NewsWatch background information:

“Newswatch Canada began as Project Censored Canada (PCC) in 1993 as a collaborative project of the School of Communication at SFU, the University of Windsor and the Canadian Association of Journalists.  It was renamed NewsWatch Canada in 1998.”

One of the upper-level Communications courses is NewsWatch Canada: a semester of independent research on the diversity and thoroughness of news coverage nationally and globally for students interested in media-monitoring studies. They take a different theme for each year—such as representations of gender in the news, global warming, provincial elections, etc.—and this year was the top under-reported stories by traditional media sources.

Why this is important:

To quickly summarize, in the past 30 years, the mass media has slowly been consolidating to the point where (in America) 6 companies own 90% of the media.

This means that those six companies decide what stories get told, what angle they tell, and what doesn’t get reported on. There used to be strict ownership restrictions (I’m speaking from a North American perspective) where the owners of certain media secrots could not go into other sectors. The restrictions decreased and dropped away with the rise of the neoliberalist perspective of that free media (free as in liberated, not cost-free) would increase competition and therefore the diversity of offerings. In fact, it did the opposite of this.

The open structure led to a monopoly and concentration of ownership. The convergence of media is visible for example in Disney — they have television stations, films, books, toys, etc. For example, in Canada, Bell owns CTV and all their subchannels such as CTV2, Comedy Network, The Sports Network, The Discovery Channel, and E!; Bell Mobility for mobile, wireless, and internet; CHUM Limited including CHUM Radio, MuchMusic, MTV, MTV2, A Channel, Bravo!, Space; and national paper The Globe and Mail. [It's hard to keep track, so: Source]

If you’re interested in learning more, here is the Wikipedia article for Concentration of Media Ownership, or there is a neat infographic by FrugalDad (mostly US data).

NewsWatch Canada’s 2011 Report:

The team of Communications students were looking at missing stories or under-reported news in mainstream media from September 2010 to August 2011. They compared major news reports and independent news sources and compiled a list of 100+ stories. The list was submitted to Communications professors at SFU who identified 25 that held a significant level of importance to Canadian citizens both nationally and internationally. The students thoroughly researched these stories and arranged the list according to importance.

The presentation of their research was today at SFU and they went over the top 10 stories, their significance, and the alternative news source that covered the story. In many cases, several non-mainstream news sources covered the stories, such as Canadian Dimension, This Magazine, The Tyee.com, The New Internationalist, and Briar Patch.

To see the full report of their research visit the NewsWatch site. The group has also been getting some news coverage locally: check out this article in The Georgia Straight.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This documentary film, written and directed by former actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom, seeks to expose and question the representation of females in the media—particularly modern American culture. So many people grow up without media literacy—truly understanding the political economy of mass media.

Modern mass media in the USA (and consequently Canada) is mainly dependent upon advertising revenue, whose sole objective is to sell a product. These advertisements rely on making people feel insecure and anxious as well as using sexual imagery.

Advertisers are not the only culprits of this act. American teenagers spend approximately 10 hours and 45 minutes per day on media consumption, including listening to music, browsing the internet, watching television and movies or reading magazines. There are so many choices available that movies, music and entertainment shows consistently resort to violent, sexual and demeaning imagery to break through the clutter. These messages influence predominant cultural ‘norms’ and political discourse.

Between interviews with famous and powerful women such as Jane Fonda, Katie Couric, Margaret Cho, Condoleezza Rice, Geena Davis, and Rosario Dawson, the film shows startling facts and statistics about the role of women in one of the most powerful countries in the world:

• Women hold only 3% of clout positions in the mainstream media (telecommunications, entertainment, publishing and advertising).
• Women comprise 7% of directors and 13% of film writers in the top 250 grossing films.
• The United States is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures.
• Women hold 17% of the seats in the House of Representatives (the equivalent body in Rwanda is 56.3% female).
• Women are merely 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
• About 25% of girls will experience teen dating violence.
• The number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on youth 18 or younger more than tripled from 1997 to 2007.
• Among youth 18 and younger, liposuctions nearly quadrupled between 1997 and 2007 and breast augmentations increased nearly six-fold in the same 10-year period.
• 65% of American women and girls have an eating disorder.

