moving around the city

I think I move around the city well in a very limited space. I have the places I go and the places I know.....but finding a new address or the far south side...and I am lost. A goal I have after taking this class is to learn how to read maps better and navigate myself around the city...after all I do live here. Its embarrassing when somebody asks me in the mall "excuse me, how to I get to so and so..", and I have no idea how to explain....

I really enjoyed Trevor's visit on Thursday I think he had some very interesting things to say and his videos were fantastic! I loved the idea he talked about showing the highlevel bridge only in the winter. It is comical because it does seem like winter never ends here. Its like an inside joke we all share as edmontonians. I think that the weather however negatively affects how we move through the city.....I don't like going out as much or exploring the outdoors when it is 25 below. My dad however, is a former cross country Olympic skier and he gets out on the trails of edmonton as much as he can and waxes up his ski's. He always tells me how peaceful winter is outside because it is silent and crisp...one of these days I will go with him and hopefully have a similar experience.

What I have learned thus far: Not your usual Enlgish course.

In most English classes we read authors from seemingly far away lands, and the stories they tell occur in settings very far removed from places I visit on a daily basis. This is not necessarily a bad thing: I like to read as a form of entertainment. I find it exciting that I can experience a new place or journey from the comfort of my couch with a cup of hot tea! That's part of why I love to read. This class however, (as cliche as it sounds) has opened my eyes to see what is going on in my city that I didn't know about. I realized I don't have a very good sense of "the local" in Edmonton. Yes I dwell here, go out here, and go to school here, but I never really took pride in things like local authors, or music or art. I always assumed I had to look elsewhere to experience culture.

My favorite class thus far has been Darrin's visit. His story is fascinating and I am inspired to learn more about scenes in this city that I didn't know about previously. I am interested in experiencing nightlife from another point of view, rather than just the places I usually go.

I also am nervous about and look forward to our map projects. I had never even stopped to think about maps or the idea of creating a map to take another person on a conceptual journey. I am excited to see what someone else see's everyday, as well as what they will make of my concept of the city.

Exploring counter culture in the city

 I remember my first encounter going out to the "non-mainstream" bars with my older sister when I had just turned 18. Living in the St.Albert suburbs all my life I was incredibly surprised and excited to experience a new culture and scene that I never knew existed. My my sister who went to the university and lived on Whyte ave always encouraged me to explore outside the St.Albert bubble and wantedto show me what the city and in particular the night life in the city of Edmonton looked like through her eyes. She took me to The Black Dog, and Blues on Whye, and New City Suburbs. To a fresh 18 yr old from St.Albert this was a huge deal! I saw cross dressers and gothic culture at New city, and homeless people at Blues on Whyte. I thought the city was fabulous and loved going to new places where I didnt know anyone and got to experience new types of culture.

When reading Darrin's book I thought about my first experiences seeing certain minority groups in the city and how I was shocked at first, and then as I began to experience new things I became greatful for those people who have the courage to express themselves and be the first ones to step out and do something different. One thought that deeply resonates with me is why our society is so afraid to break the boundaries of social norms we have? When we push the envelope on gender or even contemporary style why do some people become deeply offended? 

City Maps.

           Looking ahead to one of the resources for today my favorite city map was the San Fransisco map of emotions. I have never seen or heard of this before, or even considered it a method of mapping. When we visit a city it is a very personal and individual experience. I think we could live in a city all our lives and only see a very limited view of it. By reading someone else's map of emotions we get a chance to see a place through their eyes and go perhaps to some places we might never explore. I think this is an interesting idea to do in Edmonton as well and maybe compare maps with someone who goes to different places as me so we could learn more about our city and the unexplored areas.
                A map of my Edmonton today would include, whyte ave, university campus, downtown jasper ave area, and west edmonton. The rest is pretty much blank............

       To add to this, an idea I came up with in class today, since I am a coffee lover, is to map my favorite coffee shops in Edmonton and surrounding areas. This would give someone a good idea of where I spend a lot of time and see. I think this would be a great and useful map.

My Edmonton

           Growing up and in St.Albert, I felt a very great divide between the Edmonton and St.Albert city limits. I remember thinking of Edmonton as a very foreign and scary place. I didnt venture into the big city unsupervised and didnt get a sense of feeling like an Edmontonian until I was probably old enough to enjoy the nightlife! After highschool I attended Grant MacEwan City Center campus so my first sense of Edmonton was the college campus. I went out to the bars on jasper ave, and spent a lot of time downtown and at coffee shops around the campus.
         
        After making new friends from the city I expanded my horizons to Whyte ave and spent a lot of time there at night. One of my favorite places is the Varscona theatre. For those of you who have been there it is imtimate and cheap and a great place to go on weekends for entertainment.
     
        Because I work in West Ed I spend a lot of time there and the nightlife on Bourbon street is growing and is a place I often go on the weekends when Im not working. Of course I spend a lot of time on campus in the day as well.

      One place I have realized I don't go is downtown in the afternoon. Downtown is a very different place at night and often find myself there, but in the day it is a business oriented place and those people who work in offices and have full time day jobs inhabit this space.

         I hope to expand my horizon of the city and gain a better sense of it. I have a realative coming from Japan in a few months to stay and he is very excited. One of my near future goals is to find some exciting things to show him and hopefully when he goes back to Japan he can say good things about this city!