ABBOTSFORD �����������������������������12 ART ���������������������������������������� 16 BUSINESS BUZZ ���������������������������8 COMMUNITY �������������������������������23 DEMOCRACY ������������������������������18

Art and gardens, a winning combo!

By Martha Bowers

After lockdowns and shutdowns, isolation and quarantine, convoys and storms, we all are anxious to resume a more normal life. So we are excited to announce the relaunch of the Glebe Art In Our Gardens and Studio Tour! This popular annual Glebe tradition will be held on the weekend of July 9 and 10. With 25 artists at 17 sites conveniently located for easy walking or cycling, there will be art to suit a wide range of interests.

After two years of limited opportunities to exhibit or sell their works, the artists are looking forward to showing their work again. And people look forward to seeing what returning artists have been working on, which new artists have appeared and how the gardens have changed. The tour offers local artists the opportunity to show and sell their works in their own neighbourhood, and it also provides a venue for discovering and promoting up-and-coming artists as well as guest artists from outside the Glebe. Exhibiting art in garden settings is one of the most charming aspects of the tour as the gardens will be in mid-summer bloom. And we are continuing with the popular ballot prize as an incentive for art lovers to visit as many sites as possible.

Although we do not know what the COVID situation will be in July, we are confident that the Glebe art tour, being an outdoor event, will be a safe activity. We ask visitors to be respectful and careful when around others.

Come out between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on July 9 and 10 to support local artists. Take a break on a patio, stop for a coffee at an independent café and enjoy a summer weekend in the Glebe.

Site maps and cards with the list of artists will be available in Glebe shops and the Glebe Community Centre, and there will be notices on social media. Information is also available on our website at glebearttour.ca. Welcome back to the Glebe!

Martha Bowers is a Glebe resident, art lover and organizer of Art in Our Gardens, who can often be found helping out at Morala Café. The House of PainT is a free, outdoor, hip-hop jam that showcases graffiti, breakdancing, DJs and MCs (poetry and rap) from across Canada. The festival usually takes place at the legal graffiti wall under the Dunbar Bridge (under Bronson Avenue near Carleton and Brewer Park) every summer. This location has been dubbed House of Pain by local artists and writers.

However, because of COVID, the hip-hop and urban art festival collaborated this spring with DJs, musicians, poets and dancers to put on 18 acts in free concerts in five different neighbourhoods in Ottawa across three weekends in May and June, bringing local talent, music and art directly to porches, patios and front yards of the communities, inviting us to step out of our homes and help welcome art back to the street. The concerts took place in Ramsey, Ritchie, Overbrook and Caldwell neighbourhoods and showcased local talent at the footsteps of these communities.

House of PainT aims to celebrate and elevate hip-hop by supporting local and upcoming artists. Along with the free concerts for the community, House of PainT filmed each artist’s performance. The recordings will serve as promotional assets for each artist that they can use to support and grow their artistry.

The shift to publishing film is also reflective of House of PainT’s commitment to making the urban arts safe and accessible to all amidst concerns for public safety and wellbeing. The recordings will increase accessibility to the work of the artists through digital delivery and allow for an expansive reach of the urban arts to new and committed fans in Ottawa-Gatineau and beyond. Videos of the performances are on the Facebook page at HouseofPainTFestival.

This year’s House of PainT hip-hop and street arts festival took place in a series of free community concerts across Ottawa. Videos of performances are hosted online.

Aberdeen Heritage Festival

Join His Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of the City of Ottawa for a community festival at Lansdowne Park - celebrating 30 years since Ottawa City Council resolved to restore the Aberdeen Pavilion!

Saturday, July 2

9:30 am to 3:30 pm

Lansdowne Park, Ottawa

1015 Bank Street

FREE Admission

Opening Ceremony at 9:30 am and fun activities all day!

Sponsors

Visit ottawa.ca/ AberdeenHeritageFestival

for more information.

