Is anyone experiencing this site in a super-zoomed in form? Adam apparently is when he comes in from his Google Reader feed, but I cannot recreate the error.
Your favourite posts
Well, I have tallied the results (from comments, emails, Twitter) and here are—after three and a bit years of blogging—your favourite posts so far.
- Couple Dating
- Leah’s News
- What’s so important about 100?
- Lord of the Pagans
- JD (2004-2009)
- The Smell of Marriage
Thanks to everyone who took the time to take a look. I know it was a lot to ask. Also, I know I promised a prize. Ian won… something. I have two ideas. I just have to see which one actually physically appears before me first. Either way, next time I see you Ian, you get a prize. And it might have to be a big kiss at the rate these prizes are getting here.
Posted in Featured 2 Comments
Antisemitism ruined this blog post
It’s true. Duke’s poop slowed it down. But antisemitism ruined it. I wanted to title the post Knowing Jews. A post where I could explore the transition from hearing all about the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people to actually meeting and befriending Jewish people. However, saying “Jews” when you aren’t a “Jew” is at best a grey area—or at least from my extensive polling (one person) that seems to be the case. Actually, I asked two people. One said it was slang and probably inappropriate. The other said I could. And they are both Jewish, so who do I believe? Anyway, I just figured if antisemitism wasn’t an issue I could probably use “Jew”.
Racism and those who are racist have been on my mind for a while and it popped back into my head last week when a person spray painted things like “6 million more” and swastikas all over Jewish centers in Calgary. Aside from how horrifying this is—would it be a generalization of me to think that antisemtic people are usually holocaust deniers? That seems like a strange slogan to spraypaint. In any case, this was a really shocking revelation to have the marginal racism of Calgary so upfront and centre. This is frightening, embarassing and extremely aggravating.
I’m just finishing up the Band of Brothers miniseries, which is about a group of American soldiers during World War 2. I usually watch it once or twice a year when I start to feel too good about the world. It brings me back to a state of nihilism and borderline depression. I just finished the second last episode called Why we fight. In this episode the soldiers discover a concentration camp. It’s one of my favourite episodes. It shows the camps and the people inside of them in ways that I had never seen before. But that’s not the first time I learned about racism.
In grade four or five we read a book about a Jewish girl and her successful attempt to escape the Nazis. A few years later, we read about the underground railroad and slavery in the United States. As a child, I can’t remember all my reactions or if I knew how to react to racism, but I can remember being confused. I just couldn’t understand why. As an aside, of course, we were never taught about the racism towards First Nations people.
I never knew any Jewish people in Regina until my first year of University. And it was very exciting for me. I’ve heard so much about you! Is what I might have said. After reading a bible for years, learning about the holocaust and everything else in pop culture I came to the abrupt realization—Jewish people are just like me (except being the chosen people of God). And that’s all the Jews in Regina. Just one. My friend Danielle (who’s a big shot CBC reporter now in Calgary (so once again Regina is without Jews (I hope my sarcasm is carrying through here))). Then I moved to Calgary and I’ve had the chance to meet lots of Jewish people. I have several good friends here who are Jewish and they are all excellent. And you’ll never guess, but I wouldn’t of had any idea of their background if it hadn’t otherwise come up in conversation.
Today, as an adult, I understand why racism exists or at least I understand national/religious prejudices and how they escalate over hundreds of years and how reason degrades so quickly. I guess, I still don’t understand why. Especially not here. I wouldn’t excuse it anywhere. But here? I suppose it would be naive of me to believe it couldn’t happen here.
I’ve heard about antisemitism and Jewish people for such a long time in a very abstract way and now that I know both concretely I’m extremely horrified (by racism) and grateful to have friends that are Jewish (don’t worry, I still love you gentiles). We’re all in this mess together and divisions aren’t going to get us anywhere faster. Plus, division ruins my titles!
Posted in Featured 5 Comments
Duke’s poop
Sorry that I haven’t posted in so long. I had this great plan to post regularly and then we got Duke. I was thinking I shouldn’t post about Duke too much because you’ll get sick of him. I’m sick of him (not really)—just his poop.
That dog can crap. I mean, really crap. And then he got sick on Thursday. I would have posted more on the weekend, but he got sick (and I got sick—more about me later). He had diarrhea on Thursday morning. Gross. I stupidly fed him. I came home at lunch to walk him and he had diarrhea again. Leah got home by 4:30, but it was too long. The smell is what hits you first. The closer you get, the further away you want to be. Duke sprayed the inside of his kennel. So, so gross. So we clean that up. By we, I mean we except that I did all the dirty stuff. It wasn’t befitting a lady I guess or maybe it was something about how HE IS YOUR DOG! We let him out regularly on Thursday night, but that wasn’t enough.
