From the war-torn eyes of babes
A collection of artwork by Palestinian children who
survived the Gaza War

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Keating Smith, Contributor

between Israel and Palestine

are hard enough for most of us
to digest. With that in mind, pencil
crayon and Crayola marker artwork
depicting Israeli helicopters and
tanks firing at Palestinian civilians
and buildings may be seen as
surreal, to say the least.

A Child’s View from Gaza is on
display at the Unitarian Church of
Vancouver from March 9 to March
15. A Child’s View is a traveling
collection of drawings and portraits
created by Palestinian children
who survived the Israeli-launched
military attack, Operation Cast
Lead. The operation, which occurred
in December 2008 after a 10-month
cease-fire, has been considered
to be the worst attack on Gaza in
its history, for reasons such as the
controversial and experimental use
of white phosphorous munitions
on civilians. During the campaign,
the majority of Gaza’s government
infrastructure was destroyed,
including a supposed 200 schools,
and of the 1,400 Palestinians
estimated to have been killed in the
attack, 350 were children.

The 25 pieces that make up the
Child’s View art show are courtesy
of the California-based Middle East
Children’s Alliance (MECA)—the
current exhibit is taking place during
Vancouver’s Israeli Apartheid Week.
MECA was successful in bringing
the artwork to North America in
2010 after tireless efforts to collect
as much artwork as they could.

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The artwork and MECA’s founder,
Barbara Lubin, will be traveling to
various locations throughout Metro
Vancouver this week thanks to
financial support and endorsements
of local unions, businesses, and non-
profit organizations.

According to Lubin, who spoke
at an opening reception on March 9,
the collection and her organization
have received a lot of antagonism
from both Jewish and pro-Israeli
organizations throughout the United
States. Many of these organizations
feel the objective of this project
is to display hateful propaganda
against Israel through its graphic
depictions; several museums and art
galleries in the United States have
banned the collection from being
displayed in their facilities due to
the heavy criticism. Lubin does not
feel “propaganda” is the purpose,
and according to the organization,
“the drawings featured serve as part
of a historical record of the horror
inflicted on the Palestinian people
during Operation Cast Lead as
experienced by Gaza’s children.”

This exhibition will be of high
interest to anyone who follows
the political conflict between
Israel and Palestine. The art can be
hard to handle for some due to its
nature, but it offers an alternative
perspective from the first-hand
experiences of children trapped in
one of the most unstable and violent
situations in the world. For more
information on MECA and where
you can catch the collection, visit
www.childsviewfromgaza.org.

 

In one bed and out the other

Douglas College presents ‘Goodnight Desdemona
(Good Morning Juliet)’

BS ee eT a a

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

n March 9, Douglas
College’s Theatre and
Stagecraft programs

proudly premiered the first of

the semester’s plays, Ann-Marie
MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona
(Good Morning Juliet). Directed by
theatre coordinator Allan Lysell,
Goodnight Desdemona took the
audience on a journey through
time, filled with lighthearted
romps, romances, and the
discovery of oneself.

Constance Ledbelly (Claire
Pollock) is a Queen’s University
English professor in her late
twenties. Constance believes
that the Shakespearian tragedies
Othello and Romeo and Juliet were
actually comedies derived from
a legendary Gustav Manuscript.
She persists that the “original”
tales of Othello and Romeo and
Juliet actually contained a wise
fool that prevented the characters
from their misdeeds in the plays.
When her crush, professor Claude
Night Joshua Milad), berates
her work on the manuscript,
informs her that he'll be taking
a position she was aiming for at
Oxford University, and announces

 

Siedlanowska, and Shawnali
Ogle—took on multiple roles,
requiring alternate accents, many
costume changes, and even some
gender bending for the actors.
Again, staged sword fights
took place between several of the
actors. The layered set required
manipulations of the backdrop
to switch from scenes, which the
cast used to the fullest extent.

“The students of the theatre program put on a delightfully amusing
show, filled with ridiculous costumes, sword fights, and many an
innuendo.”

From walking the streets of
Venice, to scaling the balcony of
Juliet’s room, to battling in an
eerie graveyard, the music and
reactions of the cast brought each
of these scenes to life. Particularly
exciting were the transitions
between the plays, which required
the use of thunderous sounds,
strobe lights, and fog machines for
the full effect.

With an abundance of
humorous moments, comedic
overreactions, and the occasional
cheesy one-liner, Goodnight
Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
is an overall success on the parts
of both intense and multi-talented
program members. Goodnight
Desdemona will be running at the
Douglas College Studio Theatre
(room 4140) until Saturday, March 17.

that he'll be getting married,
Constance decides her life needs a
change.

Fate seems to think so
too, as she happens upon
an ancient scroll. This scroll
reappears throughout the play,
leading Constance, ever the
timid mouse, down a path to
newfound confidence. With each
reading of the scroll, Constance
is transported between the
worlds of Othello and Romeo and
Julet, righting the wrongs of the
characters, exploring many types
of love and lust, and eventually
discovering the true identity of the
wise fool.

The students of the theatre
program put on a delightfully
amusing show, filled with
ridiculous costumes, sword
fights, and many an innuendo.
Four of the five cast members—
Milad, David Hollinshead, Julia