Last Day, No Way!!
So as the title implies, today is my last day of work with the BC LNG Alliance! I am currently writing this post at work because I finished all my projects last Friday and have nothing else to do. Before diving in to my feelings and thoughts on my last day of work and upcoming trip home, I thought I would share what the past few days has had in store!
On Saturday I decided to take another solo journey (I can't be stopped) to Salt Spring Island! With a 5:30 am wake up call and a 6:30 am bus to the ferry, I was on my way. The ferry ride was really lovely and I had the opportunity to dive into my latest read, "How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran. When I arrived at the ferry terminal, I heard the horrific words that no traveler wants to hear, "the bus to town has been cancelled, you will need to call a cab." Now being the young and broke person that I am, I pulled out my Google Maps and decided to take the hour and a half hike to town opposed to the seven minute drive. Although my bank account was happy, my feet and stomach were not, so the second that I arrived in Ganges I ran to the farmers market to find something to eat. I ended up getting a beautiful handmade pulled pork taco (pictured below) and it really hit the spot! After wandering around the beautiful farmers market for a while (and even scoring some great gifts for my mentor and pals) I decided to try to find a beach. An important thing to note about the island is that cell phone service is a LUXURY and is very vey (very!!!) rare. Unfortunately I did not have service most of the day, so my attempt to find a beach consisted of me walking towards the water and smells of fish. Luckily, somehow I stumbled onto this rock face that turned into a beach and I made my way down to the water. The entire beach was made out of tiny rocks and shells and the only other people on the beach were two lovely old ladies. I am still not sure how they got on the beach as I had to scale a cliff to get down, but cheers to them! After my beach excursion I decided that I needed to find wifi, regroup and pick my next destination. At a small local coffee shop I decided to venture to Mouat Park, which based on the Google Maps photos looked like a quaint park where locals walk their dogs and hike. Upon arrive I realized that Google Maps was a liar and I was instead inside a disc golf park where dozens and dozens of people were playing. I decided to do the walk regardless, all while dodging flying disks, and stumbled upon some very interesting tree decorations (also pictured below). After my little hike it was time for dinner and I ended up at a pub that sat on the beach. The food was delicious and cheap and was a great way to end a lovely adventure! On the ferry home I read a lot more of my book and listened to some tunes before arriving home around midnight.
As I have mentioned "How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran a few times, I thought I should share a bit about this book. I honestly picked up this book at a really cool book shop in Victoria, not because I truly wanted to learn more on how to be a woman (I think that I'm a lost cause), but because I wanted to know what Caitlin Moran assumed being a woman really meant. At the beginning of the book, I was really on board. The author talks about growing up in a world dominated by the patriarchy. She makes jokes about womanhood, and the expectations that we are supposed to live up to. She even says she disagrees with a famous author based on her negative positioning on trans-rights. So after the first few chapters, I thought this book was a 10/10 on the feminism scale. And then this happened:
" But of course, you might be asking yourself, "Am I a feminist? I might not be. I don't know! I still don't know what it is! I'm too knackered and confused to work it out. That curtain rod really still isn't up! I don't have time to work out if I am a women's libber! There seems to be a lot to it. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?"
I understand.
So here is the quick way of working out if you're a feminist. Put your hands in your underpants.
a. Do you have a vagina? and
b. Do you want to be in charge of it?
If you said "yes" to both, the congratulations! You're a feminist."
And that was when I started to doubt that this book was really a 10/10. Following that section of the book, that is so clearly excluding trans women, the author goes on to talk about how every woman needs a good pair of high heels, what to keep in your purse and the benefits of a nice bra. It was in this moment that I realized how clear it was that a straight, cis, white, middle class woman wrote this book and that she had not even considered the point of view of p.o.c or the queer community. Honestly, I wouldn't have even been mad about this if at the beginning I was given a little disclaimer like, "hey everyone just so you know this book is intended for straight, cis, white, middle class feminists not trans feminists, queer feminists p.o.c. who are feminists or literally anyone else." But that disclaimer wasn't there. And this book said titled "How to Be a Woman", so I thought that it would be inclusive to all people who identified as women. But it didn't. Thats not to say that this book didn't have really great points on feminism, because it did and a lot of things hit home for me.
For example:
"For throughout history, you can read the stories of women who- against all the odds- got being a woman right, but ended up being compromised, unhappy, hobbled, or ruined, because all around them society was still wrong. ... Your hard-won triumphs can be wholly negated if you live in a climate where your victories are seen as threatening, incorrect, distasteful, or- most crucially of all, for a teenage girl- simply uncool."
