By Margaret O’Shea Bonner
Published in September 2004
Word on the City is an introduction, through stories, poetry and pictures, to a variety of secondary communities within Kitchener-Waterloo, and to the agencies and individuals who act as a buffer between these communities and the wider city. We all associate with secondary communities – sports groups, neighbourhoods, churches, etc., but how familiar are we with other groups within this community we call home?
This book, funded by the National Literacy Secretariat and supported by Word on the Street Kitchener and The Literacy Group of Waterloo Region, was developed primarily as a resource for new readers and new arrivals in the K-W region, providing relevant reading material about the city. It is a book everyone should read. It gives an authentic voice to our downtown residents whose stories often go unheard, and offers a tool for cultural preservation. As you read it, you will understand so much more about the richness and diversity that exists right here at your doorstep.
Storytelling reveals the soul of the community, with all its hopes and dreams. The stories and poetry in Word on the City introduce the reader to the joy and pain that is part of everyday life, and to the presence of the sacred in everyday happenings. You will find these stories inspiring, and you will learn much about your community and even yourself. You may recognize that the downtown population is rich with stories that rarely are heard because people lack a forum.
People had an opportunity to be published, whether accomplished or aspiring while developing literacy skills. They all cared about their community, and they appreciated having their voices heard. Many were supported by organizations and volunteers providing the conditions for community building. Without this support one can feel alienated or abandoned, but with it comes the ability to build a life and participate in community.
A community’s main function is to mediate between the individual and society. As Emile Durkheim wrote in The Division of Labour and Society:
“a nation can be maintained only if, between the state and the individual, there is intercalculated a whole series of secondary groups near enough to the individuals to attract them strongly in their sphere of action and drag them in this way into the general torrent of social life.”
I was astounded by the number of people who devoted so much of their lives, in a paid or volunteer capacity, to the well-being of others. Who is it that talks about a hand up rather than a hand out? Helping people to help themselves seems to be the mission of the agencies operating out of downtown. Providing stability and structure for social interaction as a way of promoting community. It’s not an easy mission. There is still a great need for more meeting places, for reasonable and accessible cultural events, for affordable housing. But the mission is still being pursued.
One of the main stumbling blocks in the development of the downtown core is the perceived incompatibility of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. InWord on the City, Wendy Halley, a downtown volunteer writes:
“Both sides should be educated to know that the other side is no different – they may have just a little more or a little less. People who don’t understand those who live in poverty have their walls, but the people who live in poverty also have their walls.”
Stories are one way of getting to know each other. In the tradition of Irish storytelling, the telling of stories is a form of hospitality. Word on the City also offers hospitality. It invites you into the lives of those whose stories are shared, and it encourages you to get to know them better. And, like good hospitality, Word on the City is FREE!!!!
The successful book launch took place at 43 Queen on Tues., Sept. 14 and copies were also available during the Sept. 29th Word On The Street Festival in Victoria Park.
Margaret O’Shea Bonner is Editor of Word on the Street and Program Coordinator at The Literacy Group of Waterloo Region.
