My outreach this semester was the Urban Discovery walks with Rob. I thoroughly enjoyed my Wednesdays, walking around different parts of the city examining the change that has occured all around Toronto. It was always a pleasure being able to wake up early every Wednesday and get ready for outreach because I knew that we would be going somewhere exciting, and even the less aesthetically pleasing places seemed more interesting as the walks were always made enjoyable and exciting.
My idea for this paper came whilst seeing Casa Loma, a building built over a hundred years ago. A man built Casa Loma in order to impress his very often unimpressed wife, and I couldn't help but think if someone these days would choose to build such an extravagant building in such a hustle-bustle metropolis such as Toronto in modern today. It would take a lot if balls, no doubt.
Examining the changes that have taken place within the city it is almost impossible not to wonder, has the mentality of the citizens living within the city changed along with its infrastructure? It's an interesting concept to think about. It is a common stereotype that people from the city are deemed as "Citiots" ( a play on the two words city, and idiot) and they lack the intellectual capabilities that someone from a lesser populated area would have. Are we really the impatient arrogant assholes that these suburbaners make us out to be?
But to the same token we have to ask, what about the people that live in towns and smaller cities, are they as hick, oblivious, and old fashioned as we so often see them to be? Or maybe, secretly, do they want to be us, and we want to be them? Personally, I am very happy living in the city I do. I feel like the city life has expanded my knowledge greatly and opened my mind even more substantially. The city life leaves you in sight of many walks of life, open to every culture and race. I believe in one way this makes it easier to combat issues such as racism and allow people to form opinions of their own, instead of being implanted with ideas from the T.V such as Arabs are Terrorists, blacks are poor, ect ect. My theory is somewhat exemplified in the United States Civil War. The South, less densely populated, more "country"-style, were more racist and unopened to the idea of living equally with minorities, while the more technologically advanced, more "city" sort of part of the country fought for the freedom of those struggling in the chains of racism and inequality during the 1860's.
When it all comes down to it, we are really all the same. Mennonites and the Amish belief of not using electrity is a concept that scares so many of us, who rely on electricity for all 24 hours of the day. Although living in the city may have changed us, our standards for living, our ideas of what a decent standard of living is, I believe we are still all people. And that a person living in the city can still be as polite, patient, and well mannered as a country person would be. and Vice versa.
