I had the privilege of taking part once again in the UN International Day of Peace on September 21. Held over the noon hour at City Hall Plaza, we had a great turnout. Students from Belgravia Elementary School sang for us, speakers told about the importance of peace, and yes, I sang "I Only Ask of God." Here are the photos. I videoed the whole event and broke it down speaker by speaker:

Belgravia Elementary School sings "Shalom" (2:47)
City Councillor Amarjeet Sohi with the Proclamation (5:58)
Raising the Flag (0:33)
Students with the group Global Effects (1:57)
Paula Kirman Sings "I Only Ask of God" (4:55)
Keynote Speaker David King, Redefining the Peace Movement (13:37)
Sharon Ingraham, Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee (2:36)
Raging Grannies - Circle Round for Peace (1:25)

September 21 was also the International Day of Action on Climate Change, and several "flash mobs" were held throughout the city. A flash mob is when a group of people come together and do something short and attention-getting for a few minutes. Then, as quickly as they came together, they disperse. The Raging Grannies staged a flash mob shortly following the peace event. They brought with them a bucket of what represented bitumen (the dirty oil created in the tar sands) and decided to spread it around. Here is a look - yuck!

On Friday, for the first time ever I traveled out of town to attend an activist event. OK, it was only to Fort Saskatchewan, but it was quite the drive nonetheless. Friends of Medicare was holding a rally to Save Our Healthcare outside of Premier Ed Stelmach's office. The organization bused in six loads from Edmonton. As well, a lot of Fort Sask locals were in attendance. All told, there were around 500 people there. Ed Stelmach was not in his office (and if he was, he likely would not have come out), but it made quite a media impact nonetheless. Here are the photos and a short video.

This past weekend, the Kaleido Festival was held on Alberta Avenue. It was a free family festival and featured music, food, visual art, performance art, and much more. Billed as "Edmonton's biggest block party," it is a great initiative in this area that is currently under revitalization. Here are some photos.

In life otherwise, I can't get enough of Oysterband and The Skydiggers, both bands I saw at this summer's Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

Now that school, particularly university and college, is back in full swing, activist events are starting to pop up all over the place. And so begins my running (and riding) around, camera in hand. Here is a look at what's been happening.

One of the headlines in Edmonton this past week was Bob Barker's visit to the Valley Zoo, with the hopes of Lucy the Elephant being sent to a sanctuary when her health allows her to be up for the trip. He is a very friendly and sincere man and it was great to meet him. Here is a short video of his time at the rally.

The NDP held their Alberta convention in Edmonton last weekend, and I briefly stopped by to take a few shots. The same day, the Mustard Seed church in the inner city was having an open house with guided tours, so that the public can see first hand the work of this important community organization.

After the open house, I pedaled back to the west end to cover a couple of events on Stony Plain road. September 12 was the International Taoist Tai Chi Awareness Day, and there was a free class and demonstration. A few blocks west was Dogapalooza, featuring organizations like animal rescues, service animal training, and obedience. Who let the dogs out? A lot of people - the place was packed, considering it was the event's first year.

The weekend prior was Labour Day weekend, and the annual Edmonton District Labour Council BBQ for the Unemployed and Under-Employed was held at Giovanni Caboto Park. It was the most well-attended one yet (unfortunately), and the lineup for the free food stretched all the way to the park entrance, through the playground.

Some other events I have photographed since the beginning of the month include the Corn Festival from Action for Healthy Communities, with Latin American dancing and food. Sunshine and Grass at Louise McKinney Park was a pothead haven and I didn't stay too long. That same day, iHuman Youth Society held a block party in Boyle Street, with lots of great local hip hop music.

In general photographic pursuits, I took a bike ride through Hermitage Park and visited Fort Edmonton for the final time this season. There was a car show in Churchill Square in late August. I have gone on several walks in the Buena Vista offleash area and took a bike ride around Laurier Park for the first time in several years.

In the last week or so I think I have taken more photos than the entire season combined. I did a huge photo shoot at the Fringe Festival for a social media company called FusedLogic who partnered with the Fringe to provide social networking services. Here is my huge photo set of over 600 shots. Walter Schwabe, FusedLogic's CEO, later wrote a blog post thanking the photographers and listing me as one of Edmonton's ten "trust agents."

