last week a presumably drug crazed guy verbally accosted me in centennial square. i told him he wasn't going to be doing those sorts of things with me, and looked quickly around to see who might assist me if the man proved to be problematic. for perhaps the first time since i founded the street newz four and a half years ago and began to hear about the incessant harrassment of homeless people by such military minded employees, i found myself relieved to see one in close proximity. the man moved along without incident.
today, after i hauled my sick flu infected ass downtown for an appointment at the school of accupuncture (where my sinuses were miraculously cleared and my energy mysteriously aligned), i had an opportunity to chat with a native friend who happened to be riding the same bus. i asked him what he thought about the million dollar "revitalization" of centennial square, with the two new totem poles. i don't think those were built by our people, he said, the salamander isn't a part of our culture. who built them, i asked? he didn't know. guessed it was someone from saskatchewan. but definitely not the folks around here. my friend's from the northern island, with friends in the middle of the island, and he lives here on the southern island. i trust his judgement. they're nice totem poles, but wtf?! a million dollars? and they appear neither to have been built, nor to be representative of, the local indigenous culture?
then, just now, my plague ridden flat mate told me about some elected senator or congressperson lunatic who heckled obama in the middle of his health care speech. isn't that like going to church and yelling "bah, jesus, what a crock?" and he shared this, from some of those who seem to have escaped the "socialism is always evil" bullshit that plagues so many of our whacky southern neighbours ......
