Miniature art is anecdotal and personal

Nancy Snipper

Cactus Road

Roxanna Kibsey's studio is a shocker. And so is she. Aside from the usual clutter of paint brushes, palettes, tubes of acrylic, colour spatters and canvasses, her studio is brimming with all kinds of objects: hundreds of beads, thimbles, glue tubes squeezed to the end, tiny porcelain objects, miniature figurines, pieces of fabric and inch-high furniture.

Just when your eye has processed all the items, the scene takes on a sharper perspective: Kibsey appears wielding a knife, dripping in red.

"Oh, don't worry, it's just paint," she laughs. "Red is my favourite colour. It's bold, it makes a statement. I'm finishing off the background in one of my tree paintings. It's for a person who lives up north." Cleaning the knife with a cloth, she then picks up a pair of tweezers. Moving them in the air beyond her stunning paintings of tree trunks, roosters, flowers and houses, she points them directly at their unconventional target — a real doll house. It's a wondrous work of art that any Thumbelina would be proud to live in.

"Do you like it?" Kibsey asks. "A bit too small for me, but I wouldn't mind owning this replica of a Chippendale chair on a life-size scale," she jokes. "It's taken me even longer to put the finishing touches on this decorated doll cabinet. It has miniature dishes, even a perogie bowl. It's just like the one my mom had when I was a little girl."

Not only renowned for her magnificent birch bark paintings that she renders on canvas using knives, Kibsey also produces pictorial doll-size miniatures. "My paintings reflect the larger side of my imagination, but half of my brain lives in a tiny world full of childhood memories. I make miniature memory pieces using miniscule objects." One of her thematic montages consists of a recycled wooden soap holder housing a five-inch tall fisherman dressed in appropriate attire. He has a rod and frog on his lap, netting behind him and shells around him. There's even a boat in a bottle at the back. This piece is for her brother who loves fishing.

The objects she finds come from all corners of the world. "In Australia, I found that bottle, fairies, Aboriginal beads and buttons, even a violin broach. I rarely go anywhere without scouting around for the small stuff."

Roxanna's miniature art is anecdotal and personal. Each little item displayed on pint-size furniture tells a specific story in itty bitty ways. She recently created a piece for her mother's 80th birthday. It includes a half-inch square 1957 photo of her mother and herself, a perfume bottle, a little button, a string of old pearls, and vintage beads. Assembled on a little dresser whose drawers are open with personal effects spilling out, it is a darling treasure of cherished memories expressed in art form.

"I make these miniature memory art pieces using tweezers and glue. The objects I find are mainly recycled and they allude to the life of the person. My fisherman piece is for my brother. He likes to fish. My niece is a painter, so I created a piece that holds a canvas on a miniature easel which stands beside a cut-out photo of her. The entire work can sit in the palm of your hand."

Roxanna owns, eggs, mixing bowls, bottles of milk, rolling pins, even roosters — all as tiny as your fingernail. "My little world is something I can escape to. As for the big houses and trees I paint, they reflect the big side of reality, and sometimes, it's overwhelming."

Roxanna Kibsey is searching for artists who use found objects. Her website is at kibseystudios.com.

Sanctuary from what?

I must disagree with your editorial supporting Canadian sanctuary for deserters from the war in Iraq.

You use the term "illegal war", which is essentially redundant, and often used to heap scorn on any country's military actions, right or wrong. In any conflict, one or both sides did something illegal.

The Iraq war is an extremely stupid one. The only benefit has been that Saddam Hussein has become one of the very few murderous tyrants of the last hundred years to have been brought to justice. It wasn't worth the price. But it has happened, and we all must deal with that — wisely, one hopes.

Unlike during the Vietnam War, the U.S. military is now all voluntary. There is no draft and therefore there are no draft dodgers. Any deserters signed up of their own free will and must have understood that they would have to follow orders which may possibly put their life and well-being in danger. A military cannot be subject to its staff deciding that they have changed their mind, whatever the reason.

There is a big difference from the circumstances of the Vietnam era. I fully support our courts' decisions not to make Canada a repository for these people. If they don't like the war, they could quit the military at the first opportunity and try to request alternative service in the meantime. Until then, they should do what they voluntarily contracted to do.

– Ken Frankel, Montreal

Victoriaville festival celebrates 25th

Barbara Moser

Saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell (photo: FIMAV)

Every year, the town of Victoriaville, once famous for producing hockey sticks, draws hundreds from across North America for a five-day festival that celebrates Musique Actuelle.

Musicians also flock there, eager to participate in what is considered a premiere showcase for music that pushes the conventional envelope beyond accepted norms of harmony, melody and rhythm.

No, you will not hear Norah Jones or Paul Anka at this 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, which gets underway May 15 in the town, halfway between Drummondville and Quebec City.

What you will get is a broad range of music that can be classed as musique actuelle, a term invented to embrace creative music that ranges from free jazz and improvised music to electronica, Noise, vocals, alternative rock – even a group or two that could be classified as folk.

The variety is astounding, considered without equal in its scope and the level of the musicians.

This year’s lineup was conceived as a retrospective and includes some stellar performers who have given Victo its reputation.

The regulars who attend include a Calgary physician, a McGill University mathematician who develops models in the Faculty of Medicine, and a saxophone player from Niagara Falls, NY. Part of the fun is walking from one venue to the next, chatting about the highlights – and lowlights.

There are plenty of fine concerts to choose from among the 23 shows. Visitors can always choose a combination that can be included in a package. For $99 a person, you can see two concerts, plus a night in the Hotel Villegia, double occupancy with breakfast the next morning. A range of accommodations includes camping.

The festival opens Thursday, May 15 with pioneering Montreal-based saxophonist/composer Jean Derome and a dozen of the city's best-known improv musicians with two pieces, including a tribute to Victo.

Fans will welcome the return of saxophonist John Zorn, who rose to prominence with his virtuosity and unique combination of Jewish-sounding themes and avant-garde harmonics. Zorn leads a sextet at 10pm in his “The Dreamers” project, recorded this fall on his Tzadik label, with guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Joey Baron and Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, and percussionist Cyro Baptista.

Zorn plays again Friday at 10pm, blowing that battered horn and leading his hard-edged Moonchild project, featuring experimental rock vocalist and guitarist Mike Patton.

Two other shows earlier Friday should be fascinating: Montreal guitarist Tim Brady presents three works for electric guitar, digital processing and tape at 1pm, accompanied by video, and then a “double quartet” tribute to the great Dmitri Shostakovich.

Then at 8pm, improvising electric guitarist Fred Frith premiers his Cosa Brava ensemble featuring violinist Carla Kihlstedt, accordion player Zeena Parkins, and drummer Matthias Bossi. Oh, they all sing. Skipping to Sunday, Shanghai-born Xu Fengzia returns for a 5pm gig with her zither-like guzheng, accompanied by German violinist Gunda Gottschalk.

Jazz fans will not want to miss two exciting shows Sunday. Saxophonist/pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee leads a quartet of European musicians at 8pm.

