More Reflections On America

Wherever you live in the world,it's difficult to ignore America.We are all very influenced by the presence of the most powerful nation on earth,especially those of us who live right next door.Of course we are influenced by American media-who isn't?I know from watching CNN everything I need to know about what goes on in the world.The world is an American colony and all media must be presented with that world view in mind.Well,I watch CNN faithfully once every couple of years,just in case anything has changed,but ,truly,that's not the only source of American ideas,or,believe it or not,even the best source.We watch American movies and television,read American books and,for those of us who have spent any time near the border,we even meet American people,always the most informative source of enlightenment on all things American.I've even come to find out that many of those Americans are nearly as cynical about CNN as I am.Who would have guessed.

A big brother sometimes casts a long shadow.Here in Canada we are,I think more like our brothers to the south than we are the British,from whom we came.Some people are still resistant to that idea,but it's largely true.

When I was a child I spent some time at my grandparents house,near the border of Maine and New Brunswick.While the maps clearly show where the one begins and the other ends,it's not nearly so evident when you are standing within a few miles of the border.In my part of the world,when I was young you could easily have walked across the Maine border without really realizing it,just by hunting animals in the woods.You see,New Brunswick,like Maine has a couple of interesting pine trees,as well as a few bears and moose,none of which differentiate themselves along national lines.They will not let you know when you've stepped over the line and even the most diligent border officials can't be everywhere.They seem to have gotten a lot better,or at least a lot more zealous at their job since 9/11,though.All in all,that's a good thing,but it sure is different from the old days.

In dead Creek,not far from my mother's old home there is a p[lace where you can look across a few miles of countryside and,on the rare day that is clear enough,see Mt.Katahadin in Maine.It is a picturesque peak,which sometimes has snow on it's peak even in late spring.The first time I saw it,I wondered what it would be like to walk to it,but,of course.it's much too far.It looks reachable from where you can see it though.

We used to go over to the town of Houlton,Maine sometimes.Houlton is located at the head of Interstate 95,which actually begins near Woodstock,New Brunswick as N.B.95.Houlton and Woodstock are not far apart and so we used to cross border shop in Houlton.We thought it was a really big thing to have crossed a border into the greatest country on earth,or so we were told.What I never really knew was that Woodstock was nearly three times the size of Houlton.But,of course,America was so much bigger and better than us,or at least,that's what we thought.

When we went to Maine,we were always aware that certain things could be gotten in America that could not be found in Canada.Usually it was just simple things like a bag of barbeque chips that actually tasted like barbeque chips.I guess that's how I became aware of Americans who would cross into Canada for a few hours just because they liked or beer.One of the things that I was told,over and over again that I would have to try when I went south,was Dr.Pepper.We could not get that here in Canada then and at least one of my friends would drive himself nuts with anticipation at being able to get a can of it when he went on vacation.You would have though that Dr.Pepper was the Holy Grail,the way he carried on about it.So one summer I bought myself a can and I thought,this tastes nasty.I could not believe I'd wasted even one minute thinking I had to try it.Not everything,it turned out was bigger and better in America.But around the border,there is always this though about the grass being greener on the other side.

   In the west,things are about the same.There is a big,wonderful mountain that you can look across at from anywhere in  southern British Columbia,called Mt.Baker,located nearly on the border.Farther away you can sometimes see an even more wonderful mountain called Mt.Rainier.That mountain truly is worthy of the thought that sometimes things are bigger on the other side.And,of course,Niagara Falls also shares the border between New York and Ontario.I've never crossed that border,but it is a very busy one,with sometimes hours wait to pass through the check point.
   







On the west coast,two large cities are located close to each other,Vancouver on the Canadian side,and Seattle in Washington state.They really are very similar cities though in different countries.They would seem to be of similar size and both are set in the scenic Pacific Northwest.Well,the term Pacific Northwest is a bit inaccurate as Vancouver is actually in Canada's southwestern most corner.But in our minds we tend to view it as more of a part of a region than as separate countries.Likely the Americans,or at least some of them view themselves as owning that part of our country anyway.There was once quite a fight about that and sometimes things like that are hard to forget.

