An Edmonton Archive

As someone who has lived in Edmonton for a very short time, I find it extremely difficult to come up with a list of items--even as few as five--that could be included in an archive of Edmonton. My experience in Edmonton is extremely biased because of the influence of a critical perspective from a variety of university courses. In any case, items in my archive would attempt to address Edmonton's complex history, politics and culture.

1. The first and by far the most important item in my list would be the mural of Bishop Grandin at the Grandin LRT Station. The mural shows him with his wife who is holding a baby--ostensibly forcibly taken away from his/her First Nations parents to be put in a residential school to 'take the Indian out of him.' The grounds on which this city and even the University of Alberta stands, have a history of imperialism that needs to be recognized as a first step and this item will serve to remind us of that history.
2. The second item I would include would be something--I'm not sure exactly what--that would symbolize the 100 years (so far) of the University of Alberta. Unlike many other post-secondary institutions, I feel that that University of Alberta is distinguished in its contributions to the city's character. For me, it represents the best of city. The capacity to critique itself and the city--which I have learned here--is absolutely necessary for the betterment of all of us.
3. The thirdm item I would include would be a miniature model of the South Common Mall or the West Edmonton Mall. This would serve to demonstrate the rapid and what I deem unplanned growth of the city. The reason for this item's inclusion would be as a stark reminder of mistakes made that we need to learn from as a community.
4. Next, I would include a complete hockey kit--especially skates. There are two reasons for this: first, the overall obsession with the game in Canada in general and Edmonton in particular; and second, as a symbol of our long and cold winters. Although I'm not interested much in hockey, you are surrounded by it in this city. Gretzky is remembered in street names and shops etc, LRT trains are full of fans during hockey season etc. 
5. The last item would be bucket of the oil sands. Edmonton owes its growth to the oil sands and our economy is fuelled by oil. Oil has defined us politically as a city and as a province in the country. It is also critical to the great debate on the environment and therefore it's connection to the city's history, culture and politics are inexhaustible. For instance, the city and the province's feelings towards the federal government and rest of Canada are heavily coloured by Trudeau's policies regarding Albertan oil and more recently debates such as those initiated by James Cameron's Avatar have been important in shaping our identities and politics as a collective.

The five items, interrelated at many levels and in many ways, represent some of the most important aspects of Edmonton for me. The point in an archive should not merely be to celebrate but to critically evaluate the negative and the positive. That's why I feel that my list of archival items is not only warranted but a very important one.

Seeing Edmonton Like A Tourist

This week's topic is an extremely interesting one because I came to Edmonton as a tourist but that tour never really materialized. I came here to visit my family who had moved from Ontario just a month after I started university there. But I ended up getting into a car accident several days after my arrival here and just stayed. So I'd like to suggest for all tourists who come here to go to the following places.

Old Strathcona/Whyte Ave/Rivery Valley

The River Valley is one of the most serene places that I have ever seen in a city of Edmonton's size. And it's beautiful in the summer. After you've taken a long walk in a warm sunny summer day, it would be ideal to end the walk at Whyte Ave after you've traversed a little bit of Old Strathcona. The afternoon hustle and bustle of Whyte Ave and just the sheer number of people walking in groups trying to avoid, and in some cases not, street vendors reminds me of Pakistani open markets and bazaars. Just priceless!

Bruce Peel Special Collections

I can't help it. I'm a book worm and so should you! There's something inexplicable about the smell of old books that nothing else can ever match. Looking through books hundreds of years old, especially if they have margin notes or even a squiggly line from a previous owner can give you an amazing trip into history. Much more than the books themselves, the ability to peer back into hundreds of years of history is just pure bliss. We're fortunate to have this here at the University of Alberta and everyone should go there at least once.

West Edmonton Mall

I have mixed feeling about this one. I hate the concept but it still draws you once in a while. Also, I worked at Galaxyland for almost 3 years. The feeling in my gut right before the Mindbender's first drop is something that never gets old. Also, everyone should experience what an ex-world record looks like.

South Common Mall

This is like visiting hell. I imagine if we could visit hell and witness what goes on there, we might behave a tad bit nicer. So visit South Common Mall to learn about the atrocities of urban sprawl and to make a vow never to let it happen anywhere else. (Also, the owner of the South Common Mall is building another massive mall on the North side. Woohoo!)

I don't want to make the post too long, so I'll stop here. If you're interested in knowing what else I'd recommend, just ask!

Nature in Edmonton

Despite the fact that my father is a forester by training, the way I interacted with and conceptualized nature was not much more different than an engineer student. And yes I'm generalizing here and claiming that engineers don't have souls -- at least when it comes to nature.

It was in Edmonton, or more specifically, after my trip to Jasper and Banff National Parks, that I realized how crucial natural systems are to our well-being. The moment we begin to think that we can live outside, that is conceptually, of nature, is the beginning of the end. I thoroughly enjoy Edmonton summers because of the opportunity it gives me to walk and bike in the River Valley. Since

But I also feel that the River Valley is being threatened with the kind of rapid expansion that the city is going through. The 5 years that I alone have spent in Edmonton have seen tremendous growth in the city. And that tremendous growth comes from a new sub-divison after new sub-division. The city is being built for cars, not for people. I wish residence of the city and the planners at City Hall would take a second look and consider whether that's really what they want to do?

