The Real Question Is This...

Book Review: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

2011-12-28T15:01:00.002-05:00

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like the first two in this series, this book still took way too long to get to the point. But I loved the strategizing on the part of the "good guys" for overcoming the epic conspiracies of the "bad guys". I'm not a huge fan of the details of law or procedurals, but I did like the point-by-point take-down in logical order. But they left one major detail hanging -- what happened to Camilla, Salander's long-lost twin sister? She never appears in any of the three books and nobody mentions what has become of her while living "abroad".

Book Review: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)

2011-12-12T15:13:00.000-05:00

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Great characters, but I found the plot a bit lacking. There was very much an assumption that readers had already read The Mortal Instruments series and thus knew all the background about Shadowhunters - which I had, but I dislike when I feel like a book is not whole on its own. Similarly the pace threw me off a bit: I kept feeling like I was still in the introductory phase, and didn't know very much about where the book was headed plot-wise, when I started noticing I was halfway through or three-quarters through the book. I realized it was one of those books that's written expressly as the first in a series - meaning that it doesn't stand quite as well on its own, and I feel less satisfied by the ending. That being said, I love the world created by Cassandra Clare and will definitely be reading Clockwork Prince to find out what the hell is going on with Will! (And what the hell Tessa is.)

Book Review: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

2011-11-22T15:15:00.000-05:00

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Incredible! And for once, the ending actually measured up to the rest of the series. I'm going to have to find more science fiction that I actually like, since I was fascinated by this.

Book Review: City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)

2011-11-20T15:16:00.000-05:00

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the fact that the characters in this installment of The Mortal Instruments were almost Twilight-esque in their ability to make me rage against their stupidity at times - you love each other, stop being emo and sulky and get over yourselves!!! - I still enjoyed it. More and more detail about the different races and Shadowhunter history. And another cliffhanger ending that has left me heading straight to the library hold list for the next book.

Book Review: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)

2011-11-10T15:18:00.000-05:00

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tore through this book in three days and am now left with a gigantic cliffhanger... Now on a mission to find Book 3. AMAZING series.

Book Review: Everything Is Going To Be Great

2011-10-12T15:19:00.000-04:00

Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Halfway through this book, I decided not to even bother finishing it. It is self-absorbed to the point of obnoxiousness and seemingly pointless. Almost a parody of "Eat, Pray, Love" but without any redeeming qualities like legitimately useful life lessons or philosophical revelations about love and purpose.

Book Review: Juliet, Naked

2011-08-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sweet story about people whose lives did not turn out the way they expected, and who aren't quite sure what to do about it. I was glad that it got less depressing towards the end of the book, though I didn't find the plot very believable. Of course, that was part of the point - Hornby was being very tongue-in-cheek about the totally implausible happenings throughout the book, having the main characters refer to this directly. I still didn't think it was the best approach. But I like my fiction to be as realistic as possible, so maybe not a fault of this particular book. Magic realism, in particular, turns me off... just because we are all aware that everyone is aware that it's unrealistic on purpose, doesn't make it any more readable.

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Help

2011-07-26T15:24:00.001-04:00

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I would give this book ten stars if I could. I haven't read something that grabbed my attention and held it for over 500 pages (and just over 48 hours straight) in a really long time. I knew going in that I would love it, given its similarities to "The Secret Life of Bees" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" (which is referenced several times in the text). I highly, highly recommend it to anyone -- not just those interested in reading about civil rights or the race riots of the 60s, but anyone who likes reading about intense and unique characters.

Book Review: Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

2011-07-26T15:24:00.000-04:00

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fascinating for anyone interested in questions of authorship and the varying identity of characters in the hands of different writers. Not the highest-quality non-fiction writing I've ever seen, but very well-researched. I enjoyed the descriptions of each decade's opportunities for and restrictions on American women just as much as the details of Nancy Drew's history.

Book Review: The Pillars of the Earth

2011-06-13T15:28:00.000-04:00

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Almost 1,000 pages later, I am finally finished. I didn't love this book, but the characters were interesting enough that I felt compelled to keep going through the overly long and drawn-out plot. I enjoyed the historical descriptions of towns and daily life much more.

Book Review: Little Town on the Prairie

2011-05-19T15:30:00.000-04:00

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This might actually be my favorite of all the Little House books. Somehow I missed out on this one as a kid, and skipped straight from The Long Winter to These Happy Golden Years. But Little Town really fills in some of the blanks for me - how Laura went from an innocent little girl to a grown woman teaching school and engaged. This book is by far the most revealing about Laura's "rebellious" (relatively speaking) teen years, and is the only book in the series that mentions things like corsets and goes into detail about the limitations on women's hairstyles and behaviour at that time. Plus, it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which none of the previous books do - and now I have to go reread These Happy Golden Years for the dozenth time just to connect all the dots.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

2011-04-28T15:32:00.000-04:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the best dystopian books I've read in years, and a YA character I actually enjoy!

Book Review: Bossypants

2011-04-08T07:43:00.001-04:00

Bossypants by Tina Fey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I laughed out loud so many times during this book. OK I'll admit it - most of those times I snorted. There is something about Tina Fey's brand of humour that resonates with me and with millions and millions of other smart goofy women.

The only thing I found a bit weird was the writing style. It wasn't really continuous - parts of the book had been published in magazines before, and each chapter functioned a bit like a stand-alone piece. Even within chapters, though, she jumped around from thought to thought and only by the end of the chapter did she tie all of her points back to her original thought. Sometimes it's still unclear why she included certain bits of information, if for no other reason than to be funny. (Which it always, always was.)

The ending was also a bit abrupt. I didn't feel any more conclusiveness at the end of the final chapter than after any of the previous ones. There just ... weren't any more chapters after that one.

Bottom line, though, Tina Fey is a brilliant writer of all kinds of material - just maybe not a novelist or long-form book writer. I loved this book, her voice was clear throughout it, and I couldn't put it down over the two evenings it took me to read it. Very highly recommended to women everywhere and the more open-minded and secure men who accompany them.

Book Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

2011-04-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Such a frustrating read - 600 pages of confusing, overly detailed build-up to a totally unsatisfying climactic scene. And then a cliffhanger to the third book? Are you kidding me? I don't have the ENERGY to read the third book right now, so I guess I'll just have to ignore the fact that despite the shitty editing, I really want to find out what happens to Salander.

Book Review: The Sun Also Rises

2011-03-14T11:37:00.000-04:00

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm really happy that I gave Hemingway a second chance. The only other book of his that I'd read previously was 'The Old Man and the Sea', and it was in high school. Given what I know now of his major works, I'd say it likely wasn't the most representative of his books, so I'm looking forward to reading more.

'The Sun Also Rises' was very different from the fiction I normally read, but fits in well with my experience of early twentieth century American literature. Though I haven't read all of the American classics yet, my impression from Fitzgerald et al is that the 1920s were a time of disillusionment and a feeling of a lack of direction among young adults, who had seen World War I at a formative time in their lives and weren't quite sure how they should feel about the world they lived in. (Now, of course, disillusioned youth are a total cliche, but I get the feeling that this kind of characterization was absolutely groundbreaking at the time it was written.)

There isn't the same assuredness about the cycles of life and one's priorities as there is in Victorian literature. Young people in Hemingway's '20s aren't limited to their immediate surroundings in the same way. Even for the rich, as in Forster's 'A Room with a View' for example, Victorian literature seems to feature very structured lifestyles and very sheltered young people. Any trips they take abroad (to Italy, Spain, France, etc) from the US or England are carefully chaperoned and itineraried.

In contrast, Hemingway has revealed in 'The Sun Also Rises' a whole new generation of travelers who don't seem to plan their lives more than a few days in advance. Some of them, like Hemingway's main character Jake, have jobs - but they don't work regular hours. They sit for extended lunch-hours in Paris cafes, and take off for Spanish vacations on a moment's notice. Friends join them spontaneously, and involve themselves with each other's fiancees equally spontaneously. The Victorians would have seen these people as little better than tramps, yet Hemingway was living this kind of lifestyle in Paris himself and hanging out with the greatest writers of his time - Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, etc.

To me, the entire book was a justification of a life away from what I've referred to, in conversations with friends, as "the treadmill". Growing up in the community that I did, and having the parents that I do, there was never any doubt in anyone's mind - least of all my own - that I would graduate from high school with the highest marks, attend a high-quality university and graduate with honours, and then attend some sort of graduate school. From there, I would obtain a job reflecting the program I had studied and proceed to excel in every aspect of life. This is the prescribed path for young upper-middle-class Canadians, and I never suspected in the least that there was any option to deviate from this. Then once I graduated from my first university experience and immediately embarked upon my Master's degree, I noticed that not everyone was following this path. Somehow, some of the people I'd gone to university or high school with had managed to jump off the treadmill. They were already working full-time jobs, some of them on the other side of the country or overseas. Some of them were simply traveling, for months or a year, teaching in Asia, hiking through South America, surfing in Australia.

I couldn't understand this. Where had they gotten the money to just take off like that? What were they going to do for jobs once they returned from their adventures with a giant hole in their resumes? And most importantly, why had I never once considered doing the same thing? Years later, firmly entrenched in my existence as a 9-to-5 urbanite with rent to pay and a budding career to think about, reading books like 'Eat Pray Love' drive me crazy. Of course I can't just take off for a year and live in Italy, India and Indonesia, or some equally-alliterative trio of countries. Nobody is giving me a book advance to pay for that kind of thing, and Elizabeth Gilbert's portrayal of her trip rings slightly false to anyone whose work is tied to a particular city, office building, or cubicle.

But now, reading Hemingway has given me a new perspective. At the end of the day, how much of this will matter? Jake's cynicism seems to me like a message that we should all try to do exactly what we want with our lives - and include some spontaneity and illogical decisions - because later on, all of this structure will be meaningless and we should make as many memories as we can, while we can.

Celebrity stalking with a conscience

2011-01-20T10:29:00.001-05:00

Spin by Catherine McKenzie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book surprised me. I expected fluff, and instead got a fully-realized main character who tricks herself and the reader into thinking she has everything figured out. When she crashes and burns, the reader ends up going through that journey with her. There were emotional parts which I thought were well done, but I also really liked the sense of humour.

Here's the Goodreads synopsis:

Katie Sandford has just gotten an interview at her favourite music magazine, The Line. It's the chance of a lifetime. So what does she do? Goes out to celebrate - and shows up still drunk at the interview. No surprise, she doesn't get the job, but the folks at The Line think she might be perfect for another assignment for their sister gossip rag. All Katie has to do is follow It Girl Amber Sheppard into rehab. If she can get the inside scoop (and complete the 30-day program without getting kicked out), they'll reconsider her for the job at The Line.

Katie takes the job. But things get complicated when real friendships develop, a cute celebrity handler named Henry gets involved, and Katie begins to realize she may be in rehab for a reason. Katie has to make a decision -- is publishing the article worth everything she has to lose?

One great American down, dozens more to go

2011-01-20T10:13:00.001-05:00

On the Road: The Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My dad bought me this for Christmas a couple of years ago because it was on my booklist. Of course, my dad being who he is (and I love him for it), he wasn't content to just get me the standard edition. He hunted down this newly released edition known as the "Original Scroll", which goes back to Kerouac's original manuscript. The manuscript is literally one long sheet of typewritten paper that rolls up into a scroll, and it contains the first draft of what would eventually be edited and rewritten into the novel known as On The Road.

Since I've never read the edited version, I can't truly compare it, but it seems that either Kerouac or his publishers edited out a large portion of the more scandalous sections of the book -- drinking, drugs, promiscuous sex... Especially the parts referring to encounters between two of the men Kerouac hung out with, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg, who went on to be famous beat writers. But he also changed the names of several of the other people in the book, presumably to protect the privacy of his friends and family.

Something else that changed from the original scroll to the final version of the book was the formatting. It would seem that Kerouac sat down one day at his typewriter (with a bottle of gin and a disgusting amount of cigarettes, I'd imagine) and banged out the entire story in three sections. Each section is one paragraph that goes on for up to 50 pages. If you've ever read 'The Stone Angel' by Margaret Laurence and were totally frustrated by the stream-of-consciousness style, as I was when I read it at 17, you will likely DETEST the total lack of pacing and, at times, of punctuation.

That being said, there may have been an intentional choice made by Kerouac to keep the voice in a very informal narrative style. Maybe he wanted it to feel like you were at your local pub, and some crazy-looking disheveled guy with a backpack had randomly launched into an hours-long tale of his travels around the country. That guy wouldn't have structured his story like a novel, holding back certain details until the end. And he would most certainly have interrupted himself often, saying "Oh, I forgot to tell you about this part first--".

Or maybe I'm giving Kerouac too much credit as an author. I've never read his other works of fiction, so I can't say. But my instinct tells me not to assume he was simply vomiting his story onto the typewriter and letting it all trail down the page without reflection or purpose. Because there were themes and repetitive motifs throughout the scroll: the search for a lost or unknown father, the deluded optimism of someone searching for a place where they feel they belong, the infatuation that comes with making a new best friend or starting a new romantic relationship, the letdown that inevitably comes once the curtain falls from your eyes and you see people for who they truly are. There is also some of the more classic American Dream ideology here, with Kerouac describing his attempts to stay solvent and establish his family in a house that they own. But to me, this was much less the focus of the story than his search to find meaning in his relationships with other people.

For once, I'm not analyzing the book from a feminist angle. If I did, I would probably convince myself that I'd hated every character in it, including the women. But as it is, I'm glad I read it. I'm still not convinced that it should be considered a classic on the same level as other mid-century American novels ('The Great Gatsby'?) but it's worth reading just as a glimpse into the lives of some of those great writers.

Assuming Kerouac wasn't just making it all up, of course...

Book Review: The Bonfire of the Vanities

2011-01-16T12:52:00.003-05:00

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had no idea what to expect when I began reading this book. I'd heard the title phrase before, but I never saw the movie or heard the plot. It was on my reading list as something to investigate, and then I found a copy in my apartment building's "free books" stash in the laundry room (absolute danger zone for a book addict). What made me finally read it, after leaving it languishing on my shelf of shame for months, were the mentions of Tom Wolfe's other books in the biography of Hunter S. Thompson I read late last year. Much like Thompson, Wolfe apparently wrote several non-fiction books in the spirit of "you had to be there to believe it" experiential journalism. I figured if his titles like "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" had impressed Hunter Thompson, his fiction had to be worthwhile.

That suspicion turned out to be accurate, though Wolfe's writing is nothing like Thompson's. I did get the impression of fiction written by someone who was very much used to telling "true" stories - there was no element of fantasy, nothing but absolute could-be-realism. I'm in no way an expert on socio-economic and historical facts from late-80s New York, but Wolfe clearly did extensive research about the legal system and based the rest of the book on what he already knew about the city's racial politics as a journalist.

The story is focused on two men: Sherman McCoy, your typical Yale-educated, born-into-privilege Wall Street investment banker, and Larry Kramer, a shabby but ambitious assistant district attorney in the Bronx with an overdeveloped sense of his own virility. Sherman has been having an affair with a woman named Maria, married to another rich man, and an incident that occurs one night while they are together leads to Sherman being accused of a hit-and-run that put a young black boy from the projects in a coma. Larry is working on the case for the D.A. and finds himself caught up in a media-fueled political frenzy over the black community's perception that the New York cops would give special treatment to a white defendant. The story (both in the media portrayal and in the actual plot of the novel) is complicated by the witnesses to the actual incident, who vary from comatose to convicted crack dealer to Fifth Avenue trophy wife/seductress. The situation is also manipulated by the people using the case to gain power for themselves - the D.A., up for re-election in the Bronx; a corrupt-but-impeccable black activist known as the Reverend; Peter Fallow, an alcoholic reporter for a shitty New York tabloid; and the unnamed Mayor of New York.

Something I found interesting was my reaction to the narration style. I felt, viscerally somehow, that this book was written by a man. It wasn't just because each and every one of the characters who took a turn narrating the story were men, though that was problematic for me. (More on that later.) It was the actual writing style: it had a swagger, a punch, an arrogance, an attitude of pushing forth and self-consciously condemning any sentiment, weakness, or romantic ideas. There are books written by women which use a tough, clipped, no-bullshit voice - whether the narrator is male, female, or alternating between the two, they remain in the mode of exposition and never expand into flights of fanciful language. A good example of this would be Margaret Atwood's speculative trilogy, 'The Handmaid's Tale', 'Oryx and Crake', and 'The Year of the Flood'. Atwood wrote many other books in a more stereotypically female voice, but these three leave a different impression. And yet I never truly lost the idea in the back of my mind that they had been written by a woman. With 'Bonfire', I was constantly reminded of this male presence - it left me feeling grimy, in a way I can't really articulate.

To come back to the issue of female voice in this book: Why did we only get access to Judy, the wronged Park Avenue society wife, through the perspective of her husband, Sherman? Why did we never hear from Maria, the classic Other Woman, Sherman's literal partner in crime (both vehicular and adultery)? There is the briefest of flashes into the mind of Shelly Thomas, Bronx juror and the highly sexualized object of Larry Kramer's attention: after pages of Larry's inner monologue about how impressed Shelly seems with his tales of conquering the courtroom, we get one line informing us that, in fact, Shelly is bored of listening to guys babble about their careers while on dates with her. That one sentence told me more about the situation than the previous chapters, in which Kramer drones on about how sexy Shelly is and how desperate he is to gain her approval.

It told me that, firstly, Shelly is far more intelligent and experienced in the dating pool than Larry is aware - this is far from being the first time she has gone out with men like Larry. Secondly, it completely flips the emotional tone of the scene and positions Larry as an absurd self-absorbed twit who sees only what his ego needs him to see. Obviously, that was Wolfe's intention. The entire book satirizes not only the Park Avenue "Wasps" like Sherman but also the people throughout Manhattan grasping for even the most pathetic strands of mid-level power - within the District Attorney's office of the Bronx, in Larry's case; within a failing tabloid newspaper like the City Light, in Peter Fallow's case. So the inclusion of Shelly's opinion is just one more method of rendering the characters ridiculous in the eyes of the reader. My question is, couldn't Wolfe have done more with this? Wouldn't it have been brilliant to find out what Judy truly thought of her husband - how much she believed of his pathetic attempts to hide his affair, or how she felt about her career as an interior decorator, much-mocked by Sherman? And what about Rhoda, Larry's wife and brand-new mother of their son? He has nothing but disdain for her post-pregnancy body and her lack of what he considers class and sophistication, and the end of the book never does circle around to what might happen to their future relationship while he chases sexy jurors and witnesses. What goes on in her head while she's stuck in their crappy apartment all day with a newborn and a snooty British "baby nurse" hired by her mother? What does she think of her husband posturing in front of the mirror and doing push-ups on the living room floor to maintain his "powerful physique"?

To take this point further, there is only one other instance in the book where one of the male lead characters is humiliated by a woman's perception of him. That woman is Maria, who is clearly a lot smarter than either Sherman or Larry initially believed. Her opinion of Larry, heard by him on a tape-recording, shatters his illusion of his own masculine attractiveness to the women (like Shelly) he's been chasing. For the reader, it's a moment of vindication and cruel celebration of Larry having been put in his place, after spending the entire novel listening to his irritating arrogance. And for me, that moment was far more satisfying than any of the other come-uppances administered to male characters by other males. I wanted to see the women rise up in contempt, step over the prostrate forms of the men crying for their lost self-images, and go about their business.

Despite my assessment about the lack of female voice (it was written in 1987, not 1887 - no excuses there), I did enjoy this book. Satire is a wonderful thing, and I especially liked the "inside" view of how things truly stand in one of the most glamorous and talked-about cities in the world. Wolfe has solidified a universal truth that has been around for centuries: everyone loves to live vicariously through the rich and fabulous, but what they love even more is to watch closely as the rich and fabulous crumble to the ground.

...And sometimes a hoax is REALLY not a hoax!

2011-01-12T13:19:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine sent me a Huffington Post article today detailing the latest news about the Kenneth Tong promoting-anorexia story, which I posted about yesterday. Apparently Johann Hari, a columnist for the London Independent, interviewed him before he came out with the statement that it was a hoax. Based on their original conversation, Hari has asserted that this was NOT a hoax and that Tong is only claiming this now because he is scared of being legally liable for hurting people.

The full story is available here, but below is just a taste of why this whole thing made me so angry:

Women should "get thin or die trying," and you can "never start too young." It is better for a girl to "risk [her] life dieting than be sub-par by being a plus-size." Remember: "Hunger hurts but starving works."
"The words lunch, breakfast, and dinner should now mean nothing to you, you have eaten enough for a lifetime. Stop. You are disgusting."

Sometimes, a hoax is not just a hoax.

2011-01-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

I am absolutely disgusted that this @MrKennethTong character, who was promoting "managed anorexia" on Twitter last week, has turned out to be a hoax. If there is one thing more disturbing and harmful than declaring curves to be ugly and encouraging women to starve themselves to become a size zero, it is an elaborate "experiment" designed by some dude to prove a point to another dude about "harnessing the power of social media" on a global scale.

Whoever this person is in real life, he should be truly mortified. Instead, he has posted an apology for "offending people," made a donation to a UK charity, and will now proceed to appear on several talk shows and likely get rich and famous for his efforts. Listen up, asswipe: you didn't just offend those of us who happened to stumble upon your Twitter posts, which some have compared to "spewing excrement". You literally caused at least a few dozen women to starve themselves to the point that their bodies are likely permanently damaged, to say nothing of their mental health. Eating disorders are NOT something for you to play with.

If anyone wants to read the "statement" that was posted today, I've pasted it below (I suspect it will be taken down soon). He has already deleted the tweets that he originally posted -- all that's left on the @MrKennethTong page are things he has retweeted from other people -- but even those are enough to give an idea of the general public opinion of this issue.

Kenneth Tong
On Tuesday 11th January 2011, @MrKennethTong said:

I think it is time for to come clean. The whole size zero thing is a hoax. It came about after an interesting discussion I had with a friend of mine. The discussion centered round whether it was possible, to go from nowhere to be a globally recognized figure within a week harnessing the power of the internet and specifically Twitter, which I have always maintained is a better medium than national TV. My friend said it wasn’t possible. I said it was. To prove him wrong, I decided as a hoax to promote via Twitter something that was universally appalling, I chose managed anorexia. I would like to make it clear, I chose the subject as a hoax as I knew it’d be appalling to men and women. The campaign has worked; I have been a Trending topic on Twitter for over a week. I am scheduled to appear on TV, the Press and Radio shows, over the course of the next week: Grazia, Telegraph, The Sun, The Sunday Times etc. Now it’s time to come clean and stop the bandwagon. My honest personal opinion on managed anorexia is it is an disgusting and illogical idea. It is a mental illness. It cannot be managed. To all the people I have offended as part of this scientific experiment, I would like to apologize to you and to show my sincerity I will making a sizeable donation to beat: the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders and their families. Furthermore, I have decided to auction my custom Apple iPod Nano watch on Ebay, the proceeds from this will be going to the charity, beat.

Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2011-01-11T14:22:00.001-05:00

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Very dark, very commercial, and could use a couple good rounds of editing. Given that the author apparently died right after submitting his manuscripts, I'd be curious to know how his publishers handled the editing process -- were they hesitant to make as many changes as they would have if he'd been alive to take part in rewrites? Or did they make changes as they pleased? Then there's the translation from Swedish, which was choppy for much of the book and sometimes absurd in language choice. All that being said, I found the plot and main characters interesting and will most likely read the sequels.

Online Book Stuff Post the Second: In Which I Get Really Excited About Reading Lists

2010-11-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Jamie at The Broke and the Bookish, today I discovered another book blog: A Striped Armchair, by Eva. I really like her writing style and I think our taste in books is quite similar, so this is another one I'll be trying to follow regularly.

On this blog, Eva has created a page entirely devoted to her yearly reading lists. They are insanely ambitious, for reasons she describes in her 'About' section. I doubt that I will ever be in a position to compete with that prolific list -- not that it's a competition or anything... But I really like the idea of using a blog page to post past and current reads.

I once estimated that I read around 30 books per semester as an undergraduate majoring in English literature and Anthropology, with other courses spanning Sociology, Political Science, Women's Studies, Linguistics, and more. A lot of those were textbooks or non-fiction books related to course work, but from second through fourth years, I took three English courses each semester and many of the texts I read were fiction. So I did manage to plow through a lot of novels and story collections during my university years -- and that doesn't include books I read for "fun" during summers or holidays.

Since then, my progress through reading lists has slowed down radically. In journalism school, I barely read anything that wasn't a newspaper, an online news source, or a textbook about Marshall McLuhan. (How much do I wish that Douglas Coupland's biography of McLuhan had been out in 2007? A lot.) As a post-grad, I was too busy looking for jobs and having pre-quarter-life crises to be able to wrap my head around serious lit-rah-chah. But when I am not reading, I miss it in a very tangible way. So despite having a full-time job and being an adult-type-person with real-life responsibilities, I am trying these days to spend more time reading and less time watching TV. I actually canceled my cable last month -- this is serious business.

Given everything I mentioned in my post yesterday about online book communities, I'm not sure posting a reading list on a blog page is any more interactive than the Excel list I keep on my laptop. (I wasn't kidding about the Excel list. My mother is a statistician -- lists are also serious business in our family.) But at least it allows me to share my picks with others, if not generating automatic recommendations from Indigo or publishers.

A friend of mine sent me a comment on Facebook after reading yesterday's post, saying she uses Wereads (formerly ireads) and had a good experience. If you use any of the book communities and have good or bad things to say, please let me know in the comments section.

The Question of Online Book Communities

2010-11-16T20:23:00.000-05:00

A year or two ago, I signed up for an application called Visual Bookshelf on Facebook. I rarely use third-party applications on Facebook, since it's become clear that these applications collect personal data from user profiles. However, as someone with a reading list that spans as many pages as a Masters' thesis summary, and who treated her undergraduate degree in English literature as a four-year series of book club meetings, I was enthusiastic about an app that would let me brag to my friends about the many extremely tasteful books I was reading at any given time. After all, if there is any public space that embraces narcissism, it is Facebook.

The beauty of the Visual Bookshelf application was that it published a note in your friends' news feeds whenever you made a change in your "shelf": Meghan is now reading War and Peace. Meghan has just finished reading Great Expectations. Meghan would like to read a Faulkner trilogy, but doesn't want to end up suicidally depressed. (Okay, I made that last one up -- the status notices did not allow for ironic editorializing.) News feeds would also display reviews that any of your friends made after reading books, recommendations, and encouraged sharing -- ie, Rachel owns a book that you just indicated you'd like to read.

Then everything changed: Facebook went through one of its maligned format changes, and suddenly the Visual Bookshelf application no longer functioned in the same way. Maybe it had been designed to work best with the older version of Facebook, and no longer shows up properly. I'm not sure. But either way, something got messed up: now, when I click on my Visual Bookshelf tab, it brings me to a page called LivingSocial. What is LivingSocial? Some other kind of book-related community, sure, but how did I end up with a profile here? The publishing features have changed, too: instead of publishing an item in my friends' news feeds about what I'm reading, people would have to actually click on the "Books" tab in my Facebook profile to see my latest "activities". Nobody cares that much about what I'm reading, not even my fellow book nerds. It's simply too much effort -- too hidden.

More recently, I discovered Chapters-Indigo's online Community. From what I could tell, it was essentially Facebook for booklovers: you can add books to various "shelves", like "plan to read", "already read", etc, but you could also add people as friends, join discussion groups, participate in chats. In principle, it was a great idea; in practice, not so much. I don't know of anyone else among my friends who have Community accounts with Indigo, and I wasn't interested enough in the discussion groups to seek out strangers as "friends". I did continue to use my account, mainly for the shelf application. Whenever I get personalized emails from Chapters-Indigo suggesting books I might like (to purchase), there's an option right in the email to add books to my shelf. I use it as a way to track books I come across that I want to check out at some point.

But to complicate matters, Indigo also has Wishlists and Shopping Cart lists inside user accounts on its website. Wishlists are clearly geared toward gift-giving, so that friends and family can find out what books you'd actually like to receive ("Oh, thanks Uncle Marvin, this biography of Winston Churchill looks just fascinating..."). Shopping Cart lists are books you've decided you actually want to purchase online. At some point during the Indigo online experience, I completely forget where I've listed what, and end up feeling like I have no overall list that is reflective of what I hope to read anytime soon.

Recently I've begun following several book bloggers on Twitter and Google Reader to get a better sense of what other people are reading. Not everyone's taste is the same as my own, but I'm convinced that I will stumble upon far more great books this way than if I were left to my own devices. And a few of these bloggers are members of Amazon book clubs, or a community called Goodreads. Goodreads seems to combine all of the aspects that I'd like to see in a book-related community, but frankly I'm a bit tired of going to the trouble of creating new profiles, loading up my latest lists, and then letting it fall to the wayside. I've got Social Book Networking Fatigue. By the time I discovered BookLounge.ca, a site dedicated to promoting books from Canadian publishers McClelland & Stewart, Random House, Doubleday and others, I was totally confused about which sites to participate in.

To me, it seems pointless to maintain a Facebook account, a Myspace page, a Twitter page, a personal blog, a Tumblr account, Google Reader feeds including the sharing-with-friends feature, and so on through the less mainstream sites like Digg and Delicious. I stick to the basics: Facebook for people I actually know in real life, Google Reader for real-world news and for following traditional blogs, and Twitter for witticisms and general lurking purposes to keep up with trends.

The same holds true for bookish sites: I can't possibly keep up with three or four different communities and accounts. I might get a better representation of all the great new books that are out there, but I'd never get any work done if I had to devote that much time to even reading the updates, let alone participating. So which one to pick?

Anything's better than an Excel spreadsheet list.

The James Clare Tribute Band

2010-11-04T17:54:00.005-04:00

Greetings! For those of you who actually follow this blog in any kind of regular fashion, I apologize for my recent (total) lack of posting. Work and real life took over for awhile, precluding much of my internet activity. And then I got back into Twitter in a big way, especially during such exciting events as the Toronto mayoral race (don't get me started), so I've been paying a lot more attention to that form of expression lately. Sometimes Twitter is just a better medium when you have one specific thing to say, and feel that it's not expansive enough or intelligent enough for a full blog post.

