A podcast I hope you never hear

(contains coarse language)

Last night, I was at Massey Hall for a big rally calling for the end of the 6-week-long lockout of 5500 CBC employees. I took the iRiver and filled it up with sound - to the point that when I finally met the guy who first told me about podcasting, Tod Maffin, there was no room on the iRiver for him! - but you may not hear it for a while. With any luck, you'll never hear it, because I may not make a podcast of it if this thing gets settled by the time I get around to it. I already have a show to edit together before that, so maybe... But I wanted to at least mention the event now while it's still relevant.

I'll be noting this on a podcast sooner or later, but the CBC had a lot to do with why I'm a Canadian today. I grew up just across Lake Erie and got some of their radio and TV. It completely sucked me in. The CBC taught me enough about Canada that made me feel comfortable, and inspired me to actually come up here and learn that I do in fact belong. As a public broadcaster, it was started to reach people in a ridiculously spread-out geographical area and make them feel that they belong to a country called Canada, a country that is unlike any other. After 70 years and the technological advances that have ensued, I believe the CBC still has that role. Others, people who have lost focus or have their heads up their ass or who really deep-down wish they were American (ooo, don't get me started...), think the CBC is now an anachronism. Some of those people may even be running the place. And they (the CBC as a body) all find themselves where they are now, ever-so-gently killing themselves by draining themselves of blood they don't think they need. People who commit suicide often don't think of everyone they'll affect by their death. The rally was basically a ton of potential mourners saying QUIT FUCKING KILLING YOURSELF!

I saw and heard lots of amazing stuff last night: the often-reclusive author Alice Munro getting her dander up, Don Ferguson doing his classic Brian Mulroney impression, Dr John Polanyi comparing these times to the trial of Socrates (while being much more entertaining than that sounds), George Stroumboulopoulos growing in a beard like he'll be joining the Deftones any day, Federal NDP leader Jack Layton teaching me (directly to me!) about Massey Hall's long history as a venue for union events, Peter Mansbridge and Shelagh Rogers (the CBC's king and queen, the latter of whom has been podcasting across the country) with their arms around each other. It was fucking wicked.

So I must ask you to check out CBCUnplugged (Tod's site about this stuff, which kind of started it all), Shelagh's Caravan (a fellow blogspot site), CMG Locked Out Live (with streaming video) and CBC Unlocked (locked-out journalists keep doing the news) and myriad lockout blogs to see how the new technology has helped people to continue, against all odds, to make Canadians everywhere feel that they still belong.

Oh, and I remembered there's a Lush nearby in the Eaton Centre, so I finished that errand from Description 04. Good times all 'round.