Near the Old Man of Storr, Scotland I took this in 2004

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

trains and leaves

It's October; my favourite month. I love the moody weather, the gray skies, the rainyness, the smell of the earth, harvesting the fruits and vegetables, and the cold, but cozy feeling of wrapping up in warm layers.

Here are some photos I took last weekend, on Thanksgiving Monday. My mom and I went on a train ride through a  southern Ontario valley, just outside of the city. The route was established over 100 years ago, but of course, is no longer in use. The train was from the 50s. The train's shots are of it's engine. The train tracks are the original tracks from the 1800s.




tv shows and monsters


Looking at Dancing With The Stars, one might be under the insane, but albeit, vaguely plausible misconception that America really is the great melting pot, or is that Canada, somebody’s a tossed salad, right?
A place where, much like Cheers, everyone’s troubles can, at least seem, as the same, and gosh, everyone really can accept you for, well, who you are. That’s the equalizing power of tv dance shows.
A microcosm of America via a “reality” show with bad dancing; however, as much of a true-grit reality as it would like to portray, it falls way too flat.
This season, the show boats an openly transgender guy, who happens to be Cher’s son, and daughter-once-removed . Everyone is super supportive of him, cuz they’re all bonding over the emotional roller coaster of the rough side of ..well, earning money and dancing. There’s another white man on the show who’s also queer.
Today on the BBC I saw an horrific story about a monster. Not the fabled kind who lives under bridges, but the true kind who lives amongst us, in this case, Philadelphia, a city lacking love. This particular monster takes advantage of people with learning issues/abilities. The story explained how 4 people were locked in a basement with nothing to eat, no where to go to the bathroom, and there were dogs down there too. The people were tortured and somehow they have been rescued, but how the fuck are they ever going to heal?!
This kind of evil is some kind of sickness that is all too horrendously “common”.
Here in Canada, where I live, I gave my seat to 4 people on my long bus ride home, only 1 person bothered to acknowledge me, the others acted as if it was my duty to get up and let them sit. What’s happening to our hearts? Fuck, or just our damn manners!