Canadiana

PuSh 2013: Opening Gala (Crossing the Line)

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unnamedOne of the things that I’ve always admired about the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is that, well, they push the arts. They push culture. And Vancouver’s arts community is the better for it. Nowhere is that so obvious than during the PuSh Opening Galas, fun events that incorporate music and interactive performances with libations and dancing. The PuSh 2013 Opening Gala was held this year on Monday night at Club Five Sixty on Seymour.

At this year’s Gala (more than at any other PuSh Gala I think) I actually paid attention to the opening speeches (did it have anything to do with the fact that one of my favourite musicians, Dan Mangan, was an MC? Possibly). From Dan Mangan himself, and Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson, and PuSh Executive Director Norman Armour, the message rang loud and clear: the arts are important and we should protect them, fight for them, and (dare I say?) fund them. With the closure of the Waldorf in East Vancouver on our minds (not to mention other high-profile closures in the past year, including the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company), it seems to be a dark time to celebrate “crossing the line”, as the PuSh Festival is asking us to do over the next two weeks.

So why do they do it? Why spend a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money on a two-week international performing arts festival? Because we need it. Because festivals like PuSh represent a coming together of the very best of the performing arts community, and a commitment to refuse complacency, refuse mere satisfaction with where the Vancouver performing arts scene is today, and to push to the envelope (there’s that word again), and audiences, into new territory, artistically and geographically (with productions from as far away as Taiwan, Argentina, and Belgium). Only by seeing what we’ve never seen can our arts community strengthen and become what we’ve never yet been–safely sustained, more than hand to mouth, more than dependent on the capricious whims of provincial and federal funding.

More than just a seat-warmer for an eventual condo development to move in.

One of the PuSh Gala’s interactive performances this year, Open Book (inspired by Human Library, a production brought to PuSh 2013 by Denmark’s Stop the Violence), is an excellent example of performing art’s capacity to “cross the line”, and to bring its audience with it. In the eerie Club Five Sixty basement, my TC and I had the opportunity to check out a “human book” for a 10-minute conversation. I checked out Patti, a psychic, who explained to me what being psychic means to her life (it makes it calmer, she says) and who believes that all people have the capacity to tap into their intuitive and psychic abilities. TC had a conversation with Bruce, a legally blind painter who uses acrylics to create highly textured works and who paints the irregularities of his limited vision onto his pieces. A performance like Open Book is not traditionally what one would consider theatre–and yet it is live, it is an experience, it is not designed to be therapeutic or necessarily educational but simply to push us, through the power of a simple conversation with a stranger, into a new place (in this case, another person’s, a real person’s, experience).

Of course the Gala got me excited about What To See. What to see, what to see? Every year I have to make tough choices and every year I miss something amazing, simply because most of the festival is amazing and I can’t see even half of it. Every event at the festival (and Club PuSh) seems intriguing, new, virtuosic. Two pieces in particular are calling to me–Ride the Cyclone (Atomic Vaudeville, Victoria BC) and The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (National Theatre of Scotland, Glasgow). TC’s top pick: Reich + Rite with pianist Vicky Chow (Music on Main, Vancouver). But there’s so much more, always so much more, and so many ways to cross the line.

To see what the PuSh Festival has to offer this year, and decide how you want to cross the line, visit the PuSh website at www.pushfestival.ca. For more about specific PuSh events (plus the event calendar and program guide), visit the Festival Events page.

Disclosure: My TC and I received comps to the PuSh Gala this year, as I have every year I’ve gone, because I have blogged and tweeted, and continue to blog and tweet, about the Festival.

Book Review: Joseph Boyden’s “Three Day Road”

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In a quick and dirty nutshell, Joseph Boyden‘s Three Day Road tells the story of Xavier Bird, a young Oji-Cree man from the bush near Moose Factory, Ontario. Together with his best friend Elijah, he travels far from home with the South Ontario Rifles and becomes an accomplished sniper. Afterwords, his spirit and body broken, Xavier returns to his aunt Niska, who paddles him deep into the bush towards the home of his childhood. Experiences in the trenches of the First World War are interspersed with memories of Niska’s coming of age as a diviner and healer for the few remaining “bush Indians” who continue to resist the pull of the white towns and the rum, exploitation, and prejudice that came with them.

