Creative Economy Report on Maine's St. John Valley

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2010 10:51:09 -0400
From: S Jans
Subject: Creative Economy Report on Maine's St. John Valley
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: September 2, 2010
Contact: Sheila Jans, 728-4820, sjans@cultureworth.org

REPORT ON CREATIVE ECONOMY OF MAINE-- ST. JOHN VALLEY - The region is poised for success -

St. John Valley, Maine AD In a 76-page final report entitled "St. John Valley Creative Economy Project AD Strengthening Our Communities and Economy Through Culture and Place", researchers through the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine consider the St. John Valley of northern Maine poised for success in creative economic development.

"All the ingredients for a prosperous and vibrant region are here," says Sheila Jans, one of the report-- authors. "The Valley-- cultural and place-based assets are largely indigenous, renewable and sustainable. To build upon them and encourage a viable creative economy, we'll need to maintain committed dialogue, creative planning, focused leadership and an active pursuit of the recommendations in our report. Key to success is a creative mindset."

Over a two-year period, with primary funding from the United States Department of Agriculture-- Rural Development Agency, Jans, along with colleagues, Kathryn Hunt and Caroline Noblet, conducted an in-depth assessment of the St. John Valley-- creative economy through the University of Maine in partnership with the University of Maine at Fort Kent and local community leaders. The project incorporated locally driven and indigenously based planning processes for translating cultural assets into economic development and growth. The report is available online at http://mcspolicycenter.umaine.edu.

Luis Sanclemente, Vice-President of a financial institution and a member of the project-- regional advisory group said, "The report shows that the potential of the region is great, and with the right efforts from various sources, it can explode into a dual benefit of rejuvenating the unique local culture and the economy all at once."

Based on the research, the authors offer four major recommendations: 
1.Build regional leadership, identity and collaborative capacity,  
2.Strengthen programs and assistance to entrepreneurs and nonprofits,  
3.Invest in the region-- creative assets, and 
4. Cultivate pride in culture and place. Jans adds, "Our starting position with this project was clear: culture and place not only improve our quality of life, but constitute a foundation for building new business opportunities and a prosperous future for the communities of the St. John Valley."

The researchers met with artisans, entrepreneurs, farmers, designers, visitors, business and community leaders, and students who shared their insight on the region-- assets, challenges, needs and opportunities. Participants identified culture and place as the region-- primary assets. They painted a compelling picture that included a more developed infrastructure for four-seasons tourism, venues for artists to display and sell their work, investment in cultural organizations and festivals, and niche farming.

When participants were asked what was needed, at the top of the list was regional leadership and cooperation among towns. They identified the need for regional investment strategies to enable entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise business growth, direct technical assistance for creative entrepreneurs, mentoring, and cooperation in the marketing, sale and distribution of goods. Many want a region with diverse products and services, education in innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and small business incubation. They also desire creative and sustained application of the French language in school, community venues and the built environment.

The final report provides a summary of project activities, the output of the research, recommendations and conclusions. It offers concrete examples of actions taken elsewhere and an outline of potential next steps for translating the results of this report into action. An extensive appendix includes additional information, including detailed reports of certain project components.

The St. John Valley, locally known as the "Valley," is a rural, bilingual, and international region at the northernmost tip of Maine, bordering the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec. 
Download the report at http://mcspolicycenter.umaine.edu. 

L’entrevue de Céline Dion fait jaser la planète | Vedettes | 7Jours

L’entrevue de Céline Dion fait jaser la planète | Vedettes | 7Jours: "Vedettes
Le 7 Jours aux quatre coins du monde
L’entrevue de Céline Dion fait jaser la planète
Marie-Hélène Goulet / 7Jours 2010-09-03
Partager

Le magazine 7 Jours vient tout juste de mettre sur les tablettes une véritable bombe : une entrevue exclusive avec Céline Dion enceinte de ses jumeaux accompagnée de photos très naturelles de la chanteuse en famille. Depuis sa sortie en kiosque, l’équipe du magazine est bombardée d’appels par des correspondants en provenance des quatre coins de la planète, dont les gens du People, de Canal + en France et d’Entertainment Tonight Canada.

C’est la nouvelle collaboratrice de 7 Jours, Sophie Durocher, qui a réussi à interviewer la vedette dans sa demeure de Floride. En intégrant l’équipe du magazine, la journaliste s’est demandé quelle entrevue pourrait avoir le plus d’impact chez le public. Le nom de Céline Dion lui est tout de suite venu en tête. Elle n’avait, cependant, pas imaginé que son travail ferait le tour du globe.

C’est au début de l’été que Sophie a contacté l’entourage de la chanteuse afin de savoir si cette dernière accepterait de lui parler. La réponse a tout de suite été positive, mais la reporter devait attendre un peu, car la future maman était en repos complet afin de s’assurer une bonne grossesse. Patiente, la journaliste a finalement reçu le feu vert de René Angélil lui-même qui lui accordait 15 minutes au téléphone. Finalement, la conversation entre les deux mères s’est étirée à 20, 30 et même 45 minutes.

«Je crois que le fait que je sois moi-même une maman tardive a tout de suite créé une connexion entre nous», explique Sophie qui avait déjà interviewé Céline à deux occasions auparavant.

Des photos tirées de leur album personnel

Lorsqu’on mentionne les fameux clichés montrant Céline au naturel avec son beau ventre rebondi, Sophie n’a que de bons mots pour le couple Angélil-Dion qui ont été très généreux en acceptant d’ouvrir leur album de photos personnel afin d’illustrer l’entrevue.

«Les gens oublient parfois, et c’est dommage, que Céline est la plus grande star mondiale de la chanson et que, malgré tout, elle est toujours demeurée fidèle au Québec. Ce n’est pas pour rien qu’elle a donné une entrevue exclusive et ses photos à un magazine québécois, c’est la preuve qu’elle restera toujours fidèle à ses racines», affirme la journaliste.

En kiosque jusqu’à mercredi prochain, cette édition du magazine 7 Jours n’a pas fini de faire parler d’elle. Autant en français, qu’en anglais, qu’en mandarin, qu’en espagnol...

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

http://7jours.canoe.ca/vedettes/nouvelles/2010/09/03/15240701-7j.html

An American Mom in Paris

An American Mom in Paris: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

‘Cemetery’ undeservedly buried

Entertainment Columnist

‘Cemetery’ undeservedly buried

By BRUCE KIRKLAND, QMI Agency

September 5, 2010

 

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

Mainstream Americans do not quite know what to make of British comedian Ricky Gervais. For that matter, his lesser known but just as significant creative partner, Stephen Merchant, is just as befuddling. Their humour, closer to hardcore Monty Python and The Gong Show than to American comedy, reads well in Canada. But it only finds a niche audience in the States.
Hence, the new Gervais-Merchant movie Cemetery Junction got royally screwed in the former colonies. In the U.S. because it was denied a theatrical release, which it richly deserved. In Canada because we are burdened with stupid decisions the American industry often imposes. Which is particularly unfair in this case, given that Gervais has Canadian roots. His father was a French-Canadian soldier, from London, Ont., who served in the Second World War and remained in England after the war, having met Gervais' mom during a bombing blackout. Regardless, as a result, Cemetery Junction is available only on DVD and Blu-ray (as of Aug. 17) throughout North America.
I say to Canadians: Watch this movie. You will be pleased and surprised. It is a splendid, beautifully crafted comedic drama about four youths coming of age in an English village, circa 1973. For Gervais and Merchant, who produced, co-wrote, co-directed and appear in it in cameo roles, Cemetery Junction is nostalgic romp. While not literally an autobiography for either -- it was in fact inspired by a line from a Bruce Springsteen song --the film is nostalgia for both.
"We wanted it to sort of romanticize our memory of growing up," Merchant says in the intriguing doc, The Directors: A Conversation, which is on both the DVD and the Blu-ray. The inspirational line from The Boss, Gervais explains, is from Thunder Road: "It's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win." Cemetery Junction, set in a town of the same name, concerns three youthful losers (Christian Cooke, Tom Hughes and Jack Doolan) who are looking for a way out. The fourth in the gaggle (Felicity Jones) is a bright young woman who looks to be settling for a banal marriage.
Tonally, there are only sparks of the biting satire Gervais and Merchant brought to their brilliant original version of The Office, starring Gervais as the world's most awkward boss. Gervais and Merchant also gave rise to Extras, another series that took pains to create awkward situational comedy. Junction only indulges in a few awkward moments, especially with Gervais playing Cooke's grotty dad and sitting around the kitchen table trashing the Gauls: "Breathy French pigs," Gervais mutters in disgust. This family is racist, dogmatic, uneducated and stupid, with the exception of Cooke's character.
Otherwise, Cemetery Junction is fascinating because it is not what we expect from the team. Gervais gave us a wonderful hint that his grumpypants character can be redeemed in the underrated Ghost Town. Merchant also does acting on the side, mostly small roles in flicks such as Hot Fuzz and Run, Fatboy, Run.
Together, though, the two have unique synergy and feed off one another, when not tossing off cruel teases. Gervais calls Merchant "a stick insect with glasses" because of his 6-foot-7 height. Imagine what Gervais, a dumpy short guy, gets back in return. As creative collaborators, they have worked together for a dozen years.
"We always knew we'd do a film together one day," Gervais says. "We also knew that, when we did a film, it wasn't going to be a couple of zany comics doing a caper. We wanted it to be a real Hollywood film, whatever that might be."
They did. But Hollywood did not appreciate it. I think you will.

http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/columnists/bruce_kirkland/2010/09/03/15238751.html

Labor Day at the Museum of Work and Culture

Story about the immigrant experiences:  Canuck and Other Stories



Labor Day at the Museum of Work and Culture

09/06/2010 

The Providence Journal

The Providence Journal Connie Grosch

Monday is Labor Day, a holiday created as a tribute to American workers and first celebrated on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City. But you knew that, right? Here’s a great way to mark the holiday.
Visit the Museum of Work and Culture,
42 South Main St., Woonsocket. Admission is free on Labor Day at this museum, which tells the story of immigrants who came to work in the mills and factories of Woonsocket. While the emphasis has been on French-Canadian settlers from Quebec, today marks the official opening of a new, permanent exhibit, “Going to Work: 20th Century Settlers in the Blackstone Valley.” In this exhibit, the experiences of Italian, Portuguese, Greek, African-American and Colombian immigrants will be chronicled. An outdoor celebration will include ethnic music and dance performances, and a 10 a.m. presentation will focus on the baseball career of Woonsocket native Napoleon Lajoie.
Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (401) 769-9675 or go to rihs.org.
Alexis Magner

http://www.projo.com/lifebeat/content/thrive_mix_go_0906_09-06-10_A2JOI4B_v10.14ebe34.html

 [ndlr: ...view from the other side...to English or not to English?...or is that the way to...]

