I’m fairly certain that I went to my high school graduation, but I’m sure.

I had a complex end to high school: although I spent the first four years of the (then-five-year, including grade 13) experience at Waterdown District High School, doing my final year at the Ontario Science Centre Science School meant that I technically graduated from the nearby Don Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto. That said, I have a memory of being allowed to join my peers at WDHS for the final graduation (as well as a memory that my brother Mike and I, independently, each opted out of wearing a gown to do so). But those memories are vague, and I may have made the whole thing up.

Oliver, however, did graduate from high school this week: I know this both because I was there, and because scenario-planning for the various and sundry ways that the perfect storm of crowded anxiety-ridden events could go sideways has consumed my spare thoughts for most of the last couple of months.

But it didn’t go sideways: thanks to a combination of a formidable effort by Oliver to keep calm, a lot of advance planning and practice, and a well-executed event, it all went off without a hitch.

Derrick Comes to Town

One of the best things that ever happened to Oliver is that, as he entered grade 9, Derrick Biso came into his life as an after-school and summertime support worker. Over three years Derrick and Oliver developed a strong bond, and there are few people in the world Oliver trusts more.

Unbeknownst to us, Oliver had invited Derrick to come back to the Island for the graduation and Derrick blessedly agreed. And so Derrick has been here all week: they went to prom together on Tuesday, Derrick sat beside Oliver at graduation, and they went to the “safe grad” activities afterwards. Everyone should be so lucky as to have someone like Derrick in their lives, and that Oliver’s week went as well as it did is due in part to Derrick’s presence.

The Morning Run-Thru

We started the day at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre at the University of PEI (where all the Charlottetown-area high schools hold their ceremonies, so as to accommodate all of the students, teachers, staff, families and guests at the same time). We met Shelly Mann (the Inclusive Education Coordinator at Colonel Gray and Oliver’s educational spirit guide), Dave Morrow and Maritza Vessey (Oliver’s morning and afternoon educational assistants, respectively, for the last three years) in the gym so that Oliver could get the lay of the land, and do a practice walk across the stage.

It was a great idea to do that, as it meant that when he went to do the real thing, later in the afternoon, it was old hat.

With the run-through out of the way, we went home for a few hours of rest, some lunch, and to get dressed for the ceremony proper.

To the Ceremony in the Rain

As the day progressed the projected rain materialized. And the rain got heavier and heavier. Oliver and I left the house just before 1:00 p.m. to go to Colonel Gray to pick up his gown, and then back to UPEI for 1:30 p.m. Although we were relatively early, the parking lot was already full enough that we had to park in the back-back and wade through a torrent of water to get inside (it was during this walk that I reconfirmed that my shoes had holes in them).

Walking into the gym we were greeted by Enes Alisic, who’d taught Oliver’s political science class last semester (and who proved to be a kind and estimable educator who developed a strong connection with Oliver).

Oliver chose to wear a variation of his prom outfit from earlier in the week: blue-checked shirt and green bow tie, both from Winners (really the only store in Charlottetown to shop at if your son tells you that he needs to dress like it’s 1929).

Close to 2:00 p.m. we took our seats, helpfully located in close proximity to the stage:

Blah Blah Blah

Oliver and I, the day before, had worked out a play-by-play schedule for the day so that he could know what to anticipate; because we didn’t have the exact schedule in-hand, there are a couple of lines in this schedule like:

Oliver returns to seat.  Blah. Blah. Blah.

The graduation ceremony started with a lot of blah blah blah: graduates walk in en masse, O Canada, greetings from Public Schools Branch, greetings from the Government, Principal’s address. It then segued into the presentation of “major awards” – scholarships and prizes from universities and colleges. The organizers deserve credit for breezing through this quickly, and ensuring that if one student received multiple awards, they only ascended the stage once.

The blah blah blah finished with a rendition of Stand By Me by a talented group of students.

