I'm probably the last blog in the universe (who cares about such things) to link to it, but The Dollhouse trailer is up.

I'm trying to reserve judgement, but it's a struggle. I know the show isn't on the air, and that as a Good Feminist I'm suppose to think Joss is Amazing & Wonderful because he's a man who writes about women and calls himself a feminist* and you go Joss. But I can't quite get beyond his rather consistent racial issues and oh look! It's another prostitution allegory! It bugs me that the prime scene in the trailer is dedicated to Echo as Sex Toy (and it's hard for me to view her as anything else - it's not like she's got a choice) instead of Echo as Cool Assassin or Echo as Do-Gooder. (Also, what's with the pathos of the bride, or the rudeness of her friend?)

I dunno. I want to see this, because I do want to be pleasantly surprised. On the other hand, it's again on Fox. For all that I don't like Firefly I think a lot of my problems with it would have been solved had it been allowed at least a three season run. Fox didn't really give it the chance it needed, between the "let's skip the pilot, who needs that crap?" and "let's place musical time slots!" I'm afraid they're not going to let this show get its sea legs, either.

Oh well. I know I'll hear a lot about this show once it hits the airwaves, because Joss is viewed pretty highly by the bulk of places that I read and because this show has the seeds to be something that will capture a lot of people. If nothing else, the heroine is hot and I am shallow, and I like watching women who are good at kicking do some kicking. I'm shallow that way.


(*And by this I mean not that I don't think he's a feminist, but that he stands up in public and says "Hi, I'm a feminist, and I dig hot chicks with super powers." I'm secretly thrilled whenever anyone says that, especially someone in Hollywood.)

( Spoilers for Queen Susan Kicks Ass & A Bunch Of Other People Go To Narnia )
Later on, I'll have a post about Disney's skeevy racial issues and CS Lewis' skeevy gender issues.

Happy Blessedly Wonderful and Awesome Birthday to the amazing, exciting, enticing and gratifying sabotabby!!!! Many wonderful returns of the day!

PS: I am jealous of the mock duck. Maybe next year!

Oh, Alexa. Alexa, Alexa, you are so dreamy, and ice creamy. I love you like world peace and ponies and bad jokes. And I would totally give up the ponies and the bad jokes for you. You are the queen of my heart. *swoon*

I just came back from the Dialogue on Poverty Issues that I mentioned before. You know how I was sarcastically talking about what I wanted to see in a Poverty Issues discussion? I got all of that and more.

Alexa is participating this week in a Chairity [sic] event for the Quadriplegic (tetraplegic is the term in Australia) Society where they ask prominent members of the community to spend at least one day in a wheelchair while trying to get all their work done. Alexa showed up in her wheelchair and talked passionately about how even though she thought she understood accessibility issues, she didn't really until she had to try to get around for a whole day. She then went on to talk about the links between poverty and disability in Canada, and how more than 55% of disabled Canadians are unemployed, even when they want to work. She talked about how disability and poverty are linked. She made that a priority in her talk, and I swooned.

There were five panellists besides Alexa. One talked about links between sex workers and poverty issues, going into how women in sex work are often there to put clothes on their kids' back and pay the rent, not the "crack whore" stereotype that is out there all the time. Another focused on issues of Social Work and assistance. Another talked about how Canada is the 8th best economy in the world - and yet, with all this money sloshing around, the gap between the rich and the rest of us is getting wider. Another had the details of a year-long plan to close the wage gap and get the noise level up so Pariliment can't ignore us. And then there was the other person, and I'm just gonna put that aside till later.

There was so many wonderful things, my friends. Talking about health issues related to difficulty around food. Talking about accessible and reliable child care. Talking about student issues around poverty and how if you're a student in this province you can't get any other form of social assistance. Housing came up again and again.

And! And! And there was so much talk about "first speakers" - about not campaigning for or about people in poverty, but campaigning with them - their voices being so very important.

It was like I made this big wish-list in my head of issues I'd want covered by this Dialog, Action Plans I'd like discussed, demands made and networking and talking to people and then... and then... I got it! It's like a dream come true.

