Weekly News Recap: June 11, 2021

Weekly News Recap: June 11, 2021

Residential school survivor Miiksika’am received an honorary doctor of laws in Calgary Tuesday from Mount Royal University, where he is a spiritual advisor. 'It makes me proud. And all the more, I stand on stage for those 215 children,' he said, referring to the recent discovery of what are believed to be the unmarked burial sites of children's remains adjacent to a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. (Mike Symington/CBC)

The root of suffering is attachment. -- Buddha

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SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Penticton boy's videos advertising parents' grocery store go viral (CBC) PENTICTON STORY Watch to the end...it's worth it. #GeekyCoolKid "The branch of Global Grocers in Penticton, B.C., only recently opened but it's already become a local sensation, thanks to the help of 10-year-old Aarav Gaba. Aarav has made a star of himself after his videos advertising his parents' store went viral. He says he started making the videos when the pandemic hit last year, as a way to keep the boredom out and help promote the new Penticton location of the grocery chain."

  • Beloved woodcarver (and his signature wizard hat) will be memorialized in public park (CBC) RADIUM STORY Nice bequest. Can't wait to visit this park. "A beloved B.C. woodcarver will be memorialized with a public park — complete with a pavilion shaped like his signature wizard hat. Rolf Heer, who built and resided in Radium's iconic Home of a Thousand Faces until it was destroyed by fire, died in July 2020 at age 66."

  • Tokyo 2020: Meet the armless archer aiming for gold at the Paralympics (BBC) #GoMattGo! "Matt Stutzman was born without arms and always wanted to be a professional athlete. He practised basketball for years but knew he wouldn't make the NBA league. Then he found archery and his life changed forever. He won a silver medal at the 2012 London Paralympics and now he's aiming for gold in Tokyo."

  • A 2-year-old from California is the youngest American to become a member of Mensa (CNN) #LoveHer "A Los Angeles toddler has become the youngest American member of Mensa, where membership is strictly limited to those who score at the highest levels in IQ tests. Kashe Quest may be a 2-year-old but her skills include naming all of the elements on the periodic table, identifying all 50 states by shape and location, learning Spanish and deciphering patterns, according to her parents."

  • AMC Theatres’ Surprise Stock Winners: Meet the Pizza Delivery Guy Who Turned $800 Into $65,000 (Yahoo!) This is awesome. "So you’ve just made a healthy six figures, thanks to AMC Entertainment’s recent Wall Street mega-surge. What’s next? For Tyran Brown, a 34-year-old songwriter from Los Angeles who has seen his investment in the cinema chain increase eight-fold, the answer is clear: 'I’m probably going to get ‘AMC’ tat’d on me!'"

  • After Years Of Detecting Land Mines, A Heroic Rat Is Hanging Up His Sniffer (NPR) Thank you Magawa! "A heroic rat named Magawa has been working for five years in Cambodia, sniffing out dozens of land mines. He is believed to have saved lives. Now, the animal is about to embark on a well-deserved retirement. 'Although still in good health, he has reached a retirement age and is clearly starting to slow down,' the nonprofit APOPO said Thursday. 'It is time.'"

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Residential school 'didn't get the best of me,' Blackfoot elder says as he's granted honorary MRU doctorate (CBC) CALGARY STORY Congratulations to Clarence Wolfleg (Miiksika'am). "The Blackfoot elder Miiksika'am — who survived the residential school system of the 1950s and became a UN peacekeeper, long-time Siksika councillor and widely admired spiritual advisor at Mount Royal University in Calgary — has received an honorary doctor of laws. Miiksika'am, whose name means 'Red Crane,' said it was a special day and dedicated the honour to his wife of 53 years, Fran, a teacher who had passed away just days before."

  2. Watch Jann Arden's emotional performance and speech from her Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction at the JUNOs (Hello) CALGARY STORY Beautiful speech. Congrats Jann! "Music is magical, and we should never doubt its power. That's the message Jann Arden had for fans as she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the 2021 JUNOs on June 6. The nine-time JUNO winner was inducted by Anne Murray – who has won more JUNOs than any other performer – and joined the broadcast from the National Music Centre in Calgary to collect her special award. Jann delivered a moving speech, saying it was 'difficult to articulate completely' just how much music has shaped her life. The 59-year-old also joked she thought she was too young to receive the honour."

  3. Deborah Yedlin named president and CEO of Calgary Chamber of Commerce (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY Congrats Deborah! "The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has appointed former business columnist and current University of Calgary chancellor Deborah Yedlin as its new president and CEO. [...] Yedlin replaces Murray Sigler, the former Sport Calgary CEO who has been acting as interim CEO for the business advocacy organization since August of last year. Previous Chamber of Commerce CEO Sandip Lalli stepped down last summer after more than two years in the position, the result of what the Chamber referred to as a 'repositioning' of the organization necessitated by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic."

