PAUL:	It's cold in here, maybe I should put on a shirt 
	or something ... 

	I'm having a few doubts about this new "look."  People 
	stare at me in the streets - I guess the dusting of snow 
	on my woolly shoulders is a bit too much for some delicate 
	sensibilities.

	So what is this all about, this thing about 'appearances'?  
	Are they deceiving ?  Can you judge a book by its cover ?  
	Do clothes make the man ?

	The evidence is in, and - with the exception of the folks 
	who cross the street when they see me coming - it seems the 
	answer is yes.

	Form over content has proven a winning strategy. 

	The Globe and Post, for example, by many measures a success 
	of sorts, tells us it is a national newspaper, and we believe it !  
	A greater Toronto eye covers the country, 'generously' defining 
	the 'east' as Quebec, with continual constitutional turmoil and 
	the 'west' as Alberta and the united alternative.

	Academia thrives, school and learning institutions abound.  
	They assert they are educating our youth, preparing them for 
	a world that will challenge them in the future even more than 
	it challenges us in the present.  But what kind of education 
	is it when your university's scholarship program is funded by 
	Big Lad brew, a numbered DNA engineering company in Mississauga, 
	and the only computer software company left in the world?
 
	Speaking of sponsorships, what about JR's tobacco for a better 
	tomorrow website?  It contains an entertaining role-playing game 
	for children where youngsters strive for a simple goal.  You have 
	to plot a colourful little character's every move and avoid the 
	potential obstacles in your path as you steal a cigarette from 
	Dad's pocket (careful, don't wake him !), search for a box of 
	matches in the kitchen cupboard (mind you don't tip over the cookie 
	jar!), get out the ashtray (don't forget to empty it down the toilet), 
	and lie to Mom about the stink on your clothing (make it convincing !).  
	These are all life skills, really, similar to the ones the kids will 
	study at university when they grow up.

	So I'm sitting behind the microphone, shirtless, convinced for a 
	moment that this makes a difference in me. Has there been any real 
	transformation ?  Am I any better than I was before I got the Hurly?  
	Hollis Duffett sits in the control room, laughing.

	I don't know.

	Sometimes I feel like the poor little pine marten, near extinction 
	as my habitat falls in around my ears.