Wednesday, 18 March 2015

#FinalPost

It looks like this assignment is coming to an end, which means I won't be posting weekly anymore. I just wanted to make a quick post about my experience with running this blog and having a schedule.

I actually really enjoyed doing this. It was something I knew I would be doing once a week, so it wasn't a major shock or anything majorly time consuming to do, it became part of my usual weekly schedule. I was able to keep up and get all 10 of my posts done in time because of this.

It gave me a bit of structure but it also allowed me to get more insight to the things happening around me in the world. Each week I wrote about a topic I was seeing trending on Twitter or online. I can't just talk about something I read one little thing about, so it forced me to look into all the topics more in depth and I learned quite a lot from it. Some stuff I liked, some stuff I hated, some stuff I wish wasn't happening, etc. It made me learn about things I wouldn't normally just find out or be taught about. It really opened my eyes.

What I thought was cool with all of this was learning how to use and analyze analytics better. I always paid attention to analytics on youtube for example, but this was much more detailed and interesting to analyze. I noticed exactly where traffic was coming from, which helped me understand which social media platforms were most responsive to my posts.

Overall, this was fun. It was a cool way to learn how to use and understand something new that will be very useful in our future careers.

BYE GUYS!

Monday, 16 March 2015

#Zimmerman

Remember back in 2012 when George Zimmerman shot and killed 17 year old Trayvon Martin in cold blood? The unarmed high school kid who was, in short, shot for being black. I'm sure you remember. It caused a major uproar throughout the world, not just in the States where it happened, but throughout the world, everyone saw the injustice behind his actions.
He spent three years on trial for charges of second degree murder and manslaughter... both of which were dropped due to inssuficient evidence.. Somehow, then unnarmed young teen deserved to die in the eyes of the police. They let George walk.

Fast forward to present day.. what is happening in Ferguson right now.. A police officer shot and killed again, an unnarmed black man, Michael Brown. Since this day, the city has been in constant riots and have been being attacked by the police. I could go on and on about the injustice happening in Ferguson, but I want to stay on topic of George Zimmerman.


He was arrested in Ferguson a week ago. Ferguson, Atlanta... very, very far away from his home in Sanford, Florida. Why was he arrested?
Because he was found harassing and threatening two young, black males who were doing absolutely nothing wrong. The story of the article I read pretty much sums it up into a conversation.. a dialogue of what happened. According to the boys who were harassed and witnesses, George Zimmerman stepped out of his vehicle and started walking toward two black teens. The teens evidently recognized him right away and began backing up and walking away with their hands in the air saying "George, we don't know why you're here or what you're doing, but we are simply minding our own business. It's pretty insensitive that you're even here right now."
After this George took out his gun and pointed it at them, not saying a word.

They continued to walk away asking him why he was there, what he was doing, and pleading that they weren't doing anything wrong. That they have the right to be walking on their sidewalks. He kept approaching them with his loaded gun pointed at their heads when cops arrived and arrested him instantly.


What I hope comes of this is that the police recognize that this man is just itching to kill again... what other reason would he have for being in Ferguson where he could presumably assume he would get away with his actions due to the current circustances. They need to recognize that this man literally drew a gun on two human beings for literally standing on the sidewalk minding their own business. They begged for him to leave them alone and he drew a weapon no them. The Crown and Jury absolutely must recognize that this man is a serial killer and must be put away and kept off the streets.


source:
http://www.mywlas.com/george-zimmerman-arrested-while-visiting-ferguson/

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

#DieWithDignity

This is a rather touchy subject to me for many reasons, but I wanted to share something I read a couple weeks ago that is very good news. Actually, it's probably the best news I could have read due to the circumstances.

On February 15th 2015 The Supreme Court of Canada removed the ban on doctor assisted suicide. 

“A person facing this prospect has two options: she can take her own life prematurely, often by violent or dangerous means, or she can suffer until she dies from natural causes. The choice is cruel.”

