Author Archives: Kurt Heinrich

About Kurt Heinrich

Who are you? I work as a storyteller. In my spare time I like to volunteer on a variety of environmental and political initiatives as well as help coordinate a soccer team based in the Downtown Eastside. What do you do for fun? I like to cook, cycle, read, chillax, eat French and Japanese food, play with my friends, shoot the breeze with my mom, dad and sisters, explore new and interesting communities, sip the Bump and Grind's delicious Clover brew, and spend time with my lovely red headed partner Theo. What’s your favorite community and why? Right now my favorite community is the Drive. It's hip, happening and varied hosting people as diverse as a Deloitte consultant (you know who you are...) to a stick twirling, leather-homemade-clothes-wearing dude known as "Cloud Man".

Occupy Vancouver Protesters “Demonstrate” They Need to Go!

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Photo courtesy of the Globe and Mail's John Lehmann

On Monday night St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church hosted a debate between Mayor Gregor Robertson and Councillor Suzanne Anton. The topic of the night was homelessness and was organized by End Homelessness Now.

Located at 1012 Nelson Street (at Burrard Street), the site of the debate was a stones throw from the Occupy Vancouver encampment. Sure enough, a gaggle of Occupiers showed up in force and before the debate even got going, it turned into a circus.

I was unable to attend the debate. However, I was able to follow the streaming twitter feed courtesy of the rapid tweeting of the Globe and Mail’s @ianabailey and @robmickleburgh, the Vancouver Sun’s @Sunciviclee, the Courier’s @Naoibh and the Straight’s @stephenhui. From what I gathered of those tweets, it was bedlam, from beginning to end. Almost every second tweet mentioned some protester screaming, heckling or interrupting the debate. Multiple times, the charismatic and kindly pastor of the church Gary Patterson had to plead for calm and ask everyone involved to take a “deep breath” and relax.

By the end of the evening, one issue seemed crystal clear to me. The protesters behaviour showed no respect for their fellow citizens and demonstrated they had little to no interest in working within a pragmatic framework that would actually get any of their more relevant and realistic goals accomplished.

In short, the protest appears to have devolved from a movement of the 99% to one of the petty, angry and childish 1%. What’s left on the Art Gallery stairs seems more enraptured with their own selfishly deemed “rights” rather than the original purpose of actually reorienting the discussion of global issues around poverty and economic malfeasance.

This was hammered home for me later that night when upset Occupyites launched themselves at Vancouver firefighters and police officers who were trying to put out a fire the group had started.The video posted of the incident shows what a mess the protest has become.

The fact that the next day Chief Jim Chu announced that several of his officers had been “bitten” and hit by Occupy protesters only underscored how far this “movement” has departed from its original tenets of non-violence and peaceful demonstration.

As conditions continue to deteriorate in the camp and it becomes increasingly clear that the current tenants on the Art Gallery lawn are there to rabble rouse rather than work for positive change. I’m glad to see that the city is now pursuing the legal requirements to force an eviction and eject the protesters’ camp. Perhaps once this de-evolving community is deconstructed, the movement can get back to some of the positive and unifying ideas (and support) that made it so powerful when it first began.

Banner image courtesy of raincoaster

Patrick Oleman – Street Soccer Champion

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Who are you?

Patrick Oleman, captain of the 2010 Homeless World Cup Team Canada and captain of Woodwards FC – a street soccer team based in the Downtown Eastside out of the famous Woodwards Building. Oh, and I’m also a long distance runner.

What do you do for fun?

Run, play soccer and visit people from the street in and around the Downtown Eastside.

What your favorite community?

The Downtown Eastside – because it is my hood. There are so many interesting people down here that need help, but for whatever reason, just can’t get the help they need. I like to try to help them and when it happens, it’s the best feeling in the world. It makes me feel like a better person.

What’s your superpower?

Bringing out the best in people.

How use it to build community?

The more people I encourage and engage the bigger the community becomes and the better and more inclusive it is. I saw this first hand when I worked with team-mates to build Woodwards FC.

