2008/06/ 26 I SSUE VOLUME 62

Transcription

1 2008/06/ 26 I SSUE JL VOLUME 62

2 June 26, News UNITER STAFF contact: News Managing Editor Jo Snyder» Business Manager James D. Patterson» PRODUCTION MANAGER Melody Morrissette» CONTRIBUTORS Plastic bag ban heats up, melts before it goes through Aaron Epp Robert Galston Dan Huygebaert Joe Kornelsen Christopher Leo Kelly Nickie Ksenia Prints Mark Reimer Holly Rose Cyrus Smith Cindy Titus Toban Dyck Conrad Sweatman Graca Resendes Curran Ferris mark reimer editorial intern Tanya Goldbecher is the official student newspaper of the University of Winnipeg and is published by Mouseland Press Inc. Mouseland Press Inc. is a membership based organization in which students and community members are invited to participate. For more information on how to become a member go to ca, or call the office at is a member of the Canadian University Press and Campus Plus Media Services. SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES, LETTERS, GRAPHICS AND PHOTOS ARE WELCOME. Articles must be submitted in text (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) format to editor@uniter.ca, or the relevant section editor. Deadline for submissions is 6:00 p.m. Thursday, one week before publication. Deadline for advertisements is noon Friday, six days prior to publication. The Uniter reserves the right to refuse to print submitted material. will not print submissions that are homophobic, misogynistic, racist, or libellous. We also reserve the right to edit for length and/or style. CONTACT US» General Inquiries: Advertising: Editors: Fax: uniter@uniter.ca Web: LOCATION» Room ORM14 University of Winnipeg 515 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 Mouseland Press Board of Directors: David EisBrenner (chair), Mary Agnes Welch, Rob Nay, Nick Tanchuk, Dean Dias, Brian Gagnon, Devin King, Meg McGimpsey, Ben Zorn, Scott Nasaty (UWSA) For inquiries board@uniter.ca Cover Image Artwork by Cyrus Smith (See page 15) Photograph by Mark Reimer Graca Resendes A group of students at the University of Winnipeg tried to force the issue on plastic bag use last month after the city failed to ban the bags from stores. Over the past year the plastic bag debate has been floating around City Hall, the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, and the University of Winnipeg. Leader of the provincial Liberal party Jon Gerrard s Bill 200, which would have seen single use plastic bags banned in the province in 2009, was fiercely debated. The N D P argued that a more comprehensive environmental action is needed rather than simply banning single use plastic bags. However, last year, the Northern Manitoba town Leaf Rapids was successful in their ban of plastic bags. Plastic bags don t biodegrade, they photodegrade breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups. San Francisco was the first city in North America to ban the use of traditional plastic grocery bags, in March of The Northern Manitoba town of Leaf Rapids became the first municipality in Canada to ban plastic shopping bags in April China banned plastic bags June 1, Retailers will face a fine of 10,000 Yuan ($1,500) for providing shoppers with free bags. A cow found dead in the streets of New Delhi in 2007 had some 35,000 plastic bags in its digestive system, according to Indian media reports. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced it is phasing out plastic shopping bags at its retail outlets May Sources: cbc.ca And, on June 1st an even more unlikely contender for environmental sainthood stepped in with their ban on plastic bags: China. At City Hall, earlier this year, the motion to ban plastic bags was discarded by the perceived lack of support from the public for the issue. University of Winnipeg Conflict Resolution students are now trying to show that the use of plastic bags is an environmental issue that is important to our communities. The group of nine students organized the event, T-shirts for Social Change, earlier this month. The students set out their sewing machines, literature, and recycled T-shirts turned into re-usable shopping bags at two Safeway locations. Store Manager Brent Severyn points out that social and health awareness cross[es] many boundaries and coincides with Safeway s initiatives. The students collected over 200 hundred signatures over the two day event and will present the petition to the Manitoba Legislature. Student, Nicole Robidoux, commented on the positive support and interest they received from media and political figures over the two-day launch. Ace Burpee from Hot 103 and honorary chairman of Take Pride Winnipeg came out on the first day along with Mr. Gerrard. Beth McKechnie, who stopped to sign the petition and pick up a bag, was unaware of the launch of the petition campaign. McKechnie, who works for the non-profit environmental organization Human Resource Manitoba, expressed that the students petition launch is a wonderful effort. Maria (would not provide her last name), carrying her shopping in plastic bags when she left the store, was aware the students were offering free alternative bags but was not interested in signing the petition. She expressed that she does have cloth bags at home but forgot to bring them, besides I reuse these bags, she said. To ban or to recycle Take Pride Winnipeg joined forces with the Canadian Plastics Association convincing City Hall to abandon the idea of a ban. Tom Ethans, Executive Director of Take Pride Winnipeg, does not support the idea of a ban but rather public education to reduce, reuse, and use cloth bags for shopping. Ethans points out that many Winnipeggers are not aware that 42 local stores recycle plastic bags. Safeway sends plastic bags to Vancouver [to be recycled] and turned into plastic furniture, he said. The bottom line is that there are alternatives out there. Take Pride Winnipeg will be launching an education campaign later this summer geared towards schools where students can bring in plastic bags to be recycled and sent to Ontario where they will be converted into Frisbees. The initiative will be posted on their website in August when schools can sign up for the projected September start.

3 contact: news June 26, Burning the midnight biodiesel Toban Dyck Mike Ryckman, the drummer for the Dead Dogs, recently returned from a road trip to Texas driving an old 1988 ambulance that runs on vegetable oil. In December 2007, Ryckman bought himself the used ambulance and, with the help of family and friends, converted it to run on both diesel and vegetable oil. Noticing that some of his friends were exploring alternative energy sources, Ryckman decided to research what it would take for his vehicle to run on vegetable oil. Cars cost a lot of money, and they are not really my lifestyle, Ryckman said. So $600 and five days later, he successfully outfitted his ambulance to use free energy. Many of us have had that frustrated conversation slandering the oil companies for their monopoly on energy prices. It s one thing to have this conversation and then drive home; it is another thing to do something about it. Ryckman did something about it. The conversion does not rule out the use of diesel. Ryckman s ambulance still requires diesel to start and some diesel usage before he turns it off, so there are still emissions, he said. Diesel is needed on start-up to heat the veggie lines so the oil is the right consistency for combustion. And, in order to ensure that no veggie oil gunks up your fuel lines, running diesel before shutdown flushes them out. Though kits are readily available for the do-it-yourselfer, the basic principles behind the conversion are simple: Find a tank to hold the vegetable oil, install in your vehicle, and run fuel lines from your deep fryer to your engine. As any deep fryer vat is host to a miscellany of chunky bits, a filter is needed to ensure that your engine doesn t start chewing on French fries. To bring the vegetable oil to a combustion-ready temperature, Ryckman uses the warm water to heat the vegetable oil once the engine is warm. All that remains is a valve to switch between diesel and vegetable oil. Restaurants are generally happy to give away their veggie oil, as often they have to pay to have it picked up. There is a lot of free energy out there, however, Ryckman chuckled, it can get a little messy at times. In response to the rising prices and the soaring monopolies of big oil, Ryckman noted, If people can get free energy, the oil companies have no power. With terms such as biodiesel, ethanol, hybrid and sustainability gaining popularity, all signs seem to point to greener energy. But do they really? Ryckman is quick to point out that It takes a lot of energy to produce oil, which is why he is relentlessly sourcing out more efficient and earth-friendly energy sources. According to Ryckman, it takes more energy to process the oils needed for biofuels than the fuels produce. Fuel processing remains a problem At the heart of efficient and earthfriendly energy alternatives is the question, how much C O2 does your vehicle emit? C O2 is composed of two oxygen atoms, bonded with a single carbon atom. C O2 occurs naturally through the respiratory systems of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms. Regular gas and diesel are derivatives of fossil fuels (petroleum), which are oils that were once dinosaurs and other long and gone animals. The controversy surrounding them is that inputting excessive amounts of C O2 into the atmosphere that have long been absent from the carbon cycle disrupts the current carbon balance. Biofuels, though they still emit C O2, are introducing carbon molecules that have recently been extracted from the atmosphere mimicking the natural process through which plants and animals themselves exhale C O2. The latter is more balanced. Running biodiesel is different from running vegetable oil in a diesel engine. According to Treehugger.com, biodiesel is the only fuel to have successfully passed the test for the Oct 16, 2006 Clean Air Act. It is produced by a process that separates the plant (often soy) oils into glycerin and combustible oil. The oil is then mixed with petroleum, resulting in a biodiesel blend. The good news is that biodiesel burns with a higher rate of efficiency, allowing less C O2 back into the atmosphere. For those of us driving gas-engine vehicles, ethanol is our ticket to green. Ethanol is produced by processing alcohol out of plants such as sorghum, potatoes, wheat, sugar cane, cornstalks and vegetable waste. It is then mixed with conventional gasoline. The result is both better performance and a reduction in C O2 and hydrocarbon emissions. The downside is that both biodiesel and ethanol need to be processed. Ken Sigurdson, farmer and researcher on ethanol for National Farmers Union, argues that neither ethanol nor biodiesel is a good balance of energy. As one of Sigurdson s colleagues said, It makes no sense to put all that energy into growing food, and then turn it back into energy. Sigurdson argues that the energy-producing nitrogen fertilizer for crops, combined with the fuels needed to tend the crops and transport them, amounts to a net energy loss. From the growth and Mike Ryckman of local hardcore band Dead Dogs turned a used ambulance into a vehicle that can run on old vegetable oil. Finding the right environmental fuel may be harder than you think harvesting of crops to biofuel processing plants, there is an abundance of C O 2 generated before the fuel enters your vehicle. And, because both products need to be supplemented by fossil fuels, neither one is sustainable. It is simply a non-starter, Sigurdson said. Food for fuel, maybe not: the hybrid is the best, say experts The phrase food for fuel has been used recently to slander the growing food prices that accompany biofuel production. With processing plants paying top dollar for biofuel-ready crops, farmers in both the U S and Canada are growing less for food and more for fuel. The scarcity of crops for food continues to drive food prices up. Jean Ziggler, the U N special rapporteur on the right to food, said of biofuels that they are a crime against humanity. Zieglar has called for a fiveyear moratorium on biofuel production with the hope that by then new technologies will allow for the processing of crop waste, instead of the crops themselves. Currently, in Minnedosa, Manitoba, there is one ethanol-processing plant. The Husky Minnedosa Ethanol Processing Plant officially opened in December 2007 and has given Husky the total monopoly on the mandated fuel. Husky can control the prices, said Sigurdson. Solar and electric-powered vehicles are still burgeoning technologies, but they are available technologies. Apart from nuclear power, all of our energy sources are ultimately derived from the sun, said Leon Fainstein, instructor of mechanical engineering at Red River College. Why not use this technology? Fainstein, with help from the college, has been working on a solar-powered car, which, on Wed June 18, drove to Portage La Prairie and back using only sunlight. Solar panels placed on the car charge a battery, which, in turn, powers the car s electric motor. For Fainstein, electric power is the way to go, If you re trying to be green, the hybrid is the best, Fainstein said. For a lofty fee, conversion kits are available for current hybrid owners that allow their cars to be plugged in. For this conversion on a commuter vehicle, Fainstein said, I wouldn t be surprised if you would use no gas at all. The Toyota Prius (Ryckman was proud to say that his mom drives one, and enjoys it) and the Honda Civic are hybrid cars that use both petroleum and electricity. Also in the foreground are water-powered vehicles; a truly renewable resource. Through electrolysis, hydrogen is extracted from a water reservoir and is used to supplement whatever fuel your vehicle uses. Ryckman, in his search for greener energy, said, I think I would like to try that water thing next. Water conversion kits are widely available. Many of us want to replace big oil, and are looking for the shade of green that best resembles what is natural, however, what can we do if we cannot a yet afford hybrid vehicles? This is simplistic but we can double the gas mileage of every vehicle by putting an extra passenger in that vehicle (car pooling), said Sigurdson. He is also quick to endorse public transit and bicycling. As long as it is free and a product people will throw out anyway, Ryckman is on to something, though, a world in which every vehicle runs on vegetable oil is still a world full of soaring food prices, reigning monopolies, and controlled energy costs. For now, at least, it is free energy. cindy titus

