Vancouver!For my weekend (wed. and thur.) I went on an adventure up north. I took only my camera with a 50mm lense, my sleeping bag and a book, with no particular plans in mind, only an openness to what might happen. Nothing "happened," in the eventful sense of the word, nothing you could take a picture of and call news. But a lot of little mundane and yet slightly exotic miniature happenings filled my field of vision for about six hours of layperson anthropology (read as people-watching). At the risk of being anti-climactic, or perhaps methodologically bankrupt, I've already posted the conclusion of my ethnography between the title of this post and its opening. I won't go into great depth, but Vancouver transcends my notions of 'city' (or 'citiness") in these ways: people are nice, helpful, aren't shy eyed (will look you in yours), the streets are easy to navigate, framed by natural splendor, the most diverse city that I've been too, culturally and ethnically, yet it feels the least segregated. Although I have some ethical objections about resorting to stuff like this, I've decided to post mail order groom adds in all the major Vancouver newspapers. I love my country, but not enough to keep me from moving 50 or so kilometers north of it.
2 comments:
That sounds like a fun little adventure. I have been itching to visit Toronto for a while now. It's about an eight hour drive from Chicago, but I'd really like to spend a few days in the city and then visit some of the numerous parks right around it.
I enjoy these blog posts, Serge. The photos - of course - but you're a good writer, Serge... what with your photographer's eye and your philosopher's mind... makes for good reading.
I believe both William Gibson and Douglas Coupland live in Vancouver. You should look them up next time. They'd probably have you over for seafood.
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