Lifelong Learning

March 12, 2013 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

Lifelong Learning has become a given for many of us in our post-millennial culture, in order to keep up with the knowledge economy and to promote intellectual and emotional health. This can mean going back to school to finish a degree, to pursue an additional level of education, or to take a brand new direction altogether. But, traditional routes to further education, like university and college programs, are becoming increasingly financially inaccessible, leaving many folks behind. Even famed tuition-free college, Cooper Union, may begin charging their students.

While the loss of widely accessible education is deeply troubling for our culture, there are new educational resources that are attempting to fill this gap, particularly online. Coursera is one of the more promising start ups in this area, offering free courses from well-regarded universities around the world. I’m also impressed by this list, 12 Dozen Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free, for the autodidacts among us.

I suspect that credits from institutions like Coursera will begin to carry more weight on resumés, but I also worry that they’ll become part of the demarcation between elites who can afford traditional routes to higher education and the rest of society. We shall see.

But what about those of us who want to add to our skills without committing to a two or four year program? Free resources like Coursera or reasonably-priced versions like Udemy are great for online learning, but there’s also in-person options like Trade Schools popping up here and there. (At Vancouver’s Trade School this month, they’re offering classes on Career Planning, Writer’s Block, and Performance Poetry.)

As for me, I’ve signed up for Codecademy, where I can top up my web skills for free. I’ve wanted to do that for a while, but haven’t wanted to commit to a course. Now, I can do it at my own pace, in my spare time.

What are your tips for lifelong learning?

Aural Atmosphere

March 5, 2013March 7, 2013 ~ Teresa ~ 1 Comment

When we think of the soundscape of a city, we think of engines and sirens, footsteps and voices, and car alarms, always car alarms. But each city has its own catalogue of sounds that help to define it.

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago, when we went through a period of unusually heavy fog. Fog horns sounded through the night, confusing some. Vancouver is touted as a recreational paradise of mountains and seaside, but it’s also a working port.

Those fog horns are a fickle, seasonal addition to our soundscape, but we have a few more reliable components. There are two, in particular, that define Vancouver’s soundscape. The Nine O’clock Gun can still startle me after all these years of living in the city, if I happen to lose track of time. It can be heard across the city and beyond its borders into the surrounding municipalities. The Noon Whistle, which you can hear in the video at the top of this post, brings daily relief to office workers downtown and serves as a rallying cry to weekend late sleepers. They aren’t as famous as Gastown’s Steam Clock, but they pace out life in this city for its residents.

Other Vancouver sounds that come to mind for me: the beeps and whirrs of our trolley buses, the sound of trains moving, the Carnival Band, and the roaring of the cranes at the Port of Vancouver. Oh, and I can’t forget crows. There are so many here that they’ve become a sort of emblem in art and music.

I’ll leave you with a video that uses more Vancouver sounds and a question: What are the sounds that define the place you live?

No Doldrums Here

January 22, 2013May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 1 Comment

It may seem counterintuitive, but January and February are busy months in Vancouver. Years ago, restaurateurs got together and created Dine Out Vancouver to help combat slow post-Christmas sales. It’s become a tradition and there can be fierce competition to get reservations for the discounted, set course meals at some of the swankier tables in town. One of the most anticipated events, though, is not all that swanky. Street Food City is a four-day gathering of some of Vancouver’s hottest food trucks and many of them have added Dine Out exclusive dishes. I suspect there will be line ups around the block again this year.

Other events have grown up around the Dine Out frenzy, like Feast Van, which offers prix fixe meals at a nice selection of mid-range restaurants, with $1.00 from each meal benefitting the Strathcona Community Center Backpack Food Program. I admire their model – great food for a great cause.

Another favourite of mine is the Hot Chocolate Festival, which runs until the middle of February. It’s a great way to wait out the last of the chill and sample some of Vancouver’s finest chocolatiers.

It’s not all about food, though. This weekend, the Museum of Vancouver is presenting their annual Winter Wander, which allows you to visit all six Vanier Park venues for a total of $5.00. It’s a great way to explore these out-of-the-way attractions and I suspect a lot of people buy yearly memberships after their visits – a boon to venues and patrons alike. It’s also time for the PuSh Festival of Performing Arts, which seems to get bigger and more innovative every year.

In sadder news, the legendary Ridge Theatre will be screening its very last films in the coming weeks as they present their Last Film Festival. Vancouver has lost so much of its cultural capacity and heritage to out-of-control, cookie-cutter condo development. The Ridge and The Waldorf are just the latest casualties.

Though it’s true that venues come and go, in Vancouver they seem to go and go and go. Affordable space for upcoming musicians, actors, and dancers seems increasingly endangered. I don’t think the solution is for ‘everybody’ to move to New Westminster, either.

My worries about the future aside, I’ll leave you with something to look forward to – the 2013 Vancouver Poutine Festival has just been announced and it’s going to be bigger than ever. You might want to make some travel plans for early March, as at least one of my out-of-town friends is trying to arrange.

