The Auburn Letter: CITIES

Issue 1

September 16, 2012

The Auburn Letter Into the Cities “The Downtown has already started its revival from the inside out.” pg 8

Inside this issue: What Downtown Knows……..... 9 Confessions of East Hamilton..10 Boston: Where Old Meets New..15

“The stampede in the 60’s was a community event.

Everybody talked about it.

Journey into China…16

Everybody seemed to be go ing.” pg. 19

Cover Photos: Charae Friesen

Hamilton, Ontario

The Auburn Letter is a publication allowing for the self expression of people from all walks of life through the visual arts, photography and all forms of writing.

Created by Brittany Friesen Editor in Chief Brittany Friesen Design Editor Charae & Brittany Friesen Contributing Authors Brittany Friesen, Milton Friesen, Wendy Li, Tresa Zacharia, William Parsons Contributing Photographers Brittany Friesen, Charae Friesen, Tresa Zacharia, Marva Goertzen, Wendy Li, Michelle Friesen, Milton Friesen

To Contact The Auburn Letter: Charae Friesen Boston, USA :

Email us at theauburnletter@gmail.com or visit our webpage theauburnletter.blogspot.ca

The Auburn Letter 2 22 2

The Auburn Letter Fall 2012

4 Letter from the editor 6 Hamilton, Canada

8 What Downtown Hamilton Knows 9 Another Day

10 Confessions of East Hamilton

12 the World

14 Samsun, Turkey

““Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” Jane Jacobs 15 Boston: Where Old Meets New

16 Journey into China 19 Calgary: 1960’s to 2012 3 The auburn letter 33 3

Photo by Brittany Friesen

Letter from the Editor Cities

are vital

Photo by Charae Friesen

for society. They are places for commerce, community, and the furthering of human ideas. Through this issue, cities will be explored from their roles in previous decades as well as in the current day.

The Auburn Letter is a place where people of all walks of life can come together and share ideas and expe-

riences through the visual arts and writing. Expression is important for people and can help to create awareness and change. A publication provides an organized place for people to submit their work to be shared with a community of readers.

Based out of Hamilton, The Auburn Letter adds a local flavor

of ideas while still remaining open to other exterior ideas.

The Editorial Team is excited to publish the first Cities issue and hope to stir meaningful discussion and encourage new people to submit with their impressions of life.

Enjoy!

Chief Editor, Brittany Friesen The Auburn Letter 4 44 4

Visit us at “theauburnletter.blogspot.ca�

The Auburn Letter will be releasing its second issue January (2013) on the

Performing Arts!

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Hamilton...

Photo by Charae Friesen

Photo by Brittany Friesen

66 6

Photo by Charae Friesen

Photo by Charae Friesen Photo by Milton Friesen

The city of waterfalls 77 7

What Downtown Hamilton Knows

By Brittany Friesen

Downtown Hamilton has long since gained its reputation as a rundown area that one should only venture into during the day.

Old shops line King street, many of which that could use a good cleaning. The court yard in front of Jackson Square is constantly filled with various performers, of varying levels of talent, entertaining the locals waiting at bus stops.

Many would argue that Downtown Hamilton needs an intervention of some kind but unknown to those outside, the Downtown has already started its revival from the inside out.

New shops have begun to appear along King street bringing with them new ideas, people and spaces for community. Gordon Books has just recently opened its doors, selling new and used books. Denningers continues to sell food from all over the world attracting many different people of various cultural backgrounds. Ziegler, situated on the corner of King and Walnut, offers original feminine clothing ranging from beach dresses to bathing suits. These shops with

original products provide a sharp contrast to the conformity of the typical shopping centre with its many large scale brand name stores. You can walk down King Street and shop for almost anything, with the guarantee that no one else will have anything quite like it. Something Limeridge and Eastgate cannot. In an era very much dominated by mass production and electronic interactions, the Downtown has begun to bring back small scale business and its resulting community, of which Hamilton is beginning to benefit.

