Thursday, 12 February 2015
Can't Smell the Forest For the Terpenes
Olfactories, or Olfactory Organs are the parts of our body giving us the ability to smell. Mine have always been a bit over-active. I was all about the smells as a youth. All about the perfumes. Oh my, I had so many that they went sour before I could use them all. There were scents I loved and there were scents I abhorred. Still to this day, I have an issue with the smell of sulfur or rubber.
As an adult you learn to ignore or accept odours but they're still there. My mama used to love Sung perfume though it repulsed me~still does!
A friend and past co-worker used to also repulse me because he smelled like sulfur all the time. It was years before I realized it was because of the water where he lived.
My uncle Irvin and his family lived on the mountain in Westport about a half mile from the town dump. That's a smell and a half. Depending on the direction of the breeze, that entire family of six breathed in the smell of burning refuse for years. I used to love going to that dump as a kid. Burning material like that didn't seem to bother me. Yet if my parents ever allowed a visitor to smoke in the house, all three of us girls had a fit.
I have friends who have lived above Subw@y restaurants smelling the yeasty gases of proofing bread in all it's stages 24/7. You'd almost think that the last part of that would be pleasant, but all-in-all that allure fades fast.
I've known peeps who have lived near a McD!cks. There are times I have heard, that it smells more like a waste facility than a restaurant. A friend used to be engaged to a McD!cks manager and she said that his uniform smelled that way fresh out of the dryer. Now that's some permeating odour.
The entire population of Cornwall smelled the rotten egg odour from Domtar, the paper plant for almost 100 years. It's only been since 2006 that the air in that whole area smells like anything but "total reduced sulphur" or TRS gases.
There are several lovely jewelry stores in my city that I completely avoid at all times simply because of the incense that they insist on burning. My new neighbor loves the same stuff. My poor pupperoni and I both have sneezing fits every time we leave our apartment.
All in all, the world as we know it, has a lot of odours in it. The ones that I can easily accept and appreciate though are the natural ones. The smell of roses or lilacs just can't be beat. Don't try to replicate it though or it all goes awry. Kinda like when they made Marinol~ but that's another blog.
Some plants and trees can be smelly too, most belonging to a group called Conifers. These plants actively ooze resins full of compounds called Terpines. Terpines smell. When you're talking Conifers, think Pine, Spruce, and Junipers. Terpines do many things for the plant, not the least of which is attract pollinators and detract herbivores.
Without Terpines in plants, Gin would not be Gin. Bitters, Aperitifs, and Digestifs would not exist either. And without Terpines, Cannabis would not smell as pungent as it often does.
There's a legal Cannabis grower in Markham Ontario who is being told that the smell of his medicine's Terpines are bothering his neighbors. Wei Gao is legally allowed to grow 146 plants in a lovely home that is situated in a residential area across the street from an elementary school. Parents say that the smell coming out of the exhaust fans is extreme, often forcing them to throw out items of clothing due to permeating smells. But due to the recent changes to the Medical Marijuana program in Canada, if Gao moves his garden, he risks losing his license to grow his own medicine.
Interestingly, as stated in the article on yorkregion.com a well known smell and taste expert named Dr. Hirsch from the US states that it would be impossible for the smell to attach itself to clothes' fibres if it was released into the air, as it is from an exhaust pipe. This Doc goes further to call this scenario victim of a phenomenon known as "expectation effect" where once a scent is identified by one person, others in a group will think they smell it simply because they expect to smell it.
"Sniff sniff ... is this diaper dirty ... I can't tell anymore." :)
This odour is the smell of germination, vegetation, and flowering. This isn't toxic waste being incinerated and it's not TRS gases from a pulp & paper plant either! This is the smell of medicine growing.
The area's MP Paul Colandra is a conservative, so he shares his party's stance on the eradication of legal Cannabis growing at home. Yet, if this were handled properly, this entire situation could be a massively effective teachable moment.
I mean, those opposed to growing at home say it is a safety and fire hazard.
Show them it's not Mr. Gao!
They say it can cause mold and insect infestation in a home.
Show them it doesn't Mr. Gao!
They say your garden could attract break-ins.
Show them how secure you have that garden Mr. Gao!
If you invite them in ... they will learn ... do I hear a school trip in the future??
Marketers of scented products across the gamut know about Terpenes. At least they know which ones they want to reverse-engineer and put in your ... everything. People spend oodles of cash on scented candles that attempt to replicate the terpenes in the Spruce tree. For eons the interiors of jewelry boxes and such were lined with Cedar wood because of those wonderfully pungent compounds. And real alchemic perfumers the world over know exactly which terpene makes you feel what.
In the end, what I truly see is that Dr. Hirsch has it bang on. But let's take that phenomenon out to the macro view. Rather than someone identifying the smell as Cannabis and others agreeing, we see them identifying the smell as something illegal or 'bad' and others agreeing simply because they don't know anything about Cannabis Sativa or Indica in it's growing form. The odour coming out of that exhaust won't get you or your kids high. Blood tests will not come back with cannabinoids in them. Even if someone broke into that home and ate a flower, very little would happen. Cannabis is not psychoactive in it's growing form!
There is so much to learn from this plant and the people who grow her. In my modest experience I've ingested weed that smells like sweet straw, and I've ingested weed that smelled like Napoleon after a long battle. I've ingested onion-y smelling flowers, and I've ingested blueberry smelling flowers.
How does all of that happen?
