Remember to give 5 minutes or so to provide feedback to the federal government on assisted dying legislation. You can access the questionnaire here. I have been an advocate for disability rights for years and I have lived as a disabled person most of my life as I had significant health issues since birth. I believe many of the proposed safeguards just limit access to medically assisted dying rather than truly protect vulnerable people. The best safeguard is in creating a society that values and embraces the differently abled, the aged and those who are very ill. This means helping... Continue reading

Media reports, as well as insider reports, indicate that Calgary may be the first city in Canada to take action against Occupy protesters. Please read our letter to city officials and consider signing our petition. We, the undersigned, are a group of concerned citizens who are asking City of Calgary officials to show continued respect for the rights guaranteed to the Occupy Calgary participants under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Occupy Calgary is an exercise in participatory democracy and is consistent with the ideals we hold dear as Canadians. The gap between the rich and poor has been... Continue reading

WHY? The share of the world income received by the richest 20% of the world’s countries relative to the share received by the poorest 20% has gone from a ratio of 3:1 in 1820 to 30:1 in 1960 to 74:1 in 1997 Taking the richest 10% of those on the globe and the poorest 10% in 2005, we get an inequality ratio of 103:1. The world’s 793 billionaires have a combined wealth greater than the GDP of all but 6 countries in the world. In the U.S, the ratio of CEO income to that of the average worker has risen... Continue reading

While some heralded SlutWalk as the future of feminism, the lack of hype around Calgary's second attempt at SlutWalk reveals that it was little more than a trend that has already begun to fizzle out. So, I'll keep my remarks brief and leave you with a radio interview that I did in June around the time of the demise of SlutWalk Calgary 1.0. I can say that I understand victim-blaming. I've been there. We're silenced by the implication that we were somehow complicit in the violence. And, we're pressured to not talk about the violence and move on with our... Continue reading

In 'Blogging the pain,' Höttges (2009) writes, Grief writing is a strategy that can help the mourner to overcome both the breakdown of the self and the sense of alienation caused by the death of a relational anchor. This healing potential of grief writing is connected to the restoration of language. Pain, as Elaine Scarry writes in her book The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World, is not only “world-destroying”, it also shatters language: “Whatever pain achieves, it achieves in part through its unsharability, and it ensures this unsharability through its resistance to language." Indeed, “[p]hysical... Continue reading

The August edition of Vogue Italia features a fashion spread titled ‘Water and Oil.’ I believe that ‘Violence and Destruction’ better capture the content and mood of these photos. We are accustomed to the sexualization of violence against women. Now, we’re being asked to swallow the glorification of violent destruction of the Earth. I cannot believe that images that parallel photos of dying wildlife are being used to sell Self Tan Face Bronzing Gel that “keeps her skin golden.” Perhaps, ecofeminists and ecosocialists will have to rely less on dense historical and material analyses to illuminate the connections between violence... Continue reading

The Bechdel Test, sometimes called the Mo Movie Measure or Bechdel Rule is a simple test which names the following three criteria to evaluate films: (1) It has to have at least two women in it. (2) The women have to talk to each other. (3) And, they must talk about something besides a man. The test was popularized by Alison Bechdel's comic Dykes to Watch Out For in a 1985 strip called The Rule. Continue reading

I thought that NO ONE could top my tales of bad dating experiences. Megan Carpentier has done it! She shares her worst dumping experiences over at BitchMedia. Breaking up almost always sucks no matter which side of the equation you find yourself on (abusive relationships being sometimes, though not always, the exception). If you are doing the breaking, you’ve basically got to have some sort of confrontation with someone you cared about (and perhaps still care about) that you know will hurt their feelings, at a bare minimum. If you’re being broken up with, someone you care about is telling... Continue reading

Who picks up the phone? Here is an interesting photo essay from Mother Jones on phone sex operators. This woman reveals: I'm 60 years old, I have a BA in cultural anthropology from Columbia University, and I've been married for 25 years. I make twice the money I made in the corporate world. I work from home; the money transfers into my bank account daily. I'm Scheherazade: If I don't tell stories that fascinate the pasha, he will kill me in the morning. Another woman describes her worst experiences as a phone sex operator: Just last night I received possibly... Continue reading

After coping with serious illness over the past year, I have accepted the frustration and pain of having to put parts of my life on hold. I have gotten significantly better in the last couple of months and particularly the last few weeks. I will soon return to my thesis. I am well enough now to visit my sister who is town from Boston this week - something that I could not do in a real way a few months ago. I am well enough to read and write again. I have recovered the core of my existence. Everything has... Continue reading

