ATTAWAPISKAT HOUSING-CRISIS

In addition to being a violation of human rights the Attawapiskat Housing Crisis is clear example of the social determinants of health. It unfortunately, for the people of Attawapiskat, shows how the broader subtext of one's life influences their well-being.
Hopefully, by spreading the word of what is happening in Attawapiskat we can collectively put pressure on the government to do something to help the community.

You've got something in your teeth...

Breaking news from 2001:
Race Gene Does Not Exist


Background reading:
The Power of an Illusion


Peace out.

KRS-One Dropping Knowledge for FREE.

More info on the event can be found here:
KRS-One Rock On Nov 21

Check It Out

Making some beats, shaking some feet: Electric Pow Wow

Came across these fine gentlemen last weekend in Winnipeg.
Prepare for dopeness.

MicroFilm: A Tribe Called Red from Cluster Mag on Vimeo.

Guillaume Decouflet visited the Electric Pow Wow in Ottawa and sat down with A Tribe Called Red to talk about party music, being an urban aboriginal, and upending racist stereotypes through multimedia artwork. Cluster Mag is proud to host his account of the experience; a short film-documentary assembled from his interview and from the audio-video work of Bear Witness, one of ATCR's three members. Guillaume's native language is French, so to reach out to the States, Canada, and beyond, we thought we'd include a French original, and our own English translation. Enjoy.

And don't forget about the non-electric Pow Wow this weekend at Credit Union Centre!

All These Things We've Done

This update is long overdue; I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.
There was a movie night, origami, kindergarten and Gr. 12 grad, boating trips to buffalo narrows (complete with eagle spotting), a quick jaunt over to pinehouse (with two sweet dillon kids in tow, who had a blast btw), rebuilding a sweat, many impromptu soccer games (naturally, when affronted with the ‘don’t worry she’s just a girl’ remark, I had to prove a point to those boys that even girls can play some darn good defense. I earned a lot of respect that day, and a couple of bruises), swimming and wiener roasting at pilgrimage (I personally undertook the mission to see that any kid still dry was not for long), and a night quad trip to the sand dunes (I may have squawked once or twice. But will adamantly deny that some of those cliffs scared me), learning to make bannock from the master (apparently my attempts are quite amusing haha), a road trip to s’toon (consisting of the ‘shortcut’, 2 flat tires, blasting some AC/DC and Black Rain tunes, arriving at 3 am and leaving by noon), and a visit from a breakdancing crew.
Treaty days deserves a paragraph on its own. 6 days. No showers. Raining nearly the entire time. Tent swapping to seek drier domains. The 2hr/7man construction of a tent which we hauled fully assembled back to dillon b/c no one wanted to build that thing again. Swallowing many many fish flies. 4 am tent conversations. Mud bog tug-of-war. Smooshing relay (I never want to see banana cream pudding again). Scavenger hunts. Jail-N-Bail. Bear sightings (just what I wanted to see on my morning trip to the trusty ol’ outhouse). Jigging and square dancing every night. Soccer. Subbing for softball (I told them I hadn’t played in ages!). Volleyball. Fireworks. Brief visit from the dean. And the list goes on.
Coming to a close, Monday marks the end of our time in Dillon. For now.
I have made many friends here. Learned many new things about the people here, about the culture, and about myself. It’s difficult to say where things will go from here or where I will find myself but I have a feeling that Dillon will draw me back often.

Ile-a-la-Crosse: A new member of the team!

Oh hello there,

My name is Links, and I'm originally from Buffalo Narrows. I was born (approximately) 8 weeks ago, and have 9 siblings. My owners like to think that I'm a black lab, but I have a couple white patches in my fur to throw them off (and it also makes me look kind of wise!).

Jules picked me and one of my sisters out of the litter, and I was supposed to be given to his daughter. However, Jules' daughter wanted to get a gun instead of a dog, so he sold me to Dia (for the bargain price of 50 bucks!). The group decided to name me "Links" in honor of some program that they're in (I think it's called "Making the Links"--sounds pretty awesome if you ask me).

