April 15, 2021 Carnegie Newsletter

401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7

(604) 665-2289

IT IS NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK APRIL: NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK is a time to celebrate, recognize and thank volunteers, and to create awareness for the important work millions do across Canada!

This year's Volunteer Appreciation week is: April 18-24, 2021 This year's National theme is: The Value of one, The Power of many .

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The National Volunteer Week theme for 2021, The Value of One, The Power of Many, reflects on the awe-inspiring acts of kindness by millions of individuals AND the magic that happens when we work together towards a common purpose. This past year, we have seen people supporting family, friends, neighbours, and strangers, people standing up to systemic racism, and people sharing insights on how to create a more just and equitable society. We recognize the value of the caring and compassion that each one has shown another, & we recognize the power of people, organizations, & sectors working together.

Here at the Cam~ie Community Centre, Volunteerism is an integral part of our mission and everyone one of you who have contributed time and effort over the years.

During the session, volunteers will be offered treats (portable- to take to designated eating area or take home), play a quick game to win a prize sponsored by the Camegie Community Centre Association, hang out for 10-15 minute and share stories and enjoy the connection to fellow volunteers and staff! Due to the effects of Covid-19 and the lack of hours of volunteer ism in 2020, we will be deferring the Volunteer of the Year/ Special Merit contributions to be counted towards 2022 Volunteer of year/ Special Merit Celebration.

Sunday April 18, 1-3pm

Wednesday April 21, 5-6pm

Friday April 23, 5-6pm

Volunteers are the lifeblood of every worthwhile action and activity. Get involved!

CARNEGIE CENTRE UPDATES Community Centre Hours are open 9am-11 pm.

We are looking forward to seeing you. Here are some important things you should know about our program and service updates. e Entry and exit from the building will continue to be from the patio.

• Take-out meal service will be moved from the patio, back to the 2nd floor Cafeteria. Check out our expanded menu and updated pricing! .

• Free coffee with Al & the Oppenheimer Park team will now be available in the community only (no patio service). o The Theatre drop-in space will be closed, except during specific program times. Other spaces to rest, use the Wi-Fi etc. will be available on the main floor and the gymnasium: on the 2nd floor. o Library services will now be available from the Carnegie branch with a limited capacity.

• The lane level and 3rd floor will remain closed t6 the public. e The building will be closed from 11 am-12.pm and 4-5 pm for cleaning.

If you have any questions, please speak with a staff person.

Patrons are encourage to maintain physical distance when in food lines up. We have maintained our current meal times of Breakfast 9am-11 ami Lunch 12pm-4pmlDinner 5-8pm.

LEARNING CENTRE in the Theatre Monday and Tuesdays One on one tutoring/ Assistance 12:30-3pm -Upgrading, Getting stuff done, ESL improvement, Digital Skills Thursday Classes 9am to10:45am - Digital Skills Course 12:30pm to 1:45pm- Art and Learning Series 2pm to 3pm- Downtown Eastside Writers Collective We are looking forward to seeing you in the coming weeks!

In The Beginning:

A Cultural Sharing This past November 2020, Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Firehall Arts Centre in collaboration with Rosemary Georgeson (Dene/Coast Salish), produced In the Beginning, a five part series that delves into personal and collective stories of local indigenous peoples prior to and during colonization.

Described as an indigenous TedTalks, In The Beginning features Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers and artists from: the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations; from lands up the rivers, and from lands across the water. Stories of the land told by the people of the land.

We are thrilled that these five episodes are now available online from April 12 to April 18.

Dedication We dedicate this showing to you Uncle Woody.

Gyaahlangaay dangaa an dalang 'waadluwaan kil 'laagang Gaagii.

All of us folks thank you for your stories, uncle.

Kaawan Sangaa, Woodrow (Woody) Morrison, BA, JD, Dec 22, 1941 - Jan 28, 2021 Google either Vancouver Moving Theatre or email hotcf.communications@gmail.com for information on how to see this fascinating series.

Mean old COVID-19 You grounded me in my city, kept me at home the many days of your lockdown demands.

You ruined my dreams for a vacation outside my Province and restricted me within my city venturing out solely for that which I need.

A short get away you made me take, two to three hours on transit, clad in facial clothing, very much in style.

You left me stranded, pondering my fate.

You ruled my health, wondering when I book the much-needed visits.

