This photo was talked about on the news particularly the fact that these two were on the ground amid all the destruction that was going on around them. It hit Tumblr earlier tonight.
You wonder what they were doing there and if anyone else in the photo was paying attention to them.
*** *** *** ***
This from the CBC news website
CBC.ca’s online hunt for Vancouver’s kissing couple …
The search for the couple began on Twitter shortly after 10 a.m. ET Thursday.
Our followers immediately retweeted, and within minutes tips began trickling in.
At first the sense was the photo was actually staged, or even art. Or was it an homage to “The Kiss,” an art show staged at New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 2010?
Tweet.
And then a second image of the couple appeared, this time on Facebook.
Seen from a rooftop, the couple looked far less romantic than they did in the first shot, which led many to speculate about the couple’s condition – and whether the woman in the couple had suffered a medical emergency.
The search for the couple spread, around Canada and then to the U.S.
It wasn’t long before the couple – or at least their image – began to appear in all sorts of unlikely places.
Yet as the fun got underway, many still doubted the legitimacy of the image.
At 3:25 p.m. ET, Esquire, which earlier had declared the photo:
published an interview with the photographer who snapped the iconic pic, Rich Lam of Getty. “It was complete chaos,” Lam wrote for Esquire of the riots. He was running from riot police when he “noticed in the space behind the line of police that two people were laying in the street … [with] a raging fire just beyond them.”
“I knew I had captured a ‘moment’ when I snapped the still forms against the backdrop of such chaos,” Lam told Esquire.
Lam told the Vancouver Sun he has more pictures of the couple that he’s prepared to release.
In the meantime, the search for the couple continues. Will they come forward? Do they even know they’re being sought?
Do you know the couple? If you can help us identify them, email us at yournews@cbc.ca
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June 17, 2011 | Categories: Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, CBC, Community, Hockey, Montreal, Photography, Tumble, Tumblr, Vancouver, Vancouver Riots 2011, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Vancouver gets the big black mark for sportsmanship. A very sad outcome after a week of prideful good behavior. We are ashamed of you Vancouver… You did not do Canada proud.
Courtesy: The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER – Parts of downtown Vancouver erupted in flames, explosive booms thundered through the air and looters smashed windows and ran amok inside department stores Wednesday after the city’s Stanley Cup run ended in bitter defeat.
Weeks of well-behaved crowds watching the Vancouver Canucks march toward Game 7 of the NHL final ended abruptly in violence and vandalism that erupted even before the 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins was officially over.
The riot shattered the wholesome legacy of the nightly parties hosted on the same streets during the 2010 Olympics — an experience that had the city’s mayor and police chief confidently proclaiming Vancouver had “matured” since similar riots in 1994.
Police officers from around the region flooded into downtown and Mayor Gregor Robertson said things were getting under control, but the images and atmosphere that lingered late into the night suggested otherwise.
Gregor said there had been no fatalities, though he had to be asked the question twice.
Fights broke out and people were seen falling on broken glass.
At the flagship Bay store, looters jumped inside and were seen grabbing T-shirts and anything else they could get their hands on. Young women were seen escaping with MAC cosmetics. One girl carried out part of a mannequin.
The landmark building was filling with smoke as rioters, their faces covered in bandannas, continued the violence. Almost none were wearing hockey jerseys.
For many, the ugly chaos added a vicious sting to an already painful loss.
“This isn’t what the Canucks are about,” said Chad McMillan, 31, a Vancouver resident and lifelong Canucks fan.
“This isn’t what their fans are about, this isn’t what this city is about.”
Police in riot gear attempted to cordon the violence, but ambulances also appeared to be having trouble getting inside the zone to help the wounded.
The smoke from the fires and from police tear gas and pepper spray was choking.
Flames leaped from at least two flipped vehicles, which rested in the middle of trash-strewn streets, filling the downtown core with heavy black smoke in the moments immediately following the game at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.
“I heard a loud noise and turned and there was a car being stomped on by a bunch of guys,” 18-year-old witness Brandon Sinclair said of the first few moments of violence.
“A bunch of guys started rocking it, then they flipped it over and five minutes later it was on fire and then they flipped another one. It was just out of control.”
Bright orange flames were seen shooting nearly 10 metres into the air as bystanders tossed firecrackers, setting off intermittent barrages of staccato explosions.
Live television images showed a large fire burning inside a parking garage, but it wasn’t immediately clear what was ablaze.
Patrick Fleming, 15, from Richmond, B.C., said a small group of fans took out their anger on nearby cars in the game’s dying moments, flipping over two vehicles and setting one on fire.
Another upturned vehicle was visible nearby as flames erupted from the exploding car, prompting bystanders to duck down in alarm. Fans who were trying simply to get out of the danger zone found their visibility reduced to zero by the thick black smoke.
About an hour after the game ended, some bold troublemakers started hurling garbage and bottles at police officers, who deflected the debris with riot shields. Protesters who rushed the police line were quickly subdued with blows from a truncheon.
Some protesters held what looked like pipes or hockey sticks over their heads as they jeered at officers. Newspaper boxes were wrenched off the sidewalk and hurled through store windows. Portable toilets were tipped as the stifling black smoke spread through the city’s core.
Some seemed to revel in the rampage, recording the vandalism on cellphones and video cameras. A few congratulated those who tried to attack police, while others erupted with cheers every time something was damaged.
At one point, police were using flash-bangs — grenades that are designed to distract and disorient, rather than injure — to try to break up the mob.
There were no details about injuries, although live television showed images of at least one woman mopping blood from her forehead. Another report said at least one person had been stabbed. Fights and skirmishes erupted all over.
“You don’t ever hope for a situation like this,” said Vancouver police Const. Jana McGuinness.
“You celebrate the good times and you prepare for the bad times and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Unfortunately, the tables have turned tonight.”
Som Gosh, 16, said police blocked off the area and detained a number of people, but it did little to quell the violence.
“I think it was a few people … Everybody else is watching, some are cheering,” Gosh said.
As he spoke, another fire erupted nearby in an area littered with abandoned Canucks memorabilia and hand-lettered signs expressing support for the team. The violence appeared to start when fans set fire to a stuffed bear decorated to symbolize the Bruins. Others sang a drunken tune as they danced on an overturned vehicle.
Some members of the crowd could be seen trying to hold others back as the rampage continued. Many — including families with children — tried to flee, panicked.
Most of the people in the downtown core wanted no part of the violence and headed in the opposite direction. A long line of police tried to hold the surging crowd back from the blazing cars.
Though the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt midway through the third period, a hail of beer bottles rained down on giant outdoor television screens as soon as the final buzzer sounded.
The scene was vividly similar to one in 1994, when a Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers prompted a similar stampede of boozy mayhem in the downtown core.
This time, police tried to nip the violence in the bud by closing liquor and beer stores early, but it appeared to have no effect.
Said McGuinness: “We will have to sit down and evaluate exactly what happened here. It’s going to be a black mark for a very, very long time.”
Pandemonium reigned as some fans chanted obscenities about the winning team, leaping over bonfires that raged in the street as riot police moved in to try to restore order. Isolated fights broke out between small groups of drunken fans.
Police and firemen stood nearby, but did not intervene right away. If a pedestrian happened to be heading in a direction of danger, however, officials warned them to turn around.
At least two young men covered in soot reported being roughed up by the police, but they weren’t arrested. Rivers of poured-out alcohol, broken glass and trash made navigating the streets of the downtown a treacherous task.
Vancouver netminder Roberto Luongo, who is sure to come in for heavy criticism for Vancouver’s Cup loss, was among the heroes of that game, which Canada won 3-2 in overtime.
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June 16, 2011 | Categories: Bloggers, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Hockey, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Courtesy: CBC.ca
Canadian voters have delivered Conservative Leader Stephen Harper his first majority government after five years of governing in a minority situation, with the 41st election bringing a dramatic and unpredicted realignment to the country’s political landscape.
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jack Layton will now become Official Opposition leader and replace Michael Ignatieff, who himself was defeated in his own Toronto riding. Ignatieff took reponsibility for the Liberals’ historic electoral loss. Ignatieff’s Liberals — often touted as Canada’s “natural governing party” — placed a distant third behind Layton’s party.
