What the hell indeed is going on in Fort McMurray, you might ask. How did I get to spend time talking to Malcolm Gladwell, and Bill Cosby? What is bringing these people so far north? Well, what is bringing them is the Northern Insights speaker series from the Fort McMurray Public Library - but I think what is really drawing them in is the narrative of this community.

Alberta's oilsands hub is known for its rising home prices and high-paying jobs. According to a Wood Buffalo Economic Update Report, the average ho...

What would you do if you looked out the window of your home and saw a black bear looking at you from up in your tree? An Abasand man had to come up...

I remember a day in September, 2001, that shifted my world. I watched it unfold in front of me, two planes crashing into two towers, and all the pain and grief and disbelief that followed. I remember watching my daughter, just two days before her second birthday, and thinking that even though she was far too young to realize it her world had forever been altered.

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - Two men from northern Alberta are facing charges of animal cruelty against several sled dogs.Mounties received a neglect compla...

On occasion I like to believe that people can change their behaviour. I suppose I am an optimist in that regard, at least until I am proven wrong. This past week I was deeply troubled by the report about some recent statistics as they do not bode well for our ability to change our behaviour. Those statistics? The traffic infraction numbers for February to March 27 2013 on Highways 63, 881, and 69.

In my life as a community blogger I occasionally get emails and messages from those curious about where I live. Sometimes they come from those who have been to northern Alberta, and sometimes they come from people from countries far away, wondering if this is the place they have been looking for to change their fortunes.

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - A school board in northern Alberta has rejected a proposal that would have seen it adopt a four-day week.The Fort McMurray Publ...

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - A school board in northern Alberta is to vote tonight on whether to adopt a four-day week.The Fort McMurray Public School Distr...

EDMONTON - Alberta's New Democrats say a proposal to cram five teaching days into four each week at public schools in Fort McMurray is proof positive ...

There are topics I wish I didn't have to write about, because I wish they didn't touch our community. I don't feel it is right to ignore them when they are happening, though, because it is only through frank and open dialogue that we can resolve some issues, and educate on others. It can be troubling to write about them, but it is also honest, and I think the most important thing we can do in this community is to be honest, and not only about what is great about us. We also need to be honest about the problems we encounter, too.

I present to you the YMM Twitter Top Twelve of 2012 - and yes, there are twelve categories but more than twelve accounts, so deal with it. I never was good at making decisions, people. These are in random order as I have chosen to not select one as the "top" account overall - there is just no way for me to do that because I happen to think these ones would all deserve top spot. And if you don't like it? Make your own damn list ;)

For me 2012 was a very special year, and 2013 promises to be even better - because this past year a very special young man brought his hopes and dreams into my life, and they are ones that are just beginning to fully be realized.

It is with a heavy heart that I sit to write this, because it was inspired by a recent incident in Calgary. In that incident a homeless man was eating in a local restaurant, having had a meal paid for by others. The story is a bit murky, but apparently he became a bit disruptive, and an employee at the restaurant asked him to leave. While I understand asking any disruptive patron to leave it was the words apparently used that troubles me. The employee told him to leave because he was dirty, smelly, and "looked offensive".

I woke up this morning and checked into Twitter to discover some very self-congratulatory tweets coming out of the Alberta Legislature. The tweets weren't really about passing good legislation or having a good debate, though. No, they were about the heroism of politicians staying up all night long to debate that legislation and govern our province. And my response? I'm not impressed by that "heroism".

It is the sign I have come to dread in this community. It is the one that has all too often greeted me when I walked into the office of my family doctor, the sign that states: "As of date such-and-such this office will close and Doctor So-and-so will no longer be practicing in Fort McMurray. Please ask for referrals to another family physician." I despise this sign.

Ever watch one of those shows that make fun of Americans and what they think of Canadians? I mean, ha ha, they think we all live in igloos, or ha ha, they think we all drive snowmobiles in July. Except I find I am not doing much ha-ha-ing when I realize that my fellow Canadians - and Albertans - know so little about my region. I find myself saying not "ha ha" but rather "what the hell?"

Why should their money go to pay for my highway? Well, why should my tax dollars go to pay for their hospitals? Why should my tax dollars pay for anything in their region or community? Because that's just how it works, folks. My tax dollars might be allocated to your regional needs just as your tax dollars might be to mine. But there is a far larger reason at work here. Where EXACTLY do people in this province think the money in our economy is coming from? Who is the economic driver of this province? What is the economic engine?

You see, there is a gender imbalance in this region. There are a lot of men compared to women, and many women come here with their significant others, so single women can be a bit more rare (although they do exist, as I know several). This means men might have to work harder to impress those women, although some, like Steve from site, have a tendency to lose focus on what really matters when it comes to interpersonal relationships (and it isn't how many twenties you have in your wallet, incidentally).

It's gotten to the point where people in this region are wary of journalists. I've had some visiting journalists comment to me that they were surprised at how reluctant people have been to speak to them, how they have expressed alarm at the idea of speaking to a journalist from the outside media. And my only response is "Well, if somebody came to your house, visited you, ate dinner with you, laughed with you, talked with you, and then went away and wrote a story about how filthy your house is would you throw open the doors to speak to them again?"

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - A youth has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated assaulted for an attack on a 31-year-old woman and a young ch...

Sometimes reading the national press makes me giggle. From those news stories one would get the impression the residents of my community fight about things like lack of parking, high rental costs, and our shortage of women. The funny thing is that we certainly have boomtown issues of just that nature, and other ones, too. But that isn't what gets Fort McMurray residents all hot and bothered. What gets people going here are issues that arise over where this community is headed - and one of those issues raised it's head recently over a little body of water in downtown Fort McMurray, a body of water called the Snye.

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - Occupational Health and Safety is investigating after a worker was found dead at Athabasca Water Treatment Plant No. 1 in Fort ...