To Those Celebrating 420 …

Have fun!

Sundays At The Library

I spend a lot of time at the Central Library, all day for at least two and sometimes three days a week. And more or less I have been doing that for a couple of years. Up on the seventh floor where I do my work there are the occasional busy flashes but generally it is pretty quiet up there.

I have tried to keep weekends as free as possible and so I haven’t been visiting the Library at those times.  However, because my gal has been traveling for the last couple of weeks, I have found myself doing full days there for the last two Sundays. And wow! — the place has been packed both days; seriously busy with nearly every table and work space being used.

Maybe half the crowd are ethnically-oriental students doing language homework or some such in a quiet space. The other half are actively looking up stuff from directories, old newspapers and the massively-multiple volumes of historic Vancouver photographs.

On my walks around the Library every floor seemed to be equally busy.

It is wonderful to see such a special building be so well used.

Making Time

Tomorrow night we move the clocks back one hour in the bi-annual continuation of an archaic, uneconomic, dangerous and energy-wasting exercise favoured by the big gas companies.

How can we still be so stupid as to keep doing this?

Today In History — Me!

Rather a long time ago on this day, my mother missed lunch because she was giving birth to me.  Thanks Mum!

Happy Diwali To You All!

 

Story Gallery Festival: Great Day!

We had an excellent afternoon participating in the Story Gallery Festival at Britannia.  My The Drive Press shared a table with the Grandview Heritage Group (see below) and we were cheek-by-jowl to the other festival producers:  the Downtown Eastside Studio Society’s “The View From Here“; the Our Roots oral history project and their book “Vancouver Dialogues“; and the Under One Umbrella’s “Voices From Grandview Woodland.”

There was good music throughout the afternoon, and a steady crowd of interested folks.  I sold a few books but the highlight was meeting some of the people I already know from my research. Folks who have lived on the Drive for 50, 60 and 70 years, and who are happy to chat about the way things were.

I gave a couple of readings: “Shoot Out At First and Commercial” which seemed sharper with the proximity of today’s police-shooting incident at Grandview Park; and “The Creation of First and Commercial.”  They both got a good reception from small groups of listeners.

Today was the official outing of the Grandview Heritage Group, the local group of historians and local enthusiasts that has been meeting informally for the last few months.  We are interested in all aspects of Grandview’s history and heritage, physical and cultural.  We launched ourselves into the public today with the distribution of a flyer explaining who we are and offering an email address (grandviewheritage@gmail.com) for others who might care to join us.

I also met some old friends I haven’t seen in way too long.  It was a good day.

Story Gallery Festival Reminder

This is a reminder that the Story Gallery Festival is taking place tomorrow, Saturday, between 1 and 4 (or until 6 if you stay for a screening of the Vancouver Stories film) at Britannia (Napier and Commercial).

Lots of music, food, weather-covered booths from organizations launching their books and other multi-media projects, and readings every 15 minutes inside the library.

I’ll be doing readings from “The Drive” at 1:45pm and 3:00pm.

Autographed copies of “The Drive” will be available at no additional cost!   Hope to see you all there!

Story Gallery Festival: October 22nd

Here’s a good date for your calendar:   the Story Gallery Festival that will take place in and around Britannia Library and Info Centre on Saturday 22nd October from 1pm until 4pm.

The Festival celebrates the number of books and stories in various art forms about East Vancouver that have emerged this year. Along with my own “The Drive,” other featured groups are the Under One Umbrella group which will be launching its book of local stories the collection of which was organized as part of the Vancouver 125 celebrations; the Eastside Studio Society‘s collection “View From Here“; Our Roots, an audio collection of stories from Aboriginal and new Canadians; a collection of video interviews called, I believe, “Vancouver Stories”; and new work from a group that gives voice to youth in the community.

There will be story readings in the Library Art Gallery every quarter-hour from 1:30pm to 4pm (I’ll be doing readings at 1:45pm and 3:00pm) and the usual fun-filled raft of local artists, food, music and ceremony from all over in the central plaza.

This will be a bright spot in the middle of Fall!

Whatever Happened To …

.. those freezers in shipping crates that were sitting on the sidewalk, about seven or eight of them.  This was just a little west of Hastings and Glen, over the viaduct on the north side, and there was no obvious appliance store for which they might have been a delivery. Perhaps the delivery driver got bored looking and simply said “That’s enough.” and dumped them.  That’s what it looked like. I wonder what happened to them.

Labour is …

On Labour Day, it is good to remember words of wisdom from long ago:

“[T]here is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.

Now there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless.

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

– Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union Speech, 3rd December 1861.

Dim Sum and Baby Ginger

In what has become a very welcome bi-weekly event on our calendar, we went for dim sum at Western Lake this morning. It was just as busy and just as tasty as always.  We got there about 10:30 and the line was out of the door as it tends to be.  So I worked my way to the front desk and put us down on the list for two. Luckily for us, all the other people in line ahead of us were in parties of 3 or 4 or more, and we got to sit instantly as a two-seater in the corner was just itching to be used.  That’s a pleasant first, and a great way to start!