  4. 'Treat me like a normal player on the team,' says 1st female OHL draft pick (CBC) SARNIA STORY Congrats Taya! "After making history and becoming the first woman to ever be picked in the Ontario Hockey League's Priority Selection draft Saturday, Taya Currie hopes to focus on her game and be treated like any other team member. The 16-year-old from Parkhill, Ont., was selected in the 14th round, 267th overall, by the Sarnia Sting."

  5. Eccentric forester planted millions of trees before dying of COVID-19 (CBC) QUESNEL STORY RIP planter. And thank you. "Jerry Krouzel planted trees for most of his life. He wasn't finished. The 79-year-old was working on a tree planting job just two weeks before family say COVID-19 felled the tall, formidable forester."

  6. More than 800 join Tsuut'ina Nation walk to honour residential school victims (CBC) TSUUT'INA STORY "More than 800 people, many wearing orange, walked silently Monday on the Tsuut'ina Nation near Calgary in honour of Indigenous children buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Many of the participants wore T-shirts with the number 215 written on them, while others had shirts that read: 'Every child matters.' Some were pushing strollers, while those carrying their children held on to them tightly. People pinned orange and yellow ribbons on a white bulletin board at an outdoor arena where the walk came to an end."

  7. Calgary Stampede lost $26.5M in 2020 due to pandemic (CBC) CALGARY STORY "The Calgary Stampede lost an unprecedented $26.5 million in 2020 and now it's asking the city for some assistance. In recent years, the non-profit normally pulled in about $150 million in annual revenues and posted a small surplus."

  8. Chinese tech moguls spur wave of philanthropy but endeavors fall flat (krASIA) "We can draw a straight line linking philanthropy and real social impact in China. While the breakneck pace of economic advancement in the southeastern corner of the country is often talked up as the direct consequence of top-down policy, the effects of charitable patronage must not be dismissed. The country’s tech moguls have caught on to this in recent years, and each has directed considerable financing to the endeavors they recognize as crucial for the greater good, sometimes even reaching across oceans and continents."

  9. A more 'loveable' China? Xi hints at a charm offensive to 'expand' Beijing's 'circle of friends' (CBC) Is change afoot? "China watchers are intrigued by a speech delivered this week by China's supreme leader Xi Jinping — one that appeared to extend a large and unexpected olive branch to the world. But there's little consensus on how much observers should read into Xi's words and what they might mean for Canada. Some say the speech appears to signal a real change of approach from the leader most strongly associated with China's highly aggressive approach to international relations — often referred to as 'wolf warrior diplomacy' after a series of uber-nationalistic Chinese action movies."

  10. How Long Should It Take to Give Away Millions? (New York Times) "The promise of philanthropy was that the wealthy could enjoy generous tax breaks for their charitable contributions in return for helping society in the ways they saw fit. The pandemic laid bare how, with a few exceptions, accumulation trumped distribution."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. 5 Quotes From Buddha That Will Change Your Mindset (Change Your Mind, Change Your Life) All are important and great but #5 has always spoken to me.

  2. How to Do a Weekly Reset to Improve Your Productivity and Wellbeing (Personal Growth) One of two great articles on how to make your week better by investing some time on a weekend.

  3. A Sunday Evening Ritual That Makes Monday Less Awful (Kristin Wong) This is the second of two articles on how to use Sunday to make the next six days rock.

  4. 7 Life-Changing Books You Can Devour In A Single Day (Books Are Our Superpower) Increasingly, I am having less time to read. This is a great solution. And a great list.

  5. The Age of Reopening Anxiety (New Yorker) Looks like we are all going to have to re-learn our core social skills given 18 months of atrophy.

  6. How to Declutter Your Life, so You Have More Space and Mental Clarity (Personal Growth) For me, decluttering is necessary for my mental health. How about you?

  7. Ten ways technology is transforming philanthropy (eJewish Philanthropy) A quick and informative read. #SoftwareEatsTheWorld

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. Western Michigan University gets $550-million donation, a national record (Detroit Free Press) #Boom! "Western Michigan University has received a $550 million donation, the largest single gift ever given to any public university in the nation, the school announced Tuesday. The money was given anonymously by Western Michigan alumni and will go to the university's foundation over the next 10 years."

  2. With $1 million Lauridsen donation, Des Moines Mainframe Studios prepares to launch final phase of renovations (Des Moines Register) #MorePlease "Local philanthropists Nix and Virginia Lauridsen have pledged $1 million toward the final phase of renovations at downtown Des Moines' Mainframe Studios, billed as the largest nonprofit arts space in the country."

  3. Canadian charity gives US$1.3-billion to boost lagging COVID-19 vaccine deliveries in Africa (Globe and Mail) CANADIAN CONTENT What a beautiful move. Thank you Mastercard. "The Toronto-based Mastercard Foundation says it will spend US$1.3-billion to revive the faltering vaccine effort in Africa, saying there is a 'moral imperative' to respond to the mounting inequities that have left poorer countries slipping far behind the rich. The foundation, Canada’s biggest charity with more than US$39-billion in assets, says it is making the donation to acquire COVID-19 vaccines for 50 million Africans and to take other steps to tackle the growing vaccine crisis in Africa."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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