confluence, episode 8: So this is what sleep feels like

new garden

OHMYGOSHYOUGUYS I feel so good!

Honestly, this is ridiculous. Even though my move back to a day shift was interrupted by a two-day stint of hosting, simply going a week where I only had to get up at four in the morning twice feels amazing. I'm more mentally aware, I feel better physically, I'm far more productive at work and at home- it basically feels like I'm operating at a some sort of super-human level. The truth is, it's probably just normal-human levels and I've been at maybe 80% for most of the last year. Try as I might, I never managed to get a schedule going for the early morning starts, so most of the time I just didn't get enough sleep. And that leaks into pretty much everything else in your life- diet, exercise, all the things that you need to make you feel good. In fact, if you're looking for the bare minimum you need to do in order to be happy it's this:

Sleep. Go outside. Eat well.

If you are not doing those three things, do those three things and you will feel amazing. I've been on the outside of this equation for a year and know it to be true. If you're not getting enough sleep, start. Now.

What am I doing with all this energy?

Running again. That's nice. Also built this raised bed garden. Raked the yard. Spent Easter morning with family, mostly my niece who had more energy than me. Afternoon at a friend's open house/fire pit. Went to two great concerts. Lots of stuff. The weather's been good, nice to enjoy it, although this morning it's a cloudy rainy one. Which is good, because I have a raked lawn and new raised-bed garden that need watering.

Work-related stuff

Once again, some stuff to say about life at CBC. First things first, a personal announcement: starting this August I will be the producer of the show I've been working on for the past four years, Daybreak North. Our regular boss is taking some leave and I'll be filling in. All I can say is I'm grateful for all the opportunities I've found with CBC, and eager to keep on learning all I can.

pothole season

Is Prince George spending money meant for environmental projects on road rehab?

Going back to day-shift meant I was able to delve into a story that took a few days of research to work out. It's about budgets and roads and the environment and whether city money is best spent on simply maintaining the status quo or if we'd be better off investing in sustainability. You can listen to it here.

Meanwhile, other voices continue to talk about the future of the CBC, and I'm eager to listen. I don't necessarily agree with every point, but there are some I do and the perspectives are informative.

On the Canadaland podcast, two ex-CBCers ask "Why won't the CBC defend itself?" They also ask other questions and express frustrations with their own time there, and again I believe these are perspectives worth hearing. A good listen.

Another good listen is over on Broadcasting Canada, where Jeffrey Dvorkin is interviewed. Dvorkin came up with CBS in the UK, then to the CBC where he became managing editor and chief journalist, then went to the states and worked with NPR, first as a VP then as Ombudsman. He's back in Canada at UofT's journalism program and is a voice with experience and perspective worth listening to. The interview delves into a lot of areas, not least of which is the perennial question of "what should the CBC be?" He posits that it needs to decide whether it's a public broadcaster with an obligation to listeners as citizens or publicly-funded commercial broadcaster, with obligations to please as many constituent groups as possible. If you are interested in the CBC/Canada/journalism, I recommend it.

Speaking gigs

The other thing to happen this week in CBC-land was new rules on speaking gigs for CBC hosts and reporters. If you aren't familiar with the background to this I will direct you here, here, here and here.

In the interest of full disclosure, since being hired by CBC I have spoken to a group of student journalists, at an art opening, and in a debate over whether Santa Claus exists. And, yes, Santa has gifted me presents every year since I was born, but he did not invite me take part in the Santa Claus debate.

the turtle you need to get into Derek Joyce's show

Enough work stuff, music. So yeah, both those concerts were great. Friday night I got to see Goodnightmare in action for the first time, and she was fantastic. As was Black Spruce Bog, as always. This time they had a projector playing a documentary about a guy making a birch-bark canoe on loop behind them, which was an interesting watch if you ever felt the need to pay attention to something other than the band. Between their growing collection of fan favourites they threw in covers from all over the place: a few lines of Kurtis Blow's hip-hop classic "The Breaks," a rendition of Dolly Parton's "Jolene", a guest appearance from Scott Dunbar for Corin Raymond's "Ol' Fort Mac" and to cap things off for the encore, a bluegrass version of "Stayin' Alive." I also received my t-shirt as part of my contribution to their album funding project and it is a fantastic t-shirt and it will also be a fantastic vinyl album so I suggest you contribute now.



