NEWSLETTER
March 1,1998
401 Main Street, Vancouver V6A 2T7 (604) 665-2220
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Battered Women's Support Services P.O. Box 1098 Postal Station A Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2T1
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Monday Friday 10:OO a.m. 5:00 p.m. & Wednesday evening 5:00 8:00 p.m. INFORMATION & REFERRALS SUPPORT GROUPS LEGAL ADVOCACY COUNSELLING WRITTEN MATERIALS PUBLIC EDUCATION CONFIDENTIALITY
687-1867 Crisis
687-6732
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687-1868 Business
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LIVING FOR DYING IT'S LIFE OR DEATH IT'S A TIGHT EXPENSIVE SQUEEZE FOR THE LIVING INHABITANTS OF THE CROWDED CITY STATE AND ITS DEAD.. WHO PAID THE HIGHEST LAND PRICES FOR LIVING IN SMALL APARTMENTS TO COMPLY WITH GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS IT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE TO OPEN DOORS WAS A BIT SURPRISED BUT IT'S ALL RIGHT CAUSE I AM SINGLE AND I LIVE ALONE NO HORROR IS A STRANGER LIVING FOR DYING ANYBODY BURIED IN A PUBLIC CEMETERY WILL NEVER REST IN PEACE SKELETAL REMAINS WILL BE EXHUMED FROM ALL THE GRAVES IN PUBLIC CEMETERIES IT'S LIFE OR DEATH CHARLES FORTIN
smokers; tobacco; pipe carriers too all have a say in what's what and who's who even bic (corp.) lighters have known my wrath sometimes I get so hot I have to take a bath the ring bird-brain came up with to prevent junior from lighting his hair, is real pain in the butt and to me, just isn't fair. it's nice to have a choice (ring or ring) those non-smokers have gone too far, I always take mine off, ahhh piss on it! I'll use matches, and start smoking cigars. Note: the books, the music, the arts, etc. that all these high-powered politicians like to read, look at and listen to were written and composed by a group of very talented people, who, more o f i e ~ than not, smoke cigarettes! !!
Lany (the "WIZ) Mousseau
BC Housing Buys the Sunrise and the Washington
The provincial Housing Minister, Mike Farnworth, paid a visit to Carnegie on this past Tuesday morning. He announced that BC Housing had purchased two hotels on the 100 block. Between them, the Sunrise and the Washington have 144 rooms that will be renovated. According the the press release, BC Housing is teaming up with the Health Board, the Ministry of Human Resources and the City to put together $5 million for this project. This money also includes extra units for the Vancouver Native Housing Society project 27 West Pender and another housing project on Seymour and Davie. It's about time public money started going into buying and renovating hotels. The 100 block East Hastings has experienced a sharp decline of investment over the past 20 years. The hotels there, like other places in the neighbourhood, have only put money into their buildings when they're forced to do so by the City. The rest of the time, they suck money out of the neighbourhood through rents and the bars. That money goes straight into the bank accounts and pockets of their owners, who live in big, spacious houses with big yards in leafy
green parts of the city. When certain segments of this neighb talk about 'revitalization', they don't want it for the people who already live in the Downtown Eastside. Revitalization is a code-word for gentrification. The kind of investment they're asking for is directed at the upscale market. It's evident the private sector is not going to put the kind of money into this neighbourhood that is required to revitalize the infrastructure needed by the existing community. That's why Farnworth's announcement is good news. It signals more than upgraded and refurbished housing units. It's a sign that somebody up there in the ethereal reaches of the bureauracy is committed to rebuilding this neighbourhood's infrastructure. Public investment, properly done, should provide a framework that enables money to stay inside the neighbourhood to benefit the residents, and not property owners and businessmen who live elsewhere. According to BC Housing, there are 13,000 to 15,000 people living in SRO hotels and motels across British Columbia. About half are in downtown Vancouver and most of those are in the Downtown Eastside. Over the last few years, claims have been made that social housing construction has kept pace with the loss of SRO units. The City and other authorities have kept telling us that there's been "no net loss" of housing. Tom Laviolette at Carnegie's Community Action Project has just calculated that the loss of 700 SRO units in 1997 has put us back to the 1986 level where there is a net loss of about 600 units over the long term. In a single year, we've lost 12 years worth of housing. Let's hope this announcement means that's just a blip on the-landscape. More on this in the next issue.
MARCH
VOLUNTEER
Mar 2 - kitchen orientation 3 - 5 Pm Mar 9 - learning centre tutor orientation 1.30 - 3:30 pm Mar 18 - volunteer committee mtg a Pm
Mar 18 - volunteer dinner 4:30 pm Mar 19 - kitchen orientation 3 - 5 Pm Mar 20 - learning centre tutor orientation 3 - 5 pm
FOR MORE INFO SEE BEV OR PHIL OR PHONE 665-3345
POWER TO THE PEOPLE (to the Vancouver-Richmond Health Board) A usual complaint concerning the downtowneastside is that the " mentally ill" are dumped here. Lets get one thing straight. People who are defined as " mentally ill" are simply not so. These are gifted, talented, sensitive people upon whom life-threatening conditions have been imposed demanding that they conform to a middle of the road mode of thinking and behaviour. The essential needs of people who deviate from the norm, meaning that their mentality leans towards a higher intelligence, are simply not being met. Everyone has unlimited potential given the correct stimuli. For example, a musician needs music because it is part of her make up, her very essence, perhaps her raison d'h-e.
