ExtendaCampaign: Week 1

And what a week it's been. We've had the earliest televised debate with everyone that we've ever had (craftily shown on CityTV and Macleans.ca instead of on CBC, and coinciding with the Republican candidates' debate featuring scene-stealer Trump - wonder what the ratings were for our debate?).
We've also been privy to further insight into our esteemed leader's priorities - albeit not always as he intended.

Two days ago, the RHSP tried to appeal to our couch potato sensibilities by attempting to convince that he is one of us. You like TV and movies, do you? And Breaking Bad? Hmmmm.....currently unconvinced that promising not to regulate our binge watching is the way to win the trust of the nation.....


Aside: Cheers to the twitter-verse for its genius comments such as Orange is the New Government and Better Robocall Saul.

And secondly, on the same day, while attending the aforementioned debates, Harper decided to inadvertently share with us his true sensibilities towards the environment, transportation and easing traffic congestion.....by parking his bus in this bike lane....

When asked to move, the driver refused. Huh. Apparently actions do speak louder than emotionless, teleprompted words.

JM

Let the 78 days of deflection begin

Do it now!

How have we not heard more about Dan Macguire?! My thanks to Stuart Maclean, who featured Dan's story today on the Vinyl Cafe. I hope that the national audience the show boasts will help to spread this story. It should inspire each and every one of us in numerous ways. To get up and move. To stop complaining. To not make excuses. To try. To persist. To move, move, move.

Thanks, Dan, for everything you've accomplished and everything that you will accomplish.

And please, national news sources, spread Dan's story! Replace the dozens of articles about celebrity break-ups and weight losses, and share something meaningful!

For more, read this.
Till next time,
J.

How Best to Show Our Respect

I am extremely supportive of Remembrance Day, but in this support, I am in the camp of people that do not wish it to become a statutory holiday in Ontario. While most of the reporting around this issue has mentioned the concern that it will be, one day, just another holiday, most of this reporting (including Minister Harris' interview with CBC Ottawa today) has addressed only the adult context. Yes, lots of adults would love to be able to commemorate this day by attending ceremonies, but where is this desire to participate fostered? It comes from the attention paid to this holiday within our schools. It comes from years of dedicated teachers, of annual assemblies, of learning to be quiet and to commit one's thoughts to reflection and gratitude for those two minutes every year.

If children are no longer able to experience this in the school setting, will this same desire to participate continue twenty or thirty years from now, as they become adults in the workforce? Certainly, those dedicated teachers can use the day before to prepare activities and share the importance of the day, but what happens on the actual day, if there is no school?

Some parents who share this passion will be able to take their children to community ceremonies, but will this become the norm? I think we would like to believe that youth throughout Ontario will seek out or be taken to community ceremonies that will instill them with gravitas year after year, until they themselves become parents and role models who continue to pass on the tradition of remembrance. However, I am deeply concerned that, instead, children will stay at home, that busy parents will choose not to take their children to a ceremony, and slowly the solemnity of this day will dissipate until it is, as many have already posited, just another holiday.

This Bill has been created out of respect and honour for everyone who fought to give us such sought-after freedom, but I feel that respect and honour are demonstrated not through holiday designation but from teaching our youth. As with language, religion, culture and identity, our ideologies are fostered and rooted in our youth, and it is youth that should be considered in this issue.

I love my job....

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job......

And so goes my mantra which I chant every year at this time when the Sunshine List is published.

I might work at a college; I might be a respectable instructor in the fine world of academia. And yet, my partner and my combined income would never get us on that list. I will probably never make it halfway to the old boys' club - not even with this MA which I am working my tail off to acquire.

My head spins trying to fathom how people in my office that teach an extra class than I do, can make over twice what I do.....Those in question of course scored their positions at a time when Masters degrees were novelties and colleges were growing. Now, college job postings for permanent positions state that a PhD is  recommended, and colleges go out of the way to avoid hiring full time faculty. (The creation of the 10-month maximum at Ontario colleges is a direct response to the union's agreement that employees working 12 consecutive months must be offered a permanent position.)

It pains me and fills me with disappointment every year, that so many people out there can live such out-of-reach lifestyles, but also the shocking lack of balance in the system: college presidents make twice what our premiere does.

