Travelling Without Moving

Oh Air Canada,

My home and native airline.

True patriot love is the only thing that will keep me flying you again...

Do I sound delirious? Chalk it up to 4 days of travel, 3 cancelled flights, 4 reroutings, three unscheduled over night stops, three different countries, and arriving in Vietnam 2 days late.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand that technical difficulties, weather, whathaveyou, happen - but I have a hard time when the people that I am interacting with don't seem to know how to deal with the issues/challenges/obstacles presented... which happened to me consistently over the 12 hours (total - I kid you not) that I spent dealing with Air Canada reps... (issues ranging from flying me out from cities that I wasn't currently in... i.e. "we have a great flight for you leaving from NYC..." - to which I responded "wonderful... but, uh, I am currently in DC - so how are you going to get me there?" AC rep response.. "uh, I don't know... but can you get there in four hours?")

Anyway - totally delirious - walked straight into a meeting - am about to collapse - but just wanted to say hi, thank the little sis - for doing such a phenomenal job in the blog up keep - and also a shout of thanks to those who mentioned this blog in some their response to Warren Kinsella's Blogging Man List... hee hee (okay delirium and jet lag have finally over run the system)...

Comical Interlude

I’m really enjoying my time as a guest-blogger , but I do wonder if this might be in my future?

What's going on here? Allow me to generalize....

My co-worker casually says to me: “….Americans are lazy. They don’t want to use their brains. They don’t want to think.” She’s a visiting research fellow from India and we were chatting over coffee. She acknowledges that she used to only be critical of the US administration, but now, she’s giving up on all it’s citizens as well, leading her to the above conclusion.

More and more I’ve noticed people making all kinds of generalizations about Americans as individuals. I try and imagine reversing my colleague’s comment to describe India, and honestly, I can’t. As we seem to have a growing sensitivity to avoid cultural stereotyping, we also have an increasing ability to make assumptions about Americans. It’s similar to when my Canadian colleagues discuss the US health-care (non)system. They describe it one-dimensionally, that in the US it’s everyone-for-themselves, it’s some sort of quasi-anarchism for well-being. Certainly I grew up taking trips to the doctor for granted and the lack of universal coverage in the US took me a while to actually wrap my mind around. But once I did, I became aware of the elaborate public health services coordinated by state and national government. While in the US, I worked in a state department of health and, being in the family health office, learned about their sincere efforts to improve the health all children in the state, not only those with money.

Perhaps I’m the one generalizing from comments over coffee and from around the conference room table. Nor am I either criticizing or endorsing some of the typical claims made about Americans. But I can’t think of any other nationality that is subject to such assumptions from outsiders. So what’s going on here?

On an unrelated update about this blog, I’m happy to say that my sister is finally on her way to Vietnam. She faced some truly ridiculous delays- a nightmarish culmination of bad weather, city-wide computer glitches, and impressive airline incompetence. However, on the up-side, she was able to swing a brief stop through Toronto (30 hours late), and I could share with her my apartment and new ‘hood, and she could share with me some very quality Brazilian music!

I Have Some Pretty Big Shoes to Fill

My sister’s request to cover for her while she’s in Vietnam comes right after I realized that I could never ever have my own blog. As the younger sibling, I tend to be more introverted, letting my sister open and carry on all kinds of discussion, while I prefer to listen, think for a while, and then, maybe, comment. I am, however, a huge fan and supporter of her blog, and am happy to what I can to keep in running over the next few weeks. I’m honestly pretty excited, if somewhat daunted, am curious as to were the new venture will lead.

I recently took a job in Toronto after a few years in grad school down in the states. I realized that my time in the US is a significant point of reference for me as I come to understand all that is Toronto (I’m a native Montrealer, so never spent much time here). So, contrary to what JJ mentioned, I’ll probably maintain a consistent US focus to the blog. We’ll see. My experience in the states was pretty interesting, though probably not very representative; I was in a mid-sized city in the north-east, enjoying life as a student at an affluent ivy-league school. There is much to be reconciled in that kind of existence, especially with the poverty and racial segregation that resided (literally) on the other side of the tracks from my college campus. I expect that my future posts will draw of my experiences there, as well my time living in India, Italy, and now, Toronto.

