Haircuts for Lemmings

Yah, that's right: haircuts for lemmings. You read that correctly. And I'm serious. Except I'm the lemming.

Last year a few of my friends organized an event called Cut for a Cure, a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. Money was raised, pies were thrown, heads were shaved. It was a good time. I MCed, received no pies to the face, and didn't let the clippers near my head.

This year I'm joining in.

The event isn't until the spring, but the CCS accepts donations year round. I've set my goal as $250 (collectively, the UBCO group raised $8000ish last year), which is a pretty expensive haircut. Those of you who have me on Twitter (@jackerbie) have probably seen the link to my event profile page already, but I'll share it again for those non-Tweeters:

http://cancerevents.kintera.org/jackerbie

That's my quick schpiel. Now, have you ever been a social activist lemming? What for, why, and what became of it? I wanna know what else I can get into this year!

Fifteen Key Authors, expanded

Today I was tagged in one of those chain notes on Facebook. It wasn't about a girl with no nose or skin who might come kill me tomorrow night, or the plight of a legless, goatless boy in the mountains of Peru. No, it was a simple question: who are the 15 authors who have most influenced you?

Since I did an influence map a few days ago, I figured I might as well answer this question and post the results here. So, here goes, in no particular order.

Tad Williams. He writes really big books. Like, 700 pages apiece big. But ever since I read War of the Flowers for the first time (of five), I've been hooked on his writing.

Sergei Lukyanenko. Technically, I guess I haven't read any of his work. Rather, I had the joy of waiting around for his translators to make his original Russian novels available in English. He's my anti-Twilight.

C.S. Lewis. I grew up in a white, Christian family in the West. Need I say more?

Madeleine l'Engle. I started reading her work before I even had a clue what a mitochondria was, and loved her fiction even then. Now, I appreciate it so much more.

Ursula K. le Guin. She's a crazy lady, but in a good way. Most of the time. It isn't too often that I can apply gender theory so well to popular fiction.

R.A. Salvatore. Drizzt was one of my idols, no lie. And I'm pretty sure my Forgotten Realms books were passed around half of the male class population in grade 12.

Greg Keyes. I've only ever read a couple of his books, all for the Star Wars franchise. Really, it isn't him who is impacting, but the quotes in his novels. Foremost: "Everything I tell you is a lie. Every question I ask you is a trick. You will find no truth in me." Sound familiar?

J.R.R. Tolkien. Again, I grew up in a white Christian household in the West. 'Nuff said.

Dr. Seuss. There was a time when I could recite some of his entire works by rote. I also studied one of his books in first year English. Rad, eh?

John C. Wright. I only just discovered his novels last summer, on account of the awesome cover art, and luckily the writing was as good as the art. His work with Greek mythology makes me squee like a schoolgirl.

Homer. Where would I be without the Odyssey? Seriously.

Banana Yoshimoto. I think she might have the same vague obsession with windows as I do. With her work, you're never quite sure if you're getting fiction or not.

Lewis Carroll. Every day I look at an excerpt of his, regarding the ability to believe impossible things. Apparently the Queen can believe six impossible things before breakfast, and that impressive.

Murakami Ryu. I've only read one of his novels, but I'll be on the lookout for more fersuure. His imagery will stick with me for a long, long time, twisted as it is.

H.P. Lovecraft. Gotta love me some Cthulhu!

So, that's my list. Care to share an author or two of your own? Think of it as a sort of book swap, minus the books. Savvy?

my Influence Map

Have you ever taken a step back and asked why you are who you are? It's not really something you think about too often. It's not something I think about too often. But now is not often; I just pondered those thoughts.

The result? This:

please click for full size view

Pretty nifty, eh? It took some work to put together, and even more work to actually think about. I tried very hard to use only photos that I have taken, but that started to limit the representation of my influences. Here's a bit of an explanation for each one, frame by frame.