A striking theme in this novel is the shock of Niska’s spiritual and natural world colliding with that of white Ontario–with its religion, RCMP, and residential schools. Through Boyden’s telling, it is obvious that the systems imposed on the First Nations of Canada were grossly out of touch with the practical and natural realities of life in this country. A familiar theme, yes, but its representation in Three Day Road took my breath away with its absurdity and immediacy.

In another quick and dirty nutshell, I liked this book. I liked Xavier, a quiet young man whose inner jealousies, comforts, fears, and joys play across the mind and heart we are privy to, but remain hidden from the soldiers in his company. I liked his Aunt Niska, a wise woman whose strength comes not necessarily from taught knowledge but from careful and close observation, a firm sense of self, and an ability to do, under any circumstances, what must be done. I loved the descriptions of the bush Niska and Xavier call their home, I loved its almost otherworldly beauty. I loved that this beauty is here, in Canada, though in smaller and smaller spaces now. I hated the war and the futility and brutality of trench life and the various suicidal “pushes” the soldiers were ordered to participate in, but then, who wouldn’t? I was taken by the sensuality of the book–physical, natural, spiritual.

I liked this book. What’s not to like? I suppose that Three Day Road is long, so if you don’t like long books, you may not like it, and it’s heavy, so if you don’t like literature that takes a more serious tone, you may not like it. But if you allow yourself to be pulled in by the beauty of the telling and the emotional threads of the story you will find yourself whizzing through the novel, dodging bullets and yearning for a comforting voice in the din and a warm fire in the rainy night.

If you like Canadian literature and/or history, or literature by and about the First Nations people of Canada, or action scenes and technical descriptions of early 20th-century warfare, or sensual descriptions of intimacy and the natural world, Three Day Road is a book you will like.

Or perhaps “like” is the wrong word. You will respect this novel, you will be pulled by it, you will be struck by it. You will start a long journey and reach the end sooner than you think. And like me, you will recommend this book to others.

One Year Later, Jack’s Still My Hero

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One year ago today, my hero Jack Layton lost his battle with cancer and left his New Democratic Party of Canada, recently elected to the Official Opposition, without a leader. He left Canadians from coast-to-coast without a mustached knight in orange armor to champion their values in Parliament. He also left us with a remarkable sense of optimism and purpose, and his now familiar parting words to Canadians:

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, August 2011 Photo: Sonja Kresowaty

Layton’s message of hope and optimism has been printed on posters and in papers, chalked onto sidewalks, and blogged and tweeted throughout cyberspace. These are the words of a dying man passing the torch to the people he spent his life working and fighting to represent. And these are words to live by.

On this day last year, I wrote a blog post entitled,
“…And we’ll change the world. (My tribute to my hero)“. My heart was broken and I keenly felt the loss of the person who had shown Canadians a different and better way to engage with Canadian politics and each other. Was Layton a dreamer? Probably. It’s easier to wax optimistic when you realize that your fight is almost over. But I’m a dreamer too. Based on last May’s federal election results, a large percentage of Canadians are dreamers. And Jack taught us that being a dreamer is fine, as long as you can also be a fighter, a hard worker, and a good person.

And you need to have patience. When Layton told Canadians that we would change the world, he didn’t mean tomorrow. He didn’t mean in one year from that day. Jack Layton’s story is not one of resting on success–in his 8 years as leader of the federal NDP, he never was our Prime Minister, and he did not unseat the Conservative government. What he left us with is a legacy of perseverance, in which the process is just as important as the product.

Layton did not become a respected and beloved public figure overnight. Prior to becoming the leader of the NDP, he spent almost 20 years in municipal politics in Toronto. Growing the NDP and its voter base over the 8 years Layton was at the helm required intelligence, commitment, and hard work, coupled with a public persona which by turns needed to be both affable and firm, witty and civil. It took Layton and his party time to get this right, and it took Canadians time to realize that the NDP could be a viable alternative to the governments we’re used to.

“The house that Jack built” isn’t finished, and it isn’t one that Layton built himself. In his political life, Layton and the NDP benefited from caucus members, individual MPs, staffers, and countless volunteers, donors, and voters. In his personal life, Jack Layton found love and support in his partner, MP Olivia Chow, and in his family.

