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.

American magazines are neglecting women writers

And apparently the new editor of Harper's magazine sucks.

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Yesterday I attended a talk by David Bouchard . (Coolest Website ever). He was a fantastic speaker and really got the teachers laughing and engaged. I'm a big fan of his books, so it was a treat to get to listen to him.

One of the other fantastic things about this event was that I ended up sitting behind a really nice couple that I know from Saskatoon.They moved here in July and are now teaching in different schools in GP. (Tanya Yungwirth and James Hudeyma for those playing along at home. Tanya may have dated Ryan or Dave back in the day- I can't remember) Anyway, so I got their phone number and hope to hang out with them soon.

I also found out that Ballet BC will be coming up here in the fall, which means that I might have a chance to visit with some of my dancer friends again.

I had the brilliant idea yesterday of trying to get some of the companies from Vancouver to tour here. A woman suggested I contact some of the dance schools to see if they're interested. I might just do that.

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Last night I watched "Fast Food Nation". It was okay, but no screaming hell. I much preferred the book, but was curious to see how Erich Schlosser and Richard Linklater adapted a non-fiction book into a movie. I just found it pretty uneven, and it didn't have a good narrative arch, but it was pretty good at depicting the horror of a meat-packing plant.
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I am LOVING my novel. I love the fact that I'm constantly surprised by what happens as I write it. I start working on a scene, and then I continue onwards and am surprised by the way the story unfolds. I wish I had more time to work on it, but it's the agri-show this weekend, and I must represent the paper, while wearing the ugliest shirt in the world. I'll post a picture later. It must be seen to be believed.

Wayde Compton is a Vancouver based writer whose work I admire. I really enjoyed this story about his thoughts about race in comedy, which includes a tribute to the recently deceased CBC host, Alexis Mazurin

In the past couple of weeks, we've had some great customers come in. On the weekend, one of the staff was helping a guy find a philosophy book. A few minutes later, he came up to the counter where I was working.

Guy- "Hi, this tea is for the other girl who works here. She helped me find a book. If she doesn't want it, you can just throw it out."

Everyone working thought that was quite sweet.

In another instance, Jake had been helping a customer find a book, and they had a long, friendly discussion about C.S. Lewis. The customer ended up having buying a copy of Lewis' "Mere Christianity" and she left it at the front counter as a present for Jake.

Over Christmas, we had a visit from the Wicked Witch of the West, who attacked a sweet older woman who works in our store. Another customer was appalled by the Wicked Witch, and so she bought chocolates and a card for the bookselling victim.

You see, I had to put this on my blog to prove that there are in fact kind and gentle people in the world, and it's good to remember them on days when humankind disappoints.

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I'm also quite happy by Chapters/Indigo's reaction to the magazine scandal. A magazine called "The Western Standard" ran the offensive anti-Islamic cartoon. Chapters/Indigo decided not to carry "The Western Standard." Yesterday the media came to the store to talk to us about the decision not to carry. The store has also received angry phone calls from customers who accused us of censorship. I agree with the Chapters/Indigo decision. In my mind, this is not a censorship issue. This is a taste issue, and a compassion issue. There are some things that should not be made fun of or treated in an offensive way. These include topics such as sexual assault, and genocide. I won't go further into this issue, but I do feel very strongly about it. It's really not a censorship issue.

ETA- [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] brought up the "Mein Kampf" issue. Chapters did not sell this book at one time. However, it is now available on-line and can be ordered, even though you might not find it on the shelves in the stores. The decision NOT to sell Mein Kampf was partially made because the money from sales of the book goes to a questionable fund. (Not sure how to discuss this further, but that's what I was told.)

Two amazing women from a poetry class that I took at the University of Saskatchewan have started up a magazine for the thinking woman called Cahoots . Check it out and pick up a copy.


I also received a copy of the book co-written by one lovely Susan, aka [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]! I was so happy to get my copy of Supercrafty that I opened it at the Post Office and showed it to the Postal worker. I haven't had enough of a chance to read it yet, but I did read a few snippets and liked what I saw. I'm so happy for you!

These commercials, from the Come as You are a sex store in Toronto, was considered too racy for tv. I find them particularly amusing.