Sudbury is a really cool place and I am immensely grateful for the time I spent there.
In the exercise of courageous self-examination, no other city in the world -- that I know of -- can hold a candle to Sudbury. And I say that without the slightest hint of sarcasm or wink-wink, nudge-nudge paternalism.
Over the past several decades, Sudbury has, on several occasions, bravely looked into its own heart, plumbed its depths, faced its demons. And it has learned tremendously from the truths it has seen there. It has never flinched. Just to live in Sudbury is to be smarter and braver and more alive to reality than most of the people who live in other cities in other places in the world.
So it surprises me not at all that Sudbury has had the balls to invite native son Bruce Mau, a true outlier in the world of design, to come and give advice about designing a viable future.
Anyone who has read Mau's work, or visited one of his Massive Change exhibits, has to understand that Mau is not your average garden designer. To say he has a big scope is an understatement. He is difficult, if not impossible, for a non-artist to understand. Yet it is impossible to view his work and not realize that he is on to something. Much as one might read Stephen Hawking or Roger Penrose and understand that there is something important there, even if one cannot grasp it.
Bruce Mau is not accessible in the way that Jane Jacobs or Richard Florida might be. He is difficult, tantalizing, suggestive and visionary in a way that may be beyond the ken of most of us. One may dismiss his vision, but one cannot deny he has one.
So when Bruce Mau comes to Sudbury to give advice, a wise person will listen and try to understand that advice as best he or she can.
It will be very exciting to watch this interaction between the genius designer and the intrepid city.
My hope is that Mau can be convinced to expand his range even further, and to begin to think about the design of the entire region of Northern Ontario. That would really be something to see, wouldn't it?
Monday, November 16, 2009
Poor, old CBC
As is normal in our country, the poor, old CBC is being castigated right, left and centre for its new National news format. All the usual naysayers are out in force. With all the usual naysayer arguments. Why do I have to pay for...? Leftwing bias....Liberal mouthpiece....blah, blah, blah.
Sadly, the problems of the CBC have nothing to do with any of this. Or set graphics. Or colours. Or people sitting or standing. Or even demographics.
No. They are fundamentally to do with the poor, old CBC's mandate. And that has to do with Canada itself.
Unfortunately for the poor, old CBC, there is no Canada left to interpret. No Canadians to explain to each other. It's all an empty illusion. All of it. Whatever was Canada has disappeared. Evaporated. Long gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. The CBC is not even a voice in the wilderness. It is an echo in a vacuum in a bathroom in a bus station.
There ain't no there there.
Folks, there is no longer any Canada for the CBC to interpret. And therein lies the problem. That is why the CBC seems so irrelevent. It is out there on a shaky limb, all by itself in the world, trying to explain one lot of Americans to another; struggling to mediate between the expatriot leftwing Americans, who love the idea of the CBC and work there in great numbers, and resident would-be Americans, who hate the CBC and all it stands for. Blue State vs Red State stuff. Impenetrable American inside baseball stuff. Leaving the rest of us wandering around in the washroom, wondering where the voices are coming from.
Much of our public discours has become this -- various brands of Americans feuding with each other at the cottage that is Canada. Like upstate N.Y. Mohawks warring with United Empire Loyalists in Desoronto. Wannabe Republican Harper tilting at New England Liberal Ignatieff. Simpson versus Wente. C.D. Howe versus Jane Jacobs versus Richard Florida versus Tom Flanagan.
The CBC is trying valliantly to interpret Canadians to Canadians, but it can only fail. There are no Canadians left. Only ex-pat and would-be Americans grinding their tired, old axes in the safety of this vacuous piece of real estate.
Poor, old CBC.
Sadly, the problems of the CBC have nothing to do with any of this. Or set graphics. Or colours. Or people sitting or standing. Or even demographics.
No. They are fundamentally to do with the poor, old CBC's mandate. And that has to do with Canada itself.
Unfortunately for the poor, old CBC, there is no Canada left to interpret. No Canadians to explain to each other. It's all an empty illusion. All of it. Whatever was Canada has disappeared. Evaporated. Long gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. The CBC is not even a voice in the wilderness. It is an echo in a vacuum in a bathroom in a bus station.
There ain't no there there.
Folks, there is no longer any Canada for the CBC to interpret. And therein lies the problem. That is why the CBC seems so irrelevent. It is out there on a shaky limb, all by itself in the world, trying to explain one lot of Americans to another; struggling to mediate between the expatriot leftwing Americans, who love the idea of the CBC and work there in great numbers, and resident would-be Americans, who hate the CBC and all it stands for. Blue State vs Red State stuff. Impenetrable American inside baseball stuff. Leaving the rest of us wandering around in the washroom, wondering where the voices are coming from.
Much of our public discours has become this -- various brands of Americans feuding with each other at the cottage that is Canada. Like upstate N.Y. Mohawks warring with United Empire Loyalists in Desoronto. Wannabe Republican Harper tilting at New England Liberal Ignatieff. Simpson versus Wente. C.D. Howe versus Jane Jacobs versus Richard Florida versus Tom Flanagan.
The CBC is trying valliantly to interpret Canadians to Canadians, but it can only fail. There are no Canadians left. Only ex-pat and would-be Americans grinding their tired, old axes in the safety of this vacuous piece of real estate.
Poor, old CBC.
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