4 June 26, news contact: Local News Briefs Compiled by Jo Snyder Did you miss your swings? Fear not, young swingers, your playthings are back: the swings at Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre. By some bizarre impulse, they had been stolen. Fortunately for the much beloved community centre, rather than closing it down, the city is actually going to pump in some cash to revive the fire damaged slide and all that makes the community playground a favourite spot. Nice work. The community centre is imploring the public to take it easy on the playground, and let it be available to the neighbourhood. End of life debate settled naturally, for now The man at the centre of whether or not doctors have the right to decide when to end a life, died of natural causes. Cbc. ca reported that Winnipegger Samuel Golubchuk, 85, had been on life support for nearly a year. Because of his low quality of life, which was sustained by life-support and feeding tubes, doctors were interested in removing the support systems, but Golubchuk died on Tue June 24. After a court injunction, the family of Golubchuk won the right to force doctors to continue the life support. Three doctors resigned over the debate, which raises the age-old question of when a life is worth living and preserving. Record-breaking breeding The Bald Eagles at the Assiniboine Park Zoo are really going at it this year with their record-breaking breeding. The old Eagle couple is estimated to be in their 40s, already a ripe age for the old birds, so the fact that they keep popping out the little ones is remarkable to zoo staff. The pair hatched two more chicks this spring and draw big crowds of folks who want to watch the couple talk to each other and tend to their little ones. They have been in an annual breeding pattern for 25 years and produced 23 offspring. Who s up for drinking some rain? The Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Winnipeg has a rainwater harvesting system installed in its rooftop garden. Ksenia Prints In the mad dash to stop global warming and increase conservation, people resort to some crazy ideas. Yet a simple green building initiative called rainwater harvesting helps bring us one step closer to a vibrant and ecological landscape. Operating on the principle of recycling, this mechanism collects fallen rainwater in a big tank, located under- or above-ground. After being rendered viable for household use through a relatively simple filtration process, the water is pumped into the house s water system. Khosrow Farahbakhsh, an assistant professor of Engineering at the University of Guelph, installed his own rainwater harvesting system in He could not be happier. It s very high quality water; it saves us money, over per cent of our water demand is met through rainwater harvesting; and it s soft water [that is] better for our laundry, he said. Most importantly, it gives you security in terms of water. The Farahbakhsh household uses purified rainwater for toilet flushing, laundry and irrigation. It goes through three purification cycles, and is considered of exceptional quality. Farahbakhsh was not propelled to use the system out of environmental fanaticism, though. A researcher of sustainable water management for over 13 years, he began a study on the viability of mass-scale rainwater harvesting in Ontario in 2005, with a grant from the provincial government. Over the past 50 years, we ve invested primarily in one approach to water management, he said. Because we have diverse demands [for water use], our sources should also be diverse, said Farahbakhsh. Canada is no pioneer in the area of rainwater harvesting. It is widely used in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Doug Pushard is the founder and owner of HarvestH2O, a rainwater harvesting community website. He reports thousands of hits monthly, mostly from the United States, but with Canada a close follower. When I first started [in 1999], I really felt I was out there alone, said Pushard. Now, I literally get s every day. At 52 and a citizen of the southern, arid part of the United States, Pushard discovered rainwater harvesting in Austin, Texas, ten years ago, and got hooked on the idea. Many others followed. Here, where we ve had a drought, people are really wanting to conserve water. It s really an economic interest, he said. Now residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Pushard has a 1,600 gallon underground water tank that is used strictly for irrigation. Rainwater harvesting is gaining popularity in our part of the border largely due to little islands in British Columbia where no centralized water systems exist. Locals must rely on well water, which varies in quality and quantity. Most of our clients don t have an alternative source of water, said Bob Burgess, president and chief designer of the Gulf Islands Rainwater Connection. His company installs and retrofits rainwater harvesting systems in homes and businesses. He reports installing 50 complete rainwater harvesting systems since starting his company, and participating in over 200 partial projects. Their prices vary, with simple garden watering tanks starting at $3,000. Farahbakhsh believes water catchment will not come to replace the central water system, nor does he recommend it as the only system in place. Of all the water that comes to our house, we only consume (for drinking or cooking) 10 per cent of it If we can meet the majority of our demands through [harvested rainwater], that s also OK, he said. Others disagree with his opinion. Burgess claims full-usage rainwater harvesting systems are actually better than what most have in their faucets. But running at over $50,000 a system, these are not for everyone. Those people are not too concerned with the cost, they just want water of a higher quality without all the chlorine and the treatment, said Burgess of those who own the full systems. Texas-native Billy Kniffen is the water resource specialist for a distance education extension of the Texas A & M University. He uses a full rainwater system, and has no secondary sources in place. Seven years ago, I moved to a place outside city limits (in Menard, Texas) where there was no water... I knew I could build it, he said. Kniffen himself installed five 3,000 gallon tanks for use inside the house, and a 1,500 gallon tank for irrigation. The materials cost him $6,500 in 2001; he estimates them to near $9,000 now. We ve tested our water and ours has always been zero bacteria and no minerals, he said. I feel safer drinking this than I do some cities. It certainly smells and tastes better. Mark reimer To Kniffen, full-usage rainwater harvesting is not a matter of money. We build million dollar houses with this system simply because this is what we want to do, he said. According to Farahbakhsh, the harvesting system operates better with diverse use around the house, as it replenishes the supply faster. His team is trying to change the Ontario building code to allow for more diverse uses of harvested rainwater; currently, it only allows collection for irrigation and toilet flushing, with other uses requiring separate approval. Water catchment has even made its way eastward, to colder areas. The Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Winnipeg has a rainwater harvesting system installed in its rooftop garden. It just makes sense, said Donna Hall, the store s sustainability coordinator. It s perfectly good water. Farahbakhsh reports that while several issues arise around rainwater harvesting systems in cold climates, these can be bypassed. Tanks are usually buried below the frost line, and during the frozen months when no water can be collected the system can be backed up through the main water pipes. Surprisingly, all agree that the main benefactors of rainwater harvesting are municipalities. The systems help preserve storm water management mechanisms, as well as lower pressure on the centralized system during peak hours in the gulf islands, some municipalities shut down the main system for the entire summer due to dry weather. The experience of the United States shows that rainwater harvesting was really propelled by dry weather conditions and the implementation of rebates by municipalities. Communities are starting to become more proactive in education and giving rebates... You re starting to see cities now not just giving credits, but literally mandating it, said Pushard. The city of Austin now mandates all new building projects to install water recycling systems. Farahbakhsh believes the same regulations and incentives, alongside education, will be necessary for it to catch on in Canada. He is currently engaging large industries and schools in Ontario in his research, and reports all are very pleased with the energy and water savings, as well as the quality. If you look at our current water distribution system, 50 years ago it didn t look very feasible [either], he said.

