Ali has requested, in response to Meg Fowler doing so, a fill-in-the-blank Love List from friends. Here be’s mine:
Song you love: ‘Shroud’ by Ani diFranco
Word you love: Ladle
Academic subject you love: Philosophy
Hobby you love: Cooking (it excites me that that has become true…)
Type of baked good you love: Gluten-free, vegan chocolate cake from Magic Oven (…my options are limited, but this is really amazing even for those whose options aren’t limited…)
Type of sky you love: Blue, with just enough small clouds to provide bright contrast
Beverage you love: Water
Vacation you love: mmm any. Especially ones alone, where I have hours before and after in airports and on planes to think about (and then reminisce) about the time away.
Restaurant you love: Salad King
Way of getting around that you love: Rollerblading
Person you love: Ali (on my mind n’ all :P)
Room in your home (or ideal home) you love: Living room (in the afternoon)
Movie you love: What Dreams May Come/Finding Neverland
Book you love: …dear God… we’ll go with ‘Answer my Prayer’ by Sid Hite
City you love: Cork (hands down)
Future plan you love: Growing in love (in all senses and directions of both words)
Form of communication you love: Talking, face-to-face, and trying to repress smiles which refer to things happily noted from the conversation but not referring to the topic.
Junk food you love: Lay’s Salt & Vinegar chips
September 6th, 2008
Matt Good ranted today about a refusal to take sides in the Georgia conflict because all sides are taking lives–and that is not something that can be justified.
He pointed out that this is not a conflict that began last month–that for a decade separatists have been inciting violence that has been killing innocents. And that’s just not okay anymore.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I have a Dream speech. MLK was a man who stood up, with Ghandi as his hero to claim that it was in the courageous that you found the ability to turn away from violence. To peacefully demand your rights. …and he, and Ghandi proved that it was doable. If you refuse to fight, and you protest, and you argue for your rights and your needs as a human you will overthrow your oppressors. And why hasn’t that lesson been learned?
It breaks my heart to know that my own people failed at that task. When I read Irish history, and I learn about the otrocious and violent and vile behaviour of the British I can understand the anger and desperation that the Irish of the early 20th century felt…but that does not excuse, in my mind, their decision to take up arms.
I have been reading Edward Said’s “After Oslo: The End of the Peace Process”, and I recommend it. It is an interesting look at the years between 1995 and 2001 in Palestine and Israel, but moreover it is plea to humanity.
Said is very consistently critical of the Palestinian intellectuals and leaders. …He is critical because he sees them as being a people unable to mobilize their population culturally and ideologically–and he argues that since they leave their population unable to affect political change they drive them toward religious fundamentalism since people need some sense of meaning, or some sense that their actions will have purpose.
He argues that in today’s day and age we know that the way to win a struggle is with ideas, through propoganda and communication. And so he points out the spending money on security and arms is a waste for Palestine–they will never outfight Israel. Instead, he argues, they must begin to appeal to the world population regarding the violation of their human rights. And moreover, they must stop violating the human rights of one another. …they must begin peaceful protests that will cause embarrasment for those who perpetuate and exacerbate the circumstances in which they live.
It is unacceptable that we are willing to abide by the senseless taking of other lives. It is unacceptable that we are okay with hundreds and thousands and millions of people dying as long as it’s not in our country–as long as it’s not our people.
It is unacceptable that we frame the world according to countries and consider that a relevant way to divide human lives.
I attended a panel earlier this week of five Afghani youth visiting Canada to speak about their experiences growing up and working in Afghanistan. One of them touched my heart so powerfully he kept almost bringing me to tears with his assertive demands for hope. Many people in the room had questions to do with Canada’s presence in Afghanistan, particularly considering that there may well be an election coming up in the fall, in which Afghanistan would be a major issue. All five Afghanis firmly argued that Canada’s presence was postive, and that the developments and growth in Afghanistan could not be overestimated in the last 6 years. This one particular young man pointed out, furthermore, that it was the vaccuum of power once the Russia finally left Afghanistan and the West ceased to provide any more support (i.e. failed to provide any support to help Afghanistan rebuild as a democracy following the end of the Russian occupation) that allowed the Taliban to get power in the first place. All five young men seemed quite confident that if the international community left Afghanistan again now the same thing (or at least a similar thing) would happen again.
