Contents
- Michael Clague is made a Member of The Order of Canada
- Celebrate!
- CARNEGIE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
- Dear friends,
- Making Your Mark on the Vancouver Map: A free 4 week workshop
- To All the Volunteers of Carnegie
- Margaret Prevost, President. Carnegie Community Centre Association
- Congratulations to our two new Board members
- People demand freedom of speech as a compensation...
- Sounds Like Canada: "Shocked at $5-7/day"
- Council, Mayor,
- Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre
- Mayor Sullivan and City council,
- Untitled Poem *for Diane Wood
- Fighting for Scraps
- Food Bank Closure at Door is Open ‘Beyond Logic”
- Mother Nature’s Skies
- Democracy is playing like Foolocracy
- The Aftermath
- I want to express my opinion but,
- DTESers are not from Vancouver says NIMBY
- Raise the Rates to $1300/month
- Check out what CCAP did in 2007
- Prepare for rezoning: Vision for a better hood
- DERA Wins! Evictions for Renovations at the Dominion NOT Legal
- Fight the bulldozer plan in 2008
- Missing Women
- Missing
- The Making Of A Documentary
- Carnegie Library’s New French Collection
- News from the Library
- The FACEBOOK Trap!
- Even more vicious and ludicrous:
- Helping Hands from The Seventh-Day Adventists Church
- To the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance (MEIA):
- Huckleberry and Me
- When You See Me On The Street
- Missed it by a Minute
- Perpetual In-Action Ranting
- The Atomization of a Poem and the Poem Itself
- Housing Crisis
- I am a child of the universe
- TIME TO TELL
- Cell Phone Junkie
- Spirit Call
- Jesus Came Down From the Cross
Michael Clague is made a Member of
The Order of Canada
Local Kid Makes Good. After several years trying to recuperate from the fun of working here, Michael is being forced to come out from behind-the-scenes.
Not that he has stage fright or is overly shy (Hah!)
Operating on the somewhat misplaced principle of “Speak no ill of the dead” “Speak only good of the dead” the newspaper article says he got awarded for his work in social services. Michael retired about a year and a half ago as director of our Carnegie Centre (not the ‘several years’ the paper wants us to swallow, and I can only hope he was never stuck with the moniker “executive” – that implies he was in charge!? ) The article goes on to say he was the executive director of the Britannia Community Centre, the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria and the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. Who knows? Maaaybe…
Michael did okay while he was here (in Carnegie) and rumour has it that they still let him in the door without security having to keep a hairy eyeball on him. The Heart of the City Festival started during his tenure and he remains without visible scars for his support of the local Arts Community.
We rely on Barb, his better ten-elevenths, to keep his constantly swelling head humbled. It was a task for those of us at the Carnegie Newsletter, even when his sterling presence was somewhat overdone in other media and we tried to be nice in setting the record straight. The 100th Anniversary of the Carnegie building was a case in point. He doesn't look that old.
On the other hand, Mike is a good guy to have on your side when coming head-to-pocketbook with the snobs and snots of extreme community makeovers.
Alas, Poor Michael. Suffering self-righteously pissed wannabees at local meetings after same were featured in biased, insulting and crude coverage in Ye Olde Carnegie Newsletter
All the best.
By PAULR TAYLOR
Dear people,
It has always amazed me that the press, in all their wisdom, for the most part focuses on the negatives about the Downtown Eastside.
I, personally, think 2007 has been one of those years that we will look back on and possibly say “that’s when I started to notice the difference,” or think that there was something different in the air.
I am not saying that all of our problems are solved or that the broader community gets that we are more than the visual they only relate to at Xmas time. It’s not that we don’t’ appreciate the thoughts or contributions; however, our struggle is to be recognized as a functioning community that yes, has its problems, but also has a lot to offer.
We want to be included in decision-making in and about our community. We want to know that we have a say in any planning, whether it be buildings or by-laws, which affects our community. No-one knows the obstacles and challenges,(and yes, how to fix it), that face the members of our community better than we ourselves.
Having said that, I wanted to start a list, and I ask for your patience as I know I haven’t covered everything, that says: we’ve been busy making sure our voices are heard and that the points listed here are achievements to be proud of.
The 2007CELEBRATE THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE ACHIEVEMENTS List
..The Award to Jean Swanson for her continuous and consistent work for the disenfranchised and for housing in the downtown eastside.
..the appointment of Wendy Pederson as CCAP co-ordinator which has played a huge role in the continuous profile of housing needs in the Downtown Eastside….well done
..the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre’s successful efforts to create night programming for homeless women in the downtown eastside and for the appointment of Harsha Wahlia as coordinator of the Power To Women Group. She has mobilized both DEWC women and women from the community at large to participate in furthering equality for women.
..the work of INSITE to continue to be proactive in its efforts to save this essential program for the Downtown Eastside community.
..the Carnegie Centre for staying open during the strike and their continual operations of a vital service centre in the Downtown Eastside
..the United Nations forum and the Special Rapporteur, Miloon Kothari; who came to see for himself the housing travesty taking place in our community by walking the streets and talking amongst us.
..the Downtown Eastside Community Arts Network for the first Fearless Festival which took place on Canada Day in Pigeon Park
..the Aboriginal Mothers Centre for program initiatives that create opportunity and have a positive and long-lasting impact on young mothers.
..Nathan & Chapel Arts Centre for its tenacity in staying open and with us despite all the road blocks that City Hall, in all its wisdom, created for him to be there.
..FEARless TV, Sid Chow Tan & his volunteers who, through television programming, give voice to members of the Downtown Eastside
..the 2007 In The Heart Of The City Festival which grew in quality, content and diversity
..the City Opera society for bringing opera to the Downtown Eastside and its determination to contribute to the artistic fabric of our community
..Donna Spencer, the staff and the Firehall Theatre for their continuous support of out-of-the-main-stream theatre
..the continued progress of communication between artists and art groups to becoming more unified in their vision of the Downtown Eastside from an artist’s perspective.
..the 21st birthday of the Carnegie Newsletter, it’s twice-a-month publication of 20-28 pages of writing, poetry and graphic art fostering ideas and activism and going around the community as a must-read; the 37th edition of Help in the Downtown Eastside.
..the many individuals who have made an effort to improve their lives by making changes, volunteering, speaking up and out…..IF THIS MEANS YOU
“THANK YOU” FOR TAKING THAT STEP.
There are lots of other good news stories for our community, the Downtown Eastside, that are not listed. This is just a sample of things that are exciting and positive.
Our challenge for 2008; get connected, get involved, start participating whether it’s the poetry corner at Carnegie or helping with a mail-out; whether its’ marching for the Missing Women or taking part in a drum circle: GET INVOLVED.
In peace,
Dalannah Gail Bowen CARNEGIE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
CARNEGIE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
‘Twas right before Christmas, when all from the street,
Came to the Carnegie for a free Christmas treat;
The coffee was served by volunteers there,
In hopes that everyone would get their share;
Egor was nestled in, showing a Christmas flick,
While sleepers annoy security Rick;
And Rika in her elf hat, and Mikey in his cap,
Had just settled down for the long night of crap,
When out on the step there arose such a clatter,
Alex sprang from the desk to see what was the matter.
Solving the problem, he came back into this place,
only to see the surprise on poor Daniel's face.
When a patron stumbles in full of cheer,
with no winter jacket but carrying a beer,
With Alex flex'n his muscle, and Rick's toothy grin,
The fellow had no hope of even getting in.
As the man staggered away, beverage in hand,
Christmas tunes can be heard, played by our band.
Now they whistled and sang and we called out their names;
"Sing, Mark! Sing, Dean! Sing, Stan and Andy!
Play Steve and Mike! Play, Robyn and Ricky!
Without any pitch! Louder than all!
While Marlene complained she had too much to do,
Jerry's chili was causing a line at the loo.
So on the third floor, the fingers they flew,
Poking fun at the staff, even Mr. Moss too.
