Issue 5, Volume 2: Don't Be That Girl OR That Guy, Using Mental Illness As An Excuse, and a 1965 Mustang

ISSUE 5, VOLUME 2

This issue got rushed out. There were supposed to be two before it. But what could I do, with all the conversation about don't be that Guy/Girl.

But how could I avoid doing an On The Streets view?

Every once in a while you get to go somewhere cool. Sarah and I went for a cruise last friday to Louisiana Purchase. Yes the photo is more of my car, but either way, what can you say about Mustangs? It's one of the longest continuously produced car models in history, with a very storied history in culture and racing. What you're seeing is where it all began and where it subsequently ended up. The one on the right is 1965 coupe, with a 298 cu in V8. The Mustang when originally released in mid 1964 wasn't meant to be a sports car; most came off the line with an inline 6 cylinder, and the car was based on a Falcon chassis. It basically was a stylish smaller car, for 'sporting' and economy use. It was Carroll Shelby that changed all that, when he took the Mustang racing in the 60's. Mustangs through history graced road courses, drag strips, and even more. The original car's 289 cubic inch V8 put out 258hp, was cam-in-iron-block, and likely didn't get very good fuel economy. The one on the right is a 2011 GT, with a 5.0L, 302 cubic inch, all aluminum, 4 cam V8 putting out 412hp with variable valve timing. Style and performance, it was maintained through the years.

Don’t Be THAT Girl or THAT Guy

Men’s Voice Group posters causes Police to say stupid things

Y’all remember back to that first issue we ever ran, the issue about the misdirected point of the YEG Slutwalk? Well this I find in hilarious contrast to that.

I first bashed the Slutwalk for it’s message about Rape culture: don’t say a girl deserves to be raped because of what she’s wearing. I felt it should be a stronger simpler; “Don’t Rape People” message. Or how about, “Don’t say a girl is asking for it because she’s wearing provocative clothing.”

Well now, apparently a men’s voice group posted a parody of a ‘Don’t Be THAT Guy’ poster Edmonton Police were running - IE don’t be that guy who rapes someone. The ‘Don’t Be THAT Girl’ campaign indicates that ‘just because you regret a one night stand doesn’t mean it wasn’t consensual’ and reminds women that ‘reporting false sexual assault is a crime.’

The posters are pretty outrageous, and were quick to be bashed by those supporting misconceptions regarding rape and rape culture. The funny thing is that whilst doing this, spokespeople indicated that, ‘Women should be aware of what they dress, and how much they’ve had to drink.’ In an indirect sense, it’s almost like saying, “Hey Slutwalk, you’re responsible indirectly for this poster.”

I am totally behind the ‘Don’t Rape Anyone’ message. It’s like, when in doubt - if you think she (or he) is too drunk to fuck, then don’t do it! There is a reason impaired driving is against the law - because the government has decided for you that alcohol or drugs impairs your judgement and decision making processes, as well as balance and depth perception, which could just make sex downright physically dangerous. All joking aside; both guys and girls have regretted that decision from the night before. If you were drunk, it’s only partially on you that you made a bad decision if you feel you were taken advantage of while not in your right mind.

Now, all that being said, protect yourself. Crime is out there, and no matter how much we say, “don’t rape” like we say “don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t beat other people, don’t stab others, etc” those incidences are still going to happen, because society is not a utopia, people have issues, and we’re all basically animals (or however you want to explain it). While I don’t have a right to be robbed, I’m not going to carry cash through Coliseum station at 3am on a friday night while my iPod earbuds hang out, because I will probably get knifed for that shit. I am not going to park my car in a dimly lit sketchy area, because someone probably will jack my rims. So, I would suggest that if you are going to a frat party, you do watch your drink, or your alcohol consumption, and remember that nudity=sex to people in a very basic part of their brain, so you know, wearing something revealing might be taken the wrong way by a person who doesn’t have enough of a frontal lobe to stop themselves. Like, remember in Factory where Jennifer Carpenter gets John Cusack’s character to read over the description of his daughter after she was kidnapped by a psycopath kidnapping hookers, and realized while reading it out that her description matched that of a hooker? I have to ask why you’d want to dress like a hooker anyway. You know people are making fun of you, even if they’re not thinking of having sex with you, and personally you could probably be deterring contact by certain people who might think you look like a hooker. And then, I have to start thinking about why guys would want to sleep with someone that looks like a hooker.

