“Surely one key test of any society is how we treat the most vulnerable and, even more particularly, the most despised. Justice policies offer a glimpse into the soul of a nation.”  

The government’s criminal justice policy shapes our country, and will have far reaching impact on all Canadians….

see also: Open Letter To Stephen Harper

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Omnibus Crime Bill C-10

Policy Identification & Letter to the Editor

Nanci Bell

Booth University College

October 5, 2011

Introduction

An important area of social policy that becomes emotionally charged at election time is that of criminal justice. In order to win votes politicians play on the insecurities and fears of citizens, promising to make our country safer in a wide variety of ways from preventative programs to tougher punishments. And yet, despite rhetoric about how one party might get tough on crime while the other gets smart, once elections are over and promises fade, the legislation and principles that form public policy and practice must be both tough and smart. Defining what that means in a transparent, progressive and proven way in accordance with the will of the people is the job of our legislators.

We must all realize that criminal justice policy does not merely involve the most hardened murderers and terrorists out there, but any of us might have brothers, cousins, friends and neighbours who have fallen into troubled times and become enmeshed in serious legal consequences. As a social worker dealing with at-risk youth, we see that interventions can make the difference between their going deeper into trouble and making a change for the better. But beyond personal or professional interest, criminal justice policy should be of concern to every Canadian if for no other reason than the amount of our tax money that goes into the justice system. At a deeper level, we should take pride in our progressive charter of rights and freedoms, and the high quality of life that we hope to maintain in this country. “Surely one key test of any society is how we treat the most vulnerable and, even more particularly, the most despised. Justice policies offer a glimpse into the soul of a nation” (Himelfarb, 2011[as1] ). When our elected officials begin to move in the wrong direction, there should be an outcry of non-confidence, which is exactly what folded Harper’s minority government last session. The government’s criminal justice policy shapes our country, and will have far reaching impact on all Canadians.

The Policy: Tough-on-crime

As P.M. Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party began a new session of Parliament with a majority government this fall, his first big move on September 20 was to table the omnibus crime bill containing various laws or amendments that had been previously defeated. Called the Safe Streets and Communities Act, it forms part of the party’s “Tough-on-crime” policy. The omnibus contains nine acts totaling about 110 pages of proposals, including changes to drug laws, youth sentencing, the pardons system, detention of refugees, parole, house arrest and anti-terrorism measures. The bill “represents the biggest change to our justice system in recent memory” (Himelfarb, 2011). Though some applaud the proposed tougher penalties for sexual offences against children and measures to prevent human trafficking and exploitation, others fear that judges will have less discretion with increased mandatory minimum sentences and an end to the use of conditional sentences for many crimes. The policy is intended to protect Canadians and increase our safety by imposing tougher penalties as a deterrent to criminals.

Though crime rates are down, with the number of reported crimes in 2010 being the fewest since 1973, the Tories are determined to push their agenda. “We’re not governing on the basis of the latest statistics, ” Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said at a news conference” (Tories table tough-on-crime bill, 2011). But neither are they disclosing where the money will come from to cover these extensive changes, or where the cuts will come in other programs to cover the increased costs of building more jails and incarcerating more criminals.

At its basic level the policy targets sexual predators, organized drug dealers, violent young offenders, those guilty of violent and serious crimes, terrorists and those involved in human trafficking. But by throwing a wide net with mandatory minimums, there may be many incarcerated who could have been otherwise conditionally sentenced and rehabilitated. As the John Howard Society has learned, “restorative resolution clients were found to have a recidivism rate of only 18 per cent, compared to a 45 per cent rate of recidivism for those incarcerated” (Hutton, 2011). How can the government claim to be protecting citizens when their policy relies on methods that have been proven ineffective?

The Legislative Process

The Conservatives were working as a minority government last session when these bills failed to pass individually. Now Harper hopes to pass the omnibus through within 100 sitting days of Parliament. However, as the bill goes through reading, debates, study, amendments and votes, there will be time for the opposition to stall and refine the proposed legislation. Hopefully what is good will pass into law and those areas that are counterproductive will be defeated or amended so as to maintain the kind of progressive justice Canadians expect.

As our textbook points out, in Canada all parties have moved to the right, favouring balanced budgets, reduced debt and “a leaner social welfare system” (Chappell, 2006, p. 47). And so it appears on this issue, some of the NDP policy seems very similar to the Conservative’s. According to their website, Manitoba’s NDP are “pushing politicians in Ottawa to create tougher laws that will see mandatory sentences for knife crimes, home invasions and car-jackings, and changing the Youth Criminal Justice Act to better deal with out of control youth” (Today’s NDP, 2011). It is never clear what is rhetoric in election times and what will actually be implemented. In their role as opposition, the NDP needs to become grounded in current research into best practices and vote for what will actually protect public safety, freedom and justice for all citizens.

Whatever bills get passed into law will require efforts at the national, provincial and municipal levels to ensure these measures are implemented. All parties are promising more police officers on the streets, and our jails have had dangerously overcrowded conditions for years, so the city and province look forward to federal funding to solve existing issues. But the tough-on-crime policy will create more problems as mandatory minimums and cutting conditional sentences will greatly increase incarcerations. We need to learn from our American neighbours’ negative experience. Over the last 30 years “the U.S. government increased spending on corrections by about 700 per cent, at the expense of other programs… In recent months a wide range of U.S. politicians … have spoken out against the use of mandatory minimums and have urged Canada not to copy U.S. mistakes” (Hutton, 2011). Hopefully, as the ominbus bill works its way through the legislative process, the government will not choose to sacrifice the many mental health, restorative justice, preventative and rehabilitative programs that have proven success rates in reducing crime.

Impact

Many have already weighed in on the policy: NDP justice critic Joe Comartin is quoted as saying, “[The Tories] have yet to produce one viable study that shows that deterrence works. Prevention works, deterrence does not” (Tories table tough-on-crime bill, 2011). John Hutton, executive director of the John Howard Society of Manitoba is quoted in the Free Press article “Conditional sentencing works best” (2011) saying, “the JHS has joined the Canadian Bar Association and prominent jurists in opposing the mandatory sentences because it amounts to breaking something that has, by all accounts, been working quite well.”  Not only do conditional sentences have a high success rate, but they are cheaper for taxpayers, since individuals on sentence usually work to support themselves and their families. The cost of incarcerating one adult is estimated at $65,000 a year. Critics say the proposed measures will be “hugely expensive and have been proven ineffective – or worse – over three decades of increasingly draconian “tough-on-crime” campaigns in the United States” (Tories table tough-on-crime bill, 2011). Other critics say, “the omnibus bill was condemned by criminal lawyers, prisoner advocates and political critics who pointed to falling crime rates and said the country cannot afford a massive prison expansion” (Tonda, 2011).

