Monday Molly Musings: Home of the Knave

I was originally going to call this post "Land of Misery and Home of the Knave", but I thought that would give away too much of the focus of this blog post. I also tend to shy away from overtly political posts, but neutrality is a bit of a myth. (Check out this Medium article by Susana Rinderle called "The Dangerous Myth of 'Neutrality' In a World Gone Mad" for an explanation, using the same topic I am, but from 2025.) It's hard to ignore current events, especially the news that Canadian-US trade negotiations have stopped (thank you CBC for this helpful overview). As teachers, we can't pretend that these events aren't happening - it impacts our students, and it's actually part of the curriculum (as evident by my Grade 6 Social Studies meme projects on Canada's Interactions with the Global Community). Forgive the long-winded preamble!

I dislike the current president of the United States.

This is a bit of an understatement, I'll admit.

I don't like how his administration dismisses people with genuine concerns or disrespects reporters (especially female ones) or allows ICE to seize people (especially people of colour) on the street and throw them into detention centres without due cause and hurt/murder people who object. I don't like how the leader can say absolutely ridiculous things such as his bombastic declaration to rename Lake Ontario Lake America, and not be reined in. (Note: I started composing this blog post last week so I had to update it before it went live to recognize that DJT actually signed an executive order to make the name change official.) I don't like how all the checks and balances put in place to avoid situations like this aren't being used. (To compare, in 2013, Toronto City Council stripped the mayor of some key powers when he demonstrated that he was unable to govern appropriately at the time.) I don't like how this neighbouring country, where many of my relatives reside, has become a less kind, less considerate place. Don't even get me started on the Epstein files.

I know that there have been problems before. I know I have rose-tinted glasses about the way things were "before". Black people can point out, correctly, that discrimination didn't begin with the 45th/47th president. Indigenous people can remind society, accurately, that they had their own names for bodies of water that were brushed aside in favour of settler labels. It's ironic that, just after writing this sentence in draft, I saw a re-share of a post by Jesse Wente saying a similar thing. (See below.)

I know that Canada has a history of pointing out American atrocities while ignoring its own. This knowledge does not dismiss the current reality.

So what can I, as an educator in the country next door, do to help? I found this article about "Seven Ways You Can Take Action for Immigrants" by HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), but it is focused on those living in America. My actions, or potential actions, feel like drops in a bucket, but these are my attempts:

1) Avoid travelling to the Unites States of America

As much as I loved attending the AASL (American Association of School Libraries) conference in Phoenix in 2017, and as much as I would have enjoyed attending IBBY's Regional 2027 convention in Kansas City, I cannot travel to the US at this time. Even when I flew to Colombia in 2025, my layover was in Bogota instead of an American city. I won't force this embargo on any other members of my family or friend group, but for me, I will just have to wait to enjoy delicious Maryland crab until things get better. Crossing the border was never fun and I suspect it could feel more stressful now.

2) Choose Canadian companies and products to support.

This is a hard one for me. I don't do the grocery shopping in general, and I admit to being used to certain brands (like McDonald's caramel sundaes). There are many places popping up that offer shopping list suggestions (such as thecanadalist.ca or farandwide.news or other websites - I didn't link these because I didn't check their authencity). You have to take some of these lists "with a grain of salt" because they might be out-of-date or inaccurate. Here were two related images I found on Facebook.

Buying Canadian is doable, with some effort. For instance, we just recently replaced our mattress and the one we selected was made and sold in Canada. Some of my recent speakers from the spring and summer AQs have talked about how the idea of focusing on promoting and purchasing Canadian books was "too aspirational" in the past, but with recent events, this kind of position is much easier to support.

3) Find ways to advocate

Speaking of guest speakers, on Thursday, August 27, 2026, I had my last guest speaker for the summer session of York University TL AQ courses. Melanie Mulcaster spoke about advocacy. This was my first time having Melanie as a guest and she was nervous (although I don't know why; she's a fabulous speaker) and appreciative of the fact that this talk forced her to review the updated version of OLA's Advocacy Toolkit. I liked her explanation of the difference between promotion vs advocacy, as well as her "spectrum" of advocacy. Maybe this blog post is a "little a" form of advocacy, as I make a social media post about standing up to bullies and loudly objecting when I see terrible things happening in the world. Maybe even following the Instagram account @catsonacouch is a fun way to be a conscientious objector to a corrupt regime. (For context, this Instagram is run by Amanda McGonigle "posts sarcastic political commentary and memes targeting JD Vance." I follow her because her goal is to have more followers than the US VP.)

My stoic husband has warned me that I let my emotions get the better of my logic, so I wanted to ensure I fact-checked my references.

Does DJT insult reporters? = TRUE
Does ICE unjustly detain people? = TRUE
Did DJT say he'd rename Lake Ontario? = TRUE
Is DJT mentioned in the Epstein files? = TRUE

Sometimes, when we look at history, we wonder how people can ignore situations that appear objectionable and we hope that we can be as brave as the people who behaved in a kind, compassionate, and moral way, even if it meant disobeying unjust laws or policies. (I won't use the term "the right side of history", because both sides of the political spectrum have co-opted this phrase as their own.) Even if this is close to the end of an era, in a time of great turmoil, I want to know that I did not pretend that bad things aren't happening, even though I did not always feel like I had the answers on how to address these problems.

PS - In order to lighten up today's blog post, I'll look at some of the fictional knavish / villainous characters that my beloved eldest wore during her four days at Fan Expo Canada. (Okay, technically only three of the four are villains; hopefully you can tell which one is not a bad guy.) If you would like to follow her, check out @cosplayquirky

Thursday's Cosplay: Aunt Gladys from Weapons