September 1, 2002, carnegie newsletter

NEWSLETTER 401 Main Street. Vancouver V6A

SEPTEMBER 1,2002

2l7 (604) 665-2289 Email: carnnews@cn.bc.ca

Dcrr Mr. Hrcldock:

[ D a Vinci s Inquest Production.. Inc.:l

August 15,2002

I a m writ~ngto you to register serious concerns we have over the presence of Da Vinci's lnquest sequences shot in the Downtown Eastside.

I am approaching you because we have had no success in communicating effectivelywith production staff and because. as the creator of the concept, I know that you promote top quality production values and story lines which accurately reflect issues and stories that relate to people in need and distress.

In many cases. the production sessions take place in and around public spaces in the Downtown Eastside. We continue to work very successfully with many ofthe major television and film producers who also "work" the area for background effect and exceptional nuances that the local architecture provides.

Since 1993, DERA has developed a program whereby local residents who have been carehlly vetted by us as to demeanor and skill levels in dealing sensitively with potentially problem individuals who may happen upon a set and may prove dificult through behavioral outbursts, eccentricities or disabilities that police andlor "industry" designated people cannot relate to appropriately have been present to deflect and mediate such difficulties. We have ongoing support from IATSE, the B.C. Film Commission and Vancouver police (who control vehicular traffic, but have told us they do not wish to be involved with pedestrian management issues).

We know that your award winning episodes which portray the Downtown Eastside in a good light - a source severely lacking elsewhere in most respects - will be better received by residents whose day-to-day lives are affected by these productions if someone ofthe community is on site to monitor and assist the process.

We have experienced too many mega-production exploiters of this neighbourhood in past years; we certainly don't want to see a much heralded production such as Da Vinci's lnquest be identified by residents as just another pushy interloper. We know you and the producers and actors mean well in terms of fostering positive relationships with the residents ofthe area and I am hoping this correspondence will be helpful to you.

If you are interested and have the time, we would be most interested in meeting with you personally to both discuss any of the issues outlined and perhaps pass on some possible ideas for future episodes. There are a great number of older people in this neighbourhood whose memories go back a long way and who have life stories.. many ofwhich truly are in many cases stranger than fiction. Thank you for your attention.

Ian MacRae

president. Downtown Eastside Residents' Associatior

From May 1 1 to May 18.2002. nine Canadian Members of Parliament travelled from Ottawa to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. The group included Liberals. Bloc Quebecois and N.D.P. Our M.P. for Vancouver East, Libby Davies, was the federal N.D.P. representative.

The purpose of the visit was to study the political situation as well as to observe the living conditions of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza territories that have been occupied by the Israeli army since 1967.

Here is the main conclusion of the report, Mission to Palestine. that was written by the nine MPs on their return to Canada. "The occupation of one people by another is the root cause of PalestinianIsraeli violence. That violence cannot be resolved without steps to end the lsraeli occupation of Palestinian territories and associated settlement activity.

There must be a political solution to the conflict which ensures the right of lsraelis to live in peace and security within a sovereign lsrael based on June 4, 1967 boundaries, with a capital in West Jerusalem. That solution must also give Palestinians the same right to live in peace and security in a Palestinian state formed from the remaining 22 percent of British Mandate Palestine, with its capital in East Jerusalem."

The main part of the report is a diary of the experiences of the nine MPs in lsrael and the occupied territories. The diary, with photographs, tells what they saw and heard. It is not second-hand information. Here are just a few examples of the terrifj4ng pattern of violence into which the Palestinians and lsraelis are locked. * lsraelis told the group that they believed Palestinians are bent on the total destruction of Israel. Yet at

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lsrael supported a proposai to end ;he occ"pation of Palestinian lands. In fact, while the MPs were there, 80,000 lsraelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv in support of an end to the occupation * Palestinians wanted an end to the occupation by the lsraeli army which had turned their territories into a big jail. They also respected the right ofthe state of lsrael to exist. Palestinians were in anguish over the on-going (illegal) expansion of almost 200 lsraeli settlements, involving more than 400,000 lsraeli settlers, in Palestinian territory. * 70 percent of Palestinians live under the poverty line of $2.00 per day. * 10,000 administrative arrests have been made by the occupying lsraeli army. At the time of the visit, 3000 people were being held without charge or legal council. * agricultural devastation by Israeli forces in the occupied territories has resulted in the destruction of 50,000 olive trees and 20,000 orange trees. * chickens and sheep in the occupied territories are starving because farmers can't get their food supplies delivered, nor can they get adequate water. * Palestinians are harassed and humiliated on a daily basis by Israeli border guards. Hundreds of roads have been ripped up, forcing people to travel across rough fields. Hundreds of random checkpoints cause hours of delay in daily movements, and in some cases, total isolation of villages. There were stories of women clad in Burkas who were physically touched and handled under the pretext of searching for explosives. * 25 percent of the dead are children. Palestinians now count 1370 deaths in the last 19 months along with 30,000 injuries. 480 lsraelis have been killed in the same period of time. * Many lsraelis live in fear of imminent death fiom

suicide bombers.

This report, Mission to Palestine, calls on the international community to do everything in its power to end the occupation and to help create an independent Palestinian state and a secure state of Israel. It says that there must be more vigilant involvement by the United States, the European Union, Russia, Canada and the United Nations. The Palestinians have asked for international intervention, and the report asks Israel to welcome the assistance of an International Peacekeeping Force to enforce peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

condemned Campbell and Plante for their slithering, but these two were quite transparent in saying that this move -this agenda to disempower non-wealthy people - was part and parcel of their masters' wishes. No change.

It was sad when Eduardo wrote back and said that my letter had reached him on the last day of his and the whole program staffs employment. Go well friends. The future is gloriously bright; this 'new era' is the dark before the dawn.

PRT

By SANDY CAMERON (see Sandy's four articles on the background to the IsraeVPalestine conflict in the Camegie Newsletter, April 15, May I, May 15, & June 1,2002.)

Comments?

