COVER ARTICLE—Welcome to Immanence

by Corey Matsumoto

We are very excited to introduce a brand new monthly publication to our community. Immanence Magazine is published and printed locally, and is filled with information by contributors who wish to share their knowledge and experience for the enrichment of their community.

In addition to focusing on important local news items, the purpose of Immanence magazine is to provide a unifying media for representing and strengthening the many different aspects that make Powell River such a great place to live. We are here to help build and promote a thriving community enriched with arts and culture, health and healing, environmental preservation and sustainable living ideals. A section entitled “Planet PR” is dedicated to promoting local food production and energy self-sufficiency on a regional and individual scale.

At the back of this magazine you will find the most comprehensive community calendar published in Powell River. Look to us first and never miss out on the many amazing things your community has to offer.

We hope you find Immanence Magazine to be worth saving, or passing on to a friend, and welcome your contributions should you be inspired to share your knowledge and ideas with our community.

Enjoy Immanence, the heartbeat of a thriving community.

NEWS—Catalyst Landfill Meets Vigorous Opposition

Local residents have two distinct concerns about a proposed landfill expansion in Wildwood: what’s there, and what would be added.

The capped landfill owned by Catalyst Paper is a haphazard mixture of metals, contaminated wood, hog–fuel, black, green and white liquor dregs, fly and bottom ash and unidentified substances. Dust and leachate from the site have historically been a problem in the community, and the landfill was capped because of contamination in 1995.

Catalyst proposes adding a 1 million ton, 20-metre fly-ash mountain on top of the capped landfill, making it the highest man made structure in the Powell River area, aside from the mill itself. The terminal cap is an unstable foundation for this structure.
A basic point of contention is the proximity of the landfill to local homes and businesses. Catalyst is seeking a waiver of the prescribed 300 metre buffer zone that protects residential neighbourhoods. At least 7 homes lie within 100 metres, and 90 homes and a restaurant lie within 300 metres of the site.

The proposed expansion poses at least two grave threats:
1. It would deform and pressurize the existing landfill, and thus exacerbate the toxic leachate into local groundwater.
2. The dioxin containing fly–ash dust has already been a problem at this site. Because of prevailing wind patterns, dioxin containing fly-ash dust goes directly to the local neighbourhood, including an elementary school 575 metres downwind. Residents say that the proposed height of the structure would greatly increase the dust problem. Catalyst contends that their current method of slurrying the fly-ash would stem the dust, although they base this on a study they admit was flawed. They recommend further dustfall testing in 2007.

Catalyst contends that the residents’ fears are unfounded, and that the community response is a simple case of “not in my backyard”. Residents point out that dioxins are bio-accumulative, and have no place in an agricultural neighbourhood.

The group “Powell River Legacy” will continue to oppose the landfill as part of their ongoing commitment to food safety and sustainable economy.

NEWS—Powell River Legacy Rally

by powellrivernews.com

Powell River residents gathered Saturday, May 26th at James Thomson School in Wildwood for a rally and parade sponsored by the fledgling group Powell River Legacy. The event gave voice to a huge groundswell of support to defeat Catalyst Paper’s application for a landfill expansion.

The rally featured local speakers as well as Green Party candidate Silvaine Zimmerman, musician John Tyler and the Powell River Raging Grannies. The event was capped by a bagpiper-led parade of over 350 people through the streets of Wildwood. The march ended at the landfill gates where community representatives delivered collected petitions to Catalyst personnel.

The 2700+ signature petition traveled to Victoria two days later with MLA Nicholas Simons to be delivered to the B.C. Legislature and Minister for the Environment, Barry Penner. The Legacy group maintains an active, informative website at www.prlegacy.org. The group anticipates tackling further community and sustainability related issues once the landfill permit application is defeated.

NEWS—Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion

by Giovanni Spezzacatena

Powell River’s Model Community Project for Persons with Disabilities and The Powell River Brain Injury Society are proud co-sponsors of the 5th annual Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Event for 2007. It’s the 20th anniversary of Rick’s ‘Man in Motion World Tour’ which increases awareness, quality of life, and works for a cure for spinal cord injury.

Our 2007 goal is the purchase of a standing frame for the Powell River Recreation Complex. The adult ‘glider’ standing frame provides dynamic leg motion for wheelchair users, enhancing the therapeutic benefits of standing.

On Sunday June 10th, 2007, starting at 9 am at the Recreation Complex, choose the 1 km, 5km, or 10 km routes to walk, wheel, run, bike, or roller-blade! The event is free to participate in, with money being raised through pledges, donations, and special events. Pre-Register online: www.wheelsinmotion.org. There are three $100 cash incentive prizes for the individual, the family/friend team, and the corporate team raising the most money, as well as buttons and t-shirts! Donations can also be made at Scotiabank.

One special event this year is our ‘Raffle in Motion!’ Win prizes like a round-trip for two to Vancouver, with a stay at the River Rock Hotel-Casino, Terracentric’s Zodiac tour, and more! Tickets are $2 each. Buy them at: Scotiabank, RBC, Rocky Mountain Pizza, The Recreation Complex, Visitor’s Centre, Jump Radio/MCP, Magic AM, and Powell River Brain Injury Society, etc. The raffle draw date is June 27th.

Info: www.modelcommunityproject.ca/wim.htm
Or call MCP at (604) 485-2688

LOCAL NEWS

LETTERS—Gross National Happiness

by Don Mallet

The little country of Bhutan, nestled between India and China, is the world’s only “democratic monarchy”. This experiment, originated by the current king Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972, means that if the “Gross National Happiness” with the king drops below 50%, the Bhutanese will vote and elect a new king. There has not been a vote yet.

GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS (GNH), also originating in Bhutan, is an attempt to gauge the success of the nation on its intangible and holistic quality of life, rather than on its productivity as measured by its Gross National Product or Gross Domestic Product. It is based on the premise that true development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other. The four pillars of GNH are the promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance. This is often discussed in tandem with the Genuine Progress Indicator of the green movement.

The “happiness” factor could be used to gauge such things as citizen reaction to growth, development, and social issues such as crime, immigration, emergency measures and epidemics, and could even offer a new mechanism to evaluate physical and mental health care. If one goes to a hospital or a care home, one’s happiness will influence one’s recovery and general health. The population could decide that “alternate” medicine is less costly, and/or as effective, and therefore makes the user more “happy” within such a system.

Some critics of GNH point to expulsion of the “illegal Nepalese immigrants” as an example of how GNH can be misused. Although this expulsion reduced Bhutan’s wealth by most traditional measures such as GDP, the Bhutan government claims it has not reduced Bhutan’s GNH.

I have asked our local Canadian Tire to think about implementing the Gross National Happiness model in the compilation of their customer service data. The customer could vote on their service, cost, product satisfaction, etc. in a program similar to GNH available at the store or at home and on-line - without a phone call from a representative. In a town like Powell River, which is transitioning from a resource economy to a tourist and retirement destination town, anything to improve user happiness would go a long way to reducing the future health costs to our already stretched and breaking medical system. The Boomers want to be happy! Who will offer it? Who will train the staff to “deliver it”? Who will implement GNH?

Most businesses offer “friendly service” in their PR, but why not ask the user (the customer), and get some hard data? The data can be used to re-train rather than fire certain un-friendly staff who are a liability to the business, or to adjust some company policies. I find for example, that while some service staff use the proper words as trained, the “feeling” is not there, therefore happiness is not created in the customer. Let’s see if the quick-to-react free market (business) sector will jump on this before the socialist (services) sector!

We don’t want pills or rhetoric, or excuses, we just want healthy food, good quality and environmentally friendly products, friendly and prompt service, and to be “happy” with all of the above! That’s not much to ask, is it?
The Boomers will either break every system (which we created) because of our numbers or we will come up with novel solutions. Let’s begin by placing a value on “happiness” and empowering the individual by giving the user of the goods and services a political voice, and not just another poll to be expediently manipulated by every side.

LETTERS—No Sir, I Don't Like It

by Roe Knotwon

Catalyst is applying to expand the landfill and put Powell River on the map with the Sunshine Coast’s only pyramid. A 72-foot monument to consumerism and waste, the pyramid will take 35 years to complete, have a foot-print of 14 acres, be the largest manmade structure in Powell River and add considerable weight to the cliffs above Powell Lake.

The pyramid will be relatively inexpensive to build as slurried fly ash supplied by Catalyst will form the major construction component. Slurried fly ash looks like watery cement, and is brought in cement trucks. You’ll be able to see between four and eight trucks running daily if the pyramid is to be completed on time and at a savings to the company. Once dry the fly ash slurry hardens, like chalk, which is a good thing because it is caustic and you wouldn’t want it migrating into the water or blowing away.

Finally! A decent tourist attraction in Powell River: the Powell River Pyramid project. How did Wildwood get so lucky? I decided to go there and ask some Wildwood-ites which way the wind blows.

Back in the seventies the landfill was an illegal dump site. No one kept records and no one knows what is down there—probably anything that couldn’t be flushed out to sea. In 1996 the company legalized the landfill and capped it with asphalt. A permit was given to create a mini-landfill adjacent to it. The people in Wildwood were not excited about a landfill close to their homes—but it was small, only 100,000 cubic meters.

This mini landfill is almost full and there is nowhere to go but up. When I ask which way the wind blows, Wildwood-ites tell me it blows over the elementary school, houses and farms.

LETTERS

COMMUNITY—Folk Feast '07-Promoting art, music, and community

by Corey Matsumoto

The 3rd annual Powell River Folk Feast happens on Saturday June 9th, noon until midnight at Local Loco’s Cafe on Willingdon Ave.
The event promotes art, music, and healthy living. It will feature an outdoor craft fair, live music from local and out-of-town acts on the newly created outdoor stage, and, of course, a healthy feast of great food.

Folk Feast was originally created in June 2005 to raise funds to get Local Loco’s Cafe off the ground and introduce the cafe’s owners to the community. The event was such a tremendous success that Folk Feast became a yearly event with proceeds going to local charities. Last year’s event raised over $500 for the Powell River SPCA and the Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society.

This year’s musical headliner is a funky/groovy foursome from Kelowna named Terza Rima. Their fun-filled bouncy grooves got people jumping at last year’s Diversity festival. Other performers include Ethnic Junction, The Sojourners, Cris and Chris, Ray Rothschild, Dan Erickson, Groove Garden, The Cushing McLeod Blues Band, and DJ’s Dub Commandante and Marlin.

Arts and Crafts vendors can contact Skye at 485-5626.
For more info visit www.locallocos.com.

COMMUNITY—Disability Games Needs More Volunteers

by Jo-Ann Diggon

This summer 300 athletes with disabilities supported by 300 coaches, officials, classifiers and assistants will be competing in Powell River.
The Powell River BC Disability Games is looking for volunteers to make the 2007 edition of the Games the best ever. Over 300 Volunteers have already registered but 200+ are still needed. We need people for accommodations, ceremonies, food service, fundraising, medical services, promotions, protocol, registration, security, sports, and transportation.

Look for Jo-Ann Diggon and the VW Westfalia (the “Volunteer Wagon”) with the wonderful artwork! It’s hitting the streets until early July. Stay tuned to Jump and Magic Radio to find it! You can also drop by the Volunteer Centre’s new location at 4482 Marine Avenue, or visit www.powellriver2007.com.

The Volunteer Wagon will be set up 12–4 during Local Loco’s Folk Feast on June 9th, and the Rick Hanson’s Wheels in Motion event at the recreation Complex on Sunday. (see story on page 3)

COMMUNITY

LEGAL EYES—No Sitting on Stairs

by Eva van Loon

Some say the law is an ass.

Admitted, the law is behind. Law necessarily follows society rather than leads. Our representatives make laws, relying on lawyers to write laws into a workable form. Then the courts decide what those written laws really mean to you and me in our fast-changing world. Thus law always follows events.

Even before my call to the Bar, I regarded law as an arcane product of patriarchy, created by men, of men, and for men. My professors predicted a “takeover” of the profession by women, but, although there’s been some long overdue re-balancing of rights, women leave law almost as fast as they enter it. Why? Because practising law is usually a rat race, not healthy for children and other living things.

After years of absence, I recently had to take the Bar course again, which meant spending nine weeks in the building that now belongs to the Law Society of BC. I was curious to see how the course had changed in 22 years. Daily I entered the building by the back door, sniffing for a holistic attitude, a new ethic or—gasp!—a spiritual dimension in today’s legal profession.

By chance I left by the front door one day, down the wide front steps LSBC inherited with the building, complete with a ramp, greenery, and sunshine on an otherwise bleak block of downtown. I looked behind me, and there was my answer, not once but a dozen times. NO SITTING ON STAIRS, proclaimed decorous signs firmly attached to the risers. FROM HERE TO RAILING, added one sign, in case of any doubt about the prohibition’s scope.

I ask you, whom would it harm if a few human butts whiled away some sunny moments on these concrete surfaces? What is the mischief this “law” seeks to remedy? What’s the point of such rules? Don’t we want freedom of assembly?

The law is still behind. It’s very clear on one point, however: it doesn’t want your behind, or mine, blurring the tidy straight lines of its stairs.

FASHION—Shoot From the Hip

by Annie Poirier

People take fashion seriously, yet often have no clue where to start.

This is tragic. I wish to fix it. Why not take advantage of all options available to us? We live only once.

I’ve styled most ages, budgets, and body types. My good success rate depends on the importance of taking unique personality and tastes into consideration. What people want, but often forget in front of the closet, is that your sense of style reflects who you are—if an important element of yourself gets discarded, you’ll feel uncomfortable in your clothing and uncomfortable with yourself.

Fashion is my passion and career. Can a fashion correspondent raised in the NWT and now walking tall across a Gulf Island (in major, cool platforms) provide you with the cynical, bitchy articles—with the odd tidbit of advice—you need to feel better and put together?

I aim to entertain and inform. My style was always unusual—while young I preferred classic clothes over the current trends. Nowadays I’m a pencil-skirt-and-pumps kind of girl, with a rock-and-roll edge. Trends suck (unless I like them).

Explore with me. Next time: Summer Fashion Do’s and Don’ts.

MUSIC—Classified “Hitches” to Powell River

by Corey Matsumoto

In a hip-hop scene flooded with posers, drug imagery and materialism, Halifax native Classified stays true to his grass-roots. With over ten solo albums and a career spanning over a decade, Classified has slowly paved the way for the Canadian hip-hop scene by writing all his own lyrics and producing music worthy of several industry nominations.

Classified began his career early, performing creative rap acts during his high school years in the ‘90s. He created his own label, HalfLife Records, and released his first full-length album, Time’s Up, in 1995. A year later Classified was producing tracks for other Halifax artists.

Collaborations with the likes of Maestro, DL Incognito, Choclair, Royce 5’9, and J-Bru have led to some of the highest selling independent rap albums in Canada. Classified continues to produce album after album of cutting edge tracks, with no sign of slowing down. He is currently promoting his 11th album Hitch Hikin’ Music, and will be performing at the White Jag Pub on Tuesday June 19 with Jordan Croucher. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door.

For more information call 604-483-7788.

CD REVIEWS—Full Disclosure New Music Report

Full Disclosure was a radio show hosted by Luke Brocki and Amanda Bell broadcasting cutting-edge music every Thursday night on CJMP 90.1 FM. Although the hosts have recently moved out of Powell River, Full Disclosure lives on in the form of CD reviews in this ongoing column authored by the (now defunct) show’s hosts.

The Pack
Tintype
(2007)

It was after midnight on that cozy strip of Vancouver’s Cambie Street that lies nestled between Gastown and Skid Row and two ladies were blowing the roof off Pub 340 with drum volleys and vocals so hot, raw and overtone-rich they’d wake Janis Joplin from the dead if her body hadn’t been burned and ashes scattered into the Pacific Ocean.
Citing Blind Willie Johnson and the American Civil War as influences, this duo blows through 17 tracks on Tintype, an unforgettable, whiskey-soaked-deal-with-the-devil blues romp that raises the bar for today’s garage revival.
Serve with: Leadbelly, Jimi Hendrix, Black Keys

LCD Soundsystem
Sound of Silver
(March 2007)

James Murphy, now the driving force behind New York’s red-hot LCD Soundsystem and co-founder of dance-punk haven DFA Records, spent the 90s in obscurity, playing in aggressive, post-hardcore bands after passing on a chance to write for Seinfeld. He recently traded his guitars for turntables and quickly became one of the coolest people on the planet, with an enviable 75,000 friends on MySpace. He follows the success of his 2005 debut with Sound of Silver, a sleek mashup of punk, disco and electronica equally suitable for the couch and the dance floor.
Serve with: Talking Heads, The Rapture

The Can
Monster Movie
(1969)
This gripping debut by Krautrockers Can is a staple of German experimental music of the late 60s. Grounded in garage rock, Can soon ventured into unknown territory, experimenting with blues, acid rock psychedelia and world music, creating their sound through free improvisation and tape edits.

The album’s final track, “Yoo Doo Right”, is especially engaging. It pounds for 20 minutes as a tribal-rhythm mantra edited down from a six-hour improvisation, its lyrics portentous of original singer Malcolm Mooney’s eventual psychological meltdown. And check out the faceless Galactus on the cover. Brilliant.
Serve with: Kraftwerk, Velvet Underground, Zu

MUSIC

ART—The Last Upper-Meghan Hildebrand’s Premier Local Solo Show

by Skye Morrison

When I was first getting to know Meghan Hildebrand, I remember her quietly describing herself as “shy.”

I don’t believe that she is shy, and I’m sure that you would agree with me if you have ever seen her high-impact works of art. Her paintings howl and laugh, they snicker and roar. They are anything but demure.

Meghan’s premier Powell River Show was held May 28th at Bemused Bistro, 4623 Marine Ave.

Unfortunately, that evening is gone. Hopefully you were there. If not, hurry down there while the show is on display for June. Her work can also be viewed at Artique, 4722 Marine Ave, and Local Loco’s, 4692 Willingdon Ave.

And if, by chance, you should have the honour of meeting this young contemporary master, you can decide for yourself if she’s really shy.

Artisit Profile:
Who: Meghan Hildebrand
From: YellowKnife, NWT
Recently From: Nelson, BC
Inspiration: Independent media, friends, old industrial stuff, the coast, vino
Mediums: acrylics, collage, oils, scratchboard
Website: www.meghanhildebrand.com

ART—New Summer Art School

by Alfred Muma

The Kelly Creek Summer Arts School opens Monday July 9th and will operate until Friday July 27th, at Kelly Creek Community School (KCCS). The new summer arts school organizers, Laurie Lee, Ceramics Instructor and Alfred Muma, Drawing and Painting instructor will be joined this year by Ruth Doyon, Printmaking Instructor. The three courses offered (one per week) will be Ceramics, July 9th to 13th, Drawing and Painting July 16th to 20th, and Printmaking July 23rd to 27th. Morning instruction will be available for adults interested in taking one or all of the courses offered. The afternoon class time is for children. During July 16 to 20th there will also be a special plein air course for painters. The class room courses will be limited in class size between 5 to 8 students. Printmaking and Ceramic Children’s courses supplies are included with the course fees. All courses are open to Powell River and area residents as well as all visitors to our beautiful upper Sunshine Coast.