The last few months have been intense for me. I've spent a lot of time pondering my decisions about where to live, how to spend my time outside of work, and what my priorities should be. As I said to a friend recently, in a lot of ways I am lucky that I have options to choose from and the freedom to make my own decisions about these things. But I tend to see the wide-open space as a scary abyss and a lack of direction, instead of as an opportunity.

I've also dealt with sadness recently, when we lost my grandfather. I was lucky enough to go through my entire childhood and adolescence with three grandparents, without ever losing a family member or close friend. Now I have lost two of those grandparents in the last year and a half. Both times, I had the surreal feeling that I was living out a role I'd only read about or seen in movies, and wasn't sure how I should actually be feeling. There were many moments when I showed grief on the outside and felt panicked on the inside, but most of the time I felt numb, or kept myself busy trying to be supportive and helpful to my relatives who had just lost a parent.

My papa had been dealing with dementia and alzheimer's-type symptoms for three or four years. It crept up on us; at 80, he was a remarkably healthy and ever-cheerful man who loved to participate in intelligent conversations and was active in community volunteering, hospital boards, et cetera. Within a few years, he was losing his short-term memory and had trouble finding the correct word while speaking or locating an object that was mentioned to him. At 84, he no longer recognized many of his family members and friends. Yet he remained an incredibly patient and kind person, never complaining about his situation though it must have been so frustrating, and still lighting up and giving us a welcoming smile when we came over.

For most of us, it took a long time to accept that he wasn't entirely himself anymore, and we tried as much as possible to treat him the same way we always did. But it hurt to see him that way, needing so much more care from my grandmother and not being able to participate in conversations or games the way he used to.

One Sunday in September, the whole family (about 20 of us) gathered to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. We had planned a whole special evening: a limo to pick up my grandparents at their house, stops along the way to pick up various other aunts and uncles, a surprise stop for champagne and toasts at another house with all of the grandchildren (and great-grandson) waiting, then on to a dinner, complete with slide-shows. It was a wonderful night to celebrate my grandma and the family she created with her husband.

On the morning of the following Thursday, I got a message from my cousin saying that Papa had had a stroke and was in the hospital. Those of us who live out of town stopped what we were doing -- in my case, checking my morning emails; in my dad's case, driving to the office for an early meeting -- and did the only conceivable thing: get to the hospital. There was a Greyhound bus leaving from downtown in an hour and a half; I showered, packed a bag, and took a subway to the station in record time, my heart pounding and inner monologue yelling the entire time. After a bus ride that seemed to last forever, I arrived at the hospital to be with my family, many of whom were already there. Papa was not conscious at this point, and did not wake up fully while we were there. He was in the intensive care unit for about two days, all of us there with him, until he passed away.

Throughout the four days that followed, through the phone calls and writing the newspaper obituary and the wake and the funeral, the recurring sentiment among our family and from friends was that we were all incredibly lucky to have each other to lean on and to create a loving atmosphere for such a sad happening. I don't know that having all of us there made it any easier to say goodbye to our grandfather; I hope that it was in some way helpful to my grandmother to know that she wouldn't be alone. But the whole experience reminded me, once again, what family means and why it's so important to me. We've spent so many evenings together at parties, laughing and dancing and enjoying each other's company, not just because we're family but because we genuinely have a good time together. And when we're able to come together during the difficult times as well, it makes me feel even closer to those friends I happen to be related to. It also makes me miss my other cousins, aunts and uncles who live farther away, miss them more than I usually do, but still feel happiness that I share those bonds with them too and remember the times when we've been together through sadness.

One of the things I found difficult to grasp while going through my Papa's passing was the idea of heaven or afterlife. This side of my family is Catholic, many of them practising, and so it was comforting to all of us to be told by priests and friends that he would be with us after he passed, and would know that we were all expressing our love for him. But as someone who stepped away from regular churchgoing 10 years ago, I struggled to think about this in an intellectual way. And so it was even more emotionally meaningful to me when I heard about my dad's conversation with his uncle, the morning that Papa had passed.

My dad had called to tell my great-uncle that his brother, my grandfather, had passed away. His uncle said, "I knew he had passed when I saw a rainbow in the sky early this morning." After hearing this, my dad came into the kitchen to share the story, with tears in his eyes. He told us that on Thursday morning, while driving to make it to the hospital in time to see his father, he'd said a silent prayer, asking God to send us a rainbow if his dad passed away.

It's been a month and a half since my grandfather's passing, and this story still makes my heart pound and my fingers shake. My belief system is irrelevant in the context of what my dad experienced. To my family, the rainbow was just one of several signs that our grandfather is still with us and will remain a part of our daily lives.

Second protest of the week, certainly not the last

2010-06-24T13:20:00.004-04:00

Taken from my office window: Native land rights protest passing City Hall at Queen and Bay streets in Toronto, two days before the G20 summit:

Do what scares you

2010-06-05T11:41:00.004-04:00

When you're trying to take a step toward something you've dreamed about your whole life, the fear of failure is a very real thing. Even if you've had the creative impulse your whole life, it's so easy to avoid making a real effort to pursue your true passion because you're terrified you'll end up on the floor of the Reviews section, chewed up, vomited out, and utterly rejected by the industry you so love.

So sometimes, when you pick up a pen and take that first step, you need to do it while eating three-day-old pizza at ten o'clock on a Saturday morning.

If you're gonna feel nauseous, there might as well be a reason for it.

Today's dose of linguistic snobbery

2010-05-28T16:39:00.005-04:00

It's Friday, and I have a pet peeve to bitch about. Twice in the last week I've read articles in high-quality publications that began by stating that "it is a cliché to say" such-and-such a thing. And then went on to say that very thing.

Exhibit A:
Sentence 1: "It's a cliché to talk about how easy it is to make a movie in this digital age."
Sentence 2: "The low cost of filming in digital, editing on a laptop, and wrangling some musician friends into whipping up a soundtrack ... ..."

By acknowledging the cliché, you have not purged yourself of the guilt associated with using that cliché.

Just because you have shown yourself to be aware of your own lack of originality, you have gained nothing in the eyes of your readers. There are no hipster points for self-aware use of clichés; overused phrases are not the written-word equivalent of the hideous grandpa-glasses and ill-fitting pants you kids seem to think you can get away with just because you admit they look stupid. (Exhibits B and C.) [ETA: these photos have since been removed, either for copyright infringement or for general hideousness.]

You are not reclaiming the phrase, giving it a new meaning for the twenty-first century. You cannot use a cliché ironically, because by its very repetition, the use of a cliché is itself clichéd.

In short: cliché is not the new black.

Here's a thought: whether you're writing for the New York Times or a glossy fashion magazine (both of which are guilty parties in this case), take the time to think up your own metaphors. And if something is clichéd, perhaps it's not worth writing about. There's nothing worse than reading a piece and being able to tell that the writer was stuck for a good lede and decided to trick the reader into thinking we were getting something brilliant.

We were not fooled. And we are not amused.

For further Exhibits and Appendices, please review http://www.latfh.com/.

I am not a pretty girl, that is not what I do

2010-02-01T20:41:00.007-05:00

God help you if you are an ugly girl
Of course, too pretty is also your doom
'Cause everyone harbors a secret hatred
for the prettiest girl in the room
-- Ani DiFranco

I once tried out for cheerleading.

Despite my general disdain for all things stereotypical and gender-biased and demeaning and choreographed, I lined up with dozens of other girls in the bubble-domed gym on the second or third day of Frosh Week in my first year at university. I went as a favour to a high school friend who had ended up at the same university, who had been a cheerleader in high school, and who begged me to come to try-outs so she wouldn't be alone.

None of the other girls we knew at school had agreed to go, which probably should have warned me. But I had no idea what I was getting into at the time -- my only hesitation was the fact that if any of my male friends found out, I would never hear the end of it.

Most of the people I hung out with in high school tended to judge cheerleading by its American mid-west stereotypes: a bunch of pretty, stupid girls bouncing around the edges of a football field or in front of the gym bleachers, shaking their pom-poms both literally and figuratively, cheering on the boys with inane spelling games and fighting amongst themselves for attention and world domination. You know, like Mean Girls, but in the '50s.

Not that anyone would blame us for believing it -- Hollywood has done its part to perpetuate that stereotype. This is not a democracy. It's a cheerocracy.... whatever that means. Did you ever see Molly Ringwald play a cheerleader? No, because she's always supposed to be the outsider, the one who gets it, the one who's above all that high school popularity bullshit (while simultaneously pining for the most popular rich boy). She'd never be caught dead in a short pleated skirt, although she'd give her panties to a geek to save his rep as a dude. It's not just the '80s either -- look at Glee, one of the most inventive TV shows around right now. Their cheerleader, while smart and talented in areas other than backflips and wiggling, is just another Kirsten Dunst: blonde, vindictive, selfish and manipulative. And, um, knocked up.

Part of this is just your typical sexism, the refusal to believe that a bunch of girls or women can be around each other for longer than ten minutes without dissolving in cat-fights and back-stabbing. That women as a group are more likely to be supportive and nurturing than calculating each other's failures, that hanging out with your girlfriends makes you feel happy and positive instead of insecure and self-hating. Not to mention the fact that guys probably don't hate having a bunch of pretty, athletic girls dancing around on the sidelines while they perform their heroics.

So it's not hard to fathom why my friends and I didn't hang out with any cheerleaders. I should point out that by the time I was in high school, between 1998 and 2003, most cheerleading squads were far more focused on athletic competition and gymnastics than cheers and pom-poms. There were even a few guys cheerleading, but of course with the usual homophobia resulting. I don't know if it's different in the United States, what with the cult-like adoration entire towns seem to feel for high school football teams. Probably the more stereotypical cheerleaders abound in Canada too, along with the more enlightened ones. But none of this erases the fact that cheerleading -- like gymnastics, dancing, swimming, and every other activity highly dependent on a certain body type -- seems to drag girls into hyper-awareness of weight and body image, unhealthy eating practices, and girl-on-girl politics.

Fast-forward to my university campus in September 2003. Sitting on the edge of the indoor track inside the dome, we listened as a tight-muscled, tight-shorts-wearing, perfectly made-up young woman explained what we were signing up for. If we made the team, there would be daily practices and monitored work-outs at the campus gym. There would be competition meets at other schools, many of them requiring travel, at least every other week. The hours of commitment were more than any of us were prepared to allot to a part-time job throughout our entire university careers. Oh, and it cost hundreds of dollars as well, for uniforms and travel fees. Essentially, cheerleading WAS a job -- and a lifestyle. And on that note, it was time to stand up and perform.

I have tried out for many teams in many sports before, and played several of them for years. I've been to sports camps where I was forced to run around in 30-degree sun while bored counselors sat in the shade. I've been the camp counselor, the peer helper, the social coordinator, the orientation volunteer leading younger students in physical activity requiring endless adrenaline and memorized chants and face paint. And I've had personal trainers push me to my limits in weight rooms. Yet I can honestly say that the three-hour university cheerleading tryout was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done in my life.

We ran laps. We did push-ups. We did lifts and standing formations and routine falls. We did burpees, a form of torture I can only assume was invented sometime during the Spanish Inquisition. Halfway through, my face was so red I thought my skin would burst into flame, along with my burning muscles and lungs. I never caught my breath fully during the whole ordeal, and I wheezed for days afterward. My hands shook, my knees trembled, my heels and shins locked up and stayed there.

And that was day one of a multi-day try-out.

As my friend and I dragged ourselves and our backpacks up the hill toward our residence halls around 6 o'clock that night, I think we both re-evaluated the myth of the cheerleader. My friend resigned herself to the fact that university-level cheerleading is an entirely different beast than the simple high-school competition she was used to. As for me, I was beginning to understand why so many cheerleaders were supposedly such evil creatures, since you'd have to be a true masochist to put yourself through that experience on a daily basis.

Although that day was my first and last venture into the squad life, I later met other girls who were more successful at it. One of them even went on to cheer for a professional football team. And let me just say this: I may not have much respect for the cheerleader ideal, but I will never mess with one of those girls. I've seen what it takes to make them what they are, and it's not pretty.

And now for something completely different

2009-12-23T13:27:00.004-05:00

If you have read more than three posts on this blog, you will realize that I post according to my moods, which range from introspective to indignant to completely random silliness.

By posting something inane immediately after a serious and heart-felt post, I am in no way intending to be flippant or shallow. Rather, I recognize the need in my life -- and therefore, probably in others' lives too -- for mindless low-brow humour and/or witty sarcastic humour that distracts me from repetitive daily tasks.

With that in mind, some daily humorous goodness:

http://thingsiwanttopunchintheface.blogspot.com/

I love reading other people's rants about unimportant shit. It makes me feel so much better about my own issues.

One caveat about the Pajamas As Outerwear rant: I totally love wearing sweatpants in public. Must be a holdover from my days under forced school uniform regulations, when any "dress down day" resulted in everyone wearing the most comfortable thing they owned. And yes, visible thongs were often the result. But fuzzy pink PJs is going too far.

When we were very young

2009-12-20T20:42:00.002-05:00

Today's news of the sudden death of Brittany Murphy from cardiac arrest is all the more sad and poignant for those of us who grew up knowing and loving her since the Clueless days in 1995.

Though Hollywood has experienced plenty of celebrity deaths recently, this might only be the second time that someone I have personally idolized and whose career I've followed has died within my lifetime. The first was Heath Ledger, which was shocking to me both because he wasn't much older than me and because I'd been a huge fan since the first time he appeared, greasy-haired and brooding, in 10 Things I Hate About You.

It was the first time someone whose posters I had plastered on various dorm room and bedroom walls, whose movies I could recite by heart, had passed away. When I found out, I was in the office of the newspaper I was interning for at the time, staring blankly at the anchor on Newsworld (no, I will NOT call it NN) who was telling me my favorite young heartthrob was dead. How was this possible? He was beautiful, talented, young, rich, famous... did I mention beautiful? It took months for me to stop doing a double-take when I heard people talk about him in the past tense, and seeing The Dark Knight a year later was disturbing, especially since his time spent in character as the Joker was credited as one of the factors in the medication cocktail that led to his accidental overdose. It will never stop being bizarre to me that he is dead -- just this week I saw the first bus-stop posters for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and it gave me a jolt.

Hearing about Brittany Murphy gave me similar feelings, though I can't claim to have spent quite as many hours mooning over pictures of her as I did of Ledger. Almost every girl I know who was born in the 80s practically grew up quoting lines from Clueless. For better or worse, that movie shaped the way we perceived Hollywood, teenagers, dating, and the high school clique system. Though critics would point to its idolization of the rich, white and thin as a horrible influence on young girls, its true fans know that it was tongue-in-cheek and promoted good values in the end. Besides, it's based on Jane Austen's Emma... and nothing based on Austen, however loosely, can ever be just fluff.

My point is that for the first time, my generation is seeing our own personal idols start to pass away in a most disturbingly human way. We weren't old enough to get it when River Phoenix died. I was ten years old when Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Likewise, the people who've been the most affected by the recent passing of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, are the ones who grew up with them and watching them. If you remember where you were when the Jackson 5's biggest hits came out, or when the Thriller video basically invented MTV, or when every single one of your female classmates and their mothers had the Farrah Flip, those stars were your peers and it's a shock when you realize they are mortal.

Brittany Murphy was only seven years older than me -- I watched her grow up from an awkward 18-year-old playing a comic-relief outsider to a glamorous actress capable of playing the confident independent woman or morbidly complex roles. She was underrated in Hollywood while she was alive, and I am sure her tragic death will bring out oodles of the kind of praise MJ got -- the dubious kind that often rings false.

But today, we -- her oldest fans -- will honour her the best way we know how... by remembering her least-polished but most-loved performance.

Nickelback named band of the decade

2009-12-16T13:56:00.003-05:00

.....Really?

Apparently, much to my disgust, "Billboard has released a list of the top music stars of the 2000s based on chart success, and Canada's Nickelback was the top group or duo, ranking No. 7 overall." (according to the Globe and Mail)

The top single artists were Eminem, Usher, Nelly, Beyoncé and Alicia Keys.

SERIOUSLY?

Eminem is a genius in his own messed-up way, and Alicia Keys is beyond talented, I'll give you that much, but I probably wouldn't have put her in the top ten artists of the decade. I guess this just reaffirms why I no longer listen to pop radio, if that list demonstrates what the airwaves have been offering for the last 10 years. Come on, NELLY?

The guy who came out with the song that sounds like a clapping/skipping game I played during recess in Grade Two?

If anyone needs me, I'll be in a corner somewhere, weeping for the musical soul of North America.

Shout-outs

2009-12-12T22:05:00.004-05:00

I've had a bunch of new blogs and websites on my radar lately-- god, I can't even say the word radar anymore without immediately hearing Britney and the correlating gay-dar spin-offs in my head. You see what you're doing to me, Britney??!

ANYWAYS. The radar, yes?

A Canadian girl goes to China, conquers all

A friend of mine is embarking on her second adventure as a teacher in Asia. First in Korea and now in Shanghai, China, Ms. Clare is an unbelievably funny and insightful blogger... when she gets around to it. She's the first to admit that her original Korea blog sort of fell by the wayside after awhile, and anyone who read it back in those days (three years ago? How time flies when other people than myself are traveling the world) is crossing their fingers we'll get to hear more from her now. Nobody else makes a Korean kindergarten classroom seem quite so bewilderingly hilarious.

People who look more like my mother than I do

Another blog begun by one of my brilliant and beautiful cousins. She constantly inspires me and makes me see ordinary life events in new ways, while also reassuring me that I'm never the only one thinking something neurotic and bizarre. As if that weren't enough, she has awesome taste in music, takes incredible photographs with my uncle's old non-digital camera (are cameras called analog when they're not digital, like clocks?), and has her own unique and whimsical style with clothes and everything else that just makes me want to hang out with her all the time, so that I may be cooler by proximity.

Real women eat cheese, enjoy sex and rock their careers

I've posted about doll magazine here before, but it bears repeating since the mag is still new and very much evolving and growing. It was founded and is edited by one of my classmates from journalism school, and since I've only managed to contribute one piece so far, I don't think it's conceited for me to say how awesome it is.

As someone who grew up reading JANE magazine and plotting with my best friend to move to New York and become an indie music, literature, fashion and pro-women columnist, I can't express how excited I am to see young women in my own city and country taking the initiative to create a source of positive and healthy information and entertainment for other young women.

Sadly, JANE folded in 2007; the founder, Jane Pratt of Sassy fame, had left in 2005 after personal tragedy and after that, the mag's quality and vision started to slip. (Witness the choice of Lindsay Lohan as cover girl in a 2005 issue.) Since then, there are few magazines in the US that cater to women who don't want to be told how to look, what to buy, and who to look up to, especially when those marching orders are shaped by an industry driven by corporate profit and invested in women's insecurity and constant need for self-improvement. Some American mags like NYLON and BUST do a better job of valuing real women for the amazing creatures that we are, but there's nothing similar in Canada -- nothing mainstream, anyway. And unto the breach comes a new doll.

Who says you can't love where you live AND what you do?

I love taking photos. Since I was about 15, I've been known as the paparazzi among my friends -- aka, the annoying one who's always making them smile and get together, when all they're trying to do is be drunk and belligerent in peace. Thanks to my digital camera, most of the pictures I take turn out relatively well. But it's nothing compared to Chris Levesque's photos.

Chris is one of my oldest friends, and a multi-talented one. He makes films, he takes gorgeous photos, he snowboards. Right now he's living the life in Whistler, BC, doing all three and probably a lot more. (I've heard rumours of hot tubs and trampolines, and I'm really hoping they don't get used together, especially when the apres-mountain booze is flowing.)

In any case, check out the portrait section of his site for some amazing photos. And if you happen to be in Whistler this season, look for the dude in the yellow coat taking pics on the mountain and tell him I say hi.

The Twitterati

Some of my recent follows:

@jaredleto -- yes it's really him, and yes he talks about his band 30 Seconds to Mars a lot.

@blogTO -- good for finding out what's going on in the city, what people are talking about, etc.

@bradTTC -- the communications manager for the TTC. His level of engagement with the Toronto Twitterverse is pretty impressive, even if their service isn't. Hope it turns out to be a useful way for him to gather feedback from the public.

@HalfPintIngalls -- someone impersonating author Laura Ingalls Wilder of "Little House on the Prairie" fame. It is painfully funny, especially if you've read the books and/or used to watch the TV version and get the finer points of the jokes. I hope the author posts links to any other writing s/he does, because they're damn good.

@therealzooeyd -- as in Deschanel. I found her feed after seeing "500 Days of Summer" and falling in love with the soundtrack, including and especially Zooey's recordings with M. Ward under the band name She & Him. So pretty.

Obligatory shout-out to all our RTP offices with Twitter feeds: @RightToPlayNL, @RightToPlayUSA, @RightToPlayCAN and @RightToPlay_UK, and to our intrepid CEO @JohannKoss.

@theteganandsara -- no explanation necessary, they freaking rule.

@shitmydadsays -- if you haven't heard of this guy or read his stuff yet, go now. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, just do it now.

Say Hello to M-Pop

2009-12-12T12:43:00.002-05:00

Today is a great day: the day I discovered the Jersey Shore Nickname Generator.

In my beloved Fug Girls' daily roundup of hilarious and fashionably-criminal crap, they've listed the Nickname Generator as something worth seeing.

Since the ladies have impeccable taste and senses of humour, bringing viewers to such comedy gems as Christopher Walken, the man with the ultimate poker face, performing Gaga's "Poker Face" -- OH THE IRONY -- I clearly had to check this out.

As the name says, this site gives you a nickname appropriate to the characters on MTV's latest insult to the art form that is television. If you haven't heard of Jersey Shore yet, just picture The Hills on a lower budget. Or, you know, just don't picture it, cause it's kind of gross.

Better yet, check out SNL's skit "Gossip Girl: Staten Island".

In any case, having typed in my first and last name and performed the obligatory fist pump, I got my Jersey Shore name: M-Pop.

Huh. Slightly more low-key than expected. Almost something I could actually use in real life.

I experimented by typing in my full name including my middle name.

Success! I was given this heavenly name: The Ashlee Simpson of Cape May.

My friends, please go find out your own trashy alter-egos and post them in the comments.

Click here for Chapter Two

2009-12-07T22:17:00.002-05:00

Tonight, my mom asked me what I think about the Kindle. Specifically, she wondered whether a device like this would ever be as satisfying as reading from a book with real paper pages and binding.

Well... being the former English Lit major and card-carrying Chapters-Indigo member that I am, I'm sure anyone would expect my response to be along the lines of Hell, no. And it was, more or less.

I personally would really miss the feel of a book in my hands, and the look of the printed words. I guess I'm old-school when it comes to thinking that half the joy of reading is the experience of it -- the texture of the paper, the look of the cover, the font, the way the chapters are laid out and how page breaks can impact the way you interpret a story....

I could go on.

But this is a subject of MASSIVE debate and controversy and nerdy agonizing among the literati and wannabes. And I recognize that there are all levels of literacy out there, all levels of interest in reading, period, and -- shocking thought! -- there MAY, just possibly, be people who actually do not enjoy looking at stacks and stacks of books around their homes? I mean, I certainly can't picture anyone like that, and frankly wouldn't want to associate with them, but I will allow the possibility of their existence.

The Kindle, and its conceptual friend the e-book, might do for reading what mp3 players have done for music -- that is, make it more portable and shareable, if not more accessible financially. If this technology allows people to read more often, and entices people who normally wouldn't pick up a real book to read at all, then it's a good thing. There's still a large chunk of the population who wouldn't read a newspaper on the subway, let alone hold a large flat piece of metal in front of their faces while balancing a purse / messenger bag and trying not to get flung bodily into the people around them.

To the people who point to the Kindle as an example of the print industry being on its way out, I scoff and point to Indigo's quarterly profit reports and the insane success of Oprah's book club (though I do have my own snobbish opinions about some of her picks, and the way the "masses" tend to follow her recommendations with zero thought or discernment of their own -- but there again, isn't it better that people are reading at all?)... No matter what happens with newspapers and magazines, I have no doubt that paper books are going strong.

But somehow I doubt I'm the Kindle's target audience anyway. Someone who is the proud proprietor of two 6-foot-tall bookshelves packed full, not to mention an obsessive "reading list" that has reached almost 700 titles, is not the person Amazon is trying to reel in.

The iPod, however, not only reeled me in but bought my soul and sold me several albums on iTunes as well. I've bought fewer than five albums on actual CDs in the last six or seven years, and I own nothing on vinyl. I guess my snobbery of authentic experiences only extends so far -- nobody can call me a hipster yet.

Thank God.

Several Good Things

2009-12-06T21:33:00.002-05:00

I'm channeling The Martha today with my domesticity.

Which is surprising, since I am usually totally useless around the house when I'm this tired. For whatever reason, I haven't slept well for two nights in a row. Possible Reasons: my stomp-happy new upstairs neighbour? Withdrawal from the white noise that was once provided by my air conditioner, forcibly wrenched out of my life and into basement storage by building management (this is a matter to be dealt with in another post, not to mention copious bitching to co-workers, friends, and strangers on the subway)?

For the first time in several days, I can safely say I was not kept awake by mind-numbing circular stress-thoughts about work projects, or financial planning, or the other Usual Suspects that tend to drag me up out of sleep and into a wide-eyed, tensed-up stress coma.

So whatever it was that kept me from sleeping well, I woke up peaceful this morning. After spending Friday night with my girlfriends, strutting around our university town wearing matching short dresses and matching sassy attitudes (Sassitudes?), and spending Saturday evening having dinner with family, I was feeling good today. Far enough removed from the chaotic, barely-controlled organization that is my work week, to be able to think about doing something at home other than burrowing into quilts and pillows and hiding my brain inside a book. Most weekends I don't feel like I get enough head space to be able to contemplate things like doing laundry, re-organizing shelves, taking a walk, cooking real food. I get panicky at the thought of the precious minutes slipping away too quickly towards Monday morning, and I try to hang on to my Me Time so hard that I end up doing nothing.

Happily, today was different. Granted, I didn't leave the house, but I felt good being here. I contemplated certain aspects of the redecoration that is constantly going on inside my head, and which is slowly becoming reality in my apartment. My aunt and uncle (henceforth to be known as Martha's Glorious Elves) brought over a set of perfect white dishes for me, which they no longer need since they've been given a fancier set. It propelled me into a frenzy of dish-washing, cupboard-organizing, dinner-cooking domesticity that hasn't been seen around here since my last birthday party. It struck me, not for the first time, how wrong it is that I tend to clean only when other people are coming over, and not just for myself... especially since I really love my apartment and the way the afternoon light falls in on my table and chairs, my bookshelves (pride and joy), my picture frames -- all these things which I picked out myself and have arranged in a way that pleases me. I should make more of an effort to keep things tidy enough that I remember why I love hanging out here, and not just because I'm hiding from real life.

Tomorrow morning I will blow-dry my hair and put on mildly uncomfortable clothing and slap a determined look on my face and head deeper into the forest of city office buildings that make up my nine-to-five life. But for now, I'm wearing my grey Henley and a ponytail, the Christmas twinkly lights are on above the window, and there are art-canvas pictures waiting to be put up on the wall.

An Error of Mass Proportions

2009-12-04T09:10:00.001-05:00

I got on my scale this morning, and it said "ERROR".

That can't be good.

My reading list for the next three to six years

2009-09-24T13:08:00.003-04:00

Courtesy of The Globe and Mail's list of the top fiction from 2008. Time to dust off that library card - none of these is exactly cheap.

I will never make it through all of these, but a girl can dream, right?

In other news, the "long list" for the 2009 Giller Award came out earlier this week. (And in a truly cringe-worthy show of irony, the Globe's copy editors didn't catch the misspelling of the word "chromosome" in the headline of their Books blog.)

Here are this year's finalists for your viewing (and reading-list-making) pleasure. Of the 12 authors chosen, only two are men, which is extremely unusual. I like Scowen's three possible conclusions from this information; my gut says it's a mix between #2 and #3.

Margaret Atwood for The Year of the Flood

Martha Bailie for The Incident Report

Kim Echlin for The Disappeared

Claire Holden Rothman for The Heart Specialist

Paulette Jiles for The Color of Lightning

Jeanette Lynes for The Factory Voice

Annabel Lyon for her novel The Golden Mean

Linden MacIntyre for his novel The Bishop’s Man

Colin McAdam for Fall

Anne Michaels for The Winter Vault

Shani Mootoo for Valmiki’s Daughter

Kate Pullinger for The Mistress Of Nothing

**Edited to add:
Apparently it's highly appropriate for me to be nitpicking the Globe for its spelling errors on today of all days. September 24th is National Punctuation Day. May the so-called "language-arts fusspots" unite!

Unbelievably lazy blogging

2009-09-20T23:08:00.002-04:00

I half-arsedly chronicled my thoughts during tonight's Emmy Awards on Twitter. Here they are in all their glory. You'll have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks for the parts where I got up to get more cheese.

******

We interrupt this Emmy telecast with Michael "Dracula" Ignatieff's commercial claiming He Can Do Better. I want proof, fangs.

chills_7 @meghan_moloney Yes!!! I was brainstorming for a Halloween costume. Ignatieff is an awesome idea!! Thanks

@chills_7 You will def have to take photos of that. Make sure to wear your Harvard tie and carry around a little Dion voodoo doll.

Seeing clips of the last Idol finale makes me relive the pain of seeing Adam Lambert NOT WIN. Emmy telecast, why must you torture me?

Third time's a charm -- let's see if the CBS team can come back from commercial break without airing audio of backstage inner workings.

....nope.

Oh Ricky Gervais. I kind of wish he was hosting. NO -- I'm sorry, Neil Patrick. I didn't say that out loud. Just pretend that didn't happen.

All the shows I don't watch are winning. Have I been paying attention to the wrong shows? Or do I just have bad taste? Disturbing.

shetu07 @meghan_moloney don't doubt your taste. doubt THEIRS.

Thanks, @shetu07. I knew you believed in me. Speaking of taste, what is with all the man-glasses?

