Before there was Kate Beaton\, \;New Y ork Times \;bestselling cartoonist of \;Hark! A Vagrant! \;fam e\, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beatons\, specifically Mabou \, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beac hes\, fiddles\, and Gaelic folk songs. Her first full-length graphic narra tive follows Beaton after university as she heads out west to take advanta ge of Alberta&rsquo\;s oil rush\, part of the long tradition of East Coast ers who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can't find it in the h omeland they love so much. With the singular goal of paying off her studen t loans\, what the journey will actually cost Beaton will be far more than she anticipates.
\nArriving in Fort McMurray\, Beaton finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world&rsquo\;s largest oil companies. Being one of the few women among thousands of men\, the culture shock is palpable. It does not hit home until she moves to a spartan\, is olated worksite for higher pay. She encounters the harsh reality of life i n the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed . Her wounds may never heal.
\nBeaton&rsquo\;s natural cartooning pr owess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehic les set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife\, Northern Lights\ , and Rocky Mountains. \;Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands \;is mo re than a memoir\, it&rsquo\;s also an untold story of Canada: a country t hat prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simult aneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its pe ople.
\nAbout the Author: Kate Beaton was born and raised in Cape Br eton\, Nova Scotia\, Canada. After graduating from Mount Allison Universit y with a double degree in History and Anthropology\, she moved to Alberta in search of work that would allow her to pay down her student loans. Duri ng the years she spent out West\, Beaton began creating webcomics under th e name \;Hark! A Vagrant\, quickly drawing a substantial following aro und the world. The collections of her landmark strip \;Hark! A Vagrant \;and \;Step Aside\, Pops \;each spent several months on the& nbsp\;New York Times \;graphic novel bestseller list\, as well as appe aring on best of the year lists from \;Time\, \;The Washington Pos t\, \;Vulture\, \;NPR Books\, and winning the Eisner\, Ignatz\, Ha rvey\, and Doug Wright Awards. She has also published the picture books&nb sp\;King Baby \;and \;The Princess and the Pony. Beaton lives in C ape Breton with her family.
\nhttps://lacountylibrary.libnet.info/event /7921735 URL;VALUE=URI:https://lacountylibrary.libnet.info/event/7921735 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/lacountylibrary/Duck.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR