Author Archives: Kat

Shame Day: Rob Ford and the Enbridge Pipeline Project

Well, you’ve probably all heard about Rob Ford by now. You know, smoking crack, allegations of domestic abuse, recently said this while defending himself to a crowd of reporters [Warning: for mild language]:


I’m not actually a Torontonian, in fact, I live on the other side of the country so other than my irritation that people like Ford are able to retain leadership in our country, the Ford story doesn’t really affect me. I’m not even going to get into the embarrassing antics of Ford since I’m sure you’ve heard most of them already, but if you would like all the details I’ve heard thus far, you could check out this episode of the Fifth Estate. It features practically all the allegations against Ford that are out there, and delves into the danger this controversy has caused for the community where it took place. Continue reading

Culture War Correspondence: 4th Wave Feminism

GORDON: Ladies and gentlemen, last week, I kinda volunteered a discussion topic which Kat has graciously decided to roll with. Today, we’re going to be talking about feminism- where we stand now, and with an increasing number of people claiming that feminism’s work is done- what we’d like to see next on the agenda.

KAT: So perhaps we should start be establishing what the first three waves of feminism have accomplished.

You are probably all familiar with the fact that the first wave fought for (and won) the right for the vote.

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Fame Day: Sir Patrick Stewart

There are just so many reasons to love Sir Patrick Stewart.

He gets into the Halloween spirit, for one.

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Shame Day: How I Met Your Mother and FASD

I’ve fallen in love with How I Met Your Mother. I chose my timing wisely, waiting until the very last season began to air before I let myself become sucked in. As a member of the generation of binge or marathon watchers (depending on what kind of spin you want to give to it) I just can’t handle waiting each week for a new episode. This way the control is in my hands.

There is just so many lovable characters on the show. Even the unrealistically lucky womanizer Barney makes me laugh. Sometimes while ticking me off at the same time.

By lucky, I mean that he’s lucky he isn’t dead yet, not that he is lucky because of the number of women he has “banged.” Come on bro, quality over quantity, eh?

But my favourite character in the show is definitely Lily.

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Evan and Gordon Kat Talk: First Nations Fracking Protests

EVAN: Denizens of the internet, today brings back your two favourite Canadians as we discuss our home and native land, the true north strong and free. While I most definitely cite Canada as the birthplace and country I am proud to bear on my passport, I truthfully don’t know as much about it as I could.

Taking all that into consideration, Kat provides the topic this week [just like she did last time we did this] that covers a number of topics very near and dear to my heart: Canada, First Nations people, and environmentalism.

KAT: It’s really the full package.

So, those of you in both Canada and the States may be familiar with a new way to harvest natural gas, called fracking.

So, as the video above explains far better than I could, fracking is a risky process that can actually lead to natural gas leading into local water sources. There are even reports of homes near fracking sites being able to light the water coming out of the tap on fire because natural gas is escaping out the line at the same time.

We admit to not knowing how reliable this image is, but it does look pretty awesome.

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Fame Day: American Literary Piracy

As I’ve already mentioned in a previous post, I’m back in school, so I feel like it’s my duty to share some awesome learning with you. After the piracy debate broke out between Evan and Gordon a little while back I settled on the perfect topic: how piracy saved American literature. Or, as we have been learning in my Canadian Literature class, how British Imperialism screwed over early Canadian writers. Quick, name 5 great Canadian writers! If you are anything like me you probably weren’t able to think up more than one or two. There are a lot more than that, by the way, you just have to look a little harder… and not necessarily in Canada.

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