noblealice | and a happy fourth of july to my american friends!!

01. Taking a cue from Mindy Kaling, I'm thinking of donating to a charity for my birthday. At first I was thinking of donating to the Red Cross or Planned Parenthood or WWF, but I'm willing to donate to smaller charities - particularly Women/Youth/LGBT Shelters or other worthwhile causes I haven't even heard of. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO PITCH YOUR PERSONAL CAUSE THAT IS CLOSE TO YOUR HEART (note: this isn't going to be a big donation by any stretch but I feel like it's time for me to give back after years of being privileged enough to get presents my whole life).

02. So my friends brought up today the comments on cbc.ca and how their minds are blown by the opinions of idiots and prejudices ect. My thoughts: 1)never read the comments, 2)how are you shocked? These are the people who voted in a Harper-led Conservative government. These are the people who voted Rob Ford in as mayor of Toronto. They exist, they're vocal and we can't ignore them just to keep this outdated image of our country.

Disillusionment in our 'great' nation is the only safety net against rage bombs. Not to say people should be apathetic, but if we are less surprised when we are disappointed, (WHA? CANADA IS NOT PERFECT? IMPOSSIBLE! I will spend all my time yelling about this and whose problem it is instead of talking about the real issue you've brought up!) then we might actually be willing to do something to fix our nation. Something can only be fixed if people acknowledge that it's broken and Canada's certainly not without flaws.

...uh, and on that wonderfully positive note: happy belated 145th birthday, Canada! I hope we fix you up real soon!

03. They are making a Maleficent movie (!!) and I am ecstatic about this due to a childhood love affair where I had a striped staff with a snake head at the grip and role played as the evil queen and wrote out a play in large print in one of those old school notebooks. I even read it out loud to my family and they were kind enough to humour me. I also hear that Disney is working on a twelfth princess movie that is supposed to be based on The Snow Queen, a fairy tale I'm not overly familiar with except for staring at the beautiful illustrations on a copy I once had as a kid. Although it appears that they are making a bunch of changes so it's only very loosely based on the real story. Either way - yay more princesses and villians and ladies in general!

04. coming up next - my monthly roundup of june! (got too long for this entry)

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I feel like I have to apologize for Canadian political idiocy, because there is so fucking MUCH of in America that I feel that there is no possibility of it not just seeping over there by osmosis. Ugh. Disgusting. I am really sick of the popular way of viewing everything as an endpoint instead of a journey, like "all or nothing"—either it's perfect or it's an utter disaster, either you are a racist or you aren't. Anything to avoid the idea that fixing problems might require continuous attention and hard work, and that there's no finish line after which everything is solved and we can all lie down and never do anything ever again! But anyway.

DUUUUUUUUDE you are the coolest person I know. I wanted to be Peter Pan and you wanted to be the Evil Queen. I THINK WE KNOW WHICH ONE OF US WAS ON THE RIGHT TRACK HERE. :P No but ahaha I directed and starred in my own adaptation of Peter Pan, roped as many classmates into it as possible, and performed it for my parents, but the show was kind of stolen by my brother who played half the parts and mocked it. ANYWAY. ♥

As for your birthday plans, WOOHOO! That is awesome. I try to buy a Bitch subscription for somebody whenever it is my birthday, but I really mean to save up a fund. :P OH, which brings me to, Bitch Magazine is definitely close to my heart, as is Con or Bust (and the Carl Brandon Society as a whole). But you really can't go wrong with Planned Parenthood. :P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND ILUUUUUU!!!!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I am really sick of the popular way of viewing everything as an endpoint instead of a journey, like "all or nothing"—either it's perfect or it's an utter disaster, either you are a racist or you aren't. Anything to avoid the idea that fixing problems might require continuous attention and hard work, and that there's no finish line after which everything is solved and we can all lie down and never do anything ever again!
YES! De-constructing privilege is something that I have to work at EVERY DAY. I will never get a stamp that says "ally" and then I can put up my feet and stop thinking about the words I'm saying and the way I'm thinking. Sometimes I feel guilty that I'm not more aggressive when talking to my friends and asking them to stop saying ableist/homophobic/cissexist words ect. but I feel like I should master it first? Or maybe that's just a way to procrastinate conflict. (Although I did say "can we never make jokes like that again?" when a friend said something along the line of "that candy rape my mouth". And there wasn't even any resistance! He just nodded and re-said his sentence, this time saying "that candy was fucking intense". \o/ VICTORY! I was really expecting something else!)

