Several years ago, while on a theatre excursion to the Big Apple, the husband and I had the opportunity to take in a fantastic little musical called Avenue Q. (If you have never had the opportunity to see a play or more specifically a musical on Broadway, you absolutely MUST put this on your life list!! There is nothing like Broadway theatre and I speak to this having visited London's West Side and the best that Canada has to offer.) Avenue Q is a bit like Sesame Street on steroids. (It is coming to the Big Smoke this spring and summer, so if you can, you should purchase tickets with the understanding that it is definitely NOT for children!) The actors are also puppeteers with Muppet like creations dangling from their arms throughout the performance. There are Ernie and Bert like characters, and a series of friendly monsters that entertain and engage. Only, these characters discuss very adult problems and issues ranging from sex, partying and racism. One of the highlight numbers is a little ditty entitled "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist". The idea behind the song is that we all have pre-conceived notions based on ethnicity and race and once we all understand and embrace this fact, we probably can all learn to get along a bit better.
I like to think that I am a forward thinking, liberal and for the most part, socially tolerant individual. I find ethnic jokes abhorrent and I understand when one group or another is offended by some lack of sensitivity from the majority. We need to be vigilant in trying to understand each other's feelings when it comes to matters of race and we must remain on constant guard so that the bigoted yahoos of the world don't get a foothold. That said, when did PC stop describing a computer and become the be all and end all of our society. I am a proud Jewish Canadian (or Canadian Jew-I never really quite figured out which!) I am not a Semitic Canadian or a Hebraic Canadian. I am a Jew! My cleaning lady (yes she is here again, this being Tuesday!) describes herself as black. She is of Jamaican birth, so African Canadian doesn't quite fit. The men working in my house are proud to be Chinese. True, they are Asian, but isn't that a bit confusing given that Asian is used to describe anyone from that part of the world? Given the historical differences between China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Viet Nam etc, isn't it somewhat pompous of us westerners to lump the entire community together? Why wouldn't they all be proud to say where they are from. How would all of us proud Canadians like to be constantly called Americans? It fits given that we are all from the Americas, but I know that I need that little maple leaf difference understood. My country doesn't have the cowboy from Texas in charge, we have the cowboy from Alberta in charge! OY! Race has become so tricky an issue, that newspapers and news networks have taken to avoiding the discussion all together, for fear of being targeted. This week we saw the arrest, trial, conviction, sentencing and finally yesterday, the pardoning of a middle-aged British teacher who committed the crime of naming a teddy bear. While stupid and insensitive given who she was teaching and where in the world she was, I truly felt the world had gone mad for another moment in time. Political correctness taken to the nth degree. PC! Personal Computer. Polish Canadian. Putrid Cigarette. Progressive Conservative. (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) Pickled Chilies. President's Choice. (they make great stuff!) Personal Computer. All are politically correct!
We have made some remarkable progress in the last 24 hours. Cabinet Guy, (my new favourite human being) has been busy installing the cabinets and is here again bright and early. Reliable came early this morning with the final piece for the countertop, the butcher block. Man, is this guy strong. It is an enormous piece of wood that he and one skinny kid carried in together. Get this!!! As I returned from a quick outing yesterday afternoon, none other than.... wait for it..... Hunky was here is the wind, snow and sleet, COMPLETING MY DECK!!!!!! I think he got yelled at. Older Son has re-monikered him as "Raines". (as in Claude Raines the Invisible Man!) So thank you to all who sent in suggestions, but I think we will stick with Raines. He will have to return in the spring to sand and re-stain the wood, but at least we can now exit the house from the rear. I will get the husband to go outside later and take some pictures. (What? You think that I am going out there in this weather?) Check out the latest pictures in the second Kitchen Reno album. More will be added later. Less than a week before I bask in the sunshine. It will be a tight race to the finish. Chag Chanukah Sameach to all!!
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