OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary is about sharing love for our City and great places to see through a down-loadable walking audio tour.
OX is a project to motivate and mobilize people to go out and capture the love of our City using participatory media art. It is an interactive, community mapping, down-loadable audio tour that will showcase Calgary OX spots as seen through the eyes and ears of Calgarians. Erecting the OX flag, citizens are recording their ideal spot of Calgary.
The project began in March of 2009, the Chinese Zodiac Year of the OX with a motto of “I persevere”.
Through this website, you can pick an OX you’d like to explore, download the audio and go out to hear about Calgary and what there is to love according to the contributors.
View OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary in a larger map
Launched on Valentine’s Day 2010 weekend and on the eve of Chinese New Year – OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary will show you places to love about Calgary and inspire you to contribute your own OX spot.
How to Participate!
1.
Determine
your
OX
favourite
spot
of
Calgary
–
this
can
be
difficult
I
agree.
2.
Print
your
OX
flag
(download)
3.
Take
this
OX
flag
and
go
to
your
favourite
spot
in
Calgary
4.
Erect
the
flag,
attach
it
somehow
or
simply
hold
it
in
the
air
5.
Take
a
photo
to
document
the
OX
flag
at
your
favourite
spot, save to a jpg
6.
Audio
record
your
story
as
an
mp3
file,
using
the
script
points
below.
I
love
Calgary.
I
love
this
____________________
(tree,
bench,
corner,
shop,
restaurant,
person,
feeling
etc)
This
is
what
I
love
about
_______________
This is
why
_____________________
I
claim
this
spot with an
OX
flag
and
name
it:
__________________
7.
Find
the
address,
Google
map
it
and
copy
the
link
8.
Email
it ALL
to
sharon@essense.ca
9.
Write
the
subject
line
“OX:
[Location]
with
[Your
Name]”
(this
becomes
the
title,
ie
“OX:
Hillcrest
with
Kevin
Allen”)
OX: A Crash Course of Loving Calgary is a positive, participatory action to claim what we love about Calgary. A place, a feeling, a song, a building, a street corner, a memory, a recovery – tell stories about loving Calgary.
Hugs and kisses to those who love Calgary and want to show it!
Google Map link
Listen to Colleen’s story by playing the audio below
Download this podcast
As a child barely out of diapers Nose Hill was a place I remember seeing just how big the world can be. While I chased dragonflies and felt the warm sun on my face I also remember the gravel trucks and the dirt roads that surrounded the hill, or the colourful hand gliders swooping down from the blue sky. A great place to watch fireworks, eat a burger and admire the twinkling nights; or a day hike with peanut butter and banana sandwiches and tough bike ride to the summit. As a teenager, it was a great place to be kissed, and as an adult a great place to escape with the dog.
Nose Hill Park is one of the largest municipal parks in Canada and North America; the 11 square km park is located in northwest Calgary. This hill has many stories and a colourful history and some of them are how Nose Hill was named. My two favorites were because like the Chief’s nose, and the other where two women fought and one of them bit the nose off the other. I have also been told because of its height it was a sacred place used for ceremonials and burials and where the chief could signal with his shield to surrounding tribes a day’s horse ride away if they were under attack. Today, Tipi rings can be seen as you stroll through the park.
Nose Hill was also a place for European settlers as they began using the area in the late 1800′s for farming and ranching. Prior to WWI Bordellos <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordello> built along the banks of the creek helped sustain the local prostitution trade.
In 2006, 750 tonnes of gravel have been removed on the plateau which is slowly being reclaimed by nature. In the 1980′s, much of the park was destined for residential development. However, Friends of Nose Hill Society as a grassroots group cared enough to keep this hill away from real estate the hill also signified to me we can all make a difference for generations to come. We can continue to intertwine or daily existence of kite flying, fort making and picnics and for many years to come. The owls, coyotes, deer, butterflies, birds and porcupine to name a few call it their home.
I hope many people will grow to love the subtle beauty, smell the sage, and listen to learn its quiet history and sounds of the warm grassy winds that caress the plains. Nose Hill Park it is a part of my history and many others, and while change is constant in our lives, it was best said by Running Weasel who by his request is buried by Nose Hill creek who said said…
“Put me where I can see the great city grow beneath my feet.” - Running Weasel 1896.
Posted via email from OX
