Get Your Crucifix Out Of My Pocket

I cannot believe that the Ontario Provincial Government is still funding a Catholic School Board. (I also think it is amazing that the Lord's Prayer was read in my public school growing up.)

 I read a good piece about this in yesterday's Metro newspaper. I agree with everything that Samantha Emann says, including:

"Publicly funded Catholic schools are unfair to Canada’s many other religious groups and cultures. Funding all religious schools equally would be a logistical nightmare, and in my view, public services should be affirmatively secular." 

"Some Catholic schools’ boards, trustees, teachers and advising clergy have a record of discriminatory, socially regressive efforts to hinder advances made in the interest of student safety and learning."

I hadn't even thought about the cost factor, of course it is more expensive to have both and merging them could save tax payer money. As a tax payer I am angered that my money is going to provide teaching in the Catholic faith but not other religions. It needs to be an all or nothing situation. Apparently British Colombia funds different denominations. I can see that while option would be logistically challenging, at least it is fair. The current system is not fair.

In terms of dismantling it, which I hope happens sooner rather than later, if the percentages listed in the article are correct there isn't strong enough opposition at this time. Yes 51% wanting to end the public funding for Catholic schools is technically a majority but only barely. Also, 38% wanting to continue it is really powerful, and needs to be listened to. I guess it isn't time yet.

I do see one advantage to having the publicly funded Catholic School Board in Ontario - I will post about that tomorrow.

Get In That Parade

One of the things I have been meaning to look up about John Tory, a current Mayoral candidate in Toronto, is his views on our LGBT community. Thankfully, Vote Compass, which I mentioned yesterday, helped answer my questions:

(Note: The Ford mentioned above is actually Doug Ford, another Toronto Mayoral Candidate and the brother of our current Mayor Rob Ford.)

It is a known fact that during his time as Mayor, Rob Ford did not attend the annual Pride Parade - it always occurred on the same weekend that he traditionally took his family to the cottage. Of course, I think it would be better if he did a bit of schedule rearranging to attend at least once during the four years, but on a basic level I don't disagree with his choice. Family is important. We should not ask our politicians to sacrifice their entire home life to be in the public service. So, in the same vain, if his family tradition was to spend the weekend of Nuit Blanche away, I would not begrudge him missing this key cultural event every year.

However, when a politician does miss an important Toronto event (festival, demonstration, parade, council meeting, opening, concert, etc.) they need to really make up for it in that community. Their choice should be made apologetically, with compromise regarding an alternate way they can support before they leave and/or when they return. It became more and more evident that Rob Ford's absence during the Pride Parade connected to his complete lack of respect for the Toronto LGBT community and some degree of homophobia. Completely unacceptable for any Torontonian, even more so in our Mayor!

So, I am happy to see that John Tory (and Olivia Chow) believe it is very important for the mayor to march in the Pride Parade. And, as you can see above, I only somewhat agree with that statement. If they had a long standing prior family commitment I would forgive them. But I would require that they showed their support strongly and loudly in other ways: attend as many other Pride Week events as possible, meet often with LGBT groups to see how City Hall can better serve them, MC a drag show, the ideas are endless. Bottom line: You can miss it but you still need to support it.

Thank You Vote Compass

They are helping me again! I like Vote Compass slightly better than iSideWith in terms of technological tools that assist in assessing a person's political views. Luckily, Vote Compass has created a tool for the Toronto Mayoral Election coming up on October 27. Here is what it said for me:

I knew that I was more fiscally conservative than Olivia Chow, and come to think about it, I am not that surprised that I am slightly more socially conservative as well. However, it is nice to see that I am sitting between her and John Tory. I am currently weighing these two candidates to see how I should vote at the end of the month.

Privileged Cats

19 Cats Who Need To Check Their Privilege

Social justice isn’t just for humans.

Check it out on BuzzFeed

Kristen turned me onto BuzzFeed when she was having a slow week at work. It has now taken over my life, some of their lists are amazing (and you know how much I love lists.)

Here is a taste from above:

11. This cat doesn’t realize that paper towels are a privilege: 

It is true, we are all privileged, even our cats. This photo reminds me of when Two was just a little thing trying to help Kristen and I clean.

