June 1, 2013, carnegie newsletter

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JUNE 1, 2013

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People all over- young and old - are becoming active & aware like never before. Idle? Know more and help!

... complained, sent letters of protest, and petitioned the government...

Which was more or less like throwing mud at a wall."

We Were Children A FREE showing Tuesday. June II at 7 pm at 149 West Hastings (SFU Woodward's theatre) with hea l ers from the Indian Res idential Schoo l Survivors' Society coming to conduct the debriefing.

We Were Children (Eagle Vision/eOne/National Film Board of Canada) is a powerful documentary on the legacy of Canada's residential school system. Directed by Tim Wolochatiuk and written by Jason Sherman, We Were Children tells the heartbreaking true story of Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod, removed from their homes at the ages of four and six and forced to adapt to a strange, threatening new world in Canada's residential school system.

Blending stunning dramatic storytelling with unflinching documentary narratives, the film gives voice to two children trapped ir a system that would impact their lives forever.

The St. James' TRC Group is hosting the free public showing in partnership with the Vancity Centre for Community Engagement, the Indian Residential School Survivors' Society, and the SFU Aboriginal Students at Woodwards.

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Homeless Shifting from place to place.

Trying to stay out of other's face.

Not too long or asked to go.

Back into the cold, rain or snow.

After walking all of the night.

By day they are there for me and for yo u.

But nig hts are long, and the shelters are tough.

Squatting is almost just as rough.

Of couch surfing I have expired my options.

3

Tired, hungry, cold and in despair With no helping hand.

Some days you just can't care.

S leeping by days just seems right.

But the anger that one has to those who created and take away the wealth. lfa warm park can be found.

--.........--.. Encourages one to check thy self.

Our life still has purpose. It still has focus to be sure.

The sun on the body drifts you quickly to sleep.

You just have to hope that into your cart Let us hope we can educate and eventually cure No one decides to snoop and peep.

The body gets tired of the lines you must stand The system of the bankers creating money from thin air.

For a little food - such a helping hand.

Enslaving us all, to all we have a duty to educate and make care.

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You visit your friends on the coast for awhile. The middle class is slowly slipping away, as slavery to al l spread~ Until to you they forget to smi le .

In one week or two with the mark of a pen.

You take off up north to greet an old friend there.

Their reality will be mine They have busy lives and of your lot they do not care. and they having a home too will end.

The ir own problems abound trying to stay homeless themselves.

T heir hospitality soon flies off of the s he lf.

Colleen Carroll To the Yukon you head, to a friend far away, Who you quickly discover for you does not have the time of day.

Back to Vancouver, stay with a friend here o r there.

Then a shelter again, one really can' t care.

The cold freezing rain, means no walk all the night, And a day of sleeping in a wann quiet spot. 路 Find an old friend I knew once long ago, Decide to visit for a week or more there so I decide to go.

Half across the country I walk and I ride.

Get there to find they stand by my side.

As homeless as me is their reality.

But their pride would not let them inform me of the what where and why.

I have used my last dime, l want so to cry.

I return to where I know the food lines and shelters so well.

Realizing my own world is not the only li ving hell.

From coast to coast, Canada has poverty to boast.

Back on the coast I pass one more day at a time.

Look ing into a future .. that privi lege is not mine.

For without a home to live in life itse lf is so bleak.

We have no time for more than the struggle to seek.

A year into be ing without a place to call my own.

Lacking anythi ng thing one cou ld remotely call a home.

I have dried up my options, my friends with open doors.

There is the Carnegie, the library, the Gathering Place, and the parks to be true.

Mirror Man There's this weird old man fo llowing me see him in the storefront windows looking at me, incredulous at the nerve I have staring back at him see the wrinkles the highw路ay has etched in lines in his face like endless pavement but it's stretched and cracked and broken w inces as he sees me, funny man in every window as I stumble home alone Used to be I knew that guy used to be kinda goodlookin, sorta attractive to all the wrong people now s taring back the old man doesn't recognise who he once was and who will soon be no more what reflection will shine back once I am gone? zoltan barak

COMPO..ST ..SAlE= St. James' Church, corner of Gore and Cordova

Monday, June 17th Sam until 7pm or until all sold $5.00: Large bags, approx 35 litres All the proceeds go towards the greening of the DTES. (gardens at St. James' Church, St. Luke's Court and St. James' P lace)

Generously donated by Harvest Power

From the LibrarY Hi, my name is Joanne and I w ill be the Carnegie library branch head until Stephanie returns to the Reading Room in late June. I am enjoying this vibrant community and thrilled with the responses to the booklist I submitted in the last newsletter- these books were really popular with you folks!

Please drop by to visit, check out new books on the shelf and in the disp lay case, and say hello to us.

Here are a few examples of titles that have recently been added to the library and can be found in the display case for borrowing until June 9:

Anatomy of Violence: Biological Roots of Crime (Adrian Raine, 20 13)

Raine is a professor of neuro-science who has spent many years trying to determine the role of biology in the development of criminal behaviour and violence.

Raine is an entertaining storyteller and a learned educator, offering evidence about the controversial new science of neurocriminology. He argues that impairments of the brain predispose some to violence and that if understood and treated, a potential for criminal behaviour can be altered.

