{"id":9150,"date":"2013-06-12T06:57:34","date_gmt":"2013-06-12T13:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wkoopmans.ca\/notebook\/?p=9150"},"modified":"2013-06-12T06:57:34","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T13:57:34","slug":"calgary-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wkoopmans.ca\/notebook\/?p=9150","title":{"rendered":"Calgary Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

First my own reflections. The impersonal hard reflections of the buildings, one against another couldn’t be a better metaphor for my first impression of Calgary. It seems as though in an effort to clean the city they stripped away more than the detritus, they removed the invisible fabric that allows humans to interact. While a week isn’t a long time it was immediately apparent that no amount of smiling or saying hello was enough to break through the invisible capsule Calgarians seem to have surrounding themselves. Now this is actually somewhat at odds with another part of my experience. As a pedestrian I noticed how courteous the drivers were towards me and each other. No one seemed to be in such a hurry that they would rather run you down than wait a second. As I said this was my first impression and it applies to the downtown where people mostly work and\u00a0not live so it’s not enough to determine the true nature of the city.\u00a0 As for the images, there were many opportunities to see one building reflected in another, and seaking them out was an\u00a0enjoyable visual exercise.<\/p>\n\n\t\t