Update#2: Get Out!
Well, it's pretty much official. UWO is a school of lacklustre conservatives...or are some of us just prudes? The kiss-in that QWO had scheduled for Tuesday has been "indefinately postponed" by the organization's president due to a sudden surge of online objection. A bunch of Guest Users and a few Registered Users flooded the QWO forums with posts objecting to the now-postponed PDA event. They claim that the QWO is not fulfilling its responsibility to represent its members.

They argue that arousing the phobic feelings of Western's haters must be avoided in order to gain their acceptance. Which I feel is a ridiculous stance. What kind of acceptance are these people willing to settle for? One that is filled with unfair stipulations and a greasy not-withstanding clause? How do they expect to accomplish anything if they are so worried about stepping on toes? Kiss-ins are not the orgies that some people imagine them into. They are, however, certain to offend a few people (individuals generally referred to as bigots). But maybe these are the people that need to be offended. Stretch their minds a little, acclimatize them. Get them thinking about things in way that has evolved since the 1970s.

Kiss-ins are a useful and potentially fun option in a political life. I think that the event has the potential to do two important things for our university: 1) put a spotlight on homophobic sentiments or actions that might flare up, hopefully leading to closer examination by the school press, administration, and student body; and 2) it would establish a stronger queer presence on campus (which isn't setting the bar all that high, considering there is virtually no queer presence today anyway). PDAs are common political activities. They are non-distructive and, obviously, non-violent.

A university should be awash in such progressive demonstrations and activism. Why is Western such an apathetic campus? Why is it that our student body only mobilizes itself in order to quell the prospect of real political action? The Gazette could focus an interesting investigative series on the situation, but the idea will probably never get beyond the conditional because it might, for Western, get too confrontational, too radical. Too Political.
- posted by K. @ 11:48 p.m. |

 
Le Sigh
Ok, I have two new musical loves to share.
First, we have A Northern Chorus, who I saw play on Friday at the Grad Club. One bass, two guitars, one flute, one cello, one magical drum set. The music swirls, shimmers, rocks, and has that soundfeeling of falling snow. Unfortunately, they're off to the UK in February, so you'll have to wait a bit until you can catch them back in Ontario...or anywhere else that isn't the UK. Thanks to Andreas Gripp, for putting together this show.
Second, we have Camera Obscura. Judging by their cover art and most of their songs, they're two women, but some of the tracks feature a male vocalist who sounds really gentle and nice. It's indie pop. Maybe a little twee, but in an understated, mindful way.
[Unrelated to the band, What Is Camera Obscura?]

Also, if you're having trouble finding indie pop in your town, you should look into poppolar records. You can shop in Canadian dollars (US and Euro currencies as well), and the prices are ok. You can mail order or use a credit card. Most interestingly, they have Camera Obscura albums for sale. . .which could be sent to an as of yet nonexistant PO box in London, Ontario if anybody out there enjoys making random Internet strangers happy ; )

Take care!
- posted by K. @ 7:25 p.m. |

November 21, 2003

 
Update: Get Out!
Looks like there is some life stirring at QWO. In response to the obvious lack of queer visability at Western, the group has posted a call to action. I hope to see lots and lots of canoodling going down (erhm) in the UCC next Tuesday, people! I'll be there to show my support. I wonder how our campus paper, The Gazette, will cover the activism.
- posted by K. @ 12:00 p.m. |

November 20, 2003

 
Get Out!
That The University of Western Ontario does little to nurture (or acknowledge) the sexual diversity of its student population is no shocker if you've spent any time on the campus. Looking for the Thelma to your Louise? The Sigfreid to your Roy? The rabbit hole that exits the massive closet that is the UWO campus? Finding them could prove tough. QWO, Western's queer club, is essentially invisible and voiceless during most of the year, registering an ever so faint ping on the popular radar during Pride Week before vanishing again. Lectures and public discussions on queer theory and related topics are few and far between. Women's Studies isn't for everyone. Fortunately for UWO students, and the rest of the London community, there is one extensive, well advertised, and permanent resource available -- The Pride Library. Established in 1997 by Western Professor James Miller, the Library is a unique phenomenon. In an interview with Young Gay America, Miller explained, "This is actually the ONLY official established Research Center for Gay and Lesbian students in a Canadian University. The fact that it should be at THIS University is nothing short of a miracle."

later that night...

Get In(on it)!
Continuing along with the London PSA wave that I seem to be riding tonight, listen up:
Hot Hot Heat, The Unicorns, and The French Kicks (never heard of 'em, but this review isn't great) will be playing at Call The Office on December 5th, 2003. Live in London? Want to witness the awkward, socially inept whirl of somethingorother that is me? Come to the show! Music is good for you and your community.