Oh, and then afterwards, I got to shake Alexa's hand, and talked to her a wee bit about the bus system and trying to get around in a wheelchair, and she talked about how she had tried to arrange some place with Access-A-Bus and discovered you have to book that pretty decently in advance, and she thought that was Not A Good Thing.

Now, it wasn't perfect, but I'm gonna spend my evening ignoring all of that, and just swoon instead.

I took plenty of notes, websites, email addresses, and I'll have plenty more to say.

Oh, Alexa. She's my MP. She has an actually accessible website. And she's awesome.

{I am never going to be taken seriously on the internet again, am I? Ice creamy?}

The trial court judge not only dismissed Ross’ claims - he ordered her to pay $150,000 for the court costs of her attacker. The judge found there was no evidence to support her claims of rape, in large part because Ross did not remember anything from the encounter: “There’s no witnesses in there. There was no evidence. It’s a closed door. And there’s no possibility that there could be any proof that there was rape...”

This was after the judge had dismissed the evidence: Ross could have received lacerations and redness documented in a rape kit from shaving, and “[b]ruises can come with a bump into furniture or from other causes.” As far as the claim that Day gave Ross a rape drug, defense counsel responded, “neither Day, nor anyone else for that matter, would have to use any type of drug to convince Plaintiff to participate in sexual conduct.”

The judge found that since Ross and Day had previously had a sexual relationship, Ross should have known her claims were “frivolous... there was no reasonable belief that a court would accept Plaintiff’s claims...”

More, here.

I'm going to see Alexa now.

In no particular order, it's Blog for Human Rights Day and the day the CEO of Capital Health was in the paper admonishing everyone to just be healthy, damn it, and the day I get to go to a Dialogue on Canada's Growing Income Gap hosted by Alexa McDonough.*

I wonder if the Dialogue will address issues like how difficult it is for people living in poverty to both eat healthy (being that lower income areas tend to have poor access to grocery stores) and get health care (being that doctors do make decisions about how honest you're being about your health based on what you look like, as well as there being a lack of health care providers in lower income areas that aren't once-a-week clinics, and I mustn't forget that 'health care' in Canada doesn't include dental care and untreated dental problems can kill you). I wonder if they'll talk about how fear of lectures from doctors drives people away from seeking medical help in Canada until things have progressed too far to ignore. I wonder if they'll talk about how many people begging for spare change on the streets of Halifax are disabled, and how disability and poverty are related, and how the lower income areas of Halifax have sidewalks that are difficult to navigate if you have mobility issues.

I wonder if the CEO of Capital Health considers this stuff at all when she's speaking at the Chamber of Commerce Luncheon.

Campaign to people, not about them. I wonder why this is so hard.

[*Pardon me for a moment while I swoon. This brief writeup will not really explain why she has a cult following in Canada. This woman has presence.]

I am apparently collecting posts on How Elections Work in YOUR country.

Political Process or How To Become A Local Power from kitmf was interesting to me. It talks about how the districts are working on a local level in the US.

Previously:

Sami explains the Australian system with their strange and exciting elected and effective Senate.

I explain somewhat of things going on in Canada although the comments poke me on things I forgot. And I edited out my personal takes on all the political parties did I mention that opposition parties are supposed to do stuff other than nod along? I'm looking at you, Provincial Liberals.

Anyone else have any, or want to write one for their country?

Also:

My intention is to write about cyber dissidents, but we'll see what happens between now and Thursday. Anyone else blogging along?

And... the sick that's been dogging me has finally caught up enough for me to say "No, I can't work this afternoon, I'm sorry. Also, Causation DOES NOT EQUAL CORRELATION OMG, global warming was not caused by lack of pirates!"

I think the last bit may be why my boss gave his blessing. (Okay, that and I looked like death warmed over this morning. Bah. Stupid sick.)

Don: You could read more of the book.

Me: I'd rather kill everyone and end my pain.

Don: Why don't you read more of the book instead?

I'm slowly easing myself back into checking flists, so if you get comments from me on posts 5 days old, it's because I was totally not slacking off at work tomorrow able to play catch up during lunch and that stupid staff meeting.

