Contents
- PETITION: To Film Distributors
- The World is Listening
- SEE YA SIS.
- Hello Carnegie Centreites,
- Free Dance Workshop
- Your Poem is on Display
- THE ANARCHIST SURREALIST JAMBOREE
- I CANNOT DRAW NEAR
- "You Haven't Heard The Last Of Me"
- Rich Coleman: Minister Responsible for Housing
- I won’t be going south for a while…
- Bud Osborn & Richard Tetrault – Exhibition and Reading
- News fron the Library
- LITTLE GIRL
- I Am Meth
- BLESSINGS & CURSES
- TERMINATOR BAN Undermined
- Movie Industry Union and Catering Crews
- A CAUTIONARY TALE (Part One)
- Tribute to the Downtown Eastside Murdered Women
PETITION
To Film Distributors
Motion Picture Distribution, Alliance Atlantis Tom Alexander, Director, Theatrical Releasing, Mongrel Media Pat Marshall, Vice President Communications and Investor Relations, Cineplex Galaxy LP Jon Bain Senior Vice-President of Theatrical Distribution & Publicity, Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation Chris Adkins, Operations, Telefilm Canada Dean Leland, Vice President Marketing and Media, Empire Theatres Ltd Hon. Libby Davies, Canadian House of Commons, Vancouver East Los Angeles Times, Letters to the Editor
As Downtown Eastside women on the 15th Annual Women's Memorial March Planning Committee, we are writing to voice our objection to the film, "Killer Pickton." We strongly urge that it not be distributed in Canada.
This film serves only to feed the prurient interests of misogynists, while making violence against women a commodity. We feel the film is disrespectful to the memories of the murdered and missing women and their families. We are tired of these women being referred to as "mostly drug-addicted prostitutes" as if killing them were not as heinous as killing other women. The film and the publicity surrounding it shows a total disregard for the humanity of the women. They are daughters, sisters, mothers and friends who are loved and who are missed by their families and friends.
We hope that you will show your compassion and sense of decency by pledging to boycott the film if it is distributed in Canada and below by March 1st, 2006. On March 8th, 2006, International Women's Day, this petition and signatures will be sent to those listed above.
Sincerely,
Project-x@lists.resist.ca https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/project-x
The World is ListeningThe World is Listening
Some of what follows has been said many times, particularly over the past 5 years or so. When it came time for the trial of Robert “Willie” Picton, on whose farm DNA of over 30 women has been found and identified, the media started into a kind of crude frenzy to get a new angle or unique view for their mainstream outlets – you know, stuff that would be sensational enough for international audiences and consequent advertising dollars.
It comes as a strange, sad and almost frustrating reminder to have to caution reporters and others that these names and victims were women, people, taken from their families and loved ones and murdered.
It’s not that these heinous crimes were part of some sick & twisted fantasy world or some equally sick & twisted computer game, but the tragedy and humanity of each case, each person, seems to get buried under this veil of sensationalizing.
Consider what reaction there has been to middle-class white women going missing or, worse, found murdered. It becomes national news as hundreds of volunteers turn out to scour local geographies for days, to post the picture of the missing person in every kind of visual media, to go on about how each was living an ‘good’ life, how they were (unfairly?) torn from such … in short, how innocent they were.
Fourteen young, white university students were executed by a friggin monster in
Okay.
This same group had also displayed its vicious or maybe just ignorant stupidity by asking Downtown Eastside Women’s groups and individuals to give them poetry and graphic art, written and drawn because of heartache over a friend, relative or loved woman (and the majority were Aboriginal) killed or missing right here, to put in literature/ advertising about their good deed for the rest of the world.
There was never any offer of recognizing women from the Downtown Eastside, of mentioning the ongoing crisis of violence and murder of over 120 women in the Downtown Eastside over the last 15 years, much less even a reference to the more than FIVE HUNDRED aboriginal women who are unaccounted for – who have just disappeared – across Canada in the same period of time.
Why?
Perhaps the women killed or missing here couldn’t meet the requirements for inclusion: having a ‘good’ life, being upwardly mobile with opportunities for material growth, ...being “innocent”.?
Perhaps such have met with negative shrugs – the DE women are almost always categorized as “drug-addicted prostitutes and/or street-involved and/or somehow ‘deserving’ of what crime they were each victim of.
