Morning Brew: March 29th

Morning Brew is going to Cuba for a week. Expect a renewed revolutionary socialist zeal. Oh, and cigars.

The devil will find work for idle cars. Ticketing idling vehicles sounds like a good idea...

except nothing is being done to curb urban sprawl.

While Frustrated university students take bus schedule matter into own hands. "The key to the program is the five-digit number assigned to every Vancouver bus stop, found on the lower left-hand or upper right-hand corner of the bus stop sign. Boxall and Faletski mapped out the bus stops and calculated the time in between them, and then cross-referenced them with the appropriate bus schedules." Now we just gotta work on making the buses actually be on schedule...

And good luck calling a cab.

The Power of the Arts in Vancouver: Creating a Great City: "When you think "Montreal," a kind of "Montreal feeling" comes to mind...But is there anything you can point to and say, "That is so Vancouver!" We reluctantly have to say no. And that's too bad, because while it lacks a cultural identity, Vancouver feels like it's on the cusp of emerging as a great city of the world that can achieve that rare status as a global cultural capital".

Oooh, I don't know, I think our lack of identity is 'so vancouver'. No seriously, look at Fred Herzog's work and you'll see that we're in a sort of constant transition. Expo was supposed to give us an identity, and now 2010 is the next great hope. In Unfinished Business , Bill Jeffries writes "since its inception Vancouver has enjoyed a perpetuated adolescence that has persisted through its various developmental stages" yet through the photography of that particular exhibit, "an identifiable Vancouver emerges, not one that we nostalgically long for, but one that vacillates freely between past and continuous present".

Since I'm leaving you, this Morning Brew is a double-long espresso. Keep sipping. (Get it? Oh man, I kill myself. Is this thing on?)

Hating hobos is the new racism.

The man who said: "We could fill up an 18 wheeler, just like the Germans did with their POWs in their trains - just cram them up so they can't even sit down" now has a blog. You know Jeff, Hitler thought people didn't like him because his 'ideas were too radical' too.

While City Report Pushes Privatization of Homelessness What's the difference between a business asking for a tax handout, and a poor person asking for a handout?

And Homeless Papers Go Global. Won't someone give the papers a home?

Jamie Lee has second thought on Olympic flag theft. "Perhaps I went overboard in my critique since it is being alleged that the theft was committed by Aboriginal youth". So its okay if aboriginal youth steal the flag, but not white people? I'm confused.

Meanwhile over in Beijing, the rush to meet the 2008 Olympic deadline undermined by subway collapse. Well, at least that can't happen here, right?

Meeting to discuss model school leaves parents of special needs students worried. "What is this? A school for ants? How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read... if they can't even fit inside the building?"

The City of Vancouver is hosting a public meeting to provide information on its draft supportive housing strategy. April 5, 7-9:30 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)
Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive. I can't make it, can you reprahzent?

Man, I'm also going to miss Man Man, Great Lake Swimmers, Genghis Tron w/ Bison, FakeShark and that crazy gem sweater lady.

And Vague Undertaking. Maybe I shouldn't even go to Cuba.

Mmmmmm, on second thought...

See you next Monday.