Duxford Girl

Yipee, it's that time of the year again. For those of you who don't know what Lent is, it's the 40-day lead up to Easter. Supposedly Jesus went through a wander through the desert to find himself (because Europe hadn't been invented yet) and this was a long, miserable thing so Catholics celebrate this story by giving something up for 40 days. Hence the reason for Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. The day before Lent is meant to clean all the tasty crap out of your cupboards. Shiny plastic beads and booby flashing came later but I'm fuzzy on the biblical relevance of that.

Today is known as Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of Lent. While growing up Catholic, we usually had pancakes the Tuesday before at school (when indoctrinating children, fun is part of the formula) then on Wednesday, we'd write down our horrible sins on pieces of paper (guilt and fear would be the other part of the propaganda formula) that would then be burned, the ashes used to mark our foreheads in the sign of the cross.

It can happen to anyone and untreated depression can cause a person to shut out everybody.

For more on Bell's Let's Talk project: http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/

I like this advert.



It's a good time of year for Bell to run this campaign because it's a brutal time for those of us who live in parts northern and also suffer with a mental illness.

“told she was too fat to be anorexic”

“They told me that I was too fat to have an eating disorder and that I was cutting for attention”

“Come-on get over it and stop eating so much”

“I've been diagnosed with an eating disorder and my friends don't believe me because I'm still overweight”

These are only a few of the many quotes from a website entitled http://callbs.ca/#home. The purpose of this organisation is to bring awareness about the stigma and misunderstanding of mental illness among teens. It offers materials for awareness events and a wall where people can “Call BS” about various things that they have heard about their behaviour. It is an excellent project but as I browsed the site I was shocked to see how many people had written about eating disorders and the lack of understanding they received about the disorder.

This photo was recently posted on Facebook:



If you don't know who Honey Boo Boo is, take a look at this site:

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/here-comes-honey-boo-boo

The argument has been made that if a person doesn't want criticism, then they should not put their daily life on TV. The problem with this theory in this case is that the star of this latest reality TV 'train wreck' is a seven-year-old girl. Not only does this meme use a popular childrens' show to make its point, it's making fat jokes about a little girl. It's not funny, it's mean and it's bullying. Just because her parents have made the choice to put their family on TV does not mean that grown adults have the right to bully a young child.

Evil Scientist recently posted the following video on his FB feed and rather then re-post it, I've decided to blog about it because I have a lot to say on the subject.

As I was pulling up handfuls of crab-grass, the other day, I couldn't help but reflect on the people that got us in to this gardening mess. It's the British, there's no two ways about it. The minute they pull up a boat on to a foreign shore, they set about Britishing-up every thing.

Recently, Plus Model Magazine (an online publication: http://plus-model-mag.com) published an article dealing with the issues surrounding size in the fashion industry. Read the Daily Mail's take here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2085226/PLUS-Model-Magazines-Katya-Zharkova-cover-highlights-body-image-fashion-industry.html

The photos from the article have sparked all kinds of commentary, conversation and controversy. I've been reading comments left on the various articles written about the photos and I'd like to blog about the trends that I've seen popping up in some of these forms.

Why does the mere concept of Atheism irk people so badly? Ever since crawling out of my five-year depression and suddenly wanting to connect with people again, one of the things I've noticed in the world of social networking is there is a huge battle that exists between atheists and, well...believers of every various deity in the world. The “holy war” really heats up at this time of year.

Let me be clear. I have nothing against people who wish to believe in whatever religion they choose. It is a personal choice and for the most part, people who choose to practice do so in a moderate and private matter. It is the fanatics that I have a problem with. Religious dogma has no place in politics, law or any other discipline that effects the general population. One wonders if the people who are fighting so vehemently for “Intelligent Design” to be taught in school would be equally as thrilled if ALL religious creationism myths were added to the curriculum.