"... ebony and ivory, living together in harmony... "

i have a thing for black and white photos, and found this one i took in montreal while cleaning up my folders of pictures.

welcome to university. you have no life.

today is st. patricks day, and as i sit here in the library while my friend destroys my philosophy essay, im reflecting on this year at university. for possibly the one night a year when it is socially acceptable to get drunk on a tuesday i am stuck thinking about euthanasia. pleasant, i know. and somehow ironic... while atleast 3/4 of my building is getting plastered im in the library (with a surprising number of others i may add) i am writing a paper thats due a 8.30am tomorrow morning. i did not procrastinate as i usually would have. finishing it at this point is a great success. moving on though, this night is very much so the epitome of my year.

while countless others are out about town, i remain here on campus, whether in the library or in my room, keeping it pretty low key. not that i havent had some interesting nights, but the majority have been on the studious side. it turns out that living at school, being a full time student, and hanging out almost exclusively with other students means my life revolves around academics. when i hang out with friends we talk about classes, and things in the news, and university scandals. maybe these are just the kind of people i hang out with, but then again, maybe this is what you give up when you go off to uni. part of your life, if not the majority of it, is surrendered to school. its my focus, my source of news, entertainment, and of course, knowledge. these are good things, sure. but i kind of resent it.

resent it because i willingly signed up for an institution with the misconception that i would "get a life" when in all reality, i gave one up. instead of enjoyin a st paticks day where i can legally drink in one province, i gave it up to write a philosophy paper. and i am not pleased.

the James Dean dream

man,

i tell you not to smoke those cigarettes

(look like a young James Dean,

sun setting on your back,

dim glow of the tip warming the black ahead).

but who am i to disagree

when i make killer life choices everyday.

Deep breath in, blow the stress away.

Stop those fragile hands from shaking,

forefinger and thumb holding

your small piece of calm.

this shit is bananas b-a-n-a-n-a-s

im sitting in my environment & society lecture where the prof is attempting to facilitate a discussion around a video we saw last class on transgenic food. problem is we keep coming back to bananas.

you see, someone brought up that the question isnt to buy only organic, but to buy locally. no matter how organic your bananas are, they still wont be in season in canada in february, or ever for that matter since our environment isnt suitable for bananas. therefor we should focus on getting whats in season at the market downtown, and avoid buying imported foods because most mass produced foods (again, bananas) are transgenic. blah blah blah.

and we have yet to get away from the banana buying question. and the prof, being who he is, isnt really move discussion on, but letting everyone spin around in circles.

and the hippy in the back who introduced the bananas in the first place isnt backing down.

my opinion? its all about balance. transgenic food has been introduced, and actively weeding it out of our buying habits is a challenge no individual can win. we have the right to eat what we want to eat, but in that decision should be understanding. access to the information about the benefits and harms needs to be presented to the public in a much more active way, and from there you find balance. choose what you think will help and harm you. yes, buy locally when possible, but still go to the grocery store. choose organic as often as you can, be healthy. i wouldnt go so far to say "down with the bananas!" but i do say, down with ignorance!

oh hello goodmorning.

i gently shift my legs, tangled over yours, and lift them up and over. i move away from our island of two as you stir and your eyes open. barefeet touch cool kitchen tile; a gentle wake-up call. you're awake, but lie there peacefully. our island of two. the water runs, a sharp sound to our silent understanding, and my glass fills. i make my way back, the tile not so cool anymore, and curl back up on our island of two. you tuck me in, as we close our eyes, waiting for sleep to come again.