"A new eye for the straight guy."

I came near the end of the day for the Free Knowledge day. I came for the talk on "Marc Spooner:
"The purpose of a university experience: What are you doing here anyway?!" and stayed for the "Transgenderism" presentation and discussion.
I would like to focus on the "Transgenderism" presentation, as it was pretty interesting. Especially for me, as I have friends that are gay, and one them very free about the way he dresses, but I've never felt the need to sit down and have an academic conversation with him about his sexuality and how it is treated by the rest of society. He has always just been Fin to me.
The presentation was about transgenderism over the ages and over the globe. Transgenderism has been in the public eye since at very least the 1500's and everywhere on the globe. The Orient, Africa, europe and here in North America with the Native Americans. I was surprised about the amount of sub-classification of people that cross dress. There's a huge difference between a drag queen and someone that feels that they've been given the wrong sex. With that ignorance dispelled I continued to listen. The an important reminder was inadvertently given to me. People in the "queer" community still do not feel comfortable with expressing themselves freely and would like more understanding from society. Which is to say they are suggesting to the rest of us that they are human beings and should be treated with the dignity every human being deserves. Which is a perfectly acceptable statement and one that embarrasses me. To think that we can travel to the moon and back, cure disease but we aren't advanced enough to offer everyone the same level understanding or even the common courtesy that even if we don't understand something. That something isn't automatically wrong. Society isn't used to having its norms challenged and the "queer" community isn't used to openly challenging our convoluted norms. There does seem to be hope, the presenter said while there are a great many public places where he does not feel physically safe in expressing himself, there are a small few public places where he does feel safe. Which is a start, as previously there was even less places he felt safe to act himself out in public. My thoughts at the end of the lecture was that we need to give each other time, space and understanding. Time to figure out ourselves, space to make decisions of what is right for ourselves and the understanding that we all might not be perfect, but we should all feel safe.

NDP: No Longer fit for Saskatchewan

September 23, 2007

NDP

It has been always a strange debate, the argument of where people should live in Saskatchewan or Alberta. Worst of all is the propagandi by the two governments to attract certain residents to live here and other's to go.

Over the last week three headlines have crossed across the front page of the Leader Post. Regina Economy: Best Growth in a Decade, In Search of a Life with LESS STRESSLiving Life in Calgary's Fast Lane, and Grass isn't greener in Sask. Best Growth in a Decade contained government released states that Regina's GNP growth was at the top, even past Calgary and Edmonton. The article continues on to give the reader the impression that Saskatchewan is the place to be to improve your Western standard of life. The less stress starts out with the quote ' "Smaller, quieter, cheaper" That sums up life... 'the article reads on to tout the booming economy in Saskatchewan and why Regina is so great to live here. I guess in the following article's are considered to be fair and balanced reporting As the Fast Lane article refers to Calgary as a "fast paced, big-spender, boom-town" that deters this certain ex-Saskatchewan resident from moving home. The last article is about people moving from Edmonton to Saskatoon because they went to a government website to figure out the cost of living difference between the two cities. They were lead to believe that Saskatoon was not. However, the lower wages, lack of daycare and lack of rental housing shortage has left the couple struggling. They were quoted as saying ' " Maybe they meant for only the rich to come here!' "

Reading these article makes one wonder what Saskatchewan is doing. They are a socialist government province trying to attract the conservative upper middle class from Alberta here. While the NDP ignore the needs of the working person, thus, possibly, sparking the beginning of a potential labour stortage in Saskatchewan too because the blue collar worker cannot afford to keep up with demands of an inflated market. That was created but an influx of money from Alberta. Interestingly enough Alberta is rejecting any worker that isn't able to live there. A politician from the Calgary area left the message that said "If you don't have a place to stay or a job, get out."