Seen and Heard in Edmonton

Self-help is not really a genre I gravitate towards, book-wise, but I often find myself drawn to the posts that share hard-won insight as I comb through the week’s worth of blogs. We begin there:

• Jeff Samsonow lays out the lessons learned in the creation of The Underdogs of Comedy, the latest production of the edmontonian media co.
• Erika Barootes tells the painful story of her Boston Marathon experience and the lessons she derived from it.
• Nicole Winski reflects on what she’s learned upon turning 29.
• Brandon Schatz celebrates Variant Edition’s first birthday with an exploration of the values that animate the store.
• Ashley Janssen offers practical tips on managing the tasks that threaten to bury you in a pile of busy instead of productive.
• Kendyl Lauzon is choosing to keep herself inspired by spending her time intentionally.
• Farha Shariff has a deep heart-to-heart with photographer and mental health advocate Blake Loates on YEG People.
• Sebastian Kasza describes how his life got worse after losing weight because he hadn’t dealt with the body image issues that plagued him.
• Anna Marie Sewell ends Poetry Month with Because Blossoms, a poem about coming here and coming back.

In the news

• Duncan Kinney has caused a justifiable stir with a freedom-of-information request that revealed the St. Albert Catholic school system has spent more than $367,000 to defend its decision to fire transgender teacher Jan Buterman.
• Michael Ross’s Which Edmonton City Councillor Are You? quiz gives you a chance to see who votes the way you would vote.
• “Optimists Open Rifle Range” — that’s certainly a headline that stands out on Vintage Edmonton.
• Glenn Kubish shows ample evidence that Edmonton is indeed navigable by bicycle year-round.
• Jenna Marynowski is enthralled by Wish, the Northern Light Theatre/Good Women Dance Collective collaboration about humans, animals, ethics and relationships.
• Lowetide hopes you’ll blame the adults and not the kid when it comes to Nail Yakupov.

Possessions

• Nicole Rowan wraps up her Spark or Swap challenge to see what she should keep (the newsprint jacket made the cut!).
• Choose your wardrobe well and you can buy less while still looking great, says Amanda on Life’s Too Short… Buy the Shoes.
• Danica LeBlanc reports back on her shopping ban and the dent she keeps putting in her debt.
• Vickie Laliotis lists the questions she asked herself as she cleaned out her closet.
• Lyndsey’s closet at Over My Styled Body is a wonder to behold.
• Maria K learns that Edmontonians throw out 51,000 TVs per year, and urges more mindfulness in what we huck.
• This handmade wedding of Andrea and Josh on Stacey Knopp’s yegwed is just so lovely.

Recommendations

• Raising Edmonton recommends five local blogs — and a podcast — about family.
• Christine Bruckmann lists the Edmonton-area parks that have bathrooms, which is news you can use whether you have kids or not.
• Owen Brierley discusses NorthWestFest 2016 and shares Sally Poulsen’s masterful trailer.
• Joe Nolan and The Dogs burn up the latest Northern Sessions.
• Jamie Ausmus remembers the Haven Social Club, whose short life wasn’t so long ago, but it made an impact while it was around.
• Margaret Bose-Johnson disses a porcupine and celebrates the early spring before sharing a recipe (for bean salad, not porcupine).
• Paula Kirman reviews In This Together, Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail’s anthology of stories of truth and reconciliation.
• Devin Bruce makes some rapid-fire recommendations for pop culture you may want to consume.
• Edmonton Nerd List turns six months old, and is already a huge resource.
• Cherry Bob-Ombs has a swell time at the Black Pearl Seafood Bar on buck-an-oyster night.
• What works for an Adwords campaign also works for upping your Tinder game, contends Adster Creative.

I hope you find something that intrigues you here, but if not (or even so), there’s even more at ShareEdmonton. My previous picks are on my Flipboard magazine and in previous roundups. Seen and Heard is on Facebook and on Twitter, too.

These weekly recommendations and much more will be delivered straight to you if you subscribe to the newsletter. (I’m introducing a new feature this week, so get in on that.)

One more plug: You’re invited to Journalist Interrupted: Towards a blueprint for a new free press, on May 26 at MacEwan. We’re looking forward to a productive, future-focused discussion, and the more bloggers and blog-readers there, the better. Get your free ticket here.

This week’s Seen and Heard in Edmonton is brought to you by Alberta Beer Festivals, which is putting on the Edmonton Craft Beer Festival on June 3 and 4. Hear Dillon Stecyk describe what’s so great about the festival.

Get your tickets at albertabeerfestivals.com and use the promo code KIDS15 to save 15 per cent and send part of the proceeds to Kids Up Front.