It's hard to understand this rapid 'development' and the River Valley co-exist. One represents nature at its best, the other materialist consumerism at it's best. So Edmonton has a split personality disorder so to speak. It doesn't know what it wants really. Is it a nature friendly city? Or is it a city of gas guzzlers? Is it both? Can it be both?

What have I learned so far?

So what have I learned so far? Probably the most important thing I have learned so far is how much our surroundings and the people we interact with affect our intellectual growth.

Let me explain what I mean. I grew up in Ontario and moved to Edmonton when was 19 years old. Not that I had been an imbecile prior to coming to Edmonton and the U of A, but there were certain experiences I have had in Edmonton that are exclusive to this city. The most striking example is the multicultural nature of the city along with its extensive population of Aboriginal people.

Growing up in Ontario it was common to see visible minorities like it is in Edmonton, but I had seen no more than 5 Aboriginal 'Canadians' in my six or seven years in Ontario. Seeing them here, have experienced hateful comments expressed against them by many of my own acquaintances, has allowed me to appreciate the sufferings that have been meted out to our First Nations.

I want to refer here to Alice Major's reference to caragana as a "tough colonial." Would I have had the same appreciation of this line if I had lived in Ontario? I highly doubt it. It's impossible to appreciate the significance of this line until you have experienced the evidence of colonization. As far as I'm concerned, that evidence has ceased to exist or is very had to access in Ontario.

Despite the fact that I hate Edmonton's winter, I value the space--that I have referred to the 27th dimension--it has provided me and encouraged the kind of critical thinking backed by experience which would never have occurred elsewhere in my opinion.

A single Edmonton location

If I had to pick a single Edmonton location to write about, I wouldn't write. I simply can't pick a single location.

Despite having lived here for more than 4 years now and not knowing much of the city, I don't think I can strip my experience of Edmonton down to one location. For me, there is no one location that in itself represents the city I have come to despise in the winters and enjoy in the summers.

I enjoy the River Valley for instance. It plays, at least as far as I am concerned, an important role in defining Edmonton.Yet green space like the River Valley is not unique to Edmonton. There are many similar spaces in the places where I have lived.

The University of Alberta has been the site of my intellectual growth. I am not sure if being at the U of A caused it or whether it was merely a coincident. Either way, a learned a great deal about my self and the world around me while here and perhaps even because of being here. Yet, the U of A alone does not in itself make Edmonton what it is for me.

There exists a space that is built of patches of all the places that I frequent in Edmonton, the University, the River Valley, the various bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, and homes. It is this space within which I locate my own existence. If that space could be physically located, this post would have been dedicated to it. However it can not. It exists because I recognize it. I'll call it the 27th Dimension--just for fun.

So this place called 27th Dimension is where I exist. All of my activities take place within it. That may not necessarily be walking, talking, or eating and sleeping. Rather it may be me listening to The Economist podcast or reading the New Left Review in the ETS (very nerdy, I know). Or it may be that I am staring blankly into oblivion. So yeah, that's it!

What have I learned in 380?

Not much.

Just kidding of course. I love reading and writing, but I think this course underscored the importance of writing for me. On the first day of class, I was probably the person who hated Edmonton the most. It was almost a knee jerk reaction. I think humans love to complain when things don't go our way. In that sense, the city of Edmonton in particular has served as good punching bag for everything that I don't like about my life while I have lived here.

But with this blog assignment in particular, when I was forced to pin down the things that I disliked about Edmonton, it felt like I was trying to grab water. On the other hand, this is really the city where my intellectual growth occurred. It was in this city, at this university, in an English class that I was forced to take, where I was forced to read an essay by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, which changed--so to speak--my entire outlook at life. I left the faculty of Science, and the dark side, to challenge myself intellectually and here I am.

Writing allows me to filter my thoughts from the knee-jerk reactions. I often lose sight of how valuable a tool it is. It's difficult to justify everything in writing that one might spit out verbally. But it's an incredibly important exercise because it forces you to consider things that you might take for granted, unquestioned and uncritical. Don't misunderstand me though. I do loathe Edmonton's winters and its dead character. Yet it's an intellectually lively space. My own transformation from a benign apathetic student into an (almost) radical Marxist-environmentalist is proof of that.

I'm thankful for the nudge that I received in Edmonton. If it wasn't for the intellectual variety and the breadth of people, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Queer/Minority Edmonton

I am unfamiliar with any particular spaces in Edmonton that are "owned" by minorities. But I will admit, as much as I despise Edmonton, that the intellectual growth I have undergone specifically with regards to queers and minorities in Edmonton has been immense.

Before starting my studies at the U of A, I had no specific opinions about sexual minorities and in particular about homosexuality. Although I was aware of the 'official' disdain for them in Islam, I was largely apathetic towards homosexuality and sexual minorities in general. However, thanks to a friend I met here in Edmonton, who is 'proud' and Muslim, I have now abandoned the fence.