Is it daunting to be passed the torch by a man whose life and death in Canadian politics has raised him to almost mythical status? Absolutely. Sacrifices will always need to be made by anyone who wants to fight for a cause. But a struggle towards a better Canada need not be alone, and it need not be miserable. Engaged people all over the country are becoming invested in Canada’s future, even through something as simple as voting or signing a petition. Personal sacrifices will be required from anyone who wants to actually work in politics, but the work doesn’t need to be devoid of love, humour, or joy. In fact, if Layton hadn’t looked like he was having so much fun on the campaign trail, I doubt he would have reached so many people.

One year after Layton’s death, I am still afraid of the power of Harper’s Conservatives. I’m afraid of pipelines and oil tankers in BC. I’m afraid of the impact an anti-expert, anti-science, and anti-research culture in Ottawa is having on policy decisions. I’m afraid of the US’s “war on women”, because any supposedly “first world” country that doesn’t respect women or their bodies spells bad news for us all. Jack Layton is gone and he can’t fight my fears for me.

But as Layton himself wrote, “[our] cause is much bigger than any one leader.” My fears make me hopeful because of the people all over the country who are rising up to combat them. Canada will never be some hippie socialist utopia where nothing bad ever happens. But if we engage in a process of work, intelligence, and above all, compassion, we will get so much farther, and become so much better, than the mediocrity and inequality we labour under now.

So where’s the product of Jack Layton’s life? I don’t know. It may never have arrived. But I have seen the process of Layton’s political life in the NDP, the work over years to achieve the ground the party now stands on. If Layton’s life, cut short in the middle of such an exciting time, is any example, it may well be that the process is really all we have.

[To see how other Canadians are remembering Jack Layton, you may want to check out DearJack.ca.]

Adventures in BC: The Chief and Nat Bailey Stadium

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Summer is upon us, and with the summer comes the opportunity to explore the “supernatural” province that we live in. If you don’t have much time (or money), what better way to enjoy beautiful BC than to enjoy the natural and cultural gems existing close to home?

Part I:

In which NiftyNotCool and her TC hike the Chief

One warm BC Day, on a whim (and after getting pumped up by watching the classic 80s film Labyrinth), TC and I borrowed his brother’s car and headed towards Squamish to hike the Chief. (For those who don’t know, the Chief is a granite cliff/mountain that you can hike to the top of. Pretty spectacular.)

After a short and scenic drive along the Sea-to-Sky highway, we arrived at the Shannon Falls Provincial Park so we could check out the pretty falls before beginning our hike to the summit of the Chief’s First Peak, which is technically part of the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park (beginning your journey at Shannon Falls adds negligible time and effort to the overall hike AND involves a waterfall! Score!).

After hearing I’d been up the Chief, one of my coworkers asked if the hike was “reasonable”. This really depends on your version of reasonable. If a reasonable hike to you is over in an hour and a half and can be done in tennis shoes or sandals, then no, the Chief is by no means a reasonable hike. If, however, climbing up (just up, not ever sideways, just up) for almost two hours, sweating like a beast as you clamber over rocks and tree roots, climbing the occasional iron ladder or needing to hold chains to avoid slipping down a granite rock face and then getting rained on and absolutely filthy on your (equally tricky) descent sounds like a reasonable hike to you, then the Chief just might be your idea of a pleasant afternoon.

Sweating and getting muddy aside, TC and I had a great time. Standing more than 600 metres above sea level on a granite peak, feeling the wind and rain whip our faces and knowing there is nowhere to go from here but down was an absolutely exhilarating feeling, worth the sweaty clamber up and slippery descent. TC and I shared a kiss on the summit and headed on our way. My legs were shaking by the time we got back to Shannon Falls but we were both smiling from ear to ear. The entire hike to and from the First Peak took us just under 3.5 hours and we felt sore and exhausted and fantastic.