For more information on the courses, registration fees and times call Laurie Lee at Kelly Creek Community School Programs Office, 604-487-9925, or email llee@sd47.bc.ca.

Course registration/application forms are available on line at www.awmuma.com/summerartschool or at Kelly Creek Community School Programs Office.

Make cheques payable to Kelly Creek Community School Association, (KCCSA) and return the registration forms to the KCCS Programs Office or mail to:
KCCS Programs Office, C-35, RR#3, Patrick Rd., Powell River, V8A 5C1 by June 10th.

ART

BOOKS—Witches in the Kitchen

by Jana Pierce-van Loon

BOOKS—New Book Spurred by Festival

BOOKS

THEATRE—Defrosted Flakes Go Loco

by Nicole Narbone

Nothing like live theatre to spark up a crowd, and when the crowd is part of the theatre, it’s an entirely different experience. The crowd at Local Loco’s was the cause and the butt of a variety of gags and jokes on Thursday, May 17th when the Defrosted Flakes Improv Troupe showed up to entertain.

Improvisational theatre games (popularized by the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?) are a fun way to challenge your acting and comedic skills. The point is to create humorous situations and crises based on suggestions from a live audience. Defrosted Flakes, always on the lookout for new members to torment, practices weekly and performs monthly at Local Loco’s. The skills that some members have from years of musical and theatre performance mixed with the raw energy and fresh perspective of the newer people in the troupe concoct a hilarious result. The Flakes have performed as a group and as individuals at Art in the Park, Lund Days, the Evergreen Theatre, the Gazebo, Texada Community Hall and in the Comox Valley. No matter the venue, Defrosted Flakes is ready to laugh with you, not at you. Seriously.

If you are interested in live improvisational dinner theatre, you would be wise to call now for reservations. Tables are already booking up for this evening of great food, fun and laughter.

Improv Dinner Theatre
When: Thursday June 14 @7 pm
Where: Local Loco’s Music and Arts Cafe
Cost: $2 per person (Suggested donation)
Contact: Corey (604) 485-5626
corey@locallocos.com
Website: www.locallocos.com

HEALTH—Natural VS. Commercial Soaps

by Velma Richmond

Basic soap is made by combining oils and fats with lye (caustic soda) and water to produce a chemical reaction called saponification, which produces both soap and glycerin. Natural soap retains glycerin which makes for a gentler soap since glycerin is a moisturizer.

Most natural soap makers use the traditional French method called cold process. In this process, the oils and lye are heated to only about 120 °F, at which point, essential oils and herbs might be added. Natural soap makers use high quality oils like coconut, palm and olive. This liquid is poured into molds and left for 12-24 hours, depending on the oils used. The bars are then removed from the molds and allowed to cure for 30 days. After curing the soap is hard and no longer caustic. It can legally be called soap.

In commercial soap making the oils, lye and synthetic compounds are heated to high temperatures and boiled. Once saponification occurs, the glycerin is removed and sold to the cosmetics, food or explosives industries. The absence of glycerin is why many commercial soaps can dry the skin. The soap is then sent through milling machines which shred and compress it to make a hard bar, a process that requires the addition of various chemicals. By the time the soap is finished, it can no longer be called soap—it’s a detergent bar. The finished product is sometimes called a “beauty bar” or a “luxury bar” instead.

Commercial soap is usually made with cheaper oils, such as tallow, or synthetic compounds. Essential oils are rarely used. Perfumes added during the commercial process are usually artificial, and may irritate skin.

Natural soap makers can tell you exactly what is in their soap and are proud to list their ingredients on a label. Powell River has several soap makers. Check your local health-food stores and the Open Air Market for natural soap.

HEALTH—Let’s Do the Math: CCD = SpEd?

by Eva van Loon -Cognition Therapist

Einstein, who said humanity would have about four years to live should Earth lose her bees, wouldn’t be surprised that we killed off the honey bee while trying to improve it. Theories spring up everywhere about “Colony Collapse Disorder”: GMOs? Cell phones? Is WiFi messing with bee navigation?

Obviously CCD has to do with human activity. Seven billion talking apes surely affect the entire ecology.
Bee die-off increased since the 80s, but we ignored it. Recently 60% to 90% of honeybees disappeared, just when humanity began changing its mind about the importance of green living. If Einstein is right, we must fix this mess by 2011.

What about human immune systems? Can ironically self-named homo sapiens withstand its own activity?

In the forty-four years I’ve taught, our education system has stopped working for many students. If Einstein’s right, my work as a cognition therapist will end contemporaneously with “universal education”.
Humans can’t see the beehive for the bees, it seems.

The biggest underlying mental deficit people now suffer is auditory processing: the ears work fine but the brain can’t hear. It all boils down to mega-stress on the organism. Poisonous air, over-processed food, chemicals in everything, mega-electro-magnetic radiation, clutters of imagery, floods of sound bytes, sundered families who can’t afford their lives, and violence everywhere. Today’s harried, hurried, anxious children have no idea how to be quiet in themselves, much less communicate with others. Since they are often the third generation of dysfunction, frantic families cannot help them find the way. Our society can’t find home any more than the honeybees can get back to the hive.
No child left behind? Where did we think we were going?

We’d profit from listening to organic beekeepers. They report no CCD. Some wild bees are also doing fine. The implications are plain: humanity is not smart enough to mess with honeybee genetics or, for that matter, its own. We don’t yet think to the seventh generation, and we’re addicted to thinking ourselves exempt from nature. By submitting our young to unparalleled stress, doubtless we impair their growth in multiple ways.

Out of the mouth of babes, it is said, comes wisdom. We should listen, really listen, to the alarms coming from the mouths of our children. It is coming, they warn. Human colony collapse is just around the corner.

HEALTH

FOOD—Mad About Food

by Stacey Forbes

I know you don’t know me yet, as this is only the first issue of my column, however, can you do me a favour? Will you stop buying lettuce greens from California? At least until November, when I will again ask you not to, but give you a new reason. After all, you can grow your own lettuces easily in our climate, or buy them at the Open Air Market from a local producer, or from a BC grower at the supermarket... maybe.
When I picture, in my minds’ eye, a clear plastic box of organic, Californian, “spring greens” taking up space in a fossil-fueled “boxcar” on wheels, spewing greenhouse gases, unsafely passing its way up Interstate 5, I cannot help but wonder if this is logical. Do we really want to buy “easy” greens from a thousand busy highway miles away?

I’m not going to ask for anything else this month—this is a great start, and an easy one, especially at this time of year. For now, until I can figure out how to grow them here, I still buy a few lemons, and more than a few avocados, with the idea that I will allow myself to buy the things that cannot grow here, the awaited treasures of the season. All I can really ask of you, of course, is that you give my ranting some quick thought. And provide you with this caveat emptor: don’t expect to pay less for your local greens than ones from far away. Local farmers work hard, and they need to make a living. The grand scale of the lettuce imports make them relatively cheap, but their grand march lessens their original value.

Stacey Forbes is a graduate of the Dubrulle Culinary Institute in Vancouver

Manzanita

Powell River gets a new high-end restaurant this month with the opening of Manzanita in Townsite by Allan and Amy Sharp. The kitchen staff of Manzanita work in what once was the vault of Powell River’s courthouse, which now has a new life as a nine-room hotel beautifully renovated in a style appropriate to Powell River’s history as Canada’s first lumber town by owners Ian and Lilia Gould. Oldtimers can likely confirm that the Old Courthouse Inn is much more commodious and welcoming than the original courthouse ever was. Today its closest contact with crime is the drop-dead view from Manzanita’s sunny dining deck.

Occasionally the connection with the law is stronger—the Law of Attraction. In its first week, Manazanita hosted the thirty-seventh wedding anniversary of a couple who had been wed in the courthouse. The groom attributed the longevity of their marriage to the Law of Obedience: “Yes, Dear.”

The Sharps are proud to be part of Townsite’s grass-roots renaissance. Perhaps it was inevitable that they open a seafood restaurant in such a convenient venue. Allan has farmed mussels and oysters in the Okeover Inlet for years, and Amy comes from San Francisco, renowned especially for its seafood and nouvelle cuisine. With its warm, bright Southwest colors, a menu built on local produce, Allan’s seafood, and salmon caught by local supplier John Hughes, Manzanita is bound to refresh local appetites. Chef Paul Preminger, with twenty years’ West Coast cooking behind him, plans on changing the 12-item menu every other month to reflect seasonal peaks in produce and protein. The wine list, however, will complement the local foods with wines Powell River has not seen before.

Manzanita will be open for dinner seven nights a week, 5-10 p.m. Reservations are appreciated: call 604-483-2228.

FOOD

FOOD SUPPLY—Farmer Brown: Fasion Victim

by Julie Bellian

Farming is dreadfully un-hip. Even the way I put it sounds gormless. Farming suffers from a low-status image. Who, these days, will ever be enticed to take on such an un-cool identity as ‘farmer’? As a ‘career’ it is beyond unpopular. Yet people supposedly want what the traditional farmer produces—fresh, naturally grown, local food. So who will grow it if no one wants to be a farmer?

Why such an uncomplimentary stereotype—especially here, where you can meet the grower of your food, and where the health and socio-economic benefits of local farming are apparent by the fact that our region is not dominated by agri-business. Eating local is all the rage in cities: nothing is finer than feta cheese and blackberry vinaigrette on baby salad greens. But to say you have to go home to your goats puts you in a class of dubious glamour.

This community has a vision and many agricultural achievements: our GE–free Crop Area Declaration, seed-saving initiatives, food sovereignty & charter work, markets, preserving Agricultural Lands, opposing restrictions on selling local meat. I can talk until the cows come home, but the question remains: who wants to be a farmer?

This page invites you to join any of these local food activities however you want. Plant experimental food plants in the new demonstration garden at the Open Air Market, grow your own variety in the Living Seed Bank, bring your canning and fall harvest to sell at the winter markets, or hold hands-on workshops that our organizations can sponsor. It all adds up to more local food.

I am inviting discussion about local food & farming. Ideas for making it ‘fashionable’ would help. But we have to get our hands in the dirt and do it.

Julie Bellian is Coordinator of the Powell River Open Air Market

ESOTERICA

ESOTERICA—Blue Lace Agate

This beautiful pale blue stone, with clear and white lace-like parts threaded throughout, was one of the first stones to reveal its healing properties to me. How, you ask?

I was drifting around Sechelt in a profound state of depression. I ended up in a lovely store called Touching various rocks, stones and crystals, my hand closed around Blue Lace Agate, and it would be a long time before I’d release that potent little stone. It traveled everywhere with me, even under my pillow at night, and slowly but surely aided me to remember to look up at the sky, and breathe….
Much later, my curiosity piqued, I began a little research and discovered things written about my little stone.

This stone has immanent within it inspirational qualities: air, movement, flight, grace. Useful for throat, heart, third eye and crown chakras and bringing one into a state of higher frequency, which is desirable for shifting blockages. Blue Lace Agate is specifically beneficial for arthritic conditions, digestive issues, and circulation.

Quite appropriate! I thought.

I encourage you to pick up a piece and allow your consciousness to gently expand into a greater sense of communication and harmony with self and others.

ESOTERICA—Higher Awareness for Dummies

by Michelle McCann

Here are your instructions to get to The Place.

Picture this: an eagle majestically soaring, a roaring waterfall, a beautiful sunset—your favourite dream of serenity. Ok—got it? Take time to notice the warmth of unconditional love. Breathe deeply through your nose; breathe right into that place; fill it with your breath until your heart chakra expands. Connect with that feeling and breathe fully, receiving love and light, expanding through the Universe. Exhale deeply, breathe in again, the love and light reflected to and through you—love’s infinite fractal geometry.

Each of us is a tiny sliver of the ONE, containing within our proteins that make up our DNA and RNA the information to make up the collective whole. Coming to Earth meant operating under the illusion that we are not only separate but unique, refracted aspects of one another. This gives the game of life a basal feeling of disconnection from others. We live in a fear-based reality, adrenaline pumping us here and there, to and fro. We distract ourselves with materialism, competition, and the fear of scarcity, feeding the illusion. We’re so busy, many of us are unable to breathe and feel through the heart chakra.

Resistance to the uncomfortable is itself uncomfortable because it is not the natural state of being. We have been living the polar opposite of our natural rhythmic state. It pays to remember that the elusive state of abundance is achieved by intent and a vibrational intensity entered only when one is in touch with Source.

Matching one’s vibrational energy to engaged energy is the way to physical manifestation of everything conceivable. First, go to thought form. Start inward, going outward. Build from the inside out. Letting Light and Spirit flow gets easier as we re-align with our Divine nature.
I believe the age of our conditioned fear response has passed. We are waking up to the New Paradigm. The Shift, the Quickening is upon us and we are learning constantly how to co-create our reality. Opening each individual heart chakra will open the collective heart chakra--this is the way to compassion for ourselves and our fellow “slivers”. As the synapses in each brain connect through peptides, receptors in the brain will bridge eventually with very little effort. It will become second nature, letting ourselves go to the body’s natural state of balance—a homeostasis beyond our dreams.

ESOTERICA—Isis, Queen of all Gods

ESSAYS—Where Have All the Bees Gone

by Captain Paul Shepard

Earth Day has come and gone. One day of the year devoted to environmental concern—better than nothing?

Since 1968, the environmental movement has roller-coastered in popularity. In 1972, escalating human populations seemed the priority, but by 1992, that concern didn’t even make the agenda. When we warned of climate change twenty years ago, no one cared. Now, ecology’s in vogue again thanks to global warming. Big organizations are tapping the public for donations!

These organizations are too political to offer practical solutions. The solution is simple: live in accordance with the three basic laws of ecology.

First is the Law of Diversity. The strength of an eco-system lies in diversity of species within it. Weaken diversity and the entire system will ultimately collapse.

Second is the Law of Interdependence. All of the species within an eco-system are interdependent. We need one another.

The third law of Ecology is the Law of Finite Resources. The limit to carrying capacity implies limits to growth. Human populations now exceed ecological carrying capacity. This diminishes both resources and diversity of species. The diminution of diversity in turn causes serious problems with interdependence.

Einstein wrote, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” That illustrates the Law of Interdependence. Forget global warming, folks. The disappearance of the honeybee could end our existence far sooner than we think.

The honey bee is disappearing. Why? We don’t know--perhaps genetically modified crops, or pesticides, or cell phones interfering with bees’ navigation. Around the world bees are disappearing in a crisis called Colony Collapse Disorder.

We keep our place on this planet by a mere toehold. Yet we cut down the forests. We pollute the soil, air and water, although running out of fresh drinking water. We’ve plundered the oceans of life: 90% of all fish have been removed from their eco-systems, over 65,000 miles of long lines sit in the Pacific Ocean alone, while tens of thousands of fishing vessels scour the seas in a rapacious quest to scoop up anything that swims or crawls. The largest marine predator on the planet right now is the cow, for ocean fish are rendered into fish meal for domestic livestock. This is eco-insanity.

Consider the humble honey bee. The little black-and-yellow insect flitting busily from flower to flower is all that stands between us and our demise as a species. We had better see to its survival.

FOOD SUPPLY

FOOD SUPPLY—Why a regular column about food supply?

by David Parkinson

Isn’t that what the grocery stores are for? Yes and no. Lately you may have picked up on a renewed interest in all things to do with food: where it comes from; how far it’s traveling; what’s in it; who’s producing it; how it’s produced; and why our food production is the way it is.

Powell River is an interesting place to be these days. I feel very lucky to be coordinating the local Food Security Project, whose two main goals are to help increase local food production and to help residents of Powell River gain access to local nutritious food.

I’ll be using this monthly column to talk about the activities and events that are working towards these goals, like the 50-Mile Diet challenge, the Fruit Tree Project, and other workshops and events that are planned for late summer.

I’ll also connect food-growing and the local food movement to other things that are happening around town, such as how best to use land in the Agricultural Land Reserve and how Powell River could plan to deal with a changing climate and the rising cost of fossil fuels.

See you at the open-air market!

To receive David’s newsletter or to make suggestions and ideas, contact him at fsp@prcn.org.

P.R. ENVIRO—You, Me, Now

by Terry Brown

Coming soon to your neighbourhood! Scenic Clearcuts. Toxic Waste Monsters. Frankenfish Farms. Unbelievable Giveaways. Towering Development. Power Line Matrix. All in HiDef Surround Sound Reality!

Okay, much of this is already reality, not a soon to be released feature film. What is coming soon is a provincial government land planning process for the Sunshine Coast Forest District (SCFD). This District extends from Gambier Island in Howe Sound up to Mt. Waddington. This includes the Upper and Lower Sunshine Coast, Toba and Bute inlets and a huge swathe of backcountry up to the border of Tsy’los Park around Chilko Lake. This district is larger than some countries. Many countries can only dream of having crystal clear lakes and rivers, wild salmon and trophy size cutthroat trout, good populations of grizzlies, forests reaching from ocean to alpine, and octopus gardens.

Many of us grassroots activists, as well as the Powell River Regional District Board, have been actively lobbying the provincial government for a full Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) which includes all land and water issues. Fully eighty-five percent of the province has already completed LRMPs.

However, the process which the BC Liberals are offering us leaves most of the issues out of the discussion. We’ve been told the following will NOT be included in this planning process:

1) New Parks: The SCFD was included in the 1996 Lower Mainland Protected Area Strategy. The result? Protected areas totalling only 3% of our district. All the parks were created around Vancouver and Whistler.
2) Marine Issues: This is too fraught with interjurisdictional battles between the federal ministry of Fisheries and Oceans and the province.
3) Forestry Methods: Clearcut logging of ALL the maturing forests is the game plan, since this area is the best growing land for Douglas Fir on the coast. In other words “One Big Tree Farm”.
4) Mining: This is reserved for a separate process.
5) Private Land: including all the land giveaways that the current provincial government is bestowing on companies like Island Timberlands, Plutonic Power, mining companies etc. etc.
The government has given this area to private corporations to extract the raw resources for their benefit, and to hell with the local ecology, economy, jobs and communities.

