Janet Rigg

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While the sunny weather may still hold, the evenings are cooler and a heavy dew greets us in the morning. The kids are going back to school, hopeful, grumpy and somehow so much older than just a year before.

Sep 10, 2026

Local News

Edge of the World Music Festival issued a statement on July 27th that a fraudulent email was circulating targeting local and off-island businesses and organizations.

Aug 11, 2026

Tlellagram

The days of July are ticking by fast, and we're well into the busiest part of summer.

Jul 30, 2026

Tlellagram

I have an avid readership! And if you are among them, I’d like to direct your attention to the Letters to the Editor. Someone wrote one about my last column. I’m delighted and challenged, and the important thing to remember is that I have “avid fans.” Yes, that’s my takeaway.

May 21, 2026

Tlellagram

This column was going to be about the outcome of the Tlell Community Association AGM. However, due to general disarray, we had to postpone that AGM to April 12 at 4:30 p.m. at the Tlell Firehall. If you doubted my assertion that we are in n

Mar 26, 2026

Tlellagram

It is January. It is a dark month, full of weather delays and changing plans. The faster you try to go, the more the universe seems to say, “Sit down. We will wash out the highway if we have to. Oh, you made a temporary fix for that? Then w

Jan 16, 2026

Tlellagram

Her low, blinding illumination makes it hard to hide from the weathered truth. She is stingy with her gifts, a coy sun, sometimes barely peeking above the trees. The weather is sharper, the light cooler. It filters through the forest like w

Dec 18, 2025

Tlellagram

Here it is, December. The traditions of stringing up lights and bringing a tree into the house have origins long before Christianity. Some say evergreen trees exist because one once sheltered a Winter Spirit and, in thanks, the spirit grant

Dec 5, 2025

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We are getting close to the longest night of the year. All signs are pointing to Haida Gwaii hibernation time. Around this time of year there is a bit of a reckoning occurring. Many relationships begin in November, the fight for a living be

Nov 20, 2025

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The air is cooling and the darkness stays longer each night. October is upon us, her musty crunch, hearty food, and promises of a cozy evenings are dancing hand in hand with the reality of cleaning the chimney, winterizing the garden, and g

Oct 13, 2025

Tlellagram

My apologies to the gluten intolerant among us. This introspective exercise may fall short, given the unlikelihood you’ve recently eaten a sandwich. But the wisdom may transcend. I think we can all agree there are good parts of a sandwich a

Sep 28, 2025

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Apparently, people who know things know that when you clean an interior space, you start at the ceiling and work your way down. This was relayed to me as an obvious fact, not told to me directly but through a story about how someone else ha

Sep 11, 2025

Tlellagram

It’s Sunday morning, the sun is shining, and a raven is chatting. A car alarm sounds, and a dog that doesn’t sound like it’s used to being in the woods barks with a mixture of delight and fear. These are my surroundings, as I reflect on the

Aug 15, 2025

Tlellagram

First—the news! Adriene has sold her business at the Crow’s Nest, or the Tlellian Mega Mall, as I like to call it. For the past 12 years, Adriene has provided us with the basic necessities, milkshakes, coffees and legendary cinnamon buns. H

Jul 4, 2025

Tlellagram

For nearly two decades, the lantern parade has cast a magical glow over the Edge of the World Music Festival, thanks to the dedication of volunteers who shaped it into a beloved tradition. But this year, with no one left at the helm, the fe

May 22, 2025

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I’m writing this on the tail end of an Easter long weekend that was a lot of fun. Not being religious myself, the weekend is more about time with friends and family than about anything Jesus got up to. A small egg hunt was done for my son a

May 1, 2025

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It’s April, and spring is sprunging! Trees are budding, grass is growing, and seedlings are being nurtured and planted in gardens all over Tlell. The nettles are perfect this time of year — fresh and delicious. Use them as you’d use spinach

Apr 13, 2025

Tlellagram

I am increasingly humbled by the people whom I run into who mention they read my column regularly. My biweekly musings sometimes seem of little import, but I do write them earnestly and with vulnerability, hoping to inspire others to live t

