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Rockin' Rhonda: Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Peter McCully: Welcome back to the Pulse Community Podcast. I'm Peter McCully and we're here to bring you stories from the heart of mid Vancouver Island.

Dave Graham: And I'm Dave Graham. Well, Peter, we're midway through January already and I'm pleased to report that I have made it two whole weeks without breaking one of my New Year's resolutions.

Peter McCully: Well, that's pretty impressive, Dave. You mean you've kept all your resolutions?

Dave Graham: No, I said I've gone a couple of weeks without breaking one of them. I broke the other 11, but one remains. I swore off eating haggis and I haven't touched any yet. All year.

Peter McCully: I don't get it. Do you have an issue with eating haggis?

Dave Graham: No, I'm actually not a fan of haggis, but I wanted at least one resolution that was going to be achievable. The others just weren't meant to be, I guess. I'm not ready to live in a world without chocolate. Thank you. Oh, speaking of treats, Valentine's Day will be upon us soon enough. That's usually a good occasion for some bon bons, a bit of confectionary. I could start dropping hints to my partner, but it would be entirely stating the obvious. Here's a treat of a different kind. Bruno Mars on his first tour in seven years and coming to Vancouver.

Peter McCully: Yes, that's welcome news to many music fans out there. So Dave, are you thinking of going to the show?

Dave Graham: You know, I bet he puts on a great show. It'd be much fun to see, I'm sure. But actually I'm thinking it would be a blast to be a backup dancer. You know, I'm wondering, Peter, if among all your contacts, 'cause you have an amazing black book, you could get me in touch with his manager. Maybe I get an audition.

Peter McCully: You want to be a Bruno Mars backup dancer?

Dave Graham: I think it would be a good bit of shtick to have one old guy up on stage swinging with the youngsters. You're looking at me funny. I have moves. You know, they might not be the right ones, but I got 'em.

Peter McCully: Okay. Well I'll take your word for it and as for contacting Bruno's people, I'll see what I can do, but don't call me. I'll call you. Now, today we have two fantastic guests joining us. First, a broadcaster, author, and musician, Grant Lawrence is returning to Vancouver Island with his Stories and Songs tour featuring Jill Barber, Danny Michel, the 44 Collective, and Desiree Dawson. They'll be coming to Errington, Tofino and Mayne Island.

Grant Lawrence: When I started up this Stories and Songs tour, the rule that I created for myself was that I only wanted to do the show in places that I would want to go to, that I would want to spend time in, and nice, smaller places—places that you would go for a weekend or out-of-the-way places that you would want to check out.

Dave Graham: Our second guest is visual artist Diane Moran, the founder of Mindfulness in May. This is a program in which she creates spaces where young people can express themselves honestly about mental health, belonging, and identity.

Diane Moran: You know what? I get goosebumps just talking about this, and as I said, some of the work that was submitted in the past, like this one particular piece, it was basically a piece of cardboard that a person who was homeless might sleep on and they took charcoal and pastel and drew this amazing piece. When I saw this, I thought, how clever, how human, how real?

Dave Graham: That's powerful stuff right there. Art can reach places that words sometimes cannot.

Peter McCully: We have a new contest here at the Pulse Community Podcast. Go to our website or our Facebook page and look for the link to enter our contest to win a $100 Smile Card from Thrifty Foods in Parksville.

Dave Graham: When you enter, we will ask you for your favourite go-to budget meal. So, Peter, what's your go-to budget meal?

Peter McCully: I'm a fan of a good stir fry. Isn't your favourite chicken casserole?

Dave Graham: Oh no, you have it backward. I have a thing about casserole. Seriously, if a dish has the word casserole in it, it's most certainly not my favourite. I think I must have had a bad experience with tuna when I was a kid. I mean the words tuna casserole, they still make me a little queasy. My therapist says I'll get over it someday.

Peter McCully: You know, we'll be discussing mental health medications on a future episode with Pharmacist Aki Shah. We'll also talk about seasonal affective disorders and practical strategies for maintaining wellness through the darker months here on Vancouver Island.

