Creative Writing Workshop

I lead a writing workshop for people who are going through drug detox in the Downtown East side. The quality of the work that comes out of our little hour-long exercises is impressive. One man, a quite, brick-wall of a dude with a long face and shaved head, wrote a an poetic piece in response to a photo I had brought to class. But another dude, who didn't participate in the class himself but walked through the common room with his ears perked, was angry and disrespectful.

"That picture looks like testicles."

"Ha, it does," I said.

"How would you know?" I couldn't think of anything to say. He responded for me. "Science class?"

I didn't even realize he was being so before Brick Wall leaned in and apologized for his behavior. "That's alright," I responded. "No, it's not," Brick Wall said. And it dawned on me that this guy had been purposefully disrespecting. Well, whatever. I can leave that place, and he can't.

There's something really satisfying for members of the workshop I think about writing a piece and then hearing our response to it. They read their work out loud, and we react. Seeing that people are directly effected by what they write is a really positive experience for people in recovery I think. One woman, jittery and scabbed and overly polite, smiled broadly when we all applauded her work.

On another note, here's Rick Salutin's response to the new CBC news. What the hell is happenign with that network?

On another

Police State

Here's an article about the police state BC is turing into. As well, two citizens are taking the city to court, claiming the bylaw restricts their freedom of speech. In response, the city has claimed they will amend the wording of the bylaw, and that police will not be allowed into private residences, and that there will be no $10,000 fined for the signs. Maybe. They'll probably just wait outside on the street until the people come out of their homes and not give them a fine but arrest them right there on the sidewalk.

And here's a picture of my dog...

Yawp

I went to see a movie recently, and in the line-up of pre-movie ads was this campaign. It was lovely to hear Whitman's voice boom out in surround sound in the dark, the scratch of the vinyl popping all over the place. And the ad was beautifully shot. But the contrast of 80-pound models looking over their shoulders quizzically and Whitman's words, the sense of art that's supposed to rise in us, is just funny now, kind of archaic.

Here's America:

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,

Chair'd in the adamant of Time

First blog

I'm posting this blog as a way to get out of my own head and share some of the things I'm interested in. Warning: there will be discussion of wedding paraphernalia. I'm getting married in July. It's going to be right outside of Tofino, on Vancouver Island, now home to this. Romantic.

I may have had swine flu this weekend. I had all the symptoms, and a friend of mine suffered through it a few weeks ago. It started with a dry cough, and continued with three days of a very high fever. I drifted in and out of sleep for a couple of days, sweating through my clothes. I had a headache like I've never had before in my life, and the coughing rattled my swollen brain around in my skull. It wasn't even the Victorian hallucinogenic fevered sleeps. Just drooping in and out of consciousness.

Michael dodged the swine bullet: He was gone for the weekend, so I was left alone to sweat through the sheets. My best friend brought me groceries, left them on my doorstep, rang the bell then rode away. Totally don't blame them - get your flu shot, folks.

After a day or so I dragged myself to the TV and threw myself in front of that. We don't pay for cable, but a few stations are beamed in anyway, MTV being one of them. Peak Season, a reality show I worked on last year, was in perpetual rotation. Peak Season's a good show and all, I'd even say crackalicious, but it was kind of like a layer of hell. Thank god for the Comedy Network.

It started last Wednesday, and only now am I fully recovered. Not bad, for a flu that is actually killing people, which is awful and terrifying.