Changing Reality: huna practices to create the life you want (Serge Kahili King, 20 13) This author, a self-proclaimed Hawaiian shaman, has written a few books about his esoteric Huna beliefs, experiences, and practices. The premise of Changing Reality is that, 'the world is what we think it is,' and by extension, 'we create our own reality.'

The book is full of techniques King shares to shift everyday perspectives of our physical reality to another awareness of the existence of life in our world.

Crafting Calm: projects and practices for creativity and contemplation (Maggie O man Shannon, 20 13) Shannon explores c rafts and craft-making activities that are re laxing, holistic, and with the intent to contribute to stillness- as an antidote to our increasingly busy environment and lives. She offers many handicraft ideas that resonate with serenity and provide opportunities to engage in a lifelong practice full of love, community, and mindfulness.

Fierce Medicine: breakthrough practices to heal the body and ignite the spirit (Ana T. Forrest, 20 I 1) Even if you've never practiced yoga, Forrest's unique fusion of yoga, eastern wisdom, and Native American teachings help create a path to physical and emotional strength, healing & spiritual growth.

For women, Fierce Medicine shares practices that helped her overcome trauma, addiction, and a physical disability to achieve powerful reconnections to the self and the spirit.

I Can't Stop Crying: grief and recovery; a compassionate guide, (John Martin, 2013) For those who have lost someone close to them, this book offers really simple advice about how to bo-rieve . m a healthy way and recover from the loss of close family or friends. The author suggests that if we give ourselves permission to grieve, we can also learn how to accept and manage the effects of grief on路 our daily life.

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Curated

by Sita Kumar

A[~ Q ffi~<;;.!s. thi~_Q_o.!L DTES s,... .. , Arts G rant s Vrdeo ~\ ord & Sorg Fnday June 7 i 13 6pn• .doors dt 5 45p "': (drn" g e Thed t r o', C-1rnegre Commu'l•ty Centre turated b y J e n Castro

Coming Soon - Carnegie is going G REEN! The City of Vancouver' s Zero Waste Program is coming to Carnegie on June 261h. This program will be implemented throughout the centre. Your enthusiastic participation in recycling, compost in~ and diverting waste is needed! Your positive actions will keep waste out of landfill, conserve natural resources, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

What is Zero Waste?

Zero Waste involves minimizing waste generation and maximizing reusing and recycling to achiev( the greatest possible waste diversion. When the program launches at the Centre, we' ll replace the waste containers throughout the building with Zero Waste Stations. Signage on the Waste Stations will help guide you on "what' goes where!

Thank you in advance for your cooperation Sharon Belli, Assistant Directo r

WE ARE ALL EQUALS

Editor

1 waited in a popular Chinese food take-out in the Downtown Eastside for half an hour on a Friday afternoon. 1 stood in front of the counter and raised my head to be seen over the glass enclosure. l am a very elderly woman and was the only lofan (white person) there at the time. Newcomers were being served. I left.

King-mo ng Chan's article in the May 15 Carnegie Newsletter came to mind, "Discrimination Against low-income Chinese People in the Downtown Eastside." He states, "Chinese people receive less supplies and food than non-Chinese people in food lines and sometimes get completely denied."

That's terrible-how cruel! Was I the object of revenoe-a tooth for a tooth? Weakness finds its own "' But this cannot be. The Chinese have existed escape. in British Columbia for generations and are as much a part of the landscape as any other settler. They are present in many agencies and distribution centres.

Past inequality must not "rear its head."

Our similarities need to be recognized. The Chinese Exclusion Act severely affected not only the Chinese but also Caucasians. White women were imprisoned for association with Chinese men; those who married lost their citizenship. Children took the nationality of their fathers who had no rights; many wound up as wards of the Infants Home and the Children's Aid Society. In British Columbia, Native women also were not permitted to work in Chinese restaurants.

The intent of the Act was accomplished- the Chinese population in Canada went down.

The vibrancy and compassion of the neighbourhood will be undermined if citizens are treated as outsiders. Inequality can escalate and result in heinous abuses. Prejudice reached its peak when authorities failed to investigate "missing women."

Those persons who engage in unfair practices need to be identified and "weeded out." Better a row now than later. Perhaps some watchdogs are needed at food banks. Denying food to Chinese seniors or any other person needs to be "nipped in the bud."

This is in response to the article by King-mong Chan in the May 15 paper. He wrote in general terms and said that service agencies make blanket discrimination against " low-income" Chinese seniors.

A bunch of us volunteer at the Dugout on Powell Street. There's stuff donated every day by different bakeries, bread businesses and the odd supermarket.

It's put out on the counter in a more or less orderly way for local people. Donated packages of pastries are opened and bags of croissants/muffins/doughnuts get served on single serviettes as snacks. It's pretty laid back but general manners are called for. The s igns say "One loaf only" and you get one snack.

What happens almost everyday is the ' Chinese mafia' (as guys call 'em) come in in groups of3-6 at a time, with pullcarts and shopping bags, and take 2,3 sometimes up to 6 loaves of bread, go through all the produce taking as many as they can and then _go fo r any snacks putting hands on as many as posstble to "test for freshness" or something before trying to grab 2 or 3. Saying "one!" is not understood is saying Chinese seniors are stupid, but what's gotten pretty clear is most of the greedy ones choose to not understand or pretend it couldn't mean them.