From an Islamic and Pakistani perspective where 'homosexual sex' is rampant yet unacknowledged publicly (Iran's President made an infamous remark a few years ago that there are no gays in Iran, as an example), and to become a hardcore supporter for equality and the right to live and let live - it was all a massive change. All of it occurred in Edmonton. Although that friend has been denigrated multiple times at multiple fora, for his work to reconcile Islam and queerness - his resolve throughout the ordeal has amazed me.

His struggle in Edmonton is the lens through which I view the city and its embrace (or lack thereof) of minorities. He has done quite well, except within the Islamic community. Yet I'm hopeful, because by winning over the hearts and souls of miserables like me he's winning the smaller battles.

Some scholars have asserted that Islam is currently undergoing its own reformation. I wouldn't be surprised if several decades from now we view Edmonton as one of those cities which played a pivotal role in such a reformation. It might not be great or important as a stop on the Underground Railway, but it will definitely be something special. After all, Edmonton is the home to North America's oldest mosque. Who is to say that it won't be one of the leading cities (at least in North America) where pluralism wins?

Maps...

So here I am, several hours after a fall. Yes, it was ice, not my basement staircase.  My left hand will probably out of service for a few days. In any case, I have had a hard time about which maps I like the most. What I have decided though, is what map I find the most interesting. That's the Edmonton Crime Map.

I often get asked where I live. When I tell people I live in Riverbend, it's automatically assumed that I'm 'loaded.' And of course, that's not true at all. I therefore found the Crime Map very interesting because of the way it paints certain city neighbourhoods as no-go areas while others (like my own) are shown to be heavens on Earth.

When I was new in Edmonton, I worked for 8 months in Millwoods. I usually worked afternoons, so I finished work around 10-11 PM and would get home by midnight. Yet, in those 8 months I never experienced the "Millwoods is Killwoods" stuff. Bear in mind, I was very new to Edmonton. So I had new clue what neighbourhoods were 'good' and which were 'bad.' It was after I began university and stopped working that I realized Millwoods was unsafe. I never experienced it myself.

On the other hand, my current neighbourhood, which is supposedly were safe and upscale. I have had a depressed person go crazy and commit suicide. I came home from university one day to find out that police had blocked off the entire area, and two police snipers where inside my house, aiming at the supposed armed, depressed person who was hold up in an apartment across the street. There were dozens of officers in the area running around with automatic weapons..

So I'm not really sure how to read the map. Does it really reflect one's experience in a neighbourhood? May be? But I haven't really noticed it.

As for my Edmonton, I can map it. I hardly ever travel by car. So all my adventures happen in and around ETS accessible areas, mostly areas that are accessible by the LRT. Which, by the way, got stuck at the university LRT station a couple of weeks ago. While we were waiting in a packed LRT, I had three high school kids standing next to me. When we finally got to Health Sciences one of them told the others that he hates the next station because all the people who immigrate from 'Belgravia' live in that neighbourhood and he hates Belgravians.

Since I found no such country on the map of Europe, as he alleged, I propose that we declare Belgravia an independent state and establish passport and customs control offices on both ends of the Belgravia LRT Station?

That way, my map will become more interesting. I'll be passing through a different country everyday to reach University.

My Edmonton

My relationship with this city has been shaped largely by the very first week I spent in Edmonton. I flew from a blue, green, red, yellow--and relatively warm--Toronto to visit my family in Edmonton who had moved here when I began my university studies in Windsor. When the airplane began its descent I saw nothing but snow and the curvy North Saskatchewan River. I knew from that moment that I would not like this city.

Several days later, I went to drop off my dad to his job and on my way back my car was hit by a young high school student driving alone, on learner's permit. I was hurt and had to take a break from university. While recovering I decided to stay in Edmonton and pursue my education at the University of Alberta.

My life in Edmonton has been influenced by the experiences of my first few weeks in this city. I almost completely stopped driving after the accident and rely heavily on public transit. Therefore, my existence within the city is pretty much along the routes of the ETS. I live in the Riverbend neighbourhood and have worked either in Millwoods or West Edmonton Mall. So aside from the University, West Edmonton Mall, and the Millwoods areas, I am unfamiliar with the city despite having lived here for more than four years now.

In that sense a huge section of the city lies beyond my 'boundaries.' Even though I am very inquisitive and adventurous by nature, I think my first impressions of Edmonton were horrible and have shaped my apathy to the city. Previously, I had lived in very small towns where walking and biking to and fro was the most convenient way to get around. Edmonton however is anything but good for pedestrians or cyclists. I have, therefore, been averse to venturing out and exploring.

To think about it, I have never really considered Edmonton 'home.' I came as a visitor and got stuck here due to circumstances. Yet, just as I write, I've realized that I've actually spent more time--4+ years--in Edmonton, than any other city in my life. So if any city could be considered home, it would be Edmonton; but I don't feel that way about it.

Who knows, this course might be a way to begin tearing down the imaginary boundaries and reservations I have had about Edmonton?

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