Hey faithful readers,

Sorry for the lack of postings, but it just means I’ll have more content coming up in the next few weeks.

I’ve got some important-ish news.  I’m moving the blog. Originally, I created this blog (and subsequently, the domain name) to be of a sort of personal, silly nature that myself and a few friends and family would read.  And while I haven’t become a permanent fixture in blogging or anything of that nature, this blog has indeed sort of evolved into being a bit more serious than what I originally intended (ie, my weekend plans, etc.)

Thus, to nurture and protect the more “formal” air I want this blog to take on, I’m moving the site to http://studentmusings.wordpress.com  

I just didn’t feel comfortable with the previous URL.  An illusion to my favourite New Zealand, folk-pop-comedy musical duo, Flight of the Conchords, it suited well as an informal, silly URL, but does not really fit with the direction I’m going to try to take my blog.  

So please, check out the new blog, and keep on rocking in the free world.

- Jordan

So, last night I attended the forum at University Hall, where candidates for the Federal Riding of Kings-Hants spoke. If you’re from the Wolfville area, or know people who attend Acadia University, get your hands on this week’s copy of the Athenaeum, where my article that I wrote for the paper will be displayed.

I guess the purpose of this blog post is to say the things I wanted to say in my article for the Ath, but couldn’t as it wasn’t supposed to be an opinion piece.

I’m not going to give a who said what on certain issues (unless there is some reader requests; I took a LOT of notes), as all the candidates essentially towed the party line.  The issues that were brought up were many and varied, ranging from post-secondary education to justice to child-care to copywrite issues. 

Despite popular expectations, a lot of mud-slinging went on.  True, while the nature of a “forum” rather than a bona fide ”debate,” doesn’t allow for the type of back and forth a lot of people craved, the shots and jabs and mud-slinging was subtle in the candidates’ reponses.

PARTISAN OPINION ALERT!

Dr. Carol Harris, the candidate for the New Democratic Party, however, was the only one who kept her “attacks” on a professional, issues-based level.  While she was by no means submissive in the debate, her shots at the other three candidates were lined with civility and professionalism.

Rosemary Segado displayed a cold, calculating persona one might expect from someone directly-picked by Harper’s cronies in Ottawa, and she made many a fumble throughout the night.  When asked about her opinions on copywrite issues and downloading, she stated, “It’s against the law; I know my kids don’t do it.” Which is an absurd assumption.  Other than that, she had little to say. In a move reminiscent of VP hopeful Sarah Palin, Segado said, “I don’t really know a lot about it. I’ll have to get back to you.”  Rosemary Segado was also attacked very subtly by Mr. Brison, who said, “I don’t trust Harper, and neither do a lot of Canadians.   Some have referred to him as an elected dictatorship.”  Mrs. Segado’s husband, Mr. Roberto Segado, referred to the Harper regime as an elected dictatorship in a comment on a story on the Globe and Mail’s website.  (If Mr. Segado doesn’t like conservatives, why is he reading the Globe and Mail?)

Scott Brison was a great orator on Tuesday, but his demeanor on the stage was somewhat juvenile; for example, while Segado was trying to speak on the Conservative’s environmental policy (a subject Brison had attacked moments before), Mr. Brison grinned, and in a childish (though hilarious) display, handed the Conservative platform to Segado.  Rosemary, needless to say, got pretty irked and demanded the moderator give her “additional time,” to speak. Dr. Wilkes, however, didn’t deliver on that particular request.

Green candidate, Brendan McNeill, held his own against candidates of higher calibre and experience, and was actually surprisingly well-versed on a number of subjects.  I’m no fan of the Greens, who flip and flop from right to left more than a fish out of water, but I can’t help but give kudos to McNeill.  His comments on how 90% of his wardrobe is from Frenchies received raucous applause and laughter.

One Hants county man got POed by Brison’s mere prescence, and after a back and forth with the candidate, stormed out of the room.  I spoke to the man afterward, and he stated that he didn’t trust Mr. Brison.  He said the incumbent lies through his teeth and isn’t fit to be an MP.  ”I could cut the political career out from under him if I told what I know about him,” stated the man.  

So, with all the japes, drama, and debate that went on at U-Hall last night, one would be foolish to describe the night as anything less than lively.

So, below the border, the House of Representatives voted AGAINST the financial bail-out bill.

The exact breakdown is as follows:

Democratic Reps – For the Bill: 140
                               Against: 95

Republican Reps – For: 65
                              Against: 133

Republican Congressman Jerry Weller (R-Illinois) abstained.

