Office Monkey

I gave up online dating a while ago but i was surfing lavalife’s database of men earlier today and some of the profiles- yeesh! Some beefs:

- Being sarcastic is neither rare, difficult or even desirable. It’s nothing to be proud of and yet it is *constantly* mentioned.

- Doing a post-undergrad program at a college is not grad school.

- Going to teachers’ college after your undergrad is not grad school.

- Writing “I have a sense of humour” in a blandly composed profile.

- Saying i’m a nice guy, a good looking guy or a fun guy. It tells me nothing. No-one is going to say they’re not a nice guy, that they’re ugly or that they’re boring. what does being nice mean? “I’ll always walk you to your door,” or “I’ll babysit your baby brother/your baby when you are sick/studying/invited to your 10 year high school reunion” or is it, “I’ll let you hold the remote.”

- this also applies to the word “intellectual.” as in “i like intellectual conversations.” pretentious. he probably loved the da vinci code.

- and if you’re gonna use the “thinking woman’s” man schtick. make sure you know the difference between their, they’re and there (avoid: “why do fools fall in love? Because their fools”). Additionally, if you’re gonna talk about how grammar is important, make sure yours is correct (avoid: “good grammar and spelling is important”).

- are we still at a point where “i can cook” is supposed to be a selling point? (not to be confused with “i love to cook” which sounds much more beneficial and promising)

- were we ever at a point where “i’m looking for a girl with more than just a nice body” was a selling point?

anyhoo, i could probably go on… any dating beefs of your own? found any annoying female profiles? let me know!

So, teachers’ college organizes its class into cohorts. I am in the “Youth at Risk” cohort because I want to work with “youth at risk” once i become a teacher. That being said, I really don’t like my “youth at risk” prof because i don’t respect her approach to dealing with youth, or people for that matter.

For example, on our first day of school we went around in a circle introducing ourselves. There’s some diversity but the class is mostly filled with young 20 something’s of caucasian descent. When we get to P, a black student, my prof asks him where he’s from. When he answers “Nigeria” she says, “Oh, well then you must have been excited when i used that Achebe quote on education.”

i’m not quite sure it’s appropriate to ask a question about ethnicity only to the black student in the class. and then to make an assumption that he would appreciate all things Nigerian. and maybe even suggest that you know what he’s all about because you know Achebe or you know Nigeria or more precisely, you know of one writer from Nigeria. It seems to imply that race/ethnicity in his case, plays are larger role as an identifier compared to the rest of us. Which, while maybe not racist, does seem to point to a preoccupation with race.

It kinda reminds me of the time i was getting counselling from a doctor at uoft. i’d spent 30-40 minutes spilling out a rant about myself that covered my likes, dislikes, frustrations, strengths and weaknesses… and at the end of it the doctor asked if i’d considered joining any asian or korean student groups on campus. I kinda blinked at her and wondered whether she’d heard anything i said.

I mean, it’s just sloppy thinking. I just spent 40 minutes providing personal information- that is, stuff that pertains directly to me- and her fixation with the shape of my eyes and my hair colour, a trait shared with at least a billion people, leads her to a conclusion that is completely off base and in my case, totally unpalatable. I’ve actively avoided other koreans due to the negative experience i had attending korean church (they were mean).

Similarly, my prof advised that we should watch an hour of muchmusic on a daily basis as a means of making a connection with our young students.

Again, there seems to be this insulting assumption that all there is to know about youth merely requires watching an hour of the nation’s music station. On top of the huge (and inaccurate) generalization, it also seems a little underhanded to try and ingratiate yourself by pretending to be something you’re not…

Underlying both scenarios there’s a suggestion of:

1) a consistent desire of an outsider to somehow insinuate themselves with what they believe to be “the other” or “the unfamiliar”.

2) a belief that this can somehow be accomplished by merely appropriating superficial/trivial (though not deemed so by the learner) knowledge about the other.

So i dunno a couple of things:
1) there are probably alot more similarities between my coordinator, P, and high school students than differences. And it’s important to identify which differences/similarities are important and significant and which ones maybe don’t matter.

2) maybe tolerance and understanding might have more to do with having the humility of accepting your ignorance and your status as outsider and letting yourself be led in certain aspects rather than trying to maintain your dominance/control over a relationship.

I don’t know.

I decided not to go to class today. Although I could come up with a load of reasons to explain my lack of motivation to go to class (all of which are true):

- the class is boring/pointless
- i’m not feeling all that well
- i need a day to organize myself- the apartment’s a mess (laundry, dishes)
- i haven’t done the readings for class

the real reason is… i have bad hair. i went to bed with wet hair and now it’s a wild uncontrollable mess and it’s keeping me from leaving my apartment.

Lots of buzz around the new bond movie. A friend of mine sent an article in the guardian about how the new bond definitely is portrayed through the (hetero) “female” gaze referencing the beach scene where Craig exposes his well defined torso. In it they also refer to the common practice of “wetting” the star in a scene to increase their sex appeal- something they call hydra romance. I am a big fan of hydra romance. Mr. Reeves in particular responds quite well to water. Example below. Please feel free to add your own favourites.

After having a brief freak out over the weekend and calling in sick Monday morning, I’m feeling really good about this last week of my practicum. My associate teacher told me I can show the movie the Untouchables to my 2 grade 10 applied history kids starting wednesday (prohibition and the 20s/30s). YAHOO! that takes care of 4 periods!!! FOUR PERIODS! leaving me with only 3 lessons to prep for the rest of the week. WHEEEEE!

For the last couple years, Tory Cassis has performed at a charity ball with his swing band during the holiday season. I hope to go one day… when i’m more confident in my lindy hopping and when i’ve got a dance partner! goddamnit!

Haven’t been able to track down A Steeple Full of Swallows but Pete found another tom waits tribute event happening this Saturday at Hugh’s Room. Definitely checking it out. Interestingly enough, Tory Cassis is playing Hugh’s Room Thursday with his other band, Great Atomic Power. You can check out a sample of their music here. There are three live tracks. Check it out and maybe i’ll see you at hugh’s room Thursday and Saturday night.