moving though edmonton

If I'm moving through Edmonton, I'm either driving somewhere (probably to the mall), taking the city bus to school, or using the LRT to get to the bar (which I recommend you try if you think cabs are as big of a rip off as I do). That's a few different ways of moving, but the most obvious one - walking through the city - is not something I really do at all.

Firstly, I'm too scared to walk the streets in half of the places of Edmonton if I'm alone, and I don't even really like it when I'm with someone. Secondly, I'm a creature of the sun. If the weather gets anywhere near -20 I seriously have trouble functioning. It's so hard for me to even get out of bed! It's way too cold for me to want to walk anywhere here for seven to eight months of the year.

Maybe I'll make it a goal of mine to walk Whyte Ave on a warmer day and check out all the cool places that I've been reading about in some of the blogs here. If it's warm out I don't really have an excuse not to.

what i've learned so far...

So far in 380, I've learned a few random things... like how different maps can be (something that, as I blogged about before, I'd never even considered). I'm really interested in sound maps, in particular, which is something I didn't know existed until this class. I've also re-affirmed that I don't like sci-fi or fantasy books. I already knew that, but after reading and disliking Faust's book(I acually liked the start, before all the weird cream and war stuff started), and skipping ahead to read and enjoy the more realistic book A Tourist's Guide to Glengarry, I can only confirm this more strongly.

In class in particular, one really simple thing has stood out as something I've learned. A guy (sorry I can't remember who!) mentioned that he's proud of Groat Road. Groat Road of all things! I hate that road, it makes me car sick half of the time. Except - after thinking about why he likes it (the beauty, etc), I realized that I take pride in it too. Like he said: it's like a little road in the mountains, right in the city. I never thought of it that way, and now I do. How cool is that road?! :)

about darrin

Today's class was my favourite so far, by a long shot. For this blog entry, I really just want to write about Darrin. More specifically, what about him really impressed me/ what I liked about him.

First of all, I think he's incredibly brave for doing what he did, particularly in a time period when being gay wasn't look upon very favorably(and that's probably putting it mildly). I also think he's incredibly brave for coming into classrooms to talk about his life, not knowing if every student is open-mined and accepting, but probably honestly not caring. That ability to be himself so completely is rare, I think, and just fabulous (as he would probably say). Also, I loved how he dropped f-bombs left and right. Good for him for not feeling the need to change how he speaks for anybody. Maybe I'm a little crude, but anybody who can drop an f-bomb in public, and not care, gets a little bit of weird respect from me. He was just so outgoing and vivacious, totally diva, and fabulous.

I liked his book, and loved him.

maps

Before taking this class, I'd never really thought about maps. I guess I just thought they were boring lines on a page or a computer screen. Not very interesting. Back in the day before GPS's became the new thing, everybody had a massive city road map folded up and stowed away in a compartment in their car for when they got lost. In social class I studied topographical maps of the planet. And that's about as "into maps" as I got. I guess if I had ever taken the time to think about it, I would have realized there are so many more ways to map a city than roads, but I just never bothered to think about it. The sound maps were SO interesting to me, because it's such a different way of mapping from anything else I've ever seen. It's like getting an actual glimpse into life in other cities. Another thing that I thought was pretty eye-opening was seeing how inaccurate maps can be. I guess I already knew this, because I've followed instructions from my GPS perfectly, and ended up in a field in the middle of nowhere... not exactly where I was trying to get to. Anyways, these last couple of classes have given me something to think about. Turns out maps are pretty interesting after all.

My Edmonton

Having lived in St. Albert for my entire life, my sense of Edmonton is slightly limited. St. Albert is a decently sized city, but after having lived there for nineteen years, I can only really describe it as small and stifling. As a decently sized city, I know it has no real “small town Alberta” feel, but I honestly feel like I have met every single person near my age that lives in my city. As soon as I leave the St. Albert city limits and enter Edmonton, where there are so many people and so much is unknown to me, I feel like I can breathe. Since I’m not from there, it’s unlikely among the crowds of Edmontonians that I will run into the mother of the boy I dated in grade nine, or the girl who I accidentally got fired from our job in grade ten. It’s just a bunch of curiously unfamiliar faces among the crowds of people that I see on street corners downtown.

On the other hand, in St. Albert, our official “downtown” area basically consists of a government building attached to a library, with a few coffee shops and a tanning salon that I probably frequent far too often. Unfortunately, the only time I really venture into the big city, besides when I go to school, to my boyfriend’s place, or the rare visit to the dentist’s office, is when I go to the bars with my friends.  I love the busy nightlife in Edmonton, which far outstrips the same old crowd that goes to any of St. Albert’s few pubs. This nightlife often takes me to Jasper Ave, which is an area of Edmonton that I have the greatest familiarity and the strongest attachment to. I adore it for its obvious draw to youth: it is full of exciting clubs, bars, and even a small donair shop that has become one of my biggest guilty pleasures. So I might not be able to really say “My Edmonton” but I definitely feel attached to “My Jasper Ave” ;)