Roscoe Mitchell, a founder of Chicago’s ground- breaking Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, plays at 10pm with a double quartet that includes such exceptional performers as pianist Vijay Iyer and trumpeter Corey Wilkes.

Electric guitarist René Lussier kicks off Monday's triple bill, with turntablists Martin Tetreault and Otomo Yoshihide, who may also play guitar.

You may not like it all, but there is a lot of choice.

For the full lineup, ticket and accommodation information, go to fimav.qc.ca.

Bike giveaway at Sun Youth

Nicolas Carpentier

After a winter that seemed to last forever, spring is finally upon us. Here at Sun Youth, this means one thing: it’s the beginning of Bicycle Month. Throughout May, various events will underscore this yearly tradition. Brand new bicycles will be distributed to deserving children on May 2 and on May 17, refurbished bikes will be handed out to underprivileged families as part of the “Recyc-a-Bike” promotion.

For the 25th consecutive year, an anonymous donor known to the public only as “Bikeman” will allow Sun Youth the distribution of about 60 new bicycles to youths whose actions have had a positive impact on their community or to young people who will have shown extraordinary courage when facing exceptional circumstances. Since last February, Sun Youth’s Bicycle Committee has received over 120 applications from which it will select the best candidates to be honored at the May 2nd ceremony. These exceptional children will also receive a protective helmet and bicycle lock.

Then on May 17, from 10am to 4pm, partners Houle Toyota and Sun Youth will team up with Musiqueplus/Musimax and Radio-Énergie to distribute some 450 refurbished bicycles that were donated by Montrealers last November and geared-up by Houle Toyota’s mechanics in their spare time throughout last winter. In May of 2007, this activity was a huge success and every single bicycle collected and refurbished by the Toyota dealership found its way into the hands of underprivileged Montreal families.

Bicycles of all sizes (children to adult) will be distributed on a first-come first-served basis to families pre-registered for the event. Volunteers from Musiqueplus/Musimax and Radio-Énergie will be helping out with this effort, and with a barbecue for everyone to enjoy. It’s all happening at Houle Toyota (12305 Sherbrooke East). There may still be spots available for families who wish to receive these free bicycles so people are encouraged to contact Sun Youth (514-842-6822) for further information.

From everyone here at Sun Youth, happy Bicycle Month and be safe on the roads and bike paths!

Believing in kids - a special kind of faith

Kristine Berey

Pops at the office (photo: Robert Galbraith)

The way he talks about them, you’d think they were his children. And in a way they are.

Pops (aka Father Emmett Johns) is celebrating his 80th birthday, speaking at a press conference about some of the street kids he has helped through Dans la rue, the organization he started 20 years ago.

“Her vice principal called her ‘stupid’ but the kid finished school here and got 95%. All of you who scored 95% in enriched French raise your hands,” he challenges the invited media. He reminds them that it was only in 1991 that he allowed the first TV cameraman to climb aboard the self-financed van he used to distribute drinks and hot dogs to kids who literally had nowhere to go. “I wanted to prove to you — and to the kids especially — that we were there for the long haul. You were surprised that the kids were so polite, so bright.”

Since 1988, when The Van was visited by 3,500 kids, the organization has grown in scope. It now includes The Bunker, providing short term emergency services for youths aged 12-19 and the Chez Pops Day Centre that encompasses an alternative high school, a cafeteria, work-integration programs, services for young parents, tutoring, a front-line outreach team, and music, art and computer rooms.

A glance at the bulletin board in the cafeteria reveals some of the kids’ daily experiences. There’s a notice about a cheap place to store knapsacks, work opportunities that don’t require education or experience, info on health, sexuality, and the YMCA’s job readiness service for young offenders. On a shelf there are pamphlets raising awareness about substance abuse and sexual exploitation.

Outside the cafeteria, the art room, filled with plants and sunlight, beckons — designed to pique any passerby’s curiosity. It is run by animator Maude Thuot and Sandra Murphy, one of 135 volunteers who devote their time to the organization. A locked glass cabinet houses precious art books that kids who wander in can peruse while sitting in a comfortable rocking chair. A wealth of materials is waiting for the kids to try out — the art room feels like home. “We want to create a link between the kids and the artists they read about,” says Thuot, explaining that many of the young people are alienated from their own families and can more easily identify with an artist whose life may have been unconventional but whose work is great nevertheless.

Rules are clearly written on a poster, as they would be in any high school art room, outlining behaviour that fosters an atmosphere of calm, respect and creativity. Only one rule hints that this is not a regular school setting: “Rats in cages or ON their owners.”

Dans la rue also provides regular veterinary care for kids’ pets since for many, their animals ­­­­become a surrogate family.

Sid Stephens, executive director of Sun Youth, remembers the early days of Dans la rue. “There was a lot of criticism from the community and the police. They didn’t feel you should care for runaway kids — it was unheard of at the time to feed kids hot dogs from a bus. They would end up in a police station where they wouldn’t know what to do with them, and then end up in social services. Pops had the kids’ confidence — they knew he wouldn’t betray them.”

Michael Udy, director of Batshaw Youth and Family Centres says Dans la rue is fills an important gap. “[Pops] found a way to turn something that is seen as a blight — a hopeless situation — into something where there is hope. He’s done a good job of marshaling assistance to kids who are truly at the end of the road.”

Now a successful professional, Ray lived on the street for two years as a teen. He sees Dans la rue as essential but says its existence is indicative of a flaw in society where “dead-end kids” don’t really have an equal chance at a decent life. “[Dans la rue] is a band-aid but a band-aid peels off as soon as dampness gets to it. It’s the wound that must be addressed.”

Pops knows almost all the kids he works with have experienced failure — if a kid says he got thrown out of high school, Pops retorts that he himself got thrown out of university. Some kids have taken his encouragement to heart and have gone on to higher education and employment, rebuilding their lives.

“I’ve known rejection, I know the harm it does,” Pops said at the press conference. He downplays his accomplishments. “It doesn’t take a genius to do what I do, just the will to do it.”

It costs over $3 million a year to run Dans la rue, with the bulk of the funding coming from private individuals.

To donate, call 514-526-5222 or visit www.danslarue.org.

What hath progress wrought?

Howard Richler

First proposed 27 years ago by Frank Mankiewicz, a onetime aide to American Senator Robert Kennedy, the word “retronym” has finally come of age. It auditioned in the hallowed pages of the Oxford English Dictionary in September 2006, and by 2007, it was the answer to the following clue in the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle: “acoustic guitar” or “push lawn mower.” The Oxford Companion to the English Language characterizes a retronym as a “phrase coined because an expression once used alone needs contrastive qualification; acoustic guitar because of the electric guitar... mono sound equipment because of stereo sound equipment.”

Technology and science are the most prolific providers of neologisms. Space exploration has necessitated new words such as “moonwalk” and “earthrise” to describe novel experiences.