Perhaps in the current economic crisis, the Conservative government is pushing the tough-on-crime policy to divert attention away from the looming impact of the global economic downturn. Perhaps the Harper government favours a Keynesian approach, filling up the court system and building prisons as an employment project for out of work Canadians.[as2]  Time will tell the economic impact of the policy, since the relevant budget has not been released.

Though the government spin is to promise a great impact on the peace and security of Canadians, the voices of those who work in the system must be heard. With increased incarceration comes the impact to families and children, increasing poverty to the collateral victims of crime. The root causes of crime need to be addressed, and preventing recurrence can be achieved through proven programs.

Values

The values behind the policy imply a greater distance between the good/victims/innocent and the bad/criminals/guilty. This is a typical attempt to demonize the enemy in order to incite fear and justify retribution. There is a misinformed value put on punishment as a deterrent, and it undervalues the many social programs have actually been successful. This aligns with Chappell’s (2006) comparison of political ideologies: Conservatism values social traditions, class distinctions and is patriarchal, believing that charity should be given sparingly. Though they would say they value peace, justice, public safety and freedom for the innocent, in fact, our government is planning further bills to permit surveillance of our internet activity and detention of anyone suspected of terrorist activity. As we are on the brink of giving up more freedoms and returning to a time of greater punishment and government control, Canadians must ask themselves if the Conservative policy is in line with our values.

Conclusion

In general we expect our nation’s government to form policies and fund programs that work for the good of all. With the omnibus bill that the current Conservative government is determined to push through the legislature, there are some needed changes, but there are others proposed that should be setting off alarms across the country. When I think of friends or family who have served conditional sentences, continued to work to support their families as well as doing the harder work of rehabilitation, I can’t imagine how years of incarceration would have been better for all concerned. In working with youth, I have seen early lock-ups achieve only the work of hardening and educating the youth in the ways we don’t want them to go. Positive rehabilitative programs exist and studies show much better success rates than punishment. Judges need to have discretion to hear circumstances and put in place what is best for each case. The policy that includes more minimum sentences and less conditional sentences is not tough on crime, it’s just trying to look tough. Canadians want violent repeat offenders, child abusers and human traffickers to be off the streets, but there must be clearer policy that can achieve this. In a time when crime is at a 40-year low, the government’s tough-on-crime policy seems out of place. One wonders what the real agenda is.

References

Chappell, R. (2006). Social welfare in Canadian society (4th ed.). Ont: Toronto: Nelson.

Himelfarb, A. (2011). Is it getting tough on crime, or getting tough on the poor? CCPA Monitor,             18(3), 14-15. Retrieved October 2, 2011 from EBSCOhost.

Hutton, J. (2011, September 17). Conditional sentencing works best. Winnipeg Free Press, p.             A19.

Today’s NDP (2011). Our plan: Fighting crime. Retrieved October 2, 2011 from             http://todaysndp.ca/protecting-you-and-your-family.

Tonda, M. (2011, September 21). Tories recycle crime bills conservatives roll nine past             proposals into one massive omnibus bill. Record, The (Kitchener/Cambridge/Waterloo,             ON). Retrieved October 2, 2011 from EBSCOhost.

Tories table tough-on-crime bill. (2011, September 21). Winnipeg Free Press, p. A3.

Appendix

Letter to the Editor

I have appreciated some articles you have published since the Harper government has come out with their “tough-on-crime” omnibus bill. John Hutton, executive director of the John Howard Society of Manitoba presents the real evidence of what works in dealing with offenders facing sentences less than two years (Conditional sentencing works best, Sept.17). The high success rate of Restorative Resolutions should convince voters to speak out against the fear mongering that is behind the Conservative government’s tactics. We want our tax dollars to be smart-on-crime, not just punitive, which only perpetuates crime.

Tom Oleson’s article From nightshirts to nightmares (Sept. 24) draws connections between the story of the serial killer Clifford Olson who continues to apply for parole as he dies of cancer in jail at a huge cost to tax payers, and the story of an 18 year-old single welfare woman sent to jail for shoplifting a t-shirt for her baby. Oleson agues that the omnibus bill introduced into Parliament will force mandatory minimum sentences on those who need other more rehabilitative measures, and will not be harsh enough for those convicted of multiple violent crimes who drain the system for years on end. He warns the omnibus bill should be broken up into its separate acts and each debated for its own merit.

I am glad there are voices of reason being published in your paper at a time when the media is full of rhetoric aimed at increasing our fear for safety when we are actually in a 40-year decline in crime rates. I have been thankful that judges could use discretion in cases I have known that have been successfully resolved with conditional sentences. The tough-on-crime policy is scary to thinking Canadians who know the reality behind the rhetoric.

Nanci Bell

Winnipeg

“Look Jesse,  a woman bus driver!”

“No!” said Jess emphatically, as if such a thing were not possible.

We’ve ribbed him about it many times since but it really did surprise me that a young boy, with reasonably progressive parents, would have so early adopted prejudicial  paradigms that were, in his mind, unquestionable.

Twenty-some years later I’m in Ethiopia with a traveling companion (Heather Plett* -then communications coordinator for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank) who asked,

“When you hear the word farmer, do you get a picture of a man or a woman?”

“Man,” I say.

“Curious you would conjure a male image when by far most farmers in the world are women.”

“No.” I say emphatically.

“Yes.” said Heather… emphatically.

And yet, knowing the facts and having been to many areas of the world where those facts are easily verifiable, I still conjure an image of a man when I hear the word farmer.

And so when the Canadian Foodgrains Bank writes policy papers encouraging our government to adopt programs that support the local farmer in developing countries, what should be dawning on us is that this is a plea for the mothers of those 30,000 children who died recently in the Horn of Africa.

Sam Vander Ende

In 2008, while bumping along a coarse gravel road in the highlands of Ethiopia, I asked Sam Vander Ende (CFGB Field Representative, Addis Ababa) what, in his opinion, was the best use of development dollars.

“Invest in the women,” he said without reservation, “it’s by far the best bang for your buck.  Men tend to seize resources and use them to fortify their own social stature and economic advantage.   Women, however, are more likely to use resources in a way that benefits the community.” **

Women are the nurturers. The word nurture derives from the latin nutrire which has the double connotation of feed and cherish. From the same root we get nature and nourish.  It should be no surprise that the ones who first nourish us from the moment of our birth, continue, on a global scale, to be the single largest demographic most passionately occupied with the production and distribution of food – so much so, that when food becomes scarce, women are the most likely to volunteer their own portions for the sake of family members.

