West Side Story: The cast breathes new life into archetypal characters

Geraldine Anderson

West Side Story, Directed by Gary Griffin, and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. At Stratford’s Festival Theatre until October 31 2009.

The Jets and Sharks may fight over turf, but the cast can rest assured they conquered the audiences’ hearts and imaginations. West Side Story first debuted on Broadway in 1957, taking a topical spin on the Shakespeare classic, Romeo and Juliet. The topic of the time happened to be gang warfare between the Puerto Ricans (Sharks) and the Americans (Jets) - not the most compelling subject matter for a Broadway show - but it proved skeptics wrong and has since become a classic in its own right. Stratford’s production of the famous West Side Story is a rare theatre treat that keeps you entertained from the first toe-tapping fight sequence to the final emotional end.

It is easy to fall in love with the characters, Maria and Tony. Both of the actors capture the innocence of the young lovers perfectly and give seamless performances. Chilina Kennedy, who made her debut at Stratford this season, plays Maria with vivaciousness, innocence and depth. From the moment the audience is introduced to her - pleading to lower the neckline of her dress just one inch, to the final scene, where she points a gun at Chino telling him that she too can kill now because she too hates - Kennedy delivers a superb performance.

Maria is a demanding role to say the least, requiring vocal and emotional range, and the capacity to do it all while dancing. Kennedy makes it seem effortless, and accredits part of the ease to working with her co-star.

In an interview in The Beacon Herald, she says, “Doing any scene with Paul Nolan is spectacular.”

In fact, Nolan himself is rather spectacular. His charm is unmistakable from the moment we see on stage, but he really captures Maria’s and the audiences’ hearts in the iconic balcony scene, where he scales the railing with the ease of walking through a garden. The sheer athleticism and spontaneity of the moment led to loud applause from the audience. In that moment, Nolan proves not only his physical strength, but brings his character to life. The audience sees all the naivety and innocence of someone in love. Nolan truly breathes new life into the archetypal character.

West Side Story has one of the shortest musical books in Broadway history, but it speaks volumes. You don’t have to know about gangs to appreciate the exquisitely choreographed fight scenes. You don’t have to know the history of immigration to understand the universal themes of racism and hatred. And you certainly don’t have to be versed in Shakespeare to realize the economy and brilliance of the script and lyrics. You just have to let yourself fall in love with the beauty on stage - And with this cast that is not at all difficult to do.

Staged on a Shakespearean thrust stage, the musical also pays further homage to Shakespeare, and invites the audience closer than ever before. No orchestra pit divides the action on the stage and the audience. In fact, the audience is as close to the performers as possible allowing the production to really come alive.

Musical numbers such as “America,” and “Officer Krupke,” are executed with precision that would do the show’s creators proud. Not only is the singing and dancing blended seamlessly, but the lyrics remind you why West Side Story stands the test of time.

The Burning Bush: Salvation comes from the strangest of places

The Burning Bush, Written and performed by Tracey Erin Smith
The Young Centre for the Performing Arts through June 2009.

Geraldine Anderson

People want to laugh more than they want to be saved, we are told throughout the show. Yet, at the end of this 90 minute, one-woman show, The Burning Bush, you can’t help but feel you’ve experienced comedy and a little salvation.

The Burning Bush is written and performed by Tracey Erin Smith, who plays a Rabbinical school reject turned stripper Rabbi named Barbara Baumawitz.

In the play, the main character, Baumawitz, proclaims “The only sermon you can preach is your own story.”

So, that’s just what she does. Baumawitz preaches about her journey of mysticism, Madonna (the singer not the saint), stripping and salvation. When she is told that she is far too serious to be a rabbi, she goes in search of her ‘lighter’ side and finds herself teaching Kabala to strippers, through Madonna lyrics, at the Tit for Tat strip joint. Eventually she and her new stripper friends take their show called The Burning Bush, on the road in a car they call their ‘Bush Mobile’.

Just like Moses and most every spiritual leader is plagued with doubt, Baumawitz is no exception. She doubts her ability to be a good rabbi. She almost succumbs to her fear of stripping. She even has to fight the temptation of Hollywood knocking, but she doesn’t have to do it alone, because she has her very own Fairy God Mother slash Jiminy Cricket, and it’s none other than 73 year-old comedian Jackie Mason.

“Hello, hello this is Jackie Mason,” he introduces himself each time in his famous New York grumbling accent to offer Baumawitz council. And if you’re wondering why on God’s green earth, Mason of all people. Consider that he was a rabbi for three years before he went into comedy, and he is currently helping Smith turn The Burning Bush play into a Hollywood movie.

Other character’s leave their mark too. For instance, Christie, a stripper at the Tit for Tat club and Baumawitz’s best friend and first pupil who wants to learn Kabala to bring her closer to her idol, Madonna.

We get a glimpse of Christie when the show first opens. Smith as Baumawitz walks onto stage wearing a black and red polka dot dress, black satin gloves to her elbows and a wig of red ringlets. She walks on to stage veiled in black lace, humming Madonna’s song Like a Prayer.

In her high-pitched, Jewish valley-girl accent she gives the audience a striptease lesson. She asks the audience to stand up with their legs apart, as if their standing over a “caldron.” Then she asks them to pretend they have a big wooden spoon stuck in their “you know what,” and says, “Now, stir the caldron.”

Laughter and embarrassed murmurs spread through the audience and suddenly everyone is united in the experience.