Bob came after midnight, when the bellies were full, \
His task is now easy; the staff thinks "That's BULL!"
We could hear the mumblings, they are quite clear,
"Bob will be servin' Chili this time next year!"
Well that is our story; hope it wasn't a bore,
Now the people are being herded straight out the door.
"Merry Christmas to all, now get out of here.
Jason & Keith
Dear friends,
It’s with great sadness that I heard about the death of dear Chris Laird. I had tried to get hold of him before Christmas as I hadn't heard from him and was worried about him. I really loved seeing him, his quiet way of helping people, his care for people and his deep concern about health in the Downtown Eastside and his advocacy for people with diabetes.
He was a wonderful person and like many I will miss his presence and strength in the community. I always think he was one of the unsung heroes in the DES. He really worked so hard and always so positive and it feels like a terrible loss. But I think he would want people to keep active and keep strong and care for each other - like he did.
Libby Davies
MP Vancouver East
Hello Friends
Chris Laird, a popular community activist of the Downtown Eastside, passed away on January 4th 2008. Chris cared about his community and became a Board Member of DERA & Carnegie Community Centre Association for many years, and the Diabetes Foundation invited Chris to attend and speak at Diabetes events. They had him do quite a lot of things.
Carnegie will be celebrating Chris Laird's life on January 30th 2008 @ 4 PM in the Carnegie Theatre on the 1st floor.
Making Your Mark on the Vancouver Map
A free 4 week workshop
Purpose: to submit a piece of writing (300 words maximum) to The Writing & Publishing Program’s Memory Project Contest
Dates: February 14th – March 6th, 3 – 5 pm Thursday afternoons
Where: at Carnegie Centre
Sign up: with 3rd floor admin office at the Carnegie Centre
Lead by: two graduate writers from The Writer’s Studio at SFU/Harbour Centre
The Writing & Publishing Program at SFU/Harbour Centre is seeking submissions of writing on people’s memories about Vancouver. These will be displayed at Harbour Centre and a later published in a small book.
Do you have a memory of a building, smell, person, time, experience or event that took place in Vancouver you want to write about? You can also include a photograph or artwork with your written piece.
The 4 week workshop will assist you in identifying the most interesting memory (or memories) that you might write about then provide a workshop in which you test out your piece of writing, finish it, and then submit you piece to the W&PP jury via the workshop leaders at the final workshop.
To All the Volunteers of Carnegie
To All the Volunteers of Carnegie
I salute you all. We are the best in what we do. We hardly get ‘paid’ but put up with all the abuse.
So there volunteers: I hope you keep up the good work. Thank you Paul Taylor for all of your free time and most of the good work in the Newsletter/
All my relations,
Your fellow volunteer, Bonnie Stevens
Margaret Prevost, President
Carnegie Community Centre Association
As you know, I have been the City’s Senior Planner for the Downtown Eastside since 1994. I will be leaving the City government in a few weeks and wanted to let you know how much I’ve come to appreciate and admire the work of the Carnegie staff, volunteers and the board that hold this incredible organization together.
The Carnegie Community Centre is one Vancouver’s finest achievements of the last 30 years. It has had a great line of staff directors including Dianne, Donald, Michael and now Ethel. It also had the strong and consistent leadership of board members like you and Muggs and others.
Like with any active organization, democracy doesn’t mean that everyone likes or agrees with one another or with others who work in the community – including City staff. Sometimes the arguments can be intensive. But the Carnegie Association has demonstrated that its formula is successful. It is the place I show people interested in learning about the best in inner city planning practices. None has ever come away without a sense of awe at how so many people can use a facility so intensively and creatively.
I have gone to many meetings at Carnegie and have stopped in talk with Paul, Tom, Peter, Wendy, Mathew, Jean, Bob(s), Leigh, Bud, Dan(s), Jeff, Sharon, Jim, Steven, John, Sandy, Rika, Andy and others. I especially enjoy the magic that is the theatre. In addition to intensive and informed community meetings, it’s amazing to see that room transformed to become the set for community plays, opera, jazz, poetry, drumming and every kind of ceremony.
Virtually every Carnegie initiative on which I’ve participated has proven to have been either successful or at least worth trying. These have included - closing problem businesses, lane clean-up, historic mosaics, Outdoor Street Program as well as developing the outdoor patio, the Contact Centre and other health facilities, Oppenheimer Park renovation, Downtown Eastside Housing Plan and the SRA By-law, and community arts - from the Walls of Change to Heart of the City.
The Carnegie Action Project reflects the views of many of the neighbourhood's low income residents and their supporters. It has worked tirelessly in raising public awareness of the issues of homelessness, displacement and the need to raise the welfare rate. It has helped me understand the importance of the Downtown Eastside banners in recognizing the community’s identity.
I know Carnegie will continue to work on these and emerging issues. I hope that you will welcome Jessica Chen in her new role as the Senior Planner for the Downtown Eastside and see her as a partner. She has been the planner for Chinatown and has worked on many other initiatives to help secure inclusive public spaces, affordable housing and the neighbourhood’s historic character.
Although I’m leaving City government, I intend to remain involved in some issues. I’ll also continue to subscribe to the Carnegie Newsletter - which, with Paul’s skill and persistence, is an incredible mix of poetry, politics, history, news and a voice for a community of people who really think about public issues and debate them with the passion and clarity that I wish every neighbourhood could experience.
Nathan Edelson
Congratulations to our two new Board members. The Carnegie Community Centre Association held a by-election at its meeting on January 10 and Sandra Parenteau and Rolf Auer were elected. This brings the active membership up to 14. The 15th member, elected in June 2007, is William Simpson, who remains barred from the Carnegie Centre indefinitely. It was a good example of bad journalism when the Vancouver Sun accepted one of its hack’s piddle about the scenario of Simpson and his persona non grata status. Barring of an individual from Carnegie is done according to the guidelines of Security. For the ban to be lifted, said individual must recognise that the behaviour went against "conduct...in a civil and proper manner." To regain access an honest person agrees not to induloge in said anti-social activities again. Simpson apparently refuses to do so.
A far subtler and more insidious action is that of the Sun's executive/owners. A journalism student would fail for submitting such trash but in the Sun it was placed at the top of Page 3 in the front section. Motive is to undermine credibility here, to foment a bogus controversy so our ongoing resistance to the corporate agenda of gentrification - poor or addicted or mentally ill or pensioners out, wealthy &/or good, honest consumers in - can be labelled as the delusion of 'a local special interest group.' I ask ya...
PaulR Taylor
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation...“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” - Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Sounds Like Canada: "Shocked at $5-7/day"
On Shelagh Roger's program (Sounds Like Canada), they are continuing with their health theme: specifically the adequacy/nutritional quality of hospital food.
What caught my attention (and the reason I am writing) is that they started talking about the dollars spent per day on food for hospital patients in the context of a patient 'bill of rights'.When the figure of $5-7 per day for food is mentioned, Shelagh Rogers gasps and says that she is shocked.
What galled me was that $5-7/day is found to be shocking even though most people on social assistance are forced to live on a lot less than that once they have paid their rent.
When I thought about why people are indifferent to the amounts which the poor are forced to rely on for food while being 'shocked' by the amounts spent on hospital food, I was reminded of what we saw so vividly when, in 1996, the feds repealed national standards/rights for the poor which had been protected in the Canada Assistance Plan while rigidly insisting on the maintenance of health care rights under the Canada Health Act; a classic double-standard for rights protections--essentially because the middle and upper middle class are big users of Medicare.
While clearly unintended, the CBC discussion on the quality of hospital food highlights that double standard--a genuine concern for adequacy/quality/ amounts spent on food but it is only a concern when it is the middle class which is forced onto a nutritionally inadequate diet.
email soundslikecanada@cbc.ca
Vince Calderhead, Halifax Council, Mayor,
Council, Mayor,
I am a resident of Vancouver’s West End. The current housing crisis affects a majority of Vancouver families and individuals. For people with multiple barriers this is often compounded by a lack of resources and support.