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Dear

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The Legal Services Society, responsible for the provision of Legal Aid and a host of other things, can sadly no longer provide the small community service grants that have hnded so many projects.

The Core Review instigated by the Campbell government saw fit to cut almost 1/3 of LSS's funds and eliminate all poverty law, along with a host of other aspects. The Community Services Program had been helping with just over Sl000 a year to keep our Help in the Downtown Eastside booklets coming out in 3 languages - English, French and Spanish.

The uproar over the gutting of Legal Aid was getting louder when renewal time rolled around for the annual grant. Best just to wait and hope for the outrage of the legal community to enforce change. They passed a vote of No Confidence in the Attorney General by a huge majority, national and international groups of lawyers and legal ethicists soundly

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Phone: n5-0790 f u : ns-oBBr oMtt hours: Tuesday-Frlday pam-qpm

Working Like Crazy Seal 6 - Seot 27 Gallery Cachet, 88 east cordova Opening Reception: ~;idavSept 6 7- 10 prn Painting, video and installation on the theme of employment, by Gallery Gachet members Irene Loughlin, Diane Jacobs, Nauhs Ramirez-Figueroa, Cate Curtis, Laura Babak, curated by Persimmon Blackbridge.

Mane Antoinette meets the Downtown Eastside, while a waitress has nightmares of fiied eggs and a performance artist tries a magic spell to cure himself of unemployment. Working Like Crazy is a humorous and energetic look at the working (and not working) world. As artists and people who've been through the mental health system, no one inworking Like Crazy has what you'd call a standgrd resume.

Covering a wide range of media and formal con-

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terns, their art is united by a sardonic view of employment and its discontents.

Curator Persimmon Blackbridge is an award-winning artist, writer and crazy-person (actually no one ever gave her an award for being crazy. but the rest of it's true). Winner of the Ferrro-Grumley Prize (New York City), the Lambda Literary Award (Washington DC) nd the Vl VA Award (Vancouver) she's well-known for collaborative artwork and for art which explores issues of disability.

Media Contact: Kirsten May Gallery Cachet, 88 east cordova st.

604.687.2468 galIeryGi&achet.org www.gachet.org

M 1 ~ ~naltcr\ 1 i s h o u wc live ~ n love d ,\11dhow w e \pcnJ our dash -

So think about this long and hard..

Are there things you'd like to change?

You never know how much time is left T\i;~tcan still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough 1'0 consider \\hat's true and real. .And ;ll\vays try to understand

T'hc way other people fed.

And be less quick to anger

Blackberry Bay

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Ships out of commission now resting on the ocean making an artificial bay their big empty hulls play some deep melody while people on the beach make love to thesun 4 with the fi-actured light 3dancing across the ocean the blackberries that are

4 n d show appreciation more .And love the people in our l i k e s Like we've never loved before.

I f n e treat each other hith respect And more otten wear a smile Remembering that this special dash Might only last a while.

So. when your eulogy's being read With your life's actions to rehash Would you be proud of the things they About how you spent your dash? Irene Schmidt

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and soon to become the best, sweet tasting wine.

Daniel Rajala

In Memory of ROY 1 read of a man who stood to speak At the hneral of a friend He referred to the dates of his life From the beginnjng to the end.

He noted that first came his date of birth And spoke the following date with tears ( 193 1 - 2002) But he said what mattered most of all Was the dash between those years.

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For that dash represents all the time That he spent alive on Earth.. .

And now only those who loved him Know what that little line was worth.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA Ministry o f H u m a n Resources Dear Seniors Supplement Recipient: The Ministry of Human Resources has introduced changes to the Seniors Supplement.

In July 2002, when federal Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement. and Spouses Allowances are increased, based on inflation, the provincial Seniors Supplement will be reduced by the same amount.

As federal payments continue to increase, there will be matching reductions in the provincial Seniors Supplement until the Supplement is completely phased out. For most seniors, the phase out will be complete by the f i l l of 2004.

You will not see a reduction in your federal [just provinciuflbenefits, and will not receive less money in total than you do now.

The Seniors Supplement was introduced to provide a "top up" to seniors whose total income fiom federal pensions or other earned or unearned income fell below a level guaranteed by the province. Federal payments have been increasing. In January 2002, the Ministry of Human Resources announced the phase out of the Seniors Supplement.

If you would like more information about this change, you can call the toll-fi-ee ministry information line at 1 888 356-6564. The information line is open Monday through Friday fiom 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

You can also visit the Government of British Columbia web site at: http:llwww.gov.bc.ca. ~oursTily, Murray C o d , Minister.

Robbing Hoodlums Robin Hood was extremely kind as he robbed the rich to give to the poor. But the Minister of Fantasy Land - Moron Coell -does the reverse. He robs the poor to give to the rich.

The f&ral government gave an increase to seniors for the increased costs of living. Guess who took it away? None other than the draconian provincial government. No one escapes the mean-spirited actions of the worst government British Columbia has ever seen!

Irene Schmidt

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For The Love Of

You've no place to sit, no place to hide.

You've no place to hit, no place to slide But you know you can go some place above the fiay It's somewhere to go - above and away.

When you get weary playing your endless trite tricks Take a quick peek over your shoulder and make your for keeps pick Is it trukyou gaze at stars no matter if it's day or nght?

Even though you know you're lost.. in your space it seems so right.

Forget the sorrowfi~lpast. It's gone. It's spent.

Create new dreams to attain so you are becoming content I know what you're thinking; I can see it in your teary eyes You can't hthom this concept though you strugle to try.

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It isn't your fault that you're caught in the dark Because it hurts to remember the pain that you've felt Do you ever recall when your world kept us apart?

For the simplest reasons, to me, for the hand you were dealt.

I know now that you're more conlplex than 1 dared to admit But the curtain started hlling before 1 made this puzzle a fit.

Don't despair, don't give up, our game is not yet quite lost We'll get back together someday. for sure, whatever the cost.

Robyn Livingstone

liars, killers and excuses rnavbe i should have a lawver present (ha! ha!)