And the experience is a hilarious one, but also has moments that resonate with sincerity and teach some unexpected lessons. Like the moment Christie fashions a makeshift wailing wall so that the senior citizen can put their most sacred prayers into it. The prayers offered are read out and we hear everything from a woman thanking God for the cleaning staff because they are the only people that talk to her, to requests for more DVDs with more boobs to watch, to a man asking God to let his wife go first so she doesn’t have to suffer through his passing. In moments like this you cannot help but feel part of something almost sacred.

The writing is sharp, witty and precise and the acting draws you in almost unconsciously. The lessons are large and small. The comedy is profane and sacred. Salvation comes from the strangest places.

Awake and Sing!: An apt reflection of messy and complicated family life

Geraldine Anderson

Awake and Sing!, Written by Clifford Odets, Directed by Miles Potter. On stage at the Yonge Centre for the Performing Arts until July 31, 2009.

If God is in the details, then Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing! is a divine experience.

Set in Depression Era New York in 1935, the play tells you the story of three generations of a Jewish family struggling to cope with the worsening financial situation, amidst complicated familial relationships. The attention to detail, from the set, to the costuming, to the dialect, is incredible.

The wrought iron daybed, the chandelier over the dining table, the two-foot radio in the corner of the room, the wallpaper and drapery, the teapot and teacups, right down to the old-fashioned tin of hand lotion reflect the period perfectly. The costumes, not only adhere to the 1930s, but specifically to a family struggling to maintain a certain status while struggling to stay afloat financially. For instance, when we first see Hennie, the daughter, played by Soulpepper Academy graduate, Sarah Wilson, she is conservative, but well attired in a form fitting red belted dress. After she marries a man she can hardly stand and has a child that isn’t his, we see her in a lose yellow A-lined frock, with a shabby red cardigan- a reflection of her financial and emotional plight.

Awake and Sing! has its own musicality and it comes directly from the dialogue and accent. The characters’ dialects transport you instantaneously to the time and place.

Nancy Palk, who plays the strong, unyielding and morally questionable matriarch of the family, Bessie, is absolutely astounding. On one hand Bessie is a fighter and a survivor, capable of doing anything it takes to keep a roof over her family, including orchestrating her pregnant daughter’s wedding to someone she does not love to save the family’s reputation. On the other hand, since work hours are cut, and hardly any money comes into the household from her husband and son, you cannot help but appreciate her strength and resilience, as she claims to be both mother and father of the household.

When asked how this role is different from her many Shakespearean roles she says, “One just desperately tries to be real.” She admits you have more props and “stuff” around that you may not in a Shakespearean role, but she says, “it’s the same muscles.” Her every action and reaction is executed with the precision of a blade.

Directed by Miles Potter, the play tackles the balance between hope and survival, in a manner that teaches, yet leaves matters open for interpretation. For instance, William Webster who plays the grandfather, Jacob, is a prime example of a character full of contradictions and questions. He says he has studied books all his life, but upon his death the audience discovers the pages in his precious books are still uncut. His death is perhaps one of the most ambiguous elements in the play. Was it a slip or a suicide? That question is never answered, but the lesson he leaves for his grandson, Ralph, played by Jonathan Gould, to stand up for himself and to seize life, is finally well-received.

Ralph, a restless, yearning character who wants to get out of the house, be free of his mother and family, finally learns he can change the world. He can be the change he wants to see without going anywhere. He can stay and he can survive. He understands that his grandfather wanted him to.

The other looming question posed in the play is Hennie’s decision to leave her child and husband for a chance at happiness with a family friend, Moe, played by Ari Cohen. Many will think this decision unsympathetic and unfitting especially given the era, yet it’s the beautifully ambiguous moments such as these, that realize a certain realistic quality in the play.

RECORD REVIEWS

Stephen Carlick

Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Rating: B-

Wilco settle for the basics, sound content not having to push the envelope

Wilco is the kind of band whose fans have enjoyed a long and fruitful ride, following a band who continued to progress and challenge their listeners with each new album. The band began as a simple “twangy” alt-country group with their debut A.M. before moving through an increasingly experimental phase that arguably culminated with 2002’s brilliant Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. That album was cerebral, catchy, spacious and emotionally resonant and it effectively tested the boundaries of what a “folk” album could sound like. Since then, Wilco’s albums have become increasingly divisive. They followed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with the jammy and sometimes-meandering A Ghost is Born before releasing the mature-sounding and conventional Sky Blue Sky in 2006. To say that Wilco (The Album) was aptly titled and that it nicely captured what Wilco was “about” would be reductionist and neglectful of the expansiveness of the bands’ musical career so far. However this much can be said: Wilco (The Album) is the sound of a band that is comfortable doing what they do best, a band that perhaps finally feel as though they no longer have to push the envelope. Instead, they’ve settled for creating a set of tuneful stompers and ballads punctuated by Jeff Tweedy’s dry plaintive tenor and melodic instrumental nuances, two of Wilco’s most significant assets. There may not be anything surprising or sonically challenging here as was present in their best work, but there is also little to complain about, rendering the album likeable if not a little bland. Knowing that Wilco are capable of so much more makes the album feel half-baked, even though the songs sound fleshed-out and for the first time, maybe even fun. That might be a high enough standard for other bands to hit, but for Wilco? It just isn’t quite good enough.