If the musician is deprived then a part of her withers and dies until nourished and revived. Think of people as multi-faceted gems. Trying to pigeon- hole people into a 9-5 is not their calling, but rather, their demise. Unfortunately, our society is geared towards investing in high-tech, computerization, mechanization, commercialization and alienation rather than humanization, compassion, generosity and creativity. Also, drugging people and gathering them to live in group homes only reinforces the false notion that there is a genetic illness treatable by controlled substances when, in fact, the ill at ease are simply in need of empowerment. Give a musician music. An artist, art. A poet, poetry. Sexually deprived adults, healthy sex, and lay off the guilt trips! Having been brainwashed and drugged within the mental health system, I
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Entries to be submittedto Sandy at her office in the lane level by April 30,1998
The Seniors lounge will be mounting a security panel for the lane level coffee seller's window. The panel will be painted by the winning sketch artist. Use your imagination and artistic talent to help the seniors and showcase your work of art in a highly ,,isable traffic area.
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Sold, for Twenty Dollars
was missing. They gave me a new one and my last $5. I had to report my missing SIN card to the police I went to the bank to get out my last five. I needed my green card but the black coin-purse it and get a case number. I think new cards should was kept in was missing from my back pack. The have a picture of the card holder hidden in the black strip. Wouldn't that be fim. night before I had noticed the side pocket of my I got a call from someone at Global TV asking if back pack was open, but the little coin purse I keep change in was still there. Hmmm. I hadn't I was born on a certain date, and if I was, to looked for the black purse because it was invisible contact them. I called several times and finally got a call back from Leigh Morrow of Global. She in the blackness of the side pocket and I had wanted to interview me at my home at noon. She always found it there. I had to go home to search would be returning 2 pieces of ID to me. Brother for the black coin purse. It wasn't under the sofa did I have to tidy up the apartment in one big rush. or anywhere in the sides of the cushions. I called Leigh came with a cameraman and 2 some people I know. They hadn't seen it. I went microphones. Her theme for the interview was, back to the bank and explained that my green card "Did you think about what happens to your ID once it goes missing? The uses it can be put to by those who have it?" She was very good and put me at my ease as she returned my SIN card and a medical card. She had paid $10 each for them. She gave me a few RETURN directions on what to say and the interview went well. when you come, the sky When I saw the news item at 6:30 on the 18th of will be wider, and blue February it showed her buying my cards from a the color of long journeys guy with a white beard in front of Camegie. The camera must have been across the street. you will speak of losses and saris Dora Sanders mornings sudden as eternity your words a golden and hungry light full of spice and honey (my poor hands will tremble at the great fire of you) $!
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and when you have grieved, and sung silence and darkness close as blankets around us your traveled feet will rest in my hands like precious volumes of Sappho, Li Po who fashioned, in the abyss their clay pots of love, and duty
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Schizoid Personality Disorder When Tom was a child, it was not known that he had Schizoid Personality Disorder. Often he would be in his own private world, never allowing anybody into it, nor venturing into those of others. People would say "he just likes being by himself," others would say, "he is so shy." Though he had an above average intelligence, his school grades suffered as a result of his social difficulties. Poor peer relationships developed into ridicule. As the years went on, Tom moved even deeper into his own private world. People like Tom have a Schizoid Personality Disorder. They neither respond to intimacy nor get satisfaction from being part of a group. They neither share their feelings nor respond to praise or criticism. They live alone, never marry and even prefer it that way. People with Schizoid Personality Disorder have employment barriers. They are unable to relate
easily with their employers or employees. In a work force where people skills are a requirement, the Schizoid worker is often delegated to lowlevel, low-paying positions. Discouraged, the Schizoid retreats back into his isolated and private world. Generally, personality disorders don't respond to medications. Because the Schizoid condition has been ingrained into the person's character for many years, the person needs rehabilitation services such as Social Skills Training and Behavioral Therapy. He must also have the will to practice the restructuring plan. If you think you yourself, or somebody you know, suffers fiom Schizoidism, it would be good to investigate further. The VPL Central branch has a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It contains specific Information about many types of mental afflictions people suffer from. Stephen Kinnis
PHOENIX RISING Voice of the PsychiatrM
Carnegie Centre Right to be fat We are the teddy bears Our theme is The Teddy Bears Picnic We are fighting for
Eva, I hate diets. Jim, Going on diets can give you stomach disorders and make you ill. LARGE PEOPLES RIGHT Louis, Nobody can tell us to diet. Mike, Sewed clothes for his Teddy Bear when FAT IS OK Our first meeting took place Fri. Feb. 13th 2-4 he was a child. Secretary We meet every Friday 2-4. , Brad, I cook real food for real people who are Art Gallery , third floor real hungry. {embers: Puhl~crty I heila, JENNY CRAIG HAS GOTTA GO Dora, Don't tell me to loose my flab. Iebbie, Keep your comments to yourself about INSIDE EVERY ELEPHANT THERE IS A iy fat. Don't assume anything. GAZELLE
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This neighborhood ain't no ghetto
In recent years, some of the business and property-owners in the area have started using the term ghetto when they talk about the Downtown Eastside. Unfortunately, this word has lately been picked up by people who work for service agencies down here, who should know better. In fact, calling the Downtown Eastside a ghetto is not only wrong terminology, it displays an appalling ignorance of the neighbourhood as it actually is. The word ghetto does not refer to the income or economic status of a district or neighbourhood, but the level of ethnic-based residential segregation that characterizes an area or neighbourhood. In the words of urban sociologist Lois Wacquant:
"a gheffois not simply a topographic entity or an ,aggregation ofpoor families and individuals but an institutional form . . . of ethnoracial closure and control. " In other words, a ghetto is a place in cities where people of minority ethnic groups are segregated as a result of the power exerted by the dominant majority. That power can be formal and legal. For instance, the Jewish ghettos of Europe were legally imposed: Jews were forced to live in certain quarters of the city. In early Vancouver, Chinese people were, by law, only allowed to purchase property in
