The Toronto Zoo, from 1887 until 1973, was originally situated in Riverdale on a site overlooking the Don Valley. During this time, it was a traditional 19th century zoo where animals were kept in cages. In 1966, the Metropolitan Toronto Zoological Society was formed with the objective of developing a new zoo for Toronto. Construction began in the fall of 1970 and the Toronto Zoo, then known as the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo, officially opened to the public on August 15, 1974. One of the aims of the Toronto Zoo is to show not just the animals, but the animals in their native environments.
Late in the summer of 2009, I was in the process of looking for a new photographic project when a colleague mentioned that he was going to the zoo on the weekend. This discussion led to the idea of developing a body of work focusing on animals of the zoo. I wanted to try something completely different in order to get me out my comfort zone. I usually photograph by myself, early in the morning when no people are around. As most people know, the zoo can be a chaotic environment; hundreds of people walking around, screaming children and other photographers jostling for images. I was definitely out of my normal element.
My intent was to go to the zoo over several weeks and months and photograph the animals and their environment. After my first visit, I reviewed these initial images and decided to isolate the animals from this environment by blackening the zoo background in post production work in Photoshop. The result, images that are similar portraiture photography; portraits of the wild.
A Winnipeg woman is in custody after firing a rifle in a dispute over money at a home in the North End on Saturday night, police said.
The shooting happened just after 8:40 p.m. CT Saturday, at a home in the 100 block of Parr Street.
A 22-year-old man and a woman, 24, were arguing over rent money with a woman believed to be their landlady when their dispute turned into an armed confrontation, police said.
A woman, 35, pulled out a rifle, pointed it and fired, Const. Jason Michalyshen said.
“Obviously [she] wasn’t happy with the direction the conversation was going and took it to another level,” Michalyshen said on Sunday.
No one was injured in the shooting, police said. Police seized a firearm at the home.
The woman remains in custody and has been charged with a number of weapons offences, Michalyshen said.
Thomas Mars starts a hug fest after the Vancouver, B.C. show. January 22, 2010
This picture, taken at the end of the Vancouver, B.C. show totally sums up how I feel after 3 consecutive nights of Phoenix. I have a lot more photos and some video to upload but my computer … s l o w.
If you still haven’t heard about the Vancouver Phoenix concert, check out this video, which pretty much says it all. The video is great because I can almost pick myself out in the crowd, taking the pic from the post below @ 4:45, just before 1901 comes on.
Another cool thing about the video mentioned above is I can definitely spot myself dancing @ 1:44-1:49. Look for my little brown-haired head just to the left of Thomas.
Phyllis Heltay
From the Calgary Sun. Please follow this story at http://weird-load.blogspot.com/
“He has to come home.”
Phyllis Heltay’s words hang between desperation and disbelief.
She’s been fighting for over a year to bring her 11-year-old grandson home to Canada, after he was taken into custody by the State of Oregon and placed in foster care.
Noah Kirkman faces the possibility of being permanently adopted out to strangers, despite having a mother and sister in Calgary, and at least three willing homes where the Canadian boy might be cared for by blood-relatives.
One of those relations is Noah’s mother Lisa Kirkman, and therein lies the rub: Oregon’s Department of Human Services considers Lisa such an unfit parent, they’d rather keep Noah in the foster system than let him come home.
They won’t say why. Indeed, officials in that state won’t even acknowledge the existence of the Canadian child in their custody, who lives with a foster family and attends school near Eugene, Oregon.
“I am not able to provide you with any information about specific child welfare cases,” said Gene Evans, a state spokesman.
The silence is official, but Lisa Kirkman has reams of court documents to back her story, which started when social workers arrived on the doorstep, to take Noah away “for a few days.”
That was Sept. 2008, and Lisa has been battling to get her son back ever since, with her last physical contact in July 2009. Since last summer, they’ve only spoken through supervised phone calls.
“It’s an absolute and utter nightmare,” said Lisa, a 34-year-old freelance journalist.
“To me this is an abduction — they took my child from me for no reason.”
