In the decade since my first post on this topic there has been an explosion in interest regarding whether having a monarchy has tangible effects on a country’s development. As it turns out a growing body of research says it does(sometimes to the surprise of the researchers themselves). Today I wanted to highlight two studies I’verecently come
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Dead Wild Roses: Queer Theory is Language Based
Queer theory has its origins in postmodern thought. The use and misuse of language is a key part of how activists move the ball in arguments and society. When up against an activist it is advisable to define terms and always name the dynamic present. The responsibility lies with you
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Bravery: Defending Female Single Sex Services – EJ Rosetta
I’ve had yet another battle this week with the NA Gods about a women’s meeting I run being female only, & trans exclusive. I’ve been “asked” to unaffiliated our Women’s Recovery Meeting from NA after another complaint that my rule of female only attendees is “transphobic”. Here’s the issue: Many
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Ignorace and Apathy and Unwillingness to Act
Three articles came out in the past few days that should remind us that Covid is really here, and maybe we should act on it. But all the facts in the world can’t penetrate the wall of hopeful denial. Lynn Parramore interviewed Dr. Philliip Alvelda in Institute for New Economic
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Toaster-F*cker Problem – Why Bureaucracies are Obsessed with Weird Sex Stuff
Case in point:NASA. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This is their mission statement from the NASA website – “NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.” Nasa is spending its resources on making pretty pictures
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Rational for Single Sex Spaces
Cutting to the heart of the matter as usual, J.K. Rowling on single sex spaces. Unfortunately male socialization and the violence that is inherent with it remains the problem. This isn’t a plea to ‘sensitize’ men. Nothing of the sort, males, in the process of their socialization need to be
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: A Window into the State of Canadian Universities – Leigh Revers and Peter Boghossian
A primer on the sad state of Canadian Universities. University of Toronto Professor Leigh Revers and Peter Boghossian discuss challenges in STEM education, including the integration of indigenous science and the use of diversity criteria in academic evaluations. Leigh highlights the need for academic rigor and criticizes oversimplified
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: What is Culturally Relevant Teaching? – Logan Lancing
It so very important to know how the activist Left uses words. Logan Lancing helps illuminate all that goes into the term “Culturally Relevant Teaching”. “Ok,” I thought. “Let’s figure out what culturally relevant teaching is.” I was curious. I wanted to know what it was and how it
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Taking it to the Streets: the Enough is Enough Rally
“Nothing is real that does not end on the streets. If tyrants feel no consequences for their actions in the three-dimensional world, nothing will change.” – Timothy Snyder, historian. On Saturday Mr and Ms Soapbox joined hundreds of Calgarians at the Enough is Enough rally at City Hall. It was
Continue readingThe Maple Monarchists - Blog: A Decade of the Maple Monarchists
Tomorrow will mark ten years of this blog being active. Sure, pedants will note that the first article was published the 14th of May, 2014 but that was an introductory post so let’s ignore it. This post is a bit of a reflection on how the blog has changedover the years. It might
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On the Importance of Hobbies
I taught grade 10 Careers for a bit. I changed it completely from how it was typically taught, though, which was largely one Myers-Briggs-type test after another. Kids in other classes came out knowing what colour they are and what kind of job that might relate to. The biggest take-away
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: AI Enhanced
This cartoon really helped me understand something. My school board announced a new initiative, the mandatory grade 11 English class will now focus on Indigenous voices. I used to teach Indigenous Studies, and couldn’t get more than ten kids to take the class as an elective, so it’s not a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: What is University For, Part 2
Does making it all easier make us lazier educators, or is neoliberal politics to blame?? The Quality of Teaching has been Strained: This is a back-in-MY-day story, but I think it’s necessary to look at how far we’ve strayed. When I was in teacher’s college, we had to make it
Continue readingThe Maple Monarchists - Blog: Royal Cups: Sports Awards in Canada with Royal Roots
Taaaaaall Cup Across Canada sports events are held every year which have a royal connection or an award connecting back to the monarchy. I wrote about one such event last September, The Royal Saint John’s Regatta. Sports bring people together in a shared activity. This smooths over differences andprovides a positive means of channeling rivalries. This is
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Cell Phones and Cigarettes
I have some concerns with the new rules for schools as reported by the CBC. The biggest concern is that the funding cuts came Friday, but yet another cell phone ban is big news. As a teacher, I hate both cell phones and cigarettes being allowed at schools for so
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: What is University For – Part 1
In case you’ve missed it, many students on university campuses have been protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The police have been heavy-handed — or outright violent — with some of the students. Yet one prof wrote about his primary concerns in the NY Times: that the constant noise disrupts his class
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Women’s homelessness
I’ve just published Chapter 8 of my open access textbook. This new chapter focuses on women’s homelessness. An English summary of the new chapter can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/womens-homelessness/ A French summary of the new chapter is here: https://nickfalvo.ca/litinerance-chez-les-femmes/ All material related to the textbook can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/book/
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Conversational Gambits that are Annoying – Guilt By Association
The second part of my series on conversational gambits and habits that are annoying, funnily enough, happened in the first Gambits post I made. Go check out the comment section as I will be pulling my example for this post directly from the text of a commentor. “Guilt by
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: No Ragrets
The frustrating experiences that linger with me the longest are the times I was able to make a difference in my tiny corner of the world or have some kind of effect or even have the potential to have an effect, and then it was derailed, often by a well-meaning person
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Aaron Wherry discusses the deadly-serious consequences of climate denialism which is driven by frivolous rhetoric. And Andre Mayer points out the numerous ways in which the climate breakdown is actually responsible for the increased cost of living which is being used as an
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