And then the next night it was Rosewood's Diary and Derek Joyce joint release. This is the first time I've seen Rosewood's with their lineup (new female vocalist) and they are tighter than ever. I like a lot of bands from around here, but I'd have to say that from a pure level of professionalism these guys are probably the most pro-sounding group working up north. Which isn't to take away from anyone else, it's just they've got a really polished sound going on. Bandcamp.

And Derek is emerging as a really strong singer-songwriter. The best way I can think of describing his songwriting right now is Bright Eyes without the narcissism and depression. Make sense?  Fortunately it doesn't have to because hey- Bandcamp! Just go listen. And another cool thing going on: Derek is blogging about his songwriting process. It's like an album sleeve where the artist explains what each song is about, but in the digital age. derekthejoyce.blogspot.com.

And finally, congratulations to Twin Peaks of Fort St John for being the regional winners in CBC's Searchlight contest. They are now competing to be one of the final ten- vote for them here.

My jams

Aside from the artists above and a whole lotta Prince, here's some of what I'm listening to this week:

James Bay - Let It Go | Jack White - High Ball Stepper | Mazde - Our Chances

Lots of other stuff, too, actually. Thinking it might be time for a mixtape.

Coming up

• Mario Party tournament tomorrow
• Miss Quincy at Nancy O's this Tuesday
• The Copper Big will be serving mint juleps for the Kentucky Derby on May 3
• room for about five speakers left in PechaKucha 2
• Prince George Gentlemen's Croquet Club (ladies welcome, too)

Links of interest:

The bandwagon-jumper's guide to the Toronto Raptors

This has been some good basketball. Jump on.

No, you're not entitled to your opinion

"The problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing to argue is somehow disrespectful. And this attitude feeds, I suggest, into the false equivalence between experts and non-experts that is an increasingly pernicious feature of our public discourse."

How did Canada's middle class get so rich?

A triumph and a warning: Canada has passed America to have the richest middle-class in the world. But there is some indication we are sitting exactly where the Americans were just before their economy collapsed.

The steps of hiring a temporary foreign worker

"What are the steps involved in hiring a temporary foreign worker? Click through our interactive to find out."

Facebook's friend problem

"When people say, 'I hate Facebook,' what I think they’re really saying is, 'I wish my real friends would post more stuff so my feed wasn’t full of randos.'"

Some species of birds are more intelligent than five-year-old kids

Crows remain awesome.

An argument for a digital first CBC

"Right now, CBC treats its website as if it were an industrial by-product of the broadcast networks, like a slaughterhouse that sells off the bones for fertilizer and the hooves for glue. It’s an afterthought."

The Friend Zone

"I know I must sound like every guy ever when I say this, but seriously: WHY IS THE FRIEND ZONE SO HARD TO GET INTO?"

"There is a a new master of disguise- and it's a plant"

Meet the chameleon vine.

Is it time for a dress-code for parents?

Less about a dress code for parents and more a full-on discussion on manners, how we present ourselves, and the subtle ways we communicate who we are to the world.

The Prince George Cougars have been (almost) sold and they are taking Andy Beesley with them

"Beesley and Pocock have a long history of collaborative hockey efforts, dating back to the 2006-07 season with the Farr Fabricating bantam team, when Pocock was the head coach and Beesley was the team manager."

Some thoughts on the Cougars and whether they should even be in Prince George

"The Cougars are the most remote team in the entire Canadian Hockey League and the travel time alone makes Prince George a poor choice on paper to locate a WHL team. Having a team here would the NHL equivalent of locating a team in Honolulu."

My husband's stupid record collection

"Where I listen to my husband's record collection, one record at a time, and tell you what I think."

Victoria considers the toughest smoking bylaw in Canada

Earlier this week I was joking that the future of tobacco and marijuana was neighbourhood smoke pits for adults. Meanwhile, in Victoria....

Raising a moral child

How do you raise a moral child? Ff they do bad, tell them their actions are bad. If they do good, tell them they are good. Fascinating research.

A better axe

A Finnish inventor says he's found a way not only to make axes more efficient, but safer, too. By the way, he's going to be on Daybreak this Monday at 6:45.

Ben Heppner retires

He went to school in Dawson Creek around the same time as my parents, so it's weird that one of the most famous opera singers of our time is only a couple degrees of separation away from me. Then again, he works for CBC now, so I there's another connection. Also on Daybreak this week (Wednesday, I believe).

My fight to end gendered happy meal toys

Some people might not think this is a big deal, but I'd argue it is. Well done.

