Sandals and a Cultural Rant

It's only -minus 30 here, so folks go out in bare feet and sandals. I kid you not. That...spike heels and bolero jackets. No hats or mitts, natch. That's Calgary for you.

We were out for dinner on 17th Ave. this evening -- where a lot of young night lifers can be found -- and that's what we encountered. Twenty and thirty-somethings in barely any clothing or footwear. I loved it! What the hell, minus 30?! That's nothing. Actually, it feels warm, compared to the -minus 50 we have had all week. Pretty much ignoring it ourselves, we have carried on swimming, although I must admit frozen hair during the parking-lot slog is a bit much.

Nevermind. Here comes the rant, but if you are someone who confuses "culture" with "race", stop reading right now. Otherwise, here goes:

I have to vent a few words about a CBC radio program I heard last Friday. It was so outrageous I actually took notes -- just to be sure you would not think I was making this up. It featured a program called, "Boot Camp Moms -- Women Moving Forward" -- and it was about single, teenaged "moms" in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood of Toronto, which is a Jamaican neighbourhood. So, here we go with culture -- not race.

These immigrant mothers didn't vote because..."it's just politicians wanting money". This from teenagers on welfare$$$ in public housing. One of the leaders of this community said, "Until I started working with them, these girls were ignorant of their rights and entitlements. They didn't know about child care and other rights, so I had to educate them." Responsibilites? Forget about it.

I don't even need to tell you about my ears perking up. I grabbed a pen and notebook just in time to hear..."When my man beat me, I had to demand a woman policeman." Why do you stay with him? "Because he swept me off my feet and told me he would look after me, so that's why I put up with the beatings." The sweeping-off-of-the-feet part must have occured just before the sex part.

It goes on.

They have introduced a "Civic Engagement Course" to educate these teen mothers. But all to naught. "I'm gonna vote for whoever is black, period." Attention Obama shoppers! In fact, these teen mothers were the products of welfare, jail, children's aid or violence. And they seem to intend to keep it that way. Defiant to the end.

What about saying no to sex? What about setting boundaries? "I wanted a baby because the baby's the only person who won't leave me. And our men won't wear condoms. I feel loved when I have sex." These are teenagers, folks. But they are not taught boundaries as children. "We have learned helplessness. It's in our culture. We have no positive thoughts about ourselves."

There are those trying to introduce education, but the minute one of their men steps back into the picture, it all goes out the window. "If you get an education you step outside your group and you can't get back in," observed one expert. "In our community, we don't believe in grades. We take a collective and holistic approach. We don't want it to be about marks, we want it to be about learning." Yeah? Perfect. So how's that going to get you into Queen's or U of T??!!

A sad Canadian story.