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Vancouver: Carnegie Community Centre Association.","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/creator":[{"value":"Carnegie Community Centre Association","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued":[{"value":"2019-06-12T16:54:06Z","type":"literal","lang":"en"},{"value":"2008","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/aggregatedCHO":[{"value":"https:\/\/circle.library.ubc.ca\/rest\/handle\/2429\/70626?expand=metadata","type":"literal","lang":"en"}],"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note":[{"value":"---11ma \u2022mm1m11 aammmmamm 1m11mr111 111mm 11mm mm1m11m1mmm11111111mr1 The Soul of Vancouver: Voices from the Downtown Eastside Published by the Carnegie Community Centre Association 401 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 2T7 \u00a9 the poets, 2008 Edited by Diane Wood Cover illustration by Diane Wood Cover photograph by Sister Victoria Marie Book design by Bech Davies Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication 1he soul ofVancouver : voices from the Downtown Eastside \/ edited by Diane Wood. ISBN 978-0-9733467-2-5 I. Canadian poetry (English)--British Columbia--Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver). 2. Canadian poetry (English)--British Columbia--Vancouver. 3. Canadian poetry (English)--2 lst century. 4. Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver, B.C.)--Poetry. I. Wood, Diane, 1952-11. Carnegie Community Centre Association PS8295.7.V35S69 2008 CS 11 '.60809206940971 l 33 C2008-906375-9 Thank you Funding for the publication of chis book has been made possible with the generous support of the following organizations. The Downtown Eastside Heart of che City Festival, produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre in association with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians vanCl..)uver foundation The Vancouver Foundation through their Neighbourhood Small Grants Program -CONTENTS Jean Swanson Introduction ... .... ...... . .. . . .. .. . . ...... .. . .. . . .. ... 6 X Hideh, Hideh . . ............ .. . .. .. .. . . ....... .. . . .. . .. 8 S~ndy Cameron The Downtown Eastside is the Soul of Vancouver .. . .. ......... 9 The Oppenheimer Park Totem Pole ... . . . . .. ............. . . 10 Cannibalism in the Downtown Eastside ...... ......... ... .. 11 Bob Sarti With the Downtown Eastside, looks can be deceiving . .. .. ..... 13 Diane Wood Trash . . . . ....... . .... . .. .. . ... . .. . . .. ... .. ........ .. 15 Listen ..... . . . .. .. . .... . .. . . .. . ........ . ..... ...... . 17 Goodbye . . . . .. . . ....... ... .. .. ... . . ... . . .. .. ...... .. 17 Colleen Carroll The Hood DTES .. .. .. . . . .. . ............... . .. .. .. . ... 18 Ode to the Hood II . ... ....... .. . .. ...... ... .. .. ....... 20 Stephen Lytton Stay Home . .. . .......... . ... ... ................. . ... 22 Why I Love the Downtown Eastside .. . . . .... . . ... . . .. .. . .. 23 Phoenix Winter Make Yourself At Home ........ ...... . ....... . .. .. .. . .. 24 Something I Miss ... .. ... .. .......... .. ..... . . .... .. .. 25 Are We on the Cusp . .. ... . ..... . . ... ..... . . . ... . . .... . 26 Demitri Harris Home ... .. ........ . . .. .. ..... .. . ... . .. ... .. . . . ..... 27 I Love the Hood .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .... . ........ .. 27 -iii-Leith Harris Sonnet .... ....... . . . .. . .. . ... . . ... . . ... . .... .. . .. . .. 29 Vision .. ' . ... .. .. .... .. ..... ... . .... . .. . . . .... .. . .... 30 Love in the Downtown Eastside ... . . ... .. . ..... . . . . . ..... 31 Bud Osborn Insight into Injection . . . .. ... .. . .. . ... .... ...... ..... . . . 33 Mary Duffy Cup Guy Cha . .. . ... . ......... .. ... . ... .. . ... .... . . .. 37 Tui Hill We Are.All Related . ...... ..... . ... . . .. . ..... ... . .. .. . .40 Paul Noscotti ' ! I Luv the OTES ...... .. ...... .. .. . . ..... ... ... . . .. . .. .42 Fra~k F Braun Poetry Night in the Carnegie Centre ... ... .. . . .. ... .... ... .43 Sharon Kravitz For the Downtown Eastside ............... .... .. . ... .... .44 Great Beginnings: A Proposal ...... . .. .. . .. ... . . .... . . .. .45 Sean Gunn The New Age Asianadian ..... .. ... . .... . ... . . .. . . ....... 47 Holly Boyd The Downtown Eastside ...... .. .. , . .. ........ , , . .. . . . .. 49 Dan' Thompson Hastings Street .... . ... . . . . . . . .. .. . .. . . ... . . .. . .... . .. 50 The Man That Had No Name . ..... .. . .. . . .. ..... ... . ... . 51 Mardi Gras Day ... . ... .... . .. . .. .. . . . ... ... .. .. ... . ... 52 Dora\/Sanders After the Civic Strike ...... ... ... .. ... . ..... ..... ..... . . 54 -iv---Melissa Eror Creation . . . .... .. ........ . .. ... . ... . .. ... ........ ... 55 Montapa Hunter Take a Better Look . . .. . ...... ... . ... . ... ..... . ........ 56 Rudolf Penner Written on the Wind ...... .. .. . . . .... . . .. ..... .. ... . .. . 58 The New Downtown Eastside .. . . .... . . .... ... .. ........ . 59 How Poor is Poor . ....... . . . . . . ... ...... ..... ... . .. ... 60 Kelly Stewart untitled .. ... ............. . . . .. . .. . . ...... .... ....... 61 How I arrived at Carnegie .......... . .. . .. . .. . . . .. . .... .. 62 Rolf Auer DTES Love ....... . . ..... .. ...... .. ... . .. . .... .. ..... 63 Ayisha Faruk Down Town Eastside . . .... . . . .. . ... . .. ... ... ........ . . . 64 -v-INTRODUCTION - BY JEAN SWANSON What community raised a totem pole in Oppenheimer Park to honour rhose who have died, and those who continue to struggle within it? Which community sewed a banner with 92 beautiful panels to remem-ber its missing and dead women? Where has a community fought for 7 years to get a community centre, camped out for months to get a waterfront park, and then had to file a human rights complaint to get access to the park for people with disabilities? Which community struggled for harm reduction drug policies and won the continent's first safe injection sire? Where did people gather to begin the On-to-Ottawa rrek that was the beginning of unemployment insurance and the 8 hour day in Canada? Where does it happen that if you \"Disappear for a day or two\/someone will send out a search party for you\" (Kelly on the purple scooter); that \"sweetgrass\/Fills the air and erases the stink of the chicken factory and crack\" (Leith Harris)? It's the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, of course, and today, more than ever in its history, the Downtown Eastside community is in danger of being wiped out . Developers are moving East, snatching up land for condos and speculating with residential hotels that are the homes of 4000 Downtown Eastside residents. New condo development is outpac-ing social housing development for singles by a ratio of 3 to 1. While the hotel rooms are often decrepit, they are the last stop before homelessness for low income people. Hotel room rents are spiralling up-wards, and new stores, like the store for dog clothes on Cordova St., are opening up to serve the condo owners. Condo owners flood city council with letters trying to keep needed social housing out of the area. Others want a freeze on the services that low income folks need. While governments say they are building housing, they are not build-ing nearly enough to house the 4000 hotel room residents and over 600 homeless people who call the community home. The hotels that the province bought are not additional or suitable housing. Most are still a 10 by 10 foot room with a bathroom down the hall and no self contained kitchen. 1he 5000 units of social housing in the area give people a safe and secure base so they can put down roots, contribute to the community, and nurture their families, as thousands of Downtown -6 -Eastsiders already do. Residents are clear that new social housing, as well as higher welfare, pensions, minimum wages, decent jobs and health services are what the community needs to become healthier, according to the Carnegie Action Project's report, Nothing about us without us. How can politicians justify allowing our historic community, the soul of Vancouver, where people are accepted for who they are, to be obliter-ated? They do it by ignoring the community, not seeing the humanity, believing the stereotypes chat the Downtown Eastside is no more than \"four blocks of hell,\" bedbugs, slumlords and drug dealers. What is the community? That's what this book is about. Poetry has a long tradition in the Downtown Eastside. Diane Wood has been organizing poetry nights at Carnegie once a month for 4 years. In the 1980s, Downtown Eastside Poets traveled around the province read-ing their work. Read on and learn about the community we want to save, and its people, and then join us in working to save it. Check out http:\/\/ccapvancouver.wordpress.com to get involved in the action to save the neighbourhood that is the soul of Vancouver. -7-Hideh, Hideh To the Creator, a.k.a. God, I say Na, Megwitch To the Coast Salish Peoples, whom the Creator In all the Creator's wisdom gave this territory, I say Na, Megwitch. And although I am not of this territory, Never-the-less I say unto you, Aneen. My name translated is bitter sweet and I'm middle aged. Some of my friends don't like me saying this, as though it means ... they're middle aged. As usual I'm an outsider, and you know what -I found a home in the OTES with other outsiders. In this community you can be arrested for painting a daisy, or a beautiful water colour scene at the old Woodward's building. In the end, the daisy won out, but the struggle continues on. I love the Downtown eastside community because of its beauty and its strength, in its refusal to SHUT UP and its insistence upon justice. For example, the missing women. No one hears our voice, except to perpetuate stereotypes. Missing women. It takes a Yankee to say \"serial killer\". THAT voice is heard ... ours is not, although we have been saying this for some time ... and more. Comfortable women bleed for the Montreal women. They