Canadian girl out and aboot

1. NOT Working and catching up on movies.

I spent a lot of the weekend NOT working. Instead, I did a bunch of errands on Saturday. This included stopping by the craft sale in my neighbourhood and the farmers' market. I also had a delicious palak paneer wrap from the coffee shop near my house. The art house movie theatre in my neighbourhood was showing "An Education."

I'd highly recommend "An Education." It's a great story, an interesting moral premise and all the acting is wonderful. I was a little surprised by how much Carey Mulligan (the main actress) looks like one of my cousins.

2. Sunday, I taught my teen writers group. Since we are having a bunch of guests for the next few meetings, we just did a bunch of exercises and talked about books including Tolkien and Twilight. I love the teens and we have great discussions.

3. I woke up early to go to a preview of "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Mari took me to the preview, which was at 10 a.m. There were only 4 of us in the theatre; Mari, and two other writers who we both know. So we sat in a row in the theatre, talking about movies, books, music and theatre. We ended up sitting there for an hour because the manager couldn't get the projector working. She tried to make us come back the next day, but we refused and just sat there until she could get it to work.

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is truly wonderful. It's funny, cute and interesting and it looks absolutely amazing. I kept on wanting to touch Mr. Fox's face, because the fur looks so lifelike and soft. The actors were well cast, the music was great and the script was fun. I think it'll be up for some Oscar noms.

4. After this, I came home and did a bunch of work and wrote some stories about alpacas.

5. Today I woke up to a very nice e-mail from a woman that I'd interviewed. I went by her booth at Agritrade last week and we did a story about a software that she'd created to help farmers do their accounting. She sent me an email saying that various people stopped by her booth because they'd received the email news and were interested in her product because of what I'd written. Since she created the program to help farmers and is the sole owner and creator of her business, I was thrilled by this, and really happy to have helped her out. Plus, it's just nice to get positive feedback.

6. It was plus 17 and sunny today, which was delightful. I had to go to Ikea to pick up some things for friends. I live on the same side of town as the Ikea, so it's not a bad trip for me. I also love that I have the freedom to go on a week day, because there is never anyone there and it makes it really easy to shop and browse.

After this, I went downtown to do a few things. I tried a new coffee shop, and went to see an exhibit at the Albert Gallery of Art called "Museums of the Contemporary World." I'm glad I saw it, but it wasn't really my thing. It was an excellent exhibit, but I'm just not into looking at floor plans or architectural designs for buildings I may never get to go to. Still, I do have some museums that I'd like to add to my list. I really want to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario next time I'm in Toronto. Then I went to check out a mall that I'd never been to before. I went to the mall specifically to buy MAC, but also to get a lay of the land and check out what stores they have. All in all, a very productive day, and a nice change from spending the day in front of the computer.

This 1966 Ingmar Bergman film is my second Bergman. I thought it was brilliant. It tells the story of a mute woman who is a former actress, and her nurse. It's shot in black and white and is incredibly arty. The lines between the nurse and the actress blur until the audience is not sure who is crazy and who is sane. Are they the same person? Who is mad? Who is in control.

There are some wonderfully creepy images here

Beautifully shot and wonderfully acted with a lot of involvement from the two main actresses. The film is short, which actually adds to its power.

This week's schedule has been- work, watch movies, etc. Really that's about it. I did two days of work related writing, and then spent a day at the alpaca conference at Farm Fair. I attended some really in depth presentations about birthing alpacas and ended up looking at pictures of alpaca placenta and afterbirth. I'm not joking.

My publishers were in town to release a new book of poetry and so I got a chance to chat with them and meet author Hiromi Goto , whose work I have long admired.

In my exhausted stupor, I watched the Rolling Stone documentary "Shine a light."

This weekend I attended two films at the Global Visions international film festival. This documentary film festival is the longest running documentary film fest in Canada! I saw "Hair India" which about the hair trade in India. Pilgrims travel to temples to have their heads shaved, then the temples sell the hair to international agencies. Working class women go through the hair before it is shipped to international centres, like Rome, to be processed into hair extensions. In the film, an Indian woman in Mumbai had her hair treated and got extensions done. It's a really weird look at culture, hair and social class. Prior to this film, we watched a short film called "Namrata". This film was based on the life of the woman who was the inspiration for Deepa Mehta's "Heaven and Earth." I was very struck by this film.

Today I saw "Transit Dubai", which is about the transitory nature and social classes in Dubai. I've had many friends visit the city and one of my friends is working there now. I thought this film really showed some of the class structure and problems with the city.

