The Georgia Straight - Stormy Seas - April 23, 2020

APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020 | FREE Volume 54 | Number 2726

eSPORTS iRacing finds human core

FUTURE OFFICES

Post-pandemic workplaces

LGBT HEALTH Resilient and resourceful

Stormy Seas

The middle class is feeling adrift like never before, but these troubled times will not last forever

SAVAGE LOVE

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SPRING READING

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CANNABIS

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TRAVEL-INSPIRED TIPS

ESPORTS

iRacing flips the script on TV sports

CONTENTS

April 23-30 / 2020

6

by Mike Usinger

COVER

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended people’s lives across all classes, leading some to push for an improved social safety net.

By Charlie Smith Cover illustration by Salwa Majoka

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ESPORTS

Not long ago, iRacing existed on the margin of American sports, but those days are now in the rearview mirror.

By Mike Usinger

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CANNABIS

Village Bloomery founders Jeremy Jacob and Andrea Dobbs are eyeing a new location on East Hastings Street.

By Carlito Pablo

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REAL ESTATE

Intensive cleaning, social distancing, and more staff working from home will transform offices of the future.

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By Carlito Pablo

With NASCAR and Formula One seasons on hold, iRacing has stepped in to fill the void on networks, including Fox and NBC.

s eSports success stories go, it’s a massive one. A month and a half ago, as COVID-19 began to take root around the globe, the 2020 autoracing season screeched to a halt. In the time it took to complete a lap at the Daytona 500, virtual iRacing roared up to fill the void. An initial, earlyMarch F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix attracted 350,000 viewers on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. That quickly got the attention of television executives looking to fill sports programming holes in a locked-down world.

The inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series in mid-March drew 910,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1, a number that jumped to 1.3 million a week later for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Series’ O’Reilly Auto Parts 125.

Once upon a time, iRacing existed on the margins of the mainstream sports menu in America. On April 18, iRacing was front and centre on NBC (Saturday Night Thunder from a virtual Richmond Raceway), and eNascar continues to do huge numbers on Fox. For iRacing—a subscription-based online simulation of the real thing rolled out in 2008 by Massachusetts company iRacing.com—all the attention marks a change in the way business has traditionally been done.

Kevin Bobbitt, iRacing’s director of marketing, notes that the company had pre-pandemic relationships with television, including broadcasts of a handful of races on NBC last fall. The company has also worked with Fox to supplement its traditional NASCAR coverage. (“They weren’t necessarily showing our races, but they were using some of our digital assets.”)

But instead of having to reach out to the networks for coverage during COVID-19, iRacing has f lipped the script.

“Normally, they’ve got a million things they are trying to fit onto their channels,” Bobbitt says in a phone interview with the Straight. “It’s

definitely turned the other way, to where they are reaching out and going, ‘Hey, what can you provide us with to put on TV?’ But I didn’t anticipate we’d do this much—it’s crazy how many races we’ve been putting out. But it’s been fun. I’ve been a sales and marketing guy for most of my career, and now I feel like I’m a TV producer too.

I’m learning it on the fly, working with the NBC and Fox producers.”

In Bobbitt’s view, pro racing drivers have easily shifted to the digital version because the skills required are completely translatable.

“It’s physically the same—steering, braking, throttle, car control,” he says. “I’m a big fan of the FIFA games, but the skill set you have with your hands has nothing to do with playing soccer. You could be the best football, basketball, or soccer player in the world, but you have to learn a completely new skill set for gaming.

“With iRacing,” he continues, “the pro drivers were already using it for fun and for practice to get better, stay sharp, and learn new tracks while having fun online and staying competitive. The ones that weren’t, all they had to do was sit down, do a little practice, and they realized, ‘Hey, this is pretty much the same thing.’ ” Still, there’s a learning curve when it comes to simulated racing.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen, in particular, the NASCAR races that have been on Fox this year,” Bobbitt says.

“The guys who’ve been on the sim for a while really excelled. Now, four weeks into this, we’re watching guys like Jimmie Johnson, who was new to it, show why he’s obviously a very talented race car driver with seven championships.

He’s adapted very well, to where he’s totally up to speed and competitive.”

It’s a major bonus that, in simulated crashes, no one gets hurt. But a large part of the appeal of the virtual races on TV is that they drive home one of the mantras of the COVID-19 pandemic: “We’re all in this together.”

Get trusted advice wherever, whenever.

Online appointments with Canadian doctors.

Prescriptions, referrals, requisitions, mental health and more.

10 FOOD

“The heroes you would normally Project CHEF Education Society founder Barb Finley says watch on Saturdays and Sundays it’s vital to get kids involved in food preparation. are stuck at home, just like the rest By Gail Johnson of us,” Bobbitt says, “but they get in their iRigs and off they go.”

Just as important is the accessibility of the drivers during iRacing on TV. e Online TOP 5 e Start Here “Our broadcasts include what you’d Here’s what people are normally call an in-car camera, except 8 ARTS reading this week on that it’s an in-living-room camera,” Straight.com.

Bobbitt notes. “So you can see Jimmie 10 BEER Johnson talking if there’s a caution.

8 BOOKS And you can see his daughter running around in the background. That makes 6 CONFESSIONS the drivers seem like regular people, which they are—regular people who 5 HEALTH happen to have a very interesting job.

6 I SAW YOU To see them in their home or in their shop is one of the big appeals for fans 10 MUSIC Lots of Canadians are who follow these guys.” finding extra money in And just as appealing is the 11 SAVAGE LOVE the mail. thought that, while you’d be lost on 7 URBAN LIVING a track on the pro circuit, you could Dr. Bonnie Henry conceivably compete against one of discusses retail and 10 WINE your idols in iRacing. restaurant issues.

How much you choose to spend to e Services BCREA predicts deep join the regular online action is entirerecession followed by ly up to you. Those on a budget need 11 CLASSIFIEDS higher home sales. only a PC and a basic wheel-and-pedal set that starts around $200. If you’re Podcaster Joe Rogan one of those who like to live large with hasn’t given up on a Samsung CRG9 ultra-wide gaming Vancouver. monitor, Heusinkveld Sprint pedals, Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly and a WRC racing seat, well, start Volume 54 | Number 2726 COVID-19 outbreak looking for sponsors.

1635 West Broadway, CLASSIFIEDS: in East Van chicken Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 T: 604.730.7060 “It’s very similar to real-world ra- T: 604.730.7000 factory infects 28.

E: classads@straight.com cing in that you can spend as much as F: 604.730.7010 gs.info@straight.com SUBSCRIPTIONS: you want to spend,” Bobbitt says with E:straight.com 604.730.7000 GeorgiaStraight a laugh. “Some of the fancy rigs you’ll DISPLAY ADVERTISING: DISTRIBUTION: see on the broadcasts are probably T: 604.730.7020 604.730.7087 @GeorgiaStraight running upwards of a $100,000—the F: 604.730.7012 E: sales@straight.com @GeorgiaStraight big, full-motion rigs. But that doesn’t necessarily make you more competitive or make you faster. Timmy Hill, who’s a NASCAR driver, won one of our races. He was in an iRacing race PUBLISHER GRAPHIC DESIGNER where everyone had top-team equipBrian Kalish Miguel Hernandez ment, and he won with a wheel he FOUNDING PUBLISHER PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR bought 10 years ago that was clamped Dan McLeod Mike Correia to his computer desk. Really expensive EDITOR SALES DIRECTOR rigs adds to the immersion, but they Charlie Smith Tara Lalanne don’t change how you drive.” g SECTION EDITORS ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

1 2 3 4 5

Janet Smith (Arts/Entertainment/Style) Brian Lynch (Books) Mike Usinger (eSports/Liquor/Music) SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy ASSOCIATE EDITORS Gail Johnson (Health/Food/Wine) John Lucas (Cannabis) STAFF WRITERS Carlito Pablo (Real Estate) Craig Takeuchi SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Jeff Li

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2 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020

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HELP REDUCE THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 TAKE STEPS TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19):

Follow the advice of your local public health authority.

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Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

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APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 3

CANNABIS

Village Bloomery eyes new East Van location

by Carlito Pablo

Village Bloomery founders Jeremy Jacob and Andrea Dobbs have filed a development permit for a store on East Hastings Street. Photo by Travis Lupick

KNOW YOUR WATERING TIMES Lawn sprinkling regulations are in effect starting May 1.

RESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES Even-numbered addresses: Wednesday and Saturday mornings, 4 am – 9 am Odd-numbered addresses: Thursday and Sunday mornings, 4 am – 9 am NON RESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES Even-numbered addresses: Monday mornings, 1 am – 6 am; Friday mornings, 4 am – 9 am Odd-numbered addresses: Tuesday mornings 1 am – 6 am; Friday mornings 4 am – 9 am Water wastage, such as watering roadways and sidewalks, is prohibited at any time.

