Thoughts on the TTC - Allen Lee

My recent experience on the blue line TTC inspired me to write in response to the related news frenzy. After a night out for a buddy's birthday, I found myself stranded on York U's campus without my original ride back downtown Toronto.  This was around 1:30 am, so to my knowledge the subway was shut down for the rest of the night. I was facing a sad $30 dollar taxi ride home when I came across an idling TTC bus with the driver having a smoke break outside. The taxi expense made me shudder, so I asked the employee about the possibility of getting home via a bus route.

"Sure buddy, you'll be doing some transferring but you'll get home," he said. I was in no rush, and since saving money was one of my strengths, I hopped on.

At the time of night, I was the only passenger to take the 41 bus down to Keele Station. The driver took off after his smoke, and suddenly I was reminded of the recent news surrounding the TTC. From passed out attendants to inappropriate coffee breaks, I felt inclined to strike up a conversation with him. I asked for his opinion and how he felt about the recent TTC situation. He glanced at me sort of surprised and with skepticism, likely to figure if I was truly interested or just drunk. Eventually he relaxed and began giving me his perspective.

I asked how it felt to be spoken for by a negative TTC driver's behaviour and having to face the consequences that might not reflect him personally.

"Actually, the driver isn't actually suspended for the coffee break," he answered. "He was suspended for being rude and escalating the situation."

I was quite intrigued at this response, and urged him to go on. According to him, the media had gotten some key facts wrong, and that the driver was actually 6 to 7 minutes ahead of schedule. Technically drivers are not allowed to arrive or leave stops earlier than schedule.

I was captivated when he began telling me that he had driven that very route a couple years ago.

"I know that route, and I know that stop where the Tim Hortons is. Its almost guaranteed that the bus will arrive 5 minutes earlier than expected," he recalled. "But I personally never took a washroom break there," he finished. "There's no running water in the washroom!"

Our conversation lasted a while longer, and he managed to get several points across. Being a passenger in the past, he was always ticked off at the way drivers went for coffee breaks during their routes. Therefore, he personally vowed never to take breaks when passengers were on board. 

I transferred buses 4 times that night to get home. Three of the four drivers gave me food for thought. One driver described an incident that happened 5 years ago. While working on the TTC subway, the driver fell victim to gang violence that ended up leaving a scar above his right eye. Apparently, the assault was committed by a newly recruited gang member. His test, or better known as "initiation", was to punch the TTC employee in the face while he was making sure the doors were shut properly before the train took off.

"Did you catch the bastard?" I asked. He snickered and said, "We're talking about the TTC here guy. He was gone like the wind."

I got off my last stop and was left with my own thoughts. The driver who drove down Yonge St. did was stuck in my head. Several homeless folk caught the bus and clumsily boarded. "You know we're not allowed to give free ride," the driver sighed. The men murmured softly and found their comfort in the back of the bus. What was the driver to do? Deny these men the ride? Adamantly deny them in the name of the TTC?

That night I felt a strong desire to begin looking deeper into the story. Personally, I am a pleased and happy customer of the TTC, and thoroughly enjoy the service. I'm sure there are many of those out there that share the same approval of our city's public transportation. But when a couple of people with their cellphones recording a worker on his coffee break and causing such useless news coverage, I feel like I've been spoken for. You are not the righteous citizen that you think you are.

A letter to the pedestrians of Toronto - Jessica Gilbert

Dear pedestrians,

First of all let me say that this is not meant to be viscous or patronizing in any form, nor do I gain pleasure from telling you what I am about to tell you. This is simply a matter of necessity and I would like to inform the general populous of certain concepts that may have never been introduced through a series of letters.

Turning corners is one of the most important skills you will be required to master in your pedestrian career seeing as more often than not, they exist around…well… every corner. Now, the Toronto layout bears a striking resemblance to that of a grid system and if you want to lead a harmonious existence within our multifaceted metropolis, you’ll have to come to terms with the facts. These bastards are everywhere and they are out to get you. As you approach one you may find yourself blind and bombarded with worries. Is there anyone coming the other way? What if they’re running? What if they’re running with scissors?!
 
I assure you that there is a method of getting through these unharmed. This sudden panic may compel you to stick to that wall like Velcro but you must fight this urge as it is the root of a common misconception.

You are not Pac-man. No one will be impressed by how fast you can turn a corner and unless there is a convex mirror mounted at that pivoting point, please take caution.

This common malpractice has led to many collisions and spilt coffees that could be easily avoided if only you would round out your trajectory but a fraction! Implementing this method is well worth it and though doing it takes some effort, it benefits everyone. If you are late, you won’t be any later; if you’re angry you won’t piss off anyone else; if you are an oblivious klutz, no one will be the wiser!

Like I said before this is the most crucial aspect of pedestrian navigation and I know this seems hard but it gets easier from here. So until my next letter I implore you to try your best. Think about it Toronto.

