Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything

Synn Kune Loh a poet and visual artist Born in China, Synn Kune grew up in Hong Kong. He completed a BA in Psychology from the University of Bridgeport in the USA before his graduate study in Cultural Psychology at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontaria. An accomplished painter, he studied experimental art at the Ontario College of Art in Tronto. In addition, Synn Kune holds a Master degree in Therapeutic Counseling from the International College of Spiritual and Psychic Science in Montreal, Quebec. Synn Kune found his inspiration through the abstraction of forms and ideas. What makes his paintings unique is the metaphysical content, which explores the relaity of the ideal. The artist steps outside of representation to create a visual language using dots, lines, circles, triangles, squares, color and form. The result is a vision of ecstatic wonder and astonishment. “These paintings are about nothing. Therefore they are about everything.”  Synn Kune The Reality of The Ideal  Paintings are all acrylic on canvas.   The sky is never empty, 2012   The Tipping point, 2012   Fascination, 2012   Assumption, 2012   Entering the Memory Field, 2012   In the not too distant future, 2012   How to watch the sky, 2012   Pushing the boundary, 2012   One Day You May Find This Useful, 2012   Day of Departure, 2012   The earth is always full, 2012   These paintings are accompanied by his own ‘haiku’ poems.  Collections of his verse continue in popularity, with a book available today; ” A Journey to Camatkara”, Alpha Glyph Publication,...

 by Trina Moran   Author of the soon to be published A Mythology of Sound, Joël Tibbits professional life is grounded in the areas of music composition, film making, sound design, and yoga. Originally from New Westminster and Surrey, Joël has been involved with music since his teens and holds a degree in music composition from Simon Fraser University. Overall, Joël is most fascinated with exploring facets of consciousness through music and sound.   Joël started becoming involved with music in high school where he learned to play guitar, piano, and even began composing his own music for guitar, cello, and piano. He later pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Simon Fraser University where he majored in music composition, specializing in esoteric and contemporary music. During his studies at Simon Fraser, Joël participated in a summer music composition program abroad in Darmstadt, Germany where he had the opportunity to meet and study with internationally renowned composers. After his university education, Joël spent a year in Japan studying Samurai philosophy. He exclaimed that hundreds of years ago in Japan when the Samurai class was still prevalent, their class also became obsolete and re-emerged as artists. Joël claims that studying Samurai philosophy in Japan revitalized a sense of artistic self within himself. Also after SFU, Joël focused on martial arts (Kung Fu, Hung Gar) and mystic practices such as tarot, Kabalah, spirituality, theology, metaphysics, and cosmology. Currently, Joël enjoys working on short films. He currently worked on a web series that parodied the hit television show, Mad Men. It went on to compete in the 2012 LA Webfest and took home 3 awards. Joël also worked on ‘filament’ a short film he directed in 2011 which follows a character through a variety of environments while exploring...

Born on February 12, 1949 in Vancouver BC, Peter Ladner is a scholar, author, journalist, environmentalist, businessman and former politician. As a former Vancouver City councilor and Metro Vancouver vice-chair, Peter ran for the 2008 Vancouver mayoral election in which he competed against Gregor Robertson, the current mayor of Vancouver.

  Interviewed and written by Trina Moran   When we give back to a community, it is felt locally. When we give back to the planet, it is felt on a global scale. For Radu Postole, serving the community and the Earth go hand in hand and has become a career. A recent graduate from UBC’s Integrated Engineering program, Radu is a systems engineer for SunCentral and a volunteer engineer for the Tetra Society of North America (a non-profit organization that creates assistive devices for people with disabilities). At SunCentral, Radu is a project manager and operations engineer. As well, he oversees various design concepts. Currently, he is working on solar tracking technology that uses sunlight to light office space. This concept utilizes mirrors on the outside of office buildings that track the sun, lenses that concentrate the sunlight, and a light guide to pipe the concentrated light into the depths of the building. Electric lighting is also used in this method, but is instantly dimmed when the sun shines, making this a hybrid energy source. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The process is instantaneous. Therefore, the sunlight outside is instantly converted into the lighting used inside. Human benefits to this hybrid lighting system include a better workplace environment and a connection to the outdoor environment. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Vancouver = Rain city. Also, with hydroelectricity available in this region the cost for electricity is low. This specific type of hybrid energy source is marketable to regions that experience longer, frequent periods of sunlight throughout the year (California, Spain, Portugal) where hydroelectricity or other affordable energy is not always an available option. Overall, Radu’s goal at SunCentral is to further develop this concept so that it becomes a readily available option for...