Watering outside of the permitted days and hours for your address or wasting water may be subject to a $250 fine.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: vancouver.ca/waterwise or phone: 3-1-1 Visit: vancouver.ca Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1 4 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020

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he Vancouver company known in the cannabis business as Village Bloomery is looking at East Vancouver for a new location. The firm Village Collaborative Inc. has filed a development application with city hall for a store at 3450 East Hastings Street.

Founded by Andrea Dobbs and Jeremy Jacob, the Village Bloomery currently operates at 1540 West 2nd Avenue, near Granville Island.

The cannabis retailer submitted an operational letter as part of its development application with the city.

In the letter, the Village Bloomery describes itself as a “legacy” retailer.

According to the company, it has been around since 2015 and opened its fully licensed operation near Granville Island in August 2019.

“Village became a pillar in the community, both as a resource for those seeking better health and

wellness, and as an advocate for regulatory and social change in the sector,” the company declared.

In 2017, Vancouver cannabis writer Bethany Rae included Village Bloomery in a Straight.com article about pot shops that she would send her mother to visit.

A cannabis retailer previously occupied the Village Bloomery’s proposed East Hastings location, which is east of Hastings Park.

The public has until April 30 to submit its comments to the city about the application. g

MORE CANNABIS ONLINE AT CANNCENTRAL.COM

COVID-19 complicates lives of cannabis users

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by Sarah Leamon

he COVID-19 crisis has turned life upside down for most Canadians.

Social distancing and selfisolation have vastly altered our daily realities. It has made simple things, like getting groceries and medication, much more complicated. Strict isolation requirements mean that many are heavily relying on delivery services in order to meet basic needs.

However, Canada Post has also altered its policies and regulations in response to the crisis.

It will no longer be delivering packages that require personal interaction, such as a signature and age verification. This is an effort to minimize contact, and the potential for transmission, between individuals.

While this seems like a prudent step in the fight against COVID-19, it presents an extra layer of complication—and risk—for cannabis users.

After all, cannabis products delivered by mail ordinarily require these now-restricted person-to-person deliveries, which means that Canada Post will not be delivering them to Canadians for the foreseeable future.

Instead of receiving online orders at their doors, Canadians can now expect to receive a notice card with the address of the post-office location where their product is being held and instructions for picking it up. They will then be required to leave their home, travel to the post office, and interact with a Canada Post employee for the purpose of picking up their parcel.

This poses a clear and unnecessary risk to the community and to the individuals themselves.

After all, many cannabis users are medicinal users. They often have complicated medical issues. Just going outside on a regular day can present difficulties to someone suffering from chronic pain, terminal illness, immobility, or immunosuppression—let alone going outside during a pandemic.

It leaves many medicinal cannabis users in a precarious position. They are forced to choose between access to essential medication and the risk posed

Lawyer Sarah Leamon says medicinal users should receive their weed at home.

by journeying into an unsafe world.

Without proper access to cannabis, medicinal users will suffer. They are legally entitled to their medication.

This was recognized by our lawmakers six years ago, when the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations came into effect, providing access for patients who have been prescribed cannabis to treat a variety of medical conditions.

But complications around the COVID-19 pandemic are putting these rights at risk.

To make a hazy situation even hazier, the definition of essential services is somewhat open to interpretation from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, causing some cannabis users to wonder whether they will have access to a legal supply while waiting this pandemic out.

Although grocery stores, gas stations, banks, and traditional pharmacies have been deemed essential services, cannabis dispensaries occupy a more uncertain space, depending on the jurisdiction.

While dispensaries in B.C. remain open—for now—certainty in access becomes more precarious with each passing day. If the situation worsens, sales could be largely moved online.

If this occurs, cannabis users will find themselves back at square one— stuck in a sticky situation, and forced to choose either to survive without their medicine or to put themselves and others in harms’ way. g Sarah Leamon is a criminal defence lawyer in Vancouver. She also chairs the PACE Society board in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

REAL ESTATE

HEALTH

Demand for office space might tank Pandemic affects LGBT Canadians more—survey

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by Carlito Pablo

here may be less demand for additional office space even as businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CEO of a Greater Vancouver office-design company laid out this scenario amid talk about a gradual reopening of the economy in B.C. and other provinces in Canada. Dan Boram of Aura Office Environments says that because of the experience with the pandemic, establishments are not likely to need more space.

“It’s not like this is the prediction; I’m hearing it already that people are saying: ‘Well, our workforce is going to work from home part-time moving forward anyway,’ ” Boram told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.

His company, Aura, has designed the workplaces of some of the biggest firms in Vancouver. When it comes to trends in the office market, Boram is in a good position to have a sense of what is in the air.

As companies come back, Boram said, he expects social distancing to continue. What that means is that in addition to working at home parttime, practices such as hot-desking and sharing a work station on different days or at different times could become more commonplace.

“There’s not going to be the same amount of square footage needed for growth,” Boram said, citing flexibility of use of space.

Assuming sanitization is done daily, he explained, someone may be working from home while someone else is using that person’s desk for the day. As Boram pointed out, this will relieve the “strain” on the local office market.

A 2019 year-end report by Avison Young stated that Metro Vancouver’s office market reached a “critical juncture” that year. The commercialreal-estate company cited “severe supply constraints across the region”

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by Craig Takeuchi

COVID-19 has had a big impact on workplaces. Photo by Damir Kopezhanov/Unsplash

as a major concern.

According to Avison Young, vacancy in the 51.8-million-square-foot regional market fell to 4.4 percent from 5.1 percent in 2018 and eight percent in 2017. The vacancy rate in just Downtown Vancouver in 2019 was at 2.6 percent. Tight conditions were also observed in VancouverBroadway (four percent), Burnaby (6.3 percent), Surrey (5.2 percent), and the North Shore (7.4 percent).

In a separate report covering the first quarter of 2020, Avison Young noted that the effects of COVID-19 containment measures had yet to be measured. However, the company stated that “vacancy is expected to increase from its record low in the course of the next three months.”

In that report, the company also noted that pressure to increase rents is “likely to subside for the balance of 2020”.

With social distancing predicted to continue, Lucia De Olazaval, founder and president of allSPACES Project Management Ltd., anticipates a change in the way workplaces are laid out.

“You will create more individual spaces for employees,” De Olazaval

told the Straight by phone.

She also said that reception areas for guests will change.

“For example, you don’t want to put a couch for two people to sit together,” she said, adding that lounge chairs may be desired instead.

De Olazaval noted that workplaces are expected to increase demand for more intensive cleaning services.

“Companies will have to think about implementing a way to tell their employees to, at the end of the day, put their things away, so then the cleaning crew can come and clean your counters.”

She said her Vancouver office washroom has soap and sanitizer.

For bigger workplaces, De Olazaval anticipates that sanitizing stations may become common fixtures.

Boram recalled that before the pandemic, limited space shaped conversation about office design. Talk was about using space efficiently, natural light, and “creating a sense of belonging and culture within the office”.

“I don’t think that’s going to change, per se, but the majority of office staff and users are going to look at that space so much differently now to protect themselves,” Boram said. g

anadian queer communities have a deep history of being impacted by major health issues and pandemics, and one in particular: the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the ensuing HIV epidemic.

In that time of crisis, LGBT communities showed resiliency and resourcefulness—often in the face of widespread discrimination—to take action and raise awareness.

Queer communities are now drawing upon those strengths to face the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presents.

In fact, a national survey found that LGBT Canadians are more affected by the novel-coronavirus pandemic than other Canadians. Advocacy and human-rights organization Egale Canada, in partnership with the Innovative Research Group, released a report on April 6 that analyzed the results of an online survey about how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting Canadians.

The survey found that more than half of LGBT Canadians (53 percent) have been affected by layoffs or reduced hours experienced either by themselves or by someone in their household, compared to 39 percent of Canadians.

LGBT respondents also perceived a significantly greater impact of the pandemic upon their current physical and mental health, household finances, and quality of life, as well as their outlook in these areas in the near future.

Queer individuals, the survey found, were more conscientious about taking precautions against spreading the virus than other Canadians, including self-isolating (58 percent for LGBT people, compared to 49 percent for other Canadians).

That’s all in addition to the fact that LGBT Canadians are much more

A scene from last year’s Vancouver Pride Parade. Photo by Craig Takeuchi

likely to be living with a chronic health condition (29 percent for LGBT and 15 percent for all Canadians) or a physical disability (12 percent for LGBT and seven percent for other Canadians).

