Louisiana!

I was doing some research on Louisiana, because I was watching a show called "X-Men: Evolution." There's a character called Gambit and he's from Louisiana. I realised he had a French-like accent. What I found out on Louisiana was quite interesting to me. As we know, it's not exactly every day we meet someone who's French-American or French-Canadian. Most of French-Americans live in Louisiana, and I also found out that a certain amount of French-Canadian immigrants are settled in Louisiana. Not only that but there are many people from the Caribbean there who speak French as well. Louisiana is one of the few states that has French as a second language, so to speak. I'm really quite surprised by all this because I've never really given thought as to why the French even had control of Louisiana. Of course other cultures have mixed with the French, but I still find it amazing.

What's it like in Canada?

The most common question I get when people find out I'm Canadian is "What's Canada like?" I can't say what Canada is like. I've been a city person for my whole life. I have been to rural areas in Canada but mostly in urban. Urban life in Canada is fairly similar to life in New York. The only main difference is that in Montreal they speak French instead of English. Of course in other cities in Canada such as Toronto, the official language in English. I'm from Quebec where the official language is French. Like the United States, there people of many races. I can't speak for everyone in Canada, but the music listened to there is mostly American music, and occasionally music from France. I don't understand why people get shocked when they find out I'm Canadian. I assume that it's because you don't really meet a Canadian immigrant very often. It's been such a long time since I've been back to Canada, and although it's almost the same as new York, I still miss it very much. But of course New York has almost replaced Montreal from my heart.

Last semester I was in Film Making class with Ms. Mason, and we were watching a documentary called Bowling for Columbine. There's a part in the documentary that Michael Moore travels to Canadian cities and interviews people. Later on in the film he interviews people here from New York and asks fellow New Yorkers what they know about Canada. Some responses were that Canadians don't speak any language other than English. Among one of the responses that pestered me was that Canada was a safe place. To be honest, no place is really "safe" so long as guns and other weapons exists, so does crime. I don't really think Canada is "safer" than the U.S. When a New Yorker was asked "Why do you think Canada has such low crime?" he responded "Because America was exposed to more violence with out history and movies." I obviously disagree, Canadians watch American movies all the time, whether it's in English or translated into French. People seem to forget that Canada once belonged to France and England and no longer belong to them. Canada had the same problems as the U.S.

The sense of identity is hard to say now a days. If you're interracial, you don't know what to put first. When people ask me what I am, I usually say French-Canadian and Guatemalan. I don't like saying just Canadian. What I've been noticing all my life is that many people from different generations are beginning to be interracial. What I hope for the future is that racism could end, with all these interracial relationships happening.

Literature and the Real World

Around Friday I bought a new book titled Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The book is about how a meteor hits the moon, but things go wrong because scientists did not expect the meteor to knock it out of it's original orbit. Disasters throughout the world occur. While I was reading on Saturday, there was a storm in the evening. All I could hear was the wind rushing quickly and roaring. While in the book, the same exact thing was happening. Eventually I got to a part where the lights go out for some time. And guess what? The lights go out in my neighbourhood, too.

The book has affected how I see the world we live in now. I've heard that in some parts of the world, it always rains. There are so many experiences in the world that some New Yorkers haven't experienced. Some haven't even been out of New York. Personally, I've never been below southern Pennsylvania.

The book portrays what life would be like if there were a serious devastation. The characters have to appreciate every little thing they get such as sun light, bicycles, even dog food for some. While I was reading this book, I had Haiti in my mind. I know it's been long ago since the earthquake but it still gets to me. I think of what the people for Haiti are going through and compare them to the characters of Life As We Knew It.

Back In Our Day

Has your grandfather ever start his sentence with "back in my day...."? I'm pretty sure most of us have. Most of us don't think about it like this but we're living through history. First "black" president to get elected, first woman to run for president, Iraqi War, and tons of more current events. It doesn't seem like history for us because we're living through it.

But what about our grandparents? Did they ever feel they were living through history? I was speaking to my grandfather in Guatemala the other day, and like most grandparents, he started with "when I was a little boy." Normally I'd fall asleep, but my grandfather was living through the time what is now known as "The Crisis in Guatemala." My grandparents live near the capital where most of the fighting took place. I asked him if he ever thought deeply into it. He said It was on the news a lot but he didn't seem to care much. Now a days I'm sure most of us don't take the things around us into consideration, things seem like they haven't really changed much in the youth. I always liked hearing my grandfather's stories about during World War 2 in Guatemala. He said he could here bombs in the distance and air-planes every day. I asked him how was that possible since I used to think only Spanish speaking Guatemalans lived there. It wasn't until that day that I found out I was part German. My great grandfather was from a German colony in Guatemala and that's where most of the fighting took place, between the German colony and the French Colony with the aid of America.

It's weird to think about what we New Yorkers have lived through. We never expected to live through 9/11. But now when we're a bunch of old people we'll be the ones saying "Back in my day." I remember how my parents used to tell me how they dressed and compare it to now. It's made me think of how I'm going to tell my offspring how I used to dress. These things don't come to mind commonly because it's just something we don't like to think about. We're getting old. All of us at some point we'll have a good story to tell at a family gathering or reunion.