Seen and Heard in Edmonton

I’m a big fan of little sparks of clever creativity. I received some this week from Sandra Sperounes, co-creator of Edmojis, a custom keyboard with Edmonton-themed emojis, and a couple of pins to boot. What else have Edmontonians come up with recently? Well, let’s dig into the blog roundup and see.

Hannah of Honey & Betts names her favourite Edmonton Instagrammers; Ashley Janssen kicks off a three-part series on social media with a look at the good; and Nadine Riopel explores how networking online can help make connections in real life.

Carole Anne Devaney has had enough of your inspirational quotes; She Who Seeks engages in a blogathon about Canadian culture; and Paper Leaf releases another lovely desktop calendar wallpaper.

On to journalism: Grant Ainsley gives a PR-eye-view on how reporters operate; Bryan Myers recalls his early days as a reporter; Jeff Samsonow kicks off Edmonton Quotient with an emphasis on the entrepreneurial side of entrepreneurial journalism; and Mack Male rounds up what you need to know about local media (including a wee bit of news about me).

Valentine’s Day approaches! Linda Hoang suggests fun things to do with your honey; YEG Date Night draws attention to the Lego Store’s interesting offering; and Diana at 204 Park shares her heart-shaped pizza recipe.

More food! Valerie Lugonja learns how to make Russian dumplings; Alexis Hillyard makes hashbrowns and many, many jokes with her sister Ainsley; John Richardson finds a way to make gluten-free bread that he enjoys; Dan Barnes turns old bread into yummy croutons as part of Roadwordy’s #100daysofcooking challenge; Gabby of The Broke Girl Blog makes black bean enchiladas; and Maegan Lukian of hand-meyd makes popcorn with bacon fat and kale, which cancel each other out, right?

Lindy Pratch shares her January reading stats; Laura Frey comes to the defence of Jonathan Franzen; and the Edmonton Arts Council previews artist David Garneau’s plans for Tawatinâ Bridge.

Jenna Marynowski of After the House Lights finds a passionate community theatre in Leduc; Sable Chan chats with Cinderella’s stylish stepsisters on The Choir Girl; and Rev Recluse unearths coverage of a crazy concert in 1971.

Paula Kirman reflects on her role as a documenter of activism in Edmonton; Steve Finkelman tells the wrenching story of his son’s death on the newly launched Voices for Traffic Safety; and Troy Pavlek takes a look at what city council has been discussing lately.

On 12th Night, Liz Nicholls reviews Disgraced, a Citadel production that turns out to be extra-timely; on Almost Infinite, Graham MacFarlane reflects on the evils of Trumpism and why Canadians oughtn’t be self-righteous about it; and on Style On Purpose, Sue Heuman sees politics play out in retail stores.

And bringing politics back to Alberta, Dave Cournoyer begins tracking the nominations for the next provincial election on daveberta, and Mike Ross applies his Extreme Enginerding to the redrawing of Alberta’s electoral map.

A little bit of parenting: Lori Godin of Frugal Edmonton Mama shares her road trip checklist; Kelly-Dawn Aulenbach gives herself permission to do what she can under the circumstances; Marie a la Mode shares pictures of her impossibly cute little Miles; and Trent Wilkie gets poetic.

Sports is up next. Erika Ensign of fangirlknitsscarf finds joy in the surprisingly successful Oilers; Avry Lewis-McDougall celebrates a great tennis player in honour of Black History Month; and Copper & Blue’s @sdh0809 urges hockey and everyone to move from talk to action on mental health.

And, to wrap things up, Colette Mondor interviews a teacher about technology in the classroom; Michelle Taylor of Bandwidth Era reflects on neglect; and Donloree Hoffman gets inspired by a podcast on a run.

OK, that is way too much, and yet such a small fraction of what you could find out there. Find more on ShareEdmonton or in previous blog roundups, and if you like Flipboard, I put these there, too. If you would like this sort of thing, along with other treasures, delivered to your inbox every other Saturday, subscribe to my newsletter.