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Watch my life unravel...
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Yesterday the news was that the old Ritz Hotel at Bank and Somerset was being demolished. Today it got another little reprieve. And the Concert Hall – whose prospects were looking pretty grim last week – has been given a reality cheque by the federal government. Tags:
It looks like the intersection of Bank and Somerset – closed for almost six weeks now – has fallen off the City’s radar. These are photos of a couple of the trash receptacles at and around the intersection this morning.
The century-old Ritz Hotel will be demolished. Call me a cynic, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a shiny new parking lot spring up there, since the president of the company that owns the property also happens to be the president of Capital Parking. I wonder if there’s any chance the mural can be preserved or relocated?
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I knew I had accumulated over 800 points at Yarn Forward over the past few years. You get a point for every dollar spent. And Yarn Forward wasn’t my only dealer – there was also Wool-Tyme, and Ebay and Sandrasingh.com. And a few other one-offs where I occasionally picked up a little something special. You know how it is. I had acquired a lot of yarn and I am a slow knitter, so I knew there must be a lot of yarn down there in the basement. But somehow I had managed to minimize it in my own mind over time. I just went looking for a cardigan I started in 2004. I found the bag it was in, with the completed back, two fronts and a bit of one sleeve, along with two balls of yarn. It occurred to me that this wasn’t enough to finish the sweater, so there must be more yarn somewhere. And this got me rifling through the stash and HOLY SHIT I’ve got an ungodly amount of yarn. I dragged it all upstairs and forced myself to sort of organize it. Unstarted projects
I also found yarn that was clearly bought with a specific project in mind, and I can’t remember what the project was. I’m pretty sure it was another Mission Falls sweater though.
Unfinished projects
Abandoned projects
And then there were piles of hats and socks, usually abandoned because something went terribly horribly wrong, like the sock was inexplicably gigantic or I ran out of yarn or I got bored. Projectless yarn I attribute this yarn to inexperience. In the early days, I would buy yarn because I liked it, with no project in mind. Or I would buy yarn at garage sales because it was cheap. I have never yet knit any yarn that was bought without a project in mind. If I do not buy the pattern and the yarn together, the yarn is doomed to permanent unknittableness. (I do have a couple of bags of Jo Sharp cotton that might get knit up this summer.) (But I’ve been saying that for four years now.) Leftover yarn
Other
After I had gone through this process, I actually threw some yarn out – mostly from the Leftover Yarn category. I also put together a Giveaway bag of yarn I will never knit; the bulk of it came from the Projectless Yarn pile. I was very proud of myself for reducing my stash by about a quarter. Unfortunately, though, digging through the stash has given me an appetite for fresh yarn and new projects. I have such an urge to go yarn shopping. It’s like a disease or something. Knitting could be such an inexpensive hobby, because it takes so bloody long to knit anything. Six dollars worth of sock yarn could keep me going for weeks. This could be the cheapest craft in the world, were it not for the insatiable yarn appetite that knitters develop.
