Last night cyberpunk author William Gibson posted he had never before been delighted by the outcome of a hockey game. His sentiments no secret.
Last night, after all the tit-for-tat and others-anthem-booing, gloves off sparring, and plenty of remarkable athletic skill displayed, tied two-two on the ice, the championship on the line, the game (hockey, which for many Canadians the only game there is, even though not so for many other Canadians) had gone into sudden death overtime when a perfect pass from Mitch Marner gave Connor McDavid the opportunity to make a perfect shot guiding the puck (what the puck) into the upper right corner of the net. Game over. Oh Canada!
So Team Canada prevailed in the 4 nations face off, that final shot the puck deflating the raucous chants of "U S A" which had been rattling the TD Garden arena rafters in Boston.
I mention this because William Gibson is most often referred to online, on the "internet," as an "American-Canadian author" (his novel Count Zero my favourite), and sometimes just "American author," even though British Columbia has been his home for more than half a century, having left, one might say having fled the U.S., when quite young. And even though, again, his sentiments are no secret.
I do not know, however, how Gibson answers questions about where he is from.
I do know and understand that not all naturalized Canadians harbour the same sentiments about the country they left to emigrate to Canada. Homeland pride is common. But, for others, so are feelings of disdain or even animosity toward the country they left, which for many is the country they escaped, the country from which they fled.
I get and respect both perspectives.
I am not sure, but I suspect that there are more naturalized Canadians or otherwise dual-citizen Canadians, who can carry a U.S. passport, than those who have come here from any other country. I know quite few of them. Those who are more or less Viet-War era expats (remember, I am old, so my acquaintances tend to be old as well) tend to be emphatically Canadian, many embarrassed they are also Americans (a sentiment I fully get and very much sympathize with). But I know at least a couple, younger than me by at least a generation or two, who rather emphatically think of themselves as Americans who have acquired an additional citizenship. Probably easy to guess who I embrace as friends, who as acquaintances. (Clue: a distaste, if not scorn, for our neighbours, who lately are becoming not-so-neighbourly neighbours, is probably no secret.)
Like so many questions presented in this forum, there is no one rule fits all.
But for now Canadian hockey rules and it feels good to waive the Canadian flag. And I am very happy to say I am a Canadian . . . no matter where I am from.