There is a lack of comprehension by the most privileged of this society about why someone would “choose homelessness” this is often how I’ve heard it referred to, as though one chooses: disability, mental illness, discrimination, harassment, assault.
Decades of cutbacks to essential social services created homelessness, along with complicit governments, unlimited growth, and lack of affordable housing. I was reading a statistic on the number of youth who are homeless in the United States; the number was over one million. Is this the legacy we want for our youth and children?
There is a solution to homelessness, by providing immediate and long term housing, as was advised by the United Nations. This responsibility lies Civically, Provincially and Nationally. In agreeing with speakers before me I want council to:
1. Stop advertising that they have solved homelessness. We’re far below the targets in the Homeless Action Plan.
2. Strengthen Bylaws and use all the other means to slow speculation in the DTES
3. Moratorium on the hotels so they don’t convert.
4. Replace hotels with decent housing in the DTES.
5. Advocate for welfare increase
Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre
Our new pamphlet Are you a renter in British Columbia?
is now available in English, Chinese, Punjabi, Spanish,
Korean, Japanese, Persian and Arabic.
Also, our new booklet, the Landlord Guide, is available
in English, Chinese and Punjabi.
You can order copies from TRAC by calling (604) 255-
3099 ext. 100 or by emailing info@tenants.bc.ca
Mayor Sullivan and City council,
With tourists arriving every hour, the homelessness of this city reflects very poorly on you as mayor and council, who were elected to serve us! And we are getting ready to show Vancouver to the world with the 2010 OLYMPICS!
We get to climb into our warm beds at night. Let's do something for the homeless now!
As a citizen of the city can we ask to have the Reserve Armouries opened for IMMEDIATE OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS to allow the homeless to have shelter at night? Colonel Bell, the current commanding officer of the British Columbia Regiment, along with the former commanding officer, were asked, and both officers stated that the Reserve Armouries are ready any time.
In fact, previous civic governments have utilized these buildings before -Under the Queen's regulations and orders, as well as the Natlonal Defence Act, the only requirement for "aide to the civil power" is that the municipal government ask for military aide!
As the temperature drops, we must remember that people are sleeping on sidewalks and doorways as we are peacefully crawling into our beds. Let's do something right now!!!!!
Please respond.
Brian Baker
(Originally sent in March 2007; again in December 2007)
Untitled Poem
*for Diane Wood, who knows I see Pam
every time I look at her.
“All you have to do is be a good man, one time, to one
woman, and that’ll be the end of the road.” -Janis Joplin
Euclid
Bishop Berkeley
Vermeer
Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
William Blake
Charlotte Bronte / reincarnated as Sylvia Plath
Emily Dickensen / reincarnated as Sylvia Plath
Soren Kierkegaard
August Strindberg
Fredrich Nietzsche
Fyodor Dostoyevskii
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Erwin Schrodinger
Wassily Kandinsky
Martin Heidigger
René Magritte
And every lesbian on earth for all time.
Stephen Belkin
Author’s note: See what happens when accuracy trumps aesthetics? Oh well, it is no less hallow for that nd by the way, just in case not everyone knows, Lesbians are sacred to men.
All my love from as near a distance as humanly possible, i.e. Green-Lantern-close –
"In brightest day
In darkest night
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might
Beware my power: Green Lantern’s Light."
- Stephen (i.e.) Belkin
Being a secretary for the Bicyclefiche messenger service. (The renuermation for which remains somewhat obscure.)
Bye for now. Kisses for all
and all a _____ night.
Fighting for Scraps
by Sean Condon
Outside of The Door is Open, the catholic charity on East Cordova, Mike Blenkhorn stands in the sun munching on some soup and a bun. Blenkhorn has been coming to The Door is Open for the past decade for prepared meals and canned food, but the recent decision by the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society to close down its food bank at the charity has made it more difficult for the Downtown Eastside resident to get fed.
“It’s a real pain,” he says, in between bites of food. “Now I have to go on my bike to get to another food bank, or I just don’t go.”
Last month the Food Bank closed its depot at The Door is Open, its only one in the Downtown East- side, because it felt that most of the people in the neighborhood did not have access to kitchen facili- ties to prepare their own meals. However, the Food Bank’s move has upset many in the DTES who feel they’ve lost an important resource.
“There are a lot of families in the Downtown East- side,” says Blenkhorn, “and they need to be able to prepare their own meals instead of being dependent on others to make their meals for them. Even those that live in [Single Room Occupancy hotels] have access to a hotplate and can cook their own food.”
While there are still lots of places in the neighbour- hood where people can get free or cheap meals, the food bank’s decision to close shop has taken the community by surprise. Julia Ruggier, who runs The Door is Open, says her regulars are complaining that the nearest food bank is too far. Now if residents want to access a food bank they have to go east of Nanaimo.
But Cheryl Prepchuck, the executive director of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, says it’s just a matter of re-prioritizing its services. Prepchuk says since most people in the neighborhood don’t have an ability to prepare their own food, the Food Bank has decided to give The Door is Open more food for prepared meals. So while there is no food bank at The Door is Open, the number of meals it prepares a week has increased from roughly 60 to 1,000. The Food Bank has also increased its food delivery program and doubled its resources for community kitchens in the neighborhood.
“What we’re tying to do is get people meals that are more nutritious and through community kitchen programs address people’s isolation challenges,” says Prepchuck.
However, the compensation is not sitting well with many in the Downtown Eastside. A petition is being circulated around the neighborhood by Rob Morgan from the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society asking for the food bank to be reinstated.
“We understand that the Food Bank gave 1000 more meals and support to community kitchens in ex- change,” the petition states. “However, we have our own cooking facilities and rely on the food bank donations so we don’t have to stand in lineups for soup or be in community kitchen groups in order to feed ourselves. We do not have bus fare to get to the nearest food bank outlet at the Longhouse on Frank- lin Street (back of London Drugs on Hastings).”
The closure has caused a great deal of anger and panic in the neighbourhood from people who already feel besieged by the dual forces of poverty and gentrification. While having access to a food bank can already be difficult for many people, at least they have a sense of normalcy by taking the food home and preparing it themselves. Despite the angry calls she’s received, Prepchuck insists there is no ulterior motive for closing the food bank down. Regardless, the move has now pitted many in the neighborhood against the food bank, which should be a natural ally, and forced the community to fight over scraps. ?
Food Bank Closure at Door is Open
‘Beyond Logic”
Want to vomit, read the "praising" report of Cheryl Prepchuk of the Vancouver Food Bank in last weekend's edition of the Courier. It did not mention what Cheryl recently did that affects nearly everyone in the DTES.
Cheryl, for a reason beyond logic, decided that the low income residents in the DTES did not need a foodbank at the Door is Open. She told the Door is Open that most of the residents in the DTES do not have stoves so if they are hungry they will line up at soup kitchens. Something like if you don't have bread, eat cake.
Cheryl arbitrarily decided to do this although the Oppenheimer area is mostly populated by people with social housing who do have kitchens.
Contrary to her statement that this ‘decision’ was arrived at after consultation with and agreement by the staff and volunteers “in the community” Eric Stamp, a regular volunteer there, said that no one knew about the closure until the last day when someone just announced it: “By the way, this is the last day for this Food Bank. If anyone comes by in 2 weeks (the service shut during the week welfare cheques came out) give them our phone number…” almost as an afterthought. “We’d give out food for hundreds of people every week,” said Eric. “This is just wrong. They think we’re stupid, that we won’t figure out that some people with money wanted it closed to increase property values or something.”
The food bank was closed in October 2007.. Now, the residents of the DTES, if they need a bag of groceries, have to trek all the way to Franklin and Penticton (near the PNE) (25-blocks).
Most residents in the DTES are on assistance or on pension, are elderly and have medical problems. It is too far to walk and then carry a bag of groceries back. And $2.25 each way for bus fare is very expensive.