Sonic Youth - Eternal
Rating: A-

A great album by a band so influential that the sound they created may seem overplayed

Can a band as long-lived and influential as Sonic Youth still be relevant and enjoyable after more than a dozen studio albums? The answer, in this case, is a resounding ‘yes’. A band that is content can often sound its best, and on The Eternal, Sonic Youth sound positively at ease. Here, Sonic Youth have traded the squalls of guitar noise and the heaving, vitriolic moments of outrage for rolling, almost groovy guitar lines and rhythms. Easy-going tracks like “Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso),” “What we Know,” “Malibu Gas Station” and “Walkin’ Blue” are all beacons that Sonic Youth are happy to lay back and do what they do best. They ooze DIY-cool like nobody else in indie rock can. The Eternal is a summer album through and through. It revels in the relaxed aura of California and the grunge-y sound of Seattle, despite the band’s New York City roots. Indeed, even this far into their career, the sheer breadth of influence that the band had on indie rock around North America can be felt immensely. From the eccentric guitar-based rock of Pavement to the effortless groove of Spoon, from genres as disparate as noise-rock and indie pop. For somebody unfamiliar with Sonic Youth’s catalogue, the album is a revelation, a realization that almost every band under the “indie” umbrella has, in one way or another, been influenced by this band. However, for many, the album is simply a great indie-rock album, blending subtle melody, tricky guitar work, and simple, understated groove to create a classic sound. It only very rarely sounds forced or jams for too long. Ultimately, The Eternal is a fantastic and effortless-sounding fifteenth studio album which proves both Sonic Youth’s tremendous influence on independent music and their continued relevance to the world thereof.

Alexisonfire - Old Crows, Young Cardinals
Rating: C+

Not enough passion, fervour from the unfairly reviled band that are known for it

Alexisonfire were perhaps unfairly maligned by Toronto’s musical underground early on, already being called “sell-outs” by the time their second album (2004’s excellently epic Watch Out!) was released. However, stuck in a scene where mere “indie” posturing (see: wearing a hounds-tooth handkerchief) earns more cred than actually releasing passionate and engaging music, Alexisonfire had proven over and over that they care more about creating music than about their hardcore image. Dallas Green’s City and Colour side-project may be annoying, but each of the members of the band have contributed to a richer musical landscape in Toronto. They were featured on Fucked Up’s 2008 hardcore masterpiece The Chemistry of Common Life and they raised the profile of scene mainstays Cancer Bats through sheer camaraderie and support. All this being said, it might seem hypocritical to malign them now, but here goes: Old Crows, Young Cardinals just isn’t that great. It could be because they’ve stopped screaming entirely, which as a former hardcore band sort of make them sound too close to the kind of fodder you’d hear on late-1990’s Edge 102.1 Radio. More likely, though, is that Dallas Green just doesn’t seem to be pushing his razor-sharp tenor to the manic point that he once used to. His voice used to lend Alexisonfire another chaotic element to mix into their musical recipe, but the rub is that his voice is only special when he’s running himself ragged (evidenced by his somehow bland and overwrought solo project). Standout tracks “Sons of Privilege” and “Midnight Regulations” succeed because of their chorus and end climax respectively, largely thanks to Green’s soaring angst. The rest of the album (and even most of those two songs) is bogged down by a never-ending onslaught of trite lyricism that undoes some of the more impressive moments the band produces. Old Crows, Young Cardinals may not be great, but Alexisonfire remains a relevant and relatively credible part of the Canadian music scene, deserving of the same amount of respect shown to somehow-credible “indie” teeny-boppers like Stars, Metric and the like.

Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Rating: C+

Mos Def delivers his first classic in ten years!

Finally, there is a genuine classic hip hop album for 2009 and Mos Def delivers on the sonic promise of his early work by demonstrating a genuine love for music again. Mos Def has never had problems with lyrics or musical ideas; the man is full of them. His Achilles heel, however, has always been his commitment and drive, both of which have been lacking since 2004’s The New Danger. Even then his ambition to record a “Black” rock album was greater than his ability to musically merge the two tastefully. With The Ecstatic, Mos’ ambition was matched perfectly by his choice of producers and, as always, by his lyrical output. After three years in the works, The Ecstatic is an arguable classic, matching (if not surpassing) his 1999 classic Black on Both Sides in terms of apparent enjoyment and sincerity on Mos Def’s part. Mos Def’s sheer musical quality and scope shine on this album. Here, Mos Def puts his recent globetrotting and political involvement to use. He showcases more than a few continents’ influences. “Auditorium” features a crackly Indian string loop, “No Hay Nada Mas” has Mos spitting rhymes in Spanish over plucked Latin guitar, and the first single “Casa Bey” is built on a sample from “Casa Forte” by Brazilian funk band Banda Black Rio. There is also the already-present influence of African music on Mos’ hip-hop repertoire. While the album’s success seems to stem from his ability to pile on influences, Mos’ triumph can be largely chalked up to his restraint this time around. The Ecstatic is all about Mos and his lyrics, so to finally hear beats that remain captivating without drowning him out or forcing him out of the spotlight is refreshing, especially on album highlight “Quiet Dog Bite Hard.” Here more than anywhere else on the album, Mos Def is free to have fun over simple timpani and handclaps that emphasize his musicality and rhythmic grace without overwhelming the listener. All this and a track that features Mos and Talib Kweli rhyming over one of Dilla’s most understatedly beautiful beats?! This is top-ten material, to be sure.

