Spirit of Why Not?
In 2007, the University of Waterloo celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Congratulations U of W! That’s fifty years of taking advantage of gullible young idealists; fifty years of exploiting impoverished families, hoping for something better for their children, taking out student loans their child will be unable to repay for years – that’s years of growing debt, damaged credit rating, and abuse from debt collectors.
Questions
Why is it spiritual to speak to a god, but superstitious to dance for one?
What brings more luck, a rabbit’s foot or a blessing from a priest?
Has spirituality ever caused massive wars?
Can we separate religion from spirituality?
Meditations for the Modern Man
On Friday nights I become a cliché, sipping pinot grigio and lustfully losing myself in…
Gender Interrupted
At birth there are usually two options: male or female. I was born the latter. Just because I…
Fashion as Fetish
My parents have desperately tried to instill in me the value of a dollar. I wouldn’t necessarily say they failed; I just have a very different idea of value and worth. Spending hundreds of dollars on a pair of Burberry flats to me seems reasonable and worth every hard-earned penny, when objectively, the shoes are probably only worth twenty dollars and have a redeemable value of even less.
Making The Cut
I believe there is a reason why Sex and the City’s Charlotte York likened an uncut penis to a Shar Pei. They are dogs not exactly known for their looks.
As I travel, I realize just how uncommon circumcision is around the world. After countless conversations with people of all cultures and sexes, with arguments ranging from hygiene to religion to culture to family, everyone seems to have an opinion.
The Cost of Dissent
I’m sure you’ve all heard about the cost of the G8 and G20 meetings held in Huntsville and Toronto this past June. Over a billion dollars, most of it on security, and we’re still finding out about more expenses.
Being Broke
I’ve lately been griping as a way of building up enough enthusiasm to feel strongly about something. I think this is a common process; it’s probably more affirming to the human condition in a way to feel unhappy about something than complete disinterest or apathy. This has fed into my reflections on how most people I know talk about money.
The Cost of Money
Capitalism is really a simple idea – an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated to make a profit. Perhaps a bad idea, when we question what is private and what is public. Can our air, water and land be private?
Do You Have A Secret?
Some families hold secrets, our friends may have secrets, and even Wilfrid Laurier students have secrets. The LSPIRG working group “Laurier Secrets” is an open community where people can anonymously share their own secrets by creatively writing them on cards and sending them in.
University as Education
Education is something you pick up, day day by day, for just as long as you are alive. Or, perhaps better: Education is whatever understanding and attitudes you are wise enough to absorb, making them a part of your existence, during the relatively short time between your birth and your death.
Top Twenty Pieces of Laurier Advice
I came. I saw. I conquered. That is not what veritas omnia vincit means, but it is how I feel after over five years at Wilfrid Laurier University. I experienced it all – late nights in the “libe”, running out of money on my OneCard, three years at a student job on campus, getting involved with student groups and services, sitting on boards, writing for a student publication – and somehow I’m managing to come out of it all with a degree.
Accessibility, Equity, and Support
I had always prided myself on being adaptable. Moving around a lot as a kid was certainly hard at times, but I always found myself succeeding fairly quickly after a brief period of transition; I made friends, got good grades, and found my place in a new environment.
Why Protest?
I’m having yet another bout of panicky frustration at the fact that no one is really doing anything about the whole we’re-destroying-the-planet-and-we’re-all-going-to-die-but-less-privileged-people-first thing. Mostly I get frustrated that almost no one seems to care at all – and that the people who do care get vilified and punished for it. For trying to save the planet and everyone’s lives.
My Broken Biological Clock
There’s something disturbing about children. Perhaps it’s their pudgy faces, smothered with ice cream and selfishness, or perhaps it’s their freedom from responsibility and reality that unsettles me. While many women may listen religiously to their biological clocks and blush with maternal instinct, I remain unsettled and unwaveringly opposed to motherhood.
In Pursuit of Youth
When hair is dyed, concealers and polishes put on, dietary supplements taken and the shapes of bodies altered with plastic surgery, thoughtful consumption is deferred in favour of a youthful pursuit of beauty. The ideals on which these decisions are modeled, however, are inherently flawed. It is time to reflect on what one does to themselves when their bodily appearance is physically and chemically altered.
In Praise of Age
People find it odd how much I love old people.
I don’t mean it in a patronizing way, but when I see old people and interact with them, I get the feeling that many have about children: I absolutely love them. The elderly are so confident and comfortable with themselves; they not only appreciate what they have had in life, but also the time they have left.
Roots for Growth
The work of anthropologist Maria Gimbutas, whose discoveries of certain characteristics from the Neolithic Period led to the construction of the ‘myth of feminist pre-history,’ has been continuously criticized in the anthropological community. She argues that a matriarchal society once existed in Neolithic Europe, where work division and rights were egalitarian and all deities worshipped were female or mother goddesses.
Attack the Roots
The time is coming in which we will need to begin to seriously consider enhancing efforts of resistance to systemic injustices that are rooted within society. The time has come to ‘attack the roots’ of capitalism and the ills that it brings and reinforces throughout society. It is time to consider community-supported forms of struggle and resistance against the very system that has, for too long now, been predicated on oppression and injustice so a few may benefit. This is the time to resist.
Untitled
My actions are not definitive. My existence is fluid. When you think you can look at my life in pieces, reductions, fragments-single moments of action—you forget that I, like you, am a system and despite aging I do not exist in a sequential pattern based on my past, or future. There are times when I am moving because of my past, and there are also times when my currentness would not dictate the movement of my future.
Roots and Wings
Roots and wings. It’s a phrase we’ve heard in graduation speeches, teen films and parental heart-to-hearts, all stressing the importance of preserving your past while flying the coop and following your dreams. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s difficult, and sometimes – despite our best efforts – it’s not done at all. So what’s the big deal? Isn’t it easy to break with the past and throw caution to the wind? (Any traditional movie hero would have you think so).
These Are Your Neighbours
In January of this year, I began writing a weekly column for Imprint, the University of Waterloo’s student newspaper. Called These Are Your Neighbours, my column focuses on progressive community organizing and collective action in Kitchener -Waterloo. Each week, I interview a local person who is involved in mobilizing members of our community around a common issue and who works together with these people to develop creative ways of addressing and responding to the issue.
A Radical, Rooted Musical
I’m sure your attention has been brought, throughout this issue, to the connection between the words “radical” and “rooted”. Rooted: A New Musical was created in the space where these two words overlap and diverge. It emerged ‘from the roots’, rooted in our own lives and communities and experiences, but stretching beyond these, and seeking to become rooted again in the new community that grew around it, and to spread seeds of change.
Where Is Home
Let’s discuss the meaning of the word patriotism.
I would like to suggest two suitable synonyms for the English meaning of this powerful word: love and devotion. In fact, to be patriotic, according to the Oxford English Dictionary is to possess a “marked devotion to the well-being [i.e. love] and interests of one’s country.” In other words, to be a patriot, you must show love and devotion to your country. Rather vague terms, wouldn’t you agree?
