Author: Lauren

About Town: Nifty at the Vancouver Club

/ Lauren / 1 Comment

Grand Ballroom, Vancouver Club

Ever since I discovered that it existed (during a Neworld Theatre Podplay as part of last year’s PuSh Fest), I have been intrigued by the Vancouver Club. I had no idea what it was, except that it was a club, with members (rich members), and that it was fancy schmancy. Call them what you will (the upper crust, the 1%, old money, or rich snobby A-holes), a certain kind of person becomes a member of the Vancouver Club and, economically at the very least, I am not that kind of person. For this reason, never in my wildest imagination did I think I would ever be inside.

Until last weekend. Turns out, my TC’s former employer is a member and he threw a fancy bash at the Vancouver Club to which my TC was invited. I was invited too, as a very excited and curious +1. I was going to a rich person club that would have rich person things and be full of rich person details!

Rich person details like tastefully good-looking coat check girls in tasteful shoes and tastefully fitting aprons. Rich person details like a “Grand Ballroom” for the drinking and the dancing, and a room called the “Georgian Room” for sitting by the fireplace and the chocolate fountain.

Chocolate fountain!!!

In case you missed that last part, there were rich person details like a FIREPLACE and a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. In fact, TWO chocolate fountains: one dark, one white. With whole strawberries, pieces of pineapple and melon, and square powdered marshmallow (no store-bought Jet Puffs for us) for dipping into the fountains with fancy long sticks. Rich person details like more tastefully good looking people wearing tastefully well-fitting aprons bringing out delicious eats like vegetarian spring rolls, and tiny mini pulled-pork taquitos (in addition to the chocolate fountain and the cheese table). Rich person details like random antiques and pictures of the Queen filling the hallways.

Probably the most exclusive rich person detail in the whole place was the beautiful foyer with the glass doors at the very end that said “Members Only” on them. Even though I have now been inside the Vancouver Club, I very much doubt that I will ever pass through those particular doors.

And to be honest, although I enjoyed my swanky night at the Vancouver Club very much, and it seems to be a very well-run establishment, I very much doubt that I would want to.

Funnily enough, it was not anything I encountered during my night on the premises that turned me off the Club. It wasn’t even the extremely prohibitive cost (I mean, if I was super rich and had time to sit around in posh clubs, maybe I would enjoy the use of the beautiful facilities available). It was the information on the Vancouver Club’s own website, on their Membership page, that soured me on the idea of clubs for fancy folk.

Think even a posh old club in Vancouver would be a little more progressive than posh old clubs back east? It doesn’t seem like it. Instead of simply outlining the many luxurious amenities of the Club, the Vancouver Club has decided to make it a little easier on its potential members by separating certain amenities and activities into “For Women” and “For Men” categories. For the gents, what could be better than a “Black Tie Lobster dinner” followed by a visit to Bar 3, a space which evokes “a more gentlemanly era”, where the guys can pull out “a bottle of single malt”, “shoot some pool”, and “talk shop”? There’s even a barbershop where you can get a shave!

For the women, however, the first amenity mentioned is the fitness studio where the ladies can attend Pilates classes and consult with a personal trainer. Then they have the privilege of moving on to the candlelit Bar Lounge where they can plan “quirky and sophisticated” parties for their friends’ birthdays. And let’s not forget that “Next week is a port and chocolate tasting hosted by colleagues and fellow Run for the Cure volunteers.”

Though there is absolutely nothing wrong with the various elegant (and charitable) activities listed, as a grown woman in the year 2012 I do tend to resent the suggestion that some activities are better suited to me based on my gender, especially when the guys get to eat lobster, shoot pool, and talk shop, when my role appears to be keeping my figure, planning parties, and hosting fancy charity events. Perhaps I’m being overly sensitive (and for those membership fees I think I’d have a right to be), but it just seems a little out of touch with the times, doesn’t it?

It also weirds me out when, of an entire website featuring beautiful photographs, only one person pictured is non-white (or maybe two, there are a couple blurrier shots). Even given my own obvious pallor, a club whose promotional material gives the impression that they are mainly trying to appeal to white people does not appeal to me. I am going to give the Vancouver Club the benefit of the doubt in this post and assume that this is not intentional, but in these times of rumored declining memberships for the Club (“rumored” being the operative word here) and ever-increasing multiculturalism and celebration of diversity in Vancouver (obvious to anyone who is paying attention), this is a PR mistake they can’t really afford to make.

So thank you for a wonderful and classy evening, Vancouver Club. You have a beautiful building, on-the-ball employees, and gorgeous facilities. But should I ever become a billionaire and veritable Vancouver VIP, I’m afraid I shall have to give your Club a pass. You see, in my adult years I belong in 21st century Canada. A club where predominately white men sip single malt and talk about their high power jobs and predominately white women look pretty and plan parties does not.

Smell the roses? I’m too damn busy.

/ Lauren / 4 Comments

Illustration by Sonja Kresowaty

People say it’s important to stop once in a while to smell the roses. I’m not sure what exactly that entails. Are they suggesting that we should break or postpone commitments, flake out on assignments and prior engagements, so that we can make a date with our thorny smelly friends? Or are they suggesting that in addition to all the other things we do in our lives, we are supposed to take one more morsel of time away from the already diminished time we have to eat and sleep and sit on the toilet once in while, and add “smelling the roses” to our To Do list?

Eff the roses. I’m too damn busy.

I’m not saying that I don’t like roses (I love them) or that I didn’t bring this on myself (I did). What I’m saying is that I am too damn busy. Between work and class (poetry this time) and aerial silks and mentoring (with the Vancouver School Board Making Contact mentorship program–you should check it out!) and blogging and trying to have the occasional sit-down dinner with my TC or drinks with the girls, it seems I have time to sleep (not quite enough) and dress myself (albeit not all that well) and That’s About It. My extreme busyness then pairs up with my more natural tendency towards laziness and together they conspire to take me down. This is why my Christmas tree is still up (it’s now simply a Magic Evergreen), the pictures I meant to hang in November are still piled on a shelf, and the keyboard I am supposed to ship to my sister is sitting in my kitchen.

