The conversation went a little like this:

Me: I met Malcolm Gladwell last week.

Them: What? So cool, I didn't know you were in New York! Did you just run into him or something?

Me: No, I didn't meet him in New York.

Them: Oh, you were in Toronto then?...

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...

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...

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...

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...

You know, I love my friend Kathleen over at Kikki Planet. She and I get along like a house on fire, two feisty redheads of a certain age and similar sense of humour.

The two of us tend to have some raucous good times on Twitter, often centred around provincial...

The end of an old year and the beginning of a new one is often a time for reflection. We pause and think about people and events that have affected us over the past twelve months, and we consider what the New Year may hold. We wonder what lies ahead,...

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...

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...

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...

I love visitors to my region. I really do, because I love the chance to show them around and let them in on some amazing things going on here. I like talking to them about my community and our strengths and our weaknesses, our triumphs and our challenges. I really...

Just recently I wrote in this blog about the highway that is the lifeline for my region. That highway has come to dominate many things, including the local press, local conversations in local coffee shops, local politics, and local thoughts. It is a highway that garnered national media attention, particularly...

About a year ago some YouTube videos began circulating in Fort McMurray, and I think it would be fair to say they went viral. The spread was rapid and infectious, and soon the entire region (and beyond) was buzzing about some guy named Steve who drove truck at site and...

The title of this post isn't entirely accurate. Fort McMurray doesn't really hate ALL journalists, but there are a few that have made their way onto our list of most-hated visitors. It isn't that they are journalists, or that that they wrote stories about us, or even that they wrote...

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...

Many things are written and said about the oil sands, and one of the allegations frequently made is that the oil derived from the naturally occurring bitumen is "dirty", tainted with the stain of environmental destruction. While that debate rages on one rarely hears about what happens to some of...

There is a great deal of debate in this province over a little northern highway. This highway has become infamous in recent months, a subject of media focus and government attention. The highway, of course, is Highway 63, the route that links Fort McMurray with the rest of the world.

There are those who think of Edmonton Alberta as far north, a place where in winter the cold winds blow and crisp snow blankets the city. And then there are those who head 4.5 hours further north, to a tiny blip on the map, a blip that has attracted media...