My views are undeniably shaped by my work, education, and travels. However, my biggest source of inspiration is my sister and I’ll try my best to maintain some relevant and insightful dialogue on her blog over the 2 weeks. That said, (deep breath), here it goes….

Good Morning Vietnam!

Am off to Hanoi tomorrow morning for 2 and 1/2 weeks!

Very excited - though the trip promises to be intense - workwise in particular... so I am not sure how often I will get around to blogging...

In my absence, I am very pleased to announce the arrival of a very special guest blogger! Look for the introductory post of piccola - jj - coming soon!

Piccola - JJ is based in Toronto - so I anticipate that her posts will be slightly less US focused than mine... however, she already has provided this blog with tons of spicy, analytical commentary (both in the form of post suggestions and comments)! I am confident you'll be in great hands!

Converging Citizenship

Last night, as a US taxpayer for the very first time, I heard how my tax dollars will be spent... among one of my favorites was reinforcing border security...

Now I'm not sure if Georgie was talking about the largest unprotected border in the world between the largest trading partners in the world... or rather the border to the South of land of the free... but it got me thinking about all of these arbitrary citizenship rules that keep rearing their ugly heads as Canadians go to apply for passports for the first time and find out that after 70 years in the true north, they aren't actually Canadian... how depressing... sort of throws a wrench in the whole questioning the loyalty of politicians with dual citizenship thing, doesn't it? Turns out there are a whole whack of laws that applied only for certain periods of time and under certain conditions that allow for Canadian citizenship...

Now, I have a confession to make: I am a dual citizen... not by choice - by total accident... My parents are Canadian, I have lived (with the exception of the present) my whole life in Canada, my sister is Canadian. But I was born in the States, while my parents were studying there. Six months later, they moved back to Canada with me in tow.

I've never felt conflicted about my loyalty or my citizenship - to quote a great Molson beer ad: I am Canadian.

Contrary to what Andrew Coyne said in his blog about how dual citizens never really say who they hope for when "their countries" are playing against each other in a sport match - I've never had that dilemma, I always hope for Canada. I was raise here, my family is Canada. It's a total fluke that I have American citizenship too. Just like how I have brown hair, or who my parents are - or that I am an anglo Quebecer... all things that I don't really have control over (well, I suppose I could become a bottle blond, or speak French to my parents at home, or renounce my US citizenship... but these are just random things you just happen to be born with and they sort of make up who you are...)

...I'm kind of sad that we started getting into this whole citizenship/loyalty discussion with regard to our politicians. That's the great thing about Canada - is that we are secure enough in our citizenship, in knowing what's great about our country - that we have room for more than one identity. We recognize that Canada derives strength from our mosaic - not weakness - we are enriched by diversity... That's what makes us all proud to be Canadian (dual citizens or not).

Je ne veux pas travailler....

I don't know if it is mid winter blahs (spurred on by the fact that it finally, miraculously snowed in DC) or what - but the work motivation level has reached a pinnacle low (if that's not a total oxymoron - but whatev)... So I've been employed in some pretty stellar procrastination (if I do say so myself)... as a result, I thought I'd share the fruits of my labour:

Random find #1: Stephane Dion is up there with Rosie O'Donnell and Justin Timberlake as post popular msn - ca people search?

Random find #2: Tomorrow, our beloved prime minister is celebrating the one year anniversary of the last election... uh...who does that? And at the Chateau Laurier no less... I am dying of suspense to hear what he's going announce...(My guess is something along the lines of - "A year ago today, we saved Canada from its fate of turning into a full fledge northern European welfare state in the worse sense of the term...")

Random find #3: Need a little bit of tlc... coming soon to a shopping centre near you: Free Hugs... now available world wide (from Korea, to Canada, to Brazil)...

