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EVENTS B2

: GHT
KATHY FLORITTO

The road to
nowhere

HERE’S NOTHING to do.
Recently, that sentiment was the

focus of an unsigned letter sub-

mitted to the Terrace Standard.

Sheer modesty obviously forbids the author
taking credit for his/her literary masterpiece, but
the tone suggests it was probably penned by a
droopy-faced bundle of gullibility who believes
that Anywhere (a suburb of Somewhere, a City
found Everywhere) is Nirvana compared to
Nowhere - Nowhere, of course, being the un-
official, but universally recognized term of
endearment for Right Here.

It’s the theme bleat of ‘‘Dullards United in
Dissatisfaction,’ otherwise known as the
DUDs, an international ‘‘choir’’ determined
that the world shall hear its plaintive message
24 hours a day.

Its members have slumped shoulders, a con-
sistently glum expression and a well-practiced
moan. Althougli the faces change (some just get
older), DUDs are alive and well and living in
beautiful, downtown Nowhere, which is, in case
you missed it the first time, always Right Here.

DUDs come from Old Money, New Moncy
and Never Enough Money, all cul-de-sacs in
Nowhere. Oddly, although it is a street of great
length and has a huge, overcrowded population,
No Money harbours few DUDs. Folks that live
on No Money are referred to as the ‘‘dirt poor,”

dying,”’
Most of them are too busy working at staying
alive - can’t make it to choir practice. Besides,

uniforms. :
No, they’d never make it as a DUD.

and transportation to be provided on demand.

_ Passing grades, when in school and a ‘decent’
paycheque, according to the unwritten code of
the DUDs, should be their just reward for show-
ing up, with a bonus on both for arriving on
time.

Those No Money types will stand, un-
protected, in the desert’s blazing sun, with no
shelter to protect them, or on some windswept,
forty-degree-below-zero patch of ice, just to
register for a school...any school. And the word
“‘paycheque”’ draws a complete blank! Nape.
Definitely not DUD material. .

Occasionally, a few DUDs stop howling long
enough to listen to the concert.

Some can’t believe what they’re hearing -
it's....it’s....Awful! This can’t be!!

Instead of the powerful force for changing ali
the Nowheres and the nobodies that call them
home, this shrill cacophony is so nauseating, so
ridiculous that all those nobodies are wearing
ear plugs!

DUDs no longer, the enlightened few take
Stack of their fiitle piece of Nowhere and
wonder what it is thal keeps all those nobodies
living Right Here.

Must be a secret...but, how to find out?

Remembering the line, ‘‘if you can’t beat ’em,
join ’em,’’ former DUDs decide infiltration is
the key. Lacking enthusiasm, but willing to try
anything, they look for ways lo become more
familiar with their families and communities,
beginning with their immediate environment.

Whatever happened to that big smile of a
fence with its gleaming picket tecth gleaming
like snow on a sunny day? Who exchanged it
for those ugly, weather-worn sticks leaning over
what used to be the lawn? Come to think of it,
where’s the lawn??

Are four-foot weeds, artfully placed around
hard, bare patches of hardpan, the ‘in’? thing
.these days? And how did Mom and Dad age so
fast?!

As ex-DUDs gradually lear more about the
people around them, they jump in and help
those who need assistance. They don’t wait to
be asked and they don’t ask to be paid. What an
experience! !

It's strange, how a place can switch from
boring to busy in such a short tlme - even
stranger to find there are never cnough hours in
the day to do all that needs doing: But strangest
of all is the warm fecking of satisfaction and
belonging that rewards the active, reformed
DUD who’s concern for the well-being of
others outstrips his former preoccupation with
himself. ,

Nowhere? Oh, that’s Anywhere.

Right Here? Why, that’s Somewhere! Every-
one who lives here knows shat...

_ an apartment building, and

“insulated.

the ‘‘oppressed,” the ‘‘starving, sick and

they don’t know the words and can’t afford the

TERRACE STANDARD

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 4, 1996 - B1

SECTION B

Mustard plasters recalled |

AFTER MORE than 40
years of nursing, on and off,
Lola Hull is finally hanging
up her uniform for good.

When Hull graduated
from the Vancouver Voca-
tional Institute in 1949, hers
was only the fifth class of li-
censed practical nurses.

“It was a mew concept
then,’’ says Hull,

Upon graduating she in-
lended to take her new de-
gree and work her way
around the world, but she
only got as faras Terrace,

Alter a year of working
for the Vancouver General
Hospilal she transferred to
Terrace’s Red Cross outpost _
hospital.

“The daffodils were in
bud in Vancouver and here
it was 20 below and the
snow was so deep,’’ says

Hull of the month she
moved, ‘‘T said to myself —
what have you done?’’