I also got a chance to go for brunch with some friends. We just got a Cora's in Edmonton. Cora's is a chain started in Quebec. It has since slowly been spreading across Canada. They serve breakfast food with lots of fresh fruit. We had to wait quite a while to get in, but it was worth it.

I won an honourable mention in a poetry contest

A really cool woman that I know just sent me this email for her new online book club-
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Please feel free to join the group and introduce yourself. And please feel free to pass this along to anyone who may be interested.

I am still really far behind on this

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Yesterday my friend Jesse came to town. He emailed me ahead of time and offered to take me to the West Edmonton mall waterpark. I'd never been before, but various people had told me that the waterpark was awesome.
We used to go to the West Edmonton mall when I was a kid, and I loved watching this one particular slide at the waterpark. It was one slide where you twisted around and then dropped out, falling about 5 feet into the water.

I was quite excited to go on that particular slide and I got to fulfill a childhood dream yesterday. Since we were at the park on a weekday, it was a lot cheaper and less busy than the weekends. The lockers at the park cost $7 and they're computerized. You type a security code into a computer which unlocks and re-locks the locker for you.

There were strange signs around the pool which told you that- "Noseblowing, and urinating in the pool were prohibited." They also warned you not to go into the pool if you'd had diarrhea in the past 2 weeks. (I have never seen the diarrhea or the noseblowing signs before)

The waterpark is quite huge. It's got the world's largest wave pool, which makes 5 foot high waves. This was quite nice and we sat in the pool and visited a lot. Then we went on a variety of the slides. They have beginner ones, intermediate ones, advanced and extreme. I hadn't been on a waterslide for years, so I started off with a tame one called "The Corkscrew." This was followed by an extreme one called "Nessie's revenge." This one actually launches you into the air! You go up into the air as you clear a big bump! It was fun, but intense.

We followed this up with my favourite "The Tropical Typhoon." My friend Jesse called it "The Tidy Bowl". This was the one that I'd watched when I was a kid. This one spins you around and then you fly around a huge bowl that swirls you around like a toilet. You then fall five feet into a pool of 10 foot deep water. This was pretty intense and scary, but incredibly fun.

We went on one that required tubes, sat in the hot tub and repeated some of the slides. My least favourite was a slide called "The Blue Bullet". This slide is closed in and completely dark, and you can't see where you are going. I'm claustrophobic, so I HATED this slide. Jesse had a friend's waterproof camcorder, so he made some videos of us going down the slides. It was a lot of fun and I'd recommend doing it. However, after sliding for almost 2 hours, I was dizzy and waterlogged. Very intense, but I'd go again.

Last Friday, I volunteered at Litfest. I had to sell books for a seminar for magazine publishers, writers and editors. Basically, it was a session for my type of people, and I was just sitting in on the session.

Later that evening, my friend Becky and I went to see Moby. The event was way across town, and I don't drive much at night in Edmonton. Suffice it to say that Becky had to put up with me getting a bit lost on the way there and back.

The Edmonton Events centre is a little club attached to the mall. It's fairly intimate and there are multiple levels which allows you to see the stage from a number of vantage points. Becky had been there before to see M.I.A and knew the best place for us to stand. Since we are both short, we were able to stand on the stairs and see the stage quite well.

The crowd was quite a bit older. In fact, we were pretty much on the younger end of the spectrum, which was really nice.

Moby himself puts on a great show. I thought he would just dj, but he plays guitar and keys, sings and plays the bongos. His entire band was female except for the drummer. He had two female vocalists and a violinists on stage with him. The show as high energy and he played a lot of his old favourites. All in all, it was a great experience and I'd recommend seeing him live if you get the chance.

This article was printed in my hometown paper. I'm extremely proud of the article, but I'm not so happy that they listed me as living in Grande Prairie instead of Edmonton.

Read more about Coops in the Philippines

I've been really busy, but with good stuff. On Thursday, I drove out to a myotonic goat farm. It took me a long time to find it, as I got lost on the way there. However, I finally got there and got to play with the goats. The owner had about 100 goats on site. She normally has about 70 goats but she was boarding some for her uncle. She had pygmy dwarf and dairy goats as well as the myotonic. Myotonic goats are pretty rare. They originated in Tennessee and are also known as Fainting Goats or Tennessee fainters. When the goats are startled, their muscles stiffen up and they tend to fall over. The condition lasts for about 10 seconds.

We didn't make any of them fall over, but I took lots of pictures of them, and learned about them. Apparently they were used for meat and because they are friendly and easy to raise.

If you want to watch them faint, you can watch this video here . It's quite funny.

