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J Peachy on the street with the recorder before, during and after the Olympic ceremonies. Tried to interview a protester, however they seemed to be tired of too many interviews. Wanted to see what was on people’s minds, including:
Heike, a German Canadian who has many friends opposed to the games provides her perspective on the games, just prior to the opening ceremonies. (1:25)
Katja and her friend during the fireworks after Wayne Gretzy came from BC place and lit the cauldron in Burrard Inlet. (:23)
The tail end of a random outburst of O’Canada by Fans on the street. (:23)
Barry a homeless person, who was collecting bottles as the festivities were going on around him. (:33)
Scott Hamilton, retired figure skater and now broadcaster. I was able to track him down randomly on the street while he was walking to his hotel. He shares his expereince at the ceremony, provides comments on the death of the luger and thoughts on Vancouver. (3:00)
More to come
The Olympics are now in town; athletes, their team supports, coaches, families and fans from all over the world are in Vancouver to have the time of their lives. The 2010 games have been positioned by our government officials as a tremendous opportunity to showcase Canada and capitalize on future business opportunities. We are told this is an investment in the future, it will guarantee long term economic prosperity, which in turn funds our common needs such as the health system, social programs and education, Kumbaya! I have been racking my brain on how a social activist can actually enjoy the games and have some equality in their conscience.
So I ask the question; is it not in our economic best interest to cheer on mens hockey teams from outside the country. Looking back at the USA Hockey team dramatic gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid New York. The ‘Miracle on Ice’ seemed to be a seminal moment for US winter sport. Lake Placid now has a special place in the hearts and minds of 200 million Americans (plus or minus 198 million). The legacy of the triumphant underdog eventually winning the gold medal over the favoured and evil Soviets gets continually recreated in books, sports documentaries, television show references and feature films. Its enough to shed a tear in your eye and find a way to charge money for it. Lets assume that all had never happened and that the Americans finished 4th, would Lake Placid as a destination be in relative obscurity and carry the scarlet letter? Would it still be a high end resort town where people can bask in the past glory days. Would Mike Eruzione even have a wikipedia page?
In contrast, lets look at the 1998 games in Nagano Japan. This was the first Olympics where NHL athletes could compete for Olympic glory, Canada had gold in its eyes. The tragedy of Team Canada not winning a medal at the Nagano Olympics caused many to self-reflect, were we not the dominant Hockey nation that we had navel gazed ourselves into? What happened to our identity, many people felt we lost our place in the world. Well its better now, we have blackberries and google street view. Do you know any Canadian that travels to Nagano purely for Olympic memories? Nagano has a painful and depressing place in the Canadian psyche and its really no fault of the Japanese. The Tourism department in Nagano likely forced the person who was to market to the Canadian traveller into early retirement.
So for example if USA or Russia who are massive economic powerhouses were to win the Hockey gold medal, can we presume that will mean an economic windfall for Canada. Imagine all the blockbuster movies that would promote Vancouver as a place of glory. We would have people wanting to come to Vancouver to see the where the magic happened for themselves. Stories would be passed down for generations. They would say to their children “Son your Grandfather won a gold medal in Vancouver, they partied so hard they passed out on Kits beach, what a beautiful place!” Hollywood movies and politicians could refer to their country’s win in the rabid hockey nation of Canada as a David vs Goliath tale; Vancouver could now be an international metaphor! The Canadian and Provincial Tourism boards would be licking their chops in getting these people to come back and recreate memories, its like shooting fish in a barrel (except sockeye, we don’t have any).
So really this is all about the money, we’ve got big bills to pay and how much is our pride worth to us anyways? One thing is for certain we’ve spent quite of money on pride to get to this point, we gotta get our money back. Aunt Hilda needs a knee replacement, her surgery is scheduled for year 2032. Thus, it may actually be patriotic to root for other countries, so at whatever Olympic event you go to, it may be best show up in your Red and White and cheer for the team with the biggest wallets. Who says social activists can’t have fun at the Olympics, Go Canada Go?
jp
With Vancouver being the epicenter for the 2010 winter games we wanted a mental health perspective. On this episode of ‘Art of the Mind’ we explore the psychology of sport and what tools are the elite athletes using to maximize their performance?
We speak with Ross Flowers a Psychologist with the United States Olympic Team to find out what mental preparation and techniques are being employed by today’s top athletes.
In addition, we talk with US Speedskating Executive Director, Bob Crowley on how Stephen Colbert, host of the Colbert Report and leader of Colbert Nation was named as the Assistant Sport Psychologist for the team.
Later in the show we will have Nicole Detling Miller, who was a guest on the Colbert Report and is Stephen’s Boss on the team.
We attempt to get some insight into Colbert’s recent fascination with Canadian Culture and what his plans are for the Olympics in Vancouver. Original broadcast date is Monday February 15th @ 7pm PST, online @ cjsf.ca.
Live in studio we have Karen Larson a local musician whose soulful tunes will keep our minds at ease.
Here is the archive, may take a minute or two to load.
Part 1 (30 mins)
Part 2 (30 mins)
I am happy to be participating in the Connect show sponsored by the City of Vancouver, the Gathering Place and Coast Mental Health. I consider downtown Vancouver a part of my community as well as inspiration for my personal social advocacy. There is amazing physical beauty in the city, however amongst the sea, mountain and skyskrapers are personal stories of survival that are truly inspiring. These stories aren’t likely to make the front page of mass media, or have the provocative nature for a viral exposure.
Astonishingly, many of the artists in this show are either still homeless, or have been at one point, accounting for almost half the artists in the exhibition. The expression of individual struggles requires courage but the opportunity for the public to see it takes a community to make it happen.