The pandemic poses another obstacle: how will the annual celebration of LGBT communities be held this year?

After provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said April 18 that large-scale events won’t be held in 2020, the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) issued a statement in response.

The VPS, which has been considering alternative ways of helping LGBT communities converge, will endeavour to offer a Pride Week celebration this year by virtual means.

The nonprofit VPS will be contacting all partners, vendors, and parade participants to inform them of this year’s plans.

Both Pride Toronto and Fierté Montréal will be offering alternative festivities.

As VPS executive director Andrea Arnot stated: “Pride can’t be cancelled.” g

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The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.

FINANCE

Pandemic exposes economic precarity

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by Charlie Smith

Scan to confess Covid 1984 Ever read 1984? You people asking for lockdown and rejoicing in the snitching of neighbours and consider opinions that don’t line up with govt orthodoxy as ‘subversive’ and dangerous fail to see you are becoming the authoritarian state. The govt is accountable for the people not the other way round. Remember what our grandparents fought for or we are doomed.

Liking the new Vancouver The roads have few cars, the sidewalks have space, the $300,000 Lambos are gone, the obnoxious 2am drivers leaving downtown yelling are gone, the beaches are spacious, shopping is dead, this is a Vancouver I really like. I feel a calm that I haven’t felt in years here.

What matters One unintended consequence of this pandemic that I never saw coming is how it has laid bare those things that don’t really matter. I don’t need to eat out at a different restaurant every night. I don’t need to shop for new clothes continuously. I don’t need to go to a physical place of work to do my job. I do, however, need to be responsible for feeding and providing for myself. For having meaningful connections with others. And for taking responsibility for getting my work done on my own time. The old structures are falling away.

Screw it I’m done with sending texts to people that don’t reply back. I was just being kind and wanted to say hello. Oh I noticed you have time to tweet or post on Facebook, yet you don’t have time to answer my text. But that’s none of my business.

Visit

to post a Confession

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < BIRD LADY FOR BIRD LADY

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: APRIL 15, 2020 WHERE: Livia Bakery

You were waiting behind me at the bakery take-out window and we spoke about setting up birdhouses outside of our apartments. I shared some of the birdseed I had just picked up from a too-big bag and I wish I would have shared my number, too! I think you’re a mega babe and I’d love to go on a bike ride with you sometime!

LIQUOR STORE GUY

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 18, 2020 WHERE: Marpole Liquore Store on Oak Saw you in a liquor store in Marpole and it seemed like you were checking me out, and then ended up in the line behind me. If you remember the girl in the orange sweater (I was stocking up on a lot of booze) and want to grab a beer sometime after this whole virus thing blows over let me know!

I SAW YOU TWICE. ROUND THREE, POST-DISTANCING?

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 17, 2020 WHERE: CanWest Vets

I first saw you when I brought my dog in. You’d just left the desk as I walked up, taking my breath with you. Who are you?! Scrubs, stethoscope, blonde, those eyes, total babe. I was too distracted with my bestie’s predic to investigate further, and once she was sorted you didn’t make another appearance. I saw you again a week later when you brought her meds out to the lot for me. You were all masked up, but those eyes do most of the work. Be still my beating heart. I would normally have chat you up, but Covid-19 destroyer of flirtation, was already upon us.

Maybe I'll see you again.

HEY CUTE GUY ON A BIKE WHO STOPPED TO PUT HIS RED JACKED ON!

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: APRIL 18, 2020 WHERE: Adanac Street, just before Woodland Park (Commercial Drive hood) I was crossing the street close to Woodland Park on the bike lane with my dogo when you rode your bike past me and we had some good smiles going for a second. Then you stopped to put your red jacket on but I didn’t see that until it was too late because there were parked cars between us and I was talking to a friend on the phone. In case you stopped to say hi: Email me a pic of yourself and your fave isolation podcast, book, album or pastime:)

ON A BUS IN WEST VAN & AGAIN AT DELANY’S CAFE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 12, 2020 WHERE: Bus from Van to West Van / Delany’s cafe I was in the very back corner next to a woman with a huge bouquet of flowers. You got on the bus in Vancouver and sat facing me. You were wearing hikers, a blue wool sweater, and white and blue earbuds. We made eye contact and I thought I’d like to speak to you if we get off the bus at the same stop. You stayed on all the way until about 18th in West Van. When you got off, I thought I missed my chance. I was going to 24th and would be at an appointment for nearly 2 hours. When my meeting was done I went to delany’s cafe. Low and behold there you were again! Working on your laptop, with your ergonomic mouse. I couldn’t hardly believe it. I was sitting behind you working on my laptop, I tried to find a good time to speak to you again but didn’t. We ended up leaving at the same time, but you were wearing your earbuds again and I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt you. We both ended up walking along the sea wall.

Contact me if you would allow me to try again at the cafe. :)

LISTENING TO MUSIC ON THE 100 BUS

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 12, 2020 WHERE: Marine Drive Station I was waiting on the 100 22nd Ave bus at Marine Drive station listening to music on my headphones. You got on the bus and we made eye contact briefly. You sat next to me and were on your phone and then listening to music. You smiled when I got up to leave. I regret not saying hi when you sat beside me. Let me know if you somehow see this!

LYNN CANYON BEAUTY

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: APRIL 17, 2020 WHERE: Lynn Canyon

We passed each other running in Lynn Canyon this morning near Inter-River Park, you had a white sweater on and had a big white dog with a muzzle. I commented how beautiful the dog was but was really thinking how pretty you were! I dont make a habit of chatting up strangers in the woods lol but should’ve started a conversation, you were friendly too... long shot, I know, but maybe you’ll see this someday :)

ENGLISH BAY BEACH GREEN HAIR/GREEN JACKET BABE ON A BIKE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: APRIL 5, 2020 WHERE: English Bay - West End You: On a bike but had stopped at a bench in front of a way-toobusy English Bay beach on Sunday. You had a helmet on but I could see (I think) green streaked hair underneath, and you had a green jacket on. You stared at me for a few seconds... Me: Beard, long hair tied back into a man-bun, Canucks jersey, carrying a Stephen King novel with me. Note: I am NOT a sports bro and you don’t look like that type at all, I just happen to be into the Canucks but have a wild array of other interests including progressive politics, art and music.

Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ 6 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020

s a 31-year-old running an online retail business, Brandon Heng normally doesn’t get involved in political issues. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed that overnight.

The East Vancouver millennial decided to launch an online petition after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on March 25 that his government was creating the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. It provides $2,000 per month over four months for people who lost income as a result of the health crisis and who don’t qualify for employment insurance (EI).

Heng objected to a rule that anyone who made money on the side wouldn’t be eligible for the CERB. “It was kind of this all-or-nothing approach where you qualify—you get $2,000 a month—but if you make anything at all, you get nothing,” Heng recalled in a phone interview with the Straight.

Heng, who studied business, described this as a “moral hazard”. That’s an economics term to describe a situation in which one party has an incentive to take unusual risks in a desperate attempt to earn a profit. Heng felt that the CERB was encouraging Canadians to be dishonest and underreport their real income. “The idea of having a moral hazard is just a huge pet peeve for me,” Heng said.

He’s feeling the effects of the pandemic. He can’t get inventory from local distribution centres that have temporarily shut down. His brother, an actor, has lost his job.

Much to Heng’s surprise, his petition gathered more than 100,000 signatures. Around the time it crossed that threshold, Trudeau decided to amend the CERB to allow Canadians to collect $2,000 per month even if they earned up to $1,000 in any given month. It was a significant victory.

“Constituents around the country probably mentioned it to their MPs,” Heng surmised. “It’s not a perfect solution, but I think it’s pretty good.”

He received some help from the NDP MP for Vancouver East, Jenny Kwan, who has heard no end of horror stories about the economic impact of COVID-19. Kwan told the Straight by phone that a key aspect of her job is amplifying her constituents’ voices.

Under normal circumstances, she would have held a news conference and invited Heng and other East Van residents to voice their concerns about the CERB. But she was unable to do this when everyone was under lockdown.

Instead, Kwan asked Heng and others to create videos telling their stories, which she distributed to the media.

“The credit really goes to the people who were willing to go the extra mile: to have the courage to speak up and speak out,” Kwan said. “It’s not an easy thing for a lot of people to undertake.”

The MP revealed that her office has been deluged with thousands of emails and calls from constituents who are suffering economically as a result of the pandemic. She described the onslaught of messages as “absolutely breathtaking”, and unlike anything she has experienced in her 27 years as an elected politician in Vancouver.

Kwan pointed out that people in the creative community face challenges, even in the best of times, because they rely on contracts to keep food on the table. “But with the pandemic and knowing that the contracts that they hope to get down the road may not be realized, they’re in a particularly difficult situation,” she said.