So, that brings the total to 205 “Ayes” and 228 “Noes”.  

For a complete Rollcall, check here.

Personally, I see this a victory for democracy, as most Americans do NOT support this bailout.

Soooo…

No blog post in a while, eh?  I’m real sorry, but my profs actually started to give us homework other than reading.  Then on top of that I’ve got extra-curriculars, a social-life, eating, sleeping, and my work with the local candidate for the New Democratic Party, Dr. Carol Harris.

Yeah, you read that last bit right!  I’ve got to say, getting so involved with the political process already has got me really excited about this country.  It is easy to get disenfranchised in modern-day Canada’s electoral system.  A first-past-the-post system in a federal, parliamentary-democracy really doesn’t work.  With multiple parties garnering large amounts of support, the electorate becomes divided and people like Mulroney and Harper get elected…. But more on that at a later date, I’m rambling. 

My work with the NDP has been essentially office work, but I did do some campaigning with Dr. Harris and a couple other students, from Acadia and Dal (I haven’t mentioned names because I haven’t really asked them if its ok) at the Windsor Exhibition.  That was pretty daunting stuff, especially for a quiet, reserved guy like myself.  

The Windsor Exhibition is an annual event that is part-carnival, part-county fair, but all fun.  The thing is, events like demolition derbies and tractor-pulling go on at the Ex, and, while I’m not trying to make generalizations here, those kind of events usually attract people that are sympathetic towards the Conservative Party.  At any rate, come the end of the day, we had gotten our message, as well as some literature on the party and Dr. Harris, out quite a bit, so that was good.

This Saturday, I’ll be out in the Kings-Hants riding, spreading the social democratic message with some fellow NDPers.

Wow guys!  This is amazing.

So, both the Conservative and New Democratic Parties have succumbed to public pressure and collective indignation and have agreed to allow Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in the Leader’s Debate this election.

This is truly a milestone, for we Canadians have (re)learned that, ultimately, our leaders are accountable to us.  Maybe no on every minute, specific issue, but atleast we now know for sure that there is a potential for change and a potential for mass control over our elected bodies and officials.

God Bless the Canadian People!

North America is an election mecca at the moment. The spectacle and pageantry of the American candidate nominations and elections has been in the news for quite some time now, but last week, as I’ve stated in more recent posts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election here in the Great White North as well.

If North America is election mecca, then Nova Scotia is, at least for the time being, the epicentre. Recently, I posted about the scandal that is currently in the news: Green Party Elizabeth May, who is running in a Nova Scotia Riding, as been unceremoniously banned and barred from attending the televised leader’s debate. In addition to that, it would appear that more election gossip and controversy has erupted in Canada’s Ocean Playground.

Recently, the Conservative Party dropped it’s appointed Halifax candidate (that’s right, appointed, not selected by the locals, because our election system has some major flaws.) because she, apparently, has two criminal convictions.

Rosalind Luke was appointed by the Conservatives last Sunday by some, higher-up, party-brass, bureaucrats, because the party couldn’t be bothered to allow the locals to nominate their own candidate. Because of this, the party inadvertently appointed a woman who has a dualistic history; one of community service and championing women’s rights, but also a history of repeated lawbreaking truancy. I am all for second chances and criminal rehabilitation, and I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to Ms. Luke being the nominee, or ultimately even the MP, for Halifax. That’s not the story here. What the problem is is that the Conservatives, after this blunder, are obviously so disconnected from the people and locals that they seek to represent that they overlooked this significant part of Rosalind Luke’s track record.

Luke’s two criminal charges were reportedly something to do with “uttering threats” and “breaching an undertaking,” according to a reputable Nova Scotia news source, The Chronicle Herald.

That’s not all though. In the Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley riding of former Conservative, now-Independent MP Bill Casey, the Conservatives apparently have appointed some random staffer. Basically, this means he or she is some average Joe or Jane that is hardly a public figure, and hardly a selection the locals would have made.

Finally, in my own riding of Kings-Hants, Rosemary Segado, a town councilor in the lovely town of Wolfville, has been appointed as the Conservative nominee. (Once again, another appointment. It would appear that democracy is quickly becoming an archaic term in the collective lexicons of Canada’s major political parties.) I attended elementary school with Segado’s daughter, and have met Segado once when I was much younger. She is a wonderfully charming woman, if my memory serves me correctly. However, that does not excuse the fact that she secured her position as Conservative nominee in an extremely under-handed, undemocratic way.

