After the CBC... Thom Bargen for coffee

Some days the coffee doesn't come soon enough... but the wait is worth it.


Last Saturday, Sherry and her director, Hope McIntyre (also the A.D. for Sarasvati Productions) were invited to be interviewed on the weekend morning show at Radio One. Both Jeem and G.G. Blynn came along, hoping to get on the air, for reasons unstated, but one look at the two of them and they were left in the green room under the watchful eye of security.

Sherry and Hope were interviewed by a radio institution in Winnipeg: Terry MacLeod. People in Manitoba have been waking up with Terry since 1993. The segment featured a reading from Sherry's new play and much information about FemFest, which was about to start that same day.

After the radio appearance, G.G. Blynn went their own way, and Jeem and Sherry walked down the street, and around a few corners, to Thom Bargen. This is the second location for two entrepreneurs: Thom Jon Hiebert and Graham Bargen, who have serious ideas about coffee and in bringing it to their city.




There's an austerity here that echoes the landscape of the Canadian prairie. Soft music, good service, and the hard sensibility that Jeem remembers from growing up in the deep south of southern Saskatchewan.

The coffee is more than adequate, strong and full, like the wind, and it's a wonderful relief to the chains that dominate Winnipeg's coffee scene.










Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.

The faces of a playwright ~ Sherry's University of Manitoba reading

Sherry has been visiting Winnipeg as a playwright being fêted at the city's annual FemFest, and she had been there a few days when Jeem showed up. Just in time to visit the University of Manitoba for a reading for students and faculty in theatre studies.






Established in 1877 the University of Manitoba was the first university in western Canada. Today it has over 27,000 students.







And some of those students were at the John J. Conklin Theatre at the UofM last Friday for a reading and Q&A with Sherry MacDonald. She was introduced by Bill Kerr.

The reading was organised in part by the UofM's Black Hole Theatre Company, and Sarasvàti Productions. And with readings from two completely different plays, one comedic, the other dark, the faces of the playwright add to the experience.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.

The Roberts Creek Mandala

Last month, while visiting friends and attending a play on the Sunshine Coast, we wandered out to Chak-Chak Point. Mainly to get some fresh air and to kill some time before the play.








The sun was shining, a light westerly was present, and the waves were tumbling into shore.

A bit more walking and we discovered a large mandala painted on the pavement leading to the point.

It's a beautiful thing to see, especially when one is surprised by what one sees right before their eyes.

The Roberts Creek Community Mandala is a non-profit, public art work open to everyone. It began in 1997 when five friends came together to paint over negative graffiti in the parking lot on the eve of a summer event.

Nineteen years later, hundreds gather every summer to paint a new mandala.




The Mandala is something special to see, and the community's involvement in creating an expression of peace, love and unity, is inspiring. Good things happen when people come together.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.

The Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver

Jeem and Sherry recently visited the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art located in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The gallery is, quite simply, a gem.






















The gallery is named after the acclaimed Haida artist Bill Reid (1920 – 1998). Reid was a master goldsmith, carver, sculptor, writer, broadcaster and one of Canada's greatest artists.














Gallery highlights include: Reid’s gold and silver jewelry, his monumental sculptures in bronze and stone, and a full-scale totem pole, carved by James Hart of Haida Gwaii.






















This is a fascinating place to visit. Popular with tourists, it should be seen by locals too. Especially the various special exhibitions that appear through the year.


On until October 2nd, is The Seriousness of Play by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. This too, is an amazing exhibition and features Haida Manga, a contemporary art form "that offers a playful way of viewing and engaging with social issues as it seeks participation, dialogue, reflection and action."







Influenced by traditional Haida iconography and contemporary Japanese visual culture, Yahgulanaas has created an original artistic practice celebrated by an international audience.

Sometimes, even in gallery of this stature, some things are askew. Normally Jeem is the one who puts things right, but on this day Sherry decided to make things better. Helping out is good.










Hmmm.... this is more difficult than it looks.







Well, after talking with several nice but burly security people, and promising not to touch anything else, we were escorted to the door.*

The Bill Reid Gallery is located at 639 Hornby, and it's a Vancouver treasure!

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.

*As part of the Seriousness of Play by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, 

visitors are invited to discover new ways of looking at this piece called Tongues, 

by rotating it.

September 11 ~ 15 years of the War on Terrorism... and counting

Another September 11th. Another anniversary of a terrible day.

And we are now fifteen years into the war on terrorism. The great powers of the US, the UK, France and their "allies" managed to destroy the nation states of Afghanistan and Iraq, creating Islamic State in the process. The great powers, with additional help from Russia when needed, then went about the destruction of  Libya, Somalia and Syria. Almost weekly US drone missions continue to bomb targets in Pakistan, and other places we don't know about.

It's difficult to know who will be the next leading terrorist state. Iran? North Korea? Venezuela perhaps?

On the home front of this war, we have governments of otherwise democratic nations spying on their own citizens. Even in Canada our government collects and sifts through information it collects on virtually all of us, through our emails, phone calls and credit card transactions. All because of the war on terrorism.


Gore Vidal was an American writer of fiction, essays, screenplays, and stage plays. He was also a prominent intellectual known for his educated manner, wit, and a polished style of writing and speaking. We would do well to remember the words of Gore Vidal  from October 25, 2006:


You can’t have a war on terrorism because that’s not an actual enemy, it’s an abstract. It’s like having a war on dandruff. That war will be eternal and pointless. It’s idiotic.

That’s not a war that’s a slogan. It’s a lie. It’s advertising, which is the only art form we ever invented in America. And we can use it to sell soap, wars and presidential candidates in the same fashion.



As with most wars, somebody has made a great deal of money off this one. We should follow the money.

Copyright 2016 by Jim Murray.