In Memoriam segment on now... I am officially blubbering.

My taste in TV is vindicated!! Hooray, Mad Men!!

Glenn Close, OMG! I love all the strong older super-women owning this show tonight.

shetu07 @meghan_moloney I love Jessica Lange for sort of acknowledging that older women don't get many roles

@shetu07 You need to watch this: http://tinyurl.com/my2o53 same topic, great discussion.

Wants moar Don Draper, plees.

"I'm just a poor kid from the valley. I feel like Cinder-fella."

Bob Newhart is hilarious. Though, his timing is slightly off.

MORE VINDICATION!! 30 Rock wins! 22 nominations! My favorite Tina Fey! love.

Intrigued by this voting for Breakthrough Performance... but suspect the results will be similar to Allen beating Lambert. Ppl are stupid.

'Fame'. September 25th. I cannot contain myself.

Mad Men again! Thank you.

*****

And thus concludes the 2009 Emmys. For a much sassier and fashion-oriented commentary on the Emmy Red Carpet, go on over and visit the Fug Girls. They've always got something to say.

Meta-publishing on the Interwebz

2009-09-18T22:11:00.004-04:00

Greetings! I've been taking a break from posting for awhile. Is it just me, or do all interesting, thought-provoking, and blog-post-worthy ideas ONLY EVER occur during work hours, when I am at the office and feel like blogging is probably not good for billable hours? Sometimes I write things down on sticky-notes, to remind myself later on of my epic ideas. But by the time I get home, I no longer care enough to drag myself out of my tired stupor to actually post anything. Also, the sticky-notes usually say really cryptic things like "BOOKS" or "Atwood Twilight".

In any case, I've been more of an internet lurker lately than a participant. But I am proud to say that I have finally made my first official contribution to my friend Shetu's online mag, Doll Magazine. The mag started after we finished journalism school and started looking around for something real to do with our lives, and I have to say that Shetu - like so many of my other illustrious and successful former classmates - has done something very real and impressive.

Under the Blog section, Doll has started a weekly feature of Twitter picks, wherein contributors who are also Twitter users pick their top five followees and explain what's so rad about them. Doll being what it is - a publication aimed at young liberal-minded women - and me being what I am, it wasn't hard to find contenders on my Twitter feed whose ethos would resonate well with readers. In fact, the hardest part was narrowing them down to five. But I did. And you can see my picks, and justifications, in last week's post.

It turned into a weirdly interesting experiment for me. I ended up re-evaluating half of the people I follow, especially those I started following soon after creating my Twitter account and had no idea what I was looking to get from the experience. I also noticed that I have surprisingly few news-based feeds, most likely because I already have a complex RSS system set up in my capacity as media-monitoring guru at work, so I've already seen the major outlets' stories.

But mostly, I realized what I'm mainly looking for from Twitter is amusement: the feeds I am most drawn to are those which are clever enough to say something distinct in 140 characters or less, without resorting to inane abbreviations or web-lingo. I guess it's my language-junkie side peeking through again, but there are people who can do amazing things with a Tweet. The other factor here is that I don't have a smartphone, therefore I don't check Twitter obsessively like every Crackberry-head I see wandering around the city. So it wouldn't be a practical way for me to actually follow online news and pop culture's daily obsessions. And as a friend of mine said the other day, it's just one more thing you have to update regularly, on top of Facebook and the rest of it.

Speaking of regular updates, I'm toying with the idea of live-blogging the Emmy awards this Sunday night, after being told that my Oscars live-blog was entertaining. The jury's still out on this one.

Wisdom from my grandmother

2009-07-26T22:52:00.002-04:00

I've read countless email forwards like this and would normally just pass right by, but this list of 45 best life lessons is actually pretty good. Especially #40. And #10.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile..

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over-prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24.. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone for everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..

32.. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33.. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

When guys become girls: Faux-tranny ad campaign

2009-07-24T10:25:00.002-04:00

The T-word. Beyond your average four-letter words, this six-letter behemoth has inspired universal fear and embarrassment among men for decades. And yet an ad campaign has a 16-year-old guy not only saying the word, but buying the product.

The word... is tampon.

This year's award for Most Bizarre Ad Campaign Ever has to go to Tampax. The Globe and Mail posted a story today about the company's creation, a teenager named Zack, who randomly wakes up one morning with a vajajay instead of his usual equipment. Now Zack must deal with all the delightful side effects that come along with being a Woman, and purchase his very own products:

"I arrived at that point in every man with a vagina's life, when he leaves home and goes out into the world to buy his own damn tampons."

This from the fictional Zack's online diary, which is accompanied by his very own Twitter feed and YouTube channel.

Seriously?

As the Globe points out, there is a chance this ad campaign (which has apparently been going on since April, so... good job, marketers?) may anger young girls, or grown women, who do have to actually deal with this crap in real life, and may not take kindly to the male gender pretending to complain about it and then throwing down their tampons with glee, shouting, "I was just kidding! I don't have my period! I'm STILL A MAN!"

But there could be positive impacts to this campaign too. Maybe men will not only stop gloating about how easy they've got it, body-wise, and just bring us a damn latte at opportune moments. MAYBE, just maybe, those men who are in relationships with a woman will see these ads and realize that buying a pack of tampons for one's significant other on occasion is not the worst thing in the world.

Yeah. And maybe Sarah Palin will join the Democrats.

Reaping the fruits of our complacency

2009-07-08T09:00:00.004-04:00

A very good friend of mine sent me an email forward today, knowing (as she knows me so well) that I would have an opinion on it. And did I ever. I've pasted the email here and have responded to it below...

WE ARE PROUD CANADIANS
Bruce Allen is on the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Committee and new Canadians (specifically Hindi's/Indian's) want him fired for his recent comments outlined below:

[Note: these comments included the phrase "If you choose to come to a place like Canada, then shut up and fit in."]

I am sorry, but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Hindi at the 2010 Olympics - enough is enough. Nowhere or at no other time in our Nation's history, did they sing it in Italian, Japanese, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German, Portuguese, Greek, or any other language because of immigration. It was written in English, adapted into French, and should be sung word for word the way it was written.

The news broadcasts even gave the Hindi version translation - which was not even close to our National Anthem. I am not the least bit sorry if this offends ANYONE, this is MY COUNTRY; My Grand Dad served in the military, other family members also served, as well as my wife & I served a combined total of 56 years between us. We made many sacrifices for our country and do not feel we should feel obligated to allow invited people we've welcomed with open arms to influence & change our society to better resemble the one they chose to leave to come here!!! - IF YOU AGREE ABOUT THIS GREAT COUNTRY, SPEAK UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

I am not against immigration. In fact I believe we need more, my ancestors were immigrants -- just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the Rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have in the past -- and LONG LIVE CANADA!'

It's time we all get behind Bruce Allen, and scrap this Political Correctness His comments were anything but racist, however, there are far too many overly sensitive 'New Canadians' that are attempting to change everything we hold dear.

ARE you PART OF THE PROBLEM ??? Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone, will we still be the Country of Choice and Still be CANADA if we continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries who have come to live in CANADA because it is the Country of Choice??????

Think about it!

IMMIGRANTS, NOT CANADIAN'S, MUST ADAPT.

It's Time for CANADIANS to speak up.. If you agree ? Pass this along; if you don't agree? Delete it and reap what you sow because of your complacency!

Well... first things first:

Maybe if the person who wrote these comments knew the difference between a possessive apostrophe and a contraction, I would have more respect for his/her opinions.

Seriously though, I hear and see this kind of shit all the time, especially living in Toronto, and I have no patience for it. I happen to think the Canadian anthem should stay the way it is, because it's tradition, but I don't think the mere suggestion to translate it (and that's all it was, a suggestion, not an order or a decision) should cause mass xenophobic hysteria. Incidentally, xenophobia is the fear of foreigners or strangers. People who rant against immigrants "trying to change our great country" are scared, and their fear blinds them to the realities of how immigration actually impacts this country.

We are a nation of only-children who are not reproducing our own population. Once the baby boomers grow old, retire, and begin to pass away, we will not only be left with gaping holes in our employment system, medical staff and political leadership, but with holes in our society as well. We NEED immigrants - just as early Canadian settlers needed other settlers to help them establish themselves.

More importantly, whether our population grows or shrinks, our country is not as perfect as these people would like to believe. Canada may be high up on the index of living standards in comparison to much of the world, but the fact remains that we have major, major issues here that are not being dealt with. The rise in homelessness, the lack of government attention to problems like mental illness and inaccessible education, and many industries that lack young people being trained to work - crucial industries like health care, elder care and essential trades - all of these are really big problems that are convenient to ignore as we go about our daily lives, belting 'O Canada' at opportune moments and slagging the Americans for their messed-up way of running their country.

When I hear about people keeling over and dying in emergency waiting rooms because there aren't enough doctors to tend to them... when I see taxi drivers with medical training kept out of our system because of government bias and red tape... and when I see homeless men - and women - on the street corner every morning as I approach my office building, with their feet black with frostbite, it makes me wonder who could possibly think that immigrants are "spoiling" this country.

And for anyone who would accuse me of being cynical or anti-Canadian... I love my country fiercely and I vote every chance I get - thus I have the right to speak up. It is the unpatriotic and the politically apathetic who have no right to complain.

An Olympian in the opposite of Lego-land

2009-05-04T09:43:00.002-04:00

Anna Rice, one of Right To Play's long-time Athlete Ambassadors, arrived in Kampala, Uganda two weeks ago to visit two of our organization's projects in refugee camps. Along with her fiance and a third professional badminton player, she'll be running badminton programs at the camps to teach Right To Play coaches how to run their own sessions with their students.

Anna is a habitual blogger and a great writer, with an eye for detail that allows us to picture her adventures. I especially like the part where she compares Ugandan scooter taxi drivers to "young Evel Knievels".

Check her out at CBCSports.ca!

Looks like I wasn't the only one ranting...

2009-04-28T11:10:00.003-04:00

Interesting follow-up to my post from last week in today's Globe, by Judith Timson (who I respect much more than the unfortunate McLaren...)

Take the response to a recent column by my colleague Leah McLaren, in which she had the temerity to list her thirtysomething fiscal grievances right down to admitting she was peeved because now she wouldn't even be getting an inheritance. "How do you spell sense of entitlement?" one poster fumed. Another pronounced: "People need to get a grip and adapt, that includes the endlessly whining and self-absorbed and overly spoiled boomer children. Your timing in the cycle may be wrong, but there are no guarantees that life is fair, despite maybe having been told the contrary."

For the whole column, click here. To read McLaren's original article, scroll down to my post from last week and find the link.

When will we learn...

2009-04-24T12:31:00.002-04:00

Ron Judd of the Seattle Times has posted an article on his Olympics blog entitled "Women ski jumpers just don't know their place - VANOC".

I know this title is sarcastic. It has to be. Right?

Even so, it's a bit of a shock to hear that sentiment in 2009, or to see it plastered across my Google Reader page.

For further reading on this topic, please see Gary Mason and John MacKinnon's articles.

Generation debt is in for a rough ride -- and the rest of us just have to put up with them.

2009-04-20T17:45:00.005-04:00

The Globe's Leah McLaren makes me irate sometimes.

Today is one of those times.

The gist of her article is that people currently in their late 20s and early 30s - the children of the baby boomers, known as the "echo" generation or mini-boom - were promised this fantastic, affluent lifestyle purely based on demographics, education rates, and the sheer hubris that comes from growing up with two career parents and no poverty. And guess what - the universe went back on its promise. Wah wah.

Not only does McLaren bewail her fate as an educated, employed, 30-year-old homeowner... she scorns the boomers, now in their 50s and 60s, for similarly bewailing the loss of their affluent lifestyles. Mutual funds have tanked, six- and seven-figure home values have tanked, and retirement plans are going out the window. But apparently this situation deserves no sympathy from twenty-somethings.

In fact, McLaren finds it helpful to blame her parents' generation for the mass financial chaos that surrounds us all.

"Who's crying the blues? Why it's the baby boomers, of course! The generation in charge - the one that created and perpetuated the unsustainable financial model that led to the current collapse in the first place," she writes. "And as for their jobs - you know the high-paying, secure ones at the very top of the pay scale? Well, they're going to have to hang onto those for a while longer than they had thought. At least until they get old and sick enough to max out the health-care system and the national pension fund. It's a wonder my generation isn't demonstrating in the streets."

Well, Leah, maybe it's because not everyone in their twenties feels quite as entitled as you do to owning a home by the age of 30. Perhaps you should take a hint from several of your interview subjects, who seem "relentlessly positive about the future" - or, as you put it, "close their eyes and plug their ears and hum Mary Had a Little Lamb till it's over." I'm not advocating unrealistic optimism. We are truly in the midst of an unprecedented global situation, and it would be foolish not to acknowledge that. But to bitterly declare "We have been robbed"? Comparing people who, as McLaren herself notes, have been privileged enough to buy expensive homes and find lucrative careers by their late 20s, to "hobos"??

What about the kids who never had a hope of belonging to a tennis club or riding a pony? Are we supposed to feel more sorry for people who had it all, and then lost it, than those who never had it in the first place and likely never will?

I don't want to sound unsympathetic to those who have hit hard times. Being in my early-slash-mid-twenties myself, I am no stranger to the crushing stress and anxiety that comes with thinking about the current job market. And being in the field of media like McLaren, as well as the non-profit sector, I do know what it's like to fear for your job, your rent payments, your livelihood. But like me, Leah McLaren still has a job - as a lifestyle columnist (which some misanthropes might say is the marshmallow fluff of the journalistic world) for one of the country's most well-respected and widely read newspapers, in an era when media jobs have taken massive hits and print media has been doomed to failure, not to mention the current wider economic gloom. I don't know what her personal finances are like right now, but her job status in and of itself should be causing her to thank her lucky stars.

And how does McLaren end her essay, after spending 1000 words or so pointing fingers at Mommy and Daddy for getting upset about their depressing financial statements?

With this mindblowingly self-centred epiphany:

"Which was when it hit me: Not only was I unlikely to get through this recession unscathed, I probably wasn't going to get an inheritance either."

Thanks for nothing, McLaren.

If you've ever wondered what I do at my job....

2009-02-25T15:58:00.002-05:00

...check out one of our recent newsletters, the Red Ball Report. We're currently working on the next issue, which should be out within a month, but this one gives a really good overview of who we are, what we do, and where we work.

Live-blogging the 2009 Oscars

2009-02-22T19:16:00.007-05:00

7:11 pm
James Franco, posing for photos with unidentified blonde. My night is already complete.

7:12 pm
SJP calls her dress "barely mint"... Dior haute couture. Ryan Seacrest calls Matthew Broderick's suit "barely black". I call his greasy highlighted hair "disturbing".

7:14 pm
Seth Rogen calls SJP "every girl's worst nightmare". Complimentary or no? He questions whether he should get fat again for his next Hollywood role. As long as he keeps his black square-frame glasses, I don't care how pudgy he gets.

7:15 pm
Anne Hathaway is wearing something silver and sparkling and looks really thin. I am neither amused nor particularly impressed. Bad news.

7:17pm
Switch over to the Barbara Walters Special to see what's -- Omigod. Ohhhh my god. Baba Wawa just said sex... in front of Anne Hathaway. Anne, on the other hand, just justified my love for her by saying she would feel "just fine" if she never got married because she has no complaints about her life. But she does want children.

And then she called Barbara "Baba" to her face. I now love her even more.

7:21 pm
Marisa Tomei is working on a comedy with Jonah Hill ... and John C. Reilly? There's three names I never thought I'd hear together.

7:22 pm
Ryan is NOT impressed with the colour of Mickey Rourke's suit, which he describes emphatically as "off white". But the chains and open collar apparently not an issue.

7:23 pm
The love of Mickey Rourke's life (his words) just died three days ago, and he is now wearing a necklace with her picture. Note: it's a dog.

7:26 pm
Queen Latifah is freaking fabulous and amazing. She's dedicating her performance tonight to "all the people we have lost over the last year". Not sure who she's referring to... likely Jennifer Hudson's relatives.

7:27 pm
Jessica Biel's hair.... IS DOWN. I repeat: she is not wearing an updo. The sky may have just fallen.

Also: she has a white iPhone to match her dress.

7:28 pm
Going to have to backtrack to my previous description of Hathaway's dress as "sparkly". Miss J has just informed us, "for you people at home who don't know the right term -- it's payettes, people." WELL THEN.

7:29 pm
Ron Howard is friggin weird looking. And Marion Cotillard looks the EXACT OPPOSITE as she did last year, with black hair, goth makeup, and a scared look on her face.

7:30 pm
PETER GABRIEL IS ON THE RED CARPET. There is nothing more to say.

Although... he doesn't seem too excited. Maybe just exhausted, due to the new baby he mentioned? What is he, like 60?

7:30 pm
Ryan Seacrest: "Here's Evan Rachel Wood.... I can smell you! Are you wearing some sort of perfume?"
Evan: "...Yes. I'm wearing a BeneFit perfume."
Ryan: "I thought it was Peter Gabriel at first."
Evan: "You shouldn't know that much about it."

Ryan Seacrest's female counterpart is so useless and negligible that I already don't remember her name.

7:33 pm
"AAAAH! Omigod, I'm like a freak of nature, how about I scream like a freak when I see Angelina and Brad? AAHHH!! ... We'll be right back, live on the red carpet."

7:35 pm
Mickey Rourke is talking to Baba Wawa about his troubles with debt, and how his therapist knows more people in L.A. than he does. Awkward.

"What would winning this Oscar mean to you?"
"Well, you'll probably edit this out, but.... It would mean the world to me, it would be the epitome of the whole comeback thing, in a material way. But.... You can't eat it, you can't f*** it, and it won't get you into heaven."
(pause) "Thank you, Mickey Rourke."
"Thank you, Barbara Walters."

7:39 pm
Ryan Seacrest: "How did winning the Oscar change your life?"
Marion Cotillard: "Well, I'm never home... But I'm happy."

Angelina is wearing a strapless black dress and trying really hard to do her sexy-mysterious smirk, except she looks really pissed with Brad and just grabbed him and made him stand a CERTAIN WAY beside her.

Penelope Cruz's boobs look like they're undergoing a mammogram.

Miss J is loving the architecture of Jessica Biel's dress. Whereas Beyonce's dress, which looks like it has enough structure in it to withstand the next Katrina, gets no comment on architecture -- Miss J: "Look how it matches the Oscar behind her!!"

7:42 pm
Kate Winslet looks beautiful and classy... shocker. Yawn.

In other news, I've realized why Miss J was so petulant about the EXACT nature of the sparkles on Marion Cotillard's dress -- it's because his jacket appears to be made of the exact same material. Maybe they should stand next to each other and exemplify glorious opposites -- white and European, indeterminate-non-white American, straight, gay, black-haired, disturbingly-fake white hair, female and .... something.

7:44 pm
Commercial break: Julia Roberts and Clive Owens' new movie about sexy spies who second-guess each other so often that I can tell even from the 30-second commercial that the plot has issues. It's called "Duplicity".

Next commercial, for "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" -- "from executive producer Ryan Seacrest"?!?!?! It all makes sense now.

7:46 pm
Ditzy female TV announcer is "dying" at seeing Angie and Brad again, but also pinpoints the awkward attitude Angie is displaying toward Brad. Kate Winslet is "really nervous" and is slightly annoyed with her husband for sprinting ahead of her on the red carpet. Wow - not a great night for marriage.

Ryan then proceeds to show Kate a picture of new her TIME magazine cover, on which she looks deathly pale and is clearly wearing zero makeup. I actually really like it.

7:48 pm
I am so pulling for "Milk". Apparently "Slumdog Millionaire" is the new front-running, and I've heard nothing but good things about it, but I have a major soft spot for films that could actually have political impact on current situations. It is so appropriate that this movie was made exactly thirty years after Proposition 6 was defeated, due to Harvey Milk's efforts (which got him assassinated), and that the same year "Milk" was made, Proposition 8 passed, banning gay marriage in California and effectively setting North America right back to 1978. There's a great article going into more depth on this topic in the Huffington Post, but suffice it to say that there is usually only one film up for an Academy Award each year that has the power to make real change in the political and social world. In my opinion, this is it.

7:53 pm
Brad is either way happier than Angie tonight or he's actually just that good an actor. Who knew.

Robert Downey Jr. just called Ryan Seacrest "buddy" in the most condescending way possible. I LOVE HIM. He looks really good and not at all aging and haggard as he has in the recent past.

Any news about Iron Man 2? "Just that we're slaving away over hot script"... I BET you are, you dirty boy.

7:58 pm
Just saw the bottom of SJP's dress and it is, in fact, a tutu. Appropriate throwback to the original opening sequence of SATC.

7:59 pm
Taraji P. Henson (aka Queenie from "Benjamin Button") is actually the cutest thing ever.

8:01 pm
Barbara has been replaced by The Simpsons, and CityTV is showing the episode of Friends where there's a blackout and Chandler gets trapped in an ATM vestibule with a Victoria's Secret model. A cat gets lost, Rachel meets Paulo the Italian wanker, Ross's hair looks greasy yet immovable, and Monica looks unhealthily thin. Hilarity ensues. I MAY have seen this entire series too many times.

8:03 pm
Cameron Diaz has gone brunette? Wtf. Isn't her whole, you know, THING based on her laid-back surfer-girl California blonde image? Other than that, isn't she just a mediocre actress with abnormally prominent cheekbones and chin and creepily pale blue eyes?

8:04 pm
Valentino sounds like a cross between Marlon Brando, the Pope, and a zombie.

8:05 pm
The entire cast of "Slumdog Millionaire" is speaking to the TV announcer. Well, I guess if they could have Harvey Milk and his gay army present at the Oscars, that would help "Milk" too. But they can't. Because he died.

8:06 pm
Mickey Rourke is talking about his dead dog again. Apparently we're just all about death here tonight.

Zac Ephron and Vanessa Hudgens make me want to slap them. They are TOO PRETTY. Except for Zac's slicked-back greasy dude hair.

8:08 pm
Robert Downey Jr. just referred to his wife as "my date for the rest of this incarnation, Susan Downey".

8:09 pm
I don't know who this announcer is, but he is the classiest, most white-haired, OLDEST flamboyant man I've ever seen.

Miley Cyrus also makes me want to slap her, but not so much because she is pretty (because she isn't), but because she dresses like someone twice her age and with twice her attitude. You need way more street cred and actual talent and personal interest to pull off a dress so full of crazy.

8:10 pm
Anne Hathaway is, predictably, demure and modest and humble and cute. I know I love her and all, but is it too much to ask for one of my favorites to completely eff up during their red carpet chat and say something 100 percent inappropriate or conceited or ignorant?

8:12 pm
Re: Eva Longoria Parker's L'Oreal hair colour commercial -- I really dislike it when people pronounce it "CAR-mel". It's not a Jetta.

Also: it saddens me deeply that Phylicia Rashad is doing Jenny Craig commercials. Even sadder than the fact that Stephanie from "Full House" had a baby, went to rehab for meth addiction, then ran out on her husband. In that order. What the hell is happening to all my favorite 80s TV stars?!

8:17 pm
Richard Jenkins is nominated for "The Visitor". Better known as Jennifer Aniston's dad from "Rumor Has It", wherein Mark Ruffalo acts like a jealous petulant wank and Kevin Costner comes out as the cradle-robbing AND YET cougar-chasing perv that I am so sure he is in real life. Oh, and Shirley Maclaine acts like a hilarious and fabulous jerk, but you knew that.

Jack Black and his wife Tanya. I just -- love him. "What?! We'll wrap it up? OH -- someone more famous is walking up, I feel."

8:18 pm
TV announcer just informed Marisa Tomei that Mickey Rourke said he loved seeing her with her clothes off. Most awkward lead-up EVER to his compliment that he (the announcer) likes seeing her with her clothes ON, segueing not-so-smoothly into asking who did her dress.

If there was an earthquake, Seth Rogen would save Judd Apatow, because without him, he would never work. Apt, Seth. Very apt. Judd, in turn, would save his wife Leslie, except he wouldn't need to, because her dress is made of "indestructible material". Leslie fake laughs, clearly thinking "Sigh... how long before I can start drinking?" I loved her so much as crazy bitch wife in "Knocked Up".

8:22 pm
Not really sure how comfortable I am with CTV showing commercials for Canesten yeast-infection tablets during the Academy Awards. Although this could be a clue as to why some of the stars look so uncomfortable during four-hour awards shows.

8:24 pm
I really hate Ben Mulroney's voice. I also hate that from 1988 through 1992, I was regularly asked by other children if I was related to the Mulroneys. Stupid kids who couldn't read.

8:25 pm
HUGH JACKMAN and his HAIR and his ACCENT are presenting. My god, is he ever smooth. I would very much like it if he broke out into spontaneous song and dance.

Instead, he just mocked himself based on the fact that he is an Australian who played an Australian in a movie called "Australia". Maybe you don't want to bring that up too often, sweetie.

8:27 pm
OH MY GOD. HE IS GOING TO SING.

.... something related to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Well, I guess I did ask for it.

8:28 pm
"Human excrement" rhymes with "sentiment". Apparently.

8:29 pm
omg. OMG. He is jumping up on the arms of seats, and now he has backup dancers -- and props-- SO MANY PROPS. The Academy may want to think about the fact that this year's performance, by an actor, is way funnier than the last few years, which were hosted by comedians.

8:30 pm
He just picked up Anne Hathaway from the front row while she kicked and squealed in mock surprise. But, I see now, this was pre-planned. Again, I really just wanted to see something spontaneous and awkward. But then, Hathaway just rose to an operatic soprano high note, so there's the awkwardness right there.

8:32 pm
Entire section based on the fact that Hugh "hasn't seen 'The Reader' yet". Ouch.

8:33pm
He now has to spend the rest of the ceremony all sweaty and disheveled. Which makes the fact that he just sat on Frank Langille's lap a little more awkward.

8:34 pm
The setup seems a bit weird this year -- they've got all the nominees down in some kind of "inner circle". In fact, the set looks more like the location for "American Idol" or "Whose Line Is It Anyway" than the ACADEMY AWARDS.

8:36 pm
Montage of past Best Supporting Actress winners and their respective Moments. How cute was Anna Paquin?

8:37 pm
Oh-- and here they come onto the stage. Whoopi, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, Anjelica Huston and one I don't recognize (eeeee). Recognizing Viola Davis's work in "Doubt", Penelope Cruz's "blazing" presence in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". Whoopi: "It's not easy being a nun. ... Your face never looks thin, you never get to wear pants, and your love interest is always offscreen." FREAKING AMAZING. Goes on to laud Amy Adam's work in "Doubt".

8:40pm
Goldie Hawn's breasts congratulate Taraji P Henson for her "special gift" in "Benjamin Button". She's a bit of a wack job, now isn't she. Whereas Tilda Swinton (or, as The Fug Girls call her, SWINTON) dresses like a wack job but OWNS her craziness in a wide-eyed, mascara-less way. The SWINTON is now announcing the winner... why didn't they personally congratulate all five nominees? Weird.

8:42 pm
Penelope wins!!!

"This is not going to be 45 seconds, I can tell you that right now. Has anyone ever fainted up here?"

She thanks Woody Allen for writing some of the greatest female characters over the years.

"Art, in any form, is and has always been our universal language, and we should do everything we can to protect it."

8:48 pm
YESSSSS Tina Fey and Steve Martin.

Tina: "It has been said that to write is to live forever."
Steve: "The man who wrote that is dead."

8:49 pm
Best original screenplay. "Milk" is nominated.
"I know you are angry. I AM ANGRY." YES.

Oscar goes to: MILK!!!!!!!!! Yes yes yes. To hell with journalistic objectivity. This young writer seems incredibly deserving and talented. Sean Penn is about to cry.

"To all the gay and lesbian children who have been told by their churches that they are less than -- you are beautiful... Thank you, and thank you God for giving us Harvey Milk."

8:53 pm
Tina Fey is staring dreamily at Steve Martin and smiling. He stops mid-sentence to order her not to fall in love with him.

My favorite line from Benjamin Button: "Sleep with me." "Absolutely."

8:55 pm
Oscar for best adaptation goes to "Slumdog Millionaire". I'm definitely going to have to see this movie.

8:57 pm
JENNIFER ANISTON AND JACK BLACK. TOGETHER. I am so happy right now.

The camera awkwardly cuts to Angelina, laughing at Jen and Jack's antics. Why must the media continue to create a rivalry and feud that probably doesn't exist in real life? But if it does, Team Aniston forever.

8:59 pm
Scenes from Kung Fu Panda, Horton Hears a Who, Madagascar something or other, Space Chimps (wtf?), The Tale of Despereaux, Bolt, and Wall-E.

Oscar goes to Wall-E. Jack Black yells "YEAH!!!!"

Winner thanks his high school drama teacher for casting him, 28 years ago, in "Hello Dolly" -- if you are the ONE person who didn't see "Wall-E", the little robot watches "Hello Dolly" in the movie.

9:03 pm
Jen is working REALLY hard to correctly pronounce all the foreign names of nominees for best short film. She was REALLY happy to get "Adam Smith".

Goes to "La Maison en Petit Cubes", which is mispronounced by both Jen and Jack. Americans are really bad at French, eh?

Oh wow... this winner painfully stumbles through his thanks in a thick Asian accent, and then says "domo arigato, Mister Roboto". Cringe.

9:10 pm
SJP and Daniel Craig. There is so much hotness on this stage right now.

Art direction nominees: Benjamin Button, The Duchess, The Dark Knight, Changeling, Revolutionary Road. Wow, I've only see two of those.

Oscar to Benjamin Button! Such a good movie. I approve.

9:13 pm
One of the two winners looks remarkably like Snake from Degrassi: The Good Version.

9:14 pm
SJP's breasts are practically floating. But in a painful-looking way.

9:16 pm
Costume design awarded to The Duchess.

9:18 pm
Makeup nominees: Benjamin Button, Dark Knight, Hellboy II (again - wtf?)
Oscar to Benjamin Button. Well deserved, I think -- anyone who can make Brad Pitt disturbingly old and ugly, and then gradually EVEN HOTTER than he has looked in real life for the last 15 years, deserves an award.