Dave Graham: Oh, that's timely. January and February can be tough months for a lot of people. We are also going to be welcoming to the podcast Cam Cruikshank, the assistant fire chief in Parksville. Cam will be here to talk about volunteering to be a firefighter.

Peter McCully: Singer-songwriter Tara Spencer will join us on a future podcast. Tara was named Music Nova Scotia's Entertainer of the Year for 2025. She'll be performing in Parksville at Knox United.

Dave Graham: The lineup has been announced for SunFest, and soon we'll be chatting with Mike Hahn about the biggest music event on the island.

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Dave Graham: If you would like to be a part of the Pulse podcast, speak to us, head to our website under the contact page, send us a voice message about what's on your mind or your upcoming event, or perhaps you have a thought or two on potential guests or topics. Contact us at thepulsecommunity.ca. All right, it's time for our first guest, a creative force who brings stories, songs, and a unique perspective to audiences across the country. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Grant Lawrence is in the Green Room, a broadcaster, author, musician, and goaltender. Lawrence is bringing his spring tour show to the Islands with Jill Barber, Danny Michel, the 44 Collective and Desiree Dawson.

Peter McCully: Grant, thanks for making time for us today. I know you're an extremely busy young man.

Grant Lawrence: Oh, thank you so much, Peter. It's awesome to be back with you.

Peter McCully: It doesn't seem like that long ago we were chatting about you bringing your Grant Lawrence and Friends show to a few select locations on Vancouver Island and you're coming back.

Grant Lawrence: Yes, it was almost a year ago. Just shy of a year ago, we were on Vancouver Island with the show in June and this year we're bringing it back to mostly new locations, but we are making a return to Errington. We loved it so much that we were offered a second show with a different lineup, so we're bringing it back to the Errington War Memorial Hall all in early March, and we're very excited to be doing it. I guess it's still technically winter on the west coast, but whenever we say the word March, we just all automatically think spring. We're hoping for nice weather.

Peter McCully: Now those concerts you're talking about, returning to Errington—great hall, great crowd—and you're going to be on Mayne Island and Tofino.

Grant Lawrence: The rule of my show, which I may have mentioned last time, is I was in a touring rock band for 30 years called The Smugglers, and we would play pretty much anywhere that would book us. And that included a lot of really rundown places, a lot of places that had no business booking bands, but we played them anyway, a lot of rough out-of-the-way places. And so when I started up this Stories and Songs tour, the rule that I created for myself was that I only wanted to do the show in places that I would want to go to, that I would want to spend time in, and nice smaller places—places that you would go for a weekend or out-of-the-way places that you would want to check out. And Errington certainly peaked and triggered that interest level because I hadn't heard of it before. I had seen it on a couple of tour itineraries, the Errington Hall. I'm like, where is this place? Had to look it up, saw I was just outside of Parksville, had no idea. And I'm a coastal kid. And then of course, Tofino, world-class destination, and any and all of the Gulf Islands, both southern and northern are great. So any chance to get to any of them at any time of year is a wonderful thing.

Peter McCully: You've got some great guests with you on this tour round. Jill Barber, I think you probably bumped into her a few times here and there.

Grant Lawrence: Yes, at the altar. In fact, that is my wife. We've been married for 15 years and she will do some of the shows. When we were in Errington last time, I remember standing sort of in the lobby and there were people coming up and I was saying, oh, thanks for coming to the show. So many people came up and said, oh, and this is not really what you want to hear at the end of a show, people are saying I was disappointed that you didn't bring your wife Jill with you to perform. And I'm thinking, geez, we just rolled out Joel Plaskett, Lindsey Ortega, Ashleigh Ball, like an all-star lineup. And people are saying, where's Jill? So Jill is coming back on this one. We're also bringing an amazing singer-songwriter from Kitchener-Waterloo named Danny Michel. He is one of our favourites. He's just an incredible entertainer, amazing original songs. And then also for Tofino and Errington, we're bringing Desiree Dawson from Vancouver, who is also one of my favourites. In fact, my favourite song of the year this year was her tune called Chop Some Wood, all about the simple mental health exercise of getting outside and just doing some work around the house, doing some work around the yard. If you live in an apartment, just going for a walk or picking up trash on the street and depositing it where it should go, and how much that does for us just to be outside walking around in whatever nature we can find. So love that song. Hopefully she'll perform Chop Some Wood at the shows.