It’s not rhetorical to bring in the free-market economy and adjacent social system that has the rich and powerful, self-described as lords or shepherds and the rest of us vassals or sheep - animals who have to accept and adapt to whatever these masters say is permitted in their world. Not finishing university or high school, not marrying an upwardly mobile (well-to-do) guy, not being an anonymous wage-slave, having and losing independence and using/abusing one or more substances, leaving an abusive relationship or an abusive home life, getting caught up in the lifestyle of one’s chosen or just found micro-comm-unity and acquiring the monikers addict or junkie or hooker or mule or fluff or mental case… and the categorization in this illusory hierarchy sticks like tar. A further societal mandate has being “saved” by becoming another shell for some religious dogma to infect, then being described or promoted to being “experienced” rather than just an old whore.
All of this goes on but the women here have been raising shit and resisting. Even on the first day of Picton’s trial there were scores of women there with drums and the Memorial Women’s banner organized through Diane Wood to show our refusal to just buy in to the mainstream’s belittling portrayal of our sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, cousins, friends.
It is now that reporters and essayists and researchers will be in the neighbourhood for some time to come, asking many people about the herstory and realities of the missing and murdered women. Now is the time to get this stuff straightened out, to insist that the pejorative labeling and demeaning aspects of the “grab the headline” kind of reporting come to an end. Each of us has to show that we’ve been educated by this, that we have learned a lesson and
need to share it with the world. Watch your back.
By PAULR
SEE YA SIS.
I recently went back to Winterpeg to help my family and myself get over the passing of a very beautiful person, our sister, Karen “KJ” Asham. I don’t want to say she’s in a better place, because I don’t know what happens when you die, but I can say she’s in a better place because it is better now that she is there.
She left this world a brighter place because she passed through it and she was one of those people who happen to brighten up a place just because she’s there. She was always smiling or telling a joke. If you needed a hand or a hug or just a shoulder to rest on for a minute or two, she always had it. She did this for everyone, not just me. I was looking at pictures she posed for and I noticed that she was forever putting her best possible self on display. She dressed to the “nines” for any occasion and she always looked good. Her clothes were immaculate or at least clean and she had millions of outfits along with the accessories. Also in this newsletter you will find a little thing that KJ wrote sometime in her past. It might show a bit of the kind of person she was.
You may wonder why I’m writing this, so I’ll try to explain. When she died I was concerned for my family in
I would like to thank everyone for his or her kind support during the past few weeks. So sis, I’ll see you somewhere down the road and I hope you can forgive me for not letting your
hal
God Bless My Family and I
I Karen
Have Sympathy and Compassion for all who are tempted, a condition which me and my good friends have. I Karen have sympathy, which includes responsibilities and pity, because I have a remedy for my family & friends. Not a hoot, not a rock but I Karen bind up their wounds as best I can. I pray that I may have sympathy for those who have a temptation. I pray that god may have compassion for me and my good friends’ trials. And I Karen believe there is a path for each one of my family & friends and I have the great reality deep down inside and the attitude and inner voice I may follow. Not to turn a deaf ear to my family & friends but only pray in my heart deep down inside. I am grateful for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Pray for my family & friends to have faith, trust and the presence of god. I also pray my family & friends will be content with whatever happens in their lives. I was there to listen and pray for them, may god always be there, which I already know. Amen
Karen Joy Rundle (nee Asham)
June 25, 1957 - January 16, 2006
Hello Carnegie Centreites,
My name is Brad Fenton and I used to be heavily
involved in the Carnegie Centre Music Program. I'm just dropping a line to let you know that my band the Rippin' Rattlers, will be playing Malone's Bar and Grill on Pender Street in Vancouver, Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18. It's the first leg of a 3 week tour of the lower mainland and
I have Scotty Kokonis playing drums with me; he was also a local Downtown Eastside musician. We also have a talented fellow named Vince Curley in the band. So if you want to hear some good blues and rock n' roll come on down and say hi.
Hello to Dean O'brol, Chris Whitney, Barb Goodmunson, Earl Peache, Donna, and everybody else. If you want you can check out the band online at www.rippinrattlers.com
Free Dance WorkshopFree Dance Workshop
Carnegie Centre Gymnasium
Thursdays from 3:00 – 5:00 pm
(Starting February 16, 2006)
Karen Jamieson is offering this and it’s open to people at all levels Requirements are: an open mind, loose clothing and a willingness to seek movement, rhythm and connection to the body
All are welcome!