It should be fairly evident that any policies that hope to eradicate poverty would focus on  fortifying these natural nurturers. Those policies would not only  encourage practical support “for the small farmer”  but  also enact  laws that protect women and their rights; policies that encourage the safety, health and education of female children; policies that demonstrate we understand and respect the fact  that men, for the most part, have to learn by discipline and virtue what for women is… well… natural.

My foster daughter is a First Nations mother with three gorgeous children. She and her two youngest have recently moved in with Nanci and I while they re-establish a life for themselves in the city.  She currently lives on a social assistance program which is so meagre that I can’t for the life of me figure out the metrics of survival for one adult never mind a single adult with children. And her prospects for prosperity, by virtue of skin colour, are rather dismal. Yet her capacity for her children is nothing short of heroic; the pride she takes in their appearance; the daily efforts made for them to experience life to the full; the patient tenderness evident in her every action.  If I were to invest in those children’s future, I’d bank on the mom.

Those of us concerned with issues of chronic poverty at home or overseas need to support organizations who understand the primary  role of women in the battle for our future. We need to relentlessly hound our governments to adopt policies that reflect a progressive understanding of the issues; that directly benefit women and perhaps look with some caution on solutions which tend to benefit corporations** whose interests (understandably enough) are profits, rather than the small farmer of the Ethiopian highlands whose name sounds suspiciously female.

***

Bangladesh / 2008

This is Blog 6 from a six-week coffee fast I undertook in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s FAST FOR CHANGE campaign.  I’m officially off the fast now but surprisingly am not in any hurry to re-establish my frenetic habit.  It has been meaningful for me to set aside this time to attend to the needs of others and the needs of the planet. It has been good to have a heightened awareness of related news around the globe. It has been good to write down thoughts that came from this exercise.  It has been sobering to learn more about my own complicity with systems that perpetuate hunger. It is good to begin to change patterns of living that are harmful to others. There is something to this fasting thing.  Perhaps it is something that should become more of a lifestyle commitment rather than an occasional one:

Fast and Pray. Fast and Advocate. Fast and Give  

There are worse ways to live a life.

Note:

Learn more about the CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK…

Learn more about FAST FOR CHANGE…

Read previous blogs from this series:

• Week 1/  Family, Food, Feast and Famine
• Week 2/ Root Causes of Hunger
• Week 3/ The Real Cost of Food
• Week 4/ Climate Change and Natural Disasters
• Week 5/ The Human Right to Food

* Photos of women and children courtesy of Heather Plett. See Heather’s blog: Sophia Leadership

** Clearly not every woman is a saint nor every man and corporation a demon.  These are general statements made only on the assumption that readers understand the limitations of a blog to identify and clarify the obvious and many exceptions.

Listen to FAST FOR CHANGE radio HERE…

Port au Prince, Haiti | photo: Marcello Casal Jr.

Climate Change and Natural Disasters
by Steve Bell

I’m astonished by the kinds of comments I read on blogs and news reports from those who insist that chronic poverty is most commonly the fault of the people who are suffering the most.

The reason I wanted to write this series of blogs was to highlight the matrix of events, trends and processes that benefit some and plague others.  The earthquake that so devastatingly hit Haiti in 2010 occasioned much public discussion and (sadly) derision about Haiti’s chronic neediness. I decided to do a little research into her history and in less than an hour discovered a  long and crippling legacy of unjust debt, dictatorships and disasters that can hardly be blamed on the beleaguered  Haitians.  (If you haven’t already, take about five minutes and read my blog Debt, Dictatorship and Disaster – a Brief History of Haiti - it’ll surprise you). From the relatively stable political, social and natural environment I come from, it’s hard to fathom the concentrated challenges that so many… on such a tiny island…. have had to endure… for so long.

My blogs in this series so far have touched on a few of the many causes of poverty around the world:  the volatility of world food prices, retrogressive traditional customs, local and global corruption, regional conflict. Upcoming blogs will talk about unjust and unreliable legal structures and gender prejudice.  But no matter how you discern it, the deaths of 30,000 children in the Horn of Africa in the last three months cannot be considered self-inflicted. They were just children. And according to reports, there are millions more who are currently, critically vulnerable.

Afar Children | photo: S Bell

Let’s for a moment consider climate change and natural disasters. When Nanci and I visited a remote village in the Afar Desert in north-east Ethiopia, we met a people who have survived this inhospitable climate for centuries; living rather ingenious nomadic lives that for the most part were quite sustainable.  Serious drought (typically every 20 years),  though problematic, was anticipated, strategically planned for and absorbed. The unique difficulty these days is not drought in itself, but frequency of drought.  What used to come every twenty years is now coming every 5-8 years with not enough time in between to absorb, recover and prepare.  Traditional nomadic life is no longer sustainable and the millions there will have to quickly manage a  seismic cultural  shift in their centuries-0ld understanding of a meaningful life  - or they will simply perish.

Cyclone Sidr survivors | photo: S. Bell

In 2008, Nanci and I  traveled with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to Bangladesh.  Just months before our arrival, Cyclone Sidr  whipped up a twenty foot sea surge that bludgeoned the heavily populated coastline along the Bay of Bengal. In the middle of the night, within minutes, mothers found themselves hanging on to children with one arm,  and the tops of palm trees with the other as the churning waters hurled corrugated metal from destroyed homes, slicing through their skin and muscles until they could no longer hold on to their young.  The horror of that night is too much to bear and I rarely let myself think about the stories I heard.  But most said that that wasn’t the worst part.  Months after the storm, and after the world turned to more immediate disasters, rotting corpses from the tens of thousands of farm animals killed in the storm leached into the water table causing an epidemic of dysentery that  caused unspeakable suffering and took many more lives. As with droughts in Africa, the increasing frequency and severity of tropical storms in other parts of the world are having a crippling effect on millions of already vulnerable  people.

These these two trips alone inspired quite a change in Nanci’s and my lifestyle. I know there is much heated and politicized debate about the cause of climate change but consider this: Once I met a marine scientist in southern California.  He had been studying the profound changes that carbon pollution was having on the world’s oceans.  Al Gore’s alarmist film had just come out and naysayers were citing evidence of carbon spikes in the earth’s atmosphere  throughout history, suggesting that our present experience is simply cyclical. My friend  pointed out that this was a moot point. “Of course there have been carbon spikes in the past,” he said, “but in the past there weren’t 7 billion people on the planet using fossil fuels to ampify the effects.”  So  Nance and I have downsized to a one-car family. We’ve wrapped our home in insulation and do everything we can to conserve heat in the winter and cool in the summer. I’ve come to appreciate, even enjoy  riding the bus and am increasingly choosing a diet that has a smaller carbon footprint.  We are certainly not poster-children for the cause, there is much more we could do. But we are learning and changing slowly as our hearts soften to the reality of the global situation as we understand it. We need to constantly re-assess our lifestyle to determine if we can learn to use less and share more – and commit to continuous learning so we might do more on behalf of those most pressed by global stressors.