Girls, don’t be THAT hooker, and guys, don’t be THAT John who’s somehow justified that he’s getting a hooker for free.

Stop Using Mental Illness As An Excuse For Bad Behavior

Inspiration: CBC Radio 1 Currents; June 13, 2013

Falling Through The Cracks due to Stigma

The largest term you likely hear regarding mental illness is ‘awareness’ - that people need to be aware of prevalence of mental illness. What is it they need to be aware of?

Generally the idea is that people have it, and that it shouldn’t be stigmatized - in other words, like any other minority, or like a person with a disease, people are stereotyped for having it, and that involves their recovery.

Since 2003 I’ve worked many jobs not letting anyone know I’ve had anxiety disorder. I recently found out I have more problems than I thought. I had been hiding it. Not everyone got to know about it, but there was a special connection between myself and others who had it; because I could finally talk to someone about what it was like to have it, to live with it.

That doesn’t change the idea that you’re sick and you’re a liability. I once did tell an employer that I had anxiety issues, and the reception was quite cold, this was in the healthcare industry as well. While the information was kept confidential, the immediate response was ‘like any other illness, you need to take care of this, and make sure you can perform. Do what you have to do so  you can be normal.’

Certainly, in the corporate system, individuals who have any illnesses are a loss of company productive time, and potential money. That is a liability. Yet if you had an injury from an MVA, and needed to take some time off for an injury, or you had the stomach flu, where you were literally throwing up, there is no question that you’re going to need to take some time off. Now try to tell your boss you need some time off due to ‘mental illness issues.’

Mike Burbiglia - Don’t Tell Anyone

What’s funny and great about Mike Birbiglia is how close to real life his humor is. He lets his mistakes, and his mental illnesses (his sleep disorder) and even his mistakes made in relationships and in life hang out. While his father tells him, “don’t tell anyone.”
The majority of people with mental health issues feel they can’t tell anyone. Not only that, but navigating the system can be difficult and expensive. Not telling anyone, not being treated, and the potential for being stigmatized can really bring individuals down. Imagine, you feel like you’re sick, and  you’re not happy with yourself. You feel potentially shunned by others, and you feel like you’re failing yourself and others. Not a good place to be. How do you start ‘recovery’ ?

Exploiting your own Disorder

One of the things that experts discuss is stereotypes and stigma developed through exploiting the disorder, whether it’s through media portrayals or the simple use of others blaming their actions on it. Not that your actions aren’t necessarily from the disorder, but using it as an excuse is the issue.

Putting In The Work

Ultimately what it comes down to is the fact that you need to take care of yourself for recovery. Recovery has been defined as a journey to be able to live a normal life (and what does that mean anyway) - at least a life you can be happy with and proud of. A life where you can have a job, have relationships, and not live in fear of stigma, or in fear of yourself. But you need to go out and get the help that’s offered to you, because sitting at home, doing nothing, will not help you recover. It just compounds the problem.

Accept help from those you can get it from, and put in the work to help yourself for whatever you need to reach a goal with your disorder that will help you move forward. There’s nothing worse than being alone, without relationships, stigmatized, potentially criminal, lying, and hiding, and running away.

I know.

Next Issue: A lot more stuff...

