Journey through the Stars
Ever dreamed of walking among the stars? Well, dream no more because East Village has become a place of wonder with Journey Through the Stars. Take a stroll through East Village and discover four stunning star-inspired light installations, each paired with a unique short story or poem written by a talented, local author.
It’s not just a light show—it’s a vibe. Whether you’re looking for a deep moment of reflection, the perfect Instagram backdrop, or just a reason to bundle up and explore, this celestial adventure is calling your name. Grab your coziest scarf, charge your phone, and prepare to get starry-eyed.
#1: 5th street square
And When I Look Up Again
By: Gabrielle Weasel Head
I walk under the Blackfoot skies and the stars whisper stories of the days when the human and animal nations spoke to each other in an ancient language of shared respect. The stars share how the Grandfather Rocks rolled across these lands to teach us strength. As I walk, the Jack Rabbit, near-white from the hugs of Winter, crosses my path and reminds me to to walk with a light step through the passing of time.
I keep walking and look up to the Blackfoot skies where the stars tell their truth: we are all guided by the forces that connect us to the lands and waters, to the animals, to the power of the moon that shapes our emotions and to a magical past when flying with the Eagle didn’t seem so out of reach.
My nighttime walk becomes one of storied imaginings, starlight flashes of when the Bear, the Wolf, the Crow and the other Four-Legged and Winged-Ones showed us how to live well and be peaceful, and we listened! With a playful step, I keep walking and I listen. I listen to those stories coming from that starlit night and I write a new story for myself, a story of embracing changing seasons and delighting in the magic of a Winter’s night. And when I look up again, the stars hold my story, too.
About Gabrielle Weasel Head
Tsapinaaki, Gabrielle Weasel Head, a member of the Kainaiwa First Nation, is Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies and International Indigenous Studies in Mount Royal University’s Department of Humanities. Her work focuses on the relationship between trauma and resilience in adult Aboriginal learners, reform in Child Welfare, and antiracist pedagogy.
#2: 5th street & 6th Avenue
The Shooting Stars
By: Weyman Chan
For our walk home, her Grandpa lifts my daughter Leslie, wrapped in a candy cane scarf, and places her on his back. She's finished throwing snowballs off the steps of the new library, whose diamond windows and white walls curve like a wind-crested ice dune four storeys high.
We stop before a festive installation: two giant shooting stars outlined in bright yellow lights. “Here's a story for you,” says Dad, offering Haw Flakes and White Rabbit candies from his pocket to Leslie and me.
“The Milky Way separates two great stars in the night skies of China. Once they were two souls. One was a weaver girl, who toiled at night on her loom. In the morning, she took shining silk fabric to the river to be washed. It was there that a young cowherd, bringing his cattle to water, first saw and fell in love with the weaver girl. But the weaver girl's parents would not allow this match since the boy came from a poor family. Nor could the two run away together. They lived into old age, always pining for each other with a longing that moved even heaven’s immortals. So when the souls of the weaver girl and the cowherd departed, the immortals placed them at opposite ends of the sky to long for all eternity! And this was the miracle. One night, all the magpies from the four directions of heaven stretched themselves wing to wing, forming a bridge across the Milky Way so the weaver girl and the cowherd could join together once a year. You see how the tails of these shooting stars have crossed? That's them.”
“Grandma,” said my daughter.
My father caught his breath, and we both knew, my father and I, that Leslie truly understood the story he had told.
About Weyman Chan
Weyman Chan is the author of six books of poetry including Noise from the Laundry, a finalist for a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2008. In 2021 his work was recognized with the Latner Griffin Poetry Prize. His latest book is Witness Back At Me: Mismothering & Transmigration Poems.
#3: celebration square
The Story is Stars
By: Cheryl Foggo
Grace stood impatiently beside her mother Shauna on the station platform, tiny white pellets attacking her face. Precisely on time, the 6:50 from Winnipeg hissed to a stop in front of them. Moze stepped down first, a suitcase in each hand, followed by Ora Lee. At the sight of her same age cousin, Grace screamed.
Ora Lee grinned smugly. She would have been satisfied with a gasp, but a scream was better.
Grace ran at them, shouting “Your hair!” She hugged her cousins. “Your! Hair!”
Still smiling, Ora Lee produced an Afro pick from her pocket and touched up the sides of her squared-off ‘fro.
“Can I see?”
Ora Lee handed her the pick, which Grace turned over, admiring the antelope carving on the handle.
“Wow. It’s a work of art.”
“Moze gave it to me for my birthday.” Ora Lee chin-pointed at her younger but much taller brother.
“What’s it made of?” Grace asked.
“Ebony,” Moze offered. “Diospyros crassiflora. Also known as diospyros ebenum.”
Grace and Ora Lee exchanged half-smiles behind his back.
Shauna appeared just then with a cart. Grace pushed the pick into her mother’s hand. “Mom look at this! Look at Ora Lee’s hair!”
Shauna embraced her nephew, then her niece, holding her at arm’s length to get a good look. “Don’t you look the revolutionary!?”
Moze lifted the suitcases to the cart and loped alongside Shauna, headed for the exit.
Ora Lee leaned toward Grace. “I don’t think she likes it,” she whispered.
Laughing, Grace said. “Ya. Coming from her, revolutionary’s not exactly a compliment, is it?”
Outside on 9th, Grace took a big breath that glued her nostrils shut. Enswirled by the pellets that decorated Ora Lee’s hair, she paused to watch Orion dance. Her favourite constellation. Her favourite cousins. Let it snow.
About Cheryl Foggo
A playwright, author and filmmaker, Cheryl Foggo has received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Outstanding Artist Award, The Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award, and the Arts, Media and Entertainment Award from Calgary Black Chambers. She is also a member of The Alberta Order of Excellence.
#4: hygge hut on riverwalk
Up Above the World
By: Richard Harrison
When I look at the night sky in winter, I think of the time it has taken for the light to reach me through the cold, clear, air. Then I think of the stars behind the stars I see, stars so distant, their light hasn't reached us yet. And then stars even farther away than that. If I think long enough, the me that I started with begins to vanish, and soon there is nothing left of it. All there is, is light and darkness and wonder. And in that moment, there is no difference, either, between love and the memory of love.
About Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison is the author of eight books. His most recent, On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood, won a Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 2017. He is currently Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Mount Royal University.