Empty Cage

Just as a note — these are my own personal, internal opinions. They should not reflect upon my association, family, friends, employees, pets ect. Also note, because people keep dinging me on this — by SAFA I mean SAFA Executive.

The referendum has concluded, and I have to say, despite my squirming about getting enough people to vote at the last second, I was pretty confident about this whole process. Right now, I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ve made some good strategic moves, and that I’m ready to… pass the presidency on to someone else as quickly as possible.

Defederation is the golden word on campus these days, though mostly with regards to the SFUO, so our little success story is bound to be completely overlooked, but I think it’s a big deal, mostly because I’ve been nursing an ulcer over these votes. So, I’m going to post inflammatory things in my politely Canadian way now. Well, to be fair, I doubt I’ll say anything here that I haven’t said at a BOD meeting at some point or another.

SAFA (Student Federation of the Faculty of Arts) is broken, extremely broken, and to be honest I am hard pressed to think of a way to fix it, shy of taking the science route, eliminating member associations and just having representatives from each department. I think I’ve finally figured out why it’s broken too, or at least part of the problem.

For those unaware of the happenings in the faculty of Arts, the SAFA executive is the highest executive in Arts, acting as an administrator to the smaller departments. The executive is paid out an honouraria every month (they always call it that, let’s reduce it to layman’s terms — a sum of money equal to about $200) for doing what is formally called ‘Policy 5′ on the absolute bare minimum that a SAFA executive can do. These include things like going to executive meetings, and I suspect, breathing.

Most SAFA executive can run their policy five in under 3 minutes, usually glazing over the ‘I didn’t do’s which they say just as fast and in the exact same tone as the ‘did’s. They also like a healthy smoke screen of all the parties that they attended. We vote, SAFA gets honouraria. Cake.

And this is the biggest issue that keeps resurfacing. ‘Let’s just keep voting yes until someone motions to close’. I’ve done it before, and it’s not completely unreasonable when a simple BOD takes three hours. But it’s unhealthy to the various departments in Arts, since we tend to shoot ourselves in the foot with sheeple voting. This is how we ended up with a section in the constitution that takes 5% of the levy of a student association that doesn’t attend these insipid things. We voted this in, and it was a really stupid idea. SAFA claims its all fair because if they don’t attend they don’t get their honouraria.

This is such a false and bizarrely twisted analogy that it entertains me. You lose your personal money if you don’t come, but I lose 5% of the money that goes back into the students that I’m supposed to be providing events and services for? How is this a dichotomy? Maybe if you paid me to go to these… Perhaps if the BODs were useful to running my association attendance wouldn’t be a problem.

Any ways, this honouraria versus none has sort of turned SAFA into the task masters of the whole faculty of Arts instead of the administrators. When they want something they demand. Then doing passive aggressive things to eventually bend us to their will.

And maybe this would be okay if they then provided useful services to the MAs. But one association spent most of the early part of the year financially in the hole, and SAFA didn’t deem in necessary to lend them a cent to allow for events (and this is one of the large associations), but they were okay spending a few hundred dollars on executive bonding. Due to a mistake in apparel last year, (that was debatable the fault of a previous SAFA executive), another association paid all or almost all of their levy cheques this year directly to SAFA. So far, holding 101 week, and events, and dealing with the SFUO are the only services they can promise us right now.

A previous UPSA president whom I love and respect very much pointed out to me the following, knock down argument. ‘Much of SAFA has never sat on a MA before, they don’t really know what we do, and because of this they’re afraid that we do nothing.’ Which is the argument that has kept me from rage quitting so many times. But most people will tell you, shit gets ugly when the boss doesn’t know what you do. And then you get fired.

I love the idea of solidarity in the Arts department, but I think we’re doing it wrong. As I announced at my last BOD, Arts could function with a chair, and the member associations alone. Then I got laughed off the stage. But my heart was in the right place.

I’m only really a secret politician. I’m not going to come out and say I have any importance in student politics. I do have a job (President of the Philosophy Student’s Association), but as far as I’m concerned it’s not a wildly coveted duty — at least partially because I don’t get paid like SAFA or the SFUO — and yet deal with at least some levels of political bullshit.

At the University of Ottawa student politics are serious business. From my conversations with people at other schools students politics are a joke and are often happy to accept that role. I appreciate a strong student government a lot, if students have a lot of power then they can improve the experience at the school, mobilize change and attempt to modernize ancient school policies.

Which begs the question why we have such a low student satisfaction here at UofO. I’d like to speculate, but I’m poorly informed and despite the previous two paragraphs the SFUO and student government are not actually what I want to talk about here today.

There is a new website making its rounds in the UO community, known as UOleaks (please google it if you want to read it, I’m not giving the satisfaction of another referring site). A student run blog, that is allowing me to lose even more faith in the system here.

UOleaks is a website that has decided to make the SFUO and administration ‘accountable’ ironic when you realize every blogger on the site operates under an alias, and that the WHOIS information for the domain name is hidden. UOleaks posts ‘tips’ they receive from the student body and comment on them, with a strong political bias. And you know what? That’s fine, if you have an opinion I want to hear it — but I want to hear it from you, not some board of shadowy figures.

I have made no secret that I find the Fulcrum, our student newspaper, extremely bland (and Dear Di to be one of the most horrible things ever printed on a frequent basis). However, Fulcrum writers take responsibility for their writing, and UOleaks hides.

And for fear of what? Last I checked this was student politics, not a police state. What are they going to do to you, UOleaks? Or is there another reason you don’t want us to know who you are. You coy bastards, what’s that under your webskirt?