Slim Twig – Contempt!
Rating: B

Up-and-comer shows promise but refuses to compromise on debut LP

Slim Twig has to be Canada’s most compelling up-and-coming musical figure right now. He is something of an enigma, having made all sorts of appearances in Canadian press even before having released a proper LP. Before Contempt!, Twig had released around six EPs that had divided critics, who called him a genius and a weirdo in equal measure. He had never been in a proper band, not to mention one signed to a record label. However, perhaps most peculiar about Slim Twig is that he is, at the time that this is published, only twenty years old. In this context, it’s tempting to call Contempt! a masterpiece, given that nobody in Canada has even come close to creating an album so reluctant to be beautiful in any sense of the word. Contempt!, though, is not a masterpiece: it’s too grating, too dissonant and too hesitant to fully embrace melody to qualify as such. Despite this, Contempt! remains undeniably intriguing, and includes many signs that Slim Twig has a successful future ahead. “Young Hussies” is the standout track here, a jerky, glass-shattering (literally) version of “The Twist,” where Twig spits and screams along to a melodic keyboard surrounded by sputtering low-end synthesizers and crashing drums. It’s a barnstormer of an album opener, to be sure, but Contempt! never showcases this perfect marriage of melody and discord again, showing Twig settling instead for slower and sometimes unlistenable sound experiments such as “Alley Spying” and the patience-trying “Phantasm Inquest.” Contempt! may be flawed, but it’s an artist statement, declaring that Slim Twig has qualities rarely seen in Canadian bands. He has the fearlessness and the willingness to truly experiment without falling back on ornate instrumentation and production. Slim Twig’s next LP could be his masterpiece, if only he can refine both his experimental instincts and his sense of melody.

The popularity of Secrets Therapy is revealed at PostSecret.com

Katia Dmitrieva

Psst. Do you want to know a secret? What about thousands of secrets, unburdened by the telling of them, from people from all around the world?

You can hear people’s secrets or share your own on a website called PostSecret.com. It’s a blog that invites people to mail in their deepest secrets anonymously on a self-designed postcard. Contributors can write whatever they like, as long as it’s true and they haven’t revealed it before. The results are a mix of the horrific, hilarious, and honest, with a lot of human interest in the mix.

More than just gossip and indulgence, these secrets can connect us to the people who wrote them. Like the person who wrote “I don’t know what I want, but I don’t want this,” or, the person who wrote on a hand-sketched image of a smiling young woman, “I will never stop loving her.”
Who were the people who wrote these? Who are they writing about? Sometimes what is best is to realize with a shock that you have an eerily similar secret.

PostSecret.com was first devised as a community art project by Frank Warren five years ago. And it wasn’t always online. In 2004, Warren handed out blank postcards, sometimes leaving them in public places, with instructions about how the project worked: “write down your secret, decorate the card however you want, and send it in.”

In just two years, he received over 50,000 secrets – all artistic and brutally honest and he knew they were worth sharing. Now, with over three million visitors to Postsecret.com each month, the small-time art project has exploded into a veritable phenomenon. It even nabbed this year’s “Bloggies” award for best art, craft, or design weblog, for the second year in a row.

If the blog leaves you curious to see more personal expositions, you can find four PostSecret.com books that are currently available in stores. Another book will be due out this fall, titled Confessions on Life, Death and God.

Internet communication has gone from impersonal Facebook and MSN (and- God forbid- Twitter) to a place for people to feel accepted and, at the very least, less burdened.

The idea of anonymously divulging secrets to the world as the modern therapy is not new. Warren himself wrote that “sometimes, when we believe we are keeping a secret, that secret is actually keeping us.” The widespread popularity of PostSecret.com is proof enough of this belief.

In her introduction to one of Warren’s coffee table tomes, Anne C. Fischer commented that the post card project is akin to a healing process. Because everyone is invited to participate, art is brought together with spirituality and healing on a global level. It isn’t just the act of writing something like “I envy the willpower of anorexics” which may signal the writer-cum-artist to seek self-help. Sometimes, just the act of reading the deeply personal statements online can trigger a life-changing reaction.

PostSecret is a reaffirmation, especially in an unsympathetic work-centred jungle like Toronto, that everyone is, in fact, the same. We all have insecurities. We all have quirky habits. And we all have secrets. When you finally solidify them into words, and release your postcard into a mailbox, maybe that secret will finally let you go.

Honey Jam in Bitter Times

Ebonnie Rowe is determined to continue promoting women artists, even during the recession

Takara Small

For almost 15 years Ebonnie Rowe has acted as the chief executive officer of the self-created showcase called Honey Jam.  The Torontonian also runs PhemPhat Entertainment Group, a non-profit organization that has become the “it” place for female musicians in the Canadian music scene to make their mark.

“We’ve grown so much over the years,” Rowe says “It was never planned to keep going on so long – originally it was just a one-off showcase - but everyone kept asking when’s the next show, so I realized we were filling an important niche for women and decided to form PhemPhat and continue the show by popular demand!”

Honey Jam, an annual summer showcase, has grown by leaps and bounds, particularly in the level of talent that is featured.  In the early days it was much more R’n’B and Hip Hop focused, but after the first few years, and especially after Nelly Furtado’s performance, many more diverse artists started to audition. Now the summer showcase features artists in rock, country, pop, gospel, jazz, R’n’B and hip hop genres.

Each year women from across the country audition to be part of Honey Jam in order to sing and dance for sold-out crowds.  It is an amazing opportunity for new artists since the Honey Jam audiences include record label executives and industry professionals from some of Canada’s most successful labels and management groups.

In the audience there are also established artists looking for opening acts, producers and others looking for artists to be on film soundtracks.  It’s something that Rowe is apt to mention when expressing why the showcase is so important.

Performers like Jully Black, Nelly and Anjulie are a few notable artists who have launched successful recording careers after appearing at the showcase.

However, it’s not only performers who are getting something from the show. MuchMusic host Sarah Taylor, who hosted last year’s festivities and will be hosting again this year, said she gained just as much as the performers. She said, “I’ve met some amazing women, some who have become friends and mentors and whose music, talent and dedication continue to inspire me.”

This showcase differs from other festivals because there is a mentoring and educational component.  They want more than just push woman in the music industry but also want to teach them how to survive in it.

