Better and more equal dreams

Workplaces: Gender on the Road
Originally uploaded by huibriethof

The wonderful thing in Christmas is that is really gives you time to watch, read and talk. And eat, I don’t need to go into that one. I wanted to share a few things:
1. Leea Klemola: Klemola is a Finnish actor and theatre director who has a reputation of a radical and angry young woman. She gave fantastic interview to IMAGE on theatre. She said that you can become a scary woman by only showing violence. ”It originates from the thinking that male creators make observations but things just blurt out from women. (...) I can’t stand educational theatre. In (Reko) Lundán’s plays I was irritated by the way he showed those small people, or politicians who grab those others. Not themselves. (...) Theatre is a place beyond morale and politics. The worst example of how theatre can be politically correct is the Enraged Roses Group. That thinking that when they are all women, it would turn everything they do into meaningful.”

2. Top Chef Final: In the American chef competition a woman called Tiffani lost to a guy mostly because she was perceived to be a difficult person although everyone found her menu more courageous. The winner cooked safe dishes and was a good lad. At the same time Gordon Ramsay makes millions by swearing when doing brilliant food. Women cannot win, can they?

3. Miehen työ: There is Finnish film beyond Kaurismäki. Aleksi Salmenperä’s Man’s Job is one of the best films I have seen showing how a man of the North deals with pride, loss and emotions. In the film a father gets fired from his job and when trying to cover the issue from his family but still provide the income, he ends up working as a male prostitute. Phenomenal acting and subtle humour. Highly recommended.

4. Anu Kantola: Kantola is a researcher in Media Studies and a columnist for the biggest Finnish political weekly Suomen Kuvalehti. She writes in issue 50/2007 about her observations on Finland seen from the inside and outside after reading all 1 600 stories on Finland from Financial Times. According the FT, Finland is doing superbly in education, national debt, innovations, music, cuisine, public expenditure etc. At the same time from the inside it seems that the country has a crisis in parenthood (Jokela shootings) as well as in health care (mass resignation of nurses) and people are leaving working life due to depression. ”Someone said that depression is a result of a situation where one’s external and internal realities don’t meet.(...) Even if I usually don’t like psychologisation, I started wondering whether this would work in the case of Finland. As if we had created a monster that acts out in an exemplary manner but which no one recognises as his or her own and whose ride no one likes. Changing realities could be started for instance from politics. Would it be in any way possible that sometimes in Finnish politics we could afford something? That instead of scaremongering we would create systems on the terms of people and not discipline and control? That instead of despair we would be bold and trusting?

As a result of Expedition Christmas, we could only say the following:
1. We need better and more inclusive dreams.
2. We still have issues regarding gender.
3. Finnish political and cultural discussion needs more contaminations from the outside.