Alberta Views Magazine celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2003. Over the past five weeks of our Twitter Campaign, I have read through five years of Alberta Views history. By reading one issue a week, I have learned that the magazine has produced deep, thought provoking articles about life in Alberta. Topics ranging from politics to gender equality to physical fitness, Alberta Views has managed to tackle all these issues with a clear and concise voice Albertans can trust.
Through our Twitter Campaign we hope to reach a total of 1,500 followers to celebrate fifteen wonderful years. You can tweet along with us, about your favourite articles or writers and have a direct line to a great magazine. Help us reach our goal! And learn about the magazine as I, the newest member of the AV staff learn about it too!
This week I explored the Mar/Apr issue of Alberta Views in 2003. The cover showed a bird’s eye view of the rows upon rows of temporary housing in Fort McMurray. The rows of housing look impersonal and lifeless and its cover line says “Gold Mine or Gulag?” Having never been to Fort McMurray or seen any real pictures of the industrial, I don’t know how to answer that question. When I started my internship in September, my brother also started a new job in Fort McMurray. He now lives in temporary housing that I imagine looks quite similar to the photo on the cover of this issue. It’s remarkable how, even 8 years after its publication date, the issue is still extremely relevant to Albertans across the province, myself included.
As children we are taught it’s not polite to talk of religion, politics and money. Sometimes I feel as though, at least in Alberta, this trio is really a quartet. The oil sands are our fourth conversational taboo. Perhaps this is because everywhere we look we are inundated with “information” about the industry. This information is often wildly conflicting. It is such a hot button issue in Alberta. Ok, maybe not just in Alberta. No matter where you are it’s always awkward when someone brings up the oil industry. So many families survive in this province because of it but it is perceived as a massively destructive force with regards to the environment. How are people supposed to reconcile the two and remain civil?
Freelance journalist, Dan Rubinstein’s 2003 article entitled “Heads in the Sands” a fresh perspective on life in Fort McMurray. Sure, his article acknowledges the oil sands but Rubinstein demonstrates another way to talk about the northern Albertan city. The article is focused on everyday life. He treats Fort McMurray like a community—not an oil field or a corporate site of corruption.
“Dads let sons drive the family SUV to weekend soccer games; moms apologize when their car alarms startle strangers. But Fort McMurray is also a hyperactive anomaly—a place of mass consumption, conformity and me-first bravado, of strip malls, drive-throughs and satellite dishes, a place where businesses and officials are scrambling to supply infrastructure the population requires.”
This sounds like an Alberta community in boom, pardon me, “rapid expansion.” I find it oddly disconcerting that Fort McMurray isn’t much different than other Albertan towns. After years of bad press, I had pictured a browning city with mud and garbage everywhere because the residents were too concerned with extracting oil on rigs than taking care of their surroundings. Instead there are lakes, forests, houses and full-time residents that have lived there happily for years. The contrast between what I was expecting and what Rubinstein describes is remarkable. (Especially considering an excerpt published in “Eye on Alberta” in our Decemeber 2011 issue that feeds this stereotype and unfavorably dubs Fort Mac as Fort McMordor…)
My earlier perception of Fort McMurray was that of a rough ‘n tumble town with drug and alcohol problems instead of a town of outdoorsmen who live life fully. So, it looks like Fort McMurray has an image problem. Hopefully if they decide to do a media campaign they will use pictures actually taken in the city. Alberta can’t weather another debacle like that.
The other problems, Rubinstein explains, are housing and crime, the byproducts of the nomadic lifestyles of a large portion of the residents. Since my brother has moved there, this transitory state has become even more apparent to me. As I see him being so transient, I can’t helped but project that life style onto his co-workers as well. His shifts last two weeks and he comes home whenever he can. This coming and going of temporary workers is precisely what Rubinstein believes is causing problems in the community. For example, he writes, “Because of oil patch salaries–$70,000, for example, to work at an oil sands plant—soft drugs like marijuana have given way to a budding cocaine and crack problem.” People don’t spend long enough in one place to become attached to their environment.
Since Rubinstein’s article was written eight years ago I don’t know how things have changed. His article has helped me to see passed the bad reputation of Fort McMurray and I now see a community struggling with the same problems as the rest of the province. With a new census coming out this spring new data may corroborate the problems expressed in his article. But, who knows? Maybe the city has found a way to cope with the coming and going of guys like my brother. Hopefully the data will show improvements on housing prices, better infrastructure and lower crime rates.
Sincerely,
Nicole (The Intern)
To read my previous blog posts, as well as others on the site, click here.
For information on the Twitter Campaign and for the official rules click here.
To read the issue mentioned in this article, click here.
To read the issue featured in my next blog, click here.