For more information call Rika at (604) 665 3003
Your Poem is on DisplayYour Poem is on Display
at the
Your poem has been selected for display at the World Poetry Fifth Anniversary Celebration, Vancouver Public Library, (Central branch) 350 West
Fifty one poems are on display under the banner World Poetry Gala along with one water crystal photograph entitled Love of Humanity. We have the official permission of Dr. Masaru Emoto in
In front of the large poetry display are two glassed in tables which contain World Poetry books and objects as well as items from World Poetry Ambassadors and World Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award Winners, Vera Manuel and Laszlo Gati. If you live in the
It is wonderful to see a tangible display of our dedication and hard work. All the best!
Ariadne Sawyer
World Poetry Media Director.
THE ANARCHIST SURREALIST JAMBOREETHE ANARCHIST SURREALIST JAMBOREE
It's coming to Carnegie March 3-5, a weekend to sing, dance, laugh, talk, see, dream, play, live, believe, create, make-believe, a carnival of art, films,
politics, music, and performance.
Webster's dictionary defines a Jamboree as a "noisy revel." If you're wondering what anarchism and surrealism have to do with it, you'll find out at the Jamboree. Meanwhile, here's something to chew on:
DEMANDING THE IMPOSSIBLE
An Anarcho-Surrealist Manifesto
"I is an other. So what if a piece of wood discovers it is a violin. If brass wakes as a bugle, it is not its fault at all." - Arthur Rimbaud (1871)
"By demanding the impossible, we become impossible in our demands. Make no mistake about it, we demand an end to all forms of domination and insist on the realization of poetry in everyday life. Only by erasing the artificial dichotomy between dream and reality can we sever the ties that bind revolutionary demands to a miserabilist search for the best of all possible rulers.
What is more humiliating than to be ruled? What is more beautiful to a surrealist than the shattered glass of reality? All power to the insurgent imagination!
The unfurling of the black flag of anarchy augers all the wonders that can be created when subservience dies and the impossible is unleashed.
What is more debilitating than to follow orders? What is more inspiring to an anarchist than the refusal to obey? Mutiny is a collective form of refusal
in which the intensity of the fevered desire for liberty breaks the authoritarian chains of duty and coercion in th convulsive heat of mutual aid. Impatient to emancipate ourselves, as soon as the uncharted land of our dreams is in sight, we don't petition the captain to take us ashore, we simply jump ship.
Swimming to shore, we are swiftly carried along by the billowing waves of the social revolution. The splendid winds of change, blowing at gale force as if in harmony with the intensity of our desires, even cause the brass ornaments on deck to reverberate wildly in a jamboree bugle call of Marvelous Freedom. Looking back, we see the floundering ship of state, from which we have only narrowly escaped with our lives suddenly hit a hidden reef and explode into a shower of debris. In awe, we watch the flying splinters of wood transform themselves as if by alchemy into a thousand screaming violins. In spontaneous freedom, they improvise with the aolian harpsound of the wind, the ocean's leonine roar and the seagulls' incessant cries; all vibrating together in the surreal key of anarchy.
Reality is no obstacle now as the impossible looms up before us on the horizon like the purple aura that circles the moon in a subversive halo of Mad Love. We dance all night in sweaty abandon on the beach, swim naked in the coolness of the moonlight, then fall asleep in each other's arms dreaming of anarchy and surrealism--the impossible compass points of a
world turned upside down."
[Details and schedule for the Jamboree in the next Carnegie Newsletter.
Bob Sarti
I CANNOT DRAW NEARI CANNOT DRAW NEAR
I cannot draw near
The angels block my way
In the evening & the morning
The gate is well guarded
I am hidden high in the dogwood
Waiting for my chance
I remember too well their voices
Shouting that I must abandon
All hope
I remember the trumpets calling
Eager to be saved, I stumbled forward
Suddenly there were chains upon me
-Is this a trick?- I cried
The judgement hall was cold & white
The judges’ voices hard & clear
-Stand
you thrall
you have not been saved
Judgement calls you to your grave
You are not like us
You must remain without-
And so I sit, poor beast
In the rain
& bide my time
Yet I still long
for the company
of saints
Earle Peach
"You Haven't Heard The Last Of Me""You Haven't Heard The Last Of Me"
Chief Katie Rich of Davis Inlet,
jailed for evicting
a provincial court judge
from her community,
spoke to a
"When I was growing up," she said,
"I was taught
that this was Innu land,
that the Innu
have always lived
according to their own values,
traditions and laws.
