Being Canadian - visit the ROM · Thursday October 25, 2007 by colin newell
I am Canadian. You have heard it before.
But what is a Canadian? And how do we differentiate ourselves from the other noble members of the North American community?
Well. It is in our art.
For one thing.
And if you live in Toronto, or can get to Toronto – make sure you visit the Royal Ontario Museum for Canada Collects .
Canada Collects – The treasures of a Nation celebrates the passion of Canadian collectors and their vision of a young Nation.
Assembling some of the most iconic historical Canadian artifacts in the country, Canada Collects is certain to strike a patriotic chord among many visitors.
From an early 1709 Hudson’s Bay Company map of the Hudson’s Bay and Straits, to the 1982 Proclamation of the Canadian Constitution Act, the exhibit touches on many aspects of the country’s political and social history. Other notable Canadian items include Lucy Maud Montgomery’s original manuscript for Anne of Green Gables (1905), Walter S. Allward’s powerful maquette, Justice (c. 1925-1930) for the Vimy Ridge Memorial, the first Canadian maple leaf flag (1965) and Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s birchbark canoe (c. 1968)
Having been on the Planet (and in Canada) for the duration I can attest to seeing the new Maple Leaf flying over my elementary school in 1965. I stood in a field at Beacon Hill Park in 1968 with my parents and sisters as Pierre Elliot Trudeau addressed a blossoming liberal nation.
Canada Collects runs until January 8, 2008. I will be there in June 2008 celebrating my Canadian heritage on the streets and in the cafes of Toronto – but this is not a reason for you not to attend!
For more details on the event, download this pdf
Too dangerous to fly - Too innocent to arrest 3 · Monday October 15, 2007 by colin newell
The U.S. government has angered Canada’s airlines with a proposal to order them to hand over personal information about passengers who take flights that go south over U.S. airspace en route to sunny destinations.
Although the planes wouldn’t take off from or land on American soil, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is proposing that Canadian carriers send passenger manifests up to 72 hours in advance of departures to popular winter escapes such as Mexico and the Caribbean.
Uhm. Uncle Sam? Get stuffed.
No, seriously. Get stuffed.
The U.S. does not have a right to our personal information and should not get any cooperation on this issue. It is as simple as that.
We already have a no-fly list that was largely cooked up by the current U.S. administration and swallowed in obsequious genuflection by a largely conservative Canadian government.
No. A thousand times no!
Our American brothers and sisters would be well served to get onside with us on this – as it is the case that many open-minded Americans now travel to a free Cuba via Canadian shores. Those brave souls would then be under the scrutiny of a hawkish and hegemonic bureaucracy.
Save us.
Media rant #1 - Macleans gets it wrong · Thursday October 11, 2007 by colin newell
I subscribe to Macleans magazine in Canada – more out of patriotic duty than anything else.
And in the last year or so, Macleans appears to have descended from the ranks of respectable magazine to rag status — at least in my eyes.
I did an interview a couple of weeks ago for Macleans – on the topic of Panama La Hacienda Esmeralda
For me, this is a largely good news story; North American market discovers a great coffee and is willing to pay handsomely for it — and I mean Handsomely! Result: Children get fed, hospital gets built, doctor comes to town, school is full… cue the lights.
The coffee itself is wonderful – often described as more tea-like than coffee like. It has sold via internet auction on a program called The Cup of Excellence. So I talked and talked about it to the Macleans writer pointing out the marvelous benefits to the community that grows this wonderful coffee.
One of my more salient points was how the coffee community, in Canada generally, is a familial like organization that breeds trust as opposed to deception – the writer asking me: “Is there any deception going on with this wonderfully expensive coffee?”
Huh? What? Deception? Heck no. It is a positive message with a positive outcome sister!
The community in Panama now has a medical clinic, a school and hope for the future.
Trust Macleans magazine to strip all this away and cheapen it — making it all about rich Canadians buying expensive coffee —read, us! A few quotes:
Toronto residents have long been accustomed to emptying their wallets for a gourmet meal or fine glass of wine. But is Canada’s most expensive city ready for the $15 cup of coffee? Matthew Lee thinks so. Lee, 29, recently opened Manic Coffee, a café on the bustling outskirts of Toronto’s Little Italy. To celebrate, on Oct. 19 he’ll begin offering up a limited amount of Esmeralda Special — a heady Panamanian brew that’s brought the coffee-drinking world to its knees.
Within the coffee community, Esmeralda backlash has begun. “It is out of control, in my opinion,” says Mark Prince of coffeegeek.com.
He suspects some retailers have been “less than crystal” about whether their coffee is auction-lot or not
Prince himself bought three half-pound bags he believed to be auction-lot Esmeralda, only to find he’d been duped. The Story
Huh? This is about us now is it?
No. It is about the farmers and their families… their children – or it should be.
Yes. I know what you are thinking. This is sour-grapes on my part from not being included in this piece.
Maybe in part. The Panama La Hacienda Esmerelda is a good news message and Macleans has missed the point entirely and made it laugh worthy.
Nice work?
Not.
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Save the World buy a cosy · Tuesday October 9, 2007 by colin newell
Ever notice that while you are driving hundreds of miles from civilization that there is coffee detritus everywhere you go? I mean, why did I see a paper coffee cup wrapper out on a rural highway miles from anywhere?
Fact is, people pitch waste from their cars because they are lazy and need a great big wake up call. Hello – the World around you is not your personal dumping ground – that is what your house or apartment is for.
Here is the solution – invest a few coins in a re-usable and environmentally friendly coffee cozy cup wrapper.
Stop with the pollution. Stop with the corporate shill. Do the planet a favor and buy one of my friends hand knitted coffee cozies.
Please.
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