With 90 percent of the votes counted, the Conservatives were elected or leading in 166 seats, followed by the NDP with 104, Liberals with 34 and the Bloc Québécois with three and the Green party with one. A party needs to capture 155 seats to win a majority in the House of Commons.
The NDP, who appeared to have nearly tripled their seat count, made a major breakthrough in Quebec, mostly at the expense of the Bloc. The projected loss of 45 Bloc seats in the province prompted party leader Gilles Duceppe to announce he would resign in days.
Following his victory, Layton bounded up the stairs to address a near ecstatic crowd in Toronto, brandishing the trademark cane given to him by a supporter on the campaign tour to help him with his recovery from hip surgery.
“And let me tell you this: Spring is here, my friends, and a new chapter begins,” Layton told supporters.
The New Democrat leader said Canadians voted Monday to strengthen public health care, retirement security and help families make ends meet.
“And you voted to end the same old debates and political games,” he told the crowd.
But he also vowed his party would oppose the Conservative government “with vigour if it is on the wrong path.”
Ignatieff, who declined to say whether he would step down as party leader, said he still sees an “ongoing need for a party at the centre of Canadian life.”
“I will serve as long as the party wants me to serve and asks me to serve, and not a day longer,” he told supporters.
In his concession speech, the Liberal leader offered “open-hearted” congratulations to Harper and Layton — “two opponents who have had the better of the night” — and accepted responsibility for the result.
“Democracy teaches hard lessons and we have to learn them all,” Ignatieff told supporters.
It emerged shortly afterward that Ignatieff was beaten in his Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, while several prominent Toronto Liberals lost or were behind NDP or Tory candidates as of midnight ET.
Duceppe, who himself lost to NDP candidate Hélène Laverdière in the riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie, told supporters after his loss it was clear Quebeckers wanted to give a federalist party another chance and now expected recognition of the Quebec nation.
“I am leaving, but others will follow until Quebec becomes a country,” he said, as the crowd of supporters chanted his name.
Meanwhile, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May earned her party’s first elected seat in Canadian political history, defeating former Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.
“Today we proved that Canadians want change in politics,” she told a crowd of jubilant supporters in her riding.
Results in Quebec showed the Bloc Québécois plummeting from 47 of 75 seats in the province to only two. The NDP, who previously had only Thomas Mulcair’s Outremont seat in Montreal, were leading or elected in 59 seats in the province.
Some of the province’s highest-profile Conservative politicians lost their seats. Despite overall Tory gains, Lawrence Cannon and Jean-Pierre Blackburn, who served as ministers in Harper’s cabinet, were defeated in their Quebec ridings.
In Ontario, Conservative Chris Alexander defeated Liberal incumbent Mark Holland in the coveted Greater Toronto Area riding of Ajax-Pickering. The Tories are also holding their existing seats and leading in some key Liberal-held ridings such as Brampton West and Brampton-Springdale.
In Toronto, three high-profile Liberal candidates lost their Toronto-area seats, with Ken Dryden falling in York Centre, Gerard Kennedy losing in Parkdale-High Park and Joe Volpe defeated in Eglinton-Lawrence.
Outside of the city core, Liberal Ruby Dhalla lost her seat in Brampton-Springdale to Conservative Parm Gill while Conservative Julian Fantio was re-elected in Vaughan, defeating Liberal Mario Ferri.
The NDP was also holding its existing seats in the city, with Olivia Chow, Layton’s wife, winning again in Trinity-Spadina.
The Conservatives and NDP began the night making gains in Atlantic Canada at the expense of the Liberals, who have won the most seats in the region in every federal election since 1997. The Conservatives had 38 per cent of the vote, compared to 30 per cent for the NDP and 29 for the Liberals.
In Labrador, the Conservatives won what was once considered a safe Liberal seat, with Peter Penashue defeating Liberal incumbent Todd Russell. The Tories had been shutout of the province following an “Anything but Conservative” campaign mounted in 2008 by former premier Danny Williams.
Meanwhile, in St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, NDP candidate Ryan Cleary defeated Liberal incumbent Siobhan Coady.
The results come as many analysts were caught off guard during the campaign after polls suggested a surge of support for the NDP, specifically in Quebec, following the leaders’ debate in French.
Layton took advantage of this apparent spike, saying that voters were tired of both the Conservatives and Liberals and that the “winds of change” were in the political air.
The polls also forced Harper and Ignatieff to alter their strategy and focus more on the NDP leader.
Harper returned again and again to one main theme, repeatedly stressing the need for a Conservative majority. He warned that Canada’s economic stability was at risk if the opposition parties had enough seats following the election to form a coalition or some other power sharing arrangement.
Although Harper had initially targeted a possible Ignatieff-led government, propped up by other parties, his focus in the later days of the campaign switched to the possibility of Layton in power.
For his part, Ignatieff slammed Harper over his handling of the economy and accused the Conservative leader of disrespecting the institution of Parliament.
He ran ads questioning if Harper could be trusted with “absolute power” and reminded voters that Harper shut down Parliament twice and had been held in contempt of Parliament.
Ignatieff had said he would like to stay on as leader regardless of the outcome of the federal election.
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May 3, 2011 | Categories: Canada, Canada - East, Canada - Maritimes, Canada - North Pole, Canada - West, Canada Votes, Community, Jack Layton, Leadership, Montreal, Parliament, Quebec Issues, Quebec Politics, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Courtesy: Namesakesuffix
Let us be the generation that takes back our country, that holds our government accountable, and that shows the rest of our great nation just how important Canadians are to one another.
We can no longer afford to sit back and let our government work itself out. In order to have a powerful democracy and to maintain our status as one of the best places to live in the world, we must become involved in our democracy. The democratic system is only as powerful as the citizens who participate in it—do not make the mistake of thinking you have power as a citizen without doing that fundamental thing that demonstrates that power: voting.
Tomorrow, stand on guard for your country. Don’t continue to let other people make your decisions for you. Vote for whichever party you like or go and scratch your vote in protest, but make sure that your voice is counted.
Vote.
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May 2, 2011 | Categories: Alchemy, Canada, Canada - East, Canada - Maritimes, Canada - North Pole, Canada - West, Canada Central (Ont/Que), Canada Votes, Canadian Politics, Community, Helping Others, Leadership, Montreal, Parliament, Writers | Leave A Comment »
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April 26, 2011 | Categories: Alchemy, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - East, Canada - Maritimes, Canada - West, Canada Central (Ont/Que), Canada Votes, Canadian Politics, Community, Education, Integrity, Jack Layton, Montreal, Montreal Politics, NDP, Writers | Leave A Comment »
I voted today in early voting … Orange all the way …
PATRICK BRETHOUR
VANCOUVER— Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Monday, April 25, 2011 7:47PM EDT
The NDP is rapidly outdistancing the Liberals and has whittled the Conservative lead to single digits – a level of support that would see Jack Layton win 100 seats on May 2, says the latest poll from EKOS Research.
Under that scenario, the NDP would still come in second in seat count to the Conservatives, but the support of the third-place Liberals would give Mr. Layton a working majority in the House of Commons.
“We’re in terra incognita here,” EKOS president Frank Graves said.
The EKOS poll, conducted from April 22 to April 24, gave the Conservatives 33.7-per-cent support nationally among decided and leaning voters; the NDP had 28-per-cent support; the Liberals, 23.7 per cent; the Green Party, 7.2 per cent; and the Bloc Québécois, 6.2 per cent.
If those numbers held true on election day, it would be the worst showing in the history of the Liberal Party, and the best result by far for the NDP. A seat projection using the EKOS poll indicated the Conservatives would lose seats, dropping to 131, while the NDP would garner 100 seats, more than double its previous best result; more than half of those seats would come from Quebec. The Liberal caucus would be much reduced, falling to 62 seats. And the Bloc would be a shadow of itself, with a caucus of just 14 MPs.
The EKOS poll is showing stronger levels of support for the NDP in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces than other polls, but the trend of sharply rising poll numbers for the party is consistent with other surveys. The level of support for the Conservatives is lower than other recent surveys – and the size of the Tory lead is about half of other polls.
In Quebec, the New Democrats lead with 38.7 per cent of the vote, with the Bloc far back at 25.2 per cent, while the Conservative support pegged at 14.7 per cent and the Liberals in fourth place with 13.1 per cent.
The poll of 2,783 voters is considered to be accurate within 1.8 percentage points. As with other polls, the margin of error for regional breakdowns is much higher.
