Friday, December 12, 2003
I look forward to watching the A-Team, because now that I'm unemployed I have nothing to do with my time. It's nice to pick up hints on how to turn my dad's garage into a killbot factory. This is why I feel ripped off when the A-Team resorts to trickery and tomfoolery in defeating their foes, rather than turning a John Deere into a sherman tank.
(Watching it now I wonder if they used hand doubles when they show the A-Team converting household items into implements of destruction. They never show their faces and hands at the same time during those scenes.)
(Watching it now I wonder if they used hand doubles when they show the A-Team converting household items into implements of destruction. They never show their faces and hands at the same time during those scenes.)
Your God is Dead, We Ate What We Couldn't Fuck
It's odd that in a region where tangible goods (fish, coal, steel) were once king, people seem to speak a whole lot about intangible qualities. Every day I read the paper and I read articles that stress hope and the value of preseverance, but I never read about any tangible efforts other than a new call centre opening up.
I'm really not trying to be a pain in the ass here, but hope only gets you so far. Reading the paper here is like listening to an Chain of Strength or Good Charlotte album on repeat. There's lots of idealism floated around, there's lots of talk about what can happen if we put our heads together ("we'll prove we've got the edge that can never dull"), but nothing beyond. Nothing real. You can't feed your kids with hope (I wanted to add 'morons' at the end of that, but thought better of it).
I'm just sick of reading articles by well meaning people who suggest that the 'youth of the island' "shouldn't just burry (sic) our heads in the sand, but stand up for our island and the home we love and are so proud of."
I would like to stay here, but there's nothing here for me. The local university offers very little in post-degree education and almost no masters programs. The biggest employer seems to be the numerous call centres that seem to be hailed as a godsend.
I suppose I'm not really offering anything tangible in the way of suggestions either, but I don't want to offer up hollow words. I suppose being home just makes me frustrated with the state of this place.
For years the provincial government and crown corporations made money from the natural resources of this region. When the resources started to dry up and the industries became less profitable, they didn't ween the workers off slowly, they allowed the industries to continue full steam ahead, until it hit a brick wall and then they pulled the carpet out from under everyone.
It's frustrating to see years of mistakes pile up. It's revolting to see land try to actually physically repel the poisons saturating it. Somewhere along the line someone crossed Gaia.
I once told someone (maybe more than one someone) say that I wish there was a god, so it could smite some dens of iniquity, then I decided, it'd just be nice if there was a natural landslide that would cover over some shitty places and people. You know the earth gets so outraged at how its been treated and just decides to say fuck it, time to erase these motherfuckers? It seems like that's happening to Cape Breton ever so slowly.
There's the tarponds and its legacy of cancer. There's the local harbour and the sewage that was pumped directly into it for decades. There's the dozens of abandoned underground mines that dot the land. There's the erosion at the edge of town, where homeowners lose a little more of their property every year. There's the seismic testing for the new pipeline project that they fear will either set off munitions dumped after World War II (mustard gas that is still as potent as ever after decades) or destroy what's left of the fisheries.
I'm not trying to be apocalyptic (or even Apocalyptica ha...ha), but it just seems like in all of us there's a message...'YOU FUCKED UP and ain't no amount of hope is gonna save you'
Worrying about finding a job sort of pales in comparison.
It's odd that in a region where tangible goods (fish, coal, steel) were once king, people seem to speak a whole lot about intangible qualities. Every day I read the paper and I read articles that stress hope and the value of preseverance, but I never read about any tangible efforts other than a new call centre opening up.
I'm really not trying to be a pain in the ass here, but hope only gets you so far. Reading the paper here is like listening to an Chain of Strength or Good Charlotte album on repeat. There's lots of idealism floated around, there's lots of talk about what can happen if we put our heads together ("we'll prove we've got the edge that can never dull"), but nothing beyond. Nothing real. You can't feed your kids with hope (I wanted to add 'morons' at the end of that, but thought better of it).
I'm just sick of reading articles by well meaning people who suggest that the 'youth of the island' "shouldn't just burry (sic) our heads in the sand, but stand up for our island and the home we love and are so proud of."
I would like to stay here, but there's nothing here for me. The local university offers very little in post-degree education and almost no masters programs. The biggest employer seems to be the numerous call centres that seem to be hailed as a godsend.
I suppose I'm not really offering anything tangible in the way of suggestions either, but I don't want to offer up hollow words. I suppose being home just makes me frustrated with the state of this place.
For years the provincial government and crown corporations made money from the natural resources of this region. When the resources started to dry up and the industries became less profitable, they didn't ween the workers off slowly, they allowed the industries to continue full steam ahead, until it hit a brick wall and then they pulled the carpet out from under everyone.
It's frustrating to see years of mistakes pile up. It's revolting to see land try to actually physically repel the poisons saturating it. Somewhere along the line someone crossed Gaia.
I once told someone (maybe more than one someone) say that I wish there was a god, so it could smite some dens of iniquity, then I decided, it'd just be nice if there was a natural landslide that would cover over some shitty places and people. You know the earth gets so outraged at how its been treated and just decides to say fuck it, time to erase these motherfuckers? It seems like that's happening to Cape Breton ever so slowly.
There's the tarponds and its legacy of cancer. There's the local harbour and the sewage that was pumped directly into it for decades. There's the dozens of abandoned underground mines that dot the land. There's the erosion at the edge of town, where homeowners lose a little more of their property every year. There's the seismic testing for the new pipeline project that they fear will either set off munitions dumped after World War II (mustard gas that is still as potent as ever after decades) or destroy what's left of the fisheries.
I'm not trying to be apocalyptic (or even Apocalyptica ha...ha), but it just seems like in all of us there's a message...'YOU FUCKED UP and ain't no amount of hope is gonna save you'
Worrying about finding a job sort of pales in comparison.
