meeka-things

[meeka-things]

1. Women + food rationing= engagement in the political sphere

a) Providing an adequate meal became impossible because grocers raised the price of everything. It is important to note that Francophone housewives lived different than English housewives. Francophone housewives stored food in iceboxes, had larger families, less income causing them to make daily purchases (Fahrni Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 494). Mundane items accessible to low-income families, such as cabbage and bread, became ridiculously expensive that some families were left to starve. Not to mention, margarine was illegal to purchase. The inflation of price and lack of substitution angered francophone women, urging them to take legal and passive-aggressive action towards the government and grocers. Francophone housewives blatantly boycott grocers forcing grocers to lower thier prices. For example, grocers raised the price of cabbage to 30 cents but dropped the price to 5 cents (Fahrni Magda. "Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940's Montreal", Pg. 493).

b) Francophone housewives also took legal action against the government for restricting the use of margarine. In 1886, Canada banned margarine production because margarine competed with the dairy industry and challenged Canadian morale (Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 496). However, butter was a staple of Canadian diet. Without butter, families were struggling to survive. Seeing the trouble of providing an adequate, francophone housewives pushed for the legalization of margarine as an ample substitute for butter.  In 1948, the supreme court ruled that the federal government did not have the right to prohibit margarine manufacture (Fahrni Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 498).

c) Toronto housewives worked alongside the government, specifically Donald Gordon, to monitor price inflation. In contrast to Francophone housewives, English housewives took aggressive actions against grocers. Donald Gordon appointed Bryne Hope Sanders to lead the 'blue book' agents. Under the leadership of Sanders, 16,000 women were recruited to write up against grocers (Graham Broad. A Small Price To Pay Consumer Culture on the Canadian Home Front, 1939-45, Pg. 33). As simple as a price difference of 3 cents for pork kidney was reported, forcing grocers to lower their prices and sometimes be fined (Graham Broad. A Small Price To Pay Consumer Culture on the Canadian Home Front, 1939-45, Pg. 33). Whether how little or big the complain was, price control were necessary and the only one suitable to enforce these laws were housewives. 

d) Aside from women taking action against price inflation, women also challenged the ideals of upper-class women. During wartime, the government gave upper-class and middle-class women the responsibility of educating low-income families about thrifting. Not to mention, the government also published advertisements that displayed upperclass women as the ideal “Mrs. Consumer”. This supposed "education" and ideal “Mrs.Consumer” infuriated low-income housewives because upper-class women did not know what budgeting was nor were they complying with the rules of rationing.  Margaret Graham Horton published a pledge card (something that upper-class women handed to low-class women while educating) to attack upper-class women for their ignorance and the government for placing a blind-eye on upper-class families (Donica Belisle. Purchasing Power: Women and the Rise of Consumer Culture Pg. 54). 

Women accepted food rationing as a patriotic act but it was the ridiculous price inflations and bias actions that pushed women to engage in economic and political debates against grocers, the federal government and women. Essentially, rationing made women realize their economic and political potential, forming pre-feminism. 

End Notes:

Fahrni Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Canadian Historical Review 83, no. 4 (2002): Pg. 493-498.

Graham Broad. A Small Price To Pay Consumer Culture on the Canadian Home Front, 1939-45, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2013), Pg. 28-33.

Donica Belisle. Purchasing Power: Women and the Rise of Consumer Culture (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020), Pg. 53. 

[meeka-things]

2. Legalization of margarine

Francophone housewives also took legal action against the government for restricting the use of margarine. In 1886, Canada banned margarine production because margarine competed with the dairy industry and challenged Canadian morale (Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 496). However, butter was a staple of Canadian diet. Without butter, families were struggling to survive. Seeing the trouble of providing an adequate, francophone housewives pushed for the legalization of margarine as an ample substitute for butter.  In 1948, the supreme court ruled that the federal government did not have the right to prohibit margarine manufacture (Fahrni Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 498).

End notes:

Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 496.