“There are no winners or losers in Honey Jam – it’s not a competition,” Rowe said from the stage of last year’s festival. “Every artist has already won by being a part of this showcase,” she said.

Rowe, a tall modelesque beauty who runs the organization looks nothing like a CEO but has an undeniable reserve of strength that helps her persevere through many obstacles and challenges. With the help of a dedicated staff of volunteers she often spends months on end planning the one night performance held every year on August 15th.  It’s a task that doesn’t pay much – or to be honest anything at all monetarily — but something she does because of how many people depend on it. Thus far her pay has been the currency of fulfillment and the satisfaction of having made a tangible contribution.

“Believe me I don’t do this for the money” she says with a laugh, “because there is none!”

It’s a job that has become even harder to accomplish in these challenging times. The recession has lightened the pockets of numerous sponsors and donors, and the hand-outs from the federal government have also been reduced, making the Honey Jam show harder to produce.

The funding crunch that Honey Jam feels is not unlike many other non-profit agencies’ experiences during the recession. Marcel Lauziere, the president of Imagine Canada, a registered charity which promotes policies that benefit non-profit agencies across the country, blames the federal government for deserting non-profits like Honey Jam in less than ideal circumstances.

In an open letter in 2008 Lauziere stated his anger about the lack of funding to deserving groups and programs across Canada. He wrote, “We [as a non-profit] are extremely disappointed that the government was silent on the issue of federal funding to Canada’s charities and non-profits.”

As the recession takes its more obvious toll on the manufacturing industry another unforeseen victim is the Canadian music business, which has for so long been over-shadowed by its American counterparts. As Honey Jam’s alumni go on to carve out successful careers for themselves, the organization that gave them their first break struggles to survive in this harsh economic climate.

“Honey Jam is an essential part of the industry because it’s a supportive and welcoming place where artists can receive valuable training and exposure” says Rowe. After watching last year’s showcase where country, blues and R’n’B musical acts all shared the same stage I agree and applaud Rowe and the organization for promoting an identity in the male dominated field of Canadian music. It’s great to know a place exists where women can sing without having to take their clothes off or pretending to be something that the Top-40 world would churn out.

Honey Jam’s show host, Taylor, agreed as well. “There are so many amazing moments” Taylor reminisced. “Watching the amazing line up of women proudly parading onto the stage and pouring out their hearts and souls and sharing their artistic vision and dreams is just awesome,” she said.
As the saying goes “the show must go on” and go on it will.  The recession may have put a damper on some of the festivities, but it won’t keep Rowe from doing what she does best.

“We never raise enough money” Rowe says “[but] I always supplement any sponsorship shortfall by putting my own money in to ensure its survival. This year that wasn’t an option, so we’re reaching out to alumni and the public for support through a raffle.  We’re determined not to become recession road kill - Honey Jam will go on.”

Tasleem Thawar’s Gothic Toronto literature

Tasleem Thawar is proof that creative writing can be worthwhile—that it can get you on billings with some big names. The emerging Toronto writer talks about her international travels and the haunted hotel that inspired a story she’ll read in the presence of living legends.

Katie Hewitt

If you met 32-year-old author Tasleem Thawar, she’d probably tell you that her creative writing career is a fluke; and she is genuinely humbled by its happening.

It must have been some fluke that has her reading a story she penned, amidst pages by Margaret Atwood and Ann-Marie MacDonald, at a small church in Toronto’s west end.

Thawar is one of the writers featured at Gothic Toronto: Writing the City Macabre, an event for this year’s Luminato arts festival. She’s to read her haunted tale to an audience in about an hour — along with a foreword written by Atwood and a story by MacDonald.

Visibly nervous, the business graduate tells me about her chance encounters with the arts.

“I had big dreams of being a CEO or a stock broker, or something silly like that,” she says, laughing.
“I always thought [arts] would be a hobby. I thought, ‘this isn’t a real job,’ so I never took it seriously.’”

Thawar and I are holed up in a predictable Starbucks franchise, arm-to-arm with strangers at adjacent tables. She uses the phrase “stroke of luck” repeatedly, over the Queen West customer requests for soymilk and the hissing espresso machine.

Born and raised in Toronto, Thawar has family roots in India and Africa. But she didn’t think of traveling until she was taken abroad as part of her commerce degree.

She found herself in Japan, though her heart was set on Europe; India, only because her trip to the Philippines was cancelled; and Africa, a place she’d “never dreamed of going,” despite her familial connections.

In Kenya, Thawar recalls waking at five a.m. to make home-cooked meals for career couples with little time to cook, only to be met with complaints or sudden disagreements over payment.
Thawar says this informal economy is common practice among many immigrant enclaves, and one that traveled with her family to Toronto.

It was the social aspect of this small economy that intrigued her. And Thawar says she began to think of her life in terms of its impact on others.

“What is the life that someone else needs to be living in order for me to live the way I do?” she says of her thoughts that often carry over to literary themes.
She started to write so these thoughts could escape.

While most liberal arts majors were seeking job security in MBAs, Thawar was re-thinking her business career. A frantic five-day writing binge resulted in her first short story.

In 2006, Thawar submitted Packaging Parathas to Diaspora Dialogues, doubting that she’d be accepted into the program that supports and mentors emerging artists with the first piece of fiction she’d ever written. She considers her acceptance “very lucky.”

Helen Walsh published Thawar’s first story in a selection for Diaspora Dialogues, and thought of the young author when she commissioned works for Gothic Toronto.

Walsh was looking for writers whose literary fiction showed “expansive imagination” to pen stories set in Toronto’s various neighbourhoods. The stories were published in a limited edition chapbook of the kind sold in 18th century London—an ode to Edgar Allen Poe.

