Envydia Storefront

Recently, two local stores within the Medicine Hat Mall, Multi-Line Jeans & Gotcha Shoes both closed to focus their inventory in a single store and concept, called “Envydia” (envy – dia). The new clothing store offers jeans, shoes, t-shirts, hoodies/jackets, and tons of handbags all in one store.

Some of the clothing brands offered at Envydia include: Buffalo, Guess, Silver Star, and Arson & Orb. For shoes: LaCoste, Osiris, Kenneth Cole, Steve Madden, and (lots of) Sketchers. For handbags: Guess, Kathy VanZeeland, Chinese Laundry, and Chocolate. The shop also wants to focus on offering brands that are nowhere else in Medicine Hat in the upcoming months. You can learn and see more on their Shop the Hat profile:

Envydia on Shop the Hat

New CFCA Website

The Community Food Connection Association has just launched a new website for their unique organization. The CFCA is a non-profit organization made up of volunteers, agencies and community members concerned about food, nutrition, health and social justice as well as the environment and local agriculture.

The new website focuses on updating the looks and aesthetics of the old site as well updating the resources available on the site. Some of the initiatives of the association now include: Good Food Club, Community Kitchens, Community Gardens, and the Food Charter. The initiatives help to bring concepts of both local food and  food security in a community-type environment to Medicine Hat. New community functions and interactive elements are also scheduled as future updates on the new site.

In related news, the CFCA will be presenting the documentary, Food, Inc. at the Monarch Theatre tomorrow night (Monday, March 8th at 6:30PM). Read about the event here.

http://www.foodconnections.ca

Today’s labour market looks much different than it did a few years ago, and with many employers now having the ability to draw from an unusually large labour pool, employee recruitment and retention has become an entirely new ballgame. With this in mind, the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Medicine Hat College to bring an emphasis on the needs of employers to their Job Fair for 2010.

Executive Director of the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce, Lisa Kowalchuk, commented that “this is a valuable event for employers looking to recruit in the next year. Not only does it afford them an opportunity to attract quality employees, but also a chance to gain insight and knowledge that will help them effectively select new employees and streamline their recruitment processes.”

Several new components have been added to this year’s event, including a networking breakfast for employers from 10:00 – 11:00 AM, followed by a keynote presentation by Charmaine Hammond, an internationally renowned speaker, author, instructor, and business owner from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM. The focus of Hammond’s presentation will be ‘Igniting Resilience” and will provide insight on how to handle change and uncertainty in today’s economy.

Other benefits for employers attending Job Fair 2010 include the opportunity to participate in one-on-one business consultation sessions with a professional management consultant, as well as the chance to connect with job seekers in a unique “reverse interview” panel, in which job seekers will be able to question employers on how best to maximize their chances of firstly being noticed, and ultimately getting hired. Also, in addition to the luxury of meeting potential candidates face-to face, participating in this year’s event will also give employers an opportunity to generate interest and advertise their businesses in high traffic areas of the Medicine Hat College. Furthermore, employers will have access to free interview facilities to recruit on the day of event and the ability to follow-up on their initial contacts by posting on the Medicine Hat College’s internet job board free of charge.

Registration forms and information regarding Job Fair 2010 are available at the Medicine Hat College, the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce, or online at www.medicinehatchamber.com/events.htm

The event is proudly sponsored by Alberta Employment and Immigration, Service Canada and the Economic Development Alliance of Southeastern Alberta.

Yes, indeed, the Crow Moon. For the Shawnee, this time arrives when the cawing of crows signals the beginning of the end of papoonwi (winter). And, indeed, early March is the time of ‘wakening’… when the Earth Mother first begins to stir, eh. Like a slowly waking beautiful woman, she gradually rouses; the days begin to warm, and the ground begins to thaw. Um-hmm, and like the lovely languid sleeper, she murmurs in the coo of budded awakening, too. Yep, but as any guy knows… who’s ever gotten too close to one who is first arousing… appearances can be deceiving. Get too beguiled and that sweet and gentle subtleness may just get’chu a pillow or… a huge wad of snow… whipped smack-dab… into your goofily naive face.

You know, some of the more northern Indians know this time of the year as the Crust Moon. That’s because it’s the time when the snow cover becomes crystallized and is thus ‘crusted’ from thawing by day and freezing by night. Sure, and to some of the early white Catholic settlers, it was known as the Lenten Moon. That’s because it arrived with the Catholic observance of Lent. But, for the Shawnee, this has always been the time of the Crow Moon.

No, no, no! – I don’t mean that it’s named for those pesky Indians from out west, neither. Nah, those Crows… are more precisely called the Absároke, a name possibly given to them by their neighboring tribe, the Hidatsa. It means “Children of the Large-Beaked Bird”. Yeah, and this long-ago bird is probably extinct nowadays because nobody’s seen one in like 5 or 6 centuries, eh. But, it was originally said to be a big, black, fork-tailed bird, most resembling the blue jay or magpie. So, the closest thing to something like that was well…probably the common crow – who knows? Hence, this moniker stuck for the Absároke. Um-hmm, and while these Indians also go by the handles of “Sparrow Hawk” and “Bird People”, they’re often just known as plain old…“Crow”. So, nope, I don’t mean them. I’m referring to the actual old nemesis of the straw-stuffed dummy who ‘hangs out’ in the corn fields and who once did a ‘Yellow Brick Road’ trip with a lily-livered kitty, a sardine can of a tin man, a ‘my prettied’ chick named Dorothy, and her little dog, too. Yes’sir, I’m talking about – the genus Corvus, in the family Corvidae – the standard model #302 bird called… the crow.

