About six years ago, Fred Penner came to town and I was very excited. I was freelancing for the Yukon News at the time and I pitched the idea of a profile to my editor. Alas, it had been promised to someone else. But now I am an editor and, when I heard Mr. Penner …
The month of December promises to be an action-packed month of celestial events for every amateur astronomer and nighttime photographer. As long as the weather holds, we will be in for a very busy month. The month starts out with Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. This little planet is always elusive to find …
According to John Firth’s new book One Mush, Jamaicans hate dogs. So what was Caribbean musher Newton Marshall doing on the Yukon Quest in 2009? One Mush, self-published jointly by Firth and the Jamaica Dogsled Team, tells that story. “I thought it was a great story because of the cultural gap between the beaches of …
World of Words: From Dryland to Northland: One Musher’s Tale Read More »
I’m in Dawson City, Yukon. It is 10:30 pm on a Sunday night and I find myself walking the icy boardwalks as a few brave and hearty ravens fly overhead. I am with a handful of Dawsonites who call this place 500-plus kilometres north of Whitehorse home year ’round. We are headed to a local …
There’s a lot happening in Whitehorse at local community venues for film this upcoming week. The Alpine Film Night series returns with a powerful documentary, the Yukon Film Society highlights two features in its Fire Hall Films series, and local filmmaker Max Fraser has scheduled a special showing of six short documentaries. Look at What …
Now that the Yukon snows have finally arrived and the all-too-brief weeks of skating the magically bare icy surface of my lake are done, I am looking forward to short, early twilights leading into our the long winter nights. For me this is the time of year to reconnect with friends, sit over long dinners …
Valerie Salez gives voice to her mixed feelings about beauty in Fourth Nature up at the Yukon Arts Centre. Italian Renaissance grottoes inspired this show. Salez was fascinated by those layered spaces. One generation of art patrons commissioned artists to create “sculptures, murals and architectural friezes” in caves as part of elaborate and controlled gardens. …
After my very first kickboxing class, I realized two things. One, don’t eat a big meal beforehand, and two, even if you think you’re in good shape, after a two-hour class muscles you never knew existed will make themselves heard. Ben Rudis, a longtime resident of Dawson City, teaches a form of kickboxing called Muay …
If you think those home-tanned moccasins you’ve been eyeing are too expensive, taking one of Shelby Blackjack’s workshops might change your mind. For the past three winters, Blackjack has been teaching Yukoners how to make slippers, mukluks and mittens, in conjunction with the Yukon Arts Centre. “I learned to bead from my grandmother when I …
It all began on a Friday afternoon about a month ago. Well, not really. It actually began a month before that, with the decision to leave my motorhome in BC for the winter, rather than bring it up to the Yukon. Driving that thirsty beast the extra 1,660 km from Prince George to Whitehorse might …