If Cheryl cares about the poor why is that I have never seen and no one I know has ever seen her lobbying for them in the DTES. Maybe it has something to do with her six-figure salary.
Audrey Laferriere
Mother Nature’s Skies
CHORUS
Mother Nature’s Skies
Mother Nature’s Skies
Where is your disguise
For killing Mother Nature’s Skies
You crucified a man
Some kind of evil plan
I don’t understand
Why you kill the land
And Mother Nature’s Skies
CHORUS
You’re driving in your car
Trying to get to Mars
There is death upon the shores
You kill yourselves in wars
CHORUS
You doctor up disease
There are no bumble bees
You’re serving wine and cheese
While you’re killing trees
CHORUS
You’re always telling lies
And inventing alibis
Saying everything dies
While your baby and Mother Nature cries
FreeDom
Democracy is playing like Foolocracy
Democracy is defined as 'government of the people, by the people and for the people.' But in fact in the majority of the society are fools; wise people are always in a minority. Thus, finally democracy
is nothing but “foolocracy
The corporate powers control the press to a very high degree. The press and the professional pollsters create surveys to determine which candidate is leading-- before the actual election takes place. And based on these very polls-- which are easy for the capitalists to manipulate-- certain "unfavourable” candidates can be virtually ousted from the elections before a single vote is cast.
-Firstly, the public needs to be made adequately aware about every candidate's character and qualifications so that one will not be so easily swayed by popular opinion.
-Secondly, corporate powers must not be able to have such a firm grip on party elections.They should not be the ones controlling the newspapers and funding the polls which determine the popularity of a part icular candidate.
-Thirdly, in order to give proper weight to each vote, when the actual voting process does take place, all the votes should be kept strictly confidential and sealed until everyone has voted. Then and only then should the votes be counted and made known. In that way, those who vote first will not decide the entire outcome of the election. And those who vote later will not be affected by what earlier voters did.
Whether or not a candidate gets elected usually depends upon party affiliation, political patronage and election expenditure. In some cases it also depends on antisocial practices. Throughout the world, money plays a dominant role in the electoral process and, in nearly all cases, only those who are rich and powerful can hope to secure elected office.
The farce of democracy has been likened to a puppet show where a handful of power hungry politicians pull the strings from behind the scene. In liberal democracies, capitalists manipulate the mass media such as the radio, television and newspapers...there is little scope for honest, competent leaders to emerge in society
Mass education is one of the basic necessities for the successful and effective running of democracy. In some cases even educated people unjustly abuse their voting rights. People cast their votes at the insistence and inducement of misguided local leaders. To approach a polling booth like a herd of cattle to cast votes in ballot boxes is meaningless. Is this not a farce in the name of democracy?
P.R.Sarkar
The Aftermath
Children stolen from illumination Eagle’s embrace
The first phase of the circle of life.
Kidnapped and abused, shackled hearts forgotten,
Child within screams no more, dying’s freedom from pain.
The aftermath of survivors, traumatized for life. I dread a repeat
hellbent shocking memories, though many stories remain silent.
Still I search for truth of the Indian Residential Schools’ aftermath
Where many shattered dreams fall in an oblivious river of sin.
Culture stolen, lost pride, fragile dreams lost in a void,
No way in, No way out, deathwish screams at my door,
Alcohol and drugs all right! I’m now at the altar of death
Singing songs of blues, drowning my life in the aftermath of spoil
Awaken the innocent mouse and self-teaching coyote, teachers of life
And alter my silence, to speak truths that cry in vain.
The deadliest compounds of life are spoken lies
Poison rattles the world of prejudice and hate
The aftermath of all cultures and humanity’s fate.
The Aftermath: My Story
Awaken, awaken, awaken the horrid dreams of a nightmare
Suicidal highspeed chase, RCMP tried to put me in my place
Demon on wheels, clocked in at over 120 mph
Alcohol pumpin’ faster in my alcoholic brain waves
Curse it! Curse it! I scream out my open window
Come get me copper, this is no fantasy, no Hollywood dream.
Violently I inflict diabolical, fender-bending pain on 14
Cop cruisers – all totalled out – smoke flying wheels burning
rubber people running Hell’s going crazy with vanishing paint!
I attempt a 90 degree turn while racing over 120 mph
Hit a curb, blew two front tires, didn’t make it...
One block later, 20 trigger-happy cops with drawn shotguns
Surround my hellspent, brutal and insanely driven monster.
I strummed a limp lizard, holding strings to a guitar, or was that
a case of hightest beer I drunk b’fore my surrender to those cops
threatening to blow my alcoholic brain waves away. Rhythmic
rebounds chased away lyrical sounds of yesterday’s nightmare.
Sounds of songs I once loved, never hated, sounds of war,
Sounds of shattered dreams, awakened at the sound of genocidal
bloodbaths.
Raunchy roads of hell, suicides, killings, crime, drugs & alcohol
Awaken, Awaken my demons scream –
Awaken to the aftermath, the aftermath, the aftermath. Awaken
All my relations,
William Arnold Combes
I want to express my opinion but, in that attempt, will I ostracize myself from my people? I often am troubled by things I read, hear or witness.
Common Experience Payments (CEP) are being sent to people who suffered in residential schools. The payments vary upon time spent in these institutions. People are being compensated, but trust me, there is nothing common in their experiences.
I’ve heard stories of sexual abuse, physical abuse, children forced to work. Children were whipped for trying to speak to one another in their own tongue. Would someone tell me how do you begin to compensate people for that?
In my day to day activities I am exposed to the aftermath of the residential school system. I see brothers and sisters hiding behind addictions to help them cope with memories of that ‘common experience.’ I see families fragmented because of that ‘common experience.’ The aftermath of that school system will, no matter the amount, never compensate the hurt felt by so many.
I fear for those who receive their payments. I see a form of genocide. The government, in its efforts to assuage us, has adopted a system that hands thousands of dollars to those least capable fo handling it. In their addictions, the extra money is more a death sentence than compensation. I wonder if that was the plan?
I pray that what I feel is just that. But I know that people will continue to suffer no matter what the compensation. How do you compensate for a generation of people? How do you compensate a lost childhood.. lost traditions? We should be trying empathy, love, and most important of all acknow-ledgement. Survivors need to know that they have been heard; that their suffering is shared by all the people in the country.
Creator, keep my brothers and sisters safe. Ease the painful memories with love. Hear their words, for there is a lesson yet to be learnt.
All my relations,
R. Bonner DTESers are not from Vancouver says NIMBY
DTESers are not from Vancouver says NIMBY
Update from City Hall: Dec. 19th was the day that the NIMBY’s came out at Vancouver City Hall. NIMBY’s are people who say “Not In My Back Yard” when faced with the possibility of a development that they don’t want in their neighbourhood. In this case City Council was dealing with a proposal to build 1100 to 1200 units of supportive housing on 12 sites that it owns.
CCAP organized Downtown Eastsiders to speak at the meeting because we wanted council to lobby for federal and provincial funds for more housing, stop even thinking of ending the Single Room Accommodation bylaw which is supposed to keep hotels from evicting their low income tenants, and to urge the province to increase welfare rates and end the barriers to getting on welfare that are making so many people homeless.
Over 100 people from around the city signed up to speak, many of them from the Downtown Eastside, so it took 3 nights at City Hall to hear everyone.
I thought the most courageous speaker was Jay Revoy. Revoy had to listen to a lot of poor bashing and bashing of people with mental illness and people who are homeless before he spoke on the third night. “How can placing [people with mental illness] in our neighbourhood not be a threat,” asked Cheryl Clausen of Kitsilano. “Downtown Eastside people are not from Vancouver,” she asserted. “Why should taxpayers pay for people not from here? It will take down the value of our property.”
Another woman said she didn’t want the development because homeless people don’t move when you say “excuse me.” It was pretty disgusting.
