Low-tech social distancing

A record 106 million viewers watched the final episode of M*A*S*H back in 1983. Set in a mobile field hospital during the Korean War with choppers constantly flying in more wounded there was plenty of comic relief to balance the often serious plot lines. The camaraderie and the madcap antics of the medics and crew were the draw for me but I don’t think I’ll ever think of M*A*S*H in the same way after the eeriness of the past few weeks. Somehow, it feels like we are in a wartime situation and it definitely isn’t fun.

Since I don’t have TV or the internet, I’ve started relying on CBC radio for my pandemic coverage even though I have data on my phone. I’ve been cocooning on the couch for much of every day while listening to the latest updates. The regular programming has been a huge comfort – a voice from the outside world. I need to start spending at least part of each day off the couch. My brief forays to the grocery store need to soon turn into longer, more energetic treks around the city. Unfortunately too often when I consider going out for a regular walk, I make another coffee and reach for more snacks instead. It feels like much has been taken away and so quickly too. Between braving the Laundromat (and I was happy to be the only one doing my wash yesterday so that I could practise my social distancing) to staying connected to others, life is certainly more challenging these days. So many other Winnipeggers seem to be busily putting artwork up in their windows for passers-by to enjoy or staging impromptu concerts from their balconies and porches.

Not me, not yet. I did copy out a description of how it feels to be in the creative flow…but nothing yet. I promised myself in the beginning that I would embrace my low-tech lifestyle and start art journaling – a kind of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink journal with paintings, poems, drawings, quotes, feelings…So far very few of my conte pencils, paints, and water colour pencils have left their kitchen drawer home. There is something off putting about a blank sheet of paper in a pristine sketchbook when you are trying to create a masterpiece. I think I’m going to relax my expectations of myself. Instead of trying to become the next Picasso, I will let myself read more. After all I love reading and there must be books I haven’t read in my overflowing bookcase. I’m also looking forward to watching the French language version of many of my DVDs.

Explore the east side of Wall Street

Published in the Metro

Faveri’s Wood Furniture has been at 625 Wall St. since 1976, which qualifies it as an oldtimer on the short stretch of the street between Ellice and Portage avenues.

 

Owner Lynda Wilson credits the company’s success to staying true to its roots and selling only solid wood furniture made in North America.

The large store with its beautifully accessorized furniture wouldn’t be out of place in any major city. It just isn’t the type of business you’d necessarily expect to find on Wall Street, which still has an industrial feel.

The street is full of surprises, though, and despite the smaller businesses on the east side of the street being dwarfed by the huge steel-clad industrial buildings with chain-link fences or large parking lots across the street, they’ve developed into a resilient community. In fact, the east side of the street is becoming a hip new West End destination.

Sleepy Owl Bakery at 751 Wall St. seems to have been the nexus for the change. After selling out of breads and baked goods every week at the Wolseley Farmers’ Market, Joanne Toupin and her husband opened their bakery and tiny retail store on Wall Street. Toupin says they knew their wholesale sales would survive but weren’t sure their customers would follow them from the farmers’ market. Happily, they did.

In quick succession, CrossFit 431 (729 Wall St.) and Barn Hammer Brewing Company (595 Wall St.) were opened by young entrepreneurs. Both independent businesses have become destinations for increasing numbers of younger people. The street is  going to get even more popular when a new restaurant opens soon. Patrons tasting craft brews in Barn Hammer’s tap room will be able to bring their food right in.

Famous urbanist Jane Jacobs believed you couldn’t really know a street until you’d walked it. Maybe the slew of new businesses opening on this car-oriented  street will be the tipping point that encourages people to leave their cars at home while  exploring the street on foot this summer. There are some older  independent businesses that are easy to miss while driving past. Brian’s Corner Antiques and Thrift and Valu Lots are two Winnipeg institutions worth a visit.

There’s a new sense of pride and community on Wall Street these days that should be a boon to all  local businesses on the street.

With a little help from the West End Biz, more positive change is sure to come to the street in the near future.

 

The recycling blues audio story

click to listen to yet another recycling story

Art in Bloom leads to floral philanthropy

Published in the Metro

It took a community effort and a lot of flowers to put on the recent Art in Bloom festival at the WAG.

The four-day biannual event celebrates the return of spring with art and fresh flowers. The WAG’s galleries blossomed with over 100 floral interpretations of 15th to 21st century artworks. Community members and groups collaborated on an interpretation depicting Norval Morrisseau’s Androgyny painting in 24 panels and there was a lush bank of long-stemmed roses in the foyer.

The 15,000 stems used to create the floral masterpieces were all donated by Petals West.

Floral Philanthropy is a local non-profit  that recycles flowers which would otherwise be thrown away after an event. This ensures that the flowers are enjoyed for days, not hours and go on to bring delight into others’ lives.

Immediately after Art in Bloom ended, volunteers from Floral Philanthropy retrieved all the arrangements, carefully took them apart and re-fashioned them into bedside bouquets. More volunteers then drove these to hospitals and care homes throughout the city. The many recipients were delighted with their petal pick-me-ups.

Recent studies have shown that hospital patients with fresh flowers by their bedside use less pain medication and have lower blood pressure. The seemingly small gesture  of a smile, a few words and an unexpected bouquet  improves well-being as it brings joy.

It’s not just the sick who can benefit from fresh flowers. The 24 colourful panels that had been part of Androgyny, as well as the roses, were driven out to St. Vital Centre and Outlet Collection Winnipeg, where shoppers were able to enjoy them for a week before the blooms were composted.

Repurposing donated fresh flowers and giving them to those in need of a kind gesture isn’t a new idea and it is being done by a variety of charities, such as Floral Angels in the U.K., Random Acts of Flowers in the U.S. and many more. Prince Harry and Megan Markle donated bouquets made from their wedding flowers to St Joseph’s Hospice in London.

With wedding and event season upon us, it’s worth remembering that for a $100 donation to Winnipeg Harvest, volunteers from Floral Philanthropy will pick up flowers from any event within the city limits and carefully re-style them into smaller bouquets before driving them to  those in need  in the community.

It’s a win-win for everybody as you’ll receive a tax receipt for the full amount and Winnipeg Harvest can leverage your $100 into many times that amount of food through their wholesale connections.

Food mart offers Filipino delicacies

published in the Metro

When I was growing up in small-town B.C. in the 1970s, Chinese restaurants were everywhere, as pizza places are today, but that was about it. There were none of the ethnic restaurants we’re so lucky to have in the West End today.

Sargent Avenue has become a destination for foodies. Within the last year, Akin’s African Restaurant, Deli Brazil Cafe, Sargent Taco Shop and the India Pavilion Restaurant and Bar have all joined the vibrant restaurant scene.

Thai and East Indian foods have always been familiar go-tos for me and I like cooking them at home. Hands down, Thai green curry has to be one of the easiest recipes around.

Filipino food is still new to me, though, and I’ve definitely been missing out.

I tried it for the first time when I picked up takeout from the extensive daily selection of dishes at Tindahan Food Mart (906 Sargent Ave).

Tindahan is celebrating its 30th anniversary at this location and owner Ted Mendoza admitted he never expected the store to get so big. The 5,000-square-foot specialty grocery store is a bustling place. With its meat counter, small fruit and veggie section, pinoy (Filipino) street food, desserts, three packed aisles of canned and packaged goods and, of course, the wonderful takeout counter, it’s a one-stop shop for many Filipinos in the West End and from further afield.

Filipinos embrace nose-to-tail eating especially with pork, just as many other traditional cultures do, so they also stock beef lung, pork blood, beef tongue and more.

I tried pork sisig, pork adobo and bopis, as they’re some of their most popular dishes. The adobo and the sisig were lovely as the meat was tender and flavourful. The pork adobo was quite similar to what I’m used to as the meat is braised in vinegar and soy sauce, along with garlic, onions, peppercorns and bay leaves.

The bopis had a bolder flavour. Traditionally it’s made with beef or pork lungs and heart sautéed in tomatoes, chilies and onions and it was definitely my least favourite dish of the three. Lechon (roast suckling pig) is a delicacy that’s sometimes available. You can order one for a special occasion or birthday.

Mendoza added that Filipinos love the taste of the foods they have grown up with. That’s probably why the store’s catering service is popular. The menu lists all the dishes and desserts available with some priced per piece and others by the tray. Go to tindahanfoodmart.com to see the menu. Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com

 

Designing for the vision-impaired

published in the Metro

The Vision Impaired Resource Network has a small office in Lions Manor (320 Sherbroook St.). Like many other non-profits, it has a wish list of things it would love to include in its ideal office and resource centre.

High on that list would be a mock apartment where those with recent vision loss could relearn their way around a kitchen, a recording studio, a gym and a cafe.

For their final assignment last term, master’s students in the faculty of architecture’s master of interior design class at the University of Manitoba chose to re-imagine and design a theoretical new office and resource centre for VIRN. The grand reveal of these designs was held before Christmas in the Harvey Hall at Lions Manor.

Of course, vision impairment is not a one size-fits-all phenomenon and it often co-exists with other conditions. Before lifting a pencil, the students listened to a number of those in VIRN’s community who generously shared their vision-loss journeys. Many of the suggestions were incorporated in the beautiful and innovative designs.

Computer-generated images with people photo shopped in for scale really put you inside the offices. Tactile maps featuring engraved braille lettering and engraved patterns delineating each area ensured the tabletop design models were accessible to all.

Durable and attractive cork flooring was often picked for hallways, as it dampens sound. Those with vision impairment respond to multiple cues in their environments and noise pollution can be very disorienting.

The textures, acoustics and colours of the finishes in the designs were carefully picked so that wayfaring to different areas of the office and resource centre would be easier.

From strip lighting along the bottom of hallways that’s wide enough for those using white canes and those with guide dogs, to a Japanese wood-burning technique (Shou-sugi-ban) used on the ceiling and walls of the gym so it can be identified by smell — there were many ingenious wayfaring aids in the designs.

A new office and resource centre is just a dream for now but, thanks to the students’ hard work, everyone who attended the event learned more about inclusive design and how little design tweaks can make life easier for those with vision impairment.

Maybe one day it will be a reality and its cafe will employ people with vision impairment as VIRN promotes active, healthy and independent living.

 

Inside Winnipeg’s level 4 laboratory

published in the Metro

Living so close, I’d wondered about the imposing building set slightly apart on its own block. The Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health (CSCHAH) is a government building and the long driveway with prominent security barriers lends it some intrigue.

I didn’t realize that it is world renowned as the first facility to combine laboratories for human and animal disease research and that it’s the only containment level 4 laboratory in Canada until Ligia Braidotti wrote about a public information session.

I really didn’t know what to expect when I showed up for the session.

After showing ID, I wandered around the lobby looking at info displays then dug through a bowl of temporary tattoos with virus designs searching for one of each for my nephews. Influenza, E-coli, anthrax…I didn’t see the Ebola one although I knew Ebola is housed in the centre at the highest level of bio-containment.

The amphitheater style auditorium was packed for the presentation so a second overflow room was opened.

We were treated to a series of informative, fascinating and at times funny presentations by speakers from the CSCHAH and it’s community liaison committee addressing all aspects of the centre’s operations. These together with the realization that the centre employs 500 people, many of whom live, work and shop in the community, greatly allayed my vague apprehensions.

There have been impressive advances made at the centre. The experimental Ebola vaccine being administered in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak was developed her. So was ZMapp, which is given to Ebola patients who have already been infected. The centre also pioneered the lab-in-a-suitcase, invented by biologist Allen Grolla, which means that instead of having to set up a lab in a capital city during a crisis, they can set up in remote areas close to the outbreak, thus saving precious diagnostic time.

One of the labs was recently deployed to a remote community in Nunavut during an outbreak of tuberculosis. During a seven-week period it was able to test over 90 percent of the eligible population.

Community liaison officer Joy Stadnichuk gives presentations at five area high shcools and and numerous post-secondary career fairs throughtout the year. She gives an overview of interesting jobs in the sciences and takes pains to stress that the centre doesn’t just hire biologists and scientists but like all labs, it also needs administrative personnel, building technicians, bio-containment safety officers and more.

Shoebox Project Aids Those in Need

published in the Metro

Mon., Dec. 10 is the very last day people can drop off decorated shoeboxes full of necessities and little luxuries to be given to women affected by homelessness.

The Shoebox Project for Women has been collecting and distributing gift-filled shoeboxes across Canada and the U.S. since 2011. Last year, the Manitoba chapter collected over 1,700 shoebox gifts and distributed them to 47 organizations in 13 communities.

The West End Women’s Resource Centre at 640 Ellice Ave. sees 90 to 100 women a day use its services and its clients have benefited from the Shoebox Project over the last six years.

Drop-in co-ordinator Merrill Grant says the women who use the busy resource centre are always very excited to receive them when they’re given out at their holiday party or other events.

“Most of the women are under a lot of pressure to make Christmas happen for their families and after stretching their budgets there’s nothing left” said Grant. “They usually put everyone else first and don’t receive anything”.

When I asked her what items were the most popular she said “I think it’s the little extras like a really nice shampoo or very luxurious body wash. When women are struggling to feed their families the little extras are the first things to go.”

If you want to participate in the Shoebox Project, the organization asks that the new and unopened gifts you include in your festively wrapped shoebox have a value of $50.

