April has been a bit crazy here. Not only did Winter finally arrive, I had my first-year recital and the school paper got itself into a big, ugly, pickle with a “satirical” article they wrote about women and rape.

There has been a lot of news about this so I won’t rehash the ugly details here. I have to say that it is disgusting and shameful that this happened (though I can’t say I’m surprised), but that it is also revealing and encouraging to see the reaction that this is getting from the media, from the school community (hearing reactions from schoolmates that I didn’t necessarily expect to speak up) and the administration. the big issue here is that the school is not in charge of the student paper, and neither am I! It is funded by the undergraduates, so our hopes lie in their hands, that they will find some way and apply the right pressures to not only have this resolved but to ensure that those involved are adequately and appropriately punished for and educated on this problem.

I will report back from tonight’s “town hall” meeting on campus. It should prove to be a mad scene.

Over the winter months I took the bus to school a lot. One thing that got my attention other than people’s innapropriate footwear for the -15 (and below) weather, were the crazy bus-ads that they stick above the windows. There is the usual fare of Cummunity or I.T. institutes, but then there is weird stuff like this:

This is a Western Area Youth Services (not London, but Western?? I guess they mean Western Ontario…) promotion. Now, I’m sure they provide a lot of good support, counselling, etc. but this advert just rubs me the wrong way. It is judgmental and condescending, and I think it jumps to conclusions that aren’t necessarily valid. Yes, people get taken advantage of and confused and manipulated, but, sometimes, for some people, sex is something they don’t mind bargaining with, and that is a decision they should be allowed to make. The presumed connection between Love and Sex is so blatantly unrealistic, I just can’t take this poster seriously.

What do you think?

Also on the bus rides I’ve come across a rather hilarious advert for the Canadian Forces. I can’t seem to find a copy of it on the net but let me describe it for you:

It has the usual sloganeering and Join The Team type of stuff, and there is a picture of two kind of dudely soldiers, on what I can only hope is a test-site. One of them is looking rather uneasy about the gun he is getting ready to fire (first day in the field?) and the other - who is totally in the foreground - is applying makeup! Of course it is the greasy, tough, dark face crayon stuff, but dude is basically rouging his cheeks. To add to the effect he is totally making the make-up face. It is priceless, though it does not instill much faith in our forces (but really what could?)

Please take a bus ride and check it out.

Sorry for my neglectful blogging as of late. It’s been a pretty dry few weeks in L-Town and I’ve been sucked into the useless monster of facebook.

My mind has also been distracted because it is officially Opera season here at Western. The music faculty is presenting two of Puccini’s one-act operas, fully staged and with a real orchestra. We successfully got through three performances last weekend and there are two more tonight and tomorrow. This is the culmination of several months of nights and days dedicated to figuring out how to be a 17th-Century nun, which will be promptly followed by several days of trying t figure out how to be a master’s student with a good recital and passing grades!

We’ve been having snow everyday for the past week or two, and there were a few days when 2 or 3 inches fell. There weren’t any storms but there were a few days when everything turned to ice. This of course means that I’ve retired my bike for awhile - partly due to the inhospitable roads here, not just the weather. So I’ve been bundling up and walking to the bus stop every day, finally getting a chance to justify the xpod purchase I made back in the fall.

But my walk is impeded by then snow that has fallen because in London no one shovels their sidewalks. And we are talking about main roads here. The snow from the week is just crunched down by hundred of footsteps making the sidewalk bumpy, uneven and really awkward!
I’m glad I’ve had the chance to break in my new winter boots but I just wish it was for the right reasons. This sidewalk mess goes on my list of annoying and inconsiderate things that London needs to improve. It really is only easy to live in if you have a car.

This Wednesday I am participating in a concert featuring songs of London, On.! This has been organized in part by my prof. and is presented by the London Historical Society.

We will be performing a great number of songs long forgotten (and forgettable), rousing (and ridiculous) written by and for Londoners. The program features such themes as the great drowning disaster, coming home from the Great War, and ‘Old Boys’! It’s worth coming just to hear the long-lost home-town spirit, and outdated sexism and Nationalism.

Based on my experiences of the past 5 months, here is my advice to anyone going to school (and paying big bucks to be there):

• Find out how many courses you can take or what you can register in without added cost (like taking undergrad classes for free during your master’s). Any free learning is good learning.

• Go directly to whatever office you have to and find out about getting free bus passes, what your health coverage COVERS, or don’t forget to OPT OUT!

• Always take the pen, and the free day-planner, dorky as it may be. It WILL come in handy.

• Always always always know when your library books are due back and renew them as often as possible.

• At least find out where the gym is. It might come in handy.

• Go to the bank and get a student account because a grown up account just means it costs you more.

• Steal cream cheese from the caf. They totally deserve it for charging so much.

• Find out at the start of the school year that you get a FREE isic card because it gets you 25% of the Greyhound and you totally spent over $400 taking busses last term!!!

Today I had a 13-hour school day. Welcome back!!

It was almost a full house at this year’s annual OptimusCrime New Year’s breakfast. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is all revved up for the new year. i spent a lot of time with the fam, trying not to eat too much junk, and getting my fill of t.v. shows i”ve missed while in London.
This is looking to be a hella busy few months for me at school, but I am keen to do more blogging, and take my camera out around London to show you guys the town from my point-of-view. Stay tuned for diatribes on things like roads, garbage, biking, eating, and maybe we’l peek inside the campus life of UWO.

xo Happy 2007.

Apparently Lukas has been posing as me and leaving comments on my blog! But hey, he fixd the weird script problems we were having, so - thanks!

Meanwhile I spent all of last night trying to find a complicated solution to a relatively simple ipod problem, instead of enjoying the holdiay viewing of Die Hard on T.V. I’ve never quite understood how Die Hard gets to be a Christmas movie (sorta like The Sound of Music) but I have at least come around to loving the movie the way I should. Walking on broken glass? Lots of one-liners with curse words? Yesssssss!

We’re upgrading Wordpress and trying to fix the brokenness.

Every year or so I have this need, or urge. I’m not sure if it has to do with cleansing myself of bad feelings or angstiness, or if it has more to do with nostalgia and that feeling you get from old friends…but every year or so I have to sit down and spend some time with My So-Called Life. This is one of those things that honestly shaped me somehow and changed my life and gave me something to cling to - and still does. It somehow still has the same horrible, overwhelming, disappointing and yet somehow relieving effect that it did 10 years ago.

And so I started thinking about how nice it would be to actually own the whole season. And of course I started thinking about it, ohhhh, 5 years too late. There’s no way I can afford it, so in the meantime I’ve started downloading, and I won myself these on eBay! What could be better than teenage angst personified, attached to one’s lapel. Happy Holidays.