The Hamilton Street Railway has been since 1874 providing Hamiltonians with access to nearly every area in the city. The bus creates a unique place for interaction between people in a very non intimidating situation. Students heading to school, business associates heading to work, locals heading downtown for the day are all confined together for an undefined period of time, waiting for their stop. People who otherwise would never meet, are Photo by Brittany Friesen

brought together creating awareness for the different people and their situations, as teenage mothers maneuver their strollers on the bus and the elderly find seats at the front. An accepting community is created through the Hamilton Street Railway as it operates in and through the downtown core.

Copps Coliseum brings in sports, musicals, the circus and many different kinds of concerts. These events draw people from all over Hamilton and the surrounding area into the downtown where together they are able to share the commonality of a shared experience for a few hours. After the event, people pour out onto the Downtown’s streets as they find their ways home. Compared to the typical nightlife of clubs and bars of the downtown, Copps Coliseum allows for people of all ages to be entertained in a safe, constructive way. Community is again achieved as people come together for a common purpose such as the events housed in Copps Coliseum.

Community is essential in a city.

Hamilton has lost much of its interaction between its various parts and will suffer for it. The Downtown has begun to rebuild community in an era very much lacking it, through its innovative shops and their draw to many different people. Through the constant flow of busses, mixing the different ages and classes of people allowing for further community brought by awareness. Even Copps Coliseum with its facility drawing many different art forms and finds commonality between people as they attend events. Isolation threatens many aspects of people’s lives today.

Downtown Hamilton has begun to reconnect people in a way that will create a thriving city.

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Another Day

By Brittany Friesen

Photo by Charae Friesen

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Photo by Charae Friesen

Confessions of East Hamilton

By Milton Friesen

Cities are interesting because they bring differences together: wealthy neighbourhoods near poor ones, tower condos near houses, industrial installations near schools, roadways near railways, coffee shops near libraries. This is less true of newly developed cities and suburbs where land use rules dictate definitive separation. East Hamilton has considerably more of the interesting proximity than many of the newer areas and maybe that’s why I like living there so much.

Don’t get me wrong. It isn’t a rosy nostalgia that fuels my love for the East end. Like other urban citizens, we’ve had our bikes stolen, cars tagged, bedroom window broken, and suspicious characters wander through. The broken glass that appears over the weekend at the local school playgrounds is hardly enticing. My family and I are

newcomers, only four years into our Hamilton life together. But the effects, judged so far, have been very good for us in many ways.

First, there are, fewer illusions about what contemporary life is like. Not everyone wins. Not everyone gets all of the material benefits that retirement commercials, banks, financial services, car makers, and developers promise to us. There really is a gap between the haves and have-nots. When you walk through it, drive through it, bus past it, and rub shoulders with that gap, it seems a more direct sensibility about life is a by-product. I’m neither hero nor social activist. In fact, being neither, it seem important to be constantly reminded of the conditions of life as they are, not as we hope they are. If I were younger, I would say that it helps to keep things real but I’m not so I won’t. The Auburn Letter 10 1010 10

It’s just that I can feel so tired of being sold the new and shiny that never delivers even a fraction of what’s promised.

Second, we have never lived in a place where the human connections were better than they are in our neighbourhood. We don’t feel alone in Hamilton. The physical landscape may look a bit worn but there is a social fabric in parts of East Hamilton that can’t be replicated by new developments named after English castles or Italian estates. If you have grown tired of your own pretentions, you may well find that there is a place to belong in this part of the city. You don’t have to try so hard to impress people (and anyone who has done that knows how profoundly draining it is to keep up appearances). Though this part of the city doesn’t require the choice (there are many fantastic streets where trees arch and touch overhead in summerdrenched cicada cacophonies) I’d choose a run-down people place over a pristine relational vacuum any day of the week. Your range of options are wider here.

Finally, there is possibility. When everything is perfect, there is the worry about how it will become less so.

