DOCSLIB.ORG

Effect of a Barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct on Suicide Rates in Toronto: Natural Experiment

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Effect of a Barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct on Suicide Rates in Toronto: Natural Experiment RESEARCH BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.c2884 on 6 July 2010. Downloaded from Effect of a barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct on suicide rates in Toronto: natural experiment Mark Sinyor, resident physician,1,2 Anthony J Levitt, psychiatrist in chief2 1Department of Psychiatry, ABSTRACT related suicides decreased after the introduction of leg- University of Toronto, ON, Canada Objective To determine whether rates of suicide changed islation for gun control,67although some evidence sug- 2 Department of Psychiatry, in Toronto after a barrier was erected at Bloor Street Sunnybrook Health Sciences gests that these reductions were matched by increases 89 Centre and Women’s College Viaduct, the bridge with the world’s second highest in suicides by other means, such as jumping. Hospital. 2075 Bayview Avenue, annual rate of suicide by jumping after Golden Gate Barriers to prevent jumping have been established at Toronto, ON, Canada M4N 3M5 Bridge in San Francisco. the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and sev- Correspondence to: M Sinyor 10 11 [email protected] Design Natural experiment. eral bridges worldwide. Recent arguments in Setting City of Toronto and province of Ontario, Canada; favour of barriers on bridges used for suicide stem Cite this as: BMJ 2010;341:c2884 records at the chief coroner’s office of Ontario 1993-2001 doi:10.1136/bmj.c2884 from studies in the 1970s that assessed the survivors (nine years before the barrier) and July 2003-June 2007 of suicide attempts at Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran- (four years after the barrier). cisco, the bridge with the world’s highest annual rate of Participants 14 789 people who completed suicide in the suicide by jumping.10 In one study, four of six survivors city of Toronto and in Ontario. said that they would not have attempted suicide at any Main outcome measure Changes in yearly rates of suicide location other than Golden Gate Bridge and all six by jumping at Bloor Street Viaduct, other bridges, and favoured the construction of a barrier at the bridge.12 buildings, and by other means. In another study, only 6% of 515 people who had been http://www.bmj.com/ Results Yearly rates of suicide by jumping in Toronto prevented from jumping off Golden Gate Bridge had remained unchanged between the periods before and subsequently completed suicide.13 Despite this evi- after the construction of a barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct dence, 74% of respondents to a US telephone survey (56.4 v 56.6, P=0.95). A mean of 9.3 suicides occurred believed that most or all people prevented from jump- annually at Bloor Street Viaduct before the barrier and ing off Golden Gate Bridge by a barrier would find none after the barrier (P<0.01). Yearly rates of suicide by another way to complete suicide.14 Studies examining jumping from other bridges and buildings were higher in the introduction of suicide barriers at Memorial Bridge on 3 October 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. the period after the barrier although only significant for in Augusta, Maine15 and Clifton Suspension Bridge in other bridges (other bridges: 8.7 v 14.2, P=0.01; Bristol, England16 as well as the introduction of a safety buildings: 38.5 v 42.7, P=0.32). net at Muenster Terrace in Bern, Switzerland17 showed Conclusions Although the barrier prevented suicides at reductions in mean numbers of suicides of 0.6, 4.2, and Bloor Street Viaduct, the rate of suicide by jumping in 2.5 persons per year respectively at each location. Each Toronto remained unchanged. This lack of change might article examined the change in rates of suicides by have been due to a reciprocal increase in suicides from jumping from nearby bridges or buildings and con- other bridges and buildings. This finding suggests that cluded that little, if any, substitution of location Bloor Street Viaduct may not have been a uniquely occurred. However, these studies lacked statistical attractive location for suicide and that barriers on bridges power because of the relatively small yearly decreases may not alter absolute rates of suicide by jumping when in numbers of suicides at each bridge as well as low comparable bridges are nearby. rates of suicide in general. No study of a suicide pre- vention barrier has shown a statistically significant INTRODUCTION drop in overall rates of suicide in the vicinity. It is well recognised that restricting access to a means of For more than a decade it has been debated whether suicide may delay or even prevent suicide among a barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct would be effective at vulnerable people.1 This principle has been shown preventing suicides in Toronto, Canada. Since the con- successfully in the United Kingdom with the imple- struction of the viaduct in downtown Toronto in 1918, mentation of relatively simple strategies such as switch- at least 400 people have jumped to their deaths from ing to carbon monoxide-free sources of gas,2 restricting the bridge.18 The 40 m high viaduct spans two major pack sizes of paracetamol (acetaminophen) and roads, is 490 m long, is double decked, and has an salicylates,34 and fitting cars with catalytic arched design with five lanes of traffic above a converters.5 In both Canada and New Zealand firearm subway.19 With about 10 suicides annually from 1993 BMJ | ONLINE FIRST | bmj.com page 1 of 6 RESEARCH to 2002 (baseline data from this