**sigh**
Suddenly I wish I'd become an elementary school teacher ... just imagine all of the wonders that that garden has for those kids to learn.
Now that's a different view on the situation. Dear Parents ... would you ever consider that?
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Mixed Signals Are Dangerous Things For Our Girls
"I'm bringin' booty baa-aaak! Go on and tell the skinny bitches that!" ~Meghan Trainor, "All About That Bass".
Watch the video HERE .... bet you can't sit still.
My awesome 11 year old niece Madelyn showed me this song and video a while ago, and I'm still humming it in my head. I wake up hearing it. I sing it all day. I love it.
What's strange though, is that as funky, cool, and dancable as this tune is, it still brings out the tears in me. Right at that part where she sings,
"Yeah, my mama she told me don't worry about your size.
She says, "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night".
It could be the harmonies. That gets me every time. But I think it's more that my mama said the same things to me when I was little. My mama always made us feel perfect from the bottom to the top. She fed us so well from the garden out back and helped us to educate ourselves about all things girl. I recall when I started playing hockey at about 11. I was expected to change in the same room with the boys. When I protested, my mama said,
"Oh Dianna ... get in there ... you show more off when you're at the beach for heaven's sakes."
She was right. The boys only cared that I could skate.
So why did I have such poor body image for so long? I used to get teased in elementary school .. teases I would pretend not to hear. One certain boy in a grade above me named Timmy called me Tank and all the other boys would laugh. Even though I could skate faster than most of them.
Later in high school, I rarely ate in the cafeteria. When I did, I'd plan my bites, my chews, my napkin wipes just so because I felt like someone would tell me I was too fat to eat. I know ... crazy really ... considering I wasn't overweight.
There is something else that factored in to my self image. Something that factors in even more profoundly today with our young girls and boys. Everywhere we look we see hyper sexualized images of women that all look similar. If the advertisement is for a clothing line, the models will look anemic, anorexic, and ready to fall down. Just look at these models from Joe clothing ... the unethical Lobl@ws brand made in Bangledesh by starving women and children in deplorable conditions. If the camera adds ten pounds, then these are what ... size 0 ? Why? How many adolescent girls are a size 0?
I grew up hating my body. I had an image in my mind of how I was supposed to look. And I didn't.
I grew up hating my breasts. They didn't look right.
I disliked my hands, my profile, every part of me.
On television and in movies I saw some image that instilled in me this idea of what a desirable body looked like; mine was not it. Who cares what that image was. She's dead to me. At 41, I'm actually beginning to like my body for the first time ever. But this issue is still very much alive for me. Remember my niece? Well she and I watched the "All About That Bass" video and afterwards, I was mortified to learn who else she knows about. So many other young women who are saying one thing and showing another. So many who look IDENTICAL in body image. I mean, even if they did start out a normal size, so many women are influenced by people like Kesha's manager who basically gave her an eating disorder to the point of having to go to treatment! And now ... Kesha looks just like all of the others.
The others that are thin.
This week, Sports Illustrated is in the news because for the first time in it's history of swimsuit issues, it's featuring a plus-sized model. The model's name is Ashley Graham and truthfully, she can handle anything. It seems, her mama instilled a very healthy and realistic self esteem in Ashley.
All in all, what I see though is that even Mama's love and guidance can be trumped by outside forces that tell girls that they don't look right. And even when there are a million songs and songstresses telling us to love our awesome selves, there will still be those outside influences.
Is it too much to ask that those change too?
Why is it that runway models are so god-damned thin? Can we change that?
Why is it that children's clothing models are so thin? Can we change that?
Right now we have words telling us one thing; and images telling us another. Mixed signals just make an already confusing time, even more stressful.
Watch the video HERE .... bet you can't sit still.
My awesome 11 year old niece Madelyn showed me this song and video a while ago, and I'm still humming it in my head. I wake up hearing it. I sing it all day. I love it.
What's strange though, is that as funky, cool, and dancable as this tune is, it still brings out the tears in me. Right at that part where she sings,
"Yeah, my mama she told me don't worry about your size.
She says, "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night".
It could be the harmonies. That gets me every time. But I think it's more that my mama said the same things to me when I was little. My mama always made us feel perfect from the bottom to the top. She fed us so well from the garden out back and helped us to educate ourselves about all things girl. I recall when I started playing hockey at about 11. I was expected to change in the same room with the boys. When I protested, my mama said,
"Oh Dianna ... get in there ... you show more off when you're at the beach for heaven's sakes."
She was right. The boys only cared that I could skate.
So why did I have such poor body image for so long? I used to get teased in elementary school .. teases I would pretend not to hear. One certain boy in a grade above me named Timmy called me Tank and all the other boys would laugh. Even though I could skate faster than most of them.
Later in high school, I rarely ate in the cafeteria. When I did, I'd plan my bites, my chews, my napkin wipes just so because I felt like someone would tell me I was too fat to eat. I know ... crazy really ... considering I wasn't overweight.
There is something else that factored in to my self image. Something that factors in even more profoundly today with our young girls and boys. Everywhere we look we see hyper sexualized images of women that all look similar. If the advertisement is for a clothing line, the models will look anemic, anorexic, and ready to fall down. Just look at these models from Joe clothing ... the unethical Lobl@ws brand made in Bangledesh by starving women and children in deplorable conditions. If the camera adds ten pounds, then these are what ... size 0 ? Why? How many adolescent girls are a size 0?