"Because we need to reclaim the word "feminism." We need the word "feminism" back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29 percent of American women would describe themselves as feminist- and only 42 percent of British women- I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of "liberation for women" is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right to not be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? "Vogue" by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF SURVEY?"
"But, of course, the hiring of domestic help isn't a case of women oppressing other women, because WOMEN DID NOT INVENT DUST. THE STICKY RESIDUE THAT COLLECTS ON THE KETTLE DOES NOT COME OUT OF WOMEN'S VAGINAS. IT IS NOT ESTROGEN THAT COVERS THE DINNER PLATES IN TOMATO SAUCE, FISHSTICK DRUMBS, AND BITS OF MASHED POTATOES. MY UTERUS DID NOT RUN UPSTAIRS AND THROW ALL OF THE KIDS CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR AND PUT JAM ON THE BANISTER. AND IT IS NOT MY TITS THT HAVE SKEWED THE GLOBAL ECONOMY TOWARD DOMESTIC WORK FOR WOMEN."
"Feminism has had exactly the same problem that "political correctness" has had: people keep using the phrase without really knowing what it means."
"When people suggest that what, all along, has been holding women back is other women bitching about each other, I think they're severely overestimating the power of a catty zinger during a cigarette break. We have to remember that snidely saying, "Her hair's a bit limp on tip" isn't what's keeping womankind from closing the 30 percent pay gap and a place on the board of directors. I think that's more likely to be down to tens of thousands of years of ingrained social, political, and economic misogyny and the patriarchy, tbh. That's just got slightly more leverage than a gag about someone's bad trousers."
So yes, this book is good in some senses, like when it includes aspects that do not directly exclude large subgroups of women. I actually have not finished this book yet, and I am not usually one to speak on behalf of something when I haven't heard the whole story, but as this is my last BC in BC post, I felt I needed to share this. Who knows though, maybe at the end the author will say, "I was just kidding guys, all it takes to be a woman is to be a strong and brilliant person, and it actually has nothing to do with the clothes you wear, the contents of your purse (if you even choose to carry one) or the genitals between your legs." Regardless, I wanted to share my thoughts on this book to say to remember how important it is to acknowledge your privilege and not to speak on behalf of a whole group of people when everyones experiences are so so different. That is not to say don't share your experience, but to say, preface it as your experience, not that of all "women."
Wow sorry for the little feminist rant there! Last night I had a lovely final dinner with my roommate Gracie and friend Lily. It is crazy how many times that the three of us have huddled around our little kitchen table for meals. We have consumed pizzas, traditional Japanese food (with a surprise visit from Ronald the caterpillar), mac an cheese and much more. Now this era is coming to an end. In a few months Gracie will be living it up in Thailand and Lily will be back on the grind at U of T. Our friend Caitlin also popped by to say goodbye which was lovely. We spent the night laughing and comparing noses- a perfect end to a great summer.
Today at work I am (as you know) writing this blog post and then going out for lunch with my coworker Grace. After lunch my family is picking me up (ahhhh!!) and we are going out for dinner in Gastown before starting our week long out West journey! Working for the Alliance has been such an amazing experience. I went into this summer assuming a lot of things about the LNG industry and about the type of work that I would be doing, and oh boy was I wrong! This summer taught me so much about LNG but also about public policy, business and international relations. The knowledge that I have gained here is invaluable and I know it will benefit me in all aspects of my life to come. As a signed a confidentiality clause I cannot say much more about this summer, but overall working for David and the Alliance has been nothing like I expected, in the best way possible!
I really don't know how to end this sucker. As much as writing BC in BC was for my family and friends back home, it really was for me too. I've loved being able to share aspects of my life with the people who are most important to me, and not doing this once a week (or at least trying to) is going to be super odd. I guess the best way to go is with a thank you. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to keep up with this ragtag blog, even if you were just here for the photos, knowing that people enjoyed this as much as I have (okay maybe not as much) has been super heartwarming. Don't forget to check in next season for "BC in Wherever-The-Heck-I-End-Up-Next-Summer" !