My Three Favourite Things About Patrick Oleman Are…

1. Enthusiasm for sport. This is a guy who loves sports. He loves soccer (with a passion) and that mad love affair is enough to get you plugged in and ready to do yet another set of drills. Don’t feel like it, “2 laps” (as Patrick would say). This enthusiasm never ceases to inspire me. Around two years ago, Patrick was out of shape and facing homelessness. Two years later he has competed in a world tournament in Brazil, practices 4-5 times a week and runs about every other day he isn’t playing soccer. In the coming weeks he’s planning on running a half marathon – something he’s been training for for months. His pure love of sports enough to make you a believer of its power to heal and transform.

2. His role building and expanding Street Soccer in Metro Vancouver. Patrick’s ongoing engagement in Street Soccer is inspiring. He’s been a committed member of the Portland FC and the Vancouver Street Soccer league for well over two years (a lifetime when you consider the rapid turnover of the team’s players). He’s also taken on a mentorship role with players both on the pitch and off it. That’s led to the creation of a new street soccer team (Woodwards FC) and the inclusion of a over half a dozen new players, many of whom have also become longtime members of the soccer club. Without Patrick, Woodwards FC and Portland FC would not have been able to make the same amazing progress over the past year in engaging people at risk of homelessness with a potentially world-changing sport.

3. His backwards jump kick soccer shot.  It’s a thing to behold, even if it doesn’t hit the mark every time its done. Heck, even the Whitecaps think it’s cool.

Tailgating – Like a Boss

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Kickin' it old school - as one passer-by said. The end result - Husky Chicken.

It was about an hour before game day. The Washington Huskies were taking on the Arizona Wildcats and it was do or die time for the Huskies after being crushed last week by Stanford. At least that’s the story according to the local university newspaper, which had devoted a good half of their Saturday paper (including the cover) to the ever present upcoming game.

The excitement all over the University of Washington campus (and well beyond) was tangible. That night Husky Stadium would be jammed with over 59,000 purple clad “Dawgs”. Outside the stadium, the tailgating got underway three to four hours before the game. The extravagance of the setups were astounding. Everywhere you went, there was a sea of purple and gold clutching plastic cups of Miller and Bud. Ol’ boys walked from SUV to SUV chatting it up. Wives (and husbands) BBQed chicken, asparagus, bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers and just about every fatty, grilled meat you could imagine.

Boatgaiters - one of the unique elements of Seattle's tailgate experience.

Set up on the grassy knoll above the lot, stylized “DAWG” Winnebagos were lined up. Powered by diesel generators, these party zones blasted tunes and other current college games on large crystal clear, satellite equipped TVs. Games of beer pong were everywhere. So were drunk people. But what was most engaging, inspiring and surprising was how genial the whole scene was.

Perhaps it was the age diversity of the event, which included kids barely old enough to throw a football running between die-hard DAWGs who’d witnessed the 1990s championship game as middle-aged Boosters. There was a family, carnival vibe to the whole thing. Even to the young guys who meandered up to your group and just stood there swaying back and forth because they were to drunk to do much else exuded it.

Or maybe it was just the established nature of the whole thing. People understood that despite a steady patrol of officers throughout all the massive parking lots, no one would be hassled as long as they were discreet about their drinking and behavior. There seemed to be a mutual understanding. Color within the lines and everyone would have fun.

Or perhaps its just the nature of college football in general. Far from the uproars of violence endemic in hockey, it seemed to be a game of controlled and channeled violence. I’m told there are rarely fights on the field because you can vent your aggression in the next down (with the ref, the fans and your coaches blessing).

Whatever the case, it was hard to not notice how different of a vibe there was to the whole event than the infamous “Vancouver Riot” earlier this year.

The game itself was a ball. But also was noticeably a pageant. The players, after every down, (no matter how few yards were gained) would engage in their victory ceremonies of helmet banging, back slaps, jumping up and down like kangaroos. In defeat, different ceremonies – sympathetic back-slap, head held down hustle back to the side lines.