study), Bloor Street 1996-2001 and 2001-6. We estimated population Viaduct had the dubious distinction of being the sec- growth by extrapolating backwards from 1993-6 and ond most popular bridge for suicide studied in the forwards from 2006 to June 2007. BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.c2884 on 6 July 2010. Downloaded from world after Golden Gate Bridge.10 The barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct, named the “luminous veil,” was Statistical analysis constructed between April 2002 and June 2003. The To examine differences between suicide rates before barrier is about 5 m high and consists of thousands of and after the barrier we carried out Poisson regression thin steel rods spaced closely together and supported analyses. We analysed demographic data using two externally by an angled steel frame.20 It is not known tailed, independent sample t tests for continuous vari- whether the barrier has had any impact on Toronto’s ables and two sided χ2 tests for categorical variables. overall rate of suicides and on the rate of suicides by Data on postal codes were analysed using a one sided jumping. We examined coroner’s data before and after χ2 test under the assumption that more people would the construction of the barrier, to determine if suicide travel from outside the city to complete suicide at Bloor rates had changed and whether or not people substi- Street Viaduct (before the barrier) than at other bridges tuted Bloor Street Viaduct for different locations or in the period after the barrier. We considered a P value means of suicide. less than 0.05 to be statistically significant. METHODS RESULTS We examined records at the chief coroner’s office of Annual rates of suicide by jumping in Toronto Ontario covering all suicides in Ontario from 1 Janu- remained unchanged before and after the construction ary 1993 to 30 June 2007. To be included in the data of the barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct (56.4 v 56.6, collection the death had to be ruled a suicide by the P=0.95; table 1, fig 1). A mean of 9.3 suicides took coroner’s office according to the standard of a high place annually before the barrier and none after the degree of probability. Given the large number of barrier (P<0.01; fig 2). After the barrier the annual charts, it was not possible to examine deaths classified rate of suicides by jumping from bridges other than under different categories such as accident, homicide, Bloor Street Viaduct increased significantly (8.7 v. or undetermined cause of death. Staff at the coroner’s 14.2, P=0.01) and from buildings increased non-signif- office provided a spreadsheet listing all the cases coded icantly (38.5 v 42.7, P=0.32). In 2002, the year when as suicides in Ontario for each year in the study. As it construction of the barrier commenced (but was not takes about two years for a case to be closed, complete complete), 63 suicides by jumping occurred in Toronto http://www.bmj.com/ data for 2007 were available only in 2009. The follow- of which 30 were from bridges and 19 from the Bloor ing information was included in the spreadsheet: date Street Viaduct. of suicide, age, sex, region, municipality, and cause of Both the overall rate of suicides in Toronto and the death, such as a fall or jump from a height, hanging, or rate of suicides by means other than jumping decreased shooting. We grouped the suicides into four categories: by 28 suicides per year in the period after the barrier (all all suicides in Ontario (excluding Toronto), all suicides Toronto suicides per year: 253.4 v 225.4, P=0.05; Tor- in Toronto, suicides in Toronto by jumping (where v onto suicides per year by other means: 197.0 168.8, on 3 October 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. jumping implied from a height, therefore people who P=0.04). The decrease in overall rate of suicide in Tor- jumped in subways were excluded), and suicides in onto bordered on statistical significance whereas the Toronto by means other than jumping.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • White Slave Traffic Is Still Flourishing STOP IS Over 10,000 Ww Plimes
    ■i\'.(v'. ’ NET PRESS RUM AVERAGE DAILY CIRCDIATION OF THE KVT'iNING HERALD lui' the nioiilh of November, 1927 5 , 0 5 7 Gonn. State (FOURTEEN PAGES) PRICE iniREE CENTS VOL. XLIL, NO. 76. Classified Advertising on Page 12. MANCHESTER, CONN., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1927. EXPECT MORE Held as Hickman’s Pal <$>- REVELATIONS , i 'fc ; I N W C A S E TO AN ASYLUM Los Angeles, Dec. 30.— Df.^who was identified ' by a. forked Charles M- McMillan, a physician thumb nail, also was known as and surgeon, was under arrest here Mollie Burke, Amelia Ellen- STOP IS today on susjicion of having mur­ brough and Margaret Ellehbrough. Alienists Find Him Sane Bat dered Mrs. Amelia Appleby, said to She had been missing from her Officials Now Probing Death be a wealthy property owner of home at Los Angeles for several Chicago and Los Angeles, whose days when the gruesome find was Hops Off at 6*.20 From (ma- Of Old Man With Whom Say He Is Dangerous Psy- body, bundled in a can as sack, was made. found on Christmas night in a Although Dr. McMillan admitted copath and Should Be Con^ ravine near-San Fernando. he had been handling the wpman’s temala City and Reaches Hickman and Hunt Once Dr. McMillan is married and, ac- i property, he denied any implica- cording to his wife, formerly lived tion in the'murder, YET FOR DEBT fined. in Nashville, Tenn. Deputy sheriffs, who arrested Dr Destination at 9 :5 0 -^ s ^ Lived. Mrs. McMillan said today they McMillan at his home here, reportr were married at Nashville in 1916, ed that they found him examining tance But 242 Miles; Next ' Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec.
