Legal aid Duty Counsel Jen Neufeld was as good as her word. On my ninth day of prison, and my third day in solitary, I was called out of my cell just minutes before court would recess for the week. Neufeld had brokered a deal with the Crown which would see me released from prison. I was forced to agree to stay of University property pending my trial, and given a list of University staff whom I was not to contact by any means. That list included: Neil BESNER, Sherman KREINER, Bill BALAN, Danny BLAU, Lloyd AXWORTHY, Laurel REPSKI, George BUSH, John ANCHAN, Ken MODUSKEY, Don METZ, Debora WOLOSHYN and Laurelyn CANTOR. Some of those names will be familiar to readers of this blog.
I don't know if anyone can really value their freedom until it has been taken away. Nine days may seem like a trivial matter, but the horrifying prospect of indefinite detention is not something to be taken lightly. Some people went out of their way to help me out a lot during this period of difficulty, and if I cannot pay them back directly, I hope I have the resolve to at least pay it forward by helping someone else out. That's why I have renewed my campaign to free Omar Khadr. You may see me giving out leaflets on the sidewalk in front of the U of W in the coming weeks. Under the Petty Trespassing Act, I am supposed to have the right to stand right in front of the outside doors giving out flyers; however, the present Court Order is much more restrictive, banning me from the property altogether. So for now I'm sticking to the public sidewalks.
In the meantime, an awful lot has happened since my story was interrupted. When we left off, I was telling you about my grade appeal in Professor Bush's course. That's taken an interesting twist: the University has openly admitted that they never even re-read the paper before ratifying the F that Prof. Bush had given me! More on that in coming posts. There was also the small matter of the assignment which Professor Metz had refused to mark. I had just told the University that in light of their stated refusal, I would be forced to "proceed accordintly". It seems that Prof. Metz found that "threat" to be so alarming that he made it the cause of an attempted restraining order against me! In fact, I have indeed proceeded accordingly, and I'll be telling you more in the weeks to come.
The big story is of course the University's motion for Summary Judgement on the claim of conspiracy to injure. The University filed its motion just in time to stop me from proceeding with my scheduled examination for discovery of former Academic VP John Corlett. That story continues to get interestinger and interestinger.
And that's about it for now. Oh yeah...in case you were wondering, those "nice people" never did show up while I was in solitary to "figure out how to help me". I still have no idea what that was all about.
Marty, if you'd stuck to the public sidewalks in the first place, you wouldn't have been hauled through this particular wringer. Your insistence on entering the campus and essentially taunting university security is what's landed you in this mess.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading this and your physics blog for a few weeks now (as well as the newspaper articles wrt the filing of your stmt of claim against the uofw). What emerges from this, imo, is a picture of a guy whose baseline belief is that his undoubted brilliance at math/physics somehow excuses him from having to conform to tiresome societal expectations such as etiquette, curricula, and even (when personally inconvenient) the rule of law. This belief in the specialness of oneself and one's circumstances is not uncommon amongst the denizens of the remand centre and Headingley Gaol.
I'm afraid that you're in the midst of learning a tough life lesson--one that most of us have taken on board by the time we're young adults: regardless of your skills, talents and abilities, society is *not* obligated to accept you just as you are. If you make a nuisance of yourself in a classroom and refuse to allow a prof to teach his/her class as s/he sees fit; s/he is entitled to kick you out (as you did yourself when you were a teacher). If your primary goals in life are self-vindication and imposing your will on others--you don't belong in a classroom, either as a student or a teacher.
Sorry, but there it is.
Good luck with your campaign to free Omar Khadr.
Oh-- and you might want to re-read this and your previous post for typos.
msredboots - Thanks for your trite and miserly defence of society and its expectations. You have it all wrong though - society is this example is the nuisance. Marty is being punished because he is incompliant in his spirit - not because he is a threat to life, limb or anything else serious. He is the best kind of teacher.
DeleteWhy don't you go have a pop or two and shed your daddy issues.
Not to discourage you in anyway, but the School campus, classroom setting and mainly the "Teachers, Professors" have their rights too as well as one being known the student. Now they have pulled in the higher ones in charge to help settle this dispute. The School Board, (all directors who sit under that) School board of Education. It sounds like this has worked against you.
ReplyDeleteWe all would love to have it our ways. I'm very impressed with your diligence and strength to pursue this, to let it be known that the School, University has somewhat stripped from you, your dignity of being one of the students trying to pursue a career in the education field. This angers me for you as well. This is something like fighting with a bunch of top notch people who have been given power and authority to say what they please through the Child and Family Services. It's not quite the same, but even through this, it had to go to the extremes to settle this in a court room of justice.
I PRAY this goes well for you Marty, and I hope you get what you deserve for being stripped of becoming someone in the teaching field. It's not over yet and I am praying that this judge sees favor for you and gives you back what has been stolen from you temporarily. WoW, What an ordeal you had to go through, and still trudging along in confidence. And confidence here is the key word.