the area that became Chinatown. The power of the majority that creates the ghetto can also be informal. African-American ghettoes in the northern United States developed as the result of mortgage lending practices by financial institutions and real estate agents. Black people were simply not allowed to get mortgages for property in most parts of the city. And real estate agents would not sell them property outside the accepted ghetto areas. Landlords usually won't rent to black people unless their properties are within that area. So what's all this got to do with the Downtown Eastside, you ask? Well, aside from the fact that racism and prejudice are as rampant here as everywhere else in our society, not much. With the exception of Chinatown and the early years of Strathcona, this neighbourhood has become one of the most diverse parts of Vancouver. There are people living here whose ancestry hails from all over the world, as well as many people from the dominant European majority. It gets called a ghetto because most people living here have very low incomes. But income has nothing to do with the definition of a ghetto. It is tempting to say that ghettoes happen because poverty has pushed immigrants and ethnic minorities into the worst housing with the lowest rents. But this isn't quite true. While most ghettoes today are povertystricken, there are plenty of examples of
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ghettoes with quite wealthy residents. Sugar Hill, in Harlem, was a prime New York residential area before World War 11, as was Bronzeville in Chicago. Locally, Chinatown was the home to all classes of Chinese people -- from the very poor to the propertied and properous. In the United States, middle class AfricanAmericans continue to be ghettoized by lending practices and real estate agents who promote what is called 'white-flight'. As soon as one black family buys a property in a mostly white area, banks and real estate dealers start devaluing all the properties there. This drives up mortagage rates because investing in an area of declining value becomes riskier for banks, who created the situation in the first place. White property-owners begin selling in order to retrieve their investment before the value declines further and to avoid higher interest rates. Voila! A new ghetto is created. And the people who live there have plenty of
money. How's that for institutionalized racism? Ghettoes develop because of institutionalized racism that enforces segregation. Residential choice is not determined by a person's income but by that person's ethnic affiliation. It is one part of the systematic subordination of minorities by the majority. They are excluded from equal participation in the political and justice system, jobs and occupations, business, and property markets. Ghettoes are one mark of an oppressive society. But there are also many others. The Downtown Eastside is NOT a ghetto, regardless of what its detractors tell us. Certainly, institutionalized racism is a major issue here, but it is not the only one. And the people who call this place a ghetto are not talking institutionalized racism, nor are they doing anything about stopping it. In fact, the people who apply that word are using it to attack the neighbourhood and the I people who live here. ~ uit ttells us more about i h e i than it does about this community. They call the neighbourhood a ghetto because they see themselves as part of a dominant group. They see the community as a place apart, different from themselves and the people they know. It threatens them and The free phone possibly even scares them. In calling it a ghetto, they are actively seeking to exclude the Do you have any suggestions on how people here from equal participation because Carnegie can maintain a free phone service for they don't believe Downtown Eastsiders are patrons without affecting the safety of volunteers their equals. or staff7 The free phone on first floor is out of Most people here don't have very much order, and it won't be fixed, replaced or moved money. And most of the housing is pretty bad. until safety concerns, including drug activity, are But those things exist because of class addressed. oppression and they operate across ethnic and A conunittee o f the Board took the racial boundaries. The people who call the position that a free, accessible phone should be ,Downtown Eastside a ghetto are oerpetuating available in Carnegie, and will be meeting with class oppression, rather than trying to end it. staff to come up with a solution. So, if you have any bright ideas, why not pass them on to a Board I J Sommers member or staff
Letter to Social Planning I am writing on behalf of the students and tutors in the Carnegie Learning Centre. We were shocked to hear that the free phone on the main floor was removed and would never return. I fail to see why everyone in the centre is punished for the bad behaviour of a few. In other words, you do not throw the baby out with the bath water. I have been a volunteer in this centre since it opened up as a community centre, and know how necessary the free phone is. For one thing, there is increasing poverty due to the cuts Social Services clients havk recei;ed under this provincial government. A client on BC Benefits is not allowed to walk in to an offke to make an appointment, but must phone to do this. Since very few residents in the Downtown Eastside have a phone and have no quarters to spare for the pay phone, this puts them in a terrible bind. I must tell you about the consequences of your actions regarding the free phone. The problems you tried to solve have been moved to the other floors, putting far more responsibility on the volunteers. I work as a volunteer receptionist in the Learning Centre on the third floor two nights a week and patrons who would normally use the free phone on the main floor are now coming up here. The Learning Centre is isolated from the rest of the building, so for safety's sake we always have two volunteer on duty at the same time. In closing, I would like to say that many of our patrons are'in poor health and need the free phone to call their doctors, others call places to see if there are vacancies, etc etc. Irene Schmidt
To My Soul-Mate (Vern) I prayed to the creator for you . four years ago or more At last you materialized with your baby-blue your masculinity and your being six-four You're the exact face in my dreams night after night when we began to talk I knew you were my Mr. Right! In the past year we've been mates You've treated me with respect and honesty you're special in everything you do We're together as one, this was our destiny My life has begun again since I found you, this year seems like a day, for the love for each other grows strong everyday. Don't stop being you I'm writing this for you letting you know what we have is true! Love Ya, Lance
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The CEEDS Report for 1997 Z I
To visit or learn more about CEEDS, call 253-47 18 (Vancouver #).
