CitizenShift
Updates from the basement, courtesy of the CITIZENShift team.
Archive of August, 2008
Written by
denise
August 28, 2008
This past weekend I set out on a quest to re-claim my bike which was stolen a number of years back. I headed down to the downtown Toronto warehouse where the bikes (which had been recovered by police from large scale theft organization) were being held. After receiving a briefing on how the bikes are organized (alphabetically) and how to go about claiming your bike if you find it, I set out to see if I’d be successful in finding it after all these years.
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Written by
Lisa
August 26, 2008
The acronym for the World Health Organization is an funny one.
In reading an article entitled Canadian health minister resists WHO on safe injection sites …I just can’t stop thinking about that popular British Rock Band.
I know this is juvenile but…YOU try reading the article.
Regardless, I continue to be obsessed with the safe injection site discussion…
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Written by
Lisa
August 26, 2008
I thought everything for war resisters was as it should be, with Canada providing a safe haven…but NO! I received the below info in my inbox:
Canada’s Prime Minister is about to deport Jeremy Hinzman, American Conscientious Objector to the Iraq War, as well as his wife and two children by September 23rd.
Jeremy is featured in Michelle Mason’s documentary, BREAKING RANKS - I first learned about all this here!
I, in no way, wish to tell you how to feel or act about this… but I will tell you that Jeremy has been here in Canada pushing 4 years and has led a nice PEACEFUL life with his family.
What I will also tell you about, in an effort to disseminate the whole story, is the rest of said email. So here you go:
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Written by
denise
August 21, 2008
Yay! It looks like Toronto will be getting its own high tech rent-a-bike program! Much like the highly successful Vélib program in Paris, France, this program will provide bikes through hubs stationed around the city and will be available via a nominal fee, possibly by swiping your credit card at a kiosk or by yearly subscription.
Toronto will be joining several other North American cities including Montreal, Denver, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., who are launching similar programs this year. Frankly I think it’s an initiative that is long overdue, but sometimes late is better than never and the new program is bound to benefit Toronto residents and tourists alike.
I only wish that this program had been introduced about 7 years sooner. That’s because my bike was stolen nearly 7 years ago. That’s right, my Raleigh taken from my front porch as I slept. So all this time I’ve been without a bike and I can tell you that I really do miss cycling. So you can imagine my joy when I heard that Toronto Police had recovered nearly 3,000 bikes stolen in a large-scale theft operation and that the bikes would be put on display for members to come down and re-claim them. People were simply required to provide some sort of proof that the bike was theirs and they could take (even ride) their bike home that very day! Unfortunately I was out of town during this showing so I wasn’t able to go down and try to claim my bike, but thankfully more “claiming sessions” are scheduled over the next three weeks.
So I’m on a mission to get my bike back! “But it’s been 7 years!” you say. Doesn’t matter, so far I’ve heard stories of people recovering their bikes after 3, 5 and even 8 years! So I know that there is hope. Admittedly the thought of combing through the remaining 2,500 bikes is quite daunting, but the notion that my bike could be one of them is enough for me. In fact I’ll be heading down to an upcoming showing this weekend to see if I can experience a reunion 7 years in the making. Will I get my bike back? That’s anyone’s guess. If so I’ll be ecstatic, if not sign me up for the new bike sharing plan pronto!
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Studying the art of filmmaking over the past four years has offered me the opportunity to produce numerous films. While much has changed throughout this period of time, I would hope some improvement considering I had never even touched a video camera when I first began, one aspect about filmmaking that has always remained the same is the struggle to use non-copyrighted music. Sound effects and music always have the ability to enhance work, yet finding what is needed is not always so easy.
The real challenge came when I hit the university level and the use of copyright music was not allowed under any circumstance in our productions. With this came the obstacle of locating music on the Internet, for free. I made attempts with software such as Garage Band that came with my computer, but I am not exactly what you would call ‘music savvy’ and I was often unsuccessful. Though having musicians as contacts was always an added bonus, this was not always feasible either.
Which is why I am so grateful for websites that do offer students, like me, and independent filmmakers the chance to use their media for free. Welcome, to the world of freeware, Read the rest of this entry »
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“Africville is not a memory frozen in the amber of history. It’s continuing to grow, to evolve, just as it did from the 1840s to the 1960s. Once it was a place. Now it’s a spirit, an icon, a metaphor, a home”.
- Charles Saunders
Have you ever heard of the Africville community in Halifax, Nova Scotia? If you don’t know the story of Africville, it is imperative that you check out this documentary directed by Neil Donaldson better known as Hip-Hop artist & community activist Logikal Ethix, in association with the Canadian Heritage fund.
STOLEN FROM AFRICVILLE
For more stories about urban renewal and displacement,
visit our URBAN RENEWAL: HUMAN NEGLECT dossier on CitizenShift.
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When I began my summer internship for CITIZENShift here at the National Film Board of Canada, a short clip on Roadsworth was one of the first videos I watched on the website. Immediately intrigued by this artist, I looked up more of his work and found myself fascinated by his unique, quirky, and thought-provoking designs.
Peter Gibson, a street artist since 2001, is someone whose work I had never been familiar with until my discovery of him at CITIZENShift. I became further interested when I found out most of his art can be found here in Montreal, Quebec. I was puzzled by this considering Montreal is a place I frequent often, yet I had no recollection of ever seeing the artist’s vibrant work.
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A Global National clip from August 3rd, 2008 hit a note with me. Titled, The Hunt, the piece looked at how polar bears in Canada’s north are still hunted today. With the country holding 13 of the 19 existing polar bear populations, it is largely our responsibility to keep this threatened species alive. While watching the short video, more than once I found myself looking away from the screen. I flinched at the sight of a polar bear being killed, knowing the fragile condition they have been hit with partly due to the rising temperatures of climate change.
To make matters worse, it appears as though there has become a sick desire to hunt polar bears because of their increasing rarity. As far as I know, polar bears are not high on the list of animals to eat, which causes me to question if hunting them is purely for recreational reasons. If this is the case, I am even more disgusted over the fact that some people get a kick out of killing as a hobby.
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