Reminisce & Reflect

Learning isn't always achieved inside of a classroom.

I'll make this entry short and precise. What have I learned so far from taking ENGL-380? I will answer this question honestly: not a heck of a lot (sorry Heather), but that's not the point. I think, so far, that this class has surpassed my expectations and surprised me in a positive way. I've always considered "classroom learning" as extensive note-taking, cramming textbooks, mindlessly absorbing lecture material, and having forums for discussion about course content. To say the least, that is not what we're doing -- and I love it. It's been one of those classes that literally opens your eyes and allows you to conceive the world around you in an entirely different way. Whether it's hearing your classmates' perspective on areas of the city you've never been to, meeting local talent (such as the likes of Mr. Minister Faust or Hagen), or even looking at/listening to maps of other cities, 380 definitely increases your capacity to understand more about places you already know or want to go.

Personally speaking, the highlight of our last one month has been our visit from Malcolm Azania. It was utmost enlightening to hear from a man who has already established his writing career, and one who aspiring authors can almost immediately look up to. Reading about success stories on the internet is one thing, but hearing it directly from that person is another, and I find it inspirational to listen to such stories and advice. It's also really interesting to see just how much local talent there is in Edmonton, people that I'm sure a lot of us have never even heard of prior to this class.

I guess that the point I'm trying to get across is that I feel ENGL-380 serves as a bridge to expand our knowledge beyond a classroom setting, to get out and see the sights and discover things in our own backyard that we never knew was there. It's certainly not as boring, and a much more unique and engaging way to learn.

Cheers,
Patrick

Queer Eye for the... Edmonton Guy?

The title isn't implicit, but it should captivate my thoughts for this post.

I do not know what it is like for minorities living in Edmonton today. I say this because I personally have never been a part of the minority (in my own consideration), and therefore would not know what it's like to experience life in this category. I do, however, have thoughts about that which can be elaborated on.

Minority groups feel entwined with Canadian culture, because they are a large part of our identity due to Canada adopting a "mosaic" ideology in establishing our national image. This would refer to racial groups, gay communities, religious organizations, or any other internal congregation/segregation within the country as well. It's basically futile to be intolerant to migrants or minority groups, because it's a common trend around the world that will swiftly be reversing in the next decade or two. It's obviously speculation at this point, but concluded upon by hard statistics, but for example: Indian migrants will be the majority in Australia by 2025 [Canada Updates], and even here in Canada, there was a report on CBC News some months ago that I cannot find the article for, but it projects that cities such as Toronto will be upwards of 67% non-white, and Calgary around 55% non-white, to name a couple, by 2025 as well.

I consider myself "Switzerland" when it comes to these affairs; neutral in everything. I'm not for minority groups, and at the same time I'm not against minority groups. My philosophy is rather simple. If I'm allowed to live my life freely, then so should you be. If anyone has done introductory philosophy, I'd say my views are similar to that what you'd find in Aristotle's Natural Law Theory. I think I can honestly say, though, that I've met people from all walks of life, from vastly different regions of the world, and I treat them just like I would anyone else: with respect. Margaret Atwood offers an effective summation to my thoughts on this:

I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one 'race' -- the human race -- and that we are all members of it.

If you don't like homosexuals, that's great. If you don't like non-Caucasian people, that's great also. Just keep it to yourself, and be respectful about it. We should all be entitled to our own opinion (which, thankfully we are here in Canada), but it's when people take it to the extreme that leads to hate crimes and unnecessary violence. We're all in this together, so let's make the best of it while we're here.

In regards to Edmonton, and to stay somewhat on track with the initial blog prompt, I don't think that minorities "own" any particular sectors or places within the city, although they do occupy certain spaces, and it shouldn't come as a shocker to anybody. It's just general knowledge amongst ourselves to realize this. If anybody knows Russell Peters, one of the famous (and absolutely hilarious) racial comedians of our day, he's not from Edmonton at all but even he referred to Millwood's for example as Brown Town at his show. Is this being racist? I wouldn't say so. It's just what seems noticeably obvious to us, and I'm sure similar names and divisions could be applied elsewhere in the city also. I think that as long as there are distinguishable variations between us (color, religion, values, etc.), we will continue to congregate with people and to areas that we can similarly relate to.

Cheers,
Patrick

Cartography Critiqued

First, I'd like to start by saying that my interest in cartography and mapping prior to this course are similar to what I've read most of my classmates' was also: zero.

To me, maps are simply just sheets of paper with color-coordinated lines and nodes that help direct you towards where you want to go. Don't get me wrong, this is incredibly helpful, as they were created for this reason; but they're just not interesting, or useful in my case (since I rarely ever refer to maps for local travel). Often times I just rely on my own intuition, general knowledge of the city, and common sense to get me around. Not to mention, physical maps are becoming more obsolete by the day with breakthrough technological innovations of the last decade. GPS is the epitome of convenience nowadays. It's become commonplace to the point where it now comes factory installed in most modern vehicles. You can download applications for your smartphone that will tell you what your coordinates are on the planet at any given time. There's even ones that I've seen that can tell you exactly where you are inside shopping malls, universities, etc. I suppose it's human nature to invent such things, right? To explore, conquer, and map the unknown. It's just unfathomable to conceive how far we've come in such a short period of time when it comes to mapping technologies.

