Raymond Terletsky would be proud!

"A peopled place is not always a community, but regardless of the bonds formed with it, a common history is being lived out" (Lucy Lippard's Sweet Home p. 24).

As I reflect not only upon my journey but also my connection with English 380, I realize that as a class we were able to create a microcosmic community of sorts in which we too lived a common history. Unlike what the aforementioned quote suggests, we in fact were able to form bonds within our class. Whether they be bonds with one another, our teacher or with the works we read, they are bonds nonetheless.
Over the course of several weeks we studied a wide array of literature, all of which was woven with the common thread of place and belonging. As a class we learned how a person's sense of place, community and belonging can be influenced by their relationship to a particular location. We discussed not only more historical, collective and fact-oriented approaches to understanding place, but also more personal, individual perspectives. Through our readings as a class, I believe we each began to question, create as well as enhance our own unique history and relationships with Edmonton. As our class discussions evolved over the duration of the semester, it became more and more evident that each and every one of us was beginning to express greater senses of pride, appreciation and respect for Edmonton as a city. I truly believe that our own specific and personal interests in Edmonton have come to fruition as a result of the term papers we have each chosen to write.
I can only imagine what it will be like for Dr. Zwicker to pour over our pages, our words, our history and the histories of places around us in the next few days. These words represent our Edmonton and what it means to us-- the mythic power of English 380's class of winter 2009.

Tuesday's Writing Workshop

I found Tuesday's writing workshop to be immensely helpful because it presented the opportunity to collaborate with peers. I had not intended in using this class period in this way but am glad that I did because I was able to smooth over some writing frustrations that I had been experiencing.

I really appreciate our class because I see it as one of those few classes that you can show up to and feel completely comfortable. It also seems to be that there is just the right amount of us in the class; it is never too full yet never awkwardly small. I noticed as everyone was busily working away that the room was filled with chatter about all sorts of aspects of Edmonton. I couldn't help but sort of smile to myself because I realized that each and every one of us had a special piece of the city that we were interested in.

Holden said it best...

I have been re-reading The Catcher in the Rye and the other day while I was reading, I came to a point in the novel that made me think of Neil McDonald:

"What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse" (Salinger 4).

This passage had me wondering if maybe that's exactly what Neil was looking for during his last evening in Glengarry.

Blog Help...

I am trying to post comments on people's blogs but for some reason when I go to comment I keep getting a message which says that "user is not authorized to comment"

I am a little confused because in previous weeks I have never had this problem.

Could anybody help??

The more I know, the more I don't know

This week also has me stumped about what I should blog about.
In retaliation to the blogger's block that I am experiencing, I have decided
to express my thoughts on the topic of space, place and where I fit in within Edmonton.

What I have come to realize is that the more I read about Edmonton as well as other peoples personal anecdotes about the city, I am becoming more and more perplexed as to where exactly I fit in within the mix.

I have an address and a temporary living arrangement with three other roomates in a house which I have grown quite comfortable in over the last eight months. But now that the end of the school year as well as the end of my lease is approaching, I am wondering where I will live next.

Moving is always stressful, especially as a student who is on a tight budget. House hunting is even worse when trying to agree upon common aspects of price range, location and who gets what bedroom with two other similarly strapped-for-cash students.

What I have come to understand is that at least for now, I will find a place to call home for the summer and for the coming school year, but I am forever looking forward to the day when I am finally in a position to find a place to truly call home. I believe only then will house hunting no longer be as stressful or as daunting a task because I will presumably have the financial stability to expand my house hunting horizons.

I just am growing tired of only living life in a house for eight month stints. A place with some permanence would be nice...

"Uncle Mike, Uncle Mike!"

As I read Harley Reid's personal anecdote entitled "The King and Queen and Uncle Mike," I realized that the reason why I enjoyed this story so much was because of the childhood innocence and excitement that was evoked withinthe text. I was able to picture the bustle of "a small army of excited children,"as they waited in anticipation to witness such a spectacle (297).