It made me really happy to see that the Supreme Court was able to recognize this issue and make a change to allow people to end their suffering and leave this world with dignity. Like other good changes being made in our province and country, some people are against it for stupid reasons which I won't get into, but what I will get into is how important this is to me, personally.

The removal of this ban is important to me because a few years ago, 2012 to be exact, I had to watch my best friends mother slowly deteriorate, suffer, and die right in front of me. I couldn't do anything to help her. She was completely fine until one day she had a stomach ache that made her throw up.. she doesn't usually throw up so she went to a walk in clinic to see if she may have gotten food poisoning or something. They ended up doing blood work and a couple days later, the results came back. Her stomach ache was actually stage 3 Leukemia. She had been "sick" for a very long time without even knowing.. at the time of diagnosis, they told us it was terminal.
At this time, they told us the only thing they could "possibly" do to "maybe help in the time being" is chemo and radiation.
Let me remind you that she was sick for a long time without knowing, because she felt okay and was non symptomatic, even after being diagnosed, she still felt fine, even though she wasn't.
She started chemo thinking it was the only thing that could buy her some more time or that it would make her feel better later on.. but unfortunately chemo did nothing we hoped for. Instead, she got really sick, really fast. She came home and didn't leave bed for almost a week. My friend didn't drive so I had to take her every 2 weeks to the hospital. She started to lose her dark skin pigment and turn grey and white. She lost a lot of weight and she was tiny to begin with. She lost her hair. She lost her energy. She lost her appetite. She lost her will to do anything. Everything that she was, wasn't anymore. This just went on and got worse and worse to the point of needing to go into palliative care. They eventually stopped chemo and said it was doing more bad than good and it's too late to save her, so they would let he be in peace in palliative care.

A few weeks go by and she isn't able to speak to us anymore. She doesn't even open her eyes or wake up when we come to visit her. She was too weak. She was a beautiful mind and soul stuck in a body that didn't work. A body that was trying to kill her..
On our way to visit her, we were told to not come. I remember the feeling of my heart sinking into the bottom of my body like it was yesterday. I've never felt so robotic in my life. I didn't react, nor did Shauna, her daughter. Her aunt came out afterwards and simply said "she's gone." We just stood there in silence. Kay's gone? All of this.. just for her to be gone? Are you kidding me right now?

As we left.. all we could think of was the fact that she wasn't able to end her life while she was proud of it and herself, while she was well and healthy, while she was strong and had her dignity, she was never given the damn option to opt out while she good, instead, she was told either she suffers or suffers even more just to die as a vegetable in a hospital bed covered in wires and machines. Kay even said herself "I wish I didn't have to do all of this.. I wish I could just go to bed like this and not wake up."

That's what she said. That's what the Supreme Court is allowing now. It's too late for her, but unfortunately, I'm next. My mother is sick. She has cancer. Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. There is no treatment for it, there is no cure for it, there is no delaying it. Cells slowly build up in every inch of her body and when it's ready, it will attack. Its what they call "dormant cancer", meaning it starts off real slow, non symptomatic, while it builds up its cells so when its ready to attack, it's as quick as a couple weeks. When my mom told me she had cancer last year, I couldn't imagine anything other than reliving the year of hell I did with my best friends mom, but with my own. I had nightmares of watching the person I love most waste away before my eyes while I helplessly watch.. Now that this has happened, her, my dad, my brother and sister, and i, have had a sit down talk with her to discuss this. Before we could even bring it up, she said "Don't worry, you won't be seeing me suffer. I'm going to go when I'm good, you are hearing me say it now, it's what I want and it's what we will do as a family. I am going to go with pride and dignity and I refuse to suffer."

As fucked up as it is to hear your mom say she will be committing suicide, it eliminated my family's worst fear of watching her suffer. This new law that some people are complaining about, is everything Kay has ever wanted, is everything my mother and my family needs. It's an insanely incredible advancement in our society. We got rid of the ban on gay marriage and abortion, now we can chose how we die.. I think Canada is setting a really good example for others to follow.

source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/supreme-court-rules-on-doctor-assisted-suicide/article22828437/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/06/supreme-court-of-canada-strikes-down-ban-on-doctor-assisted-suicide/

Friday, 27 February 2015

#OntarioSexEdCurriculum

Have you read the new Ontario sex ed curriculum? If you haven't, you should. Why?

