Ha ha, a little government publication humour there.
As I mentioned, I'm not updating this blog anymore. However, here are a few excellent resources for people interested in things Canadian-and-American-ish.
Hillwatch.com has a clearinghouse of public policy resources here: http://www.hillwatch.com/PPRC/
For accents, here's a site, the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA): http://web.ku.edu/~idea/index.htm, with the Canadian page at http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/canada/canada.htm
And here's a link to a blog about English dialects I linked to previously: http://dialectblog.com/ Look at all those language resources listed there to the right!
A book by Canadian writers traveling through the U.S. (note that I'm not recommending it--just that I noticed it): http://breakfastattheexitcafe.com/
Canadians in the U.S. have an official government network, Connect2Canada, and they distribute interesting info tidbits about research and initiatives in Canada: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/washington/offices-bureaux/connect-lien.aspx
There. That should take care of Americans interested in Canada.
As for Canadians interested in the U.S., well...you have rather more resources to start with (mainstream media, for starters). Just remember that generalizations about Americans can be as inaccurate as those about Canadians.
Go forth and be friendly, ye nations.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Decisions, Decisions
We have a new car. Buying it was a difficult decision, one a long time in the making. We decided for no real reason, or rather, for "squishy" reasons. We still need two cars. One of ours was 17 years old (the other is 8). Roy and I connected with a particular sales person who sold a particular kind of car we already knew we wanted. Et cetera.
Similarly, I will no longer be blogging here. Quitting was a difficult decision, one a long time in the making. The reasons are similarly squishy. Nothing horrible has happened. It's just time.
So of course I will now squish about those reasons.
One reason for quitting is that I sometimes feel, walking into a bookstore or surfing along the dewy strands of the Interwebs (to mix metaphors), as if people are clutching at my lapels (more mixture, more metaphors!), begging me to listen to their stories.
I am suffering a surfeit of memoir, a plethora of personal essay.
Actually, that last isn't quite right. I do like to read personal essays. But I am ready for them to be less personal and more essay. I'm very happy for a personal thread to guide me through a topic. I just want more emphasis on the topic and less on the feelings and impressions of the writer.
All of which is a tad hypocritical, since I have written very personal essays and can't promise I'll stop. Someday, a subject will capture my attention, and when I'm ready to consider it in the light of learning, I will. However, given that blogs are a form of personal essay, I can at least stop writing this one, which is more personal and less essay. As it happens, my writing for the foreseeable future will be less essay-ish and more fict-ish (and work-ish).
So the bigger reason for quitting is that others have far more learned things to say than I do about Canada as seen through the eyes of the U.S. and/or Americans (and sometimes vice versa). In the next month or so, I expect to be tidying up in here a little, and I'll include links to some of those people who are doing those "real" things, like collecting and analyzing accents and doing real research into the nuances of that relationship.
It's been an interesting adventure. I am aware that some semi-public mock has been made of me and my opinions. That's unsurprising, given that putting an opinion into a public space like a blog invites responses, of which mock is one form.
But it's also completely surprising, because really, who cares what I think? In the words of The West Wing's Toby Ziegler, "I'm just the guy who does the thing." (Another metaphor: I have apparently run out of pie!)
The point: I am not an expert. Not even a representative opinion. Just a writer. A sometimes cranky fly on the wall. (Stopping with the metaphors now.)
Far more important than all that is this: I am most grateful for those who have engaged me (in real life, given that I am the kind of person who doesn't allow comments here) in discussions about everything from "Of course it's pronounced "ash-phalt"; what are you talking about?" to the wistful "Really? they don't think about us? Not even a little bit?"
I am still find-able. I have a website. I am on Facebook.
In closing: Thank you, everyone. See you across the border.
Similarly, I will no longer be blogging here. Quitting was a difficult decision, one a long time in the making. The reasons are similarly squishy. Nothing horrible has happened. It's just time.
So of course I will now squish about those reasons.