I like to spend my time cuddling, playing, eating, peeing/pooping, and being all-around cute.

That's all for now! I better get back to my spot on someone's lap!

Links

P.S. I'm supposed to tell you that there are some new pictures uploaded under the "Ile-a-la-Crosse Tab"

Oh right, we have a blog...

Well I see Dan has ended the nearly two week drought of no blog posts from any MTLers. Everyone has been quite busy. However a rainy Sunday, which is rare, provided a perfect opportunity to update.

A lot has happened since our last post from Pinehouse. We have all been working on a variety of projects that the Interagency here identified for us when we arrived. These include diabetes education, mental health and addictions, sexual health, and getting a community garden started.

In regards to diabetes education, we have gotten the ball rolling on starting a Good Food Box, which is an affordable and healthy package of food conveniently assembled for purchase. We plan to include recipes, health tips, storage info, educational diabetes tidbits, etc., in the box. (To facilitate the start-up, we are hoping to receive a grant from the Health Region). Generally, Good Food Boxes have proven to be extremely successful in other parts of the province and I think it could be a great fit for Pinehouse. Finally, we will also be teaching nutrition to the grade 8s and perhaps do a radio show about healthy beverages.

As for sexual health, we have been asked to teach sexual education to a variety of grades. We have already given an STI talk to the 11/12s and Kiel and Devin were involved in the grade 9 talks. Kiel had the great idea of doing a radio show discussing how parents can talk about sex to their kids if they are uncomfortable with the teachers discussing it. Generally, it has been an interesting topic to look into and we are slowly amassing community opinions in regards to it and contraception in general.

The community garden is well on its way as well. Our third day here, we were working in the garden building plots and in our second week, we had the grade fours over to plant. It was a bit chaotic at first but everyone enjoyed it. The kids always ask how the garden is doing.

Speaking of chaos, Jess and I held a sleepover for girls in grades three through five on the 3rd. We had approximately 32 girls take part and it was held in the elementary school along with the help of three local teachers. To tie it to mental health, we included some programming regarding self-esteem and positive self image. One game included taping a blank piece of paper to the back of each girl and letting everyone else write something nice about that person. It worked out great until, as Kiel said, Bev Oda showed up and inserted "NOT" into the phrases. Sigh, we tried. Devin and Kiel were a huge help with cooking and cleaning and thank goodness the teachers were there to keep things calm! Or as calm as can be expected with 32 girls in one gym watching the Justin Bieber movie. I feel like I should insert a SQUEE and a heart around that name after this night...

Finally, as Dan said, everyone was busy this week with the Elders gathering, which deserves a post by itself.

Other things we've been involved with or done:

• Attended the Nuclear Waste Forum in Beauval. A whole topic on to itself.
  
• Prenatal Fair on the 16th, which turned out great.
  
• Meeting with Brad Wall on his visit to Pinehouse.
  
• Diabetic Foot Care Clinic and Retinopathy Clinic.
  
• Shadowing during doctor days, excepting me so far.
  
• Interagency and staff meetings.
  
• Taking part in assemblies.
• Running club. (The rec programming here is fantastic).
  
• Of course, some great down time allowing us to experience the North.
  

Cheers,
Sarah

Hitting the half way point

For our newest photos please look under the Ile-a-la-Crosse tab, they are gooders.

As for what has been going on up here in Ile-X the last week, well, we have been gone from Ile-X. We started off the week over in Pinehouse, where we were able to catch up with all 10 linkers at the Elders gathering. I must say Pinehouse came out in full force for this event. The community was ever so inviting to all visitors and the organization of the event was first class. It is safe to say we all enjoyed the food, new/old friends and gained experiences we will cherish forever. Our new skills include scaling fish, cleaning moose hide, eating bone marrow and making beautiful signs.

