When did this happen?
When did Winter leave?
I never saw him slink away,
muttering under his breath but making
it clear he was still there.
Now Spring is here, bringing with her
the sweet songs of birds and the warmth
of the sun.
Well, she’s here to stay.

Yellow canaries.
Yellow canaries floating down.
Down down.
Singing as they twirl. Down down.

Swoosh! The wind flies through.

Up! Red robins.
Red robins bobbing. Up up.
Wings outstretched. Up up.
In the sky. To the ground.

Brown sparrows.
Tan, chestnut, coffee, chocolate –
sparrows.
Dancing. Dancing in the wind.

The leaves of this autumn tree alive.

How often have you been faced with this question? Where was it? When was it? Why? And what have you checked? What did you specify? How easy did you find putting a name to the parts of you or, for that matter, to the whole of you?

The 20th Anniversary Japanese Canadian Redress Conference was held this past September here in Vancouver, BC, with participants traveling to attend from all over Canada, as well as the United States. This conference stood out as a celebration of community.

On the Friday afternoon of this three-day-long event, I had the honour of co-facilitating a workshop geared towards youth. Titled Re(a)ddressed: I am (Japanese) Canadian, the aim of this workshop was to open a dialogue between Japanese Canadian youth surrounding the present and possible futures of identity and ethnicity in Canada. Very suited to these topics was the collaboration of award-winning Canadian independent animation filmmaker, writer and artist, Jeff Chiba Stearns.

If you’re close to a computer right now, please open up your internet browser (. . . and if you’re not close to a computer at the moment, then please remember to come back to the following websites later . . .). On YouTube, search for “Yellow Sticky Notes.” Take a couple of minutes to watch what unfolds before you. Next, through the CBC website, log on to http://citizen.nfb.ca/node/20831&dossier_nid=20498 and treat yourself to a viewing of “What Are You Anyways?” – another piece of short animation by Jeff Chiba Stearns. I guarantee that you’ll smile, laugh and be left with some pretty hard questions to ponder.

These two animations, in fact, served as the introduction to the Re(a)dressed youth workshop. With Jeff describing his experiences as a hapa boy growing up in Kelowna, BC, as well as the present motivations behind his work as an artist, workshop participants were given a very unique (but also representative) picture of what it means to be a 21st century Canadian youth of mixed race. Focusing his expression not only on youth within the Japanese Canadian community, Jeff’s questions and dynamic identity reach out to all those who are a fraction this and a fraction that. Jeff, it turns out, actually prefers thinking of halves as wholes. While many of us label ourselves half Japanese and half something else (or maybe even a quarter, or an eighth), Jeff considers each part of us to be a whole. “You’re not half this and half that,” he explains, “you’re two wholes.”

In the end, the majority of people who participated in this Re(a)ddressed workshop were slightly over the age of what is typically thought to be “youthful” (. . . although, as many of the  Calgary Kotobuki Society members told me, we all remain youths at heart). This, however, seemed to have absolutely no impact on the breadth of discussion or creativity expressed! In fact, the ideas raised around discrimination, connections to Japanese heritage and the future of the Japanese Canadian community (as well as ethnicity in Canada in general) were all the more enriching because of the wide range of ages.

And since the purpose of this activity was to get all participants involved—not only listening but expressing—everyone was a given a pad of colourful sticky notes on which to write/draw/scribble their responses to the different ideas raised throughout the workshop. Discussion centered around the themes of ethnic experiences in Canada, our own “Japanese-ness”, the future of the hapa identity, and the million-dollar “what are you anyways” question. By the end of our two hours together, almost everyone had accumulated a thick stack of stickies, covered in artwork! Each person then posted their stickies next to the sticky notes of others on a series of colourful boards. The final product was beautiful, a patchwork of colour! We had collected and shared a multitude of differences, as well as similarities—every individual’s unique identity.

Above all, this workshop reminded me of just how proud I sometimes feel when checking the “Other” box on a survey, tax return, or exam. Of course, the “If other, please specify…” part is a whole other story. But my occasional cultural metamorphism, I figure that I have and always will know who I am. Sometimes I just can’t find the appropriate words to express this.

What are you anyways?

The right to buy Lotto tickets (scratch and win BINGO tickets, finally!), the right to enter into a binding contract (for example, getting your very own cell phone), the right to purchase and consume alcohol (…hmm…), the right to purchase and consume tobacco (although the 2006-2007 Youth Smoking Survey revealed that 11% of Canadian youth in grades 10 to 12 already reported being smokers) . . .

Probably biggest and best of all, however, is every 19-year-old’s newly acquired right (drum roll, please) to acquire (another drum roll, please) their very own (and yet another drum roll, please) credit card.

That’s right, their very own VISA, Mastercard or American Express. Oh, and what wonders. What freedom. What flexibility. What FANTASTIC plastic. Suddenly shopping sprees are a cinch, online purchases become parent-free. Heck, you can even go to the local cornerstore and pay for a single slurpee on credit.

And the offers. Oh, the offers! Travel points, low interest, student specific, cash back, eco-friendly, fraud protection, store discounts. A credit card for every consumer, no matter what their wishes or needs.

And what about bad credit? Or no credit? Not to worry, because instant approval credit cards abound! For all first-time credit card users, Canada’s fourteen card-issuing financial institutions don’t have any previous credit histories to examine, but nevertheless eagerly issue sophisticated credit card packages with substantial limits.

One 19-year-old friend from Vancouver applied for a credit card on the day of her nineteenth birthday. Two weeks later it had already arrived in the mail. No questions asked.

In all seriousness: the alarming proliferation of credit cards across our nation, particularly amongst young adults, has increasingly pointed to our society’s consumer obsessions. CBC Marketplace reports that the number of VISAs and Mastercards in circulation in Canada in 2003 totaled 50.4 million, nearly half of which carried a balance. CBC news reports also indicate that Canadian credit card debt between 1997 and 2001 increased by 90%.

The very first credit card, the Diners Club, was released in the United States in 1950, with American Express following suite eight years later. Needless to say, this industry has undergone quite the evolution in the past five decades. Credit card delinquency has become a growing problem, as well as credit card fraud.

At the end of August 2008, a salesperson from a lower mainland IKEA store informed me that 36 credit cards had been confiscated for fraudulent use in the period of a single week. Today, even an individual’s own best efforts to protect their personal credit activity can be easily compromised by those with simple access to a sixteen digit number, expiry date and name.

That said, as a 19-year-old myself, and a recent inductee into the exclusive club of adulthood, I must admit to being in no way opposed to the responsible use of credit cards. I, too, recently obtained my first rectangle of fantastic plastic and, despite the initial trembling swipe, have come to greatly appreciate the freedom and flexibility that credit cards do offer us. The key words, I guess, are responsible use. Turning nineteen is quite a big deal after all.