    [Show full text]
  • Cold Spring Bridge Project
    STAFF REPORT SUBJECT: Cold Spring Bridge Project MEETING DATE: October 16, 2008 AGENDA ITEM: 9 STAFF CONTACT: Jim Kemp, Steve VanDenburgh RECOMMENDATION: A. Hold a public hearing on Caltrans’ Cold Spring Bridge Suicide Barrier project B. Provide direction to staff SUMMARY: At its August 21 meeting, the SBCAG board voted to agendize a public hearing on the Cold Spring Bridge Suicide Barrier Project at the request of Friends of the Bridge, a group opposed to the barrier project. The purpose of the hearing is for the board to receive public input and discuss the advisability of expressing the board’s opinion on the project to Caltrans. Separate public meetings were held by Caltrans during the draft EIR public review period which closed on June 23. Caltrans is the lead agency for the project and is funding the project with SHOPP highway safety program funding. No SBCAG funding is being used and SBCAG’s approval is not required for the project to proceed. Following the hearing the board may wish to reaffirm its support for the project, communicate an alternative opinion or take no action at all. DISCUSSION: Since 1963, when the Cold Spring Bridge was built, 46 people have committed suicide by jumping from the bridge. In 2005, a project task force was created by Caltrans to aid it in evaluating options for deterring suicides from the bridge. Among the members of the task force are SBCAG staff, the CHP, the Sherriff’s Department, Assemblyman Pedro Nava’s office, various agencies or departments of the Santa Barbara County government, and The Glendon Association, a private, non-profit involved in mental health issues.
    [Show full text]
  • The Urge to End It - Understanding Suicide - Nytimes.Com Seite 1 Von 7
    The Urge to End It - Understanding Suicide - NYTimes.com Seite 1 von 7 July 6, 2008 The Urge to End It All By SCOTT ANDERSON “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem,” Albert Camus wrote, “and that is suicide .” How to explain why, among the only species capable of pondering its own demise, whose desperate attempts to forestall mortality have spawned both armies and branches of medicine in a perpetual search for the Fountain of Youth, there are those who, by their own hand, would choose death over life? Our contradictory reactions to the act speak to the conflicted hold it has on our imaginations: revulsion mixed with fascination, scorn leavened with pity. It is a cardinal sin — but change the packaging a little, and suicide assumes the guise of heroism or high passion, the stuff of literature and art. Beyond the philosophical paradox are the bewilderingly complex dynamics of the act itself. While a universal phenomenon, the incidence of suicide varies so immensely across different population groups — among nations and cultures, ages and gender, race and religion — that any overarching theory about its root cause is rendered useless. Even identifying those subgroups that are particularly suicide-prone is of very limited help in addressing the issue. In the United States, for example, both elderly men living in Western states and white male adolescents from divorced families are at elevated risk, but since the overwhelming majority in both these groups never attempt suicide, how can we identify the truly at risk among them? Then there is the most disheartening aspect of the riddle.
