What are some of the stories from Pecha Kucha?

A-1
BumbleBerry: This was the story about a duck that was born in an incubator because the farm folk thought it was a chicken egg and they were raising chickens. The duck did not take to being a chicken, but did bond with the farm lady. Yes the duck fell in love with the author of the story, even would cuddle and try to stay in absolute proximity. There were 20 pictures of the life of this duck which made the entire presentation very funny. BUT, the story ended with a sad announcement — while the author (farm lady) was away on an extended business trip, BumbleBerry died — perhaps from a broken heart…

A-2
Bats are cool: The next presenter was on more of a mission, to get more of us helping protect and even shelter bats. Because of the growing threat from the white nose syndrome, it is important that more bat houses be erected, and educate people to refrain from hunting down and killing bats and rather appreciate the critical importance of bats. For one thing, a single bat will eat between 600-1000 mosquitoes in an hour. They also help in dispersing seeds from trees and other vital plants thus increasing the survival of many flora. By the way, bats are sex fiends and very promiscuous…and the females can store sperm for up to six months (as there often is mating during hibernation!!). The oldest known bat in these parts was 41 years old. By the way, to keep from deafening themselves with their high-pitched radar-like screams, they actually dislocate bones in the inner ear while hunting. Want to learn more? Go to www.bcbats.ca

A-3
“every felt misunderstood”: a former punk rocker started his presentation by saying that “no one got me when I was young”. He always felt out of place. So he set out to try to express himself in various ways and to help other young people do the same — he created The Imagination Gallery — as one person believed in him and this project led to other young people getting a chance to show their art as well. I thought the most intriguing thing about it all though was his own decision to leave the project so that it could keep changing. As he said, if you believe change is a good thing, then be prepared to step away from a pet project and let new voices take it in new directions. He still does art and he still promotes art — just in different ways, at different times, in different settings

A-4
Salmon Enhancement: I’ll talk more about this later…along with some of the other things I learned at Pecha Kucha 7 at the Cannery Brewery the other evening…

g.w.