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it is high time the effects of other neighbourhoods become clear for that they are not to shame or disgrace anyone but to get on with a better conversation about being a city and being a neighbour posted in uncategorized 2 comments the first post of a blog series that will likely never take off november 1 2011 by david cl driedger if i had more time i would love to begin a series entitled five minute walk the name comes from my high school days and refers to a small record label specializing in marginal christian rock we all have a past don t we the reason it keeps coming to mind is because of how consistently impressed i am by what i encounter around my home in as little as a 5 minute walk this past friday my wife and i were without child and set out for a walk in the seasonally acceptable but still crisp fall air our original destination was the new coffehouse and gallery pop soda s at portage and furby on the way we noticed that the restaurant elements in the new uofw science building was open the restaurant occupies a glassed corner of the building and expands into the larger science complex unfortunately we did not take our camera so all the pictures to follow were snagged from the web the space that elements opens into the building was a warm and inspiring stop on out walk but we pressed on to what we thought was our destination pop soda s is a large eclectic space in contrast to the clean intentional and modern lines of the science building pop sodas the first time i was at pop sodas the place was packed standing room only as some local artist put on a great folk pop show this night things were more low key patrons were scattered about engaged in relaxed conversation listening to canned music for whatever reason perhaps we were still a little restless we decided to walk on and headed up portage towards stella s located in the new plug in institute for contemporary art as we got closer we saw a buzz of people around the entrance and inside the near completely glassed street level we were fortunate enough to have stumbled on the reception for a new art installation by lani maestro entitled her rain the installation is what i would call a highly conceptual work this means that most of us will be scratching our heads questioning the entire project of art when we first walk through the installation one of the pieces and indeed that is part of the experience the installation is meant to question the manner in which our subjectivities are constructed we are meant to be a part of the work none of maestro s pieces are traditionally framed there are not meant to be clear boundaries from which we can objectively evaluate a piece and to reject maestro s approach may well be to reject our willingness to be change to be touched well anyway we walked over into stella s shared a couple of glasses of wine over a waffle talked about beauty and other such mundane topics once finished we stepped and passing through the uofw pedestrian corridor it took us about five minutes to get home posted in local business portage ave restaurants the arts 1 comment reflection on a brief occupation october 20 2011 by david cl driedger i visited occupy winnipeg today with nights already dipping below freezing i had one initial question on my mind the answer is yes they are preparing for winter i only spent about hour at the site chatting with a few individuals after biking away alone now with my impressions i came to the confession that it is and would be quite easy to mock this local expression my conversations were peppered with grasping sentiments about being connected to something larger vague allusions to support from people with power comments about getting good press politically correct placating bitching against the man and some straight up bullshit i would not be surprised if the greatest immediate need this expression fulfills is to have egos rubbed both for people who are valiantly braving the cold in support of justice and also for others who can bring a pot of hot chili and bag of sweaters to feel good about supporting the cause why do i say this do i say this to discredit them or the expression i call this a confession simply because it is being honest with my perception and experience i do not want to create from nothing hopes and notions that do not relate to reality and this initial step of confession is important for myself in any event it is important because of the presence of another element i encountered what troubled me reflecting on the spirit of the people there were the resources being drawn upon for hope one person talked about being connected to something epic another sensed the significance of what was happening others appealed to the power of vague traditions some dropped ambiguous allusions to the lawyers and doctors connected to their cause one even said the provincial government supported them in fairness there was also clear acknowledgement that this is at the local level starting from scratch they are not even beginning they are trying to figure out how to begin at this point they are gathering and it is a diverse and motivated gathering and this i support i have struggled with the banner of we are the 99 perhaps it really is the best possible rallying cry to bring these diverse groups together but i struggle with it because of those who do not even factor into the equation i am thinking of two experiences i had in the last two days one was witnessing a person steal three boxes of diapers no small accomplishment and no doubt accompanied by no small amount of nerve or desperation the other was seeing a neighbourhood kid i have gotten to know riding around on the sidewalk with a bike that had a flat tire and no seat both events stirred that experience of not knowing whether i would laugh or cry if i were to express my emotions it is almost comedic in its tragedy and definitely tragic in its comedy it is the refuse and rejection of our society for me it was encountering the ones that do not have a place holder in the calculation of percentages in both instances the people involved were first nations females if there was to be some hope that i took from visiting occupy winnipeg it was that there were a number a first nations women present a relatively high proportion in a small overall number as i stood there not really instigating any conversation one of them simply poured out her life dramatic fashion i have experienced enough to call this a dramatic telling not to question whether or not it is factual but to recognize that tragedy has become one of a limited number of modes of communicating that some people seem capable of engaging in but it appears at this site the unrepresented and uncounted are finding some sort of representation and that is a good thing posted in canada first nations politics protest leave a comment kick fm partially on violence september 24 2011 by david cl driedger a couple of days ago i caught the tale end of a program on kick fm the red river college radio station they were addressing the topic of violence downtown if i would have been in the position i would have liked to call in and discuss it further now i am working from memory and want to be careful that i do not misrepresent what was happening on air so instead i will work from the impression i felt from that conversation one of the only lines i remember verbatim was something to the effect of the shooting downtown gives winnipeggers another excuse