dirty fingernails and bread crumbs

[currently listening to: nine inch nails - and all that could have been]

sevas tra.
art saves.

So I finally caved in and finally got a facebook despite the bazillion other useless network accounts running like wayn or hi5... who the heck uses that shizz? Anyways, it's time for a new calendar and I want to support Pivot Legal like last year. They feature photographs taken people marginalised by our society living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. "Hope in Shadows" is what the photo contest is called and I think it's an empowering way for individuals caught with the burden of poverty in our community to recapture their identities and showcase the world from their point of view.


[image: Juan Martinez; 2004 "Hope in Shadows"]


[image: Allan Sloboda; "Hope in Shadows]

Here are some fast facts about the Downtown Eastside:

• the Downtown Eastide is the poorest neighbourhood in Canada
• 70% of Vancouver's First Nations people live in the Downtown Eastside
• 33% of homeless people are mentally ill
• an estimated 5000 injection users live in the Downtown Eastside
• Downtown Eastside was declared a public health emergency in 1998
• HIV/Aids among women is 40% higher than men
• on-the-job fatalities for sex trade workers are 6 times higher than police

So the next time you pinch your nose or silently ignore what you might assume to be a socially inept individual - try making a conversation. You might just find out that he/she may not be so much more different than you.