If you want the giveaway bag, let me know. Otherwise I’ll donate it to Cambridge Street Community Public School for their annual fabric and yarn sale. Tags:
During the peak of this bender, I picked up a book at a yard sale: Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis. I have been trying to read it ever since. It’s about life on the Scrabble tournament circuit. Usually if I’m not sure whether to buy a book or not, I close my eyes and open it randomly and point to a paragraph and read it. If the paragraph speaks to me, I buy it. I must have forgotten to do that with this book, because I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have passed the random paragraph test. There’s a level of obscurity in the book that I just can’t wrap my head around. Here’s an excerpt from Page 55, which is the page I’m currently stuck on, after 3 months of reading. “Didn’t you see AGUEWEED on this rack?” Eric asks. “I’m going to have to write you up for that play.” Marlon blurts out, “TETRASPORIC is TRICERATOPS.” “What’s nice is ATOP,” Matt says. He means that if the word ATOP were on the board, you could wrap letters around it to make TRICERATOPS. “Oh shit,” Marlon says, “And I nearly played ATOP thinking it would close the board.” We all laugh. Ok, did anybody get that? Because I read it four times and typed it once, and I’m still wondering why they all laughed. I don’t like to abandon books. I usually plough through to the end, unless it’s a library book and I run out of time, but I’m going to make an exception for Word Freak. If anyone wants it, let me know – it’s yours. Altogether I’ve played 287 Facebook Scrabble games, of which I’ve won 227. I had tapered off quite a bit actually, but then they introduced the ratings scheme. The ratings scheme is not retroactive; it only applies to games started in the last few weeks. It renewed my enthusiasm for the game, since I’m into metrics and way deep down I’m more competitive than I like to admit. So I started playing in earnest again. Now, several weeks later, my rating is 1518 (1200 is where you start – you lose points when you lose games, and vice versa. And the rating of your opponent is factored in – if you beat a higher-ranked player, it’s worth more points.) The ratings scheme has altered the way some people play. There’s one guy – I don’t know him personally, but we generally play about 3 games a week – who will no longer finish games he’s losing, because it’ll bring his rating down. My respect for this guy has plunged to zero, and I have no respect for his rating either, because I know how he got it. I’m competitive too, but I’m not petty enough to weasle out of a loss! There’s always a lot of discussion on the Scrabble discussion board about people who use cheating tools. These tools would no doubt help you win, but I think they would take all the fun out of the game in the process. They would be useful for people who like winning more than playing. I wonder how people who cheat reconcile it in their own minds. Do they feel like they’ve earned their victories and accomplished something? Or do they know they didn’t, and are just happy to have other people think they did? Tags:
The Mayor said some nice things about the work of the Alliance to End Homelessness, and beseeched and implored them to continue to “do God’s work.” Then he issued a Proclamation declaring November 22nd to be National Housing Day here in Ottawa. Then he left. This, don’t forget, is the same mayor who likened homeless people to pigeons and cancelled the crack kit program. This is what the mayor missed: The morning consisted of two panel sessions: one on research, one on youth. Many interesting things were said, but the optimal length for a blog post is apparently 500 words. [insert ruthless chopping noises here] Dr. Stephen Hwang, an epidemiologist in Toronto and an expert on homelessness and health, said that homelessness is a symptom of a more systemic disease in society. The penalty for being at the bottom of the hierarchy is extreme, with numerous deprivations culminating in homelessness. He also cautioned people to be careful about oversimplifying complex research into sound-bytes, which sparked an interesting discussion about just that. Janna Dickinson, an Ottawa panhandler and youth advocate/activist, said that prostitution, addiction and homelessness have been around for centuries – we can’t eliminate them, but we can reduce the harm they cause. She also noted that in a city as huge as Ottawa, it sucks that so few people care enough about homelessness to show up and talk about it (there were about 200 people there). Another young woman from the streets – Stephanie (I couldn’t take my eyes off her ears – she had the biggest holes in her earlobes I’ve ever seen, and they hung halfway to her shoulders) – made a good point about being hassled by cops on the streets. “Being homeless isn’t wrong,” she said, “It’s just unfortunate.” There was a lunchtime breakout session, where people could choose which of eight groups to attend. Tough choice, but I ended up in the Health and Harm Reduction group. There were about 20 of us there – outreach workers, nurses, shelter staff, sex trade workers, social workers, police, students, etc. First things first: a trip around the table where everybody introduces themselves. Mandy: “Hi, I’m Mandy, I’m a sex trade worker, and I’m just here to get information.” Alain: “I’m Alain, I’m with the Ottawa Police Services, and same for me.” Mandy: “You’re a sex trade worker too?” Mandy was funny. And interesting. And a crack addict. And apparently quite happy with that lifestyle. As one of the street youth pointed out, not everybody needs