 

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Lamontagne has some flip-flop explaining to do

Kevin Landrigan, Nashua Telegraph

Republican Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne supports federal legislation to make English the country’s official language.

GOP primary opponent Bill Binnie has put six figures of his own money behind an ad promoting that position.

Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte said she holds the same view while the fourth, major candidate, Jim Bender opposes it and charges the entire topic has become a distraction from the need to secure the US border.

“English should be the national language. We need to have a common language to speak, and even though I have a long history as a French-Canadian immigrant – four generations of French-Canadian immigrants who are natives now in New Hampshire – we have kept our culture alive, but we still speak English, we have become Americanized,” Lamontagne told ABC News this week.

“We need that common bond, both language and belief in freedom and liberty to keep this country moving in the right direction and continue to realize freedom and liberty for generations to come.”

But during his last run for public office, Lamontagne not only opposed English as New Hampshire’s official language, he had lobbied then-Gov. Steve Merrill to veto it.

“If the Legislature would see fit to repeal the bill as passed last year, I would support that, but I would not seek the repeal of that law on my own,” Lamontagne said during his 1996 campaign for governor.

Lamontagne called the state law “symbolic” and praised Merrill for letting state officials speak French while dealing in international trade.

On the issue, Lamontagne ended up giving political cover to his Democratic opponent, Jeanne Shaheen, who would go on to become the state’s governor.

Shaheen voted against the English-only bill while in the state Senate and called it divisive.

James Merrill, Lamontagne’s campaign manager, said there’s no contradiction.

“In 1996, Ovide took a position on a state issue – that English need not be the official language of N.H. – based on the very clear fact that New Hampshire did not have a second language or immigration problem,” Merrill said

“Today, Ovide has taken a position on a national issue – that English should be designated as the official language of our country – based on the very clear fact that America has a serious problem with illegal immigration and the failure of large groups of illegal aliens to learn the English language.”

The times, too, they were different.

Lamontange was currying favor with a French Canadian voting base that played a bigger part in GOP primary campaigns than it does now.

In Canada, many officials in Quebec were already talking up the prospect of trying to secede from that country, a campaign that voters ultimately rejected.

You can be sure Lamontagne will spend some of this week having to explain his 1996 remark at a Lawrence Eagle-Tribune editorial board that if needed he would “ratchet up” a state tax to balance the budget.

At the time, Lamontagne said the quote was out of context and that he was opposed to raising any taxes.

During the remainder of that race for governor, and in their only televised debate, Shaheen clubbed him with that comment.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/statenewengland/845039-227/lamontagne-has-some-flip-flop-explaining-to-do.html

Une Québécoise fête ses 105 ans (Louise-Anna Turcotte Brouillette, résidente de Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan, région de Lanaudière)

Louise-Anna Turcotte Brouillette
Photo: Robert Skinner, La Presse

Une Québécoise fête ses 105 ans
Catherine Handfield
La Presse
Publié le 05 septembre 2010 à 18h32 Mis à jour à 19h00
Lien : http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/201009/05/01-4312893-une-quebecoise-fete-ses-105-ans.php

Louise-Anna Turcotte Brouillette vit au jour le jour, sans penser au lendemain. Elle se garde occupée en «bricolant» elle-même ses cadeaux de Noël. Et le soir, de temps en temps, elle prend une petite cuillère de brandy diluée dans une tasse d'eau chaude.

Son mode de vie est simple, mais il semble lui réussir à merveille: la résidente de Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan, dans Lanaudière, a fêté dimanche ses 105 ans dans une salle de réception de Joliette.

Vêtue d'un tailleur bleu, la centenaire resplendissait. Ses deux filles, âgées de 70 et 81 ans, la couvaient d'un regard fier. «Elle est admirable, a dit Jeannine, 81 ans. À 105 ans, elle est encore active et se rappelle de bien des choses.»

Louise-Anna Turcotte est née le 5 septembre 1905 à Saint-Esprit, dans Lanaudière. Deuxième d'une famille de dix enfants, elle a vécu une bonne partie de son enfance chez sa grand-mère, qui s'est occupé d'elle pour offrir un petit répit à ses parents.


À l'époque, il n'y avait pas de voitures, pas de téléphone, pas de toilettes dans la maison et pas d'électricité, se souvient-elle. Pour s'éclairer, le soir, les villageois utilisaient des lampes à l'huile.

«Je me rappelle du jour où l'électricité est arrivée, raconte-t-elle. Le notaire (Jean-Marie) Daniel avait gagné ses élections et il avait obtenu les fils et les poteaux pour le village.»

Jeune femme, Louise-Anna a épousé Alcidas Hetu, avec qui elle a eu trois filles. Son premier mari est décédé en 1962. Trois ans plus tard, elle s'est remariée avec l'agriculteur Émilien Brouillette, veuf et père de sept enfants.

En 1985, son deuxième mari est décédé. Aujourd'hui, elle est encore très proche des enfants de ce dernier. «J'ai été très heureuse avec Émilien. Je ne manquais de rien. Il était plus jeune que moi, et j'aurais préféré mourir à sa place», dit-elle, émue.

Il y a cinq ans, elle a vécu un autre deuil: sa fille aînée, Marielle, a été emportée par le cancer. Louise-Anna a traversé une période difficile, mais elle a réussi à remonter la pente.

«J'ai la chance d'avoir toujours le goût du travail, dit-elle. Le bon dieu me donne encore des idées.» Habile de ses mains, elle aime l'artisanat, le tricot et le crochet. Et deux fois par semaine, elle joue au bingo à sa résidence pour personnes âgées, à Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan.

À 105 ans, le bon dieu a-t-il oublié de venir la chercher? Non, répond-t-elle. «Le bon dieu ne pas oublier, puisque je continue à faire des choses avec grand plaisir. Si ça peut continuer comme ça, j'espère que ça va durer encore longtemps.»

En 2009, 1140 Québécoises et 216 Québécois étaient âgés de 100 ans et plus, selon l'Institut de la statistique du Québec. Au Canada, le record de longévité est détenu par la Québécoise Marie-Louise Fébronie Meilleur, morte en 1998 à l'âge de 117 ans.

Fear of a Brown Planet

Fear of a Brown Planet
http://www.brownplanet.com.au/main.html
 for info, videos, etc.

Where: Little Fernwood Hall (1923 Fernwood Rd.)

When: Today, Sept. 4, 5

Rating: 5

Midway through standup comedian Nile Séguin's one-hour monologue, Fear of a Brown Planet, he tells us a tale of constructive criticism he received once from a New York City comedy club manager. "You Canadian comics are so content with being funny," he recalls the critique. "As if that's a bad thing?"

There's nothing wrong with that, but Séguin clearly (possibly subconsciously) took that advice and found his own niche that is both funny and deals with thought-provoking topics.

Of French-Canadian-Rwandan heritage, Séguin is like no other comic in the world. Genocide, race and ethnic stereotypes in the entertainment biz form the foundation of this hilarious comic's material, where observations are funny and incredibly astute ("Why can't a black man kiss a white woman in a Hollywood movie -- but vampires and werewolves, why not?")

With a certain coolness factor (the hair and swagger did the trick), Séguin confidently commands the stage, delivering line after line with effortless charm. He makes being a standup comedian look easy.

While I could say Séguin is a protégé of Russell Peters, another Canadian comedian known for his jokes on race, that wouldn't give this one-of-a-kind performer the credit he deserves.

If you can only make it out to one Fringe show this year, make this the one. My cheeks are still aching from smiling and laughing so hard. But buy your tickets in advance. Wednesday night's show was sold out before rush tickets were even made available. -- TF


Thandi Fletcher, Adrian Chamberlain - Sep 3, 2010
The Victoria Times Colonist

http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Offbeat+unorthodox+celebratory/3477630/story.html

Evelyne Verret will exhibit her paintings this month

Here: Verret exhibits paintings at The CoffeeBuzz

Ahwatukee Foothills News, Phoenix, AZ.

Ahwatukee Foothills resident Evelyne Verret will exhibit her paintings this month at The CoffeeBuzz, 4804 E. Chandler Blvd., Suite 110, starting Sept. 3.

An opening gala is slated for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, and refreshments will be served. During the event, money will be raised for the Susan G. Komen Walk For The Cure. Funds will be used for breast cancer research. Ten percent of every sale will also be donated to the organization.

Evy is a French-Canadian native to Québec. Her paintings are a good representation of what she is - colorful, explorative and curious.

For more information, call (480) 393-3430.
http://www.ahwatukee.com/arts_life/arts_briefs/article_32f33fea-b6cc-11df-a839-001cc4c03286.html

Celine Dion Shows Off Her Baby Bump!

Celine Dion Shows Off Her Baby Bump!
September 2, 2010

Celine Dion is showing off her baby bump!

The proud mama-to-be looks positively glowing as she poses for French-Canadian mag 7 Jours — via celinedionpt.com — with her husband René Angélil and their 9-year-old son René-Charles.

The singer looks so happy and relaxed!

At 42-years-old, Celine struggled to get pregnant again — undergoing six attempts at in-vitro fertilization. But it was worth the wait, as she's expecting twins.

And, as Star told you exclusively, she is expecting twin boys!

The babies are expected to arrive in November and Celine’s pregnancy is going along wonderfully with her recently revealing, “everything is falling into place. I have a little belly.”

...well now it’s more than a little belly!

http://www.starmagazine.com/celine_dion_pregnanct_photo/news/17287

New World Festival: 18th year of Celtic and Quebecois traditional music

New World Festival: 18th year of Celtic and Quebecois traditional music

Gadelle in the Dance Tent at Randolph’s New World Festival.