Then Revoy got up, his first time ever speaking before City Council, and said he was 32 years old and had schizophrenia. He said the homeless and people with mental illness were being stigmatized. “How are we as impoverished groups of people with mental illnesses to deal with our economic insecurities in the face of blinding stereotypes and walls of ignorance,” he asked.
Matthew Matthew spoke on the first day, of being a Downtown Eastside resident. “Poverty drove me there,” he said, and “the community keeps me there.” Matthew said the neighbourhood is being “ignored, destroyed and built over,” and he demanded “how could you promise so much to the Olympics without senior government commitments?”
Delanye Azrael told council they were inciting a civil war, instead of a civil city. She warned that the people will fight back, “if you continue with your party and your Olympics without taking care of the people.”
Sandy Hirschen, a condo owner from the Downtown Eastside, told council that the small suites they are proposing in the new buildings are “warehousing, not housing.” “Minimums become maximums or a standard by which all will be developed,” he said.
Dalannah Gail Bowen told council that the Downtown Eastside is a community that “works together, lives together, and loves together.”
Michael Clague, the former director of Carnegie made some good points too. “These developments don’t turn the tide,” he said. The net gain doesn’t make up for the net loss.” “Half of the homeless have no income—they’re not on welfare. How do they get into housing,” he asked. “Displacement by erosion is not being addressed. We need to slow the market down and declare the Downtown Eastside a special development area to benefit people who live and work in the area.”
At the end of the speakers, the Director of the Housing Centre, Cameron Gray, told Council that they were not doing away with the SRA bylaw; that staff is going to report back on it in 2008 and “that is the appropriate place to deal with issues CCAP raised” like soft conversions (people being slowly and quietly emptied from hotels as rents go up and rooms are converted to other uses). Council voted unanimously to pass their 3 recommendations to go ahead with building on the 12 sites (if they get the money from the province). They also slipped in another resolution that gives them the power to implement recommendations from the Dobell report which would sort of privatize social housing by getting investors and donors to provide money in exchange for huge tax write-offs. --
Jean Swanson
Raise the Rates to $1300/month
You may be aware by now of the Raise the Rates campaign. It even has its own website: www.raisetherates.org . If you haven’t heard of it, here are the five basic demands of RTR:
1) increase income assistance rates for all
2) remove the barriers to getting income assistance
3) let all IA recipients have an earnings exemption, $500 minimum
4) increase the minimum wage to $10/hr, indexed to inflation
5) build at least 2,000 units of non-market housing per year
Recently, the first demand evolved somewhat. Originally, it was “raise income assistance rates by 50 per cent”. At the current rate of $610 for a single person, the new rate would have been about $915 per month.
Now, RTR is asking that the IA rate be raised to the Market Basket Measure, a poverty line indicator slightly lower in value than Statistics Canada’s well-known Low-Income Cut Off. Still, it’s $1,300 per month plus change. That’s roughly double the current welfare rate.
The MBM is calculated primarily on what it would cost a person to buy food, shelter, transportation, clothing, phone service, plus other goods and services—quite an array of commodities in total, and much more realistic than what is currently allowed.
There is an informative article on the MBM on The Tyee (www.thetyee.ca) titled Poverty Amidst Plenty by Marc Lee.
~Rolf Auer
Check out what CCAP did in 2007
* Rallied at city owned lot (1005 Station St) for social housing
* Protested the Board of Trade’s meeting with Atlanta’s Olympic Mayor who hid the homeless
* Rallied at Burns Block Hotel Auction to shame new owners
* Formulated the Inner City Inclusivity Olympic housing and income promises
* Held a press conference to support the Inner City Inclusivity Olympic promises
* Open letter to Premier in Province Newspaper to raise welfare rates
* Rallied against evictions at Little Mountain
* Pied Piper parade for housing and rally at Union of BC Municipalities
* Challenged Vancity/Gulf and Fraser banks on mortgages of DTES speculators
* Unveiled Countdown to triple homelessness clock at Art Gallery
* Rally outside Carl Rooms against evictions
* Collected 1200 letters and 100 endorsements from organizations for ICI
* Hosted dialogue on housing with federal politicians at Unitarian Church
* Started a new Citywide Housing Coalition
* Treasure Hunt to a bank in Victoria with hidden $250 mil housing fund
* Rallied “Free the Fish; Homes for People” against Aquarium expansion
* Organized delegation to United Nations public hearing about homeless crisis
* Press conference to raise welfare rates
* Organized delegations to City Hall hearings for 1) moratorium on hotel conversions, 2) Olympic housing promises, 3) 1200 new social housing
* Research and took positions on Riverview, South East False Creek, Dobell Fairburn, 54 Hotels report, numbers of people who apply for welfare and are denied, number of units governments are “really” building ~WP
Prepare for rezoning: Vision for a better hood
Recently, CCAP met with 35 locals at Lifeskills and 30 women at VANDU. The purpose of the meeting was to explore our values and find out want is most needed in our neighbourhood so we can pass that on to city hall with some evidence when they rezone the Oppenheimer area next year.
The first thing we asked was: What makes our community strong? Someone at Lifeskills got the ball rolling and said “our numbers.” A woman at VANDU said we’re strong because “everyone is watching us because of the Olympics”. Soon others were inspired. At times the rooms were very intense, quiet and reflective while people listened to each other and spoke from their hearts. We heard comments like: we’re strong because of our friendships, our eyes on the streets, our patience is a strength because of all the BS we go through, we have lots of resources, we’re good at survival, we have a strong sense of unity and we recognize and know by name more of our neighbours than anyone else in the city.
We also heard that more security is desired. Not the kind of security that people from outside our neighbourhood first think of, rather the real security to know that we can put down roots and not be pushed out.
We’ve had other visioning sessions in the last few months and out of 160 people participating, housing came on top as the thing most needed. We heard that getting into social housing is like literally winning the lottery. We have award winning homes in this neighbourhood and can’t seem to get enough of it.
The next step for visioning is to ask DTES residents what the neighbourhood should look like 15 years from now (what would the housing look like, the services, the streets after dark, the businesses, where is the pool going to go, where will the housing be exactly, how many of us should live here, how will purchasing power be increased and if we should live with rich people (those who can afford to buy a condo) in the same building. If you belong to a group of 20 or more people, we could arrange to meet with them about this. If you don’t, be in touch anyways and we’ll make sure your voice is hear ~yours truly from your researcher,
Wendy P
DERA Wins! Evictions for Renovations at the Dominion NOT Legal
As you may know, the Dominion Hotel gave eviction notices to tenants and plans to convert their rooms by renovating them, likely for high paying renters.
Earlier in December, we got word from Anna and Stephanie at DERA that the Residential Tenancy Board (RTB) made their first decision on an eviction notice given to one of the Dominion Hotel tenants. The tenant won!!!!
Here is what we heard from Anna:
The Dispute Resolution officer made the decision that the landlord did not have the permits when he issued the eviction notice and more importantly, the landlord DID NOT prove that vacant possession was NECESSARY for the repairs to be completed!
Anna said they are waiting for one more decision and have three more hearings with the RTB. But, unfortunately, the day before the first 7 hearings began, the Dominion landlords convinced the other 7 tenants they should sign agreements that they would move out for a certain amount of money. The amount is no more than what they would have gotten if the evictions would have been upheld. But the landlord pulled out his cheque-book and 7 tenants are now moving.
Thanks to DERA, it looks like hotel tenants may be able to win the right to stay in their hotels during renovations which will hold rents at lower levels.
Hey all you hotel tenants out there, think about staying in your room during renovations to keep rents in our area low until we can win enough replacement social housing “in our neighbourhood.” At the very least, challenge your evictions and hold out for a big payout.
~Wendy P
Fight the bulldozer plan in 2008
Recently I heard a definition of “optimism” that I like. Optimism is about the facts. Things are looking good. It’s going to get better. Compare that to a definition of “hope.” Hope means it doesn’t look good out there at all, but we’re going to take the leap to create a new vision based on possibilities. Hope can be contagious. It encourages people to engage in heroic actions against the odds. With hope, there’s no guarantee whatsoever about the result.