Tattoos and Why One Woman Thinks You Shouldn't Bother If You're Not Angelina

Sitting in the waiting room of a downtown Toronto counselling clinic (not for therapy, for once – scouting out locations for a student film and anticipating the arrival of my now twenty minutes late partner in crime), I idly flipped through the October 2009 issue of Elle, a highly-regarded Canadian fashion magazine that leans toward the haute couture. Due to this fact, I did not expect to happen upon

A: An article about tattoos;

Or B: A positive article about tattoos.

Best guesses as to which the article contained (Hint: it sure as hell wasn’t Option B).

Oh, it wasn’t all bad. The author did admit that tattoos look “fab” on Angelina and Rhianna, but she cautions the rest of us mere mortals to think twice before getting a tattoo, because we might not “suit one.”

There are some interesting notions surrounding this tidbit of advice. One is that only “certain people” can appropriately pull off tattoos. Whether they be exotic Hollywood goddesses or punk rock rebels remains to be seen, but the author seems to be hinting that “normal” people, with normal clothes, normal looks, and normal attitudes, would look positively ridiculous with a tattoo. She claims tattoos “suit” a person, like a particular outfit would, and if a tattoo doesn’t fit within the boundaries of your look, it is inappropriate for you to bother with one.

The other strange part of this article is the author’s experience with her own tattoo, which she got on a lark in college – by a tattoo artist in a dingy shop who smoked a joint the entire time and, quite obviously, ruined the Urdu script she had chosen. She went home, immediately hated the tattoo, scrubbed it with a scouring pad (allegedly believing this might actually work), and eventually gave up and took to constantly wearing clothes that hid the tattoo for the next fifteen years.

According to this enlightened individual, because she was incredibly irresponsible and chose to leave something as monumental as a first tattoo, something that is a permanent and life-altering decision, in the hands of an individual under the influence of drugs in a shoddy shop, we should all take caution when getting a tattoo. The author could have stressed the importance of research, how to locate a friendly and clean shop with talented artists, but instead she simply shrugs off her story as yet another reason why some people should avoid tattoos altogether.

Reading this, my immediate thought (aside from irritation and “I should totally write an article about this”) was, “Why doesn’t she just get a cover-up from someone who knows what they’re doing?” Sure enough, the author does address this – and claims it is only one of her many fantasies. She imagines herself (I paraphrase here) “At L.A. Ink, hair flowing over one shoulder as Kat von D constructs an elaborate piece to cover up my mistake, but this will never happen.”

Probably not, dear author – but why not do the apparently unthinkable and actually put more than thirty seconds of thought into your cover up design, visit an artist who doesn’t have a blunt sticking out of his mouth, and get something to change your mangled piece into something beautiful? Or can only incredibly attractive rebellious celebrities who get tattoos from other incredibly attractive rebellious celebrities fulfill this particular fantasy?

Feminism and U - Rustybucket

Ding! Dong! The Bitch is Dead!

 

Mary Daly’s dead.

Or she has been for more than two weeks as she died on January 3rd. Still, it’s not every day someone important dies, especially not famous feminists. Some of you may be know who she is, some of you won’t. For the convenience of the latter group, that’s okay, because I’m here to paint a particularly nasty and biased picture of the hag for you.

Mary Daly is the epitome of everything wrong recently with the feminist movement. She was a radical lesbian feminist who taught at Boston College, and was almost fired for a publication of a book in 1968. Following support from the public and the all-male student body, she wasn’t fired and was granted tenure. That’s perfectly fine, though, because 30 years later she was fired (or in the words of the media, “retired”) and lost her tenure because she decided to refuse male students from attending her classes. Oh wait, that sounds awfully familiar...

…Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. Can’t remember what that reminded me of. Oh well, it couldn’t have been important.

 

"Boston College has wronged me and my students by caving in to rightwing pressure and depriving me of my right to teach freely," Ms Daly said. "This is not about discrimination. This is about leveling the rights of women and minorities."

Of course, Miss Daly decided to elaborate on that view:

"But Daly argues she cannot effectively teach these courses with men in the room because it creates a dynamic that inhibits women. Not only do men misunderstand her concepts - because men cannot understand what it's like to be a woman - but they tend to be disruptive, believing they are similarly oppressed, she says. These kinds of disrupting influences 'dumb down' the class, she insists, keeping it from 'soaring.'"

Makes sense.

To a question posed to her about an article that stated that men should be reduced to about 10% of the population, she supported the idea and elaborated that “If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males.”

The transcript of the interview can be found here:

http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j16/daly.asp?page=2

It’s people like her that make the modern woman disassociate themselves with the term “feminist.” The image is no longer the positive one of strong women marching for suffrage, for the right to their own body, to equal treatment, but of a lunatic who doesn’t shave in defiance of “the man,” butchers the English language by quibbling about job titles, and thinks of men as the scum of the earth and the instigator of all that is unholy. The feminism movement is based on equality, and for those who define themselves as feminists and believe in that concept still, wonderful: All my love to you for supporting a reasonable concept rather than one of purging the male population like a Feminazi Germany. To those of you who consider this woman to be respectable and credible rather than merely an interesting read, what provokes you to think this way?

On a related note, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore is in danger of closing its doors. Seeing as it is actually a positive influence on women, I implore you to support them in their time of need.

http://www.womensbookstore.com/communityletter.html