Commentary—Tim Tokaryk

Liz Spetz
297-8804 Opinion Piece - Follow the Rubber Bands
MLS #377557 Never, never,…ever reply to a personal email received and read in the middle of
Was $174,900 the night. There; that’s my personal stamp on the world. My worldy nugget of wisdom to
be shared by all those in humanity. For why would you? Why would you let emotion over-
NOW $159,900 ride the rational? An action like this is sent at the moment of thought-conception….and
nothing should be let go, especially an idea, at the moment of conception. For it may origi-
nate in the brain - the thought - all thoughts need their editor, which is in another part of the
brain. And, that is why one should respond with a letter, rather than an email.
Mail is like Christmas. A note or a card is composed, wrapped, stamped, and taken
to the post office or one of those city bins called mail boxes. And then it arrives by some
circum-polar route, into your little hot hands. And what prey-tell can it be? You don’t
know until you open it.
www.realtor.ca There is also something mechanical in the act of writing a letter that allows for
something grander. Some, like Ernest Hemingway thought it at least diversionary. “Such a
swell way to keep from working” he said to a fellow correspondent “and yet feel you’ve
done something.” Yes, writing a letter does take time away from ones busy, thumb-flicking,
twitter-bug of a world day. Or a wrist-flexing, mouse pressing ‘send’ icon, to be pushed
Family like every other act of correspondence. It may take, instead of a few seconds, to perhaps a
Movies minute or two from your day to compose on a card. A whole minute!
And what about the more physical form of waste? The British Postal service uses
about two million red rubber bands per day, “which are used to bundle letters together”. A
April Movies sizable portion of these are discarded. BBC News reported that “the postal organization
Saturdays @ 7 pm spends on bands has increased by 40% in five years.” This is troubling on several fronts.
First, the environmental issue of the casual discarding of rubber bands through every British
Saturday, 2nd - town and city, endangering wild-life from choking on them. For shame. Second, and the
The Fighter one that got me thinking; do the Britt’s write more letters than us that there is an actual in-
Saturday, 9th - crease in need for rubber bands? Apparently they use biodegradable ones, but in the ro-
Black Swan mance of letter writing and using the post, are they still so hooked on the papery past-time?
Or, to some techno-junkies, are they so far behind the emailing times? Cont’d pg. 3
Saturday, 16th
The Chronicles of
T.REX DISCOVERY CENTRE

Narnia:
The Voyage of the Eastend Soccer Club 2011 SEASON
Dawn Trader NOTICE
PUBLIC MEETING -For children and youth from 4 y.o. pre-school
Saturday, 23rd to grade 8 or 9??
Harry Potter all groups CO-ED
and the Deathly Surface Rights Information teams as per soccer division of ages (U14,
Hollows - Part 1 For Landowners U12, U10, U8. U6)
-Practices are held Wednesdays. Season ends
Saturday, 30th April 7, 2011 with our Family wind-up Wed. June 15th.
The King’s Speech 2:00 PM
- 1st practices Wed. April 6, 2011
Watch out for Registration forms sent out
Easter Matinee Eastend Memorial Hall from school with students! ( more
135 Oak Ave. N. forms available @ the school, Eastend Health
Saturday, 23rd & Gift, and Davis Medical Clinic)
2 pm Presented by: Forms with fees due:
Gulliver’s Travels Jim Ness, AB Land Agent Thurs. March 24 by 3:30 pm Hand in at the
David Core, CAEPLA school office, or Eastend Health & Gift, or
Suggestions for movies Davis Medical Clinic. [There is a late fee!]
are welcome. Soccer Club jerseys & soccer socks available.
Please contact the
T.rex Discovery Centre SOCCER MEETING: Mon. March 28th 7:30
pm @ the School All interested persons
One Admission Price Spring has Arrived!! please attend this informational meeting.
$3.50 each
The March Equinox occurred on March 20, We need coaches for U8 (Gr 1 & 2)
T.rex Discovery Centre, and for U6 (kindergarten & 4 yo preschool )
Eastend, SK.
2011 at 5:21 pm. The length of the day and teams !! You do not need to know how to play
For more information visit the night are nearly equal in all parts of the soccer - most kids’ soccer in Canada is
www.trexcentre.ca world. coached by parents often with no previous ex-
or contact us at perience. There are lots of resources avail-
The sun has crossed the true celestial equator
(306) 295 4009 able!
- from south to north. Warmer days are on
their way. Who ever thought they’d get here? For further information please call Anne Davis
www.trexcentre.ca @ 295-3281
 COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS
Call Us for All
Day Camp Your Insurance ECT&EDA—Mar. 1
Eastend Arts Council—Mar. 7
April 4 Needs Eastend Swimming Pool—?
Historical Museum— Mar. 15
Open to all kids 6 - 12 K-40—Mar. 2
Prevent a claim from happening CWL—Mar. 2
9:30 - 3:30 pm Friends of the Museum &
Try and remove snow
Please bring indoor shoes, T.rex Discovery Centre—Mar. 10
off your roof. RM of White Valley— Mar. 9
2 snacks and a lunch You may or may not be covered! TOWN COUNCIL— Mar. 9
Call 295-4009 to register Clay Centre Comm Club—Mar. 15
SHOP LOCAL School Comm Council—Mar. 15
T.rex Discovery Centre Chamber of Commerce—Mar. 16
Get Bonnie working for you Fire Dept. — Mar. 1 and 15
www.trexcentre.ca Prairie Pearls— Mar. 30
EASTEND AGENCIES RW Institute—Mar. 9
104 Maple Avenue North. Eastend, Sask.
TOPS MEET - Health Centre Quiet Room,
295-3655 Thursdays @ 5:15 p.m.
east.ag@sasktel.net AA—Monday’s @ 8:00p.m. at Henry’s Place
BINGO—Mondays at 7:00 in the Rink!
Riversbend Farm Alanon– Health Centre Quiet Room
Tuesdays .
- Select Angus Beef for Sale-
FOR RENT
• Grassfed and grain finished
• No added hormones or 2 bdm Trailer Home
antibiotics
• Sold by the quarter, half or Available April 1st
whole
For information MARCH DATES FOR
• Dry aged and cut to your
please contact PHYSICIAN CLINICS IN EASTEND
specifications Rene or Diane @ SHERRY HORNUNG RN(NP) - MARCH 23, 24
• healthy, affordable and locally 295-7918/7913 28 AND 31
grown or thru Charlie’s Lunch
PHYSICIAN— MAR.24, 25, 28 AND 29

