Harvard's Human-Bound Books

I know a lady who's obsessed with Harvard University; she dreams of attending it, she used to go there to read on her breaks from Boston U and attend their parties; I guess it's the Good Will Hunting thing.

But when it isn't about their fraternities and secret societies (Skull And Bones is my favourite one to read about, though they're Yale-based), or how athletes get a pass in most classes because they're on scholarships, it's the fact that since it was founded in 1636, it's got quite a few fucked up things happen there over the years.

Today's fun tidbit: its library has at least three books bound by human flesh and skin. Yay!

Heather Levia And Losing Your Job At McDonald's

The media and blogosphere jumped on a story last week about Heather Levia, a 23-year old mother of twins who had been working at McDonald's for 8 years and is putting herself through nursing school, who allegedly lost her job after paying for the meals of two fire departments' worth of firemen who had spent the night fighting fire on a neighbouring building.

She had reportedly asked her manager if the restaurant was going to foot the bill for the first crew, and upon hearing they wouldn't, opted to pay for their breakfasts herself; hearing of ''free food'', a second unit came in and were offered the same treatment.

She was fired when she came in to work the next day. The company claims the reason why they fired her wasn't that she made the company look cheap - or anything to do with that situation.

Personally, my thoughts on the affair go like this: on one hand, she was insubordinate, and should have been reprimanded because this could potentially open up a huge can of worms where public servants of every level would start expecting the same treatment, first when working near there, then at all times; first firemen, then policemen, then ambulance drivers, then the whole Village People crew.

On the other hand, she did a good deed and should be congratulated. Especially on a shitty McDonald's wage.

But that's where it starts not making much sense: she's a mother of two, working at close to or spot-on minimum wage. She has time to go to school and raise her kids on the side. She's a nice person, in 2014, in North America.

She cannot possibly exist. As described, I mean. And in the PR-led world we live in, McDonald's would have put up a statue of her in its parking lot - or at least named her employee of the month - to cash in on her actions, not risk alienating the last few people who still eat there.

Could it be she knew she was going to get fired for whatever reason and attempted one grand gesture to keep it?

Who the fuck knows. One thing's for sure, though: in the age of Twitter and Facebook, even a low-level manager at McDonald's knows better than to bring this much bad publicity towards their employer. And journalists should wait until having both sides of a story before sensationalizing it to the max and having it spread worldwide. In some reports, she is even made the store's manager (though they still stick to the claim that she texted her boss, would that have been the regional director?); in another, she just ''donates food''; some just mention she paid for $83 worth of food (which is just one of the two orders).

Something is fishy with this story, but it would help if it started with actual facts.

Also, word is she was offered many jobs since. Good. If she had been a bad employee, she can now change with the good actions he's made; if she really is pure of heart, she deserved better than to work at that shitty job for so long. She's a hero now, it comes with both perks and responsibilities.

Word Of The Day: Cliteracy

New York artist Sophia Wallace has a chip on her shoulder about society and mankind's illiteracy about the clitoris, and she decided to do something about it, just not he way Annie Sprinkle - whom I saw live at (the old) Club Soda in the mid-1990s - would have done it...

Instead of baring it all and equipping spectators with flashlights to facilitate exploration, Wallace ditched the facile/obvious/exploitation way of doing it (through performance) and instead built elaborate pieces, such as the street art panels 100 Laws of Cliteracy, sampled below:

"It is a curious dilemma to observe the paradox that on the one hand the female body is the primary metaphor for sexuality, its use saturates advertising, art and the mainstream erotic imaginary. Yet, the clitoris, the true female sexual organ, is virtually invisible," Wallace told Creem magazine earlier this year.

"Even in porn, the clitoris is treated as this optional, kind of freaky, 'wow he's doing her this huge favor' thing," she told HuffPost, adding that women often feel "embarrassed" to ask their partners to pleasure them. "It's insane to me that this is still happening in 2013."