Media Sponsors

FRANCO

Dine in • Takeout • Order Online

CRAZY PHO YOU is a family owned and operated restaurant specializing in Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai dishes. The Luu family have been proudly serving Vietnamese cuisine to the Ottawa community since 1980. They continue to o er authentic Pho and their original recipe for spring rolls from 42 years ago. Their menu is plenti l, the food is delicious and your table is waiting at CRAZY PHO YOU.

Tuesday-Thursday 3:30 pm - 9:30 pm Friday & Saturday 3:30 pm - 11 pm Sunday 3:30 pm - 9:30 pm www.crazyphoyou.ca │ 613 421-0942 696 Bronson Ave in the Glebe

Anthony Carricato (centre) walking with his campaign team in the Capital Pride Parade in August 2018

Candidates matter in a healthy democracy

BANK ST. LOUNGE NOW OPEN AGAIN!

SINGLE MALTS • COCKTAILS • MUSIC • VINYL • FOOD

1154 BANK STREET

THURSDAY - SATURDAY SOLO ARTISTS

750 GLADSTONE

MUSIC LINEUP

WEDNESDAYS OPEN MIC WITH HOST DAN DUNLOP THURSDAY – SATURDAY 6:30 PM JAZZ SUPPER SET | 9 PM LATE SET

RESERVATIONS 705.970.1993

(NOT REQUIRED, RECOMMENDED) BANK BAR 613.737.6654 | GLADSTONE BAR 613.230.6287 1154 BANK STREET | 750 GLADSTONE (ON THE AVENUE)

Assisted Living Suites Available Immediately

SUMMER SOLSTICE Tuesday June 21st, 2022 OPEN HOUSE 10:00am - 3:00pm

Enjoy delicious light fayre and live music in our famous 4-season atrium.

By appointment only. Register online, by phone, or email. 613-880-5128 openhouse@waterfordliving.ca

By Anthony Carricato

As many residents in Capital Ward will recall, I was a candidate for City Council in the 2018 municipal election. I met many of you along the way – at your front door, at a local event, during the all-candidates debates or waving you to work in the morning in different parts of our ward. Being a candidate is an experience I cherish. Learning more about the needs of our community, bringing people together, amplifying voices and promoting new ideas were the honour of my life.

Since then, many have come to know me as an active board member of the Glebe Community Association (GCA), as chair of the renewed Lansdowne Committee and through my setting up of the Glebe Community Pop-Up Art Gallery at Lansdowne. I am also a member of the GCA’s Planning Committee, a fundraiser for the Ottawa Food Bank during the Great Glebe Garage Sale and, to my neighbours on Fifth Avenue, a dogwalker who escorts our dogs Winston and Bruce while delivering the Glebe Report.

After much consideration, I have decided not to run again in the upcoming municipal election.

Four years ago, I decided to run because I felt our community was seeking a new vision and fresh energy at City Hall. In my role then as vice-president of the GCA, I saw first-hand the passionate desire our residents had to improve our community. This passion inspired me, and I met with David Chernushenko, our incumbent councillor at the time, to discuss my interest in municipal politics. Even though my candidacy might affect his chances of re-election, he was very supportive and encouraged me to run. Chernushenko knew that democracy needs citizens to challenge incumbents and their records, so they are held accountable.

Having always been drawn to public service and elected office, I thought, “why not me?” The moment I expressed this publicly, support from my neighbours and friends was incredibly positive, and I will forever be grateful to the volunteers and donors who supported me and my vision for Capital Ward and the City of Ottawa.

Running for office is the most difficult thing I have ever done, and the most rewarding. It’s an honour to stand up for our community and be considered by the voters. I vividly recall a man named Larry, whom I met on his front porch in Old Ottawa South; when he told me that I had earned his vote, I will never forget the sense of responsibility I felt after leaving his house.

