[BRIEF NOTE] Publishing

Via trapezebear, I’ve just found out that the anthology Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way is coming out.

“Learning to Look at Bisexuality” is my essay-length contribution; also, my first published work.

This is rather cool.

[NON BLOG] Meetup

Enjoyable time was spent with talktooloose this late afternoon, talking over coffee. As always it was time well spent. Would that I could be as grounded as my recent interlocutor.

[NON BLOG] Choir Practice

It went well, again. There’s something about participating in group creative activity that’s energizing. Even the bar-by-bar dissection of our singing errors was fun, in a twisted sort of way.

I should likely mention, here, how grateful I am that I’ve retained so much from my music courses in school, especially my music-reading ability. It’s really nice to be able to follow along, especially since there will be a major performance in eight weeks. I’m not quite sure how people lacking this ability would get along, since playing by ear has obvious limitations.

[LINK] Why is so much attention paid to white Zimbabweans?

Abiola Lapite at Foreign Dispatches reiterates a point worth noting about Zimbabwe: The close attention paid by the Western media to the plight of Zimbabwean whites not only overlooks the sufferings of Zimbabwean blacks (who, incidentally, outnumber white farmers by something like a thousand to one), but gives Mugabe grounds to argue that this coverage bias is proof of the outside world’s racist intentions. Racism isn’t Zimbabwe’s problem; totalitarianism is.

[NON BLOG] Congratulations!

Now that the veil of secrecy has been lifted, might I congratulate the charming couple of serod and runyon on their upcoming nuptials?

[LINK] The Founders and Religion

alecsebastien links to selected quotes from Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. I’m surprised at how anti-clerical they tended to be.

[BRIEF NOTE] AIDS in Canada’s First Nations

This morning on CBC Radio’s The Current, there was a disturbing documentary about the spread of HIV/AIDS in Canada’s First Nations. Canadian aboriginals make up perhaps 3% of the national population, but according to some alarming estimates account for up to a quarter of new HIV infections. The situation is dire; and unsurprisingly, there is no money to do anything. So, impending catastrophe ahead.

Yesterday I finished rereading Randy Shilts‘ 1987 And The Band Played On, returning my borrowed library copy at the Toronto Reference Library. Shilts’ magisterial (if controversial) survey of the early HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States left with me with the distinct impression, this time just as on the other occasions I’ve read the book, that worst-case scenarios with HIV/AIDS have a funny way of coming true.

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[BRIEF NOTE] A Stunning Lapse

Reading my free copy of Metro Toronto on the subway this morning, and not being a viewer of The West Wing, I was shocked to discover that aforementioned television show–supposedly about, by, and for policy wonks–identified Turkey as an Islamic republic that executed women for the crime of adultery. Journal of Turkish Weekly covers NBC’s apology:

Television network NBC President Jeff Zucker apologized by letter to Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington, Frank Logoglu, after broadcasting an inaccurate portrayal of Turkey in a recent episode of the show “West Wing”.

The show portrayed Turkey to be a country ruled by Islamic law that had ordered the beheading of a woman for the crime of adultery.

Both Zucker and the executive producer of the show, John Well’s, offered their apologies for the unflattering portrayal and worte that they had been misinformed about Turkey and its laws.

“In the future we will not only visit Turkey, a country that we admire, but also present a better and correct portrayal of your country.” Zucker and Wells said in an attempt to correct the defamation.

I’m still surprised that apparently the writers never heard of Ataturk. No, Muslims are not all alike. optimussven can go into much more detail than me.

[LINK] French Ontario in the 21st Century

Marta Dolecki’s article “Que signifie, aujourd’hui, être francophone en Ontario?” in L’Express, Toronto’s free French weekly, is an interesting meditation on the mutations of la francophonie in Ontario after its entry to the 21st century.

À ce propos, quel est l’avenir de la francophonie en Ontario? Qu’en est-il de la vie quotidienne dans une province où les francophones ne représentent seulement que 5% de la population totale? Et puis d’abord, que signifie, aujourd’hui, être francophone en Ontario? Est-ce d’abord être Franco-Ontarien, Ontarien, Canadien-français? Ce terme est-il toujours porteur, comme autrefois, d’une identité forte et distincte?

Her interviews with four Ontario Francophones are interesting, with her dialogue with Guinea-born Niguepa Camara being a particular must-read. Ontario’s Francophone community is still the largest Francophone community in Canada outside of Québec, and like Québec French Ontario is a community affected by mass immigration. Whether French Ontario will be as effective in incorporating these immigrants into itself as Québec is a question for the future, though L’Express‘ equivocal portrait in this and past issues at least suggests that something positive is happening.