Last Thursday night, Edmonton enthusiasts gathered at Metro Cinema's Garneau Theatre (remember when Metro moved in?) for Edmonton's NextGen Pecha Kucha Night 12 (the name means "chit chat" in Japanese, where the 20-slide X 20-second-per-slide speech format originated) to hear 10 speakers, experts in their fields, talk about ideas - like street fashion, local shopping and dining, winterizing Edmonton, creative politics, U2 fanatics (seriously), and the longevity of bread. That, paired with the Media Camp Edmonton conference I attended at Edmonton's World Trade Centre on Saturday, has made for a pretty inspiring few days.

An outstanding talk at #PKN12 was given by local photographer Leroy Schulz, who shared the tale of Miguelito's Little Green Car - a project that's taken him all over the world, photographing anyone from celeb status to the homeless, each holding his nephew, Miguelito's, little toy car. Above, Schulz photographs Jack Layton. Below, Duchess Kate. These two subjects should be considered "elite" participants; however, the project itself destroys the notion of "elite" in its very being. No matter who you are, we are all connected through time and space (as the website says, "One seven-year-old boy, one little toy car, one small world... and a whole lot of interconnectedness to be established").

Here is Schulz's shot of Kate Middleton holding Miguelito's car during the Royal Canadian tour last summer, in Slave Lake, AB. 

Through an amazing, arobatic display (um-- it's time to go to yoga class!) and few words, this "talk" focused on the body and the importance of touch (ie. Touching the 21st Century).

And with a vision to grow local, buy local, and eat local, Community Organizer Michael Walters dicussed the possibility of Edmonton sustaining it's own food economy by utilizing the farm land just north of Edmonton.

Fashion blogger and stylist Janis Galloway of Dress Me Dearly joined me in the chit-chat fun (we just had to see Erin Monaghan of Edmonton street style blog, The Vestiary, talk about street fashion). We were just two of over 500 people who attended that night, and we couldn't be more excited to join in curating a vision for this city. Join the conversation at PKN13 - you've got 12 months to sculpt your vision.