The Georgia Straight - Joy and Redemption - April 28, 2022

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022 | FREE Volume 56 | Number 2828

HOUSING VALUES Rate hikes will up the ante

FEMALE SPIES

Theatrical take on history

JOY AND REDEMPTION Playwright and actor Gavan Cheema dug deep into her family’s past in creating Himmat, a heartwarming story about a father and daughter born worlds apart COVID AWARE • HMS PINAFORE • DECOLONIAL CLOTHES • VICTORIA ANTHONY

REAL ESTATE

CONTENTS

Strathcona heritage building listed for sale at $8.5 million

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11

By Charlie Smith Cover photo by Wendy D Photography

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By Mike Usinger

15

MOVIES

Incriminating negatives sent to a photo shop propel the mystery of director Derek MacDonald’s Crazy8s short film, “Undeveloped”.

By Steve Newton

The Jackson apartment block at 660 Jackson Avenue has long been home to grocery stores.

recorded main-floor business at the location was the Costalas Costa Grocery in 1911. Wilson wrote that this “began the address’ unbroken ‘market’ tradition”. During the 1970s, Fung’s Grocery served the neighbourhood.

Wilson noted that the market tradition continues with Finch’s Market, which has an address of 501 East Georgia Street.

Finch’s Market is a local café and grocery.

“It was here on this corner in 1917 that police chief Malcolm MacLennan famously met his end,” Wilson also related about the location, which she called the Jackson Apartments. MacLennan and a young boy were shot and killed by a local man named Bob Tait in a shootout with the Vancouver police.

“There is a mosaic memorial to the fallen chief set into the sidewalk just outside the front door,” Wilson wrote. g

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COVER

Gavan Cheema’s new play, Himmat, addresses the intergenerational divide between a troubled Punjabi-born father and his Canadian-born daughter.

by Carlito Pablo

Vancouver heritage building in a storied location has come on the market.

The Jackson, an apartment building with retail on the ground floor, listed on April 13 for $8.5 million.

The 660 Jackson Avenue property is found in the historic neighbourhood of Strathcona.

It is included in the Vancouver Heritage Register as a Category B building, which means it is of “significant” importance.

As the register explains, Category B represents “good examples of a particular style or type, either individually or collectively” or “may have some documented historical or cultural significance in a neighbourhood”.

The Jackson Avenue building is associated with Edward Evans Blackmore, an architect who designed a number of buildings in Vancouver.

One of these is the McLennan and McFeely Building, a five-storey heritage structure in Gastown also known as the Canadian Fairbanks Building.

Another building designed by Blackmore was the Pantages Theatre on East Hastings Street, a vaudeville house that is now gone, replaced by a residential development called Sequel 138.

Per B.C. Assessment, 660 Jackson Avenue has a 2022 assessment of $7,153,000.

The brick building was built in 1909 and has a current value of $4,163,000. Meanwhile, the 50-foot by 122-foot lot is assessed at $2,990,000.

The Sutton Group–West Coast Realty listing states that this building at the northeast corner of Jackson and East Georgia Street contains 24 suites, consisting of 13 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom units.

Finch’s Market, a neighbourhood café and grocery, is located on the ground floor.

In a 2014 article in Scout magazine, writer Stevie Wilson recalled that the first

April 28-May 5 / 2022

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

e Start Here 13 ARTS 7 BOOKS 17 CONFESSIONS 8 FOOD 6 HEALTH 4 HOUSING 16 MUSIC 12 OPERA 2 REAL ESTATE 17 SAVAGE LOVE 10 STYLE 14 THEATRE e Listings 14 ARTS

Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 56 | Number 2828 #300 - 1375 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6H 0B1 T: 604.730.7000 E: gs.info@straight.com straight.com DISPLAY ADVERTISING: T: 604.730.7020 E: sales@straight.com

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EDITOR Charlie Smith GENERAL MANAGER Sandra Oswald SECTION EDITORS Mike Usinger (ESports/Liquor/Music) Steve Newton SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy STAFF WRITERS Carlito Pablo (Real Estate) SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Jeff Li ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER Janet McDonald

e Online TOP 5

Here’s what people are reading this week on Straight.com.

1 2 3 4 5

Concert announcements: Lizzo, Maroon 5, Flume, Classified, and Sam Fender.

Two-thirds of B.C. kids under 10 show evidence of previous COVID infection.

Erin Tolley: mayors’ offices across Canada should not be a men’s club.

City report endorses holding Carnaval del Sol at Jonathan Rogers Park.

Research shows half of COVID-19 survivors show symptoms after 120 days. @GeorgiaStraight

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Miguel Hernandez PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Mike Correia ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Glenn Cohen, Luci Richards, Catherine Tickle, Robyn Marsh, David Pearlman (On-Leave) MANAGER, BRANDED CONTENT AND MARKETING LEAD Rachel Moore SALES & MARKETING ASSISTANT/BRANDED CONTENT WRITER Rayssa Cordeiro CREDIT MANAGER Shannon Li ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR Tamara Robinson

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

3

HOUSING

Economist says interest hikes will hit mortgages

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by Carlito Pablo

BC Economics says home buyers across the country will “feel the pinch of rising rates”.

The Bank of Canada has so far raised its interest-setting rate twice this year, and it’s not yet done.

RBC economist Robert Hogue believes that the central bank will hike rates by one percent more, bringing it to two percent by the end of 2022.

Hogue is convinced that rising interest rates will be a game changer in the Canadian housing market, as this will make mortgages more expensive.

To illustrate, a one percent increase in the Bank of Canada rate translates to $526 more in monthly payments for a typical home in Vancouver.

Also, those who qualify for a mortgage will “see higher rates reduce the size of the mortgage they can get—and the price they can pay”.

As an example, Hogue noted that Canadian households earning the median income will have their maximum purchase budget reduced by 15 percent. This will cool down the market that saw red-hot activity in 2021 because of low interest rates.

“We now expect home resale activity to

This five-bedroom Vancouver home at 3239 West 36th Avenue sold for $5,899,800 six days after being listed at $5,998,000. Further interest-rate hikes will make new mortgages pricier.

slow more quickly than previously anticipated and, perhaps more important, we see prices peaking this spring as market sentiment sours from extreme bullishness,” Hogue wrote in an April 21 report.

“In this altered landscape,” the economist continued, “local markets could experience a mild price correction, partly reversing outsized gains recorded in the past year.”

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Hogue wrote that the most expensive housing markets in Canada will feel the effects of rising rates the most. “We expect downward price pressure to be more intense in Vancouver, Toronto and other pricey markets,” the economist wrote.

He continued: “This will translate into larger annual price declines in 2023 in British Columbia and Ontario. By com-

parison, we expect activity and prices to be more resilient in Alberta, where local markets have more catching up to do following a prolonged slump before the pandemic.”

Although resale numbers are projected to decline and prices to experience a “modest” correction, prospects for the Canadian housing market are not really grim.

“While it can’t be completely ruled out, we view the odds of a market crash as low,” Hogue wrote.

The economist explained that “solid demographic fundamentals will continue to support Canada’s housing market. Millennials—in their prime home-buying years—will remain a force, and growing immigration will further boost demand for housing. These factors will keep demand from falling into a deep-freeze.”

Overall, Hogue believes that rising interest rates are “likely to bring welcome changes to the market—including more sustainable activity, fewer price wars, more balanced conditions, and modest price relief for buyers.

“After the extreme price increases and heated bidding wars of the last year,” Hogue concluded, “this would be a positive shift.” g

REAL ESTATE

Home’s ghost haunts this $18-million vacant lot

by Carlito Pablo

“part of a political movement that put a stop to freeways and redeveloped the south side of False Creek from industrial to residential”.

Royal LePage Sussex listed 7290 Arbutus Place on April 15. The home is long gone from the half-hectare West Vancouver lot.

The listing notes that on the property is the “original foundation of a home”.

The seller’s agent also stated that the 63,000-square-foot lot comes with more than 700 feet of waterfront with “absolute privacy”, plus a private dock. It’s a “time capsule” into Massey’s “most impactful house project from the 1950s”.

Based on tracking by real-estate site Zealty.ca, the property listed three times between 2012 and 2019, without fetching a

buyer. Those previous asking prices ranged from $10.8 million to $13.8 million.

Massey’s former Arbutus Place address has a 2022 assessment of $11,469,000, all of which is for the vacant residential lot.

Adele Weder is the founder of West Coast Modern League, a nonprofit society dedicated to West Coast architecture. Weder wrote in the North Shore News on December 19, 2020 that Massey and Killam’s former home was later transformed by a new owner into an aviary, “damaging it substantially”.

A later owner demolished the residence.

“But it lives on in photographs—an inspiration, I’d like to think, to future generations who will call this place home,” Weder wrote. g

This unique home in West Vancouver’s Whytecliff neighbourhood was designed by renowned architects Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey. Photo courtesy Erickson estate collection.

A

waterfront property associated with renowned architect Geoffrey Massey is back on the market.

Following previous unsuccessful attempts to sell the vacant West Vancouver lot, 7290 Arbutus Place has been listed for $18 million.

Together with legendary architect Arthur Erickson, Massey designed celebrated projects like the SFU campus on Burnaby Mountain.

When Massey died in 2020 at the age of 96, that university paid him tribute.

