Strip away the mega-star cameos, the high school love stories and slushy attacks and what you’ve got left of Glee the TV show is a bunch of everyday folks with a penchant for song and dance that, when put together with proper direction, has spawned a hit TV show and seemingly weekly appearances on the iTunes charts. Consequently...

By the Kootenay Library Federation It’s a book club anyone can join – and you don’t even have to provide hors d’oeuvres. One Book, One Kootenay (OBOK) is a region-wide book club that celebrates the work of the talented writers living in the Kootenay Boundary. This year, readers from across the Kootenay region will read […]

By Phil Larstone Water, water everywhere and plenty of drops to drink. It’s a mantra well known in the West Kootenays, but it isn’t one that is shared throughout the rest of the world. But if you enjoy the pure, refreshing water that happily flows from mountain to ocean, throughout our lives and into our […]

Just in time for Easter the Grade 7's at RSS have been working on their own egg-cellent works of fragile art. Finishing up their Pysanky or Ukrainian Easter eggs the group dabbled in the festive style.   The Ukrainian Easter egg art form involves drawing on raw eggs with hot wax before dying the eggs in vibrant colours.  When...

If you should happen to have an opportunity to visit the Rouge Gallery this week, you will be greeted by the charming and colourful Animaux Magiques, or Magic Animals, painstakingly created over many months by students at Rossland's Francophone school, L’École des Septs-Sommets. The project was lovingly executed by the grades...

Community Building is process that requires developing authentic relationships between people in a community. The word 'authentic' is extremely important because people rarely communicate authentically. Rossland's The Flame was implemented for exactly that reason: it was an event designated to increase community involvement...

The role of social networking site Facebook in facilitating protest actions has been affirmed in the Tunisia and Egypt uprisings; governments in many countries, including China, are wary of the political activities of their citizens on Facebook. But in Cambodia, Facebook is not yet considered a threat by the government. Politicians led by Prime Minister Hun Sen (who has been in […]

No doubt a lot of readers have heard of Canadian fiddlers Natalie MacMaster and Ashely MacIsaak, but we have also a fiddle virtuoso from the Ottawa Valley who has made a big name for herself in the roots scene not only with her fantastic fiddling but with her two-stepping as well. Her name is April Verch and she will be raising...

Perhaps the greatest and busiest artist of all time, Mother Nature has been the mentor for Rouge Gallery artist and Castlegar resident Mirja Vahalla. Moving, over time, from the Lower Mainland to Castlegar and traveling to the far reaches of the earth, Mirja’s style and true love has always lied in capturing the movement of...

Last night, the 23rd, Joe Hill Coffee House event at the Miners’ Hall was a rocking night of lively music indeed. The line-up included the Golden City Fiddlers, who opened the show with some foot stomping pieces, and ended with local folksters Dandelion and the Ditchweeds, who played an energetic set much appreciated by the...