Last year, during her tenure in the Art & Law Residency, Wallace started work on a multi-media project that she hoped would serve to challenge these misconceptions and to lift the veil on this enduring ignorance about the female body.

From the Huffington Post:

According to a 2011 post by Museum of Sex blogger Ms. M, the internal clitoris (highlighted in yellow in the images above) is a complex erectile structure consisting of two corpora cavernosa (that are said to wrap around the vagina when erect), two crura (erectile bodies that branch out from the clitoral body), clitoral vestibules or bulbs, and the clitoral glans (the part that you can see).

"This work has never meant to be behind the white walls of a gallery. It's really about cliteracy becoming a meme and creating new language for bodies and sexuality," Wallace said, adding that she wants to soon take her street art project global.

I also hope it becomes a meme, and chances are this installation, made with sculptor Kenneth Thomas, will help achieve that. I give you, Clit Rodeo:

She also goes one step further and ups the ante with a political stance:

Not only is the project for everyone ("I love seeing men standing up for the clit," Wallace says, adding that this is a conversation that liberates people of all genders), but she says that the clitoris can be seen as a "metaphor for freedom, body sovereignty and citizenship."

"Cliteracy is about not having one's body controlled or legislated," she said. "Not having access to the pleasure that is your birthright is a deeply political act."

Amen.

Now buy the shirt, join the cause, and by all means respect the clit enough to educate yourself on it.

Fun With Notebooks

It started in elementary school and hit its apex in high school, but still continued in College and university, though I was more prone to sleeping when I got to that level...

The minute I got bored in class, I would start drawing in my notebooks and manuals, from scratch if there wasn't anything, or using a pre-existing picture if possible. And it seems I am not alone, as this site showcases 22 fun examples, among which one really resembling what I'd do:

Generalized Geography Fail

As could have easily been predicted, the internets were full of ignorant, incompetent fools putting their two cents in towards who should receive a free bombing in retaliation for the Boston attacks, and the clear winners were: the Czech Republic, and its 1918-1993 counterpart, Czechoslovakia.

Because, of course, idiots have no clue what Chechnya is, let alone where it's situated. Quick recap: it's one of the few territories Russia refused to let secede when the USSR collapsed, because like the Spaniards and English-Canadians, Russians like to own other people and their land, and to collect their taxes. Empires have a tendency to not be very good at letting go...

For the geographically challenged, here is a map:

It would suck if, say, Bratislava (capital of Slovakia, which seceded from the Czech Republic in the mid-nineties) were to get invaded because uneducated assholes couldn't tell the difference between two completely different peoples and countries. The Czech capital is Prague, and the Chechen capital is Grozny, by the way. They are separated by 10 to 20 countries, depending which route you take and how you define the republics still owned by Russia.

But back to the internets:

I wonder if ''down'' means 'North'' or ''South''

It probably has to do with the U.S. winning silver at hockey at the last Olympics, Czechs don't fuck around with hockey

See previous: hockey. Also, the Czech Republic is up North, far from the devil's heat, although Patrik Elias is Czech and plays for the Devils in New Jersey...

Someone doesn't understand how the Russians invaded the Czechs repeatedly from 1948 to 1988, with 1968 being the biggest show of force

Yep, they killed a guy from the past...

Again, look at the map, those countries are pretty wide apart as well

''Aren't of any'' - does a double-negative cancel out the fact that that Czechoslovakia hasn't existed for 20 years, or does it magically bring it back to life?

Probably by way of New Zealand and Zimbabwe...

Towel heads... really? Who's living in 1620 now?

Yes, let's blame a whole country for 2 guys' work... we couldn't even do that when the two guys were Dick Cheney and George W. Bush...

And for the fuck of it, Italy, too.

I've heard of brothers from another mother, but from another country altogether? Also: Boston Massacre jokes. Well played. If you can't laugh at dead babies, the terrorists win.

''One day''... I guess after Iraq, Afghanistan, the upcoming wars with Iran and North Korea, Syria, and all the other countries with mutual hatred/disdain for one another, the list is getting pretty long...