It might be that Americans and Canadians are most similar here in the Province of Alberta and in Montana to our south.Again,the land doesn't change all that much,being farm and ranch land with the front range of the Rockies to our west.The border crossings here are busier too.People in Alberta like to visit Montana,and really,who wouldn't.Glacier Park has some of the most magnificent scenery anywhere and I'm certain Americans feel the same about Banff,given the number of American plates that can be spotted on cars there.Here in Calgary,there are a lot of truckers that bring produce back from Texas and California,so they spend much of their working life south of the border.One of the stories I hear from them has much to do with one of the differences between Canadian and American society.It seems that there is a truck stop somewhere south of the border where truckers stop,put their guns in a locker,then proceed into Canada,only to pick them up again on the return trip.More than once a trucker has told me that traveling in the southern states can be dangerous and that he would never be caught without a gun.That may be true,but I've never felt in danger in Montana,Washington,Idaho,or any of the Northeastern states either.




I guess taken as a whole,our countries can seem really different.but that doesn't seem to be nearly so true when you live near the border.True,Whitehorse and Miami have little in common.Neither do Los Angeles and Montreal or Vancouver and New Orleans.But here on the border things are very  similar regardless of which side you are on.Most of what we couldn't get years ago on our side of the border we can now.Canada has most of the big American stores:McDonalds,Burger King etc.Even Target is making it's debut in the Canadian market.I know I can hardly wait.We don't have any Sizzlers restaurants yet,but that's likely a good thing(one of those stories for another time).And I do suspect the when I access itunes to buy music here in Canada that I don't get exactly the same selection as I might if I were in Houlton,Maine or Great Falls, Montana.And that still truly annoys me to no end,so I guess in some ways,big brother still casts a big shadow.

God Bless The U.S.A.

If you've been reading my last few blogs,it might have occurred to you that I'm a Canadian.You catch on quick.I happen to think that I live in the best country in the world,though it's a country not without it's faults.I may,or may not think that more at this time of year-Patriotic season.But it might also have occurred to you that,not being an American,I have a rather low opinion of America.And you would be very,very wrong.

A few centuries of sharing the same continent have made Canadians and Americans brothers.It is as simple as that.There is a considerable amount of history between our two countries,and not all of it is positive.Let me review it in very simplified fashion.After all I'm hardly a History professor.

Just a bit more about Canada and Canadians today before moving on to write about my American friends tomorrow on their national holiday.

I see I have a few readers in such far flung places as Iran and Russia.Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you will be a bit more informed about Canada for the effort.

It's said that most people who live in Canada live within a couple of hundred miles of the American border,so that we all tend to be strung out along a few thousand miles of border.Certainly almost all of our larger cities are very close the the American border.And,living in Calgary in the western part of Canada,I am quite typical in that respect.The same was true for the many years I lived in Moncton,as it to is within about two hundred miles of the border.I expect that this has some effect on us.We are a lot like Americans in many ways,except of course,you can buy good donuts here.Even the Americans think so.But we have a lot of contact with Americans,we speak the same language,many of us have family members who are American.And of course we all watch American TV.What would we ever do without American Idol or without CNN to tell us how the world really works?Well,we could watch CBC for a good laugh,or tune into The Red Green Show,when we want to be informed.Or is that the other way around?

Moncton is my home town,and it bears some mention because it has a kind of unique demographic.When I was growing up there were very few visible minorities in town,yet Moncton was quite ethnically mixed.In fact,you would notice the province of New Brunswick looks a bit like a square if you check out the map.If you were to divide that square from north west to south east,you would find very Francophone communities on the north and east side of the diagonal and very Anglophone communities(United Empire Loyalists) to the south and west.Moncton is cut right through the middle by that line and it's population reflects this.For the most part West Moncton is Anglophone and East Moncton and Dieppe is French.It has been known to cause tension at times,but seemingly more in the past than now.

