Something's been bugging me lately (no surprise) and one of the reasons it's been eating away at me so effectively is because I think it's something that went under discussed and far too few people are aware of.

I hate american apparel. Why? Because how sad is it that this big 'uber-ethical' clothing company is so unethical I can't bring myself to shop there? My problem with them is the way the owner, Dov Charney, sexually harasses and intimidates his employees. I've read a number of interview with him, as well as testimony from women who have worked for him and frankly, he disgusts me. He's know for displaying pornography in his office, masturbating in front of people in his office and on the factory floor, and generally running around with his genitals on display in a show of domination and aggression aimed at his mostly female staff. Some defenders argue that he is just sexually liberated, but the accounts I have read suggest that it is more about shame and intimidation, and I really thought we were passed the era where it was acceptable for a male boss to do such things. In essence, despite not using sweatshop labour, he still exploits his staff, and in a way that is not all that much less disturbing. I won't shop there.

Read some corroboration. He's also anti union.

Off to Washington state for the weekend -- eww!! Border crossings. I hate dealing with any kind of law that ain't my own.

I think I might travel a lot more if I could stay under Canadian jurisdiction wherever I went. See, to my mind, our laws up here are generally reasonable and so are those who enforce them (I did say generally). Why? Or more importantly, how's that different? I don't think Canadian cops figure that it is up to them to maintain the moral sanctimoniousness of the community, and that's a good thing. I'd really rather not have police running around worrying about our family values or whatever bullshit term's being used now. Canadian cops are officers of the peace, and I think that pattern holds for most Canadian law.

On the other hand, from the experiences I've had and the law officers I've met elsewhere, especially state side, this pattern does not hold elsewhere. How a town's youth are behaving? Cop problem. Marginalizing and/or scapegoating those with alternative lifestyles? Cop problem. Upholding moral majority? Cop problem.

Sigh. But it's still US here I come.

*please don't police my values*

The Rio Theatre on East Broadway at Commercial. Better screen and sound than the Van East (cleaner facilities too), huge cushy seats with enough leg room to satisfy even all 6 and a half feet of C, and no ads. I've always hated huge nasty chain theatres (and you should too) so it's great to have another other option - not that I don't have a special place in my heart for the Van East, but sometimes, between the screen quality and the selection issue... At any rate, Rio it is. The owner is a cool guy too, who opened for World Cup and is hoping to develop the Rio into an 'event' (aka party) theatre, hence they had the big costume opening for Snakes on a Plane.

I know, I know, plug plug plug, it's just a great local business I don't want to loose.

today my sister is moving in. yesterday we painted her new room and remembered how silly we can be. no one should have to be lonely when they first move out.

in pics: things with my name

i will graduate in november this time, in the icy drizzle not the scorched blossoms of may like last year. if i go for the ceremony, they will add a light blue stripe to the black robe with blue stripe i earned last year only since this whole monk garb symbolism is lost on me, i can't make myself get excited. right now, i feel the build up to no closure and another weird shift underway but i still think it's more like i'm being dragged behind while my life is leading me.

around and around and around she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows.

members of my family can't stop dreaming up new careers for me either - my grandma says law school (groan) and my mom predicted journalism the other day (hmm, does that include my plans to kidnap George Stroumboulopoulos? Oh yes, his show willl be mine). will i ever be able to hold still? why can't we all just agree on this career i'm headed into - it looks great to me. yet i suppose i understand, because i am always spinning to something new.

I must be starting to go crazy by now. It's too hot in this apartment to even think straight and I'm in front of the computer, trying to compile a unit plan on Romeo and Juliet. 6th of August, back to school ads have already started blaring across the TV any evening I flip it on seeking distraction, and I haven't even finished school yet. The idea of 'back' is ludicrous.

I just want to be swimming. I've been making it to Jericho to throw myself in the ocean at least about once a week, which isn't all that bad, but it's hard to really enjoy anything when yet another 'term project' is always looming. Instead of swimming until I get tired, it's trying to make sure I don't get to tired, because you guessed it, there's still work to do. I feel like just jumping in and swimming until I dissolve into calcareous ooze and become just another layer of the ocean floor. I feel like dueling with starfish.

I can write an infinite number of paragraphs staring with 'I,' which is the first sign of cabin fever.