At the last World Cup of Hockey, when the Americans beat the Canadians for the Gold medal, an entire nation hung their heads. Some took it hard; my neighbours even went so far as to hang their flag at half-mast for a week! So, last night when the Canadian Men's hockey team beat Finland for the Gold, a nation breathed a deep sigh of relief and rejoiced. Finland played a great game, amazing really - but the better team won.
Now, I know I may sound a little serious on the subject, but hockey is a Canadian game. Even Canadians that "dont really care about hockey" get excited about the big tournaments or the playoffs.
I left the office right before game time yesterday and saw that people were being turned away from bars all over the place. I started talking to a bar owner who told me that he had run out of sitting space in his bar over an hour before the puck dropped. Hockey is serious here. I don't think that there is a country in the world that puts as much pressure on their hockey players to be the best.
Are we obsessed? Perhaps, but at least we can only get 12 medals in the Summer Olympics and say, "At least the Winter Olympics are only 2 years away." :)

*Go Canada Go!

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
- Krishnamurti

Do you make music? Are you interested in ways music can affect social change? Do you want to share your music with other TIG members?

For the TakingITGlobal Music monthly theme in September, we've decided to focus on the topic of music and social change - we're going to have a timeline featuring clips of important political songs from different regions and time periods. The more exciting news is that we are also going to implement a "TIG Music Jukebox," with songs created by TIG members that others can listen to, as well as a little blurb written by the member about their song, and links to their TIG profiles and personal websites. You have the opportunity to participate in this Jukebox - if you make music, I want to hear from you! Please send me the following pieces of information:

- One song file (in mp3 format, less than 5 mb in size - preferably with little/no profanity)
- 3-4 sentence paragraph about the song and dealing with some or all of the following topics: why the song is important to you, what inspired you to write it, what inspires you to create music, and how you think music can affect social change
- Your TIG member profile username
- URL if you have a website for your music

It would be best if you can get all of this to me by Friday, August 20th, or as soon as possible! Send it to: tara@takingitglobal.org

I look forward to hearing from you, and hearing your music.

I found this pic of Venus crossing the sun. It was taken in Kuala Lumpur. The last time this happened was in 1882, so no one alive has seen it before. HOW COOL IS THAT?!? It looks like a rasin. What do YOU think?

Is it amazing what a little T&A can do?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4890829/