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 spot you’d like to explore, download the audio and go out to hear about Calgary and what there is to love.
Launched on Valentine’s Day 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,
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 post@ox.posterous.com
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!
Listen to Skyler’s story by playing the audio below
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Listen to Stefanie’s story by playing the audio below
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Listen to Colleen’s story by playing the audio below
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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.
Listen to Brian’s story by playing the audio below
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Listen to Laura’s story by playing the audio below
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Listen to Gordon’s story by playing the audio below
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Listen to Lindsay’s story by playing the audio below
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Listen to Jasper’s story by playing the audio below
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Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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Third street community garden: concrete raised beds growing vegetables for the drop in centre in the middle of downtown
5 Ave SW & 3 St SW Google Map link
Donegal mansion: two brick historic buildings on Memorial drive once owned by the Premier of AB
830 Memorial Dr NW Google Map link
Car Garden: Sunnyside quirky culture at the north end of the Sunnyside CTrain platform in the summer months.
9A St NW & 4 Ave NW Google Map link
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