~ COMMUNITY EVENTS B2

INSIDE |

IMIR GETS , You are here

ou know those simple maps found in shopping malls or zoos that have ‘‘You are here’’ marked on them? I find them so

helpful.

As soon as you find the little box with “You are here’’ in it, you can orient your- self. You can see that the chocclate shop is three stores away, for example, or that you need to swing a left at the elephants if you want to see the monkeys and gorillas.

It would be so useful if we could have a ““You are here’’ map for life in general, not just for the small things like the West Ed- monton Mall, but for larger things like How to Maintain Democracy. Wouldn’t that be handy? *

Let’s say we could make a map like that. To orient ourselves in time, first we’d have to include the fact that Diana, Princess of Wales died just over a year ago, because I’m pretty sure historians of the future will argue that her death marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy. So there’s that milestone.

Next, a bit further away from our box marked ‘You are here’ is the Quebec referendum of October 1995. That’s when so many people voted Yes that they almost didn’t get a majority of people voting No, thereby expressing a very clear and emphatic Maybe to the whole question.

Closer to our box marked ‘You are here’’ we have the two Recall Campaigns of 1998 in which we apparently decided not to un- decide something we had previously de- cided. So there’s that decision.

Geographically, our ‘‘You are here’’ box is just under all the maps of the Nisga’a lands being shown on national TV and in Magazines and newspapers around the world. We here were practically famous for our fifteen minutes, while journalists passed through Terrace on their way to the story.

Just downstairs from us is the campus of UBC, where pepper spray was aimed at television camera operators and sludents with placards reading ‘‘Freedom of Speech.’’ The PM says now he had never heard of pepper spray, which might be true as he probably doesn’t hike around here too much, even in his spare time.

Fairly far away from our ‘‘here’’ box, two provinces over, we have the birthplace of the late great reporter Eric Malling, who died after complications form a_ brain hemorrhage, on September 28, 1998.

Democracy in Canada becomes more fragile with his loss. During TV coverage of the 1988 federal election, Mr. Malling said a Saskatchewan riding he was familiar with had been won by the NDP. Peter Mansbridge chastised him live, with his left hand chopping the air, saying, ‘Eric, now, Eric. CBC has not yet declared that official- ly.””

Our Eric just laughed. He was right in the end. And now we’re going to have to strug- gle along without him, which is unfair. He was 52 years old.

Then quite far to the south and east of our ‘there’’ location is the last available site on the National mail in Washington, D.C., where the planned construction of the Mu- seum of the American Indian has been halted. A rift between the Smithsonian In- stitute and Canadian-born Metis architect Douglas Cardinal may yet be repaired. Scheduled for completion in 2002, the Mu- seum is meant to be a symbol of forgive- ness and healing.

This is a very crude and simplified map, of course, and it is not to scale. Still, here we are, shortly after the deaths of Diana and Eric, shortly before the millennium bug will hit and shut down all or none or some of our most vital computers.

Here we are, north even of Hollywood North, west of almost every place else in the country, and just south of a neighbour- hood that has captured more attention than any of us are used to.

Oh, sorry. This kind of map only tells you where you are, not where you might like to go. If it were up to me, though, I’d take us straight to the chocolate and. skip’ the primates.

He &

By day he’s an administrator for the Kitselas native band. But by night Hal Stedham is THE KING.

The karoake king, :

It’s a well deserved title consider! on stage belting out karaoke tunes four nights a week. He started singing five years ago, Nowadays he’s so keen he goes to karaoke nights at George's Pub on Thursdays, ‘the Thornhill Pub on Fridays and Hanky Panky’s on Sundays and Mondays,

In fact, he loves itso much that he bought his own karaoke machine so he can sing at home, too.

“IfT can’t go to karaoke I suffer from with-' drawal,’’ he laughed. “It’s addictive.”?

Stedham really knows how to work the crowd. Singing his favourite song ‘‘Just a gigolo” (by David Lee Roth) he dances, pumps the mike and gets the audience to sing along with him.

He said songs like “(New York, New York” (Sinalra) were easy crowd-pleasers. He said he also docs a mean rendition of Neil Diamond

Born to be ro

ing he’s up

songs that make the ladies swoon!

At Christmas, he and his wife Barbara are going to Las Vegas, not to gamble but lo sing under the big city lights.

He.said.they’ve been to karoake bars that play until 6 am. ‘

“They have to throw us out,’’ he said.

When asked why he likes karoake so much; :

Stedham said, “‘It relaxes me. It’s the only thing T can do to take my mind off work.’’

For most people, karaoke isn’t exacily calm- ing.

Singing in front of an audience stillmakes Jon Blake sweat,

He's been singing at the Northern for a year

— ever since friends coerced him to sing a Beatles song one night,

“T’m a karaoke junkie,’’ he laughed. ‘I never realized I could sing, but people clap. I don’t know if its just out of kindness or what.’’

