East or West...Up or Down...Where am I, Again?

In an interview on a podcast that I swear I heard but can't find now, Native American writer and storyteller Sherman Alexie said that people who travel between two cultures eventually end up at home in neither one.

I will likely write more about that idea, especially when I run across that darn podcast again. And no, I have not read any of Sherman Alexie's work, because I am at heart an intellectual lightweight. Although my stack of "to be read" impresses even me.

After two trips into the U.S. in the past two weeks, and some touring around amongst Americans, I recognize what he means.

Sometimes it feels easier to be in the U.S. It's not that I understand "the people" or "the culture" better. I have a long history of feeling out of place in the U.S. However, I think I share some of their mental default settings (probably also their mental defects, but that's another issue).

Here's an example. When politicians do something boneheaded in the U.S., well, some cadre of morons somewhere elected that bonehead and perhaps his or her days in office will be numbered.

But Canadians have a queen. A local stand-in (the Governor General) represents Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in matters of state. I'm not completely sure what this means except that the GG has a literary award and she walks up and down rows of uniformed soldiers. (The GG has been female since I've lived in Canada, but we're due for a new guy in the fall.) In terms of actual matters of state, the Prime Minister, Parliament, and civil servants still seem to do the war-declaring and ongoing allocation of soldiers.

The GG is appointed by the Prime Minster, and thus We the People of Canada have little to no say in who it is. The person in this office has some kind of responsibility that used to be exercised by the Queen, whose claim to office is...being born.

Nothing against Her Majesty, of course. Just that my mental default is that people in positions of power are elected. Or they are celebrities, and thus are essentially unexplainable fireworks that will eventually fizzle out.

So where is home? Canada. But where do I fit culturally? Hmmm.