Comments on: Blue Jays and Rivalry http://growmercy.org/2007/11/19/blue-jays-and-rivalry/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:34:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Trevor Herriot http://growmercy.org/2007/11/19/blue-jays-and-rivalry/#comment-21516 Trevor Herriot Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:36:44 +0000 http://growmercy.org/2007/11/19/blue-jays-and-rivalry/#comment-21516 Thomas--I stumbled upon Grow Mercy when I was doing a google search trying to find out whether many Girardians are vegetarian. (The search started with an attempt to find a book that uses Girard to advance a path forward out of our global ecological crises. I found a book called "Creation Unveiled", but it seems to suggest that one must be vegan to live the non-violence of the Gospel. I was dubious about that so did some more searching and stumbled upon your web site.) The more I looked at your site the more fascinated I became. First, it was a treat to find someone on the Canadian plains who reads James Alison and Girard. I live in Regina and have only begun to study Girard and his interpreters, but the more I do the more I feel able to understand the heart of the Gospel. I am a naturalist and deeply concerned about what is happening to our northern Great Plains ecology. Species are thinning out at a ferocious pace. I've found Girard's mimesis and scapegoat analysis greatly illuminating in understanding the path we have taken as a civilization in the Christian era. I teach Creative Writing (non-fiction) at St. Peter's Abbey (Benedictine) in Saskatchewan, and I hope to become an oblate. I wonder if you are a friend of Myrna Kostash--she is an Edmonton writer and a Christian (Orthodox). Myrna helped me with my first book, RIver in a Dry Land. Anyway, I am rambling. I was thinking it would be good to develop an inter-faith group here in Regina that studies Girard and that one way to begin would be to have a guest speaker come and talk about Girard. Do you do that kind of thing? If not, do you know anyone in Alberta who does? I could set up a speaking engagement through the John Paul II centre or some other agency. Please let me know. P.S. If your cabin is in Canada, then it definitely was not a Scrub Jay. And your theory about their dispersal to avoid competition is sound. In fact it is one of the common ways ecologists explain bird migration. It is food shortage, not weather, that drives migration. Trevor Herriot Regina, Sk Thomas–I stumbled upon Grow Mercy when I was doing a google search trying to find out whether many Girardians are vegetarian. (The search started with an attempt to find a book that uses Girard to advance a path forward out of our global ecological crises. I found a book called “Creation Unveiled”, but it seems to suggest that one must be vegan to live the non-violence of the Gospel. I was dubious about that so did some more searching and stumbled upon your web site.) The more I looked at your site the more fascinated I became. First, it was a treat to find someone on the Canadian plains who reads James Alison and Girard. I live in Regina and have only begun to study Girard and his interpreters, but the more I do the more I feel able to understand the heart of the Gospel. I am a naturalist and deeply concerned about what is happening to our northern Great Plains ecology. Species are thinning out at a ferocious pace. I’ve found Girard’s mimesis and scapegoat analysis greatly illuminating in understanding the path we have taken as a civilization in the Christian era. I teach Creative Writing (non-fiction) at St. Peter’s Abbey (Benedictine) in Saskatchewan, and I hope to become an oblate. I wonder if you are a friend of Myrna Kostash–she is an Edmonton writer and a Christian (Orthodox). Myrna helped me with my first book, RIver in a Dry Land. Anyway, I am rambling. I was thinking it would be good to develop an inter-faith group here in Regina that studies Girard and that one way to begin would be to have a guest speaker come and talk about Girard. Do you do that kind of thing? If not, do you know anyone in Alberta who does? I could set up a speaking engagement through the John Paul II centre or some other agency.

Please let me know.

P.S. If your cabin is in Canada, then it definitely was not a Scrub Jay. And your theory about their dispersal to avoid competition is sound. In fact it is one of the common ways ecologists explain bird migration. It is food shortage, not weather, that drives migration.

Trevor Herriot
Regina, Sk

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