But strong democracies don’t just need candidates; they also need volunteers and non-elected citizens who support our elected officials and public servants by offering their skills, knowledge and time to build a better city and keep our democratic institutions strong. After finishing fourth in the 2018 election, I still wanted to stay involved and to serve the community. I successfully applied to be one of the three citizen transit commissioners who joined eight councillors to make up the new Transit Commission. I was subsequently added to the Transit Fares Working Group and the ParaTranspo Working Group. It is an example of the many ways residents can serve their communities without being elected.

I will continue to support good candidates of all political parties and ideologies, because our differences make stronger representatives. After the events of this past winter in Ottawa, we can all agree that we need to listen to people we don’t agree with.

If you feel you have something to offer our community, you should absolutely consider running. Regardless of your success at the polls, your contribution will make a positive impact. Fresh leadership matters, new ideas matter, and new approaches to old problems matter. I am looking forward to following and cheering on all the candidates in this fall’s municipal election. We are all better off because of you.

Waterford

RETIREMENT RESIDENCE

The south ends rst choice for: Independent Senior Living, Enhanced Care Living, & Memory Care too. waterfordliving.ca

Anthony Carricato is a former candidate for City Council (2018), Citizen Transit Commissioner, Glebe Community Association board member and resident of Fifth Avenue.

Skillet chard

from the monastic table of Valserena

By Marisa Romano

Monastic tables are humble; they offer dishes prepared with attention and respect for the ingredients received from the land. The preparations are modest; they follow recipes handed down by word-of-mouth from generation to generation, some with mediaeval origins. The measures are by eye, by pinches and by handful. The result is unpretentious food that nourishes the working body and the contemplative mind.

It does not happen to many people to step into the guarded private monastic space of cloistered nuns, women who closed the doors to the distraction of the external world to follow their call to a life of prayer, contemplation and study of the scriptures. I was gifted that opportunity a few weeks ago during my first trip “back home” since the beginning of the pandemic.

Founded in 1968, the Cistercian monastery of Our Lady of Valserena is located along the Italian Etruscan coast at the outskirts of the mediaeval town of Guardistallo, 50 kilometres south of Pisa. The modest buildings that make up the hermitage are nestled on a hill surrounded by olive trees and a forest that covers most of the land belonging to the monastery. From there, the eye stretches beyond the ancient olive groves, the orderly vineyards, the fragrant umbrella-pine forests and the evergreen Mediterranean macchia to rest on a blue strip of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This is where a community of 40 nuns of the Cistercian Order of Strict Observance live, pray, study and work.

Life in the monastery abides by strict obedience of the 15th-century rules of Saint Benedict; their spirit is summed up in the motto ora et labora (pray and work). The days start before sunrise with the first of the communal prayers that mark the rhythm of daily activities conducted in silent mindfulness. The labour that supports the community and international projects in Aleppo and Angola is in the fields where summer and winter gardens supply food for the community table, and the over one thousand olive trees provide extra virgin olive oil for the monastic kitchen and the lucky “outsiders” who purchase it before the surplus runs out. Work is also in the laboratory where modern machines churn out creams, perfumes and soaps – cosmetics for the cure of the body and the skin are sold on site and shipped for sale outside the monastery (emporiumest.it/monastero-valserena/). The recipes used in the laboratory come from France, brought by the sisters’ founders of Valserena. Following the monastic tradition of the use of medicinal herbs, herbal extracts for the cosmetics are made on site from plants harvested from the gardens and fields of the monastery.

I am guided through the property by two sisters eager to show the riches of the surrounding land, grateful for where their life path has taken them. The place is striking, lush from the recent rains, beautifully taken care of. It inspires a sense of peace, harmony and

FEATURED PROPERTY

Totally at home in The Hub

FEATURED PROPERTY

Lovely Single Home in Old Ottawa South 3-bdrm, 3 bath + addition. Steps to the river! 20 WENDOVER AVE | Details available upon request

JUST LISTED

Imagine Life On the Waterfront! Beautiful shoreline, 4 season. Unique 4-bdrm on large lot! 2322 SUMMERSIDE DR | Listed at $1,494,000

