Rocks, rocks and more rocks

Driving into Souris, Manitoba on a Friday morning, the hilly town south of Brandon is blanketed in snow. But even though there isn’t a soul in sight that chilly morning, the Rock Shop open sign hangs in the dingy window on the junction of First Street and Red Coat Trail.

The Rock Shop is a one-stop tourist shop with souvenirs (mostly rocks) and travel information. Upon walking in, one feels like they’ve entered a world of bedrock in the old souvenir shop. A young family comes in to admire the shiny rocks and a young girl, about four or five, lifts a shiny pink agate crystal off a shelf on the left. Cases with rocks from places as far away as Madagascar hang on the wall.

But Souris has its own agate pit, filled with glacial deposits left behind from the creation of the Rocky Mountains during the Tertiary period. The rocks found in the pit cannot all be pinned down to one time period, in fact they vary in origin from Precambrian time to the Ice Age. Fossil rocks such as petrified wood and gastropod agates (snail fossils) are found in the pits, the carcasses of these little creatures preserved forever.(sourisrockshop.com)

 “We do bus trips down to the pit starting in May,” says Val Dunbar, 50, who’s worked at the Rock Shop for three years. “We do the tours for kindergarteners to about grade sevens. After that they’re teenagers and don’t want to pay attention.”

She explains the bus trips cost one dollar per student and usually attract schools from the surrounding areas of Souris. They come to explore the rock pit and take home a souvenir from the Rock Shop before going home.

A popular souvenir is little stones glued together with small plastic hats to form “rock critters”. These guys are popular among the younger patrons of the rock shop.

Another popular souvenir, not native to Souris, is the peacock rocks. The shiny blue, purple and green rocks are a favorite because of the peacocks that wander the town in spring and summer.

“In the summer the peacocks go right up to people,” says Brendan Robbins, a grade 12 Souris resident. Dunbar agrees saying the grocery store owner feeds them blueberries.

“They eat them right out of her hand,” says Dunbar who has lived in Souris for 30 years.

When most people think of the little town of Souris, they often think of the suspension bridge. The town that’s home to just 1772 people, is famous for having Canada’s longest historic suspension bridge.(sourismanitoba.com)But in fact the famous attraction takes about five minutes to pass over. So when you’re through with the bridge don’t forget to explore the Rock Shop.

The shop is open from Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm and 12 to 5pm on Saturdays during the winter.

The Hidden Legacy Conference

This past week was a change of pace for post-secondary students everywhere. We had spring break, and while some of us spent it working, snowboarding, in Vegas or Mexico I mixed business with pleasure. I went to Asessippi snowboarding, which was blast. Out of the fifteen of us only one minor injury a nosebleed.(I went off a cliff and landed face first.)
After hot tubs and snowboarding I volunteered for two days at the Hidden Legacy Conference and the Convention Centre.

Brochure from conference

It was a first time conference of its kind to remember the children of residential school survivor's. Residential schools are a dark part of Canada's past.Founded in the 19th century across Canada, by the Canadian government to "civilize" the native peoples, by taking their children and instilling christian beliefs on them. The children were often taken from their homes, their heads shaved, often sexually and physically abused and told they could not speak their native tongue. Two years ago the federal government issued a formal apology and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which works with victims and was present at the conference to take statements. Their were plenty of social workers around confronting people and hearing their stories. The large auditorium where the first day speakers like Gabor Mate, Justice Murray Sinclair and Elijah Harper O.M. spoke, was filled to capacity with over 1500 people. It was a great experience to be a part of.

Ironstand's business card

The second day was workshops. I was assigned to help Beatrice Ironstand, an Anishinabe Helper. Her native name is Against the Clouds. She's from Valley River Reserve. Her "Tipi teachings and Creation Story" was reduced to just the Creation story because of time constraints. each presenter had an hour and fifteen minutes. She explained the story of her people and how each person is made up of four elements, the fire that burns inside them, the water that runs through them, the bear spirit and the wind or breath of a person. It was a fascinating story told by this soft spoken woman who also spoke of personal experiences in her talk. At the end of the workshop there was an offering of tobacco to the Creator. Each person took about a pipeful of tobacco and threw it in the basket where i threw some cedar on top. Then the next person would throw their's.

Picture of Beatrice Ironstand from the brochure.