“Among the giants of West Coast modernism, Massey and Arthur Erickson’s visionary design for Burnaby campus shaped SFU’s educational philosophy by tearing down walls between faculties, removing silos and creating common areas where disciplines merge and ideas flourish,” university president Joy Johnson said in a community notice.

SFU recalled that Massey and Erickson submitted their “strikingly futuristic” winning design for a new university in 1963.

Eight years earlier, in 1955, the two architects designed a home on a rocky West Vancouver waterfront outcrop for artist Ruth Killam. This was 7290 Arbutus Place, and the residence became known as the KillamMassey House after the two married.

The arthurerickson.com site, dedicated to Massey’s renowned former architectural partner, provides a history of the North Shore home.

“The house was originally designed for a bachelor lady artist, and consisted of the kitchen, living room, master bedroom, guest bedroom, bathroom, and studio,” the site says. “Subsequent to the construction

of the house, architect Geoffrey Massey married the artist and over the years, due to four children, considerable additional space was required. This consisted of a playroom and laundry to the east of the living room, and three bedrooms and a bathroom were added on the northeast corner.

“In addition,” the account continues, “a greenhouse was constructed on the north end outside the kitchen.”

Canadian Architect magazine said that Massey was elected city councillor in Vancouver in 1972. He served in the position for two years. “During that period, he played a part in the selection of the winning design for the rehabilitation of Granville Island, by Norm Hotson and Joost Bakker, who entered with the support of their employer, partner Richard Rabnett of Thompson, Berwick and Pratt.”

Moreover, “Massey also was a supporter of Art Phillips, who was mayor of Vancouver from 1973 to 1977.”

The magazine went on to note that “Phillips championed livability and inclusivity, and under his leadership, Vancouver’s city planning came to address environmental and quality-of-life concerns”.

Massey retired from architecture in 1991; Killam died in 2011.

The Vancouver Sun noted that Massey sold his Whytecliff neighbourhood residence around 1988. Reporter John Mackie wrote that the home was a “stunning modern structure with a glass pyramid above the central living room”. It also featured “breathtaking views of Howe Sound”.

As for Massey’s legacy in Vancouver’s political life, Mackie wrote that with Phillips and the mayor’s TEAM party in 1972, he was APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

5

HEALTH

10 Proclamations for the COVID Unaware in B.C.

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by Charlie Smith

ecently, it dawned upon me that I’m part of an informal club.

It’s not very large, unfortunately. And it includes a minuscule number of journalists and elected officials.

They’re far outnumbered in this club by doctors, other healthcare workers, teachers, parents of young children, people with disabilities, and intellectuals.

The club doesn’t have a name. A little while ago, Victoria journalist Rob Shaw referred to us as the “fringe”. I prefer the names “COVID Conscious” or “COVID Aware” or “COVID Sensible”. With any one of these names, we could label those who don’t belong to the club as COVID Unconscious or COVID Unaware or COVID Senseless.

Right now, I would put all but two MLAs in the B.C. legislature in the COVID Unaware camp. The exceptions are B.C. Green MLAs Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen, whom I would characterize as COVID Aware.

The COVID Aware share similar beliefs, which are rooted in papers published in reputable scientific journals.

A very long time ago, Moses received the 10 Commandments, which offered guidance to his people on how to live ethically and responsibly.

In that spirit, I’ve listed 10 Proclamations below from the COVID Aware. These are intended to offer guidance to politicians, media, and labour leaders who want to prevent unnecessary deaths and disability.

Stressed-out healthcare workers tend to be far more COVID Aware than most members of the B.C. legislature, who endorse policies that spread infections. Photo by Fernando Zhiminaicela.

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1. COVID-19 is not only a respiratory illness. It’s a vascular disease that presents initially as a respiratory problem or with no symptoms. In some cases, it triggers immune responses leading to a range of serious problems, including brain injury, heart attacks, strokes, organ damage, and onset of diabetes.

COVID-19 also damages blood vessels in children, even if they are asymptomatic.

2. The most common way COVID-19 is transmitted is through tiny airborne particles carrying the virus, which hang in indoor air for minutes or even hours after an infected person has been present.

3. People are getting reinfected with COVID-19, which means that achieving herd immunity is impossible.

4. The B.C. government has adopted a mass-infection policy. This became clear with the lifting of a provincewide mask mandate, which we believe will lead to unnecessary deaths and disability. The massinfection policy is being bolstered by not testing for COVID-19 in a meaningful way, putting COVID-19 patients alongside uninfected people in hospitals, and not reporting COVID-19 deaths and intensive-careunit cases in real time (i.e., every day).

5. A B.C. government mass-infection policy will undermine the economy as more workers and managers call in sick, go off work on disability, or die, due in part to the shockingly high prevalence of long COVID. 6. A B.C. government mass-infection policy will inflict long-term damage on the healthcare system as workers burn out and people will be forced to wait much longer for other treatments and procedures.

7. A B.C. government mass-infection policy is particularly dangerous for young children who have far lower rates of vaccination than the general public. We believe that it’s especially asinine to remove a mask mandate in elementary schools, given the effect that long COVID can have on people’s mental capacities. We’re exasperated by the COVID

Unaware’s opposition to HEPA filters and Corsi-Rosenthal boxes in classrooms.

8. We agree with B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender that the lifting of a provincewide mask mandate discriminates against families with immunocompromised members, seniors, and marginalized members of society. We’re appalled that the COVID Unaware—including the entire caucuses of the B.C. NDP and B.C. Liberal party—don’t appear to be troubled by this discriminatory action.

9. In the midst of policies that will inevitably lead to more death and disability in our province, we’re shocked and appalled by the silence of leaders in the labour movement. We’re also disgusted by how casually this is being treated by news directors and editors of large media outlets, who have the power to wake the public up to the magnitude of the problem.

10. We want the B.C. government to appoint a provincial health officer who will speak up for the immunocompromised, including transplant recipients, whose lives have been made a living hell by provincial policies around COVID-19.

We also believe that trust in the B.C. government is essential if we’re going to prevent future waves of COVID-19. But trust is a two-way street.

We have to trust that our B.C. government is truly following the science. We’ve seen little evidence of that in a multitude of areas, including how the virus is being transmitted and even the very nature of what COVID-19 is—a vascular disease and not simply a respiratory illness.

We can only truly trust the B.C. government when it explicitly, repeatedly, and publicly acknowledges that the most common way COVID-19 is transmitted is through tiny airborne particles hanging in indoor air for minutes or hours after an infectious person has been there. see next page

BOOKS

Indie booksellers will celebrate their special day

B

by Charlie Smith

lack Bond Books president Cathy Jesson has many fond memories from the annual TED conferences in Vancouver. For the past nine years, her company has been setting up a pop-up store at the Vancouver Convention Centre as TED’s official on-site bookseller. The Black Bond Books staff not only get to watch the lectures on-screen for free in real time but they’ve also served some famous visitors.

One year, Jesson recalled, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dropped by. Another year, Monica Lewinsky came to the counter with a stack of books.

“She was just the nicest, nicest person,” Jesson told the Straight by phone a few days after this year’s conference. “Her talk the next day was really, really good.”

At this month’s TED conference, her company sold an Annie Leibovitz book of photographs for $8,000 and a book of David Hockney’s art for $4,500. She didn’t disclose the buyers’ identities.

“So many of these people [at the conference] are in tech but, boy, they buy a bunch of books,” Jesson said.

In 1963, Jesson’s mother launched Black Bond Books in Brandon, Manitoba, and opened her first B.C. store in White Rock in 1977. Jesson and her siblings followed her to B.C. as the family opened more outlets in the Fraser Valley.

The company now owns six bookstores

in the Lower Mainland, including the Book Warehouse outlets on West Broadway and Main Street in Vancouver.

Jesson revealed that she was only 13 years old when she started working in her mother’s bookstore because she disliked babysitting. Recently, Jesson took on a new partner in the company—her adult daughter Caitlin, who runs the Book Warehouse store on West Broadway. Jesson said that there are many other women who head independent bookstores across the country.

On Saturday (April 30), Black Bond Books and Book Warehouse will celebrate the second annual Canadian Independent Bookstore Day along with Kidsbooks, Banyen Books, Indigenous-owned Iron

This has not occurred, even though we’re into the third year of the pandemic.

We can also only trust the B.C. government when it gets real about long COVID. Only when these things happen will we believe that those who have the power to save a large number of lives are COVID Aware.

We were thrilled when the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Alondra Nelson, joined our club last month when she issued a statement entitled “Let’s Clear the Air on COVID”.

Two weeks later, the White House

issued a memorandum on addressing the long-term effects of COVID-19.

“More than 200,000 children in the United States have lost a parent or caregiver to the disease,” President Joe Biden said. “Each soul is irreplaceable, and the families and communities left behind are still reeling from profound loss.”

We’re reeling from profound loss here in B.C. But we’re also furious that so little is being done by the COVID Unaware to prevent more of these tragic losses in the future. g

Black Bond staff, including Caitlin Jesson (left) and mother Cathy (right), are regulars at TED.

Dog Books, and hundreds of other retailers across the country.

According to the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association (CIBA), participants will be offering customer giveaways and discounts. Anyone who buys a book from a Canadian independent bookstore on that day will be eligible for one entry in a contest offering gift certificates of $250, $500, and $1,000. Those who buy books written or illustrated by Canadian creators will receive two entries. The winners will be selected on May 2.