After a few days I and other guys recognize the ones who keep faking it, I guess comforting themselves with the idea that we're being racist or bigotted. No matter how many times the greedy ones are told one, either calmly or in growing yells, it does not matter. They have a right somehow to take as much as they can get away with. Even when a volunteer or just the next person at the counter stops a Chinese person with 3 or 4 loaves of bread and takes them out of their bag, the person will just walk out and come back the next day and try the exact same thing.

From this comes a lot of bigoted and racist stories, likely made up but people withi n earshot nod their heads or add their own twist: "they sell the extras to corner stores;" and lots of " I've seen them ... ;" Some volunteers, whether they're on or not, will stop every Chinese person before they even get to the counter and make them tum around and leave. The

Velma Demerson (author of"Incorrigible")

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sad part is that there's almost no one saying that that's not right.

King-mong Chan can address discrimination & bad treatment and talk to service providers. but he has to talk to these ' low-income' Chinese too. When people behave like greedy, selfish bastards, what kind of treatment would you give them?

Yours truly, (a bunch of Dugout volunteers)

Invincible to recognition of existence their gaze shoots straight through me not even the slightest resistance as their attention slips on past, I'm unseen.

My voice is left to waste as a hollow echo my presence is as overlooked as a meaningless shadow cast across the room by the suns warm glow only to be cancelled out by the darkness of sorrow one day at a time feels so slow step by step down this lonely road my legacy that I wish to leave behind the world will never know.

How can I create a legacy out of complete oblivion to my being I need to stand up and raise my voice cancel out the negativity that I'm seeing walk with my head held high down this path of healing look toward what my future may bring stop to smell the roses and hear the world sing.

Step over these hills and onto the mountains so my voice will echo for miles and ring into the ears of the world gifting each and all with smiles.

The warmth I leave in their hearts is what I want to be remembered a legacy of inspiring fresh starts held onto and cherished forever.

Sarah Foisy

Mothers Day I awake yonder the trees have dew from the night's rain, the birds chirp a beautiful melody I do the routine of the power shower I lather compose myself for the beauty

of a day, mothers a ll over get breakfast in bed, there's nothing to worry about, I'm grateful to participate in my life.

What's next ] Who knows ... it's a mystery unfolding

~y Comfort Zone Pushing, shoving, insults, protests, slander, libel, tension, tumult, picket signs, picketers, blockades, barricades, cash-strapped residents, fully flushed gentrifYing invaders, heartless developers with pots of dough, sweetheart deals with the turncoat "Visionaries" at City Hall rubber-stamping whatever benefits corporate interests, corrupted partisan e lection ~arty funding to all entities covering all bases, cross~ng all t' s and dotting a ll i's: what a concept!! lmagme that: A relative dictatorship presented as run of the mill, even ramshackle, with many closed路debates. i.e. open then shut, case closed. ~rying to hu~our the mainly overwhelming dissenSIOn of long-time residents and true stakeholders in often life & death situations, who are being continuously hammered by all 3 levels of government, top to bottom with no end in sight ... does it bore the powers-that-be?!

This goes on while out-of-touch yuppies become ~ncreasingly arrogant & disdainful by the day, sensmg that they now have some upper hand and it's only a matter of time before the entire Downtown Eastside is owned by such high-minded intolerant miscreants with supporting cronies & cliques ...

"Yell, we say no. They are dead wrong, even deluSIOnal because there's way more anti-establishment resistance coming down the pike real fast. Our s tand is unending, lasting, permanent - carved in stone.

L?ok for us at rallies, pickets, demonstrations, planmng & strategy sessions both in & out of custody.

ROBYN LIVINGSTONE. Bon appetite!

go into your day like it's a walk in the park go for it have faith in yourse lf the rain falls it washes away yesterday's messy mess, now is the time to shine forth be with peace & tranquility love is always the answer Nora Kay A note to John Keats â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘--~â&#x20AC;˘,.......,-.,::5;.---....

Beauty is not truth. Beauty is the time it takes to reach truth. (Silence is the music oftime.)

Truth is not beauty. Truth is what I say it is.

So, what else do you know, John?

Stephen Belkin

PIVOT: Exposing Paranoia Courage is the ability to do the right thing in the face offear and uncertainty.

So, when Doug, Nadia and Diana- the three individual plaintiffs in our recently launched lawsuit and human rights complaint against the City of Abbotsford, agreed to stand up and put their names and faces out in front for the world to see, it was a very courageous thing to do.

They do not stand to gain anything beyond access to healthcare services for the broader community of people who use drugs in Abbotsford, and they could become targets of public backlash or police enforcement for talking about their drug use in such a pub! ic way. They know this, they understand this, and still want to go forward with the lawsuit because

they fee l the City of Abbotsford's anti-harm reduction bylaw is unjust and unfair. That is courage.

We at Pivot have been engaged with this community of drug use rs since :wos. when Abbotsford passed this zoning bylaw which effectively prohibits any harm reduction services from operating anywhere in the municipality.

