Ottawa Pride Parade

On August 28, 1971 (44 years ago yesterday), the first LGBT protest on Ottawa's Parliament Hill took place. Thirty-four years later, in 2005, The Federal Civil Marriage Act was passed, legalizing same sex marriage across Canada, an entire 10 years before the United States followed suit. Of course during that 34 years, an unfortunate list of events of persecution took place by both citizens and state but ultimately Canada has made great strides with LGBT civil rights. In fact earliest this week I watched an older gentleman with a big burly beard (I was a little jealous) dance the night away with his blue dress on while other folk shared the dance floor without contempt or disgust. It was refreshing to see.

This all comes up because last Sunday (Aug 23rd) I had the great pleasure to witness Ottawa's 30th annual Pride Parade, having first started in 1986. The event was certainly a joyous occasion, celebrating the victories towards LGBT civil rights, allowing individuals to feel comfortable expressing themselves while also reminding us that the fight isn't truly over.

The parade was wonderful, with different LGBT groups present, local businesses that support LGBT rights, even Ottawa Police, Paramedics and Firefighters were present decked out in rainbows. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was present happily cooling people down with a water gun and even the NDP and Liberal parties were present (I am sure hoping their presence would acquire some additional voters with the election for prime minister in a few months). Although some marchers walked with 'I am a conservative and an ally' signs, a formal Conservative Party group was notably absent, but that's a different discussion.

It was heartwarming to see how many people showed up for the event (some participants saying it was the best turnout yet). Even more heartwarming was to see how many families brought their children along, who eagerly asked for pictures with parade participants whenever it paused for a while, a reminder that children are born without prejudice and that their contempt for others is taught, not endemic. The event gave me hope for the future, that my many friends and family who are members of the LGBT community may someday walk the streets as easily as the "rest of us" because there shouldn't be a them or us, just one people.

People line up along Bank Street to watch the Pride Parade, Everyone is displaying their support through rainbow flags and attire.

How can you not want to dance along!

Representatives from different groups including Ottawa's Tran Social & Support Group (above) were present.

Many of the participants blew bubbles. I mean come on, who doesn't love bubbles!

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and others wave and cool down bystanders with water guns.

This parade lasted a few hours. That it a long time to be walking in stilts I would imagine!

It was pleasant to see different religious organizations also show their support.

However it is a sad truth that much of the persecution is done in the name of one religion or another. A couple protesters at the end of the parade were doing just that.

Marchers walk with large Pride flag!

Ottawa Paramedics show their support.

Ottawa Police display their variety of Pride squad cars. Members of the police force happily posed for photos with kids and adults alike.

Can't forget Ottawa's fantastic Fire Department!

University of Ottawa, my host institution for my Fulbright was also present. Proud to be affiliated with them!

Was great to see the Ottawa-Carleton School District also raising the colors.

Amnesty International was there to show support for LGBT individuals in countries around the world where they live in fear of persecution.

I have to share this one because Ottawa's Gay Chorus did invite me to join them =] Sorry guys!

Also have to share this one because it is just so Canadian! Local curling team showing their support.

Lastly at the back of the parade many people watching joined in the march to the end location,

I hope you enjoyed seeing a handful of the photos and videos from the event. It was a lot of fun to be able to be present at this event.

For those of you wondering when I will be getting to the rocks, hopefully that will start soon!

Casino Lac Leamy’s Sound of Light: Greece

Tonight I witnessed my first Casino Lac Leamy’s Sound of Light show Ottawa-Gatineau. The show is an annual event that takes place through August. Representatives from different countries put on shows that combine music and fireworks over the Ottawa River.The different teams' performances are judged based on the musical playlist they select, the firework display, the variety of fireworks and so on. Tonight's show was put on by the team from Greece. Earlier performances were by Belgium and Spain and later this week will be Venezuela and then the Grand Finale.

Viewing takes place at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, just on the other side of the river from Ottawa and the Parliament building. Ariane and I arrived about an hour before the firework show started but festivities were going for at least an hour or two before that. There was music playing, and live performances of all kinds. We stopped briefly to watch some acrobatics before finding ourselves a nice piece of grass to settling in on for the show. 

