Did I witness the wanton disposal of many, barely-used, headsets?

Dear Air Canada,

On arrival from Calgary last night I noticed that the flight attendant collected all the in-flight headsets that people did not want to keep for future flights in a trash bag, along with the rest of the garbage. Is it common practice for you to freely distribute these headsets only to send them to the dump after a single use? If so can you please explain this wasteful policy to me in further detail.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I've cast a line in on the Internet dating site Plenty of Fish. I didn't put my picture up or anything, I'm a bit shy about broadcasting my stubborn singleness that much I guess. I personally haven't initiated anything yet, but I do answer the few hits I get. Here's a response from a message I got today:

Lovely Vixen:

Hi - I liked your out look life. What keeps you grounded?

The Disclaimer:

Hi Lovely Vixen,

Great handle you got there. I dig the word vixen--it implies sexy, dangerous, full of wit, and extremely beguiling.

You asked what keeps me grounded. The truth is that I'm not entirely grounded. I'm a bit of all over the place, but mostly I think that's a positive thing. Perhaps I am grounded in my ungroundedness.

For example, I tend to switch jobs every few years. I'm lucky to be doing something I like right now, working at a High School as an E.A., but I'll be looking for more in a few years.

I move every 2 or 3 years. I used to live alone, but I missed having people, and I hated paying rent for a lousy apartment. Now I live in a house with three other humans and two cats. Someday I will probably own a place of my own and I may even live in a totally different city, but my biggest hope is to do it with an amazing woman.

Actually now that I've said all that I realize what it is that keeps me grounded. And it is something like this:

I am grounded in what I believe.

What I believe is that
I am what I do
and who I love in life.

My job is to keep on learning
exploring, creating
and being good to people;
to try and teach respect
for every living thing,
and to leave enough behind
so that our children
can do these things too.

If I can make someone else laugh
while I'm doing these things
so much the better.

So, what keeps you grounded?

Maybe that was a bit more than she was asking for, but today I was in the mood to answer that question in that way. Anyway, why should I beat around the bush?

Letter of the Day, Winnipeg Sun

Yes readers, I've hit the big time. Yesterday I made "Letter of the Day" in the Winnipeg Sun! No more slummin' at the Freep for me, I've been honoured by the people's paper. It probably helps that the city editor of the Sun is an old classmate of mine from Red River, but I'm gonna take all the credit I can for this one. I'm having it framed as we speak. Just in case you never make it over here to see it for yourself (and because I know it will be ages until it is published in my "Collected Works") I have generously re-published below. (To see it in its original on-line glory click on the title of this post.) Unfortunately they did not post the witty retort on the online version so I can't quote it here with accuracy. It was something like: "And keep lobbying for more trails and bike lanes too."

Respect cyclists

As a winter cyclist who has been regularly honked at and jeered since the first snow fell, I would just like to remind the drivers of this city that cycling in winter is not illegal.

People who opt for this sensible form of transportation deserve your respect in all weather.

Yes, it is slightly more challenging -- and perhaps odd to the uninitiated -- to cycle on top of snow and ice.

However, it is often the case that a rider's biggest winter challenge comes from trying to maintain concentration while facing off against motorists who bully and attempt to scare us off the road with loud noises.

Winter cycling is here to stay, it's time we accept it and learn to live together, Winnipeg.

As Quoted in the 'Tobin

This morning I Googled my name to see if a letter I had sent to the Free Press and Sun had been published (okay, it's still a bit narcissistic, but whatever.) Anyway, I came across this reference to myself in The Manitoban by some young writer who was doing a story about car vandals (complete article here). How do I know he's young? I don't really except that only a young, or inexperienced writer quotes another writer that he admits no-one has ever heard of. If no-one has ever heard of me than my point of view means shit right? And if my point of view means shit than it's not worth quoting. (Of course I don't believe my point of view means shit, but I'm perfectly willing to accept that I am unknown.) Anyhow, I guess I was a bit flattered to be slammed in print by this guy. At least he has heard of me. Here's the quote:

Many journalists like Lindor Reynolds seem hell-bent on addressing the “root causes” of crime while opposing harsher sentences for the criminals. Writers like Ryan Kinrade (don’t worry, no one else knows who he is, either) claim that putting car thieves in jail “most certainly will not” help the problem.