FOR SALE

Perfect Custom Condo in Old Ottawa East Stunning layout w/lots of space and steps to the Canal! 501–150 GREENFIELD AVE | Listed at $629,900

FOR SALE

3-storey Semi in Heart of Hintonburg Stunningly renovated urban oasis! 136 BAYVIEW STATION RD | Listed at $799,900 Spacious Semi in Centretown South Sunny 3-storey, 5-bdrm. Stunning renovation! 304 FLORA ST | Listed at $799,900 The tables are humble at Our Lady of Valserena monastery in Guardistallo, Italy. Dishes are prepared with traditional recipes and respect for the ingredients received from the land.

serenity. It is only in front of the small cemetery lodged under the trees at the edge of the forest that I really grasp the sense of the sisters’ commitment taken when the gate of the monastery closes behind them.

With me is Francesca Nocchi, the cook who joins the community daily to work at the stove along with some of the sisters. She has arranged the visit for me. Surprisingly, this is the first time she has walked the terrain around the monastery. I asked her for one of the recipes she prepares in the kitchen and she shared the dish that she was cooking the following day. Not surprisingly it is humble, essential and uncomplicated, a land’s wondrous gift, the embodiment of life in the monastery.

Marisa Romano is a foodie and scientist with a sense of adventure who appreciates interesting and nutritious foods. Ingredients: A large bunch of fresh Swiss chard Olive oil, about 3 tsp Garlic to taste Hot pepper flakes to taste Salt to taste Bread crumbs, toasted

Directions: Separate the white ribs from the green leaves. Slice the ribs in small pieces and cut the leaves roughly. Keep separate.

In a skillet over medium heat drizzle the olive oil. Add the sliced white ribs, the chopped garlic and hot pepper flakes mix and sauté for a few minutes. Add the rest of the leaves with a little bit of water (note: water may not be needed if the leaves are just washed and still wet), cover the skillet and let cook until wilted. Uncover and continue cooking at higher temperature until the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Adjust for salt and sprinkle toasted breadcrumbs before serving.

Swiss chard prepared simply to nourish the body and mind

PHOTOS: MARISA ROMANO

Whimsical film stumbles a little

The Northman

(U�S�, 2022) Directed by Robert Eggers

Review by Iva Apostolova

The Northman’s director Robert Eggers, whose credits include The Witch: A New England Folktale (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), is reputed to be one of the most important directors of his generation. His directorial credits, while not numerous, clearly point to his high-art cinematic roots. Let’s just say that Robert Eggers is not Ron Howard.

I really wanted to love the movie and while I liked it for its whimsical, theatrical feel, I realized it left me wanting. Cinematic epic stories, especially ones involving battle scenes, are their own species. Where Ron Howard or Ridley Scott would have effortlessly risen to the occasion, I found Robert Eggers stumbled a bit. Battle scenes take a lot of choreography and involve complicated camera angles. The Northman’s on-the-ground, full-frontal, static type of camera is reminiscent of theatre mise-en-scènes, something that Eggers has experience with from his earlier directorial credits. The movie reminded me a lot of The Green Knight (2021) with its folktale-type of parlance and mystic visions. At one point I actually wondered if I had ended up, by mistake, at an Aronofsky movie.

I certainly appreciated the introduction of mysticism (through the main character, Amleth’s prophetic visions) into a story about a culture largely associated with raiding and colonizing. I only wish that these were not as many, especially because they were heavily CGIed, in stark contrast to the ultra-realism of the rest of the scenes. To add to that, the accented speech of the characters, in combination with the folk-type of expressions, made the delivery of the story a bit laboured.

I suspect The Northman was a product of Eggers’ fascination with Viking mythology and folklore (I mean, Viking history is beyond spellbinding, if the popularity of the two shows, available on Netflix, Vikings, and Vikings: Valhalla is anything to go by!). Unfortunately, as a result, he ended up with a movie that tried to do too much. It felt to me like a cross between The Witch, The Green Knight, and Hamlet (or Macbeth, if you will), each story more complicated than the next.