Fingersnapping Super Mario

'Nuff said.


Vine of the week:



Protip: play fetch over a hill to tire out your dog sooner


Hope you're having a great spring,

Andrew

confluence, episode 7: parking lots, suburbs, and happy cities

The long weekend is (nearly) here. Last weekend we got a start on prepping our yard for the summer, which included an hour plus of cleaning up after those two dogs in the picture up there. It also involved repairing our cat jail from the weight of winter, but it was a pretty minimal task: just going around and angling it upwards again. If you're looking for a way to keep cats in your yard, this seems to be effective.

I get why people don't want pets wandering around, but with the right group of people it can certainly help create a bit more of bond between strangers. When I was growing up, the neighbours across the street from us had a dog who could leap over their fence in a single bound. She only did this so she could go for walks with us, and eventually she became a joint dog with both families caring for her.

More recently, my parents have had a neighbourhood cat decide it lives with them part-time. They are not sure where it comes from, but it is definitely cared for- it just apparently likes to come over in the morning and get some extra pets. Eventually they'll find out where it lives, and that will be how the ice is broken between them.

There are so many people I only know in the context of the dogs I see them walking in local parks, to the point that if we see each other say, grocery shopping, we identify each other by our dogs names. But it turns out these low-level bonds are an important part of creating happy cities. Who says? Charles Montgomery, the author of Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design. I heard him on this episode of Tapestry a few weeks ago, and immediately put his book on my reading list.

At one point in the interview, he talks about what happened to him when he started walking around more and bumping into neighbours:

"Not having deep conversations, just 'hello, how are you?' It turns out these superficial conversations are really good for well-being. They're much easier than the conversations we have with fellow employees and family sometimes."

He goes much deeper into this concept in the book, but anecdotally I've definitely found it to be true. Stopping for a chat with someone while I bike, having brief conversations with the panhandlers near where I work, and knowing my neighbours in the contexts of their dogs have all added to a sense of connection and belonging in the spaces I spend my time.

See also: Streets as Places: How Transportation can Create a Sense of Community

How do we design our cities to thrive? This is where my enthusiasm for city council meetings come from. At the most recent one, there was a debate over a eighteen-space parking lot. Seems straightforward, in a way: it's beside the Elder Citizen's Senior Association recreation centre, it's an empty lot, and they want more space because their elderly members currently need to park on the street and walk a few blocks to get to events.

But the people who will suddenly have a parking lot beside them weren't so happy. "Would any of you like to have a parking lot put up in your neighbourhood, two doors down from your nice character home?" one asked. Council felt the benefits to the seniors outweigh the costs to the rest of the neighbourhood (coun. Frizzell pointed out that most people live near a schools or some sort of parking lot, and it's not likely you'll escape the noise of snow clearers anywhere). They are selling a portion of the lot to the immediate neighbours to create more of a buffer, and going forward with the additional parking.

In another request, a developer is hoping to subdivide a large lot in Blackburn into 84 smaller lots. The recommendation from staff is to deny the plan for a number of reasons, among them the belief that adding a new suburb in a rural neighbourhood would add sprawl to the city and goes against the stated goals of previous city visioning projects. There's been a focus more recently on trying to get people to live towards the city core. Blackburn has no bus service at the moment. So is it wise to create 84 more homes out there? Council didn't make a final decision, but will be considering the project. A number of councillors pointed out that people like the lifestyle associated with being out of the main part of the city. Perhaps because if you live near downtown, you may suddenly find yourself living beside a parking lot.

A little less greenspace, but lots of volunteers

Also at council was the proposal to brand Prince George "The Volunteer City." Comparing it to Edmonton's "City of Champions" and Kamloops as "Canada's Tournament Capital", members endorsed the idea, sending it to the city's communications department for some final tweaking.

And there was an update on the Civic Plaza upgrade. The original plan included enhanced entrances, a stage, and more greenspace, but with less funding than previously expected the stage and entrance are gone and the greenspace scaled back.

Bad cities, or bad numbers?

Last week, I wrote about an Initiatives Prince George study commissioned to get Canadians perceptions of Prince George. In the Prince George Citizen the day following, editor Neil Godbout points out a number of flaws in the methodology:

"Even if the question hadn't been so off-base, the conclusion reached by the pollsters is nonsense. They state that 58% of the respondents believe that Prince George is unsafe and high in crime but that's not what the results state at all. The responses state more about where the respondents live than about their perception of Prince George. In other words, 58 per cent of the respondents feel that their community is safer and lower in crime than Prince George. That doesn't mean they think Prince George is unsafe and high in crime, only that it's less safe and has more crime than where they live."

