By contributor Chantelle Spicer
Our little corner of the world, here on Vancouver Island, is really spectacular, sometimes more so than you would imagine. From old-growth forests to glacially fed lakes, panoramic mountain vistas viewed from the beach to one of the most diverse undersea ecosystems in the world, we really do have it all. Sometimes, just how lucky I am to live here leaves me in awe. It is not just the Islanders who recognize how special this is either—tourists from all over the world flock here to storm watch our rocky shorelines, view black bears during the ...
Over the summer, local band Boomshack was one of the music guests for the Slice of Life Block Party. Hosted by Mambo Gourmet Pizza, the event raised money for the Vancouver Island Crisis Society (VICS).
“This is something we really care about,” frontman Theo Hughes- Ridgway said between songs. “We’re so excited to be here.”
Pulling most of their members from the music program at VIU, Boomshack boasts a three-piece horn section and tunes that range from Ska to Jazz to Swing. With upbeat dance tunes, the band was able to keep the mood going through spats of rain as Mambo continued to ...
Many children outgrow writing stories and making films, but Zachary Tannar didn’t. When his friends moved on, Tannar found himself searching for a new group of people to talk with about his passions. What started as a small group meeting for coffee every once in a while to chat became an official non-profit organization in May 2013: the Hub City Cinema Society (HCCS).
Two years later, and the HCCS are able to apply for grants. Keeping their fingers crossed that they would receive the grants, the HCCS has big plans in store.
The HCCS has seen significant growth and changes since ...
By Web Editor Antony Stevens
Kisima innitchuna. Never alone. I have no idea if that’s an exact translation or a rough one, but that’s what Never Alone teaches me in its title screen. The game first intrigued me when it was announced as a narrative-driven adventure infused with the culture of the Iñupiat people, better known as Alaskan natives. The idea that games can do with culture and history what they do with logic and imagination is important as video games become more respected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_80zVzwpI
Never Alone is inspired by a traditional Iñupiat ...
Blueberry bushes slowly grow around a podium made of Vancouver Island hemlock. A poem sits atop the podium waiting to be read. It is noon, and the late Peter Culley’s poem Fruit Dots is being read aloud. Black elastic cords are intricately threaded through the walls, vibrating with tension. This is Silva Part I: “O Horizon,” the Nanaimo Art Gallery’s (NAG) newest exhibition.
Silva is a contemporary art project that follows a thematic path from the microcosms of the forest floor to the quantifying and processing of lumber to the global distribution of forestry products. Within Silva ...
This May, the Nanaimo Art Gallery (NAG) officially separated from the art gallery at VIU. The separation came as no surprise, as the NAG has long expressed desire to condense into one location. The art gallery at VIU was the original NAG, created by faculty in the Visual Arts program. As the business expanded, the NAG created a second location downtown on Commercial St. Mixed in with other downtown businesses, the NAG drew more traffic—particularly from tourists. It no longer made sense to have two locations. Despite the separation of the two art galleries, the NAG’s permanent collection ...
Several programs at VIU help students find work experience related to their field of study during the summer; other students find it themselves. Either way, these students often return to classes with experiences that give them an advantage for the rest of their schooling, as well as their future careers.
Two students returning to VIU after summer work experience are Colby Mahood, beginning his second year in the Forest Resources Technology program, and Bijan Sametz-Asgari, completing his Bachelors of Natural Resource Protection.
Both students worked in remote areas: Mahood was ...
Nanaimo’s annual Harvest Festival will bring live music, fresh local food, and more to the Old City Quarter on September 12.
The main street of the festival will be lined with an assortment of vendors selling produce, crafts, fashion and accessories, local food items, and more, as well as multiple stages for musical acts. The majority of the festival will be on Wesley
Street, with two musical acts near Bocca Cafe on Fitzwilliam and one at the Bee’s Knees Cafe.
Cost to enter the festival is by donation for the Nanaimo Foodshare, but everyone is welcome regardless. For this year ...
As students prepare for another sunny year on campus, a sudden dark cloud has cast a shadow over the university’s Malaspina Theatre. Mike Taugher, VIU’s Theatre Manager, passed away on Tuesday, August 18 at the age of 59, leaving his dog Thor and partner Ros Davies, a VIU administrator.
Former students of Taugher remember him as decisive and consistent, lending his advice and stationery to anyone who walked into his office. I had the pleasure of interviewing Taugher about his work on Les Miserables at Chemainus Theatre in 2014. His insight truly came through after mentioning a ...
By contributor Heather Leary
Owen Catherall has received one of four Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC scholarships, which recognizes his outstanding commitment to academic pursuits in the field of natural resource management. Catherall was awarded $1.5k towards his Bachelor of Natural Resource Protection at VIU and is preparing to complete the program in 2016. Currently working a summer job in the Lower Mainland as a seasonal Park Ranger with BC Parks, Catherall spent the two summers prior to that working in Manitoba as a seasonal Resource Officer. Following graduation from VIU, ...
A new frequent bus route has been added to Nanaimo’s transit system that will help students get to and from VIU more efficiently.
Effective September 6, the 40 VIU Express will connect downtown, VIU, Country Club, Nanaimo North Town Centre, and Woodgrove. The route will give students another option to get to VIU with high frequency, said Jamie Logan, Superintendent of Transit Scheduling and Planning.