There isn't much else to say on the topic as change is out of the hands of the ones most affected.

For the moment, I'll just keep reminding myself how much I love my job, and I love my students, and I love my faculty......

JM

In a world...

"In a world without Hal Douglas, trailers were never the same again...."

When in doubt, bake cookies.

The life of a grad student is one that cannot be imagined until one is fully in its grasp, swept into the whirlpool, sucked into the quicksand. It is something I had heard about and yet really never understood. Until one day you look up and realize you haven't left the house in over two days, you're wearing yesterday's clothes, there's a bunch of healthy, unassembled ingredients in the fridge, yet your mac and cheese shelf is empty. And you dream about research databases. True story.

While there were probably many reasons that you initially chose it, it ultimately becomes the badge of your commitment to what you deem so important, bags under the eyes as permanent as tattoos somehow less important than the world of information just waiting to be discovered.

I've been at this for a mere two semesters, working full time, class at night, working for a prof on top of it all. I question my ability at least twice a week. I sleep with highlighters. I survive on pots of stew and chili that will last for days.

I have to admit, I am pretty lucky. I couldn't do it without having the best guy in the world at my side. Amazing how one's priorities change depending on one's situation. Right now, I love how he comes over and quietly does the heaping pile of dishes before he sits down to hang out.

In the past seven months, I have dealt with vague assignments, APA 6th edition, stats (although keeping a safe distance from them as much as possible), macro issues, which for a teacher is completely counter-intuitive....."so what does that look like in practice?" and even vaguer teachers....is that a word? And most recently, two weeks of class discussions that have completely questioned...no...clobbered...everything that I believed about language....

And so, tonight, when it's been all a lot to take in, I am baking cookies, something I used to do all the time to relax, to procrastinate, to escape. Sure I have to be up at 6am, two classes to teach in the morning. But somehow right now, it can all just wait.

Because while most would agree that there are too many difficult and vague people in the world, too much structure (take that, APA) and too many expectations, I have never heard anyone argue that there are too many cookies.

Food for thought (no pun intended): In a world of unwelcome alarms blasting us out of our dreams far earlier than we would like, there is something about the ding of an oven timer that puts everything right again.

JM

Small Town Canada

Reason #341 that this country feels like one big small town - when the Liberal Party's Foreign Affairs Critic used to babysit his now boss, the Leader of the Liberal Party.

Death Metal

Gonna miss you, Power Man. Now, who am I gonna groove with?

Death Metal!

Trains + Beer

Squirrel!

Train!

This was consistently my reaction the entire time we were at Vytopna, the restaurant in Prague that features train tracks covering the dining space and trains that deliver drinks to your table.

We had tried to make a reservation for 1pm today, but having made it late the night before, had not received a confirmation email by the time we left the hostel the next morning. So, upon arriving in downtown Prague, we thought we would check with them at opening time (11:00am) if they received our request. Response: We´ll take you now!

We promptly ordered beer, (it's 5pm somewhere....)as well as a delicious lunch. As we ate, the place filled up mostly with children and their families....the parents then ordered food and spent most of the time trying to get their kids to eat as the kids could not stay seated for more than a second. Who doesn't want to follow each and every train that comes by?!

I subsequently ordered a second drink just so the train would come back. (Read: this business plan is brilliant!)

Seriously, it was so much fun! It's actually a chain in the Czech Republic, so if you're in the area, go! -JM

Back to Day 5: Krakow

Ok, picking up where I stopped in my excitement over the Tatras...this was our day in Krakow.