raised mon-ies for chiseled stone to sit upon at the old railway station at Terminal and Main. At Crab Park, we have a boulder, a ROCK. Yes! And we are strong in our insistence upon Justice and our refusal to be silenced. I love this community because of its beauty. It sees beauty, value and worth in those who have been deleted ... as human beings. I need this community because it gives me strength and sees my worth. Na, Megwitch , \"X\", 2001 -8-SANDY CAMERON lhe Downtown Eastside Is lhe Soul Of Vancouver Colleen and Diane were talking to me about the beauty of our Downtown Eastside community, and how important it is for people in other parts ofVancouver to see that beauty and realize that there is a strong community here. Now we're not a pretty community. We don't have a lot of gorgeous flower gardens or trees like the ones in Stanley Park. We do have Crab Park, the gardens in Strathcona, the colourful murals, and the old heritage buildings. But when I use the word beauty in regard to the Downtown Eastside, I'm not thinking about nice looking streets. I'm thinking about the people. It's the people who make our community beautiful, and people make our community beautiful because they have soul. 1he Downtown Eastside is the soul of Vancouver. You know about soul food and soul music. Well, I'm talking about soul community. Many of us have lived through hard times - and survived. We know about pain, and in our pain, in spite of our pain, we reach out to each other and help each other. That's soul. They say bodies are attracted by pleasure, but souls are attracted by pain. We are strong from the struggles we have endured. We have learned to respect each other, and n~t to be judgemental. We have learned to work together to make things better. In June, 1998, a beautiful totem pole was erected in Oppenheimer Park to remember those who have died in the Downtown Eastside, and also to remember those who have survived. Some of the carvers who worked on the pole didn't live long enough to see it finished, but their spirits live on - in the totem pole, in Oppenheimer Park, and in the hearts of the people of the Downntown Eastside. 1he poem, \"The Oppenheimer Park Totem Pole\", touches on the pain in our community, but it also shows the courage and perseverence that is here, and the hope that someday justice will prevail. That's soul. You can't measure it with a ruler, but you can write a poem or a song about it. -9-Tue Oppenheimer Park Totem Pole It seems to me that when someone dies it is the responsibility of those of us who are left to offer caring for that Ii fe for that death in the intensity of the love that reaches out from the unendurable loneliness of our separation. So did First Nations people, with their friends and allies, raise a totem pole in Oppenheimer Park on June 6, 1998, to remember the community of those who have died in the Downtown Eastside, and so did they rededicate themselves to the struggle for hope and for justice from one generation to another. -10 --Cannibalism In The Downtown Eastside The monster of gentrification is devouring the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver's oldest community, except for First Nations communities which are much older. This same monster has already devoured most of the downtown peninsula of Vancouver, with Burrard Inlet on one side and English Bay and False Creek on the other. TI1e monster is insatiable in its hunger for accumulation. It is market-driven which means that it is profiit-driven, and a city controlled by this monster \"is not so much a place for people to live in and call their own, as it is a machine rationally and effectively designed for making money.\" (I) The market-driven mon-ster of gentrification thrives on the war of all against all, to use the words of Thomas Hobbes, and as Shakespeare said even before Hobbes: \"It will come Humanity must perforce prey on itself, Like monsters of the deep.\" (King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2) Businessmen today talk about acting like cannibals when they devour each other or each other's companies. Gentrification - the pushing of low income residents out of their community so that developers can reap maximum profit from high land values and high rents - is a form of cannibalism. It is war, and as the term gentrification implies, it is class war. Referring to gentrification in the Downtown Eastside, Lief Eriksen wrote, \"The market cannot abide such expensive real estate being used by the poor.\" (l) The Downtown Eastside is a tiny David compared to the Goliath of development determined to build the corporate city, and the community is in crisis. An old-time resident said, \"One day they're gonna come in here with a bunch of army trucks, and ship us all out to the sticks like POW's.\" However, the Downtown Eastside has a long history of struggle for respect and human rights. In the foreword to the excellent book Hope In Shadows: Stories and Photographs o\/Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Libby Davies, our Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, wrote that in North America most low income inner city neighbourhoods have been destroyed, but that has not happened in the Downtown Eastside. Then Libby, who has been fighting for our community since the early l 970's, went on to say, \"The only reason (our community hasn't been destroyed) is because the people of the Downtown Eastside fought back. They -11-asserted their right to live, to exist, to have hope, and to have a future. Their story is one of resistance - one that deepens the value of what community and survival really means to the lives of its residents and the place as a whole.\" Never have the people of the Downtown Eastside been so united as we struggle to save our community from the ravages of gentrification. The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) has just finished a report which covers the first stages of its visioning process. This report, entitled Nothing About Us Without Us, (3) clearly shows how important the Downtown Eastside community is to the people who live here. It is the people who make the community, and the_caring, non-judgemental, enduring residents of the Downtown Eastside reach out to each other and build community. As more Vancouverites understand how strong and creative our community is, they will join us in the fight to save our low income neighbourhood through affordable housing, adequate income, and necessary health services. 1he Downtown Eastside is the soul of Vancouver. (l) The Developers, by James Lorimer, pub. by James Lorimer & Co., 1978, page 79. (2) Vying for Space: Neo-liberalism and the Criminalization of Poverty, an unpublished essay by Lief Eriksen, 1999. (3) \"Nothing About Us Without Us\" is the motto of the \u00bcncover Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). VANDU kind61 gave the Carnegie Community Action Project permission to use its motto for the title of the CCAP visioning report. Sandy Cameron came to the DTES in 1965 and has been one of its staunchest champions for social justice ever since. He's been a logger, prospector and teacher, and a writer who has contributed to the Carnegie Newsletter for 20 years. His published works include Taking Another Look at Class and Sparks From the Fire. -12---Bon SARTI With the Downtown Eastside, looks can be deceiving. A lot of people say they don't come down to the neighborhood because it looks scary, with all sorts of disreputable-type people on the streets. I tell them they won't bother you if you don't bother them, and that, despite appearances, Hastings Street is a very safe place for visitors. The street people are wrapped up in their own affairs and they don't have time for you . But a lot of outsiders aren't convinced. They see the crowds when they're riding by in a car or on the bus. And they see the scare stories in the news media. That's as close as they get. They have no idea what they're missing. When I was growing up in New York City, there was a part of town that my friends and I wouldn't go near, either. It was Harlem, the uptown neighborhood for most of Manhattan's blacks. As white kids from downtown, we thought it was just too scary. We preferred staying in our all-white ghettos. I never went to the Apollo Theatre. I never saw Ella Fitzgerald or Dizzy Gillespie. I barely knew they existed. I never went to readings by James Baldwin or Richard Wright or Maya Angelou or any of the other writers who descended from the \"Harlem Renaissance.\" That was a flowering of black identity and pride that has had immense impact on North American culture. The closest I got to that other culture was Allan Freed's rock'n'roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount theatre in the mid- l 950s. We got to see the Five Satins and the Flamingos in all their doo-wop glory. We were a sea of young white faces, no blacks in sight. Except up on stage. I had no idea what I was missing. It's the same with the Downtown Eastside. There's an astonishing flowering of culture going on here. You could call it the Downtown Eastside Renaissance. Maybe it started with the Downtown Eastside Poets back in the l 980's. Maybe it started in a dozen places, at a dozen different times. But it's here now. There are so many writers, artists, -13-musicians, performers striving to express their identity and pride in the neighborhood that I couldn't begin to name them all. This book is just a taste of the astonishing range of creativity. So it's time for people to get out of their cars and off the buses, screw up their courage and cake a closer look at what happening here. Because it would be a shame if they missed it. Bob Sarti was a long-time resident and volunteer in the Downtown East-side. He now lives on Hornby Island. His new play, Bruce - The Musical, about Bruce Eriksen and the history of the Downtown Eastside, will be per-formed at the Russian Hall, as part of the 2008 Heart of the City Festival. -14-D1ANEW000 Trash We're th White Trash, th Drunk Indians, th Niggers, th Spies & Half-breeds We're th ones U call Stupid Ugly Lazy Dirty Good-4-Nothing Only Good 4 One Thing We're the ones with Fetal Alcohol brothers and sisters Cuz Mom couldn't take it any more by th time she had the little ones We're th ones who die on dope Cuz it would cost more 2 keep us alive with AIDS We're the women who die because we're sluts whores evil The reason 4 all th sin in th world howdya like them apples? We're the men who'll die Screaming \"FUCK\" on th street corner And to every person they've ever known We're th ones whose bodies are scarred with yr hate And our hate 4 ourselves We've had lovers who couldn't make up their mind If they loved us or wanted 2 kill us We've tried 2 kill ourselves We've wished we were dead We've carried hatred like a plague We've worn our anger as armour We're th ones who don't get a job Or we're th ones who when we get a job U tell us 2 go back 2 where we came from We're th children U spanked punished taught touched fondled abused molested locked out locked in and wished had never been born We're th ones U called Stupid Ugly Lazy Dirty Good-4-Nothing Bcuz we are poor And Bcuz U were poor And no birthday present U could buy us Will make us forget our scars If \"th best things in life are free\" howcum this is the \"worst\" parta th city? We sang \"Freedom's justa'nother word 4 nothin left 2 lose\" -15-And found our freedom in th buzzed-out eternity of drugs We've watched our neighbourhood get worse We've watched people get paid for things we would've done And have been doing for each other, anyways We are dying from an insane RAGE At having to watch the people we care for die We have hit th breaking point Where we decide which memorial we will go 2 this week Bcuz there are just too many . . . and we don't wanna lose what belief we have that. . . th belief we have in ... What???? That there's any reason 2 continue praying That we're still alive cuz of some cosmic lottery Or that we're dyin from AIDS and OD's as punishment 4 th road we took when all roads lead 2 Main And ifU could help me find that vein I could get outta here again Outta my head and th ghosts that haunt me Away from the glittering world that taunts me 2 get more buy more take more 2 feel more like I \"should\" instead of how I feel Cuz how I feel is BAD and I don't like it don't want it And have spent all my life trynta lose it Somewhere In some bar in someone's arms If I close my eyes will U make it go away? We're born alone and we die alone And what legacy do we leave behind? Where are th future generations? And if anybody finds them, can U tell me where they're going? Is my map any kinda map for anyone 2 get anywhere? It's Downtown here it's Downtown there And if I could find someone somewhere Who doesn't wanna see me broken or beaten or on my knees Could we move 2 somewhere where none of this shit exists? Or will we just stay here in the here-and-now And pick up ch shit and ch bones of our loved ones? -16----Listen Listen to us 2 all of us who aren't trynta sell dope on the corner, who have our arms out 4 a handshake or a hug, not spare change Listen to the laughter in a sunny park, The hi's & hey's & hello's When friends intersect And the kisses goodbye Smckx That's love & community & people who look you in the eye when U pass them by If all U hear is Up Down Rigs & Threes, Then yr not listening Goodbye Say goodbye 2th DTES as we know it The yuppies buyin condos don't wanna see us Don't wanna know about sandwich & souplines When they shop at Nesters Don't care what a great paira shoes U scored at 1st United While they're buyin a leather jacket 4 their dog Won't B looking 4 a dollar bag at Sunrise, or in any dumpsters Don't wanna know where 2 get a free haircut when they're shoppin 4 a wig And they flinch when they see us Th people who made this community what it is Doin what we do In broad daylite Diane Wood lives and makes art in the DTES. She speaks up for outcasts and labeled people everywhere. She encourages others to write their stories with lively monthly poetry cabarets at the Carnegie Community Centre, and published The Return of the Downtown Eastside Poets in 2005. Grief has transformed her life from a failed attempt 'at a fairy tale to a voice of dissent. -17-COLLEEN CARROLL lhe Hood OTES I sit here watching the action. On the comer of Hastings and Main Under the dome, beyond the pillars, Here the heart of my Community pumps. Out pumps writers, painters, and poets, Our pumps sculptors, actors, directors, Out pumps scholars, musicians, and chess champions Out they come, Creative, talented and inspiring. All heart firing. We are told we are the poorest neighborhood in Canada. Yah, sure, they once said that of Greenwich Village Poverty is relevant, like Crime. Poverty here is depressingly wicked oh so true. Just two paydays short and this could be the life of you. Some choose to drown this reality in drugs and booze. But not everyone here chooses to lose. No this is not what all choose. They may be crippled and broke, But they have talents there determined to use. Broke but not poor, I like to say, They immerse themselves in humanity's gifts all day. The majority, you don't see when passing through the hood, What you see is those accomplishing impressive feats, Like survival living on Vancouver's streets. Trying to escape the daily grind With only the next fix on their mind. No, my friend, you don't know my hood, Here most are busy making community, The kind that values humanity, as it should. We celebrate those gifts that money can't give. We celebrate those gifts that a lack of money can't take away, We do this in every conceivable way. We don't do this for any tangible pay. -18--We do this to build the community we celebrate every day. Yet when you pass the corner of my hood, You seldom see it, as you should. You see the petty crime, indeed you do, The results often make the place look like a zoo. But the crime you see here I'll gladly trade any day. For the crimes of streets such as Wall , Howe or the Bay. There perpetrators all go home at the end of the day. And folks drive past where they live and collectively say. What a wonderful neighborhood , What a wonderful life, what a wonderful way. My hood people pass their time. Some not so wise, others for all man kind. So much hidden talent here is an inspiration for all the world to spew, If only the rest of mankind actually knew. It is our secret and we seldom tell, Being content to let the world think we live in virtual hell. \"More for us .\" Isn't that the capitalist way? After all it's what got us down here today. So content many in the hood, work quietly away. Towards what counts and matters to mankind at the end of the day, Their legacy will be there without the scorn, For much good in humanity here in my hood is being born. So shudder as you drive past. Give a strange glare that is long to last. Shake your head with terror and scorn. Behind the walls some of our society's best in culture is being conceived and born. This is my hood, outside, ugly to be sure, Inside, with a heart of gold clear and pure. Where many talents abound, And solid friendships are found . Yet the truth of this hood's reality is hidden well from view. Time will prove and time will tell, how much and how well. Of Community we are rich beyond measure, Experiencing the talents within my hood is a continuous pleasure. This hoods talents and inspiration a blueprint for the nation. - 19 -Ode to the Hood II I love this \"Hood\", it's the best by far. Folks are friendly and warmly greet you on the street. Whenever you happen to meet. Where people gather, care and meet is at Main and Hastings Street. I live on the corner of Hastings and Main. But friends from another life think me quite insane. Folks in my building are friendly and most are nice. Some on the streets even tend to flaunt a little of their vice. Down here, you can see what you have and you know what you've got. They don't hide behind high hedges and walls their guilt and their rot. You know when you're down and out they care. Because they have all at some time also been there. I live on the corner of Hastings and Main. Where \"crime\" is open and showing for view. So one has warning as to what to do. Not like some other places where crime runs like cream Because it's not so openly acknowledged or seen. In my \"Hood\" the real swindlers\/ slavers aren't to be found . Only people trying to pay the bills abound. Sometimes the real crooks drive by in black windowed limousines. With a police escort they pass by all stingy and mean. In my hood we are known by name. Not living on a scale driving one totally insane. Buildings aren't so tall you can't see the light. The streets so empty you can't go down them at night. The parks are all happy places. They are not there just for show. They are places where everyone is welcome and all like to go. My hood is a place where parking lots don't abound. Where foot leather is in vogue pounding the ground. To the market, Doctor, or to a show. Walking is the way most of us go. -20---The living room of our community is its biggest delight. It is the Carnegie Community Centre, Where we pass many a day and night. At painting, poetry, pool, pottery and plays We are able to spend our days. Ballroom dance, disco, karaoke, the library, Games rooms, outings and all. Means our neighborhood is constantly having a ball. The Carnegie Newsletter, HUM 101 documentaries And learning centre keep us all well informed. With bingo, ball games, yoga, opera, concerts, dances and movies our lives are adorned . Our minds are well nourished our rummies are too. With cuisine un-surpassed, that's not just my point of view. However it is the love of the people, and how it abounds. That makes living at Main and Hastings, the best place around. For together we are strong and powerful and whole. In a world not so kind my hood is the best place to know. Colleen Carroll worked in BC's logging industry for 17 years, until the dirty air and the chemicals ruined her health. Like many others, she's in the DTES because WCB refused to recognize the damage done in her workplace. Her poetry is witness to the suffering in the world due to imperialism and corporate greed. -21-STEPHEN LYTTON Stay Home This is a quote I heard on the radio a while back: \"Attitude is the paintbrush that colours your life.