It’s up to us who live here to come up with our own Community Vision. A vision which maps out what kind of life we want to have here, for now and for many generations to come. To make a positive difference join the visioning process with the Community Roundtable. Contact Terry or Jude for more info at 604-487-0168 or jlabrams@shaw.ca.

What does it take for good to triumph?

You. Me. Now.

Cover Article—Green Public Soul at ALR Showdown

by Eva van Loon

July 5, 2007: the Agricultural Land Commission came to hear Powell River’s input on an application to remove 5 land parcels, 847 acres, from the Agricultural Land Reserve to build an international airport, a gated housing development, a 5-star hotel and convention centre, and a golf course.

Powell Riverites filled the Ballroom at Town Centre Hotel. Almost forty people responded to the presentation by representatives of the City, Catalyst, Sliammon band, the joint-venture developers (PRSC), and the wildly named Yrainucep Development Corporation.
(In case you missed it, “Yrainucep” is “Pecuniary” for those of us who read backwards, and pecuniary means anything to do with money.)
The Commission listened attentively for over 4 hours. The applicants presented Powell River’s need for residential and industrial development on land which, they claim, is no good for agriculture anyway. Then the public spoke, many expressing confusion and doubt over so vague a proposal, while acknowledging PR needs diversified economy.

Where are the disputed parcels of land? The prettiest bit is Parcel A, 143 acres roughly between the Recreation Complex and Willingdon Beach, where so many of us enjoy the lovely trails. Parcel C is 32 acres between Cranberry and Townsite, partly logged in the past but still affording recreation. The remaining three parcels lie joined in Wildwood, one entirely owned by Catalyst.

In arguing that these are not cultivable, the applicants never bothered to define “agriculture”. On the website, however, agriculture is defined to include the growing of trees—something all 5 parcels are very good at.

Material posted at the meeting claim that only 7% of soil in the five parcels is top quality, but the soil maps reveal that Parcel A has mostly excellent soil, the Cranberry parcel has middling soil, and the Wildwood parcels, while having the poorest soil overall, can and do produce. In order to get Parcel A out of the ALR, the applicants lump it with much bigger parcels where the soil is poorer, claiming in the aggregate that these lands are not cultivable. No plans for desirable Parcel A or for the Cranberry parcel were presented; presumably these lands are wanted for speculation of the pecuniary kind.

Whether it was this distortion of the nature of the parcels, the vagueness of the proposal, or the sheer madness of the notion that enough people would fly to the Pearl on the Sunshine Coast to support a jetport and convention center and untold local “careers”, the public’s b.s. detector began twitching early on.

Applause showed strong feeling against giving up the nature of these parcels for the sake of a development out of tune with Powell River from the get-go. Yet, clearly the public also harbors huge concerns about sustainability of the local job market and economy as well as the local food, water, and energy supply.

ALC members will now discuss all the oral and written input and decide whether this application is a good way to address those concerns.

OPEN SOURCE—Local Printing

by Corey Matsumoto

As is the case with many underground publications, Immanence is a rapidly evolving project full of challenges and fueled by many contributions of knowledge, opinions – and of course –advertising dollars.

The largest challenge has been printing. We are intent on having a magazine that is entirely locally produced and printed. This is quite the task in a community where the local printing “industry” consists of a handful of color copiers and an assortment of obsolete museum–quality machinery as old as the mill itself.

There is an unfortunate catch–22 scenario where money is not invested in local printing because the local printers don’t get enough business to afford the gear needed to print the large local jobs. We refuse to let Immanence become a part of the imbalance and hope to bring back the days of locally produced and printed publications (remember Powell River News?). We are finding ways to support 2 or 3 local printers by giving each a bite–sized portion of our monthly print run. It’s working out so far.

The higher cost of printing locally means a reduced number of pages and a shorter print run per advertiser than we’d like. Other local publications produce huge volumes of copies for a much cheaper price. It is my belief, however, that the market is being flooded with stacks and stacks of copies that end up sitting around and dumped in recycle bins by the handful. Ever looked through the paper bin at the recycling depot? This is money spent out of town and wasted every month for the sake of “high distribution”. The worst example is a tourism magazine that touted impressive distribution figures. We were given a box of 500 to distribute at our business –we only needed about 60 to display for the summer, and another 40 lasted the rest of the year. If every business that advertised got a box of 500 magazines, I could imagine how easy it would be to fulfill their “high distribution” figures.

Advertisers are wising up to these techniques, and are looking for true value advertising that works. It is my hope that our advertisers realize how visible and effective their ads are, and that readers of Immanence Magazine appreciate the minimal amount of advertising per page. It is not my intention to disrespect the other publications in town, because I believe each provides a service to the community. I’m simply responding to the many questions I’ve been asked about the apparent lack of copies of Immanence around town.

As you read through this magazine, take note of the different businesses that partner (advertise) with us each month. We are all trying to build Powell River into a thriving local economy, and by spending money locally we are strengthening our town against a dying mill.
PS. I promise that I’ll take up less space for my rants if you start sending us letters, articles and news items. Send your 2 bits to editor@immanence.ca and let’s get people talking.

OPEN SOURCE—Blacklists Aim to Control By Fear

by Corey Matsumoto

There is talk going around town about a blacklist containing the names of businesses that support petitions in favor of halting the Wildwood landfill expansion. The blacklist insinuates that a movement to halt the landfill expansion will lead to the shutdown of the mill resulting in millions of dollars of lost annual income and municipal tax revenue.

When will all Powellriverites wake up to the possibility that the mill is already on a shutdown schedule planned years ago? The layoffs began nearly a decade ago, and continue on a regular basis throughout the industry to this day. It looks to me that the New York company that now controls the mill is looking to make a few quick dollars by conveniently dumping toxic waste next to our farming community and potable water sources instead of creating a separate landfill far away from airable land and schools. They are not concerned about the long-term health of our tiny, far-away community because they are not planning on being around for long. They are using the constant threat of closing the mill as a scare tactic to control Powellriverites through fear and sway public opinion in their favor, no matter how ludicrous their argument is.

We are being led to believe that if we boycott businesses that stand up for the long-term health of the community, we will help the mill to remain open longer. The fact is that the axe is already poised to strike whether or not we concede to corporate bullying. I feel like we’re living in a horror movie where the victim sells out his neighbours to avoid being hurt, but is killed anyway (as planned) once he has served the villain’s purposes.

The best option we all have is to support local small businesses–especially the businesses that stand up to corporate bullying and have a REAL interest in protecting and sustaining the health and viability of our community.

It’s time we all learn to use our wings and fly together as a community without an operational mill. The nest is being tipped over whether we like it or not, and we look like fools by pecking at each other’s wings on the way down. We should be supporting each other and turning our fears into enterprising ideas for sustainable economic diversification.

OPEN SOURCE—Farming Future in Crisis

by Agricultural Land Reserve Response Team

URGENT! Stop the removal of 880 acres from the ALR and support agricultural and sustainable initiatives in Powell River.

Powell River’s farming future is in crisis. The City of Powell River and its land development corporation have applied to the Agricultural Land Commission to remove 880 acres within the City from the Agricultural Land Reserve, one of the largest exclusion applications ever. ALERT, the Agricultural Land Emergency Response Team, is working to keep the land in the ALR and to devote it to varied agricultural, educational, value added and residential uses, called the Alternative Agricultural Plan.

Join us in bringing this vision to reality. Call: 604 483 4923 or email: powellriveralert@gmail.com
For more information, refer to www.immanence.ca.

OPEN SOURCE—News and Views as You See It

COMMUNITY—Cranberry Day-Reviving an Old Tradition

by PR Brown

Cranberry Day returns to Lindsay Park for another year! This year’s theme is Celebrate Cranberry and events run from 9am – 3pm, July 29th, starting with the traditional pancake breakfast. Edgehill’s famous hotdogs and burgers will be available all day. Old-time Cranberry residents can visit at Pioneer Corner. There’ll be kids’ games, bike decorating, music, a talent show and silent auction. Come and meet new and old neighbours. For information or to volunteer contact Pam at 604-414-0826; Katherine at 604-414-0800 or prbrown7@shaw.ca. To register for talent show visit the Cranberry Bar or store.

Schedule:
9 am Pancake Breakfast
9-3 Pioneer Corner
10:30 – noon Children’s games
10:30 –2:30 Bike decorating
1:30 – 2:30 Talent Show
2:30 Awards & prizes
3 pm Closing

COMMUNITY—Lund Dayz-Celebrating Lund

by Corey Matsumoto

Lund Dayz returns this year on August 18. The event has a large and long-running history as a festival of music, art and craft vendors, and activities for the kids. Although Lund Dayz of recent years have been somewhat smaller than those of its rich past, this year’s event promises to be the better than ever with music and activities at Nancy’s Bakery, Terracentric, and the Lund Pub lawn.

The event kicks off Saturday morning at 8:00 with a pancake breakfast hosted by the local fire department. Kids activities include a fishing derby, bathtub races, and a boat building contest hosted by Terracentric.

Those interested in performing during the event or setting up a craft table can call Caitlin at 483-4238. Event organizers are also welcoming prize donations and volunteers to help make this year’s event a smashing success.

COMMUNITY—Catch the Reading Bug

by Allan Lindley

Summertime has arrived, the sun is shining and the flowers are in full bloom. If you listen carefully, along with the buzzing sound of bees and mosquitoes you might hear a new breed of insect…the Reading Bug!

“Catch the Reading Bug”, British Columbia’s province-wide Summer Reading Club, has arrived at the Powell River Public Library and at Ahms Tah Ow in Sliammon. Children of all ages can join this free summer-long program beginning July 3rd, and explore a wide array of reading and fun-filled activities, including games, crafts, and performances, that will no doubt leave them “itching for more!”

Started in 1990, the Summer Reading Club supports children in developing a life-long love of reading. By maintaining their literacy skills during the summer holidays, the program has encouraged them and their families to feel comfortable in using libraries and library resources.
A Summer Reading Log is given out at the beginning of the program, and for every seven days that they read, they receive a sticker. At the end of the summer, all Readers who complete their log and all seven weeks of reading will receive a special Summer Reading Club medal in recognition of their achievement. As well, children can take part in the many SRC activities offered by their local public library.

This year the two acting Student SRC Coordinators are Allan Lindley and Karina Harry. Allan is a member of the Upper Nicola Okanagan Indian Band near Merritt, BC, and is an Indigenous Studies and Communications student at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT). Karina is a Sliammon band member and will be participating in the Native Indian Teaching Education Program (NITEP) at UBC this fall. This marks the first time that two First Nations people have facilitated the program.

The programs will host two daily sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Powell River Public Library, one in the morning from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm for children ages 6-9, and one in the afternoon from 1:00 to 2:30 pm for children 9-12.

In Sliammon, it will run at Ahms Tah Ow Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:30 pm, and Thursdays from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm ages 6-9, and again in the afternoons 1-2:30 pm, ages 9-12.

Studies show that voluntary reading, along with strong parental support, is the number one factor in establishing strong and healthy reading habits in children. Both the Public Library and Ahms Tah Ow’s S’Library host an impressive collection of First Nations literature, both fiction and non-fiction, for all ages.

Registration for the Summer Reading Club is expected to fill up quickly, so contact either the public library (604) 485-4796, or Ahms Tah Ow (604) 483-9646 ext.232 to sign your children up so that they can Catch The Bug!

COMMUNITY—Folk Feast Raises $110

/ by Corey Matsumoto

Aside from an unseasonally rainy day, the 2007 Folk Feast went ahead as planned at Local Loco’s Cafe on Saturday July 7. Attendees packed inside the cosy cafe to celebrate art, music, and the community of Powell River. Event headliners Terza Rima played a killer set, showing no signs of fatigue from their long 13 hour journey from Kelowna. The all-day event raised $110 for the Powell River SPCA.

COMMUNITY

MUSIC—Diversity Festival '07

by Corey Matsumoto

The 2007 Diversity Festival happens July 20-23 in a picturesque setting at Shingle Beach Campsite on Texada Island. The festival celebrates DJ culture and live original music. This year’s Beach Stage performers include Juno nominee Adham Shaik, Jeff Milligan, Michael Red, DJ Soma, Sirbassa, Nils, and many more. Live original music will be showcased on the Diversity Stage and will include Five Alarm Funk, Dream Tree Project, Big Bass Theory, Dub Truck and others.

A Vendors Village will be set up and several free workshops will be held throughout the weekend at the Loco Zone (Local Loco’s food, art and open-jam tent) and other locations throughout the festival. There will be a Tabla and Sitar workshop, an interactive traditional folk and fairytale workshop, a Chakra Sounds and Active Meditation workshop, and music workshops for kids of all ages.

Tickets are limited to 600, and are available online at www.coastalconscious.com or at Local Loco’s Cafe on Willingdon Ave.
There will be retractable rain covers over both stages to ensure a rain or shine event.

Dogs are not permitted on the festival grounds, so please plan accordingly.

MUSIC NEWS—Janet Panic Enchants Loco's

Janet Panic has built a reputation as one of Canada’s premier songwriters over the past ten years. Janet’s latest record The Girl Who Passed For Normal tells stories spanning the passionate to the humorous delivered with a stripped down Here I Am honesty. These predominantly live solo tracks feature her innate ability to deliver the goods as a singer/songwriter with nothing more than a guitar in her hands and someone to listen. Her voice is sweet, her music is funky and uplifting, and her lyrics are on par with the greatest of writers. The Vancouver Sun called her a cross between Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. She moves between haunting ballads and up tempo melodic foot tappers with flawless dynamics and arrangement. When she is heard, she is understood whether she is singing in English or French. Janet Panic’s appeal is universal and she brings magic where ever she goes.

You can catch Janet Panic live at Local Loco’s Cafe on Friday August 3 at 8pm. There will be a $6 cover charge. www.janetpanic.com

CD REVIEWS—Full Disclosure New Music Report

Full Disclosure was a radio show hosted by Luke Brocki and Amanda Bell broadcasting cutting edge music every Thursday night. on CJMP 90.1 FM. Although the hosts have recently moved out of Powell River, Full Disclosure lives on in the form of CD reviews in this ongoing column written in turn by Luke and Amanda.

The White Stripes
“Icky Thump”
(June 2007)

It had to happen sooner or later. Jack and Meg White are going through an experimental stage. While several tracks on Icky Thump are solid and reminiscent of earlier albums, the majority of the disc goes in unexpected directions. They dabble in hard Celtic, alien noises and Spanish stylings. The result is scattered and thus not great for playing in the car, but this factor will likely be forgiven by devoted fans. More importantly, this album, despite inconsistencies, somehow feels epic. And that’s the upside of many experimental phases; an incredible tour. This anthemic album was made to hear live.
Serve with: Black Keys, Kings of Leon

Of Montreal
“Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”
(January 2007)

This disc will be a part of your daily routine for awhile. You will find new lyrical gems in its space-disco Beatle-esque sound with every listen. Kevin Barnes created this album from the ashes of a bitter divorce and if you listen closely, you will find traces of heartbreak, but they’re well hidden in this rude, beautiful, funky and funny disc. Critics say this is Of Montreal’s darkest recording to date, but it’s also probably the first album about break-ups and depression you can dance to. This band gets better with every release, which isn’t due so much to experimentation as to genuine artistic growth.
Serve with: Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power

Spoon
“Ga,Ga,Ga,Ga,Ga”
(July 2007)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, seems to be the unintentional message of these southerners. The bouncy, laid back, raspy, fun rock songs found here are present on all their recordings. It’s not that the band fails to evolve; it has just mastered the “Spoon sound”. Each album tries something new on a track or two. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga does so with “The ghost of you lingers”, a cold Bowie-inspired experiment. But despite the brilliance, it’s also the song you’ll likely skip over to get back to that summertime swagger. Keep this one in the car.
Serve with: Pixies, The French Kicks

by Amanda Bell

MUSIC

ART—Eleven of My Favorite Things-Time capsules of spontaneous art

by Skye Morrison

I would like to tell you about one of my favourite things in the world. Well actually now there are eleven of them, and they are quickly multiplying. They are black, 9”x6”, hardcover sketchbooks, known as the Draw in Me Books. They can be found lying on tables and shelves, in stacks of magazines, and tucked under the couch cushions around Local Loco’s —usually not far from a case of pencil-crayons or a box of markers. They implore you to add something, whether it is a scribble, a poem, a cartoon, or an elaborate painting. They colourfully showcase the diverse creativity of our community and its visitors.

One day I remember a woman approached me with tears in her eyes, after having spent nearly two hours absorbed in working in one of the books. She confessed that though she had loved art in her youth, she hadn’t drawn in over thirty years until that day.

These books are, themselves, a work of art. A collage of playfulness, wisdom, inspiration and beauty, with of course the odd morbid doodle and innuendo.

If you should happen to find a blank spot in one of your “Draw in Me Book” journeys, don’t pass up the chance to go down in history. I am convinced that these books will be famous one day.

If I’m wrong, however, they will still be the eleven (and counting) of my favourite things in the world.

ART NEWS—Powell River Studio Tour

by Alfred Muma

The popular Powell River Studio Tour, now in its third year, will take place Saturday and Sunday August 25 & 26, 10AM to 5PM.

You can visit the 30 locations with 33 individual visual artists represented in their studios as well as a number of gallery artists in two local galleries and one artist co-operative. There is a lot to see and experience, for the eyes, heart and soul.

The tour this year extends from Saltery Bay to Lund. The diverse media include drawing & paintings, fibre arts, jewelry, mixed media, wood arts, photography, pottery, stained glass, sculpture, small press books, art cards and printmaking.

Plan to use both days to enjoy a more leisurely pace—taking in the studios, as well as the live music and refreshments offered at some of the locations.
The free brochure and maps will be available two weeks before the tour at Tug Gum Gallery in Lund, Powell River Visitors Centre, Artique Artist Co-operative, Local Loco’s, Sunrise Gallery in Powell River and south of town at Gallery at Sunspot 101. Or go to the web site www.powellriverartists.com/index.html for downloadable brochure and maps in printable Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

Follow the bright studio tour signs to the studio of your choice for glimpses of the lively art scene of Powell River.

ART

FASHION—Top 4 Summer Fashion OH GOD NO'S and How to Avoid Them

by Annie Poirier

Pleated shorts. They add at least ten pounds and are a prime cause of middle-aged-tire-waistitis in the under 30 set. They were all the rage 20 years ago. Instead, get some nice un-pleated linen or cotton shorts. Those are timeless and flattering. If you’re 30-plus I recommend getting a longer pair, maybe mid-thigh or longer, that fits close to the leg because huge baggy shorts just look weird on anybody.

Crocs/ Holey Soles. This applies to all seasons. I don’t care how comfortable they are, or how trendy they are. Anything is better than these cartoony soul-sucking destroyers of society.

