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NEVVSLETTER
2022
-"",..carnnews@vcn.bc.ca
401' Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7
19th Annual Downtown
D~CEMB~
(604) 665-2289
Eastside Heart of the City Festival
Wednesday October 26 to Sunday November 6, 2022
les Nelson. Carnegie Elder in Residence. Photo: Tom Quirk
THANK YOU A huge thank you to the Carnegie Community Centre, along with a host of community partners, funders, donors, staff, and incredible artists and knowledge-keepers for making the 19th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart ofthe City Festival such a grand success! WATCH FESTIVALVIDEOS ONlINE While the festival has ended, you can still watch festival videos for free by visiting www.heartofdtyfestivaLcom! Follow the ON DEMAND and/or DIGITAL EVENTSlinks. BAH! HUMBUG! FILM - CHANGE OF PLANS Due to unforeseen circumstances, the special screening of Bah Humbug! An Eastside Christmas Carol- The Film, originally scheduled for Dec. 17, 2022, has been postponec until December 2023. The DTES Heart of the City Festival is produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre & Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. along with a host of community partner
Gathering at the Bill Reid Gallery About 2 years ago the Board at Carnegie agreed to a request from Nicole Bird, Programmer for Indigenous Affairs and Cultural Sharing in the Centre, to form an Indigenons Advisory Group. This assembly would include several Elders and other Indigenous activists and help in securing grant funding for Indigenous activities. ." The Bill Reid Gallery at 639 Hornby (between Dunsmuir and W.Georgia) is a dynamic endeavor holding artwork by Bill Reid and other Northwest Coast artists. It also offers cultural education and special programs n the history and struggles of native peoples over the last hundred years and more. The collaboration between the Gallery and the Indigenous activities in Carnegie continues to grow, with the Advisory Committee, the drum group and cultural sharing having onsite interactions on the first Friday of every month from 2-5pm. Admission to the Gallery is always free for Indigenous people and on the first Frid!y it is free for everyone! A new display is on offer in the Gallery - the story of how the old songs of the Kwakwaki'wakw were recorded and passed along while it was, under the Potlatch ban, illegal to sing them. Ida Halpern and her husband got out of Austria in 1938 and came to Vancouver. She had just gotten her doctorate in Ethno Music, meaning the music of ethnic and tribal peoples, and got to Canada when residential schools and the suppression of anything Indigenous was the state of things. She became friends with two chiefs who allowed her to record the old songs. The story of this endeavour is told with displays and even actual recordings. Also part of the story is how Indigenous people kept their culture strong by hiding it under the veneer of Xmas parties, sewing classes and anything the whites could not object to. If you were caught promoting Indigeneity you went to jail. Both the Indigenous Advisory Committee and members of the Carnegie Association Board got together at the Bill Reid Gallery to learn of this aspect of Native culture and share stories. Go to this place. The experience will change you! By PAULR TAYLOR
Results for the Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest ESSAY 1st Prize: 2nd Prize: 3rd Prize:
Village Calling by Gilles Cyrenne Let Freedom Reign by Jacqueline Angharad Giles Indian Hospitals by Jathinder Sandhu
Honourable Mention First: Bubbles in Oppenheimer Park by Myshelle-Marie Mcnamee Second: Community Is My Home by Jackie Humber Recognition for Merit A Life Worth Living by Cindy Young The Heart and Darkness a/the DTES by Henry Doyle A Community or a squat? by Ira Stewart Zbarsky Landback by Michael Sismey National Day a/Truth and Reconciliation by Priscillia Tait Dear Mr. & Mrs. Bed Bug Treatment Room by Stan Vlioras Sarajevo During the War by Branka Kontic Two Wrongs Make a Right by Bruce Brunton Relationship Rights by Jennifer Cooley POETRY 1st Prize: 2nd Prize 3rd Prize:
Pink Taffeta by Jathinder Sandhu Big Lie by Gilles Cyrenne "The Life" Mirabelle Dietu =Something Wonderful by Rosario M. Larion Honourable Mention ." First Apology by Stewart Brinton Second Battle of Hastings by Magdalen Lau Recognition for Merit Terry Sinclair by Mike Tropp Community Is Our Mentor" - What af***ing Prick by Stephen H Close To The Bone b Patrick Foley The Sweet Stuffy Room by Garry Gust Sweet innocents by Jennifer Cooley Drug by Kit Chen Corners by Jacqueline Angharad Giles Forest Spirit by Priscillia Tait I am a Eagle by Carol Valliersandtyes A1y Grand Mother by Roy Youssefzadeh Guide Dog by Trevor Buddin You know when to stop by Gerry Maynard
Third Place in Essay Indian Hospitals Kuldip lay on a dirty mattress on the floor, the sun climbing into her cement cell, as she turned from one side to the other trying to find comfort. She had been brought to Jullundur district by her husband. He was five feet six inches tall and an illiterate fanner, and he had married Kuldip for her dowry. Now that she could not present to him any more wealth, he decided to put her away. He paid a well-known psychiatrist 3000 rupees to have her incarcerated as a schizophrenic at the mental hospital in Punjab. A bribe that only illustrated the way things were done in a country that had no real justice system. In front of her Kuldip watched the flies dancing around over her putrid dish of roti and chai and she could not stop sobbing to herself, in quiet tremendous tears, as she contemplated her destiny. In the mental hospital, there were birds that could