“Customers came out and supported us last year,” Jesson recalled. “I think we’re back bigger and better this year.”

Jesson is a CIBA cofounder and board

member. According to her, the retail book business has held up remarkably well during the pandemic.

“We didn’t know whether our customers would continue to support us or if they would go the easy route, which is just to click and collect,” Jesson said. “They’ve supported us in amazing numbers.”

In fact, she added, last year was one of the strongest years on record for Black Bond Books.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a customer come in and say, ‘I don’t think you’ll have this but…’ and the number of times we do,” Jesson noted. “Just because you’re smaller doesn’t mean you don’t have the selection. It’s maybe just a little more curated.” g

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7

FOOD

Mayan tradition and Cinco de Mayo in spotlight

O

by Martin Dunphy

ne of Vancouver’s newest and possibly most authentic Mexican restaurants is preparing for a busy week leading up to the annual celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

Alimentaria Mexicana, which moved into one of Granville Island’s choice locations early last year and had a soft opening in July, is featuring guest Mexican chef Hugo Durán during the coming weekend for workshops and a special hosted Mexican dinner two days later.

Alimentaria, a Mexican newcomer in a city that’s been swooning over tacos for the past dozen years, occupies the spot across from the Public Market formerly held by Edible Canada, which closed near the start

of the pandemic, in 2020, after 10 years.

The ambitious eatery is one of the latest projects of the partners—Mexican-Canadian executive chef Ernesto Gomez, chef Martín Vargas, and partner Darragh McFeely—that brought Vancouver such restaurants as Nuba, Fayuca (“North Pacific Mexican”), and Yaletown’s Chancho Tortilleria.

It includes a retail shop, a takeout window, and an educational space.

Guest chef Durán made his name with his Ka’an restaurant in Tulum, a coastal town on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, where he specialized in showcasing the foods of his Mayan ancestors.

Durán, a former interior designer with no formal culinary training, started his res-

Alimentaria Mexicana is under the Granville Street Bridge. Photo by Jonathan Thompson.

taurant career with Mexico City pop-ups featuring farm-to-table dishes rooted in his country’s precolonial history. His regular travels to small Indigenous communities to research regional food plants and traditional cooking techniques paid off when his open-air beachside Ka’an became popular with locals and tourists alike.

The Mexico City native will lead twoand-a-half-hour morning heirloom-corn workshops on Saturday and Sunday (April 30 and May 1) exploring Mesoamerican culture and history, the importance of

maize (corn) in the region’s food culture, and practical uses of maize in cooking at home. Dishes containing four types of heirloom corn will be available for tasting.

Then, on Tuesday (May 3) evening, Durán will host a five-course dinner anchored in his Mayan cooking traditions. The meal will feature sikil pa’ak, a toasted pumpkin seed– and-tomato dip served with crudités; potato tamales; cured-fish tamales; seafood mixiote; and poached pear with dried herbs and corn-cacao porridge for dessert.

A limited number of tickets for all three events ($35 per person for the workshops; $80 per person for the dinner, $40 for optional beverage pairings) are available at Alimentaria’s website.

Next Thursday (Cinco de Mayo) will see Alimentaria offer celebratory takeout meals of beef-birria taco kits. Each kit serves three, costs $46, and contains one pound of the titular traditional beef dish, slow-braised in chilis and spices. Included are a dozen flour tortillas, salsa verde, cilantro, limes, pickled onions, and consommé.

Kits must be ordered in advance and picked up at Alimentaria or Chancho on May 4 between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; quantities are limited. g

Check out the Georgia Straight’s upcoming issue on MAY 26, 2022 and discover our readers favourite places to eat, drink and hang out.

Ballot has now closed for the Golden Plates contest Thank you to all our participating sponsors this year: Terra Breads, Rocky Mountain Flatbread, L a Belle Patate Vancouver, Water St. Cafe, West Coast Poké, España, Pacific Poke, Car tems Donuts, Pallet Coffee Roasters, Marquis Wines, Bella Gelateria, Memphis Blues BBQ House, Bonta Italian Restaurante, Havana, Baan L ao Fine Thai Cuisine.

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APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

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lowers are nice for a day or two, and chocolates are wonderful until the guilt sets in, but sometimes the mom in your life needs something with a little kick to get her through the day. With Mother’s Day on the horizon, spring for one of the following four gifts, and then make sure to remind her that somewhere it’s 5 o’clock, with the caveat that, even if it isn’t, she’s certainly earned the right to pretend it is.

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We know what you’re thinking, namely that tea isn’t the most rock ’n’ roll of drinks, especially if you’re looking at Celestial Seasonings’ Sleepytime offering. (You know the box—it’s the one with the bear wearing a nightgown and sleeping cap, looking like he’s just mainlined 200 mg of melatonin.) But here’s something that every bartender with their own monogrammed shaker knows: tea makes for a killer secret weapon in a cocktail.

Vancouver-based Tealeaves has become the go-to brand for five-star hotels and gold-standard bartenders across the globe.

Tealeaves Pantone Collection Gift Box features the faves of the company’s master blender, including Monsoon Chai, Earl Grey With Lavender, and Vanilla Rooibos.

Fantastically, each box also comes with a Tealeaves X Pantone booklet of cocktail recipes created at iconic spots like the Beverly Hills Hotel, Four Seasons Toronto, and Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver. Complex in the glass, yet easy to execute at home, the enclosed recipes (each corresponding to a Pantone colour) will up the cocktail game of any bartender not named Kat Stanley-Whyte. After she’s opened the box, ask Mom to whip up a gorgeously orange-hued Dreams of Sunset (aged rum, Angostura bitters, fresh lemon juice, Vanilla Rooibos simple syrup, egg whites, and Chinese five spice powder).

Not just for herself, but for the whole family, kidlets excluded. Ors he can just have a tea.

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Wayward Distillery’s Laura Carbonell has a warning for moms. Photo by Ellisa Hartman.

never you mind that favourite flask... Once you have opened this you won’t be able to stop and we’re sorry. So sorry.”

Your mother’s been warned. And she can feel great that one percent of this sinfully delicious honey liqueur will be earmarked by Wayward for the protection of bees and other pollinators on Vancouver Island. So, of course, they can help make more Krupnik.

SONS OF VANCOUVER TIKI TRIO COMBO PACK

Let’s start with the assumption that favourite things of the mom in your life include a good Mai Tai, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, the cocktail bars of Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber, and Tiki Sundays at Sons of Vancouver. Those who’ve made the trek to the North Shore for the latter know that the weekly tropical bacchanalia features house tiki mugs (created specifically for Sons of Vancouver by local artist Paul Tanner), and that they come in multiple colours, including wasabi green, mulberry purple, and sky blue.

And then of course there’s one of the big reasons to love Sons of Vancouver, namely tropical-heaven offerings like the distillery’s award-winning Blue Curacao, Toasted Coconut liqueur, and Tiki Creamer. Pick up the SOV April Fools Combo pack for Mother’s Day, and someone special gets all three liqueurs, plus a Tanner-created house mug.

Throw in an Alfred Shaheen hibiscus lei print swing dress, and the South Pacific soundtrack on vinyl, and that tiki-loving mom in your life is guaranteed to think you’re the greatest thing this side of Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii. Or Trader Vic, Don the Beachcomber, and an authentic Mai Tai. g

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APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

9

STYLE

Warrior entrepreneurs find their Decolonial groove

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by Janet McDonald

here is no shortage of heartbreak and despair in the world on any given day—whether it’s Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine or the recent identification of 14 possible residential school graves sites in Saskatchewan. These identifications with ground-penetrating radar cannot really be called a “discovery” because residential school survivors and their families have been shouting from the

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Casey Desjarlais wears a Decolonial long-sleeve shirt while her partner, Dakota Bear, sports one of their Indigenous-owned company’s black hoodies. Photo by Dee Helson Rude Gang.

rooftops and telling us the grim reality for generations.

Recently, there have been positive signs of change, from the Pope asking to be forgiven to the Hudson’s Bay Company transferring its downtown Winnipeg store back to the Southern Chiefs’ Organization of Manitoba.

Closer to home, there’s a giant glimmer of hope in the form of warrior entrepreneurs and power couple Casey Desjarlais (Nehiyaw/Saulteaux) and Dakota Bear (Nehiyaw). They are two local artists and activists who are designing clothing with messages that will resonate in the hearts and minds of Inuk, First Nations, and Métis people across North America.

Originally their clothing line was a side business. Bear and Desjarlais were busy with speaking engagements, talking to schools, holding workshops, and travelling around teaching traditions learned from their elders. Desjarlais would share things

A SOUND LIKE THIS

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C HO R L E ON I .OR G

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

604.739.0559

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

Growing up, we haven’t seen ourselves represented in the media or education systems…

– Casey Desjarlais

she learned from her kookum (grandmother) about medicine and regalia, while Bear spent time doing creative workshops with youths. When COVID hit, they had to stop traveling and performing, but it gave them an opportunity to focus on their clothing brand.

In 2020 they rebranded their line as Decolonial Clothing Co., teaching themselves everything from graphic design and marketing, to website building. An early design of Sitting Bull speaks to their identities as Indigenous people. Decolonial Clothing allows them to pass on messages, making sure that their visibility as Indigenous people stays strong. It’s a their way of promoting decolonization as their brand grows.