There's more, which you can read online.

More about CBC:

A couple more articles on the CBC cuts since last week. One works for CBC and wants to see it thrive, the other has said he believes the funding should stop, but both agree that the netherland of funding it's currently in is not the best situation:

• Why the CBC can't go on drifting and declining, but probably will for years to come
• CBC: Life support, or the killing room floor?

Bad to worse in Fort St John

Last week, we heard that a walk-in clinic in Fort St John is shutting down because the doctors there didn't have enough time to see their own patients. We interviewed Health Minister Terry Lake about the issue and he said the province is working on it, while acknowledging it's a problem. Then the problem got worse: a few hours later, news that five more doctors are leaving the community. 

Katie Maximick is among those who is losing her doctor. Engaged and ready to start a family, she's questioning whether she has a future in Fort St John. She also says there's a sense in the community that Northern Health isn't doing enough to address the problem, and she's also heard some people who are feeling betrayed by the doctors who are leaving.

"Which isn't fair, I understand that the doctors are extremely overworked... but at the same time, if you know that the community is in a huge crisis, why are eight of you walking out at the same time? That's what people are saying. Why are you leaving us when you know this is what we're going through, what about us?"

This theme can be found throughout the booms of northern B.C. (just look at the series on housing in northwest B.C. we recently did). Next week, BC Healthy Communities are running a webinar called "Too Much of a Good Thing? Social Impacts of Rapid Industrial Growth in Rural Communities" focused on the north, and I'm hoping to book interviews with a number of the speakers taking part for the show.

Community Notes:

It's a big music weekend. On Thursday night Joey Only, outlaw folk musician and resident of Wells, turns 35 and is celebrating with a $10 show at Nancy-O's. He's been rocking these woods for about as long as I can remember and if you haven't seen him you are missing a cornerstone of northern B.C.'s cultural scene.

If you can't make it to that one, there's an alternative choice over at the Westwood pub showcasing some local acts. And you may as well get used to the Westwood because Friday night it is the place to be as Black Spruce Bog, Sober Becky, and Goodnightmare take to the stage, though I honestly don't know if any tickets are left. And by the way, I warned you about this being sold out two weeks ago so you have no one to blame but yourself.

Somehow it does not end there because Saturday is a joint album release between Vanderhoof's Rosewood's Diary and Derek Joyce. I've heard preview tracks from both albums, they are fantastic, and I've seen each play live before and highly recommend it. Derek will be playing with a full band, which is something I've never seen but look forward to. That's at the ArtSpace.

And if that's not enough, Shiraz is hosting a classical jazz trio on Saturday. Dinner with ambience.

• Pecha Kucha Prince George is still looking for people to present on the subject of food. Gardeners, cooks, people who like eating- give it a shot, it's great fun. Details on the website.

• Bike to Work week is gearing up. Get ready.

• And I'm intrigued by this book launch from Rob Budde in early May. A sense of place is obviously an area of my interest.

Interlude

Smudge goes to the beach:

Another note this week: I discovered someone had thrown three kitchen sink plugs in our garbage can, and I was interested in trying to figure out the back story of someone who had three kitchen sink plugs and decided to walk into someone else's driveway to dispose of them. Unfortunately, I found out the truth and it was very disappointing.

I also discovered a cool furniture store in Prince George's industrial section I had no idea existed, but will be my first stop next time we're looking.

And I'm not sure when it happened, but I think Wiretap has become my favourite radio program. It's just so amazing that it exists at all. Case in point: this episode on Re:birth, a theme appropriate for the Easter weekend.

Links of Interest:

• Jeff Eaton on the importance of watching the squirrels (or basically, not working once in a while) 
• A couple of things to consider about how you live your life: should you live for your resume or your eulogy? and the crossroads of "should" and "must" 
• The jokes about Prince George write themselves, but have you explored your local smellscape?
• Prince George Citizen editor Neil Godbout on the need for a culture of safety in B.C.'s resource industry
• what legal pot in the U.S. means for B.C. drug gangs
• Drake is turning the Toronto Raptors into outsiders, and that's a good thing
• steal your tools 
• The Official Moose Facts Website
• Need to get your employees to respect you? Establish dominance over a grizzly bear
• what bananas, the Heartbleed bug, and major car recalls have in common (the dangers of monoculture)
• why computers can beat humans at chess, but have a harder time winning the Chinese game of "Go"
• if you need a smile, watch two elderly ladies fly for the first time
• former Prince George mayor Dan Rogers is headed to Vernon
• are beards sexy? Only when they're uncommon

As always, thanks for subscribing and if you have anything to say just hit "reply."

