Letter to the Editor

Letter

Photo Credit: Carlos Úbeda via Compfight cc


I picked up The Bulletin at the Grind Café on Main St. last weekend when I was there for my writers’ group. I found it a lively and engaging publication. So often we write and hear nothing back; I wanted to give a wave and a shout out.

To Masaki Watanabe: I was immediately drawn to your article “Let’s Respect Individuals. Generation Labels Like ‘Boomers’ are Meaningless” since I’m a so-called Boomer. I used to think it was kind of a cute designation but of late, I’m beginning to find it slightly ominous.

I too do not like the way we’re being carved up like a pie into Boomers, Millennials, Xers, Gen Ys, etc., and have wondered in whose interest has it been to do this – and also often to pit generation against generation? whose agenda does it serve?

And lately, most everybody against the Boomers as our demographic apparently threatens to “engulf” services.  Funny thing that. We’ve been required by law—and stiff penalties—to fill in the census since I can remember so the social planners have known the ‘wave’ was coming for decades and they say the census is to aid in planning.  So…..?  In the recent spate of scare-articles we rarely hear how we—the wave—built schools, rinks & community centres, care homes, hospitals, highways and infrastructure that everybody younger than us benefits from as well. And that we still pay taxes on our pensions.

So I thought your article was well said. Agree – there is “nothing more baka (idiotic) than lumping together one whole generation in a single word.”  That’s as discriminatory as anything else. Thanks for your article.


To John Endo Greenaway: I loved your piece “On Fathers.” It was very moving. You managed to say and convey so much feeling in such a short piece. I could relate given the relationship I had with my late father. Thank you for your emotional honesty.

To Terry Watada: I’m not Nikkei, but I think I share  about 11 or 12 of your 13 “signs you are” and they made me laugh. Must do something about that big bag of bags. And I have finally made myself toss out the soap bits because I found they become dangerous, escaping as they do from that mothership of pressed-together bits getting underfoot in the shower.  You left out the little bits of string. And the jars. I hope I manage to come across November’s issue so I can read your piece about dinner parties and look forward to a few guffaws I’m sure. 😉

To Lorene Oikawa: Your “President’s Message” column was interesting and I learned some more things about Japanese Canadians’ history in Canada; felt how important it is to relay the history to the younger generations of all ethnic background what occurred and what, without diligence, could occur again. We have shared fears about C-51, you and I, but from different vantage points and experiences; it’s always useful to get other views on shared concerns.

The whole publication is interesting and I doubt I ever would have been exposed to the articles—and their viewpoints—online even though I spend a lot of time online just because I likely might not have found my way to a website, so there is still a good place for print magazines. Getting a magazine together is so much work – congratulations to your editor and contributors for producing such a spirited publication.

Margo Lamont, Vancouver BC