A Review: All in the Timing

Theatre Antigonish presented All in the Timing at Bauer from March 6-10, 2018. All in the Timing is a drop-dead laughing anthology written by David Ives. David is a graduate from the Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1971 and from the Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts in 1984.

The anthology originated from six one-acts that received the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award. A total of seven comedies and one tragedy made up the production directed by Andrea Boyd.

A call bell often reset and reoriented the dialogue between a couple of strangers in act one. It became a savior of the dead-end conversation. The call bell reminded me of absurdity in Samuel Beckett’s Ping. The technique is a critique of small-talk conversational conventions.

The appearance by Justin Gregg, 2017-2018 Board of Director at Theater Antigonish, as Don was a delightful surprise in act two. Justin did some freelance writing for The Huffington Post, BBC Earth and The Wall Street Journal. Justin also did some voice acting for The Ugly Duckling and Me! and Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer.

Justin is a graduate with a PhD from the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin in 2008. Having studied dolphin social cognition in-depth, the science writer is author of books Twenty-Two Fantastical Facts about Dolphins and Are Dolphins Really Smart?.

Beloved Antigonish resident,  Majd Al Zhouri was one of six talented actors to animate three characters in the play. These actors ought to be praised for their skill in bringing 18 states of mind to life; each persona with a distinguishable costume, voice and mannerism.

The small cast of 12 indicates a need for aspiring actors to audition for Theatre Antigonish productions. In fact, All in the Timing replaced the highly anticipated Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman. Metamorphoses was postponed due to a shortage of people who auditioned for the production.

One of All in the Timing’s qualities was its minimalist stage props. As much as a costume, a table and a beer sustained the audience’s suspension of disbelief during the entire act five.

Act six involved three monkeys named Milton, Kafka and Swift trying to write Hamlet on typewriters. The act satirizes a study of animal language acquisition (Codename 6.001) at Columbia University led by Herbert S. Terrace. This act and others were riddled with allusions to literary works and authors of them.

One consistent allusion was to the epic hero, Don Juan. Pre-intermission, a universal linguist charmer named Don predictably got the girl at the end of the act. Post-intermission, three direct references to “Don Juan” flooded the dialogue.

David wrote a full-length play titled Don Juan in Chicago. Safe to say the playwright was inspired by the satirical work of Lord Byron.

Theatre Antigonish’s next production at Bauer is the One-Act Play Festival running between March 22-24, 2018. The annual Festival features amateur theatre groups and individual performers.

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Are We There Yet?

Unpacking the hits and the misses of the 90th Academy Awards

On March 4, 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held their 90th annual Academy Awards. With so much momentum from the #metoo and Time’s Up movements from earlier awards shows of this year, many were eager to see whether The Oscars would carry on this progressive trend. Ultimately, there were some definite hits, but also a few obvious blunders, leaving viewers to wonder, is Hollywood really changing?

First and foremost, the successes of the evening. Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the show with many comments about post-Weinstein Hollywood. He commendably decried that Hollywood cannot “let bad behavior slide anymore,” calling for an end to sexual harassment in the work place. Kimmel also made a poignant joke about Hollywood’s lack of belief in minorities and women in leading roles by stating, “I remember a time when studios didn’t believe that a woman or a minority could front a superhero film… And I remember that time because it was March of last year.” He also noticeably shined a light on those women who were shattering glass ceilings in their area of work, such as the first ever woman to be nominated for cinematography, and the first female to be nominated for best director in eight years.

As the award show carried on, many other females also took a stand to uphold women’s rights. Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino, two women who spearheaded the #metoo movement, came forward about their experiences with Harvey Weinstein. They had made their triumphant return to Hollywood after being blackballed by the Hollywood mogul. Best Actress winner, Frances McDormand, asked every female nominee to stand up during her acceptance speech. She then called upon the audience to fund women’s projects and films, seeing as only 11% of movies are created by females. While Sandra Bullock announced nominees for the best cinematography award, she described “the four men and one trailblazing woman” nominated to draw attention to the lack of diversity. Similarly, Emma stone read the names for nominees of best director as “these four men and Greta Gerwig,"  which is another category underrepresenting women.

And now for the misses. Prior to the Oscar red carpet, famed host Ryan Seacrest faced a sexual harassment claim from a former stylist. E! News, which houses Seacrest, investigated the instance rather quickly, and stated the claim had no grounds. Therefore, Seacrest was permitted to work the carpet as usual. Except, it wasn’t business as usual for the previously celebrated host. Tensions ran high and many female stars chose to avoid Seacrest on the Red Carpet. Those who opted not to talk to the presenter included Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Jenifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Greta Gerwig, and Jennifer Garner. For a company that is already in hot water over the massive pay gap between co-hosts Catt Sadler and Jason Kennedy, this was not a sign of progression. However, the biggest blunder of the evening goes to Kobe Bryan’s win for his short film, Dear Basketball. Bryan was charged with sexual assault in 2003. The charges were later dropped by prosecutors, but the civil side of the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount outside of court. Bryan himself even publically confirmed that he retrospectively understood the woman in this case did not view their sexual encounter as consensual. In Hollywood’s bravest year to address and challenge sexual misconduct, giving an Oscar to an accused perpetrator himself was a slap in the face to all victims.

