Recommen-doc

One recent weekend afternoon I checked out of life and into the tube to watch an incredibly moving, distressing documentary called The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo.

A female filmmaker travelled to the Congo to chronicle the use of women as "tactics of war;" the brutal, violent, epidemic of rape by soldiers from every front. To a soundtrack by Kronos Quartet, she interviewed women, medical professionals and activities. The victims ranged in age from toddlers to 80 years old.

I did the Google thing afterward, and turned up this article, just days old from Reuters, about the rape of 20 female inmates by rioting Congolese prisoners.

Sunday (and my new fishing rod)

Just married, yo.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AMAZING ED MARUYAMA





























































































































































































Earlier this week, Rob and I got hitched in the Alianait Big Top.

On June 23, the circus cleared out for an hour and then the festival's amazing technical crew surprised us with the full set-up of lights, sound, everything. It was amazing. I still can't believe it. Heather, festival director extraordinaire, generously allowed everything to take place in the tent, and managed to keep it a secret, albeit reluctantly, for a number of weeks.

Local singer-songwriter Errol was our JP, and my band-buddy Michael was my man-of-honour. Rob's cousin Steve was the other witness. Mike and Steve played us in on Irish whistle and drum. We walked in together. Rob wore his kilt. I wore a purple dress scouted by my cousin Lindsay, who I must thank for convincing me to buy something new to wear. In that same vein, Rob's step-mom ordered my bouquet, which was really sweet.

Our rings were made by students at the Nunavut Arctic College jewellery program. Actually, instructor Kirk gave us Rob's for a wedding present, which was very kind.

Also humorous and of note, IBC (Inuit Broadcasting Corporation) was there with a full film crew! They asked permission to tape the wedding. So funny.

Rob's parents threw us a party the night-of, with food, music and an old-fashioned wedding cake made by one of their friends.

We have a gazillion thank-yous to send out, from festival crew to friends to family, which I'm not going to do here. You know who you are, and we love you lots.

Of course events like this are not without their drama, and I know I displeased a lot of my southern kin by doing this on such short notice. All I can say is that we thought by doing it this way we could save people the extreme expense of northern travel. We hope everyone can be happy in the knowledge that we are happy.

And a note on the photos: because Ed is so totally awesome, he provided us with web-quality photos as well as full-size for printing. These are web-quality, so family wishing to print must be patient until I send out full-size.