Raise Your Voice

Finally!  The Voices for Bulembu campaign website is live.  My favourite part?  The trailer by that hot director.

Peaking

I've always been a fan of radio.  When I was 12 I would ride the bus from the outskirts of Winnipeg to my high school downtown.  Wrapped in parka head-to-toe, I would clutch my yellow Sony sports walkman (you know you had one too) and listen to the radio for the 45 minute drive.

I quickly found out that my growing knowledge of popular music was my gateway to conversations with boys, like I needed a reason to listen to the radio anyways.  I listened everyday and loved it.  Somehow it made me feel independent.

Then I worked for a non-profit that produced daily radio shows.  I produced a few of them myself and found out that the radio was still alive in kicking in the face of new media.  In fact, women are the most common listeners of radio.  It is the only kind of media they can easily use while doing other tasks.

Vancouver has disappointed me for a long time with its radio.  X-FM 104.9 was my fave until it disappeared into elevator-music-land.   We've been desolate for the past number of years.  There's some recent light - The Peak 100.5.  Not X-FM, but getting a bit closer.  

Hope

Here is a video of my man talking to 24 hours about his new film--Rwanda: Hope Rises--premiering tonight at the Vancity Theatre: 

http://www.vancouver.24hrs.ca/videos

Home

"Large Americano?"

"Kelly!"

"How are you doing today?"

I've lived in the same neighbourhood for the past three years.  I've probably had fleeting moments of feeling at home--ones that felt real at the time.  But I've just realized that I really feel at home when I'm known.  All of the statements above were said to me just now, at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning when I walked in my scrubby morning clothes to grab a coffee.  All within the space of 15 minutes.

It feels good.

Art to Live In

Tonight I went to David Wilson's "Transitions" exhibition at the Atelier Gallery.  This is art I could buy.

Or live in.

In fact I do.  Much of his cityscape work includes views of South Granville--my neighbourhood for the past three years.

I love this art.  Because it's personal, because it's my style and because it has a lot of red in it.  I would have bought every piece there had I the money.  Perhaps that takes care of my Christmas list?

Living Differently

"What do you think your life will be like 10 years from now?"

That question made me shudder last night at the thought of being almost 40 at that time.  Suddenly it feels like time is speeding faster than it once was and I'm grasping at it, trying to slow it down.  

At 30 my parents already had two kids, a mortgage, two cars and a dog.  My life couldn't be farther from that.  I have my job, friends, my man, a car that is about to die and my apartment. And I like it.  Something in me thinks I can avoid the cliches of life, the inevitable musts and responsibilities that define adulthood.  But I fear it isn't possible.

I watch movies about love dying after time, of people regretting the paths they've chosen, and of mistakes made despite best efforts to avoid them.  And I think, "Nah, that won't be me.  That destiny is for other, more unconscious, dumb people."  

While that is the very definition of pride, I still want to and think I can live differently.  I want to defy the pull of the white picket fenced house and go for the "more" of life that I know must exist.  I want to find out what living on the edge is like.  I want to hold on to God because it's all I can trust.  I want to do what isn't expected to find out if life really is better in it's other forms. 

Or is this just being naive and irresponsible?  Maybe.  Maybe modern life is actually the best way to live.  Just like democracy is the best form of government, even though it still has its inherent flaws.  

All I know is that I feel like challenging everything.  Challenging the classic path of growing up, getting hitched, buying a house, having kids, being involved in church, watching womens afternoon talk shows, going on a diet and buying anti-aging products.  

So the question is:  Can we avoid the expectations of adulthood?  And, if we can, is that lifestyle better than typical adulthood?