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April 25, 2011 | Categories: All About Me, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - East, Canada - Maritimes, Canada - West, Canada Central (Ont/Que), Canada Votes, Canadian Politics, Community, Jack Layton, Montreal, NDP, Orange | Leave A Comment »
If you live in Canada and want to end Stephen Harpers ability to form a government in any form, click the link below for your riding and get involved to make sure the Conservatives don’t win another election.
Welcome to ProjectDemocracy.ca.
Canadians don’t have an electoral system that directly reflects the ballot box. With our ‘first-past-the-post’ electoral system, vote splitting means Canadians could end up with a majority Harper Government with as little as 35 percent of the popular vote. This is not the outcome most Canadians want, and avoiding it requires voter knowledge and cooperation.
In the last election voteforenvironment.ca was the go-to site for nearly half a million unique visitors who clicked in time and again to determine how they could mark their ballot to get an acceptable electoral outcome. If you were one of those 440,000 – congratulations, it worked! On the last day that public opinion polls were available, the VFE website model showed that the Conservatives were on track to win 152 seats, but on Monday, they were elected in 143. Our analysis shows thousands of visits to our advice regarding the candidate with the best chance to beat the Conservative in key ridings. (link here for 2008 analysis)
ProjectDemocracy.ca builds on voteforenvironment.ca. The stakes for our environment were very high in 2008, and remain at risk. Since then it has become even clearer that Harper is prepared to ignore the basic tenets of our democracy to keep in power and pursue his ideological agenda. For all those who care deeply about our democracy, stopping the Harper machine is job one.
Please check your riding, sign-up and spread the word (especially to people you may know in key ridings).
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April 13, 2011 | Categories: Alchemy, All About Me, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - East, Canada - Maritimes, Canada - North Pole, Canada - West, Canada Central (Ont/Que), Canadian Politics, Community, Education, Family, Helping Others, Leadership, Montreal, Project Democracy, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Lifted from: Randall’s blog.
In one week we will be celebrating our third Christmas here in the Field. Three Christmases. Two years. In one respect the time has flown by. I thought that the other day as I was lifting up a child that wasn’t even born when we moved here, and now he’s running around on his two little legs like he’s been doing it forever.
And in another respect, the single moments tick by at a slow pace. Life is slower. Less gets done because it takes more to get it done. But life is fuller. You are doing more, it just doesn’t look like it from the outside. That’s one of those field-isms that I’m working hard to make peace with. It just is.
We enjoy the quiet, the field people are great, and life, when we can just relax, is good. It is good and I could see us choosing to live in a context just like this, for a while anyway, in our own space and time. We like it here.
But I find myself loving so tentatively, so hesitantly. Somewhere inside maybe I don’t want to love it here too much because I know that one day down the road, we will have to move away from here. I don’t know these things for sure, but the truth is that I am here for the work, living in somebody else’s home and you just know that chances are that one day, five or ten or twenty years down the road you’re gonna have to pack up and move. And so some part of the mind says to love lightly because then it will hurt less when it’s time to go. The rational part steps in at that point and tries to grab the emotion by the scruff of the neck and drags it along as we go on our way, choosing to love people in spite of how we feel.
I was such a simple man so many years ago this very day when the church saw gifts and calling in me that they wanted to recognize and call forth and so the way they knew how to do that was to Ordain me to the ministry. And I more formally set aside my choices and a few dreams to obey the One who made me and shaped me and called me forward. Laying down stuff like choices where to live and what kind of work I would do. Finding greater value in following after and obeying the One in whom I found fulfillment, the One in whom I found eternity and the One who alone spoke the words of life.
I remember the internal struggle back at the beginning. The desire to do something worthwhile with my life, something that might count for something in the end. Even if it didn’t look like anything and even if there weren’t titles or recognition at the end of it all, if I could just know that my life had meant something in terms of someone changing their opinion of ministry or God or even just their neighbour, that would be enough. If I could be a part of redirecting people from moving away from God, to at least moving towards Him, then that would be a life lived well. That’s what I thought, and that’s what I still think my life is to be about.
But still this struggle to obey. It does get easier in some very real respects, but as I age the more I realize the cost of it. When I was young I told myself that obedience in this ministry-ward direction was probably only temporary and that I could give my best, my strongest, my most zealous years to ministry while I was young. As I age I see more clearly the cost and the value to me of giving up my agenda for this work that I do
Maybe all I’m trying to say is that even after all these years in ministry, I’m still surprised at how hard it can be sometimes to lay down my will. Yeah, that’s it. Sometimes I don’t want to do what God wants me to do and like a child I want to do what I want to do. I can be quite selfish sometimes.
So God calls me to a Field to love the Field People, and I’m scared because it could hurt and I don’t want it to hurt. Funny how even after years and years of ministry the basic struggles are still the same.
The comforting thing is that now I can admit that to myself.
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December 20, 2010 | Categories: Alchemy, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - West, Christianity, Church, Community, Education, Faith, Family, Friends, God, Helping Others, Human Kindness, Integrity, Life Lessons, Mennonite, Ministry, Pastoral Ministries, Relationships, Religion, Seasons, SOBRIETY, Spiritual Direction, Theology, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Did everyone watch Hope for Haiti last night? It ran across every television station on the map from all the Canadian feeds through all the US feeds. They say that in Canada we raised upwards of 2.5 million dollars in our first hour of the Canadian broadcast that started at 7 p.m. I read on another blog that Fox did not carry the telethon. Stupid bastards…
Not much going on here today. The weather in Montreal is mild. We are sitting at a balmy -7c and it is a little breezy. We haven’t seen significant snow in weeks, which is making this a very mild winter for us. But it usually doesn’t go downhill until February or March when we get slammed with the -20′s and lots of snow, but we shall see.
They are starting to freak out in Vancouver because of the lack of snow and the mild temperatures right now. With the Olympics just a couple of weeks away they have started acting on their contingency plans of bringing the snow down from the peaks to fill the runs for competition. It may get ugly if they don’t get any snow in the next week.
Meanwhile in California, God is washing everything away with days and days of rain. I heard on late night radio last night that George Noory predicted an earthquake in southern California in the next week. I don’t know about that, one of the determiners of impending earth shaking is the sudden disappearance of animals from homes. Massive pet and animal movements usually portend something not so good. When the animals start running away you better pay attention.
This afternoon I had to go do some supermarket safari … A quick in and out shop today for fruit and munchies. I’ve been trying to keep up my fresh fruit stocked in the fridge to eat between meals, I’ve been pretty successful at staving off junk food and crap. My numbers have been good as of late so I want to keep the trend going.
That’s about it from here at the moment. Yesterday we downloaded some new conversion programs and I captured a handful of videos from You Tube for my library, and we also found a good video to MP3 converter called Fetch MP3 – from FETCH MP3.COM … Maybe I will put up some video in the coming days. I would need to bump up my storage capability on the blog first…
More to come, stay tuned…
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January 23, 2010 | Categories: Alchemy, All About Me, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Catastophic Warnings, Community, EarthQuakes, God, Haiti, Montreal, Olympics, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Found on Randall’s Blog:
As I sit here in my office early on this Tuesday morning my window looks out towards the house and behind it the eastern sky is starting to lighten up. It’s quite beautiful and amazing.
The rhythms of life are intricately connected here on this earth, and they feel even more tied together here in this field. Winter is coming, so preparations are being made. Equipment is being placed into storage, poultry is being sent to market, cattle is being shipped or moved to winter homes. And the land is allowed to rest.
Rest. Hibernation. Winter brings that to us in different ways, at least here on the Canadian prairies. We are forced by the coming rhythm of winter, to change gears, downshift, conserve energy, rest. And that is a good thing.
I don’t know who we would be if we didn’t have winter. I suspect choosing to rest if it wasn’t forced upon us might be difficult. Probably even seen as a weakness. And if our neighbours didn’t rest, then probably neither would we.
So we are forced, by the plans of God and the grace of the land, to rest. And even if we inside ourselves don’t slow down, that’s our choice. Sometimes the land and the rhythms of life God has given us, are smarter than we are, and if we are teachable we will learn a thing or two about seasons of rest.
Learning to live well in that balance is a secret to life that not all people understand. Whether you are a high stakes banker living in the glass towers of the big city, or a farmer working the land. There are things about the balanced life that we need to learn, so that our lives too will be blessed in ways that give us life.
