I hadn’t touched a colouring book since I filled pages in with the help of my grandma. That is until a month-long overseas trip left me stranded with nothing but a Kindle for entertainment. Those hours spent waiting in the car or at the airport had my hands itching for something to do. After many sighs and long lost looks, someone shoved a colouring page in my hands and I began to explore different colour combinations with my arsenal of colouring pencils.
Just like that, I had rediscovered what it was like to be a kid again. Except this time, it was socially acceptable; my aesthetic ...
Every student should have, or have access to, a slow cooker. A small 1.5 litre one that doesn’t take up too much room, but still makes a hearty meal. They’re versatile for a large range of diets, are easy to use, and are forgiving. This is a huge boost for students just learning how to cook. With awkward and busy schedules, you don’t know if you’re going to have time for meals, you usually find yourself with a strange assortment of groceries, and not everyone has the means to make a meal that involves a whole page of ingredients.
This is where the slow cooker wins. Cooking times are ...
This is the fourth in a contributor column by Zoe Lauckner. Check back next issue for the latest in mental health issues.
Seeking counselling services is a big deal—it takes strength, determination, and a willingness to be vulnerable and open about your life. It means you’re experiencing some struggle that you recognize you need support for.
Counsellors practice in a wide variety of styles, or theoretical orientations, meaning that the way they view their role as a counsellor, you as the client, and the work that goes into the helping process, will differ depending on their ...
As the trees begin to shed and the temperature drops, daylight savings time can be the perfect opportunity to turn over a new leaf. This time of the year, when winter is coming with the steady decline of sun and vitamin D, the pressures of school builds to a climax, and darkness becomes seemingly unending, getting proper sleep is essential.
To get more of these precious Zzzs, what many fail to recognize is that taking an extra hour off those electronics is extremely important.
It’s a vicious cycle, isn’t it? You can’t sleep after a long day and you think maybe opening up Netflix or ...
Above: Last year’s Mariners team line up on the field.
By contributor Farida El Sheshingy
October 29, 2015: Here I am, staring at this blank screen, hoping that we play our hearts out through provincials this weekend. I was diagnosed with a mild concussion earlier today as my team headed to Burnaby for this year’s provincial league playoffs. I can’t help but reminisce about how it felt last year with all the tension building up to our big game. We had a “wild card” that year, which meant that we only had to win the first game out of two provincial title games to go to the ...
Above: "We all have dreams, but in order to make dreams into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, and discipline." Photo by Danielle Caron
As I walked into VIU’s bustling cafeteria, all I focused on was a giant blue water bottle on the table. It looked like a miniature water jug, and as I sat down, its owner, with her hoodie and trademark French braid, took a sip before turning her gaze to my notepad and I.
I knew she did sprint kayaking, but from Danielle Caron’s calm outer appearance, she could have been any type of athlete. No one could have guessed what ...
By contributor Gordon Hak
Much good scholarship comes from a personal place. It is informed by emotion and experience, giving it resonance with wider audiences and providing unique insights into the world. But as well as portraying a particular reality, it can also serve as a mirror for others, forcing them to look afresh at themselves.
Allyson Anderson, a faculty member in the First Nations Studies Department, is going to explore the complexities of identities and representations on Friday, November 20, in an illustrated talk entitled “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves: The ...
Above: Concept art courtesy of 2K
By contributor Rob Wilson
It’s 1960, and the player begins the game with a cut-scene aboard a jetliner currently flying over the Mid-Atlantic, heading to an unknown location. From a first-person perspective, we hear who we assume to be our main character exclaim, “They told me, ‘Son, you’re special; you were born to do great things.’ You know what? They were right.” With the sounds of screaming women, and a plummeting aircraft, the screen fades to black.
The player is then given control of the character, Jack, who’s floating in the Atlantic ...
Above: Salon Wall
By contributor Miranda Wallace
Few people can say they’re a successful artist at the age of 94. Maureen Marshall is one of those people. The Islander has spent her life travelling around the world, painting what she sees with a heavy influence from the culture she’s surrounded by. The View, a VIU campus gallery, is lucky enough to have been gifted a series of these paintings based on Marshall’s experiences in Africa. The gallery is covered in colourful canvas from floor to ceiling in a breathtaking display.
The View was created in 1976 and mainly housed ...
Science will tell you that humans begin lying around the ripe old age of two years old, so it’s a bold thought to wonder what implications there would be to society if we were all honest people. Writer/director pair Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson attempt to create such a world in the romance comedy The Invention of Lying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn71hYvyqCA
Gervais plays Mark Bellison, a down-on-his-luck writer that can’t seem to catch a break. In a world where everyone is blunt to the point of insult, he’s the butt of every joke honesty can hold. Coworkers admit ...
For a man that has been to space three different times, Chris Hadfield is incredibly down to earth. His pragmatic dealings with situations have led to countless opportunities and an understanding of how he has moved from point A to point B. And yet this is a man who is full of dreams, curiosity, and desire. It is this duality that shines through in his novel, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. Part autobiography, part how-to guide, the novel explores all that Hadfield believes made him into the person he is today.
There is no glamour in his story. Hadfield is starkly humble ...
Nanaimo’s own Harbour City Theatre is prepping to show the award-winning musical Next to Normal. Local company Schmooze Productions takes the helm on the emotional story of a family dealing with mental illness.
