My love for the Winter Olympics is a conflicted one. Spending that much money on a month of activities that drains the arts/culture budget of Vancouver for years to come, not good. Radically altering land that belongs to the First Nations people, and trying to make it seem like Canada is far further along the road of reconciliation and recognition of our Indigenous citizens - really not good. And yet... I got misty eyed every time I heard Donald Sutherland telling me to 'believe' in those dopey commercials. I kept up with the medal counts. My heart broke for Joannie Rochette, the figure skater whose mother died suddenly of a heart attack, and then soared when she competed and won a bronze medal. And I really enjoyed watching the Canadian women mop up the ice with the American hockey team. But my favourite part of the games this year was the interview Johnny Weir gave to address homophobic comments made by two commentators. Here's part of Johnny has to say:
“There’s a whole generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or by who they like to sleep with. I think as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in, and I think that’s the most important thing.”
Click here to read the story & see the video of Weir's press conference; here to read more about the First Nations issues. And then watch this:
fabulous routine. fabulous costume. fabulous song.
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