Smoking Rocks!

I want to start smoking. I really do. I totally dig the idea. I think more people should light up - especially if they work in an office. Actually, smoking is great for all kinds of things. We always focus on the negative aspects - you know, rotten teeth, yellow fingers, cancer, all that stuff - but I say enough's enough with the bad vibes.

I've been envious of smokers before. They have their own corner at parties where it's almost like a fraternity, a club - instant acceptance if you have cigs, an instant "in" with women ("got a light?") and always, always with something to do, to fiddle with; truly, all the coolest guys in history have been smokers. I mean it just adds a dramatic flair to anything you say, in between puffs. Try it, I swear it makes anything you say instantly hip. "Did you know," then take a drag, "I bought new shoes today? They're green."

But I digress. The reason I want to be a smoker now is because of the breaks at a jobplace. It's great. At an office, it's entirely acceptable to go "for a smoke" two, three, even four times an hour. It's fantastic! You just get up, maybe round up a few others to join you and poof! you're on the elevator downstairs - to go outside! Just stand on the sidewalk, puff a bit, chat - take your time, too, you're with friends - until you finish a "butt". I'm telling you, it's a great way to get fresh air. Smokers get all kinds of fresh air, ironically, more than us non-puffers. I couldn't just say, "hey, I'm going downstairs to stand outside for 5 minutes again, anyone wanna come chat with me?" because that would be a waste of time; I am getting paid after all.

So, I'm gonna start smoking. Who will join me?

Gr8 G-8

I'm reprinting a letter I read in today's NOW; it sums up so much I felt about the Live-8 concert last week.

(And by reprinting, I really mean retyping - it's not in the online verion of NOW.)

Drinking to debt's content

Michael Hollet is right, and since my original cynicism had me ignoring the event in Barrie the other weekend, I decided to make up for it and this weekend dedicated every beer I drank to African debt relief. To recreate the musical line-up, I also made a play list of the whitest bands I could think of, and since I didn't have Dan Aykroyd to MC for me, I just loaded up a tequila advertisement and put it on repeat.

Then, before I was too gone (poverty is history and I've the empties to prove it), I signed an online petition only to realize that I was adding my name to those demanding that softball return to the 2012 Olympic Games. Darn.

So I didn't manage to get the petition right, - but I'm going to try the whole thing again next week. Call me an idealist, but I believe that if I party hard enough and rock bad enough I'm going to totally save Africa.

Justin Stayshyn
Toronto

Buds in the Ears

What's happened to dialogue? It seems to be an endangered species in our modern technocentric society where every other young person seems to be wearing a headset, preferably white to act as a badge of iPod ownership. Listening to music and being culturally aware is great but there comes a point when it's time to put down the headphones and engage with the people around you; you can't have a real discussion with sound blasting into your ears from a set of buds.

I see examples of disfunctionality, and lack of interaction, all around: a family sitting on the subway with the two kids sitting in the middle, each with a set of headphones on; a boyfriend and girlfriend walking down the street holding hands, headphones in the ears; or a group of friends heading home from school, headphones in the ears - none of these people are talking or connecting with one another. Are we to enter into a world where we are all isolated from one another except for the most important of interactions? In a world like this it would be difficult ot form a social consensus on issues affecting us.

The basis of democracy is engaging with your fellow citizen in discussion, talking about pertinent issues and generally finding out what's going on in the community. How is democracy to survive as people act in a more and more isolating manner? While iPod and cool may be synonymous, has our technology come to own us as more and more people jump on the band wagon? When we become more interested in self-gratification than engaging with those around us we are stepping onto a path with real pitfalls - the powerful are more than happy to have us as mindless vessels, filled to overflowing with content from our iPods rather than as active, engaged citizens.

provided by guest mh.net panelist Andrew Randell