Cook

=Andrew Cook=

Podcast
media type="custom" key="12457368"

BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Canada is a country that is ninety percent unpopulated. The majority of the people are poorer than Americans. It can have harsh winters, and the two languages commonly spoken are French and English.

My immigrant grew up in Canada. His family was quite poor. He immigrated here after his father got a job working for General Electric. America had so many things that were alien to him, so he spent a lot of time scratching his head. He revisits Canada where most of his family live, but now live as an American citizen. =Creative Writing= The first day of my first football game was quite eventful. I was worried because I still hadn’t exactly gotten a proper gasp on how football worked. But I was determined to show the other team that I was going to be just as good as them. Shaking in my chair in class, I was actually quite excited for the game. “Mr. Cook, would you like to share with the class why you’re shaking,” My teacher said. Dang it. I had no clue how to respond. I tried to come up with something smart to say. I replied, “I was getting hyped up for the game tonight.” “Well, whether you’re excited or not,” My teacher began. “I would suggest you calm down a bit. You’re distracting your classmates.” “Sorry, Ma’am,” I replied. Later at lunch I was chatting with some my teammates when they noticed I was slightly distracted by a cute girl named Julia. “Hey, Earth to Andrew. Anybody home,” My friends said as they tried to get my attention. “Huh,”I said. “Oh yeah. Sorry guys.” They said, “Don’t sweat it, man. You couldn’t get a date with her any way, let alone talk with her for a few moments.” “Yeah,” I said. “I’ll prove you wrong.” Now then, I was acting before I thought, and I charged up to her, and then I got a leg cramp. That ended my chances right then and there. So let’s just get on to the football game. When we were about to start, my coach informed me that I was going to be captain. Let’s just say I had no idea what I was doing. Whenever the refs would come to me and ask me a question, I just tried to answer it to the best of my ability. It was rather boring until I got put on the line. I was really excited to get put on the line and have a chance to show them what I was made of. But, I was placed in front of a three hundred pound man with a full-fledged beard. Smashing my bones into him, I tried my hardest to keep him at bay. However, my attempts were useless as he just knocked me aside. I was told that guy I tried to stop had beaten everyone else, and I just had to try. I tried again, but he was too strong. I felt myself fly through the air. Whoever that guy was, he sure was strong. They thought I had a concussion and decided to bench me. I was furious and was dying to get back in. I waited until the coaches weren’t looking, and I went back in. My team wasn’t sure, but I told them I would be fine. I went back and was sent to guard the same giant again. I was made and was going to take this guy down. The moment that football moved I was on him. I hit him as hard as I could and I kept applying pressure. Somehow I actually knocked the guy down. The whole crowd cheered(except for those on the other side) and I thought, “You know, this might not be that difficult.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Your Name: Nathan Meeks

