FALL 2014

HOW THEYESCAPED

THE WORLD’S LONGEST

CIVIL WARPAGE 6

U N P A C KVOICES ON CULTURE AND JUSTICE IN HAMILTON | B Y T H E I M M I G R A N T W O M E N ’ S C E N T R E

FORMERLY THE WOMEN’SPRESS

FILMS THAT ADVOCATE

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STREET HARASSMENT

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FRINGE FEST FAVES

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REFUGEE HEALTH CUTS

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Proud to support Women and the Women’s Press

chrischarlton.ca

CharltonChris

Member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain

Wednesday, September 24, 2014 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. | Free Admission

Hamilton Spectator Auditorium44 Frid Street, Hamilton

Presented by Skyworks Charitable Foundation in partnership with the Immigrant Women’s Centre, Community Centre for Media Arts, Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, Good Shepherd Services, Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, and SACHA Hamilton. This project was made possible with financial support from the Catherine Donnelly Foundation.

EIGHT WOMEN.

THREE FILMS.

ONE NIGHT.

A program of short films made by newcomer women in Hamilton

sharing our storiesWORLD FILM PREMIERE

SkyWorks (416) 536-6581 | info@skyworksfoundation.org orImmigrant Women`s Centre 905-529-5209 | mboth@IWCHamilton.ca

Editor-In-Chief Ines Rios

Managing Editor, Design & LayoutMichelle Both Copy Editors & Moral Support Cassandra Roach, Elizabeth Webb, Laura Gamez

Website: UnpackMag.caEmail: UnpackMag@IWCHamilton.caTwitter: @UnpackMagca

8 Main St E, Suite 101 Hamilton, ON L8N 1E8 905-529-5209 x257

Fall 2014 • 3UNPACKMAG.CA

By Michelle Both

Five years ago, the Immigrant Women’s Centre published our first Women’s Press. Since 2009, we have printed 24 issues, 322 articles, and distributed over 130,000 copies throughout Hamilton. We’ve partnered with dozens of non-profit organizations, and have continued to cover social justice issues through a gendered lens in Hamilton.

But, there are still more stories to tell and there are ways to tell them better.

Unpack Magazine is one of those ways. With a new name, format, and design, the Immigrant Women’s Centre is revamping how we tell stories so it’s easier to share them. To ‘unpack’ means to analyze the nature of, or examine in detail. That is precisely what we hope to do in Hamilton – unpack social justice issues of race, class, and gender – and contribute to the conversation of how to make our city the best it can be.

At the Immigrant Women’s Centre we hear stories every day - both of struggle and celebration - and of enduring hardships and successful breakthroughs. We believe that each person has a story worth sharing. Author Janet Litherland once said that stories have power. “They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. They help us understand. They imprint a picture on our minds. ”

Social change does not happen passively. It starts with listening. It starts with a story.

Let’s unpack, together!

Michelle Both works as the Communications Coordinator at the Immigrant Women’s Centre and is Managing Editor for Unpack Magazine. Follow her on Twitter: @MichellelBoth.

u n p a c kM A G A Z I N E

Can Stories Change The World? I N T R O D U C I N G ‘ U N PA C K ’

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Orientation & Settlement Information Sessions

Skill & Leadership Workshops

“Lea rning toge ther in a friendly environmen t, I’ve ga ined so much knowledge abou t Canadian soc ie t y.”

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IWCHamilton.ca | 905-529-5209

@IWCHamilton

Newcomer women to launch short films

By Mony Shohayeb

“I’m going to be the first person to see the movie. You need to make sure of that!” proudly says Zaki, Shamso Elmi’s ten-year-old son, as he jokingly asks his mother if she is going to be an actress or a director.

Once in front of the camera as an interviewee for “Home Safe Hamilton” video series, Elmi is now helping capture the stories of others as the co-facilitator of Skywork’s Newcomer Women’s Filmmaking Project.