“It’s very powerful—we haven’t seen ourselves,” Desjarlais told the Straight by phone. “Growing up, we haven’t seen ourselves represented in the media or education systems that mould our lives.”

In an interview at their Burnaby workshop, Bear said that their clothing sparks conversation.

“As Indigenous people we are on the forefront of all the world’s catastrophes, such as deforestation and the water crisis,” Bear told the Straight. “Young Indigenous people are fixing those problems, bringing solutions and reclaiming the knowledge of their ancestors.

“Collectively elevating our voice and having it reach the masses is vital because it’s at a time when it is badly needed,” he continued. “Everyone needs to hear that, not just young Indigenous people, but for everyone to feel empowered. To see what we are seeing from an Indigenous perspective—of the way we see the world, and the way that western capitalism has brought us to where we are today.”

Bear and Desjarlais are also keen to give back. They are about to launch Land Back Records and are in the process of building a recording studio above their workshop. It is a space designed by and for Indigenous musicians and youths to create music and art. They say that a percentage of the profits will be reinvested into their nonprofit venture Land Back Society. The long-term vision is to purchase parcels of land to build healing lodges, water filtration systems, and housing so they can have a safe space for Indigenous people to go and physically reconnect with the land. It will be another way for their music, storytelling, and poetry to continue to amplify their voices.

As mentors, they integrate what they call “warrior entrepreneurship”. Mentees are not just taught simply how to run a business; instead, they learn a warrior-entrepreneurship model, centred around being an anticolonial actor. The goal is to revitalize an Indigenous economy and lift people out of poverty, thereby diminishing the dependency created through colonialism. In this way, these entrepreneurs become mentors, showing young people that they can rebuild their communities while retaining their values.

Bear and Desjarlais know that Indigenous people battle colonial mindsets wherever they go. They’re aware that it takes a lot of courage to become agents of self-determination. They feel that they are building economic power while navigating the land and taking care of the planet.

It is heavy work as partners, parents, mentors, and business owners who take care of their families and community.

“It is important to ground ourselves; we collectively make things easier for each other,” Desjarlais said.

Across Turtle Island, there is a shift happening with young people reclaiming their spirit, names, culture, and languages, and bringing it to a modern world. On every level, young Indigenous people are reclaiming how to live their lives, and to them, it’s a beautiful moment. g The Land Back Records launch party takes place on May 5 at Fortune Sound Club with performances by Dakota Bear and Drezus. There will also be a tribute to murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people and a showcase of other young Indigenous artists. Ten percent of the profits will go to the Land Back Society.

ARTS

Himmat finds joy within an intergenerational gulf

by Charlie Smith

A father and daughter, Banth (Munish Sharma) and Ajit (Gavan Cheema), forge a deep connection in Himmat through family stories that bring them closer together. Photo by Wendy D Photography.

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“There are some things in the show that are totally fictional,” Cheema admits.

The result is a deeply emotional and honest tale of a working-class father’s struggle with addiction and how his relationship changes over time with his daughter, Ajit. The father, Banth, is played by veteran actor Munish Sharma. And Cheema decided to take on the role of Ajit.

Cheema has been a producer, director, and dramaturge; she has also acted since she was five. But it took several years for her to feel that Himmat was ready to be made into a full-length play. And this marks her first professional acting role.

“At the core, it’s about relationships; it’s about redemption,” Cheema says. “It’s about unpacking a family’s history. Through that, you feel their pain. You see their secrets.

You see their love. You see their joy.

“It’s also a piece about healing—physically as well as spiritually,” she adds. “I think that’s really important.”

Himmat is not linear. Cheema explains that there’s a strong tradition of oral storytelling in Punjabi culture. And this play reflects that with humour and a lot of heart at the core.

She felt that Paneet Singh was the person to direct this story. He’s a local playwright, filmmaker, and director whose work is centred around storytelling rooted in the community that he loves and grew up in.

Singh also likes to provoke and challenge that community with his work.

Singh tells the Straight by phone that Cheema took a “really courageous step” in deciding to perform as a character similar to herself while trusting a collaborative team with leadership of the production on something so personal.

“I have written things and handed them off to folks to kind of lead creatively—to other directors, to other production teams,” Singh says. “But to be honest, I’ve never written a script and handed it off to someone else and stayed involved in the production in a really robust manner. I imagine it takes

To Cheema, the best way to combat stereotypes about her community is to show people the truth, with the goal of creating greater empathy. She also insists that although Punjabi immigrants experienced a great deal of hardship, there is so much more than that to the community.

“We’re not defined by our trauma,” Cheema says. “We’re not defined by our pain. Our people are really resilient. There’s still a lot of love and a lot of service to the community at the core.” g The Cultch will present the world premiere of Theatre Conspiracy’s Himmat, which is produced in partnership with Gurp Sian and South Asian Arts and runs from May 6 to 15 at the Historic Theatre.

JOE INK

in partnership with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs proudly presents the world premiere of

DANCE:CRAFT MAY 20 TO 22 Performances + Exhibition 7pm

2022

heatre Conspiracy’s new play, Himmat, originated in Surrey Memorial Hospital, of all places. It was there that the theatre company’s then–artist-in-residence, Gavan Cheema, would spend many hours visiting her father, who was going through cancer treatment.

Her dad was a workhorse throughout his life, labouring at different times in lumber mills, as a roofer, and as a truck driver.

“I was taken to the hospital and spending the most amount of time I’ve ever spent with him in my life,” Cheema recalls in a phone interview with the Straight. “Then he started telling me all these stories that I had never heard of.”

Her dad was born in the village of Cheema in Punjab’s Jalandhar district, half a world away from where Cheema was born and raised in Surrey. She was curious to unpack this family history, so she would run these tales by her mom and her siblings.

Much to her surprise, their versions often differed from that of her dad.

“That was where Himmat came from,” Cheema says. “I had all these stories. I didn’t know what to do with them.”

She consulted with playwright Tim Carlson, who turned out to be the dramaturge on Himmat, to seek his advice. Then she started piecing the stories together.

“There were a lot of turbulent times, but there was also a lot of joy,” Cheema says.

Her dad had certainly experienced trauma—to his body from a life of blue-collar work but also to his spirit through the pain of immigration. “Through that, I started to pull threads of how that affects relationships, how that affects addiction, and all these things,” she adds. “I started to get into some things that were a little bit deeper.”

A major breakthrough came when she gave herself permission to take apart these stories and reassemble them in a way that made sense to her. That meant adding some of her own truths, taking liberties with what she had heard, and, in some cases, simply making up aspects to improve the narrative.

a lot of understanding. It takes a lot of collaborative savvy, and it takes a real sensitivity and sensibility to do it.”

He points out that this is one family’s story—not everybody’s story.

“It’s not about alcoholism and addiction,” Singh emphasizes. “Gavan’s story is about…connecting a father and daughter against the backdrop of a situation caused by addiction. It’s a really beautiful human story. It’s told in a way that’s culturally resonant for folks who are coming from the South Asian community.”

Characters switch between Punjabi and English, but projections make it easier for the audience to follow. The play is also set in different times and locations.

SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre 149 West Hastings Tickets: eventbrite.ca | Info: joeink.ca $30 Adults | $25 Students & Seniors + s/c Performers: Heather Dotto & Joey Matt. Ceramic heads: Debra E Sloan. Photo: Michael Slobodian.

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

11

MAY

13/14

Singin’ in the Rain

— Film with Orchestra Fri & Sat, 8pm | Orpheum

Topping the American Film Institute’s list of 25 Greatest Movie Musicals of all time, this film masterpiece comes to life with live orchestral accompaniment and award-winning on-screen performances

by Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds.

ARTS

Director tweaked Pinafore by updating libretto, props

by Charlie Smith

Gene Kelly stars in Singin’ in the Rain

Hear it. Feel it.

APR/MAY

29-1

Ode to Joy: Beethoven’s 9 THIS WEEKEND LIMITED AVAILABILITY! Fri, Sat, 8pm | Orpheum Sun, 2pm | Orpheum

Teiya Kasahara

Beethoven’s magnum opus meets a gorgeous new vision from Canadian composer Samy Moussa.

MAY

6/7

Bernstein, Shostakovich, Price & Adams Fri & Sat, 8pm | Orpheum

Politics, satire, and a constant rhythmic drive are the connecting threads through this program featuring four important 21st century composers.

Timothy Steeves

MAY

Bohemian Rhapsody

20/22 Fri, 7pm | Orpheum

Sun, 2pm | Orpheum

Folk tunes and rhythm infuse this program of two great Bohemians, Czech composers Dvořák and Smetana.

David Lakirovich

VancouverSymphony.ca APR 29, 30 MASTERWORKS DIAMOND SERIES SPONSOR

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MAY 13, 14 SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN – FILM WITH ORCHESTRA PART OF

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Concert programs are subject to change at any time.

Vancouver Opera’s mounting of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic HMS Pinafore comic opera will see director Brenna Corner return to where she launched her career. Photo by Ari Denison.

A

s a theatre student and young actor in Edmonton, Brenna Corner never thought that opera would be her thing.

In a phone interview with the Straight from her home in Atlanta, Corner discloses that she didn’t really understand classical music in those days. And she felt that it wasn’t very entertaining.

Then one of her teachers encouraged her to listen to the Victorian-era duo of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, describing their shows as a “bridge” between musical theatre and opera.