In short, there were strides made at this year’s Oscars. Sexual assault was addressed for the first time in an opening monologue, women broke barriers in both nominations and awards, as well as women publically pointing out the lack of diversity in nominees. However, with decisions to put Seacrest on the carpet so soon after the accusation, and granting accused rapist Bryan an award during a time where sexual assault victims finally feel safe coming forward, it is evident that there is much, much further to go. If the highest body in film still does not honour men as equally as women and does not support victims by refusing to honour perpetrators, how will the lower bodies, the directors, agents, and fellow actors, ever realize that the time is truly up on sexual misconduct?

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Moving Beyond Fracking

Our community’s need for a renewable future

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rock in order to create cracks in underground rock formations and release oil or gas deposits. This practice is extremely risky and poses a number of threats to human and environmental health. The overwhelming balance of scientific research to date points to these risks, with recent studies revealing a worrying pattern of underreporting of issues by industry and regulators in Pennsylvania, BC and Alberta.

The process of fracking uses a significant amount of water, and can also contaminate drinking water through a leakage of chemicals into water tables. Methane emissions from fracking wells have recently been found to be massively underreported by industry, provincial and state regulators – a fact that is especially worrying given methane is a green house gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Fracking has also been known to cause earthquakes. The numerous threats that are posed by fracking have lead many community members and activists to protest the practice in their communities. In 2014, a bill was passed here in Nova Scotia legally banning fracking This was accomplished after community residents, primarily lead by indigenous individuals, rose up against fracking and disseminated critical information about the danger it poses to humans and the environment. This ban has been in place ever since.

Earlier this year, however, the municipality of Guysborough called for this ban to be lifted and proceeded to send multiple letters to the Premier and to other municipal councils throughout Nova Scotia, looking for support. This decision however, is not supported by most citizens; when one of Guysborough’s councilors held a town hall meeting on the issue, all those who attended were opposed the lifting of the ban.

Guysborough’s decision to propose this change comes with pressure from oil and gas supporters who used a freedom of information request to bring to light a provincial atlas of potential shell gas reserves in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia department of energy subsequently released an atlas that showed potential energy hot spots in the province, none of which are in Guysborough county. The Guysborough letter, therefore, seems to be more a part of an orchestrated campaign by the oil and gas sector rather than something that would actually lead to fracking in the county.

It turns out that a municipality site for an liquified natural gas (LNG) plant is being built in Guysborough county, a site where gas from around the continent will be held and distributed to markets in Europe. Germany has guaranteed a 4 billion dollar loan for the building of this plant as the country wishes to diversify where it is getting it’s LNG. Although, the plant does not need to use gas that is harvested in Nova Scotia, oil and gas supporters are pushing to have these options available, by pushing for the lifting of the ban on fracking.

Those who support the ban include many across Mi’kma’ki, including Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, that come from indigenous and settler communities alike. As we know, Mi’kmaq land has never been ceded to settlers and thus the Mi’kmaq people have a strong say when it comes to practices that will affect the land. The critical analysis developed by many Mi’kmaq people is that while the fracking industry may bring jobs to this area of the country, it will also destroy natural elements such as water and land, that are sacred and important to indigenous ways of being, and to all life. The choice to propose a lifting of this ban, directly contradicts the concerns that have been presented by indigenous community members and settler-citizens alike. Communities throughout Nova Scotia have made it clear that they are completely against fracking. In 2014, when a fracking moratorium was being reviewed, the Nova Scotia association of Mi’kmaq chiefs unanimously voted against it along with the Mi’kmaq Native women’s association. So far, the conversation that has been held about lifting the ban has only been orchestrated in settler communities. The Guysborough effort therefore runs the risk of further damaging settler-indigenous relations in a time that these relations should be focusing on reconciliation.

On March 19, the Antigonish Town Council has planned to discuss the letter that they received from the Municipality of Guysborough and will be debating whether they too will call for the ban to be lifted. Responsible Energy Action (REA) has been organizing to encourage citizens to write to the mayor and town councilors in support of keeping the ban in place. If you are interested and having your voice heard in relation to this cause, I encourage you to do the same and email mayor Laurie Boucher.

The bottom line is that these conversations should be outdated; there is a strong understanding that we need to be moving towards the dismantling of the oil and gas sector and incorporating more renewable sources of energy. In California, for instance, the green energy sector is proving that transition to green energy is a major job creator. We need to be encouraging the promotion of Solar and Wind power and put our money towards getting more sustainable and safe energy sources up and running in our province. And we should be working in ways that respect the treaties here and reinforce reconciliation, not undermine it.

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New Mindful Living Stream Open to All Students

An introduction to the courses that are carving out spaces in academia for students’ well-being

There is new development in the Religious Studies Department. Dr. Adela Sandness has constructed a new ‘Mindful Living’ stream of study consisting of 7 different classes. Dr. Sandness has been a prominent figure in the Religious Studies department in structuring her classes around issues of power, gender and gender relationships. She is trained as a scholar in the deep history of Buddhist psychology and the nature of mind, which has transferred over into her role as a professor in current classes about Modern India and Ghandi’s principles of truth and non-violence as a way of creating social change. The Xaverian sat down with Dr. Sandness to speak to a new stream of classes that will be available starting this upcoming fall.

