades up upon a mist-shrouded cemetery that serves as the background for The Gift. “The Gift,” he explains, “is music and songs. But it was just too powerful for this boy in the song, so he sat up in an old slave graveyard with a bottle of wine and a guitar.” As the protagonist hangs his head in lamentation, figures walk out of the past and appear before him, led by a mysterious woman. “These figures were Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and guys from off the plantations, and she was protecting them, because they hadn’t crossed over. They didn’t know how to. But this strange white boy on a tombstone starts singing and playing and singing this tune and…you can hear how it ends in the song, but it gives me chillbumps when I think about it.”

A specter of a different stripe hovers over Storm Comin’ and The Flood—twinned tales of environmental devastation. The Flood is particularly resonant to White, as it tells the story of his trek homeward following

the Nashville flood of 2010. “I was actually in Memphis the night it happened, we were playing a gig down there,” White recalls. “Trying to get back to Franklin the next day, we ran straight into the back ends of 40 miles of truckers. I finally pulled over and asked them what was going on, and he said ‘Franklin and Nashville went under a flood last night.’” When he finally got back to Franklin, he says, “We saw it, and we didn’t know it. Didn’t recognize it. And in the old studio there is an 11-foot basement. The water had come into the basement about two inches below the first floor, which is where we keep the guitars, the tapes—my life story. I was very lucky.”

After he finished schooling, following a stint driving a truck in Georgia, he formed a series of bands and took to the road. Over countless gigs and a vast repertoire of cover tunes, his laidback, country bluesinflected vocals learned to thrive against the roil of an R&B backbeat.

His signature sound was completed when he began to introduce original songs drawn from his experiences and upbringing. A trip to Nashville in 1966 was marked by one lucky break after another, and his fruitful recording career began at the fabled country-soul crucible of Monument Records. Gems like Polk Salad Annie

Similarly fortunate are the destitute characters in Alligator, Mississippi. “It’s a real place,” White explains. “Not far outta Tunica, not far from Greenville, and let’s just say… if you’re there, you should get gas and get out. I only stopped there once, because my wife had to use the bathroom. You get out and right away you’re surrounded by people wondering why you’re there—and they don’t care about you. In the song, you don’t know exactly how far he made it outta there.”

One of Hoodoo’s songs, 9 Foot Sack, tells of White’s upbringing.

“That’s my story,” he says, “of when I was growing up in Louisiana on Daddy’s old cotton farm. Five sisters and my older brother—seven kids.

We never felt like we were poor. We worked hard, but we had plenty to eat, and we cared about each other.”

Back then, music wasn’t something you listened to. His family played music for entertainment, for release. The blues was added to his childhood diet of country and gospel thanks to a Lightnin’ Hopkins record his brother bought. From there, White was hooked, learning to play his father’s guitar by ear.

the songs of this legendary singer and songwriter.

Despite his illustrious past, White feels no pressure to top himself.

“There’s not a push nowhere,” he concludes. “Maybe I’ll stop playing shows and making records when the songs quit coming to me. But they still come to me. You see, I don’t work for a song—but once I get a hold of it I don’t let go. I just keep writing, and when I do, I want to go out and play it for somebody. It’s the songwriting that keeps me going.”

In fact, even with Hoodoo in the can, White’s already gathering new material. “Yesterday I was fishing,” he says,” and a guitar lick comes into my head…then it lays back there.

It’s still in my head, every 30 minutes it comes back. So I know that I gotta build a fire, sit down, and figure out what it’s gonna tell me.”

and Rainy Night in Georgia were just the beginning, as he proceeded to write, record, and perform regularly through the present day, finding great success both at home and abroad. Through the years, his songs have been recorded by everyone from Tina Turner to Elvis Presley to Dusty Springfield.

Since 1968, many other artists have interpreted his songs, including Brook Benton’s unforgettable take on Rainy Night in Georgia in 1970, Elvis Presley’s live performances of Polk Salad Annie, and Tina Turner’s soulful rendition of Steamy Windows.

Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Etta James, and many others have also covered 19

A Multidimensional Model of Economics as it pertains to Epigenetic Influences on the Human Brain

Prepared by: Allison Patton August 2013

Proposed Topic, Relevance and Rationale

Recent insights in the field of cancer research are linking the development of cancer with epigenetic changes in how genes that turn cancer on or off are expressed. Dr. Moshe Szyf, a molecular biologist and geneticist at McGill University in Montreal has been researching this phenomenon and has recently moved his research into the area of behavioral epigenetics. Insights into this new field have been finding that certain experiences such as early life stress or early life neglect could also have an impact on how genes are expressed. Social signals are translated into a phenotype. As Szyf said in a recent presentation at the Brain Development and Learning Conference, behavior and money are more powerful vectors of inheritance than germ line. In the case of the proposed dissertation topic, information from the scientists researching the field of epigenetics and more specifically behavioral epigenetics will provide background evidence that will help to inform the study that is being proposed for this dissertation.