It’s not just artists who are suffering.

Kwan also cited several other examples, such as two women living together who used to earn more than $74,000 per year. They felt that they were firmly ensconced in the middle class, living a fairly comfortable life with sufficient salaries to rent a decent home.

In March, the Canadian economy contracted by approximately nine percent, according to Statistics Canada, as more than a million people lost their jobs, including this couple.

“All of the sudden, with this financial hit, they realize they can’t

East Van entrepreneur Brandon Heng launched a successful campaign to ensure that those in the gig economy will receive the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

make rent,” Kwan revealed.

She said that when one of the women came to her, she was stressed about having to move in the middle of a pandemic. Because the province has banned evictions, they can remain in their home—for now.

It’s not just tenants feeling the heat.

As of April 16, Canadian banks had processed more than 670,000 mortgage deferrals or skipped payments, according to the Canadian Bankers Association. Almost 290,000 requests had been submitted to defer creditcard payments. Here in Vancouver, Vancity informed the Straight that it has processed approximately 6,000 loan deferrals for members as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kwan shared the story of another constituent. He quit his job on March 13 because he was suffering flulike symptoms, yet his employer was insisting that he show up to work.

“He decided he shouldn’t go to work to infect people,” Kwan said.

“He wasn’t sure he had COVID, but he had symptoms.”

Because this constituent resigned, Kwan believes that he’s in a “grey area” when it comes to the CERB. NDP politicians persuaded the Liberals to amend the language to say that people should not be unduly penalized if they apply for this benefit in good faith.

The average Canadian is not that far away from being homeless.

– college instructor Kathleen Piovesan

“It is the everyday people who are sharing their stories, who are contacting my office, who are letting us know what this situation is like in unbelievable detail so that we can provide assistance to them and to advocate for the program changes,” Kwan said. “They’re teaching us great lessons in the process.”

Less than a week before the World Health Organization declared there was a pandemic, Equifax Canada released its latest statistics on consumer debt, which rose 4.4 percent in 2019.

The average debt per Canadian consumer reached $72,950 last year. Nonmortgage debt, including credit cards and lines of credit, rose one percent on the year to reach $23,800 nationally and $24,851 in British Columbia.

Kwan and her NDP colleagues believe the time has come to remake the social safety net to alleviate the widespread stress created by high debt levels and economic precarity.

They support introducing a guaranteed annual income, providing each adult with $2,000 per month and an additional $250 per child. Kwan maintained that this would ensure that everyone receives support, regardless of their circumstances. And for those who worry that the government would simply be giving away money to those who don’t need it, Kwan said that it could be clawed back by the Canada Revenue Agency at the end of the year.

“The people who shouldn’t get it will have to repay it. That’s fine,” she said. “For the people who need it, they wouldn’t have to go through this long waiting period and have this anxiety about not qualifying.”

Kwan is not alone in supporting a guaranteed annual income. One of its biggest boosters is former Conservative senator Hugh Segal. Another is former left-wing Vancouver city councillor Tim Louis.

College instructor Kathleen Piovesan is a member of Livable Income Vancouver, a women-led group of volunteers who believe that all human beings have the right to live without the fear of poverty. In a phone interview with the Straight, Piovesan said she became interested in this issue while working at a transition house for battered women. She witnessed how those who might want to leave abusive marriages knew they were doomed to living far below the poverty line if they had to rely on income assistance.

“To my mind,” Piovesan said, “a guaranteed livable income addresses many of the problems we have in our current income-assistance system, as well as recognizing that poverty is, overwhelmingly, not an issue of moral or character failure.”

Piovesan doesn’t want to minimize the magnitude of the current crisis. Her partner is in the eventplanning business, which has gone kaput for now. But like Kwan, Piovesan also believes that COVID-19 is exposing structural weaknesses that affect large numbers of people.

“The sorts of economic uncertainties and stresses that we are seeing are exaggerated versions of what was already there,” she noted. “The average Canadian is really not that far away from being homeless and being unable to pay the fundamental bills on a monthly basis.”

Most analysts believe that after the health issues are brought under control—and particularly after a COVID-19 vaccine is developed— the economy will rebound. But that won’t negate the need, in Piovesan’s mind, to try to create a fairer world.

“We can all face the situation where our economic life gets out of our control because of a global pandemic, because we need to leave some sort of exploitative or abusive situation, because we face disease, accident, disability, family emergency,” she said. “So the universality is meant to be a security for every person in our society against those kinds of crises in life.” g

URBAN LIVING

Designer draws from journeys to the edge

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by Janet Smith

s pandemic escapism goes, Vancouver interior designer Karin Bohn’s new Netflix series is a bingeworthy mix of three now-off-limits delights: exotic travel, destination restaurants, and décor shopping.

Shooting the Restaurants on the Edge series in 2019 took the interiordesign maven to locations including a quaint Hong Kong fishing village, a town nestled in the Austrian Alps, and an outpost perched on one of Saint Lucia’s highest tropical-beach overlooks.

And it seems like a world away from her, and everyone else’s, homebound existence during COVID-19.

“What a 180-degree turn,” says the creative force behind the Vancouverbased House of Bohn firm and the #Bohnafide YouTube series. “We were pretty much on the road constantly.

We shot 13 episodes in seven months.

We’d be on the road for nine or 10 days and then home for four or five. It was exhausting but super exciting at the same time. You’d be flying to the Caribbean, and then back for a few days and off to Finland. You would never know what time zone you were in. I was travelling a lot. My husband’s a pilot and we were saying I was flying more than he was!”

In the series, Bohn, whose chic-hip eatery designs here include Anh and Chi and Virtuous Pie, joins chef Dennis Prescott and restaurateur Nick Liberato to help far-flung, failing restaurants revive their businesses with local and personal touches. What most of the spots have in common is a breathtaking view or location; as Prescott puts it in the show’s intro, too often out there, the better the view, the worse the food. In the Austrian episode, Bohn seeks out an antique-ski light fixture, while Prescott brings in foraged herbs

think I’ve been at home and really enjoyed my space and just experienced it as much as I have in these last five weeks. More than ever, it’s important to have an environment that really does fuel you, whether that’s calming or inspiring, and getting rid of that visual stress around you.

“It’s highlighting the special pieces, which will always stand out more when there’s nothing around them,” she adds. “I really loved doing that in the restaurants. We were always repurposing something—like taking a piece of art in the corner and putting it on a feature wall.”

LIGHT COLOURS “They will freshen up your space, and right now it’s easy to paint, put up new drapery, or put on a new bedspread,” she says. “These days, Vancouver’s Karin Bohn (with costars Dennis Prescott, left, and Nick Liberato) brings her décor know-how to Restaurants on the Edge.

I’m really liking pink, in soft blushy tones, or pale yellows. I’m working on and regional goat cheese. In Saint quirky people,” she says. “Travel is so get this done.’”

Lucia, she draws from a traditional important to being a good designer.

Having reimagined the restau- a little patio transformation now with festival’s colourful, fringe-swinging I think sometimes I can get caught rants and reignited their local flavour whites, soft greys, and pale yellows.” costumes for cushions, while Prescott in a bubble in Vancouver. Every day to kick-start business, Bohn admits scuba-dives for local lionfish and Lib- you’re dealing with the same trades she can’t help wondering how they’ll REUPHOLSTERING erato sources spiced rum for a cocktail. and networks, and being pulled out weather the coronavirus storm. “Now, On Restaurants on the Edge, Bohn “It was emotional,” Bohn recalls. of that and working hard with these with no tourism and not a lot of travel, seeks out local fabrics and repurposes benches, bar stools, and chairs for an “What was so incredible was that it people really brought me back to the you do worry about them,” she says. doesn’t matter where you are in the love and the craftsmanship.”