“She was totally right,” Corner says.

“Gilbert and Sullivan [shows] are a bit like a musical except with the storytelling nuances of opera. [There’s] the live orchestra and the unamplified human voice, which to me brings such incredible vulnerability and honesty.”

Now, Corner is stage-directing one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s enduring classics, HMS Pinafore, a comedic shipboard love story between Josephine, the captain’s daughter, and a handsome lower-class sailor. Vancouver Opera will present this show with an adapted libretto by comedian J D Derbyshire. Rosemary Thomson, music director of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, will make her Vancouver Opera conducting debut.

“There are parts of this that will feel exactly like a traditional HMS Pinafore that we all remember or maybe have seen on television or in clips of movies,” Corner says. “And then there are parts that are adapted for a sort of more modern sensibility.”

She points out that when this opera was first presented in 1878, it was a commentary on that time period. Corner and Derbyshire wanted this new production of HMS Pinafore to resonate in the same way with a modern audience.

Some of the changes were practical, like adjusting the language to dispense with words that nobody understands or that are simply unacceptable nowadays. Corner reveals that there were also some changes in the libretto to tweak the structure and the development of some characters. And a few props have been updated for some of the jokes.

“We wanted to create a piece that felt like it represented our community and that was more inclusive,” she says.

For Corner, this show is something of a reunion. In 2014-15, with the goal of becoming a stage director, Corner immersed herself in this art form after being accepted in a 26-week residency with Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program.

Another participant in the program that season was soprano Caitlin Wood, who performs as Josephine in HMS Pinafore.

Corner’s directorial mainstage debut came the following year with Hansel and Gretel for Vancouver Opera. And Corner has since gone on to direct operas across North America, including Madama Butterfly and Stickboy for Vancouver Opera.

She marvels at how the performers in HMS Pinafore can capture and communicate the human condition so eloquently with their voices. Tenor Ernesto Ramirez plays Josephine’s love interest, Ralph Rackstraw. Baritone Jorell Williams performs the role of Captain Corcoran, and baritone Peter McGillivray plays Sir Joseph Porter.

“I love working with this company and I love working with the chorus here,” Corner adds. “They’re such an extraordinary group of dramatic storytellers and musical storytellers. It’s always such fun.” g Vancouver Opera presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (April 30) and on May 5 and 7, and then at 2 p.m. on May 8.

ARTS

Female secret agents inspire Ungentlemanly show

by Charlie Smith

Catalyst Theatre’s long-time resident designer, Bretta Gerecke, was in charge of the set, lights, costumes, and projections.

Over the course of her career, she’s won 17 Edmonton-based Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards for her costumes.

The clothing worn by characters in The Invisible is certainly attention-grabbing.

MacPherson appears in masculine attire: a buttoned-up shirt with a tie, vest, and trousers. She credits the wardrobe department for doing a marvellous job of keeping the cast comfortable on-stage even as they perform with a British stiff upper lip that extends to their collars.

“The costumes are lovely because they

The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare narrator Evelyn Ash (played by Melissa MacPherson) is loosely based on Second World War spy Vera Atkins. Photo by DB Photographics.

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he atrocities taking place in Ukraine have lent an eerie timeliness to a genre-defying show coming to Vancouver’s York Theatre. The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Jonathan Christenson’s combination of script, songs, musical theatre, and graphic work about seven female special agents sent to France in 1940 to help bring down the Nazis.

For Melissa MacPherson, who plays the narrator, Evelyn Ash, the war in Ukraine offers a stark reminder of what these women encountered 80 years ago.

“It really makes you look inside and try to find the source of empathy required to try and portray somebody like this and a situation like this where you know people are dying,” MacPherson tells the Straight by phone before a rehearsal in Edmonton.

“People are suffering now, and so it makes it extremely emotional.”

MacPherson’s character was inspired

by Vera Atkins, a Second World War British intelligence officer who was born in Romania. She spent much of that war in France, deploying other women who worked as couriers and wireless operators.

Author William Stevenson described her in one of his books as the greatest female secret agent of that era.

In The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Christenson takes dramatic licence with this history, but all of the characters were inspired by real women in Europe at that time. MacPherson points out that Atkins went to great lengths to keep her personal life under wraps, which made it even more fascinating to play a character based on her.

“There isn’t really a role that I’ve had that is comparable to this,” MacPherson says. “The way that I’ve approached her is like nothing I’ve had the opportunity to do before, and I’m just so grateful to Jonathan

for writing these incredibly complex and nonstereotypical women.”

She not only read about Atkins but she also looked to real women in her life for inspiration. MacPherson says that the courage and humanity of Evelyn has spilled into her own life, giving her the freedom to find these qualities within herself.

“Of course, any role that has some meat to it, I think, is going to inform the rest of your life because you bring your experiences to the role and then the role brings their experiences to you, in a way,” MacPherson states.

She appears alongside Kristi Hansen, Kaylee Harwood, Sarah Nairne, Amanda Trapp, Tahirih Vejdani, and Justine Westby, who play the other characters in the show.

Christenson was assisted on the original compositions by Matthew Skopyk.

The show received exceptional reviews when it premiered at the Vertigo Theatre in Calgary in 2019. MacPherson laughs when asked what people might experience when they attend the York Theatre for an upcoming performance.

“Well, I’ve never been in the audience myself,” she allows, “but I’ve heard some things [about] the effect of the music, the design, and the overall sort of splendour of the conglomeration of all these theatrical elements.”

There are seven different languages within the show, with projections offering translations for the audience.

“I know that helps people understand what is being spoken on-stage,” she says.

“Locations are highlighted. That being said, I’ve never seen it because it’s happening behind me.”

The shows in Vancouver are choreographed by Courtney Arsenault, whereas the original was choreographed by Laura Krewski.

truly inform the posture and the carriage of the person,” MacPherson says.

MacPherson says she’s amazed that all of this lived inside Christenson’s head for so many years, saying his “genius” comes through in so many aspects of The Invisible.

“He is so meticulous with his vision but also very kind,” MacPherson says of the director and writer. “And I think that comes through in the work. Everything is very specific for the production but it’s also very charged with empathy and real feeling.” g The Cultch presents Catalyst Theatre’s The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare at the York Theatre from April 29 to May 7.

Co.Erasga Presents ts

Passages of Rhythms May Mayy 119-20, 9--20, 2022 8pm

Scan for tic Scan tickets! kets!

Eventbrite.ca .ca

Venue

PAL Studio S di Theatre Th (300-501 Cardero St, Vanc Vancouver) Box Office Info

$30 Adults / $20 Students and Seniors Choreography and Performance

Alvin Erasga Tolentino Gabriel Dharmoo Kasandra "La China" / Sujit Vaidya / Gabrie Live Percussion Music: Jonathan Bernard / Ronald Ron Stelting Lighting: Jonathan Kim Costume: Meagan Woods

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

13

ARTS

Lampedusa builds empathy in a world gone mad

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by Charlie Smith

n the surface, the two central characters in Pi Theatre’s upcoming production of Lampedusa don’t have much in common. Anders Lustgarten’s play revolves around Stefano, an Italian fisherman who rescues migrants from the Mediterranean Sea, and Denise, a biracial British paydayloan collector.

These characters don’t interact, Lampedusa director Richard Wolfe tells the Straight by phone. Instead, the play goes back and forth between them with interwoven themes that seem to proceed on a parallel track.

“Both of the main characters are closed and they’ve got their shields up to protect themselves against the things that are coming at them in the world,” the Pi Theatre artistic director says. “But through these friendships they develop with these other people, they rediscover their warmth and humanity. I think it’s a beautiful sort of takeaway for us.”

The title comes from the 20-squarekilometre Italian island of Lampedusa off the eastern coast of Tunisia and just north of Libya. During the past two decades, it has become a prime transit point for many thousands of Africans and Middle Easterners hoping to migrate to Europe. In 2015, about 1,600 people died making this journey.

“We have a tendency to want to simplify everything so we can take a moral judgment on it easily, because it feels good and we’re convinced that we’re right,” Wolfe says.

However, he suggests that there’s a great deal of complexity to this issue, which is reflected in the character of Stefano, played by

And often, those people aren’t showing up alive.

– Lampedusa director Richard Wolfe

In Lampedusa, Robert Garry Haacke plays an Italian fisherman and Melissa Oei is cast as a British payday-loan collector who each reveal human beings’ capacity for growth. Photo by Emily Cooper.

Robert Garry Haacke. Even though Lampedusa residents have been hospitable to the migrants, tensions have also arisen, as they were overwhelmed with thousands and thousands of people showing up every year.

“And often,” Wolfe adds, “those people aren’t showing up alive. They’re showing up as dead bodies that have to be dealt with.”

To reinforce the mood, sound designer and composer Steve Charles incorporates music from Mali, where some migrants

came from. The playing area covers the entire floor of the Cultch’s Culture Lab. “So when the audience walks in, there will be the seats, obviously,” Wolfe says.

“But everything else is the set, basically.”

The director also points out that there’s a lot of “dark British humour” in the segments with Denise, who is played by Melissa Oei. She’s living in Leeds and doesn’t have much patience for those who can’t repay their debts.

SPRING 2022: COLLECTED WORKS Group exhibition on the potency of photography featuring the work of Larry Clark, Katy Grannan, and Andres Serrano. To May 28, Rennie Museum. Free.

dangerous war of sabotage, propaganda, and espionage. Apr 29–May 7, 7:30-9:30 pm, York Theatre.