One reason for quitting is that I sometimes feel, walking into a bookstore or surfing along the dewy strands of the Interwebs (to mix metaphors), as if people are clutching at my lapels (more mixture, more metaphors!), begging me to listen to their stories.
I am suffering a surfeit of memoir, a plethora of personal essay.
Actually, that last isn't quite right. I do like to read personal essays. But I am ready for them to be less personal and more essay. I'm very happy for a personal thread to guide me through a topic. I just want more emphasis on the topic and less on the feelings and impressions of the writer.
All of which is a tad hypocritical, since I have written very personal essays and can't promise I'll stop. Someday, a subject will capture my attention, and when I'm ready to consider it in the light of learning, I will. However, given that blogs are a form of personal essay, I can at least stop writing this one, which is more personal and less essay. As it happens, my writing for the foreseeable future will be less essay-ish and more fict-ish (and work-ish).
So the bigger reason for quitting is that others have far more learned things to say than I do about Canada as seen through the eyes of the U.S. and/or Americans (and sometimes vice versa). In the next month or so, I expect to be tidying up in here a little, and I'll include links to some of those people who are doing those "real" things, like collecting and analyzing accents and doing real research into the nuances of that relationship.
It's been an interesting adventure. I am aware that some semi-public mock has been made of me and my opinions. That's unsurprising, given that putting an opinion into a public space like a blog invites responses, of which mock is one form.
But it's also completely surprising, because really, who cares what I think? In the words of The West Wing's Toby Ziegler, "I'm just the guy who does the thing." (Another metaphor: I have apparently run out of pie!)
The point: I am not an expert. Not even a representative opinion. Just a writer. A sometimes cranky fly on the wall. (Stopping with the metaphors now.)
Far more important than all that is this: I am most grateful for those who have engaged me (in real life, given that I am the kind of person who doesn't allow comments here) in discussions about everything from "Of course it's pronounced "ash-phalt"; what are you talking about?" to the wistful "Really? they don't think about us? Not even a little bit?"
I am still find-able. I have a website. I am on Facebook.
In closing: Thank you, everyone. See you across the border.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Between and In Both
On my reading list, I have finally come to Sherman Alexie, the Native American storyteller and writer. His voice is courageous and mesmerizing. Both The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, for young adult readers, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, a collection of short works, layer humor and heartbreak with extravagance and understatement.
Also, here's the podcast in which he talks about his experience moving between two cultures, which he describes as being like a job. He speaks in the context of going to high school off the reservation but continuing to live on the reservation. (It starts at about 29 minutes in.) "In the end, when you cross borders and boundaries, you end up becoming an alien in both worlds, and you end up having to really work hard in both places, and so it ended up feeling like a job."
I would add that it is sometimes possible to feel at home in each culture, just not fully. Actually, I think most people don't feel fully at home in their "home" culture, if they get beyond flag-waving and speak honestly. If you define "American culture" as "everything happening culturally in the U.S.," you've created a complex multifaceted shape. No one person could conceivably fit into it exactly. Same with "Canadian culture" -- two official languages, for starters.
But a sure way to see your "home" culture with new eyes is to move to a new one. And when you find a way to fit into the new culture, you have a new way to experience the feeling of "home." A new vocabulary.
Moving between the cultures of Canada and the U.S. is of course not as wrenching as moving between the Spokane Reservation and the dominant white culture of eastern Washington state. It's a different kind of cultural contrast, like the difference between night and...later that night.
Which is another example, albeit a trivial one. That last line -- the difference between night and later that night -- is from television. I was too young to understand the full range of angst on thirtysomething, and too old to be one of the Friends. Yet I own a Filofax in part because Ellyn gave one to Hope in a thirtysomething episode. From Friends, I know I appear as Monica but inside, I'm Phoebe. (And I know how to express a slight difference, between, say, a guy named Ross and a guy named Russ, or between aspects of Canadian culture and U.S. culture, from Friends.)