Dr. Sandness prefaces our discussion by speaking to how the material involved in these new courses have been worked on already in various ways. What is unique now, is that the various elements already discussed, have come together in a single thread to create this stream focused on mindful living.

“These series of classes that Dr. Sandness will be teaching are really interesting and important, that sort of holistic approach to mental and physical health is an up and coming thing in society and it is something people are just starting to recognize. I think that culture has always been there but now it’s being brought to the forefront” says student, Matt Fleming who is not a religious studies major but has been drawn to take Dr. Sandness’ courses as electives.

Specifically, these courses will be addressing several issues that have been identified on the university campus. In part, the establishment of this stream of study is in response to the conversations we have been having as a campus community surrounding sexual safety. It has very intensely been brought to people’s awareness that the ways in which we relate to ourselves, and our own bodies, as well as with other people in the quality of our relationships is something that needs to be talked about. Dr. Sandness asserts that in the time speaking with individuals, after the sexual violence case that occurred last semester, no one was moving into a space of simplistic blame. Instead, the reoccurring narrative is an understanding that the occurrence of sexual violence and the responses that follow are situated in a broader, cultural aspect of how we are relating to each other as people. Dr. Sandness attributes the depth, intensity, sophistication and duration of these conversations to confirm that the campus is in need of structured space to do a “re-think.”

4th year student, Jillian Barvir who works closely with Dr. Sandness says that

 “[These courses] will be a part of addressing issues on campus like sexual safety and the rise in mental health issues and despair that some students face. Dr. Sandness will have direct access to these students to help them work through it.”

These conversations are both academic by nature with groundings in Ancient Indian or Veda cosmology. Or in other words, the study of the world through religious groundings alternative to contemporary scientific western materialism. It will be the pairing of this academic anchorage with honest and open conversations that will lead to discussions on the quality, sensitivity and genuineness of the relationships that we’re creating with other people; whether that is an intimate relationship or not. The quality of relationships that we have with one another will necessarily create structures or frames of thinking that can shape the views of the world we have when we focus in on broader social issues. Dr. Sandness identifies these as issues of safety, respect, gender and power relationships. These relationships will also offer insight into the ways that we service leaders in the world; whether that be the leader of a residence house, a family or the leader of broader situations.

Next year (2018-2019) will introduce the first two new courses. In first semester is RELS 294 Mindfulness: How to Cope with Hard Things. This course will be dealing with mindfulness in a very direct way through applying historic, old Indian understandings of the shape of the world and the mindfulness techniques that evolved at this time to a practical component such as meditating together as a class. Through looking at various aspects and shapes of the world, this course is very much how to cope with hard things and how to work with balancing emotions such as jealousy and pride.

The second semester class is RELS 297 The Body: An Owner’s Manual in which students will quite literally be making an owner’s manual to their bodies grounded in cosmology that comes out of Hinduism and Buddhism. “What is a body” in this case will be explored more broadly. Dr. Sandness expresses her intent in bringing in several guest lecturers to cover the basis of what a body is. For example, she aims to invite community members from indigenous elders to lawyers, to the AWRCSASA and even nutritionists in unpacking what students feel and think about their bodies and why they feel such ways. Relating it back to a response to observed campus conversations about student’s wellbeing, this course will find the space in between conversations to say “well ok, how do I understand my relationship with my body and what is the quality, dignity, and respect I am offering to myself. Do I feel like I would want to make some changes?”

RELS 315/WMGS 397 Authentic Power and Gender is another new course that will be offered in the following year (2019-2020) along with RELS 394 Authentic Relationship. These courses are going to look at the ideas of power and gender from perspectives that come specifically out of Ancient Indian Cosmology. These ideas will provide a framework for answering questions around what constitutes real and authentic power. They will explore the interrelationship of masculine and feminine principles in Hinduism and Buddhism and gender from outside the contemporary western understanding. The first class will unpack controlling, domineering, territorial and oppressive natures as the default understanding of power. Dr. Sandness asserts that these behaviors are rooted in fear which merits compassion but not complacency so this course will be looking at what defines a strong and powerful person. The latter course mentioned is the companion class and this will continue the conversation by saying “if relationships aren’t about predatory dominance, power, control or who is on top, then what actually is an authentic and genuine relationship?” At the heart of these classes is human connection and with what degree of sensitivity to ourselves and others.

These are the four new courses offered next year. Accompanying them are RELS 395 Selfless Leadership:  Be the Change I and RELS 397 Selfless Leadership:  Be the Change II. The first two courses apply these authentic leadership learnings into leadership questions, both inspired the work of MK Gandhi. There is a sense that it is entirely possible to create broad stroke social change and these courses will look at some practiced ways to do so. These courses are rooted in old Indian World Views that informed Gandhi’s non-dualism truth and non-violence, specifically in relation to colonialism. These courses will actively unpack the perceptions of success within leadership that are directly from colonial forms of thinking; thus up for complete re-working and review when as a culture, we begin to authentically decolonize.

