I don’t know why this news induces both laughter and sadness in me. There’s a salty pool of tears collected by irony. Honest Eds is possibly one of the most iconic buildings, business and site in Toronto (Top 5, easily, gaining much more fondness than that phallic “free-standing” structure by
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Politics, Re-Spun: We Support The Veterans Transition Program
Submitted by Robin and Stewart on Mon, 10/07/2013 – 12:59 1999 saw the rise of the Veteran Transition Network (VTN) through the sponsorship of BC/Yukon Legion Branches and the University of British Columbia. Its mission is to help Canadian Veterans across the nation re-integrate into society, local communities, and with
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: PTSD Update!
Updates from Kate and Robin and Stewart are below, as they approach the end of their campaigns! Kate’s Long Way Home has passed 1,000 kilometres on her way to Ottawa. Post by The Long Way Home. Robin and Stewart’s Marathon for Veterans is closing in on its fundraising target. There is still
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Got Cancer?
9:58 am, pre-run, great fog! Well, Terry Fox did. And millions of other people. You likely know someone who has or had cancer. Maybe you encountered it yourself and went through the #FuckCancer process. But raising over half a billion dollars for cancer research in the last few decades is
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Men: Never 100% Responsible for Rape?
I have no words, at least I thought I didn’t. It’s bad enough that men rape women, then modern culture shames women for wearing anything but a burlap sack. I do not condone rape or sexual assault, but I think the male teens often so accused are not wholly to
Continue readingYappa Ding Ding: Let’s rethink the St Jacobs Farmer’s Market
Waterloo woke this morning to the sad news that the main building of the St Jacobs Farmer’s Market had burned to the ground. Already there is an outpouring of sympathy and support to the owner, Mercedes Corp. I am afraid that this post has a somewhat different tone. I think
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Labour Day 2013: Say Hello to the Pavement!
Workers in Canada and around the world have been under assault for decades, but most of our recent tactics to stop the bleeding have been ineffective. Are we lazy, complacent, overworked, obedient, compliant, subdued, afraid, docile, or fully tamed and intimidated by the one per cent? If we don’t get
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The First Day of School, 2013: Beware!
Well, a new school year is about to begin, so it’s time to analyze just how much destruction the 1% will visit upon public education this year. Defunding, corporatization of curriculum, standardization of curriculum and experience, high-stakes testing, homogenization of experience…you know, the same old nonsense that drove me from
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Altruism + Community
“It almost hurts me to walk down a road and have people grab my hand and ask for my autograph and not sit and talk. When I’m finished I’m not going to be on the front page, but I’m going to be just as happy without the publicity.” – Terry
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Content of Their Character
Represent! I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. – Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963 What has been most
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Women As Meat, Volume 874,597
Backlash 101. Every attempt we made to start a serious debate was met with responses such as “feminism and rape are both ridiculously tiring”. via What happened when I started a feminist society at school | Education | theguardian.com. For all the sons and daughters that you know and love,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why Do They Want Us To Shut Up?
If we were harmless, the riot cops would stay home. It’s Friday. It’s been a long week. Like most weeks. We are taught to fit in and obey. We are told that individuality and the search for social justice will get us in trouble, either by government surveillance or social
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Red Wings Fiddle While Detroit Burns
The new iconic photo of post-crash Detroit. Listen, can you hear the footsteps of Robocop? We can’t really blame just the Red Wings. We have to blame the Tigers and the Lions too, but really the 1% who own them. Detroit is bankrupt. Services will be privatized to privateer leeches.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Is It Really That Hard to Imagine Cities Without Cars?
A blissful infographic of imaginative paradigm mechanics! Probably. That’s why really creative paradigm mechanics are thinking outside the box-y sedans to figure out how we could reorient cities and movement in cities with a changed premise: no cars. Imagine how much parking space we’d free up for human pursuits? Imagine
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why We Must #HonourTheApology to Residential School Survivors [#INM]
I don’t know why we still have to do this kind of thing, but here goes. The federal government “apologized” to survivors of residential schools 5 years ago. It is clearly quite empty, considering how much neglect, abuse, victimization and racism has spewed forth from Stephen Harper’s government since then.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Canada’s Evolving Soft Fascism
Things are bad under Prime Minister Harper. They’re getting worse, even since the last time I wrote about Harper’s soft fascism. But how do we measure it? It’s so…subjective, unless you have some kind of benchmark for totalitarian political behaviour. Luckily we do, at least these three: This powerful graphic
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Young People Are Teaching Us About Empathy
Click the chart to see more inspiring charts! Descending/increasing lines indicate less/more concern among different generations of high school graduates for the various ideas. I have so much hope for the future. Sometimes I get bogged down by negativity, but that’s usually just circumstantial. It passes. Much of my hope
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Zimmerman and Alexander: Racism and Sexism in America
Can you handle the contradictions? I’ve been seen things in twitter for the last few days that puts some grotesque perspective on the American culture. I’m actually quite speechless: Two Florida towns, 125 miles apart. Two people firing weapons at unarmed aggressors, purportedly in self-defense. George Zimmerman, the 29-year-old neighborhood-watch
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Fearing Kate MacEachern: The Latest Canadian Military Blunder
Kate MacEachern and helping others: not on the DND agenda, yet. Canada’s continued neglect and abuse of our military personnel and veterans continues to enrage me. An epidemic of untreated PTSD has become a new normal. And until citizens compel the government to take responsibility for this neglect–and fix it–they
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Faith that the End is Near
In today’s G&M, Jared Bland writes from a perspective I’ve been taking lately as well. “Despite seeming reasonable in other areas of my life, I believe that we are quite likely living in or near the fabled end times….[I]t’s becoming easier and easier to feel that the shadow hanging over
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