- posted by K. @ 11:58 p.m. |

November 19, 2003

 
One Great City!
A fifty second bike ride east from the downtown core and I’m leaning on my handle bars, eyeing a pile of rubble. Nearby, a CNR freight procession rattles its way west. I dismount the bicycle and high step over some rusting ductwork that's laying across the grassy way between demolished and functional squalor. Just now a guy in his twenties walks past. This isn’t a place where I had expected to encounter strollers. But then, I’m here, aren’t I? Strolling, in a way.
His back is to me, now, so I call out. He looks back just before the path gets narrower and the young maples on either side start to reach for him. I ask if he knows what this used to be. He seems a little aggravated by the question. That I ask. Or that I am. Here.
“Don’t know,” is the answer. A look around. Then, “But sometimes the guys in that building,” he points to a recessed door in a squat building opposite the rubble, “sometimes they let their dog out. They don’t know anybody’s back here. They don't check. You know.” I thank him for the warning and watch him walk away with a bit of story he’d rather keep for himself.
- posted by K. @ 9:08 p.m. |

November 18, 2003

 
Um, weren't there, like, some CBC playlists here before..?
Yes, there were. Good observatory skills Comrade Header. The weekly playlists for CBC Radio3 have been shooed onto their own page. Why? Because they are long. They take too much time to scroll past if you're not interested in them. They were annoying. Annoying but still somewhat interesting. So they have been relocated. I can assure you that they are perfectly content in their new location.
- posted by K. @ 7:30 p.m. |

 
mullet beret. it needed to be posted.
- posted by K. @ 4:25 p.m. |

November 16, 2003

 



- posted by K. @ 7:59 p.m. |

November 15, 2003

 
Steal This! (@%*&#!!)
Please indulge your punkass, damn the man! instincts and steal this button.
Then indulge your Bovidae instincts and do what all the cool kids are doing: post it on your site, in your emails, use it in forums. Worship it as the idol of a better god, We Love Musique.com.
- posted by K. @ 12:03 a.m. |

November 14, 2003

 
Flash This! (@%*&#!!)
Alright. I just eaked out a simple little animated button for WML. And have now realized that when it goes online it'll be displayed in the huge white space that is the Flash default stage.
...---...     ...---... That's right! I'm morse coding my plea to the computer deities to give my sleep deprived mind insight so that the time I spent putting the thing together won't be in vain. Oh...Oh! I just looked down the support page a bit and there's a link ("How to move an entire animation at once") that might help me. (Had better help me..) I wish I were a computer whiz. ("If ever a whiz there was". Three cool points for the person who can place this quote!)
Before I go and fix things up, I'd just like to share this: "Step 2 Turn on Edit Multiple Frames and set the onion skin markers to display all frames." Now, I don't know why I'm so tired tonight -- it's only 11:45 -- but I am. I'm slur-my-words-and-forget-recent-conversations tired. And in this fatigue of mine, those instructions sound like a joke
- posted by K. @ 11:42 p.m. |

November 13, 2003

 
"0°C. Overcast. Light snow and blowing snow." courtesy of The Weather Network
The view from my apartment is an office building across the street. And in between my building and that building is a violent wind tunnel that's whipping a thin current of ... snow ... in all directions. I don't think I'll be riding ma bicyclette to school today. This calls for the Cocteau Twins.

And in Other News...
My review of the Nov 7 show at the Blue Moon (The Blow et al.) has been sent to WML. There are photos too. It should be posted in the next few days, if you care to take a gander. And don't try to tell me that you don't gander. Everybody ganders.
- posted by K. @ 12:33 p.m. |

November 08, 2003

 
The Morning After
Last night's show has me grinning on the inside. I spent 8 hours at the Blue Moon, my mother counted to me. I actually spoke to most of the musicians, which is a big thing for this rather shy/socially inept girl. : ) And I took some photos on my mother's automatic Pentax. They are being developed as this is typed, and will be ready at quarter to two. Dan wants me to scan them and write up a review for the site which will be a huge gush fest for me. Hopefully the photos will turn out. Mmmm....
- posted by K. @ 1:09 p.m. |

November 03, 2003

 
To: Lowfish
You learn to become someone you’re not. When the music’s right, and the snow’s on the ground. When you get back to the big city and you’re the girl with the innocently blush cheeks, the unsolved face, and the wickedly intent eyes. Curious. You learn how to walk across the threshold, into a full room, and become the one who owns the space. The one who fills it. All. Steals your own. Bodies, swaying, dancing, reclined, intoxicated - your entrance is an alert. It’s not electricity that stops them, you don’t know what it is that stops them. But they do. Stop. In a way. Unless you’re right there it’s difficult to imagine. But they do stop. For a moment. Just long enough to regulate theirs beats, and then continue. All sideways glances, and unclaimed brushes. This is a night to take. Doesn’t every grrl feel like this every once in a while? Isn’t this a kind of power? This sexuality. This primal, tricky persuasion. Tonight I am the most powerful woman in the room. You can feel it.
With unsustained gratitude: Kyra
- posted by K. @ 8:54 p.m. |


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