Never Said. Always Assumed.

I come from a long line of feisty, intelligent, motivated women.  My great grandmother divorced her husband and denied the Catholic church (in Ireland of all places).  My grandmother divorced her husband and raised her kids herself.  My mother was out earning a solid living as a salesperson when other women were talking about refusing to pick up their husbands' socks.

But we live in a society full of conceits (underlying assumptions) about gender - a society that has trouble categorizing women like those from my family.  Conceits that insist women should be subject to men, that men are better and stronger people than women, that constant trivializing of the female point of view is not only appropriate but, somehow, part of our DNA, thus right and good. In a society like this one, we are assailed from all sides by messages that women are somewhat lesser beings and really only physical beings at that.  We can achieve; we can be successful.  But one of the worst underlying perceptions of our success suggests that a male version of ourselves could have done much better.

I get this all the time.  I was a stage manager for a few years and, arguably, did a solid job in the role.  However, I actually had an actor turn to me and tell me that men iron better than women.  Huh?  True story.  Underlying assumption:  no matter how well I performed in the task a motivated man would always do better.

When I was a kid, we had a substitute teacher come into our grade six class.  He thought he was pretty hot, this guy, and kept talking about a book he wrote about Transylvania.  And, very quickly, he decided to do a social experiment.  His premise was this:  the boys would always do much better than the girls in a random general knowledge test.  We played the game.  I was neck and neck with the other top student all the way through the game -- he a little ahead and, then, me a little ahead.

But when the time ran out, the teacher turned around and said, "See?  John is clearly the winner."  At that moment, John was one point ahead of me.  When a number of kids in the class came to my defense, he looked at me, grimaced and said the world 'well' implying that because I am a little funny looking and I limp, I am not female anyway. So his premise could remain intact despite evidence sitting right in front of him that he was wrong. Absolutely inappropriate behaviour, now, but acceptable then.

That was a while ago, you say?  Yes, a long while ago, and things should have changed by now.  But, still, in discussions about how women and men fare, folks constantly call me the exception that proves the rule.  This is clearly not the case.  There are tons of strong, intelligent, motivated women out there.  We can't all be exceptions.

And, so, along comes my little girl.  Unsurprisingly, she's a lot like me.  She's smart and geeky and loves things that little girls are expected to spurn.  But she's tall and gorgeous.

I wonder how they are going to try to explain away her.


Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  She is currently directing and producing Oleanna by David Mamet for a two week run at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild.  She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.  



Want to contact me?
Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text:  647-292-0210
twitter:  @jaybird01
skype:   Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/

Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids.  Two installments in 2012:  The Homeschoolers` Version:  11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $155.  Premium Full Day Summer Camp:  9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $200.  Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012.  Spots are going fast.  Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca

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It's our fault. Not theirs.

What those kids are doing in Quebec.  How about that?  Agree with them or not, but they have stuck to their guns and might actually be making a difference not only for their future but the future of countless others - if they manage a win in Quebec, then other provinces are sure to follow.  The protests have been largely peaceful with a few exceptions and, despite laws that attempted to restrict freedoms, the protests continued. Now, the government and students are back to the bargaining table because tourist season is almost upon us.  You can't really legislate students back to school, now can you?

I guess the Quebec government thought their laws restricting peaceful protest would shut everybody up.  After all, that's been the trend for a long, long time.  Restrict rights and freedoms, increase costs.  Most people will go along with it if it's incremental and sold as good for us all.

And, looking at this graphic, it would seem that Quebec students have it pretty good already.  Looks like they are paying pretty much the lowest tuition of anyone in the country. So, what?  Why would they be protesting what the government calls a reasonable rise in tuition fees over a number of years when they already have it so good?

The real question might be this:  Why are the students in the other provinces NOT protesting?

According to StatsCan, university tuition fees are on the increase, outstripping the rate of inflation, not to mention the addition of new fees.  For even a simple bachelor's degree which we know will get you a great job slinging burgers or coffee, a student will pay, on average in Canada, about $15,000. And, despite the fact that researchers are starting to draw distinct, real correlations between health and years in education, we are starting to restrict access to higher education to the wealthy few or those willing to pay of tens of thousands of dollars of loan after they are done.  So, why aren't kids in the other provinces hopping mad?  Why aren't their parents hopping mad?  Why are protests not popping up all over the country?

Make your own prognostications on why society is becoming more unfair.  Make your own decisions as to why the rich are getting richer, lifestyles are devolving, and mobility between the classes is eroding all the time. Make your own decisions.  Believe what you need to believe.  But if they take what they take without a fight, the fault is ours, not theirs.


Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  She is currently directing Kidsplay 2012:  The Mayan Prediction opening June 20. 2012 at the Palmerston Library Theatre for one night only, and The Last Five Years for TOKL Productions running July 20-21st, 2012 at the Alum Studio.  Next year, she is looking forward to producing/directing her own show in the fall, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild.  She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.  She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp sessions for 2012.

Want to contact me?

Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text:  647-292-0210
twitter:  @jaybird01
skype:   Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/

Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids.  Two installments in 2012:  The Homeschoolers` Version:  11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $155.  Premium Full Day Summer Camp:  9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $200.  Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012.  Spots are going fast.  Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca

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Sucking blood.

It's common, right now, to slam youth.  From the assumption of a coddled childhood to the dismissal of youth concerns like tuition hikes, the current generation of young people have a bad rap.  This is often true as the next generation comes forward but, the Boomers (of which I am a tail-end version) happen to have played a mean game of generational politics all the way along, and seem particularly vitriolic in their dislike of this upcoming cohort.

And have pulled their support of them.  The significant proportion of wealth in the developed world is flowing up to (a small percentage of) the older and more established as opposed to down toward youth.   Public funds are being pulled to bail out ailing corporations (who pay, comparitively, very little tax - United States examples) as opposed to maintaining and supporting education and youth programs or any other programs for that matter.  Maybe it's a good thing these kids love computer games and social networking because for so many of them, there is no work.

So, what the heck is everybody thinking?  Fuck these kids.  I had to work my way up and so should they.  Okay.  Okay.  Okay.

But, you didn't.  Even if you're a year or so older than me.  I know.  Because everything started to dry up as I got there as it's only gotten worse since.

For example, after the death of my supporting parent, I applied for the Ontario Student Assistance Program.  This assistance came -- before I got there -- primarily in the form of grants and a lot of people were eligible.  Fairly affluent kids would apply and receive a grant; so much so that OSAP's nickname was The Ontario Stereo Acquisition Program.  As I got there, however, all changed.  Welcome the 80's.  The grants, mostly, disappeared and were replaced by very low interest loans.  Tuition was cheap.  Housing was cheap.  And I was a hard luck case.  I got out with a very small yolk around my neck - a little over a thousand dollars.  And found a job pretty easily.

Of course, because of its relative inexpense, higher education became cheap.  There were lots of lots of little BA's and BS's and such.  Breeding like rabbits they were.  And a lot of them weren't needed; so a lot of them got McJobs.  Even the bachelor's degree, itself, was undermined to the point of being barely as important as a highschool diploma.  And if you don't have a highschool diploma, you can barely get any job at all.  (Never fear.  Handymen grew up to trump us all but that is a subject for another post.)

And, despite the devalued status of the average bachelor degree, tuition has gone up.  Waaaaaay up.  Housing is expensive.  Even if kids stay at home while they attend, they come out of university owing tens of thousands of dollars.  With no work to go to.   Of course it's their fault.

Look, in general, they seem a little cocky, a little assumptive, a little too optimistic.  Not us, though.  We weren't like that.  Hmmmm....

In what kind of society do the old suck the life right out of the young?  A vampiric one.  And if only we all aged like Lestat, this might make sense;  I mean how much money does one person need in one lifetime?  You can't take it with you.  Ah, unless you mean to give the money to your kids to ease their way.  It's just fuck everybody else's.  They're all slackers, anyway.


Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  She is currently directing Kidsplay 2012:  The Mayan Prediction opening June 20. 2012 at the Palmerston Library Theatre for one night only, and The Last Five Years for TOKL Productions running July 20-21st, 2012 at the Alum Studio.  Next year, she is looking forward to producing/directing her own show in the fall, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild.  She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.  She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp sessions for 2012.

Want to contact me?

Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text:  647-292-0210
twitter:  @jaybird01
skype:   Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/

Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids.  Two installments in 2012:  The Homeschoolers` Version:  11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $155.  Premium Full Day Summer Camp:  9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $200.  Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012.  Spots are going fast.  Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca

Like what you read? Click on an ad!

Look over there!

Well, a few months ago, folks down there in the US were talking about things.  They were talking about the environment, about the economy, about health care.  They were talking about education and other social necessities.  In such a trying time, such things do need to be discussed.  Super.  But what are they talking about now?

Well, now, they're talking about abortion, access to birth control, and rolling back women's rights.  These are hot button issues.  People either feel one way or t'other on reproductive choice and they feel very strongly about it.  They will fight.  They will get involved.  Heck, it's not even my country and I feel involved.

I swear it's almost like it's being done on purpose.  Don't look at the mess the environment's in or your unneccessary reliance on fossil fuels.  Don't look at the economy.  Look over there!  See?

I know I'm being cynical and I know it's not a big conspiracy.  But it's so convenient.  And it draws voter attention away from issues like whether corporations should be considered people, and whether taxation is fair, and whether climate change is an issue that needs addressing.

Everybody's in on it, too.  Heck, if I lived there I would be in on it in a big way.  As laws start passing that limit a woman's right to choose (women of childbearing age have no rights) or make her right to choose uncomfortable or more difficult, folks who believe in women's reproductive rights are fighting.  They have to.  It's a drop-everything-and-fight situtation.  It can't be ignored.  And, because we know that society is deeply divided on these issues, a lot of folks will wade into the fray.  A lot of folks will be focused only on this issue.

But no one will address big oil.  Or the deficiencies in the education system.  Or climate issues.  Or bailouts.  Or how to avoid the financial meltdown in the future.  Or....

That's because we're all too busy looking over there.