In the case of the working title, a multidimensional model of economics as it pertains to epigenetic influences on the human brain, behavioral epigenetic influences will be applied to the development of an economic model that could in part start to address some of the vast problems currently facing the globe. It is being suggested that it will be possible to use new paradigms to create new paradigms. There are two main reasons that there is a need for doctoral level study of this topic. One, there is very little research in this specific area involving economics and epigenetics. After a generalized review of current research in the field, it was possible to find only one other study within the realm of this proposed topic of research. The paper was published in January of this year with the objective of contributing to literature in the field of evolutionary epigenetic economics as it relates to the dynamics of business groups and business ecosystems. In contrast, the proposed topic is a more general multidimensional economic model that is yet to be generated with implications locally and globally.

The second reason that this research is needed is the concern that the globe is facing many difficult challenges, many of which there are currently no feasible solutions to unravel the complexity and make sense of the chaos found within the systems that are currently in existence. This is the main reason that there is a need for doctoral level study of this topic. One example of this is the concept of “too big to fail.� Is there an economic model that allows for a system to be created whereby no institution is too big to fail? A number of systems whether 20

it be corporations, cities, political or economic are falling apart at the same time. There are not enough resources to address all of the problems currently facing the globe whether it be in policing, law, sanitation, education, water supply, power, or health. The model to be proposed is a socioeconomic model whereby current data and historical data will be reviewed in order to present the model. In the case of epigenetics, history is reviewed to predict the future.

From a systems perspective, a proposed socioeconomic model such as this begins with the individual epigenetics and spreads out to include the larger global system as it is understood that the individual systems are microcosms representative of larger systems. As Senge indicated in the book Presence, “What is most systemic is most local. The deepest systems we enact are woven into the fabric of everyday life, down to the most minute detail.”

Context

Due to the multidimensional nature of this proposed model, there are a number of social science fields of inquiry that contextualize the topic. These include neuroscience, epigenetics, behavioral epigenetics, behavioral psychology, neuroeconomics, economics, evolutionary economics and politics. For the purposes of this proposal, behavioral epigenetics and evolutionary economics will be described in more detail in order to provide the preliminary context for investigating the proposed topic.

As mentioned earlier, Dr Moshe Szyf ’s work in Montreal has “led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of the relationship between the environment and the genome and introduced the idea that the social environment could talk to the genome and sculpt the genome.” Information flows from experiences which could be chemical, physical or social. Molecules

of stress such as glucocorticoids are capable of changing the phenotypic expression of genes across generations. It is becoming more and more apparent that we carry the social history of our ancestors in our genes. The groundbreaking study proving this was completed in a small village called Overkalix in Sweden. It was found that events such as food supply in one generation (grandparents) could affect mortality in another generation (grandchildren).

This research complements that of Rachel Yehuda who researches Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in holocaust survivors. She has found that the children were suffering more stress than the survivors and it wasn’t due to retelling of the stories by the parents, it was linked to the epigenetic effects transmitted through the generations. Given what we know about epigenetics, the past predicts the future. As a result, it seems possible that the illusory idea of seeing into the future is not quite as bizarre as previously thought.

Bridging the epigenetics research with evolutionary epigenetic economics, the concept of a meme can be introduced. A meme was originally described by Richard Dawkins in 1976 as a noun that “conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.” In some ways, it can be used to describe cultural evolution. For example, the situation in the Middle East and North Africa right now in places like Libya, Egypt, Syria and other countries could be considered a meme; all governments are going through a revolution and it does not appear to be an accident that it is all happening at the same time. Potentially, taking into account the research findings in epigenetics, the whole reason for a meme may have been determined generations before it happened.

The proposed topic of developing a multidimensional economic model as it pertains to epigenetic

influences on the human brain will likely fall within the realm of evolutionary economics; a component of mainstream economics that focuses on the non-equilibrium processes that transform the economy from within and their implications.

As well, behavioral economics and neuroeconomics will be incorporated into the data review. Behavioral economics and the related field behavioral finance study the effects of social, cognitive, and emotional factors on the economic decisions of individuals and institutions and the consequences for market prices, returns, and the resource allocation. Neuroeconomics focuses on explaining decision making. It studies how economic behavior can shape our understanding of the brain, and how neuroscientific discoveries can constrain and guide models of economics.

There is a realistic awareness that the topic and problem being proposed represents a huge undertaking and as a result, will need to be refined for the purposes of the proposed doctoral dissertation. This refining will be the focus over the next number of months leading up to the program commencement.

Career Link

Over the past three years, I have become very involved in the political process provincially. Through this process, my original thought that change is often more possible from within the system than from externally has been strongly reinforced. I would like that the ideas generated from this program and future doctoral study be part of the formulation of new government policies and that I might be involved in the communication and sharing of the ideas with others who are involved in key decision making for our province and our country.

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CALGARY –THE CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION

By Allison Patton With Hallowe’en barely a memory bleary eyed and without much rest we boarded an early flight to Calgary. Not sure what to expect as we embarked on a three day whirlwind trip to attend what could be a very important convention for not only the Conservative Party of Canada but for Canada itself. Amidst the Senate scandal, a pending election and a freshly penned free trade agreement with Europe, there was much to talk about. Truthfully, I was dreading the trip. It is always a bit daunting to join over 3000 other political junkies and spend a number of hours together. In fact, we had never attended a federal convention such as this one. In some ways the lack of knowledge about what we might encounter was helpful as our minds were open and ready for anything.

