Thursday, May 15, 2008

Angelo to talk at the Shadbolt

Here and Now column by Dan Hilborn
Published 21, 2004


Burnaby's best-known environmentalist is bringing home his world famous slide show on the world's wildest rivers.

Mark Angelo, head of the fish, wildlife and recreation program at BCIT, will present River World, a 90-minute slide show and lecture at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

"This is the program I've been giving across Canada for the past few months, and I'm proud to give it in my hometown of Burnaby," Angelo said. "This is a highly visual and entertaining presentation with a strong river conservation theme, based on the river trips I've done around the world in the past 35 or 40 years."

The most compelling part of the presentation is its stunning photography - a fact evidenced by the show's prominent co-sponsors including the National Geographic website, Mountain Equipment Co- op, the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. and BCIT.

The show will appeal to anyone with an interest in rivers, the environment or travel to exotic locales.

"We start in Canada and then move quickly to six other continents in about an hour-and-a-half," Angelo said. "We visit the Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze and Mekong. We also see some wonderful experiences on smaller, lesser-known rivers, like the Eg in Northern Mongolia, the Bio Bio in Chile, the Coruh River in North Turkey and Arun in Nepal."

The program also touches on Angelo's views about the value of rivers and river travel.

"I'm a great believer in river travel," said Angelo. "I believe it's a wonderful way to see the world and the day-to-day life of people in general. Travelling along rivers is certainly exciting. No two days are the same, and you never know what lies beyond the next bend.

"It's also a wonderful way to rejuvenate and refresh the spirit, and it does tend to bring out the kid that resides in all of us."

After the show in Burnaby, Angelo will go on the road through the United States with upcoming presentations in Portland, Ore., Lake Tahoe, Calif., and New York City already confirmed.

Tickets to River World are $10, and all of the proceeds will go towards planning for a special 25th anniversary of B.C. Rivers Day, being held on the Fraser River in Burnaby later this fall.

For tickets, contact the Shadbolt centre for the Arts, box office at 604-205-3000.

HAGGIS HARASSED

It takes a Scot to bring together two of the most blustering political rivals in the Lower Mainland.

Robbie Burns Day could get interesting when Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum and Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan come together to honour the birth of Scotland's national bard.

Corrigan and McCallum will join Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell in parading the haggis from Burnaby to Surrey and then off to Vancouver on Friday, Jan. 23.

Led by a piper from SFU's four-time world champion pipe band, a troupe of faculty, staff, students and the three mayors will travel by SkyTrain to SFU's three campuses as they address and carve up the haggis at each official stop.

Catch their skirlish behaviour in Burnaby when they board SkyTrain at Production Way station at 9:35 a.m., and as they return to the Burnaby Mountain campus at 11:50 a.m.

Simon Fraser University will also host two other events to commemorate the birth of the Scottish bard.

Killarney, a seven-member band from Dublin will perform at the Highland Pub on Burnaby Mountain from 5 to 7 p.m., and then the official Robbie Burns dinner and silent auction to benefit the Robert Malcolm Memorial pipe bands will be held at the Executive Plaza Hotel at 7 p.m. Tickets to the latter event are $65 apiece and can be purchased from Laurie Kortschak at 604-536-5601.

THAT'S EXCELLENT

Burnaby Mountain secondary graduate Rainbow Choi is among 15 B.C. high school graduates to receive the Premier's Excellence Award for excellent grades and outstanding service to their communities this year.

Choi, who is currently studying engineering at SFU, received a medal of recognition plus a scholarship worth $5,000 during a ceremony held at Vancouver Community College last weekend.

"I want to congratulate all of this year's recipients and thank them for their contribution to improving our communities and province," Premier Gordon Campbell said in a press release. "We want to ensure that we're continuing to create new opportunities for the next generation of B.C. great achievers."

Choi, who was the class valedictorian at Burnaby Mountain last year, won top academic achievement awards in science in both 2002 and 2003 and was a winner of a Canada Millennium Foundation Scholarship.

She is a peer volunteer at the Canuck Place Children's Hospice, and helped organize the World Vision 30-Hour Famine event for three years.

Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond said previous winners have gone on to practise international law in the Third World, conduct postdoctoral research into mad cow disease and become successful doctors, dentists and microbiologists. "B.C. has a topnotch post-secondary education system and the students being honoured here are taking advantage of that as they prepare for exciting careers," she said.

THEM'S THE BLUES

Storman Norman Casler, the former general manager of the SFU radio station and, until recently, the host of the Sunday Blues radio show on CFMI, is back on the hustings.

Casler, who was let go by the Corus radio network due to "internal restructuring," is now putting the finishing touches on a 'made-for-TV' version of his show, tentatively called Roots Rock, Rhythm and Blues.

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