,can stand one more hour'.' driven by the smell of war and pai it's a sorry day tomorrow, that is it's on the way can't you tell? had enough? f charles fortin

the trick we are oppressed third world in the first pinned by scum who would bite and scratch for a Penny the trickle-downis urine we the poor are bewildered unable to touch our intangible chains denying the wall twixt us and them faithfully mouthing the rhetoric of our non humanity the media isn't biased? it's bigoted! if only it were true that we are lazy and stupid morally deficient un-motivated whatever that would be a lot simpler than the truth the trickle-down is urine our oppressors are ruthless justice won't dome easy we're gonna have to rumble the cops (or seduce them) basically passive and peaceful we have to make a great big mess eyes pepper'd skulls cracked we're probably gonna go to jail 'cause the trickle-down is urine how d'ya like that piss in your fixe makes me want to flip a car . a fire shut shit down the trickle-down is urine florence spencer

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Oppenheimer Park:whose rights?

Everyone is walking on eggshells because the Christian fundamentalists have permission to cancel events in Oppenheimer Park and hold what, to them, is a "revival" - but what is, to most everyone else, a rigoff of public space and the right of thk vast majority of residents to enjoy a Sunday afternoon in the community's very scarce green space.

Virtually every Christian mission, feeding program, storefront ministry or whatever in this community has the decency to get their own space, either rent or own, and then let people know; those who want to go (or have to to get food) go, and the rest can get on with their lives without it. Most such C k t i a n things have the decency not to require or enforce 'listening before eating' but even those that do have learned that prolonged preaching to people waiting for food can get very nasty results.

So we have a born-again rant by a shill in the park, complete with their own generator and microphones, and the local residents are deeply offended. The offense c o r n from the park staff not being permitted to put out their tables for normal use, not-being permitted to issue any baseball equipment for normal game, not being permitted to engage in or supervise any of the normal activities that residents like on this Sunday afternoon because the Christians

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are somehow empowered or arrogant enough to demand that everything else in the park be shut down while their shill rants away.

If this happened in Queen Elizabeth or Stanley Park the noise would be shut down in minutes. That it's permitted in one of the very few Eastside parks is bad enough, but the fact that every other activity in the park is subject to this one imposition is worse.

The few Christians commenting on this annoyance said, "I was raised a Christian but I find this whole spectacle d i h t e h l . " "It's disgusting to have a con artist maligning Christianity like this."

"A lot of the people living around here are survivors or kids of those who were in residential schools.

Now another white broad gives herself the name "Mother Hastings" and expects us to just forget it so she can pretend she's better than we are."

Events so far: -claiming to have healed people of diseases like Hep C and AIDS and arthriotis.. that just happen to afflict a lot of residents; -advertising a big food giveaway, making over 800 listen to prolonged preaching, then having only 200 hotdogs to give out and just saying 'sorry' to 600; -advertising a big food giveaway, making over 200 listen to prolonged preaching, then having only 40 hotdogs to give out and just saying 'sorry' to 160; -descending on Main&Hastings with flying squads of saviours and forcing people out of their space (and making security staff move them off); -whining at shitty hall and to Carnegie admin about the attitude of staff to their steamroller approach, insisting that our staff get official reprimands for doing their jobs and not allowing these fanatics to break rules that most everyone in the community! respects and abides by.. . ... and no one is supposed to say anything because they're CHRISTIANS!!

As one real community activist says, "You abused us physically, emotionally, sexually and mentally for over 300 years, and you still preach at us. Just shut up and go away."

1 1usings

TIFFANY GRABBED HIM URGENTLY

I asked the Muse, who was amusing herself with me Why so stuck on the part that star

THEFCKTTWT W R f e r w ~m D -

He had a voice like raw dark thick liquid honey ~rrnedslowly over a low glowing smokey Because. my dear. she shrugged. sublime Verse doesn't always come to you in time..

Sound quite s o tine Or end in words willing to rhyme Forget it this time its only a line

Neighbows

Hope Feuthers

It's four in the morning sounds like a brawl but it's just Lonesome Mary tweeking tearing her place apart for a speck of rock You'd think it was a couple fighting just Mary got the dope blues real bad banging on my door for a smoke

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She's a shining example of where N O T to be if she's not ripped to the eyeballs she plum loco, insane, hallucinating babbling to herself and I think l got problems but relatively speaking I'm better off with my own brand o f mania Now hours to go thru the night the eternal inner voice worries like tornadoes in Texas they got lots of labels for the blues DTES - new home for the blues the scams and tattoos hide the obvious every ex-con in Canada lives next door I wonder hwo long it'll be before she screams for my help again come 0 , after 2 fires in a month I come running when the whine turns 1 0 panic pitch

Chip off the old cell block When I was a kid they called me Elvis 'cause the sideburns I proudly wore Helen and Greta were my mothers We lived in the hills of Kootenay country I grew up without no pa No one ever told me why At twelve I began to understand Things sometimes go different than ever plannei One day a letter came made 'em flutter 'round the house like terror-stricken chickens There was plenty of talk for days and days Finally Helen won whatever the fight was over A week later we packed the van No one told me where we was headed We drove out of town over the mountains Onto the flattest land I'd ever seen We drove to Prince Albert Middle of nowhere far as I was concerned Drove up to the prison. cold and steely p y It was a hot Saskatchewan day Helen said, "Now Elvis there's some things you don't know - I never had the heart to tell but today you will learn" They led me into a room all painted green Came a man I'd never seen but was quick to learn: This was my pa after all..

I could tell 'cause we had the same sideburns Alvin Baker

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An Open Letter

-overI 'vesixnowmonths. lived in the Downtown Eastside for just I'd never thought I'd ever live hcrc. I mean, h s is where the losers live, this is where the winos and drug addicts come to die.

That's what I was told. If I didn't get a goad education to get a good job I would end up on skid-row with "all thc rest of the bums."

Turns out that's bullshit.

Well. not entirely, but it's not the 'oh-Jesusdon't-go-near-there-n~an-it's-a-hellhole I'd heard that it was. I have seen the ten-dollar hookers, the junkies shooting junk on the sidewalk and h o p h c d s smoking their drug of choicc through little glass pipes.