Also, the Midwest is full of former Brits that probably still love the Queen, the Northwest has a lot of Germans (need I say more) and New York is full of non-whites - who knows how many of them could be scary?

I'm pretty sure not, but 'Super Slayan' might be tweet-talk for ''I failed the fifth grade because I was too busy sucking cock at the back of the class''

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, of course. So much so that - and I shit you not - the Ambassador of the Czech Republic had to issue this fucking statement:

My faith in humanity has almost disappeared completely.

Smells Like Spring In Montréal

Students are back protesting against a tuition hike the current provincial government was elected to not let happen, and cops are back at charging them with useless, mindless violence.

The Montréal Canadiens are back at the top of the NHL standings...

I guess things are back to normal.

Mitt Romney Hates Cops, Firemen And Teachers

''Did (Barack Obama) not hear the message in Wisconsin?''

The Republicans did, and it seems they heard more than just ''let's kill unions''.

Now Mitt Romney says America doesn't need police officers, firemen and teachers. Sure, civic security and education don't matter if all you want to do is create shitty minimum-wage jobs and have people live 20 at a time in tiny foreclosed houses owned by your baker friends.

Oh, Captain, My Captain!

“Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say.Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right.


This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences.

When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world -- "No, YOU move.”

Now, MY nation wasn't founded on that principle, at all, but my country/countries like(s) to borrow from the U.S.' worst traits and never the right ones, and we have a shot - just a tiny one - at taking some of the good, for once, and for that we must stand tall and not surrender.

The student strike against a tuition hike is now in its 13th week. The government have replaced their puppet Education Minister with another one who will not be going up for re-election, meaning they threw the old one under the bus to save their asses and hired a temp with nothing to lose to keep the Party's hardline against the future generations.


They need their regime of corruption to continue, as do their mob friends and their family members in the energy and mines industries, who they literally gave our resources to (see how Pétrolia found oil in Anticosti and now owns it); they need to look like they've won this, stood up to the greedy kids and ''kept society safe'', before they move on to another sphere of citizens and take their rights away. And steal their money - more than they already do.


Our education system, by the way, is self-sufficient and was set up to keep paying for itself forever, but as multiple governments took away from its profits/allocated taxes, bit by bit they replaced ''free'' with loans and, over time, by incorporating the private sector into it and cutting into services, made it a money-guzzling pit of corruption and greed - just like everything else they touch.


Just like in the United States (hello, Fox News), they have the loudest media on their side, of course, because huge corporations benefit from gifts while the public media get shat on their budgets cut for not following Party lines.


If we lose here, we will lose everywhere. If we win, we may motivate others to keep up the fight - I'm looking at you, Occupy.

My Mom Is The Best

I love my mom. We may not always see eye to eye, and that's one of the reasons why I couldn't live with her as long as my brother did, but in addition to always doing the best she could to raise us and give us everything we needed, she comes out with these simple, universal truths that she says in that smooth, soothing, calm Voice Of Reason that makes so much sense...

And last Sunday, while we went out for brunch for Mothers' Day with her boyfriend, my uncle, his wife, and my grandparents, the conversation slipped to current events - and the current student strike - for no more than ten seconds, as my aunt said ''I hope we kick Jean Charest to the curb in the next elections, with all the harm he's done in power''.

And my mom replied: ''Yes, and we need to thank the students for opening our eyes and acting on our behalves. They'll be the ones inheriting this polluted, crumbling, indebted world and will have to live with whatever we leave them, so they might as well shape it the way they want it''.

BOOM. End of conversation.

Death Of A Democracy?

By now, chances are you've heard about last Summer/Fall's Occupy movement, and probably this Spring's two-month-strong student protests/strikes. If not, look it up, it's a fine read, students refusing a hike in education costs, defying (provincial) Prime Minister Jean Charest daily, kind of helping us forget how corrupt his government has been - but kind of not, at the same time.