Originally from Somalia, Elmi came to Canada in 1987 with her husband and children, leaving family and friends behind in search of a better life. Years later, after settling in Hamilton, her family grew to include seven children. Once telling her powerful story on camera, Elmi is now also helping others learn how to tell their own stories through films.

The project is headed by Skyworks Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization that utilizes documentary filmmaking for community development. The project is a two-month-long course designed for newcomer women to learn filmmaking skills in order to create powerful and inspiring videos that advocate for newcomer and women issues in the Hamilton community. In Hamilton, the project became a partnership between Skyworks and local non-profit agencies including the Immigrant Women’s Centre and Community Centre for Media Arts.

“The [project] has helped me gain a lot of technological skills as well as given me the confidence to practice my English,” says Valerie Bello, a young student and mother of a 22-month-old baby from Cote d’Ivoire. “Two very important things that I know will help me progress in my life in Canada.”

Amany Masoud, a medical professor who came to Canada from Egypt, agrees. “It is has been a great experience,” she says. “Participating in this program has given me the opportunity to practice an art form that relies on using audio and visual cues to touch feelings through the portrayal of true stories.”

The eight women participating in the project are diverse in age, profession, and country of origin. They do however have something in common: they are all strong, talented women with powerful stories to tell.

“Newly arrived women, particularly refugee women, yearn for a comforting sense of belonging in their new country,” says Ines Rios, Executive Director at the Immigrant Women’s Centre. “This project has been a first and unique opportunity to mark their passage.”

Behind the course are also co-facilitators Arlene Mascovitch and program producer David Adkin of Skyworks, both professional filmmakers. Mascovitch says, “People have been telling stories since the dawn of time and so we are hard wired to listen to stories, it is extremely affirming to know that your story counts.”

She continues, “Participants have learnt a lot including how to connect with people in an ethical manner. And it will be even more fascinating to see the growth on the community level as a result of the outcome of the videos presented.”

Three films have been created on topics surrounding newcomer artists in Hamilton, challenges that newcomer women face and role model examples of newcomer women.

The three documentary films will be screened publicly on September 24, 2014 at the Hamilton Spectator at 7:00 p.m. Entry is free to the public.

Mony Shohayeb is a writer and marketing consultant. Visit her website at www.hyveagency.com.

4 • Fall 2014 @UNPACKMAGCA

“They do however have

something in common: they are

all strong, talented women

with powerful stories to tell.”

Eight newcomer women will premiere their documentary films on September 24 at the Hamilton Spectator Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. GABRIELA PINTO

Sharing Our Stories

Fall 2014 • 5UNPACKMAG.CA

HOW REFUGEE HEALTH CUTS WERE REVERSED

By Maria Geleynse

The Federal Court of Canada has ruled that the government’s 2012 cuts to refugee healthcare through the Interim Federal Health Program are unconstitutional and should be reversed.

In her official decision, Federal Court Justice Anne Mactavish said that the cuts subject refugees to treatment that is “cruel and unusual,” thereby violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Healthcare professionals and other refugee advocates in Hamilton and across the country applauded the Court’s July 4 decision.

“The Federal Court’s ruling was a pretty exciting moment,” says Gabrielle Inglis, a McMaster medical student, who has been heavily involved in advocating for refugee healthcare. Roselyn Wilson, a psychiatry resident at Hamilton’s St. Joseph’s Hospital, agrees: “This ruling finally gave legal status to what we have been saying for the past two years.”

Inglis and Wilson participated in the rally on June 16 for the National Day of Action against cuts to refugee healthcare, which saw many doctors, medical students, healthcare professionals, and other refugee advocates peacefully protesting in downtown Hamilton.

“This isn’t just a theoretical social justice concern for those of us who work in health care; refugee claimants are our patients,” says Wilson. She recalls a pregnant woman she saw on her

obstetrics rotation in medical school. The woman was awaiting deportation, and “had been unable to access appropriate prenatal care; she could only come to the emergency department when she was worried about the health of her baby.”

Justice Mactavish emphasized the impact of the 2012 decision on children, saying that the healthcare cuts “potentially jeopardize the health, and indeed the very lives, of these innocent and vulnerable children in a manner that shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency.”