From $26.

BLACK FEATHER Full-length dance show created and choreographed by artistic director Davi Rodrigues. Apr 29-30, 8-9:30 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $35.

ARTS LISTINGS

ONGOING

WHITE NOISE A comedy about internalized racism in which two families have dinner together for the first time during Truth and Reconciliation week. To May 1, Firehall Arts Centre. From $15. ’DA KINK IN MY HAIR A musical celebration of women of colour. To May 15, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. From $35.

WAITING FOR GARBO Curious Creations Collective presents a new musical with a social conscience about plastic in the oceans and consumerism. To Apr 29, Presentation House Theatre. $22/18/15.

INTERMEDIATE STATES Part of Capture Photography Festival’s selected exhibitions, featuring work by emerging artists Sophia Boutsakis, Jeff Henschel, Teigan Kelly, and Natalie Robinson. To Apr 30, East end of Granville Island.

SHO ESQUIRO: DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY Solo exhibition by designer, artist, and activist showcases meticulously crafted couture gowns, textiles, paintings, and photographs. To Jun 5, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. CLOUD ALBUM Exhibition features more than 250 historically and culturally significant works drawn from the collection of the London-based Archive of Modern Conflict. To May 1, Polygon Gallery.

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

THURSDAY, APRIL 28 THE SCRAWNY SHOW Standup comedy show headlined by comedian and podcaster John Cullen. Apr 28, 7-10 pm, ANZA Club. $10 advance, $15 at the door.

FRIDAY, APRIL 29 INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY The Dance Centre presents a day of free events, both live and online, celebrating the art of dance. Apr 29, 11 am–6 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. Free.

IN THE DISTANCE The Turning Point Ensemble is conducted by Croatian composer and conductor Berislav Šipuš. Apr 29, 7:30 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. $16-$35.

MUSIC OF THE NIGHT: THE CONCERT TOUR Concert celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 75th birthday features music from Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Apr 29, 7:309:30 pm, Michael J. Fox Theatre. $48-$58.

THE INVISIBLE In 1940s France.seven female SOEs (The Invisible) risk everything to fight a

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

SATURDAY, APRIL 30 TAYLOR TOMLINSON--DEAL WITH IT TOUR Standup comedian from Orange County, California. Apr 30-May 1, 7 pm, Vogue Theatre. $26.75-$146.75.

HMS PINAFORE Vancouver Opera presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic tale of forbidden love across class divides. Apr 30, 7:30 pm; May 5, 7:30 pm; May 7, 7:30 pm; May 8, 2 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

From $48.

THURSDAY, MAY 5 BODYTRAFFIC DanceHouse presents L.A.-based dance troupe performing a program of four works.

May 5-6, Vancouver Playhouse.

LAMPEDUSA Pi Theatre presents playwright Anders Lustgarten's play about two strangers finding hope and connection where they least expect it. May 5-21, Vancity Culture Lab. From $25.

According to Wolfe, both characters have found jobs where they’re “essentially cleaning up the mess left by the system and those who benefit hugely from it”.

Wolfe acknowledges that a play centred around migration and payday-loan companies may sound a little grim, but he emphasizes that this production is not going to leave theatregoers feeling battered at a time when they’re already coping with so many other difficult issues in the world.

Rather, he describes Lampedusa as a show that explores human beings’ capacity for empathy, love, and generosity.

“I think this play will allow the audience to leave the theatre feeling almost cleansed, in a way,” Wolfe says. “And they’ll feel good because they’ll see an instance or a representation of people who embrace their humanity—but discover that through their contact with others.” g Pi Theatre presents the Canadian premiere of Anders Lustgarten’s Lampedusa at the Vancity Culture Lab from May 5 to 21 (except May 9 and 16), with opening night on Friday (May 6).

ART VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR Art fair features an art runway show, artist talks, a live painting competition, and speaker panels. May 5-8, 1-10 pm, Vancouver Convention Centre West.

FRIDAY, MAY 6 HIMMAT A heartwarming narrative in Punjabi and English delving into the world of a father and daughter born generations and miles apart. May 6,-15, The Cultch. From $26-$42.

CLINT COLEY--MY EDIBLE KICKED IN TOUR American comedian and writer performs standup on his My Edible Kicked In Tour. May 6, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. $25-$31.25.

SATURDAY, MAY 7 WHITNEY CUMMINGS American comedian, actress, and podcaster performs a standup show. May 7, 8 pm, Vogue Theatre. $34.50-$140.

TUESDAY, MAY 10 THE CODE New play examines the murky line between adolescent friendship and romance while inviting viewers to question what they feel entitled to in their relationships. May 10-14, Waterfront Theatre. $24.

see next page

THURSDAY, MAY 12 XICANX: DREAMERS + CHANGEMAKERS / SOÑADORES + CREADORES DEL CAMBIO Exhibition showcases, for the first time in Canada, the rich traditions of 33 Xicanx artists. May 12, 2022–Jan 1, 2023, 10 am, Museum of Anthropology at UBC. A SOUND LIKE THIS: CHOR LEONI & THE LEONIDS Chor Leoni presents the debut performance of its new professional ensemble The Leonids. May 12-13, 7:30 pm, St. Andrew's–Wesley United Church.

WHAT IF Ballet BC closes its 21/22 season with an evening featuring three world premieres from three voices new to the Ballet BC stage. May 12-14, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. $25-$120.

DUMB INSTRUMENT DANCE: REBEL GRACE World premiere from choreographer Ziyian Kwan features dance artists Lisa Mariko Gelley, Andrea Nann, Justin Calvadores, Rianne Svelnis and Juolin Lee. May 12-14, 8 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. $34/$25.

MOVIES

Old photos are key in “Undeveloped”

by Steve Newton

FRIDAY, MAY 13 SHAUN MAJUMDER, THE LOVE TOUR Comedian and actor performs his newest standup show. May 13, 7:30 pm, Massey Theatre.

SUNDAY, MAY 15 BEST HIKES AND NATURE WALKS WITH KIDS BY STEPHEN HUI Join Vancouver author Stephen Hui for the launch of his latest hiking book. May 15, 12-2 pm, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

MONDAY, MAY 16 12 MINUTES MAX STUDIO SHOWING Justin Calvadores, Marco Esccer, Eliza Regenyi, Sarah U, and Sarah Wong share and discuss new dance works in progress in an informal studio showing. May 16, 6 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. Free, registration recommended.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 IGNITE! YOUTH ARTS FESTIVAL Eclectic festival features theatre performers, filmmakers, writers, poets, dancers, musicians, and visual artists, all aged 13 to 30. May 18-22, 7:30 pm, The Cultch.

FRIDAY, MAY 20 DANCE:CRAFT Joe Ink presents the the world premiere of an exploration of two dancers interacting with craft objects in a reconfigured theatre setting.

May 20-22, 7-8:30 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. $30/$25 students and seniors.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 JUST FOR LAUGHS VANCOUVER Comedy festival features performances by Nicole Byer, Andrew Santino, Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, Bob the Drag Queen, Natasha Leggero, Jimmy O. Yang, and Chris Redd. May 25-29, various Vancouver venues.

SATURDAY, MAY 28 MUSIC ON MAIN: SONGS FOR A LOST POD World premiere of a work based on singer-songwriter/ composer Leah Abramson’s fourth album of original songs. May 28-29, 7:30-9 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. $15/32.

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 KINKY BOOTS Tony Award–winning musical that celebrates compassion and acceptance. Jun 9–Jul 31, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. From $43.

SATURDAY, JULY 2 THEATRE UNDER THE STARS TUTS presents performances of the musicals Something Rotten! and We Will Rock You, running alternate evenings.

Jul 2–Aug 27, Malkin Bowl.

ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit events online using the eventsubmission form at straight.com/AddEvent.

Events that don't make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

Greg Rogers stars as an elderly army veteran and photo-shop owner whose world gets turned upside down when he receives incriminating negatives from long ago in “Undeveloped”, a Crazy8s short film directed by Vancouver Film School alumnus Derek MacDonald (above, right).

A

s a kid growing up in the small town of High River, Alberta, Derek MacDonald watched a lot of films. It helped that his family was among the first ones there to own a VCR. Multiple visits to the local independent video stores ensued, and things really ramped up when Blockbuster came to town.

“I spent all of my childhood watching movies,” MacDonald says on the phone from the south of France, where he lives when he’s not in Vancouver. “And the funny thing is, I watched a lot of movies that were not age-appropriate. I watched The Exorcist when I was nine, so…I got thrown into the deep end.”

Fortunately for him, MacDonald took to the world of celluloid swimmingly, and he has learned to traverse its waters with skill.

A short film he directed and cowrote, “Undeveloped”, has made it into the final six in the 2022 Crazy8s filmmaking challenge. At a gala screening on May 7, it will be shown along with others directed by Stephanie Izsak (“Consumer”), Shakil Jessa (“Imran and Alykhan”), Alireza Kazemipour (“The Gold Teeth”), Kenny Welsh (“The Faraway Place”), and Kay Shioma Metchie (“Weeds Are Flowers, Too”.)