As for the final course, Dr. Sadness refers to it as the capstone of a series of classes. Every August, Dr. Sandness takes students to the Buddhist monastery in Cape Breton. After three weeks of online study together, the group goes to the monastery and lives there for a week the way that the monastics do. In essence, it is a mindfulness immersion experience to provide quite a strong basis in exploring meditative practices. This has been a class that Dr. Sandness has been nurturing and loving for quite some time now.

Dr. Sandness has made these courses free of pre-requisites in order to make them as accessible as possible to students from all disciplines.

The Xaverian also had an opportunity sat down with 4th year student, Colleen Murray.

“I took my first class with Dr. Sandness in my second year and there is something about the way that she brings the people in the classes that she teaches together that is really unique to the education that I have received at StFX. We get to know each other in the classroom and she gets to know us to incorporate the experience that we have on campus, our feelings about our positions as students and our own personalities into the course material which makes it really meaningful and purposeful for students. Not only are you receiving an awesome education, for example, in the religion and modern India course that I took with her, we learned so much about the history and development of religions about politics and important people from India; but we also got to learn a lot about each other and ourselves and it was just a beautiful experience as a student to encounter that on a university campus. It’s not something I expected. The fact that now there is an entire stream so students can be introduced to that way of learning and that way of thinking and being in the world is so important.”

Upon completing our interview, the Xaverian asked Dr. Sandness why she felt that it was time to introduce these courses. She expresses that in Buddhism there is an understanding that in any situation there would be the outer, the inner and the secret. In this case, the outer rationale would be that these courses are simply interesting theoretical material. There are many ways to dream a world and it is very helpful and useful to look at alternate ways of understanding the nature of self, body and other. Dr. Sandness speaks to the inner layer by saying that we can help people make choices and now these classes offer an avenue. The students are asking the institution to do better and it is completely appropriate to offer a space to have that conversation in a sustained way. And finally, the secret layer to the rationale.

“If I were to give away my secret, I have heard it said that we really only need 10% of any population to identify with each other as being an alternative culture to create that socially viable alternative. We are a campus of 5000 students which means we would only need to have 500 students who are identifying each other as being people who are making alternative lifestyle choices in order to create that viable, peer, cultural alternative that people as far as I can tell are essentially begging for…It isn’t about either this or that, but there is a space in between in which we live and how we engage in that space in between here is honestly going to set the platform for the rest our lives not just in the way it shapes our personality style and our long term friendships and the ways in which we tend to carve relationships in the future. I feel that it is an appropriate for a way to create that viable cultural alternative, 10% of our student population is only the Schwartz Auditorium filled twice.”

As we said goodbye, Dr. Sandness offers one last comment

“Just breathe, you are enough.”

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Cultivating Consent Culture

How do we rewrite the narrative of sexual violence in our communities?

"Smile and be nice." "Don’t overreact." "Don’t make a scene." "It’s just guys being guys." "He only picks on you because he like you." "Cover up." "You’re showing too much skin - it’s distracting." "He was just trying to be friendly." "You were pretty much asking for it."

As women, we’re constantly taught to remain idle in the face of sexual violence. Whether that’s through what we're told, media depicting violence as a gateway for sex, or simply the lack of recognition that sexual violence is a problem to begin with. Is it no surprise, then, that 1 in 4 women aged 15 to 24 will experience sexual violence? We’ve normalized sexual violence to such a degree that more often than not, women don’t feel comfortable or validated in coming forward - instead, they pass it off as “just a bad date,” or stay silent.

That is not okay.

On March 7, the Antigonish community came together to discuss what sexual violence looks like here in our community, and what we can do to change the narrative, and have an impact. Panelists Suzi Synishin, Sam Gan, and Katie MacDonald shared their research findings and experiences with the group - speaking to the normalization of sexual violence and the meaning of consent, the male perspective on leadership in consent culture, and sexual violence response in customer service positions respectively. Following the panel, the room was asked to answer two questions:

1. What does sexual violence look like in your community?
2. What needs to change? How can we make these changes happen?

Though the questions were discussed in a number of smaller groups, the answers of what sexual violence looks like all seemed to follow the same core idea:  sexual violence is simultaneously extremely pervasive, and invisible. The social repercussions facing victims prevent large numbers from speaking out, things like dick pics, revenge porn, and “kill counts” have become synonymous with teen and young adult culture, and university culture, as well, has become so intertwined with rape culture that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. On top of all of this, there is a general refusal to acknowledge that we have a problem.

So, what needs to change? How can we break the silence around sexual violence, and stop teaching our women to grin and bear it? We can start by teaching consent in our elementary and high schools - re-configuring Sex Ed to teach about healthy relationships, pleasure, and bodily autonomy - and integrating the conversation into every school, and every classroom. We can stand up and call out instances of toxic masculinity, harassment, and violence we witness every day, and turn to education to call people in.

Most importantly, however, in this fight, is that we not stay silent in the face of injustice. The actions above all came from this one conversation - but conversations like this one, when held as events or panels, attract the people who already care about these issues, and are already working to make change. For this conversation to be truly successful and sustainable, everyone has to be involved. So, keep on speaking out, speaking up, and being loud - ultimately, that is what will make a difference.

