Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister for the Status of Women, was in Calgary yesterday and I was fortunate enough to get to listen in on her conversation with some local business leaders. What a great opportunity to hear about ways in which Canadian women entrepreneurs (like... yours truly) can be provided with the resources they need. So of course I took notes.

It is a bit hard to make out the details in the image, so here's an experiment - I made the image into a "Prezi," which converts it into a format that allows you to zoom in really close. I've seen this technology before (and was interested to discover it comes from Hungary!), but this is my first attempt at using it. Let me know if this works (in case it doesn't, a plain old-fashioned version of the picture follows). It certainly seems like this would be handy when it comes to viewing complicated text-heavy graphic recording images just like the ones I'm always drawing!

Well, here's the answer: The Drawing Book, Volume 2!  I don't know why it never occurred to me to do this, but I think I'll post it here on my blog, a few pages at a time. This will be fun (I hope)!!! But first - a bit of background about the Drawing Book  in case you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Basically, at the beginning of the story I was a gloomy art student in Toronto, reading books, working at the Trinity College Library and turning down offers from knights in shining armour (as seen in this sad tale):

By the way, the above link to the Trin Library takes you to a whole new, beautiful, renovated facility, which seems to bear little resemblance to the low-ceilinged basement in which I spent about four years of late-night shifts as a student! (I loved that midnight shift. There was hardly anybody there!)

Anyway, by the end of the first volume I was back in my home town of Calgary, working as a flight attendant, with no shining knights in sight. Instead, I was learning about how messy relationships can be (see below). Blech!

E. M. Forster (in his novel, on which the movie is based), writes that Lucy nearly "joined the vast armies of the benighted," which is pretty much what I was doing back in Ontario, as depicted above. I still have that purple blanket though - it's on my son's bed! But that's a digression within a digression. Back to the facts!

But, for this second volume, I'll just work with what's there. This is the whole truth and nothing but the truth (for now, at least). Of course, though, if you see yourself in there and you'd rather I take you out, please send me a note and I will be more than happy to do so! Otherwise, here goes!

1. The coffee from that machine was really amazing.

2. Marlene: She didn't really forget she was married. It was just that she had only recently gotten married and so she still wasn't used to saying, "my husband," instead of "my boyfriend."

3. Heidi: Her daughter had been engaged (or maybe even married?) to a really famous rock star! But that's another story.

4. I note that there were eleven of us cabin crew members to look after (if memory serves) 232 passengers. Ah. Those were the golden days of flight!! You won't find such large crew complements on many airlines in these penny-pinching days. Alas.

5. In my late teens and early twenties, I didn't see a lot of my mom. She was working a lot and I was away from Calgary a lot. So, when I returned to Calgary in 1997, it took a long time before I got used to the idea that I could just hang out with her anytime I wanted! It was so much fun! Hence my feeling that I was missing out on an opportunity to spend time with her.

6. "Cryptic" reference to the guy I was pining after!

I couldn't find a clip of the part in which he actually asks this suspicious question, but here's what happens after the cocky young ballroom dancer hanging out with his daughter answers: "Pasadoble." 

After our long stay in Mainz, my crew was flown home safe and sound via Manchester. And while in that city, we stayed at the amazing Palace Hotel. Lucky thing I wrote down that name in the book, or I'd never have remembered it. It looks as though it's still in business though, despite having first opened its doors in 1890!

As for my representatives of all things English, I've got: The Who's Roger Daltrey, quoting (for some reason) "Pictures of Lily" and Sara Dylan - who, as far as I know, isn't British at all! Oh well, two out of three ain't bad. Egg on toast sounds pretty British to me.

Speaking of Sara Dylan, I just happened to glance at the Twitter profile of Calgary filmmaker J. S. Johnson a couple of days ago, and here's what he wrote about himself: "People often describe in detail how impossible I am to define, but so very beautiful to look at." Seems like an echo of a line in Dylan's song "Sara" - "So easy to look at, so hard to define."  Hooray for Dylan fans and obscure Dylan references everywhere!

That was the end of that adventure. The next page is about shoes.

What is there to say about that? I still have the Salzburg shoes (I'm still waiting for an occasion to wear them!!) and I still have the silver slippers from Le Lavandou. As for the "ugly shoes" stolen at a gas station in Slave Lake, Alberta... I actually did start writing a comic strip about that story, but I have no idea where it is, so that'll have to wait for another day, too.

That's all for now, but when/if I have some free time again, I'll post the next installment. What do you think?

By 2013, with the help of some great community partners and a few amazing arts grants, our team of five or six unpaid volunteers had put together some great events.

Credit for this amazing photo goes to Cat Laine. Click here to see her website.

But what has to happen to make the Night Markets happen? They don't just run themselves.

Stringing up lights: You need lights at a Night Market, and that means someone has to put them up. Here's Meg walking the walk - she doesn't just dream up creative artsy pop-up events, she also does more than her share of the heavy lifting!

Unloading supplies and putting up signs: We do that too. And this all has to happen on the afternoon of the market. Even if it's raining. So time is of the essence!

