January 15, 2020 Carnegie Newsletter

JANUARY 15, 2020 FREE-Do

not pay for this paper.

NEWSLETTER

t:

401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7 (604) 665~2289 Email: carnnews@shaw.ca

Website/Catalogue: carnegienewsletter.org

YEARS Carnegie turns 40 January 20 2020. !Celebrate this milestone with us all year long!

Forty years. It sounds impressive and it is. This community centre is known and talked about in many parts of the world. People and delegations from China, India, Guatemala, Argentina, England and more have visited here, walked through with staff and volunteers, and been amazed. Often the refrain is heard "how on earth did you get this going?" Conversation often goes into the realm of how getting such an incredible operation going 'at home' is so hard, so difficult with money and spending plans and resource problems and land and more almost immediate obstacles to realising anything. But virtually everyone assures us that they've been inspired and will not quit.

The story of getting Carnegie is told most eloquently

by Sandy Cameron in his book Fightingfor Community. A short rendition starts back in the late 1890's when Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American steel magnate and union-bashing capitalist, made a donation of $50,000 to the City of Vancouver to build a public library. I don't know if naming it after him was a string attached to the money, but it seems likely. The City was to agree to spend $5,000 a year to staff and maintain the building and make it a decent library It opened in 1903.

Part of its history includes the notoriety obtained when, in 1935 during the Depression, it was taken over by scores of out-of-work men who had come to Vancouver to demand work at fair wages. They had been relegated to government work camps where they got room & board and twenty cents a day. They marched along Hastings Street, occupied the Sinclair J building for awhile and rallied in Oppenheimer Park.

The men who took over the Carnegie building had food, donated by local residents, hoisted up to the 3rd floor by roped baskets. Hundreds of people started the On To Ottawa trek from here and were joined by a few thousand as traias went east. That movement was stopped physically in Regina as police on horseback rode into the crowds and beat the shit out of anyone they could catch.

In 1957 the Vancouver Public Library moved to its next location on Burrard Street; the building at Main & Hastings became a museum. There are still some oldtimers who remember an ancient mummy of a child that was on display. This usage continued until 1969 when the museum got newer quarters; the building was boarded up & sat vacant for over a decade.

During this phase local activists like Bruce Eriksen, Libby Davies and Jean Swanson coalesced around the idea that this area of Vancouver was not Skid Road, it was the Downtown Eastside. They formed the Down-

town Eastside Residents Association - DERA - and began organising residents to speak out. It included making public the conditions in the rundown hotels and rooming houses, to agitate for the involvement of the City in making & enforcing bylaws around fire regulations (including making sprinklers mandatory) and maintenance in these hotels and rooming houses.

Part of renaming this area was getting amenities that people elsewhere in the city had, including a community centre. Plans at City Hall were apparently limited to 1. Tearing the Carnegie building down and making a parking lot; 2. letting it become a restaurant; 3. a policemen's athletic club; 4. a nightclub or 5. selling it to some rich guy so he would have a place to show off his rock collection.

It took over 5 years to convince the political dragons that "none of the above" was the only opinion that mattered. One councillor opined that "putting money into that place is like pouring it down a rathole." And another said that "people down there can't read." City Council finally agreed to meet inside the building, amid the rat & pigeon shit, discuss the possibility of remaking the place into a community centre and, almost impossibly, one councillor changed his mind.

From there money was voted, the inside capacity was increased with a gym and theatre and more washrooms and on January 20, 1980, the Carnegie Community Centre .opened its doors.

Throughout 20;20 there will be programs & events with the underlying theme of Fortieth Anniversary celebrations.

ByPAULR TAYLOR

40th Anniversary: Friday, January 17 in the Theatre, 2-4

p.m.

Button-Making Party Design and colour your won. Materials supplied

3

Come on out and dance up a storm at the th

Carnegie Community Centre's 40 Preview Party.

Anniversary

Friday January 17 7:00 pm- 9:45 pm In the Carnegie Theatre Monday January 20 2020 Carnegie Community Centre's 40th Anniversary

Free Members Lunch 12:00pm - While quantities last!

Carnegie Membership is $1 Per calendar year - Memberships on sale now at the info desk.

Carnegie Community Centre is proud to offer recreational, educational, and social programs to our members. Ben.•efits include: •

Out Trips

• •

Concerts Movie Nights

• • •

Bingo Floor Hockey Art Classes & Workshops

•

Volunteer Opportunities o and more!

