By Community Affairs

Great Stories

Feb 3, 2011 | 7:03 AM

Since starting with panow.com as the Community Affairs Editor, I have been kept pretty busy contacting community groups in the city  to discuss how I can help to promote what they do and who they are.

In this capacity, I find so many “great stories” about people and places and things which will be told soon enough.

Last week, I started off with a story I couldn’t resist: one about tradition and family and art all wrapped up into one and that was the story about the quilt at Mathesons made from generations of family ties.

This quilt and Fred Matheson’s response and even my response to it got me thinking about the value we place on a variety of things in our lives, thinking about quality of life and the life-force in even inanimate things.

If you bought a nice quilt at the store, it would keep you warm and would likely last for many years. If you wrap yourself up in a quilt made from materials worn by your ancestors, made by someone you love – does that quilt take on a life of its own?  Does it make your life better by its existence?

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I think so. I know it is kind of a hippie dippy idea – but there is growing evidence to show that humans are affected on emotional and spiritual levels by objects.

There was a scientific study done on whether the characteristics of objects affect our judgements about unrelated things done by researchers, Dr. John Bargh (Yale), Dr. Joshua Ackerman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and

Christopher Nocera (Harvard).

They recruited people walking along the street and asked them to evaluate a job candidate by reviewing resumes

handed to them on either a light or heavy clipboard. Participants holding the heavy clipboard rated the candidates as better overall and more serious about the position. They also rated their own involvement at the task as more important.

  In another experiment people were asked to complete a puzzle, with either puzzle pieces covered in rough sandpaper or pieces with smooth surfaces. Then they read a passage describing a social interaction. The participants who had completed the rough puzzle rated the interaction as more difficult and harsh than those who had completed the smooth puzzle.

To test the effects of firmness, random passers-by were asked to examine either a soft blanket or a hard block of wood. They were then told an ambiguous story about an interaction between a supervisor and an employee. Those who had felt the hard block judged the employee to be more rigid and strict than those who had felt the soft blanket.

 Finally, in another test, people engaged in mock haggling over the price of a new car. Some were seated in a soft-cushioned chair and others in a hard chair with no cushion. Those sitting in hard chairs turned out to be less willing to compromise on price than those sitting in soft chairs.

With regards to the food we eat – is it better for us to eat a mass produced tomato or one grown in dirt, tended by people .

Years ago, I remember Wayne Dyer who is another hippie of sort, saying that they had done a test with a kernel of wheat. Scientists were able to duplicate the wheat kernel exactly. The only problem was … it would not grow. It had no life force.

In the fall I was out in the field at Muskoday while they were harvesting their organic field. They had several acres of potatoes grown on land that hadn’t seen chemical for many, many years. The crop was being taken off by Muskoday residents and volunteers from World Youth BY HAND.

These spuds were grown in real dirt, planted with love and with an emphasis on prayers – and honestly, there was a difference in those potatoes vs veggies from the store. If there is ever any doubt about it … try a carrot from the grocery store and then try one from a garden. It is the reason why so many good restaurants use locally grown ingredients and promote this as a prominent aspect of their culinary creations.

So, this has implications for each of us. Surrounding ourselves with objects which are created and warm and full of memories – full of life –  has an actual physical and emotional benefit to our health and well-being.

To me when we are talking about life and warmth and creation – we are talking about the arts, whether it is quilting, or pottery or painting – cooking, sewing, so on.

In Prince Albert – there is no lack of venues for artistic learning or artistic expression.

Of course there is the Mann Gallery of Art in the E.A. Rawlinson Centre. There is also the Prince Albert Arts Centre in what was the old city hall, downtown and the Grace Campbell Gallery in the JMC Library. There are many groups and guilds which focus on the arts including but not exclusive to: Prince Albert Quilters Guild, Sharp Needles Embroiderers Guild, Prince Albert Spinners and Weavers Guild, Mid Pro Rock & Gem Society , Pottery Guild, Watsonaires, Northern Image Photographers, P.A. Paper Quilling Guild, 1010 Painter’s, Kyla Art Group and the Prince Albert Council for the Arts.

Have a great week.