It is clear from these threefold blunders that the Conservatives have little sympathy for the Nova Scotian, or indeed Maritime, people.  Indeed, it is still the Progressive Conservative Party that forms the provincial government here in N.S.   Then again, it should not really be a shock.  Stephen Harper called ours a “culture of entitlement.”   The Conservatives don’t understand the strong tradition of “red” or “socially-responsible” conservatism here, and that really is a shame.

Conservative Nova Scotians, I urge you to not vote Conservative after this nonsensical blundering.  Harper is not a Progressive-Conservative.

The Canadian Alliance elements of the amalgamated Conservative Party are shining brightly here in the Maritimes, and I don’t mean that in a positive way.

So, apparently the multinational Large Hadron Collider has been tested for the first time earlier this morning. 

For those of you who don’t know, the Large Hadron Collider is essentially a big, snazzy tunnel under the Swiss/French border that is able to rapidly fire atoms at each other, thus replicating the conditions of the theorized Big Bang that most believe created our universe. 

Opponents of the Large Hadron Collider worked effortlessly to have the thing not built at all; and when it was built, they lobbied to have it destroyed.  Apparently, some people believe that the Large Hadron Collider has the potential to tear open a black hole that would suck up the planet and everything around it.

This is some pretty Star Trek-esque stuff going on up in hurr.

John Huth, a Harvard prof. and scienmatist who works on and with the collider, denounced the threat of a black hole as “Baloney!”  and said that even if a black hole were to be created, it would be small.

“The gravitational force is so weak that you’d have to wait many, many, many, many, many lifetimes of the universe before one of these things could [get] big enough to even get close to being a problem,”

he said.

Sounds promising, Dr. Huth. /sarcasm.

Personally, I find this project a gross waste of funds that could be better spent on issues like alleviating poverty,  ensuring that the social programs of Europe can continue to exist, and providing media campaigns to combat issues like racism, sexism, “Islamophobia,” and so forth.  It’s rediculous to try and discover “where we came from,” because I believe that even if we do learn all there is to know about our Universe, it means very little if we as a society don’t even know how to care for the old and infirm, the weak, the disadvantaged.

It’s a shame all these funds were blown on the frickin’ modern-day equivalent of the Tower of Babel, and not spent in a more productive, fiscally-responsible way.

Good morning everyone.

I have class in less than two hours, but I figured I’d take some time out of my morning to update my blog.  Besides, an extremely newsworthy story that’s got me all fired up has just surfaced, and I need to vent. 

An election has been called, but that’s not the news, though it’s election related.

Recently, the Canadian network consortium, featuring suits from all the major Canadian networks, ruled that Green Party leader Elizabeth May would not be allowed to speak in the upcoming Leader’s debates.  Moreover, as if corporate lackeys shitting on our democracy and rights wasn’t enough, three major party leaders supported this gross affront to all things democratic as well.  The Right Honourable PM Stephen Harper, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, and New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton have all agreed that May should not be allowed to have her say, making ludicrous claims saying that May is essentially “Dion’s candidate in Central Nova.”

Now, in the past, the Green Party has been barred from the debates because they had no representative in the House of Commons.  With the recent floor-crossing of former-Independant MP Blair Wilson, the Greens do have a representative and therefore, in my opinion, should be allowed to have their leader (and, subsequently) their ideals and goals showcased in the Leader’s Debate.  Don’t even get me started on the fact that the Green Party is supporting prospective candidates in 306 ridings; many more than Gilles Douceppe’s party.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a staunch NDP supporter, and have been for the few years I’ve been politically aware.  At the ripe age of 18, that’s about 3 years.   That being said, the fact that Jack Layton and the NDP supported this decision, and that Layton even went as far as to say he wouldn’t attend the Leader’s debate if may did, has me seriously reevaluating my support of the NDP.  They are still far more favourable to me than any party currently existing in Canada, major or not; but that doesn’t make me feel any less insulted by them.

I planned to vote NDP in the upcoming October election, and likely still will.  Though, I almost want to give my vote to the Green Party candidate in my riding instead, just to send a message, (however small the message may be.)  I’ve never been very fond of May, or the Green Party.  But I am fond of democracy.

It pisses me off that Gilles Duceppe is allowed to attend the Leader’s debate while Elizabeth May is not.  One is an environmentalist, focused on reducing emissions, countering climate change, and ultimately, saving lives.  While a lot of the Green Party’s ideas are fairly detrimental to the economy at large, and far too lofty for the often apathetic Canadian electorate, they are still markedly more beneficial to the nation than those of a frickin’ seperatist party!