Become a voting member to help the Association do its work in the community.

One idea of the Anniversary Committee is to ask people who have been part of this Centre's history to each answer 5 questions. Following is the first response from Libby Davies, former Memer of Parliament:

5 Questions about Carnegie

How did youjirst get involved with Carnegie Community Centre?

I got involved before the Camegie was even open, way back in about 1976, when DERA - primarily Bruce Eriksen, Jean Swanson and me, began the campaign to save the grand old building from demolition. This story is well chronicled in "Bruce The Musical" produced in 2008 by Theatre In The Raw. It was an epic battle to save the Camegie and make it what it is today.

2. What has surprised you most about being a member of the Carnegie Community?

I was only a member in the early days when I lived in the community. I loved the great characters who were and are members of Camegie. So many interesting folks with amazing stories and lives. You never knew who you might encounter on that grand circular staircase!

3. What do you wish other people knew about Carnegie Community Centre?

I wish people knew that it's more than an old building and a community many. It's like an anchor that keeps the community afloat.

centre. It's like home base for so

3.a. How would you respond to someone who disagrees with you about that?

Ha! No one could disagree with that.

4. Tell us about someone from Carnegie who has influenced you.

Bruce Eriksen, whose unfailing determination, fierceness and community spirit never let us think that we couldn't win the fight to save the building and demand the necessary funds to make it into a real community centre for people in the Downtown Eastside. Also Sandy Cameron, the historian of the community, who helped and taught people about history, language and the future through his beautiful stories.

'C

5. What would you tell someone who is thinking about (donating, volunteering, etc.) at Carnegie Centre?

Any donation or help given to Camegie is multiplied lOO-fold by the volunteers, board, who give of themselves everyday to make it a great place.

members, staff, patrons, and

Happy 40th anniversary Carnegie. You're the best! Happy Anniversary to the incredible people who make Carnegie the heart and soul ofthe city.

Libby Davies Former MP 1997-2015

•

One of the original agitators for Camegie!

Review of Because We are Girls I had the pleasure of viewing the Canadian documentary Because We are Girls directed by Baljit Sangra. It follows the lives of three sister,s who live in a conservative Indo-Canadian community in small-town British Columbia, who have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse.

Jeeti, Salaksana and Kira Pooni, are all like most women who wear many hats, and who show their strength in this dramatic and heart wrenching documentary about the complexities of what it means to be a survivor of sexual abuse in the Indo-Canadian community.

Jeeti is the driving force behind the documentary and survives through a difficult 12-year journey of a longtried sexual assault case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

I found that the film was not aiming to be sensationalistic but aimed to be thought provoking. The sisters draw upon strength from each other and this really came across in the film. The fact that the three sisters were sexually abused by an older relative in their childhood years, and after remaining silent for nearly two and a half decades, their pain and confusion is evident and their struggle to get the support from family members is highlighted as being part of their healing process. Sangra explores the impact of sexual abuse on the family in a sensitive light, and it is a subject that many Indo-Canadians still find hard to grapple with.

I was stunned and moved by the courage of the sisters and the reception of the audience. I remember a time when I wrote back in 1989 an article entitled Double Lives for the SFU Peak Newspaper. It did not specifically uncover sexual abuse but was about what it meant to live growing up Indo-Canadian and the struggles of feeling suffocated by the practice of arranged marriages. I was given a lot of hate mail and so when I think of that experience now, I wonder if! would get the same reception in this day and age. My point is, if talking about arranged marriages back at a university campus in 1989 was received with hate; imagine what talking about the trauma of sexual abuse in the Indo-Canadian community would have been received with. This is subject that has to be addressed in the community, as a very real and painful experience for many women. It is about time we opened up our minds. I say this because trauma is often the experience that leads women and men into a life of addiction and alcoholism.

If, in the Downtown East Side, we are to address poverty and addiction, we cannot hide away from the topic of sexual abuse no matter which community is affected by it. And sexual abuse really does not discriminate based on race, gender, economic status or culture. It is everywhere.

By lATHINDER SANDHU

Compassion I wanted you to create this turbulent heart, give it a chance to bloom in nooks and crannies, to call to Waheguru and delve into His heart I am not making sense, I am not making sense and the poet inside made a grimace and turned to the willow blowing in the wind recalled Hallowe~n walking through cartoon suburbs home to mothers fish and chips, the food she called English.

