Bathurst auditions are now over.

Best of wishes to all the young people who will be competing in the Battle of the Arts Competition finals taking place in Fredericton in November. More information on this competition may be found on the website http://www.battleofthearts.ca
And the FB page

Apparently auditions were held in Bathurst on August 15. If there was any local media coverage I am sorry to say I missed it.
I guess there must have been coverage since MAX 104 is a sponsor.

I think an art activity that encourages youth to stand up for their rights is of benefit to all of us.

Although I am an independent artist living in the area of Bathurst, New Brunswick, I myself am well beyond the age of youth competitions. However I have an open-to-the-public studio space at 212 St. Andrew Street in downtown Bathurst where I go to work three days a week and other artists are welcome to drop by.

An accident and the resulting surgury has curtailed my studio work over much of the last two months but I’ve tried to remain open and I expect to be walking again by December 1st.

I am a real people person, very familiar with the Bathurst business community, having written many stories and articles for a local home-owned newspaper in the past. I am also interested in womens’ poverty and unemployment issues and this is what I try to bring into my artwork.

Although an art competition would be a rather rare occurrence in Bathurst, the spirit of competition is quite alive here. Fair weather soccer and bike rallies, cold weather hockey, and the dozens of trophies that adorn local rec-rooms attest to the fact that Bathurst people have an active sense of competition.

The more I think about this culture of competition the more I wonder why some people are watchers, some are joiners and some are neither.

One type of competition I’d love to see would be job openings that offer decent wages and are not restricted to only those who are welfare or EI recipients. I’m sure this would excite local interest and bring in plenty of joiners.

I wonder too whether there is any way that non-violence fits into this picture of a competitive community. Would people get along better? Would people have more respect for their neighbour’s property?

Each article I read on this website is an encouraging reminder that there are still people who believe in peace and write about it and try to live peaceful lives without giving up on the rest of the human race.

Today I was reminded that if non-violence is something we learn then maybe we seniors could all be teachers and help our young people learn about non-violence as a way of life.

Some question I might ask young people:
What is non-violence?
Are we born as non-violent beings?
Is non-violence something we learn?
If so, where do we learn non-violence?
How do we learn to be non-violent

What are the effects of arts, entertainment, games, sports?
Do these encourage us to be non-violent?

What about competitions?
Does the urge to fame and fortune allow us to be non-violent?
What about the need to compete in the job-market?

If we are a member of some team, is it a non-violent team that we have chosen to join?

As individuals are we confident enough to stand up for the right to be non-violent?