February 2006
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February 28th, 2006
Fat Tuesday
Happy Mardi Gras everyone. A special shout-out to everyone at the big party in Rio de Janeiro. Unlike Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras IS a real holiday. Let's celebrate it. Make sure to eat a lot of pancakes. A hectic spring is on the way.
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February 21st, 2006
From the Front Lines
I live in the North. I'm not just kind of up north near Boston or Buffalo, or even really up north near Calgary or Edmonton. I live in the Yukon, up above the 60th parallel, east of Alaska, close to the Arctic Circle. Here in the Yukon, we can see first-hand the effects of global warming. This week we were strongly reminded that things are changing. One of our Winter traditions is an epic dogsled race called the "Yukon Quest". In odd numbered years the Quest runs from Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska. In even numbered years it runs the opposite direction. The Quest started several days ago in Fairbanks but there has been a change. The Yukon Quest will not end in Whitehorse this year. Not all of the lakes have frozen over and there is not enough snow. Let me say that again. Here in the Whitehorse, there is not enough snow to run dogsled teams...in February...in the YUKON! Something is very wrong with this picture. Some people in the media try to suggest that there is still a debate about whether global warming is really occurring. Here in the North we can see its effects first-hand. I invite my Scandinavian and Russian visitors to share their stories about the changing climate. Let's put our stories together so that can share them with our Southern cousins.
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February 14th, 2006
The Trap
The following phrases are for the sake of visitors who will find this page through a search engine. Excuse me if this comes across as overly cynical. Fuck Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Sucks. I Hate Valentine's Day. Valentines Tabernacle. Thanks for letting me get that out of the way. If you have come to this site by "googling" one of those phrases, I welcome you. As you well know, today is Saint Valentine's Day, one of our culture's many fake holidays. In addition to being a day for expressing your love, Valentine's Day (and its high expectations) serves as a poison to many relationships. Today, clueless men everywhere will disappoint their wives and girlfriends. Women may just want to be reminded that they are loved. Men aren't always good at that. Today will also be a painful day for lonely singles, overwhelmed by the hype. Many will go out tonight in a desperate search to find someone, anyone to fill the emptiness. Watch your drinks. Like Christmas and Easter, Saint Valentine's Day is a watered down version of a Pagan celebration. February 14th was the day that Romans honoured Juno, the Goddess of women and marriage. Then, in the year 269, a Christian named Valentine was executed for refusing to renounce his faith. On the day of his execution, (again, February 14th) he left a love letter for the daughter of his jailer. The letter was said to have been signed, "From your Valentine." How sweet. Our culture has taken this blend of a Roman holiday and the death of an obscure Christian and turned it into a capitalist windfall. Men are expected to "be romantic," today. More often than not, this means that men are expected to open their wallets. Advertising campaigns shout "Don't let her down like you did last year!" To stay out of that dog-house just Buy! Buy! Buy! Today will be a very good day for flower shops, restaurants, greeting card companies, jewellers, and chocolate makers. That aside, does Valentine's Day have any real value? What does it mean for our culture when for many men, today's main goal is not to screw things up? My girlfriend and I have decided to opt out of Valentine's Day celebrations. What a wonderful woman she is! We can celebrate our relationship every day, we do not need to resort to the contrived gift-giving exercises of a fake holiday. (Thank you very much) For the men out there who will be caught in the Valentine's Day trap, I am sorry. I've been there many times myself. I remember all too well how today can focus your partner on what a cheapskate you are. I hope that your relationship can survive it. If not, there's always next year. Good luck.
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February 8th, 2006
Blasphemy
This is a photo of Kanye West, clearly a very arrogant man. I'm not sure how a multi-millionaire rap star can feel persecuted enough to don the crown of thorns, but there he is. Whatever you think of Kanye, (I think he's a talented rapper and a pompous ass) you have to recognize this photo's potential to offend. There are millions of Christians in the United States, the home of Rolling Stone magazine. Many Christians will find this photo to be blasphemous. However, the offices of Rolling Stone have not been fire-bombed. No religious edict has called for Kanye's death. People have accepted that, tasteless as this photo may be, Rolling Stone has the right to free expression. The West has, at least temporarily, moved out of the dark ages. Of course I'm really talking about crappy comics. The cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed are offensive. They are ugly and racist and I will not post them on this site. I can understand why Muslims are offended. Having said that, the reaction of the Muslim street to these cartoons has been nothing short of fascist. The credibility of Islam as a moderate and tolerant faith has been seriously undermined. I understand that the violence and rioting is likely being perpetrated by small numbers of extremists. This is not how most Westerners see it. People all across the West have seen but one image, that of violent fanatics, unable to handle even the slightest criticism, that of poor-quality drawings from an obscure newspaper. Muslim friends of mine have told me that they just want to be understood and respected by the rest of the world. Sadly, the riots have undermined these hopes. The credibility of Islam as a moderate faith has been damaged. Wrong as it may be, to the eyes of the West, it is the extremists that represent Islam. The rioters have made Islam appear to be a religion of intolerance and violence. Many Western moderates who have pushed for understanding and dialogue between civilizations feel that they can no longer defend Islam as a religion of peace. This is a tragic development. This problem has gone past the point of simple solutions. We need some serious dialogue and fast. Though the European Union should make a gesture of goodwill, Muslims should not expect an apology. Europe will not waver on its commitment to free speech. Though it was acting irresponsibly, the Danish paper had every right to publish the cartoons. Religious laws have NO PLACE in secular societies. All this chaos has been over a handful of stupid drawings. Would the Prophet be so insecure? Were the cartoons really a threat to a religion of one billion? My hope is that Imams around the world will tell the people to just let it go.