As those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while may know, this time last year I was experiencing some capital S Sadness, and in order to cope, I filled my life with things: Twitter and blogging, volunteering as a creative writing mentor, theatre projects, etc. This was a very good decision and being constructively busy really helped get me through a rough patch. But I’m feeling better now. I’m once again comfortable with being left alone with my own thoughts and rather than needing constant occupation, or a return to the extreme stasis that contributed to my being sad in the first place, what I need now is BALANCE.

Balance is a tricky thing. I’m not sure if it’s an actual state of equilibrium that it is possible for me to achieve or whether a busy person simply finds balance through being organized and scheduling their time well. Maybe “finding balance” really just means finding a way to make it all work. If you are the kind of person who enjoys being on the go all the time, doing lunches, getting it done, keepin’ in real in the big city, etc., I’m sure being really organized is all you would need to find a groove that works for you.

But here’s the thing: contrary to my cheery nature and my deep and abiding love for my friends, NiftyNotCool is also NiftyNotExtroverted. I’m not. I do not require a non-stop parade of outside forces for stimulation in my life. I require rainy afternoons with books (I just started Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and it’s killing me that I can’t finish it right now). I require being able to cook while listening to music on Sunday evenings. I require cheery but frustrating nights of learning to play “Rainbow Connection” on the ukulele while my TC plays guitar. Or, you know, a little time to go the post office or vacuum or WHATEVER I WANT.

Life’s short. Dealing with that fact sometimes means packing what little time you have with adventures, learning things, and working on projects or causes that mean something to you. Sometimes it means a really long phone call with your childhood bestie. Or heading down to Wreck Beach just to watch the sunset. I’m trying to balance my busyness with my laziness. I’m not there yet. I need time to figure it out and unfortunately I have very little of that at the moment.

And that is why the roses, beautiful as they are, will just have to wait.

2012 PuSh Festival Opening Gala

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January 17, 2012 was just as exciting as January 17, 2011, in that I was invited back to the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival Opening Gala, which was held this year in the swanky-as-hell Waldorf Hotel on Hastings Street in East Vancouver. The PuSh Gala is one of the few events that I have been invited to as “media” and with my trusty Georgette von iPhone and a swipe of red lipstick I was ready to paint the town and tweet my heart out. Attending an event as “social media media”  is much much easier, it just so happens, when you are carrying a smartphone in your little purse instead of a laptop in a big ol’ satchel (as I learned last year before I had Georgette). It makes dancing easier too. For those committed bloggers who did bring their laptops, however, reserved tables in the “Hideaway” room were available for them to do their thing and, pretty much, be awesome.

Nita Bowerman dances in the Hideaway

For those of you who don’t know, 2012 marks the 8th annual PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver. My very first PuSh experience was seeing the Electric Company Theatre‘s Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge in 2006 and I have tried, as much as possible, to see at least one PuSh show a year since then. There have always been new pieces and new experiences on offer from all around the world and this year is no exception. No matter what you choose to see it will be innovative, interesting, and deftly executed. I think my favourite PuSh show so far is Welshman Hugh Hughes‘ Floating, which I fell in love with and blogged about last year. This year, I am very excited to see Taylor Mac‘s Comparison is Violence at Club PuSh (February 3 and 4, 2012).

I like Nudity, and TC likes The Internet. What a pair.

But enough about all the fun I will be having watching the shockingly beautiful Taylor Mac. With the trusty Georgette in my hand and my TC on my arm (and a glass of wine in my other hand) I set out to the have the gala-est gala I possibly could. And we have a lovely night. We made buttons at the Vancouver is Awesome button making station in the Hideaway, took some silly pics as the Waldorf hula dancer, took more silly pics in the PixStar photobooth in the Tiki Lounge upstairs, ate some of the amazing food that was on offer–for FREE (I had duck on toasted baguette, and beef and chicken kebabs), shouted along as Vancouver’s only accordion rock band, Fang, played their hit Hipsters Playing Sports (“Hold on to my cardigan/ So I can play some badminton”), and slowed it down to dance to the incredibly-amazing-and-I-can’t-believe-I-hadn’t-heard-of-them-before Vancouver band, e.s.l.in the Cabaret (yeah, um, the Waldorf is really big).

e.s.l. at the PuSh 2012 Opening Gala

Besides the fun fun times to be had, PuSh Galas are also a great place to network, or, if you’re too shy, to observe Vancouver’s cultural VIPs off the stage and drinking or eating kebabs like the rest of us schlubs (though to be frank, I don’t know any theatre artist who would turn down free food). I even caught sight of my favourite Vancouver musician Dan Mangan, though since I’d already fabricated an excuse to meet him at a theatre event before Christmas I decided not to bother him this time (though he doubt he would have minded–he is the nicest man in the world). I was a little disappointed that Mayor Gregor was unable to attend this year because seeing him in the flesh is like seeing the Batman of Vancouver but my night was altogether too pleasant for me to mind overmuch.

If you haven’t gathered yet, I had a great time, and tweeted like crazy (PuSh volunteers even took a photo of TC and me tweeting!). The Waldorf is really a fantastic venue and PuSh makes a huge effort to make their Gala fun and interesting every year. Many thanks to the awesome Tara Travis, Outreach Coordinator for PuSh, for inviting me and for showing us all such a great time.

The 2012 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival runs from now to February 4, 2012. With so many different shows and events (from the Main Shows to Club PuSh to the Aboriginal Performance Series), it would be embarrassing for any arts-loving, lower mainland dweller to miss out on seeing a PuSh show. So many venues are participating, you’d almost have to making a point of NOT attending any PuSh shows to avoid seeing one. So do yourself a favour, give in, and see some amazing performing art already. Information about events, venues, artists, and buying tickets can all be found on the PuSh website.

Happy PuShing!

Why an NDP-Liberal merger might NOT be stupid

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Image by Sonja Kresowaty

Not so long ago, I wrote a post entitled Why I think an NDP-Liberal merger is stupid. It was a post about why I did not feel the interests of Canadians and of both the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party would be best served by a merger between the two parties.

