ROG
Month: July 2008
I Don’t Wear the Flag Pin
I wish I could find the piece done some years back by Andy Rooney of all people, who explained well why he didn’t wear a flag pin. Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation addressed the topic more recently here.
But it’s more personal than that. Very few people were wearing them before 9/11. Then wearing one not only supposedly “proved” patriotism, the lack of one, or the lack of a flag off one’s front porch 24/7 suggested otherwise. I resented it. While people were giving lip service to the concept, the country was being hijacked with “patriot” acts, torture and a loss of civil liberties.
It’s also that, save for my wedding ring, and an occasional pair of cuff links (were ARE they anyway?), I just don’t DO jewelry. Someone gave me a cross to wear. I’m a Christian, so I tried wearing it for a while. It just didn’t fit me; it’s back in the box.
This is not to say that I never wear pins. I have a few hundred pins, and I’ll pull out one for a special occasions such as St. Patrick’s Day – “Kiss me, I’m the Blarney Stone.”. I have a number of political buttons, but except for “Choose peace”, I almost never wear them. Sidebar: our cars have never had bumper stickers; I mean, what does it really say about you to have a “Kerry/Edwards” sticker on your fender except to say the last 3 1/2 years weren’t really your fault?
Every year, i get a pin indicating how long I’ve worked in the organization – 15 years! – which I wear at our annual conference, then put away or lose it. When I get a gallon pin from the Red Cross – 15 gallons – I tend to wear it for a day or two, then put it away or lose it.
I’d be disingenous, though, if I didn’t resonate with this quote from a recent cover story in Time magazine, The State of Patriotism by Peter Beinart: “But for liberals, patriotic devotion without political struggle is often empty. Liberals think lapel pins are fine if they inspire Americans to struggle to realize the nation’s promise. But they worry that those symbols can become–especially when wielded by people in power–substitutes for that struggle and thus emblems of hypocrisy and complacency.”
I’m loving my country, but I’m not wearing on my sleeve. Or my lapel.
ROG
I Might As Well Have Been Speaking Greek
Just about every year in mid-May, our family goes to the Greek festival at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Albany. This year we went on Saturday evening and in spite of the sometimes inclement weather, we had a pretty decent time. There’s lots of food and even more music and dancing. there was a point when I had no idea where my wife and daughter were, but I just hung out, knowing they had to cross a particular intersection eventually.
However, there was one incident that hangs in my mind. Lydia and I went into the playground area of the church, along with several other children and their parents. I noticed that one child of about eight whacked her head on a wooden crossbeam of the slide/climbing contraption. Immediately I went to see if she was okay. She was not – it looked as though she somehow didn’t even see the beam based on the force of the collision. She ran to her mother, wailing, and I followed; I figured if my child suddenly began crying I’D like to know why. Immediately her mother asked, “What happened – what happened – what happened?” I tried to explain to her what had taken place, but she apparently was suffering from hysterical deafness, for she couldn’t understand a single word I was saying. Her demeanor, though, had that “What did YOU do to my child?” feel. Fortunately, her friend was able to translate for me. Talking about shooting the messenger.
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Finally got through the Tony Awards; it takes a while when you watch int in 20-minute increments. Someone I know was complaining how unfamiliar he was with Broadway shows; I thought that was odd, since the nominees featured everything from the 39 Steps to Little Mermaid and Xanadu to Young Frankenstein. He specifically mentioned August: Osage County, Boeing-Boeing, Passing Strange and South Pacific. South Pacific? Really? It was only a major Rogers and Hammerstein collaboration, based on the James Michener book, made into a long-running musical as well as a movie. Something I didn’t know: the song You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught was, in 1949, quite controversial, considered to be contrary to American values because of the miscegenation it seemed to accept.
Here’s one of Fred Hembeck’s favorite singers performing it:
ROG
Tragically hip
I was playing my one Tragically Hip album for Canada Day – Tragically Hip being a Canadian band – when it hit me: there seems to be a number of Americans who seem to have ascribed to the dominion to the north powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal countries. They seem to think of Canada as just like the United States, only not on steroids. Yet – and it has been proven in poll after poll after poll – Americans don’t know jacksquat about about Canada.
Quick, Americans: how many provinces and territories are there in Canada?
OK, Canadians, how many states are there in the United States? OK, the flag design DOES make that a bit easy.
Americans: Who’s the current elected head of government in Canada? What do you call the elected head of the government in Canada?
Canadians: What do you call the…OK, Canadians, put down your hands.
Lessee. Americans: in terms of size, area not population, where does Canada rank in the world? Bonus question: where does the United States rank?
Canadians: Same questions.
Americans: Mame the two houses of the Canadian legislature.
Canadians: Name the two…oh, never mind.
Americans: Name the two largest cities in Canada, and the capital.
Canadians: Help me find fairer questions.
My point is that some Americans have seemed to have romanticized Canada with having any real sense of the place.
There is, however, one thing to be said for considering moving to Canada. when the global warming really hits – as though it hasn’t already? – and the maple stops flowing in New York and Vermont because it doesn’t get cold enough for long enough, I suspect the provinces at least will be quite temperate.
Top Baby Names in Canada vs. the US.
Background Note: Canada from the US State Department.
Don’t recall the source, but it suggested that when dealing with US Customs agents and they ask you how long you’ll be in Canada, answer as though you know, even if you don’t. Otherwise, you’ll appear suspicious. Siounds right.
This site notes that there are 13 states that border Canada; I had forgotten states whose international borders are actually in the middle of the Great Lakes (Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania).
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I’m not a big fan of Canadian-born singer Sarah McLachlan, but I love this scene from Toy Story 2:
And it’s equally affecting in Portuguese.
ROG