Part II

In which NiftyNotCool and her friend Colleen watch the Vancouver Canadians beat the Yakima Bears 2-1 at the Nat Bailey Stadium

On Tuesday my friend (and baseball fanatic) Colleen was in town and this is why I ended up spending my Tuesday evening cheering and rhythmically clapping for the Vancouver Canadians at the splendid Nat Bailey Stadium (at 4601 Ontario Street, which is, by the way, easily accessible by transit).

According to Colleen, whose baseball-related facts I always trust, Nat Bailey Stadium is one of few beautiful outdoor baseball stadiums in Canada (and 7th largest) and should be considered a gem of Vancouver. I’m not going to argue with that. It really is an awesome venue and we had great seats for only $16 a pop.

And then, for some reason, sushi raced.

It had been a long time since I’d watched baseball but the rules are pretty simple and the innings are pretty quick. Between innings, the stadium took care to entertain the crowd with various small events: a smart car taking a spin around the diamond, a “sushi race”, dance routines by the ground crew, everyone doing the bird dance in the stands, and finally, everyone singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. I had a beer and a hot dog and reveled in nostalgia and the warm evening.

I really couldn’t have asked for more, except maybe for a win for the Vancouver Canadians. And then, at the bottom of the 9th, they made it happen! What a day. And what a stadium! Nat Bailey is a great place to kick back, shoot the shit, and watch some ball.

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So what are you waiting for? Whether you prefer drinking a beer in the stands or scaling a peak, our warm weather and sunny skies won’t last forever. Get the heck outside you lazy bum, and have a summertime adventure.

Strip Down and Be Counted: Wreck Beach Skinny Dip 2012

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The annual Wreck Beach Skinny Dip was held this year on Saturday, August 4. The Wreck Beach Preservation Society (WBPS) really picked a great day this for it (after a bit of a false start July 21, a Saturday which began quite cloudy). The air was warm, the sand was hot, the sun was bright, and the water was…well, the water was cold. As usual.

Besides being a little more crowded, the Skinny Dip is, for the most part, just another beautiful day at the beach. TC and I ate Skittles and apples, drank plenty of water, and I started in on a paperback of Kevin Wilson’s excellent but problematic novel, The Family Fang (many people compare this story to the Wes Anderson film, The Royal Tenenbaums, but I disagree with the comparison because the Tenenbaums love each other, and I am not sure that the Fang parents love their children, at least not beyond what their kids can do for their artistic careers. But my opinion on that is maybe for another time).

The only real difference between the Skinny Dip day and any other Wreck Beach day for me is, of course, the part where I go swimming totally in the buff with a lot of people. This year, I was one of 595 people posing for a big (nude) group photo and being counted by a notary public. According to the WBPS, a donor named Roger Proctor, CEO of Genex Capital, agreed to donate $5 to the Society for every registered naked bather in the water (we had to sign up beforehand to be part of the official “Dip” in order to be counted).

I guess participating in the Skinny Dip is a way to financially support the WBPS (through their donor), but for me, it’s a way to support Wreck Beach and everything I love about it by participating in some “naturist” swimming. I don’t mind sharing the beach with “textiles” (i.e. clothed people), or anyone who is being respectful, but that said, I do think respect is a key part of enjoying Wreck Beach and ensuring everyone else enjoys it too:

  • Respect for the environment: Wreck Beach does not have any garbage receptacles. This is not because you are supposed to throw your garbage in the bushes or into the sand. This is because you are supposed to take all of your garbage away from the beach with you. If everyone takes responsibility for their own garbage, no one will need to take responsibility for everyone’s.
  • Respect for privacy. Obviously, at a clothing-optional beach, taking photographs (except with permission of the subject) is not okay.
  • Respect for personal space and comfort. Visiting a clothing-optional beach is not an invitation to be hit on, gawked at, photographed, ridiculed or in any other way sexualized or objectified. Like any other beach, people go to Wreck to swim and sunbathe, not to pose for Playboy or be harassed.
  • Respect for each other. This one is pretty obvious. Be polite, share the space, don’t mess with things belonging to other people, and look out for each other. The “regulars” at Wreck Beach are always happy to come to your aid if you feel unsafe or harassed in any way.

Generally speaking, most people at Wreck stick to the principles outlined above, which is one of the many reasons this famous naturist beach has remained so beautiful, unique, and inviting. It’s one of Vancouver’s hidden gems and I hope it never changes.