5 contact: news June 26, More trees for cleaner air Province implements tree-planting program, new climate change act illustration by robert huynh Ksenia Prints Manitoba takes additional steps towards fully greening itself with a new tree-planting initiative and the first of its kind provincial climate change legislation. The newly announced Trees for Tomorrow program aims to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gasses (G H G) in the atmosphere by planting five million trees in five years. It is a part of a larger legislation, the Climate Change and Emissions Reduction Act. The Act binds the province to meet its Kyoto goals of a six per cent G H G reduction below 1990 goals by 2012 through five activities meant to curb and control current G H G emissions. Both legislations passed in June. The Trees for Tomorrow program goes with the entire strategy where you re trying to reduce the amount of carbon [we] produce as a province, said Energy, Science and Technology Minister Jim Rondeau. Richard Westwood, Biology professor at the University of Winnipeg s Environmental Studies and Urban Studies Centre, said the program relies on an old trick in its implementation. Growing trees transform the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into clean oxygen and energy. The carbon then remains caged within the tree trunk while it stays intact, an average of 100 years. [With trees], you re tying those G H G s semi-permanently, said Westwood. For the first 25 to 30 years they re going to take up an extraordinary high amount of gas. While Westwood salutes the program s intent, he stresses it is no permanent solution. When the trees die they release all these gases. You re temporarily taking in all the G H G that you can, in the hopes that when they decompose we ll be able to deal with it. The amount of trees planted, five million, may not be enough to make a difference. Each crop has a natural loss rate of 30 per cent. Five million trees is a great start, but we should be planting five to ten million a year, said Westwood. In the end, you ll be pretty lucky to have three million growing. The provincial government plants one million trees more than it harvests every year, with 12.1 million planted in and 11.2 harvested. The plan is expected to cost five million over five years. Trees will be planted throughout the province on residential and municipal lands. The press release spoke of large scale plantings on Crown and First Nations lands. Yet Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said the province has yet to procure agreements with any First Nations bands. Westwood believes Trees for Tomorrow is insufficient on its own as it overlooks the production of more carbon dioxide. Minister Rondeau claims the Climate Change and Emissions Reductions Act accounts for this, with Trees for Tomorrow as only one part of emissions control. What we re trying to do is reduce the amount of G H G overall, and the other thing is sequestering the amount of G H G already in the atmosphere. President of Sierra Club Canada s Winnipeg Chapter, Sean Petty, believes the program may still be missing important goals. The plan does not have targets that are based on the science of climate change, he said. [It] does not properly seek to exploit the opportunity for job creation that climate change represents; and the plan does not include financing mechanisms, such as a carbon tax, that are critical to achieving significant gains in the fight against climate change. The Climate Change and Emissions You re temporarily taking in all the greenhouse gases that you can, in the hopes that when they decompose we ll be able to deal with it. Richard Westwood, Professor of Biology, U of W Reduction Act follows the Kyoto Protocol, which was abandoned by many countries including Canada. With a thing like Kyoto it s not so much meeting the criteria, it s more kind of the spirit of the thing, said Westwood. I don t think we should get too hung up on it. Despite this, this initiative was lauded by Canada s environmental activists as a step in the right direction. It makes Manitoba the first province in North America to legislatively enshrine its Kyoto targets, said Sierra Club s Petty. If done right, it will help make the province an economic leader in the future; and the citizens of this province and Canada for that matter want their government to act on climate change. Westwood thinks it s a good framework for small action. Local initiatives like this little act are the really effective things. If we can start locally and grow it up, that s when it becomes effective. Conservation Minister Struthers says the Act should set an example. Many jurisdictions should take the Kyoto Protocol more seriously. Whether you re a citizen, a province or a nation, we all have to take our part. In the end, Trees for Tomorrow and the larger Climate Change Act are only the first steps. It doesn t really matter how good the act is itself, it s are we going to commit the resources to enforcing the act and following through with it, said Westwood.

6 June 26, news International News Briefs Compiled by Jo Snyder Taliban getting loaded off opium, monetarily speaking The UN suspects that the Taliban benefitted from Afghan opium to the tune of 100 million US last year. British officials are saying that the drug money is funding the Taliban s army by collecting a 10 per cent tax from Afghan poppy farmers. Motherjones.com reports that the Taliban opium crops are bigger and more lucrative than any Columbian cocaine King s dream. It employs 3 Million Afghanis and grosses more than 4 Billion per year. Opium production is the primary funder for Islamic fighters, they report. Weaving a new high Drug-traffickers in China were recently busted for weaving heroine into rugs to bring them into the country, reports Reuters. Traffickers first inject heroin into plastic tubes of 1-2 mm diameter and wrap them with colorful natural or synthetic fibers to make them look like yarn. They then weave them into the carpet along with normal yarn, read a state media report. Though China is usually a thoroughfare for drugs, and not a final destination, Chinese border officials are having to contend with the increasing sophistication of drug smugglers. The question is, once the heroin is woven into the carpet like yarn how do you get it out? contact: uniter@uniter.ca No longer her special day 130 couples all got married in a mass ceremony in Taipei. It was also a marriage between Taipei s tourism bureau and the government, as everyone cashed in on this special-in-that-different-kind-of-way day. The goal of the ceremony for the government and tourist board was to promote the beaches as a marriage destination, reported Yahoo News, and oddly enough, the 130 couples didn t seemed to mind sharing their wedding day. The upside with a wedding like that is no one can be that fussy, and you avoid the almost always-likely attack of Bridezilla often associated with North American weddings. However, Taiwanese governments have sponsored mass weddings since the 1970s to discourage extravagant spending on individual parties, reported Yahoo. Condemned for intimidation The UN condemned Zimbabwe for intimidation at the end of June, and called for the presidential vote to be scrapped. Unsurprisingly, Robert Mugabe s government was blamed by the Security Council for the withdrawal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, reported the BBC. The Council argued that the opposition was unable to campaign freely accusing it of a campaign of violence that denied political opponents the right to campaign freely. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, said free elections were no longer possible. Mugabe continues to push through with the vote claiming he has a legal obligation to do so. Military deserters won t find refuge here Local activist takes it to the leg Joe Kornelsen A peace activist marched into the constituency office of Charleswood-St. James- Assiniboia M P Stephen Fletcher on June 11 to protest deportation of United States military deserters who are currently living in Canada. Michael Welch, the founder of Citizens Concerned about Deep Integration, opposes the Iraq war and wants to see Canada grant permanent residence status to American military deserters. We should stand in solidarity with people standing against what is criminal, said Welch, in this case these people realize that they are not serving their countries. Welch quoted a few paragraphs from a book written by deserter Joshua Key suggesting that the war in Iraq was creating future terrorists. Welch is particularly concerned about the deportation of Corey Glass, the first deserter to have his refugee status denied. A non-binding motion to grant permanent residence status to deserters was passed in parliament but it is expected that the government will ignore the motion. Welch entered Fletcher s Winnipeg office at two o clock in the afternoon to demand that the government recognize the parliamentary vote to give permanent residence status to Corey Glass. When the office closed he was asked to leave and he continued his protest outside for the rest of the day and all of the next day. Fletcher was one of the M Ps who voted against the motion. He believes that the U S has a fair court system and deserters should argue their case in their own country. He also defended the immigration policy in Canada. There should not be a special program for deserters; Canada has a fair refugee program, said Fletcher. All the courts have ruled that deserters who have brought their cases forward do not qualify as refugees, he said, adding they all volunteered (for U S military service). The issue of accepting U S citizens fleeing military service at home has been a recurring issue in Canadian politics. During the Vietnam War draft dodgers and military deserters also came to Canada seeking landed immigrant status. After 1969 deserters were no longer prevented from seeking immigrant status. About the protest, Fletcher said that he had experienced a number of protests in the last month related to the government s immigration policy. I think protesting is a fundamental right that we have as Canadians. Welch said that he was nervous going in but said that it was a good experience to meet with the staff. I had a good conversation with the staff, they were quite congenial. Although he felt that he didn t change the minds of the people at the office, Welch said that he felt he did have an impact. Glass has until June 21st to willingly leave the country or he faces deportation. He can also appeal his case.

