Yet another Dave Thorvald Olson project - this one serves up all the leftover bits which don't fit elsewhere - more craft than the art - nuggets perhaps noticed or observed, announcements of fresh paintings, podcast and/or publications, static montage, various snippets of prose, sites of note or ones you might enjoy, messages to future self, relics from past, snapshots i'd like you to see, fleeting reminiscences, future predictions, occasionally lurid predilections and mysterious items uncovered. In short ephemera e-phem-er-a - n
1) A range of collectible items that were originally designed to be short-lived
2) Something that is transitory and without lasting significance
Dave Olson talks about the sources of inspiration, the creative process and publishing your work in this lively mixed-media presentation. Watch this and you’ll understand why Dave has been dubbed a “local cultural artifact”. From Northern Voice 2009. Note: Contains adult language.
Uncle Weed is in fine form as he illuminates the creative process behind Letters from Russia. From #northernvoice09
He and others – including my buddy Dale – made sure to mic up the presenters and set up a good angle for the shots. As the guy on the other end of the lens, i truly appreciate their work to provide a cool artifact from the preso (although i must admit my shock at seeing my decreasing hair follicles!) – my Mom will likely enjoy it as well ;-).
Here’s everything to do with my presentation of Letters from Russia at Northern Voice 2009 – a volunteer run social media conference in year #5 and Canada’s biggest shindig of its ilk.
I am in year 4 of presenting my mixed media messages to a diverse and enthused audience. Previous years included Fuck Stats, Make Art; 3 Ps of Podcasting; and Blogging your Passion. This year i also participated in a panel “Social Media and the Olympics: Then and Now” and moderated “Rock n’ Roll Photo” panel.
Audio and video to follow ~ Enjoy these ephemeral reminiscences in the interim.
“Whether blog article, photo, video, podcast – social media should tell a story. The best stories are retold and shared with others, and the very best stories create conversations which might live on for generations.
How does a content creator elevate their work from craft to art? The same creative parameters apply whether the delivery method is digital or analog or both. When applied with vigour, the work elevates to something beyond an ephemeral musing.
Using a mixed-media project called “Letters from Russia” as a example, Dave will discuss practical tactics for harnessing inspiration, plotting the big picture, grinding out the “real work”, and finally creating a satisfying tangible artifact.
Dave will discuss the role of blogs, podcasts, reader interaction, RSS, and self-publishing with chapbooks and/or on-demand web services as efficient methods of sharing and distributing the project to an audience.”
Letters from Russia in action by Retrocactus on Flickr
Dave Olsen (www.UncleWeed.com) – I attended this unconference session by accident sort of. I was chatting with some of the attendees after the conclusion of Chris Heuer’s “Death of Advertising” talk [ed. note: meh... ], and then in walked this odd looking chap: floral shirt, a tickle trunk, smokey-grey fedora, and a smile that said that he knew the next 30 minutes was going to be fun. I asked those next to me what this session was about. They said, “wait and see”, and I am glad I did. Dave gave one of the more enjoyable presentations (”Letters from Russia”) that I have seen in a long time. Summarize it? I don’t think I can, and even if I tried, it wouldn’t do it justice.
Today he was talking about the process from idea to publication while sharing his personal journey surrounding his Letters from Russia series. I wasn’t live blogging his session as I wanted to pay attention and focus on his message, delivered as he stood before a packed while sporting a smoking jacket.
11:32
Dave ended up at this place (I can’t really liveblog with the richness that Dave speaks). So you got to remember – the best part of DaveO’s talks is just listening to him. He is superb.
11:34
DaveO is now reading – It doesn’t make sense for me to really liveblog because you won’t get Dave’s richness. Hopefully people will put up video.
11:41
If you have all the time in the world to do everything, what are you going to do, wake up every time in the morning, getting a lot of creative work done?
Spieling Letters from Russia at Northern Voice by Tim Bray
Updates
macfarbt: @uncleweed thanks for the sharing and goodness @ northernvoice09. I want to find a way to mash up LettersFromRussia with the Nepalese.
retrocactus: @uncleweed you should make that a pre-req for those attending your next talk: craft & bring your own version of Letters from Russia
madmannequin: Lunchtime at #northernvoice09 so far really enjoyed “death of advertising” & “letters from Russia” speakers. Looking forward to the rest!
