I just read one of the craziest articles that I have read in a while on Yahoo news (not one of my preferred news sources). After reading the short article, I was both astonished and amused at the situation that was described. As it turns out, there are some particular instances of small towns and villages in certain parts of the country that have strived for decades and in some cases centuries straddling the border between the United States and Canada. Only recently has this persistance of the status quo come under fire as the United States continues to tighten its border control operations. You will have to agree with the fact that if such a situation had existed at any point on our nation's southern border, the situation would have been nipped in the bud faster than you could blink your eye. Since illegal immigration, illegal drug trade, and any other of the host of problems straining ties between the United States and Mexico don't really apply in United States/Canada relations, things haven't been tackled quite the same way in these border towns. I'm sure that there are a bunch of places that are similar to the two border town situations that I read about, but these towns on the Quebec/Vermont border just happen to be the ones that this particular author focused on. The author described the situation in these towns where, in one case, the public library has their front door entrance in the United States but by walking across the main room towards the circulation desk, you can pass from the US into Canada...all without going through customs. Apparently the back entrances are somewhat guarded, but the situation has been characterized by some degree of leniency up until recently. There are now new proposals to deal with how patrons will handle the situation. This is, of course, only one of many potential border crossing issues to pop up in this particular town. A neighboring town just three miles away has tightened the ropes to a higher degree to deal with its position straddling the international border. The article I read describes a particular residential street in this town where one residents living on one side of the road are American citizens, with Vermont street addresses and Vermont license plates. The individuals living on the other side of the road are citizens of the province of Quebec, complete with Canadian addresses, etc. The international border between the US and Canada runs clean down the center of this street. The town in which the street is located has recently enacted a border guard station where you have to check in when crossing the street. Imagine the difficulties that poses when going to visit the neighbors or when driving to and from work. You would have to deal with border agents every day of your life. Talk about a hassle. Think of something as simple but potentially annoying as driving to the grocery store to get supplies to cook dinner each night after a long day at work. Once again, you would have to be troubled twice with border guards. That's quadruple the hassle all in one day. It seems to me like the whole situation is somewhat of a moot point, seeing as though border patrol can't possibly monitor every street and side street in the entire town. I can just see it now...the president having border patrol agents with automatic weapons patrolling the street making sure your children doesn't cross the road back over from Canada after visiting her friend across the way without being questioned as to how long she's going to be there, what domestic products she is brining back, and presenting a passport. How ridiculous can this possibly get? The funniest part to me, being the language scholar that I am, is the fact that the street signs on one side of the street say STOP, and on the opposite side of the road they say ARRET. Talk about crazy. I'm sure it's great for people who grow up bilingual being from this area, but I wonder how strong national language ideology plays into the whole situation. I just remember the hassle I had going to Quebec when I was in high school, being the only person in the group fo seventeen people who spoke French, since the people in the restaurants wouldn't dare speak English to us.

Anyways, I just thought that rather than talk about something necessarily financial today, I would clue you in to an interesting situation between our nation and Canada. I think it's important that we recognize that such situations exist out there somewhere and that the actions being taken to monitor them "border" on ridiculous. After having read this article, I would really like to head up to these border towns (which aren't really too far of a drive from where my family lives) just to see how things happen up there. I'm sure that it's an interesting cultural and social experience to see how families, business, and other establishments have adapted their ways of life in order to accomodate their living situations. Do you or anyone you know live in a similar type of situation? I'd love to hear your stories. Drop me a line sometime!