When Thawar accepted, she had no idea the chapbook’s roster included Atwood and MacDonald, as well as established Canadian fiction writers Andrew Pyper and Nalo Hopkinson. She first read about it on the Internet.

“My friend called me at seven o’clock in the morning on a Thursday, I even remember the day, and said, ‘Oh my God, I saw your name in the paper and it’s next to Margaret Atwood!’

I said, ‘Are you on drugs!? There’s no way!’”

Thawar got out of bed and ran to her computer; everything her friend had said was true.

Admittedly, says Thawar, a panic attack ensued. But she soon got over it and settled into the idea, counting on low expectations. Naturally, she says, no one will expect her story to be as good as the others, “so it won’t be a total disaster.”

She’s nothing if not extremely modest.

I’m standing outside St. George the Martyr Church on John Street — me and about three-dozen others.

We’re early for the reading. Volunteers in costumes reminiscent of teenage goths are slackening the theme of Victorian gothic; and they’re turning people away. The small church is at capacity, and at risk of fire code violations.

On-site copies of the limited edition chapbook soon sell out.

A sympathetic Thawar emails me her story entitled Her Hands, along with hints of the genuine bewilderment that seems to serve as a default reaction to her own achievements: “I heard they were turning people away — crazy!”

When I finally read it, her subtly scary tale about a migrant worker form Bombay and his encounter with a ghost that reminds him of his mother — it’s rife with symbolism, history, themes of isolation and urban decay. It carries slightly Oedipal undertones.

Any lit major will tell you that there’s no better formula for gothic. It’s hard to believe Thawar’s claim that she’d no previous connection to a dark world, or for that matter, a gothic Toronto.

Her tale takes place in Scarborough, of all places. The choice of location happened by default, after Thawar learned that “most of the little ideas” she had were spoken for—Queen West and St. Andrew’s Church, for instance. She picked Scarborough at random, and only later thought, “where am I going to find something gothic in Scarborough?”

She found the historic Guild Inn, an abandoned hotel overlooking the Scarborough Bluffs that serves as haunting grounds for a local group of paranormal researchers. It was here that her character encountered a guest that only he could see.

Toronto has been granted an unusual amount of literary attention recently, with the Lit City series at Open Doors, the Luminato Festival and the Harbourfront’s weekly reading series and annual author’s festival.

Thawar attributes this to the city “shedding its adolescence.” She says this new artistic vision of Toronto is our way of defining it through expressive means that reflect its growing cultural diversity.
When I ask her if Toronto is a gothic city, she thinks hard before answering.

“I think it can be. I’m sure there’s lots of dark stories here, maybe we just need to start writing them.”
Her own story, for instance, “just got creepier and creepier.” And the ending, once it came to her, just had to be written.

“It couldn’t have been anything else,” she says.

In gothic fiction, nothing happens by chance. The end is written into the beginning and the characters are generally plagued by powers beyond them. Everything is fate; nothing is fluke.

A Hard Path is a unique look at the result of 50 years of occupation of Tibet

Katia Dmitrieva

Ryan Gauvin doesn’t like preconceived notions about Eastern countries. He wants his audience to know the truth. Tibet is not a peaceful paradise, and his documentary work, A Hard Path, proves it. His collection of black and white photos, shot in Beijing, Tibet, and North India, was touted as a search for “answers to the seeming failure of the Tibetan struggle for independence” by one of his professors. The finished product of 15 photos and commentary stood out at Ryerson’s MFA Thesis Festival, Doc Now. His investigative work was showcased along with other students’ final projects, under the umbrella theme of (Dis)Placements.

His work is unique amongst his classmates, and he readily admits it: “My girlfriend and I are probably the most political in the class. ” He said, “I wouldn’t make a documentary about myself or something intangible…I’m more of a humanitarian.” His aforementioned partner is fellow MFA graduate, Lara Rosenoff, the creator of Her Name is Beatrice, My Name is Lara, which addresses the internal displacement of people in Northern Uganda.

Gauvin is amongst the first batch of graduates from Ryerson’s newly-created MFA program. He moved to Toronto from Vancouver solely for this degree, and his desire to tell “little-known and hidden stories, and make them known.”

Documentary work is not just a passion for him- it’s a commitment, something he discovered over time.  When he was younger, extreme activities and Tibet excited him. “I used to read rock-climbing journals instead of studying,” he admitted. He has devoured “Seven Years in Tibet” more than a handful of times; he even said that the novel set him on the path of traveling to the troubled country.

Paolo Pellegrin, an award-winning photojournalist, stands amongst Gauvin’s inspirations from the documentary field. Another well-know photographer mentioned is Eugene Smith, best known for his raw and unflinching photo-books (one chronicles his wife’s struggle with breast cancer). Both influential documentarians kept Gauvin motivated and excited about his own career.

These vagabonding humanists influenced him profoundly when he began traveling. Before stepping foot in his dream country, he blazed through Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.

Although experiencing a minor setback about three years ago, when his Tibet travel plan was detoured to Nepal, his dream remained tangible. His initial impression of Kathmandu, Nepal’s largest metropolitan city, was shocking but would prepare him for Tibet. “People in the street were ripping down buildings for fire and I was being grabbed at by taxi drivers,” he recalled, “I thought, ‘if this is Nepal, what is Tibet?’”

This year’s thesis requirement was a perfect opportunity for Gauvin to finally discover the answer. He was able to combine what he loves most about doc work: humanitarianism, investigation, story-telling, and exploration. “I want to use this academic social science research method from university to make information accessible to the general public. I want to bring awareness,” he said decidedly.

