Yellowknife Online

Over the last couple days an area in the playground of the NJ MacPherson School has been cleared, dug, and leveled. At first I was unsure of what would be occupy the space, whether a new playground or portable. Once they built a ramp from the road to the platform I assumed it was for a portable that would be going in.

Sure enough today, Friday, they brought in the portable classroom. When I tried to call the school and school board to find out why this new portable was being put in I couldn’t reach anyone. I didn’t think it was needed and with St. Joe’s School now fully open again, I thought Yellowknife School might be back to normal. Please if me in if I am wrong. St. Joe’s School just got their old portables removed, remember.

Something thing that I question though, is what was the hurry to put this new portable classroom building in. They had to fence off a large area of the playground while the school is still in. Kids have to play around it at recess, now. Why did they just wait a week until school was out for the summer? hmm…

UPDATE: Thanks to a parent/daycare owner, she informed me that NJ MacPherson will have 3 Kindergarten classes come fall. The four new portables will house some of the classes that will not fit into the main school. A commenter below also says that the portables are for the  Montessori School, rather that YK1 (NJ MacPherson).

UPDATE: A commenter who actually works for the YK1 School Board commented below that they are moving the Montessori out of NJ MacPherson School into the portables, which have been moved from St. Joe’s School.

After the well-known St. Joseph School fire a couple of years ago, portable classrooms were put in place and were continued to be used as renovations took place. Now as the renovations are coming to a close, the portables were removed from the school property. At about 9am on Saturday, June 5, 2010, 3 flatbed transport trucks, a crane, and a front end loader arrived to remove the semi-permanent buildings.

The buildings were attached and had to detached before moving them. Once detached, the crane would extend its boom and hook up to the building, while the front end loader steadied it. One flatbed would then back under the building and the crane would lower it down. After fastening the building to the truck it was slowly driven out of the way, while another backed up.

While the trucks were coming and going, traffic got backed up a certain points. Wasn’t a big deal, no one seemed to be in a hurry, seems all the crazy garage salers had simmered down for the day. It will be interesting to see what the school uses the new open space for. Whether, new buildings will be put there or if the playground will be extended.

What do you want to see the new open space for? More classrooms, or bigger playground.

Do you smell it in the air? Okay we maybe you don’t smell it, but maybe you can see it.

The sudden rush of college and university students returning home for the summer.
Every year it seem like the city just becomes a little more “hip”, as students return with fashions that are normally only found in big cities, like Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary.

I’m stereotyping of course, but why can’t I, %90 of what I’m writing is true, is it not. Then again, maybe I’m just more observant than many others, as many of these students are my age. Maybe I feel intimidated, that these students are coming home with new found life experience, and knowledge base. I just can’t help but feel that I missed of out on something.

Then again I could just be crazy. Nonetheless, the return of students is a good sign that summer is on it’s way… I hope… please don’t snow this week. You’ll see them in Government Jobs filing away, mowing lawns for the City of Yellowknife, or filling up the bars on Friday nights.

They are a big part of our community and of course it’s future. So, welcome home Students.

Another Challenge Cup between the two local High Schools, Sir John Franklin and St. Patrick High School, is over. This years Challenge was a St Pat’s victory all around. I will give you a run down of how the afternoon went. The girls teams face off first for 2 periods starting at 1pm and then afterwords the guys go head to head for a rough and tumble game.

This year it seems that St. Pat’s teams were both on their “A” game, winning both of them. The girls team took a 3 goal lead and kept it, winning the game 4-1. As for the guys team, once they got a 3 goal lead, well they just kept going. The final scored ended up being 7-1.

Being a graduated Falcon it is hard to see Blue and Yellow take a hit like this but I know that both teams did their best and definite entertained the crowd. Congratulations to both teams, and hat tip as well to St. Pats for the victories.

I did not have a camera as it was a spur of the moment decision. If you have any photos please link to them in the comments.

Starting on Thursday night at 7:30 and showing nightly until Saturday will be St. Patricks High School annual Christmas drama production. This year the school will be putting on the classic story of A Christmas Carol.

