LINK Magazine: Darryl Cox Profile

Darryl Cox, Flood disaster relief lead for Brookfield Homes. Photo Credit: SAIT Polytechnic

Darryl Cox has been to most of the world's major distaters over the last fifteen years: the Indoniesian Tsunami, New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina, and the earthquake in Haiti. He's gone as a team leader for Samaritan's Purse. Using his skills as a building contractor and carpenter, he's helped rebuild homes and communities, as well as supported imporant mitigation efforts that included sharing best practices on everything from cement mixes and building structure.

Then in June 2013, with Calgary overwhelmed with flood waters from the Bow and Elbow Rivers, his employer Brookfield Homes called him to lead a disaster relief team in his own city.    This was the first of a number of stories I have done on the Southern Alberta Flood Recovery.

Avenue Edmonton: A Modern Home

Photo Credit:  www.iangrantphotography.ca

When I arrived for this interview with Andrew and Viji Nataraj, their landscaping was still a mess of front-end loaders and workers. Even then, I could see the vision in that front yard.

It has only been the last few years that modern homes like this one, featured in Avenue Edmonton, have been sought after and built in this city. In fact, when I drove away from the home through the Glenora community, I counted three new, modern builds withing two blocks of them. Thank God- perhaps in twenty years it means that there will be more than bungalows for families searching for a larger homes in this city.

My three hours with the Nataraj's was largely spent on the main floor of their home- under soaring ceilings and surrounded by September light.  I spent another few hours writing this decor feature, beautifully photographed by Ian Grant.

The Edmonton Journal: Embracing the Golden Stain of Time"

Photograph by: John Lucas, Edmonton Journal

My time with Ruth Glancy was an afternoon filled with discussion of English literature, architectural and political theory.

I've always respected the Arts and Crafts movement- much of the theory's ideas of quality over quantity and beauty before utility resonate in my own interior design.

Meet Ruth Glancy and view her lovely home here. 

Annual Report: Avenue Revitalization Initiative

The Kaleido Festival's main stage.

My husband and I moved into Alberta Avenue just as the Avenue Revitalization Initiative was kicking off.  It is has impacted our life in countless ways: our streets are brighter, greener, livelier (with music and art), more fun.

Last year, I had the privilege to write all of the stories in this 2012 Annual Report.

Avenue Edmonton: Edmonton Theatre Launching Careers

For this article on Edmonton's theatre scene for Avenue Edmonton, I had the privilege to interview  Edmonton-based comedic actor and writer, Mark Meer.  With an internationally recognized voice (he is Commander Shepard in BioWare's Mass Effect), Meer's made a career of comedy: from the CBC's Irrelevant Show to Super Channel's Tiny Plastic Men. 

Meer says, “There’s a notable spirit of cooperation and collaboration in the Edmonton arts community.”  

And I had an incredible night seeing this spirit in beautiful, hilarious symmetry at Rapid Fire Theatre’s improv show,” Chimprov. The show moved from funny to tragic to crass and back to funny. As the actors sweated under bright lights and audience expectation, I couldn’t help but expect that these actors, many at the beginning of their careers, would go far.

Avenue Edmonton: Keeping Current with the Opera

Like so many of its traditional plots, opera faces an epic battle to remain relevant in the YouTube age. Perhaps the most of any art form, opera must overcome the stigma that its spectacle and grandeur are only meant for a privileged elite. “Every opera company has this challenge — reassuring people that they may come in gowns or sweats. We want people to come because they love opera,” says Jelena Bojic, Director of Community Relations with Edmonton Opera.

In this article for Avenue Edmonton, I write that opera in this city is becoming more accessible and more flexible.

I had the opportunity to meet Jelena at Edmonton Opera's digs in the Winspear Centre. In fact, I was invited to come through the "Performers Entrance" and I felt a jolt of celebrity fever. Sadly, I must report that no celebrities were seen in the making of this article. 

The Edmonton Journal: Highwood Distillers' Flood Recovery

Barry Wilde, President of Highwood Distillers.