Peter McCully: You mentioned Danny Michel. He, like Joel Plaskett, is a great musician whose music fits in really well with the live element.

Grant Lawrence: Oh yes. He's one of these guys where he probably has been in the business for at least 20, 25 years, if not longer. He's got plenty of albums. You can pick any one of them and there'll be great songs on it. He is a masterful songwriter. He is an incredible live entertainer in that he engages the audience in special ways that you know that level of performer can, like a Joel Plaskett or like a Danny Michel or another guy who I've worked with on the shows recently, Neil Osborne from Fifty-Four Forty. Those type of people—Jill is another one—they have the songs down, but they also have the audience engagement down, and so with our kind of shows where we try to create an intimate atmosphere, that's very important for us.

Peter McCully: Having musical guests join you creates opportunities for spontaneous moments. Is there improvisation and conversation between you and the musicians?

Grant Lawrence: That sort of thing happens all the time. In fact, I remember Ashleigh Ball was on stage at the Errington Hall and she was playing a great song of hers called Lavender, which is a true story that happened to her on a Gulf Island where she was running through a field of lavender with her flute and tripped and ended up breaking her leg, which is not really what you picture when running through a lavender field. But that's what happened to her. And she made a song out of it, and the riff goes like this: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And she often gets the audience to sing just exactly the way I did it, to sing the riff for her, and then she will sing along with the audience, creating that riff and keeping time. Now, Joel Plaskett was backstage at the Errington Hall and backstage, behind the curtain there was a piano and Joel might have been stretching his back and like lying on the floor backstage. And he was hearing this riff, boom, boom, and he got up and he flipped open the lid of the piano and he figured out the key, and then he went right into it. And all of a sudden from somewhere we could hear piano and we didn't know from where, and Ashleigh didn't know from where, but she's a total pro, so she just rolled with it. And it was one of these amazing spontaneous moments where the song just built and built and everyone kept joining in, making it bigger and bigger as it went along. And it's one of my favourite moments, but there's a lot, there's a lot of great sing-along moments and people whistling and cheering. But that's a favourite, and it happened to have happened in Errington.

Peter McCully: Now you mentioned Joel Plaskett, who was in the show last year, a legend on the East Coast, and recently was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia.

Grant Lawrence: Yes, absolutely no surprise there. Very proud for him. The irony of that is that he has, for the last several years, been for somewhat quietly living on the West Coast in Victoria. And him and I have been friends for many years and I figured out that he was out here, and as soon as I did, I'm like, man, I'm gonna see if he can get involved in these shows. So I kind of blew his cover a bit. He was keeping a low profile, and I blew his cover a little because I started adding him to shows and then people figured out, oh, he's out here. And then they started contacting him to play festivals. And so the word is out. But in terms of his roots, I think he's always gonna be the musical son of Nova Scotia, and I think he still goes back in the summer. And who knows? I think the reason that they came out here was his wife's family is from the West, from Victoria, and two, they found a really great school for their son, which is a high school in Victoria. But when that son graduates, who knows, we might only have a finite time out west here with Joel Plaskett.

Peter McCully: We'll try and get him on a podcast here pretty quick then. Did you have any difficulty talking your wife, Jill Barber, into coming along for some of these shows? Because I know she's been really busy. Before Christmas, it was the Christmas album, there was a tour. I would've thought that she was putting her feet up and taking some time off.

Grant Lawrence: She would think that she would do that, but my wife and I were just talking about this last night. Jill and I, we're so busy. Every time we think, okay, we've got a break, then we're preparing for something new, and Jill is this winter performing with a whole bunch of symphony orchestras, a show called Under Paris Skies, which is completely in French. So she does all of her French repertoire with symphony orchestras across, I believe, Western Canada and into Ontario. I know there's a Winnipeg show coming up. She's madly preparing for those shows. And then we've got this tour coming up that we're talking about, so does she come along willingly sometimes? And then oftentimes she'll say, hey, why did I agree to this again? Because we've got two young kids with busy schedules as well. So it's a lot of going over daytimers and we're not Google Calendar people. I know a lot of people are, and everyone at the CBC is, but we're still like tactile daytimers, so we have to line up our daytimers and make sure we're gonna be in the same place at the same time, and we figure out how it works with a lot of family support. But our kids will be on this road trip, I believe. But if there's a caveat to that, if my son's hockey team gets into the final, I believe it'll be the same night that we're in Tofino and he is not gonna wanna miss that. So that's the kinda logistics that we deal with these days in our family on the road.