Something pretty like nail polish, something cozy like warm socks, something special such as a gift card, something personal like nice shampoo. These are some of the little things that will make recipients feel special and cared for. You can find a full list of suggestions and the small list of things not to include at shoeboxproject.com.

It’s very important that you wrap the lid and the base of the box separately but you can decorate it as elaborately as you want to make it really festive and show the woman who receives your gift that she has not been forgotten and is a valued member of her community.

A handwritten card or letter of encouragement tucked in the box can be especially meaningful for a woman whose life is difficult during the Christmas season. The drop-off locations can all be found on shoeboxproject.com.

Many, but not all, public libraries are collecting the shoeboxes. Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com

 

Crime (writing) doesn’t pay

published on CNC September 30 2016

Debra Komar is a forensic anthropologist turned true crime author – she was one of the writers speaking and teaching at this year’s Thin Air – Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

I sat in on her Writing Craft 1 seminar drawn more by curiosity about her and her career than an interest in true crime writing. She was a world renowned forensic anthropologist for more than 20 years investigating human rights violations for the UN and testifying as a world expert witness in The Hague and across North America. She turned out to be just as forthright, funny and level-headed as I’d hoped and she kindly agreed to answer some questions for this article.Firstly I asked her a couple of questions about Winnipeg…

What is something you really like about Winnipeg? 

There is a cultural diversity here that I love, a mix of people you don’t see in a place like PEI. The writers festival was great, a chance to connect with a new audience and I have had some absolutely great food in Osborne Village.

What else did you like about Winnipeg while you were here?

I absolutely love McNally Robinson. As independent book stores go, it is one of the very best. They love authors and take great care of us when we visit and they love books. Their staff are readers and make great suggestions and they promote Canadian literature (and bless them for that!).

…And then I asked lots of questions about her work

Why did you become someone who does autopsies? Did you study to be a physician first or a police officer?  Or do you have a degree in anthropology?

My background is in medicine and anthropology. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, then to the medical school at Queen’s University (department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology) and then did a PhD in Forensic Taphonomy at the University of Alberta. While I worked very closely with law enforcement, I am not a police officer (although I have great love and respect for those who do).

‘Forensic taphonomy is the study of the postmortem changes to human remains, focusing largely on environmental effects—including decomposition in soil and water and interaction with plants, insects, and other animals.’    Manual of forensic Taphonomy – CRC Press Book                                          

How did you start working with the UN?

One of my first major deployments was to the Former Yugoslavia.  I started with Physicians for Human Rights but was quickly hired by the UN Mission in Kosovo. After that, I worked for them in various capacities in various places throughout the world.

Why were you picked for the UN? 

There aren’t a whole lot of people who are trained to do what I do, and even less who can 1) stomach the mass grave work and 2) have the freedom (ie lack of kids and family) that would allow them to disappear for six months to a year all the time.  It’s pretty much the same for every organization I worked for – once you start doing this kind of work and are comfortable doing it, you keep getting deployed to do the next genocide.

Did you have translators when you were working in other countries?

Yes, translators are the backbone of every investigation. I can only speak English, French and a smattering of Serbo-Croat.  We could not have done the work without the spectacular translators I was lucky enough to work with.

Did any religious beliefs help you to do this job?

I am not a religious person, which is not unusual for a scientist. I respect those of all faiths but I am far too analytical.

How did you stay sane staring at so much death? How many autopsies did you do? (I know you mentioned a figure but I didn’t write it down). 

I stopped counting after 6000 postmortems (and that was years before I retired). Working on large-scale international human rights gets the number up fast (I stopped counting after 120 mass graves). As for staying sane, I’m not sure that I am. The organizations I worked for provide excellent mental health and support, both in the field and after.

This is kind of a weird question and you don’t have to answer, I was just wondering, while I was thinking about it…was it hard to eat when you’re surrounded by death? 

It’s a fair question. I have been a vegetarian for the past 33 years – not a surprise, given what I work with – but that is sometimes hard to explain in places where all food is so scarce.

Did you have any hobbies while you were in forensics? 

A colleague in Bosnia turned me onto crafts, particularly cross-stitching and knitting. It was a great way to relax after work (we didn’t have TV or much access to internet and there were only so many English books kicking around.) I still do it today, more than 20 years later.

Which part of your job gave you the most satisfaction?

Returning the victims to their families, giving them some closure.

Since retiring from forensic work, Debra has written four novels as well as co-authored a textbook. They are all historic Canadian crimes where she can use modern forensic methods to prove wrongful conviction. I asked her some further questions about her writing…

Reading some of the articles that have been written about you as a novelist – it seems that you find a question you want to answer, and often it seems like a question of character, and then you find an unsolved case where that question is pertinent. You then apply modern forensic techniques to solve the case. Does extensive reading and research play as big a question in solving the case as forensic evidence?

I am not a novelist (which is someone who writes fiction). I write non-fiction. Research and reading is central to what I do.  There are some great cases in Canadian history but they left behind very little evidence or documentation (Louis Riel being a classic example). I start by looking for cases that allow me to answer my question and then narrow them down to those that have material that survived. There are still cases that retain fingerprints, court records, autopsy reports and all manner of evidence, even if they are more than 100 years old. Other cases are far more recent and have virtually nothing left in the archives.

Theoretically is there any case here you would consider writing about?

I always start with the question, rather than the case, so it would depend on the question I am looking at. I have the next case already picked out (for the question, “what constitutes reasonable doubt?”) but have always wanted to look at the merging (and disparity) between Aboriginal notions of justice, which favour witness testimony and community perception over forensic evidence, and those of the mainstream justice system. I have seen a number of cases in the past in which a First Nations defendant must navigate the Canadian justice system and how the First Nation’s community’s sense of justice is at odds with that of the criminal courts. If anyone knows of a great case from Manitoba that highlights that, feel free to contact me through Twitter @debrakomar1. 

How many hours a day do you spend writing?

Depends on what I am working on. I usually work about 8 hours a day, although sometimes that is spent doing research or combing through archives or doing rewrites.

How long does it take you to write a book?

I usually spend two to four months doing research, six months writing the first version of the manuscript and another four months working with an editor and others to prepare the book for publication. 

What do you think about digital books taking the place of physical books? 

While I will always read a physical book, I can’t complain about anyone who reads, no matter what format they do it in. My personal preference is for the real thing. As I writer, I spend almost a year with my book as nothing but a computer file. The best part of the process for me is the day the actual books arrive and I can hold it for the first time.

What type of novels and non-fiction do you like to read? 

I will read almost everything I can get my hands on. For much of my career, I only had time to read scholarly stuff, so it was a real treat when I retired and I had the freedom to read anything. I love non-fiction, but a good novel is always welcome on my nightstand.

Does writing pay? As in can you make a living doing it? 

Not in Canada (unless you are Margaret Atwood or Alice Munroe).

Do you have an editor who makes a lot of corrections or are your books almost perfect as written? 

My books are nowhere near perfect as written :). I have been lucky enough to work with Sarah Brohman on the last two books and she is a wonderful editor. If my writing has improved at all, it is largely because of Sarah.

Do you have a set writing schedule? 

I usually wake up with things running through my head and it’s a rush to get down notes before it all disappears. I usually write most of the morning and then spend the afternoons doing research. 

Had you written anything before you wrote your books? 

I was a tenured professor before I retired, and wrote a textbook and more than two dozen scholarly articles on forensic science before I began writing for a popular audience.

Which crime authors do you read and what is your favourite genre of fiction or books in general? 

My favorite book of all time is “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote.  I enjoy the crime genre (true crime and fiction), although some of it is better than the rest.

Did you have a feeling you’d be a successful crime writer before you started?

I always wanted to become a writer. Now that I have published four books for the general public, I am changing my definition of “successful.” It’s not about best sellers lists or awards – it’s about being proud of the things you write.

Were you nervous writing your first book?

I’m not sure if nervous was the right word, but writing for a popular audience is much harder (and very different) than writing for fellow academics. It was an entirely new skill set (and learning it has been challenging).

Is there any other type of writing besides crime and writing textbooks that you’d like to try? 

I believe in “writing what I know” and there is no question that what I know is crime. I think I will stick to that.

What do you do if you have writers block? 

One of the benefits of working in a morgue is that we don’t have the time (or luxury) of having writers block. It taught me to keep working, even if the words aren’t flowing. For me, the writing is not in getting the words down at first, but in the rewriting.

What do you think of Janet Evanovich and other light romance crime authors? 

It is not my favourite genre, I must admit. It’s hard to see the work I do reduced to a plot line or depicted so inaccurately.

How important do you think a site like this where ordinary citizens write articles is? 

I think it’s a great way for readers and writers to connect.  I suspect that many of the questions you ask are the same ones readers are thinking. 

In Debra Komar’s seminar, I learned that rigor mortis disappears within 36 hours of death and that blowflies start laying eggs in the body’s nose, mouth, eye and ear cavities immediately after death; important details to know when you’re writing crime fiction but difficult to listen to..

I don’t read true crime as I prefer lighthearted crime but I will borrow one of Debra Komar’s from the library as they have won rave reviews, they pay great attention to history and each is based on a question of human character.

The Bastard of Fort Stikine: The Hudson’s Bay Company and the Murder of John McLoughlin, Jr. is Komar’s most recent novel and it won the Canadian Authors Award (CAA) for Canadian History in June of this year.

Thanks to Debra Komar for taking the time to answer my questions; and thanks also to Bruce Symaka, Audience Development Coordinator, Winnipeg International Writers Festival, for setting up this question and answer.

Anne Hawe

Life in St. James-Assiniboia

published in Home + Condo Living September 20 2018

The St. James-Assiniboia area in the far west of the city, popularly known as St. James, has much to offer a home buyer. It’s a nice mix of older, established neighbourhoods and vibrant newer ones. Although there is some industrial development in the Murray Industrial Park, near the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, it’s primarily residential. Many of its stores and businesses are clustered along the main thoroughfare, Portage Avenue.

HISTORY

From an Anglo-Metis farming community along the north bank of the Assiniboine River to the development of Unicity in the 1900’s; the three buildings comprising the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia (3180 Portage Avenue) depict the early history of the area. Of note is the Red River frame house once owned by William Brown and Charlotte Omand that is furnished with period pieces from the 1850s to the 1880’s.The first city hall of the District of Assiniboia and an interpretive centre round out the museum.

The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada (958 Ferry Road) is also worth visiting as aviation has been a big presence since 1926 when RCAF Station Winnipeg was built here. The Canadian Forces Base and the museum share space with the airport.

SHOPPING

Polo Park Mall (1485 Portage Avenue) is Winnipeg’s largest and the only major shopping destination between Toronto and Calgary. It draws 11 million visits a year by shoppers from across Manitoba and boasts over 200 shops and services. Bowling or a movie perhaps? Head to Polo Park mall for more than just shopping.

St. James Village along Portage Avenue has clusters of small boutiques, cute cafes and great dining. If you live close by, you’ll soon become a regular at the San Vito Coffee House (2293 Portage Avenue) or Daily Grind Coffee (3043 Portage Avenue).

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

Attractions are abound in St. James and one of the most popular is Assiniboia Downs (3975 Portage Avenue), the horse racing track operated by the Manitoba Jockeys Association. Why not place your bets during live thoroughbred racing in summer while enjoying the race day buffet. Simulcast racing and VLTs in the licensed gaming lounge run year-round.

UP AND COMING DEVELOPMENTS

Irwin Homes is known for their attention to detail, quality finishes and custom features. Longboat Development Corp. has teamed with them to offer 36 detached bungalow condominiums on a beautiful parcel of land in The Oaks. You’ll enjoy both rural and urban living while nestled in a pristine forest on the edge of the city. Downsizing is easy at Country Estates (70 Oak Forest Crescent) as double attached garages, ample storage and luxurious features are standard. 10 – Oak Forest Drive is priced at $474,900.

McGrath Meadows is a small upscale development built by Irwin homes just outside Winnipeg in Headingley. The superbly designed and constructed show home with all luxe features is  available, as are three river lots for custom builds. The beautifully landscaped development has a dedicated green space at the front and walking trails through the forest connecting with the river walk. The bungalow style show home (19 Prairie Lane) is priced at $637,623.

History and design

published in Home + Condo Living July 30 2018

HUT K  furniture and lighting design store was founded by Tim Borys in 2011, with the mission to present great design to Winnipeg and the surrounding market. The 10,000 square foot store at 200 Princess Street on the edge of the historic Exchange District is bright, airy and full of beautiful lighting and sleek modern furniture.

The three studio spaces hold exclusive collections by notable Canadian and international designers. You may have driven by the one-storey white building on Princess Street at night and noticed the striking wooden geometric orbs illuminating the objects in the window. New Zealander David Truebridge was inspired by nature when designing the Coral and Floral sculptural luminaires which can also be seen at Garden City Shopping Centre.

Other local businesses like Thom Bargen Coffee & Tea, Jenna Rae Cakes and Deer + Almond have worked with HUT K to find furnishings that compliment their aesthetics.

The Blu Dot furniture line is a favourite of the design team at HUT K and is often used in commercial projects. A month ago the Minneapolis based company was awarded a National Design Award for Product Design by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. This is a huge deal in the design world, comparable to winning the Oscar in the film industry.

Vancouver based Bensen is another of their favourite brands. Like Blu Dot, they too design and manufacture a full line of furniture.

Store Manager Claire Li and Sales Manager Dustin Harland have years of experience in the interior design business. They can recount details from the background of each of the designers they represent and have many anecdotes about the iconic designs that abound in the store.

