This past summer, my family spent three months in NYC, and my most vivid memory from that time came from watching my daughter run over to a group of little blonde girls in Soho’s Vesuvio Playground. We were new to the park, of course, and the girls were surrounding some piñata spoils. “Oh, those look good!” my daughter gushed, crouching down to join their huddle.

“No they’re ours! You can’t have them,” snapped the birthday girl, folding her arms around what appeared to be ring pops.

Every time we went back to that park, my 3-year-old’s face would flush with embarrassment and fury as these Soho kids—mostly white and there with nannies—refused to play with her. It came as some shock then when we relocated to Bed-Stuy, and her social life suddenly blossomed.

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Rich Kids Are Mean for the New York Observer

This is an article I wrote for Adbusters.

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Vancouver designers move toward environmentally friendly lighting

Janaki Larsen is a woman of many talents. The one she is best-known for is her East Vancouver café and general store, Le Marché St. George, which she owns with her partner, Pascal Roy. Since it opened, early in 2010, Le Marché has received glowing reviews from local and international press, including Monocle Magazine and The New York Times.

Her lesser-known talent, as a ceramicist, is starting to receive similar attention, with her plates and bowls featured in Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good cookbook (2013). Cherry-picked by New York stylist Christine Rudolph.

“Christine is someone whose work I’ve always admired,” says Larsen. “I remember a friend gave me this Marie Claire cookbook, years ago, and it was full of all these beautiful pots, and she was the stylist, and I thought one day I want to see my stuff in a book like this. So it was pretty exciting to see her email in my inbox.”

Rudolph has since commissioned Larsen for other photo shoots, along with having her make a set of plates for the stylist’s house in Italy.

Now selling through design and houseware stores in London and San Francisco, with work going to Barcelona in September, Larsen believes her ceramics have found favour with food stylists, particularly, because of their organic form.

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The remembered art of upholstery

“DID YOU SHOOT a gun today mom?” my three-year-old daughter asked me on Saturday (May 10). The answer was “yes” but not just one gun. There were pistols, rifles, and shotguns on offer at the Ladies Day event I attended. It’s hosted annually by Abbotsford’s Ridgedale Rod & Gun Club.

Now in its fourth year, the event is growing in popularity, and within half-an-hour of the doors opening, and despite the pouring rain, the car park was full and the clubhouse buzzed with over 70 women. They warmed themselves up with cups of Maxwell House original roast, made sweet with sugar cubes and white with a can of evaporated milk, and mulled about in front of the “Does” and “Bucks” washrooms, waiting for the action to begin. By lunchtime, there were close to 130 ladies registered.

“I’m the big kahuna here,” said Henk Gauw, the president of the club, by way of introduction, and he looked it. An outdoor gentleman from tip to toe, Gauw was perfectly coordinated in forest browns and greens. He wore a wide-brimmed hat in mint condition and a camo-print fleece sweater, which I didn’t even know existed.

“All we ask is that you come with an open mind and no preconceived ideas about guns,” he said. Their flyer advertised live firearm, archery, and fishing practice.

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Fraser Valley girls flash their guns

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This is an article I wrote for the Vancouver Sun.

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Vancouver's buses not stroller friendly

A growing number of new moms are turning away from public transit, complaining that buses are not stroller friendly.

Katrina Lee, mother of twin 10-month-old girls, said she's stopped riding the bus because she never knows if she'll be able to get on.

"They were either too full or someone was in the wheelchair spot or they had another stroller on or they'd tell me my stroller was too big," said Lee, 34. "Now I drive everywhere, which I absolutely hate."

While Lee has simply opted not to ride, women in other cities have dug in their wheels and engaged in stroller wars. 

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Listen to This!

A hip-hop group not concerned with having an aggressive, tough stage presence sounds like both a contradiction and a bad performance strategy. But a couple of months ago, I came across six guys with this philosophy, called Threat From Outer Space, at a MAWO (Mobilization Against War and Occupation) protest festival, on Vancouver’s East Side.

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From stuffed-toy pillows to inner-tube shelves, the work of Blim’s Noel Graves Macul defies categorization.

Pegging some artists is the easiest thing in the world. Then there are others, like Noel Graves Macul, who mix it up so much they defy all labels.

Sometimes the 28-year-old Emily Carr Institute grad is an industrial designer who receives commissions to make one-off furniture pieces. Other times he’s a sculptor, crossing the functional with the fantastic. Born in Maine, he spent time in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Ontario, before settling in Vancouver. It’s in our city that he produces graphic art, screen prints, and music (as drummer, trumpeter, and singer in the local band Get Dominion). And then there is the arts-resource facility Blim (197 East 17th Avenue, 604-872-8180), which he runs with his wife, Yuriko Iga. Experimentalist might be the most fitting title for Macul. But he’d prefer to do without it.

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