Having won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and a Tony Award for Best Score, the play dives into the story of Diana Goodman, a suburban mother who deals with her steadily worsening bipolar disorder. This impacts her two children and husband as they all try and cling to normalcy while trying to support Diana.
Schmooze Productions is already seasoned in high-end Broadway ...
Above: The “Hop to It” installation was found vandalized on the main campus stomping grounds a week after its unveiling.
By contributor Sarah Torgerson
Students of VIU’s Design Department have been working hard this semester to embellish the Nanaimo Campus as part of the typographic illustration class. Unfortunately, vandalism has taken place over the past week, leaving some art pieces in need of repair.
Campus security said they are taking this opportunity to review their systems and is exploring measures to continually improve security on VIU’s campus.
The “Hop to It” art ...
Laureen Harper, 2006- 2015
Laureen Harper was 42 when her husband, Stephen Harper, took office on February 6, 2006. Mother of two, she was Stephen’s trusted advisor, said to have an intuitive grasp on the optics of politics, possibly honed by her studies in journalism. She also worked quietly behind the scenes for causes closer to her heart during his nearly 10 years in office. Animal welfare groups, including the Ottawa Humane Society, received her support, as well as the National Arts Centre. She asked the Canadian Press to refer to her as the “spouse of the Prime Minister” in her ...
Above: Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau joins her husband, Prime Minister Elect Justin Trudeau, at the podium of the Liberal Party Campaign Headquarters in Montreal on Election Day, October 19, 2015. Photo by Adam Scotti, courtesy of Flickr Justin Trudeau.
Our political leaders take the stage, take the shrapnel, and are forced to respond on their feet. But their mates have the luxury of time to think, to weigh the issues in terms of the long game. They share their thoughts in times of intimacy, helping to craft the direction of the country over the dinner table, under the covers, pillow to ...
Photos by Jesse Woodward
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By contributor Don LePan
Canadian Thanksgiving is over for another year; American Thanksgiving approaches. The piece below—more a short work of speculative fiction than an essay—is not specific to either one of these.
I know this will be an unpopular argument: I want to speak out against something we have come to accept as part of our community values, as part of our traditions of sharing.
Some may say the matter I bring before you is a trivial one—one that pales beside the great issues of our day. In the big picture, you may say, can it seriously be suggested that the condition ...
By contributor Chantelle Spicer
Humans love creating conflicts between all kinds of things—head versus heart; science versus religion; matters of race or gender; the environment versus economy etc. It is becoming more apparent, as time goes by, that these battles are completely arbitrary. There is room for all of these things and humans to co-exist peacefully.
In our recent election, one of these alleged conflicts was placed in the spotlight: maintaining environmental protection while still sustaining a robust economy. This is particularly important in BC where two major ...
Many university programs give their students the opportunity to get hands-on experience by offering services to other students, staff, and the public. Since these services provide a learning experience and often take longer than they would elsewhere, costs are typically at a reduced rate. This way, both the students in the program and those using the services benefit.
Some programs at VIU that offer services to the public include Automotive, Dental, Hairdressing, and the Spa Institute.
VIU’s Automotive Shop will work on vehicles that fit into their current curriculum. If your ...
Op-ed by contributor Sebastian Barkovic
Now that the campaign is over I can finally take out my earplugs. Heck, I may even schedule an ear cleaning at the doctors since they were in for so long. After all the dog-whistle politics, fear mongering, and fact embellishing by the Conservatives, what else is a guy supposed to do to escape the eternal hell their campaign broadcasted? What was it? Oh yes, I remember—it was the longest federal election campaign since 1872, with a total of 78 days. In comparison, the average federal election campaign is about 45 days.
With my earplugs out, ...
By contributor Spenser Smith
Mildred Tremblay’s The Thing About Dying also has a thing or two to say about living; for every haunting line that compares cats to heartless murderers, there is another line that reflects on the grace found in the fragility of beating hearts. The book contains Tremblay’s lifetime worth of experience, molded into 84 poems that could only be written by someone who has witnessed countless friends and family members fall into the sleep of winter. Born in 1925 in Kenora, Ontario, Tremblay spent her life in many cities, including Victoria, Edmonton, Montreal, ...
By Lauren Rodgers
While women are increasingly becoming more involved in politics, they are still disproportionally represented. An election follow-up event titled “Women and Politics” was hosted at the Grand Hotel in Nanaimo on October 25 that addressed the issue.
The lecture was organized by Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization whose mandate is to promote the election of more women to every level of government. Speakers included Grace Lore, a PhD candidate and national board member, and Carolyn Jack, chair of Equal Voice’s BC chapter.
The event strived to ...
The 10th annual Urban Issues Film Festival on Friday November 10 will feature films and keynote speakers on housing regeneration.
This free festival, which is planned each year in conjunction with World Town Planning Day, is sponsored by the Planning Institute of BC North Island Chapter, the VIU Geography department, the Geographic Students’ Union, and the Master of Community Planning program.
“It serves as a great forum for different people to get together to discuss contemporary issues of the city,” as there is a discussion period after each film and after the guest speaker, said ...
What roles have tobacco, alcohol, and drugs played in society throughout history? How are advertisements for such products directed toward children? And how will new policies surrounding marijuana affect the economy? These questions—and more—will be addressed at VIU’s Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use History, Policy, and Regulation Symposium November 5-7.
Over the three days, the public is welcome to listen to keynote speakers presenting research on different policies and legal cases surrounding the history of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, as well as pose questions and comments about the ...
