Quote Originally Posted by shootingstar View Post
My thoughts of Calgary now probably reflects my adjustment. I've been here only past 5 months. I sense the city overall as struggling to break free from its prairie paraochial conservatism and the grip of the oil-energy economic influences. It will never break free of the latter since the provinces economy depends on it (and it is Canada's energy producing engine like Texas is).

I personally find artisitic expression that is original in imagery lacking...beyond cowboy images and energy/oil stuff. There is no clear, dynamic artistic sensibility that one can identify..that ie. "yes, that comes from Alberta". The voices on issues of social justice are way more muted, here compared to Toronto and Vancouver. It's obvious what does not get reported in the local press or even how public consultation is conducted where certain groups of people are excluded by language, socio-economic class, etc.

It's not horrible, it's just people are focused on...earning a living, making money, etc.
This has been my experience in Edmonton as well. In my case, it also means that if I were to stay there I would probably have to change careers, which I'm not willing to do.

I feel like I made an honest effort to build a life there, but it's been a non-starter for the most part. So it's been a fairly easy decision to begin the process to move back to Seattle.