This one young man pointed out that Afghanistan is a very important and volatile location, and that it is important to the world community that such a thing not happen again. Moreover, however, he pleaded to the notion that no matter where Afghanistan was located–the higher point was that we are all in this together, as citizens of this planet…and that insofar as we care about democracy and human rights and peace for all people we ought to stay in Afghanistan and help our brothers their achieve those ideals.
And I was touched. Because so rarely do we look at it that way and genuinely mean it.
August 29th, 2008
About a year ago I expressed apprehension at the fact that I felt my views toward America were beginning to apply more and more to Canada as well, and I have to say in the interim it’s only gotten worse.
I’ve not been impressed with Canada’s current government. I’ve not been impressed with the almost covert ways in which they cut funding and execute deregulations which put more and more power into the hands of corporations… Frankly, it’s frightened me. And it’s depressed me that despite Harper’s current pandering about a government that can’t get things done, the fact of the matter is he’s had an almost free-ride since Liberals have been afraid to challenge him to firmly on anything for fear of causing an election they weren’t ready to win.
Anyway, for some thoughts on this …check out Heather Mallick’s editorial for the week.
August 25th, 2008
One of the more successful Canadian blogs out there is Meg Fowler’s, and one of her regular posts is the “Friday Love List”, which my dear friend Ali has recently picked up on as well.
And this morning I’ve decided I could use a Monday Love List. So with no further ado, here are some things I love:
Green leaves outside my window (preferably with the sound of birds in accompaniement)
Making a new city feel like home
Dark chocolate
The sky, when clouds are doing shocking things (particularly when this is juxtaposed against city skylines)
Public Transit (kind of a love-hate)
That newly acquired sensual comfort of being close with a new lover
Smiles
Dancing eyes (particularly ones that dance during intricate conversation)
Long, healthy hair
Women who cultivate their natural beauty
Men who are comfortable owning the space around them
Children laughing, peeking, exploring, existing…
Groups of people dancing
Piles of unread books
Piles of books I’ve read
…Books
Fresh starts
Comfort zones
August 18th, 2008
I was chatting with a friend yesterday about my breakup and he commiserated that, “relationships are hard.” To which I responded, “well, no.” As in that is not how I would characterize my thoughts on what has happened.
He nodded and said, “Yes, but, getting the ingredients right, it’s difficult.” And again I shook my head.
I find distasteful (if understandable) the inclination to imply and assume that a relationship can or ought to be judged by its having ended. Or the associated assumption that a relationship can be measured by its longevity.
I measure my relationships by the amount that we, as a couple, feel we have learned and grown together as a result of the inspiration and support we have offered and shared. Can this be correlated with the length of the relationship itself? Of course. But often it is not. And in fact many relationships that are incredibly long, it could be suggested ought not have been so, by more rational assessments of what it means to be in a good relationship. I consider it natural that just like most people, when I am in certain kinds of relationships I think about things like life-long partnership, raising kids, etc. …but that is not the ultimate goal of the exercise–not by a long stretch.
I do not, in anyway, characterize my current breakup as a loss, or any kind of comment on the glorious and flourishing relationship Gabe and I have shared. I consider it to be incredibly aptly timed, and I am proud of both of us for making the choice that feels right for us in choosing to move on and toward new paths. And I stress that these paths will not be ‘better’ for each of us than what we had when we were together, but might be ‘better’ than where we would end up if we chose to stay together now. Like everything else we have shared this breakup feels like a natural and positive progression, and I pray that our relationship is not ending but growing into something new, a loving friendship, which we will share as each of us moves on to new and exciting things.
Anyway, that’s just my thoughts on the matter, (the ones) which I thought I’d share.
July 26th, 2008
This year I became increasingly frustrated by my being a tax-paying and voting citizen whose army was involved in a war that I felt I knew too little about. So this summer began, for me, with reading a number of books to try to remedy that a bit, and each of them proved full of incredibly interesting information for those in a similar boat.