Socks and sandals. Yes, I know it’s a cliché, but there’s a reason. Wearing your socks out like that will get them dirty faster, and some of that dirt will never come out. Not to mention it’s completely unnecessary during the summer (way too hot!) as well as being an antithesis of sexy footwear.

Polyester/nylon velour tracksuits. They’re not gangsta’, or flattering, or at all stylish. They’re tragic. In spite of colour, they show every stain. They’re made from synthetic fibres and so don’t breathe, which makes you sweat even more—not wise in summer time. Get some clothes made out of real fabric that breathes. Do it for the children, the future, and Gandhi.

The Essence of Trends in Powell River

by Eva van Loon

Since July, 2005, Trendzessence has made a delicious difference to local shopping. Starting out with Sue Russell’s imports and local designer Selena Asher’s originals, the store soon also featured such items as Verlee Peter’s horns and hemp fashions from Jo’momma Designs. When Alisha Van Belle of Jo’momma Designs became a partner, the trio opened the current location on Alberni Street.

The new store soon evolved into a community showcase for artists: Cher Peters’ fairy wings, jewellery, and quality sunglasses, Hanna Heart Song’s crochet bags and hats, Sue’s father’s stone jewellery, and anything that fit the style of Trendzessence—even organic body jewellery. Trendzessence plans to expand its selection of clothing from other up and coming local and West–coast designers.

Alisha Van Belle handcrafts the Jo’momma clothing line from home in Lund. Most of these funky garments are styled in natural fabrics like cotton and hemp. Organically grown hemp is highly wearable, both for its superior insulating and anti-bacterial qualities. Hemp breathes so well that it deals with perspiration better than does cotton. Alisha is expanding the range of natural fabrics to new sensations like soy and bamboo blends. She is also starting a “huggable revolution” with cloaks and sweaters in soft, fuzzy fabrics. Inspired by fairies, elves, nature spirits, Alisha works her prototypes until the fit is perfect for real women’s shapes. When her garments become beloved pieces treasured until worn out, that’s her greatest compliment! These are innovative designs in fabrics that feel too good to take off.

FASHION

HEALTH PRODUCTS—What is Colloidal Silver?

by Kevin E. Abrams

Colloidal silver is comprised of electrically charged particles of pure silver in a distilled water solution. Rather than an anti-biotic,” colloidal silver is described in common literature as anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Unlike antibiotics, colloidal silver, an anti-microbial, does not destroy positive intestinal flora, and historically has been shown to be non-toxic except to single cell pathogens.

Colloidal silver has been used successfully against over 650 causes of dis-ease, including parasites in their single cell stage. Silver impregnated bandages have long been used to prevent infection and accelerate healing in burn victims.

Botanically speaking, a tablespoon of CS will also destroy bacteria, which causes stem rot, thus measurably extending the life of cut flowers. It can be given safely to animals in their drinking water. CS has been used successfully against everything from cancer to eye and ear infections, and works because of its capacity to destroy the enzyme, which makes it possible for single cell pathogens to metabolize oxygen.

Through the use of CS, dis-ease-causing pathogens are suffocated. Best of all, with the persistence of antibiotic-resistant micro-organisms, pathogens do not develop a tolerance for CS. CS can be used either for health maintenance or as a remedy. It can by obtained from a variety of sources, or it can be made in the home or even while on vacation. In fact, colloidal silver should be an article in every person’s travel kit.

For more information about colloidal silver, its uses, availability and application, please contact Kevin E. Abrams at, 604-485-4778 or email abrams32@telus.net

COGNITION THERAPY—Blow Up Your TV

by Eva van Loon

Sing along to the advice I give inquiring parents who want to know What They Can Do to prevent or cure learning disabilities:

“Blow up your TV; throw away your sodas;
give away the Ritalin; try to be home;
get some music lessons; do a lot of dancing;
memorise the tables on your own.”

Many parents suspected those drugs anyway, and just knew they were right about piano lessons, memorizing, and the infamous “New Math” of the Seventies. It’s fun to watch them blench at the notion of Doing Without TV.

“But we only let the kids watch a little bit,” they invariably protest. “Only the good stuff.”

There is no good stuff. Seriously. It’s not the content; it’s the screen itself. Recent research vindicates what many have sensed all along: TV, however good the content, is toxic to children.

One study concludes that, for every hour of TV a child under seven watches daily, there’s a 10% greater likelihood of developing ADHD. So, if a child watches ten hours’ TV per day, it doesn’t matter if parents mute commercials and restrict content to education and nature channels. They’ll soon be dealing with ADHD (and paying therapists like me to fix it).

Another study notes that the human brain makes more high-confidence errors in a cluttered environment. That means kids making zillions of mistakes in video or computer games will still enjoy it, but kids making errors on a piece of paper or a single problem on an educational TV screen at school will be fighting to keep some self-esteem.

Finally, since 1974 my own experience with kids diagnosed with “Learning Disabilities” tells me that the majority have had very significant long-term exposure to TV and/or computer screens—and those are the same kids who haven’t developed normal visualisation skills.

Conclusion? Young humans should be severely restricted in access to TV and computer screens. Under seven years? No screens at all. Forget baby Einstein—the parent is far more important than Einstein or any teacher ever can be.

Go ahead. Blow up your TV. Let’s have a TV-blow-up party. Take that, Military-Industrial-Corporatocracy! One small step for a family—a giant step towards reclaiming our brains.

HEALTH

RESTAURANT REVIEW—5th Ave Bistro

by Wolfy

Don’t let the stairs deter you! (Lawn dining in clear, warm weather.) Well priced, central, pleasant licensed restaurant in an old house, with several dishes worth coming back for. Local owners see to your every need without over-hovering. “Everything is made from scratch,” says Sharon Smalley.

We three fussy diners had a great time for $88 plus tip, including 2 appies, 2 desserts, four drinks, and three entrees. Try the stupendous coconut prawns for your next deep-fried delectation (8 points out of 10). The “Chippers” appie is deliciously different (7). Best dish is planked wild salmon with blackberry-orange relish (8).

Come back for Sunday breakfast—the traditional is a mere $2.99 (8), but you’ll be tempted by full menu—the Southwest Bennie gets a resounding 9 points from a picky breakfast eater. Lunch at $5.49 to $10.95 offers a full range of sandwiches.

5th Avenue Bistro
Location: 4722A Marine Avenue
Menu: Seafood and more
Pricing: $5.49 - $10.95

FOOD—Savour the Seasons

by Stacey Forbes

Yaaaaay, it’s local strawberry time! The only trouble: there aren’t enough district growers to supply our voracious appetites for the beloved berry. Let’s beg them to grow more. I have succumbed to purchasing one box of un-local strawberries to get the juices flowing on my continuous regional search. And in preparation for next year, have inserted, into my recently amended garden soil, twenty strawberry plantlets. As it is their first year, I was to pick off all the berries—I have been dutiful -and regrettably counted all 87 of the sacrificial buds. But next year…

For your first truly ripe berries of the season, there is only one choice of preparation: eat them straight off their stems, juices dripping. When the excitement of ‘au naturale’ wanes, slice the cored berries in half lengthwise, add a few drops of lemon juice, (or excellent balsamic vinegar), a decent sprinkle of white organic sugar, and a gentle toss. Let sit at room temperature for an hour and serve without adornment.

For an unpretentious, but luscious, dessert find the last of the pink stems of tart rhubarb selling at the Open Air Market. Cut them into chunks, gently tenderize them along with a small scoop of sugar in a saucepan over medium flame until they yield to a blunt knife; cool. Fold rhubarb gingerly with a similar amount of fresh berries done in the macerating-style above and alternate with softly whipped, organic cream in a tall-stemmed glass.

Savour this delightful short visit from the strawberry in its finest hour and happily anticipate forthcoming seasonal gems.

Stacey Forbes is a former chef and a cooking teacher; to add to her field of interest, she is now discovering an intense interest in sustainable food gardens.

FOOD

LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION—Dirt-cheap Land and Local Food: What's the connection?

by Julie Bellian

B.C. had an idea. Look into the future, picture B.C. torn up, congested, covered with vinyl, and riddled with sewage systems. Put aside lands for farming, in anticipation of this mess. Call it the Agricultural Land Reserve and keep it protected for food production, just as Parks are protected for our common use.

City Council is telling the Province that Powell River prefers to see an international airport for jet-setters, a plastics factory, and gated community for rich out-of-towners on these lands.

Snow peas from China grown in human excrement, anyone?

Food prices in stores will soar as fuel & ferry prices soar. Peak oil & climate change will end our apparent glut of cheap food. This abundance is artificially boosted by oppressive systems the world over. Canada, get your head out of the sand.

Have you noticed? Organic food… Farmer’s Markets… “Eat Local” – it’s all the rage elsewhere, especially among urbanites, as if it were just invented. Powell River, you have been doing it for 20 years! You are the first GE free crop area in Canada! Famous outside of Powell River! Let’s increase local farming, not discard it.

Besides—mass-produced food is crap. Do you mind pus, chemicals and drugs in your milk, meat & cheese? Watch factory food being ‘cooked’ and you’ll see where pimples come from.

Recipe for cancer? Read a few labels.

Powell River, stand up for the lands and for local food & farming.

Community Garden in Action

by David Parkinson

Did you know that Powell River has a community garden? Although many would-be gardeners and urban farmers have backyard space, there are many people without access to a patch of soil where they can grow some of their own food. More and more, people are starting to recognize how we all need to take responsibility for our food choices, to start learning more about where our food comes from, to support our local economy and our fellow citizens who work the land on our behalf, and to start learning the skills required to produce some of our own food.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church, on Manson just north of Alberni, has a very strong commitment to seeing that people in our community who are in need of food can get that need met. They host a soup kitchen and offer free food every weekday, and they have generously allocated part of the church property to the community for a food garden.

Hana-Louise Braun is the volunteer coordinator of the garden, and has had help from a few other volunteers who have done a lot of weeding and planting. They are all putting their work, energy, and passion into turning this patch of land into a lovely food garden. About half of the garden is being set up with beautiful curvaceous raised beds for use as a permaculture garden, and currently has lots of kale, broccoli, beets, and other plants. There is a border of Jerusalem artichokes and plenty of herbs, and Hana-Louise plans to make the garden produce food year-round. The other half of the garden is set up as allotments, which are being gardened by families or groups, who are free to do whatever they want with their plot, as long as they commit to a full growing season and grow organically.

Eventually, this garden will host workshops and events so that more people can have a chance to learn about growing food. If you’re interested in becoming involved, give Hana-Louise a call at 489-0080, and you can arrange a time to meet her and get started working in the garden.

MEET YOUR LOCAL FOOD PRODUCER—The Land of NIHM

by Eva van Loon

On the way to or from Saltery Bay, you can’t miss the sign to magic–NIMH.

Intrigued, you pull over and park. What on earth is NIMH?

Peace envelops you as you wend your way through the riot of happy plants to a funky little building where, hopefully, the hand-lettered signs will tell you what’s going on.

NIMH is a small, family-owned organic farm, based on perma-culture design. NIMH’s goal is sustainability. It stands for Natural Institute for Medicinal Health.

You can eat plants and flowers here, including the biggest variety of tomatoes ever seen. All produce is grown right on the farm all summer long, and several greenhouses extend the growing season.
Step inside the tranquil arbor. Sit and sip a cup of organic coffee or tea, with nothing more important to do than watch the goldfish swimming in the pond.

Doesn’t it all inspire you to get on with your own garden? NIMH is ready for you: there’s a selection of hard–to–find organic fertilizers and garden products that will lighten your wallet in a good way.

Need protein? Free-range chicken eggs are available year ‘round, and NIMH’s homegrown pork, chicken and duck will add organic meat to your diet.

After tea walk over to beautiful Donkersley Beach. Take an organic cold drink, a snack or frozen treat along.
Wait–hang around till evening. The Starlight Lounge, inside the arbor, will be hosting gatherings for music and friendship.

FOOD SUPPLY

CRYSTAL CORNER—Lapis Lazuli:Prized since ancient times

Maggie Lindsay

Who can resist a depiction of the glorious deep blue of a summer night sky...spangled with stars...?

Lapis lazuli is a combination of various minerals, mostly blue lazurite. Pyrite contributes the gold flecks and calcite streaks through with white threads. Often confused with the blue hydrated copper stone azurite, or jasper stained blue and sold as “Swiss lapis”, real lapis has been used for centuries to make ultramarine paint for painters.

A stone prized since ancient times, lapis is said to have existed before time was born. It is alleged to lead one to gain access to ancient mysteries while conferring the wisdom necessary to understand them. Lapis was said to be a stone set in the breast plates of high priests.

Vibrating with the third chakra, this stone can help one speak one’s truth to the self, to others, and to the universe, thus bringing balance to the throat chakra. That balance can extend to the second or brow chakra, providing release from emotional bondage as one gains third-eye clarity that allows fuller objectivity. Objectivity in turn allows one to acknowledge, accept, and release, as a pattern of balance, especially of the yang/yin, sky/earth, male/female energies. This is one way to promote a strong energizing, vitalizing connection between the physical and celestial forces. The resultant sense of connectedness enhances the awakening of the light of unification with all-that-is.

Some down-to-earth qualities attributed to beloved lapis are the alleviation of insomnia, balancing the thymus, resolution of throat disorders, and physical and psychic protection.

ESOTERICA

ESOTERICA—Breathing-Our Sacred Connection to Spirit

by Michelle Lea McCann

The key to humanity’s evolution is breath.

Breathing in, out, and through is the connection between the physical body and Spirit. The silver thread between life and death—breathing—is autonomous and automatic. When we lose consciousnesses, our parasympathetic system (the part of the nervous system that that controls involuntary bodily functions) agitates the sympathetic systems (or voluntary regulations) in the body into working. A miracle of the body is it keeps us going despite our being rendered useless by the loss of consciousness.

To be in line with Divine energy, to attain and maintain our cosmic connection, our raising of consciousness demands we must breathe. The word breath translates to spiritus in Latin, prana in Sanskrit (which is synonymous with life force), spirite in French, pneuma in Greek, and hā is the Hawaiian word for sacred breath, synonymous with soul.

The alignment with Spirit we desire is attained through breathing with conscious intent. Mind-body-soul consciousness and breath is the connection to the cosmic lattice between life and death. The wisdom of all cultures’ collective and individual perspectives is dismantling the old paradigm—beliefs based on good versus bad, separateness, and the illusion of duality.

True breathing is not fast shallow chest breathing—it is deep full slow belly breathing. Take a deep breath through the nose into your belly—see the breath as white light filling you from top to bottom, feel full with it. Release—slowly. Breath again, slowly, release again, slowly. Repeat. You will feel calm, at peace, and connected with The Source.

Evolution now is the attainment of heightened awareness through breath. We are waking up and we are re-membering our divine ability at re-creation and real-ization that yes, we are all one. So breathe Spirit throughout you, into you, around you, all in infinite connection to all that is divine. All is one in the now.

ESOTERICA—Nut, She Who Holds A Thousand Souls

LEGAL EYES—Land of the Free-Because of the brave?

Eva van Loon

My daughter and I lived in Hawaii during the worst eight years in American history. We watched the legal system upholding the supposedly most democratic nation crumble to dust. Canada had better pay attention—now.

Are Canadians aware that habeas corpus, the common law that protects us all from arbitrary confinement, has died in the US? Not only can aliens like me be thrown into prison indefinitely without being charged, but the same can happen to citizens, like my daughter. She can be classified as an “unlawful combatant” (Well, gee, y’mean there’s another kind?)

We fought the Shrub in both elections. Accustomed to the scrutineers and lawyers monitoring any Canadian election, we were stunned by the lack of public checks and balances in the American process. Beyond question, both 2000 and 2004 were stolen elections. Following that fiasco, millions petitioned against the appointment of Gonzales as Attorney-General and of Alito and Roberts to the Supreme Court, to no avail. Such appointments, like everything else in the US, are all about business.

Now Gonzales is in hot water for having a raft of Department of Justice attorneys sacked for their political views. This is the same man who gave the Shrub a legal opinion sanctioning torture, making America a laughingstock for what goes on in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, and who failed to advise his boss that wiretapping ordinary citizens is illegal. “Department of Justice” is now an oxymoron in America.

US Supreme Court has just contradicted itself, 5/4, on two free-speech cases. Get this: an Alaska high-school student may not say anything that could be interpreted as advocating drug use BUT an anti-abortion group should have been allowed to broadcast ads targeting a specific Senate candidate right up to election day. So much for the McCain-Feingold law which bars paid ads from even mentioning the name of a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary.

So much for freedom of speech. So much for reasonable limits.

Busted for high-school dress-code violations, my daughter would argue freedom of expression in the principal’s office, only to be told by a principal that the US Constitution does not operate on school grounds! One of her creations, a T-shirt protesting the Patriot Act, won her a scholarship from the American Civil Liberties Union (high on the list of the Shrub’s targeted organizations). Then she designed a T-shirt with these words scrawled blood-red across the famous photo of a student screaming over the body of a dead colleague at Kent State University in the 70s: “Land of the Free…because of the brave!”

Where are today’s protesting students? Where are the fraidycats who promised to stand with me as Women in Black on the corner of High and Main on Maui Wednesdays? Where are the millions mobbing the streets against each fresh outrage on citizens’ rights? The nation’s falling apart but you would think, unless you get independent news, that America’s business as usual.

Living in the US scared us. Speaking out is not safe. Belonging to certain groups, spelling your name certain ways, reading certain books, visiting certain websites—you may be spied on, with impunity, by the Shrub and his shrublets, and punished as the Decider, not the law, sees fit.

The Rule of Law has died in America. So we came home. But home is not enough. Canada still feels safe…er. But those who have felt the totalitarian chill to the south, the storm that would destroy our freedoms and pleasures is no respecter of boundaries. Think it couldn’t happen here? Reflect that two kids named Alistair Butt can’t fly because somebody put that name on our no-fly list. Remember the saying, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to take over…is for enough good people to do nothing.”
Did we vote for a no-fly list? Why aren’t we on the streets, screaming outrage?

The lands of the free belong only to the brave…and the Rule of Law.

PR ENVIRONMENT—Standing Up for Eagle River

by Kevin Austin

If, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, then there was a heck of a racket coming out of the Rodmay Heritage Hotel the other night. It was opening night of “Standing Up for Eagle River”—a photo, art and musical celebration of this beautiful little waterway south of town—which is in imminent danger of clear cut logging.

The community turned out in droves.