Over that time, we've often imagined bringing a lawsuit against the City to challenge this harmful and discriminatory bylaw, but had difficulty finding individual drug users who were willing to put themselves out in front to be plaintiffs and articulate how the bylaw was infringing their rights. Now that Doug, Nadia and Diana have stepped forward, we will do what we can to help them- and other drug users in Abbotsford- access the health services they need by getting this bylaw struck down.

The energy and support given to Doug, Nadia and Diana by the members of Drug War Survivors at our press conference earlier this week was amazing and humbling. Standing on the lawn outside City Hall in the drizzling rain on Tuesday, it felt like we were part of a greater movement for justice and fairness.

Diana and Nadia confessed their nervousness to me before the conference, but ended up standing proud and strong before their peers and the news cameras.

Diana and Doug gave heartfelt and honest interviews to the CBC news crew, & the product was a lengthy segment on the six o'clock news.

I've been on the phone a lot with media the last few days about this case. Overall, I feel that the newspapers, radio and TV picked up on the urgency of the situation in Abbotsford. I have said it a number of times, but I will say it again - as long as this bylaw is in place, the health of people who use drugs is put in danger because they cannot access clean needles and other health interventions.

The reality is that there are over 500 injection drug users in Abbotsford. Everyday this bylaw stands, they are at risk of disease and denied the opportunity to benefit from proven health interventions readily available in other municipalities. To stand aside while stigma against drug users trumps solid evidence and good public health policy is s imply unacceptable. Doug, Nadia and Diana have taken a stand for justice and fairness. Now, it's our turn to make s ure that we have their backs in this fight.

By Scott Bernstein

"You see, I don't believe libraries should be q. ~---------------足 drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of

Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn: I. The bandage was wound around the wound. employing wild animals as librarians."

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

-Monty Python 3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4. We must polish the Polish furniture.

5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

9. l did not object to the object.

10. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

II. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

12. They were too close to the door to close it.

13. The buck does funny things when the does are present.

14. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

15. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

16. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

17. After a number of injections my jaw got number.

18. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19. I had to subject the subject to a series oftests.

20. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

21. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in Frauce. Quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

22. If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?

23. One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?

24. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

25. If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

26. If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

27. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

28. Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

29. Park in a driveway, and drive on a parkway?

30. Have noses that run and feet that smell?

31. How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

32. Did you know your house can burn up as it burns down, that you fill in a form by filling it out, and that an alarm goes off by going on?

33. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

it ain't the end of the world all of the hardship and human hurtin' of this world ~s got to be accounted for someway 's got to come around like prophesy someday 'nd it ain't so strange folks're writin' desperate poems like this one now the masses don't chant and the reaper's got both bony hands on a plow it ain't the end of the world not like you might not have heard in the news we've backup plans yet to unfurl it ain't the end of the world .we got to carry out stayin' the course we gonna keep on keepin' on this'll only work when we all believe that none of this can ever be gone it ain't the end of the world down in the subways all over the highways and in the streets see spirit getting' crushed in everyway feel life- force ground to mush everyd~y and everyone wishin' and scheming, hopin' and dreamin' 'bout some car ad lifestyle from a tube hunk'rin' down for sleepin' deeper while everyone knows it's rude to intrude it a in't the end of the world not like you don't feel it singin' the blues as morning mist still swirls it ain't the end of the world we got to carry out stayin' the course we gonna keep on keepin' on this'll only work when we all believe that none of this can ever be gone it ain't the end of the world after the weekend after a wee break from trouble and toil layin' on a lawn chair in the back yard listening to the breeze through the bushes in the back yard while the sun goes on shining every day there's no chance of ever needing to make no kind of big fussiness on all 'nd all 'nd everything

and ain't that just it ain't that just the way it's recently been it ain't the end of the world not like you've not been read in' the cues · as long as the planet twirls it ain't the end of the world we got to carry out stayin' the course we got to keep on keepin' on this'll only work when we all believe that none of this can ever be gone it ain't the end of the world fuckhead jones

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

Never doubt th;tt a smaU group of thoughtful committed citizens can cbaoge the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever bas.

-A1argaretA1eade 1

camnews@shaw.ca email www.camnews.org website http://chodarr. org/taxonomy/term/3 Index

Vancouver's non-commercial, listener-supported, community station.

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).

All artists will receive credit for their work .

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

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

~

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Next Issue: SUBMISSION DEADLINE

TUESDAY, JUNE 11TH

DONATIONS 2013: (Money is always needed & welcome.)

Sheila 8.-$100 Jenny K.-$25 Elsie McG.-$50 Terry & Savannah -$100 Robert McG.-$100 leslie S ·$25, Laila B -$20, Dave J -$8, Anon ·$25 Christopher R.-$100

I t 'S ALL LIFE NO?

