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Be it resolved that

July 6, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 1 Comment

The title of this article is The new confessional journalism turns female writers into tedious, self-hating semi-celebrities:

A first-person piece about, say, drug addiction in the week the government is voting on downgrading the classification of certain drugs is journalistically justified. An extended piece pegged to absolutely nothing in which a “former anorexic” journalist describes her hilarious horror at having to eat “normally” for three weeks is not, and simply suggests that the journalist can think of nothing to write about but herself.

But I might put forward a different hypothesis: Be it resolved that women created and popularized this genre of writing, rather than being victims of it.

_______________________

Brigitte adds: I’m not disagreeing with you, Andrea, but in my experience, editors (male or female) want popular pieces. And this sort of confessional stuff is popular – they’re like a car crash; horrifying yet oddly fascinating. We hate ourselves for reading those pieces. But enough of us read them to make them come back.

_______________________

Andrea adds: I’m not saying I’m 100 per cent sure that women did create the genre…at the same time neither am I sure that it was foisted upon us. Certainly the Oprah Winfrey world we live in demands confessional style everything from men and women alike.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: anorexia, confessional, women, writing

It’s Friday

July 3, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 2 Comments

And listening to this as I come in to work propels me to movie star status, lending a certain grandeur to even small things like pressing the button in the elevator. Enjoy.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtribxjttTU]

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Drink, drink, drink…

July 2, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek Leave a Comment

So binge drinking is down, except among college students:

in the United States, anyway, reckless drinking is down over all, but not among college students. Among 18- to 20-year-old men who did not attend college, binge drinking declined more than 30 per cent between 1979 and 2006. But among male students it remained at a steady and significant level, while among female students — and this is the really bad news — it went up.

So why do I care is the question? Because my guess is that the culture of “friends with benefits” or one night stands is fuelled by alcohol… i.e., if a girl is sober, she is not likely to jump into bed with a stranger. And this of course links in to issue of abortion for the obvious reason.

Which reminds me of a study a psychologist friend sent me. An unethical study done in the early ’80s but nonetheless, since it was done, the findings are kind of interesting:

To summarise the experiment, five women and four men were sent, one at a time, onto a college campus. Each approached strangers of the opposite sex, and said: “I have been noticing you around campus. I find you to be very attractive.” They then invited the strangers either to go on a date, or to come over to their apartment, or to have sex with them.

This experiment was performed twice, and the results produced were very similar on both occasions (which indicates that the data is reliable). The report concludes: “The great majority of men were willing to have a sexual liaison with the women who approached them. Not one woman agreed to a sexual liaison.”

What this study says about men (who were more likely to want to have sex than go on a date!) I’ll leave up for grabs. However, not one woman – approached during the day and presumably while sober – would agree to have sex with a stranger. Today, as per books like Sex and the Soul, and Dr. Miriam Grossman too, we learn this sort of thing is happening way more than it should to negative effect.

And for this (to bring this post full circle) I blame binge drinking, at least in part.

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Canada Day

July 1, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek Leave a Comment

It’s Canada Day. As I ate my wheaties this morning, listening to the radio, I found myself wondering what did I do last Canada Day? And then, of course, I remembered. I wrote press releases, talked to media, talked to more media, “debated” an abortionist’s wife and just generally tried to cope with the fact that the Governor General was giving Henry Morgentaler an Order of Canada, and that they were naming him for the award on a national holiday when no one would notice. 

So last Canada Day was definitely a low point. We all know fighting the abortion-friendly status quo is a long term struggle though. (Rome wasn’t built in a day?)

Happy Canada Day. (Or Dominion Day, as some prefer.)

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Can you say slow news cycle?

June 30, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 3 Comments

LonelyHeartFarmer

You know it’s a slow news cycle when national newspapers run extensive singles ads. Unpaid ads, on the front page, above the fold. Mario is the lonely heart pictured in yesterday’s Globe and Mail:

Loneliness of agricultural singles is a growing issue in a province where farms are disappearing, but now experts – and dating sites – are paying attention

There must be a government fund for this sort of thing. A committee for rural dating. Clearly, that there is not is a sign of prejudice against Canadian corn stalks–whose very existence is at stake should young Mario not find himself a mate. I expect this prominent coverage should help spur on a national discussion. And perhaps get young Mario’s phone a-ringing.

This is very important, in particular as Canada Day approaches. And to think I almost missed this item.

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Brigitte disagrees: But Andrea, isn’t Mario kinda cute? If he doesn’t deserve front-page treatment, who does? I’m no rural dating expert, but I did spend a few years in farm country many moons ago and I distinctly remember young people there not having special difficulties finding dates.