Otherwise, the scenery and the star power of The Northman are nothing to sneeze at. Most of the production takes place in Iceland, so the landscape is absolutely breathtaking, verging on otherworldly. Alexander Skaarsgard, who plays Amleth, is phenomenal; his body transformation alone is Oscar deserving. While Anya Taylor-Joy is somewhat typecast, worth mentioning are the nuanced performances delivered by Nicole Kidman as Amleth’s mother, the Danish star Claes Kasper Bang as Amleth’s uncle, and last but not least, the rising Swedish star, Gustav Lindh as Amleth’s stepbrother. Lindh’s ultimate on-screen vulnerability in the 2019 Queen of Hearts (original title Dronningen) can give even Thimothée Chalamet a run for his money!

Running time: 2h 16m Rated 14A Playing in theatres

Iva Apostolova is a professor of philosophy at Dominican University College.

Simple but powerful film captures a child’s gaze

My Neighbor Totoro

(Japan, 1988) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Review by Angus Luff

My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The film tells the simple story of sisters Mei (Chika Sakamoto) and Satsuki (Noriko Hidaka) as they move to the countryside with their father to live closer to their hospitalized mother. In this new home, the sisters witness forest spirits that only they can see and they make friends with the creatures and embark on multiple magical adventures.

In many ways, My Neighbor Totoro is the perfect children’s film. It’s so easy and nice to watch for any age, but at no time is it cheesy or sappy – it’s so understated and meticulous in its approach. Many modern animated children’s films have licensed pop songs, celebrity voices, pop culture references, obnoxious characters and colours, yet zero passion, heart, care or purpose is included. With all those films in mind and thinking about what children’s animation has become, watching Totoro is such a breath of fresh air, the exact opposite of your usual Dreamworks or Illumination projects. The film is so peaceful and gentle, as many quiet and understated moments give the more fantastical big moments much more power and memorability. This simple, calm and peaceful film is ironically so much more powerful and memorable than most big-budget animated films today because of its unique charm, lifelike characters and genuinely wonderful and magical presentation and tone, even if what’s being shown on screen is something mundane and simple.

The joy and freedom of being a child is not captured better in any other film than this. A simple task such as getting a pail of water filled, exploring a new house or getting wood for the furnace during a storm becomes an exciting, wonderful or scary thing because of the lack of experience you have as a child. You haven’t experienced much as a child, therefore everything is more exaggerated, important and more exciting. We mostly forget as we get older how the world once seemed so large, expansive and wonderful, but to go back to see what that world was like, to experience that joy once more and to witness the earth’s beauty in its purest form is portrayed no better than in this special film.

Not only does this film understand what it was like being a child, it also conveys the experience of having a sibling and how enjoyable and difficult those relationships can be. The realism of this family and its ups and downs is absolutely astonishing, considering that this is an animated fantasy film from the 80s. It doesn’t entirely rely on showing the magical and joyous times of being a child; it also delves into the fears and dread of what may come of the hospitalized mother. That willingness to dive into both joyous and dreadful times of childhood says something about Miyazaki’s commitment to making a true, meaningful and timeless children’s classic that holds up much better than most media being put out nowadays.

Hayao Miyazaki and his team at Ghibli have made many great films, as their majesty and commitment bleeds into every project they create. Their films are so rich and lush in their details and visuals, yet equally amazing to watch play out. Miyazaki gets the most acclaim for his more awe-inspiring, majestical, bombastic works, such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle. All great films in their own ways, but this film speaks to me in a way no other film has – I feel it’s much more impressive that an understated, quiet film can be entertaining, interesting and conveys much more than some adult-oriented films struggle to convey in three hours. It’s such a beautiful, captivating and astonishing piece that it’s shocking it’s as good as it is. I encourage everyone to seek out this film, get lost in it and enjoy a reminder of why life is worth living.