But alas, the complexity that progress has wrought extends even to language. In bygone days, one could describe things only with nouns. Not only was a rose a rose, but a book was also just a book and coffee was merely coffee. Now we must specify whether we are talking about a hardcover or softcover book (not to mention electronic or paper) or which coffee of the seemingly endless varieties. Technological innovations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries spawned a plethora of new vocabulary: “telephone” came into the language in 1849; “typewriter” in 1868; “television” in 1907; and “movie” in 1912. Due to technological advances, the above singular inventions have turned into the following retronyms: “rotary phone,” “manual typewriter,” “black & white television” and “silent movie.” (For readers of the millennial generation, I should explain the anachronistic “typewriter.” It is a single font, mechanical system for applying ink to paper that handled only alphanumeric characters.)

Remember when people just received mail? Now it could be certified mail, priority mail, email, voicemail, or snail mail, not to mention blackmail or greenmail. Due to the advent of satellite radio, we may soon be referring to the old-fashioned variety as “terrestrial radio.” Likewise, “text messaging” already necessitates distinction from “voice messaging.”

Any change in society can spawn a retronym. A partner used to be somebody with whom you shared a business venture or some manly activity such as cattle herding. Now that the sense of sharing has been extended to the concepts of “life partner” and “same-sex partner,” it has become necessary for entrepreneurs to specify “business partner.” With the development of the synthetic oil “Olestra,” we now have a “fat-free fat.” So what was previously just called fat is now, retronymically speaking, “fat-fat.”

In the old days, your grocery list might read: chips, milk, peanut butter, beer, and gum. Now we must specify if the chips are potato, corn or tortilla; if the milk is skim or whole; whether the peanut butter is crunchy or creamy; the beer, light or full; the gum, sugarless or regular.

Retronyms need not be related to commerce or technology. “Jewish ghetto” is a case in point. The original “ghetto” was a Jewish quarter in Venice in 1516, which had previously been the site of a cannon foundry. Getto is the Italian word for “foundry.” Later, the word ghetto came to mean the Jewish quarter of any city. Near the end of the 19th century, the sense was extended to refer to any poor neighborhood populated by a minority racial or cultural group. Similarly, “Italian Mafia” was once a wholly redundant term. Increasingly, however, the term Mafia is used to apply to ethnic persuasions other than Italian.

What retronyms beckon in our ever-changing world? “Human chess champion” is a safe bet. With ever-increasing fears about sexually transmitted diseases, “physical sex” (as opposed to virtual) is another retronymic possibility. With the online variety of sex you may still contract a virus, but at least it will be your computer and not you that will be crashing.

Howard Richler’s latest book is Can I Have a Word With You? He can be reached at hrichler@canada.com.

Dubrovnik - A tiny gem on the Adriatic

Molly Newborn

The Stari Grad

Sitting on the southernmost point of Croatia’s Dalmatian coast is a gem called Dubrovnik. I discovered Dubrovnik when I was trekking through Croatia this past fall. This fashionable Croatian capital will take your breath away as you walk its shiny streets and gaze out on the Adriatic from its peaks.

Dubrovnik is out of the way if you are traveling around Croatia, but you can get there by plane, boat or bus. I took the bus from Split, Croatia's second most well known city, meeting up with my friend Hedda who flew from Oslo. It took 5 hours to travel the 135 miles to Dubrovnik, with a few miles that pass through Bosnia, so don’t be surprised to have to pull out your passport, twice. There is a 15-minute stop in Bosnia. Though it sounds treacherous, I highly recommend this route. Traveling down the Croatian coastline compares with the United States’ most beautiful coast drive, the Pacific Coast Highway. The bus bumps along the cliffs so make sure to get a window seat to enjoy the view. Don’t forget to bring anti-nausea tablets.

The Gradske Zidine

As with most other Croatian tours, as soon as I stepped off the bus I was bombarded with local women holding up maps and pictures of accommodations. Since Croatia is still a relatively new tourist attraction, hotels are limited and expensive. Your best option, and possibly your only choice, is to rent a room in a private house or apartment. It gives you the added bonus of experiencing their lifestyle and they are always eager to give you tips and point you towards the best restaurant or bakery in town, even if they don’t speak a word of English. You can always bargain with the women at the bus station, but make sure they show you on a map where their home is located because you want to be close to the old city. Otherwise you will be schlepping for miles up and down the hill. Hedda and I booked our room early from www.hostelworld.com. We splurged a bit (for about 150 Kuna or $30/person/night) and stayed at a little place called Villa Elly (www.villa-elly.com), about a mile outside the old city. It was a family run apartment complex. The room was bright, simple, clean and renovated, and though a bit tight, we had a nice balcony that we shared with two guys staying in the adjacent apartment. They also rent out larger apartments but those didn’t quite fit our budget. The family was helpful and friendly, driving us to and from the train station and airport and giving us their best tips for the hot spots to hit. The wife even told me as I left Dubrovnik that if I was in any trouble or needed help then I shouldn’t hesitate to call her.

Dubrovnik is all about the Stari Grad (aka the old town), where most of the tourist attractions are. It was built from the 13th century to the 18th century. It's surrounded by a massive wall, the Gradske Zidine, and is 80 feet tall by 10 to 20 feet thick. Hedda and I paid 30 Kuna each (USD$6) to walk around the old town along the top of the wall. We took it slow to embrace the beauty of the orange-tiled roofs, copper domes, and bell towers along the Adriatic Sea. It took us about an hour because we stopped every few minutes for pictures.

View from the top of the Gradske Zidine

As we walked through the Vrata od Ploca, one of two entrances to the old town, we immediately noticed the shiny stone streets. There is an old water fountain at the entrance, used centuries ago when people were asked to wash their feet before they entered the city. Is that why the streets are so clean? No need to worry about cars zooming by because there are no cars here. We did however have to walk carefully in our heels at night on the way to the jazz club as to not slip. How did my mother, with her bad knee, make it through these slippery shiny streets?

The streets are lined with clothing stores, boutiques, souvenirs, restaurants, cafes, a few clubs and bars, and ooOOOoo the jewelry stores. For food, there is an abundance of reasonably priced seafood, pizza and salads.

We visited the Franciscan Monastery, which houses a little pharmacy. It was founded in 1318 and is the oldest in Europe. Next to the pharmacy is an art exhibition about the attack on the city by Montenegro in 1991. It brought unemotional me to tears. How could anyone bomb such a beautiful historical place? It told how the residents hid in their basements until it was over, surfacing only to find their beloved city torn apart, roofs shattered, and bullet holes in the Monasteries. Why? Luckily media coverage attracted much attention and money poured in from around the world to help clean up and rebuild. The new rooftops are clearly distinguishable from the old ones from the view atop the walls.

The Dubrovnik synagogue

As I travel through Europe, I make a point of finding the synagogue, if there is one, in every city I visit. It gives me a little sense of belonging, knowing my people were there and made their mark. The Dubrovnik synagogue, or “sinagoga,” is tucked away along the side of a narrow street of the old city on the 3rd floor of a townhouse. It is the oldest Sephardic synagogue in the world and the second oldest synagogue in Europe (after Prague). Dubrovnik once had a thriving Jewish community consisting of about 50 Jews, mostly comprised of those who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and Italy in 1514-15. During that period Dubrovnik was under Turkish rule, with the Sultan protecting their rights. They flourished in business, dealing with fabrics, silk, wool, leather and spices. The community grew to 218 Jews by the 18th century.