Duceppe and the Bloc exist only to undermine Canada, and our legislature.  They are only in power because the first-past-the-post system is terribly flawed, and their ideals and goals are based on an archaic notion of tribalism and an us-vs-them mentality. 

It’s a sad state when a man who desires to dismantle a country gets more rights from said country than a woman who wants to save it. 

I’m one pissed off Canadian at the moment.

How do you feel about this decision?

Bonjour mes amis!

Well, well, well.  I’ve got to say, the tail-end of my Summer Vacation was spectacular.

My two good friends from Maine, first cousins Jake and Karyn came to visit, and barrels of fun was had by all. Karyn also brought her boyfriend, James, who was all kinds of cool.

Basically, Karyn, Jake, and James all arrived in Digby, a small town about an hour or so from Wolfville, at which point Karyn and James went to Brier Island (where both Jake and I used to live) and Jake came up to hang out with yours truly.

After about a couple days in Wolfville, Jake and I went to the island as well, where we chilled with Caleb and Will. Bomb.

It was pretty neat since it was the first time we’d all hung out together since ‘03 or ‘04; or as Jake would say, “Since we were baby muppets.” Haha!

Basically we just rode around on bicycles on the thin, unpainted asphalt roads of Brier Island like it was nobody’s business, swam in the Bay of Fundy at refreshingly frigid temperatures, and effectively decimated both the pollock and marshmallow populations within a 15 kilometre radius with our mad fishing and campfire building skills.

Then last Thursday I came here to Saint John, NB, to visit my lovely mom and radtastic sister, which was fun. Jake, James, Karyn, and I travelled on the ferry together, which was nice. Having Jake and Karyn’s grandma, Caroline, aboard with us also helped make what is generally a long trip a little more exciting. Caroline, bless her heart, got a little teary-eyed when we all said our goodbyes at the terminal.

Anyways, it’s now (insert obscenely crazy hour) in the morning, and I’m heading home tomorrow. Classes at university start this Wednesday, but there is still a heckuva lot of frosh activities to do before then, so I’m kind of anxious to head back.

- JC

Reading.

I do a lot of it.  Sometimes, I worry I read too much.  What if I take in so much information from books that I forget my first Christmas.  Haha, not truly, but you never know, it could happen.  

Other times, I worry that I’m not reading productively.  Should I be reading more Hemmingway and Wollestonecraft and Marx instead of more modern writers?  Probably.

Lately, I’ve been religiously rereading George RR Martin’s fantasy epic, “A Song of Ice and Fire.”  Are series’ supposed to be quotationed or italicized or underlined?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, Martin’s series is nothing short of amazing, and it blows any traditional fantasy shamelessly out of the water.

I know, I know.  You’re probably thinking, “Who fucking reads fantasy?”  And I agree; the genre is pretty dead.  The original men and women of fantasy; Shelley, Tolkien, Lewis, all wrote the genre and distorted reality and literature as the world knew it.  Tolkien flippin’ invented entire languages to bring his series to life.   He compiled notes and notes of backstory, despite the fact that no one would ever see or read it.  What I’m saying is that the original intention of fantasy or science fiction literature was to take a unique take on the real world, on the human experience.

Not anymore, though.  Now, the pages of fantasy literature are little more than buxom, Amazonian-esque Half Elves travelling with wizened, Obi-wan figure #9 and Christ-figure #6 to defeat trecherous villain #5.  It’s a whole load of BS, where the protaganists can do naught but succeed, where every plan comes to fruition, and success is only a training montage away.

George RR Martin has, thank all that is holy, shattered these rules and thrown them out the window in his series, “A Song of Ice and Fire.”  Set in a quasi-medieval, polytheistic (but not really) society, A Song of Ice and Fire is everything fantasy was meant to be originally, and more.  Martin continues the legacies of writers like Shelley, Tolkien, and Lewis while others only bastardized the latter’s works until their collective iconic corpses rolled restlessly in their graves.

A Song of Ice and Fire is gritty, dirty, and mean.  It’s a sharp kick in the balls from a size-16 foot.  The world of A Song and Ice and Fire is one where a pretty little girl has her notions of chivalry and honor destroyed by a burnt-faced knight who relishes in slaughter and alcohol; where an innocent eight-year-old boy is thrown from a tower window for merely climbing around and accidentally stumbling on high treason and incest.  A world where a man plagued with dwarfism falls in love with whores who only love his coin.