{I am also rereading "Things Fall Apart", because Don finally got around to picking it up so obviously I must finish it before he even gets a chance to crack it open, right? Cuz I'm supportive that way.}

Child welfare officials have taken temporary custody of an 11-year-old Ontario boy to ensure he undergoes chemotherapy after his father decided to take him off treatment for his aggressive form of leukemia.

A father who cannot be identified says his son is being treated 'like a prisoner' at the hospital where he is being treated for leukemia.A father who cannot be identified says his son is being treated 'like a prisoner' at the hospital where he is being treated for leukemia. (CBC)His father, who along with the boy can't be identified due to youth protection laws, told CBC News on Friday that the boy didn't want to continue with the treatments.

"I think about the first time around, what it did to him and how it almost killed him, and when he told me he doesn't want it anymore," he said. "He doesn't want to die this way. He would rather die at home in a peaceful, comfortable way."

From CBC: Boy seized by Child Welfare to make sure he gets chemotherapy.

I want something to be black and white.

This is not that something.

When I first heard about Child Welfare taking a dying boy from his father to be forced into chemotherapy treatment, I was sickened. I feel very strongly about people's right to refuse medical treatment. You do not have a moral obligation to be "healthy", to take all the drugs and every therapy they prescribe, to force yourself through painful and sometimes fatal treatment. I think that quality of life is important, and that the people who can determine what quality of life is are yourself, your family, and the people who are directly involved in your life, not the doctors.

On the other hand, I also feel sickened when I read about children who die of treatable illnesses because their parents refused medical treatment on religious grounds. I wonder how they make those decisions for their children, how they feel afterwards, how often these decisions are fatal, or not fatal, compared to how often they're in the news.

I wonder how I can claim "quality of life is important" and yet discount religious convictions as part of quality of life.

One of the things that made me angry about Tracy Latimer's murder is that Robert Latimer claimed that he murdered Tracy because the doctors were going to force her to have more painful medical treatments, and that he couldn't stand it. "Let me get this straight," I raged at Don, "he can make the decision to murder her in one of the most painful ways possible that we don't even allow for dogs, but he couldn't stand up to her doctors and say 'no, no more surgeries'? Does that make any sense at all?"

I don't know where lines get drawn. I don't know what is right and wrong when it comes to refusing medical treatment on behalf of your child. I know that my thoughts aren't internally consistent. I feel it is wrong to refuse medical treatment for your child on religious grounds. I feel it is right to refuse medical treatment for your child on quality of life grounds.

I feel that it is cruel to take custody of a child away from his father when he is suffering from cancer and cancer treatments.

I want this issue to be black and white, but for me it is not.

What are your thoughts?

It is polymexina's birthday today! Happy Birthday!!!

Let's Get Something Straight About Maternity Leave by bluemilk

Maternity leave is not a holiday - it is paid leave to physically and mentally recover from an extremely taxing biological experience - childbirth, as well as time to establish a bond with the baby. Don’t underestimate the second of these. The baby’s very life depends on its bond with the primary care giver (in most cases a mother). It is essential for the physical and psychological health of the baby (and indeed the adult it will become one day) that it has a secure bond with its mother (primary care giver). We all have a vested interest in this outcome because we have to share our planet, if not our neighborhood with them. As I’ve said previously, it is women and only women (or men like Thomas Beatie) who can give birth and (generally speaking) provide the baby’s first nurturing. It is women, almost exclusively who suffer the loss of income and workplace entitlements associated with our species’ reproduction.

It is long past time that Australia (and the United States of America) joined the rest of the world (or at least the OECD countries) and finally established a universal paid maternity leave scheme. It won’t send our economy broke, at least it hasn’t sent Great Britain or Iran broke yet. Paid maternity leave is already paid to some mothers, I was one of them. But it is the better paid and higher qualified mothers who are currently more likely to have a job with paid maternity leave entitlements. Poorer working women are usually left out. This is not fair. All women deserve the opportunity to take at least a couple of weeks from work to recover from childbirth and establish themselves with their baby. It is grossly exploitative of women to do anything else.