7 contact: arts & culture SECTION June XXXXX-DATE 26, Arts & Culture For a folk fest first Aaron Epp It s shameful. Although I ve been a Winnipegger all my life, and count trips to the R W B, W S O, W A G, M T C and W E C C as just a few of the notches in my (acronym-laden) arts and culture belt, I have never been to the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Okay, that s not entirely true I went once, two years ago, for one day. I don t see how that counts, though, considering I didn t get the full, four-day, camping-andnot-bathing-and-bingeing-on-music-and-possibly-illicit-substances-thatmy-oma-woud-not-approve-of experience I ve always heard about. This is the year I change all that (with the possible exception of the illicit substances part). But what should a novice attendee know before heading to Birds Hill Park July 10-13? To find the answer, I spoke with Mitch Podolak, who founded the festival, Karen Press, the festival s communications manager, and Julia Kasdorf, one of this year s performers. ➂ You re going to be outdoors, so dress appropriately and take care of yourself Press says she s seen women in high heels not a good idea for a location Podolak describes as not a fancy, manicured park. It s a rough-hewn festival site. He recommends sunscreen, sun glasses, mosquito repellent, plenty of water and a change of warm clothes and dry boots cause you never know what s gonna happen like the time in the late 70s whe a tornado touched down 40 yards from the stage. Kasdorf, who will be performing on the Young Performer s Stage July 11 for her fifth year, recommends wearing anything loose and comfortable, and anything that isn t too hot. Men in sarongs is common, and nipple tassels were popular last year. It s pretty much anything goes there really are no limitations whatsoever. What you need to know if you ve never been ➀ It s been around for a while This year marks the 35th annual Winnipeg Folk Festival, but when Podolak planned the first one in 1974, it was supposed to be a one-off event to mark Winnipeg s 100th anniversary. The three-day weekend was free, featured 50 acts on four stages, and attracted an estimated 22,000 people. It occurred to me the weekend of the festival that this could happen every year, says Podolak, now 60. As soon as it was over, we started working on the second one. Today, the festival s annual operating budget is more than $3.5 million and attendance exceeds 62,000, including performers, volunteers and guests. About 250 artists perform on seven stages throughout the weekend. ➃ It s more than just music... There s the Hand-Made Village as well, a craft market featuring ceramics, soaps, custom-made instruments, clothing, jewellery and more by artisans from Manitoba and across Canada. The Food Village offers a wide selection of sustenance, and the licensed Tamarack Tavern and a second, smaller drinks tent are both nearby. Podolak advises against beer, though. Bring lots of dope, he says. It s better than beer. Does he still partake? No comment, he replies, before adding, If you re gonna drop acid, I d bring Vitamin B with you. But I wouldn t drop acid on that site; it s too confusing. Camping is also a crucial part for many people, including Kasdorf. There s something about being dirty for the whole weekend that really adds to it, she says with a laugh. It s convenient. If you want to sleep, don t camp, Podolak adds. There s just too many idiots with drums. That s the truth. ➄ But the music s the most important part ➁ It pays to be early If you re planning to camp, get tickets in advance, Press advises. They go quickly. Camping passes are $30 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store (211 Bannatyne Ave.) and Ticketmaster until June 30, and $35 after that. Four-day festival passes are $ for adults before June 30, and one-day passes are $ Good camp spots are coveted, and Press warns that when you re at the festival, you should know that spots in front of the main stage go quickly too the lineup to reserve a choice spot usually starts at 7 a.m. Leave your preconceptions about what kind of music there s going to be at home, because it s diverse, Press advises. The programming includes rock, reggae, hip hop, dub, roots, country, blues, gospel, funk, soul, and more, with main stage appearances by The Weakerthans, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Nanci Griffith, Calexico and Ray Davies. The daytime schedule isn t bad, either. Get there early and pay very close attention to the daytime schedule, says Podolak. There s better music in the daytime than in the evening, and more of it. Kasdorf agrees. Definitely go see as many shows as possible. Everything s so laidback that I think it s easy to just stay in one spot, and sleep in and not see that much stuff, but it s really worth it to walk around and listen to as much music as possible. Podolak adds that if people don t go, They ve missed the most fun they can potentially have in the city of Winnipeg, and that s the truth. No one s gonna steal from ya, and no one behaves badly in the body of the festival. I m 60 years old, and I still go. Kasdorf agrees. It s always a good time, she says. It s always different, but it s always a good time. For complete information, visit Hear Julia Kasdorf at

8 June 26, arts & culture contact: Local entrepreneur Allison Moyer (pictured left) has opened up her own boutique online with hand made rings (above), shirts (below), dresses, and more. Check out what s available in the local online scene by going to theragboutique.com. Photos by Lana Boulanger Pavelick Artsy Fartsy Photo (

9 contact: arts & culture June 26, STYLE BEAT The Convenient World of Online Shopping with a Local Flare Holly Rose In the fast paced and demanding world we now live in, where time is money and faster is better, we as a society have learned to compensate for our lack of time by taking advantage of the all hours world of online shopping. Today, if you decide at 3 A M that you need a new bathing suit or even a new car, all you have to do is click on your internet icon and the entire world of fashion, fashion blogs, fashion shows and images of who is wearing what and how they are wearing it, is literally at your finger tips. Recently, I spotted a great eco friendly, Canadian designed and manufactured bathing suit in a magazine. The designer, who lives in Nova Scotia does not have boutiques carrying her line this far west; however, to compensate, she also has an online boutique where customers from literally anywhere in the world can purchase her products online (how convenient!). I was able to purchase the bikini in less than 10 minutes, fully informed of the sizing and I didn t waste a drop of gas or spend a single minute in front of a fluorescently lit mirror to get it. Since the inception of online shopping sites like internet pioneer Amazon.com, online stores have become an established part of the retailing world. As far back as 2005, Canadians ordered just over $7.9 billion worth of products for personal use and that number has increased dramatically. From the consumers perspective, the benefits are substantial. To top off the convenience factor, items purchased online have a far lower mark-up margin than those of boutiques and the selection which saves you money and allows the shopping experience to become a matter of time and taste rather than availability or selection as the item you are searching for can be available world wide, for a variety of prices and in a number of different formats. As a retailer, having your products or services available online not only increases the target audience but also allows those with small businesses to run their affairs online without the need of an initial investment or the overhead costs of retail space, staff, theft, rent, bills, ect. It is really a far more cost efficient way of running a business, as you literally have access to the entire online world of potential customers for a fraction of the cost. Locally there are a number of designers and crafters who are selling their product online. Rag Boutique is one of them and operates in a very similar way to the retail boutiques in Osborne Village or The Exchange. Owned by local entrepreneur and crafter Allison Moyer, Rag Boutique carries Moyer s own line of dresses and skirts as well as an inventory of clothing and accessories from various other designers and crafters around the world. I do a lot of shopping online, Allison explains. I look for items that I really enjoy and contact them much like an owner of a boutique would to see if they do wholesale. This type of relationship works great because it allows me to have the volume of inventory I need to have a store online. Moyer s online boutique is beginning to gain recognition in the city. Many young designers are starting to follow suit with original designs and handmade products. Etsy.com is a site that allows designers to display and sell their work all over the world. But to keep her local market, Moyer often organizes craft shows like the informal business launch of her online store, the: Cordially Yours Craft Sale & Rock Show on Wed, June 25 featured Allison s own designs, products from her boutique, as well as various other crafters and designers products. Moyer plans to organize more events like this throughout the summer, so keep your eyes peeled. If you have never tried online shopping before and you want to dabble with a local entrepreneur, you can visit the Rag Boutique website at: com or check out her myspace page at: Fashion Streeter is an ongoing documentation of creative fashion in Winnipeg inspired by the Helsinki fashion blog Each week will feature a new look from our city s streets and bars in an attempt to encourage individual expression and celebrate that you are really, really good looking. Want to show off your style? Contact arts@uniter.ca Johnny Nuclear I like to look good. Handmade rings available at theragboutique.com. CINDY TITUS