November 25, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - West, Community, Faith, Friends, God, Helping Others, Integrity, Leadership, Meditations, Mennonite, Ministry, Montreal, Spiritual Direction, Writers | Leave A Comment »
There is something about the Adidas Response shoe that I like. This would be the fourth pair added to my shoe collection, because let’s face it you can’t have too many pairs of shoes. They are, hands down, the most comfortable wrestling shoe on the market. I wear them to the gym and out and about.
The weather is changing here little by slowly. So tonight I started clearing out the closet of old clothing that we don’t wear any more, or have grown out of. I put a bunch of stuff up on Ebay. Hopefully all my items will sell and we will make a little money for Christmas shopping.
I have been thinking about the two papers I have yet to write for two of my classes. One for my Pastoral Ministry class which is based on what I would like to be doing for my practicum next term. The Monsignor had illuded to my work with my kids and suggested I write a paper geared towards the parents of LGBTQ kids, since many of my kids are gay. He thought that my insights would be of some assistance to parents. So I am working on an outline for that paper.
The second paper is on the Unity of Luke – Acts. I have yet to ecen begin work on this one. I need to get my ass over to the library and print out some articles from the database system.
I received from Randall, my interview questions for the seond paper that I was supposed to write for Pastoral Ministry. We had to pick someone in ministry to interview as part of our class work. The paper is seven pages long and deals with aspects and questions about ministry. I was pleased with the way it turned out. The only thing I added to the interview were Randall’s location and the name of his church. With a little flourish and edit and some type face changes, the paper basically wrote itself.
That is about it from here tonight. Maybe more later…
November 14, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, All About Me, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - West, Christianity, Church, Community, Education, Faith, Friends, Gay, God, Helping Others, Human Kindness, Integrity, Leadership, LGBTQ, Life Lessons, Ministry, Montreal, Relationships, Religion, Spiritual Direction, Theology, Tradition, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Randall and his family have arrived and are settling in to their new home, Here is the entry from tonight:
You can visit Randall’s Blog Here!
We arrived home tonight after supper with friends and an important shopping hour at Safeway in the big city. I was surprised at how warm it was, +10C out there tonight.
When we got home, I headed off into the darkness, to explore two flickering lights I saw the previous night in the cemetery. Unbelievable quiet, darkness, nothingness. I stood there soaking it up and it was renewing my spirit, or maybe better said, in the silence there was room for Him to renew my spirit. Either way, it was deep and true and good. I think this is going to be a good thing for us, and I am excited about it.
The cemetery lights turned out to be a clear red plastic rose that glowed with some internal light, and the other was a solar light someone else had placed near their loved ones grave.
The house continues to take shape and Lauralea is working hard at it. Occasionally someone will stop by the front door and say hi, which is nice. And today at two stores we met two different families from the church who knew us and introduced themselves to us. Also nice.
We have discovered that there are two phone lines on our house phone system. One is the church line and the other is the house line, so we need to learn when to answer which line. We are learning.
Everything out here seems designed to help us slow down. Something as simple as a 20 minute drive home from town forces us to slow down a bit. Thinking what to do with the garbage, or thinking through a need for light bulbs when you don’t live hear a store. The quiet. The walk to get the mail at the road. Its all forcing us to chill a bit, and maybe, just maybe, our souls will finally catch up to us.
But I do need a flashlight. It gets awful dark out here in the evening.
October 23, 2008 | Categories: Alberta, Alchemy, Bloggers, Canada, Canada - West, Christianity, Church, Community, Faith, Family, God, Integrity, Leadership, Ministry, Preachers, Relationships, Religion, Spiritual Direction, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Canada’s Carol Huynh celebrates after defeating Japan’s Chiharu Icho during their women’s 48kg gold medal match at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 16, 2008. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)
CBC Sports @ CBC.CA
Kayaker Adam van Koeverden’s silver-medal performance on Day 15 of the Beijing Games pushed Canada’s medal tally to 18 — three gold, nine silver, six bronze.
With no Canadians scheduled to compete Sunday when the Games close, Canada’s medal haul equals the total from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The Beijing Games marks the country’s third-best performance at the Olympics — Canada won 22 medals in 1996 in Atlanta and 44 in 1984 in Los Angeles, which were boycotted by the Soviet Union and several Eastern Bloc countries.
Here’s a look at all of Canada’s medal winners:
Canadian Adam van Koeverden won the silver medal in the K-1 500 on Saturday, finding some redemption after a dismal performance in the 1000 metres the day before.
“It was a great moment and the feeling is mostly relief,” he told CBC Sports. “Yesterday, I just didn’t feel like myself. Today, I was climbing back up, getting it back a little bit, but that last 200 still didn’t feel like me. It was a struggle, a well-fought struggle, and I’m really, really happy.”
Van Koeverden had a commanding lead for most of the race but, with about ten metres remaining, he was edged out by former training partner, Australian Ken Wallace, who clocked a time of one minute and 37.252 seconds.
Tim Brabants (1:37.671) of Great Britain claimed the bronze.
Karine Sergerie fought her way to Canada’s best-ever finish in taekwondo, winning silver in the 67-kilogram event.
The 23-year-old from Ste-Catherine, Que., lost a close gold-medal bout to the defending and reigning world champion, South Korea’s Kyungseon Hwang.
The bronze medallist at the 2004 Olympic Games, the South Korean beat Sergerie 2-1, scoring her final point in the last 30 seconds.
“The gold medal was the dream for me. I’m happy that I have the silver and I hope my country is proud of me, but this silver just pushes me even harder to come back and win that gold medal,” Sergerie told CBC.
Canadian Thomas Hall won a bronze medal in the C-1 1,000 canoe race, moving from fourth to third in the final 200 metres. He finished in a time of three minutes and 53.653 seconds.
Hall caught Vadim Menkov of Uzbekistan in the final 200 metres and finished about half a second ahead of him to reach the podium.
“I’m ecstatic. I don’t know what else to say,” Hall told CBC Sports. “I knew I had the ability but I didn’t know if I really had it on today. I’m really thrilled and I couldn’t be happier.
Equestrian Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., won the gold medal in the Olympic individual show-jumping competition.
Riding a horse named Hickstead, the Canadian defeated Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in a jump-off to earn Canada’s third gold medal of the Beijing Games.
The victory was sweet redemption for Lamaze, who missed out on the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Sydney Games due to positive drug tests. He’s also a member of the Canadian team that won silver in the team jump competition in China.
“When you give people chances and allow them to come back from their mistakes, great things happen and I’m a perfect example that you shouldn’t give up on people,” an emotional Lamaze told CBC Sports.
Canadian diver Emilie Heymans turned in her best-ever individual Olympic performance, capturing a silver medal.
Heymans, who hails from St-Lambert, Que., secured her second-place standing with a stellar fifth and final dive at the National Aquatics Center, for a total score of 437.05.
“I’m just really happy. It’s hard work for my entire life that came through now,” Heymans told CBC Sports after matching fellow Canadian Alexandre Despatie’s showing in men’s springboard. “I trained really hard for this and I’m just really happy that I finally get a medal in my individual event.
Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won a bronze medal in the 100-metre hurdles final, a race won by Dawn Harper of the United States.
Harper was timed in 12.54 seconds, with Sally McLellan of Australia taking silver.
Lopes-Schliep, of Whitby, Ont., ran in 12.64 seconds, the same time as McLellan, but officials ruled that McLellan was ahead by mere thousandths of a second.
Alexandre Despatie won Canada’s third medal on Day 11, finishing second in the men’s three-metre springboard diving competition.
Despatie, a 23-year-old native of Laval, Que., finished with a total score of 536.65 points from six dives to claim the silver medal.
He also took the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games.
“My silver medal is gold to me because of all the bad things that happened to me this year,” said Despatie. “I was able to get it together.”
Canada’s Jason Burnett won silver in men’s trampoline.
Burnett, 21, was the second finalist on the trampoline and earned a score of 40.70 for his routine, which featured a degree of difficulty of 16.8 – the highest in the final.
The three-time Canadian champion from Toronto told the CBC that playing it safe with an easier routine wasn’t even a consideration.
“No, definitely not,” Burnett said. “This is the Olympics. This is it. Why play it safe?
