Single, Symbiotic, and Slightly Toxic
Strong roots, good connections, a little toxic. Meet Nanaimo’s most eligible single.
Deanne Whenham
Deanne is a Creative Writing graduate from Vancouver Island University, where she also completed a minor in Marketing and a certificate in Digital Marketing. She is returning to The Navigator for her second year, moving into the role of Associate Editor after serving as Features Editor for Volume 57.
Originally from Yellowknife, NT, Deanne is the recipient of Briarpatch Magazine’s 2025 Northern Writing Prize for her forthcoming feature on gaps in addiction recovery and aftercare in the North. Her writing and photography have also appeared in Lazy Dog Magazine and Portal Magazine, and her short story “Soaring” was shortlisted for the Nanaimo Arts Council’s Islands Short Fiction Review in 2025.
Outside of The Navigator, Deanne works as a Publishing Assistant at Strong Nations Publishing. When she isn’t writing or wandering outdoors in search of mushrooms, she is attempting to become a birder and dreaming about finally finishing that novel.
Volume 57 | Features Editor
Volume 58 | Associate Editor
Everything by Deanne Whenham
Interview With A Slug
One student journalist, one banana slug. Twenty-four children, 27,000 teeth, and a strict no-kissing policy. Nanaimo local discusses parenthood,...
Illiterate In My Own Skin
The acne was not random. It was not a punishment. It was communication. What I once saw as failure of discipline, management, and resilience turned...
Built To Yearn for You
AI didn’t create our longing, our yearning. It gave it a safe place to go. This piece examines why, for many students, talking to a machine can feel...
Better Pretender?
Every January arrives with a fresh start of resolutions about who we should become. This is a look at how “New Year, New Me” sells us the idea that...
The Forest’s Grief
In Vancouver Island’s old growth, what’s left behind isn’t just stumps. When the saws go silent, the trauma remains. An exploration of ecological...
The Black Cat
Did you know that black cats are more likely to be euthanized than any other colour of cats? This piece explores the reverence cats once held in...
Orange Shirt Day
A call to action to understand what Orange Shirt Day means and how VIU students can honour the past and make steps to reconcile the future. Also...