The sound and emotional maps that we viewed in class were fairly amusing, with the maps to the male/female mind being the most humorous in my opinion. Otherwise, as neat as they were, they still seem rather ineffective and useless in what they're trying to achieve. Besides the one sound map we looked out being drowned out by the loop of annoying elevator music in the background, I found that they don't really contribute to your overall sense for another city; street corners, vehicle and pedestrian traffic basically sound the same anywhere you'll go.

View Larger Map

The map posted above is for Zürich, Switzerland. This is probably my favorite city map, if I had to choose from any place in the world. I've been taking German at the U of A for the last year, so perhaps my opinion is slightly biased, but I think it's well planned and balances all of the elements that would account for our desires in a city layout (of course, after living in Edmonton, you'd probably think that a toddler scribbling on a piece of paper has more potential for a career than some of our city planners). In Zürich, though, the scenery is beautiful, there isn't a McDonald's or Starbucks on every corner, and there's bike trails that are adjacent to almost every single street. This is a bike Bike-oholic's dream come true. Every map of every city that you'll look at has different appeal; it all depends on what your tastes and interests are.

Cheers,

Patrick

My Edmonton, My Voice

Edmonton is a home for us all.

While not everyone originates from Edmonton, Alberta, or even Canada for that matter, we find ourselves here for particular reasons. Regardless of our love (or perhaps despise) for that which we call E-Town, Deadmonton, Oil Country, or whatever else may be on your list of witty nicknames, it's a great city for a myriad of reasons, lavished with beautiful scenery and full of opportunity for us to expand our horizons (the internet doesn't care if we're cliché in blogs, right?)

I'd imagine that almost everyone's immediate and subconscious sense for the city is best summarized in one word: cold. Personally speaking, I like to say that Edmonton has two seasons year-round: 1) Winter, and 2) preparing for Winter. Sure, maybe -30°C isn't exactly ideal weather for working on that tan, or perhaps the ten-feet of snow we're constantly buried in isn't great for that nice car you've got parked in the garage, but aren't these sacrifices what make us distinctively Canadian? More specifically an Edmontonian? Only you can proudly say that we're enjoying warm conditions in January, when in reality you could still keep that six-pack of beer cold in the snowbank in your backyard. The only thing we're missing are polar bears.

My inhabitancy of Edmonton is often limited to the south side, largely due to my lacking sense of adventure and not having a GPS in my car to make up for my poor navigation skills (even if I had adequate winter tires to take me there). Nonetheless, life in Riverbend hasn't been all that bad since the time I moved here in 1999 from the heart of the Okanagan in Penticton, British Columbia. It truly was a spectacle that first time we crossed borders and drove into the City of Champions, witnessing snow in April for the very first time of my life, after not seeing any at all for almost three years. It was a surreal experience then; a commonplace feeling nowadays.

If I had to pinpoint certain aspects of the city that stand out to me above the rest, I would identify the following:

• NHL Hockey: As I made mention of in my brief introduction to the class, and being a fanatic who was raised with the game, we're fortunate to be one of only six cities in the country (of a possible million) to have such an opportunity to indulge in Canada's favorite pastime. Living in Penticton, traveling to Vancouver to see a live game was our only viable option; having it in your backyard is a luxury. If hockey isn't your thing, there's always the Eskimos, Rush, and even the Capitals serve as good alternatives. 
• Easy accessibility to many things we take for granted. If you were looking for that new, hot item that you just saw on a commercial and needed to have it right away, your best option to find it in Penticton was at Cherry Lane Mall, which sounds very small and town-like, doesn't it? Well it was both. Mainly just small, though. It never had what you were looking for either. Here you've got West Edmonton Mall, Southgate, Northgate, (there might even be a Westgate/Eastgate that I am not aware of) Capilano Mall, Kingsway, Mayfield, the list goes on.
• Education, jobs, and opportunity for advancement. There was no University where I lived. There was not many jobs where I lived. Between no access to local education and scarce work, you're definitely limited in what you can do. We've got it good here.

We shouldn't limit ourselves to any one part, district, or element of the city. There's so many things that you can see and do here. I also believe that living in such a wonderful place is not a right, but a privilege. It could always be worse. If you ever think about how much Edmonton "sucks", or "you can't wait to get out of here", I encourage anyone to turn on the news to see how lucky they are. You could be living in a place where disease, poverty, and famine run rampant, where natural disasters misplace people and ruin lives, and where attending University is a dream and not just a possibility. While trying not to be negative, sometimes I think seeing things in a darker light is necessary to come to these certain realizations. I don't know about you, but I'd gladly throw on that winter coat and shovel my sidewalk any day for a chance to live here, but ultimately, that's up to us all to decide for ourselves.

Cheers,

Patrick

First Entry

Hello everyone,

Although I never imagined myself blogging (same goes for Twitter; will likely never make one of those), I think this might actually be the first official blog I've ever made, so I suppose that's worthy of minor celebration. Hopefully it will be put to good use over the coming months with some meaningful content related to the city, our class, and my daily life experiences, or whatever else it might possibly entail. Should be interesting to see how this progresses, and also what you'll all be blogging about over the duration of the course.

Cheers,

Patrick