Busy Times...

I haven't posted for a while, I'm sure that you've noticed that. I have VERY good reasons for that though.

First of all, school's out!! And for the past few weeks me and my class have been trying to rap up our World Vision project just in time for the last day of school. We ended up asking two companies to donate money to our project to help us reach our goal. And we did do it just in time after reaching our fundraising goal of $4 000 and even going over to raise $6 000, $4 000 of that was from the companies who so generously donated their money!! On the last day of school (yesterday) we held a little press conference in our class with the two donating companies (the Flaman Foundation and Mill Creek Developments). And of course in a press conference there has to be press!! The Edmonton Journal came for an interview and Global Edmonton came to film the event. You might have seen it last night on TV.

So this has been a very exciting week for our class and World Vision. With our $6 000 we will be buying these items for people around the world who need it most:

1. Fill a Stable for a Community


2. 2 Alpacas for a South American family


3. 4 Hens and 2 Roosters for a struggling family


4. Stock 4 Medical Clinics for 4 Communities


5. 2 Goats for a Family


6. Pitch in for a Share of a Well (Many people will buy a share of a well and that money will come together to buy one whole well)


7. 6 Agriculteral Packs for 6 Families


8. 1 Dairy Cow for a Family


9. 4 Rabbits for a Family


10. Supply 3 Classrooms

Now I think I will be taking a bit of a break from writing on my blog for the summer. But still check every week because I might still be writing about my many trips.

Here's the article in the Edmonton Journal: Students Vow to Send Health and Hope Overseas.

Who's Left and Who's Leaving

I started this blog many years ago, when I was probably eight years old. Off the top of my head I thought of the name: "The World of Isaac" for this blog. Well, now this blog isn't just about my world, it's about the whole world, in all perspectives.
So I changed the name to "Who's Left and Who's Leaving" because it seemed fitting as I was trying to talk about all perspectives of a topic. And I need to find out who to represent who's left to talk about in my writings.
This new title is also a line in one of my favourite Weakerthans songs called "Left and Leaving".

Lawn, Health - Make Your Choice

There is a condo beside my house (it is finished) that always has strangely green grass. Of course unfortunately I know why. The condo owner uses pesticides as he is obsessed with the cleanliness and beautification of his lawn. Why? - who knows. All I know is that he really is obsessed with it. A couple years ago he purposely killed the strip of grass in between our lawn and his so that no weeds could migrate over to his lawn. I don't know what he used to do that but it looks bad because it didn't just kill the weeds, it also killed all the grass. So now there is still an ugly yellow strip of lawn in between our lawns. Over the past few years he has also come onto out lawn a couple of times when we were outside and start talking to us. What he talks about I think is kind of crazy. He says that we better get our weeds in our lawn under control or he would sue our landlord. That is crazy!! I mean it's our lawn! Anyway - our weeds aren't that bad...
I have recently been researching the effects of pesticides to ones health. There are actually many effects - all of them of course bad. Some of the effects of your common lawn pesticide are asthma, birth defects, neurological effects, cancer and hormone disruption.
For me I think it would be an easy choice between your lawn or someones health. For some people it may not be easy.

Unspoken Anniversary

Yesterday (June 4) was the 19th (I think) anniversary of the Tian An Men Square protests of 1989. For those of you who aren't familiar with these protests, they were a protest that was led by students who wanted democracy. They stayed for weeks in Tian An Men Square, even after Beijing was put under martial law. On June 4 the military PLA came into Tian An Man square and started attacking the students. Thousands were killed.

In class we are learning about the protests and yesterday we held a gathering to mourn for all the students who died. We did this because we learned that people in China are not aloud to even mention the event that happened. On the anniversaries in the past they do not let the families of the students who died mourn or get together to mourn. They do not even let the people into the graveyards where the dead were buried.

I think this was and still is shocking to many people. In Canada we are so fortunate because something like that could never have happened.

What I think was crazy was that 1000's of people, most of the students, were killed in the massacre but the government of China, after the fighting was over, told the rest of the world that no one was killed.

This was a huge moment in China's history and yet what is so sad is that it isn't spoken of where it actually happened.

Get Ready Dion!

Many times since the last federal election Dion and his Liberals have had many chances to "overthrow" Harper and his Conservatives but as I'm sure that many of you have noticed, they haven't used those chances. Many people are probably waiting until they finally come out and fight against them and possibly even trigger another election. But after every bill in which they support the Conservatives they say later that they just aren't ready. Well, when will you be ready Dion? We are all waiting.
One of those chances came today with the immigration bill, a bill which I'm sure the Liberals couldn't have supported, was passed. Instead of the Liberals coming and voting against it, trying to trigger another election, they just didn't come at all. I guess they just couldn't face the embarrassment of them coming and then voting for it so they choose the only other way out of it.
But seriously Dion, when will you be ready? We all hope it's soon.

Obama Wins American Nomination

Last night Barack Obama successfully won the American nomination for the upcoming election after a long, close race. Hillary Clinton still says though that she will not make an immediate decision on what course her campaign is going to take. Who knows what that means as Obama has already won!?
I will be updating more about this tomorrow.

They're tearing up streets again. They're building a new hotel. (Or condo)

Let me explain... I have been pressured into writing something about the environment. So here I attmept to write something that fits that criteria. It's not totally about the environment but I hope it's good enough. Also, this is kind of venting, but it's also a good thing that I'm venting about... Kind of. I'll just continue.
There has been one condo down my street (House Number 1) that they started building about three years ago. It is still not finished, about 3/4 done. There is another condo down one street over (House Number 2) that they started building about 1 year ago. It is not finished either, but it is at the same stage as house number 1 that started being built 3 years ago. First of all - they've been working on house number 1 for 3 years!!! Second of all - there is a big difference between the two houses. House number 1 is just an average condo that is replacing a small house on a big lot. House number 2 though is also a condo that is replacing a small house on a big lot but house number 2 is actually a. eco-friendly condo. So that means that all the the power is geothermal and stuff like that.
So this is what I think is good. I think that people are spending more time on a house that is eco-friendly so this means that people are actually wanting to help the environment by using eco-friendly power sources and stuff like that.
The bad thing is that there are obviously not enough workers to even finish house number 1. Also it's just a really ugly lot sitting in the middle of my street!

Winnipeg's Subway System

That's right, Winnipeg doesn't have a subway system, or LRT, underground or any other of that sort of transportation.
But then that brings up the question: "what is John. K. Samson talking about when he wrote the line 'a thousand sharpened elbows in the underground' for the Weakerthans song One Great City?"
I realized this a while ago and I still have not come up with an answer to that.
It really is a mystery and I regret not asking him that when I got the chance to interview him last fall.

ZeitCast #6

Here is your almost weekly podcast ZeitCast for May 30:

ZeitCast Your Almost Weekly Podcast for May 30 Part 1

ZeitCast Your Almost Weekly Podcast for May 30 Part 2

Personal Permission to use music was granted to me by Dallas Green of City and Colour and Wintersleep.

Thank you for listening.

ZeitCast #5

After 2 weeks of no full podcasts, here - finally is a full, two part ZeitCast episode:

ZeitCast Your Almost Weekly Podcast for May 22 Part 1

ZeitCast Your Almost Weekly Podcast for May 22 Part 2

Personal Permission to use their music was given to me by Dala and Okkervil River.
At the end of Part 1 I forgot to do the part saying to listen to part 2 - but there still is a part 2! So when you finish part 1 come back and listen to part 2.
Also, please be patient when loading the podcast. It may take up to five minutes to load.