Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

Alright, I’m sure some of you have noticed, I often introduce my entries with a song title or a lyric that I think aptly describes my post. Today’s entry comes a day after the anniversary of 9/11, and the song I’ve chosen is a description of the frustration that many of us feel when trying to deal with some of the insane reactions that have resulted from the collapse of the World Trade Centers, the images of a smoldering Pentagon and the plane crash in a PA field. I saw some statistics yesterday and was reminded of the time my friend Andriko and I watched Captain War on the television, justifying the invasion of Iraq in 2003, then months later seeing this amazing PR stunt in which he declared that the main offensive was over.

Of course since then, troops stationed in Iraq have increased to over 150,000, over 70,000 civilians have been killed as a direct result of said offensive as well as roughly 4,000 soldiers. And for what? Even worse, a complete pullout is out of the question at this point since Iraqi infrastructure is more or less non-existent, and neither the government or regional army is capable of dealing with the mess the U.S. has made of their country. Then there is the Canadian offensive in Afghanistan (that has yet to be justified in such a way that I can feel comfortable funding it with my taxes). Is Canada picking up the slack? Are we really helping build democracy? Or are we just helping to facilitate the corporatist’s agenda by opening up the country to expensive contracts & oil pipelines? Anyways, I’m still trying to get my head around it and this song is a cathartic listen. Just to know that I’m not the only one that can’t understand the rationality of current “world leaders” provides me with a sense of security no Act or Bill initiated in the last 5 years is capable of. But I digress.

Today I gave a presentation to my Classroom Management peers on behavioural problems. It went really well. As you may or may not be aware, I don’t really dig public speaking. Even though I’m comfortable getting up in front of complete strangers, playing a set and addressing relevant current affairs, I have chosen to enter a profession that will require we to more or less improvise in front of people every day. It gives my gut butterflies. However, I was thinking about it the other day though, why I get all anxious when I have to present something, and it occurred to me that I’ve been taught how to write an essay, critique an article, draft a report, but not how to get up and give a lecture. After this realization, I spoke to a few of my peers and found they felt the same way. Elating! Furthermore, after we gave our presentation, we received all kinds of constructive feedback leaving me with a fulfilling feeling that I’m actually starting to learn some applicable skills. Woop woop!

Alright, on to the next thing I’ve had on my mind. A friend of mine informed me of this crazy initiative in which for North America to compete with the Euro, a strengthening Chinese economy and to save billions in currency exchanges, the Amero has been proposed (and surprise surprise, totally lauded by conservative think-tanks such as the Fraiser Institute), which would effectively assimilate the Canadian, American and Mexican economies under a single currency. If anyone is concerned about other threats to Canadian sovereignty, such as shady meetings about how to deal with US water demands (hint, opening our water up to American markets under NAFTA), keep your eye out for this development. It could be huge and I think it’s totally foreseeable given the state of the American market.

Lastly, I’ve got two really great books on the go, The God Delusion and The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Pick them up if the topics of atheism and how governments/corporations have historically exploited people’s vulnerability after a crisis (ie. tsunamis, hurricanes and plane crashes) is of interest to you.