Signing off, a grateful,
BC
On Saturday I decided to take another solo journey (I can't be stopped) to Salt Spring Island! With a 5:30 am wake up call and a 6:30 am bus to the ferry, I was on my way. The ferry ride was really lovely and I had the opportunity to dive into my latest read, "How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran. When I arrived at the ferry terminal, I heard the horrific words that no traveler wants to hear, "the bus to town has been cancelled, you will need to call a cab." Now being the young and broke person that I am, I pulled out my Google Maps and decided to take the hour and a half hike to town opposed to the seven minute drive. Although my bank account was happy, my feet and stomach were not, so the second that I arrived in Ganges I ran to the farmers market to find something to eat. I ended up getting a beautiful handmade pulled pork taco (pictured below) and it really hit the spot! After wandering around the beautiful farmers market for a while (and even scoring some great gifts for my mentor and pals) I decided to try to find a beach. An important thing to note about the island is that cell phone service is a LUXURY and is very vey (very!!!) rare. Unfortunately I did not have service most of the day, so my attempt to find a beach consisted of me walking towards the water and smells of fish. Luckily, somehow I stumbled onto this rock face that turned into a beach and I made my way down to the water. The entire beach was made out of tiny rocks and shells and the only other people on the beach were two lovely old ladies. I am still not sure how they got on the beach as I had to scale a cliff to get down, but cheers to them! After my beach excursion I decided that I needed to find wifi, regroup and pick my next destination. At a small local coffee shop I decided to venture to Mouat Park, which based on the Google Maps photos looked like a quaint park where locals walk their dogs and hike. Upon arrive I realized that Google Maps was a liar and I was instead inside a disc golf park where dozens and dozens of people were playing. I decided to do the walk regardless, all while dodging flying disks, and stumbled upon some very interesting tree decorations (also pictured below). After my little hike it was time for dinner and I ended up at a pub that sat on the beach. The food was delicious and cheap and was a great way to end a lovely adventure! On the ferry home I read a lot more of my book and listened to some tunes before arriving home around midnight.
As I have mentioned "How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran a few times, I thought I should share a bit about this book. I honestly picked up this book at a really cool book shop in Victoria, not because I truly wanted to learn more on how to be a woman (I think that I'm a lost cause), but because I wanted to know what Caitlin Moran assumed being a woman really meant. At the beginning of the book, I was really on board. The author talks about growing up in a world dominated by the patriarchy. She makes jokes about womanhood, and the expectations that we are supposed to live up to. She even says she disagrees with a famous author based on her negative positioning on trans-rights. So after the first few chapters, I thought this book was a 10/10 on the feminism scale. And then this happened:
" But of course, you might be asking yourself, "Am I a feminist? I might not be. I don't know! I still don't know what it is! I'm too knackered and confused to work it out. That curtain rod really still isn't up! I don't have time to work out if I am a women's libber! There seems to be a lot to it. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?"
I understand.
So here is the quick way of working out if you're a feminist. Put your hands in your underpants.
a. Do you have a vagina? and
b. Do you want to be in charge of it?
If you said "yes" to both, the congratulations! You're a feminist."
And that was when I started to doubt that this book was really a 10/10. Following that section of the book, that is so clearly excluding trans women, the author goes on to talk about how every woman needs a good pair of high heels, what to keep in your purse and the benefits of a nice bra. It was in this moment that I realized how clear it was that a straight, cis, white, middle class woman wrote this book and that she had not even considered the point of view of p.o.c or the queer community. Honestly, I wouldn't have even been mad about this if at the beginning I was given a little disclaimer like, "hey everyone just so you know this book is intended for straight, cis, white, middle class feminists not trans feminists, queer feminists p.o.c. who are feminists or literally anyone else." But that disclaimer wasn't there. And this book said titled "How to Be a Woman", so I thought that it would be inclusive to all people who identified as women. But it didn't. Thats not to say that this book didn't have really great points on feminism, because it did and a lot of things hit home for me.
For example:
"For throughout history, you can read the stories of women who- against all the odds- got being a woman right, but ended up being compromised, unhappy, hobbled, or ruined, because all around them society was still wrong. ... Your hard-won triumphs can be wholly negated if you live in a climate where your victories are seen as threatening, incorrect, distasteful, or- most crucially of all, for a teenage girl- simply uncool."
"Because we need to reclaim the word "feminism." We need the word "feminism" back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29 percent of American women would describe themselves as feminist- and only 42 percent of British women- I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of "liberation for women" is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right to not be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? "Vogue" by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF SURVEY?"