to be saved. And this, I think, is one of the things I learned today. I haven’t fully clarified it in my own mind, but basically, it’s that we all need to be less judgemental and more tolerant of other people’s circumstances and choices. We might not always understand those choices, but we can still accept them. (I can’t understand why anybody would become a dentist, for that matter, but I still accept their right to do so.) Addiction is a cyclical thing. Some addicts are happy and have no desire for change. They might reach a point later where they’re not getting what they want or need from the drugs anymore, or when the cons outweigh the pros, and they might then need help extricating themselves from the addiction. That help ought to be available to them. (It’s not, in Ottawa; we don’t have a treatment centre.) Some people don’t want help, but some do. April is a sex trade worker because she cannot survive on $500 a month from welfare. “It gets more degrading as time goes on,” she says. And she pointed out that the help stops too soon. “People will help you to the middle,” she said, “but they won’t help you to the end.” Almost everybody who spoke today who was homeless or addicted or formerly homeless or addicted, mentioned low self esteem, and its role in shaping their lives. And just about every single one of them prefaced their remarks with “I can’t speak for anybody else,” which I thought was indicative of them knowing and respecting their differences. Most people refer to “the homeless” as if they were an homogenous group. Homeless people don’t do that. There was some question of whether drug addiction is increasing. Many people in the room thought it was, based on their own experience working with people on the streets. However one person questioned this, and cautioned us not to assume it to be true. He suggested that perhaps drug use is just more visible now than it used to be. And he gave some interesting examples of how that could be. For instance, fear of crime could be leading more people to build fences to keep people out of their yards and laneways. This would in turn result in more visible drug use since there are fewer relatively private places available to them. And this of course would have a snowball effect. I’m very interested in this question of whether drug use is increasing. There are groups with a vested interest in exaggerating the problem, which could lead to more punitive measures against drug users (both vigilante and through the criminal justice system). The current backlash against drug users in Ottawa worries me. Solutions need to be based on realities, not on misperceptions, hysteria or outrage. However, I do respect the anecdotal observations of front-line workers who say they see an increase in drug use. I’d still like to see some research.
The Insite representatives were all so articulate and well-informed and interesting. They shared a rare ability to weave anecdotal and scientific evidence together in the most interesting and informative of ways. I’ve exceeded my 500 word target, so I will stop. Abruptly. But first, you’re all invited to the Eternal Flame at Parliament Hill on Monday the 26th at noon. Insite has something special planned; it sounds like fun. I hope to see you there. Tags Ah, Winter! Every year it’s the same. I loathe it, I dread it, and then when it arrives I am briefly seduced by its dazzling beauty and freshness. I woke around 4:00 a.m this morning and on my way back from the bathroom I glimpsed the ghostly glow through the study window. Still half-asleep, I drifted over to the window to see what it was, and my jaw dropped in wonder. It was winter! Snow, and not just a hint of it either: it was the real thing. I couldn’t bring myself to hate it. Not yet. I went back to bed and a few minutes later I heard the snow plow rumbling by. I remembered an old room-mate from when I was very young and living on McLeod Street. Her name was Sue; we called her Aussie Sue because she was from Australia, and also to distinguish her from me, whom we called Little Sue. The first time she saw snow, Aussie Sue was delerious with excitement. She ran outside and literally danced in it. For weeks, she’d run wide-eyed to the window every time she heard the snow plow coming. By Februrary of course, she hated winter as much as the rest of us. This morning I bundled up and headed into the winter wonderland, on my usual trek to work. It was a whole new world out there. There is a larch tree that I pass when I cut through the Experimental Farm each morning. It is currently my favourite tree of all the trees. I have gotten into the habit of always walking underneath this tree and patting its trunk on the way to work. And I talk to it too. Not long detailed conversations or anything bizarre like that, I just say a little something to it each morning. It just so happens that yesterday morning I took a picture of this larch tree, and that today I also took a picture of this larch tree. And I am going to show you both pictures so you can see how much the world changed overnight. (Although you probably know this already, since you probably went outside today yourself.) Yesterday: Today: I practically didn’t recognize her this morning! Anyway, it was a lovely walk through the pseudo-rural half of my walk to work, but somewhat less lovely during the decidedly urban half. This was because all the snow had turned to slush, and slush is not nearly as pretty as snow. Not only that, but the cars were driving through the deep slush puddles and splashing it onto the pedestrians. Consequently, my pants were damp most of the day. But it wasn’t enough to make me hate winter yet.