Did you know that some of today’s coveted pieces were built decades ago and are still being manufactured? HUT K carries the Emeco 1006 Navy Chair which was first produced for use in submarines in 1944 and has been in continuous production ever since. Using the original 77 step process, soft recycled aluminum is made into the lightweight, rustproof chairs that as well as being stylish are guaranteed for life.

Anglepoise is an iconic British lighting brand that pioneered and patented a new balance mechanism in the 30s that revolutionized task lighting. Their timeless lamps are favoured by designers and creatives worldwide, and the Type 75+Paul Smith limited edition design available at HUT K is featured in the Design Museum in London. The pre-eminent British fashion designer’s  playful colour-by-component design highlights the no-frills mechanical functionality of the lamps. You can find both a mini desk lamp and a giant floor lamp in the line.

Mixing and matching contemporary and iconic pieces is one way to add depth to your commercial or residential design project. Claire and Dustin will happily look at your space before advising you on the simplest way to get the look you desire. Your living and working spaces will be beautiful and functional.

— Anne Hawe

Mattresses to garden mulch, fire hoses to zoo beds: There’s more to recycling than the blue bin

opinion piece published on CBC Manitoba September 29th 2018

(The glorious days of guilt-free and lazy recycling are mostly over, but local enterprises are stepping up. Filling your blue box takes a little more thought since China stopped accepting so much recycling. Why not look outside the blue box?) CBC provided blurb.

I drink a ton of bottled water and often eat microwaveable meals that come in cardboard packaging. Last week I transferred a mountain of recycling from the big cupboard under the sink and the blue box to the recycling wheelie bin for pickup.

Watching the level in the bin rise drastically as I added it was a humbling experience.

Generally, once I’ve put out my recycling, I don’t think much else about it. After all, I’m doing my bit, aren’t I?

Well, maybe not.

New rules

As well as generating a scary amount of packaging, I haven’t been paying enough attention to the new rules.

In my defense, they haven’t been widely publicized till lately.

Those black plastic microwave trays that are marked as recyclable? They’re not. Ditto for disposable coffee cups, Styrofoam, plastic bags and more.

The glorious days of guilt-free and lazy recycling are mostly over.

China is cleaning up from under piles of our plastics after accepting about 45 per cent of all plastic trash since 1992. As they try to meet new environmental standards, no longer is it out of sight, out of mind, while our dirty, semi-sorted recyclables take the slow boat to China.

They’ve instituted stringent new regulations requiring baled plastics and papers to contain no more than 0.5 per cent contaminants.

To meet the new rules, greasy, cheesy pizza boxes, bits of Styrofoam, soiled paper and bits of glass can’t find their way into the recycling box.

Saskatoon is considering following the lead of other cities and banning glass bottles and jars from their recycling program entirely as approximately 90 per cent of them break over everything else by the time they’re sorted.

 

Luckily some Winnipeg non-profit and social enterprises are reclaiming materials before we even have to wonder if they’re recyclable.

Textiles aren’t recyclable, but no matter; local thrift stores have been taking our used clothing and gently used household goods and selling them to raise money for social programs for years. Where would we be without them?

ArtsJunktion gets an A for its reclamation efforts.

The busy depot accepts donations of fabrics, paper, cardboard and much more. They’re sorted, weighed and then put out to be reclaimed on a pay-what-you-can basis by teachers, artists, crafters and community members looking for arts and craft supplies.

Materials leaving the depot are also weighed so the non-profit keeps track of how much they diverted from the landfill; it amounted to a whopping 2,000 kilograms a month last year.

Mother Earth Recycling is an entirely Indigenous owned and operated recycling program and social enterprise that runs six-month training programs for urban Indigenous community members with barriers to employment.

Your old computers will give their trainees valuable work experience in refurbishing computers.

image credit Melissa Hansen

Mother Earth Recycling will take your old mattress for $15. 

Mattresses and box springs can be recycled for a $15 fee. After decontamination, each piece will be painstakingly taken apart so the components can be recycled. Foam becomes carpet underlay, wood becomes garden mulch, metal is sold as scrap and so on.

Best of all, each mattress recycled is one that won’t join the estimated 40,000 dropped off at the landfill every year.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service now partners with Firefighters Without Borders to recycle their protective gear.

By law, it has to be retired after 10 years of use, but if it is still good it goes to firemen in countries such as St. Lucia in the Caribbean. The organization also trains them extensively in the use of the protective gear as well as in up-to-date firefighting practices.

Old leaky fire hoses go to community centres around the city so they can flood their skating rinks.

More recently, they also have been creatively re-purposed by the zookeepers at Assiniboine Park Zoo, who remake them into furnishings such as hammocks for baby snow leopards and perches for some of the birds. They also use them to create enrichment toys for many of the animals in the zoo.

@ cityofwinnipeg

As we strive to be more environmentally conscious, it makes more sense to support local enterprises in their community-building initiatives than to add to the landfill or blithely assume a full recycling bin means we’re doing our part.

Anne Hawe

Winter walking season upon us

published in The Metro on November 14 2018

I walk downtown from the West End almost every day and during a recent trek I was preoccupied with my winter wardrobe. Will I be warm enough if it’s -30 out there? What will I wear to stay dry if a big storm is dumping 10 centimeters of thick, powdery snow?

Even if I could afford to take the bus more often, I might not, as walking is often when I get my best ideas.

Take this recent walk. An image of a snow umbrella popped into my head. Shaped like the usual black brolly but in a dull grey with big, stylized snowflakes.

Idly Googling “snow umbrellas” later — because you just never know— I was surprised to find that they had been a contentious topic over the years. The Washingtonian and The Hive (a Vancouver based internet site) have both run opinion pieces on them. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be that people who used umbrellas in the snow were wimps who threatened the winter cred of their city.

A photo from the winter of 2016 showed more than a few Vancouverites dressed in full winter gear while holding umbrellas. The many negative comments suggested that the topic has become a question of winter etiquette.

Anyway, Google had me convinced that a bona fide snow umbrella should be made out of a Teflon coated fabric and have some kind of tensioning system with double struts so it will open easily in blowing snow. In theory, it would handle better in a storm this way, too.

I’m no Paul Faraci, the longtime Winnipegger who invented the Pizza Pop in 1964 before being bought out by Pillsbury. Or Harry Wasylyk, the Winnipegger who invented the first polyethylene garbage bag back in 1950.

I wish I too could come up with that “one great idea.” With North forge Fabrication Lab in Innovation Alley, there are lots of fun opportunities to develop and prototype crazy or not so crazy ideas.

 

The snow umbrella— meh… though perhaps if the motif clearly identifying it as a winter model was really well done by a local artist?

I think I’ll stick to stockpiling winter gear, one item at a time. There’s no way to be ready for every winter weather eventuality but this year I’m trying. I’m currently looking for snow pants. Without great West End thrift stores, such as Thrive on Spence Street, I don’t know what I’d do, as it’s expensive to stay warm and dry in winter— especially if you’re walking.

Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End.

 

Women’s Day event recalls McClung

published in the Metro on April 2 2018

 

I don’t usually do anything special to commemorate International Women’s Day but this year I went to a lovely luncheon at the Fort Garry Hotel. The Manitoba Women’s Advisory Council was releasing a new report titled The Status of Women in Manitoba.

According to the report, women in Manitoba are much less likely to be employed in the science, technology engineering and math (STEM) sectors and are underrepresented in business and some trades.

To much applause, the Nellie McClung Foundation announced the 10 recipients of Nellie McClung Trailblazer Scholarships, awarded to women and girls either studying or about to study in one of the underrepresented fields.

It was thanks to the tireless efforts of Nellie McClung and her fellow suffragists in the Political Equality League that Manitoba women became the first in Canada to win the provincial vote on Jan. 28, 1916. Indigenous women weren’t granted the privilege until years later.

Back then a women’s place was deemed to be in the home and suffragists often had to talk politics, temperance and other social issues under the guise of “pink teas” replete with frilly doilies, pink ribbons and bone china. The conversation veered far from the expected genteel pleasantries.

 

A turning point in the fight for the vote was A Women’s Parliament staged in January 1914 by McClung and the Political Equality League. The suffragists famously satirized then premier Rodmond Roblin to a sold-out crowd at the Walker Theatre (now the Burton Cummings Theatre). They had tired of Roblin’s obdurate refusals to grant them the vote and after another condescending denial added a debate to the next evening’s playbill.

The audience was agog with anticipation and the suffragists didn’t disappoint. The Manitoba Free Press, in a review titled “Women Score in Drama and Debate” reported that they played to a full house of delighted patrons.

McClung employed much suspender snapping and cigar-chomping while lampooning Roblin as her fellow suffragists gleefully played the other ministers.

They illustrated the absurdity of denying the vote to women by cleverly turning the tables on him in the mock debate. There was no shortage of men sympathetic to their cause willing to petition them for the vote as they passionately argued the wisdom of giving the vote to men to the amusement of all.

Aping Roblin’s words, they decided “politics unsettles men and unsettled men means unsettled bills, broken furniture, broken vows and divorce.”

The dramatic scene is beautifully depicted in a mural at the corner of Sargent and Furby that was commissioned by the West End BIZ and painted by Mandy van Leeuwen to commemorate the centenary of women winning the vote in Manitoba.

Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com

 

Access to literature important to inmates

published in the Metro August 2018

I’m typing this surrounded by a pile of books I bought recently at the annual book and bake sale for the Manitoba Library Association’s Prison Libraries Committee and the Bar None Prison Rideshare Project.

If you haven’t been to this annual event held every May at the Daniel Mac Community Resource Centre, I highly recommend it. I made myself walk past the delicious looking cookies, muffins, cupcakes and squares to go to the book room first and I found some great books.

I’ve finished The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and I’ve started The Rosie Project since the sale. I’m looking forward to reading the The Silver Linings Playbook next. A lot of the books were trade paperbacks, the expensive ones that are slightly larger than the mass-market editions. Have you looked at their prices lately?

I’m an avid reader and books have been a constant in my life since I learned to read.

I’m rarely without a book and I’ve often got two or more on the go. I strongly believe that everyone should have access to books. So do the librarians, library technicians and others who volunteer with the Prison Libraries Committee.

Without their volunteer hours the Winnipeg Remand Centre downtown wouldn’t have any library services at all. As it is, they work out of two cupboards and a rolling book exchange cart. They create library collections based on what the incarcerated men and women in the justice system want to read, as well as offering other programming, sometimes including writing workshops and songwriter visits.

They do the same at the Women’s Correctional Centre, the Headingley Correctional Centre for Men and The Pas Correctional Centre.

Many more volunteers contribute by collecting and picking up books before the sale.

Books on parenting, graphic novels, books on art and beading and anything by indigenous writers are in high demand by the inmates. Any books they might enjoy or that could be useful to them are earmarked for the prisons.

The rest are sold to get the funds to purchase more of the in-demand books as well as books that make reading fun for those who want to improve their literacy skills. The proceeds from the sale are shared equally with the Bar None’s Prison Rideshare Project, which gives the friends and families of inmates free rides to the prisons. Both organizations strive to make the lives of incarcerated men and women more bearable.

I couldn’t pay much for the 12 books I bought but, as it turns out, that was OK with the members of the Prison Libraries Committee, as they want everyone in the community to have access to books.

Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com

Public art projects inspire youth

 

Published in the Metro July 23 2018

The two young people entering the West End BIZ office had the words ‘MURAL MENTOR’ in big red letters on the back of their white T-shirts.

University of Manitoba fine arts students Annie Beach and Breanna Wentz have been hired by the West End BIZ for the summer. They are presently working with local youth who are painting a mural on the side of 595 Clifton St. It is the 16th annual summer public art project in the West End and will be formally unveiled on July 31 with an artist’s talk, small presentation and refreshments.

Whoever thinks that kids just want to hang out in summer doesn’t live in the West End.

Recently, about 30 middle school students in the Daniel McIntyre ward  participated in a group project to temporarily re-imagine an underutilized parcel of land at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Sherbrook Street.

The participants were nominated for Youth Studio 2018 by their teachers or youth leaders.

HTFC Planning and Design staff spearheaded and donated their time to lead the project. Local businesses and organizations generously donated everything from in-kind materials to lunches, trolley rides and more.

It’s a good thing that HTFC and the sponsors treated the youth to breakfast and lunch daily, as the activities just didn’t stop. After a guided walk around the neighbourhood, they spent two busy, fun-filled days travelling from site to site by trolley bus. At each stop a different local expert would talk about an aspect of good design and its effect on the community.

The whirlwind crash course gave them the confidence to pitch their ideas to Mayor Bowman and Daniel McIntyre councillor Cindy Gilroy. The common elements from all the designs were then incorporated into the final installation.

Community members and volunteers pitched in with the students to build and paint the planters, paint the poles, set the reclaimed elm pieces in a conversation circle, and plant the Spirea.

Chalkboard paint was used too as the kids really wanted community members to be able to participate in some way. A little container of coloured chalk was left so anybody walking by could draw a picture or add a message.

 

Summing up the three-day experience Kirouac said “sometimes it’s less about creating an ‘Aha’ space than inspiring students to see the value of community space and design in creating healthy communities.”

Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com

 

The Hidden charm of ARTlington Studios

published in the Metro September 17 2018

Sandra Vincent was applying glaze to a sculpture of a bear when I visited her studio on the third floor of the ARTlington Studios building at 618 Arlington Street.