Interview clips with powerful scholars and feminists (including Gloria Steinem, Dolores Huerta, and Marie Wilson) shows how even pop culture’s “empowered” portrayal of women leads to self-objectification. Women in protagonist roles—such as Cat Woman, or Bridget Jones, or even animated characters in G-rated shows—are still objectified by being portrayed in short skirts and low-cut tops and depicted as “too fat” or “not pretty enough”. One interviewee (I forgot to write down who said it) described it as the “fighting fucktoy”. Popular culture also pits women against each other in catfights and almost encourages a competitive discourse between women.

In politics, the media belittles women’s accomplishments by focusing on their looks and not their views. Even Katie Couric mentions how she feels she may have contributed to the ‘sexy news anchor’ trend that’s happening at mainstream television stations. However, as Marie Wilson states, “you can’t be what you can’t see.” It is so important for the powerful and successful women of today to show young girls that you can be on television, or a news anchor, or whathaveyou.

This pressure is not only on girls and women to look and act a certain way, but promotes a patriarchial view of society as a whole. Men are supposed to be strong, powerful, in control, and emotionally constipated. Newsom and interviewees argue for better male role models in popular culture.

“The media can be an instrument of change, can [enforce] a status quo, reflect the views of society, or it can awaken people and change minds; it depends on who’s piloting the plane.” —Katie Couric

Nearly everything that was discussed I could directly relate to two classes I’m taking at the moment: “Mass Communications and Social Change” and “Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies: Gender Talks”. The communications course described exactly what we’re seeing in American media today as neoliberalism—the belief that the power of the market will shape the media. In this view, advertisers are simply “giving the public what they want to see” aka sex sells. (If you can’t tell, I think this is crap). In my gender studies class we’ve been talking about gender roles in society and culture (which tends to include pop culture).

The film and interviewees express a deep concern about the way society is headed if we continue to allow the media to push these ‘ideals’. The film concludes with a call to action—take the pledge to stand up against these portrayals of gender ‘norms’ forced on both females and males.

Overall the film saddened me, outraged me, disgusted me—all reactions I’m sure the director intended. These reactions will spur an action from the viewers, and hopefully bring about change, no matter how small. It all begins with questioning the things you see daily, the messages that mass media inflicts upon you. Being a critical consumer of media is the first step of media literacy and stopping this distorted cultural trend.

• MissRep on Twitter
• Miss Representation .org
• Review from Schema Mag
• Review from Persephone Magazine
• Article in The Province (includes quotes from Jennifer Siebel Newsom)

If you can’t make it to a screening of the film in your city (or host one), the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) will be screening Miss Representation on Thursday, October 20th at 9 PM EST.

• This weekend is The Word On The Street book and magazine festival. It happens simultaneously in cities across Canada and although I had a decreased role this year, I’ve still been involved. Not to mention the festival programming has been expanded to three days. I will be at Library Square in the Info Tent / Merchandise Booth near the Mainstage. Come say hello (and bring me coffee)!
• Academie Duello is having an Open Barn to promote their Cavaliere program (swordplay on horses!) and a fundraiser for the Richmond Pony Club. I’ve been debating getting involved in that aspect, since I already love to ride. I’ll be at Red Colt on Saturday afternoon to help with the demos and our display booth. Duello is also having a member only party to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Princess Bride. So that’s also on the agenda for this weekend.
• School is going well. Lots of readings to keep track of, tutorials to engage in, and lectures to attend. Handed in a literary analysis today for The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor, so you can expect a review on the blog shortly. We also had our first Gender Debate earlier this week. So things are picking up and before long it will be midterm time (mid-October).
• I’ve begun contributing to SFU’s student newspaper, The Peak. I’m really excited in this opportunity and looking forward to expanding the literary coverage in the Arts section.
• Last night I went to the book launch for Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery by Leanne Prain (published by Arsenal Pulp Press). Leanne is the co-author of Yarn Bombing: Knit and Crochet Graffiti and so I was really excited for Hoopla. I made sure to head down to Spool of Thread sewing lounge and get my copy signed!
• Somehow I seem to be confirming more freelance design clients now that I’m back in school. This is an odd turn of events but I’m just trying to juggle everything. Watch me go nuts in about 3 weeks.

What have YOU been up to?

