Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
About casinos and city visions
(I really don’t want to become one of those chronic letter-writers, but it seems this week there is just a lot to be said about decisions being made. Tonight is the city council hearing on the expansion of Edgewater and I am sure it will be packed. Unfortunately, I can’t make it so I am sending this letter instead. If you are a Vancouver resident, consider sending one in today. For more information check out Vancouver Not Vegas)
Dear Vancouver Mayor and City Council:
As someone who lives in the city of Vancouver, and works downtown – I am writing to oppose the expansion of gaming in Vancouver and the building of the new expanded Edgewater mega-casino. I do not believe that increased gambling is a good thing for our city, nor do I believe that enough public consultation has been done on the issue to warrant approval of this mega-project.
Not only would the proposed Edgewater development forever change the character of our downtown area, it also represents a tripling of gaming in our municipality in the form that is most problematic for those with gambling addictions – slot machines. I do not believe that the city has given proper study to the impacts these changes will bring, nor weighed out potential revenue against the increase in social services and policing needed as a result of increased gambling in our community.
While not everyone who enjoys gaming develops an addiction, study after study shows that greater access to casinos, slot machines and other forms of wagering increases the rate of problem-gambling (ie: addiction) greatly in the surrounding community. According to US studies, two out of three compulsive gamblers commit illegal acts in order to pay gambling-related debts or to continue gambling. A Nova Scotia study estimates that each problem gambler negatively affects 10 to 17 other people. And it should come as no surprise that problem gamblers are more likely to abuse their wives and children, suffer from depression, attempt suicide and file for bankruptcy than the general population.
But this isn’t just about problem gamblers is it? It’s also a question of what kind of city we want. One that attracts organized crime? One that promotes addiction as a way to make a quick dollar? One that turns prime waterfront into glass and chrome towers rather than working towards emphasizing the city’s natural beauty? A green city or a greedy city? I’m pretty sure that you have the same answer at heart as I do, and yet it’s hard to turn away from the cash on offer upfront.
This is the time to be strong, and show the residents of the city that you care about what happens to them – and that you have a healthy and positive vision of Vancouver’s future rather than the seedy one that Edgewater would rather us celebrate.
I urge you to call a moratorium on all gaming expansion until citizens have been properly consulted via a referendum or equivalent process, as is done in other cities and jurisdictions across North America.
Furthermore I urge you to sever the application for gaming expansion from the Edgewater rezoning application, so that we may have a public discussion about gambling expansion.
I don’t believe a mega-casino is what this city needs or wants – so please give Vancouverites a chance to fully participate in this discussion with you.
Vancouver is a great city. Let’s keep it that way.
Sincerely,
MA
Save Flores Island!
(See my own photos of Flores Island here to get an idea of why I’m so concerned about the logging of this amazing place. My travelogue from our trip there in 2009 can be found here).
Dear Minister of Natural Resource Operations, Minister of Forests, Mines and Lands, and President & CEO of the Integrated Land Management Bureau, Steve Carr:
I am writing to you today to express my alarm at the potential for logging on Flores Island, a significant tract of intact old-growth in the province of British Columbia. At 150 square kilometres, this large area of temperate rainforest is home to an incredible bounty of animal and plant life in addition to providing unparalled outdoor recreation opportunities for hikers and kayakers along its west coast beaches. Flores Island is indeed one of the most popular attractions in Clayoquot Sound because of the striking beauty and peace to be found there amonst some of the oldest trees left standing in the province.
At issue specifically today is whether or not to approve helicopter drop-zones which would facilitate heli-logging of the island. Heli-logging is an extremely energy-intensive form of logging that is not financially feasible without drop zones approved nearby. In this case, the drop zones are slated for the near-shore waters of Flores Island (Millar Channel specifically). Not only does this pose the issue of potential habitat destruction in the marine environment, it is hard to imaging how this could be considered safe given the number of kayakers, pleasure-boaters, fishing boats, water taxis and others who use these waters on a daily basis. Flores Island is additionally known for Gray Whale sighting opportunities because there are a large number of resident and transient marine mammals in the area – dropping logs into the water in marine mammal territory will certainly lead to animal deaths in large numbers over time. Many of these species are listed as species at risk and are federally protected under the Species at Risk Act.
Should the heli-logging plan be denied, there will no doubt be permits requested for road-building on the island – which carries with it a whole other set of issues for land-based species and the salmon which spawn in rivers and creeks on the island. Although the company that has requested the permits considers itself sustainable – it is anything but – cutting in old-growth areas, selling raw logs offshore at well-below value that would come from secondary processing, and now attempting to break with their public commitment to leave intact areas of Clayoquot Sound unmolested.
I am writing to urge the forest managers and government bodies responsible to deny these oceanic drop zone permits, and any road or cut permits requested for Flores Island and any of Clayoquot Sound’s intact areas. I also urge the province to work with local First Nations towards ecologically-sustainable solutions for generating income in the area, including support for secondary processing which would increase wood-value into the community immensely. As the world’s resources dwindle, we are urgently required to find more sustainable solutions together.
Thank-you for considering this letter,
MA
In the Bookshed: Two local foods cookbooks
Two great new cookbooks emphasizing food of the Pacific Northwest – quiet different in feel and focus:
Northwest Essentials: Cooking With Ingredients That Define a Region’s Cuisine (2nd edition)
Greg Atkinson
Sasquatch Books, 2010
Right off I’ll let you know – this is one of those food-porn cookbooks. Lots of beautiful photographs of luscious dishes of decadence – this alone will encourage you to try many of the recipes. Take on top of that sections of food focus including: Salmon, Stone Fruits, Oysters, Prawns & Crab, Wild Mushrooms, Berries, Mussels/Clams/Scallops and Hazlenuts – and you will be thanking your lucky morels that local food means all that goodness and more for those of us in coastal BC (and Washington State where this book originates).
