Edmonton writer and columnist, Todd Babiak, has just posted the last in a year-long series of columns about his family's sabbatical in France.
Having gone with his wife and two young girls, some of his thoughts on the experiences we (try to) give our children were particularly resonate for me (though I have no one year sabbaticals on the horizon...unfortunately!) The full series of columns is available on his Edmonton Journal page.
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Sunday, August 1
Tuesday, July 13
Alberta Gets Snow in Mid-July? That's Nothing!
by
Jason
on Tue 13 Jul 2010 10:03 PM CST
Someone posted on Facebook about the big dump of snow Alberta got today. That reminded me of one year when Shea and I were living in Calgary when there was some sort of snowfall all twelve months of the year - including June, July and August. A couple quick Google searches don't refresh my memory but I think it was 2002 or 2003. And you've never had a weird experience till you're walking through the snow to get to your bus stop in the summer - multiple times!
Monday, July 5
Music Monday - "Outside my window/I listen to the rain/And the sounds of the passin' cars/And the waves on English Bay"
by
Jason
on Mon 05 Jul 2010 06:09 PM CST
We're back from our trip (actually, have been back since last Thursday night but I was enjoying my blog holiday too much to start posting right away.) But today was back to work and so I'll get back to working on my blog as well.
I'm not sure if the blog holiday will influence how I go forward with this site. Part of me thinks it'd be nice to post a little less often but I also realise that if I stop aiming to do daily posts, it's really easy to slip to "okay, as long as I post weekly" then "okay, as long as I post monthly" and so on until the blog withers and dies. But we'll see. Anyhow, a Music Monday post is a nice way to gently ease back into things... Does anybody else have a song that becomes their "theme" when they're doing something - whether it's a vacation, a conference or even sometimes just something simple like a walk to the corner store or whatever. For example, at the recent CLA conference in Edmonton, I kept having Moxie Fruvous' song, "River Valley" run through my head. Nothing mystical there - just a natural connection since the conference was held in the Shaw Convention Centre which overlooks Edmonton's River Valley. Same with this trip. This song kept running through my head - especially during the week we spent in Vancouver (I like that this video is a bit like a home movie travelogue instead of the Blue Rodeo concert video you might expect. In fact, this video could come from our own digital camera videos - though it doesn't). More thoughts on our trip tomorrow... Saturday, June 5
Saturday Snap - A Cart (A Range? A Collection? A Bay?) of Librarians at CLA 2010
by
Jason
on Sat 05 Jun 2010 11:07 PM CST
My "Misadventures at CLA 2010" series sort of died out after a couple days, somewhat ironically because I was out having mis-adventures that left me less time for actually summarizing what I was up to. (And let's be honest - the first two I wrote were pretty "I did this then I did this" boring anyhow.)
But I did want to wrap up another great CLA experience with a photo that I hoped could capture a bit of what it's like to be at this conference. This is from the reception at the Art Gallery of Alberta last night:  Friday, June 4
Friday Fun Link - Cash Cow: User Fees in Alberta Public Libraries (June 4, 2010)
by
Jason
on Fri 04 Jun 2010 07:14 PM CST
Posting this as a Friday Fun Link sorta feels like being the party guest who comes over and starts criticizing your housekeeping or your parenting skills or whatever. But anyhow, here I am in Edmonton, enjoying the CLA conference and I can't help but re-post my essay, "Cash Cow: User Fees in Alberta Public Libraries".
I didn't mention it except for one brief exchange with a colleague from Calgary but for me, it was the elephant in the room for the pre-conference on social responsibility. We had twenty or so people there, at least fifteen were from Alberta yet nobody seemed to notice or bring up that the fact that Alberta charges a fee to everybody who wants a library card (and yes I know they'll waive the fee for those who can't pay it but I address all the related issues around that in the essay. Go read it!) (That reminds me - I gotta go reply to Punch Jackson on Twitter. Oops, can't find his reply to my tweet right but I think he asked "how do you make up the $4 million shortfall for not charging user fees?" Well, call me a communist but how about since Alberta's population is 3.3 million, how about adding a buck and a quarter to the annual taxes of everybody in Alberta? Or what about tapping into a very small fraction of the the surpluses they had when I wrote the essay and the government projects to be coming back? Or maybe have the libraries raise their levies a small amount? It's not a hard question - it's a question of having the balls will to do it.) Sunday, May 30
Off to CLA
by
Jason
on Sun 30 May 2010 09:18 PM CST
I'm off to the Canadian Library Association conference in Edmonton from Tuesday until next Sunday. I'll likely still be blogging most days but just wanted to put this out there a couple days early in case anybody else will be around - either for the conference or Edmonton-area readers - and wants to connect. You can reach me on Facebook or via e-mail (jason@hammond.net).