Peter McCully: I see that your son has been involved in releasing an album recently.

Grant Lawrence: Yes, that's right. My son, who's only 12 years old, has been in an active rock band himself. He's seen firsthand the business and he saw that I was in a rock band and he's still on the stage where he thinks his dad is cool though, that is fading and quickly. But anyway, he wanted to form a band and he formed a band when he was back in grade four and he's in grade seven now. Their first show was the talent show at the end of grade four, and they've since gone on to play a whole bunch of shows. They're really popular. They got signed to a record label. According to the record label, they are the youngest Canadian band to ever be signed to a record label. They have an album out now called Breakaway, and it's been played on radio and they do gigs at local elementary schools, and the kids go crazy and it's quite amazing to see it unfold. It's a lot of work as well though.

Peter McCully: And the name of the group is?

Grant Lawrence: Blue Jay Valley, and they've got some really cool videos on YouTube that lots of kids are watching and they've got some very catchy songs. They're good little songwriters.

Peter McCully: It's been a few years since you were in the band touring with The Smugglers, and I see that you've released a collectible vinyl album.

Grant Lawrence: So with The Smugglers, we started way back when I was in high school, so Josh has a few years on me in terms of his band, but I started my band in mid high school. And we were together for a very long time. We are, I would say, on hiatus slash broken up, but the records are hitting these milestone anniversaries, so our most popular record, Selling the Sizzle, it's just coming up to its 30th anniversary. I think February 1st is its official 30th anniversary. So yes, we had a very lovely person who runs a record company in California offer to put it out. And so it's come out on a very deluxe package where there's a whole big pile of burgers on the front cover of the record. That's always been the way it is. So we made a very unique cover where the record cover opens up like it's a menu. The record cover has a cut right down the center of the album and that cardboard folds open like you would if you're holding a menu in a restaurant. It's pretty cool. It's a very unique design. It's neat and it's got to keep with the burger theme. The vinyl—now you can do anything with vinyl—so the vinyl is mustard and ketchup splattered vinyl and liner notes by our friend, Nardwuar. You were mentioning the Order of Nova Scotia for Joel Plaskett. Nardwuar, our pal, who put out our first records way back 30 years ago, longer than that, 35 years ago, he just got the Order of Canada. So a big congratulations to West Vancouver's Nardwuar, the Human Serviette.

Peter McCully: Well, if you're gonna have mustard and ketchup, you need the serviette.

Grant Lawrence: Exactly. Ba-boom, nice one.

Peter McCully: You and I have talked and chatted before about playing goalie in hockey, and I recently read an interesting book. I don't know if you've read this one or not. It's called Behind the Mask. It's a really deep look at 12 of the greatest goalies in hockey history. I gotta tell you, I read this book cover to cover. I couldn't find reference to either one of us.

Grant Lawrence: I have another goalie book where my kids cut out a picture of me playing goal, and there's this goalie book. It's similar, but I think it was made for kids. It's like a picture book and it's like the greatest goalies of all time. And there's a photo montage of a bunch of these goalies in action and my kids cut out a photo of me in net and glued my picture onto this cover, which we still have somewhere around. In terms of hockey, since I last talked to you, bit of a sad update. My team called the Vancouver Flying Vs, which I was the goalie for 25 years, folded. My only outlet for hockey is actually quite similar to the band, but it's all through my son now. My son has a band, and I'm enjoying seeing that and helping him and putting all my knowledge of how I figured out how to do it and training him. Now he has his hockey team, which I mentioned, so I'm a coach on that team and that fulfills a lot of my hockey needs. I played a few pickup games earlier in the year, and with pickup, there's hardly any whistles and it's just go. And I was just a physical wreck after these games. Every part of my lower body hurt and I don't know, I might be hanging 'em up, Peter.

