The Ranger Cabin

14/02/2023

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

George Bernard Shaw

Keep your fire hot!!! 🔥

20/10/2022

Hi! If you’re interested in learning more about Indigenous issues and reconciliation, I’ve created a playlist on YouTube of past episodes on The Ranger Cabin podcast just for you. I’ll keep doing this as they get produced. Please subscribe and keep your fire hot! 🔥🧡

05/10/2022

Today we sit fireside with street outreach worker, author, and community facilitator Grant Shilling to discuss solutions to the growing homelessness issues across Canada, using my hometown as an example. Grant is a warm spirit. We get a small snapshot of his childhood in Toronto, a story about smuggling surfboards into Gaza and caught up to his latest work on a small housing project for q***r and Indigenous youth. Keep your fire hot!

Today we sit fireside with street outreach worker, author, and community facilitator Grant Shilling to discuss solutions to the growing homelessness issues across Canada, using my hometown as an example. Grant is a warm spirit. We get a small snapshot of his childhood in Toronto, a story about smugg...

18/07/2022

Today we visit Secwepemc Territory with elected Chief Willie Sellars of Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) to learn about the start of their meteoric economic journey. In this episode we discuss WLFNs recent $135M settlement in Supreme Court and the Prime Minister’s recent visit to walk the grounds of St. Joseph’s Residential School. We talk economic growth and how this Nation is working towards self-governance without relying on the treaty process. Let's keep our fire hot!

Today we visit Secwepemc Territory with elected Chief Willie Sellars of Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) to learn about the start of their meteoric economic journey.  In this episode we discuss WLFNs recent $135M settlement in Supreme court, and the Prime Minister’s recent visit to walk the ...

09/03/2022

People are seeking their fame and fortune in the virtual world. This episode explores how blockchain, NFTs, and video game development are evolving our social interactions and our own identities. My guest Andrew Knight is a veteran of the video game industry who has worked around the world. He is currently a Development Director at EA - Electronic Arts.

People are seeking their fame and fortune in the virtual world. This episode explores how blockchain, NFTs, and video game development are evolving our social interactions and our own identities. My guest Andrew Knight is a veteran of the video game industry who has worked around the world. He is cu...

04/02/2022

“The future is a realm we have inhabited for thousands of years.”

I really enjoyed this inspiring work.
https://hehiale.com/2015/04/03/we-live-in-the-future-come-join-us/

“Hawaiians need to stop living in the past.” We’ve all heard this before, and we’re probably going to hear it a lot in the coming days. Brave people are getting arrested up on our sacred mountain r…

16/11/2021

Huge congratulations to my bro Marc Mazzocchi for winning best overall mens masters lifter today at the Western Canadian Powerlifting Championships. You met Marc on Episode 7 of the podcast. He’s an amazing coach and athlete who still gets after it in the 93kg class as a masters 1 lifter (40-49 year olds). Huge congratulations Marc! 🔥🔥🔥🥇 🇨🇦 You’re keeping the fire hot!

05/11/2021

Poet Matt Rader from Episode 12 wrote me a poem to help me get well following my heart ablation surgery. It’s the first poem I have ever received. I’m overjoyed to share it with you and share Matt’s talent in real-time. I’m so happy we live in a time when men can share poetry that holds meaning, intimacy and depth. It’s fun, forgiving and healing. ❤️‍🔥 Keep your fire hot!

Return/Enter 
for Zac Whyte
by Matt Rader

Then we double-spaced the trees

and between the lines

streamed

trails of light

Some trails flowed away from us

some toward

We chose select-all

and in the blue glow

saw the cinnamon bear

you were riding in your blue hospital gown, going nowhere

you wanted to go. You held

his fur and a white stone

you called oblivion

its read-only memory, its hard drive

its astonishment

Someone was making lunch for the children

in what passes

in this realm, for solid matter

Someone was shooting hoops in the driveway

like an analogy for everything

that moves

through us

the stone in your hand

that meant

as long as you held it

you’d return

as you were, continuous with yourself

renewed but the same, the same, always the same

I wanted to delete the stone

I wanted to type

a new scene in the driveway

kids drinking lemonade

the colour of tree-light

a basketball spinning backwards in a high arc

toward its negative shape

the houses double-spaced, then double-spaced, then double-spaced

until only openness

rushes at you. Delete the stone,

I said in your headphones

but your fingers were only streaming

trails of light

with no mass, no touch. Inside you

something was buffering

buffering

21/10/2021

Such a beautiful film. Big dreams and hard work. You’re an inspiring person, Joe Buffalo. Thanks for keeping it hot 🔥🔥🔥

In “Joe Buffalo,” directed by Amar Chebib and executive produced by Tony Hawk, an Indigenous skateboarding legend overcomes addiction and trauma stemming fro...

19/10/2021

So you want to be a poet? Matt Rader is a poet, fiction writer and creative writing professor at UBC Okanagan UBC School of Creative Writing. In this episode we discuss Matt's journey to become a poet, parenthood, men's health and mindfulness. In the second half of the episode we keep our fire hot by discussing his new book Ghosthawk, a deeply personal volume of poetry and his fifth poetry publication. Ghosthawk is available October 31st, 2021 in Canada (Nightwood Editions) and early 2022 internationally.

18/10/2021

Steaming a newly carved canoe with Joe Martin, Sean Frank, and Trevor Hardy. Keep your fire hot! 🔥🔥🔥

15/10/2021

“There are some 6.000-7.000 languages in the world today. About 97% of the world’s population speaks only 4 % of these languages, while only 3 % of the world speak 96% of all remaining languages.” - UNESCO

14/10/2021

Linguists, artists and culture keepers Ocean Hyland and Jesse Recalma discuss their pursuit of keeping Indigenous languages thriving and using them to wake a sleeping language called Puntlatch. We discuss why individual languages are so valuable and explore Indigenous perspectives on the southern coast of Canada.

Linguists, artists and culture keepers Ocean Hyland and Jesse Recalma discuss their pursuit of keeping Indigenous languages thriving and using them to wake a sleeping language called Puntlatch. We discuss why individual languages are so valuable and explore Indigenous perspectives on the southern co...

24/09/2021

I had breakfast and a great conversation with Nats`ol Thomas “Taku” Jack. When I went up to Atlin, Wedlidi, from episode 2, 3 and 4, wanted me to get in touch with Jenny Jack. TJ is her big brother and I was excited to learn a little of his story at residential school, his sister Jenny’s inspiring career, and a new power project being developed near Atlin. We rocked our pendants and shared their significance to us with each other. TJ has an argillite crow that he’s worn smooth for over three decades.

He tattooed his name Thomas into his arm after being assigned a number in residential school “to remember my name because I’m not a number.” As punishment for his insubordination, the nun at the school used a pen to draw another design on his arm and forced him to tattoo the heart and flourish so the name ‘Thomas’ wasn’t so pronounced.

His traditional name Nats`ol means something like troubleshooter or fixer in English.

Taku Jack feels Indigenous peoples are being categorized into two types of people: “been to residential school and haven’t been to residential school.” “The worst thing about being indigenous right now is that people always ask me: have you been to residential school? Before they ask me anything else. They want to know how to treat me, how to talk to me. It’s like having a number.”

People need to be people first. Keep your fire hot. 🔥

05/09/2021

New Episode! There is so much knowledge hard-wired into languages and learning them is foundational to understanding any culture. Teacher and language keeper la̱lx̱sa̱n dala'ogwa Keisha Everson offers her perspectives on language revitalization and completely shifts my understanding of the struggles that Indigenous learners and elders are having reclaiming their ancestral languages. Listening to this discussion will give you a deeper understanding of Indigenous perspectives around reclaiming language and keep your fire hot! Available now at therangercabin.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

04/08/2021

My favourite potter and fan of the podcast, Hanna at Earthlight Pottery, created these beautiful mugs for me. They have a customized Roosevelt elk antler shed on them from The Ranger Cabin logo. They’re so awesome and special. It was great to meet you in person, Hanna.

07/07/2021

We’re on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/4MBI5gzTvnZgBXrER50nsr?si=vZB3XVNVQ9WkJtzCWQFc6w&dl_branch=1

11/06/2021

Mo Moshiri is most known as a MC/rapper and co-founder of the Vancouver hip-hop group Sweatshop Union. Mo was born into the Iranian revolution and escaped the country on a camel with his mother after his father was captured and imprisoned. Mo and I discuss his music, parenthood, navigating trauma and his spiritual journey to discover his identity.

14/04/2021

My buddy Ian from Episode 6, a couple of days ago, did a helicopter rescue on the Sunshine Coast. He’s always in action and we love him anyways. ❤️🔥😅

13/04/2021

Bonus Content: Here are some of the beautiful photos and a small selection of artwork to put faces and context to the stories talked about in Episode 8 of the podcast with Nanekawasis George Littlechild. He is such an amazing spirit. I hope you enjoy.

13/04/2021

Artist Nanekawasis George Littlechild - Blood Memory & The Sixties Scoop. Now available on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts. Keep your fire hot! Thanks for listening. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-ranger-cabin/id1550362115

01/04/2021

Marc Mazzocchi is a talented strength and conditioning coach, gym owner and competitive powerlifter. People come to Marc to change how they move and present themselves to the world. Today we chat about Marc’s journey and discuss identity traps, goal setting, physical and mental health, testosterone and my gnarly misdiagnosed heart issue that was operated on twice in 2020. The podcast is available now on all major platforms and at therangercabin.com

28/03/2021

Shout out to the kind listeners writing reviews on iTunes. Thank you so much. I found out today The Ranger Cabin is ranked 104 in Society and Culture on iTunes Canada. Thanks for listening 🔥

26/03/2021

I spent time with my boy (8) at the upper Puntledge River yesterday. We spoke about water and the life it creates and sustains. He suggested afterwards that we meditate and swim. We focused on our breathing and lighting a fire in our chest. We worked on focusing our intentions towards the task without complaint. We did this four times. Entering the water, going under, composing ourselves, focusing on our breath and subduing our urge to escape. It was icy. We learned about each other yesterday. Today when he woke up he said “do you want to go swimming?” 🥰 Nature can teach us so much and bring us closer together. Keep your fire hot.🔥

18/03/2021

New episode! For over a decade Ian MacKay has committed himself to being in the middle of disaster response efforts around the world. In this episode Ian talks about his evolution as a naive nursing student in war torn DRC to the center of the Ebola crisis in Liberia where he and his team are later acknowledged as 2014 Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

07/03/2021

Episode 5 has released and my heart is so inspired by Nalaga (Nalaga Designs). I’m sure yours will be too. Available wherever you get your podcasts.