“You might as well put it all on the line and go for broke, and it paid off today with a silver medal.”
Canada’s Simon Whitfield captured the silver medal in the men’s triathlon.
Whitfield, who lives in Victoria, mounted a furious rally to briefly take the lead late in the closing sprint before being overtaken over the final stretch by Germany’s Jan Frodeno.
“I kind of fought my way on there, and I thought there’s no time like the present,” Whitfield said. “I tried to make it a battle of pure willpower. I gave it everything I had.”
Canada earned a silver in the team jumping competition, giving veteran rider Ian Millar his first medal in his ninth Olympic appearance.
Canada was tied with the United States with 20 penalty points at the Hong Kong equestrian venue, but three American riders went through the course perfectly in a jump-off.
Millar, 61, led Canada into the tiebreaker round with a perfect ride on In Style. Millar was due third in the jump-off, but the Americans ensured he didn’t have a chance to go again.
“The support we’ve had all year, everybody’s recognized that we had a shot at this thing, such enthusiasm, such support, and that’s a big motivator to us,” Millar told CBC Sports. “We all say thank you very much to those who support it and those who believe in us.”
Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, Ont., and Eric Lamaze of Schombeg, Ont., also competed for Canada. Henselwood rode Special Ed, with Lamaze on Hickstead.
Canada’s Karen Cockburn won the silver medal in the women’s trampoline, her third Olympic medal in the event.
Cockburn, of Stouffville, Ont., earned a score of 37.00 for her routine, which had a degree of difficulty of 14.4, to earn Canada its eighth medal overall of the Games.
“It feels amazing,” Cockburn told the CBC. “I was just honoured to be here competing in my third Games for Canada and to come out again on the podium with a silver medal… I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, but I’m really happy.”
The men’s eight rowing team finished the job they started four years ago by winning a gold medal.
Canada led wire-to-wire in the final race at Beijing’s Shunyi Olympic rowing park. Taking the silver was Great Britain and taking the bronze was the U.S.
Canada finished in a time of five minutes, 23.89 seconds.
“We never stopped, we just kept on pushing, every stroke,” said coxswain Brian Price.
Canadian women’s lightweight double sculls rowing pair Melanie Kok and Tracy Cameron clinched the bronze medal in a photo finish.
Kok and Cameron finished in six minutes, 56.68 seconds, behind Kirsten van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands, who won the gold, and Sanna Sten and Minna Niemenen of Finland, who took silver.
The race came to such a close finish that the result was in doubt for several seconds before the Canadians realized they had beaten the Germans by 0.04 seconds.
“We had to find a little something extra to get beyond them,” Cameron told the CBC. “Just close your eyes and go.”
The Canadian lightweight men’s four won Canada’s second rowing bronze.
The crew of Iain Brambell, Jon Beare, Mike Lewis and Liam Parsons finished in five minutes, 50.09 seconds at Shunyi Olympic rowing park.
Canada used a late surge to grab a medal, and almost moved into second place in the final leg
Teenager Ryan Cochrane won Canada’s first Olympic swimming medal since 2000, taking bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle.
The 19-year-old from Victoria finished third in a time of 14 minutes 42.69 seconds.
Fourth-place finisher Yuriy Prilukov mounted a furious campaign for the bronze over the final few laps. But the Russian was held off at the end by Cochrane, who had battled Hackett for first place for much of the race.
“I knew that [Prilukov] could catch me because he did in the 400 [freestyle],” Cochrane told CBC Sports. “I knew I just had to give my all.”
Canadian wrestler Tonya Verbeek won the second Olympic medal of her career and Canada’s third of the Beijing Games on Day 8.
The Beamsville, Ont., native won bronze in the 55-kilogram weight class, beating Ida-Theres Nerell of Sweden by a score of 1-0, 1-0 in one of two bronze medal matches.
She was smiling after the match, despite finishing one medal position below her 2004 Athens result. “I won a match to get the bronze and you’re losing a match to get the silver,” Verbeek said. “So it is a different feeling.”
Wrestler Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., won Canada’s first gold medal on Day 8.
The 27-year-old captured gold in the 48-kilogram freestyle weight class over Japan’s Chiharu Icho by a score of 4-0 and 2-1.
“This is unbelievable,” she told CBC Sports following the medal ceremony. “I knew I wanted to go in with supreme confidence in my abilities, and not doubting myself one second. That’s what I did, and I wrestled the match of my life, and it was awesome.”
The Canadian men’s rowing pair Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder ended Canada’s Olympic medal drought on Day 8.
The pair won a silver medal on the water at Shunyi Olympic rowing park on Saturday, the first Canadians to reach the medal podium in Beijing.
“It was a tough race, we tried to ignore the fact that we haven’t had a medal yet as a country, and just focus on our two [kilometres],” Calder told CBC Sports after the race.
“We can come off the water knowing we had a great race,” said Frandsen.
August 23, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Integrity, Leadership, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Pride, Wrestling, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Adam van Koeverden dominated his semifinal heat in the K-1 500, though he didn’t post the fastest overall time. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
CBC Sports @ CBC.CA
Adam van Koeverden won the silver medal in the K-1 500, finding some redemption after a dismal performance in the 1000 on Friday.
Heading into the Games, he was considered a medal favourite in this race because he was the defending Olympic and world champion, and had won all three races on the World Cup circuit this season.
But in the hours before the 500 final, there was some concern he wouldn’t be in top form for the big race; he suffered a crushing defeat on Friday, finishing eighth in a field of nine paddlers in the 1000.
“I just didn’t have it,” a distraught van Koeverden told CBC Sports after that race. “It’s a hell of a time not to have it. It’s the worst 1000 metres I have put together in years.”
Van Koeverden was one of the strongest medal contenders heading into that race. He won two gold medals and one bronze in three World Cup races this season. He also claimed the bronze in the 1000 at the 2004 Athens Games as well as three silvers (2003, 2005, 2007) at world championships.
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Adam van Koeverden defends his Olympic title in the final of the 500-metre kayak singles on Saturday, while two other teams of Canadian flatwater paddlers will try for medals in their events.
Canada has entries in three of the six finals at the Shunyi course on Saturday, the last day of paddling competition in Beijing. All races are at the 500-metre distance.
Richard Dober and Andrew Willows are set to compete in the kayak doubles final, while Andrew Russell and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny race in the canoe doubles.
For van Koeverden, who served as Canada’s flag bearer at the Olympic opening ceremony, Saturday’s race presents a great chance to redeem himself.
The 26-year-old was considered a strong medal contender in Friday’s K-1 1,000, the event in which he took bronze at the 2004 Athens Games.
Instead, he finished eighth in a field of nine paddlers.
“I just didn’t have it,” a distraught van Koeverden told CBC Sports after the race. “It’s a hell of a time not to have it. It’s the worst 1000 metres I have put together in years.”
He paused for a moment then looked directly at the CBC television camera recording the interview. “I’m sorry,” he said, addressing viewers. “I don’t know what to say, I’m pretty speechless right now.”
Van Koeverden returns to the water as the prohibitive favourite in Saturday’s K-1 500 final (3:30 a.m. ET). The Oakville, Ont., native is the reigning world champion at his favourite distance, and is unbeaten in World Cup competition this season.
Van Koeverden looked impressive in Thursday’s semifinals, crossing the finish line in one minute 42.438 seconds, a boat-length ahead of his nearest competitior in the first heat.
Dober, Willows win convincingly
Croatian Stjepan Janic (1.41.689) posted the fastest run overall in winning the third heat. Steven Ferguson of New Zealand took the second heat in 1:42.238.
Times were relatively slow because the athletes had to paddle into a stiff wind.
“It was business as you said,” said van Koeverden, who in Tuesday’s heats broke his own world record with a time of 1:35.554. “It was tough. A headwind is always hard.
“It felt a little more like a final than the heat did, that’s for sure. We’re not going to see fast times today. But that is just the nature of the wind.”
Dober, from Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Willows, from Gananoque, Ont., look to have a shot at a medal in Saturday’s K-2 500 final (4:35 a.m. ET). The pair won their semifinal in convincing fashion Thursday, growing stronger towards the end and edging out the Polish boat that led the bulk of the race by 11-100ths of a second.