[meeka-things]

1. Francophone housewives boycott grocers

Providing an adequate meal became impossible because grocers raised the price of everything. It is important to note that Francophone housewives lived different than English housewives. Francophone housewives stored food in iceboxes, had larger families, less income causing them to make daily purchases (Fahrni Magda. “Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940’s Montreal”, Pg. 494). Mundane items accessible to low-income families, such as cabbage and bread, became ridiculously expensive that some families were left to starve. Not to mention, margarine was illegal to purchase. The inflation of price and lack of substitution angered francophone women, urging them to take legal and passive-aggressive action towards the government and grocers. Francophone housewives blatantly boycott grocers forcing grocers to lower thier prices. For example, grocers raised the price of cabbage to 30 cents but dropped the price to 5 cents (Fahrni Magda. "Counting the Cost of Living: Gender, Citizenship and a Politics of Prices in 1940's Montreal", Pg. 493).

Endnotes:

Fahrni, Magda. "Counting the Costs of Living: Gender, Citizenship, and a Politics of Prices in 1940's Montreal." Canadian Historical Review 83, no. 4 (2002): Pg. 493-494.

[meeka-things]

Food rationing + women= engagement in the political and economic sphere

Food rationing became a policy in January 1941 due to a shortage of goods to ship abroad. Families, mainly women, feared the effects of rationing on the cost of living and thier family's. What made it even more difficult was that prime players associated with the government, such as Donald Gordon, director of the War Time Price Board and Lionel Bradley Pett, a leading chemist that directed Canada's health, blamed women for everything when it came to health; illiteracy in nutrition, unreliable labours, deficiencies, and loss of masculinity. The government made it explicit that homemakers were responsible for providing an adequate and nutritious diet and a patriotic duty.  Conservation was difficult but it pushed women to challenge government restrictions, price inflation in different regions, and classism.  

[meeka-things]

#toosieslide challenge

Aside from the pandemic, Drake’s new song, Tootisie Slide is making headlines on instagram, Tiktok, twitter and yes, even CP24. Instagram users and tiktok users are posting videos of themselves doing the slide. This one posted here is by influencer @lianev via instagram and she killed it. Click the link! 

[meeka-things]

Covid-19 sparks self-love challenges and social interactions via instagram

Since everyone has been on lockdown, numerous instagram users have played around with instagram algorithims to promote love and positivity. There was a challenge where people #seeashottakeashot. Literllly, users took a shot and tagged other people to take a shot as well.  There was also another algorithim where users were drawing carrots and apple in an attempt to make it better than previous users who were tagged. I chose this post in particular because it promoted self-love and positivity. Too often in the busy world we used to live in, women and men often forget to love themselves because they are distracted with everyone else. I thought this tag was beautiful because it reminded men and women that they are beautiful and to remind their loved ones they are beautiful as well. Cheers to that!  

[meeka-things]

#socialdistancing 

Ok, so I took a break on instagram and found something on twitter that should have been given more attention on other social media platforms. Since the outbreak of the covid-19, politcians and cheif medical officers globally has advised citizens to stay inside thier homes to avoid the spread of the virus. However, some people do not like to listen to the rules that were put in place for thier own safety. Laws were passed with fines and jail time for those who do not follow the law and still there are people who refuse to keep themsleves and others safe. To teach society a lesson, Seine Kongruangkit and Maithorn Prachubmoh Chaimoungkalo, students from a Miami Ad school created a campaign to stop people from coming out their house by posting billboards that  has spoiler alerts for popular netflix shows. Take a look. 

[meeka-things]

Presenting 2-year old Adonis Graham

About 2 years ago, Drake and Pusha T had a feud where things got dirty and went viral. Pusha T claimed Drake was a ghost-writer and Drake claimed Pusha T was supporting Kanye West politics. From diss tracks to twitter wars, it got to the point where Pusha T claimed Drake had a son by the name of Adonis Graham. This was scandalous but no one could prove this was legimate news. All the names were given like Drake’s partner and his son’s name but where was the proof of his son’s existence? It was not until today, March 30, 2020, Drake made his debut with his son. He wrote a beautiful post expressing love, trust and being positive around this tough time. Though this was a scandal in 2018, Adonis Graham is reminding the world that life is beautiful; appreciate it.  