When things have bounced out of the perfection basket a few times such as happened here during the 1970s,

King Street in the Heart of East Side Hamilton

80s, and 90s, the view tends to be toward building and re-building, finding a corner, a niche, a spot, where you can meaningfully contribute to building a place, a space, a home, a group, a belonging.

There are no guarantees in such endeavours, but the possibility that they can happen is immensely encouraging. Work remains to be done. It is human scale enough to invite participation. There is room to be about something that might just matter.

Vital cities require citizens who feel compelled to pick up the bit of slack they see around them and add some tension to the line. There’s plenty of work to be done. We’ve got so many capable people around who are raising families, running businesses, caring for grandkids, cutting lawns, cleaning up glass, organizing gatherings, teaching students, and generally keeping the trains running. I like that.

And I like that we have a legacy of making things, building, designing, forging, fabricating, and organizing. My family and I didn’t build that legacy but we are doing what we can to contribute to it in our own small way, letting the feel of the place work its way into our lives.

One of the great things in Hamilton is that there are many different city experiences to be part of, a diversity of options from new subdivisions to early, core city apartments and row houses. You can live near a beach, a farm, a factory, a theatre, a cliff (mountain), a waterfall or a golf course. All of them are within a short drive of each other.

The people that these diversities house and attract are distinctive as well. We’re glad to Photo by Brittany Friesen be part of the mix.

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Photo by Wendy Li

Photo by Milton Friesen

The

Photo by Milton Friesen Photo by Milton Friesen

1212 12

Photo by Milton Friesen

World Photo by Milton Friesen

Photo by Milton Friesen

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I’m currently in the Turkish city called Samsun for the summer after leaving Canada and this place is wonderful. I live in an apartment with my parents

Sam

Photo by Tresa Zacharia

To The Travellers at Heart,

across the street from the beach and the view is incredible. In comparison to Canadian weather, Samsun is about 20 degrees hotter. In the peak of the day temperatures are in the high 30s with the sun seemingly attempting to melt your skin off. In the mornings though, the weather is cool enough to go running or biking, which a lot of people do. If you get up early enough, you can catch the sunrise over the ocean. The sky turns beautiful shades of purple, red, and orange. There’s a lot of wind here since it’s right by the ocean and if you open both ends of the apartments you get an awesome breeze blowing right through the house. It’s Ramadan here, which means that most of the locals are fasting throughout the whole day. I attempted to do this but failed miserably; it’s really difficult to go 17 hours without eating or drinking. The town that we live in is called Atakum and there’s a university, supermarkets, a mini mall, and best of all, a horse stable. I’ve never ridden horses before, but my parents decided it would be a decent skill to have so I’ve started taking lessons and it is a lot harder than it looks. Once I get good enough though I can only imagine how great it would be to go riding along the beach.

Sincerely,

Tresa Zacharia The Auburn Letter 14 1414 14

Boston: Where Old Meets New

Photo by Michelle Friesen

By Brittany Friesen

Boston. A city I hadn’t thought

stone streets of London lined

vard University among the in-

much about before our family

with the ominous wall of homes.

novative bicycle commuters

ventured inside on a summer va-

Honking. The people of Boston

rebelling against the vehicle

cation. Home of the revered Har-

use their car horn as freely as

revolution. Old ships in the

vard University with its intimi-

Hamiltonians pull out a cigarette.

harbor as the night crowd fills

dating stone buildings and enor-

Bikes line the streets, ours joined

the streets often heading the

mous library. We toured the

the regular commuters as we

acclaimed Italian bakeries. Bos-

campus and I found myself

toured with the Urban Bike

ton is a city for the young with

drawn to the regal institution.

group making a long line of neon

an appreciation for the time

While touring the streets one felt

green.

honored traditions and for the

very much as though they had travelled back into the cobble15 The auburn letter

Boston very much represents the old living amongst the new, Har-

old seeking the innovation of the younger generation.

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Journey into China

By Wendy Li Photo by Wendy Li

The City of NanChang, JiangXi

This July, my journey to China, the place of my birth, was less of a reunion with my dear old country and more of an eye opener to the vast differences between western and eastern society.