I grew up hating my body. I had an image in my mind of how I was supposed to look. And I didn't.
I grew up hating my breasts. They didn't look right.
I disliked my hands, my profile, every part of me.
On television and in movies I saw some image that instilled in me this idea of what a desirable body looked like; mine was not it. Who cares what that image was. She's dead to me. At 41, I'm actually beginning to like my body for the first time ever. But this issue is still very much alive for me. Remember my niece? Well she and I watched the "All About That Bass" video and afterwards, I was mortified to learn who else she knows about. So many other young women who are saying one thing and showing another. So many who look IDENTICAL in body image. I mean, even if they did start out a normal size, so many women are influenced by people like Kesha's manager who basically gave her an eating disorder to the point of having to go to treatment! And now ... Kesha looks just like all of the others.
The others that are thin.
This week, Sports Illustrated is in the news because for the first time in it's history of swimsuit issues, it's featuring a plus-sized model. The model's name is Ashley Graham and truthfully, she can handle anything. It seems, her mama instilled a very healthy and realistic self esteem in Ashley.
All in all, what I see though is that even Mama's love and guidance can be trumped by outside forces that tell girls that they don't look right. And even when there are a million songs and songstresses telling us to love our awesome selves, there will still be those outside influences.
Is it too much to ask that those change too?
Why is it that runway models are so god-damned thin? Can we change that?
Why is it that children's clothing models are so thin? Can we change that?
Right now we have words telling us one thing; and images telling us another. Mixed signals just make an already confusing time, even more stressful.
Monday, 9 February 2015
Freedoms & Indulgences
I slip out the back with my little doobie. I've chosen a strain without stink to ensure I'm 007.
I'm in the centre of the city that makes the laws in my country, sitting out back by the big dumpster. It smells a bit, and the lateness of the season makes the bees groggy and drunk ... death so close to them ... they ignore me.
I look around for eyes. I survey all the buildings. Every window. Are any of them open? Can they see me from there?
Feeling somewhat secure, I spark up and inhale my cannabis deeply as I do one of many more visual sweeps of the area to ensure I am alone.
~ ~ ~ ~
Inside my girlfriend quickly downs a healthy shot o' courage and pours herself some more.
She takes this out to the front porch to spark up her own type of smoke.
The front porch is gorgeously reminiscent of so many old homes I've known before. The city is as alive as ever and my girlfriend, being the social butterfly that she is, waves at everyone.
It doesn't faze her as she takes her glass of 50,000 canadian deaths per year, puts it up to her sensual lips and takes a sweet sip. She even holds it close as she chit-chats a bit with her neighbor, ready to take sip two.
It also doesn't faze her when she fumbles in the pack for her smoke, finally pulling one long slender ciggy out. She plays with it a while as they finish up chatting. Then puts it to her lips and slowly lights just the tip, playing the flame on the little bits of tobacco that poke out the end. She inhales deeply, closes her eyes and blows out 40,000 Canadian deaths per year.
She sits rocking on the front porch, her two indulgences in hand, humming a song about freedom.
~ ~ ~ ~
I'm still out back, but tired of being alone and scared of the neighbor's olfactory abilities. I finish my little doobie and bury the little roach to avoid future drama. I breathe in and out slowly many times to clear my lungs.
Now to wash my hands, brush my teeth, and re-apply perfume.
So much sillyness for something that has zero canadian deaths ever.
What WAS that song she was singing ... and what about freedom?
I'm in the centre of the city that makes the laws in my country, sitting out back by the big dumpster. It smells a bit, and the lateness of the season makes the bees groggy and drunk ... death so close to them ... they ignore me.
I look around for eyes. I survey all the buildings. Every window. Are any of them open? Can they see me from there?
Feeling somewhat secure, I spark up and inhale my cannabis deeply as I do one of many more visual sweeps of the area to ensure I am alone.
~ ~ ~ ~
Inside my girlfriend quickly downs a healthy shot o' courage and pours herself some more.
She takes this out to the front porch to spark up her own type of smoke.
The front porch is gorgeously reminiscent of so many old homes I've known before. The city is as alive as ever and my girlfriend, being the social butterfly that she is, waves at everyone.
It doesn't faze her as she takes her glass of 50,000 canadian deaths per year, puts it up to her sensual lips and takes a sweet sip. She even holds it close as she chit-chats a bit with her neighbor, ready to take sip two.
It also doesn't faze her when she fumbles in the pack for her smoke, finally pulling one long slender ciggy out. She plays with it a while as they finish up chatting. Then puts it to her lips and slowly lights just the tip, playing the flame on the little bits of tobacco that poke out the end. She inhales deeply, closes her eyes and blows out 40,000 Canadian deaths per year.
She sits rocking on the front porch, her two indulgences in hand, humming a song about freedom.
~ ~ ~ ~
I'm still out back, but tired of being alone and scared of the neighbor's olfactory abilities. I finish my little doobie and bury the little roach to avoid future drama. I breathe in and out slowly many times to clear my lungs.
Now to wash my hands, brush my teeth, and re-apply perfume.
So much sillyness for something that has zero canadian deaths ever.
What WAS that song she was singing ... and what about freedom?
Sunday, 8 February 2015
The Polar Plunge As An Existential Experience
It's Ontari-ari-ario in February. Need I say more? And my crazy, thrill-loving friends have decided to do the Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics Ontario. I personally think they're nuts. I mean, I don't even plunge into water mid-August! This group of friends is also my co-workers at Rogers Krock Center for Savor Marketing Group.