Eastwoodfest is a community initiative of the Alberta Avenue revitalization currently happening. I managed to stroll down there on August 15 and for some shots which were later used by iNews880 as a photo gallery.

This past weekend I shot a wedding for some friends of mine. It was my first time ever shooting a wedding so I was pretty stressed about it. I was with the bridal party from early afternoon to the ceremony getting shots of everyone getting ready, then it was off to the church where, go figure, I knew the priest doing the ceremony. Then, after some basic formals, it was time for the reception. The food was mostly home-cooked, and great! I was glad to actually be able to sit down with some of my friends and enjoy myself. Some of the most memorable moments for me included two very cute little girls who had no problem posing for me, until they got dressed and it was time to go outside for their portraits. Then, one of them started crying and I had to chase the other one throughout the back yard. In bare feet. On dry grass. Fortunately, my camera was fast enough to catch them before the theatrics started.

At the reception, I sat at a table with a close friend and his son and family. His oldest granddaughter, who has really beautiful red hair, exclaimed that she was the only redhead in attendance. I said that I was the only Jewish person. Hey -- if I dyed my hair red before the wedding, I would have been the only Jewish redhead! Silly jokes aside, it was a fun time, and I also got some shots of the preparations and day before and gift-opening after. Here is a look at some of the shots on Facebook.

After the gift-opening on Sunday I headed down to the dragonboat races. Louise McKinney Park was totally full for parking, so we went to the south side and then scampered down to the riverbank. I never shot the boats from this perspective before, and the results were pretty decent.

That pretty well wraps up festival season for 2009. I am looking forward to getting out and shooting events in the fall and winter months - but not just yet. I still want to capture images in the sunshine and snow-less streets.

I spent this past weekend in Gallagher Park for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Does anyone ever go to Gallagher Park in the summer for any other reason? I think people ski there in the winter. I don't ski, but I sure got a good workout walking all over the park and up and down the main hill enjoying a vast variety of excellent music. I heard and saw some of my favourite acts and was introduced to a few new faves.

The highlight for me was seeing The Skydiggers on Saturday afternoon. The Skydiggers was one of my favourite bands in university and yet I had never had the opportunity to see them live yet. Did I ever feel nostalgic when the announcer said the band was celebrating 20 years! Some other memorable performances included Oysterband, Arrested Development, Hot Tuna, Great Lake Swimmers, and the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir.

I am writing in detail about many of these performances at my music-related blog, Inside World Music. To see my full photo set from the weekend, click here.

The Heritage Festival (or, Heritage Days as us long-time Edmontonians know it) is likely my favourite of all our summer festivals. The combination of ethnic music, dance, dress, and food really does it for me. I also enjoy bargain hunting for cool, inexpensive trinkets. This year I got two bracelets: a stretch wooden bracelet with anarchy symbols, the likeness of Che Guevara, and other subversive images, and a magnetic stretch band with Jesus and some of the saints pictured. I am not into saint veneration, but think of these images as art. It apparently seems to be all the rage now, I think because a main character in the teen vampire flick Twilight wears something similar. I also got a small, colourful bag at the Ibero-American tent (a friend of mine was working there) and my name spelled out in pictures at Korea. This is a Korean art form and I was amazed at how quickly the artist used these little brushes to make the pictures. "P" was made using a butterfly and rainbow - if you know my music, you'll get the symbolism of that! Of course, I gorged myself on ethnic treats, mostly from South America (empanadas, churros, flautas), but also made sure to grab my favourites from Afghanistan (kebab, bolani). Here is a look at what I saw and what I ate!

The past week has been a whirlwind. Between work, events, and activism I have hardly had a chance to catch up on relaxing, let alone blogging. Add to that the fact I have been trying to get in as much bike time as possible, and you have a recipe for Paula not being in front of her computer very much.

On Monday I went to Capital EX. This was the first time I have been there since the event re-branded from Klondike Days. The midway was owned by a different company, and there seemed to be fewer rides. Not that I am much of a ride person. I was tricked into going on the Crazy Mouse and had a sore throat for the rest of the afternoon from screaming. I actually found the displays in the Agricom the most interesting part of the afternoon, especially the butterfly area. I also enjoyed going on the big ferris wheel and getting photos from the top. Here are the photos of that and everything else.

