Kendra Reddy – Blueprints and Strategies!

Posted on April 25, 2010 by John Horn

Who are you?

Kendra Reddy. Passionate about empowering and motivating myself and others to own and be proud of who we are, while continuing to challenge and stretch ourselves (and each other) to grow and learn – both personally and professionally. I am driving my own existence and I am always looking for opportunities to help others drive theirs. I believe that everything we ever want in life is just outside of our comfort zones. Let’s go for it!

I am a career consultant who has a lot to say about a lot of things, including talent and career management, attraction, engagement, and retention strategies, social media, and personal branding. I am an advocate for Gen X & Y, and am missing the gene that says “thou shalt dread public speaking”. Pass me my soapbox and microphone please.

I believe in authenticity, action, integrity, and trust. I try to be an all around good person who lives by the Platinum Rule: treat

others as they want to be treated. I have a bit of a looney-bird sense of humour, and if anyone is going to crack a one-liner or laugh out loud (and loudly)…it’s probably me. *insert big grin here*

What do you do for fun?

Right now, I am training to run my first half marathon. Believe it or not, learning to run 21 km is actually fun. Honestly.

I love to throw parties, feed people, and introduce good people to good people. I love the culture and buzz of big cities and I try to spend as much time as possible in NYC (I’m running my half marathon there). I rollerskate and bike ride, and am always on the hunt for a good music remix or re-edit. The other joy in my life is taking my mini-da

schund to the park to watch him chase squirrels. Have you ever seen a wiener dog run? Hilarious.

What is your favourite community and why?

My neighbourhood is the St.Lawrence Market area in Toronto and I love it because it is a shining example of a blended society. It combines all incomes, ages, family units, ethnicities, and pets together seamlessly without judgment or division. Everyone takes pride in our community and treats each other with respect and courtesy. On one block you will see co-op housing next to a high end furniture store, next to a neighbourhood pub, next to a community centre that the entire community uses. True diversity.

What is your superpower?

My superpower is linguistics (aka The Gift of Gab). I also have the ability to move and multi-task incredibly fast.

How do you use it to build community?

I help people by facilitating conversation and giving others the language and confidence they need to connect with others. Whether it’s helping people understand how to articulate who they are, what they do best, what they want to do next, or more of; I enjoy seeing people become comfortable sharing their “stories” with each other and building genuine relationships on all levels.

My quick thinking and acting nature allows me to help people create a strategy and then execute it. In plain English this translates into “set ‘em up, and knock ‘em down”. A vision without a plan can turn into an hallucination, and a plan without action can turn into paralysis. I try to use my energy, enthusiasm, and penchant for checking of boxes to help others achieve the results they aim for.

My Three Favourite Things about Kendra are…

1. Gift of the Gab. Not only is Kendra a talker, but she’s a great talker. And, being a talker myself, it was incredibly easy to find an immediate connection with this masterful storyteller.

2. Polite Persistence. This is a necessary skill in the world of business and, especially, consulting. I can tell that Kendra is a woman who gets what she wants because she possesses the unique combination of unflappable kindness and confident assertiveness. People just want to be a part of her world.

3. Maximizing. Through Blueprint Strategies, Kendra makes people better. She can take a group or an individual that is doing just fine and make them powerful performers. And that’s a beautiful thing!

Peanut Butter and Tuna: Sometimes gimmicks do the trick

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Michelle Burtnyk-Horn

There are a lot of really bad things in the world that deserve our attention. A lot of causes that we could be dedicating our time. Charities that we could be donating our money. Change that we could be advocating for. At a recent BCAMA event focused on sustainable marketing, a speaker from the Vancouver-based marketing firm Octopus Strategies discussed how with such an array of causes and corresponding public appeals, passion alone isn’t enough to drive your personal cause – something more is needed to engage the public. But what exactly is this “something more”? Is there a formula where you can plunk in your cause, your goal, and your audience and the perfect engagement tactic will spit out? Unfortunately, this is not the case (well – not yet at least – socially responsible mathematicians get to work!)

Recent scientific findings (and no, these are not related to most of the “recent findings” cited by John Horn on the popularity of Johnism) have shown that us humans have a physiological response to inequality – namely, the human brain, upon confronting an inequitable situation, reacts more positively and strongly when those in an inequitable or unfair situation are given more equitable or fair treatment. We all know this pretty innately – nobody likes to see others suffer. But the breadth of appeals that confront us can be overwhelming, and when we don’t actually see or experience these inequalities in our daily lives, it can be difficult to become engaged. Stats don’t lie, as they say, but they certainly make it easy to remain far removed.

