Comments on: Survey on Parks & Open Spaces

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:27:56 +0000

Hi Kate! Thanks for your comments…so much appreciated. I completely agree with you about need to visit The Pas and the Trapper’s Festival! I have to see the setting that inspired such an amazing piece of Canadian and Aboriginal literature. Well, I’m sure many things inspired Kiss of the Fur Queen, and I definitely recommed you get started reading it! I just bought Richard Van Camp’s latest book of short stories, The Moon of Letting Go, after attending his book signing at McNally Robinson Grant Park last Thursday…can’t wait to sink my teeth into that!

Now, as for Scared at Night (the beautiful Kathleen Edwards song from her latest album, Asking for Flowers), the Winnipeg reference comes during the very last verse. I did a quick search for lyrics, and this is what I came up with…this is how I hear it, too:

“I flew to Winnipeg on your final day
They said that you waited until I came
We sang your favourite hymns
And we held your hand
You took your final breath and that was that
But I’d never seen a person die before
I tried so hard not to cry, you know
Maybe sometimes we’ve got to trust ourselves
That when you die you go someplace else”

Makes me feel emotional just reading it, and I can hear her singing it in my mind. Thanks again for your comments!

By: Emma

Emma — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:57:05 +0000

Kate – shoot! Just discovered the survey was only open until September 18. Thanks for your kind comments on the blog!

Aaron – can you shed some light on the Kathleen Edwards song?

By: Kate Rookes

Kate Rookes — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:30:42 +0000

I also want to add, for Aaron, I haven’t read Tomson Hiway’s book but I’ve heard of it, my family is from northern MB. If you want to see where the Fur Queen comes from you MUST go to the Trapper’s Festival in The Pas. I feel one cannot love Manitoba without seeing The Pas (and the lake!) You will be blown away, I guarantee it.

By: Kate Rookes

Kate Rookes — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:02:54 +0000

Hi, just wanted to point out the link to the survey no longer works.

I also have a question to pose, to Aaron and because I can’t comment on the About page here it is…I’m a fan of Kathleen Edwards and familiar with the song Scared At Night but I am not familiar with any reference to Winnipeg or Manitoba in it. Am I missing something?

I just found this blog and I love it! I LOVE Winnipeg and it’s so wonderful to see other people appreciate it as well

By: A Rat in the Sandbox

A Rat in the Sandbox — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:01:42 +0000

Hmmmm…. does everyone get a “you are not allowed to access this website” message after submitting your form?

By: Norm

Norm — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:29:32 +0000

As a former municipal employee, I’d like to point out that these surveys carry an inordinate amount of influence in the decision making process – they typically reflect a very small portion of the population but they are given a great deal of credence because they’re the “voices of the active”.

So it is in your best interest, if you live in Winnipeg, to fill out the survey and submit it multiple times (if you can).

But I would also recommend, as a former mayor’s office staffer, simply copying and pasting the written sections of the survey into a separate email and sending it to your mayor and council. It won’t take a whole lot more time but your comments will then enter the ‘official correspondence stream’ and be forwarded on to the departments from the top down making it certain that several more people will read your comments before they go into the archives.

Just a suggestion to double your return on time invested.

And props to Emma for plugging muni surveys – the staff will thank you.