Lindsay Melhoff

Actor/singer Tyrese is going on tour with R&B stars Ginuwine and Tank, “Shirts Off” Tour.  Tyrese is hoping for the show to be only for the ladies, telling various media outlets the following…“We’re putting a ban on all dudes from coming to the show”.

I love how he is trying to ban the gays in a round about way. I’m not a fan of any of these singers, so there was never a plan to attend their “Shirts Off” tour, but to try to impose a ban on anyone for a concert deters me even further from attending.

Wake up Tyrese.  This so-called ban is only going to hurt you.  With that said, if there are any of you out there planning on attending this tour, don’t!  Don’t support his discrimination through your attendance! 

Beth Ditto is the English rock singer who fronts the indie band The Gossip, which has been given the title of the coolest rock and roll band in Britain.  The Gossip has been together for four years and have toured with the likes of the White Stripes and Sonic Youth.  She’s a Joplin type singer with her mega-powerful voice and a self-proclaimed “fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas”.  Her lyrics are explicitly girl-love related and the band’s latest single “Standing in the way of control” is a fiery disco/punk/blues/soul attack on the Republicans’ attitude to gay marriage.

She’s a born and raised Southern Baptist and Pentecostal; “super-bumpkin-style” as she told a British mag, Pop Matters.  She’s not ashamed of her large frame, being quoted as saying “I just like food too much”.  She’s vocal on the overweight issue, while keeping her sense of humour: “It’s treated like no one in the world is like this, and it’s the most shameful thing, but really most of us are fat asses, you know”.  This hip young songstress is comfortable in her own skin, almost too comfortable some might argue. 

Beth Ditto is an out-of-the-box type with only great things to come in her bright musical future.  Keep your eyes out for this talented and somewhat crude, larger than life English star and check out the latest releases by The Gossip!

Kieran King, a 15 year old grade 10 student at a local Saskatchewan high school, was suspended for three days for his schoolyard discussion of the effects of marijuana.  Colby Cosh of the National Post summarized the situation eloquently:

“What fascinates me about the case of Kieran King, the Saskatchewan high school student who was threatened, punished and slandered by various officials over the past three weeks for talking with some pals about the health effects of marijuana, is that it explodes almost every single utopian cliche about public schools that has been ever propounded by their employees and admirers. It’s almost glorious, in a way. Ever heard an educator say “We’re not here to teach students what to think — we’re here to teach them how to think”? BLAMMO! “We encourage children to make learning a lifelong process.” KAPOW! Poor Kieran didn’t even make it to age 16 before someone called the cops.“Diversity is one of our most cherished values.” But express a factually true opinion that diverges from what you’ve been taught and — WHOOMP! “Public schools aren’t crude instruments of social control, they’re places where we lay the foundation for an informed citizenry.” BOOM!I could go on, but I’m running out of sound effects and I really don’t have time to fire up an old Batman episode on You-Tube to gather more.King, who is in Grade 10 at a high school in tiny Wawota, Sask., started researching marijuana after he and his fellow students were given an audiovisual presentation about drugs earlier in the year. The presentation, from his entirely believable description, was typical of its kind: short on background facts and long on horror stories.He’s never smoked or even seen marijuana, so he was naturally curious about what’s really known about its effects. “Naturally curious” — say, there’s another favourite trope of the pedagogical establishment that’s been blown away with the Prairie wind.On May 30, Kieran, who is described as “research-obsessed” by his mother, was chatting with friends around the school lunch table and telling them about what he’d discovered, largely from scholarly and government sources. He argued that marijuana carries a near-zero risk of overdose, that it has been approved by Health Canada for medical use and that it kills an infinitesimal fraction of the people that alcohol and tobacco do every week — claims so uncontroversial you’d have to be high on something much stronger than pot to dispute them.He also suggested that it doesn’t make much sense for marijuana to be illegal in a world where booze and smokes are freely available in shops.In other words, what we have here is a kid who fits the picture of the model student so perfectly that the South East Cornerstone School Division should probably be putting him on a poster, not on suspension. He is an honour student — a real one, by all accounts, not some mediocre kid who wriggled in under a line lowered by grade inflation. (His mother, let it be noted, is a teacher who lost a husband to a drunk driver before he was born.) Presented with a highly emotional after school special-style argument in the classroom, he did solid research to see if it held up. He applied critical thinking, shared what he had discovered with his friends and invited more criticism. It encapsulates almost everything that we want children to be capable of when they graduate from our schools.But one of the students who’d witnessed the conversation apparently finked to the warden. (From this day forward I’m going to avoid the use of the term “principal.” If schools are going to be run like prisons, let’s adopt the appropriate lingo.) Boss bull Susan Wilson ordered Kieran to stop talking about marijuana on school premises — even though he had been outside the classroom, where school officials have to meet a justifiably high standard before interfering with a student’s freedom of speech — and later she called his mother to warn her that “promoting drug use” would not be tolerated. According to the education director of the school division, she was also told “if there were any drugs brought into the school, the police could be involved.” One can almost hear the truncheon slapping against the open palm. Later on, when Kieran organized a brief free speech protest outside the school with the help of a few “cannabis culture” types, Wilson reacted by ordering a lockdown (remember, they’re not prisons!). When he walked out anyway to join supporters, he was suspended from school and a “threat assessment” was ordered (definitely not prisons!).  Meanwhile, protesters interviewed district superintendent Velda Weatherald and caught her on tape saying that “there was an accusation” that Kieran may have been involved in selling drugs at the school. Innuendo and bullying are, as ever, what people Kieran’s age call “BFFs” nowadays. Best friends forever.

