Saturday, May 30, 2009

Transitions

No, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Or, I guess, worry if you want because I'm sticking around and you're stuck with me. This is just an observation.

June is traditionally a transition month in Nunavut. Classes wrap up around the territory, and depending on where you live, that could be happening very soon (I think Arctic Bay and Rankin Inlet are done by around June 10) or several more weeks away (Iqaluit wraps up around June 26. That's the sound of Cathy sobbing in the background, in case you're wondering). Once classes finish, it also tends to be when people leave. A lot of people, if they decide they're moving, do it at the end of the school year. They're either teachers or families with kids in school.

Now, on the upside, those of us sticking around get to hit all the massive yard sales happening. It's almost as good as a sea lift. You go to one of these things and you can buy nearly anything. Food, clothes, books, electronics, snowmobiles, cars...whatever you want. People prefer to sell a lot of the stuff they've acquired up here rather than incur the cost of shipping it back south.

I'm also noticing it's a time of transition for the Nunavut blogging community. Arctic Bay is about the lose its title as the "Capital of Nunavut's blogging community" what with Darcy and Kennie moving. Darcy could be just coming here, but Kennie is definitely leaving Nunavut. I know one other Nunavut blogger is leaving by the end of the summer, but they haven't announced it on their blog yet, so it's not my place to say who it is.

Inflatable Elvis has "retired" and a couple of other blogs have seen a greatly reduced frequency in posting, which leads me to believe they're semi-retired from blogging. And I have a hunch, based on blog posts, that another one is looking at her options outside of Nunavut.

It happens, of course. Blogs dying from lack of interest is certainly not unique to the north. People moving to different parts of the country for work or family reasons is nothing new either. But I guess because Nunavut's population is so small and our blogging community so inter-woven, you tend to notice these things more. I'll miss the voices that disappear and I'll try to follow the ones that move to other parts of Canada.

Still, it has been a nice run the past few years. The Nunavut blogging community has been surprisingly vibrant given the size of the territory's population. So while some are leaving or retiring, I look forward to more new voices, like Amanda showing up and offering their insights.

Of course, with some of the blogs fading away and newer ones stepping into gap, it's just making Clare and I look that much longer in the tooth. Dear God...

Last Five
1. Wonderful (It's Superman) - Andy Stochansky
2. Kite - U2
3. You're so damn hot - OK Go
4. On your way down - Elvis Costello and Allan Toussaint*
5. A bad dream - Keane

6 comments:

Matthew & Michele said...

It might be Cape Dorsets time to be the blogging center of Nunavut. Of course that depends if Blake ever gets back to regular blogging.

Even Jen of Nunavut has slowed in the posting.

*sigh*

Megan said...

It's a short leap from here to GET OFF MY LAWN.

Clare said...

Oh, trust me the GET OFF MY LAWN stage has been firmly entrenched from some time. I like to nourish my inner curmudgeon/old guy on the porch.

Triction said...

http://nltriction.blogspot.com/2009/05/ministers.html

Anonymous said...

I've always thought of myself as the black sheep of the Nunavut blogosphere, just because I was living up here 3 years before I began the blog. I pretty sure I'm the only one in this situation.

It will be interesting, too, to see how the Nunavut blogosphere morphs and changes over the next few months. I'm not sure I like the idea of us losing the title of "Blogging Capital of Nunavut" but I'm sure that if Clare is the only AB blogger here come fall, the North Baffin will be in good hands as always.

Jennith said...

I'm staying and I will start posting regularly again soon.... we are just living 4 people on 2 GB of qiniq and its pretty crowded in our place to boot and those transitions make for busy teachers - next year I promise... more and better :D.