An amazing public awareness campaign in Toronto recently caught my eye, and made me think about some possible solutions to these frighteningly overwhelming questions about engaging the masses. The Stop Community Food Centre has just wrapped up it’s Do the Math Campaign, which aimed to raise awareness about the dismally inadequate social assistance program in Ontario. I encourage you all to take a moment, go to the site, and Do the Math. Trust me, when you do you’ll find that a person attempting to live off of social assistance does not receive enough income to live with health and dignity.

This campaign caught my eye because it engaged Torontonians in a clever and unique way towards a very specific goal. Popular and influential Torontonians, including Naomi Klein, city councilor Joe Miheyc and Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown, stepped up to the (mostly empty) plate to raise awareness about how difficult it is for a person living on social assistance to live in health and with dignity. Relying on food hampers and drop-in lunches for a week, they blogged about their experiences living off drastically limited choices and encouraged others to become involved. This campaign succeeded in getting people involved because it used prominent public figures as a bridge between worlds – between the haves and have-nots – that is seldom crossed. It took advantage of technology to reach young adults, a particularly hard group to reach. It sucked readers in with curiosity and kept them there with personal stories from people they respected and trusted. It made people think … would I be able to survive if I only had $30.00 – $60.00/month for all of the food I consume? If I had to plan and stick to a budget so tight that every single penny was accounted for (check out this blog by a Vancouver Island resident living on a very limited budge for more on this)? Participants and organizers alike were quick to recognize that in no way was the experience of these participants anything like those of someone actually living in poverty, but statistics can only go so far and gimmicks and theatre often work to engage otherwise desensitized citizens.

There are a lot of friends and family in my life who work tirelessly for causes, who ooze passion from their pores and work every day to make this world a better place. Finding this balance between passion and clever tactics is never easy, but so necessary in order to make the changes we hope to see a reality.

Cycling Clubs

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Jim Clifford

Cycling is more fun in a group. Not only do groups make road biking less work, as cyclists take turns breaking the wind, they also make riding feel safer, as car drivers easily see a pack of cyclists. For this reason, cyclists tend to form clubs and participate in organized group rides. Here in Toronto there are lots of options, from the informal and very fast Doughnut Ride on weekend mornings, to the dozens of weekly rides for all skill levels, organized by the Toronto Bicycling Network (TBN) who claim to be Toronto’s friendliest bike club. This does not include the numerous competitive cycling teams and group rides organized by bike shops around the city.

Last year I began riding with the TBN and was amazed by the large number of riders that came together every Sunday for their long rides up into the hills of the Oak Ridges Moraine north of Toronto. Each ride I did with them in April and May last year pushed me beyond my limits, ending with a grueling Century. Sadly, I hurt myself running and then broke a rib, before traveling to Europe for six weeks of research and conferences, so my connection with this cycling community fell apart before the height of the cycling season. This year I’ve convinced Katie to join the network and I hope to ride with them weekly until the fall.

On Sunday we ventured out on the Sunday ride to Bolton and we really enjoyed a great Spring day of riding. If nothing else it’s great to be one of many spandex clad people swarming into the Bolton Tim Hortons for lunch. The TBN leads countless activities throughout the year and they are a great example of community building in a big city.

TBN is only one of many exciting things going on in Toronto’s cycling community. Here is a quick overview of a few of the others I’ve come across.

BikingToronto is one of the best sources of information on what is going on. One feature is a round up of weekly events, including everything from rides to workshops to public meetings where decisions will be made about bike lanes.
The Toronto Cyclists Union aims to bring a strong, unified voice to Toronto cyclists. It is a grassroots advocate aiming to make cycling a legitimate, safe and accessible form of transportation in Toronto.
Dandyhorse Magazine is a great publication that can be picked up for free from local bike shops. It has a refreshing urban focus compared to many of the mainstream cycling magazines.
The Toronto Cycling Map which the City of Toronto puts out each year, is a map of the entire city with bike lanes and bike routes highlighted. It is great to have on hand to find fast and safe routes where out for a ride.
Ride the City is a website where you can find cycling directions between destinations (kind of like Google Maps) with 3 route options based on directness versus safety of the route.