Despite the fact that Mike Kelly is not my uncle, nor is he any relative of mine, both Harley Reid and I share a knowledge and sense of familiarity regarding Mike Kelly. Since it was Tony Cashman who first introduced me to Mike Kelly, I was not only surprised but excited to read about him again. I was also simultaneously relieved to find that Mike Kelly's presentation as a proud policeman was cohesive between Cashman's text and Goyette's text.

It truly brought a smile to my face when I read the last line of Reid's story which says, "[t]he Royal motorcade came by later" (298). This is the childhood innocence that I have been speaking of; a young boy too consumed by the thought of being able to show off infront of his classmates because he got to see his Uncle Mike to even really bat an eyelid at the sight of the King and Queen.

Building over our past

"He glides over ancient fire pits, skillfully chipped stone tools and weapons, fragments of ancient pottery and the leftovers of thousands of fossilized dinners...[t]he boy finds no signpost, no plaque, to describe the significance of the buried treasure beneath his feet" (Goyette 3).

After reading this all I could think to myself was how wasteful it is that all too often natural and historical gems go not only untouched but sometimes even unnoticed even once they have been uncovered. The more I think about it the more I realize how truly shameful it is to allow such historic beauty go amiss.

As I continued my reading I found myself drawn to the following passage:
"Woolly mammoths, mastodons, lions, sabre-toothed cats, musk ox, camels, bison, ground sloths and wolves wandered through the new river valley and its ravines" (7).

It honestly surprises me, perhaps I am just highlighting my naivete, that these ancient animals once walked and ruled the plains of what we now know as Edmonton mainly because I cannot say I ever really think about Edmonton from an archaeological or anthropological point of view.

Thoughts from Tuesday's class...

I just wanted to say that Jillana and Debrah, I found your comments in class to be quite interesting. Jillana, your comment that sometimes walks are more like b-lines, straight for our respective destinations perked my attention. I agree, I often find myself making b-lines about my day, especially during the school day. I just want to get to where I'm going as soon as possible, as directly as possible. However, there are times when I really enjoy leisurely, mindful walks that allow me to meander freely throughout the city.
And Debrah, I really liked your comment about the 'one-arm push guy' who patrols Whyte Ave. It made me think of 'Whyte Ave Dan,' the Beatles look-alike who can be found busking outside of the Army & Navy department store. Although must of us do not likely know these Whyte Ave icons in-depth, we do share a connection together as a city because we share a collective knowledge of these characters.

Majestic Mystery

After reading Ted Bishop's chapter within Edmonton on Location: River City Chronicles on the subject of the Hotel MacDonald, I found myself considering what my thoughts and feelings regarding the Hotel Mac were.

Bishop writes that during the late 1960's "[t]here was a general feeling in town that the Mac was stuffy, that it was only for special occasions like wedding receptions and graduations" (50). What I realized was that nearly fifty years later, I feel the same sentiments about the Hotel Mac.

One thing that I gathered from the chapter, perhaps mistakenly, was that it seemed as though once Jan Reimer took the reigns as mayor of Edmonton, there was an attempt to revive the overall image of the grand hotel. However, just to make sure I wasn't the only one who thought that this image revival had failed, I asked one of my roomates what her impressions of the Hotel Mac were. She responded by saying that she feels it is chateau-like and should be situated on a lake. "One of the only genuinely beautiful buildings in a downtown full of high-rises," she said, you always know that its there when you drive up to it because it's just so majestic."

So to me, the Hotel Mac, although a true city gem, remains a mystery because I have not yet been able to qualify an occasion of mine worthy enough of Hotel Mac status.

Walla Walla West #2???

After English class yesterday I was walking to my Film Studies class in the Old Arts building, and as I climbed the stairs into the foyer, I overheard a conversation between two students. The female in the conversation was excitedly telling the male that she had just finished signing the papers for a condo she had bought. The male responded by saying "Oh that's so exciting, congratulations!" This made me think...

I mean it seems an obvious and natural reply to say, "Oh that's so exciting," but what does that really mean when you actually stop and think about it?

