Retirement

From day one, the tagline of this blog was "resisting the pull of cynicism since 1969." Well, in case it isn't obvious from the few posts I have managed to eke out since early 2009 or so, I've stopped resisting.

Which means I seem to have nothing more to say here, unfortunately. Friends who know me in person have suggested that I rechristen myself "Cynical Pragmatist" and start bringing the snark, but while I'm certainly capable of writing that sort of thing, doing so has always made me feel terrible--and who blogs to feel bad? I guess part of me always thought the cynicism would disappear as quickly as it descended, and I would eventually come back to blogging (I actually still do believe what I once wrote about cynicism, after all), but it's still there. So, silence. I'll keep the blog up indefinitely for those who like to refer back to old posts, but there won't be any more.

I'm still around in other blogs' comments sections (I do still read about politics even though I choose not to write about it), and on facebook, for those who want to keep in touch. And those of you who are still the kinds of idealistic pragmatists who believe the world can be made a better place through nuanced, level-headed dialogue and a critical examination of facts and evidence, I both envy and respect you. Keep the faith.

Over and out,
Jennie/Jae/IP

Edmonton-Strathcona blogging at democraticspace.com

I'm not going to be crossposting everything here from my democraticspace.com blog during this election, in part because I don't want IP to become all Edmonton-Strathcona, all the time, and in part so as to concentrate discussion over there.

But I did want to give folks a heads-up that although the site doesn't officially go live until today, my introductions post and my Edmonton-Strathcona: a snapshot post are already visible over there. (For data junkies, the latter has some of my infamous charts and maps.)

Confidential to Fair Vote Canada members

It's that time of year again: time for Fair Vote Canada, Canada's multi-partisan, citizen-based campaign for voting system reform, to hold its elections for its National Council. Those of you who have been members for more than a year already know how this works--you get a paper ballot in the mail, you rank the names on the ballot in the order in which you support them, and you mail it back in to the office.

In the past, maybe you've taken a cursory glance at the names on the list and shrugged. You don't know any of these people anyway, so why bother voting? Well, I guarantee you, this year is different--this year, a certain idealistic pragmatist you all know and...well, know, anyway...has tossed her hat into the ring. And while I don't really have it in me to be all "vote for me!" about this, I did want to be sure to give people a heads-up that even if you don't recognize the name on the ballot, there is someone there you know!

Also, since I'm already shamelessly turning this post into a commercial, let me add that if you support electoral reform and you're not a member of Fair Vote Canada, you should really think about joining. I've never been a big joiner, and I've harboured major reservations about pretty much every organization I've ever been a part of, but Fair Vote Canada is the exception. I stand behind everything they support, and every individual I've met through FVC has been smart and interesting and worthy of respect. You won't be able to vote if you sign up now, but there are plenty of other reasons to join!

Six bits of IP trivia

I've been tagged for the "six unimportant/trivial things about me" meme by both Candace and Ben. I kind of already did this one once with personal stuff, though, and I'm reluctant to fill the world with still more irrelevant personal trivia about me. So rather than be a killjoy and just ignore their tags, I'm going to compromise by making this about IP-related trivia that's political or bloggy.

1. I get ridiculously annoyed when other bloggers refer to me or my blog as anything but "Idealistic Pragmatist" or "IP," even if it's an honest mistake (so now you know how to annoy me if you want to!). Thankfully, though, most people do in fact call me one or the other of those...and oddly enough, that even extends to face-to-face interaction. In fact, I attended a blogstravaganza in Ontario once where I introduced myself to everyone by my real first name, and they spent the rest of the evening calling me "IP." This still amuses me today.

2. Speaking of blogstravaganzas in Ontario: I spend a month out of every summer in Waterloo for work-related reasons, and every year when I'm there, I manage to get together with other bloggers. We always have a great time, and our colourful mixture of political stripes always produces some really interesting conversations. Strangely enough, though, the Edmonton bloggers have never done this, even though we seem to get along well enough online. I have no idea why that is, but it seems like a crazy oversight.

3. I am a lot more partisan than I've been told I come across in this blog. There are three main reasons why this doesn't shine through here: one, I want this blog to always reflect my personal opinions rather than those of my party, so I don't let myself use it to score cheap political points (even when I desperately want to). Two, I think people are more likely to take what I say here seriously if I can distance myself from the blind partisanship of a lot of political blogging. Three, I think maintaining that slight distance makes for better persuasive writing.

