There"s been kind of a back and forth discussion on my post on Christies bakery down in Mayfair area in Saskatoon. It"s about where some people used to live and how they remember the community in which they lived.
I"ve been thinking about that on this drizzly rainy day here in Prince Albert. Community I mean.
We enjoy life here because it"s of a size that lets you connect with other people on a regular basis, and that can encourage community to happen.
You know, going to the same stores, seeing the same neighbours shopping, saying a greeting, checking up on their kids and jobs, basically building a community.
But that"s also the thing we enjoyed about living in one area of a large city. We mostly knew our neighbours and the clerks at the local shops, and would greet them whenever we saw them.
Do these semblances of community still happen today? And are they valuable in terms of quality of life for those who live there?
This morning on CBC I heard a piece of an interview with an expert about how we need to design our cities better so that community can happen easier. They need to encourage connection and foster relationships. The speaker noted that in some larger cities, megachurches had stepped into that gap. Creating places to eat and drink and visit and meet and shop. Those churches were seen as providing a “Missing something”? in today"s fast paced world. She was arguing that this was where city planners needed to step up in designing places for these community based activities to happen naturally.
Cities that foster community and connection, rather than economic engines and box houses to live in while those engines are kept running.
So what"s it like where you live? Are there places for you to connect with your neighbours casually? Are there still places out there where you know the hardware guy by name? Places where the artisans (read: Breadmakers!!) live and work, practicing their honed craft for the betterment of the community in which they live?
Or is it different today, and those days are long behind us?
What I hate about our area of town is that there are few places that you can walk to in order to get the things that you need. We've started going to the Carlton Bakery about once a week or so, but that's about the only place there is.
ReplyDeleteWhen we visit Marc's folks in Summerland there is this great downtown where people sit out on the terraces and have coffee, etc. I love it. And wish more than anything that we had a place like that in PA -- even if I had to drive to get there.
I have great memories of that community feeling in Swift Current (pop. approx. 17,000) and my parents tell me it is still evident but not as obvious. We live in a condo with great neighbors except that the average age is about 2.5 times our age. Like I said, nice people, lots of social events, but not a whole lot in common so we haven't gotten to know them as well as we could've. Of course they all know "Jay (the young guy in the wheelchair)" but a lot of grey hairs and experienced faces ran together for me when I did meet everyone the first time. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd one more thing... I don't think that "community" is something that fits with North American culture, or at least it's not one of its defining characteristics.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many other cultures that seem to be good at community -- think of those pizza commercials with the rowdy Italians enjoying good conversation over some wine and "a homemada pizza pie". Most days I wish I had been born into one of those cultures, you know, the kind that still keep their community even within North America. But alas, I am filled with the stiff, bland whiteness of Norway and England.
Dude. This country is huge. People everywhere. However, community is also everywhere. When I cook supper, (my gas range top is out in a porch) so I can look out at the little store next door where people are always gathered playing cards and other such games. There are always lots of retired people strolling around outside with their grandkids. I feel like we are surrounded by community. That's one thing I really like about the culture here. They like to be outside "with" each other. Sitting on stools, playing hacky sack, just shooting the breeze. I sometimes stop to chat with people, but don't do it enough.. partly because my language is still pretty limited. But they are always friendly when I do stop. In some ways I wish Canadian culture was more like that. I think we miss out because it's so much harder to get into each others daily lives. We are much more inaccessible.
ReplyDeleteWe have a bakery in our small Kansas town (pop. 5,000). :) It's sort of the community living room and the rolls (and bread) are delicious.
ReplyDeleteHere's another sign I live in a small town: I called Pizza Hut the other night, gave the girl my phone number and she said "Oh, the Gilmores." Yep -- they know us by our phone number. (which means we probably eat too much pizza!)
Community is easier in a smaller town, but you still have to be intentional about it -- it's too easy to get caught up in all the day-to-day and not take time to visit with people.
Yes, I do believe the smaller the community, the more sociable the people seem to be. Of course that may not necessisarily true ether/ I lived in one small place and the day we were moving in, the next door lady came tromping over with some home-baked cookies. I am not an outgoing person,but, from that day forward, we were viviting neighbours. Nipawin is a really friendly plac, a lot mennonites live there and around. Then again, there i anothe small "city" where we lived and it had more of a mentality of the larger cities. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteIf we could just put the 7 months (when we face unbearably cold weather) under some kind of outdoor bubble it would be much easier to have that kind of "community". Although that said, there WAS a great community in downtown Prince Albert when I was a child....even in winter. Kresge's, the Met, Eatons.....all were great places to meet, eat shop and talk - and warm up.
ReplyDeleteI spent the first 13 years of my life on a farm where our nearest neighbours lived more than a mile away, and the nearest village (Shell Lake) was more than 5 miles away, but I think that community happened there as much as in the Mayfair neighbourhood of Saskatoon where I spent my teenage years (despite my fond memories of Christie's Mayfair Bakery, Mayfair Hardware, and the Dairy Queen on 33rd and Avenue B). If my mom were still alive she might disagree because I know the isolation sometimes got to her. I think you can find community in rural areas, small towns, or big cities, but at least in North America you need to make the effort. For introverts like me that can be difficult.
ReplyDeleteOne drawback of small places is that the locals might consider you an outsider for a long time.
Janet's family comes from a small English island, and apparently a family isn't considered a true "Scillonian" until the 3rd generation.