  Graduated from Emily Carr University 2012 as an industrial designer. He is passionate about observing people’s daily needs and problems, whether psychologically or physically. Through the process of design thinking and hands on model making, he explores and cultivates creative solutions, which balanced between form and function, and also poetic solutions that enrich people life experience in an elegant and riveting way. His works encompasses medical product design, consumer electronic product design and furniture design. His graduation project, “funup”, a rehabilitation electronic product concept, explores the possibility of altering people’s unpleasant experience of the rehabilitation process into a more fun and engaging experience by utilizing state of art technologies. Currently, he is working on a series of hand made whirl threaded lampshades, which come in different shapes and colours that represent different stories and emotions of the maker. By immersing himself in the process of making, the repetitive motion not only focuses his mind, but also brought up memories and emotion of the maker. Through this work and design he wishes to share his experience and stories with people in a seamless but also direct, open but also intimate way. whirl lamp whirl lamp Bloom Lamp Bloom Lamp More About Adrian….GO...

‘Patriotism is identification with others in the ongoing life of a political community. The patriot is someone who looks ahead into a future where she hopes her community will persist and prosper, and also behind into the past of her people, a past which, by virtue of identification with her fellow citizens, becomes integral to her own story as well.’

Vancouver Park Board Commissioner and liaison to the Kerrisdale Community Centre Interviewed by Colin Booth, Aryan Etesami, Keiko Honda & Barb Mikulec  Photographed by Noriko Nasu-Tidball Q1: The KCC is one of three centres that you are the Park Board Liaison, What do you see for our particular community centre in the next five years? KCC is very unique in the sense that it has great history, a well used library, swimming pool and skating rink. The community is very diverse but very different than the other community center that I advocate for. For instance whereas I am fighting diligently for Strathcona Community Centre to make sure that their breakfast program that feeds up to 200 hungry children daily is funded and acknowledged I also bring the awareness to the Vancouver Park Board that the swimming pool at Kerrisdale is in desperate need of repair and will need ongoing maintenance. The rink is also a big piece if infrastructure that needs to be addressed. I know that seniors play a huge role in all that you do in Kerrisdale so we need to keep that in mind as we move forward with any planning and programming. I would also like to see more community gardens in the area as it gets families, seniors and youth out working together. I think it is not really my place to say specifically what Kerrisdale Community Center should be in the next five years, my job is to listen to the people that frequent, work and staff the centre and bring those thoughts back to the board and staff. Q2: How can the City of Vancouver help to make affordable, accessible and sustainable early childcare? Early Care and Learning is one of my main priorities as I feel being...

Community Centre board member, international relations guru, and fellow coffee shop explorer, Dr. Don Munton has made many significant impacts on his community. Born and raised in Vancouver, Don holds a Ph.D in International Relations with a focus on environmental policy, Canadian foreign policy, and international security. Don has recently retired from the International Relations program at the University of Northern British Columbia. Today, Don enjoys being an active board member at the Kerrisdale Community Centre dealing in particular with the community centre program, its fitness facilities, and the pool