As soon as we arrived at the event, we were welcomed by a couple of exuberant yet slightly overwhelmed volunteers who equipped us with our security lanyard/name tags, we are building quite a collection of these although this one was the largest we had ever been asked to wear at one of these events. Security was everywhere and media milling about waiting for the opportunities to interview delegates, grill MP’s and photograph the Prime Minister whenever the opportunity arose.

Fortuitously within minutes of arriving at the BMO centre along came two of our comrades from our days with the BC Conservatives, Ariane and Ziggy Eckardt. They were really embracing the western theme of the conference having donned white Stetsons for the duration of the convention. They were on a short break from one of the constitution sessions where the initial votes were taking place regarding which motions would carry forward to the next day for the large plenary sessions planned for the convention. Although we were not there as voting delegates, we joined them in their session to see what the issues of the day were. At one point, an important motion came up for debate and discussion, suddenly the room swelled with people who had come just for the vote. It was related to how the leader of the party would be elected.

The energy and passion in the room was palpable, the word democratic came up several times during the debate.

After we tired of the constitutional discussions, we moved on to a session regarding economic development moderated by Rona Ambrose, our federal Health Minister and Tony Clement, president of the Treasury Board. At the time we entered the meeting, the topic of discussion centred on the health of seniors and economic development as it related to pipelines and other resource development. It was very interesting to hear from different parts of the country the concerns brought forth by the delegates as they represented the concerns of the members of their respective electoral district associations. At the end of the discussion, we went up to the front to speak to Tony Clement but he left before we were able to say hello. In the end, we spoke to Rona Ambrose and she was talking to us about her belief of the importance of women in 22

politics even though it is a very difficult path at times.

Later that night, over 3,000 delegates gathered in Hall D to await the Prime Minister and Mrs. Harper. He was planning to address the convention with what the Globe and Mail determined was perhaps the most important speech of his career thus far. It is always interesting to hear the Prime Minister speak as he not only continues to stay with his consistent messaging but also addresses the issues at hand.

In this case the issues were the historic penning of the free trade agreement with Europe, the Senate scandal and of course a few jabs at the leaders of the other parties. By this time, most delegates were tired and hungry so the 40 minute speech might have been a bit more effective if he cut it off at 20 minutes in my opinion. The energy was high at the beginning but started waning near the end. It is difficult to sustain a high for that long.

Right after the speech, we were all invited to Cowboys bar to listen to a special concert featuring Herringbone with Prime Minister Harper. He was dressed all in black sitting on the stage in front of a keyboard playing and singing like a real musician. He was good. The highlight was his rendition of Randy Bachman’s song, ‘Taking Care of Business.’

It was a mix of Senators, MP’s, Olympic athletes, delegates, and Mrs. Harper rocking out to the music. At one point Senator Nancy Greene Raine was dancing her heart out in the middle of the dance floor as we all looked on. As my business partner said, it was surreal. As soon as Harper was finished, a number of the tired delegates, including ourselves, all left; it wasn’t even 8pm. What a rowdy crowd!

The next day was full of plenary sessions where final votes

were to be cast with the larger group of delegates, over 1000 in attendance for the votes. A Leaders Circle lunch was planned where Prime Minister Harper would speak again. Each delegate sat at a table designated for their province. We were sitting with our Stetson friends and a number of other delegates from South Surrey-White Rock. It was an

the people there. At one point, as Prime Minister Harper and Mrs Harper were on the stage saying good bye to the crowd after his speech to the delegate, I got the feeling that they symbolized the mother and father of the country there as representatives to the world of the hard working people that make up the fabric of Canada.

Later that night, over 3,000 delegates gathered in Hall D to await the Prime Minister and Mrs. Harper.

It was clear that the whole convention was set up to shore up the base supporters of the party and rally the troops as it prepares for another election in two years’ time. What was also apparent was that the power plays were not happening in the room other than a few of Harpers comments during his speech. The real power plays were happening in meetings away from the hustle and bustle of the convention floor. There were inklings of the young pups in the wings, hungry to take over the reins from Harper if given the chance in the future and signs of alliances being made and others having been broken.

For Salme and myself, it was an experience that felt calmer and less dramatic than others we had been a part of over the past three years through our involvement in provincial and federal political activities. Power is something that starts as a kernel of humility within and builds with a passion and integrity expressed in actions and inactions. It really is all about the pings and pongs.

exciting day as policies and issues were debated and voted on. The social issues as well as the issues regarding unions and pensions drew the most excitement.

Until next time, Dr Patton

During the plenary sessions in both the morning and the evening, Prime Minister Harper and Mrs. Harper would suddenly show up and quietly (as much as that was possible) sit down at one of the delegate tables trying to be inconspicuous so as to talk with 23

Rant

By Hank Leis

On the lightness of being King

I got up this morning, the King of Romania. One does not aspire to be a King. It’s like being Oprah, one is; unlike being the Dean of a University, a Prime Minister or President where one must be qualified. One simply is a King – absent of any qualification or merit. Kings are self made … self declared and being one is a kind of self fulfillment. Kings don’t even need to be of the same nationality of those they rule. The most incredible thing about being King is that legitimacy to the throne in declaring it. Some Kings even crown themselves. Just by his own declaration the King becomes divine. Who will argue against such power? I, of course am the man who would be King. It takes insanity, which I have in doses, to proclaim to be King, and more 24

insanity on part of my subjects to accept it. I love it all. The greater mystery about life is that few people recognize the humour in it.