Spirituality: I was raised in the Seventh Day Adventist church and attended Christian elementary and high school, so religion played a big part in my development. But not just Christianity, or just religion: I've taken bits and pieces of other philosophies, too, probably like the majority of people out there. (photo by me)

Chris Corner: He's a musician, the front man of IAMX and co-founder of the disbanded group Sneaker Pimps. As with the other artists on this map, it's his way with words that has influenced me most, as well as the messages in his lyrics. (photo by Vera Hofmann)

Sia Furler: Another musician, Sia embodies the childlike, carefree, but mature and political adult. She is outspoken in both her art and in her public life. (promotional photo, no listed creator)

Metric: A Canadian band, with singer Emily Haines at the front. Really, I think it is Emily who influences me the most, but I have to give the rest of the band credit, too. I could listen to their latest album Fantasies all day, and frequently do. (photo by me)

Star Wars: Do I really have to explain this one? The films, the books, the entire mythos behind it all. I was raised on Lucas Arts, and continue to be influenced by the franchise today. (photo by We Made This Ltd.)

t.A.T.u.: I always get lots of flak for enjoying the group t.A.T.u. Most people recognize the girls from their two (English) hits in North America, few know that they lasted as a group for ten years. Once their presence completely faded away in North America I knew I'd never be able to see them perform live. I beat that impossibility, though, by seeing them in Italy while backpacking. (photo by me)

Greek Myth: Besides being a Star Wars nut when I was a kid, I had a major soft spot for Greek mythology. I adored the stuff. I read Homer's Odyssey for fun, only to read it again in AP Literature and then bang my head against my desk in second year English because no-one knew what it was about. (photo by me)

UBC Okanagan: Where do I even start with this one? Moving away from Vic has probably been the single most impacting thing I have ever done in my 21 years of life. It completely changed the direction of my education, earned me a tonne of new friends that I know I can count on for almost anything, taught me so much about myself through living with (completely rad) room mates each year, and given me so many opportunities to experience things I never would have tried if I had stayed in Vic. That about sums it up. (photo by UBC)

Mirrors: I should probably also add windows. I have a strange fascination with them, and both often show up as motifs in my writing. (photo by me)

Island Living: Whenever I need an excuse and don't have anything valid, I usually just retort with, "It's 'cause I'm an island boy." (photo by me)

Home: What do I need to say about this one? My family has had a significant impact on me, and will continue to. I have amazing parents who are determined to present me with every available opportunity that approaches, and a sister who is pretty much my best friend. That, and my family (including me) is rather cooking-oriented, so I'm never starved for baked goods. Ever. (photo by me)

Now, what has influenced or impacted you? Feel free to answer in the comments, or write your own post about it. You can find a blank template for the Influence Map here.

Purple Shirts and Social Causes

If you have Facebook, you've probably seen at least one event in the past few days about wearing purple of the 20th of October. You might be "attending" one, you might have ignored it. You might not even be sure what this whole purple thing is about.

Well, I'm here to tell you.

Over the past few months, six young men have lost their lives to suicide because of bullying. These individuals were bullied because of their sexual orientation, and each of their lives were ruined and eventually taken by the actions of their peers.

So on October 20th, people are rallying against bullying by throwing on a purple shirt. The organizer calls it Spirit Day. It's easy to do, and, although it doesn't do too much by itself, it shows solidarity and support, and raises awareness among youth. Some of you might remember the pink shirt campaigns to combat bullying: supporting a child who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to his school. These boys didn't stick out because of the shirts they wore, they "stuck out" because of personal choices they each made.

I'm taking this day a step further.

As I mentioned, wearing a purple shirt won't do too much to combat attitudes toward various lifestyle choices. At my school, the University of British Columbia, I'm organizing a Free Hug Day event on the 20th, to coincide with the Spirit Day event. With help from our Pride Resource Centre on campus, I hope to be able to not only show support and hug some people, but also deliver information and resources to those who need or want it.

I encourage all of you to support the purple shirt event, and to become involved in local LGBTQQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer, questioning, and ally) organizations throughout the year. Note that "A" on the end: it stands for "Ally." An ally is anyone, regardless of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, who stands up for the human and civil rights of LGBTQ people.