i should say another reason not to come downtown i want to address the position from which such a comment can be made the commentators on this program have the option of coming downtown or not what i want to ask is what allows some to have that option and conversely then to make the observation that some do not have this option by way of introduction i want to say that it is possible to talk about at least two different kinds of violence the first form of violence let s call it type a is what will come most clearly and probably viscerally to our minds at the question of violence we will likely be drawn to an image or story from memory that created a sort of traumatic break with what we consider a normal or peaceful life a couple of months ago i encountered a man who had been jumped on my street by several other individuals the man escaped the altercation and continued down the street where i met him as i looked up having not seen the fight itself i saw the strange and striking appearance of bright red blood flowing from his head this experience created a clear break with the rhythms of an average day at least for me this is one very clear and also accurate understanding of violence this was the violence being discussed on kick fm the second understanding of violence type b is a sort of inverse of the first rather than encountering an expression that creates a break with the rhythms of life these expressions of violence form part of the very structure of normal or peaceful life for example i grew up a small conservative town where the repression of certain lifestyles was so embedded in the culture that most could not recognize its expression the same could be said of racist cultures the point being that a particular form of violence actually constitutes the fabric of everyday life it this type b violence that allows some of us to have the option of coming downtown or not a superficial look at the online resource winnipeg crimestat will show that i live in one of the most type a violent areas of the city i don t deny this fact and understand there is much work to be done in response to this reality i want to create a space however to consider the structure that undergirds the normalcy or apparent peacefulness of other neighbourhoods in winnipeg one of the most effective means of creating control over type a violence is to erect ways of excluding groups and individuals deemed threatening after all our culture teaches us that violence begins with what is perceived as threatening doesn t it and what is the basic gauge of how much type a violence a community experiences i would argue that property values create one prime indicator in how residents perceive the presence or absence of type a violence so how does one go about protecting and growing property values in winnipeg s past one example was the active discrimination against first nation homeowners as their presence was considered a threat to other property owners there are of course simple acts of placing undesirable tenancy applications at the bottom of the list for more desirable rental properties when my wife and i were first married the rental company tried to actively discourage us from renting in our desired location apparently we were actually too good to live in a space that was being reserved for another segment of the population what is the result of these measures and procedures it means a limited opportunity for anyone who cannot afford to live in a peaceful neighbourhood who are those who cannot afford such neighbourhoods it is those who already have limited resources in other areas of life mental illness long term disabilities addictions unstable home life or new immigrants without language skill or education who are the ones most prone to be victims and perpetrators of type a violence the same people i just listed winnipeg cannot fully address type a violence until it considers what it would be mean to created more textured communities that take responsibility for the most vulnerable among us that we can speak of the option of coming downtown betrays the segregation that is already embedded in our society posted in crime leave a comment counter tagging august 21 2011 by david cl driedger in an earlier post reflecting on my experience trying to learn the language of tagging in my back lane i made the passing comment about wanting to create my own tags that might at least for an instant give some fence sitting kid pause well it looks like someone beat me to the punch a couple of tags have shown up down my back lane that look to be from the same individual i have to say that i actually quite like these tags when i thought of doing one i considered creating some expression of care some sort of i love you sentiment it seemed so ridiculous to me why would such a sentiment scrawled on a dumpster mean anything in thinking about a tag i was always assuming myself as the subject in these tags however symbols prominent in first nations culture create the orientation for the text i do not assume to know what some first nations youth might associate these images with but so far as spreading constructive images i thought these were not half bad posted in graffiti uncategorized 3 comments some summer experiences august 11 2011 by david cl driedger i have wanted to post on a few outings this summer that have really affirmed my love for living in that border space between downtown and the west end first was canada day i did not have any plans for canada day and only heard events promoted for the forks and assiniboine park i decided to take a chance and walk to central park with my son and see if anything was happening the sound of music and the noise of boisterous activity greeted me before i could see anything going on as i approached the park a panorama unfolded that continues to affirm my love for this neighbourhood perhaps it is cliche but i was welcome into the festivities of a global village i can t say the music was great or the program particularly well organized but i don t think anyone really cared or was paying too much attention people were there because it is great to gather in a beautiful open public space to celebrate the opportunities and lives that can be led in our neighbourhood i unleashed salem into the open field and watched as he interacted and mingled with children it was simply a wonderful time and space to have been able to participate in i also wanted to take time and mention john m king school s park located around ellice and agnes just over the 7 11 this has been one of my favourite places to take salem and let him run off some endless two year old energy i find that many play structures have pebbled stones under them i suspect the reason for this is a combination of cost effectiveness maintenance and technical safety pebbled stones being a softer fall than say concrete jmk school however has a firm but cushioning matting under its play structure that i find much more forgiving there always seems to be a wonderful vibe there as one group is often playing a pick up game of volleyball on the grass and a scattered assortment of children run around from one activity to another if i remember correctly over 10 years ago just before i first moved into the neighbourhood the school ground was actually all gravel and it took a significant community push to have grass put it in i went one morning when a mother and her three children were playing on the structure the little girl ran up to salem having never met him be...