Sports never interested me as a child, only physically active when my mother coerced me into intramural sports, or my 45-year-old teachers pushed me along the track for “just one more lap”. I have always leaned toward reading or watching movies, because getting sweaty and having sore muscles is really not my style. Honestly, who wants to have the paranoia that everyone can smell you following you around all day after sweating buckets? I was never quite chubby, but that freshman 15 really caught up on me in my first year of university. Okay, make that a freshman 30. I was feeling ...
For 12 years, James McIlwraith and Scotty Rivest talked about starting a business together. This year, they decided to make their dream a reality. The announcement for the new specialty store came at the beginning of February. On September 18, The Two-Headed Giant, a comic book and video game store, opened their doors to the public.
Their opening day saw overwhelming success, as the business had advertised themselves well ahead of time. In the months before opening, the Two-Headed Giant was active on social media as well as out in the community. They held giveaways upon reaching 250 ...
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The dam story
Waterfalls
Out of addiction and into education
Above, Left to right: Andrew, Cameron (silver), Crystal, Thomas (President), Payton (gold), Urvish (Vice President), Dmitry (bronze), and Jeremy
By contributor Andrew Smith
The VIU Chess Club was founded in 2012. To accelerate the Chess Club’s formation this year, we hosted a local tournament and drew in 10 people, with a few others unable to attend. Our club arranges Chess days in advance through a mailing list and Facebook page, usually on Thursdays at 5 p.m. in the Business Management Building. We want to surround newcomers with training experiences, playful humour, and equal ...
Sitting down across from powerhouse couple Floyd Blades and Christle Lowe, you’d never expect from their relaxed demeanor and easy laugh that they would practice martial art. When one thinks of “martial arts”, words like violence, opponent, and aggression are words that come to mind. Blades and Lowe, however, practice aikido, a non-violent form of martial arts.
Created by Sensei Morehei Ueshiba after World War II, Blades and Lowe’s particular branch of aikido, Iwama or Takemusu aikido is more than a form of exercise, it works both the body and mind.
“Aikido is a progressive study,” ...
By contributor Gordon Hak
Music is a mysterious art, capable of evoking emotions, memories, pleasure, and sadness. For listeners, music usually speaks for itself, directly entering our hearts and minds. But where does this music come from?
On October 16, Gregory Bush, a musician, composer, and faculty member in the Department of Music, will take us into the realm of creation in a presentation entitled A Journey in Jazz: From Inspiration to Performance. The talk is part of the Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series, and will be held at the Malaspina Theatre beginning at 10 a.m..The ...
The art of telling a very mature story with a child’s voice is one that holds a narrow ledge of success. Emma Donaghue’s Room stands proudly on that ledge. The narrative voice of Jack, a young boy that has lived his whole life in a shed, leads readers through this heart-wrenching page turner of a novel.
Starting off on Jack’s fifth birthday, the story opens up with readers exploring the limited world this boy has grown to live and love in. Through his explanation and insight, readers learn that his mother, also trapped in the shed, has explained to Jack that Room is all there is in ...
By contributor Lisa Courtney
In an age of book-to-movie adaptations needing fast-paced stories with universal themes, young adult fiction is a rising publishing category. Far from a new classification, young adult fiction is nevertheless seeing a spike in popularity with all age groups. Enter Susan Juby, a prolific young-adult fiction author, creative writing professor at VIU, and first featured presenter in the Arts and Humanities department’s Colloquium series on September 25.
In her hour-long presentation, Susan spoke to the audience about the general content of a young adult ...
By contributor Brendan Barlow
Two teenage boys unwittingly summon an ancient evil entity known as The Blind One by delving into black magic while trying to escape their mundane lives.
In the spirit of movies like Evil Dead and Dead Alive, this fabulous little gorefest delivers everything that I want in a movie. My hopes weren’t exactly high at first, the title feels a little bit film-studenty and felt like it might be one of THOSE movies (ahem…Dude Bro Party…). I was delighted to find that it was closer to movies that I actually ...
The death of Vancouver musician Derek Kehler (stage name Steel Audrey) was felt throughout the city’s music scene. Now many are coming together to honour the late musician and celebrate the posthumous release of his full-length album From Which I Came.
Kehler and his girlfriend, Helena Curic, passed away June 8, 2015 while camping in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Authorities believe a small collection of coals brought in to heat the shelter created toxic levels of carbon monoxide poisoning. As soon as the news was released, outpourings of grief and support converged on the ...
Whiplash lays out the line of passion and obsession then blatantly walks over it again and again throughout the film. Focusing on Andrew Neyman’s (Miles Teller) goal to rise to the top of Jazz music, the viewer gets an up close, and all too real view of blood, sweat, and tears shed for goals. Pair that with instructor Terence Fletcher’s (J.K. Simmons) demand for excellence, and you witness the effects when two unstoppable forces collide head on.
Neyman is a Jazz student at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory in New York. Handpicked by the respected and feared Fletcher, he excitedly ...
Nanaimo’s vibrant cultural landscape relies on an active exchange of ideas. In a world full of stories, it can be hard to cut through the noise and actually hear what others have to say. Moving into other perspectives can help us process the world and incubate new ideas. With new input, life elevates itself beyond simply working to consume and play, and into a place where it is engaging, invigorating, and fully-lived.
Devised in Tokyo as a way for young designers to meet and share their work in public, PechaKucha Nights attempt to feed that need to exchange perspectives. Close to 100 ...