My first act as King is to create the Church of Romania. As King I can also be the head of a church that by decree I have created. My legitimacy comes from God – through the church that I have created. And now that I am only accountable to God and not mere mortals, like the politicians, I will associate with my contemporary rulers. The Royalty of Great Britain, the Sultans and others will be invited to my castle in Bucharest and I to theirs.

My first act of power will be to summon my Prime Minister and his cabinet, to resurrect the economy of Romania and bring it back to its former glory days.

I will direct him and his cabinet to consult the Finns to set an education system for its young citizens on par with the best. The Estonians will advise on the power of short term self denial for long term gain. The powerful head of the Canadian Banking System will be sought for advice on how to attain the best banking system in the world. Advisors from Singapore will provide insights on how to create a safe, people oriented society that outperforms the grandiose plans of larger and more powerful countries in the world.

And then there will be more.

Much more. I a King, can demand anything I want to by virtue of being a King. A King simply is.

And as King of Romania this is my will – and it will be done. I wish to be known as Carol III. You may address me as “Your Majesty”.

THE GALLERY Panache&Parties

Salme Leis, Keith Kwan and Dr. Allison Patton at the Federal Conservatives Convention in Calgary, AB, OctoberWellness 2013 Centre Halloween at Mountainview

Dr Patton,Hon. Rona Ambrose Federal Health Minister, Ziggy Eckardt,and Salme Leis at the Federal Conservatives Convention in Calgary, AB, October 2013

Not in favour...at the Federal Conservatives Convention in Calgary, AB, October 2013

Hon. James Moore at the Winter Conservative BC Member’s Event 2014

Dr. Allison Patton, Laureen Harper, and Salme Leis at the Federal Conservatives Convention in Calgary, AB, October 2013

Ariane Eckart presenting A Slow Train Coming to Prime Minister, Dr. Allison Patton and Salme Leis at Stephen Harper the 2014 Winter Conservative BC Member’s Event

Prime Minister Steven Harper addresses Winter Conservative BC Member’s Event 2014

Dr. Caleb Ng at the Canadian Apitherapy Conference in Surrey, BC on October 12th with presenters, Dr. Stefan Stanguciu on the left and Frederique Keller, and John Gibeau, co-owner of the Surrey Honeybee Centre on the right.

Dr. Caleb Ng, ND and Jordan Armstrong Choices Markets of Alder Crossing Shopping Mall, second from right present a cheque for $2,810 to Leno Zecchel, co-Chair of PCCN-Surrey, second from right and Larry Shaw, board member of PCCN-Surrey.

Ariane Eckardt and Prime Minister Steven Harper, at the Federal Conservatives Convention in Calgary, AB, October 2013

Nelson Leis on set of Distortion”

Vanessa Walsh on set of “Happy Face”

Nelson Leis and Vanessa Walsh at Lighthouse Pictures red carpet gala for VIFF 2013”

Changing the Pain Game: Platelet Rich Plasma Prolozone

By Dr. Caleb Ng, ND In a quest to continually improve upon the existing model, I am always interested in anything that can complement or radically change what I am doing for my chronic pain patients. After hearing about the benefits of medical ozone at a chronic pain conference I signed up for training with the doctor that pioneered a technique called Prolozone, Dr. Frank Shallenberger, MD. I soon discovered that this therapy was not just something to complement my existing treatments, but a game changer.

Prolozone is a treatment that incorporates the regenerating properties of traditional prolotherapy, the healing properties of medical grade ozone and oxygen, and the pain relief of homeopathics, anesthetics and anti-inflammatory medications. The addition of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP, discussed below), further enhances treatment.

For decades, traditional prolotherapy used dextrose solutions to stimulate regeneration of ligaments and tendons. Although I found this therapy to be a powerful tool in the management and treatment of chronic pain, there were some limitations as patients would often experience significant discomfort during and after treatment and pain areas often extend beyond traditional prolotherapy treatment areas.

Prolozone is a very comfortable treatment which has allowed me to fully treat an affected joint or painful area. Not only is the treatment well tolerated, it provides immediate pain relief. Moreover, results seemed to be achieved faster and last longer than prolotherapy.

The use of medical ozone as a regenerative agent is not new. There are several studies that have come out of Europe involving thousands of patients with disc herniations treated with ozone and the evidence suggests faster recovery times and reduced number of surgeries. Currently, there is a trial underway at Vancouver General Hospital for the use of ozone in the treatment of disc herniations.

PRP utilizes the patient’s own blood plasma enriched with platelets to enhance tissue repair. PRP is rich in growth factors and signaling molecules that stimulate healing of bone, tendons, ligaments and cartilage. Although large scale studies have yet to be performed, small scale studies and preliminary evidence advocates the usefulness of PRP in the repair of soft tissue injuries responsible for chronic pain.

Combining PRP with prolozone has considerably improved the way I help my patients and have given them a marked advantage in managing and reversing chronic pain. Recent refinement in harvesting techniques has made PRP more economical and accessible and if you or someone you know has avoided PRP due to cost in the past I would urge you to reconsider this approach and experience what PRP Prolozone can do for you.

