A foreman working back-to-back day and nightshifts, he came to Fort McMurray from Vancouver Island with his seven children and wife. His marriage broke up when his wife started working as a security guard in a male dominated workplace and their environment fragmented. He has a new partner in BC now. His son’s two friends were stabbed to death and the son stopped talking to him as he was kept home for homework on the night of the stabbing. He had outstanding achievements as a young trumpet player but gave it up for family, which he calls “the most powerful thing in the world.” His daughter who was interested in music gave up after he effortlessly played what she was struggling to play. His family food bill in Fort Mac is $1500 a month, and he says his sons aren’t conscious enough of the value and sharing of food, belonging to the ‘me’ generation. He repeated “You make your choices”, “there is good and bad, … Most men are assholes … Take oil out of tailings pond and mother nature will clean the rest with rainwater … and everything in Fort Mac is about instant gratification.” The conversation keeps coming back to his knowing about things, about counseling, photography, cameras, music, stewardship, and mechanics, He seems armored by knowing everything but seems alienated from his family. I said I’d like to see the northern lights and he offered to send his own excellent pictures of them. I needed to clarify a few times that I wanted to experience them in the sky not in a photograph.