CIVICS: EDUCATION, MUSIC AND COMMUNITY-SPIRIT.

 

Dear Fellow Citizens of Palmerston North, New Zealand and the World,

 

I recently watched an exchange on Facebook between two friends of mine, alumni from St. Peter's College in Palmerston North. Both of my friends had children who were about to start university. I'm the same age as my friends, but  I haven't fathered any children at all. Partly a matter of choice, but mainly due to the high emotional and financial costs of remaining in Palmerston North to pursue my dreams. 

 

At the same time, ideas that I started here are being applied and replicated all over the world.  So I'm confident that the eyes of the world will be drawn to the Manawatu region for its benefits in education, music and community-spirit.

Again, due in part to my unpaid promotion of the place, but mainly because I am only pointing out what is already here.

 

I've written my suggestions to those of you standing for the Mayoralty and Palmerston North City Council. If you are a candidate for Council, and have received this letter, it means that you already have my vote. 

 

For the rest of you, this letter sums up over thirty years of living here, what I have observed, and what I recommend. 

 

I hope you'll be entertained and amused as I overcome my hometown's status as the least preferred place in New Zealand to visit, with a proposal to Give Cleese a Chance. 

 

 Introduction: Good Enough for Me and Trevor de Cleene (Hummed to a familiar tune by Kris Kristofferson).

 

The late Trevor de Cleene, former Palmerston North MP and City Councillor, was one of New Zealand's most colourful characters. He rightly said , "You either love me or you hate me."

Once, on television, a well-known journalist was asked for his response after Trevor had been holding forth.

"I'm depressed, " replied the journalist. "Because I agree with everything Trevor just said. But the New Zealand public have just seen me supporting Trevor de Cleene."

 

In my youth, back in those days, I was sometimes referred to as "Little Trevor", when addressing public meetings. This wasn't meant as a compliment, but I took it that way, even though Trevor and I differed on many counts. 

In fact, I was phoned by a mutual contact days after Trevor made a controversial speech in Parliament, making headlines all over the country. "Trevor wants you to have a copy of his speech, with his best regards", said the caller. "He sees you as a man after his own heart." 

I was flattered but unsure as to why Trevor came to that conclusion. 

 

Over the 25 years since then, I think I've boiled down what Trevor and I had in common:

Firstly, as with the said journalist, people have liked and/or agreed with our observations but could not easily admit that.

Secondly, Trevor and I have always addressed any public issue with humour and candour. For better or worse, we have always been ourselves in public.

 

So my appeal to all candidates for public office is no matter who you are or where you stand.. be yourself. This city needs diversity in Council, flair, passion, drive… not a row of 15 Easter Island statues. Every corner of this town, every facet of life here, needs a voice. It is your own style, your humour, your candour that will bring the diversity of this town to life around the Council table.

 

Why then, don't I stand for public office?

Aside from enriching my personal life, I'm not a New Zealand citizen. I've been in New Zealand longer than many people born here. But taking New Zealand citizenship does not make me a New Zealander any more than wearing a Superman outfit makes me Superman.

 

I'm an Irish citizen, holding an Irish passport.

The Greenwell name can be traced back to 1182 in County Durham, England, one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon names on record. My father, and forefathers, were all born in Durham. I was born in Singapore.

 

I see my role in Palmerston North, and New Zealand, as lending my cultural heritage to add value wherever I can. 

It's a rich, complex and varied mixture but the singer Morrissey can sum it all up for you in two minutes, via the cool video below:

 

Morrissey, "Irish Blood, English Heart". 

http://vimeo.com/10274155

 

1) Trapped in Palmerston North! From Surviving to Thriving. 

 

Nearly ten years ago, I had a spiritual encounter with a Mother Superior in the USA. It was a nice reminder of the lovely childhood education I had from devoted nuns. Only later did I realize that the woman I had met was viewed by Time magazine as "the most influential Catholic woman in the USA." The founder of Domino's Pizza, and Chrysler's Lee Iacocca, started a campaign for her canonisation as the Patron Saint of CEOs, in her lifetime.

 

Early this year, I learnt that a denial of that meeting had been set up by someone who knew I was there. I was enraged and despondent.

This was not the first time that milestones  in my life have  been suppressed. I've faced the tough choice of taking legal and official action or seeking strength and spirituality.

I'm comforted by the truth that only significant and important things meet such fierce resistance. With that in mind, I am willing to step out and enjoy life in Palmerston North again, after a local existence akin to Obi-Wan Kenobi in the sand dunes of Tatooine.

 

I have several job offers on the table throughout China, and valuable contacts in the USA and UK inviting me to represent them. However, I am bound to stay in Palmerston North, in transition, while the  house owned by my mother, Liz Greenwell, built in the 1970's by unqualified tradesmen, with substandard material, is rebuilt.

Liz Greenwell's own global project, and her  international profile, are rising, so it is very important that the house rebuild takes place urgently. Making sure this happens quickly, will exhibit  my fund-raising and networking strengths.

 

My desire to reconnect with my community rather than fight some of its citizens; and my wish to see Liz Greenwell's home rebuilt, have kept me here a little while longer. I want to see only great things start to emerge…… 

 

 

2) Give Cleese a Chance...

 

‘If you ever do want to kill yourself, but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick.’-John Cleese 

 

John Cleese gave Palmerston North a hard time during a visit here in 2006, calling Palmerston North the "suicide capital of the world". This made international headlines.

 

In defence of Cleese, Palmerston North has been compared to East Berlin during the Cold War and Alabama during the 1960s Civil Rights Protests by people who know the city well, at all levels. New Zealand's most distinguished writer, shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature, moved to Palmerston North from a nearby town in 1989, in ill health. In 1992, she faced an invasive, intrusive, distressing and unnecessary tax investigation in this city. 

 

Let's revert to Cleese as a global comic powerhouse, famous for exposing and lampooning political suppression.

In an interview with Lord Melvyn Bragg, on The South Bank Show, Cleese said that his ultimate aim was to break through all social barriers and to communicate with all people in a direct, Christ-like manner.  

 

My appeal to Give Cleese a Chance, relates to his comments to Esquire magazine, when Cleese first became famous in the USA: "The great shock for a small town guy like me, is in hitting the real world, and being made to realize that the people in charge are much less smart, less altruistic, less humane, than one had been brought up to believe. It's a shock I think I'm still recovering from ....Humour has been my way of dealing with that shock."

 

To Give Cleese a Chance, let the people of Palmerston North dwell more on what Cleese says above, and what he has said to Lord Melvyn Bragg. Let's appoint John Cleese Ambassador-at-Large for Palmerston North, to show that this is one place where the people in charge- and all of the people here- are indeed smart, are indeed altruistic, and are indeed humane. Let's make our community-spirit exportable!

 

3) Music As an Economic and Social Lifeblood. 

 

I've always been interested in writing, recording, producing and promoting music. I began with earnest intentions of writing songs with social themes and messages, then forming musical acts with artists from different walks of life, different sides of town.

 

-I am slowly "getting rid of good intentions." Today  I work with contacts dealing with municipal infrastructure, water supply and energy, who began their careers playing in bands.

-I work with an investment banker who manages a band. Dave Grohl, of The Foo Fighters, says that this band should be the next biggest rock group in the world. 

-People who started out running radio shows and acting in musical theatre in Palmerston North are now solving major problems for the Government and recruiting executives. 

-The founder of Palmerston North's most successful music festival runs a successful local building company.

 

The list goes on. Indeed, some people running for the Council and the Mayoralty in 2013 have played and performed music. 

 

Music is a wonderful way to go about life.

Palmerston North could lead the world in not just producing quality music, but in studying what music teaches us about life -  how those skills are transferred into many important economic and social fields of expertise.

 

4) The Long Overdue Introduction of Dr. Mae Jemison to Palmerston North and Massey University:

 

Massey University Emeritus Professor Ivan Snook was profiled and interviewed in my book Wrestling and Nestling.

This book is an item on Permanent Reserve at the library of that university, where I also briefly served on University Council. 

In 2010, I introduced Dr. Mae Jemison to a friend who was running an event in Shanghai for the World Expo. At the time, I suggested to Dr. Jemison's Executive Director that The Jemison Group visit New Zealand, to meet our existing and budding artistic and scientific geniuses. 

