Common Ground in a Liquid City. Matt Hern

       Acknowledgements

      I owe much gratitude to the good folks at AK Press, especially Kate Khatib, who have made this book happen and been so generous in their support. Chuck Morse was a terrific editor, again, and his friendship, articulate incisiveness, and brains were vital. Their enthusiasm for this project has been so appreciated.

      Parts of this book have appeared in other publications in article form. Much thanks to re:place, the Vancouver Review (twice), the Review of Education Pedagogy and Curriculum Studies, the Defenestrator , and Rain for running pieces, editing them well, and helping me think through my ideas.

      There are many people in each of the places that I write from—pals, collaborators, schemers—who were kind and hospitable to me this time round, hosting me while I was writing these chapters: Stavros, Fani, Kristos, Kostas, Elizabeth, Eylem, Emre, Tayfun, other Eylem, Metin, Yasin, Tuna, Barbara, Gabe, Ivan, Janet, Muriel, Frank, Lawrence, Ron, Dolly, Michel, Pastor Lance, all the Fort Good Hope kids who showed us what was what, Mark D., Terrance, Scott, Adelphi, Zoobomb, Ayten, Gaye, Ceren, Mariana, everybody at Kamer, Dirk, Shaveen, Richard, Brooke, Dan-no, Katrin, Amanda, John … and many, many more. Really, there are so many generous folks who have housed and cooked for me, shared drinks and meals, introduced me to friends, answered my questions and showed me around. Very literally this book would not have been possible with out you guys—I hope you hear some of yourselves in here.

      Over the past three years I have interviewed something like seventy or eighty people here in Vancouver, trying to figure out what I wanted to say. It involved a lot of tea, coffee, beer, and bourbon, and a lot of people being real patient with my questions. There are a couple dozen folks whom I ended up quoting at length in here and I am so grateful to all of them—but also to the many, many folks who took time to talk to me but didn’t end up in the book. I remain totally in all their debt and I look forward to hearing what you all think of this.

      And, despite all those interviews, I still feel slightly embarrassed about all the people I really should have talked to but just didn’t. If you’re not in here but should be, please accept my humble apologies. There are a lot of you.

      Huge thanks are due to Diana Hart for stepping up and taking these great photos (with support from Sarah Lum). Others who contributed pictures: Selena Couture, Barbara Trottier, Billy Collins, Mark Douglas, and Amanda Marchand.

      Of course, much love to my Island family: Adele, Riley, Gan, Sean, Kelly, Kyra, Sam, David, Thirell, Riley and Fraser, Michele, Dave, Bronwyn, and Sean. Finally, and more than anything, this book is something like a love letter to East Van and my family here: Selena, Sadie and Daisy, Diana, Sarah and Mica, Ashley, Keith, OZAM, Stu, Pennie and Hamish, Goo, Mark and Levi, the gone but hardly forgotten Dan, Sarah and Layla, the whole Thistle and CFVD crews, our good neighbors, and all the lovely friends who make this our home.

      Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides. But they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.

      —Aldo Leopold

      EAST VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA PHOTO BY DIANA HART

       HOMEBOY

       East Vancouver, British Columbia

      It’s funny how people tend to describe Canada: fish, timber, prairies, empty beaches, crashing waves, lonely farmers, isolated small towns. That picture is a romantically attractive one but distorting. The reality is that Canada is an urban country. More than eighty percent of Canada’s population lives in urban centers, half the country lives in Vancouver, Montreal, or Southern Ontario, and virtually all the population is crowded tightly along the border.

      That’s a good thing. With a world population

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