Day 1: Vancouver to Salmon Arm via Trans-Canada Highway

Driving through (approximately) Hell's Gate in the Fraser Canyon

Fraser River

Fraser Canyon overlooking The Canadian Pacific Railway

Day 2: Salmon Arm to Banff via Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 93

We stopped for a morning coffee in Revelstoke near The Last Spike of the CPR. We made sure to visit the Railway Museum in Revelstoke.

Driving through the Rocky Mountains (still in BC)

Rogers Pass (at the visitor's centre)

Arrival in Banff

Day 3: Day trip to Columbia Icefields in Alberta via Highway 93

View from the hotel in Banff

Driving up the Icefields Parkway from Banff towards Jasper

Columbia Icefield (one of the eight glaciers)

At the visitor's centre of the Athabasca Glacier. In 1844 the Glacier covered the visitor's centre parking lot. It has been receeding since.

Marker showing where the Athabasca Glacier was in the year 2000

Lake Louise

Day 4: Banff to Osoyoos via Highway 95/93 and Crowsnest Highway

Kootenay National Park decimated by the pine beetle infestation

Driving into the Okanagan Valley

Day 5: Osoyoos to Vancouver via Highway 3

Dipped our toes into Okanagan Lake in Osoyoos before heading home

On the ferry leaving Deep Cove

On Friday afternoon, we arrived at Camp Jubilee on Indian Arm by ferry from Deep Cove in West Vancouver. Devon Boorman and Randy Packer started the retreat in 2007 with 40-odd attendees. It has since grown to an event with 80+ attendees and an organizing committee of 8-10 people.

Friendly sparring, violent duelling and general practising happened all weekend long

Saturday was full of workshops in the morning and afternoon. I attended History & Intro to Archery with Patricia Gonsalez, the archery instructor at Academie Duello. It was really nice to learn the actual stance and order for shooting as well as a lot of the history.

THE RANGE IS OPEN with archery instructor Patricia Gonsalves

In the afternoon I attended the Solo Rapier Drills workshop taught by Roland Cooper.  I’m a green cord which is the first level of study after the intro course and we mostly focus on medieval rapier (think Three Muskateers). So when I can’t attend class or don’t have someone to spar with, it’s great to have some solo exercises to do.

Start 'em young!

Don’t worry! Cascadia’s organizers had strict rules regarding protection during sparring of any kind. Since heavy fighters wield two-handed longswords, they had to have full body armour. None of the swords are sharpened, and all the rapiers and daggers have blunt rubber tips attached.

Enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the Pacific Ocean

Saturday evening consisted of three tourneys: Archery, Beginner Rapier and Heavy. At the last minute—as seems to be my style as of late—I decided to participate in the Beginner Rapier tournament. In hindsight I’m glad I did and actually shocked that I ended up in a 3-way tie for third place. I didn’t place, but that’s not the point really. We also go to watch the Heavy tourney and the Archers. It was really awesome to see the longsword fighters suit up to duel.

Duelling in the Beginner's Tourney (I'm on the right, lunging)

Fighting with longswords in the Heavy Tournament

Saturday night I attended a workshop with Adam Lein on navigating the stars, intended to teach celestial navigation for sailors. After spending over an hour on the dock in the dark, I headed to the Hall for some much needed warmth. People were hanging out, chatting, jamming on guitars and singing. It was a very fun evening but the next morning definitely required coffee!

Exploring Camp Jubilee on Indian Arm

Sunday morning was the final workshop before we departed Camp Jubilee in the early evening. I chose to attend Devon’s Dirty Sparring Tricks for Rapier. While not all of the things Devon taught were exactly dirty, he did warn us that if he ever saw us using these tricks at the Academie, there’d be hell to pay.

A workshop with Luis Preto - Jogo do Pau Instructor

The afternoon consisted of the Accolade portion of the weekend. Every attendee got to vote for two people they felt deserved recognition—be it for outstanding achievement, incredible growth as a student, gusto, or what-have-you. The eight participants then fought each other in one-on-one duels until a winner was declared.

Accolade duel: Yan vs. Matheus (Matheus won and he has only been swordfighting for approximately 6 months)

All the workshops I attended were really great and the instructors were awesome. It was really great to be able to chat with them throughout the weekend and not feel intimidated because everyone was there for the same reason — to learn and have fun.

