Ten Years Together

Instead of celebrating me, I’m marking this anniversary with you by inviting a selection of Calgarians to tell the stories of their last decade. They will talk about topics from mobility to belonging, from economic resiliency to the arts, from mental health to better government.

In such difficult times, it’s easy to fall into negativity and forget what a special place we have built here, the very best place in the world in which to live. I hope these stories will make you smile, or laugh, or maybe even cry, but remind you of what we have.

For each of the next ten days, we will showcase a different theme, and one of these amazing citizens will have their story highlighted in a beautiful video by the amazing Calgary artist Sam Hester.

(Exactly ten years ago as I write this, I was at the final coffee party of the 2010 campaign. I had been sitting in people’s kitchens and living rooms for the previous six months. Sometimes there were 5 people there, sometimes 30 or 40. That night, there were hundreds of people in a tiny house. Sam Hester’s house!)

There will also be some reading – a short article summarizing all of the stories for that theme.  And, when we have a minute to breathe, we will post everyone’s stories as audio podcasts.

Please feel free to share this material with friends and family, using the hashtag #tenshi (I couldn’t resist that one!).

I hope you enjoy this little gift – Ten Years Together.

Naheed

Ten years ago, with a lot more black hair, I stood up in a very hot and sweaty basement on Macleod Trail, and talked about the promise of this extraordinary place.

Now, ten years later, in the midst of a pandemic, a public health crisis, an economic crisis, and a reckoning on questions of racism, it’s a bit odd to be celebrating a tenth anniversary. So rather than getting something made of tin or diamonds (which Google tells me are the traditional and modern gifts for a 10th anniversary), I thought I would give you a gift. A gift of stories.