From NACC:

A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens, demonstrates the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge, who on Christmas Eve, seven years after the death of his business partner Jacob Marley, is challenged to change his ways by the Ghost of Jacob Marley and three Christmas Spirits:the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

The thing which makes this production so special is the fact that it is completely student run. Brandon Erasmus will be directing this show with the assistance of Jacqueline Brasseur as well as an all student technical crew.  I was able to talk to Jacqueline through Facebook and here is what she had to say about the show:

Q. How did 2 students come to direct this years SPHS Drama Production?

A. Well, usually St. Patrick’s High School Drama Department does two shows a year. We usually have a One-Act Festival, as well our school production. The One-Act is always rehearsed during the day in the drama 10/20/30 class, and the school production is done completely on it’s own after school and on weekends. The One-Act Festival has always been full of one-act plays that are directed by students, so I think that’s why Mrs. Maltby was open to inviting Brandon Erasmus to direct this year’s production that is in the place of the One-Act Festival. As soon as Brandon was chosen to direct, Mrs. Maltby invited me to help him out as stage manager and assistant director.

Q. Do you think having it a show run fully by students will benefit its outcome?

A. I think that having the show run completely by students will benefit it’s outcome in so many ways. I think that the people in the community will see how much work was put into this, and how it’s something completely new to the theatre world in Yellowknife. The fact that students can put on something like this will surely impress a lot of people around town. It may not be the best show you’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely a feat to organize a show when everybody in the process is such a young age, and so new to the world of theatre, like Brandon and I are. Because Mrs. Maltby has given us so many opportunities to be such a big part of theatre in our school, I think that more students will want to be a part of the drama program, and I can’t wait to see how amazing the drama program at the school becomes next year.

Q. Why did you decided to take such a big roll in the production?

A. I’ve been interested in drama since I was a kid. Acting has been something I’ve wanted to do since I was little. I had the chance to direct a One-Act Play last year in the One-Act Festival because a part of the Drama 30 curriculum is to direct something. I had a great time, and really just wanted to experience something bigger and better. I knew the moment this was offered to me that it would be an amazing learning experience. I’m absolutely horrified for production week, but at the same time, I can’t wait to learn new things, and have a chance to show that us St. Pat’s students can do just about anything we set our mind to.
Brandon says: “It’s a funny story. What really got me into directing was last year, during the One-Act Festival, I had the worst dress rehearsal of all time. It was horrible. Only one actor was decent. After the worst dress rehearsal of all time, I went home, and Jacqueline told me that I was a much better director than actor, and that’s when I gave up acting, and started wanting to direct.”

Q. How did the selection of this years show, A Christmas Carol, come about?

A. Brandon chose the play. He wanted to choose something that people were familiar with. Because we’re putting on a production with students from a class that a lot of kids take solely because they have to get a fine arts credit, Brandon chose something that wouldn’t be too big of a challenge. However, I really think that with the motivation everybody has gotten since we’ve started, we could’ve put on something more challenging. Everybody in the class has done an extraordinary job getting excited about the production, even those who haven’t ever acted before.

Q. Do you think the fact there is a remake currently in theatres of A Christmas Carol it will affect the turn out for the show and people expectations.

A. I believe that if anything, it will bring us a larger audience. It’s funny because last time Brandon directed, he was helping direct a Batman Musical play at his school in Vancouver, and as soon as they got the show on it’s feet, the movie came out. He was telling me earlier about how it seems like every time he directs something, they make a movie for it. Brandon believes that people are going to have really high expectations for the production because of the movie, but this is a high school production, and many students’ first time acting. I think that although people may have high expectations, they’ll be impressed by the talent of many of our newly found actors.

Q. What can Yellowknifers expect from the show this year, will there be any surprises?

A. If anything, Yellowknifers aren’t going to expect the costumes at all. They’re different, and many actors take on a different character than the one’s Dickens wrote about. So many actors have made their character their own, which is really what we wanted them to do to begin with. All the students have done a beautiful job at making this production one of a kind.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to say about this years show?

