reviews NON-FICTION THE EARTHTURNER

The Earth’s Blanket: Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living by Nancy J. Turner (D&M $35)

In 1913, when a rock slide impeded the VANISHING IN VIRIDIAN Fraser River during the construction of the Canadian Northern Railway, the “Vanishing is Nlaka’pmx erected a wooden flume, genealogy tied to specific historic dipnetted the salmon, and then carried places” – MICHAEL KLUCKNER them to the flume so they might con- tinue their migra- Vanishing British Columbia by tions. The some- Michael Kluckner (UBC Press $49.95) times superior ap- proach of Aborigi- aving travelled for sev- nal people to na- eral decades to com- ture is reflected in Hpile the impressions for stories collected Vanishing British Columbia, by Nancy J. Turn- Michael Kluckner has distilled er’s for The Earth’s the multi-faceted province into Daisy Sewid-Smith Blanket: Traditional 12 essential colours: cerulean Teachings for Sus- blue, manganese blue, ultrama- tainable Living. The title is derived from a rine light, Payne’s grey, cad- report by James Teit who recorded the mium yellow deep, yellow belief among Nlaka’pmx (Thompson) people that flowers, plants and grasses ochre, olive green, viridian, are the blanket of the earth. From the burnt sienna, burnt umber, se- Saanich comes the story of Pitch, who pia and India red. went fishing in the sun, melted and was His 160 blue/green paintings poured over the body of the Douglas Fir. of heritage buildings, usually From the Nuxult comes the story of Raven nestled amongst trees and hills, bringing soapberries to the Bella Coola are unmistakeably Kluckner. In- BC Packers complex at Alert Bay a year before it was demolished in 2003. Painting by Michael Kluckner. Valley. Turner credits dozens of Aborigi- spired by Delacroix and by Japa- nal informants from around the province nese sumi-e sketches as a young Forsythe’s BC Almanac program nue in Zeballos shows the is where they tried to take my such as Chief Earl Maquinna George, Kim man, Kluckner has developed a to serve as his intermediary to Zeballos Hotel, built in 1938, and culture away, so it is fitting that Recalma-Clutesi, Elsie Claxton and Daisy Sewid-Smith. 1-55365-081-6 coherent style, using washed-out the public, Kluckner has at- an adjoining two-storey building it will now help me to get my hues, to match his preservation- tracted oldtimers and history that housed one of the town’s culture back.” ist aesthetic. Vanishing British buffs to his website. These peo- brothels. The static street scene, How many people today can DON’ SAY CHEESE Columbia doesn’t rescue the past; ple have supplied background complete with parked cars, is remember Siska Lodge in the Second Chapter by Don Denton it invests the ever-ephemeral tidbits — ‘local colour’— to com- non-descript, and yet Kluckner Fraser Canyon, managed by (Banff Centre $22.99) present with mystique. plement his watercolours, archi- has validated this forgettable Fred and Florence Lindsay in Unlike some of Kluckner’s val photos and Union scene as a link to a soon-forgot- the 1950s? After incorporating Jack Hodgins looks worried. Doug earlier work, Vanishing British Steamships memorabilia. ten era. In this way, ghosts are excerpts from a Barry Broadfoot Coupland looks sideways. P.K. Page Columbia doesn’t feel commercial, Kluckner’s paintings of hum- redeemed and we are not column, Kluckner quotes a looks stoney. Robert Kroetsch looks stern. and perhaps that’s the result of ble sites such as ‘the Brilliant trapped in Anywheresville, USA. Quesnel obituary that notes Marilyn Bowering looks professorial. more tasteful packaging, in- bridge’, ‘the Dunster store,’ Amid architectural details, Fred Lindsay was a self-pub- Patrick Lane looks impatient. Esta Spalding looks creased maturity or else more ‘Wong’s Market,’ ‘the Rolla thumbnail biographies and his- lished author of gold rush tales resolute. Brian Brett remote subject matter. After a torical summaries, Kluckner in- Pub’ or ‘the Union Bay Station’ who had “a few enemies and a looks suspicious. string of ‘Vanishing’ books in were all started out-of-doors, on cludes human punctuation hell of a lot of friends.” Perhaps Possibly all this the 1980s, the heritage activist location, and completed in his marks. While discussing two this is what they mean by magic seriousness is in- has refined his peculiar histori- studio. Kluckner’s subjects are paintings of residential schools realism. Poof. Fred Lindsay had tended to reso- cal bent that merges academic devoid of drama, dignified, at since converted to Aboriginal vanished, but Kluckner, as an nate through the precision with folksy reportage. rest, almost invisible unless we centres (St. Mike’s at Alert Bay artist/magician/historian, has ages in Don The end result is at once are stationary with them. Hu- and St. Eugene’s north of succeeded in plucking him out Denton’s second charming and useful—a rarity mans are eerily absent. Cranbrook), Kluckner recalls a of a huge hat called history. Jack Hodgins collection of au- thor pix, Second for an art book. Engaging Mark The image of Maquinna Av local woman saying to him, “This 0-7748-1125-0 Chapter, but for now the lack of anima- tion makes for a glum-looking gang. WE INVITE YOU TO SEND YOUR OWN REVIEW TO www.abcbookworld.com Denton, who lives in Sooke, has gath- ered about one-third B.C. writers among the 50 represented, including Genni Gunn, Maria Coffey, Kevin Chong, bill bissett, Lorna Crozier, Lane, John Gould, ABORTION STRUGGLE ENDS IN VICTORY Fiona Lam, Aislinn Hunter and Anne Fleming. Hunter and Fleming almost Winning Choice on Abortion: How British Columbian the evolution of the struggle to gain smile. 1-894773-11-X and Canadian Feminists Won the Battles of the 1970s and 1980s abortion access in B.C. by Ann Thomson (Trafford $31.45) “I think readers will see that the anti- abortionists are less concerned with FINDERS KEEPERS he struggle for women to gain unfettered and the ‘unborn’ than with controlling Urgent 2nd Class by Nick Bantock timely access to abortion services in British women’s lives as closely as the Taliban (Raincoast $26.95) TColumbia—abortion on demand—is a long and in Afghanistan,” she writes. “Beyond courageous one. that, they want to impose an In much the same way sampling in the It goes back to a Quebec prison in 1975 when Dr. evangelical Christian dictatorship on music industry has become legit for re- Henry Morgentaler was thrown naked into a solitary our multi-cultural, multi-faith .” cording artists and poets can publish ‘found poems’, computer technology confinement cell and suffered a heart attack. Risking Thomson cites the many individuals has enabled the easy borrowing of im- life imprisonment, Morgentaler, an Auschwitz survivor, who gave their money and time to win agery for rejuvenated art by graphic spent a fortune on lawyers and on opening clinics to the right of women to control their own designers. Lost ‘n’ serve as an inspiration to the pro-choice movement bodies—including B.C. authors Helen founder Nick across Canada. He had begun performing abortions Potrebenko and Cynthia Flood, and Bantock provides in Montreal after a woman he turned away from his bookseller Margo Dunn—and she examples for clinic tried to abort herself with a bicycle pump—and retrieves the details of various protests, “creating curious died. campaigns and initiatives such as the collage, dubious

“Parliament remained stony to the last,” writes PHOTO Abortion Caravan to Ottawa in 1970. documents and Ann Thomson in Winning Choice on Abortion: How That same year Dr. Robert Makaroff was other art from British Columbian and Canadian Feminists Won the TWIGG sentenced to three months in Oakalla ephemera” in his Battles of the 1970s and 1980s, “and would not alter Mirthful Ann Thomson: fight was worthwhile prison, fined $15,000 and prevented Nick Bantock Urgent 2nd Class, the 1969 abortion law.” The abortion law (allowing from resuming his practice. including techni- for therapeutic abortions only) was ultimately struck down in 1988 Ann Thomson believes women and the likes of Makaroff and cal advise on how to photocopy flow- by a decision of the Canadian Supreme Court and that year the Morgentaler might have to return to the barricades again if anti- ers. “Urgent 2nd Class,” he says, “pays Everywoman’s Health Centre opened in . abortionists continue to gain strength within the fundamentalist homage to the gentle art of embellish- But with the Bush regime in the White House, and Liberals teetering Christian movement. While history culminates in a happy ending, ing the foxed and creased leftovers of in Ottawa, Thomson is anxious about neo-conservative politicians who it also serves as a wake-up call to all who take access to abortion bygone eras.” Theft or recycling; it’s all in the eye of the purloiner. would like to turn back the clock. That’s why she has fully documented on demand in Canada for granted. 1-41204247-X 1-55192-723-3

