MEGAPHONE ISSUE #32 – Life In Technicolor
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 05:16 — DarrenWhile many artists focus on the darkness and depression of the Downtown Eastside, Jorge Campos’ colourful paintings are so stirring because they show the brighter and more rambunctious side of the neighbourhood, one that often gets lost in the sad portraits.
Megaphone traces the life of the 45-year-old artist in our latest issue: from escaping paramilitary death squads in El Salvador to battling his crack addiction in the Downtown Eastside.
The boys are back in town: Vancouver Canadians hit the field for a fresh season
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 05:12 — DarrenStory by Kevin Hollett
Photo by Taminator
People ask me what I do in winter when
there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do.
I stare out the window and wait for spring.
—Rogers Hornsby
The Vancouver Canadians baseball club is back for another season, wreaking havoc on the rest of the Northwest League. In the spirit of the old ball game, here are the top nine reasons to check out a Canadians game this summer:
9 / Granville Island and Whistler Beer
Really, what is a ball game without beer? In a word: boring.
8 / Nathan’s Hotdogs
Velo-City explores Vancouver's relationship with the bicycle
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 05:10 — DarrenStory by Kevin Hollett
Photo by Hiroaki Shimizu
When I was kid I use to name my bikes. They were silly names and long forgotten now, but meaningful at the time. After all, my bike was my sidekick, symbolic of my advancing adolescence, the newfound freedom to escape the confines of my yard and, best of all, speed.
I don’t name my bikes anymore but that doesn’t mean that my relationship with them has changed since I was a kid.
Life in Technicolour: Jorge Campos' art shines a bright light on a dark neighbourhood
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 05:08 — DarrenStory by Sean Condon
Illustrations by Jorge Campos
Jorge Campos' art shines a bright light on a dark neighbourhood
With a bright, fluorescent yellow backdrop and a horseshoe in his hand, Jorge Campos’ painting of “Uncle Herb” captures both the humour and rawness of the Downtown Eastside.
“My name is ‘Uncle Herb,’ horse shoe champion of the world,” says Herb in the drawing. “37 rings in a row. I challenge anyone in the world to a game and I’ll defeat them, but give me 3 months to get sober.”
Street Smarts: Thriving and surviving on the streets
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 05:06 — DarrenStory by Caitlin Glass
As I am very familiar with street life in Vancouver, this topic comes easily to me. Many people are under the impression that living on the street is terrible. They have been led to believe that it is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a person. In actuality, the street can be a place to learn, meet new people and gain life experiences. But this is only true if the individual has the maturity and the sense of responsibility to look after themselves and make proper decisions.
At the moment I have several friends who would be considered "homeless".
Woodward's Woes: W2 set to reclaim lost space in the new Woodward’s
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 05:04 — DarrenCutting the Mustard: DTES training program gives hand-up, not hand-out
Tue, 06/23/2009 - 03:42 — DarrenThe One Pot Cookbook: Getting off the Hastings shuffle
Tue, 06/23/2009 - 03:39 — DarrenStory by Kevin Hollett
Photo by Dark Thirty
The Hastings Shuffle is the quest for Vancouver’s poorest to find food in the Downtown Eastside. Many find themselves traversing from food bank to soup kitchen and back again, in search of nothing more than a simple meal. For those living in one of the many Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in the area—residences which are kitchen-less and equipped with only a hotplate—cooking up a meal can be a difficult task.
Deliver blows to hunger: Food not bombs serves up food conservation in the DTES
Tue, 06/23/2009 - 03:36 — DarrenStory by Katie Hyslop
Photos by Chrisopher Bevacqua-Fink
Have you ever wondered what happened to that bruised apple you passed up at the grocery store? Chances are it was thrown away before it had a chance to even go bad. But thanks to the Vancouver chapter of Food Not Bombs, bruised apples have may end up in a pot or on a cutting board in the Downtown Eastside.
Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a grassroots activist organization started in 1980 by American anti-nuclear activists who recovered and served food that would otherwise be thrown away as a form of non-violent protest.
Easting Below the Poverty Line: How feeding the poor became a charitable affair
Tue, 06/23/2009 - 03:30 — DarrenStory by Amy Juschka
Photos by Chrisopher Bevacqua-Fink
Diane Brown furrows her brow as she serves up plate after plate of steaming lasagna from the stainless steel inserts that hold the day’s lunch special. It’s just past noon at the Carnegie Kitchen and, like most days, a shuffling line of hungry Downtown Eastsiders snakes its way out the cafeteria door, spilling down the historic community centre’s winding tiled staircase. Brown takes the $1.75 from a woman’s outstretched hand and replaces it with a heavy plate of lasagna and fresh greens.