The road is life and is a dilligent and long one….I was in awe of him; he is truly an inspiration. ~ Editor-in-Chief Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos Shakuhachi Artist (Japanese Bamboo Flute Musician and Teacher) Interviewed by Editor-in-Chief Photographed by Noriko Nasu-Tidball Q:   Could you please tell us your cross-cultural backgrounds? What was your upbringing like in Japan (as non-Japanese ethnically speaking)? How did you feel being “gaijin” in Japan? What is your identity now? A: My parents are from the Philippines but I was born in Japan. We lived on a US military base but made frequent visits outside to be with Japanese friends. I was very young so I don’t really remember too much about Japan so I had no conceptual understanding of what a gaijin was. I moved to the US when I was about 6 and went to school there completing university. I returned to Japan after university to study shakuhachi for the first time, which is when I understood more deeply what a gaijin was. Although I have a western mindset, my spirit has always been Asian with a particular affinity to Japan. I moved to Canada in 1997 and have since attained my Canadian citizenship. But I feel that I am more a citizen of the world that is open and loves learning about other cultures and traditions. But there is something in the centre of my spirit that is Japanese. Q:  When made you first realize you wanted to pursue a career in Shakuhachi master? Who were the early influences? A: My major in University was Eastern Comparative Religious Studies and I was originally attracted to the monastic life and/or academic life and was headed that way. But when I first heard the shakuhachi flute, I wanted to go to Japan to study...

‘To Do What One Loves’: An Interview with Paul Tavai-Latta   ‘To Do What One Loves’: An Interview with Paul Tavai-Latta Interviewed and written by Trina Moran On a drizzly (typical) Vancouver day, Paul Latta dons a red Hawaiian print shirt and sunglasses as he zips around the Lower Mainland to one of his many busy dance studios, one of them being based here at the Kerrisdale Community Centre. Hailing from Rarotonga on the Cook Islands, Paul is dedicated to teaching, performing, and managing Polynesian dance through his dance school, Paul Latta Dance Studios, and his dance company, Paul Latta Show Productions. From his productions and performances Paul Latta is well-known for his authentic dance performances in traditional authentic Polynesian costumes and for being an international Polynesian dance champion. Upon moving to Canada when he was six years old, Paul mentions that as a child Polynesian culture, which included dance is all that he knew and struggled that during his childhood in Canada there was nowhere for him to pursue this particular passion. However, Paul discovered tap dancing and instantly became fascinated by the sounds and synchronized rhythms of it which he related to the intense drumming of Tahitian dance. During his studies in tap dance & stage performance Paul learned the business side of the dance world. In this included a vast knowledge of: staging, bookings, lights, theatre, commerce, television, media, and all other commercial aspects. As well, Paul quickly learned some of the negative aspects of show business such PR aspects, awards vs. jealousy, and financial aspects. Paul describes this experience as ‘[learning] at a young age how to deal with the good with the bad.’ As a young adult Paul studied at the Brigham University, Polynesian Cultural Centre in Hawaii and received his Master...

A former Chief of Musqueam Band Interviewed by Keiko Honda, Editor-in-Chief Photographed by Noriko Nasu-TidBall Videotaped by Rosanna Goncalves “What was your take home...

Steve Stanczyk Interview by Barb Mikulec Steve Stanczyk is the artist chosen to work with the Kerrisdale community to make a mural for the entrance to the KCC centre. Steve has always been interested in art, from elementary school through high school. He started making paintings as a teenager and has kept it up until today. He attended Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. He also received a diploma in Digital Art and Design from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC and before studying at TRU, he studied Fine Arts and Art History at The University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, BC. Steve taught painting in the Saturday Program at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York along with teaching photoshop and digital art with Gateways Learning Centre in Abbotsford and art history and painting at Abbotsford’s Reach Gallery Museum. His art practice consists of working in a diverse range of themes and mediums, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, digital design, video, installation art and other mixed media. Steve’s portfolio includes both experimental and abstract work along with more traditional paintings such as landscapes and portraits, and also works that have been commissioned. His exhibition history includes exhibited my art in three shows at The Cooper Union, including exhibiting and selling one of his silkscreen prints in a fundraising exhibition at the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, with other New York artists, including students, teachers and alumni such as Hans Haacke. Steve has also exhibited art in several shows in Vancouver, including the Pendulum Gallery on West Georgia St and at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, BC. Along with completing painting, graphic design and photography commissions, Steve has also painted several large–scale public murals on both canvas and on walls for different businesses, organizations and communities. An amazing thing...

