Photography

Thanks to my friend Maria Cristina for the lovely photographs she took for me. Takes a lot for me to like a photo where I'm the focus. A sign of true talent. So you should really check out her blog. Right now.

xo Maria

Fall

So like your wardrobe come fall, this blog is going through a bit of a revamp. It will still on occasion talk about Winnipeg--because let's face it, it is still my home--but I'm broadening its horizons a bit. To put it succinctly I'll be blogging about what interests me. I will also be trying to post more of my own original photos, artwork, and writing. Colour me inspired by my CreComm friends and their lovely blogs. So until next time ...

Profile of a Winnipeg Artist

The artist, wearing characteristically
little jewelry.

Chelsea Miller, ARTIST

Age: 24

Hometown: Winnipeg

Hair colour: Red

Recent trip: Paris, then onto Manchester, England to see her favourite band play live.

Find her at: the Mechantile at RRC’s Exchange District Campus; she’s worked there for 6 years.

What she does: makes incredible pieces of jewellery, paints.

Chelsea Miller, artist and jewelry-maker, will be opening her first store, an online vintage shop, within the year. What's it going to be called? Winnipeg Vintage. What's special about this store? Well, Chelsea’s designs for starters.

Chelsea has been creating necklaces using yarn and metal hoops for two years and has been thinking seriously about opening Winnipeg Vintage for the last six months. Her friend, Ali, 26, got on board two months ago.

Chelsea, who admits she's
obsessed with Native art,
says her designs were influenced
by the look of dreamcatchers.

The biggest problem Chelsea sees with other vintage clothing and accessory stores in Winnipeg: People walk in, browse, and leave empty handed. Chelsea wants her store to house stock that people can actually afford. 

The two of them started looking for store space here in the Exchange District but after looking at a place with a $5000 a month rent (utilities not included) and another in a basement off Albert Street, they decided against a physical location. "Financially, this is where we’re at,” says Chelsea. 

Instead the two women are focusing on creating an online space with a vibe reminiscent of the silent movies. And, in a completely Winnipeg way—where six degrees of separation is really more like two or three—Winnipeg Vintage will feature a “backscratchers” section that will promote local stores and artists who spread the word about the store.

[Slideshow Property of Winnipeg Vintage]

A great idea from prairie-grown talent.

When asked about aesthetic of Winnipeg Vintage, Chelsea says the website is going to look like the inside of her head. "Girl barf," she calls it. If you're wondering exactly what that means take a look at the tattoo on Chelsea's right arm.

Wearing her work on her sleeve:
Chelsea says she owns every
item in this jewelry box.

Chelsea has six tattoos, a house full of craft supplies, and a U.K. stamp in her passport from last January when she went to see Roxy Music, her favourite band from the 70s, in concert in Manchester.

She bookended the trip in Paris, where a part of her would like to live one day.

Until Winnipeg Vintage opens, check out how their website is progressing or go see Chelsea at the Merchantile. 

***

THE THING ABOUT WINNIPEG

STAMP OF APPROVAL

***

Update on People Before Profit

Page 113, "The Mosaic Village: An Illustrated History of Winnipeg's North End," by Russ Gourluck

I know I said I would keep you posted on the "People Before Profit" sign on the roof of Nepon Auto Body on Salter but in case you missed it ... it snowed in Winnipeg this week.

We'll just have to wait until spring. I hate that I can say that!

Winter Blues

So long fall.

Attention all: I think it’s time to prepare for the inevitable onset of snow.

My feet are getting chilly as my flat-wearing days stretch thin and I’ve been tempted more than once this week to wear my fuzzy red slippers to class.

I’ve resisted ... so far.

But I want to be positive about the upcoming season.

SO TELL ME ...

What’s your favourite thing about Old Man Winter?

Here's my Top 3

1. Wearing my leather mitts.

2. Warming up my nose while I walk. (You breath out fast and walk into it.)

3. Uh ... Christmas!

Media, Medium, Mediate

If the Medium is the Message, and the medium is Twitter, does that mean the message is “Tweet?”

Marshall McLuhan, the incredibly influential media theorist, said “the medium is the message.” What  he was saying was the way media like Twitter constrict our messages to 140 characters (spaces included) shapes both the way we create our messages (condensing our regular speech to fit 140 characters) and the way we come to understand our world in general (how many CreCommers are starting to think in Twitter posts?).

