It's not everyday in this media overflow world that we live in that a news article really speaks to me and I wanted to share this gem from one of my favorite news sources:

WASHINGTON DC—Senator Bill Frist (R–TN) introduced a controversial new bill Tuesday that would severely limit the ability of sharks to "mutilate the institution of marriage until it is completely unrecognizable."

"For too long, we've stood by as our most sacred institution has been thrashed, bit by bit, by these amoral predators," said Frist at a press conference, standing in front of a detailed diagram of a great white shark. "Marriage is a union between one man and one woman, and no shark should come between them with its powerful jaws and massive dorsal fin."

Bill S-691, also known as The Protection Of Marital Extremities Act, was co-sponsored by Mel Martinez (R–FL), who said that, as a devoted husband, he would not want his own 25-year marriage to be split to pieces by a shark, and hinted that opponents of the bill were in fact aiding the fish in their "murderous ways."

"Liberals and Democrats would have you believe that sharks pose no threat to married couples," Martinez said. "They tell us that sharks should just be left alone to mind their own business, and they won't do anyone any harm. But we say it's time for those of us with backbone to stand up for what we believe in—before that backbone is torn violently from our torsos by these soulless, underwater killers."

Added Martinez: "Marriage is a sacred institution, but it is also very fragile, especially when coming into contact with the saw-edged teeth of a bloodthirsty bull shark."

Frist said it was vital that Congress act sooner than later.

"Sharks can smell a healthy, vibrant marriage from miles away, and it doesn't matter whether the couple are celebrating their 50th anniversary or are on their honeymoon—no one is safe," Frist said. He then held up a photo of a lifeless, newly caught shark hanging behind a happily married couple, which he said was meant to show sharks everywhere that the U.S. government "means business."

"It's simply a matter of faith," Frist added. "And I have absolute faith that, if we do nothing, we'll see many more families torn apart."

Despite the fact that the bill calls for mandatory fines of up to $100,000 and a permanent designation on the Marriage Offenders National Registry for any shark found guilty under the new guidelines, some conservative groups still complain that it does not go far enough.

"This bill focuses too much on the species who have attacked marriage in the past, such as the hammerhead, oceanic whitetip, and tiger sharks, but we need protection against all sharks," said Nathan Comino, president of The Quint Group, a conservative anti-shark think tank. "Scientific evidence shows that the once-indifferent whale shark is now angrier than ever over holy matrimony. We can't afford to ignore the facts."

Critics also complained that the language in the bill regarding jellyfish was too vague, leaving a number of loopholes whereby they could escape prosecution.

According to recent polls, only 22 percent of voters who live in shark-infested areas on either of the country's coasts say they are "very worried" about the damage sharks could wreak on married couples, while that number jumps to 86 percent in more conservative, landlocked, regions of the South and Midwest—a statistic that opponents of the new bill are using to bolster their argument.

"Republicans are once again playing the fear card, squashing the potential progress this country could make by accepting sharks into the mainstream," said Eli Pariser, a member of the liberal group Move On. "Yes, sharks look different and act different. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have the right to choose their own lifestyles and swim with married couples."

While opponents of anti-shark legislation have been vocal, some Democrats who say they support sharks' rights have been careful not to oppose the bill outright.

"I believe they should be able to swim and feed as they always have, but I do not condone sharks attacking marriage," Sen. John Kerry (D–MA) said. "This is an issue best left up to the individual states, whose residents know better than anyone which of their waters are safe to be married in."

Frist remained confident, however, that the bill would have support in the Senate.

"The endless onslaught from activist judges, liberal media, and sharks ends today," Frist said. "Nor have we forgotten the other threats marriage faces, and this bill sends an unmistakable message to rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and lightning that we are dead serious about protecting marriage."

The Onion: America's Finest News Source"

Rebecca Goldstein quote:

"Europe went through its Enlightenment only following protracted, horrible religious wars, when people were convinced that their earlier certitudes were untrustworthy, and modern science and modern philosophy grew out of this. A large part of the world hasn’t gone through this yet. Europe had to have half of its population wiped out before the voices of reason got listened to. But that took a long time. Can we afford that when we have the kind of weaponry that advances in science have given us? We’re in quite a predicament. These very primitive religious emotions – to see the strength of their gathering is terrifying." --Rebecca Goldstein

SUSTAINABILITY

It's been a crazy few weeks! The birthday weekend was amazing. Owen showed up on the big day with daffodils and Malpeque Oysters from P.E.I! He made mionette sauce and we watched a You Tube video to learn how to shuck them. They were delicious and romantic and messy.

Saturday was a fun filled day of house cleaning and dog grooming. The doors opened at 7 and we drank wine and danced until the wee hours. We also raised $130 for Haiti thanks to all the donations from my friends.

While I should have been studying the past few weeks I have been spending all my time organizing the premier HEC SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE for the 12th and 13th of March.