Social media is an industry that not only weathers economic recession but flourishes under such conditions. Indeed, The Economist argues: The downturn will also accelerate the use of social media, such as blogs and social-networking sites, by consumers looking for intelligence on firms and their products. As trust in brands is eroded, people will place more value on recommendations from friends. Social media make it harder for brands to pull the wool over consumers’ eyes, but they also offer canny companies a powerful new channel through which to promote their wares and test new products and pricing strategies. It is... Continue reading

In an excellent article titled 'Eat, Pray, Spend: Priv-Lit and the New, Enlightened American Dream,' Joshua Saunders and Diana Barnes-Brown analyze the enlightenment industry and a new genre of literature -- "priv-lit"-- which the authors define as: "literature or media whose expressed goal is one of spiritual, existential, or philosophical enlightenment contingent upon women’s hard work, commitment, and patience, but whose actual barriers to entry are primarily financial. Should its consumers fail, the genre holds them accountable for not being ready to get serious, not “wanting it” enough, or not putting themselves first, while offering no real solutions for the... Continue reading

The BP BirthPlace Forest program plants a forest each year to represent Calgary’s newborns. Tomorrow, the City of Calgary celebrates the opening of the ninth BP (yep, BP Oil) 'Birthplace Forest' in Calgary. The invitation reads: "Thank you for supporting Calgary’s BP BirthPlace Forest and for teaching your children about the importance of taking care of the environment through this living legacy." This is grotesque "greenwashing." I hardly think Calgarians need a company like BP to mentor them in educating their children about environmental responsibility. The City of Calgary needs to critically consider the motives of its partners. We need... Continue reading

CitID describes itself as follows: "CitID is ambitious project aiming to gain global consciousness by giving a (type)face to every city worldwide; big or small, rich or poor, famous or infamous, well-known or unheard-of. Ever heard of Tegucicalpa? How about Sandnes or Brunswick? Probably not. Right now they're just hard-to-pronounce foreign words that you will not remember. The fact is, they are all cities somewhere on our planet. Places you're most likely never to visit. Through this project you will become aware of them, and maybe even remember their names; Here you get to meet them personally and visually, in... Continue reading

With the Calgary 2010 Municipal Election fast approaching, I think it's worthwhile to develop a context in which to consider the issues and the candidates. In 'Municipal Malaise: Neoliberal Urbanism and the Future of Our Cities,' Fanelli and Paulson discuss neoliberal restructuring of Canadian cities: The 2008 Annual Report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, written when the Federal government was pulling in nearly $14-billion in budget surpluses, paints a grim picture of the coming collapse of Canada's municipal infrastructure. The report found that Canada has used up 79 per cent of the service life of its public infrastructure and... Continue reading

Meet Holly Norris - a Canadian artist, undergraduate student at Trent University and creator of 'American Able.' Meet Jess Sachse - a Canadian artist and model who has a genetic disorder called Freeman-Sheldon syndrome. In her series 'American Able,' Norris challenges the claim that American Apparel uses regular women in their ads. She writes, 'American Able' intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are invisibilized in advertising and mass media. I chose American Apparel not just for their notable style, but also for their claims that many of their models are just ‘every day’ women... Continue reading

When the Brazilian wax trend swept North America, I played the game. I thank God that I am too old for the latest packaging trend: Vajazzling. Although, admittedly, there does not seem to be a cultural age limit on "looking fine on the vagine." A website for "what moms are talking about" - MomLogic - describes the process of going "bare with flair." The process is simple: First, you're vigorously waxed down there. Then, Swarovski crystals (or your own jewels) are placed on your nether-regions, in an artful design of your choice. The whole process (including waxing) costs $115 and... Continue reading

The new Flamer Movement growing in America is informed by the simple philosophy: People should die if the can't afford fire care, and they should go broke if their house burns down. Let the free market decide. Their Facebook group - 1 Million Strong Against Our Socialist Fire Departments -proclaims: For too long now, fire departments across the United States have been SOCIALIST organizations, resulting in TAXES on the American people. FACT: Most Americans never use the socialized services of the fire department. We have the best fire departments in the world in the US, but that doesn't mean that... Continue reading

Oh God, I've had a rotten few weeks. I have had waaaay too many encounters with stupid, rude and hurtful people. I wish I was a passive aggressive person, but I cope by turning to overt aggression or, alternatively, I repress my emotions and withdraw from people...and the world, as much is possible. I find some catharsis in a newly discovered website: Passive Aggressive Notes. In Easter spirit, I'll begin with this note left on woman's windshield, in response to a bumper sticker on her car that reads: “What Would Buddha Do?” This next note - posted on an office... Continue reading