It took me about a month before I found the courage to penetrate the crowd on the southwest c o m a of Hastings and Main, and then only after I'd stood and watched to see if, indeed, the buildmg was open and what sort of people breached its doors. Once inside 1 found it to be son~ethingof an island in a sea of the distressed, the unhappy, the disillusioned, and the hopeless.

That was my first thought. While I'm sure that there are people who do feel one or more of those emotions, it appears to me that the majority of people here seem to be okay with their 'lot in life,' I've not talked to very many souls in the area but 1 pride myself as one who is observant and I see smiles and hear laughter almost everywhere I go and I can't help but feel that it's not just a rare moment. It illustrates something I read that said instances of lusty living can be found far more oflen among the poor then among the wealthy.

Why? Who the hell really knows? My f l s is that, if you don't expect much. what you do get is that much more of a surprise and that much more appreciated.

The staKare paid to be here [Carnegie] but it was a career they chose and if none, including them, had seen or felt the inherent nobility of such a career and took it as their own, then this place and others like it wouldn't be here. Having said that, I know that the absence of a smile on a face is only bccause it's no small thing to run this place, the work at times tedious and sometimes burdensome.

Let's not let it bc thankless too.

And Ict me not forget about the volunteers! Thcy "

are truly selfless individuals. Dear God, what would we do without them! For this place is truly dependant on volunteers and, if it weren't for them. there would be no need for staff bccause there would be nothing for the staff to do. See how that works'? But you necd not won). about the volunteers being unappreciated by the staff /city bccaux they are. In fact. among other things, a dinner is held specifically for them once a month.

Some of you may be wondering who I am and how I find myself here in the Downtown Eastside.

It's very nearly the classic story of an alcoholic except that, in the end, it was a wife's lack of appreciation of my efforts and the abscnce of any effort of her own that causcd the end of a fiflecnyear marriage. A passionate pcrson, I renewed drinking in an effort to squelch the anger 1 felt, dnnhng having been sometlung I'd givcn up in an effort to repair a damaged marriage. Well, depression and anger got the better of me and.tbP drinking got quite bad. causing mc to lose my job and alienate all my f?iends and entire family.

It's been a year of sobnet?. and I'w mended those relationships I care to, particularly with my ctuldren. and I hopc to be working full time now that the buses are back. As a result, I won't be volunteering here as much as I hake (That's right! I'm a volunteer. Did you already guess thata?Certady explains why I described the volunteers so glowingly. huh'.')

So. thanks for king hcrc. I'm not leaving. I just won't bc hcrc as otlcn.

Dcnnis

A new direction f o r Community Directions.. .

This hot summer in the downtown Eastside saw things cooking in the Main & Hastings offices of Community Directions. The results are the recent hiring of a new Senior Organizer, the early summer election of a new Steering Committee, and the building of a strategic plan to take this unique community development project into its next 18 months of life.

We are planning to keep things cooking so poor people in our community take a more active role in all levels of the community, gain more leadership skills, and their voices are heard loud and clear throughout the DTES and to the different layers of government.

Anyone reading this newsletter is invited to come by our space across from Carnegie (downstairs at Bruce Erickson Place) to meet lwin Oostindie, our new Senior Organizer. He has 18 years community organizing experience throughout Me lower mainland, is a father, and lives in the new Lore Krill Coop at Main B Georgia. He joins other organizers: Fred Arrance and Gustavo Carcuz, and administrator Julia Mark.

We'& locatednew the corner of Mam 4 Hastmgs

Community Directions was created with 5 years of funding from the National Crime Prevention Centre (federal Ministry of Justice) as a pilot project to see what can be done in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside for poor and marginalized people, and what lessons can be shared in other cities across Canada.

Our coalition was formed in 1999 and consists of over 50 groups and hundreds of individual residents. Community Directions has a mandate to do community organizing and mobilizing to improve the lives of the residents in the Downtown Eastside IStrathcona areas. Since the majority of the residents are low i n m e and will experience the effects first-hand if "revitalization" becomes "gentrification,"our focus is to help make positive changes for this community of people.

"Community Directions focuses on buMing consensus and finding positions of agreement within ourcommunlly so Mat Eowi n m e residents can take a lead rote in the Downtown Eastside revitalization e m s of governments. " Reprintedfrom our mandate.

address: 384 Main St, Vancouver, BC V6A 2T1 phone: 604 665-2121; Fax: 604 8016371 emaii: info@mmmunitydirections.ca

rst NationsILatino Frien~ I Day, On September 28 at Oppenheimer Park, 12-Spm, the First Nations and Latino Working Groups invite the public to participate in this "Friendship Day" a day to celebrate and honour the Latino and First Nations communities' shared struggles in the neighbourhood.

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The event gives us the opportunity to better working relations between our two communities. Part of the Friendship Day activities include ceremony for the Latino Memorial Bench. and the installation of a plaque for the totem pole.

Other activities include Opening Prayer by First Nations and Latino elders, shared Mcing by Latinos and First Nations, music, songs and drumming, and a mixed soccer game. A feast will follow with traditional latino and First Nations foods. It's all free!

First Nations Computer Training Throughout the month of August, at the UBC Learning Exchange, members of the First Nations Caucus have been involved in a twice-weekly computer training program. The goal of the group is to improve organizers skills to develop an aboriginal strategy for the own town Eastside. Participants include: Fred Arrance, Mel Hennan. Phil Whonnock, Brenda Wesley. George Whonnock. and Brian Arrance.

Inviting community participation for our Community Directions9 Communications Strategy.

Are you a low-income DTES resident?

Do you work w~than agency or group in the DTES? Are you mterested in learning to produce community radio?

Would you like to help publish a newspaper which reflects the realities and visions of poor people in the DTES? Would you like to produce or distribute posters?

Are you a writer, artist, or graphic designer?

If you have answered yes to any of these get involved to help Community Directions effectively advocate for poor residents in the neighbourhood.