During World War II, Dubrovnik was occupied by the Italian army. They did not allow mass deportation of the Jews. They were moved to the nearby Island of Lopud, and then to Rab Island. Before the territory was taken over by the Germans, many Jews were transported off the islands by partisans to liberated territory on the mainland. Dubrovnik is now home to about 40 Jews. Entrance to the synagogue costs 10 Kuna (USD$2). It retains its Baroque Italian style, the interior made of dark wooden panels, featuring a beautiful blue ceiling painted with stars, newly rebuilt after it was heavily damaged during the attack in 1991. The second floor holds a little Jewish museum, which has artifacts of the Dubrovnik Jewish community throughout the past 500 years. On the first floor of the townhouse you'll find a small gift shop selling Jewish artwork.

How can I talk about Croatia without mentioning its islands?! The thirteen tiny Elafiti Islands are all within a 1-hour ferry ride from Dubrovnik. The largest Islands — Lopud, Kolocep and Sipan — have no cars and are inhabited by about 900 people year round. Hedda and I visited Lopud because we heard about a spectacular beach there. The boat trip took about an hour and stopped along the way at other islands. Lopud has a tiny town along the bay made up of stone houses, a couple of hotels and souvenirs stores. We took a 20-minute hike to the other side of the Island to reach Sunj beach. It is the most perfect beach I have ever seen. I was convinced it was man-made until I was told otherwise. The sand felt like silk. It was perfect — no seaweed or anything creepy. The water was crystal clear. The only thing we had to avoid was the portion of the beach that was behind a pitiful looking wall — the naked beach. One thing I learned, and learned the hard way, is that on every beautiful beach in Croatia, there is a sexy sexy side that I must steer clear of.

My last night in Dubrovnik was bittersweet. I said goodbye to Hedda at the airport not knowing when I’d see my favorite Norwegian again. I then caught up with a friend we had met the night before. He was our waiter at a restaurant where we had dined. He took me up to the hilltop to show off his miraculous city. He was so proud. I noticed the trees and shrubs were all burnt and the cable car that led up to the top of the hill was broken. I asked what had happened. Apparently two weeks before my arrival there was a mysterious fire that came over from the other side of the hills, in Bosnia. The fire blazed through the hills as the firefighters and the residents of Dubrovnik (including our 20-year-old waiter and his friends) came together to fight the fire and stop it before it hit the old city. The Croatians say the Serbs are to blame, but really no one really knows. Once again tears came to my eyes as I stood at the top of the hill, surrounded by ashes, looking at one of the most spectacular little old cities in the world.

Will US housing crisis affect Canada?

Gillian Pritchett

The US housing crisis hit the headlines last year when thousands of American homeowners were faced with the harsh reality of not being able to keep up the high repayments on their homes. Tragic scenes of people moving out of their homes became commonplace. The worst affected have been holders of ‘subprime’ mortgages, typically lent to borrowers with shaky credit. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, some 5.82% of all mortgages are now delinquent, the highest since 1985. Adjustable rate mortgage loans (ARMs) represent a disproportionate share of the foreclosure starts and while subprime ARMs represent 7% of the loans outstanding, they represented 42% of foreclosure starts during the fourth quarter of 2007. RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures, has over 650,000 foreclosure properties available for resale. The areas worst affected are in the Midwest, where the subprime bust is battering an industrial economy already in long-term decline, but even more economically robust states such as Florida and California are feeling the impact.

The knock-on effects are significant: since the process of repossession takes a year or more, delinquent borrowers have little reason to look after their homes, which then reduces the value of other properties nearby, and a glut of repossessed houses dampens prices by adding to the supply of homes for sale. It is not only borrowers who lose but also lenders, with major mortgage lender New Century Financial going bust in February of this year and HSBC issuing its first profit warning in its 142-year history as a result of losses incurred on subprime loans by its American division.

According to Jean Freed, MBA, a Montreal financial advisor and consultant, there were three principal causes of the crisis. Buyers overborrowed on homes they couldn’t afford. Lenders approved risky borrowers and then divested that risk by selling the mortgages on the financial markets. Another factor was predatory lending, where people were seduced into believing that if they stretched themselves for about three years they could make a financial killing and, with the resultant profit, buy another home outright.

Could this happen in Canada? While the mortgage market is equally unregulated here, and ‘no document’ mortgages are available whereby a self-employed person can declare their earnings without documentary proof, Freed considers it unlikely that the same phenomenon will occur in Canada. As to the impact it may have on Canadians, anecdotal evidence suggests that rental prices are now much higher in Florida – a favoured haunt for snowbirds. But for those seeking to buy, now is the time to secure that condominium at a very reasonable price. Freed emphasizes, however, that with much of Florida located on a flood plain, buying flood insurance is an essential. As for the broader effect on the Canadian economy, the housing market is starting to slow in Canada, and exporters to the US are likely to see a decrease in demand. Freed’s view is that while there are downsides, the overall impact is unlikely to be severe in Canada.

Jean Freed, MBA offers financial consulting services for small business and wealth management strategies for investors. For more info visit jfreed.ca.

Ageism makes bad situation worse

Ursula Feist

Flipping through channels one evening to find something pleasant to look at, I caught a panel discussion on a German channel on the subject of smoking. A new law in Germany had been tabled to forbid smoking in public places, and was causing considerable controversy.

One panelist mentioned an 88-year-old woman dying of heart disease as a result of smoking, prompting another to remark, “Well, how long should she have li—” before cutting herself off on account of some raised eyebrows.

I was incensed and unashamedly wished that she would find herself in an unwelcome position one day. She must have been about fifty and her green Dirndl dress certainly did not distract from her wrinkles in spite of heavy make-up.

It brought home to me the reality of being a senior once more: the impatience, disrespect and tactlessness too often thrust upon this segment of the population. Not so long ago, some youngster actually asked me whether I had thought about my own death!

This attitude was reflected in a recent accident I experienced: a young woman in a Cadillac Escalade rammed into the driver’s side of my brand new Honda Civic while turning a corner.

The damage to my car was significant, but the state I was in was worse. I had watched in horror as my windshield crunched and crumbled, and it hit me that I had just been about five inches away from being severely hurt or killed. My anger and fright showed — I reacted furiously.

A cheerful young man came running out of the house opposite and, pointing at me, said, “I saw it, I was on my roof, she ran a red light.”

The young woman asked him to be a witness and he enthusiastically complied. That settled it. The police were called, and upon arrival ignored me and the horrendous damage to my vehicle.

When they finally addressed me they were arrogant and condescending. I was old and in shock, and when you are old you are guilty! You shouldn’t be driving! Nobody asked me whether I needed anything or whether I was alright until my son arrived.