Coincidentally, many of the tricks updated look. “It’s way easier than you world, you’re always dealing with Amid all the fun, Bohn says, the Bohn used on her journeys for the think: you just pop off the seat, repeople who had hopes and dreams tight renovation schedule was often show apply to people trying to turn upholster them, and paint the wood.” and who are trying to make a living challenging—most memorably in their homes into more serene, livable and support their families by trying Saint Lucia, where she helped change spaces during a time when travel feels PLANTS to get a business off the ground.” a hand-built, open-air shack into a like a long-ago memory. Here are a Right before the reveal at the end of Back home with time to reflect on sturdy green, red, and yellow beacon few of her design strategies to making every episode, you’ll see Bohn putting out fresh local flowers or little the experience, Bohn says the adven- overlooking a postcard-pretty bay. a space work during lockdown: potted plants as accents. tures opened her eyes to the possibil“Most of the crew and trades we “I have three new plants in my livities of design, whether she was learn- worked with spoke broken English— DECLUTTERING ing how to hammer a metal cowbell and the tools they had! They had a An ongoing theme on Restaurants ing room,” she says. “One is a mini in Austria or to craft red-earth pot- rusty machete for the demo,” recalls on the Edge is paring down knick- orange tree, and I love it. It actually tery in Costa Rica, using her bare feet Bohn. “We were ripping apart this knacks. “It’s out with the old and in has budding fruit. I feel like there’s to stamp mud in a 5,000-year-old In- shack. It was probably one of the epi- with the things that really do bring life in my house, and it’s bringing the digenous technique. sodes where I was the most stressed. you joy,” Bohn says. “I’ve been doing outside indoors. There are also great “You come up against these I was thinking, ‘We’re never going to a lot of that for my own space. I don’t places that deliver plants now.” g

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ARTS

Musicians take lead as VSO goes virtual

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by Janet Smith

hat does an orchestra look like during a pandemic? What happens when concert halls close down but you still have a full roster of musicians?

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is finding out, as it ventures into unknown terrain. The company this week announced that, thanks to the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy and its own investment of $287,000, it was rescinding musician and staff layoffs, through June.

That means the third-largest symphony in Canada has the human power it needs to keep the music playing. Now it can develop digital and other programming to keep audiences—old and new—engaged. On April 21, it launched its VSO@Home series on YouTube, with a virtual chamber concert featuring excerpts from Richard Strauss’s Serenade for Winds and Gioachino Rossini’s Duet for Cello and Double Bass.

“We reevaluate every single day,” says Angela Elster, who stepped in as the new president and CEO of the VSO only two months before the city shut down gatherings of more than 50 people.

“Now that the musicians are ready to perform virtually, we can bring two or three of them together.…We’ll have about 10 projects released in the next few weeks.” Quality recording will be paramount, she says, as the orchestra looks at virtual chamber pieces or duets and trios performed with members sitting two metres apart.

From the start of the pandemic, the organization has activated two task forces: a COVID-19 senior-management team that reviews the situation seven days a week, and a virtual-projects group made up of musicians and some of the VSO’s senior leaders.

“We’ve reached out to musicians for ideas,” Elster says. “We have to look at what kind of equipment we need. I believe, in times of crisis, artists and musicians are driving our best material.”

It’s not that the COVID-19 crisis hasn’t hit the VSO hard. Revenues have dropped by 40 percent. Furthermore, Elster says, it’s been one of the worst times of year to be forced to shut down, bringing the cancellation of VSO spring

a new player, the conductor gets precisely one vote. It really shows he’s one of us. And this has been a tremendous opportunity for the individual orchestra members to step up. We have an opportunity for everybody to have an individual voice.”

Angela Elster stepped into her position as VSO president and CEO just two months before COVID-19 shut down large gatherings. Now funding has allowed her to bring musicians back to work.

and summer pops concerts that were once expected to generate significant revenue.

“Like all of us, we are navigating uncharted territory,” she says, “but I’ve got to say I love this organization—what I’ve seen in musicians coming together and staff uniting around the importance of music in times like these.”

Elster is relieved at commitments from all three levels of government—from the renewal of core operational funding to the CEWS. She comments, “I’m so impressed with how absolutely articulate they’ve become about the importance of the arts and the role of music,” she says. “The CEWS is our anchor to proceed.

The musicians are figuring out new ways to perform. “We’ve been working on parts remotely, and it’s been interesting putting these together from miles—or perhaps blocks—apart,” says assistant principal bassist Noah Reitman.“It’s been a very strange transition, because ultimately, for us as performers, we’re supposed to be in front of a live audience. What’s interesting is that classical music has primarily been an analogue profession: all you really need is lights, and maybe a battery for a metronome. Now, overnight, everybody has become a YouTube star.…But it may be a blessing in disguise: we can learn how to use

We have an opportunity for everybody to have an individual voice.

– musician Noah Reitman

technology online and hopefully it can entice new audiences.”

He says Zoom has facilitated meetings between the 60-plus musicians with their music director, Otto Tausk, who’s currently holed up at his home in the Netherlands.

“That’s been a major positive of Otto’s leadership,” says Reitman, who’s been hosting his own YouTube series of musical exercises on his balcony in the past few weeks (one a scales duet with bass-playing wife Maggie Hasspacher, along with their baby, Madeline, in a back carrier). “In Europe, orchestras, when they’re hiring

THE VSO HAS been uniquely well-positioned for this leap into virtual programming. It was one of the first orchestras to get livestream content online when COVID-19 restrictions hit, broadcasting YouTube and Facebook performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s fifth and sixth symphonies it had scheduled for its spring festival. Those shows, performed in an empty Orpheum, together drew more than 120,000 views, the equivalent of dozens of sold-out Orpheum shows—and a response that made the VSO confident it could pursue more online. “That’s when we realized expanding beyond the Lower Mainland was really important, as well,” Elster adds.

As another boost, the VSO last year wrapped up the creation of a five-year strategic plan, Cascade of Choice, that included launching more digital content; with COVID-19, it can now accelerate a plan that was already in the works. The strategy has been taken up just as quickly at its VSO School of Music, which now has a range of offerings online.

The digital advances being made now should benefit the organization long after the point when audiences can gather in the Orpheum or the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts again.

Meanwhile, the company is staying optimistic about moving forward with its 2020-21 season in September—though there are a few contingency plans. “We are completely committed to the experience of live performances by an orchestra,” asserts Elster.

For his part, Reitman sees the potential for classical music to broaden its reach via the digital sphere during these reflective times— even as he prepares to play live again. “We’re going to do concerts again, that’s for sure,” he says. “Now it’s ‘How can we come out of it stronger and more diversified?’ ” g

Hotel haunted by unlived lives Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel pierces geographic and moral borders

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by David Chau

8 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020

mily St. John Mandel insists she’s no seer. The recent suggestions that her novels Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel are prescient stoke her unease. Still, as coronavirus rages and stock markets crash, Mandel, who appreciates the readership and is sheltered at home in Brooklyn, wishes she wasn’t the literary figurehead of this fraught new moment.

Set in the wake of a global flu pandemic, Station Eleven brought the Comox-born author wide acclaim, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award and a place on the National Book Award shortlist. In addition to accolades, the 2014 novel was a commercial success, with 1.5 million copies sold and a forthcoming series on HBO Max. Not making light of current events, “the history of humanity is a history of pandemics. It’s something that happens to us every so often,” Mandel says today, during a phone call with the Straight. “I don’t feel like I predicted anything. But there has been a lot of strange attention in that way.

“With The Glass Hotel, I really thought I was writing historical fiction,” she continues, referring to her just-released fifth novel. “It’s about the 2008-2009 economic collapse.

That’s a weird parallel that I really wouldn’t have seen coming.”

Skilled at drawing clever protagonists and midnight atmospheres, Mandel opens this latest book with a woman, Vincent, plunging off the deck of a container ship, and then skips back through time to chart her trajectory from wayward youth to bartender to trophy “wife” and beyond. This central plot introduces a diverse cast, reeling from a shuttered Ponzi scheme led by Vincent’s pseudo-husband, Jonathan Alkaitis, a New York financier who owns the eponymous structure, the Hotel Caiette.

Prior to Station Eleven, her fourth novel, Mandel wrote neo-noirs. The Glass Hotel was a chance to broach white-collar crime and look at the dynamics of a vast, nefarious enterprise.

While the multibillion-dollar deception perpetrated by Bernie Madoff provided creative fuel, the characters, she emphasizes, are imaginary. (“I would hate for somebody who had invested with Madoff to think it’s a book about Madoff or Madoff’s real investors, because it’s really not.”)

Mandel was also interested in writing a ghost story. This grew from an idea about an imprisoned Jonathan dreaming of “the counterlife”, a phrase describing speculative outcomes, and developed in revisions. More than literal phantoms appear on the page.

“What if your life is haunted by the ghosts of the lives you didn’t live? That became an organizing principle of the book. I wanted every section of the book to have some kind of ghostliness,” Mandel says, “or some kind of way of being haunted.”

In multiple threads, reflecting the intricacies of shared and separate pasts, characters ponder alternate realities. Vincent, a former Hotel Caiette employee, wonders what would’ve happened if she’d never connected with Jonathan at the fivestar property, near her childhood home on Vancouver Island.

Installed at this point among New York’s social elite, she considers that “None of these scenarios seemed less real than the life she’d landed in, so much so that she was struck sometimes by a truly unsettling sense that there were other versions of her life being lived without her,” Mandel writes, “other Vincents engaged in different events”.