The cheerleaders and cheer(men?), endlessly pepped up, bounced around the sidelines down after down. Every third down, a big angry husky dog would be displayed on the stadium’s jumbotron and bark viciously to help do its part to shore up the teams (occasionally weak) defense. At half time, a whole slew of alumni (distinguished professors among them) along with what seemed to be U-Dub’s entire rowing team (oars and all) lined up to create a massive 100 meter long tunnel through which the whole team ran through to the hardcore lyrics of Detroit prodigy Eminem. Oh and then there was the marching band. Dozens (hundreds it seemed like at times) lined the field and in constant marching order, serenaded all 60,000 of us with one classic rock song after another. There uniforms with their giant “W” and sparkling golden plumes were almost as impressive as their massive formation marches.

Talk about an amazing experience for a couple Canadians. Such a community seems to only exist South of the border.

End of the Blackberry World? I hope not.

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Photo courtesy of Fred Lum with the Globe and Mail.

Several years ago I got a Blackberry as a gift from a friend. I’ve been hooked ever since. I like the streamlined push email notification. I like the rugged business simplicity of it all. I the way it looks and the fact that it’s not too fancy. Finally, I like how its made by a Canadian company that’s funded a whole slew of enterprises around Waterloo in lower Ontario. When I recently got a new job and had the option of getting an iPhone or Blackberry, I chose the Blackberry. When it comes to sending and receiving email (a key function of my day to day job) – it’s still unbeatable.

I would know, as I’ve also got an iPhone. While sleek and great for digital media, when you get down to the core function of talk, text and email it just can’t compete. Ultimately, that’s the key thing for me in a business environment, not the latest Eat Street App. And don’t even get me started on the number of dropped calls my iPhone has made.

For a long time I only one voice among many when it came to praising the little handheld device. Blackberry was the darling of just about everyone. But these days its been tough times for Blackberry maker Research in Motion. After controversy around its security in the developing world, posting poor sales in successive quarters, the disappointing reception of its new operating system QNX and a recent global Smartphone outage, the stock price of RIM has dropped from over $60 a share in February last year to $23 per share. Many investors are calling for the replacement of the co-CEOs. Many businesses and organizations that make up the RIM ecosystem in Southern Ontario are in trouble.

But despite these challenges, all is not lost. As a recent Globe and Mail article recently pointed out, the business community still likes and uses Blackberries (even if we don’t hear about it that often). While many are using both an iPhone and Blackberry, the common factor seems to be an acknowledgement that when it comes to business needs and functions, Blackberry is still the best, no matter what the iWorld will have us believe.

While RIM has been knocked down to competing for #3 spot in the consumer SmartPhone world and is no longer the unrivaled Goliath when it came to mobile that they once were, they still have a niche. It’s worth remembering this and considering it the next time you need to purchase a new mobile device for work. Fancy gadgets and App-packed platforms are great, but not always best for getting the job done.

Occupy Vancouver Coming to an Art Gallery Near You

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There’s been a great deal of discussion about the Occupy Wall Street movement this month. But just as it appears that the New York sparked protest may soon be coming to an end, Vancouver’s protester community are just getting amped up to occupy “Howe Street”.

Set for this Saturday, the Vancouver “occupation” is predicted by many to have a big turn out – at least if CTV’s recent coverage of last weekend’s organizing meeting is to be believed. We’ll soon likely see if the organizers are really as organized as they claim. If so, expect downtown Vancouver’s Art Gallery to become jammed with tents, lean-tos and dozens (hundreds?) of assorted bodies. As the rain and cold start to show their teeth (after all, this is the Pacific Northwest) it’ll be interesting to see how long a critical mass of protesters stick around.

I’m hopeful, like the organizers, that this whole thing stays peaceful. But I’m not going to hold my breadth on that one. With such a large mass of people with such an anti-corporate agenda, it seems likely that at least a couple anarchists will be drawn Downtown like bees to honey. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least a few “members” of the OWS movement take the mass protest as an excuse to trash some stores.

While I’ve been curious about the whole movement, one thing that continues to perplex me (and frustrate me) is the apparent decision among many organizers (on both sides of the border) to abstain a general purpose/goal or demand. There’s a terrific story in the Huffington Post, which lays out how OWS movement’s decision to not put forward some simple and targeted demands will hurt their ability to affect real change.