I by no means claim that this is anywhere near a list that will give you all the information we all ought to have. It’s just where I started:
Omar Nasiri’s Inside the Jihad
This was a fascinating look at the rise of Al-qaeda from a rather reluctant spy who worked for the French intelligence services, attended training camps, and was associated with key members of Al-qaeda. What made the book most interesting to me was the extent to which the author remained notably unsympathetic to either side of what he saw as the divide between Islam and the West–he was neither in support of the methods being used by terrorists nor did he believe that their opinions of the West, nor their desire to fight against the West were necessarily wrong. This, to me, made for a fascinating perspective. Also, while it’s fairly long, it read like a good novel and I had it read in about two days.
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner
This was a beautiful, and gut-wrenching and tragic book that I highly recommend. It followed the life of an Afghani whose father was able to move he and his son to America but who later had to return to Afghanistan to save a young boy. The book was structured quite well considering the complexity of the political issues of the country, which were woven into the story as highly relevant while remaining backdrops to the gripping tales of individuals living through such shockingly difficult times.
Michelle Shephard’s Guanatanamo’s Child
This was an incredibly shocking and important book, especially for Canadians. The author, Michelle Shephard, is an award-winning journalist with The Toronto Star who has won Canada’’s top two newspaper awards: the National Newspaper Award for investigations and the Governor General’’s Michener Award for public service journalism.
I truly need to find the time to dedicate an entire post to Omar’s story, although there is a great deal available in the news. Here you can find a CBC ‘in depth’ article on Khadr, and here is a very recent article which I highly recommend, discussing the legalities behind bringing him home. Also here you can find Matt Good’s musings on the matter along with his requesting that you email the Prime Minister to demand that Canada demand Khadr’s return. Please do so.
Michael Ignatieff’s The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror
This book was fairly short, dense, but important insofar as it reflects on commentary within Canadian politics on how to deal with terrorism. The basic thrust of the argument is that while we do have a right to use force and violence to protect the societies in which we live and the principles on which they are founded, to do so in ways which violate those principles is not only morally questionable but is dangerous to the societies we puport to protect. Thus, Ignatieff argues for a great deal of awareness of the extent to which we are violating those principles and a constant and careful assessment of whether our actions can be justified in so doing.
Benazir Bhutto’s Reconciliation: Democracy, Islam and the West
I consider this book to be very important. It was a simultaneously difficult and fascinating read. It was difficult for strange reasons. 1. it was a message from the grave–and a message from a woman who knew very well how soon her death might be approaching, and 2. I feel, particularly toward the end, that editing was not carried out as well as it ought to have been (facts were needlessly repeated and arguments were less solidly constructed), perhaps, tragically, as a result of the author’s death. That said it was a book which challenged conventional wisdom on democracy, Islam and ‘the West’ in ways which were very important, or so it seemed to me.
Each book cover links to its page on indigo.ca
Happy reading.
July 24th, 2008
Everybody hates change right? And even if you learn to accept it, and grow with it, every body hates change right?
Which is to say you can approach changes head on, knowing what makes them important, why they are necessary, or positive, but your body is still going to struggle with the change itself. You’re going to be overly tired. You’re going to find sleeping difficult. You’re going to stumble and trip over words just because your brain and your tongue aren’t quite in alignment as your whole body shakes and shifts through the cramps and shivers of change.
That said you’ll come out on the other side. All the stronger if you’ve met the change with your eyes up, and your head tall. Right?
July 24th, 2008
1. The belief in hell, and the fear of ending up there.
2. Fostering a detachment from this life.
2.a. and thus justifying not caring for our planet or the life on it (including one’s own, and that of other people).
3. The acceptance of the devil or of this world as a necessarily evil place
3.a. and thus justifying the existence of poverty and inequality.
July 8th, 2008
I would like to announce that today our vegetarian, Jewish roommate went to get some ham at the grocery store for Gabe and me. Sometimes irony is just so damn fun.
February 17th, 2008
Man pays $14 million for a license plate ‘1′ in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Okay, so first of all, some people have too much money and not enough brains. But that’s old news.
More importantly how the hell can a license plate, according to the article, have “only the western numerals” instead what is apparently the norm in UAE, to”carry both Arabic and western numerals and script”? Our modern-day western numeral ARE Arabic numerals.
Anyone? Anyone?
*shakes head*
February 16th, 2008
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