\" Another one I read some time ago was, \"Stand up for something you believe in or you'll fall for anything.\" Ir's become very apparent to me that it may take decades or even generations to change attitudes about our community (the Downtown Eastside) in spite of all we've done to share its beauty. Yes! We have problems but so do other communities. The only differ-ence is, in the downtown eastside it's visible, unlike other communities all across this nation where it's mostly behind closed doors. We are will continue to address the issues on a daily basis and we are doing our best [thank you very much!] But most of the problems occur when those of you who don't live or reside in our neighbourhood come inro the area seeking a cheap thrill .. . or to just cause trouble. Prime examples: sex offenders; sex trade users; drug dealers and users; abusers; those who prey on babies, children, women - killers especially. We're just a playground, even a dumping ground. The savage reality is that they or you just don't give two shits - you come and go as you please, when & wherever you see fit. The horror of it is the injustices we're left with in the aftermath of your doings or fantasies. To pick up the pieces of ruined and shattered lives, missing lives - I could go on and on - all the result of you not giving a shit. Go ahead! Run and hide but I know you'll be back. Stop the slaughter in and of our community: Quit shitting in our house and backyard. It's a sure guarantee that your actions wouldn't be tolerated in almost any other community (and that includes yours!). So why dump it in ours? Or haven't you read, seen or heard that we have our own shit to deal with, let alone whatever you bring into the 'hood. If you can't be decent with us, Stay Home. -22---Why I Love the Downtown Eastside First of all, let me ask you some questions. What is it that you wish to capture? Is it the essence of the moment? Or the character - heart and soul of the Downtown Eastside? Or is it about the human spirit and its will to survive in spite of all the challenges it encounters? What will you take from your experience? I love the neighbourhood, my community, my home since 1992. Dubbed the poorest postal code in all of Canada, my community has taught me so much about heart and courage over the years I've been here. On a personal level I have learned about character. My own weaknesses and flaws , but my own strength as well. That beauty still unfolds though pain and death continue in my hood. We will surge forward. Many times strangers, family and friends united in our plight, Sharing the humanity. All are welcome here, regardless of where they come from. Not one turned away. Here you see the reality of life. I am touched deeply by those struggling. I am encouraged to carry on. The Downtown Eastside is the very heartbeat of the hood and its people. My dream is that it remains deeply devoted to the struggle for justice, not injustice. But because the whispers of those who have now passed on continue in the wind, their voices must be heard and the struggle must continue. 1heir plight and our plight is connected. Stephen Lytton was born with cerebral palsy. He went to Residential School from 1961 to 1974. He moved to the DTES in 1992 and loves the char-acter, heart and courage of this community. He has learned much about the human spirit and its will to survive in spite of the challenges it encounters. He enjoys poetry, creative writing, acting and the people he meets. -23-PHOENIX WINTER Make Yourself At Home I moved into the neighbourhood With my things Left them At the bus shelter For passersby The little peaceful plaque On the wooden bench With welcoming words, \"Pull up a chair In a shaft of sunlight Come sit with me Enjoy this house.\" A small plastic yellow sunflower, strewn A touch of cheer. This is all I have Sunshine yellow and clear glass walls Bright blue sky warm cement and clean brown wood And I will share. -24-Something I miss Getting up in the morning, Sunshine streaming Through open windows Gently baking bared skin This is rhe Eastside Blinds are drawn Shutting out all those other Windows like eyes The Empress Hotel With its dirty 2010 Banner Stare of the red brick wall Of morning Cops in the alley Siren alarm clocks OTES I actually miss you. -25-Are we on the cusp Of greatness here Or infamy? 1he Downtown Eastside Known as far Away as China A mayor's excuses All Canada Has visions of Drugs dancing in their heads Dirt and squalor But they are blind To the compassion, understanding and satety in street family with honest warts We are all welcome here Give us Your tired, your hungry and poor We might spit them our haggard Or scare them silly Or give them an accepting Place to come back to Time after time I r's safer here Than other parts Of Canada. Phoenix Winter has been transplanted ftom the wilds of Ottawa where she belonged to the MPD collective who published their own zine. Her work has appeared in Tales from the National Capital Region, Box 77 and Soap-box. As the only female in People on the Verge comedy troupe, which was broadcast on Rogers, her piece was considered \"too patronizing\" to the men. She is grateful to the DTES for its support. -26-DEMITRI HARRIS Home This is my co-op And I'll never leave Emile on my floor Along with little Steve If you like to eat, sleep And play basketball This is the place Where you can do them all The best in the world Is the Four Sisters Except for skinheads And bike stealers One of the best views Of the waterfront I don't wanna brag But I'd like to be blunt Some people don't like it It's good enough for me Those are my thoughts About this end of the city I Love the Hood Yo! My name is Demi and I am 11 years old. I like to listen to rap on my radio. I love my mom I like my friends When I grow up I'm gonna get me a benz -27-Everyday I go to school This crazy job action Is really cruel Livin down here It ain't no joke A whole Iona people sniffin' koke, A whole lotta people smoking dope, It's hard to cope -People offer us some We say nope In Chinatown My mom likes the smells And she likes to eat Them things in shells The restaurants in Chinatown Are really nice My favourite meal Is chicken and rice My neighbourhood rules It's really cool You better not take me For a fool Some things are bad, Some things are good. That's how I feel About livin in this hood. Demitri Harris has lived, attended school, worked and played in the DTES all his 18 years. He's never wanted to move and can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else. He is now studying Human Kinetics at Capilano College and hopes to transfer to UBC next year. -28-LEITH HARRIS Sonnet Waterfront Road East & Main Street Create a Real Available Beach Once in Vancouver, a girl found her home After traveling the world far and wide She'd seen wondrous sights but none with such pride She swore that never again would she roam Once she searched for a place to write a poem Trudged north on Main from the Downtown Eastside She heard waves, smelled fish, gazed at mountains, cried ... For joy! An oasis to call her own Once just muddy flatlands, dirty and stark This oasis hadn't always been green Folks got together, demanded a park They squatted in tents, held rallies and schemed For a place kids could play and dogs could bark A beach, flowers, trees ... they sculpted their dream She camped with her son in one of the tents The campfires, stories and laughter were fun They helped organize shows and kids' events And in the end they actually won ... Crab Park. A true citizens' victory This verdant paradise nestles between Helicopters, train tracks and industry But eco-density threatens this scene As gulls, eagles, rainbows circle above Condos encroach, organized sports invade This fragile park built on landfill and love Our peace and solace in the midst of pain Now an old woman, her poem-home come true Though thankful, she fears the fate of that view -29-Vision I remember a pitch-black night, drizzle, a campfire, two umbrellas, waves lapping muddy shores. Under the steady rhythm of droplets, my new friend and I were quivering, a little from the chilly autumn air and a lot from laughter. He was telling me about his Grandma's first visit to the city. He'd told her that the W on Woodward's stood for welfare. Back up north, Grandma told everybody there was so many people on welfare in Vancouver, the office was the size of a department store. It was 1984, mudflats at the foot of Main Street. My new friend and I were doing our security shift at the CRAB (Create a Real Available Beach) tent city. The air hung thick with that special, fishy, ocean fra-grance. We were about to call it a night. All 23 tents were quiet. No one would be causing disturbances, in the rain, at three a.m. Suddenly the clouds parted and the full moon shone onto the inlet like a spotlight. Out of the water, on the shimmering, golden pathway of moonlight, came a dark figure carrying, as if offering, what I thought was a slithering fish and my friend thought was a wriggling puppy. We watched the figure approach. We stood up. Then, just as suddenly, dark clouds covered the moon and the image disappeared. No. We'd had no stimulants other than thin, weak coffee and a few smokes (tobacco). The very next day we learned that the Port officials agreed CRAB Park was a better idea than industrial development. Landscaping would begin come spring. We victoriously rook down our tents. To this day, my old friend and I meet, occasionally, at the now sandy beach surrounded by grassy hills and shady trees. We remember the mud and drizzle and wonder at that generous vision. -30-Love in the Downtown Eastside Love in the Downtown Eastside? There's those slobbering romances Between three-day millionaires at the Mardi-gras parties Some