My spiel was called “Are you Worthy?” or ‘history of publishing from Greeks to geeks’. I also previewed my upcoming Moose Camp and Northern Voice presentations a wee bit.
The mighty power of web publishing should not be taken lightly. Traditionally, for stories to reach an audience required navigating layers levels or publishers, printers, editors, distributors but with WordPress, anyone can spread stories to a worldwide audience, instantly, for almost free. Awesome! But do you deserve this power? Of course you do – as long as you make something remarkable.
To make your work rise to the top requires diligent honing of your craft – from writing to photography. Writer and documentarian Dave Olson (AKA uncleweed) will offer reasons to push yourself to create art, as well as share practical methods for finding inspiration and following through to publication.
By exploring other forms of grassroots publishing, and exploring real-life WP examples, you’ll leave with a keen sense of your place in the history of personal expression, and a renewed vigor for making your best stuff ever.
‘From Greeks to Geeks’ or ‘Are You Worthy?’ http://uncleweed.com/ Dave Olson (@uncleweed) gave a mind-blowing presentation at NerdCamp Whister (AKA WordCamp) about censorship, copyright, content creation, history, beauty, art, and the internet. These 5 videos are the 5 10 minute segments from his talk. If someone wants the pieces to string together please let me know and I’ll get them in your hands.
Tweets/Blogs: The folks really seemed to enjoy the schtick and highlighted favourite bits in Twitter reactions and blog posts. How about a sampler?:
Miss604: @uncleweed just used the word “douchebaggery” #wcw09 I think he’s everyone’s hero at WordCamp Whistler at this point Jan 25, 2009 01:00 AM GMT · Reply · View Tweet ·
nataliesisson: No 69 is my player number and it just came through for me as I won some excellent poetry from @Uncleweed at #wcw09 being attendee 69! Jan 25, 2009 01:13 AM GMT · Reply · View Tweet
And Dave Olson knitted together Aeschylus, Jack Kerouac, Guam, mimeographed punk fanzines, ice cream, heroin, and art in his presentation.
snickerdoodles: Word Camp Whistler…24 Jan 2009 by kerry macleod Here is a photo and poem from today’s final speaker Dave Olson. One of the few I actually followed and understood completely the whole time. He had real props like books.
Random stuff from WordCamp Whistler 200925 Jan 2009 by John Dave Olson ended the day with his talk and had the entire audience hanging on his every word. He invited people to sit up front and close since he wasn’t using the projector…and lots did. It was a great session to end the conference
Photos: Heaps of rad shots (see Uncleweed + WCW09 on flickr) in my new toque and riffing from the mighty tomes hidden in the suitcase.
My WordCamp Whistler cohort and ace Vancouver photographerKris Krug shot video of my entire “Are you Worthy?” spiel with his new Flipcam and posted it in a YouTube playlist in 5 segments for your viewing convenience – huge thanks!
‘From Greeks to Geeks’ or ‘Are You Worthy?’ http://uncleweed.com/ Dave Olson (@uncleweed) gave a mind-blowing presentation at NerdCamp Whister (AKA WordCamp) about censorship, copyright, content creation, history, beauty, art, and the internet.
These 5 videos are the 5 10 minute segments from his talk. If someone wants the pieces to string together please let me know and I’ll get them in your hands.
Really truly pleased to read all the kind words from folks who rolled by my Northern Voice presentation F*** Stats, Make Art – sorry for messing up your SEO mojo with the inappropriate title ;-). To all who showed up, thanks! Really a treat to see so many friends, heros, colleagues and new friends smiling back – makes doing my “Dave O Show” a blast.
I really dumped my guts into my spiel about making art with the mighty tools at our disposal. With a group of opinionated, smart and savvy folks, I wasn’t sure if my message would be redundant or met with indifference or confusion. The resultant cavalcade of positive remarks suggests I articulated much of what i set out to share.
Hmm … what do I come up with for next year? As per the convo percolating at Nancy White’s post, perhaps a creative arts track of some kind is in order. As for me, I’d very much to learn about the other part of the publishing business which i know very little about – agents, distribution, editors and all that. Remember tis important to know much fu!