be heard in the courtyard, which only brought the memory of freedom to Kuldip. She took her fork and started to carve into the wall her name and the words HELP ME. Two orderlies would periodically show their threatening heads through the tiny window in her door. They spat on the ground and joked with each other and frightened Kuldip. One smoked a cigarette and winked in a cajoling fashion at Kuldip. The other man opened the door to her cell with large jangly keys. He ordered her to get up and brought with him, pills which made Kuldip feellightheaded and dizzy. Kuldip was destitute. Alone and afraid she didn't know what to do because her husband had beat her on a regular basis and had abandoned her to the local state mental hospital. Do you think this scenario is rare? This scenario happens to women all the time. Mental hospitals are often places for unwanted women who are deemed as outcasts. Getting chained to trees, sexual abuse and bribing is a common reality for South Asian women living in a country where their voices are often not appreciated, especially when they are labelled with a mental illness. • Kuldip's destiny'was sealed by the hand of her abusive husband and an unscrupulous psychiatrist. But there is hope. Manushi is an women's magazine from India which writes about the plight of women. Bringing to light these situations, is the first step to educating the public about the reality of the mentally ill in developing countries. There is a strong feminist movement in India. And many women are empowered to change the system by marching and writing about these situations. Kuldip was contacted by her mother and father and though the situation was harrowing, they got Kuldip out of'the mental hospital and brought her home. She decided that her experience was valuable and became another woman who started to fight for her sisters and used her experience to help other women. If we are treated unjustly, that often becomes the catalyst for change. We either die or do something about the problem. I would decide to do something about the situation which is why I believe that the history of the asylum informs the psychiatric system of today. Being restrained and abused in the system is a common experience for women and girls in India and these realities cannot be ignored .
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Jathinder Sandhu
"The Life" Mirabelle Dictu - Something Wonderful Gentle vapours of blacks and browns Marvellous rainbow gliding tongues In wide mouth coloured cups Looking into rows of figures Whispering echoes of wisdom Seeing heads down collapsing Some eyes closed, analyzing And some in daze memorizing Beaming in mere astonishment Of commotions rushing in Opening push and pull thick red doors Scurrying, moving happily Of many tiny and large feet Holding keys of wonderful knowledge Of obsession combination So irresistibly delectable A square of blue and milky Sipping crystal, sugared ambrosia Jaw dropping salivating So called of the gods , An enclosure of goodness Illusions of conclusion in demand A lemon poppy citrusy 3rd Place i Just right for a quick ride Cool, smoky air pumping in Poetry A warm ambience floating Exquisite feeling flowing Of too much packaged sweetness ~ With no bitter taste. • Rosario M. Larion Battle of Hastings When I was little I dreamed of battles Hundreds on horseback raging, charging Mad by greed, violence delusions of power. Is this a dream buildings run-down, burning streets as trenches tents set up like barricades bodies laid on the ground this battlefield In Seattle, the homeless used as experiments In L.A., the police kill to be initiated into gangs We are not part of a state
yet we are state-controlled This is the True North strong and free but free from what We are a community ofliving beings Schoolteachers, veterans historians, archivists, artists, environmentalists architects, activists, musicians, poets mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers kindred spirits, bright stars Once upon a time housed, clean air, clean water Here, was not ground zero Until crisis became an Industry For profit Fast-kill, slow-kill The origin of capitalism Is slavery predator's game here we go again fa-la-la-la-la Using our Youth, Die Jugend Red Guards army of zombies armed with cells modern-day slavery is social control Each new dawn Those who want to rule take ten steps backwards how further back must they turn back time 2001,1990,1986,1968 1945,1914,1184,1066 Progress is peace, not fear Even Angels lose patience Hundreds of thousands of years Of human evolution with nothing to show for it Still, shadows creep, afraid of the light Battles neverending Magdalen Lau
OPPEN.HEIMER.WELCOME POSTS •
This 37 minute documentary film covers the Raising of the Welcoming Posts in OppePlheimer Park in Feb. 2012. Viewers get a glimpse into the Traditional protocols which occur in such ceremony. Hereditary Chief, Ga Ba Gaawk (Henry Robertson) from Kemano/KiUope with Chiaxen. (Wes Nahanee) of the Squamish Nation spent four years creating these posts. The importance of this ceremony is evtde at through the words of trte chosen witnesses and also the words of Ceremony Emcee 5quamish Nation member, 57 APLER ( Bob Baker). This documentary serves as a record of the work and knowledge covered in Traditional Ceremonies. It took two gifted carvers to create these Welcome Posts, but it took the entire community to raise them up. As"carver Chiaxen proclaimed, " The posts are welcoming you to a new day!' Closing song composed and sung by t.ora Bird. This filmmaker acknowledges this documentary was filmed on the Traditional and unceded lands of the Squamish Nation, Musqueum Nation and the Tsleif-Waututh Nation.
