Last week, I attended a screening of two short films by queer Algonquin College film school graduates. One of the movies was set in the nineties, a time before this director was born.
When she was asked about the choice of period, she mentioned how she liked the tactility of that pre-smartphone era. Similarly, a gen alpha family member wanted a boombox. They’re hardly alone in that generation to place this aura around the nineties.
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Took a day trip to Montreal last weekend. Despite going to this city every year or so for events or people, it had been a generation since I had acted the tourist.
It helped that I got to hang out with a pal and go for a 20km walk. I also finally tried both classic Montreal bagel spots: St-Viateur and Fairmont.
One thing that stood out on this trip is how the downtown appears to have started to build big again. The construction of high rises in the city seemed to stagnate after 1970, coinciding with the exile of businesses to Toronto.
While the arts thrived, it seemed dependent on assets from long-gone wealth. I’m glad things are changing.
The public’s support for same-sex marriage in Canada, according to a 2024 Ipsos poll, is at 65%. This is down from 75% three years earlier. Twenty years ago, marriage was the proxy issue for whether gay people had a place in society.
Today, trans people are in the crosshairs and the proxy issues include access to puberty blockers and athletics. In the UK, add to that washroom access. In the US, well, everything.
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This past week, I flew to Whitehorse, rented a car, and began a five-day Yukon road trip. This was in lieu of the NYC trip I cancelled.
This was one of my favourite adventures.
I arrived in Whitehorse on Sunday evening, flying in from Ottawa via Vancouver. As I flew over Kitwanga, I was now the furthest north I’d ever been in Canada.
As I disembarked my vehicle at the hotel, I shouted “hey Fae!” – it was my neighbour and pal from Ottawa walking along the sidewalk. They happened to be in the city at the same time for work, and we had scheduled dinner together. She was leaving the next day.
After dinner I stayed up late, so that I could see the midnight sun. I’d never been in a place without a night before.
In the fall, my friend and I bought tickets to go see Othello on Broadway, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. I had paid for a hotel room and everything.
Then Americans re-elected an unhinged serial rapist and con man to lead their country, one who had supported a violent failed coup against his country when he lost in 2020. Gone were the adults in the room of his first term to curtail his worst impulses.
He, empowered by a sycophantic Republican Party and media apparatus, slid the nation into the beginnings of authoritarianism. This new regime has now repeatedly threatened to annex Canada, is in the early stages of trying to annex Greenland, and is abducting people off the streets for writing critical op eds. Visiting Canadians have been detained in camps for weeks on end without explanation.
On top of all that is the treatment of trans people, a favourite punching bag of the right. The administration introduced edict after edict to purge trans people from society. Among them was a ban on issuing visas to trans foreigners. A Canadian musician had to cancel his US tour because of it. Trans Americans wishing to travel abroad for their part are also being targeted by the US government over their passports.
So, with everything going on, I have cancelled my vacation to the United States. I will spend those thousands of dollars in Canada instead. I’m not alone: 54% of Canadians no longer feel welcome in the United States, with 52% agreeing that it is no longer safe for all Canadians to visit the country.
I would love to go back one day, but it’s unlikely to be in the next four years.