Here is my new shirt that my friend Sam gave to me. Isn’t it sweet? Now I can be a hippy for Halloween. YAY!
I know that I should write a serious drug policy post, because there are lots of evil bad wrong things going on with respect to that, like Grant Krieger being found guilty for drug traficking. But right now, I am in Halloween mode and I’m tired of complaining.
I would like to think that I despise all over-commercialized holidays equally, but sadly that is not the case. Even though I hate the way my wallet gets picked every Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day, I have to admit there are some parts of these holidays that are harmless fun. Christmas is great, if you decide on a few rules to limit the commercial orgy. For example, adults don’t buy each other presents is the rule at our house. Halloween is tonnes of fun too. What could be wrong with constructing a costume to go over your snow suit and taking the kidlets door to door to beg for candy from strangers? Well, let me tell you, the costume buying part of this expedition always gets my goat. I am the mother of two girls and the most important thing I can do for them is try to help them navigate all the patriarchal pitfalls that get thrown at them, just because they were born female. Halloween is unfortunately a very patriarchy-friendly holiday. Allow me to demonstrate. The following pictures were taken with my new Crackberry while I was shopping at Value Village and Superstore. Read more…
I just started working on something interesting this weekend and since it’s a writing project and I need to reduce my distractions, I probably won’t be updating this blog as often for a little while. I know, I know, my legions of fans are sorely disappointed. But don’t fret! If I do well at this project I will have something big and meaty for the world to read. At least, that is my dream and hope. Whether it actually turns out that way is yet to be determined.
So see you later.
Welcome to this weeks’ greatly anticipated edition of the Friday 4:20. This week I bring you two sordid links to concerned parents that want to bring random, compulsory drug testing into the school system. The phrase “Won’t Somebody Please Think of The Children” will come to mind as you read these letters. You will come to realize that these people really believe that forcing students to hand over their pee is in their own best interests. They may not have thought of the implications of false positives, false negatives and the way that these programs help justify the war on drugs. Instead of teaching students that responsible drug use is in their own best interests, we wish to impose punitive “gotcha” measures to bully students into doing what we think is best for them. I wonder if these parents engaged their children in discussions about responsible drug use before their kids became troubled. You will also be disturbed by the frequent war imagery. They looked at the drug problem and “attacked it head on”. Not only that, but apparently opposing drug testing in the schools makes you a liberal. I really wish that people would quit using that word as an insult.
The first letter is all about how the Drug Policy Makes Sense and the second letter is from a father grieving the tragic loss of his son. It depresses me to realize how little people really understand why people use drugs in the first place and that continuing the same, punitive approaches will result in more people in jail, more wealthy drug peddlers and more drug addicted students. The fact remains that the US has the highest prison population in the world, thanks to their punitive drug policies and the highest number of drug users. Sadly, opposition to drug prohibition still seems relegated to the fringes.
These advocates of drug testing remind me of something that Alfie Kohn said. “Our schools are great places to prepare you for the real world, if you wish to live in a totalitarian society.” So yes indeed, using the excuse that drug testing is a condition of employment in many cases is a great excuse. We want to train them to hand over their pee and all their medical information, without a complaint, and what better way to do it but to start them young.
2006-2008
My 1996 Pontiac Firefly was only with us for two years but she will be sadly missed. She was fuel efficient and had a tape deck. She was highly maneuverable through rush hour traffic. (Is maneuverable a word?) Rest in Peace. No cheap car could ever take her place.
It’s true, I got in my first car accident today. My beautiful little car, my 1996 pontiac firefly, the one that burns next to no gas is dead. A carful of jerky teenagers destroyed her by barrelling through a stop sign. Even though I slammed on the brakes, I didn’t stop in time. I ended up hitting the rear end of their car. I hit the car pretty damn hard and the air bags deployed. Luckily I didn’t get hurt physically in anyway, except for a bruise on my hand from the air bag flying through the steering wheel at high velocity. But it screwed up my brain. It was like time slowed right down as it was happening. The air bags emitted the most horrific, odorous stench that I have ever had the misfortune to smell. Burnt hair mixed with moldy old unwashed car and engine oil. I immediately got out of the car and tried to see if I can see the plate number of the car. But I forgot to put on the E-brake before I got out and she started to roll away. So I had to get in the car to put on the E-brake and I temporarily forgot how to do it. But I did figure it out. By that time, the punk drove away.
But on the bright side, I was genuinely amazed at the number of people that stopped to make sure I was all right. Physically I was just fine but my brains got all scrambled. I was shaking like a leaf and imagining my battered body splattered across the pavement. A bunch of onlookers came to see me and give me their contact information so I wouldn’t have trouble getting insurance from SGI. A nice stranger let me sit in her house while I was waiting for the police and the tow truck to get there. A nice man sat beside me on the curb as I was trying to compose myself and failing miserably. He was a nurse and calmed me right now. I told him I was feeling fine but my head was messed up. Michelle and her wonderful boyfriend made me coffee, phoned the police and talked to me while waiting for them to come. The police took what seemed like a long time. But finally they came and took statements from me and other witnesses.
I’m going to make sure that if I ever have the chance to help someone out in their time of need that I will always step up to the plate. I’m a mom and I work with kids so I give a lot of myself all the time and some days I just feel completely worn out. But having people look after me made me realize how important that really is. Although I miss my beautiful little car, it could have been a whole lot worse.