ZOMBIES (also) Stop Talking About It, It's Not News, White Lies and Ford Mustang Laguna Seca Edition

Issue 16, Volume 1

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Our first picture relates to our article, obviously, but our on the streets section shows definitely the end of Halloween, fall, and the beginning of winter (even though winter doesn't come until December 21st, giving us a chance for a fall fashion issue later in the season) expecting the snow to fly soon. That's why when I took my own 5.0 Mustang in to get my winter tires put on, I was astonished to see so many in the showroom, including the two Laguna Seca Boss cars, and a 2012 5.0L GT Convertible, complete with a 'winter ready' advertisement on the hood. No Mustang is every truly winter ready. I can attest to the fact that 412hp doesn't adhere to any surface easy, and even on winter tires it's never really ready - just a compromise at best...like as if you were to ride a lion, I'm sure you'd be extremely cautious not to get bitten. One car you're not likely to see many of is the Mustang Laguna Seca edition. Every dealership has a Boss or two sitting out front, but the Laguna Seca edition (named after Laguna Seca raceway in Southern California - a place where in the 1970 SCCA trans-am series, the original Boss Mustang won Ford a constructors' championship) is truly a rare animal, even in silver. It was voted the 5th best driver's car in the world by Motor Trend, beating out cars like the Mercedes AMG coupe, the Corvette Z06 Z07 package, and the Audi R8 supercar AGAIN (the first time the regular Boss put two full seconds over the Lamborghini based supercar at Laguna Seca raceway). One of the salesman here described it as a 'racecar' with plates. In fact, the car has no back seat, just a metal cross brace between the two rear shock towers to give the car better chassis balance and stiffness. The Boss story starts pre 2005, when the S197 Mustang was being developed. Everyone remembers the 2005's release - the new-retro look that started Dodge and Chevrolet following. And 315hp? It was an every day muscle car for the masses, even though it was based on Lincoln/Jaguar underpinnings. Over time the suspension would be revised, and in 2010, so would the exterior. Finally, for the 2011 model year, the car got the awesome 412hp 'coyote' modular dual cam 5.0L engine, essentially a race engine developed for IMSA use put into a Mustang. Suspension, chassis and brakes were all revised to make the car the best handling, fastest Mustang ever built. But special editions drive sales, and Ford knew that with Camaro and Challenger breathing down their neck, a simple GT version (as amazing as it was) would never fly on it's own. So having already revived the California Special, the Bullitt, the GT500, the Mach 1, and all sorts of other special edition Mustangs, they took one name that personified Mustang performance: the Boss. The car features a revised intake manifold, exhaust manifolds, exhaust cams, transmission cooler, and of course, stiffer suspension and bigger brakes, and a wicked looking exterior exhaust package. The car also features some neat tricks; like the engine management computer, that recognizes when a special 'red key' is inserted that tells the engine to advance timing, and open secondary exhaust cutouts on the side of the car that boost power, and shut off the traction control. It is, truly, a racecar for the street. These cars will sit in the dealership for a while yet as the snow flies. After all, no racecar (save for the ones they use in ice racing - and these aren't them) are winter ready.

ZOMBIES! And easy Halloween Costumes...
Chances are you might still have a Halloween party coming up this weekend, and you might be wondering what to do. Well, now's your chance. Most stores have deeply discounted their stuff, and a Zombie makeup kit is only about $20.00 at the most, and comes with all the makeup you need, including this peeling-stick on flesh that really works (see above). The great thing is, that you can recycle old costumes.

Zombies come from all walks of life, because they are, after all, the undead, and the undead could be a construction worker, a salesman, a nurse a la silent hill or what you have above - WWII air force. Essentially Sarah and I recycled our costumes from the year before for an easy party fix before heading out to Fort Edmonton Park's 'Spooktacular' event. We have other costumes for this year, but we didn't want to bring them out just yet. So $20 of makeup later, and the Halloween costumes we had from the year before worked well.

Don't have a party to go to? Didn't get to go to one or have one? Throw one!

It doesn't have to be expensive, either. Right now, decorations and candy are cheap. Stores are clearing it out. But you pretty much have until the end of the week before everything has been replaced with Christmas stuff. Invite a few friends. Feel free to name a theme, or just let them know you're having a late halloween party. You don't have to invite a huge number of people, maybe just a few. Have them bring their own booze or snacks for an easy Halloween get together.

