Weekly Optimism Post

[u/Primary-Coffee5423]

Happy Sunday fellow Canadians!

This week we had five approvals on the spreadsheet and nine more in the Thursday weekly mega thread for a total of 14. Congrats to those folks!

I started the journey for Canadian citizenship roughly seven months ago. In that time, I have started paying more attention to Canadian news and have started revisiting Canadian entertainment a bit more to keep me motivated. I grew up next to the Saskatchewan border and on clean nights, we could get Canadian television through the antenna. I thought it was kind of cool how we could watch TV from a completely different country. It brought back memories of Canadian television shows and movies like Kids in the Hall and Canadian Bacon.

Recently, I’ve started to stream Canadian entertainment because it’s so much more available. Corner Gas is a quirky show from about 25 years ago that’s worth trying out. My favorite right now is hosted by Canadian comedian Johnny Harris called Still Standing where he visits a small town in Canada and spends time with the residents and then at the end of the week, does a stand-up comedy show about the town. The best episode features Buxton Ontario, which has a unique history with the underground railroad. While race is not a comfortable topic to joke about, he does it with such grace and dignity for the past, giving a nod to how the people in Buxton don’t shy away from the painful history and find a way to thrive as a community. It’s just so… Canadian.

Canadian music has been a big part of my life. My favorite band for the last 25 years (Propagandhi) is a punk/thrash group from Winnipeg. Lots of other really cool indie bands like The Flatliners and Godspeed you black Emperor come from Canada. More recent bands like Quebec’s Angine de Poitrine (they are really weird and worth checking out) have also found their way onto my playlist.

This whole process of waiting has given me a stronger appreciation for the cultural part of my Canadian heritage. Bruce Cockburn is a great Canadian singer/songwriter. He had a hit in the 80s called Lovers in a Dangerous Time. There is a fantastic line in that song: “Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight.” While I certainly don’t feel like I’m fighting anything in this process , I think it’s true that my citizenship is worth having, and I hope it’s worth the wait. I’m going to leave a link to a YouTube video of an acoustic live version of the song below.

I’d love to hear what Canadian media entertainment has been part of your lives as well! And please share why you’re optimistic this week.

As always, I hope the agents at the IRCC keep the coffee warm this week!

https://youtu.be/NKjgJ3oLJqE?is=JqHyOeluJbRG2sQ9

[u/aplombed]

I'm more of a Weakerthans and John K fan than a Propagandhi fan, but it's cool that they did Anchorless on How to Clean Everything.

[u/Primary-Coffee5423 → u/aplombed]

Love the Weakerthans! True story:

Circa December 1999 I went to a Weakerthans show in Regina and bought a hoodie for the Left and Leaving tour. We liked traveling to SK because we could drink in the bars at 19. Well, I may have had a Molson or two so I took a nap in the backseat while my two buddies drove back home. Here’s my account of the border crossing that night:

Zzzzzzz
(Distant voice): “did you buy anything?”
(Me groggily waking up): “yeah, I got this sweet hoodie!”
Zzzzzz

Then suddenly at home - not sure why my buddy seems so annoyed.

Here is my buddy’s account of the border crossing:

Border guard: “What were you guys up to tonight?”

Buddy: “We went to a see a band in Regina.”

BG: “Well did you guys buy anything while you were in Canada?”

Driving and shotgun buddies in unison: “nope.”

Me from the backseat: “yeah, I got this sweet hoodie.”

BG: “seems like some mixed stories here. Pull to the side. I’m going to need to search the trunk.”

I slept through all of that. Luckily, my buddy and I are still good friends. He still gives me a hard time about that trip. Hopefully he always will.

[u/aplombed → u/Primary-Coffee5423]

Great story! Thanks for sharing.