Last year, almost a year to the day I discovered fulfilment, when I took on
an allotment plot.
I may be stardust, and I may be golden, but I have certainly got myself back
into the garden though no eden it is. I looked back this week at a years
hard graft having turned a wasteland into something that resembles a plot
fit for planting up this year.
I have no academic illusions anymore, I shall enjoy the twilight of my years
on the allotment, for so long as my body lets me. I'd rather die there out
in the open, than in my flat with a grudge against the world a mile high on
top of my recumbent corpse.
Allotments are of course part of that late 19th century gaslight and water
socialism the Conservatives have written out of there own history in these
neoliberalist days. Allotments were a way of giving the unlanded working
class poor the opportunity to feed there families better than they could
otherwise, the very antithesis of the food bank, and so my allotment to me
is more than just a hobby as I face losing more and more of my benefits in
the coming years.
Don't worry though I have a presentation to end all presentations planned
for the normalcy bash this year. True to fashion I shall submit it at the
last moment as I have better things to do right now :) It will be
educational, entertaining, and anyone who hears it will leave knowing
something they did not before I started.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:DISABILITY-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Colin Barnes
> Sent: 16 April 2013 19:37
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: FW: Message from Prof. Nishi [ARS VIVENDI E-mail Magazine 095]
>
> ==============================================================
> ===
> Ars Vivendi E-mail Magazine No.95 (April 16, 2013)
> ==============================================================
> ===
> Academic year 2013 starts from this April and Prof. Nishi, our center's
director, would
> like to deliver you the following message.
>
> I, 58 years old, wonder from time to time what the meaning of "fulfillment
in life" is.
> Whenever I recollect the days when I ran around for insects in the hot
summer sun in
> my boyhood, enjoyed my day-by-day life of romance in my youth, and earned
money
> through work in the prime of life, I wonder what kind of fulfillment in
life is waiting for
> me toward last years of life.
>
> As long as one considers this on the basis of the fulfillment in life I
felt in early
> childhood, younger days, or the prime of life, fulfillment in life in old
age might be
> assumed to be faint one.
> And my question is whether people who are not endowed with a decent early
> childhood, adolescent days, or the prime of life enjoy fulfillment in
life.
>
> It goes without saying that we have to fight against such forces as
disabilities, illness,
> labor exploitation, or wars that deprive us of fulfillment in life. At the
same time, the
> mission as Ars Vivendi is to scrutinize the lives that seem to be remote
from what is
> usually called "fulfillment in life", confirm fulfillment can exist even
in such lives, and
> support their possibilities.
> Otherwise, thelives of the oppressed would be illegitimately
underestimated . Now it is
> necessary for us to empower precarious lives and turn our warm eyes on the
richness
> surrounding any life which might seem to be poor. Either one of the two is
not
> sufficient.
>
> We will keep turning your advice and intervention into power this academic
year, too.
>
> Director, Research Center of Ars Vivendi Masahiko Nishi
>
>
> *Please click below for more detailed information about our program.
> http://www.arsvi.com/a/index.htm
> http://www.ritsumei-arsvi.org/en/
>
> We are eager to promote collaborative research projects with disabled
patients'
> advocacy groups, non-profit organizations, as well as domestic and
international
> researchers.
>
> [Ars Vivendi E-mail Magazine]
> For comments, subscription and cancellation of this e-mail magazine,
please e-mail
> [log in to unmask] For past issues of our e-mail magazine, please take a
look at
> http://www.arsvi.com/a/eme.htm
>
> General Editor : Masahiko Nishi
> Chief Editor : Minoru Kataoka
> Publication : Research Center for Ars Vivendi, Ritsumeikan University
> 56-1 Kitamachi, Tojiin, Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan 603-8577 ________________End
of
> message________________
>
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