While many people agree that those who lost their life savings due to the economy-wrecking hijinks of a few high-level financiers, just being pissed off isn’t going to do anyone any good in the future.

In my mind, saying “Enough!!” just isn’t enough. You need to articulate what you would do differently and be prepared to have these ideas judged accordingly. Otherwise, change will stay pushed to the margins and you’ll never engage the vast majority of people. Right now one per cent (activists) is taking on another one per cent (super rich). Until they get the other 98 per cent (everyone else) engaged, I don’t know how much headway will be made in making a difference/change to how things run.

The key to getting this silent majority on side and engaged is to develop a goal(s) and some strategies to accomplish those goals. Set out some basic demands so everyone is clear what you stand for. Everything runs from the goals that are created. Only once this is outlined can organizers hope to accomplish something more prevalent than some big media headlines and some funky signs.

Header photo courtesy of Collin David Anderson.

October – the best month of them all

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Ok. I admit it. I’m biased. I happen to have a birthday that falls right at the beginning of the month. But that’s not why I like – no scratch that – love October.

Let’s start with the season itself fall. Fall seems to come into its own in October. The leaves start to change colors and here in Vancouver, that means a little more rain. The temperature cools. For Gumboot Editor-in-Chief John Horn, that means it’s time to bust out a geeky sweater. For me, it means I get to get decked out in my comfiest clothes. No more baking in the sun. When it isn’t rainy, the air is crisp and refreshing. Soon leaves will begin falling all over the city, creating a klaidescope of colour.

Weather isn’t the only thing to make October so special. The month’s also got a monopoly on some of the best holidays. October is the month of not one (Thanksgiving), but two (Halloween) great holidays! One holiday is devoted to eating and celebrating our good fortune. For anyone who loves big family meals, it doesn’t get too much better than this. Rather than the marathon that is Christmas, Thanksgiving gives you all the bounty in a far more low-key way. Then there’s Halloween. Since I was a wee-little Kurt, I enjoyed this special day. Gorging on candy, dressing up as a ghoul? Talk about awesome. As I get older, the day stays special with the help of Vancouver festivals like the Parade of Lost Souls. This year, I’ll be attending a ghost tour to really get in the Halloween spirit. There we’ll learn of the haunted tales of Vancouver’s Gastown. Muhahhahaha.

Finally, there’s the food. It’s become a bit of an annual event for me and my partner to head out to the farms surrounding Vancouver to pick fresh harvested squash, artichokes, onions and pumpkins. Decked out in gumboots, warm sweaters and scarves, it always makes fall that much more real. The bounty we take home with us allow us to cook up some of our favorite foods. Squash puff-pastry pizza, wild-mushroom pot-pie, caramelized onion soup are all favorites. It’s a great run up to the deliciousness of Thanksgiving and a reminder of all that we have to be thankful for.

*Cover photo courtesy of leopardsarespotty

School lunch – tastier than I remember

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For the past few weeks I’ve been deployed to Churchill Secondary School with other VSB exempt staff. We’ve been tasked with supervising school lunch. Each day I arrive at 11:40 and plant myself in front of the lunch line. When the bell rings, the lunch room is swamped by hundreds hungry of students. Kids come from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures. The lunch line quickly grows as kids pile in to pick up their lunch.

The options are numerous. In addition to the burgers and pizzas one might expect, there’s also great soups and chopped salads, Chinese dumpling soup, chowmein, spicy chicken Caesar salad, daily-made sandwiches and pasta. In fact the local lunch cooks are empowered to occasionally bring their culture cooking-styles to the table. Things like French fries and corndogs are still sold, but they are baked (not fried). In fact the kitchen apparently tossed out their deep-fryer years ago. In the vending machines students can purchase healthy snacks. No coca-cola allowed.

It is a long way from some of the horror stories I’ve seen on Jamie Oliver’s infamous Jamie’s School Lunches. Certainly not a lot of the reheated crap that made England’s school lunches so famous and sparked such a reform campaign.