News media often get caught up in the story du jour and neglect human rights abuses still occurring in many parts of the world. Tibet may be in the media, but as Gauvin pointed out, “not in the right way.” He explained that “no one takes Tibet seriously” precisely because of the mass marketing of Western misconceptions.

He explains that there are actually two Tibets: the vision that Western tourists perpetuate, and the reality.

“There’s this full-colour, glossy image of monks everywhere, rainbows in the mountains, children laughing,” he insisted, “maybe it used to be [like this], but now that’s all gone.”

In place of this idyllic haven is a Tibet of welcoming but cautious citizens, inescapable poverty, and the overbearing Chinese authorities on every street corner. And the monks? Most are in exile in Northern India.

After spending almost a month in Tibet, he noticed some disturbing trends. People wouldn’t give him their full names and most avoided voicing an opinion to “this six-foot white guy with a camera.” They had ample reason to fear repercussion: it’s common to see Chinese guards and snipers stationed on rooftops. But there was a pool hall where the younger generation of locals was less afraid of being overheard talking to a reporter.

It was through candid conversations with these people that the truth came out: the “real” Tibet is being swept under the rug. In its place, the Chinese government has created a tourist-driven façade. “The Tibet of 50 or 60 years ago was bulldozed and paved over,” said Gauvin, “it’s just so sad.”
As for the apparent failure of the Tibetan freedom fight, Gauvin had a revelation: it isn’t really a fight right now. China currently has such a firm grasp on Tibet, that any future for the people looks bleak. Gauvin witnessed this tightening control first-hand when he visited the ubiquitous- and now ironic- monasteries.

“All of the temples were bombed, and in their place are these candy-colored ones- which monks don’t even use,” he explained. “All of the original historic temples that monks have been praying at for years are crumbling and in ruins,” he said sadly.

Despite the stress associated with travel to a developing country, Gauvin is anxious to return to Tibet. “It’s the perfect place for me to work.” He said, “there are so many more stories to be found. Especially in the exiled Tibetan communities.”

For now, he aspires to publish the completed book of his Tibet experience. Laden with photos, first-hand experiences and historical research, it’s a veritable trove of information and art.
“I know this is a coffee table book, but [the contents] are a reality,” said Gauvin, running his hand over the slate gray-cover of his bound and printed tome, “I want this book to stand in place of a biased history- the Tibetan history that is being re-written right now by the wrong people.”

Having her cake and eating it too

Domestixxx a blends old-style craftswith erotic art, on display at Come As Your Are

Adriana Rolston

Sugar buttons adorned the orange and turquoise frosted cupcakes in front of artist Nicole Dawkins.

Meanwhile, across the room on the wall, nipples made of buttons jutted out from her mixed media piece entitled “Stitch’d Bitches.” During the opening night of her art show, Domestixxx at Come As You Are (CAYA), a woman approached her and pointed down at the plate of colourful baked goods. “How did you make them?” the woman asked.

Dawkins, a 22-year-old pixie-sized crafter then explained how she whipped them up from scratch, pouring sugar into button shape moulds. Dawkins prefers to be hands-on in her art and baking and has always noticed a link between the pornographic and domestic realms.

“To me it always seemed like a natural association but I realize that maybe that’s just me being a little bit strange,” said the bob-cut brunette in red pumps and white fishnets, with a peal of laughter.
Inspired by a Betty Crocker cookbook she found at a yard sale a couple years ago, Dawkins began stitching images of vintage porn scenes over painted images from recipe cards. The result was food and fetish intermingled on canvas, which will be featured at CAYA until July 31.

On Thursday, June 18, CAYA customers had to peer closely at stitched figures to interpret kinky scenes. For example, an iconic Betty Paige appeared with red stitched lips and Elvis also appeared, spanking a woman over his knee, from a scene in the film Blue Hawaii, which was layered atop the image of “Chicken liver and scrambled eggs.”

Dawkins wanted to explore how burlesque and yellowed old recipe pictures both have elements of nostalgic humour and evoke similar emotions. She felt that off-colour snapshots of old-fashioned comfort food or gelatin and canned meat can be appetizing and repulsing in the same way that some raunchy pornographic scenes are.

“There’s something sexy and attractive about it but at the same time there is something off and a little bit disturbing … I always wonder who these women are, why they doing what they’re doing,” she said, with a thick clump of bangs hanging over her violet-lined eyelids.

A visitor perusing silicone goodies on the shelves also got a face full of pie while observing a small canvas featuring an embroidered woman laying on her back, legs spread, hands parting bush and pink folds.
A man holding a silver fork is bent over her dish and both figures are sewn over painted slices of the blueberry dessert in “Eating Pie.”

Dawkins has always loved domestic hobbies like knitting and baking. The self proclaimed control freak likes that crafting and sewing keeps her busy and allows her to be conscious of what she wears, the gifts she gives and the types of purchase she makes. Sewing was also an act of rebellion in high school when everyone else was frequenting the mall and she chose to alter second-hand clothes instead.

“There’s something pleasing about (being productive), how even if you are watching TV …at least you are knitting a scarf and you’ve got something to show for it,” she said.

Having studied the social and political meanings behind food and craft trends in cultural anthropology at the University of Toronto, she has always been critical of the indie movement resurgence.

“Crafts shows and much of the new craft culture really like to use the term, ‘This ain’t your grandma’s…embroidery, knitting party’. So I was really interested in looking at how this might exclude older women,” said Dawkins, who also found that the craft scene is relatively white.

She believes that youth have always been “reclaiming” craft by trying to radically differentiate themselves from the stereotype of the conservative grandmother knitting booties. Instead they’re making sex toys or knitting lingerie and dildo cosies.

