Your own personal Genovia

An exercise in fantasy and desire

Back in my day, we didn’t have influencers telling us where we wanted to go. We just had to want for ourselves.

I watched The Princess Diaries last week, a cute film based on a Meg Cabot’s series of young adult novels. Our protagonist Mia learns she is next in line to the throne of the country of Genovia. She transitions from an average girl, maybe a little invisible in her high school social circles, into a princess whose faux pas get emulated. A teenage dream, to be sure, suddenly discovering there’s a place in the world where you’re in the spotlight, the object of adoration and imitation and envy.

Whether you’re like Mia or you’re the type for whom the idea of being in the spotlight makes you hyperventilate, you’ve likely got a personal version of Genovia, a fantastical country to which your essential self belongs.

In my personal Genovia, the sun provides perpetual backlight regardless of which direction I face, I’m never more than a five-minute walk from the beach, and the Kardashian sisters are tripping over each other for fillers that will give them my round cheeks and double chin.

What does your personal version of Genovia look like? Can you picture its landscape, it’s architecture? What does your typical day look like? How do you get around? What do you do for fun? What are the annoying things you put up with just for the privilege of living in in this country of your heart?

Did you hear me on CBC Radio this week, talking about my housesitting shenanigans? You can catch it online here. Click the section called “Jan. 11, 2024: Global house sitting.”