Clairvoyant Yoruba Chieftain Exhibits Tapestries on Commercial Drive; One Win, One Loss for Canucks over Weekend: VancouverIAM

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Clairvoyant Chieftain’s Tapestries on Exhibition at Small World Shot and Gallery

Commercial Drive Online’s Steven R. Duncan announces in a recent post that “living legend” Chieftain Z.O. Oloruntoba’s exhibit Healing Tapestries is now showing at A Small World Shop and Gallery on Commercial Drive. It is his only scheduled Canadian visit for 2008. A Yoruba Chieftain, Zacheus O. Oloruntoba “is a recognized clairvoyant and an artist whose work has been exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art and collected by Queen Elizabeth II, David Rockefeller and Mohammed Ali.”

Chief Oloruntoba creates “vibrant tapestries both for the aesthetics as well as the inherent healing powers within.” 89 years young, Oloruntoba creates “with age old techniques and traditional materials,” illustrating his clairvoyant visions into “Paintings of power and life, for the protection from sickness and jealousy.” His subject matter includes “his village, Yoruba tribe people, lions, birds and elephants.” First and foremost a spiritual leader of the Nigerian city of Ogidi, he “is next in line to succeed his uncle, who is 117 years old.” A Small World Shop & Gallery Ltd. will exhibit his works through February 18th. They are “an independent retailer of earth conscious commodities and sustainable fashions devoted to protecting you and the environment.”

“Pretty” Goal from Shannon Wins Game for Canucks

Canucks Hockey Blog reports on the one loss, one win weekend for the Canucks. After a terrible 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, “the Canucks bounced back with a solid, spirited effort” on Sunday against the Blackhawks. The win “brought them to an eighth place tie with the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference.” More importantly, writes our blogger in the post, it was good “to see them not hang their heads and dwell on the night before.”

Without any “offensive flair,” the Canucks don't usually score “a lot of pretty goals in the shootout.” But last night Ryan Shannon's winning goal certainly was. Our blogger jokes that it wasn’t just the creativity of the goal, “it was that, after Shannon scored, Khabibulin punched him in the back of the head and Shannon simply turned around and celebrated in the Bulin Wall's face.” The Canucks play next on Thursday against the Wild.

Eco-Density Concerns are Well-Founded

Steven Rees writes that resident groups have a right to be concerned when it comes to the city’s move towards eco-density. A recent article was released in The Sun by Frances Bula that states citizens are banding together to address the way density is “being shoved” into their neighbourhoods and their worry there “isn’t enough emphasis on creating affordable housing or complete neighbourhoods with libraries, transit and community services to go with the density.” Rees says their fears are rational because “the city does not control transit.”

Rees states in his post that “Vancouver gets much better transit service than the rest of the region now - so the idea that it can get more when nobody else has nearly enough is bizarre.” There’s not likely to be more density out on Point Grey. It’s more likely to march eastward “of the towers into Chinatown and out to Commercial Drive.” And, Rees argues, the only way density can be done in an acceptable way is through “gradual change… Cities are more like organisms than most planners and developers are prepared to acknowledge.” Change has to happen “at a rate that residents can adjust to.” Their “urban equivalent of heroic surgery” has a larger effect on the city “body” than less invasive procedures. Unfortunately, “a bunch of small scale projects will not provide the huge gobs of cash and land that municipal services need.”

We must Change our View of Addiction to Solve Homeless Issue

A recent post from Jody Patterson’s A Closer Look informs us that we must change our attitude about drug addiction if we are going to make any progress addresseing the homeless issue. Many of Patterson’s readers find they can be sympathetic towards “good” homeless people “who don’t deserve to be on the streets,” meaning they don’t do drugs or are there for reasons like illness and abuse. In Patterson’s opinion, “nobody deserves to be on the streets” and she doesn’t sort people into “good” and “bad” categories.

The “big sticking point for readers” is usually drug use, she writes in her post. “People with severe addiction are seen as ‘choosing’ homelessness because they chose to use drugs. This “simplistic view of addiction… that others believe these poor, sick souls are choosing to remain addicted adds insult to injury.” We know that “addiction is what happens when you mix genetic predisposition, childhood circumstance, loss, pain, and readily available drugs.” There are 1,500 people on Victoria’s streets because “we judged them unworthy of our help the first time round due to their ‘bad choices.’ Just about the worst thing we can do is repeat that colossal mistake.” Kicking an addiction is an immense struggle. “People trying to make that tough journey need prompt and sustained help, not another pointless guilt trip about bad choices and just desserts.”

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