From the few people I asked about their favorite workshop, many said that Beatrice's was one of their favorite. Several people took her pamphlet or card. The other workshop that was quite popular was Gabor Mate's. He talked about the way a person's childhood experiences shape their entire life. Therefore even children of residential school survivor's who's needs weren't met as children are at risk of substance abuse and other self harming things in their adult life. He explained how it transpires to their children and so on and without proper healing teachings they will never break out of it.

The other workshops were healing ones that helped residential school survivors and their children see that they are able to move past the horrific experiences in their lives. Through this conference I do think some people were connected with the resources in order to begin their own healing conference. As well the statements that were collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are extremely valuable to the legacy of the residential schools.

Tweeting vs. status-updating...

When I use Twitter, it is for one thing only, promotion. I use it to promote my blog. I throw the link up on it every week, hoping it will attract at least one intrigued follower to wander over to this blog. But when I go on Facebook, I am funnier, more outgoing and of course less predictable and professional.

On Facebook I try to be persuasive, say things that will get an reaction. But still I monitor what I'm saying. I make sure I am not a part of the day-to-day hub-a-lub. I try to step out of the box, that is when I step off the sidelines and decide to say something. But there are some people who use Facebook as a sounding board for their emotions. This is not what I or anyone else would like to hear. Except of course when the sounding off contains juicy gossip. Of course Facebook has a broader network with 500 million people world wide. Twitter sits around 70,000 registered users.

But each website is designed in a unique way that shapes the way you can share your thoughts. For instance, Twitter has it's 140 character limit where Facebook does not. Also Facebook is more versatile. You can not only see people's status updates but their new photos, interactions with other users etc.

All my friends have Facebook, and even some of my aunts. I know very few older males,(my dad's age) who have Facebook, it seems to be taking off wiht older woman. i suppose the interacting with friends and family and snooping on what they're doing in their lives is a woman thing(in my family at least.)

Surprisingly my brother who is a engineering student doesn't have a cell, but has Facebook. My sister and I often communicate to him through messages on Facebook. The website is extremely useful for connecting people who don't know each other. For instance this spring break my friend Britt and I planned a trip to Assessippi. We each invited our siblings and starting a mass conversation that went out to all the trip-goers helped us keep in touch with everyone via one message. It was easier then finding everyone's email too.

Speaking of email I use Facebook to send links now. Instead of going to GMail which I barely have open on my computer anymore I just go to Facebook, type in the person's name and send it as a message. This usually means the person will get it right away too.


When it comes to adding people I don't know I'm more cautious then ever. I used to add people willy-nilly thinking I must know them if they added me. But I recently was quoted in the Free Press saying I do add people I don't know. Well, the stupidity in that is tehy had my full name printed. People could just search my first and last name and add me. This caused to be more of a hassle then anything. After that little eye-opening incident I remain cautious when adding new friends.

With Twitter it's different. I allow anyone to follow me as i believe it is not as personal as Facebook. I don't post photos of my birthday and camping trips up on Twitter. I keep it strictly to blog links and interesting saying I've heard throughout the day. Interestingly very few of my friends outside of school have Twitter. They all seem disinterested by keeping up two social networking websites. This does seem logical as after I signed up for Twitter more then a year ago i stopped using it until school.

So whether you are tweeting, status updating or posting photos you are using one of these two very popular social networking sites. They each have their pitfalls, but are extremely useful for communicating with others.

To publish or to self publish

 I think throwing an ebook online it a great achievement, not to mention environmentally friendly. But what if it's self published? Does it still hold merit? Do people still read it ? I think so. Referring to Book Madam's blog there may be some editing issues and as well as the fact that without the publicity attached to the publisher there's less of a reason for it to be sold. The publisher doesn't just edit, bind and distribute, they promote. A small one time writer has to be damn good in order to catch the attention of the people bombarded with advertisements and talk show promotions on other books.

On one hand self publishing could be seen as taking the easy way out. You didn't spend hours perfecting it to an editor's or the industry's standards which may have a huge impact on the quality of the work. But on the other hand you perfected something to the best of your individual ability making it what you wanted it to be. Does this mean it is the most untainted version of your work? It's sure something to think about.

On the other hand being published by the industry makes for a great personal victory. The fact that your work has been chosen, yes modified, but still chosen will remain with you forever. But then if you went to the effort of self publishing that project would stay with you forever well. So what it comes down to is circumstances. If you try and try to get published, take the feedback that you may get from the publisher, and then throw it up on ebooks it seems like a happy medium. So my route to take would be the final. I would try out the available resources like sending the book to an publisher and if it doesn't work out, there's always self publishing.