Operating heavy machinery: This is a portable light tower that gets set up at each market to shine some light on the street. It has to be assembled and taken down at each market!!!

Decorating: Banners, chalk drawing, sandwich boards. Even if you're five years old, we'd be happy to have you come out and help us decorate!

Manning the information tent: This job is always fun. So many nice folks show up to keep us company at the find it tent. This could be you!

The Perks: We have to take everything down at the end of the night, too. That can be hard work, after a long evening. But last time we did this, a Mexican mariachi band stuck around to play for us while we took down the tents and cleaned up the street! Is there anywhere else in Calgary where you could enjoy something like this? (If there is, please tell me about it!)

So, now that you know what we need, I know you'll want to send us a note right away to volunteers@finditcalgary.ca and sign up to come lend a hand on Friday, September 12th. But don't stop there. I hope you might also want to help us make the market happen again in 2015 and beyond. We've had an overwhelmingly positive response to the event - Calgarians love it! And we'd love to keep it going past this year. But this volunteer in particular isn't sure she'll be able to keep this up. With a job and two little kids, I just don't have the time to contribute to our team (and I haven't actually even been doing a whole lot, beyond making the find it website, doing some promotions, and helping on the day of the market).

When we started find it, we were dreaming of doing all sorts of different cool artsy creative events. This summer, we've spent most of our time running the Night Market. We did it, and we loved doing it... but, at least on a volunteer basis, we can't keep doing this forever. Would you like to help? You would? Let us know! Come talk to us at the find it tent on Friday, at what we hope won't be the last Inglewood Night Market. We need you!

This summer hasn't really afforded much time for blogging. With a lot of family stuff to look after (including a baby who still isn't interested in sleeping longer than about 4 hours at a stretch), and helping organize the find it Inglewood Night Markets, it's been pretty busy. But I just realized I haven't even posted any pictures from my most recent graphic recording projects. They have all been fun! So here's my attempt at playing catch-up!

In some ideal world (or at least in a world in which I was getting 6 hours of sleep every night), I'd write a whole lot more about the background stories, the amazing people, and the interesting anecdotes that arose from each of these individual projects. But for now these brief snippets will have to do!

I only just realized that the above picture is the only picture I have from this event. I'd better dig up some more!

I was really honoured to be invited by local videographer Michelle Sykes to lead a workshop about graphic recording for the participants of a very unique initiative: Studio C's "Empact." Studio C is a unique integrated Community Art and Resource Centre – a venue where artists with and without disabilities achieve collaboration, inspiration and immersion within Calgary’s art community. (Here's a stop-motion video of the creation of the mural outside their front door... I really like it.)

In the workshop I helped with, we talked about job interview strategies. This was the graphic recording I made from the participants' conversation. Thanks to Michelle for the pics of me in action!

It seemed a bit crazy for me to make a graphic recording of his talk, which also featured his own hand-drawn visuals. "This is very meta," is how he put it. Indeed. But so fun!

Last of all... here are some pictures from the Chic Geek's second Speak Geek event at cool local venue The Uncommons. I had the opportunity to draw some pictures for this innovative group earlier this year (pictures here).

One of the most interesting parts of this evening for me was the chance to hear a talk by Mary Anne Moser of Beakerhead - an outrageously ambitious and brilliant festival taking place in Calgary this September. I'm particularly excited about this year's festival because my find it colleagues and I will be collaborating with the Beakerhead team and bringing one of their incredible spectacles to our last Inglewood Night Market of 2014 on Friday, September 12th. Just what kind of spectacle, exactly? Oh, just a giant flaming robot octopus... EL PULPO MECANICO. Yes, you read that right ! ! ! Now that we're all caught up, I'll be posting more about that soon... stay tuned!

And cue the baby waking up. All for now!

Every time I go to an event to create a graphic recording, I learn about something new. But it's seldom that I get a two-day window on a subject so close to home.

It's been over a month since I travelled up to Edmonton to listen in on ECMap's Spring Gathering. But now I'm finally starting to find the time to get caught up and post a few pictures here on my blog. If you have children, you'll want to know about what these guys are doing - so read on!

The Early Child Development Mapping Project ("ECMap" - that's two syllables, "Eck- Map") was contracted by Alberta Education for a five-year period to conduct research on early childhood development in Alberta, and build community coalitions to respond to local needs.

The intent of the research has been to provide families, service providers, educators, communities and policy makers with a picture of how young children in Alberta are doing, so that they can work together to support healthy development. The five years are up, and participants from all over Alberta, representing 91 "coalitions" (regional groups), attended the Spring Gathering at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Coalitions received updated results for their communities. The results are based on data for 70,206 kindergarten-aged children in Alberta, gathered over a five-year period from 2009 to 2013.

ECMap is made up of a group of agencies and individuals that have expertise in and a passionate commitment to early childhood development in Alberta. Take a look here to meet some of the members of the team, including Launa Clark and Line Perron, two event organizers who especially inspired me with their vision and energy. If only I had the time, I feel like I could write a great story about the way this project has come together through the diverse talents of a whole range of interesting people. And just in case you think this sounds like the kind of work that only attracts women, let me assure you that men are part of the story too - including Fahim Hassan, a U of A grad student originally from Bangladesh. I took a look at Fahim's website and you might like it too!

