Canadian connections

Over here, everyone likes introducing me to other Canadians. "So-and-so's a Canadian," they say, pushing me over for introductions. So I meet said person, and they're usually from Toronto, meaning that while we do have something in common, it's not really that much. I know more, generally speaking, about Spokane than I do the suburbs of Toronto.

Not that I mind meeting other Canadians, but it'd be nice to meet someone I have some connection with, other than "Yeah, Calgary, I drove through there once."

So last night, went out to the New Cross Inn with people from last year's course that I met at the PTC Awards.

As soon as I say hi, I'm being pushed over to Paul, because he's from Canada. He's from Toronto, where I've never been. He's been to Calgary once. Drove through it.

That should mean that we don't know any of the same people, or have had any potential to have met previously, one would think. Of course, we're both student journalists, and of course, Canada is actually a freakishly small place, when you get right down to it.

And, when you do get right down to it, the Canadian student journalism community is pretty tight. Go to any given CUP conference, and you've met half of it.

Now, I'm not sure if I've ever met Paul before, but it's possible. He was EIC of the Varsity, and went to the conference in Ottawa. I also went to the conference in Ottawa.

So we start trading names: "Do you know so-and-so?" and "How about so-and-so?" About two names in he says, "Mike Winters." I've only met Mike Winters once, and then barely, but one tends to remember meeting the guy who drew a comic that once featured a guy having sex with Marie Antoinette in the guillotine. Memorable, that image.

Anyways, Paul knows a bunch of people from Edmonton that I know and/or have heard of. I had a lot to drink, but I think he also knew Neal Ozano and Christy, who I don't think I've really met, but remember because she went out with Colin, and had a shirt that said "Autonomy or Bust" at the Vancouver conference. Between the two of us, me and Paul, we couldn't figure out what the hell her last name was.

Crazy. It's kinda weird to think you're part of a community, and even weirder to not realize it until after you've left it.