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Andrea again: Mario does look cute, and that’s why this is a most egregious situation. If he can’t find a date–who can?? I ask you.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: famers, Quebec, singles

Politics and abortion

June 30, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 2 Comments

New documents on cabinet discussions pertaining to abortion:

The minutes and background papers of the 17 cabinet meetings of 1988 in which abortion was raised were obtained by Canwest News Service under the Access to Information Act, which allows for their release only after 20 years have passed.

As well, the staunchest anti-abortion minister in the cabinet, Jake Epp, cited potential risks to the disabled and elderly if the abortion law was liberalized, while one unidentified minister “suggested that the government seriously consider ducking the issue.” …Mulroney said “he was personally impressed with the sanctity of life arguments, but would not attempt to impose his views on other Members.”

“Ducking the issue” as a strategy appears to have won the day. (Abortion? What’s that?)

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Brian Mulroney

Indeed

June 26, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 2 Comments

ProWomanProLife isn’t the only group out there to have fun T-shirts. Just saw someone wearing one that said:

A city built on rock and roll would be structurally unsound

Indeed.

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He wasn’t alone in thinking this

June 25, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek Leave a Comment

New evidence reveals President Richard Nixon believed abortion was necessary for mixed-race babies.

There are times when an abortion is necessary,” he told his aide Chuck Colson. “I know that. When you have a black and a white.” Mr Colson offered that rape might also make an abortion legitimate, prompting Mr Nixon to respond: “Or a rape.”

Not to dwell on uncomfortable and pesky details, since the pro-abortion crowd has definitely and successfully rebranded under sunny words like “choice” and “equality” but the “abortion-rights” movement is founded in assertions like that one. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, has a host of on-the-record comments like Nixon’s, and worse.

I’m glad that this atrocious comment from Nixon is making the news–let’s just not forget he was definitely not alone. Shady characters made abortion popular.

(On a different note, one of my favourite books is Born Again by Chuck Colson. Ignore the title–I picked it up in spite of that–and it’s an absolutely riveting look inside the Nixon Whitehouse through Colson’s eyes.)

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Brigitte adds: Ha! I was just about to write on the same topic. I was going to say that it sure sounds funny to talk about mixed-race babies like that, eh? (And no, I don’t mean funny-ha-ha.) Of course nowadays we just say that although we know it’s a human being in there, the “choice” of whether that human being lives or dies is a private one involving the pregnant woman and pretty much no one else. I wonder how strange that will sound in 35 years?

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Rebecca adds: Most of the western world is horrified at the idea that a fetus be a candidate for termination based on its race. How is it really that different to declare it disposable because of a medical condition, or its sex, or the finances of its parents? I hope that in a generation, we recoil at that idea as much as we do now at the idea of terminating a mixed race baby simply because it’s mixed race.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Chuck Colson, Richard Nixon

Eating what you grow?

June 24, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 2 Comments

If I am to eat what I grow that would currently mean a diet made up exclusively of basil leaves (thank you, yes, my small herb garden has really taken off).

Fun piece, and not just because my friend Brian Lilley also mentions People for the Ethical Treatment of People. (Buy a shirt.)

The main claim is that the seals are inhumanely treated, yet some of the main groups behind the push to ban the seal hunt, like PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, are nothing more than radical animal rights activists hoping to get all of us to become vegetarian. Quite frankly I’m more likely to get behind People for the Ethical Treatment of People.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Brian Lilley

Annie Farlow in the news

June 24, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 2 Comments

I missed this yesterday. We’ve written about Barbara Farlow’s struggle for her daughter Annie before. Here’s another item:

Judge Thea Herman is to decide on a request by Sick Kids and two defendant doctors to elevate the case to Ontario Superior Court, with its stricter procedural safeguards and rules of evidence.

If Mrs. Farlow wins, the case will proceed as a “small claim,” and two doctors at Canada’s top pediatric hospital will not only have to defend against allegations they deliberately killed a baby because she had a fatal genetic abnormality, but they will do so in a forum designed for minor disputes over unpaid bills, encroaching fences and overhanging trees.

But if she loses and the case is moved up, it will mark the likely end of an epic legal battle for understanding and closure — in the offices of the Chief Coroner, the Privacy Commissioner, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, even a Catholic archbishop — that has turned Mrs. Farlow, a former automotive engineer and mother of nine, into a powerhouse patients’ rights activist, with supporters across North America.

The article says a decision was expected yesterday, but I have not heard what that decision was. I’ll post it when I find out.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Barbara Farlow

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