Sorry, but I disagree. It is widely acknowledged by the police department that most of the auto theft in Winnipeg is done by a small number of people. According to StatCan.ca, 16 year olds steal more cars than any other age group.

Should U.S. soldiers be accepted as Refugees?

Today the Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether on or not U.S. soldiers who signed up for service without knowing what they were getting themselves into aught to be allowed to stay in Canada as refugees. Here's a brief thought on the matter. No idea whether this is the right reaction, just a gut thing. So if you can convince me otherwise, go ahead.

I just watched the documentary "Why We Fight" I got it from the library. Fascinating stuff. One of the subjects in the movie is a 23 year old guy who's joining the army for three reasons: his mom recently died (he has no other blood relatives), he's in financial trouble, and he wants a good job with a pension. Poor sucker. It also made the point that in Vietnam where soldiers were drafted the war became a lot less palatable when they switched from using just the poor kids (who no-one cared enough about to defend) to the lottery system that included the middle-class boys. Today there is no shortage of poorly educated males with little future in America (especially with the economy in such a sorry state) so I doubt the draft will need to be reintroduced, but will it fall to us to take on all the dummies who have made a deal with the devil due to sheer ignorance? What will we do with this cannon-fodder once we adopt it, can we turn them into semi-intelligent productive people or will we be saddled with a lot of dead weight? I'm not saying that people who make stupid decisions out of ignorance aught to be sent off to die for their lack of knowledge, but I don't know that accepting these kids solves anything, after all we have volunteer soldiers dieing too, how many of them have been wooed by jingo, video-games and aggressive recruiting? Taking a few "refugees" while sending many more off to die in a different conflict is unworkable. One cannot accept the soldiers of another country as refugees and allow one's own soldiers to die under similar circumstances. The war in Iraq was built on lies, but every war is built on lies. No war is just. The elected representatives of the U.S. decided to send their sons off to die, that is their right. Protecting those kids is not ours, is it?

Letter to MTS

What can I say, I'm a letter writing machine today. Here's another one with respect to an unresolved problem with my phone service, sent via MTS' internet "Contact Us" page.

(Dear MTS,)

Your lack of response to my previous communications is starting to feel very personal indeed. In fact I have hesitated to pay my bill (although I know I am only hurting myself in the long run) out of my disgust at the poor service I have received with respect to my previous (and still unanswered) inquiries.

This email will mark the third straight month I have attempted to contact your large and disinterested organization with respect to a computer glitch that makes my phone ring every other morning at 2:30 am (adjusted for the ending of daylight savings). Frankly, I'm beginning to feel like one of the characters in a Kafka novel.

When it says "Does your Comment or Question require a response?" and I answer yes only to receive no response it makes me wonder if there is someone there who is crafting the very best and most through response of all time to my important query (one that like a good dissertation will take months to compile and defend), or if you just don't regard my interrupted sleep as enough of a concern. At this point I'm going with the later, but my goodness wouldn't I be pleasantly surprised to receive a thoughtful response that went something like this:

"Dear Mr. Kinrade,

After several months of in-depth investigation into your most unusual and fascinating case we have discovered that it requires our immediate attention. By golly it is something we are committed to resolving with all the powers at our disposal. After all we are not just an ordinary telecom services company sitting on it's duff waiting to be pensioned off, we are your friendly and accountable provider MTS, the pride of Manitoba.

Please accept our apologies for having taken so long and having robbed you of many a night's decent sleep. To make up for it we have decided to discount your bill $10 a month retroactive to the month you first reported this incident in 2005 (only to be rebuffed by one or more surly CSRs, all of whom have subsequently been sent to grueling construction camps to build cell towers in Flin Flon, Thompson and other godforsaken corners of this great province.)

A cheque for $340 along with our thanks for your patience is in the mail, and our technicians will get no rest until we are assured that you are getting yours.

Sincerely,

X. X.

MTS Customer Service Demi-god."

Letter to the Editor

A letter I submitted today after having read a column by the delightful, but IMHO sometimes mildly misguided, Marlo Campbell.