2 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 1-5 2005 reviews NON-FICTION BOTH FISHING WITH DENNIS “Reaching into the invisible and pulling out the beautiful. SIDES NOW This is fishing’s greatest appeal. It is magic, and art form.” BY LORNE FINLAYSON -- D.C. REID Salmon Wars: The Battle for the West Coast Salmon Fishery by Dennis Brown Fishing for Dreams: Notes from the laptops, no reminders of respon- (Harbour $25.95) Water’s Edge by D.C. Reid sibilities that wait.” (Heritage $16.95) There’s also a confessional t takes two sides to make a s a self-proclaimed story about 35 years of driving war. In Dennis Brown’s “hunter of fish” who too fast down dirt roads in pis- Salmon Wars you have the I brought more than 500 catorial pursuit, and a near DFO on one side, with allies in A salmon to his net in one year, death epiphany involving log- the fish processors and certain D.C. Reid was weaned from a ging trucks and his rather small, fishing groups. creek near Calgary with a “$12 maroon Subaru. On the other side you have K-mart no name special” fishing A day fishing with fellow poet small boat fishermen, many of rod. Patrick Lane yields four fish, a whom were members of the Today he’s a Victoria-based new poem and later, a Bliss Car- United Fishermen and Allied sport fishing columnist, an ex- man award. Worker’s Union (UFAWU), pert who fishing lodges call upon A solo boat journey from Vic- aligned with independent fish- to test waters and fly patterns. toria to Tofino borders on farce ers, plant workers and the But meat fishermen beware: his after a fuel miscalculation and a coastal communities. new book is no “how to” bible. blown hatch—with potential to Subtitled ‘The Battle for the In Fishing for Dreams, Reid’s take boat and fisherman to the West Coast Salmon Fishery’, prose is like a meandering cur- bottom in one gulp. Brown’s critical study recalls rent, carrying us through riffles, A solitary man, Reid writes “I ferry blockades, the occupation tidal pools, or brushing against am drawn from people, a of Department of Fisheries and the seams of memory. loner like a metro- Oceans (DFO) offices, interna- Despite his degrees in nome, unclear of tional incidents and the hard- zoology and biochemis- where I should be. nosed negotiations to save the try, he maintains a poetic “The only ones I salmon stocks and maintain com- view of landscape and ever got to know munities during the 1990s. fishing. Instead of catch- were my children in To complicate matters, occa- ing an elusive cutthroat the eight years I spent sionally the two adversarial sides trout, Reid caresses it at home with them. would declare a truce and jointly with words. You give yourself up to confront the Americans. “I look into the your children, knowing In southern B.C. waters, Ca- water so clear a it is right. Then nadian and American fleets quarter could be MARK the bond was bro- squabbled over shares of Fraser seen on the bot- FORSYTHE ken, and a decade bound sockeye salmon. The tom, its numbers has gone by. What DFO would sometimes permit and the queen... Red fan- more can I say?” the Canadian fleet almost unlim- A sign of the times. From “Salmon Wars” shaped gills pass life through Since landing those 500 ited fishing to choke off the runs the insouciant pleasure of know- salmon in 2002, Reid says he’s before they reached US waters. The word “gear” meant the Ottawa. DFO stonewalled to get ing it is beautiful.” finished with counting fish. Similarly, on the North Coast, method of fishing, be it trolling its way and by the 2000 season There are fine tales here, as He now records the “specif- fishermen fought with Alaskans with hooks, gillnetting with a net the salmon fleet was reduced to well. Reid describes being alone ics of technique, strategy and over their interception of fish or seining with a larger boat and 50% of its pre-Mifflin size. in the woods, feeling he is be- specifics of river hydrology that bound for the Skeena River. In different type of net. “Area li- Despite severe curtailment ing watched by bears with “an would inform the rest of my July, 1997, this disagreement led censing” meant that seine fish- of opportunities for the remain- antediluvian sixth sense for be- years.” to the blockading of the Alaska ers would have a license to fish ing fleet, in 2004 some 1,874,686 ing a carnivore’s prey.” Reid, a published poet, was Ferries vessel Malaspina in in one of two designated areas; Fraser sockeye went “missing”. There arises a moment of recently shortlisted for the Prince Rupert harbour by frus- gillnetters and trollers would These missing fish were the dif- terror as he faces a mother Dorothy Livesay Prize. In Fishing trated gillnet and seine fishers. have to choose to fish in one of ference in numbers between bear’s “enraged, individual for Dreams he savours those rare Eventually the dispute was re- three designated areas. those that the DFO counted en- teeth.” moments of purity: light danc- solved but not until tempers had Fishermen wishing to use an- tering the Fraser River and In Fishing for Dreams, we ing on water, the electric charge flared on both sides of the bor- other gear type or fish in more those that could not be ac- travel to the East Kootenay in of fish on line... der. that one area would have to buy counted for when the runs pursuit of Westslope cutthroat “The arc from rod tip to fish At issue for the DFO side and the required license from an- reached the spawning grounds. trout with bellies the colour of mouth is purity. It is the moment the UFAWU side was access to other vessel. As well, the federal As one wades through all of sunset. when most easily the trout may the salmon. DFO’s management government came up with some the figures and acronyms, the “These are the few days be lost and so the largest thrill plan was based on a report writ- funding to buy back a small accounts of meetings and com- which we are truly alive--days of in all of fishing.” 1-894898-28-1 ten in 1982 by Peter Pearse, a number of licenses. This whole missions, the announcements of blue and oranges, of succulent forest economist, who had advo- scheme was the “Mifflin Plan”, the latest DFO program to fix water that requires no justifica- Mark Forsythe is host of CBC cated the privatization of the named after the Minister of the last failed program, and the tion, no need of cell phones or radio’s Almanac. resource and a massive fleet re- Fisheries at the time. mystery of missing fish, one is duction. The Pearse Report in- In terms of fleet reduction, forced to conclude that the real flamed much of the fishing DFO’s plan seemed to work like losers in the salmon war have community, for it made no men- hotcakes. For instance, a been the salmon themselves and tion of the social disruption that gillnetter who may have started the hardworking coastal folk implementation would bring his season fishing in the North, that once depended on and placed a minor emphasis on then worked his way south, and them. protecting and enhancing the ending on the Fraser, A third-generation fisher- resource itself. would need three li- man, Dennis Brown was the pre- In 1995, DFO launched censes instead of mier’s special advisor on the a well crafted attack using one. He would Pacific Salmon Treaty in 1996. recommendations from have to buy the There may be a bias in favour of a report on the 1994 sea- other two li- fishermen in Brown’s account, son written by John Fraser, censes at prices given that he was also a business a former Minister of Fish- from $70,000 to agent and secretary-treasurer of eries. They convened a so- $100,000 each. the UFAWU, but with his inti- called Round Table of key The coast was in an mate connections to the fleet, industry participants and uproar over Brown can take the reader be- others, getting this, with hind the scenes. It makes for them to agree massive dramatic reading. 1-55017-351-0 to a regime of protests single gear and and del- Lorne Finlayson is a former area licensing. egations to fisherman on the West Coast. Dennis Brown D.C. (Dennis) Reid

3 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 1-5 2005 POETRY IS HOT THIS SUMMER KID

WHETSTONE Sally Fitz-Gibbon and LORNA CROZIER Kirsti Anne Wakelin Whetstone

POEMS ”Breathtakingly down-to-earth and reassuringly lyrical, new poems by Lorna Crozier are always a reason for rejoicing.” – GLOBE AND MAIL

L ORNA C ROZI ER

RACHEL ROSE Notes on Arrival and Departure

“Rachel Rose is writing a poetry NOTES ON of intense witness and emotional ARRIVAL drive, always marked by the AND DEPARTURE distinctive tang of raw experience and the sort of wisdom which can only be learned by a heart that is fully engaged.” RACHEL ROSE poems – DON MCKAY PIG IN THE MUDDLE How memory loss can be playtime’s gain

M c CLELLAND & STEWART POETRY BLAZE first-time collaboration between Sally Fitz-Gibbon and

Sign up for M&S Poetry Blaze and receive excerpts from new books, author daughter Kirsti Anne Wakelin, Pig in the Middle (F&W comments, audio clips, and the latest news from McClelland & Stewart’s poetry program. To find out more, go to www.mcclelland.com/poetry $19.95), is a subtle tale of a child’s acceptance of memory loss in a grandparent.

AOn days when “the pig dances in her And Margaret comes to understand she’s garden,” Grandma forgets. The rake and like the sweet bits in Grandma’s favour- pruning shears end up in the sitting ite mile-high apple pie. room armchair. Peppermints and gloves Lively collage-style illustrations by disappear. The cat’s lost her kittens, the Lindsey Gardiner accompany the story teapot is missing and Grandpa is gone. based on a situation in Langston’s own The only clue is the trail of cake family. Pie recipe included. 0-370-32736-5 crumbs leading to the garden maze. ✍ Emily knows what to do. She can’t Told entirely through email and find a map of the maze, but she does online communication, Sun Signs have one of the zoo, and she and (Orca $9.95) by Shelley Grandma set off at once. Hrdlitschka, is the story of 15-year- Soon they are in a fantasy land of ac- old Kayleigh Wyse, a cancer victim who robats and monkeys sipping tea, Chinese is unable to attend school while dragons and masquerades. she struggles with chemo- Isn’t that Grandma’s rose- therapy and radiation. In covered shawl? And the red order to complete a sci- checkered tablecloth? ence project on astrology, In a world of mysterious she enlists the collabora- peacocks and dancing pigs, tion of other on-line learn- something of the familiar ers, assuming everyone is still remains. A hobby horse. truthful. Pigeons. A favourite sun hat. She slowly realizes the And then, just like that, world of the internet is as there are the teapot, the kit- LOUISE DONNELLY unreliable as astrological tens – and even Grandpa! predictions based on the 1-55041-894-7 ✍ ever-shifting heavens. 1-55143-338-9 ✍ Former broadcaster Laura Langston also deals with loss of The Cure for Crushes (And Other memory in Mile-High Apple Pie (Ran- Deadly Plagues) (Raincoast $11.95) by dom House $24.95). Karen Rivers once again usurps the Margaret’s Grandma is “not the wrin- journal of Haley Andromeda Harmony kled kind; she’s the special kind.” She who was featured in Healing Time wears trainers with yellow laces and once of Hickeys. had an art gallery and played the piano. As obsessive as Bridget Jones in re- But now Grandma confuses Chopin for cording and tallying the daily ups and Bach and sweet peas for roses. downs, 17-year-old Haley-the-hypo- She remembers bruises are the sweet- chondriac chronicles her final months est part of the apple. “A fruit man told of high school. Hair loss, brain tumours me.” Then one terrible day, she no and a rash of other internet-researched longer recognizes Margaret. “You are symptoms continue to afflict her. my apple-cheeked bruise girl,” she says. Dad moves his MYG (Much Younger

22 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 LIT Girlfriend) in with them. There’s the ✍ bikini-clad bungee-jumping. And, it Ben Over Night (F&W $19.95), the turns out, having a boyfriend is no cure sequel to Big Ben, takes young Ben, who’s for crushes on other boys. really not that big, to Peter’s house where Still, Haley, inspired by the request anything can happen. Ben can be a pi- of Rivers’ mother for a book where “no rate, a potato, a cook. He can be light as one dies,” is ever hopeful it will be air. He can be invisible. The one thing TGYML2 (The he can’t be, how- Greatest Year of My ever, is a sleepover- BROADWAY Life, Part 2). nighter. At Peter’s 632 West Broadway 1-55192-779-9 house the bed feels open until 10 pm 7 days/wk ✍ wrong, there are For her medical strange noises in the adventure Runaway night, there’s no cat at Sea (Harbour on his stomach. A $9.95) Mary flashlight doesn’t Razzell draws on help. Neither does actual events and her Blankey. Nor big KITSILANO own nursing back- brother Joe’s offer to ground. come along. But sis- 2388 West 4th Ave It’s the San Fran- ter Robin helps Ben open until 11pm 7 days/wk cisco of 1970, but 16- dream the magic so- year-old Anne yearns lution. Author to live with her free- Sarah Ellis, PHOTO spirited aunt in Van- long-time Vancou- JOBE ver resident, and il-

couver. Then she runs RON lustrator Kim into a childhood Mary Razzell: escape from San Francisco crush, now a draft LaFave, of UNIVERSITY/PT GREY Robert’s Creek, dodger heading north 4444 West 10th Ave himself, and it seems the chance to es- have been both recognized with Gov- cape stifling family life is fate. But Anne ernor General’s Awards. 1-55041-807-2 open until 10pm 7 days/wk finds herself caught between a typhoid outbreak on her B.C.-bound cruise ship Louise Donnelly writes from Vernon. and an heroic doctor who’s investigat- ing the incident. Razzell is also the au- ALSO RECEIVED thor of the young adult novels Snow Apples GRANVILLE and Salmonberry Wine. 1-55017-327-8 In the Paint: South Side Sports ✍ (Orca $8.95) by Jeff Rud. 1-55143-337-0 550 Granville St The irrepressible junior diva Dinah Strawberry Moon (Orca $7.95) m-f 8:30am-9pm by Becky Citra. 1-55143-367-2 Galloway, who last appeared in The Man The Pepins and Their Problems sat 9-6 sun 10-6 in the Moonstone, also sets sail, with a (Groundwood $13.95) lounge gig on an Alaskan-bound cruise by Polly Horvath. 0-88899-633-0 ship. Whatever Happened to My Dog Mix in a rare mask, an Cuddles (Orca $8.95) by aspiring thief with gooseberry-coloured Heather Sander. 1-55143-307-9 eyes, two old people with romantic in- Emily’s Dream (Orca $7.95) by YALETOWN NEW! tentions and Dinah, once again, is up to Jacqueline Pearce. 1-55143-368-0 Under the Sea with Googol and 1068 Homer St her whipped cream mocha mustache in Googolplex (Orca $6.95) open until 10pm 7 days/wk trouble.