After teaching English for seven years at Vincent Massey Collegiate, Vincent rented a studio in the building in 2015, intending to write a novel. Sitting for hours at a computer in winter was a little cold (back then she was on the first floor by the door), so she started doing ceramics. It freed her mind to think up plots for her novel and she enjoyed the physical activity.

Even more than the evening classes she took at the WAG, Vincent credits the 30-plus artists and artisans with her artistic successes.

The sunlit heritage building housing the close knit community has 12-foot wide wooden hallways on the main floor and 14- foot ceilings. It’s a labour of love for John Hunsberger, who bought and renovated the building eight years ago after watching artists losing their studio spaces in the Exchange District due to gentrification.

I’d never been in the building and the plain brick façade in front didn’t prepare me for the beauty of the eclectic décor that highlights the lines of the stately building.

Alice must’ve felt this way after she fell down the rabbit hole.

A collection of vintage bicycles hanging high in the hallways, the top foot of a whole speedboat jauntily attached to a wall, a red, die-punched metal coaster car on another wall, stained glass panels— all are salvaged and reclaimed vintage pieces. Original artwork fills in the gaps.

The coaster car is Hunsberger’s favourite. “I can imagine a child having a great time whizzing down a hill in it in the ’50s… ”

He built the frames for the doors and many of the studio walls out of old bedframes. Each contains a unique design, created from welded pieces of scrap metal.

The building is participating in Culture Days and Nuit Blanche on the weekend of September 28 – 29. All the studios will be open on Friday between 6 and 9 p.m. and for Nuit Blanche on Saturday from noon to 11 p.m.

If you go up to studio six on the third floor you will see Vincent’s recent work, which depicts bears in their habitat and explores the uneasy balance of power between them and us. As well as having their work for sale, the artists have created signature cocktails for Nuit Blanche and will be holding an artistic scavenger hunt.

 

Why not take the Nuit Blanche trolleybus to ARTlington Studios and explore the vibrant arts scene in the West End.

Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com

 

 

Volunteer recruitment moves into high gear

published on CNC February 6 2017

Canada Games organizers are holding a volunteer recruitment fair this Sat. Feb. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Centre Court of St Vital Mall.

Six thousand volunteers are needed so Winnipeg can put on the best Canada Summer Games ever.

Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the first Canada Games held in Quebec City in 1967. To commemorate the occasion, a large cake will be served at 11 a.m. and Brian Mayes, councillor for St Vital, Rochelle Squires, Manitoba Minister for Sport, and of course Niibin (the mascot) will be there.

You’ll also be able to leave special messages for the athletes and have your picture taken at the photo booth.

It’s only February and you may not be thinking ahead to summer yet, but it’s going to be “the hottest summer in half a century” and this event will get you excited about the 50th anniversary of the Canada Games being held in our city!

If you’ve been thinking about volunteering, why not come down and learn about the many varied positions open. Not only will you be “giving your time so the athletes can shine” as the motto for the Games goes, but there are some fascinating behind the scenes opportunities.

You could be working in Community Relations as an animator for the mascot. If you’ve ever wondered how hot it gets in those mascot costumes, this would be one way to find out.

If you enjoy driving and you’re a good driver why not look at a transportation position. They need motor pool drivers during the Games to transport accredited participants to and from Canada Games locations and functions using official vehicles.

And they will need dispatchers as well, to schedule and dispatch these 60 motor pool vehicles that will be used by all accredited Games clients.

Even though it’s Winnipeg, volunteers in the security detail will be checking the credentials of all Games participants at entry points to the villages. Security volunteers are in high demand right now and it is a really friendly position where you can chat as you check accreditations.

The Forks Festival also needs volunteers. This will be the cultural hotspot of the Festival and it’s rumoured there will be some amazing concerts there during the Games as it’s not only the 50th anniversary of the Canada Games but Canada’s 150th.

These are just a few of the many available opportunities. Whatever your skill or hobby, there is probably a matching volunteer job.

Come July 28, 6000 volunteers will be having so much fun while volunteering, the Games will pass in a happy blur of completed shifts, new friends made and memories that will last forever.

So, why not check out all the details this Saturday at St. Vital Mall and sign up for your chance to volunteer at this summer’s Canada Games in Winnipeg.

 

Why not pin one on

published on CNC March 8 2017

Pin trading is an integral part of the Canada Games experience for many athletes, volunteers and visitors. Some even regard it as the unofficial sport of the Games. Who knew?

I collected pins for a very brief time in my early teens. They were surprisingly easy to collect and I ended up with quite a few in a short period of time. I pinned them on the blue corduroy curtains in the bedroom I shared with my sister. True to form my interest just fizzled out one day and they ended up forgotten in a box in the closet.

Some people’s interest in collecting pins quickly grows to become a passion. Just ask the 100+ members of the Winnipeg Pin Collectors Club. Yes there is a Winnipeg Pin Collectors Club and it’s celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. All our major sports teams have corporate memberships and there are members as far afield as the US, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the UK.

Many members collect curling pins as they find the social atmosphere of the Brier a big draw. We’ve all seen pictures of curling fans in funny outfits with vests full of glittering pins, but underneath the vibrant social scene, pin collecting at the Brier is serious business.

Current Pin Collectors Club president Ron Boily only collects CFL and Hard Rock Café pins. He was in charge of the pin trading booth at the Pan Am Games back in ’99. Unfortunately, those commemorative Pan Am games pins that are collecting dust on dressers and in shoe boxes around the city aren’t worth much. Pin collecting is just plain fun and the conversations you may have had while trading those pins back in ’99 are priceless.

Even if you’re not a “pinhead”, the unofficial term for a pin collector, you’re probably going to think our Canada Summer Games pins are cute.

This year, as for the last seven consecutive Canada Games, Laurie Artiss Ltd., known as The Pin People, are the official licensee for the Canada Games pins.

“Their pins are the best quality you can find and they’re hand painted so no pin is alike,” said Boily.

The Pin People will be producing 150,000 of the steel based pins with gold or nickel plating. There will be 60 to 75 different designs for Canada Games 2017 pins available by the start of the Games on July 28. These and other pins will be available on canadagamesgear.ca.

“150” could well show up on a few to mark Canada’s sesquicentennial. As it’s running concurrently with the Games, we might see a hybrid pin with both numbers prominently displayed.

Pins can be given as a thank you or an introduction. In fact a lot of things will be said with a pin during the games. “Nice race,” or “That was a fun night at the festival.” The competing athletes will all receive pins but theirs will be unique.

Could there be Team Manitoba pins that fit together like a puzzle to make a bigger picture like the beautiful Team Nunavut pins from the 2015 Canada Games in Prince George?

The Pin Centre tent will be set up in Festival Village at the Forks during the games and you can buy your pins there.

The area around the Pin Centre tent will  be “pin trading central” where pin collectors display their wares. Because pin trading is so popular, people from all over Canada will be converging on Winnipeg to trade pins at the Canada Games.

Members of the Winnipeg Pin Collectors club will be on hand to answer questions and facilitate trading.

There are pin collecting clubs in Calgary, Vancouver and Quebec and a lot of their members will be trying to complete their collections.

If someone has been collecting all the pins from one series of pins from the 2010 Olympics held in Vancouver and they’re missing just one, they’ll be bound and determined to track down that pin. If they find someone who has the coveted pin, the negotiations begin. Is the other person willing to let it go and what can they trade for it?

Some pins are really in demand. Anyone with a 1927 gold heart Brier pin can pretty well name a price as only 12 were made and they’re worth thousands of dollars.

Sponsor pins will be highly sought after. The Canada Games has many official sponsors like the Dairy Farmers Association of Canada, Sport Chek, National Leasing and Great West Life to name a few. Some of them will be having their own Canada Games pins designed and produced. These pins aren’t for sale but are given away, usually to business associates or employees. Serious pin collectors enjoy the thrill of collecting them as they’re harder to find and they’re very collectible.

You don’t need to speak English to trade as it can be done with hand signals. Boily fondly remembers using gestures to trade pins at the Pan Am Games.

“Its all about meeting people and not always about the value of the pins,” he said. “Friendships and conversations are just as important.”

Visitors from other provinces and countries will be eager to trade with you so they can own a Manitoba pin and the pin you’ll end up with is anybody’s guess – that’s the thrill of trading pins.

Canada Games inspiring youth to be active

published on CNC January 26 2017

Think back to the 70’s, if you can. I remember pulling on my Adidas tracksuit pants every night after dinner and running around the block three times or more.

My dad had clocked it for me and three times round was a mile. ParticipACTION had hit big and ensured that we all knew that 60 year old Swedes were fitter than the average Canadian half their age.

Things were simpler back then. Their “don’t just think about it, do it” message really resonated with Canadians. The radio and TV PSAs became part of the background of our lives during the next two decades.

Remember the “Body Break” commercials with Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod? They stressed simple movements and exercises to increase your fitness level. All you really needed was a pair of running shoes and if you didn’t have them you would do stationary exercises while sitting on the couch.

Hoping to do for kids what ParticipACTION did for adults, the Canada Games Council is launching the Canada Games Activity Challenge next month as a signature project of Canada 150.

It’s specifically for students between ages five and 12 and the organizers are hoping elementary schools across the country will get on board and sign up for this fun three month challenge to mark the 50th anniversary of the Canada Games.

It’s a deluxe, digital and way more fun version of exercise than ever before, created by gamification experts and specially designed for kids.

Everything is online. Students get short videos of other kids demonstrating the day’s exercises sent to their email. They will have their own personalized dashboard and be able to customize their avatar once they’ve downloaded the computer application.

The web based app tracks their participation in daily exercises with their class, in exercises done at home and in bonus exercises.

Just like online games it also calculates reward points that accumulate in their accounts; the more they participate, the more prizes they can win. Anything from virtual accessories for their avatar and virtual Canada Games pins to prizes donated by the provincial teams competing in the Canada Games.

Inspirational messages from Canada Games alumni and high profile Canadians will randomly pop up as they complete more exercises throughout the Activity Challenge.

Every student who completes the challenge will receive a certificate signed by Justin Trudeau.

The school exercises can be facilitated either by classroom teachers or by PE teachers who will be supported with their choice of daily or weekly directions, animations and videos sent to their emails.

Each of them will also have their own app that helps them track students progress and participation points through the three modules of the activity challenge.

The first module starts on Feb. 13 and the last one ends on May 30.

To complete the Canada Games Activity Challenge, students have to participate in at least 20 days of activities during each module.

Both the exercises  done in class  and the ones done at home take anywhere from five to 30 minutes. They’re devised to be simple and not need much equipment, so they can be done anywhere – from a one room school in a rural community to the biggest elementary school in Toronto.

The only catch is that students can’t sign up for the Activity Challenge on their own. That has to be done by a teacher or even better a principal. If a principal signs up the entire school, the school is eligible for special prizes and maybe even national recognition. Failing that, a teacher can sign up their own class.

According to Melissa Layton who oversees registrations in the  Canada Games Activity Challenge, 42 of the approximately 50 elementary schools in Winnipeg School Division have some classes enrolled. Yay, Winnipeg!

She did add there’s still lots more room for schools and classes to register though the numbers are continually growing.

Those registering by Jan. 27 will be eligible for a school visit from Olympian Jenn Heil or Paralympian Bo Hedges, the two ambassadors for the Canada Games Activity Challenge. The Canadian athletes will be visiting two schools picked randomly from all those with classes enrolled by the 27th.

Both are sought after speakers who devote a lot of time to promoting amateur sport in Canada.

Jenn Heil won a gold medal in freestyle skiing in the moguls competition at the Turin Olympics in 2006 and a silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

Bo Hedges was on the mens basketball team that won a silver medal at the 2008 Paralympic games in Beijing and a gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic games in London UK.

They both know how important physical literacy is and this challenge is designed to follow the guidelines in Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development model (LTAD) ensuring that certain movement milestones are met at each age. Just maybe a few of the students taking part will go on to compete at the Canada Games or even the Olympics in future years.

We won’t know how many classes in Winnipeg Schools are taking part in the challenge until Feb. 13 which is the day the challenge starts and the very last day schools and classes can enroll.

Thousands of kids across the country will be having fun and getting active in the coming months. Why not make sure your child is enrolled?

Today’s  technology will allow you to follow along with your very own app and you can have videos for the exercises sent to your inbox too.

Partcip-ACTION as we knew it in the 70’s will seem really old school, a throwback to another era.

By the way, ParticipACTION has also changed and now has its own digital interface. You can find it at participaction.com  Check out their 150 playlist.

 

Behind every good writer is a good editor

published on CNC September 26 2017

Some of the articles I’ve written for Community News Commons practically wrote themselves and I didn’t stop typing until they were on the page. I’m usually happy with those ones.

Others didn’t flow as easily and I spent an inordinate amount of time rearranging sentences and paragraphs as well as looking up synonyms. Then I’d scrap the whole thing and the cycle would start over again.

“I’m all for the scissors. I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil,” said Truman Capote. But I’m tired of my constant revising.

I’ve frequently emailed Noah Erenberg, editor and convener for CNC, asking him not to publish a story until I’ve changed a few things. But is the new version any better?

He cares as much about our work as we do, but editing all the stories that come in and being available to every contributor while working on other projects for The Winnipeg Foundation is a lot of work even without having a writer who is stuck on the revising track.

