A Modest Milestone

A modest milestone I know, nevertheless I am proud to celebrate that Uniform November’s blog has exceeded 10,000 views – wow!

Thanks to those who visited, read, commented on and wrote content. The awareness of place is such an essential phenomenon. It’s a joy to explore it with you.

After all, everything we do is done within a place. We are born in a place, schooled in a place, work, eat, romance, prey and play in places. We recover from illness in places, hide in them, sleep and seek refuge in them. We buy them, rent and extend them, we go to war over them and build peace in them, we are even laid to rest in them. Places are political, public and private, they are natural, fabricated and imagined. They orchestrate a sense of belonging, identity and self. They manipulate fear, memory and stories, they are symbolic and shambolic, meaningful and mundane. We are never without our ‘places’.

And yet, there seems to be a general sense of passivity associated with ‘place’. Is it time to recognise our relationships with place and its impact?

Let us not take for granted or overlook the importance of ‘Place’. Take a look around your place now, is it serving you well?

I could go on and on bestowing the virtues of place and advocating its potential … no wait, that’s what the blog is here to do

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In the past, I was led to believe that in some circumstances, to expect more from places was perceived as lofty. Nah, it's not lofty, it's an ordinary expectation. To want better places for people is a healthy thing. Places are a fundamental contributor to people’s quality of life, valued places should be commonplace no matter the circumstances.

My parents and grandparents didn’t feel complaisant, conditioned and at the mercy of those that control place – They stoically accepted the hardship that poorly conceived places created, they lived and worked in troublesome places that often encouraged social segregation, illness and stigma (those places still exist). They made the most of their circumstances.

They would struggle when asked, how they might make places better or how a place could encourage inspiration, social cohesion and rest. Often, seemingly uncomfortable with pointless questions, they would eventually point out, it wasn’t my place to criticise, I should be grateful for what I have and get on with life.

Now thanks to my family, it is my place to criticise and help ensure place serves people well, I am grateful for the opportunity to do that, and I am getting on with life trying to make a difference by exploring the nuances of society in the threshold spaces between place, people and peace…

Thank you