My parents taught me this.
When I was growing up,
I listened to the Elders.
They told stories
about threats made to them
if they didn't send
their children to school.
What choice do we have?
When you look at the people
in Davis Inlet,
you see how your agencies
have been involved
in the destruction
of our nation.
Over the years
we have said the same thing
over and over,
but it seems to go in one ear
and out the other.
I needed to do something.
My children have the right
to exist as human beings.
When we stand up for ourselves,
to correct the wrongs,
we end up in court.
We are branded as criminals.
I don't see myself as a criminal.
My people have been crying
for a long time.
No one has listened.
When I talked to my children,
I told them that
if the Court decided
to place me in jail,
I'm willing to make the sacrifice.
If I had another opportunity,
I would do it again.
You haven't heard the last of me.
We have the right
to exist as a people.
My grandfather never signed any treaty,
yet we were pushed aside.
But if you come to the community today,
you'll see people are standing up,
taking risks of being sent to jail.
If we try to pick up the pieces,
we realize the power we have.
We will see more of this power."
Excerpts from Katie Rich's testimony before the Newfoundland Court,
Carnegie Community Action Project
Rich Coleman
Minister Responsible for Housing
Re: Meeting request
I am writing on behalf of the 5000 members of the Carnegie Community Centre Association and the Carnegie Community Action Project to ask for a meeting with you as soon as possible. We have some ideas on revitalizaion of the Downtown Eastside’s business climate that we would like to present to you, in light of your recent comments about the Downtown Eastside and social housing to the Canadian Home Builders Association on Jan. 11th. We would also like to discuss the idea of replacing social housing with rent supplements for private housing. I can be contacted at swancam@vcn.bc.ca or by phone at 604 729-2380 or 604 298-1614. Thanks.
Jean Swanson, CCAP co-ordinator
Twenty five years after working as a community organizer with the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association I’ve come back to the neighbourhood as a retired person, volunteering at the Carnegie Centre. One good thing about being older is that you have actually experienced a little history. I believe there are some lessons for policy makers in what I can remember about the Downtown Eastside.
Thirty years ago, as now, the Downtown Eastside was a poor neighbourhood. Then, as now, people with addictions were visible on the street (in richer parts of town people with addictions tend to stay in more). In those days alcohol was the drug used most often. Now it’s often other kinds of drugs. In the Downtown Eastside many buildings are built to have stores or services at street level and residents on the upper floors. In some ways it’s ideal for business because your customers just live upstairs. And it worked thirty years ago. The stores along
Why are so many storefronts in the DE boarded up? One important reason is that the low income residents of the DE have lost a huge amount of purchasing power in the last three decades. Thirty years ago, as now, most DE residents depended on low wage work, pensions, unemployment insurance or welfare for their income. Let’s look at what’s happened to those sources of income.
In 1975 the minimum wage in BC was 122 percent of the poverty line for a single person in a city (source: Social Planning Council of Metro Toronto, Social Infopac, June, 1975). Today the $8 an hour minimum wage is 78 percent of the poverty line for a 37.5 hour week (Source: author’s calculations, National Council of Welfare). This means people whose health keeps them from working full time, because they have depression for example, can’t survive on part time work by living frugally. It means that when the government welfare ministry uses job finding agencies and programs to push people on welfare into often part time work, they are pushing them from poverty on welfare to working poverty.
To look at it another way, a single person would have to make $12.51 an hour at a full time 37.5 hour a week job to have the same purchasing power as a minimum wage worker had in 1975. A person who depends on today’s $6 an hour so-called training wage, will only make 58 percent of the today’s poverty line with a full time minimum wage job.
If you assume that 25 percent of DE residents are working at full time minimum wage jobs, an increase in minimum wage to the poverty line ($10.26) would increase purchasing power in the neighbourhood by over a million dollars a month.