If I was a “real” writer who was paid, and not just a Community News Commons (volunteer) citizen journalist (CNCer for short), I’d hire an editor. Having my own honest to goodness editor sounds relaxing. I could let someone else do all the revising for me.

I like this definition from theeditorsblog.net: “An editor polishes and refines, he directs the focus of the story or article or movie along a particular course. He cuts out what doesn’t fit, what is nonessential to the purpose of the story. He enhances the major points, drawing attention to places where the audience should focus.” Yes, just what I need. H.G. Wells once said “No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.” I’d definitely hope to find an editor who felt the same way. A quick google search brings up the Manitoba Editors Association (MEA).The members listed in this small association have a wealth of writing and editing experience. In addition to possessing various combinations of degrees, certificates, credentials and life experience, they all share the key qualities of patience and attention to detail.

Working with an editor is a big commitment on both sides. I don’t know the difference between a substantive edit and a stylistic copy-edit. Do you? That’s one of many questions I’d have for an editor.

I write articles but if I’d written something longer… like a kids book, I’d look for one who enjoys editing children’s fiction and has a good track record at getting this genre published.

I’d carefully peruse the editors bios looking for that X factor; that good fit between editor and client.

And then what?

Would I send them a Microsoft Word document so they could use the review function to strike through words and add changes before sending it back to me?

Maybe they’d print out the file I emailed them, then use a highlighter pen to make changes before discussing the manuscript with me over coffee at the Strong Badger Coffeehouse.

Daria Patrie of the MEA stresses that editors are an eclectic bunch. “Some of us work in person, some mostly via phone, some of us work mostly online, some work best on paper, others electronically. It’s generally up to the editor and something we clarify with a client in the beginning.”

Anyone with a love of language and words is welcome to join the MEA. Writers, editors and freelancers generally work alone so members get together and socialize while listening to a speaker over “whine and dine” lunches periodically at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

The ‘whine’? “I believe it comes from the many complaints that editors and grammar enthusiasts have about perceived misuses of all parts of the English language and a joy in sharing those complaints with people who ‘get it’,” said Adrianne Winfield, President of the Association. She added that it would also apply to other frustrations common among freelancers.

The $50 yearly membership gives you discounted prices to the frequent writing and editing workshops the MEA puts on. You can also attend the popular lunches for just the price of your meal. If you’re a professional editor you will also get a listing with your specializations, experience and contact information in their online directory of editors for hire.

As for me, until writing becomes a career, I’m happy to have Noah edit my work and I plan to revise less and put the fun back into my writing. After all, I wouldn’t want to write like Hemingway who said, “There is nothing to writing, all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

Crime (writing) doesn’t pay – an update (published on CNC)

published on CNC October 3 2017

Do you ever wonder what the next chapters are like in the lives of the visiting writers who pass through Winnipeg each year while reading at the Thin air Winnipeg International Writers Festival?

Sometimes there’s a little blurb in the Globe and Mail or on CBC online with news about a new book that just came out or a Writer’s Fellowship. Oftentimes you don’t see anything at all.

Debra Komar taught a Writing Craft class on writing crime fiction at last year’s Thin Air. I sat in on her class because I was fascinated by her experiences with the UN and Physicians for Human Rights as a forensic anthropologist. She investigated human rights violations around the world, which often involved exhuming mass graves, and has testified as an expert witness in Canada, the US, England and the Hague.

Her class was gritty and not glossed over while she was describing the putrefaction of dead bodies in great detail. I’m a bit squeamish but any crime fiction authors would’ve loved all the gory details as they’re the things that make a murder mystery believable.

Since retiring, Komar has been writing True Crime and has had four books published by Goose Lane Editions to critical acclaim.

She graciously took the time to share some updates in her life since lecturing at last year’s Thin Air.

So in no particular order…

Are you still happy you became a writer?

I don’t regret a single moment. I may not be as financially secure as I once was, but I am much happier.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

The best advice I ever received (and would want to pass on) is learn to find your own voice. New writers tend to mimic their heroes – the authors they admire. The best thing is to figure out who you are and what you have to say, without trying to sound like anyone else.

What have you been doing since last year’s Thin Air?

The past year has been busy. I was working on creating a true-crime documentary series with Frantic Films for some time though that project is now on hold.

Have you started another book?

Yes, the next book is written although I am currently rewriting it under the guidance of an executive editor from one of the major publishing houses. It examines a series of multiple murders in the Yukon in the 1920’s.

Are your books selling well?

The books are selling well, going into multiple printings. The last one, “Black River Road”, was nominated for several awards including the Arthur Ellis for best Canadian crime writing.

Which book did you enjoy reading the most in the last year?

A recent book I have loved the most (and learned the most from) is not a new release but is still great – “How Music Works” by David Byrne. It is one of the best examinations of the creative process I have ever seen and is relevant to all art forms, not just music. I found it very thought-provoking and it made me look at writing in a whole new way.

What book will you be reading next and what are you reading now?

Right now I am reading David Grann’s book on the Moon Flower/FBI – fascinating. After that I will dive into “The Fact of a Body” (I think that’s the title – I am in Los Angeles right now and the book is sitting on my nightstand at home). [Editors note: must be The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich]

And finally what’s your best memory of last year’s festival?

Sitting in the authors’ suite at the hotel and watching all the speakers come in and out. The festival was very well organized and run and it was fun to meet such a diverse group of speakers.

If you want to continue to follow Debra Komar’s writing career she has a twitter account – @DebraKomar1. Some of the posts are as funny as she was in person while lecturing at last years Thin Air.

Chances are most of the authors who were reading at this year’s festival have either a website, are on twitter, or both. If there’s an author whose work you really liked, a quick Google search will turn up their social media accounts.

You can read my interview with Debra Komar during last year’s Thin Air Festival here: Crime (writing) doesn’t pay

YouthBuild students set to become tomorrow’s skilled tradespeople (published on CNC)

published on CNC November 1 2017

Dissatisfied with overcrowded housing and lack of opportunity, many Indigenous youth look to Manitoba’s urban centres to make a new life. Their lack of experience and education combined with little or no support networks can often create unexpected challenges resulting in things not going well for them in the city.

In order to smooth the transition for many First Nations people coming here from their reserves, EAGLE Urban Transition Centre (EUTC) partnered with Just TV in 2013 to create a series of nine “Transitioning 101” videos.

Each covers a different topic including safety, culture, housing and transportation. Everything a First Nation newcomer needs to know when moving to Winnipeg is explained in one of the well-produced and upbeat videos narrated by local Indigenous community members including Wab Kinew and Michael Redhead Champagne.

They seem to suggest that with proper i.d. and a common-sense approach, moving here will be an easy transition but the busy resource centre is full of First Nations community members who are stuck in the “can’t get a job without a place to live” catch 22 which is ironic as many of them left their reserves due to a lack of adequate housing.

Finding housing isn’t the only hurdle they’ll face here. Oft quoted stats from a 2014 report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives show the annual incomes of 75 percent of Indigenous migrants to Winnipeg remained below $10,000 for 15 months after arriving. Furthermore, they have almost double the poverty rate of the general population coupled with an unemployment rate three times as high.

And it gets worse. During the first ever Winnipeg Street Census conducted on Oct. 25, 2015, 84 percent of the homeless youth polled identified as Indigenous. While listening to their stories, surveyors learned that half had grown up in a First Nations community and half had moved to Winnipeg in the last year.

Most of them fell under the NEET acronym meaning not currently in education, employment or training which in Canada comprises youth between ages 15 and 29.

For some time now, sociologists, business people and heads of educational institutes in Manitoba have been perturbed and alarmed by the low numbers of Aboriginal youth who pursue higher education. Half of the province’s Indigenous population is under 21 but they’re underrepresented in our universities, colleges and trade schools and over represented in our corrections systems. Getting a higher education is the only way they will be able to break out of the cycle of poverty that has been endemic on reserves and in the inner city.

While the number of Indigenous youth without education, training and employment grows, studies show Manitoba will need 12,000 tradespeople to fill jobs over the next 10 years.

The Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT) has implemented the International YouthBuild model to ready marginalized Indigenous youth for some of these coveted positions.

This unique program at the Social Enterprise Centre campus (765 Main Street) accepts youth at the education level they’re at. It strives to ensure no one is left behind and a student advisor aids those who are struggling or at risk of homelessness.

Participants may lose their apartments in the middle of term while others come straight from their reserves to Winnipeg without a place to stay. Single moms in the class sometimes have to juggle school, daycare and sick kids which can be difficult.

For all these reasons and more, in addition to the student advisor, an Elder is always available. Many participants have also faced big challenges in their lives ranging from addictions to a criminal record to gang involvement.

The innovative training model gives participants certifications they can build on and transfer elsewhere. Some of the young participants in the construction-focused non-profit program are earning their high school diploma while learning carpentry skills through the trades exploration curriculum.

It’s not just book learning. The hands on experience gives them new, employable skills that they refine while designing and building furniture they really need at home. This is a big help to the low income participants.

Those with their high school diploma take the accredited Carpentry Level 1 Apprenticeship Manitoba curriculum. The credentials they earn are impressive: Apprenticeship Manitoba Level One Carpentry accreditation, a certificate for the post-secondary courses they complete at MITT, and 900 of the 1800 hours needed to become a Certified Level One Carpenter.

This past June, 17 students proudly graduated with this solid foundation and have taken a big step towards becoming a Certified Level One Carpenter.

Students who’ve completed their grade 12 courses while enrolled in the Trades Exploration program can return in the fall to take the more advanced curriculum.

YouthBuild Thompson which has been run by the local Boys and Girls Club for the last 15 years has different challenges and approaches. Many transient Indigenous youth from remote northern communities end up in the bigger city of Thompson. Usually their home reserves have limited access to education beyond grade eight, limited healthcare and inadequate housing.

Thompson seems to offer more opportunity but when they get there, they struggle. With only a grade eight education they don’t get any of the few jobs available and they’re away from friends and family. The program helps them rebuild their lives through the built-in social supports while enabling them to get their GED high school equivalency.

YouthBuild isn’t just another pie-in-the-sky effort. Founded by Dorothy Stoneman, a New York City teacher, the YouthBuild model started in 1978 and now spans a global network of 22 countries.

YouthBuild programming has benefited from extensive studies and varies from country to country depending on the relative challenges for youth in finding employment, education and opportunities. Its efficacy has been proven over and over again and organizations worldwide consider it the best model to help their disenfranchised youth.

The program started in East Harlem when Stoneman and her students wanted to gut and redo a derelict building to house some of their city’s many homeless. They had their pick of hundreds of derelict and dilapidated buildings in their crime ridden East Harlem, New York neighbourhood and chose to renovate a 10-unit tenement.

Stoneman had long been disillusioned by the legions of disadvantaged and poor youth who had basically been “kicked to the curb” and felt they needed an avenue to become the valued community members she believed they were.

She facilitated the project and worked with the group over the two years it took to complete the renovation. Her marginalized and disengaged students thrived on the challenges and afterwards joined her in becoming outspoken advocates for other neglected youth.

And that was the birth of YouthBuild which has grown from one program in 1978 to 260 programs across the U.S. today. So far, 26,000 houses have been renovated in communities across the U.S. This fosters community pride and gives the participants a sense of accomplishment and a way to give back to their communities.

In Canada, “YouthBuild” isn’t a household name and struggles to find funding for the service part of the program. However, there is hope for change in the near future. A large building supply company and a building material supply chain have been approached and asked to consider partnership opportunities with YouthBuild International to support more programs in Canada.

It’s a far cry from the U.S. programs that have a long list of well established major funders on board. Companies like the American Express Foundation, AT&T, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation…to name just some of the ones starting with the letter “A”.

Manitoba is already home to the only YouthBuild programs in the country and could become become a flagship province for the program.

Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) in Nelson House, MB is preparing to start a program in their community that would be housed in an accredited, community based post-secondary training facility on the reserve.

Atoskiwin Training and Employment Centre (ATEC) was originally built to train hydroelectric workers for the Wuskwatimhydroelectric partnership between Manitoba Hydro and NCN. The facility is being expanded with a 16,000 square foot training facility equipped with solar panels to teach participants how to design, install, operate and maintain solar panels and related equipment.

The space inside will be used to teach home building including SIP panel housing which is presently being used to build a new fourplex in the community.

NCN has come up with an ingenious solution to keep their youth home while addressing their overcrowded, rundown and mold ridden housing that typifies the state of housing on many of Canada’s First Nations. The YouthBuild participants will gain valuable green building skills and the reserve will get much needed housing to replace the substandard overcrowded units.

Northern Manitoba needs more skilled tradespeople but has trouble retaining them due in part to a lack of housing. By developing skilled youth in the north, YouthBuild ATEC in Nelson House is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Other First Nations are taking notice of the progressive projects in Nelson House. With 175 isolated and remote First Nations who are burdened with substandard housing and polluting diesel energy generation, could YouthBuild work in these communities which also need new housing, face high energy costs and also have large numbers of unemployed, idle youth?

To explore those possibilities, the Assembly of First Nations is leading a delegation of First Nation Chiefs on a fact finding mission to visit YouthBuild programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cambridge, Massachusetts in November. They will also meet with YouthBuild International to explore the principles and concepts required to start more programs in First Nation communities.

They hope the YouthBuild model can solve a lot of the problems on reserves today. The program’s unique combination of helping youth get their grade 12, develop their leadership skills, and provide them with carpentry skills seems to hold some of the answers to problems governments and communities have long struggled with.