Russell, from Dartmouth, N.S., and Beauchesne-Sevigny, from Trois Rivières, Que., needed a dramatic finish to scrape into the final of the C-2 500 (5:05 a.m. ET). Coming on strong over the final half of Thursday’s semifinal, the Canadians crossed third to claim the last berth in the medal race.
Three other 500-metre paddling finals are on tap for Saturday. No Canadians are entered in the men’s canoe singles, women’s kayak singles, or women’s kayak doubles.
August 23, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Leadership, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Adam van Koeverden, seen here in June, started his bid for Olympic gold on Monday. (Getty Images)
CBC Sports @ CBC.CA
Canadian Adam van Koeverden advanced to the final of the men’s K-1 1000 metres by winning his heat on Monday.
Van Koeverden, one of the most celebrated Canadians at these Games, led wire to wire in the race, finishing in three minutes, 29.622 seconds.
Van Koeverden, who was the Canadian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony in Beijing, is a strong medal contender in the 1000. He won a bronze in this event at the 2004 Athens Games as well as three silvers (2003, 2005, 2007) at world championships.
He has been strong in this distance this season, winning two golds and one bronze in three World Cup races.
Ben Fouhy of New Zealand, who set the world record in this distance (3:24.495) in 2006, finished third in van Koeverden’s heat with a time of 3:33.037.
Van Koeverden’s main rivals in this distance won their heats, too. Briton Tim Brabants (3:27.828) took the first and Norwegian Eirik Veraas Larsen (3:29.043) won the third.
They will compete against van Koeverden in the final on Friday.
August 18, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Leadership, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Sports, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Canada’s Ryan Cochrane, from Victoria, B.C., celebrates after taking the bronze medal in the men’s 1500-metre freestyle Sunday. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
Canada’s swimmers leave Beijing with their first Olympic medal in eight years. And things are looking up for 2012.
What a difference a third-place finish can make.
Before teenager Ryan Cochrane swam to a surprise bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle on Sunday, the final day of competition at Beijing’s National Aquatics Centre, opinion on the performance of the Canadian team had been divided.
Before Sunday, if you were to ask a set of Canadians for their thoughts on how their country’s swim team was faring at the Summer Olympics, you’d probably get a split answer: “Great job,” half would’ve said. “What a disappointment,” the rest would’ve grumbled.
Cochrane’s bronze — Canada’s first in Olympic swimming since 2000, and first in the gruelling 1,500 free since 1920 — swayed many observers from the glass-half-empty camp to the glass-half full side. But by some measures, Canadian swimmers were already enjoying a fine competition in China before the 19-year-old Victorian climbed the medal stand.
Plus, things are looking up for the future.
For those upset with Canada winning “only” one medal in Beijing, it’s instructive to note that, leading up to the Olympics, few observers expected much from the Canucks. Sports Illustrated, for example, predicted a shutout for Canada, while CBCSports.ca envisioned just a single medal: bronze in the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay.
That team ended up fifth, and Mike Brown of Perth, Ont., later narrowly missed the podium. Brown placed fourth in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke, an imperceptible 9-100ths of a second behind bronze medallist Hugues Duboscq of France.
“I gave it my best,” Brown, 24, told CBC Sports. “Winning a medal at the Olympic Games is one of the hardest things you can do. There are a lot of people in this world, and you’ve got to give respect to our athletes who are doing their best out here.”
‘We belong on this stage’
Partly because Brown and the relay team had the misfortune of racing when Canada’s Olympic team was still searching for its first medal, they were coloured by some as failures. But their performances weren’t much out of line with recent data: the relay squad was third at the most recent world championships, while Brown was seventh in the 200 back.
“It’s hard to beat [the Canadian team] up too much,” said CBC Swimming analyst Mark Tewksbury, a gold medallist in 1992 in Barcelona. “They’re not converting to medals, but they’re certainly not swimming badly.”
Indeed, solid performances were everywhere in Beijing, where Canadians broke 26 national records. That number is skewed by the fact that top times fell like autumn leaves at the Water Cube (the National Aquatics Center), where high-tech racing suits and an ultra-fast pool have conspired to all but erase the data in world record books.
A more trustworthy total is the 10 finals Canadian swimmers qualified for in Beijing, easily eclipsing the three reached at the 2004 Olympics.
“In Athens we were bystanders watching a great swim meet,” Brian Johns, a member of the fifth-place men’s relay team, told CBC Sports. “This time it’s an even better swim meet and we have people in the finals.
“Everybody’s racing, everybody’s competing, we’re having a great meet, and we’re showing that we belong on this stage.”
Right direction
That’s not to say there weren’t letdowns, most notably the failure of Mission, B.C.’s Brent Hayden to make the final of the 100-metre freestyle despite being the co-world champion in the event.
And while there’s plenty of work to do over the next four years, Canadian swimming appears to be pointed in the right direction for the 2012 London Games.
Julia Wilkinson, 21, of Stratford, Ont., figures to build on the three finals (200 IM, 4×100 free, 4×100 medley) she reached in her first Olympics. Other youngsters like Erica Morningstar, 19, of Regina, and Joel Greenshields, 20, of Airdrie, Alta., have shown potential.
And Cochrane is already an Olympic medallist at 19, with plenty of time for improvement.
“We’ve had Canadian records across the board,” Swimming Canada boss Pierre Lafontaine told the Canadian Press.
“If you are saying that’s not improvement, then I don’t know what you are talking about. When you break Canadian records, there is improvement.”
August 17, 2008 | Categories: Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Sports, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Teenager Ryan Cochrane won Canada’s first swimming medal of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, taking bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle.
The 19-year-old from Victoria finished third in a time of 14 minutes, 42.69 seconds.
Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli took the gold in 14:40.84, while world-record holder Grant Hackett of Australia got the silver in 14:41.53.
Fourth-place finisher Yuriy Prilukov mounted a furious charge over the final few laps, but was held off at the end by Cochrane, who led the race at the halfway mark.
It was Canada’s first Olympic swimming medal since Curtis Myden captured bronze in the 400 individual medley in 2000 in Sydney.
The last time Canada won an Olympic medal in the 1,500 free was in 1920, when George Vernot took silver in Antwerp.
Cochrane’s bronze on the final day of swimming competition at the National Aquatics Centre was the fourth medal collected by Canada over the last two days after a seven-day drought to open the Beijing Games.
Previously, Canada’s best swimming finish had been Mike Brown’s fourth-place showing in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke on Thursday.
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Ryan Cochrane won Canada’s first swimming medal of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, taking bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle.
The 19-year-old from Victoria finished behind Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli and Australia’s Grant Hackett.
It was Canada’s first medal in the 1,500 free since George Vernot took silver in 1920 in Antwerp.
August 16, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Leadership, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Sports, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Canada’s Carol Huynh celebrates her gold medal on the shoulders of coach Leigh Vierling, left. (Ed Wray/Associated Press)
CBC Sports @ CBC.CA
Finally!
Canada’s medal drought came to an end on Day 8 of the Beijing Games, with Canadian athletes winning three medals on Saturday.
Wrestler Carol Huynh, a 27-year-old native of Hazelton, B.C., won Canada’s first gold medal of the Games, winning the 48-kilogram freestyle weight class final over Japan’s Chiharu Icho by a score of 4-0 and 2-1.
“This is unbelievable,” she told CBC Sports following the medal ceremony. “I knew I wanted to go in with supreme confidence in my abilities, and not doubting myself one second. That’s what I did, and I wrestled the match of my life, and it was awesome.”
The men’s rowing pair of Dave Calder, from Victoria, and Scott Frandsen, from Kelowna, B.C., started the day by winning Canada’s first medal of the Olympics, claiming the silver on the water at Shunyi Olympic rowing park in Beijing.
“It was a tough race; we tried to ignore the fact that we haven’t had a medal yet as a country, and just focus on our two [kilometres],” Calder told CBC Sports after the race.
“We can come off the water knowing we had a great race,” said Frandsen.
Wrestler Tonya Verbeek won the second Olympic medal of her career and Canada’s third of the day.
The Beamsville, Ont., native won bronze in the 55-kilogram weight class, beating Ida-Theres Nerell of Sweden by a score of 1-0, 1-0 in one of two bronze medal matches.
Verbeek, 31, won silver at the 2004 Athens Summer Games, the first to include women’s freestyle wrestling.