With music and lyrics by JEANNIE CORSI and featuring vocals by JANET OXLEY Photographs by Noriko Nasu-Tidball   “The two friends with boundless passion for music, Jeannie Corsi and Janet Oxley, finally completed what they started 37 years ago. Their music has it all: drama, comedy, romance, friendship, spirituality, happiness, community, and values. The 9 original pieces of music and lyrics written by Jeannie and sung by Janet are quite magical, highlighting the joy of their collaboration and their long, loving friendship. They do put their hearts in it!! Watching them perform together is a refreshing, encouraging, and moving experience. Their faces are full of graceful smiles and humor, as well as their life struggles. Their genuine happiness appears so natural in their music that you will remember that life is beautiful indeed. I was in awe of the music and their personalities, which are unique and full of vigor and creativity—absolutely first-rate. I am sure everyone will agree! I am proud and excited to bring their nine original pieces to our 1st Annual Community Engagement Celebration event scheduled in September 2012. Please stay tuned, everyone!”  ~Editor-in-Chief   An Interview with Jeannie Corsi & Janet Oxley VIDEO by Rosanna Goncalves   BIO: Jeannie Corsi – composer and...

  Photographed by Noriko Nasu-Tidball   Aryan Etesami I would like to begin by saying how I sincerely appreciate the opportunity that Kerrisdale Community Centre has awarded me here to express myself to the wonderful people of this great community. At first glance, I am a third year student at the University of British Columbia currently pursuing my post-secondary education in the field of Psychology. Based on my educational background, it may be evident how much I love to get to know and interact with new people of all walks of life. Also coming from a family of Persian descent, it is even more interesting for me to meet and learn about people of different backgrounds so to compare their amazing cultures, to find out the beauties embedded in each of them and realize the astonishing similarities that give meaning to the oneness of all humanity. I believe that it is only through interaction and communication with others that you will truly be able to know yourself. And as obvious as it may sound, you can only understand the meaning behind life and be able to fully enjoy it, if you know who exactly you are. To me, life is a never-ending journey to discover your own self through committing to new experiences and meeting new people that will shed more and more light into your inner realm. In today’s modern world, fortunately, our lives involve many chances to encounter new people and new experiences that we may sometimes take this opportunity for granted. Meanwhile, many of us become too busy with the hassles and stresses of everyday life that we may forget to realize the importance of quality communication and interaction with the people around us. This is why I consider it essential for...

Beauty Comes From Movement Interview with contemporary filmmaker Daniel Conrad Daniel Conrad, a filmmaker and writer, has Masters degrees in cinema and molecular immunology. He makes dance films and documentaries. His dance films look at the human organism confronting the alienated modern city and the natural wilderness. His documentary films focus on the aesthetic response, one of the most universal human traits. What awakens our sense of beauty? My personal response: Everything that makes life “beautiful” involves movement. The seasons, the tides, growth, development, aging, change. This coming Fall at the Centre, we will screen some of his dance films, followed by a discussion. So come and meet the director and stay tuned for the film screening! ~ Editor-in-Chief  To watch movie trailers: http://www.rhodopsin.ca/films_en.html   Q: When did you first start getting into films? Does your science background help you make films (and how so?)? A: I started life as a wilderness photographer. I wanted to understand life, in the broadest sense. When I had accumulated more questions than answers, I went to graduate school to study molecular immunology. This gave me a sense of the structures of emergent systems. I then went to a second graduate school to study cinema. This was not such a change for me: I had been studying all my life, and these formal periods of specialization allowed me to look more deeply. In film school, I studied Eisenstein, whose first training was in architecture and civil engineering. There is biology in all of my films, sometimes explicitly. Q: To what extent your movie comes from a very personal place? How did you get the idea to write the scipt for “Accdent by Design”? What sparked your creation? A: I wanted to know what makes things beautiful. It’s a question that should be easy...