I wanted to impress you with these brush strokes convince you I am worth loving, and yet none of these paper walls that I so ardently bolster in the winter, came to be.

I am dead inside. I have lost my way. I am dead inside. We chatter like children in the marketplace, we play like old monkeys, we are but large souls, wanting love, and I am dead inside.

This is my gift to you, to not laugh at your misfortune but to remember Waheguru, when the night breathes its light upon my heart.

Jathinder Sandhu

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY

N

ACTION PROJECT

I j]OiUU±!~HJiiJ~tlJ~m

SLETTE

A DTES OPPENHEIMER VOLUNTEER AND ADVOCATE JESUS: WE WILL MISS DEARLY

JAN UARY 2020

JESUS CRISTOBAL-ESTE AN OPPENHEIMER PARKADVOCATES AND RESIDENTS MOURN LOSS OF COMMUNITY MEMBER In a tragic turn of events, community resident and Oppenheimer Park visitor Jesus Cristobal-Esteban, 62, passed away in hospital on January 2 due to complications resulting from an altercation at the park on January 1. Advocates and residents share their sympathy for this well respected elder in the Latino community. While Jesus was not a resident of Oppenheimer Park, he was a daily visitor, where he regularly joined friends and neighbours.

His smiling face was well known to all.

This tragic incident affects a close-knit community, with friends across many spectrums and touching many lives.

We are all saddened by losing this community member.

Edwin Cruz knew Jesus for 10-12 years, and was interviewed about their friendship. They met at the Oppenheimer Park field house, where Jesus used to volunteer cooking for the Latino community and doing art.

They became friends, and both also volunteered at Watari when the agency moved to its new location on Hastings.

"He was my best friend. We were together all the time. Here (at Watari), and at Oppenheimer Park, we always worked together. We spent time in the park after working. We always had a good time, never had a problem 01

with anyone, always had respect for everyone."

"He was a good friend, good guy, always happy,joking, having fun. He always showed respect, never argued.

He almost liked me like a son. He always kept busy working and was up at 5 am, hard-working. Every time he saw me, he always came to me in the park. We always had a good time in the park; he used to like music too."

"When there were important events in the community or parties, me and Jesus were always asked to cook and

•

the good moments and memories in 'Oppenheimer Park. We'll remember him as a good friend, good guy, happy, smiling, respectful. I never thought this would happen. I always will remember him and always going to have him in my heart."

Park supporters are crushed by his death and we are also aware we must keep up the fight for human equity and housing in Oppenheimer. Some are even saying that this would be exactly what he would wish for and want in the future. We are truly thinking of everyone who loved Jesus at this time.

A nine-day memorial is being held at Oppenheimer Park at the present time. he always showed up. He liked to garden, at Raymur Street [community garden] which is Watari's garden."

His smile could light up a room and his community work was outstanding. May Jesus rest in power.

Edwin says Jesus was excited about getting his status. He went to Ottawa to get his passport and got his residency card and was thinking of travelling back home for a visit.

"When his best friend Rudolpho passed away in August, we did a memorial in the park' for him. Jesus was very sad after that. He had pain inside. He always trusted me to talk, to have a good conversation."

"I feel shock, I cannot understand. I was there in the hospital with him. He was happy, he could hear us telling him goodbye and sorry for what happened to him. All the Latino community in the park, will always remember him and 02

WET'SUWET'EN ACTION AND UPDATE According to the release from Amnesty International: 'The situation is escalating in Wet'suwet'en unceded territory in northern British Columbia this week as they face eviction by the RCMP if they do not remove any obstacles that would prevent workers from getting to construction sites for a Coastal GasLink pipeline. The Wet'suwet'en need you to act in solidarity with their defense of traditional territory in the face of development projects that have not received the free, prior and informed consent of their people.

ACT NOW in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en: 1. Sign our partner RavenTrust's letter to Coastal GasLink reminding the executives of the rights of Indigenous Peoples that are to be respected and urging them to respect the eviction order from the Her~ditary Chiefs.

2. Visit the Wet'suwet'en Supporter page and take action to support the land defense. There is plenty of information on how to visit the camp, fundraise, write letters to lawmakers, and resources for education and solidarity work with your neighbours.