What about employment insurance? Before 1989, 80 to 90 % of unemployed workers were able to get UI. Now the percentage is more like 30 to 40. In the Downtown Eastside where many workers are part time, I suspect that it would be unusual for people to even get enough hours of work to qualify for EI. EI only pays 50 % of your previous income, which in the DE is usually low. As a result, I suspect that UI, a major source of income for Downtown Eastside residents in the 70s and 80s, is practically irrelevant now. The unemployed go straight to welfare, if they can get it. No wonder there is very little purchasing power in the Downtown Eastside. check Jim Sayre’s email
Today about 30 percent of Downtown Eastside residents get their income from welfare according to the City (source: Downtown Eastside Monitoring Report, 2004). Welfare for a single person whom the ministry considers employable is a maximum of $510 a month, $185 for support and $325 for shelter. In 1981 the support portion of welfare was $205, more than it is today, 25 years of inflation later. Only 19% of DE rooms rent for $325 or less so most people end up using food money for rent (ibid). Or, take 1989, when our present Minister of Employment and Income Assistance was also in charge of welfare. In those days, Claude Richmond increased the rates to $468 per month for a single person. For that $468 to have the same purchasing power today as it had in 1989, it would have to be $669 (author’s calculations using Bank of Canada inflation calculator). If the current welfare rate were raised to equal the purchasing power that it had in 1989, there would be $763,000 more purchasing power in the DE per month!
In the 1970s and 80s, the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) governed welfare payments in
These huge changes to social programs and minimum wage have created a massive depth of poverty, unknown in
The city is constantly talking about “revitalizing” the Downtown Eastside. The Minister in charge of housing calls the Downtown Eastside a “failed social experiment.”
Jean Swanson, CCAP co-ordinator
I won’t be going south for a while…
By Jorge Escolan-Suay
I have heard different variations of this story from people of the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and
“A simple tale of love”
In a forgotten mall outside Winnipeg, every Tuesday, when fifteen year-old Gregg came to the pharmacy with his mother Sue to get the prescriptions, he also went to the little music & video store to get some music or a game. Well, that was merely an excuse to have the chance to see and talk for a couple of minutes with Alfonsina – the curly-haired part time worker of the store; a seventeen year-old immigrant from
Gregg was not to reach sixteen. A brain tumor that he had fought the last two years took his life that summer. One Tuesday, some weeks after the funeral, Sue was at the mall and went to the little music store. When Alfonsina heard about Gregg’s passing, she could not avoid big slumbers in her eyes. A very compassionate person, Sue invited Alfonsina to her home where she lived with her husband and Gregg’s younger sister.
The day Alfonsina came Sue she told her that, by Gregg, she knew she played the guitar, and asked her if she wanted to see Gregg’s paintings around the house –more than twenty five works. When they reach Gregg’s room, Alfonsina saw an amazing landscape: a collection of stamps, a little gallery of rocks, a soccer scorer trophy and the CD’s…two of them still unwrapped –in the cellophane wrap she had prepared. Before leaving that room, Alphonsina told Sue that she had written a note for Gregg and packed in each one of those two CD’s. Sue immediately unwrapped the CD’s and handed the sealed mini envelops to Alfonsina, adding softly: “return to sender”.
Alfonsina opened them and passed the two small papers to Sue, saying: “Please, I would like you to read them…please!
Message number one: “Hey, I enjoy listening to the same music you do. I want to be your friend.”
Message number two: “I will be playing classic guitar, three weeks from now at the
After reading the messages Sue embraced Alfonsina, and they remained silent a couple of seconds. At the door, when they were saying goodnight, Sue handed a parcel to Alfonsina saying: “He didn’t finish painting this one, but please I would like you to keep it.”
Once at her home Alfonsina unwrapped the painting; it was the most beautiful painting she had ever seen, very simple: A curly-haired girl playing the guitar, sitting on the bench of a bus stop; at the distance the building of a mall was to be seen in perspective. Alfonsina took a deep breath, it was a starry night, her eyes were lost in the sky, looking to the stars.
As epilogue, I’d like to use words of the poet Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: “Those who have been loved and cultivated love in their hearts, they never die.”
This article is dedicated to a Great Hero: Louie Sam, a fourteen year old boy from The Sto:Lo Nation (Fraser Valley), who on a February night of 1884, was taken from the custody of the British Columbia police, and cowardly murdered on Canadian soil, by a mob of 120 U.S. white men, called themselves “vigilantes” from Washington State. I say: “Louie: you were innocent then, you are innocent now and you will be always innocent. You will never die.