NO CHANGE NO POPCANS NO LIGHTS NO SINGLES NO WASHROOMS NO CREDIT NO GST I NO PST NO KLINGONS NO SALES NO PEDDLING NO LOITERING NO SOLICITING NO CANVASSING NO PANHANDLING NO TRESPASSING NO FLYERS NO REFUNDS/NO EXCHANGES NO REFRESHMENTS TO LEAVE THE CROSS,-lALK NO CASH OR CIGARETTES LEFT OVERNIGHT NO FOOD, NO DRINK NO WATER NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE NO DRESS CODES NO JOBS ON SITE NO ENTRY - PERSONNEL ONLY NO PARKING NO CYCLING NO ROLLERBLADING NO ROLLER SKATING NO PHONECALLS ALLOWED NO TALKING NO GAMBLING NO SWEARING NO SPITTING NO SPITTING NO KNIVES NO FIGHTING - NO KILL I NO ALCOHOL / NO DRUGS NO SMOKING, NO TOBACCO, NO PAPERS NO PETS , NO ANU1ALS NO LITTERING NO INSURANCE NO SHIPPING OR RECEIVING FROM LOADING DOCK NO VACANCY, NO ROOt-iS NO VISITORS NO I;D. , ·NO ADMITTANCE NO EXIT NO INS OR OUTS NO THRU ROAD NO STOPPING ON ROADWAY

NO PASSING NO CAMPING OVERNIGHT NO HITCH HIKING NO OUTLETS NO GAS CANS ALLOWED ON FERRY NO TRUCKS I NO CARS NO FIRES NO PUBLIC ACCESS NO LEFTS ON RED I NO RIGHT TURN NO LIQUOR PERMITTED IN DARK AREA NO. DOGS TO RUN FREE IN DARK AREA NO RADIOS NO SWIMMING OR WADING NO BALL PLAYING NO INFLATABLE DEVICES NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY NO RUNS, NO HITs·, NO ERRORS NO BILLS POSTED - NO POSTERS NO DUMPING WITHOUT PERMISSION NO PEDESTRIAN CROSSING. USE UNDERPASS DANGER NO ADMITTANCE EVICTIONS NO WAY ••• WE'RE CLOSED NO '-lORDS NO NOISE NO SOUND NO WALLS NO TELLING NO WINDOV(S NO BURPING NO COFFEE NO PAN CAKES NO PUBS NO LIFE; NOT ·ANYMORE NO SOCIAL SKILLS NO LANGUAGE NO SHOTLOGS NO VIDEO NO MOBILITY NO WOMAN WIFE NO SENIORS, NO KIDS NO STARS NO GUITARS NO RIGHTS NO JOKE NO INTEREST NOT SOCIAL ENOUGH 'FER SOCIETY NO GAMES NO BULLSHIT NO TAPEDECKS NO BIKE NO PLACE TO BE

Taum D.

you should check their airline tickets the~:ll all be one-way & so will be your future tranquthty about Personal problems and hardships build character, or f so the almost-dead have a habit of telling their horyour future responsibility, favour ready is the new labour ready these bloody thieves get the jobs others rors to me. I am the one with pen stuck to hand they have stood in line since wearing time on your wrist thought I had the plan emotions fail me paranoia trails me all I have is worth nothing to you and so was even a blueprint of achievement soon you will need to know someone on Welfare to get "approve<.! very much to me, like a six-month waiting list for and speak 3 or more languages with an eagerness to fine park bench living I tell you this because my conscience vomits up such an extreme form of mail family-size bodybags ' The poor live that way 'cause they like it!'- who thanksgiving a rose by any other word is still just a word; Saint Minus told about this strange chap he thinks up this vile shit? Officer Down has a smile on came across ' Brother Bhopal'be his name combinin his face Saint Minus told me the evil ones will start chemicals his game but mass extermination of spethe end that way soon there will be a yellow & black Crime Scene tape parade their parties let alone visiot cies be it man or insect or trees oh my gods they still does not include you or me this computer-driven have not learned ...

1 wear this universe like Dracula would a cape black mad world sadly confirms my point of view Displacement & depression have become my profcs . holes and blackened eyes are what stand between mankind's escape, shares of the next Nobel prize are sion the sanity clearance sale will surely be swell am; being fought over as we speak, take me out of the yes I am lying through my teeth! All those lovely words wills urvive in the sewers if I care & live there ballgameI hear this Book of Bhopal is spreading rumours of you could care it's cool down here & maybe, with . me & others being insane what a mess he makes (U few coats of paint.. light or dark blue (but with da) could add every mess together) can I borrow a gun glo the skeletons will show) it's time for direct action as a giant hiss envelopes all Homelessness and hunger are such evil buggers they (his ego has quite the leak), entire pastures are soon seem to grow than the universe and at half the price to be rubble and ash towns & villages exist only in now just because there's enough doesn't mean evedreams and soon those will charge cash at least those ryone will get their rightful piece I'm hearing those that contributed to sub-standardized living, whatever horrors again no gods no not again. All-embracing & wherever we go we wil still be at the bottom of and broadminded there is no such thing as a small fake & subpar living tragedy, only when all these horrors finally end I wash my hands of so many problems even scolding Now that we can choose our own planet' s expiry them does not solve or even c lean them stop acting date Go For It! Problem(s) solved yet my get up and like I had a hand in this new Vancouver cleansing, go left so leave a note I will find out who's improvlike the god's honest truth if s just words like the ing the gods' honest truth Once more I'd rather not be here when there are no ones I use do you let everyone know your every more words on which I can depend. UPDATE: Four move death is possibly least convenient what with all more years of killing off the poor Will She be the the angels & demons they are sending, like an Expo one slamming in your face that final door?!

