Browsing Tag

parody

Serenity, grace and sex in the boiler room

By April 15, 2015 Headlines

Mid-week pulse check of headlines: some good, some crazy, and a whole lot of curious.

The good:

Chris Hadfield has turned Canadians like this writer into science geeks with serious hero worship.  Now the retired astronaut has announced he will release his debut album of original music this fall. Production will add in some “special guests” but the essential vocal and guitar tracks were recorded in space.  Give this guy the keys to the city-that would be the universal city. He keeps reinventing cool.

“The serenity and grace I felt while orbiting our Earth, weightless by the window, gave a whole new place to write and perform music”

-Chris Hadfield

April is poetry month so forgive my exuberant flips over that lovely statement.  Can we not all aspire to be ‘weightless by the window’ ?  Free of poverty, illness, and sorrow?  Just existing with serenity and grace?

I’m listening, Commander Hadfield. Count me first in line for that album.

The crazy:

image

Hundreds of angry protestors showed up on the lawn of the Ontario legislature yesterday to demand Premier Kathleen Wynne reverse changes to the sex education curriculum, set to begin this September in schools across the province. I’ve written here before about what I’d like to see more of in that curriculum so today,  I welcome my other half, as today’s guest blogger, to weigh in.

Sex education should not be the responsibility of the…educators. Today’s kids should learn about sex the way my generation learned about sex, from their parents. No…wait…I mean from their friends. Or from that cousin in Greece, who in the summer of ’76 had to explain why she couldn’t go swimming that week. Or better yet, the Internet! There are some great sites on the Internet where you can find everything you’ve always wanted to know about sex. They even have instructional videos…or so I’m told. So you think kids should not learn about sex in the classroom? Then be prepared for them learning about it under the bleachers in the gym, behind the stage curtain in the auditorium, in the school’s boiler room or between the fence and the last portable on the right. Just hope that one of them stumbled across some information about contraception before they get on with “The Dirty Deed”.

Thanks honey. Now can you get to the dishes?

 

The curious:

Why did Dove give women only two options in their Choose Beautiful campaign? A four minute video— of women in cities around the world being offered the choice to walk into a building through one of two doors— has sparked a backlash and rightly so.  There are plenty of systems already in place defining us in broad strokes. Why not just label signs Hot or Not?

hqdefault

Female empowerment is about resisting categories. Full stop. I’m fairly certain the smart folks behind the ad know that already.  Why not come up with something cheeky and clever?
Did we have to leave it up the men to come up with a parody?

 

Rant done for today.

I’m going for a nooner. Walk, that is. Spring is calling.

 

You Might Also Like