    [Show full text]
  • Archway Bridge Heritage Report
    Archway Bridge Heritage Report. Historical Background The following sections on the history of the area and bridge have been reproduced here, by kind permission of Donald Insall Associates, from their Historic Building Report and Heritage Assessment prepared for Transport for London in December 2014. Development of Highgate and Archway Road The village of Highgate developed at the south-eastern entrance to the medieval Bishop of London's estate. By 1380, a new road with a steep incline was in use which originated in the city, passing through Holloway, meeting with Highgate Hill. In 1386 a direct route to the north opened as a toll road. This was located at the top of the hill and was probably known as High Gate, where the area derives its name. There was some ribbon development along Highgate Hill in the 16th and 17th centuries and it became a popular place for the wealthy to build their country retreats. West Hill (connected with St Pancras in the south) was constructed at the end of the 17th century which led to the expansion of the village in the 18th century. Highgate continued to be a desired area and the main period of the development of the area occurred in the 19th century. Smaller scale houses were built among the fine 18th century houses. Highgate also became one of the main routes from the north to London and acted as a major stopping place on this road. Much of the traffic passing through to the north of England was required to ascend the steep incline of Highgate Hill.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.SUICIDIO E INTENTO DE SUICIDIO POR SALTO DESDE ALTURA EN EL PUENTE VILLENA
    Revista de Neuro-Psiquiatría ISSN: 0034-8597 revista.neuro.psiquiatria@oficinas- upch.pe Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Perú MUÑOZ V., J.; VEGA D., J.; MENDOZA A., C.; MUÑOZ V., H. SUICIDIO E INTENTO DE SUICIDIO POR SALTO DESDE ALTURA EN EL PUENTE VILLENA Revista de Neuro-Psiquiatría, vol. 68, núm. 3-4, 2005, pp. 140-152 Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Lima, Perú Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=372039388003 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto SUICIDIO E INTENTO DE SUICIDIO POR SALTO DESDE ALTURA EN EL PUENTE VILLENA SUICIDE AND ATTEMPT OF SUICIDE BY JUMP FROM THE HEIGHTS OF THE VILLENA BRIDGE J. MUÑOZ v.', J VEGA D.', C. MENDOZA A.' y H. MUÑOZ v.' RESUMEN Objetivo. Estudiar las características de los individuos que intentaron o llegaron a suicidarse arrojándose desde un puente. Método. Se recopilaron los datos de los intentosy suicidios consumados ocurridos en elPuente ViIlena (Mirafiares, Lima-Perú) que constan en los registros de la municipalidadde dicho distrito desde el primero de septiembre de 1988 hasta el 31 de agosto de 2003. Resultados. En elperiodo estudiado ocurrió un total de 65 eventos (33 intentos de suicidio y 32 suicidios consumados). Los individuos que completan el suicidio son principalmente varones (65.6%), de 20a29años (27.8%) con una edadpromediode 39.44 años, solteros (66.7%), limeños (66.7%), que no residen en eldistrito de Miraftores (78.5%) yque escogen con mayorfrecuencia el lunes (28.1%) para realizarsu cometido.
    [Show full text]
  • LLI Newsletter 18-01.Vp
    nstitute earningI ifetimeL Member of Road Scholar L Institute Network Established 1996 News & Views Volume 18 – Number 1 January 2014 Poetry — Candlelight — Live M tic u January LLI Forum n s i c a — Wednesday, January 15, 2013, at 10 a.m. m Mark Your Calendar o C (Social Time at 9:30 a.m.) R and h o — Celebrate Valentine’s Day What Should We Expect as the c o s l n at the Affordable Care Act is Implemented? a o t o e l l Because of the advent of the — Affordable Care Act (ACA) a 10th Annual B and the controversy L i g surrounding the significant — Valentine’s Day h s t changes it will make to our r F health care system, seniors, e w Open House a o along with others, need to r l e be informed. What do these F — changes mean for me, my — F family, and my future e r l o health care? How will Dr. Kalahn Taylor-Clark a w F Sponsored by the health benefits change? e t r s What about costs — will they go up or down? Is h LLI Poetry Group g — there a chance I will lose all my health insurance? i L Friday, February 14 With her extensive background in public health and B a health policy, Dr. Kalahn Taylor-Clark will provide — 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. l e l t some basics on the ACA and delve more deeply into o Little River United o a l what to expect from the changes occurring over the n o s next several years.
