Maëlle Ricker wins

Its hard to imagine a nicer person, when you see and hear Maëlle Ricker. Add to that great personality, a great work ethic, a great team spirit, and huge support from family and friends, and you have the story of a hero. Of course Maëlle Ricker would be hero had she lost. But she didn’t.

In a decisive demonstration of pose, aggressiveness and experience, Ricker won the day against some of the toughest competitors on the planet. And…she had fun!

So Maëlle let’s just say congratulations for winning. You deserved every bit of it. But also let us say congratulations for winning the right way. You were a hero before you stepped on the slope today.

Vancouver 2010 Games Open

Of the two thousand or so songs in my library KD Lang appears nowhere. After watching the opening ceremony that will change.  Before this evening I had never heard of Shane Koyczan. Nor slam poetry. Until the opening ceremony I could never put into words what makes me a Canadian. Before the Vancouver opening ceremony I feared that the event would be like so many other Canadian events. Dull, poorly produced, or  irrelevant. Had I not just days ago argued while Canada does many things well, media, and events were not our strong suite? Have I not likened Canadian media and events to iron era Soviet television?

No longer.

The opening of the 2010 games was not just an event nor spectacle both of which it was.  This ceremony signaled Canada’s coming of age. No longer an aspirant to American showmanship. No longer a weak understudy.  This event was not world class, it was beyond world class.

All the usual and more unusual effects from the stadium floor turning into a whale pod swimming in the ocean  to music to cry to, poetry to reflect on and speeches spoken just right. Meaning, celebration and joy all wrapped into an evening of warmth and shared humanity. How an event of this scale could do those things I could not say. That the event did is testimony to everyone involved and the raw resources of the Canadian spirit.

Well done Vancouver. Well done Canada. And thank you Shane Koyczan for putting into words what some of us could not for some 50 years.

Welcome to Canada.