We’re Not In Green Gables Anymore: Canada’s Revolutionary Reads

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When I think about iconic Canadian literature, I think about Anne of Green Gables skipping in raptures over the red roads of PEI, the heartbreaking irony of Sinclair Ross’ Painted Door or A Field of Wheat, and maybe, if I’m in a more “contemporary” mood, I’ll think of Margaret Atwood and her much-lauded Cleverness. I don’t think of the word “revolution” when thinking of Can Lit any more than I would think of the words “outer space”. Sure, some Canadian out there is writing about it, I thought to myself, but they can’t be all that good or I would know about it.

Or maybe I’d have to take a class entitled Canadian Literature after 1920 (this year the course theme was “Revolution(s)”) and surprise myself immensely by enjoying it. Which is what I did. Considering three of the books we studied were Canada Reads winners, it seems I am not the only Canadian reader to discover a taste for revolutionary literature.

Readers of Canada (and beyond), allow me to present to you, in the order in which I read them, the books of the Summer 2012 semester of Canadian Literature after 1920:

    • In the Skin of a Lion– Michael Ondaatje (winner of Canada Reads 2002)This one is pretty obvious, and Michael Ondaatje certainly isn’t an unknown quantity to Canadian readers. This was my first encounter with him though, and I wrote my final paper about the book (a high-falutin’ affair entitled “Not Just ‘Men From Nowhere’: Narrative Inclusion as Revolutionary Act in Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion“). The book is big on beautiful language and lyricism, and big on telling stories, but light on the the proletarian rhetoric someone might expect from a book that deals primarily with the conditions of the (mainly immigrant) blue-collar workers who built key features of modern-day Toronto (which is alright by me). As expected, considering its author, In the Skin of a Lion is a fine book. A damn fine book, y’know?
    • Next Episode– Hubert Aquin (winner of Canada Reads 2003) This book gave me some difficulty. When you read it, it seems to be about a revolutionary imprisoned in a Montreal psychiatric facility trying to write a spy novel, set in Switzerland, about a revolutionary spy, but actually it’s about the political climate of 1960s Quebec. Get it? I didn’t, but according to my dad, who read the book in French back when he was a student, if you had been following Quebec politics at the time, you would get it. Give this book a whirl if you’re feeling brave and patient.
    • Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Biography– Chester Brown Considering the story of Louis Riel (and his involvement in the Red River Rebellion and the 1885 Northwest Rebellion) is told entirely by Brown in minimalist black and white comic-strip format (like the kind you would see in a newspaper), Chester Brown’s achievement is impressive. By Brown’s own admission, a lot of facts have been omitted or altered in his telling (since it’s pretty hard to fit major historical events in a comic), but his departures from historical fact are exhaustively cataloged in his notes at the back of the book, along with research information. If you don’t know much about Louis Riel, you’ll actually learn something from this comic-strip depiction.
    • Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance – a film by Alanis Obomsawin Kanehsatake is not a book, obviously, it is a documentary about the 1990 Oka Crisis. I was so struck by this film I am really quite speechless (and wordless) about it. Watching it will give you a very different, rather uncomfortable view of Canada and the way our rights as citizens are (dis)respected.
    • In Another Place, Not Here– Dionne Brand This book is a stylistically difficult, deliciously unsatisfying read. The underdogs do not “get theirs” in the end and the villains (when they can be defined) do not learn, or lose, anything. But the language (including Caribbean dialect in the voice of Elizete) is poetic and sensual with the ripe and sweating heat of Grenada pulsing against the empty greyness of Toronto. The plot centres around two people in a lesbian relationship but In Another Place, Not Here is not a novel about being gay. It is a novel about heat, and passion, and unfairness, with a final image that tears your heart right from your chest and just leaves it lying on the floor. It’s a book you can’t help but respect.
  • Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter– Carmen Aguirre (winner of Canada Reads 2012) Despite its often heavy content, stylistically, this book is probably the easiest and fastest read. It is also the funniest. A natural storyteller, Chilean exile and Vancouver theatre artist Carmen Aguirre shares with the reader her (previously unshared) memories of growing up a daughter of the Chilean resistance movement. At the age of 11, Carmen’s mother and stepfather remove Carmen and her sister from the safety of their exile in Vancouver and return to South America to aid Chile’s resistance against the dictatorship of Pinochet. First kisses and doing the hustle are juxtaposed against bullets in the street and the all-important facade the family had to keep up at all times to ensure their safety from arrest and torture. At 18, Carmen officially joins the resistance as a fighter in her own right. This is a book not about gunning down baddies or blowing up buildings but about the physical danger and psychological and emotional toll underground resistance takes on ordinary people who are willing to risk all for a greater cause. The book created a bit of a controversy on the Canada Reads panel when panelist Anne-France Goldwater referred to Aguirre as “a bloody terrorist” and mused that she can’t understand “how we let her into Canada” (you can read more about Goldwater’s comments on the Globe and Mail website). Personally, I was quite taken with the book, and don’t see why anyone needed to use the “T-word”.