by Nelly Kazenbroot. 1-55143-366-4 seller for www.bookwarehouse.ca 25 years The Mask on the Cruise Ship (Orca Charmed (Orca $9.95) $8.95) is the third Dinah Galloway mys- by Carrie Mac. 1-55143-321-4 tery. Author Melanie Jackson, Camp Wild (Orca Currents $9.95) now living in Vancouver, was born in Ab- by Pam Withers. 1-55143-361-3 erdeen, Scotland and grew up in To- Sophie’s Friend in Need (Beach Holme $9.95) ronto. If she had the nerve, says the by Norma Charles. 0-88878-449-X DAVIE former journalist, the person she’d be is Dream Helmet (Ronsdale $14.95) the adventuresome, red-headed Dinah. by William New. Illustrations by Vivian 1051 Davie St 1-55143-305-2 Bevis. 1-55380-021-4 open until 11pm 7 days/wk Sky (Groundwood $16.95) All BC BookWorld reviews are posted online at by Pamela Porter. 0-88899-563-6 www.abcbookworld.com

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23 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 PROFILE LIFE OF BRIAN rian Brett's ther mental retardation or, very differently, an early-matur- ing mind (not necessarily a more intelligent one).” Brian Brett’s Uproar's Your ✍ memoir shows him Only Music First assaulted at age 13 for his feminine features, Brett B took LSD for the first time at age 15 and embraced the as a girlish youth (Exile Editions $22.95) counter-cultural zeitgeist. and as a Jethro-like recalls the horrendous “I fell into the sixties like a fly into shit.” character near his At 20, he realized he also had ansomia—no sense of smell. consequences of being Finally he was treated with testosterone. “The initial shot woodpile. That born as a freak, as an was so strong my tiny organ developed an erection that lasted duplicity reflects eight days.” androgyne. At 20, Brett was 5'7" and weighed 114 pounds. With the cruel nature injections he reached 6' by age 30. On a lifelong diet of Brett was born in 1950 of his brave testosterone, Brett has since ballooned to 230 pounds. with a rare aberration Having survived the mean streets of Vancouver, among journey. called Kallman's Syndrome drugs and prostitutes and psychiatric wards, Brett some- so that as he approached pu- how managed to start a publishing enterprise with Allan berty, several doctors assumed Safarik “in that brash, typical way of young hothead stu- he was starting to 'present' as dents” until they quarrelled and Safarik became the main- an hermaphrodite. stay of Blackfish Press. Growing up in relative poverty In 1980, while living in White Rock, Brett wrote a fiery in East Vancouver, Brett assumed he broadside against local developers. He enjoyed a meteoric was a boy and dressed like one, but his rise as a local hero and found himself surprisingly elected as body was completely hairless, even un- an alderman. der his arms. Disdainful of his fellow aldermen who were toadies to “The current term for conditions like commercialism, he was re-elected for a second term, only to mine is 'middlesex,'” he says. “Though I had appear on election night, “drunk as a skunk, enraged,” be- a penis, what the medical profession tactlessly fore the television cameras, berating the electorate for their calls a micro-phallus, I guess it could have been stupidity. One of the local papers launched a stream of sus- mistaken for an enlarged clitoris...” tained invective and Brett failed to win a third term, falling Now that he’s a hulking and articulate man, short by 11 votes. living comfortably with his family on Saltspring Brett sued the newspaper for libel—and won. After pay- Island, it's difficult to imagine how Brett’s ing his lawyer and assorted debts, he bought a parrot named hypothalamus was stunting his pituitary gland so Tuco. Twenty years later Tuco still lives with Brett and his that he didn't have any male hormones. partner Sharon on their small, organic, farm. “They sliced open my groin, and oddly, those He now looks forward to his term as incoming president six-inch scars have survived, though most of the of the Writers’ Union of Canada. marks my history has given me have faded. The title of his memoir—edited by Margaret “They encountered some vestigial testicles which Atwood, Barry Callaghan and Heidi Greco, they yarded down, pierced, and attached by long, including new poems—is derived from a line by John tight, black cords sewn cross-legged through the skin Keats. 'There's nothing stable in the world: uproar's your and muscles at mid-thigh... only music.' “I wandered lost, and sexless through adolescence, “Like Teresias,” he writes, “I've seen glimpses of the fe- dreaming of being a real human being, or at least a de- male and the male in one body—and the intersex, the finable one.” middlesex, the hermaphrodite, or whatever you want to call It was a lonely and frightening time. When first di- it. They are astonishing. agnosed, Brett was told he was one in four million. “And although I don't believe these glimpses gave me “I've been told that with the development of mod- any more wit or intelligence or prophecy, they did give me ern technology for genetic testing, my kind have been a varied perspective.” placed on the 'recommended for termination' list, but ✍ I can understand it.” Prone to emotional fluctuations, he Once at a Writers’ Union meeting, PHOTO adopted the Chinese characters for the Brian Brett was berated by some female

KNOX writers for daring to say he could un- deer and the dragon as his personal em- blems. derstand their problems. BRYANT One of his teachers beat his hands with “Brian, you can never know what it's a leather strap 36 times in the sixth grade like to suffer the way women have,” because he could not tolerate Brett's pen- Audrey Thomas reportedly said. chant for inexplicably bursting into fits of He replied, “You might be surprised,”

PHOTO much to the annoyance of the women. weeping during class. Along the way, Brett also devel- Brett didn't defend himself and soon

PETERSON found himself being booed. “I was a hair oped extremely painful osteoporo- - sis. “It was decade later that I away from launching into my abused ENRIGHT learned one of the other side-ef- story right there on stage,” he says.

BLAISE Now the cat is finally out of the bag. fects of Kallman's Syndrome is ei- / 1-55096-607-3 PETERSON

BARRY

9 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 URBANITY

fronted racism, participated in the Arts for Action public art group formed by Claudine Pommier, and consist- HE COVERS THE ently celebrated the “edgy vitality” of his community in his paintings, prints, wood- cuts and murals. “Overhead, a neon-blue eagle buzzes WATERFRONT with repeated wing gestures, never be- coming airborne,” he writes. “Inside a café, Eastside residents are leaning over ichard Tetrault was one of coffees. Stories are being told. The in- the masterminds behind ner-city core of Vancouver has a wealth of its own. As an artist, I always felt em- Vancouver’s largest braced by the energy of the street here.” R Tetrault’s new book arose from a 2003 work of public art, the 28 mosaics PHOTO

retrospective held at the newly opened Interurban Arts Centre, at the historic that cover a retaining wall along TWIGG Jim Green extols the virtues of Richard Tetrault’s ‘art armed for combat.’ intersection of Carrall and Hastings in Commercial Drive, between 14th Vancouver. During the first half of the th and 17th avenues. Kwan have grown to love and respect For six weeks Tetrault also worked in 20 century, the building was the hub his work, and that’s where Tetrault has the Mexican studio of muralist David for the BC Electric Interurban Station. His Peace Mural has been viewed for maintained a studio for 25 years, hav- Alfaro Siqueiros, a contemporary The ‘inter-urbanity’ of Tetrault’s best- many years at ing attended the Vancouver School of of Diego Rivera. Back in 1923, Siqueiros known works, such as Disappearing Al- and other murals are at the Britannia, Art between 1962 and 1979. had proclaimed that art should not exist ley, have been characterized by art Strathcona and Ray Cam Community But if viewed collectively in Painted for individual expression; instead it must journalist Michael Harris. Centres, the Keefer Street Overpass, Lives & Shifting Land- “become a fighting educa- “Tetrault gives us the Downtown Four Sisters Co-op, Four Corners Bank scapes (Anvil $42), tive art for all.” Along with Eastside,” he writes, “not from the per- and the Portland Hotel. When you en- Tetrault’s murals and Rivera, Siqueiros also de- spective of a squeamish yuppie who got ter the Carnegie Centre at Main & prints—with or without manded “art armed for com- off at the wrong bus stop, but from an Hastings, where Tetrault taught art his trademark crows, fire bat, that makes people insider’s compassionate eye… classes in the eighties and early nineties, escapes, alleyways and aware of their history and “Can art heal neighbourhoods like his Summer City Street mural is one of bridges—are evidently cos- their civil rights.” Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where the first things you’ll see. mopolitan concoctions. The tradition of the Mexi- survival is an ongoing struggle? Tetrault Given the ‘street’ feel and locale of His determinedly public can mural is one that pre- and his colleagues submit that art in fact much of his commissioned art, Tetrault style has been forged by his serves history and ennobles a facilitates survival; that the Downtown could easily be hyped as a local hero, as time in Berlin, Bangkok, common struggle for dignity. Eastside must revel in its own history; that the Diego Rivera of the Downtown New York and Havana, as As one of British Columbia’s there is a lively, varied cultural scene; that Eastside. That’s where the likes of coun- much as by Vancouver’s leading progenitors of that there is talent and, yes, a future.” cillor Jim Green and MLA Jenny poorest neighborhood. Richard Tetrault tradition, Tetrault has con- 1-895636-62-0

Just call 604-736-4011 to advertise in BC BookWorld

12 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 PEOPLE rior to the Olympics, perhaps some one will finally do the right thing and rename BC Place as Terry Fox ST. TERRY Stadium, in keeping with the statue at its entrance. Meanwhile progress isP being made. If Terry Fox had contracted his same cancer in 2005, according to Douglas Coupland, “not only would he have kept his leg, but he’d probably be alive and well.” Pro- ceeds from Coupland’s 25th anniversary tribute to Fox’s Marathon of Hope, Terry (D&M $28.95), will go to the Terry Fox Foundation to continue cancer research. Fox began his attempt to run across Canada from St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980, precisely 25 years prior to the release date for Coupland’s collection of 145 photographs, including family memorabilia. Coupland will edit a follow-up collection of personal responses to Terry Fox from across the country.

