Some artists not only create inspiring work, they engage us in their creation. The artist of Daily tous les jours involve the public in acts of wizardry. Here’s how they describe it: We research new ways to interact and tell…
I’ve always thought of the cello as a mellow, classical instrument. When Kentucky-born Ben Sollee pulls his cello toward his body and begins to pick, strum, stroke and sing, I have to completely re-assess my narrow view. Watch his video…
To honour soldiers who have experienced war, I want to share this piece, originally published on Catching Courage. The old man was one seat away from me in the Williams Lake, British Columbia, airport. At his side was a battered…
“We all deserve to have fun, live large, and be ridiculed by less imaginative people existing under the erroneous assumption they get extra credit for being prudent and safe.” Patti Digh, Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up,…
They are two quiet young people with extraordinary talent. Fortunately, their singing teacher thought they would sound good together. They did, good enough they decided to audition for Britain’s Got Talent. When they walked onstage to compete in the sixth…
When the Prince George, British Columbia, Public Library and the Community Arts Council decided to raise funds with a Literacy Art Calendar, they chose unusual canvases: human beings willing to have their faces (and some torsos) painted by local artists.…
At the same time I started this blog, Gary Doi started A Hopeful Sign. Gary is a retired educator and school superintendent who lives in Penticton, an hour’s drive south of me. We had never met. Neither of us was…
Classical music – the western European version – was always on the music stands in my school orchestra days. I loved playing it and came to think of the violin as an instrument that called up the past. Years later…
If they hadn’t wrapped the trees with knitting and dangled crocheted doodads from the branches, I might have gone on blissfully unaware of a wonderful program happening right in my hometown of Kelowna, British Columbia. The yarn bombing came from…
With no training in early childhood education and no experience with small children, I was ill equipped to become librarian for a school full of children in kindergarten through third grade. After years of working with older students, I knew…
