I am taking some time to CLEAN UP (caps much called for, as I sort through piles of dusty magazines and other assorted papers). In and among the dust, I have found old articles I wrote for student newspapers and old pitches I made, back in the day. One of them I happened upon and it made me smile.

I remember being frightfully affected by editors, perhaps still today, but more so ten plus years ago. I found a perfectly good pitch I made once upon a time, when I was an intern at Toronto Life magazine. I called it “The cultured runner” and itemized some of the quirky/entertaining/historical sights and cool restaurants one could encounter when training for a marathon.

The pitch is not brilliance on the page, no. But neither is it terrible. And it was returned to me with this comment: “Most of what you’d want to know on your run you could get from regularly reading Toronto Life or books about Toronto.” Geez. Ya think?

Anyway, I smile while posting this for the snobbery, which is so very common amongst editors in general. Had I known at that time that so many editors are insecure assholes,* it would have helped me immensely on the journey, so I pass this information on for aspiring young writers today.

*Strong language, not typical of this blog. But I can’t think of a more fitting epithet.

You would never, EVER, ever, EVER see this article if Mark Donnelly, opera singer who sings the national anthem at Canucks games in Vancouver, had sung the national anthem at a pro-choice event.

Remember that when strident pro-choicers claim they are brave. They’re doing only what is commonplace, easy and so long as we don’t talk about it too much, acceptable.

As I went through the so-called Sexhibit in Ottawa’s Museum of Science and Technology, I was surprised to find little substantive reference to specifically female sexuality. By this I mean women’s menstrual cycles.

The Pill, yes, I remember that being there. The Pill, which takes a woman’s natural cycle and puts it neatly in the trash can. No need for that, thank you very much.

It is my experience that in mainstream circles, more and more women are turning to natural fertility awareness, whether to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Even stridently pro-choice sites will include reference to the fact that some women cannot stomach the Pill.

The Globe and Mail wrote about fertility today, and some of the common misconceptions surrounding female fertility.

Don’t expect to find this info in bogus “tell-all” sexuality museum exhibits though. They’re too busy getting youth to fondle models so they can find erogenous zones.

I think the media should be held to account for misinformation. I’m glad the crisis pregnancy centre is suing. My one concern is that defamation suits are (I gather, I’m not a lawyer) hard to win, in general.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6qkINDPh8g&feature=fvst]

I learned the hard way that I find Sacha Baron Cohen very funny in short YouTube length clips, not in full-feature length films, which generally cross the line, regularly and spectacularly. (Borat was two hours I can never, ever get back.) So I won’t be going to see The Dictator.

But this line (and much of the trailer clip above) is funny in a satirical kind of way:

In the newly released film, “The Dictator,” the title character is played by shock comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. In one scene, the dictator is informed by his wife that she is pregnant; to which he replies: “Are you having a boy or an abortion?”

Ouch.

I think this is particularly bold, since many academics prefer to remain comfy and protected in their ivory towers. Hats off to political scientist, Dr. Alexander Moens of Simon Fraser University for supporting life. For all the clips from the launch, click here.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIYPdEgBYOc&feature=autoplay&list=PL5EA6944A75E5D910&playnext=1]

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club among other books. I found this quote by her and rather liked it:

I love my daughter. She and I have shared my body. There is a part of her mind that is part of mine. But when she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since.

“She and I have shared my body” is a lovely sentiment and a far cry from “my body, my choice.”

I’m sure a lot of my readers share this sentiment. I’m pro-life, for a reason, but sometimes it crystallizes that we have clinics across our country and continent where we sanction/endorse/help out with the killing of innocents. We call it different things, but that’s what it is. We make it all clean and tidy but those clinics don’t have any other purpose.

Watching this clip from Live Action was one of those moments. It’s about Planned Parenthood helping with sex selection abortion, but the sex selection side doesn’t bother me as much as the woman advising termination when she knows very well everything about the baby is fully formed.

Here’s the clip.

I think my work is honorable and important, and I won’t be distracted. It’s what I believe in my heart is the right thing to do.”

The irony is how paternalistic I find his attitude, and what great importance he assigns to…himself. He must help these poor women who couldn’t possibly be helped in any other way than by his dismembering their children.

There’s a vote in Congress today on this:

Congress is set to wade into one of the most sensitive topics in the abortion debate, with a House vote Wednesday on a bill that would ban abortions that are performed solely because of an unborn child’s sex.

Pro-life advocates say sex-selection abortion amounts to a “war on baby girls,” and maintain that the practice – which is outlawed but still common in countries such as India and China – is on the rise in the United States.