of those odd couples have stuck it out for years together Through good times and horrible times That's love There used to be two young men friends One of them could see, the other was blind They laughed happily as they walked about The blind man's hand perched on his friend's shoulder That's love A tall pale bag lady used to roam the streets alone Ranting and raving curses mixed with pearls of wisdom One day as she cursed and cried, a small dark woman approached her Barely reaching her waist she embraced her They talked together Within a block after parting the bag lady was shouting again But smiling That's love Mornings at Oppenheimer - the soft fragrance of sweetgrass Fills the air and erases the stink of the chicken factory and crack A Downtown Eastside elder offers a cleansing smudge To everyone regardless of race or profession That's love People gather and march on February 14th each year To honour the women who have died in the Downtown Eastside Friends push friends through the streets in wheelchairs or shopping carts Spirits move amongst us and within us That's love -31-We live in the Downtown Eastside We know many of our neighbours, We make each other laugh, We love our children Twice on the sidewalk, I saw a person stick a needle into another person's neck Maybe that's love Leith Harris has been a proud member of the D TES community for over 20 years. She's proud of her 2 sons, her friends and her neighbours who have managed to survive and thrive in this unique and endangered neighbour-hood. -32-Buo OsaoRN Insight Into Injection the fight for Insite began in a political\/rhetorical atmosphere of depraved in difference regarding overdose deaths and pandemic emergency horrifying ghosts of human beings calling radio talk shows and actually telling me: \"why don't they just string barbed-wire around the Downtown eastside and let them infect each other to death?\" or \"the only good junkie is a dead junkie\" comments like chose heard in Nazi Germany I remember one welfare week eleven years ago sirens screamed lights flashed red and white all day all night one hot afternoon that same week I met a friend of mine on the corner of cordova and main she's a first nations woman and activist who told me when I asked how she was that her family was gathering to make another crucial decision her cousin had fixed alone Wednesday evening in an SRO room and when her husband returned found her dead on the floor he made a noose with a long piece of cloth hanged himself and soon was dead -33-and because the couple had an infant son the family was gathering to determine the best disposition for the suddenly orphaned child and this entire and tragic situation might well have never happened ifINSITE was open but as my friend and I were saying goodbye a flame inside me fueled by grief and rage like a fierce spontaneous combustion flashing through my nervous system and roared in my head like a psychic explosion because of another because of too many because of an unnecessary overdose death yelled two words repetitively in my head No More! No More! No More! of this heart-breaking family-shattering community-diminishing pain of overdose deaths I immediately ran from that conversation to see mark and liz and kirsten at the old Portland hotel and with dave diewert ann Livingston and several others planned a day of action we pounded 1,000 crosses into oppenheimer park blocked main and hastings with a heavy chain and distributed statistics of misery to commuters unable to get to work 1,000 crosses memorializing just three years of overdose deaths a cross is a symbol of political execution a cross is a symbol for social revolution - 34-and from that afternoon the battle to save lives was declared the battle to save the lives of those so any others wanted to die and from that afternoon to INSITE'S opening we've never ceased in our efforts to save lives and bring peace against the war on drug addicts war on the truth war on the most physically and mentally vulnerable human beings in our courageous community and because we wrote and because we spoke and because we protested and because we created an immensely successful injection site alternative we achieved a facility unique in our history a beacon of hope for others beaten crazy in drug war corrupted North America we began to transform that death-dealing rhetoric with a space made for dignity life and community we made out of no way a way for real care to take place the word vigil tome means bearing witness to our own powerful history of resistance means bearing witness to all those we've known who've passed - 35 -not as victims or losers but as transcendent martyrs still bearing witness to our common efforts keeping vigilance upon our accomplishments our revolution in consciousness now Insite is again under siege with federal government\/DEA conspiracies so, this prayer for a place that really saves lives this prayer for the means and strength to defend to protect to sustain with whatever it takes a most beautiful concrete expression of care for all of us a prayer for those who gave their lives for this a prayer that have those hearts hardened against us relent and approve a prayer for those blinded by fear and their own vested interests -that they may see Insite as the beginning of hope not only for those who need it most but because everyone suffers when compassion is undone Bud Osborn has been a poet and social activist for nearly 40 years. A former director of the Vancouver\/Richmond Health Board, he was instrumental in founding such harm reduction organizations as VANDU (Vancouver Area of Drug Users) and INS\/TE. He has published five books of poetry which include Lonesome Monsters, Hundred Block Rock, Keys to Kingdoms, Oppenheimer Park, Signs of the Times (both in collaboration with artist Richard Tetrault). -36-MARY DUFFY GupGuyCha I don't need no Gup Guy Cha To fall in love with you Give the oyster back her shell Give the bear back his balls 'Cos I don't need no vial of Sweet flying aphrodisiac All I need is one single drop Of your true and bitter spirit. Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with the lady from Toisan She sang sad songs and poured A cup and a cup and a cup From her bottomless bottle of bitter wine Gup Guy Cha I fell in Love with the man wearing a cowboy shirt To reclaim the word of his Interior Salish People A gentle warrior who sees as much Beauty in death as there is in life Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with a woman Whose voice even makes a Hallelujah sound sexy She could have worked for a 1-800-number Instead, she decided to become a gospel singer Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with a comedian Itchin' and scratchin' and sayin' \"Those bedbugs don't bother me So why should they bother you?\" - 37-Gup Guy Cha I fell in love wich the squatter Who pitched her tent under che scars You can join her - just bring your own butts co her smokin' only zone Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with a man Who dropped me like a hot hash brown To marry a Kentucky fried bride Umm-mm-mmm - finger lickin' good Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with Sweet Marie Cos she knows chat we can't live on wacer And loaves of bread alone. Uh-oh no .. we all need some kinda candy Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with a dragon-lady But didn't respect her gifts I took and I took and I took Until her treasure singed my soul. Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with a Holy Family Mother, Father and Son Holding creation like wild pink salmon Glittering and wriggling in the palm of one hand. Gup Guy Cha I fell in love with you: Chinatown \/ The Downtown Eastside I'll give up my pride -38-Get down on my knees Ask you to be my groom and my bride Cos' I don't need no Gup Guy Cha , To fall in love with you. During the writing of Vancouver Moving Theatre's shadow puppetry play on addic-tion \"We're All In This Together\" Wendy Chew told us stories of \"Gup Guy Cha''. This is a tea, \"cha\" made from boiling both the male and the female \"Gup Guy\" which is highly prized as an aphrodisiac by both men and women. This is a love poem for the Downtown Eastside writers - you know who you are. Mary Duffy grew up on Red Island, Newfoundland until it was resettled when she was six. She found community again working as a librarian in the Downtown Eastside, Strathcona, Chinatown, and Britannia. - 39-Tm HILL We Are All Related The downtown east is a side of life which lives with despair and destruc-tion. The seeds of desperation grow in a putrid soil of pissshitsnot-spitcum and gum nicely spicely mixed with crushed food, plastic bags, rags and styrofoam cups. Grim doorways hold sofas loafing drunkenly, sunkenly offering respite from the midden of the alleys. Umbrellys broken and blankies ragged drape makeshift shelters, veiled smoking shooting faces seeking oblivion, hiding from the keen mean eyes of the law. Would you say hell? Some people would. And with good reason . Seasons come and go and the downtown eastside remains stained with false hope, dope, flash trash and smashed lives. It seems dreams of another life are unattainable, feeble and unreal, unrealisable. Take a posse of suits, a crew of journos, burning to get a glimpse of degradation, a seamy desire to titillate their senses, give them the taste of the wasted lives. Omigod. Something must be done. Something must be seen to be done. Vancouver, top ten liveable city. What a pity, such a shame. Such a tainted hood. Who knew? If the shoe fits . . . . Foreign tourists who bumble in, stum-bling on the litter, fumbling with their cameras, are horrified . Where are we? Did we just disembark from that ocean liner, that ark of money and comfort, moored complacently at Canada Place, the face of the city, the welcome mat that ushers in the beauty of the Pacific North East. . . sorry West. Blessed by mountains and trees, a multicultural society and so-phisticated cuisine. What is this place? Face it. Every city has its dirty secrets. Would you