I’m sitting up until midnight to try and register my kid for the last remaining spot in pre-school swimming lessons at Meadow Park. I’m a non-resident, so I have to wait until all Whistler residents get their pick of the spring programs, and I’ve watched as the spots slowly filled up with a vague sense…
Boomerang Bags launch in Pemberton
On Friday, March 10, at 10:30am, a new black box appeared in the entry to the Pemberton Valley Supermarket. It had a boomerang stenciled on the front, and more than 400 reusable cloth grocery bags dropped inside until it was almost overflowing. A minute later, a woman was grabbing a small bag of groceries at…
Geography Lessons
15 years ago, the fella and I cut loose from an entry-level mainstream life (starter house in the burbs, grown-up jobs), to live out of 1987 Toyota Tercel and drive around North America, dirt bagging our way through the best rock climbing destinations we could find. I kept an angst-ridden journal, (“what is the purpose…
Despair, Trump, and What I Learned in the Birthing Room About What Lies Ahead
I have neutralized my despair since the inauguration of Donald Trump with this single thought: we are at the beginning of creating a better world. The dream of it has been brewing for some time — inequity, greed, climate disaster, ecological collapse — the balance is tilted so far out, that we’ve been propelled to…
Let the revolution be colourful and full of song
I’ve only ever had two magazine stories killed – one of my very first, and one last year. It was just a sidebar. The magazine paid me for it. They ran something else in its place – something that fit alongside my feature story better. It made sense, on an editorial level. I wasn’t mad….
Counting birds, wrangling hawks: how Pemberton’s go-to bird guy help me find my way home
If a cold and hungry hawk is going to get itself entangled in the netting of your chicken coop, attempting to source itself a nice New Year’s Day dinner, the best possible scenario is to be John Tschopp’s neighbour. The 40-year Pemberton resident unwittingly designated himself as my go-to guy for any bird-related questions, when…
Beyond the Blink – A Year of Instagram takeovers
I can tell you within 10 seconds of meeting you whether you’re someone I want to spend more time with. Don’t be too impressed. You can do it too, and according to Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, you do it all the time. We all do – make instant judgments – based on how people smell, what…
What happens when the ski industry’s MVP becomes a trophy wife
I wrote this piece for Mountain magazine and it ran in their early Winter issue. I wrote it — several versions of it, in truth — in the days after the news of the takeover broke, trying to shake some crystal ball readings from all the snow-dust and Facebook chaff. I talked to a lot of people. Informed, thoughtful,…
What pops up when you go with what feels right
Lisa Vertefeuille’s Christmas pop-up shop has popped away now, but I still wanted to share this column, because I was so inspired by her grounded wisdom and the idea of always checking in with your feelings, even if it means doing a U-turn. Lisa Vertefeuille is a purveyor of happiness. It’s not her official job description,…
This moment. Right here. Is enough.
I tend to approach Christmas with squinty-eyed suspicion. I’ve resisted sharing Krista Tippett’s blog post Why I Don’t Do Christmas, or re-posting last year’s Christmas column about wanting a compliment instead of a pile of planet-destroying stuff, or even this thoughtful post from the Huffington Post on what not to say to people grieving at…
Lisa Richardson Bylines 