Her name was Kellie Daanen. We were seven, eight years old. She was one of my best friends. We sat together at lunch every day. One day, she said, “I’m an Aborigine.” “No, you’re not,” I told her. “How could you be? You have blue eyes.” She had incredible blue eyes, as arresting as the…
The meaner you get, the meaner you get: pushing back on my scarcity mindset with a little help from Brene Brown and some primitive skills experts
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,…
Lisa Richardson Bylines 