Lisa and John Kirkman rest in their home in Robert’s Creek in British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. Kirkman is the director of the Sunshine Coast Compassion Society Club, which dispenses marijuana for medical use. Renee C. Byer / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Noah and his younger sister Mia were staying with their step-dad in Oregon for the summer, with Lisa joining the family at the end of August to collect them home for school.
Unfortunately, Noah was collected by the local police force first. Officers in Oakridge, Oregon nabbed the boy for riding his bike without a helmet, and then struggled to determine who he was.
Noah is bright, getting top grades, but he has special needs, with severe attention deficit disorder being his main challenge.
Noah’s unusual behavior probably led the officers to run the boy’s name through their system, where they discovered his past history with Canadian social services.
Noah’s special needs meant Lisa had turned to child and family services in two provinces seeking help — as a result, she has a “record” of family difficulties in Canada.
To make matters more sticky, Lisa has a criminal record in Canada. She is a marijuana crusader and columnist, and was busted years ago for growing medical marijuana without a permit.
That past led Oregon officials to keep Noah and place him in foster care, forcing Lisa to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and swear off drugs before they’ll even consider returning her son.
His American step-father, John, can’t take custody, as he is not a legal guardian.
Despite “testing well”, according to court records and a letter from a Calgary-based psychologist, it was recommended Lisa undergo behavioral therapy, to teach her emotional control.
All the while, as months ticked by, Noah was moved through four different foster homes and various schools. At one point, he was living in a devout Christian home, despite being Jewish.
The seemingly-endless tangle of red-tape has even stymied attempts by Noah’s grandparents from bringing him home. If Lisa isn’t a suitable parent, they argue, why not give Noah to us?
“More than a year ago, we said we’d be willing to take him until this is all sorted out, but we’re still waiting,” said Heltay.
As well as the grandparents, both working professionals in Calgary, Lisa’s sister has offered her home.
Before the grandparents can take the boy, officials in Oregon want a full assessment of their home, and the Heltay’s now await an official inspector who will put their lives under a microscope.
Meanwhile, Lisa can only speak to her son over the phone, trying to remind a boy who last lived with her 20 months ago that he still has a loving family, 1,000 kilometers and an international border away.
“It’s like getting your heart ripped out,” said Lisa.
“If I allowed myself to get too emotional, I couldn’t function. I just have to focus on bringing him home.”
Lisa Kirkman is my friend and I love her dearly. That should be stated up front on this story because I am often on about journalistic integrity and bias. Sometimes, pilgrims, you have to take up the lance, then charge a
windmill.
Many of my readers will know and love her as Mamakind from the pages of Skunk Magazine and the blog sheets of CelebStoner where she has been practicing her particularly beguiling brand of free and freaky for years now letting us all know how to get our groove on in sometimes weird, but always creative ways. She is also a serious Marijuana Policy Reform activist in her native Canada as well. There, my friends, is the rub. Lisa has never been one to hide her ideals. In fact she has been extremely upfront and lived her life exactly as she sees fit. I salute her for that. Now, however, she is paying for some of those stands on sexuality, politics, and drug policy. Rather than attack her, however, there are powers to be in Oregon that are using her child against her… and hurting this innocent young man in the process.
At this point I am sure most of you have heard of Sean Goldman. All American Jewish kid kidnapped by a family in Brazil that thought they knew better how he should be brought up. While that story was everywhere from Fox, to MSNBC, to major mags on newsstands across the country- no one has even noticed what is going on in Oregon. America is doing the same thing to a Canadian citizen and no one seems to give a shit. Of course not. America is always right… right?