The office is just on the cusp of Gastown but outside the city centre. The area is very up-and-coming with the new W2 Woodwards development including SFU, London Drugs, and Nester’s Market.

New and old Ws at Woodwards | Gassy Jack in Historic Gastown

Soon, it’ll be part of a new business district called “Hastings Crossing”. I figured that this was as good a time as any to highlight some of the local businesses that I frequent and hope to continue to support.

Bambo Café
This is absolutely my favourite lunch spot. Everything I’ve tried has been delicious, fresh, and well-priced for the large portions. I know I can spend less than $10 on lunch and be nice and full until dinner time. I love the sandwiches and their homemade soups. My favourites are tuna melt because they put fresh dill in the tuna and this amazing butternut squash soup. To die for.

Butternut Squash soup and grilled veggie sandwich at Bambo Cafe

Deadly Couture
Speaking of dying… but not really… is the alternative shop Deadly Couture full of goth/punk/rockabilly fashion and accessories. They carry my favourite brand of hair dye here: Special Effects. The colour is super intense and lasts for a really long time. I also love.love.love all the fashion accessories and clothing style.

Dressew
I’ve been going to Dressew for years — it is a crafty person’s dream come true. The whole basement is filled with discount fabrics and notions galore, the main floor is costuming, some discontinued yarn and fabric fabric fabric. Dressew celebrated its 50th anniversary in March of this year and the Vancouver Courier ran an awesome article. It’s true you can find a zipper to match any fabric, fringe to adorn anything, and even genuine leather scraps. They told me that in addition to two full floors, Dressew has a sub-basement for stock and an additional off-site storage facility.

Old Faithful Shop
Relative newcomer to the area, I cannot resist going into the shop regularly. The style embraces au natural design with unfinished wood, unbleached fabrics, and sustainable materials. Old Faithful has amazing home decor (think shabby-chic, eco-cabin) with a down-to-earth, organic, homegrown feel. It was the hanging glass terrariums that inspired me to write this article about how to make a terrarium for GardenWise Online.

Hitz Boutique
Another ‘alternative’ style clothing shop in the area, they always have hilarious baby clothes in the window. But what I really love is that they carry several brands that are mostly found in Kits and Point Grey. My favourite turquoise jacket is made by a company called Orb and I bought it at Hitz Boutique. Also, the staff are fantastic, friendly and helpful. One of them even remembered—nearly a year later—that I was “the one who bought the turquoise jacket.”

ButtonButton
You may think with Dressew just around the corner that ButtonButton would go out of business. In truth, it’s the skyrocketing rent for retail space in the downtown core that nearly did in this cute, tiny little shop. Sure, Dressew may have tons of buttons… but most of them are fairly common. What about the uncommon buttons, the buttons that turn heads, the buttons that make you squeal with delight as you find a replacement for your favourite jacket? ButtonButton has all these kinds of buttons and more.

Olla Urban Flower Project & Shop
Even though I have a mottled green-black thumb (I only succeed half of the time), I love Olla Flowers. I love their design aesthetic as well as their concept. They create arrangements and living containers using sustainable resources, local and ethically-traded plants and even recycled and/or repurposed containers. They also work with corporate and non-profit groups to compost, re-home event decor, and even hold monthly workshops.

Also in the area is Academie Duello, where I’ve recently begun taking lessons. This makes the history geek in me very happy and it’s surprisingly quite a good workout!

Sunset on Mt.Cheam during the Closing Ceremonies

I learned that SOAR happens every 3 years, but skipped a year (2010) for the 100th anniversary of guiding in Canada while they had a country-wide celebration. Resuming for 2011, the 6th annual SOAR was taking place in Agassiz, BC — a small town in the Fraser Valley near Harrison Hot Springs, approximately a two-hour drive from Vancouver.

The opening parade through Agassiz, BC. Pink shirts are all the girls, blue are Core Staff.

SOAR is organized by the BC council for Girl Guides, but is an international event with nearly 2,000 Girls, Guiders, and Staff gathering for a week-long adventure camp.