Although I don't fit exactly into either TV show's demographic, I can understand both. I move between them. I'm not fully at home in either, but I'm somewhat at home in each one.
The advantage of experiencing that alienation and hard work Alexie talks about (though the "hard work" of my privileged life was nothing compared to his experience) is that now I have two vocabularies with which to explain myself to someone. I have two vantage points from which I can examine (and experience) the world.
And being in both places lets me rest more easily in each one.
Also, here's the podcast in which he talks about his experience moving between two cultures, which he describes as being like a job. He speaks in the context of going to high school off the reservation but continuing to live on the reservation. (It starts at about 29 minutes in.) "In the end, when you cross borders and boundaries, you end up becoming an alien in both worlds, and you end up having to really work hard in both places, and so it ended up feeling like a job."
I would add that it is sometimes possible to feel at home in each culture, just not fully. Actually, I think most people don't feel fully at home in their "home" culture, if they get beyond flag-waving and speak honestly. If you define "American culture" as "everything happening culturally in the U.S.," you've created a complex multifaceted shape. No one person could conceivably fit into it exactly. Same with "Canadian culture" -- two official languages, for starters.
But a sure way to see your "home" culture with new eyes is to move to a new one. And when you find a way to fit into the new culture, you have a new way to experience the feeling of "home." A new vocabulary.
Moving between the cultures of Canada and the U.S. is of course not as wrenching as moving between the Spokane Reservation and the dominant white culture of eastern Washington state. It's a different kind of cultural contrast, like the difference between night and...later that night.
Which is another example, albeit a trivial one. That last line -- the difference between night and later that night -- is from television. I was too young to understand the full range of angst on thirtysomething, and too old to be one of the Friends. Yet I own a Filofax in part because Ellyn gave one to Hope in a thirtysomething episode. From Friends, I know I appear as Monica but inside, I'm Phoebe. (And I know how to express a slight difference, between, say, a guy named Ross and a guy named Russ, or between aspects of Canadian culture and U.S. culture, from Friends.)
Although I don't fit exactly into either TV show's demographic, I can understand both. I move between them. I'm not fully at home in either, but I'm somewhat at home in each one.
The advantage of experiencing that alienation and hard work Alexie talks about (though the "hard work" of my privileged life was nothing compared to his experience) is that now I have two vocabularies with which to explain myself to someone. I have two vantage points from which I can examine (and experience) the world.
And being in both places lets me rest more easily in each one.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Real Life
As anyone who watches Stephen Colbert knows, there's Chaos in Chaonada because of the election.
It's interesting to follow election coverage on Twitter. You really do get a sense of the campaign world. Journalists are sequestered with candidates to travel all over the country; they have to find and file stories from veeerry scripted photo ops and canned announcements.
It's interesting, but in many ways, it's not real life. Not even for the journalists. Which is probably why it's interesting. (To watch, that is.)
Meanwhile, other political stuff is happening. The provincial fiscal year is starting soon, and a new budget was announced. Income tax season is here -- filing date is May 2, which happens also to be the date of the election. One might wonder whether the attention to personal income during the election will change how voters view the issues and thus influence how they vote.
But that assumes that regular people consider themselves to be voters. In the 2008 election, fewer than 60% of eligible voters did.
It's easy to think that political news is boring, that the rarefied air around candidates during an election separates "them," those politicians and journalists, from "us," the real people.
And sometimes, the scope of your world changes. It really does. Everything that's important to you is happening in just one hospital room, or just one uterus, or just one manufacturing plant (the one that happens to employ you), or just one University or Grade 5 classroom.
The thing is, what happens in those smaller spaces is still affected by what's said on those buses and planes, what's caught on camera and put online. All that political stuff is translated to policy, or isn't, and is included in the budget, or isn't, and then it affects "real life."
Access to pre-natal care, the cost of power to run a plant, the number of health professionals working in that one hospital room, the qualifications of person teaching in that classroom -- all are determined by stuff happening in politics.