Emily Cain

“The poor, and those  who live close to the margins of society often do not have buffers between themselves and their environment and the simple option to relocate is a resource many don’t have. Those of us with adequate resources protect ourselves from disaster – we buy insurance, we rely on our government for support, we tuck money away in bank accounts.  And while necessity is the mother of invention and in times of need people find creative ways to cope – sometimes it is not enough.”

Emily Cain / Communications Coordinator, Canadian Foodgrains Bank

And so… besides  lifestyle change and personal giving, as a voting citizen of Canada I can also urge my government to represent our hearts on the matter of climate change and global hunger. This week I plan to use the template provided by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s FAST FOR CHANGE campaign to write a letter to  my Member of Parliament.  I fully  understand Governments are limited  and should not  be counted on to solve all the problems. But they have a tremendous place in the overall matrix of responses needed to address problems that now exist on a global scale.  I want my government to know that if it is going to represent me, it must err on the side of long-haul compassion, not short-term protectionism. I would like my government to be a world leader in thoughtful, sustained and sacrificial compassion on behalf of the world’s hungry.  Perhaps you might write a letter too. We’re hoping for a Harvest of Letters! If it helps,  you can use or modify a letter provided by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank HERE…  Info about how to identify and address your MP are provided.

Nanci with village children/ Bangladesh

In closing:  This past week I was politely criticized for encouraging people to fast and pray.  The critique was that these were benign, sentimental activities that  enable people to feel good about themselves without having to do the real work of charity and advocacy. Let me say  this… I do believe in prayer. Profoundly so.  How (exactly)  my prayers affect God I cannot say. Will God act decisively  in history only if I pray? And if I don’t? I’ve heard many and various teachings about this, but personally, I think we’re treading the the realm of mystery. However, this I do know from experience… prayer changes me. When I am silent before God with the world’s sufferings on my heart, my soul supples and I cannot leave that holy place unchanged.  And maybe it is not a good  (but seemingly docile) God who needs to be mobilized for change, but rather a naturally self-serving and preserving Steve Bell who needs to change. Perhaps, prayer-changing-me is actually how God works for good in history. It’s just a thought.

Visit the Fast For Change website. Join the campaign to:

Fast and Pray. Fast and Advocate. Fast and Give.

This blog is from week 4 of a six week coffee fast Steve has undertaken in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s FAST FOR CHANGE campaign.

Other blogs in this series:

• Week 1 /  Family, Food, Feast and Famine
• Week 2 / Root Causes of Hunger
• Week 3 / The Real Cost of Food
• Week 5 / The Human Right to Food
• Week 6 / Women and Hunger

Related blogs:

• Remembering Bangladesh
• Debt, Disaster and Dictatorship – a Brief History of Haiti

Further Reading:

• A Primer on Climate Change and Hunger  prepared by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank
• Waste Not, Want Not   by Terence Z. Sibanda.  “One third of all food produced is wasted, says a recent report from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Food is lost at every stage, from initial production, through the supply chain, the retail stage, and finally at the household level…. In medium and high income countries about 220 million tonnes of food is lost at the household level. This loss is the equivalent of the total net food produced in Sub Saharan Africa.”
• A Biblical Perspective on the Problem of Hunger by Walter Brueggemann. The persistence of hunger in a world entirely capable of producing enough food for all, in the end, is an issue of fidelity; a fidelity that issues from a three-way covenant between God, the earth, and its people. For our part, our covenant is to a “love-fueled justice –one that is binding not in the remote, legal sense, but rather in the familial sense.”
  

Listen to the  Fast for Change Radio Player.

Click HERE…

Musahar Child, Bihar India | Photo: S Bell

The Human Right to Food by Steve Bell

I don’t spend much time thinking about my own human rights. They’ve hardly ever, if ever, been  seriously transgressed.  And I live in a nation where we think of our wealth and safety primarily as the result of personal industry, character and, for some, God’s blessing. I work hard, I have some character at least, and I certainly feel blessed. I own a home and a car; this puts me in the top 2% wealthiest people on the planet.  I’m a white, blue-eyed male; this means of all the people of the earth,  I have the most access to opportunity on the basis of race and gender.  I’ve never been beaten, enslaved, wrongfully imprisoned, oppressed, forcibly displaced, seriously marginalized or the like. Surely I am blessed (?).

One night when my daughter Sarah was very young, perhaps about five years old, she was having a difficult time going to sleep because she was afraid. On questioning, her fears were rather unsubstantiated – a point I tried in vain to make.  Sarah was inconsolable.  Finally, in desperation I told her that Jesus loved her and nothing bad was going to happen. Sarah looked up at me  through her tears and said, “Okay Daddy.. but does that mean Jesus doesn’t love the kids that do get hurt?”  Clearly, my theology was inadequate.

There are, in fact, many places where good people who work very hard regularly go without enough to eat. I have seen this with my own eyes in Bihar, India among the low caste; folks who are not only deprived of their rights, but who often don’t even believe they have rights to be deprived of.

Village Council | photo: S Bell

These are the Musahar. But they are often called “the rat eaters.”   Sitting with them at a village council they told us how painful that title  was to hear. They don’t eat rats. But they do work for land owners who don’t pay them a living wage. And so they often will follow rats to their dens and rob them of grain stored undergound.  The government has programs to provide work and food, but those programs are robbed by petty officials and the aid rarely reaches its goal.  We sat among them for quite awhile hearing the desperation of their lives. Their survival depends on the capricious goodwill of unscrupulous land owners, and unsuspecting rats;  not the law –  not their rights.

Bihar, India | photo: N Bell

These children are born into a lifetime of hunger for no other reason than being a member of a certain caste. Others are condemned to hunger when forced to give up their land on which they grow food for their families. I’ve also met many such displaced people. But what if their right to the basic elements of a healthy life, including food, were protected in their society? What if access to land was protected in cases where people depend on this for their survival?