After finding our way home from Pinehouse (with a quick jaunt down to Green Lake after missing the Ile turn off) Dia settled in over her computer to prepare for this weeks radio show. I must say she did a great job considering 3 hrs before the show it looked like only 1 of the 3 planned guests would make it. But as she went to the air, she had 5 guests and the show went of without a hitch. The main topic of discussion was the doctor situation in the north.

As Dia was hard at work on air, Dan and Des were in Pine River helping out the grade 8 classes with their yearly culture camp. We went hiking, canoeing and did the ever popular “fear factor” game with the kids. The game consisted of eating squid, gooses blood, testicles and snorting pepper, to name a few. The kids were relieved to find out they ate nothing more then coconut, ketchup, canned mushrooms and Metamucil. Dia was able to join up with the team and we all enjoyed the last night of the camp together.

All in all, this has been by far our busiest week to date and it was nice to be back in our own beds by weeks end.

Signing off for the Ile crew,

Dan

Ile-a-la-Crosse: Who we are and what we do

We spent the bulk of our first week in Ile meeting a variety of people in the community: from the mayor to elders to preschool children. Along with generic personal introductions we repeatedly had to tackle the task of explaining "making the links". Past "Linkers" had forewarned us that coming up with a definition of the program was all part of our initiation. Part of the beauty of MTL is that it follows a "create your own adventure" philosophy. Thus, in true MTL style there was no script to follow or generic blurb to spit out. The explanation we came up with went something like this:

"Hi I'm Dia, and I'm Desiree and there is another student, Dan, who will be here on thursday (sometimes we introduced Dan as our third partner in crime but we used our discression with that description, i.e. we left it out when we were talking to the RCMP)

After shaking hands and trying to remember another name to add to the growing list in our minds, we continued with: "We are first year medical students from the U of S who are going to be working in the community for the next six weeks. We are part of a program called Making the Links. What is Making the Links you ask?" Well, we usually didn't say that part because they usually didn't ask but the confused looks on their faced prompted us to explain the program. "More or less our aim is to help wherever we can and get a better understanding of how different aspects of the community affect health"

This seemed to satisfy most people. We then usually asked if there was anyway we could help or get involved with the organization. We were pleasantly surprised with the warm reception we received. Within minutes of meeting people they were signing us up to time keep at track and field trips, inviting us along on youth camping trips, and including us in on any projects they had going on.

Our description of about MTL was made up on the spot for the most part, but it didn't stop the people in Ile from welcoming our help with smiles. We still aren't quite sure if it's right or if our "choose your own adventure" is on track, but I guess that's the perk of the MTL though. It's all about the experience and trying our best (at least that's what we're hoping)

P.S. Check out the Ile-a-la-Crosse "tab" for some pictures of our latest adventures!

Slacking off, Dancing it up & Sweating it out

Since it's my turn to make a contribution to this blog, I'm going post an update of the odds and ends that didn't quite make it into the other posts.

One of the teachers in the community introduced us to her "circus bag", full of fun knick-knacks ready for creative uses. Tangled among them was a (very) long length of climbing webbing and several carabiners. Now, I won't pretend to be an expert, but I knew enough to recognize a slackline when I see one, so we snapped up the line and set out in search of trees.

It's funny how things work out sometimes; of all the things I've learned in the past year, I would not have expected that learning how to set up a slackline would come in most handy. But tons of people have stopped to slack off, and it's been a great opportunity to spend some time with community members, as well as provide a fun challenge for all ages.

In other news, as a lure to get people to show up to the bi-weekly Youth Committee meetings, we have launched Samra's Academy for Hip Hop Dance.

Learning to Dougie, shuffle, cat-daddy and do the running man were so popular, next week we plan to expand the classes to include some square dancing and jigging.