Mother's Day by Sybil Vane

What I want for Mother's Day is some demonstration that the adult-ish people to whom my mothering matters (which is currently only my husband as our daughter is young) have reflected on what it means to try to mother with intelligence, grace, courage, and kindness in this historical moment. I want a recognition that I am under-served by social and business policies that do not value the work I do as a mother, and that I am under-served by the sentimentalization of motherhood. I want awareness that while the domestic labor I do is unpaid, it is not, de facto, my labor and has very little to do with mothering. I want conscious decisions to value the social and political influence of mothering, and commitments to increasing the visibility of the ways mother's are disenfranchised.

The Decline of Parenting Skills at Hoyden About Town

The idea that having your own separate home is the marker of true adulthood, and that anyone who is still living with their own parents when they themselves start having children is some sort of “loser”, has grown from a combination of hyper-individualism and toxic consumerism: own your own home and buy, buy, buy to fill it with items just for you and your own family.

You know, it’s really not that rational a way to live if you intend to raise children. Historically, extended family households were the norm, with plenty of adults to share both the labours of earning an income and the labours of keeping house and raising children. Even before women gained property rights and the vote, women in these extended family households often worked outside the home as seamstresses, laundresses, shop counter clerks, waitresses, barmaids etc., rostering their employment hours and their housework hours with the other adults in the home. Men worked set hours just as their wives did, and came home to pitch in, with fathers spending far more time interacting with their children back then than average fathers in the West do now. There was sufficient time for adults in these households to tend to herbs, vegetables, chickens and rabbits in the garden, with the children learning to help them. There were shared household appliances instead of every parenting couple having to have their own.

Smug Married Guy, you don't know anything about single mothers, by bluemilk, at Hoyden About Town, because I keep getting sucked in to the "other posts like this" vortex

Single mothers are not lazy or stupid or uninspired about life, and they’re not all living in poverty either, although being with one income means they are almost always more vulnerable. Single mothers, like partnered mothers are often studying and working, but single parents are often doing it tougher - earning less and owning less. In fact, lone parents (who are women in the vast majority) are more likely than partnered parents to be undertaking study. And… the proportion of lone parents in the labour force increases with the age of the youngest child in the family, as is the case for partnered mothers. Incidentally, when single parents get jobs they have more stable jobs than other groups of people who have experienced unemployment, and this is even though they tend to get jobs with less flexibility and less paid parental leave than the jobs of partnered mothers. (How very unfair).

[I forgot until now that a good half of the feminist mother blogs I like aren't in North America so it's not mother's day for them. No wonder it seems quiet.]

Thoughts?

Note to self for later:

Chipmunks
Judi Dench
Vidding
Running for office
class + age
Blake Dolens

Strait Board Must Clean Up Its Act:

Board chairman Henry Van Berkel struggled to maintain order as members debated a motion to prevent two programs created by the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre from being delivered in board schools during class time.

Mr. Van Berkel said he was banning vice-chairman Mike Brown, who reportedly interrupted the chairman and superintendent Phonse Gillis, from future committee meetings until he apologizes for his behaviour.

{Wow. They're being reprimanded by the Minister of Education for acting like children.}

Sadly, I haven't tracked down anything else as of yet. I wonder when the minutes will go online.

My father and I had a big fight on the weekend.

See, he insists that there's no sexism whatsoever in the newspapers.
Well, unless they're quoting someone.
Well, unless the newspaper is from Alberta.
Well, unless the newspaper is some national newspaper he doesn't read.

It's really the bit about Alberta that bothers me the most.

It's not that I think Alberta newspapers are all that great (I think they're pretty par for the course, frankly), but the idea that "Well, it's happening in Alberta, what do you expect? They're not real Canadians anyway" that really bothers me.

*sigh*

I know a lot of my American friends think that things are much more open-minded around sex-ed in school (and other issues along the same lines) than they are down there.

Sadly, no.

Frank Machnic is putting forward a motion to deny staff from the Antigonish Women's Resource Centre access to district schools.

