Moving on over!

This blog is now dormant. Check out JaimeWoo.com instead!

Thanks

Jaime

but for today i am a boy

There is little more dreadful for a parent than unintentionally hurting one's own child. There is little more traumatic for a child than having something they dearly want taken away from them. A Toronto psychologist is under fire for recommending controversial treatments which some believe cause just that.

A heartbreaking NPR documentary released this week tells the story of two families struggling with the gender identities of their children. "Bradley" is a young Toronto boy under the care of CAMH head psychologist Dr. Ken Zucker, while Jonah lives on the U.S. West Coast, and has been studied by Dr. Diane Ehrensaft. Both children were born biological males but are likely transgendered, yet the message being sent by the children's therapists couldn't be more different—Jonah is being allowed to live as a little girl in accordance with his wishes, whereas Bradley is being forced to reject everything even remotely feminine in an attempt to suppress his impulses.

Transgendered people have a gender conflict between brain and body—the characteristic "trapped in the body of another"—and some may even feel that their gender isn't a binary male or female, but falls on a continuum between the sexes. It's an oversimplification, but transmen and transwomen tend to feel much more comfortable when living a closer approximation to how they feel inside, even if it potentially subjects them to ignorance, ridicule, and violence from society at large. With transkids, who require adults to make decisions for them, questions arise of how to treat gender conflict at such an early age, or even if it requires treatment at all.

This is a great article by Marc. Read more at Torontoist...

sex and the city overload

Carrie and friends are everywhere and anywhere, from magazines to the radio to on the side of buildings, all in anticipation of the new movie. I however will be staying home on Friday and Saturday while Sarah Jessica Parker thrills the people who just gotta be first! Not me.

Why? Find out here at Torontoist.

very cool cannes!

From IMDB:

Cannes' Eyes Wide Open for 'Blindness'

For only the second time in the 61-year history of the Cannes Film Festival, a Canadian film has been selected as the opening-night film. Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God) will kick off the 12-day festival on May 14. The film features an international cast, including Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Danny Glover of the U.S.; Gael Garcia Bernal of Mexico; Sandra Oh of Canada; and Yusuke Iseya of Japan. It concerns an international epidemic that causes blindness in its victims. (Many of the actors wore contact lenses that blocked their vision.) The Toronto Star reported today (Tuesday) that the film will also compete for the festival's Palme d'Or prize, unusual for an opening-night movie. (It was not among those on the list of competition films released by the festival last week.) Blindness is the first Canadian film to open the prestigious festival since Fantastica, from Quebec director Gilles Carle, did so in 1980.

gen-y, get tough!

I thought this video from CNN Money on the lack of confidence by Gen Y-ers made a lot of sense. I'm not sure if I'd go so far to think of Gen Y-ers as idiots, since it's too early and too generalized a statement. Isn't any generation entering the workforce going to be, by nature, struggling to adjust?

go ahead, slack off

We're overworked, overstressed, over-everything (except paid, right?). So, give your brain some rest... to produce the best ideas, says this CNN article:

What scientists have only recently begun to realize is that people may do their best thinking when they are not concentrating on work at all. If you've ever had a great idea pop into your head while you were washing your car, walking your dog, or even napping, you already know what a team of Dutch psychologists revealed last month in the journal Science: The unconscious mind is a terrific solver of complex problems when the conscious mind is busy elsewhere or, perhaps better yet, not overtaxed at all.

And, off to the coffee room I go!

don't be a jerk, howard hampton

Media-unsavvy NDP leader Howard Hampton shoots himself in the foot by distancing himself from the TTC strike situation. Torontonians were stranded downtown after the surprise midnight strike, eschewing public safety for union worker safety, which is pretty selfish. Hampton replied today by saying:

"There's still a good possibility here that there'll be a negotiated settlement"

"It would be terribly irresponsible for me to say that no matter what's in the legislation that we'll support it."

"This is not about power, this is about trying to achieve a good result, through a good process."

"Everybody would prefer that things unfold as planned, but as you know, things unfolded in ways you don't plan."

Brilliant, Hampton. Based on the selected quotes, there wasn't an ounce of compassion for stranded Torontonians. Good to see the NDP cares more for $27 per hour union workers than the public. He's so vague and fuzzy on everything he says when at this time we need decisive action.

What the hell does that last quote even mean? It could be applied to anything. Oops, we've sold out of Harry Potter books. What do you think, Howard Hampton?

"Everybody would prefer that things unfold as planned, but as you know, things unfolded in ways you don't plan."

It looks like it'll rain today and I wanted a picnic. Hampton?

"Everybody would prefer that things unfold as planned, but as you know, things unfolded in ways you don't plan."

Holy crap! We're being attacked by aliens! Howard???

"Everybody would prefer that things unfold as planned, but as you know, things unfolded in ways you don't plan."

Riiiight.

gas hurts

With gas prices rising, Saverist at Torontoist, my money column, will look at how to put back some money back into your pocket. Watch for it Wednesday.