Author: Les Merson

Los Olvidados – The forgotten street children of Mexico City

The boys are watching soccer on their big-screen television It was a little late to be having second thoughts. At 31,000 feet. I would arrive in Mexico City in less than an hour and, what had seemed like a good idea a couple of months ago, suddenly wasn’t. I had planned to walk around one …

Cinderella Redux

"I don’t tell this story out loud because it’s not much of a story. No plot. No neat ending. No clever turns of phrase. And because I always end up weeping. Not for … [others]. But for myself. And for the world I’ve helped to create. A world in which I allow my intelligence and …

The Village People: Staying Alive at the Commodore

Contrary to popular misconception, Disco didn’t die. It just rid itself of some of its glittered excess (platform shoes, mirror balls, and Donna Summer), dimmed the lights and changed its name to “house music.” Which is why, I presume, CITR 101.9FM, UBC’s alternative radio station, co-sponsored The Village People at the Commodore Ballroom on August …

BCIT Evicts Wildlife

“Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth. If human beings spit on the earth, they spit on themselves. This we know: the Earth does not belong to humankind. Humankind belongs to the Earth.” – Chief Seattle, Duwamish Tribe (1851) They are paving paradise. It seems that everywhere you go they are tearing …

An Interview with The West End Girls

A&M Records says: “they are talented, they are young and they are gorgeous—they are Camille [Henderson], Silvana [Petrozzi], and Aimee [Mackenzie]—they are the West End Girls. I would add that they are Canadian and they are genuine. We interviewed The Girls in May, 1991. Link: You’re used to being recorded, right? Camille: Sure Silvana: Kind …

BCIT’s Dress Code and Jack Smugler Exposed

1972–Richard Nixon, Paul Henderson, and Jack Smugler. To some, it might seem absurd to lump Jack in with such company. (I suspect that Jack would bristle at the thought of being compared to Nixon). No, Jack didn’t win Presidential re-election by a landslide nor did he score a game-winning goal. But in his unique way …

Life in a Ghost Town: The Story of Sandon has been long, colourful and often stormy. But if the Sandon Historical Society has its way, the tale’s not over yet.

Photographs courtesy of Sandon Historical Society The Story of Sandon has been long, colourful and often stormy. But if the Sandon Historical Society has its way, the tale’s not over yet. To some, R.T. Lowery’s observation that “silver, lead and hell … [were] raised in the Slocan” would seem a fitting epitaph for the ghost …

Les-Merson