"But, of course, the hiring of domestic help isn't a case of women oppressing other women, because WOMEN DID NOT INVENT DUST. THE STICKY RESIDUE THAT COLLECTS ON THE KETTLE DOES NOT COME OUT OF WOMEN'S VAGINAS. IT IS NOT ESTROGEN THAT COVERS THE DINNER PLATES IN TOMATO SAUCE, FISHSTICK DRUMBS, AND BITS OF MASHED POTATOES. MY UTERUS DID NOT RUN UPSTAIRS AND THROW ALL OF THE KIDS CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR AND PUT JAM ON THE BANISTER. AND IT IS NOT MY TITS THT HAVE SKEWED THE GLOBAL ECONOMY TOWARD DOMESTIC WORK FOR WOMEN."
"Feminism has had exactly the same problem that "political correctness" has had: people keep using the phrase without really knowing what it means."
"When people suggest that what, all along, has been holding women back is other women bitching about each other, I think they're severely overestimating the power of a catty zinger during a cigarette break. We have to remember that snidely saying, "Her hair's a bit limp on tip" isn't what's keeping womankind from closing the 30 percent pay gap and a place on the board of directors. I think that's more likely to be down to tens of thousands of years of ingrained social, political, and economic misogyny and the patriarchy, tbh. That's just got slightly more leverage than a gag about someone's bad trousers."
So yes, this book is good in some senses, like when it includes aspects that do not directly exclude large subgroups of women. I actually have not finished this book yet, and I am not usually one to speak on behalf of something when I haven't heard the whole story, but as this is my last BC in BC post, I felt I needed to share this. Who knows though, maybe at the end the author will say, "I was just kidding guys, all it takes to be a woman is to be a strong and brilliant person, and it actually has nothing to do with the clothes you wear, the contents of your purse (if you even choose to carry one) or the genitals between your legs." Regardless, I wanted to share my thoughts on this book to say to remember how important it is to acknowledge your privilege and not to speak on behalf of a whole group of people when everyones experiences are so so different. That is not to say don't share your experience, but to say, preface it as your experience, not that of all "women."
Wow sorry for the little feminist rant there! Last night I had a lovely final dinner with my roommate Gracie and friend Lily. It is crazy how many times that the three of us have huddled around our little kitchen table for meals. We have consumed pizzas, traditional Japanese food (with a surprise visit from Ronald the caterpillar), mac an cheese and much more. Now this era is coming to an end. In a few months Gracie will be living it up in Thailand and Lily will be back on the grind at U of T. Our friend Caitlin also popped by to say goodbye which was lovely. We spent the night laughing and comparing noses- a perfect end to a great summer.
Today at work I am (as you know) writing this blog post and then going out for lunch with my coworker Grace. After lunch my family is picking me up (ahhhh!!) and we are going out for dinner in Gastown before starting our week long out West journey! Working for the Alliance has been such an amazing experience. I went into this summer assuming a lot of things about the LNG industry and about the type of work that I would be doing, and oh boy was I wrong! This summer taught me so much about LNG but also about public policy, business and international relations. The knowledge that I have gained here is invaluable and I know it will benefit me in all aspects of my life to come. As a signed a confidentiality clause I cannot say much more about this summer, but overall working for David and the Alliance has been nothing like I expected, in the best way possible!
I really don't know how to end this sucker. As much as writing BC in BC was for my family and friends back home, it really was for me too. I've loved being able to share aspects of my life with the people who are most important to me, and not doing this once a week (or at least trying to) is going to be super odd. I guess the best way to go is with a thank you. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to keep up with this ragtag blog, even if you were just here for the photos, knowing that people enjoyed this as much as I have (okay maybe not as much) has been super heartwarming. Don't forget to check in next season for "BC in Wherever-The-Heck-I-End-Up-Next-Summer" !
Signing off, a grateful,
BC
A beautiful handprinted Salt Spring Island Map!
The taco that quenched my hunger and stole my heart
A lovely little marina
I thought about jumping into that little boat and setting sail...
The secret beach that I scaled a rock face to find
Rocks n rocks
An interesting tree in an interesting forest
Its disc golf season baby
This little fairy door was photographed online and was what brought me to Mouat Park. In the flesh it was faded and covered in graffiti, still cute tho!
This photo is only exciting because on my hour and a half walk to town I was whistling songs from "Salad Days" by Mac DeMarco!!
Okay I can Assure you I’ve enjoyed this at least as much as you have — and not just for the photos! Wooo feminist rant!!
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