Quote of the week:

"It wasn't so much a kidnapping as I had gone there and they were in control of the city and they took me originally as a suspected spy." - Canadian journalist Scott Taylor, who was held for five days and tortured by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Talafar, Iraq, in Tuesday's Globe.

Subway shutterbugs wanted

Metro systems are like people: there are no two alike, but they all share certain common characteristics. Whether it's Montreal or Moscow, New York or New Delhi, subway systems the world over move people en masse. It's something Paul Guité noticed while jet-setting the world as an anthropologist working for UNESCO, and now he wants to document them in a two-year global project, called Métrographique, with his hometown of Montreal as the starting point.

The project involves 65 amateur photographers - daily users of their local subway - capturing the essence and images of their underground public transportation network over a 24-hour period. Guité plans to document 114 cities in 53 countries in 35 languages.

"This project is intended to show how we are all the same, but in different ways," he says. "I chose to use the metro system because it is the most common denominator in the world - 2.3-billion people use the subway every day."

Guité says the project will be the largest photographic exercise in history, and wanted to begin in Montreal because of the system's relative safety and cleanliness. The Montreal edition, which takes place next Wednesday, Sept. 22 - which happens to be International No-Car Day - will serve as the template for future projects.

Ultimately, each city will produce an exhibit, averaging about four shots per station, and then a "Best Of" compilation will be created upon the project's completion. In December, the Montreal selection will be shown at Berri station. For information on participating in the project, e-mail info@metroscope.net. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Dial-a-shrink

Nobody likes waiting, but for some, a delay in getting help can be potentially fatal. Like hospitals, many of the province's mental health facilities are swamped with requests for help, and the people who need their services can't wait. That's why two Montreal therapists, Solline Feld and David MacKeigan, borrowed a concept already in use in the States and Toronto and Vancouver and set up Therapy Direct, a non-profit referral service that directs callers to the appropriate therapist.

Therapy Direct has access to a network of therapists in a local area, all of whom have been interviewed and screened, with expertise in a number of fields, from childhood abuse to alcoholism to marital problems to bereavement. There are currently over 90 such networks operating in North America.

"The client simply calls the 1-800 number [1-800-THERAPY] and we can assess their needs and help them figure out what kind of style of therapy would be best for them," says Jenn Berbrier, Therapy Direct's communications director. "After that we can recommend a match for you."

Berbrier says that many people who need therapy don't know how to go about getting help in the first place, and, as many therapists don't advertise, the phone line is a quick and easy way to seek help.

Most therapy isn't covered by medicare, but that doesn't mean those with fewer means will be left without help. "The therapists do charge, but some do on a sliding scale," Berbrier says. » Patrick Lejtenyi

West End rocks out

It ain't rock 'n' roll if nobody's being irritated, and indeed West End music haters have so oppressed the thunder gods of rock that authorities have closed down every last noisy live venue in the neighbourhood. "They call it noise, I call it music," grumbles Steve Laudi, who, with the help of about 50 volunteers and about 20 performers, will break the silence for a day this Saturday with a free music festival which resurrects the tradition of Sunday in the Park, axed by its organizer Head and Hands last year.

In a borough where no guitar solo goes unpunished, last year's inaugural music festival drew the wrath of neighbours when it went on until 10:30 p.m. But this year, the Montreal's Own Music (MOM) gang have slated their events to end at a presumably more acceptable of Saturday at 8 p.m. The organizers also want to attract more children and their owners.

"We'll have a more family focus from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.," says coordinator Clara Piedalue. "We'll have kids performing, with musical theatre and face painting, and such stuff."

Among the 20 performers on two stages include Special Ops, Kali and Dub, Mickey Mutts, Dibondoko and the Rivers Edge Choir. After overcoming much municipal hesitancy, the park is all set to howl. "The aim is to celebrate local talent and give bands the opportunity to come and play live before a big audience," says Laudi. The place is NDG Park (Sherbrooke and Girouard) and the time is Saturday, Sept. 18 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. » Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

15 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Sept. 14–Sept. 21, 1989

On the cover: The Mirror announces it's now published weekly.

• In a tale of two upcoming energy conferences, Martha Brooks looks at two approaches to issues like pollution, global warming and nuclear waste. At the first, featuring brass from Atomic Energy Canada and Imperial Oil, speakers will "hope to portray dams and reactors as environmentally sound options." At the second, the International Green Energy Conference, the focus will be on renewable energy sources and economics.

• The Festival internationale de nouvelle danse highlights Japan's butoh, "less a style of dance than an animating idea interpreted by various groups and dancers."

• Despite boffo record sales and ubiquitous radio play in Montreal, Fine Young Cannibals aren't selling out their anticipated Forum concert. Martin Siberok suspects that ticket price ($25), the venue and concerts by the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Paul McCartney are responsible.

• "Believe the hype," reads the opening line of the review of Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies and videotape.

Angel >> The Great Lakes In a report issued earlier this week, an American-Canadian panel warned that, despite some improvement, the Great Lakes are still facing serious environmental damage. The International Joint Commission said livestock waste, microbial pathogens, urban sprawl, sewage overflow, mercury emissions and up to 160 foreign species, including the notorious zebra mussel, are problems that need to be dealt with urgently. In 1978, the U.S. and Canada agreed to clean up the lakes, but that agreement hasn't been updated in 17 years. The Commission will offer suggestions on improvements at the end of the year.
Insect >> Assault weapons This week, a decade-long U.S. ban on semi-automatic assault weapons was allowed to lapse. The ban, signed into law 10 years ago by then-President Clinton, ended when the Republican-dominated Congress neglected to forward it to the White House to seek its extension (President Bush says he would have signed the request, but never got it - or asked for it). Now, killtoys like the TEC-9 (pictured) and 18 other kinds of assault weapons, along with bayonet mounts, folding stocks, flash suppressors and extended ammunition magazines, all previously banned, are available to lovers of freedom who hope to repel invading Communists, terrorists and British redcoats.