We will be having ours this weekend, and of course, we'll post all the tips and tricks, so you have everything to go on for next year.

Stop Talking About It: It's Not News
The Kardashians.

Remember that Treehouse of Horrors episode (Halloween I know) of the Simpsons where the signs of the city come alive and terrorize the citizens of Springfield, and Lisa realizes that if you don't look at them 'just don't look' they stop terrorizing people? Whilst I realize that talking about it is part of the problem, there must be some sort of protest writing relating to what the media talks about. First of all, think about entertainment news in the first place. Why there is an entire hour devoted to talking about celebrities immediately after the news on almost every television station is beyond me. Do we need to devote an entire hour of our day, 32,850 hours, or 1368 full days, or 3.75 years of our lives to talking about celebrities? Maybe if you were in prison, and there was nothing else to do.

The Kardashian wedding - and the amount of money and attention that went into it - really shows how much our priorities are screwed up in the western world. While the focus is off things like possible war between Syria and Lebanon, or the second coming of a recession, and the fact that the Bank of Canada is continuing to discuss how dire economic things might be, some of the 1% feels they need to throw a $10 million wedding, make $17 million of royalties, and then get divorced 72 days later. What does this say to the gay and lesbian community fighting to be seen as equals in marriage? What does this say to new married couples, or prospectively marrying couples? That the sanctity of marriage is based on money? Prenuptuals, publicized reports, and how much jewelry you can stuff into it. Kim, who is famous for nothing, basically had a pretend wedding for fun and profit.

The major problem is we keep paying attention to it. Or is it? Did you pay attention to this? Did you google the Kardashian wedding or pull up an entertainment website, or watch it on television? If you did, stop being part of the problem. Just don't look.

If you didn't, somebody must be, because I don't think journalists talk about these things unless they think someone will be interested in it. Hence, unless newswriters feel this is news, and will write whatever they feel like, we are giving them something to talk about. It isn't a slow newsday. There are protesters everywhere talking about wealth distribution, in every city, while our economy takes a nosedive. We're all in trouble, and all we can focus on is the 1% that has enough money to get married for $10 million, make royalties off of that (WHY AND HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE) and get divorced 72 days later, for no reason, the people are rich and famous for no reason. That's the 1%, and yeah, they should be stripped of their wealth and have it redistributed.

ARTISTS used to make royalties...musicians, painters, writers...not famous-for-nothing-reality-TV plastic idiots. We sure need a lot of changes to society. If you're wondering what the occupy protesters have to protest about, it is A LOT.

White Lies: Ritual
Although they've been around since 2007, you've probably just been hearing the latest single from the 2011 release of White Lies Ritual, entitled, "Bigger Than Us." It's probably because they're from over the pond, in London.

While White Lies won 'Best Push Artist' in 2009 at the MTV Europe music awards, and also took home a 2009 award for Best New Band at the NME awards, we haven't heard much from them here. But now, hey, we have 'satellite radio' and radio on our cable television, and finally, with 'Bigger Than Us' this band is making some headway. And like 'Sex On Fire' made Kings of Leon a household name, this, I'm predicting will make White Lies a household name, at least among alternative rock fans.

Harry McVeigh, along with Charles Cave and Jack Lawrence-Brown originally started the band as 'Fear of Flying' in 2007, originally a 5 piece. They lost the other two, and in 2009 released their first album, an indie release, under the name White Lies, entitled To Lose My Life.

Thus far, Ritual has only made it up to 95 on the Billboard chart, but is sitting at 3 on the UK album chart, not bad considering its' release on January 17th...it takes time for these bands sometimes. Think of how long Foster The People had until it really caught on. Strangely enough, the initial single from the album, "Bigger Than Us" never even charted in the US. Why? I'm not sure. But I feel big things from this band coming. The album feels complete, the songs are good and solid, and I can listen to it all the way through. Plus "Bigger Than Us" is a tour de force track that I can play over and over and over again. Check them out!

