We've Got A Little Je Ne Sais Quoi Going On

Thanks for being the first to hang out on Side Walks

Hello friends,

A note of thanks for joining Gina, Paul, Michael and me for our first month of Side Walks.

We hope we’re building something you’ll enjoy here in our little corner of the digital world.

As we write in our intro, we want to create stories and other stuff that help pull Canadians together so we can fend off the forces that push us apart.

And for our non-Canadian readers – welcome! – we hope you find something here that can help you in your communities because hope and goodwill are universal values.

For us, pulling people together almost always starts with great food and some great entertainment.

That’s why we served up a big bowl of fish chowder and some old episodes of Kids in the Hall, alongside my commentaries and Gina’s recent story about an exciting new local banking initiative in New Brunswick.

If we’re serious about solving any of our major challenges, we must first identify a common language to communicate our individual hopes, fears, and biases.

That je ne sais quoi thing we call culture.

Canadians fret a lot about whether or not we have a common culture, which, if you think about it, is part of what defines us. Fretting is in our nature – and our performers, writers and artists have long reflected it back to us in ways we love and embrace.

They also tell us we’re fighters – thanks Mike Myers for making #elbowsup go viral – and they define us and move us more than any politician ever has or ever will.

That’s why Side Walks has a cooking and an entertainment column; because the easiest way to find common ground with others is over our shared love of food and a good joke.

So, thanks for hopping onto Side Walks with us. Over the next month, we’ll be rolling out more stuff about Canadian culture, cooking, commentary and coverage of people working to solve problems in their communities.

As a note of gratitude, I’m sharing my favourite landscape photograph: the moon rising over the Atlantic Ocean and the beach at PEI National Park.

It was close to 11 pm when Michael got the shot. He can explain the technical details of how he got this shot; I remember standing off to the side with our young daughter, who was having fun staying up way past her bedtime on a warm summer night.

For me, it’s a photo of hope and love for Canada, our beautiful home, strong and free.

Lisa

xo