i just sent off an e-mail to random house canada requesting a review copy of irshad manji’s book
i am now waiting for a response

i figure an affiliation with a newspaper is a convenient way to get free copies of books (if, indeed, this works) — all i have to do is write a critique of the book after i read it and voil� — free book!

i wonder how many books i can get through

but anyway, no response from manji herself yet

she’s in ottawa or something

(strange her book tour doesn’t seem to take her anywhere in toronto … or the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO where she wrote her book and blocked out all student publications — that makes me more sour than anything else…)

… and so the pronunciation of “the cacophony” might sound something like “the cocaphony” or “the cock is phony.” This, naturally, would not faze several English speakers who would simply ask, “Well, what’s wrong with pointing out fake roosters?” But for several other anglophones the word would be scandalous and reprehensible. Its exclusion from the vernacular would be vigorously pursued. (Ironically, some might even vigorously pursue the exclusion of “vigorous.”) Soon, English will be reduced to a completely inoffensive language. Hence, words such as “gay” would be removed to appease heterosexuals and words such as “straight” would be removed to appease homosexuals. Not only that, words such as “homosexual” would be removed to appease sraights and words such as “heterosexual” would be removed to appease gays. Naturally dairy producers would stop calling homogenous milk homogeneous, as this could potentially provoke images of intelligent gays. Ban “provoke,” too.

i sport three badges on my backpack

one says “I AM ANTI-IMPERIALIST”
the other “REDUCE TUITION FEES”
and the one i wear on the left strap of my bag (so that it’s facing a person when i have my bag on, rather than being on the back of the bag) says “EVES SUCKS”

the badge originally just said “EVES” — i got it from conservative campaigners at UofT
but it had this huge gap under the “EVES” and i said, now how could i possibly leave such a canvas un-marked by my artistic abilities
so with utmost care i painted on the “SUCKS” using liquid paper (i didn’t have the white-out pen anywhere, reckon that would be easier)
anyway
it gets the most responses

today alone several people, from SAC reps to students protesting high tuition fees gave me admirable reviews of my badge

once, upon entering the RT station at mccowan, conservative campaigners (along with MPP candidates) were handing out their shiterature
upon seeing the EVES badge that i pointed to, their spirits were lifted in seeing such a youth apparently supporting their party
but then they realized what it truly said, and saw that i didn’t support their shit headed party at all
they were disappointed

people like it, can’t tell that the “SUCKS” part was added on later, they think i got a pre-made “EVES SUCKS” badge … they want to know where they can get one

i am political, i like being political

ralph nader said something like if you’re not onto politics, politics will be on to you

so be political, be active

i can’t even vote yet because of the idiotic arbitrary voting age
but i’m motivated

go NDP
even though you’re not going to win

for shame, for shame

it’s important for the youth to become proactive and study, realize, and understand what is going around them in their immediate surroundings and the world at large

many youth are far too ignorant, and it’s a shame, for the youth are the best to call to clarity injustices and fight against them
it is the youth that brings revolution
but revolution cannot take place in a vacuum with an absence of any real thought

cycles of revolution always continue, like marx implied, when the revolutionaries themselves become the oppressors
it happens
all the time

i’m not a marxist

i’m not a socialist

i am a leftie, but i don’t accept all the baggage that is associated with the title

i don’t like labels, malcolm never liked labels either
because they constrict you into one little category

human beings cannot be categorized into one perfect little box
we were not designed to exist within boxes
we’re design to be dynamic and continually changing
so one day you may be liberal on an issue and two hours later you are conservative on another
no one is completely conservative or completely liberal, or completely anything

some people are completely ignorant, however, and seem to relish ignorance

and why not, it is, after all, bliss, as they say

but that bliss is temporary
when you are ignorant of yourself and your position, soon your bliss becomes your hell, and you find yourself a victim of your own lack of involvement as the system takes over — and you find that it is too late to escape

it’d probably be little different even if you start out with the knowledge

but knowledge, realization, is the first step in solving a problem

that’s why in problem solving they tell you to understand — realize — the problem first
only then can you try to solve it