The conference kicked off with a presentation by ECMap's Project Director, Dr. Susan Lynch. Sue presented the attendees with an overview of the much-anticipated results of the five-year study. Although it sounded like there was still a bit of number-crunching to do, the presentation provided a great deal of food for thought for these dedicated volunteers who have been trying to make a difference for families in their communities. We also heard from government representatives David Woloshyn and Sheryl Fricke. As for me, I just tried to keep up - there was so much to learn!

Visionary ECMapper Launa Clark came up with the idea of a 10-foot-high map on the wall, which we could populate with stories about what's been happening all over the province. Here's how it filled up. And yes, I actually stood on a stepladder to reach the top!

People from all over Alberta came to this event to tell stories about what they'd been doing in their part of Alberta to help new parents and young children get the resources they needed to live healthy, happy lives. It was completely inspiring to me to hear how each region had created a plan that was unique to the needs of their community, based on their available resources - "roving gyms," home-based preschools, community fairs, and initiatives such as the following:

Family friendly businesses: Coalitions in Hanna and Rimbey launched campaigns to persuade local businesses to serve families better by providing, for example, change tables in washrooms, access for strollers and a welcoming environment.

Community outreach: The Calgary North of McKnight coalition translated its Early Development Instrument results, as well as tips on early development, into Punjabi, Hindi, Farsi, French, English, Arabic and Urdu to serve the needs of a large immigrant population. The Vegreville coalition has set up a family mentoring program that pairs active, well-connected families with those that are less engaged or newcomers to help overcome their isolation and encourage them to get involved with the community.

Isn't this inspiring? You can find many more stories on the ECMap website here.

There's me, listening to stories and trying to place them in spots near to where they actually happened! And here are some close-ups.

I loved this!! I only started using Twitter about a year and a half ago, but I have quickly become addicted to it. I thought this was a great way to get a conversation happening. As conference participants sat together in small groups, they tweeted their ideas, using the hashtag #championforchildren. The tweets were projected onto a big screen, and as they appeared, I recorded the ideas on a poster. Talk about a great way to use social media! One of the hardest things about graphic recording is finding a way to capture content when it's a really big group and everyone's talking at the same time. This was the way to do it!

I think my favourite part of this project was listening to the conversations people were having, and hearing them talk about the challenges and successes in their own communities. Here are some pictures from those conversations.

I especially liked the random sound bytes I heard, like the comment illustrated opposite. It just hits so close to home for me! If you read my post from a few months back entitled, "How the Playgroup Saved My Life," you'll know why!

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I think my favourite thing about working as a graphic recorder is having the opportunity to listen in on so many fascinating talks. I learn so much about so many different things. The ECMap team invited Vancouver-based Paul Kershaw (an associate director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) and a policy professor at UBC) to speak at their conference, and I loved hearing his talk and learning about the project he is passionately advocating for - "Generation Squeeze."

The Canada-wide Generation Squeeze project is working to close what they call the generational spending gap in Canada. It sounds as though Canadian governments spend a great deal more on caring for our country's elderly citizens, than investing in our young ones. An interesting statistic from the GenSqueeze website: "Canadian governments spend as much subsidizing livestock and agriculture as child care and parental time at home with a new baby."

As a GenSqueezer myself (helping aging parents while trying to work and raise a young family at the same time), it definitely resonates with me when I hear about new parents needing more resources!

However, it's not just true from the point of view of someone in the middle of the squeeze. My 97-year-old grandfather, whom I've written about elsewhere, has been talking with me for years about the importance of investing in programs that allow new parents to spend time at home with their young children.

How (he asks) will these children be set up to live fruitful, fulfilled lives, if they don't have the opportunity to learn from their parents about what families are like, what they do, how they work? New parents - mothers included - can and should be able to work, too, of course. But according to my grandfather - and GenSqueeze - the government could be doing a better job to make things easier for them. Here's what they suggest:

And you can become part of what ECMap is doing, too, by joining your local Coalition and getting involved in how you can help parents and young children in your area to thrive. Of course there are lots of great local volunteer opportunities around, but you'd be hard pressed to find a more inspiring one than this!

And now I'm switching my focus to get ready for graphic recording at some upcoming talks hosted by Calgary's Chic Geek. One of the speakers is Mary Anne Moser of Beakerhead. I have a feeling Mary Anne and the Chic Geeks might like this comment from an ECMap participant (illustrated below)! Hope to see you at this next event, entitled "Fierce Conversations" - tickets are $25 and anyone can attend. It's happening tomorrow evening, Wednesday, June 25th, at The Commons, a really unique coworking facility in my own little hood, Ramsay (yes - Ramsay is the coolest). See you soon!

And - as promised (and please tell me if I've posted this before) - my piece for the Comics Expo on the theme of "Fantastic Adventures." Real life definitely provides all the fantastic adventures I can handle!