Also a lovely treat to riff with my Crazy Canucks colleagues in the Sports Blogging and Podcasting panel. This rag-tag group grew into a team over the past 61 shows and the panel was as easy and intuitive as the podcasts. We know each others strengths and are “giving” to one another in the conversation. The questions in the session were great and show a real understanding of the weird tension we have with the “official”ness of the Canucks and the trade off of objectivity and creative control vs selling out.
Alanah and JJ live outside the Vangorrvy tech industry bubble and run the two most popular Canucks blogs out there. Alanah’s is famous for drunken live blogging which is no surprise why she ranks #1 for drunken canucks fan. JJ is the people’s ambassador to GM Place – walking the concourse with him is a task as he’s stopped more often than Mike Weaver would. And of course my good buddies the Bollwitts – the Vancouver blog and podsafe music podcast darlings.
Mighty Thanks to the kinds people who organized the event. I’ve becomes great friends with some of these diligent inclusive and inspiring peeps and truly enjoy learning more about their many skills and noble dedication to knowledge sharing. I encourage others to step up and help out driving the vision of the event going forward. Special thanks to KK, Boris and Roland who (unbeknownst to them) served as sounding boards for bits and pieces of my presentation in progress. Their reaction, diatribes and riffs helped my schtick for the better.
So if you’ll pardon me, … for the self-indulgence file, here’s an annotated NV08 roundup for personal archeology (in no particular order):
{Note: Last year’s podcast presentation induced the creation of yet another podcast feed which features all my odds and ends which don’t fit elsewhere from marketing lectures to sound seeing strolls. This is now a series i guess.}
After Matt’s talk, I sat in Dave Olson’s session called “F&*% Stats, Make Art. He’s clever and funny. Dave’s big into the podcast side as well. I also spoke to him briefly after he spoke – very gracious.
Dave Olsen rules. He is swearing too. He is swearing so much his talk is called “f— stats, make art”. He stresses that we should put our hearts into our work, otherwise what we are doing is just bullshit. And that we need to start really caring about what we are creating. On and control your transparency; because he doesn’t really want to know all that shit about you. All humor aside it was an inspiring talk, Olsen stressed that we should get back to ourselves “people say that if you want to be an artist you need to go to art school – bullshit – study yourself” states Olsen. Find your craft and take it seriously he states, and there is a big difference between typing and writing. (Dave Olsen)
today i want to tell you about the session that touched me the deepest. it was dave olson’s “f**k stats, make art”. miss 604 has a great synopsis of it, and you can find my notes at the end of this post.
one of the things that became very obvious for me after dave’s presentation was sadness/frustration/disappointment that i had abandoned my practice of doing at least one piece of “artful writing” a day, no matter how short, kitschy or silly. dave may just have just stirred me enough to go back to that.
so i ended up writing two poems and would like to dedicate them both to dave.
thanks to dave olson, no. 1
a concussion of the most
mindful sort
comes over me as i indulge in these
northern voices.
poems must be written,
suns must be risen,
earths must be quaked
in this pyramid of
gentle thoughts
– not just yours,
not just mine –
that shake up this world.
I did one last year on Stats: The Forbidden Love, and given that this year there was a talk on “Fuck Stats: Make Art” maybe it’s time for another one. After all, they are independent principles, not antagonistic. And Oscar Wilde cared passionately about his stats, you just know it.
{Note: This is a sweet piece of prose!}
But I must admit, even as an Egalitarian of long standing, that there is something wrong with a world in which grown men are not ashamed to admit they’re too scared to go into neighborhoods that don’t frighten a woman. They looked me in the eye, one after another (the men, not the eyes; mine are virtually on top of one another, except the ones I keep in the freezer) and told me that the Gallery Gachet wasn’t in Gastown, it was (horror of horrors!) in the Downtown EastSide (although the out-of-towners called it the Lower East Side, presumably thinking it was a wormhole to Manhattan or something). As if Gastown were an idyll of upper-middleclassdom, which it is not and never has been. The people who work in Gastown are convinced it’s a postcard and that the bums and junkies they see on the street each day are “spillover” from the Downtown EastSide, just on the other side of Maple Tree Square. That the junkies, streetwalkers, and bums have been there since 1860 never seems to occur to them and, day in and day out, they remain convinced that it is the down and outs who are the anomaly, not the chino-clad technologists and graphic designers.
After catching yuppie cooties at the Lame-lighter, i led a rag-tag gang (past the endlessly sprouting fancy furniture stores) on a late-night foray to the Gachet where we imbibed and roasted til the last Seabus sailed. Dig what they are brewing up there for sure.