A Good Day For Sports And LGBT

"Tens of thousands of men have played in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. Until today none had expressed his homosexuality before retirement." --- from The story behind Jason Collins' story: The interview, by Jon Wertheim

Pick-up the May 6, 2013 edition of Sports Illustrated 

or read the article online HERE

Just Allow It Already

I have discussed the topic of Marriage Equality briefly before, actually it was 4 years ago, just after the last USA presidential election. Some interesting things have happened in the mean time; President Barack Obama announced in May that he supports same-sex marriage. He also supports the full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  In 2011, the Obama Administration concluded that DOMA was unconstitutional and directed the U.S. Justice Department to stop defending the law in court. Same-sex couples can legally marry in nine states, however, Marriage Equality is not recognized nationally, at the federal level, in the USA.

I found this flow chart recently and really liked it:

I would like to quietly note that on July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition. Be fore the Civil Marriage Act, same-sex marriage was legal in eight provinces and one territory; Ontario was the first in 2003. Most legal benefits commonly associated with marriage had been federally extended to cohabiting same-sex couples starting in 1999.

Earth Hour

It has been a long time since I have had a good Ottawa Erin quote (Both Erins live in Ottawa now so I guess I should switch to the names used when they get tagged in Always Standing posts.) Erin AH has always had some of the funniest quotes. See: Balls, Bread, & Drugs.

So, out for breakfast with Steph and Erin AH. Talking about Earth Hour since it always falls around Steph's birthday and we usually do something fun, like play boardgames by candlelight. However, this year, Steph and I napped though it - which still meant lights off and energy conserved.

Me: So, what did you do for Earth Hour?
Erin AH: Oh, I don't do Earth Hour. I celebrate Human Achievement Hour.
Me: What?
Erin AH: Yes, I just go around and turn everything on.

Research Your Vote

The election is coming, the election is coming. Election Day (Federal) is May 2nd and if I stand for anything political it is for sure the strong belief that everyone should vote. Though I am finding myself for the first time in my life sadly cynical about Canadian politics.

I don't know what it is about the 2011 Federal Election that is draining me of all my hope and passion but there is one thing that I am finding exciting - The Vote Compass! Developed by a team of 15 top Canadian election researchers and political science scholars, and co-ordinated by the University of Toronto, this survey uses a series of questions to take each person's political temperature.

I think this is the greatest tool ever. I love it!! Though am very surprised to see where I ended up. This is what I got:

Try it out for yourself HERE at
CBC News - Canada Votes 2011 - Vote Compass

LIVE UPDATE - # 7

I am in China!! However, my blog (and Facebook) is blocked, by the Chinese government. They block all blogspot blogs. So, I'm trying to do my postings through this email thing and I hope it works. Hopefully I will get full access in a couple of weeks in Mongolia. Thoughts so far: Wow, this place is really Chinese, way more than I thought it would be.

Our Wrecked Planet

"A lot of people on the wrecked planet were Communists. They had a theory that what was left of the planet should be shared more or less equally among all the people, who hadn’t asked to come to a wrecked planet in the first place . . . Dwayne Hoover’s and Kilgore Trout’s country, where there was still plenty of everything, was opposed to Communism. It didn’t think that Earthlings who had a lot should share it with others unless they really wanted to, and most of them didn’t want to. So they didn’t have to."
--Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

AIDS

Started on 1st December 1988, today is World AIDS Day. According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries.

But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Banksy

Show Me The Monet
2005
By Banksy

It is hard to describe this artist as he is pretty much anonymous at the moment. British and part of some kind of pacifist anarchism movement, Banksy is a really interesting artist. I personally don't really care about his background, beliefs, or even who he is. His work speaks for itself. He is predominately a graffiti artist but has also done some controversial things in the art world like walking into galleries and hanging up his own paintings. Look into him, you won't be disappointed.