Contact: Contact: Fred Anance, First Nations Organizer phone: 604.665.2120 e-mail: fred@communitydirections.ca Page 2

Irwin Oostindie, Senior Organizer phone: 604.665.2125 email: invin@communitydirections.ca

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a m mworwlng Youp Summer Report -

Since the beginning of Community Directions the presence and participation of the Latin American working group has been very noticeable thanks to the hard work and energy of our active membership working for Latinos in our neighborhood. Its been great for us to see our continuing progress and also to experience the increasing desire to organize ourselves, while advancing our participation in a more organized fashion.

COMMUNITY DIRECTIONS LAUNCHES LATINO RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION Early this year, our group, in partnership with the B.C. Multicultural Health Services Society , and the support of a small PEACH grant, moved on creating our own Latin American Residents Association.

Every Monday has become an interesting time for the group to go through the different steps of establishing our new association. The files are waiting in Victoria for final approval of the Latino Working Group of Community Directions becoming its own Society.

On July 6 some members of our working group attended a retreat on Bowen Island to do the final work on the mission statement, objectives and values of this new

residents association. It was a great opportunity for us in the group to get away from the busy city, while enjoying a bit of peace and quiet with other Latinos. Our goal of team building among our membership was also met.

Earlier in May, the group organized an Open Forum to give members of our community the opportunity to express their opinion, and be part of formalizing the establishing of this new association. We also took time to select the logo that will identify us as a formal association. The f o ~ m turned out to be a very productive and fun event, with an evening of discussion. Latin music and food. It was an opportunity to expose the culinary and artistic abilities that we have in our Latin American community living in this neighborhood.

Thumbs up for our chefs, musician, and all the volunteers that help to make this forum a success! Things just keep on cooking down there at Community Directions1

COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR A SUCCESS The second Community Health Fair was a huge success on August 22, at Oppenheimer Park. About 1,000 community residents turned out to access information on critical health issues, while sharing barbequed food, salad, fruits, and drinks.

Come join us a t the

The event was made LatinoIFirst Nations possible thanks to the Friendship Day a t support of several priOppenheimer Park on vate donors, local health ptember 28. organizations and agencies. Community Directions was able to give concrete support by providing $700 for the volunteer honorariums at the event. Congratulations to everyone involved for a major success! And the cooking was great too!

Hi

Contact: Gustavo Carcuz, Latino Organizer phone: 604.6652120 gustavo@communitydirections.ca Community Actions

- A Community Dilactions Newslettar

We are the majority of the community-those who don't own big businesses, don't have the ear of the media, and don't have a say in what happens around us. We are the people who live here. Vote here. Lets work together to improve our communitvl J Yes, [ / w e want to join Community Directions in 6nding solutions that work for the residinetknrz, dents of the Downtown Eastside I Strathwna.

Yes, II we want to join Community Directions in finding solutions that work for the residents of the Downtown Eastside I Strathcona.

I /we agree with the priority of putting the needs of low-income residents first. In particular, II we support the rights of lowincome tenants to decent housing in the community.

II we agree with the goal of preventing the displacement of low-income residents through revitalization.

IIwe agree to work together to find positions of broad based consent on the issues that face the community.

I /we agree to respect the diversity of opinions and interest and to address our differences openly in an honest and w n structive manner.

Name: Group: Addrass: Postal Code: Phone: Fax: Email

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Corn unitv .

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Resident

Yes

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"working together for the interests of poor people in the DTES" Our next General Meeting is schedule for loam-12noon

September 7 at 384 Main Street (just north of Moin & Hastings). Lunch is served, and honorariums available for those in need. roin with other members of our DTES ommunity at this important open meeting to liscuss issues that you feel strongly about.... our pillars approach to the drug crisis, housing ~ndSRO's. potential impacts of the Olympics In the DTES, employment for poor people.

Voodwards, recreation program for native esidents. advocacy during the upcoming civic :lections, and... bring your ideas! :ommunity Directions can help you with your dm. and when people come together who rant to make change, we can be here to upport you in building community dialogue and :onsensus.

Jpcoming scheduled General Meetings are: kt. 5, Nov. 2.Dec. 7.

Things I have heard

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say at work

-How about ncvcr? Is ncvcr good for you?

-I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to worship me.

-'I1 try bcing nicer if you'll try being smarter.

-I'm out of my mind, but fed fice t leave a message.

-It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.

-I can scc your point. but I still think you're f i l l of crap.

-I have plcnty of talcnt arid vision. I just don't givc a damn.

-I'm alrcady visualizing h e duct t a p over your mouth.

-I'm sorp. you must be mistaking me for someone who cares.

-Any connection b e h w x your reality and mine is purely coincidental, -What am I ? Flypaper for freaks!?

-I'm not being rudc. You're just insignificant.

-You sound reasonable. Time to up the medication.

-And your crybaby whiny-butt opinion would be ...?

-Do 1 look like a pcoplc pcrson?

-This isn't an oficc. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

-Does your train of thought have a caboose? ..

-I'm tqing to imagine you with a personality.

-Can I trade this job for what's behind door I ?

-Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

-Nice pcfime. Must you marinate in it?

-How do I set a laser printer to stun?

llic P o \ c r ~and Human Rights Project's goal is to strcngthen the rights of the poorest people, by fostering recognition of rights to social and cconornic securih. and by increasing the capacity o legal and community advocates to argue for the realitation of those rights. Read the baekmund on thc proicct, a pawr describing h e obstacles to an understanding that pmcrty is a human rights violation and a Icttcr to the United Nations describing the massivc assault on the social and cconomic rights of the poorest people by the Governnicnt of British Columbia.

CONGRATULATIONS to Recovery Jones! on the self-publication of a book of humour anc cartoons entitled Powerless & Unmana~eable.

The author brouyht a copy to the Newsletter Ofice. but no info yet on where people can get a copy. Maybe it'll be handed out at AA or NA mcetings?!!

