For the Children

Our eight year old daughter drives us crazy.  We know she has issues, which is why we're having her evaluated for ADHD.  But we're thankful that we have an otherwise healthy child who's intelligent and capable.  Some might disagree with our parenting methods, but we do what we must to keep our child safe and educated.

However it seems that every other day there's news of something happening to a child somewhere.  A boy finds an unsecured gun in his parents' home and shoots his baby brother with it.  A girl dies because of her parents' insistence on using traditional medicine instead of taking a doctor's advice.  A girl has acid thrown on her face for the "crime" of wanting to go to school.

Whether by accident, ignorance, or willful malice, children everywhere are being hurt and killed through no fault of their own.  It's apparent that many people lack the common sense to realize that children are our future.  It is to them that we pass our legacy in the hopes that they do better in their own futures and the future of our planet than we did.

What message would this show to the ages?  That we are incapable of caring for our offspring?  That we are so desperate to keep control of our world that female babies are killed or abandoned in favour of boys, young women are mutilated, and dangerous weapons are kept in the household?

Yes, children should be educated about what's right and proper.  But we also need to educate ourselves and abandon "traditions" that are detrimental to the human race as a whole.  After all, our children will have to clean up the mess that we made.

Taboos

This past Tuesday I attended a visitation for a 14 year old boy, the son of a couple whom I've known for 25 years.  By all accounts he was a wonderful person: intelligent, active in martial arts and music, and innovative. His mother described him thus: "...you would have heard about him in 10 years as the creator of the car-mounted spud turret that targets red light runners, or the ice-melting laser apron bumper accessory, and the clean grenade.  I was really looking forward to the clean grenade: pull the pin, throw it in the teenager's room that needs it most, shut the door, and wait until the house stops shaking."

Despite such promise he had depression issues, which ultimately led him to kill himself in his bedroom while his unsuspecting family slept.  You hear so many stories of this happening but never expect it to happen to you or to someone you know.

Depression (and mental illness in general) is one of today's biggest taboos along with death, sex, and personal health issues.  Nobody wants to talk about it even though it's necessary.  It's "inappropriate" or "too embarrassing".  Only when a tragic event occurs do many people acknowledge its existence.  Then it fades into the background until the next time.

I am no stranger to mental illness.  My first husband's emotional and sexual abuse caused me to have a nervous breakdown, for which I needed therapy.  After my daughter was born I had postpartum depression that lasted over a year.  To this day I constantly struggle against my own inherent negativity.

There is hope: many schools, hospitals, and community organizations now have outreach programs designed to identify and help those who need it most.  The venerable Kids Help Phone has existed since I was a youngster.  However we still have a long way to go.  For Hilton Lee, as well as all others who are gone or who continue to struggle in the dark, we need to talk about it.

Best Poutine in Montreal

Poutine is a uniquely Quebec dish of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy, coveted by many as a cold weather comfort food.  Local and national food enthusiasts have attempted to find the best poutine, but it's a very difficult task because just about any chef who makes it insists on high-quality ingredients.  Not to mention trying all the variations will clog your arteries in no time flat.  I freely admit that I'm one of the few people in my circle of friends who doesn't care much for poutine, but I do appreciate quality food when I see it.  Here are some of the best places in Montreal to find the delicacy.

1. La Banquise, 994 Rachel St East.  This small greasy-spoon boasts over thirty varieties of poutine that are guaranteed to satisfy just about anyone's taste.  A bonus is that the restaurant is open 24 hours a day and is well known for its after-hours clientele who come in to partake of poutine as a hangover remedy.

2. Maamm Bolduc, 4351 De Lorimier Ave.  Almost hidden on a corner of the Plateau district, it has been a neighbourhood fixture for 45 years and offers just about every staple of Quebec cuisine, including poutine.  The menu contains eight variants including Italian marinara and Vegetarian style.  Their "petite" size is comparable to what many places serve as "large"!