Our team lost an integral spoke in the wheel of our vessel about a month ago. Our Chef Guy is likely giggling today as he watches us from all angles. He shakes his head and covers his mouth as he laughs at our crazyness. We wanted a way to pay tribute to Guy and his memory, so being an avid swimmer, the plunge seemed fitting.
We, the many many staff members at Roger's Krock raised $3000 in total.
The Krock jumpers were split into groups as follows:
First jump: Angus MacDougall, Sebastien Kirkwood, and Andrew Kerslake.
Second jump: Brittany Young, Krystle Landon, and Heather Lees.
The video of both brave jumps can be seen HERE.
To be honest, it's difficult in the video to see the nerves among my jumping friends. With the wind chill it was down to -29 and hard to watch even bundled up! I just sort of set my ears and eyes to absorb though, as I watched and listened to the many people as they came out of the abyss of freezing cold water. Some were panicked. Others close to tears. While others still seemed ready for round two. One particular jumper Angus, is basically a plunge pro. This was his third one and he raised the most donations for an individual. Amazing.
Many new jumpers expressed very similar sentiments. I heard many say that when their head popped out of the water, all they could think was:
"Where am I? Who am I? And what the hell am I doing here?"
See the link with Existentialism? :)
So why were they there, doing that which could leave them with hypothermia? What causes a group of people ... strangers even to band together for a cause for complete strangers?
Why do we do that? What force is this that spurned some of my other co-workers named Poppy, Rayna, and Melanie to raise an additional $93 on Friday night?
Existentialism asks: Why do we exist?
I think I know why. Humans are pack animals. True pack animals like Timber wolves resemble humans very much in how they stay united, each in their place. All members are provided for.
Humans work better in a connected team. People helping people isn't only about home hardware!!
Friends call me an activist. That feels good. My hunni used my environmental activism as the reason for switching from possibly working in the Nuclear industry, to hopefully working in the Wind industry. I don't think I'm alone though. Especially on a day like today. Man .... that was one huge bunch of freezing cold Kingston and area activists eh?!
We exist to help one another. And we find fulfillment in doing so. I think it's a human thing.
"You do it for yourself. You don't expect to change the world. You don't even expect to influence your family or your friends. You do it because you can't not do it and be who you are. Or who you're meant to be." ~Martin Sheen
Personally, I think Martin is shooting low. I say .... influence everyone everyday to love more.
The rest will follow :) Way to go Rogers- Krock team! I'm glad to be a part of you, and forevermore the Polar Plunge will be one more reason to remember Guy.
Last week, a facebook friend posted this pic on my wall and said: "So you!! xox"
Our team lost an integral spoke in the wheel of our vessel about a month ago. Our Chef Guy is likely giggling today as he watches us from all angles. He shakes his head and covers his mouth as he laughs at our crazyness. We wanted a way to pay tribute to Guy and his memory, so being an avid swimmer, the plunge seemed fitting.
We, the many many staff members at Roger's Krock raised $3000 in total.
The Krock jumpers were split into groups as follows:
First jump: Angus MacDougall, Sebastien Kirkwood, and Andrew Kerslake.
Second jump: Brittany Young, Krystle Landon, and Heather Lees.
The video of both brave jumps can be seen HERE.
To be honest, it's difficult in the video to see the nerves among my jumping friends. With the wind chill it was down to -29 and hard to watch even bundled up! I just sort of set my ears and eyes to absorb though, as I watched and listened to the many people as they came out of the abyss of freezing cold water. Some were panicked. Others close to tears. While others still seemed ready for round two. One particular jumper Angus, is basically a plunge pro. This was his third one and he raised the most donations for an individual. Amazing.
Many new jumpers expressed very similar sentiments. I heard many say that when their head popped out of the water, all they could think was:
"Where am I? Who am I? And what the hell am I doing here?"
See the link with Existentialism? :)
So why were they there, doing that which could leave them with hypothermia? What causes a group of people ... strangers even to band together for a cause for complete strangers?
Why do we do that? What force is this that spurned some of my other co-workers named Poppy, Rayna, and Melanie to raise an additional $93 on Friday night?
Existentialism asks: Why do we exist?
I think I know why. Humans are pack animals. True pack animals like Timber wolves resemble humans very much in how they stay united, each in their place. All members are provided for.
Humans work better in a connected team. People helping people isn't only about home hardware!!
Friends call me an activist. That feels good. My hunni used my environmental activism as the reason for switching from possibly working in the Nuclear industry, to hopefully working in the Wind industry. I don't think I'm alone though. Especially on a day like today. Man .... that was one huge bunch of freezing cold Kingston and area activists eh?!
We exist to help one another. And we find fulfillment in doing so. I think it's a human thing.
"You do it for yourself. You don't expect to change the world. You don't even expect to influence your family or your friends. You do it because you can't not do it and be who you are. Or who you're meant to be." ~Martin Sheen
Personally, I think Martin is shooting low. I say .... influence everyone everyday to love more.
The rest will follow :) Way to go Rogers- Krock team! I'm glad to be a part of you, and forevermore the Polar Plunge will be one more reason to remember Guy.
