Traveling The World to Find My People

STORY BY: Cathy Richardson
YEAR: 1980
LOCATION: Berlin, Germany

Cathy, of Metis-Cree descent, shares stories of her soul-searching as a young woman, when she was "looking for her people". Like many GenXers, she felt uncomfortable with the state of capitalism in the 1970s and 80s, and began to travel the world. She ended up moving to Sweden, where she sometimes took a boat to Finland to visit the Soviet Union. She remembers 3 separate trips, under 3 Soviet Leaders, which also included side trips to Berlin in East Germany. She was intrigued by the propaganda, fear, and political tension in the communist part of the city, and wishes she could now share stories with Annika from BOOM X (a character who emigrated from East Germany to live in Canada). There were people who appreciated socialism, and others who wanted to leave it, only to find out later that capitalism wasn't what they had hoped for. Cathy got to relive these fond memories of her explorations while watching BOOM X. Thanks for sharing!