I just want to bang on a drum....

So I'm almost at the end of my summer work.

Now comes a period of unemployment, which I will hopefully use to finish that writing I've been meaning to, and then, after that, a job hunt.

I hate job hunting.
I have had many fun & frustrating jobs.

I have worked at coffee shops, a spa, a film production company, restaurants, the government, as a nanny, an English teacher for Japanese teenagers, for the Kidsafe project (a summer daycamp for underprivileged children), and....as a professional road line painter.

My only actual career skill would probably be the line painting. Before I got sick of working with misogynistic men and destroying the environment along the Sea-to-Sky highway for the 2010 Olympics, I had a lot of fun that summer driving a two ton truck, figuring out blueprints, and programming a line painting machine. Everytime I see lines on the road now, I notice mistakes and inconsistencies.

I'm in the middle of a mid-twenties existential crisis, if you haven't noticed. I'm not interested in any jobs I'm qualified to obtain, and I don't really like doing boring work 5 days a week from 9-5.

I told my parents, who do want me to return to Vancouver, that I will cave and return if they find me interesting work, such as at a film production company. I always felt that one day I would wake up and some career would just fall into my lap. I used to have aspirations of effecting positive change in the world or making films or writing stories....and now, a part of me just wants to take off, live in a beach hut somewhere, and forget about ever being career ambitious.

I'm giving myself one year, and if I don't make it......dum dum dum....then comes graduate school. But if anyone wants to make a break from North America with me, I can be swayed.

I was reading today about the the Columbian peasants place in the Cocaine industry in Duncan Green's "Faces of Latin America."

It discusses how, if it wasn't condemned by the American government, the coca plant would be an ideal export for an impoverished area. It is reliable, grows abundantly, and requires little maintenance. The chapter continued on to discuss the ineffective American war on drugs and it made an interesting comment about how if Cocaine was legalized, the Columbian peasants would suffer from Big Business intervention, and tariffs and taxes.

I am showing my Canadian bias here, but I just don't get the extent of the whole "war on drugs" thing going on in this country. Half of the job postings I see here state that they will check the criminal backgrounds of and drug test applicants/employees. It just seems Orwellian and invasive.

When I was working for the government, we would occasionally get phone calls from
US companies with Canadian branches who wanted to drug test their employees. I think it's invasive and characteristic of the police state America seems to be. Thankfully "Mandatory employee drug testing is illegal in Canada because it discriminates against drug-dependent candidates under human-rights laws because addiction is defined as a disability" (Find the article the quote is from here ). The focus in Canada seems to be treatment, rather than imprisonment. The article I quoted from discusses the new deal between construction employers and unions to drug test employees when there is a problem on-site. It is a dangerous precedent, although it may be overturned. However, the deal states that an employee will not be terminated, they just must get medical clearance and, if necessary, treatment.

Although I want to say, good luck with keeping construction workers! When I worked on the road crew, sometimes half my job was to keep the blowtorch away from the guys on heroin.

I remember once friends of mine were smoking up in an alleyway outside of a bar in Vancouver and they heard someone clear their throat behind them. They didn't turn around, so this guy cleared his throat, "A-hem!" a little more insistently. So, they turned around, and a police officer stood a few feet away. And he said, "guys, could you at least move down the block? This is a little embarrassing."

In contrast, if that had been in the US, especially since a couple of them were visible minorities, their lives could've been basically ruined. Due to recent changes in priorities in Washington State enforcement laws, that's not really the case anymore, but elsewhere it could be, especially due to mandatory sentencing laws. One of my favourite US laws is the one that says that students with criminal records can receive federal funding for school, save for any students with drug convictions.

It's not like I'm a huge drug advocate. I'm not, I don't think they're that great, and I think they can do more damage than good, I just don't see the point of ruining peoples' lives over something minor as drug use.

USA USA USA

Burrito Belly. Everything's more entertaining with an unflattering photo, non?

So. Everyone always asks how I like Seattle compared to Vancouver. And, of course, since, like most other nationalistic bastards out there, we Canadians are egocentric motherfuckers...so I get quite a few queries such as "Why would you want to live in that crazy country?"

Good question.

George Bush, Southern bible thumpers, and Neo-Nazis may have given this country a bad reputation, but, trust me, there are some redeeming qualities.