The staff at Highwood Distillers had about six minutes to get out of the distillery. Still, on their exit two feet of water had flooded 1st Street in High River. Many were later stranded in their cars on the surreal drive home.

The Highwood River often floods the deck of the centre street bridge, but this year on June 20th, it did the unimaginable: it flooded most of the town.

Much of the distillery's spirits ready for shipping were destroyed, however, their whisky stocks were saved. When I toured their facility, 40 days after the flood, staff had worked 30,000 hours for 30 days. 300 trips had been made to the dump. While their losses were yet to be tallied, Barry Wilde, President of Highwood Distillers, said with a hint of resignation, "It represents millions of dollars of lost product and revenue." They still do not know if their bottling line can be repaired: and store stocks dwindle.

This Spotlight on Small Business feature was was printed in the Edmonton Journal on August 23, 2013 and the Calgary Herald on August 24, 2013.

Globe and Mail: I Know Nothing About Raising Her Right

Art by Tara Hardy as published in the Globe and Mail, August 21, 2013

At the moment of our daughter’s conception, we threw caution to the wind, but soon found ourselves scrambling to get it back.

It’s not that we didn’t want a baby, but we had debts to pay, grad programs to start and a pathological fear of minivans that hung heavily over bi-monthly talks titled “Children and Other Distractions.”

Circuitous conversations, they went something like this: “Let’s try to have a kid – but we’ll need a new car – we can’t afford that – so we’ll just work a little longer – but if I had another degree surely I’d make more money – yeah, let’s wait to finish school – but then I’ll be too old – fine, let’s try to have a kid – but…”

On the evening in question, her dad declared: “Seriously, will there ever be a good time?” Locked in an embrace that would distract him from that question, I never did voice the fear that hovered above my right ear: What if we raise her wrong?
I know so little about everything. Well, at least everything that is important to raising a child right.


Click here to continue reading

This essay, originally titled Trust Me: I Don't Know,consumed me the month after my son was born: writing between feedings, editing in the middle of the night. It has been written and rewritten a dozen of times since. Today, it found a home off my hard drive, in a very condensed format (there are about 2000 words more), in the Globe and Mail.

If you enjoyed this narrative non-fiction style, check out my other essays: My Neighborhood In Transition and Backyard Betrayal.

Avenue Edmonton: A Night of Scotch with the Ladies

Meet J.

Pictures by Tim Wilson

He's a Scotch educator from Authentic Wine and Spirits Merchants in Calgary, AB.  I was doing some early research for a couple pitches on the changing relationship between women and whisky and Kate (in marketing for Beam Int'l)  suggested I speak to her husband, J. He had facilitated scotch tastings for over a decade and had started to see more women in the room.

I emailed him and he suggested I come to Calgary for a tasting. A couple girlfriends and I schemed about a weekend of women and whiskey... but no date worked for me to travel. Then his job brought him to Edmonton, AB.


He suggested we organize our own tasting.
I suggested I host it, put food on the table, and find a dozen women to try it.

Then, together we threw a party. 

Avenue Edmonton agreed to feature the evening in its July 2013 Food & Drinks Issue. Find my feature on A Night of Women and Whisky here.

There were a few more ladies in the kitchen and tucked in the living room. My husband and brother-in-law are slinking around back (actually my brother-in-law is behind the lens!), hoping for a few drops of scotch. 

This was the night's door prize. My neighbour and friend, Becky Pickard, originally painted this work for a silent auction fundraiser. It is one of my favorite pieces - now made even better! She's added it (among other of her pieces) to a 7 oz flask. Check out her facebook page. If you want one, they are also sold at The Carrot Coffeehouse and Zocolo in Edmonton, AB.

E-Trail Alumni Newsletter: Tom Yonge Profile

High school is a critical season of life. It’s hard, funny, filled with ennui and other unnamed, uncomfortable emotions. For Tom Yonge, teacher at Scona High in Edmonton, AB, these critical three years represent an opportunity to expand kids’ sense of possibility. For his leadership students, he is working to build a community that will be a model of what can be.

This profile was for the digital, monthly newsletter directed to University of Alberta Alumni (of which I am one: grad '03, baby).