"Things That You Love About Edmonton"

This can be found in SUB.  Only this morning did I stop to take the time to photograph it on my phone.  "Things you love about Edmonton"... I find it amusing that this category boasts the fewest responses.  More than anything, though, I feel like this representation of Edmonton is rather empty and minimal.  It's easy enough to name things or places within the city that we enjoy, much like we did at the beginning of the year in this class.  It's much harder, however, to think about the city in a different way, to see beyond the physical places that exist to see the underlying construct of the city and to understand what it really means to be an "Edmontonian".  These people clearly should have taken this course.

Further giggles at the fact that "summer activities" is listed.  What about winter activities?  I find that this plays into my presentation a bit --- Edmontonians ignore half of our identity (no one cares to remember the winter and how *different* it is here!), hence our ambivalence.

I also just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful ideas and insight into the city -- the course wouldn't have been nearly so interesting or informative if it wasn't for the many brilliant minds in the room. =)

A Hypothetical Archive of Evolving Edmonton Concepts

As we discussed, an archive is a collection of items and documents that has a sort of specificity and says something important about a place and its history.  It is a museum of origin. Being ignorant of much of Edmonton's history, my hypothetical archive of Edmonton will be one of my evolving ideas of the city from this class.

The first "item" - A white out.  Marking the beginning of this course, January was a stormy-white month, and the class as a whole was lost in this desolate storm that engulfed Edmonton.  We didn't know where to go… We had no idea what to think of the city.  We were lost.  This is the beginning of the journey - this is the blank slate upon which a concept of Edmonton will be built.

Secondly - A pair of shoes.  In walking, we give purpose and meaning to the city.  We write stories by wandering, the splashing of puddles through which we tread adds literary flare - onomatopoeia (Foucault).  Walking in the shoes of others, along new paths, along their maps, we begin to relate to their experiences, feelings, and memories.  Memory is part first person, and part collective (Lippard) - memory makes spaces into places.  Wandering Edmonton will help us to define the city in a way we desire, and wandering the mapped spaces of classmates connects memories into a meaningful network upon which Edmonton as a hometown and place may be recognized.

Then - A wig.  The unlikely glamour of Edmonton's secret life, called upon by Darrin Hagen.  Edmonton can be what she wants to be; we can make alterations to our city through the actions we take and the spirit we embody.  Recalling Minister Faust, he advised us to write what we know, but change what we will - make Edmonton exotic and exciting.

Penultimately - The river.  Intrinsically tied to the history of Edmonton, Alice Major acknowledges the North Saskatchewan as a bearing for the city.  Yet, discussed in class, we avoid her current by building high bridges to cross her.  Could this be why we feel lost?  Is this the source of disconnect between city and city-dwellers?  We have become ignorant of our roots.

Lastly - A man with a buffalo head.  Inspired by Raymond of The Garneau Block, the man is Death himself.  We need to be conscious of Death's presence and the inevitability that he will come so that we may choose actions and paths for ourself.  Recalling Sartre from a class last semester, man is the sum of his actions, and we are condemned to freedom once we acknowledge that we are responsible for our own actions.  In our freedom, we can wander, we can share stories, we can sculpt Edmonton into everything we want in a city.

Thus, we are left in white out once again - Another blank slate.  But this time we do not fear and scorn it.  We embrace it and begin to paint Edmonton for ourselves through our memories, actions, imagination, and new-found knowledge.