The recurring theme of bordercrossing, bolstered by sections featur-

ing Leon Prevant, a shipping executive from Station Eleven who, in this iteration, sees his fortunes shift, complemented Mandel’s fascination with the far-reaching yet seemingly invisible transport industry. Geographic limits aside, she wanted to delve into “what comes up for a lot of characters, which is the borderland—the hinterlands— between being a morally upright person and not, the way you might drift unexpectedly over that line.…The transit across social classes,” Mandel says, “that’s a line that’s interesting to think and write about. And also, I think, no less profound than transiting between countries—even more so, in some cases.”

Mandel’s books have always been smart, eloquent, and terrifically paced. Cunning and distance are prized commodities in her fictional universe. The Glass Hotel, which Mandel is adapting for television with Vancouver-based Lark Productions, subtly explores what produces and perpetuates mass delusion, and how guilt and fate impact memories and identities.

The focus on reinvention that informs her work, she remarks, stems in part from leaving Denman Island, where she was raised, to study contemporary dance decades ago in Toronto. “It was just such a revelation to be able to literally fly from one life into the next. I felt like I left one life at the Vancouver airport and landed in a different one in Toronto, and it was never the same after that.

“There was something about that that just captured me—this idea that you can become, if not a completely different person, a person living a completely different life, which can feel like the same thing,” Mandel says.

“It is something that I find myself returning to again and again.” g

APRIL 23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 9

FOOD / WINE

Project CHEF offers tips to parents

by Gail Johnson

F

Barb Finley’s focus is helping children learn about food and where it comes from.

or the past 13 years, Vancouver’s Barb Finley has dedicated her career to teaching kids how to cook. Through Project CHEF Education Society (the acronym stands for Cook Healthy Edible Food), the former teacher sets up makeshift kitchens in classrooms from kindergarten to Grade 7, many in inner-city schools, to spark a joy for cooking and to connect young people to the food they eat.

Research shows that kids’ eating habits are formed by the time they turn 12. Those who have the opportunity to explore and prepare a range of nutritious foods early are more likely to eat healthily for life.

With the COVID-19 crisis, the B.C. Restaurant Hall of Fame inductee’s mission has never been more vital.

“With limited outdoor and cultural activities, we wholeheartedly endorse cooking as a family activity,” Finley tells the Straight. “Project CHEF’s values of cooking and eating as a family have taken on increasing importance in light of this crisis. Involving the family in food preparation and dining together have many wellness and educational benefits.”

Safety always comes first (for adults and children), Finley says. Finley, who earned her master’s degree

in education and then trained at Dubrulle Culinary Institute, worked at various Vancouver and Whistler restaurants before shifting her focus to helping children learn all about food and where it comes from.

For those who might not know where to begin with their own kids, she suggests starting with the “claw and saw” method for cutting.

Funnily enough, washing dishes is a favourite activity for many kids.

– Barb Finley

Be tigerlike and make a C-shaped claw with your hand to hold whatever it is you’re cutting, fingertips curled out of the way. Hold the knife with your dominant hand and guide it in a sawing motion—rather than pushing straight down—using the flats of the knuckles to guide the knife.

“We use small paring knives in our program,” Finley says. “They are easy to handle and do the trick for almost anything. When something is too large or round, we will often break things down into smaller pieces for the kids to cut, like a wedge of purple cabbage, half an apple, a zucchini cut in half lengthwise so that it doesn’t roll around.

“Keep your knife at the top of a cutting board when not using it so you know where it is,” she adds. “Peel away from yourself when using a veggie peeler; open a pot lid like a shield to protect yourself from steam; and put your ‘chicken wing arm’ in the air—elbow up—when stirring a pot.”

Put a damp paper towel under a cutting board to stop it from slipping.

A sturdy Rubbermaid stool helps get smaller bodies to the right counter height and won’t slip like a chair can.

Being organized in the kitchen is a key part of the process. Gather all your ingredients and equipment before you start.

“We use bowls that are larger rather than smaller, as there’s a greater chance things will go in the bowl rather than around it,” says Finley, whose numerous awards include the Governor in Council Meritorious Service Medal.

“With smaller hands, many ingredients can be ripped up rather than cut: salad greens, herbs, kale, chard, cabbage, even mozzarella cheese.”

No doubt you’ve heard of this chef’s mantra: “clean as you go”. It’s one to adopt from the get-go.

Finley suggests having a bowl handy for scraps that can go straight into compost. Project CHEF also teaches kids how to wash, dry, and put away dishes. It’s part of the lesson that often yields surprising results: “Funnily enough, washing dishes is a favourite activity for many kids,” she says.

Then there’s the fact that cooking with kids might leave your kitchen looking like a food processor was left running without the lid on, with bits of food flying every which way. No biggie. It’s all about fostering a love of making nutritious, delicious food early in life, no matter the amount of

W

S plash OF WINE

Gratitude by JAK’s Rosé 2019

TECH SHEET: A collaboration

by Okanagan Crush Pad Winery and JAK’s Beer Wine Spirits, the rosé is part of a series that includes Pinot Blanc 2019 and Red 2018. Predominantly Pinot Noir and Gamay with a touch of Muscat, it evokes strawberries, Creamsicles, mandarin oranges, and grapefruit.

FIRST SIP: Pale and slightly coppery-pink in the glass, this dry rosé is even-keeled and assured with the most subtle of sophisticated peachiness. Think Dr. Bonnie Henry in her new two-tone Fluevogs. Now there’s someone to be thankful for.

NEXT LEVEL: Serve with grilled prawns wrapped in fresh dill and prosciutto.

MORE INFO: Find the wines

at JAK’s (various locations) for $21.99 each.

by Gail Johnson

ALL-TIME FAVOURITE VIDEO

WHO ARE YOU?

I’m the kid who found music hiding under his bed with an old AM/FM radio while the parents were fighting and God was watching. There wasn’t music around and it felt like a shameful thing in a religious home.

Definitely something I address in my songs. Even now in Bad Way. It seems near impossible to weed out all religious ties and it keeps poking through the fabric. Bad Way is the result of walking with my ghosts through a real tough time and learning to love myself coming out the other side. That, and a kickass band backing me! Ha ha.

FIRST CONCERT

I started super late on the music train, so I guess it would have been some punk band in my hometown at the Hideaway when I was 16 or so.

Same spot I played my first show at probably around the same time. Hell, everyone in St. Catharines, Ontario, played there. All-ages shows pretty often, and even if it wasn’t we’d sneak in through the pool hall next door

Musician Joshua Wood says a Kelly Finnigan concert last summer changed his life.

that was connected… and the food: so greasy, good, and cheap. Then they got shut down for sanitation reasons, ha ha ha. Best place a punk could ask for. It was our little skunk pit and we loved it. Anyway, it’s like a dance studio or somethin’ now.

LIFE-CHANGING CONCERT

Just last year sometime in July, I believe, I was in Vancouver at the Rickshaw and it was Kelly Finnigan and his band playing. I was with some friends and, holy hell, I couldn’t stop swaying ’n’ giggling ’n’ laughing­—just lovin’ it loudly. I was seeing the light all of a sudden and I feel it had a heavy influence on me for some time after that. It was a goddamn religious moment, ya know? Couple weeks later I found Felix Fung and Little Red Sounds studio and we cut Bad Way.

10 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020

A

s a valuable public service, we taste the latest in Lower Mainland beers and then give you a highly opinionated, pocket-sized review.

Strange Fellows Brewing Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale.

this one is “Jesus Christ Pose” and I swear it doesn’t even matter because I could listen to that song on repeat all day.

Joshua Wood

Strange Fellows’ Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale. Photo by Olga Zwart

ON TAP

by Mike Usinger

ON THE GRILL

Hedgerow delivers an oaky, earthy ale experience

flour on your floor.

by Mike Usinger “Accept that things will be messier than when you cook, but that’s okay,” Finley says. And taste ingredients as you go. “Some children will finish the equivalent of a bowl of salad before sitting down to dine and announcing they don’t like salad.”

Finally, sit down and eat together, just like Finley does at home and with all of her students.

“We set the table and dine together and talk,” she says. “Often families don’t do this anymore, but it’s such an important part of food education.

Sharing food, breaking bread together, is sharing of yourself.” g

What’s in Joshua Wood’s fridge hat’s in Your Fridge is where the Straight asks interesting Vancouverites about their life-changing concerts, favourite albums, and, most importantly, what’s sitting beside the Heinz ketchup in their custom-made Big Chill Retropolitan 20.6-cubic-foot refrigerators.