We also were lucky enough to be invited to take part in a sweat, a very important and powerful cultural experience. It was Samra's first sweat, and it certainly was a busy one, with 21 people squeezed into the relatively compact sweat tent to share in the ceremony! Though it was my third sweat here in Dillon, and second with James Sylvestre leading, it soon became clear that every sweat is a unique experience, different from all others. We also got to help James dismantle his sweat and it was fascinating to see all the layers of a sweat tent. We look forward to helping rebuild it in the upcoming weeks!

Some other odds and ends that didn't make it into the odds and ends post: Volleyball, fund-raising garbage pickup along the road, and an evening of Hair Braiding (pictures forthcoming). Up today: fundraising bake-sale and (our first) Floor Hockey Friday!

A few pictures from the first couple days in Ile!

the beautiful drive!

Dia!

Dia being creative... or bored?

Excited to be here, not so excited to unpack

Good old G-Unit was packed to the hilt!

It didn't take us long to feel at home :)

Hanging out in the elementary school

Ile-A-La-Crosse: the adventure begins!

Wow! The past two days have been a whirlwind! Dia and I left Saskatoon yesterday (Monday May 23^rd), and hit the road on what was a beautiful drive with plenty of trees, lakes, and a few potholes J. We arrived in Ile, and began the not-so-fun process of unpacking in our new home for the next six weeks (the parish rectory-great location right behind the friendship centre!). Last time we were here, it was in April, and the lake was still frozen. Now, we are able to enjoy the views and weather.

I’m reading “The Book of Awesome”, and couldn’t help but thinking of a couple super awesome things here in Ile:

Awesome: arriving in a new town and being welcomed and invited to events immediately!

We visited the Friendship Center, Preschool, Elementary School, High School, Hospital, Long Term Care Facility, Youth Center, Town Office, and RCMP, and met with some staff and elders at the high school (yes, it was one exhausting day!). Everyone was so friendly and open to having us help out in any way we can. We’re so excited for this opportunity!

Awesome: living in a beautiful town on a lake in Northern SK for the next six weeks!

Do I need to explain any further?

We were worried about how exactly we would be able to connect ourselves to the community, but thanks to such a welcoming place, we have found “making links” is easier than we thought!

Top 10 oh no moments for the week (in no particular order)

1. the moment when my childhood derived mantra of 'righty tighty lefty loosey' failed me in the shower. starting my morning off just right; damn that was cold.
2. losing 3 of doris's fishing hooks because my fingers were frozen and I couldn't reel in fast enough so I snagged my line.
2. a. forgetting to take gloves so my fingers froze.
2. b. fishing with homemade fishing poles out of sticks when its friggen freezing outside!
3. getting excited when I caught a huge log... (sam and jordan both caught fish :( )
3. a. realizing just how screwed I would be if I my meals relied upon my catching them first.
4. learning how to make bannock. and realizing just how absolutely delicious (and super easy) it is to make fried bannock.. uh oh.
5. jordan 'seeking and destroying' his own partner!!! in doshka. thanks bud. thanks a lot
6. going canoeing on the lake with the boys (which was lovely - I was an excellent supervisor while Will and Jordan slaved away) only to return to no-one home and Will having left the keys in his other pair of shorts. doris returns but guess what, she lent her keys to her son who had yet to return them (and was naturally MIA!).
6. a. getting hair stuck on window latch as I climb through window to break into the house we locked ourselves out of.
7. volunteering to help with a school gym sleepover for forty 8-13 yr olds
7. a. not napping after said sleepover and before 3 hrs of hair braiding.
7. b. admitting to girls that I could braid.
8. hair braiding for 3 hrs! poor poor Sam; our resident expert who valiantly continued braiding when the rest of us shamelessly hid.
9. learning to play gin only to find out I suck at gin. I quickly suggested alternative new games that I subsequently lost once Sylvia caught on to the rules.
10. not bringing winter clothes to dillon (geez was it cold today!)

*Spoof* KRISPY RICE TREATS

Shout out to Dillon! You've been punked, True just like Spandau Ballet.