She also declared that through the healthcare cuts “the executive branch of the Canadian government has intentionally set out to make the lives of these disadvantaged individuals even more difficult than they already are. It has done this in an effort to force those who have sought the protection of this country to leave Canada more quickly, and to deter others from coming here to seek protection.”

Inglis says that she was “quite moved

by the language of the ruling, which unabashedly denounced the cuts as ‘cruel and unusual’ and very pointedly called out the government for its targeting of a vulnerable population.”

And yet, “there is a lot of work left to do,” says Wilson. “Getting court recognition that the cuts are illegal and ‘cruel and unusual’ is an important moral victory for sure, but until coverage is actually restored refugee claimants will still suffer.”

Indeed, despite Justice Mactavish’s strongly-worded denouncement of the cuts, and despite repeated arguments from refugee advocates that the government’s reasons for the cuts are weak and unfounded, the Federal Government quickly announced its plan to appeal the Federal Court’s decision. In a July 4th press conference, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Christopher Alexander said a reversal of the 2012 healthcare changes “would undercut a successful reform… we’re determined to defend the interests of real refugees and Canadian taxpayers.”

“It’s important for all of us to remain engaged in this issue – particularly leading up to an election year,” says Inglis. “Unfortunately, in the interim, people continue to suffer.”

Maria Geleynse is a writer and ESL teacher living in Hamilton. Follow her on Twitter: @MariaGeleynse.

“...until coverage is

actually restored

refugee claimants

will still suffer.”

[BELOW] Roselyn Wilson, psychiatry resident at Hamilton’s St. Joseph’s Hospital holds a sign reading ‘Health for All’ at the National Day of Action against cuts to refugee healthcare in Hamilton.

MICHELLE BOTH

Visit UnpackMag.ca for more photos & resources.

MICHELLE BOTH

6 • Fall 2014 @UNPACKMAGCA

Finding a Way OutPRIVATE SPONSORSHIP OFFERS FAMILY NEW LIFE IN HAMILTON

There are nearly 130,000 refugees lining the Thailand-Burma border in camps, waiting for resettlement. Beh Paw and her family were among

them, desparate for an escape from the prison of statelessness.

By Michelle Both

We’ve seen the photos from refugee camps around the world: the grid of tents, the hot sun, the food rations, the tired eyes. The camps are supposed to be temporary, for emergencies. But for many displaced persons, these refugee camps have become the only home they’ve ever known.

Just over one year ago, Beh Paw was one of those people. Today, she lives in Hamilton with her family after being privately sponsored by Grimsby’s Mountainview Christian Reformed Church and organization World Renew.

“Sometimes I imagined if I could come to a country where there was freedom. I thought it would be impossible,” she says in Karen through a translator.

Growing up in a refugee camp on the Thailand-Burma border, she and her family were of the nearly

130,000 predominantly ethnic Karen people waiting for resettlement. Asylum seeksers are scattered among nine refugee camps, their lives spent within the camp boundaries, facing arrest if they try to leave.

Canada previously committed to resettling refugees from these camps. Hamilton alone received 350 Karen refugees from 2006-2010, according to Semula Horlings, Karen settlement counsellor at the Immigrant Women’s Centre.

With rising political instability and environmental

disasters elsewhere, refugees along the Thailand-Burma border fear they have been forgotten by the world. In many ways they have. But they have not been forgotten by the Thai government (who has expressed the desire to close the camps) as they were intended to be only temporary.

Refugees are not allowed to work outside the camp, forcing families into deeper poverty. For survival, some escape at night to work in distant farmers’ fields. They leave for days, sometimes weeks, risking imprisonment if they are found.

“It’s like living in a prison. I felt like I was a criminal. I also felt like I was oppressed,” says Paw. “It was very hard to survive... We did not have access to things to meet our basic needs.”

Reverend Robert Htwe, a chaplain for the refugee camps for over forty years, has seen the number of refugees rise firsthand. Burma (also called Myanmar)

MICHELLE BOTH

“It’s like living in a prison.