I wanted to meet, I wanted to write; to share my work facing an audience. of eager listeners.

I now must t'fiink of topics.

You, as a subject, with your strong grip, throwing my friends to socialize unsafe.

I walk on Hastings Street, to see makeshift stores, and a cluster of people seated on pavements, clad in stylish facial clothes.

Mean old COVID-19, you still pester many, wanting my body.

You knock on my door, and never let up.

I still reject you!

Ghia Aweida BED TIME STORY I went down on the streets once more This is what I saw by the score Dealers, pimps, drunks and thieves A madman screaming please Let me off my knees I went down on the streets once more This is what I saw by the score Papers piled at the door You don't really want to read them any more Filled with stories of nuclear war They shot down a natural plane the other day What the hell can you say Someones opin~ to have to pay two sixty-nine I believe Just more dealers pimps drunks and thieves Just more madmen screaming please Let us off our knees After the settin sun when the night time comes sierns begin to scream They take the madman off his knees Busissness man pays for relief Just glad he's not on the street Young girls beg Take me home please I'm really not a siease Just can't go home no more Papers piled at the door Lee Benner

To My Noni Laura Sacred Heart Convent Your name was changed The Convent was burned to the ground The children scattered into the wilderness and streets begging for food Linda Harrison

WaheglU"ll -----_._- --------.-Making art is one way of praying to the Creator. Many teachers went into nature to spend time alone with their Higher Power. Just as solitude is needed in the art making process, so too it is essential in the art of praying. Connecting to one's Higher Self, is essential to living a truly meaningful life. God planted the seed of creation within us and this ability to create is as impqrtant as free will. In fact, the ability to create is a holy gift. Art-making is the re-enactment of something greater, more joyous and compassionate than our imagination admits. It gives us meaning and delight and a sense of quiet empowerment. Making art is what makes us human and humans are naturally inclined to create. So whether it is poetry, pottery or painting know that the process is a sacred one.

I came into the 12 step program, and found out I didn't need artificial substances to give me permission to do art. Instead of inspiration, I needed discipline. The discipline of sitting down and staring at a blank page and putting pen to paper takes courage. Some days, one is full of ideas and other days one feels all ,shrivelled up without a single word to add to their repertoire. All good works of art, whether a written piece 0 a painted one takes patience and cultivation.

My Higher Power is Waheguru, which for Punjabi people who are Sikh, means Wonderful Teacher. As a person practicing the 12 step program, I know my life depends on deciding to turn my will and my life over to the care of Waheguru on a daily basis. Depending on one's own self-reliance is an incredibly hard way of living. Letting go of high expectations and turning the process of art making over to your Creator works. I had depended on my own self-reliance and thought my own willpower is the only _ingredient needed to complete a short story or write a song or paint a picture. I was depending on the same character defect to produce artistic work, which I depended upon whilst trying to curb my choice of substance use. We cannot as recovering addicts rely on our own wills. We need to depend on Higher Power to get that precious gift of humility. My work does not define me, but Waheguru does. Today I live under Waheguru's direction. .)

Jathinder Sandhu

..BWSS is proud to be a part of strong, panCanadian voices on violence against women and gender based violence with other anti-violence leaders across Canada: experts, advocates, and survivors from national organizations, frontline service and support organizations, grassroots community groups, the labour movement, the law, academia, and the public."

April 11-17 is National Prevention of Violence Against Women week. Battered Women Support Services is a Vancouver-based organisation that presents itself as being on the frontlines 24 hours a day; 7 days a week. The Newsletter is on their email list and got a good idea of what this week entails for women and those working against the violence that many experience. Best is to go to their web site and see what activities and sharing IS available. go to <bwss.org> or communityengagement@bwss.org