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International Women’s Day in the Global Community

Taking a look at a Necessary Celebration Around the World

On Thursday, March 8, women from Iqaluit to Jakarta will be celebrating International Women’s Day. Beginning in 1911 and held annually ever since, International Women’s Day celebrates women’s achievements while simultaneously advocating and mobilizing for change and movement away from gender-based discrimination. Every year on March 8, governments, businesses, women’s organizations and other entities join forces in order to honour the day with speeches, celebrations, rallies, and other events.     

This year’s theme is called #PressforProgress, developed as a response to the Weinstein Scandal, #metoo and #TimesUp movements, and a growing public discussion of the gender wage gap. The World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report found that it will take 217 years to close the gender gap around the world, a number we will not and cannot accept. Therefore, #PressforProgress urges not only women, but entire communities, to unite in action against gender disparity, making this not only a women’s issue, but a human one as well.

The United Nation’s Headquarters will be holding an observation of International Women’s Day at their headquarters in New York City. Speakers to discuss women’s issues include the UN Secretary-General, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Reese Witherspoon, and Danai Gurira. The UN has chosen to focus on the activism of rural women around the world, and what they do to transform and improve the lives of women in their communities.

Canada’s theme for International Women’s Day is #MyFeminism, where Canadian women are encouraged to state what feminism means to them. Celebrations include marches across the country in major cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver. Calgary is also holding a UNITE! benefit concert to celebrate women who have paved the way for equality.

London, England is hosting a variety of women-centric events including talks, workshops, and film screenings. There is also a Women of the World Festival taking place from March 7-11, where female speakers will be working to tackle the question of why gender equality is taking so long . An organization known as Kitrinos Healthcare is also hosting an event discussing how their sewing and knitting club in refugee camps helps to inspire women living there. The products these refugee women have made will also be for sale, helping to prepare refugee women for life beyond the camps.

India’s focus for this year’s International Women’s Day is sexual harassment in the work place. In order to target this, many large corporations are hosting workshops to discuss and learn how to prevent sexual harassment. Last year, thousands of women protested in many cities across the country as a response to the nation’s rampant sexual assault problem. Protests of a similar nature are expected to occur again. Meanwhile, a company in Nigeria, known as The Enterprise Development Centre, is focusing on small and medium businesses and their female entrepreneurs by setting up networking events for women. In many countries such as Russia, Armenia, Cambodia and Cuba, International Women’s Day is a national holiday and it is tradition for women to both give and receive yellow flowers. In China, women are given a half day off work to honour the holiday. In Italy, mimosa blossoms are given to women as a part of the celebration.

In previous years, the most common celebration of this holiday was a protest for something that has been identified as a priority to address. Women in Georgia have advocated against the glass ceiling in the workplace; women in Bangladesh rallied to demand for safety, while women in the Philippines protested the lack of food. Protests and rallies, though not always advertised in advance, are expected to dominate the celebratory activities on March 8. as there is still more work to be done. It is important to note that the experiences and struggles of women around the world are not homogenous. While some women are focused on equal pay, some are focused on the right to safe and adequate health care. However, the overarching factor that unites women on this day, and is the reason for this holiday, is the fact that all women experience inequality, and all women will no longer be complacent.

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This is for you, Tina and Colten

The REDress Project as platform to discuss Canada’s often ignored epidemic

When you walk around campus, whether it being inside the buildings or outside, you can see red dresses on hangers, with a new addition this year of also seeing red ties around campus. So, what are these dresses and red ties for you might ask?

The red dresses are for the REDress Project which is an art installation in remembrance of  the missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada; a national epidemic.

This year, the Aboriginal society made a change to the project and they added ties for the missing and murdered Indigenous men as well.

This art project hopes to raise awareness for all the missing and murdered Indigenous women and men. This isn’t new. Aboriginal women and men in Canada and America have been disappearing at alarming rates for years, and while Canada did put forward a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), not a whole lot has changed; nothing for that matter.

1,017 women and girls who identify as indigenous were murdered between the years of 1980 and 2012, according to Stats Canada. Mind you, those are just the cases that we know about through official reporting. These numbers don’t necessarily reflect each individual who has been missing or murdered.

Indigenous women are 4.5 times more likely to be murdered than all other women in Canada. For indigenous women, the highway of tears is their nightmare. It’s Highway 16 from Prince George and Prince Rupert BC, where countless murders of Indigenous peoples have been committed.

This highway connects many towns, which all hold vital resources not found in each community. Often times, due to lack of transportation, women end up going on foot.

For an indigenous woman, to be on this strip of highway often means to be adding their name to the list of missing and murdered.

For indigenous men, many know the truth about ‘starlight tours’, where police in Saskatoon drive indigenous men out of the city limits under the guise of taking them home at night. They are then left to find their way home which, during the below zero temperatures in the winter, often leads to their death. These starlight tours happen far too often for mainly indigenous men, and it's costing them their lives at the hands of Canadian police.

If you’ve been keeping up to date with the news lately, you might have heard the names Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie being repeated. These are the latest indigenous victims who's murderers were found not guilty in recent trials, leaving the families with no justice and no closure.

