LETTIOR —

“Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost, “Where is the Love?”

“Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost, “Who here is in line for a raise?”

“Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost, “Where is the Love?”

“Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost, ‘Who put these bodies between us?”

—Metric, “Calculation Theme”

Ok, you’re going to have to work with me on this week’s Lettitor. Hang tough, keep reading, and like the rapper Common says, “One day, it’ll all make sense.”

Have you ever crossed the boundaries between your skin and someone else’s skin, momentarily feeling a blending of energies complete with knowledge of anoth- et’s past, present, and maybe even future?

I’m not talking about doing hallucinogens here; drugs are cheating. I’m also not talking about Mother’s Nature’s opiate, the orgasm, either. I’m talking about a rarified blending with another human that somehow momentari- ly wipes away all your preconceptions and replaces them with information strange and information exotic, like

when you're in a dream and somehow know everything that’s going on in the whole dream, even though you’re only privy to the small segment of the dream that you can actually see.

I’m talking about the shared spaces of species when they forget about traffic and jobs and errands and all the trappings of a civilized mind.

“The wise man is a Buddhist in hard times, a Confucian in good times, and a Taoist in the moments that occasionally arise between.”

—Some Wise Person [paraphrased]

A quick Eastern Philosophy / World religion primer: 1. Buddhism—Buddha preached that existence was a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. Each person’s position and well being in life is determined by his or her behavior in previous lives. Buddha also taught that as long as individuals remain within the cycle of death and rebirth, they can never be completely free from pain and suffering. Buddha said people could break out of the cycle of suffering by eliminating any attachment to worldly things.

2. Confucianism—A social philosophy developed circa 500 BC in China. According to Confucianism, people can live a good life only in a well-disciplined society that stresses attention to ceremony, duty, morality, and public service.

3. Taoism— The Taoist ideal, on the other hand, is a person who avoids conventional social obligations and leads a simple, spontaneous, and meditative life close to nature.

What does this little comparative primer, coupled with the above quote, have to do with life here at Douglas College? Well, nothing, really, and everything Goddammit.

More than simply picking a philosophy and sticking to it come hell or high water, a life well lived is a life engaged. And to engage, it sure helps if you’re able to adapt. Life doesn’t stop. It’s a cavalcade of close misses,

targets set and surpassed, and often, complete and utter chaos. Beifig malleable allows you room to move, or, more specifically, new possibilities to move into. Life is change, and change is hatd.

“T spent every cent I had on booze and women, mil- lions in all. The rest...well, the rest I squandered.” —Soccer star and notorious lush, George Best

And then there’s the Dennis Leary side of the equa- tion: “Life is tough, get a fucking helmet.” Which brings me to the x-factor. By its very definition, life’s variable is unknown and different for each and every person. Maybe the farm life is what you really crave. Maybe you love the buzz and 24-hour stimuli of a big city. Whether you're a homebody, a homey, neither, or both, it doesn’t really matter.

“All we are is dust in the wind.”

—Steve Walsh (of the band Kansas)

There are eight million stories out there in the city, and believe it or not, you’re one of them. So am I. So is the 16-year-old crying in a bathroom while reading the directions on a home pregnancy test. So is the fiancé running errands for the big day, the guy in the glasses biding his time in the park, and the girl with the lisp who never says “Thanks,” but not for the reasons you’d sus- pect. There are drivers and winners, losses that crush and symbolic gestures that lift. For every crash, a phoenix. For every phoenix, a fall. For every Confucian, three Buddhists, two Taoists, and a Steve Walsh in a pear tree who doesn’t give a flying fig so long as he’s mulleted and adored.

But the Other Press cares. We do. So you should read it. I mean, unless you’re reading this online at www.theotherpress.ca, you’re already holding it in your hands anyway, so go ahead and turn the page. The stories are all there waiting for you, and you just never know what you're going to find lurking inside these pages.

—Colin Miley, Managing Editor

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