She was smiling after the match, despite finishing one medal position below her 2004 Athens result. “I won a match to get the bronze and you’re losing a match to get the silver,” Verbeek said. “So it is a different feeling.”
More medals for Canada could be on the way, as three Canadians advanced to women’s and men’s trampoline finals next week.
Rosannagh MacLennan of King City, Ont., finished third and Karen Cockburn of Toronto fourth in the women’s preliminary round, while Toronto’s Jason Burnett finished seventh among the men.
The women’s final is Monday followed by the men Tuesday.
Blythe Hartley of Vancouver, B.C., qualified for the final of the women’s three-metre springboard, finishing 10th in Saturday’s semifinal with a total of 324.6 points from six dives.
The top 12 advanced to Sunday’s final. Jennifer Abel of Montreal just missed the cut, finishing 13th in 296.1.
In other notable Canadian results:
- The Canadian baseball team lost 5-4 to the United States. With a 1-3 record, Canada must win its final three preliminary round contests to have any hope of reaching the semifinals.
- Zach Bell of Watson Lake, Yukon, was seventh in the men’s points cycling race.
- The men’s water polo team is now winless in four games after suffering a 13-7 loss to Greece.
- Carline Muir of Toronto advanced to Sunday’s semifinals in the women’s 400 metres. The 20-year-old ran a personal best 51.55 seconds to finish third in her heat and move on.
- Jessica Zelinka of London, Ont., finished sixth overall in the women’s heptathlon with 6,490 points, and had personal-best performances in four of the seven events which comprise the competition
- Kelsie Hendry of Saskatoon failed to advance out of the qualifying round in the women’s pole vault. She cleared 4.3 metres, but missed on all three attempts at 4.4.
August 16, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Medals, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Writers | Leave A Comment »
Canada’s Carol Huynh, of Hazelton, B.C., celebrates her semi-final win over Olga Smirnova, of Kazakhstan, in the 48kg weight class of women’s wrestling at the Beijing Olympics in Beijing, China, Saturday, Aug.16, 2008. Huynh will compete in the finals later in the afternoon Saturday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
CAROL WINS GOLD IN BEIJING. CANADA’S FIRST GOLD MEDAL OF THESE OLYMPICS…
WELL DONE – I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT TO SEE THIS MATCH …They played the national anthem and I sobbed like a little girl… tissues please…
Wrestler Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., has won Canada’s first gold of the Beijing Olympics.
The 27-year-old captured gold on Day 8 of the Games in the 48-kilogram freestyle weight class over Japan’s Chiharu Icho by a score of 4-0 and 2-1.
Huynh threw her hands in the air and covered her mouth after winning Canada’s first gold medal, before being paraded around the stadium by her coaches while holding the Canadian flag.
Canada’s first Olympic medal came from rowers David Calder and Scott Frandsen, but it was Huynh who secured the country’s first, cracking the gold medal final earlier in the day Saturday.
Huynh earned her way to the gold medal bout after defeating Kazakhstan’s Tatyana Bakatyuk in the semifinal match by a score of 1-0, 4-0.
August 16, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Beijing Olympics, Canada, Canada - West, Canadian Sports, Community, Leadership, Olympic Athletes, Olympics, Pride, Wrestling, Writers | Leave A Comment »
I have always admired the way others see the world and what it represents to them and their children. So I am cross posting an excerpt from Cooper’s Blog so that you can share in the wonder and beauty of a father and his son. Read the entire post at Cooper’s Corridor.
A discussion between father and son, Dario 6 years old…
“…I am not a religious man. Nor am I a Christian. I am, however, spiritual. My own personal beliefs are perhaps a mixture of First Nations and Celtic druidism … the keen bond between nature and creation, the power of protection, the presence of mentors and healers, the use of music, storytelling, dance, and art as expressions of life, appreciation for the beauty and power of the sea, symbols such as light and darkness, a sacred relationship with trees, fire, stones, and other elements of nature, and an ability to move back and forth between this world and an “otherworld”.
When your heart and mind are open, very real portals exist to the unknown. Sweating, which is something I do yearly, is part of my spirituality, and helps me to reconnect my internal and external being as I experience what the Celtics referred to as the “thin places”, that wonderful sphere, unbounded by time and space, where all is possible.
I told Dario that heaven was the most beautiful place that each person could imagine in their mind, and that it was different for everyone. I explained the soul as “the part of you that makes you, YOU … that makes your mind think and your heart love.” I had also explained to him, that when you get very old, the parts of your body slowly stop working and you die and become a part of the earth again, and this is what happens to every living thing.”
March 12, 2008 | Categories: Alchemy, Bloggers, Canada - Totem stories, Canada - West, Canada Nature, Community, Education, Faith, Family, Friends, Gay, Helping Others, Human Kindness, Life Lessons, mysticism, Relationships, Religion, Sacred Music, Silence, Spiritual Direction, Spirituality, Tradition, Writers | Leave A Comment »
From: CBC.ca
RCMP officers involved in the fatal Taser takedown of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver International Airport should be prosecuted for their “excessively brutal and unjustified” actions, a spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry said.
“No attempts were made to use other means to solve the situation, but from the very start the toughest means available to the police was used,” Robert Szaniawski told the Associated Press.
“We want the matter clarified and we want those guilty named and prosecuted.”
An eyewitness’s video capturing Robert Dziekanski’s death during an Oct. 14 confrontation with four RCMP officers was released Wednesday and has garnered international attention from millions of viewers.
The officers’ actions have prompted widespread condemnation, including criticism from other law enforcement officials, who have questioned the need for a Taser under the circumstances shown in the video.
The 41-year-old Dziekanski, who spoke no English, died shortly after the officers stunned him at least twice as he behaved strangely in a secure airport waiting lounge. He had spent hours at the airport waiting in vain to meet his mother, who had left thinking he had missed his flight.
Currently there are four probes underway into Dziekanski’s death. The B.C. coroner, the RCMP, the public complaints commissioner for the RCMP and the Vancouver Airport Authority are all conducting their own investigations.
Szaniawski’s comments came a day after Piotr Ogrodzinski, Poland’s ambassador to Canada, said his country has invited his Canadian counterpart in Warsaw to meet Polish officials on Monday to discuss the case.
Ogrodzinski told CBC News the Polish embassy has been flooded with e-mails and phone calls from Canadians expressing sympathy and outrage over what happened to Dziekanski.
November 16, 2007 | Categories: Canada - West, CBC, Civil Rights, Writers | 2 Comments »
This “Killing” was a terrible tragedy.
The airport customs people who decided NOT to go look for Robert in the waiting area are to blame for the first people in this case. There was a gross miscommunication between airport employees and the mother waiting on her son who was coming to Canada to start a new life.
If he was wandering around in the waiting area and nobody noticed it – where was airport security and did anyone see him on cctv in the airport security room? Then the RCMP come after hours as Robert was probably hungry, angry, and lost, and as the interview stated he was probably a little delusional not having food or water for so long.
The RCMP is not going to explain their way out of this, this “Killing” was a GROSS issue of police brutality and the blatant misuse of power on a defenseless man. I have seen the video and listened to the news reports, and it is my perception that they “Shot first” and I don’t think they even ventured to ask questions second.
Firstly, the airport customs employees and secondly the RCMP involved with this “Killing” must be held accountable for their GROSS and BLATANT actions in this case. Tasers should be taken OUT of the hands of law enforcement, since we have seen more than one killing at the hands of PUNCHY cops who shoot first and ask questions later.
This was a terrible tragedy that only paints the RCMP into another corner where they cannot escape and should be held accountable and punished, there is blood on the hands of the RCMP.
There is no way out of this situation except prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, even if these men were law enforcement. They abused their position and they killed a man. Therefore, they should pay the price for gross abuse of power.
CBC News
An eyewitness’s video recording of a man dying after being stunned with a Taser by police on Oct. 14 at Vancouver International Airport has been released to the public.
The 10-minute video recording clearly shows four RCMP officers talking to Robert Dziekanski while he is standing with his back to a counter and with his arms lowered by his sides, but his hands are not visible.
About 25 seconds after police enter the secure area where he is, there is a loud crack that sounds like a Taser shot, followed by Dziekanski screaming and convulsing as he stumbles and falls to the floor.
Another loud crack can be heard as an officer appears to fire one more Taser shot into Dziekanski.
As the officers kneel on top of Dziekanski and handcuff him, he continues to scream and convulse on the floor.