The walls of the grand old hotel lobby were adorned with more than a hundred images of the river. Contributions ran the gamut from professional works to cherished old snaps from dusty scrapbooks. The kids from Kelly Creek Community School contributed a series of nature drawings, and Terry Brown debuted his film Eagle River: Liquid Jewel Of The Sunshine Coast to a crowded house. Folks were treated to a performance by violinist Madeleine Hocking who then joined in to help Sweet Cascadia raise the roof.

It was a glorious night with a wonderful homemade feel, with a little room for politics: the Friends of Eagle River, who organized the evening, updated folks on what has been happening down at the river, beginning with the most important thing. Fifteen months after learning of Island Timberland’s plans to log the river, the trees are still standing, but the forest is by no means safe. There are no guarantees that harvesting won’t start tomorrow. Trees are taped as you read this.

FoER also presented its Greenway Corridor proposal—a rough draft of what we would like to see happen along the Eagle River, which is a broad and protected swath of land along both sides of the water from the estuary to the dam. This would provide wildlife with unobstructed passage between the ocean and the wild areas above the dam, and leave the impression of wilderness to all who visit the place. To date the company has rejected this idea, but the trees are still standing. Now we as a community need to make this happen.
The Art Show will be up at various locations around town this summer, to remind everyone of what we have and what we stand to lose. Keep an eye out for it, and visit the river—it’s precious.

If you wish to add some of your work to the collection please email eagleriver02@gmail.com.

SMALL BUSINESS—Business Ideas

by Kevin Wilson

A critical decision when starting your own business is what to sell—whether product or service. There are two main ways of deciding.
First, “Do what you love, the money will follow”. This can work well, but often it doesn’t happen freely.

Second, look for something that people want very much and are willing to pay for, and then sell it to them. This often pays better, but you may end up with a business you’re not very interested in.

Ideally, combine the two: find something that fascinates and motivates you and that people will buy.

How do you find that something? Market Research!

You probably know what you’re interested in, but you may not know about all of the possibilities for basing a business on it. One way to find interesting niches is to explore online.

Check out eBay Pulse: what’s hot?

(http://pulse.ebay.com/)
Look at the most popular information products on Clickbank: what’s selling?
(http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm)
Use a keyword research tool: what’s being searched for?
(http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/)
Use Amazon: what subjects are selling?
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers)
If your market will be purely local, you need local information.

Talk to people. Do surveys in busy locations like the mall, at the Open Air market, or at events. (Get permission to survey on private property). What do they want to buy that they can’t get?

Who are the “movers and shakers” in your area of interest? Talk to them—find out what people are buying.

Is there a rash of new stores or services of a particular type? Can you piggyback on that without competing directly?

The bottom line is that if people won’t buy what you have to sell, you have no business. Find out before investing years of time and energy!

OPEN SOURCE

Take Time for a Cultural Crawl

by Eva van Loon

The annual BC Cultural Crawl, a guide to late-summer festivals, kicks off each BC Day and lasts through August. The website, www.art-bc.com, says, “Over 70 communities across the province present their own unique cultural fingerprint to residents and visitors from around the world.” The PRCAC is now the official ambassador for the Cultural Crawl in Powell River. Printed guides to the Crawl are available on the ferries and at information centers to augment the website.

The Crawl lists several cultural and gastronomic Powell River gatherings

August 18/19 ~ Art in the Park at Willingdon Beach 4845 Marine Avenue, Powell River. This year the spoken word gets more play, with a Waxing Poetic poetry workshop on Saturday at 1:30pm and Powell River’s first ever Poetry Slam on Sunday at 1:30pm.

August 19 – 25 ~ Blackberry Festival. The Blackberry Festival is a week long celebration of those wonderfully delectable berries that grow in abundance in Powell River. There are different events each day winding up with everyone’s favourite, the Street Party (see story page 5). The Open Air Market holds a Blackberry Baking Contest and special Blackberry games for kids. Consult local listings or call the Marine Area Business Association (MABA) at 604-414-5232 or email blackberryfestival@yahoo.ca for more information.

Ann Nelson of the Arts Council points out that Powell River has sprouted several more summer events that deserve to be included in the cultural crawl. First, the Farmer’s Market runs every weekend, Saturdays from 10:30 to 12:30 and Sundays from 12:30 to 2:30 on McLeod Road –you can’t miss the zillion cars parked along the road. A weekly Wednesday market runs from 6 to 8 p,m. at Unity Hall on Cranberry Street. Both markets include art, jewelry, and crafts as well as good food.

Additionally, catch the Powell River Artisans’ Market in the parking lot of the Old Courthouse Inn in Townsite on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. Contact Lilia or Karen at townsiteartmarket@gmail.com for vending inquiries. In Westview, another exciting Artisans’ Market is in the planning stage at Stone Owl Earthworks on Willingdon.

Powell River again proves itself a cultural capital of Canada. People involved in the arts and culture here are extremely busy, especially in summer. Important as it is to let visitors know about our festivals, however, it is equally important to invite all locals, but especially young people, to take part. Youth sometimes feel deprived of city entertainments and opportunities, and there’s some truth to their complaint. Turn it inside out, however, and opportunities present themselves to participate, to shine, to innovate, and to make a name for oneself ten times more easily in a small town than in the city.

As a veteran of nascent cultural activity in Yukon and as someone who discovered Powell River through the BC Cultural Festival (now, alas, defunct), I note that cultural festivals are not just good for business but also spawn new activities and businesses and thus strengthen community life. Enjoy the Crawl, and be sure to have your cultural activity included next year.

ART

On the Zen of things: The Wabi-Sabi Aesthetic

by Giovanni Spezzacatena

The only-just-becoming and the passing-away. These two opposing ideas describe the aesthetic of wabi-sabi. The Japanese words “wabi” and “sabi” are difficult to define precisely, because they refer to that which is elusive, personal and subtle. This is where Zen Buddhist philosophy shines through, as in the famous saying by Rinzai Gengen in the 9th Century: “When you meet the Buddha, kill him.” All meaning lies within—mistrust authority in favour of self-defined truth.

Wabi-sabi openly romanticizes the parts of nature that are usually overlooked—the awkward, fleeting, unformed shapes and colors of early spring, and the murky corrosion and earthiness of autumn. These two extremes form much of the traditional Japanese aesthetic sense that evokes certain melancholia, where the natural world and seasons are seen as symbolically reflecting the inescapable stages of life.

The wabi-sabi aesthetic can occur in any art form, whether Zen poetry or haiku, design, pottery, or paintings and architecture. It can be functional, representational or completely abstract. Wabi-sabi is not about an artist’s use of materials, tools or even the employment of a ‘style’—it is a mindset. Wabi-sabi values natural products, textures, and irregularities, again evoking Zen philosophy where these imperfections point to a deeper truth, and encourage contemplation.

Leonard Koren, in his book Wabi-sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers, pits the wabi-sabi aesthetic against what he sees as its opposite: High Modernism, with its use of pure, flat, bright colors, perfect simple geometrical shapes, machine-like precision and anonymity. Instead, works in the wabi-sabi tradition focus on individual, small, insignificant details, and in subtle and roundabout ways that call for the viewer’s contemplation.

It’s interesting that this aesthetic is currently undergoing resurgence, in an age where mechanical reproduction is standard, and as a reaction to some of the slick, artificial, and cynical Modern and Post-Modern arts. Some people are looking for art through natural objects that can expose a unique and changing character: the table with its thick grain, the paint peeling off to reveal layers beneath, the metal sculpture oxidizing, the obscured, just barely intelligible image. All evoke time passing, and by that token, the richness and impermanence of life itself.

Giovanni (Gian) Spezzacatena is a mixed-media artist residing in Powell River, after having lived in Montreal and Seattle. He traveled to Japan in 2006 at the end of a year-long journey. Gian is part of the 3rd annual Powell River Studio Tour (Aug. 25-26), as web designer and participant (www.powellriverstudiotour.com); his own website is www.rabideye.com.

COMMUNITY

FASHION

FASHION—It's Back to School Time

by Annie Poirier

Back to school season is upon us. A time of dread for those going back for another round of endless hours spent in an airless classroom not doing much of anything at all, and for newcomers to the affair to be filled with a terrifying kind of avaricious, consumerist glee. Flipping through the catalogues and fliers, tiny beady eyes glittering and small wet noses twitching, these are truly terrifying times to be around a five-year-old.

If you are of the parental persuasion, you will inevitably be wondering how you could make this time more bearable. There are really only two ways to go about it—you could buy what you believe to be cute and trendy, and keep you kids from having any fun at all and then totally regret in the future when you watch the home videos of birthdays long past and actually realise how they look...or you could let them have fun with it. Frankly, I prefer the latter. Far fewer migraines, and, in the end, lots of giggles for everyone involved. Another very good reason for letting your kids dress however they want (well, within reason) is that it will help them figure out earlier on what really works for them—what they like and what they’re comfortable in. It’ll give them more confidence, and ultimately help them better understand who they are earlier on. Really, if you’re worried about what other people will think about your little angel showing up at the first day of school in a rubber duck costume with costume pearls and a tiara, don’t. In the long run, it’s not a big deal—and isn’t one of the most important parts of parenting making sure your kids are happy and comfortable in their own skins?

FOOD

MUSIC

Prepaid Kreditkarte

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

LEGAL EYES-Warrior Lawyers: A Call To Arms

by Eva van Loon

Warrior Lawyers: A call to arms

All lawyers prepared to defend the Rule of Law, stand up!
While Powell River planned Art in the Park and the Blackberry Festival, celebrating the free expression of our local energy, a meeting on August 10 in Quebec moved Canada closer to annexation by the US.

The press won’t unmask the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership). Canadians won’t hear of the theft of their country until we run smack dab into militarisation and annexation on our passport or account applications, our next attempt to buy local meats, our next business contract, and a host of mundane activities soon to be affected as never before by “Deep Integration” North American Union, launched in 2005.

Bewildered? Deep Integration is “a corporate-led coup d’etat against the sovereignty of three nations enforced by a common hard-line security strategy…. It’s a scheme to create a borderless North American Union under US control without barriers to trade and capital flows for corporate giants, mainly US ones. It’s also to insure America gets free and unlimited access to Canadian…resources, mainly oil, and… water as well. It’s to assure US energy security as a top priority while denying Canada and Mexico preferential access to their own resources….” (Stephen Lendman)

Scared yet? Paul Roberts warns, “Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.”

Don’t pooh-pooh. There’s no room to prove it here, but you owe it to yourself, your family, and our precious community to check out the articles by political savants posted on the Immanence website. Those should give you a taste of the about-to-jump-off-a-cliff sensation that’s tainted my mouth since my 8-year stint of living in America.

We’re a tiny country, big only in size and resources. There’s one Canuck for every ten ‘Murricans. With our oxymoronic “armed forces”, we likely can’t repeat our 1812 coup of burning down the White House and sending America packing. And there’s only so much that ordinary Canadians, untrained in law, can do (besides dumping the coporatocrats next election).

Nope, if we want to keep Canada, we need legal guerrillas in courts and boardrooms, starting NOW. Criminal lawyers, staunchly defend the rights of the accused! Immigration lawyers, balance human rights with Canada’s need for independence! Tort lawyers, avoid damage to Canada’s hard-won safety nets! Corporate lawyers, distinguish local, mom-and-pop, Canadian bedrock business from the foreign corporatocracy that would have us all become merely good little consumers and workers—helpless, hopeless slaves in our own country.

Canada needs lawyers who will think of their great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren while picking up the sword and the shield that law is said to be.

Some citizens pledge to a local diet, to consume less, to purchase only locally, or to support grassroots community life. Some businesses hire and contract locally, or feature homegrown product and expertise. Such small rebellions won’t save Canada.

We need lawyers who understand that sometimes courage means turning a client away: just say no to whoever would own us. Lawyers who realise that people depend on them to grasp the big picture and act accordingly. We need warrior lawyers not just to fight for individuals’ rights and freedoms but for Canada’s very existence.

Step One: get online and read what’s left of the independent press. Read it and weep. Then pick up that sword and shield. The law’s our best weapon in the fight to remain ourselves.

SMALL BUSINESS-Silke's Organic Market

by Eva van Loon

There’s only one food outlet in Powell River where you can be sure that anything you pick up is organic. No need to peer at the small print or search for the organic label at Silke’s Organic Market at 4603 Marine Avenue--this is the only store in B.C. that stocks nothing but organic. Products are drawn from local farms, British Columbia, and, where and when necessary to round out choices for the customers, other countries, including the tropics.

“Folk in the community of Powell River are highly conscious of their health and diet,” says www.silkesorganicmarket.ca. Everything in the pleasantly arranged market caters to that need. Fresh vegetables are fruits are appetizingly arranged, a powerful stimulus to a more veggie-based diet. Packaged goods offer intriguing variety; it’s easy to spend an hour just browsing the labels. As for the chocolate, it’s the really good stuff, the kind which drains your food budget before you know it.

Pleasant as it is to shop at the Market–there’s plenty of parking nearby–there’s no need to leave your home. Silke’s Organic Market will come to you, first online and then by delivery. Owners Silke and Volker Pfeifer say, “For many people, our weekly deliveries of fresh certified organic products gives them the confidence they will always get the freshest available organic foods for their meals.” There’s a fresh list of what’s in the food basket every week. While the store is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., you can order online anytime, with delivery at your convenience.

ESOTERICA

COVER ARTICLE—Fabulous Fall

by Corey Matsumoto

It’s time to take a sigh of relief that the summer of 2007 is officially over. “With a summer like The Summer of ‘07, who needs a fall?” you might ask. True, we did get a lot of rain and cloud, but we also had a fabulous season of festivals, fun and controversy. When there is controversy, I feel better. Controversy means that issues important to the community are coming to the surface where they can be discussed and debated. A lack of controversy, in my jaded mind, means that someone, somewhere is getting away with murder under the radar of the watchdogs in the community. When the headlines are quiet for too long, I get downright nervous.

Looking back, I think the Summer of 2007 was an important time in the history of Powell River. It was a time of division, heated debate, and most importantly –the communication and free expression of opinions and ideals.

It was a great summer for the future of our farmland, which was proudly defended by a community becoming aware of the imbalances between free-enterprise and long-term sustainability.

It was also a good summer for bringing differing opinions about the mill to the surface. We seem to have a love/hate relationship with the mill. Naturally, those that benefit the most from the mill love the mill more than others. The truth is that we all benefit from the mill in some way, and if we can agree to this much we have a great foundation for developing a strong future for Powell River.

Enjoy the autumn season, and don’t forget to think locally when you shop!

OPEN SOURCE—News and Views as You See it

COMMUNITY—New community resource center

by Stephen Stiles

What’s new in Powell River? Check out the new Community Resource Centre, located right next to Minato Sushi, up on Joyce Avenue.

So what is this new resource centre all about?

The vision is to create a central hub for community information, advice, and referrals for everyone in the Powell River area. Activity is focused around a community café, with its telephone and free Internet terminals. And as the months get colder, the lounge area in front of the large rock fireplace is set to become an increasingly popular spot.

Staff and volunteers are trained to help put people in touch with the services they need. A number of other agencies also provide services on a regular basis: the centre houses Powell River’s Poverty Law Advocate, who offers free help in many different areas, including tenancy issues or legal questions related to employment and benefits. Also based at the centre is the Community Assistance Program (CAPII), offering information and coaching to people on income assistance. A wide range of pamphlets and posters is available for people to peruse.

Based on our philosophy of community helping community, we at the centre look forward to the public’s suggestions and support in delivering programs or workshops that promote community integration and capacity building. If you have ideas, please see us! We especially welcome ideas around using the centre during evenings and weekends. PRACL and YAK (Youth Advisory Committee) already use the centre two evenings per week. Last Saturday we hosted a gardening forum.

While the centre will not duplicate existing services, it does work with other organizations to fill service gaps. A large, diverse steering committee—representing a variety of organizations—works to achieve a broad mandate.

The centre has been very busy since opening its doors and is set to become even more active as the teaching kitchen is finished and a new community demonstration garden is constructed. With more workshops and activities added each week, it’s the place to be in Powell River!

The Community Resource Centre is open to both Powell River residents and visitors, 9am to 4pm, Monday through Friday. Why not come and have a look around, enjoy a coffee, share a story, or tell us about your vision for the community?

MUSIC

Writing Your Socks Off—Powell River Festival of Writers 3rd annual Fall Fest

by Barb Rees

Do you love to put your thoughts on paper? Have you got yearnings to be a published author, improve your writing, or simply pass on family stories? Then the Powell River Festival of Writers third annual Fall Fest is just for you! With their vision to “celebrate the craft of writing and the joy of reading,” twice a year, they’ve attracted big name authors and publishers to Powell River over the last four years.

This year, author Adam Schroeder, is excited to be teaching his one day workshop “Writing Your Socks Off” at the Fall Fest. He graduated with a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from UBC in 1999. Since then he’s written for magazines, taught creative writing and published Kingdom of Monkeys, and recently Empress of Asia. Empress of Asia has been nominated as finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.

Rally with other writers of varying levels of experience for a fun and informative day. Learn from the best while being encouraged by your peers to keep writing. A book fare, refreshments, workshop, handouts, and inspiration are sure to make this Fall Fest a day you’ll remember.

Join them, Saturday November 3, 9:30 a.m. – 4:00p.m. at the French Club (downstairs), 5110 Manson Ave. Cost $50.

For further details call Barb at 604-485-2732 or visit: www.festivalofwriters.com

ENGLESE 100—Only the Lonely

by Eva van Loon

“The most unique books in the world!” gushed the Harry Potter fan.
“One of the single largest operations the province has seen….” read a local paper.
“One of the only all-Canadian teams in the game!” boasted the coach.

These actual speakers are well on their way to fluent ENGLESE. They understand that today, vagueness is a virtue. To be a fluent speaker of Englese, one must learn the fine art of waffling. Learn to mess with the language of uniqueness.

Today’s old farts grew up in a world that not only believed in the comparative and superlative—as in good, better, best; or ugly, uglier, ugliest; and fabulous, more fabulous, most fabulous--but also believed that a few phenomena are beyond such comparison, In Standard English, truly extraordinary things merit words meaning singularity. Unique, like only, means there’s only one, just as unicycle means just one wheel but bicycle means two wheels.

Don’t tell one woman her beauty is unique and the next she’s more unique—unless you like being slapped. Don’t call one team the best on Tuesday and another team the best on Wednesday—you’ll hear complaints. And don’t claim your business is the only such venture in the province—you’re risking a lawsuit for false advertising from entrepreneurs like you who believe their gig is an original.

Being slapped, sued, and complained about are unpleasant. Smart ENGLESE speakers opt for fuzzing up the concept of uniqueness. Why stick one’s neck out? On a planet this crowded and messed up, there’s bound to be another version of the unique woman, the only team, or the single largest business somewhere, isn’t there?