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It's been a busy year at CEEDS farm -- the Community Enhancement and Economic Development Society -- near 100 Mile House. Carnegie is a member of CEEDS and Carnegie members often visit there. A few have lived there for several months. CEEDS has four locations, three of them on beautiful Horse Lake. Unfortunately, at one of the farms near Horse Lake, called The Betty Place the cabin burnt down from an uncontrollable chimney fire. It was almost 100 years old, and was heated with a wood stove. Now, there is an old trailer there with an addition so we can winter there comfortably. This winter at the Betty Place, we are caring for 2 steers, 2 bulls (Baehr and Edmond) and 12 cows -- Struggles, Cane, Sugar, Alkali, Queenie, Buttercup, Toni, Valdy, Truffles, Raspbeny, Bonnie and Petite. We also have 4 horses - Tora, Rocky, Wolverine and Crazyhorse. There's also 8 roosters and 43 chickens here, not to mention a big hayfield and a garden. At the nearby Horse Lake Ranch, there were 7 new Iambs last January, with more arriving in
March. This spring, we'll have 37 ewes to lamb. fiere are also 25 calves and 2 horses this winter. We tried rotating our cattle around the range this Year, but it didn't work as the cattle spent too much 1irne on the road and then back home. The garden at Horse Lake also produced more than (check this out - ed.) a 1 2 Ion of carrots! CEEDS now has a really big greenhouse that is heated with a large wood heater. Once it got filled with almost 300 trays of bedding plants, another greenhouse was needed. So a smaller one was put up. At 720 square feet, it is somewhat slnaller than the first one. Much of the greenhouse produce goes to Farmers Markets in 100 Mile and Williams Lake. This past year, we sent over 150 hanging baskets and urns to the markets. We also produced several hundred pounds of tomatoes. Over at the Red Willow we successfully calved 10 of our heifers and this Spring will calve those 10 plus 7 more. We've had 14 litters of pigs --that's close to 100 piglets. We've got just less than 100 chlckens here, many of which were raised by their own mothers. This past summer we Put up approximately 100 tons of hay whch our cattle are enjoying. We also were able to do over 500 jars of canned fruit and vegetables, as well as jam, pickles and relish. On the down side we lost our dear old sheep-dog Tara. She was 15 years old. CEEDS had many visitors this year, including people from Japan, Korea, France, Israel Gemanyand other parts of Canada and BC. Special thanks to Jack East. The best news of all is that long-time member Gussy recovered from prostate cancer. He responded well to anti-cancer medications and in spite of some aches and pains, Gus is healthy. His doctotreportsthat Gus will be around for a good long time!
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Equal but Uneven follow the bouncing ball
I'm writing this for you without your permission a separate but necessary isolation for those who have authorized themselves to be equal but uneven. What follows is that strangle hold called traditional capitalist myths and other common-place disguises. Our blood pain is always public proofed and full of speechless talk shows and so called public broadcasting. Endless self-destructive patterns that solidifL dishonest dreams of breaking the already broken but always available. Mums the word you say! !! Are we supposed to be thankful? Fictitious parades fossilized polemics and quick quotes fiom Coles superficial bank notes.
Is there a possible reprieve for all the victims of this unilateral estate. Maybe we contribute to the equal but uneven But where do we look to discover the public hide-aways and private scars that depend upon that special nerve sickness called destitution and need ? "Oh look, it's those cute little corrupt lineages with their finite histories and class wars." The working class with PHDs The working class with T.Vs We fill ourselves with good faith and conversations about some credit card concept of conventional political expiration dates. "I'm a realist a radical from the alley behind the Washington hotel, a purveyor of the truth a man with no name a justified moral restriction." "No free trade on me man" No globalizations gonna take my cheque!"
We are the equal but uneven!
Do you remember the time that they came back from the wars and never at a loss for words? Grow up and get some spot cash buy the emperor a club of sycophants and some trendy outwear for those impending ecological disasters.
Nestled in their clean sheets they would repeat their own worthy tales of manipulation their personal tales of woe. C _
The Fraser institute has accused you of being filthy survivor^ class deadbeats with hearts the exalted shit of the earth.
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MADNESS NETWORK NEWS
There are lots of pawn shops in the modem world and they boast of their immaculate authority and their holy Epiphanies with our modem philanthropy.
a WW.rIy pumu OI tn. p s y ~ h m t r ~m cm u nI Y1119SyChnry mowmnt IUIYIIP110..
I6 I S U U l
You can file for grace and pray for bread crumbs in this church of reputations. But you'll just be another reference point for some madman's bureaucratic mercy. You held the bible and a solicitors print of Jesus while attending parole hearings for popular democracy.
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.' We will outlive the republic",
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we are equal but oh so rich...!" The good-humor man was seen unfolding new repertoires in the back seat of a taxi cab on the corner of Keefer and Main. He longs to disperse good-will like that lucky quenilla that was won by some guidance councillor at Hastings Park It's only a makeshift phase in history N.A.F.T.A and Free Trade Globalization and the rest of the world Just more death with a little more human debris.
