Weekly Report: August 25th - August 31st 2025
The Week in Summary:
- For myself, with Taylor working long days, my routine was challenged and I felt a bit more restless than usual. With the disruptions to sleep and a minor episode of health anxiety (the first in several months actually), I kept out of my head the best I could. I did lots of evening yoga, a bunch of errands/chores, and read more of Dorian Lynskey's Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World.
- I also kept myself busy with a few work week activities. For lunch on Wednesday, Amy and I went to Mari Bakeshop in Bridgeland. They had very cute pastries and excellent light wood decor, though we were puzzled by the flow - which made no sense. For Thursday night, I volunteered to help with a tipi raising at Prince's Island Park. It was really cool to assist in this structure taking shape and it tested my basic spatial reasoning (which is quite limited). And the following morning, members of our science centre's education team joined Alexis and her wonderful mom to harvest wolf willow berries at Nose Hill Park. It was so worthwhile to be able to meander through this place, rather than be stuck working at a computer desk.
- After work on Friday afternoon, I started the weekend by going down to Prince's Island Park to bring dinner for Taylor and peek at all the happenings at the festival grounds. Later in the evening, Katelyn, Alida, and I went to Critical Mass together and enjoyed a nice ride with more mild temperatures than we anticipated. It was also Critical Mass YYC's birthday and the organizers celebrated with a cake at the end (and we got the last piece).
- On Saturday morning, after dropping off lunch for Taylor at the Calgary Pride office, I went down to Prince's Island Park to volunteer for the afternoon with various tasks around the festival grounds. Eventually, with my upper back feeling tense and heat exhaustion creeping up on me, I went home to recover and read in bed. For Sunday morning, I joined folks at Telus Spark to march in the Calgary Pride Parade! It was a lot of fun, but we really should have amped up the Chappell Roan. Also, I need to recognize that Tinker Bell participated and was a very good dog. At the festival grounds, Alexis and I met up with Katelyn and Ang to (1) celebrate Calgary Pride and (2) celebrate Katelyn's birthday! Despite how busy everything was for Taylor, we did get to see them as well! Yayyy! Afterwards, we stopped at Fiesto Filipino for some dinner (Pork Sisig for myself) and desert in Chinatown.
- With all of my bullshit out of the way, I want to take a moment to reflect on how proud I am of my spouse and best friend, Taylor. Putting aside the full year-long preparation for the Calgary Pride festival, for the last few weeks they have been working 16+ hour days continuously (weekends included). But whilst the long hours are remarkable, I am proud of the sheer resilience they possess. This has been an exceptionally challenging year for Pride organizations across the continent, Calgary Pride included, but my love has continued to show up for our community, even on the most unpleasant of days. This resilience is something I undeniably admire about Taylor. It is another quality, among countless others, that I love about them. <3 Here's hoping Taylor (and their team) get some much needed rest!
The Week in Images
The Week in Links:
Rightwing ‘parents’ rights’ groups gain ground in Canada as Alberta book bans target LGBTQ+ titles
Two such groups claim they persuaded Alberta to institute sweeping public school book ban
Olivia Bowden
