Slight hiatus there, what with some work things, the Writers' Union AGM online on May 24, and departure the next day for the Creative Nonfiction Collective in-person (and hybrid) conference in Halifax. How good to be actually going somewhere -- and the conference rocked.
And then last Sunday on the flight home I began to feel unwell, and when I got home my Covid test was positive. The rest of the week has been a bit of a blur, and blogging fell sharply down the priority list (sleep, Paxlovid, sleep), but I can confirm that Covid has not gone away. Blogging should resume herewith.
In other business, Angela Duffett of Parks Canada got in touch to draw my attention to Parks Canada's new blog ReCollections, a history and archaeology podcast exploring aspects of historic sites research and interpretation from around the country. It launched in April, and now offers segments from half a dozen sites.
I'd say ReCollections is still finding its feet. One might expect a natural audience would be among those already with some interest in Canadian history and archaeology, but ReCollections scripts seem to assume no one knows anything (""What you may not know is that one group of Norse explorers were the first Europeans to set foot in North America,") while simultaneouslly plunging pretty deep in the details. And the big-voice AM radio type announcer/narrator sounds a little at odds with its material.
But people want podcasts, and ReCollections has lots of scope to find its voice or voices. Episodes tend to run 30 to 45 minutes, and they are tight -- avoiding that fifteen minutes of material in an hour and twenty minutes of chatter that sometimes the podcast norm. Take a listen.