To find out if you are a suitable candidate for PRP Prolozone book a free 15 minute consultation with Dr. Caleb Ng by calling (604)538-8837. Mountainview Wellness Centre is located at 3566 King George Boulevard in Surrey.

Figure 1. Knee X-ray before Prolozone™ showing severe medial joint space narrowing joint space.

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Figure 2. Knee X-ray after Prolozone™ showing increased joint space

CHINA ADVENTURE

by Glen MacPherson

I had sold my businesses and was travelling around Europe discovering the world. Problem was my money was going down a lot faster than I had anticipated.

Sweden was very expensive and although I enjoyed the healing retreat there I needed to leave a week earlier than anticipated just to save some cash. Next stop was a northern Italy for a conference and I had a week before it started so I headed slightly north to Lugano, Switzerland to enjoy the lakes, sunshine and hiking.

After the conference in Como I was well aware that not having an EU passport

meant finding a job in Europe virtually impossible. I was down 15000 dollars in 6 weeks of travelling from a combination of Europe being expensive and the weakness of the Aussie dollar at the time.

With no idea where to go and a return ticket to Australia I headed over to London to catch my flight back. Problem was it was the anniversary of 911 and people were scared to fly. All hotels were full and flights were grounded because people refused to fly. If you have ever slept on a airport bench with everything you own in the world vulnerable to a thief you would know its not a comfortable feeling. I think I must have had less than two hours sleep and a woke to a sore neck and shoulder from the bench. In the confusion of all the flights being grounded I had managed to get wait listed on a flight to Sydney rather than Perth where my return ticket was to. On arrival in Sydney I was informed my baggage was still in London. The clothes I had on had been on my body for over two days and were stinking in the Aussie sun. I managed to convince Qantas the least they could do was get me a change of clothes and a hotel until

my baggage arrived. Four days later and my stuff arrived. Even though I had the feeling I was supposed to be elsewhere I tried to stick in Aus for a while. Nothing I attempted to set up flowed and after six months I was back in Canada.

Somehow while reading about China on the internet I got the bright idea to post my resume online for jobs in China.

Offers started flowing in from teaching academies, high schools and even Universities. China satisfied my criteria of being a new place where my savings would survive along time and above all it would be an adventure. Two weeks later I was on the way to Hubei province in the middle of China. In those days all one did was get a tourist visa, grab a flight and once at the university the tourist visa was changed into a working visa and alien registration card. I arrived late into Shanghai, paid too much for a taxi

and hotel and the next morning set off to the domestic airport. I didn’t realize that there was a Hebei and a Hubei University and that they were in separate provinces.

In my mind I was going to Hebei until a nice Chinese man in the airport read my documents and informed me to change my flight to go to Hubei. Two hours later I arrived in Wuhan where someone was standing with a sign with my name on it.

He turned out to be Jim the officer that looked after the western teachers in the university. His name wasn’t really Jim but as one realizes most Chinese people have adopted an English name for contact with westerners. These names can get quite strange, lot’s of people name Soda, Lemon, Apple, GE, Cowboy etc. The town I worked in was about two hours from Wuhan and it started looking quite poor and rural as we left the city of 12 million people called Wuhan. All Jim told me was to avoid the tiles in the side walk that were loose because when it rains water quirts up onto your pants. We had a short meal and he showed me to my apartment which looked nicer than I expected. It was Friday night and he said I was expected to show up for work Monday morning.

The first day was strange because I woke up was hungry and spoke zero mandarin. On top of that I was a vegetarian and had no idea how to order food. I just walked into the first place they starred at me I waved and slowly walked into the kitchen. The chef had a huge wok and lots of veggies , tofu which they call dofu and meats sitting around. I just started pointing and things and he would add them to the wok. I was surprised how friendly everyone was and how the didn’t get defensive with me just walking into the kitchen. This became my way of ordering food for the first few weeks. Everywhere I went I was starred at and people would yell out hello. It wasn’t just a few people looking it was everyone which can be quite a strange experience.

China was in the middle of an economic boom but not where I was. I was in what is called a third tier city with about 1and 1/2 million people and as I would find out only 8 westerners. I had a knock on my door the first day and a tall african man

who said he was my neighbour and also a teacher in the university greeted me.

He said to get some sleep and him and the other westerners would take me for beers that evening. Around 7 pm there was a knock on my door and there was a chinese man in a police uniform standing there. He was attempting to speak English but I couldn’t understand. I had read on the internet that westerners needed to register with the police upon arrival so thought he was taking me to the police station. When I got out to the police car which was a grand cherokee there was my african neighbour his wife and an skinny australian man inside who informed me this was my drive to the pub. As we scooted along to the sounds of “ Come on baby let’s go party” blasting on the radio I was informed by the skinny Australian whatever I do don’t accept a drive home with this police officer at the end of the night because he is never in a condition to drive afterwards. The Chinese disco was very different enough so that someone could feel like Luke in that Pub in star wars. In fact I couldn’t have found a town more like being on another planet than the one I had chosen or should I say the one had chosen me....

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A Multidimensional Model of Leadership

By Allison Patton

The study of leadership has been complicated for a number of reasons.

