Not a Hockey Game or a Pile of Rocks
User Story
By Paul Balanchuk
I was born in this city at Edmonton General Hospital in 1966 and after 43 years considering what was a defining moment that I felt truly an Edmontonian?
To elaborate on who I am … I was the guy that threw a broken brick at the wrecking ball tearing down the Trocadero, the guy that used to sit in front of Scotia Place and drink in the sun (ya the guy with the blown out pants and mohawk haircut), I was the guy that had a poetry reading in the middle of a punk rock show at the Ambassador Hotel, the co-founder of the KREEPERS custom car club, vocalist for the 5th time in a string of unique local acts, the guy behind the counter at Deluxe ... but it was the Saturday morning ride down Jasper Avenue to the barber shop with my father, the walk my mother would make to make sure I got to school ok, the afternoons uptown with my Baba and Gido, my sister holding my hand so I wouldn't run off, stopping at the popcorn cart for a bag of hot kernels in front of the Tegler Building.
It was this, and the moment that the stranger told me that the EDMONTON scroll I have tattooed on the top of my back was pretty cool ... not LA, not TORONTO, but EDMONTON!
Kinda tuff he joked ... In a way I guess it made him proud as well.
That’s my Edmonton!
Not a hockey game or a pile of rocks on the highway with a "welcome to" on it … but a feeling that being part of something that matters.