BEER

Agoria “You Are Not Alone” Directed by Hernan Corera. Super cool video. Each part of it is equal in artistic beauty and importance for the art piece as a whole. The song is trancelike and a perfect soundtrack to the amazing acting and videography. It’s unreal—a big influence when I was working out the concept and ideas around my new video for “Surrender”, my second single coming out on YouTube May 9, which was directed by Kaio Kathriner.

Who knows if Bad Way would have WHAT’S IN YOUR FRIDGE? even happened without seeing Kelly Well, I live in a “tiny home” on Gabriola Island right now, so I keep Finnigan that night. Thanks, man! things pretty minimal.

TOP THREE RECORDS Frozen lettuce. I got a frozen head Holy hell, that’s impossible… But of lettuce ’cause my little mini-fridge I can tell you which CDs have sur- doesn’t do too well at separating the vived the longest in my truck stereo. freezer from the fridge. Been there a John Prine John Prine It has been while now, just sorta seems important in there for a good year now. It’s to keep in the fridge for some reason. just too good, and when you know Oranges. I got four oranges that every word, it’s a pleasure to drive have better freeze resilience than my around to. lettuce has. I’ve had a strange thing Bacil Kill Antix Unix An Indones- with oranges lately where 2 in the ian hip-hop group I got to play a morning comes in and it’s all I want. show and do a little collaboration All the oranges. Really cold oranges. with while I was over there. Rad A burrito. Oh and I got a leftover people and super wicked tracks. burrito, which I’m about to go eat— Never been huge into hip-hop, but butter-chicken burrito from a place these cats turned me. called the Kitchen here on the island.

Soundgarden Badmotorfinger One So damn good. Yeah, I’m gonna go of the only songs that doesn’t skip on do that. Cheers! g

THEIR WORDS

“Hedgerow was brewed with Balaton Cherries and spent over a year in a 6000L French oak foudre. The result is a rich soft and sour beer with strong and concentrated cherry character. Flavours reminiscent of marzipan and cinnamon mingle with rich fruit and soft earth. Balaton cherry variety originates in Hungary and was only brought over to North America in the ’80s. They are a sour variety with much flavour.”

TASTE TEST

There’s an incredible bar in Brussels called À la Mort Subite, and because odds are you haven’t been, let’s set the scene. Think the kind of old-worldcharming European place where the yellowed walls and décor suggest 1878 chic and the 70-year-old waiters wear jackets and ties. No one will judge you if you order a white martini or a Kir, but the main reason for blocking off six or seven hours for a visit is the beer. There’s oak-redolent cherry and peach Mort Subite on tap, and raspberry Mort Subite for those who prefer a bottle.

The brilliant thing about Strange Fellows Brewing Company’s limitededition Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale is that it’s beautifully transportive. As promised, earthy is indeed a good reference point, which is to say if you want perfumed and subtle, you’re in the wrong place. The beer looks bloody beautiful—like Dorothy Gale’s ruby slippers filtered through Hipstamatic’s Akira lens and Kodama film.

Tastewise, you’ll have no problem picking up on the underlying oak notes, which have everything to do with a solid 12 months in the vat. But the star of the show is the Balaton cherries—sour, but in a way that’s deeply complex, rather than like sucking on a Warheads candy.

Add a finish with an almost winelike undercurrent, and you’ve got a beer worth leaving the house for and high-tailing it to Strange Fellows on Clark Drive, which is high praise indeed in these COVID-19 times.

DEEP THOUGHTS

The unfortunate reality is that you’re probably not going anywhere in the next few weeks, except maybe the corner store. Half a bottle in, and Hedgerow Sour Cherry Wild Ale will have you planning out your next European vacation, and not just because of the pleasantly powerful 8-percent ABV. A Hungarian Balaton cherry orchard sounds wonderful, as does a trip to Bordeaux to get a look at how foudres are made. Or you can close your eyes and imagine, without too much trouble at all, that you’re hunkered down for the day in Belgium at À la Mort Subite. And things don’t get much better than that. g

SAVAGE LOVE

What’s on the inside does indeed matter

by Dan Savage

b I WAS RAISED in a religious home and didn’t lose my virginity until the embarrassing age of 26. I was told by the church to save it for marriage, and I was a virgin until I met the woman who would become my wife at a party.

I said to hell with it; we had a onenight stand, and we’ve been together now for eight years. I’m tall and slim, and my wife is short and heavy. Like an idiot, I believed it’s what’s on the inside that matters. My wife is the sweetest, most thoughtful person I’ve ever met; I love spending time with her, but I have absolutely no sexual attraction to her. As a result, I’ve all but stopped initiating sex, and on the rare occasion when we do make love, I make her come twice while I’m struggling just to get off.

I know it’s shallow, and I know beauty is only skin deep, but what am I supposed to do when seeing my wife naked sends me into an anxiety attack? When I’m helping out with laundry, I get bummed because there’s nothing in her wardrobe I find attractive on her. Even when I look at old pictures of us together, I get extremely depressed because I know this is the best she’s ever going to look. It doesn’t help that she finds me handsome and regularly tells me so.

It’s gotten to the point where I find any woman who isn’t my wife desirable. (Including, but not limited to, her family and friends.) I should also mention that she has no interest in having an open relationship or threesome because she prefers having me “all to herself”. I don’t want to ask her to change, because she’s

Employment EMPLOYMENT Careers

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Requirements: 3-5 years of experience, Good English, College diploma. Bachelor degree would be considered an asset.

Company’s business address and job location: 2474 Marine Dr, West Vancouver, BC V7V 1L1 Please apply by e-mail: admin@eurohouse.ca

Careers

ACCOUNTANT Permanent and full time. $30 to $34 per hour 5 years or more experience.

Accountant Specific Skills: Plan, set up and administer accounting systems, Prepare financial information for individuals, departments or companies, Prepare financial statements and reports, Develop and maintain cost findings, reporting and internal control procedure, Prepare income tax returns from accounting records, Analyze financial documents and reports, Provide financial, business and tax advice, Examine accounting records.

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DOOR AID SOLUTIONS INC. is HIRING a Supervisor, garage door installers. Greater Vancouver area, BC. Perm, F/T (36 hrs/w) Wage - $ 35.00 per h Requirements: Good English,several years of experience in garage door installation, high school education. Main duties: Supervise and co-ordinate the activities of garage door installers;Create and monitor work schedules; Hire and train of new employees; Estimate and order necessary garage doors parts and supplies; Resolve work problems and customer complaints; Prepare and maintain work progress reports; Maintain records of stock for inventory control.

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perfectly happy with herself, but I’m becoming increasingly resentful.

What do I do? How do I tell her? And is there any way I can come out of this a good husband?

- In The Shallows

I WAS SO relieved to get all the way to

the end of your letter without learning you had kids. Because that means I can advise you—with a clear conscience—to fi le for divorce and move the fuck out just as soon as it’s possible to do so. Not for your own sake, ITS, but for your wife’s sake. She deserves better.

You say you’re growing increasingly resentful. I hope your resentment is directed at all of the people who victimized you. Your wife isn’t one of them. It’s your parents you should resent, ITS, as well as all the sexphobic bullshit artists out there masquerading as “faith leaders”.

You should be angry with yourself, too. While I know from personal experience how a religious upbringing can put the zap on a kid’s head, you were a grown-ass man when you met your wife at that party. You couldn’t have slept with her that night—you couldn’t have lost your virginity in a one-night stand—if you hadn’t already rejected nearly everything you’d been taught about sex. If you were capable of having premarital sex, you were capable of refraining from marrying the first person you slept with.

Your wife is gonna want to know why you’re leaving her—of course she is—but you’re not going to tell her

Construction company Turon-Business LTD is looking for Carpenters, Lower Mainland area, BC. Perm, F/T. Wage: $ 27.20 /h Main duties: Read and interpret blueprints, prepare layouts; Measure, cut, assemble, and join lumber and wood materials;Build wooden construction structures;Inspect, repair damaged framework;Install different trim items; Operate and maintain carpentry tools; Follow safety rules and regulations; Supervise helpers. Requirements: Experience 3-4 years, Good English; Education: High school.

Company’s business address: 35-5648 Promontory Rd, Chilliwack BC V2R 0E5 Please apply by e-mail: hrturonbusiness@gmail.com

Food Service Supervisor Permanent and full time. $14 to $15 per hour.

1 to 2 years experience. Specific Skills: Supervise and co-ordinate activities of staff who prepare and portion food, Estimate and order ingredients and supplies, Ensure food service and quality control, Maintain records of stock, repairs, sales and wastage, Prepare and submit reports, Establish work schedules. How to apply: By email: infopapparoti@gmail.com Vancouver, BC

Kitchen Manager Permanent and full time. $16 to $20 per hour.

