Author: meevans1

A fun day trip for our family is going to the Simonette River Recreation Area. It’s a great little spot that is close to our home in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Getting there

From Grande Prairie you travel east on Highway 43, 10 kilometres past the Smoky River valley, then you travel about 10 kilometres south on the Forestry Trunk Road or Highway 734.

There you cross the bridge over the Simonette River and immediately turn west into the Recreation Area. There is a campsite, however, we only use the day-use area which provides access to the beach area.

Here’s the view of the river as you cross the bridge:

What you can do

The beach area is a mix of areas that are either covered with river rocks or sand that can be explored. 

Our favourite time to go is first thing in the morning as it can get quite busy on nice days. We pack a simple picnic lunch, lawn chairs (there are no picnic tables along the beach area) and whatever else we want to bring and make the short 55 kilometre trip.

There we played along the edge of the water. Small children enjoy playing in the sandy areas along the water as well as swimming or splashing in the water. We wear our water shoes as it can be rocky which can either be slippery or hard on the feet. 

We have our picnic lunch and within a couple of hours we’re ready to head home after our hours in the sun, sand and water.

See my post on a recent trip to the area or watch me inflating our floating toys.

What to bring

It is a narrow sandy little path to the beach from the parking lot. Not too serious for carrying your stuff but something to be aware of as you decide how much to take.

Things to pack:

• Camp chairs 
• Sand toys 
• Floating toys 
• Lifejackets
• Water shoes
• Whatever else you may want to have a fun day.

Safety

There are times when the flow can be high so it’s important to check the Alberta Parks page for any advisories. It is a river so there is a current to it so you should have your lifejackets to be safe on the water.

More information:

• Travel Alberta
• Alberta Parks
• Discover the Peace Country.com 
• There are often kayakers who start here or further upstream. For more details there is the Wapiti Whitewater Kayakers club who offer lessons and other information.

For this Storytelling infographic wanted to incorporate some of the basic ideas of the Story Spine as well as Pixar’s storytelling rules in this course. Those really resonate with me and they provided a new view of concepts to apply the work I’ve done in the past and currently.

In my past work as a journalist the focus was on the 5Ws the who, what, when, where, why and writing in an inverted pyramid. However, writing like that means packing the entire story into the lead paragraph – much like a single tweet – and then explaining more about the story after. 

In corporate communication roles in which you tell the story of an organization and the human or character elements can be missed. However, people don’t want stories about organizations, they want to connect with people so the challenge is to always find ways to tell those stories at the level of an individual person.

Now, with so many ways to communicate digitally it is still important to stay focused on telling good stories, regardless of medium, platform or technology.

Lily has been teaching me to longboard this summer. This is my usual view when we go on these trips. Me trying to keep up to her. #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/sHaNnNNtjF

— Mark Evans (@MarkEva85384136) July 7, 2021

The story I live tweeted was a trip to the local convenience store to get slushes with my daughter on our longboards. 

Some Background

My daughter taught me this summer how to longboard and it’s been a fun experience doing this with her around the neighbourhood. However, actually going to the store and leaving with a drink in hand and longboarding seemed like a challenge to me.

I suspect by friends on Twitter may have been expecting and perhaps even hoping I’d end up wearing the drink.

Story structure

Following the storytelling basics we’ve learned about using story spine and the eight-point story arc this week I told the story of there being a current state of learning to longboard, being faced with the challenge of going on this trip and attempting to return home.

It’s been a while since we’ve done this. Don’t remember the sidewalks feeling so rough. 😬 #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/o4vNtQmXjF

— Mark Evans (@MarkEva85384136) July 7, 2021

There were some obstacles faced such as the sidewalks being bumpier than remembered and a detour to the school park before making it home. 

Building Suspense

I also tried to use some elements of building suspense discussed by Victoria Smith by not revealing some information. For example, walking across the street to the park before revealing if I could actually successfully do this.

Detour. We had to check out the school park before going home. Had to cross the street. Carried the longboard. Not that skilled yet #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/QwfPlPsykp

— Mark Evans (@MarkEva85384136) July 7, 2021

Resolution

The resolution was that we did make it home safely and are in a stasis where we’re more confident in having more adventures such as these together.

Home safe. Unscathed. Lucky to have a great teacher. Ready for our next adventure. #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/lP0EF2xLoP

— Mark Evans (@MarkEva85384136) July 7, 2021

A recent story that really resonated with me is Season 5 of the CBC podcast Someone Knows Something. There are three main reasons why I found this season of the podcast so compelling, which I’ll go into more detail in this post. The three reasons are:

• True story with a clear and compelling structure
• Compelling characters
• Universal simple story

First here is a preview of Season 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5iIIRbelYo

True story with a clear and compelling structure

Someone Knows Something is a true crime podcast in which host David Ridgen works with families to try to solve unsolved mysteries or crimes.

It’s interesting because the podcast has a compelling structure in which two story strands are intertwined into one story.

The first story is the historic crime or mystery that is being investigated. The second is that of the investigation the host does with a family member. 

They both have a clear structure and purpose that you can outline using the Story spine discussed by Kenn Adams. 

In Season 5 the crime follows this structure:

The investigation story follows this structure:

Compelling Characters

In each episode of the podcast we are introduced to new and compelling characters who move both stories forward. They uncover more about the crime that happened and also the story of the journey the host and victim’s brother are taking. All the characters have this common tragedy that connects them and makes them relatable because their lives have all been affected by this common experience.

Cyriaque Lamar highlights in The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar one of the rules you need to ask is:

“Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.”

At the root of the story is the brother who has been driven to find who did this to his sister causing all this damage to his family

Universal Simple Story

While two intertwined story spines with so many varying viewpoints, talk of investigation techniques, DNA and forensic information makes the story seem complex it really is a simple story of a brother and a father who just want, and really need, to know what happened to their sister and daughter.

Again, as Lamar notes, another of the storytelling rules is to ask:

“If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.”

This story is filled with honest raw emotions that anyone would relate to if faced with the unthinkable loss of someone close to you in such a tragic and senseless way.

You can find Someone Knows Something on CBC Listen.