the most wonderful time of the year

yes, folks, it's time for the most important democratic process in US politics. The nominees are in, race is tight, the candidates are talented and well-spoken, and the integrity of the voting process is held in highest security until the final announcements are made. You guessed it – it's Oscar time!Every year, I watch. Every [...]

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snow day?

it's snowing! winter is finally here! it looks so pretty out there, everything all covered in white, trees with branches hanging low, heavy with a growing burden.everyone gets their nose out of joint about the snow here in NS. maybe it's the same everywhere, but it seems like it's ALL people talk about. And look! [...]

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my vote doesn’t count, I live in Eastern Canada

well, at least that's how I felt after Monday's upsetting election. I voted NDP, and it didn't matter in my riding, because the liberal incumbent got in. It also didn't matter to the rest of the country, who continued to vote in liberals and tipped the scales in favour of the conservative in the end. [...]

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voting day!

well, today is the day we elect a government. Red or blue? (liberal or conservative?) we'll see later on tonight. could it be orange (NDP)? I doubt it, but that's the way I voted today. One more orange riding might help keep whichever government that gets (back) into power on the straight and narrow. Maybe [...]

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sexism in public speech

so, I was reading the paper this morning, and happened upon this article, about a heated exchange live on talk radio between long-time NDP leader Alexa McDonough and deputy leader of the Conservative party, Peter MacKay (there's a link on that page where you can actually listen to the clip in question). MacKay actually told [...]

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tales out of school

this week in HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality, for those who don't know) there was a dispute that arose at the Halifax Regional School Board meeting over the reassignment of seats. From what I understand, seating used to be arranged alphabetically according to the members' last name, and now seating is according to numerical district. The [...]

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10 million missing girls in India, and the medicalization of pregnancy

I read this interesting report this morning on how prenatal testing, which determines the sex of a fetus, has led to the selective abortion of approximately 10 million female fetuses in India since 1998. In India, generally speaking, female children are not valued as highly as male children, and are seen as more of a [...]

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faith

well, by now if you've been reading my posts at all, you'll know that I'm not religious. I was raised in the baptist church, and at about age 14 I started to have serious doubts about the validity of what I was hearing each Sunday. After a couple more years, I wasn't going anymore even [...]

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new school term

a new term at school has begun for me this week. I'm happy to announce that I finished last term with 4 A grades and a B+ (philosophy of language, the one I complained about all term… I ended up doing a really good paper; perhaps I'll post it). This term, I have a really [...]

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movie mania

I have been seeing a lot of movies lately – I saw 5 in the last week. that's highly unusual. the other two nights I was in class. I'll post about that later. for now, here's my reviews:

Walk the Line: this movie just excellent, full of really great performances. Joaquin Pheonix is one intense guy. [...]

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