Students fail to define what leadership means and the studies corroborate essentially their assumed truths. Moreover, there is no consistent language used in discussions about leadership and so leadership models tend to be duplicated because of the language, but not the substance. Most studies are about management and not about leadershipleaving the impression that both are the same. As well, leadership studies are undertaken by academics and followers-leaving a lot of room for wishful thinking rather than cold hard reality. In order to understand leadership, a discussion of this needs to be undertaken a priori.

The phenomenon of leadership should not be undertaken by the hopeful

or pure and lighthearted.

Leadership should not be given the wide and allencompassing description currently in vogue. The broad latitude used in defining leadership makes the studies intellectually meaningless. Whether we are talking about Putin, Stalin, Attila the Hun, or Barack Obama; all have what it takes. And what it takes has little to do with what is currently regarded as qualifying for an academic leadership model. There is no such thing as good leadership except in the minds of followers and academics.

There is only leadership.

I propose an honest study of leadership that is based on how the world really works, as opposed to promulgating values by hopes and dreams of wishful thinkers under the pretext of relevant academic studies.

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The Dan Walker Chronicles Sudans to Novorossiysk Dan Walker is an adventurer, a businessman and raconteur. He has visited every country in the world. His trusty Rolls Royce has taken him across many continents. He includes his grandchildren in some of his travels allowing them to select the destination. Originally, he hails from Victoria, British Columbia, but now resides in Costa Rica. At our request he has honoured us by writing a journal of his most recent trip to China.

We are pleased to present the Dan Walker Chronicles.

BLACK SEA, SUDANS, ETHIOPIA 2013: 3 - Abkhazia, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Russia Monday, October 21, 2013 Today started with a gathering in the show lounge to assign tenders to be taken to shore, as for some reason we anchored out of the harbour. The stay in Sochi had been shortened by 4 hours - we were not certain we could make it back to the ship in time for the last tender at 6 PM, so we took backpacks with basic gear in case we had to make our own way to Novorossiysk, the next port of call about 400 km away. We had made prior arrangement to be on the first tender in, and managed to get off first to avoid a lineup for Russian passport control. Our guide and driver, arranged by My Excursions were waiting for us.

In Sochi there was a lot of construction going on only a few months before the opening of the winter Olympics.

Highways were being improved, causing massive traffic jams, and many buildings were not yet completed. We drove through the nearly complete Olympic village and media area, which is close to the Abkhazia border and about 25 km from Sochi. There is a second Olympic Village in the already snow covered mountains, connected to the airport and Sochi by a new high speed train..

At the border we had little trouble exiting Russia, but the immigration official for the non-country of Abkhazia said we had to drive the the capital about 140 miles away to get a visa stamp. As they are a breakaway province, technically still part of Georgia, they have no foreign service and are accessed only through Russia. Our guide Vasily, had a talk with the head guy, who told the official to let us through.

The whole “country” has a population of only 100,000, but apparently does well on tourism, mostly from Russians enjoying the semi tropical climate and beaches.

Traffic was much less in Abkhazia We made a lot of stops, one of which had a still functioning Christian Church built in the 2nd century AD, stone barracks that held Russian troops during the Crimean and Turkish wars, one of Stalin’s fully furnished country houses beautifully finished in exotic woods without the use of nails and a number of beaches and parks. Due to the limited number of people there was lots of forest and open space. The mountains 30

almost reach the sea along this beautiful coast. Near the beaches are a lot of palm trees - not something generally associated with Russia. By Costa Rica standards the beaches were OK but not great.

After driving a considerable distance Vitalia, the driver, suggested a restaurant he knew for lunch. It was a small, well built wood building on a river with a wood fireplace.

I had a local beer, and Marilynn a local white wine, both of which were very good. We had a hearty soup with lots of beef, then shish ka babs, both cooked over the open fire, home made cheese and bread. It was a fabulously delicious meal. Both Vasily and Vitalia spoke some English, and were fun travel companions, full of stories and information.

It was getting late, so we enquired about air or train travel from Sochi to Novorossiysk only to find that neither existed. It seemed the only alternative was a bus or taxi, neither a particularly appealing thought, so we encouraged the driver to get going to get us to the ship. He drove very slowly, and we were becoming pretty antsy as car after car went whipping past us. We suspected that the van had no brakes, as he used only the emergency brake to stop, something that may have caused the excess caution.

When we arrived at Abkhazian immigration a different official told us we couldn’t leave without a visa stamp and would have to drive back to the capital to get one. After what seemed like ages, a bribe was paid and we were allowed to proceed. Vasily, who paid the bribe, said almost everyone going through was being forced to pay. Corruption is alive and well! Russian immigration was very slow. After waiting in line we were sent back to fill out entry cards, which one of the agents helped us with, and then had to start again at the end of the line. When we thought we were finished the van was turned back at the final barrier as Vitalia had neglected to get a required stamp on the car form.

At this point it looked like a long, expensive taxi ride would be inevitable, hope of reaching the dock in time was fading, and when we hit a barely moving traffic jam, we were certain we were done for. The guide kept saying we have time, and the driver continued to plod along several

car lengths behind the vehicle in front, allowing dozens of cars in front of us while he happily chatted and told stories.

When we pulled up to the port terminal we had three minutes to get through immigration to the last tender. I asked Vasily to try to talk his way onto the dock to keep the tender from leaving until we cleared immigration, so we hit the ground running. As we neared the entrance the staff member who helped us get to shore early called out to say no hurry - one of the buses had been caught in traffic and was a few minutes behind us. A tall strong drink was in order when we finally got on board!