10 June 26, arts & culture contact: Movie Reviews ❶ Beautiful Losers Directed by Aaron Rose / 90 minutes July 25 & 26 9:30 PM / July 30, Aug. 1 & 2 9:00 PM at Cinematheque Reviewed by Dan Huyghebaert Beautiful Losers follows the careers of several loose knit Generation X artists as they struggle to find their identity in a cultural age surrounded by punk rock, graffiti, skateboarding and hip hop. Featuring such artists as Margaret Kilgallen, whose inspiration comes from handmade painted store signs, Mike Mills, who placed zen-like phrases in surprising urban areas and Shepherd Fairy, who delves in propaganda style art (especially the now famous Obey posters that sprang up in Winnipeg not so long ago). The group came together in the early 90s at a local store front gallery in New York City called Alleged. Attracted to each other by their Do-It-Yourself aesthetic to art and common background in subcultures, they soon became a cultural force unto themselves. Director Aaron Rose, also involved in the same art scene, has fashioned a quite informative film about a little known art movement that started off with a bunch of bored teenagers who were angry at the establishment. Now, many of these artists are successful to the point of influencing that establishment (check out Fairy s website, for example, obeygiant.com whose tagline is manufacturing quality dissent since 1989 ), or Mike Mills, who has gone on to direct the excellent film Thumbsucker as well as designing album covers for such bands as Sonic Youth and Air. Rose s objective here is to place this movement into the annals of art history, and to cement what was a subculture and indeed, it still is in many cases into the mainstream pop culture. The film does address this commercialism, albeit in a half hearted manner, as the artists struggle to keep their integrity as professional artists. While there are some artists who are simply more entertaining than others, the film is also about art itself, and what inspires creativity. There s an excellent interview where artist Harmony Korine laments the fact that a park where he and his delinquent friends used to hang out has been changed into a place for joy, I guess : a park for children complete with painted seahorses. Even though nostalgia permeates this film as the artists recollect the good times, Beautiful Losers gives hopes to artist slackers everywhere that modern art is indeed alive and well and commercially viable. ❷ Big Dreams in Little Tokyo Directed by Dave Boyle / 86 minutes July 11 & 12 9:30 PM at Cinematheque Reviewed by Dan Huyghebaert Boyd just wants to fit in. He speaks impeccable Japanese, and his apartment is filled with tacky Japanese decorations. He s desperately trying to break into the Japanese business world, selling corny language books. His trouble is that he s an American living in San Jose. His roommate Jerome ( Pretty boring name, huh? ) also has a culture problem. He s a Japanese American who is having trouble identifying with either culture. As a result, he s learning Japanese from Boyd. The identity problem of both characters is symbolized by their dress and body language. Boyd s rigid business suit restricts his personality and traps his desire for a Japanese nurse named Mai. Jerome is an aspiring sumo wrestler who struts around the apartment in his sumo outfit, but his body rebels against him when he binges on Japanese food in an effort to put on pounds. But the film delves beyond these surfaces and takes a look at what culture is. Writer/director Dave Boyle (who also plays Boyd) has crafted a quiet comedy that pokes a little fun at our conceptions of cultural identity and stereotypes. He turns around the fish-out-of-water story, with his American character playing the Japanese stranger in a strange land, and the Japanese characters playing the Americans. While the rest of the story is rather predictable and by the numbers, there are some endearing performances, especially from Jayson Watabe, who plays Jerome. His comic presence during the budding relationship of Boyd and Mai is charming and enjoyable. Boyle explores uniqueness and questions genuine culture in a city where Latin Americans work in the kitchen of a Japanese restaurant. It is no wonder that the film features such food fare as California Rolls and Tacos, pseudo cultural cuisine passed off as genuine in a world where the global village blurs what culture really is. ❸ Dreams with Sharp Teeth Directed by Erik Nelson / 96 minutes July 18 & 19 9:30 PM and July 20 7:00 PM at Cinematheque Reviewed by Dan Huyghebaert He once mailed a dead gopher to a publishing house. He coined the term bugfuck. He wrote a short story in 5 hours while in a book store window in the early 80s in an attempt to demystify the author. He is also one of the most prolific writers of our time, winning countless Hugo and Nebula awards, and wrote what is considered the definitive Star Trek Episode, The City on the Edge of Forever. Harlan Ellison may be a strange subject for a documentary, but its easy to see why the very vocal and feisty speculative fiction writer was given time in front of the camera. A self acknowledged angry man, Ellison loves to speak his mind. Listen to him rant about how Warner Brothers wanted him to donate his interview time for the Babylon 5 DVD, ripping the spokesperson and about working free of charge. Everybody else may be an asshole, but I m not! By what right would you call me and ask me to work for nothing? He laments amateur authors who are willing to work for free to get their foot in the door. I ll sell my soul, but for the highest rates. The film gives Ellison plenty of screen time, and his rants range from signing autographs, to peppering a student at MIT about what wisdom is. Ellison also successfully sued James Cameron after Cameron acknowledged that The Terminator was inspired by two Outer Limits episodes that Ellison wrote. Although it s quite obvious that director Erik Nelson worships the author, Ellison himself defers such accolades, constantly making clear the fact that he is just a hard working person, complete with warts. Talking heads include some genre heavyweights, such as Sandman author Neil Gaiman, and Dan Simmons, who comment on their friendship with him, as well as his influence on them as writers. He even roped in Ellison s good friend Robin Williams to say a few words. There is also some terrific archival interviews, including those with Tom Snyder, all of which give a glimpse into the mind of one of the world s most brilliant authors. ❹ Standard Operating Procedure Directed by Errol Morris / 116 minutes July 18 & 19 7:00 PM / July 19 & 20 4:00 PM / July 23rd and 24th 7:00 PM at Cinematheque Reviewed by Dan Huyghebaert When the pictures at Abu Ghraib first surfaced in 2004, the world was rightfully shocked and horrified. But as every photographer knows, there is a story behind every picture, and herein lies the concept behind Errol Morris Standard Operating Procedure. Morris has become one of America s finest documentary filmmakers. From his meticulous look at wrongful conviction in The Thin Blue Line to his look at Vietnam in The Fog of War. Here Morris interviews almost everyone stationed at the infamous Iraq prison during the time of the pictures. This includes Lynndie England, who was the soldier holding a leash to one of the prisoners. She defends her actions as having to hold her own among the men of the military, especially being the fiancé of one of the soldiers. While obedience as a defense was thrown out with Nurmburg, many of them also talk of the comradeship among the soldiers as the reason for turning a blind eye, with the mantra of helping saving American lives. But Morris does not stop at simple interviews about the military s policy towards torture, and discerning between criminal acts and standard operating procedures in this regard. He delves in the act of the photography itself, attempting to get the story behind the photographs. As one soldier said, The pictures only show you a fraction of a second. You don t see forward, you don t see backward, you don t see outside the frame. Many of the pictures were framed and cropped, and some were even staged. As a result, Morris re-enacts many of the situations portrayed in the pictures, but these are dark and moody, blurring the actions. The effect is somewhat muddled. While they lend a lush, haunting atmosphere, it lessens the realistic impact that the photos had. But Morris has constructed a tight look at the actions at the Iraqi prison, and like Taxi to the Dark Side, makes a good examination of the Unites States look at torture in their war on terror, and the fact that no one above the rank of Staff Sergeant has been charged with any offences as a result of Abu Ghraib. ❺ MONGOL: The untold story of the rise of Genghis Khan Directed by Sergei Bodrov / 124 minutes Opens in theatres June 27 Reviewed by Jo Snyder In this two-hour epic film about the origins of Genghis Khan, Russian filmmaker Sergie Bodrov attempts, and fails, to earn the viewers compassion and understanding of this historical anti-hero. People s feelings about Genghis Kahn are conflicting. Was he a hero of minority rights in Mongolia, a fearless, brave, and divinely chosen leader, or was he an accidental hero, a genocidal warlord? None, or very few, of your questions about the famous leader will be answered with this film. Certainly we understand that the trials and tribulations of childhood in 1162 Mongolia would ve been harsh, and Temudgin (who grew into Genghis Kahn) certainly had a tough time of it. His father was poisoned, his village pillaged, and there are at least two scenarios in which he ends up running across the steppe with his head and hands in a vice. Though the movie doesn t make Kahn out to be an evil villain, it certainly doesn t paint a picture of a visionary. He didn t seem to have many loyalties, though he did love his wife in that Jerry Maguire sort of way. Had he not made a small mention of wanting to unite all Mongolian tribes, one wouldn t know he had any such intention. Most of his early life, it seemed, was spent being caught and escaping. Further, it s hard to feel anything for the Mongol. His character isn t special, and he s slightly unlikeable merely because his life and leadership seems almost accidental. Was it the acting or the directing? What possibly could ve cleared up many questions, (like how and when did he become a good fighter, where did he learn to command a giant army, and where did all of the industry take place with which to supply the army) would have been a killer montage. You know the kind where a really good song takes you from a beginner to a pro in about three-and-ahalf minutes? That, or it could ve been directed by Michael Bay, and there would ve been exploding horse parts and heads flying all over the place, maybe some lazers or a giant truck hurling off the mountain and landing on an enemy village in a savage and fiery display of nationalistic territorialism: yurts and Bortes everywhere. Normally these sorts of movies can be quite good: energetic, informative, engagingly embellished interpretations of historical events that leave you with an oh that s how it happened. Neat. feeling. Keep in mind, however, this is a telling of everything up to Genghis Kahn s rule, and nothing after. So if that is a story you want to hear, then go. Certainly these stories are worth telling. ❻ Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed Directed by Nathan Frankowski / 90 mins Opens in theatres June 27 Reviewed by Jo Snyder Does the world need another Michael Moore? No. Fuck no: especially not one whom has completed the base amount of research on a subject that is tired before it has even begun to be argued. Ben Stein attempts, in his movie Expelled, to flip the God question on its head. What Richard Dawkins and others have done for popular theism, by nearly insisting (but not totally) on the non-existence of a God, or gods, and by protecting the rights of evolution to be taught in school, Stein tried to do for Intelligent Design Theory. The documentary begins with a university professor who suggested in an academic paper that the origin of life could have begun with the help of an external and intelligent entity. He was fired after the incident and links it to this paper. Stein interviews others who have had the same experience: all non-tenured professors in American institutions. The sole tenured professor he did interview was penalized for his suggestion that there may be an intelligent designer. Many claimed their careers were ruined. This is unfortunate, and unjust to say the least, not congruent with laws of freedom of speech, and all of the infractions seemed rather minor. However, the deeper meaning behind any of these incidences have nothing to do with the debate at hand. It seems as though Ben Stein has a bone to pick with the agressive Darwinists and is using this incredibly flimsy premise to do so. And of course it becomes personal, as Mr. Stein takes a trip to Dachau, the first concentration camp opened in Germany during the holocaust. It is here that he draws the parallels between Darwin and Hitler s love of evolution. Stein also made trips to England and France for this movie: seemily he made a much better vaction of it, than a documentary film. Question: What is the motivation behind this film? First, it isn t interesting enough to be informative. Second, the social phenomenon Ben Stein is describing is hardly rampant, and the critique is coming from what seems like a very personal place. His incredibly flacid attack on Richard Dawkins at the end of the film, where he tries to trap him into admitting the possiblity of a God, which he easily does, is grade school at best and diminishes some of the thin maturity the film was clinging to. No. No. No. No. Bad.

