Back to School Photos and Other Traditions
Back-to school shopping trips were special, it was just my mom and I. We’d have time to pose for the back-to-school picture.
Issue: 2014-08-14
August 14, 2014 “Back To School” Issue
Blood on the Tracks
At some point Bob Dylan claims to have lost his edge. Or more specifically, his ability to capture transfixing and haunting images waned ever so slightly — at least in his own estimation. In a 1991 interview he quotes “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”, from his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, and …
Busy Weekend in Dawson City
“This weekend is an iconic celebration of what’s great in Dawson,” says Paul Robitaille. Discovery Days, the Riverside Arts Festival & more
High School
High school is possibly the five longest years of your life. You spend the first year coming to grips with the fact that everyone has to shower after gym class, then you spend the next four years waiting for the experience to be over. The low point comes at the end of Grade 10 when …
Reflections on Rural Yukon Education
Robert Service School (RSS) celebrated its 25th year in its present building last May. There were no special celebrations, and I suspect that not too many people were aware of the anniversary. It was probably my time on the building committee that made me sensitive to the date. There were still a few staff members …
Safety First. Always
When Whitehorse students go back to school on August 25, many of them will be meeting Peggy Hanifan for the first time. Many others will have spent hundreds of hours with her already, but they won’t call her Peggy. To them, she is School Bus Driver. Hanifan has spent 14 years transporting students to and …
Reflections on Miles Canyon in Art
The 20th Century artist Marc Chagall once stated, “Great art picks up where nature ends.” After organizing this year’s Miles Canyon In Art event, hosted by the Yukon Conservation Society (YCS), I certainly agree. On Friday July 25, and Saturday July 26, Deanna Bailey, Amber Church, Marie-Helene Comeau, Heidi Hehn, and Blair Thorson stationed themselves …
Stories Made of Living History
“They can’t be taking that little girl in there — really.” Those were the whispered words that Dawn Kostelnik heard as a child in the 1960s before she boarded a plane to Fort Norman, N.W.T, where her father was hired by the Canadian Government as an Indian agent, and where she would live with her …
Whirlwind of Yukon Flavour
It all began with fireweed pepper jelly. I did not know such a thing existed, but I am very glad I discovered it. I arrived at Rivendell farms at 6:00 p.m. for the Feast of Farms, the closing event of the Yukon Culinary Festival. As I made my way across the parking lot, I was …
Rhubarb
It’s in almost everybody’s garden, and it grows totally untended in abandoned homesteads and mine sites — It must be a North American plant, right? Well, not so. it was brought to North America in the late 1700s, but didn’t gain wide popularity until the mid-1900s. This red-stalked, green-leafed vegetable is rich in vitamin C, …
Tis the Season
The first few weeks of the 2014 hunting season have passed and some enthusiastic hunters were have already been on mountaintops looking for Dall sheep. Others were, and maybe still are, are scouring the valleys and ridges for caribou or moose. Whatever your desire is, there is a huge benefit to knowing in advance what …
Set the Summer Calendar, as Fireweed Begins to Bloom
What can one tell a Yukoner about fireweed? Isn’t it like talking to an Inuvialuit person about ice? Fireweed’s colours, height and flowering times are fairly familiar in the body of literature known as ‘northern knowledge’. Here is my attempt at expanding on this: When I think of a species of plant or animal I …
Set the Summer Calendar, as Fireweed Begins to Bloom Read More »
The Competitive Spirit of a Yukon Photographer
Calling all Yukoners; one of your own needs humble support. Photographer Peter Mather is a finalist in the biggest natural wildlife photography competition in the world. It’s called Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and is co-produced by the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, and the BBC. Everybody who’s anybody in the wildlife photography business …
The Saga of Hole 17
Preemptive clarification: The targets in disc golf look like baskets. However, due to the culturally dominant influence of regular golf, disc golfers will often refer to these targets as holes. I have done that throughout this piece. When playing the Mt McIntyre disc golf course in Whitehorse, the nastiest piece of business is reserved for …
The Big Gwich’in Gathering
From July 21 to July 25, Old Crow had the distinction of hosting The Biennial Gwich’in Gathering (BGG), an event that began in 1988 in Arctic Village, Alaska. The gathering serves as a meeting place for the Vun-Tut Gwich’in People to talk about the issues of the day, reflect on the past, discuss the future, …