Israel and Palestine: Both Sides of the Fence
I’ve been to Israel. I have family there. One of the brothers is a peace activist in Jerusalem. The other lives in a large West Bank settlement. He has a dead son, a victim of the conflict. He was killed in uniform, in a raid on a Palestinian home -hardly an innocent victim. My last [...]
Wake up, Canada! This war is not holy
There’s an ex-oilman and a former defense contractor in the White House granting no-bid contracts to their corporate buddies to build permanent bases, sell arms, lay pipelines and rake in billions from a theoretically endless war on a concept—terror—which happens to emanate from the oil- and gas-rich regions of the Middle East and Central Asia. [...]
A Day Before Today
And Adam said this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man [...]
Dear God: Thanks for all the Great Moral Leaders
To some Catholics in the K-W community Bill Clinton is a deeply immoral man – because he supports abortion and because of his escapades with his intern. Clinton is to come to Kitchener on November 27th to be the keynote speaker at a $500 per plate fundraiser for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre – and [...]
The Always Disappointing Guy Maddin
First times with director Guy Maddin are good for not getting what you think you want. For example, when he spoke at Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute at an event held by the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery in September, he told a story about his first foray into digital filmmaking, Nude Caboose. Shot on a cellphone for [...]
Literature is my Religion, Music is my Boyfriend
Editor’s Note: Every Labour Day Weekend, hundreds of lovely Canadians send up a sacrificial offering of themselves to the gods of art by attempting to write a novel in 72 hours. If you’re so willing, check out www.3daynovel.com To quarantine yourself in a small room no larger than a wealthy man’s closet and for seventy-two [...]
Democracy, Cowardice and Commodification
Welcome to the wonderful free world, my friends. We can all count ourselves lucky to be among the chosen few. We’re rich, fat, and happy. We have more control over our destinies, both individual and collective, than at any other time in human history. Let’s check cynicism at the door for the moment and remember that we live in a state that is law-bound to act according to our wishes, and in a global climate where that type of state is seen as the be-all and end-all of human development.
Worshipping the Automobile: Car Culture as Civic Religion
Sixty years ago, this city was a haven for pedestrians. There were well-developed streetcar lines, a bus system and frequent train connections to every city and town in the area. Life without a car was not only possible, it was commonplace. So, what the hell happened? How did Kitchener-Waterloo become a concrete wasteland, a place where the car-less life has become an odyssey? What fed the cancerous growth of suburban development, of big-box stores and streets without sidewalks?
Same-Sex Split in the Lutheran Synod
Although opposed by many societies for centuries, same sex marriages have garnered more acceptance in our modern world. The dominant argument against the union of two men or two women is that religion states it is a sin. However, the recent wave of public support and urging for the church to re-examine its stance on [...]
Searching for the Right Anti Christ: Apocalypticism and World Politics
Do you have a pen and paper? Jot this down. I’m going to tell you how the world is going to end, probably in the next five years. Iran is going to attack Israel with nuclear weapons, to which Israel will retaliate. To protect their economic interests and the cheap oil needed to fuel their [...]
Grand Theft Armageddon: The Streets of Nazareth
When faith-based organizations discuss the topic of videogames, it is typically a critique of the level of violence, not a discussion of how to use violent games as a tool to further their cause. Check that assumption at the door and prepare yourself for the October 16th release of the multimedia adaptation of ordained Evangelical [...]
Born Again Vegetarian
I am a born-again vegetarian. Before my conversion to the vegetarian lifestyle a short eighteen months ago, I was the standard omnivorous jerk that I now put up with on an almost daily basis. I often taunted my little sister (a vegetarian for about five years now) by asking if she wanted a piece of [...]
Don’t Worry Victims of Bigotry, You’ll Soon Be Catholics
My Grandmother was born in 1916 on the shores of Georgian Bay. She is very open minded for a woman of her time, but nonetheless sometimes she says things about people that remind me that things have changed. Its not that she’s a bigot, but it’s that she assumes you are. At this point I [...]
Brian Jungen Wishes You a Merry Consumass
Brian Jungen, art star, used to draw pictures with his friends in a shitty apartment in the bad part of Vancouver, and then fold them up into paper airplanes and shoot them out of his window. This summer, the artist had his “Project for a New Understanding” (which features masks he made out of Nike [...]
Passage
Trick-tragic is a like-wise trick phrase I drown in tragic-linked catch-phrases – like when trying to convey pacifism at the cost of war, retribution at the cost of starvation, luxury at the expense of horror – you know, tragedy at the cost of tricks: you know, trick-tragic. So retreat my passage, to my passage, I’m [...]
Democracy
If you vote for me, Your country will succeed. If you donate your earnings, Your country will prosper. If you give me your trust, your hopes and your dreams, They will be nurtured. I will be your president. By the people, for the people. Only in America If you vote for me, Your country will [...]
Preach
They sat there with their stares piercing me like daggers, quoting passages about ‘eternal damnation’ and accepting Jesus Christ as my own personal saviour. They raped me with their words of ‘the worst possible sin’ that led to hell and continued on, spouting their beliefs until I was left with my nails digging into my [...]