Really: vote. It is "real life."
It's interesting to follow election coverage on Twitter. You really do get a sense of the campaign world. Journalists are sequestered with candidates to travel all over the country; they have to find and file stories from veeerry scripted photo ops and canned announcements.
It's interesting, but in many ways, it's not real life. Not even for the journalists. Which is probably why it's interesting. (To watch, that is.)
Meanwhile, other political stuff is happening. The provincial fiscal year is starting soon, and a new budget was announced. Income tax season is here -- filing date is May 2, which happens also to be the date of the election. One might wonder whether the attention to personal income during the election will change how voters view the issues and thus influence how they vote.
But that assumes that regular people consider themselves to be voters. In the 2008 election, fewer than 60% of eligible voters did.
It's easy to think that political news is boring, that the rarefied air around candidates during an election separates "them," those politicians and journalists, from "us," the real people.
And sometimes, the scope of your world changes. It really does. Everything that's important to you is happening in just one hospital room, or just one uterus, or just one manufacturing plant (the one that happens to employ you), or just one University or Grade 5 classroom.
The thing is, what happens in those smaller spaces is still affected by what's said on those buses and planes, what's caught on camera and put online. All that political stuff is translated to policy, or isn't, and is included in the budget, or isn't, and then it affects "real life."
Access to pre-natal care, the cost of power to run a plant, the number of health professionals working in that one hospital room, the qualifications of person teaching in that classroom -- all are determined by stuff happening in politics.
Really: vote. It is "real life."
Sunday, March 27, 2011
A Window
Canada's having an election. It's silly season up here. By mid-morning, the election was officially happening; by 2, we'd had a call about putting up a yard sign, out here in the boonies.
But here's something that's cool. This tool is a window into Canadian political parties: the VoteCompass survey. The developer, based on published statements from the political parties, has prepared sentences. You register how strenuously you agree or disagree with those statements. At the end, you can see which party your views are closest to.
The graph at the end is very interesting. Lots of options in the "socially liberal, politically liberal" quadrant. One in the "socially conservative, politically conservative" quadrant. The other two are empty of parties.
And yes you can take it even if you're not Canadian.
Watching the political theatre unfold over the last few days has erased, once and for all, the illusion that Canadians are polite -- unless Canadian politicians don't count.
It's one thing to know that your job may well end after the vote on the first Tuesday in November, 2012. It's another thing entirely to have all the other people you have been working with stand up and vote that you're impossible to work with. Then you have to go to the Governor General and admit as much. It seems a little humiliating.
Not that I feel sorry for the former Prime Minister. If you treat Canadians' elected representatives with contempt, and then demonstrate only bitterness and irritation for getting called out on it, you don't really care about the Canadian people. Saying that you do, no matter how many times you say it, doesn't make it true.
Too bad the humiliation hasn't taught him humility. Perhaps the voters will.
But here's something that's cool. This tool is a window into Canadian political parties: the VoteCompass survey. The developer, based on published statements from the political parties, has prepared sentences. You register how strenuously you agree or disagree with those statements. At the end, you can see which party your views are closest to.
The graph at the end is very interesting. Lots of options in the "socially liberal, politically liberal" quadrant. One in the "socially conservative, politically conservative" quadrant. The other two are empty of parties.
And yes you can take it even if you're not Canadian.
Watching the political theatre unfold over the last few days has erased, once and for all, the illusion that Canadians are polite -- unless Canadian politicians don't count.
It's one thing to know that your job may well end after the vote on the first Tuesday in November, 2012. It's another thing entirely to have all the other people you have been working with stand up and vote that you're impossible to work with. Then you have to go to the Governor General and admit as much. It seems a little humiliating.
Not that I feel sorry for the former Prime Minister. If you treat Canadians' elected representatives with contempt, and then demonstrate only bitterness and irritation for getting called out on it, you don't really care about the Canadian people. Saying that you do, no matter how many times you say it, doesn't make it true.
