Contents
- Courage
- TOOLONG
- JIM MURRAY, R.I.P.
- International Women:
- karenza
- CHANCE CAN GIVE LIFE A FUTURE
- International Women's Day
- COMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK MEETING
- News from the Library
- Have My Say
- I've decided 2 give up waiting 4 “It”
- CALL FOR LOCAL MUSICIANS, SINGERS/PERFORMERS
- The Children’s March to Treblinka
- Public Housing
- Walk a Mile in My Guccis
- Poverty in the Promised Land
- The Shadows Project
- Community “Dickson Model”
- locked in a cage
- Gael E.R.Marriotte
- Dear Friend Sandy Cameron
- Wednesday March 8, 2006
- Scream
- Creative-Resistance -ending drug prohibition for good
- Stoqw ‘ eylem Traditional Pow Wow
- Bilingual Memorial: Archbishop Oscar Romero
- To whoever cares,
- Food Carried Away
- Ben Crissy
- The affectation of Power and its Impacts
- Olduvai Indigenous Arts Studios
- Bob Dylan on Songwriting
Courage
It’s morning at Carnegie as I sit here, listening to a song titled Sunday Morning Coming Down, while struggling to write a poem about a friend who recently passed away.
I know for a fact that Herman Pete had many friends; just the nature of his friendly, loving and kind character attests to that. It kind of goes with the territory. In spite of his own challenges and daily struggles, he was willing to assist others in their times of need. A brother in the ‘hood.
Herman knew and understood the issues – drugs, homelessness, alcohol and being poor, among others like murders ‘n missing women. His neighbourhood has community and he knew of the pain because he lived with his and that of his friends in the lifestyle.
He was a dad, brother, uncle, along with other family things. Prior to his death, we talked and he said he was leaving for home (Smithers) for awhile to wait for things to cool down. I was wondering why he was bandaged; he said he’d been stabbed. We shook hands and he was gone…. at least for a few months
The next thing I knew he was back but, sadly, back to the street. It’s a vicious cycle of drugs, pain and yearning. We knew this because he came to a poetry evening in Carnegie to share, in honesty, blunt as it was, the reality of what he and others were going through – “…there’s no escape.”
Once again, Herman was stabbed over a drug deal gone bad. Sadly, this time death won over my friend
Herman, you enriched so many lives during your lifetime. We all will miss you so much. Now you are in the Creator’s care.
In friendship, Stephen L.
TOOLONGTOOLONG
There was a lot of negative energy at the corner of Pain & Wasting this past Sunday afternoon, and most of it was the result of indifference on the part of those public servants of whom society expects so much. The unfortunate incident that unleashed this furthering disenfranchisement of the citizens of the Downtown Eastside was another reminder that they are being ghettoized and dehumanized by the very public servants whom they depend on for safety.
While unfortunate that it took a meaningless death to highlight this truth, even more disturbing was how cavalier and insensitive the police behaved. Most disconcerting of course was the fact that the victim was left on the sidewalk like a buffalo hump on the prairie for more than four hours. Four hours. No respect for life, even in death, where it has been human nature to treat our deceased with the utmost respect. A tradition I might add that goes back 20,000 years to when we were still living in caves and wearing bearskins.
What excuse is there, valid or otherwise, for justifying such an indignity upon a fellow member of our society, a fellow human being? I mean this is one of the busiest and most visible intersections of the city. Why the coroner and police investigative team could not have taken care of this tragedy in a timely fashion is beyond my ken. If the victim had been a police officer or family member of some semi-influential citizen would they have been left on the sidewalk like a bag of trash for over four hours? Is it an unreasonable expectation of these well-paid public servants that they conduct themselves in a professional manner, or just when dealing with certain residents of this great city.
Four hours. The victim was on display like it was some bad television show. Even if there had been a quadruple homicide at the same time somewhere else in the city should it have taken over four hours to wrap up this sordid episode, or is that only an expectation when in Shaughnessy or Kits? The insult that was added to this grievous injury however was when the coroner and investigative team actually arrived and began going about their business. They were done in approximately ten minutes. They waited over four hours to do ten minutes of work. This level of performance would get most people fired if not at least severely reprimanded.
Police indifference was reiterated by what occurred during that four hours the victim layout there on display. The police had the area of the crime cordoned off from the Carnegie Centre to the ally next to Garlane pharmacy. An individual, who had been in the walk down public washroom at the corner, emerged from conducting his business and found himself on the inside of the police perimeter. As he ambled his way towards the other side of the police tape an officer began to berate him and proceeded to grab him by the scruff of the neck and literally hurl him across the police line like a bag of trash. The victim of this police assault (look up the definition of assault in the law books) was an obvious derelict alcoholic but does this preclude him from enjoying the same rights and privileges as any other citizen? This officer did not even inquire as to why he found himself where he was. Resonates of Gestapo tactics don't you think? This guy hadn't even paused in his progress towards the proper side of the line and the area was obviously not going to be part of any investigation because the ground in that spot had been trampled by at least a hundred persons before the perimeter had even been erected. This is endemic of the attitude of police indifference towards the most disenfranchised of our fellow citizens.
Even more disturbing yet was that which occurred when a fellow citizen dared voice his opinion that the police officer should display a little more professionalism and humanity. He was told in no uncertain terms by another police officer to "get going right now, move". I witnessed this first hand from a close vantage point and could not help but be reminded of the total lack of humanity displayed by the S.A. thugs shouting "Juden out" in 1930's Germany. The same snarl to the voice, the same cold hard stare, the same promise of an ass-kicking if he did not comply immediately. This is not an overreaction as I have been a resident and citizen of the downtown East Side for over ten years and have dealt with our city’s (ahem) finest from both sides of the legal equation. I can say with certainty that this is a jackboot mentality being fostered and employed by the police force which is supposedly there to protect all citizens of this great city. Most shocking of all though was the fact that this officer was a woman, someone from whom I would have expected a little more compassion and understanding. I can sympathize with the frustrations that the police have to contend with on a daily basis but if they cannot handle simple situations such as these then they should be looking for alternate employment; they are obviously unsuited to police work and do not have the patience and understanding that all citizens expect from their public servants.