Most _ people today
couldn't imagine Terrace
without Mills Memorial

Hospital. But it was only
built in 1961, Before that
the town relied on the 12-
bed outpost hospital, which
Hull remembers as being a
former army mess hall. ‘
Today the building is now

is located across from the
aquatic centre,

The rear of the building
was where the nurses’
quarters were located, and at
the time the. walls .weren’t

“IT used to wear my out-
door boots when I was on
duty at night in the winter,”
says Hull. -- - -

She tells stories of the old
days to some of the younger
nurses at Mills. For in-

stance, she remembers

mixing up mustard plasters

to put on patients’ chests.
And any patient requiring

LONG TIME nurse Lola Hull is retiring this month. Hull started her nursing career in Terrace in the old Red
Cross outpost hospital. It only had 12 beds at the time, and she remembers having to wear her outdaor boots
in the winter when she was on duty, since the building was so poorly insulated.

any sort of operation had to

A DUD expects money, food, clothing, shelter.

have an enema before going
into OR
“T can’t believe the
changes in medication, the
diagnostic taois,’” she says.
Sometimes she — thinks

too heavily on medication
instead of common sense
and prevention, but on the
plus side she says many pro-
cedures are a lot less risky.
Hull’s three children were
born in the old Red Cross

hospilal, and she took a
number of years off to care
for them. But she couldn’t
slay away long, and came
back part lime from 1966-
72, aud then began full time

the unit clerk for the medi-
cal surgical ward.

“I've really enjoyed it,”
she says of her career. ‘Tt
would be kind of stupid to
slay this long othcrwise.”’

Hull’s last day is Decem-

ber 8, but she has mixed
feclings about leaving.

“One moming 1 might
show up here in my
uniform,’* she jokes, ‘1’ll
have forgotten that I've
relired,”’

modern medicine might rely

the charities taking part.

NOT MANY small cities can boast of hav-
ing their own symphony orchestra. The
Terrace Symphony Orchestra makes a
unique contribution to life in the northwest,

Conductor Jim Ryan and the members of
the TSO volunteer their time, rehearsing the
works of great composers, and giving con-
certs. Nothing can surpass lhe excitement
of a live performance, say supporters.

Now the TSO is asking for the com-

JOANN MERMANS and Anne Evans put the last bit of trim on the paraplegic
society's Christmas tree. They're hoping the tree will fetch a good price at the up-
coming auction at the Festival of Trees. Proceeds from the auction will go back to

again, this time working as

and 7.

Oh Xmas tree

CHRISTMAS TREES are a symbol of the holidays,
and now they’ve also become a symbol of charity.

The Miss Terrace Pageant Society has organized
the first-ever Festival of Trees, a fundraising event
which will take place this Sunday al the Coast Inn of
the West banquet room.

A number of local charities have donated decorated
Christmas trees to the event. These trecs will then he
auctioned off, with the proceeds going back to cach
charity,

So far 13 trees have been decorated, and a number
of donated wreaths will also be auctioned off.

Some of the charities taking part in the event are the
Stepping Stones Clubhouse, Terrace Anti-Poverty,
Skcena Valley Rotary Club and the Hospice Society.

But there’s more to the evening than just the auc-
lion of the trees and wreaths. Other highlights include
a 50/S0 draw, a gingerbread man and house contest, a
colouring contest and enterlainment.

The Miss Talent winner from this year’s pageant,
Jasmine Mattu, will be performing a dance. Lindsay
Davis, another contestant, will also be dancing.

The Pentecostal Choir and the Kermode Choristers
have offered their voices for the night, and Dorothy
Smith, Norma Stevens and Kylic Kane will also be
singing.

If you'd like to view the trees before the auction,
than be sure lo stop by the banquet room on Dec. 6

And donations of wreaths will also be accepted up
until Dec. 7. Just stop by Wallinda Crafts, the Crea-

tive Zone or the Crafters’ Gallery.

Orchestra looking for donations

munily’s support.

A donation of $250 or more would name
the contributor as a patron wand would
greatly assist the orchestra in purchasing
the larger, more costly instruments. Patrons
can also adopt an instrument.

A sustaining contribulor is. someone

making -a donation between $100-$249. .
‘This money would help buy music and in-

surance, Last year's music costs were over

$2000 — about $100 a selection,

A donation of less than $100 would name
the contributor as a sponsor, The money
would be spent in many ways, including the
$50 cost for a practice facility for one night.

You can make cheques payable. to the
Terrace. Symphony Orchestra, and - send
then) to Box 343, Terrace, BC, V8G-1B4.
Names of all contributors will appear in the
TSO programs. 7