breaking with the current trend, i'll post twice within 3 days

I'm currently running all over greater buenos aires for job interviews at some 'prestigious' private schools, some international, some not. I say 'prestigious' because here, private means exclusive, and not necessarily better. The private schools don't offer quality education...they offer prestige. Of course, considering that a public school teacher can't even pay rent here, i suppose that the quality has to be somewhat better, if only for the motivation of the teacher.These pictures are taken at km 45 of the pan americana, after my 1.5 hour commute to the school...who wants to commute 1.5 hours to work both ways in a shitty bus? I don't think I would be motivated to take on 25 rich kids at that point. I've spent the better part of today and yesterday playing with my blog etc...what do you all think? better? what should I change...i'm open to criticism...for the most part.

so, back to teaching. my dilemma is this...and it's what has been driving me crazy lately...School opens here now, in march. if i take a contract, that means i'm here for a year more, unless i screw the school over, which is bad for karma. I don't want to teach english in institutes any more...it's a waste of my time, and I get nothing from it..i didn't get 2 degrees to teach english to some rich businessman who doesn't really care anyway. as well, in alberta, i have 5 years after graduating from university to get 2 years of experience in order to be recognized as a certified teacher...i have 1.6 or something. this next year is my last year, and I know I want that badly. However, i have this little problem called ana. she's just switched programs, and finished her first year of school in cinema. she has 4 more left. she can't leave THIS year to study in canada. neither of us wants long distance.

I don't like the city...that's obvious. i need mountains. i need silence. (calgary is silent compared to here). but, I love her...alas, the eternal problem...giving of self to girl, or doing what's best for me? i wish i was more self centered. if i go bald, this is why.

The Prophet Uproar

Ok, now that you all know what this post is going to be about, let's get it started. The main issue of the last month has been the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, done in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , back in September. The main issues are that in the Muslim religion, you cannot recreate the image of the Prophet for fear of idolotry, and freedom of speech in the newspapers, including the right to offend.

I consider myself to be quite far left of center, if i had to define myself in this method. Inherent in the leftist leaning of mine, then, is automatic criticism of those in power when there is a conflict, either between nations, between the nation and its people, or even between the police and citizens. I realize that I am a product of western society, and I believe that we must have been part of the problem, and question what can we do to fix it. This thought ranges from the homeless asking for money in the streets of Calgary, to the disastrous state of our aboriginal peoples, and abroad to western relations and the results of these relations in other parts of the world. I think that we are guilty of exploitation, arrogance and greed, and most times I will argue and try to demonstrate that point...we are to blame.

The same could be said for the Prophet controversy...initially. Ok, the western papers have the right to print offensive material...that is their right, and they used it. Now, the Muslims of the world have the right to demonstrate. The mistake that so many are making, however, is that they are not taking this opportunity to educate people in the west on Islam. They are losing sympathizers with their plight by choosing to demonstrate with violence, death, fire, bounties and general mayhem. They could have held peaceful demonstrations, such as were held in Vancouver and Toronto, to show the west that at its foundations, Islam is a peaceful religion.I know that the people in the Middle East and Arab states, have largely been oppressed by their governments, brainwashed, starved, and threatened with multiple forms of torture for ages, all in the name of Islam. It is no wonder that they react with violence. However, if their clerics, their governments, excluding those of Iran and Palestine (who wish, it seems, to isolate themselves) want to improve the conditions of the people in their countries, and want to improve the relations between western culture and Islam, they needed to react more swiftly, and more assuredly against the violence, condemning those that chose to be violent. As well, it is the duty of Muslims living in the West, not to assimilate per se, but to accept the laws of their countries, and use these laws in peaceful demonstration condemning the cartoons, not to incite violence, both at home and in the Middle East.

I agree with a journalist who was fired from a newspaper in the middle east when he said, roughly, it was a fundamental problem of the Islamists to have the opportunity to educate the west, but in the end, only bring more fear of Islam through violent uprising. These are the only images we see on TV, as unfortunately our media is sensationalized and for the most part, integrity means nothing. If Muslims are going to change western views of Islam, they have to stop feeding our media with fear and images of mass chaos and destruction.

That being said, what amount of blame should fall on the shoulders of the Imam's in Denmark, who took their plight to the middle east, looking for this kind of reaction? What did they expect? If they are living in a Western society, should they not keep their conflict within that society? Did it need to become a global issue? Surely it could have been resolved peacefully within Denmark. I have not read any renunuciation on the part of the Danish Government, and likely we won't now that their have been numerous death threats and bounties placed on the cartoonists and editors of the newspapers. Had the conflict stayed in Denmark, and had the Imams chosen peaceful means, we likely wouldn't be in this tense situation now. Dialogue between the Danish Muslims and the newspaper and government would have done a great deal more than the path that they have chosen.
Further, I'm not saying that the newspapers were right, either. Perhaps they should have used a little more tact and censorship in their publication. Freedom of speech is one thing, but so is respect of cultures, and citizens of the country, and in such delicate times, perhaps more discretion is necessary on the part of the editors.

All those things that were...

