2018 was one of the worst years for violence against journalists in recent memory. According to a report by Reporters Without Borders, at least 63 journalists were killed for their work. Journalists faced personal threats, as well as death threats to their families. CNN faced a bomb threat late in the year. Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in a Saudi Consulate in Turkey. Five journalists were shot at the Capital Gazette in the United States. Time devoted its 2018 Person of the Year cover to multiple journalists that were murdered.
Canada is ranked at 18 out of ...
On January 20th, 2019 residents of Nanaimo will bear witness to the only lunar eclipse Canada will have a view of this year.
A lunar eclipse, which differs from a solar eclipse, is when the Earth completely blocks the sun from the moon. (A lunar eclipse, you’ll remember from 2017, is when the moon occults the sun). Because of this difference, no special equipment is needed to view it. In fact, with a pair of binoculars, you could watch the eclipse from home.
Chris Boar, the president of the Nanaimo Astronomy Society, spoke of what has been called the Super Blood Wolf Moon of 2019. ...
Do you wear cologne every day? How about hairspray? Many people carry hand sanitizer, and almost everyone wears deodorant. In any public place, it would be a challenge to not come into close proximity to the large percentage of people who use these products as part of everyday hygiene preparation. Now, imagine how your life would change if you had a condition in which mere exposure to these products could endanger your health and well-being. Further still, imagine if the legitimacy of your condition was debated among health organizations, doctors, the public, and your peers. ...
I get it, you’re sitting here wondering “why the hell does this dude keep posting recipes for an InstantPot? What the hell kind of university student has access to one of these beasts?”
What I’m saying is that you need to just succumb to the trend and figure out how to get your hands on one. Especially when it’s the end of semester, you’ve lost track of how many all-nighters you’ve pulled, and the pizza guy sees you so often that the two of you have a secret handshake. Because it’s a hell of a lot easier, and cheaper, to make this pasta dish to fuel you through the final days of the ...
How long have you been associated with VIU Mariner Athletics?
I came here in late November last year, so I’m still relatively new in my role. You know, the season was underway, but I did get a bit of an idea of what it’s like to be a Mariner and the kind of support we have in this community.
What do you expect from athletes wearing the Mariner colours?
Pride. Having pride in wearing the Mariner uniform, it’s an opportunity that not everyone gets, and there [are] always people who want to have that opportunity, but for whatever reason can’t achieve it. So ... those who get the ...
Carmanah perfume from Wild Coast Perfumery
Wild Coast Perfumery is located in Cowichan Bay and their products are comprised of all-natural fragrances distilled from locally-foraged plants. Carmanah is my favourite scent from the company’s line of six or so perfumes. It is musky yet bright with its strong cedar top notes and citrus and jasmine undertones. As someone who is sensitive to synthetic fragrances (and some naturally-derived ones), this is the only perfume I’m able to tolerate, so I love it.
Pit Potion from Pink House
After almost a year of experimenting with dozens of ...
On December 17, Odysseus Productions—a production company founded by students of Vancouver Island University (VIU)—releases the first episode of its first production, a webisodic called A Hundred Ways. The company has a total of eight board members, a cross-discipline group of students that includes Creative Writing and Theatre majors.
The webisodic was first pitched by one of those members: fourth-year Creative Writing major Chantelle Nazareth. All but two actors, Erin Butler and Steve Maughan, are also students at VIU.
A Hundred Ways follows Toby Williams, an underachieving ...
“What are you going to be when you grow up?” my friend’s grandmother, Mrs. Melchert, once asked me. She smiled the way she always did. There were cookies nearby.
“I want to be a writer!” I said instead of my usual detective, archeologist, or soldier answers. It was that kind of day.
She looked at me for a long moment before scowling.
“A booze or a bum?”
Once in a while, a person will say something so unexpected, it stays with you forever. Whenever I publish anything, it also feels like I’m telling Mrs. Melchert off. “I barely even drink!” I say, shaking my fist in the ...
