Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands: One of Barack Obama’s Favourite Books of 2022

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Beaton left Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton at age 21 for an oil boom spurting a wealth of high-paying jobs that she could use to pay off her student loans. The place she finds is full of life and also hostile to it; a cabdriver warns her that a “shadow population” of workers “live here, but they don’t live here.” As Beaton settles into daily life in a tool shop, she begins to understand how that transience changes people, as well as her own complicity in the wholesale destruction of Indigenous land.”—Emma Alpern, Vulture She watches a TV broadcast featuring a local Cree elder where the people suffer from a high cancer rate. " Everything is ruined; our lives around our lands are ruined, our water, air, everything. At the cost of our lives as long as they get their money. They don't care how many they kill."

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands review: Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands review: Kate Beaton’s

It’s hard to describe what I felt while reading this. First and foremost, of course, it was empathy and sadness for the main character, Beaton herself. The need to leave home is not necessarily one that is present for those in Ontario (and especially Toronto). I would be devastated if I were told that this was to be my reality. But another part of the sadness I experienced was due to the corner in which Beaton found herself. Needing to make money, pay student loans off, do something right now, versus putting up with the culture that is the norm in the oil sands – one of crass phrases, raunchy remarks, and full on sexual assault. It was grim.Ali, Nyala (2022-11-03). "Beaton's graphic novel memoir chronicles two tough years working in Alberta oil sands". Winnipeg Free Press . Retrieved 2022-11-07.

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Immersion journalism in the form of a graphic narrative following a Syrian family on their immigration to America. a b c "Congratulations to the Harvey Award Recipients!". Archived from the original on 15 March 2016 . Retrieved 13 September 2012. First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead. Any person who thinks these scenarios that women have endured are “made-up” or embellished are either delusional or very sheltered. In October 2018, Beaton ended the ongoing serialization of her webcomic, saying, "I feel like this is a project that has run its course." [34]a b Manning, Shaun (25 March 2009). "Kate Beaton Debuts w/ Darwin at MySpace DHP". CBR News. Comic Book Resources . Retrieved 28 March 2009. I've had so many cool opportunities come across my desk as a result of Jeopardy!, things I could have never really imagined," they said. "I feel like my life is still in the process of changing because of Jeopardy!" As one of a handful of women in a camp full of men, she was under constant threat of sexual assault. She’s keen not to give away the details. “I’ve always worried, putting this book out, that this would be what people took away from it the most, and then what it would be reduced to, because that’s what happens to women’s stories. Only then do they become ‘great,’” she says. “But I also hope to build empathy and fear; I want them to worry about my character being in a dangerous place, and feel as scared for her as I felt at the time. If readers know, off the bat, what is going to happen, it robs it of that power.” It’s 8am in Nova Scotia when we talk, and Beaton’s eldest child is racing around in pyjamas, trying to escape her dad. “Potty-training: it’s a land of tears and devastation,” says Beaton, now 39, rolling her eyes. That hopeful emblem points to a happy ending of sorts. Beaton paid off her loan and returned to her beloved Cape Breton. Her impressive career will be propelled still further by this engrossing and powerful memoir. Another author might have made their creative journey a bigger part of this story, but Beaton uses her considerable skills to focus on the wider picture: big oil, and the community that makes a living from it. Her exposé is damning, but full of humanity.

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands | Indigo Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands | Indigo

a b Hodge, Nathan (11 March 2009). "Web Comic Artist Redraws Military History". Danger Room. Wired.com . Retrieved 28 March 2009. It doesn't evoke a sense of enjoyment, right? But I didn't know the details in any way. What I expected was to work for money that I should be grateful to have. And I never expected a corporation to treat me nicely, but I also didn't know exactly what I was stepping into." In the afterword, Katie Beaton is incredibly generous sharing about her experience from working in the oil sands between the years 2005 to 2008–(for 2 years). This is her memoir of that experience, and it's a valuable document to have out there, quite aside from any entertainment value. I've met a few people who worked in the oil sands and it seems like such a remote and opaque world – I've never seen any other books set there, and I've been trying without success to find an excuse to go out there myself though work for years.Inside this dreary situation, she somehow finds humanity and even humor. It took Beaton about two years in the oil sands to pay down her loans; processing the experience took longer.”—Cat Auer, AV Club The horrible part is how most of the men don’t see their actions as anything other than “how guys are” and find her frustration to be playful instead of actual disgust. Yet it is damaging and takes a huge toll. As Beaton writes in the afterword about the sexual assault that occurs ‘ I was nothing in his life but a short release from the boredom and loneliness endemic in camp life, but he was a major trauma in mine.’ The oil sands operate on stolen lands. Their pollution, work camps, and ever-growing settler populations continue to have serious social, economic, cultural, environmental, and health consequences for the indigenous communities in the region.