Bud Osborn & Richard Tetrault – Exhibition and ReadingBud Osborn & Richard Tetrault – Exhibition and
Vancouver Public Library and Anvil Press present an exciting program by Bud Osborn and Richard Tetrault. Signs of the Times reunites the powerful poetry of Bud Osborn with the dynamic relief prints of artist Richard Tetrault. As with their first collection,
PAINTED LIVES & SHIFTING LANDSCAPES is a richly illustrated book that showcases the artwork of painter, printmaker, and muralist Richard Tetrault. In its 160 pages, this book portrays the artist’s broad-ranging impressions drawn from the cities’ edgy urban core and industrial waterfront. “Richard’s paintings, prints and murals fuse together figures with urban landscape, creating a timeless space that invites the viewer to look through windows into both past and future.” —Pam Fairfield
Bud Osborn has been a poet and social activist for nearly 40 years. Instrumental in founding such harm reduction organizations as VANDU (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users), Bud Osborn has been called “the one who started it all” in the battle for Safe Injection Sites by former Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell. Bud Osborn’s poetry credo is “fidelity to lived experience.” He has published five books of poetry including LONESOME MONSTERS (Anvil, 1995), HUNDRED BLOCK ROCK (Arsenal Pulp, 1999),
Richard Tetrault has lived and worked in the Eastside of Vancouver for more than 30 years, making this area of the city a focus for his paintings and prints, as well as the location for many of his public murals. Recent exhibitions include a print show in
Bud Osborn will read from Signs of the Times, and artist/curator Pam Fairfield and gallery director Patrick Montgomery will read from Painted Lives & Shifting Landscapes. A selection of the original prints and paintings from each of these books will also be on display.
DATE OF PROGRAM:
Wednesday, March 1st at 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION OF PROGRAM:
Central Library,
Held in the Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye room
Admission is free; all are welcome.
News fron the LibraryNew Books:
More aboriginal language books are now available for reference use in the library. These include The Lillooet Language: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax by Jan van Eijk (497), Sm’algyax: A Reference Dictionary and Grammar for the Coast Tsimshian Language (497) and Alberta Elders’ Cree Dictionary, edited by Earle Waugh (497). All these books are reference are kept behind the desk and can only be used in the library.
Take a look at the display case on the third floor for a whole range of other First Nations books. In Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming (299.7), Winona La Duke, a Native American activist, studies the powerful links between the material and spiritual aspects of Native cultures. Paddling to Where I Stand: Agnes Alfred, Qwiqwasutinuxw Noblewoman (970.3) is the first-hand account of one of the last great storytellers of her generation. Agnes Alfred wove her stories from myths, chants, historical accounts and personal reminiscences, and she shows how a First Nations woman managed to quietly fulfill her role as a noble matriarch in an ever-changing society. In Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom (970.41), Taiaiake Alfred speaks “truly dangerous words about Canadian colonialism, the need for substantive restitution rather than mere recognition of Aboriginal rights, for autonomy rather than dependent forms of self-government, and for peaceful coexistence between and among indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.”
Beth, your librarian
LITTLE GIRL
You once had such innocence
Dreams and gleamy eyes
Out of the shadows of darkness
Came an overpowering figure
And took that all away.
Dark and tall a shadow came
A lonely child I was in need
Your kisses and hugs
I was happy to receive
Then you unzipped your pants
Out came a monster
My legs spread wide
The monster had hurt
Where did that soft touch go?
A kiss so delight
A hug so tender
Favours, favours,
Come little girl
Let my monster penetrate you
With pain and hurt so horrid
It was blocked out for eons upon eons
Only to flood back
When I was most vulnerable
Little girl
Tried with innocence
Cry out, cry out
Mama help me
The monster hurt me ,
Between my legs he has invaded
Exchanging his white blood
For my red blood
Mama,
Help little girl you did not
Instead her little arms you broke
Don’t tell a story
Don’t tell a lie
Mama you did said little girl
Savagely,
You beat little girl
Until her brother
Saved her life
By dragging her under the table
Only to endure years
Of the monster’s invasion
Between her legs
What was her reward?
But a pack of dad’s cookies
She came to hate
For the rest of her life
Little girl, little girl
Don’t cry ,
Eat your cookies
You’ll be alright
SYLVIA SHARON ISAAC a sexual abuse survivor
I Am MethI Am Meth
I destroy homes, I tear families apart,
I take your children, and that's just the start.