Musahar Home, Bihar India | photo: S Bell

In India, people took their government to court over poor distribution of food and lack of programs to fight hunger. Nanci and I got to witness the front lines of the efforts to fulfill the right to food for “untouchables”. We were with Christians there who were working on those front lines. Local churches participating in education programs for these communities, to make people aware of these services already created by the government for them. It was more than saying “Hey, did you know…?” They also helped them voice their demands for these services to local government officials. Simple things like food or clean water – things we take for granted – these are still a struggle to obtain for millions in India, where a growing middle class hides the fact that many of the world’s hungry people live in this country.  And we in Canada are not to be smug about this. We have our own citizens living on reserves with a centuries-old legacy of  cultural genocide; Canadians who don’t have basics like clean water;  living marginalized, impoverished lives with little or no chance of improvement.

Village council | photo: S Bell

The challenge for us, who already have enough, is to look beyond ourselves to others’ basic needs, which is what the human right to food is really about. It’s about us as individuals, or as a nation, looking beyond our borders and learning to take better care of each other. It’s about considering the impact of what we do – or what we can possibly do – to make sure others get to eat too. I think we can see some compatibility between this idea and the essential message of Jesus who once prayed, “Father, may they be one as you and I are one, so that the world would know you love them as you love me.”

Bihar, India | photo: N Bell

What can you do?  Start simply.  Don’t take on the world’s problems, but start to practice an extended kin-ship with others who are not part of your immediate family, social status or race.

Fast and pray. Fast and advocate. Fast and give.

To join me in, or to learn about the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s FAST FOR CHANGE campaign, click HERE… 

 (click arrow to listen to song)

KINDNESS

words and music by Brian McLaren
from Steve Bell’s 2011 CD, Kin-dness

Christ has no body here but ours
No hands, no feet here, on earth but ours
Ours the eyes through, which he looks
On this world with kindness

Ours are the hands through which he works
Ours are the feet on which he moves
Our the voices, through which he speaks
To this world with kindness

Through our touch, our smile, our listening ear
Embodied in us, Jesus is living here
Let us go now, enspirited
Into this world with kindness.

This blog is from week 5 of a six-week coffee fast Steve has undertaken in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s FAST FOR CHANGE campaign.

Other Related Blogs in this Series:

• Week 1 / Family, Food, Feast and Famine
• Week 2 / Root Causes
• Week 3 / The Real Cost of Food
• Week 4 / Climate Change and Natural Disasters 
• Week 6 / Women and Hunger

Listen to  FAST FOR CHANGE RADIO (free music)

click HERE…

Bangladesh / 2008

This is the third instalment of six blogs during a six-week coffee fast Steve is doing in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s Fast for Change campaign.  Links to the other blogs and to the Fast For Change Radio Player are listed at the bottom of the page.

When I first started traveling to developing countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Bangladesh etc., I assumed that  food unavailability in one area of the world could simply be solved by motivating generosity in another part of the world.  But alas, like most things in life, it’s not that simple.  And in an rapidly globalizing world, the root causes of hunger are increasingly complex.

Stu Clark is the senior policy advisor for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. He is also one of three servant leaders at Grain of Wheat Church Community here in Winnipeg.   Nance and I attended that church for the better part of 15 years. And so, Stu is also a long and dear friend. In fact, back in the early-eighties I fell in love with  a guitar that was to be my first hand-made instrument.  It was Stu who lent me the money to make the purchase.

Stu and I have had countless lunches together discussing theology, politics, environmental concerns, music, beauty etc.  It was through Stu that I became involved with the work of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.  Here’s what Stu has to say about world food prices, volitility and and reliable food supply:

The real cost of food?  by Stu Clark

What is the real cost of food?  When I buy food from the local farmers’ market, most likely I pay a price that the farmer has figured out from his/her costs to grow it, harvest it and then bring it to the market.  Of course, the price can’t be too different from those offered by others on the market.  Simple.

But when I buy food at the supermarket or if I am a poor person buying food at a city market in Africa, it is not so simple.  That’s because in these situations I am dealing with the globalized food system where the farmers are just one of a crowd of people who decide the price.  Four groups are important.

The first group is the world’s farmers and their production.  If it is a good year and everything works very well, there may be such a large production that prices are pushed down.  But with less and less predictable weather, it is increasingly common that production is good one year but bad the next, causing prices to fluctuate.

Ethiopian Injera

The second group is those who eat the crops for their food.  Global population is increasing but the growth is gradually slowing.  Their total demand changes slowly but in the rapidly expanding countries like China it is not so much how much but what they are eating that changes.

And that brings us to the matter of meat consumption and the third group, us meat eaters.  It takes a lot of grain to make a kilo of meat – 2.5 kilos for chicken, 4 kilos for pork and 7 kilos for beef.  And more and more Chinese are wanting to eat meat like us.  This means that a rapidly increasing amount of animal feed for that meat is competing with grain used for bread, pasta and other grain based food products.

Finally, there’s me again when I start my car.  The growing amount of grain, mainly corn, that is being converted to ethanol to extend our oil-based gasoline is starting to effect global food prices.

All of this means that the balance between what the farmers produce and what we all use for food, feed and biofuels is becoming precarious. The surpluses we have enjoyed for many years have come to an end.  And that precarious balance will mean that global food prices will continue to be unstable unless we take measures like following Joseph’s example in the Bible by setting aside grain in years of higher production to ensure enough in the lean years.  ”Just-in-time” food won’t work any longer.  We are in a new world-situation that requires a different management paradigm to ensure a reliable food supply.

Related blogs:

• Week 1 / Family, Food, Feast and Famine
• Week 2 / Root Causes of Hunger
• Week 4 / Climate Change and Natural Disasters
• Week 5 / The Human Right to Food
• Week 6 / Women and Hunger

Further Reading:

• Waste Not, Want Not   by Terence Z. Sibanda.  ”One third of all food produced is wasted, says a recent report from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Food is lost at every stage, from initial production, through the supply chain, the retail stage, and finally at the household level…In medium and high income countries about 220 million tonnes of food is lost at the household level. This loss is the equivalent of the total net food produced in Sub Saharan Africa.”
• A Biblical Perspective on the Problem of Hunger by Walter Brueggemann. The persistence of hunger in a world entirely capable of producing enough food for all, in the end, is an issue of fidelity; a fidelity that issues from a three-way covenant between God, the earth, and its people. For our part, our covenant is to a “love-fueled justice –one that is binding not in the remote, legal sense, but rather in the familial sense.”

To listen to the Fast For Change Radio Player (music), click HERE…

Weldiya, Ethiopia

I’m  approaching the second week of my coffee fast and the headaches are now less intense and will usually go away with a bit of caffeinated tea. (Click HERE to read my previous blog about the origin and purpose of this fast.)