Still, after talking with lunch staff, the battles stay the same. Keeping cost down and preparing food that will be eaten (rather than ignored) seem to be as important here as they are in England. According to the Churchill lunch cooks, it can be a fine balance to find something that checks both the healthy box and the “kid friendly” box.

This afternoon I sampled the spicy chicken Caesar and I gotta say I was impressed. The salad was fresh and the chicken flavourful. In fact it seemed to be particularly popular among the students.

Certainly feels like a long way from the deep fried chicken strips I remember in my youth.

Adam Grossman – ICBC’s man on the North Shore

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Who are you?

I am husband and dad. I think these are the most important roles I have in my life and the ones I focus on getting right more than anything else. Being surrounded by women at home – the wifey, two daughters (an almost four-year-old and a just-more-than-four-month-old), and a ginger cat who’s also a gal (apparently very rare) – keeps me strictly in line.

When I get some free time from the demands, ahem joys, of home, I work at ICBC in my paid gig as their spokesperson (yeah, that’s a communications job with some challenges) and my non-paid gig as the President of the Canadian Public Relations Society of Vancouver. After years as a frustrated and poorly-paid journalist (is there any other type?), I’m grateful to work in Vancouver’s vibrant, bustling, growing and inter-connected PR industry. It’s a lot of fun.

In my make-believe life, I play guitar in a rock ‘n’ roll band and am also a Michelin-star chef.

What do you do for fun?

I’m training for those Michelin stars. Before I met my wife Kate, my culinary skills included cheese on toast, spaghetti with a jar of tomato sauce and a stir-fry with pre-chopped veggies and chicken. Kate took me on as her sous-chef padawan, but now I have become the Jedi food-master. I’m a food-obsessive now and would love to be 17 again so I could leave my life of desk jobs behind and train to become a chef.

My other obsession is music – a passion that kept me from a cigarette-addiction like so many of my school and university friends. I spent all the money I had on records so never had enough left for cigarettes (of course, I’d smoke my friend’sMalboros whenever I could). The life-changing bands in my life? INXS, Nirvana, Metallica, Oasis and Ryan Adams. You can pretty much track my life from 12 to 34 via those bands.

Of course, nothing is more fun than the gals back home. I never thought I’d know as much as I do about Disney Princesses but that’s what having a three-year-old daughter does for you. My youngest is going to be a tomboy who plays drums in a rock band. It’s my mission.

As for the good lady wife, I moved to Canada with her in 2004 with no money, nowhere to live and no friends. Seven years later and things have worked out very nicely. I’m glad we made the leap of faith together. Canada will always be our home and we’re proud to have become citizens of this beautiful country two years ago.

What is your favourite community and why?

North Vancouver is a wonderful place to live and work. It’s a joy to live in such a safe, community-minded hood, which is growing and becoming a more funky place to live year-on-year, while also being a great place to bring up a family. Having the water, beaches and mountains all within close reach is perfect, and I can walk to work, dinner and the shops. What more could I want?

Can I have a second choice? Then it’s the Cool-Music-Community. I love going to gigs – it’s always been the place of ultimate nirvana for me. Whenever I’m at a rock show, I do wonder where all these people come from. I have a good group of friends to go to shows with but there are clearly so many more of you out there, for which I salute you. My next show? BonIver at the Orpheum later this month. I hope to see you there.

What is your Superpower?

Life is complicated but I can make it simple. I’d like to be able to fly or make myself invisible but I’ve never been much good at either.

How do you use it to build community?

I see frustrations every day when people don’t understand things, or can’t work together to solve problems. Watch the world news and this is at the root of most of the world’s problems.

In any PR job, the ability to take complicated information and make it simple – to tell a story – is perhaps the most important skill there is so I believe is serves me well. It’s a skill that’s just as important at home where I know the decisions mum and dad make can be complicated to my three-year-old.

My Three Favourite Things About Adam Grossman Are…

1.  General Industriousness. Adam gets stuff done. Whether it’s fielding dozens of calls from every news station across Canada looking to get a quote/clip on the latest ICBC rate hike or his ongoing exceptional work heading up one of the largest and most active public relations professional association in the country, he is a man of action. 