Getting back to the indignities visited upon the deceased however, I see a darker motive as to why the body was left out in the open like this. Police chief Graham's latest misguided attempt to address the problem of open drug activity in the area.. an activity, I might add, that the police force has allowed to gain root and actually fester, if not flourish, over the last quarter century. Is it just coincidence that this unfortunate occurrence provided the perfect visual aid to justify the chief’s latest initiative to clean up the area, allowing him to say "here is why we need to crackdown on users. . . "
Now I'm all for targeting the cadre of sophisticated dealers that seem to operate with impunity for what seems like forever, but not the victims of this crime. The areas problems do need to be addressed and a battle will likely have to be waged to achieve this but can't this battle be fought with grace and dignity for the victims in this war which the police have declared? For in the words of an immortal scribe "The gentlest gamester is the soonest winner".
We are all human beings no matter our socio-economic stratification, be it advantaged or disadvantaged, and should be treated as such. Remember that "there but for the grace of God go I".
Rabble Rouser
JIM MURRAY, R.I.P.JIM MURRAY, R.I.P.
Jim Murray, a long-time resident of the Downtown Eastside and a man who made it his mission to keep one block of the neighborhood clean and tidy, died in his home in the
He was a genial, bearded figure who bore more than a passing resemblance to Mr. Natural, the legendary counter-culture figure. A Carnegie regular, you might have noticed Jim poring over works of politics and philosophy in the Library.
For years, his job at the Co-Op was street-front maintenance. He was absolutely conscientious in making sure all the litter was cleaned up and the grass trimmed. That made it a pleasure for other residents to enter the building.
Jim was born in Bancroft, Ont. and spent his early life in the mining industry. At one time he ran the men’s shelter of Catholic Charities on Cambie.
In the early 1970’s, he want back to school, enrolling at SFU in philosophy. Getting swept up in the politics of the day, he became the oldest member of a radical youth group called the Partisan Party, which used to give out free food in the 200-block
We are still trying to contact Jim’s next-of-kin. If anybody knows where they are, please let me know through the Newsletter Office. Then, a memorial service can be scheduled.
Bob Sarti
International Women:International Women:
Indigenous women.and children,
throughout the world are faced with
atrocities daily. They are violated,
annihilated, and if unlucky then
exterminated. No dignity, where's the
humanity, the justice? Slaughtered like
a piece of meat and left to die on the street.
Like here on the home front,
Their children, like our children go
Missing or are murdered daily
Right across our nations
The trail of tears has now
Become an ocean of tears.
Bottom line
It is a war on women
Throughout the globe
This ain't no game
"The stakes are high"
And, man, they're higher than
A kite. That is the reality. The savagery
is the deadly game of life.
Stay the course
Continue the fight
The plight of justice as a human right
The urgency for justice in
Their loss is our loss,
Their fight is our fight.
Stephen Lytton
karenzaeditor,
further to the 2nd point in jean swanson's letter re welfare rates: not only are they low, but non-existent for too many people.
too many people with mental health conditions are not being supported. too many persons with, for example severe clinical depression or "mild" to "medium" "paranoid schizophrenic" life patterns are on straight welfare rates even though they need special considerations for support, education, training, etc.
we all know that welfare bum land owners charge over the $325 shelter allowance allowed them in collusion with politicians and bureaucrats, so the citizen receiving these benefits has even less to eat, clothe and, (god forbid) entertain her/himself and then face being kicked off in a few years. to what?--------- fill our jails and city sidewalks with more of the same 'coz there's nowhere to go ________and
anyway nobody is home nowhere
karenza t wall
CHANCE CAN GIVE LIFE A FUTUREA CHANCE CAN GIVE LIFE A FUTURE
It seems to be that a lot of buildings are going up in our community; more and more unaffordable condo's and not enough amenities coming from these condo's and other buildings.
As most of you already know, the Hotels in our community are not fit to live in - due to the rooms having many problems either healthwise and/or over-run by cockroaches (?), bed bugs and other unhealthy insects in the rooms. However, the City has been trying to work with the Owners (some not willing to be helpful). As well, the welfare rates only allow up to $350 for rent and the rest is for food and necessary medical supplies that are not cover by the medical card. Yes I know many people could care less about some of the welfare recipients and believe they should be working. However, many are unemployable due to health issues. Then on top of it all, if someone is able to work and at a minimum wage, they usually start off struggling as some don't have the proper working boots, food while waiting for their first cheque, transportation, and other things they need. In the end they give up because they feel they keep falling to the bottom of it all and are kept being pushed to the limits. Exhaustion during the transition period, and all without sustenance, most often kills their ability to carry on working.
I don't know what message I am trying to send here but I always hear on the news, read in the papers, that our people are just bums and/or less than bums. IF people could just give our folks a realistic chance to show what they could do if they had the proper equipment for work, I believe they would be amazed at the talents and how much they can give from their beings. They are real PEOPLE, wanting to be someone just like someone who gave a chance to you and/or someone in your life. When they first get a job, they are filled with pride. When they fail, they are filled with shame and disappointed with themselves.
Just give a little inch and you can be proud of giving someone a "Chance” that is all they ask for.