3. Au Pied de Cochon, 536 Duluth Ave East.  One of Montreal's finest and most decadent restaurants offers, among other things, poutine topped with foie gras.  Guests definitely don't want to count the calories in this.  Given the popularity of the restaurant, reservations are strongly recommended.

4. Poutineville, 1365 Ontario St East.  This is the place to go when you're feeling adventurous and want to build your own poutine.  Instead of a menu you can get a checklist of the kitchen's available ingredients from which to choose your toppings, from blue cheese to zucchini.  There are salads and veggie sandwiches as well to give the illusion of a healthy meal.

5. Gibeau Orange Julep, 7700 Decarie Blvd.  Everyone in Montreal knows the Julep, a bright orange sphere forty feet in diameter that is located beside one of the city's major expressways.  Serving freshly squeezed orange juice since 1932, the OJ serves the best in comfort food from hot dogs to burgers, and of course classic poutine.  Open 24 hours during the summer months.

6. Burgundy Lion Pub, 2496 Notre Dame St West. One would hardly expect an English-style pub to be serving poutine, but this is a surprisingly British twist on a French Quebec delicacy.  Its most requested variant is the “Watership”: classic poutine topped with chunks of mustard-braised rabbit, green onions, and honey gravy.  The pub also claims one of the largest collections of whisky in Canada.

Accommodation or Censorship?

As if we don't have enough to worry about.  Satirical cartoonists are being murdered for incendiary drawings.  Bloggers are being arrested and flogged for speaking against the establishment.  Journalists are kidnapped and beheaded for nothing more than pursuing the truth.  Now writers are being targeted, not by extremists, but by their own publishers.

A few days ago the venerable Oxford University Press announced that any references to pigs and pig-related products were banned from its books for fear of offending certain religious communities.  Any author who wishes to publish through Oxford must rewrite their stories.

What would E.B. White, the legendary satirist and author of Charlotte's Web (a children's tale with a pig as its main character) have to say about that?

Personally I think this is going too far.  Given how much variety there is in the media these days, my mantra is: if you don't like it, don't partake in it.  Nobody is forcing you to watch the movie Babe or read the story of The Three Little Pigs or eat sausage in a blanket.  Don't force your religious restrictions on the rest of us.

Some say that many publications are asking for it by reprinting the material that ultimately got the Charlie Hebdo journalists killed.  Being satirical is one thing, but being deliberately provocative is another matter.

However, as a good friend of mine said: "Obnoxious people don't deserve to die just for being obnoxious, and the offended are not entitled to kill."

I think I'll go and re-watch Boobs in the Woods.
Adeeb badeed tha that's all folks!

Application Anonymity

The job market is hyper-competitive these days and many employers are demanding applicants with a large skill set so they don't have to use valuable time and money to train them.  That's understandable.

However one thing I hate is not knowing where your application will end up.  Several times a day I see a listing that looks promising until I read: "Our client is looking for" or "We are seeking a (insert position here) for a leading employer".

Wait just a minute.  I don't like to send an application through an agency that has no interest in my particular skills and preferences, just to have it lost in some black hole of a web portal.  I prefer to deal with a company directly if at all possible.  At least then I know that my application has in fact gone to the right place.  More often than not, when I send applications through an online career site I don't get any confirmation that it was received.  (There are exceptions, however.)

Compounding the problem is that there's an increasing number of companies that put in their job ads "Please do not call the office" or "Only those applicants that have been selected will be contacted".  So how will I know if you've even received my documents if I'm not allowed to follow up?

The whole process leaves more questions than answers.  What are the selection criteria?  What should I put in my documents that will make me more likely to pass muster?  Will my application even be seen by a human, or will it be scanned by an automated processor and rejected if it doesn't have enough keywords?

For a long time I've felt that the system has been deliberately set up to make it as difficult as possible for people to find the job they want.  Some say that you need to know someone that already works with the company in order to have a chance at getting hired there - hence the popularity of sites such as LinkedIn that help with networking.

I wonder if it would be any better to go old school and deliver applications by hand or by mail.  At least then I'd know that my documents arrived at the right place.