Right now Kieran is in Beijing, where he is taking classes in Mandarin. No doubt Superintendent Weatherald will soon be offering this as clear evidence that he intends to take up the opium-smuggling trade. When Kieran gets back, I’m thinking of calling him up and asking him what it’s like to live in a free country.”

Adlai Stevenson, an American statesmen, once said: “Freedom rings whenever opinons clash”.  Obviously freedom was reigned when opinions clashed here.  King’s knowledgeable and well-founded research merely differed from the portrait the school was trying to paint.  Kieran was neither encouraging drug use or promoting the sale of drugs.  He was merely thinking for himself, questioning the truth as it was presented to him and dwelving into the controversial; all of which I once thought objectives of our public school system.  A 15 year old capable of such curiosity, insight and reason should be praised, instead of punished.

What does this say about our schools?  Are we encouraging young people to be curious and to do their own competent research?  Are we encouraging young people to ask the hard questions and debat the controversial issues?  Or are we raising a generation of mindless twits, who believe everything put in front of them and who avoid thinking for themselves?  

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use” - said by Soren Kierkegaard, a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian.

We (as in all of us, including the public school system) should be encouraging both freedom of thought and freedom of speech.  Intelligent and well-founded claims, like those of King, should be welcomed in any academic community (and any other community for that matter), without the reprimand this young boy received.  Going against the norm or questioning the “unquestioned” truth goes to the very root of freedom of speech.  Kieran King’s rights were trampled when he was suspended for doing just that.

http://www.stoppuppymills.org/

The above link is to the United States Humane Society’s webpage to help stop puppy mills.  Watch the video and sign the pledge.  The treatment these dogs receive will absolutely break your heart.  Innocent young pups are being neglected and even tortured, all just to make a profit.  The video dwelves into the well-hidden world of puppy auctions and the inhumane treatment that goes along with them.  This is a travesty that needs to be stopped.  Please suppor this cause by refusing to buy puppies online or through pet stores and by NOT buying pet products at any retail store that sells live animals.  We need to stand up for these animals and leave the breeding to breeders who care more about the animals than the money!

What a week.  I’m just restless at work and at home too.  It’s not that I don’t have enough work to do but just that I’m bored with it.  I’m not being challenged enough and consequently I’m having a hard time getting motivated.  I’m anxious and unable to focus for long periods of time.  What’s with this?  Is this merely a sign of boredom?  Or is there something more to it?

Thomas Edison, the American inventor, once said “Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress”.

 I’m not sure about this.  I agree that restlessness is discontent…it’s nearly painful at times.  But will my discontent lead to some magical progress?  Perhaps my discontent will force me to push through to the finish line.  Although I’m not convinced Edison’s words apply to my current situation, they definitely contain some wisdom.  From his perspective, as the inventor of the light bulb, it takes some amount of discontent or frustration to force oneself to think outside the box and bigger than ever. 

That’s what I need…a little out-of-the-box-thinking to get me through this week.  At least I have tonight to look forward too.  Girls Night!

“It is not that some people have willpower and some don’t.  It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not” - said by James Gordon, and no, not the James Gordon police commissioner of Gotham City from the Batman comics, but James Gordon, the professor.

