Earth Month Youth Forum

I’ll be attending this Youth Forum and so should you! While I don’t often think of myself as a ‘youth*’, and am a bit nervous about feeling old, decrepit & cynical in a room full of young & idealist students, I’m pretty excited for the line-up of workshops and keynote presentations.  Meet other young people, connect with some environmental organizations, hear about good work being done, AND gain weekend admission to the ROM; all for the low cost of attending ($20-25**).

I’m hoping to gain some insights into the youth psyche. My work would like to do a better job of engaging young people, and while I have some ideas, it’d be neat to have some youth focused organizations backing my ideas up.

Hope I see you there! <3 J

*I’m just squeezing into the age bracket of youth participant, but am now thinking I should have registered as an environmental practitioner. Though really, the line between those distinctions should be rather fluid; we’re trying to create young environmental leaders after all!

**They’re looking for volunteers for the event, who would get free admission.  Che-che-che-check it out!

To obscured moments

I could try and describe this
This coordinates, compass points, the quick step of contour lines
Slip into these karst cave holes in our memories of moments
That occurred here
And here

But a forest of metaphors only obscures the trees
So lie down now
Belly spooned to dull stone spine
The collected seductive sedation of sediments

–  Excerpt from Tanis  Rideout’s Reclamation

I like her beginning. I could try to describe this.  (Whatever this is.) But my metaphors only obscure the trees. Or in this case, the Lake. And the sky. 

I was looking for poetry about Lake Ontario (there is not enough. If you know of any, please direct me to it!), and came across the name Tanis Rideout (poet). I could only find this video, of her performing the piece “Reclamation” on Sarah Harmer’s (singer-songwriter) “Escarpment Blues” tour/documentary film. “Escarpment Blues” promoted the protection of the Niagara Escarpment and protested proposed quarry development.  (I’m only learning about this now, so I’ll have to do more research, and look up Rideout’s and Harmer’s other work!)