4. Despite my own personal partisanship, I've never been able to bring myself to unequivocally tell random strangers that they should vote for my party. I believe strongly that people should vote for the party whose policies they like best, see, and that conviction is stronger than my partisanship. At times, in fact, I have been known to tell people: "well, if you think that, then you should vote for [x party that is not the NDP]"--a tendency that annoys a lot of my NDP friends in real life! I can't help it, though. I really do think having a diversity of choice is more important than everybody agreeing with me, and I'm glad when people who don't agree with me have choices they can support, too. Everybody should have that.

5. When I lived in the U.S., I used to wake up on election day with a sick sense of dread in my stomach. Part of it was the inevitable long lines at the polls and the overworked-rudeness of the people in charge, but most of it was the severe limitation on my choice that always made voting feel like some sort of bad medicine. In Canada, though, I've actually gotten tears in my eyes each of the three times I've voted (once federally, once municipally, once provincially) due to just how different the whole thing feels. I'm sure that someday it will seem completely banal to be able to go behind the screen and check an "x" in the box of a candidate I actually can believe in, but I'm not there yet.

6. If I could change only one thing about the Canadian political scene, it would be the near-complete inability of public servants to put the fortunes of their parties aside long enough to admit that there are areas where they agree enough to work together. I hate this so much, words can't even express it. In fact, when the Conservatives and the Liberals reached their agreement on Afghanistan, I found myself caught between profoundly disagreeing with what they came up with and wanting to applaud them for actually being able to admit that they had common ground. This country has such blinders on when it comes to political cooperation, it's appalling. It's a huge, huge cultural blind spot, and it's the most destructive thing about our politics.

Tag, you're it:
1. Mushroom
2. Gauntlet
3. skdadl from pogge
4. We Move to Canada
5. ALW
6. Blogging for Democracy

Insulted or amused?

Apparently, I am a "sometimes loyal to a fault Liblogger," and one of "the most loyal members of the Liberal base."

I have to say, I've been called a lot of names in my day, but never that.

In absentia

I seem to have entered one of my longer fallow periods. My apologies. (By now you know I always come back from those, though, right?)

While I recharge my batteries, I suggest you have a look at James Bow's post about why the polls are all over the place. I've been thinking similar thoughts lately. (Which probably accounts for the fallow period, come to think of it.)

Anyway, catch you all sooner or later, and be sure to get out and enjoy the springtime!

You say tomato, I say tar sands

I apologize for blogging being so light lately. But if you head over to this odd little article in today's Globe and Mail, you might just catch a glimpse of someone you all know and love tolerate, hangin' out in her work clothes.

An exercise in vanity

A couple of posts back, I began a post by saying: "if I had an IP's Greatest Hits list in my sidebar", which made me think: "Hmm, I could actually do that!" I mean, it's an incredibly arrogant thing to do, but I'm going on three years of blogging now, so why not be a little indulgent now and then?

Anyway, it's there now, if anyone's interested. Apart from a couple of things I threw in that got a lot of undeserved attention, it's pretty much my own incredibly subjective, biased view on what I write that's worth reading. For what that's worth.

Reporting for duty

*peeks out from under rock*

*picks self up, dusts self off*

So. Anybody want to give me a rundown of what's been happening while I've been hibernating?

Um, thanks!

Well, the Round 1 results are in from the Canadian Blog Awards, and I have to say, I'm a little surprised that "Jack Layton's sinister mind control experiment" is currently in first place for Best Blog Post. That was the only category I was nominated in that I could comfortably vote for myself in--I don't exactly post with enough regularity to deserve either "Best Blog" or "Best Progressive Blog"--but I'm still pretty surprised. Pleased, but surprised. (I figure it has to have been the title that did it.)

This is a crazy time of year for me, so crazy that I haven't even gotten around yet to responding to all the comments on previous posts. But I at least wanted to send out a thanks to you folks.

Update: Okay, James' and Olaf's endorsements posts were so fun to read that I've decided to add my own. Here are the categories I'll be voting in:

Best Conservative Blog: Bound by Gravity is still my favourite Tory blog (and Andrew is one of my favourite Tories anywhere), but The Prairie Wranglers is certainly giving him a run for his money in the "staunch conservative, great writer, treats progressives with respect" category. I will probably alternate voting for each on the days I vote.