Tina Fontaine lived on the Sagkeeng First Nation. Tina was only 15 when she was murdered on August 10, 2014.  Raymond Joseph Cormier was charged with her murder, taken to trial where he plead not guilty and, on February 22, 2018 he was released of all charges.

Colten Boushie is a First Nations man who lived on the Cree Red Pheasant First Nation. Colten was only 22 when he was murdered on August 9, 2016. Gerald Stanley was charged with his murder, it went to trail and, on February 9, 2018, Stanley’s charges were acquitted.

Those two stories sound awfully alike, don’t they? That’s what most trials for murdered indigenous people sound like; their murderers being set free, leaving their cases to go cold. 

I wonder what the outcome would have been if Tina and Colten were white?

Tina and Colten were only children when they were killed, they were failed by society, the justice system, the police system, any system you can think of, and they were CHILDREN.

They had years ahead of them, experiences they’ll never know, hugs they’ll never receive, dreams they’ll never achieve.

So, when you’re walking around campus and see these dresses and ties, take some time to stop and think about Tina and Colten. Think about all the other indigenous peoples that have had this same reality, and for those who might succumb to this horrifying reality someday. For each dress or tie that you see on campus take the time to go home and research an indigenous person who has been killed, learn their story, learn about them, who they were.

I’m sorry, Tina and Colten. I’m sorry that you were given such a sour taste of this world. I’m sorry that your lives were disregarded as not being just as important as anyone else’s. I’m sorry that Canada is STILL having a hard time figuring out what to do with this epidemic. I’m sorry that the justice system didn’t fight harder for you; Creator knows how hard your loved ones wailed and fought for you.

Tina, I’m sorry that your father had the same reality as yours and I can only hope that you are among the stars together.

Mrs. Boushie, I’m sorry that the first thing the officer said to you after telling you about your son’s death was, “ma’am have you been drinking tonight?”.

Tina and Colten, these dresses and ties are for you.

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So You Want To Be A Feminist?

Some key feminist reads for those interested in learning more

I have spent the past four years of my life talking and learning about feminism. As a student of the Women and Gender Studies department, the concepts of feminism and feminist theory were first introduced to me in my Women and Gender Studies 100 class, taught by Dr. Rachel Hurst. Since this time, my understanding and definition of what feminism means and what it strives to do have expanded and developed immensely. My understanding is that feminism is not solely about advocating for the rights of women and the equality of all genders, although that is a central aspect of it. To me, feminism is about deconstructing the binary of gender in allowing space for gender fluidity while recognizing the disproportionate suffering faced by female-identifying people. It is about understanding the complexities of identity and analyzing marginalized groups and the ways in which these groups exist within the world. It is about learning, organizing and mobilizing to deconstruct patriarchal, colonial and heteronormative narratives in hopes of allowing voices that are continuously silenced to be centralized.

I feel extraordinarily lucky to have engaged with the feminism of many, and through reading, watching, theorizing and discussing, have come out of a four-year degree with a stronger and more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon and a base to contextualize the world around me. Despite having this formal academic background, I still struggle to practice my feminism in a way that is both true to the topics I care about and digestible for those around me (which is not always possible). What I mean by this is that sometimes practicing feminism or labelling oneself as a feminist can be met by a series of eye-rolls, shrugs or backlash. My continually developing ability to navigate these instances can be in part credited to the many women whose literature and theory I have engaged with, that tells a personal story of their own feminism. For anyone interested in grounding their feminism or simply in learning more deeply about the topic and movement, I have comprised a list of some of my favorite feminist reads. These authors have inspired me immensely and I hope that these resources will allow you to understand the importance of feminism to all human beings and the different ways a feminist life can be approached.

Sarah Ahmed- Living a Feminist Life

‘Living a Feminist Life,’ was published in January 2017 and is the latest work of feminist scholar, Sarah Ahmed. Ahmed has seven previous novels discussing how feminist theory is generated from everyday life and writes personal accounts about her own experience being a feminist and learning about the world through a feminist lens. Ahmed introduced the notion of the ‘feminist killjoy’ in her previous work, which she defines as a figure who is willing to disrupt happiness by speaking out; Ahmed ends her novel by proposing a feminist killjoy survival kit and manifesto.

To me, Ahmed’s work speaks to the difficulty associated with pursuing feminism as it often entails speaking out and calling into question elements of people’s lived experiences that are too often trivialized. The idea of a feminist killjoy is something that is easy to relate to as much of the time practicing feminism requires one to reanalyze and criticize jokes, popular culture and language that we see day-to-day that may be working to further marginalize certain groups. All of Ahmed’s work is beneficial to those who are interested in leading more feminist life.

Kimberle Crenshaw

Kimberle Crenshaw is perhaps one of the most important feminist figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. Born in 1959, Crenshaw has spent her life advocating for American civil rights and studying critical race theory. In 1989, Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality which has since been incorporated as an essential element to modern feminist thought. Intersectionality has challenged feminists to understand how the intersecting identities that people hold intrinsically and uniquely affect their lived experience and we must take all marginalizing identities into account when working to combat issues. Crenshaw bases her theory in the experiences of black women who are both black and women, but who’s experiences as both identities often leave them out of the discussion of both black experience (which is often looked at through a masculine frame) and the experiences of women (which predominantly focuses on the experiences of white women).  Crenshaw’s 2016 TedTalk entitled ‘The Urgency of Intersectionality,” and her articles ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Colour,’ and ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex’ are all incredible resources for learning about authentic intersectional feminism. 