PS My spiel about the fucking of the stats and so on … was more about inspiring folks to step it up and reap validation from producing quality work which evokes passionate responses rather than settling for the saccharine pleasure of statistics. There is some audio of my pontifying somewhere.
Have I mentioned before that our pal Dave Olson is awesome? He’s here to talk about how Art Makes the Future. History may have been forged by popes and generals but the only reason we KNOW about it is because someone took the time to write and paint about it.
{Note: My pal Miss604 took attentive notes which resemble my own scribblings – which i’ll post once i recall where i stashed the bits}
Stephen Rees I had three pages of scribbled notes in my moleskin to transcribe. It seems to me that you got the spirit if his – very impressive – presentation.
Apparently, Dave was on the same stream as our “Writing on Walls” session – tapping into our creativity. I’m glad the session was recorded and blogged. It was interesting to see that there were quite a few sessions that pinged on a central core of creativity.
{my comment:}
Indeed Nancy, i’d hoped to hang out in your arts and crafts funtime and enjoyed seeing lots of creative hi-jinks going on. Not sure if you remember but you made a great “podcasting lunch” sketch for my amigo Cosmo and i at Mindcamp 1.0 in Seattle. I also enjoyed your ’symbolic word poetry remix’ wall.I wish you could’ve stopped by to enjoy my schtick (and i’d have enjoyed your input for sure) but gratefully the recording and remarkable notes will tide you over til next year. With all these common themes emerging … How about a “analog expression” track? I was also displeased being up at the same time as Monique’s preso about books and writing and missing Alan’s tour de force ~ sigh.
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Facebook Wall round-up (used without permission with my pardons):
Keith Bao wrote at 5:19pm
“Know Much Fu”I f*@!k’n dig this!!!!!!
Refreshing and honest, down to the core.
It was an honour to be there listening.
I’m home sick today and have been listening to back episodes of Postcards from GB for the last hour or so…listened to the most recent one twice cause I liked it so much :-)Ditto on the session motivation. Totally inspiring.
I had expected something bordering on more technical, but still had a good [and informative] time listening to all the speakers; including my friend Stephanie’s talk on design, and Dave Olson (aka. uncleweed) and his Fuck Stats Make Art motivator.
There were two more sessions that were seminal. First, Dave Olson producer, writer and visionary gave a great talk about the need to make art, not stats. Truly great rant that put a number of things in perspective for me. We get so caught up in the techno, the art suffers. It shouldn’t. And if Dave has anything to do with it it won’t. When everyone seems bent on promoting wikis, blogs, 3rd Life and all the other accoutrements, Dave was extremely refreshing. I would suggest you follow his work. This guy is truly unique.
After looking at the schedule the first thing I saw was the Sports Blogging and Pod Casting. Which I am very excited about because that is the Industry I want to have a career in. I have heard about the speaker Rebecca Bollwitt from many people and with not a lot of women on the panel, I am quite excited!I think another session with Dave Olson will be interesting F*** Stats,Make Art which seems like my sort of thing and will be a good discussion.
{note: kudos on the fine taste to get the Daveo double-hitter ;-0}
Dave Olson also had an outstanding session about making art instead of worrying about “fucking stats”. Looking forward to hanging more with these guys in Austin real soon.
If you missed it, plan to go next year and book early. Maybe next time they will have decent coffee, enough food for lunch and somewhere to hang your coat up. But these are minor quibbles. Excellent presentations today from Matt Mullenweg, Marc Canter, Dave Olson and Alex Waterhouse Hayward.
I was really looking forward to meeting a lot of bloggers whom I’d only read or heard about, as well as picking up a few tricks of the trade for myself.Hope to catch up with her at the Green Living show for happyfrog’s frogblog – IT’S ALL GREEN, IT’S ALL GOOD
Dave Olson’s podcast features a rousing rendition of the Canadian national anthem, his antics in Amsterdam and an impromptu longboard hockey game at the University of British Columbia’s Chan Centre.