Jeanne Krabbendam, artist and one of the organizers of the show states, “I am excited about combining artists and art from people who use social services in the Downtown South with residents, small business employees and others connected to the Downtown South of Vancouver,” If you are in town for the Winter games in Vancouver, the exhibit is open February 6th to 28th, daily 1pm-8pm and March 1st to 20th, Wednesday to Saturday 1pm-6pm.
http://coastmentalhealth.com/artshow.html
I recently came across an ad in the Georgia Straight, a local Vancouver newspaper promoting a comedy event with Shaun Majumder, Sean Cullen, Nikki Payne, Ed Robertson and Tyler Stewart (Barenaked Ladies). It is an Olympic event which promises a high energy night of insanity. I have been contemplating writing this post for weeks, but now I can no longer suppress what needs to be said.
The premise that insanity is something to laugh about, I find troubling, and generally representative of the mass media’s attitude towards mental health. It is so pervasive that whenever someone wants a cheap laugh, the terms ‘Crazy, Insane, Mental or even Retarded’ are thrown into the mix. At one point it was ok to refer to someone as gay whenever one needed to throw a derogatory remark. Would you dare to try that now? At one point being gay was a diagnosed psychological condition, so we shared the pain. For advocates in mental health, it is something that we have been battling with for decades. It’s no doubt we have progressed somewhat, well, we no longer physically burn people at the stake. Mental Health is a taboo in today’s society. Mental illness is a disease, like cancer, heart disease or diabetes, however in the broader context of society it is not always viewed that way.
In this context, the Olympic movement (which is a taxpayer funded venture), should not only be conscious, but should be held to a higher standard. In this case it showcases blatant ignorance. The Olympic concept purports development through sport, and putting human beings first, as it states on its website “to bring the peoples of the world together, the Olympic Movement develops programmes that provide concrete responses to social inequality.“. Suppose the promotion of this cultural Olympic event promised a night of retarded humour. That’s not acceptable today, but there was a time where it may have been. Well, words matter, and ‘Insanity, Crazy and Mental’ are loaded words in our community. In the wrong context they continue to shape the stigma that prevents people from getting the help they need, it fuels the ignorance that demonizes mental illness. Shame and guilt are in abundance with those stricken with a disease of the mind, but they don’t need any additional burdens from other people. Many people who have these conditions feel that they can’t escape and their only way out it to take their own life and in some cases take others with them.
So why does this matter in the context of the Olympics? Some say, “Everyone loves the Olympics, we shouldn’t say bad things you know!” That statement in itself is ironic. As I mentioned, the Olympics is a taxpayer funded event, both by infrastructure and crown corporate sponsorship, therefore, it is to be a representation of the population. The facts are one in five people will suffer a serious mental health issue in their lifetime and some many never enter the mental health system. It is such an important issue to our government that the Mental Health Commission of Canada has been established to look at the system over a 10 year period; primarily because Canada is behind many industrialized nations when it comes to Mental Health. One of the major initiatives is: Anti-Stigma, a gargantuan effort that we are spending large amounts of taxpayer dollars on, as well as other initiatives. So, while one side of our government is attempting to plug holes in a dam, another one is poking holes in it. It is frustrating, hurtful, and truthfully, it angers me.
So what should we do? I’d say start with looking at words like, ‘Crazy, Insane or Mental’ which are not nouns, but representative of behaviour. Many of those with serious disorders, are not able to control it. There are many different ways to deal with these Mental Health issues (biological, social, psychological), and it is social art as much as it is science. For the rest of us, behaviours can change, however many are ignorant and choose not to. One way to start would be using terms associated with mental illness in a more responsible manner. Be conscious of the context in which you are using words and find other creative ways to say what you need to say. For example, instead of using the terms, crazy, insane, nuts, etc., try the following substitutes: twisted, unbelievable, incredible, strange, inappropriate, unorthodox. Those are new terms that I am getting used to as well, but I challenge others to create new ones which we can all see in action - I too am conscious about changing my behaviour.
In a few short weeks the world is coming to Vancouver, and they are going to explore Canada and what it stands for. How do Canadians treat the mind and the mental health of its people? Do we take it seriously or merely perceive as a joke?
JP
Visual Artist and Creative Catalyst
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jpeachy.carbonmade.com
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Vancouver Tent City tales and tunes
February 22, 2010 in Commentary | Tags: J Peachy, vancouver 2010, homelessness, winter olympics, vanoc, concord pacific, Ryan Fletcher, tuesday night live | by J Peachy | 3 comments
Ryan Fletcher and I down at the Red Tent City in Vancouver DTES. A tent city was erected in one of downtown Vancouver’s empty lots on Monday Feb 15th. The lot owned by Concord Pacific was intended to be a parking lot for VANOC vehicles during the games has been occupied by members of the community. As of Wednesday Feb 17 there were about 200 people staying at the tent site and a statement to the number of homeless in Vancouver and the call for more low income and social housing within the city. We spoke with some of the people in tent city, their views on the protest and how the homeless have been treated with the games in town.
Nestor, our media liason at the site, shares his observations on what has been happening over the past few days. (2:11)
Rick and John’s thought on Tent City (5:16)
Stella August on women and the Downtown East Side (5:03)
Derick a musician who is staying in tent city, plays a tune in the street (1:59)
Stuart Richardson Programmer and Host of the CJSF Program Latin Waves, interviews Rick, one of Vancouvers working homeless
Ryan Fletcher attends the Tent City Press Conference and hears the passionate pleas from the community. (23:51)
Part 1
Part 2
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