Saturday, February 27
Saturday Snap - Archival Footage of "Sask Sampler Book Archive Launch"
by
Jason
on Sat 27 Feb 2010 12:00 AM CST
I recently bought a gizmo to convert old VHS tapes and other analog signals to a digital format. As I was getting it set-up for the first time, I picked a couple clips I had from around ten years ago - one where I'm featured fairly prominently and one where you get to see my backside!
 Here's one from when I worked for the Saskatchewan Publishers Group circa 2000. Two interesting things to note - even back then, I was talking about the information economy and the role of books in it. And the place where we held the launch? The Dunlop Art Gallery at the Regina Public Library! (Oh, and Shea makes a cameo as does one of my best hairdos of all time!) And here's a clip from a press conference held by the Amnesty International G8 Observer Team during the G8 Summit which was held in Kananaskis Alberta in 2002. My only appearance is a brief shot of me with my back to the camera standing between two women, one in a white shirt and one in a green shirt, around ten seconds in. But the guy who does most of the talking is someone I got to sneak into a protest site with along with a carload of reporters from the Independent Media Center. Good times! Wednesday, November 25
Rider Fans = Neanderthals?
by
Jason
on Wed 25 Nov 2009 08:23 PM CST
The person who submitted this Letter to the Editor to the Calgary Herald didn't give their title. But I suspect it might be "Agent for Henry Burris".
 Friday, September 18
Friday Fun Link - Rudy! Rudy! (September 18, 2009)
by
Jason
on Fri 18 Sep 2009 09:59 PM CST
You could pitch this as a movie but you might get told it's too unrealistic - a pint-sized hockey player who's short on stature but big on heart overcomes incredible odds to not only make the Calgary Flames but become a prolific scorer and team leader helping the Flames win the team's only Stanley Cup in 1989. He is traded in 1998, leaving the Flames as their all-time leading scorer before eventually playing for Colorado, New York and Chicago. In addition to his Stanley Cup, he also wins an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002 but the following year, leaves the NHL after violating the league's substance abuse policy multiple times.
He bounces around - playing in a British semi-pro league, for a northern Alberta senior team and later, with a Manitoba senior team as well. Eventually, he starts a concrete business with his wife and brother and after six years out of the league, it is assumed his hockey playing days are over. So when it is announced a week ago that he has invited to attend the training camp of his original team at the age of 41, rumours about the reason for this offer ran wild - the Flames only offered him a try-out to deflect attention from others on the roster, they wanted to ensure sell-outs for their pre-season games to maximize revenue (or demote him to their new farm team in Abbotsford and have the same thing happen there), they want to sell a new retro jersey or most promisingly, they wanted to give a local hero a chance to have some closure after leaving the league in disgrace. Well, I know it was only a pre-season game but no matter what happens from here on in - whether he makes the team or not - the ending of the first NHL game for Saskatchewan-born Theo Fleury in six years, will go down in the history as one of the most dramatic endings to a hockey game ever with Fleury scoring the game-winning (and only) goal for either team in a shoot-out! Wednesday, June 24
Enabling Local Democracy at the Red Deer Public Library
by
Jason
on Wed 24 Jun 2009 08:33 PM CST
I heard about this innovative library program during a presentation by Red Deer Public Library's Director at CLA. For the last two municipal elections, that city's library has created information pages for all municipal candidates from the mayor to council to both school boards. The candidates provided the information and the library simply posted it on their behalf in a non-partisan fashion. In 2004, these pages were pretty straight-forward HTML (the generic "brochure on the web"-type pages) but in the 2007 election, they created blogs for every candidate (with comments enabled!), had a dedicated domain (www.electionforum.ca), provided links to local media outlets, posted video clips and more.
Here's an explanation from the staff member who was the project coordinator: "The main focus of our website will be to provide an interactive platform for candidates to present their views and comment on election related issues. Our site will allow them to post their comments in their own words. They will be able to update their blog as the election process continues. Interested citizens will be able to post questions and concerns to which the candidates can respond. We hope to create a busy conversation site and give everyone a chance to state an opinion or ask a question. Our website is intended to promote a healthy dialogue, increasing communication and understanding between candidates and voters.Via the Election Forum 2007 website, we will strive to provide information the citizens of Red Deer will need, enabling them to make informed decisions on Election Day." The RDPL Director said that the general feeling was that this site definitely had an impact on the final result as voters were much more informed than they might have otherwise been if they didn't have this central repository for information. (I think their was also some sort of a flame-out by a candidate or a supporter on one of the blog's comment sections - I can't remember the exact details though.) Personally, I believe this is a great role for the library to play as we not only have a long history in facilitating democracy (some have called libraries the "embodiment of democracy in society") but also because we are perhaps the last completely neutral entity within society. (This used to be the media's role but I'm pretty sure that's not the case anymore.) Now, with Regina's municipal elections coming up in October, I just wish I knew someone at RPL I could suggest this idea to!  |
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