Stoney Creek's Downtown: Part One, Preamble

One of the advantages, a benefit of leaving your home town is that when return, not only can you see how much things have changed...but also how much they haven't.

Granted, most people tend to latch onto the 'change' part. Because their observational reference system is personal, what they see is referenced to their recollections, and everything starts from there.

I tend to be a little different in how I process things. I'm not a strident nostalgist, at least not in any unbending yearning that things stay as they are. As well, I tend to focus on potential rather than simply seeing things (or people) as they are. Added to this is what I've been referencing here as the 'RBR' factor; the 'Reason Behind the Reason', or wanting to understand why something happened as much as trying to contextualize what's happened.

A recent example was the demolition of the Century Theatre in Hamilton. While all kinds of umbrage and outrage and fury, all manner of fist-pumping and by-law marches were instigated and witnessed, for me, though I had a longstanding bond with the place (I was there the night it closed back in '89, as I was at the Tivoli that same evening, I was quoted by Paul Wilson in his Spec article, I have an abiding love of cinemas that most might find...well, 'geekish'), my energies were more channelled towards trying to understand why it ended up being torn down. I was more interested in developing an understanding as what contributed to this lovely lady's demise that went beyond the owner's actions and the City's complicity, one that asked fundamental questions beyond changes in the film distribution industry and peoples' viewing habits, one that examined Hamilton in general, and the downtown specifically.

In terms of Stoney Creek, in terms of its downtown, how I see things might not be the same way that others see things; I want it understood up front that I'm not attempting this effort as some kind of 'contribution to the team'. I'm not here to cheerlead. Or glad-hand or back-slap or support the status quo. In fact, I'm not a big believer in maintaining the status quo...especially if the perception of the status quo is skewed by either rose-coloured glasses, and/or what I refer to as the 'Ought To' syndrome', which basically says things like 'This ought to be enough'. 'Things ought to continue as they have because we deserve it, we've earned it.' 'We ought to be treated like a distinct area just based on the fact that it ought to be that way,' 'We ought to appreciate what we have for what it is and don't risk angering the gods by pondering having more'...and 'We ought to be fine.'"

So as I move forward with this, two things:

First off, I don't owe any allegiance to anyone with my posts. This is my blog about my Stoney Creek, publishing my own opinions, how I see things. I'm not beholden to anyone, I don't have any obligations to any organization or any special interest group...and the very last thing you're ever going to see me do is kowtow.

Secondly, I don't have any power. Please don't think that just because I'm blogging about whatever it is that I'm blogging about at any given moment, that I've been endowed with powers beyond being able to broadcast my freedom of speech online. Please don't assume that because I express myself forcefully that by extension I'm somehow able to change things, especially if what you fear most about my sentiments, what I propose is that things will change contrary to how you believe things should be. (Most especially if you believe things shouldn't change at all. Because if that's the case, then we really aren't going to get along very well at all.)

OK. That's enough for now. Next up: 'The History', a collaborative effort.