3 to 5 year experience. Specific Skills: Supervise and co-ordinate activities of staff who prepare and portion food, Estimate and order ingredients and supplies, Ensure food service and quality control, Maintain records of stock, repairs, sales and wastage, Prepare and submit reports, Prepare food order summaries for chef, Supervise and check assembly of trays, Supervise and check delivery of food trolleys, Establish work schedules How to apply: By email infopapparoti@gmail.com Vancouver, BC

Baker. 3 Vacancies. $15 to $17, Permanent and full time.

Five years experience in cafe. Specific Skills: Prepare dough for pies, bread, rolls and sweet goods, batters for muffins, cookies and cakes and icings and frostings according to recipes or special customer orders, Bake mixed dough and batters, Frost and decorate cakes and baked goods, Ensure that the quality of products meets established standards, Inspect kitchen and food service areas, Operate machinery. How to apply: By email: infopapparoti@gmail.com Vancouver, BC

MARKETING MANAGER Permanent and full time. $40 per hour 5 years or more experience Specific Skills: Direct and evaluate establishments and departments that publicize activities and events on behalf of businesses, governments and other organizations, Establish distribution networks for products and services, initiate market research studies and analyze their findings, Direct and evaluate establishments and departments that develop and implement communication strategies and information programs, Assist in product development and direct and evaluate the marketing strategies of establishments, Direct and evaluate establishments and departments that maintain media relations on behalf of businesses, governments and other organizations, Plan, direct and evaluate the activities of firms and departments that develop and implement advertising campaigns to promote the sales of products and services, Plan, organize, direct, control and evaluate the design, development and maintenance of Internet and Intranet sites to manage an organization's Internet presence.

Apply at: alexvisavancouver@gmail.com

the real reason. You’re going to make something up: you want kids and she doesn’t (or vice versa); you married too young (which is true); you have unresolved childhood issues (and don’t we all). Although you won’t be able to spare your wife the pain of a breakup, ITS, you can spare her the pain of learning the person she’s been sleeping with for eight years is repulsed by her body. You can’t be a good husband to her, ITS, but you can be a decent exhusband. And to do that—to be her decent and loving and supportive ex— you can’t set her self-esteem on fire on your way out the door.

And your wife’s body isn’t repulsive. She’s not someone you’re attracted to, ITS, and you’re not obligated to find short and round women sexually appealing. But while “tall and slim” are more closely associated with conventional concepts of attractiveness, ITS, not everyone is into tall and slim. There are people out there who are into short and round, people who are attracted to all body types, and people who are utterly indifferent to bodies. Your wife deserves the chance to find someone who is sincerely attracted to her. Even being alone would be better than spending decades with someone who recoils from her touch.

For the record: what’s on the inside does count. It matters. If you met a woman who was more conventionally attractive—if you were with someone who was your idea of hot—and over time she revealed herself to be an asshole (if she was rude to waiters; if she was emotionally abusive;

SV Business Group Inc. o/a SV Yachts & Boats is seeking a Marine Mechanic. F/T 40h/w, Perm, wage $34.00 /h Main duties: Review work tasks with the Manager; Check and identify mechanical and electrical problems with heavy duty equipment, marine engines and systems, tools and machinery;Test, adjust, repair or replace parts and components; Clean, lubricate and perform other routine maintenance work;Install of new and add-on equipment and machinery on marine vessels; Report to the Manager in regards to work performed and prepare documentation.

Requirements: High school, 4+ years of experience or apprenticeship program, good English Business address and job location: 5908 Marine Dr. West Vancouver, BC V7W 2S2 Please apply by e-mail: hr.svbg@gmail.com

Child Care

Chinese Folk Dance Tutor Needed Royal Principal Ballet Academy welcomes a Chinese folk dancing teacher for our New Westminster Studio. Duties: Teach dancing, artistic interpretation, recreational lessons; prepare auditions; train & exercise students.

F/T, $38/h, 30-40 h/week. Requirement: English teaching, Min. 1 yr Chinese Folk dance college diploma Min. 2 yrs dance teaching exp.

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Mind EMPLOYMENT Body & Soul Support Groups Support, Education & Action Group for Women that have experienced male violence.

Call Vancouver Rape Relief 604-872-8212 Fertility Support Group Discover new perspectives make positive changes and learn simple tools to take charge of your reproductive wellness while connecting with other women.

The meetings provide a space for open discussion.

2nd Tuesday of each month 7:45 - 8:45pm (Sign up required) Reg & Info call: 604-266-6470 or www.familypassages.ca Genital Herpes Support Group for Women Are you living with Genital Herpes in Vancouver?

We are a group of women that draws upon each others knowledge and strength to grapple with this sometimes trying condition. Through mutual support and honest conversation we aim to address the physical and emotional health implications of this virus and how it affects romantic relationships, sex, dating & life in general. Contact: ghsupportgroup@gmail.com

if she was a Trump supporter, et cetera), your attraction to her would wither away. What you want—not what you’ll get, ITS, but the best you can hope for—is some combo of hot on the outside (subjective and personal) and good on the inside.

And the longer you’re with someone, ITS, the more important good on the inside becomes. Time is a motherfucking meat grinder, and it makes hamburger out of us all. If you prioritize your idea of hot over all other qualities, you run the very real risk of spending decades with a person who has aged out of hot and was never nice. b LONG-TIME READER asking for advice. I’m a med student. I came to the U.S. when I was 18 in order to go to college, and I’m still in the U.S. I’m 25 now and I’ve been dating my boyfriend for about three years now. We’re somewhat monogamous and have been living together for two years. I’m out as a gay man where we live, but my parents and family back in Brazil have zero idea. As you may know, Brazil has a weird relationship with sexuality.

We’re seen as, and for the most part are, very open, but our culture is also very homophobic. My BF has been pressuring me to come out but I’ve been apprehensive, considering how important family is to me.

- Fears A Massive Implosion Likely, Yet…

come out to our families because they’re unimportant to us. We come out to our families because they are important to us.

Family is important to you, and you’re worried you might lose yours if you come out to them. But you’re definitely gonna lose them if you don’t. Because to keep your life a secret from them—to hide your boyfriend from them—you’re going to have to cut them out of your life. It’ll be little things at first, FAM, but over time the amount of things you have to keep from them grows. Lies pile up on top of lies, and the distance between you and your family grows.

Before you know it, they don’t know you at all anymore and you don’t know them, because you can’t risk letting them know you. So to avoid their possible rejection, you will have rejected them. You will have lost your family. I know, I know: it’s scary. I came out to my very Catholic family when I was a teenager. I was scared to death. But if they couldn’t accept me for who I am—if I couldn’t rely on their love and support—what was the point of having them in my life at all?

P.S. No one likes being someone’s dirty little secret. It hurts your boyfriend to see the person who claims to love him prioritize his family’s presumed bigotry (it’s possible they’ll react more positively than you think) over his feelings and dignity.

By not coming out, FAM, you will lose both the family you were born into and the one you’ve created with your boyfriend. g

Gay men don’t

Is your life affected by someone else's drug use?

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Email: mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Catch his podcast at www.savagelovecast.com/.

Annoucements EMPLOYMENT Lost LOST Pair of Black frame Giorgio Armani eye glasses on Monday, April 20, in False Creek. Please call 604-566-3405 or email fmirhady@shaw.ca

EMPLOYMENT Music

WAVAW - Rape Crisis Centre has a 24-hour crisis line, counselling, public education, & volunteer opportunities for women.

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Wed @ 7pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd 604-263-7177 also www.siawso.org

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12-step fellowship of men & women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other, that they may solve their common problem and help others recover from their sexual addiction.

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www.saavancouver.org Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) Do you have a problem with sex and love relationships. You are not alone. SLAA is a 12 Step 12 Tradition oriented fellowship for those who suffer from sex and love addiction. Leave a message on our phone line and somebody will call you back for meeting time and locations. slaavan@telus.net SEXAHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Vancouver, BC For those desiring their own sexual sobriety, please go to www.sa.org for meetings times and places.

We are here to help you from being overwhelmed.

Newcomers are gratefully welcomed.

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Meet the last Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m.

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YOUR AD HERE

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Heart of Richmond - AIDS Society operates a confidential support group for persons with HIV/AIDS, or persons affected (family, friends or care givers) by the disease.

For info - 604-277-5137 www.heartofrichmond.com IBD Support Group Suffer from Crohn's and ulcerative colitis?

Living with IBD can often be overwhelming, but you're not alone! 3rd Wed of each month the GI Society holds a free IBD support group meeting for patients & their families to come together in an open, friendly environment. 7:00pm at #231 - 3665 Kingsway. For more information call 604-873-4876 Is your life affected by someone else's drug use?

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Nar-Anon 604 878-8844 APRIL 23 – 30 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 11

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