International Parliaments that want you to be well. A victim and a survivor at the same time! Two mints in one. Announcing the new feudalism on CNN. Machiavellian justice with civilized class hate. Oh yeah
I'm writing this for you without your permission a separate but necessary isolation for those who have authorized themselves to be equal but uneven. Leigh Donohue
The Politically Correct and Carnegie's Demise
STREE'
"The sign of a sick civilization is the growth of an obscure, closed language that seeks to prevent communication." John Ralston Saul This language is presently the language of socalled professionals and so-called experts, academics and corporate executives. But it is also the so-called new-age language of the so-called activists, of the Strathcona Mafia, of the so-called support it and develop it, but we have a right to politically correct, the few "down here" who speak expect help and support from the board and the as if they had all the answers, who control all the city, not condescension." organizations, who so-called "represent" the In education committee meetings I have people of the Downtown Eastside, who use their advocated for a more supportive attitude toward so-called education and their fancy, vacuous words the computer room, its volunteers and patrons, a to manipulate the issues in such a way as to keep more forward-looking appreciation of the growing the focus on them and thier ideas, their plans for need for computer access etc. This is hardly the area. The most Machiavellian talk about soradical. Yet I have been "rebutted" with such called consensus, using every trick in the book to things as "oh, we already spend too much time and get what they want, which they, in absolute money and energy on the computer room ..." etc. arrogance, think is correct, and necessary. Even Staff in the Learning Centre are in the process of their acknowledgement of their own priviledge is getting more finding for the Learning Centre, but kind of currency to them. the process is not transparent. Rather, it is identical to the secretive, manipulative process that got us into 6 months of Capilano College New Evidence of Carnegie's stuck foolishness, which I voted against. (I was told Death "we" had already agreed to the funding, though no one was quite sure exactly when "we" had agreed In spite of what the petition for the striking of a to it and what the process of agreeing to it was.) A computer room committee actually says, what I few months down the road, "we" will be stuck in hear is - "we want the board and the city to pay perhaps an even more restrictive and manipulative attention to our desire for a better-equipped process, having, by some obscure method, socomputer room with a vision for the future, not to called agreed to it. poo-poo our ideas, ignore us, or be condescending Apparently, staff can no longer keep drug toward us. We are excited about community related activity out of the centre, since, according computer access, and will do what we can to to them "80% of the calls on the free phone are
drug ;elated." Disregarding the fiction of the percentage, this would appear to be a statement that they have lost the ability to do something they've been doing for years. Perhaps they should look, then, at their practices critically, instead of blaming the people of the Downtown Eastside. If the cancellation of a service so popular with and so important to so many people is the culmination of so-called staff development, then such development is laughable. However, I think that much of the problem is not just with staff and the fact that they are out of touch with the patrons and volunteers in the centre, with the present reality of poverty and health issues in the Downtown Eastside, but with a manipulative, Machiavellian board, where the senior members (and powerfully placed non-members) act with arrogance, don't listen to patrons or volunteers, and seem intent only on protecting their position on the Camegie Board, as a platform for their socalled ~oliticalcorrectness. I'VE BEEN CHOSEN FOR THE TNOUSTRTAL ESPIONAGE PROGRAM
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Spinning Tales Weaving Hope Making stories....family stories t o tell your grandchildren Community stories t o tell your neighbours and friends EVERY THUR. AFTERNOON 2-4
3RD FLOOR LEARNING CENTRE Contact Wendy for more info!!!
THE PLAN W THAT 1 QUIT -IS JOB AND GO TO WORK FOR OUR COMPETITOR. EVERY WEEK I ' L L SEND BACK XCRET REPORTS.
Are you interested in sharing your thoughts about the changes and challenges currently facing your neighbourhood? I am a PhD. student in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. 1 am conducting research about community based social polarization of the eastern downtown communities of Vancouver. I am hoping to interview both long term and recent residents of the Downtown Eastside, Gastown and Victory Square. I will be asking questions about the changes
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you feel your neighbourhood has undergone in the past 5 years and why you feel those changes have come about. I will also be asking about your specific neighbourhood experience in the context of these changes. Interview sessions take about 1 hour. If you think you might be interested in participating in this study, please call me at 22 10771 and I will be pleased to provide more details. Alternatively, you can leave me a message at the UBC Geography Dept. at 822-2663. Thanks for your consideration. Heather Smith
Life on the Street by Sam Roddan When I was a boy, growing up in Downtown Eastside, the old tenements along Cordova and Dunlevy were full of surprises. Most people thought of them as filthy rabbit warrens, hide-aways for the dregs of society. But, even as today, many did not notice the white curtains here and there, or the gemniums flourishing in the rusted tomato cans on a window ledge. Or the bright green ivy that covered the scabrous walls. I remember an Indian friend working on the carvings in his living room. The floor was always covered with chips, sawdust, shavings from his work. On a mattress in one corner was a little lad playing with a mallet. A kettle boiled cheerily on. the gas stove. The room was full of the smells of cedar, toast, leather perfumes, Swede oil and wax. Tools were laid out on the kitchen table - chisels fashioned from car springs, adzes fitted with tough dogwood handles, tiny draw knives, a big chisel called a slick, bits of sandpaper. I thought of artists who work in their lonely garrets. Anguished, wrestling with great ideals, breaking their own hearts and spirit. My friend was happy in his living studio, secure in the warm ancestral pride of his art.