At City Hall in December, CCAP told the Mayor and Councilors about odds we’re facing. We said that despite the good news of plans for some more social housing around Vancouver, City Hall’s policies for the DTES community look like bulldozer plan, such as the:
* alarming reference in the City’s latest report about housing that mentions lifting the SRA Bylaw in 2008
* exaggerated numbers of new homes coming for those in need
* failure to factor the rate of housing lost in 2007 into replacement housing plans
* failure to prioritize homes for street homeless in the new plans
* ignoring the 2005 policy that Sullivan and Ladner voted for that says hotel replacement housing should be inside the DTES
* failure of City to fix up hotels and bill the owners as the law allows
* failure to enforce SRA bylaw in Columbia and Dominion Hotels and curb massive speculation with legislation to prevent more slow conversions
* support to privatize social housing
* Olympic and Civil City plan to clean up the DTES by getting rid of people
* failure to push the Province to freeze rents to prevent rent hikes beyond what people on welfare can afford
* eco-density motion to up-zone the DTES to allow condo towers and drive up the price of land to levels only affordable to the mega-rich.
* the will to let Concorde Pacific, the biggest real-estate company in Canada, to quietly build condos behind the Number 5 Orange (without social housing) and to amass all the lots across from Army and Navy on Hastings
Faced with this, CCAP will keep doing our stuff.
We had some victories in 2007 to build on. In 2007, CCAP and other community groups did a bunch of actions and we had some victories like: welfare increase; the purchase of 10 hotels; some commitment from Province to fund 12 city-owned sites for housing; media latched on to our definition of Olympic commitments (3200 units of housing). That’s some indication that pressure from activists can work.
In our favor, 5000 or more reporters will be here in 2010 and the general public wants homelessness to end. In 2008, CCAP will have the 1st annual poverty olympics and ask the IOC for funding. We’ll also ask for foreign aid. No doubt, many of our good neighbours will come up with more ideas to keep the pressure up.
Our capacity for action gives me hope. As Jean said to not too long ago when I was feeling down: just a handful of us used to march across the Burrard Bridge to end war. 100,000 march now, right? At some point we may get to the tipping point in our favor but that can’t happen unless we keep doing our little bits. ~WP
Missing Women
Listen! Listen! Listen!
Missing women, missing women All your relations search in vain
Searching, searching through sleepless nights over and over again
Mothers, sisters, daughters Feel heartaches and pain
Endless dead-end roads, through sunshine, snow and rain.
Whiplashed hearts, tears falling like rain
Fathers, brothers and sons seek in vain
Whose energy’s depleted, minds overwhelmed trying to keep sane
Weary and weak, rest time; tomorrow they’ll search again.
Ancient wisdom seats the souls on sacred ground
Calls of ancestors, teachers of the circle that goes round and round
White buffalo and white great spirit, dance to a healing song
A guiding song for missing women they drum and sing all night long
They ask for silence. Listen to your heart for an immaculate minute
Their spirits sing magical songs that are mystically infinite
Spiritual apprehension of truth is sought through the eyes of wise men
Who search the universe, listening for songs of missing women.
Listen! Listen! Listen!
Thunder and lightning crash out loud
Spirits move joyously amongst the crowd
Whispering silently in your ear
We’ll always be with you, always near
Listen! Listen! Listen!
Stop the violence –stop the violence
Stop the violence against women,
All my relations,
William Arnold Combes
Missing
I look at the wall of faces and feel all the pain. All walks of life but they are all in the same boat. Missing from a loved one’s life.. the pain and sorrow of missing. Lost in their own world and don’t know their way back. A world of tears but we still can’t find them. Lost souls – may they each be found.
Our heart aches to find them and bring them back into our lives.
The faces are different from one another, man or women, but they are all missing. So when you are out and about please keep your eyes open. They might be your best friend, brother or sister; maybe someone’s mother or father, daughter or sonm so please keep all eyes open in your daily lives because we want to find all the lost souls and bring them back. Our lives are emptier without them.
All my relations,
Velma B. The Making Of A Documentary
The Making Of A Documentary
Well, although I am a fourth year Journalism student, I have always been interested in film work and especially documentary films. When an oppor- tunity to actually develop and create a documentary came my way, I latched onto the idea like a binner with a cart full of bottles.
For the past four years Pivot Legal Society has been handing out single use cameras, once a year to DTES residents. The hope is for the amateur photo- graphers to capture interesting pictures of the DTES and their community and to create a calendar. Since I only volunteer with the Carnegie Newsletter and actually don't live in the DTES, I was not eligible to partake in the calendar event. So, because I still wanted to help out in the event, I thought ‘why not document the entire process?’ I spoke with Harold Asham, who also volunteers with the Newsletter and lives in the DTES. He confirmed he was indeed get- ting a camera from Pivot and Asham was very obli- ging and let me shadow his moves. For the next four months I documented the process of developing the pictures from the 200 cameras that Pivot provided. Paul Ryan from Pivot Legal Society let me film the procedure of separating and numbering all the photos; then I filmed the actual voting process that was taking place on the sidewalk outside of the Carnegie. Usually the voting on the top 40 pictures is done inside but because of this summer’s striking city and library workers, the voting took place outside.
I think the sounds of actions on the street added to my documentary: Screeching buses, ambulances racing past with sirens blaring all added to the dramatic sights and sounds of the DTES.
I spoke with some of the photographers who were fortunate to have their photos chosen in the top 40. I was present at the awards ceremony at Infinity Studios where the top 40 photos were displayed on a large film screen. This years first place winner surprised everyone, not because it was Mercy Walker, but because she is only 10-years-old.
The entire filming took five months. I knew nothing about editing at that time but decided that I would just try to learn it through the computer. The days turned into weeks but finally I had completed the production and editing down to a 58 minute documentary. November 24th, 2007 The Carnegie Community Centre showed my documentary to an audience of about 50 people. I felt quite satisfied after the showing as everyone clapped and congratulated me on a job "well done."
I did realize that film work is a difficult art but if you have passion and determination for what you are doing, it is enjoyable to see your work completed. I have now begun work on a second documentary and hope to have it completed in a few months. Colleen Carrol, a volunteer at The Carnegie Community Centre, sets up the documentary film nights that are held on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. Everyone is invited and coffee with pastries are served following the movies.
By JACKIE HUMBER
Carnegie Library’s New French Collection
Carnegie Library’s New French Collection
There is a new small French collection in Carnegie’s Reading Room.
La Nouvelle Petite Collection Française dans Bibliothèque Carnegie
Bravo ! Bientôt, vous trouverez il y a une nouvelle petite collection française dans la bibliothèque Carnegie, y compris la fiction et le Nonfiction, classique et provisoire. Certains des titres nouvellement disponibles sont :
Fiction
- Le Périple de Baldassare / Amin Maalouf (2000)
Parti sur les routes en 1665 , le narrateur de cette histoire, Baldassare Embriaco, Génois d’Orient et négociant en curiosités, est à la poursuite d’un livre qui est censé apporter le Salut à un monde désemparé. Sans doute est-il à la recherche de ce qui pourrait encore donner un sens à sa propre existence.
- J’ai nom sans bruit /Isabelle Jarry (2004)
«J’habitais dans la rue, certes, mais je restais la même femme. Je n’étais pas folle, ni mal élevée, j’avais un peu de culture et je savais réfléchir, j’étais capable d’échanger des idées, à plus forte raison des banalités. Mais non, personne ne désirait bavarder avec moi.»
- La femme qui attendait / Andreï (2004)
En 1945, Eva avait 16 ans… la guerre la sépare de l'homme qu'elle aime. Un premier amour qui ne revient jamais, et qu'elle attend malgré la fuite du temps.