Photo by Robert Eddy

By Art Edelstein
Correspondent - Published: September 2, 2010
Barre Montpelier Times Argus

Every Labor Day weekend this writer looks forward to the New World Festival in Randolph. The festival is a celebration of New England, Celtic and French-Canadian (Quebecois) music, to which the state owes much of its musical heritage. The mix here is always interesting and highly entertaining. This year’s festival, Sunday Sept. 5, around Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, will be no different.

There’s a lot to choose from in this well-structured, compact and visitor-friendly festival. For starters, visitors do not have to worry about inclement weather should it rain. All the venues are inside. If you don’t like long walks to concert sites, this one is perfect, as all the concerts are within a one block area, and the main hall is the newly renovated Chandler Music Hall which seats several hundred people.

There’s lots of food to sample, plenty of things for the kids to do, and if you like to dance there’s a tent where you can spend the day in two-step bliss.

This year’s lineup includes a solid variety of Quebecois and American musicians, and several newer and younger acts whose energy will surely sparkle on stage.

Several of the performers are Vermonters, which when you think about it shows how talented and diverse is the music than emanates from this state’s musicians.

Among the French-Canadian acts performing is Norouet. This band’s music is firmly grounded in the traditional music of Québec, with the upbeat modern sound of Québec 2010. The music of the first Québec revival during the late 1970s was about the rebirth of a tradition. Then the current wave, to which Norouet belongs, is about a generation that grew up with that traditional music ringing in one ear, while the other was cocked to the music of the world.

Festival-goers will hear a variety of other talented Québecois musicians including venerable fiddler and longtime festival performer Claude Méthé and Dent-de-Lion, the young performers of Les Poules à Colin (Colin’s Chickens!), Rapetipetam, and Raz-de-Marée (Tidal Wave).

Rapetipetam is a step-dance troupe from Quebec that performs with a trio of backing musicians and these dancers combine improvisation and choreography in their work. Les Poules à Colin is a high-energy five-piece band of performers in their late teens and early 20s, several of whom are children of more established musicians.

Headlining the Celtic portion of the festival is the John Whelan Band, based in Boston, making its first festival appearance. Originally from Dunstable, England, John Whelan was raised on the fiddle and pipe music of Ireland. He’s a master button accordion champion who released his first album “Pride of Wexford” at age 14. He relocated to America in 1980 and has performed with many top Irish musicians since. He has led his own band since 1997 and released several albums.

Piper extraordinaire Paddy Keenan, a founder of the Bothy Band, is returning to the festival. New this year is The Press Gang featuring local guitarist Owen Marshall.

Loyal fans will be pleased to known that Prydein returns to close out the day in the dance tent with its unique Scottish “kilt-rock.”

Perennial favorites Cantrip from Scotland return and there is even more Celtic music with Skellig and Tri. Skellig features musicians from the Vermont band Wind that Shakes the Barley, along with multi-instrumentalist John Drury. They play a variety of traditional styles including Scandinavian songs. Tri is a new entry from the Boston area with strong Irish music credentials.

Two of the best Vermont traditional bands, Nightingale and Atlantic Crossing, are coming. Nightingale is as good a band as you’ll hear mixing Celtic and French-Canadian influences and Atlantic Crossing is a fine dance and performance ensemble.

Children will be entertained by Randolph’s own No Strings Marionette Company in the family tent, and Midnight Capers brings their Morris dancing to Main Street. Callers Nils Fredland and Adina Gordon will lead dances in the Dance Tent.

While Labor Day weekend is always a busy time with late summer parties and outings, the New World Festival should not be missed. The weather is usually cool enough to enjoy the indoor concerts, and the energy of the performers and audience is enough to keep the excitement flowing throughout the day.



The Chandler Center for the Arts presents the 18th annual New World Festival on Sunday, Sept. 5, noon to midnight, around Chandler Music Hall in downtown Randolph. Tickets are $35, $10 for students (18 and younger) and $5 for children (12-2); call (802) 728-6464, or go online to www.newworldfestival.com. To volunteer, call (802) 276-3808.

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100902/FEATURES02/709029985/1011/FEATURES02

Sweat and brotherly love

 [Views from the other side:]

Sweat and brotherly love

The 130-year-old Anglican church in Dunany has been renovated, its cemetery expanded and its community strengthened as a result of toiling together

By LYNN MOORE September 4, 2010

The Montreal Gazette

Photo Gallery:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sweat+brotherly+love/3481151/story.html


DUNANY - Many tears have been shed in this community's cemetery, a clearing carved out of Laurentian bush and bedrock about 130 years ago by poor Irish settlers.

But last Sunday, the cemetery behind St. Paul's Anglican Church was the site of a celebration at which wine and laughter flowed freely.

Officially, it was the consecration of an expanded cemetery following a service in the freshly-renovated St. Paul's.

But it was really the forging of another link in a chain built by sweat, brotherly love and good times.

"This is our extended family who is buried here," Ross Leslie, a People's Warden of the church, told a gathering of about 150 people.

"When you come up here, you are never alone."

That morning, his sister, Sharon Leslie, had placed a fresh carnation on each one of about 96 stones in the cemetery.

There are stones commemorating beloved parents, grandparents and children, some who died in the 1880s when infant mortality was common and lifespans were measured in months, some more lately departed, including a boy whose grave is adorned with Lego pieces and dinosaurs because they were among his favourite things before cancer took him.

Ross figures he knew, directly or indirectly, or was related to, 40 cemetery residents, including a former neighbour who would start making egg nog for his New Year's Day party in November because the only nog worth serving was a nog made the old-fashioned way.

The carnations were the finishing touches on a $75,000 project driven by community involvement, with work completed, more or less, within a year.

Over $35,000 was donated by local residents - many of whom do not attend St. Paul's - to renovate the oldest standing structure in Dunany and expand its cemetery by 8,000 square feet.

Volunteers expended at least 15,000 hours of labour to supplement the paid work of contractors and artisans.

(And labour is the appropriate word.) There was a chainsaw festival of tree-felling. About 40 truckloads of boulders were removed, hundreds of rolls of sod were laid, and extensive landscaping of the cemetery was undertaken.

Marc Carrière, director of the Municipal Regional Council of Argenteuil, which encompasses Dunany, was an early supporter of the project and observed its progress.

It reminded him of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's infamous line: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

The community effort served as "a beacon in a society which too often takes refuge in carelessness, indifference, non-interest and non-involvement," he said in a shirtsleeves-and-shorts speech on Sunday.

Project managers Robert Percy and Michel Caron, the latter a relative newcomer to the area, thanked a long list of participating people and associations.

The men, both volunteers, were virtual strangers to one another when the project began. On Sunday, they called each other brothers and shared a man-hug.

The project had clearly succeeded beyond even Percy's and Caron's expectations. But it might not have even begun had not a skeleton of sorts been dragged out of the closet and put to rest.

****

In 1972, when Dr. Louis Lapierre was looking for country place, his real-estate agent persuaded him to visit on large property in Dunany. Although Lapierre wasn't interested in owning so much undeveloped forest, he was charmed by the property's lakeside home.

"It was like a Walt Disney set, the exterior was green with red shutters and a red roof," Lapierre, the former chief of medicine for Notre Dame Hospital, recalled.

"I fell in love with the place."

That bliss was rudely shattered when Lapierre asked an area resident to tell him about the people living in the community.

"He said to me, 'Oh well, there are no Jews and there are no …" What was left unsaid was French Canadians.

"I was 42 years old . and it was the first time in my life that anything like that had happened to me."

Matters weren't helped when another neighbour referred to a cluster of houses whose yards were filled with junk as "a French Canadian village."

Although the man immediately apologized, Lapierre resolved to maintain nothing more than civil relations with his neighbours, living "like a hermit," entertaining only friends from the city.

And so life went on until the new millennium, when the treasurer of St. Paul's, Dave Freisen, dropped by Lapierre's home.

He wanted to discuss the tangled land deeds pertaining to the church property, especially parcels of land that had been given to the church around 1878 by the first owner of Lapierre's property.

Freisen was soon visiting Lapierre most summer Sunday afternoons to discuss details raised by the various lawyers and notaries handling the case. And to chat.

Lapierre learned that Friesen had had a daughter who, despite serious health problems, lived with her parents and thoroughly enjoyed family summers in Dunany and until her death at 17.

"I think everybody in the community loved Kristin just about as much as we did," Friesen said recently. "She was accepted by everyone in the community and went to just about every event."

Lapierre said that it was during his conversations with Friesen that his "heart opened to Dunany."

He began socializing with neighbours, becoming friends with, among others, Percy and Caron.

As issues around the original deeds to the church were resolved, Lapierre decided to donate about 8,000 square feet of land so the cemetery could be expanded.

He is now considering an additional donation of land near the church for parking space.

"It thrills me to be part of this. I admire these people and I admire their purpose and I want to help them," Lapierre said.

"It's as though I am becoming part of a family."

****

In many respects, Dunany is "family" more than anything else. It's not a civic entity but rather the name given to a swath of territory - about 4,275 acres - that includes corners of four municipalities, Gore, Brownsberg- Chatham, Wentworth and Lachute and four small lakes strung out along a road named after an area in Ireland.

St. Paul's Church sits at the base of a hill and for travellers approaching from Lachute, it marks the entry into Dunany.

The community's first settler was William Smith, 1775-1866, whose son Samuel had 12 children. In 1936, Samuel's grandson and namesake, Samuel Edmund Smith, donated a stained-glass window of St. Paul to the church in memory of his predecessors.

As part of the recent renovations, the window was taken down, cleaned and repaired. The image of St. Paul, was reversed, so the saint was no longer looking out of the church but inside at the congregation, as originally intended.

On Sunday, as the bluegrass group Mountain Steam played an enthusiastic rendition of the traditional hymn Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Carol Wight counted the descendants of Smith, and their mates, who sat among the congregation.

There were seven, said Wight, including seven-month-old Maddex Edmund Wight, the great-great grandson of the man who donated the window and a direct descendant of the man who blazed the first trail into Dunany.

****

Knock on the door of Dorothy Gauley's home and you will quickly find yourself in front of a cup of tea, a plate of homemade sweets and a paper napkin that reads "Good Times and Good Friends Make the Best Memories."

Gauley first visited Dunany in 1946 when her family was looking for a cottage. She "fell in love" first with the place and then with Tolbert Gauley, who decades later died in her arms as they were dancing at a wedding.

