Michael Despotovic is a » Community Supporter

Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship (2016 – now)

Mike Despotovic — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 01:36:43 +0000

I started attending Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship in 2016 though I’ve self-identified as a Christian for the vast majority of my life. Since joining the PGIMF congregation, I’ve come to understand, appreciate, and commit myself to the principles of Mennonite worship—even though I have no ethnic or inherited ties to the Mennonite people. After all, anabaptism is open to everybody.

Since 2017, I have been part of various committees that make up the different avenues of leadership at PGIMF. Most consistently, I’ve sat on the Congregational Care Committee with two other great people. I represent this committee on the Board and advise in other topics and initiatives such as refugee sponsorship.

Lastly, like many of us layfolk who make up PGIMF, I volunteer to lead singing, worship service and occasional activities that take place on Sunday mornings.

Whale in the Door (2018)

Mike Despotovic — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 02:09:18 +0000

On Saturday, August 11, 2018 from 2 to 4 PM at the Vancouver Public Library, Alice McKay Room, the public was invited to write one of seventy-five planned letters of action to the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard (North Vancouver). Since each letter signifies one of the remaining seventy-five orcas in the Salish Sea, participants were invited to fold their letter into the shape of an orca, with help of nearby volunteers. The event was called Whale in the Door: Fold for the Orcas, named after the 2017 Caitlin Press book, Whale in the Door: A Community Unites to Protect BC’s Howe Sound, written by Pauline Le Bel, with a foreword by the Honourable Elizabeth May. At the event, Pauline sang, read, and was joined on stage by the poets of Refugium: Poems for the Pacific as well as Latash Nahanee of the Squamish Nation.

Reasons for writing these letters, according to prospective attendees, stem from disapproval of BC’s fish farms, the Trans Mountain Pipeline project, and disputes between First Nation’s authority over land and sea. With the recent death of Tahlequah (J-35), also known as the first new baby orca to enter the endangered Southern Resident population in three years, many prospective attendees focused their attention on the futility of current governmental policies intended to help foster more Salish Sea orcas. Over 100 people (ages 5 to 75) were in attendance and over 100 orcas were folded. I hope that every year we can continue to provide a free, public, artistic day of action that unites issues of environmental aid and Indigenous sovereignty.

Pride Reading Series (2017 – now)

Mike Despotovic — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 01:54:39 +0000

Every summer, I host a public poetry and prose reading series at the Jim Deva Plaza (on Davie & Bute Streets) in Vancouver. Sponsored by Dagger Editions and the West End Business Improvement Association, each event has three to four queer readers who self-identify as women. Past readers include: Rabbit Richards, jaye simpson, Sara Graefe, Tina Biello, Monica Meneghetti, Jane Byers, Fatima Amarshi, Sempulyan, Adèle Barcalay, Beni Xiao, Jane Shi, Cicely-Belle Blain, Betsy Warland, and Nicola Harwood. Past community supporters have been: QMUNITY, Queer Arts Festival, Queer Film Festival, and Little Sisters Bookstore.

I hope that every year we can continue to provide a free, public, queer, literary reading experience in a very visible, high-traffic area of Vancouver.

Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House (2017 – 2018)

Mike Despotovic — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 01:45:50 +0000

For about eight months, I volunteered at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House as a Family Literacy Outreach tutor. Instead of going into family homes like most of tutors, I was part of a Saturday morning group of tutors who all met at MPNH to do group literacy tutoring (45 min) and individual literacy tutoring (45 min). I had the same mentee for the entire term though I substituted once-in-a-while for other tutors when my mentee was away. Occasionally I would lead the group literacy tutoring, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

If you have any questions about this program, I encourage you go to their website and learn more. They’re always looking for tutors!

SCFWA (2016 – 2018)

Mike Despotovic — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 01:40:24 +0000

For the three years I worked at Caitlin Press/Dagger Editions, I also volunteered for the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts located in Sechelt, BC. My first role was to assist authors with feeling comfortable and welcome on the festival grounds, wherein they had a private space to relax and prepare for their presentations. My second role was as a “gofer”, i.e. someone who assisted those managing the festival stage and the various responsibilities involved. I volunteered for these roles alongside Publisher of Caitlin Press & Dagger Editions, Vici Johnstone, who sits on the board of the festival.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, I highly recommend it. It is unlike any literary festival in Canada and very much worth the trip for those who don’t live nearby.