I found this post on Upcoming.org. Most interesting is not so much that the event is happening, but how it's happening, in order to get around a battery of rules restricting gatherings in the city:

Apr 1, 2008: Protest on CBC Offices in Vancouver at CBC TV

This event is to protest the CBC's disbanding of the CBC Radio Orchestra, a 70-year old institution and the last of its kind in North America, as well as the removal of most Classical Music programming from Radio 2. This means there will be no virtually classical music in the airwaves in Vancouver from now on.

Please be advised that it has come to our attention that the present rules and regulations surrounding public gatherings in Vancouver have developed extremely stringent requirements with regard to public gatherings which include permit applications to the City with a minimum of 14 days to process. In addition, the current regulations demand host individuals or organizations acquire insurance to cover possible litigation arising from the gathering. Under these restrictions it is impossible to host a spontaneous protest on current or pressing matters.

With the above in mind, the Protest of the elimination of the CBC Orchestra has been changed in the following manner:

• It will not be an organized protest.
• Anyone arriving should be aware that their participation is on an individual basis and is not being requested by any individual or organization.
• We will be not be meeting at the CBC building.
• We will going to the fountain at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Hamilton Street in Vancouver for a rest at 10 am, and a picnic lunch.
• It would be nice if you happened to be there
• We may happen to be carrying a sign that day which expresses our opinion

A lot of people are still lost as to what Net Neutrality is, let alone why it's important. I posted about it a while back, so I won't reiterate here.

What's new and exciting on the Neutrality front however seems to be the brewings of a perfect storm of sorts. Just as the CBC announced plans to release some of it's programming via bittorrent, Rogers decided to put new bandwidth caps on it's downloads, and Bell started throttling bittorrent traffic to all of it's users as well as all of the companies reselling Bell service without their knowledge or consent.

The result is that the general public is finally starting to wake up to the fact that ISP consolidation and their willingness to abuse their power for their own profit might be a problem. More importantly, we're all starting to feel like there might be a solution. Say it with me boys and girls: Regulation.

I just found out today that the an NDP MP is taking up this issue, and the Council of Canadians has issued a press release on the subject. There's also been considerable media coverage on the mess from mainstream sources like The Globe and Mail. Small beginnings to be sure, but you'll forgive me if I'm just a little hopeful :-)

I met a friendly young woman today while waiting for the #4 bus at the corner of Gore and Pender. Standing there, music blasting in my ears, I could barely make out the voice of a girl behind me yelling "HELLO!", but once I realised what was going on, I tugged the buds out of my ears and put on my cordial face: "Hello".

"Those are some really trippy glasses" she said, moving in a little closer than I'd like.

I smiled, "Thanks, my Dad made them for me. He owns an optical store up in Kelowna."

"Really?" she gasped, "I grew up in Kelowna! Had a nice job there too, worked in the bush." She then went on to list the names of a number of suburbs, none of which I recognised and I just stared blankly back at her.

"Sorry," I said, "I just go up there every couple of months to see the parents. The town is too white bread for me to want to get to know it in such detail".

"That's funny! I grew up there and ate rye" she laughed. It took me a minute to get it, but while the smile was delayed, it seemed to be appreciated.

"It's welfare day!" she bubbled again. "But you're not on welfare are you?"

"No," I motioned behind her, "I work just over there."

"Really? What do you do?"

"I'm a software developer."

Now she was the one with the blank stare.

"I write code for websites" I said, making a typing motion with my fingers. "It's not that hard, anyone can do it. You should try."

She smiled uncomfortably, and went on to talk about how she wanted a laptop. We talked about my job a bit more, how easy it was to get wireless in this city etc. She seemed interested, and I was just waiting for the bus, so I just kept talking. At one point though she interjected:

"I do crystal meth!" She pointed to the building behind her. Apparently her friends were upstairs securing her some in celebration of her new found Wednesday wealth.

I grimaced, "Ew, that stuff'll kill you you know".

"Yeah, but just a little bit" her tone was no different from one anyone else might take when chatting about the weather.

"Well, I don't know, I kinda like my life" I said and she smiled, shrugged it off. Just then, a voice comes from the door and her friend hands over a little bag. She bounces over, picks up a little bag and returns to me: "Wanna see it?"

I agree, and she extends her hands toward me, but not letting go of the clear plastic. The crystals are a translucent yellow, As if someone had crystallised urine and sugar into 3mm cubes. "Humph, how much was that?" I ask.

"Twenty bucks" she smiles at me again. I search my head for a suggestion for something else she might have spent that money on, but my mind blanks and she turns to leave. "Goodbye stranger!" she squeals and she teeters down the street. She's in a great mood, and my bus is minutes away.

Given the recent rash of self-reflective posts I've had in here, one might jump to the conclusion that the title of this post is figurative. Such a jump however would be wrong: I burned myself tonight... cooking chicken.

It hurts a lot -- more than it should really. I've had it on and off ice and cold water for over 2 hours now and when i take it off the ice it screams at me...

It's 2am and I'm supposed to sleep soon. Not sure how that's gonna happen though.

Stupid chicken. I need new oven mitts.

I've decided to try and deconstruct the walls I've built around myself over the years. I have no illusions that this will be easy or even comfortable, but I think I want this.

I'm just tired of watching my life from the sidelines.

I may not be in Toronto anymore, but I still get the newsletter from the TPSC and I thought that the Toronto folk reading this blog might wanna know about a fun activity running tomorrow:

Tomorrow, Friday the 21st of March, Art Attack will take to the streets to explore new angles of our common spaces. We shall reflect upon urbanism, springtime, and diversity by promenading downtown with mirrors.

