For years, Adam, the internationally known distance
healer and author, kept his full name and identity hidden — and for good
reason. The family of the Vancouver teenager was concerned that his remarkable
powers might affect his social development.
That quest for privacy came with a side benefit: a bit of mystique. Adam’s
desire for a secret identity ironically gave him an air of mystery that generated
even more interest in his work.
This month, Adam is doing something Clark Kent would never dream of: revealing
his identity. On July 13, Adam will expose his name and face on TV for the
first time, on ABC’s Primetime Live.
Adam sees his unmasking as a natural progression and hopes the program will
help draw greater attention to his seminars and his book Dreamhealer, which
is being released this month in the U.S. by Penguin Books.
The 19-year-old feels he’s ready to deal with the extra attention that
will come his way. “I really don’t let it get to me,” says
Adam of all the interest he receives. “I do my best to help as many people
as I can but I also maintain my own health by living a normal life.”
Just how normal? On the night the ABC broadcast reveals his face to the world,
Adam won’t even bother to watch it. “It airs on July 13, which
is actually my birthday,” he says. “I’ll be out at a party
somewhere.”
Buy the book
Some of us bibliophiles live for this event: the Vancouver Public Library’s
Annual Summer Book Sale, when the Vancouver Central Library (350 W. Georgia)
turns into a veritable bookworm free-for-all with used, damaged, and old tomes
from the library’s cache going for between 55 cents and $2.25. Books
on tape, VHS videos, and multilingual books will also be for sale.
Bring a cardboard box to tote your treasured finds away, and if you’re
really serious about getting the good stuff, bring some shoulder pads—frugal
booklovers can get pretty competitive. The best part: don’t look now,
but you’re recycling.
The sale runs July 6, 10 am–9 pm, and July 7, 10 am–6 pm. Admission
is free. Info: vpl.ca.
Art peddler
Whether you’re an everyday commuter or a weekend rider. we bet you are
in love with your bike—the click of changing gears, the shine of the
spokes, the way they don’t cost $10 to park. Who wouldn’t love ’em?
While most of us are content just to ride our bikes until they wear out, long-time
bicycle industry worker Steve Mitchell has found a secondary purpose for all
those spinning parts. About a year ago Mitchell got cracking on a long-percolating
idea—turning bike parts into beautiful sculpture with nothing more than
a welding machine and free time.
The results are stunning. Gears are turned into maps of the world or delicate,
spindly bowls. Tubes, shocks, and cogs are made into a beautiful metal vase
and flower arrangement. And for the extreme biker, there are the skull-and-crossbones,
a Star Wars Deathstar, and a host of other wonderful creations, all made from
100 per cent recycled bikes. You can view Mitchell’s work at bikeartist.ca.
Bear market
If the fibreglass orcas that frolicked in the streets of Vancouver a couple
of years ago got you hankering to see the real thing, we can only imagine what
the Hawaiian-shirted spirit bears currently adorning the city have you thinking.
Luckily, this beautiful province of ours allows you to indulge your bear-watching
fancy responsibly and safely. Klemtu Tourism, run by the Kitasoo/Xaixais First
Nation, offers bear-sighting tours right in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest,
some 520 km north of Vancouver on Princess Royal Island.
Klemtu Tourism works closely with several local conservation groups to make
sure that they provide an ecologically responsible way to gaze at the great
beasts (Grizzly, Black, and Spirit Bears are common in this region), along
with the chance to learn about First Nations’ culture and the bears’ habitat.
Kayaking and hiking tours are also offered.
Visit klemtutourism.com or call 250-839-2346 to learn more about the tours
and the best time to take them.
And if Winnie the Pooh taught us anything, we recommend leaving your Organic
Manuka honey at the lodge.
Sweetness and light
And then there are the birds and the bees. Well actually, just the bees and
more specifically, just the honey. But now that we’ve got your attention,
let us direct you to Wedderspoon, a Chemainus company that is Canada’s
largest importer of Organic Manuka Active Honey.
Manuka honey is a staple in the European diet (it outsells marmalade in the
U.K.) derived from honeybees that graze on flowers free of pesticides and other
harmful chemicals. Besides tasting sweet in your tea, Manuka has been shown
in some tests to have medicinal qualities that combat stomach ulcers, acne,
and cold sores. Recently in the U.K. doctors have been spreading it on wounds
afflicted with the MRSA superbug, finding the honey is effective in fighting
the drug-resistant infection.