The inconvenient truth that leaders of the Climate Change movement are also perpetrators of crimes against the environment aught not to be as easily set aside as columnist Marlo Campbell would have it be (Call off the hounds -- green messengers are OK, Mon. Nov. 12, 2007). Mr.’s Gore and Suzuki are both extremely wealthy and respected men who, despite their posturing, have not made the sacrifices to lifestyle they demand of humanity in general. Should the rest of us practice austerity because it is good for us while our multi-millionaire prophets and their cohorts continue to live large? Real leaders set examples with their actions rather than relying upon heart-felt words and vainglorious endorsements from other elites to make their point. They do this because they realize that blatant hypocrisies are an invitation for all to doubt their belief in and commitment to the message they bring.

The Dali Lama Sells Out

I wrote something about a picture in today's paper on the ALFA Blog earlier. For the benefit of those who don't follow ALFA (although lord knows you should) here's the link: http://alabelforartists.blogspot.com/2007/11/dali-lama-sells-out.html

Musings on the Music Industry

This is an article I am going to submit unsolicited to the U of W Student Newspaper The Uniter in response to an opinion piece in last week's edition.

Musings on the Music Industry

Last issue's Uniter featured an article that attempted to defend the roll of the recording industry in the wake of Radiohead's recent label-free, pay-what-you-want release "Rainbows". Although it raised many valid arguments it failed to mention what may be the most fundamental point about the business of music in general. Namely: that until about 100 years ago there was no such thing as a recording industry. Although publishing sheet music and composing were a source of revenue for some, most musicians then, as now, made their money by touring. Thus the current woes of the major labels are no great threat to the great cultural gift that is music. While it is often said that a band tours in support of a current release, from the perspective of the working musician it is quite often the reverse.

There's no denying that the recording industry has brought to our attention many stupendously talented artists for whom we should be eternally grateful. But let's not forget that the industry is also responsible for the awful crap that constituted "Can Rock" in the 1980's; an era of shame that we get to live over and over again thanks to the omnipresent 92 CITI FM. Kim Mitchell anyone? And let us also remember that it was the record industry who, without justification beyond greed, gouged us more seasoned record buyers when they decided that CDs should replace LPs at nearly double the price, despite the fact that production costs were the same or lower for CDs. Should we accord these scoundrels any quarter now that the shoe is on the other foot?

New technologies have found the soft underbelly of the once mighty corporations that made a mint off of recording the talents of others, and I for one couldn't be happier. Now it is possible for bands with a bit of know-how to make their own records and decide their own fate. If it means that less musicians get to own private jets and live the celebrity life of a Radiohead or Led Zeppelin it's quite alright with me. Fame is overrated anyway.

Indie Rock, and Canadian Indie Rock particularly has seen a great rise in prominence and record sales since the 1990's. Not only are these acts as talented as the ones who pack stadiums worldwide they are often far more accessible. Bands like The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire and Winnipeg's own Weakerthans play shows at smaller, more intimate venues where the object is not to witness a spectacle but to hear great live music.

Indeed this is the kind of music one should be supporting with one's wallet. Who cares if The Rolling Stones ever make another cent on anything they do? Does Jimmy Eats World need my $20? Those guys are doing just fine last time I checked. And what about the schmoozers that acted as A & R reps for these bands? Should I be paying for their champagne breakfasts in the Bahamas? No. I should be at the Zoo banging my head to Priestess or at the Burt singing along to Tegan and Sara. Acts I didn't hear about in the latest issue of SPIN, acts I got to know because they have actually been across Canada a number of times and attracted a following. That is how musicians made money before there was a cigar chomping executive cutting the cheques, and that is how they should be making money now.

I urge record buyers to lay the boots to antiquated notions of what supporting the artist means. Copy as much of EMI's catalogue as your conscience dictates, anything older than 15 years aught to be public domain anyways. Feel free to follow my motto: "if an artist (or band) is dead, just go ahead." And for God sake, don't pay for punk, it's anathema. However, make sure you go to lots of shows and buy something off the merch table, and/or buy a new, undiscovered record or two from an indie label every time you need to give a gift. Your friends and friendly neighborhood musician will thank you.

Scrabulous Junkie

I've got eight Scrabulous games on the go right now. Everyday when I come home from work I check on which ones have the little green go light. Same thing in the morning before I leave, and also check regularly through the evening if I happen to be at the computer. I'm sucked right in. Maybe it's because I won like the first six in a row and now I get that gambler's high, like I'm gonna win everyone and somehow prove I am a person of superior intelligence and gamesmanship. Unlike the gambler though, there's no money on the line, and that's not really a place I want to go.