In other news, the weather was terrible today but we played Sandman, Grounders, and Tag for two hours.

Happy Long Weekend!

Sarah, Devin, Jess, and Kiel

A Week of Firsts in Pinehouse

Tân'si? That is how are you in Cree! So far, Jess, Devin, Kiel and I have been able to learn a couple of Cree phrases. I couldn't begin to tell you how they are spelt since I only know how to vaguely pronounce them. However, not bad for a couple of days! We all look forward to learning more.
Since arriving Monday, we have been busy! We've met tons of people, had a variety of meetings (with teachers, health professionals, community members), canoed, walked around the community, gardened, fished, prepared presentations, etc.


It's been great! Everyone here has been so kind and very generous. To say that we are looking forward to the next 5 weeks is an understatement. We are all very impressed with the enthusiasm for organizing different initiatives in the community.


Here is a list of our "firsts" since arriving Monday in Pinehouse. You can guess who did what and some apply to multiple people.

• Catching a fish.
• Building a garden plot.
  
• Using a wheelchair as a wheelbarrow. (In MTL, we improvise).
  
• Eating rabbit.
  
• Seeing an eagle.
  
• Singing the Sound of Music soundtrack in a canoe.
  
• Driving a giant truck with a pile of dirt in the back.
  
• Canoeing in Pinehouse lake.
  
• Frying fish.
  
• Eating Pickerel.
• Eating fried bannock.
• Using a circular saw.
• Canoeing to an abandoned island...full of ants. (We now know why it's abandoned).
  
• Picking up a sweet pair of sunglasses from an island.
  
• Hunting mosquitoes with a sword.
• Learning Cree.
  
• Potentially meeting Pedro the skunk under the clinic shed
  
• Playing Bananagrams.
• Living with a Native family.
• Getting the nicknames D-Money and K-Town.
• Being called Sarah Jessica Parker.
• Seeing beaver paws in a freezer.
  
• Eating a bacon butty sandwich.

Hope this finds you well wherever you are!

- Sarah

P.S. If Kiel had Facebook his status would be "Sarah didn't bring a bathing suit but she did bring a bread maker". Me: I thought it was a brilliant idea... Who will be laughing when I'm eating delicious fresh bread?

PIES

Chillin' in Dillon

     Really the title of this entry is a misnomer. We’re chillin', but we’re busy. In two days, we have been lucky enough to experience (in no particular order): a track meet, visiting Band Council, meeting the staff at the Clinic, going to the Pilgrimage (where the above photo was taken), learning about setting piggyback precedence (just don’t do it), playing volleyball (best away from a body of water), watching Arrested Development, dirtying our feet, watching presentations, meeting teachers and students at school, setting up a slack line, riding the school bus, crying over spilled milk, moose liver, baseball, walking, walking, and more walking, cooking with Shirley, and PIE.

*Pictured above: The moment William realized what he signed up for....

Granville Island Sweet Potato Salad Recipe

Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" long pieces.

Olive oil (or oil from tomatoes)

Spinach, ripped

Sundried tomatoes, chopped

Green onions, chopped

Garlic (1 head or less)

Feta cheese (shredded or cubed very small)

S&P (to season)

Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil and put on cookie sheet. Place in oven (uncovered) on top rack at 350 for 30 mins or until tender. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Turn oven up to 375 and bake another 10 mins to brown.

Optional: place whole garlic head, very top removed and oil added on pan as well. Remove clove and chop once cool.

While potatoes are baking: Chop sun dried tomatoes, feta, spinach and scallions/green onions. If not baking garlic, chop half of a head and cook with oil in a skilled and set aside.

Once potatoes are finished remove from pan into serving bowl. Add the other ingredients and stir to coat. Season with S&P to taste.

Serve hot or cold.

A Weekend in Pinehouse and Île

We recently spent a weekend up in Pinehouse and Île-à-la-Crosse in prep for the six weeks we will be spending there this summer. Undoubtedly, everyone is excited to return soon!