She is one of the go-to people when things need getting done in Dunany, especially when it involves feeding large groups of people. She was the general in charge of Sunday's luncheon.

In the week before the celebration, Gauley was found reviewing her notes, choosing the fillings for 16 loaves' worth of sandwiches, handing out the necessary condiments (such as her homemade relish) and figuring out how many ironed tablecloths and coolers would be needed.

Among her many files are reams of notes about Dunany's history, many of them typed by her from original documents. A local best-seller, A History of Dunany by Eleanor Hamilton Hammond, lists Gauley as a secondary source for historic material.

Gauley couldn't be happier about the latest developments in her community, which include a canoeing club and, more importantly, the church project.

"This has brought everybody together so this is great, just great," she said.

"And what is interesting is Rob (Percy) and Michel (Caron) are not even members of the church and they are doing most of the work."

****

The way Robert Percy remembers it, the project began with a chance encounter in the cemetery one summer afternoon in 2007.

He and Annabelle Wood, both longtime Dunany residents, were each tending the graves of family members, imaging what their parents would say about the state of the community cemetery.

"Do you think that we could put together a little team to clean up the cemetery and paint the white fence," Percy, a real-estate developer and consultant, recalled saying to Wood.

One meeting led to many involving church and community leaders. Among the issues discussed were Lapierre's offer of additional land for the cemetery and a church in need of a new roof, new windows and a host of renovations including to brick work.

"After animated exchanges of opinions and preferences, agreement was reached and the project (developed) a life of its own," Percy recalled in one of several accounts he has written of the venture.

A key supporter was the MRC of Argenteuil, which, according to Percy, provided $6,500 toward the capital campaign and put the arm on the municipality of Gore to match those funds.

With help from the MRC's Catherine Lapointe and an official with Cultural Affairs Quebec, a plan was developed whereby repairs to the church would be done using era materials or techniques, increasing the possibility that renovated church might gain cultural status with the provincial government and perhaps land special funding if more work was needed.

"I have learned a lot about roofs of the nineteenth century," said Caron, thumping a thick file of documents, neatly organized with coloured tabs. A former pharmacist and retired executive, he did much of the design research, bringing his findings to the church corporation.

Among the improvements he suggested for the church was an aluminum-based metal roof worked in a fashion known as "tole double pincée." An area contractor did that specialized work.

But it was Caron who undertook to make new windows for the church in his garage, which, according to his wife Sheryl, "has become his second home."

It's a long process for a perfectionist, as each window, uniquely sized, comprises two main pieces which together have 14 tennon and mortis joints.

Although most of the renovation work is finished, a couple of windows are yet to be installed. Then Caron will begin work on custom window-fasteners.

"I think I figured out how to do them," Caron said, "during one of those sleepless nights."

****

As the projects began to alter the appearance of the church and cemetery, a notion planted by People's Warden Bob Hay took hold of the community.

Hay had come up with another name for the church. "In modern terms, you might call it branding," he said.

It was on the invitation to Sunday's events. The church's new tag: Spirit of the Lakes.


http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sweat+brotherly+love/3481151/story.html

Senate Candidate Lamontagne: New Hampshire Republicans set to ‘Send a Message about People and Principles’

 Debatable:

Senate Candidate Lamontagne: New Hampshire Republicans set to ‘Send a Message about People and Principles’

September 03, 2010
ABC News (blog)



Klein ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

Republican Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne, hoping to become the latest tea-party backed candidate to upset the political establishment, told us on ABC/Washington Post’s “Top Line” today that even the endorsement of Sarah Palin won’t help his opponent pull off a primary win in New Hampshire.

“New Hampshire primary voters are notoriously independent; they don't want to be told by Washington, party bosses or big money people who to vote for,” Lamontagne said on “Top Line.”

“They want to vote for the true conservative in this race and they are coming home to realize that I am that person -- and with [the New Hampshire] Union Leader's endorsement at my back -- the momentum is with us at the grassroots. And I think that we are going to send a message on Sept. 14 that it is about people and principles, not party bosses or big money, that decides elections in New Hampshire.”

Lamontagne, who is facing establishment favorite Kelly Ayotte and businessman Bill Binnie in the Sept. 14 GOP primary, also broke with some major figures in his party by saying that all tax cuts passed by the federal government should be offset by spending reductions.

He said he opposes a proposed $30 billion lending initiative for small businesses because it wouldn’t be adequately covered by spending cuts.

“I think, first of all, that it needs to be paid for,” he said. “We need a pay-as-you-go strategy -- that has been the Republican position. We can't continue to mount deficits and debt and frankly, although the intention is probably a good one, the design of this particular legislation is not going to work.”

Asked if that same rule should apply to all tax cuts, he said:

“I think we need to have a pay-go strategy, which means if you are going to start spending money for some new purpose, find where you are going to cut on the spending now to offset that. You have got to go back to that kind of strategy because we cannot maintain this deficit spending, and we certainly cannot sustain the mounting debt our children and grandchildren will never be able to pay for.”

On another hot button issue – illegal immigration – Lamontagne said he agrees with his Republican opponents that a national language should be established.
“English should be the national language. We need to have a common language to speak, and even though I have a long history as a French-Canadian immigrant -- four generations of French-Canadian immigrants who are natives now in New Hampshire -- we have kept our culture alive, but we still speak English, we have become Americanized. We need that common bond, both language and belief in freedom and liberty to keep this country moving in the right direction and continue to realize freedom and liberty for generations to come.”

Watch the full interview with Ovide Lamontagne HERE.

Also on “Top Line” today, we checked in with Christiane Amanpour, the host of ABC’s “This Week,” to preview her interview with former British prime minister Tony Blair, an extended version of which will air on her program Sunday.

Watch the discussion with Christiane Amanpour HERE.

-Rick Klein

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/09/-senate-candidate-lamontagne-new-hampshire-republicans-set-to-send-a-message-about-people-and-princi.html

New Hampshire: Hooksett woman, 87, ready for a huge leap (Irene St. Pierre)

87-year-old Irene St. Pierre, shown here with her son Marc at his home in Hooksett, is planning to skydive today in Lebanon, Maine.

Hooksett woman, 87, ready for a huge leap
By DAN O'BRIEN
New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, New Hampshire)
September 4, 2010
Link: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Hooksett+woman%2c+87%2c+ready+for+a+huge+leap&articleId=fec149ae-492c-4beb-8ee6-35ba4bfaeb34

HOOKSETT – When Irene St. Pierre lost her vision five years ago, the 87-year-old feared it would hamper her active lifestyle.

But now, the lifelong Manchester resident is taking a big leap -- literally -- to show everyone that being old or blind is not the end of the world.

She is planning to go skydiving this weekend.

I want to prove to myself that I can do anything," St. Pierre said in an interview with her son by her side, at his Hooksett home. "I got no fear. I want to do something different."

The great-grandmother is scheduled to take off this afternoon from Sky Dive New England in Lebanon, Maine, with many friends and family in tow. If her jump is delayed because of Hurricane Earl, she will go either tomorrow or Monday.

"It's nerve-wracking and exciting," said St. Pierre's son Marc St. Pierre, 46. "Everyone always calls her 'Mumma.' Now it's, 'Crazy Mumma.' "

A Sky Dive New England employee said the business occasionally gets a jumper in his or her 80s and had a 90-year-old man jump earlier this year.

Merchants Motors of Hooksett is donating use of a van to drive St. Pierre and her loved ones to the skydiving site, Marc St. Pierre said. After losing her driver's license and being declared legally blind, St. Pierre said, she worried about not enjoying life the same way she used to.

"It was hard," she said. "I love dancing. I love people. I love casinos."

St. Pierre also bowled for many years in a league at Lakeside Lanes in Manchester. She continues to socialize with longtime friends at the Disabled American Veterans organization, about 30 of whom are throwing her a post-skydiving party.

"She has a lot of friends. Everyone loves her," her son said. "She's a very active lady."

Since losing the vast majority of her vision, St. Pierre has received assistance from her longtime boyfriend, Roger, and the New Hampshire Association for the Blind, which provided her with a talking wrist watch and a large magnifying screen so she can read items such as this newspaper.

St. Pierre also tries to watch television, and that's where she got the idea to jump out of an airplane.

"I was watching TV and I see this 90-year-old woman jumping on her birthday," St. Pierre said. "I said, 'Oh, my lord, I can do that, too.' "

Not sure whether she'd be placing her health at risk, St. Pierre asked for her doctor's opinion.

"My doctor said, 'Go for it,' " St. Pierre said. "She said, 'You're in good condition.' Then she said, 'I want to see that video.' "

Marc said his mother was slightly reluctant to tell her family about her decision, but they have all been very supportive.

"I can't wait until you come down and touch the ground," Marc said to his mom. "I'll be in tears."

"It boggles my mind that my mom, at 87, wants to jump from a plane."

St. Pierre grew up on Michigan Avenue in Manchester and lived at the same home on Seames Drive for the past 58 years. Her husband, Adrien, with whom she had seven children, died 24 years ago. Her son Dennis died two years ago of a heart attack at age 52.

St. Pierre stopped receiving formal education at the age of 15, in 1938, when her father forbade her from attending Manchester Central High School.

"He said, 'I can't afford Catholic school, and you can't go to public school,' " she said. " 'I work near Central and I see what goes on.' "

She instead took a job at the Habitant Pea Soup factory making 25 cents an hour, taking home $11.88 for a 40-hour work week.

"I came home and gave my folks $10 a week for room and board, and I had $1.88 left over," she said. "My dad said if I want to make more money, look for a better job."

She worked off and on for many years at various mills in the Queen City, including the Amoskeag Mill.

"The kids today don't know what work is," she said.

St. Pierre said she's not yet sure whether she wants to jump from an airplane again after this weekend; she wants to see how things go first.

However, she already knows what her next wild adventure is going to be: Getting a tattoo. It will probably be a rose on her ankle.

"Her first tattoo, at 87," Marc said.

Will County, Illinois - Re-enactors return to Romeoville

Will County - Re-enactors return to Romeoville
The Daily Journal (Bourbonnais-Kankakee, Illinois)
Sept. 03, 2010, 10:41 am
Link: http://daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=461133

The 18th Century fur trade era will come to life on Sept. 12 at the Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville.

