déjà vu

tv sucks thine eyes to screen.

seasons built from minutes before and after. between.

our nation now

a play-by-play

vestment.

we ingest, regurgitate

what we are told to imitate

and some people face a portrait wishing

we were more american. no

programmed strong and free

instead

continental homogeneity

bakes their status mean

into our canada.

Often, I am reminded of how our country shares cultural touchstones with the US. In my view, a large part of this phenomenon is due to our consumption of American entertainment: tv, music, movies, social media, etc. When I was a child, it was not cool to be Canadian, all the hot personalities and values were American. I fell victim to this train of thought, and it was only until I became more mature that I began to see the wonders of my own identity.

I agree that a fair bit of Canadian television does not have the same production quality as shows from our neighbors, but in my view, the only way to solve this quandary is to fund and produce as much Canadian content as possible. We have a nation full of amazing stories to tell, a nation full of voices. Let us spend more time listening to ourselves.

Joshua Wiebe