Prairie Dawgz

from Flickr at:
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=49870323&size=m

“"She had great flair," says Toronto writer and friend Val Ross. "She was very much a grande dame. When she found out she had brain cancer, she didn't go into a depression. She decided to have a party."” Described in her obituary. I picked this quote because it sums up the kind of person that Fredelle Maynard was according to one of her friends.

Fredelle Maynard was a famous author, most well-known for her autobiography, Raisins and Almonds. The autobiography is of interest to me because Maynard was Jewish, and she goes into detail about what it is like being raised Jewish, in a non-Jewish area. I grew up in a rather small Jewish community, and after having spent much of my life there, when I do venture outside of that environment, I feel less comfortable about my roots, and therefore understand what it must have been like for her when she was growing up, feeling like an outsider.
Fredelle Maynard was born in 1922 in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. Maynard grew up in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Maynard’s family moved to Winnipeg when she was only nine years old. Click here to learn more background information.
Maynard got her B.A. in English from the University of Manitoba. She got her Master’s Degree in English from the University of Toronto. And, Maynard got her PHD from Harvard in English Literature in 1947. Maynard spend much of her life in various provinces of Canada.
In 1948, Maynard married her old professor, Max Maynard. Max and Fredelle had two daughters.
Maynard’s first book was , Raisins and Almonds, which depicted what it was like being raised Jewish, among many non-Jews. Two years after the book was published in 1972, she divorced Max. Maynard wrote her last book, Tree of Life, a sequel to Raisins and Almonds, in 1988. This book described the next chapter of her life, which included her difficult marriage to Max.
Maynard was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1989. She died on October 3rd, 1989. Maynard was a rather accomplished Canadian journalist, who will never be forgotten.
I recommend that you all check out the edited excerpt from Raisins and Almonds.

Here is a list of some of her most famous works:
1. Raisins and Almonds
2. Tree of Life
3. Guiding Your Child to a More Creative Life
4. The Child Care Crisis

Sources:
1. http://find.galegroup.com/itx/retrieve.do?subjectParam=&sort=DateDescend&tabID=T004&sgCurrentPosition=&subjectAction=&prodId=CPI&docId=A164731146&searchId=R3&bucketSubId=&userGroupName=vol_b92b&docLevel=&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale(en,,):FQE=(KE,None,16)Fredelle+Maynard$&sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=2

2.University of Manitoba. Archives & Special Collections. http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/rad/mss/maynard.shtml

3. http://find.galegroup.com/itx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C16%29Fredelle+Maynard%24&sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&sort=DateDescend&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID=T002&prodId=CPI&searchId=R3¤tPosition=1&userGroupName=vol_b92b&docId=A30191101&docType=IAC

4. Amazon.Com http://www.amazon.com/Raisins-almonds-Fredelle-Bruser-Maynard/dp/B0006D0ED4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-2665534-5183252?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190140689&sr=8-3

The Stills are an alternative rock indie band from Montreal, Quebec. The five band members, Tim Fletcher (Vocals, Lead and Rhythm Guitar), Greg Paquet (Lead and Rhythm Guitar), Liam O’Neil (Keyboards, Percussion, Background Vocals), Olivier Corbeil (Bass, Background Vocals), Dave Hamelin (Drums) have known each other since they were only 12 years old. When it came time for College the boys packed up and left French speaking Montreal for the glamour of art school in New York City in 2000. By 2003 the band had landed an Indie deal with Vice Records and began touring the United States with another band from NYC, Interpol. They also recorded their first album, Logic Will Break Your Heart and released it in October 2003, and followed that with another studio effort in 2004. The album was scrapped in September 2005 when founding member and guitarist Greg Paquet left the band, prompting Dave Hamelin to move from drums to guitar. Julien Blais took over the drums shortly after. The newly shaped band released an album in 2006 entitled Without Feathers.

Sources:
www.vh1.com
www.muchmusic.com
Music Video from YouTube

"Of Montreal"
The Stills
Live