Here is the short version. I’ll provide more details in the days to come:
Child Protective Services in Oakridge, Oregon currently holds an 11 year old Canadian citizen with special needs (Noah Kirkman) against his will, that of his mother (Lisa Kirkman), the recommendation of Canadian authorities, and CPS in Calgary where his mother resides. This is unprecedented in United States history and is a brewing international incident. The US Department Of State has so far refused to become involved in this case in spite of the fact that it certainly violates the tenants of Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption of which the US became a signatory in 1994. Canadian authorities are becoming involved and the Lisa has obtained representation from an attorney specializing in this sort of law. The problem is that no one from our Federal Government to Canadian authorities know how to react because there has never been a case like this in United States. The CPS will not get involved on the Canadian side because they see no reason to be involved as they have cleared Ms. Kirkman as a fit parent. She currently has custody of her daughter in Calgary and they have been in her home. Our Federal government seems to be deferring to the local CPS in spite of the fact that the boy is a Canadian with no familial ties to the US outside of his stepfather who also wants the boy returned to Canada . An element of religious and cultural persecution is here as well. The young man is Jewish but has been placed with a fundamentalist Christian foster family. Noah has complained to Lisa that they refer to him as “Beaner” (he has dark skin because of his First Nations heritage) and “Dirty Canadian Jew”. They are forcing him to study Christian theology and will not allow him to attend Synagogue or celebrate Jewish holidays. Noah has also been put on heavy anti-psychotic drugs and his mother describes him as “drooling”. There was a mediation set for Dec. 7th 2009. Lisa sent me this statement on the 8th:
Last Thursday or Friday, the Governor’s office and DHS said that they refused to participate in the mediation at all. They also refuse to have their lawyers speak with any experts on international custody disputes and the Hague Convention.
At this point Noah is still being held prisoner in the United States. Lisa was basically told by the offices of congressmen and Canadian MPs that she has contacted that they would come to Noah’s aid if there were more media attention. There has been no interest because after all… the kidnappers are a local American government and Lisa is a known wild woman/activist who “flaunts” her “alternative” lifestyle in the face of strait America.
Here are contacts for CPS in Oakridge.
Here is a contact for the Mayor’s office:
Don Hampton, City Hall, 48319 E. First: 541-782-2258
If you care on whit for justice, or simply have compassion for a child who has been ripped from his family, kidnapped, drugged, and abused then please begin now. Perhaps this tiny ripple can start a wave. Please stay tuned on this one as there will be more details in the following days and weeks. Here is something that Lisa sent me recently… WARNING: It is heartbreaking to read.
If Jesus Were Born Today
Child advocates would remove the child from the custody of his mother when they discovered she was shacking with a guy (not the child’s father) in a barn. In most jurisdictions that would constitute child neglect.
Of course, Mary would have an underpaid court appointed attorney to represent her in the dependent-neglect proceeding, and Joseph would be out of luck once it was determined that paternity could not be established within a reasonable degree of medical certainty through blood or DNA testing (97% probability that Joe was the dad is sufficient, but absent divine intervention, that couldn’t happen, hmmm?). He would be excluded from juvenile court as a stranger to the proceeding and investigated for possible sexual deviance (all those oxen and asses around), and he would be told that he had no standing to object since he was not the natural father of the child and was not yet married to Mary (by their own admissions they had not yet consummated their union).
Mary wouldn’t dream of trying to explain that Jesus was the Son of God, out of fear of being labeled as delusional.
The Division of Children and Family Services would ask the court to order Mary to take parenting classes, and the Court would order that homemaker services be provided as well, since obviously Mary can’t keep house properly (the place where the DHS workers found the child was kept remarkably like a barn).
Mary would be allowed to have one visit with Jesus per week at the Centers for Youth and Families. The visit would be one hour long, and supervised by a therapist since Jesus would no doubt be put in therapeutic foster care to prevent psychological damage resulting from the horrible lack of civilization to which he had been exposed at such a tender age.
At the eighteen month dispositional hearing, the court would consider terminating parental rights because of Mary’s refusal to bring a paternity suit against Jesus’ true biological father (or even to identify him to the satisfaction of the Court). The Court would be appalled at the life choices Mary would have made: she would have completed her marriage to Joseph (that suspected sexual deviant) and had more children by him, which was obviously contrary to Jesus’ best interest.