Mar 28, 2025

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Do you listen to your own inner voice? Not the voice that tells you did it wrong, not the one that wonders why you said that silly thing, not the one that says it’s never enough. I’m talking about your own voice. The voice that already know

Mar 25, 2025

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Here we are, half way through the longest shortest month of the year. How do we keep going? With whimsy. The world is particularly bleak at the moment, in ways that bewilder and defy. It all seems somehow out of our control. But I saw one p

Mar 8, 2025

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As a columnist, I spend time considering what I’m going to write and the audience that is likely to enjoy it. I try to make my writing humorous or interesting—hopefully both. I’m sure, for some, I fall flat, but I rarely hear about it. Perh

Feb 22, 2025

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In the summer of 2022, blue spray-painted hearts began to appear at the end of Wiggins Road in Tlell. I had to look up that date and am mildly shocked it’s been two and a half years since these started to appear. Amazing how we become accus

Jan 31, 2025

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Funny thing about “best-laid plans” — the only time we ever hear that phrase is precisely when plans have gone distinctly wrong. If you had any plans this holiday season on Haida Gwaii, there is a high probability that idiom proved true. Al

Jan 3, 2025

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Winter is a time of contrasts, even when there is no white snow on the ground. It’s a time of quiet moments alone and joyous celebrations with many. It’s closeness as well as painful reminders of distance. It is so dark right now, a darknes

Dec 19, 2024

Features

Last spring, a curious thing began to happen around Tlell. Small hippos were showing up in people’s yards, a new previously unknown species of wild House Hippos (real thing - check YouTube). Where did they come from? It is now time to tell

Nov 22, 2024

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No, I’m not Annie. I don’t even know who Annie is. She’s a mystery advice columnist to me, too. I like her advice; I’d say it’s pretty spot on. But she isn’t me, even though the problems of others are an endless fascination to me and I abso

Nov 7, 2024

Tlellagram

Tlell, like all the communities on Haida Gwaii, is hunkering down for winter. Harvest feasts were enjoyed, some still calling it “Thanksgiving” — more in the spirit of giving thanks in a general sense, and less of a pilgrim-y sense. We do h

Oct 24, 2024

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Do you smell it? The hint of wood smoke in the air? The slight stench of decay? Do you notice a taste on the back of your throat that is a touch more acidic than the sweet brine of spring? Do you hear the silence as it settles, as the birds

Oct 10, 2024

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So how did you fare through the Great Internet Outage of September 13 to 16? I was on a video session, and had just marvelled at the clarity and speed of our connection. It was like we were right in front of each other. This online business

Sep 26, 2024

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What do you want to leave when you’re gone? This week, a megayacht, the Liva O, sailed into town and was truly a sight to behold. Moored so close to shore, a Norm Wagner mused that she must be trying to steal his WiFi! Of course, that boat

Aug 29, 2024

Columns

As I sit here and watch the drizzle coming down outside, I’m feeling wistful for even a slight hint of summer weather. And yet, I feel incredibly grateful we aren’t burning up like so much of the province, that we are blessed with the preci

Aug 1, 2024

Columns

I’m currently helping facilitate a workshop on addiction in Old Massett — a workshop based in culture and ceremony, enriched by learning. Did you know that First Nations people make up 3.3 per cent of the population of British Columbia, and

Jul 18, 2024

Opinions

Scandal gripped southern Haida Gwaii last week when photos of a watermelon half mistakenly priced at $47.77 circulated widely on Facebook. With the mistaken sticker price showing $13.19 per kilogram, that would have put the cost of watermel

Jun 21, 2024

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When I was a child, my Scottish mother would refer to the beautiful, huge flowering bushes in our yard as “rhoddies.” As a result, I began to believe these plants were called “rho-DEE-dendrons.” You can imagine my shock when I later underst

Jun 20, 2024

Columns

Giid Tll’juus means balance in X̱aayda Kil. It’s a state of being we necessarily strive for in every moment of our lives. What hangs in the balance of Tll’aal? Not a whole lot on the surface, but dig deeper, and you see that the interests o

Jun 2, 2024