11 Curran Ferris As global temperatures rise, ice caps melt, and oil prices skyrocket, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the environmental challenges faced by our planet are daunting, and the ways in which we live, eat, and travel are forever changing. But what does this all mean to a touring musician? For Jose Gonzalez, during his 2008 winter tour of North America, it meant canceling out carbon emissions and using reusable water bottles while on the road. However, for his latest string of American and Canadian dates, Gonzalez was unable to continue touring in such a sustainable way. [For] the last tour we hooked up with this company [Reverb] that helped us out planning the tour, and they talked to the venues about recycling and calculating how much energy we were using, says Gonzalez. Unfortunately on this tour, partly, I think because of the budget, we weren t able to do the same economically it has to be a well-paid tour in order to that, unfortunately. Not that you should blame Gonzalez for not going green this time around. Sadly, environmentally friendly solutions to travel and energy still come with high price tags, making those solutions viable only to those who can afford them. For example, Reverb s list of clients includes high grossing artists like John Mayer, Jack Johnson, and Red Jose Gonzalez will be playing July 1 and 2 at the Park Theatre. contact: uniter@uniter.ca arts & culture June 26, Jose Gonzalez balances genre, lyrics, and environmental and social responsibility Hot Chili Peppers. In the face of ever-increasing environmental challenges and changes, the Swedish-born solo guitarist remains optimistic that touring will still be a possibility for musicians and artists regardless of the increasing environmental implications involved. I think people like hearing music and are willing to keep it going. Winnipeggers are certainly more than willing to support live music due to an overwhelming demand, Jose Gonzalez will be playing two shows, July 1 and 2, at the Park Theatre in support of his latest record, In Our Nature. The small, intimate theatre is the perfect venue for Gonzalez unique blend of classical guitar, folk, and indie-rock. Trained in Spanish classical guitar and well versed in bossa-nova finger-style, Gonzalez music is filled with musical paradoxes as traditional Latin rhythms lie beneath decidedly un-traditional elements: bold and unique chord progressions, open tunings, and discordance. Utilizing the techniques of classical and bossa-nova guitar, Gonzalez is able to simultaneously convey rhythm, melody, and harmony all with one guitar. At once dense and minimal, restrained and powerful, Gonzalez music is nothing short of spellbinding. This rich harmonic tapestry is perfect for Gonzalez soft, delicate vocals and his poetic, thoughtprovoking lyrics which stem from his interests in philosophy, ethics, and religion. Worlds apart from the maudlin lyrics of other acoustic solo artists today, the lyrical content of In Our Nature stresses human responsibility on individual, global, and universal levels. The tone on the album is similar to what I used to write in my hardcore band. Sort of, like, angry or frustrated, accusing lyrics, says Gonzalez. Yet Gonzalez philosophical and political stance is not overtly obvious, that is, Jose does not hit his audience over the head with his ideas or wave a banner on stage. Instead, his lyrical approach is much more artistic and subtle. I feel like the part where you have pop music or popular culture trying to speak up about topics can be a bit weird sometimes because you sort of have the spotlight on you and you re in a position where you can say anything. It s not like what you say is better or more valuable than someone who knows his topic it s a thin line I feel. However, as important as environmentalism, peace, and human responsibility are to Gonzalez, he is somewhat uncomfortable with such important and complex issues being discussed in the arena of popular culture. If you think about the public, it s better to have a good discussion in the media. I think that is a better form to talk about bigger topics about the world I m a bit ambivalent, actually, about an artist like me, for example, speaking up about religion. Still, it is refreshing to see, and hear, a musician who is using their position under the spotlight, and the power of their art, to raise awareness about larger issues. Perhaps the true power of Jose Gonzalez music lies in his ability to gracefully walk the thin line between bossa-nova and indierock, musician and environmentalist, activist and poet. Crosstown Rivals ß Carpenter Aaron Epp Has John Cougar Mellencamp ever killed a horse? It s a question every fan of the Jack and Diane singer has faced at one point or another, and Dan Sioui of Vancouver s Carpenter is no different. No, Sioui answers by phone from Toronto, but if he did, I m positive he would do it in the most humane way possible. He would smother it with a pillow, or gas it with his Chevy truck. The thirty-two-year-old singer-guitarist should know his discovery of Mellencamp s 1982 album American Fool (which features songs like the aforementioned Jack and Diane as well as Hurts So Good ) in 2005 inspired the creation of his current project. His love for Mellencamp permeated the recording of Law of the Land, the quartet s first full-length, released June 3 on local label Smallman Records. Dan brought in records, he brought in photographs it was always not too far [away], says Aaron Nordean, who co-produced the disc with Shawn Penner. The two have previously worked on records by Hot Hot Heat and Bif Naked. [Mellencamp is] not something a lot of bands these days would pick up on. I think it s a cool angle for Carpenter to have. The 10 songs on Law of the Land are post-punk in the vein of Hot Water Music, but the presence of acoustic guitars, piano, harmonica and country-like leads in Off the Road and Don t Go ensure that Mellencamp s influence is felt. It s a record Sioui is proud of, made up of songs that he hopes are timeless just like the ones on American Fool. We re talking about an album that s been out for 25 years, and it s just as good today as was back then, Sioui said. People with Mellencamp in their C D collection shouldn t be afraid to admit he s more than just a guilty pleasure. Tell people to join the Church of Cougar, he said. Curran Ferris Playing in a rock band isn t easy. Good musicians are hard to find, the songwriting process is often arduous, and once you get out of the basement you are met with a whole new series of challenges and pitfalls: playing to empty clubs and indifferent crowds, the difficulties associated with recording, and the death knell for most bands, line-up changes. Winnipeg s Crosstown Rivals can easily check all of the above off from the list of potential dealbreakers for bands today, and they can do it proudly. After a brief break up, Crosstown Rivals have returned to Winnipeg s burgeoning indie-rock scene with a new E.P. (recorded and produced by Ricardo Lopez of Old Folks Home) and a new guitarist, Louis Levesque-Cote, ex-member of The Paperbacks and current member of Boats! And the band is hungrier than ever Crosstown Rivals have completely overhauled their sound and have honed their songwriting skills. Brittany Hildebrandt There s only 2 songs that we still play now that we played before we broke up. It s all brand new. Essentially we just forgot them, said vocalist and guitarist Cody Sellar. The addition of a second guitarist has certainly expanded the band s tightly wound, dark, and propulsive sound, pushing the band s sound into more versatile and unique territories. Most noticeable is the presence of thick synths, incredibly dancey drum beats, and a greater attention to melody. Since we ve had a second guitarist it s gone from more bare-bones rock n roll to something more melodic there s definitely a lot more melody to it, said Sellar. Added Levesque-Cote, I come from a bit of a different scene, [this band] is definitely different from what I was used to and I think maybe that s where some of the melodic aspects come from. Aside from the release of their new E.P. this summer, Crosstown Rivals will embark on a two week tour of Eastern Canada, getting indie-rock kids out of their seats and onto the dance floor.

12 XXXXX-DATE June 26, SECTION arts & culture contact: Arts Briefs Compiled by Jo Snyder Best air guitarist in the city heads to T.O. On Saturday June 21, Joe Warkentin won the title as the best air guitarist in the province. Warkentin plays in local rock quartet Hot Live Guys, and is no stranger to action. He is well known for his spastic like performances which often end up in near epileptic seizures on the floor, and becoming unplugged will almost always occur. But on the 21st, Warkentin was in a new element, one without fear of unplugging, the air guitar. He was the crowd favourite and rooted mostly likely to win with his high marks on Hot for Teacher by Van Halen, and Sweet s Set Me Free. The Royal Albert Arms, who hosted the event, will be flying Warkentin to Toronto where he will compete at the Canadian Air Guitar Championships held at Lee s Palace in Toronto on July 11. The winner will represent Canada at the World Air Guitar Championships in Oulu, Finland in August. ca Youtube a new stage for dance-offs Many of us have seen So You Think You Can Dance, Step Up, and maybe even that awesome episode of South Park called You ve been F d in the A where Stan tries to dance his way out of getting beaten up by doing a line dance to Achy Breaky Heart. Gold. But now YouTube boasts to be hosting the biggest online dance battle in the history of mankind. The whole thing began when Step Up 2 director Jon Chu and the film s star Adam Sevani posted a challenge to Miley Cyrus goading her into what they were wanting to be the biggest YouTube challenge in history. And it has since evolved into a flood of videos packed with celebrity cameos and MTV parodies. So, as with everything else with our generation, the playground has moved to the Internet. Amy Winehouse has Emphysema Well kids, if you didn t need a reason to quit smoking and not do crack, here is one that will break your fucking heart. The 24-year-old diva Amy Winehouse collapsed after signing autographs a couple of weeks ago, reported Billboard. com. Winehouse is famous, not only for her heartbreakingly beautiful voice, and stunning jazz sensibilities, but also her insane lifestyle, which included overindulgence in booze, cigarettes, and hard drugs. Doctors are speculating that she has 70 per cent lung capacity, and if she doesn t change her lifestyle now, she will be wearing an oxygen mask, and then, of course, die. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, has been talking to media all week regarding the diva s medical condition. Fans and media alike are saddened, but not surprised. Viva Las Fringe promises to heat up the summer Tanja Goldbecher It s time for the 21st Winnipeg Fringe Festival. 141 local, national and international companies and about 900 actors can be seen on stage from July This year s theme of the famous theatre festival is all about Las Vegas. Originally the idea for this huge theatre festival came from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. That started in 1947 when eight theatre groups performed separately from the Edinburgh International Festival to spread out their more alternative theatre. One year later the Scottish journalist Robert Kemp wrote an article about the new developed festival in Edinburgh. Unknowingly he gave the festival its name by writing: Round the fringe of the official Festival [ ]. One of the international performers will be Jonathan Katz. The Australian actor appears mostly as a comedian with no other goal than entertaining people. Three times he has already been touring through Canada with his solo shows Uber Alice the elaborate adventures of a New Zealand manicurist, C A C T U S the seduction and Jolly Roger. This year Katz will put on a new show, The Spy. The play is about a master spy called Seymour Foggs who goes undercover. He intends to stop an assassination but finds himself dealing with double agents, moles and subterfuges. Every character in the show tries to find Yevgeny Aleksandrovich who is suspected to keep a secret about the future of the world. I like to use a mix of scripted dialogue and tangential improvisations, said Katz. Having a structure is important to him, but so is leaving space for surprises and individual happenings. He says that is why every single show of his is different and he believes audiences love seeing performers deal with genuine mistakes. Katz has been directing and acting in Guernica will show at 70 Albert during this year s fringe fest. Not suitable for children. many theatre productions and was given the Audience Choice Award at the Toronto Fringe Festival in In both years 2005 and 2007 he won the award for Georgia Straight Pick of the Fringe at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Besides his performance of The Spy Katz directed two other shows The Sputniks and Manners for Men. Winnipeg has one of the best festivals in Canada with an army of theatre-goers who get out and see lots of shows, he said. Winnipeg has always struck me as having a vibrant arts scene from the film group to some of the visual arts there. I think your geographic isolation breeds a tight-knit, committed arts community, said Katz. Theatre Incarnate presents one out of over 60 local performers at the 2008 Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Since 1996 Eric Bossé, Brenda McLean and Christopher Sobczak lead this nonprofit performing arts company. All their effort is put into furthering the theatrical development. Realizing this aim Theatre Incarnate offers workshops in acting, writing and directing. At the moment the workshops are on an invited basis but going forward the company wants to open that possibility to other individuals as well. Brenda McLean has been attending the Fringe Festival for 12 years. For her it is a great chance to show experimental theatre. Guernica is the name of the play the three actors Benda McLean, Mia von Leeuwen and Delf Gravert are going to perform. Their own created show relates to Picasso s masterpiece Guernica and is about three lost souls struggling to exhume their humanity while God s away on business. There are no dialogs in the whole play. Just the actor s body is used as an expressive tool. McLean describes that kind of performance as Illustrative Physical Theatre. Guernica will show at Albert street in the evenings from July 16th to 26th, except Sunday July 20th, which is an afternoon show at 3.30 pm. Catch The Spy July 17 to 27 at the Exchange Community Church.