Best Progressive Blog: I'd love to say I'm voting for Peace, Order, and Good Government, Eh? because they're so consistently good and I find myself nodding vigorously along with just about everything they write, but I have to admit that Calgary Grit is the better blog. Bart is a partisan Liberal, but he still manages to write a political blog that's about his own ideas rather than about Getting Out The Party Message. Given how depressingly many Liberal blogs there are where that's decidedly not the case, that is a feat worthy of my vote.

Best Group Blog: Here's the category pogge should win, hands down.

Best Humour Blog: I don't read her regularly because the sheer Liberal partisanship can make the air feel pretty thick, but damn, is The Frog Lady funny.

Best Entertainment Blog: James Bow is my favourite blogger, bar none, and while he's slacked off a bit this year on the astute political analysis (*sniff*), he's still writing impressively good reviews of episodes of science fiction shows. I'm not even watching the shows in question as they air (though I will watch "Battlestar Galactica" when it comes out on DVD), but his writing still draws me in.

Best Media Blog: Paul Wells always, always makes me think, and often makes me laugh.

Best Blog Post: I'm not ashamed to admit that I will be voting for myself in this category. But Tim-at-pogge's "Fly on the wall" is worth a look, too.

Best Blog Post Series: I've loved Stageleft's Conucopia, but what can I say, it's James Bow's writing.

Best Cultural Blog: My dear friend the Arrogant Polyglot, with his interesting observations on language and life, has my vote.

Pardon my dust

Sorry about sending all those old posts to your RSS readers, folks. I'm done now, I promise. And I not only have every post I've ever written tagged now (tags! oh frabjous day!), but I also have a new look. If you're reading this in RSS, come see! It's much easier to read, and it also has the benefit of not being freaking ugly. *grin*

Clearing a few things up

Some myths about me:

I came to Canada because I became disgusted with the U.S. after Bush was elected in 2000. (I've actually been here since 1997, back when Clinton was still President. The Democrats always pushed me toward leaving a lot harder than the Republicans, ironically enough.)

My blog's name is Ideal Pragmatist...or Idealist Pragmatist, or Ideal Pragmatic. (it's idealistic: adjective meaning "believing practices should be based on principles"; pragmatist: noun meaning "one who believes practices should be based on practical outcomes".)

I am a male-type-blogger-person. (*looks down*--whew, the breasts are still there.)

Visitors from Texas Christian University

Over the last few days, my blog has been getting dozens of hits from what seems to be an English course taught at Texas Christian University, a small educational institution in Fort Worth, Texas that's affiliated with the Disciples of Christ church. The hits are all going to this old post about the art and science of journalistic narrative, and the referring link points back here--a page that unfortunately seems to be unavailable to inquisitive outsiders.

If anybody who's clicking through to my blog from that link happens to venture a bit further to the main page, though, and wouldn't mind answering a couple of questions, I'm just dying to know the following:

1) What on earth are people in an English class at Texas Christian University saying about my post?

2) When I talk about the "no-confidence motion against the current Canadian government" and "explosive testimony at the Gomery inquiry" in that post, are my TCU readers not entirely confused?

3) Isn't the university administration a bit concerned about all these impressionable young students reading the heathen thoughts of a queer lefty U.S. immigrant to Canada?

Just wondering!

Bloggy copyright

While I'm already talking about blog culture, I feel like I should say something about this odd little mention I got in the Toronto Sun last Friday. The whole piece is essentially a reprint of my "Who's Canadian enough, take two" post with a few cosmetic changes, but if a fellow blogger hadn't pointed it out, I'd never have even known about it, as there was no direct link.

Caught between feeling flattered and feeling a little weirded out that they used so many of my words without asking permission or even letting me know, I turned to my friends for their opinions. Some of them said that the Sun was justified under "fair use," especially since I'd clearly written the post to be disseminated. Others, though, said I should be annoyed, and that I'd even have grounds for a lawsuit.

Now, I have no interest in suing a major newspaper over something that was clearly well-intentioned, so that's right out. What I did take away from the experience, though, is that if I ever feel like taking an article from the Toronto Sun, removing a few sentences here and there, changing a couple of the words and the title, and republishing it in my blog, I should feel entirely justified in doing so. :-)

In absentia

Since a couple of weeks after the election, twin epidemics of the diseases "nothing-to-say-itis" and "no-time-to-say-it-in-osis" have been spreading among Canadian bloggers. It's affecting large groups of us, left, right, and centre. In case you haven't noticed, I've been suffering, too. (Well, I actually did write a post yesterday but after my last post, you guys would probably have sent out the men with the white coats, so I refrained.)

I've mentioned before that I originally started this blog mainly so that I would have an identifiable persona in the blogosphere for commenting purposes, and had figured I'd occasionally throw up a piece of my own. I've started taking it a little more seriously than that, obviously, but that's still the original purpose, and for that reason I'm occasionally going to have periods where I'm more of a reader-and-commenter than I am a blogger. So for the two or three of you who have been wondering whether IP would ever post anything of any relevance again, rest assured, at some point in the not-too-distant future there will eventually be something I feel moved to say. And for those of you who are interested in my New Zealand series, it's coming--I just have some more reading to do before I can do as good a job on it as I want to, and not a whole lot of time right now to do that reading in.

Thanks for your patience.

Leading them astray once again

Confidential to the reader who just stopped by via the google search on "stop proportional representation": why don't you pull up a chair and stay a while? And read a few of the other results from that search while you're at it. Learning can be fun!

Linkfest

I'm busier than a beaver on crack right now, so no real posts for the next couple of days. To tide you over, though, here are some links:

James Bow said absolutely everything I was planning to say about last night's leaders' debate. (This would scare me, but I figure a girl can do worse than thinking more like James Bow than she'd realized.) In short: much improved format, terrific moderator, and while every one of the four did better than last time, Harper and Layton were most on their game.

Yesterday's Ottawa Citizen had the best newspaper story on proportional representation I have ever seen. It's thorough without being too detailed, and it manages to be balanced without getting a single fact wrong.

I'm going to be on the CBC's RadioActive this afternoon, which runs from 4PM to 6PM Mountain Time (6-8 Eastern), as part of a new-Canadian-and-first-time-voters' panel commenting on the election. It's radio, so it doesn't come along with a glimpse at my mug, but anyone who cares to can listen live here.

The gospel of weird

Greg of Sinister Thoughts has tagged me to list five weird things about myself. I decided a long time ago to make this blog purely political and not in the least bit personal, but how can I refuse someone who mentioned both the NDP and Babylon 5 in his own responses?

1. I have lived in four, five, six, seven, or eight countries, depending on how you count them.

2. I used to think politics was boring. I began to feel differently after being very nearly taken political prisoner in an Eastern Bloc country, because the surrounding experience got me thinking about how much politics could affect real people in real-life situations.

3. A couple of years ago, I went through a phase that lasted about two months where I wanted to (and usually did) eat gorgonzola cheese as a part of every meal. This was one of my favourite recipes from that time.

4. The ceiling of my bedroom is currently covered with approximately 150 linear feet of Philodendron scandens.

5. My iPod's current playlist has songs in seven languages and three non-standard dialects on it. I only speak three of the languages, though, and none of the dialects.

I tag: Declan from Crawl Across the Ocean, Ian Welsh from Tilting at Windmills, Matthew from Pample the Moose, Rivka from Respectful of Otters, und den doppelten Spindoktor.

A "silly immigrant" moment

When I first moved to Canada in the late '90s, there was a lot I knew about this country, having lived quite close to the border for most of my life, but there was even more I didn't know. To sort of poke fun at myself and my steep learning curve, I used to write down little anecdotes about crazy or amusing consequences of my ignorance of everything from car block heaters to postal outlets to Gravol. I called these the "silly immigrant" stories. If I were still keeping track of those now, I'd add this one to the list:

At the end of the Trudeau miniseries (which I'm embarrassed to say I didn't get around to watching until this week) there's a scene that takes place at a dinner at the Governor General's residence. I found the scene quite confusing--for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the Governor General would be having a dinner without being present herself. I mean, she clearly wasn't there. Everyone around the table was a man, after all.

By the time I finally thought through what my assumptions were and consciously realized how faulty they were, the scene was over, and I had to rewind and watch it again.

It's always the little things, you know?

IP on the CBC

If anybody out there has ever been curious what my mug looks like in real life, I was interviewed for a CBC story on blogging and the election this morning. It will apparently air either tonight at 5:30 (Mountain Time) before the debate, or sometime on Monday. They're trying to get Monte Solberg, too. Fun, fun.

Of course, I looked at myself in the mirror after the journalist and cameraman left, and my head is one huge mop of frizz. I suppose that's what you get when you haven't bothered to get your hair cut since August. Sigh.