Your Interviewee's Name: Andrew Cook

Nathan Meeks: What is your name? Andrew Cook: My name is Andrew George Cook. Nathan Meeks: Okay, Where are you from, Andrew? Andrew Cook: Well, I was born in Kingston Theriot Canada. I grew up a little further north, in a place called Deep river Ontario. And then my family immigrated into the United States and I grew up in up state New York near Scantees New York. Nathan Meeks: What’s Canada like? Andrew Cook: What is Canada like. Canada is a beautiful country. There is about ninety percent of the population in Canada, which is about sixty million people live within a hundred miles of the American-Canadian border. Most of Canada has almost no people in it, and I mean almost no people. They are probably parts of Canada where no people have ever been. So, it’s a beautiful woodsy outdoorsy type of country. On the other hand, unlike the United States, probably what a lot of Americans don’t realize is that most people in Canada are not as rich as Americans. You would think that they were as rich, but they’re not as rich as Americans, not even close. And it’s a country that’s made of people that are socialistic, which mean, they behave in the rules that are set up that they care about the community and each other, more than they care about individual success or being an entrepreneur. They are also a peaceful people. You know, a lot of people don’t own guns. The Canadians generally don’t start wars, and they view themselves as peacekeepers and as peaceful people and as helpers of others. They view Americans as war like and greedy and rich, and they’re always scared that the Americans are going to come up and make Canada part of the United States. Nathan Meeks : Yeah, Americans can be quite greedy. Andrew Cook: Or can seem that way. Nathan Meeks: Yeah, well some are greedy. What was it like when you grew up in Canada? Andrew Cook: I liked it. My mother used to dress us up and sent us[outside], I was four years old, she would send us outside to play. When it was forty degrees below zero, she would send us out and we would run out in the snow. There was a moose in the backyard. Periodically, we would go on camping trips where we would drive on dirt roads for hours and no see a single person. There were all kinds of interesting, unique foods[in Canada] that were more British than American, fish and chips. We would eat a lot of lamb, sheep, and mutton. There were also a lot of French Canadians, so we would sing French-Canadian songs, even though we didn’t know what the words were. For a kid to grow up, it was a really nice place for a kid to grow up. For adults, we were actually quite poor. Our family owned a car. It was not a second hand. It was a third hand car. When we drove in that car, there was a rusty seat in the back that I sat in and I could put my seat down to the road if I wanted to. And my family was pretty well off. Nathan Meeks: So when did you come to America? Andrew Cook: I came to America when I was five years old. My sisters were six and sixteen. My parents were probably forty five. I remember coming to America. I vividly remember coming to the United States. Nathan Meeks: That’s good. Otherwise, we might have had a few problems. Kay, how did you get here? Andrew Cook: Well, my father, worked for the Canadian government on their nuclear project, and he strongly disagreed for what kind of reactor they should be building in Canada. My father thought they should be building the American kind of reactor, and the Canadians wanted to build another kind, and as a result, my father applied for a job working for the general electric company, and amazingly enough, not only did he get the job, but General Electric offered him double the salary, and it was amazing, it was simply amazing. And of course he accepted the job and so he moved here and came down a couple months before to buy a house and start work before we came. I remember a very famous story. He went to a restaurant here, and he said, well I’m an adventurer and they said, well would you like for dessert, and he said I’ll have a pizza pie. And the people said, you want a pizza pie for dessert. He said well it’s a pie isn’t it? I’m an adventurer so he had a pizza for dessert and that shows you where we came from. And, then we came down by airplane, and we looked for houses and I remember watching and seeing all the people and the teeny tiny people out of the airplane. When we officially came down we came down by train. And it was very scary crossing the border and having to have all our paperwork. We had a bird and there was some nerviness that they wouldn’t let the bird in and it was very scary for us, whether they’d let the bird in or not, and then when we actually came. Do you want me to keep going? Nathan Meeks: Yeah, of course. Andrew Cook: And when we came to the United States we had to stay in a tiny hotel. That was scary, and then we moved into our house and there was no furniture and it smelled like fresh paint. And then I met some of the neighbor kids and I was amazed, everybody had a car, and everybody had a telephone. In Canada we did not have a telephone. We got telegrams and if the telegram said please you had to go up to the grocery store to use a telephone. We actually had people who delivered telegrams. In the United States everyone had a telephone and some people even had a television. Whoaa. I remembered when I first saw a television. The kids pointed at it and back then they[televisions] were very small and they said look at that you can see the cartoon. And I’m looking at the screen and I couldn’t even see the image. I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. That seems hard to believe but just the very fact it was like a dog looking in a mirror and I just couldn’t make sense of it and the kids said look there’s so and so and they’re all looking at it and laughing at it and I couldn’t get it and it took me a while and it took me a while so it was really something to come down here where Americans had everything. Cars, telephones, t.v. Whoho. Man this is an amazing thing in the United Sates. They had paved roads. That was really amazing. Where I came from the roads were dirt. Well, that’s a little bit of what it was like. Nathan Meeks: So you’re an American citizen then? Andrew Cook: I am an American citizen yes. Nathan Meeks: How long did it take to gain citizenship? Andrew Cook: Well, it took my parents five years, and since I was a minor, when they earned their citizenship, I earned mine, but I had to be sworn in, and I had to have my papers. So it took five years and then they had to take a test about the American Constitution, and about American history, and they had to pass it, and then we had to go to a judge and be sworn in and we were citizens and I distinctly remember when I was sworn in. I was with my sister, it might have been with my sisters but I only remember one of them. I remember being sworn in in front of a judge. I remember that day vividly. Nathan Meeks: Oh, I’m sorry could you repeat that. Someone