Margaret
International Women's DayInternational Women's Day
You are the heartbeat
Of our nations, the giver
Of life. Your children
Our children.
Go missing and/or are
Murdered daily
Throughout
Our nation.
COMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK MEETINGCOMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK MEETING
Hosted by
CACV/Community Arts Network, Carnegie
Community Centre &Vancouver Moving Theatre
We’re looking for Festival Program ideas!
Planning has already started for the 3rd annual DTES Heart of the City Festival (Wed. Oct. 25-Sun. Nov. 5, 2006, dates to be confirmed)
The third annual Heart of the City Festival is one of the items on the agenda for the up-coming CAN networking meeting. Come share your programming ideas for this year’s festival and future festivals. What would you like to see? What would you like to contribute?
Tell us about exciting artists, programs, activities, events, cultural groups and partnering opportunities. Your voice is needed and appreciated.
And check out new videos on the first and second Heart of the City Festivals created by DTES video artists Anne Marie Slater and Projections.
Please join us
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre
Thursday March 16, 3 pm – 5 pm
Refreshments
The 2006 DTES Heart of the City Festival is produced by the Carnegie Community Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians in support of the DTES Community Arts Network.
News from the LibraryNews from the Library
The library has just received about 100 new literacy readers. These are thin books for people who are learning to read. We have books for all skill levels, from low beginner to advanced.
Some of the books are classics (like Dickens), some of them have been made into movies, some are stories about BC, and we also have books written by First Nations learners.
To find the Literacy section in the library, look for the Literacy symbol. The Literacy section is on the west wall, near the true crime books – ask one of the library staff if you can’t find it!
We’ve also got a new graphic novels section, for those of you who like pictures with your words. We’ve got titles like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and authors like Neil Gaiman, H.G. Wells & Douglas Adams. The graphic novels are in our new
youth section, just in front of the librarian’s door.
Beth, your librarian
Have My SayHave My Say
My mind is withered and worn
My thoughts are scattered, torn
I see visions of you and it makes me blue
Now that I know that we are totally through
Those long lonely nights when you held me tight
I felt like I could fly, like a bird in flight
The sweet caress of your tender touch
I felt that I loved you! Oh so much
We shared moments and secrets I hold dear to my heart
Now I have to go on to a brand new start
I’ll have time on my hands and no one will know
You belonged to someone else and I had to go
I will find another it will only take time
This hurts the most because you were never mine
It’s fair to say the feeling was intense
When you think about it does love really make sense!
But I never loved you you never loved me
What’s done is done so let it be
The memories will fade day by day
Goodbye my love now I’ve had my say!
Vicki G.
I've decided 2 give up waiting 4 “It”I've decided 2 give up waiting 4 “It”
“It” is the illusion the obsession
The Thrill of anticipation
Future tense & I mean TENSE!
We taught Rselves 2 window-shop
2 save up 4 those special “It”-casions
& wish with a Saturday nite hit & run heart
poised on 1 foot wantin “It” all 4 myself
th ol' 1-2-3 Monogamy
Every one was the trick
that was gonna make “It” click
The Twilite Zone of who drove me home
Will slide into happily-ever-after
My friend sez she doesn't do that anymore
She doesn't wanna have her "style" cramped
When “It” goes home I'm lyin weepin on the floor
Hey, I don't wanna have my stomach pumped
I've had enuf traffic accidents
I stop at yellow lites now
& I gotta stop throwin myself head-first
in the Romantic Wishing Well
- Diane Wood
CALL FOR LOCAL MUSICIANS, SINGERS/PERFORMERSCALL FOR LOCAL MUSICIANS, SINGERS/PERFORMERS
The
Please note that as well as being a public building our venue is a school environment. Because of this, we do not present work that is sexually explicit or is overtly violent and that public health and safety must also be considered.
The gallery offers a small honourarium for the 10-15 minute performance. Artists may drop off a profile of their performance practice, contact information and what they would like to do, addressed to Haruko Okano /
The Children’s March to Treblinka
Janusz Korczak’s father
saw the horror
of the twentieth century,
and collapsed under the pain
of his insight.
“We are forever under siege,” he said,
“We are forever under siege.”
In response, his son became
a physician and educator,
and fought for the rights of children.
“The world’s oldest oppressed group,” he said.
He ran an orphanage in
where children governed themselves.
His Children’s Home became famous,
and then the Nazis came to
Korczak’s orphanage was moved
to the
In 1942 the Nazis planned
a liquidation program
for the
They called it resettlement –
to somewhere in the east.
But the Jews in the ghetto knew that
resettlement meant Treblinka,
the death camp
where one million people died
during the war.
The children in the orphanage,
both boys and girls,
kept diaries.
Abrasha, an orphan boy
who spoke like an adult,
wrote in his diary
that the children
should have been taught
to shoot guns.
“Then we could die with dignity,” he said.
But there were no guns
in the
“How does one die without weapons?”
Korczak asked,
and answered his own question by saying,
“We will march to the train singing,
all two hundred of us.
We will strike back by singing,
singing as though on a journey.
Abrasha will carry the flag.”
The flag of the Children’s Home
was meadow green on one side,
with chestnut blossoms.
On the other side, a Star of David
the colour of the sea
on a white background.
Before the Nazis came,
the children put on a play
by Tagore of
The play, called The Post Office,
teaches us not to be afraid of death,
and the words of the Indian sage came alive
in the mouths of Jewish children
in the
Korczak chose the play,
although it was forbidden
for Jews to perform plays
written by Aryans.
Abrasha played the pat of Amal,
an orphan boy who was about to die.
And what will Amal ask the King
whom he is yet to meet?
“I shall ask him to make me
one of his postmen
that I may wander far and wide,
delivering his message
from door to door,” Amal said.