Because it's fantastic.

Let me list a couple things that have been introduced to the curriculum, which, in my opinion, are very beneficial and helpful things to teach our provinces youth.

1) "In grade one, children will be taught to identify body parts, including genitalia, using their correct terms (penis, testicles, vagina, vulva) and to recognize exploitative behaviours such as inappropriate touching."

2) "In grade two, the concept of "consent" will be introduced very broadly as the right to say "no" in threatening situations. This has been misrepresented by many critics as "teaching children the concept of consent," which is then in turn further misrepresented as "teaching children to consent to sex.""

3) "The concept of human and animal reproduction -- presented broadly as the union of the egg and sperm -- has actually been pushed back a grade, moving from grade three to grade four, and the first discussion of sexual intercourse occurs in grade five, the same as in the previous curriculum."

4) "In the 2015 curriculum, children will be taught to respect people's differences. Starting in grade three, they will be introduced to the concepts of gender identity and sexual orientation as invisible characteristics; other examples include learning abilities, allergies, and cultural values."

These are just a few of them.. which I will repeat, I think are very beneficial and important for our youth to learn. However... many people don't agree. In fact, there are major protests and arguments against the curriculum.. without getting into detail, those who are against it are more or less catholic/christian. 

People are threatening to remove their kids from the Ontario school board and home school them because people can't seem to read sentences word for word.. One common example I am finding is that parents are saying "I don't want my kid being taught how to masturbate in grade 6".. when if you read the actual curriculum, it absolutely does not teach your kids HOW. It explains the concept of it, what it is, but they absolutely do not have a teacher come into class and teach your children how to fuck themselves. That's disgusting, I agree. But that isn't what the curriculum is saying. 
Teaching your children in grade 3 that "a boy can play with a pink toy and a girl can play with a blue toy and that's okay" is NOT teaching your kid to be gay or encouraging them to be gay. 

Every single positive thing added to the curriculum has some counter statement that someone butchered completely from the original statement to make it perverted or ungodly... If I get into each one, you will be sitting here reading for a long time. 

I will cut this short because I can feel myself getting angry at the people who are against this.. the people who are going to limit their childrens education and development.. who are going to take them out of school and shelter and isolate them from the world and its truths. The new curriculum is really good, it will help young kids simply open their minds and reassure them they can be their own person, teach them things they need to learn to do safely to protect themselves in the future, teach them that they can say "no".. Any parent willing to take that away from their child is just messed right up and clearly doesn't want the best for them. 




side note: seriously though.. if you read the actual curriculum word for word.. the statements you're seeing the protesters saying are actually so horribly butchered. It makes me question the worlds intelligence if they can't even read or understand the words they're reading. 





sources: http://globalnews.ca/news/1853112/blog-the-straight-facts-on-ontarios-sex-ed-curriculum/
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/karyn-pickles/ontario-sex-education-curriculum-update_b_6746012.html
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/23/read-ontarios-new-sex-ed-curriculum-for-yourself/ (the actual curriculum is in here for grade 1-8 and post secondary) 

Thursday, 19 February 2015

#50ShadesOfAbuse

With the release of the movie 50 Shades of Grey, I feel it's important to talk about the difference between BDSM and what is portrayed of it in the book and movie. 50 Shades of Grey is not BDSM.. it is sexual abuse. I will explain a point below as to how...

1) BDSM is actually very popular in todays society, though it isn't something commonly spoken about or displayed, it happens. There is an actual BDSM Mantra that those who follow the lifestyle live by.. it reads "Safe, sane, consensual."

One of the first scenes of the movie/parts of the book are the main character, Christian Grey, taking home a girl who is too intoxicated and changing her clothes, etc. Upon waking up, he tells her he will be watching her from now on. These are instantly signs of a power hungry, abusive person. He took in a woman whom doesn't know him, took advantage of the situation she was in, took her into his home and undressed her, exposed her non consensual body and changed her clothes. He then made her feel as though she would be watched and stalked by again, this man she has never seen in her life.