 

In my book, the work of Professor Emeritus Snook, a world authority on philosophy in education, was related as follows -

".. science and morality arise from humanity's struggle to get along together. For example, sea travel into uncharted waters demands more than technical knowledge- cooperation, persistence, courage and concern for others. Similarly, economic problems do not have merely technical solutions, but moral dimensions. In science and morality, there are two tests of a theory: its capacity to solve problems and its consistency. The more a theory can be used to take advantage of increasingly diverse data, the more constant and credible it becomes."

 

Professor Emeritus Snook's  concept of science and morality dovetails well with Dr. Jemison's desire to see humanity capable of interstellar travel within one hundred years (please see the YouTube link below).

 

I hope both Massey University and the Jemison Group will work together, sooner than later.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDDRnrun2Ik 

 

5) Local Lessons from "The World Cup- A Captain's Tale":

 

In 1982, the New Zealand soccer team, The All Whites, qualified for the first time to play in  the World Cup in Spain that year. 

Before the tournament, a movie featuring the cream of British talent screened on New Zealand television, called "The World Cup- A Captain's Tale."

 

The movie, which can be seen in full at the YouTube link below, is the true story of the  first international soccer tournament, organised by tea magnate, Sir Thomas Lipton. 

A young boy from a poor mining community in Durham thanked Sir Thomas for his banquets in aid of England's poorest, but said, "one day the world will not need charity."

 

Sir Thomas was touched by that remark, and chose the boy's soccer team to represent England in his tournament. My father insisted that I watch the movie, telling me at the time, "this is your heritage."

One of the players in the team was Jack Greenwell, my ancestor.

 

The lessons emerging from this story can be seen by a practical exchange between the rich and the poor, leading to exciting results.

For Palmerston North, that exchange can be through sport and/or music… a creative way of closing the gap between rich and poor; and addressing the widening social inequalities in New Zealand.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCfybENNh1k 

 

6) Churches and Faith-Based Groups as Social Capital: The God of J. S. Bach and Kenneth Greenwell:

 

Finally, the above proposals and ideas for Palmerston North can be summed up in two words: Social Capital. This phrase, made popular by the late Professor Pierre Bourdieu, has been neatly defined by the World Bank as

" norms and networks that enable collective action." 

 

Palmerston North has many pressing social needs met by local churches,  agencies, and people of goodwill. These are examples of social capital.

 

In addition to social service, I believe an ethic of neighborliness; ideals of beauty and courage; and sources of hope and inspiration need to shine out from City Council,  whatever one's faith, beliefs and worldview. As said earlier, all candidates for Council and the Mayoralty need to bring their own individuality to the table.

 

In the area of faith-based outreach, it is important that people are inspired without feeling preached to, imposed upon, or told what to do. Coming back to music, as an example of  ideals of beauty, the composer J.S. Bach might be worth noting.

 

Sir George Martin, producer of the Beatles, has described Bach as the Architect of music; and the Grandfather of music. The late atheist writer Christopher Hitchens, in his superb autobiography, named Bach, as well as Bob Dylan, as his favourite composer.

Albert Schweizter, who founded a hospital and won the 1952 Nobel Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", studied the life and music of Bach.

 

According to Schweitzer, Bach would write "J.J"  ( Jesu Juva- "Help me, Jesus") at the top of a blank manuscript when composing. At the manuscript's end, Bach would write,  "S.D.G" (Soli Deo Gloria- "To God alone the glory.")

 

For ideals of courage, I am deeply honoured by the example of another ancestor, Kenneth Greenwell, during World War II.

 

Sir Winston Churchill called the Allied Arctic Convoys to Russia between 1941 and 1945, "the worst journey in the world."

Kenneth Greenwell, who perished on one such convoy in 1942,  wrote poetry depicting the experience and sent it to his Admiral of the fleet.

 

One can only marvel at not just what Greenwell wrote, but the harrowing conditions under which he wrote.

 

I invite you to  read Kenneth Greenwell's poem, "In God's Care", at the link below.

 

I intend to financially support both the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum and Dr. Mae Jemison's 100 Year Starship Initiative, as related in this message.

http://www.russianarcticconvoymuseum.org/home/greenwell-kenneth

With Best Wishes to all Candidates for the 2013 Elections for the Palmerston North City Council,

 

ADAM GREENWELL

 

31 August 2013.

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artseesdiner/2013/06/06/adam-green