December 6th will forever be historic

Today is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. 20 years ago today, Marc Lépine killed 14 women (and injured 10 more women and 4 men) at the École Polytechnique in Montréal before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. He blamed feminism for ruining his life and his suicide note contained names of 19 Québecoises whom we considered feminists working in non-traditional jobs.

Even though these events will forever be marred in controversy, the point is that we should not forget what happened that day, and not necessarily because they were women, but because they were human beings. Whether you agree or disagree with the politics, 14 innocent lives were lost that day and whichever way it's cut, that's hard to swallow.

I remember when I was younger, in elementary and even high school, that every December 6th an announcement was made in commemoration of the events that took place. As we stood there in silence, not all of us understanding what feminism even was (at least in elementary school), I know that not a single one of us would have liked a person carrying a gun to come into our school.

Although I don't have the P.A. system reminding me of the tragic events, that's no reason to forget.

For more info on the Montéal Massacre, see here

Pappalardo x Product (RED)

Continuing with the idea of acknowledging that HIV/AIDS exists 365 days a year, I'm sure you've all heard of PRODUCT (RED) products (which range from Gap clothing to iPods to Dell computers to Hallmark cards). Although these products will not eradicate the issue, they develop a sense of consumer consciousness with the hopes that they'll research the cause that their products are advertising.

The newest (RED) product is a Converse sneaker designed by skateboarder Anthony Pappalardo. From the picture it looks to be made of suede and it's a blue and white colourway with red trimming. Pappalardo's name is stiched on the side and on the back is a red heart. Personally, I like the detailed stitching around the tongue; it kind of looks like a spider web. To see more of these shoes, check out the promo video here.

And once in a while, to keep things interesting, I'd swap the blue laces for the (Nike)RED ones that just came out a couple of days ago.

Via Hypebeast

World Aids Day (a day late)

I know I'm a day late on this one but I crashed early last night and didn't get around to posting anything. Anyways, yesterday was World AIDS Day. Although typically associated as being prevalent in poor nations, HIV/AIDS is a big problem here in Canada too. I looked up some statistics on HIV/AIDS and I'd like to share a few of them with you:

- 33.4 million people worldwide were infected with HIV at the end of 2008
- About 2/3 of those infected live in Sub-Saharan Africa where the adult prevalence rate is an astounding 5%
- At the end of 2005, 58,000 Canadians were infected with HIV (up from 50,000 in 2002)
- About 25% of all those infected actually became infected because they were not aware of the risk

In a way, posting this a day late just emphasizes the fact that HIV/AIDS is a serious problem and one day a year doesn't make up for the fact that those infected live with it, and the stigmatization that surrounds it, 365 days a year.

Stay educated because AIDS is a fairly preventable disease. Hopefully you already know the measures you can take to prevent the disease from spreading to you, but in case you don't or want to learn more, the UN has a great resource document and is available here

Statistics found here

Excerpts of Hope

31 years ago yesterday, Harvey Milk was assassinated by a former colleague. Luckily for the billions of people of all sexual orientations around the world, his messages and ideas live on. Whether you are straight, gay or otherwise, his words are powerful and stand for equality. He was a pioneer for the gay movement and equality in general and will continue to be remembered as such.

Sadly, this was the only video of his "Hope Speech" I could find, so please ignore the cheesy triumphant march music in the background.