To add insult to injury I was handed a $150 ticket for running a red light, based on nothing but the word of the witness on the roof and the young woman. I have never had an accident in my driving life of over 50 years and no one even checked the view from the roof to confirm what the young man could have actually witnessed.

When the young constable who handed me the ticket finally looked at the damage that the elegant truck had inflicted, he commented, “She must have hit you hard” — a diagnosis confirmed by what it cost to repair.

I often think of that moment, and still have that uncomfortable feeling in my stomach — of having been treated like someone who doesn’t matter.

If you have been treated unfairly because of your age, we would like to know. Please send your story to editor@theseniortimes.com.

The anatomy of messiness

Kristine Berey

John Evans and Rod Beattie as Oscar and Felix (photo: Scott Philip)

If one person’s junk is another person’s treasure, then perhaps one person’s disaster is another’s foolproof filing system. Conventional wisdom dictates that neat is better than messy, and certainly no one has ever been ashamed of being too neat — but not everyone agrees. Albert Einstein, whose desk was famous for its precariously balanced stacks of papers, once posed the question: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?”

Neat Freaks and the Hopelessly Disorganized have always been divided in different camps, with those on the neat side stereotyped as needing control and the messy ones as being somewhat “out to lunch.”

In The Odd Couple, now playing at The Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre, playwright Neil Simon draws a hilarious portrait of two people on the opposite sides of the tidy/messy spectrum, living under one roof and attempting to endure each other.

“What drives ‘Francis’ crazy is not just a matter of Felix’s insistence on neatness, orderliness and timeliness but also that he’s being a control freak,” says actor Rod Beattie, who plays the pathetic Felix, thrown out by his long-suffering wife. In his personal life, Beattie says he is worlds away from Felix. “I have a vision of my home environment as being free of debris — but it never happens.”

He suggests that Felix and his nemesis Oscar may march to a different drum, that they have a different “time-set”. “There’s a scene where Oscar comes in for their double date an hour late and he’s not even aware of being late. But Felix has scheduled this date up to the minute, with cocktails at 8 o’clock. When the food is burned and dried out, Felix is furious.”

Beattie cites the great painter Tom Thompson as a real-life example of people being differently “tuned”. “Thompson’s external life was chaotic and disorderly but he had the gift of being able to stop time. At one point he tried to paint the process of spring in Algonquin park, but couldn’t keep up with it. In his case, ‘outer time’ was incompatible with his ‘inner time’.”

Being a slob is not much better, says actor John Evans, who plays Oscar Madison, who could be described as Martha Stewart’s antithesis. “Blanche left him, because he’s such an unmoveable slob who assumes everything revolves around him. He thinks he’s loveable, charming, terrific with the guys, but with his wife he’s like a teenager.”

But there is a darker side to slovenliness, Evans suggests. “With Oscar, it’s more of a case of ‘all right, you don’t care about me so I’m not gonna care about myself’.”

For over 20 years, J.F. Laforte of Creative Visual Concepts has helped design optimal environments, including stage sets, window displays, trade show kiosks, wedding halls, daycare classroom environments and residential spaces. He believes that environment can reveal a lot about the person who lives there. “People have particular styles that describe who they feel they are at that point in time,” Laforte says. Sam Gosling, psychology professor at the University of Texas and author of Snoop: The Secret Language of Stuff, also believes that bedrooms and offices reveal key aspects of your personality. He finds, among other things, that a diverse collection of books and magazines reveals openness and well-lit airy spaces indicate emotional stability.

Marijana Kuljik of Organized! says clutter is a byproduct of our consumer society: “Our houses have become bigger but our possessions take up much more space. We’ve become a society where we just collect so much stuff.”

By the time clients reach out to Kuljik, they are at the end of their rope, overwhelmed and unable to part with their mountain of possessions. “Sometimes there is emotional attachment to objects, memories they feel bad about letting go of. Also, sometimes people come from humble beginnings and are taught to hold on to things.”

She reaches her clients through teaching them systems to gain control of their stuff. “I can help you organize a filing system where you will find anything you’re looking for in 30 seconds or less,” she says.

Laforte says everyone has a little Oscar or Felix in them, that they are different sides of the same coin. He says the upside to mess is that it allows you to relax and be spontaneous while the upside to neat is that it allows you to live freely, averting that feeling of dread when an unexpected visitor shows up. “Comfort level is personal and your home is your sanctuary. But you’re also a social being and need to feel comfortable in your home when friends drop by. Oscar and Felix, we all have them — we just have to learn to manage them so that one doesn’t take over. But we need both.”

Courageous cats need you

Carolyn Callender

Are you a cat lover interested in finding the perfect pet companion? Check out Adoption Days organized by the Animal Rescue Network and its clinics, where volunteers can answer your questions. Based on your lifestyle and needs, and the needs of the cat, volunteers will recommend cats they think will be a good match for you.

Choosing­ adoption over petshops

Adoption is less costly. The $130 adoption fee includes vaccination and sterilization (both performed pre-adoption) and 30 days of medical care under pet insurance — an affordable alternative to the $250 to $300 required to purchase, sterilize and vaccinate a store-bought pet.

Your adoption fee helps Animal Rescue Network provide food, shelter and medical care to our growing population of animals. Although you’ll only find cats at Adoption Days, dog lovers can contact the Network and meet dogs for adoption.

Adoption Days

• Saturday, May 10, 12pm – 4pm at Natural Animal & Pawtisserie, 4932B Sherbrooke W. Info: 514-488-4729
• Saturday, May 17, 10am – 4pm at
• J.E. Mondou, 10315 Lajeunesse.
• Info: 514-381-4747
• Saturday, May 17, 10am – 3pm at J.E. Mondou, 2032 Victoria Ave., Greenfield Park. Info: 450-672-5080
• Saturday June 7, 10am – 4pm at J.E. Mondou, 90 Jean-Talon E. Info: 514-271-5503

Founded in 1994 by Barbara Lisbona, the Animal Rescue Network has become the largest no-kill animal shelter in Quebec. The organization never euthanizes an animal unless an extreme level of sickness and suffering necessitates it. At any one time there are approximately 300 cats staying at the main shelter in Rosemont. The shelter does not have any paid employees or receive government subsidies.

The Network also has a number of foster homes. Info: 514-938-6215

Cats up for adoption

Toby, is 8 with a slight weight problem, is sociable and welcomes visitors with a lot of purring. He was adopted in 2002 and returned to the shelter after 6 years with his 2 feline friends since the owners had a baby who is allergic. He loves to roll around and be caressed.

Rambo, a beautiful grey cat male, 7, became homeless after his owner’s death. He is calm and charming. He has since recovered from this shock and just wants to be loved!

Blanche, a lovely female cat, 8, has beautiful green eyes and imma­culate white fur. Her owner abandoned her in 2001 under the pretext that she was bad-natured, which we find hard to believe! She is quiet and calm, hardly noticed around the shelter – but she would dearly love to live in a home where she is noticed and appreciated.