I felt like I was a criminal.”

Mar Ku and Beh Paw stand together on their apartment balcony on Hughson Street, after coming to Hamilton through a private sponsorship.

Reverend Robert Htwe, who works with refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border, visits Hamilton on his journey across Ontario connecting with resettled refugees.

– home to one of the world’s longest running civil wars – has had over sixty years of internal fighting, causing the number of refugees to rise dramatically. At its peak in 2005, there were 150,000 people living in the camps.

Because resettlement has slowed, refugees are left with few options.

Rev. Htwe visited resettled Karen refugees in Ontario this summer, bringing updates on their family and friends who are still living in the camps. Food rations have been cut in half, he says, down to 8kg a month of rice per person. Meat is often only eaten once a month. “We need more money for food for our people,” he stresses.

Education has suffered. Without money to train and retain teachers, NGO’s have been unable to maintain adequate schooling. Building supplies have been scarce. There is simply not enough money to go around.

“We need to plan for the future, but the NGOs now don’t know what is happening even next year. They used to plan in advance with no problem,” he says. This uncertainty has left the entire community in jeopardy, waiting for answers, but fearing their outcome.

The solution is fairly simplistic, he says. It can be summarized to two things: more donors, and more refugee sponsorships.

PRIVATE REFUGEE SPONSORSHIPFor Paw, it was an unassuming group in

Grimsby that changed her family’s fate. Members at Mountainview Christian Reformed Church joined together to raise financial support to sponsor her family. In total, the church has sponsored six families from countries including Somalia, Iraq, Croatia, and Burma.

“As Canadians, we want to share the security, freedom and advantages that we enjoy here in Canada,” writes Liz Meijer, church deacon, in an email.

“The friendships and relationships that come out of private sponsorship are quite beautiful,”

says Rebecca Walker, refugee coordinator at World Renew, the organization that provided support to the Mountainview CRC in their refugee sponsorship process. World Renew is a Sponsorship Agreement Holder with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which enables them to sponsor refugees to Canada.

“[Refugees] come with skills and knowledge and are very able. The churches do the hands on work of welcoming newcomers to Canada. The churches walk side by side with newcomers and assist them with learning about Canadian systems and culture and assisting them with getting on their feet in their new home. ”

World Renew has been assisting Christian Reformed Churches and other partners from across Canada to sponsor refugees since 1979.

Walker continues: “Sponsorship makes a difference for the refugees in that they have safety and security as well as an opportunity for education and work. For refugees in camps, their lives are often in limbo. For example, children often do not have access to education for several years.”

For those left behind in the refugee camps, Paw hopes that they too will be given enough food to feed their families, and find the care and support that she has experienced. Most of all she hopes that Canadians will sponsor more refugees, and free them from the prison of statelessness.

Michelle Both works as the Communications Coordinator at the Immigrant Women’s Centre and is Managing Editor for Unpack Magazine. Follow her on Twitter: @MichellelBoth.

PHOTOS BY MICHELLE BOTHBeh Paw and Mar Ku stand with their five children: Moo Lah Hay (6), Ray Bay (11), Robby (7), Paul Lu (13), and David (8 months).

“For refugees in

camps, their lives are

often in limbo.”

Beh Paw holds a piece of traditional fabric she brought with her to Canada.

8 • Fall 2014 @UNPACKMAGCA

By Cassandra Roach

In front of a full audience, Maha Hussein shared her ‘Turning Point’ story about overcoming her fears through the simple act of opening a door. New to Canada and with beginner English skills, Hussein spoke of having to make the choice between staying at home watching television or going out with her 10-year-old son to explore her new community.

Finally, she decided. “By opening the door,” Hussein told in her story, “I kicked all my fears and decided to make it a special day out.” Since that day, she has conquered her fears by becoming more involved in the community, and making the most of each day of her new life in Canada.