Agenda:
Get up
See castle
Find dragon

Today is the day to explore Krakow. This is my favourite city so far - walkable, beautiful and affordable. As with seemingly every city we will visit, there is a castle - Wawel Castle. And rumour has it that somewhere around it is a dragon...
Our street seems quiet but as we near the castle, we find the hordes. We climb up the cobbled walkway that winds around the perimeter. From the top there are of course great views of they city. Wes, a frequent traveller of North American cities, marvels at how low European cities are compared to the skyscrapers at home. (His internal Radiant-City-compass has also been thrown for a loop in the winding streets and he is consistently surprised when he is sure things are  'just around the corner' and it turns out to be a completely different street.)
There are lineups everywhere so we don't buy tickets for the exhibitions though I did want to see some crypts - I mean, who doesn't?
After a full exploration of the fortress, we exit through the walkway by the river and wind our way down. There is a paved walkway along the river with statues and it is here we seek the dragon. Under some trees, around a bend, he stands. There is a legend in Krakow about a dragon who terrorized the city, eating young ladies. Some stories say that the king offered his daughter's hand in marriage (once she became the only lady left in town) to the young man who could best the dragon. Apparently it was a poor man's son (bless the consistency of fairy tales) who put some sort of explosive edible item outside the dragon's cave, it eats it and its throat gets so hot, it drinks all the water in the river to no avail and then dies. Yay happily ever after for the young man and princess. Now the dragon is immortalized in a statue at the base of the castle which, believe it or not, breathes fire every couple of minutes! On the other hand, any dread that it could strike into the hearts of passersby is significantly reduced by the many children crawling on it!
   With our day's agenda accomplished, we set off for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in the main square. Then it is off to the Jewish quarter for a bit of a wander. We pick a cafe with a patio beside a 16th c. church where we sit and have some pints in the sunshine (although here they are 'half litres', not pints.)
  We then head back to the hostel, grab our things and walk to the bus station for the 2 hour trip to Zakopane. Honestly, the bus trip was $6. Crazy. A quick note on Zakopane, which we got into late and didn't really explore - it kinda looks like Banff exploded. It is a hiking town in summer and skiing town in winter, so gone were the fashionable styles of Krakow, the heels and the dresses. Here were hikers, some outfitted to spend days or weeks in the park - packs, bedrolls, walking sticks. We were just happy with the cold, crisp mountain air.

More from Prague later. JM

Day 6: Nuts to you, heart condition....I saw a glacier!

**More on Day 5 Krakow later. No time. Today was too awesome, and I am way too tired. **

So, I did a crazy thing today, spurred on by my loyal partner-in-crime. As many of you know, I have a minor heart issue - no big deal - just some palpitations going up stairs and when I am hurrying. So what is an intelligent, health-conscious young woman to do? Climb 1583 metres above sea level, you say? Yep, exactly!
   Today we are in Zakopane and we headed to the Tatras mountains. After a harrowing mini bus ride to the entrance to the park, and waiting with the hordes of people to get in (this particular hike is the most popular with all Poles and other Europeans) we started on the 9km trek to Morskie Oko, the Eye of the Sea.
   At first this seemed like cheat-hiking.....paved walkway, people in nice clothes, strollers, older people just out for a walk. But, the slight grade uphill was enough to prove pretty tiring for me - again, this is the girl who gets tired on stairs. Wes was amazing and was happy to take breaks with me. We made it to the lake after a couple of hours along with hundreds of others, and it is incredible. It is a vibrant green and sits in a valley surrounded by the Tatras mountains. Also, beside the lake is a large chalet serving ice cream, drinks and BEER! These Poles have the right idea. You can hike with beer!!!

 Now, on the map, it said we could walk round to the other side of the lake (and could see people doing so...) and take a trail to another lake, Czarny Staw pod Rysami. Sure, let's go. It's beautiful and sunny and not too hot. Ok, so we set out with many others on a path of large rocks so there was lots of scrambling and balancing along the way. Half an hour later we get to the base of this path that leads to the next lake. We stop for a break. We look up. The 'trail' is another path of huge stones leading 600m higher than we already are....it consists of many switchbacks because the incline is so steep. Ummmm.....
  After much discussion about my endurance and Wes' achilles, we were still iffy. And then I noticed some things:
a. Children
b. 50 year old men with cigarettes
c. Fathers with infants in packs on their backs.
And no one seemed to break a sweat. It would be pretty lame if I couldn't do this!
So we gave it a shot! It took a lot of breaks, let's not pretend. It was hard work, but we kept each other going by saying, 'We're this close....'
   And at the top, on the other side of the lake, was a small glacier. It is clear that there used to be far more of them years ago as well.
   After, I felt like a million bucks. I've had some disappointing attempts this year with my fear of heights - a disastrous attempt at downhill skiing and a failed attempt at flying trapeze - plus this heart thing, so I have been feeling kinda low and wondering what happened to my previous adventurous self. This made up for all of it. And the pictures are incredible. Besides that fact, I'm sure be burned about 7 million calories today, so I won't feel guilty about eating anything and everything I can find tonight.

