I got a letter in my email today, from an old friend of mine who lives down in New Orleans. It was a response to an email I'd forwarded out, "An Appology to Americans" written by Rick Mercer, a very funny, satirical Canadian comic. It was followed with slogans written on protest signs at a big peace rally held in Washington DC. One of my friends got very angry about the email, despite despising Bush and the stupidity of the US position on Iraq, but he was offended by Canadian's mocking the US. When I first opened Adam's email, I thought that the length of it suggested he was about to tear my head off, too. Afterall, when we first started talking, his idea of US politics was to wrap himself in the Confederate flag and dance like a monkey. Time caused him to open his eyes, though, and his world view broadened greatly. Now, I present his letter to me. Thank you, Adam, it blew me away.

well, as a native Louisianian, i can tell you that i usually care less about
national politics and more about when crawfish are in season (which they are
right now, and i would send you some if they werent such a perishable item).
i dont think we should bomb iraq. his father had his chance to dethrone
saddam and passed it right up. everybody thinks it's about disarming iraq
but it's always been about oil. the gas is one problem, and i can tell you
that i'm sick of paying a dollar and a half for the watered down stuff. we
have the technology for hybrid electric or hydrogen powered cars and you
know why we dont have them yet - because too many people would lose money.
the other problem is how to stop people from driving airplanes into tall
buildings, and i dont really have a straight answer for that one. and a lot
of people in this country who dont live in new york or california or any
other high profile state think that this shit can't and won't happen to
them, which is pretty dangerous thinking - timothy mcveigh did it in
Oklahoma, of all places.

and let's not even mention health care. i used to install computer
networks, and a lot of our clients were dentists. there was a piece of
paper posted by the front desk of one office that had a picture of the CEO
of a major HMO, and his salary (well over 17 million dollars/year) was
printed below his picture. it basically told customers that if they were
unhappy about the price of dental insurance, that they should remember that
guy and how much he makes, and that's the problem right there. health
insurance for the department store where i work is extremely expensive, and
that's just for you. dont even bring your family into it. i figure it
would be almost 40-50% of my check *every week*. but then if you dont have
it, a visit to the doctor will run you from $90-120. it almost makes you
sick ;) but you have average working people who can barely afford health
and dental insurance, and the guy who works for the HMO making a ridiculous
amount of money off of it.

i think we have a lot of things to fix in this country before we go meddling
in other countries' affairs. i myself could give a shit if n. korea wants
to play with nuclear power. it doesnt matter if you think they're crazy or
not, i find it hard to believe that they dont know it's impossible to "win"
an all out nuclear war. we should stop being the world police.

you know as well as i do how much things are screwed up in this country, and
although i bet canada has its share of greedy politicians, i think that i
want to move there some day, but only if i can get a steady supply of spicy
food and beer and seafood and live music. that is all that we know down
here and that's all that i care about.

I went home for a few days and therefore fell off the planet, again. Oops. Anyway, I had a great time chez Mom. I made her watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was on television, and, despite her protests at the start, I believe she thoroughly enjoyed it. What's not to enjoy? Some of the all-time classic movie moments are in that flick. On Sunday, she and I had an adventure when we went to see the Belleville Symphony. Neither of us had been to Belleville before, and we were both impressed with the quality of the orchestra and two out of the three soloists. Names escape me and I don't have a programme to relate to so you're out of luck. Suffice it to say, the soprano was truly excellent and the pianist, an 18 year old from Belleville, Elain Tam, I think her name is, was very talented.

Everyone we met in Belleville was incredibly nice. Talking to strangers in that town (it doesn't quite make a city at under fifty-thousand) seems to be a common and even welcome occurence. We decided to stop at the New Kilick's Family Restaurant off Highway 7 and were pleasantly surprised by the home-goodness and sheer tastiness of this unassuming roadside restaurant's food. Down-home goodness and the owners were very pleasant. Sunday was a mighty enjoyable day, full of surprises and beautiful scenery.

Willi ignored me almost the entire time I was in the Petes. I wonder if she even notices that I'm not there. Chester, on the other hand, lets me ruffle him up and do all sorts of undignified things to him that he won't even let my mother consider. Melody, now 15 years old, is a constant hassel when it comes to grooming. She's losing some of her winter coat and the static is reeking havoc on her long, fluffy fur. This means she gets combed nearly every day, if only to keep a handle on the mattes that develop along her hips. Poor hair creature. Anyway, I've left Willi with Mom since I'll be in Guelph this weekend and then I'll be back to the Petes on Thursday night for wedding excitement. Woo !

I have to get doing with two sets of thank you cards. One for Adam's NDP campaign and one for Al and Carrie. I had an idea for the latter, but I think that I've changed my mind. I don't know, I'll have to talk to them about it. I have yet to do the commission for Tony, which I've been putting off for two weeks, and I owe one to Rick, too. Speaking of Rick, we'll be celebrating our three-year anniversary, if you can believe that, a few days after the wedding. I still haven't gotten anything together for his gift. Not having been paid (still) for Adam's stuff has really been cutting into my finances. I'll figure something out.

Anyway, I think I'll just take a few words to pay a little honour to Mr. Fred Rogers. I have a lot to thank him for. When I was a child, way back when I was still living in New York, it was his television show that I think I loved the most. Sesame Street and The Magic Garden (a local New York show that you might not have ever heard of) were good, and I liked them, too, but Mr Rogers' Neighborhood I adored. I used to run up to the TV and kiss the trolly goodbye when it drove off the screen at the end of the show. I have a vivid memory of my mother windexing the screen to clean off my icky lip marks. Thank you, Fred Rogers, for teaching me about emotions, equality, caring, friendship, honesty, and imagination. You will be missed by millions.