Alberta Views Magazine celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2003. Over the past five weeks of our Twitter Campaign, I have read through five years of Alberta Views history. By reading one issue a week, I have learned that the magazine has produced deep, thought provoking articles about life in Alberta. Topics ranging from politics to gender equality to physical fitness, Alberta Views has managed to tackle all these issues with a clear and concise voice Albertans can trust.
Through our Twitter Campaign we hope to reach a total of 1,500 followers to celebrate fifteen wonderful years. You can tweet along with us, about your favourite articles or writers and have a direct line to a great magazine. Help us reach our goal! And learn about the magazine as I, the newest member of the AV staff learn about it too!
This week I explored the Mar/Apr issue of Alberta Views in 2003. The cover showed a bird’s eye view of the rows upon rows of temporary housing in Fort McMurray. The rows of housing look impersonal and lifeless and its cover line says “Gold Mine or Gulag?” Having never been to Fort McMurray or seen any real pictures of the industrial, I don’t know how to answer that question. When I started my internship in September, my brother also started a new job in Fort McMurray. He now lives in temporary housing that I imagine looks quite similar to the photo on the cover of this issue. It’s remarkable how, even 8 years after its publication date, the issue is still extremely relevant to Albertans across the province, myself included.
As children we are taught it’s not polite to talk of religion, politics and money. Sometimes I feel as though, at least in Alberta, this trio is really a quartet. The oil sands are our fourth conversational taboo. Perhaps this is because everywhere we look we are inundated with “information” about the industry. This information is often wildly conflicting. It is such a hot button issue in Alberta. Ok, maybe not just in Alberta. No matter where you are it’s always awkward when someone brings up the oil industry. So many families survive in this province because of it but it is perceived as a massively destructive force with regards to the environment. How are people supposed to reconcile the two and remain civil?
Freelance journalist, Dan Rubinstein’s 2003 article entitled “Heads in the Sands” a fresh perspective on life in Fort McMurray. Sure, his article acknowledges the oil sands but Rubinstein demonstrates another way to talk about the northern Albertan city. The article is focused on everyday life. He treats Fort McMurray like a community—not an oil field or a corporate site of corruption.
“Dads let sons drive the family SUV to weekend soccer games; moms apologize when their car alarms startle strangers. But Fort McMurray is also a hyperactive anomaly—a place of mass consumption, conformity and me-first bravado, of strip malls, drive-throughs and satellite dishes, a place where businesses and officials are scrambling to supply infrastructure the population requires.”
This sounds like an Alberta community in boom, pardon me, “rapid expansion.” I find it oddly disconcerting that Fort McMurray isn’t much different than other Albertan towns. After years of bad press, I had pictured a browning city with mud and garbage everywhere because the residents were too concerned with extracting oil on rigs than taking care of their surroundings. Instead there are lakes, forests, houses and full-time residents that have lived there happily for years. The contrast between what I was expecting and what Rubinstein describes is remarkable. (Especially considering an excerpt published in “Eye on Alberta” in our Decemeber 2011 issue that feeds this stereotype and unfavorably dubs Fort Mac as Fort McMordor…)
My earlier perception of Fort McMurray was that of a rough ‘n tumble town with drug and alcohol problems instead of a town of outdoorsmen who live life fully. So, it looks like Fort McMurray has an image problem. Hopefully if they decide to do a media campaign they will use pictures actually taken in the city. Alberta can’t weather another debacle like that.
The other problems, Rubinstein explains, are housing and crime, the byproducts of the nomadic lifestyles of a large portion of the residents. Since my brother has moved there, this transitory state has become even more apparent to me. As I see him being so transient, I can’t helped but project that life style onto his co-workers as well. His shifts last two weeks and he comes home whenever he can. This coming and going of temporary workers is precisely what Rubinstein believes is causing problems in the community. For example, he writes, “Because of oil patch salaries–$70,000, for example, to work at an oil sands plant—soft drugs like marijuana have given way to a budding cocaine and crack problem.” People don’t spend long enough in one place to become attached to their environment.
Since Rubinstein’s article was written eight years ago I don’t know how things have changed. His article has helped me to see passed the bad reputation of Fort McMurray and I now see a community struggling with the same problems as the rest of the province. With a new census coming out this spring new data may corroborate the problems expressed in his article. But, who knows? Maybe the city has found a way to cope with the coming and going of guys like my brother. Hopefully the data will show improvements on housing prices, better infrastructure and lower crime rates.
Sincerely,
Nicole (The Intern)
To read my previous blog posts, as well as others on the site, click here.
For information on the Twitter Campaign and for the official rules click here.
To read the issue mentioned in this article, click here.
To read the issue featured in my next blog, click here.
