Sometimes inspiring reasons for hope are right under my nose, and I keep looking over the top of them at things farther away. One of those is the Best Western Plus Hotel & Suites on the highway through Kelowna. During…
Arts
#652 Pilobolus tests the boundaries of dance
Pilobolus Dance Theatre has been wowing audiences since 1971. I remember seeing them years ago but had lost track of the company after moving to rural British Columbia. Thanks to a friend’s sending me the link to one of their…
Connecting, Education, Environment, Food, Health, Taking action
#651 Incredible Edible world
Signs like this are popping up around France: “Nourriture à partager. Servez-vous librement, c’est gratuit!” My French is rusty, but I recognize this generous sentiment: “Food to share. Help yourself. It’s free!” The idea behind Les incroyables comestibles had its…
Education, Obstacles, Politics, Taking action
#650 Indian village plants trees when a girl is born
One village in India not only welcomes girl babies. It plants trees and starts a fund for each of them. The village of Piplantri is in Rajasthan, in northwestern India, a state where women’s lives are precarious. Child marriage is…
Obstacles, Taking action
#649 Freedom 90 dreams of closing food banks
Volunteers at food banks and meal programs earn their angel wings. They beat the bushes for funds, do a loaves-and-fishes routine with scarce resources, and keep hunger at bay for thousands. And they get tired. Not of the work but…
Spirituality, Taking action
#648 Our flaws are no obstacles to compassion
My Aunt Grace held strong opinions on a lot of things. Sometimes she would say, “Don’t be so open-minded your brains fall out.” She meant you had to have moral fiber, that being open to others’ ideas did not necessarily…
Environment, Spirituality, Taking action
#647 They walk for the water
Starting at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, four Ojibwe women and an Eagle Staff carrier are taking pure waters from the river’s source to its mouth in New Orleans. They walk for the water, for the pristine river it…
Arts, Business, Connecting
#646 A gallery for artists from the edge
Under Vancouver, British Columbia’s grey skies, along the gritty lanes of some of her hard-bitten neighbourhoods, I have passed by many people whose lives are far harder than my own. Now I wonder how many of them were artists. Marylee…
Business, Environment, Science & technology
#645 Toronto company recycling plastic on industrial scale
Even the greenest among us is surrounded by plastic. Sitting at my desk, I count 20 items made primarily from plastic. And that’s only items within arm’s reach. Oops. I see I missed 3 by not turning my head to…
Health, People
#644 Their love has lasted more than 7 decades
During 70 years of marriage, Jack Potter kept a diary. He had always taken notes about his days, but when he met Phyllis Clayson at a wartime dance in 1941, he had even more to write about. He fell head…