"Addictions or sexual orientation or human sexuality are sensitive issues," he told CBC News. "We're not talking about algebra and chemistry here. We're talking about things that have moral connotations."

(from Strait School board to rule on sexual health program)

That's not too far from here.

"Moral conotations"?

Here is the program that Machnic is complaining about:

To engage Grade 9 students in ten school sites within the Strait Regional School Board, in a series of classroom sessions designed to promote healthy and respectful relationships.

To assist youth in developing the attitudes, values and skills they need to build and maintain healthy relationships.

To increase students’ understanding of racial/cultural diversity specifically relating to the Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian community.

To increase students’ awareness of issues related to violence prevention and social inequities from a gender based perspective.

To foster youth development which includes: peer support, youth empowerment, youth-adult partnerships, meaningful contribution and experiential learning.

Okay, I understand - programs that teach students that relationships can be complicated and should be healthy are bad if... um...

Actually, no, I don't understand.

Oh, wait. They're bad because of the whole fear of the "Sexual Orientation Menace". Why, if we acknowledge gay relationships exist and provide tools for students who are in those relationships to have healthy relationships (just like the straight students), the moral fabric of Canada will be ripped assunder.

*sigh*

We got a flat!!!!!!!!

*dies of happy*

No, it's not The Perfect Flat in the Perfect Neighbourhood, but it's A flat! It's a flat we can afford, it has a lift, it has A BEDROOM WITH A DOOR OMG, it's a straight flat walk of about two blocks to the grocery store, the nearest bus stop is about as close as the nearest bus stop from our current place is, there's a tea shop almost directly across the street and a used book store downstairs and over one, and OMG DID I MENTION WE GOT THE FLAT YAYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh! And it has a balcony with a beautiful view! It's a small balcony, but it means on the days that Don doesn't feel up to going out he can still get some fresh air, and that is amazing and super and there's a roof-top patio for me (it's up a flight of stairs) and there's a KITCHEN! WITH THREE TIMES AS MUCH COUNTER SPACE!

This is the BESTEST FLAT IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND I LOVE IT TO PIECES!!!!

(deep breaths, Anna. deep breaths.)
(eh, screw it. FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT!!!!!!)
*does happy dance all around the empty office*

I've been slowly (slowly slowly slowly) catching up on Blog Against Disablism Day. These are the posts that I would recommend you read. If you think you have time to read only one (and they are all short), read the first one. Then read the rest anyway. Or at least read the quotes (but the full effect comes from the posts themselves, of course).

One in Seven by Lady Bracknell

We exist in every culture; every race; every class; every creed; every nationality; every political party. We have arrived here as a result of accident, injury, illness or simple genetic glitch. We are adults and we are children; we are men and we are women; we are straight, we are gay, and we are bisexual. We are too frail to leave the house and we are strong enough to yomp across continents. We are desperately ill and we are at the peak of physical fitness. We die young and we live to a ripe old age. We are accepted in our communities and we are locked away in institutions. We have been this way since birth, and we have been this way since yesterday. We are the premature baby and the great-grandparent. We are the criminal underclass and the pillar of society. We are the warmonger and the pacifist. We are the teacher and the student.

Unsafe, by trinityva

The thing is not so much that I want people to do "examining" and to think about cultural norms as I want them to realize that any -ism worth the name is called an -ism because people get hurt. Because violence happens. Because violation of bodily integrity happens. Because humiliation happens. Because objectification happens, and by that I don't mean ogling or something theoretical, but things like organ harvesting from people before they're dead. Because people don't get jobs. Because people can't live safe lives -- and by that I mean just what I say. Not some sort of pie in the sky idea that we ought to have perfectly safe spaces, but the idea that there is no real safety when this kind of bigotry kills.

The Gorilla In Your House by Mary

The gorilla in your house will cause problems in every part of your life. Your spouse may decide that (s)he can't deal with the gorilla, and leave. Your boss may get upset that you've brought the gorilla to work with you and it's disrupting your colleagues, who don't know how to deal with gorillas. You're arriving for work wearing a suit the gorilla has slept on. Some days you don't turn up at all because at the last minute, the gorilla has decided to barricade you into the bathroom or sit on you so you can't get out of bed. Your friends will get cheesed off because when you see them - which isn't often, because they don't want to come to your house for fear of the gorilla and the gorilla won't always let you out - your only topic of conversation is this darn gorilla and the devastation it is causing.

