Canadiana Archives - Thea van Diepen

How Canadian Literature Is Like Comfy Jeans (Lessons from #Theareads)

Thea van Diepen

Anyone who’s actually read a lot of Canadian literature is probably looking at me right now, going “Thea… are you… are you okay?” Canadian literary fiction has this tendency to be really depressing. I get that. This isn’t about that. :P Up here in the Great White North (and, yes, we got snow this week where I live. In May. Lucky us), we get a lot of American media. Movies, TV shows, books. Heck, we’re all about just as informed

Happy Canada Day!

Thea van Diepen

Today, Canadians all around the globe will be celebrating the birth of our country by looking at the calendar and saying “Huh, right, that’s today.” Outside of Canada, if we’re really patriotic (or homesick, more likely), we’ll host a party for their friends. These will consist mostly of maple leaf decor and thinking about all the things we miss about our wonderful country. In Canada, today is a statutory holiday, so most of us will be off work. And, as

The Canadian Battle Cry

Thea van Diepen

To all Canadians: Sorry, that was wrong. We don’t do battle cries. We are Canadian. But neither do we whimper in the night. We are Canadian, Ourselves, and no one else, Not second-rate copies of other countries Not a child built from leftovers Not an afterthought. We talk about ethnicity and culture, Not race or class. We talk about mosaics Not melting pots. We talk about “we” and “together” Not “me” and “alone”. We are Canadian: united in difference, polite