Okay, this post is getting so lame, that as a (non-intentional) side effect, I actually just convinced myself to get back to work...

Walking the Line

Last night, spurred on by liquid courage... I got into my usual "talking to Americans" diatribe ...i.e. what a great country Canada is, universal healthcare, mosaic instead of melting pot, etc etc... when my panengyric commentary was interrupted by a question: How many Canadians live below the poverty line... and how does it compare to the States?

uhhhh... to be honest, I don't know...but I promised to look it up and blog about it.

And not one to go back on liquor induced promises, here are the facts:

Canada actually doesn't have a poverty line, it has low-income cut-off (LICO) - which is not a measure of poverty, but of income inequality... Okay, so then how many people live below the LICO? According to the CBC, as of 2004, 15.5 per cent of Canadians...

Now what about the States? Well according to the CIA Factbook, the 2004 estimates had 12% of Americans living below the poverty line...

...Tricky. Because then the stats/econ savy (or non-savy) part of me gets confused... I'm not sure that it's possible to compare the two, because it looks like Canada and the US aren't measuring the same things... so on first glance, it looks like the US has fewer poor people... but because Canada doesn't have a "poverty line" and I'm not sure if the methodology used to calculate the numbers are the same - so I don't think it's fair to compare.

... My knee-jerk reaction is also that I think Canada treats its poor people better... I intrinsically (not based on any indepth analysis) think that I'd rather be poor in Canada than in the States. I think that I'd have a better chance - easier access to better education, for example, and potentially better health and medical treatment...

... but I digress, the question was: Are there more poor people in Canada or the US.
I guess the answer is: I don't know. It depends on how you define poor.

Recycling Democracy

So Stevie finally believes in climate change - and to prove that he's fully converted, he just ponied up a cool $1.5 billion plan to invest in reneweables... Liberal environment critic David McGuinty said (and I whole - heartedly agree), the Conservatives are simply "running around the country re-announcing" Liberal programs cut from the last budget...

That being said, I think that this announcement is a wonderful example of democracy in action (which I will be sure to drawn on the next time I come across the cynical non-voter)... this announcement is politicians doing exactly what they are supposed to do: respond to what Canadians want... WE said WE care about the environment and want solutions... so now we are (finally, belatedly, and unoriginally) getting what we asked for...

Canada's better off without me?

Kay, I try not to use my blog as a soapbox too often.. but this really bugs me...

What's the Globe and Mail doing asking a poll like this?

"Have you come to believe that Canada would be better off without Quebec?"

... It's like someone asking you how you feel about a member of your family... granted family members can get annoying every once in a while, but they're still family... right?

(And if this post sounds chocked full of insecurity...check out the poll results!)

Warming up...

Here we go - 15 hours after requesting on You Tube - the clip finally posted - thanks to all for the techie tips... guess there was just an overload at the youtube site...

Okay, so I know this is blogging the obvious, but, uh, it's cold in Canada... And it gets dark really early - like a 3 o'clock in the morning dark at 7 p.m. - which makes it really hard to motivate yourself to get out of the house... it took tons of motivation to get out from hiberation and go socialize...

...Just arrived back in DC, and it's something ridiculous like 20 degrees C here... so it makes the Canadian contrast that much more glaring.... I know I am saying this like someone who has never been to Canada before...but still - it's cold!... and dark.... so I thought that I'd post some quality Brazilian music to warm up the Canadian readers... This guy, Gilberto Gil is a musical genius as well as Brazil's Minister of Culture - don't we wish that we had one of those, i.e. a Federal Minister of Culture... and a musically inclined one at that? Anyway, enjoy!

You Tubing?

Found a fab clip to share - and had attached this great post (basically comparing and contrasting the wildly different climates I've just traversed: mind-numblingly cold in Montreal this a.m. and summer night temps here in D.C.)... anyway, 5 hours later, it hasn't downloaded on my blog... this is causing a weird sort of vicious circle: I don't want to blog until the clip is up, but don't know how long to wait until I try again... man oh man... the dilems of the digital age....

