Reading week has definitely been living up to its namesake, so the opportunity to get out and walk my partner’s map was a welcome one.
First off, I was lost. Lost in Edmonton. Lost in a part of town I had never been to before. I honestly did not think this was in any way possible.
After having brunch with some friends, I commandeered a ride to the Argyll Velodrome, where my journey was to begin—this in itself was an adventure, as no one in the car knew where we were going. Nevertheless, after many ‘80s hits had soundtracked our journey, we arrived. At this point, I hopped out of the car, waved goodbye to my friends and began what would be a very cold, yet refreshing, traverse through Mill Creek ravine.
On my little excursion (to which I owe my toes an apology, as they were chilliest) I was presented with ‘The House of Broken Dreams.’ In the ravine there is an open plot where an abandoned house once stood.
All that remains is this lamp post.
I also had several things in my map that are no longer there, or have changed drastically. These absences, rather than still-present things/objects/places was the first thing that my walk got my brain churning.
‘Place,’ as we discussed in class, is becoming (in my opinion) more and more a location with collective memory. Because, even though I never saw the ‘House of Broken Dreams’ I now know where it was, and have my own interpretation of it—a result of someone else’s sharing.
This notion is strange, but becomes stranger when you consider other ‘places’ beyond Edmonton. Edmonton is a fairly young city, so when you think about all the things that have been drastically changed over many centuries (see the Hypercities map of Rome) it becomes impossible to define a city as ‘place.’ We will never be able to share all of our memories of a space with one another (our mapping assignment being an example) but rather, only fragments. I guess we can all share a collective awareness of the city, but not an understanding. We will always have different perspectives.
You make a great point at the end about all of us having different perspectives. I think this is a really important thing to keep in mind when we are sharing our space with other people. Understanding that other people have different views allows us to see past them and find more common ground. Unfortunately, our society is a breeding ground for self-centered egocentric people who either refuse to see or accept other people's perspectives. these are the people who hold up traffic, yell at waitresses, pee on public toilet seats, and throw garbage out of their car window. screw them!
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