The city of Sochi seems a fairly pleasant place. The population is about 343.300, and the climate sub-tropical.

In the background are high snow capped peaks where much of the winter Olympics will be held. In summer it is swamped by Russians on holiday, or going to one of its many spas and health resorts. It is known as the “Summer Capital” of Russia due to the number of top politicians from Moscow that join some two million Russians here.

The city, with a coast line of 145 km (90 miles), claims to be the longest city in Europe. Besides hosting the winter Olympics next year, Sochi will be one of the host cities for the 2018 World Cup football and the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 to 2020.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - Novorossiysk, Russia Once again the immigration formalities were difficult.

We had double entry Russian visas, but they counted the double entry as once from the ship into Russia at Sochi, and then again on the return from Abkhasiza. In the end common sense prevailed and the boss decided to let us into the city anyhow. This is the country’s main port on the Black Sea and the biggest for grain exportation. It is an industrial city noted for cement, wood processing, food

and steel industries. The district is one of the principal wine making centres in Russia.

The city does not offer much to a tourist, although it was very clean with wide, treed boulevards and pleasant parks.

We walked around the streets, but could buy little as no currency other than Russian roubles are accepted here. We were able to make some purchases by credit card, though.

We found a small, nicely done restaurant and went in for lunch. The menu was fabulous - duck, quail, lamb, pork, beef and about everything else were featured on the multipage English language menu they presented us, which we studied while downing drinks - beer for me, of course. We ended up ordering four courses of Caucasian food, one at a time, accompanied by the excellent local wine over the next 5 hours.

Part way through the afternoon a Russian couple sat down opposite our table, and as he spoke English we got into conversation. He had a Cessna 182 aircraft, which he has flown on all the routes where we drove the Rolls Royce - a complete circumnavigation of the world, and from Alaska to the south of Chile and Argentina and back. As he was celebrating his wife’s birthday we were soon making toasts and singing happily together. We were in truly fine form when we arrived back at immigration - our loud arrival in very high spirits had the officials processing us very quickly. In the morning we checked our restaurant bill to find we had 22 large glasses of wine in addition to the beer, and the bottle of wine our Russian friend bought us! It was a wonderfully rowdy night, but fairly quickly to bed on our return.

Tomorrow we will enter the Ukraine for three ports of call.

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blog, www.CafeHayek.com, noted ach day, Donald Boudreaux,with professor economist Russ Roberts hasUnilectured of economics at Georgeand Mason Hypocrites and Half-Wits won’t change your deeply But it will sharpen yourCanada, Latin in held theconvictions.

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MISSIVES FROM DONALD J BOUDREAUX The Editor, The Economist 25 St James’s Street London SW1A 1HG United Kingdom Sir: Your attempt to justify minimum wages fails (“The logical floor,” Dec. 12).

First, after announcing that “Scepticism about the merits of minimum wages remains this newspaper’s starting-point,” you abandon that scepticism on the grounds that income inequality is growing and workers’ share of national income is shrinking.

But however regrettable such trends might be, they are irrelevant to the case against minimum wages - a case that emphasizes employers’ incentives to employ fewer low-skilled workers as the cost of employing these workers rises. Neither greater income inequality nor a lower share of national income going to workers in any way weakens those incentives.

Second, it is untrue that the classic case against minimum-wage legislation assumes that labor markets are perfectly competitive.

Again, this case rests upon the recognition that all employers even ones with monopsonistic power - will further economize on their use of labor as the cost of labor rises.

The truly unrealistic theory is the theory of monopsony that you use to justify the minimum wage. Even if, as you heroically assume, employers possess monopsony power over low-skilled workers, those employers also enjoy a variety of options for dealing with higher labor costs - options that include, most relevantly, the ability to replace workers with machines. Contrary to all-too typical sloppy interpretations of the monopsonistic theory of labor markets (in which employers are simply assumed not to increase their capital-labor ratios in response to higher wages), because incentives to economize on the use of labor intensify with rising costs of labor even for the most monopsonistic of employers, there’s every reason to believe that higher minimum wages diminish the employment options of low-skilled workers regardless of how competitive or monopsonistic labor markets might be in reality.

Sincerely, Donald J. Boudreaux Professor of Economics

Editor, The Huffington Post Dear Editor: Robert Reich repeats the urban myth that Henry Ford’s 1914 increase in the daily wage of most of his workers from $2.34 to $5.00 was meant to better enable these workers to buy the Model T cars that they produced (“What Walmart Could Learn from Henry Ford,” Nov. 17).

The fact is that Ford raised pay (and also reduced the work day from nine to eight hours) in order to retain workers. Before 1914 and contrary to the prediction of those who insist that employers have monopsony power over non-unionized workers - workers quit their Ford jobs at extraordinarily high rates. This high rate of worker turnover was costly to Ford. Ford successfully sought to decrease this turnover by making employment in his factories much more attractive.