Don't Enable an Ableist by Wheelie Catholic

Yes, enableists continue to enable some ableists to say they don't want to make an accommodation or serve a customer with a disability. And when the ableists offer an excuse, the enableist inevitably helps them come up with more. The enableist seems to jump into the fray to calm the ableist down. Yes, yes by all means, let's keep the status quo. Why should the ableist change, they ask the person with a disability?

Enabling an ableist is just as wrong as being an ableist. It encourages them. It not only makes excuses for them, but it gives them an out and solidifies their sense of entitlement, as if it's okay for them to discriminate against a whole group of people. Enabling ableists sends them a message that it's optional and up to them whether they deal with their ableist attitudes and ways - without facing consequences.

This Is A Person by DotComMom

It’s sad when the word “terminate” is a euphemism; it’s so ominous in itself. But in this case it’s a gentler phrase for what they really mean. What they really mean, standing in the Starbucks line or on the light rail or over my cell phone, is “You’ll probably kill this child if he is disabled, right?” Asked by a co-worker in a more casual tone than I recently heard her discuss euthanizing her dog. Asked by a friend, who knows my brother is disabled, as if asking what color the nursery will be in the event I don’t decide to play God. Asked by any number of good, decent, nice people who you wouldn’t expect to pass a death sentence just because someone is disabled. Even asked by legislators charged with promoting justice and doctors whose “care” should include a reminder that panic is not a basis for decision-making.

Wouldn't it be cool if we could have that conversation about disability being viewed as a tragedy in a feotus without it turning into anti-choice rhetoric? That would be *awesome*. Oh well, not today.

Thoughts?

gentlespirit has asked about assassination attempts (and similar forms of insurrection) in Canadian history here.

The only things I can think of are the FLQ Crisis (October Crisis - which on my reading to remind myself what happened is a lot more scary and intense than I recall it being discussed in class) and Louis Riel.

Have I forgotten something? Anyone have the time and inclination to give a run down in the comments?

Thanks!

Well, sleep is obviously for other people tonight, since it is now almost 5 a.m. and I think it's a pointless effort. I wish I could say "Woe, it is insomnia", but it's more "Woe, I was exhausted after being up all night last night so I had a nap in the afternoon that lasted about 4 hours longer than it should and then cleverly had caffeine and strangely now I am awake." I like "Woe, insomnia" better, though.

Woe!

Politics are much on my mind, and it occurred to me that my complete cluelessness on US politics is probably equalled by other people's cluelessness on the Canadian system. Since it's likely to come up (padredon & I both want to get more involved in the process in order to warp it from within), I thought I'd give a brief and easy explanation on how Politics And Voting Work In Canada.

( But I will cut it because most of my readers are Canadian or British and thus know all this )

My deleted comments are all bitter bitter bitter commentary on the various parties, but I am in a bitter bitter place politically right now. Suffice it to say that everyone has pissed me off and if an election was called today I would vote "None of the Above" both Federally and Provincially. (And no, we don't actually have that option on our ballots. Maybe I should eat my ballot instead.)

Anyway, this rather glancing view of Canada's political system is brought to you by my not-sleeping and my incredibly awesome Political Studies degree. I'm now in a terrible mood and hate everyone. Grrr. Grrrrrr. (I started this post in such a good mood, too.)

That's it, I give up.

I'm get liquored up tonight.

Between rape jokes are funny, let's call our Harry Potter RPG Kristallnacht (and demand people be nicer about pointing out how offensive it is) and the Nameless Dumbass Party (see below) I am officially giving up on humanity for the rest of the weekend. Expect no rationality here, it's gone on a drinking holiday. ANNA'S INNER RAGE STATE FOR THE WIN!!!

I will love you all on Monday. Look! VODKA!!!!!