I was visiting the country of my birth as a foreigner. What did I do when the first time I rode in a taxi? I marvelled at the chaos of the streets and thought the whole lot of them – the drivers and the pedestrians – uncivilised.

What did I do the first couple times I had to use a ‘old-fashioned’ toilet? I cringed and held my breath – felt a little sick to my stomach – and then whined about it to my mom afterwards. And when we were served duck, frog and snake, among other meats? I refused to try any of it and instead contemplated the morality of those who did. But by the end of the trip, I had embraced the agility of the common taxi driver, had no issue with using the toilets and I’m able to give my honest opinion on the meat because I tried it. Once I crossed the cultural chasm and embraced the differences, I came to love China. It feels like home. China is a complex nation, built upon

thousands of years of tradition. There are so many facets of life in the city and the cities themselves and the only way to understand – and maybe come to love it – is to experience it for yourself. In this piece, I’ve decided to touch on transportation and the food culture – both significant parts of city life.

1.6 billion people – that’s a lot of people – equals many vehicles on the road and a colourful assortment of them. In addition to the personal cars and buses, like we find here in Canada, in Chinese cities, taxis and motorcycles (scooters) dominate the roads. The large number of people also results in a disregard for what we here consider to be basic traffic law. The saying, “every man for himself” is certainly evident. Seatbelts are not required and children don’t use car seats (I can remember the time I visited when I was five and I sat on my dad’s lap in the front). If a car lets a pedestrian cross the street at an intersection where there are no lights, they might as well just park there for all the pedestrian traffic that will surely follow. And vise versa. Traffic in a Chinese city is a little insane. Step out onto most major roads, winding mountain passes and tightly packed small streets – especially in times of road construction – and your ears will be bombarded with a continuous and overlapping cacophony of car horns.

At first, this noise offended me. Each blast seemed to send rude undertones blaring. But then I realized that the beep wasn’t just a curse, or an unspoken complaint driven by impatience. The beep is one driver saying to another, “Pay attention, I’m headed your way” or “Don’t make any sudden moves, I’m about to pass you”. There’s a lot of passing and The Auburn Letter 16 1616 16

weaving on the road in China and I think if not for the honking, there’d be a lot more accidents. The traffic is chaotic but it works. And from what I’ve seen, both inter-city travelling and getting around day-to-day is pretty convenient. Getting around the city is quite convenient with the diverse selection of public transportation available. The bus, the subway and the taxi (all three are common to the West as well; but also motorcycle taxis that come in all shapes and sizes, bicycle carriages/buggies and non-affiliated people with cars who offer to drive you around for a higher fee than a regular taxi. (Although useful in bad weather when all actual taxis are taken, I’ve been warned not to take that particular mode of transportation when alone or at night). In the city where I stayed the longest, NanChang in the province of JiangXi, the bus ride was only 1 Yuan (about 17 cents CAD). Compared to the Hamilton Busses, China’s were considerably cleaner. One aspect of the taxi-taking experience that could be improved on is the manners on the part of other travellers and the taxi driver. On one occasion, when getting off at a busy part of the street, we hurriedly were told by the driver to, “Get out.” And again when we had clearly flagged down a taxi and was about to put my sister’s stroller in the trunk, a women breezed past me, opened the door and the taxi drove off! We were frustrated, to say the least.

Travelling from city to city is also much more convenient nowadays. Highways have virtually no traffic and are surrounded by a beautiful array of mountains and small villages, for the most part untouched by development. One thing I found disconcerting was that it was normal to toss garbage out your window, despite signs specifically banning it. Another

thing to note is that most highways are tollpaying. Once, coming back from a day trip in a rented bus, the driver got in a pretty heated and lengthy argument with the toll booth attendant because he didn’t have the city’s license plate and was forced to pay more than expected. For the most part, stations and trains themselves are quite clean and convenient. The best in terms of cleanliness and comfort from my experience include the subway in ShenZhen (running above and below ground) and the Light Rail (separated into different categories: DongChe and GaoTie) – relatively new enterprises and the fastest trains in China. The taxi rides were certainly memorable – comparable to movie car chases – and riding on the back of a motorcycle – think: no hands, no helmet and the wind in your hair.