    [Show full text]
  • Suicide Prevention and Public Health
    Saving Lives in New York: Suicide Prevention and Public Health Volume 2 Approaches and Special Populations New York State George E. Pataki Governor Office of Mental Health Sharon E. Carpinello, RN, PhD, Commissioner November 2005 HIS IS THE SECOND OF THREE VOLUMES which together comprise Saving Lives in New York: Suicide Prevention and Public Health, a com- prehensive, data-driven report on suicide, its risks and prevention, Treleased in May 2005 by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH). Prepared by researchers at OMH, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, the University of Rochester and the New York State Suicide Prevention Council, the report outlines a prevention strategy with two primary components: diagnose and effectively treat those who have a psychiatric condition that puts them at high risk to end their own life; and use community resources, family and friends to engage individu- als who harbor risk factors for suicide well before they become a danger to themselves. Volume One of the report includes an Executive Summary of all three vol- umes, a public health strategy for suicide prevention across New York State, and a plan for suicide prevention and public health in New York City. Volume One also includes recommendations and action steps that are designed to: improve access to mental health care and services; enhance identification of those at risk; restrict access to means of self-harm; and expand the knowledge base through research. Volume Two includes authored chapters that examine specific approaches to suicide prevention, and also review specific needs of identified popula- tions.
    [Show full text]
  • Brookletts Place” Talbot County Senior Center 400 Brookletts Ave., Easton, MD 21601 2019/2020 Travel Log
    “Brookletts Place” Talbot County Senior Center 400 Brookletts Ave., Easton, MD 21601 2019/2020 Travel Log **NEW Sept. 12, 2019 Crab Feast & Cruise, Suicide Bridge Restaurant, Secretary, MD $90.00 per person (includes bus transportation and all gratuities) Enjoy a 3 hour cruise on the Choptank River aboard the Dorothy Megan on the Upper Deck while feasting on all you can eat steam crabs, crab soup, fried chicken, clam strips, fresh local corn, coleslaw, dessert, coffee, tea and sodas. The bus will leave Kohl’s parking lot 10:30 a.m. and return approx. 3:30 p.m. $50.00 is due by July 26, 2019 with balance due by August 23, 2019. October 23-25, 2019 Casino Magic, Connecticut 3 days 2 Nights $450.00 per person double occupancy $600.00 single rate (includes bus transportation and all gratuities 2 nights lodging at Foxwoods Great Cedar Hotel, 2 breakfasts & 2 dinners w/casino vouchers. Foxwood Casino Bonus-$20 Slot play, visit to MOHEGAN SUN & FOXWOOD TOWER CASINO, Tour & Tasting at Stonington Winery, Visit Mystic Seaport Museum & Aquarium. A DEPOSIT OF $50.00 IS DUE BY MAY 3, 2019 WITH FINAL PAYMENT DUE BY JULY 26, 2019. Jan 5 – 19, 2020 The Southern Caribbean Cruise 15 days/14 nights Aboard Carnival Cruises “The Carnival Pride” with stops in Aruba, Curacao, Martinique, St. Kitts & Tortola. Inside Cabin Category 4D - $1,525 double, $1,227 triple $1,078 quad & $2,729 single or Balcony Cabin Category 8C - $2,170 double, $1,657 triple $1,400 quad & $4,019 single. Rates are per person, and include roundtrip transportation to/from Port of Baltimore, port charges, transfers, taxes and government fees.
    [Show full text]
  • Three Indicted on Dog-Theft Charges
    Circulation 13,000 Free June 5, 2015 MAN FATALLY SHOT Three Indicted on By Linda Cicoira The death of an Exmore man last weekend was ruled a homicide by the Norfolk Medical Examiner’s Dog-Theft Charges Office, a spokesperson for the agency said Tuesday. By Linda Cicoira James Craig Parks, 33, of Jackson Street died Three animal activists were indicted Monday by from gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen on an Accomack grand jury on felony counts of stealing May 30, according to autopsy results. a dog from a Hopeton man’s yard last January. Exmore Police Chief Angelo DeMartino reported Charlene Boyajian, 45, and Bettina Cuce Ro- that members of Parks’ family found his body on driquez, 39, both of Virginia Beach, and Gordon “Shot- Saturday afternoon. They went there after being un- gun” A. Shell, 45, a former mixed martial arts fighter able to contact him. DeMartino said Parks was shot from Detroit, Mich., are accused of the larceny. and killed “in the early morning hours” that day. In April, Daniel Melendez, testified in General Dis- There was no sign of a struggle at the house where trict Court that he did not give permission for his pit Parks lived alone. DiMartino would not say where in bull, Chico, to be taken to Virginia Beach. The dog was the house he was killed or if a weapon was found, tied to a tree and has not been seen by Melendez since. since police are continuing to investigate the inci- A neighbor, Sandy Mears, said the dog would have dent.