That evening, I decided to attend a Lit fest event. Dr. Gabor Mate is a doctor who combines psychotherapy into his medical practice. He is currently the resident doctor in the Downtown East side, where he works to give medical care to addicts. This is Canada's poorest area, where there is a lot of homelessness and drug abuse.
I had yet to pick up my volunteer pass for lit fest, so I decided just to go and take my chances on a ticket. It turned out that there was actually a huge lineup to see Dr. Mate, and I stood in line, taking my chances. I started talking to the woman behind me, who was a Cree woman and a psychiatric nurse. We got into a fairly interesting discussion and I could tell that she was a pretty cool lady. She was at the event with her 16-year-old daughter. We weren't sure if we could get it, but then a man came and offered us 3 free tickets to go inside. We considered it fate and took the tickets and decided to sit together and kept on chatting.

The crowd that came to see Dr. Mate was so big that they had to give people a refund for their tickets and turn them away, with the promise of another scheduled event. Dr. Mate came out and read to the packed auditorium. He read from his book and then we watched a film about Vancouver's supervised injection site. The film had previously been on television, but I hadn't seen it. After that, Dr. Mate came out and we were allowed to ask him questions. Most of the questions were pretty interesting and the audience discussion was enlightening. Dr. Mate's theory is that anyone who has any sort of addiction is acting in response to hurt or trauma in their lives. He said that every single addicted woman that he has ever treated in the Downtown East Side had been sexually abused at some point.
Anyway, it was an enlightening evening and I recommend seeing Dr. Mate if he comes to your city.

I keep on getting really far behind on this.

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My Darling Clementine is a 1946 Western by John Ford. It's an extremely iconic and archetypal Western and I was surprised by how many things I'd heard of that appear in this film. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the OK Corral, the town of Tombstone...- they're all from this movie. The story of the fight at the OK Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton brothers is apparently a true story.

It was an okay film, but I couldn't really get into it. I was most fascinated by Doc Holliday and his love affair with his lady and how his wife was pretty much abandoned.

I think I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't been sick.

I also watched "O, Brother where art thou?", "Bottle Shock" and "Waltz with Bashir" during my convalescence.

You can read my review, to be published in the November issue here

I've been sick with a bad cold so I haven't been out and about this week. I've managed to leave the house a few times, but generally, I've been home watching movies. I can update and tell you about everything I've watched, but first I want to tell you about my new hero, Mr. Will Allen.

Yesterday I went to the North of Nowhere expo at the downtown public library. This weekend's theme was food security, since Oct. 16 is World Food day, designed to raise awareness about food. Last night they set up an area with some vendors and info tables, and showed "The World according to Monsanto" (which I'd already seen), and Food Fight . Food Fight is a pretty decent film. It's a series of short vignettes that make up a documentary. The film delved into the story of the "Chez Panisse" movement, and the US Farm Bill. There were some bits that I would definitely have edited out. But what I found most refreshing was that some people said that the local food movement was elitist, and I found myself actively nodding. Then Will Allen appeared on the screen. He's a former basketball player and farmer who started an urban farm project in Milwaukee. He grows local food, teaches people how to farm, and sells/gives food to people living in his community.
His urban farm, Growing Power is located in a “food desert,” a part of the city devoid of full-service grocery stores but lined with fast-food joints, liquor stores, and convenience stores selling mostly soda and sweets. Growing Power is an oasis in that desert. His farm uses waste from food wholesalers in the city, and they also practice aquaculture. The waste from the fish is cycled back to the plants.

His greenhouses in Milwaukee can feed 10,000 and he teaches about vermicomposting, and sustainable farming within the city. His work mainly affects African-Americans, immigrants, lower income people and people of colour. Basically, Michael Pollan gives a lot of theory, but guys like Will Allen are walking the talk.

Here's the link to Growing Power and here's the link to a story the NY times did about Will here

I'd really like to go and learn from him. I learned even more about Will Allen's projects and other sustainable farmers in the States during a documentary I saw today, Fresh .

This film was a more inspirational call to action and really showed what some people are doing.

The more I learn about the industrial food system and sustainable farming, the more I want to try to buy more locally. I don't buy everything locally, but I buy a great deal of my produce at the farmer's market and hope to continue to do so as long as I have the resources to do so. I just learned today that a green bean grow in California loses HALF of its nutritional value as it is shipped across the country.

I have neglected to post about the completely fun wedding that I went to in Vancouver almost two weeks ago. This is rather deplorable, so I'll make up for it now. My friends Carlos and Andrea got hitched. They wanted a very non-traditional ceremony, so they held the wedding at a hall in Kitsilano in Vancouver. The weather cooperated and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. When we got there, they were still setting up, so I was able to see the groom, which was weird to me. I don't think I've been at a wedding where I have seen the groom before the wedding.

