Olympics!

I don't know if i exactly "puffed with pride" viewing the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies the other day, but i did have some moments of utter joy: like when the whales spumed their way across the stadium floor, and when Cdn singer kd lang sang Cdn songwriter Leonard Cohen's Halleluja. Video of kd lang's performance the other night is a closely guarded commodity. It was difficult to even find still images on the web. (This one comes from nbc.com.)

Did you see how well-respected aboriginal peoples of Canada are? Hmmm. Perhaps native groups do fair better in BC than they do in the rest of the country. But i suppose it isn't unusual for a country to take pride in the cultural heritage of the native people when it can be a tourist attraction. (Sorry, but i'm a cynic.)

We don't have cable or a dish network, so our Olympics coverage is coming from NBC. I wish the commentators covering the Opening Ceremonies had been armed with the story behind the production. It looked to me like the first part of the show was some sort of aboriginal Beginnings legend being acted out, but there was no mention of what the symbolisms were, etc...great bears, ice flows carrying groups of people in different directions... I think we in America missed out on some of the message.