I like that they have the chat application front and centre now though because what's cool about Scrabulous (aside from the fact that I can use the dictionary at will in most games and that no-one gets mad if I take to long to plot my perfect moves) is that I can actually carry on a bit of a conversation with a far away friend.

I've also joined an online chess thing at chess.com (I think) under the name Wassily Kandinsky (you fans of Modern Art out there will know who I'm talking about). I'm not sure how much I'll get into that whole business, because my chess skills are pretty average and I've never been able to delve deep enough into the math of it to get too excited. Plus I used to get really hyped up and I was a bad looser (perhaps because I associate it with some kind of intellectual prowess that I know I am inferior with) so I'm not sure it's all that good for me to be getting back into it. For example, in the first game I made a dumb mistake on my second move and lost a pawn for nothing. No big deal one pawn, but I was down on myself already.

BTW: My best Scrabble so far (or Bingo in Scrabulous' non-copyright infringing lingo) is UNvEILS (where "v" is a blank tile) for 86 points, and my favourite is URINATED for 68. I have also learned of the existence of the Super Scrabble word "OXYPHENBUTAZONE" which nets a bonus of about 1500 (but can probably only be played by players who are cooperating. Pretty damn fascinating, non?

The forgotten blog

Seems I'm not taking much time to write anymore. I'm not sure why, laziness maybe? Anyway I only work six hours a day so I should have plenty of time for writing, etc. but nothing's getting done. I have been playing a lot of Facebook Scrabulous lately though. I don't think I can claim to be doing anything literary because of it, but here is a pictue of an interesting game I just started.
I have had two Scrabbles (0r Bingos as they are called in Scrabulous terms) in a row. On the second scrabble I used the word LUNGE to make PLUNGED which coincidentally turned the word LUNGE into another PLUNGE. If I were a superstitious person I would be seeing a clogged toilet in my very near future. Anyway, not that this post is particularly useful or thought provoking, but it's a small sample of the kind of minutiae that is keeping me from more important thoughts. If someone knows how I can get my groove back I 'd be glad to hear about it. In the meantime if you want to play some Scrabulous then just challenge me baby.

Letter of the Day

This is today's Winnipeg Free Press Letter of the Day as written by yours truly (with some minor edits from the WFP):

The new Wi-Fi deal struck by the City of Winnipeg and MTS is a terrible deal for Winnipeggers. In exchange for a portion of the revenue -- ostensibly to pay the mere $23,000 it cost to install the system in 20 library branches and one public pool -- the city gave MTS five years to charge $3 per hour for the service. In addition to the fee, MTS also benefits by having exclusive use of city-owned property to hawk its wares and recruit new business.

Three dollars an hour is a gouge. An entire month on a private plan from MTS costs around $41 for speeds higher than most users can realize with current wireless technology. Allowing a private firm to control and profit from an information service offered within publicly owned libraries undermines the goal of these institutions, which I always assumed was to provide such services free of charge (or at least paid for by civic taxes).

With reference to the new service fees Mayor Sam Katz cynically pronounced: "There's no such thing as free service." Now, granted no library is under any obligation to provide a free wireless service, but given that Winnipeg libraries already provide free Internet to patrons with cards and enough patience to wait for a terminal, why should it not strive to provide a wireless signal for free to people who have their own equipment? If it was not possible to provide wireless to all city libraries due to budget constraints, would it not have been preferable to build these capabilities into the main branches first, and then later equip the satellites, as funds became available?

The mayor said that part of the reason the city did this was to be "hip." How hip is it for Winnipeg to charge an inflated $3 per hour for what many other cities in North America offer for free?

Find Me, Fine Me, Fire Me

There's been quite a bit of buzz lately about people who are dumb enough to put incriminating stuff on Facebook and then get caught. Underage drinking, rushing the field after a football game, setting up a white supremacist group "as a joke." It's hard to have sympathy for anyone dumb enough to let the world search his or her profile for these incriminating tid-bits when it's so easy to set your privacy at a more discreet level. Although it sucks when you have done so and someone else hasn't, and they've got a picture of you spraying graffiti on a public monument or something. Still, I have no sympathy. Protect yourself, know who your friends are, and if you don't, don't let them snap incriminating shots of you, or wall stuff about how you cheated on your exams, taxes, etc. End of story.