03

In December 2019,The UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination recognized that Canada did not obtain the consent needed to begin construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Wet'suwet'en territory.

The Committee instructed Canada to immediately halt construction and suspend all permits and approvals for the project and urged Canada to withdraw RCMP and security and policing forces from the traditional territories.

Nevertheless, on December 31,2019 a BC SupremEl Court judge extended an injunction against the Wet'suwet'en, saying construction of the natural gas pipeline has been harmed by their defense camps. The hereditary Chiefs reject the Court's decision based on their inherent, constitutional and human rights to govern their traditional territory under their own governance and legal systems and have once again ordered Coastal GasLink off their lands".

As Seen In: Amnesty International Canada I Originally Published by Ana Nicole Col/ins

UPDATE: MOTION 2 SLOWING THE LOSS OF THE LAST LOWINCOME SROS IN VANCOUVER After hearing that over 70 speakers were signed up to support Motion 2 (Slowing the Loss ofthe Last LowIncome SROs in Vancouver), council voted unanimously to pass the motion.

Advocates like Wendy Pederson, Jack Gates, Jean Swanson, and others have fought for a long time to make sure this went through. After the loss of the Balmoral and Regent, it was apparent that although it was a positive move, people were displaced from their homes. The trend in the DTEShas been a high level of gentrification often called "community improvement".

However, it means that even the Brandiz is currently renting at $750+.

Coupled with a lack of standards in the DTES,this has led to a great portion of people being homeless in the DTES. Jean Swanson's motion was introduced at City HaJJon Tuesday Dec 10th, 2019.

Wendy Pederson said that this is only a small step towards vacancy control as this means the City is now encouraged strongly to ask the province to put in vacancy control measures and to work with others to do so. We still have a long way to go in terms of organizing for these controls to be passed. These controls include the landlords not being able to 'Jack up" rents as soon as a tenant vacates. It also means

certain protections when people are renovicted from their homes.

Again, we need numbers and strategy to make sure vacancy control becomes a reality in the DTESof Vancouver.

Actions to take now: Email Mayor and Council and demand that vacancy controls be instated asap' Get involved today to organize for vacancy control.

Want to/earn lYJoreaboLlt your rights uhderthe .Mentdl.HedfthAct?Visitthis link: https:!lwww.bcmentalhealthrights. ca/ Formare informdtionab6ut mental health reform and legal aid advocacy, visit this link: https:!lclasbc.net/our-work/ law-reform/mental-health-Iaw-reform/

The Carnegie board of directors r~cent'Xyot~c1¡tpreturn$t),50q fc:r;.9n Oppenheimer peer overdoseprevention program from the Community Action Initiative Community Overdose Crisis 'Q.l1()vCltiopC;rant, aswellq§.~2t509in funding fora recreation program in Oppenheimer Park. !!

04

THE MENTAL ¡HEALTH ACT A SUMMARY On November 29, 2019,Laura Johnston from Community Legal Assistance Society gave a presentation on the tvlHA to about 35 community members in the Carnegie Theater. l.aura's presentation was informative and focused on what our community members wanted to know--what are the police powers to detain someone under the Act and what rights do those who have been detained under it have?

Police Powers: How does a police officer determine that they will apprehend someone under the tvlHA? The police officer must believe the person is a threat to their own or other people's safety and appears to be a "person with a mental disorder." If these two conditions appear to be met, police can detain someone for an immediate psychiatric evaluation.

Involuntary Admission: People may be involuntarily admitted into a hospital or psychiatric facility if:

substantial deterioration of their mental or physical health, or for their own protection or the protection of others; and 4. The person can't be admitted as a voluntary patient.

Generally, everyone under the law has the right to accept or reject health treatment. However, the tvlHA overrides the consent rights of involuntary patients. Involuntary patients cannot make any psychiatric health care decisions on their own.

Involuntary patients can also be placed on leave in the community, with conditions. If the facility issues a warrant;the police can apprehend patients and bring them back to the facility. While patients are on leave, they must still comply with all psychiatric treatments prescribed to them.

