For those who truly know me this will come as no surprise: I am writing a book. The working title is "Me". This is a work that has been frothing up to the surface for the past 21 years but I just didn't know where to start.
It starts like this: "I spent my teenage Saturday mornings in the bowels of the Art Gallery of Ontario, taking art lessons at the Anne Tanenbaum Gallery School. Instead of watching Saturday morning cartoons I was drawing naked old men and nude pregnant women."
The Caledon Public Library has bought a couple of copies of Broken Axle Spinning Blind for its collection and it is available for purchase on Amazon. Though it would be lovely to sell thousands of copies I just want people to read it. There are so few times in life when you can truly feel satisfied with what you have done and I am satisfied with it.
People don't usually expect poetry to be good so when I give them a copy they take it expecting it to be bad and then they start to read it. The reaction is best described as confusion because now they don't know what to think. If an author gives you their work somehow it means less than if you found it yourself.
That's the thing about written work, people like to discover it for themselves.
So, discover it. I challenge you. Get a copy of Broken Axle Spinning Blind, by Freyda Tartak and see for yourself.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Village of SouthFields
So here is a new community sitting at the top of Brampton and a bunch of folks full of big ideas. They want to live close to everything and still get all the perks of country life. Is is possible?
Exactly how sustainable is the notion that a subdivision located just north of Brampton won't be exactly like Brampton before too long? This is indeed an interesting social experiment.
Caledon has at its disposal a chance to either descend into the bowls of history repeating itself or learn from previous municipal mistakes. Mayfield West can either become Brampton, Bolton, or indeed an extension of Caledon charm... or it can be some crazy hybrid. This last option is much less likely than either of the first since people will naturally make it one over the other. In this situation there is only black and white.
For now they have formed a residents group to piggy back on the ideas of established Caledon communities such as Terra Cotta, Belfountain, Cheltenham, Inglewood, and Bolton. They even got themselves an official day and an interesting little rag called the SouthFields Village Voice.
There's a gal over there working like mad to get people into the right mindset because she is convinced in the power of the masses to sway the tides of history. We will just have to wait and see how it all pans out.
The resident's group seems to be off to a flying start with a couple of big issues raised at the last meeting and resolved in lightening fast fashion. In the end it will be up to the people who move there but here's a vote from an incurable romantic: Power to the people.
Exactly how sustainable is the notion that a subdivision located just north of Brampton won't be exactly like Brampton before too long? This is indeed an interesting social experiment.
Caledon has at its disposal a chance to either descend into the bowls of history repeating itself or learn from previous municipal mistakes. Mayfield West can either become Brampton, Bolton, or indeed an extension of Caledon charm... or it can be some crazy hybrid. This last option is much less likely than either of the first since people will naturally make it one over the other. In this situation there is only black and white.
For now they have formed a residents group to piggy back on the ideas of established Caledon communities such as Terra Cotta, Belfountain, Cheltenham, Inglewood, and Bolton. They even got themselves an official day and an interesting little rag called the SouthFields Village Voice.
There's a gal over there working like mad to get people into the right mindset because she is convinced in the power of the masses to sway the tides of history. We will just have to wait and see how it all pans out.
The resident's group seems to be off to a flying start with a couple of big issues raised at the last meeting and resolved in lightening fast fashion. In the end it will be up to the people who move there but here's a vote from an incurable romantic: Power to the people.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
OHIP Expiry date: Attempt to manage fraud or added layer of needless bureaucracy?
There is no question that identity theft and technological access to the ability to manipulate information are valid issue and cost millions of dollars and oodles of inconvenience for governments, business, and private individuals. However, in dealing with these issues you can't help but shake your head at the group think that must have gone on in forcing people with precious little time to jump through hoops just to make sure that they can take their toddlers to the doctor.
It is flu season and my son has the flu. Having recently relocated and with a busy career, I admit it, I lost the stupid renewal form. But now I have to go to an office, and not just any ohip office. One that is not privately run. Of course figuring out which office is a ministry run office requires a private investigator's certificate from a community college. Too bad I don't have the time to go get one.
The people who work in either type of office are not inclined to tell you that it is the wrong office until you have paid your dues by waiting in the wrong line twice. Then, you have to bring all sorts of proof and id for something that they would have accepted a signature for if you just mailed the stoopid form in, in the first place.
When I asked why the card expires in the first place I was told that it is because so many people leave the country. Well, then have card for citizens that doesn't and have a card for temporary and permanent residents and people here on a visa. Why should a baby born on Canadian soil have to go through the same suspicion and scrutiny as people who were born elsewhere?
It may not be a politically correct thing to say but it would be nice if logic prevailed on this one.