We’ve only got another month of summer. Get into your hammock or down to the beach and sink your teeth into some revolutionary reads. You might look at your country, or at least its literature, in a different way.

My Reply to the BC NDP’s Sucky Survey

/ Lauren / 1 Comment

It should come as no surprise to anyone that has read any of my political blog posts that I am a card-carrying member of the federal NDP. I joined before Christmas because I wanted to be able to cast my vote for the new Leader of the Opposition (such fun!).

What was a surprise to me (though not a necessarily unpleasant one), was that membership in the federal NDP automatically made me a member of the BC NDP as well. That is why I was the recent recipient of a disappointing mail-out called the “BC NDP Pre-Election Opinion Survey”.

Now, I love surveys. Love them. I love sharing my opinion (again, no surprise). I have not been very involved in BC politics and I was excited at the prospect of my opinion helping shape the direction the party would be taking in the next provincial election.

Much to my dismay, this “survey” proved to be little more than a request for donations, and a collection of questions so leading and so obvious you’d have to be a Nazi to answer any differently than the party expects you to. Since this survey was sent only to BC NDP members, I suspect Nazis were not given the opportunity to respond.

An example of the in-depth research this survey is doing.

Of course it’s important to ask questions about housing, persons with disabilities, the economy, education, etc., but the way these questions are phrased simply asks questions we all know the answer to. I think I can safely say all British Columbians (no matter which party they support) would agree that people with disabilities should be provided some assistance and security and that well-paying jobs are a priority for the province. What the survey failed to ask was how we felt about how the BC NDP proposes to do this. How is good housing for adults with disabilities to be secured? How will apprenticeship programs be expanded and well-paying jobs created? Who will pay for these initiatives?

A more useful survey would be one in which respondents were asked to rank the issues/iniatives which were most important to them (in the economy, education, health care, etc.), and were then asked what they would be willing to see their provincial government do to make these initiatives happen. Would we be willing to see income tax increases? Corporate tax increases? Would we be able to stomach cuts in certain areas? If so, which?

A criticism of the BC NDP that I have heard repeated several times since moving to BC is that although they are against whatever the BC Liberals do, they themselves do not seem to have a plan and do not seem to have any solid alternatives to offer. You can’t simply decry cuts to this and that without any alternative plans for balancing the budget. Although I will likely give the BC NDP the benefit of the doubt and vote for them in the next provincial election, I can’t blame British Columbians for having little confidence in the party, especially when its own members are receiving stupid surveys like this one.

After ripping open my survey envelope in delightful anticipation of participating in the political process and having my hopes immediately dashed, what I found most galling is that the confidential survey finishes off with a money grab.

Soo confidential! With my name and address on it and everything!

I’m used to being asked for donations so that didn’t bother me much, but I couldn’t believe that my “No” option for donating was enclosing $6.50 to pay for the privilege of answering this absolutely useless survey. If the survey questions had been decided on as the product of intense research and thought I would have likely been happy to support the initiative. I do not feel like I need to pay $6.50 for what is essentially junk mail.

While I’m in the process of bashing the provincial party I will likely vote for, I’d also like the point out that the letter I received with the survey was stupid too. As you can see, the letter uses underlining to great effect. Good god. I’m not in elementary school anymore. I don’t require underlining to tell me which words are important. Remember that this is a letter to the BC NDP’s own members, not someone completely unfamiliar with the party. If I was so stupid that underlining key words would sway me, I wouldn’t be voting NDP (the Liberals and Conservatives have better soundbites and use more repetition). Eugh.