What about your city? Are there any great clubs, unions, blogs, magazines or resources that are helping to build the cycling community? If so, please share the links.

Murmur

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Jim Clifford

Murmur is a grassroots memory and audio archive project that began in Toronto and has since spread to other cities in Canada and around the world. The technology is simple and it relies on the now ubiquitous cell phone. Murmur records stories about neighbourhoods from long-term residences and then installs an Ear Sign where the story takes place. When you come across a Murmur Ear you call the number on the sign and then enter a code to hear the story.

In the early days they used clandestine methods to attach their “Ears” to telephone poles in the dark of the night, quietly inserting traces of the city’s past into today’s landscapes. Soon they found you draw less attention installing the signs in day light and that most cities and local Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) support and even fund their work. In recent years their local accomplishments led to international attention and they have been adding cities from around the world, including Edinburgh and São Paulo, to their list of completed projects.

This project, however, is particularly important in its hometown, Toronto, as the city does not have a history museum. The city recently launched a virtual online museum, but until the city constructs a physical location for this museum, I’d rather go for a nice walk and learn about a neighborhood from people’s stories. At this time Murmur has recorded stories about eight of Toronto great neighbourhoods, from the Junction in the West to Little India in the east. Most of the recordings are memories from residents, unfiltered by academic or public historians. In other cases, like Fort York, where the history goes well beyond living memory, Murmur recorded interviews with the city archaeologist and Fort York employees.

In Vancouver, where you do have a museum, there is only one Murmur neighbourhood at the moment: Chinatown. For readers in Vancouver, I suggest you watch out for the Murmur Ears the next time you are in Chinatown and take the time to listen to a few stories. If you like what you hear, maybe you should lobby your city councillors and local BIAs to fund Murmur to add a few of the wonderful neighbourhoods highlighted on the Daily Gumboot during the lead up to the Olympics.

If you don’t have a Murmur neighbourhood nearby or you are among the minority of humans who don’t have a cell phone, but do have high-speed internet, you can explore a neighbourhood’s stories through the Murmur websites. They have developed a distinctive map style to host their stories and a simple mouse click allows you to listen to a whole range of stories from the comfort of your computer chair.

Bring Food Home: Connecting Ontario Farm and Food Networks

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Katie Burns

So by writing this post I am breaking my (self imposed) rule of not writing two food related posts in a row. But late last week I attended an inspiring conference, “Bring Food Home“, organized by Sustain Ontario: the alliance for healthy food and farming. I discovered so much community building going on that I couldn’t resist sharing the highlights and I promise my next post will reinstate the balance.

Sustain Ontario is a province-wide, cross-sectoral alliance that promotes healthy food and farming. The organization is only a year old and was inspired by the UK’s Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming and the Metcalf Foundation‘s work on exploring opportunities for collaborative, cross-sectoral work related to food and agriculture (see Food Connects Us All).

Sustain Ontario is an umbrella organization that aims to bringing together all of the players in the food system from farm to fork and beyond. They are working to build a community between the players in the food system to encourage collaboration and idea sharing with the end goal of a food system that is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. They spent their first year talking to many of the players in the food system one-on-one. The conference Bring Food Home was the first time that Sustain Ontario tried to bring these players together.

As I already said, the event was inspiring. There are so many people and organizations passionate about food and there is so much going on in Ontario that wasn’t going on just a few years ago. Here are a few of my highlights from the conference of the food system/community building activities.

Planting Urban Ontario: An Urban Agriculture Network

There are so many types of urban agriculture, including back/front yard gardens, community gardens, rooftop gardens, urban hens, yard-sharing programs, SPIN farming and urban farms. Sustain Ontario initiated a network during the conference to help “urban aggies” learn from each other. A half day session was held just for introductions since so much is going on all over Ontario. The next steps for the new network is to use Sustain Ontario’s website to continue the conversation and to share ideas from across the province.

Food Policy Councils/Community-based Food System Planning:

There are groups springing up all over Ontario that are bringing together key sectors and interests from their food systems to examine the big picture of the food system and identify the changes that are needed. The Toronto Food Policy Council has been around since the 1990s, but there are also a lot of new players on the scene that have shared their models including the Waterloo Region Foodsystem Roundtable, JustFood (Ottawa), Halton Food Council, Toronto Youth Food Policy Council, and Sudbury Food Connections Network. These groups shared both how they went about building community within the food system and how they are using the food system to build community.

