Thursday, October 14:

Hi Folks. Several things: as you review for our final class next Tuesday, October 19 (thanks once more for your flexibility), I thought you might like to refer to the list of topics we generated in class last week:

• Charles:   the function of the artist—what’s it mean that Tuyen is an “avant-garde” sculptor of debris/detritus, whose aim is to “translate” her family’s history to “the City”?   (Also language: “speak English,” broken English, Rude-Boy English, Jackie’s ability to code-switch…)  And what about her magnum opus (opi?):  the lubaio & the book of longings?
• Will: Tuyen conflicted between accepting/rejecting their parents’ adoption of Canada (Richmond Hill, the mother’s letters, Ashley/Hue, etc.)
• Sara:  the complexities of the generational conflicts—kids who are “of Canada” yet distinctly identified (by Canada) by their ethnicity.  They’re left to themselves to figure out how to navigate these pressures (19-20).
• Marianne:  the purgatory that “second-generation” immigrants are in—how do you find an ID in a place that doesn’t offer you one?  How do you develop/create a “neo” identity?  (Is there something specific to TO that offers them the ability/circumstances to create a new identity?)
• Derek:   the “mad” Rasta & the Musician—how does this image of the “mad” artist function here?  (Is madness “weak”?)
• Sam:   the “Quy” interludes….”Innocence is important for a hero.  I’m not innocent” (288).  (Jackie: “innocence is dangerous”)
• Aaron:  what other function does Rainer serve besides a foil for Oku?
• Beverley:  Carla in Chapter 9—the suicides & the “weight” that Jamal bears.
• Kerry:  what is the difference between diversity and hybridity and how does this book make that distinction?
  

That doesn't exhaust the topics of interest in WWALF, obviously, but in addition to figuring out what else you want to say about, I hope you'll keep the above questions in mind. I also hope that, with the extra week, you'll all take the time to read the chapter from Eva Mackey that Charles will be discussing.

Finally: an example of the happy-smiley brand of Canadian diversity (showing that it's not only branches of the government who promote that anodyne approach to multiculturalism): http://www.caribbeanweek.ca/ .

Monday, October 4:

• And still more on Michaëlle Jean (Vancouver Observer)

Monday, September 27:

• Controversial GG Michaëlle Jean to leave office Monday (Repeating Islands)

Thursday, August 26:

• I've heard from one person already that the HSU bookstore has run out of Austin Clarke's The Meeting Point. Please let me know if you're counting on buying it there. Otherwise, consider ordering it--immediately--from ABEBooks.com or the Amazon Canada "Marketplace."
• Looking for my fabulous weblog? It's called "Working for the Yankee Dollar." You'll find there (among other things) a link to the paper that grew out of my research last year in Canada.
• And care to listen to a full 15-minute episode of "The Lord Caresser Show" (which I mention in my paper)? This one's from 1948: