We are not all cowboys

How many Calgarians does it take to screw in a light bulb? Three. One to change the light bulb and the other two to stand around and talk about the 1988 Winter Olympics. 


Yes, that is a current joke.  We're still living off of the glory from the successful hosting of the games in '88. I was here, there was a big chinook, everything melted. Hard to have a winter olympics without snow ... just saying!


Some of my bloggowers in far flung corners of the earth (assuming of course that the earth is square) are probably wondering about this town I call my own - Calgary (yes, I'm sure you've had many sleepless nights wondering about it. 


We've come a long way since the olympics ...


Not only will it be one of the few stops on the Canadian tour for the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Wills and Kate as my British bloggowers know them), but it is known for being the epicentre for the oil and gas industry, surrounded by ranches that bring us that awesome Alberta Beef, and an hour's drive from the rocky mountains (the big ones, not like those small ones in Switzerland). If you trip while wandering the prairies and coulees outside of the city, it's either a gopher hole you've stepped in or a dinosaur bone you've tripped over. 

Mayor Nenshi

It is a city of more than a million people, the fourth most ethnically diverse city in Canada, and the home of our new cool Mayor Naheed Nenshi who loves purple and social media. Calgary has a thriving arts community (not to mention writers, every time I turn around I trip over a poet). 


Local hip hop artist Transit (that's his name and perhaps his mode of transportation) moved here from Victoria.  He wrote a song called Calgary. It features internationally famous Calgary crooner Celine Dion Jann Arden and a cameo by Mayor Nenshi. 

Transit raps about what a diverse city Calgary is and how it was very accepting of him both as a newcomer and as a hip-hop artist (one line in the chorus: “we are not all cowboys…”). 

Check it out - it rocks (and hip hops). 

Okay, it's not NY, but on a hot, dry, sunny day, (or during a winter chinook) walking on the bike paths by the river, drinking a Tim Horton's double double, dodging Canadian goose poop - well, there's nothing quite like it! 

If you've never heard of Jann Arden - seriously, smash down that door to your Sasquatch writing cave, get some fresh air, get out in the world and check this out - it's one of her most popular songs.