Rachel Anne in Parliament: update

As some of you may know from knowing me, or from reading my blog, about two months ago (my goodness time flies) I was recognized in Parliament by my MP for Glengarry, Prescott, & Russell: Mr. Pierre Lemieux.  Mr. Lemieux (who is a very classy guy) spoke about a national award I had won for an art piece I made for the Historica-Dominion Art From Memory Challenge that was inspired by a Canadian veteran, Mr. Fraser Muir (who I finally recently got to speak with and he is a delight!).

Anyway, I haven't gotten my copy of the video yet so I can't upload it, but I do have some links to Mr. Lemieux's speech (which I watched on C-Pac and broke into tears, cause you know, I'm cool like that).

So........ please check out the Press Release, the Official Hansard (did you know Hansard transcripts are so named because it was Luke Hansard and his descendants who compiled these reports until 1889; thank you Dictionary.com), and the Video (which is on the top right side of Mr. Lemieux's official website).  Hopefully once I head home next week I'll be able to get the digital copy of the video and post it myself.

No idea what I'm talking about? Catch the original post here and a second update here.

Hope you enjoy!

Below are photos of "Security Blanket" taken by the amazing talented Jeff Crawford (graduate of the New Brunswick College of Craft & Design's photography diploma, freelance photographer, and photo technician at NBCCD).
Check out Jeff's website here.




Front view of piece




Close up of screen print text & image




The bottom had 3 pockets sewn in so viewers could write letters of gratitude and leave them for the veteran who inspired this piece, Mr. Muir, or for veterans in general




My own letter of thank you sitting in the pocket



Read more »

Parliament Update!

Last Friday, March 4 my parents were guests in the Parliamentary Gallery in Ottawa while Pierre Lemieux spoke about an award I was given, last November, from The Historica Dominion's Art From Memory Challenge.
Unfortunately I couldn't make it to attend also (a bit of a long walk from New Brunswick), but my parents stood in my place.  They had an absolutely wonderful time, and were taken to lunch in the Member's Cafe by Mr Lemieux and his assisstant.  They also had a tour of parliament that included the library and my mom said it was just amazing!
I watched his speech live on CPAC on my lunch break between classes and am not ashamed to say I burst into tears when he acknowledged my parents.  I have nothing but the utmost respect for Mr. Lemieux.  He spoke so well and is just such an all around classy guy.  I'll post a video of the event (the whole 1 minute!) as soon as I receive it.
This was such a huge honour and highlight of my career.  I should have thrown caution to the wind and just found a way to make it home, but oh well! Life lesson learned - sometimes you just need to be spontaneous and go for it!
A big thank you so much to everyone who helped make this happen, it was just so touching and exciting!

Mr. Lemieux (left) with my parents (middle & right) in the Member's Cafe

Trip update & Slogos!!

So Readers,
Here I am in Fredericton, not packing my bags for Ottawa.  Flights only went down as far as $500 one way, so I'm staying here and letting my parents enjoy Capitol Hill.  Catch the newscast on C-pac tomorrow, 11am Eastern Time.

I thought I'd start this morning off with a bit of fun...  Last night, my good friend Karen (also known as K-Ron) was telling me about her new school assignment - Slogos.  What's a slogo you might ask?  A personal logo with a slogan.  The catch? Slogans can only be 3 words long.  So we horsed around and tried to come up with slogans for each other.  We finally decided on K-Ron: "Dropkick Your Face" for her and Rachel Mac: "That's Fair Enough" for me.  Others that I loved were K-Ron: "You Wish, Son" or K-Ron: "Bam! Check it." Another that would work for either K-ron or me: "still in school" wonh wonh.....

Can you think of a slogo for yourself or a friend?  If you know us, how about an awesome one for K-Ron or Me.  Let's be hilarious people, these things are for reals!

Important Links:
K-Ron's Artist Page on Feels Good

Rachel Mac in Parliament!

Today is a day of decisions.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not the best at decision making, even in the easiest of circumstances, so when a tough decision comes up, it can be agonizing!  I always worry that I'm going to make the wrong decisions, or somehow wind up disappointing someone.
So - the decision at hand.  Thanks to the amazing support of my family and community our MP from Glengarry, Prescott, Russel is using his 1 minute to speak in Federal Parliament on Friday to speak about my work and a piece I had won a national award for from the Historica Dominion Institute's Art From Memory Challenge.  It was a piece I created that was inspired by the testimonial of a very inspiring WWII veteran from NS.  (And yes, I just used inspired and inspiring in the same sentence.  Sometimes there's no other word).
Anyway, the question is - do I go home tomorrow to be with my parents in the Parliamentary Gallery and then join them with our MP Pierre Lemieux takes them out to lunch at the Member's Cafe?!  I am a huge geek, and to have lunch at the Member's Cafe would just be the coolest thing ever!  Or, do I play it responsible like and stay put in Fredericton and get my work done?
What this has boiled down to is me, hovering over the Air Canada website, refreshing my flight search ever 2 minutes to see if a flight has opened up (it being March Break, all flights are booked).  If an affordable flight opens, I'll throw caution to the wind and take it.  If a $1024 flight opens up (as happened an hour ago) I'll will laugh at the thought of paying that and hit my refresh search button.  If no flight comes available, I will decide it just wasn't meant to be.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! (Although I'm not sure for which outcome you should cross your fingers.) 
You can watch Mr. Lemieux on CPAC (channel 512 for some providers) sometime between 11 & 11:15 am this Friday, March 4.

This is the piece, titled "Security Blanket" which will be discussed.

Stay tuned for an upload of the broadcast (hopefully).
Pierre Lemieux's website which might have photos or video after the event
National Post article about "Security Blanket" piece