Vancouver, Canada

* “An underdog to North American Culture and overshadowed by Britain, we have been searching for our own National Identity. Steeped in history, diversity, and compassion it’s time we celebrated on home turf.”

These are from a collection of student-designed type posters celebrating things Canadian… 

Calgary, Alberta

Folks in Alberta who have had precious photos damaged in the recent floods now have the opportunity to have their pics professionally restored by volunteers organized by the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC).

Cape Coppermine, Manitoba

I’m excited by the opportunity of learning how to fly fish… (I successfully bid on a handmade graphite fly rod at a recent Concordia Foundation gala fundraising auction; the rod came complete with personal instruction by master angler James Skeoch Townsend, and a full day of guided smallmouth bass fishing “with boat, reel and line, fishing flies, and lunch provided).”

I used to be an avid fisherman (before I took up climbing two decades ago), but I never had the opportunity to learn fly fishing — should be fun!

Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change The World

by David B. Berman

AIGA Design Press / New Riders (Peachpit)

A little over four years ago I reviewed David B. Berman’s important new book here on this blog. I was delighted today to receive an updated/reprint version of this honest, hard-hitting, book—together with a lovely note from David (Duv to his friends), who I have known and exchanged ideas re: design ethics with for well over 20 years.

Do Good Design rails against the consumptive excesses of the so-called “developed world” and urges designers to help steer a better course for our planet—before it’s too late. Delivered with in-your-face directness, it presents a strong argument regarding the inherent power of design to shape our world and takes on greed, excess, and the scheming tendencies of advertising and “targeted” visual communications. Full of pithy quotations, well illustrated (with wide-ranging examples of manipulative media and manufactured needs) and impressively annotated and cross-referenced, David combines his keen observation skills with courage to question the status quo, expressing his marathon call for positive change with passionate zeal. In his words, “the future of civilization is our common design project.”

Thanks Duv—keep up the “good” work of shaping a more equitable and sustainable future!

More info at dogoodbook.com.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

At a back-yard fireside picnic last week, Ev’s oldest daughter, Jennifer Kornelsen, Ph.D.*, a neurophysiologist and cutting-edge brain researcher, surprised us with a copy of the latest issue of the Journal of Pain that had just arrived by mail, featuring her study entitled ‘Default Mode Network Functional Connectivity Altered in Failed Back Surgery Syndrome’ based on research conducted between 2009 – 2011. Lo and behold, on the journal cover are images of Evelin’s brain (captured by Jen via MRI) representing “a normal, healthy person” in comparison with images of the brain of an individual suffering from chronic pain.

Of course we were pretty chuffed for Jen… (and also doubled over with laughter at the very idea that Ev’s brain could be considered “normal” in any sense of the word). (-:

*Jen worked at Canada’s National Research Council until last month, when the entire research department associated with Magnetic Resonance Technology at the Institute for Biodiagnostics in Winnipeg was shut down by Stephen Harper, Canada’s anti-science prime minister. Thankfully Jen and her considerable scientific contributions are appreciated by others — she has just chosen one of the four(!) positions that were offered her from institutions across the country.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

If you’re in the Winnipeg area (or the Interlake) and you’re looking for a creative boost, please drop by Evelin Richter‘s studio ‘What? Clay Art & Curios‘ for a visit between 10:00 and 18:00 this Saturday and Sunday.

Download a map of artists and studios participating in the WAVE Artists Studio Tour here.

Winnipeg, Canada

At Geez headquarters they’re once again dusting off the people’s pulpit with a contest of Biblical proportions.

Five years ago Geez called on readers to step up to the soapbox and deliver a sermon you’d never hear in church. Atheists, anarchists, students and farmers filled the pulpit, and their sermons were defiant, dysfunctional, ambiguous and insightful.

Now Geez is looking for the same and more… hoping to hear from closet agnostics and Bible school dropouts, uncertain intellectuals and open-minded evangelists, incendiary pacifists, unapologetic atheists and good old-fashioned preachers who have been holding back all these years.

“The Social Gospel needs a new voice, and the sermon as we know it has become cliché. So let the rappers and the ranters take the stage. Let the poets and the storytellers preach. Share your apocalyptic visions or soothe our weary souls. Teach us what scripture is really about, or why it doesn’t really matter at all. Defy our expectations, make us squirm or tell us what has been left unsaid for far too long.”

“This is the pulpit of determined impropriety, so cast out your assumptions, get up from your pew (if you haven’t left already) and lead the Geez congregation with a sermon of holy mischief in an age of fast faith.”

Deadline: September 1, 2013 | (Full disclosure: I’ve been an Advisor to Geez since the magazine’s formation in 2005).