When I come across someone who has changed their life around so dramatically, it makes me feel like anything is possible.  It evokes this sense of pride in me, even though I had absolutely nothing to do with the change.  It is inspiring and motivating to see someone come full circle.  It makes me want to become a better person; it makes me want to embark on a similar journey of self-realization. 

But it also makes me wonder how and why?  Was there a catalystic event?  Was there a rock-bottom?  Do you need to hit rock-bottom in order to make such a life-changing metamorphesis?  And how does the change occur?  Is it gradual or just a wake-up-in-the-morning-feeling-different kind of thing?  

In any event, it’s remarkable and seeing or hearing about how one person has changed their life around only makes me want to do better with my own.  I wonder if when you are going through such an enormous life change, do you realize the impact it may have on others?  Do you realize that you will cause this subsequent inspiration and optimism in others?  If he can do it, then why can’t others?    

“Change your thoughts and you change your world” - said by Norman Vincent Peale, a Christian preacher and author.

I’ve always loved that quote.  It reminds me of sunshine and a world of opportunities.  It reminds me that no matter how dark things are looking, our perspectives can change the world as we know it.  Our perspectives and what we say to ourselves can change everything, for the better or for the worse. 

Rev. Will Bowen of Christ Church Unity in Kansas City has started a campaign called A Complaint Free World.  The whole premise is to get people to stop complaining.  It not only benefits others (they don’t have to listen to you complain) but it can completely change your outlook on life.  Just imagine how constantly focusing on the positive and not dwelling on the negative could change you.  The campaign can be found at www.acomplaintfreeworld.org.  The challenge is to go 21 days without complaining.  Check out the website, order a bracelet, start the challenge and let me know how you make out. 

Take inspiration from others’ success.  Live a life you’re proud of and one that will inspire others to do the same.  Thanks for the inspiration CC!

Holidays are marvelous things but coming home afterwards is even better.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to QC (which is well documented here on my blog), it’s so nice to back in the comforts of home.  Back to Dustin, back to Bruiser and back to work.  Yes, even work.  More because it means making money to pay off some deserving debts, but yet still happy to be back at work. 

“Not going home is already like death” - said by E. Catherine Tobler, a young writer from Colorado.

And the house.  I can’t forget about our cute little house.  Well, not ours yet, but hopefully soon.  Cleaning up, inside and out, planting flowers and doing laundry has never been so fun!  Sarcasm aside, home is home and being here is great.  But now the countdown is on for the next holiday.  Maybe camping??  Anyone in for a group camping trip?  I could handle a lil’ roughing it in Cypress or somewhere.  Maybe Fernie??  I know a hot broad there that may be so inclined to show us around?! 

Is being polite a courtesy we owe to each and every individual?  Of course…but how far does that courtesy extend?  Is there more than just a duty to be pleasant, but an obligation to take the extra step towards friendship?  Should we not be allowed to chose our own friends, without having to take every acquiantance in?  Is being decent to avoid conflicts two-faced? 

Should I act the way I feel, regardless of the feelings it may hurt or the awkwardness it may cause?  That would ensure the stop of accusations of being two-faced.  But at what price?  It doesn’t really bother me to be called childish names by others, but this is more of a moral dilemma on courtesy. 

“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” - said by the one and only Abraham Lincoln.

I sometimes feel like friends ask too much of their friends.  It’s one thing to ask something to be pleasant and decent, which is something we owe to every soul on the earth, but it’s a completely different burden to ask someone to become friends or have sleep-overs.  Ok that last one was a bit of a stretch but that’s the frustration I’m feeling at the moment.  It’s not that I don’t get along with most people, because I do but I adamantly refuse to get all buddy-buddy with someone who’s not my buddy.  Friends can’t force their friends to get close to someone through association or guilt.  Certain people are just not ment to be friends and no amount of force can change that.

So I’m at the fork in the road and need to choose the correct path.  (1) I can be truthful with my feelings and cut the pleasant bullshit, which will definitely put an end to any misconceptions, but will likely cause strain to others.  (2) I can continue being pleasant but still stand my ground on the buddy-buddy front.  Or (3) I can lay down and pretend to be friends with someone who I am really not crazy about, therefore pleasing some, but severely deceiving others.  So what to do?  I’ll likely choose the middle path. 

So I polled my travelling companions tonight and we came up with a stellar set of recommendations for any of you who plan to head to Quebec City in the near future.

