Nanaimo poet’s voice returns after a decade
Kim Goldberg is an author, poet, photographer and art activist. She has penned five full-length books, over 2,000 articles, and various chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in North America.
Between 1997 and 2005, her writer’s voice disappeared and when it returned, “new poems started to pour forth.” Kim told the Nanaimo News Bulletin that the new poems “were completely different…they were about the homeless encampments I walk by every day in downtown Nanaimo where I live.” Her poems about urban decay will be published this fall under the name Red Zone. (more…)
Former flower beds at Nanaimo’s city hall and at Beban Park have been turned into vegetable gardens to promote the local food movement. Three partners are involved in the demonstration projects. “This is a huge recognition of the importance of food and it will help move our community toward being self-sufficient,” Jessica Snider, executive director of Nanaimo’s Community Gardens Society, told the Nanaimo Daily News. 
Despite the growth in the use of the term, the meaning, practice and implications of “harm reduction” are matters of some dispute, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Former Saskatchewan member of Parliament Dave Batters took his own life on June 29, 2009 after a lengthy battle with anxiety and depression. He was 39 years old. Mr. Batters left federal politics in 2008, saying that he planned to work on recovery.
Will Hall is a 43-year-old man who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Doctors have prescribed medication for him. “But Hall would rather value his mentally extreme states than try to suppress them, so he doesn’t take his meds. Instead, he practices yoga and avoids coffee and sugar.” Will is also a member of The Icarus Project—an Icarista—and is involved in Mad Pride activities.* He’s also hosted Madness Radio for three years. [*Source: Newsweek, “Listening to madness”]. 
In British Columbia, the infection rate of hepatitis C is more than twice the national average. Rates in south and central Vancouver Island are even higher. The BC Centre for Disease Control estimates there are about 300 new infections each month. 