Community Is Mv Home. Walking down Hastings Street seems like walking though a war zone right now. Tents and structures line blocks and block off both sides of the street. Some people are lying right on cardboard on the sidewalks and sleeping there. Some are selling their goods right outside their tent. My curiosity has gotten to me and I need to know how all these people came here. I need to talk with one of these street dwellers. I see a woman a few tents away. She's sweeping in front of a small blue tent. "Hi how's it going today," I say as I smile in her direction. She stops sweeping. "Yah, what do ya want," "Nothing just saying hi wondering how ya doing,". "I'm surviving' like everyone here." "My names Jackie as I hold out my hand to shake" She obliges and grabs my hand with her sandpaper fingers. "I'm Cheryl and this is my place," she says as she raises her arm pointing to the small blue tent. "Wanta go in? I'll give you the dime tour." I follow her in under the flap for a door. She waves her hand around the small space. "This is it and this is where I put my food" A small, crinkled paper bag occupies the space she points to. "This is where I sleep," she says, "as she kneels down and flops the last foot onto a brown- colored sleeping bag. "It's the size of a dou,. ble," she proudly points out to me. I can't imagine someone's understanding of this tent as their home. "You know Cheryl I don't think I could live here on Hastings in a ~ tent". I explain to her that I have only lived in an apartment. I "Yah well me and myoid man Frank lived in the Balmoral. Then we kept being told 'You have to get moving, you have to get moving'." Finally, Frank couldn't take it and just fkn left and ya he just fkn left", she says as she shrugs her shoulders. Cheryl tells me she's lived in a few other places before here in her tent. "Then I had to get out arid I ended up in the park. It wasn't bad in the park. We had food lots offood all the time. Deliveries everyday." She says she feels safe here. "It's good here, we all watch out. You know that's a good thing. I know lots of people here. It's our place. and it's our community. " She talks about the Police sweeping the park and then another move. "Well, I guess I've been ere a couple months now. It feels like it's my place too." She repeats knowing others. "I know tons of people here. I'll stay till the cops come and sweep us up like dirt," she says, as though in disgust. As she shakes her head, she thinks more about the park again. "Yah, we ate good there lots of water and even bananas. " I tell Cheryl I Itdve to get going and I hold out my hand again to shake. She smiles and grabs an over- ripe banana from that crinkled bag and hands it to me. Then she leans close to me and wraps her arms around me. I copy her and give her a big hug. "You take care Jackie, come by any time." Four days later I was carrying 5 fresh bananas to take to her near Hastings and Carrall. Her tent and many others had been removed. Jackie Humber"
Apology My rude outburst Shocked you As well as me; My words were Knives unsheathed Perforating trust And wounding Our love. I spent days justifying My callousness-Waving a grievance list While my heart Shriveled and bled. Please forgive me. The knives were directed At me-- not you. Stewart Brinton
Second Place in Poetry Big Lie At every turn, capitalism, big lie, Best way to distribute goods and services but requires inventing white supremacy race colonialism conquest of entire continents indefinite perpetuation of slavery revolutionary industrial scale predation on poverty for profit indulgence in 500 years Indigenous holocaust genocide planet wide Capitalism Serves wants and needs of industrial wealth accumulating more wealth never ending increasing surplus, more more more more more capital for those already holding the most as consumption kills biosphere as bust and boom volatility destroys lives Capitalism As if rich getting richer were choice less cosmic law not an invention of empire eo-opting slave religion to wants and needs serving power using faith based on human sacrifice to destroy other cultures (free food for the hungry with a side of sermon) using divide and conquer to command and kill unarmed people Capitalism Best distribution system half the world's food wasted as billions go hungry as mechanized monoculture agribusiness claims there <fieno options while millions are unemployed artificially fertilized soil dies coral reefs extinguish herbicides pesticides biocides migrate to mothers' milk Capitalism Trillions quantitatively eased into bailing out billionaires banks insurance companies too big to fail Wall Street unreal economy .• capitalist playtime casino wins plays on while millions evicted lose homes (Best way to distribute goods and services) Capitalism No socially beneficial quantitative easing possible for medicine childcare education affordable housing equitable incomes " social benefits worker pensions service industry safe supply Lots of safe supply for alcohol though: lubricant for greasing wheels of commerce (Best way to distribute drunk and disorderly)