Modern Austerity Rant: Turn off your damn TVs.

Many people I know spend a great deal of time watching television, until I was in my later 20’s I would have fit this category too. In fact in my youth I probably watched more TV than anyone. There was no restriction on my viewing habits, no commands to complete homework. If I wanted to I could watch TV well into the night, and I often did.

Maybe that’s why I don’t even keep a TV plugged in anymore. I haven’t had cable in more than a decade, except for the time Shaw tired to hook me in with a three month trial. I know there are good shows in the world I’m missing, and spectacular news footage that will have people buzzing at the water cooler for days. I am far removed from the celebrity break-ups and make-ups, distant from the latest reality show results and probably considered a by freak most of my urban contemporaries; but frankly, I don’t mind.

After a while you forget what it’s like to need that thing in your life. Of course you never real forget about it, it is omnipresent in our society, and there are important NHL playoffs going on every spring to jog one’s memory.

In the end it’s kind of like giving up smoking, another vice I have been lucky to have the fortitude to overcome. At first all you think about is that thing. It’s everywhere you look, and all your friends are still indulging. You start to obsess: what will happen in all the serials you’ve abandoned? What peril awaits at Season Finale? And all those glitzy music and film awards, the documentaries, the nature shows, Pop-Up Video...

But when you’re no longer shaking and sweating, when the last of the shooting pains has ceased, you find a little space in the world that’s not explicitly trying to sell you something. A place where you don’t need constant injections of entertainment to wash away the dull and mundane.

People have always enjoyed entertainment; history is full of examples of fulfilling this basic human need. The Roman Coliseum stands testament to it, so too does Kabuki theatre and classical music. But never in history has man had so much time to percolate. To just sit around, long after the sun has gone down, bathed in electric light and utterly bored.

The television would appear to be a near ideal solution to this dilemma, and it’s popularity since the 1950’s is ample evidence. It has linked us to events around the globe, brought directly to our living rooms by some cheerful and heavily made-up Ken or Barbie with a clip-on mike. By way of compromise we need only suffer a few zillion ads and oblique product placements, sometimes cleverly hidden within the news as reports.

On the negative side TV tends to make people a lot stupider. The proliferation of tabloid news programming and celebrity worship rags on the newsstand is just the tip of the iceberg. A closer look reveals people who believe what they see (even in this age of image manipulation), who view the value of things cleverly advertised as status items as self-evident. People who’s opinion about the world is shaped by a Ken or Barbie journalist that is really just the mouthpiece of a sour old fart who doesn’t believe in anything.

Certainly this is not the case for everyone, and there were probably a lot of easily manipulated sorts in the golden age of radio and beyond. But seeing is believing, and critical thinking is no longer in vogue.

Most people I know are figuring out ways to get their hands on bigger and skinnier idiot boxes, rather than admitting they have a problem. And I suppose it’s a bit hypocritical of me, the ex-TV junky to preach austerity. But it’s a bit like the ex-smoker being the loudest voice in the room when someone lights up.

My mom used to embarrass me when she became an ex-smoker in the 80’s, making a big stink over someone else’s stinky butt. Now I get it, and I’m not afraid to say it: Turn off your damn TVs.

First Day of School

Yesterday was my first day back at University in more than 13 years. I decided to take one course with the intent of boosting my GPA while at the same time earning a credit towards a "teachable minor." The course I ended up with is "Islam and the West" a second year History course that explores the development of Western (i.e. Christian) and Islamic cultures comparatively from the fall of Rome. In the first class the Prof. talked mainly about Rome and the crisis that led it to Christianity, followed by the loss of it's western portion two centuries later. He also touched on the Persians, the great near-eastern civilization at that time, the Germanic tribes (aka Barbarians) and the Huns, both of whom were responsible for the fall of Rome. Hopefully this course will not conflict with my intended profession of Educational Assistant, but I can't be completely sure of that yet. The course starts at 4pm so hopefully most of my sub postings will be over by then?!

Marx Bros. Interlude

I've never really checked out much Marx Bros. but they are some pretty amazingly talented dudes. Here's a little quick piano piece by Chico.

Ode to My Last Day of Work

Yesterday I wrote a poem/comment on the ALFA blog, click here to read it.