Thirteen in the Vatican City just cross your Rs and A country & city I used to love are dead, booze in close your eyes now pipe down & don't crack up can grocery stores and we are the insane. Who th~ fuck i路 you bring me a bucketful of light this place is so this arrangement for? Nothing is permanent, ltke an dirty so many priests'knees so many kids inheriting upside-down book we have been and will continue tc mortal sin like a disease the Gospel Scandal Channe1 is in between greed and the selfishists .. today happy be forever the unread.

By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY endings were made illegal ... as of today cheating is the new fair, ingenuity the l new stupidity, the louder you scream will not make I anybody understand any quicker every stroller is fulJ! of babies & liquor those in charge of all your money

THEDA Y WORDS COLLAPSE

(Editor' s note:

In the last i s sue the text of a pap e r pr esented to t he Vanco uver

& District Labour Council was printed. In the section "o n Inc ome" I'd promoted the idea of "aguaranteed annual adequate income", thinking the word 'adequate' was the operative one. Fortunately, the error in t his appr oa ch has been followed for a few years and the following article dispels some of the smoke.)

THE GUARANTEED ANNUAL INCOME (GAl) How Big Business is Using it to Trick Low Income People Since the early 1960's low income people have worked for a Guaranteed Annual Income (GAI). He thought it would provide enough money for a decent life above the poverty line. We thought it would be given with dignity and no hassle. We also thought that, if we were able to work out side the home, decent jobs at decent pay would be available.

Recently quite. a few big business groups have jumped on the GAl bandwagon - groups not reknown for supporting low income people. They include the Fraser Institute representing over 400 large corporations; the Canadian Manufacturers •· Association {CMA), a lobby group for Canada's largest manufacturers; the McDonald Commission, a $20 million Royal Commission on the economy set up by the Liberal Govt.; the Financial Post, a weekly newspaper which represents big business thinking in Canada; and the Business Council on National Issues. (All involved in getting Mulroney & "free" trade & the GST and UI cuts •.•. ) .

But big business doesn't \vant the same kind of GAl that low income people want.

They don't want a GAl that will end poverty. They want a GAl that will: - guarantee poverty for people who can't work, and help pull down wages for people: who. do . work; - help build a pool of cheap labour so that people on GAl compete with each other for low-paying jobs; - reduce employers' wage bills, leaving more for corporate profits.

There a~e four parts to the big business version of GAl: 1. Abolish what we have: The Financial Post calls our existing system a "morass of conflicting and confusing social programs" and notes

(disapprovingly) the $60 bil l i on annual cost. The MacDonald Connnissi:on l ists the programs on the big business chopping bl ock; ,family. allowance, child tax credit Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors (this is the program responsible for almost getting senoirs out of poverty), social housing, married and child tax exemptiona, the federal share of welfa re payments to provinces (i'J,bout half o,f the money paid by provinces on this. s e~jc e ) and unemployment insurance, Big busine.s s thinks these programs cos t too much and contribute. to t he defic;i:t.

In fact, Canada's social s pending is al-· ready way below the average of induatrial countries. As well, many economists say that the deficit is not t oo high, and, i f it was, could be contained by reducing handouts to private corpora t ion s.

2. Low incomes for people who don't or can' t work: The MacDonal d Commission suggests $2750 per year in one option and $3825 in anot her. This 1 d be topped up at the whim of provincial governments, presumably. For comparison, the poverty line. (at t hat t ime) was about $11,000 per person per year.

~·he C:HA provides another clue to the lev- ( e l of income that big business thinks peo- : ple outside the paid labour force should ! have: they say the GAl should ensure that 1 "reci pients will be better off working and J earning income." l Why doesn't business want GAl rates above j the poverty line? According to one report, 1 some business leaders fear that people re- J ceiving adequate welfare or GAl will not i work at "unsafe low paying jobs unless pay and working conditions are improved. 'Such improvements at the bottom of the employment ladder would push up the whole wage & working conditions scale. "

3. End l egislation to maintain & increase wages : The Fraser Institute is famous ----- for calling for an end to the minimum wage . The CMA told the MacDonald Commission the same; the govt. should loosen up on laws such as the min. wage laws.

Business doesn't like minimum wages because, like welfare payments, they push up the bottom of the wage scale ladder, put- . ting more money into workers hands rather \1 than business profits. .

Business is equally negative toward equal! pay for equal value. Keep equal pay laws as they are, said MacDonald, knowing full well that they are virtually useless . Fair wage laws are equally abhorent to big bus- ~ iness. The federal govt. abolished them.

4. Keep what-you earn: The Financial Post, MacD. Commission & the BCNI argue that taking away earned income from people who receive GAl or even welfare creates a " poverty trap" and destroys "incentives to work." This sounds exac tly like what low income people have been saying for a long time too. We have Hanted to be able to keep much more of what we earn without having it deducted from our monthly welfare payment . But we want wages to be adequate, above the pover ty line at least, i n the first pl ace.