Egad!  I didn’t think it’d take quite this long for my body to adjust.  I suppose it was naive to think that decades of 5-10 cups of coffee a day wouldn’t trigger a significant protest. I suppose my body, by now, thinks it has a right to the stuff.  It certainly thinks it needs it. But as my friend Tim Plett likes to say, “fasting is a way of teaching our bodies that there is nothing wrong with the world when we don’t get what we want”  This is a tough lesson in our culture. It could even be considered counter-cultural, almost treasonous,  considering that our economy’s health seems to depend on insatiable consumption.

Afar Desert, Ethiopia / photo: Steve Bell

In 2007, Nanci and I traveled to the Afar Desert in north-east Ethiopia to visit an irrigation project. (View a short video of that trip HERE.)  It was there that I began to understand the complexities of chronic,  systemic poverty.  I began to understand the dark legacy of colonialism, the often brutal effect of world markets on local economies, the realities of local corruption, the callousness of corporate greed, the sometimes horrific outcomes of traditional customs,  our own western consumption and  the relentless bludgeoning from climactic shocks whose increasing ferocity and frequency inhibit prosperity. These forces are overwhelming. And of course I’m not responsible for most of them, but I am response-able to all of them.  Here are a few words from my friend James Korneslen who is the Public Engagement Coordinator for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank:

Root cause of hunger in East Africa

I confess I don’t worry much about dandelions on my lawn. I mow and forget. My wife, on the other hand, enjoys kneeling down and patiently digging them out by the roots, one by one, with a little metal tool. It’s a gift, I suppose.

I’ve been thinking lately about the roots of the issue of hunger, especially in such beautiful and culturally rich places like Ethiopia and Somalia.

Somali girl | photo Frank Spangler

My visit to Ethiopia last year helped turn around the images generated from the famine there in the 80’s.  With the recent news about East Africa, I found myself bothered by the resurfacing of stereotypical images that many have come to associate with that region. And now, famine. Again. Is this an inevitable cycle? Or is this something new?

The most serious impacts are in the Somali region, where conflict has made it impossible for people to mobilize themselves to obtain food. Failed rains. Lost harvests. Political turmoil. It does seem like a familiar story. But there are some things we know now that most of us probably didn’t take notice of back in the 80s.

Irrigation / Afar Desert | photo: Steve Bell

Climate change is a factor linked with increased droughts, which have a much greater impact on rural people. This issue connects us all in ways we haven’t seen before. A long history of conflict, prejudice, and exploitation of people poses enormous barriers to the development of healthy and prosperous communities. World trade practices also favour the powerful and wealthy, while often negatively affecting people struggling to make a living.

The less visible root causes – and there are ways to see ourselves in them if we look closely – remain after the interest of the media is gone. I am aware there are those who have been patiently working at these issues. While I respond with all the other generous Canadians to the present crisis, I pray that we will not simply mow and forget, but also spend some quality time on our knees digging out the roots.            -James Kornelsen

Fields of Ethiopia | photo: Steve Bell

I’ve entered into this simple fast as a way to engage more deliberately  and to try to further understand my own complicity with the reality of food insecurity and inequality around the globe. I’ve chosen to fast from coffee simply because I knew that this would draw my attention several times a day and remind me to reflect and pray.  I’ve done this before and I’m doing this again in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s FAST FOR CHANGE campaign which encourages folks to 1) Fast and Pray,  2) Fast and Give,  3) Fast and Advocate.  Again, I may not be responsible for the world’s sufferings but I certainly am response-able. Sometimes, signing on to a simple campaign helps to focus our actions (with others) in ways that encourage awareness, solidarity and measurable outcomes.  Check out the FAST FOR CHANGE website HERE.  Please join me and sign on.

~Steve Bell

P.S.  If you are thinking of making a donation specifically to help East Africa at this time, the Canadian Government will match all donations up until September 16th.  To donate through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank click HERE…

Finally, I love this photo below – these kids are listening to me sing Wings of an Eagle. They look horrified!  

Children from Afar | Photo: Heather Plett

Related Blogs in this Series:

• Week 1 / FAMILY, FOOD, FEAST and FAMINE
• Week 3 / THE REAL COST OF FOOD
• Week 4 / Climate Change and Natural Disasters
• Week 5 / The Human Right to Food
• Week 6 / Women and Hunger

Listen to Fast For Change Radio! 

Click HERE

photo courtesy of www.lanciaesmith.com

My daughter Sarah, her husband Steve and our two grand-children Luca (3) and Pax (1 1/2) have just returned to their far-away home after a two week visit in here inWinnipeg.  We’re going to miss them immensely.

The hardest thing about the last few days (since they’ve returned to their home) has been stumbling on discarded toys, bits of dried, abandoned food, misplaced household items, sticky stains – all left behind by the whirlwind of those busy grandlads whose relentless energy left Nance and I happily exhausted at the end of each day.  How we love those boys!  We’re so proud of our kids and the companions they have chosen. And  we love the food-filled gatherings with our new in-laws who have become friends over the many, shared celebrations of the past few years.

Sarah and the lads: Pax and Luca

Recently, Sarah’s imagination (and her maternal concern for her boys health) has been captured by the EAT CLEAN DIET  and so when she came she brought new recipes  and new enthusiasm to our home. As a result, much of our discussions and time together centered around food and the trying of delicious new dishes that combined new mixes of oils, spices, fresh herbs and ripening vegetables pulled from our garden.  I loved taking my grandsons to the garden to pull carrots, pick beans and gather cherry tomatoes.  Luca especially loved the cherry tomatoes. Even in the middle of a furious game of driveway hockey  he would often stop suddenly and run over to the garden returning  to share a handful that he had reverently plucked from the heavy vines. Pax loved the tomatoes as well but would always spit out the skins whose shriveled remains now dot the garden soil and make me laugh every time I see them.

Luca at Tall Grass Prairie Bakery

One morning we decided to take the boys to Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company. Tall Grass is a remarkable bakery owned and operated by dear friends whose reverence for the earth, love of good food and just community has become legendary here in Winnipeg.  Luca was given a tour of the premises and  the opportunity to grind wheat, knead dough and taste the miracle of bread, croissants, cinnamon buns and other delectables that had their origin in organic grains  grown in soil just outside  our fair city.

Luca loves to bake. According to Tabitha-Of-The-Bakery, all children quite naturally love to bake. It was fun to watch his keen interest from where the grain is augured into the stone grinders – to the industrial mixers where dusty flour became gooey dough –  to the kneading table where this little hands worked the soon-to-be treats until he was too tired to continue without the proper reward of tasting some.  Awesome!

