Those who weren’t enchanted with Lara Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie TV series (starring Michael Landon) of the late 70s and early 80s probably don’t recollect this unfortunate title for the Canadian sitcom that CBC will release for its third season in October. It’s called Little Mosque on the Prairie.

I was appalled and embarrassed at my school as the sight of a makeshift graveyard caught my attention. This crude representation was apparently planted in the ground to alert me to the number of fetuses that were murdered each day in Canada.

I am confused by the intention behind this display. Was it meant to make the majority “pro-life” population of Trinity Western University more aware of an issue they generally do not contribute to? Was it meant to make the women who have been faced with the option and who made the “right choice” pat themselves on the back? Was it meant to make the women who have made the choice to abort feel humiliated and judged? Whatever the intention may be, I am angered by this seemingly calculated attempt to instill shame. Where is the compassion that Christians have been charged to extend?

Today I walked through a strategic graveyard of pristine white crosses jutting out of the soft ground. I saw young budding university students giggling and posing for pictures as they happily hammered them into the earth. I was forced to see judgment masquerading itself as a cause and I saw people feeling gratified by the pain of others. Shaking with anger and sadness I turned to my friend and saw that her mouth hung open in surprise. I wanted to run up to those students and ask them, “Why? Why are you doing this? What satisfaction can you gain from this gesture? How can you so blatantly permeate this message of hatred and ignorance?”

In response to the Spartans latest escapade, a student from Queen’s
University writes, “Trinity, I’d suggest that you refrain from throwing away four young men’s careers and your own soccer season in the name of some silly code of ethics.”

We don’t have a silly code of ethics. TWU’s code of conduct is a defining characteristic of Trinity. The majority of students and professors who chose to be part of Trinity do so because of its unique Christian code of ethics. With out this code Trinity would be no different than any other Canadian University.

Walking into a rainstorm is, quite literally, a wondrous encounter. Glorying in being kissed by the heavens, the pale silver streaks dashing vigour into all of us alike, the looks you get from the busy crowds impart another sort of glory – the glory of not being taken quite seriously. Apparently, I’ve got this whole rainstorm business the wrong way around. The communion of slate sky, icy wind and unprotected man –our participation in precipitation– should be, especially for virtue of being an unfortunate necessity of getting to class, a profoundly miserable experience.

With the Canadian and American elections close on our heels, the time is right for the call for Cascadia to move to the forefront and be known amongst the masses of the Pacific Northwest. Very few times have two North American nations had their elections so close to one another, such that this phenomenon has brought with it a renewed interest in “Cascadia.” The time is now and we, the people, now have a choice to make. This choice would be, as Barack Obama would say, “a change we can all believe in.”

Could Quebec’s role as a nation within Canada finally pay off? It’s increasingly beginning to look like Jean Charest’s activism might actually benefit all of Canada by placing the nation square in the middle of the two biggest developed economies in the world.

Since Confederation, Canada’s largest trading partner has been the United States, which now receives about of 85 per cent of the nation’s exported goods. Both nations have benefited from a free-trade deal covering a wide range of issues since 1988 under the North American Free Trade Agreement (Mexico was added in 1994). However, with stagnating US growth and the increasing inability of Washington lawmakers to differentiate between Douglas Crossing in British Columbia and Durango (a state in Mexico), the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) appears to have taken a new approach.

The upcoming election stirs the air. Yet it, and politics in general, is being met with a shocking amount of apathy. People do not seem to see politics as relevant to their lives. Now is the time: here is why it is essential that young Christians with a liberal arts education vote.