This is not a retraction of that post.

However, it has come to my attention through comments on that post, my continued (if somewhat too reliant on Maclean’s Magazine) interest in current affairs, and through conversations with people whose opinion I respect, that despite the fact that I feel I had good reasons to call the idea of an NDP-Liberal merger stupid, it may in fact be necessary (and therefore not stupid). By “necessary”, obviously, I mean necessary to those (including myself) who would like to see a more left-wing party in government (i.e. a government that is NOT the Conservative Party of Canada).

And so, for those readers who were kind enough to engage with me on this issue, I give you the following reasons that despite my stubbornness, an NDP-Liberal merger might NOT be stupid after all:

Reason One: As un-merged parties, the “non-Conservative” vote is being split between the Liberals and the NDP.

[I won’t say the “leftist” vote because technically, as noted in my previous post on this issue, the Liberal Party of Canada is a centrist party.]

In our political system (called first-past-the-post, FYI), the candidate with the most votes wins their riding, and the party who wins the most ridings forms the government. This means that the popular vote (i.e. percentage of votes for a particular party) does not necessarily a government make. This also means that even if the majority of the percentage of voting Canadians did NOT want a Conservative government, the Conservatives could, in fact, still win a majority (as it seems they did).

Let’s say in the fictional riding of Yuppie Town West, the results of a recent federal election are as follows:

Conservative Party wins with 37% of the vote
NDP – 31%
Liberal Party – 22%
Fictional Fringey Fringe Party – 7%
Ballots spoiled by those who used a checkmark instead of an X – 3%

As you can see, in the fictional riding of Yuppie Town West, the Conservative candidate wins the day, even though more people voted for a party that was NOT the Conservatives than actually voted for the Conservatives (even without the help of the Fringey Fringe Party votes). The argument has often been made to me that in a two-party system where there was only the option of Conservative and Not, the Nots would win that seat. Repeat this process enough times and WHAMMO, the Not Conservative Party of Canada forms our new government. Woot.

[Clearly, I have just simplified the hell out of our electoral system AND simplified the complicated minds of Canadian voters in my above example but hopefully you get the gist.]

The fact that the Not Conservative Parties are currently splitting votes between them is, I think, a valid argument on the pro-merge side.

Reason Two: Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Are times really that desperate? The people who have spoken to me or commented on my previous “anti-merge” post think so, and I think so too. With a Conservative majority, the death of Jack Layton, an omnibus crime bill that is predicted to Not Work, our pulling out of Kyoto (and our failure to have any viable carbon-emissions reduction plan on the horizon), the Sun News Network, a proposed oil pipeline to cross beautiful BC, heavy axes suspended just above organizations like the CBC and Planned Parenthood, a Prime Minister who seems to care nothing for due Parliamentary process, an attack on workers’ rights, and an anti-intellectual and anti-environmental culture sweeping North America, the peaceful, accepting Canada I grew up with, where good manners and common sense reigned supreme (at least as part of our psyche), is fast disappearing.

Maybe it’s time for everyone who cares about these things to work together. I do not know if a merger between the NDP and the Liberal Party would work, but the time may soon be ripe to give it a try. We have a common enemy, a common cause to rally around, and maybe that’s enough. This is the stuff revolutions are made of (in our case a parliamentary, non-violent one). Is it enough?

I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, and that is why both of these posts exist.

Your stupid is not as good as my smart (and vice versa).

/ Lauren / Leave a comment

Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’
― Isaac Asimov

I think “stupid” has become a favourite word of mine lately, and not for any good reason except that every time I read a news story or am anywhere near anything to do with a Republican candidate the word “stupid” is usually the first thing that enters my mind. Followed by the word “sad”. Yes indeed my dears, many current events just seem stupid and sad.

Example: the fact that our Conservative government recently pushed through an omnibus crime bill that experts (including experts in Texas who had previously used the same tactics) agreed would not work. STUPID. The fact that this crime bill, if it passes through the Senate, will most likely result in more punishment, less rehabilitation, and a disproportionate criminalization of young people and people with mental disabilities–SAD. Incredibly, incredibly sad.

The fact of the matter is, all of us are guilty of being willfully stupid if it makes things easier for us. Look at the issue of global warming. Once, it was treated by Canada’s politicians (and most schoolchildren) as universally agreed upon fact that the earth was getting warmer due to human actions (pollution, burning fossil fuels, etc.). Now, even though scientists (you know, people who STUDY this stuff ALL THE TIME) still agree that global warming is happening, people have chosen to latch onto the tiniest shadow of a doubt so that they can feel good about driving their cars and drilling for oil and not having to change anything about the way they live their lives. Because who would choose to inconvenience themselves if there’s even a microscopic shred of half-evidence that they don’t have to? Our own Prime Minister who is, by all accounts, supposed to be a smart man (he’s certainly smart at dismantling everything I care about) won’t even state whether or not he even believes in human-created climate change. This is a man who went to university, should therefore understand the rigorous guidelines of academic and scientific research, and, rather scarily, runs our country as if the principles of his own scholarship and education mean nothing.

But gee, it sure is easier for Harper to appease his voting base if they don’t have to care about the environment so…..Kyoto out. Handshakes all around. I’m sure Harper prefers this state of affairs to having to tell Alberta oil sands voters that the government wants to strictly regulate the industry because it could be contributing to the killing of our planet. That wouldn’t be very nice or very fun, would it? So who wants to do that? No one in government, that’s for sure. Al Gore didn’t call his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” for nothing.

Our government thinks we’re stupid. They think they can imagine away uncomfortable issues and facts to make their voters happy and anyone that uses knowledge, expert opinion, education, statistics, or fact to counter them is branded an “intellectual elite”.