Throughout the book and movie, the woman expresses how she is afraid, how she feels threatened by him, how she doesn't want him forcing himself on her... but he continues and continues and manipulates her into thinking she wanted it all along. Ruining the whole "consent and sane" aspect of it all.

The book literally doesn't ever come to a conclusion to where the two discuss any rules, any consent, nothing. The entire time he manipulates and takes advantage, abuses and seduces with ill intentions to harm her and make her feel small, not to make her feel submissive. Like I said before, there is a difference between actual BDSM and what the book portrays it to be.

She and Christian never, ever discussed the word "no" and she often times asks him to stop, or mentions she doesn't want it, etc.

People are going to be reading this book thinking it's okay to pretty much rape a person.. They will be lead to believe that they can do whatever they want to a person without any discussion or consent.

It's a fucked up example to set for people. Such popular things shouldn't glorify sexual abuse and trauma.



source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amy-bonomi-on-abuse-in-fifty-shades-of-grey-2015-2

Monday, 9 February 2015

#WhitePrivilege

I guess being white does get you more attention and sympathy. Take #JeSuisCharlie for example.. the victims, all white, caused a mass spread of sympathy and support towards them. Which is fine, by all means, any person who was massacred deserves some kind of acknowledgment and kind words.. even given a hashtag to commemorate them..

Unless you're not white.


 What I'm talking about is how on February 2nd, a Jordanian Pilot was captured and burned alive by ISIS. What is different about this and #JeSuisCharlie? Well, upon capturing him, ISIS used Twitter to ask people how they should torture and kill him. The shocking part?
The responses. 



The responses were exactly what they wanted to hear and unfortunately, this seemed to have gotten little to no attention. 

Had this man been white and this Twitter account made to take in torture and execution suggestions.. the world would be in an uproar. However, I didn't know about it until almost weeks later. Goes to show who gets priority.

#WhitePrivilege 

RIP Kasasbeh

sources:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/03/isis-burns-jordanian-pilot-alive.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2939196/Was-Jordanian-pilot-burned-alive-sick-Twitter-campaign-ISIS-supporters-method-death.html


Wednesday, 4 February 2015

#VegetableGarden

Anti abortion activists are crazy. They use god and religion as a reason to prevent a woman from making her own decisions regarding her own body, as well as her very own future.

I came across an article today that had my jaw on the floor in utter disgust.. I'll shorten the story up to spare you the feelings I felt upon reading the whole thing in great detail...

A woman in Ireland whom has been described as clinically dead is being kept alive against her families wishes simply to incubate the 16 week old fetus inside of her. Her family is slowly watching her decay and decompose while being hooked up to machines because Anti Abortion activists in Ireland are forcing this to be done. 

This woman is literally dead. They have her hooked up to endless machines and wires giving her artificial life to spare a fetus that is the size of an olive. An undeveloped, mutant-esque, mindless worm is the reason why.

I came across a few points related to this in the article

1) According to the organ donor group, Donate Life, keeping the brain-dead woman n machines and ventilators are a huge risk to the fetus as this only  gives the appearance of life, however, it is simply delaying the natural decay that comes with death. - The baby is being kept in a body that has the appearance of being alive, whilst decaying. 
2) It is despicable and cruel. Putting the health risks of the fetus and psychological trauma to the family, watching their dead family member decompose.. it is utter cruelty to take a person whom is no longer capable of making their own decisions and making awful ones for them. 

The title of this post is called #VegetableGarden because at the end, the publisher made a very strong point that stuck with me. "Women are more than vegetable gardens. When a woman suffers an unimaginable tragedy that renders her incapable of making her own decisions, those decisions are best left to medical professionals and the people who know and love her, not clergy or politicians."


source: http://mic.com/articles/106836/abortion-foes-are-forcing-a-brain-dead-pregnant-woman-to-incubate-her-fetus?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social