What It's Like Living Here — Shawn Selway in Hamilton, Ontario

2016-05-15T16:39:00-04:00

We inhabit a lampoon of capitalism. Marx would certainly get a laugh out of the view: the mountain of capital left to rust unused, and just beyond, a second mountain, still alive with fire and action and thriving alongside the corpse of its former rival.

Canadian writer Shawn Selway provides an intimate and critical view of the urbanization—and subsequent decline—of Hamilton, Ontario. The issues he raises can be found around the globe. Hamilton is one more piece in the puzzle we're all trying to live in—and solve.

Another quotation from the piece:

Consultants overran the joint. Their maps reconfigure the territory and their perspectives are disturbing in a surprisingly intimate way. Attending public meetings at the rail station turned banquet hall, or at the neighbourhood recreation centre, you are made uneasy by the scale of what is proposed. Your understanding of “market forces” deepens when the invisible hand is pressed to your own back, steering you firmly toward the door.

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What It's Like Living Here — Shawn Selway in Hamilton, Ontario