The deportation of Jews
from the
began in July, 1942,
and stopped in October
of that year.
The children from the orphanage
were taken in August,
and the night before the Nazis came,
Korczak noticed a German soldier
standing on guard outside his window.
He made a last entry in his diary
on August 4th , 1942:
“The soldier has a rifle.
Why is he standing
and looking on calmly?
He has no orders to shoot.
And perhaps he was a village teacher
in civilian life, or a lawyer,
a street sweeper in
a waiter in
What would he do if I nodded to him,
or waved my hand in a friendly gesture?
Perhaps he doesn’t even know
that things are – as they are.
He may have arrived only yesterday,
from far away…”
The Nazis came early on August 5^th .
“Everyone out, hurry,” they shouted,
and the children came out.
They lined up, five abreast,
and marched to the train.
Janusz Korczak led them, and
Abrasha followed, carrying the flag.
The children sang hiking songs,
and threw them, like missiles,
into the teeth of the barbarians.
At first the Nazis
tried to stop the children
from singing,
and they hit the children
with whips.
But the children
would not be stopped,
and their eyes cried out
for someone to avenge
their tragedy,
for someone to remember.
Then the Nazis
stopped hitting the children
and let them sing,
and the ghetto police
stood at attention
and saluted as they passed.
“There’s a special quality
in the air today,”
Abrasha whispered to Korczak,
quoting a line from Tagore’s play -
Abrasha, the warrior, like his Sioux
brothers who before a battle would say,
“It is a good day to die.”
They reached the train
and marched up the gangplank,
one hundred children in
one chlorinated box car,
one hundred children in another.
Then the cars were sealed.
In Tagore’s play
the dying orphan boy
speaks to a girl selling flowers.
“You won’t forget me?” he asks,
and she replies,
“I won’t forget you.”
Sandy Cameron
Public HousingPublic Housing
Recent statements made by Rich Coleman, BC Minister in charge of housing, give an impression of his genuine concern for social improvement in the Downtown Eastside. However, such attempts must be addressed by housing advocates, before they turn into legislative measures.
Minister Rich Coleman reportedly stated that “Major cities all across
“In
Unlike other cities across the country,
Crimes rates have been falling faster in public housing than in the city as a whole. A Housing Authority Report last year said that while serious crime in the city fell 5.6 percent from 1999 to 2000, it was down 11.2 percent in
In the '90s, the Housing Authority instituted what it calls the Working Families Preference, under which it set aside half its vacancies for low-income but employed residents. Federal legislation in 1998 that gave housing authorities greater flexibility in setting admissions standards bolstered the city's position. The Working Families Preference is credited with boosting the number of working families to close to 35 percent of all housing authority tenants.
New roles for the Housing Authority are a possibility. Bloomberg discussed having the Housing Authority work with the Department of Housing Preservation to develop affordable housing on the large tracts of relatively inexpensive vacant land that the NYCHA owns. Despite the national trend away from government-run projects,
Submitted by Richard Tylman
Walk a Mile in My GuccisWalk a Mile in My Guccis
$600 could have bought . . .
*A wheelchair for my dear wife so I could push her when she’s in too much pain to walk (a retiree)
*Milk for my kids for a year (mother of four)
*Almost 300 bus tickets for my job search rides (young immigrants)
*600 bowls o’ soup at Carnegie (hungry young man)
*Enough noodles to last for 5 years (Chinese G-mthr)
*Tune-up for old beater that gets us to work each day (Mr + Mrs working poor)
*Laser surgery for cataracts in both eyes (senior)
*Steel-toed boots and a hard hat so I could get a construction job (young man)
*150 jars of jam to go with my peanut butter sandwiches (school girl)
*I could get my prescriptions filled (senior citizen)
*600 presents from the Dollar Store so I’d always have gifts for my family (a ‘training’ wage earner)
*Bannock to feed all the hungry tummies and blankets for the winter (an elder)
*Decent clothes for my children to wear to school so no one laughs at them (single mom)
*Dinner for 300 people at Union Gospel Mission at Easter (homeless person)
*Brushes and paint (a starving artist)
*600 boxes of Kraft Dinner (a young mom)
*Comfortable shoes for the next 10 years for our poor, tired feet (taxpaying public)
Instead our $600 became some ugly shoes abandoned in a rich woman’s closet.
Submitted by M. Kelly
Poverty in the Promised LandPoverty in the Promised
Land In the Fifties we scrounged the dump
for heavy glass
-Pop bottles-coca cola, orange crush, 7UP
Patsy Murphy & I traded them for
penny candy:
Black Babies, Honeymoons, Coconut, Buds,
-tiny cones of honey+ brown sugar-
delicious to us.
Also the blackberries by the train track
Near the dump, the abattoir & Africaville;
but the biggest, juiciest grew near the
Graveyard...
We sold them for 50c a quart (remember quarts)
Now I cruise the lanes for good garbage
cans+ bottles for recycling
to buy bread & milk, maybe a little meat
Oh
Glorious and free!
Freedom is a thin gruel
Human rights cold comfort in the mean
streets.
Wilhelmina
The Shadows Project
Folks on
A group of DTES involved writers have been invited to participate in a writers’ retreat on
The invitation came from
Next October the script will be read during the Fathom Labs New Works Festival on Galiano.
“There’s more wisdom in this play than in 150 years of research.” Professor Emeritus Bruce Alexander,
Author of “Roots of Addiction in a Free Market Society”
The Shadows Project is being produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre in cooperation with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Downtown Eastside community. Over the two year project, an original shadow theatre play is being created for the whole family to shed light on issues surrounding addiction and recovery. The play is planned to premiere in winter 2007.
