PRgal

We're boycotting anything American up here. Supporting indies and local chains are okay if you HAVE to do anything.

Son's teacher forgot to include the upload section for this week's assignment, so we have to add it manually. And unlike a response section, it does NOT have a draft mode. Parental involvement "homework" in Grade 1 is crazy! I feel badly for kids whose parents have to work evenings and/or weekends. Nannies/grandparents often can't help much. Of course, at this level, this is more optional, but most kids do it!

Interesting. I know that Montreal's old BASEBALL team moved to the DC area, but I can't find anything on Google about hockey. The two Canadian teams I know of that moved to the US were Winnipeg (but they have since regained a team) when they moved to Phoenix and Quebec when they moved to Colorado.

@Kemper I don't think the Caps have ever been in Canada? Not according to Wikipedia, anyway. Or do you mean your family?

This is why some people always feel like they need to justify themselves. Over explain. It can get quite toxic, TBH. I do it a lot and my brain hurts. HAHAHAHA! Could also try to blast Nickelback (or Bieber) on loop in their dressing room. Or is that too cruel?

Speaking of offensive terminology, I wonder what happens if one's NAME (either legal or stage/pen name) sounds offensive in another language. Let's say "gaga" is a bad word in a language (hey, it could be). Does that mean Lady Gaga has to perform as Lady G@g@? Or Lady G**a?

I got my mail in ballot for the upcoming Ontario election! Filling it in today and dropping it off tomorrow. The election is next Thursday.

This reminds me of a more recent situation where a professor was accused of saying the "n" word but in reality was saying the word for "that" in Mandarin. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/us/usc-chinese-professor-racism-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

It's more for people who ONLY speak Cantonese to keep in mind, usually an older population. And/or people who are aware of this. Many older generation Cantonese speakers live in isolated communities and don't even know what they're saying may be hurtful to outside communities (or people who have connections to outside communities). This includes their children and grandchildren. I can tell you that in Toronto, there are communities that can get away with never having to speak (and to an extent, hear) any English for weeks at a time. If you're an 85 year old non-English speaking granny and unaware that your grandchild is dating a Black person, you better watch out!

I don't know why I thought it was the Raptors. My bad! I just remembered reading about it. How big is the East Asian population in Sacramento? ETA: never mind, I just looked it up. It's like 20%, with ethnic Chinese making a significant portion.

But that's different from Lunar New Year. Monkey images were plastered all over the city around that time (that year) with Happy Lunar (or Chinese) New Year in English and Chinese (well, mostly Chinese, but also in other languages too. Though other languages were more often used within cultural neighbourhoods). So yeah, you didn't even have to Google.

Because they shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. It WAS the Lunar New Year season. This happened in Toronto where there's a significant Chinese/East Asian population and many are Raptors fans. They just wanted to celebrate with the city. This is a city where mainstream stores will have Lunar New Year specials. For example, Purdy's Chocolatiers (from Vancouver, where there is ALSO a large demographic of East Asian communities) sells chocolate in Lunar New Year themed containers (I get them each year). There's nothing DIFFERENT about these chocolates though. They also sell chocolates coins (that look like loonies, or the Canadian $1 coin). Same ones are used for gelt around for Chanukkah and I've seen it used for St. Patrick's Day too. I call it "ethnic chocolate." hahaha. Department stores will also advertise for Lunar New Year. All seem to focus on the Chinese community more than other ethnicities that celebrate at that time, probably because that's their main clientele (and population). Another interesting note: In Cantonese, children are colloquially referred to as "monkeys." It's not as bad as "spawn" in English.

What's a "Hollywood liberal" besides being involved in the film industry? How is that different from a non-film liberal?

@bluegirl147 TwoP kicked me off a million years ago for not being PC enough. The boy issue reminds me of a situation years back involving some NBA team members getting upset at monkey figurines (stuffies?) being given out to attendees. The reason why they were handed out was because it was Lunar New Year and it was the Year of the Monkey. It had zilch to do with race (which is a good reminder for people to do their research. This happened in the last few years (the last time it was the Year of the Monkey) so the internet existed).

Unfortunately, many ARE. And I'm really tired of people apologizing for things that don't really need to be apologized for OR for telling me or people from my community to "decolonize" our minds. Some have gone as far suggesting that I use my Chinese name (i.e. my official, legal middle name) rather than my first (Anglo). I NEVER use it. My PARENTS don't use it. They call me "Ah Nui" ("Daughter") when they're talking about me (my son is "Ah Bee" (Baby/Little One)). My uncle on my dad's side calls my dad "Ah Goh" (Older Brother) though one of his sisters is usually referred to by her given (English) name (or Gah Jeh (older sister)...not as often since she's the second kid (said uncle is #3)). The youngest sister is Mui Mui (Younger/Little Sister). Then many ALSO expect me to know who is whom to which family member. I DON'T KNOW! Heck, fluent/native Chinese speakers get confused too!!! It can get REALLY TOXIC.

The teacher specifically wrote that with all the snow we've had over the weekend, it was the perfect chance to make them (the alternative she posted was to make footprints and mark them with food colouring. We can't mark footprints with food colouring at a park. Plus many are smudged and it's a lot easier to lose count). A LOT of the kids' assignments are outdoor centric. I get that Grade 1 homework is supposed to be fun, but at least offer an indoor alternative upfront so we don't have to email you!

I had to email my son's teacher to get an alternate assignment for him. They're working on 100s in math right how and for the week, they're supposed to make 100 snowballs at home. We live in a condo. We don't have a backyard where we can make 100 snowballs. I get that we are probably the only family in a condo, but please offer indoor work in the winter! Some people are also not fans of being outdoors or are TIRED of being in the snow after having to spend more than an hour outdoors clearing the driveway! note: assignments are turned in virtually - students/parents upload photos of their work onto an app/portal for their teachers.

And since I've seen it happen in real life (as it's happened to me), the very fact that the Mexican guy (in the case of the video) isn't "allowed" to not be offended not being addressed in diversity discussions is, in itself, not inclusive and why many people have issues. It's funny how it was addressed on a show, yet rarely in real life.

@Yeah No I’ve also seen this kind of attitude from non-Whites (mostly non-immigrant Blacks but also a few Asians who aren’t immigrants or first gen (not too many exist around here)) too.

Goodness, I thought "worst cell phone story" would be something a phone falling into the toilet or down the elevator shaft!

This is a hilarious (somewhat exaggerated, but still kind of real) clip from a show called Little Italy, Los Angeles (I've never heard of it) that has been floating around social media. It's an example of what I've faced in diversity groups in the past. The overcorrection is real.

That's exactly what I'm doing. But you know how those extremists are...on both sides of the spectrum. I always try to remind people that avoiding doesn't make them 100% clean.

I always feel like I need to justify what I do. I think it stems from being questioned so much when I was younger, especially from immigrant relatives or international relatives who don't quite seem to understand me or find my Canadian/western ways offensive to my heritage.

THIS! I once heard a woman speak really loudly in my ancestral language. Since I speak enough of it myself, I contemplated interrupting her conversation by saying something really rude (or at least as rude as I can...I really don't know any swear words in Cantonese)!

I also can’t full on boycott because of investment I have/have for my son’s education fund. Not that people are checking my account or anything.