Last week, a facebook friend posted this pic on my wall and said: "So you!! xox"
Saturday, 7 February 2015
A Food Truck vs Employment Standards
I'm reeling today after yet another bout of news regarding an unethical business-owner in Kingston, the city I live in. This one hits close to home as I used to herald this business as something great. Way back when they came to town, I started to follow the Farm Girl's facebook and twitter sites. I shared and retweeted some of her menus. You can imagine the choked feeling I had when I woke up yesterday to read that the Farm Girl hasn't paid her employees for months.
You can read the article HERE as reported in the local Whig Standard newspaper by diplomatic journalist Steph Crozier, follow her on Twitter.
There are a lot of things to say and ask here. I have a lot of questions to ask a few people.
Can I just preface all of this by bringing in the fact that employment law and standards should really be taught in school as all four of these unpaid workers allowed this to happen for many months before asking for assistance from the appropriate authorities. That's a shame in itself. The Ministry of Labour is here to help us, not to scare us and not as a last resort. A greater shame is that this particular business owner obviously knew nothing about the Labour Code either. It's this that we must change for the future of our youth and our peers. I do it for my niece Maddy.
In reading responses and comments from these business owners in the article above, you can clearly see that they just don't get it. The husband states he can't understand why the girls chose to go to the Ministry of Labour about this, saying: "we didn't do it maliciously".
Mr. Farm Girl, let's see if I can break this down into questions that illustrate the magnitude of your offense:
Was it malice that gave you the idea that your bills, your needs, your food, your meds, your rent and all else were more important than that of these four young workers? How could you think that? Are you really that entitled?
Was it malice that made you think that the progress of your business and your financial security was more important than that of Miss Smith's, Miss Politis's, Miss Jensen's, or Miss Everdell's?
In a dozen years, when your son is working a summer job and his employer fails to pay him, how will you feel? Will you wonder if there was malice involved?
When you open your new bistro will you pay those employees on time?
I mean really ... how is it that your family, your life, your business and your recreation is more important than anyone else's? And do you expect to succeed in this wee town? You better learn Employment Standards ... there I've even linked it for you.
If you or someone you love works in Ontario, you should learn it too and keep the link handy for reference. The toll free number to call to ask anonymous questions is 800-531-5551.
I remember right after the Farm Girl food truck came to town. My niece Maddy and I snuggled up on her big chair with her tablet so we could watch this video of the Farm Girl roasting a little chicken. Maddy, at age 11 is a better cook than most adults I know. She may not have her Safe Food Handler's Certificate but she knows about cleanliness and keeping things sanitary! I remember saying to her,
"Holy heck would ya look at that rock. If you were wearing a ring like that would YOU stick your hand inside a dead chicken carcass?".
We both exclaimed grossed-out expressions and continued to watch.
So I ask you the reader these questions:
Is it judgey of me that the first thought that ran through my mind when I read this article, was that diamond? I even saw it in my mind ... with all it's shiney little friends.
Do I have the right to ask Farm Girl and Farm Hubby why they didn't use that big rock as collateral so that they could pay back the four workers to whom they owe almost $4200?
And I ask employment standards officers and anyone else in a position to answer:
Do they have the right to ask those workers to work and not get paid?
Do they have the right to open another business, when they can't pay the employees they have?
I ask Municipal authorities:
Why would you want a restaurant in Kingston owned by people who don't pay their employees?
I ask all Kingstonians, all Ontarians, all Canadians:
Do the rights of business owners and their pursuit to success trump the rights of the employee?
I mean, to run a business you need employees. If you can't pay your employees on time, then you're not a good business owner!! Imagine how awesome the employee-employer relationship would be, if how you treated your workers were audited and recorded like credit! There could be an agency like Equifax possibly called Busnifax where employees could report, with proof of course, the offences that certain business owners commit. Oh I'm sure that seems silly to some. I mean, to many HOW we're treated by our bosses isn't nearly as important as to whether or not we can re-pay our debts. Funny isn't that?
TRANSPARENCY = PROGRESSIVE RESPECT FOR ALL
As you likely read in the above article, the Farms consider themselves paid up. Haha! Oh I gotta admit I had a chuckle over that. The Farms have paid all four girls by post-dated checks ... the last of which is dated March 20th. I recall a time in the car biz where I got rightly scolded for taking a post-dated check! Which for all intents and purposes and country-wide business and banking practices, isn't paid in full at all. In fact, I wonder how much of those post dated checks are banking on a good opening night at the bistro?!
Having a business is a privilege that obviously shouldn't be given to just anyone.
Having employees is also a privilege that shouldn't be given to just anyone.
We ensure that Ontarians are treated fairly in the workplace on a "complaint-basis" where no oversight exists, but rather unethical practice is only exposed when an employee complains. How many employees in Ontario know the above employment standards' hotline number? How many knew they could call and ask anonymous questions?
This Farm Girl food truck story has only reiterated what I already knew:
Kingston, Ontario, and Canada all need to bone up on our Employment Standards ... and oversight is definitely needed.
You can read the article HERE as reported in the local Whig Standard newspaper by diplomatic journalist Steph Crozier, follow her on Twitter.
There are a lot of things to say and ask here. I have a lot of questions to ask a few people.
Can I just preface all of this by bringing in the fact that employment law and standards should really be taught in school as all four of these unpaid workers allowed this to happen for many months before asking for assistance from the appropriate authorities. That's a shame in itself. The Ministry of Labour is here to help us, not to scare us and not as a last resort. A greater shame is that this particular business owner obviously knew nothing about the Labour Code either. It's this that we must change for the future of our youth and our peers. I do it for my niece Maddy.
