INSIDE COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 TERRACE STANDARD: The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - B] OMMUNIT Y= SECTION B MY POINT OF VIEW ARON STRUMECKI Happiness is? I USUALLY don’t make it a habit of making great big sweeping state- ments, okay, not that often, but I can’t hold onto this one any longer. I’m bursting at the seams, and someone's got to know. You see, I’ve finally figured out the problem with the world today, and it might be simpler than we think. In many ways, it’s an epic tale of miniscule proportions, bul please bear with me. It all started one day when the computer at work threatened to go on permanent vacation. My first assumption was the same one I made every time something went wrong with my computer: I had picked up a computer virus from the Internet. I don’t know where my paranoia about catching strange, unseen binary bugs came from, It might have something to do with the fact that I’ve never been willing to pay for an anti-virus program, so I’ve never really known definitively whether or not all my woes were caused by something uniquely viral. It didn’t help that a message would pop up periodically on my Hotmail account claiming, “One in every five computers is infected with a virus.” There was only one way to be rid of my paranoia once and for all. I finally broke down and bought a copy of a fairly well known Inter- net security program. The assumplion was that this would end my troubles once and for all. Instead, it turned a slow compuler into a stubborn mule, one that refused my every effort to get it to move, and left_ me cursing the name of every software de- veloper ever born. This did not leave me a happy camper. Consequently, the next day, I ended up in a rather heated conversation with a friend about computers, intellectual property, and the ethics of pirating software. An interesting con- versation to be sure, but it basically boiled down to two points. Technology has advanced to the point where it’s as easy to steal the soft- ware than it is to buy it, and software compa- nies charge too much for a product that is usu- ally full af bugs upon release. ‘Keeping everyone else happy becomes the real problem.’ Consequently, more than a few more un- scrupulous members of the society are doing everything in their power to make sure they don’t have to pay for software at all. On the other hand, software companies spend so much time rushing their products to market, as quickly as possible, that they usually don’t take much time to iron out all the bugs, result- ing in a product that can rain havoc on a com- puler system near you. That’s when my revelation hit me, as I was listening to the details of another round of peace talks in Israel, that’s when | realized what exactly the problem was. It’s the same problem that we’ve had since the beginning of time. The problem is that every human on this planet has the same goal in life; they want happiness. The rub, as Shakespeare would say, is that is that not everyone’s idea of happiness is the same, and we're usually not willing to let go of our own interests to help them out. Thus, keeping everyone else happy be- comes the real problem. . Just lock at what’s happening in the Middle East. Look at the centuries old fight between old fight because the beginning of this all hap- pened when the ancient Romans kicked out the Jewish People a long time ago after they pissed off the Emperor at the time. Consequ- ently, the Jewish people were without a home- land for a long, long time. It was a situation that was only rectified at the end of the Holo- only by repeating the same thing that the Ro- mans did by kicking the Jews out in the first place, It’s funny how we think the world has changed so much. We've had an Industrial Revolution, an In- formation revolution, and all sorts af revolu- lions before, afler, and in between. We've split atoms, sent men to the moon, and built ships that go far under the sea. Yet in the end, the same problems that plagued our ancestors are still the same that plague us today, whether we’re talking land treaties, peace in the Mid- dle East, or dealing with problematic software. We don’t know how to make.our neighbors happy. We’re too worried. about ourselves, and that’s the solution that we're really looking for. But don’t ask me. Give it a try. Finding what’s there Peter Dickson talks about the artistic process as his latest exhibit opens. By JENNIFER LANG PETER DICKSON stands over a blank piece of drawing paper he's set down on a makeshift table. “You close your eyes und just wait for that quiet place inside the artist says, a stubby black cylinder of charcoal in his yourself,” hand. Moments later, he starts mov- ing the charcoal over.the paper, in fluid, almost circular movements. “It's not whether you get a nice drawing or not,” he says, apprais- ing the [inal result, a tangle of black lines. “It’s what's there.” What's there is the shape of an angel, her wings visible against as she stands her long form, among the scribbles. Rotate the page and the draw- ing looks like something else, maybe a fish, he says, adding he'll produce maybe 10 to 20 sketches like this until he gets something he likes. And once he does, that’s it. The drawing is finished. “No fussing, It’s one off — mis- takes and all, warts and all, It’s what's there.” He calls it the “felt sense”. It helps to loosen him up, so he can find the inspiration he’s looking for inside his own imagination. Mountain Scape” series, now on view at the Terrace Art Gallery in Dickson’s latest exhibit, entitled Walk-A- Take his “Inner Bout. He began with a stark, black and while charcoal sketch that looks like the peak of a mountain. Tt was one of numerous sket- PETER DICKSON stands over one of his pastel drawings as he hangs his show, Walk-A-Bout, at the Terrace Art Gallery. series?” “These,” he says, gesturing at several dozen colourful pastel drawings, all titled Jaaer Mons- fain Scape, “all grew out of that.” He says he's spent about 12-15 hours on each one. It's a lengthy process. . He works from the original sketch to produce the subsequent works in a series, a process that allaws him to explore technique and style, ultimately adding more