MHR has said that. if you are classified a s employable. you will b e able to get welfare for a total of 24 months out of every 60-month period. This 60month period could date back lo April 1, 2002.Keep track of t h e time you are on and off welfare so that you know which months count toward the 24-month lim~t.

When figuring out your 24-month limit, MHR has said it will not count months that you are receiving Level 1 or Level 2 disability bendis.

65 years or older. receiving any Child In the Home of a Relative (CIHR) benefits, a smgle parent wtth a chdd under three years old,

a single parent caring for a disabled child, a refugee claimant or other person who is not a landed immigrant or permanent resident, or "temporarily excused' from seeking work because you LI receive accommodation and care in a special care facility or private hospital,

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3 have been admitted to hospital because you

require extended care, 3

have a drug or alcohol problem, a mental health condition, or temporary medical condition that interferes with your ability to search for or continue in employment, or participate in an employability program,

;1

are participating in a treatment or rehabilitation program approved by MHR, if your participation in that program interferes with

your ability to search for employment, continue in employment, or participate in an employability program, or LI have separated from an abusive spouse within the previous six months, if your condition interferes with your ability to search for employment, continue in employment, or participate in an employability program.

Because you can only be excused from work with the permission of MHR, you need to tell ministry staff whenever you cannot look for work. When you do this. ask to be "temporarily excused." Keep a record of the months you are 'temporarily excused' in case you need to show this to MHR.

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The government has said that the consequence of reaching the 24-month limit will depend on what category of welfare you are receiving. If you are single and have been on welfare for 24 months or if you and F u r partner have no dependants and have both been on welfare for 24 months, you would no longer receive welfare. (or your partner) have reached the 24-month limit, your cheque would be cut by $300 per month. are a single parent who has reached the 24month limit, your welfare cheque would be cut by $100 per month.

Roman Bociurkiw Street musician, "kobzar," recording arW'BornJune 17,1960, in Edmontoa IEied July 5, in Vancouver, of natural causes, aged 42. unique Canadian busker, Roman Bociurhw was a fixhue on Vancouver streets. There, Roman gently plucked the strings f ,his! bandura, an ancient u w m st& lllmment, a m r t i n g listeners from a ps-sectionof society. The otherworlw s t r h of his music could make the most hun3ed commuter or distracted tourist stop and absorb its luminous, Ught-filledsounds.

e & W t o b a , he con*

ueci "lawsrdgiotis d ctles elmihe, B u t * , . uncomfortable wth church p a a g a i n $ married pnests, and ~ t s exclusion of

A

RO&

S ~ W :him-

en

sslf as a travelling

musician in the tradidon of the Ukminian kobur, who, m the pn-modern en,, journeyed the steppes of M e. bringing p-r etry and muskam W common perom Jnt

the

i*

19808

and 1990a,,

he was a irequent vb- , R o w Bodurkiw itor at Canada:~.,. fnnge festivals and on ~ a i street n Canada, performing his unique blend of UL-rainian folk songs and mainstream pop music.

Lacal newspapers would frequently feahlre him,clad in Ukrainian garments, entenaining lunchtime crowds, Ottawa's Sparks S a e t Mall and Byward Market were among his favorite spots. While an enterprlsing.busker, Roman shunned imrltatiod to perform bn a larger stage. He reminded same of a latter-day Robin Hood. Recalls one journalistwho encountered Roman on Robson Stnet: 'There were a lot of street kids walking by. Same stopped and asked for span change. Roman loohd at them kindly, without judgment, and simply minted to his bandura. allowinn them to h e what thev needed. Not once%d I see. street kid takiadvantage of his eBefore becom4gr a YlUVUma most two decades agm BamanWtu headed for a life as a UlaPlntan Catholic priest.

Mer three yaan of mlnor seminary at S t

ancauvm P u b h Library., he read hungrily, wid*, Some of the books on Ms W e table: -Thornaj Mertan's r ConPmptariua Auycn',%ahm

Rushdie's Fwy-and JeamSwanron's' .Poor

Bashing: The Politics of &xlusion.Roman was a public figure in V r n c o k

-well-known and well-loved. Hundds of people had thdz own s p e d aonascdonto hb music&eharacter.

- * i v *.' ' tocorded three ~ w . w r l.ald two CDa, h a Maria andrfMaCpkud'S*, whiclrhersoldSanthe sa.aett&xnau nm mostat horns in his chosen n e w * and comrhunfty -- the Downtown E M W and o h spoke passionatdy of tbg mDdahip6 hafmpedenced t*am?be wdd ll6e mths atreeu.get:rni@&# m o r e . a m s m d m r n u n i - d ~ WPelb., .I

-

road he had chosen was a

of Roman as someo socialjustice, who o I those who he in from addiction The s quiet now, as vancouve ber the guy with a big heart and that enty instrumentaalledthe bandumr , r "

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--* Rbmat24~bmther ta Bociutkiw.

> . . I .

>

unholy toledo renamed today by graffiti on gray walls and t-shirts "zero city" where the spirit of tecumseh drifts above the poisoned maurnee river where police discover satanic mutilations and blood-altars unholy Toledo a burned-out laid-off radiation-cancer-zone my hometown a place that has killed itself and lived through it

Marco For years I nurtured my kids Now they have their own lives Sometimes seeing that I don't matter to anyone anymore, all alone.

Need someone to look after ,Need to be needed - essential to someone After a week's flu absence I show up back at the Pound to see Marco Well yu never saw such commotion He told me emphatically: 'Where you been?!' 'Deserted me, huh?'

'Sure took your sweet time, didn't ya?'

On and on he rails at me ..in perfect German Shepardese, of course dog talk same as Martian to a w.a.s.p. ..

