Blueberry Pie is Best with a Pinch of Crack*

Passing Time
My first few weeks off school haven't been as enjoyable as I'd hoped. I find myself with less work than anticipated, my friends are all either working or in school, and I lack the motivation to do anything. Lately I feel like I've been walking around with a cloud of depression over my head and I'm grasping at ways to lose it. However, life isn't as dismal as I realize I'm making it sound. This week has been filled with events, from my Saturday night downtown excursion to the film festival. I was very pleased with my film choices last night and anxiously await the last two I have. I could be going to the gym, but even that doesn't interest me lately.

Repeating Subjects
I watched Sharkwater last night at the film festival, hoping it would provide me with the insight I require to get over a hidden, but very real, fear of sharks I have. A while ago I posted a blog about Shark Finning and received some comments comparing it to other forms of slaughter that is more westernized. I encourage everyone to see this documentary about the world's most misrepresented species. As I sat in the dark, full theatre last night listening to the director talk about the importance of sharks for the survival of the human race, I fought back tears of shame, disgust, and sadness as I watched shark upon shark be stripped of it's fins and thrown bitterly back to the ocean to drown or be eaten alive. It is very difficult to view these creatures as the man slaughtering monsters that society has made them while you watch a man on the ocean floor touching, feeding, and swimming with them. The director, Rob Stewart, talks of the existence of sharks going back over 400 million years and how they've set the evolution of their prey. How the ocean supplies 70% of our oxygen due to plankton regulation, vegetation that Sharks feed on. He stresses the importance of these magnificant creatures and how fast they are becoming endangered. I was floored to learn that on average, 100 million sharks are hunted and killed for their fins annually. I struggled with tears when I learned during the 88 minutes of that documentary 15,000 sharks were killed. And most of it is done illeaglly.

I hope that many people see this movie, and many people take action. Like Stewart said, people are so concerned with saving the bears, whales, seals. What about Sharks, the one thing that can potentially save us?

*in reference to a scene from Prison Break, Season Two