Today I live in Calgary,nearly 5000 miles from my home town.Calgary is best known for it's Stampede,which this year celebrates it's 100th anniversary.Calgary Stampede is,of course a huge rodeo.More on that in a few days perhaps.What Calgary is also well known for is as a centre of the petroleum business and it is one of the very fastest growing cities in North America.That changes with the fortunes of oil,of course.

In between Calgary and Moncton,there are a lot of empty spaces.You see,while we are the second largest country on earth,we have a  population roughly equal to California.Much of the country is rural then.Much of the North,that part of Canada that is say,500 miles or more away from the American border is very sparsely populated and quite remote.It has a lot of Canada's resources though.And Canada is blessed with a wealth of resources.There's oil out west and the prairie provinces,are sometimes called the bread basket to the world.Many people live and work on farms in the western third of Canada,and wheat covers the land like a blanket.

Well,more Canadian Studies 101 in a few days.After an interlude to salute our neighbors to the south tomorrow.

But here are a few Canadian popular TV shows to keep you entertained,in case you can not tolerate tomorrows blog on all things American.

Canada Day

Today is Canada Day,Canada's national holiday-the 145th.Actually it wasn't called Canada Day until quite recently,having been called Dominion Day prior to that and celebrating our membership in the British Commonwealth.Our flag,the red Maple Leaf is relatively new as well.When it was introduced in the 1960's it was quite controversial and many people wouldn't display it, preferring the Union Jack or the old Canadian Ensign instead.Those days seem to have passed now judging from the number of small flags I see being worn about town.Many of the people who seem to be proudest of the flag would appear to be new Canadians,either African or Asian and especially their children.

Since it is Canada Day,I feel like I should,in some way write something of a reflective nature on my country.That seems kind of odd as I hope that I'm telling my readers something about Canada everyday I write.I think a lot of things about Canada,most everyday and most of them good.It just seems odd to set aside a special day for it.

Over the last three years I've made the round trip from Calgary to Moncton with a two year stop along the way in Toronto.I guess what really has become evident to me is that this a very large country.Not only in terms of area,but in terms of what ,and who is contained within it's boundaries.Almost everything you can imagine is here,almost every kind of landscape and nearly every kind of person,both in terms of nationality and belief or values.That alone is something to praise my country for.

As a rule,even with all our differences we are a very tolerant society and people get along much better than even I can believe.As a whole we are a very peaceful society and I guess that's why many immigrants seek to come here.Even in our larger cities I feel safe walking about,and though there is crime,it is low compared to our southern neighbours

Comparing ourselves to Americans is something we seem to do a lot.I wonder if the fact that our patriotic holidays are so close together has anything to do with that.Our histories are very different as are our societies in contemporary terms.I've heard it said that a Canadian is "just an American with health care and no guns.There is some truth to that,as cynical as it may seem.As a whole we are a more liberal country,even when we have conservative leadership as we do now.We are also less militaristic,though,especially recently we do support our troops.

I have not spent every Canada Day in Calgary.When we were young we would usually spend the day in Pugwash,Nova Scotia,half a world away from here,and such a different place.Pugwash would have a Gathering Of The Clans on Canada Day,and my father would never miss it if he wasn't working.It really was more a celebration of being Scottish,than being Canadian and the day would be filled with piping and highland dance competition.After dark they would have a fireworks display out over the harbour and the Canadian Coast Guard would usually have a ship available in port for touring.I missed the celebration in Pugwash the last time I was back east in 2009.My sister went,but I walked into downtown Moncton and caught the celebrations there instead.

Today started off with a half drunken display by a woman dancing around in a Dr.Suess type hat and trying to hug everyone who she met.Not all were receptive,though she seemed in good spirits.Usually celebrations are low key.There will be a lot of people about town and in the parks and there will be fireworks tonight.The wearing of all things red is very fashionable as is the waving of small flags,but on the whole we are a lot more subdued in our patriotism than Americans.That seems to be changing though.Patriotism seems to be much more ion evidence than it did when I was younger.

