If you attend a festival on Vancouver Island this summer and see a figure stilt-walking in a spectacular costume, chances are you’ve encountered a member of the Vesta Entertainment circus crew. And in Nanaimo, where the community of spinners and circus performers is only beginning to build a profile, Vesta owner and “ring mistress” Karina Strong’s presence makes up for the lack of strength in numbers. Even her civilian outfits include leather corsets and hypnotizing contact lenses, the colour of which she chooses “depending on the day” and the clothes she wears. She will hug a stranger ...
Crimson Coast Dance Society and The Body Talk program present The Flying Circus—a week-long aerial and circus dance workshop during the SD68 spring break between Monday, March 23 and Friday, March 27 at the Romper Room Climbing Centre. The event will round off with a gala performance on the Saturday night.
Organized by the Crimson Coast’s Body Talk Cru, the skill development workshop brings two established performance companies. Aerosia Aerial will introduce the students and audiences to aerial dance, and Vesta Fire will teach the many aspects of circus performance.
“The show on ...
Commanding. The figure, in any other context or on the street, would probably be seen as “unassuming,” just another guy waiting for the bus. But onstage, alone under a single spotlight, his quiet form draws all the energy from the room. Compelling. The audience can’t take their eyes off him. He draws that energy in, and he speaks.
Poets rarely hit the mainstream, and the term “pop culture” is one you’ll seldom find in a discussion of poetry. But the spoken word genre smashes those norms. Underscored by music or beats, spoken word poetry becomes song-like, but transcends what is ...
By contributor Chantelle Spicer
Since Thoreau’s publication of Walden in 1854, a subversive movement has rippled through the generations based on humanity’s inherit connection to the land. Finding roots in the 1960s movement, the back-to-the-land mentality has continued into today’s culture where it is flourishing 161 years later. Even this morning, awakening to a glowing sunrise (“Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me”) I found myself once again contemplating the incredible impact this book and ideology continues to have on my own life, and the lives of many people ...
By contributor James Mackinnon. Read more from the Museum News series.
As you read this, one of the ocean’s great feeding frenzies is occurring just off our shores. Eventually, it will extend up the entire BC coast.
The annual spawn of the Pacific herring, which brings millions of fish to near-coastal waters to lay their eggs on substrates such as Bull Kelp or eelgrass, is the stimulant for an astounding accumulation of wildlife that gathers around the breeding grounds to gorge on the herring roe (eggs). In many parts of the BC coast, the spawn represents the first large feeding ...
By contributor James Mackinnon. Read more from the Museum News series.
While the spawn occurs at different times on different parts of the coast, around the southern Salish Sea, the fist
few weeks of March are the best time to watch the action.
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This is the fifth in an ongoing contributor series by Stephanie Brown. You can read the first part here. Check back next issue for the next chapter of The Long Commute.
As a follow up to the culture shock I seem to have conquered, another aspect of the long commute has emerged: homesickness. It’s like they’re teammates in a relay race; just when culture shock is finished, it hands off the baton to homesickness.
I honestly believed that I wouldn’t get homesick. Then I spent two days in bed staring at the ceiling and repeating, “I hate this place.” A slight exaggeration, but you ...
In Issue 10 of The Navigator we invited readers to submit their poems for a chance to see Shane Koyczan perform at The Port Theatre on March 25. This is one of two winning submissions. Click here to read the other.
By philip gordon
for breakfast this morning i had abstract cheesecake.
don’t just skim over that line; stop for a second.
think about it.
what would abstract cheesecake look like?
does it mean abstract like jackson pollock?
or abstract like the way someone on their cell phone isn’t really paying attention to the person making their sandwich at subway?
a good ...
In Issue 10 of The Navigator we invited readers to submit their poems for a chance to see Shane Koyczan perform at The Port Theatre on March 25. This is one of two winning submissions. Click here to read the other.
By Ciro Di Ruocco
A nine year old opens the door.
Eyes weepy and red. My heart drops.
A nightmare unfolds.
Please wake up. Pinch skin. Wake up!
Body is calm and adrenaline kicks in.
My heroine takes the boy.
Dial 9-1-1! she exclaimed.
Not another friend lost.
Six souls lay to rest on Valentine’s night.
12 parents forever changed.
The loss of life.
Angry ...
By contributor Shanon Fenske
Red Lights and Roulette at the Nanaimo Museum has all the elements of a good crime novel: sex, gambling, corruption, and murder.
“We uncovered stories that could inspire screenplays,” said Interpretation Curator Aimee Greenaway in her February 11 speech at the museum. Focusing from the 1890s to the 1920s, the exhibit displays a side of Nanaimo that is sparsely documented, and largely forgotten.
Nanaimo’s historic red light district occupied a stretch of Fraser St., an area that looks quite different today, she says.
A portion of Fraser St. ...
Students will be participating in VIU’s third annual Amazing Race March 28.
Based on the popular competitive reality show, VIU’s Amazing Race is one of the biggest events held by Campus Recreation.
In past years, the course has had bungee jumping, rock climbing, and stand up paddle boarding, said Shane Hyde from the gymnasium and student activities department.
This year, there are some even bigger events planned, all of which are a surprise.
“It’s going to be even more exciting,” said Hyde.
There will also be various prizes awarded to winning teams.
There is space for ...
Nanaimo locals and visitors celebrate all the city has to offer during the month of March with Festival Nanaimo.