9:19 pm
Edward from "Twilight" and Amanda Seyfried from "Mama Mia", aka dumb breast girl with ESPN from "Mean Girls". Hasn't made much intellectual progress since then, either.
Edward: "I had to become a vampire to find the right girl."
Amanda: "I have three fathers. So..."

9:21pm
Montage of every movie made in 2008. Not sure what's going on right now. Theme of love, relationships, dancing, dating, betrayal, feelings.... I might cry.

9:25pm
I'm already tired, and a little bit bored. This is a bad sign.

Cinematography award presented by Natalie Portman and Ben Stiller... a supremely odd combination, especially since Ben is wearing a massive fake beard and dark glasses. Natalie just reamed him out for chewing gum, which he then put down on the podium. I think he's supposed to be Joaquin Phoenix in his new disgusting incarnation as retired actor?

"What's going on with you?"
"Nothing, I just want to retire from being a funny guy." Yup. A Joaquin Phoenix joke.

Stiller now wandering aimlessly around the stage while Natalie reads out the teleprompter gush about how wonderful these cinematographers are.

9:29 pm
"Slumdog Millionaire" gets the cinematography award.

9:31 pm
Did I just see Rupert Grint in the audience?
No.
I don't think so. Less redhead, younger kid.
But that was the most exciting thing that's happened in the last half hour.

9:33 pm
Jessica Biel is wearing something bizarrely drape-y and just used the word "sci fi thingamajigs". Everything she says sounds fake. No wonder she isn't famous for her acting skill.

And now we're back to another commercial break after that one-minute segment on the science and technology awards at another ceremony.

9:37 pm
Seth Rogen and James Franco do a "Pineapple Express" segment where they watch all the movies that were not nominated for Oscars this year. I think? But there's a segment from "The Reader", so.... I don't care. I love these two. They're singing to the tune of "Take a chance on me".

Now they're wrestling.

Now they're stapling each other's faces.

They've got the cinematographer from "Saving Private Ryan" hanging with them now, waving his two Oscars and apologizing to Steven Spielberg.

HA, now all three of them are live onstage wearing suits. God, James Franco is beautiful. I've missed him since I saw him on the red carpet two and a half hours ago.

9:41 pm
James mispronounces the name of the movie that wins some award for something I wasn't paying attention to, because he's so pretty.

9:42 pm
Oh. It's for live action short film. And he's German.

9:45 pm
I could really go for a double cheeseburger.

9:47 pm
Hugh Jackman is singing and dancing again, this time in a high-top hat and tails, with 20 lookalikes doing a medley of Broadway classics. And here's Beyonce in a sparkly red leotard and top hat, with 20 female lookalikes in black-tux leotards.

And it's morphing into "Greased Lightning". This might be the best thing I've ever seen.

LADY MARMALADE. Oh my -- Amanda Seyfried is one of the leotard lookalikes.

See, this right here is what I dislike about musicals -- the chorus group is singing one line in the background while the lead is singing a completely different thing overtop of it. TOO MUCH.

Beyonce's singing Etta James' "At Last", bringing applause from the crowd for the reference to her performance at the inauguration ball.

There are SO MANY PEOPLE ONSTAGE RIGHT NOW.

Including Zac Ephron and Vanessa Hudgens. I didn't know they actually sing. Probably because I've never liked actual high school musicals, let alone a series of teen movies with that title.

Hugh Jackman's triumphant yell "The musical is back!" And a shout-out to Baz Luhrmann who created that number, apparently. Which isn't a surprise, since he loves all medleys and anything confusing and with an insane number of pop-culture and entertainment references.

9:56 pm
Montage of past best actor winners. Or is it best supporting actors? Yes.

And five past winners come out on stage. Alan Arkin, Christopher Walken, Cuba Gooding Jr, Kevin Kline and some other dude I don't know.

Alan Arkin tributes Philip Seymour Hoffman for his work in "Doubt". Meryl looks on in pride. Some really old guy tributes Josh Brolin for "Milk", who is sitting with Diane Lane, who looks faintly surprised and amused. Cuba Gooding Jr agrees with everything that's been said so far, and praises Robert Downey Jr for his work playing a white man playing a black man in blackface. Cuba sums it up: "Are you outta your mind?" and congratulates Robert on his upcoming role in "Shaft".

Christopher Walken praises someone I don't recognize for role in "Revolutionary Road". Michael Shannon? Kevin Kline brings up the inevitable creepy and sad reference to Heath Ledger. Camera cuts to Ledger's family in the audience. Kline tributes Heath's legacy of amazing roles throughout his career. There is somewhat tepid applause, given how much hype there's been about Heath's presence in these awards.

Oscar goes to: HEATH LEDGER! So bittersweet. He SO deserved to have this in his lifetime.

10:03 pm
Heath's entire family goes up to accept his award. The entire audience is standing up for an ovation.

You can tell where he got his fantastic good looks -- his whole family is freaking gorgeous. Cut to Kate Winslet looking devastated. Brad Pitt looks thoughtful. Mickey Rourke looks uncomfortable.

"This award would have validated Heath's quiet determination..."

Anne Hathaway is crying.

Heath's sister "proudly accepts this award on behalf of your beautiful Matilda". I am going to bawl.

10:07 pm
Bill Maher, looking dapper. "Everyone's crying, and now I have to go on."

Awkwardly talks about his own documentary, Religulous, which is not one of the nominees for the award he is presenting. Applause for all the nominees: The Betrayal, Encounters at the End of the World, The Garden, Man on Wire, Trouble the Water.

Oscar goes to Man on Wire! Yay, something European and quirky.

Winner dedicates his award to his daughters and says "Nothing's Impossible!" Other winner does a magic trick with a coin, then proceeds to balance the Oscar upside down on his face.

10:11 pm
Documentary short subjects, which seem to ALL be about depressing stories located in third-world countries.

The winner's name is the same as mine, except it's pronounced Meegan. Which I hate. But she's crying and smiling and happy, which I like.

Wait a second. It's spelled Megan. Who the fuck pronounces that as Meegan? I wonder if Maher mispronounced it.

10:14 pm
OH my GOD. This show has to end soon.

10:17 pm
Ooh. Ryan from "The OC" is gonna be on a new cop show. I always loved that short little guy.

10:19 pm
Montage of action sequences. Will Smith comes up through the floor, MIB-style.

Visual effects noms: Ben Button, Dark Knight, Iron Man.

And Oscar goes to Benjamin Button, for "turning Brad Pitt into a garden gnome" as Will Smith put it.

10:23 pm
Dark Knight wins another Oscar, this one for sound editing.

10:25 pm
Sound mixing noms (oh my god, I don't care): Ben Button... from now on, just assume that Benjamin Button is a nominee for EVERYTHING.... Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E, Wanted.

Oscar to Slumdog Millionaire.

"I worked with two magicians who created the ordinary sounds of Bombay - the cacophony of Bombay - for this movie." Also something about the word that means silence and peace, 'om'.

10:28 pm
Cut to Jen Aniston sitting in the audience with John Mayer, who is staring up sideways at the ceiling. Oh Jennifer... you can do so much better than that schmuck.

Yes, Will Smith says, I'm still up here. Now he's presenting nominees for editing. Frost/Nixon, Dark Knight, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button (see? I told you).

Oscar goes to Slumdog! Moby lookalike Chris Dickens comes up to accept. The Slumdog crowd in the audience is SUPER pumped.

10:30 pm
Oh my god, he even sounds like Moby. Except British. Same glasses and everything.

10:36 pm
Eddie Murphy presenting Jean Hersholt Award to Jerry Lewis - not just a comedian but a humanitarian. He worked on behalf of children with muscular dystrophy.

OMG, cutest child ever -- little boy with glasses says, "You know what - the challenges in life are part of our life, and that's how we learn." So true.

10:39 pm
Jerry Lewis comes out to accept his award and gets a standing ovation. I feel like this is one of those times where if I was over thirty, I'd be really excited right now, because maybe I'd know what this guy represents to Hollywood.

10:44 pm
Musical performance with an orchestra. I'm too tired to be witty. There are trombones... insert joke here.

10:48 pm
Zac Ephron and Alicia Keys... she is so much woman, it's almost enough to make me switch teams. Original score Oscar goes to: Slumdog composer.

Right before Zac read out the name on the paper, Alicia whispered "duh na na NA", like a drum roll. Best thing ever.

10:50 pm
Zac is remarkably poised and smooth for a fetus.

10:51 pm
Performance by one of the artists whose song is nominated for Best Original Song, for Slumdog. Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I love the Peter Gabriel song from Wall-E. It makes me happy.

10:55 pm
Nominees for song: one from Slumdog, one from Wall-E, another from Slumdog.

Oscar goes to: one of the ones from Slumdog. I find it weird that they'd pit someone against themselves, for two nominations in the same category. Shouldn't they have given a third person a chance? Not that this guy isn't awesome, cuz he is. "All my life I had a choice, between hate and love, and I chose love. God bless."

10:58 pm
"The Soloist" looks really good... Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx. If it was any two more serious actors, I'd say Oscar fodder for '10 for sure. But based on Downey's blase attitude about his nominations this year, not sure anyone will ever nominate him again.

11:00 pm
Hugh praises the performances for Song nominees, and finally told me who the singer was - John Legend. I was wondering why they didn't have Peter Gabriel singing his own song.

Liam Neeson and an actress from Slumdog, presenting foreign-language film nominees. Oscar goes to: Departures, from Japan.

Best actor and actress awards up next... thank god. Some of us have to work tomorrow, HUGH... what do you mean by keeping me up til all hours of the night watching your smooth antics? Honestly.

11:05 pm
Queen Latifah doing her bit on people we've lost. I now see that she was referring to artists and actors who have died in the last year. Bernie Mac. Bud Stone. Ollie Johnston. Van Johnson. Michael Crighton. Nina Foch. Charles H. Joffe. Abby Mann. Robert Mulligan. Evelyn Keyes. Richard Widmark. Claude Berri. Isaac Hayes. Charlton Heston. Sydney Pollack. Paul Newman.

11:12 pm
"The president of the Academy is stepping down, and as a farewell present, has agreed not to make a speech to us."

Reese Witherspoon, you darling! Presenting award for directors, who can sometimes function as a therapist on set, or even a hostage negotiator, when certain actors are having difficulty coming out of their trailors. "Not that I'm speaking about myself. ... But you know who you are. ... Ben Stiller."

Noms for best directing: Danny Boyle, Slumdog; Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon; Benjamin Button; The Reader; Gus Van Sant, Milk.

Oscar:
Danny Boyle for Slumdog! Oh the hugging. So much hugging. And Danny is on stage jumping up and down. Apparently he is receiving this award "in the spirit of Tigger, from Winnie-the-Pooh", a promise he made to his kids.

And apologized during his speech to a choreographer of the movie, whose name he forgot to include in the movie credits. Ouch.

11:17 pm
Commercial break? REALLY? Shut this thing down.

11:19 pm
BEST ACTRESS TIME!!!

Sophia Loren, Halle Berry, Shirley Maclaine, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard come out onstage - holy famous people. I didn't even know Sophia Loren was still alive. This is stellar.

Shirley: speaks to Anne Hathaway, which makes Anne weep like a little girl. "You're not afraid to show both your dark and your light sides. This is your first nomination and I have a feeling it won't be your last. And by the way, you have an extraordinary voice." Anne mouths "thank you Shirley, I love you".

Marion tributes Kate Winslet, who looks adorably grateful and moved, given that Marion is a newbie, but she is so genuine when she thanks Kate for her work.

Halle speaks to Melissa Leo, who I'm not familiar with.

Sophia Loren looks like a dragon lady. Like Tina Turner after a vacation with no sunscreen, and having stuck her finger in a socket. She tributes Meryl Streep in her grand European voice, in her slow way of speaking that gives the impression she doesn't give a shit about timelines and hurrying up, because she's Sophia fucking Loren.

Nicole Kidman, robotic as per usual, praises Angelina's "very modern gifts". A robot WOULD say that.

I have to say, I really like this individual tribute thing.

Oscar to KATE WINSLET!!!!!!

She is freaking out, admirably. She is hugging everyone in the auditorium. "Okay, that fainting thing, Penelope?"

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't made up versions of this speech in the past, when I was eight years old, with a shampoo bottle. Well, it's not a shampoo bottle now! I feel very fortunate to have made it all the way from there until now. ... I want to thank my parents, who are here in this room tonight -- Dad, whistle or something because--"

Her dad whistles.
AWESOME.

"I want to acknowledge my fellow nominees, these GODDESSES -- I think we all can't believe we're in the same category with Meryl Streep at all! I'm sorry Meryl, but you just have to suck that up."

11:30 pm
Montage of Best Actor past wins. And the onstage representatives are: Robert Deniro, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Adrien Brody and Michael Douglas. And may I just say - wow. They really have pull here at the Academy, don't they. Even the nominees look astounded.

Michael Douglas talks about Frank Langella's portrayal of a historical figure in Frost/Nixon.

Robert Deniro: "How did Sean Penn for all those years get all those jobs playing straight men?" He also references the surfer dude Spicoli. Sweet.
"Tonight it's important to be a great actor. In life, it's more important to be a great human being. That's my friend Sean Penn."

Adrien Brody lauds Richard Jenkin's 60-plus films throughout his career.

Anthony Hopkins talks about Brad Pitt's character acting in Benjamin Button. Angie's mood finally improves upon that tribute.

Ben Kingsley talks about Mickey Rourke's second shot at life and film career. "Only a fiercely honest actor could be so effective as a guy who hasn't had it easy... Welcome back, the returning champ."

11:37 pm
Oscar goes to: Sean Penn for "Milk"!!!!!!!

"You commie, homo loving sons of guns!"

He puts on some glasses and reads off a tiny piece of paper to thank his supporters, people who contributed to the movie, and the director. "There is no finer hands to be in than Gus Van Sant."

He speaks about the shame that people should feel if they voted for the ban on gay marriage, and the shame their children will feel. The writer of the movie is visibly moved. Lastly, he thanks all the nominees and Mickey Rourke in particular, who "rises again, and he is my brother."

11:41 pm
Hugh: "Please welcome the guy I've been trying to impress all night with my fake Australian accent - Steven Spielberg."

Montaaaaage.

Nominees for Best Motion Picture: Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader; Slumdog Millionaire.

Oscar goes to SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE!

Again with the hugging.

Oh wow, they're getting the entire group up there - producers, cast members, the whole crew. Awww the cute little boy is right up front. Christian Colson is making the speech, emphasizing the collaborative effort that made the film what it was.

"Most of all, we had passion and we had belief, and our film shows that if you have that, you can do anything."

11:50 pm
Hugh wants me to stay and get a sneak peek at films for 2009, but even his sassiness can't keep me up any longer... I gotta hit the hay! Hope you enjoyed my perspective on the last five hours. Ciao!

Twittering

2009-01-31T11:41:00.003-05:00

It's a lazy Saturday and I'm finally getting around to doing things I don't have time to do on weekdays, like making coffee at home, updating various online profiles and linking them all together so that I don't feel like I have seven different online identities. I was beginning to feel like Ellen Page in "The Tracey Fragments".

I added the Twitter widget to this blog because it's easier and faster to update my Twitter status than doing an entire blog entry, so I do it far more often. Case in point: my last blog entry was April 2008. Side-note: is there ANY greater word in the English language than 'widget'? Sub-question: is 'widget' really part of the English language, since it's primarily used in a web context, which presumably transcends oral language? Is there a French word for 'widget'?

For those of you who used to follow this blog back when I was posting mostly news articles or features, I haven't written much in the way of journalism in awhile so I haven't quite decided what to do with this blog yet. It may become a hodge-podge of my actual work, links to interesting things I find on the web, and other passing thoughts. And maybe -- if you're lucky -- the occasional old-school rant, harking back to my glory days of blogging on my now-defunct MSN space, when I would rant about everything related to university life. Possible new topic: why Twitter won't let me upload a new picture, telling me there was "something wrong with your picture. Probably too big." ... except the last one I had up there was the same size. Twitter gods, wtf?

Online media project 2007-08

2008-04-09T19:42:00.003-04:00

The fruits of our labour from our online media course are finally here! We spent the fall semester learning about all the ways online media are different from traditional newspapers and broadcast news, how they work and how to use them to your advantage when presenting a piece of work. It was a really interesting course, and we got to practice it by splitting into groups to create several online projects. My group did a series of stories on adoption law in Ontario, which was under fire last fall when the provincial superior court struck down an act that would have given people much more access to past adoption records. It was a really interesting project on the level of the politics and legalities involved, but it was also interesting to see the stories of actual adoptees and adoptive parents. So check out our site and all the other projects from our class!

http://www.fims.uwo.ca/newmedia2008/

Final issue of The Reporter

2008-04-06T23:06:00.002-04:00

The much-anticipated Features Edition of The Reporter is here! All of us have been working on our major feature stories for print class for months now, and the last issue of The Reporter is made up of all those stories. Some of them have also been published elsewhere, or may be published sometime soon, but for now you can see my story on the Biotron here.

The Biotron's superhuman capabilities meet human obstacles

Only one more week left of journalism school. It's ridiculous that it's been a whole year already. Time to move on to bigger and better things?? Well, time to move on, at least... to what, who knows.

Social Justice Month at Western

2008-03-19T22:29:00.000-04:00

My story for the Reporter this week:

http://www.fims.uwo.ca/olr/Mar1908/SocialJustice.html

Beware the idles of March

2008-03-08T11:01:00.002-05:00

Spending the break at home doesn't mean there isn't a lot to see and do in London and area for kids and families.

THE LONDON FREE PRESS, page B1
Sat. March 8, 2008
By MEGHAN MOLONEY, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA

Raise your hand if you've slipped on an icy driveway in the last week.

Keep it raised if your boots have soaked through after stepping in a pile of slush or you've been stuck waiting for a bus that never came.

Now, how many of you are heading south during March break to escape the winter blues?

Congratulations. Your colleagues, classmates and relatives probably hate you right now.

But for anyone sticking around to spend March break at home, don't despair -- there are lots of great ways to relax, get some exercise and learn something new with your family right here in the London area.

Finding ways to keep your kids happy and active doesn't have to break the bank, either. You can skip the pricey day camps and go for inexpensive activities.

An added bonus is that many events don't require you to register ahead of time, so you can be spontaneous with your plans.

One of the major attractions next week is sure to be the Children's Museum. With daily activities such as arts and crafts, scavenger hunts and karaoke, as well as special weekend guests, kids can do something different each day of the week.

"We have some favourites who've come back for another year of fun," said Dawn Miskelly, manager of visitor services and sales.

"Some of them are activities that are here a lot, but with more oomph over March break."

If you'd rather risk the snow and slush to get some fresh air, the London area offers skiing, snowboarding and tubing, as well as public skating in the city.

Been there, done that? There's always the time-honoured March break tradition of the sugar bush. Among the several maple sugar bushes running tours and activities in the area is the Kinsmen Fanshawe Sugar Bush.

Bill Reath, who's worked there for 15 years, recommends wearing warm clothes and a pair of boots you don't mind getting muddy.

"The old fellow who was there when I started there said, 'You can't make syrup until there's mud on the ground.' "

So instead of hiding at home next week, grab a thermos of hot chocolate and some warm, fuzzy socks and hit the town.

MARCH BREAK SURVIVAL GUIDE:

See the Free Press City & Region page for all the activity listings I compiled.

Better late than never--for this story, at least... for John Tory, not so much.

2008-03-05T22:35:00.002-05:00

Five of my classmates and I attended the Ontario PC convention on Feb. 23 in London. We got in with media passes arranged by our political reporting instructor by day / city newspaper editor by night.

The thrill of covering the convention for class was two-fold: not only did we get out of writing the following week's assignment on the yawn-a-thon federal budget, but we also got to witness the infamous speech by John "Please Don't Fire Me" Tory. Can you stand the excitement?

Anyway, with the number of articles printed about this in the week after the convention, this story will seem a bit outdated at this point but I'm only getting around to posting it now. Chalk it up to the 18 other assignments I'm already working on for the next few weeks, multiply that by job applications, and subtract the energy I lost by randomly getting sick a few days ago.
********
In the upstairs hallway of the London Convention Centre, just before John Tory’s speech at last Saturday’s Ontario Progressive Conservative conference, NDP MPP Peter Kormos called Tory an articulate and effective speaker.

Tory’s half-hour speech was certainly articulate. But it wasn’t too effective.

In the week leading up to the PC convention, the media had pegged the most interesting item on the conference agenda: the vote that would take place immediately after party leader Tory’s speech, deciding whether there would be a leadership review or not. Most critics had predicted that Tory would need at least two-thirds of the party’s vote in order to gather enough support to stay on as leader.

Others, like Kormos, said it didn’t matter how many votes Tory got on Saturday—his leadership had been in jeopardy since October 10.

The day of the last provincial election was “a humbling experience” for Tory and for the Conservative party, he said in his speech. After a humiliating defeat in which the party gained few new seats in the legislature, and in which Tory himself lost the riding of Don Valley West to Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, major factions of the party were calling for a leadership review.

Kormos, who attended the convention as a “monitor” (read: spy) for the NDP, said Tory would be in a very difficult and unenviable position.

“He’s going to be constantly swimming upstream,” he said.

Calling the speech “critical” to his future position, Kormos said it was clear that Tory’s goal would be to “avoid more slippage” in support levels, as opposed to trying to gain new ground. He said he couldn’t predict what Tory’s strategy would be, adding that his surprising adherence to the issue of funding faith-based schools -— arguably the policy that cost Tory the 2007 election -- made him somewhat unpredictable.

“Hopefully he had better advice on this speech than on the election platform,” said Kormos.

Tory’s speech was an intelligent and humble affair, beginning with an apology for having let the party down and a promise to do better next time. He argued that it would be a waste of time for the party to spend the next year in a “divisive, expensive leadership” race when they should be focusing instead on issues like health care, education and community safety.

“Let me be clear: if I believed the party’s chances in the next election would be better with another leader, I would step aside immediately,” Tory said. “But our own history, and that of other parties, has shown that switching leaders after a defeat is not the path to victory.”

He cited the one case in which the Conservatives kept Mike Harris as their leader after a defeat, resulting in two successive majority governments. He also mentioned Prime Minister Stephen Harper, describing his current federal administration as “a Conservative government of purpose and principle”—-to which the conference delegates responded with deafening applause.

Unfortunately for Tory, Kormos pointed out that the reference to Harper got a stronger reaction from the audience than anything else in the speech.

“The audience did not respond,” Kormos said afterward to reporters. “A whole lot of this audience was sitting on its hands, even at points when any Conservative should have been enthusiastic.”

Although Kormos thought the speech was “well-delivered” and “obviously well-crafted,” reaching out to more liberal issues like societal violence and also to “hardcore former Harrisites,” he said it came four months too late.

“I’m convinced that even most of the Liberals—-when I saw how little they had on their agenda after being elected, I began to reach the conclusion that they didn’t expect to win,” said Kormos. “Mr. Tory was the premier-in-waiting until he forced and drove his faith-based school agenda. He handed the election to the Liberals who ran with virtually no platform.”

Dave Thornton, a Liberal staffer and monitor who attended the conference, would not comment on what his party would make of Tory’s speech.

“I’m here as a volunteer and an observer,” he said. He referred questions to labour minister Brad Duguid. Calls to Duguid’s office manager this week were not returned.

The results of the vote following Tory’s speech were 66.9 per cent against a leadership review. Tory took several hours to think about his decision before stating that he would stay on as party leader late Saturday night.

Among other issues being discussed following the results is the question of where Tory will run in the 2011 election. Speculation about which PC candidate might be likely to step down and offer his or her riding to Tory has been fruitless so far. Kormos said he hadn’t heard of any contenders.

Selfish Ontarians want to keep all their neurosurgical patients to themselves

2008-02-28T21:58:00.002-05:00

This is a piece I wrote for my political reporting class. Funnily enough, I originally thought about writing this story after reading an article in the Globe about the expert panel report on neurosurgery... and then the day after I submitted this story to my instructor, the Globe published another piece along the same lines, including a lot of the same stuff as my story. I hope my old Hamilton Spectator fan doesn't get his or her panties in a twist this time--you can all rest assured, I didn't read today's article before writing this.

******
It’s been less than two months since the Ontario ministry of health and long-term care has implemented the first phase of an expert panel’s recommendations on how to improve access to neurosurgery. Already, the number of patients being transferred to the United States for surgery has decreased from at least 15 per month to three, a decrease of more than 80 per cent.

“We feel there’s an early success there,” said ministry spokesperson Andrew Morrison.

The expert panel report, which was released publicly on February 15, made 21 recommendations for ways to improve patient care. The first phase of action required the Ontario government to provide extra funding to the University Health Network, based in Toronto, so that 100 additional neurosurgery cases could be dealt with over the current and next fiscal years.

“From the ministry standpoint, we are not doctors and we’re not medical experts, but we are excellent at funding--we hold the purse strings,” Morrison said. “So what the expert panel told us was that if you’re able to fund additional neurosurgery cases, that should help with [reducing the number of] out-of-country transfers.”

Morrison said it will take time to determine how effectively the funding improves overall service to patients, but the short-term results look promising.

The funding will help obtain access to more beds, operating rooms and extra nursing and hospital staff.

However, in some cases it’s not just a question of funding but of qualified, available neurosurgeons. Morrison said there are shortages of doctors across Ontario and the ministry is working with training colleges and universities to expand medical education.

“That’s something that we look at (on) an ongoing basis, not necessarily related to neurosurgery but as an overall approach to healthcare in Ontario, and not just medical students but nursing students and all the other disciplines and allied healthcare professionals that are part of the Ontario healthcare system,” he said.

He pointed out that neurosurgery is a highly-skilled area of medicine, and that it may be difficult to find good candidates to fill those roles.

James Rutka, one of the authors of the expert panel report, said there’s no question that part of the problem is a need for more doctors.

“We not only need these trained individuals but we need more of them, because neurosurgery is a very exacting profession and discipline, and the population is growing but the number of neurosurgeons has not grown at the same rate,” said Rutka, a surgeon and researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children and the chair of the University of Toronto’s division of neurosurgery.

Rutka said part of the solution is to convince medical students that neurosurgery is a worthwhile specialty. Hospitals have to be able to promise students that after medical school and up to 10 additional years of rigorous training, there will be jobs waiting for them, he said.

The expert panel’s recommendations for phase two include “rolling out” the changes already put in place at UHN to all 13 hospitals in Ontario that provide access to neurosurgery. In order to increase access at all of these centres, Morrison said the government will be working with external healthcare providers. This means Ontario citizens will get the benefit of publicly-funded healthcare while also using the services of private healthcare teams.

So where is the line between public and private healthcare?

Morrison emphasized that “the government is committed to offering universal, publicly-funded healthcare to Ontarians,” and that any services funded by the government are public services. He also referred to the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, passed in 2004, which closed the loopholes to extra billing user fees and privately-funded healthcare that were discovered in the past.

Essentially, contracting out to external businesses to take care of shortages in neurosurgery was part of the problem, not the solution, said Morrison. “That’s kind of what we were doing—we were sending emergency cases out of the country. So we were paying an external provider to do the work.”

Instead, the ministry is focusing on keeping neurosurgical procedures inside the province—even if it has to put up additional funding and bring in outside specialists to do the work.

Ontario isn’t the only jurisdiction in Canada to be making changes in the direction of two-tier health care. The Globe and Mail reported in a recent article that Quebec health minister Philippe Couillard has agreed to allow doctors to have “duo” practices in both the public and private systems. The change came as a response to a provincial healthcare report called “Getting our money’s worth” which proposed many changes, including allowing private insurance companies to cover public health services.

Couillard cautioned Quebecers about the changes, saying they “must have no impact on the public health care system and no impact on access to care by the general public.” But critics, including University of Toronto law professor Colleen Flood, have said Quebec has taken a firm step toward a two-tier system.

Rutka said incorporating the private sector into neurosurgery wouldn’t work, though it might for other areas of medicine.

“You couldn’t set up a private clinic with a building that would have everything that a neurosurgeon needs to do neurosurgery without investing millions and millions of dollars, and for a relatively small number of patients who would benefit in a private clinic setting from that kind of service,” he said.

“It just would not make any good business sense.”

Rutka said that for other specialties that are less cost-intensive than neurosurgery, it may not be a bad idea to look into privatization. But he also believes in improving the system we already have.

“I’m a firm believer and very proud of the Canadian healthcare system,” he said.

“On balance, it’s a wonderful system that we have in place here. It can be better, and we slipped behind on losing patients to the United States with these transfers because our system became full. But it’s a correctable problem.”

The expert panel will be meeting again within a week.

This week's issue of The Reporter: more on Glen Pearson, our favorite firefighting, money-raising politician!

2008-02-20T22:26:00.003-05:00

Well hello, loyal readers. If you read my story about Glen Pearson about a month ago, my contribution to this week's edition of 'The Reporter' is a follow-up story on an issue that came up in my original interview with him. I was still waiting on some information from CIDA, which didn't arrive by the time we printed our issue, so if I find out any new updates I'll post them here.

Lots of other interesting stories this week--take a look!
http://www.fims.uwo.ca/olr

Money promised to Darfur refugees still in limbo
MP Glen Pearson says Sudan was told aid had been approved

By Meghan Moloney

When London MP Glen Pearson was in Sudan with other aid workers in January, he discovered that the government of Canada had told a group of refugees in Darfur they may be getting $3 million in aid by March.

Yet Canadians haven't been given any information about the deal.

Canadian International Development Agency officials had contacted Sudanese leaders as early as a year ago to discuss the funds, but the government has made no public announcement about any money going to Sudan.

Pearson had been lobbying the government for money to help these refugees since the first time he made a speech in the House of Commons last February.

He "just about broke down" when he found out about the aid money, he said.

"I felt a huge sense of relief," he said. But he was also disappointed. He would have been happier if the government had indicated that it was following up on his call for action.

"I had a terrible first year in Parliament," he said. "I felt I wasn't making a difference."

An active human rights and development worker in Sudan for more than a decade, Pearson was elected MP for London North Centre in November 2006. Before beginning his duties in Parliament, he and his wife, fellow activist Jane Roy, made their annual trip to Sudan with their NGO, Canadian Aid for Southern Sudan, and a group of London-based volunteers in January 2007.