Too bad the humiliation hasn't taught him humility. Perhaps the voters will.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Attentive Electorate
Such doings in Canadian politics! Or maybe not.
The House finds the Harper Government in contempt of Parliament. This seems to be the official version of a head-shaking finger-wagging "tsk tsk," because it doesn't launch any other action. Rather like the non-governmental fallback, the sternly worded letter.
Or, I guess, a censure of a President in the U.S.
And then, the Harper Government proposed a budget that nobody likes. It sure seems like this government is no longer functioning with any pretense at effectiveness.
Still, an election is not absolutely positively certain. More meetings this week. Motions put forward. Votes. Amendments. Et cetera.
This household would probably qualify as "moderately interested" in Canadian federal politics. And here's the conversation during Peter Mansbridge's live interview last night with Finance Minster Jim Flaherty about the budget.
In this upcoming election (maybe! or just more finger-wagging!), half of this household will vote. Given the calibre of attention to the issues evident in the conversation above, what are the chances that the Canadian government will look radically different after the dust (maybe!) settles in some ten or so weeks?
Yep. We can, however, hope that they'll take care of the noodle issue.
The House finds the Harper Government in contempt of Parliament. This seems to be the official version of a head-shaking finger-wagging "tsk tsk," because it doesn't launch any other action. Rather like the non-governmental fallback, the sternly worded letter.
Or, I guess, a censure of a President in the U.S.
And then, the Harper Government proposed a budget that nobody likes. It sure seems like this government is no longer functioning with any pretense at effectiveness.
Still, an election is not absolutely positively certain. More meetings this week. Motions put forward. Votes. Amendments. Et cetera.
This household would probably qualify as "moderately interested" in Canadian federal politics. And here's the conversation during Peter Mansbridge's live interview last night with Finance Minster Jim Flaherty about the budget.
R: Does he [Flaherty] look funny to you?
M: Well, he's orange. See how orange? And now, how blue Peter Mansbridge looks? Wow, I hope they switch back and forth again. Look at that: Orange. Blue. Orange. Geez.
R: It's not just that. It's his hair.
M: He's wearing a ton of makeup.
R: But doesn't it look like he's wearing black-and-silver noodles on his head?
M: Yeah. Eww. Hey, did he say anything?
[crickets]
In this upcoming election (maybe! or just more finger-wagging!), half of this household will vote. Given the calibre of attention to the issues evident in the conversation above, what are the chances that the Canadian government will look radically different after the dust (maybe!) settles in some ten or so weeks?
Yep. We can, however, hope that they'll take care of the noodle issue.
Monday, March 21, 2011
A Boot? A Boat?
Everybody knows Canadians say "aboot" for the word "about." Well, at least all Americans who have seen Bob and Doug McKenzie know that.
But wait! From a fascinating blog that looks at all kinds of accents comes the assertion "Canadian Raising: Nobody Says Aboot."
I suspect it's dangerous to say that "nobody" says "aboot." However, it's obviously accurate to say that "not all Canadians" say it. And possibly more Canadians don't than do.
Similarly, not all Americans say "y'all" and "all y'all," even though they are extremely useful as gender-neutral ways to convey "you guys."
But hey, what a site! He has clips of Canadians speaking and everything! And introductory material explaining the International Phonetic Alphabet! And maps of accents!!! Go look, but beware: Hours of procrastination ahead!
But wait! From a fascinating blog that looks at all kinds of accents comes the assertion "Canadian Raising: Nobody Says Aboot."
I suspect it's dangerous to say that "nobody" says "aboot." However, it's obviously accurate to say that "not all Canadians" say it. And possibly more Canadians don't than do.
Similarly, not all Americans say "y'all" and "all y'all," even though they are extremely useful as gender-neutral ways to convey "you guys."
But hey, what a site! He has clips of Canadians speaking and everything! And introductory material explaining the International Phonetic Alphabet! And maps of accents!!! Go look, but beware: Hours of procrastination ahead!
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