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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