JUST SAY NO TO MULGREW

This is in response to Ian Mulgrew's review of Through a Blue Lens (Up
Close and Personal, Entertainment, Dec. 7). His one-sided, poorly
researched critique of the documentary [about drug addiction on Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside] dawdles on the edge of absurdity.

Ian Mulgrew is the same person who wrote a glowing book review of Opium: A
Portrait of the Heavenly Demon (Holiday Reading, Mix, Dec. 4) : "This is a
book that would delight an addict -- filled with miscellany, ephemera and
exquisite illustrations, it's made for languorous browsing between
pipefuls." His downfall emerges when one takes a close look at the core of
his review of the book: "a fascinating story with strong local angles"
and "lavishly documents human experience with the drug." One has
to wonder whether this misguided admiration of opium on Mulgrews' part is
due to his overly fictionalized and cloistered view of a world set apart
from the ever-blazing, tragic-comedy of life that is constantly happening
just under his nose -- or perhaps outside his window right now.

When he critiques Through a Blue Lens his focus is on the failed message by
the police -- "the force's close-minded attitude" toward drug education.
Don't you think seeing the absurd, hard core dirt on human suffering when
it comes to drug abuse is worth a thousand times more as an everlasting
impression than a goofy flyer on the perils of "reefer madness" that could
be chucked out with the trash or a lecture on the "challenges and reasons"
of drug addiction?

Hard core life is the stuff real memories are made of -- and real
documentaries.

Shawn Gilarowski,
North Vancouver