I was glad to see Ecole des Deux Mondes doing something about Nature Deficit Disorder.
If you’re not familiar with that term, it was coined by author Richard Louv who wrote Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
Louv’s premise is that children are suffering from a lack of nature in their lives.
There are a lot of articles and literature out there promoting the idea that our kids are spending too much time indoors on sedentary activities.
There’s a whole movement going on encouraging educators and parents to take their kids outdoors because it’s pure and simply good for them.
It’s nice to see a school community like EDM buying into the concept and putting it into practice.
Who else has more time with kids and more opportunity to teach them than a school?
EDM, if you missed it from last week’s paper, is making use of the forested area around the school to get the kids to go outside a couple of times a week. In September, they plan to have the kids outside for an hour a day. Bravo!
I got back involved as a Scout leader because of this concept. Outside of school and parents, what other organizations exist that can connect children with the outdoors better than Scouting?
I’ve written about this before and talked about my own youth on Haida Gwaii where I had unrestricted access to verdant rain forest where my friends and I would escape to play for hours on end.
We just had to be back in in time for dinner.
As if we’d ever miss that!
Great show
Took in a great show at the Tidemark Theatre last Thursday: Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. It was fantastic.
This roots-oriented alt.-country/folk/blues super group consists of three front men well known individually in Canadian roots music circles: Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson. In 1996, they got together for a one-time thing to honour folk songwriter Willie P. Bennett but it felt so good they kept coming back to it.
Nearly 20 years and five albums later, they’ve honed a hard-drinkin’ road-weary sound and image that is loose and catchy.
All three are accomplished songwriters. Wilson comes across as the crude, roadhardened music veteran, Fearing is the sensitive songwriter and Linden is the virtuosic blues guitarist (and is the band’s producer).
“I’ve never been to Campbell River before,” Wilson said, “but they tell me I have, so…it’s good to be back!”
The band was tight as they concluded the Canadian leg of their current tour. Next it’s off to the U.S. for this band of proud Canadians, including a performance at the Grand Ol’ Opry which they had just received confirmation of that day in Campbell River.
