This issue of the Griff is talking politics and while I know it’s been an exhausting marathon of bad news, please stop thinking about Donald Trump and Elon Musk and for just a second and consider what’s shaping the city you live in. Engage your curiosity, because we didn’t get to the Edmonton we live in today by chance. 

So many of us choose to not even think about it. But if you really want to know what’s going on around you, it’s all nasty dirty politics.

Just a couple of blocks around MacEwan, are some hefty political bodies, like city hall and the legislature. There’s businesses — some massive like those under the Katz Group, some small like Campio. Then there’s the universities like MacEwan and Norquest, non-profits like the Mustard Seed and the Hope Mission. And the developers like MacLab, One Properties, and Edgar who choose what to buy, what to build, and where it’ll go. 

They’re all part of the making of this city, and its politics. Developers have to follow zoning and permitting, and might not build unless the city or province helps make it profitable. Campio needs a liquor license and has to follow guidelines for patios. Universities’ mandates are created directly by the province, and are governed by people appointed by it. 

That list means that the people who choose to run MacEwan are there due to politics. Those are the same people who voted on increasing tuition fees for the past five years, by the way. 

The LRT, the way you may get to campus, was a decision made by people you can vote for. But also, based on your feedback through letters, surveys, and town halls. We need to understand that politics is a lot more than just a vote. For democracy to really work, especially at the municipal level, it needs active participation, even outside the ballot box.

I think we’ve started to hate politics, because we’ve started to hate curiosity. It’s become an expectation to know everything, to have the correct answer at all times, or otherwise be silent. To engage in verbal curiosity, to ask a question, is to risk looking dumb or ignorant, which of course stings, but it’s the best way to learn.

Why do we hate it so much when we don’t know something we think we should? And why do we hate this feeling, yet continue to choose being less-informed? We have all the information in the world at our fingertips and choose to look away from it, unless we need to prove we’re right in one particular moment. I know I’ve done it, and it’s a problem.

One thing I’ve been practicing is admitting that I don’t know shit. I know things like the fourth track on Led Zeppelin’s House of the Holy, and the name of Aragorn’s pony in Lord of the Rings, but I don’t know everything about what’s going on around me. I don’t know all the politics. 

So, I’m trying to get better with my verbal curiosity, and I’ve really realised that in the moment, when you’re in a conversation, asking that question is tough. But when I do ask it, it’s never as bad as the anxiety makes it out to be. 

What’s worse than that, is interviewing students who don’t know about anything that happens in this city. It’s very frustrating to ask someone about the tariffs and see them not even know what a tariff is. They don’t even ask. That’s really the frustrating part. 

It’s even more agonizing to be in a quiet political science class where hardly anyone ever asks a question. Often it feels like the topic of contemporary politics is avoided, as a way to avoid students arguing with students.

It’s because politics has become a dirty word. It means the opportunity for conflict, for difference, for argument. 

I’m here to press a case: politics aren’t a taboo, and you don’t need to view the forces that construct your world as if you’re a nun learning sex-ed. The key is having a bit, just a sliver of curiosity, and to hone that muscle over time. 

Politics also don’t have to be bad for your mental health. It doesn’t have to be a drain on your emotional energy. The algorithm which benefits from your reactions is the emotional vampire, not politics, not curiosity. 
I urge you while you read this issue to consider that us, the writers, don’t know everything. Because trust me, we really don’t. But in the spirit of curiosity, when you realise that, I hope you ask questions about it. Dig a bit deeper than I did on housing. See what you can really find out about what’s going on at the Students’ Council. Read up on women’s history month.

Because, at the end of the day, as a writer, I’d rather you read my work and feel curious, than read it and feel like you know everything.

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Photo by Amanda Erickson