Wishing Well - Issue Four

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2012

Money CAN’T BUY IT

As a pre-teen you could say I was slightly obsessed with the Spice Girls. I formed my own girl group called the Cinnamon Hearts which required mandatory lunch hour practices and platform shoes. We took it pretty seriously and went so far as to record ourselves singing "When 2 become 1" at a karaoke recording studio. Slightly delusional and certain of our inevitable rise to fame and fortune, we were pressed for time, especially after learning that Beyonce had been trained from the womb to be a singing super robot.

I learnt along the way that few are discovered in mall parking lots and fitting room line ups; if this was something I wanted to do it would take real hustling. I had also witnessed my share of drunk driving, head shaving, bad statement making celebrities to realize that money truly can't buy you happiness or stability. I like to think my current definition of success has matured; Although I hold on to dreams of grandeur and often pretend my music school participation award is a Grammy, the joy is most surely in the work. I think it's ok to have ridiculous dreams of champagne fountains and buying islands as long as you remember that doing what you love is the drug and diamonds... are just diamonds.

sophiadanai.com /sophiadanaimusic @sophiadanai photo. Leigh Righton

ANDY WARHOL

Money Sophia Danai

Money Sophia Danai

NEW SINGLE

AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD AT

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WHEN: 2010 WHERE: A SHOP NEAR YOU HOMETOWN: WHISTLER LIFETIMECOLLECTIVE.COM

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SOPHIA DANAI

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"MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND." Until it doesn't.

2% of people own 50% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wealth 50% of people share in 1% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wealth.

In North America we use more than FIVE TIMES what the earth can renew (our ecological footprint). In other words, we use five earths, Europe uses three, China and India so far only one. We only have one and she isn't ours to 'have' anyways.

We are approaching a mass extinction of species . One half of all species will be gone in 50 years.

These statements are a bit sobering. We hear them over and over again. And so by now, we know what to do about it. It can be tempting to go out and put our money to 'good use'...buying sustainable things and purchasing books on how to fix up some of the messes that we have made. This is all well and good! But we are still feeding into the mentality that we need something other than what we have and that we need to be told how to make it right again.

Instead, let's just notice three things each day that we don't need to acquire. Three things that are independent from our control. Three things that are not things...

Here is one I like: Listen to how children speak.

"The two-year-olds who cannot be understood because they speak half-English and half-God." (From Anis Mojgani's poem Shake The Dust) We are surrounded by such free sweetness.

With love, Britannica Lightfoot

THINGS I NEVER NEEDED Alexia Anastasiou

Things that go great together: Peanut butter and jam. Salt and pepper.

Black and white. Kate Moss and Johnny Depp.

Things that don’t: love and money.

Once upon a time, a few years ago, I was in love and in Paris. And I learned that lesson the hard way.

We’d been together seven months. We were passionately in love and still liked each other enough to share a tiny studio apartment made for one in Paris. What was mine was his and his mine. Even – or especially – when he had nothing.

We were both headed home in several weeks. Homes that would take us hundreds of miles away from each other and bind us to the phone in a pledge of loyalty and chastity.

But, before we did just that, his eye caught the sight of something flashy: a pair of sparkly silver running shoes. Unnecessary, over-the-top, a little ugly? Sure. Too expensive? Definitely. At the bright shiny cost of 200 euros, he asked me for the money so he could head home in style.

After questioning the necessity of the shoes (maybe for night time jogging?), his nerve to ask for the money and then my sanity for even considering it, I eventually handed over the hard-earned cash for shoes worthy of Dorothy’s trip home. After all, he promised to pay me back within a few months, and he had always repaid his loans.

Until he didn’t. Our relationship continued. Months went by. I visited a few times, saw the shoes thoughtlessly discarded, mostly unworn, all unpaid. I eventually gave up ever expecting to get it back. Unfortunately it was long before I realized I needed to give him up.

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C LASSY B ITCH words& creative direction. alexia anastasiou photography. jamie mann hair. carly schneider makeup.shelly vickers

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4 THINGS YOU DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T KNOW ABOUT MONEY

Money. It's a defining phenomenon of our life. With few exceptions, worldwi dered what life would be like without money or banks or taxes. Well, it turns doing things has not always been as set in stone as they are today.

For example:

Canada's first natural resource to be exploited was the beaver pelt. We're talk early days here, where the main activities were murder and spreading STD's. in such common use that it actually became a form of currency. Now it's hard sure, but I can't help but wonder if that has something to do with the front o nickel. Either that or prostitutes where also in high supply. I guess we'll neve Speaking of nickels:

Back in the 2nd world war recourses were scarce. Metals such as nickel were needed for the war effort and thus was born the Tombac Victory nickel. Tombac was a specially treated brass, and the victory part of the name is due to the big V on the front. At least I hope the V stood for victory. Maybe they just wanted a change from the beaver to lift spirits (remember what you're fighting for boys!), but I'll keep this PG. The cool part (besides our mint being obsessed with the female anatomy) is that from 1943-1945 the nickel had a morse code message in the reed (or ridge). It said "When we work willingly we win". I'd like to meet whoever came up with that idea and shake his hand as one asshole to another.

What's reeding you ask (or reading to our illiterate audience)? Well, believe it or not, money was actually worth something once. I mean the coin itself as opposed to what it represents. For example, you would never have had a problem using foreign currency because the coin itself was made of a certain amount of precious metal (usually silver or gold).

Some industrious chaps had the bright idea of shaving a little bit off the edge of each coin and then putting them back into circulation. It wouldn't happen over night, but soon enough you could make a tidy profit. Clever bastards.

So to combat this the mint started putting ridges on their coins. Hard to shave that off without being noticed. We still have them today because no one wanted to change the die coins are cast in when the original use was lost, and reeding is damned useful for the blind (reading as well for that matter, but that'll have to wait for an article about braille).

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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$: What the fuck is that? one might ask. Well it's the dollar sign. And watch your language. But why is it the dollar sign? Uhhhhhhhhh, it just is asshole.

Turns out no one's really sure about the exact history of this symbol, but the best guess I've come across goes back to the 1500's when the Spanish peso was the reigning form of currency in the americas. It seems (based on manuscripts that I haven't read) that some people would follow a numeric amount with an S for spanish, whereas others would follow it with a P for peso. Over time the two symbols were laid one over the other and eventually fused to form the money symbol we all know and fear.

I hope you've enjoyed my little list of admittedly useless information about money. If any of our readers have any idea how to save any of it, please let me know.

- Georges duBerger