Big business wants the GAl as a taxpayer

top-up of inadequate wages. With a GAl not reduced as work earnings increase, business knows it can keep wages lower and have more money left over for profits .

With the extra profits they can buy up their competitors, move to countries with cheaper labour, or do whatever they like.

What · would the effect •. of a GAl with thes e four ingredients be?

Imagine that big business gets its way.

Their GAl is in place and you're a single mom with two kids. You'll be getting a GAT that is way below the poverty line . Your provincial govt . will hesi ta te to add mu c. to it because it won't be gett ing federal money for this purpose. You'll have no chance of getting into a co- op or nonprofit housing. Those programs will be gone . Likewise you won't get a child tax credit or family allowance. Funding for childcare will be drastically cut back too, as the federal govt . will no longer pay half the costs . But because the GAl is so low, you're desperate to feed your kids. And, with the new GAl, you can kee p what you earn. You scrounge around for a f riend or relative to take care of the kids. McDonal~'s jas an opening for $4/hr and you take it. Unemployment is high and all the better paying jobs are full. You can't afford not to take the McDonald's job even though you know you're worth more. So you struggle along, working at s lave wages, still below the po'verty line felling guilty that you have to depend on another woman to care for your kids, exhausted at the end of the day. You ask yourself: Is this new GAl really better than the old welfare?

For you the answer is "no." But for McD and other low wage employers, the new GAl will be better than the old welfare. With no legislation boosting minimum wages, without equal pay laws, and with hundreds of thousands more people forced to compete for low wage work by the low GAl rates, employers will have no trouble keeping wages low. The money that they paid for wages in the past can now go into acquiring more assets and more control over the economy and over job creation & elimination. Much of the extra prof it for

multinational companies could even flow out of the country.

While business would continue to receive billions in tax exemptions, loopholes or a lower tax rate, resentment would build among middle income working people. Their own wages would fall due to pressure from a large group of people (like our single mon) forced to work because of low GAl rates. Yet taxes paid by middle income people would subsidize employers (with the GAl) to hire these people at low pay.

"It 1 s the old game of divide & conquer.

In effect the regu lar wage earner is asked to give up some of his/her income so that some employers needn 1 t pay a living wage." (Cy Gonick). This plan could eas -ily split the poor from middle income earners who might perceive that low in~ come people, not an unj ust economic system1 are the main ca,use of their own falling income.

In short, this business version of the GAl is a scheme tjat lets business appear that i t cares for· the poor, but at the same time helps create a system that will, over the long term, reduce all wages·, make people poorer, and increase control over our economy by large corporations .

The danger for low income people is this It appears that the To r ies could put forward a GAl plan, meaning the business GAl of guaranteed poverty and low wages . But low income people and others with a social conscience may confuse this GAl wi t h the GAl we've always hoped could end poverty.

Probably there's no single word or phrase that will describe what will really end poverty . If there·was, business would hire pollsters and public relations experts to take over that word or phrase and put their meaning to it, like they're taking over Guaranteed Annual Income.

We need to be sure that whatever phrase is used, the results will end poverty and i n crease democratic control of our economy and not the opposite. Anti-poverty groups are beginning to realise that our antipoverty agenda should include a package of measures. We need: - full employment at decent wages; - legislation to improve wages. This means minimum wage above the p~>Verty -; line; equal pay for work of equal value; fair wage laws; and laws which make it easier for low wage workers to form or join unions and bargain collectively for better wages & working conditions; - improved public insurance programs (UI & WCB & CPP • .. ) ; - maintenance and improvement of universal programs such as education, medicare, family allowance and childcare; - a tax system based on ability to pay which redistributes income from the rich to the poor; - income above the poverty line given with dignit u to people not covered by the above programs; and, with these conditions, we need an increased earnings exemption for people receiving welfare or GAl. Those of us working to end poverty have a big education job ahead of us. We must ensure that voters see the big business GAl for what it is; a way to reverse the decades-old tendency for decent welfare r ates to push up low wages; a way to deceive low income people into supporting a scheme that will increase rather than reduce poverty; a way to help concentrate even more wealth and decision making power in the hands of big business.

By JEAN SWANSON

Memo

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Carnegie Newsletter, One of the problems of the Abundance philosophies (att~a.ct ric~es. wealth etc. into your life by thinking pos1t1ve ..) IS that they never differentiate between needs & wants. Needs are few; wants can be & are for many infinite.

Joke: The thing to do re: wearing fashionable clothing is: Wear cheap clothing, down-dress but wear really expensive cologne!

A Reader The Invisible Penis

What is the opposite of a

g~

What is the same as a singularity?

Seducing the matriarchy as a whole?

Bet\veen zero and one is the whole number ' time'.

community photography & my thesis In May 20 I2 I came to Vancouver to find out more about community photography and how individuals related images of their neighbourhood to identity.

