WOTS: one for the books Event Review: Word on the Street Think: Pink Nation Breast Cancer Awareness Month inspires a quest for knowledge Ce RE ® a EOS By Jenn Markham ord on the Street in Vancouver this past weekend was a:success again this year. I had an absolute blast. I purchased a book bag for $20 where I got to go around to over 40 of the long list venders that would hand out freebies including magazines, books, poetry, bookmarks, pens and information booklets. | walked around to the different stands talking to the people behind the tables about what they were doing, why it was important to them. It was such a wild experience to walk up to a table, read snipits of a book, and then strike up conversation with the author about their motivations. Everyone was super friendly. I got information about universities, libraries, magazines, books and so much more. - The festival was well organized, in a-perfectly suitable setting at the Vancouver Library. It was also laid out well in the space, with different tent sections for magazines, authors, Canadian writers, family literacy, poetry tent and much more. For people trying to get into the industry, it was a great networking event. There were also reads, talks and forums throughout the day. Unfortunately I got so caught up in the stands that I completely missed the couple of authors I wanted to see speak. I’ll have to bring a watch next year. Word Under the Street was new to me this year, and I found it on the way to the bathroom. I found a new type of magazine I’d never heard of called “zines”. Every single one I picked up had a visually interesting cover. The people that made them were super unique, and although I still don’t quite know what they’re all about, they caught my attention. The festival’s. goal is to promote reading and literacy throughout the community, and in my opinion they did just that. Everywhere I turned someone was standing with a book open in the hands. By the time I hit the skytrain, I had half my body weight in reading material in three recyclable bags to keep me busy for a while. The great thing is most of them are topics, formats and authors I wouldn’t normally purchase. I planned with the friend that I brought that we would each grab different ones, and share later to get twice as much experience. Although I didn’t go as a family, I think I’m going to grab up some young cousins to bring next year so I can participate in all the cool looking kids activities without getting weird - looks. I wish T could give another - * perspective, or some criticism for the organizers to improve the event for next year, but I really have no complaints. Ok maybe one. I wish I could duplicate myself for next year so I don’t miss anything. By Cody Klyne, Arts Editor the month where you get to indulge in copious amounts of sugary treats while vegging-out in front of the television watching Ernest Scared Stupid on repeat, it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM)! In honour of NBCAM—a fantastic international awareness campaign that has helped to raise millions of dollars towards the research for a cure—I personally wanted to take a moment to do my part and spread the word. Breast cancer is a disease that has touched many of us profoundly. For the sake of those near and dear, to the friends and families of those in our lives, the search for a cure, as well as treatment and prevention for the disease, has given us something to band together against and rally in support of as a team. And, like any good team, we’ve even got a team colour. Pink. Since its first application in the form of a ribbon handed out during the 1991 Race for Breast Cancer Survivors, the colour Pink has become synonymous with expressing support for those who have been diagnosed with the disease. How a colour (any colour) becomes tied to a cause or becomes socially infused and associated with a given set of |: October and, apart from being emotions or ideas is something that has long fascinated me. How it is that one pigment is able to transcend palette and page and represent the intangible qualities and characteristics of life on earth—in pink’s case: determination, strength, and unparalleled tenacity —is something worth consideration. And so, inspired by NBCAM, armed with the internet and a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica brand encyclopaedias, I braved to venture through history, and into the strange, in search of fun facts about a colour now so closely linked to our present and future. This is: pink. Pink in (pop) Culture The first known record of this red and white mash up dates back to the 17" century where it was popularized by the French and English upper class. Ambiguous in nature in its formative years, the colour pink grew to be regarded as a masculine colour (being that it was a hue of red). In the year 2010, without doubt, the colour has evolved to symbolize grace and, generally speaking, femininity. On the more colourful side of things, the phrase “seeing pink elephants” is a euphemism for hallucinations as a result of intense intoxication. First uttered by American author Jack London in 1913 as part of his cutting description of a drunk, the phrase is referenced in the 1941 Disney classic, Dumbo wherein the titicular little scamp gets sloshed off a bucket of water spiked with champagne and sees a charge of his kin who are, oddly enough, cotton .candy pink. s 4 Pink in pop culture: Iconic © psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd’s ~. “name is the combination of two blues musicians whose albums were in -, founding member Syd Barrett’s record * ‘collection: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. SR And so, my search bares little © fit. While I may not have uncovered ‘the secret to this persuasively pretty pastel’s potent powers, let’s:not “. forget the larger motivation at play here. It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Give what you can to your local charities, volunteer at a fundraising event, and be there to support those directly, and indirectly, effected in your life on a daily basis.