During that trip, they met a traveler coming from the northern region of Darfur who told them there were 100,000 new refugees trying to escape the violence in the area.

Pearson and his team investigated the situation, along with the International Organization for Migration.

"It was desperate," said Pearson. "In fact it was awful. There was no water, no food, no clothing."

The refugees were people who had migrated from southern Sudan to Darfur around 20 years ago to escape the violence of the civil war, said Pearson. But because of the current conflict in Darfur, they are once again trying to find a home.

Before returning to Canada, Pearson met with regional leaders working with the IOM and asked them to draw up a budget to help the new refugees. They asked for $6 million. Pearson presented the budget in the House of Commons in February 2007.

"I was listened to very respectfully," he said,. But there was no response from the government.

"I wore that (weight) all year-I felt sick about it," said Pearson.

But when he returned to Sudan three weeks ago, he found a different story. According to IOM officials, the Canadian government had contacted the organization to say that it was aware of the problem but asked the IOM to cut the budget to $3 million.

After Pearson returned to Canada for the new Parliamentary session, the IOM officials told Roy, who was still in Sudan, that they had been contacted by CIDA and had been told the new budget had been approved. The grant was conditional on sufficient funds being left over at the end of the current fiscal year, but Pearson said he's confident there will be enough and that the money will be transferred by March.

There has been no official confirmation from CIDA or other government departments about the money for Sudan. Pearson is not aware which officials had been communicating with the IOM. When contacted, a CIDA representative said the department was preparing to announce its plans for Sudan as well as other areas in need of aid, but she couldn't put a timeline on it

Pearson doesn't think the money is tied to the success of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's budget, scheduled for early March. Although he appreciates that the government is acting on his request, he's still unsure why the Conservatives waited so long to mention the transfer of money to Darfur and why officials in Sudan were notified before Canadians, he said.

"If I wanted to be partisan, I could (ask) why didn't they tell anyone until now," Pearson said. But he could understand why the government wouldn't raise false hopes before confirming any aid. "If I want to be realistic, I would say why would they tell anyone they were going to give the money before it was guaranteed."

However, Pearson said it would have been helpful if the Conservatives had made it clear that they were following up on his request.

"We need to work on communication," he said. "We're talking about money to keep people alive."

Job prospects: 1

2008-02-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

My first (post-graduation) job interview is this Wednesday! It's for a job as an editor of my undergraduate paper. I'm pretty excited about it--it would be great to have a guaranteed job for the next year while I take a breather after five years of school and figure out where to go next. It would also be nice to be in a familiar place again before I take any more big plunges into even bigger cities.

I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. Until then, as promised, my famous front page story is now up! Read it and wonder why nothing bigger was going on in London that day. Just kidding, I was very excited and proud when I saw it.

Report reveals daily violence / Snowfest 2008

2008-02-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

THE LONDON FREE PRESS
Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008

A study of sexual harassment, aggression and bullying at schools shows 'cause for concern.'
By MEGHAN MOLONEY, SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS

Sexual harassment, verbal aggression and bullying occur daily in Ontario high schools, but get less attention than more "dramatic" issues such as weapons, says the author of a report that surveyed more than 1,800 Southwestern Ontario students.

David Wolfe, principal investigator for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, released the report yesterday. It examines violence, sexual harassment and bullying at 23 schools.

"The cause for concern is that this is everyday violence and it doesn't get the same attention as more dramatic violence like kids carrying guns," Wolfe said. "But we do have to worry about it. We don't want kids to think it's OK to bully and harass others."

Wolfe, an honorary psychology professor at UWO, headed the research, conducted between 2003 and 2007. The study surveyed 1,819 students in Grades 9 and 11 in rural and city schools. Wolfe declined to say precisely where the surveys were conducted.

The study found:

- 29 per cent of Grade 9 girls and 33 per cent of Grade 9 boys reported feeling unsafe at school;

- 16 per cent of girls and 32 per cent of boys reported being physically harmed;

- 10 per cent of girls and 25 per cent of boys admitted they had harmed others;

- 12 per cent of boys and 14 per cent of girls reported being harassed online.

"Part of the reason we wanted to present this was because the only data that's been out there lately is from Toronto schools, which paints a pretty bad picture, and we wanted to indicate the picture can be similarly bad in other parts of the province," Wolfe said.

The important aspect of the research is change over time, Wolfe said. Results indicated Grade 9 students who experience violence are more than twice as likely to be harassed in Grade 11.

"We're looking at the pattern across time and that's a bit alarming," Wolfe said. "When you can predict by a factor of two or three times that someone will have a problem, that's significant."

The research showed students as young as Grade 9 are reporting suicidal thoughts.

"They're not happy and this is not innocuous," Wolfe said.

Grade 9 is a tough year for students, many of them being harassed by older students, he said. Some boys deal with the problem by harassing others.

Girls are more likely to spread rumours and use verbal insults as aggression, but Wolfe said name-calling can have similar consequences to physical violence.

"It's not just about a fear of safety, but a fear of emotional humiliation."

Researchers asked about students sexually pressuring or being sexually pressured by other students:

- Four per cent of Grade 11 males admitted they've tried to force someone to have sex with them;

- 10 per cent of males and 27 per cent of females were pressured into sexual acts they did not want to do;

- 15 per cent of girls said they had oral sex to avoid having intercourse;

- Girls were more likely to experience unwanted sexual comments, looks and touching, whereas boys were more likely to experience homo-phobic insults.

The study comes as Mike and Brenda Neuts mark the 10th anniversary of their son's being found hanging unconscious on a washroom stall door hook in Chatham-Kent. Ten-year-old Myles died six days later. His family continues to make anti-bullying presentations to school children and other groups. (A story is on Page C4).

Wolfe said schools have begun to add more education on healthy relationships and discrimination. He said parents and communities need to deal with harassment as well as students and schools.

"This is everyone's issue."

"The purpose of releasing this study is not just to scare people. The positive message here is we're starting to teach people that kids shouldn't have to put up with this, no more than (adults) should."

************
"Snowfest this year draws 20 sculptors to market"
THE LONDON FREE PRESS
Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008
By Meghan Moloney, Special to Sun Media

The courtyard at Covent Garden Market will be transformed into a glittering wonderland this weekend for Snowfest 2008.

"I'm looking forward to it," said Ted Hayes, the event organizer and a sculptor with Frozen Impact in St. Thomas.

"It started dwindling last year with only four or five teams, but this year there will be over 20 sculptures," said Hayes, 51, who has co-ordinated Snowfest for 12 years.

This year's theme is "a magical crystal garden."

The admission-free event kicks off tomorrow as Hayes and his brother, Tyler, 41, begin creating the garden on a platform in front of the market.

The first competition will be Saturday, with 11 professional artists registered to make carvings based on the theme.

Sunday, carvers can create any piece they want for that day's contest.

Peter Lam, a London artist who has won first prize in the People's Choice competition several times, said he's excited about the event.

"This year I'm going to be carving a couple of rats," said Lam, who annually creates an animal corresponding to the current Chinese year.

"I'm looking forward to it."

The competitions are judged by the public.

While unpredictable weather has been an issue in the past, Environment Canada is predicting snow and a high of 1 Saturday and -5 Sunday.

And, Hayes said, the event no longer uses snow, partly because of weather worries but also because of the cost of transporting the snow.

This year, artists will each get two 136-kilogram blocks of ice with which to work.

Hayes said it's important to offer Londoners free events in the winter.

"This is the only thing -- you have to pay to go to everything else," he said. "You can bring your skates and have some lunch. There are going to be some beautiful things here."

IF YOU GO

- What: Snowfest 2008, an international ice carving competition.
- When: Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Where: Covent Garden Market.
- Admission: Free.

First edition of the 2008 Reporter!

2008-02-06T22:10:00.001-05:00

www.fims.uwo.ca/olr

My story is in the "what's new" section, "A second chance for suspended students."

Two stories in tomorrow's London city paper--one is apparently going front page!! Will post tomorrow.

Kevin Newman's back in town

2008-02-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

The Hill Times, February 4th, 2008

What's a nice guy like you doing in a town like this?
Global National's Kevin Newman hopes to take his news show deeper into the decision-makers in Ottawa.
By Meghan Moloney

When Kevin Newman co-hosted Good Morning America in New York City, he couldn´t shop for shoes without the paparazzi following him.

These days, as Global National´s anchor, Mr. Newman has returned to Ottawa in what he calls "a homecoming," and has had "real life" back for a number of years.

After six weeks on the job as co-anchor of Good Morning America, he was pushed out because of ratings. He later worked as a correspondent for ABC´s late-night current events show, Nightline. But he eventually returned to Canada after a decade with ABC News to establish and help build Global´s evening news program in Vancouver, saying it was a creative opportunity he couldn´t pass up.

In an interview with The Hill Times at his office, he said he hopes that as anchor of the TV national news from Ottawa, it will give the program a deeper perspective and more access to the decision-makers of the country.

When did you decide to move Global National´s broadcast to Ottawa?

"We´re not moving the whole broadcast here. We´re just moving me because in the 21st Century, you´re able to put your resources where they make sense. And for us, it makes sense for us to have our editorial and technical team based in Vancouver and it makes sense to have me based here so that I can get to the scene of things a little more quickly. So what they´ve done in order to bridge this 5,000-kilometre gap, they´ve built a big, fat digital pipeline that I don´t understand, but it seems to be able to make things happen. So instead of even three years ago, two years ago, we would have had to do this by satellite. Now we can do it by what we call net-pipe. So we don´t have to use satellites, it´s a lot less expensive, it´s ours, so it´s completely reliable–you know, we don´t have to worry about solar storms, or any of that kind of stuff that you have to worry about with satellites. So we´re connected between Vancouver and Ottawa with something physical."

Why did the network decide to move you here?

"Like the other guys, I´m a travelling anchor, and I like to get to the scene of where things are happening and Vancouver is a wonderful place to live and to work, but it´s a hard place to travel from, because it´s right on the very Western Coast. The airport east shuts down at 8 p.m. So you can´t really scramble from Vancouver easily if you´re an anchor. From here, I can get to New York in an hour, I can get to Washington in an hour, I can get to Toronto in an hour, I can get to Montreal quickly. So here I´m closer to the scene of where most news happens than I was in Vancouver."

How do you think your job as an anchor will change?

"I´m hoping I´m going to get to do more field reporting, because I´m closer to it and getting out of the office–getting out from behind the desk. I mean, I just came back from Pakistan, where we did a series of broadcasts from Pakistan and that kind of stuff is good for me because my grounding is in–I was a reporter for most of my career. So when I talk about something I like to have some understanding of what the place looks like and some understanding of what the people are like. So if I can be there more often, I think that will help the broadcast. Plus, you know, the other thing this gives us, it allows us a little bit better access to decision-makers, because we´re still only a seven-year-old broadcast. I think especially on Parliament Hill, there´s an institutional belief that the CBC and the CTV news are the 50-year-old TV news institutions here. Ours is younger, but what we need to do is remind the opinion-makers and the decision-makers on the Hill that we are as competitive and as important to Canadians now as the other two guys."

Are you the only national anchor in Ottawa now?

"Yes. Peter [Mansbridge of CBC´s The National] and Lloyd [Robertson of CTV National News] are both in Toronto. This is my fourth time living in Ottawa, so if there´s any place that feels like home to me, it´s actually Ottawa. I´ve covered Parliament Hill for all three networks. So this is very much like a homecoming for me."

Before returning to Canada in 2001, you worked for ABC News in New York for seven years and you were quite the star–you co-hosted Good Morning America and were later a correspondent for ABC´s late-night current-events show, Nightline–what made you decide to go to the U.S. in the first place?

"A job offer. [He laughs.] You know, it wasn´t an easy decision because I´m a Canadian boy and I´ve never lost that. But sometimes it´s good to test yourself against the best in the world, and some of the best journalists work for the American networks in New York. So I thought, well, I´m just going to learn some stuff. There are a lot of Canadians that work down there. I really enjoyed my time there. I liked my colleagues, I loved meeting and getting to know Americans better, I loved getting rid of any of that sort of latent anti-American notions that many Canadians have, and understanding America better which I think is important. But I never felt wholly American. So I was able to hold onto my Canadian-ness and eventually knew I wanted to come home."

Did you experience any anti-Canadian sentiment while you were down there?

"No, not at all. We´re like the nice cousins."

What were the main differences between being a national news anchor in the U.S. and in Canada, besides the money?

"There are a lot of similarities. I guess what´s different is that the stakes are higher in the United States. There´s just more money on the line. You have more advertising dollars pulled in. They expect results quickly. They put a lot of money behind you when you are an anchor in the United States and that´s really good, because you have all the tools that you need, but they expect results within weeks, not years. I think in Canada we´re still more patient with our expectations of broadcast growth. I think the celebrity intensity is far greater in the United States than it is in Canada. I couldn´t shop for shoes in the United States. Here, I can pretty well have a real life. It´s a good question, because I haven´t actually compared it. I´ve never actually thought of myself as a national anchor, just sort of a guy that does work. In Canadian broadcasting, you´re always constrained by budgets, and you have to rationalize everything. In America, there was really no constraint. What they demanded was success, however, and if you weren´t successful, they were very quick to move on. And in the case of Good Morning America, in my case, we weren´t successful after six weeks and they started to move on."

How did they measure success?

"Ratings. When I took over Good Morning America, the ratings had been slumping for two years. They continued to slump in the first six weeks and that´s all it took for them to say, ´Okay, this isn´t working.´"

Why did you decide to return to Canada? Most stay.

"A creative challenge. The American networks, as were CBC and CTV, they have a style, they have a way of doing things, and what your job is, is to bring a little bit of yourself to that but to not upset the apple-cart too much. And what I wanted was the challenge to create something that felt right to me, and Global was starting up a newscast at the same time. I came back for opportunity and that surprises some Canadians, because they always think opportunity only exists in America. There is a ton of opportunity in Canada, particularly creative opportunity–if you grasp it."

You were also a Hill reporter for CBC and CTV. What are the biggest changes in Hill reporting?

"I don´t know. I haven´t done it for 15 years. This is my first time back in 15 years. I mean, when I left here, last time, I was a reporter for CBC TV´s The National. So I have no idea. I am surprised by how many people that were here 15 years ago are still here. In Washington, there´s far more reporter turnover than there seems to be in Ottawa. So many of the people who were my colleagues 15, 20 years ago will once again be my colleagues. The thing is, I´m not really here to be a Hill reporter. I´m the anchor of a national broadcast that encompasses all kinds of news. The benefit is that I will have access to a lot of very smart people and a lot of influential people to enhance the overall reporting on the broadcast."

As anchor, what do you do? What´s your average day?

"This is the easiest job in the business. It´s generally 9 to 5. It´s stressful because everything reflects on you. But as far as hard work, this is not the hardest work I´ve done. But I think I´ve earned it by hard work. It´s been hard to sort of establish a brand new national newscast. That´s hard work. But I haven´t done that alone, there´s been people in the trenches with me."

Who has been your favourite interview?

"My hardest interview was Nelson Mandela, because I didn´t know what to ask the man. I interviewed him right after he came out of prison. There was a concert for him at Wembley in London, and I was so overwhelmed and intimidated by him. As I get older, I enjoy talking about spiritual strengths, so I had a chance to interview the Dalai Lama and Bishop [Desmond] Tutu and a few others. You know, politicians generally can be frustrating to interview. The challenge is to bust through the message track. But every once in awhile, if you prepare properly and if you think about the question you want to ask, you can pierce through it. Barbara Walters actually gave me the best question to ask anybody who´s on a message track, and that´s ´How do you know that?´ Because it instantly forces the interview subject to actually justify what they´ve just said, and it decimates message track. So I´ve always kept that in a back pocket."

What do you like the most about your job?

"I like learning constantly. I like seeing something happen and saying, ´We should really tell Canadians about that.´ It sounds simple but it´s a tremendous privilege and it involves tremendous power–that if something I´m curious about, I have to assume that others might be, and I can satisfy Canadians´ curiosity about things and it´s just a fantastic place to be."

What do you find the hardest?

"I´ve been anchoring on a high-wire act now for about 15 years at some pretty prominent places. I think the hardest part is coping with the stress of being on stage five nights a week through the year. There´s a performance anxiety aspect of this that I don´t think anybody ever gets over, and if you can imagine being an actor on a Broadway stage for 15 years, five days a week, I think that takes its toll over time. Because this is the last live television–there´s no net, ever. So even though you´ve got a great team behind you, you´re always in the back of your mind conscious that one plug can suddenly not be attached and you have to respond. So you´re always in a fight or flight mode with your adrenaline and I think over time that begins to wear you down. I mean, I look at Lloyd and Peter who´ve been doing it a lot longer than I have and I have nothing but admiration for the fact that they have survived this experience as long as they have, because it´s very intense."

Of all the foreign locations where you´ve reported on or from which you´ve anchored, which were the most interesting or rewarding?

"The scariest was always Baghdad. I found my Afghanistan experience interesting last year, because it was unlike any place I´d ever visited. I got to see beyond the uniforms of our soldiers, which was gratifying. I got to look in the eyes of Afghans and try to figure out what they were thinking. And I learned a lot of shades of grey through the experience in Afghanistan, that nothing is as you think it is, and that´s a really important thing for me to know if I´m going to be reporting on this for probably the rest of my life."

What are the biggest challenges of reporting on the federal government right now for the Ottawa bureau?

"Access. There´s much less access to ideas and opinion-makers with this government than I´ve seen in previous governments. That obviously is something that is a strategy. It creates a level of fear within levels of the government and bureaucracy that makes it very difficult for a reporter to work on behalf of Canadians."

Are the Cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister´s Office accessible to your reporters on the Hill?

"I don´t know."

What do you think about the whole idea of the Prime Minister´s Office having control over the list of reporters´ questions?

"I know in Washington, for instance, there´s a protocol of who gets asked first, based on seniority. You know, I´m a journalist–I´m not happy whenever governments try to control questioning. I shouldn´t be happy about that. When I first came here, Trudeau was the prime minister. I´ve seen a lot of different governments, and things always ebb and flow over time. Messages are controlled, messages are less controlled–people attempt strategies, they measure them, if they work they stick with them, if they´re not working they´ll abandon them. Politicians are pragmatic. So I don´t know what the future brings. One of the things that an editor taught me was, never predict the future in journalism. Just measure today and look back with experience, and my experience tells me that there´s an ebb and flow to every administration. I don´t know, maybe it is [working for the Conservatives]. Maybe it brings a backlash. I don´t know what their polling says. I just know as a journalist, and on behalf of journalists, that we have a role and an obligation on behalf of Canadians to ask questions as aggressively and as often as we can."

Will the national news be doing more federal politics reporting now that it is broadcast from Ottawa?

"I don´t think so, no. The broadcast has to represent the interests of all Canadians, not only the people who are interested in politics. So I don´t expect the broadcast´s content to change much. I´m hoping that our access will improve and that our information might go a little deeper, but I wouldn´t expect this to become Don Newman´s kind of broadcast."

Should more national news shows be based in Ottawa?

"No, I think an anchor can be based anywhere now. For seven years, I was based in Vancouver and we were very successful. The reason that we´re here is because of the infrastructure of CanWest, because of the proximity to other places, and because I´m very happy in Ottawa. I really like the city and it feels like home, and I´m at that stage in my life where returning to home base is very comforting."

Any last words?

"I´m very happy to be back. My son was born here. My wife and I were here before we were married. Ottawa is a touchstone at four times in our lives–where we were engaged, where we were newlyweds, where we had our first child. It´s nice to be back in familiar territory."

The Reporter: Coming Soon to a laptop near you!

2008-02-03T22:39:00.000-05:00

Our first issue of The Reporter will be published this Wednesday night! It was a short week for us, we'll normally have two weeks to work on each issue, but it's shaping up pretty well so far.
I'll be posting the link to the finished issue once it's online. I'm also working a few shifts at the city newspaper again this semester, so there will be more of those articles posted here from time to time.

Reporters frustrated by lack of access to Prime Minister

2008-01-30T16:48:00.000-05:00

La Press Canadienne reporter Lina Dib says PM Stephen Harper hasn’t come in the front door to QP for months.

The Hill Times, January 28th, 2008
By Meghan Moloney

If you ask around, La Presse Canadienne Hill reporter Lina Dib says people will likely describe her as a "persistent and annoying reporter." But that doesn’t bother her. What does bother her is the lack of access to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Cabinet ministers. She’s got a lot to say about that. Ms. Dib came to Ottawa in 1997 after eight years with Radio-Canada, during which she worked in Winnipeg, Montreal, and finally as the national correspondent in Toronto. She spent nine years as a Parliament Hill correspondent for TVA. In May 2006, she left TVA to work at Nouvelle Télé-Radio, which has since been "re-branded" as La Presse Canadienne, the French arm of Canadian Press. She met The Hill Times for an interview at her office last week.

Why did you switch from TVA to NTR?

"Because of my family life. Because I have a kid who was going to start school, and so that meant homework and I wanted to be home at a reasonable hour, which you don’t do when you work in TV. You’re often stuck in the evening. And I didn’t want to do any more election campaigns because I didn’t want to be leaving anymore, I didn’t want to be doing any more trips. So I negotiated a different kind of work schedule. I get my summers off, all of that too to enjoy my six-year-old."

How did being a parent change you as a reporter?

"I don’t know as a reporter, but as a person who’s working, you don’t care about work as much, definitely, and you’re more involved in your private life, and you have different sets of values. You don’t think that work is just the ultimate goal–happiness being the ultimate goal. Happiness is easier to find with people who love you, be that they’re small or big, and not from your job."

Do you mostly write copy stories or are you ever on the radio?

"Yeah, I’m on the radio. Actually I work for the radio French service, the Canadian Press, so yes, I write copy–mostly short copy, and I do news reports. We used to be called NTR, then we were rebranded as La Presse Canadienne, radio or print service. I’m not even sure they say print anymore, because it’s mostly an internet service."

How did you find the transition?

"I used to work in radio before. I came to TV from radio, but that was–when I was working in radio, we were still slicing tape. I worked for Radio-Canada for eight years. I worked in Winnipeg, Montreal, and Toronto. So the main difference is the technology of it now. But other than that, I’m still doing the exact same job–I’m still asking the same questions to the same people. It’s lighter because you don’t have to wear the makeup anymore. You don’t have to care about your hair anymore. But other than that, it’s pretty much the same job."

What’s your biggest scoop so far covering federal politics?

"I’m not much of a scoop person, more of a stunt person. Things kind of happen–I remember one Liberal convention here in Ottawa where I ended up being, totally by coincidence, in a room where I could hear a speech that Jean Chrétien was giving, you know, not for reporters’ ears. So that made a bit of noise."

Did you end up publishing it?

"Yeah. It was all about the Clarity [Act in 2000], and how he was happy that he had done it and people had said it was going to create a backlash and that didn’t happen, so you know, he was kind of bragging about it. There were some famous quotes saying that the sovereignty movement was like a sick dog. He was very colourful. Other little things like that, for some reason things kind of happen. But I don’t have any stars in my desk about incredible documents people slipped me in brown envelopes, like in the books."

Are you particularly proud of something you’ve reported on?

"I’m particularly proud of the coverage, and have happy memories of the coverage I did on the Middle East trip of Jean Chrétien’s in 2000, mostly because I speak Arabic. I’m Lebanese, so the whole thing, the whole area really interested me. That was quite a trip, because things just kept happening there again. And because of that edge I had, because I could speak to people other reporters couldn’t, because I could actually catch stuff happening that other people wouldn’t get access to. So I was very proud of that, plus I was enjoying myself. On the stop in Lebanon I got to see my family. That was like the ultimate coverage. It was kind of a nightmarish trip for the PMO. It did not go well. He stumbled a lot, it was kind of like one mistake a day. It made a lot of noise in the media here at the end of it. People were complaining about–a Senator wrote a mean letter about me being not a nice reporter."

What’s the biggest issue today in federal politics in Quebec? In Canadian politics?

"Well, the two very timely issues, the thing that everybody’s been talking about is mostly the manufacturing and forestry crisis. It got all of Quebec in a very bad mood last week or two weeks ago. And I think Afghanistan is definitely something on people’s minds, although maybe not so much in the day-to-day obsession of people in Québec. In the past year if you look more closely at Quebec politics, people haven’t been as impassioned with lots of things, because they’re comfortable, their economy is going well–they have their little fights, they had that whole accommodement raisonnable thing that got them totally–their focus was nowhere near Ottawa. At some point, the veiled vote thing got them a bit excited because of that other accommodement raisonnable noise. But maybe now with the economy crisis for these two sectors, if it gets bigger, affects more people. And Canada as a whole, everybody’s talking economy right now. Maybe I’m optimistic, but I have trouble believing that we’re really heading into troubled times. But I’m no expert."

What are some other major news stories you’ve broken?

"The thing is, you keep forgetting them, because when you’re in them they seem to be so huge and then two weeks later, nobody remembers, especially now that the news cycle is just so fast. I don’t know, anything that had to do with Quebec was always big, especially because of the employer I had. So there was the Clarity Bill, when it went to the Supreme Court. Just covering the politics–the whole Martin-Chrétien quarrel, that brought a lot of excitement. Elections of minority governments–all that stuff."

What do you like the most about your job?

"Actually, I like the laughter. I usually enjoy my day. I have a lot of fun with the people I work with. It’s just the general ambiance that I like. I like hanging out with–not with everybody, but with most of the crowd of the press gallery."

What do you find the hardest?

"Getting out of here in time, running out the door at a quarter to 5, because I absolutely, absolutely want to be home before 5:30 p.m. Budgets–I hate budgets. Although I was really good in math at school, when there’s a dollar sign next to the mathematics, for some reason I become dumb. I hate covering budgets. That’s probably my ultimate nightmare. And it comes back once a year!"

How do you find dealing with the Conservative government, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Prime Minister?

"I don’t find it, because I don’t have any dealings with them. They don’t return calls. They hardly return emails. It’s just annoying and frustrating. I just do the job with the information I gather, and if they’re not in the story, well, I can’t do anything about it. Their point of view can’t get in the story if they’re not there. And they haven’t been there."

Are you able to get interviews with Cabinet ministers? Are they accessible?

"If I hang around at caucus, sometimes I catch some of them off guard. I caught Stockwell Day once in an elevator, where it was the first time he acknowledged that there was torture in Afghanistan, and that was just me and him in the elevator. Probably that’s the stuff I’m most proud of. I’m kind of a persistent, annoying reporter. If you ask around, that’s what they’ll say about me. So there’s just nothing else you can do. They’ve been taking back corridors, back doors. Stephen Harper hasn’t even come in the front door to QP for months now. So, I mean, if they’re hiding, what can you do? I try not to get emotional about it, because it’s just a job. But I don’t think it’s the most democratic way of doing things. It doesn’t change much to my life, except that it makes my job a little more frustrating."

When you were dealing with past governments, did you have these kinds of problems or did you find it more accessible?

"No, they were accessible. They weren’t nicer–it’s not about being nice and being chummy with them. It’s about being there, because when you’re elected and the people of Canada pay your salary, you have to answer questions, you have to say what you’re doing. And the only way you can tell people what you’re doing is–sure, you can put up stuff on the internet, on your website, but the only way you can be questioned back in a more critical way is to answer reporters’ questions. And they’re not answering reporters’ questions. I mean, I don’t think my relationship with the Chrétien PMO was ever good. But it’s not about entertaining a good relationship. I’ve had not a good rapport with the Bloc Québécois at some points also because they didn’t like the coverage I was giving them.

"It’s just about being there. So now we’ve been barred from Cabinet for two years. The whole gallery. The way things worked in the old days is that Tuesdays were Cabinet days, so they were on the third floor and reporters would just stand there and try to catch ministers on their way in or on their way out and ministers could stop or not stop and answer questions. And it was the same for the Prime Minister–he would come out or not come out. It was the same at Question Period. Now at Question Period, you’re just asking questions of the opposition, because the ministers never come out, or almost never come out. The opposition [MPs] get all the ice, so I’m sure they’re glad about that. Sure, there are clips that you could pull out of Question Period of the Prime Minister, or of the few ministers who speak French, but you don’t always want to put out the line. As a reporter, your job is to ask the tough questions and to get answers to those. So we get to grill the opposition, once they’ve done their show at QP, but we don’t get the ministers or the Prime Minister."

What do you think of the whole issue of the list and the Prime Minister’s Office having control over the list of questions and reporters?

"The Canadian Press does not go on that list. I wouldn’t go on a list, even if the Canadian Press decided that from now on they’re going on a list. I’m not sure that I would have questions for a list. No, I find that totally wrong. There were several ways that the gallery explored how to deal with it, the biggest problem being that the gallery cannot unite."

What’s the biggest challenge of reporting on the current government?

"Accessibility. Sometimes the silliest stuff that you need, the less controversial things–you used to pick up the phone, call [a] department, and say, ‘I want to know, you just put out some release, and I want to have more information.’ Now you get a phone call back saying, ‘I got your call–what is your deadline?’ It’s now. And then you get the call back–‘Now I know your deadline, what are your questions?’ Well, no. Give me someone to talk to. And then they’ll call back again–‘Can you email me your questions?’ So now, we’ve kind of lost the reflex of picking up the phone and calling to ask the government, what exactly do you mean by this or by that? Because they don’t answer. And that’s definitely challenging. So some stuff just doesn’t get reported, because you can’t get satisfying answers."

What do you think the impact will be of these trends on governments to come?

"When this whole affair started, I can’t remember who but some reporters went around all the opposition leaders and asked, ‘If you get power, will we have access back to Cabinet?’ And they all promised that they would. Now, that was when the whole fight or quarrel began, so will anybody remember what they had promised–I don’t know. I think it’s definitely a slippery slope, and not just with this government but for journalism as a whole. And I think the most annoying thing is not that they’re doing this, but how easily some of us have accepted this new order of things. Some people find in this order of things... they find something good out of this situation because it serves them. Obviously the PMO has chosen some news outlets to feed information to. Governments in the past have always had their corridors of information–you knew some reporters were being fed more easily by the PMO or by opposition parties or whatever. That’s always been the case."