Well, I may not be anyone special May not matter to anyone at all But for a fellow soul in this universe Marco, locked up in the dog slammer, I matter; Our walks are important, Freedom for a fleeting moment or two Supposed to be 45-minute walks but so far they've not noticed me and Marco stealing time away Afler 90 minutes we saunter back His belly full of dog treats My heart gratefhl for a fiiend.

indescribably happy for a moment at least my grandmother's preserved photographic proof an ordinary advertisement for kodak camera displayed in the only local newspaper I was a chubby little white child with curly blonde hair running heedless and head-long and ecstatic towards the outstretched arms of my beautilid young mother my hther kneeling nearby aiming a camera to record a successhl domestic scene the message obvious 'be like this family'

be like this city toledo ohio in 1950 a paragon of prosperity in the wealthiest and most powerhl nation in the history ofthe world today near the end of the second millennium I see boarded-up and broken-into blocks of houses entire vacated smashed-up neighborhoods empty hotels and empty relocated ictories new soup kitchens and emergency shelters long foodbank line-ups and welfare cutbacks a tent city for rehgees within zero city

-3

4

R. Loewen

crack cocaine out of control solid citizens and politicians calling !br martial law and euthanasia for increasing numbers ofcrack-addicted babies where posters on city busses proclaim collapse "Ifyou use a .38 in a robbery it's a mandatory 5 years have you got school problems?

- call this number have you got Eunily problems? alcohol-drug-disease-suicide-pregnancyproblems? call this number" crimestoppers' reward posters 'turn in your neighbw for money'

.

.*

where the valedictorian of my high school class mixed a poison and lefl a note saying "I'm tired" where my friend beverly a lesbian heard voices telling her to stab a man and she did stick him 14 times and spent ten years in prison

and neighborhood watch signs over every terrorized street sign where the long ago happy kodak hmily has long since been destroyed my father hanged himself in jail my mother went crazy and tried to kill herself my aunt shot my grandmother in the heart and turned the gun on herself my grandhther died young ofchildhood-coal mine-black lung my other grandhther died a drunk and a bum

zero city originally called "the black swamp"

unholy toledo where my friends koontz burned alive in a drunken gas heater fireball louanne was beaten and raped and dumped. in a cemetery condemning my family as an example o f "the consequences o f flaunting contempt for the moral laws on which our society ultiniately rests" full-page sensational suicide and sex scandal the message obvious 'don't be like this hmily'

where charlie shipman a short smart-assjoker with one dead arm who showed me the ropes in a local institution was eaten by rats beneath a black velvet billboard in the weeds on summit street beside the river

where my friend paulette picked up syphilis turning tricks and was thrown by her pimp fiom a 2nd-storey window breaking her back and paralyzingher her pimp a guy named eddie my basketball-playing buddy

where archie an old fiiend o f my mother's and fither's was beaten to death in the tavern he owned on collingwood avenue by somebody who said hejust wanted to take a piss where ray ray's mother in the south end sold blowjobs in their livingroom and ray ray's eyes at 7 old looked as hard as sonny liston's at the end where doctor fisch a psychiatrist at the toledo mental health center the nuthouse told me I was 'emotionally disturbed" of course Iam then said to me "the world is going to end in cannibalism

toledo ohio

the black swamp

unholy toledo

where a judge befbre sentencing me told me Iwas o f "no use to society" 1 took i t as a compliment where doctor bitar a sociologist at toledo university declared to me that "what america is becoming will make hitler's germany look like a sunday school picnic" unholy toledo

J,

I I

where Iwas locked-UDwith eric a viemam vet who had explosions going o3in his head and was afraid he was going to hurt someone and locked-up with gary who went through vietnam without a scratch but back home in toledo was shot in the stomach by his girltiiend where my long-time friend joyce hallucinates thieves breaking into her locked-up lik

mopping the hallway his killer found naked and on his knees praying in the lobby

[oledo ohio where I was kicked out ofrowe nursery schtx~l b r not getting along with the rest of the kids then I dropped out of kindergarten and when the teacher called to invite me back and said the kids were having so much fun I said that's because I wasn't there

the black swamp

I was as desperate as a human being can be by the time I was 5 years old I'd already twice tried to kill myself in zero city

where. when I was 4 helplessly watching my mother raped by a man she brought home fiom a bar where my mother ran wild ran manic ran with a black motorcycle gang ran to crack houses with stressed-out viemam vets ran for president ofthe united states upon her release fiom a psychiatric ward unholy toledo where when I was 4 and 5 my mother used me sexually and I felt like I was being burned alive where I made a vow when I was never to become vulnerable to a1 then took 200 aspirins and was charged with a crime for 'attempting to harm' myself

where twenty years ago I walked into southwyck shopping mall and read a sign above a video arcade saying "create your own reality" I knew what it meant an invitation to death

where lance smith blew his head apart with his fkther's shotgun in the Fdmily bathroom where preston blount h z e to death in an alley e ray logan h z e to death on the sidewalk a t ofthe salvation army e sammiee owen fioze to death in an abandoned storefront is son steals tbr hod and spends his youth in jail, .r e I lived in a halfway house hidrunken bums retarded billy rogers omized and strangled a little girl

toledo where I sold my blood in the pla and sold my muscles in wareh and sold my cock b r money my life an endless death not worth a penny

1

where crysta a beautifid woman I've known 8 r years tried to sell me her baby in a barf& a drink and was arrested tbr it where my friend bill janitor of the downtown ymca was stabbed to death

unholy toledo

maureen slashed her wrists amy drove her car with her daughter in it to the middle of railroad tracks and waited for the train where morningstar staggered out of a bar and fell beneath the wheels o f a truck where my closest childhood fiend robin ehret

zero city

where my fiend joe plasecki who lifted my spirit despite m became a superintendent of sc in southern michigan and was shot to death by a teac who resented him

where the only person I've ever trusted enough to collapse in tears in his arms a tough guy from the north end an organized crime guy my stepfither louie who never harmed me was convicted of raping a 9 year old girl and is doing 6 to 25 years in the penitentiary

er hther uncle stephther ex-wife and myself up in the same downtown jail "the safety building" toledo ohio where a mugger pulped my fiiend donald bond's brain with a 2-hy-4 and where helen who lived downstairs on western avenue smeared her fice with a dead dog's blood and foam and whose mother pulled her own hair out in bloody clumps