Case in point:

Arjun Basu < www.twitter.com/arjunbasu >

Here’s a writer our Creative Writing instructor, Karen Press, showed us. He writes SHORT stories in 140 characters. When I first saw his Twitter roll I thought no way can this guy make any kind of impact in that small of space. No links. No videos. No pictures (because we all know they’re worth a 1000 words).

It was like he was cutting all the junk, all the superficial niceties out of his story and just leaving the bones. You fill in the blanks.

He calls them “twisters.” He says he’s written thousands.

Reading his feed got me thinking about how though a medium like Twitter can tempt you into monosyllabic ‘What’s happening?’ answers, it can also force you to rise to the challenge of 140 characters. If every letter counted, what would you write?

I think what he’s doing is looking for shock value. In his posts there’s a place-setting opening line. Maybe another. And then he writes something unexpected – often something that is so ordinary that it startles me into a giggle.

(Though it’s not hard to do that.)

Means, not the End

Now I don’t want to give the impression that Arjun Basu is the be all and end all of creative short fiction. Clearly there are some of his stories that I enjoy more than others. There’s other still that I don’t get at all. I just needed an example of how media like Twitter, FaceBook posts, and text messages can be used in unintended ways to great effect.

Feel free to disagree with me on this.

But still on Basu…

Where does he find the time to write all these posts? He’ll write six, seven, eight stories a day. And it takes most of us first year CreComm students hours to cut out 50 words from our writing only to realize we just wrote 49 more.

He must think in Twitter posts. (Wink wink McLuhan.) But how is he at carrying on a conversation?

Challenge

Karen Press, I mentioned her, told us to write a story in under 500 words. It had to have a beginning, middle and end. I think I got mine to around 200 words.

I wrote about my dog.

Tip

If you’re thinking of trying your hand at REALLY, REALLY, REALLY short story writing here’s a tip from Fred Stenson: ask yourself what’s the latest this story can start? And, what’s the earliest this story can end.

Rarely do you want to be with your character when he wakes up in the morning. At least, that’s what Stenson says.

Marshall McLuhan

Fun Fact

Did you know Marshall McLuhan was raised in Winnipeg?

Anyone for tic tac toe?

The sky at the corner of Main and James.

Thursday. 6 pm.

Made you look!

A couple of years ago Winnipeg shop owners faced an interesting problem. A sign-napper. This person–whomever they were—took it upon themselves to rearrange the letters on street-level message boards.

For a brief time, a beauty salon on Main Street had 10% off sperm instead of 10% off perms, a restaurant on Leila had a special on boiled chicken instead of broiled chicken and, well, you get the picture.

After a while this guy—or gal—went M.I.A. Much to the dismay of those of us enjoying the occasional giggle they provided.

This morning, however, commuters in Charleswood were presented with this interesting thought on a lit up road sign.

Photo taken from Winnipeg Free Press website, Oct. 17, 2011

Link to Winnipeg Free Press article: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/charleswood-drivers-shocked-by-profane-sign-131966968.html

While Manitoba Public Insurance, who owns and operates the signs, was suitably “shocked” at the electronic F-bomb, the comments I read on the Free Press website are loving it.

It’s funny.

I LOVE IT!!

Keep the new word.

Hacked...hardly.

Despite what any of us may think about the legalities, swearing, etcetera, you have to admit it made people look.

And that, despite itself, is good advertising.

It’s like really short shorts on a middle-aged man. Or really red flowers on a poinsettia plant. Or baby wiener dogs. You’ll look every time.

So, what’s your opinion on the signs? Funny or inappropriate?

Love the prairies. Love the prairies in the fall.

On my way to Victoria Beach. 

The field looks like a conveyor belt, doesn't it?

I wish I could write poetry.

It feels like a moment for poetry.

High Heels Good For Joints

Sex and the City Fundraiser for The Arthritis Society tonight

Ask me what's better than a Thursday night spent with your girls (and your moms!) watching Sex and the City?

Nothing, baby.

Tonight The Arthritis Society is hosting a Sex and the City fundraiser at the Garrick Theater and I'm so very excited because this time ... I'm old enough to have one of those gorgeous pink martinis!

As I sit school, exhausted from a long week that's not yet over, my left knee aching though I refuse to uncross my leg, I can only think that there is no better place on earth to host this thing.