Community “Dickson Model”Community “Dickson Model” Grant Application
The Downtown Eastside community requires a model of intervention, prevention, outreach and role modelling that will be gone with the community’s loss of Dave Dickson.
The Community proposes an application to private funding sources that would allow us to develop, hire and implement a community model based on the service career of Dave Dickson, as a police constable, community liaison and outreach worker. This model will be the first of its kind in
This model is not meant to replace or usurp the Neighbourhood Police Officer who has been assigned to be VPD liaison to the DTES (currently Cst. Dave Hancock), but rather tighten up the private citizenry and community aspect of safety, working in tandem with the VPD Neighbourhood Police Officer and the Inspectors of Zone 2, as well as service
agencies and workers in the DTES.
Submitted by Lyn Cutshall
locked in a cagelocked in a cage
made out of muscle and bone
in a city full of millions of people
feeling so alone
and I don’t understand
very much at all
when the rape of the Mother
is just another tree to fall
it’s all loot, booty, pillage and plunder
heap it up as high as you can
the spirit of life is torn asunder
by the scorn in the soul of a man
there’s food to feed the masses
being buried at the dump
but you can’t afford to criticize
when you want to be Mr. Trump
staving off an oil embargo
by cruising in an SUV
pull along side the pick-up window
and you’re woofin down a BLT
it’s all loot, booty, pillage and plunder
the spirit of life is torn asunder
by the scorn in the soul of a man
running amok so disconnected
clutching on to whatever you can
whatever it is the system is selling
whatever all the neighbours got
just plug your nose
to stop the smelling
if your flesh has begun to rot
it’s all loot, booty, pillage and plunder
(it’s important to contribute
and to carry your weight
so the flow of the market
can determine your fate
anyone can make it
if they even only try
to buy very low
And sell very high)
Katphysh Berddawg
Gael E.R.MarriotteEditor,
I am a poverty advocate of many years and a nurse. ‘The Downtown Eastside is a challenge’ we hear from governments at all levels, but do they care? No.
Governments pay themselves thousands in salaries, pay no taxes, and have no insight into the DE at all. I’d like to challenge all levels of gov’t to spend one month in the DE and be given just $510 of which the landlord will take $500 and leave $10 for you; if you have no place to live you get $75 for ? shelter.
Live on that – no. Get pneumonia, arthritis, all forms of disease and infections – yes. People who can help, like all the rich and powerful, drive on by in their limos. Witness Chief Jamie Graham’s idea: “Send down cops on horses.” (to shit on the streets and trample non-compliant street people).
We see people as human beings – the others see us as animals. Sam Sullivan looks down his nose on the DE and he should know better, having spent his first months of recovery in G.F.Strong with locals like Sam Snobelen and Margaret Prevost. Let him sit in a shit-, rat-infested place with no doors, no toilets or showers, urine-smelling mattress with bedbugs – he wouldn’t stay or last 5 minutes BUT all levels of government demand people of the DE do it.
Welfare rates are so disgusting that case workers lose their tempers with clients in their frustration at not being able to do anything
We must stand up and fight. Massive anti-poverty marches in all areas, overwhelming Claude Richmond with letters, all to let them know we’ll win.
Gael E.R.Marriotte
Dear Friend Sandy CameronDear Friend Sandy Cameron
I heard that you were not feeling well.
You have always been my hero.
A man who inspired me to write.
A man who is true to his woman and his beliefs.
A man who so many love and respect
An author who gives his works freely
Please get well in spirit and in body.
hugs, Sheila
Wednesday March 8, 2006Wednesday March 8, 2006
Today is a very winter-like day, but not a Vancouver-like winter; it’s something that might happen on the prairies. I mean it actually snowed in downtown
I had every excuse to stay home instead of going out into the cold end-of-day to listen to some doctor who I had never heard of, a Dr. Terry Tafoya. It’s a long ride to the
It was a different impression on first sight. Dr Terry Tafoya relaxed, quiet, and confident and he seemed to be right at home up in front of the audience. Who would believe that he grew up as a shy Native American boy (or is it shy American native boy)? Someone in the audience asked how he had became such an extraordinary speaker and he said that his mom used to run a daycare sorta place and sometime when he would walk in, his mom would say “You’re in charge!” and walk out and leave him with 15 3-year olds. The only way he could look after them was to tell them stories. Stories like how the Deer were created from the deer people (either the stick version or the clam version both are very good stories.) Another good story was how the rabbits were created. This man is a prime storyteller of the greatest magnitude. He uses a slide projector and a hand drum with a Native design on it. He speaks softly and sometimes very loudly depending on what part of the story he’s in. I mean his telling of stories is fantastic. He keeps you entertained and his tales are legendary. He makes you feel as if the story actually took place and who’s to say it didn’t?
I am going to paraphrase one story because I just want you to get an idea of this man and his stories.
‘Once upon a time there was an evil woman who lived in the woods. She loved to drink the blood of little boys and girls. So she would hunt them down and capture them by first putting tree sap in their eyes so they couldn’t see anything. Then she would take them home and eat them. People would tell their children not to play in or near the woods because of the evil woman.
One little warrior didn’t listen to his parents and he went and played by the woods. When the old woman neared him he told her that he knew about her and was ready for anything. She bent over to whisper in his ear and as she bent over she brought her other hand out from behind her back and threw sap in the little boy’s eyes. Of course he couldn’t see so she grabbed him and threw him in the basket on her back. She had a very good day and caught 10 kids.
