In any case, I’ve already been looking forward to spring collections, even though I’m usually a fall collection sort of girl.  Look at this trench coat!

[2990 USD]

It was a year which seemed to contain a decade of news.

Why yes, we are dancing around a Christmas tree.

And then this is where the internet took me last night: NYE → Russians → this NPR piece about Russian New Year celebrations that turned up on my  Facebook news feed  → the Russian-American food blogger (Yulinka Cooks!) who posted it → a series of food blogs inspired by Russian and post-Soviet cuisine (I wish I could name them all because many were quite good, but the clicking-on-things was too spontaneous), including → the Gastronomical Me → and finally Nami-Nami, “an Estonian food lover sharing a delicious life and blog with an equally food-obsessed husband K. and two gorgeous kid

Perhaps it was this gorgeous-looking Canada-inspired ice cream (pictured below the cut) served with cloudberries, which is something special to the Nordic/Baltic region (we had cloudberry ice cream while couchsurfing in Turku, Finland), but I got stuck on this blog, and then somehow on Estonia.  And today at work, taking advantage of the holiday lull, I spent a few hours reading (the tangents keep going) about the country in post-war and post-Soviet times.

Maple syrup and marscapone ice cream with cloudberries

In post-Soviet times,  Estonia is known for being pretty technologically-advanced.  Skype is one of their shining stars, it turns out.  So, using search terms like “innovation” and/or “knowledge economy” alongside “Estonia,” to keep my internet surfing work appropriate, I arrived at this Der Spiegel article, “Skype and Sensibility: Estonia Lives the European Dream,” from just a couple months ago.  Being so close to the “Scandinavian socialist paradise,”† I didn’t think there would be so much emphasis on the state staying out of the way, and a quote like this from the Minister of the Economy kind of surprised me (not the bit about transparency though, duh):

“Comparisons are always difficult,” he says. “But when we had finally escaped from Soviet socialism, we were sick and tired of government centralism. We wanted precisely the opposite in all respects: We wanted a transparent state. A country that isn’t constantly intervening, nationalizing businesses, placing a bureaucracy above everything and imposing rules on people in every respect.”

Skype, Estonia's greatest export

Obviously the post-Soviet context puts the quote in a far different context, and it is fair that liberalism has been the mood worldwide for some time now (my home province, too, is Open for Business), but upon first reading, it struck me a little too close to contemporary American libertarianism (most noticeably in the Tea Party) and its hostility towards the institution of government.  I still have questions about what form the welfare state takes in countries like Estonia, but no worries, I’m not accusing Estonia’s centre-right government of confused populism (I certainly don’t know enough about it).

Entirely separate reading and policy tangents and links, also today, led me to the blog of Alex Himelfarb and his thoughts on David Cameron’s Big Society (actually Phillip Blond‘s).  Big Society sounded kind of cool to me when I first read about it, and although there are problems with it (which Himelfarb points out), so cool that I felt kind of guilty thinking it was cool because it came from a Tory (LoL).  Certainly a big criticism would be that it’s just an out for the (awkward) Conservative government in the UK, an out from social spending, as per Tory ideology.  Anyways, all that reading culminated in this concluding line.

…just as the state without a strong and independent civil society is an empty shell that serves the powerful, strong civil society without the state is a myth.

OMG, THAT’S TOTALLY HOW I FEEL!!!  It helped me reconcile what I was reading about Estonia with what I feel about the relationships between the state and civil society‡ as well as the world at large (so much is happening this year, from the Arab Spring, to the #Occupy movement, and more recently the protests in Russia*), but it also articulated what I think is the (critical) importance of the state/government in the society operates.  I wish I could say more as an independent thinker, and perhaps relate it to what I learned about social democracy this year, but I’m pretty spent with all this hyperlinking…  I think it’s time to say good night (to 2011 as well, perhaps, providing that nothing too exciting happens in the next couple days – I hope things are shiny in 2012).

† Yes, I know it’s not really a socialist paradise, but some aspects of the Nordic model still stand in spite of New Public Management.
‡ I don’t have a visual for civil society, sorry. Skype is appropriate, in some ways, to represent the free market and liberal values, but I have no idea what might be a good picture of civil society.
* Actually, the reason I returned to the Estonia-reading at work today was because I had clicked on a news article about today’s protests, which had also led me to some interesting pieces on facism in contemporary Russia.

And what a terrible way to react to policy decisions I disagree with (to go home and take a nap, I mean). Seriously, Jess…

I found out the night before after getting home from such a win at trivia (my first, actually). Now that French classes are over the holidays, I let myself join my fellow MPAs for Monday night trivia the way I used to. I used to go every week in second semester last year, but with the long commute home, it’s tough to stay out on a school night (work night) – I’m getting old. I got home, and I noticed those two news items on the BBC News front page (later I would find out that Canada made the BBC front page for a third item in the same day). Canada only ever makes the BBC News front page for the worst reasons (the first time I noticed was in 2006 when for the third time, a man entered a Montreal institution with a long gun and took out his hate). Beyond the way I disagree with such policy-making and beyond the way it offends my ideological sensibilities, I hate to see my home country on the news like this. Sure, we have a stable federal government for the first time in nearly a decade but it’s not a government or country I recognise. It’s true that I look back on the 90s with rose-coloured glasses. I was a child in a comfortable middle class family so the austerity measures that went with the early 90s recession didn’t hit personally. There were all sorts of things going on in the world, and I’m sure it isn’t the case that Canada represented itself well at every turn. But I know that I grew up feeling that Canada had good standing in the world, and even now I’m sure that was actually the case… but Canada’s standing in the world today? I really do worry, and it really does bum me out.

