@bgrier YES!

@mediocratese Exactly, you nailed it.

@brabo @P__X
LITERALLY, stick hitting.

"What are you doing?"
"Playing a game we made up."
"Oh, what's the game?"
"Well X stands on this little hill and we hit them with sticks until they fall off."
"That's not a game."

@P__X Yes, there is apparently a whole ecosystem of apps that teach children how to invest and a whole "financial education" thing that we totally missed out on because wtef but only later found out most people we knew were doing with their kids.

@c0debabe Yes! But I fear also a culture of not including or celebrating you. Many people I meet in the US who would otherwise be keeners are deeply sarcastic, or traumatized, or guarded or thick skinned....

@paulbusch It starts so young here. I honestly had no idea.

And it's not like we don't have capitalism and C-suites at home. Just some people do those things and like it and other people don't like it and don't do those things, it's just not for everyone. It's not set up like, "only WINNERS do those things, YAH WOO!"

Growing up, I was always called "a keener." For good or bad it was part of my identity. Maybe people here have persistently misunderstood me as ambitious when actually I just really, really, really like learning things. Maybe they don't understand why I'm not too strategic because I never thought it was winner takes all game. Maybe they'll read this and think it's dishonest and self-serving because that's all there can be.

But you can't afford to be a keener in this country because you will get belitted for it and passed by as a naif. If you genuininely just love working with people, or learning about stuff, or making things, because it brings you tremendous, expansive, loving pleasure, people figure there must be some reason why you're doing it, otherwise there's no reason to do it.

There is so much inequality, so much grasping, so much competition, so much of the time there is no place for keeners and the joyful, earnest, even clueless energy they bring. Small wonder even people I approach with earnesty think there must be something behind it, hopefully until they get to know me better.

I suspect there is a lot I have misunderstood about my students here too. I thought many of them loved learning and we had that in common. They do their assignments and speak politely to their profs and show up in office hours to ask questions. It looks like being a keener, on the surface, to another keener at least. Why wouldn't they want to geek out with me about things we care about?

But the majority of them know the game. They got to where they got to because they played it. They were the smartest and most culture crammed so they could be here and launch to a great career. They are adding items to their resumes that make them look shinier than the next person when it comes to the last job left on earth.

What a joyless form of learning and living that must be.

To be clear, that isn't everyone I've interacted with. But I am slowly re-appraising many of the interactions that I thought I understood (and others that I just never understood) from the vantage point that "keener" is not a type you can be here. And that means that for a vast majority of the people I interact with, I'm probably deeply, deeply misunderstood. 2/2

I have lived in the US for 23 years. This week I used the word "keener" at a meeting and someone interrupted me to ask what that was. I explained it's a Canadian word for someone who's just earnestly enthusiastic, an eager beaver, selflessly just excited about learning stuff and participating.

I alwasy thought it was just something we have a cooler word for that they don't -- like toque for beanie, or parkade for 'multi-story parking garage', or garburator for in-sink disposal unit (I mean, come on).

But this week I realized--there is no equivalent in the US, for keeners. It's like that thought-language concept about linguistic relativity (no word for orange= can't see orange) except the other way around (no word for it because it is impossible).

There is no word for keener in America because you can't be a keener in America.

Love learning? You have to display it so you get the top grades and go to Yale and make lots of money as a lawyer. Work hard? Not because you love it but because you don't know any other way to be. Expert about something? You gotta hustle and monetize with YouTube videos else you're not an expert and also you can't afford to send your kids to college. Love music, or dancing? you have to do it eight times a week for a trillion dollars or you can't do it at all.

Having elementary school aged children in the US has been eye-opening. It is Lord of the Flies in the classroom and on the playground. Children learn it's a hierarchy, and it's better to be on top, whatever that takes. Seven year olds on investment apps. Constant culture cramming. Playground games where they literally hit each other with sticks. Grabbing others' toys while some teacher you don't pay attention to says something useless about 'sharing' and you eventually turn that into 'an economy.'

(1/2)