This would be the focus of my thesis for my Master's degree at the University of Birmingham, UK. I first visited Vancouver in 20 I 1. I was interested in how visual images might be important in social research, and while in the city, found out about the

Hope in Shadows contest and the various other personal and collective artistic projects in the Downt<;>wn ~astside. For me, this represented a unique instght mto community-led photographic practice. I decided to concentrate on the annual photography contest as a case-study and returned the following summer to spend some time in the neighbourhood, meet local residents and get involved in the Hope in Shadows camera hand-out and collection. Thanks to the kind staff at Carnegie, I was able to run two discussion groups on the themes 'photography, identity and community', which I advertised via posters displayed in community venues around the area. Nine people participated and contributed to some really interesting group sessions. A key message that came out of both events was the inclination to use photography to raise personal issues to the level of community concerns- and the potential of this for future community advocacy.

Having completed my Master's degree, I have now started studying for a PhD in Sociology- related to using visual images in social research, specifically focussing on issues of poverty management and social inclusion. My work is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK, who kindly supported a r~turn trip to Vancouver in May this year, to enable me to share my research findings with the community for whom it is arguably most relevant. [ returned to the city to give two tal ks at Carnegie on May 9th and I Oth, and one at the University of British Columbia's Graduate Sociology conference. Thirteen individuals attended the talks at Carnegie, making for lively discussions, and enabling a forum for some extremely valuable feedback on my work, which will form the basis for a postscript article that I am currently working on- endeavouring to include resident voices as far as possible at every stage of my research.

I would like to thank everybody who attended my focus groups in 20 12 and/or my talks this year! My thesis is available in Carnegie library, for anybody who is interested in reading further. lt is entitled 'Picturing Social Inclusion: Photography and Identity in Downtown Eastside Vancouver.' I value all feedback - and if you have any comments or questions at all please don't hesitate to email me: nat robinson1 @gmail.com

Natalie Robinson.

Memories Composed by enemies A burning guarantee Of qu iet tragedy Engraved in my mind Permanently Sitting in my heart so heavily As it beats a broken symph An insincere apo logy Cold and whispered Fighting to regain cu Of my broken empty An envelope For my damaged ~~Iiiii!~ You a lways resume Your love is a curse A catastrophe Building inside of me The off rhythm beating Of my heart is screami l fee l you leaving My thoughts are bleeding Through all our memor路 Unwanted dependency Contradictory I hate you But don't leave me So reluctantly I call out lifelessly Then immediately I'm si lenced by your to So lovely Comforting Tinged with a sudden Of being trapped wi A cyc le Forever repeating Constant new Sarah Foisy :

Adrian Dix led the N.D.P. to a disastrous defeat and was flattened by Liberal leader Christy Clark.

What happened?

First off Dix promised the voters virtually nothing.

"I will raise the welfare rates for singles by $20 a month," Dix said in effect. This pitiful raise was followed by a promise to give some families $70 a month for each chi ld they had. Then came some low key promises for education and health care funding.

Overall these were not big items or increases.

They inspired nobody . Nor did Dix. He looked terrible or at least uneasy in public appearances. "Dix's father was and is a very outgoing person," a woman who knew the fami ly said. "But his mother is shy and reclusive. Adri an takes after his mother."

Dix was also linked to the previous N.D.P. government headed up by Glen Clark. Dix worked for Clark and backdated a memo ro get Clark out of a jam."This was not fraud ," an N.D.P.'er said. True enough or maybe true. But then Dix bailed out of the Clark government and left with a $70,000 payout or severance pay. All ofthis made Dix look bad.

Christy Clark on the other hand, loved meeting the public. On the campaign trail, she hugged burly construction workers, wore a hardhat, kissed every baby in sight, smiled all the time, & posed for every photo op. She toured the province promising as she said, "Jobs, jobs, jobs." She vowed that under her government there wou ld be massive extraction of Liquid Natural Gas which would then be sold to China.

Soon B.C. would be an Albertan-type paradise where all the province's debt would be paid off and jobs would flower everywhere.

"This is fantasy,' one N.D.P.'er said about the Liberal platform. Dix pronounced Clark's plans as "fact free." Still people believed it. The Liberals also spent millions of dollars on brutal TV ads showing Dix as weak indecisive and a hapless weathervane turning in every direction . For some reason, Dix refused to let the N.D.P. run negative ads for most of the campaign.

Dix also believed the polls that showed the N.D.P. way in the lead over the Liberals. So on the night of May 14, the N. D.P. was beaten yet again. Clark lost her seat in Vancouver Point Grey but led the Liberals to a stunning victory.

As Tommy Douglas was supposed to have said,

"The N.D.P. in B.C. has this abi lity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." Adrian Dix had done this in spades. The election also proved (as one insider ir: the N.D. P. said) that "polls aren't \VOt1h a damn."

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CARNEGIE BOARD ELECTIONS The following people were nominated for the Carnegie Board at the Board Meeting on May 2nd·

Versh Jack

Phoenix Winter

Pat McSherry

Benjamin Smith

Lisa David

Fraser Stuart

Sam Snobolen

Sandra Pronteau

Ernie Harris

Sharon Kravitz

Priscillia Tait

Margaret Tang

Thelma Jack

Adrienne Macallum

Gena Thompson

Wendy Pedersen

James Pau

To vote for your new board, please come to the Annual General Meeting on Thursday, June 6th @ 5:30 pm, Carnegie Theatre.

In order to vote at this meeting you must have a Carnegie membership card with a date no later than May 24th' 2013.