We had the basics:  ha gow, shui muy, salted squid, steamed chive dumplings and gai-lan. Lots of hot sauce and mustard, and hoisin for the greens. Hot tea, iced water, big portions, fast service: Hard to beat at twice the price.

Then we crossed 34th Avenue to the wonderful Chinese food market right there on the corner. I just love walking those aisles, smelling the aromas, feeling the produce. Today we just needed a few things for the Goan fish curry I’m cooking tonight.  Baby ginger is one of them, and they had it in spades.  A huge basketful of the freshest young ginger I’m sure you could find anywhere in the city.  It is almost translucent, with purple blushings. With the fresh moist lemongrass I found at Patel’s yesterday, the baby ginger is going to be perfect.

I got off the bus at First and walked the 14 blocks home, stretching my legs in the sun.  Just another lucky day.

Public Dreaming

At lunchtime today I was invited to chat with the Public Dreams’ folks to discuss my concerns over the moving of the Illuminares Festival from Trout Lake (see various posts below).  Through the agency of Skype (doncha just love it!), Laura Grieco, PD’s managing director, PD board member Todd Sieling and I reviewed the issues that had caused the move.

Costs, of course, are the key problem. Trout Lake is a perfect location (even without thinking of the history of the event) because it has the beautiful open space and it has the lake which is simply magical with the latterns floating at night.  However, putting on a grand show at Trout Lake where upwards of 25,000 people will attend involves large expenditures on street closures, permits and portapotties.  And that brings into focus two major problems.

One, like many arts organizations, Public Dreams is great at the creative level but just no good at public fundraising.  PD admits that they have not, to date, made contact with some of the organizations and community groups that might help them in their task.  And they have been notably absent during such events as Italy Day and the No-Car Days on the Drive where fundraising buckets might have been a useful idea.

But we can’t blame PD entirely for their lack of resources, which brings us to the second problem:  You and I who rush to attend the event have seen it as a midsummer gift from on high, and we have failed to put our hands in our pockets to help defray the costs of our own pleasure. We have failed to appreciate that this is not a taxpayer-supported event but one that needs our help if it is to survive.

I suspect that PD recognizes that this year’s event in the  concrete and glass of Canada Place did not match the quality achieved in an outdoor space. As I understand it, the location for the 2012 Illuminares Festival is not yet set, and we could still save it for the east side.  But a number of things have to come together if this is to happen.

(1)  Public Dreams needs to do a far better job at connecting with the community, both the community at large and the organizations within it who might help them;

(2) This improved connection needs to include a discussion about whether a scaled down event — perhaps one that could fit into a park closer to the main areas of Drive and, maybe, include a lantern parade along the Drive — might be a better idea. at least until finances improve;

(3) The community needs to show that we really want this event back in our own neighbourhood.  We need to connect with PD when they approach us and we must be willing to put a few dollars into the pot when asked.

I sure hope we can pull this off because I really miss that midsummer magic!

Wisdom We Should All Remember

The Guardian this morning reminded us that:

“the plural of anecdote is not data.”

 

 

Public Dreams Disappoints Again

A week or so ago I wrote how the Illuminares Festival — so vital a part of the east-side calendar — has been ripped from our hands and delivered to the fat cats downtown.

After reading my post, Public Dreams, the event organizers, wrote to me to explain their decision. Their letter explained that they had to broaden their reach into the community outside the east side. In an interview with CBC Radio this afternoon, they expanded that reason to suggest it was important that they reach out to communities where the citizens were less integrated with the arts community.

Does that sound like downtown to you?  Especially this weekend when downtown hosts the Pride Festival and the Celebration of Lights along with Illuminares.

If the real reason was to reach out to event-lacking communities, why didn’t they move to Champlain Heights or Marpole or South Vancouver or even Kerrisdale?  Why did they move to downtown which is jam-packed with events year round? Clearly the claim that they are expanding into communities where the citizens are less integrated with the arts community is simply false, at least for 2011.

They also claim that holding the festival at Trout Lake was too expensive as they were responsible for permit fees, portapotties and security.  That sounds like a phony excuse too. Do they not have these costs downtown?  If not, why not?  When they publish their annual cost statements we’ll get to see the truth of the matter, I hope.

Given that both stated reasons for moving the festival out of east Vancouver appear to be sketchy at best, I find myself ever more disappointed with Public Dreams. Shame on them.

Illuminares Is Stolen From Us

Flower Offering from Illuminares a few years back

One of the great days each year in East Vancouver was the celebration of Illuminares at a pagan festival that always happened on and around Trout Lake at John Hendry Park.  It was organized each year by the Public Dreams Society who also used to organize Parade of Lost Souls later in the year around Grandview Park and into the Britannia school grounds.

Now, both have been taken from us.

Public Dreams creative director Samantha Jo Simmonds says that they want to take the festival “out and across the city”.  Why?  Why not bring people to East Van, to Trout Lake where the festival belongs?