Letters To The Editor
rbw2@ualberta.ca
or post below

Upcoming Issues
-Follow up on our Halloween Party

Nearly 700 reads! Thank you, and keep reading!

YEG Slutwalk Is Like Fighting To End Retard Jokes (also) AMC Concord and Rural Alberta Advantage

ISSUE 1 Volume 1
Friday June 3, 2011

First Post
That's right. A new blog. Smell that new blog smell?

The above photo was taken from inside of Mousy Brown's Salon at 10240-124 Street, YEG. That's my Mustang down there. I thought for the first post I'd introduce the aim of this blog. In this blog, I will post interesting sights I see, I will post sociopolitical and socioeconomic commentary (which can be funny, angering, nail biting, irrelevent, etc) and I will post about music, films, and current issues. I will also post thoughts that come into my head, because I have a lot of them, and I can't seem to keep them in. I welcome as much commentary as possible in return. I even welcome guest columnists (hey, it's a great way to get more readers for both of us - if blog fame is what you're out for). Without further ado, I bring you Issue 1 of what I hope will be a regular occuring read in your RSS feed.

Edmonton to host YEG Slutwalk
Saturday June 4, 2011 will see Edmonton host its very own 'slutwalk' and hope not to be first annual. If you're like me, you're curious what slutwalk is all about. I thought at first, that slutwalk was something like zombie walk. Instead of dressing like zombies, everone dresses like sluts. Well it is. But the undertone of the walk has a powerful message. That is that victims of sexual violence do not deserve it because of the way they were dressed. I get that. I've always gotten that. See, I'm opposed to Slutwalk. I applaud anything that brings awareness to sexual violence, but Slutwalk to me is akin to dressing up like mentally or physically challenged people, to advocate that we shouldn't make fun of people by calling them retards or gimps. Did I just say something inflammatory? Of course I did! It is important to note that anyone who dresses a certain way doesn't deserve sexual violence thrust upon them, and that dressing a certain way is not an invitation to be raped. But I feel that this is something we've always known, or at least that this walk maybe could have been more meaninfgul in the late 70's. Like my handicapped comparison, when do we ever say it is okay to call a mentally or physically challenged person a retard? We all know it isn't, and we've known for a long time. Slutwalk should just say that, by dressing up like this we are opposing sexual violence. It's that easy. I think the ironic thing is that there are probably some actual perverts who will go to the event, rah-rah support everything, and take a ton of photos of every day girls, including their friends, dressed up like sluts to add to their spank-banks later. Count on it. Slutwalk is like saying, "you know that off coloured comment you make in your home sometimes when watching the news...don't say that comment anymore."

I'm scared, however. Call me prudish, but I'm frightened that the Slutwalk will have unwanted side effects. I'm scared that the awareness called to sexual harassment and violence based on dress will give younger and more naiive women the idea that it is okay to dress however you please in any setting and you shouldn't be commented on it. Some outfits are inappropriate for a business setting. And as long as we live in a society that says your breasts shouldn't be exposed as they are an object of sexual obsession, you should probably put them away. How's this for backwards? Facebook probably will publish tons of photos of slutwalk, featuring semi-exposed breasts, but photos of breastfeeding mothers are still deleted from their pages prompting probably one of the biggest usergroups on facebook ('hey facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene').

Maybe I'm missing the point of Slutwalk. No, wait, I read it again. "No one is responsible for violence perpetrated against them, no matter what they where, who they associate with, or who they are." Um, gonna have to disagree. I get that the entire thing is about not blaming victims, but really, if you're hanging around dangerous offenders, shouldn't you take a step back and think maybe that, "this is dangerous." I have news for everyone. Humans are animals. A very sophisticated animal, but an animal nonetheless. If you broke into a tiger pen, and the tiger mauled you, are they going to blame you or the tiger? Yeah, so if you hang around dangerous and unpredictable individuals that act more like wild animals than 'civilized humans' (<- what exactly is that anyway) don't you get a little bit of the blame?