To Jon, karaoke is a goad stress-buster.

But he admitted the more drinks he has, the

KARAOKE: (Lett) Hal Stedham lets himself go sing- ing “Just a gigolo"at George's Pub last Thursday night. {Above} Pat Colgan sings a mean version of "Peggy Sue."

ck stars

SECTION B LEX HAMILTON 638-7283

better he sings.

Most people at George’s Pub August 1 agreed that alcohol plays a big part in how they sound.

“The first song I sang was crappy because [ didn’t have enough to drink,” said Carol Pur- cell, a visitor from Edmonton.

Purcell said that being a professional singer was always her dream, and karoake makes her feel like she’s the real McCoy.

She goes to karoake bars at least once a week back home and she didn’t want to miss out while she’s here.

Karaoke has been a hit in Terrace sincé Jaquie Munson brought the first karaoke machine to the Norther Motor Inn (George’s Pub) in 1990. ©

It was a new craze and I thought we could have a lot of fun with it,”’ she said.

But Munson said it didn’t get really popular until 1992, when the bar would be packed with closet rock stars.

“It brought people out of the shower,’’ she said laughing.

Mental illness conference helps break the cycle

Learning about men- tal illness could save a friena’s life.

AN ORGANIZER OF a conference on menial illness in Terrace Oct. 23-24 says the seminars will teach people mare about mental discases and how to help those in anguish.

‘You have to have the knowledge and information to stop the cycle of suffering of people with schizophrenia,’ ’said Josette Graham.

Grahain said that had she recognized the eatly warning signs of schizophrenia in her son Marshall, perhaps she could have stopped him from committing suicide last year,

“In hindsight I would have done things differently if 1 had known more about the disease,”’ she said.

She explained that the signs were there, but she couldn’t see the cycle Marshall was going through because she didn’t have knowledge of the disease,

“His depression became more than we realized and more than his friends real- ized,’” she said. ‘‘Flags were out but we didn’t sce them or recognize them.”

For example, when Marshall told her that he heard voices in his head (a com- mon symptom of schizophrenia), she ad- miited everyone has voices in their head. Whal she didn’t realize was that bis voices were iustruclional, And when Marshall started doing drugs and began distancing himself from friends, she assumed it was a teenage phase he was going through.

It wasn’t that we did anything wrong,’' Graham said, ‘‘we just weren’t educated enough,”

' Since schizophrenia is very complex to

diagnose, many families go through the

same kinds of problems Graham and her

family went through.

She explained that she’s helping to bring the conference here because more in- formation and cducation on mental illnesses gives people a better course for treatment of those suffering.

She said the conference will teach people how to look fer symptoms of schizophrenia and how to break the cycle of suffering, provide strategies for families

coping with the disease and how to deal with mental iliness with or without addic- tions.

“Information really helps people cope,’’ Graham said.

According ta Heather Baxter, B.C. Schizophrenic Society regional coor- dinator, seven per cent of the population in B.C. suffers from severe mental illness. A further 30 per cent can be touched by episodes of metal illness.

“Your mind is an incredible thing,’’ she said. ‘‘We don’t know the cause of mental illness and their isn’t a definite cure.”

Baxler said mental illness strikes one person in 100, Schizophrenia could happen to anyone, Some people, she said, have a one episode of mental illness or schizophrenia and recover.

**Those are the lucky people,”’ she said. “Most people have it for life. They be- come debilitated (lose social skills and have problems thinking properly.)”’

Speaking al the copference will be Lois Boone (minister of Children and Families), Jeanne Richard Harris (addictions-mental illness-youth), Dr. Teresa Sande (child psychiatrist), Yvonne Henderson (con- sumer education BRIDGES and consumer support, Schizophrenia, Inc.), Heather Baxter, Eileen Callanan and Marg deLange,

The conference takes place October 23- 24 at the Terrace Pentecostal Assembly. ~

LITERACY: Eberla Balfour is in charge of a new family literacy program ta help get preschool chil- dren reading before they start school,

Parents teach children to read

ATTENTION PARENTS: It’s important to get your preschool children reading as soon as possible, says Emily Balfour, Terrace's new family literacy coor- dinator.

She’s launching a five month fiteracy program, funded by the federal and provincial governments, for parents who don’t know how to get their children (aged 3-6) interested in reading at home.

‘It's important that children learn to enjoy reading when they’re young, so once they start school they’re off and running,”’ she said. oo

Reading at home, Balfour said, will introduce chil- dren to the school atmosphere, teach them how to listen and get them interested in the magic of story time.

If you are inlercsted in the new literacy program, call Eberle at the Terrace Public Library, The program starts at the beginning of next month and mans until Dec. 15, Classes, which are free, will be held in various primary schools around Terrace,