In conversation (via Skype) with Peter I told him I had been in the US once. Rode from Chicago to Duluth, MN in a Greyhound:
> [17:52:50] Peter Rukavina skriver: You realize that the fact that your entire experience of North America consists of Duluth and riding to Duluth on a bus is worthy of an indepedent film. Or at least a blog post.
He went on to show me a Google Map with directions from: Duluth, MN to: Charlottetown, PEI. That last place is in east Canada, folks. And he said something kind about inviting me to come and see North America:
> Consider this an official invitation from North America to come and visit parts other than Duluth.
I do have some cultural understanding of the North American phenomenon: music historian Peter Guralnick‘s writing and rock regent Elvis Presley‘s recorded performances. And I once read half of the Constitution. And recently I have followed some Canadian goings-on. But going there and bearing witness in the first person, that would be something else.
I guess I would have to go with a goal, like changing a person, or kissing a patch of ground, or seeing a museum. Or, going to a conference, like Peter’s Zap your PRAM in 2003.
Update: My “North American” outside of “U.S.A.” experience is thus nil. As a teenager I saw a TV show “about teenagers with problems”. It was about Canada. That much I could make out, but not much else. It had a surly grunge guy in flannel and leather jacket with… long-hair-type issues. It was a small-town 90210 without the money. (OK, I give up, I remember nothing about this stuff.) Swedes: Do you recognize this? What was the title?
Do visit our hemisphere! North Carolina beckons with verdant rhododendron and tulip poplar forests, warm surf, strange and fascinating customs and bronzed, nubile co-eds. I will take you to see the world’s largest chair!
I think the name of the tv series about “the trouble of being a teen” was Northwood.
Checking sites for more info …
AHA !! You might be thinking of the Degrassi series. Degrassi High, which depicted highschool youths in Canada during the late 80’s.
NORTHWOOD (TV Series)
(1991-1994) * * Lochlyn Munro (“Jason”), Brigitta Dau (“Maria”), Byron Lucas (“Kirk”), Deanna Milligan (“Jennifer”), Darrell Dennis (“Brian”), many others…..Teen/young adult nighttime soap about various teens and young adults and their personal problems.
So-so TV series, filmed on video, certainly went for the big “D” drama, but it also tended toward being stilted with uninspired direction. The cast, though showing a lot of promise (particularly Dau, Lucas and some others), was too obviously inexperienced. Created by Nick Orchard. Filmed in Vancouver, but rarely admitting it. Half-hour episodes originally on the CBC.
DEGRASSI series (TV Series)
* * 1/2 Pat Mastroianni, Stacie Mistysyn, Anais Granofsky, many others…..Three TV series made through-out the eighties for the CBC, The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and Degrassi High following a large and relatively consistent group of fictional kids from childhood through to teen-age years and wrapped up with the TV movie School’s Out. The series was then revised, this time on CTV, in 2001 as Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Critically revered, award-winning series was known for its willingness to tackle difficult issues, but was less sure technically with uneven performances, writing and directing. Improved (not surprisingly) with each series. Half-hour episodes, originally on the CBC and CTV.
Why don’t you write some of your african experience? There must be plenty of stories, for example of collecting scorpions and tortoises in 6th grade.
DJ