Welcome aboard, Chicago Mary, and thank you so much for joining us at the post. As you said, it’s been six years since we met at that place of the anthology which was never meant to be. Nothing happens by chance and while that book never got to be, our conjoined effort at “North & South” did. It comes to me that something always leads to something else, something better, bigger, and so it is that Mary and I invite you, our readers, to e-mail us and ask your questions about the issues of daily living and we’ll try to cover those in the column.

Human beings are all the same everywhere and since the beginning of time. Think about it. Someone irritates you and you react – the same way your Great Great Great Grandfather did: You get mad. Someone comes and thanks you for a wonderful job excellently done and you respond the same way Noah did when he got the ark finished and the rain began. Basic peopleness never changes inasmuch as that fact is sometimes hard to accept, especially when we see our kind acting less than human. Sometimes even people who are the most like us get painted like they aren’t.

We Canadians don’t always understand our American allies. Yes, allies. Without them we wouldn’t be so free. And they wouldn’t have gotten so far without our help. It frustrates us sometimes because we perceive that they think we’re all Eskimos with sled dogs and frozen tundra. Or that they want to take over and own us. Or that they don’t even know we exist until they need a few soldiers. And some of them do think that. Those are the minority. What do Americans think of us? Mary can tell you that. What do Canadians think? You can tell us that.

We look forward to your questions, comments, and concerns. Our e-mail addresses are under our profiles. We won’t use your name in the column unless you specifically ask us to. “North & South” has already captured the attention of readers in the US and Australia. Let’s shine!