One officer is heard to say, “Hit him again. Hit him again,” and there is another loud cracking sound.
Police have said only two Taser shots were fired, but a witness said she heard up to four Taser shots.
ecomes still and silent.
Shortly after, the officers appear to be checking his condition and one officer is heard to say, “code red.”
The video ends shortly after.
Minutes later, ambulance attendants arrived but their efforts to revive Dziekanski were unsuccessful and he was declared dead.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dale Carr said no one can judge what happened to Dziekanski by just watching the video.
“It’s just one piece of evidence, one person’s view. There are many people that we have spoken to,” RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dale Carr said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“What I urge is that those watching the video, take note of that. Put what they’ve seen aside for the time being. And wait to hear the totality of the evidence at the time of the inquest,” Carr said.
But retired superintendent Ron Foyle, a 33-year veteran of the Vancouver police who saw the video tape, said he didn’t know “why it ever became a police incident.”
“It didn’t seem that he made any threatening gestures towards them,” Foyle said.
Much of the video was shot through the glass walls that separate the international arrivals lounge from a secure area outside the Canada Customs exit.
The video was recorded in three segments. The first segment shows Dziekanski before police arrive.
He is clearly agitated, yelling in Polish, and appears to be sweating. He can be seen taking office chairs and putting them in front of the security doors. He then picks up a small table, which he holds, while a woman in the arrivals lounge calmly speaks to him in apparent effort to calm him down.
In the second segment, Dziekanski picks up a computer and throws it to the ground. Three airport personnel arrive and block the exit from the secure area, but Dziekanski retreats inside and does not threaten them.
Officers arrive in lounge
Then four RCMP officers arrive in the lounge. Someone can be heard mentioning the word Tasers.
Someone replies, “Yes,” as the officers approach the security doors.
Police have said repeatedly that there were only three RCMP officers involved in the incident, but the video shows four men in RCMP uniforms.
People in the lounge can be heard clearly telling the police Dziekanski speaks no English, only Russian. His mother later said he only spoke Polish.
Police enter the secure area with no problems and can be seen with Dziekanski standing calmly talking with officers. They appear to direct him to stand against a wall, which he does.
As he is standing there, one of the officers shoots him with a Taser.
RCMP officers have also said police did not use pepper spray because of the large number of people at the airport at the time. But the video shows Dziekanski standing alone with the four officers in an otherwise empty area, which is separated from the public area by a thick glass wall.
Pritchard hired lawyer
Paul Pritchard shot the video with his digital camera, but afterward he surrendered it to police for their investigation on a promise that they would return it within 48 hours.
The next day, police told Pritchard they would not be returning the recording as promised.
Carr previously stated investigators kept the video longer than they anticipated in order to protect the integrity of the police investigation while they interviewed witnesses.
Saying he feared a coverup by police, Pritchard then engaged a lawyer to start legal proceedings to reclaim the recording. Police returned the recording to him on Wednesday.
Dziekanski, 40, died on Oct. 14, hours after he arrived at Vancouver International Airport. He was on his way to Kamloops to live with his mother in the B.C. Interior.
The Polish immigrant arrived from Europe the previous day around 4 p.m., but for some unknown reason he did not clear customs until after midnight.
Dziekanski’s mother had already returned home to Kamloops after waiting for several hours at the airport. She claims airport officials offered her no help locating her son.
The RCMP’s integrated homicide investigation team, the B.C. coroner’s service, the Vancouver International Airport Authority and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP are each conducting their own investigations into the incident.
November 15, 2007 | Categories: Canada, Canada - West, CBC, Writers | Leave A Comment »
“This is a liminal time here in the north … the threshold between autumn and winter. The feast of Samhain (Halloween) is a perfect expression of this, falling as it does at the time of year when the veil between the seasonal worlds are thin and magic is afoot. I think such liminal spaces allow us to step out of the ordinary world for a while, and into the rich realm of the archetypal, the strange, and the creative.”
Read the rest of the post [Here - Coopers Corridor]
October 22, 2007 | Categories: Adoption, Bloggers, Canada - West, Community, Environment, Family, Friends, Gay, Human Kindness, LGBTQ, Life Lessons, Meditations, mysticism, Nature, Photography, Relationships, Seasons, Spirituality, Tradition, Writers | 2 Comments »
All right, Inspiration… Chad Fox …
Have you ever felt free? In recovery we call these moments of clarity. The blessed feeling of freedom – working through issues in sobriety are truly spiritual experiences. This is one of those days that you wish lasted longer than they do. The harvest moon is upon us tonight, I saw it walking home from class tonight.
The past few days have been days of thought, prayer and transformation. over the years in sobriety I have always maintained that if you need anything – that you take your need to a meeting. If you have a problem, or you need anything, ANYTHING, or you need advice, then take it to a meeting. I’ve actively worked my faith and my sobriety – not like I don’t on a daily basis.
I pray, and I use the tools given me and afforded me by crucial people in my life today. I went to those people as of late to receive spiritual counseling, prayer, the sacraments and guidance and advice. Then afterwards, I attended mass and I left my burden in the Cathedral and I walked home with a friend.
Last night I did some writing, and then I prayed and set off to bed. I went to bed with a clear conscience. I slept in this morning because I felt like it. I love that, the ability to make a decision about sleep because I can and I do.
I spent the afternoon reading for class and I went to class tonight, and when I walked into the classroom, I had an overwhelming feeling of freedom. It is like the world shifted on its axis. It may just be the moon cycle and I am in an up direction, I don’t know.
I sat down in class and had an amazing conversation about my home town, because my teacher, spent the weekend there at a conference, literally across the street from where I lived before moving here. They call that synchronicity.
There are no coincidences…
One of my friends came in and once again, synchronicity… We had a moment of connection which just made me feel that all was well in the world. THEN we got to see an episode from The West Wing – “Take this Sabbath Day” which was from season one of the drama.
It was the story of an issue over the death penalty and what happens when an issue is brought to the highest office in the land. I laughed, I wept and I giggled. We all did, the class had a very spirited discussion about ethics and morality. Which I got!!
I have surrounded myself with people that advise me, comfort me, support me and guide me and tonight, it was like I walked into the classroom and a blanket was wrapped around me – which is an odd sensation to occur at school. But I felt that sensation tonight. I did the right thing, the next right thing, I was true to myself and to God and I walked the walk and it paid off in spiritual dividends.
I guess that I have learned to apply the things I learn in class to life, I know where to bring my problems and issues, and I know who to go to to talk things out so that I am not making a decision on my own without introspection or review. But that is my method. It is tried and true. This was a gift that I was given at school – that if I needed to bounce anything off someone in particular, that I was afforded that ability.
I did some reading tonight, of my favorite blogs, as usual every evening. If you get a chance go over and visit Cooper’s Corridor, as he has some wonderful news to share with you. Needless to say, this young man is a trailblazer in more ways than one. And we are so very proud of him and his family. I think that Cooper’s Corridor is a blog that should be mandatory reading for everyone.
Secondly, my adopted son, Rob from Vancouver at “My Life” is another must read on a daily basis, just because he is dear to me and I’ve followed him for a number of years now and he writes such amazing stuff. So go check him out as well.
Thirdly, another read that I enjoy is “Real Euphoria” just because it is a beautiful blog and his posts are insightful, sometimes spiritual and real. Not that all of the blogs are real, it just seems that real euphoria has some very interesting insights and he writes evocative posts. Not to mention that the photography is wonderful too…
Ok that is three… go read them.
Premier week continues – I got to see Private Practice with Kate Walsh and now C.S.I. New York. Tomorrow brings C.S.I. [Vegas] and Grey’s Anatomy. Tomorrow I will be posting the T.R. Knight “love fest” photo of the week so stay tuned.
Campaign is tomorrow … join us, write – and share what you think should be stopped. I am sure what I have to offer will blow you away so, stay tuned…
September 26, 2007 | Categories: A.A., All About Me, Canada - West, Canada Nature, Catholicism, Christ Church Cathedral, Christianity, Church, Education, Faith, Family, Friends, Gay, God, Human Kindness, LGBTQ, Life Lessons, Meditations, Montreal, mysticism, Pastoral Ministries, Photography, Prayers, Relationships, Religion, SOBRIETY, Television, Theology, Writers | 1 Comment »