Non fiction
- Lettre à Picasso (1927-1970) / Dalí (2006)
En dépit de l'opposition de leurs choix politiques et idéologiques, Dali et Picasso restèrent en contact tout au long de leur vie. Le présent ouvrage recueille pour la première fois l'ensemble des cartes, messages et billets que lepremier adressa au second jusqu'en 1970. Ils attestent de la fascination jamais démentie que Picasso exerça sur Dali, du désir d'exister, de s'affirmer de celui-ci face à un aîné prodigieux, et légèrement menaçant, par la puissance et la variété de son invention.
- Anthologie de la poésie française / De villon à Verlaine (1998)
Composer une nouvelle anthologie de la poésie française serait bien téméraire, si cette initiative n’avait ici pour justification pratique et pour fin d’offrir au plus grand nombre un modeste et durable viatique : pour les plus jeunes, à l’âge des premières découvertes littéraires, un bref et stimulant aperçu du somptueux domaine qui les attend; pour les autres, un discret rappel des syllabes immortelles qui les sont enchantés.
- Le scaphandre et le papillon / Jean-Dominique Bauby (1997)
Ce livre a été écrit par un homme entre deux âges qui avait souffert une course dévastatrice. Après que la course il ait pu seulement déplacer une paupière, et ainsi le livre a été laborously dicté à la lettre, en utilisant le clingnotement de son oeil pour choisir des lettres d'un écran d'ordinateur. Dans le livre il parle de son état, et médite au sujet de sa vie, toutes les deux avant et après la course. Elle est contraindre lu. Elle vous donne l'perspicacité dans le genre de vie au lequel peu de nous auraient n'importe quel accès. Elle dérange simplement parce que vous ne pouvez vous empêcher de penser à la façon dont vous réagiriez dans la même situation.
News from the Library
Main & Hastings Book Club:
The Main & Hastings Book Club is now back in action. We meet every Tuesday at 11am in the 3rd floor gallery. Our book club is different: instead of just talking about a book, we read a book, from cover to cover, out loud to each other. Come and join us if you want to read, or if you just want to listen.
We’re finishing up reading Patrick Lane’s There is a Season. Our next book is Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. A bitterly funny novel, told from the perspective of a 15-year-old autistic boy and math genius, this book won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and the 2004 Commonwealth Prize for best first book.
When Christopher Boone finds his neighbour’s poodle murdered, he decides to investigate the crime with the logic of his hero, Sherlock Holmes. But his investigations soon lead to troubling truths about his parents’ broken marriage. He struggles to understand a world of emotions, nuance and intrigue, and his openness and inability to lie leave him vulnerable and make him one of the most touching, original characters in recent fiction.
Beth, your librarian.
The FACEBOOK Trap!
The Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance (welfare) and the Ministry of Children and Families are using Facebook, MySpace and other public computer domains to find evidence of:
· Undisclosed co-habitation (living with someone)
· Spending beyond what is provided by the ministry
· Casual Employment
· Leaving the province for more than 30 days
· Gifts, pets and other income
They are using this information, based on postings on personal websites, to deny welfare and disability pensions. Anyone on long term disability or involved in collection action or the Canadian Revenue Authority should also be aware:
Even more vicious and ludicrous:
Even more vicious and ludicrous: A local poet who had her work published in the Carnegie News letter was contacted by Welfare. They’d ‘googled’ her name, found that she had been published, and said that showed she was employable despite her disability. This means there must be thousands of full-time jobs available for poets. All those former (or current) Downtown Eastside Poets now raking in the dough as professional poets, please share the wealth by at least providing the names and addresses of the corporations hiring poets.
Helping Hands from The Seventh-Day Adventists Church
Helping Hands from The Seventh-Day Adventists Church
On the cold and dreary morning of Jan.5th, members of the congregation of Burnaby's Seventh-Day Adventists Church gave a hand-up to residents of the DTES. The group of children, mothers and fathers accompanied by Pastor Davis and Pastor Anderson stood on the corner of Hastings and Main Streets while handing out touques, socks, gloves and platters of cookies to all who passed by. Pastor Davis explained their mission. "Well, this is our 3rd year of handing out goods to people who need them," said Davis. Also available were pamphlets with information to lift people’s spirits. Next year the congregation plans to hand out even more.
By Jackie Humber To the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance (MEIA):
To the Ministry of Employment and Income
Assistance (MEIA):
I am writing to find out about the payments that I am and have been waiting for. About ten years ago I was put on a Waiting List for the $100 available for people with disabilities who do regular volunteer work. I have never received it or even been contacted by this Ministry to say that I had reached the top of your list.
I would like you to look into this matter for me.
Florence Jean Green
401 Main St, Vancouver Huckleberry and Me
Huckleberry and Me
Winter’s wild ways wane
The days are to lengthen
Soon, springtime again
Together we strengthen
Soon the precious cherry petals
Will show pretty pink in puffed profusion
Our senses will find their way
Through yet another confusion
Our reward to enjoy the cherry of springtime
Our reward to be here enjoying the taste of cherry
Away from the wintertime’s delusion
Soon it’s time for spring’s fair day
For now my friend
Let’s be going rafting again
Or find a ride on the old freight train
Sneak a ride on the riverboat to its end
Michael McCormack
When You See Me On The StreetWhen You See Me On The Street
For Lynne “Every word that I say is true.”-Santana
If when you see me on the street
You say to yourself or to the friend you’re with –
‘there goes the deadheart – the white warrior –
He has no choice you know: he must take
everything literally; - you will have made me
happier than I was before you saw me
for I must quit Vancouver you see
except Eagles keep telling me
I can never leave.
-Stephen Belkin
Missed it by a Minute
There goes that rumbling again that polite noise that lets you know you have missed it by a minute, was that sound going north or south once again by word of mouth I just missed it by a minute, don’t play Helen Keller although you couldn’t if you tried,
missed it by a minute
let’s hope the next thirty-one minutes quickly go by, there’s room at the back but it’s evil and scary down there I’d rather stand by the front doors and back up the people outside it’s windy and pouring rain but I’m sure they won’t care, actually they do but at least their bus is there, in my circumstance (every circumstance) there’s a chance to be on time but that’s fun when my fingers could be blue and numb as long as blue doesn’t turn black there is no reason to whine, just ‘cause I missed it by a minute event-ually I think I will arrive, I’m not sure if it’s the destination destiny has its mind set on just as long as I am still alive. EVERYBODY NOW, MISSED IT BY A MINUTE that one damn minute I thought I had to spare the minutes turn to hours but my inner powers have made me willing and able not to care, until.... missed it by a second STOP! I WANT OFF and I missed my stop as well, oh well, farewell until we wait again
Robert McGillivray
Perpetual In-Action Ranting
Pressing persistent pain, inwards, outwards, inside, outside, sideswiped and satire, kicked ‘n snared, pathetically punched, low blows below the belt, putdowns, insults, put-ons, stepped on, put upon not to mention runarounds with shrieking, deafening sounds by those both close and by the testosteronic out-of-towners, ecstatic dolls enswirled with stale flat, fired-up juice and laid snakeishly low by an assortment of colourful, disturbing downers, capsulized pipe dreams and piled up pestilence from riled up folks who coasted in from suburbia – saturated, slick streetscapes slowly sliding into eternal oblivion – scanned by some through a muddled tin canned putridity en route throughout, propping dripping glassened eyes, slipping, tripping, skidding, sliding, through a deepening debris of misbegotten dreams, potioned together with entrusted staggering, nightmares gained then squandered… luckily into a vested vortex of venomous vanity yet onward and upward, staggering quite aimlessly throughout their despotic deft debris. The clashing clutter of clashes of classes and ‘cultures’ wreaking havoc as terrified, unsheltered residents clear a track (our tracks, our streets, our roads, our turf, our homes) to be chased and run over by punks on boards that surf the asphalted, cemented binary byways on their rusting, squeaking wheels; just imagine this trip, this out-of-tune charade where carloads of yahoos squeal their brakes, slam their doors and lean on their pathetic, pounding, honking horns, hiding behind their tinted shatterproof windshields and classy foreign chassis’s guzzling toxic gas, spewing sooty toxic carbons of monoxide, yeh, a back-blast shot of plumes – cooked, smothering pollutants, pew! gasping at a depleted oxygen supply, depleting quicker than a fleeting flash in a pan, greased lightning scorched as these heckling jackasses pass swiftly by the ways of humanity, whooping it up like hyenas circling a soon-to-be motionless, passive, dying carcass, to shred molting fur and to greedily gnaw on bloodied, warm bones and, then, to move on guffawing in a galvanizing sinister creaking crescendo of fear-mongering phoniness, stalking and gallivanting over horrifically image-conscious imaginations until they arrive twisted, recoiled, at their so-called Hell’s Half Acre, a prefabricated fiefdom of flawed fallacies and pathetic, proverbial rantings. What’s their poison? I ask as they, dangerous, with marked, stacked, unshuffled crooked cards feel entitled blind to the pick of the deck and to pass their arbitrarily select sentences of crimes, mischief and misdemeanors Heh, dig that! Do you tune into that scene; ain’t it excessive? Ain’t it extremely obscene to view this trip? “What?” you say.