Standard English is too risky, and too much work. To claim an operation is “the single largest the province has seen” or a team is “the only all-Canadian” means you’d better do the homework before blathering. That’s a lot of research.

As for unique, it’s a two-edged sword. Unique books could be uniquely good—or uniquely bad. A woman of unique beauty…could look at you sideways and decide looks can kill.

Being only…is lonely. Why risk it? Go ahead: be a real ENGLESE speaker: fuzz it up!

Englese / Standard English (SE)
more unique, / unique
most unique

one of the only / one of the few
one of the single best, / one of the best, largest
largest, etc.

HI-TECH—Off the Grid Bu Still in Touch

by Glen Roscovich

An amazing feat of technology is rapidly becoming just another household appliance enabling a new approach to rural and remote lifestyles. Back-to-the-landers of previous generations would drool with envy at being able to consult Google, the great oracle of our age, when faced with the tribulations of life outside the embrace of urban utilities.
If knowledge is indeed power, the Internet gives us access to more power than we know what to do with.

Two-way, satellite-based, high speed Internet service allows us to live and work anywhere we choose. One of my customers is able to live in a tent on a nearby island as he manages the technical aspects of a massive data-storage facility in Colorado. Many operate on-line businesses, monitor stock markets, run web sites, do research, write, or keep in touch with their regular business while hanging out at remote cabins. Applications are limited only by the ingenuity of the customer.

If you can generate enough power to operate an ordinary light bulb, you can have high speed Internet and dial-up telephone service independent of the wired grid. Equipment required consists of a small satellite dish fitted with a transmitter/receiver unit and Ethernet modem. This unit relays signals with a satellite in geo-stationary orbit 38,000 kilometers above the equator. The addition of a router and Voice-Over-IP telephone adapter to the system means that you can plug in an ordinary telephone that will operate independently of the computer.

This capability won’t cripple a strained budget. Recent price cuts make the satellite gear available under $300. Combined telephone and Internet service can be had as low $80 per month. Professional installation is required.

HEALTH

FOOD

LEGAL—Slaughtering Sustainability

On September 30th, 2007, the government declared new Meat Inspection Regulations, devastating local farmers’ livelihood and Powell River residents’ choices for local healthy foods.

The Regulations state that any meat products must be sent to a licensed abattoir for inspection and slaughter before sale to the public, effectively halting on-farm slaughter and locally made meat products. Non-compliance is a regulatory offence, without jail time but with stiff fines no small farmer could afford.

The new legislation is impractical for ferry-bound Powell River, forcing the transport of livestock by road and ferry. Since our farmers raise animals in small numbers, the time and expense involved in moving livestock are especially prohibitive.

Will a large-scale abattoir, which has no attachment to the animals, be as humane as the farmer who raised them and prepared them for consumption on their own land? Are farmers forced to consign their animals to the horrible deaths common to large slaughter operations? Doesn’t the journey to the abattoir itself entail needless suffering and loss?
The main purpose of this new regulation is protection of exports. Should government not enact a larger scheme to protect us from imports containing viruses, bacteria and heavy metals? BC brings in tons of pork intestines for sausages and hundreds of thousands of chicken from China, lamb from Australia, and meat from the US—what’s the overall picture of consumer protection?

What to do? Some local farmers have cut back their orders for next year, preparing to quit. Others vow to carry on, undeterred by the moccasin-telegraph news that local feed stores are being asked to have customers sign off on feed purchases on a “voluntary basis for now”—indicating an unhealthy government interest in who’s doing what down on the local farm.

These issues could have their day in court once a farmer is charged with an offence under this regulation. Hopefully local interest groups would fund the farmer’s defense, including arguments that these provisions deny small meat producers the right to gain a livelihood in any province, a right guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, within demonstrably reasonable limits.

The problem with the wait-and-see-and-defend approach, aside from the pain people in lawsuits inevitably go through, is that there’s no guarantee that a successful defense will strike down the offending law. Even if the law is struck down, what’s to prevent the government from then enacting a different one? Back to Square One!

Local farmers, consumers, the Green party, Farm Folk/City Folk and the 100-mile-diet Society are pro-actively petitioning for a Powell-River solution to be added to the Regulation.

The petition requests the government work with farmers to create a different regulation for our area. Nicolas Simons has agreed to read the petition in the Legislature once it has 1,000 signatures.

Ferdinand Vondruska of C-Dar Farms and Lodge says, “Are we to sacrifice our small farms to protect those that have caused the problems—feedlots with thousands of cows penned side by side? We are about to cave in to very shady…foreign demands that will kill the small farmers. It will certainly not make meat any better!”

He points to Switzerland, where traveling butchers visit farmers on demand with trucks equipped to take blood samples of animals as well as ensuring proper registration. Farmers producing meat products receive certification of humane handling and the A1 standard of the Swiss Government, resulting in a better income to the farmer.

“Farming on 20 - 100 acres has nearly become an impossibility. It is only with the support of the public that the small holder or mini-farmer will survive. There still are hundreds of them; however, once they are gone, they cannot be replaced. A vital link in the production of wholesome food will quickly disappear. We have reached that point in history.”

Powell River farmers, pointing out there’s never been a problem with local meats from small farmers compared to agribusiness, don’t object to meeting public-health standards. What’s objectionable is the potential for harm to the animals and to the area’s livability, inciting rebellion against a law that not only fails to enhance a strong local economy but threatens to destroy an essential part of it—control over our own good food.

Should the petition work, PR may win an arrangement, perhaps like the Swiss, that hews closer to “reasonable limits” to Charter our rights to gain a livelihood. If not, groups had better get together and get ready for the first skirmish in a long legal battle.

NEW BUSINESS—McKinney's Pub and Eatery

by Corey Matsumoto

Owning a thriving pub has long been a dream of Shawn Bateham, a vision that is finally coming together at the historic Rodmay Hotel where McKinney’s Pub and Eatery is set to open on October 20th. Alea and Henri Newport augment their son’s vision with a passion for antiques and the history of the Rodmay Hotel. Alea’s relationship with the Rodmay started with an antiques-and-collectables-store she opened with niece Selena Asher-Richards called Charm, Chintz and Chrome. The “3 C’s” is located on the street-front corner of the building, and will soon feature a tea parlor and used books). Alea fell in love with the historic Rodmay and dreams of seeing it restored to its original glory.

The story of McKinney’s Pub starts back in July when the family reopened the historic Rodmay lounge as McKinney’s Night Boat Lounge on the main level. The Lounge hosted some fine events, like the sold-out performance by Shona Le Mottee, who returns for the grand opening of McKinney’s Pub.

Two months later, an opportunity to expand into a larger premises presented itself with the closing of the White Jag Pub. Work began to renovate the pub into a 1900’s craftsman style Irish pub, complete with detailed hardwood mouldings and high-end fixtures. A new main entrance welcomes patrons on Ash Street. All generations will feel right at home as they step into the warmth and coziness of the freshly restored interior.
The new bar set-up offers liqueurs and spirits including many quality scotches and whiskeys. The kitchen has also been overhauled. The pub, open for lunch daily, serves high-end food long into the evening.

The stage was rebuilt centrally to afford all patrons a prime view of the live entertainment that will prevail every weekend. The upgraded sound system supports a wide variety of entertainment, from live music by local and touring bands to comedy.

“We’re here to entertain you” says Shawn. Alea adds “if the music doesn’t appeal to you one week, check back for something completely different the next”. Look for band schedules in Immanence and Powell River Living Magazines.

Shows will begin early in the evening, making McKinney’s Pub and Eatery a great place for an evening of entertainment.

For more information or booking inquiries call Alea or Shawn: 414-0548 or email mckinneys_on_ash@shaw.ca.

ESOTERICA—Kali, Enemy of Ego

by Morag Grayheart

Kali is a more misunderstood Goddess of the world. We can all get behind the endless-love-compassion thing. But death and destruction? Scary!

Ease your fears – Kali is endless love and compassion, though in a different light. She is the death of the ego, the death of the illusion we perceive as reality. She makes us remember we are spiritual beings on a human journey – not vice versa. She grants total liberation.

COVER ARTICLE—Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious by the rising loon...

by Eva van Loon

Hardly! PRites don’t go shopping in the suddenly cheap US from here—gas costs too much. Our big stores are crammed with toys, food, and equipment we don’t trust—mostly stamped “Made in China”--the only stuff many of us can afford.

And we’re supposed to be proud and happy the loonie is flying awkwardly at a US buck-‘n’-better?

People in the UK, Europe, Japan, and a dozen other countries are saying the same about their lively currencies. Could it be that some coins have learned to fly? That Canadians, among others, have turned into economic geniuses? Maybe we hit the jackpot at this late moment in the history of humanity?

Put the flight of the loon into perspective: America, the 20th century’s economic centre, has collapsed. Yes, that’s the past tense—this isn’t a possible future event but is happening before our eyes, right now, this week. The loonie isn’t flying—the once-almighty Dollar is drowning in debt.

Columnist Patrick J. Buchanan says, “Bush is presiding over a worldwide abandonment of the American dollar…. A sinking dollar means a poorer nation, and a sinking currency has historically been the mark of a sinking country. And a superpower with a sinking currency is a contradiction in terms.”

Convinced the US is the axis of humanity, he asks, “What does this mean for America and Americans? …The chickens of free trade have come home to roost.”

What does that mean for us poor sods geographically parked cheek by jowl with a sinking superpower? That’s what we want to know! What’ll happen to Canada and Mexico? Is the new American Dream a total reliance on snowbacks and wetbacks, even if we stay put in our own countries?

Where are these MBA types when you need ’em?

Even a deaf Canuck can already hear the US licking its parched Botox lips over our water, oil, lumber, grain, hydro and minerals—for which Uncle Sam’ll want to pay us with as few of those empty Dollars as possible.

Unfortunately, there’s one of us…to every ten ’Murricans, not to mention that in Canada “armed forces” has been a jolly oxymoronic in-joke for most of two centuries. OK, so we burned down the White House in the War of 1812, the last overt attempt by the US to gobble up Canada--the fiction is, we’re nice to our neighbors now, all around the world.

My slender wallet insists it’s a pistol for Canadian independence and self-reliance. Think I’ll venture on a little pre-Yuletide hunting trip around PR, keeping a sharp lookout for the local and the Canuck-made. I’m pointing this scrawny little wallet straight at you, Great White Shrub. I’m buying basic and Canadian, from the tree to the turkey to the treat for the dog. If that throws a twig on the economic conflagration now consuming the White House, let it burn to reiterate our message from almost 200 years ago: Canada does not want to belong to the US.

When the first NAFTA came through, I was in law school. A handful of us came to class sporting black armbands, distrustful of that four-letter word, free. We thought if America, selling itself as a fair and balanced market economy, were allowed to use Canada as its private resource ranch, we’d probably get screwed in the end.
Damn! We were right! I hate that.

Corporate capitalism is fair to neither resource exporters nor to workers who add value to those resources. When the corporation puts cheap resources from Canada, like lumber, together with cheap labor in China, it looks like prosperity as long as the transportation industry can keep the wheels greased. With the death of oil, the transportation industries are in big trouble, spelling the end of resource economies as well.

We’d better look ahead. Get used to the idea of adding value to our own products. It will be ridiculously expensive to send our wood overseas to be made into toothpicks, paper, and lumber. We must figure out ways to make finished products ourselves. Then, with our compadres down Latin America way, we can chant, “We don’t need no steenkeeng Dollars!”

Repent. The end of the Dollar is near. Live local as you’ve never lived before.

OPEN SOURCE—News and Views as You See it

MUSIC

The Town Pants-West Coast Celtic band hits historic Rodmay Hotel

The Pacific Northwest may not be the first place you would expect to hear rollicking Celtic, folk or world music, but The Town Pants are determined to change that. The Vancouver, Canada–based band combine aspects of Irish traditional, acoustic pop, roots Americana, even Australian and Mexican influences, to create their own unique brand of “West Coast Celtic.” Armed with a pawnshop’s worth of musical instruments, The Town Pants play songs that appeal to young and old alike, remaining in the heart and head long after the music stops.

The Keogh brothers, Dave and Duane, lead the band in vocals and instrumentation with banjo and acoustic guitar, teamed with Aaron Chapman on tin whistle, harmonica and vocals, and fiddle maven Virginia Schwartz, who weaves a fiery thread through the songs. Together they generate a rare blend of passion, energy, animation and spirit. With the added musical touch of a hand percussionist and bass player, the Town Pants are unsurpassed for their fast-paced West Coast Celtic style.

Feverish, stampeding, The Town Pants’ lively renditions of traditional and contemporary Celtic-influenced tunes, combined with the group’s original compositions, create a distinctive sound that has attracted fans around the world. At home, Vancouver fans selected The Town Pants as one of their favourite National Celtic/Traditional Acts in Vancouver’s Georgia Straight entertainment- weekly annual “Best of Vancouver” readers’ poll, where they were shortlisted with such groups as Great Big Sea and Natalie MacMaster.

The Town Pants are a busy band, wrapping up a 3-month, 43-show North American tour in September. They’ve already booked spring gigs in Texas and New York that far into 2008.

The band will be in Powell River briefly to play McKinney’s Pub and Eatery at the historic Rodmay Hotel on Friday November 23rd, and then will be off to play the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver the following night.

The Town Pants are sure to be one of the best live music events of the season -don’t miss it!

ART—Hana Louise-Exhibits Work at the Community Resource Centre

by Skye Morrison

Hana’s exhibit entitled “A Walk on the Beach” is on display at the Community Resource Centre 4752 Joyce Avenue until the end of November

COMMUNICATION—Englese 100

by Eva van Loon

Once upon a time there was a muddled language that tagged along with its empire-building speakers across an entire planet and took vigorous root everywhere. The speakers and writers of this language boasted that “The sun never sets!” on their far flung empire. Little did they realize that the language they championed as “the richest language in the world” and “the language of Shakespeare” could not maintain its “purity” any more than its proponents could prevent miscegenation in the English Empire.

Despite its multi-ethnic and scandalous parentage, vestigial grammar and outrageous spelling, English proved popular and hardy, sprouting colourful varieties of itself from the tropics to the arctics for four centuries. Alarmed by the robust rebellions of all these upstart Englishes, the original owners dubbed their own, supposedly original version of the language “Standard English”—SE for short—and wrote thick books of classic rules which even today must be mastered, from Africa to America, as part of becoming a reasonably educated person.

Over time, miscreant Englishes won the right to dub themselves with such acronyms as SAE (Standard American English, the creature nobody knows), HCE (Hawaiian Creole English, or Pidgin to the tourists), Ebonics ((black American English), and last among many others but hardly least, SCE (Standard Canadian English, universally admitted to be a closer cousin of SE, quite possibly the rightful heir to its throne should England be drowned by rising seas).

Yet aren’t we missing the boat, so to speak? In the age of easily erased borders, “free” trade, “deep integration” between Canada and its neighbour, and the spectacle of an entire planet plundered and pillaged by a people who take their own version of English to every resource-rich corner of the world, shouldn’t we be paying most attention to the English of these conquerors, the most powerful nation in human history? Not only has America’s English already permeated Canada by means of pop culture’s juggernaut vehicle, television, but history shows that the language of the conqueror inevitably becomes the new classic. Why not get with the program?

Standard English is dead! Long live Englese!

The young pick up Englese from their electronic teachers and their peers with no trouble at all, but newcomers and SOFs (stubborn old farts) need a little help. Let the teaching begin! Voila Englese 100!

FASHION—Millinery For the New Millennium

by Annie Poirier

Hats are back, and the world is so much better for it. A chic chapeau brings an undeniably effortless style to just about any ensemble (though velour tracksuits are irredeemably ghastly). This columnist can personally attest to this, as a fedora fiend. In my early teens I liberated a felt broad-brimmed one, in a stunning royal blue, from my Mother’s collection–never looked back.

TECHNOLOGY—Wired or Wireless... Wishes and Needs-A rant for your consideration

by Glen Roscovich

So-called “High Technology” is such a slut. What do you want, big boy? Do you want to talk to whoever, wherever, whenever you want? No problem – the beta version might be a little expensive and break down too often but just wait- the next generation is just a click away…and cheap, cheap, cheap!

Music?! How about anytime, all the time, right in your head, loud as hell? You got it!

What do you want? Just tell us. We’ll get it for you. Dream it up – you can have it all!

Ooops, sorry. I was just thinking that maybe these extremist fundamental religious sects might have a point. All this shameless pandering to desires we didn’t even know we had is blinding us to the debris trail in its wake.

Effects of the wireless mania that is engulfing our world are poorly understood. Convenience trumps all. Health impacts of holding a transmitter to the side of young heads, our heads, for extended periods of time are not something we like to think about. The increasing clutter of our electromagnetic environment should be a source of concern.
We are electric beings. The currents that energize our thoughts and vital processes are subtle, varied and not well documented. How much research do you think the wireless and cell phone industries have done into the wider and combined impacts of their technologies?.... and how eager do you think they would be to warn us of suspected dangers? Frequencies emitted by the increasing barrage of electrical devices can’t help but overlap and interfere with the currents that animate life itself.

It is hard to argue with the convenience of breaking free of the wires that restrict our freedom of movement in relation to our electronics, but convenience at what cost? We, as a society, have become so hypnotized by the ability of high tech to fulfill our wildest dreams that we seem to assume that it is our right to have whatever we can imagine in the way of electronic toys.

I offer some tangible considerations when pondering the choice of wired versus wireless versions of similar devices:

When you are using wireless your signal is out there for all to peruse and to impact all. Wires keep that signal confined, for your purposes only.

When a wired device malfunctions, you have a fighting chance of tracing the problem and repairing it. Wireless problems are so complex that you may as well start screaming about warranty issues right off the bat.

As far as health issues go, ask your doctor….but remember, there was a time when doctors were known to extol the virtues of cigarettes.

(Editor’s note: google “wireless radiation” and visit sites like www.bioprotechnology.com to find out more.)

HEALTH

A Chiful Feeling

by Doreen Bonin

Western medical science is now beginning to consider ancient Far Eastern traditions that focus healing and good health on the life-force energy which flows in channels through all living forms. Acupuncture and associated therapies are being increasingly used by western practitioners to invigorate the life-force energy flow to restore health to unhealthy organs. The Chinese refer to this energy as Chi, the vital life force energy of the Universe, present within every living thing.

In Eastern Medicine, doctors see illness, pain and other incapacity as signs of overall imbalance in the body, not simply in one organ, muscle or limb. They look for weaknesses and blockages in Chi. When Chi is blocked or diverted, doctors seek to relieve the blockage as a means of creating balance. It is believed that once the body is in balance it may be able to heal itself, and prevent disease from happening.