Presentation of Diplomas (and Catherine Arrives)

The first hill to climb for Oliver was to received his diploma: this was done in alphabetical order, and, as anyone with a later-alphabet name can attest, this meant a lot of waiting.

Because we knew that sitting on hard plastic chairs would wreak havoc on Catherine’s back, we’d arranged with our friend BJ to whisk her up to campus as soon as the alphabet started, safe in the knowledge that, with 265 graduates to get through, she’d have enough time to get there and take her seat. This worked like a charm, and by the time she was ready and seated they were still working through the Gs.

Oliver Takes the Stage

Here’s how the schedule described what came next:

At Oliver’s alphabetical time, Oliver and Dave walk from seats to stage. Ethan and Derrick and Peter and Catherine stay seated.

Oliver walks across stage, gets paperwork, shakes hands, photo taken, etc.

Oliver leaves stage to Shelly and Maritza on the other side, and returns to seat.

And that’s exactly what happened. The marshall-of-the-line helpfully opened up a spot for Oliver, pressing “pause” on the rest of the line, so that he didn’t have to wait an anxious eternity on the ramp up. Dave led him up to the stage, and he waited there for Julia Monique Robichaud (his alphabetical-predecessor), to receive her diploma:

Then his name was called–Oliver Duncan Lowell Rukavina–and he simply aced the moves that came next:

He looked around for me to take his photo:

And, finding me, he posed for a photo (beside Dale Cole, the vice-principal):

Presentation of Prizes

Although the recipients of various prizes are supposed to be kept secret, things being kept secret is a source of considerable anxiety for Oliver (which has made me extra-sensitive to how many secrets-involving rituals we have in our culture!). As such, forward-thinking Shelly Mann broke the rules and gave us a heads-up that Oliver would be receiving a “Staff Award.”

Hence the next section of our schedule:

Blah. Blah. Blah. Awards.

Oliver gets Staff Award announced: same Dave- stage- photo- handshake- Maritza & Shelly system again.

Oliver returns to seat.

The Staff Awards were described in the program as being presented to “graduating students, who in their years at Colonel Gray, have made contributions to student life and/or maintained academic standing and/or applied consistent effort.”

After a raft of other prizes and awards, Oliver and the other recipients of the Staff Awards were called to the stage and, per our arrangement, Oliver and Dave got themselves to the end of the stage, and I arranged myself in the official photograph-taking area. Because, well, Murphy’s Law, I ended up shooting a lovely video of his walk up to the stage and his receiving the award with my finger over the microphone of my phone, so it’s a silent movie. But a lovely life-affirming one:

The Valedictory Address

Once all the awards were awarded, Cole Gallant, the valedictorian, took to the podium to deliver his address. Toward the end the students all stood up for the big finale, and Oliver stood up with them:

The End

Once the valedictory address was done, there were a few moments for photos.

Here’s Dave, Oliver, Maritza and Ethan:

And here’s Catherine, me, Oliver and Derrick:

I darted back out into the rain to get Oliver’s change of clothes, pulled the car around for Catherine, and Oliver and Derrick headed off to the school for an evening of fun and frolic for the next six hours (did I mention the Derrick is amazing?).

Oliver, we are so, so proud of the young man you have become, and so proud of you for being able to successfully navigate yourself through what we know was a really, really hard day of stresses and triggers. You are amazing.

It is high school graduation day for Oliver, and we went up to the field house at the University of PEI this morning for a dry run of his walk across the stage. It was overcast when we entered; it was pouring torrential rain as we left, and so I learned that my shoes have holes, as they quickly filled up with water.

When I got back to the office an hour later the following conversation with the church sexton ensued:

Me: I learned today that my shoes have holes in them.

Him: I guess you’ll be making a trip to the store.

Me: They’re perfectly fine shoes, it’s just that the body has separated from the sole.

Him: There’s nothing worse than getting separated from your soul.

He is right.