To be fair, my wanting to be an evil queen only lasted about one summer. So either my coolness was limited or I had so many dreams there wasn't enough time to commit to one.

Hmmm, so I'm guessing you already have a subscription to Bitch Magazine then? You're not about to run out or anything?

lol on Canada Day weekend I met up with a friend and we basically discussed point #2. Ever since the whole Obamacare thing passed and ignorant twitter Republicans started threatening to "move to Canada", there's been a new wave of a) left-wing Americans on the internet talking about the great SOCIALIST UTOPIA that is Canada and b) Canadians patting themselves on the back because on a handful of issues like gay marriage and health care we are less fucked up than America. Uh, that's great, but it'd be even better if our standard as a country wasn't just "better than the US". The US is ass-backwards on a lot of issues and being marginally better than them because of policies enacted by previous governments doesn't mean we can sit back now and be like WELP OUR WORK HERE IS DONE. You're absolutely right that it's this kind of attitude, a mix of apathy and obliviousness, that leads to things like our low voter turn-out and Stephen Harper's growing power because no one can work up enough fucks to give to actually vote against him in any kind of productive way. (Students who "lol I voted for the Green party" LOOKING @ U.)

UH HAPPY CANADA DAY TO YOU AS WELL lol

I saw a post that was like "Canada: At Least We Are Not the Worst" and that's a pretty stellar motto when it comes to summing us up. It's like Zuko's "congratulations on not being as big a jerk as you could have been" sticker.

So many of the things I liked about Canada - childcare for mothers going back to work, cutting our carbon emissions to keep with our past promises in the kyoto protocol, funding the Kelowna accord and the Sisters in Spirit, two programs for Aboriginal Canadians - have been lost. Not to mention turning our reputation from peace-keepers to torturers.

Is it better to be apathetic in unity or to be as divided and polarized as the States on every major issue?

My vote is always for Planned Parenthood. Either that or The Trevor Project. :)

due to a childhood love affair where I had a striped staff with a snake head at the grip and role played as the evil queen and wrote out a play in large print in one of those old school notebooks. I even read it out loud to my family and they were kind enough to humour me</>

you are adorable. <3

OH MAN, it was probably SO BAD. I didn't really understand 'plot' then. Or how to write endings. Or beginnings. Or middles, lol.

My poor parents. What they must have thought of me!

Locally, LGBT-charity-wise, I know for sure there is the LGBT Youth Line and the 519 Church St Community Centre. There is also the Ten Oaks Project (http://www.camptenoaks.org/), which is AWESOME, and local chapters of big orgs like Planned Parenthood, etc.

Oooh, thanks! I did not know about any of these!

lol okay the ignorant right-wing Americans threatening to move to Canada was hysterical but still:

Not to say people should be apathetic, but if we are less surprised when we are disappointed, (WHA? CANADA IS NOT PERFECT? IMPOSSIBLE! I will spend all my time yelling about this and whose problem it is instead of talking about the real issue you've brought up!) then we might actually be willing to do something to fix our nation. Something can only be fixed if people acknowledge that it's broken and Canada's certainly not without flaws.

...PRETTY MUCH. Sometimes I try and embrace the apathy though because the last few times, I've felt alone in all my rage and anger. :|

p.s. your birthday donation idea is such a good one, omg. You are such a good person.

Oh gosh, that was HILARIOUS.

YES, WELCOME TO OUR MAPLE SYRUP COUNTRY WHERE YOU WILL BE PROTECTED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (*cough* because we have a broad immigration policy *cough*) AND YOU WILL NOT HAVE PEOPLE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO CHALLENGE YOUR RIGHT TO FIREARMS (*cough* because we do not have a second amendment *cough*) AND YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO HEAR ABOUT TEH GAYS GETTING MARRIED (*cough because they already can *cough*). Sorry 'bout the healthcare though, we totes already have that.

p.s. Thanks, but it's not my idea, I kinda borrowed it and I didn't mean it to be a humble-brag or anything. But I think it'd be a cool tradition for me to keep up with.

and a happy fourth of july to my american friends!!

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