[meeka-things]

Gal Gadot and other celebrities singing John Lennon’s “imagine”. 

During this tough time, every celebrity felt the need to put thier input or “wisdom�� for thier viewers. Gal Gadot started this trend where she asked celebrities to sing John Lennon’s “imagine”. This video was critizied by many viewers because celebrities were claiming thier distress during this pandemic was universal when in reality its not. The only good thing about this video was John Mayer’s rendition of imagine. Words are not enough to explain how funny John Mayer misread the purpose of this video. Take a look!

[meeka-things]

Italy’s message to the world. 

This post should be read in its entirety. Whover posted this was increasingly informative about the situation. This post reminds us that WE NEED TO STAY HOME. This pandemic will not get better if we do not practice cleanliness and we do not practice social distancing. After China, Italy became the epicenter of this pandemic with more than 10,000 deaths and with a rate of 700+ deaths in one day. This is a warning and an example for the world to practice safety if you want to live another day. 

[meeka-things]

Hands down the best flip the switch challenge. They literally killed it for celebrtiies who are 50 years+.

[meeka-things]

BREAKING NEWS: PRINCE CHARLES HAS COVID-19

Though I am not British, this is groundbreaking news because after Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Prince Charles was suppose to become king. However, with this virus spreading we may not have a king nor Queen Elizabeth. After this news went viral, there has been increased surveillance and pre-caution of the Queen’s health. It is already known that the Queen has come into contact with many people who has contracted the virus. If the Queen contracts the virus, who will be the next ruler of England? 

[meeka-things]

THE ONLY GOOD NEWS IN 2020!

For all 90′s kids and fans, this was groundbreaking. Within seconds, the Friends reunion went viral on Instagram. This show ended 25 years ago and up till now, Ross’s and Rachel’s “break”, Joey’s food vs sex debate, Phoebe’s smelly cat song, Monica’s cleanliness and Chandler? Well, we still don’t know what Chandler’s job is. According to Rachel, Chandler is a transponster. Nevertheless, these characters are all icons. Friends is one of those shows that you never get tired of because everything seems great. However, this show ended with everyone practically grew up. Rachel left for Paris but came back to start a relationship with Ross. Monica and Chandler started thier family. Phoebe and Mike decided to start a family. And Joey? Joey had just accepted that everyone is growing up. This season ended 25 years ago and it is still iconic. Can’t wait for the reunion to air on HBO max!

[meeka-things]

DISCLAIMER: I talk about white women but it is not meant to put down white women. It is meant to explain the toxic culture of white women and colored women. 