Capitalism Free trade deals for corporate wealth austerity for kids in Central America who can't go to school because structural adjustment requires tuition be paid textbooks sold as money created out of thin air for billionaires enables luxury consumption that bums us all (Best way to distribute goods and services) Capitalism lies perpetuated to convince us there's no other way harshly sucks life out of the environment as wealthiest 1% create more climate change create more global warming all the rest of us together Capitalism
rooted in falsity of individualism, spurious claims of equal opportunity as if birth in wealth isn't advantageous as if situational disadvantage doesn't determine social mobility as if essentialist capital-centric perspective dogma establishes the end of history
Lots of cash for half billion dollar yachts but nothing for housing At $82,500 per container unit one billionaire half billion dollar yacht equals over 6000 housing units Solves Greater Vancouver homelesness Where's quantitative easing for homelessness, for coop housing, for a DTES c community centre with sauna swimming pool hot tub for increased welfare that meets real needs instead of government bailout corpotate subsidies forever increasing profits for the 1% ' ongoing enrichment "for wealthiest 10% who own half of all the wealth and trickle-down dislocation and deprivation for the poorest 50% Neoliberal end game - one can only hope - capitalism does not create the more beautiful world we all know in our hearts is possible -c
We think feel sense intuit possibilities We can end zero sum money games (I only win if you lose) Replace with a gifting economy where giver/receiver Reciprocate in interdependent win win win permanence In collectives of cooperation supporting sustainability In an economy working as a subset of ecology Gilles Cyrenne
ANOTHER AWARD! The Camegie Association is pleased to announce . that lames Pau, long-time Board member and involved in the care of the DTES for decades, has been recognized by the Global Peace Alliance of BC. He got Third Place for art during the Alliance's Multicultural Festival. The ideals of the Global Peace Alliance are ONE WORLD - ONE PEOPLE - ONE HUMAN FAMILY. Diplomacy to End Wars. $$$ for Climate, Healthcare & Housing, Not Weapons to enrich War Profiteers.
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Third floor of Carnegie, 401 Main St. '..
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1st Honourable Mention Bubbles in Oppenheimer Park I had to run up to the 412 (DTES Women's Shelter) to ask for some clothing donations so of course I chose to cut through Oppenheimer. There's a lady who was sitting outside the Native House at a table with both a sewing and bubble machine ~ she told me her name (Gladys) and that she's there every Tuesday between llam-lpm to do odd-job sewing free for the community. Quick to point out she's not a Seamstress, she will do things like sew a hem, fix a ripped pocket or anything small like that. The bubble machine, she said draws people in. She's not wrong, they drew me to her. Both sad and heartwarming to see Oppenheimer restored to the community park it once was ~ I miss my friends ... The Sacred Fire pit ~ the last place I saw Chrissy Brett alive ~ now filled with new life ~ plants thrive where once, three short years ago, fires burned night and day to keep us warm, safe and bring us Peace. I miss Reese, Ithink of you any time I see the park Honey, you were my constant shift partner in the OPS tent they later found you murdered in .... I miss Kia, a 23 year old innocent from Vancouver Island ~ a university grad already and about to enter Medical school, life hit you with the worst of all addictions ~ sex .... They found you buried under one of the tents when they cleared out the park Rest in power baby girl.... But most of all I miss Chrissy ~ you were Mama Bear to us All, kept us as safe as you could in the world's most unsafe place. You were and are my inspiration for all I do in the DTES and for the Woman I hope I am. Bubbles in Oppenheimer.. .. For y'all who died there .. By Myshelle-Marie Mcnamee - When Myshelle learned that she gotten 1st Honourable quested permission to reprint it and she said yes.
