Being nice to yourself isn’t as selfish as it sounds. I’m standing in the kitchen talking to one of my best friends. We’re both crying. And we don’t have much time. The kids will be home soon. The visit will end. We’ll be back to communicating sporadically via time zone-challenged texts. “I’m having this crisis…
Author: Lisa Richardson
The bravest day of the year
In over 2 years of writing this column in the Whistler Question, I haven’t had anything close to the response this story received. Many thanks to Randy Lincks for allowing his powerful intimate images to be used, and to the staff, students, parents, and survivors, who gave permission for this story to be shared. It…
Own this space: Secrets about life I learned from my mountain bike
The psychologist was not telling me what I wanted to hear. We were skyping across time zones, navigating work, kids and continents and I had a pretty clear idea in my head of what I wanted from him. Damn head-mechanics. I was looking for an expert to back a theory – to offer up neurological…
#SlowtheForkDown: top advice from a (former) top chef, whose now happier mucking about in the dirt
When they flew in 800 avocadoes from Mexico for the television commercial, to make sure they had one absolutely perfect fruit, Jenna Dashney knew that the money she was making wasn’t going to make this sit right. “You couldn’t even give them away to the crew afterwards, because they were constantly being fed by a…
Your flaws, my fix – how healing yourself can help others
Paul Sherman celebrates two birthdays. The day he was born, 41 years ago. And his rebirthday, the day he was brought back to life, after being dug out of an avalanche at McGillvray Pass by his companions, blue in the face, and unconscious. He was 35 the day he spent 20 minutes buried under the…
Want to go halves in an orchard?
When Dawn Johnson dreams, she dreams impossible dreams. Instead of home schooling her kids or putting them in Waldorf, she dreams of inspiring the administrators and teachers of School District 48 to think outside the classroom box by sharing statistics at PD Days about the tangible benefits of nature education. She dreams of kids who…
Pull up a chair, and take a friggin’ breath
There was the kid, on the cusp of two and three quarters, acting up. “Apparently it’s not the terrible twos,” stage-whispered my husband dramatically, from the wings of the boy’s wild air-slaps and projectile-tosses and whiny-growls. “It’s the terrible threes.” What are we in for? “Stop,” I said to the wee savage. “Do you need…
Planting the seeds of a sustainable community
Erin Baumeister is a transplant. She landed in Pemberton after a nomadic childhood — her dad, in global telecommunications, moved the family to Taiwain and then Israel. At 19, Erin, who had spent her youth taking camel-riding field trips with the Bedouin and fundraising to deliver school supplies to Masai kids in Kenya, found herself…
The power of pulling together
It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had — although fresh tracks, a sweet mountain bike descent in which I manage to stay off the brakes, a crash-tackle hug from a dear friend, and a baby falling asleep on my chest are nice, too. My last year at University, my three best mates and I…
Rising Strong
It was the last question of the night. The panel had faced some tough ones, but it was a heckler-free crowd – friendly, supportive, curious. It’s not often, despite our proximity, that Pemberton women get to hear from Lil’wat women. Three Lil’wat Nation councillors, Lois Joseph, Maxine Joseph Bruce and Helena Edmonds, sitting alongside Pemberton’s…
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