Chandra Talpede Mohanty- Under Western Eyes

This critically acclaimed piece written by Professor Chandra Talpade Mohanty discusses and criticizes the homogenous perspectives and presumptions made by Western Feminists about women in non-western countries. She argues that Western feminists often work to subjugate non-western women as the collective “other” by continuously labelling them as poor, uneducated, tradition-bound and victimized. These narratives homogenize both groups and erase the complexities of individual and intricate experiences of women both in the west, and in countries around the world. These narratives disrupt women’s solidarity and continue to perpetuate damaging narratives about white, western-saviour complexes. Mohanty brilliantly criticizes the colonial discourse that is often used by western feminists and helps us to understand that we cannot simply assume the experiences of any women in either context, or hope to push our own feminisms on women in different cultures. Mohanty is a must-read for all who are interested in the nuances of feminism and it’s complex and often contrasting approaches. It is important to not ground your perspective of feminism solely in western contexts, this is what Mohanty offers us to consider.

Roxanne Gay- Bad Feminist

One of my most favourite feminist reads has got to be the New York Times Best-Selling essay collection ‘Bad Feminist’ written by the excellent and hilarious, Roxanne Gay. Gay is unique in her approach to discussing her feminism. She explores imperfection, describing herself and her feminism as a “mess of contradiction.” Gay describes that she is a flawed human being who’s feminism is in turn also flawed. She candidly admits to indulging in music, television and artists that are often seen as problematic to feminism. She grapples with the fact that she despises rape jokes, but can find herself enjoying music that is exploitative to women. She admits to finding herself singing along to ‘Blurred Lines’ while discussing the issues associated with supporting Chris Brown. She talks about her affinity for reality TV show, ‘The Bachelor,’ while also being able to name 5000 reasons why it is problematic. Gay does not strive to be perfect. She understands that as human beings we may at times indulge and enjoy things that are not 100% aligned with the values that we hold. Her essays are inconclusive and personal, they allow the reader to find themselves in her writing but do not propose solutions to these issues. ‘Bad Feminist’ is a great read because it humanizes activism and feminism and allows us to forgive our imperfections while striving to be better. On top of being a fantastic and humorous writer, Gay is also a fabulous person to follow on Twitter for her commentary (@rgay).

I have barely scraped the surface of the numerous thought-provoking, radical and tremendously impressive works that are out there. Of the dozens of feminist theorists, I have read in my classes these are just four of the many scholars who have stood out to me. Learning about feminism, of course, goes beyond literature and theory. There are also many artists on Instagram such as (some of my favourites) @fances_cannon,@ambivalentlyyours, and @pollynor, that express their understandings of feminism through cartoons and illustration. There are TV shows like comedy central’s Broad City, that work to normalize feminist rhetoric and play with feminist knowledge in a hilarious and welcoming way. I could sit here and type all day about people and resources I have come across that allow me to shape my ideas and understandings of feminism. Instead, I encourage all people to seek out some feminist knowledge and thought. The bottom line is that feminism is a movement that works to equalize all people and we should all be feminists if we believe in this equality. Happy Reading!

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Dial Youth Activism Conference @ 1-800-SCL-CHNG

The community at large comes together to explore avenues to activism

The 7th youth-led, Social Justice Conference from March 2 to 4 at StFX was a great triumph. The highly anticipated appearance of Desmond Cole on Friday night, packed the Schwartz auditorium with over 100 people. Desmond is a Toronto-based columnist, activist, and radio host born in Red Deer, Alberta to parents who immigrated from Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Desmond was the recipient of highly respected 2017 PEN Canada/Ken Filkow Prize for Freedom of Expression. As well, he is currently in the process of writing his first book. I heard, unofficially, that it might be completely written as early as November of this year!

Two opening acts of activism introduced Desmond’s keynote on Friday. A group of youth drummers, led by Morgan Gero, played a groovy ceremonial rhythm. Then, a powerful spoken word delivered by Kalista Desmond moved the audience to a standing ovation.

The entertaining emcees of the night were our Students’ Union VP of Residence Affairs, Rebecca Mesay and youth leader, Trinity Ashewasegai from Paq’tnkek, Nova Scotia.

Desmond led a seminar unpacking racism and white supremacy. Desmond’s metaphor that, “Our entire country is a museum of white supremacy” quenched the taste buds of my reasoning. Consider the Scalping Proclamation, Indian Act, and Chinese Immigration Act among other racist artifacts that affirm white supremacy in Canada.

Racism and white supremacy are close-minded ideas founded on the illogical principle that racialized people have less power and value than white people.

During the keynote a youth leader from Paqtn’kek, Caleb Peters, spoke up and said that while acknowledgement of settlement on unceded Indigenous territory is good, “We need more than acknowledgement.” For the young activist with a bright mind, acknowledgement is only the first of many steps in a long walk towards truth and reconciliation.