{note: the Canadian anthem referenced is a humorously lackluster rendition from the Canadian Little League championship in Whalley, Surrey BC – fortunately i keep better versions in the feed too ;-))
I’m spoiled because new product demos are a dime a dozen in SF. I’m less interested in the technology available than I am in the way it is used. For this reason, my favorite presenter was a fellow I’d never heard of, Dave Olson.Dave Olson is a bit of hoser. He produces the Canucks Outsider Podcast, published a grade school punk zine featuring D.O.A and publishes Uncle Weed- a marijuana lifestyle blog and podcast. Olson’s lecture, entitled, “Fuck Stats, Make Art” was a welcome change from the widget wankery preached at most conferences. Olson entertained with embarrassing childhood anecdotes while still managing to deliver a great message.
He argues that somewhere in the process of monetizing and analyzing the web, content producers have sacrificed their need to create art and have fun. In essence, they’ve become meta-douches. It seems Dave Olson is putting the passion back into publishing and as long as this hoser keeps giving ‘er, I’m behind him 100%.
Dave Olson commanded a pre-lunch time slot with his rousing, bullet-point-free presentation entitled “F*ck Stats, Make Art” at Northern Voice 2008. “Art makes the future” Dave states. What we know about history is based on art, because someone chose to record it. Technology changes our focus on what art is. Oil paints were a technology revolution that allowed post-impressionist painting. The Internet has lowered the bar immensly for the distribution of art, but the most popular content seems to be the least meaningful, most simpleminded things like “some guy dancing around the world“.
Dave goes through a brief history of things he has created over the years: from a photocopied punk rock fanzine, through paintings, poetry, photography, writings, and now podcasting. He contrasts craft vs. art: you can take pride and enjoyment in your craft, your day job, but the meaningful personal expression comes through in art. Embracing translucency, instead of transparency, is his policy. No one cares to hear minor details of your life, and there should be things you don’t want to share, but you do want to put your whole self in the work. “Declare your story” and talk about what you create; “put the log back in blog”.
A slide with Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin pops up, and Dave goes into redefining success. Validation can be found from things other than stats, such as reader/listener mail and feedback. Success is for each person to define for themselves. Hold yourself to high standards and maintain your reputation. Hunter S. Thompson is referenced, in that he could write anything because he was very good at it. Rewards will come, possibly when you’re dead, but good art will have longevity. The presentation concluded with a standing ovation.
Whether they knew it or not, intended it or not, the following people challenged me to think a little harder about creativity and craft. People close to me wonder why I don’t identify as being creative. The following Northern Voice speakers have me wondering too.
Dave Olson challenged me to step it up a notch, and to consider another media form if I’m struggling at the one I think I’m good at (writing). Podcasting, maybe? I don’t like the sound of my own voice, so that strikes video out as well. Photography is the medium I sunk the most into already, so I will try to bring the SLR to more places, make the same mistakes everybody makes when they start out, and document the process better. I’d like to learn how to draw. And sing. Outside of the conference, he remarked that he likes to find a third place, away from work and away from home to be creative. This has me thinking of the ideal place to work somewhere (and on something) not domestic and not commercial, but somewhere in between.
(I know that my desire to learn how to sing directly conflicts with the angst about hearing my voice, so don’t bother pointing that out.)
My favorite presentation of the weekend wasn’t about blogging at all, but rather a homage to making art; a visually stunning and clever rant by my good friend Dave Olson entitled “F*ck Stats, Make Art.” A standing ovation followed his talk, and I think I was first on my feet.
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Who’d I miss? Post a link to join the muster roll. Thanks again to all for the kind words – i look forward to seeing what you brew up! Keep an eye and i’ll post my notes or slides or something, sometime, maybe …
Here are some of your favorite DaveO NV08 photos from other Flickr members.
DJ Snailmail and DJ Anon discuss Letters from Russia with writer Dave Thorvald Olson on the WriteNow! The Art & Action of Letterwriting show, Dec. 2007 on Santa Cruz Free Radio – Low-power unlicensed station – also streaming live.
For this Remembrance day, i will be posting the final chapter of the White Poppies for Remembrance podcast series on Postcards from Gravelly Beach and then hi-tailing out of town, bound for the Sunshine Coast for some relaxing and remembering.