The show opened up with the Greek National Anthem and then it was firework time! Below are just a few examples of the amazing performance that we witness tonight! Also catch some of my video clips on YouTube!

Completely irrelevant to the rest of the show, I was quite pleased to see a Tom Brady jersey in the crowd! Patriots! There was a Red Sox hat out there too.

That is it for now, I thoroughly enjoyed this and we are going to try catch the other shows from different perspectives. Will share them if we do!

Arriving in Canada!

Greetings All!

It has been a few months since I last posted but I am now here in Canada. My Fulbright officially begins next month but I am here early settling in my new place with Ariane, the birds and the cat.

I have only been here a couple days but I am already enjoying every second of it!

Mischief was not too fond of the drive and apparently a double dose of sedatives does nothing to quiet her down =] But she was a good sport and seems to be settling in fairly well. She does seem antsy to go outside though. Poor girl.

She has taken on a new pastime of watching Lumi be Lumi. She has behaved though and done nothing more than watch. Though I have had to shoo her once or twice. Don't need her scaring my little man!

Mischief and Lumi are just a couple of the friends I get to chill with here! Some of you may have seen this post on one of my social medias but it is too fun not to reshare. In the top left is Mr Noah, Lumi's older brother. Next to him is Koopa, the younger of two bearded dragons I am watching for a friend of ours. Top right is Hope, Ariane's sister's adorable little budgie! The cat with the lion mane next to Lumi is Nuage, Ariane's sister's cat. She is a cuddle muffin. Below her is Helix, Koopa's older sister. The last unidentified friend is the cockatiel in bottom center. His name is Clyde and he lives in the vet where we take the birds. Handsome guy no?

So as many of you know, I am not new to Ottawa and I have acquired a taste for poutine. Traditionally it is fries with gravy and cheese curds but there have been a number of variations on the theme that have developed over the years. Second day here and I had to get my first poutine of my Fulbright =] I went with what this place called "The Canadian" which consisted of the usual with bacon, beef, onions and a touch of maple syrup! Was everything I could have hoped for!

The company that makes the official cheese curds of poutine.

Okay not necessarily a Canadian thing, but I tried seaweed chips the other day too and they were quite delightful! Sort of like a kale chip (mostly in texture and salt) with a little something extra (probably the seaweed =D  ). I strongly recommend you try some if you get the chance!

Anyways that is it for now, I will post more as interesting things happen!

Early Donations for the Fossil Teaching Sets

This past Friday I attended the monthly Dry Dredger meeting here in Cincinnati. I always enjoy these meetings, lovely people, great discussions, and people always bring interesting specimens to look at. The members of the Dry Dredgers are wonderfully generous people. They have on three separate occasions now, provided funds for my graduate research projects, various members are always giving me new outcrop localities to check out. Last night, members of the Dry Dredgers showed me overwhelming support for my Fulbright and some even donated some  fossils from their person collections to help with my Mobile Fossil Teaching Sets.

I wanted to take the time to thank these individuals and share with you all some of the early specimens that will be included in this set. The majority of the images below are of fossils donated by Jack Kallmeyer, President of the Dry Dredgers. In addition Jack, a number of other Dry Dredgers including Ron Fine and Steve Felton have offered to help fill in gaps in the teaching sets. I am extremely grateful to all of you.

Beautifully articulated Flexicalymene retrorsa donated by Jack Kallmeyer

Enrolled Flexicalymene retrorsa donated by Jack Kallmeyer

Cephalon of what I believe is an Allolichas or Amphilichas trilobite although I have never found one before myself. Specimen donated by Jack Kallmeyer

Pygidium of an Acidaspis trilobite donated by Jack Kallmeyer. I may have found a form like this once in the Waynesville Formation. Dr. Holland does confirm its presence there on his page.

Cephalons of what was labeled as a possible Achatella trilobite. It certainly has the eyes but I need to do more research. One of the added bonuses of this outreach project is I myself get exposed to some of the rare fossils and will be able to improve my own understanding of the local paleontology. Donated by Jack Kallmeyer.

