There are a million and one reasons why you should dislike coke – most of which involve taking advantage of sugar addiction and capitalist monopoly on beverages that are made […]
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Melissa Fong: Fraternity Pro-Rape Culture at it again: Sigma Chi- Shame on you
The email subject line: ”Life, love, and pussy” … Subject: Life, love, and pussy Guys, I just want to put out an early semester reminder that life is good. You’re here, you’re […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Does public participation waste time and money?: A note on the value of participatory democracies
Francis Bula, Vancouver pundit, introduced a debate on wasting public resources to open up a debate that would have resulted in the same decision: Does public participation slow down cities’ […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Ticket Price: What should you pay for a good party?- 2013 BLOGCEMBER 5/31
The purpose of writing this is to let you know that price points depend on a lot of things and I want people to make decisions on genuine qualities rather than buying into a scene. The problem I am seeing with a lot of parties lately is that they have
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Amsterdam’s solution: Paying alcoholics in BEER
I’m not gonna lie… sometimes cleaning is better when drunk. Like, if you’re going to engage in something that you will hardly remember the next day- why not cleaning? Yes, […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: What do Lulu owner Chip Wilson and Justin Bieber have in common?
Yeah, while Justin Bieber probably thinks he’s adding value to whatever he sh*ts on, spandex-pant overlord Chip Wilson is taking liberty to “beautify” public spaces (namely the ones outside his gabillion dollar mansion) in Vancouver. … When Chip Wilson isn’t telling women that they are too fat to wear his
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Russell Brand admits he “suffers from the ol’ sexism”
I suppose Brand is also reading and listening to the critics too: One thing I’ve learned and was surprised by is that I may suffer from the ol’ sexism. I can only assume I have an unaddressed cultural hangover, like my adorable Nan who had a heart that shone like
Continue readingMelissa Fong: SNL and Black female comedians
Kerry Washington hosted SNL tonight and she was good. They poked fun about this scandal- that SNL didn’t hire any black women. That was a funny enough sketch. But what I found MOST refreshing was that we got to see a black woman just act and not have to be
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Why Bitcoins aren’t going anywhere: Drugs and Coffee
Bitcoin is going nowhere. I promise you that it won’t and I’m positive that I won’t be eating my words at a later date. I’m going to tell you why: 1) Drugs and 2) Coffee:….
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Are UBC Sauder Business/Commerce students just jerks?
UBC Sauder School of Business is one of few business schools in Canada that produce some serious leaders in our capitalist economy (both here and internationally). These are the same people that will take top positions at big companies; the same people that will develop multi-million/billion(?) entrepreneurial companies; and the
Continue readingMelissa Fong: “Micro-brothels” in BC: Are we still criminalizing prostitution?
“Micro-brothels” in BC: Are we still criminalizing prostitution? The short answer: YES. Now the long answer: I’ve seen a couple articles in Vancouver’s 24hr News about how micro-brothels are a booming and we should be really scared because micro-brothels are dangerous. See here and here. First article: Sex-worker activist Sue
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Sinead O’Connor likes to slut-shame
Sinead O’Connor slut-shaming: “Taking me on is even more fuckin’ stupid than behaving like a prostitute and calling it feminism…I am staggered that any 20 yr old woman of the 21st century could behave in such a dangerous and irresponsible manner as to not only send the signal to young
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Reading between sexist, racist and classist lines: Sinead O’Connor gives some “motherly” advice to Miley Cyrus
Sinead O’Connor wrote an open letter to Miley Cyrus shaming her recent image and her “handlers” for letting her do videos full of nudity. It is a response to Miley’s statement in the Rolling Stones Interview: It’s the opposite of the VMAs. It’s like the Sinead O’Connor video [for “Nothing Compares
Continue readingMelissa Fong: On becoming LESS high-maintenance…
Friends… and readers, Let’s have a moment on minimalism. And getting older. I’m not sure what the deal is with people accumulating more stuff as they get older as if it is the “adult” thing to do. I mean, I’m positive it distils down to some capitalist ideology, but I want
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Anti-Gentrification Pidgin Protesting: Bad Urban Planning but Potential for Good Social Movement Building
This is a fifth instalment to the gentrification series- discussing the Protests and pickets in Vancouver’s DTES Thus far I haven’t been too clear about where my commitments lie. I understand both sides. Team Anti-gentrification/ CCAP/ Homeless Dave/ Poor people’s movement/ DTES advocate: They are locally organizing against some larger scale problems,
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Why you should choose Sound in Motion for your EDM fix in Toronto
I’m not gonna lie. I’m pretty excited that Toronto is getting it together with more electronic music festivals. Last year was the first mainstreaming of multi-day electronic music festivals with pretty big names coming to entertain hundreds. Digital Dreams and VELD are the big ones. And I’m glad they exist.
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Vancity & Anti-gentrification CCAP Protests in DTES: When social economy work gets messy
Vancity is a co-operative [2] bank that has been a long time funder of the Carnegie Community Action Project. On April 13th Vancity released a statement on their stance on CCAP Protests in the DTES. After a lengthy non-committal statement about their stance on housing and the gentrification of the
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Eliminating clubland: Planning for the right dance & social spaces in the city
Eliminating clubland: Planning for the right dance & social spaces in the city I’m going to respond to this article from an Urban Planning point of view, but also from a Feminist and “dance-positive” point of view [2]. This month I have been dreading my move back to Vancouver –
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Will new businesses help the DTES?: A much needed lesson on the definition of gentrification
Apparently it looks like this has become a series on Gentrification in the DTES: 1) Are the Anti-Gentrification Front protesters wrong to “vandalize” Save-on-Meats? 2) Anarchy, the Anti-Gentrification Front and Violence I am still quite shocked that there seems to be a general lack of understanding that DISPLACEMENT of poor people is a central
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Anarchy, the Anti-Gentrification Front and Violence
Now, I never passed Anarchy 101 and have never painted a haphazard “A” within a circle in red paint. Ever. Never even thought about it. But I’m going to take a stab at understanding the logic behing the Anti-Gentrification Front and other groups associated with Anarchy. Now, I’m trying to
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