Canadian girl out and aboot

It seems that I am going to multiple workshops in May. This weekend was Edmonton media camp. It was the first one ever and was attended by about 180 people. The event was free and was held at the Shaw conference centre downtown. My friend Darrell drove down from Grande Prairie, so I got a chance to chat and hang out with him, which was cool.

The workshop was attended by numerous journalists, PR people, communications people, bloggers and all sorts of new media people. It started off with a panel discussion, then we jumped into the "unconference." I've never been to an "unconference" before, and think that the format could work well for other subjects. What happens is that people pitch their topics and write them down on big sheets of paper. Then these pitches are compiled into groups. So then you pick a topic that is of interest to you and go discuss it. I sat in on sessions about "creating a local food movement website", "how can we convince executives to use social media to market", and one on "change and new media." All interesting stuff. I met a lot of people and thought it was a good opportunity for media people and journalists and PR people to get together and learn from each other. We were encouraged to livetweet the event, so I did. All in all, it was a good event.

I spent most of last week being sick with a bad cold, which sucked. This is my first cold of 2010, and it's still going away. I wasn't able to go to dance class on Friday last week, but I should be able to go again tonight.

I also spent part of last week at the Alberta Agricultural Economists Association conference, which was highly academic.

In other good news, I won a spot at a beekeeping workshop! So I'll be spending part of next weekend learning how to take care of bees.

So I arrived last night at about 6. My day started pretty early because I had to drop Fergus off at Mari's. This was a bit like dropping a child off at daycare, and she pretty much had to assure me that he would be fine. Then I did a few more things before going to catch my sky shuttle. My sky shuttle journey was probably the most eventful part of the trip. I was seated behind this incredibly racist woman who kept on spouting her views to the bus driver, trying to get him to engage with her and agree with her racist ideas. The bus driver, who was a 33-year-old man originally from Egypt (he told her this when she asked), politely deflected and refuted all her racist claims. I didn't say anything, just watched the interaction. After she left, the bus driver was shaking his head with frustration and I just told him that he had done an incredible job by keeping his calm and deflecting her crusade with polite facts. It was pretty amazing, but crazy to witness.

The plane ride was fine and my arrival in TO was fine. I realized that I needed to eat something when I was staring at the list of connecting flights, wondering where I could find my luggage. Once I got everything, I was able to take the bus and subway and meet [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] at the subway station. I'm now in the apartment belonging to [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]. It's incredibly cute.

Today I have to get ready for my reading, but don't have anything else planned. It will take me about an hour to get there, so I'll probably head down early and explore the waterfront a little.

Seriously, I've been really busy.

On Thursday, I went to see Last Train home , a documentary film created by a Chinese Canadian Lixin Fan. Fan was a broadcaster who moved to Montreal. His documentary "Last Train home" focusses on the annual trek home for Chinese New Year. Viewers are introduced to a family of migrant workers. The parents work in a factory together and send money home to their two children, who are being raised by the grandmother. Life is hard in the factory and the family communications are suffering. The daughter is torn between staying in the countryside and the life in the cities.

I won't tell you what happens, but this is quite a powerful documentary. It's disturbing to watch and gives you an understanding of what life is like for a Chinese migrant worker.

I've been working really hard the past few days and have been writing like a fiend. My brother and his Fiancee arrived late Friday night, along with my dog. So I now have to take care of Fergus in addition to my other duties. Believe me, I'm not complaining.

Saturday I did a bunch of errands and then went to see a presentation of Wen Wei Dance's Cock pit. The piece is a 70 minute contemporary dance number featuring 5 dancers. It was inspired by the 5 years that Wen Wei spent in Beijing as a Chinese dance student. Pheasant feathers symbolize the masculine in Chinese opera. In his piece, Wen Wei uses the feathers to show movement, competition, sexuality and masculinity. The piece featured 4 male dancers and one female dancer and was a moving, erotic and sexually charged piece. I enjoyed it a great deal, but thought it was just a little too long. Still ,it's been a long time since I enjoyed contemporary dance, and this was a treat.

