“Animal trapped ( hopefully) in Alan’s office, please send someone.”

I’m not sure that many of you working in offices have ever received an email like this on a Friday morning. Or any morning, for that matter. But around our offices this happens from time to time. I’ve been here for more than six years now and had the pleasure of watching squirrels, jack rabbits, birds of all feathers, skunks and even a deer one winter morning from my window.

Animal control is a regular visitor in Ring House 2, catching squirrels – regular and flying – in the attic and the basement of this old house. This one that they captured made its home in a box full of old manuscripts. Though lately it seems that ‘squirrel proofing’ has worked or perhaps it hasn’t been cold enough yet for any creature to try to get inside.

Last fall my office was the refuge from the cold for more than 60 bees and some years ago Mary Lou found dead wasps arranged in a circle, like there has been some kind of ritual – Sharon, our office administrator at the time, suggested that the spirits of the house held some kind of a cleansing ceremony.

I won’t keep you in suspense anymore: the creature in Alan’s office was a tiny mouse with big black eyes and Alan caught it in his blue box. We set it free and it happily hopped back towards the house. See our Facebook page for the short video of its release back to the ‘wild’…, and another blog reporting of wildlife from 2015.

Do you see more creatures in our future? How about an aquarium with a starfish and a sea urchin?

Farm Workers’ Day and Book Launch in Calgary

Co-Editor Shirley A. McDonald and contributor Jennifer Koshan, along with MLA Dr. David Swann, organized an event to honour the many faceless/invisible/unrecognized workers whose labour puts food on our tables. A celebration of Farm Workers’ Day and the launching of Farm Workers in Western Canada: Injustices and Activism in Calgary on August 21 exceeded their expectations.

Even before the scheduled start time, guests arrived and formed conversation groups for high level discussion of the issues. Several MLAs and a representative from the Premier’s office were present. There were representatives from the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB). There were journalists, including Naomi Lakritz who wrote an informative article on the knowledge she gained from listening to the speakers. A reporter from CBC interviewed guests and filmed the event.

MLA Michael Connolly spoke about the challenges of getting Bill 6 through the legislative process. He remarked that at one point, with loud voices speaking against Bill 6, he wondered if he were doing the right thing in pushing the bill. Then, he looked up into the gallery and saw activists Eric Musekamp and Darlene Dunlop sitting in anticipation of the passing of Bill 6 and knew he was doing the right—and honourable—thing.

New Liberal leader David Khan spoke and assured that he would continue to put the full support of the Liberal party behind Bills 6 and 17 and ensure that Alberta farm workers would continue to benefit from the protections of WCB and OHS. Doug Taylor spoke passionately about his experiences as an advocate for farm safety. His stories are embedded in Naomi Lakritz’s article, where you can read about pigs that got better treatment than workers.

Darlene Dunlop and Eric Musekamp spoke. As always, they were articulate and moving. Anelyse Weiler reported on a recent incident at a farm where a temporary foreign worker died from smoke from the fires in the region (border of Washington).

Shirley McDonald and Jennifer Koshan have already arranged to hold Farm Workers’ Day next year, once again in the Faculty of Law lounge at the University of Calgary. The event will continue to promote this important volume and promote further high level discussions of the issues.

Be sure to read the Vancouver Sun review of Farm Workers in Western Canada and this article in the Work of Arts blog (University of Alberta). The University of Alberta Press has also created a book trailer featuring the struggles of farm workers and the book. There were two other book launches in Edmonton and Kelowna.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Featured Reviews of “Sleeping in Tall Grass”

“Sleeping in Tall Grass is an outstanding first poetry collection…. In the opening long poem, ‘Nowhere in Sight,’ Therrien uses the physical experience of walking across the prairie as a metaphor for poetry while a walking rhythm sparks spiritual insight…. Sleeping in Tall Grass is a wise book, erudite and philosophical at times but foremost a spiritual and redemptive work.” [Full review] Volume 15, Issue 1, Gillian Harding-Russell, The Goose, Volume 15, Issue 1

---

“It’s a complex and multi-layered book, offering poems that are rooted in the prairie landscape, featuring a multitude of voices that speak to the familial, the historical, the philosophical and the mystical. Many of the poems are dark, weighted and at times exquisitely painful…. The personal stories he deconstructs show how the speaker submits, turns back to the land that begat him, until he sleeps in tall grass, until readers hear in ‘Envoy,’ the final poem, ‘a voice singing of its own forgetting.'” Anne Sorbie, Alberta Views

---

Short-listed for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Alberta Book Awards, Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry.

Read Richard’s email he wrote to us after his Edmonton book launch.

Norma Dunning in Winnipeg

On October 5, Norma Dunning [Annie Muktuk and Other Stories] and Myrl Coulter [The Left-Handed Dinner Party and Other Stories] read from their new short story collections at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg. Two days later we received this email from Norma:

Cathie & Monika:

Thank you for sending me to Winnipeg – it was the first city I ever lived in and going back there made me remember things that have laid dormant inside of my memory for decades. I was a bad teenage girl when I lived there for one year – grade 10. My father was away most of that year on a project in Iqaluit, leaving my Mom and younger brother and I at home alone. It was good in some ways because it forced my Mom and I to be together and depend on each other more, which meant we had to talk.

I went to the Cdn Museum of Human Rights – I loved their photo gallery, where I spent the bulk of my time. If you get to – please do go see it. In the afternoon I went to Polo Park – the very first mall that I had ever been too and got lost in! I smiled to myself while I was there remembering all that anxiety – to this day I remain a reluctant shopper.

McNally Robinson is a beautiful store. If I lived in Wpg I would spend most of my extra cash in there. Joanna was a wonderful host, I liked her. And the crowd of maybe 10 – 12 people was enough. It was like being able to read to people in your very own kitchen. They were a kind crowd and warm and I read Kabloona and Husky because one is my Mom and one is my Grandfather and I was on their home turf and wanted to honour their spirits.

There was one lady in a wheelchair who came and sat in the main aisle way – she had the best smile. I looked at her and thought – tonight I read these stories to you and for you. When I finished I went straight over to her. She asked me, “How can you be a woman and write as though you are a man in Husky?” Isn’t that a good question!

I write to let you know that it’s not the number of people who show up – it’s the engagement of the people who do. That’s what matters most to me. A group that wants to hear you read your work, and who ask a couple of good questions, and thank you for making them think about Inuit. It was marvelous and a very good memory for me to carry.

Enjoy your long weekend. N.

p.s. I am no good in the selfie area but I wanted to show you this is what I wore for the reading – I bought the boots at Polo Park mall! Awesome aren’t they!