So, I’m here in Peterborough this Friday and Saturday in July 2001, and for the most part not much has changed in the 12 months since I graduated from Trent University. The Market Hall is still standing (thankfully); Del Creary Park is still a wonderful place to be on a hot sunny day; and The Only Café is still as artsy/local/existential as it ever way, right down to Ian Osborne’s pocket knife which comes in handy whenever a sound cable gets frayed, or a light needs to be Twoferred. Pat Walsh is serving up magnificent Croque Monsieurs and Blues, as always. The Peterborough Arts Umbrella’s publication “The Brolly” is out with the listing of what’s happened and what’s coming up, along with their ever-so-tempting membership pitch. The streets are a little more vacant than during the school year; those who are around are some of the most relaxed people you will ever meet, who would rather have $20/day and a cup of coffee to live, rather than a $50,000/year job and it’s associated stresses. Rainbow Dance at 9pm. And, though we have planned many, I still can’t manage to meet Professor Stephen Regoczei for a coffee.

Barb Woolner and John Muir with Emily Addison’s help are still running Trent Radio, which bustles as ever with the voices of the Peterborough/Trent community, echoing across the airwaves to all who will listen. Sure, the music isn’t top 40, but it is what actual members of this community listen to, so it’s closer to home. The discussions are all about issues important to people in this community. The content on this station wouldn’t survive anywhere else.

Some things have changed though; The Only has a cute new bar tendress (a job which I applied for once but didn’t make the grade for); The Great Little Bread Company has closed its doors, and Hot Belly Mama’s has moved to another part of the block where it has expanded quite a bit. Dreams and Beans now has a weird little patio beside it, and the Twilight Diner has moved into the abandoned Bakers Dozen Donuts next to the Peterborough Arms. Twilight even converted the asphalt donut-parking-lot into their very own extra-large patio. Haaseltons managed to survive the onslaught of coffee houses in 1999/2000, and are still around to charge their exhorbitant prices for slightly above average beverages (though their desserts are dreamy).

The other thing that has changed is that there seems to be a little more tension in the air, and there don’t seem to be as many students around. I don’t know if this is just an effect of my having been in Toronto for the last year, or an actual result of all of the turmoil at the university.

oh i worked on it today

This weekend was pretty sweet. I saw Final Fantasy, which was visually stunning. The movements of the characters was so real. Pretty good storyline too.

Then Mark and I found a place to live just North of Christie station. A mere 20 minute walk from my favourite coffeeshop in the Annex!!! Wheeeee!

I love it :)

I forgot to mention that last Thursday I was on TV for the first time ever!!! I was on TalkTV as a panelist, talking about Jon Katz's latest article: The Rise And Fall of the Geeks in Shift Magazine.

He argued that we were falling, where I argued that we had risen and merely plateaued at a level now equal to the rest of society, which is a lot better than being looked down upon as we had been for the first part of our lives.

Long live the geek!

also, my written response to Katz will be published in next month's Shift Magazine :) Wheeeee! I love it :)

Whee.
Today I've done a lot and it's only 2:30 :)
I wrote and emailed the first message to our new Global Advisory Team which I spent the weekend creating.
I worked on ideas for our organization's management structure. I contacted the government's "Youth Employment Strategy" website about a potential partnership. I found another site for Nordine that would be a good partnership. I wrote a little blurb for Vanessa. I read some of my current book "Culture.com" I bounced some ideas off mike. I helped my friend Fabiana figure out what software to put on her new server. I fixed a bit of Greg Dobson's website, and i'm sure there are some other things i'm forgetting, but it's all good.... Oh yeah, the pic is of me carrying my town's (Petrolia) flag in Ottawa on Canada day.

Pre-Trek:
got 9:30 am train switched to 8pm plane

day 1:
was on TalkTV on CTV at 6pm in Toronto
left in rush for Toronto Island airport.
arrived 9pm in Ottawa, and got to future trek village at 10pm (in terry fox centre)
went to "The Bop" club in Hull with Mijanou and friends.
Partied hard.

Day 2:
yummy Breakfast
Ultimate Frisbee
banner painting
walking chair group activity (sit on each other's knees in a big circle)
Hennessey played for us at Future Trek Village at night

Day 3:
Trek talk (youthfluence & hrdc) discussed youth & government online
tour of the capital & alexander mckenzie's estate (with a picnic)
Singer songwriter circle (with sons of Maxwell, oscar lopez, volee de castors, Hennessey, & rasta band)
Live music by Hans and others.
Little jam with hans & Shawn in the tent. I offered my blues rendition of "You Are My Sunshine", which Hans really got into and sang and played the guitar to. I only sang the first few lines and then he got the picture.

