FASHION
A century of women wearing clothing
When the mercury dips, style is usually the first casualty.
Leather jackets and collared shirts hit the closet, to be replaced by Sorels and earmuffs.
But it doesn’t have to be that way, reminds vintage clothing collector Ivan Sayers.
On Saturday, check out a lineup of 16 women’s outfits through the ages – including some old-fashioned takes on winter wear.
Women in the 1960s may have burned their bras.
But if women in the first decade of the 20th century had burned their underwear, the flames could have warmed a small city.
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Yukon Arts Centre.
THEATRE
Still twitching
What is Nakai theatre?
Well, according to its website, “Nakai is a theatre in the North … More later.”
They do the Homegrown Festival, for one thing
And the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition.
Not to mention the Pivot Festival, the shaky heir to the long-held Whitehorse comedy festival.
And an “ongoing commissioning and dramaturgy of local scripts.”
However, this year the company has decided to take a step back from creating any new stuff.
“One of the results of Nakai’s greater commitment to the development of local scripts and artists is that Nakai will not be producing a script for the 2009-2010 season,” reads the Nakai website.
A hilarious oxymoron? Seemingly. But Nakai asserts the extra time will help it to hack away at old scripts.
Nakai’s 30th Birthday celebration is Saturday, 8 p.m. at the Old Fire Hall.
CAUSES
The BC kid with the curly hair
If it’s an illness or issue – chances are high that someone has probably done sort of walk/run/marathon to raise money for it.
But Terry Fox was different.
Days after losing his leg to cancer, Fox began training for a cross-country marathon with the goal of raising $1 from every Canadian to fund cancer research.
On a prosthetic leg, Fox began running the equivalent of a marathon per day.
He ignored warnings that, due to a heart condition, the exertion could kill him.
Blood could often be seen staining the runner’s prosthetic leg.
As most know, the marathon was never finished. Just outside Thunder Bay, Fox’s cancer returned.
Eight months later he was dead.
The runner’s story of tenacity and tragedy captured the Canadian psyche – transforming the 21-year-old Simon Fraser University student into a Canadian hero.
In 2002, Canadians voted Fox as history’s second greatest Canadian. In 2005, he got his image on the loonie.
The Terry Fox Run – run in his honour – remains the world’s largest fundraiser for cancer research.
Whitehorse’s Terry Fox Run starts at 1 p.m. at the S.S. Klondike on Sunday.
Registration starts at noon. Visit terryfox.org.
Bad luck, good neighbours
As Mark Callan came up to Whitehorse to become a conservation officer, he was diagnosed with brain cancer.
With a child on the way, and with no medical plan – citizens are banding together to help the embattled Callan.
Sunday, 3 p.m., come to a fundraising silent auction and music jam at the Kopper King. Call Remy at 667-3675 for more info.
Read the News’ profile of Callan on page 4.
Walk, don’t run
Whether at home or abroad, the AIDS pandemic has prompted devastation on a never-before-seen scale.
Families have been ripped apart and social structures toppled, with the disease hitting hardest among the world’s poor.
The AIDS Walk for Life is Wednesday at noon at the Elijah Smith Building. Registration at 11 a.m.
SPIN
Un-candid camera
Need to promote your organization? Your favourite cabinet minister just resigned?
Sounds like you need advice on speaking to the media.
On Monday, scope out How to Speak to the Media, a workshop hosted by Volunteer Yukon.
Be concise, stay on point, avoid belching, keep all racial prejudices to yourself and you’ll probably be fine.
Monday from noon to 1:15 p.m. at the Whitehorse Public Library.
FILM
Some are born electric, and some have electricity thrust upon them
You have a 1 in 3,000 chance of being struck by lightning in your lifetime.
Act of God, by Canadian director Jennifer Baichwal, showcases those few unlucky enough to have felt Zeus’ wrath – and the effect it had on their perceptions of chance and destiny.
Then, at 9 p.m., see Dead Man, where Johnny Depp plays an accountant fleeing bounty hunters across the Old West.
With appearances by Iggy Pop, pre-Slingblade Billy Bob Thornton and Crispin Glover (the dorky father from Back to the Future).
Friday, 7 p.m. at the Old Firehall.
TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL
The day the hipsters died
For more than a year, the Brave New Words poetry readings at Baked Cafe have provided a necessary creative outlet for the Yukon’s growing stable of amateur/beginner Yukon poets.
And now it’s over.
“I’m hoping we’re going to have a full house so please come early:) and stay late:),” wrote organizer Lauren Tuck.*
The last Brave New Words is Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. at Baked Cafe.
DANCE
Bring your breasts
“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, giving all your love to just one man,” sings Tammy Wynette.
This October, take a load off, women, and broadcast your love to hundreds of men at once.
Varietease – the Yukon’s own homegrown burlesque show – is once again recruiting dancers.
If you can shake, rattle or roll, please try out.
Believe me, pasties make the Wonder Bra look like chain mail.
Rehearsals begin in October and run until November 22nd. Varietease runs from November 24th to 28th.
A proudly R-rated show; all cast and crew must be over 19.
Sunday, October 4th, 6 p.m. at the Guild Hall. Contact varietease2@gmail.com for more information.
Extremely white
According to hearsay, barns are inappropriate forums for child rearing.
They are, however, great for highly choreographed uber-platonic dancing.
And salmon, apparently.
Come to the Barn dance and Salmon Bake, with caller Bob Kuiper and the Barndance Band.
Saturday at 7 p.m. Call 667-7083 or drop by Aroma Borealis for tickets.
HISTORY
Flintlock goes bang
Imagine, gunfire in Harlem.
On September 16, 1776 – in what would become the New York City neighbourhood of Harlem – 1,800 colonial troops defeated 5,000 British red coats in retaliation for what they saw as an insulting bugle call.
Dubbed the Battle of Harlem Heights, it was the first battlefield victory of George Washington.
Pachyderm vs. train
Jumbo, history’s largest captive elephant, may have gained fame in the US, but Canada can take the credit of killing him.
On September 17, 1885, the Barnum and Bailey circus elephant was killed by a freight train in a St. Thomas, Ontario, railyard.
The death of the monstrous pachyderm prompted sympathy and obituaries from around the world – and draped the small Ontario town in a cloak of shame.
Moral: Don’t let your circus elephant tramp around a railway yard.
You look ravishing
On September 12, 1846, Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin accidentally found himself trapped in the ice next to King William Island, NWT.
Thanks to an error in his chart, the explorer had veered his ships away from the Northwest Passage.
Instead, they had sailed into an isolated ocean passage that would become their tomb.
Among the 110 crew members who would soon be eating one another, the initial appeal of Arctic navigation soon wore of.
