Bring on the next season

Page 4

People and Places

Oki. How is everyone?

Summer's over and so are my powwow traveling days for another year. The last powwows I attended were Kehewin and Frog Lake. Kehewin turned out to be a pretty good one, but it was cold. I danced on Saturday and nearly froze my knees because it was so cold.

Every once in awhile, I bumped into people that remember me from my writings in Windspeaker. It's really nice to know you're remembered.

Although the Frog Lake powwow was another good event, I had some sort of stomach bug, so I really couldn't enjoy my last powwow of the season.

o Coming up in the warmer indoors is the 6th annual Dreamcatcher conference at Grant MacEwan Community College. It is set for Oct. 16 to 18.

I was talking with one of the ladies from the Youth Worker program which is setting up the conference and she said this is going to be one of the biggest conferences they have hosted. Last year, 1,700 youths from all over Canada attended. I was told that when they started six years ago, they had 450 delegates.

There are various workshops and special activities planned for youth, including an evening with singing group Asani and a mini-powwow for the Saturday night. I'll give you the scoop on how the conference went in November.

o Baseball anyone?

The Ben Laboucan Memorial mixed slow pitch tournament was held on the Labor Day weekend in High Level. This was the first year for the tourney, which brought in 16 teams from Peace River to North West Territories.

The first place team was the Fort Vermilion Diamondbacks, who took home $2,000. Second place went to High Level. Finishing in third place were the Jon D'Or Prairie Drifters and fourth went to the Fox Lake Sluggers. The Lubicon Saints won the honors for most sportsman-like team. The top pitcher was Lorne Cardinal from the Ft. Vermilion Diamondbacks. The MVP for men was John Waniandy from High Level and for women it was Polly Cardinal of Ft. Vermilion. Giving Mark McGwire a run for his money at the tournament was Home Run King Bruce Cardinal from the Diamondbacks. The Home Run Queen was Sonia Kobelsky from High Level.

The weekend turned out to be a success for the tournament and the Laboucan family would like to thank all who participated.

o Have you heard of the Big Sky Theatre? I thought so. Let me introduce you to the newest Aboriginal theatre company in the business. Big Sky Theatre started in April of this year, doing shows in and around Edmonton.

Their stories are through Aboriginal thought and eyes. There are three people in the company. Anna Marie Sewell is the artistic director. She attended the University of Alberta, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Drama. She has traveled to many different parts of the world, giving lots of worldly knowledge which she passes onto her two other members.

Tanya Tourangeau, company publicist and performer, is originally from Fort Smith, NWT. She has a zest for life, which, she describes in her own triple E philosophy.

Life is only worthwhile if you follow the three E's: Explore, Experience and Enjoy, she said.

Chris Ladouceur is the final member of the group. The Metis man is the stage manager and performer. Although acting is new to him, he's been up on the stage in front of crowds lots of times.

Ladouceur is a former amateur boxer, winning a Canadian amateur boxing title.

Some upcoming shows are: An Afternoon with Wasukejak. This show is combined with Mountain Plains child welfare agency, and will be held Oct. 3, at the Sacred Heart Church. Another show is: Dance Between the World, on Oct. 27 to 31 at the Sacred Heart Church.