13 contact: arts & culture SECTION June XXXXX-DATE 26, Life after Label: Next Thought a New Home for Student Artists Kelly Nickie As a beginner in any career, it can be hard to lodge your foot in the door of opportunity unless you know of the person who is opening it for you. Local artists had Label Gallery as a start to showcase their artwork, but its recent closure left an opporuntiy for the next beginner gallery. Next Thought Gallery, located on 357 Langside Street, is going to be the new starter home for budding student artists to showcase any medium of artwork to the public. Jonathan Boehm, creator of Next Thought, always had the idea of putting up a student art gallery from his experience with the student art galleries in Halifax. Originally from Charleswood here in Winnipeg, he spent his last few years attending the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. After moving back to Winnipeg, he began looking for studio space for his artwork. He continued with the idea of setting up a space for students as he gained ideas from when he purchased the Langside space. He chose Langside as the place for the gallery because of its cost and its busy traffic of students from various schools in the area. Boehm belives in the importance of having a space for local art students to show off their work. The space is meant as a stepping stone between the classroom critique and the professional gallery. It gives them a great start to building up their resume and to establish some financial ground from their works, he said. The gallery space is very unique in its space and size. The place itself is partly owned by his friend, Melanie Regnier, owner of her own vintage clothing shop Hungover Empire Clothing set right before the gallery. The gallery itself is separated into its own space. It is small but has a humble and hip feel. It provides plenty of wall space and lights for artists to experiment with placement and lighting of their artwork. The best part about the space is that it is free for the artist to use as long mark reimer as they provide the advertising for the exhibition. Boehm encourages all kinds of art students within the community to submit their artworks to the Gallery and to continue producing artwork. The exhibition that is on now, Gallery, meet School is various pictures that Boehm took of art schools around Winnipeg. He showcases the diversity that many of the students from these insitutions can bring to the gallery. Prarie View Photography, the University of Winnipeg, and even his own high school, Oak Park, are featured among the display. He understands though the pressure that new student artists face when it comes to criticism of their works. Somtimes the artist won t show up for their own opening because of the criticism that they may face. I belive that as long as you re getting some sort of emotion out of the person, it is getting your work out there and having people talk about it, he said. The name of the gallery came from his goal to encourage discussions of the art shown in the gallery, providing visitors and artists with the next thought towards art. To find out more future exhibitions at Next Thought Gallery, visit and join their Facebook group Next Thought Art Gallery Inc. To book or find out more information on submitting your work to Next Thought, contact Jonathan Boehm through Nextthought@live.com or call the gallery at My(thologizing) Winnipeg Conrad Sweatman My Winnipeg, a documentary by Guy Maddin, (unquestionably Winnipeg s currently most internationally recognized, most locally envied filmmaker), premiered, finally, in Winnipeg on June 24 at the Burton Cummings Theatre, after having garnered, they say, a significant amount of praise at various international film festivals. Last time a film by Maddin was screened to a large public audience in Winnipeg was with Brand upon the Brain, at last year s Winnipeg New Music Festival. The event featured members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra who performed the score to the film, composed by American Jason Staczek, live. Before seeing the show, I remember hearing criticisms from a musical composer regarding the choice of Alexander Mickelthwate (W S O music director) and Vincent Ho (W S O composer in residence) to include the screening and the performance at the festival. The N M F is not a film festival and Stackzek s score was not new classical music proper, but soundtrack music. And furthermore, the composer complained, Staczek is not Canadian, and so inclusion of his work within the festival would oppose the Canadian musical theme designated, so proudly, that year by the festival directors. The choice to feature Brand at the festival, he argued, was a sly effort to simply boost ticket sales. After seeing Maddin s film I decided it was too long and the repeated sexual moments throughout between the child protagonist ( Guy the young actor of which bears uncanny resemblance to Maddin) and the character s (grotesque) mother, I admit made me a little sick. But still, outside being sometimes gross, the film was often quite funny and the narrative surprisingly touching, even haunting, especially supplemented by Stackzek s evocative minimalist score. Most importantly though, mission accomplished, Maddin s film drew out a huge audience from the locals, and, judging from the hum afterward, elicited the most obviously excited reaction from attendees out of all of the events at the events. Winnipeggers were proud of Maddin. It was quite by chance that no less than a week later I came across a (bootleg) copy of Maddin s latest film, the (pseudo) documentary My Winnipeg. The film is replete with marvellous, authentic archival footage (although with several, bizarre, re-enactments sequences included as well) and photographs from Winnipeg s history, and as with Brand, is concerned, if too persistently, with examining, rebuilding, certain threads of Maddin s personal history. But, also as with Brand, Maddin is here up to his well known tricks, recreating the melodramatic styles of Weimar Republic German silent films, which effectively depletes the film from any legitimacy as a true documentary. But, of course, it was never Maddin s intention to produce a film which aspired to narrative sobriety. I have gone way out my way with My Winnipeg to confront Canadians diffidence, pure shaky confidence, about mythologizing themselves as Canadians, he said. Greek, Roman, and biblical myths exist because people are used to boiling down stories, changing them, turning them into lies that are truer than the truth, boiling them down to their essence. And that stuff is really important! But if Winnipeggers are reticent about self-mythologizing it may because the history of our city might feel somewhat on the banal side. Maddin, with his fantastical style, plays this reality to comic effect, depicting as sinister what is ingenuous, painting local figures and events from our dwarfish history in gruesome and monstrous hues, elevating them to the stuff of myths. This makes us laugh, because as Winnipeggers, most of the events represented will seem familiar, not extraordinary, and most of the locations and landmarks featured, commonplace (although Maddin does surprise us occasionally with some bizarre figment of our past). The majority of the actors too are Winnipeggers and, for anyone involved in the local film scene, will probably nearly all be recognizable. It is in this contrast between the familiarity of whom and what is featured in the film and the imposition of Maddin s highly embellished style, that for Winnipeggers the humour of this film will be quite potent. No doubt, there is as much condescension as affection in Maddin s depiction of this prairie-town, but judging from Winnipeg s mechanical open armed response to whatever Maddin s latest work is, and the typical gratification we receive from seeing the city or anything remotely Canadian figured into the greater cultural scope, surely this film will attain status here as something of a treasure. Still from Ledgeman Winnipeg s longest running TV serial, starring Ann Savage, Guy s Mother. Photograph by Jody Shapiro.

