Category: winnipeg

A call for global everything specialists

I hate feeling at the mercy of other specialists.  I am not thinking so much about my occasional visit to the doctor’s office.  I am thinking particularly of the specialists who trade in information about the state of the world, the whole world that is.  How does one become such a specialist?  How does one negotiate the perspectives coming from the humanities, social and natural sciences as well as economics?  All this to say that I have been sitting with an article from last Saturday’s Winnipeg Free Press in the back of my mind for the last couple of days.  It is an op-ed piece entitled “The world is not running out of natural resources” (May 28) by Brian Lee Crowley.  As the title suggests the article outlines the false notion that there is an imminent crisis in global resources.  The main thesis of this position is that most accounts do not take seriously the ongoing capacity for humans to innovate and change course when necessary.  This is the reason why past prophecies of collapse and destruction continue to miss their mark.  This thinking reflects the first half of the article.  I suspect this sort of voice is necessary to counter the type of mindless hysteria that may actually serve advertising firms more than other ‘good’ causes.  But even here I really have no good idea.  I trust soundbites and articles such as these.  It is in the second half that my reservations begin to intensify.

The second half of the article makes a dramatic shift to the economic in stating that since 1800 global economic product has increased 50-fold and “this increase in human wealth has improved the state of humanity throughout the world.”  This is of course patently false as I think it could be argued that it has not improved the state of the First Nations community in Canada (I will not try and speak beyond my borders).  His point however is proved by statistics.  Yes, I suppose statistical improvement is difficult to deny as it has the power to ignore the cost of the marginal who literally do not figure in.  I am reminded of Kierkegaard’s thoughts on statistics near the end of Stages,

With the help of statistical tables one can laugh at all of life. . . . After all, a person can shut his door on the poor, and if someone should starve to death, then he can just look at a collection of statistical tables, see how many die every year of hunger – and he is comforted.

Sorry.  Off track.  As Crowley begins to conclude things really come off the rails in my mind.  Crowley holds wealthy nations as the beacon of what direction the world should be moving in.  “The richer countries become, the cleaner their environment.  So economic growth is the key factor allowing us to reduce most of the problems facing humanity. . . . [T]he right human institutions, such as private property, the rule of law, contract, incentives and human intelligence all work together reliably to solve those problems.”  Is it just me or should it be hard to make such statements (at least without some gag-reflex kicking in).  I have no doubt that I would be quickly silenced under the statistical ‘facts’ that Crowley would load on me if I tried to refute this thinking.  And again, I have little hard evidence with which to enter this conversation.  However, take the statement of correlation between wealth and environmental cleanliness.  Is this not simply a matter of a nation’s ability to bring in and then off-load undesirable content and processes such as manufacturing, recycling and disposing of the junk wealthier nations desire for temporary pleasure?  Can Crowley continue to say these things under the tenuous economic conditions that still (seem to) exist in the US?  Is it possible to speak of an ‘improved state of humanity throughout the world’ by statistics?  Seriously, I am no expert.  Does it even make sense to enter this argument using the same methodology?  I mean Crowley moves from the natural sciences to economics to existential well-being without any necessary transition, they are all seamless in his conception.  Is this just the worst of ‘ivory tower’ thinking that does not live alongside those whose lives have gone from okay to shit while some larger global trend tracks in a rising graph according a ‘human well-being index’?  Again, I don’t know.  Any global everything specialists out there that can help me?

At the corner of comedy and tragedy

About ten years back I was the caretaker of an apartment block that a church had renovated to provide low-rent stable apartments in Winnipeg’s West End.  The visionary and work-horse of this and many other projects was the late Harry Lehotsky.  I can still remember coming back to the apartment one evening seeing two facing peering out of what should have been an empty basement suite.  I went to check it out and there was Harry and the superintendent who oversaw all the blocks.  They were on a ‘steak-out’ of sorts waiting to see if . . . well I can’t remember what they were watching for . . . something suspicious I am sure.  We chatted for a while and in the course of the conversation we talked about why people would want to intentionally live in a neighbourhood like this (the caretaker before me was murdered).  Harry said a few things but I remember one line being, “It’s part carnal and part spiritual.”  Some people may not resonant with that statement but I do.  In addition to the (preventable) hurt that I see this neighbourhood there is also an allure a particular drama that is not performed (much) in the suburbs or the country.  I suspect some of you recognize this drama as well.

I don’t know very much about the classic categories of comedy and tragedy but this is my take on them.  Comedy exists to the extent that it can flirt with the boundaries of destruction and meaninglessness while tragedy is destruction by meaninglessness or meaningless destruction.  There is a sort of dramatic attention that humans give to both comedy and tragedy.  I find these elements both amply present in the West End and most ‘inner-city’ contexts that I have experience; two recent examples.

We were out for a walk when I saw a bike pass us.  Well that was a first a glance.  It was an adult riding the bike . . . with another adult riding on the handle bars . . . with a bottle of alcohol in his hands . . . in the middle of the street . . . going the wrong way down a one-way.  Once I put all those things together I had to pause in amazement at the seemingly unconscious achievement performed by these men.  Really I am almost afraid to ask what more they could have added to the comedic but nearly tragic performance?  All I could think was something to the effect of there goes trouble.

