Last March, Tim Okamura was weak from COVID-19 and grieving the death of a cousin to the disease when the hospital across the street began bringing in the body trucks.
Only a few weeks earlier, the Canadian contemporary artist from Sherwood Park, Alta., had been dismissive of the masked fellow travellers on a flight from Germany (“I sort of thought people were overreacting”) and by the masked and gloved fellow New Yorkers when he returned to his Brooklyn home.
“I went to the deli, the same deli that all the hospital workers were going to. I might have gone out to play pool one night and was shaking hands with people,” Okamura told CBC News on Friday.
“A little bit in the back of my mind, I was like, ‘Maybe this isn’t the greatest idea,’ but I was proceeding as normal.”
By mid-March, the coronavirus in New York was spreading rapidly and Okamura’s denial gave way to a few precautions — he bought masks, gloves and a wildly expensive jug of hand sanitizer.
But then he got a cough that he couldn’t shake, followed by chills and soon the realization that he had almost assuredly contracted the disease.
This photo is one that Tim Okamura posted to his Instagram account after he’d begun to recover from the disease. He said the loss of smell, a potential side-effect of COVID-19, was bizarre. (Submitted by Tim Okamura)
Okamura never did get tested — a security guard at the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center warned him off with stories about the shortage of tests and chaos inside — but Okamura didn’t really need proof.
He’d had the chills, body aches, headaches, fatigue, brain fog and the bizarre loss of his sense of smell.
“I tried smelling garlic, nothing. I tried smelling cinnamon, nothing. … The only thing I could slightly smell was like were man-made things like disinfectant, hand sanitizer and that type of thing.”
And, if all that wasn’t enough, there were the body trucks.
“That was right outside my window. The first truck got set up and that weekend I saw them wheeling bodies out,” he recalled. “I looked inside the truck and I could see — and this is pretty grim — like, eight bodies, head-to-toe, on either side of the truck. And then they built shelves, makeshift shelves, so it was basically four levels high.”
As a Canadian living in the United States for the last three decades, Okamura doesn’t mince words when describing his dismay at American leadership during the pandemic. But in New York, one of the early hot spots for the virus, residents adopted safe practices that have stuck, he said.
Tim Okamura is a contemporary artist known for his depictions of women of colour. The spirit of that theme is evident in his Health Care Heroes series, like this portrait, which he calls ‘Rosie.’ (Submitted by Tim Okamura)
“New York is a good example of how you should handle it and behave,” he said. “And then you see the rest of the country and people that are literally getting into fistfights over wearing a mask.
“Overall, just a chaotic response: a president that downplayed it, lack of preparation, conspiracy versus science.”
The reopening of the city’s businesses allowed him to start safely getting together with people again, but those encounters also brought him face to face with naysayers and conspiracy theorists among his own social circle.
“When you’re confronted with people who think it’s all a conspiracy, it’s a bit frustrating. You have to kind of work through the steps of logically kind of deciphering what they’re saying, being patient with it,” he said.
‘Deeply affected by the pandemic’
“It’s like the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining and then depression and then finally acceptance,” he said. “You can see those stages happening with people, too.”
Okamura is known for his paintings that often depict Black Americans with themes of social justice, representation and racial equality. Time Magazine used his painting of Toni Morrison in March’s 100 Women of the Year project. In Edmonton, he is represented by the Peter Robertson Gallery.
In all, Okamura was laid low by the disease for more than two months. His studio, filled with 30-odd unfinished paintings, speaks to its lingering effects, he said.
Artist Tim Okamura with COVID-19 unit nurses at NYU Langone Health. (Submitted by Tim Okamura)
But while 2020 has been an unproductive year for him as an artist, it’s also been a time in which he has learned and grown, he said. He has a richer relationship with his parents, a new gratitude for his immune system and a deep appreciation for the opportunity to do some “soul searching and kind of coming to grips with your humanity.”
It has also opened up a new artistic door, with a series of paintings he has planned called Health Care Heroes, which will include portraits of nurses from COVID-19 units in Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta and a portrait of three emergency doctors from the Wyckoff.
He said most of the portraits will be gifted to the nurses, while a few group portraits will be sold with some proceeds going to a organization chosen by the medical professionals.
It’s a fitting tribute from the artist who has journeyed through the five stages, from denial to acceptance, and now wants to go one step further.
“I have been deeply affected by the pandemic on many levels, and wanted to show my appreciation for the heroic work of the doctors and nurses.”
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames have re-signed defenceman Ilya Solovyov and centre Cole Schwindt, the NHL club announced Wednesday.
Solovyov signed a two-year deal which is a two-way contract in year one and a one-way deal in year two and carries an average annual value of US$775,000 at the NHL level.
Schwindt signed a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $800,000 at the NHL level.
The 24-year-old Solovyov, from Mogilev, Belarus, made his NHL debut last season and had three assists in 10 games for the Flames. He also had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and added one goal in six Calder Cup playoff games.
