I found that the Miracle Mile occurred not far from me in Vancouver . Here  in 1954, Roger Bannister and John Landy redefined what was possible in track as they both broke the 4 minute mile. This had never occurred before.Now an incredible transformation has...

There has been research  recently on the impact of loneliness . People who are not connected to others are more likely to experience  significant health risks is the summary of much of this. Many suggest that loneliness can be associated with poor mental hea...

Simon Laplante is a Vancouver based artist and community builder. For years he has been creating mannequins decorated with legos and also illuminates chicken head masks with legos. At a recent opening of his work  (that included 81 masks!), he also manufactur...

I’m still learning my new neighbourhood and commented to a neighbour that I had shopped at the local market for the first time. She asked if I had tried the strawberries. I mentioned that I was actually looking for them but had not seen them. When I retu...

Radical Hospitality Spent the week in Brantford Ontario with groups looking at how our local business and institutions can help build connections and community for all and what do we do that impedes that from happening. I was struck by the radical hospitality ...

I was inspired by the creative use of public space in Portland.. In many neighborhoods there are mini food truck “villages”. They usually consists of 6- 15 food trucks and an area for people to gather and eat. Some such as this one have picnic tabl...

Recently read The Wright Brothers and their journey for man to fly. With no resources other than their income from their bicycle shop they passionately pursued their cause. They studied the movements of birds, experienced many failures, passionately studied th...

A group of neighbours came together several years ago to discuss what they loved about their Westwood neighbourhood. It started as a small group usually meeting at a local bar.  “Meeting” was a loose way to describe this gathering. It was people i...

Fun and interesting conversation at Self Determination Conference in the Dells exploring ways to build connections in community. Heard moving stories of the impact of “getting up off the couch” and discovering “my glass is full.” Staff ...

What’s Your Intent In working with many groups looking at starting community connecting type initiatives, I often ask, “What’s your intent?” The work can be a challenge and for service agencies it can often be a leap from their structured operations. S...