Like a Virgin

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A Day Not Like Any Other

Hello fellow insiders. Yesterday I had the pleasure of being invited to the book launch party of a local author, Addena Sumter-Freitag. Now last year my friend "X" handed me her book Stay Black & Die, a one-woman play about growing up Black in Winnipeg's North End during the 1950s and 60s. Although billed as a comedy, the play is autobiographical (I believe we now term this 'creative non-fiction'), and oscillates between humorous moments and harrowing scenes of racism, segregation and violence.

The event took place at The Rhizome Cafe in South Main (SoMa), and this was the perfect setting for the evening. The Rhizome has a rustic feel to it with its wooden interior and leather sofas. Ms. Sumter-Freitag gave a reading of her latest book, Back in the Days, a mixture of poetry and creative non-fiction. Most of her readings were set to musical accompaniment with a cool Kat playing the percussion. Ms. Sumter-Freitag is delightful to listen to. She is cool, eloquent and bleeds intelligence and sophistication from every pore. Again the subject matter swings back and forth from comedy to devastating realism. One gets a real sense of what growing up African Canadian during the 1950s was really like.

As an insider I had, well, the "ins" with the Sumter-Freitag family. Ms. Sumter-Freitag's daughter works with a friend of mine, and so I had the distinct pleasure of meeting her daughter and having a nice chat with the author herself. She graciously signed my book and we spoke briefly about her play Stay Black & Die. (Sorry fellow insiders, what we talked about shall remain private.) I also unexpectedly met the author's publishers who were on hand for support. After asking one of the publishers if Ms. Sumter-Freitag would be giving anymore readings, she replied, "oh we aren't that organized I'm afraid. Perhaps we should start an e-mail list." I responded by saying how that would be a good marketing and public relations plan. She immediately got up, sauntered over to the table where the books were stacked ready to be sold and signed and got that list started! Now how's that for having good support. My friend and I wedged ourselves onto the dusty leather sofa with the two publishers, proceeded to get drunk on white wine and scotch on the rocks, and enjoyed an evening of captivating reading.

About the author: Addena Sumter-Freitag is a seventh-generation Black Canadian with roots in Truro, Nova Scotia and Columbia, South Carolina. She grew up in Winnipeg's North End, has lived in the Canadian north, and now makes her home in Vancouver. She won Theatre BC's National Playwriting Award and Centaur Theatre's People Choice Award at the Montreal Fringe for her autobiographical play Stay Black & Die. If you would like to learn more about this talented writer you can visit her website at www.addenasumterfreitag.com and if you wish to order any of her books you can visit her publisher at www.wattleanddaubbooks.ca

Not Just for the Cultural Elite

Vancouver is a tough city. No, it isn't an exceptionally large city, nor is it hard to navigate. Vancouver is often referred to as "bland", or by it's unofficial title, "no fun city". As a true-blue Vancouverite -- born and raised -- I can attest to the city's unfortunate lack of stimulation.

I have spent time in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto. These cities are truly places that never sleep, chock-full of gallery openings, trendy nightspots (where you couldn't get in even if you sacrificed your first born child), festivals, book launch parties, hot new restaurants. Here in Vancouver we tend to affect a snide, hip posturing towards those cities. We view them as cold, upper-class, part of the high culture coterie. In other words, those big fancy cities are for the cultural elite.

Well folks, I am going to dispel this idea that Vancouver is void of anything other than Canucks hockey games and pot smoking rallies. When I said this is a tough city, I meant that it is tough to find events to take part in. Culture is hidden and you have to dig deep to find it, but it is there. So ladies and gentlemen, my new job is to hit up all the places you have not been to, may have thought about going to -- but were afraid your Birkenstocks and dreadlocks wouldn't fit in -- and create a little space here in the Vancouver-blogosphere solely for high culture and medium culture (and perhaps a little low culture too if you're good).

Follow me as I attend book launch parties, poetry readings, night clubs, plays, art galleries, film festivals. All these events can be for everyone. Trust me, you do not need to be a Park Avenue Princess to infiltrate and enjoy something culturally stimulating. So stop being an outsider and be a cultural insider. Your city awaits!