We were also given our wedding favours immediately. The favours consisted of a small button with a drawing of Carlos and Andrea holding hand, a Count and colour colouring book that detailled their courtship and a few crayons with a ribbon around them so we could colour. This was awesome, because we could colour as we were waiting.

The justice of the peace they hired was awesome. She told us that we had to begin the wedding by shouting, "Let this wedding begin." Andrea and Carlos entered the hall to a Sarah Harmer song and walked onto the stage. The justice of the peace told us the story of their courtship, which began on OK Cupid. We got to hear the story of how they got together and some of the early things about their relationship. The justice of the peace also gave us a glass heart made by a local artisan to pass around. We were all supposed to hold the heart and think about how much we loved the couple and think good thoughts for them. Then the couple would always have the heart to remember how loved they were by their community.

Everyone at the wedding was asked if we would support the marriage and their act of marriage and we responded, "We will." I thought it was a great way to honour the couple.

The funniest part of the ceremony involved the justice of the peace asking a question about the special gift that Andrea had got for Carlos. The J of P meant the ring, of course, but Andrea responded, "I got him a button maker."
Everyone in the audience laughed, but then Andrea got it and they exchanged rings. Since Carlos is Spanish, part of the ceremony included them reciting, "With this ring, we are wed," in Spanish. There was no bridal party, but the parents came onstage to sign the registry.

Andrea had a very cool dress. It was made especially for her. It consisted of a black slip dress with pink tulle underneath. She also had a jacket to cover the dress that had small pink buttons on the sides. She had a big pink and blue flower arrangement in her hair, turquoise shoes and a black, pink and turquoise clutch. The parents and Carlos had corsages with pink or turquoise in them. It was very sweet.

After the ceremony, the immediate family went for pics and the rest of us milled around. A lot of the friends helped get the reception hall ready for the dinner. This consisted of arranging tables and putting African violets on the tables. When people were allowed back in, they were able to buy 50/50 tickets to help pay for the cost of the wedding.

The dinner consisted of Memphis bbq. The vegetarians had veggie lasagna and salad and were allowed to eat first. There were tons of different kinds of meat! (Pulled pork, ribs, lamb, chicken, beef, sausages and something else if I remember correctly.) For dessert, we were given mini cupcakes made by Andrea's sister. We were given bags of icing to decorate the cupcakes, which was a lot of fun. The wedding cake was a huge cupcake, decorated with blue icing and the wedding ducks. The couple also bottled and labelled their own wine. After the dinner, we had a number of fun speeches by various friends and family, and then we cleared out the reception for dancing. This was one of the funniest playlists ever as we played music by the Pipettes, The Postal Service, The Black Kids and Annie. It was very hipster, but lots of fun. There were about 100 people at the wedding, which I am convinced is the perfect number. It's a sizeable group, but you still get to interact with everyone!

Also, I should add that I won the 50/50, and made $250! When I was called to the mike to collect my prize, I was asked why I should win. I said I should win because I was from out of town, and I was a writer. People loved my answer.

The bouquet and garland toss were done to the song "Single ladies". My friend Emily and I did the Single ladies dance before the bouquet was tossed off. It was super fun. After the dancing, a few people went to the casino, but I was exhausted, so I just went home.

Earlier in the day, I'd been to visit my friend Arthur and his new son, who was three weeks old. He's an absolutely beautiful baby. All in all, a fantastic and original wedding and a great day.

I have neglected to post about my great trip to BC. I took the sky shuttle to the Edmonton airport. Strangely, three Edmonton Eskimos were on my bus ride. You'd think that professional football players would have their own bus, but these ones didn't. They were nice, but the whole thing was very strange.

I landed at the Victoria airport and was greeted by my mom and my aunt. We then went for tea, and I went back to my aunt's house where I hung out with my uncle and my aunt and their two great dogs. We just spent a lot of time visiting and chilling. The next day, my aunt drove my mom and I to Bolen Books, where I got to meet willietheshakes and have him sign my book :)

Mom and I then went downtown where we wandered around, shopped and went for dim sum. Later on, we went to another aunt's where we dined with three aunts, my cousin, my cousin's bf and a family friend. The next day, we did a whole lot of nothing before my mom and uncle drove me to the ferry. I took the ferry across and got to farpotshket's house at about 8 at night.

I got up early the next morning to go visit my friend's new son, Cole. Cole was an absolutely gorgeous child. He's only 3 weeks old, but was incredibly beautiful. Following this, I went to the wedding, which I'll write about in my next post.