Peter McCully: I hung them up a long time ago. I love the hockey. There's just a lot of other things to do all the time it seems. Now it's just go to the gym and try and lose weight.

Grant Lawrence: Walking is good or chopping some wood. Back to that Desiree Dawson song.

Peter McCully: After these shows wrap up, what's next for Grant? Are you working on a new writing project? I know last time we chatted you were working on a broadcasting series about orca whales.

Grant Lawrence: That's right. Yes, that's called Whale Tail and I have just finished a big pitch document of Whale Tail to turn that from an audio series into a book. I expect to be working on that for the foreseeable future if we get any bites. Then Joel Plaskett and I will be touring again along with Jill. Every year we do a Desolation Sound tour. That's a boat tour, boat access only, and we go from little village to little outpost, Cortez Island, Quadra Island. We do Refuge Cove, Lund, Savary Island. And we've just confirmed that it will be myself and Jill and Joel Plaskett this July in Desolation Sound. So we try to give people as much warning about that as possible so they can plan their vacations around it, and we'll do a series of shows by boat to cool little places around Desolation Sound in the early weeks of July.

Peter McCully: It sounds like there's not much room in that daytimer, Grant.

Grant Lawrence: Not really. It's filling up fast. There's some space in May. Nothing happening. No, there is, going to the Shuswap Writers Festival in Salmon Arm, so forget about May.

Peter McCully: Grant, thanks for being with us today, and we will be looking forward to those shows, particularly in Tofino and in Errington.

Grant Lawrence: Okay, Peter, thank you so much for the support. Really can't wait to get back to the island as always.

Dave Graham: Grant Lawrence, gosh, that man has pretty much done it all: CBC radio and bestselling books and making music, and he's bringing his show to communities on Vancouver Island. I appreciate what that says about the value he places on these smaller, meaningful venues.

Peter McCully: Hey, we've added Vancouver Island webcam links to the thepulsecommunity.ca website. Not only will you find links to all our podcasts, but events and contests too.

Dave Graham: And a reminder for you that you can also find us on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. We're also on Facebook and Instagram.

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Peter McCully: So Dave, have you started your Valentine's Day shopping yet?

Dave Graham: I may have been doing some light reconnaissance.

Peter McCully: Define light reconnaissance.

Dave Graham: Oh, window shopping. You know, I happen to walk by some stores. They happen to have some displays. I happen to have a look. Okay, I'll admit it. I forgot Valentine's Day once, so now I make sure I'm prepared. I don't think I'll be forgetting Valentine's Day again. Boy, I had to go above and beyond to get over that one.

Peter McCully: Well, Dave, our next guest is creating powerful spaces for young people to explore their creativity and mental health through art. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Visual artist and community connector Diane Moran has dedicated her career to empowering youth through art. As founder of Mindfulness in May, she creates spaces where young people can express themselves honestly about mental health, belonging, and identity. The arts exhibition features mixed media and is open to grades five to 12 and home learners in District 69.

Dave Graham: Diane, welcome to the podcast. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Diane Moran: It's a pleasure to meet you too. And thank you so much for having me.

Dave Graham: I wanna talk about your Mindfulness in May program, the very first full-scale exhibition in Port Coquitlam 10 years ago. Now, the theme, The Silence of Stigma, that's an intriguing idea. Why did you pick that topic?

Diane Moran: When I developed Mindfulness in May, it always happens during BC's Youth Week and National Mental Health Awareness Week. And that was the intention 'cause I wanted to have an annual exhibition. So it ties in with sort of the mental health realm of things, but also two of my sponsors, one was the BC Schizophrenia Society and the Canadian Mental Health Association. And what I do know is stigma can be quite debilitating for many and also it's something that should be addressed. And so I thought, why not choose to entertain this idea of the silence of stigma? So I put it forward to the students and they came up with some fantastic art and their ideas. I was just beside myself because they decided that they were gonna address things like homelessness and gender equity and things like anxiety and depression. And so they really nailed it. It's just so important to be able to use art to inspire people and open up conversations that are so important.