Community Food Centres:

The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto (see my favourite communities in my profile) is now working to spread the Community Food Centre model throughout Ontario (also with help from the Metcalf Foundation). A Community Food Centre goes beyond the food bank model to deliver a range of food security programming in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community and challenges inequality. They started as one of Canada’s first local food banks and now also have community kitchens, community gardens, cooking classes, drop-in meals, peri-natal support, outdoor bake ovens, food markets and community advocacy campaigns. They also run the Green Barn, a sustainable food production and education centre. I think their model has the potential to transform food banks across the province and can’t wait to see their pilot projects.

Diversity and the Food System:

One of the most immediate observations from the conference was the demographic of those of us that showed up. We were primarily white and women. But there was an immediate recognition of the need to bring more players to the table and to find ways to be more representative of the residents of Ontario in both the next conference and in the programs that we are delivering in our own communities. During the Action Planning session at the end of the conference a working group was formed, that I’m a part of, which will focus on diversity in the food system so that we can expand our new community to be more inclusive and representative.

Harpaul Sambhi

Posted on February 14, 2010 by John Horn

1.Who are you?

In short – batman. Kidding aside, I am a recent graduate (2009) from the University of Waterloo that finally finished the 5 year program for Electrical Engineering. Most of my co-op terms were doing entrepreneurial ventures. I think of myself as a very approachable guy who likes to help people with their careers and simply network. Careerify is my second venture which I founded in 2008 while in fourth year. I often skipped classes to network with the business community in my area (which was often Toronto), went off to places like London, Barcelona and Rome when I wasn’t supposed to (thank god I had a great lab partner!) and enjoys everything I do, because if you don’t, life tends to suck when you’re always complaining.

2. What do you do for fun?

Just ran a half-marathon last year, training for a full-marathon. Love to grill as the BBQ is my best-friend in the summer. Like to spend time with my friends, play hockey and golf occasionally, and will be getting back into martial arts to complete my blackbelt (currently two levels away). I also categorize my work as being fun, as I meet with great people, try to see how I can connect my network together, and writing a book with Thomson-Reuters on social networks and HR.

3. What is your favourite community and why?

If you mean community as a place – definitely Toronto, although I have my eyes set on the Big Apple. I love the fast paced environment of any big city as it motivates me to do my best. The Go-go-go environment speeds up my heart, and is one of the reasons I want to get out of bed.

4. What is your superpower?

“Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime.”

When I am myself my superpowers is connecting and helping people.

5. How do you use it to build community?

To build any community, you need to fight off evil and the villains that usually come with the territory. In this case, evil is deemed as unemployment, and procrastination. Unemployment can be defeated by connecting two people and allowing true networking to come into play as people know other people. This can go a long way for those looking for their first employment opportunity and are having a difficult time fighting off the evil unemployment villain with tools like job-boards and newspaper ads. Careerify is a new tool that zaps energy out of evil pretty quickly, as it speeds the process.

Tune in tomorrow — same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

My three favourite things about Harpaul are…

1. The Power of Relationships. A former student of mine introduced Harpaul and I because “it’s always great to bring good people together.” We’re all connectors, methinks. It’s just a beautiful thing when people who can learn from each other get connected. And who doesn’t want to be connected to Batman?

2. Innovation and Future Trends. Many human resources professionals, career development practitioners, educators, and recruiters believe that the traditional “job board” – be it paper or online – will cease to exist by 2020. By then, the experts say, employers will find, hire and retain employees through social networking. Harpaul’s business, Careerify, combines the concepts of LinkedIn, e-Harmony and Visa Rewards to personalize the employer-employee matching in the world of work. And he’s ahead of his time.

3. He’s an Entrepreneur. As the Daily Gumboot’s readers (ie. my parents) know, I’m a huge fan of entrepreneurship. I’m also a huge fan of people finding the most meaningful path into the world of work, where, believe it or not, we will spend most of our lives. Did you know that 80% of North Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs? Cures for such malaise are the entrepreneurial spirit and finding work that you really, really, really love doing; and mediums like Careerify are what bring such qualities together.