Much of Chinese culture is its ‘food culture’.

In China, I felt like I was eating all day, nonstop. Once you get past your reservations (“Is this clean?” “Is it right to eat this?” “But we don’t eat this back home!”), there really is so much to try and most of it is so, so good. The Chinese like to go out to eat. For breakfast, there are places that sell specifically breakfast foods: rice noodle, fried dough sticks, a drink made from soybeans. If you’re in GuangZhou, there is the famous “Early Tea”, with tea and a wide variety of cakes and sweets and treats, like dumplings and buns. Lunch and dinner involve traditional dishes of meats, vegetables and soups. If that’s not enough to make you full, there is a tradition of ‘midnight snacks’ where you go out after dinner – as late as you want, really – and eat at street-side restaurants. The sanitation is highly doubtful, if non -existent, but there’s lobster and snails and everything on a stick cooked on a barbecue of sorts. Everything from lamb to fish to mush-

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rooms. And if you happen to hungry in between meals, you can fix your craving at the multitude of street-side vendors, selling ‘stinky tofu’, spicy meats, buns and also things like ice cream and bubble tea.

Although multi-national fast-food restaurants like Pizza Hut and KFC definitely have a presence in China, I’d say that most still frequent Chinese restaurants. Let me explain the mechanics of eating out in China. The way the Chinese eat is different. In Western Culture, even though we may share a salad or dessert, we each order our own dish. In China, several dishes are ordered for everyone, in addition to a large bowl of rice. The meal is enjoyed with everyone’s chopsticks taking from the same dishes. There are no defined courses. Usually one or two people, either the ones who are footing the bill or the special guests, order for everyone. Most places offer a pot of tea on the house and if alcohol is present, the custom is to frequently toast others and then drink.

Basic cutlery includes a small plate, a bowl, a teacup and chopsticks. Fancier places will have, in addition to that, an additional glass, a soup soon (different from a Western spoon), a chopsticks holder, a cloth napkin as well as a wet napkin for cleaning your hands.

Of all the Chinese dishes, the one that sticks out at me as the most unique is the turtle and snake soup. It is said to have beautifying properties and I was promised that two bowls would cure me of my acne. That claim is false.

However, I do think that the Chinese diet is a lot healthier than North America’s in terms of nutrition and serving size.

What I’ve mentioned in transportation and food barely grazes the surface of what a Chinese city is like. In a city whose culture and practices are completely foreign, I have found enjoyment in exploring new cuisine, modes of transportation and the memorable washroom facilities.

Photo by Wendy Li

Bigger restaurants will have private rooms in which you have the table, often a mah-jong/ card table and sometimes a personal bathroom. Really ‘slummy’ places will have plastic tablecloths and highly unsanitary hole-in-theground type toilets. Many places will have their cutlery in plastic packaging and the chopsticks in a sealed paper sleeve, which means the restaurant sends their dishes away

to a cleaning company. The effectiveness of the cleaning is doubtful though, and there is a custom of washing your bowl and cup in the hot tea that is provided. No matter what kind of place you’re at, there is a habit of calling the servers “meinu” (translates literally to beautiful girl) and “shuaige” (translates to handsome man). There’s also a habit of leaving your garbage (paper napkins, bones) anywhere – on the floor, on the tablecloth, etc.

Both of these habits I couldn’t hear or see without feeling a little strange.

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Calgary: From the 1960’s to 2012 Photo by Marva Goertzen

Featuring William Parsons

Photo by Charae Friesen

Photo by Charae Friesen

William Parsons has spent much of his life moving around Canada. Of the many small towns and cities that he has lived in, Calgary has drawn him back.

From his first visit in 1966 to his current living situation on the outskirts of Calgary, William has experienced Calgary’s growth as a city.