14 June 26, comments contact: Comments Robert Galston Around the time that Guy Maddin s My Winnipeg was making its way through the film festival circuit, Maddin left Winnipeg for Toronto. Many Winnipeggers feared the worst: that the city s most successful and influential filmmarker was moving because he didn t like it here. Turns out, he was moving simply to be closer to his granddaughter. Smaller interior cities like Winnipeg have continually been incubators of brains and talent that eventually leave for one national metropolis or another. While this may be an unfortunate reality for any local civic booster, it doesn t have to be a bad thing. In her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs explains how the problem of cities losing businesses and failing to attract them from elsewhere doesn t always mean overall decline. Jacobs cites Brooklyn, which at the time had more manufacturers moving out than moving in, yet still had a net gain of manufacturers, because so many new ones were starting up there. A couple of machinists, perhaps, will... start out for themselves in the back of a garage. They ll prosper and move to a rented loft; still later they ll buy a building. When they outgrow that... there is a good chance they will move out to... New Jersey. But in the meantime, twenty or fifty or a hundred more like them will have started up. Like Winnipeg today, it was reasonably assumed in 1961 that Brooklyn s best years lay behind it; that the gritty borough could no longer compete with the modern suburbs. But it was that has-been marginality of Brooklyn (in the form of many cheap old buildings, Jacobs says) that made it possible for so many small firms to start up. In later decades, it is what made it possible for Brooklyn to be a magnet for artists and hipsters. Today, in the Exchange District, Point Douglas, and elsewhere, there exists plenty of old underused warehouse buildings that would make suitable (and affordable) studio, retail, light manufacturing, and living spaces. Unfortunately, there is a low priority on people taking chances at something. Venture Capitalism has declined provincewide over the years, and a cushy government job is too often the highest a bright young Winnipegger aspires to. Economic and cultural growth in Winnipeg has become the responsibility of governments who use megaprojects and initiatives to woo urban voters, and a gaggle of wealthy philanthropists to get free publicity. The bigger the project is (read: the more of a third-rate THE STRAGGLING CITY Christopher Leo I appreciated Robert Galston s comment in last month s Uniter about the nit-picking, fussy, oppressive planning rules that constrain neighbourhood change. It s long past time to acknowledge the folly of believing that 20th Century planners had such great ideas about urban built form as to justify forcing us all to live by them even as they become dated. But decrying the kinds of regulations that throw up obstacles to seemingly reasonable development proposals is not the same as saying we shouldn t plan. We don t need plans that try to squeeze every neighbourhood, and every new development, into the same mould, but we do need a vision for the growth of the city, and the surrounding countryside. This is important for at least two reasons. The first is the health of our environment. The more we allow the city to straggle out across the countryside, the more dependent we become on automobiles, and the more difficult it becomes to draw our water and dispose of it in ways that don t harm the environment. Urban sprawl produces dirty air and risks the pollution of our underground water supplies. The second reason is that it costs a great deal more money to extend roads, sewers, water lines and municipal services to distant areas than to ones that are adjacent to the city. But that s exactly what we have been doing. The city has leap-frogged over large areas of developable land, forcing the extension of city services Oak Bluff Perimeter Hwy OAK BLUFF to the lands beyond. Transcona West is only the most conspicuous parcel in a large inventory of land located well within the city that s suitable for conventional suburban development. Not only has the city leapfrogged over large areas, we have spent like drunken sailors building roads to serve areas that need not be urbanized for a generation or more. Once good road access is available, it s a sure bet that proposals will follow for the development of new neighbourhoods at road s end. In the end, the new neighbourhoods spring up in adjacent municipalities. Their residents still make daily use of Winnipeg s services, but they now pay their property taxes to semirural municipalities. These taxes are substantially lower than taxes in Winnipeg, for the very good reason that largely rural, gradually urbanizing municipalities can get by with a much lower level of services than those a city has to supply. An example that s both blatant and typical is McGillivray Boulevard, most of which crosses an area of farmland in the southwest corner of the city, an area served mainly by gravel roads. For reasons best understood by city planners and decision-makers, McGillivray became a paved highway to the perimeter. That stretch of pavement has drawn little development within the city. But just outside the city is Oak Bluff, a conventional suburban development surrounded by farmland. It s a safe bet that most of the residents of Oak Bluff travel regularly up and down that nice stretch of highway, thoughtfully provided by Winnipeg taxpayers to make it easier for them to enjoy Winnipeg services while evading Winnipeg taxes. Similar situations prevail on all sides of the city, and in all directions access is being improved to municipalities with highly competitive cost structures, hungering to compete with Winnipeg for new development. Each time they succeed in attracting a development that might otherwise have imi- tation of Calgary it is), the more positive impact it will have. In 2006, the City was so excited to potentially have a major hog processing company, Oly West, open a plant here, that it was prepared to offer huge subsidies if they did. It would have meant a big business moving in, and a thousand jobs instantly created. But the plant would be have been bad for the environment, and the jobs would have been lousy. In the never-ending crusade to renew Winnipeg s downtown, massive top-down approaches, like Centre Venture s Main Street demolition spree are naively wished upon. In reality, they inhibit privately-led, small-scale initiatives, not only by lessening the supply of buildings with cheap rents, but by destroying the historical character the coolness of the area. For any kind of independent market of ideas and money to grow, and for downtown to renew itself on its own strengths, Winnipeg will need all the small old buildings it has. Several years ago, Cake Clothing started small in a tiny storefront at Albert and McDermot, in a neighborhood that had yet to be established as a fashion boutique destination. When business picked up, they expanded the space. Now, having outgrown the location entirely, they are moving a block up the street, to larger premises in the massive Whitla Warehouse. Earlier this year, McNally Robinson vacated Portage Place for a space in Polo Park with more square footage, and more importantly free parking spots. Several months later, Aqua Books moved from a small shop on Princess, to a larger, beautifully renovated building on Garry Street, which includes a cafe, space for literary events, and writer s studios upstairs. While some decry the loss of McNally Robinson as another depressing blow to downtown, the keenly enterprising folks at Aqua Books are poised to not only fill the void they left, but to far exceed it. The old spaces these businesses are leaving shouldn t stay vacant long. Thanks in part to the perceivably risky ventures they made into the Exchange several years ago, the area has become a trendy hotbed of commercial activity. It is inevitable that the best and brightest may leave for larger cities, and that good local businesses may leave for the suburbs. Some, however, may stay. And some, like Guy Maddin, may not leave right away. One should never mourn their leaving, but feel proud that it was this city or neighborhood that produced them, and be inspired to encourage more citizens to follow in their footsteps. HOW TO PLAN AND HOW NOT TO Kenaston Blvd Lagimodiere Blvd Grassie Blvd Plessis Rd Transcona West been located in the city, Winnipeg becomes a little bit poorer. As the city sprawls across the countryside and into neighbouring municipalities, older city streets become more pot-holed, library branches and community centres close, boulevard and park maintenance deteriorates and bus fares and water rates rise. But apparently we can always afford another road. There s no need for the city to dictate to people what kinds of neighbourhoods they must live in, or how the neighbourhoods they live in now may grow and develop. But there is a pressing need to exercise sensible control over how we sequence the development of new areas of the city, and how we deploy our infrastructure and services. The air we breathe, the water we drink, indeed the very viability of the city itself depend on it. blog.uwinnipeg.ca/christopherleo

15 contact: comments June 26, Graffiti Floodwaters Cyrus Smith At a very young age, I was taught that writing on the walls is wrong. I never understood why, and probably never will. My mother would scream if she found marker or crayon scribbled near the baseboard. I remember while seeing Empire Strikes Back at the Metropolitan Theatre, I was caught writing my name behind one of the curtains on the second floor balcony. I can still feel ballpoint pen rolling on the antique wallpaper. It was an erasable pen, so I was able to remove it, however the action of erasing also destroyed the layer of antique wallpaper that housed my signature a bittersweet retribution. That event will always stand out in my mind. Not because of the illegality of the action, but more so the willingness I possessed to do it. I suppose my mark was still left behind, but it was less specific. Somehow it feels the same with all the grey buff marks or blurred lines of baking soda blasts that are reminants of graffiti removal. A history still exists below. Generally this course of action creates a surface less appealing than some squiggly lines. I like those lines. I like looking at them. I like trying to discover what they say and I like the fact they magically appear where once there was nothing. It s not what the lines physically spell that is important, more so the suggestion that the person who did this has chosen to share it. They ve done so with out any external mediation. It s fascinating to think of the motivation it takes a human being to do such a thing, to deface an impulsive sporadic change to a visual surface. The world has never really been a stranger to public mark making. History suggests graffiti to be human nature. A primal action rooted deep in our subconscious. Never has a civilization existed without some form of graffiti. The only thing that has changed throughout history is our perception of it. Lately the blanket term graffiti is dissolving and more specific terminology now applies to the dynamic breadth of the street art happening today. People have taken graffiti to another level. Artists are making elaborate paintings and pasting them in public venues. Stickers, stencils, adhesive installations, posters, spray paint, bucket paint, prefabs (26), dolls, ribbons, shoes, chalk drawings, magnets, shrines, performance/ happenings. In its abandonment, graffiti has become a very complex art form and these artists aren t waiting for you to come to a gallery to see their work (let alone getting a show to exhibit said work) so the showing is public, usually at the artist s discretion. Bypassing all hierarchical constraints of the gallery system, a contemporary street artist makes their work happen free of charge. That s amazing. If you read about graffiti in a historical context, it s generally presented as being primal and aggressive. I find that true about graffiti in any fashion. The action grows out of a deep-rooted urge to make ones own mark on history. By participating in the writing on the wall we create a dialogue among us. A public message board we can all contribute to. In this way, graffiti unites us. Whether initializing the process by doing the graffiti, or completing the project by looking at it, taking it all in, and reacting to it. Some reactions are too often quite hasty. I really believe that most of the people who are offended by the graffiti words have yet to grasp why those lines are there. They are there out of a repressed need to communicate. They are there because they prove better than corporate advertising. They are there for you and me or for no one at all. The lines demand little and have given so much, for better or for worse. For better the lines have led to rising art careers for some graffiti writers, and for worse the lines have created much stimulation in regards to public aestheticism and the new urban landscape. I m completely grossed out when I see graffiti paired together with crimes like car theft or arson, as is frequently done in the media and municipal council. Emptying out a spray can these days should get little more than a carbon tax. Instead of painting over the lines on the walls the city should re-paint the lines on the roads. Or fill the gaps in downtown public housing from the half dozen hotels that have been torn down in as many years. Why does graffiti get such a bad rap in Winnipeg? I ve come to a few conclusions. It does not make sense. A decade ago Winnipeg possessed numerous legal graffiti walls a place where graffiti artists could showcase their talent at their own expense, without repercussions. These were public art galleries existing at no cost to the taxpayer. Never was there work or images that suggested or promoted unsavory behavior or solicited violence, law breaking, or any other form of illegality. Most of the work represented colour, form, composition, technique, etc. The work there exemplified a form of modern typography taken into the public realm to evolve. Situated in the wild to adapt and grow, to learn from the urban rigidity. Graffiti is an ever-changing art form, moving and morphing with the opposing force of the municipal budget and the outcry of the public saying, It s horrible!! They ve ruined these walls for everyone else! What, prey tell, is ruined? No brick was cracked, no stone removed, and the building is still accessible. The city claims that legal walls don t work because they leak or bleed graffiti into the neighbourhood the wall is in. How can someone control what a graffiti artist will paint on? Regardless of where the permission wall is, there will still be a tag next to it legal or not. It s like trying to hold water in a paper bag. If the North or South laneways of Portage Avenue were to be beautifully decorated with colourfull, progressive graffiti like Queen Street in Toronto for example, there would still be tags on Edmonton or Garry or Smith. Graffiti is there now, and it gets buffed now. What comes to harm if a few grey walls become beautiful works of art at zero increase in cost to the taxpayer. The illegal places to paint will always get buffed over whether the wall next to it is legal or not. The city is already spending over half a million dollars on graffiti removal. Think of how many murals could have been painted by these same artists with that kind of money. Maybe Winnipeg needs a graffiti park? Half of a million dollars would make a great one! No matter how we perceive graffiti on an individual level, it will always exist. Historically any opposition to graffiti proves only to be a finger in the dam. And you can tell that here in our fair city the dam is about to burst. Cyrus Smith s work appears on the cover of this month s issue.