It’s stories like Hussein’s that inspired Grace Evans and her mother to begin Steel City Stories just three years ago. The organization holds storytelling events in Hamilton and invites community members to tell true stories about themselves on stage.

Storytelling, Evans says, is entertaining and is a great way to get to know people and connect with the community. “What’s good about having [these] in Hamilton is you’re getting to know your neighbours; it’s community building.”

At the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton in July, before Hussein went on stage, she was worried about how the audience – her fellow Hamiltonians – would react to her story. She wondered if, as a newcomer, she represented a difference too big to be accepted.

“Maybe they would say ‘Why should we care about this story, about these experiences?’ Why would this

be so important if you are a citizen?” But her perceived difference as an immigrant was transcended as she told her story. The shared human emotion connected Hussein to the audience.

“After I told the story, the reaction…calmed me down because I saw in their eyes that they were listening to me very carefully. You can see in people’s eyes that they are feeling with you. I felt that. The emotions you have are like others, the fears you have are the same.

“After I told the story a lot of people came up to say they had same experiences as me and how brave it was to share the story.”

Regardless of the differences between Hussein and the audience, community was built that night in Hamilton by finding common ground within diversity.

According to Evans, this is not an unusual occurrence when it comes to storytelling. “What makes it rich is the diversity of backgrounds. Sometimes you hear people and you say ‘Hey that’s me’ and then you hear others and they take you out of your comfort zone and you learn something totally new,” says Evans.

“Especially for immigrant women it’s easier to feel included in your community if you hear stories that reflect your experiences,” says Evans.

For Hussein, it was important that her story “let others know they’re not the only ones who go through problems as they arrive to the country.”

In fact, storytelling seems to be a didactic exercise for Hussein, whose strong message of overcoming adversity was carried throughout her story.

The stories told on the Steel City Stories stage rely on a relationship forged between the story-teller and the audience, regardless of the differences among them. They are the tellers’ personal tales of tragedy or triumph that elicit reactions of understanding and discomfort at the humanness on display.

The power of story-telling is its ability to remind us that we are all human and we have all experienced joy and hope and fear. Through the story of one newcomer woman who

overcame her fears, we have discovered our differences and our similarities, a feeling of inclusion with Hamilton’s diversity. Let’s start building a community here.

Storytelling Workshop for Newcomer WomenFacilitated by Grace Evans, Steel City Stories Mondays 12:30 - 3:00 p.m. | Sept 15 - Oct 27, 2014 Immigrant Women’s Centre 182 Rebecca Street, Hamilton

To register call Nazia at 905-529-5209 x261 or email nzeb@IWCHamilton.ca.

Cassandra Roach is a Community Development Worker and Popular Educator at the Immigrant Women’s Centre. Follow her on Twitter: @RoachCass.

Diverse Voices, Common Ground

“The emotions you have are

like others, the fears you

have are the same.”

HOW STORYTELLING BUILDS COMMUNITY

IWC volunteer Maha Hussein shares her ‘Turning Point’ story at July’s Steel City Stories event.MICHELLE BOTH

Fall 2014 • 9UNPACKMAG.CA

STREET HARASSMENTWHAT IS STREET

HARASSMENT?

Street harassment, or sexual harassment in public spaces, occurs when people are

targeted or discriminated against based on their identity, which includes gender, race,

socio-economic status, status in Canada, and sexual orientation.

Many people consider street harassment a normal part of being a woman or

racialized person.

Street harassment is often an invisible problem. It is often not talked about or is dismissed as a compliment, a minor annoyance, a joke, or the fault of the

harassed person. It is none of those things.

It limits people’s – especially women’s – safety and ability to access and participate

in public spaces.

97%OF HOLLABACK! OTTAWA SURVEY RESPONDENTS

EXPERIENCED STREET HARASSMENT IN THE PAST YEAR. (2013)

STAND UP TO

THERE’S NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY TO RESPOND WHEN YOU ARE BEING HARASSED. HERE ARE A FEW OPTIONS.

