vancouver

The unbearable whiteness of basic transportation

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Notes on racial profiling from a targeted traveller at YVR.

I probably fly to the United States at least four times a year, usually by myself. Being Mexican, I’m used to having my passport scrutinized, and I tend to expect that I’ll have to pull out my American and Canadian visas at every checkpoint. But earlier this spring, I travelled for the first time with my blonde-haired, fair-skinned, green-eyed Canadian girlfriend. And this was definitely her first time traveling with a person holding a third-world passport.

The morning of our flight from Vancouver to San Francisco—which featured a layover in L.A.—I probably seemed a little anxious, even though we were going on vacation. I had asked if we could head to the airport much earlier than what my girlfriend was accustomed to when she travels to the States.

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Foreskin advocates protest Vancouver U2 concert

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Wearing little more than black briefs and an “I heart my foreskin” T-shirt, Glen Callender is standing outside Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, where U2 is scheduled to play the first show for their “Innocence + Experience” tour.

This is the first of a series of pro-foreskin protests outside all ten of U2’s North American tour stops organized by Callender, who’s the founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project (CAN-FAP)—pun intended. CAN-FAP has even named Bono “Foreskin Enemy #2” (“Foreskin Enemy #1” is Bill Gates).

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PuSh festival kicks off 2015

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PuSh is constantly regarded as an event that “pushes” creative boundaries. It’s been just over a decade since the annual festival of local and international performance art got its start in Vancouver, a city that—just like the festival—is still growing into itself.

“The city has a sense of ownership in this festival,” explains Norman Armour, PuSh’s artistic director. “I think we remain who we began as in terms of our values and spirit. But we’ve grown in terms of our mission.” For the last 10 years, PuSh has been an ideal place to forge artistic partnerships, showcase groundbreaking local and international acts, and challenge audiences with innovative performances and events.

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