Linda and Bill Studley
Despite the nasty weather, we had a really good turnout at the January PRSA coffee-house (Peace Region Songwriters’ Association) at the “Faking Sanity” Cafe in Dawson Creek. Bill and I were the featured performers and played mostly original songs for the better part of an hour. A great variety of performances were provided during the open mic sections of the coffee-house by musicians, singers, and poets.
Barb and Ian Munro
Barb Munro, long time member of the PRSA, debuted a new song, “Over You” (she made a point of telling us that it was NOT about her husband, much to Ian’s relief!). Lovely people, Great new song, Super talented!
Kjetil Landsgard
It was a treat to have Kjetil Landsgard perform a couple of songs for us. Kjetil is a past member of the PRSA and I hope we’ll see more of him now that he’s moved back to the DC area. Kjetil’s music is unique and compelling, he uses his voice in the most amazing ways and had the audience enthralled. Welcome back Kjetil!
Barb Carlson
We had poets aplenty too! Barb Carlson delighted the audience with a reading from her original poetry.
I am also privileged to be a part of a group of writers who meet regularly to share and challenge each other. One of our most recent challenges came from Sabrina L’Heureaux, who unfortunately couldn’t make it to the coffee-house. She challenged us all to write pantoums (an unusual poetry form that repeats lines in a specific pattern). So we exchanged photos that we thought were interesting and we wrote 10 lines/ phrases/ questions about the pictures, then fit them into the pantoum form. The resulting poems were quite interesting so we thought we’d share the exercise with the audience at the coffee-house.
Rebekah Rempel Chorney
Rebekah brought a picture and asked the members of the audience to write a line/phrase/question about it. Then she and Jeannie Lindgren worked to put the lines into the pantoum form. The result? A beautiful pantoum poem. Rebekah has promised to send it to me so I will post it here, with the picture as soon as I get it.
Jeannie Lindgren
Jeannie and Rebekah also entertained us with more of their poetry during the evening. These ladies are very accomplished writers. You can find out more about
Rebekah on her blog
Janina Carlstad and John Fletcher
More music! We had some wonderful collaborations last evening.
Janina Carlstad – our local Flute aficionado teamed up with guitarist John Fletcher to great effect! Both PRSA members!
Jenna Bratt and Andrew Ho
Another great duo included Jenna Bratt, vocals, and Andrew Ho on keyboard. Jenna and Andrew are new to the open mic and we are very pleased that they participated. Jenna has a very lovely, expressive voice and Andrew is a brilliant pianist.
There were other performers too, including a very talented trio of young ladies who sang for us and an amazing performance of South African music, vocal and Kalimba! That was a real treat! I apologise for not including everyone, but my little old digital camera is not fool-proof (I guess that would make me the fool taking the pictures!) but if I can find more photos I’ll definitely post them!
All in all, another excellent coffee-house.
Writing – songwriting, poetry, it’s so much better when it’s shared!
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Linda Studley 
Why Do We Watch?
Yesterday Wildcat Video and the Dawson Creek Diner were consumed by a fire. Today the photos and videos are rampant. I could easily put a link to any one of several youtube videos showing the fire. I’ve looked at a couple but the only question that keeps prodding me is ‘Why do we watch?’
Many years ago I watched my home burn to the ground as I stood and watched. The second time I lost my home to fire I wasn’t there, couldn’t watch, and sometimes I think it was better that way.
Why do we watch? Is it the awe at the terrifying power of the flames, is it some strange form of thrill seeking? Obviously those in charge of putting the fire out or keeping their nearby homes or businesses safe have a bona fide reason to keep an eye on a fire. But why do people with no vested interest watch? What do we expect to see? I guess we’ve been watching fires for millennia and the fascination may be a part of our psyche, our human make up.
Why do we watch? I just don’t know. I only know that after you lose a home or your business to fire nothing is ever the same again. You may rebuild, you may even stop thinking of it as it recedes into ancient history in your life, but just catch a glimpse of that black smoke on the horizon and you feel that twist in your gut. You know that smoke. You know that someone will feel the way you felt that day. I am so sorry for the loss to our local business owners and I hope they can put this behind them and start anew. I will be there as soon as the door opens, returning my rented videos.