http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11...-than-protest/
picture at link.
On Wednesday morning, I am still mulling over the strange spectacle of Gordon Lightfoot’s visit to his daughter in the muddy bog of St. James Park in Toronto Tuesday. The event said a lot more about the challenging nature of father-teen relations, especially with the added spice of dad’s celebrity, than it did about the month-old Occupy Toronto protest.
Every kid wants their parent’s approval and support; for Meredith, who is 17 and plays guitar quite competently herself, it was a bit like bringing Dad over to her first place on her own, to meet her friends, only in this case her “place” is a park filled with tents, in one of which she had caught pneumonia because it’s just so cold at night. It may be that the visit had not been planned to coincide with the biggest group grope by the Toronto media since the occupation began; we were all around because city bylaw enforcement officers had served protesters with an order to vacate the park.
In any event, Meredith found her father’s attention to be almost entirely taken away from her and focused on the television cameras. Mr. Lightfoot, who apparently enjoys the spotlight, was obliging to us, and Meredith stood beside him patiently for awhile. Finally I asked her if she had anything to say. She said the media “was blowing the wrong things all out of proportion,” and made a brief plea on behalf of her Occupation family, before running suddenly off in tears.
Dad, for his part, told the press that he loves his daughter and stands by her, before tip-toeing with Meredith past all the wires to her tent. Later she stood reflectively amid the park’s chaos and played the first part of the Paul McCartney song, “Blackbird.” She may have been relieved when the old man left. Growing up is hard to do.