Sunday I taught a workshop to 3 women who write for the Rat Creek press, a community newspaper on the north side of the city. We went through the basic journalism techniques and tricks and I had a really good time. Apparently I did a good job with the workshop, because I got a lot of compliments from the people who attended, which is always nice to hear.

Sunday night, I watched the Oscars (of course), which were kind of boring. I'm glad with all the wins (specifically that Avatar didn't win), but hope for a better show next year.

So I spent New Year's at my friend Mari's. We had grand plans to get to several parties but we never got there in time. Mari had received a creme brulee set from her bf's mom, so she ended up making us creme brulee. It was my first time having creme brulee. I'm not sure how that happened. The creme brulee set even came with a little blow torch so Mari's bf torched the creme brulee, while her roommate Stephanie stood by with the fire extinguisher. For those of you playing along at home, all these events actually went down at Todd Babiak's since Mari and Stephanie are housesitting for him while he is in France. In hopes of embarrassing him, I scoured Todd's bookcases looking for shameful items, but he doesn't seem to have any. He must hide them.

During this time, I tried bourbon, discovered that I don't like it and drank some Vampire wine instead. I'd seen the Vampire wine in the offsale here and was eager to try it. It's actually not bad. However, I don't think I could actually take it anywhere, as then I'd be the crazy goth girl who showed up with the vampire wine.

At midnight, I kissed Henry, Mari's Boston terrier. Then Mari and her bf went to the Artery to meet up with more peeps, and I went home to sleep.

The next day, I did a lot of nothing and watched a lot of Glee on DVD. Love! On Saturday, I did a bunch of errands then went down to the Black dog bar to see a free set done by a guy I know named Doug Hoyer . I met Doug at a bbq at my friend's and we always chat when we run into each other. His music is pretty cool; he's got great lyrics and wonderful melodies and some really catchy songs. I actually think his music could become quite popular if it fell into the right hands. Anyway, I met up with a few more people and then Doug and I chatted in between sets and at one point, he gave me a copy of a chapbook written by a few local poets/musicians.

On Jan 3rd, I went for my first ski this year, and skied around Hawrelak park. My goal is to ski all 9 of Edmonton's parks this year. I'm up to 3 so far. Then I had a slack afternoon and went for supper with [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], who has just moved to Alberta.

My week is going to pick up in a big way by tomorrow. Today is just another working from home day, but tomorrow I head out to a meeting of the Wild Rose Agricultural Producers (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE Wild Rose Alliance political party of conservatives, shudder.). The Wild Rose Agricultural Producers are a group of Alberta farmers who get together to discuss provincial issues affecting farmers. It should be a good meeting, and it's at the Fantasyland hotel in the West Edmonton Mall. I've been to a few conferences there; they have a good conference rate and decent food.

Then I'm going to the opening of the Winterlight festival . I've got a few friends involved with the festival and Mari is the festival blogger and social media coordinator. So that should be cool.

A lot of stuff happened....


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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.

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 already seen and reviewed six plays, and I have a few thoughts and comments about the experience. I am reviewing in the Transalta Cabaret Lounge, which is possibly the perfect venue for me. Since there is alcohol on the premise, everything is for a more mature audience. There is an actual stage, so I can sit at a table and the performers don't have to rush by me, or wander out and touch me. (I hate it when performers touch me when I am watching a play)

I'm only given 100 words to write my reviews, which is challenging. Our editor told us that we shouldn't write anything that we wouldn't say to the director's face. I'd never thought of this before, but I think it will be my new mantra for reviewing. I can be critical, and I can be honest, but I try never to be deliberately mean. I know what it feels like to get mean reviews.

I seem to rate most things in the middle. I have not given a five star review, and think it would take a lot to make me give one. I'd recommend a four star show to my friends, and would encourage them to see it if it came to their town. It would take me weeping or something amazing to give five stars. I'm not sure what would make me give out one star either.

My other note is this- All actors, and I know some of you reading this are actors, should speak clearly and slowly. I think actors have a tendency to get nervous and rush when they get onstage. Sometimes the jokes seem to go by too fast. You may know the lines and what you're going to say next, but the audience sometimes needs to be able to catch the joke and absorb it. Take a breath!

