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I am outraged.

This morning I was reading my newspaper and I was horrified to see various images of the Virginia Tech killer sprawled all over The Globe and Mail. The main article was about how the killer (who will remain nameless- I don't remember his name and I don't care to know it) sent a multi-media package to NBC in the mail between the first and second shootings. In this multi-media package he included text explaining his motivation and videos and pictures of him posing with various weapons- the way he wanted to be remembered. When I opened the newspaper, there was a two paged spread of pictures and images from this package.

I think it is disgusting that ANY media outlet would grant this killer's wishes by allowing these images to saturate the public. These images glorify the real horror he has produced, and give him the notoriety he was craving. Why why why would we grant him his dying wish, when his victim's weren't given the opportunity to think about their own dying wishes? This is a disgrace to the families of the victims. Not only that, but publishing his material could also be dangerous, as there is a risk his message could provide inspiration for other troubled people out there who may be considering putting their own names down in history.

There is no denying that the media needs to take some kind of responsibility for these kinds of school shootings. Many of these incidents are copycats of previous shootings, which means that the killers saw the coverage of one school shooting and used that coverage as encouragement. Now I am not suggesting that these events should not be reported on; an event so devastating should not be ignored; however, those who are reporting on the tragedy need to do so with some responsibility. We should be focusing on the acts of heroism and tributes to the young people who lost their lives.

I will end this post with a tribute to Liviu Librescu, an engineering professor who was just one of the 32 murdered during the rampage on Monday morning. Students said Librescu, 76, leaned against the door of his Virginia Tech classroom, blocking the path of the gunman. Librescu's actions gave his students enough time to climb out the window of his second-storey classroom. The gunman eventually got through the door and killed Librescu, but not before his students escaped.

His bravery and heroism is a story that we can look to for inspiration in our own lives. His story is worth telling, and his name is worth remembering.

Liviu Librescu.

I'm Outraged! - Gossip Girls!

"'Welcome to New York's Upper East Side, where my friends and I all live in huge, fabulous apartments and go to exclusive private schools. It's a luxury life, but someone's got to live it.'

This is the eighth book in the internationally bestselling series. It's almost graduation and the lives of New York's private high school elite are really heating up. Everyone's got into college and it's clearly time to party - not that they haven't been doing plenty of that already! Blair and Nate's relationship has moved on to a new level - but will the love affair continue? Or will Nate's love affair with his bong get in the way? Only time can tell how everyone will end up, bit one thing's for sure: love is in the air, and it smells a lot like Gucci envy."

That is a sample of what you can expect in the series "Gossip Girl" by Cecily von Ziegasar. With a target audience ranging from girls aged 11-20, these books are the latest teen craze. Now, as an English teacher, my policy has always been, if a student is reading ANY book, that's great. Until I actually picked one of these books up!

-advertisements galore

(Unfinished)

I'm Outraged! - Mobile Billboards??!??

Last summer, I was visiting a friend in Montreal. We were sitting on a patio in the gorgeous downtown area, when all of the sudden a billboard drove by for Heineken beer. Now, I'm NOT talking about a truck that happened to have some advertising on the side of it, I'm talking about a thin billboard that was being pulled around town, for the sole purpose of advertising.

The billboard was even thinner than the one you see in this picture, which looks like it could be possible to put something inside the truck. I have to admit, I was OUTRAGED! In this day and age, where the polar icecaps are being melted by the CO2 we are emitting at a mad pace, how can any company hire people just to DRIVE around all day? We are in an environmental crisis, yet companies like HEINEKEN are being socially irresponsible enough to contribute so profoundly to this huge problem.

So what did I do? I ranted a lot, and when I got home, I checked out Heineken's website, which had a lot of babble in it about how much they cared for the environment. I decided to email the head of public relations, and tell him that I was upset. He emailed me back ... and unfortunately I didn't keep the email, but it was basically "oh, yes, we will look into this matter... blah.. blah."

Perhaps encouraging, I tried to find a picture online of a Heinekin mobile billboard and couldn't, so maybe they stopped. Also, I found a petition from Toronto demanding that mobile billboards be illegal and a company boycott for companies that advertise this way. Check out the link! http://www3.sympatico.ca/alwaysweb/mobile_billboards.html.

And that my friends, is why I am outraged.