“Undeveloped” concerns elderly veteran and photo-shop owner Paul (Greg Rogers), whose comfortable existence is hijacked when he receives an envelope of negatives to process. He gasps in shock when he views the images in the darkroom, believing he’s being blackmailed by someone. Paul contacts an old army buddy he hasn’t seen in decades, Walter (Fred Keating), who also appears in the photos. But Walter sloughs off the importance of the discovery, much to the chagrin of Paul, who vows to hunt down whoever sent the incriminating images and “teach them never to mess with me!”

The story for “Undeveloped” came from associate producer Alfredo Arroyo, who had studied along with MacDonald and cowriter-producer Tyler Twiss at Vancouver

Film School. Before making “Undeveloped” as the final project of their VFS film production program, the three collaborated on the short film “Cake”, which was recently selected for the Chicago Indie Film Awards and the Crystalline Film Festival in Toronto.

“It’s sort of about a young man who’s dealing with some repressed emotions around his relationships,” MacDonald explains. “And I’ll give you a little bit of a spoiler—not too much of a spoiler—but he realizes that his true desire is just to make love to a cake. And so he fucks a cake. “ ‘Cake’ was not that much different from ‘Undeveloped’ in terms of scope,” he adds. “It’s just that we had the school supporting us as opposed to, like, the entire Vancouver film industry, which is the crazy part of Crazy8s, I would say.”

The way Crazy8s works is 40 semifinalists are chosen to pitch in-person to a jury of industry professionals, then 12 finalists get to workshop their script with a professional story editor. Of those, six winners receive $1,000 and a production package—provided by sponsors in the local production community—with everything they need to make their short film in just eight days.

“Eight days is intense,” MacDonald says.

“It was a big challenge, but it was a pleasure to go through, especially with our key creatives and our crew. Everyone was so spoton, and everything just hummed along. It was such a fun roller-coaster to be on.”

The director believes that he “totally lucked out” getting seasoned actors like Rogers and Keating.

“Greg Rogers was incredible,” MacDonald raves. “He was such an experienced actor to work with. It was almost a little intimidating for me to work with somebody like Greg. And Fred Keating, funnily enough, submitted after we closed our casting call. He showed up in our inbox, and I thought, ‘Geez, Fred Keating.’ I know him because I worked with him on the AMPIA [Alberta Media Production Industries

Association], producing their Rosie Awards. As soon as he submitted, I said, ‘I’m not even gonna have you read.’ I just knew that he was the right fit for it.”

As far as his own filmmaking talents go, MacDonald finds it difficult to pinpoint one director whose work has inspired and influenced him the most. When asked to name his all-time favourite, he scoffs at the idea of picking just one, then—”only because I’m in France right now”—chooses Agnès Varda, a French director who was big in the ’50s and ’60s.

“She was sort of the French New Wave,” he explains. “But just her visual language, her comedic timing, I can never get tired of that. I just love her style.”

When pressed to choose his favourite director today, MacDonald comes up with a name that might surprise some people: Ben Stiller.

“If you go on IMDb and you look at Ben Stiller’s filmography, there’s more directing credits than there is acting credits. I just finished Severance on Apple TV, but he did Escape at Dannemora and all those really clever, crazy shows that are just spoton. I’m surprised to say it, but Ben Stiller is one of my favourite directors right now.”

Judging by his own impressive work on “Undeveloped”, it might not be long before people are saying the same thing about Derek MacDonald. Even before it was finished, he felt sure that the film was something special.

“You know, you’re rushing against the clock and all that stuff, and the days are long and they sort of all blend together, but I knew—I could feel it. Jeff Zwicker, our DP, and I would stand and look at the monitor and I’d be like, ‘Holy shit.’ In fact, the edit was the hardest part because we had so much great stuff to work with—which is a good problem to have.” g Derek MacDonald’s “Undeveloped” will be shown at the Crazy8s gala screening on May 7 at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

15

MUSIC

Victoria Anthony spills an East Vancouver secret

D

by Mike Usinger

epending on where you stand— eight wheels optional—Victoria Anthony has either just done Vancouver a huge favour or she’s ruined things for everyone who loves Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair and owns not just one but two pairs of Moxi Lolly Roller Skates (one clementine orange and one pineapple yellow).

The West Coast teenager’s new video for “Kinda Into You” goes the economical route, with all the action taking place in one locale: a roller rink that combines the best of the ’70s (disco balls and retrothemed quad skates), ’80s (neon, neon, and more neon), and ’90s (hello kool thing silver-tinsel curtains).

35th Annual

As for the song, it’s thoroughly modern pop with just the right amount of sheen, Anthony sounding like someone whose all-time favourite mix tape starts with Pink’s “Get the Party Started” and ends with Rihanna’s “Shut Up and Drive”.

Vancouverites first got to know Anthony in 2018, when Pink plucked her out of the crowd, handed her the mic, and then watched as the 14-year-old nailed “Perfect” for the 18,000-strong crowd. In the days that followed a clip of the moment went viral, with the teenager using her first 15 minutes of fame to launch a singer career that’s brought us, today, to “Kinda Into You”.

Evidently the kind of artist who believes one should always do their own stunt

Follow Your Folk!

Fo

Victoria Anthony will argue that—despite all evidence to the contrary—there’s only one pair of roller skates for rent when she’s working the counter. And, no, you can’t have a gumball.

work, Anthony taught herself to skate in a week for the video, which was filmed at Rollerland in the Lower Mainland.

And what is Rollerland? (This operating on the assumption that you aren’t seriously thinking about springing for a pair of hotpink Moxi Rainbow Rider Roller Skates).

Um, depending on where you stand,

you’ll either be of the opinion that it’s a place that everyone in the city needs to know about immediately, or the last thing the local rollerskating community needs is someone letting the secret out. Because the more people know that Rollerland exists, the more crowded the place will be on every day with the word “day” in it. g

Pastel Blank makes a case for escaping the basement

L

by Mike Usinger

Concerts | Workshops | Family Fun | Camping | Artisan Market | Food William Prince (MB) • Le Winston Band (QC) • Shred Kelly (BC) Shakura S’Aida (ON) • Ayanasabee (ON) • Golosa La Orquesta (Chile) The McDades (AB/QC) • Kanatal (Taiwan) • Ronnie Dean Harris (BC) • Puuluup (Estonia) Clerel (Cameroon/QC) • Amanda Rheaume (ON) • Lonesome Town Painters (BC) Graham Lindsey (ON) • Quote the Raven (NL) • Robert Sarazin Blake (WA) The Crescent Sky (BC) • Stongbow and Wry (BC) • Good Medicine Songs (BC) Special 35th Anniversary ticket discounts for 35 days! missionfolkmusicfestival.ca

16

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

et’s see if we’ve got the narrative right, including that the overriding message seems to be that the devil does indeed find work for idle hands.

The video for “Terracotta Sunroom” opens with the four members of Victoria’s Pastel Blank looking like they take their fashion cues from Duchasse Vintage, the films of John Hughes, and the Matador Records roster circa ’93.

That all three of those reference points scream “retro” makes perfect sense considering both the song’s slanted-and-enchanted vibe, and that the group is glued to a monitor showing camcorder footage from long-gone days when VHS was still locked in a format war with Beta, Laserdisc, and 8mm.

Bored disinterest gradually gives way to vaguely horrified fascination as a priest that’s possibly from the Church of Art d’Ecco does....umm....actually who knows what the hell he’s up to. Is he—to a soundtrack that winningly blends slacker psych with golden-era indie rock—picking his way through a garden that’s in serious need of a landscaper, not to mention a visit from 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Is the footage of the priest with the statues from a trip to Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia? Or did the video’s

creative team of William Wilkinson, Angus Watt, and Alex Bierlmeier call in a favour from the folks at Ital Decor Ltd. in gloriously scenic North Burnaby.

While the answer might be right on screen with the “12 bit” stamp, why is the camcorder footage a colour-blown ’70s-mortuary green?

Where does the disco ball fit in, and was Toni Basil in charge of makeup?

But whatever’s going on, Pastel Blank ends up going all in.

Halfway through the video, what seems like ordinary milk somehows turns the band’s members greasepaint white. By the home stretch of the winningly laconic “Terracotta Sunroom”, Pastel Blank seemingly hasn’t seen a sunroom in the better part of a half-century. The clothes are suddenly all black—as in Wednesday Addams meets art-world undertaker—and the vampire-white band members are a coffinblack lipstick tube and none-more black eyeliner away from joining the Scandinavian Death Metal Wars.

Either that, or we’ve got the narrative wrong and the whole thing is a post-ironic Catholic church tribute to the films of Werner Herzog, Hideo Nakata, and Marcel Marceau. Not to mention the latest bit of proof that the devil does indeed find work for idle hands. g

SAVAGE LOVE

Wife might not want help with her masturbation

by Dan Savage

the only reliable way to get me off. How can I make cunnilingus more enjoyable for him? I thought about getting a can of whipped cream to “sweeten the deal”, but will that work?

- Exciting Additives That Make Eating Pussy A Lark

It won’t work.

First, putting whipped cream on your clit and labia isn’t good for pussy—and since whipped cream rapidly melts after being applied to the body, EATMEPAL, it’s not going to look sexy or taste good for long. Minutes after emptying that can of whipped cream, you’re gonna look and smell like a newborn

Dan Savage advises a reader that when he’s woken by one of his wife’s late-night masturbation sessions, he might want to just pretend he is still asleep. Photo by Getty Images/Andrey Popov.

b I’M A HEAVY sleeper, and my wife knows that, but not so heavy that I don’t wake up when she periodically masturbates next to me and has the bed shaking pretty hard.