Oh boy. I was incredibly excited to watch Superbowl because one of my two favorite Hispanic singers were going to perform.  To be fair, I only watched Superbowl for the performances but this one was exciting for me because it was the first time two Hispanic women took the stage. I thought that this was a power move for women, especially feminists because two popular women took over a male sporting event. However, this performance did not become news because it was two Hispanic women; this event became news because we created memes that made fun of Shakira notorious tongue movement and we slut-shamed Shakira and J-Lo’s outfits. The first post mocks Shakira’s weird tongue movement. The second post shows specifically their outfits. First, the notorious tongue movement. Most of the memes are dedicated to making sex jokes and linguistic jokes on Shakira’s tongue action. I am a culprit of this because I wondered what Shakira was on to do that. However, I was educated by my boyfriend that the tongue action is actually apart of the Lebanese culture. The second apparent issue with Shakira and Jlo’s performance was the outfits.   There was an article posted on the Daily Mail via. Snapchat on how enraged women, especially mothers were because of the “inappropriate outfits”. When I read that article I was in shock because I thought that this was a movement to celebrate women but instead women were pushing other women down. I came to the realization that colored women are not treated the same as white women. When I read Jesse Black’s “The Trouble with White feminism” I was able to analyze and understand the criticism that surrounded the Superbowl performance.  Jesse Black states that women should assert themselves in leadership positions that men normally have but that ‘leaning’ in does not apply to colored women. This is because liberal feminism has to do with white women gaining equality and representation. Gaining representation for colored women is quite complex because colored women are tied in with classism, sexism, and racism while white women are tied solely to sexism. Black states that white people intentionally trash women of color because they fail to acknowledge the racist and sexist behavior. This can be applied in this situation because white women fail to recognize that Shakira and Jlo that their clothing is an expression of their culture. We may not feel comfortable in these outfits but that does not mean we should shame women for wearing revealing outfits; especially if it is in their culture. I am Trinidadian and my culture has an annual carnival where we wear revealing clothing. It is just part of our culture to be colorful and to embrace all body types instead of slut-shaming. However, I believe it is a lack of knowledge that allows us to criticize other women unfairly. Education is key!

[meeka-things]

These are a series of pictures posted on ET Canada's Instagram account. I wanted to show how surveillance this event was and how the different perspectives lingered around this supposed “scandal”. 

January was definitely a month where all news seems to outbreak. With world war three emerging, the rapid spread of coronavirus, and the launching of missiles, the last thing we needed was a power couple, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to break up. Memes started spreading that Prince Harry is an ideal man because he renounced his royal duties to free his wife from the rules and regulations of his royal family. Although girls were basically fangirling over Prince Harry’s actions, they were many articles, interviews, and daily talk show that was dedicated to adding fire to this fire. This was seen especially on Snapchat and Instagram. Many doctors, outspoken people that are associated with the royal family and daily talk show hosts like Wendy Williams showered negative comments on Megan Markle. Comments such as Meghan forced Harry to leave his family for her and Megan “knew” what she was getting into was spreading. People/accounts even went to the extent to merge Meghan Markles into the Dolly Patron challenge that portrayed Megan in a negative light. I find it sad that we can stoop this to this level in humanity. No one can ever know what they are getting into unless they have experienced it. Of course, Meghan probably had an idea but she was not fully aware of her role in the royal family until she experienced it. It was unjust for outsiders to put in their opinion and talk down on her.  Accounts such as ET news were dedicated to tracking all the news that came from Buckingham palace but this same leakiness of news is what caused Meghan and Harry to step back.  Arguably, it was the people (us) who deemed the royal crisis as crucial news and it was also us who may have contributed to the mental turmoil that was occurring with Meghan because we like to hear people in crisis. Instagram is a powerful platform but we need to stop merging the private sphere with the public sphere. 

[meeka-things]

The news that triggered everyone after New Years'. Just imagine, we ring in 2020 thinking that we are going to achieve our goals, improve our relationships and maybe improve our eating habits... but on the second day of 2020, the news of World War III breaks. There were several memes of different countries commenting about why their bad habits would prevent them from going to World War III but the majority of users were concerned about their supposed involvement in this war. This was one of the biggest global and political news that startled users.  

[meeka-things]

The coronavirus has been and still is breaking news for Instagram. When the news first outbreak, users have engaged in both good and bad conversations surrounding this virus. Good, meaning people are being educated and striving to help others who need it. Bad in the sense people who are not educated about the coronavirus are spreading thoughts of xenophobia  The first post is a video by @Nampaikid. He wants his followers to be educated about the coronavirus instead of spreading racism. The second post is a meme that makes fun of the attributes of coronavirus. Instagram is a powerful platform but it can also be a dark space. The ratio to educational posts to memes surrounding coronavirus is slim. This shows that we are not humane people in the cyberspace. We would rather make news a meme than elevate the weight of the news. Who knows who could be the next to contract this virus? You just never know.