Mad Men

This is a time period that I both love and hate - the early 1960's. I love it because it seems to just ooze class but hate it because it seems stifling and horribly sexist. It seems to be an era that often gets glorified. One of my main problems with Porter Airlines is that it seems be trying to channel a 1960's business airline feel, great for the business man but are women again just stewardesses? I want to watch the TV drama Mad Man because not only does it look smart, sexy and intriguing, it also has been getting a lot of awards and critical acclaim. However, I haven't gotten around to it because I don't have time and it keeps reminding me of this clip on Family guy. Peter is watching an old work training video about women in the workplace "Remember, nothing says 'good job' like a firm, open-palm slap on the behind." Putting my gender equality ideals on the back burner, I did enjoy making myself into a 'Mad Men' character, though as you may notice, I put myself in a boardroom making a presentation (apparently about underwear.) Make your own.

Spreading The Word

I don't really follow the news as much as I would like. Also, I'm not on Twitter. However, I'm shocked and upset at the different things that the following implies; censorship, that Twitter is that powerful, that access to internet is denied. At the same time I don't know the whole story...
But this is from James and was her Facebook status today:
If you're on Twitter, set your location to Tehran & your time zone to GMT +3.30. Iranian security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut down Iranians' access to the internet. Cut & paste & pass it on.

Tristen and Kaylor

There is a little bit of back story needed here. These are two of my closest friends, I love them and can sing nothing but their praises, and some Disney songs. Both have finished their degrees and are moving away from Ottawa this weekend. It is so hard to see them go as they are a big part of my life here, lump in my throat. I met Kristen in the first week of first year (well, her first year.) Through Kristen I met Taylor, who I became friends with in second year. What should also be noted is that a lot of the memories I have of them from the last year or so are also tied to Heather, who thankfully is staying around for at least the summer.

In rough chronological order, I will always remember...

-meeting Kristen in first year French where I terrified her and forced her to be my friend

-never learning that 'Je suis une chat' means 'I am a cat'

-going as a guest to the cafeteria

-getting kicked off their residence floor for having alcohol in the hallway

-discovering The Lonely Island

-cooking Kristen perogies at Glen

-studying for Human Rights with Kristen and Taylor from a page of predetermined questions

-the Gentleman way

-hanging out in Taylor's big room on the first floor of 998

-Socrates and Jesus

-meeting M- during a random make-out at the bar

-Taylor's issues with pee and Kristen's issues with first dates

-the Numa Numa dance

-Kristen milking her birthday for weeks on end and me milking a break up to go to Pizza Hut

-Kings

-being quoted in a number of articles both for The Charleton and journalism classes

-having Kristen stay with me at Le Manoir off and on throughout the summer she was Productions Editor

-Kristen always convincing me that we should just walk downtown

-Taylor as a raptor

-nights sleeping on the futon

-Jeopardy

-being told that a box of chicken fingers and a bag of baby carrots does not count as a dinner

-visiting Kristen at work both at the Charleton and Smithbooks

-Kristen crashing on my futon after watching Amanda Bynes

-fierce Wednesdays with the girls along with dinner and great desserts

-painting Die Höhle

-going camping and having Taylor cook incredible meals over a fire

-being 110% sure

-the alcove becoming the cubical

-creating strange sound effects for rummy, the birth of a cow, and what a raccoon says, 'heeeey'

-babysitting Friends DVD's for over a year

-offering to help paint Taylor's new house but just ending up drinking for the whole weekend

-downey paper, the plastic lattice, and fear of sleeping with Kristen

-Taylor's short bangs

-being purposed to by Adam, as Eve, at The Big Apple

-issues with Acers

-going to see a show about sex put on by children

-photoshoots

-playing rummy, learning honeymoon bridge, and teaching two handed euchre

-Kristen's strange eyelash

-falling in love with Taylor's bed and sleeping in it whenever she wasn't there

-picking Taylor up from the airport

-all nighters in the library, frantically trying to print, rushing around campus, only to find out that St. Pats was locked

-Mark's Easter egg hunt

-Guuuuuy La Douche

-winning at the Wii because I was the only one who was sober

-Mark getting ready to lunge and me screaming while Kristen did nothing

-sleeping with Kristen when I was scared of the monsters

-Taylor leaving her mark on Ottawa and the walk home along the canal

.... and so many more that it is impossible to list them all. While new memories are sure to be made I will miss having Taylor and Kristen living just around the corner. I love them both so much!

