It usually makes sense to start a story at the beginning but as of late, my focus has been more off than usual so I think the best thing to do is start with ‘right now’. Right now is what drove me to sit at the keyboard to type in a manic panic of expressionless frustration. Right now, that same frustration makes me feel like a brat for even complaining. And given this past year, and the fact that I’m still alive, right now, I consider myself lucky. And I do. Really I do. Then, what's the problem? As of late, life’s been a bit challenging. I’m standing here (alive) and yet, standing …
Latest Thoughts and Adventures
I am pleased to share that an article of mine was published in the Dialectic, a peer-reviewed journal of the School of Architecture at the University of Utah. Many don’t know much of me outside of my climbing and activism but since 2020 I have been finishing up a major in Political Science, a degree that started pre-Cedar. Returning to school wasn’t easy but any hardship or doubt was trumped by my need to learn how to fight the punitive no-camping bylaw that The District of Squamish passed in 2021. Political science proved to be as engaging as climbing and left me wanting more. By …
The Value of Mountain Views
Cleveland and Main, downtown Squamish: Where colourful mountain murals painted on the sides of 6 story condos block real mountain views. This photo was taken right across from the popular donut shop “Fox and Oak”, whose long line ups on a busy Saturday pale in comparison to those of the food bank that is a mere three blocks away. These businesses are housed in “The Main”, which rest on a plot of land that once fenced in blackberry bushes which proved a sweet snack when walking by. The entire block of land in this photo is slated for a 6 and 8 story staggered condo where market rate housing …
On Land
Land, land, land. For the last 500 years, the dominant mindset has been trained to see land as something to be bought and sold, developed and capitalized on, privatized, not shared. For those privileged with the resources to do so, buying and owning land is an investment, a quick way to turn a buck, especially in ‘hot markets’ like Squamish. For others, owning land translates into a simple abode where one can build a home and create community. Nowhere in the discourse do we hear words such as stolen land, ongoing colonialism, expansion, inequality or classism. Nowhere in the discourse are …
On Gentrification
Hidden, displaced, moved on, knocked down, painted over, dispossessed, outlawed, yet, still here.… Some of us anyway.... Not all of us have been uprooted from our homes and communities to more affordable, yet foreign pastures. There's something to be said about gentrification. How it unsettles and uproots communities as developers and investors work their spell into mainstream minds, feeding the ideas that their projects are not only contemporary and sustainable, but will create communities where society will thrive in experiences of adventure, hope and belonging. It is as if they are …
Thoughts on food security
As I harvest the food that remains in my downtown community garden, my thoughts fall to the massive flooding and mudslides that recently destroyed roads and instantly cut Vancouver off from accessing the many items that we enjoy each day. We are incredibly insecure within this “system” that they have created and continue to perpetuate. Like most things, food exists within the capitalist system and is subject to the same logics of profit, dependency and class inequality. Most of us are dependent on grocery stores to survive and incapable of growing our own food, while access to healthy and …
Million Dollar Hole
Million Dollar Hole This hole in the ground represents different things to different people. For some, it is a future home to rest one's head and raise a family. For another, it is a money making venture, a temporary job, an opportunity to brand, sell, design or build. For others, it is a scar and damage done to a place where trees and birds once flourished where anyone could openly enjoy. For me, it is a symptom of an economic system that takes at any cost with questionable benefits to society as a whole. Developments encroaching into green spaces only accessible for the affluent, …
Video of Changing Squamish Panel Discussion
Zoom recorded Panel Discussion on a Changing Squamish with: - - - Charlene Joseph: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation Language and Cultural teacher - - - Avi Lewis: documentary filmmaker, climate justice advocate, federal NDP candidate - - - Dr. Peter Hall: Professor of Urban Studies, SFU - - - Nick Gottlieb: climate communicator and community advocate Apologies if at times the speakers are out of frame and my nervous giggles. Overall, great discussion and inspiring to say the least. Thank you to the panelist for their energy and good work. Let's keep this momentum …
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Gentrification
“Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change in a historically disinvested neighborhood by means of real estate investment and new higher-income residents moving in - and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents.” In the process of gentrification, the ultimate goal of developers is to increase profit at whatever cost to the community and environment. The discourses used and decisions made shape planning towards a particular imagined result and to appeal to certain people. In Squamish, the outdoor adventure …
private property
“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of …
New ways
Ch’íiw̓es [Ch’ • í • iw̓es], means “raising paddle” and translates to ‘rock point on the northwest side of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Harbour’ in Stawakis. Ch’íiw̓es is unceded Squamish Nation territory once shared by all the people. At Ch’íiw̓es, the wind blows strongs, revitalizing even the most deadened soul. As the tide goes out, the rhythmic waves pull our feet further into the sand. As it rolls in, it’s power washes over us. The elements meet. Form into flow into form again, neither truly separate. Ch’íiw̓es looked like magically marsh land before the claws of colonialism embedded themselves. …
What kind of world are we creating?
