Welcome to Bucholia

On the street where I’m living now there is not one but two yarn shops. There are two restaurants, a Parisian-themed bath and beauty shop, two art galleries, an artisanal ironworks shop, a place to purchase fine hardwood floors, an antique store, a winery, a luxury “inn” and spa, a store that specializes in gardening paraphernalia, a clothing store that I’ve never visited, an historical museum and village, and a heritage shop that exists in order to fund the aforementioned museum. Toward the southern end of the street there is bar and across from this bar is a store that might best be described as glorified gift shop (a description that may be equally applied to the entire town). For little over a year I have lived above this shop with my partner, Marlie. Directly behind us are thousands of trees, which—taken together—makes for a vista that often helps me forget that I am poor. Indeed, Jordan is about as pretty and quaint a place as is plausible in this day and age; this is perhaps what makes it so problematic.

In what are shaping up to be my final fleeting months in the Niagara Region, I have decided to use this blog to eulogize my waning experience just south of the big city. Far from a tourism blog or a blissful reminiscence, this blog will take inspiration from the bucolic Niagara environs in its exploration of what it means to live anywhere—to hang one's hat and call someplace home. In this endeavour, Bucholia will consider such concepts as the divide between ruralism and urbanism, aestheticism, history, community, nature and authenticity. In short, this blog will attempt to answer two questions: Who would be deranged enough to want to stay here? Why would anyone ever want to leave?