The practice of Qi(Chi)gong including Tai Chi, encompasses a broad range of exercise systems for developing one’s chi. The three basic elements of these forms are (1) adjusting and preparing posture, (2) adjusting and regulating breath, and (3) adjusting or calming the mind. The movements have a beneficial effect on the central nervous system, calming the body and leading to the regeneration of vitality and the recovery of health.

Ancient Oriental medicine has now been combined with modern technology to provide a new way of accessing and moving Chi. The Chi Machine is the culmination of 38 years of research by Japanese medical doctor Shizuo Inoue.

Lying on the back with feet slightly elevated and resting in ankle cups, the body is moved in an undulating figure of eight motion, just like a fish swimming in water. This position reduces stress on the spine while the lateral swinging of the ankles creates movement throughout the body, maximizing the body’s natural absorption of oxygen. When you see a fish swimming, you notice that its tail gently swings back and forth which causes movement of the entire spinal cord and all muscles.

Like the ancient practice of Qigong, the Chi Machine aligns the spine, increases oxygen in the body and calms the mind. It also massages and stimulates the activity of the internal organs. unblocking the chi pathways ensuring a maximum flow of this healing source throughout the body systems. When the machine shuts off the body is showered with a wonderful tingling feeling that makes its way through to all the extremities from toes to fingers. It’s what some people refer to as a chiful feeling. or chi rush. A five minute session on the machine has the equivalent oxygen benefit of a thirty minute aerobic walk. The Chi Machine is a patented Health Canada Medical Device.

FOOD

ESSAY—Lead by Example-18 Preparations for Life After Peak Oil

James Howard Kunstler published an essay in February ‘07 suggesting ten ways to prepare for a post-oil society. We will have to do things differently, he said. We’ll have to stop focusing on how to run all our cars. We’ll have to produce food differently, inhabit the terrain differently, move things and people differently, entertain ourselves differently, and educate our kids differently.
Far from depressing me, Kunstler’s picture of the collapse of our familiar world cheered me up. Peak oil is, just maybe, a darned good thing--eventually. It will be difficult. But what if we viewed it as a positive evolution rather than a desperate attempt to hang on to our habits and structures? And these happy ideas arose, most of them feasible almost immediately.

1 Stop the noise! Stop the rush! Give yourself time for real life, basic life. Remember how silence nurtures; how nature heals.

2 Retire to a real community. Don’t put your precious money into an acreage, an “adult” community or a gated resort dependent on outsiders. Find a town you love and help it live. (Lucky we live Powell River!)

3 Walk, bike, or putter everywhere possible. Build time for the travel into your schedule, along with downtime to get to know your community.

4 Smile whenever you can. Read, pet other animals, play instruments and games, sing, and party with your neighbors. Smiling is healthy.

5 Find a spiritual practice that honors Gaia, mother of us all. Make it up if you can’t find one that fits. Do the practice, and teach your children well.
6 Grow and raise food. Have a veggie garden. Raise ducks or chickens. At least support your local organic farmers, those brave souls, regardless of cost.

7 Plant at least as many trees per year as there are members of your household.

8 Buy only what you truly need, plus what you would forever regret not buying. Buy only products you can respect and trust while thinking about your great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren.

9 Eat meat with reverence. Think of every bite as a sacrament, every bite as someone’s sacrifice for you.

10 Make one room at home your energy room. Devise a plan to exercise while developing and storing energy there to make your home eventually independent of the grid while it keeps you healthy.

11 Vacation at home and online before taking that plane. Hold long-distance meetings electronically.

12 Quit watching commercial TV. Forever. Support community publications, radio, and even TV. Support publicly funded media.

13 Protect a free internet. Sign up for alternate news services and force yourself to watch—to witness--at least once weekly. Watching the independent news with open eyes and heart will exercise the soul and shape the mind.

14 Home-school the kids until they’re banging on the door to get out (age 10/11). Don’t let them see an electronic screen until age seven, and then keep it down to a couple of hours daily.

15 Think globally; act locally. Empower yourself by making everything you can. Honor the makers in your own community by buying their products and supporting their work.

16 Encourage schooling and working at, from, or near home.

17 Sleep only with true friends.

18 Send love to your seventh generation before sleep.

There. Can’t you just feel the warmth and peace of a well run household settle around you as you turn off the lights, draw the curtains on your friends and neighbors, and look forward to a peaceful sleep and another day’s good work? Almost makes you believe in humanity again. “’Night, John-boy.”
‘Night, Dad.

LEGAL—The Law that Isn't There

by Eva van Loon

In spite of the scare pet-owners had this year over pet foods polluted by melamine in gluten from China, our government has not seen fit to pass any laws against poisonous pet food, much less pass slaughtering regulations for meat animals destined to be fed to the fur persons in the family. The class- action lawsuit against Royal Canin, started in Ontario on behalf of all Canadians whose pets ate it (allegedly an overabundance of Vitamin D caused hypercalcemia), had to resort to negligence and constructive trust—not a statute in sight about pet-food standards.

SMALL BUSINESS—Local Loco's Opens Up-Latest renos include plenty of bar seating and open space

by Corey Matsumoto

After three weeks of renovations, Local Loco’s is poised to reopen on Wednesday, November 21, at the completion of stage 3 of an ongoing “Work of art in progress”. The Loco team has worked hard to get a myriad of changes implemented in the shortest time frame possible.

The most notable change is the elimination of a wall separating the two rooms of the cafe, which makes a large seating bar possible and unifies the space into one larger room. “It’s really amazing, the difference it makes” says co-owner Skye Morrison, “It’s totally a whole new cafe”.

ESOTERICA—Pele, She-Who-Shapes-The-Sacred-Land

by Morag Grayheart

Pele (PAY-lay) is the Hawaiian Goddess of volcanoes. Passionate, fiery, and with a fierce temper, Pele is a continually visual deity in the Hawaiian pantheon. Both creator and destroyer, Pele is considered responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian islands. She is still active today, on Mt. Kilauea on the Big Island, and continues to demand sacrifice from the residents of Hawaii. When lava threatens a Hawaiian home, the owners would be better off giving Her gifts so that their residence may be spared.

Aside from demanding sacrifice, Pele wants Her lava to stay put. Tourists to Hawaii: take away lava rock only if you wish your life to collapse around your ears. Believe you me, it happened here – in this family. Only when we went back to Hawaii to appease Pele did our bad luck abate. She will wreck you if you mess with Her.

COVER ARTICLE—A Toast to Strength and Longevity...

by Corey Matsumoto & Eva van Loon

Our last issue of 2007 is dedicated to trees –the lungs of the earth and symbols for strength, shelter, and longevity. How we depend on trees! We build our homes out of trees, burn trees for warmth, create musical instruments and works of art with trees, and write love letters and publish books on tree products. We even wipe our behinds with trees (how insulting!).

You may have noticed our new paper stock if you are reading a printed version of this issue (kudos to those who choose to download digital copies from our web site). We are experimenting with an FSC-certified paper (Forest Stewardship Council–www.fsc.org), which guarantees that the paper comes from properly managed forests. It is a small step towards reducing our impact on the planet.

Our first publication of the new year will be in February, to allow for a bit of time off to play catch up with our own lives. We are looking forward to an excellent 10-issue year in Powell River, 2008.

We invite you to think through your expectations for 2008, from Kathuamixw and sports events to the proliferation of arts and business and the elections slated for the fall. Thanks for supporting local Powell River artists and businesses, the lifeblood of our community.

We wish you all the best over those Holly Daze and into the Year of the Rat.

OPEN SOURCE—News and Views as You See it

Drink to Justice!

Lyla Smith

There is an exploited producer at the bottom of every cup of conventional coffee. That’s the message of the Guatemalan Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA).

On Nov. 19 about 120 people were treated to a moving film at the Ecole Cote du Soleil, about Guatemalan Mayan peasants working co-operatively toward agrarian independance.

After the film, committee president Leocadio Juracan Salome (pictured) explained the clear necessity for farm workers to work collectively to empower them all. The subtitle of the program, ‘For Food Security, Land Reform is Needed’ speaks directly to Guatemalan farm workers. In that country 2% of the population owns 75% of the arable land. Working on large farms, often trekking hours to and from the fields, wages typically are not high enough to cover the cost of living. For members of CCDA things are entirely different.

Ratio of land ownership in Guatemala may seem very extreme and third world. But recent BC data shows the wealthiest 10% own 54.6% of this province’s wealth. Or, seen from another angle, BC’s top 50% control 95.7% of wealth, leaving just 4.3% for the rest of us. The other half. Globally the richest 2% own half of the world’s wealth. Rather than shrinking, these gaps are growing in the developed world.

While many Canadians are clearly better off than average Guatemalans, our farmers also face huge negative legislative impacts that threaten small farms and local production.

Maybe we can all learn from each other and work together.

CCDA produces Cafe Justicia (available at l’Ecole and the Flying Yellow Bread Bowl). It’s organic, fair trade, and certifiably delicious. According to their website - ccda.galeon.com - ‘fair trade is not charity. It’s a form of north/south co-operation working together to promote a better future’.

Mr. Salome is touring Canada to continue to promote our better future. We can work collectively, locally and internationally. Go to the web site and see for yourself what fair and just trade can do to build and empower a community.

Then maybe think about how to morph their techniques to solve local land use issues.

EDITORIAL—O Tanenbaum! O Yggdrasil! O Golden Spruce!

by Eva van Loon

In spite of starting my life in the treeless Netherlands, I was born for forest. When my war-shattered parents moved us to Canada, I flew out the door every day—to feed the milk-wagon horse, roll in the cut grass, build “forts” on the riverbank, go stick-and-string fishing in the tree-lined river, eat myself sick on chokecherries, design leafy temples, and dream of wildlife which, of course, wanted more than anything to be my friend.

In school I yearned over large green patches on the map, parks and forests and untraveled country, the further north, the better. I drew fantastic Christmas-treed landscapes of an imagined Alaska, and sneakily read and re-read The Furry Forest Bears inside my boring math text. Every spare minute was spent in my secret, sacred grove of conifers in a nearby ravine, meticulously picked clean of rubbish by me, who hated taking out the garbage.

The once little Dutch girl was melding with the First Nations reverence for trees, so well articulated in The Golden Spruce (John Vaillant ), which won a Governor General’s award for the story of the magnificent and unusual golden-needled conifer slain 500 years before its time by a twisted eco-activist. The Haida grieved long and hard over that tree, as I did over my special glade, long ago sacrificed to city “needs”.

The ache for trees never left me. Ten years ago, as a writer selected by the BC Fine Arts Festival, I stumbled on Powell River, and fell in love all over again, not just with the friendly community and the charming real estate, but with trees, trees, and more trees. Large swaths of trees defining the space between the villages that make up our city. Trees marching down boulevards and proliferating in back yards. Trees outlining the shapes of the mountains and hills that cradle us and the curves of the islands that tempt us to cross the water. Trees clustering protectively around our lovely lakes and anchoring the precious streambeds that not only take the treasure of our water down to the sea but let the bounty of salmon runs come back into our lives. When the wind blows, everywhere there’s the unique harmony of coniferous song—an intoxicating symphony. This is a place, I thought, with enough trees to spell happiness.

When someone erroneously told me the ALC had allowed the PRSC’s application to exclude 865 acres from the ALR, I cried. I half decided to move away, but where? What could possibly come after Powell River? Thank heaven the information was wrong; my beloved forest home was spared. Nothing could be worse than to lose the forests of Powell River.
It turns out I am one of millions of humans who are nothing without trees.
The tree has long been associated with wisdom, even immortality. Hindu scriptures speak of a celestial tree having roots in heaven and branches in the underworld—a reversal of reality that symbolises unity of all beings. The Norse thought of the three worlds of existence as levels of a great ash tree, Yggdrasil, and in their writing system, each rune which Odin retrieved from the underworld is named for a kind of tree.

The tree is the basic symbolic structure that charts, in a picture universally recognised as the Refuge Tree, the tantric Buddhist lineage. The bodhi tree, with its heart-shaped leaves, is a ubiquitous symbol in Buddhist circles, as Buddha attained enlightenment while sitting under that tree.

All the Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—venerate trees. Christianity builds an entire structure of belief around trees: Eden’s Tree of Life, Eden’s Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the tree on which Jesus was hung to die, which was to eradicate the “curse” of the Tree of Knowledge and reinstate the hegemony of the Tree of Life. Wow! Small wonder the Christians embraced the European pagan Solstice tradition of celebrating ‘round a tree!

Solstice means, literally, that the sun stands still. In reality, it’s the day when our peculiar planet stops wobbling in one direction in favor of wobbling in the other, creating the seasons on which life here depends. It’s the day when the sun appears to be reversing its trend—in our hemisphere—to poke its head above the horizon less and less. It’s the day of promise that the sun will return, and with it, the blessings of summer and the renewed growth of trees and all the living things dependent on them, including us.. Something to celebrate, indeed!

COMMUNITY

YAC is Back!

by Tracy Tunstall

The Powell River Youth Advisory Council is back in action in our community, looking for new youth and supportive adults to move our initiatives forward!

The Powell River YAC is not your typical youth group. Founded in 2001 and maintained year after year through the hard work and dedication of Powell River resident Hugh Prichard, YAC was formed with purpose of supporting young people in our community to have their voices heard. Since then, YAC has played a vital role in engaging youth in our community.

After a short break while funding sources were sought and secured (always a challenge, especially for youth), YAC has re-emerged as a healthy (and fun!) option for interested young people in our community. Through a partnership between School District #47, Vancouver Coastal Health, the City of Powell River, and Powell River Child, Youth and Family Services Society, YAC gives interested young people an opportunity to make a difference in their community. YAC members work together with other supportive adults in our community to create action plans that address issues that they see affecting our young people. YAC engages youth to get involved in their community and feel they are contributing in a positive way. The overriding goal is to engage other community youth in healthy, fun activities, and help to make Powell River a more youth-friendly community.

The Powell River YAC is open to all youth 13-19 (interested young people over 19 are encouraged to get involved as volunteers). It’s free to join, and we try to support youth who need transportation to get to our meetings and events. We meet every Thursday afternoon from 3:30pm to 5:00pm at the Community Resource Centre at 4752 Joyce Ave. We supply snacks at the meeting, plan future activities, educate one another on what is happening in our community, have guests and open discussions, and have fun getting to know one another! So support the YAC by attending our events and getting involved!

• YAC Winter Wonderland FREE Teen Skate Food and Toy Driver will take place December 20 from 8:30 to 10:00pm at the Recreation Complex – come out and play!

• Powell River Idol takes place Feb 16, 2008 and tickets can be purchased at the Recreation Complex!

• Youth Forum 2008 is in the works, dates TBA!

Come out for YAC!

For more information or to get involved, contact Tracy at (604) 485-3090!

MUSIC

Powell River has the Blues, Baby—Avatar Blues Band leaves the nest, sort of

by Corey Matsumoto

Just over a year ago, Mondays in Powell River were slow and uneventful. Then one cold, rainy day Ray Cushing (local musician and recent transplant from Vancouver) asked Local Loco’s co-owner Craig Nokes about starting up a Blues Night on Mondays at the cafe. “We’ll call it Blue Monday and the place will be packed”. The idea was good indeed, except for one small detail: Powell River didn’t have a blues band.

Not unaccustomed to overcoming obstacles in his life, Ray phoned up bass player Brian Liddle (Anything Grows) who was eager for a new project. He then approached me to become the drummer for the band, and although the blues was never my style of playing, I agreed to try it out.

Luckily for us, the first few Mondays were slow, and we sucked–hard. However, week after week more people started showing up even though Blues Night was more like a live band practice than a polished gig. Two months later Blue Monday was taking off –and we could play a proper ending on at least 2 or 3 songs.

Other players of the likes of Dan Erickson, Dan Minard, Saxman Ron Keller, Da Collector, Roland van Nus, and Ron Campbell lent their talents to Blue Monday, creating a dynamic, ever-changing sound each night.

Now, a year after beginning Blue Monday, the band has started playing other gigs outside Local Loco’s, under the new moniker “The Avatar Blues Band”, including many original tunes written by Brian and Ray. The band is trading in its weekly residency as Local Loco’s Monday-night blues band in favour of a monthly gig on the last Friday of every month. Blues Night will live on every Monday in the form of a Blues Jam (sign-up at 7 pm), but without the house band that started it all.

The Avatar Blues Band is now Powell River’s newest band-for-hire, so if you’ve got an event that requires some danceable, rockin’ blues, contact Brian Liddle at 414-0676.

ART—Dead Can Be Beautiful-A new idea for holiday decor

by Meghan Hildebrand

Some of us this Christmas season find ourselves second-guessing the traditions we have inherited. What hands made the products we buy for our children? Why should our holiday end in so much garbage for the landfill? How can we, in good conscience, feast while so many starve? And why do we gather under the premise of a religious story to do so?

These are sound questions any time of year, although Christmas has typically been the season to blow off your worries and indulge. This year something feels a little different. Attitudes are more cynical, and people are looking for ways to downplay the holiday, or at least reduce the impact of their celebration on others.

FASHION—Fashion is Bunk...

by Eva van Loon

If my daughter remembers anything her mother ever said, it will probably be this oft recited couplet: “Fashion is bunk and make up is junk.”

Notwithstanding that pronouncement, for the past decade I quite enjoyed watching her experiment with make up both on and offstage. Not only that, I subsidised, to a painful extent, her quirky forays into the world of fashion.

HEALTH

Cinnamon ‘n’ spice… makes everything nice!

by Tamara Mctee—Chartered Herbalist

The festive season brings the familiar, comforting scent of cloves and cinnamon from spicy apple cider or Mom’s holiday baking.

Cinnamon essential oil has a powerful effect on micro-organisms. When treating bronchial infections with essential oils in an infuser, cinnamon, cloves, and lavender oil together stimulate the immune system.

Try dropping some cinnamon or clove oil onto your vacuum cleaner’s bag before vacuuming. (Caution: never apply essential oils directly to skin; only lavender oil is safe to use in this way.)

Cloves’ Latin name, Eugenia caryophyllata, barely hints at what this aromatic herb can do. A stimulant, antispasmodic, antioxidant and antiseptic, this spice draws its intense flavor and reputation for fast relief from teeth and gum pain from the chemical eugenol. A few drops of clove oil in water can relieve nausea or constipation, stop vomiting, and curb flatulence and bloating.

The evergreen clove grew only on five small Indonesian islands, the Moluccas, before its introduction to east Africa, the West Indies, and China. The buds of the clove flower are picked before they open; then dried. The clove resembles a short nail (clavus in Latin). Whole cloves can be used in stewed fruit, hot spiced drinks, and marinades. In baking, ground cloves can be added to breads, cookies, spice cakes, curries, and meat dishes. For extra holiday fun, keep in mind that cloves are an aphrodisiac!