By contributor Chantelle Spicer
I have something to admit: I am, historically, not a very good voter. I received most of my formative political information in the United States, where I attended high school, learning all about the relatively two-party system of Republicans vs. Democrats and the House of Representatives. In my opinion, this system, flawed dichotomy though it is, is much easier for the laymen (i.e. me) to navigate. Upon moving to Canada approximately 15 years ago, the complicated structure of Canadian politics left me dumb-founded. Twice the amount of viable parties? ...
By contributor Sebastian Barkovic
Wow, what a summer I had! It’s now the fourth week of school and I can barely get in the groove. I guess you can say that I had an abundance of fun. Where am I going with this? Surely no one wants to hear about my summer. I’m not here to tell you about my summer, rather I thought it would be interesting to look at my summer through the lens of the laws of the Bible. Like most of your summers, I’m sure it was filled with a bit of blasphemy, cursing at parents, disobedience, having idols other than the God of the Bible, and maybe even a bit of ...
Above: MABR Research Institute summer students building the new pollinator hotel destined for the Kwalikum Food Forest in October. Photo coutesy MABRRI
By contributor Chantelle Spicer
To bee or not to bee? Everyday, people around the world are becoming more aware of how important bee populations are to our existence on this planet. We now know that one of every three bites of food we consume is due to the work of bees in both wild populations and human-maintained hives. The commercial value of these maintained hives contribute an estimated $100 billion annually in fruit, ...
This October, the Nanaimo Museum is hosting two tours of downtown’s dark past. On Wednesday nights until Halloween, the story of Brother XII, Cedar by the Sea’s infamous cult leader from the 1920s, will be given a new perspective.
“The Halloween season seemed like the ideal time to launch a Brother XII tour because every aspect of his story is mysterious,” says Aimee Greenaway, Interpretation Curator at the Nanaimo Museum.
The tour will start downtown at 6:30 p.m. at businesses that Brother XII frequented. The tour will visit Filmer’s Printers, where some of his religious materials ...
VIU students and staff can now download Microsoft Office 2016 for free.
On September 22, this latest version was released in Canada, and Office 365 Education decided to allow close to four million students across Canada free access. This decision was announced in March 2015 in a press release from Campus Intercept.
While 85 per cent of students from kindergarten to university are able to download Office for free, only 10 per cent have so far. Students can download the program as long as they attend an eligible institution, which includes VIU.
“Many campuses are extremely excited ...
VIUSU Women's Representative Connie Graham wants to bring a Let’s Get Consensual campaign to VIU.
Let’s Get Consensual is a campaign created by the University of Victoria (UVic), the UVic Student Society, and the Anti-Violence Project aimed at combatting rape culture and sexual violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1wRKTniHU8
“It’s holistically-based and organizes consent workshops,” Graham said. “It also challenges gender binary because there’s more to the problem than how men treat women—there’s also how men treat men, women treat men, and women treat women.”
As the ...
Above: Tim Tessier speaks with a student at VIU.
Vote-splitting and strategic voting is not a concern for all federal election party candidates, despite the tight race between the Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP in the national polls.
Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate—in this case, the Conservative Party.
Nanaimo-Ladysmith Green Party candidate Paul Manly said in an email ...
Money may not grow on trees, but TD Bank is holding a tree planting event, known as TD Tree Day, at Hawthorne Park on Saturday, October 17.
Part of an urban greening and employee engagement program, TD Tree Days give TD employees, their families, customers, and community partners the chance to promote environmental activism in their communities by highlighting innovative forestry management. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF) works with municipalities, business improvement associations, conservation authorities, and Aboriginal communities, which support TD Tree Days ...
Above: Supporters observe a moment of silence in remembrance of missing and murdered First Nations women and girls.
By contributor Shanon Fenske.
VIU’s Nanaimo campus hosted a candlelight vigil for missing and murdered First Nations women and girls in on October 1. Approximately 50 people attending the midday ceremony.
VIU Students' Union chairperson Sherry McCarthy said the vigil is part of an October 4 national event promoted by Sisters in Spirit but,“The daytime vigil was held October 1 to encourage greater participation. The VIU campus can become quiet on weekends, and ...
By contributor Tomi Lawson
Do you have a new business or an idea for one? Then this business competition is for you. VIU is looking for student and alumni ideas. This competition isn’t just for business students, but for students and alumni from all faculties who have completed at least 16 credits.
“Our students and alumni entering the competition also benefit from the guidance of experienced business professionals who have offered their mentorship through the entry process,” says John Predyk, professor in VIU’s Faculty of Management and chair of the 2015 competition.
The ...
Celebrity endorsements
Recently, the wolf cull in the peace region of BC has caught the attention of two celebrities, who have used their status to share the cause with their fans through social media.
Miley Cyrus recently made a secret trip to Klemtu, BC to visit with locals after she learned of the five-year plan and Pacific Wild’s petition to kill wolves in order to preserve the caribou population. Cyrus planned the trip after posting a photo of a wolf and caribou to her Instagram feed calling on her 29 million followers to sign the petition, “Don’t let squares play the role of ...
In these times of political strife, I find myself longing for the comforts of home, wishing for the warm embrace of kinder hearts and gentler worlds. As the Canadian federal election campaign hits the home stretch and things get dirty, the American electorate throw their candidates into the trough to see who will emerge victorious for their party and enter the ultimate race—the race to Washington. Standing back, this helpless spectator finds herself yearning for the warm embrace of another Washington, of Bartlet's White House as conceived by Aaron Sorkin.
There are a handful of ...