- Andrew

confluence, episode 6: the disgruntled northerner, Linux, and what's next for the CBC and me

It's been a week. The most significant thing for me on a personal level is that I'm no longer hosting Daybreak North. This isn't unexpected, it was always supposed to be a temporary gig, but what is unexpected is the feeling of saying goodbye I have a result. I always knew that audiences grow attached to their favourite radio hosts, what I didn't know is as a host you grow attached to the audience. I wrote about it here.


I do still have a job- the job I was actually hired to do, which is associate producer on Daybreak meaning I'll have more time to research stories, produce tape and hopefully put together another series. Unfortunately, that isn't the case for all of my colleagues as the equivalent of 657 positions are being cut from the CBC as a whole. This has prompted another round of "whither the CBC?" think-pieces, and there are a number of points I'm pondering:

"CBC matters most in the small places, the ones many Canadians will never visit. It is a window on the outside world for those who live there. And a way of drawing back the curtain for those who don’t, so they can peer inside. I like to think of this window metaphor in the evening, because that’s when the light is right and you can catch a  glimpse of yourself, as you look at what’s on the other side." 

- Jody Porter, CBC Journalist and William Southam Journalism Fellow

"We can't keep trying to do everything we're doing a little bit lousier."

- Heather Conway, VP of English Radio and TV for CBC on the Current

"Public sidewalks cannot be turned over to the free markets... there are certain things that we agree are a public good."  

- Jesse Brown, former CBC-er and host of the podcast Canadaland being interviewed on Sun TV

"Look, if you don't believe in public broadcasting, that's a perfectly legitimate view. But if you do believe in public broadcasting, then maybe it's time to assert yourselves, Canada."

 - Jian Ghomeshi's opening essay on Q

See also: "How should we remake the CBC? Cultural minds weigh in" (I'm particularly interested in the question of what the CBC would look like if it were created today), Former BBC head in defence of public broadcasting, and "CBC still needs radical surgery to survive."

This is also as good a time as any to point you towards Broadcasting Canada, a fascinating series of interviews with CBC journalists and personalities about their relationship with the CBC, its past and its future.

And finally, from Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a chart of funding cuts to CBC from Mulroney onwards:

Audio Production

On the fun side of radio, I finished producing a story I'd been meaning to get around to for a while. Today, Chris Gaskin is a comedian touring across North America- but once upon a time he was just a struggling stand-up in Prince George who had an unlikely day at the fair...

I Heart PG Moment of the Week

Just before winter, I was riding my bike to work when I saw a mother deer and three fawns running alongside me. Then this week while carpooling in, my passenger noticed three deer on the side of the road- same spot I saw them in the fall. Then the fourth came across the road. Glad to see they all made it through the winter, in the middle of the city.

Speaking of biking to work...

I just got my winter tires off, and a full set of repairs, and ordered upgraded shocks. Total cost: about the equivalent of four tanks of gas, and that will last me the rest of the year. Biking is cheap and if you're considering taking it up this year the PG Cycling Club is hosting the 6th Annual Bike & Bottle Drive on Sunday. Aside from the price, why else should you consider biking? Because doctors are now prescribing bikes for your health, and Olympic medalist Denny Morrison says it's a good idea, too.

Speaking of Denny Morrison... (and fluoride, and fast food, and...)

I interviewed him this week, as well as columnist Peter Ewart on why he fears a monopoly on B.C. forests in hurting the industry, Northern Health on why fluoride should stay in Prince George tap water, my colleague George Baker on why there aren't more fast food restaurants in Prince Rupert, a UNBC researcher on why wind farms are safe for birds, and a retired train engineer on the 100th anniversary of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway (and he really made me want to take a train trip).

A lack of professionals

"I like how quickly you've become a disgruntled northerner," I said to someone who recently moved here from Vancouver, surprised at the lack of certain resources and support given to the upper half of the province. The theme of the week was the lack of professionals in northern B.C. In Fort St John, a walk-in clinic is shutting down because as the population grows, the number of doctors is shrinking, and in most of the north it's next to impossible to get a physiotherapist because they aren't being trained here (neither are engineers). It's enough to make you ask why more more money isn't being invested in training professionals here, which I did.

