After our little “pod” activity in class today, I want to explore the third question (personifying Edmonton) a little further. It seemed to be fairly common throughout our class to disagree with Cashmans claim that Edmonton has maintained a “civic personality”. A person in one of my groups brought up the point that it is probably a reality for Cashman because as seen in his book, he might choose to overlook certain aspects of our community and focus on certain things that resonate with him. To me, it seems that the dominating traits and facets of our city constantly change. I cannot picture just one single person to represent Edmonton and I feel it would not be doing the city justice to simplify it in such a way. Edmonton has proven to be an artistic hot spot, an important area of economic growth and many other things.
I wanted to prove to myself that Edmonton truly is fairly unique and it is possible to characterize (in at least some manner) other cities. When I think about one person who could represent Vancouver, I think about a young person, who could be of any ethnicity, friendly and exploring the many different possibilities such a city holds. When I consider Toronto, a more cosmopolitan man or woman in their thirties comes to mind, successful and independent.
Edmonton is a city full of personality and just as we as humans evolve and gather experiences, it changes before we can make up our mind on what Edmonton really is.
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When I was trying to come up with one persona to describe Edmonton I had some trouble as well. I think it's because I have lived here all my life, and as I've gotten older my views of this city have changed and Edmonton has come to mean different things to me. I think it's even harder now after being in this course, because I have discovered entirely new things about Edmonton and my views have changed yet again.
ReplyDeleteFor me it depends where I am in the city. Edmonton will take on a different personality completely depending where I am. The University, West Edmonton Mall, China Town, North Commons, and Clareview are all very different from each other I think. So yes, I agree, Edmonton is FULL of personality and a constantly changing one at that!
ReplyDeleteI think probably it's easier to personify a city with which you're not familiar. I can describe Calgary as a cowboy boot-stomping, executive suit-wearing man in his late fifties with a reddened nose and no concern for social issues because I've never lived there and don't know its complexities.
ReplyDeleteWow. Reading that over, I realized for me Calgary = Ralph Klein.
Sad but true. Sorry, all you Calgarians!