but was arrested first and turned 18 in prison where omar my arab room-mate just out of prison from the civil war in lebanon shot a biker coming after him with a broken bottle calmly in the head 4 times in brenda's body shop where my fiiend jefffey the body builder who used to bring me protein powder murdered a man in cold blood and bragged about it and is doing life for homicide where dewey blanchard who could recite by heart "the hound o f heaven" was thrown fiom a car with his throat cut and where the toledo blade advertising itself as "one o f america's greatest newspapers" printed an editorial one year after the kodak ad zero city

where nly closest high schcx>l friends and myself lived on the same residential avenue jim's mother drank herselfto death in her 50s tom's mother had nervous breakdowns and overdosed on pills in her 40s chuck's mother started crying and couldn't stop or set the table for invisible guests so she'd have someone to talk to and received another psychward confinement and tranquilizers but their houses were neat and clean they were usually smiling and wearing cosmetics carehlly applied none o f them knew of the others' anguish though their husbands' business careers thrived on berdan-avenue-in-hell in zero city where my uncle earl fought scabs police and the U.S. army organizing unions until he died o f cirrhosis and alcohol poisoning where my friend george love's brother hanged himself in a boxcar where louie holloway the wino artist lost his toes fiom exposure where billy and bobby devlin my little dearbwn-avenue-next-door-5-year-old-fiiends became respectively a brutal drunk and a convict junkie where my good friend danny stole a truck on his way to kill his father who'd beaten and tortured him as a child

where 1 purposely drove a car into a wall on 1-75 expressway 70 miles an hour certain Iwas going to die bitter and angry at having survived where when drunk one night fell backwards against a concrete curb cracking my skull open and crawled into wet grass and shadows o f scott park at 3:30 in the morning b l d pumping out o f an artery a police car passed near me but didn't see me Igave up Iwas dying and glad o f i t then suddenly a white cadilac appeared in the street strong arms lifldme to my feet placed me drunk bleeding and muddy into a clean backseat handed me a towel to press to my head my anonymous saviours brought me back from the dead drove me to toledo hospital where still alive and resendid Ibelieved Iwas evil and my life a curse toledo ohio where Inearly made a man a murderer provoking him in a bar on broadway fiiendly until Idiscovered he had a gun then taunted and provoked him into pulling it

aiming it right at me I told him to shoot "what are you? a coward? but a look of horror appeared on his face he knew I was crazy and he would've gone to jail

m city where the head of psychology at toledo state mental hospital pronounced me "hopeless"

but that moment revealed to me that liR was truly alive and there was no death but reality and I was given to know I belonged to this aliveness this truth this livingness 1 who had always blt abandoned and alone belonged to this intimate yet transcendent being 1 belonged to the creator of this 'moment' I belonged as much as anyone or anything as much as any billionaire or drop ofdew on a blade of grass here was meaning here was real reality containing and embracing all appearances to the contrary in a oneness ofjoy each thing around and within me distinctive yet wedded in a oneness ofjoy and this

unholy toledo

'1â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;š9 ' C3a9y"+,j, rush hour traffic roaring beside me and I was given a moment that 44% 440 changed life for me 6 %G& 0 ?ov afterward I'd believe the moment changed me but that would take 9*+0 many years and much s u M n g befonc I was willing to stop running 9$% face myself and allow the upheavals of real change to occur "*'/% *% "6% I'd simply looked at a gnarled and bent old tree its limbs sawn-off .qr4% 6, 's, '%@arc 9, % ' ,"'@A it was diseased yet a branch or two sprouting new life green leaves 9 still grew %..

"

+'

./$$

-

-Xp'41 *

"%.

--

"

a wind blowing right through me through my heart &rough the center IL% of my being my gut my soul that place always so cold hungry anxious a kind of black hole trapping any light coming near it and crushing the life out of it this wind pouring through me filled that hole torrentially wondmusly yet paradoxically replacing 'me' I was aware of something tremendous happening but it was no longer '1' no longer the desperately miserable person I'd been all my life until that moment 1 looked up at the blue sky and it was moving more swiftly than anything I have ever seen but it was absolutely still at the same time and for the very first time 1 was feelingjoy &ling pure joy with my entire being 1 was nothing but pure joy and then became awe-struck and instinctively bowed my head and the words came to me "the sky is closer here less blockaded" I was returned to 'myself and looked around at the traffic the city buildings the other people on the street and an indisputable certainty i n f m e d me that 'everything wes all right' h r a man who formerly and fervently was convinced that everything the details and relationships and circumstances of daily liR and of my life and of life itselfwere hopelessly wrong this revelation contradicted my experience yet I recognized it.& be the truth about reality that the deaths and violence and madness were not the ultimate truth the final word but within them and through them everything was all right everything was joy and I was shown vividly that life was alive though perhaps to other people that's obvious or taken for granted but to me life was death and I was among the living dead moving around meaninglessly yet violently

V

Bud Qsborn

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE YOUTI1 ACTIVITIES SOCIETY

SrD CLINIC - 219 Mwio; Monday to Friday, loam - 6pm NEEDLE EXCHANGE - 221 Main; 8:30am - 8pm every day NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN - 3 Routes: S:45pm - 1 I:45pm

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2002 DONATIONS Libby D.-$81 Sam R.-$20 Eve E.-$18 Nancy H.$50 Margaret D.-$22 Sabitri G.622 Hulda R.-$25 Val A.$18 W m B-$27 Harold D.-$9Mary C-$7 1 Paula R-$3 Rolf A.475 Bruce 5.-$18 Peggy -525 '

Bill G.-$100 we; K.436 Charley 8-$25 ; DEY AS-$ I25 RayCam-$25 LSS-$200 John S-$36 Paddy 475 Sarah E.-$ I 0 The Edge -5200 Maggie R-$I00

Ovcminhi - 12:30wm - 8:JOam Downtown Eastsidc - 5:30pm - 1:JOam

TllC NEWS1.ETTER IS A flIO1.ICATION OF IHE CAIlNEGIG COMMUNITY CCNCWC ASSOCIATION.

Articles rcprcrent tbe views of individual contributors and ma4 of the Associat108.