Never have I have been so sheepish as when I got in my “dinosaur-powered” VW Jetta, after tonight’s PEI Electric Vehicle Association meeting, and rumbled off. While everyone else was alighting their silent electric cars and smoothly gliding home.

The delicious irony of Best Buy, a computer store that presumably uses Microsoft products, unable to sell Microsoft products because of “system software updates.”

Oliver, on the lawn of St. Dunstan’s Basilica, before the Colonel Gray prom last night.

At Crafting {:} a Life we spoke often of blogging. And when one speaks of blogging these days, one must speak of email newsletters.

Here’s where I’ve arrived, after thinking about this for the last week:

Blogging is something we do together; email newsletters are something we do by ourselves.

Both together and by ourselves are relative terms, and there’s leakage in both directions. But, for me at least, that’s the essential difference.

In 2017 Nell Bang-Jensen wrote down a set of guiding principles for her work, which includes:

Know everyone’s name. Name them over and over and over again.

This called to mind my Morgan/Joel Strategy that I outlined in 2017, and that I’ve been working to follow ever since.

Yesterday I was at a meeting of the Stars for Life board and, a few minutes after we got started, a person I’d never met walked down the stairs into the meeting room and took a place at the table. He wasn’t introduced to us, and nobody thought to ask who he was. As a result I thought there was a (remote) possibility that I was hallucinating.

Finally, after 20 minutes of meeting business, at a break in the proceedings, I looked his way and said “I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.”

At which point he was introduced as a new board member, someone we’d approved the appointment of at a previous meeting, sight-unseen. He knew almost everyone else at the meeting, which is why he wasn’t introduced.

I’m glad I said something, because it turned out that a couple of the other board members were also wondering who this interloper was.

Know everyone’s name. Name them over and over and over again.

Elmine writes about her experiences cycling (and watching we Canadians cycle) here in Canada. In part:

All in all my conclusion is that riding a bike safely in various parts in Canada is still a dream. From my Dutch perspective I seriously doubt if the places I visited ever will be able to be a dream places for cyclists. Canadian roads were designed for cars. It will take a tremendous effort to ‘un-design’ that. But it’s not just the roads that needs a redesign. It will take a generation to retrain everyone driving the road, both by car and on bike.

I think she’s right about the “retraining” that we need, but I think it applies not only to the practical skills related to safe and efficient bicycling, but also retraining our habits so that we shift all or most of our short-distance travel from driving to cycling.

Meanwhile, Oliver and I went out to West Covehead to look at a gently-used Tri-Rider this afternoon, and he took an immediate shine to it:

As anyone who’s driven or cycled in Charlottetown knows, we are blessed with north-south thoroughfares and have a scarcity of east-west ones.

This scarcity is even more apparent for cyclists wishing to use the Confederation Trail as the spine of the city: once you leave Belvedere Avenue heading north, alongside the University of PEI, there’s no clear route east or west until the Charlottetown Mall, making it more difficult to cycle to places on North River Road or onward to Lewis Point Park.

This is doubly-frustrating because there are already low-traffic roads or trails that go west into Lewis Point Park from the intersection of Enman Crescent and University Avenue: but there’s a kind of Darién Gap that separates the Confederation Trail from this, however, as illustrated by the red line on this map:

There are signs that this gap might be closed as the University of PEI carries out its master plan: the plan mentions the Confederation Trail and cycling in many different places (emphasis mine):

Confederation Trail is a cycling/pedestrian trail created from a converted rail line that runs the entire length of the Island dipping down to Charlottetown. Naturalized with stands of birch, poplar, spruce and tamarack, the trail forms the eastern edge of the campus and connects the University with downtown Charlottetown. Historically, trains stopped beside the campus and provided transit for students from across the Island. Today, the trail is used by cyclists, joggers, hikers and dog walkers.

Access to the trail should be improved to promote it as a direct, non-motorized route from the University to downtown, a route to the Charlottetown Mall or as a recreation corridor. Culverts that run parallel to the trail on either side collect water and foster naturalized vegetation buffers, but these culverts should be bridged at key locations to facilitate pedestrian access. Bicycle racks, shade pavilions and campus signage should be located at key points of entry into the University from the trail.