During the busiest times of the day, such as morning and late afternoon, the route will have an average frequency between 15 and 30 minutes, which is an improvement over the other ...
So I’m headed to one of my favourite purveyors of fine meats in Nanaimo, my heart set on gourmet hot dogs, my wallet poised to pad the cash register of a homegrown operation. The dogs are good, but there’s also that sense of self-satisfaction that comes from buying local. Arriving, I note blessed little activity: there’s a conspicuous abundance of parking out front and the windows are dark. It’s Sunday. They’re closed.
Small businesses in Nanaimo—particularly downtown— often bemoan the lack of traffic in their stores, the lack of customers. They thrust their fingers northwards to the ...
A lot has changed here since 1969. We no longer, literally, copy and paste our articles to the page, but now completely share each issue free online..
This year, I am truly lucky to have a masthead to rival any of our competition—15 multi-talented students devoted to gathering the type of news that affects all of Nanaimo and especially VIU students.
The way The Navigator works, changing up its staff, unfortunately, affects the kind of style and content that you see annually. As this year’s Managing Editor who has seen this paper change so much in the last two years, my challenge is ...
The Penticton Vees picked up their first win of the BCHL Championship. As the visiting Vees picked up a 2-1 overtime victory over the host Clippers. Tyson Jost scored the winner for Penticton just 57 seconds into overtime. Despite the loss in game three, the Clippers still hold a 2-1 lead in the series.
The game was a tight checking affair, with both teams struggling for scoring chances. The Clippers opened the scoring at 8:32 of the first period. Nicholas Carrier got Nanaimo on the board with his fifth of the playoffs to give the home team a 1-0 lead. The Clippers had some great ...
Photos from the aerial dance workshop organized by The Crimson Coast Society and the youth team CRU at the Romper Room Climbing Centre during the spring break week.
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Flying Circus Nanaimo
By contributor Jennifer Garceau
There’s some chatter on the horizon about a night out at the Port Theatre featuring up-and-coming BC bands We Are The City, The Wild Romantics, and Gold & Shadow. We wanted to get a sneak peek at what’s in store for May 14 and sat down with Nanaimo’s own Gold & Shadow.
Navigator: Do you have a good story behind getting together as a band?
Dane Letourneau: We met at church. We were a bunch of church boys rehearsing in the basement. After rehearsal we would get a little wild—shirts would come off and amps would go up. Some of us ...
National Youth Arts Week brings a new wave of inspiration to Nanaimo’s arts and culture. On May 14, The Port Theatre Youth Initiative will present a night organized by young promoters dedicated to young audiences. Headlining the event will be Vancouver-based band The Wild Romantics, 2009 Peak Performance Project winners We Are The City, and Nanaimo’s own Gold & Shadow. The program in the lobby will include free refreshments, a photo booth, more live music, and other activities.
The event was organized by a group of teens and students under the guidance of the Port Theatre’s ...
By contributor Jennifer Garceau
We collect stories throughout our lifetime, adding them to our own narrative and reworking them into our own frame of reference. One of the most celebrated roles in all societies and throughout various time periods has been that of the storyteller. Mike Edel is a musician and storyteller, not just in the obvious sense with his lyrics, but the music itself plays out a tale for listeners. On April 12 at the Buzz Café, Edel will be taking the stage and sharing life as he sees it through his rootsy rock-country sound. Also upcoming is the release of his ...
By contributor Spencer Wilson
The Academy Awards had a grotesque amount of disappointments this year, one being being the Best Animated Feature category. The absence of The Lego Movie was irritating given it was the only 3D animated film that utilized the animation style creatively and had something to say. Big Hero 6 is not a bad film by any means, but when you think of “best animated feature,” it should be something that was not only a good film, but something that uses the medium of animation to its advantage. 3D animated films still make for great entertaining films. But, by ...
The last artist interview of the year. One-on-one with the introverted feminist behind some of the disquieting, existentialist comics in the Odds & Ends page of our paper.
Navigator: How did you become a feminist?
Arlen: My girlfriend became a feminist as we were dating and I picked it up really quickly. Just being with her all the time opened my eyes a lot. And also Tumblr. There are lots of social justice blogs there and I get daily reminders of how bad and unfair things are. It’s a good place for women and trans people, or anyone who’s not a white straight male, to have ...
The news broke, and then came the tears. Rivers of them expressed in images and words all over social media, drenching Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Instagram. Fans of the teen sensation band One Direction, learning of member Zayn Malik’s departure, retreated to their bedrooms and school bathrooms to mourn. With an estimated three million fans in North America and the United Kingdom alone, that’s a lot of tears.
Regardless of culture, homeland, spiritual practice, socioeconomic status, and age, there are tears. Some have a clear function, like the tears that wash grit away from the ...
Roadside flowers, like this yellow hawkweed, are an important food source for native bee populations.
By contributor Chantelle Spicer.
Traipsing about town, it is hard not to notice that spring has officially arrived, and with it, flowers everywhere. It is not only from domesticated gardens that these foretellers of good weather emerge from, but also in the form of native plant species along roadsides and in the shade of towering trees. It is these native species that can offer our natural world the most benefit as they offer biodiversity on the landscape, plus important ...