Remembrance Day Run – Hershey Harriers @ Brockton Oval
Remembrance Day Service - City Legion @ Grandview Park
Remembrance Day Service - Royal Canadian Legion #16 @ Memorial South Park
Remembrance Day Service - Japanese Canadian Memorial Society @ Japanese War Memorial, Stanley Park
Remembrance Day Service - Royal Canadian Legion #179 @ Victory Square Park
Rolling out podcasts at a usual epic pace including a few new series and guest appearances of sorts – so, in case you missed any these new and old series, here you go:
Raincity Radio – i’ve resurrected an old series, previously shepherded by Mark Yuasa, Robert scales, Megan Cole and others .. so far busted out a healthy batch about web community building in Vancouver and elsewhere with guests including Jordan Behan, Marc Laporte, Boris Mann, Robert, Francis, Erik, Mark, etc.
Dopecast95: LIVE from Vancouver and Seattle!
My UK counterpart came to visit and we talked and toked and recorded it all for your listening pleasure. I offer half-asses analysis about the urban mileiu of Vancouver, forests, transportation, planning, politics, weed …
Roland’s Rabble
discussion about the open soft/hard OpenMoko and other phones seeking to shake up the mobile industry (iPhone, rumoured Google phone) with Bryght’s Mr. Furley and PhP guru Audrey F.
Postcards from Gravelly Beach
Final chapter of the White Poppies for Remembrance series – out in time for Remembrance day – this “back cover” of the series features me spieling on about the remnants and artifacts of war and the folks pointing the troops to conflict and their motivations while wandering around London
Postcards from Radio Zoom
Radio Zoom John and I are planning a plan to bring the music i used in the WPfR series to his music-focused show.
This includes:
World of Hurt – Drive by Truckers
White Daisy Passing – Rocky Votolato
Mercy -
Refresh -
Providence – Chris Jacobsen
Brokedown Palace – Grateful Dead
First Vietnam War/Snipers at the Gates of Heave – The Black Angels
Gone Beyond – Akron/Family
Be Joyful! -
ahh,… the i’ll jsut looka the White Poppies archive
another PfGB- more with Wm Lenker at the Woodshed this time a sort of John Sinclair inspired reading – seeking the right JS tracks to combo it with, Comso, you got some Sinclair beat tracks for me?
Choogle on!’s section of the Podcast Queue clean-out bonanza is nearing an end, next up (in no particular order):
- Numbskulz grow up – the third installment of these rocksters
- London last wander, maybe a bonus show about getting to London from vancouver with thoughts on NYC and elsewhere – might go under the Feasthouse label if not Choogley enough
- Herby’s tales of ganja growing and swinging at Wreck beach recorded in a grow room with Dopefiend
- with the leftovers, mix up a “big psychedelic mop-up tray” of all that’s left including a drunken (well me anyhow) discussion on the role of union in modern economy, some clips of the Dalai Lama’s Canadian citizenship ceremony, hanging out watching Seattle planes land with Cosmo, etc.
So this winter, move on to:
- Clayoquot recordings, water shortage, first nations reservation, skateboard comp, sitting in the woods with eagles perched overhead, wandering along trails, reading poetry and essays on clearcuts …
and record (possibly “instudio”) discourse on:
War resistance – seeking refuge in Canada
Marc Emery – extradition hearing status
Immigrating to Canada – ways and means
Growing weed in a small space – safe and personal
Another Urban Vancouver:
HempC soda pop taste test
Next on Raincity Radio:
Scales’ international business exploits to China, Blogworld and more
Michael Fergusson about web communities for families and Facebook marketing Kinzin
Boris and Francis about best practices for Drupal debuggin process management
Dmitri, William, Colin at BAD Camp
Upcoming Olympic Outsider:
a couple interviews which still need edited, release and all that with Duff Gibson and Crispin Lipscomb
In case you aren’t checking out the Postcards from Gravelly Beach spoken word literature podcasts i brew up (they ain’t for everybody i suppose), you may want to check out a wee series i am (finally) editing from last Remembrance Day (Nov. 2006).
Come on along as i start with a bowl of oatmeal and trek downtown to (ostensibly) congregate in some ceremony and end up hanging out reading the goods in Victory Park, at New Amsterdam cafe plus Gastown alleys and finally back on North Shore porch. Topics include white poppies, peace, non-peace, aggressions, human rights and human potential, art and culture, the conditions of the Downtown Eastside and life of a resistance fighter.
Not quite the regular Postcards from Gravelly Beach style but whatever, … check out the fist two episodes which sorta set the stage for the next half dozen episodes.
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