    [Show full text]
  • Injury Prevention and Suicide
    FACT SHEET 2 INJURY What is it? Injury prevention Injury prevention aims to reduce harm and increase and suicide safety for individuals, families and communities. There are two types of injury: intentional and unintentional. UNINTENTIONAL INJURIES INCLUDE THOSE CAUSED BY: • traffic collisions; • falls; • choking and suffocation; or • fires and burns. Who is at risk of intentional injury? INTENTIONAL INJURY INCLUDES: • self-harm; Anyone can be at risk of intentional injury. Here are • suicide; or some examples of high-risk groups: • domestic violence. CHILDREN WHO SELF-HARM or indulging in substance abuse, often Intentional injuries fundamentally Children often harm themselves lead to intentional and unintentional differ from unintentional injuries, because of harms done to them. injury. Early intervention for youth because intentional injuries are The intention of their self-harming effectively reduces suicide rates, intended to cause harm, and are behaviours may not be to die by however youth receive the least mental directly linked to mental health issues. suicide, but if not treated by a mental health assistance of all age groups Self-harming is a way for people with health professional, can escalate (Standing Senate Committee on Social mental health concerns to ease their to suicidal behaviour (Centre for Affairs, Science and Technology, 2006). extreme psychological pain. Suicide Prevention, 2014). Getting vulnerable youth the medical YOUTH WHO ENGAGE IN and psychological attention they need More people die by suicide than RISK-TAKING BEHAVIOUR should be a suicide prevention priority in motor vehicle collisions in many provinces: it’s often the leading Youth who harm themselves are at both nationally and provincially cause of injury death.
    [Show full text]
  • MANITOBA's CHANGING FACE of SUICIDE and the Narrow Window
    THE CHANGING FACE OF YOUTH SUICIDE IN MANITOBA and the Narrow Window for Intervention PHASE ONE REPOrt A SPECIAL REPOrt BY THE OFFICE OF THE CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE April 2015 MANITOBA MANITOBA’S CHANGING FACE OF SUICIDE AND THE NARROW WINDOW FOR INTERVENTION Phase One Report A Special Report by the Office of the Children’s Advocate April 2015 MANITOBA Special thanks to the Adolescent PsychHealth research group from the University of Manitoba and the Health Sciences Centre who helped inspire this project and who generously continue to provide their expert consultation to our office as we develop this project. Cover image source: iStock photo 3 dreams written by joey lecoy i have a dream, that one day i will leave all the negativity that has defined me behind me. and that one day, i’ll be living proof of successful change and pave my own way. i have a dream that positivity is reality i have a dream, inspired by someone before my time. my dream is to not survive but strive and be alive rather than existing day to day with constant struggles caught in a hustle with a negative mind. i have a dream, that i’m reaching deep in the streets, not necessarily preaching, but teaching - speaking my poetry and telling youth that a broken home isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. and that they deserve better. i have a dream that there is light amidst the darkness of the hearts of these children that they don’t have to be lonely, and that one day, they will realize that someone cares.
    [Show full text]
  • Muddle: the Trouble for Mothers Four Short Plays by Barbara Kirsty Cameron a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
    Muddle: The Trouble for Mothers Four Short Plays by Barbara Kirsty Cameron A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Department of English, Film, and Theatre University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB © 2016 by Barbara Kirsty Cameron Table of Contents i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Dedication 1 Chapter I: Introduction 26 Chapter II: Plays: 26 Regalia 30 Rain 71 Cradle 76 Jump, or You’ll Die Laughing: A Tragicomic Short for the Endlessly Heavy Hearted 87 Select Bibliography of Works Cited and/or Consulted Abstract: The following creative writing thesis is an artistic interrogation of various mediating affects in personal relationships, including: language; illness; cultural constraints; memory; the challenges of love, care, and communication; as well as displacement, loss, racism, and other damages from war. The interrogation is presented as a sequence of four playlets, theoretically framed by an introductory essay. Besides providing personal justification for the creative work, as well as notes on the genre, the introduction functions as a philosophically interpretive guide, offering a loosely psychoanalytic and existentialist investigation of certain problems of potential entrapment, or liberation within connotations of language and disparate meaning systems — especially pertaining to narrative identity construction. The thesis should reveal that certain conditions of existence (i.e., the inevitability of suffering, disconnection, sickness, loss, or death) are not so much changed through narrative, as the experience of events of self and other might be potentially altered, within a co-creative and malleable meaning system, in which actualized connection (in part through empathy) can provide a strong antidote to isolation.
    [Show full text]