What does it mean to be from where you're from?

I've recently started listening to Definitely Not The Opera via podcast. This week's was all about Detroit/Windsor. Marty Gervais, a columnist for the Windsor Star, said what I've never been able to articulate about what it means to be from southeast Michigan or southern Ontario. You like going to the other side, you even consider it part of your town, but at the end of the day, you go home and you're proud to be what you are, either American or Canadian.

I remember having a lot of puzzling moments when we moved to Virginia, and I'm sure they were even more puzzling for the people on the other end. Like the time I tried to pay my fee for art class with a mix of US and Canadian money (it was $12.50 or something like that and the only quarters I had were Canadian, perfectly acceptable in Michigan). Or when my mom would drive us to school and there wouldn't be anyone there because an inch of snow had shut down the whole school system. It still feels natural for me to root for the Canadian hockey team in the Olympics, and I like the CFL and understand the rules.

There's a perception in Canada that increased "security" as customs checkpoints is designed to keep everyone out, and it doesn't seem all that crazy. There was a time when you could pass through customs, joke with the guard whether they were American or Canadian, and move on through. Now you sit in line and they can search your vehicle. "Times are different." And times are different. Canada seems more foreign every day, and at the same time, seems to disappear. When I was in elementary school, I started to learn French from the backs of baseball and hockey cards. You can't do that anymore. Most TV in Canada is American. Music is American. Movies are American. Stores are American.

And at the same time, individuality has never been this big. I have this blog, which by rights no one in the world should care about, and it doesn't matter whether anyone does. This is MINE. Someone hosts it for me, I just have to design it and post. Selling a million albums is far harder than it used to be. This individuality - homogeneity thing is blowing my mind. I'm done here, and I don't think I addressed the topic.