1. You must get the knitted fabric deeply wet, not just superficially wet.
New legislation has just been introduced by the Harper government. It’s no surprise that Harper’s taking the “Get Tough on Crime” approach: it’s a perfect fit for his George Bush Mini-Me leadership style. These guys are tackling crime like we’re experiencing an unprecedented explosion of it and it must be stopped before the criminals seize control of society and destroy everything that is good and honourable, and take all our stuff and force us decent folk into drug addiction and prostitution. They’re also tackling it in a way that is notorious for not working.
The implementation of this legislation will almost certainly lead to the kind of explosive growth in prisons seen in the US, and to the privatization of corrections.
(Source) Is it working? I suppose that depends on what the objective is. It’s working to keep a whole lot of children without fathers, a whole lot of families dependent on welfare, a whole lot of small-time criminals learning from the pros how to become bigger criminals, and a whole lot of Black men permanently disenfranchised (a number of States prohibit persons with past or current felony convictions from voting. In 2000, 13% of Black men had been stripped of their right to vote – source.). As for the crime rate, well, throwing everybody in prison doesn’t appear to be making the US a safer place. Americans certainly don’t feel any safer. A bi-partisan panel in 2006 concluded that Americans receive a dismal return on their huge prison investment. And this is what Stephen Harper wants to emulate. It’s not going to be cheap, not by a long shot. And it’s not going to work. If we’ve got that kind of money to throw around, how come we can’t afford to build residential treatment centres for addicts? How come we can’t afford to create alternative opportunities for youth? How come we can’t afford anti-poverty measures to prevent crime? Tags:
Speaking of Mayor Larry and his Preposterously Expensive Tax Freeze, a friend of mine who lives in Osgoode says the Osgoodians are none too pleased that their library is on the chopping block. Apparently they raised the money to build the library themselves, back before Osgoode was forced to amalgamate with the City of Ottawa. With the almagamation, the City took over their library, and is now threatening to axe it. So what are we willing to sacrifice to help Mayor Larry get to zero? Because it’s not going to be done without us giving up a lot of the things we pay for collectively: libraries, snow removal, sidewalk maintenance, affordable housing, recreation, the Dalhousie Community Centre, arts, culture, keeping the city clean, transit, youth outreach, etc. etc. etc. And all we’re getting in return is more cops – even though the crime rate has been declining – and a tax freeze. This is from an email Councillor Diane Holmes sent out today: Public Meeting – Budget 2008 Public Consultation for the downtown wards: Monday, November 26th, 2007 December 3-7, 2007 – City Council hears delegations from the public. To book a time for your presentation please call Dawn Whelan, Council Co-ordinator at 613-580-2424 ext. 21837. December 10-14, 2007 – City Council deliberates and approves the 2008 Budget. Send in your comments – If you are unable to attend any of the above, you can provide your comments in writing to 311@ottawa.ca or use the feedback form on the City’s website.
Meanwhile, the Nostalgia Swap Box on Elgin Street, right outside Sugar Mountain, has vanished. I can’t help but wonder how Elmaks feels when they disappear. Megabytes sounded disappointed when someone broke the door off her swap box on Rochester Street. I was disappointed too. But maybe Elmaks is more philosophical about it. He keeps putting them up, even though they keep disappearing. (I wonder what the record is for a swap box not disappearing?) Tags: Today was the annual Vintage Clothing Show at the Chateau Laurier. I do love that crazy event. It brings out all the ever-so-slightly eccentric women. They’re all in search of that elusive magic combination: something unique and wonderful that fits them. I’m less constrained by size than most, since I shop primarily for my mannequins, Peg, Clarissa and Genevieve. Pretty much everything fits them. If I see something I love, I buy it. I don’t have to try it on, I don’t have to worry about fit. (Unless it’s huge, which isn’t usually the case since vintage clothing tends to be smaller than contemporary clothing. Women used to be smaller.) Peg, Clarissa and Genevieve have fashion balls. Unlike me, they like to stand out from the crowd and make a fashion statement. They’re all about plunging necklines, beads, sequins, bold colours and flamboyant hats. I seem every year to be drawn to black dresses for them: lacey, beaded or fringed black dresses. But they don’t need more black dresses. They don’t change their clothes very often, and there’s not much room for redundancy in their closet. I find myself fingering the black dresses, then I force myself to move on.