You may ask why, if I am an NDP-supporter, I would write a post criticizing and poking fun at the BC NDP. The answer is because I want to vote for them, and I want to vote for a party that doesn’t underestimate my intelligence. I want the BC NDP to step it up. Ill-conceived donation drives like this one (masquerading as surveys) do not increase my confidence in the party.

C’mon BC NDP. If you can’t give me solutions right now, at least show me that you’re making an honest and genuine effort to come up with some. Until you do, your sucky missives are going straight in the recycling.

Ooh Saskatchewan!

/ Lauren / Leave a comment

Driving through southern Saskatchewan.

Last Friday, my TC and I packed our bags for a week in Saskatchewan. Our trip took us through Saskatoon (briefly), Weyburn (for a wedding) and Cochin, but most of our time was spent in the house I grew up in, situated on 240 acres of forest and fields (mostly forest) in northwest Saskatchewan. Technically I did not grow up on a farm (I grew up on an acreage), but considering how far we lived from the nearest town (Turtleford–at least a 30 min drive from us, population 500) and the fact that at different times we’ve had rabbits and roosters and laying hens and a duck (in addition to the more usual dogs and cats), I suppose I could forgive your confusion.

This trip was TC’s first time deep in the country, and there are a few things he found a little bit “crazy”:

  • Saskatchewan is flat–you can see power lines for miles. Except only really in the south. It is not that flat where I’m from, comparatively, or nearly as open.
  • Giving directions includes, “Head eight and a half miles out of town on the highway and turn right at the white barn.” In our defense, we were in Weyburn for a wedding, and none of us were familiar with the community. Had we known where we were, the instructions would have certainly included the family surnames of the farms we were passing.
  • Dirt roads. We do not live on a dirt road. The roads out here are gravel thank you very much.
  • There’s no street signs out here. Of course there are no street signs out here. There are no streets. We get to our houses via roads (see above). Gravel roads don’t need names.
  • Wild strawberries. Heck yes wild strawberries.
  • Massive properties with hundreds of old cars and some buildings erected to form a kind of “car village”. To be fair, the property TC is referring to is a neighbour’s farm, and this neighbour is a devoted collector of vintage (and rare) cars.  The bison farm he owns with his wife is a pretty special, very unique place, not the norm for Saskatchewan farms. The fact that his collection and its set-up is not commercialized in any way is also very special.
  • Cows and other “critters” on the side of the road. Yes, this happens sometimes. And yesterday, we saw a badger!
  • There are three cats in the house. This is only crazy because TC is so ferociously allergic to cats. For the rest of us, it’s just triple the cuteness.

Our provincial flower, the Western Red Lily.

It’s hard for me to describe my home because I love it so much. I love the fields, I love the woods, I love the gigantic skies. I love driving the gravel roads that form a near-perfect grid across the province. I love Bright Sand Lake, I love the neighbourliness, I love the quiet (except in its own way, the Prairie is very loud). I love watching thunderstorms roll in. I love that my parents and their friends talk about hilling their potatoes, and the weather (because it impacts more than their mood and their beach plans), and never about salaries or how much people are paying in rent/mortgage/car payments etc. (which is somehow acceptable conversation in a city). I love that we ate good food all week and no one took a photo of it. I love being in the house my dad designed and built (except I hate when things inside it change). It’s the home of my soul, and always will be.

Despite his cat allergies and his newness to the region, TC and I had a lovely time. My only regret is having to head back to the city tomorrow. Sigh.

A thunderstorm rolls in.

My woods from my favourite place, Crocus Hill.

One of many abandoned farm houses–this one between Livelong and Glaslyn.

Beep beep.

[All photos by my TC.]

Sunshine Coast Adventures: Nifty at the Painted Boat

/ Lauren / Leave a comment

View from our patio at the Painted Boat

Sometimes, a lady just needs a holiday. And not just any old holiday, which often involves headaches and penny pinching and a hotel room overlooking a dumpster and crack deal. Sometimes, a lady just needs to vacation like a rich person.