In reading responses and comments from these business owners in the article above, you can clearly see that they just don't get it. The husband states he can't understand why the girls chose to go to the Ministry of Labour about this, saying: "we didn't do it maliciously".
Mr. Farm Girl, let's see if I can break this down into questions that illustrate the magnitude of your offense:
Was it malice that gave you the idea that your bills, your needs, your food, your meds, your rent and all else were more important than that of these four young workers? How could you think that? Are you really that entitled?
Was it malice that made you think that the progress of your business and your financial security was more important than that of Miss Smith's, Miss Politis's, Miss Jensen's, or Miss Everdell's?
In a dozen years, when your son is working a summer job and his employer fails to pay him, how will you feel? Will you wonder if there was malice involved?
When you open your new bistro will you pay those employees on time?
I mean really ... how is it that your family, your life, your business and your recreation is more important than anyone else's? And do you expect to succeed in this wee town? You better learn Employment Standards ... there I've even linked it for you.
If you or someone you love works in Ontario, you should learn it too and keep the link handy for reference. The toll free number to call to ask anonymous questions is 800-531-5551.
I remember right after the Farm Girl food truck came to town. My niece Maddy and I snuggled up on her big chair with her tablet so we could watch this video of the Farm Girl roasting a little chicken. Maddy, at age 11 is a better cook than most adults I know. She may not have her Safe Food Handler's Certificate but she knows about cleanliness and keeping things sanitary! I remember saying to her,
"Holy heck would ya look at that rock. If you were wearing a ring like that would YOU stick your hand inside a dead chicken carcass?".
We both exclaimed grossed-out expressions and continued to watch.
So I ask you the reader these questions:
Is it judgey of me that the first thought that ran through my mind when I read this article, was that diamond? I even saw it in my mind ... with all it's shiney little friends.
Do I have the right to ask Farm Girl and Farm Hubby why they didn't use that big rock as collateral so that they could pay back the four workers to whom they owe almost $4200?
And I ask employment standards officers and anyone else in a position to answer:
Do they have the right to ask those workers to work and not get paid?
Do they have the right to open another business, when they can't pay the employees they have?
I ask Municipal authorities:
Why would you want a restaurant in Kingston owned by people who don't pay their employees?
I ask all Kingstonians, all Ontarians, all Canadians:
Do the rights of business owners and their pursuit to success trump the rights of the employee?
I mean, to run a business you need employees. If you can't pay your employees on time, then you're not a good business owner!! Imagine how awesome the employee-employer relationship would be, if how you treated your workers were audited and recorded like credit! There could be an agency like Equifax possibly called Busnifax where employees could report, with proof of course, the offences that certain business owners commit. Oh I'm sure that seems silly to some. I mean, to many HOW we're treated by our bosses isn't nearly as important as to whether or not we can re-pay our debts. Funny isn't that?
TRANSPARENCY = PROGRESSIVE RESPECT FOR ALL
As you likely read in the above article, the Farms consider themselves paid up. Haha! Oh I gotta admit I had a chuckle over that. The Farms have paid all four girls by post-dated checks ... the last of which is dated March 20th. I recall a time in the car biz where I got rightly scolded for taking a post-dated check! Which for all intents and purposes and country-wide business and banking practices, isn't paid in full at all. In fact, I wonder how much of those post dated checks are banking on a good opening night at the bistro?!
Having a business is a privilege that obviously shouldn't be given to just anyone.
Having employees is also a privilege that shouldn't be given to just anyone.
We ensure that Ontarians are treated fairly in the workplace on a "complaint-basis" where no oversight exists, but rather unethical practice is only exposed when an employee complains. How many employees in Ontario know the above employment standards' hotline number? How many knew they could call and ask anonymous questions?
This Farm Girl food truck story has only reiterated what I already knew:
Kingston, Ontario, and Canada all need to bone up on our Employment Standards ... and oversight is definitely needed.
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Faith and Law ~ do not mix!
Christian Law
Jewish Law
Hindu Law
Buddhist Law
Agnostic Law
Atheist Law
Pagan Law
Wiccan Law
Sikh Law
Mormon Law
Islamic Law
Do these exist? Are they real? And do they effect real law?
Haven't we, the societal moral compass decided that religion, politics, and law should not intermingle?
We all have the right to believe in any faith we desire. And if that faith has laws attached to it, those laws are for YOU and you alone. Faith, Religion, and Spirituality are ways of having a personal relationship with your Creator. But the moment you attempt to push that faith onto someone else, you are effectively attempting to push that personal relationship onto that other person. Personal means you and you alone, and when you start talking about your faith's laws, you delve into the territory of controlling others ... not only yourself.
In my opinion, any part of a faith or culture that undermines the human rights of another person must be eradicated. Yet in some faiths, or in parts of some, the very facts that we live our lives within are denied. Facts like men and women are equal. Facts like little girls' and little boys' lives are of equal value.
We pussy-foot around cultural sensitivities everyday, hoping not to offend. And we shouldn't just attempt to offend, but this is different. We push our worries aside, thinking that those people must be doing those things, wearing those things, and allowing those things to occur out of choice. I remember thinking this not six months ago in the blazing Ontario summer heat as I followed a couple on Princess Street. He was wearing cool golf shorts and a Polo top, while his wife wore a full hijab and black burka covering all but her beautiful face. Here face was stunning. This robe was the blackest material I've ever seen. I wondered how hot she was, and I wondered how in the hell she could choose that. But it felt good to brush off that concern, thinking it's 2014 Canada ... she has rights.