That Ford’s motive was not to enable his workers to buy Ford cars can be shown with simple arithmetic. Here’s Forbes columnist Tim Worstall (making an assumption most favorable to Reich’s case, namely, that every one of Ford’s employees would buy a new Ford car every year): “Say 240 working days in the year and 14,000 workers and we get a rise in the pay bill of $9 1/4 million over the year. A Model T cost between $550 and $450 (depends on which year we’re talking about). 14,000 cars sold at that price gives us $7 3/4 million to $6 1/4 million in income to the company. It should be obvious that paying the workforce an extra $9 million so that they can then buy $7 million’s worth of company production just isn’t a way to increase your profits. It’s a great way to increase your losses though.”* In short, Mr. Reich’s history is bunk.

Sincerely, Donald J. Boudreaux Professor of Economics and Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030

33

Vaccines and your Child Seminar and Open House

with Dr Allison Patton, N.D.

Mountainview Thursday April 12, 2012 at 7pm

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Your

HOROSCOPE Aquarius JANUARY 21-FEBRUARY 19

There is no such thing as being safe or sorry. What is safe only seems so because of the ignorance of those with opinions. Sorry is to waste one’s life afraid to take on the beautiful challenges life offers and learning how to manage the obstacles presented. If you are the witness to the experience of the universe – your responsibility is to do your part and play an active role.

Pisces FEBRUARY 20-MARCH 20

The hardships and struggles that you encounter in life give you the ability to make better decisions later on. You can anticipate the payoff to your suffering that you have experienced when you regard it as education rather than a beating that you took. You have learned to understand the people around you better. This essential knowledge and wisdom will make you into a more whole person which will add to the quality of the bonds you form with other people, as well the business and economic decisions you make.

Aries MARCH 21-APRIL 20

Financial struggles are the consequences of past decisions that have been made because of a distorted view of the universe. But the universe also comes to the rescue by educating those who run their lives counter to their survival demands. Things are going to get better – because this experience will make you better.

Taurus APRIL 21-MAY21

Most successful people realize that if the evidence to make a certain decision is strong, the reason for it is that the underlying evidence has not been examined thoroughly. Most decisions that are made, are the result of ignorance leaning evidence one way or another but when the reality of the commitment hits, the demands for success change, and they end up doing things they never anticipated in order to make things work. The ability to be flexible, to make adjustments, to learn becomes the critical factor in succeeding.

Gemini MAY 22-JUNE 21

You have been struggling for years with an issue and soon you will realize its resolution has been in front of you all along. Wanting something so badly has blinded you from achieving something better and more easily attainable. What you have endured will be made worthwhile, because without having gone through the angst, you would not appreciate the gift that is about to be bestowed on you.

Cancer JUNE 22-JULY 22

The basis for a satisfactory relationship is trust, but trust is not always about the other person. Trust begins with yourself and your ability to understand someone else – in terms of how they behave and not how you would like them to behave. Unrealistic expectations become the reasons for distrust with friends and business associates. Accepting and knowing people for who they are reduces the anxiety and stress in relationships resulting from the false expectations. Your self-confidence is based on knowing and accepting people for who they are, not who you would like them to be.

By Onieh Siel

Leo JULY 23-AUGUST 22

When you feel unhappiness, think of it as a moment or a pause in your journey to allow you to adjust. There is never a finality to a journey.

The cycle of life is based on how you judge your current situation – bad or good it is only a judgement you make – and your own ability to frame things that come your way – creates both sadness and joy.

Virgo AUGUST 23-SEPTEMBER 23

This is your moment to shine. All that has happened was for a reason and now the reason is about to be revealed to you. The fire inside you, has been burning for a long time, and you are going to explode into an era of unbelievable productivity. You will discover the inner strength and resolve that once you questioned. The doubts that held you back, you realize were about timing, and not your lack of ability. Your time to bloom has come.

Libra SEPTEMBER 24-OCTOBER 23

Sometimes how you perceive fairness is not universally shared. Listen carefully and pay attention to the subtleties of what others say about you. You may or may not change your mind about how fairly you treat others – and you may or may not influence others to recognize your good intentions – but ultimately you will gain wisdom by listening and not interrupting those who have a point to make – valid or invalid.

Scorpio OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 22

The cycle of life requires positive people to fall into negativity from time to time. Negativity protects them from being overly proactive in their efforts where they lack competence or have misjudged other people’s abilities. The greater the potential rewards, the more likely that some minor failure will bring the entire house down. Negativity is a preoccupation with the mistake that has not been taken care of that might damage continued growth and proactivity. Even negativity of the part of the process that ensures success for proactive people.

Sagittarius NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 21

Beating yourself up over the past is an indulgence that also prevents you from going forward. Every decision is made on the bases of information available at the time and with the emotions that filtered them, No decision yields result according to script. A decision gets made – and a script is written or rewritten as you go along. The story is for you to create and to tell. And as for connecting choices to results, alternative decisions do not necessarily lead themselves to different results. “Could haves” and “should haves” are meaningless. But the education from the experience is real.

Capricorn DECEMBER 22- JANUARY 20

The criteria used to make discussions is multi-dimensional. Different times, different places, for different people get different results no matter that their objectives are similar or identical. The world is evolving and the impact of the new systems we create and the beliefs we have is more relevant than even the most well thought out plans. Fear is both a deterrent and an ally – and there is no option but to move ahead and in so doing you also encounter the best that is available.

The process itself is benefit and like a good yarn it twists and turns before it is complete.

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