Now, if you don't mind, I have some planning and networking to do

update, Oct 8th: It seems that I'm not the only one looking to run an event on campus that day. October 20th will now host a 2-part event: the aforementioned Free Hug Day, hopefully with the Pride Centre and the Equity Office on hand, as well as an equality and diversity night in one of our residence buildings, again with the Pride Centre and Equity Office present. Maybe we'll even rent the campus theatre and show Rent afterwards. This is snowballing so quickly!

wristband photo by me

Resolutions, an Update

So a week-ish back I posted a list of things I want to work on over this school year: my New School Year Resolutions. Here's how I'm doing so far:

I have a few post card recipients lined up. All I need to do is purchase the cards. My aim is to pick some up while I'm in Victoria for the Thanksgiving weekend.

The running hasn't started yet. I'm still playing volleyball twice a week, and am slowly getting back into a yoga routine, though. Once I re-establish a decent sleep pattern things should get easier.

In my cupboard I have whole grain pasta, spinach pasta, and brown rice. Fibre, check.

A week isn't really enough time to "branch out" from the staples. Besides, I did a lot of eating out this past week. However, I also ate in at my friend Kalun's place the other night, so that's another goal covered.

In my opinion this blog counts as writing. Plus, I've been throwing the odd work onto Protagonize, and responded to a few of the prompts on Marc's Daily Writing Practice. Who knows, I might actually make an attempt at NaNoWriMo this year.

The name game is making very slow progress. Like, at a snail's pace. But, remember that I proclaimed the snail to be a devoted and hard-working creature. I'll get there.

I've also succeeded on eating less more often. Really, this equates to me eating more, which is the end goal. I've also taken up breakfast again. What would I do without cinnamon raisin bagels? Here's what: go to Timmy's every morning.

Finally, the complimenting. I'm a green, as you all know now from my True Colours post, so I don't really do the whole touchy-feely thing. I've gotten better with the whole hugging concept (y'know, reciprocating the hug and all), but I'm still not a compliment-er. Maybe I should just scratch that one off the list and make it "Give sincere hugs more." Meh.

My True Colours

EDIT: You can take a more in-depth version of the True Colours test here, for free.

Ever done a personality test? I've had the "joy" of doing three or four different ones throughout my academic and working career, and they usually take a while. They're also usually spooky accurate.

The most recent one I did is called the True Colors test. For the sake of my Canadian-ness I'll be calling it True Colours.

What True Colours told me is that I am a green foremost, with orange and gold in the middle and absolutely no blue. I imagine that my father (I know you're reading this) is a green as well, possibly an orange, maybe a gold. But not a blue. My mother is probably a blue. Knowing people's colour allows you to gauge how they wish to be interacted with, particularly what sort of guidance or feedback they need.

So enough about what it is, here's the short version of the test:

To do this test, rank the groups of words in each row (that's horizontal, folks) from 1 to 4, with higher numbers indicating that you identify with those words or feel that they are important. At the end, add up your numbers to figure out your score for each colour. Usually, one colour will come out significantly higher than the rest, but not always! One of my friends ended up with a score of 16 in three of the four colours.

For reference, here's what mine looks like:

See how overwhelmingly green I am?

As a note of interest, I completed this test with a group of co-workers, about 26 of us total. Those of us who had a high green streak completed the test more quickly, in general, than those with a blue streak. Why? 'Cause the blue individuals were busy thinking about each word while the greens mostly reacted to them.

Now, the colours get broken down like into different personality types; saying that you're green doesn't really mean anything unless you know the significance of the category. In short, orange is spontaneous and adventuresome, said to live in the present. Gold is regimented and orderly, often scheduling far into the future. Those who are blue are driven by emotions and feelings, they like to talk things out and come to ideal solutions. Finally, green is rational and accurate, valuing knowledge and competency.

Get it?

So the next time you're speaking with someone, remember what your standpoint is: a blue will use different language than a green will. It's theoretical stuff, but helpful. I would know, I'm a green.