…

Walking and Cycling - the Campus Plan acknowledges the importance of pedestrian and cycling routes to the campus. Improvements include wider and safer sidewalks on University Avenue, clear connections from Confederation Trail to the Campus, more signalized crossings as well as designated bicycle routes and amenities on campus (e.g. sheltered and secure bike storage and access to showers).

…

Cycling still needs encouragement on campus.

…

Overall, the recommendations for pedestrian and bicycle circulation routes are:

• Pathway widths should be narrowed and rationalized to improve, define and separate pedestrian, vehicular and service vehicle traffic.
• A clear connection from the campus to Confederation Trail should be created.
• Improved connections to the north campus naturalized open space should be established to promote this area as a passive recreation district.
• Conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians, and vehicles and bicycles should be reduced.
• Bicycle parking areas should be improved in function and appearance
• Accessibility deficits should be improved upon or eliminated.

The “short range plan” for the campus includes a connector between the Confederation Trail and University Avenue through the area currently used as a maintenance yard and through to the pedestrian signals at the corner of University and Enman:

I set out this morning to see how far along this connector is, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found: I was able to ride my bicycle on an almost-trail-like surface from the Confederation Trail clear through to University Avenue. The way was muddy in places, but the trees had been cleared, and the hills were gentle:

Once I rode to the edge of the UPEI maintenance yard there was what looked to be a relatively recently-cleared area that, while it’s a little soggy in the middle, was eminently navigable on a bicycle:

On the other side of this dip the clearing continues, and you can see clear on through to University Avenue:

The track from the edge of the fully-cleared area up to University Avenue is a two-track almost-fully-trail-like path:

I emerged from this near the pedestrian signals crossing University over to Enman Crescent, and I could then continue along Enman, along Raiders Road to the Hermitage Creek Trail, which wends through the woods to North River Road:

Once I reached North River Road, I was almost able to take trails or quiet streets clear on back downtown: there’s a nice riverside trail that continues on the other side of North River Road that, unfortunately, abruptly ends in an apartment complex parking lot, requiring a loop back up to North River Road. A little way down North River Road it looks like the trail picks up, but the way isn’t clear, and is blocked by felled trees; I could make my way to the cul-de-sac at the end of Madison Avenue by smashing through:

Once I reached Madison Avenue, I was able to cycle on back streets all the way to Victoria Park where I took the Victoria Park cycleway to Beaconsfield, and then continued downtown, a total journey of almost 10 km:

It’s encouraging to see the building blocks are in place for joining some established and well-maintained cycle routes together; if we’re going to be zero-carbon sooner than later, we’re going to conquer these gaps in the active transportation network, and now is the time to start the work.

Here’s the list of blogs I read.

You can see that list just by clicking on that link, and it will look something like this in your browser:

But you can also save that file, and load it into your RSS reader of choice, to import my list of RSS feeds into yours.

Last year I wrote about my OPML file, a machine-readable list of all the blogs I subscribe to, prompted by Ton’s musings about the possible return of the “blogroll.”

Since I wrote that post I’ve switched to using FreshRSS as my feedreader, and I had to switch the way that I export my OPML file.

Prompted again by Ton, this time in Show Me Your Feeds… I’ll Show You Mine, I’ve taken things a step further, and added an XSLT stylesheet, adapted from the one described here, and now the OPML file can be read both by machines and by humans, in a browser. This was as simple as adapting the XSLT file for my blogroll (you can see it here) and then adding a reference to the XSLT file in my OPML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="https://images.ruk.ca/opml/opml.xsl"?>
<opml version="2.0">
  <head>
    <title>Peter Rukavina's Blogroll</title>
    <dateCreated>Sat, 15 Jun 2019 21:07:51</dateCreated>
  </head>

You can do this too!