Why We Can't Say No: Addictions in Modern Culture

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - I'm no stranger to addicts as I live in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. For those who don't know, it's Canada's poorest neighbourhood and it swarming with alcoholics and drug addicts, many literally outside of my front doorstep. These people have been down in the gutters for so long that they've just come to accept the conditions that they remain in, even if it is the death of them. And even I, with my exposure to this problem, have an amount of disconnect from the situation and these people. After all, they are drug addicts and alcoholics, and I'm not. And the people who I spend time with and perceive as 'normal' are not. But that illusion was shattered... a number of times actually. I suppose it has to be shattered more than once because it is far too comfortable to keep these people at a distance. Comfort, unfortunately, is the enemy of progress.

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Branding Ourselves as Billboards

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - On a recent trip to Disneyland, I was perusing one of their many gift stores, looking for a personal memento of my trip there. I came across several amusing T-shirts, some plastered with Donald Duck in an unbecoming pose, while others had Mickey Mouse and his pals on a beach. As a lover of Disney, I thought about buying one, but ultimately I didn't. Granted, I have more than enough T-shirts already, but that wasn't the primary motivation for deciding against buying one. Most of the shirts had "Disneyland Resort" printed on the shirt, and while I really enjoy going to Disneyland, I didn't really want that printed on my shirt.

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