Tickets are now on sale through the CAHF website. For more information or to buy, please click here!

2012 Hall of Fame inductees will be:

• Nils Christensen of Salt Spring Island, BC, made his contribution to Canadian  aviation with the founding of Viking Air and the acquisition of the rights from de Havilland Canada to manufacture spares for some of its post-war products. The venture has given rise to an internationally reputed aircraft and parts manufacturing concern.  Born in Norway in 1921, Nils served in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Norwegian Air Force during the Second World War and, emigrated to Canada in 1951.
• Air Marshal Harold “Gus” Edwards (1892-1952) was born in England and raised in Nova Scotia. He served as a pilot with the Royal Naval Air Service in the First World War and was later intimately involved with the founding of the RCAF. Gus was in charge of the monumental personnel management aspects of the BCATP when it began and then fought successfully for the “Canadianization” of the RCAF’s contributions to Allied efforts in the RAF as Air Office Commanding-in-Chief of RCAF Overseas.
• Pierre Jeanniot, O.C. C.Q., who was born in France in 1933 and emigrated to Canada in 1947, is a former president and CEO of Air Canada, known as an innovator in the field of airline operations and management. An internationally recognized leader in the airline industry, he contributed to the development of civil aviation in Canada and around the world. His work in Air Canada and with the International Air Transport Association as Director General and CEO has been recognized with honours from Canada, France and international organizations.
• Dr. Daffyd (Dave) Williams, born in Saskatoon in 1954, is a pilot, medical doctor and a retired Canadian astronaut of outstanding skill, management ability and accomplishment in his work with the Canadian Space Agency. He was appointed Director of NASA’s Space and Life Sciences Directorate, a rare accomplishment for a non-American astronaut. Dave made two flights on the Space Shuttle, 1998 and 2007, and in the second was involved in three spacewalks for installations at the International Space Station.

The Belt of Orion winner for 2012 is Leavens Aviation Inc.

The company began as Leavens Brothers Air Services in 1927, and is one of Canada’s great aviation  success stories. Its life encompassed several aspects of aviation in Canada and operated until 2011, starting with barnstorming a single aircraft, then flight training, running a major training facility under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), spraying operations, commercial airline operations, light aircraft manufacturing and the sale, distribution and overhaul of aircraft parts.

Nominations for the CAHF’s 2013 induction are open until June 30th. For more information, please click here.

Here are a few resources I’ve found useful generally, but also specifically for writers and others engaged in the ‘arts economy’ here in the Sunshine Province:

• Vote Compass on the CBC website (please keep in mind it only includes the four biggies – not the Alberta Party, Evergreens, etc)
• Edmonton writer Myrna Kostash’s essay, “Alberta Artists: Who Should You Vote For?”
• The Alberta Party’s recently posted ‘Creative Industries Policy’
• Change Alberta, which gives those who want an alternative to the PCs and Wildrose Party information, strategies and tools
• And for those of you in my home riding of Edmonton-Mill Woods, please check out this recent Edmonton Journal profile of the race and local candidates

Regardless of how you choose to vote, I just hope you’ll take the time to do so. Apparently the turnout at the last provincial election was an abysmal 40%… If you can do it with as much awareness as possible, all the better!

Well, maybe I was also destined to write - period – because of my genetics. I come from a long line of  journalers, journalists, radio play writers, and now…novelists. My mother, Mary Metcalfe, is set to publish her first book this summer. As part of her journey, she’s doing a weekly Q&A with authors on her blog, www.Lakefrontmuse.blogspot.com. In the spirit of keeping it in the family, she’s asked me to be one of her first interview subjects.

Here’s just one of my answers… To see the rest, or to see about becoming a future Q&A participant, please click on the link above!

Q. What are you working on right now?

A. “As always, I find myself working on a number of different projects simultaneously, but the main two are a nonfiction book on the history of aviation in Canada’s North (due to be published by Frontenac House in 2013) and a historical novel, tentatively titled Chasing Skies.

Both of these projects were sparked by my first book, For the Love of Flying, a history of a Canadian bush airline that really got my career “off the ground,” so to speak, in 2009. After getting my Master’s in Canadian history, I had the opportunity to put my training to good use. The only problem was, I didn’t know anything about airplanes! After two years of researching and writing, I was hooked and wanted to explore the area more – but with my own spin. So the North Book (as I think of it) has a real social/cultural history angle to it, and Chasing Skies follows a female bush pilot who goes to fly in England during the Second World War (as well as her First Nations friend who enlists in the Army). It deals with the social realities of the time period, and is based on a lot of research.”

Jannie Edwards

Canadian Authors Association writer-in-residence and poet, Jannie Edwards, and poet/hip hopper/NDP candidate Rod Loyola (also known as Rosouljah) began organizing monthly meetings to connect artists of all genres, get new projects off the ground, and contribute to the local community.

I’ve been involved with this as much as possible given my other work and life commitments, and am excited about the projects and events that are underway (or upcoming). Right now the main project is being headed up by historian Catherine Cole and video/theatre producer Don Bouzek. They are  collecting the stories of the people and the vision of this community—from the aboriginal presence on this land , to the unique urban plan of the early 1970s, to the waves of immigration that give Mill Woods its sense of vibrant diversity. The first phase of this work will be a six-panel exhibit to be launched at the Mill Woods Canada Day celebrations. The exhibit will then travel around the community to schools and community leagues.

Rod Loyola

Other upcoming events include:

• Artists Cabaret to be held June 1st at the Southwood Community Hall
• Public art creation
• Monthly coffee houses

If you live or work in Mill Woods and are a creative person at any stage of your “artistic journey” (i.e. enthusiasts to professionals are welcome!), please email mwartistscollective@gmail.com. You can also ‘like’ our Facebook page!