I campaigned for my AEMBA VP position and the President position of the Net Impact Organization with a promise to try and host a case competition at HEC. Shortly before Christmas I was given several large grants the idea is becoming a reality.

I just received confirmation that our keynote speaker, Dr. Cynthia Lane, is flying to from Central America via Calgary, Alberta to discuss the compromises between business and ecology and what those compromises really mean.

Alright. I have to go study corporate finance.

The Dalai Lama

I was sitting at school working on an accounting assignment when Joey and Liza called. They had an extra ticket to see the Dalai Lama at the Bell Center and if I left IMMEDIATELY I could make it.
"I have to leave" I said to my team. "I'm going to see the Lalai Lama."

Thanks to Montreal's excellent subway system and my new-found familiarity with it I arrived at the Bell center in under 30 minutes. The anticipation and excitement in the crowd was no less than if we were queuing up for a rock concert.

When he finally came out it was quite emotional. Around me there were all states: some were shouting with joy, some were crying, some were simply staring.

He's a little man with a huge presence. He walks and talks humbly and keeps his expressions simple and to the point. He does sort of talk around a point at first but he makes his point...his point on this day was one of compassion.

Who should we have compassion for? Everyone. When should we be compassionate? Always.

When talking about the 200 million people that were killed in the 1900's through genocide, war, social unrest and state-sanctioned murder he said that although it was the bloodiest century yet it ended with a message of hope. At the begining of the 20th Century when a nation declared war the people mobilized in the war effort with a national fervor. The last part of the century so people organizing in peaceful protest and large movements organizing against armed resistance. Thanks to the efforts of many the voice of peace and non-violence is growing.

When he asked Japanese about their feelings towards America for the bombing of Hiroshima an Nagasaki he said they have an attitude of forgiveness and peace. When he asks Germans, who had to build a new nation from ashes about their feeling towards the victors of the Second World War he said they had a attitude of forgiveness and compassion. These are two large examples of a movement of compassion and peace that give great home to the new century.

When asked about religious conversion he said it is more important to practice compassion like a Buddhist than to convert to Buddhism. He said that religion is a part of your culture and one should not loose their culture. Conversion should only be done when one sends a life in contemplation and practice and has reached the conclusion that another religion is a good fit for their person and the culture that suits them.

I'm not always the most compassionate person but I try..it's a process learning to be compassionate...and I was inspired to be a more kind and forgiving person having seen the Dalai Lama. Even after reading all his books hearing him was startlingly fresh. He is as laid-back-cool as he is rumored to be...not so much charismatic as simply likable.

The Dalai Lama speaks to journalists in Montreal October 3, 2009.


OK. Back to studying. My first finals at HEC are this coming week: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If I don't crack under the pressure you can find me Sunday night at B-side on Rue Sainte-Laurent dancing like a crazy crazy crazy manic.

Montreal Apartment

I found an APARTMENT!!

Yesterday my friend Karen asked if I wanted to go read in the park and I walked over to her house and was waiting for her when I noticed a for rent sign in the door of a building that I had noticed last year because if it's beautiful doors.

I called the number and Louise the landlord answered and offed to show it to me right then. She lives in the building next door and shares a balcony with the space that was for rent.

It is a converted attic of a building that is over 150 years old. She put in a huge skylight over the kitchen, lots of windows, painted it white and put it new wood floor. It's fantastic.

I asked her if I could rent it and she asked when I would like to move in. "In about an hour," I said...she could tell I wasn't kidding.

I went over this morning and paid the first month's rent, cleaned my sublet and walked by few posessons over to the new place.

It's perched on top of a three story building so it looks out west toward Mount Royal and catches tons of light. Today it is raining and it was still bright in the apartment.

I am in a word, happy.

Owen arrives on Monday and we'll hopefully move in that night (why are our schedules always so optimistic?)

We don't have a couch yet but we will be accepting dinner-guests, visits from friends and family, and housewarming presents starting this coming Friday, September 4th!

HEC Montreal

School is going really well. We're basically here all the time but instead of stuffy boring money hungry nerds, that you would expect at an internationally ranked business school, there are tons of hip, intelligent, attractive and wholly interesting people.

I heard that there is another American but so far I've only met Nigerians, Germans, Italians, Chileans, French, English, Scottish, Canadian, Mexican, Armenian, Indian, Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Lithuanian, and Swiss students.

Every Thursday there is an open bar for graduate students in MBA and Masters of Business Communication in our lounge and I've heard rumors of weekly games of dodge ball.

The building looks like an art museum and is spacious, bright, super clean and comfortable to be in.

I'll probably change my mind at some late hour this long, cold and dark winter when I feel imprisoned in the library studying, but for now I love it here I feel very very lucky and proud every day when I get to school.

Owen arrives on the 31st and until then I'm using free minutes to look for an apartment or a house. I still have no student loan but I'm working on it.