Being led by a government that counts on our ignorance, and panders to it, is horribly stupid. And turning anyone who pursues truth, education, and a more accurate understanding of the issues into an enemy is sad. Horribly sad. I am a good person. I love my country and I care about the people in my life. I would like to raise a family in Canada someday, I would like a country that is fair to working class families, I would like a country where anyone who works hard can get ahead. I am educated, and I pursue educated opinion. I am not elite. Being labelled un-Canadian or out of touch, when I pay my taxes and my bills like anyone else, hurts my feelings. But enough about my intellectual elite bleeding heart feelings.

If you don’t believe stupidity has carved out a prominent place for itself in today’s political culture, you may find some evidence swimming around in the pool of Republican candidates south of the border. From declaring that Three Areas need to be cut and listing only two, to rambling about witchcraft, to stating that Palestine never actually existed, it is obvious that none of these candidates are all that concerned with appearing smart. But the anti-intellectual culture of North America today provides plenty of room for these people not only to survive, but to thrive and have the opportunity to run for the most important office in the United Sates Government. Run a country? Represent millions of people? Have nuclear launch codes? That doesn’t take brains, facts, education, or a firm grip on reality, does it? ANSWER: it does, though sadly, stupidity might win out.

Stupidity isn’t a problem unique to North America. My inspiration for writing this post actually came from an opinion article in the Sydney Morning Herald, “Age of the Amateur with reason in retreat” by Erik Jensen. Whether the issue be same-sex marriage, climate change, or immigration, people seem incredibly willing to believe absolutely anything rather than believe a truth that makes them uncomfortable.

THIS IS STUPID. AND SAD. Stupid because the actual truth is happening whether you think it is or not. Sad because a refusal to accept this can only lead to suffering.

Being diagnosed with a flesh-eating disease would be incredibly uncomfortable to think about, but we know the disease wouldn’t stop eating our body just because we decided to believe it wasn’t happening. Well, climate change is hurting our planet. Ignorance is hurting its people. You are not absolved of guilt just because you choose not to believe the facts. Don’t like being made to feel guilty or uncomfortable? Change your lifestyle. Examine your prejudices. Then see if your original opinions still hold water.

I’m not perfect and I’m not elite but if I have taken the time to become educated about something and you have not, if I have referred to experts, academics, articles and case studies to learn about something and you have not, I will feel more right than you. Yes, you have a right to your opinion, and you have a right to let that opinion (rightly or wrongly) affect your life choices. But your stupid is not as good as my smart.

And you know what? It goes both ways. Yes, I try to keep up to speed on current events and social issues but I recognize the bias I have as a young Caucasian woman from a middle-class Canadian, leftist background. There are experiences you may know more about than me because you have lived them. There are areas you may know more about because you work in them or study them intensely. I may have opinions on certain issues based on the media I choose to consume (and I know that my choice of media itself reveals bias), but you might actually know the truth of a certain situation.  And if that is the case, my stupid, my lack of actual knowledge and facts, is not as good as your smart.

And if that is the case, I want to know. I want to know what’s true.

I’m not asking everyone to agree with me. I’m not asking Republican candidates to deny their religious backgrounds or their beliefs about fiscal management. I’m not asking a Conservative government to become a left-wing party. What I would love to see is a joint pursuit, by politicians of all stripes, and by Canadians and voting-eligible citizens in countries all over the world, of truth. Of facts. Of using reason, and common sense, and the wealth of information that educators, scientists, academics, researchers, and reputable experts can share with us to form a real picture of what is actually happening in our world. In the end many of our opinions may not change but maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to work together on things that are really important, like examining our own prejudices to avoid violating the rights of others, or saving our planet from the harm and destruction that experts agree we’ve doomed it to.

Consider it. I’ll cut my bullshit if you will. If we let stupidity win the day, by the time we all realize we were wrong it might be too late for smarts to help us. Because guess what? No Stupid, however comfortable and inviting, is going to deal with the challenges ahead like Smart can.

New Year’s Resolultions Now, Then and Totally Irrelevant

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Every year I make New Year’s resolutions, and almost every year I break them. Likely because mine are always so broad and vague that I don’t have a concrete way to keep track of whether I’m sticking to them or not. Apparently it’s easier to keep resolutions when they are clearly defined goals, and more easy to accomplish. This is also supposed to be better for my self-esteem, or something, because apparently not meeting goals makes us feel bad.

Eff that. I don’t see any point in making resolutions that are easy. The easy ones won’t be of  use to me. So here are my resolutions for the year 2012:

  1. Try not to be so grumpy so often. This is a resolution I’ve made a few times, because I know I have a bad habit of letting little things (like being late) get me down, and then letting my swearing and banging around of household utensils rain down on any innocent bystander who is unlucky enough to be in my path. Great stress relief for me, uncool for the people around me.
  2. Drink more water. Eugh. I never drink water. And then I get headaches. The simple solution is obviously to drink water BEFORE I get a headache but I hate drinking water because water is BORING. This may just be something I’ll have to put up with.
  3. Make my friends a priority.  When I get busy I live at the mercy of whatever I wrote on my calendar, and sometimes that means going weeks without seeing my closest and dearest friends, the ones who are always here for me when everything else I’m doing ends, winds down, or disappears. And that sucks, because I love my friends, and generally speaking they’re more fun than the obligations on my calendar.
  4. Finish what I start. Lately I’ve been feeling a little smug that some of my 2011 plans actually came to fruition, like my European Adventure and the fact that I’ve kept up with this blog. In reality, I am a procrastinator, a lazy-bones, and a scaredy-cat, and most of my plans and ideas barely make it past their inception. Which is a shame because whether they be writing, art, or home improvement projects, some of my ideas are actually good ones and I’d probably enjoy seeing them through.
  5. Be nicer.  This is a big vague goal and probably goes along with not being as grumpy, but when my TC and I were talking about resolutions this is one of the ones I came up with almost immediately. I think I am a nice person, but I also think that part of being a nice person is not resting on your laurels. To really be a nice person means making a continuous effort to have empathy, to maybe not share that retort that’s on the tip of your tongue, to donate what time/money/resources you can spare to make someone else’s life better, and basically to try to comport yourself in a way that does as little harm as possible to the people around you and your planet. And it’s not easy! When I have a shitty day there’s a part of me that wants to make it the world’s problem, that justifies my snappy remarks and occasional lack of charity, patience, or understanding. Which isn’t nice. And that part of me will always be there, making life interesting, but I am determined to soldier on nonetheless.

