Small Town Hoser Spic - Canadian Eh?
"Small Town Hoser Spic" is written and performed by Pedro Chamale. Anything with the word Hoser in the title must have significant Canadian content, eh? The title “Small Town Hoser Spic” describes it all. Pedro is an immigrant from Honduras, but only knows one part of his identity: that of a small town in Northern B.C. [Editorial Correction: Pedro Chamale's parents are Guatemalan; he is not an immigrant but a natural born Canadian who was born to immigrant parents.]
Pedro is every part the small town B.C. male, born in Canada and brought up in a small town less than one percent the size of Vancouver. The play starts with Pedro downing a can of beer—Canadian, of course—and continues from there to explain the rites of passage of every small town teenager: drinking, fighting and spectating fights, hockey games, and more drinking. While Pedro may never have known anything different, he did eventually move to the big city of Vancouver, and it was there that his identity seemed to be in question.
When it comes to mingling with his peers outside of the community his place in Canadian society is more confusing. Everyone wants to know where did he come from? He tells them small town Canada but they want to know what country, after all he is brown, but from where? Pedro brings home the question, who am I? If I was born here and grew up here and all I know is drinking beer, watching hockey and skidoos aren't I Canadian?
What does Canadian mean? This is the question that is at the heart of “Small Town Hoser Spic.” Chamale takes the audience on a journey of growing up Canadian. Chamale is friendly, funny and approachable. As he describes himself: the guy who decided to be on the good side of the friendly spectrum. He is easy to like even when he belches and swears. He reminds us of the friendly, harmless beer guzzling guy we all knew would be fun at a party.
Hearing Chamale’s story, the fact emerges that no matter what colour our skin, where we grow up has a huge impact on our identity and in small town B.C. that means being a hoser eh!