Case closed to this distorted mixture. Do ya get my point? Do ya get the picture?
By ROBYN LIVINGSTONE
The Atomization of a Poem and the Poem Itself
The Atomization of a Poem and the Poem Itself
“Kiss tomorrow goodbye.”Robbie Robertson
The weight of time, which never completely lifts, does subside whenever the cost becomes too high (analogous to a gyroscope I suppose). ‘But say!, what cost?!’ you ask and well you may you light-footed ones; you mere dancers to the so-called music of Hegel – we Heideggerians can only sneer. There!! I’ve lost my train again no thanks to the screeching banshee howls you all so kindly provide me every waking moment of my life it seems. Thank the Tao for dreams.
Blue noise.
The weight of time subsides
When the cost becomes too high, Force the meaning
through the needle and trust the body to follow
The weight of time subsides…
The cost has become too high, temporarily I mean
because fallenness intrudes; seductive bitch –
and no I’ve not left the realm of metaphor:
it annoys me that idiots are also let into
the party – nobles oblige,,,
fallenness intrudes…
Reflections on the Weight of Time
For Pam fleming “you’re gonna carry that weight
a long time” –The Beatles
The wait of time
subsides amid the rubble
like a thought lost arriving.
(Lose a point.)
Blue noise enters in its wake…
for a while;
for a while.
I am fallen.
Now again and forever till we die.
Happy?
I am, for the moment.
Stephen Belkin
Housing Crisis
Old man
alone
in a basement room.
You've outlived your time, you say.
You hope that maybe sleep will come
to soothe your loneliness.
It wasn't always so.
You travelled in our country coast to coast.
You built the bridges crossing mighty rivers,
and logged the valleys of Vancouver Island.
You sweated as a miner,
l and like a meteor you came to town •
shaken by the bleakness
I of the northern camps.
You found an old-time residence
near Main and Hastings,
and lived with friends
until that cunning pack of money makers
destroyed your home,
not caring where you went.
A few just died,
and solved the housing problem in that way.
Some left town.
You wandered to a basement room
alone.
I greet you, friend,
and wait to hear the stories you have lived.
Tell me our heritage
that is not found in school books.
Tell me of those who really built this nation.
Sandy Cameron
I am a child of the universeI am a child of the universe
And as such I have I have the rights of all children
I have the right to be alive
I have the right to have my own space in the world
and the right to be happy
I have the power to make it through this day
I can get what I need and trust that the
universe works to take care of the rest
I will pay attention today and I will not abandon myself
Submitted by Lu
TIME TO TELLTIME TO TELL
When is the meantime?
Will I find it marking time by the hour?
Or bludgeoned and murdered in a violent minute?
Meanwhile my imagination suffers the bloodied hands of father time…
I heard lies about mother’s nature, accompanied by his rancid breath as he raped her.
That incensed me, it led me to believe I'm losing it,
not using it to improve my life.
Seconds, minutes, hours that chime have passed me by…
Tick Tick Tock Tock Tick
DO NOT! Erase my lines of rhyme; thwart, prevent or deter my true trajectory
of letters and words as they mature fired from my synapses with my genderless
imagination
I intended them for an individual’s gaze with eyes open to detail, along with the ability
to understand depth and perception.
Some jaundiced pairs of vicariously blinded, numerous, unspoken, observing pupils
often misinterpret them.
Mirrored by jaded routine, closing the lids down ever so complacently.
No two eyes look to alternate or deviate.
They only look UGLY upon reality.
My poem does not conform or adhere to the 24 hour clock.
It's a recalcitrant, subordinate, disabled, long gone obsolete catharsis derived from pain.
A progressive evolution of a society in which human beings strive to gain acceptance
by feeding each other lies.
To fit a mould, then sold with a crack that won't hold together
Any sincere emotion, or reveal a face to face the cruel world another day.
A mould unable to contain or sustain a free will to choose to fight.
For human rights, otherwise left in the meantime, for a scapegoat like Me to die for.
Unnoticed, unsignified, not knowing how it feels
To exorcise them from cold graying minds that withholds them
Paul Nosotti
Cell Phone Junkie
Cell Phone Junkie
Whose mind are you living today
To whom did you turn to hear what to say
Did they tell you what you need to expect
Did you help them tie a noose ‘round your neck
Not that I care
It don’t matter to me
I’m looking at it humourously
I see you hooked up to that 911 line
Talking and pictures, in touch all the time
You’re paying your bill with a smile on your face
Another cell phone junkie in the human race
Not that I care
I laugh when I see
Another strungout cellphone junkie
I see you frown when the service goes down
‘Cause you can’t pay the bill or lost it downtown
Your frenzy & panic at another dropped call
Has got me in stitches, out of touch from it all
I may be crazy, it’s just my point of view
And the garbage is full
Of old cellphones too
Freedome
Spirit Call
“you’ve got to pick up For Joyce Williams
every stick”-Donovan
Oh! my virginity I grow weary of your embrace.
Let not the night ever fall from us, my distant Love;
Let not the day die from envy
Let us instead play together until we die
Yes oh! yes, in each other’s arms, my darling,
my love, my Athene. (Don’t tell Dianna)
Stephen Belkin
(Hermes to you)
Jesus Came Down From the Cross
Jesus came down from the cross this year
He abides now in the young men & girls
Huddled together against the cold, wet winds
Of monsoon in the Northwest.
In their makeshift beds of cardboard and crates
Tents if they are fortunate
In the alleys and alcoves
Among the discarded clothing
Orange rinds & coffee grounds
Candy wrappers twinkle like gold & silver
Cigarette butts & syringes mixed
Surround these sleeping angelic faces
-mostly young and bearded.
The women have more choices or maybe not at all
Their flesh is worth a bit of money
Or a bed for the night
Dumped out at 6AM before the day shift
Oblivion perhaps blessed with alcohol and drugs
We know none of these ‘discomforts’
We pride ourselves on our “charity work”
-our donations of designer-duds to Downtowners
No, smug in our downy beds, comfortable with
companions or comfortable with pleasant dreams
in the bosom of our families
Looking forward to a bright day of wonderfulness
New toys, new friends and GOOD FOOD
in this city of a million or more eateries
Shall we have Chinese tonight – Sichuan?
Or that roasted goose, brown & lovely
-silver shines & crystal sparkles
And NO LINE-UP in the rain!
Opera, Symphony Concerts, fetes of all kinds
But just for the carriage trade –the better class
NOT you, you imbecile.
Who wants to see your none too clean hungry face
‘Twould take a person’s appetite away
Here’s five dollars – have a party!
And there are all these clean warm beds st the
Salvation Army waiting for Y-O-U
(Hurry up.. Don’t be late for check-in now.)
But I sound grateful
God may strike me down if he still exists.
Wilhelmina
