Note: These photos are not meant to be "good." They were taken with a toy camera and are designed to represent the overlapping/blurred/contained/focused/ childlike view (perhaps similar to my view of it as a child) of my old neighbourhood, old house and now closed elementary school.
To see through a child's eyes is to see everything in a fresh way.
New, exciting, but narrow (due to outside restrictions on travel..until you get a bike).
Children are explorative. Interested in every place, person and thing, children absorb overlapping images of items that are void of contextual boundaries.
Anything is possible.
As you grow, context through societal restrictions and interactions creates boundaries for living. Creativity is punished. Everything is not new and everything has a place.
"Crime is for the north and wealth is for the south."
As a child Edmonton feels small, comfortable and cozy. Most children stay within their neighbourhoods which allows them to become familiar with local people, businesses and nature. Even as an adult I was not completely aware of the northern sprawl and extent of the expansion to the south. With a self-centred child-like perspective, I had always felt my area of the city was one everyone was aware of. I mean...Idylwylde is the centre of the Edmonton isn't it?
Nowadays Edmonton still feels comfortable and cozy but I often wonder if that is because of the LACK of population. Space and community seems to matter more as you grow, it just isn't inherent, it is created. One could argue the lack of population allows you to know and become deeply involved in many peoples lives. You are not anonymous as everyone in Edmonton knows everyone.
My neighborhood wasn't void of characters either. There was the crazy german lady Mrs.Muser who would yell at you if you touched her lawn, there was Mr.Sorenson the Czech janitor who didn't speak English but used to bury children in his boiler room and there was the old neighbourhood legend Macho Man who used to do shirtless chin-ups on the monkey bars during recess.
I wonder if a child living in the densely populated communities in New york, London or Paris would attribute the same spatial comfort to their neighborhood or if their memories would be more influenced by the characters in the community.
As a boy growing up in a community that was formed in the mid-50's, I can relate to many of Mcgillis's tales. Idylwylde was small, tight-knit and old. These small communities offer a place for children to create memories. Eventually, however, one grows and your perspective changes but the memories still remain.
Like Mcgillis My goal posts from elementary school were fashioned out of two steel posts that were part of a baseball backstop. Eventually myself and all of my friends grew up and most have moved out of the neighbourhood. The school we went to closed and the baseball backstop was ripped out of the ground to make room for a parking lot.
2 comments:
You talk about "characters" in your neighbourhood, some as ridiculous as a man who buries children in the boiler room - it seems to me that children need this kind of mythology in people, and in places. Doesn't every area have its "Boo Radley House" and its "Boo Radley"?
Now, here's my real question: do we as adults need it too? Do we need to mythologize our city to make it our own?
i found the unusual idea of not being anonymous with a smaller population interesting. usually when we think of small populations we imagine they are also small communities, out in the middle of nowhere, restricted by harsh societal norms and whatnot. but the way you describe it and mcgillis as well, it's like there's some sort of freedom found in not being anonymous. instead of growing out into the world, we dig roots deeper into the ground.
we also tend to think of growing up as expanding our possibilities, but it's amazing how much gets limited. i like that you point this out. perhaps we can't ever go back to being children with wide scopes but at least if we are aware of our quickly limiting views we can make an effort to act child-like now and then.
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