March 21st Event!

Greetings,

Sorry it has been a while since I posted. The past while has been really busy. In this time I have had the opporitunity to explore our vibrant communities here in York Centre. I've been meeting with residents, listening to their concerns and letting them know my ideas for the community and the country as a whole.

My team and I (I give much credit to my enthusiastic and growing team) are planning a series of events for this Spring and Summer. The first of which we are planning this month.

On March 21st, The International Day to End Racism we are hosting an event:
Kurtis Baily Presents: 2nd Annual Celebration of Multiculturalism

On the one hand we explore the various cultures that exist in this country and community and at the same time look into themes of oppression and discrimination and how to fight them. It will be a night full of friendship, culture and good food and drink. We hope you all can come down and have a great night!

The event is to be held at Maya, a restaurant/bar that serves amazing Central American cuisine. I've tasted quite a few parts of their menu and completely recommend. I always test out a place before inviting people to it for an event! It's a task I perform with great pleasure. Maya is at 918 Wilson Ave.(not far from Wilson St.) at 6:00pm and goes on into the night. We have performances, including the alternative hip-hop group Expanded Mindz, spoken word artist David Delisca and Yuk Yuk's comedian Keith Pedro, among others.

Come by, bring friends, let's have a night to remember!

Maya 918 Wilson Ave.
6:00pm
$5-10 entry fee
March 21st, 2010

See you there!

Keep Student Space

Some Thoughts on the Proposed Changes to Vari Hall up at York University...

Cops in School?

UnProfessional

I got the strangest compliment the other day. Strange in that it wasn't intended to be a compliment, but being the optimist that I am, I try to grow from all criticism, which is what lead me to realize that it shouldn't be taken as an insult. You see the person called me "unprofessional". In trying to understand in what way I was unprofessional I realized that I had to go back to the definition of what professional is.

I realized that to be a professional is to get paid for what you do and to take on the quality of somebody who gets paid to do what they do implies a certain distance, a certain cold aspect. I then started to think about what it is to be a politician and why it is that we politicians have such a bad rap. Why it is that we are looked at with such disdain from the general public and considered to be such crooks, liars and hypocrites. I realized that it was because we were acting too professional. You see, politicians used to be passionate. Being a politician used to mean that you believed in something. And this is the way it should be, because what most politicians do now is they act like this is a job, and in the sense that we get paid for it, it is a job. But it should be something that we are willing to do for the betterment of the country; to the advancement of our society as a whole.

If politicians acted out of general compassion and consideration for all people in their jurisdiction our nation would be an entirely different place. We would not have had a Prime Minister Martin and we wouldn't even be considering a Prime Minister Ignatieff. The fact of the matter is volunteers, activists, community leaders, parents, all contribute to the composure of our communities and society as a whole with an unparalleled and unmeasurable value. Furthermore, when they carry out their tasks they do so more effectively, efficiently and diligently. Despite the fact that they don't get paid for the jobs that they do their attendance records are virtually untainted, whereas my local Member of Parliament (MP), Ken Dryden is only present in Parliament approximately half of the time, while we pay him $150,000 annually to represent the good people of York Centre. Now, I don't about you, but if I showed up to work 50% of the time I'd get 0% of the pay.

Thankfully, but unfortunately, I show up to my political work 100% of the time and as of yet get 0% of the pay because like so many of those volunteers, community leaders and parents, I am an activist committed to my task because of it's worth not because of the weight it puts in my pockets. That's why I have been working since January to earn your vote, your devotion, your commitment, your respect and I refuse to stop until I have achieved it.