What rights do involuntary patients have? Absolutely everyone has constitutional rights upon being detained:

1. The person has a mental disorder that requires psychiatric treatment, and this issue seriously impairs their ability to react appropriately to the environment or associate with others;

1. To be told right away why they are being detained;

2. The person needs psychiatric treatment in a facility;

3. To access court to review the validity of the detention.

3. The person needs care, supervision, and control in a facility to prevent 05

2. To be told of their right to a lawyer and helped with accessing one; and

Involuntary patients have the right to know why they are being detained and

involuntarily treated under the MHA. A doctor explains how the patient meets the MHA detention criteria (Form 4s).A patient has the right to be examined by a doctor during every detention period to assesswhether or not they still fit the criteria, and a doctor must track and assess changes in a patient's condition and how they still fit detention criteria in the event of a renewal (Form 6s).

It is difficult to access legal aid if you are an involuntary patient. Patients have the right to get legal advice when they are detained, but there is no legal aid funded service for this.

CLAS is advocating to the government to fund this service. There are also many barriers to accessing free legal representation when patients are challenging their detention.

Unfortunately, due to material barriers, almost no patient goes to court for a review.

Patients have the right to ask for their detention to be reviewed at a review panel hearing of the Mental Health Review Board. A review panel consists of a lawyer, a doctor, and a community rnernbej, who decide whether a patient's detention should continue or not. Patients have the right to an advocate or lawyer to argue for release at review panels.

CCAP Community Members Weigh In: According to feedback from several of CCAP's volunteer members, many in the Downtown Eastside have witnessed someone being detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA), or have been detained under the Act themselves. One objective of our

BC Law Foundation-funded legal education workshops is to inform people of their rights while honoring the knowledge they have developed in their own experiences with law enforcement, and this workshop gave us an opportunity to do so.

What kickstarts the process for someone to be detained as an involuntary patient under the MHA? In many cases, it is a police officer who has observed someone and conclude that this person appears to be mentally ill.

As our community members pointed out, appearances can be misleading.

The problem with these requirements is that both conditions depend on the officer's own discretion--that is, their interpretation of someone else's behavior--or information they have received.In a'cornrnunity where discrimination by the police is often seen and felt, any mental health crisis response which involves police is understandably regarded with unease or objection.

People don't necessarily object to someone being helped if they are threatening to or actively harming themselves or others. A sustained public dialogue led by those who have experienced mental health issues needs to be initiated on what this "help" should look like. This would involve a hard look at how police officers, hospitals, and psychiatric institutions interact with people's autonomy and freedoms.

By: Danelle Ortiz, Community Organizer CCAP

06

CARNEGIE

COMMUNITY

ACTION

PROJECT

111:15 AM EVERY FRIDAY

The Carnegie Community Action Project is a project ofthe board ofthe Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works mostly on housing, income, and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES),so that the area can remain a low income friendly community.

CCAP works with English-speaking and Chinese-speaking DTES residents in speaking out on their own behalf for the changes they would like to see in their neighbourhood. Join us on Fridays ll:l5 am in classroom 2 on the third floor ofthe Carnegie Centre for our weekly volunteer rneetinqsl Downtown Eastside residents who want to work on getting better housing and incomes and stop gentrification are welcome to attend.

Lunch is provided.

mAfiJ!Ul5i~JlI CHINATOWN

CONCERN

GROUP

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CONTACT

US

Office: 2nd floor of the Carnegie, 401 Main Street, Vancouver Phone: 604-665-2105 Email: info@carnegieaction.org Website: www.carnegieaction.org

Vancity

Thank you to vancity for supporting CCAP's work. Support for this project does not necessarily imply that funders endorse the findings or contents of this newsletter.

20 Years!

The Listening Post at 382 Main Street Located at 382 Main Street the Listening Post has been around for 20 years! It was started by Kathi Bental and Sister Louraine of the Sisters ofSt. Anne.

We have provided a listening space, a peaceful place to rest, a place to receive healing energy work, affordable silent retreats at Rivendell and a place for celebrations, workshops and memorials.

We are run entirely by volunteers and supported by the Sisters of St. Anne and the Hawthorne foundation. We are open afternoons from 12 - 4 and share the space with the Insight Meditation Society and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

We are excited to celebrate this year sometime in Mayor June - 20 in 2020! As a lead up to this we are offering a special evening gathering a time to share your life journey with thoughts, poetry and song. It will run from 6 - 8 once a month on aTuesday the first being on the 28th from 6 - 8 with tea and treats to begin and including a time of silence and lighting candles for this dear world which needs our love and • prayers.