I'm more costly than diamonds, more precious than gold,
The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold.
If you need me, remember I'm easily found,
I live all around you - in schools and in town
I live with the rich, I live with the poor,
I live down the street, and maybe next door.
I'm made in a lab, but not like you think,
I can be made under the kitchen sink.
In your child's closet, and even in the woods,
If this scares you to death, well it certainly should.
I have many names, but there's one you know best,
I'm sure you've heard of me, my name is crystal meth.
My power is awesome; try me you'll see,
But if you do, you may never break free.
Just try me once and I might let you go
But try me twice, and I'll own your soul.
When I possess you, you'll steal and you'll lie,
You do what you have to — just to get high.
The crimes you'll commit for my narcotic charms
Will be worth the pleasure you'll feel in your arms.
You'll lie to your mother, you'll steal from your dad,
When you see their tears, you should feel sad.
But you'll forget your morals and how you were raised,
I'll be your conscience, I'll teach you my ways.
I take kids from parents, and parents from kids,
I turn people from God, and separate friends.
I'll take everything from you, your looks and your pride
I'll be with you always — right by your side.
You'll give up everything - your family, your home,
Your friends, your money, then you'll be alone.
I'll take and take, till you have nothing more to give,
When I'm finished with you, you'll be lucky to live.
If you try me be warned - this is no game,
If given the chance, I'll drive you insane.
I'll ravish your body, I'll control your mind,
I'll own you completely, your soul will be mine.
The nightmares I'll give you while lying in bed,
The voices you'll hear, from inside your head.
The sweats, the shakes, the visions you'll see,
I want you to know, these are all gifts from me.
But then it's too late, and you'll know in your heart,
That you are mine, and we shall not part.
You'll regret that you tried me, they always do,
But you came to me, not I to you.
You knew this would happen, many times you were told,
But you challenged my power, and chose to be bold.
You could have said no, and just walked away,
If you could live that day over, now what would you say?
I'll be your master, you will be my slave,
I'll even go with you, when you go to your grave.
Now that you have met me, what will you do?
Will you try me or not? It's all up to you.
I can bring you more misery than words can tell,
Come take my hand, let me lead you to hell.
Submitted anonymously.
BLESSINGS & CURSESBLESSINGS & CURSES
Curses on the following:
Those who refuse to talk to members of another group because
-they are hypocrites
-they are troublemakers
-they are unimportant/too important
-they are oppressors
Those who are ideologically pure
Those who know WHAT MUST BE DONE
Those who believe someone else should fix the problem
Those who believe there is no problem
Those who believe people whose problem it is
should fix it themselves
Blessings on the following:
Grunters, sweaters, farters, eaters, breathers
TERMINATOR BAN UnderminedTERMINATOR BAN Undermined At UN Meeting
In
The National Farmers Union (NFU) of
A worldwide de-facto moratorium on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs – popularly known as “Terminator” technology) was undermined this past week at a United Nations conference in
A resolution adopted at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in
Terry Boehm, NFU Vice-President and Chair of the Ban Terminator campaign in Canada, said officials from the Canadian Department of Environment tried to accomplish this objective last year at a similar meeting in Bangkok, but backed off following strong public opposition in Canada and worldwide.
“This time around, the Canadian delegation is involved in a supporting role, with the governments of
Boehm said the Canadian delegation appears to be taking advantage of a change in government to push though an agenda that benefits large multinational seed and chemical companies.
Colleen Ross, NFU Women’s President, said the CBD consultations in
“Terminator is the ultimate tool in controlling the world’s food supply, because it forces farmers to buy seeds from the handful of seed companies which dominate the global market,” she said.
Other citizens’ groups supporting the stance of the NFU and NFFC in opposing Terminator include: The Council of Canadians, the ETC Group, Inter Pares, Saskatchewan Organic Directorate, Beyond Factory Farming, GenEthics of Australia, the National Council of Women of Canada, and others.
Movie Industry Union and Catering CrewsMovie Industry
Extravaganza in
On the weekend before Xnas, the mother of all Christmas dinners took place: it has formally been as a tribute to Sister Hilda and her important work in the Downtown Eastside.
It was scheduled to start at 11am, but that isn’t how this spectacle gets underway. Aficionados, groupies and hungry, homeless and/or suffering know that this is the best, bar none, for all guests and attendees.
