Emily Pauline Johnson

Urbanismo,

I was taken by surprise by your accidental comment. I hope to have many years of positive criticism ahead of me; however your suggestion is humbling. Thank you! Without knowing it, you have touched a nerve in me. My paternal grandmother’s name was Pauline, God rest her soul.

Do I know where Tekahionwake’s memorial in Stanley Park is? Put it this way, I spent hours relaxing by her place, overlooking the Third beach, spying on the West Vancouver seawall and sometimes having an English Breakfast at the Tea House (Thank God they changed the name back from that foolishly, uninspired Sequoia Grill disharmony)!

The place it’s no longer as bright as you may think it is, or was, it looks kind of reclusive now, light barely permeates the heavy fir tree canopy surrounding the place. Not many people stop by to pay attention anymore, or have the knowledge of who that woman was.

Mostly cars, up and down looking for a parking space or flip-floppers, beach towels around their necks looking for directions.

The water fountain is there no more.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine. If you go up there during a mid September day and if you are lucky I wasn’t there before you, please enjoy the numerous bushes of Red Huckleberries that adorn the sidewalk down to the Third.

They are safe; trust me, delicious and appropriate for anyone walking around the Park and in need for an energy boost.
If only the Sour Cherry could speak her mind out she would call the Red Huckleberry “Mini me!” and for good reason.
Anyway.

This one’s for you my Huckleberry friend and for everyone else who understands…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flm4xcOyiCo&feature=related

We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

So yes Paul, who am I to grouse?

Glissando on the other hand takes a very humorous approach, and is IMO, positively critical. May he have a brightly lit memorial next to Pauline Johnson’s in the park (I defy you to find it!) one day?

The usual platitude says, of course, that if we accept the status quo quietly we are in fact slipping back: old habits take over and decay sets in.

Vancouvergirl is positive: good on her. But, but, I dunno, if she is anything like her compatriot “Tanyas” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwkFySJmEJY on Robson street there is an undertow to her “. . . memories that will last me a lifetime . . . ”

A lifetime is a very long time!

Long before Vgirl was a puff of perfume behind Mummie’s ear Vancouver was a gentle, graceful city: the Marine Building, masonry set in art deco, on the West Hastings axis, is as fine an architectural gem you will find anywhere. The clickerty-clank Arbutus interurban was as place-responding, efficient a TX as anything you’ll find in Amsterdam.

Then came the pretensions. Mayor Gregor started out well: riding his bike to the hall.

Then he got the bug: wonton hiring of over paid useless mountebanks and on and on . . .

The tsi fly caught him: “green city”, “sustainable” perfidiousness. Anyone with moxy knows all that stuff is just specious marketing. (Huh, maybe that’s his point!)

He even began grandstanding about “Cascadia”. The latter has been a pipe dream for decades.

The politically savvy knows how the massive gulf that is our southern border separates the two people as though we are the Navi on Pandora.

Would that we could meet the Navi Vgirl and Paul: peaceful and openly honest, they would win us over . . .

Now that VANOC’s PR department is winding down operations, how’s the search for a new job coming, Cam?
gmgw

“I’m thinking, if the Olympic/ Paralympics Games are such great events why didn’t the organizers make them a joint venture, hence a joint Opening/ Closing ceremony? I don’t see the problem with mixing the Olympic/ Paralympics events and athletes at all.
It’s simply logistics. After all…they are all people, aren’t they? And that’s the Spirit of True Fairness you narrow minded Vancouver Girls and Vancouver Boys!”

But we can’t have that, can we? Corporate sponsors would not approve of that, would they, mix the money makers with the…not so much money makers? I would love to hear an explanation on that if there is one that’s not tainted in BS. Politically correctness sucks, eh?

Yes, you would probably have 7-10 days more added to the whole thing due to the added sophistication, but you would have achieved that honest, sublime goal that started all this!

Tell you what, I was… Zeus the King of Gods, I would have sent VANOC and IOC and their band of Argonauts to look for the “Golden Fleece”, long time ago.

By Zeus, wait! They already have found…the Golden Fleece! They even merchandised my sandals. By Zeus, I want a cut on that!

We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

PS.
Paul, I wanted to answer to you in rhyme, but you don’t inspire me much, plus I don’t know, based on the type of videos you’re watching, if you sneaked behind those Parental Control passwords or not and I cannot be involved in anything like that. Sorry!
However the video was funny, I choose the… Garfield character!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhIR57nmNns&feature=PlayList&p=F2F92D0547EA1D9A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=36

enjoy

Be warned. Saying anything positive on here (esp. re: Able-bodied Person Olympics) will result in your grammar being corrected, sanity and humanity being questioned, and of course you will be called Barbie (women only). It’s amazing how some points of view are shouted down on here week after week by a revolving band of grumps.

All we can do is keep being grateful we live here, keep smiling, and be content with the knowledge that positive change is born from compromise, hard work, and perseverance, especially in the face of the negativity native to our fair city.

And while we’re at the video game, I saw this video last week and thought of both Glissando AND Urbanismo right away (Look! It’s you!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxWFJZIdc3E

Paul.

“three-in-five respondents in the province [BC](60%) think holding the Winter Olympics in Vancouver was worth it, while one-in-five (22%) believe it was not worth it.

“The results are very similar for the sample of respondents who live in the “host cities” (Worth it 63%, Not worth it 21%). ”

“More than 80 per cent of respondents in British Columbia and the “host cities” believe that the Vancouver Winter Olympics will have a positive impact on Canada, BC and Vancouver.”

http://www.visioncritical.com/2010/03/vancouver-olympics-a-success-for-most-british-columbians/

With numbers like those, the 2010 Winter Olympics have been deemed to be a smashing success by all BC’ers alike!

The Chinese mainlanders, no I’m not digressing, are swilled-out on Yankee dollars.

They bought into “irrational exhuberance” big time. Now they don’t know what to do with that pile of worthless paper!

“Barfitect” designed towers: empty! “Starchitect designed model cities: abandoned! http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2138

China is in worse shape than we are! So what do they do with all that printed dough? Why buy Vancouver real estate of course.

We can expect a massive influx of Mainland Chinese buying up all those flashy new OV condos and towers all over town. We can expect to see empties, no lights, all over the place. The Chinese don’t want to live here and we cannot afford the rent.

And we’ll be lumbered with pile upon pile of worthless paper debt . . . to, God know how, get rid of . . . welcome to paradise!

“So there, how’s that for unbridled optimism in a province notorious for . . . ” Vancouvergirl count me as one of your ” . . . grumbly curmudgeons . . . ”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWY4_GyLufI

Yup, we’ll all be working for that worthless Yankee paper . . . errrrr . . . I mean dollar.