Well, the Québec governing party, the Québec Liberal Party (which, technically, on a left-to-right, liberal-to-conservative scale ironically falls strongly on the Conservative side - picture Mitt Romney leading a Workers' Party) was holding its general council in Victoriaville, far from the rumbling streets of Montréal, comfortably, in the countryside, in a town usually so peaceful they don't even have a jail there...

Well, tons of anti-Charest protesters made the trip, including - but not limited to - busloads of students. Well, as may have been expected, shit did, indeed, hit the fan, and a riot ensued. My crystal ball is hazy from the all the smoke and pepper gas used in the picture gracing this post alone, but I can't wait to see how the media will spin this and how it'll affect public opinion. It can go either way: they may convince people that students are to blame for this and have to be forced back into class right away - or they could realize just how many folks are dissatisfied with this sham of a government.

The cops are close to being in over their heads, stopping and arresting at least 3 buses full of university students on their way back to Montréal - on the highway! - most of whom will likely be accused of ''participating in an illegal demonstration'', which they will eventually be found innocent of, but will spend the night in Victo and will have to go back to stand trial; minor yet irritating inconveniences, worse for foreign students and those depending on financial aid. But they will have to go back for sure, because a non-appearance in court is equivalent to pleading guilty in the eyes of the law.

Amnesty International has already condemned our police force of mishandling the situation - how worse will they look on the international scene? How will this affect tourism in our city this summer? Will we warn tourists to stay in their hotel rooms after 8PM?

One kid lost an eye early in the conflict from a noise grenade to the face, another one did so tonight from rubber bullets, another girl got shot in the face with rubber bullets and had her jaw broken and lost teeth, one kid is in the coma. Half a dozen cops and a dozen protesters are hospitalized, many more were injured but returned home or treated on-site (one paramedic says he treated at least 20 on-site).

This government has lost its legitimacy a long time ago, this is just added, useless bonuses. The student thing? Over a few million bucks, less than the Liberals have handed out to their mafia friends and fundraisers since the beginning of the year. How much more violence do we need before we kick those fuckers out of office? Do we need a cop or a kid to die? Chicago 68? Los Angeles 92?

History will not be kind to you, motherfucker, if you let this fester any longer.

Oklahoma State And The Number 10 (R.I.P.)

10 months after Oklahoma State commemorated the 10-year anniversary of a plane crash that killed 10 men associated with the school's men's basketball program, another plane crash killed its women's team's head coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna.

I'd say the irony is killing me, but I'm not going to tempt Fate on this one.

Orgasm School

(my apologies, the video from this website has been disabled for embedding, but check it out anyway)

''Tarnishes the university''?

''Will it lead to kids having orgies after class?'' Jesus fucking Christ. Lady, your kids are already having fucking orgies, and that is not what was happening anyway. It was a seminar that was part of a Psychology of Sexuality class (one I took myself in College, and got a 69 in, of all grades, and I'm guessing I shouldn't mention the videos we watched in that class or you'd kill yourself).

Also, Lady: your kids weren't in that fucking class, it just got to you from hearsay through the usual half-wit news organizations.

Oh, and Lady, they said again and again that if anyone was uncomfortable with what was going to happen, they could leave the fucking room.

2011, people. Not 1811, not even 1955.

Some people believe the world will end in December of next year, others want the rest of us to be bored to death before that even happens.

But the story made the news, all the way to Britain, via the BBC. In addition to everywhere in North America.

In case you're wondering what really happened there, it was a seminar with guests lecturers, mostly about bondage and the psychology behind it, why people do it, etc. The conversation briefly moved to sex toys and instruments, and there was a short demonstration where a woman got her rocks off to a dildo attached to what used to be an electric saw.

That's it. Just googling ''German porn'' and clicking on ''images'' will net you much worse results, and I'm sure every room at Northwestern University has computers and wireless internet, so what the ''kids'' actually saw was tame compared to what they have access to.

I feel like an idiot just writing that. As if, in 2011, this shit was still in doubt. Maybe Mike Huckabee has a shot at the Presidency after all.