Category Women
A Skateboarding History: womxnsk8history
Growing up to become a librarian seemed like a natural path considering that I was a weird kid, always doing random side-projects at home, researching Ancient China, Horse breeds, Glass-blowing, whatever captured my imagination. And I still need this outlet! Lately, I’ve merged my love of skateboarding with my nerdy-side and gone public with my […]
Skateboard Predictions: 2021 Olympic Rulers – Ladies Street Event
If this was a normal world we would have been enjoying the fantastic talent of Olympic skateboarding and celebrating the wrap up of the Tokyo Games. Alas, everything has been upheaved, so I will continue to reminisce about the awesome skateboarding results of 2019. In my previous post, predicting the winners for the *women’s Olympic […]
Skateboard Predictions: 2021 Olympic Rulers – Ladies Park event
Note: COVID-19 Coronavirus has resulted in the postponement of the Olympics This past summer I stepped up my game by following the footage and results of skateboard contests around the world. I have every reason to believe that Olympic spectators and skateboarders themselves are going to be blown away next summer when the girls and […]
Sheila Heti’s Motherhood: a reflection
Years ago I was talking to Rick McCrank, asking him what some of his favourite books were. He mentioned Sheila Heti and her book, Ticknor (which was really surprising since she was so new on the scene) and Candide by Voltaire. McCrank, whom some may know as a Canadian pro skateboarding prodigy and others as the […]
City vs. Country: the wisdom of Helen Keller
I decided to read Helen Keller’s biography The Story of My Life after being in a bit of a reading funk and stumbling upon the title randomly on the shelves of my rental home. I wanted to read about someone overcoming adversity with hope and perseverance, and who better than Helen Keller herself? It was all […]
A Day in the Life – 1930s Librarians
Today I was asked to provide a “day in the life” of being the Branch Head librarian at the Carnegie for a library journal. There are certain stereotypes of the librarian’s role that many still harbor, but in an urban library today I’m sure most would be surprised. For example, roving the library to make […]
True Grit is Female: Respect for Elspeth Beard
I just watched the movie, True Grit (2010) and noticed how the promotional poster highlights the names, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. This really bothered me, especially the highlighting of Brolin who plays a bit part, considering that the film is truly about the young teenager, Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) who perseveres to […]
Spirit of Dorothy Day
I’m reading a book called Dorothy Day: the World will be Saved by Beauty (an intimate portrait of my grandmother (2017) by Kate Hennessy. It gives a pretty gritty perspective of the highs and lows of the Catholic Worker movement in New York during the 1930s and onward, and the struggles that happened in particular between […]
Motocrossed
Last weekend I went out to the Pemberton Speedway, where there are motocross and dirt-track race courses to cheer on my friend Emily Beach as she returned to the flat-track racing scene. I had intended to blast up there on my 1985 XR600, and was hoping that after a carb clean and valve adjustment it would be […]
Dream weaver
I don’t know what it is about Fridays. I came home from work late yesterday, choked up, and without my cherished hand-woven socks. Scott knows the full story, but essentially I had my heart broken after spending time with a young woman at the library. Aboriginal, alone, from Manitoba, possibly pregnant, and a painful experience […]
Gasoline Gypsy 