Fighting the Surge

I've been resisting blogging about the Iraq quagmire. Quite simply because an unhappy side effect of living in the States is, that Iraq haunts me. It's everywhere. I don't watch tv a lot - but I make a concerted effort to avoid it, especially at news time. I have diminished my intake of NPR - just gets too depressing in the morning and doesn't set ideal heading off to work conditions. So I try to fill my quality time at home with excellent music, quality company, and great food. But every so often, the underlying high pitch frequency on Iraq that reverberates throughout American life, breaks through and I am forced to consider it.

My initial thoughts on Iraq might come as a surprise for those of you who know me as a tree-hugging-latte-drinking-lefty. I always (even back in the day when Colin Powell was making an unconvincing case over at UN HQ) thought that invading Iraq was going to be (and has turned out to be) - a mistake of cataclysmic proportions.

However, for a while, I felt that the US should do whatever it takes to "fix" the situation in Iraq. A sort of you broke it, you fix it logic. If that means sending more troops, then send more troops.

Though I know the situations aren't comparable, but I thought that the States should mirror whatever the Allies did in WWII in Germany and Japan. Some the reasons (I think) for the successful reconstruction of those countries, had to do with the sheer volume of troops, which lead to the total defeat of other side, followed by the complete replacement and reconstruction of political institutions. (I just want to put a caveat here again, that I am by no means an expert in WWII military history or contemporary military strategy. The extent of my understanding of the rules of war - stems from reading Michael Waltzer's Just and Unjust Wars - an excellent book, btw). So yeah, my feeling was: whatever, however many troops you need - just do it! You want to invade a country? Well, jeez, at least have the decency to invade it “properly”.

So there we have it. My internal, private, view on Iraq over the past few months. However, I was finally tempted into debating Iraq with my American democrat political operative friend. I told him the same, more or less, as in the paragraph above...

And he convinced me that I was wrong. He said the US has past the threshold of being able to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, there have just been too many mistakes. The you broke it, you fix it rule only applies when you can superglue parts of the broken teacup back together... but when you throw the teacup on the ground, step on it, grind your heel into it, and mix in pieces of earth, then no amount of picking up the pieces and glue will put it back together.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to discuss alternatives (the bill came just as I was ready to admit the faults of my argument). So I was left with the nagging, hauting question: If the US is no longer a viable, reputable broker for peace in Iraq, then what is the solution?

Hmmmm….maybe, just maybe, the international community won't stand for what is going on in Iraq any longer…

....Maybe the global conscience will intervene and the paradigm will shift.... from watching the American Empire hang itself (pardon the pun) on it's own rope of mistakes - to declaring that the situation in Iraq is unconscionable and has larger implications for the region and for global stability...

...and that perhaps the time has come to swallow our distain, to role up our honest broker peacemaker sleeves, start sifting through the rubble and slowly, steadily, try to put the teacup back together...

UPDATE: Check out a Rebuttal to this post on Canada's Debate...

Cold Revisited

Must be some sort of bad karma from last post - but have been hit with the mother of all wish-my-head-was-no-attached-to-my-body colds... which is seriously impeding on my ability to blog (or work, or for that matter, live) properly... Wonderful news though: will be returning to the home and native land this weekend for a bit of quality home time R&R and some chicken soup...

Cold War Revisted

Just finished watching Georgie's address to the nation... and feel like I am in a weird sort of time warp... this fight for freedom and liberty... and good and evil... doesn't it all smack of Cold War rhetoric?

Now I am sooo far from being an expert on this - all I know about the Cold War is a few random undergrad history/poly sci classes... and I am, after all, heading to Vietnam in a few weeks... so I could have messy wars on the brain...but still... very very strange... maybe soon we'll be told that in case of a potential biological weapon we should hide under our desks for protection... hmmm...hopefully we're not quite there yet....

