SOMEONE FAMOUS once said, “you can never go home.” I beg to differ. I say, you can never stop going home, because home is an emotional landscape etched on your insides. By Barbara Black Contributing Writer My homeland is North Vancouver. Here, I swung weight- less from vine maple saplings, looked through perpetual puddles to an inverted sky, and skipped school to sit like Heraclitus by Lynn Creek, pondering the stillness and flux of time. You see, for the last two years, | have been separated from the “mainland” by the sweep cf the strait. The grey-hooded haunches of North Vancouver have changed Yes to access Dear Editor: 1 am a stroke survivor who is confined to a wheelchair. North Vancouver District is to be commended for its work in building ramps at street cor- ners and crossings. The RCMP headquarters on St. Georges has recently been made acces- sible fcr wheelchairs. My doc- tor recommended that I visit a massage therapist for treat- ment. But I was unable to find . one in North Vancouver that was accessibie to me. I would enjoy attending performances at Centennial Theatre, but there is neither a ramp nor a washroom that is wheelchair accessible. Hopefully soon ail public places will be accessi- ble to people ia wheelchairs. N. Cunningham North Vancouver from a geographical place lo a psy- chological one. My dream-body walks in dense forests af hemlock, fir and cedar on needic-lined paths. At night, Lynn Canyon becomes a menacing, mythical place, its uppermost reaches unattainable. But | wake to Victoria, land of pastoral optimism, a muted Wordsworth poem of beauteous hills and billowing grasses. There is a certain meanness lacking in this environment. The sunshine seems so... unrealistic. My history is cloaked in morose skies and grim durations of rain. I crave a horizon of unrelenting coniferous green, every corner crammed with some scrappy vege- tation. I miss the sodden moss, the brash masses of brambles and impenetrable tracts of salal — the illusory carpets that lure unsuspect- ing tourists to step off a cliff and into oblivion, For the first time in my life, I understand Emily Carr's mad whorls of black-green vegetation and suffocating clouds, It’s the “interior west coast. A staggering EXCESS, And so, my body and spirits wracked by a stretch of over-work, I dive into my car, cager to stide into the belly of the beast that crosses the Georgia Strait and delivers me into the scenery of my interior life. I drive out of instinct toward the mountains. On the Second Narrows Bridge, the car’s hood pointing north into Lynn Peak, a heartening, inexplicable certainty descends. The permanence and impenetrabili- ty of mountains. Ah. Now that the horizon is walled in by mountains and every corner of land choked by trees, I feel secure, I breathe again because I am Smoking rules needed Dear Editor: home, blissfully, claustrophobieally sur- rounded. Back in Victoria, the hori- zon is too tow, making me feel as if the Earth is sinking, as if the edges are too near and [ will slip off. Idrive into upper Lynn Valley, trying to distinguish the real Lynn Valley Road from the one in my dreams which stretches into obliv- ion and feads only to my parent's house. Seymour mountain now looms, its veil of snow glowing pink in the hue afternoon sun. 1 pull into my parent's driveway and get out, instantly affirmed by the silence and cool air blowing down from Mt. Seymour, Later, I fall asleep to the roar of Lynn Creek, one torrent obliterating the again torrent of the mind. There's a cer- tain brutality to nature which is reassuring, This creek, too, is part of the psychic landscape [ carry around. Its sound is a perpetual exhalation. A mountain feeding an inlet. My visit home is short, but suc- cessful. I leave the parental and nature comforts and drive back to Tswassassen. Grouse and Cypress mountains gradually shrink in my rear-view mirror to postcard size. I drive onto the ferry and sail back to the Wordsworth poem. Barbara Black is a freelance writer who moved to Victoria to escape the gloomy North Shore weather. Dr. ". vendy Denning is pleased to announce the relocation of her family | practice. Now located at Lor.sdale Medical Clinic. 1940 Lonsdale Ave, {south of London Drugs) ae Dr. Wendy Denning Family Physictan | 1940 LONSDALE AVE. N. VAN. New Patients Welcome Appts. / Walk-in 987-3247 § After attending a forum at Lions Gate Hospital on Changing Health on the North Shore and listening to Margaret Lord, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, and also to views of the North Shore Planning Committee, now is the time to speak out as a concerned individual. As a non-smoker I know how hard it can be to give it up. Withdrawal from anything we’ ve abused our bodies with can be a painful experience. I am speaking mainly for and on behalf of all mentally ill patients on the North Shore who are either in the psychiatric unit of our hospital, in a group home, a semi-independent residential home, or living alone. * These people have hardly anyone to speak for them. Due to the nature of their illnesses, they are very vulnerable and find it hard to be assertive or voice any of their concerns. They are intelligent people who have been struck by a devastating illness, which I believe is both hereditary and envi- ronmental. Approximately 60% of the patients smoke tobacco. My son, who is 24 years old and a non-smoker, lives with four other young men in a semi-independent home in North Vancouver City. The other four smoke. There are no rules against smoking. Not even a designated area to smoke, They each have their own private bedroom, but they share the kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms. In the common areas, they smoke. Not only is the one who doesn’t smoke at risk from involuntary smoke and respiratory rape, but the four who do are open to other illnesses such “at = 9% thelr earpots are aN WA not fading, thelr “bp pleats are fot te wiiting, end their § be home is a esforfable 20°C. f Retractal & -| Window Awnings from TENT & AWNING LTD. as heart conditions and lung cancer. My son not only has the burden of schizophrenia to deal with, he also has asthma, and now there’s the second-hand smoke. Margaret Dean North Vancouver © So Cuddly , it’s... ).. Unbearable Beautiful selection of collectible porcelain, resin and plush teddy bears. All of which play memorable melodies. 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