I think, if anything, social mores are more regional than national. I remember one time I was telling one of my (gay) friends how happy I was to live in an open-minded and liberal country, and he responded with "well, obviously you've never been to Fort McMurray, Alberta."

Alberta, which my Dad calls "the Texas of Canada," is where our shithead Prime Minister is from. Of course, the minority Conservative government didn't win any seats in Vancouver, Montreal, or Toronto. We have all the rural areas to thank for that. Here is an interesting article about the new Canadian Christian right from a couple of years ago, which discusses how it's a good thing that the Conservatives are a minority government: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061127/hedges.

Working for the government made me realize how many programs have been affected over the past 5-10 years due to funding issues. Due to the changes in leadership at the provincial and federal levels, many important social programs have been shelved. I used to scan through the directory of obsolete social programs just to see how many had been cut by our increasingly right wing government. Thankfully, universal healthcare isn't threatened. There were countless heartbreaking instances at my job where the Premier of BC would announce some new and innovative new program that would help under 100 people. For instance, one Wednesday Gordon Campbell announced a new program which would provide free visual aids to persons with disabilities. By Thursday, the program was at capacity; however, the government inspired false hope for months by distributing information to non-profits about the overwhelmed program.

I find it amusing when Americans discuss the problems with Canadian healthcare. There must be some right wing think-tanks disseminating a ton of information to Americans about the various problems and limitations with Universal Healthcare. True, there are occasionally long waiting times and people without the communication skills to advocate for themselves are occasionally overlooked. But I've read numerous studies which have proven that the same factions of society (minorities, the elderly, the poor, persons with mental illness, drug abusers, etc) that are not always given the best care in Canada due to communication and comprehension difficulties are generally the same groups that, in the US, have no health coverage whatsoever. Imperfect treatment is better than no treatment at all.


The close-minded Republican element is probably more dominant in American culture than in Canadian; I read an article the other day that discussed how when the Canadian show Degrassi Junior High aired an episode about abortion, U.S. Networks wouldn't allow it on the air. I do feel somewhat uncomfortable living in a country that doesn't allow gay men and lesbians to marry; the few gay weddings I've been to in Vancouver have almost made a romantic out of me.

I currently reside in a thankfully left-wing enclave, Seattle. As long as I avoid the people with "God Bless America" bumper stickers, I'm usually in good company. Although oppressive American foreign and domestic policy deservedly gives the country a bad rap internationally, I don't think anyone can totally dismiss the country which gave birth to so many subversive cultural and social movements. You know, oppression inspires activism, blah blah. Maybe our relatively permissive culture is partially to blame for the lack of Canadian national identity, but hey, I wouldn't trade it. I personally think nationalism is a little weird, anyways. What normal person champions their own government unconditionally? I have to admit, I cringed a little and put on dark glasses and a hoodie when the two year old I look after insisted on wearing a "I Love America" t-shirt her grandparents had sent her, because then I look like the idiot who picked it out for her to wear to the park. I feel nearly the same when she picks out a pink velour hoodie with "Little Princess" lettered in fake crystals across the back.

I moved here on an impulse to 1) be closer to my Yankee boyfriend and 2) for a change. I wasn't really doing anything particularly productive in Vancouver- I've always had the itchy feet and love an excuse for a new adventure.

I made the decision and found an apartment and job within the next week. I, personally, would've preferred to move to London or South America, but...I've always liked hanging out in Seattle, so here I am.

There are some things I really like about America. For one, drink prices- Happy hour is illegal in Canada. Prices in general are cheaper down here, but it does raise some concerns about the dangers of over-consumption, especially in relation to exploitative production practices. Trader Joes is simply amazing. My bias as a newly "old" person is evident here, but I love the 21+ drinking age since it changes the bar dynamic entirely. In Vancouver, especially at dance nights, the bars are overrun with teenagers. I'm not threatened by cute American Apparel-adorned teens, but I do lament that they have driven a lot of the people a bit older than me away from Vancouver nightlife. I've been sneaking into bars since before there were hipster dance nights, and when I was an underager I used to idolize all of the cool people who were ten years older than me. Now, it seems like anyone over 27 is considered passe. In contrast, in Seattle the median age is a lot older- at shows you frequently see people in their thirties and forties. Since I don't plan to be living the surburban dream in a decade, I like to see people who give me hope for my future.