To check out excerpts from the book, please visit his website.

It is available for pre-order through Amazon and will be brought out in both paper and e-book form. Also, forward-thinking ECW Press will give an e-book version to anyone who buys the ‘traditional’ book!

For more information see www.casaraontario.ca under “News”  or you can email stories or photos to casarabook@gmail.com.

For more information and to register for your free ride, please go to www.girlsfly2.ca or their Facebook page. Please share this with your networks!

By Anne Gafiuk

About sixty people attended the workshop, including ten hosts/organizers/panellists. Quite a mix of individuals: playwrights, screenplay writers, producers, writers, novelists.  Why were they all there?  To have their book or story make it onto the small or big screen.  Some, like me, were sitting, watching, and learning.  Others were there to offer support. And let’s not forget most of us were there to network.  I made copious notes during the three-hour workshop and was relieved I hadn’t been selected as one of the four “pitchers.” I was exhausted “just” being an observer!

The panels, made up of award-winning producers, stressed the length of time it takes from concept to completion.  It could be years!  The timing might not be right for some themes, they say. The key:  have a producer lined up.  Make sure it is someone who loves the project as much as you do….someone who is like-minded, someone who will invest the time and effort into the project. Do research as to what a producer produces.  The history and reputation of the writer, filmmaker, and producer also are major players.  (Yikes! I am an unknown!)  And go out to forge relationships.  Opportunity, preparation, and luck, too, play important roles. “Do not give up!” they advise.

The time arrived for the four pitches.  The audience had a certain energy.  A chair, the ‘hot seat’, was placed in front of us – virtual strangers – and next to the four panellists…all wearing dark clothing of various hues of black.  Was this an omen?

The first person to pitch was eaten alive for her presentation but the panel seemed to like her story…had she only just told it.  The second admitted to being “scared shitless.”  He was amusing, initially, and then his nerves got the best of him.  The panel liked his main character but told him he needed to rehearse the pitch to know his story inside and out.  The third, shy and quiet, spoke to the outline provided by the organizers at registration, but also had been listening and learning.  The panel was not so hard on him.  They asked questions.  The fourth, again, having the experience of the first three, wowed the panel.  He delivered! All four individuals then received  ’constructive criticism’ and a congratulations for their benefit and for us in the audience.

While all this was going on, I couldn’t help but think of Dragon’s Den or So You Think You Have Talent.  I was so happy not to have been up there.  Then I realized: missing from all of the pitches was a visual…the movie poster or the book cover we were asked to create.  No one had one…and the teacher in me knows to always have a visual!

We were then given business cards and agency literature from  Alberta Film, Canada Media Fund, as well as the Harold Greenberg Fund for more information.

The main take-aways:

1. Be concise, clear, and appealing.  Try to capture ‘the pitch’ in 30- 60 seconds.
2. ‘The Pitch’ is all about the story.  And both had better be great!
3. Make your characters ‘real’.
4. Make sure the story is topical, as it could  take between 2-4 years to bring the project to fruition.
5. Make eye contact with the panel.
6. Rehearse ‘the pitch’.  Time it.  Run it past friends and family.  Ask them to be brutally honest and have them ask questions.
7. Know your story inside out and backwards.
8. Come ‘ready to play’.
9. Create a relationship within the first three minutes of ‘the pitch’,
10. Never apologize.
11. Wear black!

The workshop gave me a great appreciation of what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to bring text to the screen.  More knowledge…and that can’t hurt.  Now what do I do?  Work on my story, add some spit and polish….put myself out there and meet more people.  Oh, and also get my name known by doing things like this guest blogging thing.  (And wear black, apparently!).

 Anne Gafiuk has loved to write for as long as she can remember. She was an elementary school teacher for almost fifteen years, then started freelancing part-time while a full-time mom. She has become very interested in vintage aircraft, the people involved with them and their history, through her current book project.  She has also unearthed correspondence by WWII airmen to their loved ones and is on a mission to find more as she wants to put together an article and possibly a book based on letters during the Second World War. Please contact her if you have any pieces of mail to be shared at anne@whatsinastory.ca.

General:

1. Input the person’s name into Google (www.google.com) or some other search engine. It may sound obvious, but it’s always my first step and I usually try different things: putting quotation marks around the person’s name (“Pierre Berton” for example), to limit results, trying out nicknames, adding other keywords that might help (a place or thing you associate with them: Canada, Lancaster, etc).

2. If you know what city or province he/she lives in, you might be able to track a phone number and/or address through www.whitepages.ca (in Canada) or www.whitepages.com (in the US). www.411.ca and www.411.com are similar sites.

Aviation-Specific:

1. Email the Canadian Aviation Historical Society’s treasurer. She can check our database for a name, and if he/she is a member, can forward your contact info (because of privacy laws we can’t give you any of his/her contact info directly).

2. Email the editor of the CAHS newsletter (cahs.newsletter@gmail.com) and ask to put a request for info in the upcoming edition. If your would-be-contact reads it, he/she can get in touch with you – or maybe someone else will know how to get a hold of him/her.

3. Email the editor of the CAHS Journal to put in a similar request.

3. If he/she used to work for Air Canada or one of its affiliates (Pacific Western Airlines, etc) then you could contact the editors of the Netletter through the AC Family Network http://www.acfamily.net  for possible contact details (or a note in their newsletter).

4. If he/she may be a member of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (which has thousands of members), they might be able to help you out: http://www.copanational.org/

Happy hunting (and please add any of your tips in the comments below)!