Unfortunately for me, I received this book for review just as a lot of the foods in it went out of season – and local eating for me also means eating in season and doing a lot of food storage – but a couple weeks ago, we did manage to cobble together a little feast of Spot-Prawn Jumbalaya and invite some friends over for a good feed. This turned out to be an incredibly warming dish for mid-winter, full of three kinds of meat, veggies and rice – simple to make (though a little afternoon-consuming) and thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Each recipe is introduced with tips about the ingredients or stories about the origin of the food combination – and each section is introduced by Atkinson with personal reflections and anecdotes on cooking and eating locally as well as descriptions in what to look for in purchasing fresh food at the market. Atkinson’s writing style is direct and warm – his food writing is as engaging as the photographs and recipes in this book. Know someone who thinks the whole local food movement is a waste of time? Give them this cookbook and let them discover the abundance that is right out their backdoor and all the tasty ways to prepare it.
Winter Harvest Cookbook (20th Anniversary Edition)
Lane Morgan
New Society Publishers, 2011
In a very different vein, Lane Morgan’s revised Winter Harvest Cookbook is of an earthier bent. Written originally twenty years ago when she was living on a homestead farm, Morgan’s book carries with it the simplicity and stolidity of winter meals made from scratch in a country kitchen. Her focus is on local eating in the winter months, the four-six months between the last greens of fall and the first of spring – think root vegetables, winter squashes, nuts, grains, fennel/kale/chard/cabbage and the like. Oh, and meat. There is a good mix of both meat and vegetarian recipes in the main courses – which in our house we tend to appreciate (being that we eat primarily veggie and have the occasional dish with a little extra animal). Very helpfully at the bottom of each recipe Morgan includes whether it is Vegetarian, Vegan, or Gluten-free for those who need to pay attention.
The recipes in here are of definite interest value and include items like nettle sauce, a chocolate cake made of beets (from experience, make sure the beets are thoroughly pureed and the cake will turn out better than ours did), and hazelnut roca. Obviously many of the ingredients are harvested in summer, but keep through the winter, while some things – like kale and chard – will last right through a coastal winter in the garden as long as it is a mild one (unlike this year which kicked my poor chard’s ass).
Morgan includes menu suggestions, resource lists and a detailed index at the back of the book – all of which make this additionally a keeper for me. Suggested menus being my favourite thing in throwing together dinner parties (takes all the work out of pairing recipes). Included below is a recipe we’ve made from the book and that I am totally in love with – especially as I’ve lately discovered the joys of florence fennel and am on a bit of a cabbage kick lately. Oh, the excitement!
Italian sausage with fennel, carrot, and cabbage
1 cup dry white wine
1.5-2 pounds Italian link sausages
1 medium onion, minced
1 large carrot, julienned
4 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
2 large fennel bulbs, sliced thin
3 tablespoons minced fennel leaves, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper
Bring wine to biol in a large, heavy skillet. Prick each sausage in several places with fork and add to skillet. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Remove cover and continue simmering until wine has evaporated. Then increase heat and brown sausage quickly. Remove sausages and keep warm.
Pour off all but 4 or 5 tablespoons fat from skillet. Turn heat to medium-high. Add onion and carrot and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir in cabbage, sliced fennel, 2 tablespoons of the fennel leaves, garlic and water. Cover and cook until vegetables are barely tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove cover and boil off any liquid remaining in skillet. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning.
Make a bed of the vegetables on a serving platter. Arrange sausages on top, sprinkle with remaining fennel leaves, and serve.
Serves 4 to 6
Working at getting in.
Phew! I just received an email notification from SFU Admissions letting me know that I filled out my application for graduate studies correctly and I am now allowed to pay my application fee. Thank-goddess. At least I can get that part right in addition to cajoling three references to send letters in on my behalf!
On the other hand, I’m still working on the final and most important piece – the *dreaded* admissions essay. As of last night, I’ve got an acceptable draft which just needs some fine-tuning and a good edit to be ready. I really struggled with approach to this essay over the last little while, but got myself sorted out yesterday by asking some fundamental questions like: what am I interested in writing, discussing and researching about?
The answer? Apocalypse of course. Social and ecological crisis. The fundamental whys of a civilization that brought us to this point and the inquiry process that might lead us back out. The human artifacts that are evidence of our struggle to connect the dots over and over. The shocking divide in the world that allows the G-8 countries to walk around as though everything is okay while others are starving and overthrowing their governments. Etc.
And so from that premise – intellectual interest – the essay flowed and I was able to fill in the notes I started with two months ago, crafting descriptions of my work, my interests, my writing, my nascent book project ideas. Although it’s still in draft form, I think the substance of it is quite good (much better than what I had put down earlier) and Brian gave me a couple more suggestions for connecting my interests to the program last night which I’m going to include in my final draft. My plan is to get this done before the end of February so my application is in a month before the deadline. I’d really like to have it in, do my interview, and have an answer as soon as possible since I’m itching to know if I get to start the course readings in May (there is so much reading for the first year that they advise reading for the summer before the program starts).
Of course I am ridiculously nervous about my prospects, though I probably shouldn’t be. I just hate all this being judged part of application processes, and I can’t think of a grad program that is a better fit for me right now. We’ll see how it goes.
Smooches.
A slightly blurry valentine on my precious Underwood. A kiss to go with it. Will you be mine?
Red Cedar 