Prince George: Never heard of it, or don't like it

Coincidentally, Initiatives Prince George released a study this week outlining the most hard-to-find professionals in Prince George (doctors, engineers, and university professors among them), as well as people's perceptions of the city across the country (most don't know it, those who do have negative impressions). As part of an effort to counter that negative perception, there is a proposal at Monday night's council meeting to brand Prince George "The Volunteer City." At 62%, Prince George actually has the most volunteers per capita in the province- but I'm curious if that number would convince anyone to move here.

Vine interlude

Glitch finds a new way of escaping the confines of our upstairs:

The Antidote to Antipathy

Through a mutual friend, I connected with community organizer Dave Meslin this week for an afternoon coffee at Books and Company. Meslin was in town speaking to local government workers about how to better communicate with the public, an expanded version of my all-time favourite TED talk. Any chance I have to get someone to watch it I'll take, so go watch it.

Community Notes:

• the Community Arts Council launched artmap.ca to provide a complete guide to arts group sin the region

• Seven northern B.C. musicians made it to the CBC Searchlight regional semi-finals. Go vote for Black Spruce Bog, King Crow and the Ladies from Hell,  Red 7, the Caley Watts Band, the Magician, Twin Peaks, and William Kuklis. Also read this article in the Prince George Citizen that uses my Facebook page as a primary source. 

• Holy cow, could rapid transit actually be coming to Prince George?

• King Crow and the Ladies from Hell coming to Prince George June 7. Great group out of Terrace.

• Would you go to a steampunk murder mystery in Barkerville?

My jams:

Horses and Bayonets cover Justin Timberlake and it's surprisingly good, Viceroy remixes Nelly and it's really surprisingly good, and Lorde jams with Nirvana and no one is surprised it's good. 

Reading list:

"Frankly, I don’t see much difference between firing someone for wearing a hijab or hounding them from their job because they oppose gay marriage". The perfect song length is two minutes and forty-two seconds. Windows XP is dead, time to switch to Linux Mint. Also, it's time to change all your passwords (including those at UNBC). Archie Andrews (yes, that Archie Andrews) is going to die. Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary are the most adaptive cities on the planet. In Holland, all the newspapers have a paywall: the same paywall. When choosing a major, it's best to choose something you're interested in. Billy Bragg on music streaming: "who among us didn't start out doing gigs for free in order to build an audience?" "Great creative work isn’t about what you dream of making; it’s found in what you actually make happen." If divorce rates are rising, why are we still having affairs? Because we like our spouses, just not ourselves. The deathless song of the summer debate . Good News For People Who Like Bad News turns ten. Why don't we care about Vimy Ridge? The Pixies were an imaginary band. Jim Flaherty's example. The plastic that popularized canoeing is running out.

And finally:

• Prince George MLA Mike Morris performs with Chris Hadfield- who has the better moustache?

• T-Rex on funding the arts

• Reinterpreting Comic Sans

• The Internet of Newsletters

• A better embedder (for those of us who like CBC but don't live in 2007)

• Check it out: you can see a narwhal skeleton at the Exploration Place right now:

And that's it for this time. If you liked this newsletter, maybe pass it along to someone else you think might be interested? And if you have any comments, feel free to hit "reply" to share them. Finally, as a way of future-proofing and making the archives of this thing more browsable, I've gone all retro and started cross-posting on Blogger. So if you want to easily find things, maybe go there.

- Andrew

confluence, episode 5: downtown developments, goodbye, and Chris Hadfield

I'm writing this on Sunday evening, April 6. It seems like winter may actually be ending- we've had a couple days of rain and a day of sunshine and I've spent the day spring cleaning- sweeping and dusting and scrubbing an unused room in the hopes of turning it into an office. We'll see. I have many ambitions for projects around the house, some get done and some don't. But we're closer to this one, now.

My Week:

•  We had to say goodbye to one of our pets this week, and I wrote a piece on loss I've been ruminating on for a while. I am once again amazed at the reception it's received, including personal messages saying it's helped others with their on losses. Read it here.

• I interviewed Chris Hadfield, which you can listen to here and read more about at the bottom of this letter.

