If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Jesse Wellens, the male half of YouTube's hottest prank channel, PrankvsPrank, joined What's Trending live via Google plus to talk about maintaining how they were one of the first to build out a prank based channel on YouTube and how that's impacted their relationship as a real life couple.
More and more brands are putting their biggest Super Bowl ads up on YouTube before the big game is even played. What's Trending has gone around and found all the hottest, must-see Super Bowl 47 commercials and put them all together in one massive compilation.
Many of us think of Thanksgiving as a day spent with family, eating a great meal and watching football. I believe that thinking needs to be changed! Thanksgiving should ignite a sense of gratitude for all that one has and also be a day of action.
In what can only be described as some serious junior high level cyber-bullying, Saskatchewan is being dissed all over the internet as Canada's ugliest province. To be completely accurate, the euphemism used is "least beautiful." It's not a big surprise. If you ask us what we love about Saskatchewan, we'll say "oh, it's the people" or, "I got a job and had to move here." We're no British Columbia with its mountains and rivers and trees. Prairie beauty is more subtle. Obviously, too subtle.
My son and I decided we would set up a for-profit Lemonade stand on Canada Day.. My little collector and I gave away the lemonade, for free! I explained that if someone gave us a five-dollar bill we would dive into the box and fish out $4.50 and return it to them. It was then the struggle began. My son asked me why we would give people our money.
There are many stereotypes about Canadians, some true and some not. Do we love hockey? Yes. Do we eat doughnuts? Yes, at the hockey arena. But we do have major cities (some really, really big ones, in fact). And we don't say "aboot," at least, I can't hear it.
I love the very philosophy that guides our society: peace, order and good government. Our constitution is wise to mention these principles as foundations of our way of life. Although the American motto of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" explicitly mentions freedom, it is in fact the Canadian incantation that provides for real liberty.
I belong in the city: sidewalks to keep my shoes clean, garbage receptacles every few steps, women spraying me with concoctions on Bloor Street -- the city needs me. Algonquin Park does not need me, in fact I feel like it'd rather I not be over. But I discovered my patriotism not in fireworks or beaver tails, but in a paddle. Out in the water with trees all around me, watching my paddle slice in and out of the water, I got why people do this.
Maskarm K. Haile has called the world her "open university." She has traveled the world fulfilling a childhood dream of discovering something "that is bigger than life itself." She experienced the world by traveling as a "couch-surfer." She has discovered that most foreign strangers are no different from the neighbours that are often found in her diverse and multicultural Montreal neighborhood.
It is precisely this welcoming, heterogeneous Canada that makes the contrast with elements of our past so stark. And as our nation's birthday approaches, it would perhaps do us some good to remember how recently our ideas about immigrants changed.
"Canadians are so nice!" Yes, yes we are. Keep thinking that world -- but that's not all we are. We are talented, and disciplined and personable, and easy-going and really, just good at life. I love Canada and it's super nice people because while non-Canadians are thinking, "Isn't that cute how she says aboot and pardon me," we are busy getting exactly what we want.
There isn't much room for lazy in our hazy summer days, but we love them nonetheless. Enjoy every minute of this month with these savvy suggestions on how to make the most of July. From books to read, crafts to make and well-being challenges to take, he's a comprehensive list of my July favourites.
Canada is a funny place, and I mean "funny - ha ha." We may not love to laugh any more than anyone else, but I think we may laugh more. Canadians are funny and they like funny. It's how we see ourselves and how others see us. To the U.S., Canadians were either hockey players or funny guys. Eventually, Americans and Europeans played hockey, but Canadians remain the comedy Kings and Queens.
Like Canada? For sure. Appreciate Canada? Definitely. But it should not be in our nature -- it certainly isn't in mine -- to love this country. In fact, loving Canada goes against the proprietary level-headedness that makes us so great.
I am a Canadian Muslim woman and have had the privilege of calling Canada my home since 1984. I strongly believe that as a Muslim I have every right to question my faith, to arrive at my own unique understanding of it, and to practice it according to my very own sensibilities as a unique human being. For that I am grateful to my adoptive country, Canada.
As we approach Canada Day, Stephen Harper is once again reaching out to Quebec and consulting with Premier Jean Charest and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. With the potential resurgence of separatist parties in the next provincial election, this is none too soon. Whether or not he follows their advice and whether or not he will be successful in expanding and building the Conservative brand in Quebec remains to be seen.