She was so happy when she got home that she started a big fire and danced around it with anticipation and glee. The little warrior bent over to warm himself and as he did this, the sap began to melt and he could start to see again. The old woman didn’t notice the now free little boy as he went from one child to another and whispered to each of them how to get free. When the old hag finished dancing she was so tired she sat on the floor. All the kids got together and set her on fire. But she didn’t burn regularly; she burned more like a sparkler with little stars shooting out from the body. These little stars transformed into mosquitoes and that is why to this day mosquitoes suck your blood.’
Here are some thoughts that I heard through the hour and a half in which he spoke. In another story he relates how a person says, “I have read so much about the evils of drugs, alcohol and sex that I’ve decided to give up reading.”
Children – protected – parents told stories that started “Once upon a time”, “In a land far, far away” and other ways so a child or children felt safe in their home from the creatures in the story. Non-protected - games, computers and dvds make it hard to distinguish news reality from fantasy. Children fear that their reality is the same as the fantasies they play in and as a result they have little respect for the reality or the people around themselves. It’s not just about reality its how you are taught to interpret it. When things are out of balance, they need to be balanced not destroyed.
Some thoughts of his on Oral History. Your history is never older than your grandpa or grandma. You are only one generation away from extinction.
When it was over it sure didn’t seem like it lasted very long. I hope that he doesn’t mind that I told about some of his stories or that I really wrecked one of them. If you ever get a chance to see and hear this man in person let me know about it cause I want to see and hear him again.
hal
ScreamScream
Shooting heat, dark alleyways
Screaming winds mix raging rain
Forgetting sense of common ground
Safety First comes into play
Yeh, should you blow or show you stay
Who’ in your loop, my misguided one?
A shady angel who hardly feels the sun
Contempt for fear as you stand your ground
Oh how you dance when whirled around
Where will you be next week, next year,
Laughing at shrouds or in a pool of tears?
You can’t slow down ‘cause time runs on
Rushing, crushing, jagged noise abounds
Clipped, faceless, soulless ghosts surround
A witch wails, off in a distant space
Hugging yourself, pounding heart, drawn face
With tattooed robes you push, you pull
You don’t know who you are. What’s your role?
A long road back full of twists and turns
With potted holes of fire that spit and churn
Yet you’re losing- this treadmill never slows
Dodging exposed graves, would flowers grow
Metered steps, your staggered aching stalks
Through mire & moor, you shriek in whispered talk
Dead tired, regurgitated, meaningless pleas –
Spare me your grief – it’s as you please.
Bite down on capsules, 3D coloured dreams
That shall peel your mind into rags and reams.
Writing history, piling daily dark upon dark
Your present bleak, out of focus; your future stark
Where is your love, my special extreme friend?
Though I will be here for you, and by your side
As you continue down your lonely, treacherous slide
To a brief, bittersweet, saddened, besotted end
It’s ne’er too late to cease this useless stress & strife
Always remember, I’d like to be the lucky so-&-so
The one to save your precious, priceless life.
Robyn Livingstone
Creative-Resistance -ending drug prohibition for goodCreative-Resistance
. .. ending drug prohibition for good
Creative-Resistance is a social justice movement committed to ending the War on Drugs by 1) exposing the violence and corruption the Drug War generates, 2) educating the public regarding the devastating personal and social consequences of drug prohibition, and 3) advocating alternative ways of mana
ing the reality of drugs in society.
Creative-Resistance has, as its ultimate objective, ending the War on Drugs and thereby reducing the destructive fallout of a drug policy formulated as war. Prohibition, with its manifold mechanisms of enforcement, has proven to be a colossal failure, succeeding only in multiplying incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction. Alternative drug policies need to be imagined, discussed and implemented, for the sake of fostering a more just and compassionate society.
In order to accomplish this objective, Creative-Resistance will undertake to raise the awareness of the harms of prohibition through a number of means: maintaining a website, hosting educational events, forums and conferences, taking the word to the street, lobbying government, etc. This is primarily an educational strategy that seeks to counter the massive propaganda of the War on Drugs. In addition, Creative-Resistance will form and maintain alliances with other groups advocating drug policy reform.
Website: www.creative-resistance.org
Contact: Bud Osborn or Dave Diewert 604.253.1782
Email: ddiewertt@shaw.ca
Creative-Resistance
Principles of Post-Prohibition Drug Control
1. We affirm the irreducible dignity and worth of each person and uphold every person's right and access to life, health, security, equality before and under the law, and unique self expression within the matrix of social practices and community life. We recognize that the individual and the social, the personal and the political, are inextricably woven together, and that moving toward "the common good" requires respect and care for one another within a field of diverse, complex individuals-in-society. While we affirm personal autonomy, seek to promote individual, family and community well-being, and limit personal and collective harm, we recognize the intricate and continuously negotiated interplay
entailed in simultaneously maintaining these values.
2. We declare that the prohibition of controlled substances, embodied in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, has utterly failed in achieving its objectives, and that it has proved "counterproductive in its side-effects, wasteful of public resources, destructive in its cultivation of criminality and commercial abuse, and inhumane in its operation" (The Angel Document [2004]). Instead of reducing the supply of drugs, drug prohibition has produced a black market that makes drugs widely available and spawns si
nificant health and social pathologies.
3. "Not all drug use is abuse." We recognize the use of a variety of plants within diverse cultures which for centuries has been part of normalized social patterns and rituals. We acknowledge the positive personal and social dimensions of some drug use.
Specifically:
.Physical: Pain relief, aid to sleep, decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, increased endurance
Psychological: Relaxation, relief of stress, decreased anxiety, increased alertness, enhanced creative expression, mood alteration, pleasure
Social/spiritual: Facilitation of social interaction, social cohesion, religious/spiritual or ceremonial use
Economic: Job creation, agricultural development,
tax revenue generation
...4. We uphold the maxim "If you can plant it, you can use it." This not only entails recognition of the potential benefits of natural products, it allows for
personal cultivation and use of plants and herbs.