1-55365-113-8 A short story about Alice Scrutiny on the Bountiful nce upon a time, before Time magazine bizarrely called her one of the most influential people on the planet, Alice Munro, born Former Oin Ontario in 1931, worked as a clerk in the Vancouver Public Creston veteri- Library where she wasn’t permitted to help library patrons find their narian and books. A mother of three daughters, Munro occasionally found spare self-publisher hours to scribble stories in the Kitsilano Library branch. Dave Perrin In 1968, the same year Joni Mitchell released her first al- has teamed bum, Alice Munro released her first book, Dance of the Happy with Debbie Shades, and she has been publishing her short stories in Palmer, an es- the New Yorker ever since. Twice winner of the Giller capee from Prize; three times the recipient of the Governor Gen- the Mormon eral’s Award for Fiction, Alice Munro is peerless as Fundamental- “the only living writer in the to ist community have made a major career out of short fiction of Bountiful, for Debbie Palmer alone.” her life story, A reviewer for The Times (U.K.) has added, Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy (Dave’s “when reading her work it is difficult to remem- Press $28.95). Herself the oldest of 47 children, ber why the novel was ever invented.” Palmer, now 51, willingly became the sixth wife Alice Munro with of the community’s leader, her 55-year-old Amid camera crews, dignitaries and well- Mayor Larry wishers, Alice Munro returned to the VPL in May Campbell, who uncle, when she was 15. “You have to believe to receive the 11th annual Terasen Lifetime Achieve- read a civic that as a woman you are to be part of your proclamation in husband’s kingdom,” she says, “and he’s go- ment Award for an Outstanding Literary Career her honour. in British Columbia. “I guess I’ve come full cir- ing to be a god and you’re going to be a god- cle,” she said. dess. That’s what I was taught from the time I A new biography by Robert Thacker was born. I didn’t know anything else.” Assigned entitled Alice Munro: Writing her Lives to two other older men after that, she fled in 1988 and has since been profiled on CBC’s Fifth PHOTO

(M&S $39.99) will be released in the fall. Meanwhile a plaque in Munro’s honour has Estate. Her memoir concludes when she is 18; TWIGG been added to the Main Library’s Writers a sequel is planned. 0-9687943-3-5

Walk on Georgia Street. 0-7710-8514-1 MARTIN

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3 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 BC BOOK PRIZES Bun toss comes of age

one of six co-authors of A Jan Zwicky was not present to he glass is half empty. The Stain Upon the Sea, an receive the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize glass is half full. Now anti-fish-farming volume for Robinson’s Crossing (Brick Books). from Harbour Publishing [Judged by Brad Cran, Crispin Toperated under the aegis of that won the Roderick Elsted & Angela Hryniuk]. the Lieutenant Governor’s office, Haig-Brown Prize for best Billeh Nickerson was a breath book about the province. of fresh air presenting the Livesay Prize. complete with mandatory [Judged by Richard For the most part, presenters out-shone Hopkins, Theresa recipients in speechifying. Alan forelock pulling and a toast to the Kishkan & Rose- Haig-Brown recalled his father with Queen, the 21-year-old BC Book mary Neering]. a quote from John Steinbeck; “Above all, I’d like to Stephen Osborne gave an astute Prizes gala is more impressive to thank my ex-employers Ethel Wilson appreciation of Hubert Evans; Janice PHOTO Fiction Prize because without their in- Douglas touted equal rights for chil- some, less fun to others. PRIZES winner Pauline competence this book dren’s literature; Women In Print book-

BOOK Holdstock. Inset: “I remember well the first awards,” would not have been pos- / Non-Fiction seller Carol Dale recalled Bill CHIN noted semi-retiring CTV talk show host sible,” Langer said. “And winner Charles Duthie. “Mr. D., to many of us,” she PHOTO

Vicki Gabereau, reappearing to I would like to thank the PHILLIP Montgomery said, “was a mentor to so many in this host the affair after a 20-year interim. fish farms and the multi- TWIGG industry, not just booksellers.” “You were all a lot drunker than you are national corporations because without “This kind of makes up for the fact now.” their greed this book would not have that I failed miserably in the Miss “90% of British Columbians With a minimum of self-deprecating been possible.” Langer concluded by Smithers beauty contest,” Juby said. read a book last year. wit, Gabereau ably noted the deaths of urging the audience to always ask if their Fresh from winning the lucrative It’s the most book-friendly Pierre Berton and CBC’s David salmon is farmed or wild. Charles Taylor Prize, Montgomery Grierson while playing second fiddle Another dark horse recipient was nov- thanked his friend Michael Scott, and literate place to Lieutenant Governor Iona elist Pauline Holdstock who took editor Saeko Usukawa and pub- probably on the planet.” Campagnolo. The evening climaxed home the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for lisher Scott McIntyre. — GORDON PLATT with Campagnolo’s hymn of praise for Beyond Measure (Cormo- For the first time a the “sheer raw courage” of Robert rant). “I immigrated to B.C.-published book, In recalling the collective history of Bringhurst, winner of the second an- B.C. twice,” she said, “and Goodbye to Griffith the literary community, Dale noted the nual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for I’m really glad I stayed the Street (Orca), illus- BC Book Prizes are an outgrowth of the Literary Excellence. second time.” [Judged by trated by Renné Eaton’s Book Award, a singular prize “It is impossible to imagine a more John Burns, John Benoit of Ontario presented in a basement. Now there are worthy recipient,” cooed the LG, who Harris & David and written by twice as many prizes since Gabereau engineered the prize to honour the crea- Watmough]. Marilyn emceed the first bun toss on Granville PHOTO tor of a body of work who is deemed to Two rising stars of the Reynolds of Victo- Island in 1985, and half as many laughs. PRIZES exhibit mastery of the written word. Poet Canlit scene, Susan ria, received the Such is adulthood. and editor Bringhurst thanked “cantan- BOOK It adds up to social progress. In one Juby and Charles / Christie Harris Illus- CHIN kerous” bookseller Bill Hoffer, Vic Montgomery, re- trated Children’s of the best speeches, Acting Director Marks (“one of the most reclusive pub- ceived the Sheila A. Egoff Prize. [Judged by General of Publishing Policy and Pro- PHILLIP lishers in British Columbia”) and his Children’s Literature Among 400 attendees were Barbara Nichol, grams Gordon Platt reported the long-time publisher Scott Prize and the Hubert Angela Leung of the Publishers Andrea findings from a forthcoming federal sur- McIntyre, adding, “It might come as Evans Non-Fiction Prize Assn. of BC and poet Marisa Alps. Spalding & Ron vey. “Book reading in Canada is rock a surprise to you that part of the value respectively for Miss Lightburn]. solid,” he said. Only 50% of Americans of winning a prize like this is the money Smithers (HarperCollins) and The Last Another multi-author title from Har- read a book in the past year, compared that comes with it.” [Judged by Celia Heathen (Douglas & McIntyre). [Egoff bour Publishing, Birds of the Raincoast: to 80% of Canadians. Duthie, Daniel Francis & last judges were Carolyn Cutt, Bill Habits and Habitat, received the newly “British Columbians score the high- year’s recipient P.K. Page]. Valgardson & Irene Watts; renamed BC Booksellers’ Choice Award est,” Platt said. “90% of British The most memorable acceptance Evans judges were Lynne Bowen, in Honour of Bill Duthie, as selected by Columbians read a book last year. It’s speech was made by former Department George Fetherling & Maria the membership of the BC Booksellers the most book-friendly and literate place of Fisheries employee Otto Langer, Tippett]. Association. probably on the planet.”

“I’d like to thank my ex-employers because without their incompetence this book would not have been possible.”—OTTO LANGER PHOTO

PRIZES

BOOK / PHOTO CHIN

TWIGG PHILLIP RODERICK HAIG-BROWN PRIZE RECIPIENTS: Howard White, Betty Keller, Otto Langer. Robert Bringhurst, Susan Juby, Betty Keller, Marilyn Reynolds, Otto Langer, First hosted by Vicki Gabereau in 1985, the annual B.C. Book Prizes gala was held on Stephen Hume. Front row: Teresa Bubela (Book Prizes president), Pauline Holdstock April 30 at the Renaissance Hotel in Vancouver, hosted by Gabereau a second time. and Her Honour, Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo.

31 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 URBANITY

2. Pawz, a victim of domestic abuse 5. A Salish First Nations, Dee grew up Seven pseudonyms who, in an attempt to escape from her hus- on a reserve, but was forced to move to Van- o reach beyond de-humanizing media band, took refuge in Vancouver’s Downtown couver when her mother lost her job. She representations of the Downtown Eastside. “I had a child who passed away. I became a drug user and sex worker. “It’s TEastside, Leslie Robertson and was almost murdered. I was raped. I’ve had really hard to get out of the unclean feeling Dara Culhane have collected stories of all these bad things happen; yet I don’t want of having to be a prostitute. I still have my seven women for In Plain Sight: Reflections to say I’m unhappy to be alive.” regulars, but when I go out there and look On Life In Downtown Eastside Vancouver at the street, it’s nothing to hold your head (Talonbooks $18.95). 3. A Cree native of Regina, Laurie was up high about. It’s a dirty rotten occupation. To respect privacy and preserve the wom- raised by foster parents in Saskatoon. She I’ve never liked it.” en’s safety, the two academic editors have moved to Vancouver in her 20s where she ironically opted to present In Plain Sight in- began to participate in heavy drug use and 6. Born in Edmonton, Black Widow formants as surnameless and faceless. Hav- trafficking. “Drug addicts have an image, too. started “doing lines” when she was thirteen. ing chosen their own pseudonyms, the seven Yeah, we have an image. Even down here After spending some time in jail, she followed women speak for themselves. we’ve got low-class, middle-class, and high- her ex-husband to Vancouver where he had class; you have the dope and you’re up taken her kids. “I’ve led my life the way I’ve 1. Raised in a white, middle-class fam- there. But what we don’t have is people ral- led my life…I don’t know if I’ve made all the ily on the west side of Vancouver, Tamara lying around us…It’s like when Gordon right decisions, but I really don’t think I’m a first used drugs recreationally. Heavy drug Campbell said, ‘I’m just a social drinker.’ If I bad person. I don’t steal; I don’t lie. I’m not use and dealing slowly followed. ever get busted again I’m going to say, ‘I’m a selfish person. I’m not a self-centred per- “I always had a thousand bucks cash on just a social addict.’” son. Maybe when I’m gone, maybe some- me. I remember being stopped by these body can read something about me.” cops for a seat belt. It was some stupid ticket 4. Sara grew up in a physically, sexu- just to harass me. They knew I had money, ally and mentally abusive home. After work- 7. Soon after receiving her degree in and they knew I was probably dealing. I ing the streets in Alberta, she moved to therapy, Anne suffered a series of mental couldn’t see that then, I thought it was just Vancouver to avoid a domineering pimp. health breakdowns. She now lives with her harassment. But I remember this cop want- “For once, I get to say my piece. I’ve done child on the Downtown Eastside where she ing to count my money. The cops that a lot of interviews on this and that around struggles with poverty and the stigma of brought me in made this other cop count my life, around things from downtown like mental illness. “We might be recovering everything, every last penny at the bottom the missing women. A lot of stuff that I said addicts, we might be recovering alcoholics, of my purse. I had 999 dollars and ninety- was taken out of context or wasn’t portrayed we might be recovering from a number of four cents. They attached a little note. ‘We properly, and in the end it looked like non- different things. That doesn’t take away couldn’t see you leaving with such an odd truths. So this is finally my chance to say anything from our ability to be great moth- amount. We put a collection together, put something and for it to be accurate.” ers.”—by Martin Twigg 0-88922-513-3

