We're Also Rat-Free.

There was a ton of grumblings online a week or so ago, when someone wrote an article on Vice on why Calgary, my hometown, was not really so bad after all. Some of the fuss was from Calgarians, who often forget how much people actually make fun of us, and the rest were folks that live in the only major city to the west of us. Vancouverites seem to have a real issue with our city, because of course, they have no social, weather, or affordability issues of their own. I've lived on the coast, and here I am back on the prairies. It's clear what team I am on here, but here are a few reasons to agree:

1. Calgarians are so, so cute. 
I had a friend visit from Europe a few years ago, and I took him downtown during the day. We passed by a group of corporate gentlemen that were on their way to lunch, and my friend asked why they were in cowboy costumes. "No", I told him, "That's just how people dress here", and silently made note, in my own head, that Calgarians are extremely adorable.

2. You can actually afford to live here. 
I noticed two things while living in Vancouver- everybody drank cheap beer, and nobody had a spare bedroom. Jobs are plentiful here, and it's not impossible to live good. You can enjoy cocktails of your choice in your spacious home, and still have some change left over to party for an entire week at Stampede.

3. There is no 'cool'. 
We are a city full of die-hard, unfussy native Calgarians. and recent transplants. This means that crowds everywhere are strange, and social situations don't tend to limit themselves to 'cool', and 'uncool', like I've experienced in almost every other big city. Douchebag frat boys often are elbowed up to the bar with creative-haircuts without altercations, and people seem to genuinely like each other. Although I have seen every single one of my top-ten street fights here (also a cool achievement, Calgary!), we seem to try hard to be kind and inclusive, and have each other's best interests in mind.

4. Our mayor is a great guy. 
I don't know how it happened, but our mayor is a really friendly, genuine person that seems to have a lot of heart invested into the city. Almost everyone has a story about a friend of a friend that was at a party where Nenshi showed up, made pleasantries with everyone, and disappeared into the night. He lives with his parents, headed up the Pride parade, rode in a DeLorean at ComiCon, and if that's not enough, he looks darling in a huge white Stetson at Stampede.

5. We are nice to each other.
I have cried on benches of almost every major city in North America (I wish I was joking), and Calgary is the only city where a stranger has dropped a doughnut, and several neatly-folded Kleenexes in my lap. A co-worker of mine stops to yell at the old ladies that protest in front of the abortion clinic every single day, and yet stopped to help one of them up when she tripped over her gory, unnecessary sign. As I've told out-of-towners before, we are a city of door-holders and well-wishers, and I love, love, love it here.

~sarah p.

p.s. Chinooks. Somehow I forgot to mention those. Warm winds, like god's breath, blow over the mountains and defrost the entire city for days at a time during a deep-freeze in winter, and it is reason alone to pack up and move here.