I Rant on Your Grave
Hey Guelph! Thanks for
voting!
Or at least that’s I would say if more than
one-third of you actually gave a damn and voted.
But seriously, thanks to the 33.9 per cent
of Guelph that did give a damn and got out and voted. You are the real
heroes, and that’s maybe the saddest thing I’ve ever typed. Not that you voted
is sad, but the fact that so few of you couldn’t get yourselves to a polling
station and fill in four little boxes with a pen is an epic tragedy worthy of
Sophocles. Where was the anger? The outrage? The pettiness? Nothing. Sense of
civic pride and responsibility? Crickets. Okay.
But seriously, what’s the deal? Are people
in Guelph any less frustrated with the economy, taxes and services as
compared to, let’s say, Toronto? In the T-Dot, 53.2 per cent came out to vote for *sigh* Rob Ford. Perhaps
voter dissatisfaction was higher in Toronto, while the
number of people in Guelph who were either content with city leadership, or discontent with
the choices offered, was stratospherically high. Considering that there are
people in the world that brave bullets – or worse – to vote, what’s our excuse?
Ed The Sock did a bit during the 2006
Municipal Election saying that 36 per cent of people voted in the 2003
election, so majority rules: no more municipal elections. We’re not there yet
are we? Surely, the 66 per cent that didn’t vote in Guelph last week will agree that this reaction is extreme, yet
still one wonders why we can’t hoist more people off the couch and into a
voting booth.
Of course, people can’t get over their
ignorance either. A woman named Jeri Scheffer wrote a letter to the Guelph
Mercury on Election Day decrying the fact that her child’s school was being
used as a polling place, like every other school has been since at least when
my mom was a kid. But if this woman’s misalignment with, you know, how society
works was messed up, there was the other side of the coin that was slipped in
to her letter so surreptitiously that you you’d almost miss it.
Yep, Ms. Scheffer doesn’t vote, and she
said so right in black and white before taking the school board, the school,
the trustees and everyone to task for not keeping her informed about the
fact that the school’s gym – far from where the kids sit in class – serves as a
polling station and probably has since time and memoriam. A better metaphor for
this election I can’t think of: A person mad at the system that they can’t even
be bothered to participate in. Oh well.
Fill Your Brain
This weekend is the annual Guelph Festival
for Moving Media, or what used to be called the Guelph International Film
Festival, if your memory goes back that far. The one thing that GFOMM does
best, if it can only do one thing, is inspire you and invest you in some unique
documentaries, shining a light on people and issues in small towns and big
cities across the globe. This year’s program looks to be no exception with
environmentally-minded flicks, compelling docs about the arts, and some short
animated films for adults only (not like that).
Let me include a few recommendations.
First, and this is no particular order, is The So-Called Movie. Savvy
Canadian music lovers will be able to name check So Called, a musician and
artist based out of Montreal who gave one of the most rockin’ performances from this year’s
Hillside Inside. The NFB doc about this madcap man of music is a definitely a
fun watch if nothing else. Another neat movie, albeit with a more advocate bend
is A Different Path, which follows activists from across North America as they try to
overcome the tyranny of the single-occupant automobile. Along similar lines,
check out the Friday night performance of Polydactyl Hearts who will be
performing their new show Hello Adventure, as well as their now classic
show Le Cyc.
For information and the full program and
schedule, go to http://www.festivalofmovingmedia.ca
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