Wonderful specimens of Isorophus cincinnatiensis, an Edriosteroidea and the Cincinnati city fossil. I have certainly never have found one of these myself. I don't think they have been reported from the Wayenesville but I will keep looking! Specimens donated by Jack Kallmeyer

A selection of Ectenocrinus simplex pieces. This is just one of a number of genera of crinoids that Jack Kallmeyer donated.

Aside from these specimens there are a number of others that I have added to the set myself including a number of Cincinnetina meeki, Vinlandostrophia ponderosa, Grewingkia, and Solenopora.

I also of course want to thank the friends and family who have donated monetarily on my Go Fund Me page. At the time of this post we are up to $230. These funds and any additional funds that people may donate will be vital in setting up worthy displays for these specimens.

Thank you everyone for you continued support and generosity and I welcome you to contact me if you have any questions about what this project is about and how you can help.

Bringing the Cincinnati Arch to Canada

Welcome to the maiden post of what I hope will be a fun shared journey through my Fulbright experience to Ottawa, Canada this coming year.

Before I get into what I will be doing in Canada and the first initiative I am working on, a quick background about what a Fulbright is. Fulbright is an international exchange program which sends US students and scholars to various nations (and vice versa) across the continents to conduct research relevant to the participating nations, to teach English to non-native speakers, to foster shared artistic expression, but more importantly, to promote cultural exchange and understanding between the United States and the countries of the world. Members of the Fulbright community serve as 'citizen ambassadors'. If you want the full history of the Fulbright I will direct you to the Fulbright page however I do want to highlight this one quote from their site.

"The program currently awards approximately 1,900 grants annually in all fields of study, and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Fulbright U.S. Student alumni populate a range of professions and include ambassadors, members of Congress, judges, heads of corporations, university presidents, journalists, artists, professors, and teachers."

For my Fulbright (which I am still in shock about) I will be spending the next academic year working with Dr. Andre Desrochers at the University of Ottawa, to look at the Late Ordovician (Katian; Richmondian) strata of Southern Ontario in attempts to compare it to coeval strata here along the Cincinnati Arch. The hope is to ultimately be able to compare patterns in change of sea level, climate and biotic communities between these two regions as part of larger project which will look at the same interval in Europe as well.

Now as I mentioned earlier, the Fulbright is not only about conducting the research, but also about fostering this cultural exchange and understanding through interaction with the greater Canadian community. I have a multitude of ideas at to how I would like to do this, and first initiative or project related to this requires help from all of you!

A lot of what I will be doing (planned anyways) during the Fulbright will be to give presentations on the Ordovician to schools, universities, local organizations and museums. To enhance my presentations, I am working on constructing 'mobile teaching sets' which highlight the wonderful Ordovician fossils of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Ideally these sets would have representations of as many different genera possible. Now to do this, I obviously need the fossils to display in bring with me, that is the first way you all can help me out.

How can I help?

I am looking for people who are willing to donate Upper Ordovician (Edenian-Richmondian) fossils from the Cincinnati Arch to this collection. Ideally these fossils would be of some decent quality in the sense they represent the taxa well. Some taxa (like Platystrophia ponderosa, Cincinnetina, Hebertella, etc) are pretty easy for me to find and collect, however some of the more rare taxa (various trilobites, echinoderms, less common brachiopods) are much more difficult. I already a number of donations being offered from the wonderful members of the Dry Dredgers and if any of you are willing to contribute in this way I encourage you to contact me with what you might donate so we can see where the need is!

If you think this project is a great idea but can't contribute any fossils because you don't live nearby and don't have any, or because you are attached to the ones you have (trust me I understand) or whatever the reason might be, there is another way you could help. As with basically any project, creating these mobile teaching sets will require some funding to purchase display boxes, generate information cards etc. To that end, I have set up a FundMe Campaign where people can donate to this outreach project.

I greatly appreciate anything you might be able to do to help, with it be fossils, money, spreading the word, or however you choose to help. Any extra fossils or money beyond what is needed for these displays, will be applied to other outreach initiatives including small 'fossil kits' which can be mailed to kids and teachers, development of Ordovician related creative products (stories, photo books) and more!

That is way too much text for one post, thanks for reading this and I hope you'll keep coming back to share my Fulbright experience, one that has been 450 million years in the making!