Ringing in 2007 - The View from Down South

I guess this always happens when the House isn't sitting... am feeling the lack of good political fodder to blog about... I mean other than a little floor crossing, a little cabinet shuffling, and a little Baird looking at some dead trees, I'm kind of feeling uninspired with the Canadian political scene at the moment (if any one has some tips, blogging suggestions, topics, etc – I’d be v grateful).

Anyway, so I thought I’d use this lull to talk about how they ring in the New Year down South in that beautiful country that is Brazil. So here it is:

Five Steps for A Successful Brazilian New Year’s Celebration

1) Dress in white - (not quite sure the origins of this – but it is supposed to bring you good luck...)

2) Eat turkey - (now I don’t know if this is a Brazilian nation wide tradition – I think it’s actually specific to the people I was staying with – we had three turkeys actually – two BBQ (hmm another interesting recipe that’d be good to share with my US Marine turkey frying friend) and one oven baked (the BBQ ones were actually better than the oven one...)

3) At midnight run down to the beach and after the countdown jump seven waves and make seven wishes (one for each wave) – (Actually surprising how hard it is to come up with seven wishes… guess I should count myself lucky...)

4) Put candles in the sand - (also not sure of the origins but something to do with bringing more luck - Some people put candles in little tiny boats and send them floating into the sea...)

5) Kiss as many people as possible - (uh, no explanation needed there...)

Enjoy!

Khan You Do the Khan-Khan?

I know that Wajid Khan's defection to the Conservatives has already been blogged/columned to death... but I just wanted to add my two cents for whatever they are worth... mainly because I actually worked with Wajid when he was on the same Commons committee as my former boss.

And to tell you the truth, he was an extremely accommodating, easy going, kind, relaxed, partisan Liberal (but in a good-not-too-annoying way), nice-to-work-with-kind of guy.

So, when he declared in favour of Volpe for Lib leader – you could have knocked me over with a feather. In my mind, that was the real shocker…

…His latest cavorting with floor crossing actually seems less surprising in comparison… I don’t know, maybe the dude’s just a social conservative at heart… I actually think that’s the extent of the motivation behind his actions.

I mean, he’s essentially toast next election – he didn’t get anything out of it from a monetary/cabinet positiony type thing (as far as I know)… maybe he just get’s some deep rooted pleasure scratching Harpie’s back… I dunno…

...so yes, that’s the extent of my analysis: nice guy – with previously latent (but now overt) social conservative tendencies at heart.

Pictoral Interlude V - The View from Above

I tend to have a hard time settling back into the DC "real life" groove (blogging being part of that groove) after life altering trips...

Travel, regardless of the distance, always seems to do this to me - ie. offers tons of new perspectives, ideas, realities... which makes the return to daily life that much more surreal and trickier...

So, in the interim, while I am getting my blogging groove back, please feast your eyes on the view from the Brazilian skies:

Moment of Political Genius

So remember back when Mr. Virgil H. Goode Jr., GOP Representative from Virginia, caused a kafuffle, because Mr. Ellison (first ever Muslim congressperson) wanted to use a Koran in his swearing in ceremony?

Well, as it turns out, Thomas Jefferson, traditional nation builder himself, actually owned a Koran...So, in a moment of political brillance, Mr. Ellison used Jefferson's copy for his swearing in ceremony... promptly putting to rest Mr. Goode's concerns that using the Koran would be a "serious threat to the nation's traditional values"...

Coming Back Down to Earth

Hmmmm... I guess that I should go on vacation more often... Just arrived back in DC to find that I made Cherniak's list of top 10 female bloggers...wow... nice thing to come back to.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), my vacation turned out to be a real vacation after all... no email, no internet, just friends, the beach, and some much appreciated capirinahs... all that to say... I have been in a info vacuum... and still coming down off of the plane ride and the Brazilian trip high...

I plan to be back to my normal DC state later today or tomorrow... and will have processed all that is Brazil and will be up to speed on all things politics (Wajid Khan, what?)

Thanks again for being patient with the blogging break... In the interim, I leave you with this: