I'm thoroughly enjoying my leisurely Thursday morning on my day without classes, (not because of snow or ice, but because I literally have no classes scheduled on Thursdays). What has added to my feeling of general content is the state of the Black empire, and of the Blacks themselves. Esha will particularly enjoy the following quote taken from Margaret Wente's article in the Globe today:

There's lots of speculation that Barbara might have to hock her [diamond studded] brooch (although my guess is that her main privation to date is having to fly commercial). And there's already catty talk about her well-known history of trading in old partners (four so far, and that's just the husbands) for better ones. Will history repeat itself?

"It is about time we dismissed those ugly words of criticism (like 'meal ticket' and 'gold digger') that accompany a good marriage," she once wrote, in an article called, Why Women Marry Up. "It is what society has always expected a woman to do." She opined that every woman should marry a man who makes at least twice as much as she does. That was some time during her third marriage, to a charming, handsome cable entrepreneur who was also rich, though not nearly as rich as Mr. Black.

The article goes on to describe the Blacks' constant display of wealth and contempt for the average joe, for example taking a limo to lunch instead of a cab. It's amazing that there are people out there who flaunt their vast sums of money in an age in which there is so much emphasis on the growing gap between rich and poor, when charities are in constant need of extra funding and when philanthropy can do so much for often very little. If I were to look at it from an economist's perspective, ("aaaas an ecawnomist", as David Dodge always says), it's possible to see charities and other non-profit organizations being the means through which the market corrects for its inefficiencies, or for the funding cuts made my particular governments. All we need to make this work is for people like Black, (of whom their are few, to our relief), to see through the mirror of vanity behind which they live and to begin to contribute to society to benefit others besides themselves.

I have received two more grades since my last rant, however the one from my first exam still hasn't been submitted. Very pleased with how the last semester turned out despite some rocky points along the way. My two seminars, language class and thesis this semester will certainly keep things interesting, while dictating that my hands shall never be too far from the keyboard. I don't mind all the writing at all, especially when there's a significant amount of creative space to work with.

My relatively care-free day beckons, so that will be all for now.

Digital Correspondence

- Pasha: post those pictures!

- Jen: I'm equally as disappointed we couldn't meet up in NV, and you're right that we both had little free time. Reading break will be spent working on school stuff here in Montreal, with possibly a few days of skiing somewhere - certainly not in Saskatchewan, despite the grandeur of Sky Mountain! I'm not sure if you saw the documentary on Saskatchewan that was aired on Zed last night, (does anyone watch that show on a regular basis? The host really annoys me). While it talks about the life of a guy growing up in Regina, you'll probably still appreciate the bits about Saskatchewan in general. You can download it here. However, you'll probably want to watch part one first: Saskatchewan.

- Esha and John: congratulations on redesigning the IRSAM website - it finally represents the significance of the club, (well, corporation), and its wide variety of programs. Well done. This also means it gets a link on my side bar - what more could you ask for?!