Living history demonstrations by the Isle a la Cache Brigade will run from noon to 3 p.m. Admission is free. Re-enactors will represent the early French explorers, traders and Native Americans of the 1700s.

The museum is located at 501 E. 135th St. (Romeo Road), a half-mile east of Illinois Route 53 in Romeoville.

~ Bill Byrns

**********************

Recommended Links:

- Isle a la Cache Brigade (Facebook)

Founders' Day in Beaverville, Illinois

Founders' Day in Beaverville
The Daily Journal (Bourbonnais-Kankakee, Illinois)
Sept. 02, 2010, 9:38 am
Link: http://daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=461061

St. Mary's 14th annual Founders' Day celebration will be held Sept. 12 on the church grounds. The day will begin with a continental breakfast from 8-9:30 a.m., followed by a service at 10 a.m. A tractor drive and show will begin with 7 a.m. registration and the drive to Willow Slough will start at 8 a.m. For more information on the tractor drive, contact Damon Schuldt at (815) 428-7653.

A number of exhibitors will be on hand at 9 a.m. for the car and truck show. A craft fair and farmers market will provide an assortment of items, from crafts to fresh produce.

Dinners of grilled pork chops, chicken and the French sausage boudin will be served 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Cost of the dinners is $10.

Kiddie barrel rides will begin at 11 a.m., with bingo at noon and a bean bag tournament at 1 p.m. Entry fee for the bean bag tournament is $20 per team. There will also be free entertainment and raffles throughout the day.

**********************

Recommended Links:

- Beaverville, Illinois (Wikipedia)

- Beaverville, Illinois (Facebook)

- “Cathedral of the Country”, St. Mary’s Church – Beaverville, Illinois

- French Canadians in the Kankakee Valley

Proud descendant of a Minneapolis founder: George Gosslin, 93, had a lifelong passion for tracing the history of Pierre Bottineau

George Gosslin

Proud descendant of a Minneapolis founder
George Gosslin, 93, had a lifelong passion for tracing the history of Pierre Bottineau.
By MARK BRUNSWICK, Star Tribune
The Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota)
Last update: September 2, 2010 - 8:40 PM
Link: http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/102115664.html

It was no coincidence that his middle name was Pierre. In detailed file after file, in clearly marked brown envelopes, George Gosslin traced the history of Pierre Bottineau, one of the founders of what is now the city of Minneapolis.

There are ancestral charts and photocopies of chapters in old books, handwritten citizenship papers and detailed census accounts of households and the people inside at the time.

It was more than a hobby for Gosslin; it was a passion. In his work, he confirmed what his family had always contended: that they were descendants of Bottineau, the legendary pioneer of French Canadian/Ojibwe ancestry who became known as a guide, real estate entrepreneur and the legendary figure who could skip a silver coin across the Mississippi River. He was the great-great-great-grandson of Bottineau.

Gosslin, 93, died Aug. 23 after a long illness associated with dementia.

"He thought a lot about Pierre Bottineau," said Rita Gosslin, his wife of 55 years. "He was very proud of his ancestry. Pierre Bottineau meant so much to him. He was proud to say to everybody that 'I'm a descendant.'"

There were many family ties, even if coincidental, with Bottineau. Gosslin was born in 1917 in Osseo, a town Bottineau is credited with founding. As a boy, he moved to northeast Minneapolis, where Bottineau once owned 700 acres of land.

A draftsman for 41 years, Gosslin took pride in the precision of his genealogy research. He graduated from Edison High School and what is now the Dunwoody College of Technology. He also was a Navy veteran, serving as a gunner's mate during World War II.

Penny Petersen, whose book "Hiding in Plain Sight" is a history of the first Minneapolis neighborhood that grew up around St. Anthony Falls, said Bottineau is an often-forgotten figure in the city's history.

"There was a presumption that white men founded the city of Minneapolis but he was right there with them," she said. "He's a real fascinating character. He was there when the buffalo were still around. He saw things that simply don't exist anymore."

Bottineau had 20 children with two wives, so it's no surprise there may be a number of descendants, Petersen said. Although he could not read or write, the Pierre Bottineau Library in northeast Minneapolis is named after him and Rita Gosslin said she hopes to donate her husband's research to the library.

Besides his wife, Gosslin is survived by daughters Linda Gosslin and Barb Szczech.

Mark Brunswick • 612-673-4434

Raising the Union Jack: Surrender of Montreal marked the end of French rule in Canada

Raising the Union Jack
Surrender of Montreal marked the end of French rule in Canada
By JOHN KALBFLEISCH
The Gazette (Montreal)
Link: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/Raising+Union+Jack/3481301/story.html

"A feu d'artifice and general illumination was therefore agreed upon and put in operation ... to the satisfaction of a large number of spectators." -Gazette, Saturday, Sept. 8, 1860

Much attention focused in 2009 on the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place 250 years ago last September. Far less is being made of an event more directly involving Montreal, the surrender of the city to the British nearly a year later, on Sept. 8, 1760.

The Gazette had nothing to say on the 100th anniversary of Montreal's fall (nor, for that matter, on the bicentenary). The fireworks and "general illumination" on that date in 1860 were to inaugurate Viger Square, a worthy event, no doubt, but hardly comparable with what had happened a century before.

Against this silence, the speechifying at a banquet marking the square's debut seems especially ironic. Most speakers were francophone. Mayor Charles-Seraphin Rodier, "in a few happy phrases," we reported, "proposed the healths of the Queen, the Prince Consort, and Prince of Wales -all of which were received with enthusiastic cheers." One councillor, to great applause, recalled how Sir George Etienne Cartier had reassured Queen Victoria "that the French Canadian population was the most loyal people in her colonies."

While Wolfe's victory on the Plains of Abraham forced the French from Quebec City, it was not the end of New France -not yet. Much of the colony, including the important towns of Montreal and Trois Rivieres, remained in French hands. The British fleet withdrew in late October 1759, lest it be trapped in the winter's ice, and scurvy began seriously to weaken the garrison left behind in Quebec City under Brigadier James Murray.

Against this, the energetic General Francois de Levis started assembling a formidable force of some 7,000 men, including nearly 4,000 regular French soldiers.

Levis knew he had a chance to retake the city with the men he had. And if the French court at Versailles agreed to his desperate request for still more soldiers and artillery, perhaps it could actually be held, forcing at least a stalemate with the British.

Levis pounced early the following spring. On April 28, much as Montcalm had done, Murray marched his forces out of Quebec City to face his attackers, at Ste. Foy; and, again like Montcalm, he was routed.

Alas for Levis, he couldn't follow up. Murray retreated with his remnants behind the city's walls, and Levis's manpower and artillery were inadequate for an effective siege. Then, in May, the first ships to arrive up the newly ice-free river were not French but British. Versailles had cut Levis adrift, and with him New France.

He fell back on Montreal where the governor-general, Pierre de Vaudreuil, brooded on the inevitable. Murray slowly advanced up the St. Lawrence. Another British force descended the Richelieu, and a third came down the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario. By early September, converging on Montreal, some 17,000 British soldiers faced perhaps 2,500 French - a force that desertions were shrinking even more.

People in the countryside, anxious to preserve their homes, co-operated with the advancing British. Others melted away into the bush, or crowded into the beleaguered town as refugees.

Vaudreuil convened a council of war at the Chateau Ramezay. It was more a council of peace, for while Levis blustered the others realized that continuing to fight would be suicidal.

Early on the morning of Sept. 8, Vaudreuil sent word to the British that he accepted their terms. Canadian civilians could keep their property and practise their religion. But, to their disgust, Levis, his fellow officers and their men would be denied military honours. Instead of being under parole while awaiting transport back to France, they would be prisoners of war. They would have to surrender their arms and agree not to continue fighting for France, even on European battlefields.

The following day, a column of redcoats marched in through the Recollet Gate, flags flying, fife and drums playing, and formed up in Place d'Armes. Then it was the turn of the French. No martial music accompanied them. They silently dropped their muskets in the square and just as silently returned to the quarters they'd been assigned near the ramparts.

Then came one last gesture. At the Citadel, an earthen mound near what a century later would become Viger Square, the fleur de lys was lowered for the last time; and there, for the first time, the Union Jack was run up.

Levis saw none of this. He was elsewhere, busy burning his abandoned army's flags and denying the British these trophies of war.

Il y a 250 ans, la capitulation de la Nouvelle-France

Photo fournie par Bibliothèques et archives Canada

Il y a 250 ans, la capitulation de la Nouvelle-France
Marcel Fournier (L'auteur est historien et généalogiste)
Cyberpresse
Publié le 03 septembre 2010 à 14h20 Mis à jour le 03 septembre 2010 à 14h26
Lien : http://www.cyberpresse.ca/place-publique/opinions/cyberpresse/201009/03/01-4312454-il-y-a-250-ans-la-capitulation-de-la-nouvelle-france.php

Le 8 septembre 2010 marque le 250e anniversaire de la signature de la capitulation de la Nouvelle-France et la fin de l'empire français en Amérique. Cinq années de guerre ont épuisé les troupes françaises et les chefs militaires se rendent à l'évidence qu'il serait inapproprié de poursuivre les hostilités compte tenu de la supériorité des troupes britanniques et de la volonté de la Grande Bretagne de mettre fin à ce conflit pour chasser définitivement les Français du continent américain.

Avec un certain recul de l'histoire, l'on constate que la défaite des troupes françaises en Nouvelle-France ne repose pas uniquement sur les soldats venus combattre les Anglais ni sur les décisions de leurs dirigeants, bien que les divergences entre Montcalm et Vaudreuil n'ont certainement pas contribué à créer une synergie à la direction de l'armée française.

Il faut voir cette défaite à l'intérieur d'un conflit global entre puissances européennes, où la Nouvelle-France ne constitue qu'un petit champ d'opération. Les grandes batailles comme celles de Louisbourg et de Québec sont des exemples typiques de guerre à l'européenne qui ne convenaient pas toujours en Nouvelle-France. La supériorité militaire britannique est venue à bout des efforts combinés des troupes de terre, des compagnies franches de la marine, des alliés amérindiens et des miliciens canadiens.

Enfin, en mai 1760, au lendemain de la victoire de Lévis à Sainte-Foy, l'arrivée de renforts en provenance de la Grande-Bretagne a mis fin aux espoirs de reprendre le contrôle de la colonie.