Can You Jig It?

Feeling like brushing up on your dancing skills? If anyone is interested, there will be free jigging instruction on Saturday April 30 at St. Mary's School on 337 Avenue O South, just a block away from SWITCH at 3 PM. I had the chance to go last weekend and it was such a good time meeting people and getting taught with all these little kids in their classroom with their fantastic teacher Jennifer. I wasn't the oldest learner in the room, so don't be shy if you feel like going!

Haitians!

Here is a link to a cool project hosted by Black Public Media on Haiti. The description on the website says:

"Haiti: One Day, One Destiny" is a multi-media portal of stories about Haiti after the disastrous earthquake of 2010. The stories capture the day-to-day struggle of recovery, Haitian reflections on the profound loss they are coming to grips with, and the role culture and history play in rebuilding. The web videos, blogs, and live virtual conversations serve as a focus on Haitian culture, Haitian people, and one country’s road to recuperation."

This story in particular of a medical student who has put her own studies on hold to do damage control in her own community is...
well, just watch it.

Perfume helping to change the world

Hey Team, I saw this on TV and thought it would be of interest to you. This women is also trying to set up a similar business plan in Haiti.

Enjoy

So you'll be making links... Where exactly?

I fully admit that before Making the Links, I had no clue where Dillon, Pinehouse, and Île-à-la-Crosse were. Now that I am part of the program, one of the first questions I get asked is where I am going and where these communities are in Saskatchewan...

Thankfully, Google maps can easily answer that question for me!


View Larger Map

There's No Place Like Home

The long road to Dillon had me sitting in contemplation and angst; what would the people of Dillon make of us young, naive, and bright-eyed medical students traipsing into their community? I watched as the towns grew sparse, the woods grew thicker, and the paved roads turned to gravel; the roads reflected my fear, that our stay would gradually get rougher. I was jealous of Samra who dropped into a deep sleep almost as soon as we hit the road whereas my mind wouldn't turn off.
We arrive in the town and do a quick circle; there is the lone mini-mart and gas pump, the restaurant that is sometimes open, the school, health centre, police depot, and the rustic houses all scattered haphazardly. The phrase going in circles certainly applies as we wind around the roads that weave in and out of each other; much unlike the straight and orderly set up of city blocks. We drive up to Doris' house with the tarp covering the self-constructed porch area; back home I would call that a 'farmer fix' and I chuckle. Jodi breaks the ice for us and enters the house first; to her, this journey is almost like returning home. To my surprise, we are greeted with hugs by this woman who has never met us before and yet graciously opened her home to us for the weekend. Just as is the way back from my small town home, she automatically asks if we have eaten and gets the food ready that we have brought. We eat with her daughter and granddaughters, share many laughs, and learn the magic art behind running her toilet for she has been without running water for a month (for those who have never experienced a lack of running water, this involves flushing followed by manually filling the tank with water using an ice cream pail). And then the doshka begins...
Doshka is like Trouble, only with cards in lieu of die, and much more diabolical. We sit in silence, shifting our eyes warily trying to figure out who is going to destroy our marble and kick us back to start. I am out of my chair when there is a triple knock-out; I'm so excited to retaliate that I skip the turns of everyone else at the table when I slam down my card! In the end, the game came down to one hand. I was dealing. To mix things up a little bit, I divy up the piles in a different order from normal and take for myself the hand that Budz was itching to grab. This was a very clever move on my part as that hand ended up winning the game for my partner, Sylvia, and I. I end the night as a doshka champ and heck no it wasn't beginner's luck, that was pure skill!
I rise early in the morning and get some quality alone time with this awesome woman who is housing us. She opens up to me as if I were here closest friend and makes me admire her all the more. Doris is a strong, resilient woman who, in spite of the challenges, has made a warm and welcoming home that is key in the community.
The rest of the day is a blur of bannock and fish, new faces both young and old, beautiful views of the lake, and finally, the sweat. I am humbled to be welcomed into this sacred ritual. It is a surreal experience that no one could have prepared me for. The dark surrounds me in competition only with the sweltering heat and panic is brimming as I concentrate on my breathing. And then the drums start, and a man begins to sing; I feel my eyes start to tear for it is so beautiful. There are not words to describe this experience for it is nothing like I have ever participated in before. At the end, I feel both exhausted and refreshed (and am completely soaked in my own sweat).
The gong-show square dance follows. But hopefully you have already read about that.
And then we crash... James' house in the morning; I feel right at home and walk right in to the house. As always, there is fresh bannock waiting. We see pictures of those who came before us, of James' travels, his family. We have only to ask and anything would be made available to us. Such is the way of this community, and particularly this family (again, it reminds me of the warm ways of the country folk back home).
Our weekend ends with the fishing derby. It is awesome to see so many people huddled along the lake amongst the trucks, snowmobiles, and quads; everyone sitting in anticipation of that big catch. 9.2 lbs is the winner; I have never seen such a big fish!
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and the close of the derby marked our departure. it was with sadness and anticipation for summer that I got in the car to head home (this time Samra is alert and spinning the tunes). I get back to the 'big' city and realize how much I have missed the country. Damn it anyhow if MTL didn't do its job and made me reconsider rural family med!