be surprised to know that love exists here? Fun exists here? Intelligent conversation and elegant manners? Talent and charm amidst the harm? Kindness and care amidst the fear? I'm sure you would. But, how could this be? Well, surprisingly, hope springs eternal in the breast of the downtown eastside. The beast of addiction does not kill the soul. The holes filled with heroin and crack come back thirsting for another chance, a dance in the sun, a vision of another world . Are you mental? You gotta be to live here. What would you know, in your fancy house, in your soft bed? With your red Beamer in your two car garage. With your children in private -40-schools, swimming pools, and your vacations in exotic destinations. Why would you care? Well the short answer is this. We are all part of each other. Without us you would not know how lucky you were. Without you we would not know how false the world is. Together there is potential for change. People are people, a collection of skin and bones. Sin and toenails. Meshed in a web of life. We are all connected and we need to be together. We need to heal each other. Where hope exists we won't take nope for an answer. The downtown eastside is an inspiration, a celebra-tion of adversity, an inner city of pity where Russian roulette is de rigeur, your turn Sir. Your Highness. Pull the trigger, we all bleed. We need to build it, for surely they will come. What's that you say? We're already here and waiting. We are all related. Born in Taranaki, Aotearoa. New immigrant in 2004, inspired by so much courage, Arohanui to all my friends. -41-PAUL NoscoTTI I Luv the OTES I luv the sidewalks I luv the long talks on the corner Luv the architecture and the neon I luv the long talks on the corner In front of the Carnegie I luv the Chinatown market. Ho Ho. I luv the gutter smells, curbs and pathways. I always luv the sunrise and the skies in the DTES. Ir's where I spend my time. I luv it when the traffic goes by I always feel alive in the DTES. In the DTES it's where I reside. Ir's got atmosphere and resources galore. Come visit the DTES and see what's in store for you. -42-FRANK F. BRAUN Poetry Night in the Carnegie Centre It costs nothing to enter. The Downtown eastside is my favourite part of the city; modern and old and Oh, so pretty Many of the beautiful old buildings have been restored. I can walk around for hours and never feel bored. The food at the Carnegie Centre suits me fine and is probably more nutritious as at the fancy restaurant they call Cloud Nine. There are many pretty girls here and they are not cold. I only regret I am so old. But I am glad that now I have the time to write something now and then and make it all rhyme. Frank F Braun was born in Europe during the war and came to Canada at the age of 20. He discovered the Carnegie Centre in 1983 - learned to play chess there. He heard Robert Service's poetry on the radio, and has been look-ing for his footsteps ever since. -43-SHARON KRAVITZ Great Beginnings: A Proposal There is a new fund that contains approximately 10 million dollars to clean up the Downtown Eastside in time for the Olympics. 10 million dollars to clean up the neighbourhood for a game, well if you're really serious, let's rry this. Keep the money in trust. Do some genuine com-munity organizing and start wirh gathering organizations with a little bit of resources that work directly with the community like the Neigh-bourhood Helpers Project, Carnegie Community Action Project and the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House to work in partnership with residents to ask every single person living in social housing, SROs and on the street, what they want to do. What are you good at? What do you dream of doing? How can we make this place safer, healthier, togerher? What are you willing to do to make it happen? What am I willing to do? Then we follow through, no more talks, no more process. We listen. Then we respond and support each other in making this neighbourhood a healthier, safer place for the people who live here, not for people who are coming to visit for two weeks, and not the condo dwellers who have capitalized on the neglect, but the people who have spent their lives in this community, the kids who have grown up in this neighbourhood, the Chinese clans and societies that continue to gather in their spaces on Hastings Street amidst the chaos. Real change doesn't happen if people don't have a stake in change, if the only people that are part of the discussion, are people who have been neighbourhood mouth pieces for 20 years, City Staff, developers and others who are acting in the best interest of people who apparently can't speak for themselves. If you respond to this, I don't want to hear anything less than how can we get started or a correction on the figures of the fund. I don't want to hear that I'm passionate or nai:ve. I just want to hear that you're serious, serious about real change, about really asking people what they want, rather than assuming. I wam to hear that buildings like the Heatley block won't be demolished for a Library that should go in the oldest part of Strathcona School (which is slated to be demolished) because kids in this neighbourhood shouldn't have to walk to a highway (Hastings Street) to go to the library, and that we won't destroy two more beautiful old buildings. I don't want to hear about zero displacement anymore, because clearly that's not happening. I want to hear that Stamps and -44-Maclean housing projects will remain affordable for the families that live there. I want you to do what you're paid to do, facilitate change and listen. Also, you might want to hang on to that $10 million, you might need it in 2011 for the New Beginnings fund. For the Downtown Eastside I fell in love with you when I first moved here 16 years ago. I felt taken in and accepted by you in a way that I had never known. You believed in me, you showed me how muddy the world is, that I have a great capacity to give, and that I have a strong voice and I have a right to be heard . You were human scale in a sea of towers, you were warm, awkward, unpredictable, crazy, generous, desperate, caring and harsh. I felt at home with you, I know you better than any place in the world. I have an intricate map of you in my head, deaths, protests, memorials, celebrations, clinics, restaurants, phone numbers, streets, who owns the different parts of you, and who wants to claim some, but not all of you, because not all of you is marketable. I see how you suffer, I suffer too, I watch all these people that call you home, suffer. They don't leave you, maybe they don't want to, maybe they can't. I have had it easy with you. I know that. I will never know what it is like to walk the sidewalks of you with such vulnerability. I organized a parade on your spine, Hastings Street, I drew pictures on your sidewalks with people aged 6 to 70. I painted with others on plywood lining your streets, made music with others in your parks. I have loved you because you let me, I have loved you because you have shaped me, you have taught me about commitment and I have loved you because you don't fit. You don't fit in this city of beige and glass, with yoga asses sealed in lululemon pants, art fucks coming out the yin yang, lefties that are actually conservative, and an entire city comatosed, anaesthetized by the ocean, -45-rhe mountains, rhe rain, its own prettiness and privilege. We are the Valley Girl of Canada and the Downtown Easrside, well you, you're a wise guy, you don't have a lot of money, didn't really care about it much, people mattered more, justice mattered more, you hold our stories, our ghosts, you know the truth. The Valley Girl with her asshole older boyfriend with money don't want you around anymore, rhey want to kill you, they want to kill everything about you char re-minds them of their humanity, of their roots. You remind rhem that they built their empire at the expense of all the lives you have seen destroyed all rhe people that you held that no one wanted to hold, you remind them that they really are small town no matter how hard rhey try. If they get rid of you, they can maintain the illusion of a world class city, but your ghost will haunt them when they exist as a shell, a city with no memory, and filled with droids in rhe same pants, living in faux-heritage duplexes. I will miss you when you are gone. I won't miss you suffering, I want your suffering to end, I want you to know what it feels like to be honoured for who you are, to feel healthy and to nor be asked to fit into some hole char will never fit because you are too big. People are working so hard to save you, and I don't know if I can help anymore, or if I ever did , and sometimes I wonder if I made things worse. I have been talking about you for years, defending you, speaking about your value, helping care for and be with people who were suffering on your sidewalks, in your parks, in your buildings. I am tired now, as I imagine you are, fighting for rhe right to exist. Everyone is trying to change you, make you look shiny, hide the suffering, put on your handsome clothes and a brave face, the Olympics are coming. I will stand next to you when they come and we can give them the finger together. Love, Sharon -46-SEAN GUNN The New Age Asianadian Inside then, I was whiter than white. Outside then, I was too damn yellow. Inside then, I was too uptight. Outside then, I was too damn mellow. When I was so much younger, and they sent me off to school, The teachers there, they taught me how Britannia rules. I wasn't all too hip, and I wasn't all too cool, I wanted some attention, so I tried to play the fool. Wandering through them hallways, I was always in a trance, With lips that didn't smile, and feet that couldn't dance. It's hard to find that someone, when you're scared to take a chance, Lots of time to study, when you haven't got romance. Inside then, I was whiter than white. Outside then, I was too damn yellow. Inside then, I was too uptight. Outside then, I was too damn mellow. I met