confluence, episode 31: harvest

yes, those are grapes– about half of what we grew

Hello and happy Sunday! I’m spending the day enjoying the fall weather– getting the garden stuff done, mowing the lawn one last time, hanging the canoe.

At work I’m primarily in election mode — I started this week with a preview of the race for mayor in Prince George on Monday, and I’m producing an all-candidates forum Tuesday night (Sept 25) at the public library. You can find details here.

I am told the Kool Aid man plans to withdraw from the mayoral races in both Kitimat and Terrace tomorrow. #bcmuni pic.twitter.com/xm6hAgsorr
— Andrew Kurjata (@akurjata) September 17, 2018

I also did some reporting on the spike in homelessness being seen in Prince George and, sadly, another woman lost along Highway 16.

On my blog, I wrote about the joys of walking— and by way of illustration here is a thing that brought me great joy while out for one my exploratory walks downtown.

Dominion

There’s a job opportunity I’d like to draw your attention to — a digital producer position with CBC. It’s based out of Kelowna, but would be focused on the entirety of the interior and northern part of the province. Join B.C. Beyond Hope.

Musically this week I’ve been listening to the songs of Lee Hazlewood, who I just discovered as an amazing blend of country, pop and big band from the 60s. Aside from his own weird career, he wrote tracks for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and, most famously Nancy Sinatra (including “These Boots Are Made For Wakling.” There’s a playlist I made here and and older article about him here. I’ve also been playing more Otis Redding, the beautiful 2018 Polaris Prize-winning album from Wolastoq First Nation opera singer Jeremy Dutcher and, for his birthday, Leonard Cohen.

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Some other things worth sharing:

Controversial TV show sparks debate about changing racist attitudes toward Indigenous people

“In the series First Contact, which airs on APTN, six white participants travel across Canada and openly air their thoughts about Indigenous people, whom participants describe as “lazy,” “alcoholics,” “welfare cheats,” and “hopeless” among many other negative stereotypes.

They are then introduced to Indigenous people who share stories about their lives, history and realities in hopes to educate.

When I first saw the concept for this one, I thought it seemed really interesting, but I’ve re-evaluated that some in light of the criticisms I saw from people I respect and follow on Twitter and whose sentiments are captured in this piece by Angela Sterritt.

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Ellie Kemper (The Office, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) on the ways in which actors are tougher than babies.

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Movie news! Filming is beginning for Monkey Beach — based on a book by northwest writer Eden Robinson, starring Prince George-raised actor Grace Dove. We had a great interview with Dove on the show a while back about Indigenous representation in Hollywood and I look forward to seeing this.

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Also I am unreasonably intrigued at the news that Lebron James has tapped Black Panther director Ryan Coogler for the sequel? remake? of Space Jam.

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Raccoons bust into Toronto woman’s home, stare her down while defiantly eating her bread

We don’t have raccoons here* and it’s probably good but there’s also a part of me that wishes we did.

* Some interlopers, but there doesn’t seem to be any permanent population.

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This has become my new most popular tweet. The show, though, is actually pretty good and about some interesting issues which you can read about here or listen to here.

Finally…