A. All I really want to put out there is that without Mrs. Maltby, none of this could have happened. Marianne Maltby is constantly under appreciated, and constantly disrespected, but she puts so much effort into the students. She tries so hard to make sure that all the students are having a good time, and are enjoying theatre as much as they can. Her classes are so often not taken seriously due to the lack of value put on drama in our school, and really, she takes every single one of her students seriously and wants to be the best she can be for them. She is a wonderful teacher, a beautiful actress, a magnificent director, and a extremely kind human being.

Thanks Jacqueline, can’t wait to see the show.

Details

• What: SPHS Production of A Christmas Carol
• Where: NACC, behind Sir John High School
• When: November 19,20,21 at 7:30pm each night.
• Tickets: $12 – Available at NACC.ca

I hope to make it to one of the show, so I will see you there.

Today is  Sunday and it is the day of rest, so I’m not going to post anything to deep. I thought a video would be perfect.

Along my travels through the Internet, specifically YouTube, I came across this interesting video of none other than old town. The video was produced by WAMP Film production and Paul Gordon. I’m not sure as the exact time the video was shot but in the description it states it aired in 2001 or 2002. Take a look.

I also found the video below by the same user and thought I would share it to. I actually found this video years ago while in high school and thought it was a neat idea. It is called “Dump Talk” and I thought and still do a think it would make a great web series. *Note there is a little bit of bad language in the video, among other crappy things, so be warned.

UPDATE: Shortly after this post was officially published the site was taken down. For the better I suppose.

I was recently sent a link to a blog that I am assuming is written by a local student. I’m not sure how to take the site.

Photo Credit: cchiao

This person calls them self the Gossip Girl of YK. I’m sure not all of you are familiar with the TV show Gossip Girl so I will try to explain it the best I can.

In the upper east side of New York there is a school of high class kids with rich parents who seem to get everything they want. The show is full of sex, partying and scandals and it is all based around this Gossip Girl who is anonymous. She runs a website, a blog if you will, about the gossip around these students lives and every time she makes a post about some dirt she has uncovered they all instantly get the update to their mobiles.

Now I would say that this site here in Yellowknife is a long way off from being anything like that and one must remember that the real Gossip Girl is a fictional character in a TV show. That being said seeing this site slightly worries me because if you read through it, it really is making some big accusations about people and making those people mad. Knowing enough about how the internet works I can also guess that the “Gossip Girl” will be found out soon enough through a simple IP check and call to a internet provider.

Then there is the part of me that is intrigued by it and would keep reading but at the same time I feel bad for those being written about.

A word of caution to the writer. You may want to rethink what you are doing. You have already received many threats if you are found out. Be Careful whose toes you step on!

Yellowknife, what are your thoughts on a site like this? I know most of my readers are adults but how would you respond if you read something about yourself you didn’t want anybody to know. What action do you think should be taken?

My thoughts or opinions on some of the articles in Wednesdays April 15 Yellowknifer:

With all the hype in the paper this past week about Fishing Licenses I am amazed they missed one. One what? One location that also still sells Fishing Licenses. Everyone seems to be complain about how now only 2 government offices sell them and are only open 9-5 on weekdays as well as Co-op which also has select hours. Well I have news for you. Shell Gas Station located in a highly populated traffic area sells them too and oh guess what, they are open 24 hours of the day and all 7 days of a week. They even have a huge sign on there door with BOLD letters that says “We Sell Fishing Licenses” and they have always sold them. Last year I took upwards to 30 American Hunters there. No not all at once but when they came into Yellowknife late one night and left early the next morning it was the best (and only) place to go. So now you know.

Okay Mr. Dan Wong I will give you the fact you’re standing up for what you believe in and I by no means support the scholarship cuts but it has happen and yes it sucks. We need more positive thinking. I realize you can’t afford going to school for 6 years to but I have to ask if you are willing to spend that amount of time at school (using the government’s money, with no guarantee you will stay in the north) shouldn’t you be willing to take out a loan or line of credit to pay for it yourself. Once again I have to say that I believe if you want something and you want it bad enough you would be willing to do what it takes to achieve it. I’m sure you have an opinion on the matter, I want to know.