Micah and Diana

Now, to add to our bliss…  While Sarah’s family was still with us, our youngest son Micah got engaged!   Next fall he’ll be marrying Diana Pops. Yay!  Some of you will remember her as the young singer/songwriter I took on the tour with me about 6 years ago.  Diana wrote the song Subtle Shiver, which my daughter Sarah sang on our Sons and Daughter’s CD (2006).  Of course, Nance and I are overjoyed.  On the day of the engagement, Micah and his mom conspired to pull off a most memorable proposal. Together they spent the afternoon shopping for fresh strawberries, grapes, Champagne and some fine Chocolate (fair-trade from Ten Thousand Villages) and then scouted out a lovely spot by the river where Micah would propose to Sweet D (Nanci’s nick-name for Diana.)  The following day we celebrated with a picnic at the park which gathered most of the Bell clan, some of the Pop’s clan and several of the Giardino clan (Sarah’s husband’s family.) Diana baked and brought the most amazing chocolate cupcakes to share; richly crowned with buttery icing that melted in your mouth like… well… butter.  Awesome!

photo: Reuters/ Jakob Dall/ Danish Red Cross

When I consider the remarkably rich role that food played in our lives over the last two glorious weeks –  preparing, feasting, laughing, delighting –  it tears me apart to see photos like this.  Food for this Somali mother is not currently about delight and celebration – it’s about desperation and agony.  She has not recently tasted fresh strawberries and Champagne in celebration of her son’s betrothal. She has not licked the corners of her mouth clean of the buttery icing on Sweet D’s cupcakes. She has not recently plucked plump vegetables from the soil of the land on which the family home securely stands. More than likely she has walked for days through hot, inhospitable landscapes just to scratch for enough food to keep her child alive one more day. And quite likely, in rationing for her children, she has excluded herself.  And most likely, several of her close beloved have not survived the recent famine that has ravaged the Horn of Africa.

So how can this be?

Well, it’s complicated.

photo/ Frank Spangler

I’ve recently been in discussion with my friends at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and have committed to join in their Fast for Change campaign in preparation for World Food Day on October 16. 

Mine will be a rather humble fast. I am simply going to abstain from coffee for the next 6 weeks.  During that time, I’ll use the agony of my unrequited love of coffee (read: headaches) to remind me to pray, stir compassion, and to commit to learn more about the complex of catastrophes and complicities that generate abundance for some and desperation for others.

Each week I’ll post a short blog that reflects about some aspect of insecurity and food aid.  Some of it I’ll write myself and some will be written by others who know much more about this than I.  But I’m hoping many of you will follow along and together  we might be  further transformed by the experience in a way that is good news for others.

I’m inviting you to join me in a Fast for Change.  Please visit the Fast for Change website, read about the campaign and sign on.   There are tools and suggestions on the site that will help give shape to the experience.   Please check it out and then come back to this site and leave a message below encouraging others to do the same.

You’ll find the Fast for Change website by clicking HERE…  

Also, we’ve put up a Fast for Change Radio Player which we’ve loaded with appropriate songs from my catalogue as well as several other artists including Carolyn Arends, Glen Soderholm, Jacob Moon, Bob Bennett, Jon Buller and Jay Calder.  We’ll leave the radio player up until October. Listen to it as often as you like.

Click HERE to listen to Radio

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Thanks for indulging me this long post.  I’ll post again (perhaps shorter) mid-next week.  Until then… Happy Fasting  

-Steve

P.S.  If you are thinking of making a donation specifically to help East Africa, the Canadian Government will match all donations up until September 16. To donate, click HERE...

Related Blogs in this Series:

•  Week 2/ Root Causes of Hunger.
• Week 3 / The Real Cost of Food
• Week 4/ Climate Change and Natural Disasters
• Week 5 / The Human Right to Food
• Week 6 / Women and Hunger

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So when I’m asked to publicly comment on the Christian religion’s propensity to promote hatred and violence, my response is simply, that’s not Christianity.

People are fond of listing a litany of malicious misdemeanors as proof of Christianity’s (religion’s) destructive core. I’m always a little awestruck by this insatiable appetite for low-hanging fruit. And I acknowledge and repent of my own.

In the case of the recent Koran burning by Florida’s Rev. Terry Jones and the murderous response his mind-numbing irresponsibility triggered, there are just a couple of things I’d like to say:

1. In my own city of Winnipeg alone, there are several hundred churches that have not, have no plans to, and wouldn’t if they could get away with it, burn the Koran. Indeed, in my 20 years and 1500 concerts in Churches across the world I have never knowingly met any person or congregation disposed to such a reprehensible deed. I know they exist, I’m just pointing to their rarity.

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 2. In Winnipeg there are also several Mosques. As far as I know, not one has advocated for a violent response to Mr. Jones’ actions. This doesn’t surprise me. In my travels around the world I have met and worked with many Muslims.  All have been lovely folk with gentle souls. I’m just sayin…
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The word “religion” derives from the Latin religare from which we get the word ligament suggesting that true religion is that which connects and binds together, not that which dissects and alienates.* In the case of Christian specific religion, it is the Bible (Old Testament, no less) that suggests that true religion is this: to tend to  the orphan and the widow –  the marginalized (the de-ligamented.) The New Testament suggests that God “knows” those whose devotion to God is evidenced by their self-giving kindheartedness. Conversely, those whose lives are marked by self-securing callousness, God simply… doesn’t know. Indeed, the witness of Jesus in the face of “religious” intolerance and imperial aggression was to absorb the toxicity in his person (the buck stops here) allowing for the possibility of a new way of life made possible through the mechanism of humble self-donation born of an unwavering faith in the counter-intuitive power of love.

It is my opinion that Mr. Jones and those who have responded to him murderously need not shed religion; rather, they need to get some.

Below is a song from my recent album Kin.dness.  The song is in no way meant to be uncharitable to those committed to scientific progress, or dismissive of legitimate  boundaries (be they ethnic, political, religious, gender, emotional etc.) My point is this, that bereft of re-ligamenting love, it’s hard to imagine any human endeavor coming to a good end.

* Thanks to Brian McLaren for drawing my attention to  the etymology of the word religion

Click song title to listen…

ABOUT LOVE | Steve Bell/Diana Pops/Mike Janzen

It’s not about science
or benefits the dead contest
but there’s some strange reliance yet
on particles to fix the mess.

Who knows if this thing we call life
Looks fine in another one’s eyes
Or bellies-up with the goods everyone can approve of

One thing that I’ve learned in my time
You can’t win if you have to draw lines
When it comes to the struggle to show and to prove love

Oh… It’s always been about love!

