#i want to talk about the construction of Canadian national identity; about Canadian Multiculturism and how it’s still quite hegemonic

[strohller27]

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#i need to be honest with myself too #it is damn scary leaving the security of my job and the house I’m in right now to try to make it living in Canada #but I have all of the credits I need for my master’s degree #so not only do I feel like I’ve worn out my welcome in the linguistics department here #I’ve started feeling kind of isolated from literally everything #i don’t know who to turn to for help because everybody’s already so busy #i don’t know what to do while I’m waiting around to apply to study at McGill university #i want to write an article and get it published because maybe that will set me apart from all the other people who are going to apply #but I don’t know what to write about. i don’t feel like anyone gives a flying fuck about Canadian dialects of English except me #what could I say about them that would get people to care?? #i want to talk about the construction of Canadian national identity; about Canadian Multiculturism and how it’s still quite hegemonic #why is so much of a national identity tied up to place? is that really what gives a group its identity? #I feel like places help to anchor shared experiences across time but do they really give a group their identity? #but why is that important? i don’t know!? why do I have to justify my entire existence?? #if I want funding for my research I have to prove to someone that what I have to say matters. what if it’s not that deep? #what if doing this research helps me to follow a dream I have? a dream that the american dream could never promise me? #what if I dream of living in a place where I don’t have to worry about giant medical bills? #what if I dream of living in a place where I don’t have to drive for 40 minutes to get to an ice rink? #what if I dream of being able to go to the beach and eat seafood that doesn’t cost 10000 dollars?? #what if I want to listen to bagpipes without being reminded of the redneck-ass piper who threatened to kill me because I’m queer? #or the old guys in the pipe band who basically sexually assaulted me? #what if I want to live in a place where I have room to spread out and not in someone’s storage room?? #what if I’m tired of being stuck in the same ‘safe’ place for as long as I have been?? ​what if I want my life to begin already????? #why should I have to justify that? just please let me out of here. let me see the world. let me live. #let me move on