Felix, a cute male cat, 8, lived with a woman who had too many cats. Felix loves other cats and is gentle yet nervous. Perhaps this is his secret to retain his tiny waist as he is thin and in good health.

Info: arn-rsa.rescuegroups.org

Music Music Music

Concert to benefit Extra Miles Senior Visiting Program

Wednesday, May 14 at 2:30pm the Montreal West United Church, 88 Balllantyne Ave. North, will present a brass chamber music concert featuring music from Bach to Joplin, from Brahms to Bernstein. Performers are members of the Low Bass section of the OSM. $10 at the door. Wheelchair accessibility. This concert is a benefit for MWUC’s Extra Miles Senior Visiting Program. Extra Miles matches up volunteers to be friendly visitors with isolated seniors in NDG, Montreal West and Côte St-Luc. Info: 514-482-3210 or mwuc.org

Cummings Centre presents Toxic Audio Live and Off Broadway

Tuesday, June 3 at Club Soda, the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors Foundation will present Toxic Audio Live and Off Broadway, featuring award-winning singers who will perform with nothing but their voices. To purchase tickets online in support of CJCS, visit cummingscentre.org.

Every need anticipated at La Belle Province

A classy establishment always goes the extra mile for its patrons, and La Belle Province on St-Jacques is hard to forget in this respect.

Featuring exceptionally attentive staff and friendly, diverse clientele eager to extol, unbidden, the virtues of the establishment at astounding length, this popular institution is swollen to the point of bursting on a Saturday afternoon with eager patrons fond of the gigantic portions and bottomless coffees for which it’s known. The table service is snappy and responsive, while the atmosphere is relaxed and busy enough to have a good belly laugh without disturbing anyone.

Tommy, a hardworking hands-on kind of boss, when probed as to what inspires such profound loyalty in diners who keep coming again year in and year out, is quick to credit the family-friendly ambience – notably complimented by a widescreen tuned to the latest sports updates and surrounded by personal touches, movie posters and sporting collectibles. At his prompting I tried the Chef’s Special, with two eggs, three meats, French toast, home fries, baked beans, fruit and coffee, and my guest tried the spinach omelette plus, at my insistence, the poutine, since no review would be complete without it. The verdict, verbatim: “Best. Poutine. Ever.” I kid you not.

The special showed up in a flash and was done exactly as requested. It’s definitely worth a try. After diving into our saucy dishes with heady abandon, the coffee came fast and furious, without the service ever feeling rushed nor anything less than exemplary, as we sat, chins dribbling with syrupy excess, satiated and happy.

Equally worthy of recommending for either a family outing or a morning bounce after a hard night, La Belle Province is found at 6752 St-Jacques W, just west of Cavendish (bus 90 from metro Vendôme).

Navigating life with the right map

Neil McKenty

One day on my radio phone-in show the question was, “How do you get on with your mate driving the car?” Most of the callers, especially the women, recalled incidents where their husbands got lost. The reaction was always the same. First the husband denied he was lost, then he refused to stop the car and ask for directions and finally, in a fit of pique, he angrily refused to look at a map.

That radio program got me thinking about maps. Of course, if you’re lost it’s stupid not to consult a map and figure out where you are. But suppose you don’t have a map. Or even worse, you have the wrong map.

For example, you live in Montreal and for the first time you are motoring to Boston. You get to Boston alright, then the whole trip begins to unravel. You can’t find your hotel. You can’t even find the name of the street your hotel is on. You pore over your map. None of it makes any sense.

Finally, you see a policeman. You stop and show him your map. He looks at you quizzically. He says it’s no wonder you’re lost. You’ve been driving frantically around Boston using the map of Detroit.

But isn’t that how some people go through life, following the wrong map? Is it any wonder that so many are anxious, bewildered, angry and ultimately lost? Of course, now we're talking about an interior map, a map that somehow relates to the landscape of our own psyche. So where do we get this inaccurate, defective map that has led us down so many blind alleys? I think the answer is that we get this map from other people. Perhaps our parents gave us a map that applies more to their needs than to ours. Or we spend a lot of energy trying to live up to the expectations (the maps) of other people.

At the core of the problem is an instinctive sense that we are not being true to ourselves, that we are not living out our natural bent, nor, in the words of Joseph Campbell “following our bliss.” Instead our lives are still governed by external expectations — by these maps drawn by other people.

Think of the tortuous journey of a man who wants to be a writer but instead, living up to his family’s aspirations, has become a priest. Or a woman who wants to be an artist but finds herself doing a degree in bioethics because that’s what her father, an eminent doctor, wanted her to do.

I think the word “hypocrite” is relevant here, not in a moral sense, but from the Greek root meaning “actor”. It’s a dreadful burden to go through life being an actor, following the wrong map.

So how does a person develop his or her own map for the journey? My own experience is that a crisis of some sort may be required to get us on the road to existential honesty. Some of us must hit what AA calls an “emotional bottom” wherein we realize that (with the wrong map) we are powerless, that our lives have become unmanageable and we must reach out for help. It is in this “bottom” that I believe we take the first decisive step in beginning to draw our own map.

It is a marvellous paradox that when we become vulnerable we also become able to grow from the inside. In that sense, God does indeed write straight with crooked lines. Or as the Canadian therapist Marian Woodman puts it, “God comes through the wound.”

There's a type of litmus test to tell whether one lives by one's own map. First, a friend telephones and ask you to a party. You say you’ll get back to her. The reason for your delay is not to consult your agenda. The real reason is that you don’t want to commit yourself in case another more interesting invitation might turn up. Only those who habitually live outside of their own maps are mature enough not to continually hedge their bets but to move in a straight line. Another friend invites you to take on a project. You hesitantly say yes not because the project interests you but because you don’t want to offend your friend. You're not living on your own map. Only those who do so are comfortable saying no when it is the mature response. How and why a person says no says a lot.

Drawing your own maps is not a decision nor an act of will. It's a process which requires awareness, demands patience and is truly liberating.

Blessings on your journey.

Worrying about the glass of wine

Bonnie Sandler

In my assessments of individuals with cognitive impairment, I have noticed that many include a history of lifelong struggles with excessive worrying, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and/or depression. This alone is something to worry about. Children of affected parents are concerned about their own future as it is, and now we have more to worry about as we try not to worry, knowing that excessive worrying could be a factor in this disease.

People who have experienced clinical depression are 2.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, according to a study published this April in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. If depression occurs before age 60, the likelihood increases nearly 4 times. There are several theories as to why this may be, and further studies are expected to explore the relationship between depression and Alzheimer’s.

Recent headlines warned women that drinking a glass of red wine daily might raise their risk of breast cancer. Should we worry? I was happier when I read that there may be constituents in wine that protect against dementia. More confusion. Are we to choose which disease we would most like to prevent? Are these studies causing us more anxiety, therefore putting us at greater risk for Alzheimer’s? Dr. Nathan Hermann, head of geriatric psychiatry at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, cautions that this is only "one of a number of studies" that have examined the issue and that "the literature is very divided on whether depression predisposes to dementia or not, and is seriously flawed methodologically, and there are no firm conclusions that can be made." So he's not stressed about it, but how do the rest of us know when to worry? Short of digging into the entire body of peer-reviewed research ourselves, the best antidote to this kind of news might just be a good Merlot.