this lovely lady once, she made me feel so great, I fantasized nightly, that she'd be my future mate. I gathered up my courage, and set up a casual date. I wondered if she didn't show, or was she really late? I called her on the telephone, so she could make amends, They told me that she left the house, at way back when, She said although she liked me, and considered me a friend, She did not hear them weddin' bells, with certain men. We carry on the struggle for survival in this land, we're the dawning of the New Age Asianadian Find yourself, in your History! Find yourself, in your Community! Find yourself, in your Identity! Find yourself, becoming Free! Now, I'm the ethnic all Canadian, born again Asian, the ultimate product, of assimilation! An integral part, of the fabric of this nation, I'm right on top, of every situation! I've paid all my dues, and I understand, I know who I am, and I do what I can! Between the East and the West, I always take my stand, I'm the New Age Asianadian! Between the East and the West, I always take my stand, -47-I'm the New Age Asianadian! We carry on the struggle for survival in this land, we're the dawning of the New Age Asianadian Find yourself, in your History! Find yourself, in your Community! Find yourself, in your Identity! Find yourself, becoming Free! I'm the Chinatown rapper, I'm the Buddha MC, I'm the man with the clapper from sea to sea. I'm the ]-town cruiser, I'm the Number One Son, I'm the rootin' tootin' bruiser, I'm the son of a Gunn. I've paid all my dues, and I understand, I know who I am, and I do what I can! Between the East and the West, I always take my stand, I'm the New Age Asianadian! Berween the East and the West, I always take my stand, I'm the New Age Asianadian! The Asianadian was a 1980s community arts magazine. Clapper is a Chinese percus-sion instrument. ]-town is Japan town. Sean Gunn, a former director of the Chinese Benevolent Association, is a founding member of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop. As well, he composes and performs music which has been soundtracked for videos and films. -48-HouvBovo The Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside means lots of stuff to me. There are protest for missing women, Homeless people on the DTES will still be here through thick and thin, and help everyone who need help. I have lost a lot of friends from drugs and suicide They thought there was no help for them or they gave up. I saw someone commit suicide and that made me sad And I thought What made him do such a thing? Bur I knew the answer to char already, And even though I have been here for 2 years Ir is time for me to go. -49-DAN THOMPSON Hastings Street Hastings Street, can't be beat How I love my Hastings Street Lordy knows I love her so She can't be beat, our Hastings Street Up and down and all around Whatever you want can be found How I love her so, never let her go She can't be beat, our Hastings Street Our home sweet home Hastings Street Welfare lines, cops with blinds People going right out of their minds They're the ones that are free They're you and me We can't be beat on Hastings Street High heel shoes, swollen hand blues Everybody's got nothing to lose We call our home the best ever known Our friends we meet on Hastings Street Home sweet home Hastings Street Flowers Cafe, Looney Tunes Folks around here don't need full moon We got a Mardi-Gras Day - the smoke so sweet No need to cry for Hastings Street So here we stand hand 'n hand On this piece of unceded land And every day we try to find our way Down a lovely beat called Hastings Street -50-The Man That Had No Name Ain'r gor a penny ro my name And I broughr myself ro shame Bur Igor no one to blame Because I played the game Of a man that had no name Had ir prerry good once upon ago I wheeled and dealed, I ran the show Bur in order ro make my mark Had ro srand off in rhe dark Where no seeds of hope could gros I rode around in big black cars I talked ro kings, I slept wirh srars But when I went off ro my home I went rhere all alone Might as well lived on Mars I learned ro lie, I learned ro deceive I even learned ro disbelieve And rhen I built a hill of gold But now I know what got sold Just went up the devil's sleeve And I gor mean and I gor rude I learned ro steal a baby's food But then they left me in the ditch Said ain't life a bitch And see ya larer dude! So if you see them coming for you They want ro teach ya how ro rum the screw You jusr remember this refrain If you want ro avoid rhe pain Of a man rhar has no name Cause I ain't got a penny ro my name And I broughr myself to shame And I got no one ro blame - 51-Cause I played the game Of a man chat had no name So if you wanna avo id the pain Don't play the game of a man chat had no name Mardi Gras Day We were fifteen mile from home T wency-chousand feats from Rome When the essence and the meaning Of the truth got in the way - wasn't much to say Just the price you pay, For going al l the way She was standing by the door About four feet off the floor And every little question had the Sweet smell of dismay, A million times a day And we sang Oh, chis is so divine Kept chinking here, maybe one more time Kept chinking Oh, we're going all the way On a Mardi Gras Day Seep into my world one more time Do you wanna do it? Put your self through it? Dance along a parallel line, cake a short vacation From chis mental masturbation, you never know How high you may climb, face the cruel resistance Put your parts upon the distance It's all licorice, lemon, lavender, lime What? Ya never been deflowered -- 52 -Bullshit Where do we stand that we gut the sacred cow And the entrails of resistance we left our on display Wasn't much to say Just the price you pay for going all the way Well it's one more time around, In for a penny Out of a pound, and everything that's missing Is what we hid away, get on your knees and pray We're going all the way And when they rolled her down the stairs Unalive and unaware, did anyone remember If there was anything left to say The day she went away And we sang Oh, this is so divine Kept thinking here one more time Kept thinking we're going all the way On a Mardi Gras Day (p.s. The sad thing about it is that the only people who can tell you what hardcore addiction is really all about are all dead). -53-DoRA SANDERS After the Civic Strike You will discover the Carnegie Centre, where the muffins hang on the potted plants like leaves where the coffee pours out of taps, free, so bring a cup. Where bread is made in breadmakers on each table and jam is available in little containers, but bring a knife Where regulars play card games, chess and checkers and smile all day, which is sweet to see. Where visitors are many and the food Boor is busy all day and every day, selling French, Asian and European meals. Where the Learning Centre has wall to wall eager students and the computers have the latest programs, as do the computers in the computer room. Carnegie means peace and harmony as all about is stormy. A garden in the midst of turmoil. Dora Saunders has retired from the Carnegie after more than 15 years of volunteering in the computer lab, writingfor the Newsletter, and serving on the Board. She says her days there have been an exciting, interesting and worthwhile adventure. -54-MELISSA EROR Creation I love beauty and fine craftsmanship. I love joy and all the complex patterns of life's interaction. I love cultures - they are the flowers of our kind Each one flowering - and each one seeding its own time. I love nature in all of her forms and in all of her moods. And I love creation and the act of creation. I love the finely tuned works of master craftsmen wherever they may be. I don't live in the Downtown Eastside anymore. But this is not by choice. I love the Downtown Eastside. It's where I want to be and where I am almost every day. Now I've been known to mention on occasion my passion for experi-encing altered states of consciousness - particularly drug induced ones. And I've certainly been known on occasion to indulge. But that's not the reason I love the Downtown Eastside. Far from it. Drugs are gener-ally cheaper, of better quality and just as handy about everywhere else in the lower Mainland. And yeah, it's dirty, noisy, crowded and often vulgar and sometimes violent - just like in the movies - only better. I love the Downtown Eastside - it's a world of creativity, industry and passion where even crack pipes become a work of art - of individual expression. Where everything and nothing is taken seriously. Where everyone is welcome and everyone is fair game and where we help each other, each in our own way- and just as much as we are able, despite our often public sometimes media worthy arguments. I love the Downtown Eastside - my friends, my culture and my family are all here. So is my heart. It's the one place where I am always wel-come - well, at least known by name. And I know each brick, each crack, and every plant that thrives in the crumbling mortar along the alley walls and in the sidewalks. These are my prized possessions. This is my home. And you are aJI welcome here. - 55 -MONTANA HUNTER Take a Better Look I'm Montana. I'm eleven years old. People call me Blu I love the Downtown Eastside It's got a lot of great things. One of the things I don't like Around the Downtown Eastside Is all the swearing you hear. It's okay if you let it out once in a while When you stub your toe Or hit an emotional black hole But when you get into a habit That's when it starts bothering me. I really don't like the drug scene The ragged clothing And the look of deep darkness On some people's faces Doesn't make it any easier But the Downtown Eastside Has a lot of great things, too. For instance, The Carnegie Centre helps a lot of people. I remember chess With many different kinds of people At the Carnegie People off the streets And old Chinese Men Lots of people are honest, really nice And it's easy to make friends -56-All the flowering parks Give you grassy areas Where kids can play And dogs can run Everything you need is in walking distance From schools and libraries to corner stores There's even a theatre You can learn everything On the Downtown Eastside From chess and fencing To dance and piano Montana Hunter was born and raised in the Downtown Eastside. A homelearner who has just entered UBC, Montana was eleven when he wrote and performed this poem for Savage God's I Love the Downtown Eastside (2002). -57-RuooLF PENNER Written on the Wind drifting down sidewalks in grey early mornings seeing some Shakespeare in mini-store windows waiting for fate to take over make issues that really need dealing with like having a hat made in Montreal or discovering a Lost Golden Oldie at Charlie's or hearing a Beatles song for the first time on an unheard album draggin' my feet looking for no ordinary coffee paying a little less to get Fair Trade Organic walking with a stick that I'm turning into a diadem yesterday's whisky time to push a Security Guard's buttons -58-The New Downtown Eastside Walking up Main Street. 