Till next time,
JM

 

Day 5: Krakow

So, I should explain that our 14 hour  train trip across the European countryside was not a complete loss. (It sounded rather bitter upon re-reading.) We met a nice couple on the Berlin-Warsaw section - he was German and she was Polish. They were really helpful for advice about Poland, and we also shared travelling advice about Canada and gained info about Polish weddings (where they were heading). We had about an hour in Warsaw due to a late train - ran through the high end shopping mall to the food court to grab food and negotiate the zloty (Polish currency) before running back to the station for our connection. Warsaw also features a huge, hulking building - the Palace of Culture and Science - just outside the train station, a facetious gift from the Soviets, and hard to miss - defining, almost obscuring, the Warsaw skyline.

In addition, we met a mother and her well-spoken son on the Warsaw - Krakow train - a relief that they spoke English as most cars were compartments and the station hadn't given us seat numbers. Compartments are squishy but the hallways leading to them are squishier, and for those of us carting packs on our backs, it means only one person can fit abreast in the passage. I apologize to those few people whom we had to squeeze by, and whom we most definitely flattened in the process. The woman was Polish-born but had married and lived in Florida for the past decade or so. Her son was the precocious one - welcomed us to the compartment with a "Come on in" (9 years old) and proceeded to tell us about his matter-of-fact look on life, his wish for a dog, and then settled back for a nap listening to Kenny G on his iPod.

Yesterday, we visited Auschwitz. I'm going to refrain from talking about it here, as I eventually stopped taking pictures while I was there. Some experiences aren't meant for idle chat on blogs and social media or photo-sharing on Instagram. Some things are meant to be experienced. If you want to go, go. There are thousands that flock everyday, so take a tour as the lines are overwhelming. That is all.


Shoot, it is midnight already. I must head to bed. We are in Zakopane, Poland and tomorrow we hike in the Tatras mountains. Time for sleep. More later. J.

Day 4: Krakow

Small details can make a world of difference when one is travelling. Take exhibit A: We have made it to Poland after a day of trains - making the journey from Kiel, Germany. If one of the four - yup, four - trains we took yesterday arrived at the station 7 minutes earlier, we would have made it here by dinnertime. As it was, we got here at midnight. And let me tell you, some cities roll up their streets after dinner and this be one of them. The schedule was not a surprise, as train schedules are pretty organized online, but alas, connections are what they are.

Exhibit B: In Kiel, we (after some misleading directions and misplaced signs) made it to the cemetary where Wes' great uncle is buried, shot down over Germany in 1942 at 20 years old. The cemetary is a beautiful spot, and I have included a picture (albeit from Google images, as my cord for the camera is four floors up - 70+wide stone steps - inside this old rambling building in downtown Krakow.) The flowers and bushes are now in full bloom and the colours are vibrant.

When we arrived in Kiel, we took a bus to the hostel, which dropped us off on a large highway in the middle of seemingly nowhere. We thought we could
a. walk straight along the highway since our hostel claimed to be on htis road, but how far? Or
b. ask at a nearby hotel. We chose hotel - nice girl, drew directions on our map, followed these till we saw a sign. Followed said sign (we thought) till we wandered past many cozy houses (think of Keeping Up Appearances/Privet Drive in Harry Potter) and then less exciting alleyways and a Saab dealership. Alas, not the right way. Google helped us figure it out, and we realized we were closer now to the cemetary than to the hostel. So, with packs on, we hiked it there, spent some time and then hiked to the hostel. We arrive at the hostel, only to look at the intersection beside it with recognition: the hostel was a stone's throw from aforementioned intersection where we made the unfortunate choice to ask at the hotel. Wes assured me it was so close that even I could have thrown the stone.