Sometimes,of course,celebration involves stupidity or the excessive use of alcohol or both.A few years ago I walked by a house in the Victoria Park district of Calgary at about 7p.m. and noticed that they seemed to have gotten an early start on Canada Day celebrations.They were drinking on a upper balcony and were very loud and obviously drunk.The next morning I heard about the house fire and I knew exactly which house it would be.It seems that at about midnight someone got the idea to set off the fireworks in celebration.But,they got the idea to do this indoors,without the benefit of an open window.The next day I walked by and sure enough it was the party house from the day before.I got to see what 40 or 50 years of"can't fix stupid"looks like.But for the most part Canada Day is a fine summer celebration.It really is a celebration of so many different things,as Canada is more a mix of cultures spread out over a huge area.Yet we all celebrate on this day,and we are all Canadian and proud to be so.

memoir writers homework/nostalgia

As a memoir writer,I love all things having to do with nostalgia,because,really,where would we be without it.Nostalgia is one of those concepts that is going to send me looking for the dictionary as soon as I'm through with this write on demand exercise.Of course I have a good idea as to what it means.Its just the precision of the words meaning that seems to elude me.In my mind,it means to be homesick,not just for a place,but usually for a past time as well.It also carries the connotation of being perhaps overly sentimental and not as realistic about that time or place as you might otherwise be.

I believe it was Thomas Wolf,a writer from North Carolina who once said"you can never go home again",or words to that effect.I always wondered what exactly he meant by that,because,obviously,I could hop on a plane or into my car and arrive at the place where I grew up and called home in a matter of hours.Such a view is,I think,unique to those who are young and foolish and haven't put much thought into the ways of the world.Of course I could go home.The only thing is,home was not the same place and really had only taken very few years to change.I left home for a reason.It had a lot to do with economic reality,but also about the perception that people where I lived were mean spirited and I wanted to be away from them.Through the years I carried around a lot of my own,mostly unreasonable prejudices about Moncton.I suppose I though there was more excitement in the big city too.Most young people do.Then,after a few years,or maybe only months,nostalgia comes to call and I want to go home.To the home I thought I knew that is.But it's so very different.Not so many of the old friends still around.All the old hang outs are occupied by a younger crowd.I got to thinking I could live there again and it seemed like a great idea when I was living far away,but I get home,and it's wonderful for a few weeks,then I'm ready to leave again. I visit all my old friends and they become fewer and fewer all the time,not because they are passing,but because,like the place itself,they've changed,and so have I.I walk across the old covered bridge at Hartland,the worlds longest,stick my feet in that wonderful old stream I used to wade in when I was a pre -schooler and pick up a stone from it's bottom.That stone has worn a hole in my pocket now.That's nostalgia.

Home has changed too much.Maybe that's just the thoughts of an old man.There used to be a road that cut up through the heart of New Brunswick.It was the main road when I was growing up,and we would take it from our home to my grandparents place 200 miles away.You would travel through woods and meadows,up hills and along the river bottom below Fredricton,where huge trees grew in the river.But now that road is gone,replaced by a straight,wide road that cuts in a line from east to west.You can get there in much less time,but you never get to see any of the countryside.It's ruined my home.Nostalgia.

Walking up the street towards the old school,there is a little girl in pigtails.A very ordinary young lady.It makes me think,there really is only one thing in my home town that has not changed very much in all these many years.

memoir writers homework/security.

Security meant something very different when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's than it does today.Today we think about things that would  rarely,if ever,have crossed our minds back then.Security,when I was small meant that I had a home that had two parents and that I could trust that they had the best interests of my siblings and I in mind in everything they did.We had a home and food and a bed with warm blankets.When I share experiences with some of my friends it also seems to have meant that I had no worry for some of the things that befell them.For instance,a good friend of mine and her family became homeless when their father lost their home in a poker game.So far as I know,neither of my parents did anything that would put us in that kind of danger and for that I am grateful.

We played outside until dark even when I was very young and no one had any great worry.We were told not to talk to strangers,of course,but then,in my home town there seemed to be very few strangers about.Most of the people I met,I knew.Seldom,if ever did we lock our front doors.If some family member,or close friend came to visit while you were out at the store,especially if they were from out of town,you wanted them to be able to come in,make something to eat and wait for your return in comfort.It was the way in Atlantic Canada in those days.Never did we experience a break-in or robbery.Crime rates were very low.

