:)

[sabotabby]

I have some critiques of multiculturalism as a national project, and in particular the façade of tolerance that passes for inclusiveness in this country and masks an ugly colonialist history and a white supremacist present.

But.

I saw some little girls wearing hijabs playing road hockey on the way home from school today, and is it just me getting sentimental in my old age, or is that not just the greatest thing ever?

Comments

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

The hockey players are awesome.

I'm, I've been reading 'cultural competency self-assessment'. I've been looking for the phrase 'settler society' within that document and haven't found it.

[sabotabby]

*glances at document*

Are you getting paid for reading it? Because that's the main reason I'd attempt to tackle a 90-page document that's that poorly typeset.

[jvmatucha.livejournal.com]

Hijab hockey = Yay! :D

[sabotabby]

Also, they were tiny, and the hockey-sticks looked grown-up-sized, making the whole thing an exercise in squee.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

The TDRRS (rugby referees) has a very sensible policy on faith related headwear. Find out, in as unobtrusive a way as possible, if it constitutes a safety risk (ie involves metal pins or the like). If not, no problem. If a safety risk, ask player/coach to modify until one is satisfied it is safe.

I like that kind of pragmatism vs for example, FIFA, being complete ass hats about hijabs.

[sabotabby]

Are FIFA asshats about Sikh turbans, too?

Yeah, the rugby rules are sensible. I like to think that my workshop rules are also sensible: No dangly things. It's easy to pin a hijab such that it doesn't get caught in any of the machines, just like it's easy to not wear anything around your neck and to tie back your hair if it's long.

[human-loser.livejournal.com]

Were they presided over by a kindly beaver clutching a maple leaf in his...talon?

[sabotabby]

I'm envisioning some sort of gryphon thing. Please tell me that this is not what you had in mind.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

//melts Awww.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

What of multiculturalism as a binational project? ;)

Squee, anyway!

[apperception.livejournal.com]

You may place three checks in your Multiculturalism Scorecard for today. One for seeing girls playing road hockey, another two for the fact that they were wearing hijabs.

And yes, if you had overheard them doing slam poetry, that would justify another three checks. Maybe next time.

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

this totally made me squee :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

It is a great thing indeed :D

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!!!!

On a related note I just heard that Belgium just banned Islamic head coverings, and Quebec is considering banning them from commercial shops? Fuckers.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

This is where my wish not to be me-and-my-stuff-o-centric collides with my abject terror of religion and the way it makes people do stuff ranging from uncomfortable to reprehensible, but I cannot squee along.

We never solve our problems, we just outgrow them

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I dunno any more who I'm paraphrasing (or possibly even quoting), but my subject-line is a concept I came across a long time ago and which, while over-simplifying reality like any aphorism, still strikes me as containing more than a nugget or two of truth.

Those little hijab-wearing road-hockey players remind this old cynic that all is not wrong with the world — and indeed, serve as a potent reminder that, if we compare the world as it is today with the world at any given point in recorded history, things have actually improved quite a lot.

And this god damned country, warts and all, is actually in the van as humanity struggles to grow out of its problems before those problems take all us down instead.

She shoots, she scores!

Love,


Mr. Pollyanna