The second scene could have been taken out of a Kids in the Hall sketch except, well, it wasn’t.  I was walking back to my house more or less keeping my head down and as I approach our gate I looked up and saw a man walking towards me.  He was walking with purpose and determination, with some agitation perhaps.  There was a sort of dullness in his appearance.  His clothes were a little worn and maybe had not been cleaned recently but from the top of his head was the unmistakeably pure colour of blood red.  This only seemed to be partially bothering him.  I was a little shocked Holy geez man are you okay?  I asked.  He was a little disoriented.  I got him a towel and told him to put pressure on where it was coming from.  I drove him to my intended destination of the hospital but as we approached he said he lived close by and asked to be dropped off there.  I didn’t argue.  As he left the car I realized afterwards that his disorientation and pain had crystallized into vengeance and anger.  I suspect that his next stop was not the hospital.  Tragic.

Proximity and resources

Winnipeg’s tenth homicide was confirmed this morning.  The shooting took place around the CBC parking lot at Portage and Young.  We were likely just leaving our house at that time to run a few errands.  I am trying to retrace the moments to see if anything comes to mind.  We would have been close enough to hear the shooting.  Learning about the shooting does not seem to phase me personally despite the proximity.  In the larger media and civic perspective this will of course be another mark on the neighbourhood.  I think the reason this shooting does not phase me is due to something I have been thinking more and more about lately which is the question of resources.  I have sketched out a preliminary account of the type of resources I am talking about.

Continue reading “Proximity and resources” →

Visions of spring III

So Vision of spring I was a sort of depressing joke.  Signs of spring was a bit of a reminder and wake-up.  Visions of spring III is shaping up to be a lousy series.  It started when I pulled in to my back lane to find an SUV that I’m pretty sure was in better shape the day before.

damn

I did not notice the pink Hanna Montana skateboard in the foreground as I nervously snapped this.  ‘Fuck IP’ on the side is in reference to Indian Posse, one of the most prominent street gangs in Winnipeg.  Just a few houses down from this scene I saw a young girl (around 7 maybe) standing alone.  I got out in front of my garage and asked where her mom was (stupid question?).  She pointed in one direction when I talked about ‘home’ and the opposite direction when she talked about where she should be going.  I tried to tell her I would walk with her to get wherever she should be but I could never get any definite direction out of her.  I was going to invite her in but I did not know if that was a good idea (implicating myself in . . . what?).  I ended up calling the police non-emergency line (probably a bad choice . . . I don’t know) and then when I went back out she was gone.  The reality is that if she would have been wondering around on street or sidewalk I probably would not have thought anything of it.  The scene unnerved me as it came a day after a conversation I had regarding the statistics on women being sexually assaulted as children.

So, fine, some pretty shitty scenes.  Then I needed to go pick up my son and as I drive down to other end of the back I alley I come across this,

burn

Yes that’s right . . . its a house . . . on fire.

burn2

So on my way back I thought I would tour by and get a closer look.  The police however had the back lane closed off so as I turned down another street I got a glimpse of two teens getting the shakedown.

i wasn't me

I don’t know.  I don’t have much to add at this point.  All this comes as I have been thinking of the drastically different lives people would live if one or maybe two crucial resources were removed (financial security, family stability, mental and physical health, etc.).  This neighbourhood is a gathering (confining, corralling, funneling, ?) of such individuals.

Signs of spring . . .

. . . . in my neighbourhood.

slobz die here

(fortunately there was no blood under the arrow) This is the first tag on our garage door (showed up yesterday).  We have always lived in apartments and things somehow feel different now.

I forgot what it was like to go through winter and enter spring in a ‘bad’ Canadian neighbourhood (we moved back to Winnipeg after a three year stint in ‘rural’ Ontario).  Winter puts general traffic on ice.  There was a murder and one incident of having cop cars line the streets (false alarm I heard).  But the general movement is stilled and quiet.  No random screams or scuffles in the back alley (generally).  With the first few comfortable days of spring here (yes we are in April) I noticed stir.  Part of it is wonderful.  Kids tearing around on bikes.  Youth walking around able to look badass again without having to wear layers of clothing (though sky-masks can look really badass in winter).  But I also remember now that a certain level of vulnerability seeps out in the neighbourhood.  The vulnerability was of course always there but it was more concentrated around domestic incidents and targeted internal gang violence.  Now I can expect to encounter more threatening language and can expect to hear unpleasant things out on the street and hear more activity in the alley.

My wife was troubled by our recent tag.  Prior to this I had been thinking about intentionally tagging dumpsters with images and text that would someone get people thinking about power structures beyond the typical engagement I see happening in these neighbourhoods.  Hopefully I will post some further thoughts on that.

But its a dry cold . . .

I lived in southern Ontario for a short five years.  In that time I came to believe in something called a wet cold.  As you can suspect this is the inverse of the saying about heat, in that a wet temperature is always a worse experience than a dry one.  In any event, I came to believe it.  Yes the the temperature was not nearly so low as it was back home in Manitoba but the dampness got into your bones.  Well we are in the last weekend of February here in Winnipeg and the next two nights are slated for overnight lows of around -30 C (I will not get into windchill factor).  So to all you in Ontario with your poor wet snow . . . I call bullshit.

Oh yes and happy Festival du Voyageur!

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