the official grace & cello blog

i’ve been spending some time in another city lately, a city not montreal. this is a sort of passing, work-related relationship of a type that i have known in the past. the thing is, this ‘other city’ has been giving me a really hard time; i just find it hard to deal with, somehow. i am a place ‘nut’, and have had strange and varied encounters with many places, finding intimacy in the most unexpected of backwoods and mid-sized no-wheres … i have often been amazed at how each place has a beauty ready to be discovered by those willing to look, or to just sit and listen. i’ve always maintained that if a person can’t find anything redeeming about a place, it probably isn’t the place but the person.

so what is my problem with this new work-inspired geographical relationship? why am i finding it so hard to find beauty in this one particular place when so many others have moved me? i see all sorts of redeeming qualities there (or, i see at least a few … or a couple … of them); i don’t want you to think that i can’t find anything worthwhile there. but overall i am left feeling that this ‘other city’ is a depressing place. but following my own time-tested logic it should hold true that the problem isn’t the city, but me. could it be that my capacity for giving attention to new, less obviously stunning, places has passed — and with it my ability to be moved by them? is my age starting to betray my sense of exploratory playfulness? … or, could it be that this place is just exceptionally unimpressive?

i’d have to conclude (and here i admit i could be biased) that it is indeed an unimpressive city and not me, and here is my current working theory: this ‘other city’ lacks any sense of magic. the neighbourhoods are cute enough, but it all feels a little stale and lifeless; and, there is no sense of discovery in this ‘other city’; there is no sense that this ‘other city’ has the capacity to provide for moments of unexpected joy hidden randomly around this bend or another. 

yup, that’s my best guess: no magic. one thing that units all of the other places i have fallen in love with, be they small or large, urban or rural, has been the presence of magical moments sprinkled unexpected across their territories. hmm. yeah, i think that’s it.

just to be fair to those who have managed to capture some magical moments in their own perambulations, from top left to right: lonelywolphoto, christopher dewolf, katjato, and gudmpall.

facebook or myspace? starbucks or tim hortons (or dunkin donuts for my american friends)? social networks to change the world as we know it, or just another way to create divisions between us and them? here is a fascinating blog entry about how class (defined in some rather original (and refreshing) ways) is being further replicated and entrenched with the help of web 2.0, forcing us to stop and reconsider some of our grandiose notions of how far technology can really take us from being who we essentially are.

this makes me think of a discussion i had a couple months ago with a ‘new technology’ nut, who spoke of those who ‘aren’t branched in (to the internet)’ as being more prone to backwards thinking, and having a less open-minded view of the world. my question at the time was: ‘does the internet really expand our horizons’?

just thinking about some recent mass shooting events, and the fact that some of these shooters were very much ‘branched in’ led me to suspect that the internet wasn’t necessarily opening anybody’s eyes. it could, there is no doubt; but it seemed more realistic to me that the majority of people used the internet to talk with more people just like themselves, at least in certain ways: other star wars nuts, friends from high school, people who love japanese animation, stuff like that.

henry jenkins talks exactly about this tendency; about how the internet is as much a tool for maintaining our social divisions as are more traditional venues for networking. he is actually commenting in detail on a very well-informed brainstorm by danah boyd, but i think the two entries deserve reading.

i believe the internet and social networking sites do have the possibility of facilitating massive social change, providing those traditionally without a say the space and the tools necessary for meeting, interacting, and imagining collectively — in collectives until now unheard of. but, these articles remind us that this technology too can fall short if we are not careful, and vigilant. radio and television could have been incredible tools for building vibrant communities if their waves weren’t privatized (and those non-commercial spaces that still exist can attest to this). the danger to realizing the full potential of social networking might not be a corporate vs. community battle, but more of a battle within communities. hopefully we’ll find ways to see beyond our own comfort zones, and preconceived notions of what (and who) is right, acceptable and worthy of paying attention to.

diversity isn’t only for biology, after all.

c.

yup, things have started to get busy for us, trying to arrange all the pieces in advance so when everything starts to get complicated a month from now, we’ll already be ahead of the game! so far so good, thanks to victoria and her knack for covering her bases. the biggest challenge we’ve been noticing this season is finding those boutiques willing to invest in us and work with us to grow this eco-movement into something with a genuine, solid base of sustainability. seems with all the fervour around green fashion these days people are all or nothing. if it’s not organic it isn’t worth putting in a store. i don’t want to contradict that reflex because it always makes me happy to meet boutique owners who are serious about this stuff and not just tuning into a quick green fix. still, to get garments that are eco and made under fair labour conditions, we have to be realistic and accept some compromises. for example, our beautiful suits haven’t sold nearly as much as they should, given their style, quality and story (as of yet! i am still sure they’ll sell like organic hotcakes with organic blueberries sprinkled on top … ) because they are conventional wool. the true problem is: there doesn’t exist high quality organic wool suiting like we need for the women who buy our line, and so we have to make do with the next best (which is a gorgeous, 100% conventionally grown wool). but at the end of the day, our suits are still more environmentally-friendly than the majority of the alternatives women are wearing to work (which are typically mixed with some sort of synthetic petroleum-based product), and our stuff is made in good working environments here in montreal …. if we were bigger we could maybe order the organic wool we need, but we can’t get big until we have more support, and we can’t get the support we need if we don’t have that organic wool ! that’s what makes eco-fashion so satisfying: never a dull moment. oh well, we’ve been lucky to have a crew of great boutiques who have treated us fantastically, and with a little more hard work on our part, i’m sure we’ll find others … do you know of any?

c.

although jazzfest and out of town company is eating up all sorts of g&c free time, as promised, here is yet another city from the vegnews eco-city edition of june 2007 … this one about freiburg, which is a good one for those of us who are looking for practical and tangible means of moving sustainability forward in our cities.

first of all, they realized the beauty in solar, where instead of growing fuel (as in biodiesels) they simply capture it from the sun (which grows the the plants that are meant to later make fuel) … cut right to the chase, you know. billed as europe’s ’solar city’, photovoltaic panels adorn the roofs of Central Station, the hospital, the soccer stadium, several interior city gardens and even the local brewery. solar researchers have chosen freiburg as their home-base and one solar-module production plant is entirely zero-emission.

the city provides incentives for those who upgrade insulation in the homes, and all new houses built on city land have to meet strict standards of enery efficiency that lower emissions by 30%. speaking of 30%, one-third of all trips made by freiburg citizens are by bicycle (beautiful!). boasting a history of informed, intelligent city councils freiburg has been car-free in its city-centre since 1973, and the city sells a low-cost monthly pass called the ‘environmental ticket’ that has doubled the use of public transit since 1980. in terms of garbage, the city has managed to reduce by two-thirds its contribution to the landfill (through ambitious recycling progams), and 42% of its undeveloped land has been set aside for nature.

c.