So it is weird coming back. I opened my boxes with found all my old stuff. I wondered why I had wanted to keep a lot of it. I found things written in own handwriting but they are now meaningless (who is Keith and why do I have his phone number?).
Also, here I feel older. I keep getting called ma'am. In my absence did I become such a thing? I did not receive a memo, nor am I using it as a title on my bank statements. I usually use the title of Captain, I think that is way more fun than ma'am. Although I keep waiting for someone to ask me what I am a Captain of. At RACV (the BCAA of Victoria, Australia) I was using professor and got asked what I taught....
So since my return to my home and stolen land I have been to a number of cities and things look busy, dirty and on the move. There is more poverty here than Australia. Perhaps not more poverty, but a greater gap between rich and poor. The poverty on the streets of Welland, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria is confronting. People begging, sitting on the streets, ripped clothing, no teeth....
I met some people from Manchester, England on the Victoria - Vancouver ferry and they said they were thinking of migrating here but would not because of this gap between the haves and the have-nots. We discussed where to go. What magical land exists that deals with racism, poverty, violence, sexism, homophobia in a progressive way. We could not think of one. But I guess that is the point of being an activist, to create that land.