The Girls begin to arrive... and all their stuff

When I had responded to the call for knitters, the director informed me that the response had been overwhelming and they would love to have me help. When they later put a message out to volunteers asking for help with other projects, I responded with a list of my ‘talents’. I ended up being “recruited” as a non-Guiding volunteer member to help with card making as part of their Community Service Projects.

Marquee tents being set up for Programs

While at SOAR, each Girl has to put in 2.5 hours of Service to a community project. The Service director and the whole Service team was fantastic and I had such fun working with them. I arrived on the SOAR 2011 site in Agassiz a few days before the Girls arrived, and some of the Committee members had been there nearly a week already! The giant marquees were going up and we began sorting through donations.

Sorting yarn while the marquees are being put up

Two of the other Service projects were knitting lap blankets for seniors and kids, and sewing fleece hats and scarves for the homeless. So the three of us were sorting through a lot of materials before the girls arrived. And I was floored by the generosity of the donators—boxes of stamps, new scrapbooking paper, stickers, die cuts, punches, edging scissors, and even entirely new scrapbooking kits.

I decorated all the Service signs

The sessions seemed to go really well, and often the Girls needed very little guidance, I just let their creativity take over. Each Girl got to make 2-4 cards, and one girl made 10 cards (she’d made cards with her mom before). I’ll upload photos of some of the cards to Flickr soon, but in total I’d estimate we made 700 cards. The all-occasion cards were being made for low-income families in the Fraser Valley and were meant to be blank and unsigned.

Our Service team - Lend a Wing!

All in all it was a fantastic event. It was a feel-good, warm and fuzzy week — working with kids, doing community services projects, volunteering, etc. The Service team and our director were also fun, friendly and made it that much more enjoyable.

There were lots of exhibitors selling Scots stuff, from kilts and scarves to flags, knick-knacks, swords and Renaissance items.

BC Highland Games 2011 - Marketplace

We watched the Parade of the Clans where only a handful of clansmen and women were representing. Listening to the band pipe them in was awesome though. I love the sound of bagpipes!

Then we wandered over to the Heavy Events area. It was slow-going, but still very neat to watch the Heavy Events. The only problem was the viewing section was only on one side of the field, so the events in the far corners were hard to see (as you can tell in my photos).

Heavy Events: Women's Weight by Distance

The weight for distance throws consist of a “light” weight and a “heavy” weight event. The men’s Light weight is 28 lbs. while the women’s is 14 lbs. There are three different heavy weights, the men’s 56 lbs., men’s masters (40 years old +) is 42 lbs. and the women’s is 28 lbs. The weights have a handle attached with a chain. The weight must be thrown with one hand and the athlete must keep one foot inside of a throwing area of 4’6″ x 9′ at all times. The most common method of throwing the weight is to use a double spin.

Men's Weight by Height

In the Weight for Height / Weight Over Bar events the athlete has three attempts to clear the height of the bar. The Men throw a 56 lbs. “scale weight” (masters 42 lbs. and Women use 28 lbs.) with one arm. The weight must go over the bar in order to be counted.

Men's Braemar Stone Toss

The Stone Putt: The thrower must “putt” (derived from the Gaelic word “thrust”) the stone from the shoulder area not letting the elbow lead the wrist. The Braemar Stone Putt is a standing Putt that does not allow any approach on the Trig (Toe Board). The weight of the stone generally ranges from 22 to 26 lbs. for men and 13 to 18 lbs. for women.

Heavy Events: Men's Hammer Toss

The Scottish Hammer Toss is the ancestor of the modern day Olympic hammer. The “hammer” is a weight on the end of a 50″ piece of rattan or PVC. The original version of this was likely a wagon wheel spoke with the wheel hub attached. The name “hammer” and the weights were added when clansmen used a blacksmith’s hammer (sledge hammer), to see who could throw it the farthest.

There is a Heavy Hammer and a Light Hammer. Men throw 22 lbs. heavy hammer and a 16 lbs light hammer. Women throw a 12 lbs. light hammer and a 16 lbs. heavy hammer. The athlete must throw the hammer without moving his feet.

Heavy Events: Women's Caber Toss

A caber is from 15 to 23 feet long and between 70 and 130 pounds. The caber is stood up for the thrower with the large end up, the thrower then hoists the caber up and cups the small end in his hands. After a small run, he will attempt to “turn” the caber by throwing the caber so the large end hits the ground and the small end falls away from the thrower.