Because I am currently back at my parents’ house with my boxes of old diaries and journals at hand, I thought it might be fun to see if I’d written down any resolutions in junior high. And I did. On December 31, 1998, at the age of 12, I made the following resolutions:

  1. train more for skiing
  2. work harder in school + extracurricular
  3. get all the social life stuff worked out
  4. stop being such a grump
  5. try new things and try my best
  6. be healthier + nicer

I’m actually quite surprised at how many of my resolutions were the same as they are now, though I did make a couple resolutions that are no longer relevant. With regards to getting my “social life stuff worked out” I think I was referring to a friend at school who had found a new group of friends that I didn’t get along with and I was having some problems with the new pecking order in the class. I also had a mad crazy crush on a cute little Grade 7 boy who in turn had a crush on the new best friend of my old friend. Sigh. Grade 7 was complicated.

To my credit, since being 12 I have been doing better at trying new things and at being healthy. Success!

Since I found some resolutions in my Grade 7 diary I assumed I would also find some written around the new year in Grade 6. Alas, James Cameron’s seafaring masterpiece got in the way of making New Year’s resolutions. In the interests of reflection and exposition, I am posting my first entry of the year 1998, written when I was 11 years old:

Jan. 8, 1998

Dear Diary,

I watched Titanic this holiday and, omigod! I’m going crazy for Leonardo DiCaprio again. Only this time it’s worse. Almost everything reminds me that he died at the end of the movie. Somehow, it’s way worse than Romeo + Juliet. At the end, the girl he was in love with is 100 or something, and she dies and goes back to the Titanic and she’s young and with him again. It’s so sad. Someday, I want to get Leo’s address and write him a letter. That would be neat.

Lauren

And then, inexplicably, I stuck a sticker from a glycerin soap bought at the SoapBerry Shop into the diary at the end of the post. Three months later I devoted an entire page of my diary to little pictures of “Leo” that I cut out of magazines but if writing Leonardo DiCaprio a fan letter was my resolution for the year 1998, I never did do it.

Huh. I wonder if “finishing what I start” means I ought to write a letter to him now….

I’ll think about it. In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy New Year, and I hope the year 2012 brings great things and good changes to your lives. Get excited! I know I am. I mean, omigod!

Omigod what a dreamboat.

Christmas is a Feeling

/ Lauren / 2 Comments

Saskatchewan, December 2010. Photo credit: Daina Zilans

CHRISTMAS IS COMING, and it’s coming soon. Holy smokes.

Given the utter lack of snow outside and lack of anything resembling a winter solstice (besides the dark) or Canadian wintery-ness in Vancouver, it’s hard to believe the Yuletide season is once again upon us. In these past few years Christmas has just kind of snuck up on me before I was ready. This year it’s been the same story–how can it be Christmas time already? I haven’t made a paper chain yet! I never placed a frantic phone call to one of my sisters to make sure we didn’t get the same things for other family members! I’ve HARDLY “ballet-danced” to the Nutcracker in my apartment! I haven’t been nearly drunk enough! I haven’t watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the animated one narrated by Boris Karloff of course), “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” (narrated by Burl Ives of course), or “Mickey’s Christmas Carol“!

My lack of preparation caused me to be afraid, despite the lovely Christmas parties I have attended, and the many cookies I have prepared and eaten, and the fact that I have now read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, that I somehow wouldn’t be able to get into the Christmas spirit in time to really celebrate the big day (which is December 24, Christmas Eve, for my family). This would have been horrible because Christmas is my absolute favourite holiday, combining so many of the things I love: my family, good friends, good food, good spirits (both emotional and liquid), beautiful music, nostalgia, MAGIC, warmth, pretty sparkly things, snow, and the traditions we have established that make Christmas an incredibly special time for my family. To be out of step with my traditional “getting into the spirit of things” preparations because I have a job now, much less time, and no VCR created a fear in my heart that I wouldn’t be able to give this time the specialness it deserves.

My anxiety was unfounded. Christmas isn’t about watching slightly creepy stop-motion reindeer (though I’ll be digging up that VHS as soon as I get to my parents’ place). Christmas isn’t even about snow (though I’m crossing my fingers for some weather magic). Christmas is a feeling. Christmas is when I can’t stop smiling because I am TOO EXCITED. Christmas is a little light being turned on inside me that makes it possible to feel like a kid again. Christmas is always, every year, an overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude.

And my traditions? They’re important to me. They shape my experience of the holidays and provide me with a sense of continuity year to year. Christmas is a time to hold these old traditions very dear, and I do. But Christmas is also a time for new traditions. For example, this year my TC and I welcomed our friends into our home for our very first Christmas party. Both my TC and I will be spending Christmas apart with our own families this year, so on Monday we also had our own pre-Christmas dinner, and exchanged presents with one another under our own little (sadly fake) tree.

Ribriffic. Happy Alcoholidays!

And did Christmas come to us on December 19? Without snow, or a live tree, or even a day off work? As Dr. Suess wrote, the lack of a few things “didn’t stop Christmas from coming. It came. Somehow or other, it came just the same.” Greek ribs had been in the oven since the afternoon. Potatoes were mashed with cheese and garlic. Granville Island Winter Ale was sipped from novelty glasses that had the word “ALCOHOLIDAYS” printed along the rim. Presents were exchanged, the rabbit was given a carrot, and Jim Henson’s “Muppet Family Christmas” was watched on YouTube.

Our evening was merry and bright, cozy and lovely. Christmassy? Very. There’s something to be said for new traditions.

