I learned a new word recently. "Psychogeography", as it was explained on this episode of 99% Invisible, is a method of wayfinding using emotions and memories. I immediately Googled it and found alternative definitions that don't resonate with me in the same way, so much like I did with the word "Kiez," I'm creating my own interpretation.
I have on my coffee table the debut issue of a new publication called Dreamland. In his opening note, the publisher and poet Jeremy Stewart asks, "Isn't it good to do community in this way?" Elsewhere I seem to remember him writing that community is a group of people who come together to do something rather than nothing. I have no idea if he actually wrote this, but it's in my head now and it's informing the way I think about the world.
The launch of Dreamland was at Page Boy Books, a new store down on 4th Avenue. It has nice wooden furniture, a big display window, and shelves full of well-kept used books. It wasn't there and now it is. And if it's still there a year from now it will be because it has a community around it. Amazon is fast and cheap but it doesn't open on Friday night to help launch a self-published magazine with poetry readings and tea.
I spent last Saturday walking around a one-block radius of downtown. It took over two hours. Every store I went into was a physical manifestation of a community: coffee-lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, crafters, gamers, and supporters of local food. These places do not exist out of mere function, there is a passion behind them, on both sides of the cash register. They represent what the people of this city value. More importantly, they represent proof that the people of this city still value the people of this city. They want places to come together and more and more I'm seeing stores that don't just sell stuff- they support ideas and put on concerts and host meetings and tournaments and get-togethers before and after hours.
I'm not sure why I wrote this as an explanation of why I want to start a newsletter, but this is what I've been thinking about and this is what came out. I've always wanted to have something titled "confluence" as a meeting place of people and ideas and as a hat-tip to where we are. So here's another stab and it. We'll see how it goes.
Notes:
- I'm told the Day's Inn is being shut down and turned into something else. In the meantime, Riley's is having its final concerton March 28 before opening in a new, as of yet unknown/undisclosed location, and Ladles is shutting down this coming Wednesday, future unknown. The owner is looking for a buyer, but no one has come forward. (250) 612-1970 is the number if you're interested. There's a community there, too.
- I'm curious about your thoughts on this topic. I've had a few people talk to me about it, and I have a lot of ideas in my head that I hope to get out in the next few days.
- I hope to do another one of these by the end of March, but just in case I'm very much intrigued by this forum on combining health, arts, and indigenous perspectives. The list of speakers is impressive and I hope the ideas are as interesting as they sound.
- If you are at all interested in good storytelling in radio, I highly recommend the newly-launched Radiotopia network. I wish everyone thought of what radio could be in the terms set out by these producers.
- Speaking of radio, if you're interested in getting started in a career in it, CFUR up at UNBC is hiring someone to produce a bi-weekly spoken word program focusing on Aboriginal topics. You can see the posting here.
- I'm not sure how representative this is of what this newsletter will be. More likely it will be a brief note followed by a few more links to other people's ideas, a few to mine, and some neat-o songs and things.
- The picture at the top of this is by Home Sweet Home Grocery, one of the businesses that inspired this post. You can follow them on Instagram.