His bird houses were all shapes and sizes. He never ran short of material. He cut the grass in front of Armstrong Funeral Parlor, and in exchange old Mr. Armstrong kept him supplied with coffin crates. *The pine wood is perfect for bird houses," Mr. Cummings told me. 'And besides 1 like to think I'm keeping things alive. From one coffin crate I can make a couple dozen bird houses and with wood to spare." But all was not wine and roses in the dark tenements and shabby houses in Downtown Eastside. In some places noisy drinking parties went on for days, particularly when loggers hit town with their wads from the bush. There were fights and squabbles. Loud shouts. Imprecations that beat down like hell. In my time, most of the buildings in Vancouver were heated with coal gas. In the 20's and 30's, the gas was manufactured from coal sludge and stored in huge tanks near the Georgia viadua. The gas had a foul, evil smell. A kindof sickly anddeadly sweetness. A gas plate or stove with
Another friend, Mrs. Robertson, had a tiny suite in one of those grimy tenements along Campbell Avenue. Her place was spotless. She e k e d out a living with her baking, mostly delicious scones which she sold at the City Market then at Pender and Main. In her crowded kitchen were the big sacks of Robin Hood flour she had lugged up the three flights of stairs to her room. On the walls were scenes from her homeland. Robbie Bums country. Highland cattle. "I don't feel lonely here," she said. "I've got my work." I watched her scones cooking on the stove top. Occasionally she dabbed them with a little sugar. They slowly turned a rich, light brown. She turned them over, touched them gently, then she broke one open and handed it to me on a plate. Never have I tasted so delicate a morsel. "The taste is always in your hean and feeling." Mrs. Robertson said. 'The scone, like the haggis touches ancient cords. open oven door, gas jets on, and But remember. Never too much flour in the cone. Makes them towels plugged into door cracks soon brought the worlds to a tough. Hard as a sea biscuit." In one of the shabby tene- speedy conclusion. Sometimes,at night, when ments along - Powell near Gore Avenue, my friend, Mr. we were on the Street, kicking the Cummings, made bird houses. He a n Or Just ~hwtingthe brmze, VIYI c0111dcnti-h the stranw m i r ~ too worked in his living room. ture of perfumes from the Downtown Eastside. Tar and oakum smells from the docks, cooking smells of cabbage and onions, fried potatoes, sour beer smells, and yes, sometimes that foul, sweet, sickly, and deadly smell of
an open gasjet hissing in the darkness.
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THE G o o d , BAD, And WEIRD
&ce there were three young daughters nand Shirley, Goodness, and &rcy.
'Iheir father, Cbcar, kas the village cobbler, so his daughters =re alwys seen the finest boots, shoes, and slippers. Qscar's best friend i n the village kas Fritz, who ran a butcher's &OD with his three sons Should, Could, and Would. Now &car's daughter Shirley loved Should, and Goodness loved Could, while Mercy had a r a m t e affection for Would.
Garry Gust
septanber Escape Just as the funeral procession began, I f e l l asleep. But I dreamt 'Ihe coffin ms open And s a w the body's face. It looked like a large doll with ugly red lipstick *ed grotesquely over the l i p s , I thought the embdlmers And -- . Had botched the job. ?henIrdizdthetruth; ?he body ME a mannequin.
&edayjustasthesurmermgiving
up the ghost t o the north wind, Qscar and Fritz stood with swelled chests as Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy narried Should, Would, and Could, who, soon after, entered politics t o line their pockets f o r the future.
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?hat which t e do not cane t o understand in our time, w i l l be a major lesson in another l i f e . ?he rich man who scorns the poor, here and now, w i l l himself learn of that scorn on a different stage.
Not Spoken I n Life, M z . Gains
I n a second, o r mybe a When I f i r s t mved here I .kas a f r a i d dmfraction of one, our eye-contact -ed as ever you nrtrched dawn &rrall Street hollering e a s i l y as it WE formed. I hope you felt a mill sense of victory as I did. a t the top of your lungs. 'RE h t m Eastside became a b i t miller kt as the years passed, the hollering becam that day, as in: IT'S A ST.IAU, kT)RLD AFIER ALL. less frequent, and one afternoon w even mde Now, more years later, I look at your picture e y e contact: I ~ y o u d k i n g t o m r d m e in t h e ERA n e w l e t t e r . 'RE wrds below say Linda passed a w y peacefully i n her sleep. about half a block amy. You wre s t r o l l i n g I never knew your name WE Linda. peacefully d m the street, and I no longer I never knew you lived a t the Portland hotel. had the usual sense of feeling threatened. I never knew much about you, other than what Not once, not one single t h i n what I sunrrised , but never bothered t o verify. the previous, noisier years, had I ever I suppose I expected all the neighbors t o stopped averting my eyes as you nm-ched passed. just a l m y s be there like figures on a ~ r i v a t e But on that day you here s t r o l l i n g quietly chessbmrd where the garne is-never supposed t o alone through our c m n neighborhood, and end. as neighbors usually eventually do, I m t e d And so, good wmm, I bid you f a r e d 1 for to glance at your face, up close, and mybe this ti&, and if s p i r i t s can make wishes cane give a nod of neighborhood farrriliarity. About 15 f e e t a w y , I took my true, please grant IW the wish of my l i f e ' s philosophy catling t o be: eyes off t h e s i d e d k and looked up t o find a A l l I kant of this good l i f e pair of eyes at peace with the w r l d . We held our eye-contact j u s t Is t o d i e i n my sleep. long enough t o show there here no s t r e s s f u l Saneday, f a r a w y wrinkles of disurrdort around our respective In peaceful Stardust Alley. eye areas.