Brittany: Describe your life in Calgary in the 1960’s.

William: We moved in 1962 to Oyin. Then after two and half years we moved to Calgary. I was just out of high school. It was the big city as far as I was concerned; as far as Canada was concerned. I came in on a Sunday afternoon. Monday morning was the Calgary Stampede Parade. My responsibility was to drive my mother and three siblings down to the parade, and we got downtown to the place where we could watch the parade. I remember getting home after the parade was over, my mother saying to me that I had done well driving. Well, it wasn’t a big challenge driving, there was traffic on two lanes coming into the downtown and two lanes coming out. It was so heavy that you didn’t have any option but to stop and go with the traffic. The population would have been about 600 000 when we moved there. The first job I got was at Federated Coop on ninth avenue downtown. I would ride the bus down in the morning at about quarter after seven for an eight o clock start. I would ride down to city centre and walk about ten blocks to the ware house where I would count merchandise.

Brittany: What effect has the Calgary Stampede had on Calgary over the years?

William: The stampede in the 60’s was a community event. Everybody talked about it. Everybody seemed to be going. It seemed to be a very positive experience for everybody that was there. The city has outgrown the stampede in some ways. This is their 100th celebration and in my circle, many of the people that I have talked to would say that they haven’t been for however many years and that they didn’t plan to go this year. That it was for young people and that they weren’t a cowboy. In many ways Calgary has become an oil and gas city in terms of industry, that has overshadowed the ranching and agricultural part of Calgary. Which isn’t to say that there isn’t any. It would appear to me that oil and gas are more dominant than agriculture is.

19 The Auburn Letter 18 The auburn letter 1919 19

Calgary: From 1960 to 2012 Featuring William Parsons

Brittany: Has the Calgary Stampede become more commercialised?

William: The rides have changed with technology and the barkers may have changed their pitch a little bit. The midway seems to be the same midway that it has always been.

Brittany: The Stampede itself hasn’t changed.

William: I don’t think so. It’s a good rodeo but you can go to some of the small towns that have their rodeos and get a lot closer than you would at the Stampede.

Brittany: What are some major changes you would see now in Calgary from when you lived there in the 60’s?

William: Calgary has grown to over a million people. With the million people come a lot of traffic and a lot of pressure for people to do things. Like walking or driving they seemed to be under pressure to get it done. In Calgary we saw situations where both husband and wife worked. Calgary was kind of the new frontier. People were moving there because oil was taking off, jobs were often plentiful, and companies were moving their business here. In the 50’s Winnipeg was one of the big financial centres with head offices, many of those moved in the 60’s and 70’s to Calgary. Manufacturing that had to do with the Oil Patch was taking off in Calgary.

In 1960 the people that considered themselves to live in the core of the city, downtown, could walk to their place of employment in a 20 minute walk. Today it is considered a 20 minute drive. Places that are called a city centre house, I don’t think of that as being a city centre place because it wasn’t city center when I moved to the city. It was a suburb, out there.

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The LRT was not there when we moved to the city and it has become a big arm of transportation to move people. It does a great job of moving Calgary. During the 60’s the LRT was brought into Calgary, I don’t remember hearing anyone saying anything negative about it.

Thousands of people are moved daily on the LRT. The Calgary Zoo was there in the 60’s. It has grown; it is much bigger today than it was then.

Calgary Brewery aquarium was all indoor. You could see various fish and aquatic mammals as they did their thing.

Brittany: Would you say that the Calgary Zoo has been outgrown like the Calgary Stampede?

William: The zoo is different. The zoo appeals to a broader group of people than the stampede does.

Photo by Marva Goertzen

Brittany: Would you say Calgary has changed for the better?

William: Yes. With every asset there is always something negative. With the growth of Calgary there are some negative things that have transpired like crime and homelessness. I would think greater than what was in the 60’s.

Brittany: Thank you.

Airdrie’s local Rodeo, just outside of Calgary 21 The auburn letter 2121 21

9.95 CND 2222 22