Month: October 2007
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Forgetting One’s Manners
“We’ve all been asked ‘So, what’s new?’ many times in our lives, but it’s almost never that you get to answer, ‘I am going to China.’ I am more likely to respond, ‘Frig all. It’s not like I’m going to China or anything.’” These sentiments of Canadian humourist Dave Bidini are quite in line with…
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Where is Home?
Following a coup d’état in 1980, Samuel Doe murdered and subsequently replaced Liberia’s President, William R. Tolbert. Doe reigned for the following 10 years until the notorious Charles Taylor and his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) attacked Liberia on Christmas Eve, 1989. Civil war ensued for the next 14 years.
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Stay in School
What I had planned here was a little half-page, light-hearted article in which I talked about the comparative ease of life in university relative to the post-university world. The first line was going to be, “I remember back when I was your age.”
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Learning
The expression on Brad’s face quickly turned into one of sadness and pain. The wrinkles on face and the look in his eyes showed that Brad had been through more than his fair share of rejection and pain in his life, and the question I had just asked was making him relive hard memories.
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Our Toxic Hazards
Recent water tests in California showed that 60 percent of the rivers and streams in that state contain Prozac, Ritalin and antibiotics. How did they get there? Individuals either threw excess prescription pills in the water or flushed them down the toilet. The chemicals could then make their way into groundwater where they are absorbed…
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Values of Today
Was there ever an age when people spoke what they felt and felt what they spoke? Throughout history, humanity has sought truth. Without truth, this world of ours would be unbearable. History would be meaningless and the future would be unpredictable. The present would be something like a blind gambler’s experience in a casino.
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Forgetting Hegemony
It is my educated guess that this is not the first time you are reading Blueprint Magazine. In fact, in all likelihood this is not the second, or third, or maybe even fourth time you are reading it. You keep coming back to this magazine because it prides itself on challenging oppressive power structures and…
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Embrace The Shadow To See The Light
A shadow is a visible shape on a surface caused by the blockage of light. In the language of symbols the shadow is often analogous to evil and the light to good. Is it any wonder then that upon hearing this phrase – The Shadow – most of us will think of darkness or something…
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Who Am I Forgetting?
As much as places, words, stories, and times are forgotten, so are people. So many people walk the world unnoticed. Ignored. Silenced. Some people are deliberate in their silencing of other people. Some people say or do things to shut people up. To shut people out. Some people have no clue they’re silencing others. They…
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Chivalry: Lost or Forgotten
Long gone are the days of chivalry where men on the prowl for heroism would gallop into the sunset with a damsel in tow – only neither of them were in distress, and they each lived happily ever after. We saw chivalry slowly diminish through the ages, but the question is, how much of it…