First Person Imperfect

January 8, 2013 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

Friendship in the face of the differences and inequalities in our culture can be a tricky thing. Working through our various political and social struggles can be exhausting, sometimes. What’s hardest, though, is really seeing each other and truly hearing what each of us has to say. Not excusing one another when we’re just not getting our areas of oppressiveness, but also not deliberately misinterpreting what someone says in order to seem more politically evolved. Trust-building, communication, and clarification are tools that can get us past the noise, but we need to remember to use them.

Like the message in the photo above, beyond the imperfection, there can be something beautiful.

And so it begins…

January 1, 2013January 1, 2013 ~ Teresa ~ 8 Comments

I’m not one for resolutions, but I do have some hopes for the coming year. Hope that Harper will relent and meet with Chief Theresa Spence before her hunger strike takes any more of a toll on her health. Hope that non-indigenous people take note and take action in support of the Idle No More movement. Hope that 2013 brings good news for social and environmental justice. Hope that the balance between joy and sorrow tips toward the former.

For myself, I hope to fill one of those jars you see at the top of the post with plenty of good things this year.

I’ll leave you with an image of the year that’s passed and one of the new year’s beginning, both taken today. Happy New Year!

Christmas, Canadian-style

December 25, 2012December 25, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 3 Comments

Merry Christmas, to those of you that celebrate it. I love the music of the season; I can’t help it. Here are a few Canadian songs for the holidays, starting with Joni Mitchell’s River:

An instrumental version of In the Bleak Midwinter, from Loreena McKennitt:

My mother’s favourite Christmas carol, from the McGarrigles, et al.:

A wistful one from The Mountains and The Trees:

Said the Whale’s Christmas Under the Clouds gives us a typical Vancouver Christmas (no idea why the accompanying image shows snow, though):

Finally, a new tune from Dan Mangan, with lyrics crowdsourced from listeners of CBC’s On The Coast:

What are your favourite seasonal songs? Let me know in the comments, if you’d like.

I hope you’re having a happy, warm, and peaceful day. See you Friday.

Late Fall

November 27, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 9 Comments

I’m a Sucker for a Good Craft Fair

November 20, 2012May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 3 Comments

It’s that time again, full of craft fairs, holiday events, and lots and lots of food.

Since I’m still not quite back into the swing of writing regularly again, I thought I’d do a little round up of some things that have caught my eye.

Crafts

Strathcona Winter Craft Fair
Crafts for a Cause
Toque
Got Craft?
Women’s Winter Faire
Shiny Fuzzy Muddy

Food

Baker’s Market
Vancouver Farmers’ Market Holiday Market
Dinner with the Wild Things

Music

Choral Concert Calendar
Universal Gospel Choir
Early Music

Fun

Candytown
Giant Used Book Sale

Light

Winter Solstice Lantern Festival

Now, I’m going back to perusing cookie recipes for some upcoming swaps. What seasonal sorts of things are you looking forward to?

Nearly Fall in the Garden

September 18, 2012September 17, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 9 Comments

Canada is generally thought of as the land of ice and snow, but that’s not true all year ’round, even in the North. Vancouver is especially an exception to this rule. We generally get about a week of snow each year, which sends our road systems into a tailspin. (We’re infamous here for not being able to drive in the snow.) All this is to say that my garden is still going strong, though I’m looking up recipes for green tomatoes, as I know a lot of them aren’t ever going to fully ripen this year.

We’re in the last few weeks of the summer growing season. If we’re lucky, the good weather will last into the first few weeks of October. I’ve planted some winter garden vegetables, but I’m mostly reflecting on what worked and what didn’t this season. I won’t be growing tomatoes in the backyard next year and am going to invest in some big tubs so that I can grow them on my south-facing balcony, instead. I think they’ll ripen much faster there. I’m also going to build some new vegetable and herb beds this fall, for next year. The flowers mostly take care of themselves, but I want to add plants that will extend colour through the seasons. These are my reflections so far.

So tell me, what did you love about your outdoor space this summer? What would you change? I’ll leave you with some more of the photos I took yesterday afternoon, out in the garden.

Food Trucks and Summer’s End

September 4, 2012May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

The Labour Day weekend has just passed and for many of us, that signals summer’s end. Though summery weather around these parts (barring early torrential rains) seems to last into October some years, September usually marks the end of community celebrations and summer programs.

With that in mind, I decided to stop by the last day of one of my neighbourhood’s most popular events this summer – The Waldorf Hotel‘s Food Cart Festival, which has been taking over their parking lot every Sunday since the end of July. I took a few photos there and indulged in a double-decker cone from Earnest Ice Cream – their salted caramel was perfect and the strawberry-basil made me want to run home and roast some strawberries right away to recapture the flavour. But I digress…

The Food Truck Festival is a great example of the zeitgeist in Vancouver these day – a nice selection of local food (in those trendy trucks); pedestrian and bike friendly; a neighbourhood event that attracts folks from all over the city. Along with VIVA Vancouver and the community celebrations funded by Neighbourhood Small Grants, Vancouver’s summer street scene is becoming a lot more vibrant.