This week, I have been participating in a national campaign called Random Acts of Poetry . Thirty one poets across Canada are participating in the program, which is sponsored by READ Victoria and is designed to encourage literacy and foster love of poetry.

So as part of this campaign, I am distributing poetry books to random people. I go up to random people, read them a poem and then give them a book. (In case you are concerned, all the poets are financially compensated and the program buys 50 books for us to distribute).

Since it is a literacy program, participants are supposed to make visits in ESL and adult literacy classrooms. I will be going to read some poems and do some writing exercises with students at Grant MacEwan university tomorrow.

I have performed about 20 random acts of poetry so far. I started doing it in Vancouver and have since been doing it in my neighbourhood here in Edmonton. I was very nervous to approach people, and many people are surprised when they are approached, so I tell them that they don't have to buy anything from me, and then go into my spiel. I think people enjoy the random acts of poetry because it makes them feel special. I've had some interesting discussions with people. I got into one discussion with a woman who was of mixed ancestry. Some people are very thankful and honoured to be chosen. Many people worry about the financial consequences of the endeavour. One woman asked me if she could make a donation to me. (I refused it.)

One student and his friend were quite enthused and had me sit down at their cafe table so they could enjoy the reading. Then the recipient of the book gave me a hug :)

I also made one woman cry because she was so incredibly moved by the poem. It was a very powerful experience.

All in all, it's been a very fruitful experience. I've used it as a way to reach out to places in my community and have performed random acts of poetry at my local video store and at some of my favourite stores in my neighbourhood.

(cross-posted to my writing blog)

Man, I've just been writing away like a fiend, doing some freelance work and work related stories. Crazy stuff. And in between all that, I've been reading like a fiend. In the past 2.5 days, I've devoured three books. I mean, I normally read a lot but this has been just ridiculous.

I've also been doing things to get ready for my trip to BC and am actually going to be social this evening and go see a movie at the Edmonton Film Festival tonight with Mari and her dude.

I've got some social events lined up for when I return from BC. Being this anti-social is okay once in a while, but I can't let it rule my life. That said, I've also been to dance class and yoga this week, and walked over to my friend's to pick up a book and visited with her for about 20 minutes, so I have been leaving the house. I've just really had my nose buried in my work.

I must say that last weekend's wedding was wonderful. The wedding was the celebration of the marriage between two of my friends; Debi and Darrell. Debi and Darrell met in the offices of the Daily Herald Tribune, which is where I worked in Grande Prairie. They have always been one of those couples that made you happy to be around them. When I'm hanging out with them, I always feel included and appreciated by both of them. You can tell that they are truly in love, that they enjoy each other and that their lives are enriched because they are together. They are both friends of mine and so I was quite happy to attend their wedding.

Of course, no wedding would be complete without a wardrobe malfunction. I was blowdrying my hair when I reached for my wrap. It clunked across the floor. I turned it around and realized that the security tag was still attached. The wrap was purchased in Edmonton and I'd thrown away the receipt. AAAAHHH. So I rushed to the mall in my dress and purchased a new pashmina to wear at the wedding. I have to get the security tag removed from my dress today.

Anyway, the wedding part had a rather traditional church ceremony, but it still had lots of personal touches. Debi was escorted down the aisle by both of her parents and they proclaimed the couple, husband and wife, rather than "man and wife." Debi and both of her parents and many of the guests cried during the ceremony.

A couple hours later, we attended the reception. This was a lot of fun because it was a reunion for many Daily Herald Tribune staff and I got to see many Grande Prairie friends. Debi and Darrell really made the reception about them. They entered to the James Bond theme, had pictures of themselves on the table settings and instead of kissing during glass clinks, you had to display Oilers memorabilia or silver coins from the years that the Oilers won the Stanley cup. Debi is known for her sugar cookies, so she made these as favours for the wedding. It was really personal and special if you knew the couple. The speeches were great and you could tell that all the parents were very happy and supportive and that they were excited that their children had found such a great partner. Everything was extremely nice; the colours were fall colours and the bridesmaid dresses were simple and chocolate brown.

Chris, Debi's brother, was the master of ceremonies for the evening. At one point, he said that many people have wondered what the future holds for Debi and Darrell. He made Debi's mom and Darrell's dad stand up and embrace and proclaimed, "Debi and Darrell in thirty years." This was really funny because both of them do look A LOT like their parents. It was extremely cute.

The wedding was also fun because the event was small, which allowed Debi and Darrell to spend a lot of time actually talking with the guests at their wedding. All in all, a lovely event. I got home a little after midnight and my feet weren't even sore from dancing even though I was wearing high heels.

I had great shoes and a fantastic dress and got a lot of compliments on how I looked, which was also fun. :)