Thursday, June 26, 2008

me no thinky

Every once in a while I try to do a thinky post, and it just doesn't work. I'm just not a thinky blogger. So instead I'll just share a few random ruts my brain's been getting stuck in.

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It seems like not many rich people volunteer at the Drop-In Centre, except for people affiliated with a church. Catholics tend to actually volunteer, and I've seen people of a few other denominations bring in a pot of soup. Apparently, a few families at the local Seventh Day Adventist Church take turns making a pot of soup each week. Isn't that nice? But where are the rich agnostics and atheists (and by rich, I mean well above the poverty line, able to own or consider owning a home, perhaps a white-collar worker)?

I guess a lot of professionals volunteer on boards and stuff where they can build their network and enhance their careers. I suspect that serving coffee to people with low or no income is not particularly career-building. Mind you, there's also very little risk of it being career-limiting.

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Based on a sample of exactly two people, I have come to the conclusion that recovering drug addicts, early in their recovery, are high on sobriety. I wonder if those two will be able to maintain their commitment when the novelty wears off?

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I can be horribly judgmental. The other day I saw a brand shiny new Porsche Carrera (or something snazzy like that) with a license plate that said YASMINE. Is it unfair that immediately I didn't like the driver/owner?

My recoil wasn't quite as intense as a few weeks back when I saw a black SUV with the license, HOTT MD. Now THAT's a person I most definitely don't want to meet -- especially not in a doctor's office when I'm sick and vulnerable.

But the worst words I've seen on a car were on a bumper sticker that said "I wasn't born a bitch. Men like you made me this way." Another person I'm grateful I don't know...

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Yesterday, I watched an interesting multimedia project featuring 8 photographers in 9 countries shooting 30 people before and 4 months after starting anti-retro-viral treatment for AIDS. There are apparently 9 videos, but I only watched the one in South Africa. It gave me chills and made me cry, although it's not really sad. I just always get chills and cry whenever I hear South African music and think about all the shit that South African people have dealt with and yet still they sing, still they dance. And here we are, having a much easier time of it over in North America, and all we do is sit on our couches, watch tv, play video games, and surf the net. There's something seriously wrong with that picture. Please go check it out.

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Imagekind has another sale on: 25 percent off frames until July 7, if you're interested. Just remember to enter the promo code, JULY42008, when you check out. If you want to buy any of my work, whether cards or images, you can look through the work I have at peripheralvision.ca and click on the image you want to complete the purchase at Imagekind. I'm still donating 50 percent of the proceeds to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

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I LOVED SYTYCD last night. I'm really digging Mark and Chelsie, which is a total surprise, and Joshua and Katie were just awesome. I also really liked Twitch and Kherrington and Kourtni and Matt. Oh! And Gev and Courtney are pretty cute too. What did you think?

16 comments:

Beck said...

I like Kherrington, but her name makes me need to lay down on the floor and weep silently.

Religious people donate more money to charities and volunteer more of their time. Most of the volunteer things I've ever done, regardless of what they were, were made up largely of religious people.

cinnamon gurl said...

I was totally going to say something about Kherrington's name but then I suddenly doubted my taste, and thought maybe I was alone, so I didn't.

And that volunteering trend really doesn't reflect well on non-religious people. Step up, folks!

Janet said...

I think putting bumper stickers on one's car is always a bad idea. It prompts people to form opinions of you based on a one-liner. I did the same thing when I saw "hot mama" on a bumper sticker thingy the other week.

Hey! Maybe my hot mama is related to your HOTT MD!

Mouse said...

Churches are good at organizing groups and most atheists don't have a community like that which will say, "Here's the plan, please sign up."

Trillian and I do give a decent amount of money to charities and in the past I volunteered frequently at Scooter's school. I'm currently checking out opportunities here. We are also part of a brand-new atheist parenting group that will be trying to organize some volunteer activities.

One of the limiters for me is finding an opportunity that is not affiliated with a church or that does not have a large church presence. Those make me very uncomfortable. Although I don't know a lot about where you're volunteering, your descriptions indicate enough of a religious presence that I probably wouldn't go there. A personal hang-up of mine, but one that a number of atheists I've met share.

cinnamon gurl said...

Mouse, I hadn't thought of that perspective. Yes, the woman in charge of the Drop In Centre is a nun. But she's so down to earth, it hadn't occurred to me that the Church involvement would be a detriment to non-religious people. My point was that the vast majority of volunteers have pretty low-incomes, and I don't think many of them go to a church (or at least the ones I volunteer with don't because I volunteer on Sunday mornings).

Mommy C said...

I remember that Mr Renus used to tell us about a red sports car that always passed him on the 401. Its plate read "hubris". I never forgot that.

Bea said...

During the school year this year, I often pulled into the parking lot right behind a car with "FTR PM" on the license plate. I never knew whether to sneer at the driver or pity him.

My Imagekind print arrived today! It's so beautiful - but urgh, I missed the sale!

Mad said...

Every once in a while I do write a thinky post and I don't reckon I'm a thinky person at all. Heaven help us. It's like that time my friend asked me if I was an agressive driver or a nervous driver and I answered, "nervous agressive." Aiiieee.

I know the "high on sobriety" trend to which you refer. I have seen a similar trend in dieters.

Now I will have to check out that AIDS project even though, technically, doing so will involve more Western, middle class web surfing. Ah, the ironies.

Run ANC said...

What I'd be most worried about was the fact that the "Hott MD" doesn't know how to spell.

cinnamon gurl said...

Bea, that was you? But will it match your paint??? What if you change your paint chips again??? ;)

Aliki2006 said...

I always get turned off by things I see on bumper stickers--all the time, especially here in the South.

You've written some great thinky posts! I know what you mean, though--sometimes I feel the pressure but just can't get it done.

Kyla said...

I was behind the most offensive vehicle I've ever seen the other day. I won't even repeat the bumper stickers, they were mostly sexually derogatory male chauvinistic bullshit, but I felt my blood pressure rise noticeably. And to top it off, he had those truck testicles hanging from the bumper. Sigh. I hate truck testicles.

Hannah said...

Every morning on my commute I used to see the same red Miata with the vanity plate "my baby". Drove me nuts. I had formed several pre-conceived notions about the female driver based on that stupid license plate. I mentioned it in casual conversation with Michael's co-worker and she burst out laughing... because the car is her sister's, and her sister really IS a status-obsessed, social-climbing gal with no kids and many possessions she can't actually afford.

Sometimes it sucks to be right. ;)

I am a big fan of Kherington & Twitch, Joshua & Katie are great, Mark & Chelsea too. But can I say, for the record, that I thought Chris got shafted a bit? I don't think he was ever as bad as the judges said.

Bon said...

i'm late but can't resist.

a) Kherrington and Kourtni (or whatever the actual abominations of spelling that are their names) are lovely dancers, but like Beck, i want to weep when i think of what's been done to the poor letters in their handles.

b) volunteering...i think it's one of those places where class affiliations intersect with religion, and the only truly wealthy folk who tend to have connections to places like drop-in centres find them through church or temple networks, if at all.

i share the same "want to volunteer but am nervous about infrastructures that are heavily church-based" feelings that Mouse does, though once i get off bedrest i am getting started at the local soup kitchen. so i say. ;)

Anonymous said...

I always think of you as one of the most Thinkiest of Thinky Bloggers.

Elizabeth said...

Thanks for your comments on South Africa. Why does it often seem that people who face more adversity in life are in many ways more joyful and greatful, while those who live in comfort have a sense of entitlement? (Huge generalization there, obviously, but something I've pondered often.)