Those early preschool years were interesting AND somewhat unconventional. Here's my second birthday in February 1964. The rocking horse was made by my paternal grandfather. These two images do seem to confirm that something was a bit off fashion-wise. A full apron, leotards, long hair and a barrette in my hair. Not exactly G. I. Joe, eh? There was a red apron and a red barrette, as well. What did I know? As long as I was warm, dry and well fed ... all was good. Or so I thought!
Imagine an itch you cannot scratch. Imagine waking up every day tired, every day feeling as if a large person is sitting on your chest and that the feeling will follow you around all day. Might not the day come when you would just say "Enough is enough"? And so I wake each day trying to find that place called 'home'. That place between those horrendous extremes of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. Try she/her/hers. Or better yet ... Just call me Wallis.
Friday, January 02, 1970
Thursday, January 01, 1970
A Marriage - September 1960
My Mother and Father, on the day they were married in September of 1960 in Kitchener, Ontario. They were both
children during the Second World War. They both absorbed the stress and the trauma of that time. They came to Canada, both for
their own reasons. They worked hard all their lives and paid their
taxes. They weren't allowed to vote, however, because they were only
Landed Immigrants and not full Citizens. They lived with the cost of
Canada's democracy without being able to participate in its elections.
To this day, I have a heightened awareness of 'class differences'. And
believe me, even in Canada, those 'class differences' are all around us.
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