When I was in China, and my mum phoned me on New Year’s Eve to tell me that Stephen Harper had prorogued parliament for the second time, and I heard Jian Ghomeshi so sad at what the G20 had done to Toronto, I used to joke about how they were always fucking up every time I left the country. I came back… I was really inspired by what I saw from my fellow countrypersons upon the news of Jack Layton’s passing… but it’s not that shiny here these days, and I really worry.

Last year, and especially this year, I’d been craving a camel coat.  I didn’t get that Mackage coat but I did end up spending nearly a week’s income on a duffel coat in the same family of colours.  Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t gotten tired of it yet (in fact, I’m very happy about it), but this emerald green, this lilac-pink business, and navy get really excited about possible coat purchases I should/n’t make.

There are some other colourful things I’d like.  I told myself I would get one particular limited edition item I won’t blog about once I was approved for a credit card, but I was turned down for the third or fourth time (I don’t really understand, so I guess I’m going to have to spend the money on a credit check).  But here is something I would like but probably won’t buy:

[325 AUD]

I used to blog about things more substantive than consumer items, but all that goes into paper diaries these days.  I’ve slowly been posting some things from this summer’s paper travel diary to my travel blog.  The ones that (I feel) best prove that I am not empty inside are about Florence and Chimneys (Berlin).  I will return to the topic of chimneys soon.  I keep coming back to them.  As long as I continue to take French classes, I will continue to spend my Thursday evenings after work and before class in a Hungarian creperie in Kensington Market, and I will say more about why this is relevant to chimneys later (it isn’t the chimney cake they serve, I’ve yet to try it).

Imagine a country where the cows roam free and everyone gets the same stab at living off the fat of the land. Sounds too good to be true right? Think again. Finland’s Everyman Right allows anyone to walk, cycle or ski almost anywhere they like, and help themselves to any local produce. There’s an exception for gardens and private orchards, but otherwise it’s pretty much a free-for-all.

I used to be really idealistic about what a border-free world might look like (you didn’t need visas to get around the Ottoman Empire), but, you know… I’ve gotten old and stuff.  But Everyman’s Right is pretty cool and practical in contemporary application.  The RNW piece also reminded me of my day couchsurfing in Turku with Sibylle and cloudberry ice cream.

***

On the topic Finland, my boss is back from about three weeks off in Scandinavia with an article about the strengths of the Finnish education system.  I’m still waiting for it to make its way around the office to me (maybe I’ll just ask her to forward me the link), but her praise for it reminded me of my weekends in both Norway and Finland, where high school graduates were celebrating (but also binge drinking).  The idea that completing secondary school is such a bigger deal in those countries combined with their relatively high scores internationally – it must reflect how much they value education over there (teachers are paid much more as well).  A lesson for other governments?

BTW, Ontario voted today (some of us anyways).

***

I received five postcards this past week.  I’m pretty sure I only demanded one but I guess he got a bit carried away.  I said that postcard-writing/sending was fun, but took back the word “fun” because it wasn’t precisely what I meant, but he responded, “It was, though, fun to write a little chronicle as I went from location to location on the way back.”

Andres went to Lebanon for a couple weeks but none of the cards were sent from Lebanon.  There’s one left, hopefully floating around somewhere.

Postcards are wunderbar.

***

Steve Jobs died yesterday (RIP) and there were a couple sraffies taking themselves and their ideas about Apple products way too seriously (which makes me annoyed, even by other boys who are taking themselves seriously in complete earnestness about more important things like democracy and neutrality) in the context of a man dying a relatively young death.  It began with a conversation about how much the market valued Steve Jobs as CEO and how much the market values Steve Jobs’ existence but somehow it became a shouting match (it was all in lowercase on our irc channel, but still) about consumer products’ tech specs.  I really think it’s much more about what the consumer gets out of it (and thus how much s/he is willing to pay) and how the producer can figure that out, which is how Steve Jobs’ successes have been explained anyways.

***

Speaking of consumption:

[450 USD]

***

It’s election day, so people should be performing their civic duties. I thought it was cute when I heard a woman at the table across from me at Dark Horse admonishing whoever she had on her mobile for having not voted yet. Civic duty! Then, on the streetcar on my way to French class, someone with no sense of it was tossing his empty water bottle out the window.

***

I’m listening to CBC’s election coverage and waiting to hear about seat n^o 54.  Early reports indicate that the voter turnout was low.

