Towers are often representative of the phallic, and if I ventured to guess, I would have to say the Regina Twin Towers are no exception.
Consider this: Archaeology has shown that in the past, tall upright structures were frequently constructed and used in religious rites as an effort to appease the fertility gods. The hope was that the gods would respond by blessing the cultivated land and ensure a bountiful harvest. Interestingly, Regina was built on some of the richest soil in the world (at one time the region was considered “the breadbasket of the world), and historically, the city has always been surrounded and supported by a strong agricultural community. It should not be too far-fetched then to speculate that the Twin Towers, located in the very heart of downtown Regina, are in fact a symbol stemming from our past representing our desire to retain a vibrant and fertile agrarian landscape. It could also be said that since the Towers are associated more with the city’s commerce, their status as phallic symbols may be even more representative of the growth and development of the city’s increasingly important business sector. After all, every city desires a fertile economy, no? I also don’t think it’s mere coincidence that with the recent surge in city development Regina is now building a third “phallus”, or Tower, with the hopes of receiving future blessings from the gods of commercial fertility.
Sociologically speaking, the location of the Towers in the city is also interesting. Ancient cultures used to place their most sacred temples in the centre of their communities, or in what we would call today their “downtown”. These religious structures, often tall and imposing in nature, marked the centre of a city’s activities. While I admit the Towers in Regina aren’t religious, and don’t really centralize and galvanize the city’s community at the moment, recent construction and development in the downtown area certainly aim to bolster the traffic in and around those twin (and soon to be triplet) buildings. Time will only tell if a third Tower will be enough to stimulate the Regina downtown, impregnate it with greater activity, and bring to birth a renewed sense of community and business in the city.
Another point to consider is this: Ever hear someone say that a man driving a big truck “is obviously trying to compensate for something” (suggesting he’s perhaps deficiently endowed)? Well consider Regina as that man, and the Twin towers as our city’s ‘Truck’ – something we’ve acquired as a means of compensating for something we seem to lack: Possibly more national scale attention? A cultural identity? Respect from other, better endowed cities? Being known for more than just the city that rhymes with “fun”, or the city with the “worst neighbourhood”? Maybe to prove we’re more than just another hick-town in the middle of nowhere? Whatever the case may be, Regina seems to feel it lacks distinctiveness, and I believe the Towers can be viewed, in both a symbolic and physical sense, as a pathetic attempt to somehow make-up for that shortcoming – the Towers, after all, are touted in nearly all our civic advertising and marketing campaigns, and generally identified as the city's most recognizable landmarks. Therefore, since for the most part it is men who are in charge of running the Queen City, could it be that Regina, named after a strong female monarch, is reaching for some old-fashioned masculine branding to compensate for its patriarchal insecurities? As if one weren't enough, we had to build two, and soon to be three such erections that stretch far above our city's horizon. And if the rumours are true, even a fourth tower is could be on its way. Now doesn't that seem at least a bit excessive?
It really bothers me that despite having so much potential and promise, Regina continues to ‘compensate’ for its inadequacies rather than embrace all of its strengths. I’m just not convinced that adding another giant glass and concrete penis to our city skyline screams to the rest of the world that we have “arrived”. I’ve been to cities all over the world, and I’ve found it’s not the size of their buildings that necessarily matter, but instead it’s the people that live there and all those little things one really has to hunt for that gives it a true character and identity: the local businesses and restaurants, the underground music venues, the non-commercial art galleries, the publicly-run festivals, and so on and so forth. Of course, I’m not against building another Tower downtown – it will undoubtedly yield countless advantages to the city. All I am imploring is that we let it not define us. Regina has a wealth of talent in the arts, and I think developing and promoting this would go so much farther in providing us with a more defined identity.
Next blog post: Regina’s Twin Towers as yonic symbols...I kid, I kid! (Despite the overwhelming evidence to suggest this is the case, I won’t bore you with my counter argument to the post above. All you need to do is look at the subtle “V” shape that the buildings create on the city’s pre-“Infinite Horizons” logo, remember that Regina will always be the city that rhymes with “fun”, and know that Regina has very feminine roots as Canada’s “Queen City”.