Do you think the CBC was too severe in its punishment on one of its national reporters, Krista Erickson, who fed questions to a Liberal MP? Or is there a fine line between pushing a story with MPs and going too far? What are your thoughts?

"In the past 11 years, I have never given advice to a politician. You know, sometimes you hear their questions in the House or some story gets out and you think, ‘Why don’t you ask them this?’ And I think it’s totally inappropriate for reporters to go and whisper questions in anybody’s ears, or answers in anybody’s ears, because there’s this divide. I really look at the Hill as an us-and-them thing, and I can’t cross that line. I can’t be one of them. I don’t ever want to be one of them. I’m weird that way, I’m not comfortable in social gatherings with politicians–I don’t go to those, whoever sends out the invitation, I don’t go to those. I’ve been once, because I was president of the gallery, to Stornoway. I thought, okay, I had to show up. I just hate the whole thing.

"I find it hypocritical. I don’t want to be friends with them, I don’t want to have drinks with politicians. I’m just not interested. For me, it’s about a job and I know that a lot of reporters establish other kinds of relationships and get stories–I’m just not comfortable with that. It’s just the way I am. I don’t think [the CBC] was too severe."

NDP MP says Tories using private members’ bills to advance government’s crime agenda

2008-01-30T16:45:00.000-05:00

But Tory MP Goodyear disagrees, says Canadians are concerned about crime.

The Hill Times, January 28th, 2008
by Meghan Moloney

Backbench Conservative MPs are using private members’ bills as a tool to further the government’s agenda, especially in this Parliament, says an NDP MP.

"In terms of the present government, there are hundreds of examples of private members’ bills being used for a certain agenda. How many crime bills are on the table right now?" said NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North, Man.), who spoke at the Canadian Study of Parliament Group’s seminar on private members’ business on Jan. 23.

Ms. Wasylycia-Leis said although the government has no "master plan" to push crime bills, the use of exchanges when it comes to private members’ bills occurs often to fast-track certain issues. "I think what happens is like-minded individuals advancing an agenda through private member’s business to accomplish an overall agenda, to make a priority around an issue that is consistent with their own political agenda," she told The Hill Times.

However, she said the bills have an impact when they come together. "I would say that the end result, however it gets there, is an attempt to advance this issue on the political agenda and sort of to create the impression, which may not be founded on fact or in reality, that there’s this exponential growth in crime and in violence in our society that has never happened before, when in fact, everybody doesn’t live in fear and everybody may have concerns but may not want to go to the nth degree that the Conservatives are promoting, which is more criminal offences, more jails, more intervention, and protection measures and less and less on prevention and community enforcement."

Terence Moore, procedural clerk of the Private Members’ Business Office in the House of Commons, discussed the procedure of introducing private members’ business. He explained that MPs’ names are randomly drawn at the beginning of each Parliament to determine the order in which members can take up items for debate. If members are unavailable on their scheduled date in the order of precedence, they can request an exchange with another member. But, he said, if members don’t show up on their exchange date, their names get marked with a dagger and they are no longer allowed to request exchanges, though they may still participate in exchanges with other members. Mr. Moore said there have been 13 exchanges so far in the 39th Parliament, which he described as a lot. "Exchanges can be used to fast-track certain pieces of legislation," he said.

Conservative MP Gary Goodyear (Cambridge, Ont.) disagreed with Ms. Wasylycia-Leis, however, saying Canadians are concerned about crime and with good reason. "There’s a good focus on crime and justice issues because that’s the mandate of the government, the mandate given to us by the people of Canada," said Mr. Goodyear, chair of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. "Ultimately, with all the efforts that we do to give people options to make different choices, at some point in time, once people make the wrong choice and in particular recent violent offenders, it is time to be tough on that stuff and put victims of crime ahead of criminals. And that’s simple."

Mr. Goodyear said that although crime in general in his region of Waterloo is down by "a few percentage points," violent crime in particular is up by about 20 per cent. He added that crack-cocaine, in particular, is an "epidemic in this country" and that the charge made by Liberal MPs that the Conservatives are making a big deal out of crime is "ridiculous."

"We’re not about to continue the coddle-the-criminal trend that we’ve seen in the last decade. We are going to move towards a balance of locating and identifying folks that are coming up to making choices in their life, that are perhaps susceptible at that time level, and try to deal with the causes of crime and preventing crime," Mr. Goodyear said.

The seminar featured speakers Mark Audcent, law clerk and Parliamentary counsel for the Senate; Bill Fleury, director of the Office of Parliamentary Returns at PCO; Ontario Liberal Senator Mac Harb; Ms. Wasylycia-Leis; Mr. Moore; and former Liberal MP Peter Adams.

Mr. Moore said the public is given 48 hours notice when an exchange has been scheduled, adding that an MP would have until 6 p.m. on a Tuesday to request an exchange for the following Thursday. He said so far in the current Parliament, 295 private members’ public bills have been introduced in the House; 11 are on third readings; there has been one private bill introduced; there are 428 motions on the Order Paper, 11 of which have been dealt with; and there are 77 items on the order of precedence.

Mr. Audcent discussed the tools and methods Senators use to introduce private members’ business. He described the process as "the whistle on a kettle—if something is bubbling, it’s a chance for the system to let some air in and for members to point out things that need to be discussed." He also said he prefers the French translation of the phrase: "le sifflet de la bombe."

"It’s a fantastic system," he said. "We probably have the best statute system, it gives us a very high quality of legislative drafting."

In the seminar’s second session, Sen. Harb said most votes in Parliament follow party lines, which is why private member’s bills are important in the Parliamentary process. "You get the odd rebel, but that rebel gets punished. They basically get treated like a bad child," he said, adding that members who do not wish to vote against the government but who wish to effect change, introduce private members’ initiatives.

"I had to either sit and wait for a sunny day to come, or I had to be proactive," he said. "I believe each Member of Parliament who wants to make a difference can."

Ms. Wasylycia-Leis said private members’ business is part of the reason people get into politics in the first place—to make positive improvements. "You can get lost in the game, but we are here to effect change. Private members’ business is a way within that framework to put your own stamp on Parliamentary politics," she said.

The next CSPG seminar will take place on May 21.

Rookie Liberal MP Pearson's Sudan story

2008-01-30T16:43:00.000-05:00

The Hill Times, January 28th, 2008
"When Liberal MP Glen Pearson and his wife Jane Roy took their adopted daughter back to Sudan in 2005 for a visit, they had no idea they'd be taking two more children back to Canada."
By Meghan Moloney

Rookie Liberal MP Glen Pearson is a former firefighter. He's also an internationally-known volunteer. He and his wife Jane Roy have been travelling regularly to Sudan since 1998 to help refugees in Darfur and have adopted three Sudanese orphans. Mr. Pearson (London North Centre, Ont.), 57, retired as a captain from the London Fire Department in 2006 after 29 years as a firefighter. He co-founded the London Food Bank in 1987 and has been its executive director ever since, along with Ms. Roy, the assistant director. They have each served as the head of Ontario's Association of Food Banks. In November 2006, Mr. Pearson was elected to office in a byelection.

But for the past decade, he and Ms. Roy have also been helping people in the war-torn Sudan. Their work to help end government-sanctioned slavery and their involvement in other development projects have kept them coming back to Sudan every January. During the civil war, they returned as many as four times a year. From 1998 to 2000, they worked with southern leaders, including the Sudanese minister of education, and a Switzerland-based NGO, Christian Solidarity International, to purchase people out of slavery through the Slave Redemption Program.

Mr. Pearson and Ms. Roy met with then external affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy in March 1999, announcing they would use funds raised in Canada to free slaves. Canadians and businesses from across the country donated $60,000, allowing them to free 800 slaves when they travelled to Sudan in May 1999 with CBC TV, The London Free Press, and a documentary crew. In 2000, Mr. Pearson said, they branched off and started their own NGO, Canadian Aid for Southern Sudan, which later established the New Sudan YMCA/YWCA in August 2002.

After bringing Mr. Pearson's predecessor, then-Liberal MP Joe Fontana (London North Centre, Ont.) with them to Sudan in April 2001, all three met with U.S. Senators and Congressional workers in Washington, D.C., to design a Canadian-American aid initiative.

Mr. Pearson and Ms. Roy met with then prime minister Paul Martin in 2004. CIDA gave them money to build schools and to start programs for women's literacy and recreation. Since 2005, they have helped build eight schools in the eastern region of Aweil, between the oil fields and Darfur. They have also helped the YWCA set up women's micro-enterprises by purchasing sewing machines and training girls to use them, so they can make some income in the markets and leave time to attend school. It was through their work in Sudan that they first heard the story of Abuk. In 2000, Christian Solidarity International mistakenly sent Mr. Pearson a newsletter written in French. On the front page was a picture of a four-month-old Sudanese girl, sick, and crying. The story described how her mother, who had been enslaved along with her children, had been killed while the family was trying to escape from Darfur.

Abuk, her twin sister, and their older brother had been travelling with their mother and grandmother when they were attacked by militia groups, Mr. Pearson told The Hill Times in an interview. "The mother got shot in the middle of a minefield, and she was holding on to Abuk, and the grandmother and the other two children escaped." They were later caught and taken back to Darfur.

Abuk was found by members of her community and taken care of. But when Mr. Pearson first heard about her, none of the people taking care of her knew that her relatives were still alive. "It was assumed by the grandmother and the other two kids that Abuk had been killed with the mother, and it was assumed by the community that had helped Abuk that the grandmother and the other two kids had been killed," he said. "So neither side knew that the other one existed." Mr. Pearson and Ms. Roy had already talked about adopting a Sudanese child. "It's hard–you see these people and your heart goes out to them," he said. "They lost three million people over 20 years and five million of them were displaced."

Mr. Pearson said that seeing local children and their desperate situations had led him and his wife to commit to going back to southern Sudan every year for the rest of their lives to raise money for relief projects, but they still felt they should do more.

"There were just so many children that were in such desperate shape that we thought, at some time we should [adopt a child]," he said. "But our hearts just went out to this particular little girl when we heard about her story. But we had no idea at that particular time that there had been a brother and a sister."

After deciding to adopt Abuk, it took Mr. Pearson and Ms. Roy a year to find her, since the Darfur refugees moved around constantly. When they finally met her, she was very sick. "She was like 12 pounds at a year of age. It was not good," he said. "We took her to the doctor. The doctor said, 'She will not survive,' because she had malaria [and] double pneumonia." They took Abuk to a United Nations hospital in Nairobi, believing she was going to die–but she ended up thriving. Three months later, when Abuk was 15 months old, they took her home to London, Ontario.

"Abuk is wonderful," Mr. Pearson said. Now seven years old, Abuk is no longer quiet and shy and is "more like a typical Canadian kid" who laughs, runs around, and loves to play sports and do gymnastics, he said.

"I think one of the things she loves to do the most is wrestle. She and I wrestle every day, probably 15 times a day."

Mr. Pearson said having Abuk in their family has helped to reaffirm his and Ms. Roy's commitment to Sudan and has kept them focused on important issues. "She's such a wonderful child, and a really peaceful kid, that we've always seen in Abuk the ability for what Sudan could be, if the people could just find peace." He also said that adopting Abuk meant so much to the people in her home village that it opened up communications with aid workers.

"We had been there building schools, but something happens when you adopt someone," he said. "The villagers there realized that Canadians were making a permanent commitment to one of their own people, and it just opened up the doors there for us to be able to get other projects done."

In January 2005, Mr. Pearson and Ms. Roy took Abuk back to her home village in southern Sudan for a visit. A peace agreement had just been signed between the North and the South, and Abuk's family and friends were finally able to leave Darfur, where they had been living as refugees, to return to their home. "Just as we arrived, as we were getting off the plane, a little girl was standing there who looked identical to Abuk," said Mr. Pearson. "And that was when we started to realize that these kids [her siblings] maybe survived." Abuk's grandmother was there with the other children. "As soon as she saw Abuk come off the plane, she just fell to the ground and started crying and crying, because she knew from looking at Abuk that she was an identical twin to the other little girl, so she knew that Abuk had survived. And that was the first that she knew that that had happened. It was a very emotional moment." When asked whether the children's grandmother objected to Abuk's siblings being adopted as well, Mr. Pearson said she asked him and his wife to take them home to give them a better life.

He admits that the decision was very difficult. He and his wife spent a day talking about their options. "We had planned what we wanted to do for our future–now all of a sudden we found out we could maybe have two more kids," he said. But in the end, it came down to their commitment to Abuk. "We realized we were never going to be able to face Abuk and say, 'Look, we knew that you had a brother and sister but we never tried to adopt them.'" It took two and a half years of red tape, medical treatment, and waiting, but Achan and Ater came to Canada at the end of August last year. Like Abuk, Achan, and Ater have had malaria and are still susceptible to recurring bouts of illness. Mr. Pearson, who has had malaria his "whole adult life," said the disease is "just part of life in Darfur." Recently, he has served as an ambassador for the Spread the Net Campaign, an organization founded by MP Belinda Stronach and comedian Rick Mercer in 2006 to raise money to buy bed nets, which prevent the spread of malaria from mosquito bites. Mr. Pearson told CBC in April that malaria "can be beat, and has been beat in our family's case," but that treatment is much easier to obtain in Canada than it is in Africa. Achan, 7, and Ater, 10, have gone through changes similar to what Abuk went through after arriving in Canada, said Mr. Pearson. Much like her twin, Achan was "very quiet and withdrawn," and Ater was "very serious all the time." Ater had to bring up his sister after their family was split up in the attack, Mr. Pearson said. "He's a very mature 10. He's kind of like 20. But now that they're here, and we're taking care of the sister, he's reverting. I think he's becoming a kid, and I love to see that." He said Abuk has done a good job at making her siblings feel at home in London. "They're monsters, all three of them. They jump all over me. It's a wonderful thing to see. It's brought these kids out of themselves." Mr. Pearson has taken the children to Ottawa several times and said MPs of all political parties were great to the kids. He said it's important for people to meet Sudanese kids to understand the issues being discussed. "I think for all of us, all of us as politicians, we need those kind of personal stories so that we keep focused on Africa and keep focused on Sudan."

Since being elected in November 2006, Mr. Pearson has made Darfur a priority in many of his House speeches. His obvious passion for the refugees' situation must have made an impact: when he was in Sudan in early January, he discovered that the Canadian government had told local leaders that they may contribute $3-million in aid by March. "I asked for six million and they're going to give three," he said. "I've been up there in the House of Commons, speaking all the time, saying 'Do something, do something,' and I think to a certain degree, they were listening to what I was saying, and were trying to find a way to give an answer to it. So I appreciate that."

Mr. Pearson said he has been working with retired general and Quebec Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire, Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.) and Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff to "develop a broader capacity around Darfur and Sudan." As well as Abuk, Achan, and Ater, Mr. Pearson also has four older children. "I've got seven children and one grandchild," he said, laughing. "And I'm 57. But it's made for a pretty interesting life this last year." While in Sudan this month, Mr. Pearson said he and his wife saw the children's grandmother. They have been supporting her financially since the adoption, but he said she has heart disease and is struggling. "She's just thankful that somebody took these kids off of her hands before her health continues to deteriorate farther," he said. "I think if their mother could see them from wherever she's at, and see what has happened to them, she would just be overcome with joy about her family."

Being patient...

2008-01-30T07:33:00.000-05:00

But it's so hard! I can't wait to see this week's issue. It's being mailed to me, since I'm back at school as of Monday. But I have three articles in this week, so I'm pretty psyched to see it.

I may be able to post the articles earlier if I can figure out the university's online subscription... but we'll see!

In the meantime, I've got a ton of assignments and freelancing articles coming up so I'll still be posting everything here. Also, my print specialization class will be producing an online newspaper ("The Online Reporter"--how original! Thankfully, our prof finally decided that the name is redundant, and has changed it to simply "The Reporter". Better?) So I'll be linking to that site from time to time.

Oh the excitement!!

Meghan in syndication?

2008-01-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

A bizarre but cool thing happened today: the Halifax Daily News read my story about the Cape Breton MPs (see yesterday's post) and wants to print it. They're going to pay me $75 for it. This will be the first time I've ever been paid for my writing, since my only experiences being published have been as a volunteer or intern.

If landing a spot at The Hill Times was my "first small step for woman," I guess this is the second!

Q&A with Patrice Roy on the Afghan mission

2008-01-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

THE HILL TIMES
Monday, January 21, 2008

THE HOT ROOM - pg. 45
"Roy wonders: is Afghanistan mission worth it?
Radio-Canada TV's Patrice Roy, who survived a landmine explosion last August, says he doesn't think anybody knows if the mission in Afghanistan is worth it, even the generals who will be sent there on rotation."
By Meghan Moloney

Radio-Canada TV's Ottawa bureau chief Patrice Roy, 44, who survived a landmine explosion in Afghanistan last August while covering the war, says he's a stronger man because of it, but wonders if the war is worth it today. As bureau chief, Mr. Roy says he wanted to report on the war in Afghanistan first-hand.

On Aug. 22, when Mr. Roy and his cameraman Charles Dubois were embedded with the B Company of the Van Doos regiment from Valcartier, Que., two of the Canadian soldiers who were accompanying them were killed when their tank hit a landmine. Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier and Master Corporal Christian Duchesne both died when they tried to reclaim a hill in Zari province, 40 kilometres west of Kandahar.

Mr. Roy captured the events that day in his documentary which later aired on CBC's The National and Le Téléjournal. The powerful documentary was presented as a narrative.

Mr. Roy, wearing a helmet, flak jacket, goggles, and protective gloves, throughout his report talked to soldiers as they repeatedly stopped the tank to check for landmines. There's some banter and humour between the soldiers and Mr. Roy. The documentary is 14 minutes long, but it captures the tediousness of battle too. By noon the tanks were under fire. “This is no training exercise--this is the real thing,” one soldier tells Mr. Roy in the documentary.

By six o’clock, the soldiers were 200 metres from their goal, but didn’t know whether there were IEDs--improvised explosive devices--in the area, so they moved slowly up the hill. Mr. Roy was writing his description of the battle in a notebook just as they reached the top. “Suddenly, with a bang, everything went black,” he said in a voiceover. “Our vehicle had backed over a mine, buried in the thick dust on the hillside.”

The soldiers previously joking in the report were killed, along with the Canadian Forces' Afghan interpreter. Mr. Dubois’ right leg was later amputated below the knee. The camera was destroyed, but the footage remained intact.

Mr. Roy spoke to The Hill Times last week about the experience and how it's changed him.

How does war reporting compare to daily reporting on federal politics?
"It’s more dangerous, obviously. It’s another ball game completely. It’s very, very different in the sense that the goal is not the same. When you are in Afghanistan, at least my goal was to explain to our viewers the complexity of the mission, and to go beyond some cliché about the Taliban on one side and the soldiers on the other. So it was a macro, a big operation, and we wanted to do a documentary plus some news items. So it was quite different from my day-to-day work here in Ottawa, which is to follow the puck and the politics.”

What happened to your documentary project?
"Our goal was to do a one-hour documentary on Afghanistan for Radio-Canada television, and to do a series of items for the most important newscast, Le Téléjournal, and for the radio, et cetera. Because of the accident, I was forced to of course come back with Charles and the project was completely dropped. But I did a 14-minute piece for Le Téléjournal and The National on that famous day. I chose to use only the footage of August 22, real footage of the operation. So I explained the day from A to Z, from the morning to the explosion."

Was that a more emotional experience for you to make that documentary?
"Of course. At first, I had difficulty watching to screen the pictures, because it was like reliving the incident again and again. But I think it was good, at the end, like a way to put—not a final period, but to close something, a chapter."

What feedback did you get from that piece that you made?
"I have to say that since the explosion, I got so much feedback, so many emails, so many beautiful notes from reporters, a lot of reporters that I don’t even know from all over Canada. I got some notes from Europe. I got some notes from people who were caring about us, Charles and I. I was shocked by this wave of sympathy. And after the airing of the piece, it was a little bit the same kind of reaction. People were saying basically, Wow, what an experience, I hope that you will be fine, that Charles will recover okay. So it was very touching for us to see that our work is important for a lot of people. And not only press people, I mean, most emails came from ordinary viewers who got to know me over the years and were touched. I have a blog on Radio-Canada.ca and it was a very useful instrument for that communication between the viewers and me."

Has the experience changed you as a reporter?
"I don’t know, I don’t think so, as a reporter. As a man, certainly, I’m more strong, I’m more aware that we are going to die one day, the mortality of our essence. I’m more sensitive to our human condition, if I may say. It makes you stronger when you live [through] something like that. But as a reporter I think I’m the same. I have the same flaws and the same qualities."

Are you more afraid now to report from war zones? Will you go back to Afghanistan?
"To Afghanistan, I don’t think so. Not in 2008, for sure. Honestly, not because of me, but because of my family—to ask them to live in the waiting and the fear that something could happen to me again, it’s too much to ask. If I was alone, I think I’m crazy enough to go back, but again, it’s so improbable. That was not supposed to happen to us, and it did happen. By the way, for me, one of the most important things of this whole story is to see the courage of other reporters who, after what happened to us, decided to still go out—[Christie] Blatchford from The Globe [and Mail], reporters from CP, from Presse Canadienne, from TVA in Québec, from La Presse—the courage of those persons who saw us, who saw the event, who saw me after, who saw Charles, it’s striking for me. It tells you a lot of the importance of a free press and the importance of our work."

Had there been other moments in your career that prepared you for this experience?
"Nothing prepares you for that. CBC sent me to a training week in first aid and to be able to have some reflex in a war zone. Maybe it did help, I don’t know, but nothing prepares you to see bodies around you and blood and explosions and the fear that other mines would be there—it’s like a nightmare and you have to live it. I think you are stronger in the hour than you think you would be. But I did travel a lot, as I said, I started my career with three months filming a documentary around some tough places—I went to Africa, I went to Haiti, but it’s not the same. I’ve been caught in the middle of riots in Italy for the G8[summit], those types of stressful events, but nothing like a tank exploding."

Do you think journalists who experience trauma in the field should be required to undergo therapy?
"I don’t know. I got a lot of offers from CBC and even from the Forces. I think it’s each person—you have to be confident that if somebody needs help, he or she will ask for it. For me, I talked to a lot of people but I didn’t feel the need to get real therapy. Again, I was very lucky. The guy who suffered was Charles, my cameraman, who got [his leg] amputated. He’s the one who will live the rest of his life with real consequences."

The media has reported that you were in shock after the incident.
"I think it’s an automatisme to say that, I read that too. Of course, I must have been in shock but I was very conscious. Actually, I did an interview the day after—a couple of hours after, in fact, and I was calmer then, right after, than a week after. It’s serious, and I talked a lot about that episode, and I’m not taking it lightly, but for me I didn’t see the need to treat post-traumatic syndrome. I don’t think I suffered from that."

Have you become more or less critical of public officials involved in making decisions about Canada’s commitment in Afghanistan, since seeing it first-hand?
"I’m not more or less critical, I mean, I think I understand a little bit more than others who never went to Afghanistan. I think you have to go there to be able to understand. I read before my departure, I read everything on the mission and a lot of documents. But it’s not the same thing to be there and to feel it on the ground. There’s no other way to do it. But because we blew [up] under a mine doesn’t mean that I’ve become an expert on Afghanistan. I’m a Canadian reporter. I’m following the political scene here. But I thought that it was one of the most important files here in Ottawa, so it was important as a bureau chief to understand the mission."

At the end of your documentary, you said that the operation you witnessed was a success, but you’re not sure the mission as it stands will honour the soldier’s sacrifice.
"It was more like a question. I’m still at the same point, actually. The real question is, we know that it’s a very dangerous mission, we know that the international community had to go there, that’s a fact for a lot of people and that’s a consensus. But right now, witnessing all the incidents and all the difficulties that we face in the south, it’s a question that we can raise—is it worth it? At the end of the mission, will the Afghan people in the south be living differently than now? And nobody has the answer to that question. Time will tell, but at the end of the report, I wanted to underline that it’s not clear if Canada will succeed in a way that people think we should succeed."

So if someone asked you to predict now, based on what you’ve seen from your own coverage, would you say that it’s going to be worth it?
"I don’t know. That’s why I finished my item with a question. It’s the honest answer, I really don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows, to be frank—even generals who will be sent there for the other rotation. It will depend on so many things—on the frontier with Pakistan, on the way the Afghan president is dealing with the pressure. Honestly, I hope those guys [in the army] are not there for nothing, and that’s a personal view. After seeing what they’ve accomplished there, it’s real, real hard work for them. But honestly, I don’t know. The south of the country is so unpredictable, and so it’s a difficult place to predict anything. But we’ll see—it’s too early to tell. But that’s why, on the other hand, I think it’s kind of normal that Canada wants to stay a bit longer. Because quitting now, leaving now, would be in a way a failure of the mission—in a way. That’s the consensus. But as I said to you, I’m not an expert on Afghanistan. I’m a reporter. So it’s not for me to tell if we’re going to succeed or not. It’s a question that people will have to answer."

MPs who live together

2008-01-21T16:16:00.000-05:00

So it's my last week as an intern. It's gone by fast but at the same time, it feels like I've been here for awhile. I'll be back at school next week, but The Hill Times will still be publishing a few of my stories in the next couple of weeks, so I'll keep posting them whenever I receive it in the mail!

********
THE HILL TIMES
Monday, January 21, 2008

FEATURE - pg. 16
"Roommates Eyking, Cuzner getting the 'seven-year itch'"
By Meghan Moloney

Liberal MP Mark Eyking says he and his roommate Grit MP Rodger Cuzner have the "seven-year itch."

Like a number of MPs, the two Cape Bretoners have shared an Ottawa apartment since January 2001, after they were both first elected to Parliament in November 2000. They're good friends, but it's never easy having a roommate. Everyone has their differences, even two Grit Nova Scotian MPs who like to kid around, believe it or not.

"We always seem to be on different sides of the fence," Mr. Eyking (Sydney-Victoria, N.S.) told The Hill Times last week. Mr. Cuzner's (Cape Breton-Canso, N.S.) "a Protestant, I'm a Catholic, he's a Toronto Maple Leaf, I'm a Montreal Canadien, he was a Chretien supporter, I was a Paul Martin supporter, it just keeps going. He was an Ignatieff supporter and I was a Dion supporter. But the overall thing is we have the Cape Breton flag--that's the main flag in the apartment."

They decided to live together after meeting on the campaign trail and realizing they didn't know anyone else in Ottawa, Mr. Eyking said. They also wanted to save money, although MPs receive a housing allowance.

Mr. Eyking and Mr. Cuzner share a two-bedroom apartment in The Juliana at Bronson Avenue and Albert Street, a building close to Parliament Hill where several other MPs live, including Liberal MP Geoff Regan (Halifax West, N.S.) and Conservative MP Carol Skelton (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Sask.). The apartment does double duty as a living space as well as the Cape Breton "embassy," they say, providing visitors from Cape Breton with a place to stay.

"They all know it's a welcome, open house, whether they're coming up for hockey games or courses or just visiting," said Mr. Eyking. "We Cape Bretoners stick together."

Mr. Cuzner agreed, saying it's "the Cape Breton way" to help others whenever possible. But he admits the guests can get noisy, describing one occasion three years ago when he hosted 12 people who were in town for the Gatineau International Midget Hockey Tournament. "Our neighbours still aren't speaking to us about that one."

Mr. Eyking, 47, is his party's critic for small business and tourism. He's married with four children. He and his wife, Pam, ran a vegetable farm as part of Eyking farms in Millville, N.S., and he has been an active member of community and agricultural councils.

Mr. Cuzner, 52, has been a sports columnist, a radio commentator, and an event coordinator for the Cape Breton Department of Recreation, Culture and Facilities and for the City of Fort McMurray, Alta. He and his wife Lynn have three sons.

On the whole, both say they are good tenants and are learning to do domestic tasks in Ottawa. But they don't spend as much time in the apartment as they anticipated. "I remember the first time we moved in, we got all these groceries. We figured we'd be home at 5:30 every night and cook together and all this stuff. Well, that ended after the first week, with votes at night and things like that," said Mr. Eyking.

"When you're away from the apartment for periods of time, it doesn't really make sense to put a whole lot in the cupboards or in the fridge," Mr. Cuzner said. "We did that initially and you'd come back and it would be like a science experiment in your fridge."

Other domestic tasks have caused them more trouble. Mr. Eyking said they nag each other "like in any marriage." Bathroom etiquette is a serious issue. "He leaves his towel on the floor all the time, and he says I don't refill the toilet paper holder," Mr. Eyking said of Mr. Cuzner.

Mr. Cuzner, on the other hand, said that putting the top back on the toothpaste tube has never come naturally to Mr. Eyking. "He's very, very fortunate to have such a tolerant roommate," said Mr. Cuzner. "I'm sure that his wife Pam will have a spot in Heaven for looking after him all these years." When asked what in their relationship has changed over the years, Mr. Cuzner responded: "He's got far less hair to comb in the morning, so that's been significant."

It all comes as good-natured teasing. Mr. Cuzner said Mr. Eyking is hairy, for instance. "It's a little tough when he's brushing his teeth and leaves the door open, and it looks like he left his sweater on. He's a bit of a Chia Pet. So I remind him to take his sweater off," Mr. Cuzner said, taking a friendly jab at his roommate. "We're great friends, and that's only improved over the number of years that we've lived together."

The two have provided each other with much-needed support in the world of public office and partisan politics. Mr. Eyking said he has appreciated Mr. Cuzner as a roommate.

"Ottawa was a big change for me, in lifestyle and things like that, and it would have been very difficult for me without having Rodger as a roommate to get through it," Mr. Eyking said. "When I had problems, whether it's personal problems or problems as an MP, he was always there for me, and he always gave me an ear no matter what time of the day. There's a few things we joke about, but I couldn't have a better roommate."

Being away from their families in Ottawa, it's important to have a roommate to unwind with, Mr. Cuzner pointed out.

"Mark came to Ottawa wanting to help anybody that came to him with a problem," Mr. Cuzner said. "By the end of March, the first year, he was starting to realize that there were some problems that just couldn't be fixed. And I came home one night and he was really beside himself. So we hadn't been on the [Rideau] Canal before, and I said, 'Grab your skates--we're going for a blast.' So we went up and we skated up to the end of the canal and back, about three hours, and [he] just had a chance to clear his head. So that's sometimes how roommates sort of help each other out, I guess."

Even though they don't spend many waking hours at the apartment together, Mr. Cuzner said he enjoys having someone to talk to about his day, to get different perspectives or to complain about various issues. "We're not like-minded on everything, but the main thing is we have a lot of respect for each other and we do enjoy each other's time," he said.

In the building next door to the Juliana lives another pair of MPs who call themselves the "odd couple"--Conservatives Larry Miller (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, Ont.) and James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Man.). They have lived together on and off since being elected and are now on their second apartment, Mr. Bezan told The Hill Times last week.

He said he has a good relationship with Mr. Miller. "We're the odd couple--he's Oscar and I'm Felix," said Mr. Bezan. "It works pretty good for us. It helps offset the cost of living in Ottawa. If one of us is away, the other one can bring our family to visit. It's good to have it that way."

Mr. Bezan said he does more cleaning than Mr. Miller, but Mr. Miller does more cooking. They both try to exercise frequently. "The building we live in has a good gym downstairs, so we've both been trying to lose some of the damn weight we've put on."

Other Parliamentary roommates include Conservatives Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Alta.) and James Rajotte (Edmonton-Leduc, Alta.). Mr. Kenney previously lived with Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (Okanagan-Coquilhalla, B.C.). NDP MP Tony Martin (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) used to live with fellow New Democrat Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.), and Mr. Martin now rooms with Dennis Bevington (Western Arctic, N.W.T.).

Another pair of Conservative MPs, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl (Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, B.C.) and Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg (Medicine Hat, Alta.), are high-profile roommates who have both blogged about living together. Like Mr. Cuzner and Mr. Eyking, they tease each other about the cleanliness of their apartment--or lack thereof.

Mr. Strahl once wrote that he had spoken on the phone with Mr. Solberg, who was washing the cereal bowl Mr. Strahl had left in the kitchen. "He had chiseled out the caked-on Cheerios, and was now soaking the bowl in industrial strength lye to get off the general scunge," he wrote. "Of course, what Monte doesn't talk about is the permanent high water mark in his bathtub ... The ring-around-the cholera in his tub has been there so long that Monte's wife Deb is threatening to ask the workers on Lyon Street to bring in their jackhammers for some general bathroom cleanup. And Monte worries about a calcified cheerio!?!"

But Mr. Cuzner said the relationship between Mr. Strahl and Mr. Solberg is likely as friendly as his own and Mr. Eyking's. "I know both of them, they both love to laugh, they're both capable Members of Parliament, but they both have a sense of humour and they're both pretty grounded guys," he told The Hill Times. But he said he and Mr. Eyking make "a much more attractive couple."

Dion's leadership would be beefed up by byelection wins: Prof. Docherty

2008-01-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

THE HILL TIMES - Monday, Jan. 14, 2008
Politics, pg. 15
By Meghan Moloney

Stephane Dion’s position as leader of the Liberal Party could be reinforced if his party regains all four vacant seats in the byelections scheduled for March, but he would need to clearly redefine his party’s mandate to win back public support, says David Docherty, associate professor of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Prof. Docherty said in an interview that four byelection wins would probably not be a vindication of Mr. Dion’s leadership, but it would reduce the criticism being leveled against him.

“It certainly stops some of the critics in their tracks, in the sense that, if he were to lose two of [the seats], it would give his critics in the party all the ammunition they need to say, Hold on a second,” Mr. Docherty said. “If he wins all four, it’ll keep them quiet, I would think, until the next election.”

Prof. Docherty added that a win of four seats with candidates such as former leadership candidates Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay would also send party workers into the next election on a high note, which he says is important. “That helps solidify leader support as much as anything, whether it’s the leader that carries them to victory or not.”

But a strong showing in the byelections would not fix all of Mr. Dion’s problems. He would still face a lack of unity within his own party.

Ned Franks, professor emeritus of political science at Queen’s University, told The Hill Times last week that Dion’s leadership would only be solidified if it was also qualified by a clear assertion of what the party stands for—-a definition the Liberals are currently lacking. Prof. Docherty agreed with Prof. Franks, adding that Mr. Dion needs to give Canadians a clear alternative to the Conservatives’ policies.

“Part of the problem is when [the Liberals] continually abstain and punt on government motions, no one knows what they stand for,” Prof. Docherty said. “[Mr. Dion] has to be able to give Canadians a different vision than what Harper is showing right now, on a whole host of fronts, whether it’s Afghanistan, whether it’s the environment, whether it’s how to deal with cities, whether it’s the nuclear reactor issue, all those kinds of things."

Highlight of the afternoon:

2008-01-11T14:21:00.001-05:00

Talking to two MPs who share an apartment in Ottawa to save money, and hearing one MP refer to his roommate as a Chia pet, because while he's standing in the bathroom brushing his teeth, he looks like he's wearing a sweater... but he's not.

Highlight of the morning:

2008-01-11T11:34:00.000-05:00

Calling the office of an MP to ask for an interview for Fashion File, a Q&A column that talks to parliamentarians about their fashion and style... and hearing his administrative assistant howl with laughter.

Apparently, clarification is needed.

2008-01-10T10:51:00.001-05:00

When I started this blog, I stated pretty clearly in my first posts that this is a space for me to post the stories I write--either for class assignments or for "real" published newspapers. Needless to say, I was kind of surprised when some "anonymous" reader posted a comment today on a post from November, saying that the story posted was actually from the Hamilton Spectator.

I guess if people are randomly stumbling upon these posts after doing a Google search, they may not have read my original post, stating what this blog is. It surprises me that people other than my classmates, friends and family are actually reading this blog. But since that is the case, I will repeat what I wrote in my very first post:

Everything that is posted on this blog was written by me. Some of the articles have been published elsewhere, in the London Free Press or the Hill Times, but they were all written by me. There is NOTHING on this site that I took from a newspaper and posted as my own.

The post that caused this "anonymous" person to comment was originally written for a class assignment. We were learning how to do police reporting, and a Hamilton Police representative came to our class to discuss that. Our assignment for the day was to take a press release from the Hamilton Police and write a corresponding article as if the incident had just happened. The press release was real; the story was real, but it had actually happened earlier.

If there was any confusion caused by the fact that I didn't clarify the "real" date of this article, I apologize. But I admit I'm insulted that whoever posted that comment said this article came from the Hamilton Spectator.

No, wait--actually, I take it as a compliment. Why? Because it means my story was good enough to have been published in the Spec. The reason all the facts are so familiar to this reader is that we were working with the same press release that was given to the Spec reporters. But if Ms. or Mr. Anonymous had gotten his or her own facts straight and read the real Spec article, he or she would have seen that the wording is different.

First week published in the Hill Times!

2008-01-07T12:28:00.000-05:00

Hello, friends!

For those of you who have been waiting, breath held, fists clenched, for my glamorous debut as a parliamentary journalist... it is here! It is now! It is... not online. Hmmph. I have a bit of a problem with the fact that I can't even read my own articles on the Hill Times website, since I'm not a subscriber. (aka, am poor.) So I'm taking the time to post my stories here!

THE HILL TIMES, Monday, January 7, 2008
Politics section, page 5

"CBC still investigating allegations reporter fed questions to Grit MP"
The CBC is still investigating an allegation that one of its national reporters on Parliament Hill fed questions to Quebec Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez last month when he questioned former prime minister Brian Mulroney at the House Ethics Committee.

Jeff Keay, head of media relations for the CBC, declined to discuss any time limits on the investigation or any decisions reached thus far, in an interview last week with The Hill Times. Mr. Keay declined to release the name of the reporter who allegedly wrote the questions, saying he isn't sure when CBC would be willing to do so. "That's going to depend on the results of the investigation," he said.

Mr. Keay said he was unable to characterize what type of discipline the reporter could face, if any. But, he added, anything that happens would be consistent with the terms of the CBC's collective agreement, as set out by the Canadian Media Guild.

The story broke last month when former Liberal MP and current TVA personality Jean Lapierre declared to Mike Duffy on his show CTV's Mike Duffy Live, that an "influential Member of Parliament" told him that the CBC wrote the questions that Mr. Rodriguez asked Mr. Mulroney.

Although Liberal researcher Jay Ephard later told Mr. Duffy the questions were suggested--not written--by the CBC, the Conservatives filed a formal complaint to CBC ombudsman Vince Carlin. "Regardless of who wrote the questions the fact that our national public broadcaster was actively cooperating with a political party in an attempt to embarrass the government raises serious questions about the impartiality of Canada's publicly funded national broadcaster," wrote Doug Finley, director of political operations for the Conservative Party.

The public broadcaster told The Canadian Press that it may take disciplinary action against the reporter for using methods that were "inconsistent" with the CBC's "journalistic policies and practices."

The investigation centres on a list of questions regarding Mr. Mulroney's involvement with the current government's decision to open up the wireless spectrum for auction to new players. Mr. Rodriguez uncharacteristically asked Mr. Mulroney the questions in English instead of in French. He denies getting the questions from the CBC reporter, however, saying he wrote them himself with the help of the Liberal research bureau. "[I was] inspired by the questions in the House of Commons, inspired by the fact that [former Industry Minister Maxime] Bernier never wants to answer questions on this," he told The Hill Times before the House recessed in December.

Reports from The Canadian Press said the Liberals have argued the reporter did nothing wrong and that MPs are regularly "bombarded" with suggestions for questions without investigations taking place. Mr. Keay said that in this case, the CBC "thought that the technique or the methodology was inappropriate under the circumstances," even though they also "thought that the reporter was in pursuit of a journalistically legitimate story."

Following media reports announcing the investigation, Mr. Finley, also the Conservative Party campaign director, sent out a fundraising letter to supporters in which he reiterated the recent allegations of collusion between the Liberals and the CBC prove the Conservatives are at a financial disadvantage, pointing out that the CBC received $1.1-billion in public funding last year. The Canadian Press reported on Dec. 24 that Mr. Finley asked for $100 or $200 to help fight an election. "The Liberals have long benefited from the support of the country's most powerful vested interests," he wrote. "And the NDP has always been backed by the country's loudest vocal interests."

In response to Mr. Finley's letter, CBC producer John Cruickshank posted an open letter to Mr. Finley on the CBC News editors' blog on Dec. 28. Mr. Cruickshank accused Mr. Finley of "inaccuracy, innuendo, exaggeration and expressed malice," and lamented the fact that he continued to denigrate the integrity of the CBC even after the disciplinary investigation was put into action. "We accept that you are not the only, or even the first, Canadian political party to use CBC News as a whipping boy for fundraising purposes. The Liberal party accused us of bias on several occasions when it fit their agenda," he wrote, also pointing out that it was the Progressive Conservative government of R.B. Bennett in the 1930s that created the CBC.

Mr. Cruickshank also stated that while the CBC is not infallible, it is accountable for its actions. "When there are errors of judgment, or misunderstandings or improper interpretation of the journalistic standards and practices, we investigate," he wrote. "When we discover shortcomings, we change our standards and practices."

******
News section, page 17
"Rae says PM is hoping general election will be held before four March 17 byelections"

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement last month to hold four byelections in three provinces in March is now being slammed by some critics who say the Prime Minister hopes a general election will happen before the byelections.

Ned Franks, a professor emeritus of political science at Queen's University, said Prime Minister Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) likely hoped that a general election would be called before the March 17 byelections in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia when he made the decision last month.

"I think he set the first three byelections for places where he thought would be advantageous to his party and deferred these [four] in the hopes that there'd be a general election that would intervene, and in the meantime they wouldn't have to go through a byelection that would produce a stronger Liberal Party," Prof. Franks said from Kingston on Thursday, referring to the three Quebec byelections held in September where the Liberals were shut out, the NDP won one seat and the Conservatives won one seat. "He ran into a period where byelections simply had to be called."

The ridings of Toronto Centre and Willowdale in Ontario, Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River in Saskatchewan, and Vancouver Quadra in British Columbia had been held by Liberal MPs since the 2006 federal election.

All four Liberal MPs resigned or retired in 2007, leaving their ridings vacant. Toronto Centre MP Bill Graham resigned on July 2, followed by his Willowdale counterpart Jim Peterson on July 12. Stephen Owen left his Vancouver Quadra riding on July 27 to become VP of external and community relations at UBC. Churchill River MP Gary Merasty officially resigned on Sept. 4 to work as a VP of Cameco Corp.

Mr. Harper had six months from the date of the resignations, or until Dec. 30, to set the date for the byelections, which are scheduled for March 17. He announced the byelections on Dec. 21.

Most speculate the Liberals will win the Ontario and B.C. ridings, but could lose the Saskatchewan riding to the Conservatives.

Liberal candidate Bob Rae is running in Toronto Centre. In a statement on his website, Mr. Rae criticized Mr. Harper's decision to wait until Dec. 21 to announce the byelections. "He's delayed calling byelections for the full six months, and put them off by another three," he wrote. "But there's no point complaining--the elections will happen when they happen, and people will make up their minds and make their decisions."

The Conservatives have also been criticized over their decision to drop their original Toronto Centre candidate, Mark Warner, after an internal party disagreement. According to media reports in November when the story broke, the party said Mr. Warner was disqualified because of complaints from the riding association. But Mr. Warner said the party dumped him because he wanted to play up urban and social issues in his campaign that were at odds with the national Conservative campaign strategy. Mr. Warner said the party disapproved of his public discussion of education, housing, and HIV/AIDS.

"Frankly, I felt there was a lot of micromanagement ... and I don't think it was legitimate," said Mr. Warner in a CBC News article.

Don Plett, the Conservative Party president, told The Toronto Star on Nov. 1 that the party's decision to oust Mr. Warner was a private matter but didn't argue with Mr. Warner's characterization of the dispute. "There are certain things that we expect all of our candidates to do in a national campaign. You're telling me Mr. Warner has admitted himself that he wasn't prepared to go along with that, then I think he's answered his own question."

David Docherty, associate professor of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University, said dropping Mr. Warner won't play well with progressive, urban voters. "Doing this to someone who clearly was on the more progressive end of the party, in terms of his interest in social policy, I think it speaks to a couple things," Prof. Docherty said in an interview with The Hill Times last week. "The Conservative Party under Stephen Harper is very different from both the Progressive Conservative Party and the old Reform Party, where people were encouraged to represent the views of their constituents. So what kind of party is this? That's the message that's probably out in Toronto Centre right now, one that Bob Rae can quite easily exploit."

The new Conservative Party candidate in Toronto Centre is Don Meredith, a Pentecostal minister who co-founded and chairs the GTA Faith Alliance, an organization that works to wipe out youth violence in Toronto and improve relations between the black community and police. In an interview with The Hill Times on Thursday, Mr. Meredith said it was a good time for Mr. Harper to announce the byelections because it will allow the candidates enough time to prepare their campaigns.

"I think it's just about getting everybody prepared for the eventuality that there is a full-blown election," Mr. Meredith said. "We're happy that he's called it, it gets us in a mode where we can go out and campaign, and may the best individual win."

Mr. Meredith said the timing of the byelections depends in part on the actions of the opposition parties in the House when Parliament resumes later in January. But, he added, he doubts a general election will be called before March 17.

"I don't think Canadians, in general, have an appetite for another election just a year-and-a-half or two years" after the last federal election, he said. "Obviously the Conservative Party is in a minority position and they would like to obtain a full majority so that all the laws and bills that they're putting forward can be put through the House without any hindrances. However, I think they also have to weigh the appetite of Canadians."

Opponents of Mr. Meredith and Mr. Rae in Toronto Centre include NDP candidate El-Farouk Khaki, a human rights activist and immigration lawyer, and Green Party candidate Chris Tindal, an interactive media producer who also ran in 2006. He lost to Liberal Bill Graham, who won 52 per cent of the vote.

In the GTA riding of Willowdale, the Liberal candidate is Martha Hall Findlay, a lawyer and a high-profile 2006 federal leadership candidate. She replaces Jim Peterson, who won the riding in 2006 with 55.3 per cent of the vote. Representing the Conservatives is Maureen Harquail, also a lawyer and a former federal environmental prosecutor. Rini Ghosh, a University of Toronto student leader, will run for the NDP, and Lou Carcasole, an engineer and entrepreneur, will run for the Greens.

In Vancouver Quadra, former B.C. legislative cabinet minister Joyce Murray will run for the Liberals and UBC business lecturer Deborah Meredith will run for the Conservatives. The NDP candidate is Rebecca Coad, a community activist. The Greens will be represented by Daniel Grice, a tech consultant and long-time supporter. The previous Liberal MP, Stephen Owen, won 48.8 per cent of that riding.

In Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, Rob Clarke, an RCMP sergeant and community volunteer, will run for the Conservatives. Joan Beatty, a former Saskatchewan NDP cabinet minister and aboriginal activist, will run for the Liberals, and the NDP and Greens have yet to confirm their candidates. The riding was formerly held by Liberal Gary Merasty, who won the riding for the first time in 2006 with 41.5 per cent of the vote. The Conservatives previously held the riding.

UWO's salmonella crisis meets Law & Order

2007-11-28T20:12:00.000-05:00

It was lunchtime on a Monday at the University of Western Ontario.

Akosh Kazinczi did what hundreds of his fellow students do on any given day. He headed to the cafeteria and bought a chicken breast pita with lettuce, tomato, and onions.

At 7 o’clock the next morning, he woke up vomiting.

“It was really terrible,” said Kazinczi, 20. “I was dehydrated, had the sweats, chills, all the gross (symptoms) too.”

Kazinczi was one of at least 85 students who got salmonella poisoning after eating at the Centre Spot cafeteria in Western’s University Community Centre in the week following Nov. 8.

Many others showed similar symptoms but have not been diagnosed with salmonella.

Kazinczi was in bed for the rest of the week, throwing up every half hour.

He lost 15 pounds in four days.

“Nobody wants to be vomiting furiously constantly,” said the third-year biology student. “I was emotionally distraught.”

Kazinczi said his best friend’s father is a lawyer. When he heard about Kazinczi getting salmonella, he offered to write a letter to Pita Pit’s head office in Kingston to ask for compensation.

“I jumped all over it,” said Kazinczi. “I was pissed.”

He’s not the only one who blamed Pita Pit for the tainted food.

The media published many stories early in the outbreak, all of them stating that the students who got sick had all eaten at the Pita Pit outlet in Centre Spot.

Their information was based on early lab results from the Middlesex London Health Unit. Wally Adams, the unit’s manager of environmental health, said inspectors closed Pita Pit and after a primary inspection, concluded that everything was normal.

But after more and more cases appeared, all of them UWO students, Adams said the health unit took a more in-depth approach called HACCP, or hazard analysis critical control points.

“It’s the approach we take when we want to get in there with a fine tooth comb,” said Adams.

He said there were positive cases that originated from food retailers in Centre Spot other than Pita Pit. The inspection broadened to include the entire cafeteria, which uses shared dishwashers and employees.

After nine inspections, the health unit was unable to pinpoint the cause of the tainted food. Inspectors examined each stage of the food preparation process, from looking at invoices to checking freezer temperatures.

Adams said the problem is in going back a week or two and trying to figure out what went wrong.

“They’re humans doing it, and somebody made a mistake.”

Not everyone agrees. Western’s daily student newspaper, The Gazette, posted a poll on their website asking whether those who’d been “poisoned by salmonella from Centre Spot” are entitled to monetary compensation.

By Nov. 28, about 57 per cent of those who participated had voted “Yes, the university owes those whose health was compromised by its negligence.”

About 42 per cent of voters said “No. Suck it up.”

Some members of the university community responded more eloquently in letters to the newspaper.

Mark Lepore, a third-year student, was supportive of the efforts of cafeteria staff to keep things clean.

“As with every food operation, there is always a risk of contamination,” he wrote.

“While measures are taken to prevent this — and Western is pretty strict — it is bound to happen eventually.”

Susan Varills, a fourth-year student and a former cook, disagreed.

“If a regular restaurant had such a contamination with so many confirmed cases, they would not only face closure, but I’m sure such a restaurant would face a number of lawsuits,” she wrote.

Whether or not the university is liable for the salmonella outbreak is a complicated question, said Stephen Pitel, an associate professor at Western’s faculty of law.

He said unless there was serious damage done to the victims, with debilitating or long-term repercussions, a few days’ sickness would not incur large compensation.

“There’s also the cost of pursuing legal action,” said Pitel, pointing out that for students, it might not be worthwhile.

Legal fees were on Kazinczi’s mind when he got a call from a Windsor law firm on Nov. 23. He said the firm is starting a class action suit with other students who had been sick.

“But that would have been time consuming, and I didn’t really want to pay for lawyer fees with them,” he said.

Kazinczi said the letter to Pita Pit is “basically like a bluff in poker,” saying they have evidence against Pita Pit and are willing to sue them for compensation. But he is also willing to settle out of court.

“If they don’t want to settle out of court, I’m just going to drop the whole thing,” he said, citing time and money as reasons not to sue them.

Though Kazinczi said he is not a greedy person and isn’t out to get anybody, he admitted he wouldn’t say no to compensation.

He said he was “one of the fortunate ones” since he had just finished his midterms before getting sick. He missed about 20 hours of class, but did not lose any marks for labs.

But he also works at three part-time jobs and said he lost a few hundred dollars from missing four days of shifts.

Peter Panopoulos, a lawyer for Pita Pit Ltd, said the company is not directly responsible for the Centre Spot location, which is a “non-customary franchise.”

“The University of Western Ontario basically runs the show,” he said from Kingston. “It would make little sense for someone to sue us.”

That being said, Panopoulos said Pita Pit is not happy about some of the speculation made in the media about them.

“We’re the only ones who’ve been named, and there were 13 other cases that we were not involved in,” he said.

“Once that image is out there, it’s difficult for people to get past it.”

Panopoulos declined to say whether Pita Pit has lost business as a result of the outbreak.

He said the pattern that came out of the initial data was misinterpreted. He added the London health unit confirmed to him and Pita Pit’s CEO on a conference call last week that they do not know what caused the outbreak.

Adams said the infectious disease experts at the health unit are still sifting through data to find a common thread in what the victims ate and when they ate it.

“Statistically, nothing stood out,” he said. “The best we could do is speculate.”

He said inspectors were on location to make sure the Centre Spot staff implemented the recommendations made by the health unit to prevent further outbreaks in the future.

The university issued an apology to students on Nov. 27, stating it has made the necessary changes, including hands-free sanitization stations, hiring an independent health inspector, and other measures to avoid cross-contamination.

Six hours in a courtroom

2007-11-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

The London fire department was called to a house on fire at about 11:11 p.m. on June 1, 2006.

The first crew arrived about three minutes later. By the time firefighters entered the house and got upstairs, there was a dead body in one of the bedrooms.

Six firefighters who had helped put out the fire that night testified in court today with Superior Court Judge Helen Rady presiding.

Loranzo Kimpe, 39, is charged with arson and the second-degree murder of his common-law spouse, 33-year-old Deborah Devine. He is accused of strangling her, then setting on fire the house they shared for 11 years.

The firefighters each recalled their observations from the night of June 1. The witnesses included firefighters Aaron McCutcheon and Thomas Salmoni, of Fire Station 5, and Brent Taylor, Captain Timothy Askin, Daniel Glanville, and Terri Taylor, all from Fire Station 9.

McCutcheon, Salmoni and their captain, Don Harrington, were first on the scene. They both testified that when they arrived at 609 Deveron Cres., there were people around the front yard waving them down.

McCutcheon testified he had to hit the door “more than 12 times” with a sledgehammer before getting in.

Upon entering the house, McCutcheon said he saw an orange gas can on the front landing.

Salmoni testified he and Harrington proceeded up the stairs to the main floor. At the top of the stairs there was another gas can—“a red jerry can,” he said.

Both McCutcheon and Salmoni said the main floor and stairs were filled with smoke. When Salmoni felt his knees grow hot, he told his captain he thought the fire was in the basement.

The three men went downstairs and put out a flame in a basement living area.

By that point, the second crew had arrived. Askin and Glanville went upstairs to the kitchen and living room. They each testified to seeing another gas can in the kitchen, lying on its side. After searching the rest of the floor, Askin entered the bedroom at the back of the house and found strong flames and thick smoke coming from underneath a bed.

He testified he told Glanville to bring a water hose to put out the fire. Upon reentering the bedroom, Askin saw a body lying on the bed. He said he grabbed a leg but was unable to move the body off the bed.

Glanville and Taylor testified that when they returned to put out the flames, the bedroom ceiling collapsed on them. They removed some of the debris and approached the body.

Assistant Crown attorney Melody Martin asked Taylor how he knew it was a body under the debris.

He replied, “I just knew by the feel of it.”

Taylor testified the facial features were severely burned and he could not tell whether it was a male or a female. He found no signs of life in the victim.

Kimpe’s son Robert, 14, was living at the house until a week prior to the fire. The firefighters did not see him when they were there.

The trial resumes Thursday morning.

One small step for woman

2007-11-18T19:23:00.000-05:00

I finally landed a spot for my program-required January internship!

I'll be an intern at the Hill Times in Ottawa for three and a half weeks. If you've never heard of them, I strongly suggest you check out their website (I'm adding it to my Links at the right of this page). They focus solely on politics in Ottawa, so it's mostly federal government stuff. But they get an incredible amount of inside information compared with other big papers, from what I've seen so far.

I'm a little bit intimidated about working on such an intellectual paper--I'd be less worried if I could count on getting at least a couple of those write-off assignments about local kids planting trees and whatnot. But it's also nice to know that pretty much anything they assign me will be interesting and extremely valuable on my resume.

Time to get caught up on all things related to Parliament!

I wrote this today. (And it's a real story.)

2007-11-14T17:13:00.000-05:00

HAMILTON-- A 71-year-old man has died after being stabbed outside his East Mountain home yesterday morning.

Hamilton police and emergency services responded to a 911 call at 9:33 a.m. from 14 Woodside Dr. Dino Belavia had collapsed from visible wounds and was taken to Hamilton General Hospital. He died an hour later.

The victim’s former son-in-law was arrested by Peel Regional Police at Pearson International Airport yesterday evening. Matthew Patrick Ranghel, 35, will be remanded in court today.

Det. Sgt. Jorge Lasso said there was good indication Ranghel was heading home to London, England, at the time he was arrested. He wouldn’t discuss the motivation for the incident, but said police believe Ranghel was acting alone.

Belavia, a retired pipe foundry worker, lived with his wife Elizabeth and son Jason. His two daughters and grandchildren also live in Hamilton.

Police said Belavia had come out onto his front porch to speak to the accused man, who had driven a rented car to the house. They are still trying to determine exactly what happened next.

The 911 call—during which the caller named the suspect—was made by someone inside Belavia’s house, said Lasso. He would not say by whom or whether any family members were present.

“Emergency services … found the man in obvious distress,” he said yesterday.

Police vehicles and yellow tape blocked Woodside Drive between the residence and Sherwood Secondary School. Blood pooled on the stone steps of the victim’s house and on the driveway behind his parked Volvo. Officers later covered the stains with tarps.

Ranghel was previously married to one of the victim’s daughters.

Henry Mancinelli, 80, was Belavia’s next-door neighbour. He said he was shocked by the scene.

“He was a very nice gentleman,” said Mancinelli. “He’d often babysit his daughter’s young children. He was a good grandfather.”

John Monaco, 28, who lives down the street, also expressed surprise. “This is a pretty quiet street,” he said. “There has never been a problem.”

Belavia was an accomplished accordion and keyboard player. The night before he died, he talked with his close friend, Angelo Venditti, about recording an album with their trio, Sorrento.

“Dino said that at our age, it would be something to leave for the kids and grandkids,” said Venditti, 59, who is still stunned at the news of his friend’s death. “Dino was a great guy, I never saw him upset.”

Bandmate Charlie Mattina has known Belavia since the 1950s. “Family and music is what he really loved,” he said. “He’d play anytime, anywhere.”

An autopsy on Belavia will be conducted this morning. This was Hamilton’s seventh homicide so far in 2007.

Police say they will continue to investigate the details of the case. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 905-546-2458 or Hamilton Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Another clipping in the London Free Press

2007-11-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
London Free Press B2
WORK WITH SPECIAL-NEEDS KIDS HONOURED
By Meghan Moloney
Special to The Free Press

David Gosset doesn't usually seek the limelight.

But last night, he stood in front of a crown applauding him for his work with special-needs students.

Gosset was honoured as educator of the year for Special Olympics at the Thames Valley District school board meeting.

An athletics program services officer with the board, Gosset also is chair of the region's Special Olympics organization committee. He's been involved with the event since 2002.

"It's very humbling to be recognized," Gosset said. "We are passionate about kids and that's why we're in this role."

Gosset works with special education teachers, parents, volunteers, and members of Special Olympics Ontario to co-ordinate the three-day track and field meet at TD Waterhouse Stadium.

Investing In Children is a London organization that has provided funding and support to Special Olympics Ontario for six years.

Anita Gilvesy, the executive director, praised Gosset's organizational skills. "(He) has done an amazing job," she said.

Lions for Lambs

2007-11-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

Anyone who's ever had a passing interest in media and the ethical politics that come with it, should see this movie. I'm not sure I agree with all the decisions the director made for Meryl Streep's character, but it was extremely well written and very timely.

Even though I should know better by now, I still tend to fall back into that assumption that when a newspaper or TV newscast releases a story, it's a) true, and b) the whole story. I know that's naive, but even when I'm writing my own news stories, I never consciously think about the fact that someone else might look at my story and point out that I left out pertinent information that might have changed the shape of the story. Everyone leaves out details when they write up an article. You have to. How many times have our profs reminded us -- if your editor asks for 12 inches and you write 20, they won't read the rest of the story just to see what else was going on. They'll chop it off the end. So it's in your best interest to get all the important info into the first 12 inches, and being concise is just a skill you need to develop.

Clearly not one I excel at.

