Yellowknife mining engineer and naturalist William McDonald with young ravens in the 1950s ‘Bill Mac’ mined the wisdom of the wild Your house is on fire. What do you grab? Your wallet? A treasured painting? Photo albums? Not Bill Mac. He grabbed his cigar boxes. Dozens of them. Even while flames licked at his cabin
In a hard-drinking town like YK, what’s it like to not partake in one of the city’s most popular pastimes? by Sonja Koenig | artwork by Pearl Rachinsky I grew up in a home without booze, aside from a dark and mysterious bottle of Drambuie that lurked suspiciously on our refrigerator door, which my father won
The buffalo was a lot of work and required a good deal of attention. I hoped to have it around for a long time, and so I gave it a name, William. Looking back, I’m glad I named him. Not only had he once been a beautiful, young, wild creature living outside of Behchoko, but
Reid Lake campground managers Years with NWT Parks: 16How they got involved:“We’ve been camping at the parks for as long as we’ve been in Yellowknife and thought it would be great to manage one of them for a summer. In 1997, the manager of Reid Lake at the time wasn’t doing too well, health-wise, and
It was quite the show when Dorene Rocher beat Buddy Essery at leg wrestling on Ragged Ass Road. There they were, lying on their backs, hip to hip in opposite directions, each with a leg in the air. While the crowd cheered, and none louder than Dorene’s husband, Lou, the count-down commenced; on the command
Gary Vaillancourt reimagines the site as a 21st century Model Village, where instead of Giant Mine being known as one of the most contaminated sites in Canada, the political will instead focuses on creating an eco-friendly, self-sustaining community that is a model for the rest of the world. Image as drawn by Sasha Stanojovic. Gary
Greek Hero Pheidippides collapsed dead after running the vast distance from the Battle of Marathon to deliver the message to the people of Athens that the Greeks had been victorious. I can’t say I blame him. Running is exhausting. Maybe if he’d eased into it with a “Learn to Run” program, things would have turned
On EDGE: Opinion Blaine Wasylkiw Driving to work today with the sunroof open to let the warm California sun shine down on me, I took note of the streets lined with palm trees, the fact that I wear shorts year-round and that we are already swimming in backyard pools. I could not imagine a life
On EDGE: Opinion Jack Danylchuk Summer passes swiftly: wild roses have bloomed and faded; Tree Swallows, welcome harbingers of spring, have taken wing, and headed southward. But as the second anniversary of the government’s original request for a proposal on two former diamond factories approaches, there is still no sign of Deepak Kumar’s Ducks. Those
On EDGE: Opinion Peter Sheldon It’s future predicting time, Yellowknife. This fall it’s going to snow, and the fall after that. And everyone will take to Facebook and they’ll write, “Snowing in October!! Can you believe this nonsense? You know you’re living in the Arctic when…” And someone will correct them and say ‘sub-arctic.’ And
When I first moved to Yellowknife, I lived in the Anderson Thomson Tower, the high-rise on the city’s east end. From there I could see what looked like a wilderness area, unbelievably close and easily accessed. It beckoned. My first venture was stopped short by “No Trespassing City of Yellowknife.” I paused, considering. Inside the
An Animal Rights Activist’s Change of Heart by Ruth Bowen | illustrations by Kris Schlagintweit Brian frowned at my down parka. Bought for $50 in an English discount store, I doubted it would be up to the rigours of a Yellowknife winter but, amazingly, it got the thumbs-up. “Except this…” he touched the fur around
verse by Anthony Foliot | artwork by Daniel Korver He’d walk uptown to the Yellowknife Inn, to the Miner’s Mess, He’d go He’d sit close to the old boys with big ears, but they didn’t know. He’d listen to them swapping all them whopping big old lies, But they never knew He listened ‘cause He
An architectural(ish) representation of swimming great distance in ice-cold water Story and artwork by Chrissy Taylor In June 2012, I visited Hamilton Ontario briefly before returning to Yellowknife for the summer. While packing, my mom handed me my swim suit. “You might need it,” she said. I shook my head, “I didn’t swim once the
An inside look at YK’s summer student scene I’m an unpaid summer student employee in Yellowknife. No, really. I am. Ok, well, I was. This summer, as a requirement for my Masters degree in Journalism at the University of British Columbia, I completed six weeks of unpaid interning at Up Here magazine – an incredible