For more information, please stop by and talk to one of our dedicated volunteers. ~ Karen Thorpe

Time to Get Plen!y

~

Twenty Twenty, Time to Get Plenty Plenty light - let yours shine.

Now is the time!

Plenty hope - man that's dope!

Plenty caring - plenty kindness Plenty smiles - and laughter too!

For this we say yahoo.

Plenty love - for our dear Earth Mother, Mother, Mother, Mother , Plenty Plenty Plenty Plenty

love - for one another. prayer - plenty song. faith - so we stay strong. listening, plenty thanks,

from your heart - do your part.

Plenty justice, plant those seeds Plenty homes and food, for all who need.

Plenty vision - twenty twenty Plenty peace, peace, peace, peace!

From the LibrarY As this is 2020's first edition of the Newsletter, I wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year.

We have recently put up a new display in the library, focusing on jokes, riddles and brain teasers/games. Currently, there is a modest, but varied, selection of books, which I encourage anyone who is interested to look at (they will be going fast!).

In 3000 Jokes 2997 Laughs, Stephen Arnott and Mike Haskins have compiled a huge collection of jokes. Described as "At least three thousand of the plumpest, tastiest, most jocular jokes the world can offer!", this book will surely provide at least 2997 laughs. The book is arranged in alphabetical order, by topic, and there are jokes pertaining to everything from Ancient Rome to zoos. Highly recommended for those who want to refresh their joke repertoire.

For those who want to keep mentally sharp, we have Brain Building Games with Words & Numbers (mostly) by Allen D. Bragdon and David Gamon, Ph.D. The book is filled with exercises that target short- and long-term memory, executive planning, the ability to learn faster, the recall words and new names, etc. I can't vouch for the veracity of the book but maybe you can let us know if it worked for you!

Finally, we have The Puzzle Universe: A History of Mathematics in 315 Puzzles by Ivan Moscovich. As the title suggests, the book is both a history book and a puzzle book. The primary aspect is the puzzles, which range from being fairly simple to extremely difficult.

Along with the puzzles are short historical write-ups which highlight each puzzle's significance within the history of mathematics. The book is also colourful and visually appealing.

We have many other books included in our current display, so please come into the library and do some browsing!

Happy Reading, Daniel

Needed Medicine Artist Biography Manuel Axel Strain is a 2-spirit interdisciplinary with Musqueam/Simpcw/Syilx unceded territory

artist

heritage based in the

of the Katzie/Kwantlin

peoples.

They use their lived experience to inspire social and political change in the colonial state of Canada. This leads them to examine the construction tions identities

-

in particular

of First Na-

the internal conflicts

that arise from imposed identity

constructs

and the

legacies of colonization.

They work with painting,

photography,

performance,

sculpture,

and installa-

tion. Strain's work is mainly concerned with assimilation, religion, spirituality,

intergenerational

trauma,

and healing. Their goal is to move beyond the binary opposition

of the colonizer and the colonized to es-

tablish new ontologies

for First Nations identities.

Gallery Gachet is located in the Downtown

Eastside

of Vancouver on the unceded and occupied territories of the x ma8kwayam W

(Musqueam),

Skwxwu Zrnesh (Squamish) and Saiflwata+ (TsleilWaututh)

Nations. Gallery Gachet has a mandate to

support artists and offer art programs addressing mental health and socio-political while promoting participation,

marginalization,

art as a means for survival, cultural

and human rights.

Attached image ŠImage-Manuel

Axel Strain, my body, our land, our

spirit, 2019. Clay, smudge ash, paper. Image courtesy the artist.

gallery gachet I 9 West Hastings, 604 687 2468 I gachet.org I tue - sat 12.00 - 6.00 cornmunications@gachet.org

Chasing the Dragon Gives you wings, but takes away the sky, just one more hit and I swear I'll try I am a prisoner inside my own body and mind Incarcerated heart, once ran rampant but now pummels at a pace where I'm barely alive. I mean am I? Or have I already died?

Afraid, afraid of the path I am going to take, but there's this sickness that I just can't shake.

I come back to your godforsaken grasp, you take me by the hand and whisper in my ear; Take the chance when the opportunity is near, there is no time for fear my dear.

I took your advice, and time started to fly. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, Many I promised myself it would only be once.