As with most wildlife, the Creator has taught American Indians to pay attention to the crow. They carry many meanings to us, and there are Crow Societies in numerous Indian cultures. But, for sure, we all look to them for sign. In early spring, when the wetness of the melting conee (snow) and heated soil spurs the earthworm, they wiggle upward, and their casts (droppings) appear on the exposed ground. Ooo boy, and man, but this brings on the return of the robin wiski-lothas (birds). Yep, they’re coming back from the south early enough… to get the worm. Their appearance is thus a telltale sign of spring. You’bet’cha, and the skotidoquasas (crows) which have been congregating all winter, well; they break-up at this time, too. Yeah, they singly head out to look for honeys and hunks to hook-up with. Uh-huh, and just like two-legged guys and chicks trying to connect at a noisy bar; voices have to be elevated to make the link. So, this makes for a lot of noisy cawing for these birds at this time of year, eh. Oh yeah, and if two-legged guys have a dozen pick-up lines for the chicks, then the old crow won’t be outdone – uh-uh. Yes’sir, they make a number of clicks, rattles and bell-like sounds. But scientists figure that the black feathered ones have some 23 variations of their ‘caw’ call alone; each one means something specific like maybe “What’s your sign?” or “Come here often?” So, they can be especially noisy in the early spring. To a traditional Indian, they, like the returning robin, are a sign of the Earth Mother’s early awakening. But like the beautiful sleeping woman… it ain’t always as sweet as it seems… hmm.

This raucous ruckus lasts until the crows eventually find a significant other, make like lovebirds, and settle down to build a home. But, if a bunch of ducks is a flock, then there’s a reason why you call a crowd of crows… a ‘murder’, eh. Yeah, these same lovey-dovey crows will occasionally raid the springtime robins’ nests to eat their new eggs, thus destroying the red breasts’ family. Heck, they sometimes even take over the nest for their own homestead. So… see what I mean? The scene’s not always as delectably tender and gentle as it looks, is it? Yes’um, and winter can be just as mesmeric when it comes to appearances being deceiving. Just when we think that spring is right around the corner… WHAM! – we get a foot of snow and are plunged deeply into frigid temperatures… just like that. So there you go. Early spring can be just as illusionary in regard to the black birds’ portent of winter’s last sigh or… that of beautiful awakening woman, too. Um-hmm, get too lulled in either case… and that sweet and gentle subtleness may just get’chu a pillow, or… a huge wad of snow… whipped smack-dab into your goofily naive face.

Laara Cassells: e·strange

What does the generation dubbed ‘the intentionally disengaged’ have to do with the long-established tradition of the equestrian (a.k.a. horse) portrait? Artist Laara Cassells is surrounded in her daily life by young people and horses, and in this new and insightful body of work, she brings both together to muse on popular culture and its intersection with the values of tradition and the natural world. Curator of art Joanne Marion comments: “Laara Cassells poses intriguing questions with flashes of humour in these elegant double portraits: about the directions in which today’s digital communications are taking us, about the fate of the natural world, about the meaning of our cultural traditions… and she generously leaves the answers up to the viewer.”

Laara Cassells’ practice as an artist spans painting, sculpture, installation and multi-media performances. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions and performances around the world, including Canada, the United States, Hungary, Korea, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and Italy. Cassells divides her time between Medicine Hat, where she is a faculty member of the Visual Communications Program at Medicine Hat College, and Sundre, Alberta.

Dana Shukster: Pre-Flight –Trace

Dana Shukster’s recent explorations of the fleeting aspects of light have led to the creation of a series of large scale, sepia-toned inkjet prints on paper. These mysterious images are derived from projected shadows of magpies in flight, and are accompanied in the gallery by video and direct shadow projections. “Dana Shukster’s process is almost scientific in its rationality, and yet the results are certainly poetic and even eerie. Her works give us pause to wonder at the arbitrary nature of our perception of our transitory world,” says curator of art Joanne Marion.

Dana Shukster is based in Medicine Hat, Alberta and has exhibited her work across Canada and in the United States and Europe. Her work has been supported by grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and is held in numerous public and private collections in Alberta and British Columbia.

e·strange and Pre-Flight –Trace are on display in the Esplanade Art Gallery until Apr. 11, 2010. The opening reception is Thursday, Mar. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Gallery Foyer. The artists will be present and will give a brief tour of their work. There is no charge to attend the reception and everyone is welcome.

DOA's Joey Keithley - "I, Shithead" Book Cover

DOA is a hardcore punk rock band that formed in 1978 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Along with the bands Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat, they are often considered the founders of hardcore punk rock.

The band has been around for more than 30 years and currently is fronted by singer/guitarist Joey “Shithead” Keithley and accompanied by Dan Yaremko and James Hayden. Their music, like most punk rock, takes a strong stance on politics. Their lyrics often involve anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom and drug use. It is not uncommon for DOA to perform for causes and benefits to raise awareness on specific issues.

Since forming in 1978, DOA has created and released 16 studio albums, 7 compilation albums and 16 music videos. In total, they have sold more than 500,000 records and played more than 3000 shows in 30 different countries.

In keeping parallel with the “Do It Yourself” attitude that lots of punkers have, when DOA started, Joey Keithley created Sudden Death Records, an indie record label to release DOA albums on. The label remained only a part-time business until around 1998 when they began to sign more bands. Sudden Death Records now has about 30 bands signed to it.

DOA has been cited as an influence by many bigger and more well known bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Rancid and The Offspring. They have toured with The Clash, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Nirvana and Minor Threat.

In 2004, the book “I, Shithead” was released, which recollects Joey Keithley’s life in punk rock. The book starts out from him and his friends as kids getting into music, starting DOA, rioting, drinking, and playing their music. The book reveals DOA’s famous slogan: “Talk minus Action equals Zero.”

As if the achievements over a 30 year career were not enough of a reward, in 2003, Vancouver’s then-mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21st to be “D.O.A. Day” in honour of the band’s 25th anniversary.

I, Shithead on Amazon

Medicine Hat Media DOA article from 2008 Calgary show

Music video after The Jump.

A couple months ago, Original Joe’s moved into the building where the East Side Mario’s restaurant had previously been. Since then it has been completely revamped. The walls have been torn down and everything is now wide open. Seating is comfortable and the lighting is dim, creating a more comfortable and personal atmosphere. The service is probably the best I have ever had in town, and the food is wonderful. It looks although Original Joe’s will prosper far better than East Side Mario’s did.

Each time I have been there, the servers were coming by regularly to see how things were and check up on drink levels. A couple times they even brought drink refills to our party before they were completely empty, which showed good attentiveness to their customers.

The food each time has been fantastic, and the best thing is you get 2 sides with most of the meal choices without having to pay extra (in comparison to other restaurants that only offer 1). Even while dining there during an Olympic hockey game that Canada was playing in, the food was prepared and served quicker than I thought it would have been.

When you are finished your meal, instead of lining up at the cash register to pay for your food, the server will bring a debit machine to your table. This allows your server to see you through your entire dining experience instead of leaving you to lining up and waiting for someone else to proceed with the meal payment.

The only possible quarrel I have is that since everything is entirely wide open, it can be very loud, especially if it is hockey night or a band is playing. Another downside is that you must be 18 years or older to enter, so minors unfortunately cannot experience the awesome food.

Original Joe’s definitely gets two thumbs up.

http://www.originaljoes.ca/

The call is out for nominations for area residents that make this city a great place to live, work and play.

Hatters can send in their nomination forms recognizing individuals for the 2009 Civic Recognition Awards in the following categories: Cultural, Environmental, Humanitarian, Sports/Recreational and Community Inclusion. City Council may also choose to recognize an individual with a Community Service award for making a major contribution in more than one of the above categories.

“The Civic Recognition Awards are an opportunity for the community to show its gratitude and appreciation to residents who are making a difference,” says Jeremy Thompson, Alderman Responsible for Civic Functions. “These awards are meant to acknowledge and recognize leadership, volunteerism, achievements and contributions, whether big or small.”

Requirements for nominations include:

• A completed Civic Recognition Awards nomination form is available on the City’s website www.medicinehat.ca or from Corporate Communications, Third Floor, City Hall.
• A brief biography / resume of nominee
• A letter of support from each of the three nominators
• Any additional information that supports the application
• A recent photograph of the nominee

Nominees may be residents of Medicine Hat, Redcliff or the County of Cypress as long as the extraordinary contribution(s) benefitted residents of Medicine Hat. The three nominators must be residents of Medicine Hat.

The deadline to submit a nomination form is Friday, April 2, 2010. The 2009 Civic Recognition Awards will be presented at an Awards Ceremony on May 26, 2010 at the Esplanade.

For further information, award guidelines and nomination forms, please call 403-502-8719 or visit www.medicinehat.ca.

City Hall in Street View

9th Annual Medicine Hat Film Festival

The 9th Annual Medicine Hat Film Festival is a five-day event that will be held from February 24 – 28, 2010. We are pleased to announce that our festival will take place at The Monarch Theatre in downtown Medicine Hat. Our group brings to Medicine Hat some of the best films shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Often we provide the only opportunity for people to see them on the big screen in the Hat. To complement the great films, we host some of the actors, directors and producers to talk about their films after the screening, followed by a reception at the Cypress Club. We also show a film for families. The Medicine Hat Film Festival has created a rich cultural experience for the people of southern Alberta. Profits from the festival have gone toward building and maintaining the DVD collection at the Medicine Hat Public Library. In addition, we provide funding for the free films shown on a regular basis at the library. Thanks for helping us to continue the Medicine Hat Film Festival.

Medicine Hat Film Festival Website