KEEP MOVING

GET SUPPORTYou don’t deserve to be yelled at or cat called. Talk to someone you trust. Thinking about ways to end the violence that women experience everyday can be overwhelming, but there are community organizations in Hamilton that offer important and confidential support. HOLLABACK! - Hamiltonont.ihollaback.orgShare your story with Hollaback!, a network of 79 chapters in 29 countries. It offers online space to document & map incidents of street harassment.

SACHA - Sacha.ca Hamilton’s Sexual Assault Centre works to end all forms of sexual violence. If you have experienced harassment call their 24 Hour Support Line (905-525-4162) or visit the centre to talk to someone face-to-face.

KEEP YOURSELF SAFEThis could be by doing nothing, laughing,

avoiding eye contact or walking away. People often feel guilty for not confronting their harassers and letting them know what they are doing is not

OK. Confrontation, however, is not always the safest option for the person being

harassed. Do whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe. call

to action

Get onlookers involved. If there are people around, like on a bus or a busy street, say, ‘The man in the yellow shirt is

bothering me.’

BE CREATIVEUse your imagination! There are lots

of creative ways to respond to street harassment in our communities.

Violence is far too common in women’s lives.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

Women have the right to be outside, on the street, to ride the bus, To bike to work or the store, To take up space, and to have

a voice.

TAKE BACK THE NIGHTSEPTEMBER 18 | 6 PMCITY HALL

In Ottawa they’ve done chalk art. In Philadelphia, bus ads. What can we do in Hamilton to fight against street harassment? One Hamilton woman, Niki Thorne, made her own pamphlet to hand out to street harassers.

Come to

By Erin Crickett

Let the person know that what they are doing is

harassment. Be firm. It could be saying, ‘That’s not

cool,’ or ‘What you are doing is offensive.’ Use

humour or anger to express yourself.

Erin Crickett works as Public Education Coordinator at SACHA and coordinates Hamilton’s annual rally against sexual violence, Take Back the Night.

If the harasser does respond, don’t engage in conversation or argue with them. Keep moving. Get to a safe place if you can.

Let’s get this straight.

HARASSMENT IS NEVER OKAY. Yet, 70 - 99% of women

globally have experienced it.*

So, what do you doif it happens?

*GALLUP.COM

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Photo by Joel Duff, courtesy of the Ontario Federation of Labour

Women& TECH

By Tricia Bassoo

Discussions on the lack of women in the tech industry are centred on the glass ceiling obstacle, a term used to describe the unseen barriers women and minorities face advancing in their careers. Yet some argue that the glass ceiling no longer exists. So without the glass ceiling, why is there still a gap on the number of women in the technology industry in Hamilton?

According to Shanta Nathwani, founder of Women in Technology Hamilton, “Girls were not allowed to break things and put them back together to figure out how they work.” Nathwani, also a technology instructor at Sheridan College, remarks that “we as young women are not taught to get our hands dirty.”

A statistics Canada study, also found that “Young women with a high level of mathematical ability are significantly less likely to enter the STEM [Science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science] fields than young men, even young men with a lower level of mathematical ability. This suggests that the gender gap in STEM fields-related programs is due to other factors.”

“Women accounted for 39% of university graduates aged 25 to 34 with a STEM degree in 2011,” noted the study. However, “among STEM graduates aged 25 to 34, women accounted for 59% of those in science and technology programs.”

This shows that while the number of women in the field is low, there is a prevalence in the amount of women entering the field.

Likewise, Larissa Drobot, host of TechTalkx Hamilton, notes that she has also witness that the number of women looking to develop new and innovative software products is steadily increasing, TechTalkx is a web series dedicated to highlighting tech and creative start-ups in the Hamilton region.

There is no longer an attitude of women can’t, or women shouldn’t, but rather a question of whether and how women would be interested in working in the tech industry. In Hamilton that question is being answered

by new and upcoming innovate programs.