Desmond’s keynote was the hot topic of discussion among youth leaders into the first Saturday workshop. Workshops offered included, but were not limited to poetry, podcasting and painting Mi’kmaq Komqwejwi’kasikl (Hieroglyphic) on rocks. Each Komqwejwi’kasikl signifies a message of hope. Keep an eye out for these rocks scattered on campus!

Kalista and Anas Atakora co-hosted a workshop on Activism through Spoken Word. Participants learned techniques, wrote, created and shared spoken word, deepening their skills and refining their understanding of this medium.

Desmond hosted a Saturday workshop on media literacy and how to recognize racism and white supremacy in media texts. His workshop engaged the audience to explore recent case studies of racial profiling in Canada and how big media players like CBC, Global News and The Toronto Star normalize white supremacy and racism by protecting the identities of racist white people like Nikki Samuel.

Nikki’s belligerently racist loudmouth was caught on video at the Rapid Access to Medical Specialists in Mississauga, Ontario last year. All the big media players who covered the story protected her identity by withholding her name and superimposing a blur over her face on the original video.

I met with Desmond after his Saturday workshop and presented him with the question, “How do you feel about your keynote and workshop with youth leaders at the Youth Activism Conference?”

Desmond responded, “I feel very welcomed by the youth who are here. All of these young people are leaders just by being interested in coming here and participating. They are demonstrating a lot of leadership. We’re talking about racism and white supremacy, and these young people have their own stories and experiences. So, I hear them listening to the stories that I’m telling and the experiences that I’m talking about, but they understand it already because they have experienced things like this in their own communities. I think it’s very powerful when we can get together, listen, and validate each other’s stories. Sometimes you feel alone when something bad happens and you experience racism, you feel like maybe there isn’t a venue for you to talk about it. This is one of those venues where we can talk and it’s really nice to be doing it together.”

The Youth Activism Conference continued Sunday morning with a creative representation workshop; youth leaders chose a creative way to represent their learnings over the weekend and presented their artwork. The Conference ended with a motivating speech and traditional group dance hosted by Aaron Prosper, a Mi’kmaq from the Eskasoni First Nation.

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How we got here

The importance of knowing your heritage

Heritage is defined as the cultures, traditions, and attributes handed down or inherited from previous generations, which are maintained in the present and bestowed for future generations. Heritage contributes to our history as individuals and establishes a sense of who we really are as a people. It is sad, therefore, that in our generation, heritage is something which is denied, rejected, and exchanged instead for acceptance of external cultures which are not our own. We laugh when jokes are made about the people who adopt British accents in transit fifteen minutes upon their arrival at the London Heathrow airport, and about the people who suddenly cannot speak their mother-tongue when they leave their home country for two weeks. But these are realities which frequently occur, and which ultimately need to be addressed.

In essence, heritage is something much like education: it is more valuable than money or property, and it is something which cannot be taken away from you! However, it can certainly be lost or forgotten through the conscious efforts and choices we make. So why do certain groups find power in abandoning their cultural heritage and assimilating into popular, more ‘acceptable’ ones? Historically, in reference particularly to the African continent, most (if not all) African traditions were shunned and demonised by the European colonialist settlers, while simultaneously, their own European forms of culture and ‘civilisation’ were praised and forced upon the natives of the land. An example of this is the Totem system practiced in Zimbabwe and other African countries. A totem - “mutupo” - refers to an assigned identity given to a family group, distinguishing them from other groups. Hence, a person is often addressed by their totem when they have achieved or done something commendable for the family or community, and generally, out of respect for the person. The assignments were predominantly based on a sacred animal, which the family was never to kill or eat. Alongside the unity which this system fostered, other functions were achieved such as environmental stewardship and preservation of animals, and fewer cases of incest, since clan members could identify one another by their totem backgrounds.

Today, there are messages preached (by fellow Africans) which claim that following the mutupo system is ‘out-dated’, ‘unnecessary’, and ‘evil.' No reasonable explanation surrounding these statements has ever been given me, and hence my family does not identify with any totem. It is easy to see, therefore, that even cultures developed by our African forefathers to encourage preservation and unity, have been ostracized and frowned upon, and many Africans have blindly accepted the spurning of their own historical cultures without questioning the reasoning behind it. So perhaps this provides an answer to my aforementioned question. It does not, however, stand concrete as a logical rationale for abandonment of one’s traditional backgrounds.

What we need to understand is that heritage is power. It is what identifies, distinguishes, and elevates us. Knowing your heritage is what will empower you to refuse to answer to the label “minority." The term in itself does not contain any positive or affirming qualities, and simply serves to ‘other’, and encourage sympathy from those in the ‘majority.' That is not what you were created to be, and your identity is far more magnificent than that! Assimilation into

something that is not your own is optimized when we permanently internalise that our traditions and practices are inadequate, and only Western cultures can be pure and good. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is thus our own responsibility to research more, question more, and challenge what we have become comfortable accepting in the past. Learning and discovering our own cultural heritage is paramount to being able to dictate our own identities and futures, and not have them dictated for us any longer.

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