2. Soft but snappy British accent. Some things make your heart smile for odd reasons. That’s what Adam’s British accent does for me. Plus it just makes him sound that much smarter than all us “simple-speaking” Canadians. 

3. Happy go Lucky. Adam is a generally happy fellow. No doubt one can chock a lot of that up to his lovely family. He’s always got a smile on his face, even when dealing with a challenging or stressful situation (which as ICBC spokesperson, there are doubtlessly many of these). His friendly and calm demeanor make him an ideal community builder. 

Theatre and Education Partnership a Win-Win

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Yesterday was a big day for theatre and education (at least in Vancouver).

It was a kick off of a new partnership between Green Thumb Theatre and the Vancouver School Board. The aim of the partnership was to preserve one of Vancouver’s top heritage sites by reclaiming it for use by an educational theatre company.

Sounds like a good deal, and it is. For the past few years, the Vancouver School Board has been struggling with what to do with some of its excess facilities. Like many school districts across the province, the VSB has seen slow but steady declines in student enrollment. This has left a lot of gorgeous heritage school buildings vacant (or under-capacity). While demolition was an option, many hoped to find a new purpose for some of these heritage sites.

Enter Green Thumb Theatre. Founded in 1975, the theatre company’s purpose is to develop original Canadian plays for young audiences. Today it remains at the forefront of the Theatre in Education movement, using the emotional impact of live performance to educate and empower young people. Each year Green Thumb tours every school district in British Columbia, performing to more than 125,000 children.

The company came across Carleton School House while searching for a new home after leaving the its previous home at the Cultch. After some negotiation, Green Thumb agreed to renovate school house, which had been gutted earlier by a fire. Talk about a match made in heaven. An educational district with extra space and a educational theatre company looking for a home.

Should the theatre company be successful in raising the requisite funds, it plans to repair the roof of the school house and renovate the building to make use of two rehearsal halls, washroom facilities and six parking spots. A nearby outbuilding will be renovated to be used for administrative offices.

Once the buildings have been upgraded, Green Thumb Theatre is planning to hold drama workshops with neighborhood students. The close proximity of Green Thumb’s rehearsal space will allow classes to visit actors to learn more about educational theatre production.

One of the most exciting things about this partnership is what it could represent for future art/drama/music/”you name it” groups and other non-profits. Such partnerships could not only help the Vancouver School Board save money and revive some amazing spaces, but provide much needed space for a vibrant cultural community. It’s something worth paying attention to.

 

Labour Day – BBQ Style

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Some things go well together. Peas and carrots. Redheads and green (at least according to Theo Lamb) and of course, BBQ and Labour Day weekend.

This weekend I was lucky enough to get an invite from BBQ-lover Mike Worth. Pitched outside the Waldorf Hotel, Re-Up BBQ was cooking up a storm for a lucky 150.

The menu started with pork shoulder green pepper chili, BBQ-chicken thighs, smoked brisket and the mother of all BBQ – slow cooked BBQ pork ribs. Each course came out 45 min after the next, allowing you to savor the meat and anticipate the next offering. Felt like seconds, thirds or fourths? No problem, just head on back to the buffet table.

The meats were accompanied by Re-Up’s own coleslaw, green-chili mashed potatoes and a bacon and nut infused spring salad.

While we hung out with friends, servers circulated the area serving up watermelon slices topped with salsa and small pulled pork tacos. The tacos were right up there with the ribs in terms of taste. But then i have a soft spot for pulled pork.

The only complaint of the evening was the decision to serve only wine. I get that there was a partnership between Tantalus Vineyards and Re-Up to put on this little event, but is BBQ really true BBQ without a nice cold craft brew?

Aside from that minor point of criticism, I have to say everything else was great. Food was scrumptious and posted a distinct challenge for anyone seeking not to be glutenous. It was a challenge I (sadly?) failed. At $20 bucks for admission, you’re likely to not find a better deal for endless Southern BBQ treats.

Certainly a great way to end the Summer in style!