#9101 - Feb 1991

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Digital Archiving Completed by the Ethnography Lab, A University of Toronto Anthropology Initiative and Produced in Collaboration with David Perlman/Wholenote Media Inc between July-December 2015. 6 T ALKlNG DRUM The Kensington Market Drum, February 1991 TALKiNG ~ ·RvM. ••• ' We started out compiling notes for this editorial about the way the media wasn't watchdogging itself in the coverage of events in West Asia: - -complex events in the Persian Gulf area reduced to"the war" --the sportstaik in the reporting (whole new ball game) --who was saying SAD~dam and who sad-DAM --who was referring to "President George Bush" and who to "US President George Bush" ~ -who was making any effort to differentiate between the terms "Iraqi" and "Arab" and "Islam", and so on anti on. Finally, we were going to ask you to boycott any paper or tv or radio station that referred to what is happening in !'the Gulf" as "Operation Desert Storm" without explaining that Operation Desert Storm was the US Pentagon's name for the killings. But we succumbed exhausted, in despair - switched off and out, right out. Then we he-ard "carpet bombing" and wondered how much death was being swept under the carpet, so we tried to phone .Joe Clark to say "tell the United Nations whose forces these suppo-sedly are to teli Bush to do no burning until they've carpet bombed it for a few weeks with leatlets instead". The leaflets wbuld say, "You the people of Iraq, rise up against the tyrant Saddam Hussein, murderer of his people. Reclaim your cause. We will support you in your struggle for freedom" is what we wanted Clark to tell the UN to tell Bush to tell who? But whose leaflet would you believe in Iraq today? Now we hear the CBC newscaster Nash preface a report with "we remind you that this report is cleared by US military censors" -- as if to say "so it has a clean bill of health." Hey, CBC, how about a new radical policy -- if one of your people files a report that doesn't "clear the US military censors", it should go back to t .he person who submitted it. They should rewrite and resubmit, with the truth intact (that's the radical part). Don't worry if nothing ever · gets through that way. We wouldn't mind. At least it would be news. ••••••••••••••••• LAST TIME WE REPORTED THAT Arson in the doorway of a Kensington Avenue Karaoke bar endangered lives. And now, twice, life has been lost. See Latest Dundas Shootout pg 2. - THAT the Goofs played the Apocalypse for the Record Peddlar. And then headed west. See pg. 15. THAT women's detox centres are scarce - 8 of 118 . beds - and there's community opposition to the one proposed for I;>undas and Claremont. The women's community care centre is still scheduled to open jn April, see pg. 2 THAT a proposed non-profit ·housing building at 25 Cecil St. looked like i( was in trouble. News is the group's board will be asked to look at another site in the area. THAT one of the hazzards for pets, this time of year, is salt burns. See letters. THAT market merchants support the idea of a composter at the food terminal. Prove it. See page 5. THAT the winter parade was cancelled. There's a full "91 Carnival season planned. Call 947-0673 for info. · THAT we couldn't get a picture of Jack Layton as auctioneer at the St. Stephen's Elmo fund-raiser. Applicants for auctioneer for the . DRUM benefit February 24 (Silver Dollar) should call 599- . 4317. THAT there's extra market garbage service on the way. And so, it seems, there is. See pg. 4. THAT Kensington's garbage breakdown was 29% cardboard, 66 % meat and fish, 5% fruit and vegetables. Bob the waiter checked. See Kensington Environmental. THAT Market Gourmet would return. And has. See pg. 10. THAT salt fish has toget soaked for at least 12 hours. More like 24, some market cooks say. THAT you'd be able to read the Cecil Centre's executive director's side of things in DRUM. See pg. 12. Sorry about the small print, but it's not a paid · promotion! THAT DRUM has some space·available, free of charge for information about community events. But we don't have a crystal ball. Phone 599-DRUM (or fax by arrangement at the same number) 7 days before month-end. THAT this month's open stage would be Grossmans' •. Yup. THAT members of reggae band Revelation made a video in the market. And some of them will play for DRUM. See pg. 1. And this time last year, for cryin' out loud .... THAT the expansion of the St. Andrew' s/Baldwin parking garage would commence in the summer of 1990 and be completed in the spring of 1991.. .. THAT on the subject of the proposed new abortion legislation, a small group of market people interviewed were almost all for women's choice .... THAT the corner dropin for homeless people on Augusta was looking for new housing for people who drop in at the corner. . THAT the market must make strides toward trying a pedestrian mall again. T~ f¥,ffrS ~ 0\J /V'ID N06D 'f>Y S ~~£ • •••••••••••••••..•.•••••
The Kensington Market Drum, February 1991 TALKING DRUM 7 . ••••••••••••••••••••••••• Letters to DRUM Contin~oo Kate McNeil '< But what is her commitment to such a "new" organization? Will she take the responsibility of chairing it? No. Will she undertake to be a member of such a group. No. Will she attend its meetings? Not necessarily. If the new committee meets her standards "My office and city staff could assist with the development of this organization in a supportive role." What a bold concept! If we disband, re-organize, meet where she wants us to meet, make no excessive demands on her time and patience, above all, have no links with the rest of city council, "her office", indeed all "city staff' will be - are you ready for this people of Toronto - she and "her office" will be "supportive". And suppose - just suppose - that members of the task force don't accede to these demands? No need to worry. You are advised that all of her constituents are free to call her office with specific concerns and suggestions." She may not return your Be Nice? Dear Editor, It was probably just chance that a City of Toronto notice advising residents to clear the ice from their sidewalk was placed next to Dr. Jack Gewarter's column on winter hazards faced by pets. To those who do not own a cat or dog the relationship may not be obvious. Could my dog read, the connection would be painfully obvious. To comply with the City's regulation to keep the sidewalks clear of ice many people simply chuck handfuls of ice salt over everything white. Even the lightest sprinkling of white fluff is soon assaulted with hard white rocks. While the climate seldom demands more than a few days of snow shovelling or ice clearing a year, this ice salt is found on the sidewalks and roads from November tq April. · This preferred method of ice calls as she does not return the calls of some me_mbers of the KMATF. But listen people, you are certainly entitled to call. Councillor Amer has launched a broad attack not only on the KMA TF and its members but on the right of any group of· people in the city to have an integral link to the standing committees of council through the sub-committee process. The attack on the committee's "respresentativeness" is an old one. Most of the members of the committee can remember identical words from former councillors June Marks and Gordon Chong both of whom were bitterly opposed to the principles of citizen participation in the democratic process. Is councillor Amer a "new" breed of politician who endorses political reform in theory but in practice fights it bitterly? Her attitude of call my office if you have any problems and my staff will look after you is not much more than a return to the patronizing attitudes of an older era where politicians To Who? removal not only wrecks shoes, cars, some spring plants, etc., it coats lips and skin in a salty mist, it costs money, but most of all it causes cracked and bleeding paws on our fourlegged friends. To see my large, lumbering dog reduced to a limping jelly tot infuriates and saddens me. No amount of looking for "clean" routes to walk, washing off painful paws, or wearing 4 red rubber boots, significantly reduces paws being tom by the salt. While the juxtaposition of the two articles may have been chance I hope other Kensington Market residents will make a concerted effort to make this an unsalted, animal friendly neighbourhood. Ms. Gillian Conliffe looked after their supporters with personal favours and punished those they didn't like by destroying their collective efforts to reform and improve the functioning of government. The issues raised in this . controversy between councillor Amer and the KMA TF involve broad principles and the committee is determined that this issue be fully debated and resolved for the benefit of all residents of Toronto and not only those of Kensington Market Area. Alia~ Schwam Mr. Schwam is chairman of the Kensington Market Area Task Force. Housing Action Invitation Dear Kensington Area Residents: I am writing on behalf of the Kensington Housing Action Group (KHAG) to invite you to our community committee meetings. The KHAG is formed of people who live and work in the Kensington Market Area;, the group has come together with Social Services Agencies working with the community to look into housing issues. The KHAG's mandate is to seek to protect and expand the supply of affordable housing in the Market area, both in.the private and public sector. Our first goal is to get more members of the local residential and business community involved in our work. , Caring communities grow healthily and safely with the participation and involvement of their members, and certainly housing is an issue that affects us all. Please feel free to come to our next meeting that will take place on February 14 at the St. Stephen's- Corner Drop-In, 203 Augusta Avenue, at 7 p.m. For any further information regarding the KHAG, caii Madalena Silva at 926-8221 or Roland RomColthoff at 862- 5411. We are looking forward tro seeing new members! Madalena Silva, Community Development Worker, St. Stephen's Community House The Corner - a drop-in for homeless people January 27, 1991 It's Over! The three most stressful events of my year, Christmas, New Year's and my birthday, fall all in a row. On January 7, I turned fifty-six . Fifty-five was the most profound birtllday of my life. Suddenly, - or does one come slowly but blindly to this point - I saw the light at the end of life's tunnel. The past year was filled with one after the other