vocabulary to his own artistic lan- guage. “Art is a language. It’s an inner dialogue. Art's a dialogue. Putting it up on the wall for people to see it is part of the dialogue.” In the two years since his last show, he’s concentrated on water- colour sketches, he calls them. Select ones are included in the show, as are many af his pastel drawings, and even a couple of oil paintings, For Dickson, putting on an ex- hibit is a valuable, even essential, part of his own creative process, which is more like a journey than arriving ata final destination. It's only here at the gallery, where he can finaily see so many of his drawings —- created one ata time, over a period of months and years — in relation to one another. He can chart his progress. He’s created a huge, wall-sized drawing specifically for this show. He was inspired by the size of the Jews and the Palestinians. I say centuries : - caust and the Second World War, and then,. ches he made using the felt sense technique, a process he uses on a daily basis to keep the flow going, use MIKE SCOTT, left, and Bobby Ball during the 1993 federal election campaign. Northern original mourned BIG GAME hunting guide, politician and fiddler Bobby Bal! died last week after a brave battle with cancer. Ball, a memorable per- former on the bluegrass and country music stage at Terrace’s Riverside Music Festival in recent years, played the fiddle and gui- tar. He also sang. Skeena MP Andy Bur- ton, who delivered one of the eulogies at the funeral on April 13, knew Ball for 30 years. “We met for the first time way back at the re- gional district in 1971,” Burton recalled last week. “I remember he’d wear a sport coat and a cowboy hat and after the meeting he'd say, ‘I’m going to get out of this dude outfit and let’s go have a beer,’” The pair became close friends as Highway 37, the Stewart Cassiar Highway improved over the years, Ball ran unsuccessfully for the Social Credit Party against NDP candidate “Landslide” Al Passarell in 1983, Burton was his campaign manager. Ball later returned the favour, campaigning for Burton in 1986's provincial election campaign. A former big game hun- ting guide, Bal! moved to Terrace in 1985, when he sold the Glenora Guest Ranch, a 40,000-km square properly in the re- mote Stikine wilderness he'd operated for 20 years. Glenora, a former gold mining boom tawn on the Stikine River near Tele- graph Creek, attracted homesteaders because of its dry climate. As a young man, he worked as a hunting guide for his father at the family- run ranch, then called the Diamond B. Ranch. It was renowned among interna- tional hunters, Ball brought his exper- ience in the north country to bear on Reform party candidate: Mike Scott’s 1993 and 1997 election campaigns. “It’s a different kind of campaigning up in that part of the country,” Ball told the Terrace Standard in 1993. “It’s all personal con- tact up there.” Olson’s death ‘a great loss to the community’ councillor says TERRACE HAS lost another pioneer, Tom Olson passed away April 4 al the age of 82. Olson was the nephew of George Lit- tle, the man who founded Terrace. His father Knute Olson was bor in _ Norway, and arrived at the settlement of Kitsumkalum in 1907. Knute married Clara Little’s sister, in Mayme Best, 1913. The Olsons, a farming family, eventu- ally bought property on the east side of Kalum street, where Tom later operated the North Kalum Trailer Court. “He'll be a great loss to the commun- said. ity,” city councillor Lynne Christiansen Mayor Jack Talstra lived across the streel from Olson and his wife as a boy. He remembers borrewing their horses and riding in the field. At presstime, a memorial service was planned for. Monday, April 15 at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 13. He looked at it and thought, “Why don't I just take that and that as the icon the wall, located tantalizingly in the gallery's lower level, near a skylight. Continued on Page B3 to do a Around Town Looking for the right logo SECONDARY SCHOOL students across northern B.C. are invited to come up with @ new logo for an annual non-smoking campaign, Each January, the Blue Ribbon Campaign pro- motes a smoke free B.C. by mounting an education campaign during National Non-Smoking Week. The regional tobacco reduction program of the Northern Health Authority is looking for a new Blue Ribbon campaign loge - and possibly a new slogan — to reflect the north. Ideas include, “Wrap a blue ribbon around the North” and, “The north wants to go smoke free!” Logo entries must include a blue ribbon. The contest deadline is April 30. A winner will be cho- sen before World No Tobacco Day, May 31. Send your logo to Eleanor Taylor, the Regional Tobacco Reduction Coordinator, 300-3rd Ave., Ocean Centre Mall, Prince Rupert, V8J 1L4, Call 250-624-7480 for more information. Volunteers needed ARE YOU A good listener? Do you have good people skills? Are you comfortable talking with people about their experiences with cancer? If you said yes to all three, then the Canadian Cancer Society needs your help. The community- based organization is looking for cancer survivors to train for peer support programs. This is an opportunity for people who have sur- vived cancer to really help those who have cancer. Training is provided. Volunteers are screened. For more information please call Mark Roberts at 1- 800-811-5666 or email mroberts@bc.cancer.ca Garbathon Sunday SPRING CLEANING takes on a whole new per- spective Sunday. That’s when hordes of community-minded citi- zens will head out into downtown streets to collect garbage and debris deposited over the course of the long, blustery winter. The Greater Terrace Beautification Society’s 13th Annual Garbathon takes place April 21 from 1-3 p.m. Meet at the McDonald’s parking lot. Garbage bags (and treats once you’re done) wil! be provided, Next weck, local schools should be look- ing spotless, too, during the Cleanest School Yard contest. Last year’s winner was Veritas School. Parkside Ele- mentary earned honour- able mention. Lynne Christiansen Garbage cans: use ‘em painted this garbage can (above) using paint dona- ted to the beaulification socicly by Wightman and Smith, Safeway and First Commercial, Pe ey ree eres