As I look out my window at the waining light brought on by dusk at the end of the day and see children playing up and down the street on their razors and roller blades chasing others on bikes, laughing and having a good time. I think to myself it's great to be alive and live in a great community where I feel safe. Then I remember that my wife told me earlier that a teenage boy was struck down and killed by a truck less than twenty four hours ago walking down a dark street at night. I think to myself, could that accident have been prevented if there was more lights on the street or was the driver distracted? Either way this brings up a an issue with the local communities with there light pollution clauses in their city ordinances.
Alessandra Orofino talked about how we can make changes in our cities in her talk "It's our city. Let's fix it." She states that there are three aspects of city life. First, Citizens willingness to engage. Second, Cities need to include all of it's residents. Third, Our own ability to live happy and fulfilling lives. Now think for a minute, Is your city doing this for you?
Alessandra uses many of Larsen's Cultural Myths in her discourse to get her message across. First she used the wisdom of the rustic myth by stating statistics of the voting throughout certain countries and America. In municipal voting in certain cities like Los Angeles, the statistics were very low. Out of four million residents only two hundred thousand voted for their mayor. In the mid to late eighties we had the highest voting ever recorded. Since then the the voting has rapidly declined.
Another of Larsen's Cultural Myth that she used is The Value of Challenge. She does this by challenging us to become more active in our communities. She encourages people to be actively involved in their community and that they are empowered to make the necessary changes in their community. They do not to sit on the sidelines and wait for the elections to come every two years before they make these changes. As a people in the community we have the strength and the power to make any changes.
Orofino uses the sense of power as a process of premise. She does this by explaining that we the people have the power to make a change at any time we need. She also uses the sense of roots as she describes her childhood living in Rio and the choices she had to make while growing up. This is also accomplished when she describes the works she is doing in her native state of Rio to help make the change.
At the end of her presentation, she uses another cultural myth, "The Eternal Return". She states that if we are active in our communities, to make the changes that are necessary, we will be able to achieve the three aspects of city life. We will be able to look out our window and see our neighborhood families and children happily living in harmony with one another. It is up to us. We are ready.