In other bad news, I dropped my blackberry in a cup of tea yesterday and destroyed it. Today I went and sold my soul to Sasktel and went into huge amounts of debt just so I can get another one. I have it baaaaad!
I know what you are thinking. Nobody with my salary and my responsibilities should indulge in such a worthless, over-priced electronic toy. But I can play brickbuster, I can keep in touch with my facebook friends, I can send text messages, read email, take pictures and listen to mp3’s. Pretty soon I will set it up so I can blog from a blackberry. Now that would be pretty crazy. I know I could live without a blackberry, but why would I want to?
I wish I could put myself in some sort of election-free bubble. I don’t want to know about the existence of Palin porn or attack ads. I don’t want to continually be reminded that the people in charge of running the country are a bunch of bickering school children. It’s depressing to watch. Enough already. I have started actively avoiding it but it’s next to impossible. The US election Obama vs. McCain, Grampy and Bible Spice vs. Monkey and Old White Guy. Libruhl Agenda. Right-wing nut jobs. NO! I don’t want to know about it and I don’t want to think about it. If I can successfully avoid Starbucks, reality television, weddings, oohing and awing over an engagement ring, then I should be able to avoid politics for a while. That’s it, I’m not blogging it anymore either.
This is my last election post.
At the Saskbloggers lunch last weekend, we went to Jerry’s Food Emporium on 8th street. While I do like their food, I find it is tasteless, white, honky food. I had their Thai Chicken salad and it was terrible. The noodles were tasteless and bland and the sauce was watered down, inauthentic pap. But what do you expect from a family restaurant? At least their burgers are edible. I need something with a lot more kick. I suggested that the next time we get together we go to Asian Taste. They serve authentic East Indian and Pakistani food that will blow your doors off. Here is their menu. If you like spicy, curried food, then I would recommend the Dal Masala aka curried lentils. I especially love their vegetable samosas and spring rolls. They aren’t very spicy but I fixed that by soaking them in a whole lot of hot sauces. Yummy!
My kids hate flavorful food, and have no interest in eating any of the tasty yummies. They don’t serve french fries, hamburgers or chicken fingers. Thank the sky fairies for that! This is not a restaurant you want to bring small, picky eaters to. Even though I think grading is a waste of time, I know that anybody reading this crummy review will expect it, so I guess I have to give it 5 stars. Just go eat there already, what are you waiting for? Get off this idiot box computer and go get some tasty yummies now! I will even give you directions.
Here is their address:
Asian Taste
101 3rd ave North
Saskatoon, SK
Phone : 477-1044
But if that proves unhelpful, I will give you directions that any true Saskatonian can appreciate. It’s across the street from this thing. What’s it called?
Oh yeah, the Sturdy Stone Centre. It’s across the street from the Sturdy Stone Centre in the strip mall.
If you still need help finding it, there is no hope for you.
Salon has an excellent piece on an issue that rarely gets discussed, except by pot smokers and conspiracy theorists. I say that with a bit of bitterness, as I find my pro-drug views sometimes get me in trouble with some people. But luckily I have never concerned myself with what other people think, or at least that’s what I try to tell myself.
I really liked reading about the personal experiences of Obama and Cindy McCain and how their lives were impacted by America’s horrific drug policy, which has been exported all over the world. American imperialism at its’ finest. When Cindy McCain was a drug addict and stole to support her habit, she managed to stay out of jail thanks to her money and connections. If she were young, poor and/or black, that would have been a highly unlikely outcome. It’s so damned unfair that there are different rules applied to your life depending on your social class. What a bunch of bullocks! In spite of that though, I am glad that Cindy McCain stayed out of jail and recovered from her addiction because I don’t believe anybody should go to jail for using or selling the wrong drugs. She clearly needed help, not to spend time in jail.
Now I just wonder when we will hear either of these presidential candidates say anything about drug policy. I’ll be waiting.
Just a few of the things that I found on the internet that are mighty interesting to me. First of all, check out this site Stop Jenny McCarthy about the scare surrounding immunizations and the latest nut who is doing the talk-show circuit to promote whatever snake-oil medicine is popular this season. It’s Jenny McCarthy, current tool of the patriarchy, capitalizing on parental hopes and fears. She should be ashamed of herself. The only problem is, she probably believes that she is doing the right thing.
And here is another Sarah Haskins video. I am a huge fan of her stuff so of course I am going to post it. I got this from feministing.
Here is another fantastic performance by Tina Fey in the role of Governor Sarah Palin that I stole from pharyngula. I agree with PZ that they should have left Palin out of the sketch.
Also, I ordained oops I mean suggested that we find a different location for the next SaskBloggers meeting. We have to go to Asian Taste! But first I will have to do an Asian Taste post with all the goodies on it. It will be my very first review post. And it will rock, as does everything that I do.
At the Saskblogs lunch Twyla and I ended up discussing education. She was home-schooled when she was young and is full of stories about her personal educational experiences. I really do hope that she turns these into blog-posts, but I know that she is incredibly busy these days with her studies. Anyway, I am less busy, all I have is a job and a family and a horse in another town. I have plenty of free time to post about education. So I better do my share and make sure to get this conversation started.