First and foremost, the Clarendon was an excellent place to stay. The rooms are wonderful, the staff friendly and the location couldn’t be better. All for a reasonable price too.

When it comes to shopping, don’t miss La Maison Simons. There is one on Rue Saint-Jean in Vieux Quebec and also one in one of the Saint-Foye malls (I’m sure more, but not that I came across). Also, Rue Cartier is not all it is cracked up to be, at least in terms of shopping. Everything is really overpriced.

BEST APPY/STARTER:
Helen and Grams agreed that the hotel restaurant, Bailllairge, had the best, while Mom favored L’Echaude and myself, the Moulin de Saint-Laurent on L’Ile d’Orlean.

BEST DRINK:
Helen chose the hotel restaurant, Baillairge, for their great wine, while Mom chose our Buffet Cruise, for her “green” cosmopolitan (it really was green although obviously not really a cosmo despite having ordered one). Grams and I chose L’Astral (at the top of the Concorde) for the pitcher of martini we got, and the whole thing for a reasonable $9.

BEST MEAL:
Helen, Grams and Mom all agree that L’Echaude had the best main course meal, while I prefered the restaurant at our hotel, called Bailllairge.

BEST DESSERT:
Grams and Helen chose L’Echaude and Mom and I, Baillairge. Baillairge has a deadly creme brullee while L’Echaude served up a stellar chocolate symphony plate.

BEST ATMOSPHERE:
Mom and I chose the cruise, as it was a beautiful night and an unreal view, not to mention the entertainment provided by the other passengers. Helen chose L’Astral for the revolving view of Quebec City, and Grams L’Echaude for the hustle-bustle of the place.

BEST SERVICE:
Helen and Mom both went with L’Astral. Our waiter was very entertaining and attentive. I chose the cruise, because our waiter was just the funniest little man ever! Grams went with the Cafe Buade because of it’s speed and comfort.

MUST-DO:
Grams and Mom both chose Le Musee de L’Amerique Francaise, although they both made mention of the fact that it could easily take the whole afternoon. Helen chose a country-side excursion, ours which was taken to the Montmorency Falls and the Ile D’Orlean. My choice was the Ghost Walking Tour, most likely because I like learning about that kind of creepy history.

SHOULD HAVE DONE:
Helen would have liked to have seen more of the countryside and Grams more specifically, would have liked to have visited the area of Beaupre. Mom would have liked to have lunch (or breakfast) at the Parliament’s restaurant, which we just found out today was possible upon reservation. I, not surprisingly, would have liked to have made it to the two other malls on Rue Laurier.

One last thing…the microbrewery on L’Ile D’Orlean deserves on honorary mention. It had great beer, great atmosphere and a friendly young waitress.

Hope you all visit Quebec City sometime soon. Next year, on July 3, 2008, they are celebrating their 400 year anniversary…a great time to visit I’m sure!

Merci encore pour lire! Je vous adore!

Today was our last day in Quebec City and it was par for the course. We started with our second trip to the Creperie and I again had a delicious strawberry and banana crepe. We then went our own ways for the rest of the morning. I immediately made my way to my new favorite shop, Simons. When we were at the big mall the other day, I saw a great coat at Simons for only $20. I didn’t buy it though and really regretted it. I asked if the Simons here in Vieux Quebec could get it here for tomorrow but no such luck. However, they offered to ship it to me in Saskatchewan, at no charge! Can you believe that?! Simons is definitely a God-send! lol

We met at noon and cabbed up to Rue Cartier. It’s supposed to the trendiest part of town but I must say that I was disappointed. Although it was packed with nice looking pubs and bistro type restaurants, it was lacking in shops and the ones it did have, were severely over priced. That didn’t stop me from finding the deals, coming home with a great scarf for only $25 and a sweet pair of shades for $20. We had our lunch at Pub Java, where the poor girl was all by herself in the packed restaurant. She managed and we had a great lunch with great service.

We then heading down to the Parliament building to catch the free tour at 4:00. It was really great. We got to see the legislature room where all the “important people” sit and also the committee room. It was short and sweet.

We went down to the Lower City to this place called L’Echaude for supper. It was definitely one of the best meals, and that means a lot, given the amount of eating we did. We headed home for a fairly early night to pack up and get ready for our departure tomorrow. It was a great end to a great trip.

Je vais manque Quebec mais je suis excite de partir. Une semaine est une long temps d’etre sans mon amour, et mon chien.