There are about 200,000 Manitobans are living with arthritis. 2/3 of them are women. And I can think of a couple who aren't about to give up their cute shoes.

Hello, no sleep tonight. It's nice to see you again.

It's a small world after all.

Today I met a friend. Actually, today I met a friend's friend.

Now that friend of my friend is the president of one of the student associations at The University of Winnipeg.

And guess who's his vice-president? That's right - my best friend.

You see the thing about Winnipeg - that I was so acutely reminded of today - is that everybody knows everybody.

I love it.

Tweet, Tweet ...

In the news this week the Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost their second game against the Saskatchewan Rough Riders, the RCMP made a grab for 1000s of dollars of counterfeit clothes, and SpongeBob Square Pants was ousted as a bad influence on youngsters’ mental development.

This announcement comes from the parents who a few years ago were letting us watch Teletubbies (where the human-things didn’t talk) and Veggie Tales (where the broccoli did).

Tell me some kids weren’t irrevocably confused by that.

Link to Metro story: http://www.metronews.ca/winnipeg/life/article/966341--spongebob-in-hot-water-after-study-of-four-year-olds

Speaking of confusing. My first foray into Twitterverse came today with a soul-screeching cry you likely heard if you were down wind of me around ten this morning.

My technological foot-dragging is no more. If anything I’m sunk five inches in mud. 

But don’t try and pull me out – this goo is the stuff of the future. Tweet, tweet and away.

And no I will not be telling you to follow me on Twitter just because @jaclynleskiw is a terribly interesting person. Which I am.

I will invoke a tit-for-tat agreement with my future followers (cue the mwahhaha laugh): you follow my tweets and I’ll follow yours. Okay, no laugh.

And if you’re looking for something to tweet about this week, check out the blog one hour parking and see what you can do in Winnipeg for an hour a week.

Cus' that's the thing about Winnipeg ... we're tweeties. We like to share our good times.

Link to one hour parking blog: http://onehourwinnipeg.blogspot.com/.

Blog Background: the Peck Building

Photo taken from http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=peck+building&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1G1SNNT_ENCA432&biw=1366&bih=653&tbm=isch&tbnid=6UwLUTYFxEQRXM:&imgrefurl=http://magicstatistics.com/category/christianity/theology/&docid=C8T6sIQ03hWqVM&w=399&h=368&ei=KJhpTt7AC8KEtgej3JH3BQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=536&vpy=293&dur=1557&hovh=216&hovw=234&tx=165&ty=93&page=2&tbnh=149&tbnw=162&start=16&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:16

And So We Meet ...

Yesterday, through the insanely hot glare that has been beating down on Winnipeg for the past few days I saw a pair of legs leaning against a boulder, seemingly without a body attached to them.

Upon closer inspection (and after the exhausted girl sat up) I realized that had I not been in a rush to catch my bus on Main Street, I would have been occupying that exact same position. This kind of heat in September does a strange thing to a Winnipegger.

I believe it is called shock. (We’re used to cold, in case global warming has let you forget.)

But it’s not just the weather that makes Winnipeggers do odd things. The thing about Winnipeg is it’s an eclectic place. With 31 districts, three premierial candidates, and 25 days left until the provincial elections on October 4^th, Winnipeg is running the risk of getting dirty with the mud being slung.

But the people in Winnipeg and the (occasionally odd) things they do are the perfect anecdote to the bad we see on the news or are fed through our twitter accounts.

Take a second, look around, and laugh at your own misconceptions, the weird thing you said, or (if you’re nice about it) other people. That’s my goal with this blog: not to take myself or my city too seriously.

Every time I leave Winnipeg I remember a reason why I love this city and why it’s such a great place to be – living or visiting. What I want to do now is push my appreciation of Winnipeg while I’m still here.

So every week I’m going to post a story, a tidbit of information, a cool photo about something or someone that caught my attention. And to tear my eyes away from my shiny new iPhone will be no unimpressive feat.

Comment!

Please give me your feedback on what I write. Like something, want me to know something weird you saw? Let me know! Just please be respectful.

To get us started, here’s the link to the best headline I’ve ever heard. I read it yesterday on Metro Winnipeg’s app. Link http://www.metronews.ca/winnipeg/world/article/963293--seemingly-drunk-swedish-moose-found-stuck-in-tree