Running time: 1:26 Available on Netflix

Puppets Up! Festival artistic director and master puppeteer Noreen Young with

friends. PHOTO: KIGOR

Puppets Up! family festival in Almonte, with a Glebe twist

By JC Sulzenko

After a hiatus of six years, Puppets Up! International Puppet Festival returns to Almonte from August 12 to 14, and this Glebe writer plays a part in it.

Students from Almonte schools under Jenny Sheffield’s direction will present my story The Magnolia Thief on a tree-lined path, an “alameda,” during the two-and-a-half day extravaganza of world-class performances. I narrate the voiceover.

I feel honoured that this year’s Puppets Up! International Festival will stage the premiere of The Magnolia Thief, a very urban fairy tale. Having local students as the performers adds to my delight. My thanks go to the festival’s artistic director Noreen Young for this opportunity.

Written for young children and families, The Magnolia Thief was inspired by my love for the magnolia in our Glebe backyard. It’s a rhyme about trouble that comes into a peaceful city garden. Saying more would give away too much of the plot!

Our magnolia began as a shrub, a gift I received for Mothers’ Day when our children were small. It now measures 40 by 40 feet. I wrote The Magnolia Thief as a way to honour the tree and acknowledge the pleasure its blossoms give us each spring. Just visualizing the magnolia in bloom sustains me through the winter months.

Since 1970, Noreen Young, acclaimed puppeteer and Member of the Order of Canada, has been involved with over one hundred television programs, including the award-winning series, Under the Umbrella Tree (1986-1993).

The Puppets Up! International Festival is Young’s brainchild. This year’s lineup features performances by troupes and puppeteers from Ontario, Quebec, Indonesia, Iceland and the US, including The Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, Tanglewood Marionettes and Joshua Holden. Over the weekend, there’s a Puppets Up! parade (on both Saturday and Sunday), plus street entertainment and a kids craft tent.

For The Magnolia Thief, Noreen created the set, props and puppets around three characters in the story – The Little Man, the Tree and The Giant.

I first worked with Noreen when she created puppets and animated a playground tour across Canada to teach young children the meaning of new symbols on hazardous products labels. The campaign included television spots which still can be screened at www. youtube.com/watch?v=R3aFSahUHtg.

I’ve been a huge fan of her work from that day on. It’s a great pleasure to work with Noreen again in the context of this year’s Puppets Up! Festival.

A few years ago, I wrote a poem based on interviews for my series that captures how each of my subjects chose a particular direction for their life’s work. This is the poem which evolved from discussions with Noreen and which appeared in my debut collection in 2017 from Point Petre Publishing, South Shore Suite…POEMS.

After Gepetto

It must be odd … living with all those puppets you made

What did you intend when you sculpted their faces in clay Added foam for flesh Layered latex for soft, almost skin Painted all in colours, true-to-life When you clothed them in what their real-life models wear

When you spoke for them Your inflection, gestures, mimicry: uncanny

It must be odd … taking on each character while still knowing who you are

Without a puppet in your hands, you blush You speak with a gentle rush of breath No harsh words, but no nonsense, either

So, it must be odd … Children, parents call to your puppets embrace them like friends, like family

without ever having learned your name

The festival’s complete program is at: puppetsup.com. Shows take place throughout the town and throughout the festival’s run August 12 to 14. Passes and tickets are available now.

JC Sulzenko curates “Poetry Quarter” for the Glebe Report. Octopus Books carries her most recent collection, Bricolage, A Gathering of Centos. www.jcsulzenko.com

“Why didn’t I do this sooner?”

This year, enjoy the best that summer has to offer without the work.

Just think – this summer you could be free to spend your days precisely the way you want, without having to do chores like cleaning your house, cooking meals, mowing grass or pulling weeds. Enjoy the company of friends, indulge in chef-prepared meals, and live with the peace-of-mind of 24-hour security. With our full calendar of events and outings, this could be your best summer yet!

Contact Sue at (613) 617-7888 to book your personal visit and complimentary lunch!

480 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 3N6

*Limited time offer. Subject to terms and conditions.