Enter 604pulse.com, and their recent contest to win a free 2-night stay in a villa at the relaxing, beautiful, and oh-so-luxurious Painted Boat Resort on the Sunshine Coast. On a whim, I entered the contest back in February, never expecting to think about it again. Until I won. Wooohooo! Nifty got a rich-person vacation!

On Friday, the TC and I packed our rental car (obtained super-cheap by booking through hotwire.com and by buying our insurance through ICBC instead of through the rental company, FYI) and headed up the Sunshine Coast. With the sun beaming down and a compilation of 90s alternative hits rocking the stereo, we enjoyed a pretty but winding drive to Madeira Park. We accidentally passed our turn twice but in no time at all we were at our destination.

And what a destination it is. Every villa at the Painted Boat resort has a waterfront view. Because it was off-season, the resort was fairly quiet and I suspect this is the reason we were bumped up from the standard two-bedroom villa I had won to a two-bedroom villa that also had a loft (this place was twice the size of our decently spacious apartment). The master bedroom had a king-sized bed and overlooked the bay. Its en suite bathroom had a huge stone-tiled shower and a massive bathtub. There was a fireplace. A large patio with a barbecue. A beautiful kitchen with granite counter tops. There was even a washer and dryer in one of the closets (which came in handy on our first morning when I spilled milk down my sleeve).

Minions, build me this bathroom!

Minions, build me this bathroom!

Needless to say, I spent my weekend “star-fishing” the massive bed, taking more baths than I needed, and “ballet dancing” all over the beautiful expansive hardwood (which of course becomes “figure skating” when you are wearing socks). Obviously, whenever we were in our villa, TC and I wore the plushy robes provided by the Painted Boat (my assumption is that rich people don’t restrict themselves by wearing actual clothes any more than they have to, I wouldn’t).

Kayaking on the sea!

Kayaking on the sea!

Though on Friday night we kept matters frugal by cooking supper ourselves (excellent steaks barbecued on waterfront patio, courtesy of my TC) and relaxing under the stars in the resort’s hot tub, for our second day we decided to live it rich and take advantage of the resort and its activities. Late afternoon massages at the Spa (I had a salt scrub first) put us in a lovely mood for dinner at the Restaurant at the Painted Boat. It was a luxurious, spendy, delicious day.

My favourite activity was actually the cheapest one–before our fancy massages and dinner, TC and I rented a double kayak from the Painted Boat and spent two sunny hours paddling around the bay and various little inlets near Madeira Park. During these two hours, in addition to the regular seagulls, geese, and crows, we saw the following wildlife:

  • sea stars (purple, orange, and white)
  • a cormorant (we think)
  • a loon
  • a bald eagle
  • a blue heron
  • clams and sand dollars beneath the water
  • a crab being viciously killed and eaten by a crow
  • a SEAL splashing around and having a great old time (he didn’t let us get too close though).

Basically, this place is awesome. I don’t have much more to say, except that my weekend was awesome. Not only is the Painted Boat itself a beautiful and beautifully located resort, its proximity to the rest of the wonders on the Sunshine Coast meant that after checking out on Sunday, TC and I were able to take a very short drive to hike in the Skookumchuck Rapids Provincial Park and make it back to the Langdale ferry before 4:00 pm.

I miss you already.

Yeah…my weekend was awesome. Thank you so much to Robyn at 604Pulse and to Jennifer and Lori at the Painted Boat Resort for providing my TC and me with this amazing opportunity to live rich and relaxed for a glorious weekend on the Sunshine Coast. For all its being a 4 1/2 star resort, the Painted Boat retains a relaxed and outdoorsy atmosphere that was not at all stuffy or classist. My heart cries for the beautiful kitchen and the fabulously huge bathtub, but I am fully content and happy with my new memories of the unceasingly beautiful province of BC.

Disclosure: Not much to disclose, actually. Our stay at the Painted Boat was free because I won a random-draw contest held by 604Pulse.com. I do not believe any of the parties involved knew I was a blogger, and I certainly was not asked to blog about my visit.

Why an NDP-Liberal merger might NOT be stupid

/ Lauren / Leave a comment

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.