Kevin Van Lierop
tagged: [this city]
On Appreciating the Land which Surrounds Us
With travel limited, and everyone staying closer to home these days, we’ll need to think more and more about the importance of being connected to the regions which make up the places we call home. As lockdowns and quarantines begin to be lifted we’ll slowly be able to once again travel and explore—but not like we once were able to do.
The focus now will be on the hyper local and the regions we live within. Bike rides to-and-from our homes, day trips to places no more than an hour drive by car, and the re-discovery of everything that is directly in-front of us. As we once again become acquainted with everything near that we’ve become disconnected from over time—the land which surrounds us—it will become more important to recognize everything that is offered to us within a short reach.
My Hometown Sucks, Place, and Shared Sameness
Seems where we’re from matters more than we care to admit.
There is no right or wrong way to interpret a place. What is important though, is that we recognize our connections to and interpretation of the places we are from, and the locations where we live. It is important we identify the sameness we share with others in relation to place, and the differences in opinions we hold which spark necessary conversations. Only through dialogue can we improve our awareness of, and connection to, both the places we share and the relationships we have with one another.
For Community
A treatise on communities of identity, faith, and place.
For, Family, and Friends:
Who shape our identity,
Individual and collective;
For, Faith and Spirituality:
Both named and un-named,
Whose communal values
Draw us closer together;
And, for Place:
The lands that provide sustenance,
The hands which support,
And, the shared tables
Around which we gather.
Let us be grateful,
For we have community:
Identity,
Faith, and Place;
And be thankful,
We can come together,
To share in community as one.
These words, which articulate the essence of what ties us all together, were recited at my wedding (or some version of them). Without knowing it, I crafted the basis for this poem years before the syllables would be uttered from my mouth during an annual solo trek to Circumnavigate Lake Fanshawe.
Don’t Worry. [this city] is awesome.
Contemplations on appreciating the places where we are.
What can we do, as everyday citizens, to re-inspire and re-energize all of the people who make the cities we live in great places to live? What can we do to reaffirm the idea that the things that currently aren’t great will get better and that our cities, are in fact, awesome?
[this city]
A manifesto for taking pride in, and ownership of, the places we call home.
Why is it when we speak about [this city] and try and deal with present and pressing issues we do so in such pessimistic and destructive ways? Why don’t we speak to [this city] and about [this city] in the same way we speak to close friends who are down on their luck?
Authentic Experiences
What if we made more of an attempt to seek out the uniqueness of a given place?
What if, as tourists & visitors, we made more of an attempt to seek out experiences that presented us with authentic perspectives on the places we visit? What if we made the choice to take the ‘path less travelled’ and step outside the comfort of what has been created for us by the tourism industry?