The YWCA of Hamilton, in partnership with Mohawk College, is offering a Webmaster Certificate program for women, which will provide students with technical skills and practical experience in web design. Also offered is the Bridging to Information and Communications Technology program, which although open to men and women, is designed to

prepare immigrants for tech jobs in Canada. According to Forbes contributor Mark

Fidelman, “Technology careers are interesting, women are great at it, and they get to work alongside extraordinary men and women. Being technology illiterate just doesn’t cut it anymore. It can’t when so many more job functions require so much more technical know-how.”

Tricia Bassoo is a McMaster Political Science alumni, and fellow Hamiltonian. Follow her on Twitter: @HellaTrish.

“Technology careers are interesting, women

are great at it, and they get to work

alongside extraordinary men and women.”

Bridging the disconnect:

“The number of

women looking to

develop new and

innovative software

products is steadily

increasing.”

On the Fringe

SEXUALITY & STRIFE

By Natalie Timperio

Hamilton’s 11th annual Fringe Festival saw the likes of some of the event’s most gripping and impassioned performances to date.

Of particular interest were the plays Dreams of Summer’s End, an hour-long drama written and directed by Tristan Rive of The Dying Picture Productions, and Love With Leila, a one person show written and performed by Izad Etemadi of Unveiled Productions. From desperation and despair to gender norms and societal stigmas, these two plays collectively explore and challenge what we know and accept as the standard to which we ascribe ourselves as well as others.

Dreams of Summer’s End explores the lives of four 20-somethings as they struggle to find happiness in relationships as well as in employment. Its opening scene, which depicts an episode of rape, was telling of what was to come. The ensuing scenes all contain some element of desperation and self-destruction. Sexuality is the binding element that shapes and sees the lives of the four characters come to some degree of ruin. In the end, the audience is left to self-reflect and re-evaluate the ways in which sexuality influences our lives at the individual and interpersonal level.

While Dreams of Summer’s End speaks of sexuality in a dramatic fashion, Love With Leila explores this particular theme in a more comedic manner. This one ‘woman’ show portrays the expected and familiar by shining a light on the relatively oppressive home environment of Leila, a Persian woman with a larger-than-life personality. As the play progresses, Leila transcends and eventually comes into her own through startling scenes of self-discovery. Within its cocoon of comedy lie deep-seated issues that resonate powerfully in society.

Despite differences in tone and delivery, what Dreams of Summer’s End and Love With Leila have in common, is the way in which they portray how sexuality forms our upbringing, our relationships and, moreover, our very being.

While resisting norms that may inflict self-harm and moral deprivation, one must also learn to embrace those inherent qualities that make us who we truly are.

Although the message of these two plays may appear bleak and far too serious for the likes of others, Love With Leila was more palatable than Dreams of Summer’s End, which was not in its single person performance, as one may think, but instead in its unlikely – though much desired – comedic nature.

Whereas Dreams of Summer’s End concludes on a troubled note, Love With Leila leaves audiences feeling elated, cheerful and, yes, grateful for political and social freedoms we often take for granted in Canada. What was conveyed to the audience in Love With Leila, therefore, was not so much resisting gender norms that seek to characterize one person from another but instead releasing gender-based expectations from one’s own happiness. Of course, by no means did Love With Leila directly condone the way in which gender plays a fundamental role in society (be it good or bad) either. In any case, the sense of self-worth we so often strive for in daily life is pronounced as possible in Love With Leila, Dreams of Summer’s End lacks such hope.

On the whole, both Dreams of Summer’s End and Love With Leila provoke a sense of humble appreciation for life, those in it, and the ways in which sexuality, gender and all things related pose as both helpful and harmful to oneself and others.

Natalie Timperio is a freelance writer in Hamilton. Follow her on Twitter: @NatalieTimperio.

Writer and director Izad Etemadi of Unveiled Productions stars in Hamilton Fringe Festival’s Love With Leila.

TRISTAN RIVÉ BEATTYOEI PHOTOGRAPHYThe Dying Picture Production’s Nisheeth Proshanti acts as Alex in Dreams of Summer’s End.

Fall 2014 • 11UNPACKMAG.CA

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Hamilton, Ontario, L8H 2W1Tél : 905-528-0163

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