I was referenced to in the Vancouver Sun without even knowing it. That’s a first for me. Was even somewhat misquoted (was alerted by the bad grammar in the quote – went back to check and sure enough a whole chunk of sentences had been cut out to merge into the quote.) Cool though overall.
I found out simply because I had my name in PubSub and someone happened to reprint this article in a blog post (thanks Kam). I have a nagging feeling I should be publishing my article in a more “official” way. I knew when writing it that it was filling an information void. So, we’ll see.
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Author(s): Kevin Chong
Section: Arts & Life
Publication title: The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Jul 2, 2005. pg. F.2(Copyright Vancouver Sun 2005)
Title: Bloggers weigh in on what being Canadian means
A recent immigrant from the United States had one complaint — her citizenship photo is awful
In the photo on my citizenship card, I’m about five years old. A bowl cut sits like a mushroom cap on my (still) oversized head. The expression on my face suggests both boredom and mild discomfort (I’m wearing an unbearably itchy turtleneck my mother liked to dress me up in as a child). There’s no indication that I realize that I’ve just become a Canadian.
Looking at this photo now, I’ve know enough in 25 years since it was taken to understand that changing countries is no small deal. As a nation of immigrants, Canada is a place where lives and customs are vetted and exchanged. I’ve heard my father complain, given Hong Kong real-estate values and low tax rates, that he’d be retired by now if we stayed in Hong Kong. And if we never emigrated, there’s no doubt that my Chinese would be a lot better than it is now.
Ultimately, this speculation feels like science fiction. We wouldn’t be who we are in any other country.
Of course, this begs that painfully dull question (and brings back memories of that painfully long unit in social studies class): What is it to be Canadian? I realized I was Canadian when I accidentally answered the phone saying, “Sorry?” Arieanna, on www.blogaholics.ca, has given the question a little more thought: “Maybe our adaptability and diversity is our claim to an identity. We should just scrap the idea of a national identity and take pride in our multi-faceted identity, celebrate our differences, be a pluralistic society.”
On www.jodigreen.ca, blogger and artist Jodi Green uses photos to express her patriotic sentiments. An entry entitled “Why I Love Canada” features a picture, accompanied by the caption “two days ago,” showing blooming tulips in her yard and one with the caption “today,” showing snow falling in the same yard.
Foodie and blogger Jennifer attempts to define Canada according to taste on her blog, www.domesticgoddess.ca. “It’s certainly not all beer and back bacon,” she writes. “It’s not all Niagara wines and Quebec cheeses, either.”
For this Canada Day, she’s inviting readers and fellow bloggers to post their favourite Canadian recipes. Other blogs such as www.kitchengeek.com, http://tasteeverythingonce.blogspot.com, and http://gorgeoustown.typ epad.com have responded with recipes for dishes like Moose Meat Shepherd’s Pie, Nanaimo Bars, and Bannock and Wild Blueberry Jam.
In the past, it was often said that Canadians defined themselves by their opposition to the United States. Since George W. Bush’s re- election last November, many progressive-minded Americans have expressed their opposition to their country’s political and cultural conservatism by declaring an interest in moving north. One group blog, movetocanada.blogware.com, brings together information for possible emigres. (If the web site is down, you can access the material searching movetocanada.blogware on Google and accessing the cached material.)
“Manipulating the electorate by using fear is so shamefully un- American that I felt I could no longer live with what we have become,” writes U.S. ex-pat Christopher Key. “So I made the decision to move to Canada, a country that lives up to those values of freedom and tolerance and diversity that America once stood for.”
On Everydaymusings.blogspot.com, Rebecca, who was born in Tennessee but is now living in Whitehorse, writes about being sworn in as a new citizen in the presence of Adrienne Clarkson in June. “She has a strikingly lovely voice,” she writes of the governor general.
Rebecca had only one complaint about becoming a Canadian: “The photo on my citizenship card is awful and I’m still stewing about having to live with it for the rest of my life.”
As a fellow naturalized Canadian, I feel your pain, Rebecca. (And you should see how dramatically I’ve aged since my photo was taken.) Enjoy your first Canada Day as a Canadian.
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