We all need to find ways to relax, but it is especially important if we are caregivers living the 36-Hour Day (like the book of the same name). What works for one person may not be the right stress buster for another. I like to relax after a hectic day by having a glass of red wine. I rationalize that it’s good for my health. A hot bubble bath surrounded by candles also works. But does the glass of wine enhance my risk of breast cancer, or prevent dementia and heart disease? Will I worry now about having this glass of wine? Will the worry affect my cognitive functioning as I age? Will I have the opportunity to age if I have the wine?

Tonight, after a stressful day, I plan on having a glass of red wine and treating myself to a long hot bubble bath. I won’t allow myself to worry. I will simply enjoy my personal choice of de-stressing.

Please address questions and comments to bonniesandler@gmail.com.

Artistry benefits Alzheimer's

Gisele Rucker

Mona Wizenberg with festival souvenir shirt

Art teacher Mona Wizenberg is quick to name all the individuals and sponsors* who are supporting the Sunday, May 25 Artventure for Alzheimer's fundraiser and auction of drawings by her students, seniors who have never drawn before. Her success as a teacher lies in the beauty of these drawings, which she lovingly unveils, one by one, with heartfelt joy, and sometimes sadness, recounting the physical or mental challenges each senior artist must overcome to draw.

“They inspire me,” she says. “They have given me so much: if they can draw, given all their physical ailments, then I can handle anything. Making art makes them forget all their pain. Art is therapeutic and they have become addicted.”

Trained as a Special Care Counsellor, Wizenberg worked for 16 years teaching anger management, problem solving and impulse control to students in schools. When she was laid off, her next vocation appeared to her while caring for her Uncle Noah, who has Alzheimer's. She befriended a woman who is paralyzed except for her left hand. Over three months, Wizenberg taught her how to draw floral arrangements. “She encouraged me to teach seniors how to draw… I fell for seniors — they give me hope and inspiration.”

Her strength is encouraging seniors to boldly take up coloured pencils and overcome their fear of not being able to draw. She tells them, “Your signature is unique and it is actually drawing.”

Persistent about including every senior in her eight week course now widely offered (for a fee) in West Island residences and privately, Wizenberg will adapt tools and techniques to assist those with disabilities. She describes how she and a resident’s occupational therapist adapted equipment to allow a woman with Huntington's chorea, a neurological disorder causing uncontrollable movement, to steady her hand and hold a heavy lead pencil by inserting it into a carpal tunnel glove sleeve around her hand. With her lower arm secured to an armrest off her chair, she could make marks on a poster board taped to a lap tray.

Wizenberg says, “Students who are blind draw too!” — she helps them use their hands as eyes. She brings in her realistic bird sculptures, over which they can run their hands before drawing. She provides magnifying glasses or sheets, aesthetic lamps, and will outline in black the initial shapes her almost blind students draw.

Whether a still life, a highly individualized version of work by the late Gazette cartoonist John Collins, or well-known masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, which appears 36 times on the Artventure souvenir T-shirt, the work of all the artists, who live in different residences of the West Island, will be together for the first time in one huge vernissage and auction fundraiser for Alzheimer's, with 70% of the proceeds going to the Alzheimer Society and 30% to the Bloomfield Centre.

CTV weather host Lori Graham will MC the event, featuring performances by harpist Véronique Couturier, flautist Mariève Lauzon, and songs led by Linda Morrison, former conductor of the Yellow Door Choir. Auctioneer is well-known West Island personality Mike Lawrence. West Island Mayors, along with Quebec’s Minister responsible for Seniors, Marguerite Blais, will also attend. Door prizes include a Robert Bateman signed limited edition print, a VIP tour of CTV and supper with Lori Graham, 8 weekend getaways, James Taylor concert tickets, health club memberships, photography studio packages, and the Arthur Murray Dance School has offered gift certificates (valued at $125) for a dance lesson package, at the door. Artventure takes place Sunday, May 25, 1:30-5:30pm at the Holiday Inn Pointe Claire. Tickets: $20. Info: 514-696-0419.

*Sponsors include Manoir Kirkland, Le Wellesley, Manoir Pierrefonds, The Bayview, Le Vivalis, Le Cambridge, the Sunrise, Masterpeice, Bureau en Gros, Les Résidences Vivendi, Horizon Home Care, Omer DeSerres and the Holiday Inn Pointe Claire.

Older musicians bring depth to festival

Paul Serralheiro

With spring urging people out onto the streets, the festival season begins, and for music lovers, it starts with The Montreal Chamber Music Festival, which runs from May 1 to May 24. “In putting the festival together, I find the best comparison is haute cuisine,” says artistic director Denis Brott. “It’s like putting together a fine meal. A festival isn't just another concert — it has to be an event. There has to be something unusual about it, something special.”

One notable aspect of this 13^th edition is the artistic depth of the senior musicians on the program, the most seasoned of whom are pianists Gary Graffman, 80, Anton Kuerti, 70, and Oliver Jones, 74. “People get older, but not their careers,” says Brott. “When Oliver Jones retired, I said to him, ‘What are you doing, man?’ — and he’s continued playing and playing his best. Music has a renewal quality to it, it has a life force. Look at the program and you’ll see that several artists are past 60, yet listening to them has a rejuvenating quality.”

While the program’s choices are eclectic, with music from classical to contemporary performed by artists at all stages of their careers, Brott points to the quality that experience brings: “As we get older, we get more tolerant, more accepting of our ignorance. We know that we don’t know. There’s also more security in terms of ego. We’re more willing to share our knowledge and are more concerned about the search for the truth and what represents spirituality... A musician is a servant… like an actor whose duty it is to serve the playwright. A musician is at the service of the composer. We try to get across what the composer wants. And we’re better able to do this as we get older.”

The reasons for this ultimately have to do with experience. “Who do you think will have the deeper knowledge, the young musician who’s only played a few pieces by Beethoven, or the older musician who’s already performed all of Beethoven’s work? It’s about depth of understanding. And music keeps us young... like a fountain, and even if you’ve played the piece before and know it very well, there’s always that element of surprise.”

Montreal concert halls are active all through the year, providing fine music-making, but there is a significant difference between the Montreal Chamber Music Festival and other festivals or concerts. Brott maintains that this festival is “like having an affair. There’s that blush of newness, since musicians haven’t played together before. Unlike the usual concert where musicians come for one night, then are gone, it’s not a one-night stand. Our artists come here and get together for about 3 to 4 rehearsals to create a very exciting, intoxicating mix.” Brott himself, a well-respected cellist, will be performing in 4 concerts, and during the Festival’s run will also be making side trips to Quebec City and New York, the second stop with Claude Frank, an 82-year-old Artur Schnabel disciple. How does he find this double-duty of musician and manager? “I don’t think of it as difficult. I think of it as exciting.”

