BOXES ON THE HILLSIDE
Hanns F Skoutajan
“Little boxes on the hillside ... and they all look just the same,” was one of Pete Seeger’s songs wherewith he spoofed the suburbs that were growing like mushrooms at the periphery of most cities and towns in America and Canada following WW II. I remember first hearing it and got a big laugh out of it.
But on second thought I recalled having once lived in one of those “little boxes.” Indeed it was my home for almost ten years. The suburbs that Seeger sings about are post war while I lived in wartime housing from ‘42 - ’52, that looked much the same.
The Bata Shoe Company where my father was employed as a quality control engineer, established a village to house the workers. It was located six miles north of the city of Trenton, Ontario in the beautiful valley of the Trent River, There were hills all around that reminded the Czech employees of their homeland. They had escaped the Nazi take-over of Czechoslovakia. I know that my own parents felt that way.
Batawa, as the village was named after the world famous shoe enterprise, was quite an anomaly. On a Sunday afternoon quite a number of cars brought curious people to see this unusual sight - a village of small houses that seemed to have sprung out of he ground. Most communities in Canada had developed slowly over the years and were comprised of a variety of styles, or no style at all. Batawa was “little boxes” of a variety of colours, a planned village.
Today, the “little boxes” are all gone, replaced by much more modern homes such as we see in most suburbs. These wartime prefabs can still be seen in other places, for instance in Ottawa at Kirkwood just south of Carling Avenue. The owners have often added to them on the back and on the sides.
I vividly recall the day that we moved in. After fleeing from our comfortable apartment house in Czechoslovakia, we lived in a variety of accommodation which included a castle in Scotland, a log shack in northern Saskatchewan and in a couple of rooms in a small house in downtown Toronto. For the first time in my life I had a room to myself. What a luxury! Those Little Boxes on the hillside weren’t all that bad.
The late Pete Seeger accompanied on his banjo, was a musical prophet, performing songs critical of the Vietnam War and indeed all war. “When will we ever learn?” His grandfather protested the US entry into World War I. He campaigned for justice and human rights and took with him thousands of fans and will be well remembered. I shall certainly replay those vinyl platters that I bought years ago.
He was, of course, brought before the House Unamerican Activities Committee and denounced by Senator McCarthy as a communist. Indeed in his student days at Harvard University he had joined with student rebels some of whom were communist.
His songs were audacious but not rabel rousing. He was first and foremost an American. To the CBC goes the credit when he was banned from most major US networks for giving him a platform from which he could reach many of the citizens south if the border but also in Canada where they had immigrated to avoid the draft.
He lived a long and productive life and had many friends in the musical field such as Odetta, the well-known black singer and Woodie Gurthrie among them. In his death at the age of 94 he will be much celebrated. It is fervently hoped that his spirit , like that of John Brown, will march on. It is much needed at a time when the corporate world has taken over the United States as well as Canada. We need to experience a rebirth of democracy to replace the oligarchic systems that have taken over.
Yes, I lived in one of those little boxes but what I remember best of all is the sense of community that existed in our little village on the banks of the Trent. There is now a new community there. Of the old structures only the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic church built in 1941 remains. The five story factory, which was once a war plant producing shell casings, gun mounts and aircraft arts and later on shoes and boots, stands idle. Sonja Bata, the widow of the late Thomas Bata, has dreamed boldly and, as the first Batawa once was, it is again in the forefront of being a unique community.
The Batawa Ski Hill has attracted much attention plus the many exciting community initiatives such as environmental care and just plain fun for the residents is very much apparent. It keeps true to its motto: Batawa - beautiful by nature and design.
They are no longer “little boxes on the hillside” but a modern community that Seeger could well have sung about.
Spirit Quest 30/ 01/ 2014
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