Some faiths even go so far as to teach boys from the very beginning that they are slaves to lust and desire. That they cannot control themselves when tempted, and any actions that follow that temptation are not their fault. Are some faiths actively preparing societies of men who have no idea what it means to have personal responsibility?
Faith simply has to be something you keep to yourself. It's something you may surround yourself with and conduct yourself with in mind, as each faith has tenets and customs. We celebrate many of them yearly with cultural lines intermingling. But none of those tenets can trump the rule of law that we live inside in our every day public lives. That must be kept black and white.
Let's look at the fact that in some faiths women and girls are to blame if they are raped by a man or a boy. And that man or boy has been taught that they are faultless in this act. For they are slaves to lust and desire. So has that woman or girl been taught that she mustn't be a temptress, it's why she covers her hair. Now this seems like kind of an important thing to agree on don't you think? We can't have half of our citizens believing in their core that a man can do any number of things to a female and remain faultless!
It's 2014 ... no faith, dogma, or religion can decide another human being's ownership.
And still, we have daily international dealings with countries, groups, and individuals who believe that faith does decide ownership. Why I'll never understand, but that's another person's blog :)
If you ask me, believing that one sex must do anything differently than the other, is extremism.
It is not faith.
I just wonder sometimes as I read news stories of horrific things fathers elsewhere, do to daughters in the name of maintaining or confirming virginity:
Are people who believe these inequalities to be true, really capable of living within the laws of the day?
Jewish Law
Hindu Law
Buddhist Law
Agnostic Law
Atheist Law
Pagan Law
Wiccan Law
Sikh Law
Mormon Law
Islamic Law
Do these exist? Are they real? And do they effect real law?
Haven't we, the societal moral compass decided that religion, politics, and law should not intermingle?
We all have the right to believe in any faith we desire. And if that faith has laws attached to it, those laws are for YOU and you alone. Faith, Religion, and Spirituality are ways of having a personal relationship with your Creator. But the moment you attempt to push that faith onto someone else, you are effectively attempting to push that personal relationship onto that other person. Personal means you and you alone, and when you start talking about your faith's laws, you delve into the territory of controlling others ... not only yourself.
In my opinion, any part of a faith or culture that undermines the human rights of another person must be eradicated. Yet in some faiths, or in parts of some, the very facts that we live our lives within are denied. Facts like men and women are equal. Facts like little girls' and little boys' lives are of equal value.
We pussy-foot around cultural sensitivities everyday, hoping not to offend. And we shouldn't just attempt to offend, but this is different. We push our worries aside, thinking that those people must be doing those things, wearing those things, and allowing those things to occur out of choice. I remember thinking this not six months ago in the blazing Ontario summer heat as I followed a couple on Princess Street. He was wearing cool golf shorts and a Polo top, while his wife wore a full hijab and black burka covering all but her beautiful face. Here face was stunning. This robe was the blackest material I've ever seen. I wondered how hot she was, and I wondered how in the hell she could choose that. But it felt good to brush off that concern, thinking it's 2014 Canada ... she has rights.
Some faiths even go so far as to teach boys from the very beginning that they are slaves to lust and desire. That they cannot control themselves when tempted, and any actions that follow that temptation are not their fault. Are some faiths actively preparing societies of men who have no idea what it means to have personal responsibility?
Faith simply has to be something you keep to yourself. It's something you may surround yourself with and conduct yourself with in mind, as each faith has tenets and customs. We celebrate many of them yearly with cultural lines intermingling. But none of those tenets can trump the rule of law that we live inside in our every day public lives. That must be kept black and white.
Let's look at the fact that in some faiths women and girls are to blame if they are raped by a man or a boy. And that man or boy has been taught that they are faultless in this act. For they are slaves to lust and desire. So has that woman or girl been taught that she mustn't be a temptress, it's why she covers her hair. Now this seems like kind of an important thing to agree on don't you think? We can't have half of our citizens believing in their core that a man can do any number of things to a female and remain faultless!
It's 2014 ... no faith, dogma, or religion can decide another human being's ownership.
And still, we have daily international dealings with countries, groups, and individuals who believe that faith does decide ownership. Why I'll never understand, but that's another person's blog :)
If you ask me, believing that one sex must do anything differently than the other, is extremism.
It is not faith.
I just wonder sometimes as I read news stories of horrific things fathers elsewhere, do to daughters in the name of maintaining or confirming virginity:
Are people who believe these inequalities to be true, really capable of living within the laws of the day?
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Confusing Times for the Addict
Above artwork credit to an amazing artist I was just shown named Pawel Kuczynski.
There are people around you right now suffering from addiction. People who took their Doctor's recommendations and filled the prescription for the pain killer or the anxiety aid. Some of them started the script weeks ago, while others could possibly be on these meds for years. I for one, was on pharmaceutical antidepressants on and off from 19 to 36. When I finally decided I wanted off of them, I was addicted. The receptors in my brain very quickly became pissed at me when they weren't getting whatever was in those tiny granules of "medicine".
Zap zap ... zzzz zz zzzzzz zap! That's what the DT's sounded and felt like ... in my brain.
Addictions don't only come from scripts though. Alcohol is highly addictive yet treated as a rite of passage. While perhaps it should be treated as a poison that for some of us hooks us forevermore.
