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.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, January 23, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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.
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..
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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
