Selected Pamphlet Context —the researchers picked up pamphlets continuously for over three months, but some contexts bear specific mention.
March Vancouver West Point Grey Community Centre Various pamphlets about arts programming. There is little here for community members in need of services beyond exercise classes, ballroom dancing, symphony tickets or rec calendars. Drive Youth Employment Services Roughly photocopied pamphlets about employment and graffiti for youth. They have been hand-folded and placed in postcard carousels without specific commentary. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they offer photocopying of resumes for all unemployed people as well. Montreal rue Sainte-Catherine A woman handing out pamphlets for Falun Dafa, a quick “Bonsoir mademoiselle” and “merci” for the pamphlet. April Burnaby: Bonser Community Centre Children’s Fair. Many pamphlets for parents, many rooms are divided into categories, often healthrelated (“Hearing,” “Vision Testing.”) A nurse sternly tells concerned parents of a child who is wildly running around the room that their child hears fine, but doesn’t listen. We collect pamphlets about aggression, sleep training, punishment etc. They are offered in multiple languages. Bright colours, simple imagery, your life could be better if your child were better. St. Michael’s Senior Centre and Hospice After first visiting the surprisingly ill-attended senior’s home, where we were able to wander about from tv room, to dining room, to chapel without gathering information or the attention of the attendants or staff, we moved on to the Hospice, where we were met by softer lighting and very kind workers. We were given a tour, unprompted, of the facility. We observed patients generally lying alone, one with a beer, one watching tv with a companion, one calling softly to be moved. Everyone to our witness was soft and respectful, and the pamphlets gathered there are almost painfully unobtrusive. Crystal Centre (most pamphlets were in Chinese)
Vancouver Care Point Medical Centre I asked the receptionist where I could find some pamphlets on the services they offered. She directed me to a chaotic wall of pamphlets. I took a few that intrigued me and said thanks. She just looked at me.
May Vancouver Multiple locations, downtown eastside We visited churches, shelters, women’s centres, employment centres, ATIRA, INSITE, police station, courts, The Salvation Army and the Scientology Centre. Most conversations were begun with the question, “Do you have any information about your services or the community, that we could take with us?” Two locations had no pamphlets at all. One, a shelter, had rows of bunk beds behind us, and an agitated lineup of people waiting to use the phone or get the attention of reception in front of us. “Mostly we help people find services,” the woman told us, “but you could get information on the internet.” The second, a second-floor recovery-based-rock-church, had only been open for two weeks. Bands can play there all the time, the person in charge told us, and he invited us to come back frequently. He had been clean for three months, and offered himself and his musician colleagues as simultaneous example and outreach.