A woman's worth; Overreaction to tasteless comment
Bugle-Observer
Tue Dec 8 2009
Page: A4
Section: Opinion
Byline: Katelin Dean
"Girls, we need to make more babies or we will never be able to support our future," York MLA Carl Urquhart wrote on his Facebook page the other day much to the chagrin of Liberal MLA Joan MacAlpine-Stiles.
Though it wasn't the most intelligent comment in the world and I agree with some criticism of this statement, I think McAlpine-Stiles blew it out of proportion to steer attention away from her decision to support the premier's plan to sell NB Power.
Of course I think it's wrong to imply that a woman's only role is to pop babies out. I also realize that with baby boomers well on their way to retirement, the province requires tax dollars from a workforce to fill the financial void that will be created. This workforce can be created by increasing the population in the traditional sense - through procreation. Or, the government can work harder on immigration and bring forth population growth that way.
And, as a political figure, Urquhart should have been much more conscientious while posting on his Facebook page.
Though, as someone who uses Facebook and writes a blog, we often post these things without really examining the repercussions. My guess is that Urquhart was looking to the future of the province and realized population needs to grow to maintain the tax dollars that are coming in. When posting on Facebook or a blog or Twitter or some other social networking tool, a quick thought can be expressed and broadcast in a few seconds.
As a female MLA from the opposite party, MacAlpine-Stiles swiftly criticized Urquhart's statement, as she should have.
What I find troubling was the timing.
In the same day, I read the story about her chastising him regarding his insensitive comment and then, further down on the page, read a story about how she has decided to vote with her party regarding the sale of NB Power. She originally told the media she hadn't read the MOU and would vote with her conscious when she decided. It's so convenient she was able to wave a shiny object - a woman's rights issue - to detract from something much more prevalent.
The sale of NB Power is an extremely heated and much-debated issue in the province right now.
While she found what Urquhart said "unspeakably offensive," many in the province would find her decision to vote in favour of the sale of NB Power equally as offensive and there's no doubt in my mind that she'd have some concept of the political gravity of her decision.
While I am well aware of how hard women have worked for equality and to shed the image of being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, I think using a woman's issue to detract from another political decision is offensive to me as an egalitarian.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
As appearing in Dec. 1's Bugle-Observer
Since the bugle-observer is offline, i decided to post today's column here.
By Katelin Dean
John Lennon said, "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
In high school I didn't have many friends, though there were phases that were pretty typical of a teenage girl.
One time, I was excited about four girls who let me hang out with them during school and my mom let me invite the four of them over for a sleepover in Grade 9.
We stayed up most of the night talking about boys we had crushes on, putting make up on each other and watching movies.
It, incidentally, was the weekend Tim Hortons' introduced Iced Cappuccinos, and we lived within walking distance to a Tim Hortons.
Picture this: five 14-year-old girls, too much caffeine and talking about what our lives would be like when we were older.
We talked about getting married to the boy of our dreams (or at least who we thought was cute at the time), having kids and having wonderful careers.
I know I had it all planned out.
I was going to marry the French horn player from my high school band. We were going to have a terrific swing band – comprised of the people in our high school band – play our wedding reception and over 200 people would be there to see us celebrate our undying love for one another.
Then, after our honeymoon in Rome, we would come back and I was going to be a civil engineer – just like my dad – and he would be a professor.
I planned for us to have one child when I turned 25. Her name was going to be Abbey Rae – named after my two grandfathers. I wanted to have Abbey at 25, so I would still be fairly young when she went off to university because the French horn player and I would still have a lot of living left to do.
This, of course, was unbeknownst to him. But to me, once I admitted it to these four girls, it was real.
It seems hilarious now, as a 26-year-old single gal
I maintained a fairly close friendship with two of these for ladies for the past 12 years, though it has been sporadic, and they came to visit me this weekend.
Just before going to sleep on Saturday night, we reminisced about the over-caffienated sleepover so many years ago and how our lives are so much different than we had planned.
If you're reading this column, you know that I'm not designing bridges for you to drive on as a civil engineer.
As for the French horn player, he is playing bass in a reasonably popular pop/rock band in Halifax and is in a long-term relationship with a woman he met after university.
And as for me, I am super single with no immediate plans of entering a relationship or having little Abbey Rae.
Until fairly recently, I worried about when I was going to marry and have kids, but now, I'm just living life and having a good time.
Though it's different from the plan I had originally crafted as a young teenager, my life is working out pretty well overall.
John Lennon was right.
By Katelin Dean
John Lennon said, "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
In high school I didn't have many friends, though there were phases that were pretty typical of a teenage girl.
One time, I was excited about four girls who let me hang out with them during school and my mom let me invite the four of them over for a sleepover in Grade 9.
We stayed up most of the night talking about boys we had crushes on, putting make up on each other and watching movies.
It, incidentally, was the weekend Tim Hortons' introduced Iced Cappuccinos, and we lived within walking distance to a Tim Hortons.
Picture this: five 14-year-old girls, too much caffeine and talking about what our lives would be like when we were older.
We talked about getting married to the boy of our dreams (or at least who we thought was cute at the time), having kids and having wonderful careers.
I know I had it all planned out.
I was going to marry the French horn player from my high school band. We were going to have a terrific swing band – comprised of the people in our high school band – play our wedding reception and over 200 people would be there to see us celebrate our undying love for one another.
Then, after our honeymoon in Rome, we would come back and I was going to be a civil engineer – just like my dad – and he would be a professor.
I planned for us to have one child when I turned 25. Her name was going to be Abbey Rae – named after my two grandfathers. I wanted to have Abbey at 25, so I would still be fairly young when she went off to university because the French horn player and I would still have a lot of living left to do.
This, of course, was unbeknownst to him. But to me, once I admitted it to these four girls, it was real.
It seems hilarious now, as a 26-year-old single gal
I maintained a fairly close friendship with two of these for ladies for the past 12 years, though it has been sporadic, and they came to visit me this weekend.
Just before going to sleep on Saturday night, we reminisced about the over-caffienated sleepover so many years ago and how our lives are so much different than we had planned.
If you're reading this column, you know that I'm not designing bridges for you to drive on as a civil engineer.
As for the French horn player, he is playing bass in a reasonably popular pop/rock band in Halifax and is in a long-term relationship with a woman he met after university.
And as for me, I am super single with no immediate plans of entering a relationship or having little Abbey Rae.
Until fairly recently, I worried about when I was going to marry and have kids, but now, I'm just living life and having a good time.
Though it's different from the plan I had originally crafted as a young teenager, my life is working out pretty well overall.
John Lennon was right.
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