Dave Graham: Then came the exhibit in Sooke during COVID-19 with the theme The Art of Kindness, and I'm curious to know how the pandemic influenced your theme choice, and also how did it influence the response from the students experiencing this pandemic?

Diane Moran: To be honest, it was really important for us to be at a place where we could explore kindness. This was at the height of COVID and it was in my new community. I hadn't coordinated an exhibition since leaving the mainland in 2015. It was, I guess, finding a way to really allow an opportunity to explore kindness, to practise kindness. I couldn't go into the schools to actually present and connect and ask them about how they were feeling. Basically, it was a paper invitation and fortunately I secured an online platform to do submissions and I've been using them ever since, which is fantastic. I digress a little bit. I decided to offer that up as an exploration. And again, the youth delivered. It's up to them to decide how they interpret any theme that is put forward. What was really interesting is one of the submissions was a felted bunny, and this little bunny had a tiny little COVID mask and a tiny little bandaid and a little inoculation for where they got the vaccination. This student was in grade six and won first place, and there are cash prizes for this exhibition and opportunity, but what a way of expressing kindness through deciding that you're going to wear a mask in public and choose to get a vaccination. So that's how this young student decided how they were sharing kindness. I remember there was a drawing in particular that had a little jar where a student was putting coins in. There was a young student that actually had a drawing that had somebody sitting on the ground looking quite worried or upset with another person standing over them with an umbrella in the rain. There was some fantastic writings that took place and the exhibition was at a local gallery who were still offering experiences, but of course under pretty strict guidelines, hand sanitizer, when you walk into the little Sooke gallery. People had to wear masks even when we gave out the certificates 'cause every participant would get a certificate of participation. So yes, really an interesting way to have an exhibition, I must say. So Have Your Say was in 2025 because I wanted the youth to have a say. There was so much going on last year and many times youth don't have a platform and a place to have their say about things. So this year I'm actually revisiting kindness, but also with the whole notion of empathy. Our emotional quotient is so important, and to be honest, social-emotional learning right now is extremely important, and it's actually top of mind. Many schools are finding ways to practise that. I think it's important that through this exhibition I can create an opportunity for youth to actually share their thoughts about empathy and kindness and how can we practise more of that for each other, for the environment. And part of why I do these exhibitions is to open up conversations 'cause those that are attending the exhibition have the capacity to view the work and have conversations about it. There is an official opening, so you know the students are there and people can engage with the artists themselves. But what's really nice is it's up for a very long period of time, about 10 days or so.

Dave Graham: You don't pick names out of a hat in a manner of choosing the next theme. You take a look, I suppose, at what world events—do you go that large in terms of trying to figure out where they should go?

Diane Moran: Sometimes I do, but I've been actually collaborating with the library for the last few years here in Qualicum, and so I sit down and have a conversation with 'em and say, hey, what are your thoughts around this? I look at what's going on, not for myself, for I guess everyone. If we're experiencing this, I know the youth are too, and this experience and opportunity is just that. It's so they can address how they're feeling, what they're processing, what they're seeing. And as I know and perhaps others might, art is a fantastic way of breaking down barriers. It's a wonderful way of creating conversations, but I do this also too because it's during BC's Youth Week, and I wanna be able to celebrate our young artists and to give them a platform and a place and a space. The library is a fantastic place to do that. To me, I think it's important that there's a longer exhibition, and this is very formal in the sense that there's an open call, it goes out. The youth have several months to come up with what they want to submit. It's on their terms. You don't have to be in an art class.

Dave Graham: There are three categories within the exhibition, visual art/mixed media and photography, and finally, literary art. Can you explain why you structured it that way, and how does offering multiple creative outlets support the goals you have for the exhibition?