V-Day

V-Day Ottawa 2009 presents: The Vagina Monologues
A play by Eve Ensler, part of the 2009 V-Day Campaign

YES I AM IN IT THIS YEAR (SATURDAY SHOW)

Friday, February 20 and Saturday, February 21, 2009
7:30pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
The Bronson Centre (211 Bronson Ave)

Tickets are available in advance for $20 at:
Venus Envy - 320 Lisgar Street (Bank)
Ottawa Women's Credit Union - 271 Bank Street (Somerset)

Collected Works - 1242 Wellington Street West (Holland)

Mother Tongue Books - 1067 Bank Street (Sunnyside)

Sophia Esthetic - 190 Maclaren St., 2nd floor
Get your tickets soon - the show sells out every year

***

V-Day Ottawa is part of the global V-Day Campaign to raise awareness to end violence against women. Money raised from the benefit production will go to the Ottawa Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) and charities that aid women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery. The 2009 V-Day spotlight campaign calls attention to the wide-scale atrocities committed against women and girls in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and demands that women and girls in the DRC are safe.

Asking For Money

I hate asking for money. I never liked fund-raising as a kid. For the most part my parents would help out by taking it to work and getting people there to sponsor me. Now I'm too old for that, I'm also too new at my job to use my own work to raise money. The Literary Society is running a 'Recite-a-thon' next Wednesday to raise money for Pen Canada. We will be charging a small entrance fee to get into the cafe style event but also people who will be performing are supposed to raise money through pledges. Pen Canada is a charity that works towards 'freedom of expression' they have programs that work against censorship in Canada and they support writers in prison or exile in other countries. I am going to be reciting, from memory, a poem at the event so please feel free to both come and to sponsor me. Anyone want to give me money? $$$?

Real Estate

I have a bit of a 'House Bug.' It happens every now and then, when I get the urge to buy property. I would love to own a house or condo. Taylor is a new homeowner of a beautiful house on a huge lot in Castleton. My brother bought a house in Brantford just over a year ago. My parents also bought a second property when I was 16, our cottage, and have spent the last few years gradually building a new house on it. I find all of this so exciting that I tend to get a little jealous and want to buy real estate of my own. The big problem is that there is no way I can afford it, especially in Ottawa, and definitely not in the area of Ottawa I would want to live in. I have found a solution though. A company called PFNC makes houses out of shipping containers, the big metal boxes that you see on trucks and trains (See Above). Each unit goes for a price of less than $10,000 US (about $11,600 CAN). They look cosy!! (See Below). Currently they are being marketed to developing countries, but I think that I could put one on a lot in Old Ottawa South and be perfectly comfortable. It might not be made to last a Canadian winter though.

In School Too Long

I am in the process of writing an essay for one of my English classes. When I went to save what I have done so far I found another essay already there with a similar name. Turns out, while I'm comparing two texts for this essay which is a totally different assignment, a few years ago I wrote an essay on one of the texts already. I did not remember at all, and it isn't even a short one. I went to go look for the hard copy to see how I did and what the prof had written about it. I went searching through all my saved notes but couldn't find it. (Turns out, now that I'm looking at the saved copy on my computer, I wrote it at the end of the year so probably never got it back.) In the process of hunting I came across a bunch of other essays that I didn't remember writing, a few even for a course I don't remember taking, with a professor's name on it that I don't remember having. This really freaked me out, so I started to look into this mysterious SOCI1010 that I guess I took at some point. I had no idea that I had taken a sociology course. It took me a while in the undergraduate calender to figure out that it was a first year Human Rights course I had taken a few years back, that I do remember. Also we were supposed to put our TA's name on the papers, so it wasn't that I had forgotten the prof, just I didn't recognize the TA. I really think I have been in school too long when I have written so many essay I can't keep them straight or even remember them but I guess that happens to everyone in the upper years.

Free Speech

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) 1694-1778