  About Artist Noriko is Japanese born, and moved to Canada in 1990.  She took up photography in 2009, beginning with an SLR camera.  Noriko has studied under and worked with different photographers including noted local photographer, Yukiko Onley.  She has worked taking photographs for a series of events.  Noriko currently lives in Vancouver with her husband and daughter. My Photography  I have used digital cameras in my photography.  Modern digital cameras are very easy to use for taking technically good photographs.  However, as my interest and understanding of photography has grown, I have begun to appreciate how photographs can capture the feelings and thoughts of a photo’s subjects.  I find that a camera can create images that are very interesting, and the viewer can have a deeper understanding of the subject.   Daily life, Chinatown Vancouver, 2011* *This photograph appeared on the National Geographic website as an editors choice as one of the top photographs submitted to them that day.     Rememberance day, vancouver, 2011     Vancouver fashion week, 2011     From street, Harajyuku, Tokyo, 2011       Untitled, Vancouver, 2011     Untitled, 2011     Joy, Vancouver, 2011   Flow, Wakayama, 2011   In the dust, Wakayama, Japan, 2011   Harvest time, Wakayama, 2011   Musician, Vancouver, 2011   Noh performance, Vancouver, 2012   Noh mask, 2012   Untitled, Vancouver, 2011 Untitled, Vancouver, 2011   Hot afternoon, Maui,...

“An action-packed year has taken Creativity and Innovation Expert, LINDA NAIMAN aroud the globe consulting key business leaders. Using art-based learning and coaching, her insights and methodologies are drawn from the multi-disciplinary perspectives of business management, art, design, and social science research. Here, an acoount of her last 20+ years. When people do something for a long time, there’s reason.”  ~ Editor-in-Chief~ Linda Naiman is a long-time resident in the Kerrisdale community and founder of CreativityatWork.com and co-author of Orchestrating Collaboration at Work. She has been featured in theGlobe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, and Canadian Business Magazine. To find out more about coaching for creativity and innovation: visit Creativity at...

Through all these years that I have been living in Canada my work has evolved in different ways. Somtimes it resembles memories that identify me with my past, sometimes with ideas that come at random or words that fall out from a poem that has moved me, sometimes they are personal like my mother’s death. And how about nature as an inspiration: it always touches me, but more than emulating it, I embrace it. I have always believed that art is like life: to live life, one has to learn to live; when we cease to learn we begine to die.”   ~ Davide Merino    Volim te (“I love you”), oil on paper     Crosswords, oil on paper     Dream with Colors, oil on paper       About the artist: Originally from Mexico  , Davide merino works and lives  in Vancouver for the last 25 years , after  studying  architecture in Mexico city (UNAM) he study and graduated in fine arts  at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design  Vancouver BC. Read more…… For...

By Trina Moran Dr. Chan appears to be your average dentist. He is 5’5’’, dons the blue dentist uniform, and is ready to accommodate all of your dental needs. However, beyond the blue scrubs and the dentist’s drill (that most of us fear), is Alex the Aikido practitioner.   One year ago Alex began taking Aikido classes at the Kerrisdale Community Centre. Now, after much hard work and perseverance, Alex is now a practitioner of Aikido at KCC. Alex was inspired to take up Aikido because of his interest in mixed martial arts, UFC, to meet new people, and for stress release. After one year, Alex is proud of all that he has accomplished in Aikido and recommends it for people looking to take up a sport either for fun, fitness, or self-defense.   Aikido is a martial art that originates from Japan and was developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his personal martial arts studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is commonly translated as ‘the way of unifying with life energy’ or as ‘the way of the harmonious spirit’. Ueshiba’s goal with Aikido was to create an art that people could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Overall, Aikido places emphasize on defense, not offense. Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacked and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. Therefore, little physical strength is used. In a fight, an aikido practitioner would ‘lead’ the attack’s momentum using entering and turning movements finishing with a throw or joint lock. Today, Aikido is found world-wide in a myriad of styles with broad ranges of interpretation and emphasis. However, all share techniques originating from Ueshiba.   Alex is a UBC...