That night, after shedding our packs, we walked back up to the funky street of restaurants we had discovered (its presence explained by the nearby university) and had dinner at a - wait for it - burger place with vegan and vegetarian options! I also asked a nice young dude outside which of the two adjacent restaurants to choose and he pointed to the burger place and said it was "how do you say in English - biologique?" Yes! Organic food! Amazing!

This was followed by a full-stomach-induced sleepy trudge back to the hostel and an amazing sleep before that long, long train ride.

The Things We Take For Granted

If you're looking for something to do this afternoon, and you've got a few minutes, listen to this broadcast of CBC's Living Out Loud. This broadcast had adults reading stories that they wrote as kids and the first story of Part 2 is about coming to Canada. It's right at the beginning of Part 2, so take a minute to listen and get a sense of what it might be like to come to this country for the first time.

http://www.cbc.ca/livingoutloud/episode/2011/03/18/march-18-2011-2/

Mmm....Sunday

Rule #1: Cardio

A little news to brighten your day.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/06/27/nl-zombie-warning-gallery-627.html

I think our natural reaction here would be, "only in Newfoundland" but for once, that's actually not true at all! Kentucky and Manitoba have both featured roadside zombie warnings this summer, prompted by similar instances in 2009 all over the States.
I'm not sure what it is about zombies that has prompted such hilarity in the past 2 or 3 years (anyone who has seen Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland knows what I mean!) Why is it that we see vampires as these horribly serious creatures, worthy of hours of televised dramatic exploration of modernist theory, when with zombies we are promised endless hilarious entertainment?

2 million minutes and counting......

Canada awoke this morning to a country in transition. Looking at an electoral map of the nation, we are struck by the change from red, blue and a collection of light blue centred around Quebec, to a sudden collage of blue and orange.

For the first time in 7 years, we are back to majority status. Mr Harper has succeeded for the first time at what any party leader in Canada ultimately hopes for. Of course, in what we would assume is his glee, he characteristically gave his family stony hugs and manfully shook hands with his teenage son Ben. This should really be a message to any Canadians who were convinced by Mr Harper's claim that his party did not want this election: How many times this campaign did we hear Mr Harper state that this was an unnecessary election? Funny.....since you, sir, seem to have come out quite ahead of where you were 34 days ago.....huh.....interesting.

More impressive than even Mr Harper's majority is the rise of Layton's NDP. It has been understood in this country for as long as I have been alive that the mere idea of Prime Minister Layton was out of the question, as we were primarily a 2 party system with the NDP as the ultimate vote splitter. Pre-election they held 36 seats and in one day they emerged with 102. The impact of this sweep will only remain to be seen in the next 4 years - with our official opposition for the first time being someone other than the Grits or Tories.

The Liberals for their part, in their sacrifice of official opposition status, now sit at a mere 34 seats from a former 77. Here in Toronto, a historically red city, there is a combination of blue and orange ridings. The significant decline is most evident in Iggy's inability to be re-elected in his own riding. The Grits will need to plan carefully for the next leadership convention.

I was most disappointed to see Duceppe go. Our longest serving political leader, and easily the most engaging and politically savvy of all our leaders, did not win his seat either. And his party has as good as disappeared from their 47 seats, they won back only 4.

My favourite moment of this election though, and worth the entire upheaval of our system, was the acquisition of the first Green Party seat. This win is even more important as Elizabeth May was denied inclusion in the televised debates this election, a network choice that only handed her increased media attention. Truly her win is a huge frak you to those networks and to all of her outspoken critics. I can only imagine the first time she passes Iggy on the streets of Ottawa......"Oh hey, Mike, just on my way to Question Period.....Guess you're heading home to catch it on CPAC?"

Regardless, things here in Canada are different this morning. Thankfully, CBC Radio is free of attack ads, lawns are back to being non-partisan and we begin to relax in the thought of 4 full years of election-free governing.

Slow and Steady....

Vote Mobs. They are a relatively new creation, and have been popping up at universities across the country in recent weeks.
If you haven't heard of them, check out cbc.ca. There is a lot of writing on the subject.

This year, Rick Mercer's traditional call to young people to vote has resulted in thousands of youth getting together to state their willingness to get out there and have their say. There are articles and YouTube videos out there showing the enthusiasm and spirit from great numbers of university students. There are colours and costumes everywhere, cheering and posters stating the students' promises to vote. The pictures have been a refreshing sight in the wake of the downright depressing slander and dark attack ads that grace our televisions and radios.

