Welcome to Underachiever Island

[amor de cosmos]

Are we a bunch of underachievers? I didn't find the National Post story but here's the TC response:

So there it is in print -- in a national paper no less -- for all to see: The suggestion that we're an island of underachievers.

Now, should we take the attack by a National Post letter-writer lying down?

As evidence, the writer -- from Burnaby no less -- lists famous Islanders who have left, including Steve Nash, Diana Krall, Kim Cattrall and Pamela Anderson.

"Vancouver Island," writes Roy Weston, "is a place where you come from, and not where you stay, because the pressure to conform to the same underachieving atmosphere is what makes you want to leave." Ouch!

Can it be true? If the measure is the number of former Vancouver Islanders who have gone on to make it big elsewhere he might have a point. His list was quite abbreviated considering other Islanders who are now big wheels in the world. It could have included Richard Margison, operatic tenor; Ian Tyson, singer songwriter; Tara Moss, international fashion model; Jeff Mallette, former president of Yahoo!; Wade Davis, ethnobotanist; Thomas Homer-Dixon, political scientist; Cliff Thorburn, billiard player . . . and more.

But Kim Blank, University of Victoria English and cultural studies professor, says the underachiever accusation misses a big point.

"It is not so much that we are underachievers as we are non-believers in the hard-heeled, high-buttoned Torontonian notion of achievement. Out here, if we can perfect our golf swing, get to hot yoga, discover the right place to buy inexpensive Thai food, and grow vegetables from coffee grinds, that's achievement. Everything else is so much fluff."

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimesc...9-e400a2e1bbac

[Mike K.]

But Kim Blank, University of Victoria English and cultural studies professor, says the underachiever accusation misses a big point.

"It is not so much that we are underachievers as we are non-believers in the hard-heeled, high-buttoned Torontonian notion of achievement. Out here, if we can perfect our golf swing, get to hot yoga, discover the right place to buy inexpensive Thai food, and grow vegetables from coffee grinds, that's achievement. Everything else is so much fluff."

Er, that's why we're perceived as an underachieving place.

Growing vegetables from coffee grinds and perfecting golf swings are things retirees may be concerned about but the average resident that has to put food on their table doesn't have anywhere near the support necessary for career/financial success (hence the reason why so many individuals leave. They're outright rejected by the Island).

[yodsaker]

I'm here and I'm happily underachieving!
(by some people's standards but not by my own)

I'm guessing Roy Weston comes from a long line of UAs, people who couldn't hack "the pressure to conform to the same underachieving atmosphere" east of Burnaby and before that, east of Canada.

[gumgum]

Moving to the island was one of my greatest achievements yet!

[G-Man]

I agree and don't agree. I think most people here work just as hard as anyone anywhere. Perhaps harder.

I think we "think" we spend more time gardening and golfing then elsewhere but that is just a load of bunk.

The only people doing all that stuff are those that are retiring here from Toronto.

Conversely though I think Victorians think that we are a backwater and act accordingly.

[victorian fan]

is a place where you come from, and not where you stay

Oh really?

[Caramia]

Elements of that might have been true in the 90s when there weren't a lot of job opportunities. It isn't true now. I think the reporter just hasn't caught up. Or maybe he just interviewed too many people who left. He's got culture lag.

[Caramia]

So I just read the comments from Carolyn's article, and there was one from the original article's author. Here is what he wrote....

Roy Weston
Sat, Jul 5, 08 at 07:58 PM
To Joan Smith. I was responding to a letter in the National Post sent by someone from Victoria who was complaining that a person who had made a trip across Canada had not mentioned Vancouver Island and then proceeded to rhyme off all the virtues of the Island. So, if anyone was having a slow day it was the National Post and it must have been having a even slower day when it agreed to publish my response, because I hardly think that the rest of Canada gives a rat's behind about Vancouver Island. And the fact that the traveller never mentioned Vancouver Island probably means that it wasn't worth mentioning, which speaks volumes in itself, anyway.

What an ass.

[aastra]

...because I hardly think that the rest of Canada gives a rat's behind about Vancouver Island.

I think most folks from Ontario are disappointed when they come to the west coast and learn just how irrelevant Toronto is here. The only time Toronto has ever made an appearance in my own life was back when the Blue Jays were good.

"It is not so much that we are underachievers as we are non-believers in the hard-heeled, high-buttoned Torontonian notion of achievement."

This is what I'm talking about. I was born and raised in southwest B.C. and I wasn't aware of the "hard-heeled, high-buttoned Torontonian notion of achievement." What does that even mean?? Toronto is a medium-sized North American city that's famous (infamous) only for its lousy sports teams. And the CN Tower, I suppose. It's news to me that it's somehow supposed to represent achievement and success. I suspect it'd be news to anybody outside of Ontario.

As evidence, the writer -- from Burnaby no less -- lists famous Islanders who have left, including Steve Nash, Diana Krall, Kim Cattrall and Pamela Anderson.

....It could have included Richard Margison, operatic tenor; Ian Tyson, singer songwriter; Tara Moss, international fashion model; Jeff Mallette, former president of Yahoo!; Wade Davis, ethnobotanist; Thomas Homer-Dixon, political scientist; Cliff Thorburn, billiard player . . . and more.

Are we really confused as to why Cliff Thorburn left? What, he was supposed to win the World Snooker Championship in Victoria? Or Burnaby? Or Toronto?

I suppose Steve Nash was supposed to be an NBA star in Victoria? Or Burnaby? Or Toronto?

I suppose Kim Cattrall and Pamela Anderson were supposed to be Hollywood stars in Victoria? Or Burnaby? Or Toronto?

And Diana Krall was supposed to be an international jazz star in Nanaimo? Or Burnaby? Or Toronto?

Was Nelly Furtado supposed to be an international pop star in Gordon Head? Or Burnaby? Or Toronto?

Why did Jerry Seinfeld leave New York to be a big TV star in Los Angeles? Was the underachieving atmosphere in New York too stifling? Why did David Beckham leave England for Spain? Why did Ichiro Suzuki leave Japan to play baseball in Seattle?

What to make of Simon Whitfield and Lori Bowden? Top-level triathletes from Ontario who moved to Vancouver Island to live and train?

Just maybe people go where they need to go in order to climb the ladder in their particular field?

...the underachiever accusation misses a big point.

Does it ever. It misses the point that an island with a population of 750,000 has recently produced more major stars in various fields than the rest of Canada put together. Underachieving? It's the exact opposite. The west coast ambience seems to inspire people like nowhere else in Canada.

[Caramia]

Nice post Aastra.

And my bad... Roy Weston wasn't the article writer, he's just another mouthpiece sounding off in a letter to the editor. A more acurate (not to mention insightful) look at how this piece of editorial came to be can be found at Yule Heibel's post studio

[Dylan Leblanc]

ah good, I was waiting for aastra to rip that one apart

[aastra]

...the pressure to conform to the same underachieving atmosphere is what makes you want to leave.

Unless, of course, you're an Olympic athlete, in which case you come to Victoria in order to get away from the underachieving atmosphere in the rest of Canada.

[Ms. B. Havin]

haha, and did you see the National Post's article on Whitfield? (It's actually a very nice article, but get this):

The little man from Victoria, B.C. had fought the good fight, but only four men in the 56-man field were older, and Whitfield looked cooked.
http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/b...html?id=734442

[yodsaker]

The Toronto Star led its Whitfield story with "Kingston's Simon Whitfield..."
Seems to me he became what he is by living and training here on UA Island.
Oh well, he underachieved the gold medal making sure he didn't embarrass our island. ;-)