It means that this woman has decided to become a permanent community member in the city of Edmonton. It means that she has chosen to begin putting her roots down, presuming that she plans on staying at her new place of residence for some time, in the city of Edmonton. It means that she most likely feels satisfied with what the city of Edmonton has to offer her in the present and in the future. It means something a little more than just a woman's decision to buy a house.

Darrin Hagen makes me remember

First of all, let me start off by saying that I could not wrench my fingers from this book in order to put it down.

I started off very much on the outside of this 80's hazy, drugged up, dragged out world that Hagen painted for me. I was inexperienced with the workings of this Underground world because I have never been a part of it, and now I was about to be let vicariously in through his words.

As I started to get to know Gloria, Lulu, Trash and the rest of the girls, I found that some of the questions they would ask themselves were questions that my friends and I have also asked ourselves. Take this for example: "Lulu and I would take the bus on cold mornings, and watch all the normal people scurrying to their normal jobs in their normal clothes, and wonder where we fit into the grand scheme of things" (96). I have thought this countless times, often on late night bus rides, whilst sitting like a drone on an uncomfortable, stained seat enroute to god knows where. It strikes me as interesting that usually it is nighttime, on a bus, that I begin to channel thoughts of this nature. There is just something about the night, being encapsulated in a bright blue time-bomb with highly unflatering lighting that jerks and groans as she journeys into the darkness that just makes me think. Gotta love the 4 Capilano.

Furthermore, I could relate to the part in the book, I forget where exactly it's written... I know I wrote it down somewhere, where Hagen, looking back on the Flashback days writes that basically when we're young we think that we are doing things that nobody else is doing. That we are experiencing things for the first time that nobody else has experienced. I too had this realization in myself a few months ago whilst sitting on my front porch on 83rd avenue and 97th street looking at the neighbourhood go by. I know that might sound lame... but that's exactly what I was doing. It was a moment when I caught myself growing up. Has anyone else ever had those?? I could see outside of what I could not see beyond before. Thank you Darrin for reminding me of that front-porch moment.

Lecrap, Alberta? No Way!

Ahh yes, Leduc...what a special place, holding a special place in my heart.

I remember being a teenager growing up and feeling cramped in Leduc, constantly complaining as my friends and I attempted to avoid getting liquor tickets along Black Gold Drive as we walked home from another night sitting in [insert name here] Mom and Pop's basement. We always felt that there was nothing to do, and that the bright lights of Edmonton had so much more to offer. Just wait until we graduate!

Although not many years have passed since I was just like the majority of Leduc teenagers-- heading to the fair on a May evening, already 'half cut,' trying not to get lost within the maze that is South Park in the pursuit of an evening of good ol' Leduc entertainment with friends amongst the creepy carnies and smell of hot donuts in the air (please excuse the run-on!)

Well since then I have graduated, and have been a resident of the City of Edmonton going on four years. I now look back on all my "Leduc-memories" with fondness because I doubt that my friends and I would have gotten away with half of the stuff we did had we been living in the city instead. Nah, I'm just joking, there's more to it than just that...

What I miss now, as a twenty-year-old, always on the verge of being broke university student, is the simplicity of Leduc dating back to the pre-Walmart Age. As much as I hated the "small-town feel" of Leduc when I was younger, that is now a feeling I wish I could recover. However, it seems as though the Leduc I once knew and lived has been overtaken and trampled on by the birth of the dreaded Leduc Common.

Please, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like Edmonton, I LOVE Edmonton. But I also like the idea of being able to return to the quiet little Leduc that I once knew when I start feeling like I'm becoming too much a part of the city grind.

The 'city,' as we Leducians call it, was where I always believed those big box stores and shiny yellow smiley faces belonged-- away from sleepy Leduc. Despite my wishes, Leduc has changed and I foresee that its 'face-lift' is only in the beginning stages. I'm not sure I'm ready to see what's next..

Just a little sidenote... (P.S Whatever happened to the Sidetrack Cafe?")

The previous blurb began merely as a comment to Diane's blog about Leduc and its "Walmartization." Before I knew it, my supposed to be brief comment morphed into a blog of its own so I decided that I will begin my first step into the Blog World with this little morcel of goodness...