Day 4: Canada Day
Parade with flags to flag raising ceremony at capital hill
I found and carried the Petrolia flag!!!! What are the odds of that?!
Volunteer trek -- hanging by our banner at the park
Photo of us by our banner
Our group toured Ottawa, doing cheers all around. Got photo taken with a clown, with Sheila Copps, and almost shook Jean Chretien's hand.
Ran into my bud jon dimarco
Went back to get warmer clothes
Fireworks cancelled & crazy bus traffic
Partied back at the future trek village

Day 5:
Trek talk re: citizenship with Judge Pinel at the national archive storage building in hull
Amazing catered lunch!! 4 star!
Wrote testimony speech for closing ceremonies at request of Future Trek organizers
Closing ceremonies at museum of civilizations -- very posh! 5 star catering.
I was asked to give a 2-5 minute speech (i was closer to 5) on how I felt about Future Trek. A sort of testimonial. So, I did, and I made an entire table of people burst into tears. Sweeet! :) About 20 people came up to me after and told me how awesome I was and that they could totally relate.
Huge party back at future trek village with an open jam session
Did my first live harmonica jam, and after the band said "You were amazing man. You were really wailing! How long have you been playing?" And I was like, "That was my first jam" and they were like "Whoa! You've got the blues in you man. That was awesome! Thanks!!" And I was like "Thanks!!!!" I couldn¡¦t even express my joy.
2:30am played Extreme Super Ball 2000 (chuck the salmon using a glowing red ball instead of a salmon). Lost one game, won another. First to 34 points won.
Danced all night until the 5:30 am bus to the airport.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
My Speech for Closing Ceremonies: Based on memory and some point form notes that I had made before the ceremony. I lost the actual speech in a washer/dryer/pocket incident.

For those of you who don't know me yet, my name is Derek Martin, and I¡¦m from Petrolia Ontario; a town of 4000 people, where the sense of community is very strong, and I loved it. Then I moved to Toronto.

In Toronto, I work for a little not-for-profit as the "workshop co-ordinator". Unfortunately, coming from a town of 4000, I¡¦d never attended a workshop, much less co-ordinated one, so my friend Jennifer Corriero (a former Trekker) recommended that I check out Future Trek. And so here I am.

I arrived late Thursday night, for a whole bunch of reasons, and I was a little worried about having missed the ice-breaker activities. Well, I was standing in the future trek village still holding my bags as people were partying and a girl came over and said "Hi, I'm Mijanou, what's your name? Where are you from?¡¨ The next question she asked was "Do you want to come with us to party at the Bop in Hull?" Immediately I felt welcome, and I hadn't even been there long enough to get my Trekker ID badge yet! I said "Sure, but I have to put my bags away first.
" I wasn't even settled in Ottawa yet, and we were leaving for Hull!

It wasn't the questions that were so important, but the fact that the people asking them genuinely cared enough to ask them. They really wanted to know about me, and that made me feel at home.

Early the next morning, we were doing a team building activity called "Chuck the chicken" (thanks Shawn) with group #5. The fact that we felt silly together isn't what was cool about this, although there is a certain coolness about acting silly. What was important was that it required us to depend on each other and sometimes actually physically come in to contact with one another, which doesn¡¦t happen in the work world. This really helped us become a solid team in a hurry.

We made our team even stronger through discussing our ideas and lives (thanks Colin, Shawn, Jon, Melissa, Olivia, Salima, Jean, Chris, Francesca) as well as through my online discussions with Kate and Laura (the same person, long story).

One of the more unique aspects of our conversations was the bilingual aspect. My French isn't perfect, so pour moi-meme, mixing French et Anglish dans une phrase etait une new experience. Mais, c'est tres "fun".

Then, on Canada Day, I had a very special experience. We went down to meet the Kinsmen and bagpipers for the big parade, and they gave us flags to carry. Well, everyone was ripping through the flags trying desperately to find the flag of their hometown or province. Well, I didn't have a hope of finding the Petrolia flag, being a town of 4000, so of course the next logical flag for a guy from Ontario was the Saint-Hubert flag ;>

There I was, swinging the St. Hubert flag, and the pipers began to pipe, and the police escorts revved their engines, and just as we were about to head off to Capital Hill, I thought I saw an oil well flapping in the wind. Yes! So, I ran up to the front of the line, St. Hubert flag flapping above me, and I found it! I said ¡§Hey, that's my hometown!¡¨, and the woman handed me the flag, no questions asked. I had found the flag of my small town. How it was one of the 200 flags they had I don¡¦t know, but I did feel an enormous sense of pride when I was able to carry that flag to parliament hill.

This just serves to show the importance of where you come from and associating yourself with that place that the other people you know there. And it is for that reason that I don't take off my Trekker ID card. Someone asked me on Capital Hill on Canada Day night, "Why are you still wearing your ID?" and I said "So that other Trekkers can recognize me" but that was only the obvious part of the answer. The other reason was that I am proud to be a Trekker.

Yes, we are all from different places, and we all held different flags, but when we were all holding flags together, we had in a sense created a place of our own.

Nous avons construit pas seulement une conference, mais un communite. (we have built not only a conference, but a community)

Nous sommes les Radonnees, et nous sommes Canadiennes!
(we are the trekker, and we are canadian)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Key Outcomes:
met lots of cool people from all over Canada & made friends
got some new ideas & contacts for TakingITGlobal
realized how much of a demand there is/will be for TakingITGlobal
more respect/interest in national politics
did messy art, & tonnes of cheers & loosened up a bit
did speech comfortably for 250 people
did first ever live jam, overcoming a big fear
had fun