Hello!!

My stuff keeps getting hacked. Fuck the Internet.

I Am Not One of Don Cherry’s Good Old Canadian Boys

I have nothing against Don Cherry’s good old Canadian boys, but they are not like me. Most of them grew up on farms in Northern Ontario or the prairies. Don Cherry’s good old Canadian boys like fighting and drinking. They have a strong sense of belonging to a group. They like the military and could have worked in construction. They are never Asian, Black or Latino. Don Cherry’s good old Canadian boys are probably pretty good people, and I admire how they are good hockey players willing to dedicate themselves completely to the group, but they are not like me. I never liked Gilmour or Clark, my favourites are Kovalev and Subban, players who play with style and skills, rather than grit and determination. I think that Europeans have a lot of qualities that are worth emulating and we should look towards them for guidance, at least as much as we look at Americans. I don’t think that Russians lack heart or passion, or anything else for that matter. And the French are my cousins, even if they are arrogant, they are family. Don Cherry’s good old Canadian boys are rarely from Quebec, although I once spent some time with dairy farmers in Coaticook, Quebec. People there were fatter than me, they wore “casquettes” at the rinks, they ate poutine and played hockey. I think Don Cherry would have liked them, they were simple people, good people, but they were different from me. As a kid, I wanted to play hockey. I was a Canadian boy, but I wasn’t good. I didn’t like to wake up early to go to games and practices. The game bored me very quickly and I didn’t like to put on so much equipment to play a few minutes per period. I didn’t feel comfortable in the arena. My parents were hippies and I think they were glad I didn’t like it. They also thought hockey was expensive and neither of them liked it. Don Cherry’s good old Canadian Boys’ parents will go to great lengths to help their kids play hockey, my parents paid for my university. Good old Canadian boys do not like downtown Montreal and Toronto. Places where people have holes in their skin from various piercings, they do not like the gay village and they do not like colourful turbans and funny accents. Most of my friends have funny accents and, in truth, I probably have one too. Good old Canadian boys work with their hands, and I work with my mind. I would rather outsmart or charm an enemy, than beat him to a pulp I do not think Don Cherry is a great Canadian, and I think he should stop talking about women, because when he does it, it’s bad for the country. I do not like Don Cherry. I don’t like how he thinks that violence is a means to an end. I don’t like his blind support for the troops, regardless of their use or actions. And I don’t like how he has become a hero to our nation, a nation that has become so engrossed in claiming it’s greatness, that it has forgotten how it has gotten there, and how to move forward toward progress. A nation that is so steeped in the comfort of home entertainment systems and backyard barbecues, that a clown can become a national hero. A nation who keeps voting for a government the objects to environmental law, a nation where the rights of some Canadians, are more important than those of others. I dislike Don Cherry, not for who he is, because I don’t know him personally, but for what he stands for, the unwillingness to change our habits and customs, both in hockey and in the nation that loves the game so much.

I have not hustled on this site for a while which is quite a shame. I will try to come back more often. I am now in Beijing where translate the bizarre world of Chinese state-owned enterprises into English. Lately I've been writing a poem for my company. I'll have to post that soon. For now, here are pictures of mountains around Beijing. This is Miaofeng Mountain.