Duke had another round in him. I heard Leah yelling from the basement, HE POOPED ON MY RUG! I went down and saw a few little drops on the hallway rug. That’s not so bad, I thought. Leah went huffing upstairs. I went to the basement bathroom to get the gloves and rags to clean the rug off a bit before I threw it in the wash and the smell hit me. Leah only saw the hallway rug. Not the bathroom. A small, stinky explosion had gone off. And not only did a poop bomb blow up, but it went off on the drier—which was running. I don’t know if you are catching what was happening here. There was a bun in the oven, but bread wasn’t on the menu. The diarrhea was baking on the side of the drier. And I started laughing because, well, it was better than crying.
That was Thursday. Friday was a rough day, but there were no more indoor accidents. By the end of Friday things were looking better. I took him on a walk Saturday morning and everything seemed fine. I fed him a little. All day, fine. Walked again at supper, fine. Fed a little more. Then, the last walk of the night, Duke poops. The first one was starting to look solid. A great sign. But then the second, third and fourth were liquid. Sunday, not much was coming but it was liquid and now with blood.
Needless to say, Duke is going to the vet today. So send Duke your good vibes, prayers or whatever magical healing powers you have. He’s having a tough go.
Posted in Featured 8 Comments
Duke: Shorn
Here’s the before picture. Duke’s hair hadn’t been cared for at the pound so he had to be shaved because it was matted and knotted. It couldn’t be saved, I was told. So now he’s naked.
Posted in Photo Leave a comment
My back up plan: Goat farm in India
This is a hilarious video that Connor posted. It’s a real video about the real change that a goat can bring to an impoverished family. For $20 you can buy someone a goat.
But this got me thinking about a back up plan. Everyone needs a back up. What if some serious shit goes down and you need to get out of the country? I don’t know what would happen that would require me to get out of the country, but I can imagine it. And since I can imagine it, there’s a probability it will happen.
For instance, yesterday I was thinking—I should buy one of those big jugs of water and keep it in the basement in case of an emergency. Maybe get some extra propane, candles and canned food. Just in case. And this is the stuff that fills a lot of my time. What if Calgary has a tornado? What if I rob a bank and need to fly to the other side of the world and hide out? If that happens, I am going to need a goat farm in India.
This is an investment opportunity
If I can buy a goat in India for $20, how much could a farm cost? $250? I mean, I don’t need anything big. Maybe a small barn and a pasture for grazing. And a house. Frankly, if I was on the lam(b) (I know sheep and goats aren’t the same, but whatever—it’s funny!), I think I’d live in a tent if I had to. However, if I did just rob a bank then I could probably do better than a tent.
All that being said, I would need to setup the farm before hand. Let’s just presume, that as a decent human being, I am not ever going to rob a bank (but the probability always exists). What if I just bought a goat farm, hired a local team of goat farmers and then shared the profits. Sure, you might be thinking if you studied postcolonial theory, that this is incredibly offensive. But even if you are some kind of postcolonial nutbar, you are a capitalist first. So get your act together. This is about the Benjamins (or Queen Elizabeth’s—I actually have no idea what’s on a Canadian hundred dollar bill because I’ve never seen one because I DON’T HAVE A GOAT FARM). Are you seeing the monetization potential and all probable synergies?
Think about synergies
Just think. If I own a goat farm and maybe you buy a goat farm next door. We could maximize our production team to manage both farms at the same time. Twice the work, half the pay. Now you are thinking like a business man (or woman—but you know, hopefully not). Not too mention that we’d have a greater genetic pool to spread amongst our goats. We could share bulls. Wait, that’s cows. What’s a male goat? Just looked it up—Billy Goat. We could share our Billys!
Finally, because we will have to check in on our farms, from time-to-time, we can split up those travel arrangements. I can go. Then you go. Then I go. Then you. It means more time with our families and our all the money we’re making from our respective goat farms. Presumably, I’ll be doing a bit better than you, but I’m supportive and don’t gloat often.
Get a goat farm now, before all the good ones are taken
The bleeding hearts out there are buying all the good goats. We need to act now and act fast. Get your goat farm today. Contact me for real estate and goat prices. I charge a 30% commission on all sales. And I call dibs on the best goat farm available.
Or maybe…
It’s Christmas (basically), buy someone a goat or donate
I don’t know that I personally recommend the above group. I don’t know anything about them. Could be a giant scam, for all I know. It’s just a funny song. I do, however, recommend uend (formerly ChristmasFuture) if you want to give to a charity that is empowering local people to change their own lives and communities with donations (not some a real colonial charity that makes decisions of what communities need from afar).