3 ambulances and a bus. There's an old theatre that looks brand new Made into a Marketing Office That shows old Led Zeppelin flicks at night I wonder if the cops put a stop to that. There's a whole shipment of birds Flying, crapping on mailboxes New businesses: I love to watch them Give it their best shot. Too bad many of them close within the year. One was run by an immigrant. He said the cops were always there trying to accuse him of having a front for drugs. He made the mistake of selling snacks to drug dealers - homemade Spanish tamales and chocolate bars. Walking down Hastings I see what looks like a giant garage sale. My friend goes there to buy nail polish for 25 cents off old ladies - makes a special trip Tells me about it - highly illegal United We Can sets the scene for this inconvenience, this public disorder that nobody minds but the cops. Walking up Pender, count it or not, It's part of the Downtown Eastside with its own cops - Chinese ones, so we hear via rumour, nothing bad happens in Chinatown, so they tells, that this ethnic-specific force is not \"on it\"! Walking back down Main Street we see the Carnegie Centre with its green roof, they can't keep gold, the way it's supposed to be with its marshall core of securiry cops , yet another private surveillance team. Everybody's watching. Watching if your eyes're too bright. . . . . .lookin' to see if you're feeling a bit tight . . . Just left another theatre that was supposed to be opened long ago, restored with $3 million. I'd rather see a garden filling Hastings Street East with detoxing gardeners & children smiling together and parents frying hamburgers there, on open barbeques - 59-How Poor is Poor How poor is poor IfI choose to do with money What others wouldn't dream of Arn I now suddenly rich, to be envied, to be looked at With a sidewise glance? How poor is poor If you're entrusted with a heavier load Than others would dream of Are you now suddenly stronger, to be used and chewed upon in private? If Henry spends his cash on smokes And Irene needs lots of dope Can there be a decent justification If I spent my wad On developing my concentration Taking yoga or mosaic construction Arn I richer? If I choose to teach for free And end up paying higher prices for my dinner just to do so; Is the drinker poorer than the professor? Some poor patrons spend their dollars on food And still end up in the gutter Some on computers wireless connectors newspapers and bicycles Is poor is as poor does? Is a computer or television owner now rich, because he's not eating? Learning, watching, reaching? Are you poorer to steal your toilet paper and chocolate bars because you spent your coins on women and wine? Are you poorer still to visit the famed? How private are your parts? If suddenly a stranger from New York buys you a ticket to the Rock Show but springs on you the tune: Now you must buy the beer At premium prices 2,3,4,5,7 later They used to say, there's no free lunch But I, for one, have had a bunch -60-KELLY STEWART Carnegie is where somebody always cares Where your troubles are easy to share Nonchalant we seem to be But when it counts, there are we Disappear for a day or two Someone will send out a search party for you Watching over us, the silent few The folks of Carnegie, thank God for you. Broken hearts, broken smiles Life seems somehow not worthwhile Then out of the gloom, appears a beacon of hope The Carnegie, where a hot coffee and a warm greeting from the people inside help you forget for a moment the reality of your nights A place of safety if only for an hour A place where people talk in soft voices, not the usual shouts and screams and people so mean you hear outside Somedays Carnegie can feel just like a warm hug. - 61 -How I arrived at Carnegie Riding by on the bus one day I wondered \"What goes on in that beauti-ful old building\"? It looked pretty scary outside and I thought \"is this , what's happening inside too?\" Take a chance, check it out!! Nah, looks too dangerous to me, think I'll pass this time, maybe next time. Riding by on the bus, \"where did all those scary people go?\" There is no one outside. Quick jump off the bus, let's see what's inside. Inside safe and sound, look around, welcome smiles Great food, only $1.75 4 Boors of stuff going on All kinds of people mostly doing their own thing. Now after rwo years or more of coming to Carnegie every week, some-times to volunteer, other times to relax and meet up with friends,, I real-ize now what looked so scary before now just seems sad, and my heart's fears have been replaced with compassion and a sense of belonging. Kelly Stewart is a wise old woman completing her Master's Degree at The School of Hard Knocks. An accidental poet and lover of all things purple, especially her scooter! Carnegie has included her picture on their fam-ily Christmas tree and named her outstanding volunteer of the month for August 2008. -62-RoLFAuER OTES Love TI1e heart of the Downtown Eastside has to be the Carnegie Centre. It has so much going on and it is a community centre for everybody in the Downtown Eastside. The first Saturday of each month features Poetry Night, hosted by Diane Wood. Successive Saturday nights are documentary nights, put on by a very active board member at the Carnegie. Let's not forget the Carnegie Library, on the first floor. It has a reading room, where patrons can while away the hours reading their favourite books, magazines, or newspapers. It is a bona fide Vancouver Public Library branch, so you can reserve books throughout the system there. There is the Association Office on the second floor, which is a hub of activity for the Carnegie Community Action Project, and also for volun-teer editor Paul Taylor, who puts out The Carnegie Newsletter every two weeks (for the past 21 years!). There is the popular cafeteria where satisfying meals can be had for rock bottom prices. Tuesday night is vegan night, and on other nights, one of the two dinners offered is usually vegetarian. Also, there's the weight room, where one can get a bit of exercise in. There's also the computer room, where you can book time on one of the machines, or just quickly check your e-mail. What makes it go is the great work by the many volunteers. What makes life really interesting at the Carnegie is the fantastic mix of all different types of people - young, old, multicultural - you name it and the Carnegie has it! Security personnel at the Centre make interacting with others always a peaceful, pleasant experience. Whatever your back-ground, whatever your experiences, the Carnegie Centre is truly where you'll find the heart of the Downtown Eastside. Rolf Auer lives in social housing and knows the advantages of that, and lives on a disability pension and knows the disadvantages of that. He does a lot of volunteer work: a Carnegie board member, a member of the Carnegie Community Action Project, the Raise the Rates Coalition, and the Low-Income Land Use and Housing Coalition. He writes regularly for the Carnegie Newsletter, he also writes a lot of letters to the editors of the printed newsmedia about anti-poverty issues. -63-AYISHA FARUK Down Town Eastside Corner of Main and Hastings Four blocks ofloving kindness Come with a clean heart We will welcome you to our hood I am called by many names The heart of the city The soul of Vancouver Ah the melodrama! Media Hawks scramble for my story With their spiteful remedies Mr. And Mrs. Selflmportant Techno Nerds Thy poli-tricks cause me too much pain Megalomaniacs seek to destroy my hood With their towers of Babylon Babel Drive past me daily in their coffin on wheels The rich getting richer The poor is watching Spiv Merchant Oh yes, glad to see you to get my fix Drunkenness and drug addictions To remember misery no more Thou holiness Preach while my bowel grumbles Hell is never full yet I claim heaven where I stand and sleep Amidst bed bugs, cockroaches, and rats My heavenly music comes from seagull, crow and pigeons Oh kanada, thou naked and no home British Columbia, the best place on earth?! What is thy crime, Turtle Island? On the streets of the Down Town Eastside. -64-The UBC Library and UBC Learning Exchange would like to thank the following participant for his contributions to digitizing this community-generated document: Graham Cunningham This community-generated work was digitized and deposited to cIRcle, UBC's open access digital repository, as part of the Digitizing Community Memories project of the Making Research Accessible in the Downtown Eastside initiative (MRAi). In collaboration with the UBC Learning Exchange and UBC Library, the project provided training and support for community members in the Downtown Eastside to digitize and make openly available community-generated materials.  This project aimed to increase access to historic Carnegie Centre publications and preserve these unique materials for years to come.  For more information on this project and the UBC Learning Exchange, please visit learningexchange.ubc.ca.  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