Today was the annual Word on the Street (WOTS) National Book & Magazine Festival, which here in Toronto takes over Queen's Park. Steve and I went out to enjoy some of our favourite things - literature, being outside, and food that isn't terribly good for us. Here's what I came home with:
I'm pretty excited to now own both The Barracuda and The Armadillo, which are anthologies of teen writing that were created as part of the NOW HEAR THIS! literacy program. But the truly serendipitous find was First In, Last Out - The RCAF, Women's Division and Nursing Sisters in World War Two, as this book is the perfect thing to help me research a play I've been working on. Plus, I even got it signed by the author!
Oh, and on a less literary note, we also saw this bit of hilarity:
I just hope no one gets confused about which porta-boxes are for withdrawals and which ones are for deposits...
This morning I took part in a Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup event, getting down n' dirty on the banks of the Mimico Creek (I'm not kidding about the dirty part - it poured rain for most of yesterday, so the mud was good and squelchy!)
End result. Go team!
Obviously I went into the event happy to be participating, but that was because I believe in the cause and was excited for the end result. But I wasn't at it long before I realized I was actually enjoying the work itself.
Snack food debris was plentiful, as were cigarette butts.
First of all, I was out by the water on a downright glorious fall day. Then there was the fact that picking up litter is one of those activities where you can see the impact you're having as you work, which is something I don't come by a lot as a writer. Finally - and this part is a little weird, I admit - I liked that the cleanup involved clambering up and down muddy banks, digging out half-buried metal cans, and generally doing lots of bending and reaching and ducking under branches and brush. Basically, I felt like a kid out hunting for treasure who wasn't worried about getting in trouble for the mess.
Really, Unidentified Bishop Allen Student? A shirt?
Oh, and I found a hat that had been taken over by moss. Which was pretty awesome, and which was returned to the mossy spot from whence it came.
Afterward Steve met me for lunch and on the way home, we saw a groundhog. So it's been a great day already, and there's still a new Doctor Who on the way tonight. I dare say, huh and zah.
Now that my weekend round-up of opportunities open to Ontario kids and teens has been turned into a separate page listing current youth opportunities, I thought I'd try something a little different and take a quick look at some amazing kids, teens, and young adults I've read about recently:
Felix Finkbeiner, Environmentalist, Activist and Author, Age 13
From Pöcking, Bavaria, Germany
Reading The Telegraph (UK) online last month, I learned about "The 13-year-old who has the world planting trees". At the age of 9, Felix Finkbeiner turned a simple school presentation into a plan to see one million trees planted in his home country of Germany. Now age 13, Felix recently met that goal, is the author of the book Baum für Baum (Tree by Tree), and is expanding his campaign worldwide with a global call to "Stop talking. Start planting".
• Visit www.plant-for-the-planet.org, or listen to Felix speak to UN delegates in New York in February of this year:
Anastasia Rizikov, Classical Pianist, Age 12
From Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Anastasia Rizikov is a 12-year-old classical pianist who just won an international competition open to young students and professionals more than twice her age. According to the article "Young Toronto pianist wins top prize in Spain" on CBC.ca, Anastasia was the youngest competitor in the top category of the 18th Rotary International Piano Competition, which was held in Palma de Mallorca earlier this month.
Mark C. Eshleman, Filmmaker, and Tyler Joseph, Poet, Both Age 22
From Westerville, Ohio, USA
I posted about the Trend Micro "What's Your Story?" Video Contest back in February and I'm really glad I thought to go back and have a look at the results. The winning video, "Where Are You?", is striking in its simplicity and a real accomplishment.