As told by John Horn…

Walking with your Life

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Katie Burns

As of today, there have been 14 pedestrian fatalities so far this month in the GTA. Eight of those have been in Toronto. To put this in context, in 2009 there were 56 pedestrian deaths in the GTA and 31 in Toronto. In both cases we’re already at about 25% of last year’s total.

And that has a lot of us in the GTA, particularly those of us who walk more than we drive, are looking for explanations. As I’ve read through newspapers over the past couple of weeks, I’ve found the list of factors that have been suggested is long and varied.

Clifford Photo

Inattentiveness – One that has been brought up repeatedly with both pedestrians and drivers being distracted by technology (cellphones, iPods, etc.) and hectic lifestyles that are causing us to rush (driving too fast, jaywalking, etc.)

Suburban Design – last year the majority of pedestrian fatalities happened in the outer boroughs (Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough) of Toronto, not the downtown core. The range of explanations include speeding, wide streets, poor pedestrian infrastructure (i.e. sidewalks, crosswalks)

Traffic and Walk Lights – the newer countdown lights were suggested as a contributing cause since pedestrians and motorists will try to rush through the intersection. And apparently the assumption is the pedestrians will cross at a speed of 3.6 km/h

Seniors – it turns out that the number of seniors killed in traffic accidents is on the rise. About 60 per cent of pedestrian fatalities last year were among those over 65, compared with 44 per cent the previous year. (Globe and Mail:

Visibility – This has been mentioned by many and includes everything from less daylight, to the mild weather, to impaired vision from salt-covered windshields, to dark clothing worn by pedestrians, to pedestrians limiting their visibility with hood and hats. Apparently in previous years the majority of pedestrian fatalities have occurred between October and January

The question is, with all this speculation about causes why hasn’t there been more discussion about solutions? Of all the coverage, most of it argues that everyone just needs to be more careful. I’ve seen only a few that try to take it from a search for explanation to seeking real solutions. There are a few exceptions, including Dylan Reid of Spacing Magazine who throws out a few solutions and Christopher Hume of the Toronto Star who pushes for solutions and rethinking our cities. Hopefully more will come in the weeks and months when the tragedies of the last couple of weeks percolates through our think tanks and policy makers.

In the meantime, I’m going to share a couple of great websites that I’ve come across that are linking how cities are planned, walkability (a real word at least in municipal planning departments) and our quality of life.

8-80 Cities

This organization has a simple philosophy for making our communities safer for pedestrians and cyclists:

Step 1: Think of a child that you love and care for who is approximately 8 years of age. This could be a child, grandchild, sister, brother, cousin etc.
Step 2: Think of an adult, approximately 80 years of age who you love and care for. This could be a parent, grandparent, friend etc.
Step 3: Ask yourself: Would you send that 8 year old along with the 80 year old on a walk, or a bike ride on that infrastructure? If you would, then it is safe enough, if you would not, then it is not safe enough.

Too often, when street designs are prepared, the car is at the centre of the plan and this organization is doing some amazing work to help us rethink this approach.

Walk 21

This organization does are great job linking why walkability is so integral to a socially sustainable community – including inclusivity, reduced crime, safety and spaces for people. And they are working with Canada Walks, an organization already doing work on walkability in Ontario including Active and Safe Routes to School.

Walk Score

This is a resource that a colleague of mine contributed to when he was working as a consultant. It provides a score to neighbourhoods in the States (and it has been embraced by some in real estate as a way to market homes).

Melissa Benner – Edulicious

Featured

Posted on January 24, 2010 by John Horn

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to an ongoing segment here at The Daily Gumboot. It’s called “Get to Know Your Community” and, basically, it goes like this: each and every Sunday we will profile someone from a community somewhere. Each person is asked the same five questions (see below as well as in the “Ideas from Everywhere” page). At the end of the profile, the Gumbooteer (member of this blog’s Editorial Board) who found the person will list their three favourite things about the highlighted community member. Savvy?

Here are some ideas from everywhere. Here is one way that we try to build community. Have fun with it!

Melissa Benner's recipe for awesomeness: food, education sprinkled with full-frontal-enthusiasm! It's delicious and nutricious.

1. Who are you?

Hello, my name is Melissa Benner. I like to strike a balance of subtle contradictions: farm girl and city slicker; humanities scholar and foodie/enviro career; erotica workshop facilitator and Buddhist practioner; eco-aware and occasionally slipping up.