We also intend to re-imagine adverts with reflective materials, covering the faces of photo-shopped models, etc., thus allowing people to contemplate themselves instead of idealised and unrealistic portrayals of beauty.

Time and Location: 3:45 p.m., College & University, on the northeast corner, opposite the massive shiny arc of the OPG building:

Details are available on the Facebook event.

Bring:

• A sense of adventure
• Mirrors of varying sizes
• Mirror balls
• Unwanted CDs
• Reflective and adhesive materials
• TTC fare
• ...and your ideas

I especially like the bit about putting mirrors over the model faces. If any of you go, lemme know what it was like eh?

I read the following posts in Savage Love tonight and just wanted to share. If you haven't already read them, I suggest you do so. Savage's response to the first letter is beautiful and the second letter made me teary:

I'm in my final year of high school and I decided to come out as a lesbian – a very foolish move as I live in a small town that's not exactly brimming with tolerant people. But I know there are other closeted people at my school and I figured if none of us ever take the first step, it won't ever get any better around here.

But the response from my peers was worse than I expected. It's nothing too terrible, no physical violence, and in the beginning I could cope. But it's been a while now and I guess I need some advice. It just isn't getting better and I'm getting tired of it.

I have to park two streets away so people don't write shit on my car, someone's hacked my user account and deleted important coursework, I'm either told I'm dressing like a dyke or trying to be a girl depending on what I choose to wear on any given day. I'm avoiding classes that I don't have friends in because even if nothing is said (though it often is), the atmosphere is horrible. And none of this is that big a deal compared to what others have to go through, I know, but I'm sort of at the end of my tether.

Reporting it to staff is useless because they just tell me there isn't any proof and do fuck all. I've got some teachers looking out for me, but they can't really do anything either. I have some supportive friends, thank God, but it's all just becoming a bit too much, and I need some advice on how to cope through the last few months until I can get out of this shithole town.

Here's what you need to do, TALI: look in the mirror every morning and tell yourself that is the nadir, the bottom, the worst it's ever going to get. Once you get out of your high school and out of your shithole hometown and get your ass off to college – to a big state school or private secular university – you won't be the only out queer any more. Hell, you'll be surrounded by out fags and dykes and bisexuals. I can't promise you that you'll never encounter a bigot again, of course, or that all the fags and dykes you meet over the course of your life will be good people. But you will never again feel as vulnerable or persecuted or alone as you do right now.

And while you're talking to yourself in the mornings, TALI, tell yourself this, too: "Fuck my school, fuck my classmates, and fuck this town." The shits conspiring to make you miserable, TALI, are unlikely to have lives anywhere near as interesting as the one on which you're about to embark. Your classmates are making you miserable now because they know, deep down in their little black hearts, that their lives are going to be duller than day-old douche water compared to yours. Their lives aren't going to be dull because they're straight, TALI, but because the value they place on conformity – that's the reason they feel they have a right to abuse you now – is a prison they've constructed around themselves.

Right now they're making you feel like an outcast, TALI, and the malice stings. But what exactly are they casting you out of? Your high school? Their asshole cliques? That shit town? You haven't been cast out, TALI; you've been liberated. Freed. Sprung.

If only every kid in high school could hear that.

Four months ago, my mom walked in on me messing around with my boyfriend in our garage. I'm also a boy, age 15, and I hadn't gotten around to coming out to my parents yet. I felt bad that my mom had to find out by seeing what she saw. I stayed in my room crying until my father came home. They called me down to the kitchen and told me they loved me and that they were very, very sorry if they had ever done or said anything that made me feel like I couldn't be open with them about who I am.

My boyfriend is 17. He came out to his parents at Christmas, and our parents met for the first time last night. We don't have a question. We just wanted to thank you and thank all the other gay people who came out back when it was much tougher to do so. Our parents wouldn't have reacted the way they did if it weren't for all you guys that already came out.

We're Out Now

Thanks for the sweet note, WON. It's too bad that all teenagers, gay and straight, don't have parents as loving and supportive as yours.

I just read this on Michael Geist's blog and had to share:

Sources indicate that the CBC is set to become the first major North American broadcaster to freely release one of its programs without DRM using BitTorrent. Next Sunday, CBC will air Canada Next Great Prime Minister. The following day, it plans to freely release a high-resolution version via peer-to-peer networks without any DRM restrictions. This development is important not only because it shows that Canada's public broadcaster is increasingly willing to experiment with alternative forms of distribution, but also because it may help crystallise the net neutrality issue in Canada.

The CBC's mandate, as provided in the Broadcasting Act, requires it to make its programming "available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means." Using BitTorrent allows the CBC to meet its statutory mandate, yet with ISPs such as Rogers engaging in non-transparent traffic shaping, millions of Canadians may be unable to fully access programming funded by tax dollars. If the CBC experiment is successful, look for more broadcasters to do the same and for the CRTC to face mounting pressure to address net neutrality concerns.

Ahem, GO CBC!

My brother's got a big show tonight, a party he's promoted and spinning for and so I'm going to go check it out. It's also at a a prominent gay bar called Celebreties. If anyone's interested in coming along, Matt goes on at 10pm 'till midnight and I can bring whomever I want for free.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I heard on the CBC this morning that the mother of the guy who was tazered and killed by the police at Vancouver International Airport can't afford to take the cops to court over the death of her son. The BC government has refused to pay her legal fees and so we're all vividly reminded that justice is for the rich alone.

We can help though. A trust has been setup in her name to help her afford the legal fees required. If you're interested, here are the details:

Send a cheque to:

205-174 St. Paul's Street
Kamploops, BC
V2C 2H9

Or for more information you can email walterk@te-law.com.