NEW RELEASE COMPLETES THE GROWING UP CANADIAN TRILOGY

One short book about the myths surrounding the boomer generation in Canada—that was the original idea. And since the boomer mythos focused on pop/rock/folk music and long-haired youths embracing strident protest, the breadth of material was sure to be minimal.
Instead, what transpired was the development of a trilogy containing over 370 entries of an unexpectedly wide range of topics, events, and people. Only the span of years remained as envisioned—1960 to 1985. And there was so much more to this era than the oft-trumpeted, limited boomer lore. So, the trilogy eventually included chapters on childhood activities and games, movies and plays, fads and fashion, low and high tech, business and schooling, land and sea, comedy and international relations. Only music, television, and sports were content chapters in each of the three volumes.
With such an expanded breadth, could the planned focus on Canada and Canadians be maintained? The answer was an emphatic yes. Every province and territory was represented multiple times as a home-base of a personality, event, or issue. Of course, Canada and Canadians did not live in a vacuum so a few American or English influences were included. Still, the vast majority of entries continued to be directly linked to Canadiana.
There was much for a senior-aged brain to consider. Fortunately, there was a great deal of “common knowledge” among Canadians of the era—a plethora of people like Pierre Trudeau, Terry Fox, Anne Murray; and events such as the FLQ crisis or the 1972 Canada-Soviet hockey series were broadly well-known. And basic information about a significant number of events and personalities only needed a caffeine jolt to fire up my memory cells. Any such list would obviously vary with each individual. For me, a few examples in the “I forgot about that” category included the following (with the bracketed number the volume in which the entry is found): a Soviet satellite crashing in the Northwest Territories (2), skipping chants (3), VHS and Beta tapes (2), the TV show Country Hoedown (1), Bricklin car production in New Brunswick (1), Earth Shoes (2), the band Klaatu as the Beatles’ alter ego (3), K-Tel kitsch (1), and waterbeds (2). As for personalities, a few examples of many that required memory remediation were model Dayle Haddon (3), comedian Barry Broadfoot as hockey dimwit Bobby Clobber (1), jingle writer Bob Gimby (1), pop star René Simard (3), magician Doug Henning (2), ballet dancer Karen Kain (1), and sports stars like baseball pitcher Ferguson Jenkins (1) and sharpshooter Susan Nattress (2).
Finally, I had much to learn. Though I had studied and taught Canadian history, I was taken aback by my relative ignorance. The following is only a partial list of Canadian personalities that were not initially part of my knowledge base: Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak (2), actor Lois Maxwell (2), comic strip artists Lynn Johnston (3) and Jim Unger (1), cross-country skiers Sharon and Shirley Firth (3), author William Gibson (3), folk artist Maud Lewis (1), director Arthur Hillier (2), as well as musician Gene Cornish and actor Conrad Bain (3).
To the readers—I hope that the trilogy took you in three directions—along a road that was familiar to you, a memory lane that was awakened after a long sleep, and a previously unknown path that brought new knowledge and perspective.
Best wishes to all, Clyde Woolman