In Toronto, the second question after your name is “How do you/what do you do?” So, after an MA in Communications in Ottawa, and then travel and work overseas, I’ve returned to my farm-girl roots— but transplanted them to big city Toronto. Over the last couple years, I’ve delved into T.O’s local food and agriculture movement through various work and volunteer positions.

Currently, I am coordinating an online “Sustainable Local Food” certificate for St. Lawrence College in Kingston. I’m also proud of the new course I developed for the winter 2010 semester: Between Farm and Table: Local Food Business and Co-ops.

At the same time, I’m helping to build the West End Food Co-op (www.westendfood.coop) in the Roncesvalles/Parkdale neighbourhoods of Toronto. I’m now working as the co-op’s Community Engagement Coordinator. I feel lucky to be involved in such an innovative project!

2. What do you do for fun?

Meditate at the Zen Centre up the street. It’s fun! (Well, okay, that wouldn’t be the first descriptor that comes to mind, but it is an important part of my life).

Drink copious amounts of (Ontario VQA of course) red wine with friends.

Cook with love and care and as much unprocessed, local ingredients as possible. My two newest hits are white bean kale soup, and gyoza (Japanese dumplings).

Biking in -25 weather. There is a cold thrill of accomplishment when you whiz past pedestrians and passengers, and they look at you with both incredulity and awe.

3. What is your favourite community and why?

Growing up in a small town farming community meant I had a taste of what tight-knit meant, but lacked the kindred spirits. After many years of wandering, I have settled here in Toronto’s amazing West End neighbourhood (I live halfway between High Park and the famous Roncesvalles village).

Here’s one moment where I fell in love with my community.

The West End Food co-op runs a Monday farmer’s market in Sorauren Park, and, this past summer, many community members came to celebrate Canada Day with us. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon, with everyone bringing picnic blankets, a light heart and time to spare. We listened and danced to lively bluegrass and Mexican music (by local musicians), shared delicious food, and camaraderie. It was a simple experience, but really meaningful for me.

4. What is your superpower?

Full-frontal Enthusiasm

5. How do you use it to build community?

Well, I find that enthusiasm, warmth, and excitement evoke the same in others. If you can get people truly fired up about an idea, magic happens.

My three favourite things about Melissa Benner are…

1. Full frontal enthusiasm. I’ve seen it first hand. It’s intense and inclusive. Totally edutaining. And utterly contagious. I highly recommend embracing Melissa’s excitement for your next project.

2. Education as a vehicle of change. Melissa and I met during a service learning conference in Victoria, BC. In about 17 minutes she helped three of my students outline a strategy and action plan that would help lobby the college to transform some of its food service to local organic products. Perhaps this is also why she recently told all her friends about the Daily Gumboot – you know, because this blog is an educational vehicle of change…we also run on local organic hemp seed oil…

3. Her local organic nature. Whether it’s in the classroom or in the West End Food Co-op, Melissa is all about supporting farmers, their markets and urban food security of the most delicious sort. And, hey, she had me at “biking in -25 weather” and “drinking copious amounts of wine with friends.”

…as told by John Horn

–

Masthead photo courtesy of bobistraveling

The Gumboot Community Expands!

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Kurt Heinrich

Deutschland ist wunderbar!

Yes, that’s right. Just like Starbucks, we’re expanding exponentially. That means more voices and more time for John and I to hit the pavement and promote the Gumboot’s unique offering in the wilderness of the world wide web (isn’t alliteration wonderful). In fact, in the coming weeks watch out for more and more new contributors coming online (and if you want to be a contributor – make sure to email us!).

In the meantime, I’d like to belatedly introduce our newest correspondents, Peter Joerdell, Jim Clifford, and Katie Burns. Our newest correspondents hail from Germany and Toronto expanding the Gumboot community from Vancouver to a global network of community correspondents.

Peter’s a nifty fellow. I’ve known him for years – since my young formative years at Bishop’s University. I’ll always remember sampling the apple wine (at least I think that’s what it was) – which felt like rocket fuel going down – as Peter and I along with three other Germans cruised in a dirty pickup truck through the back country dirt roads the rural Eastern Townships. Peter and I were stretched in the back, bundled up tightly and clinging to old Mauser rifles, a shot gun and some sort of tricked out sub-machine gun (yeah – in retrospect I’m not sure if it was legal either). The whole scene had a vague Stalingradish feel. It was cold, wet, and dirty; except we weren’t there to shoot Russians, but tin cans. A preferable endeavor particularly considering tin cans don’t shoot back.