Schwindt, from Kitchener, Ont., made his Flames debut last season and appeared in four games with the club.
The 23-year-old also had 14 goals and 22 assists in 66 regular-season games with the Wranglers and added a team-leading four goals, including one game-winning goal, in the playoffs.
Schwindt was selected by Florida in the third round, 81st overall, at the 2019 NHL draft. He came to Calgary in July 2022 along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the trade that sent star forward Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Oman scored 10 runs in the final over to edge Nepal by one wicket with just one ball remaining in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play Wednesday.
Kaleemullah, the No. 11 batsman who goes by one name, hit a four with the penultimate ball as Oman finished at 223 for nine. Nepal had scored 220 for nine in its 50 overs.
Kaleemullah and No. 9 batsman Shakeel Ahmed each scored five in the final over off Sompal Kami. They finished with six and 17 runs, respectively.
Opener Latinder Singh led Oman with 41 runs.
Nepal’s Gulsan Jha was named man of the match after scoring 53 runs and recording a career-best five-wicket haul. The 18-year-old slammed five sixes and three-fours in his 35-ball knock, scoring 23 runs in the 46th over alone when he hit six, six, four, two, four and one off Aqib Ilyas.
Captain Rohit Paudel led Nepal with 60 runs.
The 19th-ranked Canadians, who opened the triangular series Monday with a 103-run win over No. 17 Nepal, face No. 16 Oman on Friday, Nepal on Sunday and Oman again on Sept. 26. All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Canada (5-4) stands second in the World League 2 table. The 14th-ranked Dutch top the table at 6-2.
Oman (2-2 with one no-result) stands sixth, ahead of Nepal (1-5).
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
PENTICTON, B.C. – Rick Tocchet has already warned his Vancouver Canucks players — the looming NHL season won’t be easy.
The team made strides last year, the head coach said Wednesday ahead of training camp. The bar has been raised for this year’s campaign.
“To get to the next plateau, there are higher expectations and it’s going to be hard. We know that,” Tocchet said in Penticton, B.C., where the team will open its camp on Thursday.
“So that’s the next level. It starts day one (on Thursday). My thing is don’t waste a rep out there.”
The Canucks finished atop the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record last season, then ousted the Nashville Predators from the playoffs in a gritty, six-game first-round series. Vancouver then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game second-round set.
Last fall, Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said everything would have to go right for the team to make a playoff push. That doesn’t change this season, he said, despite last year’s success.
“The challenges will be greater, certainly. But I believe the team that we started with last year, we have just as good a team to start the season this year and probably better,” he said.
“As long as the team builds off what they did last year, stick to what the coaches tell them, stick to the system, stick together in good times and bad times, this team has a chance to do pretty well.”
Some key players will be missing as Vancouver’s training camp begins, however.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Wednesday that star goalie Thatcher Demko will not be on the ice when the team begins it’s pre-season preparation.
Allvin did not disclose the reason for Demko’s absence, but said the 28-year-old American has been making progress.
“He’s been in working extremely hard and he seems to be in a great mindset,” the GM said.
Demko missed several weeks of the regular season and much of Vancouver’s playoff run last spring with a knee injury.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie has a career 213-116-81 regular-season record with a .912 save percentage, a 2.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts across seven seasons with the Canucks.
Allvin also announced that veteran centre Teddy Blueger and defensive prospect Cole McWard will also miss the start of training camp after each had “minor lower-body surgery.”
Vancouver previously announced winger Dakota Joshua won’t be present for the start of camp as he recovers from surgery for testicular cancer.
Tocchet said he’ll have no problem filling the holes, and plans to switch his lines up a lot in Penticton.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have different puzzles at different times.”
The coach added that he expects standout centre Elias Pettersson to begin on a line with Canucks newcomer Jake DeBrusk.
Vancouver inked DeBrusk, a former Boston Bruins forward, to a seven-year, US$38.5 million deal when the NHL’s free agent market opened on July 1.
The glare on Pettersson is expected to be bright once again as he enters the first year of a new eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 25-year-old Swede struggled at times last season and put 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games.
Rutherford said he was impressed with how Pettersson looked when he returned to Vancouver ahead of camp.
“He seems to be a guy that’s more relaxed and more comfortable. And for obvious reasons,” said the president of hockey ops. “This is a guy that I believe has worked really hard this summer. He’s done everything he can to play as a top-line player. … The expectation for him is to be one of the top players on our team.”
A number of Canucks hit milestones last season, including Quinn Hughes, who led all NHL defencemen in scoring with 92 points and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top blue liner.
Several players could once again have career-best years for Vancouver, Tocchet said, but they’ll need to be consistent and not allow frustration to creep in when things go wrong.
“You’ve just got to drive yourself every day when you have a great year,” the coach said. “You’ve got to keep creating that environment where they can achieve those goals, whatever they are. And the main goal is winning. That’s really what it comes down to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