Mention, she replied with the following email. I re-
I want to thank you for sendtng me the judges' comments. Reading I'd won First Honourable Mention I thought was the best thing ever-. then I read the comments and I still have to keep pinching myself each time I read them. Staff here even printed your email for me and I've hung them on my wall next to a picture of my Dad. Thank you for giving my prize to Molly ~ you now know I'm in a safehouse having fled the DTES after a brutal assault landed me in hospital for twelve days. I'm sorry I wasn't there when my name was called, but please know I'm forever grateful to you and the judges of the Sandy Cameron memorial writing contest for giving me the courage I needed to continue writing. Since my Dad passed away its felt hollow, my writing. I feel renewed in Spirit and now have the courage to seek out a publisher for "Kids on the Block" ~ a book I'm hoping will alter the way all outside the DTES view the people there. The world needs to see/feel the Love, the Community that exists there. The narrative of Mainstream media vilifies us all as addicts and criminals and I swear ~ the Love and acceptance I experienced there exists nowhere else. Originally from Steveston and Ladner where community is preached but not practiced, I finally felt the Love of a real community in the DTES. I tell of that and Street family and the wonder I felt every single time I walked tile Block and heard the kids on the block cry echoed down the street ~ to see these beautiful beings drop their gear/dope because deep down the innocence of children still speaks to them as something to protect. My goal is to bring much needed help to the DTES by showing the world the hearts of the people there. We must stop the media from inciting hatred and discrimination against DTES residents. Hopefully 40% of my profits will go right back into the DTES ~ in the form of harm reduction and a new Sandwich or meal program where anyone can get a sandwich or meal free 2417 ~ similar to what Save on Meats used to offer. .. Thank you for the opportunity to write in this contest. Myshelle McNamee
·When you're ready, wefre here to help We offer a voluntary. ten-week, live-in. treatment program for youth in British Columbia. under 19 years old. experiencing problems with drugs, including alcohol. Our program is located in Vancouver, operated by Pacific Youth and Family Services Society. and funded by Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. We have a school program.
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Peak.House is a licensed facility offering an all genders, inclusive and welcoming environment
From The Library Hi Everyone! I'm Logan, your guest writer for this week! I'm excited to share a little news with you about the Carnegie branch layout and highlight a few new books we have received that are on the shelves and ready to read. Update to shelving A few weeks ago we upgraded our shelving for Romance, Large Print, Western, Fantasy, and Science-Fiction materials. While materials are in the same location in the library, the new shelving units will make it easier to browse and find the right book to take with you. When you're visiting the branch and enjoying the new shelves, please take a look through some of our new materials. A few recent additions to the collection include: The Punishment by Joseph A. Dandurand In the new poetry collection, Kwantlen writer Joseph A. Dandurand reveals a difficult journey: the need to both understand his life and find ways to escape it. Through poetry, he shares with us all his lovers, the streets, and what he sees: the great eagles and small birds; his culture and teachings; the East Side; the deception of love and hate; and his people, the Kwantlen. The Attic Child by Lola Jaye This novel tells the ~k>ryof two children trapped in the same attic nearly one hundred years apart. Celestine is a twelve-year old unpaid servant in the early 1900s and Lowra is a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have changed. Their stories intertwine when Lowra finds an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace and a message carved into the attic wall. These clues provide comfort for Lowra and will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic. We hope to see you at Carnegie soon. Take care. Logan Make a Note: There will be a memorial service and celebration of life for SID CHOW TAN Thursday, December 22 at 1pm in the Russian Hall at 600 Campbell Ave.
crow at window perched atop fierce gargoyle spirit guardian Mag Libraries From my youth in a quiet, small Ontario town A beautiful old train station Source of delight and wonder The energy in the place Always full of life and people. Throughout my life a source of joy. University and a job in the stacks - reshelvinq books Just holding all that wisdom in my hands Marvelling at the vast mystery of life In words. on pages, under covers with titles that enticed and invited, thrilled and satisfied, expanded, held and nourished me. I had not been to a library of late, what with covid and illness And today felt like a revelation. A simple door to joy and a renewal of a life, long, love ' So sacred and precious Karen Thorpe
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that Carnegie Community Centre, and occurring on Coast Sal ish Territory .
this Newsletter, are
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THIS NEWSLETIER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNffY CENTRE ASSOCIATIDN Arti.des represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.
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WANTED Artwork for the Camegie Newsletter -Small illustrations 10 accompany articles and poetry. -Cover art - Max size: 17cm{6 Y~')wide x 15cm{6~)hi9h. -Subject matter pertaining 1!) issues relev<lllt to the Downtown Eastside, but all work conSidered., -Black & While printing only. -Size restrictions apply (Le. if your piece is too large. it will be reduCed andfor cropped to pI). -All ariists ""ill receive credit for their work. -Originals will be returned to the. artISt after being copied for publication. -Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickels Please make submissions to Paul TaylOf, Editor.
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