The rebranding of Squamish into a “renaissance” or “adventure hub” community can lead to some people being displaced from public spaces which leads to exclusionary environments. During the District efforts to “clean up the streets,” Squamish’s homeless and vehicle residents population have been negatively impacted by an increasing number of No Camping and Private Property signs that remind potential trespassers who belongs. Despite overwhelming opposition, the District ignored requests for inclusive policy for vehicle residents and in 2021, passed bylaw 2829, which outlawed sleeping in a …
Ode to the Mini Flea
Every town needs a Mini Flea. A place full of stuff. Where you can rummage and go through - someone else’s stuff... Shelves are so crowded, there’s no room for more. Stuff piled to the ceiling, and spread on the floor. Turn every corner, to look up and down every aisle. Some stuff has been there forever, you’d see it each time. But then you look closer, and see some sort of shine. Looks like a treasure, that you want to call mine. You walk up to the cash and ask Jack for the price. He wasn’t quite sure so he’d turn to his ma. She was just sitting outside, been smoking …
Old Squamish
Let’s be clear: This is not an attempt to “Bring Back Old Squamish.” What is gone is gone. But gone is gone doesn’t excuse continuing on as we have, full steam ahead. We must reverse the forces of destruction, and blend old and new knowledge to forge a new path forward. This is about protecting the community and environment and creating a diverse Squamish where everyone belongs, not just the affluent or privileged. This is about creating another way of being in the world. It is about changing the system from the ground up to ensure that our political and economic systems are more in-line …
Marketing
“Renaissance, community, adventure…” Seldom are the words affordable, diverse, or characteristic used. Leading up to gentrification, the words more commonly heard are derelict, eyesore, property value. In the process, an area is homogenized, the familiar ripped down, and the often beige-colored, “monocultures,” are absent of difference or history and do not reflect local needs nor contain the wild, unmanicured elements that made them desirable in the first place. While “out with the old, in with the new,” is the motto among politicians, developers are “more concerned with boosting …
Old ways, new ways
I walked on the trail that would lead me to Ch’íiw̓es, wanting to observe the new changes that were being made to make room for this new mega project, Oceanfront Development. A few meters after passing the “Private Property” sign, unexpectedly, the ground underneath me changed from the well known packed down earthen trail to freshly torn up earth. As I looked up, the greenery that I would have expected to border me lay scattered as debris. My eyes fell upon a large clearing and the sight of excavators. My legs stumbled amongst the mud and freshly displaced rocks. I felt a wave of loss. I …
Interview with Global TV
Here is a link to an interview with Global TV on vanlife and the regressive squamish camping bylaw https://globalnews.ca/news/7938802/van-life-digital-nomad/amp/ …
Squamish for Sale – interview with the Tyee
Here is a link to an article interview with Amy Romer https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2021/09/10/Squamish-For-Sale/ …
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Encroachment
Encroachment. On both sides of the water. Nothing holds them back. Nature had attempted a comeback from previous industry but commerce quickly stepped in and stopped that. As usual, the almighty dollar thinking it knows better. Echoing: Green is gold. Green is gold. Common sense fails. The sounds of progress and a quick buck got to them. Just another former wasteland they say. Better than into the forest just past they say… But it is going into the forest just past. Encroachment is on all sides. The Stawamus Chief looks down and sees past the fools gold. He sees the forest being …
Chïïwas, Skwxwú7mesh
Old story: Words too often abused come from the masses… The damage is done. Patch it up, build over it. Hide it’s former disgrace. What could possibly go wrong? The machine continues. Many blinded. Gullible to their offerings of all things shiny. Something “sustainable,” “mutually beneficial,” “contemporary.” A place where you too, could “belong…” Comes with various price tags of course. Some, more damaging than others.This same story, manipulated in different ways spreads like a virus. To suit one's own. Creeping, embedding itself into our so-called logic and reasoning.Until …