Our tree is the best. December 2010

But there’s nothing like the old ones. Meeting my family at the airport (my mom is an air-travel-booking magician, so all three of us “kids” usually arrive the same day), a chilly three-hour drive from Saskatoon to my childhood home in the Prairies, fantastic food and drinks with neighbours, sleeping (or trying to) in my tiny old twin bed bathed in the glow of the yard light and listening to the dog howl at Something, being scalded by the shower if anyone else in the house turns on a tap to so much as wash a potato, re-reading all of my childhood favourite books, cross-country skiing, family photos in which we pretend to be rappers or monsters or something, and most importantly, having the BEST CHRISTMAS TREE EVER–these traditions are my Christmas.

My family and I don’t always follow ALL of the traditions and little rituals I’ve assembled in my mind every year, and some of them will likely fall by the wayside over time. One day my sisters and I will have families of our own, and our Christmasses will look different from the ones we have now. It is a loss–observing your Christmas traditions through the frosty panes of a Christmas memory instead of living them year to year–but I am comforted by the idea that my favourite things about Christmas will never be lost. Christmas is a feeling. Year after year, there will be traditions (new or old), there will be family (new or old), there will be love, and there will be much to be grateful for.

And now I’m feeling sentimental. It must be Christmas. I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, however you love to celebrate, and I wish you the very best and happiest of Christmas feelings.

Photo credit: Daina Zilans

[Note: I did not coin the phrase “Christmas is a feeling”. I remember it from a song performed in the Turtleford School Christmas Concert when I was in Grade 3. I cannot remember what the song or the play was called. I believed it involved the smallest and most humble evergreen in the Christmas Forest conveying the true meaning of Christmas through the aforementioned song. In fact, now that I think of it, the song was probably called “Christmas is a Feeling”. Classic.]

Children and the Arts: The conversation begins

/ Lauren / Leave a comment

Damon Calderwood and Robyn Wallis, Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Last Saturday I was invited by Jessie van Rijn, General Manager for Carousel Theatre for Young People, to a Bloggers’ Night at Carousel Theatre’s holiday production of The Wizard of Oz at Waterfront Theatre. While the bloggers in attendance were invited to tweet and live blog before and after the performance and during the intermission, Jessie was careful to stress both in her invitation and at the event itself that Carousel did not require or expect us to do so.

What Jessie did want to do by inviting bloggers to a Carousel production was to start a conversation about the role of the arts (and in Carousel’s case, specifically theatre) in the development of children and young people. Even without Jessie’s kind invitation to watch the stage version of my childhood favourite film (the MGM classic starring Judy Garland), I am more than happy to do so.

I know without a doubt the invaluable effect images, films, books, theatre, music, and dance had on my imaginative life and on my creativity growing up. From having the ending of Romeo & Juliet explained to me by my mother (after which I wondered why the heck anyone would bother writing a story that ended like that) to realizing after a conversation with my dad that I’d perhaps sided with the wrong character (apparently, the Phantom of the Opera was not a very nice man), the art I was exposed to led me to question what I saw, to hunger for explanation, and to create my own possibilities and versions of events when the explanation didn’t suit me (a creative act and one that the most lauded adult innovators perform constantly). I know that the cultural activities I was exposed to as a child and as a teenager shaped my own ambitions regarding becoming an artist and a writer.

Whether or not a child grows up to become an artist themselves, any activity that inspires and nurtures creativity (such as a trip to the theatre or the ballet) will be beneficial to them and to the world they will inherit. Celebrated 21st-century figures such as Steve Jobs were not only technically skilled–they were also incredibly creative. Terms like “innovative” and “thinking outside the box” get thrown around a lot nowadays as desirable traits for the work world of today, but what everyone really means is creativity, the ability to break from an established pattern and make something new, even if it’s simply something old viewed in a new way.

Creativity is not only useful in the workplace–it is also necessary for developing life and coping skills. Far from the stereotype of the miserable suicidal artist, reinforced by the high profile suicides of artists such as Virginia Woolf and Vincent van Gogh, a faculty for creativity is NOT a precursor to misery and suicidal ideation as creative people are better able to envision alternative solutions to the unhappy circumstances they face, and to find an outlet for the emotional and mental distress they may be feeling. The more choices you can envision for yourself, the less likely you are to find yourself powerless and trapped by your circumstances.

If you are still wondering why it is important to nurture children’s imaginations, my favourite answer is simply because children have them. Kids have a rich image life and as they begin to learn about the world they are exposed to new fears and wonders. I can think of no better example of this than the experiences of the five-year-old guest I brought with me to The Wizard of Oz (along with her mother, a friend of mine). Today I’ll call her LG (for Little Guest). LG is an outgoing and sassy little girl, who wanted to be the one to buy her Mentos from the lobby concession BY HERSELF and who chatted freely before the show even though she hasn’t seen me since she was three.

Meghan Anderssen, Photo credit: Tim Matheson

When we sat down in our second row seats (thanks Jessie!) and we saw how close to the stage we were, LG became a little apprehensive about her proximity to the Wicked Witch, and then she became downright terrified and asked to go home. My friend (her mom) had a chat with LG in the lobby about what she was afraid of and Jessie at Carousel not only helped by describing what would happen in the show to LG (explaining that in this production the Witch is more funny than scary) but was also able to re-seat us near the back of the theatre where we could still see and hear everything perfectly well (there’s not a bad seat in the Waterfront) and where LG could have a few rows of audience between her and any onstage witchiness.

After the show, the children in the audience were invited to climb onto the stage with Jessie and take a look at the sets and props used, meet the cast members, and ask questions about how the play worked. I think understanding how the images and characters that scared her are created helped smooth over LG’s initial fears and in the car afterwords she announced proudly that though she was “a little scared at first” she was glad she went and that she liked Glinda and that Jessie explained to her how the magical snow was able to defeat the Witch’s poisonous poppies.

The point I am trying to make with this heart warming little story, besides the fact that Jessie van Rijn and Carousel Theatre are good with kids, is that whether we encourage it or not children will imagine. No one told LG to think about the Wicked Witch, or to imagine that the Witch could possibly harm her, but LG was frightened anyways. What nurturing creativity does is provide children with weapons to combat their imagined fears (in LG’s case, Glinda and some magical snow did the trick).