Today,I still know people who leave their door open to welcome guests,though it's much more rare.In Toronto or Calgary there seems to be a preoccupation with home security.We never knew that in Moncton,for most of the time I was growing up.I suppose it's necessary in the larger cities.There came a time though,when I was in grades eight and nine,that our sense of security was severely tested.Just before Christmas in 1974,two policemen were killed in the line of duty.It had the whole town in a state of fear for a few days,but two suspects were quickly arrested,tried and initially sentenced to hang.They were among the last people ever to be sentenced to death in Canada,but their sentences were commuted.

Barely had that incident passed-in fact it was about six months later-when something else unheard of happened.A seven year old girl disappeared from in front of her house and was never seen again.I had a four year old sister.Everyone in town seemed to think that the world was going to Hell in a hand basket.Two sensational and very high profile crimes in less than a year was unheard of in that part of the country.Things were worse here than in Toronto,and there was beginning to be a bit of a blood lust for law breakers.It was a kind of loss of innocence for Moncton as a community.People talked of doing ugly things to anyone caught in the act of committing a crime,even a very small one.That,for me was the bigger loss of security because I began to see a very nasty side to some neighbours that I thought I knew.A thought crossed my mind:evil things happen because people lack or lose their civility.

When I visited home in 2006,I noticed how careful my sister was about locking the doors when she went out.I guess times had changed.Once too,there used to be whole swarms of children walking to the school I used to attend.But by then,the swarm had become a trickle.And not because there were fewer children.One morning ,I took a walk and noticed that a great many kids were being dropped off at the school house door by parents in SUVs.Unheard of in my day!

memoir writers homework/an accident.

Writers note:at memoir group,this entry and the one before it seem to have been undertaken in reverse order.Luck of the draw.But I've presented them here in this order for largely literary reasons which I hope will be obvious.Creative license.


There is really only one accident that comes to my mind these days.It was needless in the sense that my mother should never have been there.She loved her grandchildren,and didn't mind caring for them.But she didn't really need to be running halfway across the province of New Brunswick on a cold February day to pick them up for the week end.But she would never have said no.

It was only about ten minutes from home.A young man coming the other direction swerved into their lane and hit my mothers car head on.Both drivers died at the scene.It's said he may have fallen asleep as he was supposed to have had narcolepsy.At least thats the story my younger sister told.

My older sister recounted how she first heard about the accident when I visited for the funeral.She was sitting there watching the evening news,she said,and the accident flashed across the screen.Of course,you couldn't see it well.You never can see such thing clearly.She told me,she watched and said to herself"I'm so happy that my parents aren't out on a night like this.A few moments later,the police called.They'd called my other sister in Fredricton too and she had driven all the way back to Moncton.As she approached the accident scene she was detoured,and she must have known how bad things were.

Neither of my sisters knew how to reach me in Calgary as I had recently moved.My mother had the address written in an address book,but of course it was with her in the car.On Sunday morning two police officers came to my door.They had the look of soldiers coming to the door and I wasn't instantly aware of why I thought they looked like that.They said "you need to call your sister"And I did.She didn't have the message I was by now expecting.My father had been in poor health for years,so,of course,that's why she was calling.She said"there was a car accident and Mom didn't make it."To this day,I don't recall which of my sisters I called that day.

A few months later I made my one and only visit to the accident scene.It was a warm June night and my best friend from high school drove me there and made a u turn before pulling up to the place my younger sister had erected a white cross.I stepped down into the ditch and touched the cross and tried to think of what that night must have been like.It looked so different.I noticed a firefly at the foot of the cross as I was standing there,then another and another.When I came back up to get in the truck I looked back down into the ditch,where a glowing storm of fireflies circled that white cross.And I knew that God is good and merciful,that there is a place where we know nothing but his grace and loving kindness,and that my mother was there and that step from the side of that damnable roadside was very short and swift indeed.