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Day 139: Painted Walls

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Prince Rupert to Prince Rupert, BC
Traditional territory of the Tsimshian and Tlingit
Mostly sun with a little bit of rain

I’ve been feeling down the last few days, you know, ready to get home and get away from the road for a while. So it took a lot of willpower to get out and try to track down some of the people and organizations that I was hoping to interview but who hadn’t responded to me. I knew afternoon on a Saturday was a bit of a shot in the foot as it was, but I did get outside. I didn’t find anyone. I did find murals.

Prince Rupert has around a dozen of these huge animal-centred murals scattered around the downtown. On garages, retail buildings, motels. They’re all done by the same incredibly skilled artist from Nanaimo, Jeff King. I asked a local, “What’s the deal with the murals?” He shrugged and said, “They make us feel good. They brighten up our day.”

And they brightened up my day, as well. I told him so, with a theatrical gesture. “They worked!”

Finished a couple research pieces about Yukon First Nations’ self-government and Japanese Canadian internment from the west coast. Catching a ferry tomorrow so I’m down to hours left on mainland Canada.

Jonathon is a semi-professional adventurer with roots in education and activism.

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