came in looking for someone. I mean I got distracted about I don’t know, about thirty seconds ago. Andrew Cook: Okay Nathan Meeks: You were talking about being sworn in with a sisters slash sister. Andrew Cook: Yeah, I remember being sworn in as an American citizen with the judge and I know one of my sisters was there. I can’t remember if my other sister was there. I wish she was, but I don’t remember, but I don’t remember. I do remember being in the judge’s chambers. I remember promising to be an American citizen blah, blah, blah. I do remember that quite vividly. Nathan Meeks: Okay, so well, since I’m talking to you about immigration, I presume you’ve stayed here for the most part. Andrew Cook: Yes, I’m a United States citizen ever since and I have traveled to many different foreign countries, but I have always lived in The United States. Nathan Meeks: Do you ever go back to Canada? Andrew Cook: We do, I was there this summer. Other than my sisters, all my relatives live in Canada. And I go up and visit them. Nathan Meeks: Has there ever been any problems since you came from Canada, I mean you did say you were shocked by basically everything in America. T.V, and having phones. Andrew Cook: Yes. Nathan Meeks: Did you have any other problems? Andrew Cook: Problem? Nathan Meeks: Like confusions. Andrew Cook: Well there were some funny things, just some funny little things, like my blue jeans had red flannel linings and we folded up the cuffs up when we were little kids. So if you looked at my blue jeans, they always had red cuffs of the red flannel cause it was cold In Canada. I needed to wear lined blue jeans and the Americans used to point fingers and laugh at me, and make fun of me, cause they had never seen it. They thought it was hilarious, that I had red flannel cuffed blue jeans. I was just acting like what are you talking about? Why don’t you have them? Uh, um, whenever we went to see a football game my father always would call a front seat. We didn’t really know what American football was, and when I got older I actually played on my freshman football team and at my very first game I was named captain of the football team. There was a penalty called and the ref came to me and do you want to play or do you want the ball do you want to take the penalty or do you want to play it? I was like what? I mean I had no clue. I had no idea, really how to play football, and here I was actually playing football and all I did was call[plays] and here I was captain of the football team and I was really confused. Like they [Americans] had dinner for breakfast, and it, it, was very strange. For example, they would have they would have, eggs, or steak or pancakes for breakfast. We were like, what are you doing? Canadians would traditionally eat pancakes and bacon for Sunday night dinner. That’s a traditional Sunday night dinner. And scrambled eggs with bacon would be an evening dinner meal. We had porridge for breakfast. The Americans though it was funny when I would say I would like porridge for breakfast in the United States, and porridge was not eaten. Everyone eats oatmeal, if they eat it at all. And it was funny things like that. You know, that is the difference of the Canadians and the Americans which show up the Americans would laugh at me and I would be like what are you talking about? I went to school and we were supposed to do vocabulary and we were supposed to go to a dictionary to get the definition and I used a very famous English dictionary because Canada is an English country and the queen of England is the queen of Canada blah, blah, blah. A very famous dictionary is called Blackus something, something, dictionary, and everyone down here uses a Webster’s dictionary or the Webster American dictionary blah, blah, blah, blah, and someone asked where did you get that definition and I was like I got is from Backus’s dictionary. I was very proud of myself and the whole class broke out laughing because they had never heard of it before so no one understood us. Nathan Meeks: Okay, now looking back at your life, if you were given the chance, would you have stayed in Canada or come to America. Andrew Cook: I would have stayed here, but it’s slowly changing here. Certainly back then I would come here. In this country, if you work hard, back then if you would work hard and you work creatively you would become successful, you could make your own life. Canada is a much more structured country. It’s far more discriminatory place than America. In the United States we have the equal rights amendment and try to treat everyone fairly, and let in people of all kinds of different heritages. In Canada, there is a very crist social structure with who’s on top, on bottom. The people who are on top are the people who were from England and speak with an English accent. The next best people are the people who were born in Scotland and speak with a Scottish accent. The next best people are those born in Canada whose parents came from England or Scotland and still have an accent. Then down, down, down the list are the people from an African heritage and it really exists this social structure. It’s unspoken, but it’s really there. So, the United States are much more enlightened than that. But lately, the United Sates, Nathan has started to become much more socialistic. A lot of rules and taxation. It’s getting a lot harder to become, if you work hard, and have good ideas, it’s a lot harder to be successful in the United States now. And now, I think the United States is become a whole lot more socialistic, and that is unfortunate, and Canada is actually becoming less socialistic. You actually see people began to go back to Canada. So, it’s a little less clear right now. So your question about whether I would move back to Canada from the United States now. Probably, yes still, but it’s a whole lot less clear than when we moved down here. Nathan Meeks: Well, uh, I think that about sums it up. Um, thank you, very much. You’ve been a great help. Thank you for about twenty-two minutes of your life. Andrew Cook: Okay, well Nathan, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you, and I hope it’s helpful to you and your school. Nathan Meeks: It will be. Thank you very much. Andrew Cook: Alright, take care. Nathan Meeks: No problem. Andrew Cook: Goodbye.

ANALYSIS
Andrew Cook, the immigrant I interviewed, immigrated from Canada to the U.S.A so that his father would have a better job opportunity. Most immigrants come to America for a better life, often but not always because of money. He had some trouble adapting to life in America like most immigrants. People often laughed at him because of his actions. Many immigrants are treated poorly, but several immigrants, especially a while back, were mistreated terribly. In Canada, he had never seen a television and the only phone was at the grocery store. Everything in America was foreign to him, and he was often confused. Many immigrants are like this. We don’t realize that not everyone has as much as we do in America.