At this time of the year, when it comes to both the weather and events going on in Edmonton it doesn't rain, but it pours. Such was last Saturday when the weather was hot and sunny, but there were two important events going on the same afternoon. The Stolen Sisters Awareness Walk took place for the third time, to bring awareness to the Aboriginal women who have gone missing in the face of apathy from authorities. Here are the photos, and this is a short video.
From the Canadian Native Friendship Centre, I hopped a taxi and headed to Churchill Square for the Pride Parade. Normally, I shoot along Jasper Avenue, but since I was late I knew the street was going to be blocked off and the parade already heading halfway to the end. So, this year I shot along the last leg of the parade before it finished. As always, I took quite a few photos. I filmed the entire parade and divided it into four parts: one, two, three, and four. One of the highlights for me was the extremely long rainbow flag carries by members of Unitarians for Social Justice.
Saturday evening was spent at a picnic in Kinsmen Park, which was a birthday party for the husband of a friend. It is a family with whom I have been spending a lot of time and building friendships. I had a wonderful time, as I always do with these people, and juggled my devil sticks with some of the kids. On a personal note, I was also very bummed when I got home. I am at an age where I am unpacking some of my issues and facing the realities of the shortcomings of my family. Spending time with people who are fun, tolerant, non-judgmental, and culturally liberal seems like the polar opposite of the people around me in my everyday life. Perhaps until now I have had very little to compare my family to, and I am witnessing a stark contrast. My goal for the next while is to spend as much time as possible with people who are affirming and functional. I am going to try to absorb as much as I can and apply it to my surroundings. End of rant!
On Sunday, I decided to take a day for myself and spent it cycling around downtown and the inner city. I clocked around 32.5 km - a record for me (as far as I know - this is the first year I have been keeping track of how much I ride). I enjoyed an iced latte from the Italian Centre, and relaxed in Giovanni Caboto Park. In many ways, I consider McCauley to be more my home neighbourhood than where I actually live!
This past week I took a short bicycle jaunt through Rundle Park. While there, I noticed a large group of teenagers canoeing in the lake and figured it was a school on a field trip. When I got home I logged into Facebook and saw a status update from someone I recently friended, who happens to be the granddaughter of a close friend (members of the family whom I was with Saturday evening). She was saying how tired she was from canoeing. I left a comment asking where she had been, and it was her class that was in Rundle! Now that is what I call a coincidence. Anyways, a lot of baby Canada Geese are in Rundle, and I also saw a red-winged blackbird - two of them in fact! I added the photos to my Biking-Hiking photoset.
Work-wise, this week was spent mostly working on getting ready for production for the two community newspapers I edit. At Boyle McCauley News, our graphic designer has left for Halifax for a few months to take a few courses. We put the paper together long-distance when she was in Europe a couple of years ago, so this should (hopefully) be no problem. I also covered an event for The SPURR called Aboriginal Health on the Park. It lasted all week and was part education, part cultural. I even ran into one of my BMC News volunteers, who was volunteering there. Here are my pictures.
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