• I also spoke to the interim president of UNBC about a $400,000 reduction in the university's budget. I was interested to learn that one of the major losses has been from less students coming north than in previous years. The discussion on the value of university degrees in an era when there is so much focus on trades also came up. Read/listen here.

• CFUR Radio is creating a northern B.C. Audio Archives, and every once in a while we check in with Karl Domes (one of the project leaders) about what he's unearthed. This week he had a fantastic piece of ghost town vinyl- you can hear a selection from it at the end of our interview.

• The city of Prince George is spending a record $9.8 million on road repair, so I decided to Google some other things that cost $9.8 million. Among them: the Ontario Soccer Association, the Prime Minister's security detail in 2007/08, and the expansion of the Dollar Shave Club to Canada. Full list.

Downtown Developments:

I have never seen so many major changes happening in downtown Prince George as I am now. All winter, just down the street from where I work, construction crews were building the first phase of a new Delta Hotel in downtown Prince George. Now the foundation is done, work has stopped because of an undisclosed development. All the realtor will say is "it's really, really cool" and that it has something to do with an adjacent property. It's between the Prince George Public Library, which has plans for a new entrance, "knowledge garden" and facelift, and the soon-to-be vacated RCMP building which is slated to be used by the 2015 Canada Winter Games next year, with no plans announced beyond that. Meanwhile, the city just received $350,000 to upgrade the Civic Centre is getting to include more greenspace, and the still-being-built Wood Innovation and Design Centre was featured in the Economist. One thing's for sure: Prince George 2016 will be noticeably different from Prince George 2014. 


Things I'm thinking about:

• Profanity. Earlier this year, I had a bit of a dilemma when producing a radio piece that dealt explicitly with the use of racially-charged language by city council in Prince George back in the 1920s. Ultimately, I decided not to say the word but not before a lot of back-and-forth. So I've been interested to see the past week unfold with lots of think-pieces on profanity. Matt Gemmell says, "Swearing isn't bad language. Swearing is essential language." And he uses it to demonstrate his point. In the New York Times Jesse Sheidlower writes, "It's time to print exactly what we mean," and talks about the differences between North American media and Europe when it comes to offensive terminology on Q  where we also hear from an editor who defends being "coy" about bad language. Finally, Michael Enright recalls two generations of Trudeaus presenting the media a problem by dropping "F-bombs."

• Clickbait. I am among those who gets frustrated about the Buzzfeed/Upworthy/ViralNova formulas for writing headlines ("Ten Things That Will Make You Angry About Headlines" "At First I Thought This Article Would Be OK. What I Saw Next Blew My Mind.") But as someone who writes things for the internet, I am interested in writing headlines that get clicks. And maybe that's OK. In this piece, Tim Marchman argues that calling something clinkbait is akin to telling someone "You published something, and want people to read it, too."

• Taxes. In Quesnel, city council used a $582,942 budget surplus to reduce taxes by 0.5%. In the comments on this story, a number of people lament that this isn't happening in Prince George, but one suggests the city would be better served by using the money to create some form of public project. It reminds me of an article I read recently in the Walrus called "Happy Returns", in which Timothy Taylor argues that our obsession with cutting taxes is a failure to see ourselves as part of a society working for public good, rather than just a group of individuals looking to make a buck.

• Unpaid Internships. Speaking of the Walrus, they just got in trouble for using unpaid interns. One of the magazine's (now departed) co-founders agrees with the move, asking "If half your staff is unpaid, what kind of office is that?" Meanwhile, one of those unpaid interns writes in defence of unpaid internships, clarifying, "I'm not an idiot."

• Volunteers. Speaking of the public good, the Elks Parade in Prince George has been cancelled for 2014. Neil Godbout writes that the decline of interest in service clubs indicates, in his view, is a decline in people's interest to volunteer for anything that doesn't benefit them directly. "In other words, the volunteering is more personal or more selfish, depending on your standpoint." 
  
  A counterpoint, from a friend of mine on Facebook: "It's true that I am not a Rotarian or an Elk, but I volunteer and am vested in our community, I know of the parks and facilities these service clubs have given us. Volunteering with service clubs may be down, but rather than an accusation of selfish and self interested volunteerism, what if we have a conversation about what these service clubs can do to appeal to a generation and a community of volunteers."
  
  The impact of the Rotarians and the Elks and the like on our community is easy to find on park benches, soccer clubs, water parks, and more. I'm curious what will replace them if they go away, and I'm interested in what that conversation would look like. Given their role, it's probably an important one to have. 