Besides all the turkey dinners you can eat (if you want to keep lining up and wait 2 hours more) there is live entertainment, catered food that is equal to what the wealthy are having, volunteers galore and even the opportunity to see “real” movie stars.
It must take weeks to organize, plan, get permits, fundraise and work out the logistics of this grand thingie. There was an equal amount of energy that went into His & Her free clothing tents, the cigarette giveaways – 2 each and the line was a continuous circle until all were gone – and the entire scenario played itself out in mid-afternoon.
The crews, volunteers and organizers then cleaned up everything, dismantled all the re-uisable stuff, stopped the music and left. The only sign that anything had happened were the few roadblockers in ragged piles. They were all that were temporarily muddying the field of the stronghold, the necessary neighbourhood refuge, the tranquility of
Robyn Livingstone
A CAUTIONARY TALE (Part One)A CAUTIONARY TALE (PART ONE)
As an interested bystander during the last federal election I have come to some disturbing conclusions as to what we all saw transpire on Jan. 23, and in the campaign leading up to decision day. Observations, I might add, that were never mentioned by the political pundits in the papers or by the talking heads on the boob tube.
First and most obviously was the not-so surprising victory, albeit a partial one, by Stephen Harper and his resurrected Conservative party. While it was good copy to have the Liberals dethroned in this current installment of parliament, the fact of the matter is that we just traded one overweight, neutered house cat for another. A hamstrung minority in the house means that no meaningful legislation will be advanced as the Liberals and the NDP are traditionally allies in any previous minority government scenario, and neither one is likely to side with the conservatives when votes on new laws arise.
Mankind has made enormous strides in all areas of human endeavor; the sciences, medicine, technological innovation, information and communications systems, sports, the arts etc. The point is that in all these areas of the humanities people strive constantly to break new ground, to gain new insights into the world around us and beyond. We've mapped the human genome and cloned critters in laboratories, explored Mars and the moon. We've continually broken Olympic records (whether by enhancement or not) always pushing the edge of the envelope, trying to improve the human condition and grow as a species.
Why is it that the system of governance, which is purportedly there to serve society, why is it that those in (ahem, this catches in my throat) public service conduct their affairs in essentially the same manner as their predecessors did back in the 1950's. From the same insulting campaign promises that we all know beforehand for the most part will not be kept, to the inane mudslinging and shameless name calling in an attempt to win our votes. The exact same tactics that have been employed over the last 50 or 60 years. Not to mention the same self-serving, simpering sycophants that make up the bureaucracies of government, the political lobbyists ( read political hacks ), the party fundraising mechanisms and all the rest of that good ole' boy networking that ensures that friends of friends receive those big juicy infrastructure contracts ( for a modest kickback of course, as a matter of course) ad nauseum.
In this one critical area of human endeavor, that of social engineering and governance, we continually settle for tepid mediocrity (in the best of circumstances). Granted there have been flickering candles of light and hope during the last half century, men and women like P.E. Trudeau, LB. Pearson and J.F. Kennedy, Nellie McLung, Loretta King and Libby Davies. The problem is that we do not see these guiding lights nearly often enough.
The solution? Well that is a topic for another day but believe me when I tell you that the solution is well within our grasp, the examples are already there for us in history if we only would take the time to look and think or ourselves and not swallow that pap we are continually fed time after time.
Rabble Rouser
Tribute to the Downtown Eastside Murdered WomenTribute to the Downtown Eastside Murdered Women
Wives and mothers
Their labour is in vain!
Victims of social injustice
It’s bestowed upon them
The sleep of death.
Paramount Powers
eroticized aggression
Psychological weaknesses towards women
Charged by men’s egoistic control
that sheds innocent blood
Society’s condoning of violence, rape,
murder, poverty and prejudice,
gender inequality,
Makes them victims of a domineering
insensitive culture
Power of Patriarchy
with their indignant destruction of
Matriarchal Values.
Law, Business,
Economic & gender warfare encouraging abuse
Conflicting layers of regulations
Paperwork, then murder!
Legitimize the beast of man
Eating into the woman psyche.
Seventy and five children or more
They’re suffocating – grief and hurt
Strong as death, cruel as the grave
A vexation to their Spirit.
Darkness and the shadow of death
Shall not hide judgement
As long as the sun and the moon endure
AYISHA