[570 CAD]

I think it’s a little weird: Soïa & Kyo and Mackage are sister brands, of which the latter carries the higher price point.  Yet (from an inspection of only one coat per brand last week), it is the cheaper-priced coat that is made in Canada while the luxury brand is still manufactured in China.  It’s not that I think either manufacturing industry is more or less capable of manufacturing a luxury item, it just seems a strange way to prioritise the brands because surely the consumer who is happy to pay several hundred for a coat is also happy to pay for the Canadian wages?  Perhaps that isn’t true at all.

A long time ago, I saw an ad from the parent firm seeking out prospective employees who spoke both English and French (makes sense because they are Montreal-based brands, although Mackage chooses only to operate a storefront in NYC) as well as Mandarin and Cantonese (if I remember correctly), for postings in Zhongshan.  I wonder whether they moved their manufacturing back to Canada for nationalistic reasons or simply because the the Chinese manufacturing sector became less reliable in the wake of the recession when Chinese firms became more protectionist…

[1330 USD]

I’d been looking forward to this sweater since February but it’s already sold out (not that I could ever afford it).  It’s funny to look back on old blog posts.  Sraffies had just resurrected BridgetotheStars.net.  This weekend I am coming back from the furthest I’ve ever traveled (single-purpose) to Srafcon: ~5 hours for the wedding of Dawn and Nathan.  =)  More about this in the next post.

I’m on a ViaRail train returning via Windsor.  We’ve just past Oakville, so I’m almost home.  It’s a shame I spent most of this train sleeping (although I’m really grateful for those few hours), the weather is beautiful today and the few glimpses I’ve had of southwestern Ontario were wonderful (farmland).  I had missed train travel.  I want to take another train through some place forested once all the fall colours are in the trees.

I got back from Europe almost two months ago but it’s passed by pretty quickly.  I feel restless, but I also feel tired (I’m working, for the first time, full-time in “grown up” – as opposed to casual or summer – employment), and I’m bad at saying hey.  I did very little the first three weeks, but little by little, I caught up on the coffees I agreed to and dined with the people I missed, and finally I’ve begun to feel busy as if I have people and things that really occupy my life.  It’s nice.

I’ve been lucky to have a number of my fellow MPAs working in the same building as me, i.e. mutual support and lunch buddies, so even while I was feeling lethargic, I wasn’t nearly as lonely as I would have otherwise been.  After a few weeks, I began to catch up with other faces I’ve missed and it finally picked up the week of 22nd August.  It was the week that Jack Layton died… (I didn’t believe it when I first saw the headline on my desktop)  Alex flew in for FanExpo/Srafcon (yay Sraffies!) that afternoon and I went to meet him at his hotel across the street from City Hall , where I came upon the spontaneous tribute at Nathan Phillips Square.

I ended up walking by/through the Square a few more times that week and it was heartening to see that even when it rained, the chalk messages of love, hope, and optimism were up again almost immediately.  It’s been two weeks now and despite the rain and even hoses out to wash it away, it’s all still there (today’s Labour Day parade was dedicated to him).  I ended up going to the state funeral with Lavenya, and since then I’ve been thinking a lot about social democracy and what that really means (especially in the context of having returned from a year of studies in social policy as well as an exchange on Swedish politics and a month staying with a friend in the employ of a German parliamentarian; of Canada where we don’t have a tradition or history of corporatism that exists in Europe and a little bit in Quebec; and of my new found employment in government).

For now, all I can really do is watch, I think.  This week I am worrying about my mom flying home tomorrow, seeing my sister and her boyfriend the next day, and then heading to Michigan the day after for Dawn and Nathan’s wedding. (Yay, Sraffie wedding!)  After that, I’ll worry about signing up for French classes, taking more epic walks, and things that might appear on a To Do list.

I’d planned to spend the six hours after my morning class at school catching up on readings and finishing up the report, but I felt like such crap that I decided to go home and picked up lunch along the way.  My nap was wonderful and I was cheery again (having benefited from waking up in the sun rather than a gray sky) but by the time I was back at school I was distracted and even Kasaun (who himself is not feeling well and additionally not particularly chatty) asked if I was okay.  I had been staring out my office window at the field where football tryouts were going on – it all seems so American, this college(uni) football culture.  DJ accused me of creeping, but really I don’t find football uniforms all that exciting.

I did a few of my immigration readings before heading to class (rescheduled for the evening from an afternoon class cancelled a few weeks earlier).  This lesson’s theme was enforcement and we watched a TVO documentary from 2000ish on the repatriation of 190 Tamil migrants from off the coast of Senegal to Sri Lanka.  It reminded me of the events that developed as ~490 Tamil migrants arrived on our own western coast this past summer, the government and public reaction to it, and how it made me feel (bummed out).  There’s legislation floating around (except that it’s election time right now so it’s more like policy platforms rather than legislation) that would have direct and negative impact on the welfare of people who are put in the position to have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to try to get somewhere safe and it’s all just really depressing sometimes.  I’m in this degree for this immigration policy class (I think it says so in my application) and really it makes everything worth it… but it is just depressing sometimes.

Hopefully tomorrow I wake up to a sunnier day, or even full-fledged April showers would be preferable to a dreary gray sky and there are sunnier connotations for everything that has to happen.