In fact, YouthBuild programming could help Canadians address the seventh Call To Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 recommendations that call upon the federal government to develop a joint strategy with Aboriginal groups to eliminate educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.  YouthBuild programs do just that and they do it very well.

Memorable send off caps “hottest summer in 50 years”

published on CNC September 19 2017

Last month, the Canada Games closing ceremony took place at Investors Group Field, marking the end of two weeks of intense athletic competition among Canada’s best young athletes.

As the ceremony was primarily to honour the athletes, the ticket price was just $10, making it accessible to many. The stands were full of some of the 6000 volunteers who’d given their time so the athletes could shine; it was the volunteers’ chance to celebrate a job well done.

Everyone had high expectations for the closing ceremony – the grand finale to an unbelievably successful event. It was sure to be an even bigger spectacle than the nightly performances held at The Forks during the Games. It was also Canada 150 and the 50th anniversary of the Canada Games rolled into one. Yes, it blew the top off everyone’s expectations but it took a lot of work behind the scenes.

“I had the time of my life,” said Anthony Ferens, one of the young volunteer performers dancing during the ceremony. “I got to sway with Fred Penner, dance for Canada, jam with Brett Kissel and party with the athletes,” added the 27 year old Honours Theatre Major.

For those dancing their hearts out on Investors Group Field, it was the culmination of an experience that started back in February.

Patrick Roberge Productions(PRP) held open auditions at the University of Manitoba to find the 500 dance volunteers they needed. Ferens with many years of dance experience must’ve been exactly the type of performer they were hoping to attract. They needed dancers with advanced skills as well as those with some or no training. For many, PRP’s reputation sealed the deal and made this a gig they couldn’t pass up.

PRP has a stellar reputation for exciting, technically perfect, large televised productions. Having previously produced the ceremonies for the 2007, 2011, and 2015 Canada Games, they know how to create that WOW factor.

Brenda Gorlick of StudioWorks has been involved in theatre and dance for almost 40 years as a performer, a teacher and a choreographer. As performer liaison for the event, she auditioned and rehearsed wannabe dancers in conjunction with choreographer Jocelyn Peden and assistant choreographer Kelsey Chace.

After auditions, the 500 chosen participants, which included many of Gorlick’s students and ex-students, attended an intensive weekend rehearsal. They rehearsed in four hour blocks, in dance boot camp style, under the choreographer’s direction. About 70 percent of them had prior dance training so they knew how to pace themselves through the long rehearsals.

Gorlick, dance captains and volunteers, encouraged everyone and helped the novices master the steps. They were then divided into teams according to the musical numbers they were in and sent home with training tapes so they could practice further. There were two tapes per number; one showing the choreographer dancing the steps, the other breaking down the steps and the arm work.

Twelve year old dancer Zoe Gagnon knew what to expect at rehearsals as she has danced and studied with StudioWorks for a few years. “It was so cool to dance with new people and learn the choreography,” she said while explaining why she enjoyed rehearsing.

It wasn’t until four days before the closing ceremony that the performers got together again, firstly on the Subway Soccer field before moving onto Investors Group Field for three full days of rehearsals before the ceremony on Aug. 13.

In contrast, the 650 singers who comprised the Canada Games Gold Choir got by with only one major rehearsal before the big day, although they were at IGF stadium early to practice before the ceremony.

Every aspect of the production had to be carefully rehearsed as there were multiple elements to each big musical number, all of which had to jibe together. The final technical and dress rehearsals would be the last chance to iron out any glitches.

A small army of volunteers worked behind the scenes. Costumes were altered, puppets were fitted, props were found and inventoried and PRP’s production team had lots of help. Each group of dancers was assigned a volunteer performer attendant.

Everything went just as it was supposed to on the lead up to the big day. And then it was showtime!

The opening Parade of Athletes featured the Asham Stompers, La Troupe Jeunesse and the Young Canada Games performers accompanied by Sierra Noble on her fiddle. The dancers danced and danced and danced in the hot summer sun. The long number didn’t end until all of the athletes had entered the stadium and were sitting on the field.

The standout Canada 150 piece featuring an original song “Stand Up Canada” with the Canada Games Gold Choir showcased those fabulously fun red and white Canada Goose and Gumby-like puppets.

“We wore harnesses with pipes sticking out of the top that the puppet slid onto,” said Ferens who was a puppeteer in this number. “The legs attached to you at the bottom and the arms were clipped on,” he added. “Really cool” (his words) rubbery red Converse shoes completed the look.

He hadn’t seen the puppets until rehearsals at the stadium and hadn’t expected them to be so big. “They were seriously badass puppets,” he remarked. They’d previously debuted during the Canada Day event at the National Museum of Man in Ottawa, as had the some of the bright, whimsical  summery costumes.

Gagnon was a ladybug in the piece.”The costumes were my favourite thing,” she enthused. The cute, colourful corset dresses with the beautiful bee, ladybug and flower hats epitomized summer. The white tuxes topped by flower pot heads really brought the “Grand Summer Party” theme to life. The whole number was a real crowd pleaser with a technicolour dream quality.

The three segments celebrating our favourite festivals – Winnipeg Folk Festival, Folklorama and Festival du Voyageur – made the ceremony truly Winnipeg-centric. Each organization collaborated with PRP’s artistic team to truly represent their festival on the field.

The Folk Festival segment was a light-hearted spoof of the annual rush to find a good spot to hear the music when the festival opens. The decidedly hippie looking “folk” danced in with their tarps and then sat down to listen and sway to Fred Penner singing from his new album.

The big finale featured Albertan country music superstar Brett Kissel, as the next Canada Winter Games will be held in Peace River in 2019. His high energy and great voice during “Started With a Kiss” had the athletes and everyone else up and batting around the 500+ beach balls thrown out to the athletes and up into the stands by the bag full.

The hundreds of beach balls floating in the blue sky and the bright old fashioned romper costumes paid homage to our own “Hottest Summer in 50 years” theme for the Games. It was a fun, lighthearted interlude in the afternoon that had everyone joining in. The number of beach balls slowly diminished when people started holding onto them as souvenirs.

In the end, getting the dance routines, choral numbers and speeches to flow seamlessly came down to strict attention to timing. Jennifer Jensen-Tracy, PRP’s production stage manager, was masterminding it behind the scenes, guided by Artistic Director, Patrick Roberge. Jensen-Tracy was in radio contact with stage managers stationed at each of the four entrances to the field. Countless backstage marshals further ensured everything went smoothly so no one missed their cue.

By all measures it was a beautiful production full of memorable moments. Above all, it was for the athletes, to celebrate their achievements and participation in the Games. It was also a legacy moment in Canada Games history, being the 50th anniversary. It was also another feather in their cap for PRP whose artistic team really captured the spirit of Manitoba.

And for Winnipeg?

“Winnipeg’s relatively small dance and performing arts community was given a big boost through this experience,” said Gorlick. “This will put Winnipeg on the map as a place with the talent to pull off large events. It will also lead to more collaboration between dance schools,” she added.

For the 500 young dancers it was an experience they will always remember. How could they forget the thrill of performing live in front of thousands of people while thousands more watched on TV. You can bet more kids will be signing up for dance classes after seeing the ceremony, and those who were in it will be auditioning for roles in other productions.

PRP has already hired some of them for its “Great Big Boo” Halloween production that will be touring Manitoba and Saskatchewan from Oct. 19-29. The Bros. Landreth has committed to working again with the StudioWorks students who formed their backup ensemble during the Opening Ceremony.

It seems our “hottest summer in 50 years” theme, that was everywhere during the Games, will not soon be forgotten. The closing ceremony was the perfect wrap up to this spectacular event, and may have also provided the start of something big for dance schools and young performers in Manitoba.

Beach volleyball aims high in Canada Games

published on CNC May 16 2017

Volleyball was originally a California import. It was first played on the beaches in Santa Monica in 1920 many years before the Beach Boys singing “Surfin Safari” and Baywatch (the old one) popularized California beach culture.

By the late 1920’s, it had even spread to Latvia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Go figure.

When the US was going through the Great Depression in the 1930’s, beach volleyball became a wildly popular low cost activity for families while on an outing to the beach.

The first unofficial tournaments there were often paired with beauty contests. The scene attracted many celebrities and actors in the 1950’s. The Beatles were even rumoured to have played a few games of beach volleyball while visiting California.

The Balmy Beach Club in the Beaches area of Toronto may be the first place doubles beach volleyball was played in Canada but there is a proud history of beach volleyball in this province.

Locally, beach volleyball was being played at Grand Beach by 1950. Grand Beach boasted the largest dance pavilion in the Commonwealth until Chrystal Palace was built. It was such a popular excursion that two trains a day ran out there until 1961.

After the dance hall burned down on Labour Day 1950, the area was cleared and made into volleyball courts to add to the ones on the north side of the boardwalk.

“When I was a kid in the mid 60’s the main courts were packed all the time,” recalls Garth Pischke about playing on Grand Beach.

“We’d find cigarette papers on the ground and use a rock and one of the rusty nails from the dance hall to nail our names to the pole to show we were up next. We’d then play the winners and if we won we’d stay on the court,” he says.

“In later years we tied towels to the pole instead of using nails. The closer to play you were the higher up your towel was. If you lost your towel went back down to the bottom,” Pischke adds.

Pischke credits Wezer Bridle’s influence with turning him from just a kid playing volleyball at Grand Beach to representing Team Canada in volleyball in two Olympic Games to becoming the senior coach for the U of M Bisons volleyball team.

“He was a great ambassador for the sport,” says Pischke, who fondly remembers a trip Bridle took his young players on that stands out. (See additional article on Wezer Bridle below)

“Some teams went to Trinidad. I was on one of his teams that went to a tournament in Curacao. It was trips like these that got guys like myself excited about volleyball.”

After doubles beach volleyball became an official Olympic sport at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics it grew in popularity. Pischke has been promoting it here since the late 1980’s.

Because the doubles format was played at the Olympics more and more people adopted it. It became a Canada Games sport at the 2001 summer Games in London, ON.

Volleyball has given Pischke many opportunities and his daughter Taylor has followed in his footsteps. She has traveled the world on the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) circuit, had a third place finish in the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto and is currently a member of the Beach Volleyball National Team.

Behind every great young player is a dedicated development association. Manitoba Volleyball Association had its foundations established by Bridle in the 1950’s from his basement.

Today, it goes by Volleyball Manitoba and has a mission to promote and facilitate growth and excellence in volleyball in the province. When introduced to volleyball at the initiation levels, kids learn appropriate movement and technical skills. Later, they learn how to compete both at home and internationally.

Research has shown it takes 10 years and 10,000 hours of training for a talented athlete to reach the top levels of competition. It takes a strong coaching team and organization to support a player through the Under 16 and Under 18 Championships, the Canada Games and onwards to the national team and maybe even the Olympics.

A billboard outside Cindy Klassen Recreation complex a few weeks ago was advertising the Sargent Park Beach Volleyball Centre as a legacy project of the Games but where are the courts?

An innovative relationship between Volleyball Manitoba and Speed Skating Manitoba has used the space inside the Susan Auch Speed Skating Oval for the volleyball courts. Summer is off season for speed skating so the two sports complement each other beautifully in a smart shared use of facilities.

You can walk around the track and see the golden sand but the volleyball specific features aren’t readily apparent. You don’t see the hi-tech drainage system under the courts and what looks like regular sand has actually been sieved many times and washed so it conforms to strict Canada Games specifications.

It’s now 99.85% pure sand and (approximately) 85% of the grains are between .25mm to .5 mm in size. It took 1700 cubic meters of sand trucked in from Richer, MB to fill the courts to the required depth (400 mm at the ends to 550mm in the centre). Volleyball Manitoba is rightfully proud of the new facility which will provide more training opportunities for Manitoba athletes and enable major competitions to be hosted in Winnipeg.

Come July 30, which is the first day of Beach Volleyball at the Canada Games, the atmosphere at the volleyball courts will be electric.

Picture the courts configured with two centre courts and two practice courts at each end. The nets are up and the net walls of the courts are covered in sponsor ads. Two thousand spectators are soaking up the sunshine while sitting on temporary bleachers. The first round robin matches are on. Rock music is playing before play starts. Because games will be played simultaneously on the two centre courts the atmosphere will be toned down so as not to distract the other players but beach volleyball always has a fun loving vibe.

 

It’s so much fun for the spectators that it’s easy to forget how hard the players have to work. Because it’s played two on two, like doubles tennis, each player has to excel at everything; serving, setting, passing, attacking and blocking. All this while running and jumping in sand on a court only slightly smaller than an indoor volleyball court.

The 21 point sets that have to be won with a two point advantage must seem interminable for the players who give it their all throughout the best of three. Their heroic dives and improbable blocks keep spectators on the edges of their seats with the thrill of seeing it live. There’s a lot of action at a Beach Volleyball game.

If you want some downtime, this venue makes it easy to be a spectator. The adjacent Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex contains an Olympic sized pool, a gym and the West End library. There’s even a Canadian/Thai cafe that does good Pad Thai if you want to grab a bite to eat. Lots of parking and great bus service make it easily accessible.

Manitoba has some very strong beach volleyball players but our new facility isn’t just for elite athletes. After the Games there will be 10 permanent courts that schools and community groups in the West End are welcome to use by contacting Volleyball Manitoba to arrange times to rent them. This could be where future Team Manitoba beach volleyball players will get their start.