It was a quiet Sunday morning, the skies grey and dripping, so Gerald decided to skip his morning walk. Instead, he settled into his favourite armchair with a hot cup of tea and his favourite book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Gerald picked up the book, caressing the spine and the worn yellow-leafed pages with his gnarly, liver-spotted fingers, and then opened it to his bookmark. He tapped his temple three times to engage his reading vision. Unfortunately, Gerald’s taps were a little clumsy and instead, his night distance vision engaged, making everything immediately dark and ...
Just east of Victoria lies a long-forgotten town. At first glance, it looks as though it was never more than a few shanties and a log hotel. Along with mining and logging operations, the years have left their mark and changed the countryside to conceal the ruins. If you look closer, though, you will find building foundations overgrown with thistle, and a population of leaves, branches, and fir trees. Little of the clearing’s surroundings indicate that Leechtown once thrived, and there are no signs to point to the thousands of dollars’ worth of gold buried just below the surface.
When ...
During a recent scroll through my Twitter feed, I noticed writer and artist Ace Ratcliff had responded to a tweet that read, “i don’t know what ableism is. are you suggesting another minority group that is being marginalized now? is the implication that ‘able’ folks discriminate against ‘disabled’ folks? i hardly think that is likely in any large numbers. [sic]”
Just a couple weeks before reading this I had been asked what ableism is and, to my surprise, I couldn’t give a clear definition. I explained that, as a disabled person, ableism is something so innately understood by me ...
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is now on the naughty list of some of Canada’s largest radio stations this holiday. CBC Radio announced on December 4 that it will join Rogers Media and Bell Media in removing the holiday classic from this year’s playlist, and many stations in the United States have done the same.
The trend is a response to the thousands of critics flooding radio stations with calls, vociferously complaining that the song is, among other things, “a rape anthem masquerading as a Christmas carol.” In the wake of the #MeToo movement, when men’s sexual advances have never been so ...
In a ground-breaking decision, Canada has become the first country to support the science behind HIV being untransmittable when the virus load is undetectable. The Honorable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Canada’s Minister of Health, signed a consensus statement on December 1 that backs the Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) campaign.
Minster Taylor met with Canadians living with HIV in a roundtable discussion the day before signing the statement on Parliament Hill, as part of government efforts to better understand where work needs to focus with regards to the stigma that still surrounds ...
As far as intergalactic super spiders go, Trevor was pretty mediocre. Standing at three meters tall and weighing as much as a Toyota Camry, Trevor was average size. He put on his spider soldier suit one leg at a time. His wife, Carol, was neither tremendously beautiful nor fascinatingly ugly. She was quite regular for a super spider.
Trevor was a little self-conscious about the size of his fangs because they were on the smaller side. There was a saying in spider culture about the size of a spider’s fangs and the ability to reproduce. It doesn’t translate well, but it’s not too hard ...
Autumn evening calls,
it’s after dinner
and we are out the door.
It’s dark
and it doesn’t matter.
Innocent energy unfurls,
high-tops hit pavement,
full tilt.
We run and run
through the neighbourhood;
jump fences,
sneak through side-yards.
A labyrinth of
cat-walks and cul-de-sacs.
The Block Watch
patrols and peeks
out front windows.
Lungs puff steam,
t-shirts cling
to small, sweaty backs.
My dad never said
don’t forget your coat.
We skip aimlessly,
and discover,
the school fields
have disappeared.
Several feet high
thick, dewy mist.
Street lights ...
A horse rescue in Duncan is getting a second chance after an outpouring of support from community.
Humanity for Horses Rescue (HFHR) was featured by CHEK news in early November as the rescue faced a potential closure by end of December. Since CHEK’s original story, HFHR has met their initial fundraising goal of $24k, securing the rescue’s future for the next four to five months. Donations have slowed since then, but HFHR founder Rebecca Sanesh is hopeful that, as knowledge about the rescue grows due to social media, support will continue into the new year.
