A New Mural In Gastown Re-Creates One Of The Defining Moments In The City's History Great public artworks call out to the passerby. Masterpieces begin a conversation. Stan Douglas's new mural depicting the 1971 Gastown riots, now suspended in the atrium of the redone Woodward's building (steps from the site of the actual riots), will strike up more conversation than any other artwork in town. Hanging midair at the heart of the city's new melting pot, it depicts some of the hundreds of hippies who suffered police brutality after convening at Maple Tree Square one summer day to protest undercover drug squads. Officers charged the crowds on horseback and beat protesters with batons. It's an embarrassing scene of misconduct that the police have tried hard to put to rest. The finished work is a massive reminder though, stretching 50 by 30 feet. The title Douglas gave it, Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971, is dry and prosaic enough to register his interest in historical rigour. In fact, he spent six months researching historical details ("I wanted to know what was right, from the signage down to the garbage can"); then there were six weeks of pre-production (building the elaborate street set); three days of shooting; and two months of post-production. The final computer file cost $550,000 to create and, after construction costs are considered, the price is over $1 million. [continues 61 words]
"Life inside Canadian penitentiaries should mirror Canadian society, and the core concept should be the same: Earn your own way." With these words, yesterday's report by Rob Sampson on Canada's federal prison system sets the stage for the first meaningful reform of a public institution that has lost its way. From the day in the early 1970s when Liberal solicitor general Jean Paul Goyer announced that the rehabilitation of prisoners rather than the safety of the public would be the key mission of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the inmates began to run the show. [continues 496 words]
Paul Martin reminds me of Muhammad Ali. And no, Lowell, I have not been smoking the drapes. Fight fans will never forget the Rumble in the Jungle. Set against the majesty and mayhem of the former Belgian Congo, it pitted a 25-year-old giant and heavyweight champion, George Foreman, against Muhammad Ali, an aging lion whose skills were in decline long before the two climbed into the ring. Both time and Ali stood still that night back in 1974. Ali hunkered down against the ropes and absorbed hundreds of punches from the younger, stronger man until his passive resistance paid off. Arm-weary and exhausted, Foreman dropped his guard. The old lion pounced and the champ hit the canvas. Pugilism got a new strategy from the wily veteran: "Rope-a-Dope." [continues 565 words]
Drugs / Out On Screen Hosts Crystal Meth Forum Michel Morin knew his friend was in trouble when he realized the man had been awake and partying for four days straight. "It's ironic, being here now," Morin said at an Aug 7 forum on the state of crystal meth use in gay Vancouver. Ironic, that is, to be looking for solutions now that none can help his friend. "We scattered his ashes a day ago." Meth Lab, a community forum co-presented by YouthCo and the Out On Screen Film and Video Festival, drew some 30 people together at Cinemark Tinseltown to discuss, argue and raise awareness around methamphetamine (crystal meth). Is meth the second gay epidemic, or have media over-hyped the issue, and demonized users along the way? [continues 609 words]
Hunter S. Thompson is controlling the world from beyond the grave. What a week! Prince Charles delivers a passionate defence of the endangered albatross in New Zealand while unknowingly dressed in a cloak made from the poor creature's feathers. Tony Blair says it's time for a debate on how false information from government can create public panic. Peter Mansbridge opines that, by George, the Middle East is ripe for democracy after all -- a day or two before half a million Lebanese bring back their pro-Syrian prime minister. [continues 707 words]
Nearly seven months ago, Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin told the country that Canadians over the age of 16 should be allowed to smoke marijuana the way that their elders knock back a scotch or two before dinner or have a cigarette with their morning coffee. Who would have thought the Senate could have been so, well, hip? After all, 16-year-olds can't buy a beer or a package of cigarettes until they're 19, at least not legally. But in its four-volume report, the Senate concluded that not only should pot be legalized, but that it was a lot less harmful than either cigarettes or tobacco, not to mention a lot less stressful. [continues 882 words]
Killing Pablo: The Hunt For The World's Greatest Outlaw By Mark Bowden ,Atlantic Monthly Press, $25, 296 pages The story of how U.S. Army intelligence experts and Delta Force commandos helped Colombian police track down and kill Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellin cocaine cartel, in December 1993 is rife with implications for the United States as it embarks upon a $1.3-billion effort, complete with Black Hawk helicopters and trainers, to eradicate cocaine production in this South American country over the next two years. [continues 620 words]
About once a year, the toking masses gather their courage and try to persuade the rest of us that our pot laws are on a par with Salem's treatment of suspected witches or the Volstead Act: An idea whose time has come -- and, with any degree of enlightenment, will soon be gone. After years of funny, semi-persuasive and occasionally abusive e-mails from suburban outlaws, flower children grown a little droopy around the petals, and high-flying libertarians, I think I have the arguments pretty well taped. [continues 1037 words]