5. We affirm the importance of accurate, evidence-based information and genuine education regarding both the harms and the benefits of drug use. Such education should address a variety of issues - chemical makeup of the drug, physical and/or psychological effects, positive and negative social dimensions
of drug use, instruction on safe and proper use, etc.
6. We recognize that a new post-prohibition paradigm will need to include both public health and human rights aspects. The public health perspective is needed to maintain the focus of reduction of health and social harms to individuals, families and communities. The human rights aspect is needed to ensure that the rights of individuals and groups who
choose to use substances are respected.
7. We affirm that drugs should be available in a variety of concentrations and preparations so that individuals can have choice. This honours the dignity, autonomy and wisdom of each individual and recognizes the diversity of various cultural and social practices.
8. We endorse the provision of beneficial resources, treatment and support for those caught in harmful
patterns of drug use.
9. We call for the cessation of civil and legal sanctions as a means for controlling drug use and drug users. Punishment must not be employed as a tool for social control. Drug availability and use should be carried out in a way that does not marginalize or stigmatize those who use such substances.
10. We strongly affirm Canadian sovereignty in the formation and implementation of its own national drug policy and support
11. We believe that the sale of drugs should not generate any corporate profits. Our society has learned from the experience with alcohol and tobacco that when the legal for-profit model is used to distribute substances, the corporations involved are very difficult to control.
12. We believe that all tax revenue that is generated from the sale of substances should be returned to drug treatment and prevention programs.
13. We recognize that the current model of prohibition has provided and/or supplemented incomes for individuals and families who grow, import, wholesale and retail currently illegal drugs. As with the end of alcohol prohibition, there needs to be a process by which these criminalized individuals and groups can participate in the new legal distribution process and thereby facilitate their integration into
non-criminalized activities and employment.
14. We believe that the least intrusive method of controlling substances should be used and therefore medical control of substances should be kept to an absolute minimum. This control option should only be used when there is clear evidence that other controlling mechanisms have failed.
15. We believe that regulation will playa role in the post-prohibition paradigm. However, these regulatory bodies must honour the cultural and social practises of individuals, groups, and nations.
16. All individuals who have a criminal record from possession or dealing of drugs will be automatically pardoned. All individuals who are currently incarcerated for possession or dealing drugs will be immediately released.
Stoqw ‘ eylem Traditional Pow WowStoqw ‘ eylem Traditional Pow Wow
March 24, 25, and 26, 2006
Grand Entry
Friday 7:00 pm
Saturday 1:00pm and 7:00 pm
Sunday 1:00 pm
Golden Age Jingle Special, Native Craft
Tables, Native Food
Everyone is Welcome - Entry by Donation
Alcohol & Drug Free
Master of Ceremony - Jere Peters Host Drum - Chosen Each Session
please contact:
Vendors - Mike Rubin 1-877-773-1722
(tables $100.00 for 3 days + donation)
General Info - Dawn Marks 778 893-7704
Bilingual Memorial: Archbishop Oscar RomeroBilingual Memorial Service
for Archbishop Oscar Romero
(English y Espanol)
with Madre Emilie Smith
Saturday, March 25 at 2 pm
St. James Anglican Church
(corner of Gore and Cordova)
To whoever cares,
To whoever cares,
Fourteen years ago I was very happy to move into seniors housing at
Over the years things have changed but I'm comfortable with the changes. More people with mental illnesses, physical illnesses, and the working poor, etc. have come to live here. We share our park with
Now there's been a change and I'm scared. I have been told that the seniors who live here can stay until they die or move. But the government has a plan that all new tenants (whom it is now calling clients) have to be people who are "hard to house." "Hard to house" means people who can't function in most housing. These people do desperately need secure housing, but so do the seniors on the waiting list for this building. This is pitting one group who needs housing against another group. If the government plan happens, our building will become a ghetto and isolated from the community." I no longer feel I have security of tenure. I'm anxious about the future, if there is one.
Everyone needs a home, but why take ours away when there is a surplus of at least $2 billion in the provincial budget? Why doesn't the government build decent housing for everyone who needs it?
It will be difficult for the seniors who are left when their neighbours die. How many more social housing buildings is this happening to?
According to an article in the Times Colonist, the Minister in charge of Housing, Rich Coleman, says the day for low rent government-owned housing has passed.
Why does the government do this to seniors? How many die because of government's negligent decisions? Sincerely,
Sheila Baxter
Food Carried AwayFood Carried Away
What next? Well, stealing treacle (molasses); smoking and burning a warehouse down!
Found not guilty or not proven, as the law states in Old Scotia - but now and forever under the watchful eye of the local police: Any broken windows (17 in one day, as we could see our foster parents through any of ‘em); ripe apple trees raided; my brother and I were the automatic suspects.
He, being older but physically weaker and mentally more thoughtful, decided to run away from Foster Care, and made extenuous plans. The procurement of funds – ah ha – we carried the bags & suitcases of returning tourists from the boat to the train. They were from
Around this time we met our Dad. My first remembrance of him was a humpback, emaciated, coughing endlessly. Later I learned about his working in coal mines, with conditions alternating between extreme dust and excessive water. (He never made it to 50.)
Next came the aspect of acquiring equipment for the expediation of running away from Foster Care (Boarded Out is the Scot’s term). The equipment decided upon included tea & sugar, a wheelbarrow and all we could move, and a tent we made of potato sacks which we sewed together. That idea came from potato sacks lying around a potato farm where we used to roast potatoes on a Sunday before we had to attend a compulsory dinner of Scots broth, bullet-hare peas & barley. Sunday, being a religious day, never can I remember having a regular meal; it was mostly jam & margarine. One memory is that of peeing in our shoes and throwing it out into the sky on hot summer nites.
