Canada, specifically Calgary, has a problem. In my hometown, there are constant cries about a lack of community and constant debate on how to build one. It’s not an easy challenge. Calgary is a relatively new city and a very transient city where residents don’t have very much in common.  I experienced my first Buckeyes game day in Columbus this month and I realized that Canada needs collegiate football.

You’re laughing, I know. I thought I didn’t like football. However, it’s more than just the game. It’s the restaurants and living rooms filled with friends, discussion and laughter. It’s the strangers willing to invite you to their tailgate party because you’re Canadian and they want you to enjoy it as much as they are. It’s the sea of school colours entering the stadium and it’s the buzz in the air.

This feeling of community doesn’t happen by itself, it gets indoctrinated early. I’m told the day before games, lower school students are encouraged to wear Buckeye colours (grey and scarlet, if you’re wondering) and they sing in first period. Before big games, like Ohio State and Michigan, they have a school wide assembly.

We can make fun of Americans for their college pride, but aren’t they the ones laughing? We’re continually facing budget cuts in post-secondary education, our athletic programs are pretty close to non-existent (no offense, Dinos) and I’ve never even considered going back to the University of Calgary to support an event and I live about 15 minutes away.

Americans regularly make the trip back to their alma mater for important games, to catch up with friends and cheer on their team. They pay for tickets to routinely fill massive stadiums to capacity, donate large sums of money to the schools they graduate from and belong to a community.

I know we do things differently up in Canada and school spirit isn’t something that happens overnight, but isn’t it a model worth taking a look at?  Can we start somewhere? If we borrow the best parts of American culture, we might be able to improve our own. Also, Thanksgiving will happen twice a year. Think about it.  

I’ve been thinking lately about people’s perception of others online. Specifically, does your negative perception about someone affect your social network?

I started thinking about this after sitting around with a group of Internet-active people. Everyone at the table had someone they refused to interact with. Most felt so strongly about their arch enemy, they advised against anyone else interacting with them as well.

What interested me most about this is that there was no common enemy. Often, one person’s nemesis was another’s best friend. How does this happen? Has the Internet made us too sensitive? Is there too much room for misunderstanding in online communications?

I have a feeling this post is mostly about questions. I really don’t know the answers. I worry about them. I think about the people that make my life miserable and I want to tell my friends not to talk to them. The reasons range from shady business practices to hurt feelings, but is it up to me to decide that for others? Good people can make bad decisions just as bad people can do good deeds. I have a theory that the serendipitous nature of the Internet means the latter scenario is more prevalent. Here are the main groups of questions I’d like to explore:

1. As your social circle expands, how do you determine who to let in?

2. We are all influenced by the people we know. If an influencer tells you that someone else is bad, do you believe them? Do you find out for yourself? How much would doing business with this person affect your relationship with the influencer?

3. Do you ever tell people not to work with, or befriend someone else? Why? What led you to that decision? Is it always black and white? If it’s grey, where is that line?

4. On the Internet, is someone’s worth determined by the sum of their actions, one bad deed or their potential to do something great?