Way to spent tax payer's money... and yes, my time is worth money!
It is flu season and my son has the flu. Having recently relocated and with a busy career, I admit it, I lost the stupid renewal form. But now I have to go to an office, and not just any ohip office. One that is not privately run. Of course figuring out which office is a ministry run office requires a private investigator's certificate from a community college. Too bad I don't have the time to go get one.
The people who work in either type of office are not inclined to tell you that it is the wrong office until you have paid your dues by waiting in the wrong line twice. Then, you have to bring all sorts of proof and id for something that they would have accepted a signature for if you just mailed the stoopid form in, in the first place.
When I asked why the card expires in the first place I was told that it is because so many people leave the country. Well, then have card for citizens that doesn't and have a card for temporary and permanent residents and people here on a visa. Why should a baby born on Canadian soil have to go through the same suspicion and scrutiny as people who were born elsewhere?
It may not be a politically correct thing to say but it would be nice if logic prevailed on this one.
Way to spent tax payer's money... and yes, my time is worth money!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Going door-to-door
So, I'm going door-to-door to hand stuff out and people are very suspicious. That's good. Imagine their surprise when I want nothing more than to give them stuff they want.
Don't ask me why because I might just tell you.
Don't ask me why because I might just tell you.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Stand up for human rights
Canadian politicians are a rare bread of animal. They are uniformly at once too concerned with appealing to their voter base and committed to their own moral compass.
Dalton McGuinty, late last week, tried to sneak in new legislation forcing schools to introduce sex ed to kids in grade 1. Are you kidding me? By grade three they wanted kids to be taught about anal sex and masturbation. Why? What exactly is the point of teaching about masturbation? To make sure they know what to do and how to do it?
Luckily, he backed down less than a day after announcing it.
Prime Minister Harper is not as quick to back down on conviction. Now here is an idealist who truly believes in what he is doing. Well, it is well known that Liberals will prostitute themselves for votes while Conservatives have far right tendencies, especially this flavor of Conservatives. Luckily, we still live in a democracy... although I don't know who the alternative might be: Ignatieff? Duceppe? Layton?
At the heart of the point here is the stance on abortion. Religious belief and moralistic superiority against doing what is right for humanity as a whole. For now Canada will not support access to safe medically supervised abortion in countries most in need of the funding. Who cares that in those countries the reason women find themselves pregnant is because of a lack of choice in the matter. Sure there is a fair number of uneducated women and girls but there is also a larger number of men who simply don't regard women and what happens to them as anything worthy of consideration. They do what they will and leave legions of children behind. These girls then become outcasts, destitute and desperate. But, Stephen Harper has his morals to contend with.
Go Hillary Clinton and go Obama. Women's rights are still human rights and they recognize that. I may not be American but, I'm more proud to be their neighbor.
Dalton McGuinty, late last week, tried to sneak in new legislation forcing schools to introduce sex ed to kids in grade 1. Are you kidding me? By grade three they wanted kids to be taught about anal sex and masturbation. Why? What exactly is the point of teaching about masturbation? To make sure they know what to do and how to do it?
Luckily, he backed down less than a day after announcing it.
Prime Minister Harper is not as quick to back down on conviction. Now here is an idealist who truly believes in what he is doing. Well, it is well known that Liberals will prostitute themselves for votes while Conservatives have far right tendencies, especially this flavor of Conservatives. Luckily, we still live in a democracy... although I don't know who the alternative might be: Ignatieff? Duceppe? Layton?
At the heart of the point here is the stance on abortion. Religious belief and moralistic superiority against doing what is right for humanity as a whole. For now Canada will not support access to safe medically supervised abortion in countries most in need of the funding. Who cares that in those countries the reason women find themselves pregnant is because of a lack of choice in the matter. Sure there is a fair number of uneducated women and girls but there is also a larger number of men who simply don't regard women and what happens to them as anything worthy of consideration. They do what they will and leave legions of children behind. These girls then become outcasts, destitute and desperate. But, Stephen Harper has his morals to contend with.
Go Hillary Clinton and go Obama. Women's rights are still human rights and they recognize that. I may not be American but, I'm more proud to be their neighbor.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Confusion Marketing
Early on this year I finally got a Blackberry. It was a very exciting moment for me. All that functionality at my fingertips. I was excited. Unfortunately, not long after getting my Blackberry Bold (9000) things started to happen. Strange things. Bad things.
At first it was just a strange pressure in that spot right above the nose, between the eyebrows. Then, there came the burning feeling. A few seconds checking email and I felt like I had spent the day laying out in the sun. My face even started turning red.