Along with the chamber music that forms the core of the program, jazz has found a place. “For me,” Brott explains, “jazz is chamber music and chamber music has an element of jazz. Jazz is very structured, which allows you to improvise on a note basis. In chamber music a performer is improvising on an emotional and interpretational level. Although in chamber music the whole is greater than the sum of the parts a performer has the ability to impact the whole in the realm of timing, colour, and articulation. The brush is broader in jazz, whereas in chamber music the brush works more on detail. Also, when you look at it, the best jazz musicians are often classically trained.”

For its first 10 years, the Festival was presented at the Chalet on Mount Royal. It has been held at the St. James United Church on St. Catherine Street for the last three years. “Accessibility was a big factor,” Brott explains, “although the mountain was a great locale and I still hope to go back there. But there aren’t the buses, and it was inconvenient if you wanted to go out for dinner before, etc.” The downtown location is not a compromise on acoustics, though — in fact, says Brott, quite the contrary: “All the critics have raved about it. The issue really has been accessibility and I’m hopeful that our audiences will continue to grow.”

The issue of accessibility is also addressed by Brott’s approach to the way the music is presented to the audience: “I give live program notes on stage. We have to think of future audiences. It’s our mission. There’s been an increase of 25% in our under-30 crowd due to cheaper tickets. Young people have come from as far as New York state, Aylmer, Ontario, and Jonquière to attend the festival. This means the festival will be better able to serve its purpose.”

For more details and program information, visit festivalmontreal.org.

Jeunesses Musicales - A pianophile's paradise

Kristine Berey

Many renowned musicians first gained international attention through winning an established musical competition.

From May 19-29, Montrealers will have a chance to hear some of the best and brightest young pianists in the world at this year’s Montreal International Musical Competition.

Organized in 2002 at the initiative of Jeunesses Musicales, each year’s event highlights either voice, piano or violin, the three disciplines presented in a rotating four-year cycle. This year’s competition received 130 applications from pianists under 30 from 28 different countries.

Chosen finalists will perform at the Quarter and Semi Finals at Salle Pierre-Mercure on May 20-22 and 23-24 and six will play at the Finals on May 26-27 at the Theatre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts. The young artists will prepare different repertoire for each concert.

The price of admission to each session is kept intentionally low at $10 as the MIMC wants to keep these concerts by these young musicians of great talent as accessible to the public as possible.

The event will culminate with the Gala Concert on May 29 at Salle Wilfrid- Pelletier where the finalists will be accompanied by the Competition’s resident orchestra, the Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal (OMGM) conducted by Jean Marie Zeituni.

The Competition’s stated aim is to “discover, reward and assist” young musicians all over the world who distinguish themselves through the mastery of their art and to give them a chance to showcase their talent before the international artistic community.

The jury is composed of a panel of eminent musicians from several countries and the event is the only Canadian international music competition held each year.

Info: 514-845-4108

Tickets: 514-842-2112

Cantabile celebrates

Kristine Berey

Founded in 1985 and formerly known as The Knight Singers, the Cantabile Chorale has performed many of the major choral works in the classical repertoire.

Their next concert will mark the 15th year composer and conductor Peter Willsher has directed the choir and the choir’s 10th with its own symphony orchestra.

“Last year we premiered a work that I wrote for the choir and orchestra, a cantata called The Journey. It is appropriate in many ways that this concert is also called Journey,” Willsher says. “It is a Journey that Cantabile and I have travelled; it includes music from Canada, UK, France, Germany, Austria and Italy. Not least, is my own personal musical journey of which Cantabile has been integral for most of my Canadian life.”

Highlights from the program include selections from Brahms’ Faure’s and Mozart’s Requiems, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion and Handel’s Messiah.

The concert begins at 7:30 pm at Ste. Genevieve Church, 16037 Gouin Blvd.

Info regarding the concert or to join the choir: 514-634-1275

Know your housing rights - Repairs

Project Genesis

If you are living in an apartment or a rooming house, you have the right to be treated according to the law and with dignity. Therefore, it is imperative that you know your housing rights.

It is the landlord’s responsibility to maintain the apartment in good condition, and make any necessary repairs (as long as they are not due to damage caused by the tenant). There are three main types of repair situations:

• Repairs that are not urgent: You should send a registered letter to the landlord requesting the repairs be done within 10 days. Project Genesis has a form letter for this. If repairs are still not done, after the 10 days, you can go to the Rental Board and fill out an application for one or more of the following:
• To deposit your rent at the Rental Board.
• To ask for a rent reduction.
• To ask for an order for the landlord to carry out the repairs.
• To ask for permission to withhold money from the rent to do the repairs.
• To ask for damages due to loss or inconvenience.
• To ask for cancellation of the lease.
• Urgent repairs (e.g.: pipes bursting): You must inform, or try to inform the landlord of the problem immediately (phone, visit, etc.). If it is impossible to reach the landlord, or s/he refuses to act, you can carry out the repairs, and either deduct the money from your rent payments, or claim the money back at the Rental Board. You will need to have proof that the repair was urgent (eg. witnesses, photos) and that you tried to contact the landlord, in case the landlord claims you illegally withheld your rent.
• Apartment unfit for habitation (eg. flood, heat cut off during winter): You can abandon your apartment. Within 10 days, you must send a registered letter to the landlord, stating your reason for abandoning. Before abandoning the apartment, make sure you have proof of the condition (witnesses, photos), in case the landlord denies it, and sues you for the rent. For problems involving health and safety you should also call the City of Montreal Inspection Dept. (514-872-3181 or 514-872-2237).

Project Genesis offers free information on many different issues, including housing rights. Services are free and accessible, with no appointment necessary. Call at 514-738-2036 or visit in person at 4735 Cote Ste-Catherine (in front of the metro, on the corner of Victoria street).

Short Story Long

Wednesday through Sunday until May 17 at 8pm, Mainline Theatre presents Short Story Long, written and directed by Joel Fishbane, about a writer who leaves his money to his wife, but the proceeds of all his writing to the mysterious A.K. $15/$12 seniors. Fridays 2-for-1, Sundays pay-what-you-can (2pm). 3997 St-Laurent. Info: 514-931-5449

Literary Fare

Thursday, May 15, the Irish Studies Department at Concordia hosts Professor Wolfgang Zach of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, discussing “Jonathan Swift and the Anglicization of Ireland.” Info: www.cdnirish.concordia.ca

Tuesday, May 27, at 6pm, Justice John Gomery is the guest speaker at the St. James Literary Society’s Annual Dinner at the Atwater Club, 3505 Atwater. Info: 514-484-0146

Friday, June 2, from 1-3pm, join Howard Richler’s class on The Bawdy English Language at Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors. The English language did not become the world's global language by being pure. It literally slept its way to the top by co-mingling with other languages to enlarge its vocabulary. 5700 Westbury.

From June 30 – July 18, La fondation humanitas offers bilingual Latin and Ancient Greek courses at Loyola High School. $100. Info: Denis Brault, 450-445-8897 or braultd@loyola.ca