Lors de la guerre de Sept Ans, les armées américano-britanniques, supérieures en nombre -43 800 militaires contre 26 800 pour les troupes françaises-canadiennes- ont prouvé leur grande adaptabilité au style de combat pratiqué en Amérique du Nord. Elles sont passées d'une stratégie européenne (ordre linéaire, attaque en formation) à une stratégie locale avec l'appui des populations locales et amérindiennes. Quant aux soldats français, ils se sont battus courageusement avec des méthodes pratiquées depuis des décennies par les armées françaises sur les champs de batailles européens. Pour certains, cette expérience a duré cinq ans et pour d'autres 50 jours.

L'effort de la France en Amérique

L'effort de la France pour défendre sa colonie d'Amérique du Nord ne doit pas être minimisé pour autant. À la fin de l'année 1754, 2779 officiers et soldats des troupes de la marine étaient en poste en Nouvelle-France. Entre 1755 et 1760, la France a envoyé 6990 officiers et soldats des troupes de Terre et 5885 recrues et volontaires venus pour remplacer les blessés et les morts. L'armée française disposait donc d'environ 15 700 militaires si l'on tient compte des soldats en poste à Louisbourg entre 1755 à 1758.

La France, grande puissance militaire, aurait-elle pu envoyer davantage de soldats pour défendre sa colonie d'Amérique sachant qu'elle disposait de 180 000 hommes de troupes en Europe? Cette question amène des réponses nuancées. L'envoi de soldats en Nouvelle-France nécessitait une logistique considérable puisqu'il fallait transporter les effectifs, le matériel, l'armement, la nourriture sur des navires dont la traversée nécessitait 30 à 40 jours de mer tout en tenant compte de la supériorité de la Royal Navy qui lui permettait de contrôler les mers.

D'autre part, la Nouvelle-France ne possédait pas de baraquements militaires pour loger les soldats. Ceux-ci devaient donc résider chez les habitants une bonne partie de l'année et au cours des longs mois d'hiver. Comme la Nouvelle-France comptait à peine 60 000 habitants à l'époque de la guerre de Sept Ans, loger près de 6000 soldats était déjà un effort considérable demandé aux habitants. Aurait-on pu en loger 5000 ou 6000 de plus sans mettre en péril la survie de la population locale à une période où une famine sévit en Nouvelle-France? On peut en douter.

Enfin, la milice canadienne, composée de quelque 1 000 hommes, plus ou moins bien armés, on en convient, a-t-elle fourni l'effort nécessaire pour soutenir les troupes régulières lors des batailles contre les Britanniques ? En relisant l'histoire, on a l'impression que la milice canadienne considérait ce conflit comme une guerre franco-britannique bien plus qu'une menace à leur propre survie.

La France n'avait donc pas l'intention de perdre sa colonie d'Amérique lors de la guerre de Sept Ans. C'est davantage lors des négociations menant à la signature du Traité de Paris (1761-1763) que la mère patrie a renoncé à conserver son empire en Amérique et ses «quelques arpents de neige» pour paraphraser Voltaire.

Le Traité de Paris

De la capitulation signée par Vaudreuil le 8 septembre 1760, à la signature du Traité de Paris, le 10 février 1763, un régime militaire est mis en place par les vainqueurs pour administrer le territoire conquis. Les Britanniques dirigent le pays au cours de 28 mois, période pendant plus de 4000 Canadiens et Français décident de rentrer en France créant ainsi une saignée importante dans la classe dirigeante du pays.

En Europe, les pourparlers de paix commencés en 1761, prennent deux années à se conclure. En 1763, deux traités mettent fin à la guerre de Sept Ans que plusieurs considèrent comme la première guerre mondiale. Selon le Traité de Paris, signé le 10 février 1763 entre la Grande-Bretagne, la France et l'Espagne, les Britanniques obtiennent d'énormes gains territoriaux en Europe, en Afrique et en Asie. De leur côté, les Autrichiens et les Prussiens signent le Traité de Hubertusburg le 15 février suivant. Ce traité valide les frontières de 1756 et oblige l'évacuation de la Silésie par l'Autriche.

En Amérique du Nord, le Traité de Paris a des répercussions beaucoup plus importantes. La Grande-Bretagne obtient toute la Nouvelle-France, sauf les îles Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, ainsi que tous les territoires à l'est du Mississippi. Pour sa part, la France récupère les îles de la Martinique, la Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante et Sainte-Lucie, ainsi que des droits pour sécher le poisson sur les côtes de Terre-Neuve.


L'héritage français de la guerre de Sept Ans


Au terme du conflit anglo-français, 692 officiers et soldats des troupes de la marine, 1683 officiers et soldats des troupes de terre et 507 civils se voient obliger de rentrer en France. En octobre 1760, depuis Québec, des navires anglais transportent les vaincus vers le port de La Rochelle où plusieurs soldats sont démobilisés dès leur arrivée.

Bien que 2882 Canadiens et Français soient rapatriés en France, plusieurs décident de demeurer au pays malgré la présence des nouveaux maîtres et le faible espoir que la France retrouve un jour sa colonie d'Amérique. De tous les soldats des troupes françaises qui ont combattu en Amérique lors de la guerre de Sept Ans, 607 soldats des troupes de terre et 505 soldats des troupes de la Marine ont décidé de prendre épouse pendant le conflit et de demeurer au Canada par la suite. Ces quelque 1100 militaires constituent une présence importante pour l'avenir du pays. Leur établissement dans plusieurs régions du Québec permet un renouvellement des populations. Ironiquement, ce flux migratoire constitue le plus important apport d'immigrants français en Nouvelle-France depuis la décennie 1670 où 400 soldats des régiments de Carignan-Salières et 770 filles du roi se sont établis au pays à la demande de l'intendant Jean-Talon.

La guerre de Sept Ans a laissé de nombreuses traces dans le paysage et dans la mémoire des Québécois. Plusieurs familles ont pour ancêtre un soldat des troupes de Montcalm ou de Wolfe. Les Arès, Bricault, Déry, Galaise, Gérin-Lajoie, Rolin, Sansregret et Vadeboncoeur, et les Blackburn, Fraser, Handfield, McKennon, Mackay, Robertson et Ross en sont des exemples connus.

On the Road Film

On the Road Film: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

A community dedicated to the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

BBC News - Hollywood turns 'edgy' town into Jack Kerouac country

BBC News - Hollywood turns 'edgy' town into Jack Kerouac country: "2 September 2010

Hollywood turns 'edgy' town into Jack Kerouac country
By Sian Griffiths BBC News in Hull, Canada

2 September 2010 Last updated at 04:10 ET
Hollywood turns 'edgy' town into Jack Kerouac country
By Sian Griffiths BBC News in Hull, Canada
 Kerouac scholar Rob Holton in Hull's Taverne Montcalm
Francis Ford Coppola and his producers faced a momentous task when they decided to film Jack Kerouac's On the Road.
The challenge of bringing this Beat Generation-defining classic to the big screen fell to Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles.
Due for release in 2011, the trans-American tale is being shot mostly in Montreal and US and South American locations, and features stars including Kirsten Stewart and Sam Riley.
But producers were still struggling to find an authentic location which evoked the story's working class, hard-drinking setting of late 1940s Denver.
Kerouac describes his first impressions of Denver: "There was smoke, smokestacks, railyards, redbrick buildings and the distant downtown graystone buildings."
Enter film location newcomer Hull, Quebec, part of the city of Gatineau which sits across the Ottawa River from Canada's parliament buildings in Ottawa.
Roch Brunette, of the Ottawa-Gatineau Film Corporation, guided the production team to Hull, a student drinking haunt where government offices rub shoulders with sex shops and disused mills.
"The neighbourhood is edgy, but there are the rougher neighbourhoods," he says of Hull - pronounced "'Ull" by its local French-Canadian population.
Celebrity spotting
Rob Holton, a gravelly-voiced English Professor at Ottawa's Carleton University, says it's hugely appropriate that a film about Kerouac - born Jean-Louis Kerouac to a working-class French Canadian family in the US - be made in a French-Canadian setting.
"The thing that attracted Kerouac to Denver was that it was skid row. It was that rough low-end side of Denver which attracted him.
 Jack Kerouac based his book on a road trip he took in the 1940s
"It was a hard-working town. Hull's tradition is that it is a hard-working town. That traditional working class charm would have attracted Kerouac to that neighbourhood," says the Kerouac scholar.
"Certain streets on the surface retain the traditional working class neighbourhoods and character quite unchanged from that period," he adds.
The facades of 1920s buildings and restaurants have been madeover to resemble 1940s Denver for one of the film's backdrops.
Colourful Colorado-plated vintage cars line the streets. In the distance, a camera crew is preparing a tracking shot of a street. A crowd gathers hoping to meet celebrities - or even be discovered.
Hollywood has arrived in what the local media has dubbed "Hullywood."
Student Ashley Beggan-Hanratty cannot contain her excitement at the prospect of spotting a celebrity.
Uncomfortable with fame
"I love Kristen Stewart. The Twilight Movies. Oh my God! She is coming to Eddy Street! I need to check this out!" she shrieked, also hoping for a glimpse of Superman actress Kirsten Dunst.
Heather Mitchell, dressed specially in a straw hat and ribbon, admitted to "sneaking around the corner" during breaks from her work as a civil servant.
She jokingly said that she hoped Salles would drive by in his limousine, notice her and put her in his movie.
Marc Gravelle, owner of Milles et Unes Frites (1001 French Fries) was delighted that producers selected his chip shop for a Hollywood makeover to appear in the film, if only for a few seconds as part of a backdrop.
 Kristen Stewart is one of the stars of On The Road
He enjoyed doing business with Hollywood - admitting to having been "well compensated" - but he said winning the regional french fry competition was a bigger honour.
At 8am the next day, at the Taverne Montcalm, on Rue Montcalm - close to the previous day's filming - designers are working quickly to transform the tavern into a Denver bar called The Red Shade.
Charles Seguin, youthful enthusiastic co-owner with his father, Jacques and brother Philippe, were lucky.
The On the Road team thought the bar was a goldmine with its old hardwood floors, vintage bar, pool table and paraphernalia dating back decades - there was little work for them to do.
They wanted to use it for for key scenes involving leads actors Garret Hedlund and Sam Riley.
Charles admits that initially the family was sceptical and wondered if the Hollywood interest was "for real". While he was quickly sold on the idea, his father was not. And his word was final.
The Taverne, little changed since it opened for business in the 1940s, has been in the family since 1954.
Jacques didn't want to upset his loyal clientele, local working class men. Repeated visits from the production team didn't quite convince him.
The former mayor of Hull was eventually drafted in, and over a plate of beans, Mr Seguin was reassured that Hollywood would be good for his business.
Charles Seguin admits they have been overwhelmed.
"It's bigger than we ever thought. We thought it would just be a Montreal movie, just a small guy," he says. "I'm still on a high!"
Kerouac was known to be uncomfortable with his fame and may have had second thoughts about his book being given the Hollywood treatment.
Rob Holton says: "Kerouac would have had little time for the Hollywood people and all the time in the world for the Montcalm's regulars."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11143300
More on This Story
Related stories
• On The Road manuscript on display 05 DECEMBER 2008, WEST MIDLANDS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/7767025.stm
Related Internet links
• Beatmuseum - Jack Kerouac biography
http://www.beatmuseum.org/kerouac/jackkerouac.html

Labine family history runs deep in Nashua

Labine family history runs deep in Nashua

By PATRICK MEIGHAN, Staff Writer
Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Staff Photo by Grant Morris The sign outside of Labine Field erected by the Parks and Recreation Department.