She doesn’t know this wakes me. How do I handle this? Do I offer a hand (or a dick) the next time? Talk to her when she’s not having her moment and ask if she feels like our sex life is lacking? Or just let it go and continue to pretend that I’m still asleep when this happens? Our sex life seems healthy to me otherwise.

- Nocturnal Incidents That Erupt Necessitate Inquiries To Elucidate

The wife masturbating in

the middle of the night isn’t by itself evidence your sex life is lacking, NITENITE. She’s most likely waking up horny at 3 a.m. and rubbing one out to get back to sleep. You can and should tell her over breakfast—with a loving and supportive smile on your face— that you sometimes wake up when she’s masturbating and that you’re happy to help her out.

But if all your wife wants and/or needs at 3 a.m. is a quick orgasm, she may not be interested in a full-blown sex session. And if “helping her out” means she’s obligated to get you off before she can go back to sleep, NITENITE, don’t be surprised if she passes (and slips out of bed the next time she needs to have a wank).

b GAY MAN HERE with a question about topping. I was a top with my college boyfriend but switched to being mostly a bottom in my early 20s. I’m in my late 30s now and recently got out of a decadelong relationship, so I’ve been doing a lot of exploring and rediscovering what I want in bed. While I’m very experienced

as a bottom, I feel a bit like a fish out of water when I’m topping. The guys I’ve fucked have all been very complimentary, so it doesn’t seem to be a problem with my technique, but it’s just not as intense for me.

Also, I’m uncut and I find that if I’m pushing deep inside someone then my foreskin pulls all the way back while I’m inside to the point that it hurts. (This is especially a problem when a guy rides me.)

I’m with a new boyfriend who has enjoyed bottoming for me, but all of this is kind of playing with my head so I can’t just relax and enjoy myself when topping. Should I just accept that topping isn’t for me?

- Subpar Orgasms From Topping

that topping isn’t for you and swear off topping forever, but that seems a little dramatic, SOFT, and a whole lot drastic. How about accepting this instead: while you prefer bottoming to topping and your orgasms are better when you bottom, you also enjoy topping occasionally, so long as you don’t push too far in and/or get ridden too hard.

You might also wanna accept the compliments you’ve been getting about your topping skills/style.

Instead of assuming the guys you’ve topped are lying to you, give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they’re telling the truth: you’re a good top and bottoming for you is a good time. And with more experience, SOFT, you’re likelier to get even better at it, earn more praise, and grow to enjoy topping more.

You could accept

b I am a 60-year-old woman who has had a lot of lovers. My current lover does not enjoy cunnilingus, which happens to be

Scan to conffess

puked on your lap. Chocolate sauce, flavored lubes, whipped cream—none of those things have the power to turn someone who doesn’t like eating pussy or sucking dick into someone who does. Pussy is not a sundae; dick is not a candy bar. If cunnilingus is the only thing that reliably gets you off, it’s a new lover you need, EATMEPAL, not a dairy product. b I’M A MALE who is curious about wearing a male chastity cage. I’m on bloodthinning medications and I very rarely get erections due to my health issues, but I want to experience the feeling of wearing see next page

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.

Elon Musk Things haven’t been going very well at work. I’m stuck in a dead end job where the hours aren’t great and the people are shitty. The company I work for is one of those “Top 100 Employers in BC”, which is really bullshit. I have grown tired of favouritism, layers of bureaucracy and the lack of support from the Union. I’m looking to work somewhere else in the meantime and pray that something much better is waiting around the corner. Reading about how Elon Musk bought Twitter and has high functioning Autism gives me a bit of hope because if he can become hugely successful, so can I. I’m trying.

Social Anxiety I never leave my house these days without wearing a ball cap and shades. I’d like to just keep growing my beard until no one recognizes me anymore.

Pulled two ways Thinking about someone. I can’t tell you why it didn’t work out, what I could have done differently or how I managed to screw it all up so badly.

I’ve been reflecting for 12 years without answers. I want nothing more than to see them. I picture them all the time. Like ALL the time. It’s a giant tattoo on my mind. But at the same time, I’m scared to see them again. If I ever did come across them I would flee. I would literally flee. I picture myself dangling from a window ledge like Jason Bourne so I’m not spotted. I think I know I’m not strong enough to face them again so I’d rather run.

Good source of potassium I’m not a big fan of Freud, but I do enjoy watching strangers eating bananas.

You can learn a lot about someone who’s snacking down on one, especially if they think nobody is watching. Even better if they’re really hungry. Or angry.

Visit

to post a Confession APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

17

- Looking Into Mysterious Pleasures

You’ll be fine , LIMP. I’ve spoken to a few urologists over the years about the risks of chastity cages for men and their only concern was potential damage to the erectile tissues when a dick gets hard (or tries to) in the confines of a cage.

If you rarely get hard—or don’t get hard randomly—there’s no danger in wearing one even for extended periods of time, so long as it’s not too tight, LIMP, and you keep it clean.

b I’M A 20-YEAR-OLD woman who just started a new job. One of my new coworkers is a

twentysomething man who doesn’t speak much English, but he’s made it very clear that he’s attracted to me. I found him on Facebook and realized he has a girlfriend in another country. So, as it turns out, he’s in a three-year-long relationship, but he can’t be with her currently.

I’ve always considered men in relationships to be strictly “off limits”, but I’ve got an intense crush on this man and wanna get with him. I’m only interested in hooking up. I’m not looking for a commitment from him at all. Should I let him know I am attracted to him, too, and possibly ruin his relationship?

fucking you—even if he’s not supposed to be fucking anyone while they’re apart— will automatically ruin his relationship.

Here’s hoping he’s allowed to fuck other women while they’re separated like this, PWB, and here’s hoping she’s allowed to fuck other guys.

But even if he were to break the rules to get with you, PWB, it doesn’t mean that he would break her heart, so long as you’re capable of being discreet.

to post to Facebook about fucking this guy and tag his girlfriend back home, I don’t see how

In 2001, my

- Possible Wrecking Ball

Unless you’re planning

b I LEARNED THAT you helped pegging get its name. But is there a name for a man using a strap-on on a woman?

- Strapped On Dude

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25 5– /JULY 2 / 2020 GEORGIA APRIL 28JUNE – MAY 2022 THE THE GEORGIA STRSTRAIGHT AIGHT 19

NDP SEIZES HISTORICAL OPPORTUNITY TO BRING UNIVERSAL DENTAL CARE AND PHARMACARE TO CANADIANS

“A minority government presents an opportunity for the people. The NDP is using our power to get support for people. 60 years ago, Tommy Douglas brought medi-care to all Canadians. It was always his vision to include pharmacare and dental care.

With this historic agreement, bold steps are being taken to help realize this dream.

- Jenny Kwan, NDP Caucus Chair, Member of Parliament for Vancouver East

On March 22, 2022 the NDP and the Liberal government reached a historical agreement: the Delivering for Canadians Now, A Supply and Confidence Agreement. The agreement incorporates a number of the NDP’s progressive policies, including a national dental care program, bold steps towards a pharmacare system, and additional investments in affordable housing.

Less than 12 months ago, both the Liberals and Conservatives voted against the NDP's proposal for a national dental care program and a Canada Pharmacare Act. At every turn, the NDP never gave up and continued to demand real action. While this agreement did not include all of the NDP's priority areas, I am pleased that many of our platform items are being recognized with funding and timelines.

AGREEMENT HIGHLIGHTS:

RECONCILIATION

HEALTHCARE Launch a new national dental care program for low-income Canadians Take bold steps towards a universal national pharmacare program Increase supports for healthcare systems Establish National Standards for Seniors’ Long-Term Care

HOUSING Extend the Rapid Housing Initiative for an additional year Reform the Rental Construction Financing Initiative by changing the criteria for affordable units to below market rent Move forward on launching a Housing Accelerator Fund Implement a Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights and tackle the financialization of the housing market by the end of 2023 Include a $500 one-time top-up to Canada Housing Benefit in 2022

CHILDCARE Introduce an Early Learning and Child Care Act by the end of 2022, ensure that childcare agreements have long-term protected funding

Make a significant additional investment in Indigenous housing in 2022 Accelerate the implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People Provide the necessary supports for Indigenous communities to undertake the work of burial searches at the former sites of residential schools.

TACKLING THE CLIMATE CRISIS Achieve significant emissions reductions by 2030, accelerate the trajectory to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050 Create a Clean Jobs Training Centre to support workers retention, redeployment and training Develop a plan to phase-out public financing of the fossil fuel sector Move forward on home energy efficiency programs that both enhance energy affordability for Canadians and reduce emissions

For the full agreement, visit: https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/03/22/delivering-canadians-now

The NDP and the Liberals have not formed a coalition government, despite the Conservatives’ misleading accusations.

My NDP colleagues and I remain committed to our role as an opposition party to continue holding the government accountable and fighting for more and better policies that will better the lives of Canadians.

JENNY KWAN, MP CONSTITUENCY OFFICE

2572 E Hasting Street, Vancouver (appointments mandatory during pandemic) | Email: Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca |Tel: 604-775-5800 20

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

APRIL 28 – MAY 5 / 2022