But as with every celebration, there's always one Debbie Downer. There have been a few small articles condemning these mobs as unproductive and chaotic but this recent one, courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen, blasts them all out of the water. Someone in Ottawa's getting nervous. And the fact that the article is written by a former speech writer for the PM himself, I'll give you 3 guesses who that someone is.

Sure, you'll say when you read the first part, vote mobs are not going to suddenly incite a few million new voters to make it to the polling stations on May 2. And they certainly don't guarantee that all votes cast a result of the mobs will be well-researched ones. But does this automatically mean they're all bad? That they won't make a difference for a few people in every mob at every university?
Mr Taube refers to the mobs as "silly" and the resultant videos as "pointless". If history has taught us anything, it is to never underestimate the power of numbers. Gatherings of thousands are never totally ineffective. And the power of mass media is only going to grow exponentially.
What have the ads been telling us? Every vote makes a difference. So it stands to reason that 10 new votes, 30 votes, 50 votes can make change happen. Just because a movement doesn't immediately overturn the current system doesn't completely invalidate it. Very rarely does change, any change, happen quickly. At least someone is out there, trying.

And I'm sorry, Mr Taube, did you have a better suggestion? Right.... you must have been so busy slamming those who are actually making an effort, you must have forgotten.

Please take a minute to read the article.
And please, please, don't buy into it.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/decision-canada/Opinion+Vote+mentality/4658160/story.html

In their midst....

Here we are, 2 weeks into campaign madness. All the platforms have been revealed, the tour buses are parked in preparation for this week's debates, and one particular Prime Minister seems to be auditioning for Rick Mercer's job.....ATVs? Really?
Even the usually reticent voices of the CBC Radio broadcasters are sounding noticeably tired in their constant pre-campaign-ad disclaimers......'During the election, CBC Radio is obliged to air campaign ads during its regular broadcast......' I swear I heard a muffled groan the other day, right before Matt Galloway switched his mike off.......

I hope that along the way, dear campaigners, you have learned some lessons - most importantly, about how NOT to entice voters to vote for you:

Lesson 1: Don't completely ostracize a crowd of new Canadians with separatist language. They are not a separate species - they are incredible individuals, individuals who have made the enormously difficult and often painful choice to uproot themselves from their native lands to seek out what they can only hope is better than what they leave behind. They are people who have more courage and more stories and more life experience under their belts than any upper middle class white scholar turned politician will ever know. Don't be so exclusive in your language, sir, and consider reading your speeches once over before you open your mouth.

Lesson 2: When a young potential voter breaks themselves away from Jersey Shore long enough to look up the location of your rally and actually turns up to hear what you have to say, embrace it. As Rick Mercer points out at the dawn of each new election, there are millions of youth in this country, and if they all decided to get out there and vote, there could be a huge difference in the result. This year, in response to Rick's rant, thousands of university students nationwide have been rallying, promising that they'll vote. This is a good thing!
Some of these newbies showed up at rallies. Sometimes they were admitted. Sometimes not. Come on, people. Not only is it a new voter, but it's a new voter who's willing to do the legwork to research all of the options. This is the ideal voter in a democracy!
My biggest concern here is this:
When a regular voter is discouraged by a political party, what do they do? They turn around and vote for the other guy.
But a first-time voter? If their first point of contact with any politician is to be discouraged and turned away, they may not come back. At all. They may choose to stay home on election day.

Lesson 3: When you're called out for ejecting people from your rallies, don't try and make it an example of the mass numbers that turned out to see you "We're turning people away...."

And finally Lesson 4:
When you're called out for lying about why you were turning people away, and you attempt an apology, try and make it sound sincere! For heaven's sake, "We're obviously sorry...." just doesn't ring true, sir.
I don't think anyone's buying it.

On the other hand, I think that many out there are still buying in to a lot of other aspects of this campaign. I hold out little hope that anything will change post-May 2.

I do however love living in a country that asks 4 of the most important political superstars in the country to reschedule their debate, because there's a hockey game on.

Vive le Canada.