Imagine our brains are big bodies of water full of fishies. Most of the fishies in most of the bodies of water are normal, but there are a few bodies of water that hide sharks there too. Who's brain is hungry-like-the-shark for addictive substances? Well you can't see from outside. Would you initiate that first sip of wine or beer if you knew that action might be stirring the sleeping beast of addiction?
As a kid growing up in a small town I knew what an alcoholic was. I knew several of them. How many times did I ask my folks why those people can't stop after only having one? I had heard the wagon analogy so often, but never understood it. Were you drinking while you were ON the wagon? Or was it OFF the wagon? I remember thinking, but you gotta get to the bar somehow, so wouldn't that mean you had to be on the wagon? Oh so much to understand for a child who had no clue what it meant to be addicted to anything but summertime and sunshine.
Is there any one of you out there who doesn't know or love an addict? It's been said that Cancer is always in us at all times, it just hasn't gone rogue. So by that same logic, could one say that addiction too is in every one of us? We all have the ability to be addicted. If you have a brain with firing receptors, then you have the ability to become addicted.
Still stigma exists.
Colouring all with one judgemental brush.
We've all heard the jokes:
"How do you know when an addict is lying? Their lips are moving."
But does that include me? Am I included in that if it was Doctor prescribed? Does it include the kid who was allowed to drink too young? Does it apply to the kid who is predisposed in-vitro? Does it apply to those of us with mental illness who are just trying desperately to numb the sadness inside?
And if not, then why are we thrown to the wolves once the hook is set?
I haven't researched this a lot, but there's a new pill called Seboxone for functional addicts of synthetic heroin. It's kinda like methadone I think. A buddy bought some from a buddy in hopes of knocking the monkey off of his back. He ended up not getting enough because buddy couldn't part with them. Apparently, in order to get it in my area, you have to be in withdrawal for four days.
Do we hold back a diabetic's insulin after they eat the wrong thing?
Do we hold back the nitroglycerin when the heart patient over does it?
Do we hold back the inhaler when the asthmatic has an attack?
Do we hold back the statins when the patient eats too much bacon?
Do we hold back the blood pressure meds when the patient eats too much salt?
No we don't. Because to society at large, those are diseases. While addiction is not.
Even to this day, to most of society, addiction is a fault.
Where does that come from? What influences us to see this disease as a weakness and not a treatable though chronic condition? Confusion perhaps! In one week, the media has managed to confuse even myself on this topic. And all in a week that is given to addiction awareness.
The first national summit on addiction recovery was held this week in Ottawa. You can read about it in this link. Here, signatures were gathered in order to raise the level of care for addiction treatment and awareness to that of other chronic illnesses.
That's a proud Canadian moment. Why the confusion?
Enter Debra Selkirk and the Trillium Gift of Life Network. Debra is a widower who's husband was a functioning alcoholic with a successful life. He was a father and a grandfather and he was an addict. Trillium has a rule that an alcoholic must be sober for at least six months before they will be considered eligible for a liver donation. Debra is angry to say the least. Two weeks after hearing those rules, her husband was dead of liver failure. Here is the CBC coverage of the story. Debra is taking the case to a constitutional challenge.
I reserve judgement on the above policy taken by Trillium. What I do take judgement on is more the belief or backwards thinking that would drive a Medical professional to say these words out loud:
"The last thing we want is someone to get a new liver and start damaging that liver by drinking alcohol again."
And yes ... I do see this from that perspective too. I mean, that waiting list sits at a few hundred right now. But it wreaks of ignorance from the angle that addiction takes away one's personal responsibility and therefore one's ability to stop. Marilu Henner spoke about the very realness of food addiction with this statement:
"It may be your choice to take that first bite. But once you do, that food has an agenda of it's own."
So let's look at that. Let's look at why a person would take that first bite, drink, puff, pill, deal, bet.
If you know you have this predisposition, why do it?
Well I'd like to turn this around a bit and ask law makers, advertising regulators, and health agencies:
Why are you advertising in big bright lights, all the things that we can become addicted to?
Why are you allowing them to make poison look, smell, and taste so good?
Why do you still allow food manufacturing that seeks the "bliss point"?
Holy shit ... is this yet another post about capitalism then?
So is it all out of our control? If our brains or 'bodies of water' have those sharks in them, are we sentenced--through no fault of our own-- to a life of constant struggle and a feeling of perpetual deprivation? Is there nothing that loved ones and family can do? No void that we can fill with love and acceptance?
Yes ... I and others believe there is, and there are studies to back us up :)
Check out this article here to see what I mean. Author Johann Hari writes very compellingly showing that perhaps addiction is 'the symptom of a social ill' rather than a biological certainty.
Using rats and water bottles of either cocaine water or heroin water, studies showed that reversing solitude and a disconnection from 'the pack' trumped the biological need felt for the drugged water.
The above is an illustration of "Rat Park", the enclosure with all of the amenities a rat could want in life ... along with his pack.
He goes on to liken the Vietnam War to that experiment, stating the fact that 95% of the heroin addicted Vietnam vets came home to kick the habit. Was the void filled once they were back in the family fold? Is our disconnection to one another driving addiction rates?
Some of us still look at addicts as though looking at another sub-species. We are separate from them. But are we? If you took an Oxycontin every day for 10 days your biology, your cells will be addicted too. That would make you just like those you see so far from you. They are by your side begging for you to see through the stigma.
Build connections ... they help.
"So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection." -Johann Hari
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