Since Mary and Joseph had fled the jurisdiction with Jesus once to escape encounters with the authorities, they would determine that Mary and Joe had nefarious plans to abscond with the Ward of the State to Egypt again, where they would possibly engage in dangerous and illegal activities with him. Parental rights would be terminated, and Jesus would be put up for adoption. He would be adopted by the Herods, a well-connected and politically powerful family, who have been searching for just such a child as Jesus. Of course, Jesus will die in the custody of his adoptive family, because that’s all they wanted him for in the first place. Social services will NOT have intervened prior to his death because the state social workers could never imagine someone as highly placed as the Herods exploiting children or torturing them to death. The political ramifications for the Herods would have been too severe. In all likelihood, the social service agencies would cover up the death as one occurring from accident, and Herod’s good name will be preserved. -author unknown
Lately, I’ve been playing a LOT of Sims. But not as much as I would like. My poor, old, desktop computer, Lucy, aptly named for being loud, slow, and good-hearted, is the only computer on which I can play my glorious games. We have had her for almost seven years and in three countries, and before we all got laptops she was our only PC. But she must live in some weird version of dog years, where she ages ten times as fast as a human, because if she were a human, she’d be ancient. Not that she’s out of date. But dust from three different continents and multiple crashes can be rough on a…girl. Computer. Whatever.
Anyway, if you’re a long-time reader or a close friend, you know of my Sims obsession. I would play it all day, every day if I could, and I’d do it well. I do it well. I consider myself a damn fine Sims player, if you don’t mind my conceit. I put lots and lots of time and effort into my Sims and where they live.
But lately, my poor old Lucy has not been having the easiest time managing Sims. I get about 45 minutes before she crashes. I’m told by the very reliable peoples of the internet that it does this to stop from overheating. Like as a defensive mechanism. Like a gecko’s tail falling off if you try to pick it up.
So I’ve become paranoid, saving every five minutes and every time something big happens. It’s nerve-racking, really, but I’m too the point now where once it crashes, I kind of sit there, going, “Well. There that is.”
I don’t know why I love Sims so much. Tony used to argue with me that the game serves no purpose. You send someone to the bathroom, then to read a book. YAY, HOW FUN. But he never understood that it was, is more than that. You completely and totally bond with these simulated characters you’ve created. You cry when they get married, have a baby, and die. You plan their lives out from birth – a baby girl with high Outgoing levels is destined to be a spunky teenager and a revolutionary politician. Two roommates will fall in love, get married, make lots of babies, who will grow up, go to college, fall in love, get married, and make lots of babies.
It’s about fantasy. It’s about making beautiful people in gorgeous homes who don’t worry about money or school and can live nocturnally if they want to. It’s not weird for a grown man to wake up at 2 a.m. and play chess because he maybe someday will need more logic points, you’re not sure just yet.
So, yeah, it’s a bit of a cult gaming community, we Simsers. A great level of design and control skill goes into it, but you also have to be compassionate. These aren’t just overly animated people on a screen. They become real and you want to be around them all the time. And so the obsession is born.
Last night on nearly every Major TV network around the World, and online, was the Help for Haiti Now event, and the Canada Help for Haiti.
The Government of Canada have pledged to match the amount raised by individual Canadians, to help save the Haiti Victims of the Earthquake that hit nearly 2 weeks ago.
Hopefully the Residents of Windsor are also adding a small amount to this huge Donation on behalf of the Country to support these people. The Details to donate are on the Canada For Haiti Website now (www.canadaforhaiti.com)
When she returned
from overseas, people
complained that she stood
too closely, sometimes they could
feel her breath, soured by late afternoon,
a moist jet of speech…
With time she retreated and people
began to feel better again.
Whoever wrote it, we know one thing about them: they’re Canadian!
This plaque is sitting about twelve feet up on a wall on the corner of an alley at Keefer Street just East of Main.
Nobody knows where it came from, nobody knows who wrote it. Or do they? Do you? If so, let us know in the comments, for yea verily we are way curious.
Phyllis Heltay
From the Calgary Sun. Please follow this story at http://weird-load.blogspot.com/
Last night on nearly every Major TV network around the World, and online, was the Help for Haiti Now event, and the Canada Help for Haiti. 