Contact Darrell at 295-3817 To book an appointment Phone 295-4184

or e-mail morviks@gmail.com Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM.
for more details.
EWWHC Lab Hours:
Mon - Fri 9:00-12:00, 1:00 - 4:00
EASTEND COMMUNITY Open Friday this week

Chinook School Division No 211 SWIMMING POOL

ANNUAL MEETING Sculpted Sandstone
March 21, 2011 NOW HIRING The photo montage on page 3 of the
“ Live Satellite” Conference BlogSpot is provided by slg.
Eastend School Library for the 2011 summer season
www.eastendedge.blogspot.com
7:30 PM
Please accept this as Available positions:
your invitation to attend INSTRUCTORS AND
LIFEGUARDS Advertising Rates
OFFICE MANAGER $15 per week per ad.
Fantastic Farm Machine Music a Fraud Space and sizing at Editor’s discretion.
AND OFFICE ASSISTANTS
The marvellous musical instrument made Oversize ads:
of John Deere parts was something of a Double to 1/2 page $30
hoax. It was instead a wonder of computer Please send resume and
graphics taken from an animated music Full page $40
video, “Pipe Dreams.”
3 references with
We appreciate your business.
The Smithsonian Museum responded: wage expectations to:
“The web site you referred us to shows a
computer enhanced or animated crea- Eastend Community
tion ... and not an actual musical instru- Edgy Letters
ment. Further, we are unable to find a ref-
Swimming Pool
Letters to the Edge are welcome. Please
erence to a Robert M. Trammel Music Box 602, limit them to 250 words. They will be
Conservatory and the University of Iowa
does not have a Sharon Wick School of
Eastend, SK, S0N 0T0 printed as space allows and may be sub-
Engineering nor a Matthew Gerhard ject to some editing. JK
Alumni Hall.”
Please Note: Preference will be
Many thanks Anne Bennett for this. given to those students who are The Eastend Edge is a proud supporter of our
Now, tell me, is this one real?? furthering their education community and is distributed across
Check out the take off on f35.wmv North America. Publisher: Jeanne Kaufman
 « Pg 1 Follow the Rubber Bands

Jack’s Café The Oxford English Dictionary succumbed to the pettiness of postal bureaucracy in the
early twentieth century which did not provide concessions to the many thousands of slips
NEW HOURS of paper, each one providing the earliest occurrences of words in the history of the English
language that came their way. These volunteers from across the globe provided the tools
Monday—Friday necessary for this icon of English reference. The chief editor for much of the OED’s early
existence was certain that “the scarcity of [word] contributors from the British Colonies”
6:00 am - 8:30 pm was in part thanks to the stinginess of the British postal service which didn’t provide a
cheaper stamp.
Saturday & Sunday But we are not talking about thousands of pieces of post. We are discussing the
9:00 am - 8:30 pm near extinction of a piece of culture that has existed for centuries, all within a few decades
of technological marvel and despair. “Until that moment, my father’s day had not truly
begun”. The moment was when a few pieces of post landed on the desk of a little known
Come in literary critic. “His home-comings” after parting for a short time, “were always followed
by daylong orgies of mail opening – feast after famine – at the end of which all the letters
were answered.”
There is still something more singular about the letter, however. It is the time and
thought that went into it. From the time involved in the production of a letter, to the point
of parting with it to the corporate machination that is our postal service also provided time
For Sale for thought instead of the knee-jerk response through e-mails.. Samuel Johnson’s early
English Dictionary from the late eighteenth century provided under the words “To Post”
Urban Barn that it was “To register methodically”. We always knew that time and thought went into a
letter. And perhaps, it is that time and thought that will allow responders to letters and e-
Table and Chairs
mailers a moment of reflection. A moment of composition that would provide structure in
Espresso colour. Barely used. the response. Provide a sprinkle of self-criticism on a composition so the responder does-
n’t make a complete ass of him or herself.
6 chairs with
Fold out extender Yes, when we wake up in the morning and realize what was sent in the wee, wee
hours of the morning, wouldn’t it be nice just to have thrown away the unsent letter of re-
$400 sponse? Because there is no “retrieve” button on the computer for grasping those emails
295-3566 you should not have sent. At least not yet.
TTT

