Chief Bev Sellars is winner of the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness for her book “They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School”
‘Black Diamond Dust’ a personal journey for curator Jesse Birch
November 17th, 2014 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on ‘Black Diamond Dust’ a personal journey for curator Jesse Birch)“I grew up in what was originally a miner’s house on Jingle Pot Road, across the street from the Miners Park subdivision where, in the 1980’s, I delivered newspapers on Coal Tyee Trail and Black Diamond Drive”
Black Diamond Dust is a multi-site art exhibition which considers the coal mining industry that Nanaimo was built upon, an industry that both formed and fragmented communities through economic development, racial segregation and labour inequity, and served as the foundation of global industrialization. It runs until December 13, 2014.
Journey of self-awareness takes TJ Dawe deep into the Enneagram
November 11th, 2014 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Journey of self-awareness takes TJ Dawe deep into the Enneagram)The Enneagram system suggests that there are nine basic personality types of human nature, and subtypes and variations within the fundamental categories
In a thousand ways, writes author/performer T.J. Dawe, our culture directs us to be this and not that. Signals come in all forms, from all directions. And implicit in these edicts is the belief that our personalities are bendable as pipe cleaner, that we can choose to be someone radically different from who we’re inclined to be and mould ourselves into that new shape by sheer force of will. But what if that’s not true?
Memoir aims to help people understand mental illness without judging or stereotyping
October 28th, 2014 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Memoir aims to help people understand mental illness without judging or stereotyping)“What had happened to our beautiful happy life? Could it really be over for us? I just wasn’t sure if our love was strong enough to keep us together. I probably believed it wasn’t.”
It was an idyllic marriage. John and Marion were high school sweethearts who married and began a successful life together. He, an internationally respected scientist in his field and she, a business woman in her family firm. With three children and finally settled in Victoria. BC, Canada after stints in Vienna and Australia, tragedy struck.
Despite the eventual and probable diagnosis of late-onset schizophrenia, John and Marion struggled to hold their family together and to deal with an illness that usually strikes much earlier in life. This is their story of what happens when the mind betrays you.
Amanda Reaume discovers there are few options available for her depressed friend
September 17th, 2014 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Amanda Reaume discovers there are few options available for her depressed friend)“For people like Jessica, who don’t have employee benefits and don’t have extra money to pay for treatment, there are few options”
When Amanda’s friend Jessica (not her real name) lost her job and spent a year desperately seeking—but not finding—another, she fell into a deep depression. “I’m in debt. I’m having a hard time paying my bills. I can’t even get a job in fast food because they tell me I’m overqualified. I just feel like I can’t come back from this. That my life is over,” she told Amanda.
SirReal’s ‘Not Like Me’ a culmination of personal experiences brought to music, video
September 8th, 2014 | Posted by in uncategorized - (Comments Off on SirReal’s ‘Not Like Me’ a culmination of personal experiences brought to music, video)Nanaimo hip hop artist dedicates his latest video to the uniqueness present in all who have seen hardships and have the compassion to know that we are all human
Vancouver Island hip hop artist Matt Dunae—aka SirReal—has released the official music video of a single from his upcoming mixtape; both are named Not Like Me. The song, as SirReal describes it, is a micro story, a “culmination of experiences and harsh realities brought to light.”
From the depths of early childhood addiction, to the long walk down struggle street, the story follows SirReal as a young man, caring for his mother, and bringing her back from an overdose on the brink of death. The video then shows the separation that occurred between two brothers as the family they had grown up in was torn apart.
Copyright © 2026 All rights reserved.
Designed by 