How Square Dancing Teaches Us About LIFE.

This weekend gave us just a taste of what six weeks up North will hold. There were many instances where we found ourselves lost and at the mercy of whoever was guiding us. In the midst of the mind/body experience that was square dancing, a few points came to mind that illuminated the cycle of learning and adapting to new environments. So here is my first draft of the learning cycle. We’ll see if it changes at all over the next few months....

Stages of Learning*

1. Confusion
    This was most evident at the Saturday night dance. Square dancing is kind of premised on the assumption that participants know how to go about interacting with each other and the music. In our case, neither prerequisite was met. This led to a lot of bewildered looks, wandering feet, and getting laughed at (which really goes hand in hand with this first stage).

2. Knowledge Acquisition
   Three or four community members who really knew what to do were given the de facto task of teaching us and the younger members of the community the steps.

3. Vague Understanding
   By this stage, we kind of grasped the basic idea of what we were supposed to be doing, and made it about 30 seconds without seriously undermining the dance. Self confidence grew by about 15%.

4. Crisis
   And then everything changed. People started moving in different directions, and we lost all sense of who was supposed to go where. This inevitably sent us back to Stage 1 of the cycle.



* Note: You never get to anything more than a vague understanding. Thinking you have is really just a unique feature of Stage 3. Wait two seconds to find out how little you actually know.

Dillon Fishing Derby Weekend

Many thanks to everyone in Dillon who made us feel so welcome and at home over the weekend. Here are a few photos for now.

The weekend was not without learning moments, as we found that:
a) when you get up to square dance, you have made a three song commitment; and b) yes, you can dougie to fiddle music.



More info about it all to come...

Don’t Get It Twisted: Doshka Is No Joke!

Doshka in Dillon led to some heated moments over the weekend, mostly related to curbing seek-and-destroy tendencies. Head on over to the Dillon page to learn more about the community.

Road Trip Hummus

As promised, here is the recipe for the hummus we devoured on our Dillon road trip!

• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4-5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used one whole lemon, squeezed)
  
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons tahini
  
• cayenne pepper, to taste
  
• rooster brand chili garlic sauce (or any hot sauce), to taste (about 2 heaping teaspoons)

Warning, make sure you get your share early if there is a Will present when this is served :)

info potluck

Greetings.

This is a photo of some of the potluck goodness I enjoyed last week, courtesy of fellow Making the Links students and organizers. Here’s hoping that it serves as the food manifestation of the goal of this blog: a big mash up of ideas that come together on one delicious plate.

Enjoy!