{"id":7209,"date":"2013-11-17T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-17T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=7209"},"modified":"2013-11-15T13:23:22","modified_gmt":"2013-11-15T18:23:22","slug":"border-quirks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/11\/17\/border-quirks\/","title":{"rendered":"Border quirks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Border<\/a>

Border monument and clear-cut near Lake Memphremagog, Vermont. Photo: Craig Miller<\/p><\/div>\n

A friend sent me a jaunty video about the U.S.\/ Canada border<\/a> this past week. It doesn’t break new ground or anything like that, but it’s pretty interesting. Raise your hand if you thought the U.S.\/Canada border mostly followed the 49th parallel in a straight line. Then watch the video. There are zigs and zags, at least one pronounced bump and several severed communities.<\/p>\n

The vignette is by C. P. G. Grey, <\/a>who just likes explaining complicated things in quick little videos. He’s done a bunch. Most are about geography, such as:\u00a0 “The Difference between United Kingdom, Great Britain and England explained<\/a>” and “Can Texas secede from the Union?<\/a>” (Answer: pretty much no).<\/p>\n

Grey also branches out to other topics of amusement or interest. (“Coffee: the Greatest Addiction Ever<\/a>” or “How to become Pope<\/a>“.)<\/p>\n

Good fun! But I digress. Back to our border. First, if this topic is of interest to you, give the video a watch. (The whole thing is 5:26 minutes<\/a> and it goes fast.) Second, consider the unique circumstances for residents in places like Minnesota’s Northwest Angle<\/a>, Washington State’s Point Roberts <\/a>or – closer to home – Derby Line, Vermont<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"International<\/a>

International border runs through the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, Derby Line VT\/Stanstead QC. (Source: Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

The spouse and I did a three-day weekend get away to Vermont a few years ago, mainly to go see Derby Line, especially the famous Haskell Free Library and Opera House<\/a>, where the border cuts right through the main reading room.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we went just when the web-posted summer hours shifted to shorter fall hours. The main goal of that trip – seeing the interior of the library – was unavailable for the rest of our visit. (It had closed by the time we arrived after 2 pm on a Saturday and was also closed for the Monday holiday.) We had a good time anyway, but shall have to return to tour the interior of both attractions.<\/p>\n

You might think it foolish to build a public attraction smack on the border. But that decision harkens back to a simpler time<\/a> – missed by many – in terms of living together with fewer formalities.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the people of Derby Line have been much put-upon now that tighter border security can make crossing the street a criminal activity<\/a>. (Residents are supposed to detour and check in at the border station every time internal village trips take them from one country to the other.)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A lawn in Derby Line is bisected by the border – have fun mowing that one! (photo: Craig Miller)<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s easy to decry what may seem like foolish over-kill. But lawbreakers do exist and some will take advantage of fuzzy zones like Derby Line, as detailed in this National Post article about gun-runners and border-jumpers along that “porous” Quebec-Vermont crossing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most of the time the rules have been ratcheted up by U.S. officials in response to post-9\/11 concerns. But sometimes it’s the Canadians who want tighter security, as in the case of the RCMP’s flowerpot barrier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Feel free to add your own stories about border or border crossing quirks, or wishes for how you’d prefer things to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend sent me a jaunty video about the U.S.\/ Canada border this past week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6567,13126,880,13125,12650,13124,20,4868],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7209"}],"version-history":[{"count":72,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7460,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209\/revisions\/7460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}