Glorious Feedback

These are letters published in today's Free Press refuting the commentary I had in Sunday's paper. This is the first time the paper has published letters based on an article I've written. Frankly, I'm a bit tickled. Here they are:

Letter of the day

Wed Aug 22 2007

Car thieves aren't victims

Re: Persecuting and Prosecuting Children, Aug. 19.

Ryan Kinrade equates children as equal victims in instances where they are objects of sexual attack and also as youthful car thieves causing willful damage and even death to others. I respectfully beg to differ.

A child who is the victim of a sexual attack is the target of a predator who is searching for someone who is less powerful than he to exercise power over. The perpetrator may have been the victim of some past injustice himself. In our society this does not entitle him to act out his resentment and frustration on an innocent human being.

In the same way the youthful car thief aligns himself with the sexual predator. The car thief may have been the victim of some sort of crime, but he is not entitled to steal and damage the property of others, or to maim and kill innocent third parties to empower himself or relieve his frustrations. The unfortunate victim of the car thief stands in the place of the child sexual assault victim in Kinrade's parable.

I do agree that child car thieves need to be treated differently than sexual predators, but when murder by motor vehicle results from car theft, the punishment needs to reflect the seriousness of the crime. Every perpetrator of every crime suffers from lost innocence. That does not excuse them for their willful and destructive behaviour.

I am extremely tired of the "everybody is a victim" culture, which I feel may be encouraged by Kinrade's musings. In some ways we are all victims of something in our pasts, but we can never use that as an excuse to victimize someone else with our own destructive behaviour.

WILLIAM D. WATSON

Winnipeg

---

Excuses, excuses

Re: Persecuting and prosecuting children, Free Press (Aug. 18). Ryan Kinrade's article says the reason so many of these kids steal cars is because they are in impoverished environments. I beg to differ. As long as people make excuses for these kids they will keep doing it.

I grew up with two verbally and physically abusive alcoholic parents. I grew up in the north end in the 1960s. I used to roam the streets sometimes until 2 a.m. but not to vandalize or steal. I was on a mission. That mission was to find enough pop and beer bottles to cash in so I could buy milk for my baby brother. I also went to bed many nights where my supper was a bowl of milk and a slice of bread broken up into the milk.

I never used my childhood problems to steal anything, including food. I weighed 69 pounds when I graduated from high school. Please quit giving the kids of today a cop out. It won't help them in the end. The poor-me attitude will only get them so far and it probably shouldn't get them anywhere if they want to grow up to be productive members of society. One last thing, I am a proud Metis so don't think I'm being prejudicial.

Sandi Miller

Winnipeg

FP Article

I previously reported that this article had been rejected, but it appeared in today's paper, so if you've read it already it's nothing new, only difference is it's status has changed from "unpublished" to "published."


Two separate but equally devastating crimes that have captured the attention of Winnipeggers recently point to what a paradoxical pursuit Justice can be in the case of children.

In one case we have a man who’s sexual urges are reviled by society, who is judged by the masses as a monster, and who, if the common man had his way would likely be castrated or worse.

Liberal as Canadian society is in matters of sexual preference, we draw the line at children. We do so because we don’t believe kids have the gained the knowledge to appreciate the value of their sexuality, and are in general far more susceptible to manipulation from adults who would abuse their trust. We believe that an adult has an obligation to respect the innocence of the young, and to know the boundaries, liberal as they are in Canada, in which “consensual sex” is legally considered consensual.

However society does not afford children who commission motor vehicles for the purpose of joy-riding the same measure of innocence. Indeed, when a child--who is perhaps just old enough to consent to sex--steals a car he is no longer a child, but a “youth,” and as such is subject to the all disapproval and bloodlust an enraged citizenry places on it’s most hated criminals.

Tragic results, such as last week’s death of an innocent cyclist, seem to further mobilize public support and government musings on the redrafting of laws, intended to protect youth, to reflect a desire for punishment in the name of public safety. Only by strong deterrence and proper detention—so the theory goes—can we hope to end the madness that has threatened our property and our lives.

There is little discussion about the lost innocence of the perpetrators of these crimes. We have no tolerance for those who would know right, and do wrong, and not much interest in why they would choose wrong over and over again. Apparently, to most it is simply a matter that bad behaviour that goes unpunished will not be amended.