Tree pruning started right on

schedule in Eastend Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre
presents:

Art by Zanj & Daphne Orton

On Display at Grand Coteau Art by Zanj & Daphne Orton
March 1- 25, 2011
This interesting show combines the talent
of both Bryson LaBoissiere and Daphne
Orton. The fireworks of graphic pieces
by Zanj cascades across the walls with Stop in at the Museum in Shaunavon to view displays by these two local artists.
exuberance in multiple forms and styles.
While Daphne Orton’s canvasses take a
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
more measured and classic approach. But
they gain energy from each other and you
wind up going back to each artist’s work Coming Events:
to look again. Introduction to Genealogy with Bev Hagen-Wednesday,
March 23 at 7:00 pm-Call 297-3882 to register.
Daphne Orton has a sure technique for
landscapes that is both bold and colour- Visit our website at www.shaunavonmuseum.ca.
ful.
See the show this week before it closes. "Linking Community with Culture"
JK
Keystone Cops PRAIRIE

Heading East on the Autopista. A hitch- this land of breathtaking, humbling beauty,
hiker beside me. All lean and hungry. She this land of endless skies that invite one to breath deeply,
had a short skirt and a face like a rat. this land that can makes a person hard and stubborn and
She clutched a box of peso notes in her unyielding
lap. Four cents each. All baled up with from always leaning against this wind,
string. She’d been to La Habana to try a wind that can carry hopes and dreams away
to get some American dollars but the and scour the heart, soul and spirit down to the very bones of
rate was bad. She was going home with her reality and survival.
treasure.
the harsh and ever-changing manifestation of the elements
There were some shimmering figures ahead forces us to fight to assert our place and the right to be here.
on our left. Three young guys in the
middle of nowhere. With great wheels of weariness from constant vigilance
cheese on wooden platters. And bulbs of can bleach and blind and dry one
garlic, all woven into long tapestries like the brittle stalks of grasses
and slung over their shoulders like bleached by summer-sun and wind.
bandoleros.
nothing is given freely or constant or sure;
We stopped and haggled. certainty lives anywhere but here.
many wrestle a living from unyielding soil,
Then without warning they were cramming coaxing blood from stones … too many stones.
the cheese into the car. Garlic hanging
out of the windows and wheels and but this land has a soul-deep hold on us
platters on the floor. I looked in the and giving up would mean defeat
rear-view. La Policia. In their Lada. and wasted struggles of our ancestors,
surrendering the few inches gained over life-times;
The kids were already slicing North and so, we are driven to carry on,
through the sugar cane. Bare feet and holding onto hope with everything we’ve got
torn T-shirts. Scared and laughing at the to pit our feeble human strengths
same time. Cops with their shiny black against an unyielding land
shoes. Batons out. Whistles blowing. that cares nothing for our struggles
Diving after them. but brings out more than we ever thought we could be
in the humans who brave this adversity-filled existence
We took off.
with grudging pride and wonder.
Food for a month.
Gabrielle Kück
Jack Macleod

WINDOW PAIN
I AM BACK
FROM THE WINDOW.
I CAN SEE A LITTLE
NO ONE CAN SEE ME.
I AM RIGHT IN THE WINDOW.
I CAN SEE MORE
MORE CAN SEE ME.
I CLIMB THROUGH THE WINDOW.
I SEE WHO I SEE
AND THEY SEE ME.

NICK SAVILLE - PIZZA TALKS

HAMMER
In Your Own Backyard
Full Moon, March 19, 2011 THIS ROCK GIVES ME
Biggest full moon in 18 years A RELIGIOUS FEELING
KINDA LIKE TALKING
Not since March, 1993 has the Full Moon been so big TO A BIG TREE
and close to Earth. Since the Moon’s orbit is oval,
sometimes it’s closer to the earth and sometimes it’s I FOUND IT IN THE SUMMER FALLOW FIELD
further away. The distance between the farthest point WITH LOTS OF OTHER ROCKS
(apogee) and the nearest point (perigee) is 50,000 km. MINE IS AN INDIAN HAMMER
The perigee moons are 14% bigger and 30% brighter THIS ROCK HAS MAGIC FOR ME
than apogee moons. IT FEELS SO GOOD IN MY HANDS
MAYBE I MADE IT
(This photo taken by slg on March 18, 2011)
OR USED IT OR SOMETHING
IN ANOTHER LIFE TIME
NICK SAVILLE - PIZZA TALKS