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A place for Writing 12 students to read each other's writing, to critique, to suggest, to improve.
About Me
- Brad
- Former adult teacher who loves island beaches. Happy homebody and family man; once devoted dog owner, now without Tashi, my Tibetan Terrier. I prefer the absurdity of the imagination to the absurdity of imagining nothing.
5 comments:
They both hold cats. She’s shorter than the man and her feet are bare. The wood floor slants into the corner as if the photographer had tilted it. The man wears corduroy trousers and black shoes.
His cat is the smaller of the two and gray; hers is larger and peach coloured. It gazes into a corner and looks ready to leap at any second.
Behind them is a blue couch. It seems to float on metal legs. And beyond that is a stone wall.
Neither of them smile. He appears about to speak; she peers out, one cheek hidden by her cat’s shoulder.
His hands fold over the cat’s back, gentle; hers hold the cat as if it struggles.
They seem happy. I couldn’t say for sure.
"O" Magazine:
It was an ad for "instant deep wrinkle filler". The word "wrinkles" stood out to me on the page. It made me think of how people's (North American especially) preoccupation with their quest for youth and beauty has gotten beyond out of hand. The ad, being in this magazine, suggests to me that it isn't solely directed at older people either, but also to the younger market.
Likewise, more and more women (and men) are drawn to getting "botox injections" to eradicate unwanted lines and wrinkles on their skin. This procedure may have once been used exclusively by older, wealthier, Hollywood types. However,nowadays, it's as if everyone is getting it done; young and old. In other words, it's become a trend - "who hasn't gotten it done?" It's baffling to think that people would endure such pain inflicted on their bodies, not to mention paying the exorbitant costs involved, all in the name of "beauty" and "youth". Scarier still: do we really understand the long-term effects this beauty gimmick has on our bodies? (I have heard of some cases going horribly wrong!).
Where is all this beauty craze leading us? Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying showing up in public a rumpled ragamuffin is endearing either. But when a beautiful and talented singer like Shelby Dressel is rejected from being in the top 24 contestants of "American Idol", for reasons I personally think are more physically-related than skill-related (Shelby has a birth defect which prevents the right side of her face from moving), it says something about the North American public. They loved how she sounded, just not how she looked. And when being an Olympic gold medallist also means posing suggestively in skimpy clothes for "Sports Illustrated" magazine (aka Lindsey Vonn), we have to question what message we are sending to our youth. I thought the Olympics was about being a top athlete, not a "top model"?
I believe our priorities are out of whack. But then again, I don't sing and I can't ski.
From Kay:
BCAA Westworld Magazine
I knew when I picked up the magazine it would be something to do with travel location uaually in BC.
And there it was a beautiful picture and discription of a old cannery on the BC coast.
The so called buildings were more like little white houses, red roofed, green window trim, standing smartly on stilts at the ocean shore line.
The North Pacific Cannery: near Prince Rupert BC. Thank heavens for historians, the site is now a tourist attraction , it's warm history speaks of local natives being employed and housed on site, Japanese and westcoast natives manned the fishing boats, bringing the fish directly to the cannery. There was no refrigeration in those days, the process was done directly, by the females of the family.
I believe that must have been good times for family and friends, kids played at the waters edge, food was plentiful and the canneries paid them fairly well. I think we all thought the abundance of the ocean would last forever, but alas nothing lasts forever, the people being slightly selfsufficient was doomed .
The First Nation people cannot wait for the abundance of salmon to return , they have turned their talents to other areas and will survive.
I myself would like to visit Alert Bay, Oprah visited there last year on Jim Pattison's boat, so I figure it must be a good attraction, It was also a old cannery site.
As I flipped through the firefighter magazine, I saw the funniest things ever. They're selling a fire trucks and oxygen tanks, and the weirdest thing is one of the fire trucks were sold. Pretty funny thing to selling and buying.
I opened a magazine (The National Geographic) and saw images of tribes in Africa and British Armies, dated back in 1800’s. The tribes-men and women were wearing clothes made out of straws and other indigenous materials. Their breasts were exposed but it seemed, based on their amiable gestures and expressions, that it didn‘t matter to them. They looked innocent, or rather, indifferent. The children were gathered closely to the British soldiers, some touching their uniforms which were adorned with luminous pins, and colourful belts.
Nowadays, clothing is not only as important as food, it costs more than our food.
Last week, I was in a mall to look for bargains. I found a store with a fifty-percent-off sign, so I went inside and looked. There was a twenty dollar shirt (after the discount) but I thought it was still expensive. So, just not go home empty handed, I went to Zellers and bought my favourite shirt: Hanes. (Four shirts for fifteen dollars!)
Back in my place, my friend was waiting. We were going out to that night and he spilled a drink on his shirt so he wanted to borrow one from me. He looked through my cabinet and was disappointed because most of my shirts were plain black and plain white. He couldn’t my believe my sense of fashion and how limited my clothes were. “You are so ‘old-school,’” he said, “and unbelievably cheap!”
About two years ago, I decided, not to buy anything expensive, especially on clothing, and for little more than a year, I am glad to say, I’ve only spent less than a hundred dollars on clothes (including socks and underwear). Aside from saving money for a DSLR, I decided to abstain from shopping for clothes, simply because I hate spending a long time deciding what to wear. I concluded that if I have less and simple clothes, I also have minimal options, and therefore, have a small amount of time to waste in-front of a mirror.
From hundreds of years ago, up to the present time, fashion has been dictating ones place in society. It is a concrete manifestation of our vanity.
Let me leave you a great quote by Thoreau: “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” (Walden: Economy)
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