On Tuesday I went to Taste of Edmonton for the second time. I enjoy trying different foods from different restaurants. I just wish it was not so expensive! Here is a look at what I tasted and tried. Most of it was good, and some of the portions were not bad values.

Prior to heading to Churchill Square, I took some shots around McCauley. We had a really intense storm last Saturday evening that resulted in a lot of trees going down, including this one on 93 street. I also got a few pictures of new community murals that have gone up along the LRT pedestrian/bike trail.

I attended a board meeting of the Phoenix Multi-Faith Society, for which I have been writing articles about interfaith cooperation. It is always great to be able to put faces to names of people with whom I have been working. The board consists of representatives from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths.

On Wednesday I attended an animal rights event for the first time. It was presented by Voice for Animals and Friends of Lucy and took place in front of City Hall. They are calling for independent experts to examine Lucy the Elephant at the Valley Zoo and determine whether she should stay put or be moved to a sanctuary in Tennessee. I am trying to keep an open mind on this issue and think City Hall should be taking a mroe active role in getting involved in the discussion. Here is a look at the rally (I admire the woman in the elephant suit - it was a hot afternoon!) and a short video.

Thursday had me bring my bike out to Terwillegar Park for some off-road fun. I don't really like riding on non-paved trails, so this was a bike and hike. Besides, the scenery is so beautiful I had to keep stopping to take pictures.

I also worked at my music this past week. "The Side of Peace" is another song I have written about the situation in Israel/Palestine. I performed it once live at an event called Expressions Against Repression, but I wanted to do a more "serious" recording of it. I also uploaded it to my main YouTube account with the hope of more people seeing it as they come to my channel to view videos about activism. Here it is.

Back at my music YouTube channel, there have been two new additions. I recorded a cover version in Spanish of a song called "Maria del Campo," a very old León Gieco song. In my video I got so into the song I did not realize my head was at times getting cut off! Also, by popular demand, I did a quick video of "Solo le Pido a Dios" yet again, clearly showing the guitar chords I am playing.

I had another huge adventure this past week, but it is worthy of its own blog post, so that is what I am going to do!

May 1 is International Worker's Day and is celebrated by marches and rallies all over the world. This year, in Edmonton a march took place in the inner city from Eastwood Centre Park down 118th Avenue to Alberta Avenue Community Centre. As always, there were participants from unions, political parties, anarchists, and others in solidarity with the labour movements. The march was led by a brass band and choir, with The Raging Grannies adding their touch and a drum circle to get things started. Here are some photos from RaiseMyVoice.com and Flickr (77 images) as well as a video (6:27).

Over the weekend I decided to check out a traveling show of King Tut artifacts. Well, not real artifacts - replicas that were made by artists commissioned to duplicate the tomb, sphinx, jewelry, and other items. Apparently it took many years to accomplish this goal, which was necessary given that the real items are too fragile to travel outside of Egypt.

The display was at Northgate Centre, where I have not been in living memory. The half hour bus ride from downtown gave me a look at Edmonton's northern extreme - I have never been that far north in the city, on my own. Despite the mini-adventure, I hoped the display would have been larger, althoug what was there was quite interesting. Here are some photos.

Cross Canada Day of Action
Canada Out of Afghanistan
Say No to NATO
April 4, 2009
Churchill Square

Pics (34 images):
RaiseMyVoice.com
Flickr

Vids:
Intro (Doug & Me) (1:23)
I Sing "Walls" (3:59)
I Sing "I Only Ask of God" (4:28)
Safana Makhdoom (3:17)
Peggy Morton/ECAWAR (9:37)
People's Poets (10:25)
Sean Currie/Edmonton Peace Council (10:56)
Harlan/Friends of the Athabasca (3:20)
Dr. Tony Simmons (12:42)
I Sing "Butterflies and Rainbows" (3:20)

March 10 was the 50th anniversary of the uprising in Tibet, which is under Chinese occupation. A small group of protesters marched down Whyte Avenue to MacIntyre Park, where counter-protesters supporting China waved flags and took pictures of the protesters. Here are some photos and this is a short video.

World Water Day is March 22. The day is dedicated to clean water as a basic human right. On March 19, the City of Edmonton issued a civic proclamation for the day. Here are some pictures of organizers and city councillors at a small ceremony outside City Hall.