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A Working Class Vision Vs A Business Class Nightmare During the 19th century, vorking class people fought against the oppression of the business class vhich was driven by maximum prof it, or nthe fury of avaricious commerceu a s the English writer John Ruskin expressed it. (1) With books such a s Thomas
P a i n e t s "The Rights Of Manw as their guide, workers strugqled tovard the eight hour day, decent working conditions, and the vote. In his book, "The Making Of The English Working Class," E.P. Thompson said, "The vorking class made itself a s much a s it was made. It It had solidarity in shared suffering. It had a sense of the common good that ve nov
class is the dynamic of accumulation (profit) expressed by individuals making self-interested decisions in the market. The end result of this economic rat race is the war of all against all. This is not s o much a life-affirming vision a s a nightmare. call democracy. Life was brutal for workinq people in 19th century England. The books of Charles Dickens attested t o that. Yet workers also nourished a sense o f mutual aid and co-operation - the feelins that we were all in the same boat, and that we had a responsibility to help each other. The business class ridiculed the poverty and rouqhness of the workers. Putting people down was a way of excluding them from power. I t was ironic that of the two classes, working class and business class, the working class had the nobler vision the vision of democracy built on the foundation stone of equality of opportunity.
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The business class would agree with former British Prime Minister Marqaret Thatcher who said, "There is no society, only i n d i v i d ~ a l s . ~ ( 2 )As human beings are only individuals in relation to each other, that is, in society, Thatcher's remark is absurd. The drivinq force behind the business
For two hundred years the business class has exalted some of the most distasteful human qualities such as greed, domination, and agqressive competition, into virtues, and has institutionalized them in a laissez-faire economic system that includes the stock market and a global casino economy. Life has been reduced to buying and selling, and this perversion of the richness of our lives together has resulted in a dehumanized human nature - homo economicus vho lives in mathematical abstractions completely separated from real life. Market relations are monetary relations, and that's all they are. Like King Midas, the business class would turn the world into gold, and like Kinq Midas, its touch is deadly. Sandy Cameron (1 from ttl'heCry For Justicett, edited by Upton Sinclair, p.485.
(2) quoted in "Age Of Extremes The Short Twentieth Century," by Eric Hobsbawm, pub. by Abacus, 1995, p.337.
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STD CLINIC 219 Main; Monday-Friday, 10a.m. - 6p.m. NEEDLE EXCHANGE 221 Main; 8:30a.m. 8p.m. every NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN 3 Routes day City 5:45p.m. I 1:45 p.m. Nancy H.-$40 ~ e n n i ef r M. -$20 Overnight 12:30a.m. 8:30a.m. Nathan E.-$20 Downtown Eastside 5:30p.m. 1997 DONATTONS Rocking Guys-$30
~)(-JWN'I'OWN EASI'SIDIS YOU'TII ACI'IVI'TI E S SOCI E'I'Y
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Paula R.-$30 Diane M.-$15 -Wm. B.-$20 Lorne T.-$20 L i l l i a n H.-$25 Me1 L.-$20 Joy T.-$20 S a r a L.-$20 Frances -$25 CEEDS - $ l o Charley 0.-$15 Susan S.-$30 Libby D.-$40 DEYAS -$75 Guy M.-$10 Tom -$20 Rene -$30 Sam R.-$20 Amy - $ l o N e i l N.-$10 Sharon J .-$SO Rick Y .-$63 BCCW -$60 Holden tit1 -$5 Joan D.-$5 Mike -$I5 B i l l G.-$20 Ray-Cam -$40 Harold D. -$19.10 Sonya Sommers -$lo0 A n i t a S.-$10 Census Wkrs -$200 B.C. PLURA -$lo00 VanCit y Chinatown -$200 Legal S e r v i c e s S o c i e t y -$I230
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THE NEWSLETTER IS A PUBUCATlON OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual conlributon and not of the Associalio~~.
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Submission Deadline for the next issue: I Tuesday, March 10
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NEED HELP?
The Downtown Eastside Residents A~~ociation can help you with:
b P
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Welfare pmblemr; Landlords disputer; Housing pmblemr; Unsafe living conditionr;
C o m e into the Dera office at 425 Canall Street or phone ur at 682 - 0921.
DERA HAS BEEN SERWNC THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE FOR 24 YEARS.