She says that people want modern electric lights and video displays on Canada Place’s white top.  I don’t — that’s what we get all the time.  And yes, a lot of us like to bring “out the same old lanterns every year.”  We made them, we are proud of them, they work well in the darkness of the park and the lake.  Now they will be invisible in the bright “modern” lights.

Years ago we started the Fringe Festival here — that got stolen to False Creek. Public Dreams has failed to follow through on Parade of Lost Souls for the last year or so. And now our own special eastside summer festival is being sacrificed to Public Dreams desire for west side money (at least that is the only rationale I can think of).

Public Dreams used to be such a great organization. Now, they sound like Liberals, pandering to downtown and the west side. Shame.

A genuine eastside group should take this up and revive the real thing next summer. Public Dreams can go off and play with their rich new friends; we’ll make our own fun.

 

The Quiet Dark

I spend some of my waking time with my eyes firmly shut.  I find it peaceful, and it allows me to concentrate on what I want to think about with far less distractions from the outside world.

I shut my eyes through a large number of TV commercials, most TV news, and, indeed, a wide range of general programming.  I shut my eyes when I am relaxing outside on the patio, listening to the neighbourhood. I shut my eyes when I am listening to the radio, when I sit at my desk doing nothing in particular, when I am traveling on my usual bus routes. I am not usually asleep (though I guess it is always worth checking), but nearly everyone who sees me in this condition assumes that I am. Usually I am not.

But I can understand this assumption because almost everyone else spends the entirety of their waking lives (other than blinking) with both eyes resolutely open, and for most of you sleep, yoga practice and prayer seem the only reasonable excuses for keeping them closed. Perhaps you all don’t want to miss anything, or are fearful of the dark, or something.

I really enjoy being awake with my eyes shut. External audio — TV, radio, the street — can be trained to be just one of the thought-threads running through your mind.  Shutting the eyes allows one to focus on the available audio or simply to ignore it in favour of your own thoughts. Visual stimuli, with the eyes open on the other hand, seem far more difficult to overcome or channel.

Don’t get me wrong; I am a painter and photographer: I love and often crave visual stimulation. But there are times when I just need to shut it all out  — and closing my eyes is simple, immediate and always available.  I urge you all to give it a serious try.

No Car Day 2011 — Commercial Drive

I have been to every No Car Day on the Drive; but this was the first one in which I manned a booth and was there for the entire six hours. Crowds were good — almost as busy as Italy Day I would guess — even though the weather was grey and sometimes a bit chilly.  There was only one band that came through — more would have been better — and there were far too few “characters” such as the orange stilt lady:

I was volunteering at the Grandview Woodlands Area Council booth and was able to set aside a corner of the table for my book.  I sold quite a lot, perhaps more than I expected, in cash sales, and I also handed out a lot of business cards that refer to The Drive Press blog.  Even more importantly, I got to meet and chat with a lot of people who have memories of the Drive and who are happy to share their stories.  Here is modern capitalism in action:

We had a number of history-related objects other than my book — maps, etc — and that drove a lot of interest. Next year, for No Car Day, I’d like to work with other locals to have a specific Local History booth.  There are a number of local historians and we could pool our books for sale, brochures, displays etc.   Could be fun.

Will Sign Books For Cash

During the No Car Day festival on Commercial Drive this Sunday between noon and 5pm, I will be at a table near Williams & Commercial where I will be selling signed copies of my book “The Drive” for the wholly reasonable price of $25.  Come on down and say hello!

A Sunny Day Is A Glorious Thing

Late this afternoon, about 5 o’clock, between a long series of chores that had consumed two days, I sat in my little local park.  The sun was warm enough for shirt-sleeved comfort and a slight breeze hovered at face level. It was the most refreshing fifteen minutes I’ve spent for ages.

I learned later on the local news that this was the warmest day we have enjoyed since January!   I don’t really mind winter in Vancouver too much. But spring is better.

Earth Day 2011

It was Earth Day yesterday, and a youth group organized a parade along Commercial Drive followed by an event on the Britannia HS playing fields.  This was the first of what they are talking about making an annual event.

I was a bit late and caught up with the group when they had arrived at the school grounds — and I forgot to shift my camera from b&w mode to colour.  The event was nothing if not colourful and so the following images will be impressionistic only.  First, we have the organizers — and bravo to them.

Although the named organizing group was supposedly non-partisan, this was clearly an NDP event, with the entire field marked out with NDP election lawn signs.  Quite a few folks in the crowd were also carrying NDP placards. There may have been a Green or two, but the speeches — by Libby Davis etc — and the crowd was definitely leaning to the New Democrats.  Here is NDP MLA Jenny Kwan standing with some other freaks (who were REALLY colourful, believe me!) on the left:

The opening entertainment act were “Maria In The Closet” (?) who were joined out front by some very colourful (honest!) dancers with placards.

It looks like it was a fun event, enjoyed by a few hundred folks.   ‘Tis the season for street events and I look forward to more.