It’s not about borders
Borders have their place no doubt
But who gave the orders
To abandon hope for common ground

Who knows…

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ABOUT LOVE is available on Steve’s 2011 release KINDNESS. To view CD, listen to audio samples or purchase, click HERE…

To visit a website dedicated to Steve’s 16th career release KINDNESS click HERE…

The first few months after a new release is always very awkward for me as folks get used to new songs and new sounds.  The responses I get range from ecstatic enthusiasm to eye-contact avoidance .  But I can happily report that this disc is generating an unusual enthusiasm for so early in the release. Personally, I suspect it will eventually be regarded as one of my better projects but that is really not up to me to determine.

Anyhoo…. if you want to purchase a copy, there are several avenues to access KINDNESS:

You can purchase the CD directly from me either on-line or by phone. Remember that if you purchase two or more of my CDs we automatically throw in a free copy of Kindness for you to give away to a friend (or enemy for that matter.) This is the avenue that generates the most revenue for me so obviously I’m pleased if you choose this route.

To order on-line, click HERE. To order by phone please contact Yvonne or Faye at 1-800-854-3499

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You can also purchase the CD at most Christian bookstores in Canada. This saves you shipping fees and allows you to get the CD quicker than through the mail. It also supports the bookstores which play an important role in your community. I still do quite well financially with bookstore sales so don’t worry about that. Supporting neighborhood business is important and bookstores are struggling terribly these days. The stores have been very good to me over the years and I’m thrilled if my work can help them in return.

btw – In Winnipeg, the CDs are  available at Hull’s (downtown)  McNally Robinson (on Grant) and Savoir Fair (on Henderson at Johnson)

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Also – you can download KINDNESS on iTunes or CD Baby. This is the most inexpensive way for you to access the new CD. You don’t get the benefit of the packaging and lyrics but if you listen to music primarily on an mp3 player, it is hard to justify the extra expense. You also can feel good about choosing an avenue that contributes minimally to the environmental problems we are facing these days.

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In the end, I don’t really have a preference for how you get the music but I do hope you’ll give it a try. If you want more information about the CD – check out the dedicated website we’ve created for it.  There you can sample songs, read reviews and album notes, and get some of the back story.  If you like what you hear – make sure to send the Kindness e-card to your friends. You’ll find that feature at the top of the home page.

Cheers! And thanks for the support.

~Steve Bell

KINDNESS fan review from iTunes:

Steve Bell | KIN.DNESS | Each Song a Gem!

True art of rhythm, lyric, melody and harmony in each song.

It’s hard to settle on what I like best about each song – sometimes I’ll notice the turn of a lyric and think, Wow!” so beautifully crafted.” In other places I’ll notice the intricacies of of interesting rhythms. Oft times I’ll hear an amazing  blend of voice – who IS the female backup singer on some of the tracks? Her powerful and intriguing voice blends so sweetly and then suddenly contrasts with Steve’s in such engaging ways. And Steve’s arrangement of Stubble and Hay, juxtaposed with a “Tom Waits-ish” sort of poetic reading – awesome! And of course it goes almost without saying – there’s Steve’s guitar and voice though it all.

I love it!

Remaining cities on the KINDNESS tour schedule include Regina, Lethbridge, Calgary, Sylvan Lake, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Richmond, Victoria, Kelowna, Ottawa, Kingston, Bellville, Winnipeg.  For tour details see SCHEDULE…

Sad day in T Bay

This past Saturday, after soundcheck just prior to a concert Thunder Bay, I casually rested my guitar  against the stage  wall and headed to the back room to fetch some guitar picks.  I had only taken a couple steps when I heard the slide and the crash.  I spun around to see my beloved steed face down with the headstock snapped off just above the nut.

It’s very hard to relate all that went through my mind in that first split second. Like when a whole life flashes through ones eyes just before a car crash, the life of that guitar and the relationships and events associated with it were all suddenly present and re-membered; over a thousand concerts, treks through far away lands, the many songs co-authored, countless hours woodshedding, the pleasure…  and the friendships that led to my acquisition of the guitar  in the first place.

It was about a dozen years ago, I was performing in Sante Fe.  My friends, Lou and Fran Bruno who were promoting the concert,  took it upon themselves to fly the legendary guitar-maker Kevin Ryan and his wife Barb from LA to see the concert. I was well-aware of Kevin. He was a relatively new Luthier (guitar maker) but was already turning heads internationally with his aesthetic sensibilities, rich-toned instruments and technical/design innovations. It was such an honour to play for them and then afterward to head back to the Brunos for fine wines, elegant foods and rich conversation.

Certainly, guitars and guitar artistry were a huge part of that conversation as both Lou and Kevin are fine players in their own right.  At one point, the three of us got into detailed discussion about what we like/dislike in guitars – wood preferences, tonality, aesthetic appointments and the like. I already had a couple great guitars with no real need of another, and certainly I was not  in a financial position to even entertain getting Kevin to build me one. But none of that really mattered because  six months later this one was delivered in a crate to my door.

Now, all these years later, close inspection of the guitar reveals the many scars of a faithful old warhorse. The surface laquer is checkered like a thousand-piece puzzle.  Several large cracks have been glued and reglued  - one which extends from the strap-pin about a foot and a half up along the outer bout and into the waist. The wood around the soundhole has worn away to the abalone inlay that Kevin’s father selected for me from his “private stash” of unique pieces. And there are gouges, dents and divots enough to prove the hundreds of flights, countless careless moments, and endless hours of playing.

Needless to say – accompanying this rush of memory was a significant nausea  as I had to consider that the guitar may be irreparable.  But apparently I need not have worried.   “Jake the Guitar Whisperer”  here in Winnipeg is confident he can fix it. It may not be pretty but it’ll play. But even if her days were indeed over, the echos of her voice would reverberate for some time in the recordings and memories of those blessed enough to hear her in concert and witness first-hand the results of master-craftsmanship, generosity and love.

Just ’cause I’m being all sentimental here – I’ve chosen a song for you to hear that I wrote and recorded on this guitar…  it’s from my CD Sons and Daughters and the song is called Air Jam . Several years ago, my Chicago friend, Johnny Rutlege, asked me to write an instrumental piece  for a film soundtrack he was producing.  It had to have a decidedly  “Marlborough Man” feel to it and so this is what I came up with.   I titled it Air Jam simply because that was the name of Johnny’s production company.

Click song title to listen:

AIR JAM | STEVE BELL

Visit Ryan Guitars HERE…

See Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s recent article on Ryan Guitars HERE…