The world of ASOIAF is one where seasons last for years, sometimes decades.  It is a world brewing with political intrigue, warfare, and romance.  Martin effortlessly juxtaposes scenes depicting crude violence and lewd sex with those that remind us of the innocence of childhood and the love and importance of family.

The series is unique in many ways.  What you’ll first notice is the unique way in which Martin presents his story.  Each chapter is from the point of view of a different character, allowing for a seamless story where over twenty very different (yet refreshingly three-dimensional) characters are all protagonists in their own right.  The range of characters is pleasantly broad, from the aforementioned dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who makes up for his stunted frame with his quick wit, quicker tongue, and unsatiable taste for political intrigue to the Lady Catelyn Stark, matriarch of the Stark Family, the veritable “good guys” of the story (for the first few chapters anyway) with a whole slew of loveable and hatable men, women, and children in between.  In addition, no character is safe in Martin’s series.  Heroes and honorable men die while those guilty of crimes as horrible as rape and infanticide continue to thrive, and Martin makes no apologies.  This makes Martin’s work all the more exciting and enjoyable, his realistic, believable writing slaps traditional fantasy in the face, starkly reminding it that, in the real world, the ruthless and vile usually triumph.

As of this writing, A Song of Ice and Fire has four books released, with a fifth long overdue and likely to be out within the next few months.  The titles are (with the last two being tentative):
- A Game of Thrones
- A Clash of Kings
- A Storm of Swords
- A Feast for Crows
- A Dance With Dragons
- The Winds of Winter
- A Dream of Spring
I highly reccomend that anyone with a mature vocabulary and a strong stomach pick up the first book.  You’ll likely get hooked.  Just note that the books are rife with foul language, and descriptive scenes of both sex and violence.  Sometimes, even I find the books too intense and have to put them down.  Also, be aware that the books are typically in the range of 900 pages, so be prepared for a lengthy addiction.

The other bit of reading I’ve been doing is Lesley Choyce’s, “The Republic of Nothing.”  I’ve never read this novel before, but I’ve heavily indulged in Choyce’s other works many times.   His coming-of-age, thin novels such as “Good Idea Gone Bad,”  “Wave Watch,” “The Dark End of Dream Street,” and many other similar works, (banded together, atleast in the additions I read, by their similar, colourful title pages and artistry.)  These books were critical aspects of my formative years, opening my young, pre-teen eyes to issues like women’s rights, environmental concerns, drug abuse, and poverty.  It seems to me that “The Republic of Nothing” is simply an extension of those previous novels of Choyce’s, and I mean that in the most positive way.  It explores similar issues, albeit in a more poetic, mature manner.

Set on the fictional (?) locale of Whalebone Island, Nova Scotia, the Republic of Nothing opens with Mr. Everett McQuade, a simple, fisherman-turned-anarchist commemerating the birth of his son, Ian McQuade, by declaring the tiny Whalebone Island an independant nation, affectionately called “The Republic of Nothing.” 

As the years go on, and protagonist Ian McQuade grows, more and more people come to the island to settle; pseudo-doctor Ben Ackerman from New York City, heartbroken and disturbed by the fact that he could not save the multitudes of sick and dying waifs in the concrete jungle of NYC; loving family of three, the Phillips:  the ingenious nuclear physicist Tenessee Phillips, his movie-star wife, and their daughter, the lifetime love interest of Ian, Gwendolyn Phillips. 

While the immigrants of the Republic are loveable and refreshingly believable, this is no less true of her native denizens.  The McQuade Family are a tapestry of eccentricities:  Everett and his desire to “save the world,”  Ian and his saint-like nature, Mrs. Dorothy McQuade, lost as her Oz-ian namesake; a mermaid of a woman, washed up from sea years ago without a memory to speak of, and Casey McQuade, the esoteric daughter who speaks to the moon and dreams of dragons and becoming a singer, (an African-American one, no less.) 

The novel talks about issues like creating and destroying, love and hate, freedom and slavery, conformity and individuality. It speaks of abortion, women’s rights, elderly old men who dream of being privateers, the anti-war movement, and the civil rights movement.  But most importantly, the novel is about the sea, and as a Nova Scotian lad, I simply can’t get enough of it.

I highly reccomend Lesley Choyce as an author; go pick up the Republic of Nothing from a bookstore, a friend, or a library.  Whether or not you grew up near the ocean, you’ll appreciate it.

If anyone feels I haven’t done these books justice in my rambling of a review, then, please feel free to comment your little hearts out.  If anyone has any questions regarding these books, again, feel free to comment or reach me by e-mail.  I simply would love to talk about them.