Cinnamonium zeylanicum and cinnamonium cassia, varieties of cinnamon, come from the inner bark of an evergreen, peeled, cut, rolled and dried. Whole sticks are of superior quality to the powder. Sticks can be grated, or ground in an electric blender: do not use a coffee grinder. (I broke mine trying that!)

When infusing whole sticks, simmer in a covered pan for 10 to 20 minutes. Mixing cinnamon with other herbs and sweet stevia helps to make the taste of bitter herbs, such as Oregon grape root, more palatable to children, as my own are living proof.

Cinnamon, like cloves, is safe to use during pregnancy. To help with vomiting during pregnancy, simmer an ounce of spearmint for ten minutes; then pour in 1 tsp. powdered cinnamon and one of cloves. Leave it covered until cold; then strain, and take two tablespoons every half hour.

Mixed with oatstraw and shepherd’s purse, cinnamon makes an excellent post-partum brew for the day and night after birthing.

New studies show that cinnamon can augment the action of insulin, and that consuming as little as 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon daily may reduce blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels by as much as 20% in Type II diabetes patients not taking insulin. Chinese herbalists advise clients in their 70s and 80s with a phlegmatic cough to chew and swallow a pinch of powdered cinnamon, to help warm nocturnally cold feet and hands and ease appetite loss or indigestion. Cinnamon relieves nausea, vomiting, and infantile diarrhea. Its essential oil is a potent antibacterial, anti-fungal, and uterine stimulant.

Festive herbs can be used to make unique a seasonal gift for friends. Make a potpourri with crushed by leaves, lemon balm, broken cinnamon sticks, and orange peels, cloves, ground nutmeg. Put it all into a fancy box and…make merry!

The Forest in your Brain

by Eva van Loon -Cognition Therapist

First, the bad news (which you parents probably already sense is the truth about our kids today), fingering the failure of our educational system to cope with today’s reality and give our kids the cognitive survival tools they’ll need. Are you ready?

(Keep in mind these stats are American; things are not so bad in Canada and definitely not so bad in Powell River.)

• Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation. Mothers cite safety concerns as a primary reason.

• Today’s children have more restricted ranges of free play, have fewer and less diverse playmates, and are more home-centered than any previous generation.

• Children’s free play and discretionary time declined more than 9 hours less a week over the last 25 years.

• Children under 6 spend an average of 1.5 hours a day with electronic media. Youth between 8 and 18 spend 6.5 hours a day with electronics—over 45 hours a week!

• Obesity in children has increased from about 4 per cent in the 1960s to almost 20 per cent in 2004.

• 62 per cent of children do not participate in any organized physical activity; 23 per cent do not participate in any free-time physical activity.

• The per cent of children who walk or bike to a school less than a mile away has declined 25 per cent in 30 years. Barely 21 per cent live within one mile of their school.

• While 71 per cent of adults report having walked or ridden to school, only 22 per cent of children do so today.

Now put together this picture with what you already know of the soaring incidence of learning disabilities, deficits and behaviour problems. Gee…could there be a connection?

A recent study showed that on a flat, paved playground, the biggest children tend to become the leaders, while on playgrounds consisting of more treed surfaces and natural features, the most intelligent children come out as leaders. Not surprisingly, there was also a great deal more bullying on the flat, paved playgrounds.

New studies suggest that forests and nature can enhance cognition and perhaps even repair emotional trauma. When we remember that our every emotion and thought can be viewed as a chemical event in the body, we suddenly begin to cherish those activities and surroundings that produce serotonin and acetylcholine (which enhance peacefulness, joyfulness, and cognition) rather than cortisol and adrenaline (when learning is less effective or permanent). Someday soon, some researcher will find that spending time in a forest, in nature, and in safe, loving environments is good for your brain—and your grades.

Fittingly, when learning is really going on, the forests in our brains are growing new trees, or dendrites (from Greek word dendron meaning tree). The more of these tiny branching structures you have, the smarter you are. As you age, fewer dendrons sprout, but to some extent you can increase their growth by taking up the habit of learning. Life-long learners propagate their interior forests right to the end of life—and are the happier for it.

What’s the downside? Get your body outside into that forest or garden and grow yourself some more brainpower.

FOOD—Town Centre Hotel

by Wolffy

Does the thought of preparing holiday dinner—or worse, washing holiday dishes, de-boning the turkey and scrubbing the stove—make you cringe? Are you home alone for the holidays? Do you deserve a holiday from slaving over a hot stove on the big day?

Fear not: there’s a warm, cozy, tasty, local solution to your dilemma at a reasonable price at Town Centre Hotel, virtually the only restaurant open on Christmas Day. And Boxing Day. And New Year’s Eve and Day. Better grab that phone and reserve, though—General Manager Shelley Halliday says that the groaning buffet board on Christmas Day has proven very popular in the four years the hotel has been owned and operated by BC company Northwest Hotels. Adults, $20.95; seniors and children less.

Having tried the generous Sunday brunch buffet several times, I thought I’d better try steak dinner to round out the picture of Town Centre’s offerings. I was not disappointed: the New York was cooked perfectly, with a rousing sauce. The borscht was tasty, served with a fluffy foccaccia and room-temperature butter, and the mashed potatoes creamy. Best on the plate were the five delicious winter vegetables cuddled colorfully ’round the steak, not one of them overcooked.

Dessert, a chocolate marnier mousse, proved so outrageously large that the last of it had to be ferried out via doggy bag to a delighted fur person waiting in the car. Coffee was, well, coffee, courteously served with the requested cinnamon stick to lower all that cholesterol I had no doubt just loaded into my system. With a pleasant glass of chardonnay, I got away with about $36 before tip.

Scottish-born but long-time PRite Kevin McMillan enjoys his work as head chef, although he’d love greater access to local foods, particularly vegetables and greens. The team he’s put together includes brother Scott, a painter (see www.central-nervous-system.ca) graduated from the Emily Carr School in Vancouver, whose stunning original landscapes grace the hotel’s reception area as well as the restaurant. (Bring your chequebook.)

PR’s a lucky town to boast hostelries owned and operated by Canadians—British Columbians, Powell Riverites, even—instead of foreign hotel chains. Town Centre’s competent and courteous restaurant deserves your patronage whenever you hunger for the classics in comfort food.

Location: 4660 Joyce Avenue
Phone: 604 485-3000
Web: www.prtowncentrehotel.com

ENERGY—A Corny Solution-Biofuel is Good Alternative, for now

by Kevin Egan

Just what do you do?

You’ve got a new job with fantastic pay and benefits, but you have to pack around large equipment, hundreds of kilograms of hardware and tools, and shelving or racks to organize it all. Need a work truck or a van?

You’ve always ridden a bike to commute, recreate, camp, even to tow the kids. Maybe you weren’t even thinking of the environmental benefits much because (1) it’s just about how good it feels to be moving and riding, and (2), it needs minimal expenditure of your hard-earned pay. Now you suddenly went from never thinking of owning such a thing as a gas card to spending many thousands a year on dino-fuel.

OK, you’ll still ride as much as you can. You’ll leave the big van at the office and bike to the office–but oops! All that hardware cost too much to be left alone. You’re a techie with a love of things mechanical–how you can make this better? Build an electric van or truck?

Hey–what about a hybrid, or a good old diesel? Diesel motors are more economical than gas motors, but diesels are not particularly common in North America, unlike the rest of the world.

So, a diesel vehicle running on recycled fuel is an affordable way to power your vehicle–perfect. You’ve decided and don’t mind getting your hands dirty–oh, I mean greasy!

Thanks to media, most people know about vegetable-oil fuels and that the diesel engine was originally intended to work with plant oils, not petroleum. Pouring cleaned waste vegetable oil (WVO), new vegetable oil and biodiesel helps your diesel ride run a lot smoother with better emissions than gas. You might want to take it a step further by building a bio-diesel reactor or converting your ride to run strictly on WVO.

Here’s a simplified description: Biodiesel is trans-esterified plant and animal oils. Just chemically alter a batch of new or used vegetable oil, properly washed to fill up your unmodified diesel ride. With proper processing and equipment, biodiesel can suit a community coop that has good access to WVO (hotels, for example).

Using waste oil avoids taking a food product just to power vehicles, arguments over the evils of carbon output versus smog of various biodiesel products, and difficulties of processing leftovers like dirty glycerol and nasty chemicals like alcohol and lye. For bio-fuels, please stick to waste products only; let’s just recycle what’s available to us. We’ll start building some really sweet electric cars soon enough (please, I’m dying to!)–biofuel is a temporary solution.

WVO can power a diesel vehicle with hardware, installed to heat the WVO, and components, to switch from WVO to diesel. Perhaps it’s easier for a single household to clean up collected restaurant waste and use that to power the ride. Wouldn’t you want use an economical French-fry-smelling ride to get your stuff from A to B? It’s almost that simple: add a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of parts, mixed with discarded canola oil.

Anybody want help?

Editor’s notes: Use Google to find a conversion kit available to fit old diesel Volvos, VWs, Beamers and the like, which allows the driver simply to pour in the WVO and carry on. The kit mixes the WVO with the diesel. You do not need a kit to use the pre-mixed biodiesel that is so wildly popular in Hawaii, USA, and wherever biodiesel is advertised, however. In the American Northwest kits are more popular and clubs of biodiesel users sharing their expertise and experiences have sprouted. California’s emissions rules, alas, are not diesel-friendly and you can’t find a diesel New Beetle there to save your life.

As the author hints, diesel engines’ flexibility offers today’s driver greater hope of staying on the road in an economical and more ecologically friendly way until the re-birth of the electric car.

ENVIRONMENT—A Jewel in the Pearl-Wildwood Bluffs

by Terry Ludwar

This season can be a time for reflection. For me, thoughts of the incredible place where we live, Powell River, the Pearl of the Sunshine Coast, surrounded by nature, is high on my list. Thoughts of our place in the biosphere of the earth and what’s happening to it move me to write about it as I experience it.

A place whose natural features I have come to know intimately, especially our ecosystems and plant life, is the Wildwood Bluffs, adjacent and north of Catalyst paper mill. There is a bench, perched on one of the bluffs, where I have sat many times, facing Harwood Island and the Georgia Strait; to the left, Texada; across the water, Vancouver Island and its mountains; and to the distant right, Savary Island. Not only is the setting spectacular, these bluffs have become a source of fascination, a place to hike, be in nature, record the complex of living things, and reveal it to others.

If you have never hiked or spent time on the Bluffs, they can best be seen from our ferries: leaving or returning to Powell River from Texada or Vancouver Island. Facing the mill owned by Catalyst, to its left: rocky bluffs descend to the shoreline and continue toward Sliammon, but only as far as Schoenfeld Creek, well before Gibson’s Beach. Not only are the Bluffs part of Powell River’s landscape, they are an ecosystem, as I understand it, of some importance.

After five years of researching the plants of the area, including the last two years with photographer Rod Innes, I have now entered an inventory of these plants in the Powell River Museum, while Rod has submitted close to 300 photos to the UBC website e-flora BC, receiving positive responses from botanists there. With three public slide shows (with commentary) in the last year or so, I have tried to call attention to the rich biodiversity of the Wildwood Bluffs. I am convinced this part of our local biosphere is well worthy of conservation.

Mature Douglas firs and arbutus nestle between and around the Bluffs. This relatively small zone is a habitat for at least eight species of terrestrial orchids including some localized large colonies of two infrequent species of rein orchids: the tall rein orchid and the royal rein orchid. Two infrequent fern species have formed significant colonies on the bluffs (a mere 65 million years of evolution!). They don’t occur at higher elevations–only in a very narrow range along the Georgia Strait. The beautiful goldenback fern and the hardy Indian’s Dream fern call this place home.

Indeed, there are even more rare plants. I could go on in detail but you get the picture.
Moving about in nature has given me many things including understanding, reverence, and deep feelings about the place where we live. This gem, this pearl, our landscape and seascape, I call Home in a large sense. A grand view of earth, forest, ocean, and sky. A sense of time and history, the layers beginning with the awareness that these bluffs are traditional Sliammon lands called T’ees Kwat. That the plant life here (and everything else) took millions of years to become what we behold in the present.

That it can be taken away and used for other purposes in a very short time.
Our “kinship” with one another as well as all other life forms is food for thought in these times. I have found some strong metaphors in B.C. ethnobotanist Nancy J. Turner’s book Earth’s Blanket, of what she calls “a representation of a cultural belief, a sanction against destroying culturally and ecologically important species and habitats.” (She gave a lecture at Malaspina University-College here last January.) It runs like this: “Flowers are the valuables of the earth or mountains and if they are plucked ruthlessly the earth sorrows or cries.” And then, “Flowers, plants and grass, especially the latter, are the covering or blanket of the earth. If too much plucked or ruthlessly destroyed [the] earth [is] sorry and weeps. It rains or is angry and makes rain, fog & bad weather.”

These quotes were recorded by ethnographer James Teit amomg the Nlaka’pumx or Thompson First Nation in the 1890s.

Finally, in the foreword to Anthony Huxley’s book Green Inheritance: saving the plants of the world, is an appeal: “The aim of the book is to show, before it is too late, just how rewarding our green inheritance is to mankind–to demonstrate the wonder and worth of plants, and their great potential, to explain why they cannot take any more punishment, and to point out how those that remain can be saved. It underlines the need to save these plants because each plant that becomes extinct represents a loss to ourselves. Plants have fed the world and cured its ills since life began. Meanwhile we have been destroying their principal habitats at a rapid rate.”

The above two books are a great read and can be found in the Powell River Library.

The Wildwood Bluffs are included in Area 1 which the BC Agricultural Land Commission ruled this September not to be removed from the Agriculture Land Reserve. There are forces in our community who seem to pay heed only to development and seem to pay little attention to other possibilities. In 2008, may citizens in our community help them to reconsider.

LEGAL—Singing a Canadian Tune

by Eva van Loon

The bench of the Federal Court is probably not the first place most of us would look for courage in the legal field, but Mr. Justice Michael Phelan’s recent judgment is a sprightly example of Canada having the guts to sing its own tune.

POETRY—Songs for the Trees

This issue of Immanence celebrates trees. What better way to celebrate the lungs of the earth than getting together around your potted–but real!–Solstice tree? Or your magically lit, petroleum-based creation made by a toilet-brush company out of trees from the dinosaur age? Or a pile of burning, chopped-up trees, song book in hand? Whatever your homage to the Tree, put on the hot chocolate, pull up a stump, and sing along to these old tunes made new again.

Sustainable Loggers’ Lament
Put together by Lyla Smith of the
Powell River Raging Grannies.
(To the tune of “Norwegian Wood”)

We once had some woods–
or should we say,
the forest had trees
You cut them all down,
but wasn’t it good
when we had woods?

CHORUS
I had this nightmare:
you don’t see the forest—just trees
and your greed is so blind,
it’s like some made social disease....

and when I awoke,
it was still true–
the land was laid bare.
Ah, wasn’t it good
hiking the wild
when we had woods?

CHORUS
Again here, I’m dreaming.
They’re still shaving mountainsides bare;
the wildlife runs, hiding;
then finds its home is nowhere.....

No, this is no dream.
You young ones today
will tell your own kids,
“When I was your age,
a forest stood here–
not just these few trees..

SLOWER, QUIETER
Ah, wasn’t it good
when we had woods...

Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
how lovely are your branches!
Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
how lovely are your branches!
The thought of you as Yule draws near
brings joyful tidings of good cheer.
Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
to us you are so lovely.

Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
evergreen and fragrant,
Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
evergreen and fragrant,
We bring you into homes to be
a sign of life’s eternity.
Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
forever green and lovely.

Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
ee thank you for your blessings.
Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
we thank you for your blessings.
With golden stars and twinkling lights,
you cheer us on this winter night.
Oh, Solstice Tree, oh, Solstice tree,
you are so fair and lovely.

Silent Night
Anonymous

Silent night, Solstice night.
All is calm; all is bright.
Nature slumbers in forest and glen
till in springtime she wakens again.
Sleeping forests grow strong!
Sleeping forests grow strong!

Silent night, Solstice night.
Silver moon, shining birght.
Snowfall blankets the slumbering Earth;
Yule fires welcome the Sun’s rebirth.
See how the Light is reborn!
See how the Light is reborn!

Silent night, Solstice night.
Quiet, rest, until the Light
turning ever the rolling wheel,
gives us Winter to comfort and heal.
Rest your spirit in peace!
Rest your spirit in peace!

COMMUNICATION—Itses and Bitses

by Eva van Loon

It’s such a little word to cause so much confusion!

In both Englese and Standard English, its and it’s sound identical and are used in the same way in daily speech. You’d never know there’s a problem.

When it’s written, however, it’s apparent that Englese doesn’t know what to do with that little tick of ink called an apostrophe (a-posst-roe-fee). Sometimes it’s there; sometimes it isn’t. When you reflect that Englese is still more a spoken than written language, this is understandable: if an apostrophe makes no difference to one’s speech, why bother with it on paper?

On the other hand, I’m mystified why Englese often inserts an apostrophe to denote a plural, like this: Grab the bargain’s! Our special’s rock. Yuck. What a mess!

It might be a great idea to dump the apostrophe altogether after its long and illustrious grammatical career. Standard English isn’t likely to dispense with the apostrophe soon, however. So, let’s figure out where this pesky apostrophe comes from.

There’s a slew of apostrophes in this column—eleven so far. Check ’em out: in every case, the apostrophe stands for something missing: it is, you would, let us, there is, is not, let us. This, Standard English calls a contraction.

Even a dog’s tail originally, many years ago, was a dog his tail. Now the apostrophe-s construction (or sometimes just the apostrophe) is used wherever a Standard-English writer indicates something belonging to another thing or person.

The Standard-English rule is this: use the apostrophe for contractions and possessives. NEVER plurals!

Try eliminating the pesky apostrophe from these samples. What can we get away with before meaning is muddled?

Englese / Standard English
It’s/its okay to pat it’s/its head. / It’s okay to pat its head.
The lady’s/ladys purse isn’t/isn’t lost. / The lady’s purse isn’t lost.
The ladies/ladie’s left town. / The ladies left town.
The ladies purses/purse’s weren’t found. / The ladies’ purses weren’t found.
A dog’s/dogs tail is its/it’s best feature. A dog’s tail is its best feature.
I’d/Id know its/it’s tracks anywhere. / I’d know its tracks anywhere.
Youd/you’d like two dessert’s/desserts. / You’d like two desserts.
We’ll/well rock round the clock. / We’ll rock ‘round the clock.