oh maps

i have a certain affection for maps. they certainly are exclusive and certainly can be very badly done. but i like direction. i like figuring out where you are in context to another place. i like seeing strangely named streets or pathways. (i never noticed that they have such strange walking path names in whistler. "donkey punch" was one of them. yup.) i love planning out how you can get from one location to another on this concrete river that can connect you from edmonton to vancouver to toronto to texas to san diego to TIJUANA!

and that connotation of the map to the road trip. the drive. the walk. down a road that you think you kinda know just because you saw it on a map.

my favorite city map was the biomap or the "emotion map" because it focuses in on the city as a living breathing experience and not just a collection of geometrical and not-so-geometrical patterns. it also shows how those streets are where the magic happens. a romanticized concept, absolutely. this map does not show the inside of houses or apartments. but it doesn't fail to provide an idea of vibrancy of the street. in the public concrete stream of people so many things happen that we are unaware we are recognizing. this map reasserts those experiences not as good or bad but as lively qualities of cities.

after seeing these maps, i've no bloody idea what i'm going to do. oh jeez.

because sometimes you gotta focus on the positive

it's easy to impulsively relate what my sense of edmonton is if someone asks me but when i have to write it down a more thorough process of thought shows how little i actually think about my usual responses. i say what i'm kind of expected to say, "it's cold", "it sucks", "i want to get the hell out of here", etc.

in a way i see edmonton as an island or a fortress. during the winter months brave souls leave through finite gateways to see their loved ones in different places. they have to cross the perilous snow to reach civilization and then kiss the ground on which they stand before their inevitable return. but in the summer, with clear wide highways and such accessible fields, for three or four months we hold a party. it is a celebration of the freedom we have gained, perhaps achieved, and definitely deserve.

for me, edmonton is characterized by seasonal hyperbole. it's what i have to cling to so as to not feel isolated and sad. the skies, the storms, the fond drunk memories, the lazy summer jobs. all of it seems bigger and more important in the summer. i may frequent the same places (mostly focused on the university, on whyte, on west ed, and various trashy pubs) but there is nothing quite like stepping outside without putting on a coat and knowing that the real true night will last only three hours.