my rant of the night

i have to complete the second book of lord of the rings by tomorrow, i have some eighty odd pages left

hola

i like chrétien’s recent attitude, when he’s telling everyone to hold on to their horses — he hasn’t retired yet

chrétien’s a millionaire, so is paul martin

how come all the politicans are rich? hmm, is there some sort of correlation between the corporations and the politicians? naah… (does paul martin own a corporation? naah…)

anyway, ride on chrétien, bien fait, whatever you did … whatever it was you did … here’s a cookie

yaser and i visited the varsity office, accompanied by sanjeyan
there we pitched our idea to the editor of the varsity to interview irshad manji and write a review of her new book (the trouble with islam da da da)
the editor was very receptive to the idea (he didn’t even ask us for our writing credentials)

so we went over the hart house, where manji was writer-in-residence until recently, to try and obtain some contact information

let me say it feels really cool to say, “i’m with the varsity” and so on so forth

at any rate, we got a very obvious e-mail address from hart house, one that would take around … eight seconds to guess

manji slighted all the student media at the UofT, none of them were invited to her book-launch — even though she made use of UofT’s resources as writer-in-residence at hart house

i don’t like that

anyway, i sent off an e-mail to her requesting a copy of the book for review and requesting an interview for the varsity

let’s see how it goes

turned around, didn’t mean no harm
i knocked her out with my vicious charm

as you can see … the site is finalized
well, the design is finalized
i’ll probably be changing and updating the “navigation” to the side

everything is religion
everything is politics
everything
everything is business

i was watching the debate on TV
the one with the three cats, eves, mcguinty, hampton — ontario provincial debates

eves said he sympathizes with parents who have to put their kids through university as he has been the father of two kids who’ve gone through university
but eves has been earning over a hundred thousand dollars a year for several years now … did i say hundred thousand? i meant millions
he’s a goddamn millionaire
how the hell does a goddamn millionaire sympathize with the fact that tuition rates are going sky high
how the hell does a goddamn millionaire symptahize with kids who commute long distances on crowded and stretched-thin public transit
how the hell does a goddamn millionaire sympathize with the average person in ontario?

screwed up shit

there’s a rally tomorrow by the SAC of UofT to bring up the issue of tuition fees in the provincial election
but really, what good does that do
conservatives say they’ll cap tuition raise at 2% (but only for arts and science undergraduate programs, let the professional programs go as goddamn high as they want)
liberals say a freeze (for two years … which is good for two goddamn years then let them rocket up)
NDP says 10% reduction, good luck if you ever get voted in

EVES SUCKS
that’s clear enough
liberals are conservatives in red suits
and NDP is just goddamn never gonna get elected
what a shame

and what’s a real shame is the goddamn masses of mindless adolescents who don’t give a shit about the election
let’s vote liberal cuz mommy says vote liberal
or conservative’s gonna help daddy’s business
what the hell does your mind tell you to do
make your own goddamn decision, that’s the point of a vote

most kids don’t even give a shit about politics, nevermind the voting
because that’s so damn boring and it’s not getting you any more popular nor is it getting you a boyfriend on your tail
what a goddamn shame

the reason this site looks like a mess right now is because i’ve moved my blog to movable type, which is another system for blogging
the problem with it is that it requires a lot of understanding of odd code and style-sheets, this is stuff that i’ve never bothered to learn to any appreciable degree (because i’m lazy)
hence, the blog looks … wack, to say the least
i hope i figure out what’s going on and get it running smoothly
till then, bear with me

first bio lab — analyze insects
pretty funky things
the hissing cockroaches were huge, and very strong (you can barely pull them off any surface they hold on to)
the australian leaf insect, looks like a leaf — or tries to — complete with thorny and hard, autumn leaf coloured complexion … it wouldn’t let go of me — it grabbed on tight and just wouldn’t let go and the tiny little thorns dug into my skin
finally got it off
then the walking sticks (insects that look like … sticks) have these tiny pins at the end of their legs that they kind of dig into whatever they’re holding onto
fortunately they only have six legs, and the one on my arm only had five legs
finally got that one off using my pencil to pry it away

fun class nevertheless, a bit slow at times