I came into English 380 hoping to pinpoint what I find so endearing about dear old E-Town. Although I don’t think I have a definitive answer just yet (but it’s nowhere near over!) I feel that I’ve been presented with a multitude of new ways to view my beloved city. So what notions have been undermined or affirmed? Here’s the mid-point recap:
-City maps: Myself being hopeless with maps and directions in general (while on vacation I felt the need to have my friend take a picture of me with the London city map to prove to my family that I CAN indeed follow a map, or at least try) I never paid much attention to the many ways to map a space. Mapping is so much more than illustrating the routes we travel on a daily basis. There is room for emotions, memories and experiences. They can affirm or challenge preconceived ideas of a space. And some of the most provocative spaces aren’t on any map.
-Exotic Edmonton: Being someone who has grown up in Edmonton I find that I often consider Edmonton as a place without a sense of mystery, and exhuberant underground. I know now that I was terribly off base. Darrin Hagen opened my eyes to the world of drag and its place in Edmonton. It seemed inconceivable that anything that exciting, larger than life, could take place in Edmonton! I also really enjoyed Minister Faust’s story of how when his book was published in the U.S. people reacted by insisting that Edmonton (of all places!) was “so exotic!” Wasn’t even a term in my vocabulary to describe Edmonton, but really good writing is a powerful thing.
-Reconsidering local spaces: The Coyote Kings challenged the ways in which I may view my local, especially in its treatment of Whyte Ave. Whyte has always been one of my favorite parts of the city, but it’s not represented with the same love I feel for it. It made me take off my rose coloured glasses, if only for a moment.
-All hope is not lost!: You can have success as a writer in Edmonton! There are so many avenues at our disposal and writing about Edmonton can be done, and even enjoyed by people who don’t live here.
And finally… blogging can actually be kind of fun. Who knew?
The idea of Edmonton as "exotic" is something I hadn't really considered until this course, either. I was reading reviews of The Coyote Kings online, and I kept coming across reviewers who were using words like "cosmopolitan" and "complex" and "cultured" to describe Edmonton, which -- okay, my first reaction was to just laugh. But it really does remind me to look at Edmonton from the outside. I've always been the kind of person who to take discounts the Folk Fest because it's not Osheaga and assumes that Heritage Days is no big deal, because other cities must have it, too -- which is really not true! There are so many events in the city that I've just taken for granted.
ReplyDelete