While Manuka is a huge part of homeopathic culture overseas, it is just finding
its way to North America. “It all started when my mother came over to
Canada,” says Wedderspoon co-owner Catherine Martin, a native of England. “She
couldn’t find Manuka honey anywhere. She has a teaspoon a day and she
swears by it!”
For more info, visit wedderspoon.ca.
Cotton club
When you consider the cotton industry’s rather sordid past, and even
more sordid present, organic cotton is looking more enticing than ever. In
Vancouver, one company focusing on organic cotton is Twice Shy, a locally owned-and-operated
design house that offers modern, covet-worthy designs for men and women, with
a calling card of comfort, style, and wildly original silk-screened prints.
What’s more, the company offers ethically minded kids’ clothing
as well, which is vital given how much clothing children go through as they
grow.
We always knew cotton breathes but now, with sustainability in mind, it can
breathe easy. Visit twice-shy.com for store locations or sustainablecotton.org for more info on the organic cotton movement.
Street legal
Save your lawyer jokes for another time. The Pivot Legal Society, a non-profit
group working with marginalized individuals on the Downtown Eastside, is developing
a new co-operative that will offer low-cost legal services right in the thick
of things on East Hastings.
Pivot Executive Director John Richardson says the new Pivot Legal Co-operative “is
more of a business; what they call ‘social enterprise.’ We’ll
be selling legal services for businesses and co-ops that need contracts for
employment or basic business law, and we’ll also be selling services
for Joe Public: wills, estates, and divorces, that sort of thing.”
The profits, says Richardson, will help fund Pivot Legal’s non-profit
work that is “dedicated to public litigation, decreasing legal fees,
and increasing access to justice.” The society also receives funding
from Vancity credit union as well as through the sales of its popular Hope
in Shadows calendar, which features photos taken by Downtown Eastside residents.
Lawyers, law professionals, and those wishing to offer their services can
attend a meeting on July 18, 7-9 pm. For more info, contact Pivot at coop@pivotlegal.org or 604-696-1322.
A clean sheet
If you work in a modern office and are even vaguely green-minded, you’ve
likely experienced the shame that comes with making 50 photocopies only to
discover a typo forcing you to recycle the whole lot. While they won’t
scan for typos, Frogfile Office Essentials can help assuage the guilt you feel
for wasting paper by offering up a wide array of green alternatives, from recycled
cardboard and rubber binders to toner and correction fluid with reduced toxic
chemicals and recycled packaging. The Bowen Island-based company also offers
a wide array of paper products made from 100 per cent post-consumer product,
so you can feel better about making those Friday afternoon paper airplanes.
Visit frogfile.ca for more info.
That’s all folk
One of the best things about July on the West Coast is the abundance of folk
music and arts festivals happening within biking, driving, or ferrying distance
of the city. Besides the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, there’s the Vancouver
Island Music Fest (July 7-9, islandmusicfest.com) with more than 200 musical
performers including Steve Earle, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary),
and Mavis Staples. That same week the Harrison Festival of the Arts begins
(July 8-18, harrisonfestival.com), featuring music, dance, and literary readings.
Later in the month there’s the Mission Folk Festival (July 21-23, missionfolkmusicfestival.ca),
with performances by Cuban legend Sierra Maestra, Finland’s
Gjallarhorn, and a host of other artists from around the world.
Sadly, the much-loved Under The Volcano festival will take a break this year
due to financial difficulties, but with a wealth of festivals still going strong,
all a folk fan has to do is pick where they want to go and remember to pack
the sunscreen (and, just in case, the umbrella).
Reboot, re-use, recycle
Who among us hasn’t been driven by some virus, software glitch, or plain
ol’ incompetence to consider tossing their computer into the trash and
never looking back? So what to do with your old equipment? Computer parts often
contain mercury, lead, cadmium, and PCBs, so landfills aren’t a great
idea. Several organizations in Vancouver offer another option: the David Suzuki
Foundation (davidsuzuki.org) accepts old computers and issues a tax receipt
for the value of the machine. The Electronic Recycling Organization (era.ca/donations/recycling)
also offers to take away obsolete computers and donate a large portion of them
to many charities in Alberta and B.C.
And if your old Commodore 64 still has legs (just not fast enough to run your
errands), keep in mind that many local non-profits would gladly take it off
your hands. After all, spend enough time with your computer and it becomes
like the family pet. Don’t you want to see it go to a loving home?