The point is, in the interest of saving space, all news stories are limited. The problem arises when individual humans make the decision to include or exclude particular details of each story. Every reporter would write the same story differently, based on the facts and viewpoints he or she thinks matter the most.

But what about when the decision isn't just which facts to include, but whether to run a story at all? This movie looked at the role the media played in "selling" the Iraq war to the American public. The director's argument, if I got it right, was that the media simply took any and all information the government gave them and published or broadcast it to the public -- and that a good chunk of that information was in fact propaganda. The argument was made that the media should have stepped back and been more critical of what they were hearing, and perhaps covered those stories in 2001 from a different angle.

But the argument was also made that in a time of war, or for that matter any important political situation, any information given out by the government must be made public. Even if a reporter (like Meryl Streep's character) thinks something is bull, without solid proof or a second opinion that reporter can't justify withholding the information. Yet how much more damage could be caused by publishing something that is almost certainly military propaganda?

I think one of the most valuable aspects of this movie was its 'moral', for lack of a better term: that there are often no right answers. It's great that Hollywood is addressing the issue of ethics and transparency in media coverage of the war, but at the same time, it scares me to realize I'll be dealing with this if I enter into this career.

I used to be an academic

2007-11-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

I recently had a paper published in an independent student journal, Anthropolitique. It's run by the Anthropological Issues Group (AIG) at Guelph. I originally wrote the paper for my final assignment in one of my anthropology courses, which I absolutely loved and gave me a much wider perspective on the world than I would have otherwise gotten from my undergrad. My prof, Renee Sylvain, told the students running the journal about my paper, so they asked me to submit it. I was so flattered at the time, but I have to give most of the credit to the prof, since a lot of the ideas either came from her lectures or were inspired by them.

Okay, enough mush -- if you're into global indigenous rights activism, or have an assignment to do and would really like to procrastinate instead, go to http://www.uoguelph.ca/~anthro/anthropolitique.htm and click on the Full Online Edition. My paper is first on the table of contents, after the introductory pages.

If you're too lazy to copy and paste the above URL into your browser window, you can also find it in the Links section on the right of this page.

In the words of Borat: "Great success!"

2007-11-05T12:36:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to get a copy of the story I wrote during my first shift at the city paper which didn't get published. I'm pretty happy about it, because even though it's not a real clipping, I wanted to have it for my resume. And I was just proud of it because I think it's a cute story! Check it out.
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Monday, October 29, 2007
Written by Meghan Moloney, Special to Sun Media

Alex Balanovic has a white cast on his fractured left arm. But that didn't stop him from grabbing a shovel and helping his classmates plant trees on Monday.

Alex is a grade five student at Wilton Grove Public School. His schoolmates, from grades two to eight, spent much of yesterday creating an outdoor classroom behind their school as part of a plan to green up London.

He thought the project was a good idea. "It'll help the environment for a long time to come, and teach us how trees create oxygen," he said.

The pupils planted five hackberry trees around a circle of soil. Each tree is surrounded by shrubs for protection and the ground covered with woodchips. They added log benches inside the circle.

Alex's mother, Joan, helping out as a volunteer, said, "It's a wonderful project.

"If the kids are involved with planting the trees, they'll respect them and take care of them."

Julie Ryan of Reforest London said the area will have many functions.

"Kids can use it at recess. Teachers can bring classes out here on warm days," she said.

Ryan said some studies say children learn better when in a more natural environment. "Kids are more active when natural elements are around," she said. "They engage in more creative play. (Manufactured) climbers are great but they're not for all kids."

Ryan pointed out that Wilton Grove doesn't have a climber on its playground, which makes projects such as this one even more important. "The kids are very excited. They get to see a transformation to their schoolyard, and that's rewarding," she said.

Principal Rick Van Maanen echoed her excitement. "When every single student is involved, they take ownership and they feel pride in their community," he said while shoveling dirt alongside the kids. "It gives them a sense of calm and promotes positive feeling."

Profile picture

2007-11-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

It cannot be done.

Intriguing, this whole Inter-Web thing

2007-11-03T22:26:00.001-04:00

I just realized the difference between writing for newspapers, writing on a personal blog that only friends or colleagues will see, and writing on a personal blog that is also career-related and "published" in a public sphere.

I'm not so self-centred that I think a million Canadians will be reading this blog. Nor do I think it likely that a potential employer of mine -- or potential high-profile colleague, as the case may be -- will stumble upon it anytime soon.

But I was three paragraphs into a satirical rant about a certain columnist whose piece I read in today's Globe (or rather, stopped reading halfway through because it was so freaking boring)... when I realized that it's probably not a good idea to post stuff like that on the internet.

Even if it's just my friends and family and maybe classmates who are reading this, so far. Even if perhaps 90 percent of Globe readers would agree with my assessment of said columnist. And even if I'm just a lowly j-school student with no current "real job" prospects.

Even so. As one of our recent online media lectures made so clear to me, the internet can be an amazing tool. It's no longer about the amount of information you can access online -- it's about the fact that you can make all kinds of information come to you, with very little effort. But that also means that anything I post on my small blog could end up in anyone's inbox, for no apparent reason other than that they have an RSS feed tagging anything with the label Journalism or Globe and Mail or Careless Ranting.

All those warnings our teachers gave us about not posting inappropriate pictures or comments on Facebook in case employers saw them are now making sense. But this time it's my own writing that made me think twice: not two days has this blog been up and running, and already I've had to stop and rethink the line between personal opinion and material that I'd feel comfortable publishing in a newspaper.

Interesting.

And the not-so-olden days

2007-11-02T22:16:00.001-04:00

Well, still old by my current standards. But I knew a little bit of what I was doing by this point.

This first piece is the first thing I ever did that could be described as "in-depth". I was pretty proud of it when it came out at the time. My editor wrote the introductory bit, and we published the piece as a transcript of the interview.

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The Ontarion - Features
February 2, 2006
CPT MEMBER SPEAKS OUT ON HOSTAGES IN IRAQ
Written by Meghan Moloney, with files from Kim Mackrael

Father Bob Holmes is a Toronto Priest and a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a non-denominational organization of human rights workers who travel to war zones, prisons, and communities in crisis, such as Colombia, Kenora, Hebron, Arizona, and Iraq. The organization's goal is to "reduce violence by getting in the way."

Last November, four CPT workers, Tom Fox, Norman Kember, James Loney, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, were kidnapped by a group calling itself The Swords of Righteousness Brigade.

The group demanded the release of all Iraqi prisoners held by US forces in return for the peacemakers' safe release. After a long period of silence, a fourth video of the activists appeared last weekend with a renewed demand for the release of Iraqi prisoners.

Last Sunday, more than 150 CPT members and supporters walked to the US consulate in Toronto to show their support for the CPT hostages and all Iraqi prisoners held by US forces.

Fr. Holmes is a close friend of captive James Loney of Toronto. Meghan Moloney interviewed Fr. Holmes the day before the latest video was released.

Meghan Moloney: What kind of work do you do for CPT?

Father Bob Holmes: I'm part of the support team, that support our peacemakers in the field. My specific role is coordinating pastoral support – making sure that the peacemakers stay healthy spiritually, emotionally, physically – and I just came back from Chicago, where we did a workshop on trauma awareness and self-care in war zones.

MM: Can you elaborate on how CPT came together and what its philosophies are?

BH: The Mennonite Church was challenged by one of their theologians about twenty years ago, who just confronted them and said, "Look – if we’re going to call ourselves a peace church, we have to be as willing to risk our lives for peace as soldiers are to risk their lives in war." And he challenged them to begin to gather a hundred thousand people who would be trained and ready to go at a moment’s notice into war zones and get in the way, to reduce the violence. And so over the last twenty years, we’ve developed a Christian Peacemaker Team [...] and we’ve got about two hundred who are prepared and trained to do that work. And we think it’d be wonderful if Canada just took the lead and was the first to have an unarmed force of people who were prepared to go into zones and, non-violently, to bring an end to the oppression that’s happening around the world.

MM: What does your organization gain by being non-denominational, as opposed to being affiliated with a specific sect among Christians?

BH: It gives us a much wider reach, in terms of participation. And what happens is, we base our work, really, on the hunger and thirst for justice, and to love your enemies, and so that’s the kind of Christian basics that we operate from, and it’s not based in any one church. What we discovered is that we end up in coalitions with Jewish peacemakers and Muslim peacemakers and secular peacemakers, so we discovered that there’s lots of people who have discovered that non-violent direct action is probably the best way to overcome discrimination and oppression.

MM: Why does the organization choose to keep the word ‘Christian’ as a part of its name, recognizing that perhaps in North America it may draw negative as well as positive attention?

BH: That’s true, and what we’re trying to do is draw the positive to it, and let people know that there are Christians who don’t believe in war, even though some of our neighbours to the South think that Christians should be warriors. And we are certainly not exclusive in the sense that we figure we can do it ourselves – we don’t. We always work in coalition with others. But we draw our motivation from the gospel – we pray, you know, we gather every morning and we worship, and that prayer gives us the courage and the strength and the will to go out and to risk our lives for peace. And so that’s an important thing for us. But we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims and Jews and seculars.

MM: Concerning the four peacemakers who were taken in Iraq, what were their reasons for going to Iraq specifically, and what was their function there?

BH: Iraq is a place where there’s a tremendous amount of violence, and it’s good for Americans and Canadians to be there because it’s Westerners that have really brought the violence in its present form. The U.S. invasion and occupation has caused a huge wave of violence in that country. So we feel that we ought to be there to do what we can to reverse it and to reduce that violence, and we do that, number one, just by our presence – by being there, and by suffering that vulnerability with the Iraqis, then we are able to speak more authentically when we come back home about what’s really going on there. And secondly, we shine a spotlight on the violence and we’re able to say, look, this is not right, the Geneva conventions are not being observed here, people are being held in prison without charge and without their families knowing where they are for months and months and months, and that’s just not allowed. Sixteen thousand people were being detained when I was there, and I presume it’s a similar number now. So we called not so much for their release but for justice to be built into that system, so that people are charged and have a chance to confront those charges and if they’re not guilty, to be released.

MM: In retrospect, given all of these reasons for their presence, and given what eventually happened to four of them, do you feel that it was still worthwhile – was it the right decision for them to go?

BH: Well, of course. We knew the risks long before we went – we’d been there for three years. Now we were there before the invasion – I’ve been there three times, this was Jim Loney’s fourth time, and I’m sure it was the fourth or fifth time for Tom Fox also. We’ve known this could always happen, so it’s not a surprise when it does happen. You don’t want it to happen, and you fear for it, but you’re willing to take that risk because someone needs to be there, and all the other international groups have left. And so, we end up working very closely with a lot of Iraqi human rights groups, and they’re delighted to have an international human rights organization that they can connect with, because it makes their voice much louder. Otherwise they don’t get heard, whereas now we can be their voice in a much wider area. And in fact, because of the four being held there, our voice has gotten incredibly loud. We are now being heard around the world.

MM: Who are you trying to reach?

BH: We’re trying to send lots of messages to George Bush and his advisors right now. That’s why for these past two weeks we’ve had the Shine the Light Campaign in Washington, DC – every day, there’s a procession from one place of violence to the White House, in order to draw attention to the White House that this war in Iraq is wrong. We've been doing the same thing in Toronto every day also, and going to the US Consulate [...] again to send a message to the United States government that what they’re doing in Iraq is wrong. The occupation is wrong, the detaining of people without charge is wrong, the torturing of people, the abuse of human rights is wrong, and the best thing they can do is get out of there.

MM: So with the final vigil on Sunday [Jan 29], what message do you hope to get across on a global scale?

BH: We want to let the whole world know that occupation can never bring peace, it can never really produce democracy. They’re trying to impose democracy through an occupation – that doesn’t happen, it can’t happen. And we also want people to be very aware that when you detain thousands and thousands of people without trial, that that doesn’t bring peace either. It creates more resistance – in fact, it’s creating terrorists, it’s creating people who are very upset with Canada – well, the United States, not so much Canada. We also really want to call for the freedom of our peacemakers. But that call, of course, is going to those who are holding our peacemakers. We’re hoping that they are very aware of what we’re doing, and that it makes them aware that the people who they are holding are actually people who want the occupation to end, and who want their detainees released, and therefore these [CPT members] should also be released.

MM: Since November, the kidnapping of the four peacemakers has gained global attention from the media. What are some of the critical questions that have been posed?

BH: You know, the typical question you get – "aren’t you being naïve to be there." And our response is no, no, we’re not being naïve at all, we’ve known exactly what the situation [is], we’ve been there three years, we know how dangerous it is. We know that four thousand Iraqis have been taken prisoner and held for ransom, so for us the risk was also the same, you know, we’re willing to bear that risk the same as they are.

MM: Muslim communities have been very supportive in protesting the kidnapping [of the CPT members], including organizations such as the Canadian Islamic Congress. How do you feel about the supportive reaction from Muslims and Iraqis, and how does that impact your efforts?

BH: We were really delighted that our Muslim friends and colleagues of people we work with were able to stand up and say to those who are holding our people, ‘let them go, because these people are really trying to help Iraqis’ –-ordinary, civilian, unarmed Iraqis. And we were delighted that those voices came out so strong, and we had no idea that so many groups were aware of who we were. Some people spoke out for us that we didn’t know even knew about us. But it tells you that they did know, and they did appreciate what we were doing, and they do know we’re non-violent, even though some of the groups that spoke out were not non-violent, they still said hey, these people are doing good work – let them go. So we were delighted with that.

MM: So now that you have the knowledge of that kind of support, does that impact the efforts that you’re making?

BH: Well yeah, I mean our effort – still, after two months – is to try to speak to the people who are holding our four peacemakers, and the only means we have of doing that is through the Arabic media. So we’ve been feeding Al Jazeera and other Arabic sources with as much information as we can, and they’ve been wonderful. They’ve been very anxious to receive it. And they will show the video footage or they’ll voice-over the radio or they’ll translate for the press. So we’re very happy with that, we’ve been getting very good coverage in their media.

MM: Is there one overall thing or one specific result of the whole campaign that you’re really proud of, that you really feel has made a difference?

BH: Well, I’m really proud of the fact that people world-wide right now, from New Zealand right through Great Britain, Canada and the United States, the English-speaking world especially, and the Arabic-speaking world, know that there are Christians who are peacemakers and who don’t believe in violence, [but] who do believe that Gandhian, Martin Luther King style – and I would say Jesus style – of actions are the solution, not violence.

More from the olden days

2007-11-02T21:43:00.000-04:00

Cheryl, don't get used to this--normally, updates won't come QUITE this often.
But here are some more clippings, this time from October 2005.

Why does 2005 suddenly sound like such a long time ago?

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The Ontarion
Arts & Culture
October 6, 2005
NO CRABS IN THIS BUCKET: K-Os brings joyful rebellion to Homecoming weekend.
Written by Meghan Moloney

The first time I saw Kevin Brereton perform in concert, it was April, 2002. My friends and I had been waiting outside Ottawa's Congress Centre for eight hours, in the freezing wind, to see Swollen Members open for Nelly Furtado. But when the first opening act came on stage, all we saw was a guy sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar. At 17, I knew next to nothing about the indie hip-hop scene that was slowly emerging from Toronto. But by the end of that short opening set, I was a huge fan of the man now known as k-os.

A lot has changed since then. The success of his 2002 album, Exit, garnered widespread media attention, and his follow-up--Joyful Rebellion, released last year--has brought k-os even more acclaim from fans and music critics nationwide. This is an accomplishment that many artists never experience with their second album. Even if you don't own Joyful Rebellion, you've almost certainly heard a couple of the singles. k-os is rising, and fast.

With this in mind, the excitement in the air on Saturday night came as no surprise. Peter Clark Hall was full of fans of all ages, dressed funky and ready to dance. The concert billing had us all expecting to see Kyle Riabko as the opening act, but due to some unexplained mishap, he was replaced by newcomers Shawn Hewitt and Aidan Campbell--two of the three members of Shawn Hewitt and the National Strikes.

Hewitt is from Toronto and has been performing for the last two and a half years. Their set clearly impressed the audience, and got a great response despite being relatively unknown. Hewitt went back and forth between the keyboard and electric guitar. His vocals defied categorization, a trait he shares with k-os. His voice was sweet and musical, but flexible and even raspy at times. He could switch range or tonality several times in one song and not miss a beat, while dancing so hard his entire face shook.

Campbell, as only a truly talented drummer could, knew when to take it down a notch, and when to let all hell break loose in a frantic Dave Grohl style. They also knew exactly how to work the crowd. It was hard to say which moment inspired louder cheering--when Hewitt changed a lyric in one of his songs to "down with George Bush," or when he referred to k-os as "the saviour of Canadian hip-hop."

Iconic comparisons aside, that's exactly the kind of reaction k-os got from the crowd that night. The anticipation was high by 9:45, when guitarist Russ Klyne, bongo player Santosh Naidu, drummer Ray Garraway, DJ Jasper Gahunia, and bassist Toby Peter finally took the stage. A loud robotic voice started a countdown and k-os hit the stage, wearing a hooded windbreaker and sunglasses.

The band launched into B-Boy Stance, a quintessential k-os song mixing hip-hop beats, special sound effects from the DJ, guitar riffs, electric piano, and fast-flowing lyrics. The lyrics were hard to follow at times because of their complexity, especially with that pure wall of sound. k-os often let the crown take over on vocals, resulting in songs that were less polished than the album versions, but more of an interactive experience.

k-os's politics came through loud and clear. The first line of B-Boy proclaimed, "It's so hard to remain authentic"--a testament to his choice to remain true to his creative vision and to his commitment to social awareness. Emcee Murdah was another song that referred to the corruption of musicians for the sake of mainstream success, and the disappearance of old-school MCs within hip-hop's recent focus on money, sex, and macho competition.

At several points, k-os showcased his bandmates by asking to have the lights dimmed and a spotlight shone on each one while they performed unbelievable solos. Klyne's guitar solo and Naidu's bongo rendition were particularly crowd-pleasing,
inspiring break-dancing around the hall.

When k-os took the mic again, he told the audience that this would be his last show in Canada until 2008, which gave the night a special meaning. Each song got a better response tahn the last, from his classic Superstarr, combining swing music with a hip-hop beat, to Crabbukkit and Man I Used To Be. He also performed an homage to Michael Jackson and covers of Pink Floyd, Sting, and Wheatus.

After crowd-surfing for several minutes, k-os returned to the stage to wrap up the show. He re-introduced and thanked each member of the band and road crew. Then came the highlight of the show for me--the first verse of the Beatles' classic Yesterday, which segued into his own philosophical Heaven Only Knows. k-os closed it down with the reggae beats of Crucial, which encourages Canadians to open their eyes to social issues.

The band then left the stage to the sound of deafening screams and applause. The crowd started chanting "encore," but sadly there was none. It was a memorable night of Canadian music. I can't wait to see how it changes between now and 2008.
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The Ontarion - News
October 27, 2005
OUT ON THE SHELF
Written by Meghan Moloney

A new resource library and centre for the queer community, called Out On The Shelf, had its official opening on Thursday, October 20th.

Located in downtown Guelph, the centre includes fiction and non-fiction books, magazines, comics, newspapers, and other resources geared towards the queer community. The two-dollar membership fee covers book borrowing; access to the centre itself is free.

In addition to resource materials, the centre is also a welcoming space for queer people and their allies who wish to meet with friends, ask questions, participate in events run by volunteer organizers, or just to hang out.

The volunteers who have worked over the last two years to create this space all agree on one thing: the need for a queer-positive location in Guelph, accessible to the general public. Dave Vervoort is a therapist who works with the queer community and has been one of the main organizers of Out On The Shelf.

“Guelph on the whole has been a fairly open-minded city to the queer community," he said at the opening. "We knew on the whole that things were supportive here, yet we had no place to congregate. People don’t want to meet in the bars... certainly some people do, but not everybody.”

Echoing Vervoort, Bruce Buchanan – a Hamilton community member – explained that bars shouldn’t be the only spaces available to people.

“Being a gay person, most resources we have are bars, and they’re open on the weekend, and they’re not necessarily the place you want to go and meet somebody, or visit,” he said. As a representative of smaller queer communities in southern Ontario, he described Toronto as a “Mecca” for gay people; however, according to Buchanan, “For people within the small communities, the rural communities that live outside of Guelph or Hamilton, it’s a lot easier for people to drive into our locations to get that information about what’s going on.”

Buchanan, in collaboration with the Centenary United Church, is planning to open a library similar to Guelph’s Out On The Shelf centre. He currently runs a restaurant in Hamilton called the Comfortable Pew – “a place where you can go have lunch, and visit with friends and meet up with people, in a very safe environment.”

As well as being a safe and positive meeting space, Out On The Shelf is also an important way to dispense information to the queer community. Vervoort, along with the SpeakOut program, has produced a pamphlet called the Guelph Queer Resource Guide, which lists local services, businesses and entertainment spots that are queer-positive or provide important resources to the community.

Vervoort stressed the importance of having a physical space like Out On The Shelf to dispense this kind of information, in addition to networks of activist groups and support systems. He also emphasized the collective effort that has gone into this opening: instead of focusing on the original six volunteers, he says, “We’d rather people know that it’s a community effort – it’s a lot of volunteers that came together to pull this off.”

The centre is the result of more than two years of collaboration between groups of activists involved in the queer community, including PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Ally organizations, Change Now, and University of Guelph organizations such as Guelph Queer Equality (GQE), OutLine, and the Women’s Resource Centre.

Out On The Shelf has also benefited from numerous donations: Vervoort mentioned Pink Triangle Services, a non-profit charity and social service agency based in Ottawa, and the Dr. Kelly McGinnis library, as having donated “well over half the books”; the Wellness Centre donated 1000 dollars of seed money, to help with production costs like photocopying. The Canadian Mental Health Association was an essential supporter of the centre: volunteer Tahira Dosani said, “They let us use the space, don’t charge us rent, have given us a phone line and they were really supportive in creating the initiative.”

One of the key goals of the centre is to bring together various parts of the Guelph community and its members. “The best thing about this project from my perspective,” said Vervoort, “is that it’s brought together a diverse group of people within the queer community, and a diverse group of Straight Allies, to come together – and we all have our differences, but we’re able to come together and work collaboratively.” Vervoort also points out that much of the financial support being given to queer resource centres in Canada goes to “the metropolitan cities – Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal.” The hope of many volunteers is that people from rural areas who come to Out On The Shelf – including university students – will be inspired to create similar spaces and start similar initiatives, outside of larger cities and without extensive financial support.

The centre hopes to run many events in the coming months, including readings from authors and collaborations with the Bookshelf. Rob Gartner, another volunteer, also plans to run promotional events with the university: “There’s a large pool of people [on campus] who have questions about life, and that we wanted to approach, and to be able to promote and also let them know that this exists.”

The olden days

2007-11-02T18:45:00.001-04:00

As promised: my old clippings from undergrad.

Small caveat: please be kind and remember that I was not responsible for coming up with headlines.

The Ontarion
Arts & Culture
Thursday, September 29, 2005
THE BARD IS BACK: Future festival will make Guelph Shakespeare central.
Written by Meghan Moloney

A public meeting was held at the River Run Centre last Thursday night to discuss a new Shakespeare festival being planned for January to May 2007. The festival will be a joint effort between the University of Guelph, the city's Arts Council, and the Stratford Festival. Rob McKay, the Director of Culture in Guelph, is part of the group responsible for developing a proposal for the festival in conjunction with the university.

"The project is just in its infancy," McKay said in an interview on Friday. "We had an open meeting for representatives from various art groups--we had excellent representation, a lot of enthusiasm, the mayor attended and gave her support, so it all looks great."

The festival will incorporate multiple areas of the community, from the university to local arts groups, and cultural centres, as well as elementary and high schools. It will also include many different types of events and opportunities. According to McKay, the festival "really has a number of facets, it's not strictly the performing arts ... there'll be a gallery exhibit, education programs, we're hoping, for children and even for adults, and then of course the performances." Instead of being a "centrally planned" series of events, McKay is hoping that each participating arts group will "choose a Shakespeare theme" during the specified time period, creating a loose collective of events and performances based around the city of Guelph.

The choice of Guelph as the site for the upcoming festival was an obvious one for the organizers. Not only is the regional arts community influenced by nearly Stratford, Ontario, but as McKay said, "The University of Guelph has a real connection to Shakespeare, in that they run a website which is probably the best and most comprehensive website dedicated to Shakespeare in the world."

The website was created by the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), and is directed by Professor Daniel Fischlin of the School of English and Theatre Studies at the U of G. It includes an online anthology of rare material, focusing on scripts, literary works and other multimedia sources from Canada's cultural history that are related to, or adaptations of, Shakespeare's work. The CASP website was launched over a year ago and has since been hugely successful.

"The background for the idea around the festival originated in the website and the kind of international and national attention it drew when we launched it," said Dr. Fischlin. "The benefits of undertaking such a festival involve creating unexpected convergences of ideas that in turn generate new art, new ways of thinking, and new ways of building the artistic infrastructure in the city."

"Dr. Fischlin also highlights the ways in which the cultural phenomenon known as "the Shakespeare effect" is helping to bring forward different perspectives, including "aboriginal communities and French-Canadian communities, gay, lesbian, and queer communities," and other so-called marginalized groups of society.

The project plans are far from being finalized at this point. McKay said, "We have got some preliminary work done on the business plan and we are in the process of costing it, but nothing's complete in that area yet."

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The Ontarion - News
September 29, 2005
RSD CALL FOR WAL-MART PETITION
Written by Meghan Moloney

The activist group Residents for Sustainable Development (RSD) has made an offer to Mario Pilozzi, the CEO of Wal-Mart Canada, stating that they will accept the proposed location of the store at Woodlawn and Woolwich, if the company successfully petitions the community for support. They are specifically asking for the signatures of over half the adults in Guelph and suggest that Wal-Mart entertain alternate locations if they cannot produce the petition.

The offer is just one more development in a long campaign against the retail giant. Since 1995, RSD (formerly known as the Big Box Action Group or BBAG) has been opposing Wal-Mart's proposal to build a 350,000-square-foot mega-store at the intersection of Woodlawn and Woolwich.

The City Council of Guelph originally voted against Wal-Mart's application in 1997, in order to protect its Official Plan for municipal development, which led to an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). However, throughout the next few years, the city changed its stance on the Wal-Mart issue several times.

In 2004, the city approved a revised application for a 135,000-square-foot store, and a few months later the OMB approved it. Almost immediately, the decision was protested. RSD launched an appeal beginning in early 2005, which is currently still being reviewed in court.

"We could avoid any further action if they accept the petition offer," said Ben Bennett, a spokesperson for RSD. "But it looks like they're not going to accept it.

"The court action will work its way through, and we should have some news on that in November," he said.

Bennett emphasized that their campaign is focusing on the proposed Woodlawn/Woolwich location in the north end of the city, rather than on the question of whether Guelph needs more "big box" stories in the community.

"The main demographic that Wal-Mart serves is young families in new homes," Bennett said last week. He points out that the neighbourhood surrounding Wal-Mart's proposed location consists mostly of cemeteries, religious centres, retirement homes, and factories. The west, south, and east parts of the city, on the other hand, are full of new growth and housing developments for younger families, and are in need of a wider range of shopping centres.

"We haven't been able to engage them in any discussion of why they wouldn't put it somewhere else," he said, describing the fight as a "David and Goliath struggle."

"This is literally the only site for Wal-Mart in Guelph," said Wal-Mart spokesperson Kevin Groh. "We've looked at size, we've looked at traffic, we've looked at community converns and this is the site that works."

Groh says Wal-Mart has always been committed to finding store locations that benefit communities.

Aside from the issue of the demand for a large-scale shopping development, Bennett and RSD also cite environmental concerns as part of the motivation for the current campaign. They claim that developing the north end would create more traffic congestion and, by extension, more noise and pollution with residents from the south and other parts of town driving to and from Wal-Mart.

...What next?

2007-11-02T17:56:00.000-04:00

So I'm starting another blog. I figure since I've recently become an officially published journalist, I should keep up with the trends and create a "presence" for myself online. (I'm sorry, Wayne MacPhail... from now on, I'll try not to be such a technologically-incompetent 20-something.)

Unlike whatever daily drivel you may see me writing on Facebook, this is going to be where I post any articles or stories I get published in the real world. I'll post the ONE newspaper story that's out there so far -- and just so that one doesn't get lonely, I'll also post my old articles from my undergraduate student paper. This will also have the purpose of allowing me to feel better about myself by seeing the progress I've made in the last two years.

So without further ado... here are the very beginnings of my career.

The London Free Press
Tue, October 30, 2007
Witches favoured over princesses:
Costume choices this year lean toward the dark side.
By MEGHAN MOLONEY, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA

Cute is out. Scary and sleazy are in.

The preferences are clear for this year's hottest-selling Halloween
costumes -- and you might be surprised by what girls are wearing.

Or maybe not.

Disney and kittens aren't faring too well at cash registers this year,
say clerks at costume-specialty stores.

More popular -- and likely coming tomorrow to trick-or-treat at your
door -- are the darker, more adult costumes.

At the new Party Packagers store on Southdale Road, manager Michelle
Nemeth says girls' choices have leaned toward the dark side this year.

"The cutesy stuff is not popular. It's more witchy, goth stuff -- the
monster bride, the goth maiden witch."

For adults, she said, "skimpiest sells."

Even costumes for very young girls are more risque. Nemeth points to
Bratz brand cheerleader outfits.

For boys, a big seller has been Optimus Prime of the Transformers
movie -- Nemeth has sold out of them twice -- as well as the classic,
red-outfitted Spiderman.

Men favour the black-suited, bad-guy Spiderman, she said.

Tastes run to the more traditional at Value Village and McCulloch's,
with princess and fairy costumes still favourites for girls.

Crystal Sheridan at McCulloch's said teen girls are still keen on
fairy tales, only they're considerably sexier than the ones you'll see
in the Disney movies.

Boys, influenced by recent movies, have been going for army outfits
and comic-book superheroes.

Tiny pirates also will be sailing the trick-or-treat seas.

Jen Lee, an employee at the Wellington Road Value Village, said these
boys and girls "have probably been inspired by Pirates of the
Caribbean."