“We have received enough ...
Save French Creek Estuary Land (SFCEL) is a recently formed community group that represents residents of French Creek, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and neighbouring communities and cities. The group is dedicated to the protection of approximately 23 acres of land situated between the town of Qualicum and the city of Parksville, land which is currently under threat by a developer residing in Surrey, BC that plans to build on part of the area.
SFCEL states that the environment would suffer greatly, and the consequences would be dire if development was to go ahead. The area is home to a ...
What do a band-aid, a hairball, and a wedding ring have in common?
Well, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of working as a swimming pool lifeguard, you’d know. “My favourite thing is cleaning out the hair and lint strainers every Saturday night,” said no lifeguard ever.
The classic, frantic patron would always come crying to the guard room, demanding that the filters be dismantled and searched for their ring. Imagine using a wire brush to scrape hairballs, bobby pins, elastics, band-aids, and all manner of human particles and objects out of large metal screens—but there were never ...
“More than 1,420 people died of illicit-drug overdoses in BC in 2017, the ‘most tragic year ever.’” – CBC News
Death is an ant under your shoe,
the unwatered spider plant,
a grain of fentanyl
thinner than a needle
of Douglas fir.
*
I search the rainforest for names
of the dead.
Unlike the newspaper,
there are no statistics here,
only red alder, foxglove, sword fern.
*
Vancouver grew so sick
of rain it built a coffee shop
on every corner.
How many downpours
until we upend earth
for solutions?
How many deaths?
*
I find an obituary
etched into the ...
You made it.
Take a moment to congratulate yourself for another semester finished. Maybe you rocked it, maybe you didn’t, but either way, you deserve a rest.
Treat yourself. Have a book you’ve been itching to read? Was there a personal project you’ve been meaning to start? Maybe you haven’t been to the movies in ages and you need a large bag of popcorn to yourself. Or maybe you need to hibernate—no judgement. Just do it.
Whatever your situation, I hope you find a way to enjoy some peace this winter break. Some good ol’ fashioned relaxation is the biggest gift of the holiday ...
It’s an exciting time to be a Mariners fan. Our women’s volleyball team is playing at an elite level sitting at 10-0 and 8 points ahead of the second place, Douglas Royals, in the PACWEST. Another undefeated team going into the break is our tenacious women’s basketball team; with a combination of gritty defensive play and a deep bench, the team also remains unbeaten at 6-0. Soccer season has wrapped up, Coach Stefanek and the men’s team grew with every game played, and the relatively young women’s team showed tremendous fortitude in their Nationals performance, finishing the tournament ...
Gender & History, an internationally acclaimed journal, has come to call VIU home for the next five years. The publication focuses on the interconnectivity of its two titular subjects from sources around the world.
The journal started in 1989 as a collaborative work by two historians, one in the United States and one in England. Since then the dual ownership of the publication has remained the same, with an office in North America and an office in Europe. Each location can host the journal for five years, with an option to renew for another five years. When the spot for the North ...
Over the years, as people and technology have evolved, the art of writing a personal letter—taking the time to transfer thought to paper by hand—has fallen between the cracks. And as the personal letter fell, the sense of voice in writing went tumbling with it.
While a sense of voice hasn’t been completely abandoned in all methods of correspondence, it’s become a fraying thread, slowly diminishing through use of email and text message. In a small office on the upper-level of the VIU library, there’s a project preserving the lost art of personal letter writing.
The Canadian Letters ...
The VIU campus community is committed to creating more opportunities to be a part of conversations, education, and action against gender-based violence. From November 25 – December 9, a number of events have been organised around the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence to engage with the campus and Nanaimo community in a variety of ways. Partners include the VIU Faculty Association, VIU Students’ Union, CUPE, VIU International Education, and the Sexual Conduct and Response Steering Committee as well as a number of off-campus partners including the Nanaimo Women’s Centre and ...