Joyce dearest, would see her beautiful smile on the second floor. As I would get my ticket she would ask how i am doing and always end with a smile. Going to miss her musical talent during the Tuesday night Cabaret at the Camegie. Thank you Joyce for sharing your love of music and your generous smile and laughter, Priscillia Mays Tait

frotnthe Library I am writing this on a beautiful day that makes me look forward to taking a book to a park. We have received a few Fast Reads (popular titles that can be borrowed for one week) recently, all of which would be good park-reads. Here are three notable ones. ~Joan Didion's newly released collection of essays, titled Let Me Tell You What I Mean, is compiled mainly of early works. Although the book is slight, the content certainly is not. The collection touches on subjects ranging from newspapers to the complicated relationship between parent and child. Incisive as always, this collection represents the formation of Did ion's enduring style. *Return of the Trickster by Edith Robinson is the well anticipated conclusion of The Trickster Trilogy. Robinson deftly combines pop culture and Indigenous culture with ferocity and humour. The trilo~y is highly recommended to those who enjoy commg-of-age stories and magical realism. *Finally, David Tromblay's new memoir As You Were is visceral and unflinching. Tromblay recounts his life from a troubled childhood with an abusive father to his time as a soldier and a sailor.

This book is sad, funny, and brutal.

We still have a lot of seeds left in our Downtown Eastside Seed Library' Come check out our new books and take a few packets of seeds for your urban garden.

Daniel Ode to CRAB Park Out of the wasteland at the marsh's mouth beckons a tiny gem of the portside.

Encamped in the mud, the stewards-uncouth and unwelcomed-harboured dreams that belied their impoverishment of hope. From the mud would rise again a grove of red cedars.

Forsaken by society, but not God, they offer thanks for His gift of arbors.

In this oasis oftranquility, a state of grace provides some troubled ones a healing salve for their fragility and a calming pier for their asylum.

Seek out truth, love, and hope at the altar of the "Grove of Beautiful Trees" Creator.

Barbara Morrison

AUDIENCE OF ONE In hungry search, in. constant search for sudden beauty; a remnant beauty, a slim, long-haired, black lipsticked beauty; past fallen friends, past sometime enemies, through artists' garrets and basement surrenders; as wheels, exhausts and boom-box sounds cram the evening air with vice - not the hurting acts of war, but acts more subtle, deep and telling: as when the body's history lesson creeps, then saunters to centre-stage - a potent unending message from the past to future-present; this true report coiling, like some swamp python, around the T.V. and tabloid people; in their ears its darting tongue stirs their private, limp desire and embosses it with hued and reeking mythologies, mythologies made vagrant and current by the body's unceasing discourse .. no source is visible and attributable, though the media would give its hard-won victories - and every sudden beauty - for such a source, unimpeachable or not - their each day's hard-on for "news" and their advertisers' dollars demand it; and lwould end my search of the streets and the alphabet, I would end this non-negotiable search for sudden beauty if again I could sit with Violet beside me, and have her child's voice bring me home from pride and tides and back street rambles, as she exclaims, "sing the' song again, please, Mike!" (but that request was years ago: Violet gone - to teen-age years and Hungarian folk-songs - and I still shrug at familiar beliefs, reject my nation, faith and kin, and genuflect before voices burdened with fresh reports of sudden beauty) for Violet Bonnyai [Recognized for merit in .writing Contest]

Mike Tropp

Contagion

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Hear the rolling thunder, Lightning strikes so many ways.

We never know the future Or how we'll end our days.

The grubbing and the getting The criminality Will callous accumulation Be man's destiny?

.; A wise man plays the fool; God never shows her hand.

Beneath the tumbling water, A rock can turn to sand.

Love is the bread of life Forgotten in our greed Amid the murderous zealotry Embedded in our creeds.

Casting for an answer, We kneel in fervent prayer Beside the rows of coffins-Our icons of despair.

Love must be in prominence With compassion and empathy Binding us together in Commonality.

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--Stewart Brinton

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CALL FOR ARTISTS 202 J

F'a~K--==== F'~OJC!C The Our Park Project seeks an artist/collective to develop and lead a community-engaged arts project this summer. focused on connecting the many people who hang out in Andy Livingstone Park.

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PROJECT VALUES:

• Welcoming and connecting all folks who use the park, including un-housed community members, local school families and people with lived experience of drug use • Making safe space for many stories to be heard

• Acknowledging the long history of this land we now call a park • Connecting to artists who live and work in the Andy Livingstope neighbourhood and the Downtown East Side • Working. toward de-stigmatizing

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the community For information about fees, time lines and application contact Marie Lopes rnarte.Iopescevancouver.ca I 604-358-9788

We gratefully acknowledge that this work takes place on the traditional, unceded territory of the xWma6kWayam (Musqueam), S!;wl!wu7mesh (Squamish) and salilwata4 (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples,