Thursday, March 26, 2009
Same Street, Different Place
In a crisis, people rally around each other to defeat a common goal, if every movie I've ever watched is evn slightly correct. 'The Garneau Block' captures that perfectly, with an interesting and dynamic plot of character extremes that bring down their individual barriers just enough to accept each other's dark insides to attempt to resist the invaders, and I can't help but compare it to a perfect little community in 50's america banding together to fight a Red invasion for some reason. While it makes for stimulating reading, my only question is if thats realistic; whether or not the proposed demolition of Millwoods or my quaint idyllic town of Beaumont would even elicit anything close to that sort of reaction. When did we lose that particular neighborhood-survivability gene, and what can we do to get it back? excluding those of you that live in high-rises. Then, it will take the daunting prospect of escape from complete capsize of your building, Poseidon Adventure-style, to even create a response from your neighbors that elicits anything more than polite nods.
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I've often thought about the transient nature of Edmonton that halts the 'banding together' you speak of. If they started cutting down half the trees in my neighborhood, sure, I'd be a little miffed, but the cynic in my would proclaim, 'what do I care? I'm moving in a year.' We live in a different time than Kashman's. People don't sew their roots in deep in Edmonton. I bet if you were to poll our class, you would learn that few of them were born in Edmonton, and even fewer of them plan on staying here and raising a family. I think it's because people come to Edmonton to take what they need and then shuffle off that we experience this disconnection.
ReplyDeleteVery true, Mike. People don't seem to rely on neighbours like they used to. Sure, I'm friends with my neighbours, but I rely on my girlfriend's family who live across the city to check on our house when we're away. I do feel, though, a sort of boosterism for my neighbourhood...a desire to see it grow and prosper. I like to think that I'd be there for my neighbours if they needed me.
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