Story 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

Story 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.

Story 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.”

Story 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".

Story by Sarah Stenabaugh

In a controversial decision that could jeopardize Downtown Eastside residents’ access to the new Woodward’s, city council has approved a staff recommendation to axe the amount of space previously promised to the non-profit W2 Media Arts Society in the historic building.

Story and Photo by Amy Juschka

Dressed head to toe in kitchen whites and donning a toothy grin, Lazaro isn’t hindered by his broken English as he recounts his first few weeks at a unique culinary training program that helps people with barriers develop job and life skills.

Story 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.

Story 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.

Story 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.