Peter Joerdell - our German Correspondent.

Since then Peter, like all of us, has gone on to new and exciting things. He’s now a journalist and PR guy who works as a freelancer on top of it all. He lives in Germany in the north, where they don’t like Southerners and dress in black and are inordinately serious. The Gumboot managed to snare him after offering more than the New York Times and Washington Post were able to shell out for his journalistic talents. Sorry Arthur Sulzberger – maybe next time.

Peter will be providing the Gumboot’s fabulous audience with a fresh new perspective on the Fatherland and the countless communities that connect it. We’d highly recommend you consider checking out his first piece on Oki, a local German punk who lives in a train station and keep tuned to his next article coming up this Friday. On behalf of the whole Gumboot staff and audience (with the exception of the “real Pete”) welcome to the team Peter.

Jim and Katie – well, I need not say much more than they are both awesome and (almost always) reliable.

You can find out more about Jim here and more about Katie here.

That’s right – they were such hot stuff, we had nailed them down for a Get To Know Your Community segment early on. Who says John and I can’t spot rising stars? Turned out they were so blown away by our site they begged us to come on as full time correspondents. At least that’s the story I’m planning on telling anyone who’ll listen.

In the spirit of this post I’d like to elaborate on these two characters to explain my own personal connection to their awesomeness.

Sure they look a little shifty - but who isn't?

Look at that cute couple.

I found my love of cooking from Jim and my interest (it’s not full blown love yet unfortunately) in baking from Katie Burns. For them, I traveled across the entire continent packing a camoflage knife bag with my favorite chef’s knife so I’d have the opportunity to whip up a tasty treat or two at their wedding several years ago.

Both of the dynamic duo bring a unique and interesting organic/sustainable/friendly-folk-in-the-city angle to the Gumboot and frankly we love em for it. Jim’s able to do all of this while he’s publishing ActiveHistory.ca – a website dedicated to expanding history into new non-academic communities. As a former history student I must say I admire this mission – one which may well be as difficult as any James Bond ever came across. On behalf of the rest of the group – we’d like to welcome you to the team!

Down with the billboards and up with the public art!

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Michelle Burtnyk-Horn

The arts are an unquestionably important piece of our social fabric, providing depth, context and a sense of vibrancy to the world we live in. While nobody would deny this fact, what does often come into question is who should be funding the arts, and how much. In British Columbia, provincial funding mostly comes through the B.C. Arts Council. In addition to the funds received, this relationship often allows B.C. arts organizations to leverage additional funding from other foundations and governments. This past year, B.C. was the only Canadian Province to cut arts funding, in response to the economic downturn. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Service Plan, provincial arts funding is scheduled to fall by more that a whopping 88% over two years, from $19.5 million in 2008-09 to just $2.25 million in 2010-11.

Down with the billboards ...

While these facts and figures paint a dour picture (pun sadly intended) for local artists and art organizations, the reality of the situation is that money funding art is money taken away from other important domains, such as health care, transportation, and housing, and is bound to offend some voters.

So what can be done to supplement ailing arts funding while not demanding critically needed funds be taken away from other sectors?

Our dear friends in Toronto (whom I know we all love/love to hate) have just implemented a wonderfully innovative, collaborative, and popular solution: taxation. Yes, you read me right, I have just used the words “popular” and “taxation” in the same sentence. Toronto has just passed a reform package that will see a tax on billboards, with tax dollars being used to enforce the bylaws governing signs and to fund public art. Not only will this help to ensure eye-sore billboards will be kept to a minimum, but will also give the opportunity for public art to take its rightful place in the cityscape. The reform package includes changes to the zoning variance process that will make approving new signs more difficult, and fines for violating bylaws. The tax will generate an estimated $10.4 million each year. According to a local activist who was involved in the process, the victory was a result of activists and industry collaborating from a very early stage.

... and up with Public Art!

Vancouver, as a city who proclaims to be progressive, innovative, sustainable, and culture-friendly, we need to be thinking of and implementing innovative solutions like this. The Vancouver Public Space Network estimates that half of Vancouver’s billboards are not compliant with the city’s most recent bylaws … which could translate into much needed dollars for public art. Really, with public support, aesthetic imperative, precedent, and a very real need on our side, how could we not?

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