Slutwalk, I applaud thee for your work. It is, however, in my opinion, misplaced.

New Music
Leave it to Rural Alberta Advantage out of Toronto, ON, to take a song about something so close to Albertan's hearts and rip it to shreds. This is effectually the second single off of their sophmore release Departing, after 'Stamp'. Although, depending on where you live, it might even be the first song you've heard from them. Unless you have CBC Radio 3. If you don't where you live, I recommend Sirius/XM (Channel 152 on Sirius).

RAA have been praised as having the signature sound Arcade Fire is known for, and were given critical acclaim for their debut album Hometowns.

What is Departing to me? It is great background music that you can fall asleep or chill to, but is it relevant in the long run? Probably not. However, it's nice to see another Albertan band kicking ass in the Indie seen, and being heard on major market radio (such as Sonic 102.9FM here in Edmonton, or perhaps Sirius' Alt Nation). This after Tokyo Police Club and U.S.S. have had fantastic success nationally and even internationally. Nils Edenloff, guitarist, frontman and songwriter grew up in Fort MacMurray, Alberta, which is where he is said to draw his influence from. In that respect, I'd expect to hear something along the lines of Rocky Votolato; dark and dirty lovesongs relating to endless turmoil of hard labor. However, there is something about RAA that is even more stripped down than even Votolato's solo efforts, and something seems to be missing. I question what 'grew up' refers to. I grew up in Clareview, and that doesn't influence my songwriting at all. I'm sure I could make some great stories about it though. This is my biggest problem with the song 'Tornado 87' - a title and song imagry which makes reference to the F4 tornado (although analysts discuss that it should have been an F5 classification) that hit Edmonton in what we call 'black friday' - Friday 31 July, 1987 where 27 people were killed, and over 1000 left homeless. The imagry in the song does paint a wonderfully bleak picture relating to a romance gone bad, but it makes light of a deeply personal Canadian tragedy for some. I imagine this was not the band's intention, but someone relatively new in their career should not make such mistakes, in my opinion.

Rural Alberta Advantage, although they sound a bit thin, and Edenloff's voice can become trying at times, is not difficult to listen to, and in my opinion mostly well written. I wish I could say more, but quite honestly, their music does not jump out at you as much as their colleagues in Tokyo Police Club or USS, or their comparitive comrades like Arcade Fire.

Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing (Paper Bag Records 2011) - 6/10

Check them out here: http://www.theraa.com/

On The Streets
On the streets is a section where I take pictures of interesting things and share them. So a lot of the time they're going to be cars. But sometimes they'll be things like bylaw officers speeding, or a cop talking on his cellular phone while driving. This is the whole point, after all, of Out My Passenger Window.

This was spotted on 81st Avenue behind Sanctuary. It is indeed a 1978 AMC Concord D/L Coupe. It has the original vinyl landau roof, and colour keyed interior. These cars were available with a 3.8L V6, 4.2L V6, or the 304 AMC V8. Judging on how low keyed this car was, we're willing to bet it's the standard 3.8L V6 with a 3 speed automatic. These cars were built in Brampton, Ontario by American Motors before their bankruptcy and takeover by Chrysler in 1986, who dropped all vehicles except the Jeep line, and revamped the Eagle line to suit their own needs. These cars were based on the predecessor Hornet, and went on to become the AMC Eagle; essentially the world's first 'crossover' car/SUV. In a survey by Popular Mechanics in 1978, when asked if new owners had any complaints with their cars, 30% of Concord owners responded 'none' thus creating a new record for PM's survey at that time. I just love the idea that this car is still driving around with no problems after all these years. It's not your usual collector car by any standard, and it is in amazing survivor shape.

Letters To The Editor

rbw2@ualberta.ca

Thanks for reading!