Hans off that Island

CDs in Play: Miles Davis - On the Corner, John Lee Hooker - The Very Best Of.

Ooooh Canada...
Pardon my now hackneyed title, but there are things worth fighting for and there are fights worth walking away from. Some things are clearly too insignificant to matter - Hans Island is one of those things. Only 1.3 square kilometres, this barren, desolate, inhospitable slat of rock stuck between Canada and Greenland, Hans Island, is quickly (and unfortunately) becoming the symbol of Canada's fight for Arctic Sovereignty.
Like many Canadians, I grew up believing that the icy expanse around and above the 70th parallel was un questionably ours - all the maps we had in school said it was. It was inhospitable, untamed and you had to be born up there to really know how to survive up there, but it was ours. Then as I got older I learned that some other countries (like the USA) did not recognise that big hunk of the Arctic as Canada's. The Canadian government, which occasionally rumbled disapprovingly at US sub incursions in our waters up there, was the Arctic for the most part.
Even as global climate change threatened (and still does) to destroy the North's whole ecosystem, the Canadian government paid lip service to its well being and carried on ignoring it as usual. But then it seemed to have dawned on them - global warming means ice melting. Ice melting means the landscape will be "freed up". "Freed up" land in the north means it will be ripe for resource exploitation. Now Ottawa had a reason to give a damn about the North and asserting Canada's sovereignty over it. Polar bears, narwhals and belugas goodbye, there's minerals in them there hills.
So now we are in a pissing contest with Denmark over a tiny slat of rock that will probably be completely submerged effects of global warming continues to melt the ice and global sea levels rise. On the one hand, Canada can't be seen to be soft on a country that probably couldn't even sufficiently threaten it militarily. That would send a message to Washington that we really are as weak (if not weaker) as they assume us to be and they would start rolling all over the Arctic, confident that they there is nothing that Canada can or will do to impede them. On the other hand, we are squabbling over a mere stepping stone in the channel that separates Ellesmere Island from Greenland: it just seems a pointless exercise, especially in light of the assorted articles, websites, blogs and the flame wars that have sparked up online as a result.
My guess is that the average, intelligent Canadian, Greenlander and Dane just don't care all that much. Knee-jerk patriots and misguided politicians might want to contest ownership, but I fail to see how any reasonable person could think that their country will benefit from this dispute in anyway. Maybe follow the wisdom of Solomon and divide the island in half. Maybe declare it an international zone between Canada and Greenland. Or maybe just blow it up if it is that much of a bother. Like I said, it isn't like that slat of land is going to be around to exploit if the water levels rise.
For a balanced look at the history of the island I recommend checking out Wikipedia's entry. The photos of Hans Island sort of put things into perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Island

A Wandering Neurotic I

CD in Play: Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. The Zombies, The Singles Collection: A's & B's, 1964-1969.

There are a number of things that I despise, as anyone you knows me could tell you. There is one thing I think I despise more than anything else - moving. Since the age of eight, the same year my parents split, I have moved a total of 22 times. I am close to completing my 23rd move. There are people who have perhaps moved more, I am sure there are army brats and missionary kids who could top my number anytime.
Some of the moves we have made were absolutely pointless, like that time my Mom moved us across the street and then five months later moved us to Maple Ridge. A year after that we moved to Port Coquitlam and a year after that she got married again and we moved down the block. Two years after that I was asked to leave and moved to New Westminster, where I have lived now, off and on, for most of my adult life.
I have moving issues: moving causes me to become quite neurotic. I get antsy (because my dictionary is packed I can't even check the spelling of that word) and insecure when faced with having to pack up my stuff. I actually suffer from panic attacks at times that just grip me in a sort of blank anxiousness. There is no concrete fear or fear of consequence - just an outright fear of moving itself. On the bright side, I do know how to pack glassware securely.
I am moving to the city of Vancouver (albeit East Van) for the first time in my life. New neighborhood, new neighbours, (same old questions to answer though) new room to try and sleep in, new transit routes to learn, new sounds and lack of sounds (since I currently live next the rail line and Columbia Street) to get used to. I have used Vancouver to identify my general geographical location for decades. Despite being born there, I have always lived in the Lower Mainland ouside of the city. Now, however, I will actually be living there.
Still, this is not the end of my moving. Due to my continued state of unemployment I will have to look for work ouside of the area. I have been looking for work around BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. If nothing pans out in those provinces I will be looking at Ontario or Nova Scotia. There is also a little a matter of continuing my education so I can try and become an art teacher. I had hoped to get my BA in Art (my degree is currently in History) at UBC. However, in order to get my MFA I would have to look at moving out of BC. So continue to live in an unsettled state.
Anyhow, I am rambling and I really should stop procrastinating and get on with packing, etc.