Staff Photo by Grant Morris The remnant of the Labine Building stands at Pine and Ledge Street.

Staff Photo by Grant Morris The intersection of Labine and Cecile in Nashua.

NASHUA – When the fire-damaged Labine Building in the Tree Streets area is razed and a park created at the site, it won’t be the only green space in the city associated with turn-of-the-century industrialist Joseph Alfred Oliver Labine.

In fact, there is already a Labine Park – sometimes called Labine Field – near Fairgrounds Middle School on land that the Labine family once owned.

The new park is in its early planning stages, and there’s no guarantee that it will carry the Labine name, even though it would exist on the site of the Labine Building at the intersection of Pine and Ledge streets in what once was known as the Labine Block.

However, it might be fitting that two city recreational areas carry the Labine name, since descendants of the family include several big-name athletes, according to Paul Labine, Joseph Alfred Oliver Labine’s great-grandson, who is a college professor in Florida.

Paul Labine said one descendant is Clement Walter Labine, a baseball pitcher for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers who helped the then-Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Yankees with a win and a save in the 1955 Word Series. Then there’s Leonard “Leo the Lion” Labine, who skated for the Boston Bruins from 1951-61.

And finally, an Acadian offshoot of the family yielded New York Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry, a lefty who played from 1975-88 for the Bronx Bombers,

Impressive as these folks are, Paul and his brother, Maurice “Moe” Labine, don’t want the new city park to commemorate the family’s athleticism. Instead, they’d like to see the park include something to honor their great-grandfather’s important role in the Industrial Revolution.

Moe Labine said he would like to see the city erect a mural like the one near his home in Lexington, Mass., that honors the American Revolution. Instead of depicting Patriots, the city’s mural could pay tribute to the mainly French Canadian industrialists and workers who forged the city’s manufacturing base, as the Labine Building stood at the heart of the city’s industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century, he said.

“Here’s an era that’s going to be forgotten,” Moe Labine said.

The Labine Building was destroyed by a five-alarm fire early on the morning of Feb. 7. It was built in 1900 as a social hall and stood near the entrance to the cotton mills.

A local historian described the building as an example of Romanesque Revival architecture and the second social hall built in Nashua. In its heyday, the building demonstrated the “political, social and economic power of Nashua’s French Canadian community between 1890-1920,” according to the historian.

When the Nashua Board of Aldermen approved plans to create a park at the Labine Building site, Moe Labine e-mailed The Telegraph saying he hoped the park would serve to preserve a part of that industrial history.

“The Labine Building holds many years of history relating to Franco-American heritage along with many stories relating to the Industrial Revolution in this country, which included labor unrest in the 1920s, etc. that resulted in shootings, arrests, female workers blockading the entrance to mills near the Labine Block by stopping deliveries of cotton to the factories, etc.,” Labine wrote.

“There is also much that has been written about how the Labine Block has contributed to the Franco-American heritage in the Nashua area,” Moe Labine wrote.

Mayor Donnalee Lozeau first tried to save the building, obtaining federal funds and requesting proposals from developers. However, it proved to be too heavily damaged in the five-alarm fire to save, and engineers said its shell was unlikely to survive the coming winter.

At the time of the fire, the building housed Club Social, a convenience store and upstairs apartments.

Moe Labine said neither he nor his brother have yet contacted the city with their idea.

Lozeau said the city has just received developers’ responses to a “request for proposals” issued for the park. No decisions have been made about what the park would include, but Lozeau said she hopes that various members of the community, including nearby residents and the ward alderman who represents the area, would have input into that decision.

The mayor said she would also be interested in hearing the Labine family’s input.

“The more people in the community who participate in this, the better for all of us,” Lozeau said.

At the least, Lozeau suggested the park should include a wall built with bricks from the Labine Building and containing the plaque with the building’s name and 1900 date.

Moe Labine said other family members have lived in Nashua recently. Joseph Alfred Oliver Labine’s grandson, Henry Labine, Jr., died in Nashua in early 2009, he noted.

As for Joseph Alfred Oliver Labine, he was active in the community. His many hobbies included breeding race horses, Moe Labine noted.

In a front-page story about his funeral in September 1923, The Telegraph referred to him as the man who “more than any other citizen was instrumental in bringing French-Canadians to Nashua.”

His great-grandson was impressed that the story mentioned that his funeral drew one of the largest gatherings in the history of the St. Louis de Gonzague parish.

“I’m sorry he died in 1923, because he would have been a great man to know,” Moe Labine said.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/839108-196/labine-family-history-runs-deep-in-nashua.html

Route 132 -- Film Review

Film Reviews
Route 132 -- Film Review

By Jon Frosch, September 01, 2010
Hollywood Reporter



trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DitZqQhCtT8

Bottom Line: A French-Canadian road movie that relies on an uninspired blend of broad humor and mawkish sentiment to tell an overly familiar story.
MONTREAL -- The cinema of Quebec has had a hard time flourishing outside its native region, and Louis Belanger's new road movie "Route 132" is not likely to help matters. An unwieldy blend of broad buddy-flick humor and mawkish sentimentality, the film throws a man reeling from the sudden death of his son in a car with a childhood friend (and small-time crook) and sends them down the titular highway through rural Quebec -- and on toward self-discovery, inner peace and various other TV-movie-ish platitudes.

"Route" might be a hit in parts of Canada but probably will not attract much attention elsewhere. It lacks the air of edge and refinement typical of most successful stateside foreign-language fare.

The sense that we've seen this story before -- and told more sharply, for that matter -- hangs over "Route" from its very first scenes. The film opens with a middle-aged man, Gilles (Francois Papineau), in a state of grief-triggered panic after his young son dies. Instead of going to the funeral, Gilles hits the bottle hard and ends up taking off with fast-talking Bob (Alexis Martin), who convinces him that there is easy money to be stolen in a remote region of Francophone Canada.

Needless to say, the open road has unexpected (for the characters) but wholly predictable (for the audience) adventures in store. Those range from bizarre slapstick -- an odd, mildly amusing bit involving a pothead thief with an Asian fetish -- to obligatory plot points, like the romance between Bob and a friendly local woman (Sophie Bourgeois) with a cartoonishly nasty boyfriend. The final third of "Route" lunges awkwardly toward pure melodrama.

Along the way, Belanger, who also co-wrote the screenplay, manages to stage a few poignant moments: Gilles' halting exchange with a sympathetic young drifter on a beach and a conversation with his grandma about the agony of losing a child. But "Route" mainly plods along in a cliche-induced stupor, occasionally rallying for a jokey outburst from the only intermittently funny Bob. The crime subplot, for its part, barely registers as part of the story.

The film is shot competently, but Belanger relies too heavily on tormented close-ups of the anguished Gilles. He occasionally indulges in touches that tread a thin line between clumsy and tasteless; one particularly heavyhanded flourish comes when Gilles is being chased on foot by the police, and Belanger suddenly cuts to the protagonist's shadow running after that of a small boy (the dead son).

The rural Canadian landscapes certainly are pretty, but the director doesn't do anything with them that could distract us from the terminal blandness of what's happening elsewhere onscreen.

Performances are fine, if unremarkable. Martin registers more vividly than anyone else, as he brings a spark of comic energy via Bob that the film desperately needs.

To feel compelling, this material needed some type of decisive narrative or visual approach; a disciplined lack of sentimentality, pure lyricism or all-out humor might have been options. But Belanger falls back on easy emotional cues and a strenuous bittersweetness that make one eager to shake the film off as soon as the lights go up.

Venue: Montreal World Film Festival
Production: Aetios Production, Cinemaginaire
Cast: Francois Papineau, Alexis Martin, Sophie Bourgeois, Andree Lachapelle, Gilles Renaud, Janine Sutto
Director: Louis Belanger
Screenwriter: Louis Belanger, Alexis Martin
Producer: Fabienne Larouche, Denise Robert, Michel Trudeau, Daniel Louis
Director of photography: Pierre Mignot
Production designer: Emmanuel Frechette
Music: Benoit Charest, Guy Belanger
Costume designer: Judy Jonker
Editor: Claude Palardy
No rating, 113 minutes

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/route-132-film-review-1004112445.story

A lesson that echoes today

A lesson that echoes today

Freelance August 28, 2010

The Montreal Gazette

Trois Pistoles, Que, August 25, 1943 - English-speaking citizens of the bilingual Province of Quebec should have some knowledge of the French language in order to gain understanding of and sympathy with the French Canadians. Dr. W.P. Percival, director of Protestant education for the province said here today, in an address delivered at the closing exercises of the French Summer school of the University of Western Ontario. ...

The fundamental fact to be recognized, the director of education said, was that "English and French live together, and will continue to live together in Quebec. We each know and prize our diversities in race, tongue, and culture, but the genuinely cultivated individual will profit by the proximity of the two races and will strive to improve the relationship between them. We must stand as one in national life."