The bright side of children’s ability to imagine that horrors lurk in the closet or under their bed is their ability to imagine that the world around them, while dark and strange sometimes, is also full of wonder and light. My little sister’s imagination once plagued her with night terrors, but her imagination was also able to convince her that the dream catcher my parents hung above her bed would stop them, and so it did. The same mind that believes in the Bogeyman and ghosts is also able to believe in Santa Claus and fairies. Children will imagine whether we tell them to or not–why would we not want to provide their imaginations with images and experiences that make them feel happy, inspired, and powerful?

I once came across a quote from Lewis Mumford (American historian, philosopher, cultural critic, and father) which I have loved ever since for eloquently framing my feelings on this issue of encouraging (or discouraging) imagination in children:

In repressing this life of fantasy and subordinating it to our own practical interests, we perhaps…gave the demonic a free hand without conjuring up any angelic powers to fight on the other side. We did not get rid of the dragon: we only banished St. George

                -Lewis Mumford, Green Memories

So there you have it folks. Give your kids something lasting this Christmas, something that will encourage their creativity, stimulate their imaginations, and arm them against their fears. Give them a St. George, or a Glinda the Good Witch, or even just a fun evening at the theatre or with a great book.

For me, this is what has lasted. This is what I remember and treasure after my old toys have been boxed up or garage-saled or forgotten. My parents gave me as much imagination and creativity as they could and it’s those gifts I am continually thankful for.

Robyn Wallis, Darren Burkett, Mike Stack, and Josue Laboucane, Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Full disclosure: I do not have children of my own. But I was a child once, and I have a good memory. I also have teacher parents, teacher neighbours, little cousins, TC’s cousins, friends with kids, babysitting experience, and an obsession with YA fiction.

My ticket to The Wizard of Oz, as well as the tickets of LG and her mother, were provided by Carousel Theatre for their Bloggers’ Night event. I was not asked to review or promote the show.

Carousel Theatre’s current season is based on literary classics. For more information about its productions and what Carousel does,  please visit their website.

Why I think an NDP-Liberal merger is stupid

/ Lauren / 10 Comments

Image by Sonja Kresowaty

Let me begin by saying I have no problem with the idea of a coalition between two political parties in government. Coalitions (at least in theory) mean distinct parties, representing different demographics, who view the world from different angles, working together and combining their different experiences, values, and perspectives to solve problems in government. At its best, it would mean working with the “two heads are better than one” philosophy. That sounds civil, and cooperative, and democratic, and very Canadian. If, after some future election, a coalition between the NDP and Liberal parties of Canada seemed like a prudent choice to best serve Canadians, I would be all for that. I’d probably, as the kids say, “lose my shit” with joy.

But the next election is a long ways away. The Conservative Party has a majority government. They can do just about anything they want, and providing a more immediate opportunity for Canadians to potentially choose not to continue with them is probably not among the list of Things the Conservative Party Wants To Do. So instead of picking up whispers of an NDP-Liberal coalition, lately, I’ve been picking up whispers of a merger (usually in Macleans).

And, as you can probably tell from the title of my post, I think this is stupid.

I do understand that many feel Canada’s “divided left” is much to blame for allowing the Conservative Party to become so strong, and I understand that our years of a “divided right” contributed to our being able to go so long without a right-wing government in Canada. I also understand that many people would rather see just about any party in government than the Conservatives, and see a merged NDP-Liberal party as a potentially useful tool that hasn’t yet been tried. But I still think the idea is stupid.

The people crying over a divided left seem to forget that the Liberal party is a centrist party, not a left-wing party (by Canadian standards). Far from unifying Canada’s political left into a strong and solid entity, merging the centrist Liberals and the leftist NDP would scare rightist  Liberals towards the Conservatives (not good), and would potentially send more leftist NDP voters running either towards the Green Party or to another leftist Fringe party that will seem to reflect their views better than a watered down NDP-Liberal party would (also not good). It’s like smushing two things together and having each end fall off. [Of course, I did not come up with this prediction myself. This sentiment has been echoed by several writers and columnists since this merger idea was just a twinkle in Canada’s eye. And it makes sense to me.]

Besides the aforementioned smushing and breaking, there are two more good reasons I think the idea of a merger is stupid.

Reason One: A merger would not be good for either party.

With the exception of the incredibly tragic and unfortunate death of NDP leader Jack Layton (and I agree that is a BIG exception to make), the NDP has never been in a stronger position in the House of Commons. While the Liberal and Bloc parties faltered in the May 2011 election, the NDP grew its ranks. Where Ignatieff waffled and flip-flopped, Layton stood his ground (albeit with his now-iconic cane). While the NDP clearly did not believe that the Conservative Party should form the government, they did not believe that the Liberal Party should either. A large number of Canadians made a choice in May, and they chose the New Democratic Party as the alternative to the Conservative Party. Why the NDP would want to compromise their new-found strength, and let down their voters (not to mention the memory of a leader who refused to compromise his ideals), is a mystery.

And then there is the Liberal Party. They took quite a beating in the last election. They went from being “the natural governing party” to a party that has lost its way. They have been handed a bittersweet but golden opportunity to take some time to find themselves again and define what it really means to be the Liberal Party of Canada. With the Liberals’ long history in Canadian politics, I somehow don’t think the outcome of their soul-searching will be deciding that what it means to be the Liberal Party is to be the NDP.

Reason Two: Uniting the left will essentially result in a two-party system (this is only a good reason to think a merger is stupid if you don’t believe a two-party system would be a good thing, which I don’t).

The NDP and Liberal Party are not the same party. If they were, the NDP would never have been founded in the first place. These two parties address different Canadians, with different needs and values. Not every non-Conservative voter would be content with the leftward shimmy that would be a Liberal government. Not every non-Conservative voter wants to move all the way to the NDP.

