RAFFI RENAISSANCE: CHILD HONOURING AND THE COMPASSION REVOLUTION (DVD) by Raffi Cavoukian (Dempsey, $25)
From singalongs of “Baby Beluga” to his new “hip-hope” song “Cool It,” the global troubadour is belting out a new tune. On this DVD for adults, Raffi highlights a new vision for global restoration based on his personal philosophy of “child honouring.” Geared at parents, teachers, and leaders, the DVD features a conversation with the Dalai Lama, a performance for Nelson Mandela, and the video of the theme song he wrote for David Suzuki’s cross-Canada bus tour to inspire action against global warming. Sing with us now: “This is one DVD, you’re gonna wanna see, down by the bay…”
THE LOST COAST: SALMON, MEMORY AND THE DEATH OF WILD CULTURE by Tim Bowling (Nightwood Editions, $30)
The word “salmon” goes well with phrases like sashimi and alder-grilled, but as we know, there’s a lot more to our sushi than meets the eye. In The Lost Coast, award-winning poet and novelist Tim Bowling recounts growing up in a Ladner fishing family, and muses on the loss of B.C.’s salmon-fishing culture and the totemic fish that supported it. This refreshing examination of the history of our province told through the experiences of one family is both a lyrical lament for the changing environment and a celebration of life.
WHAT THE PSYCHIC TOLD THE PILGRIM by Jane Christmas (Greystone, $22)
A 50th birthday (and mid-life crisis) spurred Ontario author Christmas to join a group of adventurers on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, an ancient pilgrimage route in northern Spain. However, travelling with 14 squabbling, middle-aged women led her to seek out more compatible pilgrims, and started her on an unexpected interior journey as captivating as the landscape she passes through. Despite a psychic’s vision of catfights, death, lost jewellery, and a fair-haired man, she journeys along the road less travelled, open to the magical nature of life unfolding, and discovers that life is indeed stranger than fiction.