Dr. Percival also pointed out that a knowledge of French was often imperative in securing a job in the province. "All positions are closed to such unilingual person for which the advertisement contains the statement: "Knowing of French required."

... A fundamental change, he said, had been a transfer of the emphasis from "the written and meticulous to the free us of the language in conversation." To coincide with this, new text books had been selected ...

http://www.montrealgazette.com/lesson+that+echoes+today/3453693/story.html

Top Five Hockey Movies To Watch During The Offseason

Top Five Hockey Movies To Watch During The Offseason

By Laura Falcon (Penguins Featured Columnist) on August 28, 2010
Bleacherreport.com

The NHL's offseason sucks. Plain and simple.

For two teams, it lasts three and a half months, a relatively short period of time in comparison to other professional sports.

For 14 other teams, it lasts more and more depending on their elimination from the playoffs.

And for the remaining 14 teams, it's a miserable five and a half months of reminders that your team just couldn't cut it.

The offseason is supplemented by signature moments like the Entry Draft and the hallowed July 1, the start of free agency, but by the end of August, the lack of hockey in a fan's life becomes asphyxiating.

I feel we are in this moment now.

The majority of NHL fans probably don't care if Ilya Kovalchuk ends up in the NHL or KHL nor do the articles of trading Kaberle or anything with the name Brian Burke seem at all appealing to read.

And just when you think you're going to burst at the mention of the Winter Classic, you realize there is indeed a way to satisfy your hockey hunger.

A good hockey movie.

Despite its lack of representation in Hollywood, hockey has some gems that will give the sport a good name in film for many years to come.

Here are the top five, each slide including a video of one of best moments of each movie.
5. Youngblood (1986)

Three things happen in this movie.

Youngblood scores a goal. Youngblood gets in a fight. Someone has sex.

Repetitive at times, but when it's all tied in with 80s music, this movie will be considered a classic hockey film.

Dean Youngblood was Wayne Gretzky every time he touched the puck. In fact, every time he touched the puck, it seemed to end up in the back of the net.

Slightly unrealistic, but Youngblood did have his faults: fighting. Of course, Youngblood finally learns to be able to handle his own, and score the big goal on a penalty shot to win the game.

This movie is a lot of fun, even if you're only watching to appreciate a young Rob Lowe and the late Patrick Swayze.

It also makes you wonder what kind of point totals a player could amass if he played like Youngblood did.
4. The Mighty Ducks (1992)

Who doesn't love Coach Gordon Bombay and the Ducks?

The Mighty Ducks Trilogy is very special to me because it opened the door to hockey in my town. Everyone had street hockey gear after the first movie was released.

Why? Because every kid wanted to be just like them.

The characters are so relateable, the misfit kids of District 5 who are terrible at hockey receive a lawyer coach who "hates" hockey after previous experiences in his hockey past.

Like any Disney movie, the kids get better with the leadership of Charlie Conway who, like Youngblood, wins the big game on a penalty shot.

In the first Mighty Ducks film, we all relive our childhoods when sports took over our lives, and were the reason why we got up in the morning.

Not to mention Bombay was probably one of the best fictitious coaches in movie history.
3. The Rocket (2005)

Out of all the movies in my list, this is the one people will be the least familiar.

If you are one of those people who hasn't seen it, get it on your Netflix queue immediately because this movie is perfection in the simplest form.

The story about Maurice Richard, a humble machinist with an extraordinary talent who had to fight both on and off the ice to receive the respect he deserved.

What I really love about The Rocket is that it isn't just about a player or a team, but it shows us what the NHL was like in the 40s and 50s.

For all of those people who complain about "NHL conspiracies" should take a look at what real conspiracies are like: giving points to players who weren't on the ice, the blatant bias disrespect toward French Canadians. Gary Bettman looks like a saint in comparison to Clarence Campbell.

Despite the Rocket's hardships in life, it was undeniable that he had a God-given talent to score goals but approached his talent with the utmost humility. Roy Dupuis was stunning in his portrayal of the Rocket.

And Sean Avery makes a pretty good Bob Dill as well.

The Rocket is, simply put, a well done movie that is motivated by the richness of plot and characters. Very little outside of that was necessary to make this a stellar movie.
2. Miracle (2004)

Miracle just makes you feel good, hence the reason why it is number two on this list.

It's all the proof needed to know that the impossible is always possible.

Everyone reading this knows the story: a group of college students and an ambitious coach take on the daunting task of facing the heavily favored USSR in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

It's the greatest moment in sports history, ironically enough it's hockey related and not about Canadians, but rather, Americans.

Anyone watching this movie, regardless of nationality, should feel inspired by what these boys were able to accomplish. Months and months of grueling training for a two-week tournament that cemented their names in history.

Of course, all Americans can feel that extra warmth that it was their countrymen and their country who can boast the accomplishment. I feel like no matter what direction USA hockey goes in the future, this is a moment that can never be taken away nor tarnished.

Miracle is a great way to put that extra jump in your step when your day is crappy. The best part is that the whole family can watch and enjoy this movie.
1. Slap Shot (1977)

Sometimes, I think every hockey fan misses this style of hockey.

There is something so manly and real about this movie that just seems to fit the definition of hockey like a glove.

Because of that, Slap Shot is hands down the best hockey movie ever made and I don't think there will be a movie to surpass it. It's one of those movies you will want to watch over and over again because of the sheer entertainment that amasses in the two hours it runs.

It has the hockey skill, the fighting, the blood, the profanity, the crudeness, the sex, and most importantly, the humor. What more can anyone ask for in a hockey movie?

Paul Newman plays the aged Reggie Dunlop, coach and player of the Johnstown Chiefs, a pathetic minor league hockey team.

But things get interesting when Chiefs General Manager Strother Martin trades for a set of brothers, forever inked as the Hanson brothers. As the blood spills from the unusual threesome, so come the fans and the wins.

This movie is chock full of quotable and memorable moments that will always be considered some of the greatest moments in sports films.

And you will never, ever forget the Hanson brothers.
Begin Slideshow
1. Slap Shot (1977)


Sometimes, I think every hockey fan misses this style of hockey.

There is something so manly and real about this movie that just seems to fit the definition of hockey like a glove.

Because of that, Slap Shot is hands down the best hockey movie ever made and I don't think there will be a movie to surpass it. It's one of those movies you will want to watch over and over again because of the sheer entertainment that amasses in the two hours it runs.

It has the hockey skill, the fighting, the blood, the profanity, the crudeness, the sex, and most importantly, the humor. What more can anyone ask for in a hockey movie?

Paul Newman plays the aged Reggie Dunlop, coach and player of the Johnstown Chiefs, a pathetic minor league hockey team.

But things get interesting when Chiefs General Manager Strother Martin trades for a set of brothers, forever inked as the Hanson brothers. As the blood spills from the unusual threesome, so come the fans and the wins.

This movie is chock full of quotable and memorable moments that will always be considered some of the greatest moments in sports films.

And you will never, ever forget the Hanson brothers.

2. Miracle (2004)

Miracle just makes you feel good, hence the reason why it is number two on this list.

It's all the proof needed to know that the impossible is always possible.

Everyone reading this knows the story: a group of college students and an ambitious coach take on the daunting task of facing the heavily favored USSR in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

It's the greatest moment in sports history, ironically enough it's hockey related and not about Canadians, but rather, Americans.

Anyone watching this movie, regardless of nationality, should feel inspired by what these boys were able to accomplish. Months and months of grueling training for a two-week tournament that cemented their names in history.

Of course, all Americans can feel that extra warmth that it was their countrymen and their country who can boast the accomplishment. I feel like no matter what direction USA hockey goes in the future, this is a moment that can never be taken away nor tarnished.

Miracle is a great way to put that extra jump in your step when your day is crappy. The best part is that the whole family can watch and enjoy this movie.

3. The Rocket (2005)


Out of all the movies in my list, this is the one people will be the least familiar.

If you are one of those people who hasn't seen it, get it on your Netflix queue immediately because this movie is perfection in the simplest form.

The story about Maurice Richard, a humble machinist with an extraordinary talent who had to fight both on and off the ice to receive the respect he deserved.

What I really love about The Rocket is that it isn't just about a player or a team, but it shows us what the NHL was like in the 40s and 50s.

For all of those people who complain about "NHL conspiracies" should take a look at what real conspiracies are like: giving points to players who weren't on the ice, the blatant bias disrespect toward French Canadians. Gary Bettman looks like a saint in comparison to Clarence Campbell.

Despite the Rocket's hardships in life, it was undeniable that he had a God-given talent to score goals but approached his talent with the utmost humility. Roy Dupuis was stunning in his portrayal of the Rocket.

And Sean Avery makes a pretty good Bob Dill as well.

The Rocket is, simply put, a well done movie that is motivated by the richness of plot and characters. Very little outside of that was necessary to make this a stellar movie.


4. The Mighty Ducks (1992)


Who doesn't love Coach Gordon Bombay and the Ducks?

The Mighty Ducks Trilogy is very special to me because it opened the door to hockey in my town. Everyone had street hockey gear after the first movie was released.

Why? Because every kid wanted to be just like them.

The characters are so relateable, the misfit kids of District 5 who are terrible at hockey receive a lawyer coach who "hates" hockey after previous experiences in his hockey past.

Like any Disney movie, the kids get better with the leadership of Charlie Conway who, like Youngblood, wins the big game on a penalty shot.

In the first Mighty Ducks film, we all relive our childhoods when sports took over our lives, and were the reason why we got up in the morning.

Not to mention Bombay was probably one of the best fictitious coaches in movie history.

5. Youngblood (1986)


Three things happen in this movie.

Youngblood scores a goal. Youngblood gets in a fight. Someone has sex.

Repetitive at times, but when it's all tied in with 80s music, this movie will be considered a classic hockey film.

Dean Youngblood was Wayne Gretzky every time he touched the puck. In fact, every time he touched the puck, it seemed to end up in the back of the net.

Slightly unrealistic, but Youngblood did have his faults: fighting. Of course, Youngblood finally learns to be able to handle his own, and score the big goal on a penalty shot to win the game.

This movie is a lot of fun, even if you're only watching to appreciate a young Rob Lowe and the late Patrick Swayze.

It also makes you wonder what kind of point totals a player could amass if he played like Youngblood did.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/442134-top-five-hockey-movies-to-watch-during-the-offseason#page/1