When people say it would be more useful to have a two-party system “like the States” I want to ask them if they’re crazy. I haven’t done that yet, so I will now. Are you crazy? Look at the state of US politics! You have one party (the Republicans) that seems, at this moment, like it is going to be led by total wingnuts (though we’ll see, I guess, once they choose a presidential candidate), and a second party that is SUPPOSED to be different, and is a little more palatable to the leftist voter, but is still forced to kowtow to the wingnuts in Congress on important traditional leftist issues like the environment,  reproductive rights, and marriage equality. The current US President is a Democrat, and do you see a many wins for the Stateside left-wing voter right now? I certainly don’t. If I could use only one word to sum up Obama’s presidency so far, I would choose “disappointing”. Given the opportunity to add a second word, I wouldn’t, because I’m too disappointed.  Bogged down by its own system and by a frighteningly vitriolic attitude between the parties, it seems to me the US government is doing nothing, and representing nobody.

Though our parliamentary system here in Canada is far from perfect, the availability of more than two choices ensures that Canadians have a better chance of being able to vote for the candidate and party that best represents them. That’s democracy. Voting for one of only two parties and then having whichever party wins have their hands entirely tied by the inability of the two parties to cooperate with each other, resulting in bills that do practically nothing, or require massive compromises in order to pass, is not democracy. That’s just politics. And let’s not forget that in the event of a merger, half-measures, compromises, and ass-kissing would be occurring between two sides of the new “left” party, before the party could even think of taking on the other. More politics.

There are people all over the world who are willing to fight, and to sacrifice their lives, in the pursuit of democracy for their country. No one ever died so they could have the privilege of politics in their lives.

The inevitable frustrations and disappointments of watching governments produce nothing but hot air is what turns people off politics in the first place. The more people are turned off by politics, the less they will be politically involved. The less people involved in politics, the less democracy can truly represent us. The people who elected Liberal candidates in May believed something different than I did. Despite this, I respect their decision to vote for a party that, while it is not the Conservative Party, does not best represent me or my values. I expect the same respect from Liberal supporters.

This is democracy. I want my voice to be represented, even if my voice doesn’t win. Winning will mean nothing if all I have won is the chance to watch the party I voted for compromise everything I hold dear, everything that made me vote for them in the first place. I want to see a party that cooperates with other parties (when appropriate) and conducts itself civilly, but that will be able to honour the choice I made when I voted. It’s a tall order, but anyone who thinks they belong in the House of Commons should be prepared to face that challenge.

On the flip side, anyone who is comfortable throwing the values I voted for out the window and hopping in bed with another party just to win does not deserve my vote. Because I don’t want to vote for stupid ideas, even if they win and get to form a stupid government.

Happy Birthday, Blog! : One Whole Year of NiftyNotCool

/ Lauren / 2 Comments

This the where the magic happens (yep, my mousepad is a paper bag).

It was this day last year (November 29, 2010) that I posted “NiftyNotCool: A Whine and Cheese Introduction“, my first-ever blog post. That makes today the first “bloggerversary” of NiftyNotCool. During this year I have been committed to posting at least once per week and I have kept to this goal (a small feat for some but a big feat for me). I had decided, at the time, that I would keep this up for a year and if I didn’t like it I would stop. Today also marks the one-year anniversary of my first-ever tweet on Twitter, again, with the condition that if I hated it (and I thought I might) I would stop (HA!).

The idea of marking my time as a blogger with a bloggerversary is one that I stole from my friend Raul Pacheco-Vega, of Hummingbird604.com. He celebrated his five year bloggerversary this past spring and it was a pretty big milestone for a major Vancouver blogger who has, for the entire five years, been blogging entirely for free.

As my own small bloggerversary approached it occurred to me that the thought of quitting NiftyNotCool hasn’t crossed my mind at all lately. I’ve put in a year’s worth of learning and writing, attending the YVR Blogger Meetups and talking to new people. I’ve learned that blogging (good blogging) is more than just banging out a post every once in a while and expecting fame and recognition to come pouring in. It’s about hard work, and not being obsessed with watching my site stats. It’s about making decisions like whether or not to sacrifice good SEO for titles and introductions that satisfy me as a writer but won’t necessarily bring Google searchers to my blog (most of the time I say to hell with SEO and just write the way that makes me happy).

Over the year, I’ve written a few things I’m quite proud of (and some I’d be content to sweep under a rug), and a few things that unexpectedly struck a chord with unexpected people. Every once in a while someone has told me that something I posted interested them, or made them laugh, or was helpful to them. When someone does that, it’s pretty much the most gratifying feeling I could hope for as a blogger.

And I’m having fun! Blogging and tweeting has allowed me to engage with new people, and brought some fun opportunities my way. If you blog for perks and recognition you’ll quit soon. If you blog because you like to write and you want to share, you’ll enjoy yourself and the perks that do happen to come along will be just that…perks. I’ve stuck with this for a year and I gotta admit that writing some posts has been like pulling teeth. But overall it’s been an interesting experience, a good challenge and a lot of fun and I don’t feel like stopping anytime soon.

But I do think it’s time to step up my game. I’ve been blogging and tweeting and going to tweet ups and similar events for one year and it is about time I stopped being such a Luddite and started making this easier on myself. It’s time for a smartphone.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Georgette von iPhone (“von iPhone” is of course her married name, sadly, Count von iPhone passed away from technological dropsy some time ago). This brand new piece of techno-social gadgetry is my one-year bloggerversary present to myself.

Technological! Ooooh!

Georgette is an iPhone 4S and I am happy as a clam with my bright shiny toy. I’ve stuck with this for a year and proven to myself that I would make good use of a smartphone. Now I can blog and tweet all over town! And find myself on Google maps when I get lost tweeting all over town! And record voice memos like a Private I. Watch out world!

With all sincerity though, happy bloggerversary, nifty blog of mine. It’s been a slice so far. Welcome to the family, Georgette. I love you already. And to all of you who have read my blog over the past year or given me any pointers or brought cool opportunities or ideas my way, thank you. You’ve all made it so much fun and I’m nowhere close to finished yet. Cheers!

P.S. The stage-managing, truffle-baking, theatre-blogging entity that is my friend Lois Dawson is celebrating her THREE YEAR bloggerversary very soon at www.loisbackstage.com. Happy bloggerversary, Lois!