Diane Moran: Actually having three categories opens up the opportunity for those that may not excel at all art. So taking photos on a phone is actually quite accessible also. Art supplies can be quite costly and not everybody has the capacity to utilize a canvas and paint. Not everybody takes art in school, and I wanted even those that have an artistic desire or idea could participate. It's quite interesting. Many times when the poster goes up, they go, oh, I'll share this with the art class. And it's just, it's actually for any student in grades five through 12 in District 69 that you know is excited and interested in the theme. That's why there's a literary component for submissions. Maybe somebody that's really into poetry or short story writing. To be honest, we have never had a submission of a short story, but several one-page poetry submissions, and you know why I do that? It's much easier to actually exhibit a poem that's on one page so you can enlarge it and frame it and have it on the wall. If we had a short story submission, I would put it in a book and it would be on a plinth or somewhere at the library. But yes, so there's a reasoning around it. It's really to make it more accessible to the students that are participating, and to be honest, less intimidating, because as I mentioned, not every student is studying art in school. And what I'm finding over the years, 'cause I've been doing this a while, is you know, maybe somebody in grade nine hasn't even taken art. And then there's students that are in some of the senior grades that didn't sign up for art this year because they're focusing on their science studies. But they still have this incredible creative idea in their mind and in their head, what they want to be able to share. And so I just find by having—to be honest, it can be a little bit more daunting 'cause there is jurying that happens, not for the exhibition itself. So if you submit on time and you know your piece has a reflection of the theme, then your work will be part of the exhibition. There might be some size constraints 'cause this is in the library.

Dave Graham: You brought some samples with you from past exhibitions and I took the opportunity to flip through and see some of the visual art and also some of the written works of art, I could call it that. In fact, I encountered a poem, I think it was a grade eight student that just blew me away.

Diane Moran: You know what? I get goosebumps just talking about this, and as I said, some of the work that was submitted in the past, like this one particular piece, it was basically a piece of cardboard that a person who was homeless might sleep on and they took charcoal and pastel and drew this amazing piece. When I saw this, I thought, how clever, how human, how real? The pieces that have been produced over the several years that I've been doing this exhibition, and every year it's such a joy and a pleasure to see. The first year I was living on the mainland and I had a really good relationship with some of the schools already, and so had the capacity to go in and connect with some of the classes and just talk about stigma. Because of the funding and the supporters that I had initially, there was even an opportunity at this space to have a public talk. We brought someone in from the mental health realm and talked about stigma and its impact. There was also some hands-on learning for people as well. So it really depends on the physical space where I'm able to have the exhibition as to what I can do. As I said, quite formal in the sense an open call goes out. There's criteria and guidelines that they have to follow. There's timelines that they have to follow. The work has to be produced and be available for hanging if it's a painting or a drawing. The funds that I get through sponsorship helps cover the cost of prizes that could be won, and of course not everybody's going to win, but everybody will be included in the exhibition. So our top prize is actually $150. We have two age categories 'cause we don't have a middle school here in District 69. 'Cause in the past when I was doing the exhibition, some of the topics might be a little bit more heavy and it was more for the middle and high school students. And because we don't have middle school here, and I also thought, you know what? There's some pretty spectacular youth that are in grades five and up. When I first launched the exhibition in Qualicum, I opted to lower the age range. If anything, it's enhanced the experience because these students just are producing some fantastic work that needs to be seen. They need to be celebrated. And what's cool is they've continued to submit for years to come. And so there are some students that I've had submit initially in grade five and now they're in grade 11. I just feel so honoured to have the capacity to be able to do this, the desire, and this is one of my babies.

Dave Graham: I'm sure it must be very gratifying to have this germ of an idea and see it grow over the years and now you have the Rotary involved and the library. Are there other arts and education institutions involved in making this happen?

Diane Moran: Since arriving in Qualicum Beach, I've been working with the library, and I did that the second year of the exhibition 'cause the first year was in a smaller space. This is our third year at the library, fourth year in Qualicum, fifth year on Vancouver Island having an exhibition while Mindfulness in May, and as I said, it always takes place at the same time. It's always the first two weeks in May because that falls into BC Youth Week and National Mental Health Awareness Week. And so I try to marry those two things into the exhibition. The exhibition itself and the prizes and the certificates, that's celebrating our youth. Giving them a place to be able to share their work and be excited about it. That's the whole celebrating our youth. And then the mental health realm of things, mental health touches many different facets of life. And so if I can choose a theme where people can be mindful about a topic, it doesn't have to necessarily be specifically about mental health. But what I find is when you're using art as a way to process information, to tell stories, it affects our mental health. And having this public exhibition allows people to see what they have to say through their art, through their words, because everybody has a way of expressing themselves, and I didn't want it to be only one form of art.