Back on the attack again, or at least back in buenos aires. 22 hours there, 14 days, and then 22 hours back again...of course, it all went by too quickly, as most vacations do. It's normally hard to get back into the routine of things after vacations, and this is no exception, considering I don't normally have a routine. The juxtaposition between a city like this, and the mountains is too great, and, if anything, the vacation made me realize how uncomfortable I am here. Anyway, this entry isn't about that.We were camping the entire time, in remote places by lakes and rivers, high in mountains, and down in some valleys. We cooked our own creations of meals, and woke up sore from hard earth everymorning. We were tired everynight, and we acquired relatively disgusting feet. Showering occurred intermittently, and shaving wasn't given a thought. I read a book by milan kundera and re-read catcher in the rye. In short, it was too perfect....I was left needing something to go wrong, something to relate the vacation to my time in buenos aires, because it was too uncomfortable knowing I felt so good there...the spots are far too disparate.We started off going on a 3 day trek, covering a total of 40 some km's....making 3 ascents and 3 descents. We stayed in refuges along the way, and suffered to get to some places I'll never see again in my life. The views were unreal, as was the pain.After, we headed to the campground circuit, and stayed in some isolated, basic places, which were ideal for us. I was able to do some more hiking, take some sweet pics, go mountain biking, and even rafted in Chile to renew my visa, rather than head back UruShitty after my three month stint.The weather was unreal, and I saw stars for the first time in what felt like 10 years. We had no rain, and yet I was able to return unburned or blistered.
But, all good things must come to an end, for better or for worse, and, now i'm back in the leggo megalopolis, adjusting to the constant sirens and lack of mufflers, the humidity (you know, it's not the heat, it's the humidity), and the unease i've somewhat grown used to. This is not my home, i'm sad and happy to say.my kitties turned into cats while I was gone. chauyou can check this out if you want...if not, no hard feelings...http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2109038214

patagonia

(I think this is the first picture i've posted of myself, maybe 2nd...hot or not?)

wow, i can't believe the lack of updates lately ...you'd think it would be much easier since we got a new computer, making the number 2 in the house, but well, apparently not. I just finished reading the Great Gatsby, which was fantastic. I had read a couple of other books by f. scott fitzgerald in university, but didn't like them nearly as much as th is. read it. hmm, the cats got a new wave of fleas, which is nice, as it gives me something to do when I'm not working.
(we started feeding some street cats near our house, cause two cats just wasn't enough, apparently.)

My friend owed me a hundred dollars due to damage deposit etc, back in canada, and rather than give me the money, i asked him to buy me the new matthew good triple pack cd, and the arcade fire. this was back in september. when he sent it, it was late october. It never came, never came, and never came. I had given up on it, blaming the inept, crooked, argentine postal system. Until it arrived the other day. the cases were broken, and don't hold the cd's, but the cd's themselves play. this illicited some musical excitement in me, and i began downloading music again..wait, can i say that on here, and not risk getting arrested? some of the new bands i'm digging include....(to clarify the NOT part from above)

bloc party
arctic monkeys
...and you will know us.....
godspeed! you black emperor
mew
caribou
archetecture of/in helsinki

man...this is some of the best music i've heard in a long time...i wasn't gushing, or anything, but i hope that these bands (i realize they're not all new) are an indication of things to come. What's up with montreal being the center of the musical world?

we go on vacation tomorrow, so my continuance of not updating should continue for another week. i don't like peaches, the band....this trashy-girl-sexy-hardcore-singer-thing is not nice.

Here is a funny, ironic (in the real sense of the word, not the alanis sense.)

In high school, I could be an ass. One day, after school, we were doing the usual and hanging out at Jon's house. Upon leaving, I deftly left a couple of eggs in his shoes as a nice surprise for when he put them on. Unfortunately for me, as I was about 200 meters away, he found the eggs, and proceeded to throw them at me, naturally. Because of some strange light reflection in my eye, i was unable to dodge his incoming missile, and his labelled my varsity football jacket.
(the orange cat only looks retarded)

Turns out, the enzymes in an egg don't come out of that football jacket felt material, and we had to spend a lot of money sending the jacket around western canada to have it fixed. funny, to real funny for Jon.

enter irony

some years later, as we were walking down Mcleod trail late at night, me, Jon, and Bruce, the same three from that fateful day in high school. Dejected because the club we wanted to go to was closed, yet not yet in ill-humour, we were making our way down the busy road. As always, we were reminscing a bit, and Jon brought up the egg story. He recounted the whole event, and we all had a good laugh...though mine was soured by the fact that he had never had to pay for what he did, either through revenge, or monetarily. Just as he was finishing his good hyuck-yuck over his accomplishment, we heard what sounded like watermelons or pumpkins being smashed.

Turns out, god loves me. Just as Jon was relishing in his feat, a truck of assholes drove by, and, as assholes are prone to do, they had launched several eggs at our backs. Bruce and I had escaped the 'shelling' unscathed. Much to my pleasure, Jon had not. How wonderful is irony? on a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the best thing ever, and one being erasure, I'd rate it 9.5. Not much tops the feeling of revenge through irony. not only do you get your sweet revenge, you get to live without the burden of conscience.
(i only look retarded)