crisis ending with mother's death on Sept 22. Dreading deciding whether or not tp attend the funeral.and confront my severely estranged brother, it was decided for me. Mother should have been buried next-to my father ' in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on Monday except that there was a run on death that week. The undertakers were "backed up" and the funeral would be Tuesday - the day of my flight to Florida and a much needed rest and rehabilitation -(See Drum November. Hi I'm Kate and I'm an alcoholic ...). My son would attend. He and my cousin assured me that it would be best if my brother and I were not seen by others to be glowering at each other over mother's casket. She would understand. At the Florida treatment centre the first video I saw was about grief. During the group encounters and one on one counselling I was able to deal with the pain of the loss of many things in my life. Mother, top of the list. I see clearly now how truly remarkable she was. Born in Portsmouth England she met my father in the theatre. He emigrated to Timmins. Mother followed a year later cutting short a career in the theatre and despite warnings from her mother that she would rue the day whe married Harold Burt. She did. But she somehow adapted to the severe climate. My brother was born in England in 1930 while mother was on a visit. I was born in Timmins in 1935, January 7, 2 a.m. in the middle of a three ·day blizzard while dad was off to , fetch the doctor for the second time. The first time he assured mother I was not on the way, it would be another two months before I would arrive and left. I apparently had a different agenda while Dad was off once more to get the doctor. Mother told me often how . wonderful an experience it was for her. I only know I must have fought, to get back in again. I'd made a mistike. The little matchbox Hollinger Mines townsite house, its only insulation, sanded tarpaper (alternately up the street red and green, ours was green). Its only heat source' a small black, potbellied stove fired by wood and coal in the little living room where I was not It was cold. I've often said I was born facing south and took my first steps in that direction. I've spent a lifetime looking for the perfect climate. I've discovered it exists in the heart. Through the years mother has figured intimately in the fabric of my life. ·Sometimes, often, aggravatingly, I saw her last with a friend who knew I'd been avoiding visiting mother in the nursing horne where she'd resided after the two years she's spent waiting in St. Michael's "holdline" wing - after the fall she had, out of a bed in acute care - after the fall she had out of her chair next to her bed the day after the operation she'd had to drain blood from her cereoellum (causing coma). Our journey thru the building became unsettling as we discovered there were no pictures on the walls. Passing lost and lonely looking old whitehaired women in various states of ambulation. I remembered the last I'd visited. Scanning the large common room ,where no one watched television, I could not pick mother out of the sea of bowed white heads. Where is "Alice Burt?'' I asked the nurse sitting on top of- a leggo slightly higher than the room. Swinging her legs absentmindedly, she looked up and cast her eyes around the room - ''Let's see, Mrs. Burt was wearing her black and white print with the red splotches ... and a sweater - there!" She pointed. Sure enough. So that's how they keep track of the faceless bodies - by their clothing. This time we were directed to mother's room at the end of a long . painted pale green cement walled hallway. Bonnie kept saying ''There are no pictures on the walls - how terrible." Bonnie and I entered mother's room to find mother lying asleep. It was 2 p.m. Looking around I noticed the little bulletin board next to her bed was empty. Pictures and cards from family and friends conspicuously absent. No flowers adorned the window sill as they had in the beginning several years ago 'after the fall. I'd heard stories from my sister-in-law of missing clothing and other personal items, mother's wedding ring simply turned up gone one day. It was a chronic problem at the facility north of Toronto. The visit was short. Mother rose to the occasion as only she could. She heard the news , of my recent full life managing an occasional "good gracious me. Eee gad!" Never quite sure if she knew me, she could have only recognized my voice. Her eyes frnally useless yet mother as always wide eyed - making you believe she could see every nook and cranny of your face. It was time to go. There was no more to say. As we backed out the door; "Bye morn, see you next time." As always she rose to the occasion. "Goodbye, god Bless". Bonnie and I cried and held onto each other. Walking back along the 'miserable hallway to the ·elevator - I know it would be the last time I made this joJlllley. It was our last goodbye. * * .. Digital Archiving Completed by the Ethnography Lab, A University of Toronto Anthropology Initiative and Produced in Collaboration with David Perlman/Wholenote Media Inc between July-December 2015.
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#9101 - Feb 1991

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