Can You Hear Me Now? is a monthly junior high and high school open mic and poetry slam event.

Join us for the launch of Dr. Karen K. Lee's Fit Cities: My Quest to Improve the World's Health and Wellness—Including Yours.

Dr. Karen K. Lee is a force for good around the world, working behind the scenes to help people improve their diets, get in shape, and live longer.

In the arena of public health, this Canadian woman is an international superstar. In the early 2000s, she went to the US to join a team of "health detectives" for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking was in decline, and so the US CDC's attention had turned to the next biggest causes of premature death: over-eating and under-exercising. Dr. Lee's zeal in seeking out the root causes—in schools, restaurants, and environments that encourage a sedentary, calorie-packed way of life—was matched by her inspired approach to finding solutions.

She was next recruited by the City of New York, where she was instrumental in introducing Active Design, an initiative for creating opportunities for healthy living in everyday life that has helped reverse childhood obesity and lengthen life expectancies. Her influence has since spread around the world.

Dr. Lee has always known that health education, public service announcements, and our individual struggles are not enough. The world around us needs to change to support us in taking steps (literally and figuratively) to save our own lives. Working with civic leaders, city planners, and architects, she has been a pioneer in addressing today's leading health problems, such as obesity, heart disease, strokes, cancers, and diabetes.

Fit Cities is a riveting memoir of that work—the story of how Dr. Lee and her many teams of brilliant collaborators uncovered, and set about eradicating, the causes of a pandemic of unhealthy living. And every step of the way, it offers invaluable advice on how we can all help ourselves to live healthier lives.

More info to come!

Single Onion is Calgary's longest-running poetry reading series.

Reader info to come!

A book club for conservatives and liberals who want to get out of their echo chambers and bridge the great divide. Buy the book, read it, and come join us for a lively discussion.

We’ve all felt it: Whether we’ve argued pointlessly with someone on social media, felt our blood pressure rise as we’ve fought over politics with family members, or simply veered delicately away from certain topics, it’s hard to ignore the chasm between those who hold opposing political views. And it feels like it’s getting worse, that politics are getting uglier, and that reasonable discussion is falling by the wayside.

What can ordinary people do to bridge the great divide? We can read books that smart and reasonable people have written in defense of their views and we can talk about these books with others who may or may not wear the political stripes we do.

Come to Shelf Life Books for a monthly book club that does just that. Ideally, participants will have read the book assigned for that day, and will come prepared to discuss it. All of the books on our list will be made available by Shelf Life. We will meet from 10 am to noon on the last Saturday of every month.

January 25th:
The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Join us for a wonderful afternoon of classical guitar performances brought to you by the Classical Guitar Society of Calgary. Free admission!

Performers TBC.

The Classical Guitar Society of Calgary was founded in 1974 to promote interest in and study of classical guitar. That is still their goal. The society brings some of the best classical guitarists from around the world to Calgary to perform and teach masterclasses. They also hold social gatherings where local amateur and professional guitarists perform for each other.

http://www.classicalguitarsocietyofcalgary.com/

More info to come!

Can You Hear Me Now? is a monthly junior high and high school open mic and poetry slam event.

Single Onion is Calgary's longest-running poetry reading series.

Reader info to come!