I have suspected since the beginning that I know one of the authors, again, my connection to student politics and the slant at which the journal is written, plus where I found the link. Don’t worry, love, I’m not going to out you. But accept your words. I’m sick of this site’s declaration of accountability without being accountable themselves. They have this air of being liberators and informers of the student population, but can they be trusted?

My concern goes along these lines, without names, or identifiers of any kind, how do we know this hasn’t been written by candidates in the election? Based on the strong political leanings of the site (all the authors being nearly unanimous in their election decisions) it doesn’t seem so far fetched given this is the case. If there was some real dialogue about candidates I would be far less likely to get my tinfoil hat on.

And in many cases I agree with UOleaks, independently, I voted for almost all their recommendations. Except Communications (I’m sorry, the candidate they picked for Communications had a seat on the BOA, and certainly only once attended our Arts Board meetings, you had a chance I don’t trust you to communicate. Sorry.)

So, Uoleaks, grow up, honestly. Maybe then I’ll take your bitching seriously.

Of course, no one takes my bitching seriously even with my name unveiled, so I do understand you pain.

Well, let me tell you, oh unsympathetic internet, I have become greatly behind in my summer reads — and you know who I blame for this? The Sims 2, curse them and their little personal dramas which are, in sum total more interesting than my life currently is. I blame the accursed University Expansion pack and all that it stands for. Not really, it’s been a nice distraction for me. I also finished reading Fight Club, which was fucking epic in every way to Sunday. I wish to god I hadn’t seen the movie first because I knew the ending, and was just anticipating it. Cuuuuuurses. Fantastic book though, five stars. I’m going to write a review for it eventually maybe, but right now I’m not feeling it. I’m not feeling much in my review box right now, I don’t know why… I think it’s because I’m reading old books and reviews feel redundant. “Personally, I feel the Communist Manifesto lacked a certain– je ne sais quois… and it needed a little salt.” But I digress, this is the problem with reviewing is getting caught up on classics everyone knows the book is good (or at least cultured which is equally acceptable).

I’m not sure if I have the internet up to date, but I’ve read 5 of my summer books, and mostly done Clockwork Orange for number six. From there I have an ultra spiffy Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of Libba Bray’s new book Going Bovine which sounds strangely like I wrote it and forgot. Yes, its that absurd. Speaking of which I have been trying to do some writing, but as usual there are too many stories in my head and I don’t know which to get started on. I’d like to think one will pull away from the pack as being a fly away best seller so I don’t need to find a job, but that’s about as likely as me doing any form of exercize beyond blinking and walking. I have mastered the art of lazy.

Aaaaand apparently UOttawa wants $30 from me for reasons henceforth unknown. Probably all those times I locked myself out of residence which I was pretty sure I had paid for. Not too keen on that. But, but, but. L.A. finally got back to me and I may actually have a place to live next year. Hurrah and suchlike, beause I was starting to worry I was going to have to like on the street like most of my fellow philosophers (oh snap?) Fingers crossed this doesn’t fall through (again!) and I actually am not street bound, or Stanton bound. I was already senior citizen enough in res without adding another year on top of that. All those little seventeen-to-eighteen-year-olds scoffing at old twenty-almost-twenty-one year old, not nice.

I think I finally figured out what I’ve been doing wrong with Enth3 that it doesn’t e-mail me anymore, I think I have an extra “\” in there somewhere throwing off the space-time continuum. But let’s not talk about my Fanlistings, they all look like arse and it depresses me. Especially the Magical Mystery Tour — who let me put it on the internet looking like that? It looks so drab and more of ‘A Detailed Tour of Saskatchewan’ then anything Magical or Mysterious. (Sorry Saskatchewan, it’s just so easy…)

Anyways, I want to get to the bookstore so I can fix up some shelving and make a few bucks given no where in Southern Ontario will give me a job. So, I’m signing off.

Finished one of the websites I promised to make other people today! It only took me several months to get around to what with my huge creative block (I think it might be starting to dislodge) I give you http://aenp-upsa.artsuottawa.ca

Actually, I like how grungey and modernish it is. A step in a different direction from the usual ho-humery of my usual work. I have… I think two more “commissions” to do. One for ShadowRO which is mostly done, and Blue Heron Books needs a revamp. Doing this stuff for other people is actually pretty good though because it’s helping me learn new techniques.

I have a few ideas for Empty Cage, but Regulus Black has been the personal project that has been winning the most of my personal attention whereas Cursed and Dream Caravan are exacting the most guilt hahaha. I think that Dream Caravan will get loving before Cursed though.

I have been an absolutely terrible webmistress lately, and for that I apologise to the un-viewers that I have. Normally I’m an addictive website owner, but lately I haven’t been feeling it. Not that anything will be happening to Empty Cage, I love this little domain too much for that. But sluggishness in everything should be expected.

Despite the well meant advice from Amber (I really do listen to everything you say and take all of your advice) I will be hosting some people on here. There is way more space then I could ever possibly use. I won’t have a whole page and applications and stuff, but people like Josephine and Vanessa (as well as anyone I know in life) are more than welcome to ask me for some room. Strangers can too, I suppose, but I’ll be kind of picky.

For current web projects, I’m working on a website for the UPSA (my University’s Undergraduate Philosophy Association) and Shadow RO, a Ragnarok Server I’m on. Likely these two layouts will be very similar. Then of course the Magical Mystery Tour Fanlisting. I just need to work out the details. From there it’s all about Cursed and Empty Cage.

Check out my new Linux guide though.