PHOTO six cents in.’ (Laughing) I walked out with a

thousand.” TWIGG

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13 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 OBITS AS FOR SINCLAIR ROSS David Stouck Bob Hunter (1941-2005) In this insightful and uch of the impetus for ble and peyote ceremonies, it was a thoroughly researched Greenpeace arose from the strange amalgam of philosophy and biography, David Stouck enthusiasms of Robert Aboriginal wisdom. Increasingly, as examines the life of the M famously reclusive and (“Bob”) Hunter, an unconventional jour- Greenpeace coalesced into a dynamic mysterious literary fi gure, nalist who, during Greenpeace’s genesis, force for social change and education, Canadian author Sinclair Ross was writing a thrice-weekly column for Bob Hunter, as its first president and (1908–1996). the Vancouver Sun. holder of the first Greenpeace member- As the End the Arms Race coalition ship, consulted Warriors of the Rainbow 350 pp / Available was gaining momentum in Vancouver, and used it as a moral compass. With cl 0802043887 $45.00 Hunter and his partner Zoe Hunter Hunter aboard, the first vessel to sail were living in a farmhouse on the Fraser north and protest anticipated American River, keen on the new ecology move- bomb testing in Alaska was accordingly ment, when one day in 1969 an old red called the Rainbow Warrior. Time maga- THE HALF-LIVES OF pick-up truck approached his farm- zine later named him one of the top ten PAT LOWTHER house. The hippie vehicle contained a eco-heroes of the 20th century. Christine Wiesenthal cedar-shaked house with a crooked stove- Diagnosed with cancer in 1999, pipe and a macramé God’s-eye in its win- Bob Hunter rejected surgery and under- Combining biography with dow. Its long-haired driver, a went a series of experimental treatments literary analysis, Christine dulcimer-maker who wore moccasins, in Mexico. He died in Toronto at age Wiesenthal examines the critical gave Hunter a book called Warriors of 63 of prostate cancer on May 2, legacy of Vancouver poet Pat the Rainbow: Strange and Prophetic 2005. Lowther - a writer whose Dreams of the Indian People. With refer- For more on Robert Hunter and his remarkable life and poetry have ences to Buddhism, the Koran, the Bi- books, see abcbookworld.com often been overshadowed by her notorious death.

530 pp / August 2005 cl 080203635X $65.00 summer books

ON LOCATION Canada’s Television Industry in a Global Market Serra Tinic

Using Vancouver as a case study of current trends in global television production, On Location investigates the concepts of globalization, culture, and national identity, and their relationship to broadcasting.

Bob Hunter, 290 pp / Available ‘one of the top ten pb 0802085482 $24.95 eco-heroes of the 20th century’ – Time magazine DOWNTOWN CANADA Writing Canadian Cities Edited by Justin D. Edwards and Shirley Sterling (1948-2005) Douglas Ivison

hirley Anne Sterling in 1948, Shirley Sterling The vast majority of Canadians died after a two- moved to Vancouver live in cities, yet for the most part, discussions of Canadian Syear battle with can- where she trained as a literature have failed to engage cer on April 3, 2005 at ballerina. In Vancouver actively with the country’s Merritt, B.C. she obtained her educa- urban experience. In Downtown She will be remembered tion degree and twice re- Canada, contributors focus for My Name is Seepeetza ceived the Native Indian their attention on the writing (Groundwood 1992), a Teacher Education of Canada’s cities – including benchmark volume that Alumni Award, plus the Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. fictionalized her 1950s stint Laura Steinman Award at the Kamloops Residen- for Children’s Literature. 290 pp / August 2005 tial School. Sterling acquired a pb 0802086683 $29.95 In 1993, Sterling be- Ph.D in Education from came the first Aboriginal the University of British author to win a B.C. Book Prize, receiv- Columbia and spent many years in ing the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Lit- Moricetown, B.C. among the University of Toronto Press erature Prize for Seepeetza, possibly Wetsuweten people, from whom she was books for overachievers Canada’s first publication for children given an Hereditary Chief’s name. www.utppublishing.com about residential schools. For more information on Shirley Ster- Born on the Joyaska Indian Reserve ling, see abcbookworld.com

15 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 ENDPAPERS

Literary Prizes Randy Fred (seen with his Other news wife Edith) is the winner of the 5th annual Gray Campbell Award Hal Wake will replace Alma Linda Rogers flew to Cardiff in for his integral role in the Lee as director of the Vancouver Writ- May to accept the £5000 winner’s writing and publishing ers Festival in January of 2006. cheque for the 2005 Cardiff Interna- community of B.C. He founded ✍ tional Poetry Competition sponsored by Theytus Books, the first The Welsh Academy and announced by Aboriginal-owned and Two more independent bookstores Aboriginal-operated Gwyneth Lewis, Wales’ new Na- are closing—Women in Print in Vancou- publishing house in ver and Merlin Books in Kamloops. tional Poet. Rogers winning poem ‘He Canada in the early Saw the Pale,’ reflects on the 2004 tsu- 1980s. ✍ nami tragedy. The B.C. Interior lost one of its great ✍ champions on May 13, 2005 with the An Award of Merit has been con- sudden death of Cynthia R. ferred upon Fred Thirkell and Bob Wilson, owner and guiding spirit of Scullion at the 26th annual City of Prince George-based Caitlin Press Inc. PHOTO Vancouver Heritage Awards for Break- Having grown up on the Sunshine

ing News: The Postcard Images of George TWIGG Coast and Nelson Island, she moved to Alfred Barrowclough (Heritage House) At press time we were saddened to in Kelowna to Plants of the Haida Gwaii Prince George in the early 1970s where about Edwardian Vancouver. learn that Sheila A. Egoff, maven (Sono Nis) by Nancy Turner. she dedicated herself to serving local writ- ✍ of Canadian children’s literature, died Runners-up at the BCHF annual ers and obviating what she called “the Lower Mainland bias” in B.C.’s literary The Beckoners, a teen novel by at age 87 in Vancouver on May 22. An convention included Daniel and public life. Carrie Mac, has won the 2005 obituary by Judith Saltman is posted at Francis for Mayor Louis Taylor & the A long-time faculty member at the White Ravens Award at the Bologna www.abcbookworld.com. Rise of Vancouver (Arsenal Pulp), College of New Caledonia in Prince Children’s Book Fair. The Beckoners has ✍ Michael Dawson for Selling Brit- George, she bought Vancouver-based also been nominated for the Canadian ish Columbia (UBC Press) and Not to be confused Caitlin Press in 1991 and moved it to Library Association’s YA Book Award Daisy Sewid-Smith with the Lieutenant Prince George. In 15 years she pub- and the Crime Writers’ of Canada for Paddling to Where I Governor’s Award for lished more Arthur Ellis Award. Stand: Agnes Alfred, Literary Excellence, than 50 books. ✍ the Lieutenant Gover- Qwiqwasutinuxw No- blewoman (UBC Caitlin Waiting For Sarah (Orca), a teen nor’s Award for Press), co-writ- Press will con- novel by James Heneghan and the 22nd an- ten with tinue to pub- Bruce McBay, has been awarded nual BC His- Martine lish as usual, the 2005 Young Readers’ torical Daisy Sewid- with marketing Smith (left) Reid. Choice Award. Federation by Harbour ✍ Book Prizes and BCHF president Publishing. competi- Jacqueline At a meeting of the Council of Edi- PHOTO tion was Cynthia tors of Learned Journals in Philadelphia, Gresko Wilson

conferred TWIGG Eva-Marie Kröller was named Dis- tinguished Editor for 2004 for her work SFU presents on Canadian Literature, the UBC liter- Subscribe ary journal now edited by Laurie WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH To receive the next 6 issues by mail, Ricou. YOUR WEDNESDAY EVENINGS? ✍ send a cheque for $19.26 You can learn the Literary History Building the West (Talonbooks), com- of British Columbia at Harbour Centre. Name ...... piled and edited by Donald Luxton, was selected for an Award of Merit in Just as British author Julian Barnes provided A History of the ...... World in 10 1/2 Chapters; British Columbian author Alan Twigg the Heritage Communication category Apt/Box #...... of the 2005 Canadian Association of will cover the Literary History of British Columbia in 13 lec- Professional Heritage Consultants tures. This unprecedented course at Simon Fraser University Street...... (CAPHC) Awards. (Vancouver Campus) will provide a panorama of literary ✍ activity from 1774 to 2005. Topics will include more than 50 ...... Aboriginal authors, the earliest explorers, contemporary Peter Trower has been awarded City...... publishing houses, the 19th century (“Bibles, Booze, Guns & the Canadian Authors Association Jack Government”), poets, novelists, classic BC titles, anthropol- Chalmers Poetry Award for Haunted Prov/Code...... ogy, politics, photography, theatre, women and art. Hills and Hanging Valleys: Selected This 400-level course is open to the public. Fee: $400. Poems 1969–2004 (Harbour), to be For information, call SFU at 604-291-5093. Reply to: 3516 West 13th Ave. presented in Waterloo, Ontario on Vancouver, B.C. V6R 2S3 June 25.