Thunder Road Back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, shining was probably at its height. With all its glory there are pitfalls, along with its devious distinction of honor in Canadian history. Shining, moonshine, white lighting brings the imagination to heights of illurninous dealings. Whatever you may call it, you have a tendency to think of the Beverly Hillbillies, with Granny's Secret Recipe and the shack behind the outhouse. Many a people, friend or foe, achieved untold vast wealth*, died, or ended up in "crowbar
hotel." I guess it would be comparable to the illicit dntg trade of today. Because of better road systems, cars, and telecommunications, there was a vast array of progressions to be made. This is how the name n m d e r Road came about. Fast cars, excellent speed drivers, good roads ,and a bit of luck ;evading the law. This was the name of the game in delivering the go-go juice to a thirsty crowd. Your imagination can fill in the details and between the lines. Yahoo!! Mountain dew!! Norman Iseke
Memories of Bygone Years
In days of old When men were bold Women were women And men were men What do we conjure up in our minds with a few well-placed words? Young, old, men, women, black, blue, green, yellow, brown, white, children or seniors? "In days of o l d could suggest a few days or weeks to a child. Whereas, to an oldster, the phrase could mean a few decades or centuries. "When men were bold" is another eye-catcher that swirls up images maybe forgotten with time. King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Captain Courageous, Knights of the Round Table are just a few that come to mind. Those are just a few of many that dwell in our dreams where we can draw a few good thoughts of hope, for ourselves and others to come in generations. "Women were women" employs images like
Cleopatra, "Queen of the Nile," Mary "Mother of Jesus," Queen Victoria, our Grandmother. Maybe along our shuffle of life we forgot women of yesteryears. They brought out larger than life images with grace, honor, love and strength to keep the family together. "And men were men" was a time of perhaps lasting genteel ways that are perhaps lost in time. Virtues that were and not only heard of, like a bell rung. They were the leaders of our centuries in past, and family heads. Winston Churchill, Captain Vancouver, Socrates, Moses are but just a few remnants of old and memories, like those we have of our Grandfather. Lest we not forget, for people may have come and gone, but not our thoughts and memories of yesteryears. In this short story where have you gone, mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Maybe it's time and place lost only in our memory, that only we as individual's can be. Where are you at now, based upon just a few words? Norman Iseke
Experiencing racism as a fac
By Tom Oleman
I am a Status Native Indian according to the laws of Canada and was born in 1946 on a reserve near Memtt BC. I grew up in Seton Lake and also in a very small logging camp at Devine, BC Racism has been directed at me for a number of reasons. I am dark skinned and have black hair. I was raised in Indian Country. I look, talk and act like everyone else from my community. Common names that have been used to address me in my life time have been, "boy" (a half breed relative refers to my great grandfather as being a
andlor . human being. Having these people as friends or acquaintances is an honour. People like myself make a clear statement that the society we live in and the varying levels of bureaucracies we have to deal with are racist. We see the governments that deal with our daily existence in our country as being created to protect the assets and
"buck," "buckskin," "siwash," rights of the larger society. When"chief," "brow and "hommie.,, ever we threaten to actually hold There are other names that I have Our Or get Our rights, through the pursuit of our title or been called but cannot be used as I have inherent rights, one of the govthey contain expletives. change also been subjected to hearing the ernments will pass laws of power back to their female members of my race being the referred to as being less than the favour. fair ladies of other races, and have I learned of racist attitudes at a been informed that the females Very age. My fiom my race are less because they grandparents greatly feared people are "promiscuous," "inexpensive," from the white race. They were "not too bright," and have a real affinity for the males of the other races. For me racism in this country is a fact of life. There are a few very liberal people that I have met who are truly liberated and do not see race, religion or global origin as a basis for meeting, communicating
traditional people who did not participate in the new culture that the Europeans were offering. They lived off the land and did not attempt to participate in the new economy. They had a small farm gnd hunted and fished for their food. They did odd jobs and sold goods to people who would be
willing to pay for these goods. They were forced 'to send their children to the residential schools. Upon refbsal to send my mother to the school, my grandfather was sent to jail for one month. The white police, the white Indian Agents, and the white missionary clergy all had jurisdiction over how my grandparents lived their lives. "Interested" members of the white community also had direct impact on the daily living of my grandparents. If someone did not appreciate the fact that my grandfather hunted for food when he needed meat, then this someone would contact any of the above "authorities" and it would be their responsibility to see that no more hunting was conducted. Eventually this was even extended to fishing. When white people visited the community there usually was an ulterior reason and someone from the community would pay. At a
very early age I was taught that all white people were not acting in our interest and that they did not appreciate the way that we live. In our community we had a separate school for the natives and one for the white community. Our schools were under the federal jurisdiction and the other school was operated provincially. Our school did not
have electricity or plumbing, the white school was modem with both of these amenities. The teachers in our school did not have to have provincial accreditation. One of my teachers was a grade twelve graduate from Vancouver who was on his first job. Another of my teachers was a 75 year old retired school teacher.OOO
I u Special (belated) thanks t o the Management and S t a f f and all the patrons of
Funky Winkerbeans
for their generous donation of $850.00for the Children's Christmas Party a t Carnegie.
THE STORY OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN (the gospel truth) It was about the second week in January. Snow had fallen the night before. It was starting to melt in the morning. I left my hotel about three o'clock pm and was heading for the Four Comers Bank. All I had on was a pair of light socks when I started out the door for the bank. I walked a few paces from the hotel when a young gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I had shoes. I said "No, someone boosted them or took them out." So he says "turn
around and walk up to the surplus store on Hastings." He took me in and bought me shoes, three pair of heavy socks, a toque, and a pair of gloves. At that time I was recovering from a broken hip but I had no cane. He asked me if I smoked cigarettes. I said "yes." So he took me into the nearest store and he bought two packages, one for himself and one for me. And then he says, "let's go for a coffee." So we walked across Hastings Street to the Little Spot Restaurant. He says, "I'll go get you a cane." He left me having a coffee. I think he went to Army and Navy first. I waited a long time for him. It was getting on near four o'clock. I decided to leave and proceeded to the bank. Much to my surprise, when I returned to the hote], there was a beautiful hardwood cane. I would like to thank the young man, who was around 27 or 28 years old. I would like to thank him very much for his good conduct, and being a good samaritan and making that humanitarian effort. I'm 68 years old and I appreciate what he did. God bless him. Gerry