19:36 - 04/04/2009
Neighbourhood
Walking about has been a consistent theme the past few weeks. The weather, although still cold, has moderated enough so that it is possible to spend a couple of hours outdoors during the day. When I was younger and still living at home with my family, I used to pace endlessly when I was thinking. It seemed to help the process somehow. In aboriginal practices that is called "grouse" medicine. It is described in a way that is similar to the practices of the mystics of Judaism and Islam - the Hassidic and Sufi sects, respectively. All "dance" their dreams and prayers. I wasn't aware of that at the time, but it was a devotional type of act all the same. Maybe the motion distracts the mind/ego, so that spirit can operate freely. Hard to say. I've also added back stair-climbing to my activities at night or when a cold day forced me indoors. Pavarotti singing me up and down the scale, as the cats play tag around my feet. Hmmmmm.
When A+ and I met his friends a couple of weeks ago, we went to a restaurant that was located in one of the communities I lived in as a child. From the age of five to ten, I was. At that time, it was located miles outside the city. It was it's own self-contained bedroom community, just as there are different satellite communities encircling the much expanded metropolis now. There were a lot of refugee families from Eastern and Mediterranean Europe trying to re-establish themselves in those starter homes. I remember one family who built their home plank by plank, as they found the cash to buy the material. The first winter they arrived in that community, the only existing part of their home was the basement. Framed and poured concrete, y'all. I often wondered how they managed with heating and such, because it was very cold that year. Memories of that family sustained me through the difficult times I've had since the boys' Dad left. They came here with nothing and started from scratch, also not by choice. Sometimes the only way one can operate is on faith, isn't it?
When the community was absorbed by the city, it was vilified as backwards and bucolic by the bureaucratic administration of the city. That was the grounds stated for withholding resources that had been promised when the local council agreed to the merger. Resources paid for by the taxes from the residents in that community, by the way. What happened next to that community was that it became the whipping boy of both the municipal government and the media. It seemed as though it was never mentioned without a sneer and some disparaging remarks. It became a dumping ground for "troublesome" people - you know, the working poor, immigrants and single parent families. I watched the happy family focussed/oriented nature destroyed slowly but surely by the constant stereotyping, from the distance of my new family home in the far northwest of the city.
When we moved into this community I live in now a couple of decades ago, I began to hear the same rhetoric directed at this community as the last major economic bust of the 1980's descended on the city. One of the reasons I was so heavily involved in so many volunteer projects. When we moved in, most of the starter homes were filled with young families with one or two toddlers each. It was a very family friendly area, which is why most people chose it. Then came the negative stereotyping even though the "bad" things mentioned by the media were happening in every community of the city, because of the recession then. I was determined not to allow my children or my neighbours to be disparaged and demeaned in the same way as that original community that I called home had been.
Anyway, A+ and I decided to walk from that old community to his, several miles away, after we said good-bye to his friends. According to what the media mentions, we were in one of the most dangerous streets in the city, near one of the most notorious nightspots. Funny that there were just walkers and shoppers, like us, wandering about on that beautiful sunny Sunday morning.
We popped in to one of the major department stores, sited next to the restaurant we had just visited, that have facilities throughout the city. The goods were the same as in the other stores in that chain, but for much better prices. As when I tagged the toy stores a couple of months ago, the management seemed to take into consideration the income of the local population when setting prices. Real corporate social responsibility. I was looking for the one toy I've mentioned for my grand-daughter's birthday. Unsuccessful, but an interesting lesson all the same. We then headed north and west, walking through the residential areas. Older homes, no doubt, but well kept and carefully attended all the same. Past the high school and junior high, then onto the next shopping/community services node for the area. My favorite place in that old childhood community was always the library. I used to spend hours there in the nursery with my siblings being read to and entertained by the librarians as my Mom participated with our neigbourhood Moms in their bowling league. We all enjoyed the outings. That facility was moved to this node some years ago.
A+ and I wandered in to check out their resources now. His family's small business supplies some of those resources now, you see. He wanted to look at how they were being handled by the staff. This facility was chock full of children and young adults, as well as adults, all using the computers, the research resources, the reading areas and lending sections. There were books, tapes and cds in as many languages/cultures/faiths as the community houses. It was fascinating browsing the collections on the shelves. And, oh bliss, relatively current Bollywood movies with some of the most famous of that community's actors. Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, well and yes, the female leads as well, of course. The women's studies section was really up-to-date too. Compared to the public library serving our community, it was much superior. For one thing, there were books with copyright dates from past the year 2000. Even this current year. I know that our library is next to a cluster of public schools, so the rationale might be that most users would withdraw any current material there, but wait - well no, because so is this library. Anyway, I think we spent close to an hour just browsing before continuing our journey through the shops in the service cluster. A great supermarket and a number of niche restaurants and stores catering to various cultures. I loved the Chinese bakery. Get thee behind me, temptation.
Between then and now, A+ and I have managed a few more walks, that each lasted an hour or two, in and around our communities. Fresh air and exercise both, plus lots of laughter as we walked together. Yesterday it was snowing, but I managed to walk for an hour in my community on my own, just finishing errands that had been left while I attended one other work shift last week. Again, talking with some of the other senior counters after the grocery count, the commiseration with each other about the lack of shifts. The one counter mentioning that now that the area manager was back in town, he expected things to improve. Hope he's right.
I had an odd dream about the Macedonian, Alexander the Great a few nights ago. It seemed there was a huge encampment of his army in what appeared to be a European forest. I hadn't been aware that he had conquered north before heading east and south, but, when I checked on-line sources later, apparently his armies had secured all the region up to the Danube. Amazing. It was raining heavily. A boardwalk, of sorts, had been set up in the centre of the encampment. Councils of war were taking place. The dreaming "I" seemed to have access to those meetings, but had walked out to look after other responsibilities. They were trying to help Alexander solve the Gordian knot. Horses were tethered and cared for nearby. The stores area was located next to them. Inside that enclosure were the spoils of war, as well as all the food and gear an army of that time would require. I spied a leather outfit that I decided I would swap for the clothing I had, for what seemed to be a long, drawn-out campaign. I was cold, you see, in the mediterranean garb of the time. This chocolate brown leather was thick and warm, but smooth to the touch. A tunic, and vest for wearing over it, would keep me warmer and safer too. I seemed to move forward in time then, after picking up that fighting gear, to when the army was on the Silk Road to India. It seemed that, in hindsight, I was regretting my choice of clothing as I sweated uncontrollably in the searing heat. Hmmmm. I woke up then, realizing that I had too many covers on the bed - searing heat indeed. Anyway, time to tackle those stairs again - the cats are getting restless. Later dear diary.
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