I bought a corset for Peg! The dealer got it at the estate sale of an elderly woman in Nebraska. I have to admit I thought of Nursemyra when I bought this. She wears a different corset every Friday.
I couldn’t find anything, so finally I decided I would sort out the bottom half later. This worked out well, because when I got home I discovered, much to my surprise, that the corset didn’t fit Peg. Only one hook could reach its eye. This was okay though, since once I got it on her, I found the corset a little disturbing. I wasn’t comfortable with how starkly it emphasized and practically fetishized her leglessness. I might be eccentric, but I’m not into blatantly sexualizing mannequin amputees.
The mayor and the police chief insisted we needed more cops, so we got more cops even though we couldn’t really afford them. Never mind that the crime rate has been falling for years. It’s just a demographic reality that crime rates drop as populations age, because people tend to outgrow criminal tendencies. But as long as the mayor and the chief of police can perpetuate the perception that crime is on the rise, they can keep saying we need more cops. (It’s nothing new, and it’s not just here, either. It has been going on for years all over North America, and it’s fueled in part by prime time TV shows that portray our cities as terribly dangerous places, chock full of brilliant and demented serial killers on murderous rampages.) But it’s kind of a Catch-22, isn’t it? It’s in the police department’s best interests not to do a very good job, because higher crime rates serve its purposes better than lower crime rates. So now that we’ve increased the police budget and hired more cops, what are we going to do with them? We don’t have a major crime problem here in Ottawa for them to focus on. We have almost no murders and even fewer brilliant and demented serial killers on murderous rampages. All we’ve got is a couple hundred crack addicts to harass.
Why do we need a full-time police presence there anyway? They just seem to be doing the job of security guards. I’ve seen it at other construction sites too – a bored-looking officer sitting in an idling car all day, doing nothing, just putting in their time. It’s not their fault, they’re just doing their jobs. But surely the security guard type jobs could be handled by less expensive and less skilled labour? I just checked to see how much police officers in Ottawa earn. They don’t earn much to start – $36,540.19 per year. But don’t feel too sorry for them, because in three years – assuming favourable performance reviews – they almost double their salary to $71,197.32. I’d call that a meteoric rise through the ranks. I wonder how much security guards make? Apart from the expense of having a fairly major downtown intersection closed for four weeks and counting, there’s also the inconvenience sustained by some businesses and individuals. For example, the Dollar-It store next door (where Big Buds used to be) has been closed for four weeks. What happened to their minimum wage workers? What’s going to happen to the store, losing a month’s business? (I wonder if it’s covered by insurance?) And then there’s all the rerouted buses, detours, traffic pressure on neighbouring intersections, and so on. On the other hand, it’s kind of nice in a way. It’s very peaceful and quiet and I don’t have to wait for the light anymore. Manifesto Multilinko says “I think it’s awesome actually – instant pedestrian zone with heavy police presence. Best thing that ever happened to the intersection.” I’m not sure I’d go that far. It’s an awfully expensive intersection these days. According to Councillor Diane Holmes, the first two weeks cost over $300,000; this would put us at about $600,000 now. If we’re going to turn it into a pedestrian mall, let’s at least plant a few trees. I think the city should take another look at policing. Let’s define the crime problems in this city factually and honestly, and then try to figure out how to realistically address them. And we should look at how we want to use our police resources. Do we want cops sitting at a closed intersection 24 hours a day for a month? Do we need a cop at the corner of Gladstone and Bell handing out tickets to cyclists? Or should we be using our cops exclusively for crime-related activities, including prevention? Tags: |
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