Finally, can I please recommend you read the blogs of Dezene Huber and Tariq Piracha? They have nothing in common, really, except they are insightful writers who make me interested in their topics even when they are topics I wouldn't normally be interested in.

Coming Up:

• If you are considering riding a bike this summer (if you are not, I am preparing a few reasons why you should), there is a Bike Swap this coming Saturday. Good prices, and a chance to learn a bit more about bike maintenance, as well.
• I warned you: there are apparently just a few tickets left for the Black Spruce Bog show at the Westwood on April 18. Grab them fast.
• Also, the Derek Joyce/Rosewood's Diary joint album release is April 19.
• Earlier this year, I took part in Prince George's first PechaKucha night. PechaKucha is simple: you get 20 slides, each of which lasts for 20 seconds. It was a good challenge, and I'm glad I did it even though I completely messed up my timing. The second night has been set for May 13 at the Twisted Cork with the theme of "Food for Thought." I hope you'll consider taking part- you can learn more here.
• Jeremy Stewart is a musician/poet/author who has done much to build the arts scene in this community. He recently left his steady paycheque to pursue other projects, among them putting together Casse-Téte Volume 2. The event will be from June 13-15, and I hear rumours a piano will be smashed. Add it to your calendar here.

Chris Hadfield:

When I was six years old I wanted to be an astronaut. I'm not really sure why, since it doesn't match with my personality, and by the time I was in grade one I'd already moved on to wanting to be a writer or cartoonist. So I'm among the many people who are interested in what motivates Chris Hadfield, the world's most famous astronaut. When I found out he was coming to Prince George I immediately emailed his people to book him as a guest on Daybreak, and this week I was lucky enough to have a ten-minute conversation with him about fame, Russia, why bungee jumping isn't worth the risk, and what dead pine trees in northern British Columbia look like from outer space. You can listen to the full thing here. The bungee jumping thing in particular interests me, because it seems Hadfield looks at risks in a similar way to me: I always ask "if I were to die doing this, would it be worthwhile?" The difference between Hadfield and I is that he thinks going to space is a worthwhile risk, I don't think I do. But I am fascinated by the perspectives he brings back.

I was also among those who lined up the next day to see him in person at the Exploration Place. The event started at 11:30, I was there at 11:33 and was number 253 in the line. Apparently some people had actually been there at 7, even though the museum doesn't open until 9. It was a real cross-section of people: moms with kids, university-aged people, middle agers, retirees. As the director of the museum exclaimed "All these people for a scientist!" Best parts: the mom who told her kid "You better remember this when I'm a little old lady", the guy who brought his guitar and was given a "space pick", the point when time was up and Hadfield announced he would start moving through the line at maximum speed in order to accommodate everyone, and the awesome scarf worn by his son. Anyway, here's a picture of me with him because it exists:

More links you may enjoy:

Dawson Creek Planning Name Change

Be sure to check the date this was published. I had this idea a couple years ago, glad to see it well-executed. 

Pay Higher Wages, Earn More Profit 

"Ms. Ton cites one study of a 500-store retailer that found every additional $1 spent on employee salareies resulted in an increase of anywhere from $4 to $28 in sales."

"Political Views"

"A hundred years ago, saying that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote was a “political view”. Now, that would be a ridiculous and highly offensive opinion regardless of what any religion or political party said on the topic. Most discriminating “political views” of this sort eventually become widely recognized as unacceptable, barbaric bigotry with no place in civilized society — it’s just a matter of time."

Kill 'Em All

"If you could wipe mosquitoes off the face of the planet, would you?"

The Best Can Opener

We own two. Completely agree.

This is A Generic Brand Video

Yes, it is.

"Man Clearly Gamed 'Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Are You?' Quiz to Get Raphael 

Hate that. Also: A Definitive Ranking of Every Incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Guess Who: Canada's First Supergroup 

I've never really listened to early early Guess Who. Good stuff.

Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves

Awesome.

Why the News Is Slowly Killing You

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed."

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

"Which contemporary artists, if their careers ended today, would definitely get into the Rock Hall? Which artists need a little help? Who is going to  get snubbed?"

Comic Sans Project

We are the Comic Sans Defenders. We fear no font and will make the whole world Comic Sans.

The 2013 Twitter Glossary

If you don't know what "Hatread," "Doge", and "Scoop, If True" mean, this is an essential guide to the lexicon of our times.

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