I spent nine summers of my life at this one particular camp. That’s half of all the summers I’ve had in my lifetime, right there, spent on that tiny island in the middle of a lake nobody’s ever heard of. Nine summers of swamped canoes and bushwhacking and tribal spirit and john buddies and endless portages. Nine summers of dump runs and kiss ( Read more... )

What sets a canoeing expedition apart is that it purifies you more rapidly and inescapably than any other travel. Travel a thousand miles by train and you are a brute; pedal five hundred on a bicycle and you remain basically a bourgeois; paddle a hundred in a canoe and you are already a child of nature.

-Pierre Elliott Trudeau

(Yes, I've used ( Read more... )

Recently, I posted about the 9-day trip I was planning to take in early June with some good friends up in Algonquin. I had the whole thing planned out - routes mapped, lists made, gear covered - just in time for my friends to decide they really weren't down with it after all. At first, all I felt was an overwhelming rush of disappointment and ( Read more... )

Not too long ago I posted about the CFS Referendum that my university was going through. Since that day on March 24 when the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that we were allowed to hold a referendum on our continued membership in the CFS, schools and students who fought or are fighting for the same outcome were, I'm told, watching closely ( Read more... )

It's easy to be happy all the time when everything goes your way. In many ways, the past few months have been like that for me - some struggle, sure, and frustration, but mostly good news and positivity and well-founded optimism for the future. I think I needed some roadblocks if only to remind me that life is not meant to be a constant run of good ( Read more... )

I am a romanticist. I always have been, much to the dismay of basically anyone I've ever met. To me, canoe tripping represents a chance to venture out into a different world - one where your entire life is simplified. When you're out there, all that matters is the length of the next portage, the taste of the next meal, the endless, rhythmic stroke ( Read more... )

I'm pretty sure I'm in love with April Fool's day. I'm also pretty sure my love stems from the fact that I am a small child at heart. Really though - what is there not to love about a day where the world comes together to prank the gullible and the unaware?

It helps that I'm a nerd. Being one allows me to find humor in everything from normal pranks ( Read more... )

Ok, so as much as I like to pretend I leave my room, I really don't take advantage of...well, any of the events put on by my school. Every couple weeks, my University plays a documentary - usually Canadian - in a building on campus and lets students in for next to nothing. I think the idea is to allow us to have access to these films which we ( Read more... )

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So I am well aware that by this point this is old news, but since I heard about the school board who canceled prom to prevent a girl from taking her girlfriend I've been unable to let it go. I mean, Itawamba County? Get over yourself. You shouldn't need to restrict and belittle and bully to 'protect your values'. And student body, what are you ( Read more... )