“I was born and raised in Calgary but I was living in the countryside. I wanted to move back into the city so I looked for a place in the inner city and here I am! I’ve lived in Sunnyside for three months. I’m at St. Mary’s taking my Bachelor of Science in Biology.

Oh gosh! What do I love about the neighbourhood? Friendly people, walkability, good food, really, really good coffee. Ha!

I’m on the lookout for the chance to volunteer. I’d like to meet some new people and help out in the community. I love this neighbourhood–it’s a mix of all the things I would look for in a place t to live!” Jenn

“We get so far from the Sun, as a planet, y’know? We get so far from the thing that gives us life that we retreat back into ourselves… all the trees change, the plants die, we think about death a lot.

But then, after the solstice, we start getting closer to the Sun again and the days get longer, the snow melts, things turn green and new animals are born in the Spring…. It’s all natural, a cycle of life that’s gone on for billions of years. It’s all natural, man.”

“You’re looking for something that’s ‘Quintessential Kensington’? How about the clocktower on the corner? After the old building burnt to the ground, the new developers promised to keep the ‘small-town’ feel of the neighbourhood by putting a clocktower into their building design. That’s why that corner looks the way it does.”

“Okay, fine. I know it’s this special time of the year for everyone, but not for me. It’s too commercial, too much spending, too much pressure to buy… Especially with all the thing going on in the world, I think we should just call a moratorium on buying things and instead spend time with each other, y’know?”

“It started as a grassroots thing in my living room where I wanted to fill one hundred purses with basic hygiene products for women. I decided to put a post out on Reddit Calgary and Facebook and the response was overwhelming. Within the first week we got over a hundred purses and stuff to fill them with–right now we’re over three hundred.

We planned to have them filled between 1pm and 4pm here at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association, but by 12:30 we had so many volunteers that we were done by 1pm. In the thirty days we’ve been leading up to this we tripled our goal of 100 purses.

The amount I’ve learned is amazing. I learned how powerful people could be and the amount of people who helped out is outstanding. The idea that people are willing to give without knowing the recipient of the gift– people really are incredible. The amount of support for grassroots ideas like this really is amazing.” Talley, Organizer and Creator of 100 Purses Calgary.

“Just a little dusting of snow, eh? Enough to make the place look like a winter village. Please God, don’t give us a winter dump, my back can’t take all the shovelling.”