I am in New York at Christmas time. The lights are brilliant, the crowds at Rockefeller Center take in the giant Christmas tree, and the Rockettes are already into their umpteenth performance of their Christmas extravaganza.

I would like to be thinking about things like Miracle on 34th Street and An Affair to Remember. But instead I am thinking about Iraq.

There was more bombing in Baghdad today, and dozens of people were killed. My heart wants to be light, but it is heavy.

To be in New York at this time of year, as Hanukkah candles and Christmas trees light living rooms, and as the U.S. begins its withdrawal -- from a country it has already impregnated with destruction -- is a tricky thing.

I've been thinking recently about Canada's arts granting system. With all this talk of financial reform, from the global to the municipal levels (hello, Rob Ford), maybe it's time we looked at whether the granting system in Canada could use some reform of its own.

AIDS (Gold) 1987, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas. Katharina Faerber Collection, Geneva Image: VoCA.

This weekend, I went to the media preview of Haute Culture, the retrospective of famed Canadian artist collective General Idea, which opens this Friday with a FREE party at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.