Put on by the Vancouver Island Symphony in partnership with organizations such as Tourism Nanaimo, the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association, and the Chamber of Commerce, this is the first year of Festival Nanaimo. The festival includes concerts, theatre, arts and crafts, culinary treats, sporting events and tournaments, workshops, the Nanaimo Boat Show, recreational activities, golf specials, a rock and roll music camp, a Pirate Fest Fun Day, an Irish street ...
Students Vivian Horne (left) and Emily Falder stand by one of the gender neutral bathrooms on campus
New gender neutral bathrooms throughout campus are helping create a safer environment for students who identify outside the gender binary.
When asked how sie* felt with the change, one student replied with “Ecstatic.”
“That is something I was fighting in my high school the entire time I was there,” says Emily Falder, a VIU student who identifies sierself as non-binary. “I’ve been mentioning it to staff for a while.”
Signage for the 22 single occupant bathrooms was ...
Humans of VIU administrator, Max Conrad, says he wants students at VIU to feel more connected.
“VIU is a commuter campus, and a lot of people think we don’t know our everyday students very well,” Conrad said. “It helps make the campus friendlier.”
Inspired by the popular Humans of New York blog, Humans of VIU’s Facebook page features photos of students with quotes that aim to tell their own personal stories.
Conrad believes the founder of Humans of New York would be pleased to see the many follower pages that have been created.
“It’s so applicable in so many ways and ...
By contributor Jessie Deeble
Master Carver John Marston has dedicated the next three and a half months to carving a traditional Coast Salish canoe at Chemainus Secondary.
The Chemainus alumni is doing his part to help bring awareness to the students about the cultural diversity in their community.
Marston has been working towards this project since last year and has been discussing it with Katherine Reid, the now-retired Aboriginal Education teacher for the northern families at the school, and George Seymour, a Cultural Teaching Assistant for the northern families in the ...
Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair spoke about his platform at Nanaimo’s Coast Bastion Hotel on March 3.
“My only priority is to get rid of Stephen Harper’s conservatives and replace them with our progressives,” Mulcair said. “I could make Stephen Harper turn beet red in 35 seconds.”
Mulcair’s points of focus include strengthening jobs and the economy, supporting small businesses, promoting social programs, encouraging youth engagement, and ensuring environmentally friendly strategies.
“Without a social license, nothing gets built,” he said.
According to Mulcair, the NDP are ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WcKP3ivSKs
When I wrote about the whole Empire Days fiasco last issue, I touched on the City’s Cultural Grant Program and the relationship that some organizations have with this type of funding. In the case of the Nanaimo Empire Days Celebration Society (NEDCS), there was much lighting of hair on fire and beating of chests when the City declined the opportunity to dole out the free money that the society was accustomed to receiving. Since the City provided funding year after year, wasn’t it reasonable to expect that the trough would remain full indefinitely? No, it was not.
There’s a deeply ...
Today is your graduation day: it’s June, the seagulls are squawking, and the sun is shining. Beautiful British Columbia has blessed you with good weather, great people, and a $50k debt for your Bachelor’s Degree, fitted with the highest interest rate in Canada. And now? A new law proposed by your provincial government that promises to whip your lazy ass into shape by revoking your driving privileges should you fail to pay back your student debt in a timely manner.
First off, let’s not forget that driving is, of course, a privilege. And if you’re a woman, you should really be grateful ...
This Saturday, March 14, five successful local women will visit VIU to share their stories. Hosted by the VIUSU, the conference is in its third consecutive year.
The event features activists, politicians and businesswomen, including Jean Crowder MP for Nanaimo-Cowichan.
“I think it is important for women to hear from others who have varied backgrounds so women can see what is possible.” Crowder said. “We need to encourage women to think of careers such as politics as viable options.”
Crowder, who has been an MP since 2004, inspires ...
The Nanaimo Clippers got off to a hot start in the BCHL playoffs. After four games, the Clippers lead the Alberni Valley Bulldogs three games to one in their best of seven first round series.
The Clippers won the first three games of the series, and had an opportunity to win the series in four straight games on Saturday, March 7 in Port Alberni. Nanaimo opened the scoring late in the first period with a powerplay goal at 17:17, but the Bulldogs got a goal from Mitch Makin just 43 seconds later to tie the score at 1-1 after the first period.
Nanaimo got the lead back early in the ...
The third time proved to be the charm for the VIU Mariners’ men’s basketball team, who defeated the Langara Falcons in the finals of the PacWest Provincial Championship on March 7. In each of the last two years, the Mariners had lost the gold medal game to the Falcons.
The first quarter between the two teams was evenly matched, with the Mariners leading 25-23 after the first. The second quarter was just as even as the first. But with time winding down in the half, Chris Parker forced Langara to turn the ball over before hitting a buzzer-beating three to take a 42-39 lead at ...
On February 28, the VIU women’s volleyball team captured Provincial gold. Third year players Megan Roselund and Ashley Van Acken sat down with The Navigator to discuss their underdog season, the Nationals in Quebec, and their favourite breakfast cereal.
What are you looking forward to regarding the Nationals in Quebec?
M: I’m excited to just go there, excited to see how our other teammates adapt to the situation. For some of them it’s their first time being at Nationals. I like playing teams we’ve never played before
A: This is my last year playing. I’m excited to leave an ...
The VIU Mariners’ women’s volleyball team is no stranger to adversity. The team, losing five of its first six games of the season, battled back to capture third place in the PacWest standings.
In the Provincial gold medal game on February 28, the Mariners found themselves battling once again. The Mariners trailed the home town Camosun Chargers, losing the first two sets 25-15 and 25-21. But, facing elimination, the Mariners battled back. VIU won the third set 26-24 and picked up a 25-14 victory in the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set for the gold medal. In the fifth set, ...
