The Direction of Hope
By Paria Naghavi
It is 7 p.m. on a Friday night. It is raining and foggy. Three women are standing inside a bus shelter at a Yonge and Steeles bus stop. On the far left side of the bus shelter a young woman is holding a binder in her arms as she leans against the glass wall. She is looking down at the pavement, deep in her thoughts. She has been thinking about last night all day long. A part of her is trying to focus on the good times that they had together, pretending that last night never happened.
(A great article to remind us of the pre Obama period and the current state of the economy.Editor)
Alternavox is a news, arts and culture project that we have created with the focus being the human experience in its immense diversity. It has long been a dream of ours, it is the “alternative voice” a collection of voices from every background, demography and lifestyle that represents the human race. An online entity with a mission to educate, enrich and elate people’s minds while promoting social justice in its heart.
For those who are unfamiliar with the work of the writer/director Bruce LaBruce, a basic description of his genre would be “gay political porn which metaphorically exams social issues by means of explicit scenes of gay male intercourse”, though even that is still a label far too general for his work. Common themes also include the relationship between sex and violence, and the rejection of queer stereotypes (or sometimes the rejection of rejection). In the case of Otto, LaBruce toned down the explicit sexual content in favour of characterization, themes, and politics.
As the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) continues its fairly successful litigious rampage against music downloaders, a backlash is brewing. The RIAA’s aggressive lobbying on the intellectual property front and the coercive legal tactics they use to bully file sharing service providers and their members have inspired a growing coalition of activists, lawyers, and universities. But this article isn’t about that. In the true spirit of “know thy enemy”, I’d like to explore what motivates the RIAA to be so evil. The RIAA is a trade association that represents the interests of major American music labels. According to their official website, RIAA members are the record labels and distributors who “create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States”. Until the late 1990’s, this meant that if you wanted to distribute or buy music, you had to go through the RIAA.
Publisher-Creator Mikhail Saavedra began life down by the deepest tip of southern Latin America. He started life with a deep curiosity for all things, with music and books being at the forefront, a curious child by all accounts. As he grew and opened his eyes to the world, he developed a sense of justice and dignity in part as a reaction to growing up in a military dictatorship. Alas, this did not fill him with fear or cynicism but a more rebellious spirit, which led him to being incredibly popular at the principal’s office and the local riot police department….
Then came Canada and it was here that he was able to formulate his deep desire to learn about the world, with Toronto being the kind of multicultural soup that could engage his need to know and embrace. It started with writing, then moved on to what became Toronto’s first Latin Alternative radio show, followed by an all-English show in the same vein. It was this desire to find the true “crossover” among people, which led him to the concept of “Alternavox”
He is a lover of wine, good food, Neruda, Eduardo Galeano, rebel music, revolutionaries, dancing, family and beautiful people. Believes that kindness in this much too cynical world is revolutionary, that you are a better person when able to give a little without asking for the change and that on the same token you should laugh at yourself and the madness surrounding you as often as possible as you set out to change the world bit by bit. 