The Rainbow Ribbon Hummingbird is a mythical crea- You promised me I'd keep flying but not a day passture that thrives in my imagination. I am a singer, ares by where I don't feel like dying. tiste, gardener, bird watcher, and shit disturber extraorI look in the mirror. I'm not the same. I can't stay dinaire. I painted it first on Red Dress Day (February 14, sober for just one fucking day 2019) as a response to the MMIW and the BC Highway I thought it took away my pain but only made it of Tears, for all the sisters 1 have lost to violence and worse, I keep drifting further away from the unimurder. 1 depict my hummingbird crying tears of blood verse. which fertilize the lands it visits in its mythical migration of the human mind.

Madison Courtney Hummingbirds are one of the Creator's messengers of life. I have begun to learn the beautiful indigenous stories from my friend Louisa who is an elder from Bella BeJla. She explained about the creation of life and the BONES We wasted our fate from staying up too late destroyroles that spirit creatures play in our lives. She attributes hummingbirds with magical powers of communication ing two beautifully coloured souls soon to be painted and hope. Those who have been blessed with a Humnothing but a dark gray. Hating the things we couldmingbird as their "Spirit Creature" are able to link many n't change the night come the day. Our brains were diverse communities & bring hope. Hummingbirds are sick, fuelled by the thought that we weren't good communicators pollinators, and their presence brings us enough for what the world had come to offer our once warm bodies that we replaced with a wasteland all intense pleasure and awe.

Ava Caldwell of poison that ran through our veins making us cold tgo the touch, as if the wildfires in our hearts had The Kardashian bitches become tattered and beaten down to nothing but an ember in this infernal place we call earth. We were Came into their riches Exploring the glitches prisoners in our own bodies and minds. My predicOf modem-day pomp. tion: it was all self-inflicted. But now the cage is empty, and perhaps it awaits the next one who is TV and glamour convicted.

Will only enamour Their similar grammar Madison Courtney To Donald J Trump

Bird of

Chris Marquis

Colours

ME IN MY NEW DECADE Stuff on my plate as I move room to room This house called reality First there's room to improve grasp of truth beyond false philosophical relativity without falling into rigid science traps of extreme objectivity Though spirituality knows objectively that What's out there lives and grows in me As certainly as there's star dust in my DNA In configurations confirmed by number theory Keep on keeping on creatively Practice morning pages Free writing frees spirit and soul as evidenced by these poems first thing first morning first day 2020 Keep on keeping on Engagement in community Learn and grow when facing enmity Decisions political challenge Begin with end in mind Mindful always to be kind Indecision kills creativity Diligence resolves Perseverance

furthers

Happy New Year Gilles Cyrenne

Oppenheimer Sun-Run Program 12-week preparation clinic with walking & running Every Sunday 10am-12pm Starting January 19 Meet in the theatre More info contact

oppenheimer.park@vancouver.ca

HUMAN BEING I am a Human Being I am Alive I accept my Humanity I accept my Life I accept my Human Spirit I am Inspired I am I accept my Human Mind I Think I Discern I accept my Human Heart I Feel I Love I accept my Human Body I Act I Do I ACCEPT THE HUMAN BEING THAT I AM NOW I am Spiritually Present I am here I am now I am Mentally Present I am here I am now I am Emotionally Present I am here I am now I am Physically Present I am here I am now I am a Human Being I am Here I am Now I Breathe IExist lAM MKGreen Inspired by the Medicine & Eckhart Tolle

Wheel

HELLO Sunny day Greets 2020 first day New decade No parade of universal health equity and equality greets us though Though aspirational We've United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Here's hoping this decade Brings ten years needed change

G.C.

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NEW YcAA'S.I

We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this Newsletter, are occurring on Coast SaJish Territory.

401 Main Street VNtCOl.I~ ceeece 'J6A 2T7 {604} 66~2239

THIS NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.

WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter -Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry.

-Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6 %')wide x 15cm(6')high.

-Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered.

-Black & White printing only.

-Size restrictions apply (i.e. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit).

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-Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication.

-Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor.

The editor can edit for clarity, format & brevity, but not at the expense of the writer's message.

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Jenny Kwan MP Vancouver

East NOP

Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Critic 2572 E Hastings St Vancouver, BC V5K IZ3 T: 604-775-5800 F: 604-775-5811

Next issue: SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Noon, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION • •

AIDS POVERTY

•

HOMELESSNESS

•

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

•

TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM

•

IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR

•

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