Best news ever: using my reusable mug a double espresso in the cafeteria (coop) is only $1.25. Assuming I have coffee for my three meals a day I can survive on a weekly grocery budget of only $26.25! I was a little worried about scurvy until I remembered that I could ask for a squeeze of fresh lime in my gin and tonic on Thursdays? C'est Bon!!

Bus ride

Sometimes daily life is rather the same. I don't think people living in Nairobi or Hiroshima who grew up in Rome or Reykjavík think of the foreignness of the place where they buy their groceries or brush their teeth unless something extra weird happens. When you first arrive however all the minutia and all the mysteries are giant as billboards next to sidewalks. You're constantly rubbernecking to let your eyes get big and your mind go blank so you can take it all in.

Montrealers don't really notice themselves. Sure, they spend time on their looks, or more importantly their look, and talking they do, but I think these things come naturally. They sort of have this, "I'm interested in what I'm doing but I'm bored" way about them. They don't seem to get as worked up as their French cousins. Maybe they'd like to go on strike or smash up a McDonald's once in a while but they probably are holding a coffee or reading a book that they'd like to finish and by then it will be time they worked themselves up for a good raou they'd be late for their buss and they probably have plans with friends later.

I took the Metro (subway) to a neighborhood I hadn't been to yet and walked around. The plan was to walk but I had my laptop in my bag and it started to rain. When I got to the bus stop the bus schedule said that the last bus had come and gone and the next bus wouldn't be arriving for several hours. Standing there under the bus-stop shelter I was daydreaming and staring off when I heard a sound. Looking up, there was a bus stopped with the door open and the driver was waiting for me to get on. I thought, "what a nice guy!"

The bus was busy: there were a Muslim family and the wife was fully covered except here face, a Jewish mom with her littler daughter and a boy who talked in an excited high-pitched banter fairly constantly until he would occasionally fall over and flop and roll around on the floor. Standing coyly in the middle was a teenage couple. They were French-African and hip. He had his pants down hip-hop style and his shirt was open. Across from me was a rocker girl who seemed drunk, and while her head bobbed, as she nodded off now and then, I was noticing her Debbie Harry tee and her chipped blue nail polish. Her nail polish was as thick as the enamel on my grandma's old stove.

The driver driver seemed to be on a mission. The street was not busy but he would accelerate as fast as possible from every stop and intersection. The Jewish kid had tumbled into nearly everyone and was like an little French Tom Thumb Pinata wearing a yamaka. The drunk girl had nearly crashed to the floor twice and the Muslim woman genuinely looked worried.

By the time we had rounded Mount Royal on Rue Parc the driver had effectively indoctrinated everyone into his fast take off routine. This is when he pulled a fast one. As he approached Rue Doctor Pinfield he hit the breaks as if there were an infant riding a Catholic Saint laying in the road. It was really his finest moment. The African kid crushed his girlfriend. The Jewish boy rolled away from his moms outstretched arm like sailor gone overboard but with more acrobatics. Poor rocker-girl wedged herself nicely between her seat and the seat of a artsy but un-groomed man holding a french horn. I myself landed beside the 49ish year old woman to my right who had a blue dragon tattoo and an I-just-woke-up-face.

I had felt so lucky that this bus had come along when I really needed it, but at what price. Looking at all the passengers faces I couldn't help myself. I'm a prankster at heart after all--I laughed out loud--twice. This bus ride was possibly the most entertaining thing one could do for $2. What driver of any public vehicle has ever threaded the great distance between complaint letter and pat on the back with such broad stitches. I hated and loved him.

The best part was not that the bus driver had this "I'm interested in what I'm doing but I'm bored" look on his face the whole time. It was that when I got to my stop he stops the giant bus and as I walked to the door to leave the door closed. Shit. I realized that I might actually be dead. A really bumpy bus to purgatory full of wacky Montrealers would be fairly accurate for my karma. Further, it seemed fitting that when you die do you might not know it so everything would be really surreal and bouncy. I had been thinking earlier in the day about the Jewish faith because I wanted a bagel for lunch from Mile End and when I was looking for the library at HEC I had interrupted three Muslim men during their afternoon prayers. That afternoon I had read an email about MBA recruitment in Africa and the french horn just seemed like decoration. And rocker girl? Well she was obviously a manifestation of my partying past and my there was a Debbie Harry connection with a guy I used to date!

I went to the front and asked the driver, "may I get off here or shall I stay on?" I find that in times of desperation it pays to be really really polite.

With a blank face and a shrug of his shoulders he opened the door and I stepped down into the warm evening absolutely relieved that I was both alive and completely entertained by my ability to die, go to purgatory, relive my entire days daydreams and plead with the grim reaper for my return to the living all in the time it took to walk three paces to the front of the buss.

Next time I'm judging some bored looking Montrealers or staring at people on the bus I think I'm just going to relax, let my mind go blank and take it all in.