Once the equipment was acquired, the objective was
What to do? Beat a retreat, return to the start and face the consequences of course. There would be physical payment (wonder of wonders). The foster parent Mac would pretend to lash us with his belt but lashing our bed to impress the woman downstairs that he was doing it to us.
Facing the consequences – deported to a holding centre filled to overflowing with apprentice juvenile delinquents, and finally forwarded to a farm in the northeast. Lo ‘n behold something to eat!
But good times come to an end – the outcome being we didn’t eat with the Farmer; always after. To this day I feel like a 2nd-class citizen with no place in society except at a comfort level usually found among ne’er-do-wells or Gentlemen of the Road. The current name is Homeless (gentle)men.
This feeling gets reinvigorated by such events as stopping in at the
James MacLean
Ben Crissy Last year my brother was made a member of the Order of
This year I was ordered out of the
I went down to see about getting legal aid. They said they’d appoint me a lawyer. Two days later they phoned and said Art Eggleson was my lawyer. He was unemployed. I called him and he said I had a better chance as a group so he’d call me in about a week. Ten days later he phoned and said he had a group of ten to represent. I was so happy! I asked who they were and he said, “Five Mexicans and four Puerto Ricans, all illegal aliens.” Americanadians =friends? I guess he figured (in his addled mind) that since I couldn’t be in either country, he’d try to slip me into
Ben Crissy
A friend of mine told me last week to surround myself with good people.
This week I’m surrounded by people with good educations and steady jobs: a Sheriff, a Judge, a Prison Guard, a lawyer and a psychiatrist.
Ben C.
The affectation of Power and its ImpactsThe affectation of Power and its Impacts
Recognising Power usually entails labeling those having power over; the power ‘to’, of an individual, is primarily an exercise in ideation, even relatively subconscious affirmation along the lines of “I can” or “I am ____.”
Having Power over assumes an acceptance of another entity’s ability to effect change whether those upon whom it is exercised agree or not, but a proportional component of this ability is the affectation of many psychological and esoteric characteristics by the entity/individual(s) either in the seat or assuming acceptance of themselves in the capacity of speaking and/or acting for same. Myriad examples in mundane life include Phone companies, Cable TV, utility suppliers, banks and other financial institutions, virtually all aspects of the justice system from the law itself to the police to lawyers to court and most directly into prisons, and not least in corporate hierarchies in business and their corollaries (subsets?) in most governments.
It is too simple to parrot, even subtly, all the various ideas or examinations or theories about the upward and downward flows of power and the dynamics involved, to name or identify the corporate CEO and equivalents and say “S/he has power over the VPs, they have power over the managers, each has power over . . . and so on, and then get into the deep (cough) vernacular of “what Power IS:”
Power being explored here and in Hum101 seems to be the intangible variety – it’s hard not to equate the word with destructive force, given that weapons, natural calamities etc. are very often given descriptive rankings according to how much damage or mayhem each can wreak. Try comparing a tsunami with a tactical nuke.
The impacts of the affectation of power are the most frustrating, given that such are layered on or assumed seemingly in direct proportion to the amount of control the purveyor is under the illusion of wielding. i.e. petty power-trips, supervisory bullying, trainer over trainee, and so on. Lack of accountability increases, perhaps, as arrogance, delusions about the effect of personal presence and vicious stupidity are displayed &/or employed to buttress one’s perceived foundations, or just increase on a quid pro quo basis.
The impacts of all this can be and often are received by holistic beings as something on the order of a 2nd-grader swaggering before and lording it over 1st-graders – puerile at best and, depending on the fuse of the recipient, in need of an immediate ‘slap-up-the-side-of-the-head’ to bring things back into clear focus. When the Power being exercised is on the order of Life and Death, the perceptions of and reactions to same are no longer in the realm of schoolyard strategies and emotional maturity; it becomes a matter of survival.
The area between these two is not black & white; not from the sphere of 6 & 7-year-olds over a fine line to death-making, but a great expanse of perception wherein I keep as much peace within myself as the situation will apparently allow. On the deep end the words of Kierkegaard, found in something dated 1846, are apropos:
“Never initiate force against anyone. This should be the underlying principle of your life. But, if someone does violence [uses arrogant power] to you, you should retaliate without hesitation, without reservation, without quarter until you are sure that he will never wish to harm, or be capable of harming, you or yours again.”
Respectfully submitted,
PaulR Taylor, Hum101.
Olduvai Indigenous Arts StudiosOlduvai Indigenous Arts Studios
presents
Silence Rules
Compaigni V’ni Dansi
Proudly presents
Gabriel’s Crossing
The Story of the Metis Resistance
Friday & Saturday, March 24 & 25
7pm Opening in
(across from Main Skytrain)
8pm Performance at
(Olduvai Indigenous Arts Studios)
Sunday, March 26
1 pm Opening at
2 pm Performance at OIAS
Tickets: $10 student/senior; $12 adults
Info: 604-929-7912
Bob Dylan on SongwritingBob Dylan on Songwriting
(excerpted from an interview with Paul Zolo)
Submitted by Sam Snobelen
"The world don't need any more songs... They've got enough. They've got way too many. As a matter of fact, if nobody wrote any more songs from this day on, the world ain't gonna suffer for it. Nobody cares. There's enough songs for people to listen to if they want to listen to songs. For every man, woman and child on earth, they could be sent, probably, each of them, a hundred records and never be repeated. There's enough songs.. .But as far as songwriting, any idiot could do it. If you see me do it, any idiot could do it."