 

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Clarence (Wezer) Bridle (1926 – 2015)

Wezer Bridle was born in Winnipeg and served in the navy during the Second World War as a signalman on the Cowichan and the St. Laurent. Afterwards he worked for the Canadian National Railway for many years as a car man.

Wezer was a star player with the Winnipeg Redskins volleyball team from 1957-1962 that were consistently ranked amongst the top teams in Canada. Wezer continued to play on the Bandits with his sons into his seventies in the Winnipeg Men’s Volleyball League, an organization he was instrumental in starting in the 1960’s.

From early on Wezer worked tirelessly to promote the growth of volleyball for the youth of Manitoba and Canada. His wish was to make it more than just a school or recreational sport. In the late 1950’s, he organized a group of the best kids from the high school program and created the Central Y Kids.

In 1965 he coached them to Manitoba’s first Junior National Championship. From this group came the Age Class Development System used today. Wezer was also involved with the development of high school volleyball, and is a ‘Legend’ on the courts at Grand Beach where he introduced the game and encouraged so many to play.

In 1968 he was hired as the Head Coach at the University of Winnipeg, where he led the team to their first Canadian Inter-University Athletic Union (CIAU) titles.

Wezer was perhaps most well known as a Referee, officiating in Canada before the Canadian Volleyball Association was formed, or even had a national certification program. Well-versed in national and international volleyball etiquette, he was recognized as one of Manitoba and Canada’s top officials, was Canada’s first International Referee, and officiated domestically at too many national championships (including 26 consecutively) and CIAU matches to count.

On two different occasions he was Volleyball Canada’s National Officials Chairperson. As a Referee he was also involved with the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, at NORCECA Championships, along with many other international events and matches.

Wezer is also recognized as being instrumental in the forming of the Manitoba Volleyball Association, being one of its first Presidents, along with the development of the Manitoba Volleyball Officials Association. Through all his accomplishments and achievements he was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, the Volleyball Manitoba Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame in 2000. He received the Queen Elizabeth 11 Silver jubilee medal in 1977 in recognition of his contributions to the community.

Volleyball Manitoba and the Winnipeg Men’s volleyball League have established the commemorative Wezer Bridle Cup-Manitoba Open in his honour. Funds raised from this tournament will go to the  Wezer Bridle Volleyball Support Fund that provides assistance towards volleyball participation fees to young athletes with financial barriers

(Thanks to Volleyball Manitoba for much of this info)

Artsjunktion celebrates 10th birthday during first Fridays (in pictures)

published on CNC September 4 2017

They were ready to celebrate …

… and were expecting a lot of community members and crafters.

Congratulations to ArtsJunktion! They celebrated their 10th birthday this past weekend during First Fridays.

Legions of happy crafters ate cupcakes while potato printing greeting cards at the depot.

@sarawrayenns also known as DJ Golden Girl, graduate of Mama Cutsworth’s academy, spun some tunes from her improvised DJ booth as everyone was carving potatos and stamping away.

“We’re celebrating a decade of creative re-use which is a really good thing” said manager Julie Kettle.

It’s been a whole decade of accepting donations of paint, books, fabric scraps, magazines, bits of plastic, bric a brac …They process many, many tons of material each week that would otherwise go to the landfill.

Teachers, artists, crafters and community members have all benefited from their pay-what-you-can art supplies over the last 10 years.

Yes, you can find canvasses, brushes and paint here but you also find a lot of recycled material that may be exactly what you need for your new art project.

If you’ve never been to ArtsJunktion, they’re located at 312-B William Ave. (East side, Loading Dock entrance). It’s just behind the Police Credit Union building.

Check out their hashtag #madeatArtsjunktion on Instagram and Twitter to see pics of the great art and crafts people have made with recycled materials they’ve found at the busy depot.

ArtsJunktion hosts ongoing Art Hives on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on First Fridays, using some of the donated materials.

As well, the organization has started a fundraiser to raise the money to allow them to continue to put on these free community events. You can find their fundraising appeal at www.youcaring.com/artsjunktion-888401

Find more info on their website at artsjunktion.mb.ca and on their Facebook page at ArtsJunktion mb. You can also check out a recent CNC story on this innovative agency, Crafts, creativity and community at ArtsJunktion

Free Slurpee Day has special meaning for Winnipeggers

published on CNC July 11 2017

If you’re a Slurpee fan you’ve probably seen the sign outside your local 7-11 and been waiting in excited anticipation for today.

July 11 (or 7-11-2017, get it?) is FREE SLURPEE DAY. And of course it runs from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Each store will give away 1500 free Slurpees in special small free Slurpee cups. This year they will feature photos of people who sent in selfies of themselves drinking a Slurpee.

We deserve a pat on the back because we’ve done it again. For the 18th year in a row we’ve been crowned “Slurpee Capital of the World”.

There must be some of us who drink Slurpees like coffee morning, noon and night all year round. How else do we drink enough to beat cities with warmer climates? And who are these people who drink enough Slurpees to make up for those of us who don’t drink enough of them?

If you want to celebrate all things Slurpee and the hard work that went into us winning the title come down to the 7-11 store on Salter Street at Flora today between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. as once again representatives of 7-11 Canada will be on hand to help us celebrate.

Barbara Nepinak will be there with her Summer Bear Dance Troupe. There’ll also be lots of activities for kids with a magician, balloon animals, a stilt walker, a juggler and more. A face painter will be there painting faces and a caricaturist will be ready to draw your caricature.

It’s not just for kids either. Rockalypso band will be providing the entertainment during the event. They’re a popular Caribbean band that plays reggae, soca and calypso tunes. Their music has a tropical feel and is just plain fun and danceable.

So come on down and raise a cold icy Slurpee in celebration at this neighourhood 7-11 store or head on down to your local ‘Sev’ to get your free one.

 

Free Slurpee day in Slurpee capital of the world

published on CNC July 13 2016

I had to go to two 7-Elevens to find the Mountain Dew Kickstart Black Cherry flavour. But it was worth it; just part of the fun of Free Slurpee Day.

It seems the 7-Eleven people are having as much fun as us. The giveaway always runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on July 11th and the free drink is always 7.11 ounces.

This year, a giant Slurpee was poured in Winnipeg at the new Portage Avenue store…711 litres of course.

Aubrey Windsor, a teacher with the CSI summer learning program at Dufferin School, was playing Simon Says with some of the students outside the 7-Eleven at William and Isabel.

“It’s a nice little treat for them, they get really excited about it,” Windsor said, as the rest of the many kids she was helping supervise were in the store.

It’s not the easiest day of the year to pour yourself a Slurpee. Kids were stacked deep in front of the machine waiting for others to finish; some experimented with flavours.

When you have a store full of very excited kids on Free Slurpee Day things happen. Crush Bubblegum seemed to be the most popular flavour as there were more blue puddles than any other colour.

Some of the area kids may have received free Slurpee coupons from Winnipeg Police officers lately. Operation Chill sees officers “ ticket” kids with free Slurpee coupons for “infractions” like small acts of kindness and wearing a bike helmet.

Constable Mitch Rochon gave out the coupons to kids in the Central Park area last summer while on bike patrol. “The kids love it, we always got massive smiles and big hugs. It was really cool,” Rochon said.

Operation Chill turned 21 this year and it’s also a milestone birthday for our favourite frosty beverage. Fifty years since the first one was poured at the 17 Ave. SE store in Calgary.

Back then clerks would dispense them behind the counter and they had names like Pink Fink, For Adults Only, Moonshine, Fulla Bulla, Gull Washer. Yes, there’s been a few changes.

Considering that it’s bitterly cold for five months of the year it seems unlikely, but as we all know, Winnipeg is the “Slurpee Capital of the World”. And we’ve held onto this title for 17 years now.

Kennewick, WA tried to take it from us back in 2008 but we rallied and out-drank them again. We love these proprietary semi carbonated beverages served at a chilly 2.2 degrees.

Each local 7-Eleven store here sells an amazing average 8,300 of them a month (2009 stat). And we drink them in every season. There’s nothing like an icy Slurpee in -30 to make you feel like a true Winnipegger.

Laurie Smith, National Communications Manager with 7-Eleven Canada Inc. explained the methodology behind our title.

“Winnipeg has been crowned the “Slurpee Capital of the World” for having the highest average number of Slurpee cups sold per store in a region,” said Smith. When asked if there were any surprising facts about Manitobans and Slurpees she replied with some little known local lore.

Apparently we often hold reunions at a neighbourhood 7-Eleven (though I’m not sure where in the store you’d do this). She said many brides and grooms will  stop on their way to their reception to get their photos taken at a 7-Eleven and at least one of the wedding photos will have a Slurpee in it. That’s kind of cute.

Did you know a Slurpee is the number one beverage served to women in Winnipeg’s maternity wards in the summer? And, if you’re arriving in Winnipeg, it’s become common for friends and family to be met at the airport with Slurpees instead of flowers. Somehow I don’t think florists are happy about this.

All of these small things contributed to us retaining our title over other big Slurpee-drinking markets such as Detroit, Seattle and Salt Lake City.

I wonder what Americans think of Winnipeg – probably to them a snowy outpost up north in the middle of nowhere – outdrinking them year after year. Maybe they even think we’re cheating as our version isn’t the same as theirs. Yucca Extract gives theirs in the US a foamier, aerier texture. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to go to North Dakota and try one.

Considering that we can’t stock up on them, can’t keep them chilling in the freezer to defrost later and actually have to visit a 7-Eleven store to pick one up instead of going through a drive-thru, there’s something quaint and old fashioned about a Slurpee.

Passion, grit and determination fuel indigenous film maker’s success

published on CNC November 20 2017

Sometimes the Carpe Diem Winnipeg website can be a gal’s best friend. I was scrolling through the events listings earlier this month when I noticed “Women Talking Film with Alanis Obomsawin”. The free event was open to all women involved or interested in film and was put on by the National Screen Institute (NSI) and Winnipeg Film Group as part of the “Gimme Some Truth” documentary film festival at Cinematheque.

I didn’t think I’d get in as their Facebook site noted they wanted to keep it an intimate event with 40 or less attendees. It wasn’t a love of her work that had me out the door without delay as I’d never actually seen anything she’d done.

I’m not up on filmmakers and hadn’t seen a documentary in a while. Maybe it was a holdover from my long ago brief stint in film as a props assistant/sculptor that drew me to the event.

Yes! I was in. One of the lucky few attendees. Not that there was a lineup, there wasn’t actually. I felt the same sense of anticipation in the Black Lodge Studio (room 304 –  100 Arthur Street) that I  get before the start of a play.

Snacks and coffee and tea were set out for us all which was a friendly coffee klatchish touch. Instead of reading the program while wondering “Who WAS Obomsawin?,” I found a seat and just observed everyone. Were all these women filmmakers?

The petite women of an indeterminate age sitting at the back stood out with her long dark hair, iridescent striped maxi dress, beautiful carved native silver jewellery and glamorous manicure.

I didn’t know that she was in fact celebrated documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin until she was introduced. Everyone hushed respectfully and I realized that she is a BIG deal in Canadian filmmaking.

In a brief summary by Elise Swerhone from NSI, I learned that Alanis Obomsawin has made 50 films for the NFB, that she was here for the Manitoba premiere of her latest film called “Our People Will Be Healed” and lives in Montreal. And that after being born in 1932, she lived on a small Abenaki reserve outside Montreal before moving to Trois-Rivières at the age of nine.

Alanis (or Mademoiselle Alanis as she’s popularly known in Quebec) spoke in a strong voice with more than a hint of a French accent. Her forceful directness and sense of fun belied her age as she matter of factly recounted the remarkable, true story of her life.

Born in 1932. Hmm that would make her 85 years old. And she’s still making documentaries!!

She talked about her idyllic childhood filled with simple things like listening to her dad tell stories at night by the light of an oil lamp, watching her grannie bake, the smell of sweetgrass and lots of singing. The Odonak Reserve was a happy place for her and her family.

Things changed when they moved to Trois-Rivières. As the only native kid in her new school she was bullied and beaten up continually. She recounted that she realized with horror that the school textbooks were teaching that Indians, thus her, were dirty savages who scalped people. And that their language was Satan’s language.

She fought back and it became her life mission to reframe and celebrate her culture so other Natives felt that their culture counted, that they were as important as everyone else. More than anything she wants others to hear them tell their own stories.

No one blazed a path for her. In a time when the Indian Act said that no more than three Indians could gather together at one time so potlatches and ceremonies were outlawed, a time when Natives didn’t have the vote, when Indians who wanted to attend university had to “sell their rights” usually for very little money and were shunned by their people afterwards; she became first a singer-songwriter then a filmmaker.

Fluent in English as well as French and Abenaki due to a couple of years in Florida spent looking after kids and modeling; she started singing with the Boy Scouts. She would accompany groups of them on trips into the countryside and sing songs while talking about Indigenous peoples connection to the land.

The Scouts were happy to have her tour with them as she was popular wherever they went. Over and over again she corrected peoples misconceptions of Native people.

She was soon in demand across the country and sang at hundreds of schools, penitentiaries, and residential schools.

“I found the residential schools really tough. I would always tuck in the youngest kids, the five years olds and sing to them even though the staff often didn’t want me to,” she said. “I wanted them to hear different stories than the ones they were told,” she added.