But I see a substantial amount of hypocrisy in our desire to protect one group of children from harm on the one hand, while seeking punishment for another group of children on the other. Are not all children equally worthy of our protection? Is it not the indifference and callousness that we as a community have showered on these persecuted children and their families that has caused them act as they do?

A typical young car thief in Winnipeg is most often the product of an impoverished environment. He is the possessor a stolen childhood lived out on the mean streets of our city, in neighborhoods most people do not live in or visit unless they are forced to. What his crimes indicate above all is the failure on the part of our society to shield it’s most vulnerable citizens from the harsh realities that come as a consequence of poverty and an interminable cycle of despair.

In 1989 the Federal House of Commons promised to: “seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000.” Seventeen years later we are no closer to closing the gap, and providing this city’s unfortunates an opportunity to engage in activities and a lifestyle that most would find preferable to stealing cars and living as a pariah.

My guess is that few thieves, even the most chronic among them, would wish to be feared and reviled, if other forms of respect were available to them. If they could find a sport, or an artistic outlet or a hobby that could bring pride to themselves, their families and their neighborhoods would they feel the need to inflict hurt on society over and over again?

We must take greater pains to understand how our indifference is paid back in crimes of property and violence, rather than insisting that more severe punishments will restore order to the streets (which they most certainly will not). Only then will we be closer to finding the answer to what to do about these spectacular crimes—which seem to be the only indication of the epidemic of poverty and despair that better-off citizens pay much attention to these days.

The One That Got Away & Other Fish Tales

Yesterday afternoon I got back from a two day semi-annual fishing excursion with my long-time brother-from-another-mother Dr. Steve. This year we hit Dogtooth Lake which is accessible from the Rushing River Provincial Park (about 20 minutes outside Kenora).

Steve and I paddled his canoe out of Rushing River on Thursday afternoon towards the meeting place of Dogtooth and Kilvert Lakes (about a 7 KM journey). We had a very strong wind at our backs most of the way, which was fortunate given that we did not arrive at the boat launch until after 2pm. On the way out we stopped to fish a couple of bays and I was lucky enough to bring in a decent sized bass that we cooked for supper that night.

We spent all of Friday fishing the bays around the fabulous campsite we found on an island close to the opening of Kilvert. Unlike the Manitoba campsites we are used to from years past this site was completely unmarked by map or landmark. The area we camped in is a part of a proposed Provincial Park, but as yet is mostly undeveloped crown land (with a few notable exceptions in the form of some nice cabins along the way). Anyway, the island had been used previously and a decent fire pit existed, along with a fairly flat clearing in the middle that was perfect for pitching our tent.

The weather was ideal for the entire trip; hot and sunny with just a bit of a breeze. I managed to get a fairly embarrassing sunburn on my chest where I did not do up the shirt I was wearing. Currently I am sporting a rather nasty red stripe from the nape of my neck to the top of my shorts.

Back to the fishing. Our quarry consisted mainly of small to medium sized Large Mouth Bass. I had great success using two classic Rapala lures which happened to be swimming at just the right depth. Steve had a bit more trouble finding a killer lure, but between us we managed to catch a decent amount of fish. I did happen to catch a couple of Walleye while casting with the Rapala. The first one was a very nice sized fish (2 to 3 pounds) that I brought all the way into the boat only to loose while trying to put it on a stringer. Unfortunately I didn't even get a good shot of me with this beautiful specimen, so you'll have to take my word for it. The other Pickerel was a tiny, tiny little fellow, hardly worth mentioning. Of course there were a few dinky Jack to be had as well. All the fish fought well (especially the bass) and it was a pleasure to catch and release them all.

On the Friday afternoon just prior to catching the Walleye that got away Steve and I noticed a huge Bald Eagle in the bay opposite our campsite. S/he followed us around that afternoon as we fished getting up and flying overhead whenever we got too close, but always sticking around. I called her/him our Spirit Eagle and wondered if s/he was not responsible for finding us a good spot to camp and fish. We were also treated to some spectacular loon songs a beaver sighting and some amazing sunsets.

In short, a wonderful time was had, and we got to immerse ourselves in the natural wonder that surrounds us if only for a brief few days. Sadly the Lake of the Woods region is over-runneth with float-planes and powerboats during the summer season and Dogtooth Lake is no exception. However there were plenty of moments when one could imagine that there was nothing but wilderness and loon song, and star filled skies above.