33 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 LETTERS UBCPress If it’s Sorokin, don’t fix it Thought that counts Michael Cassidyne’s promotion of his translation of a work by “Vassily Vanishing British Columbia Common Sense on Weapons Solitsin” (pseud.), Through Hell, to Heaven and Back! (BCBW Summer), is Michael Kluckner of Mass Destruction misleading. Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. 224 pages, illus. According to the translator/pub- $49.95 hc • ISBN 0-7748-1125-0 200 pages lisher, he spent ten years working with $17.95 pb • ISBN 0-7748-1147-1 Paddling to Where I Stand the original Russian-language manu- Agnes Alfred, Qwiqwasutinuxw Noblewoman Gay Male Pornography script, composed in 1954 by an author Edited by Martine J. Reid, An Issue of Sex Discrimination whose real name Cassidyne chooses not translated by Daisy Sewid-Smith Christopher N. Kendall to disclose. 325 pages, illus. 296 pages In fact, this epic was previously pub- $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-7748-0913-2 $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-7748-1077-7 lished in book form in 1950, ascribed to an author whose identity was then The Heiress vs the Establishment Fight or Pay only thinly disguised. Mrs. Campbell’s Campaign for Legal Soldiers’ Families in the Great War Through Hell... is a translation of Tri Justice Desmond Morton dnia i tri nochi v zagrobnoi zhizni [Three Constance Backhouse 368 pages, illus. days and three nights in the afterlife] by and Nancy L. Backhouse $39.95 hc • ISBN 0-7748-1108-0 “Pantes Kiroson,” an anagrammatic 356 pages, illus. Published in association with the Canadian War Museum $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-7748-1053-X pseudonym not difficult to decipher A Spring 2005 Books for Everybody Selection given the place of publication – Cres- The Red Man’s on the Warpath The Image of the “Indian” and the Second cent Valley, B.C., the former Sons of Negotiated Memory World War Freedom stronghold. Doukhobor Autobiographical Discourse R. Scott Sheffield The Russian original is accessible in Julie Rak at least two B.C. libraries (see Outlook 240 pages, illus. 172 pages $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-7748-1095-5 Online and UBC Library’s on-line cata- $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-7748-1031-9 logue). Pedagogy of Indignation Jack McIntosh Letters from Lexington Richmond Reflections on Propaganda Paulo Freire New Updated Edition 176 pages [The mystery author is Sons of Freedom Noam Chomsky $22.95 pb • ISBN 1-59451-051-2 leader Stepan Sevastionovicy Sorokin, Distributed for Paradigm Publishers Foreword by Edward S. Herman born 1902. See abcbookworld.com – Ed.] 192 pages Children, Youth, and Adults $19.95 pb • ISBN 1-59451-029-6 with Asperger Syndrome Distributed for Paradigm Publishers Wild allegation Integrating Multiple Perspectives Media Spectacle and the Crisis Edited by Kevin P. Stoddart I am a marine biologist who has been studying fish farms for years. I have been of Democracy 336 pages Terrorism, War, and Election Battles $44.95 pb • ISBN 1-84310-319-2 to Ireland, Norway and East Coast Distributed for Jessica Kingsley Publishers Douglas Kellner farms. Regarding Mark Forsythe’s arti- cle on Stain upon the Sea (BCBW Win- 264 pages Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest $24.95 pb • ISBN 1-59451-119-5 ter), he forgot to ask one important Japanese Americans and Japanese Distributed for Paradigm Publishers question: que bono? Who benefits from Canadians in the Twentieth Century writing such a book? Did the authors The Simplicity of Dementia Edited by Louis Fiset write Stain upon the Sea out of a con- and Gail M. Nomura Huub Buijssen cern for wild salmon or in return for 360 pages, illus. 160 pages $32.95 pb • ISBN 0-295-98461-9 donations from U.S. Corporate funds? $24.95 pb • ISBN 1-84310-321-4 Distributed for the University of Press Alaska fears the competition of Distributed for Jessica Kingsley Publishers B.C. farmed salmon and will help Sex and the Slayer groups access money from foundations The Dancing Universe A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan such as the PEW Trust and the Packard From Creation Myths to the Big Bang Lorna Jowett Foundation. It’s the same with BSE, the Marcelo Gleiser 240 pages, illus. US interests groups are not afraid of 352 pages, illus. $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-8195-6758-2 BSE, they are afraid of competition with $24.95 pb • ISBN 1-58465-466-X Distributed for Wesleyan University Press Distributed for the University Press of New England Canadian cattle farmers. Hundreds of Wise Leadership BSE reports go uninvestigated within The Encyclopedia the USA every year. All they have to do Lynda McLyman of Native Music is dress up their corporate agenda to More Than a Century of Recordings 180 pages $32.95 pb • ISBN 0-87013-74-8 look like an environmental (or from Wax Cylinder to the Internet Distributed for Michigan State University Press health) issue. If your paper is going to Brian Wright-McLeod review propaganda pieces and corporate 464 pages, illus. Reflections of Hearts brochures such as Stain Upon the $34.95 pb • ISBN 0-8165-2448-3 and Minds Sea, then at least dig a little to see who is Distributed for the University of Arizona Press Media, Opinion, and Identity in the paying for it. Arab World The Kiss in History Terry Nielsen Shibley Telhami Edited by Karen Harvey Courtenay BC 160 pages [No American or environmental funding 224 pages $29.95 pb • ISBN 0-8157-8308-6 was used to publish Stain Upon the Sea.— $34.95 pb • ISBN 0-7190-6595-X Distributed for Brookings Institutional Press Distributed for Manchester University Press Ed.]

UBC Press books are available from fine bookstores across British Columbia Write to: or order direct: tel 1.877.864.8477 • fax 1.877.864.4272 BC BookWorld For more information on our titles, visit our website 3516 W. 13th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6R 2S3 www.ubcpress.ca email: [email protected] Letters may be edited for clarity & length.

14 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 LOOKOUT #20 • a forum for & about writers 3516 W. 13th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6R 2S3 LOOKOUTLOOKOUTLOOKOUT

ROSAMOND’S MONDE: Bicyclist with double bass in the streets of Havana. Photo by Rosamond CUBA Norbury.

Cubans have lacked basic “To reach the dressing room, we had to step onto a cin- necessities for 50 years, mainly “It’s not easy being gay in der block and into a sink, then climb through an open win- due to U.S. trade sanctions. dow and down a short ladder where we were greeted with That’s why tourists bring a machismo culture like a room filled with half-dressed men getting into their out- donations of sports equipment, fits. The walls were covered with boas and wigs and pic- musical instruments and school Cuba’s, nor is it legal. tures of Madonna and Marilyn Monroe. supplies. When photographer “I told Eduardo about the bags of makeup I’d brought “I handed over the bags to a shirtless man with a fully Rosamond Norbury arrived in and he offered to find me some drag queens. Drag culture is made-up face. They dumped the bags on the bed, exam- Havana to gather images for underground in Cuba so the shows are not advertised, and ined everything minutely, and shared all equally. her third book Notes at the Eduardo had to ask around as to where one might be. Even- “Finally it was show time so we climbed back through Edge: Cuba on the Verge tually he called me up from his neighbour’s phone to say the kitchen window and joined the crowd. I wriggled up (Arsenal Pulp $21.95), she had a to the front of the stage: we were different approach. With the there would be a show Saturday night. “We met across from the famous packed in, body-to-body, but open help of an openly gay photo to the sky. All I could do was hold collage artist named Eduardo, Coppelia ice cream gardens, featured my camera over my head and aim in Norbury donated bottles of in the film Strawberries and Chocolate, the direction of the stage. foundation, pan stick, powder, outside La Jara Theatre on the main “It was really quite a dreadful lipsticks, Final Net hairspray, and street in Vedado. The fence along the show, collegial rather than profes- jars of remover to Havana’s sidewalk of Coppelia is known as “the seldom-seen drag queens. Here bird perch” where men cruise and the sional, but they were so happy danc- she recalls some of her visit. word is circulated about the evening’s ing, lip-syncing, and exchanging events. We picked up a bottle of rum sunglasses and living their elicit life in front of an audience. I was glad Rosamond because you can go anywhere with Norbury rum and people are more than happy that my bags of makeup had had a small hand in making the show just to share. Then we made our way to- Cuban drag queens outside the La Jara nightclub. wards an apartment in Centro, the that much more glamorous. dense and rundown barrio that sits between Vedado and Old “The utter joy and compulsion of drag triumphed in Havana, where a small crowd milled outside on the street. the face of the economic difficulties and social disdain and This is one of the more dangerous areas of Havana but I felt for a few hours it was easy to forget that this was an illegal in safe hands with Eduardo. We paid five US dollars to a gathering.” man at the door and climbed three flights up a dark staircase ✍ to an apartment on the roof. With an introduction by Stephen Osborne, “It was like a typical gay even though it was in a private Rosamond Norbury’s Notes at the Edge: Cuba on the Verge apartment. Eduardo dragged me through the crowd dancing contains 80 b&w photos and her accompanying text. Her to the booming beat: we squeezed past a line-up of men wait- previous titles are Behind the Chutes: The Mystique of the ing for beer and went into the kitchen where the DJ was work- Rodeo Cowboy and Guy to Goddess: An Intimate Look at ing his board beside a pot of beans boiling on the stove. Drag Queens. 1-55152-175-X

