NORTHERN LIGHT.

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 07-JUL-03

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COPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

The Fourth of July is one of the best holidays around: fireworks that get better every year, no gift-giving hassles, not too much commercial exploitation, nice weather (usually), no religious test for participation. And, no doubt, throwing off the yoke of perfidious Albion is something to celebrate. Still, every now and then a small regret intrudes that we weren't able to work out a peaceful resolution of our differences with the mother country. God knows we tried ("We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms," the Declaration of Independence notes sadly), but George III wouldn't listen to reason. A little less taxation, a little more representation, and, presto--two hundred and twenty-seven years later, we might all be Canadians. Would that be so terrible?

Our big, easygoing neighbor to the north has its problems--too cold, a weak dollar, a reputation for paralyzing dullness--but its people are reasonably free, and they seem, on the whole, quite nice. Their contributions to popular music (Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, The Band, the McGarrigle sisters, Leonard Cohen, Alanis Morissette--the list goes...

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