Bonhomme Carnaval, our new anti-hero

Dear Maclean's,

Imagine my shock when I woke up on Monday morning and heard of the scandalous controversy that has shaken all of Québec:  Québec is the most corrupt province in Canada! My first thought was not without a hint of sarcasm:  Thanks for the enlightenment Maclean's , I really need you to tell me how corrupt our politicians are.  Of course  politicians are corrupt, that is the nature of politics: where there is money at stake, corruption is sure to follow.  Nevertheless, you seem to assert that there is something in the the very nature of being Québecois that leads to corruption.  Isn't that a bit like affirming that because of this negative article,  Maclean's is a racist, xenophobic magazine?

In the end, it doesn't really interest me who deserves the title of Canada's most corrupt province.  All of them can win the gold medal in this category.  What fascinates me however, is your appropriation of a beloved symbol of the heartwarming joie de vivre of our wintery province in order to shock, outrage and therefore sell more magazines.  Is your intention to inform or is it to make a profit through sensational Quebec-bashing?



Notwithstanding the simplistic analysis evident in the  two articles that  just attempt to validate the condescending perception of the the Rest of Canada in relation to Québec, your cover attacks the integrity of our national folklore:  the Bonhomme Carnaval, symbol of our bonne humeur, our warmth, our difference.  You portray our lovable mascot as a bandit, an diabolical bad guy making off with the goods.

Can this be a new chapter in the never-ending epic of the battle between the forces of good and evil?  Between the pure and the corrupted, the hero and the villain?  Alas, one  question remains, who is whom in this story?

Bullet-proof

You are walking along a road,  you hear crunch crunch crunch, you look to your right, you see antlers, you see a majestic brown beast, you see a moose, you see two of them!  You are on your bike one day and you hear the familiar crunch crunch crunch, sure enough, its the buck and his partner.   You are driving along that same road, the windows down because your air-conditioning is broken and hey wind-cooling is more environmentally-friendly than air-conditioning anyway and you hear crunch crunch crunch and there again, on the side of the road, stands that buck.  This happens to you all summer, every couple of days.  You become attached to this animal, you admire his grandeur, his quiet nobility. You reflect: gee, am I ever privileged to witness this great creature, just being.  You think to yourself, I hope I never hear bang!

Autumn arrives, it's back to school, back to work but that's ok too, you love your work, you love your 45-minute drive at this time of year.  You drink your coffee, you listen to the radio, you contemplate the surroundings, you're in your bubble.  Then one day as you turn your attention from the red yellow orange trees to the vehicle you are approaching, you realize with growing nausea in the pit of your stomach that your woodland companion has been shot, killed, and tied to the hood of a car.  You become a  voyeur in spite of yourself, you are a hostage, you can't escape any more than the moose can.  Look away too long and you will crash.  You are complicit, you are a witness to the scene.

 And you know it's hunting season again.   You reason that you live in a rural region, it's to be expected, hunting is a hobby, a way of life, a means of subsistance, part of the cycle of nature.  And who are you to criticize, you carnivore, you meat-eater, you who enjoyed all those barbecues all summer long!   But it's that shameless display of that poor sacred creature, the macho arrogance of victory that you just can't digest.

My teacher, my friend

When one of my students  asks to be my friend on Facebook should I say yes, no, or do nothing?  Has friending acquaintences on Facebook become such a banal act that I allow anyone to view my private life?  Do I really want to know what my students eat for breakfast, drink on weekends or think about their photos?What about that word friend anyway?  Now there's a word that has evolved to mean anything from someone with whom you have a deep bond to a vague superficial online entity.

I am constantly grappling with these ethical issues surrounding the nature of the role of the teacher with regards to electronic media.  Should teachers be friends with their students, thereby blurring the lines between professional and private life?  Or, on the contrary, do teachers need to keep their professional distance from their students but in so doing, sacrifice a learning opportunity for both students and themselves?

Are you friends with your teachers?  Do you enjoy glimpsing into the non-professional lives of teachers?  Is it necessary for students to be friends with their  teachers or is mutual respect all that is required? Listen in on Q  for a discussion of issues related to teachers, students and Facebook.

It's Greek to me

Sometimes while I'm writing I must pause to think of the perfectly precise word for the occasion.  Sometimes it takes me half an hour just to come up with a title.  I savour le mot juste.  I adore my well-thumbed, falling apart, 25-year-old paperback thesaurus.  And all of this word obsession is for my mother tongue! 

But what happens when I must speak or write in French?  I yearn to be able to communicate as effectivley in French as certain panelists I listen to on Radio Canada or on Bazzo.tv.  The challenge is that once you are very comfortable in a second language it takes a lot of motivation to improve your vocabulary.  It's just so much easier to rely on the tried and true formula  (did you get that idiomatic but over-used expression?) to express ourselves.  If you are highly motivated to increase your word power, however, you will be rewarded with the satisfaction of accomplishment.

How about taking a vocabulary test at http://www.englishcorner.vacau.com/vocabulary/vocabulary.html
These activities quizz you on your mastery of the Acadmic Word List, a list of more than 500 words that every university student should master.

Is it art, social critique or crass commercialism?

Last week while I was driving my car to work I remembered that I can listen to CBC on my car radio from St-Fabien to Rimouski (only static from Trois-Pistoles to St-Fabien).  I happened to tune-in to an episode of Q and I was rivited.  The host and the guest panel were talking about a video by Eminem and Rihanna in which a torrid love affair escalates into domestic vioence. 

The discussion included many points of view: praise, critique, outrage, appreciation, cynicism, concern.  Although I know who the two hip-hop/pop stars are, I hadn't ever really listened to their music; however, I knew after listening to the discussion, I just had to watch the video for myself.  Before listening to the discussion, watch the video.  What are your first impressions?  Click on the link for the video and the debate.

       Q Debate: Domestic Violence and Entertainment