Everybody thought I was making things up. I wasn't. The phone has a couple of neat little features. You can set it to turn off and on at a specific time and as soon as it would turn on I would know because I would feel it. I started turning it off unless I needed to make a call and then I discovered that if somebody sends you a meeting request and the reminder for the meeting comes on, the phone turns itself on. I found out because all of a sudden I felt it be on despite having turned it off.
So, anyway, busy life and too much to do and I went over the 30 day return period. So, after six weeks it turned into dealing with arrogant people telling me they'd never heard of these problems and I was out of luck.
Now, it is end of April and it's been four months. Suddenly the tone has changed. They aren't acting like they haven't heard of anything like it. Sounds to me like I'm not as crazy as they thought. A quick web search and at the risk of being accused of self-diagnosis, sounds like I have Electrosensitivity. Now there is a word that even the spell checker has a problem with.
Long and short of it is that even though an increasingly large number of people are suffering from it, it is not recognized as legit and attracts a huge amount of criticism. There is no shortage of cyberhate. Just check out these links for some samples of propaganda of those intimidated by the thought of somebody having a problem with the opium of the 21st Century.
http://www.radiationresearch.org/conference/downloads/011555_rubin_extra.pdf
http://depletedcranium.com/the-blog-of-an-electrosensitive-no-this-is-not-a-joke/
So finally hubby decided he'd humor me and lo and behold the conversation has changed. They were much more willing to talk. It seems people are starting to take this a bit more seriously.
Still, it is a bit frightening. These days we are surrounded by smart phones and when somebody near me is using them I feel its effects. I find myself sitting in my car at a stop light and not watching the insides of other people's cars and then suddenly feeling it. I look and see the person in the car beside me on their Blackberry or iPhone.
Well today there are people who are convinced that it is all in my head but keep in mind that this is exactly how women are treated in medicine anyway. A guy comes and complains about something and he gets taken seriously. A woman is accused of being female.
Now I'm just venting.
Anyway, they agreed to take back the phone and exchange it for something less "smart" but here comes in a common frustration when it comes to mobile device sales: The deployment of Confusion Marketing. I think they go through a special tactical course on how to confuse the consumer.
I have a very hard time believing that the average person can easily navigate the waters of the mobile sales lingo. That industry has basically invented an entire new language, spiced and peppered with acronyms and TLAs. The employees are hired based on their ability to slur all their words and do it as quickly as possible, followed by looking at you like you should be ashamed if you aren't following the most basic of things.
The truth is that very few of them understand the technology and even fewer can explain it properly. This is especially frightening considering the amount of power going through these little things. They keeping getting smaller and able to do more.
You can't just walk in, get straightforward, accurate answers and walk out feeling like you understand what just happened. What you can do is go in and sort of kind of feel like you can justify agreeing to pay too much money for more than you'll ever use, that has a very questionable ability not to cause long term harm to your health.
Cell phones are scary. Bottom line. The only thing scarier than the actual devices are the people who sell them because there is nothing more frightening than arrogant ignorance.
At first it was just a strange pressure in that spot right above the nose, between the eyebrows. Then, there came the burning feeling. A few seconds checking email and I felt like I had spent the day laying out in the sun. My face even started turning red.
Everybody thought I was making things up. I wasn't. The phone has a couple of neat little features. You can set it to turn off and on at a specific time and as soon as it would turn on I would know because I would feel it. I started turning it off unless I needed to make a call and then I discovered that if somebody sends you a meeting request and the reminder for the meeting comes on, the phone turns itself on. I found out because all of a sudden I felt it be on despite having turned it off.
So, anyway, busy life and too much to do and I went over the 30 day return period. So, after six weeks it turned into dealing with arrogant people telling me they'd never heard of these problems and I was out of luck.
Now, it is end of April and it's been four months. Suddenly the tone has changed. They aren't acting like they haven't heard of anything like it. Sounds to me like I'm not as crazy as they thought. A quick web search and at the risk of being accused of self-diagnosis, sounds like I have Electrosensitivity. Now there is a word that even the spell checker has a problem with.
Long and short of it is that even though an increasingly large number of people are suffering from it, it is not recognized as legit and attracts a huge amount of criticism. There is no shortage of cyberhate. Just check out these links for some samples of propaganda of those intimidated by the thought of somebody having a problem with the opium of the 21st Century.
http://www.radiationresearch.org/conference/downloads/011555_rubin_extra.pdf
http://depletedcranium.com/the-blog-of-an-electrosensitive-no-this-is-not-a-joke/
So finally hubby decided he'd humor me and lo and behold the conversation has changed. They were much more willing to talk. It seems people are starting to take this a bit more seriously.
Still, it is a bit frightening. These days we are surrounded by smart phones and when somebody near me is using them I feel its effects. I find myself sitting in my car at a stop light and not watching the insides of other people's cars and then suddenly feeling it. I look and see the person in the car beside me on their Blackberry or iPhone.
Well today there are people who are convinced that it is all in my head but keep in mind that this is exactly how women are treated in medicine anyway. A guy comes and complains about something and he gets taken seriously. A woman is accused of being female.
Now I'm just venting.
Anyway, they agreed to take back the phone and exchange it for something less "smart" but here comes in a common frustration when it comes to mobile device sales: The deployment of Confusion Marketing. I think they go through a special tactical course on how to confuse the consumer.
I have a very hard time believing that the average person can easily navigate the waters of the mobile sales lingo. That industry has basically invented an entire new language, spiced and peppered with acronyms and TLAs. The employees are hired based on their ability to slur all their words and do it as quickly as possible, followed by looking at you like you should be ashamed if you aren't following the most basic of things.
The truth is that very few of them understand the technology and even fewer can explain it properly. This is especially frightening considering the amount of power going through these little things. They keeping getting smaller and able to do more.
You can't just walk in, get straightforward, accurate answers and walk out feeling like you understand what just happened. What you can do is go in and sort of kind of feel like you can justify agreeing to pay too much money for more than you'll ever use, that has a very questionable ability not to cause long term harm to your health.
Cell phones are scary. Bottom line. The only thing scarier than the actual devices are the people who sell them because there is nothing more frightening than arrogant ignorance.
Confusion Marketing
Early on this year I finally got a Blackberry. It was a very exciting moment for me. All that functionality at my fingertips. I was excited. Unfortunately, not long after getting my Blackberry Bold (9000) things started to happen. Strange things. Bad things.
At first it was just a strange pressure in that spot right above the nose, between the eyebrows. Then, there came the burning feeling. A few seconds checking email and I felt like I had spent the day laying out in the sun. My face even started turning red.
Everybody thought I was making things up. I wasn't. The phone has a couple of neat little features. You can set it to turn off and on at a specific time and as soon as it would turn on I would know because I would feel it. I started turning it off unless I needed to make a call and then I discovered that if somebody sends you a meeting request and the reminder for the meeting comes on, the phone turns itself on. I found out because all of a sudden I felt it be on despite having turned it off.
So, anyway, busy life and too much to do and I went over the 30 day return period. So, after six weeks it turned into dealing with arrogant people telling me they'd never heard of these problems and I was out of luck.
Now, it is end of April and it's been four months. Suddenly the tone has changed. They aren't acting like they haven't heard of anything like it. Sounds to me like I'm not as crazy as they thought. A quick web search and at the risk of being accused of self-diagnosis, sounds like I have Electrosensitivity. Now there is a word that even the spell checker has a problem with.
Long and short of it is that even though an increasingly large number of people are suffering from it, it is not recognized as legit and attracts a huge amount of criticism. There is no shortage of cyberhate. Just check out these links for some samples of propaganda of those intimidated by the thought of somebody having a problem with the opium of the 21st Century.
http://www.radiationresearch.org/conference/downloads/011555_rubin_extra.pdf
At first it was just a strange pressure in that spot right above the nose, between the eyebrows. Then, there came the burning feeling. A few seconds checking email and I felt like I had spent the day laying out in the sun. My face even started turning red.
Everybody thought I was making things up. I wasn't. The phone has a couple of neat little features. You can set it to turn off and on at a specific time and as soon as it would turn on I would know because I would feel it. I started turning it off unless I needed to make a call and then I discovered that if somebody sends you a meeting request and the reminder for the meeting comes on, the phone turns itself on. I found out because all of a sudden I felt it be on despite having turned it off.
So, anyway, busy life and too much to do and I went over the 30 day return period. So, after six weeks it turned into dealing with arrogant people telling me they'd never heard of these problems and I was out of luck.
Now, it is end of April and it's been four months. Suddenly the tone has changed. They aren't acting like they haven't heard of anything like it. Sounds to me like I'm not as crazy as they thought. A quick web search and at the risk of being accused of self-diagnosis, sounds like I have Electrosensitivity. Now there is a word that even the spell checker has a problem with.
Long and short of it is that even though an increasingly large number of people are suffering from it, it is not recognized as legit and attracts a huge amount of criticism. There is no shortage of cyberhate. Just check out these links for some samples of propaganda of those intimidated by the thought of somebody having a problem with the opium of the 21st Century.
http://www.radiationresearch.org/conference/downloads/011555_rubin_extra.pdf
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