Looking forward begs a look back. And what a time it has been.
The last few years can be charted as a series of threats to community, large and small. Consider the COVID pandemic, masking and vaccines necessitating a distance, even when physically close.
The reality of homeless populations and the relationship between housing, the economy and the generations reveals a stark difference in how this is understood by boomers, millennials and Gen Zeds.
Witness—and I mean witness—the commercialization of health. Concern over the prescription of opioids and the privatization of delivery of care merely scratch the surface of far greater questions of purpose and effectiveness. Rob and I are personally torn as we provide housing for contracted travel nurses who work side-by-side health authority nurses earning one third of the pay. The commodification of beauty extends to cosmetic surgery that promises happiness through a perky new nose or a elimination of primary sexual characteristics.
The Internet promised a liberation, something I experienced in its naissance. That early promise has devolved into dogmatic camps chasing profit from categories inadequately labelled “left” or “right.” Labeling itself has become de rigeur as a signal of identity such that one is the label, no longer a whole, complex person.
The beauty of language as craft is made ugly as vested interests seek to influence through fabricating false realities supported with AI generated visual “evidence.” Ostensibly open yet dangerously closed, oppressive ideologies are spread by the knowing and the ingnorant alike. Social media burns trust like the wildfires of the North.
How do we engage as actors in societies so wracked with opposing interests? Can we find common ground?
Our choice has been to create bridges among people, to find the threads of common interest beyond the trends.
Returning to Canada from nearly a decade of life overseas, we faced the challenge of deciding how to re-inhabit lives left behind when I took up a position in Asia. Past relationships, largely formed in the workplace, were suspended. We had moved on and turning backward was not a welcome option.
Instead, we made the conscious decision to be active participants in our own community. That grounding intent has guided us ever since.
Opportunity to pick up the pace came in 2017 when the re-zoning of a lot threatened to transform the area from a uniquely rural character to a more typically urban streetscape. A group of twenty-one came together to share views and agree on a way forward. We emerged as leaders of what is known now as the Oaklands Rise Woonerf.
I can track the achievements that have taken us forward to effect change, grow community—and even earn City support—over six years of action (activism?) that has seen supporters of the Oaklands Rise Woonerf grown from that small backyard group to 230 households.
Of the engagements significant in finding my own way into a brighter 2024, a few come to mind. A photo gallery follows.
Xeriscape Demonstration Garden: a model for those who long to be a part of creating pollinator corridors but fear the cost of plants, water, time and energy. This is an aspect of the One Planet Action Plan for the Woonerf and can be visited in several locations along and near the Kings Road greenway.
Street furnishings: tangible elements that influence how people interact in the neighbourhood. Look for benches created from storm fallen Garry Oak trees and Little free Libraries.
Music: varied forms—folk, gypsy jazz, leider, celtic fusion—brought voice and instruments into a variety of activities. In September of 2023 we held a trial event to draw people together and invite participation in coming years.
Art: varied forms including painted planters, some with portraits of local pets, and metal birds above the street. Discovery of local artists has brought opportunity to join the Greater Fernwood Art Stroll which now has an Oaklands neighbourhood cluster.
Monday gatherings: the emergence of suitably spaced weekly gathering on a street corner sparked by limits on indoor meetings during the height of the COVID pandemic. Neighbours brought chairs, libations, care and humour—sometimes plein air sketching and foot stomping hillbilly music—revealed the strength in community.
These and other projects inspire me for the year ahead.
Yes, there are challenges in balancing time consuming demands. But I feel the satisfaction of knowing that we can be a part of making a positive difference. Being recognized among several others as a Community Champion by a City once so thoroughly opposed to our efforts was an uplifting surprise in September of 2023. That bodes well for future.
My wish for everyone in the coming year is to be gifted with opportunities to find fulfillment through engaging in life and love and community.
The month began with New Year’s greetings—let’s make this a year of really living.
A new Substack titled “Variations on a Woonerf” is in planning with intent to develop inspiration and information toward building a resilient community—anywhere.