<p>I can feel the smirk growing on my face already! I’ll have to check out what Jeph Jacques at QC has recommended lately. Right now, I’ve moved onto Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and they seem nice and energetic.</p>
<p>Strokes and Regina Spektor?! That sounds like a cornucopia of awesome.</p>
<p>Hi everyone…I’m afriad I’ve just discovered that I am dying.</p>
<p>School has been poisoning me with small doses all these years, and now I lay on my deathbed, nearly pressed to death with by my piles of textbooks and binders stuffed with notes and homework…</p>
<p>So I trust everyone is well.</p>
<p>RANDOM STORY <em>IGNORE</em></p>
<p>I’ve been wasting time in the most educational ways possible (aside from CC, of course) since I got home from school. For example, digging through my parents’ old paperwork, I came across this old census form belonging to my aunt…It was interesting, because the race box was checked as “White,” and I was somewhat surprised to see that South Asians were included in this category. Being the naturally curious person that I am, I decided to do research into the matter and discovered the illustrious history of Indian-Americans and their transitions from being black to “Hindoo” to white to Asian.</p>
<p>Yes, we are diversity crammed into one neat little package. Alamode would understand 
I just had to share that with you all.</p>
<p>END OF RANDOM STORY</p>
<p>In other news…yes I used to live in Canada to whoever was wondering. I’ve been to Toronto (birthplace/former residence), Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton…never Vancouver, so no help there…</p>
<p>Music - I have no taste in music. Well, actually, I’m pretty eclectic when it comes to preferences. I’m going through my parents’ collection right now… Simon & Garfunkel ;)</p>
<p>omg we have left the realm of music that mls comprehends.</p>
<p>Hey, alamode! I’m excited to say that I know Jack penate, but I only know his one song by the name of “we all spit at stars,” which I don’t much appreciate.
He’s actually signed to the Beggar label, which has contracts with two other artists I like: Vampire Weekend and St. Vincent. Ever heard of them?</p>
<p>Jacques likes Heavy Metal and Daft Punk too much for me to follow his music advice, cira. (:</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad Panic. You’re supposed to feel excluded if we’re doing it right.</p>
<p>Some of it is tolerable in smaller doses. Mogwai is nice, they have some really pretty stuff. I think I also like some kind of deconstructed post-rock? As long as it doesn’t start sounding too much like music they play during fashion shows.</p>
<p>Hey, wink! Nice to know you were/are a Canadian. We were talking briefly before of the prospects of trips across the world, and Canada came up. From now on, you are the President of the Board of Canadian Information for this thread. Does anyone object?</p>
<p>Uh…okay…</p>
<p>I used to have this super-cool backpack with a Canadian maple leaf on it. My teachers and other other kids always kind of stared at it oddly; I don’t know why. Maybe they thought it was a red marijuana leaf or something.</p>
<p>Moving off topic…
There was one time (just after I had moved to the U.S.) when I almost got suspended for wearing “hate paraphrenalia” (i.e. a Swastika) for a “diversity day” project; we were all supposed to share something about our cultures, and I chose the swastika…
It was an interesting experience. Talk about a culture clash!</p>
<p>right…and i still have not studied physics i was looking up cryogenics instead :)</p>
<p>Are you planning to freeze yourself, mls? And I’m actually being serious.</p>
<p>no i find that sorta creepy right now. i really just wanted to know if walt disney was really frozen, he wasnt 
but then i started clicking. you know how it is with wiki.
you?</p>
<p>Cryogenics! There is a lab right by where I live…
I think it’s one of four in the country (unless more have been built).</p>
<p>Something like that actually happened in my school today, wink. A student was wearing a confederate flag on his shirt and the teacher, who is a fairly old black woman, told him it was offensive and to never wear it to school again because she didn’t like it.</p>
<p>So, who thinks that the teacher was right/wrong?</p>
<p>Also, why did you wear a swastika? Is it a part of your culture?</p>
<p>and out of pure curiousity what does the swastika have to do with Canada?</p>
<p>I think I’d rather die… Our life on earth is only really validated by the relationships we build. I’d hate to have to start everything over again years in the future, it seems like it would be so hard.</p>
<p>i know it has something to do with indian culture but it is turned different from the nazi affiliated one i think.</p>
<p>though she was wrong, i understand her actions. i mean chances are she went through some gnarl-y stuff when she was younger. i myself have some dislike for that particular flag, which doesnt work out when you go to school in davie.</p>
<p>In respect to the cryogenics question, I have no intention in prolonging the inevitable. I wan this all to end one day. It’s also a reason that I’m atheist; most religions promise eternal life, which I don’t want. What makes life valuable is it’s brevity. Why would anything matter if you always had a second chance?</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I think my teacher was wrong, and I hate myself for not speaking up. Either everything goes, or nothing goes. No matter how offensive something is, we must accept it as a part of reality that we cannot ignore. Also, these things are so offensive because they are so rare. If wearing a shirt with a confederate flag was commonplace, no one would be shocked, but by hiding away that which you did not approve of, you are making it stronger.</p>
<p>I’m going to go eat some banana pudding. Be back soon.</p>
<p>Panic -</p>
<p>Swastikas have nothing to do with Canada, it was just a random association I made because a lot people seemed to think that having a Canadian maple leaf on my backback made me a marijuana addict (can no one tell the difference between cannibis and an innocent leaf?).</p>
<p>The swastika was the Indian symbol (i.e. not turned) but it has come to have very negative connotations and social stigmas in America, which I was not aware of in 3rd grade because I’d never had any problem with sharing that part of my culture in the past in Canada.</p>
<p>To answer Hudson’s question, the teacher was wrong…but no more wrong than my Chemistry teacher was for making a student turn his pro-beer t-shirt inside out last year. Somehow, free speech tends to lose all meaning at school doors. But I can understand her sentiments…
But personal feelings should not dictate the rules/law code.</p>
<p>Anyone still here?</p>
<p>3rd grade brutal. i can imagine.
and yeah i remember my world history teacher putting it on the board and people were looking at her like “umm Mrs.” (she was blonde and had blue eyes)</p>
<p>“But personal feelings should not dictate the rules/law code.”
Yes! This succinctly states the point I was trying to make(you always do that with my arguments. I’m jealous). (:</p>
<p>Have you guys heard about these “free speech zones?” At almost every popular historic site, free speech is effectively banned, and is only allowed at a specified area, which is always practically across the street from the historic site.
The argument for these laws is to protect the rights of the tourists not to be accosted by protesters trying to peddle their opinion. Opinions?</p>