The caber is scored for accuracy as if on a clock face. The judge will score the caber based on where it hits the ground in direct relation to the throwers shoulders, 12:00 is a perfect toss; However if the caber fails to break the vertical plane (turn end-over-end) then the caber will be judged based on the degrees it traveled to the vertical plane.

We then wandered over to watch the dancing:

Highland Dancing - Reel

Among the marketplace stalls there were also displays for various clans, woodworking, jewellery, and even medieval services and events. Having recently been introduced to swordplay, these booths were incredibly interesting:

Falcon from Blood & Iron Martial Arts

Blood & Iron were supposed to do a falconry demo, but it was cancelled due to the rain.

Swordplay (rapier duel) demo by Academie Duello

I had been planning for a while to sew a pleated skirt in my Clan tartan, but I didn’t have enough time. In the end, I decided to use a modern plaid fabric (which is also more affordable) and I sewed a circle skirt. I wore it to the Highland Games—despite the rain—but the photo is from Sunday.

I can’t find the tutorial I used (I printed it from a PDF a looong time ago and there is no URL on it) but this explaination from WhatTheCraft is similar. If you need a little more detail, check out this tutorial by Dana Made It.

I just want to say how proud I am to be a Canadian (despite certain political things I don’t agree with) and I hope to be able to celebrate on Canadian soil for many years to come.

To all Canadians and friends of Canada: Happy Canada Day! To Canadians living abroad: I hope you have a fantastic celebration as well today! To my American neighbours: Happy 4th of July!

Now, I’m off to get ready, decorate my face, don some red and white clothing, and join the festivities!

Celebrating Canadian stereotypes at the Vancouver Winter Olympics closing ceremonies. Image: The Canadian Press / Robert Skinner

Slave Lake Book Auction

Recent wildfires in Alberta destroyed nearly half of the town of Slave Lake, including the newly completed, 18-month-old library. This Globe & Mail article sums up the library’s history, renovation, and devastation. It’s hard to imagine that loss to a community and it makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Slave Lake (Alberta) library burning during wildfire on May 15, 2011

The library is accepting donations of books less than 2 years old, but they also need money for computers, furniture, construction, etc. So Colleen McKie, a Canadian living on the East Coast, has organized the Slave Lake Book Auction. Go bid (just not against me) for a good cause!

Featured Reader at House of Anansi Press

Check it out!! I’m the Featured Reader over at the House of Anansi Press for June 2011.

Trish tweeted that they were looking for a blogger/reader to feature for June and I jumped at the chance. I am so honoured and excited.

I love House of Anansi Press — they produce wonderful books, have gorgeous designs, and authors/illustrators/reviewers/employees all seem to have nothing but good things to say. While I may not love every book I read that has been published by Anansi, I love the diversity of their titles and the variety in their subject matter.

Thank you Trish & Anansi!

City of Vancouver Archives have been digitized

This is just a really neat local accomplishment. As part of Vancouver125—the City of Vancouver’s 125th birthday celebrations—the archives have successfully digitized their complete collection.

My friend Jason (of Illustrated Vancouver fame) was at the launch party a while ago where they were giving away all their duplicate prints (keeping only the originals). Now I have a lovely selection too, including trains and long-since-demolished buildings. I think they shall become art.

More Art / Home Décor / Crafty Projects

Speaking of art and home decor, I have been working very hard on several home improvement projects, including some IkeaHacks. I’ve been photographing the projects so I can hopefully post some DIYs soon.

My knitting has been unmotivated but I’m chugging away on a design idea. Although I might be able to share some of the stash additions… I don’t know if I’ve already updated on those.

I really want to sew summer skirts and have recently dug out my patterns and fabric. You can really tell what kind of skirts I tend to gravitate towards by looking at my sewing patterns. Speaking of sewing, I do have some finished items to share, but I need to take photos with the recipient, so those are on the back-burner.

Reading Updates

I have been utterly absorbed in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I’ve had to force-ably remove myself from it and take a breather. I’m reading other books (I’m a few behind in reviews) but I’m constantly thinking—even dreaming—about the Outlander story. It’s true what Diana says, no one ever gets over Jamie Fraser…. *swoon*