For Dawkins, her foray into erotic art began when she gave a sock monkey with nipples and panties to her boyfriend for Christmas. Two years ago she decided to bring the magnetic-genitalia enhanced chimps to CAYA’s Erotic Arts and Crafts Fair. She’ll also be creating a website to sell them in the near future.
When co-owner of CAYA and organizer of the fair, Sarah Forbes-Roberts, invited her to exhibit a solo show at the store Dawkins was excited to be part of such a sex positive space.

“Doing artwork was always something private, something that I did for amusement  - the same way that I knit -  so it is interesting to have my artwork taken out of its element (my bedroom wall) and put into a public space,” she said.

Dawkins doesn’t have to worry about waiting with a martini in hand for a husband to return home from work, but performs domestic activities for her own pleasure. She believes that reclaiming traditional examples of “femininity” means that she can be attracted to the hyper-stereotype of the housewife in her art but bake on her own terms.

Standing beside a basket of erotic sock monkeys, wearing a bell-shaped skirt and golden dragonfly wing earrings she said, “It’s kind of like having your cake and eating it too.”

BOOK REVIEWS

Money: Spend Smarter & Live Well on Less

By Kerry K. Taylor
Harper Collins, May 2009.
ISBN: 9781554685837
Pages: 288; $14.99

In these tough economic times Kerry K. Taylor couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate time to release her new book, 397 Ways to Save Money. The book is chalk full of little ways to save big bucks.

Although there are sections that don’t apply to your average student — like how to save on your home and kids room, there is still plenty relevant for students. For instance, learn how Taylor paid off her student loan of $17,000 in just six months in no extraordinary circumstances.

Taylor also reminds us to review our banking arrangements to save money — Do you have a no-fee chequing account? Do you negotiate lower bank fees? Do you have a high-interest savings account? (Think ING Direct or President’s Choice Financial). These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself in order to make the best banking decisions Taylor says.

The book even comes with free recipes like how to make your own Sangria.

But Taylor isn’t just all about pinching pennies. She also encourages readers to dish out $250 for a quality office chair for the dividends it will pay on the quality of work you produce and your personal comfort.
Being frugal, you may come to realize after reading the book, benefits not just your wallet, but other factors such as the environment too.  Examples include: use re-usable bags, instead of plastic; hang dry your clothing and hand-wash your delicates to postpone wear-and-tear.

Another benefit to being frugal besides the money you are saving can also be your health. To help you make your own all-natural health products Taylor doles out recipes for avocado and lemon hair-conditioning treatment, egg white face masks, cucumber eye compress and olive oil skin moisturizer. Got a sore throat? Gargle with salt.

And speaking of health, if you want to be sure there are no pesticides on your food, and that your food tastes like it’s supposed to you can grow your own plants. Taylor calculates that if you buy a $3 tomato plant you are saving more than $35 of store-bought tomatoes, and she says they’ll be tastier.

The book is written in a straight-forward style and can be read in whichever order you please. After each blurb about a new saving tip is the ‘Bottom Line’ which in a sentence or two sums up the tip in bold font. I thought the inside of the covers were cleverly designed as they have one-liner financial tips like on those found on the Lululemon bags everyone carries around. “Switch to a no-fee credit card.” “Learn to love leftovers.” “Get your food free by watching the price scanner.” “Make your own coffee”… and the list goes on.

If you want to learn some other frugal ideas you can check out Taylors’ website dedicated to frugal living: Squawkfox.com.

—Kate Mills

Survive! The Ultimate Edition

By Les Stroud
HARPERCOLLINS. 2009.

Les Stroud has been dropped off in the middle of nowhere on many occasions and must rely on his supreme survival skills. In Survive, he refers to real-life situations to point out examples of how people either used their survival skills wisely or not.

The example of Jennifer and James Stolpa who were stranded in a blizzard in Nevada with their five-month-old baby is a perfect example of how things could have been done differently. Stroud points out that the couple could have avoided frostbite, which resulted in the loss of their toes, by literally taking their car apart. Makeshift boots could have been constructed from the car’s interior, using the foam seats and seatbelt straps to secure them.

In a happier ending story Stroud tells us about 13 year-old Jonathan Clement who remained calm after his father was injured during a bow-hunting trip. Clement secured the wound site by using his father’s socks to make a tourniquet and carefully guided him back to help. He acted quickly, assessed the situation and used what was available.

Survive is structured in a way that is very cut and dry. The book shows by example and it includes several plain photographs that further illustrate Stoud’s point – There is nothing fancy about survival. Topics such as how to build a fire, overcoming fear, signaling techniques, navigation and clothing are also discussed.

There are ingenious tips on how to get water from unknown sources like a rock, by studying the clouds, by using vegetation and how to collect substantial amounts of water from morning dew. Stroud even reveals a water purification technique by using solar energy.

One of the most valuable parts in the manual includes instructions on preparing your own survival kit. Key items include a solar blanket, pocket knife, Ziploc bag, a large orange garbage bag, mirror, flint, and safety pins. The possibility of being stranded in a desert in Canada is nil, but we do have pretty harsh winter storms. These items can and should be stored in our cars even if we should be stuck in a blizzard. But it is not blizzards alone or camping mishaps that we should be aware of—everyday situations can turn into a potential survival moment.

Les Stroud appears to be 2009’s version of the 1980s television character MacGyver who made anything from nothing. Stroud’s simple advice is made appealing to most of us. It gives us a sense of hope knowing that if the possibility of rescue is small, our chances of survival are great. Essentially, it is a mind game – we need to always be thinking one step ahead.

—Angela Walcott

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