Oh Canada!

So Kris and I went to a hockey game on Tuesday. The printing company that prints his magazine has a box so we got free food and drinks (I had a whole can of gingerale...it WAS Tuesday night). Plus, we didn't have to sit with the plebes. It was suprisingly fun though a little bizarre and I'll tell you why.
I just finished writing the chapter in my research essay on theories of ethnicity and ethnic conflict. There is a popular argument that ethnic/national identity is formed and maintained through a collective emotional attachment to various myths and symbols. These myths and symbols (flags, folksongs, poems, wars etc...) and the emotion attached to them are passed down and modernized by each consecutive generation. For example, Serbs fought a huge battle against the Turks in the area that is now Kosovo over 600 years ago in 1389. The battle is now commemorated every year on June 28th and is seen as the defeat of the first Serbian empire even though it lasted almost 100 years longer. This battle, and Kosovo itself has become this intense national symbol for Serbia in the last couple of centuries which is part of the reason why the conlfict there is so intractable.
Anyway, on to the point of this. I have struggled with defining what it is to be Canadian for almost my entire university career (which is getting a little long I might add). I used to be content in the assertion that part of what it means to be Canadian is that we have no specific identity - that there is not uniformity. But now I think that's bullshit. We have our myths and symbols and stories. It was so obvious to me in a packed hockey arena surrounded by people drinking Tim Horton's. It may seem ridiculous, but those ARE national symbols.
I have realized since the hockey game that we are lucky. We are at the beginning of Canada. We are shaping what generations hundreds of years from now will hold dear to their national hearts. We have to remember that Canadian citizenship has only been in existence for 60 years and we are making the history that will be commemorated. That's awesome and we should take pride in our task.

So for anyone who felt ashamed to be Canadian when our soldiers tortured the Somalian teenager but felt proud when Jean Chretien explicitly linked the 9/11 attacks to Western policy, I want you to help me define this country. Tell me why you are Canadian and, if you can remember, when you first felt it.

день его смерти (dyen yevo smertii)

"Day of his death"
Happy anniversary to St. Cyril.
On this day 1,138 years ago the man credited with developing the Glogolithic alphabet (which eventually became the Cyrillic alphabet used to Christianize those Slavic heathens) died of who knows what.

Also, Happy Valentine's day and congratulations on whatever he did.

This is directly related to prediction #2.

Predictions

1) Peter will be the key to defeating Sylar.

2) I will be a nerd for the rest of my life.

Another reason to move to the burbs

Kris and I have experienced the honour of having Ottawa's first murder of the year committed at the end of our block. While random downtown stabbings are a start, click here to eradicate humanity in its entirety - in a much less personal way.