17 BOOKWORLD • LOOKOUT • SPRING • 2005 TheThe dayday II caughtcaught FidelFidel by Lionel Kearns

ou can’t play ball with the Commies—that’s what they “I understand there are some North Americans here, and I under- stand that North Americans think they can play baseball. Well! I chal- Dictatorship Index used to say when I was a kid growing up in a little lenge you to a game!” (Years of unelected power) Later that day a combined team of Canadians and Americans were playing baseball. The opposition was the regular University of Santiago Fidel Castro (1926-) Cuba: 46 town in the interior of British Columbia. They weren’t team with Raúl Castro inserted at second base and Fidel pitching. I was Kim II Sung (1912-1994) North Korea: 46 catching for the North American team. King Hussein (1935-1999) Jordan: 46 really talking about baseball. It had more to do with Igor Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975) Ethiopia: 44 The Cubans, of course, were much better players, and by the sec- Enver Hoxha (1909-1985) Albania: 41 Y ond inning they were far ahead. To even things up, the teams switched Omar Bongo (1935-) Gabon: 38 Gouzenko’s defection in Canada, Joe McCarthy’s witch hunts pitchers, with Fidel coming over to our team, and our pitcher going Sultan of Brunei (1946-) Brunei: 38 over to them. For the rest of the game I caught Fidel. Gnassingbé Eyadéma (1937-2005) Togo: 38 in the U.S. and that big shift in attitude that went with the Cold War. King Hassan II (1929-1999) Morocco: 38 I had not worn catcher’s equipment for a few years, but I held my Muammar al-Qaddafi (1942-) Libya: 36 mitt up there in the right place and managed to hang on to whatever Francisco Franco (1892-1975) Spain: 36 But there I was, a few years later, squatting behind the plate, squint- Fidel threw at me. He did not have excessive speed, but he had plenty Antonio Salazar (1889-1970) Portugal:36 ing through the bars of a catcher’s mask, the sweat running down into of control. His curve broke with an amazing hook, and his knuckle ball Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) Yugoslavia: 35 my eyes, as Fidel Castro fired the old pelota down on me from the General Alfredo Stroessner (1912-) Paraguay: 35 came in deceptively slow. However, he paid no attention to my signals. (living in Brazil) pitcher’s mound in the sports stadium of Santiago de Cuba. At one point I called time and went out to the mound to confer. I Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004) It was the summer of 1964. I was en route to London on a Com- thought for sure that someone would snap our picture as I stood there UAE (Abu Dhabi): 33 monwealth Scholarship, with a few stopovers along the way. Some weeks in my dusty catcher’s outfit, glove in one hand, mask in the other, while Mobutu Sese Sedo (1930-1997) Congo/Zaire: 32 earlier Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) Soviet Union: 31 Fidel told me, quietly, “Hoy, los signales no están importantes.” Appar- General Suharto (1921-) Indonesia: 31 I had been staying with my old poetry buddy, George ently he did not take direction from other people, not even from his (living in Indonesia) Bowering, in Mexico City. He and Angela had rented a little apart- Poet and SFU English professor catcher. And as far as I know, that photo, famous only in my imagina- Rafael Trujillo (1892-1961) Dominican Rep.: 31 ment on Avenida Béisbol. Baseball Street! How was I going to top that Lionel Kearns (centre) went to Cuba with tion, was never snapped. Even so, with Fidel’s help, our team managed Hafez al-Assad (1928-2000) Syria: 30 one? thousands of other idealistic volunteers, King Singye Wangchuck (1955-) Bhutan: 33 to hold down the opposition to one or two more runs. Hastings Kamuza Banda (1898-1997) Malawi: 28 I had come to Mexico to join a group of other students from various including Joe Fahrni (left) and Andre Near the end of the game Che Guevara put in an appearance. Beckerman (right), in support of Fidel Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976) China: 27 parts of Canada. We had all signed up to participate in a work project Ne Win (1911-2002) Burma: 26 Castro’s revolution to oust the U.S. puppet He stood there in his olive green fatigues, smoked a cigar, and watched. Robert Gabriel Mugabe (1925-) Zimbabwe: 25 in Cuba, but there were no direct flights from Canada at that time. Two dictator Bastista. Here Kearns is building As an Argentinean, he was not such a committed baseball aficionado. Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) Taiwan: 25 years after the Missile Crisis, and a year after the abortive US sponsored a school in July of 1964, a few weeks prior I had once seen a CBC television documentary on Cuba that fea- Daniel arap Moi (1924-) Kenya: 24 to being challenged to a baseball game Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba was not a popular tourist destination. How- tured Che extolling the theory and practice of voluntary labour. The King Fahd (1923-) Saudi Arabia: 23 ever, we found the island full of students from all over the world. Some by El Presidente. camera had caught him standing amidst the high cane, machete in hand, Moussa Traoré (1936-) Mali: 23 of them were studying at Cuban schools and universities, and some, like answering the interview questions in halting English. Che had defined Nicolae Ceausescu (1918-1989) Romania: 22 us, had come for shorter visits, invited by the government to witness the Muhammad Siad Barre (1919-1995) Somalia: 22 Socialism as the abolition of the exploitation of one person by another. Saddam Hussein (1937-) Iraq: 24 Revolution first hand, in order to counter the bad image it was getting That had made a lot of sense to me. I too was ready to swing a machete Julius Nyerere (1922-1999) Tanzania: 20 in the Western press. in the tropical sun to further such ideals. In fact, that was the reason I Joao Bernardo Vieira (1939-) Guinea-Bissau: 19 The American blockade of the island was still in effect. We could see had applied to come on this student work visit to Cuba. I had not guessed King Dorji Wangchuk (1929-1972) Bhutan: 19 the US warships on the horizon when we walked down the Malecon on Gamal Abdal Nasser (1918-1970) Egypt: 18 that Che would be standing over by the dugout watching me play base- Mathieu Kerekou (1933-) Benin: 18 the Havana sea front. US fighter jets buzzed the city every day or two ball with his pal Fidel. Augusto Pinochet (1915-) Chile: 17 just to shake things up, and U-2 spy planes flew high overhead. On the The night before the game I had been in the bleachers of this same Mengistu Haile Miriam (1937-) Ethiopia: 17 ground there wasn’t much food or luxury, but there was great enthusi- stadium watching the Cuban National Ballet performing Coppelia. The (living in Zimbabwe) asm. Gaafar al Ramiz Nimeiry (1930-) Sudan: 16 day after the game I would listen to Fidel make an impassioned four Anastasio Somoza (1896-1956) Nicaragua: 16 Our group spent a week in Havana and then began moving east hour speech to a throng of almost a million people standing and cheer- Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (1953-) Haiti: 15 through the island, sometimes in a green Czech bus, sometimes in the ing in the 98 degree sun. At the end, we would all link arms and sing (living in France) rusty bucket of a big Russian dump truck. Other international student The International. Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) North Vietnam: 15 invitados, including a group of Americans, were doing the same kind of Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) Philippines: 14 A few years after that game in Cuba, I was Francois Tombalbaya (1918-1975) Chad: 13 thing. We would meet them here and there along the way. Everywhere back in Vancouver playing ball with George Omar Torrijos Herrara (1929-1981) Panama: 13 the Cubans welcomed us, and told us about what was happening and Bowering on the infamous Granville Grange J.B. Bokassa (1921-1996) Central African Rep.: 13 what they were experiencing and expecting. I was glad that I could Zephyrs, scourge of the Kosmic League. But King Farouk I (1936-1953) Egypt: 12 speak Spanish. Kim Jong Il (1942-) North Korea: 11 that is a tale for another day. Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) Soviet Union: 11 As it turned out, we did not make it to the cane fields. Instead we Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) Soviet Union: 11 spent a week doing manual labour on a school construction site in the Lionel Kearns taught in the English Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) Cuba: 11 Sierra Maestra mountains. It was not easy. It was very hot. We worked Department at Simon Fraser Milton Obote (1924-) Uganda: 10 (living in Zambia) and lived side by side with the Cubans, most of them regular labourers, Mohammad Zia ul-Haq (1924-1988) Pakistan: 10 University and has published Samuel Kanyon Doe (1951-1990) Liberia: 10 a few volunteers from urban areas, a few students from other countries. 11 poetry titles since 1963. Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989) Iran: 10 The menu at the camp was basic: fruits and vegetables, sausages, noth- Michel Micombero (1940-1983) Burundi: 10 ing fancy, not large rations, but enough to work on. At night we social- After Lionel Kearns (seen at left, with Achmad Sukarno (1901-1970) Indonesia: 10 ized and tried to get enough sleep to prepare us for the next day’s tie-dyed shirt) caught Fidel Castro’s Juan Domingo Peron (1895-1974) Argentina: 9 Idi Amin (1925-2003) Uganda: 8 exertions. curveball, he played baseball for the Granville Grange Zephyrs, pictured Hissène Habré (1942-) Chad: 8 By the fourth week we had reached Santiago, Cuba’s second largest here at Nat Bailey Stadium in the (now living in Senegal) city, in the eastern part of the island. We arrived in time for a traditional early 1970s. Ramiz Alia (1925-) Albania: 7 street carnival that coincided with the anniversary of the Fidel-led in- Sani Abacha (1943-1998) Nigeria: 5 Manuel Antonio Noriega (1934-) Panama: 5 The Zephyrs played in the Vancouver surgent attack on the Moncada police barracks, a national holiday cel- (imprisoned, USA) Cosmic League. Back row from left: ebrated as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The carnival activity A. Massamba-Debat (1921-) Republic of Congo in the streets was intense, with dancers and musicians everywhere, eve- Brad Robinson (face obscured), Gary (Brazzaville): 5 Nairne (aka Gary Lee Nova), Glen Pol Pot (1928-1998) Cambodia: 4 ryone in crazy costumes. Toppings, Walter the Manager, We were staying with the other international students in the resi- George Bowering (facing sideways), bolded names still in power dences at the University of Santiago. One morning a jeep roared into Lionel Kearns and Dennis Vance. (Index for leaders who lived from 1950 onwards.) the plaza beside the cafeteria. Something was happening. I grabbed my Middle row, from left: Gerry Nairne All BC BookWorld reviews are posted online at camera. We all crowded around. Fidel’s younger brother (aka Mr. Blunt), Dwight Gardiner, Raúl Brian Fisher, Lanny Beckman (New www.abcbookworld.com Castro was driving, and Fidel was standing up shouting a welcome to Star Books). Front row with bats: us. Then, in English, he said: Liam Kearns and Frank Kearns. Gabriel Garcia Márquez on his friend Fidel Castro (left): “I do not think anyone in the world could be a worse loser.”

18 BOOKWORLD • LOOKOUT • SUMMER • 2005 19 BOOKWORLD • LOOKOUT • SUMMER • 2005 CLASSICS This article is the second in a new series celebrating enduring B.C. books. Hunger in the jungles of Vancouver During his 19 years at the First United Church at Hastings and Gore, Andrew Roddan became known as the 'Apostle to the Poor.'

s much as anyone, that," then hold out a loaf of bread. His charity was also resented by gov- Andrew Roddan ernment officials, some of whom argued began the ongoing he was merely attracting more drifters A to Vancouver. struggle for social improvement in The so-called jungles were destroyed Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. in September of 1931, ostensibly due to a death attributed to typhoid. This Like J.S. Woodsworth and death enabled the provincial govern- Tommy Douglas, Scottish-born ment of Premier Simon Fraser Andrew Roddan was a Bible thumper Tolmie to relocate more than 1,000 from the prairies who preached the So- men to labour camps outside the city. cial Gospel. He felt morally obliged to Hunger marches in 1932 and 1933 translate Christian beliefs into practical ensued, followed by the On-to-Ottawa acts to improve the well-being of others. Trek led by Slim Evans in 1935 and Roddan advocated low rent housing the Post Office Sit-In and riot of 1938. and provided an estimated 50,000 meals Although Roddan increasingly to the unemployed during the winter of adopted the fundamentalist views of the 1930-1931. Oxford Movement, he never entirely His First United soup kitchen once abandoned his Social Gospel principles, served 1,252 patrons in a single sitting clearly expressed towards the end of Van- in November of 1930. The church was couver's Hoboes. located near the Empress Theatre. "We must learn to take Jesus seriously "To the Devil with their plays and and apply his teachings of His Gospel tomfoolery," Roddan would mutter (ac- to every phase of life." cording to his son Sam Roddan), A trio of ✍ raising his fist at the Empress. unemployed Delivered in a heavy Scottish accent, "There's more tragedy right here on men in the Andrew Roddan's Sunday radio talks this street and down these lanes than hobo jungle were published as Christ of the Wireless those actors will ever get on their stage. under the Way (1932). He also wrote Canada's And here we don't need any makeup." Georgia Viaduct, Untouchables (1932). Long before the term homelessness circa 1931. Roddan provided help to the fami- became de rigeur to explain away pov- lies of picketing longshoremen during erty and mental illness, Roddan wrote the labour unrest of 1935; he endorsed about the plight of the unemployed in a Rather than Roddan puts much of the blame for the CCF candidate who ran against Van- classic work about the Downtown condemn the the situation on technology and notes couver Mayor Gerry McGeer in the Eastside, God in the Jungles (1931), newly downtrodden as the dangers of consuming “canned federal riding of Vancouver-Burrard; reprinted as Vancouver's Hoboes (Sub- degenerates, heat," a cooking fuel made from wax im- and he supported the Mackenzie- way Books $16.95), with an introduc- Roddan appreci- pregnated with alcohol. “It makes them Papineau Battalion of volunteers who tion by Todd McCallum. ates their pluck. blind, it makes them mad, and finally fought for the leftist Republican cause The jungles Roddan referred to in "Some of these Andrew Roddan they take the count." in Spain against Franco. God in the Jungles were four makeshift men have no food As he ministered to the unemployed, A charter member of the Vancouver encampments that sprang up within city when they start. They trust to luck and Roddan encountered opposition from Art Gallery, Roddan exhibited his own limits by the summer of 1931, each hous- plan to live by begging at each divisional Communists who felt he was delaying works as a painter in 1942. He died on ing hundreds of men. point on the way across. an inevitable uprising. April 25, 1948, still employed as the These shanty towns were located near “Those who are old hands and know To counteract leftist attempts to or- minister for First United Church. Prior Street, under the Georgia Viaduct, the ropes get by, some of them in great ganize the unemployed, Roddan would along the False Creek Flats and along style; but the other poor beggars have a point to their propagandist literature [Subway Books is distributed by Univer- the shore of Burrard Inlet. rough time and often they are hungry." and declare, "Look fellows, you can't eat sity of Toronto Press.] 0-9687163-9-3