Dave Graham: Far more inclusive that way. I'm just wondering if you have any last words on the lasting value of creating space for youth to have their say through artistic expression.

Diane Moran: Because they have a lot to say. We need to find ways to offer that information, and it's also a way of building community, of breaking barriers, of finding ways to enlist others to participate. A lot of times, especially like we don't have that interaction with multiple age groups, I just think this is just such a fantastic way of breaking down barriers and inviting opportunities for conversation and to really celebrate our youth and challenge ourselves to discover more by using art to tell stories and just have a really positive impact within our community. Sometimes I've been approached by Visions Magazine, which is a BC mental health magazine, and because I've had that close connection about mental health within the exhibition for a very long period of time, three of my students over the years have actually had the honour of being published in a BC magazine. I curate for a museum in Japan. I've done so for about 20 years now. And I didn't think I was gonna submit because my community and myself and my husband were impacted by the fires. And I just thought, I'm gonna approach some of the students, and one that I actually had been working with in August to say, can you create something? And then the fires happened and I was able to get two pieces submitted and they were delighted. There's so many different threads and ties, and as I said, it just goes beyond the exhibition.

Dave Graham: It checks a lot of boxes. Job well done. Thank you so much for your time. Pleasure to meet you.

Diane Moran: And thank you. I really truly appreciate it.

Peter McCully: Thanks to Diane Moran for joining the Pulse community. The work she's doing with young people is important. Giving youth a safe space to express themselves through art, that's a kind of community building that makes a real difference.

Dave Graham: Truly, and hearing about that piece created on cardboard that really drives home how art can be accessible and meaningful regardless of one's circumstances.

Peter McCully: You'll find lots of podcasts for all tastes at thepulsecommunity.ca. Erin and Jonathan Frazier from the Comox Valley host the F3 Podcast. They talk NFL and offer a bonus downloadable recipe tailgate style from Chef Jonathan.

Dave Graham: And you know, I may not be that big a sports fan, but I've downloaded some of those recipes. I gotta say, Chef Jonathan knows his way around game day food, and he's helping me avoid haggis.

Peter McCully: Parksville councillors Joel Grenz and Sean Wood—the Non-Partisan Hacks—take listeners behind the scenes of municipal advocacy work that directly impacts Vancouver Island taxpayers.

Dave Graham: Our Skookum Kid Stories feature Captain Dave and the crew of the Mellow Submarine and Peter and Gracie, the Eskimo dog. And our kid stories now offer colouring pages to go along with each new episode. This week's episode features Captain Dave searching for clam gardens built by Coast Salish Peoples thousands of years ago.

Peter McCully: And our Radio Archeology classic radio series features original episodes of Dragnet featuring Sergeant Joe Friday, and Marshall Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.

Dave Graham: You'll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca.

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Dave Graham: Please do visit the site. Enter our contest for a hundred dollars Thrifty Foods gift card. Again, name your favourite go-to budget meal. Go ahead and name casserole if you want. Even tuna casserole, if that's what you like. Oh, I'm getting that mouth thing now. You know that mouth thing, Peter?

Peter McCully: What are you talking about now, Dave?

Dave Graham: I can taste, I can taste the tuna and the casserole. I'm having some kind of a culinary flashback. Only it's in my head. I'm just, I'm gonna get through this. I'll be okay. You know what? I need a distraction.

Peter McCully: Wow, Dave, is there anything I can do to help you through this?

Dave Graham: Do you have any clinical grade chocolate? In a pinch, cocoa will do.

Peter McCully: How about a glass of water and some deep breaths or maybe a brown paper bag to breathe into?

Dave Graham: Oh, once again, there you go with that offbeat humour of yours. No, I think I'm probably going to need marshmallows on my cocoa. It's serious.

Peter McCully: Let's go to the cafeteria and we will get you all fixed up, Dave.

Dave Graham: Just to be safe, I should probably also get a donut or I don't know, cookie or something. You don't suppose they have chocolate lava cakes? This is purely medicinal, of course.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics, all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.