History in Different Terms

I really enjoyed our readings this week in class. I thought Alice Major and Erin Knight's poems were fascinating and created the most interesting way of looking at Edmonton's history. I've never thought of Edmonton as a city older that 100 years, and definitely not in comparison to Rome or Jerusalem.  To think of Edmonton in the same way as we think of ancient Rome or Greece seemed rather bizarre at first and definitely far-fetched, but Alice Major and Erin Knight had a way of connecting the two concepts without seeming ridiculously contrived. When you really think about it, it makes complete sense that Edmonton is more than 100 years old. We all know that there were Aboriginals here before white men ever settled, not to mention the wildlife that existed even before that. These were as much communities as we are today, though somehow we neglect this when talking about the city's history.

I started reading A Tourist's Guide to Glengary this week and I find that it relates to this theme of history and the burial of tradition and the past. The book is set in the 70's in Edmonton. Though my parents were here at the time I don't know alot about Edmonton in the 70's and reading this book has been fascinating and really eye-opening. I think books like this, that rehash the past that we rarely consider, relate directly to Alice Major's idea of the Mundus as this place where a city is built and where everyone buries a piece of their past. The Mundus was said to be opened at special times of the year and people would be able to relive their ancestry. This is what books do, to some extent. A Tourist's Guide to Glengary is a book that I opened and learned new things about my my city's history. It is books like this, videos and songs that connect us to old traditions and the old world (even though the 70's isn't really old world). This city may not have been built around an actual pit where people threw pieces of earth from their old lands, but our city is made up of people from different places and times and our libraries are our Mundus. Libraries hold our histories and stories in a nice little "pit" which is easily accessible to the people of this city who want to learn about their past.