Farewell Calgary – Part 2

I’ve remarked many times, I can’t call myself an Albertan, but I happily call myself a Calgarian. You can read Part 1 here.

Children’s Hometown

When we had children, Amber and I had the strong urge to nest: settle into a community and provide a warm environment for our little hatchlings. Blaise turned 3 a couple days after we returned from Guatemala and Acadia was a vocal 16 months old when we moved into our townhouse in Citadel. That ‘starter home’ was good to our little kids who spread their toys around the livingroom and our dining room with art. They would almost bring me down to the ground when I came home from work and we had many a dance party in front of our picture window which looked over guest parking and the side of a townhouse row. They made friends at the playground (so we got to know the parents). Amber began to homeschool the kids there and we read stories and prayed with them as we tucked them in each night.

We moved into Varsity and then Dalhousie and shared a home with our good friends. Makayla and Lukas proved to be extra siblings as they were same age as our early elementary kids. These 4 1/2 years together allowed our kids to have surrogate parents (Acadia crashed at their house this past summer for a couple weeks without us knowing until after the fact and Blaise worked at Jasen’s business for some weeks in high school) as well as growing independence. They sold lemonade on the sidewalk and made friends in the neighbourhood. Most of their friends came from the hybrid homeschool/in class school experiences they had – some of home are Acadia’s closest friends to this day.

A couple years after moving into the innercity, the kids started attending the school I taught at and began developing different social skills and interests. By high school, they both had large friend groups. Blaise spent a lot of time away working janitorial at the school and at friends’ places. Acadia had friends over for sleepovers in the common unit (or her tiny room) or was out exploring downtown and bubble tea options with friends. Both of them graduated with strong friendships that persist today.

For me, it was pleasing to see them establish roots in one place. I didn’t have that option growing up. Having moved across Canada a few times and attending 6 different schools in 5 different towns/villages, I have trouble saying where I’m from. My kids are from Calgary.

Bow River

It took a few years of living within a 5-minute walk of the Bow River before I really noticed the river and paid attention to it. I began to appreciate the small changes where the Elbow River meets the Bow River. Watching it slowly freeze over a period of weeks – archipelagos of mini ice floes zooming down the river in -20C became transfixing while crossing Reconciliation Bridge on foot returning home from the City Hall train station. I attended the renaming ceremony of the bridge; it had been named Langevin Bridge after an architect of the residential school system. A few skating rinks form on the pools fed by the river and they freeze much more quickly with the more still water.

There are historic flood levels marked on some shale steps installed on the south side of the river in East Village. The river swelled each spring, often prompting closures to the underpass walking paths at Edmonton Trail, Centre St., 10th St. etc. forcing cyclists and pedestrians through clunky traffic light crossings.

In the summer, on sweltering days, the river would be littered with the flotsam of floats: people in tubes or paddleboards or kayaks or some kind of floating device and hidden cans of alcohol. We almost ‘did a float’ one late summer, but canceled because it was too cold for us wimps. There is a notch in the river that produces a consistent swell that people would practice surfing on. Canada Geese dominate all areas in and adjacent to the river too, making it difficult sometimes to find a place to sit in the grass.

In the fall, the water level having dropped all summer, returns to a normal level and the cottonwoods yellow leaves clump together in eddies along the shore. We can see through the crisp mountain water to the round stones and be transported away from the loud busy city immediately behind us.

Employment

I was blessed to work at three very different schools in Calgary.

In Guatemala, I met Darren, a former teacher and administrator who became a director of development at Bearspaw Christian School. I also met Garth, a doctor who was a board member of the independent school and who coached basketball there. The two of them urged me to apply to teach at BCS and guaranteed that they could get me a job there. In the end, I gave up on a job I was pursuing in Mali and accepted an offer from Judy and Lara, my future admins. Getting back into teaching after a 3 year hiatus was a lot of work, but I eventually worked my way into being the senior high math teacher at BCS eventually teaching every high school math course except Math 30-3 which we didn’t offer. I made lasting friendships with some of the staff. I was gifted with two great carpool colleagues, Tim and Liz, who I got to know in our 10-15 minute car rides to the school out in the fields northwest of Calgary. I did have some pretty awful experiences at Bearspaw which did not have a human resources department and teachers were defenseless against the evangelical whims of some admin or directors, but I am grateful for the classroom experiences I had there. I am still in touch with a number of terrific students from my time there.

When Bearspaw expressed that they were going to invest in legal challenges against a provincial mandate to allow for gay-straight-alliances in schools (GSA, later QSA) and told staff that if weren’t in line with the school’s views that we should clear out, clear out I did. I squeaked out just in time in 2015 and was hired on with the Palliser School Division to teach physics and math at Calgary Christian School. This school had been established not by evangelicals, but by Dutch immigrants in 1963. They valued education for the sake of education, not merely as a means to ‘disciple’ children and there was much less opposition to teaching conventional science or to having diverse views on 2SLGBTQI+ issues. The adjustment again was not easy, but eventually I was growing as a teacher and in my relationships with students and staff.

At CCS I was able to travel to Quebec with a group of grade 8s, hike the West Coast Trail twice as a teacher sponsor, travel to Victoria as the robotics team sponsor, present at the PCCE and PDTCA teacher conventions, sponsor the JV Boys basketball team and travel with them, volunteer with my ATA Local on the Teacher Welfare Committee and on the Negotiating Subcommittee, mark diploma exams, write diploma exam questions, complete my masters degree with financial assistance from the Calgary Society for Christian Education, and revamp my instructional and assessment practices. I am proud of the progress that the leadership of the school at the time was able to make for making CSS a safe place for all students, but I am disappointed by the recent decisions by a more evangelical leaning leadership at the school.

I spent my final 3 years in Calgary at the National Sport School – the most welcoming group of teachers and administrators I have ever experienced. I shifted into teaching media production and building up the media lab for the growing school. The students were energetic, driven and challenging, but ultimately a lot of fun. NSS carried me through some tough years too as my father fell ill and passed away but also as I struggled with some mental health challenges.

Teaching is an exhausting career and the break I’ve enjoyed from full-time classroom work has been a true gift. Having worked as a supply teacher for a couple months, the desire to return to full-time teaching has renewed. I feel prepared and excited to work with learners in my new context because of the valuable years developing my skills in Calgary.

Quick shout-out to the teachers battling for better conditions and fair wages in Alberta! Stay strong! Education is worth fighting for.

Cycling

I had my bike in storage the entire time I was in Guatemala. To justify keeping it all that time, I chose to cycle to work September, May and June as I am a very fair-weather cyclist. My commutes from three different neighbourhoods to three different schools gave me a chance to really wear down 5 routes and defrag my brain before and after work. Days I cycled were always better days. I got to climb hills, dodge traffic and Canada Geese, and enjoy a headwind no matter which direction I was going.

My most memorable commute was during the second day of work, still teacher week in August 2020, when I was struck by a truck as I headed south and it turned in front of me. Amber came and collected my bike and an ambulance collected me and took me to the Foothills Hospital. I went home with a broken collarbone and lots of painkillers.

Other memorable experiences include getting a crazy flat tire heading up Sarcee Trail North and having to ask Amber to come pick me up and drive me to work since I couldn’t repair it. A magpie flew into me and flapped in my face as I was going downhill on the path by Highway 1 in Bowness. It was always memorable when huge gravel trucks passed me as I barrelled down the hill on 144 Ave NW on my way to BCS.

I went on some great long rides around Calgary heading every direction to Chestermere in the east, Okotoks in the south, Cochrane to the west and farmer’s fields to the north. Thanks to Andrew for taking me for a long one in training for my NB east coast ride a couple summers ago.

In all, I figure I cycled around 6000 km in my commutes and pleasure rides over the 17 years. Well worth keeping the bike for. Now I need to find an excuse to ride it around the countryside so I can be in good shape for some PEI or Nova Scotia explorations.

Record Stores

In December 2017, my friends Carlyn and Matt gifted me with a high quality, used record player that needed some tuning up. They had a turntable and I enjoyed visiting and spinning records at their place. I brought it to That Old Retro Store for the minor repairs and picked out my first record – a used copy of one of my favourite albums of all time: REM’s Life’s Rich Pageant. They have a terrific library of used vinyl in their basement at killer prices, though those prices have gone up as they noticed demand increasing. They also added a modest selection of new vinyl, but it is mostly standard stock or classic albums re-released. It remained one of my favourite places to pop-into on walks to Inglewood and I walked home with an album under my arm dozens of times.

When I went on walks, it was easy to make a record store my destination as they were in great neighbourhoods. Kensington was a bit of a hike, but worth the while as I got to check out Hot Wax. They had some of the best prices in the city, surprisingly since they were in one of the most expensive trendy locations. They carry excellent used and new selections. Many of my more unique albums come from here, including five Malicorne LPs.

If I were heading to 17th Ave, then my wallet was in trouble (well, it was in trouble at Lukes too). I would always visit Blackbyrd Music and Sloth Records on my hike. Blackbyrd is a jazz specialty shop, but also has excellent collections of soundtracks, world music, folk and alternative albums. The staff (co-owners usually) are always super friendly and open for a chat about music or anything else. Sloth has a big metal, punk, rap, and hip hop section, but also really deep rock and pop sections making it the likely spot to find a more obscure or rare album. I found Sloths prices third highest in the city (behind the ridiculously high Recordland prices and the less interesting Heritage Posters and Music), but well worth the visit. Venturing really far up 17th Ave I could get to Melodiya Records, a sister store to Hot Wax, for some really eclectic stuff.

Public Figures

Become familiar with a city means you become familiar with its people. Calgary has plenty of personalities. I got to know CBC Radio 1 hosts first: David Gray, Paul Haavardsrud, Rob Brown, Kyle Bakx and Meghan Grant (who interviewed me once!). They were familiar voices on the driving commutes. On the cultural end, some of my favourite personalities, either behind their craft or in their voices were Neil the brewer, Graham Sherman at Tool Shed Brewery, Chad VanGaalen, and Marcus Purtzki of Made by Marcus ice cream.

Online and in the media Calgary has Arlene Dickenson, one of the Dragons who has become more politically active and vocal in recent times. Crackmacs, who I still follow, is a husband and wife team who shares local news on social media but with terrific commentary and varied content.

Naheed Nenshi is by far my favourite character in Calgary. I actually voted against him when he first won mayoral election, not knowing his platform very well and that he was for the expensive tunnel by the airport. His vision for an inclusive, urban Calgary won me over very soon after he was elected. I heard him speak in person on numerous occasion and he brought me to tears most of the time. I would see him at The Globe Cinema often and at concerts. I was in the washroom at the Globe and heard his voice say “why is my name always used as graffiti?” because there was a big NENSHI DOG sticker on the paper towel dispenser (it’s been there for years now). I introduced myself to him at folk fest and said I was a fan.

My favourite experience with Mayor Nenshi is when he introduced a talk my friend John was giving at the Central Library. I recall him saying that the Central Library was a beautiful place that he was so pleased that an immigrant to Calgary could walk into and ask “is this amazing place for me?” It still brings me to tears.

Brothers & Sisters

But it’s the smiles and laughter and the nodding head as I share or being there for them when they are struggling. Meals and drinks and movies and games and walks and chats – it’s being present with this found family that I miss.

That’s all. I don’t even think of Calgary that often.
                                                       – L. Cohen (adapted)