Local actor’s Christmas Wish comes true

Kreviazuk, in her own voice

Chantal Kreviazuk is in the midst of a very busy year.

In May, the Winnipeg-born singer-songwriter released her 11th studio album, In My Own Voice — a project that reclaims and reimagines a selection of hit songs she’s written for some of the world’s biggest artists.

The 12-track album features Kreviazuk performing ethereal covers of Pitbull’s Feel This Moment, Drake’s Over My Dead Body and Gwen Stefani’s Rich Girl, among others.

But she didn’t stop there.

Girl pleads guilty to assaulting fellow student

A high school student who admitted to attacking another girl in the hallway says she is taking responsibility for her wrongdoing.

Smoke taint new reality in wine as world burns

Summer seems to come with a familiar smell these days: the pungent aroma of smoke.

The haze of smoke from wildfires in warmer months is now the norm rather than the exception. Breathing gets tougher, particularly for those whose health is compromised, and clothes pick up that unpleasant smoky smell.

But your shirt or sweater isn’t the only thing that absorbs the scent — in wildfire-affected grape-growing regions, winemakers also have to contend with the potential for their wines to develop what is called smoke taint.

Early in the growing season grapes, like most fruit, are small and green with thick skins. The berries get larger until around late July-ish (in the northern hemisphere) the bunches stop growing, the skins get thinner and the fruit begins changing colour in a process called veraison.

Local actor’s Christmas Wish comes true

Averie Peters and her parents plan to watch their favourite Christmas movies this year, but they’re also adding a new movie with a familiar face — Averie’s.

The 10-year-old is starring in Hallmark’s Project Christmas Wish, which premières on the W Network throughout Canada on Dec. 26. Averie is playing the role of Max, a little girl who wishes for a Christmas like it used to be.

The movie marks Averie’s first speaking role, but she’s been a background performer in two previous Hallmark movies.

“As parents we’re beyond proud of Averie,” says Kelly Gillson, Averie’s mother. “From the first day on set she was eager to be a part of this movie and learn from everyone around her… it was incredible as a parent to sit back and watch her be confident, in character and able to take direction from the director.”

Colson Whitehead’s trilogy capper bids farewell to criminal character

For 10 years, Colson Whitehead has lived with a small-time crook-turned-Harlem furniture store owner who moonlights as a fence (laundering stolen goods). But with Cool Machine, the third book in his Harlem trilogy, the author is ready to say goodbye to Ray Carney.

Whitehead, 56, will be in Winnipeg on Tuesday to launch Cool Machine, his 11th novel, at WAG-Qaumajuq, where he’ll be joined in conversation by local author David A. Robertson.

The New York City author’s rise to literary prominence skyrocketed when two of his consecutive novels — 2016’s The Nickel Boys and 2019’s The Underground Railroad — each won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He’s also the recipient of both MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships and the U.S. National Humanities Medal, among numerous other accolades.

While Carney’s first appearance on the page was in Whitehead’s 2021 novel Harlem Shuffle, a story that takes place in 1960s New York, the character had been keeping the author company long before that. And in the process of writing Harlem Shuffle, Whitehead realized he wanted to explore Carney in more depth than what one novel would allow.

Embarking on backyard photo expedition benefits science, conservancy says

Manitobans can contribute to a global scientific database that helps scientists further understand local wildlife by simply going outside and snapping some photos.

The Big Backyard BioBlitz, which began earlier this week and ends Monday, is an annual national event organized by the Nature Conservancy of Canada that encourages people to record wildlife observations and submit them to researchers.

People can take photos of animals, insects or plants at any outdoor space and submit them virtually through the NCC website. The program is a great way for people to take part in protecting the environment, said Christine Chilton, the conservancy’s Manitoba region community development manager.

“It becomes really easy to say, ‘The climate is in trouble and things are not going the way we want them to, I wish somebody would do something about it.’ This is a really neat way for people to be a part of the story and help make a difference.”