Pull the Plug/A Lighting Chance
An opinion piece that was published in The Other Press:
I find that the more time I spend at Douglas College, the more my resentment grows towards fluorescent light tubes. Glaring down from their parallel fixtures, they force harsh artificial light onto the students below. These lights are ruthless and unflattering, and like rows of soldiers with an ominous purpose they crush the attempts of personal beauty the occupants of their room have tried to conjure. Highlighting imperfections the students thought that they had hidden, the fluorescent tubes of terror prove that resistance is futile against such a secretly malignant, yet inescapable, force.
Perhaps it would not be so bad if the lights in one classroom were consistent. But instead, in any chosen room staff and students will find that different tubes emit a different shade of sickness. Take room 3343 in New West for example. A brighter, more yellow sheen is produced on the left side of the room, which gives any unsuspecting student a lovely aura of jaundice. Yet, on the right, a pinker hue awaits its victims, and with it the false appearance of facial rosacea.
With all this built up resentment towards this specific light source, one may think that I would wish them all an untimely end. However, considering that the lights are all shielded by a protective layer, (no doubt to save them from folk like me), the only other way to defeat them would be to wait until they burn out on their own. But that too poses no resolution, as fluorescent light tubes do not die without a fight. You will never see a tube succumb to old age peacefully, and they will flicker with protest for weeks and months. Not satisfied after a life of harshening features and offering eye-sore induced headaches, the incessant random strobe light effect of an expiring fluorescent tube will try to take the unfortunate people below with it by annoying them to suicide.
Sadly, the fluorescent tube is here to stay, our indoor, electrical society ensuring its survival. And as our dependence on artificially manufactured elements shines brighter, it brings to mind how we will never have a lighting chance against them.
Poem
This poem can be found in the self-published book, Passion Before Perfection:
Paper bulbs blossom into words.
Each leaf, a splintered thought that broke away
from the mind
that had the strength to plant it.
From idea to invention,
alphabet letters are scattered in the wind and left
to their own development,
having to contend with the jargon, slang and gibberish
that entangle,
and try to force the life,
from meaningful text.
Nurtured, and allowed to grow freely,
pollinated poetry will seed and spread
embedding inspiration
into the fertile beds of brain
that are open enough to allow
the winds of change to pass through.
Middle East Infection
The following article was published in The Other Press in October 2006:
Do not get me wrong…
I am a Canadian, and I support our Canadian military troops wherever they may be sent. However, this does not mean I support every mission that may be imposed on the young men and women that are serving a government that may be betraying them. I support the soldiers’ lives and rights, and both are being lost at an increasing rate throughout Afghanistan.
Perhaps the swirling sands of the Middle East have blinded the Canadian government, which would explain why Steven Harper has had to grasp onto George Bush’s hand to lead him though this political storm. But the news reports that relay from Afghanistan counter the Conservative’s call for a continuance of Canadian troops in the area. Even if the media were attempting to focus on any of the positive aspects of the mission, it would be hard to ignore the fact that swarms of the Afghani people are cheering when one of our soldiers is blown up by one of the terrorists that are supposedly plaguing their country. This is not usually how a public shows its gratitude for soldiers whom are giving their lives to aid in their “freedom”. The fact that we have witnessed Afghanis celebrating, instead of building memorials, in the wake of a soldier’s death is a not-so-subtle hint that the mission is fruitless…so why are we continuing to offer more lives to a war where gratitude is scarce and the end seems impossible?
Seeking out the Taliban in the dusty mountains of the Middle East may seem like the proactive approach; and, it would definitely correspond to our anthem’s call for standing on guard for our country, far and wide. But while all of our resources are being worn thin on the other side of the world, doesn’t that leave our homeland open and defenseless? With all money on military matters, do healthcare and other heavy hitting issues get postponed/cancelled?
With each passing day, Canada seems to forget that the continent that we reside in is called North America, not just America, and that the “True North, strong and free” included in our anthem is what separates us from the “rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air” of the United States’ “Star-Spangled Banner”.
