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| Photos: Chris Cline, 2014 (click any image to enlarge) |
By Chris Cline
Lately, I've been struck by Vanier's relationship with its own public spaces. Taking a walk through Vanier can be an interesting experience. More than any neighbourhood I've ever lived in, some Vanier residents have a tendency to post hand-written signs on telephone poles and chain-link fences to express their opinions, sell things and communicate with each other. Here are some of my favourite examples.
Please pick up your dog shit (see below, click on image to enlarge): I love this sign both for its passive-aggressive tone and for the fact that it's bilingual. This person really knows their audience. What use would a unilingual anti-dog shit sign be in Vanier? Not much use, obviously.
Clearly this person meant business, and rightly so. The surrounding area is littered with the above-mentioned dog shit. As much as it makes me chuckle, I have to admit the sign makes me a bit uncomfortable when I walk by with my dog. My four-legged friend and I are not the culprits, I swear! I have the requisite doggy-waste-bag dispenser attached to the leash to prove it. Surely, serial not-picker-uppers would never go to such lengths.
Cowboy (see below): Nothing much to see in this picture, except for the fact that this sign's creator insists on referring to himself as Cowboy. I'm not sure how I would feel about purchasing a major home appliance from someone whose very name conjures up images of spurs, gun duels and phrases like "Well hello there, little lady." But I do know that this one detail makes the sign feel very much at home in Vanier, despite the fact that we're thousands of kilometres from the nearest dude ranch.
Jam session (main image above): This has to be the crème de la crème of handmade signs in Vanier. I'm dying to find out if Sebastian ever made it to the jam-session with Mike the busker. And did he ever figure out how to use his phone? Will Mike ever break out of the busking scene to become Vanier's first international megastar? There's a whole story here just waiting to be told!
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As funny as they are, these signs say something about the neighbourhood. In Vanier, more than most neighbourhoods in Ottawa, I find that residents see public space as civic space. Perhaps it's the mix of demographics, in which only pockets of the population are versed enough in social media and net culture to express their opinions and communicate online. Vanier seems to be something of a low-tech neighbourhood, and there's something to be said for that. There's also a certain lack of social conformity in Vanier, which might prevent residents of other neighbourhoods from posting personal details on the street in plain view.
Or maybe it's something else entirely. Either way, I hope that signs like these keep appearing around the 'hood. Otherwise, my daily dog walks would be much less interesting.
Lately, I've been struck by Vanier's relationship with its own public spaces. Taking a walk through Vanier can be an interesting experience. More than any neighbourhood I've ever lived in, some Vanier residents have a tendency to post hand-written signs on telephone poles and chain-link fences to express their opinions, sell things and communicate with each other. Here are some of my favourite examples.
Please pick up your dog shit (see below, click on image to enlarge): I love this sign both for its passive-aggressive tone and for the fact that it's bilingual. This person really knows their audience. What use would a unilingual anti-dog shit sign be in Vanier? Not much use, obviously.
Clearly this person meant business, and rightly so. The surrounding area is littered with the above-mentioned dog shit. As much as it makes me chuckle, I have to admit the sign makes me a bit uncomfortable when I walk by with my dog. My four-legged friend and I are not the culprits, I swear! I have the requisite doggy-waste-bag dispenser attached to the leash to prove it. Surely, serial not-picker-uppers would never go to such lengths.
Cowboy (see below): Nothing much to see in this picture, except for the fact that this sign's creator insists on referring to himself as Cowboy. I'm not sure how I would feel about purchasing a major home appliance from someone whose very name conjures up images of spurs, gun duels and phrases like "Well hello there, little lady." But I do know that this one detail makes the sign feel very much at home in Vanier, despite the fact that we're thousands of kilometres from the nearest dude ranch.
Jam session (main image above): This has to be the crème de la crème of handmade signs in Vanier. I'm dying to find out if Sebastian ever made it to the jam-session with Mike the busker. And did he ever figure out how to use his phone? Will Mike ever break out of the busking scene to become Vanier's first international megastar? There's a whole story here just waiting to be told!
As funny as they are, these signs say something about the neighbourhood. In Vanier, more than most neighbourhoods in Ottawa, I find that residents see public space as civic space. Perhaps it's the mix of demographics, in which only pockets of the population are versed enough in social media and net culture to express their opinions and communicate online. Vanier seems to be something of a low-tech neighbourhood, and there's something to be said for that. There's also a certain lack of social conformity in Vanier, which might prevent residents of other neighbourhoods from posting personal details on the street in plain view.
Or maybe it's something else entirely. Either way, I hope that signs like these keep appearing around the 'hood. Otherwise, my daily dog walks would be much less interesting.