Hearing My Country Speak

The voice I am hearing come from this country is mature, intelligent, insightful, and one that is balanced by enough humour to make it wise. But it is not loud, and I think that's why I had a hard time hearing it in the past. Although it is present everywhere to those who are listening, it is often drowned out by the volume of outside media.

Since the last time I wrote a report on the media in my life I have made an addition. Despite never having had a television in my home as an adult, and not wanting my children to become seduced by it, I found myself two months ago allowing a small, rented, combination tv/vcr to take up space in our apartment. Ironically, it sits on top of the children's bookcase.

At first there was a binge, an orgy to compensate for the deprivation. But I see that it was a good decision to exclude television up to this point. My children seem to be able to discriminate now. I have tried to take some control by enforcing time limits, which have been adhered to mostly, but programs of value, and those without, have filtered into our lives.

I have an eleven year old son who likes to watch the evening news and more often than not he chooses Canadian coverage. I haven't watched television news in years and I see a distinct difference in the way Canada presents it. The sensationalistic approach found on most American networks is far less evident. C.B.C. radio has always seemed to me to have sane reportage with commentaries that are questioning and insightful, and its television coverage has many of the same qualities. It seems enough restraint is used in the visual element to keep it separate from the widespread trend toward tabloid journalism.

Apart from television I have been listening more to the voices of Canadian writers, and having become more involved with my own writing in the form of fiction and drama, it is to them that I turn for guidance and inspiration. I am excited by the elegance of our writers. I feel as if I've found a treasure, and it is astounding to me that I wasn't able to see it before. Just in my own part of Canada, in coastal British Columbia, I have found such inspiring neighbours as Alice Monroe, Jack Hodgins, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, John Gray, Frank Moher and Patrick Lane. The stories these writers tell reveal the heart of Canada. And in my media studies I am grateful to writers such as Marshall Soules, and a ferry ride away, Martin Laba and Steven Kline, among others, for making clearer the picture of our country's place in the world and for proposing thoughtful questions about where we are going within the technological race. As I listen to their voices I am seeing the beauty of what it means to be Canadian.

I think about electronic communication and how Canada can be heard on-line. Canada has always had a romance with technology and it has not always been a fulfilling one, but with our solid foundation in media theory perhaps this will be a happy marriage. Certainly, the voice on-line is rich and clear with a sensibility and artistic integrity that I have come to identify with this country.

I feel like people do at the beginning of a relationship. My heart is with Canada at this time. I love the sound of its voice. I see it as an island of sanity in our highly charged world. I am hoping that in time I may have something of value to offer, and that my voice can resonate with the one I am hearing now.