So far, the first play that I reviewed remains my favourite. It was written by a local playwright named Justen Bennett. The play called "Addition- an unconventional love story" told the story of a gay couple who decide to have a threesome. They go in search of a third, and then must deal with the complications that arise from their actions. I loved the pacing of this script, and it was really and truly funny. The characters talked like me and my friends- there were discussions about roleplaying games, Buffy and Joss Whedon, references to Twilight and Star Trek, and language play. It was cute. The story kept you intrigued and interested, and it was truly sweet and unconventional. I only gave it four stars because I thought the actors needed to work on their comedic timing.

However, I got to meet the director after and tell him how much I liked the play. I was chatting with a lovely audience member and we were both curious about which actors in the play were gay. It turns out that only one guy was. The audience member and I thought this was a mark of a good production. We believed that all the men were gay. In many ways, this was really a story about relationships and unconventional relationships, not mainly about queer issues.

I also enjoyed another factor that occurred as a result of a casting decision. One of the men, who was seen to be the love interest, was half Chinese. I enjoyed this because I know that many Asian looking men are not always seen as objects of desire. I also liked it because the character was supposed to have grown up in a small town and was the son of a farmer. The director told me that a past audience member had argued that this wasn't right and that the half Chinese guy couldn't be a farmer. However, I thought this was great as I've met half Chinese farmers before. The director said that he just cast the best people for the part, but it added another dimension to the play and its politics.

Also, I should add that the half Chinese dude was very, very pretty. He stripped down to his boxers during the production and I had to wipe the drool off my chin. He's a dancer and fight choreographer and the director and I both concurred that he is in fact, gorgeous (and straight). I mentioned him to several theatre friends who were at a show with me later that evening, and found that I am not the only woman to have swooned over his beauty. Anyway, I loved "Addition- an unconventional love story" and you should see it if it comes to a theatre near you. I really liked this play and would definitely go see another play written by this director.


( second and third plays )

Plays 4,5,6

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We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I've got lots of things planned.

1. Folk fest with visiting friend from August 6-9. This is my first Folk festival and I'm pumped to see my friend.

2. I'm reviewing plays for the Edmonton Fringe Festival from August 13-17. I will be seeing 11 plays in 4 days.

3. I head up to the Peace country on August 21 to attend the Grand Opening of the new Grande Prairie Public Library.

4. I travel around the Peace country visiting friends and doing stories for my job.


Somewhere in all of that, I will be turning 33.

Last night Mari and I went to go see the local production of Titus Andronicus. I don't think I've ever had a year where I saw this many Shakespeare plays before.

If you're familiar with Titus, you might not that this play is pretty much a gore-fest. It was one of Shakespeare's first hits, and it's basically his "Reservoir Dogs." It's definitely not my favourite play, but it's worth seeing for the sheer campiness. The body count is around 14.

I won't give away the whole plot, but I will relay some of the funnier moments from the night. There came a point in the evening when the audience just started laughing because the gore was so over the top, like a bad horror movie. As one woman was entering the stage after a vile attack, a happy little ice cream truck entered the park. The juxtaposition of the vile scene on stage and the ice cream truck's happy music made me laugh. I also laughed as some poor family, complete with children, left the park in horror. One poor kid, who was about 10 years old, was even covering his ears.

At one point, when someone got their hand cut off, I couldn't control myself and said loudly, "They're putting the hand in the baggie?" By this point, the cut off limbs were deliberately fake and the whole thing was just ridiculous. When one man brought in a box that was to contain severed heads,a man in the audience behind us said, "Heads up," and I couldn't stop laughing.

After intermission, we ran into someone Mari knew, so we sat on the grass with him. I don't know what was happening on that side of the stage, but people were abnormally flatulent. At one moment, a woman eating popcorn actually RAISED her butt cheek off a picnic bench in order to break wind. She let out a particularly loud and exuberant fart. The three of us looked at each other to make sure that we'd all really seen what we saw before we burst out laughing. It was seriously bizarre. After that, some guy giving his gf a back rub also broke wind a few times. I don't know what it was about that particular play, or the area where we were sitting but holy crap, people just kept on farting until the play was over.