Contributors: Mark Forsythe, Joan Givner, Sara Cassidy Louise Donnelly, Carla Lucchetta, Candace Walker, Hannah Main-van der Kamp, Heather Ramsay. Writing not otherwise credited is by staff. INDEX to Advertisers Proofreaders: Wendy Atkinson, Betty Twigg Deliveries: Ken Reid Anvil Press...9 Heritage House...5 Save-On Foods...13 Design: Get-to-the-Point Graphics Arsenal Pulp Press...29 Hignell Printing...34 SFU Communications Dept...33 BC We acknowledge the BOOKWORLD assistance of Canada Council Banyen Books...32 Houghton Boston...34 SFU Writing & Publishing...28 and the Province of British Columbia, BC Book Prizes...7 Hushion House...32 Shuswap Lake Writers’ Festival...20 through the Ministry Summer Issue Vol. 19, No. 2 of Community, Aboriginal, Book TV...26 Island Mountain Arts...32 Sidney Booktown...32 and Women’s Services. Bolen Books...12 McClelland & Stewart...22 Simply Read Books...33 Publisher/ Writer: Alan Twigg Book Warehouse...23 Marquis Book Printing...13 Sono Nis Press...8 Editor/Production: David Lester Crown Publications...12 New Star Books...16 Strong, Ken...32

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4 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 ORIGINS

For our series on where books come from, different bodies do to our own souls. poet Harold Rhenisch recalls the United by an urge to live, and to live origins of Free Will (Ronsdale $14.95), freely, these characters fight their fate— his view of the world Will Shakespeare, who penned them as a tragi-comic ver- in. sion of theatre with By pulling the rug of tragedy out Puck’s irrepressible wit from under their feet, he is forcing them, as the common de- the actors who play them, and any of the nominator. others of us who let them pound the boards in our minds, to think for our- THE BOOK BEGAN selves, and to free him, Will, from death. Harold Rhenisch when I drove off the The plays are great, complex, incanta- farm to Victoria in a tory and alchemical engines. God help 1957 Ford Sedan with four colours of us all... paint and a bullet hole in the back win- Any combination of reason and un- dow. reason is absurd, of course. The city of Who knows where the bullet hole In 1975, Harold Rhenisch this book is populated by clowns and had come from. I bought that old beater (pictured as Puck bottom right) fools. off my brother for $150. He used the Punch, Coyote, Charlie Chaplin, took leave from the orchards of the money to buy himself a Honda 450, Robin Goodfellow, Black Adder, Marcel with a crash bar and lots of chrome. Similkameen Valley for six weeks to perform Marceau, and the shriners on their scoot- He was into Easy Rider. I was off to in Shakespeare’s A Midsummers Night’s ers in small town parades, all take their play Puck in A Midsummers Night’s Dream at the Phoenix Theatre in Victoria. turns behind the camera, directing a Dream, on the strength of a passion for Now 28 years later, haunted by the trickster scene from the show. The tragedy is com- the absurdist theatre of Ionesco. I role in his dreams, Rhenisch has fused theatre mon to them all —Shakespeare and his thought it best not to ask about the bul- and clowning into a Fellini-esque suite of poems, audience trapped within the house of let. mirrors of their minds, finding escape Slipping the blue toque off my long Free Will, with a cover illustration by John Hagan. by putting on masks of themselves... golden hair and clearing my head of ✍ Leonard Cohen’s “Songs of Love and This vision of Puck has roots in the Hate,” which were rolling around in old definition of infinity: if you were to there like a piece of gravel in a hubcap, lock 10,000 monkeys in a room with I thumped around a minimalist set for 10,000 typewriters, they would eventu- six weeks, speaking spells, making magic, ally write Hamlet. and acting that I was acting. THEIn this book, they do — and a lot of ✍ other plays besides: comedies, tragedies, Fifteen years later, I woke up with a romances, histories, gallows humour, the start in the middle of the night, sweat- works. These lab chimps finally get their ing, repeating lines from the play, but own say, free of surgical implants and this time voicing them as they cried to doubleblind controls. be voiced — singing, laughing them out, In their plays, though, as in Shake- teasing, calling, taunting. PUCK speare’s own, the tragedies are not about The dreams, if they were dreams, tragic heroes. Instead, they detail the re- continued for years. I was no longer act- percussions of tragedy upon people, how ing. The result is this book. it constrains them, and how, by joy, de- Shakespeare rattles around in it, as light and by playing roles they can be re- he does in my head, with his fools and STARTS leased from the cage of living alone in a lovers, his cross-dressers, his heroes who vast, unknowable universe, where scien- aren’t heroes, his tragedies that aren’t tists wear identification badges and white tragedies, his comedies that often have coats and bring medications on steel trays. more in common with Monty Python Hamlet is not Hamlet’s play, for in- and La Cage aux Folles than with high HEREstance, but Ophelia’s. Her play appears art. here, stripped of Shakespeare’s distort- Ionesco is never far behind. The ing lens that gave us Hamlet’s story in- whole avalanche of poetry that has come stead. Iago’s play is here as well. So is down off the mountain of Purgatory Puck’s. And Desdemona’s. with surrealists skiing madly before it, Here, too, are actors identifying with absurdist playwrights digging up som- their parts until the two are indistin- nambulist lyricists, and visual poets and guishable. The stage becomes the audi- sound poets tramping in with their dogs ence, the audience the actors on the and their barrels of brandy, end up tum- stage. bling into the après-ski chalet of this A new sequence is added to Shake- book, where Puck tends bar... speare’s sonnets, bringing them into the Puck is a fairy, a trickster, the one who world of prime time sitcoms and cop stands outside of all stories and causes shows. them to take place, capriciously. He is The major genres — and some mi- also a trick himself, a piece of sleight-of- nor ones — of western literature are put hand... on stage, to do their vaudeville act, and Rapacious, driven, compulsive, un- Puck makes his magic, or reaches out his predictable, impulsive, vital, frightening, hook. transient, sexually ambiguous, and dan- In this universe, the subconscious gerous, Puck is the creative imagination mind will not be contained and takes itself. The card huckster that is Puck has equal stage with its conscious twin. his own mirrors, too: Lear, who mocks I call that art. himself; the sinister but smiling Iago; the Shakespeare appears, dressed in the indecisive Hamlet, who plays his own monstrous garb of free will. It is the fools. choice he can offer. The magic is real. They differ from Puck only because In offering my version of Shakespeare’s the space created for them forces their choice, I have followed Puck’s lead. energy into different strait jackets, as our Welcome to the show! 1-55380-013-3

21 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005 INTERVIEW

“If you’re not going to put up with TO WRITE THE WINDSHIFT LINE, (Greystone $24.95), her el- bullies, then you’ve egiac memoir, Rita Moir got to name holed up in a Fort Macleod motel with her father’s botani- them.”—RITA MOIR cal research papers and the sto- ries she had begged him to put down on tape before he died. A former journalist, Rita Moir lives in Vallican, in the Slocan Valley, where she pieces together a life teaching writing, cleaning houses, doing fill-in reception work, and making sandwiches at the Co-op. “Sometimes I’ll go to three jobs in one day,” she says. Her previous book, Buffalo Jump: A Woman’s Travels “writing is therapy” because (Coteau), received the VanCity it’s a big skill, it’s a big craft, Book Prize and the Hubert it’s not just my diary on the Evans Non-Fiction Prize in page. But it was a synthe- 2000. sis. It was taking my art and Rita Moir was interviewed craft and saying I care by Sara Cassidy. enough. This will be my say. BCBW: Why did you BCBW: Your book is about move into a motel to write? a lot more than your father’s MOIR: Dislocation puts life as a botanist. Were you all your observation skills at surprised by how it turned their best. You’re not in- out? volved with the daily MOIR: I knew it was more minutae of running your than a father-daughter story. own household, fixing toi- I used his stories to help me be lets and making firewood. strong. I worked through You just go somewhere some difficult issues, about FEMININE where you can empty your who I get to be and how do I FEMININE mind of all that busyness. stake my own place on this You see things new. You earth as a woman. This book start with a sparse land- at one point was called “wind- scape and then put the trained trees,” because that’s things into it that you need PHOTO an image from my father, an TURBULENCE for the writing. I got to es-

TURBULENCE TWIGG image of trees holding strong cape the clutter of my own even in hard wind. Then it home, take the things I re- became The Windshift Line. sometimes it’s very hard for a woman liv- BCBW: In the book, you’re also inter- ally needed and give them the promi- BCBW: Can you explain what a ing alone in the country; sometimes ested in the combination of art and nence that they needed. windshift line is? the community looks on them science, the two together. BCBW: And you formed some new MOIR: In science, it has many mean- with “if only you had a man” or MOIR: That’s partly why I’ve friendships in the process. ings, but the one I chose is where the “you need a man to take care come to call creative non-fic- MOIR: As a single woman I’ve always cold wind from the west meets a front of that for you.” tion “Calvinist poetry.” We felt strongly that, yes, certainly there can of warm moist air from the south. If the BCBW: What about the— tend to think of art and sci- be scariness out in the world, but there cold air is moving fast enough it will over- I’ll say abusive—partner you ence as opposites and they’re can be far more of that in the home. I’ve ride the warm air. Warm air is light and had? Were you worried really not. That’s what I always thought women in Canada would when it’s overbalanced by this cold, op- about writing about him? learned when I listened to be far safer if they all hitchhiked back pressive air, it starts pushing to get out MOIR: I had to do it. If SARA CASSIDY the language (of botanical and forth across the country, non-stop, from under and that’s where the turbu- you’re not going to put up names) and to my father meeting strangers, than staying in their lence and the turmoil starts, that’s where with bullies, then you’ve got tell his stories. The preci- own homes. tornadoes start. to name them. I don’t “I’ve always sion of detail in science is I always have been open, as a travel- BCBW: Speaking of turbulence, there mean name the name, but the same thing that makes ler, to the fact that people help travel- is a lot in the book about your relation- you’ve got to tell the story. thought women in art work. And when he lers. I’m really extroverted—I think that ships with men. I guess that because you It wasn’t an easy thing to Canada would be talked about his work, his comes from years of being a journalist, were writing about your father, you write. I didn’t want to over- love of it, to me that was or else I became a journalist because I’m started to write about other men in your write it, I didn’t want to far safer if they all poetry, too. extroverted—and I’m curious about life? make it into something that hitchhiked back BCBW: Where are you people. It doesn’t scare me to strike up a MOIR: Yeah. And part of it is, what is it wasn’t for the sake of more now in grieving your fa- conversation with somebody. And in a a single woman? What attributes do you drama. Compared to the and forth across ther? Did this book help? small town, if you meet someone at a gas need to live alone in the country? If stories of a lot of women, the country, non- MOIR: Well, I put him station and strike up a conversation, peo- you’re a woman in the country, you have what happened in this book in file boxes recently and ple don’t all look at each other like, what to be able to take care of a lot of stuff – was nothing. But other stop, meeting that was a good thing to kind of maniac are you, talking to stran- whether it’s just making systems work, women will go, “Oh yeah. be able to do. gers? 1553650891 just having a handle on things, and not I can see this little shove or strangers, than BCBW: You mean the always depending on a male to take care this little insinuation, this lit- staying in their tapes and his papers? Sara Cassidy is a writing Department of stuff for you. tle control.” There’s prob- MOIR: Yeah. Now I can student at the . I also wanted to examine the issue of ably not too many women own homes.” take all the files and put male power. Can I live as a single female —RITA MOIR them in a box and move All BC BookWorld reviews are posted online at who can’t identify with what www.abcbookworld.com and not in a male protectorate? Because happened. on. I don’t subscribe to the

11 BOOKWORLD SUMMER 2005