She may have been popular but back then Native kids on the Odonak Reserve were still being taunted with names like “Savage”, “dirty Indian”…and weren’t allowed to swim in a nearby community’s pool. ALWAYS fighting any injustice she saw, Obomsawin made up her mind to build them a pool. And she did, struggling to raise the money through donations, concerts and lectures.

It took grit and determination both of which she has in spades and it brought her to the attention of a young filmmaker named Ron Kelly who filmed her efforts and showcased her as a young Abenaki singer with a passion for Native rights for a half hour CBC documentary.

The trajectory of her life changed when the NFB hired her as an advisor to Indigenous films. Being Alanis, she wanted more and in time began making her own documentaries about Indigenous issues. “I was so happy doing what I was doing, it was magic,” she recalled.

The first one was a short animation called, “Christmas at Moose Factory”. It’s a wonderful study of Christmas in this Cree village on James Bay done entirely through Indigenous kids drawings. Sounds of dogs barking, wind whistling and kids playing, place you right in the scene and the kids drawings are adorable when paired with their candid comments about their lives. In 1971 it must’ve been daring as it still works very well today and is quietly profound.

She went on to film many historical incidents involving Indigenous people and not always without risk to herself. During the Oka Crisis she spent 70 days lying behind the barbed wire while filming. (You can view the result as a box set of four DVD’s available from the NFB.)

“How did you get the subjects to be so at ease around the camera?” someone familiar with her work asked.

“The story always comes first,” was her quick reply. “I spend hours just talking with a person before I even turn the camera on.”

She went even  further, “To me the story is everything, I think this comes from all the hours I spent listening to my dad tell stories at night under the glow of the oil lamp.”

As a writer, I could only agree with the importance of story telling. Unlike many filmmakers, she doesn’t start with a premise and film scenes that support it but lets peoples’ lives come to life through their own stories.

“Tell me about yourself” could lead to an interview of hours. As she said, “The best gift you can give to everyone is time, when you’re really listening to someone talk, all of a sudden they feel comfortable.” She added, “I don’t come with a camera until I understand the story real well.”

“Mother of Many Children”, “Walker”, “Incident at Restigouche”, “No Address”, “Rocks at Whiskey Trench”, “Our Nationhood” … So, many, many documentaries which have garnered prizes and awards internationally and at home.

As she matter of factly listed the many times she had to butt up against racism within the NFB and elsewhere, to keep filming I could only wish I had a tenth of her audaciousness. She never let racism or naysayers distract her but just kept on keeping on at what she was good at.

I watched the Winnipeg premiere of “Our People Will be Healed” and clapped as hard as everyone else at the end. There’s no drama in the film, just kids learning happily in English and Cree. It’s a beautiful, quiet film about a wonderful new school built at Norway House Cree Nation where the kids are thriving.

The school is named in the memory of Helen Betty Osborne, a young Cree woman from the community who was murdered in 1971 at only 19. A relative from the same family was also murdered and one is missing.

You see how the violence has affected the community but you also see so much caring. Scenes show the kids precociously playing the violin en masse and working on experiments in a state-of-the-art fully equipped science lab. They’re also being taught how to live off the land and are shown on a camping trip with an Elder.

It’s normal in her films to have the kids front and centre and many beautiful natural scenes (according to my research after the fact). It was different than anything I’d seen before but it was beautiful and I “got it” which was a relief.

Thank you once again CNC for yet another opportunity to discover something amazing I’d never have gone to if I wasn’t writing an article. It happens so often. And when else do you get the opportunity to really dig in and do research once you’ve left the educational system?

In this case, I didn’t have to dig far as 25 of her documentaries are on nfb.ca and you can click and watch for free. It’s something I plan to do as her films are refreshingly honest and a fascinating cultural and historical record.

After Obomsawin finished speaking to us, the conversation turned to male crews versus female crews. Was it really necessary to work on an all female crew? Some women thought it was. Most felt that it was fine to work with guys but you had to be sure you were tough enough to be taken seriously.

Obomsawin sat and listened without interjecting much. As difficult as it can occasionally be for women in film, how much tougher it must’ve been for her. In later years she could’ve made her films under the protective umbrella of Studio D which was the female documentary filmamkers arm of the NFB but she refused as she felt her films were about both men and women.

She did tell us that when she’d caught a very good cameraman insulting people under him, “I fired him so fast he didn’t believe me.” For her it is always about respecting each other as people.

The Winnipeg film Group is trying to build female capacity in the film industry here. They are going to be running more technical courses for women and the “Women’s Film and Video Network” meets once a  month. Check their Facebook page for up to date meetup times.

Art is blooming at the WAG all weekend

published on CNC April 22 2017

Just when spring looked like it had finally arrived, it snowed. And not just a light dusting of snow but oatmeal size flakes that thought about sticking. That’s why it’s a very good day to visit the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) to remember what spring (usually) feels like as Art In Bloom is included in the regular admission price.

It’s a festival of fine art and flowers that celebrates spring and is modeled on the annual Art In Bloom events that have been held at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and the Minneapolis Institute of Art for many years. It was last held at the WAG in 1996 but is set to become a bi-annual event at the Gallery. It may be snowing outside but inside the WAG spring flowers are being celebrated and are blooming.Event co-chairs Hazel Borys and Hennie Corrin strongly believe in the power of flowers and nature to brighten peoples mood. Overwhelming research has proven that spending time in nature lowers blood pressure and reduces stress.

Borys, whose husband Stephen is the CEO of the WAG, is a city planner with urban design firm “Placemakers” and tries to include playgrounds, plazas and other ways to experience the outdoors in all her designs.

Corrin founded and volunteers with Floral Philanthropy a non-profit that re-purposes flowers used at weddings, conventions and other events. It’s the first organization of its kind in Canada. For a $100 donation to Winnipeg Harvest volunteers pick up the left over flowers, dismantle them, re-purpose them into fresh arrangements and deliver them to hospital wards, personal care homes and other places that will treasure them.

They both created beautiful flower arrangements in celebrated floral designer Holly Heider Chapple’s workshop yesterday morning at the WAG. Chapple is a world famous designer based in Virginia, USA, whose flower arrangements have been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, Town and Country and Style Me Pretty amongst other publications. She has taught in China, Russia, Australia, London, UK and now Winnipeg.

Sixteen attendees of all levels of ability from professional florists to amateurs took her class on Friday morning as part of  Art In Bloom. Sherri Dlouhy-Stevenson is an event florist who came in from Regina to take the workshop. “I’m a Holly Chapple fan, she’s an incredibly gifted florist,” she said.

One of the key tenets of Art In Bloom are the pairings of paintings with floral interpretations of them. Sixty-one paintings from the WAG’s collections have been paired with magnificent floral interpretations of the pieces created by volunteers.

The interpreters ranged from the kids at Art City in tribute to their founder Wanda Koop, to Ace Burpee, to local architects and floral designers. Because much of the art is copyrighted, I wasn’t able to publish pictures containing both the painting and the floral interpretation of the painting, so you’ll have to go to the WAG yourself to enjoy the pairings and muse over how well you think the designer represented the painting.

All the galleries are open during the event which is on through Sunday and the interpretations are scattered throughout the galleries.

One of my favourites was Sharlene Nielsen of Front Door Stories interpretation of Frederick Horsman Varley’s “View From The Artist’s Bedroom Window, Jericho Beach”.

I also loved the interpretation by Heather Page of Academy Florist of “Portrait of a Lady” by Sir Henry Raeburn. Sir Henry Raeburn was the portrait painter to King George VI in Scotland. He was known for his skill and over a span of 50 years he completed more than 1000 portraits while working from life with no preliminary sketches.

Heather said she took her inspiration from the feeling and mood of the painting as well as the colours of the woman sitting.”It was the blush in her cheeks, the deep colour of her cloak. I really do like portraits from that era, they’re in a more traditional style.” She used ranunculius, tulips, peonies, garden roses and camelia greenery in the arrangement.

The real masterpiece is found in the Eckhardt Hall on the main floor where Wanda Koop’s new show was previously hanging. If you look toward the back wall you’ll forget you’re at the WAG.

A three dimensional floral installation named “Spring Tide” that portrays an idyllic Canadian country landscape in springtime takes up the whole back wall. It is five metres tall by 13 metres wide and contains 20,000 stems. Chapple designed it and it was then brought to life by 30 local florists working together in her eight hour master class on Thursday.

Before they could even start to add the flowers it took a crew eleven hours to build the supporting structure and then the whole thing had to be prepped with moss.

Gloria Sawatsky of Beyond Flowers was one of the florists who worked on it. “It was an amazing experience. It was so nice to work together as a group.”

She added, “We don’t have enough events that bring florists together and we need more.” She described the flowers and shrubs that compose the installation. “The mountains are made of curly willow, pussy willow and Spanish moss and the snow covering them is white carnations.” She added, “Blue delphiniums make up the river.”

I asked her about the spectacular blooming cherry tree to the side of the installation. “That looks so full because it’s had curly willow, birch and pink hyacinths attached to it.” Any other flowers? “We also used crocuses, more pink hyacinths and daffodils.”

It’s stunning and the WAG has put tables up in the foyer if you want to sit and look at it for a while and imagine it’s spring and you’re in the countryside. You may even want to get a cup of coffee at the pop-up café on the main floor and drink it there.

There’s also a large pop-up fresh flower shop in Eckhardt Hall selling all things floral. They have flower arrangements as well as single stems and local artisans have made pretty pottery vases that are for sale. There’s pottery, floral glass art and books on floral arranging – even a stall selling chocolate. Visit Art In Bloom on at the WAG all weekend and pick up some beautiful blooms to take home.

None of the flowers and greenery used in this event will be thrown away as Floral Philanthropy will pickup and re-purpose any flowers and shrubs that are still usable from the installation after the event and the floral interpreters can also choose to donate their flower arrangements to the organization.

Anne Hawe

Spreading goodwill for 85 years

published on CNC April 4 2016

Not even 10 a.m. and there is a long lineup of people waiting to get into the Princess Street Goodwill store for Dollar Daze. The throngs of early morning bargain hunters are going for the $1 clothing and shoes so I get lucky with half price housewares.

Business is up at the Goodwill but February wasn’t a good month. Doug McKechnie, President and CEO for going on 35 years now, says sales for the five Winnipeg stores dropped by 25 percent with pickups being the most affected.

“I had bill collectors calling me from Eastern Canada, one fellow from Brampton wanted to know when I was going to pay the $1800 he was owed,” says McKechnie.

What does this have to do with the Goodwill Stores here in Winnipeg? Not a lot as it turns out. Winnipeg boasts the only independent Goodwill organization in the country.

Proudly called the Canadian Goodwill Industries Inc., they never did join Goodwill Industries International as it would have cost them one percent of their gross sales each month. Good thing as it turns out.

The 16 stores and 10 donation centres that recently failed in Ontario were members of this Goodwill juggernaut. Stores in 17 countries and $5.37 billion (2014) in gross revenue, including sales from their affiliated thrift shops. Hence the confusion.

Hence the need for the thoughtful notice posted recently on the door of the Princess Street store sympathizing with the stores of Southern Ontario that closed on Jan. 16 but reassuring Manitoba bargain seekers the stores here are still open for business.

Unlike Ontario, staff here are non-union but paid fairly, receiving health benefits and cost of living allowances annually.

CEO McKechnie receives a modest salary, less than half the $238,000 Keiko Nakamura CEO of the Southern Ontario stores made. With no government funding, Winnipeg Goodwill stores rely on your donations and good old Manitoban common sense. It’s “junk into jobs, waste into wages and discards into time-cards” as their saying goes.

 

Whether it’s your old but good couch being recovered in the upholstery shop, a broken TV being fixed in electronics or a chair being repaired in the carpentry shop; all are painstakingly refurbished whenever possible, providing job experience and training opportunities for those working in the shops, not all of whom are physically disabled. Some are, but crippling anxiety can be a barrier to getting a job too. Many things can cause one’s life to veer off in the wrong direction.

“Being able to give a paycheque every two weeks to some of my people who never thought they’d be able to work is the most rewarding part of my job” McKechnie says.

They work for him for a while and then they move on to other jobs as skilled employees. Some will never move on. Others stay, as they’re comfortable. McKechnie does whatever it takes to increase their quality of life.

“I have one guy, I’ve put him through rehab five times. They’re like my second family,” says McKechnie.

Lorraine Wilson has been a cashier in the flagship Princess street thrift shop for eight years now. She’s only ever worked in thrift stores, that’s her thing.

When pressed, she says the best part of her job is the customers. No wonder, seeing the bargains they walk out with. Who else sells all their paperbacks for 50 cents these days?

 

Being right downtown, lunchtime gets busy. That’s a good thing. Sales of donated items at the Princess Street store and at the four other thrift stores in Winnipeg and the one in Ashern, fund the workshops, provide training as well as pay the wages of all 90 full and part-time employees.

The Goodwill celebrated its 85th birthday on Apr. 4, 2016. The very first Goodwill store in Canada opened in Winnipeg on Apr. 4, 1931. Reverend Richmond Craig, a United Church minister, wanted to provide jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression and sell household goods to Manitobans at a cheap price.

I can’t help but think he would’ve been happy to see the long lineup for Dollar Daze recently and that he would’ve approved of the deals.

As a homegrown Manitoban charity with 89 percent of money raised from donations going directly into hiring, supporting and training workers no matter what obstacles they’ve faced in their life, the Goodwill Stores deserve our thanks and support.