East Coast Post Issue 3

EAST C AST POST
January 30- February 5, 2015 | Vol. 1 No. 3 | eastcoastpost.kingsjournalism.com
Published by the University of King’s College School of Journalism
A new class with a kick
NIKKI JAMIESON
nsjamieson@live.ca
@nsjamieson
It is not often you see someone
do a series of flips in the middle of a
fight, let alone a handstand.
But flipping was a common sight
last week when Dalhousie’s Capoeira
Club kicked off its first meeting with
a quick skirmish.
Capoeira is a Brazilian martial
art, often performed to the sounds of
music and people clapping.
Participants stand around the
combatants in a circle and clap as two
opponents spin around each other,
almost showing off at times while
mock sparring.
The two combatants fight without
actually touching each other.
The club is operating with support
from Halifax’s capoeira group, Dendê
Do Recife, with its instructor, Ross
Burns, running the sessions.
It’s not just open to Dal students;
anyone can join. One person
attending the session was treating it
as a chance for her to practice three
times a week, rather than the twice-aweek sessions that the local capoeira
group offers.
“When our instructor mentioned
that they were adding another class,
I thought, ‘This is great, this is an
opportunity to train more than
regular,’ so I was happy to come
down,” said Mary Frances Lynch, a
community relations manager.
“I went to Brazil, four years ago,
and started training down there. I
was there for three months, and fell
in love with the sport and the music
and the dance element.”
The club meets on Tuesday
evenings, at 7:15, for an hour at the
Studley dance studio. There is a $5 fee
per session, or $40 per term.
Eleven people attended the first
Debunking hangover myths
PAGE 11PAGE 0
Participants spar against each other in the Tuesday class. (Photo: Nikki Jamieson)
session, and three people were trying
capoeira out for the first time.
“This is a beginner’s class, so I
wanted to try,” said Heather Darwish,
an elementary school teacher.
“It was really challenging, but well
worth it.”
Capoeira does not have a strict
set of rules, but rather allows for
personal interpretation, with each
school putting a different emphasis
on the ritual, fighting, dancing and
playing aspects of it.
Dendê Do Recife interprets and
practices the martial art as more of a
game.
Ritual aspects of it are present –
such as the playing of the berimbau,
a single-stringed instrument sort
of like a musical bow, and the circle
around the participants – but the
school focuses more on having fun
than strictly teaching its students a
disciplined fighting style.
“That’s where capoeira happens, a
circle of people clapping and singing,
those instruments … and then two
people in the circle playing the game,”
said Ross.
See CAPOEIRA on PAGE 2
Focus:
HEALTH
See pages 2, 11-19
PHOTO ESSAY: Halifax sex show
PAGES 12-13PAGE 0
History of capoeira
Unlike boxing or karate, which have clear roots to ancient Greece and Japan
respectively, experts cannot agree where the martial art of capoeira originated.
It may have come to Brazil from Africa when Portuguese conquistadors
took slaves there. Others argue that while there may be African influences,
capoeira was created entirely in Brazil.
What is accepted is that it was practiced by slaves, secretly, in Brazil in the
early 1800s until they were freed in 1888.
Unfortunately, capoeira soon became associated with crime. In Rio de
Janeiro, capoeira had evolved into purely a fighting form, commonly associated
with criminal gangs, and was outlawed in 1892 in the Brazilian Republic’s first
constitution.
However, in Bahia it evolved into a ritualistic dance and game, and was
practiced in secret, in fear of persecution.
It wasn’t until the 1930s that capoeira became legal. Mestre Bimba opened
a school, Centro de Cultura F’sica Regional, in 1932, using the school’s name as
a loophole to legally practice the sport. It became officially registered in 1937,
legalizing the practice.
Infringement Festival
PAGE 20PAGE 0
EDITORIAL
PAGE 2
Editorial: Colds aren’t going anywhere
NIKKI JAMIESON
nsjamieson@live.ca
@nsjamieson
January is a time of new
beginnings, of getting off that couch
and hitting the gym (at least for the
first two weeks), and pledging to eat
right.
It is also the time for breaking that
pledge with an extra slice of chocolate
cake.
EAST COAST POST
It is the season when we tell
ourselves that this year, we’ll do
things better and nothing can stop us.
Then we catch the first cold of the
season, and the wind gets knocked
out of our sails.
Since starting university, I
consider myself lucky not to have
caught any truly horrible bugs going
around, such as the swine flu in 2009.
What I do seem to get, however, is
practically every single cold that
passes through the East Coast.
I always get it at the end of that
particular outbreak, so I have to
suffer through everyone sneezing and
sniffling for weeks, only to be glared
at in an elevator because I have the
nerve to be sporting a Rudolph red
nose when everyone else is feeling
fine.
The worst part? It’s not as if I can
just drug myself up and go on my
way.
Short of knocking myself out or
suppressing my gag reflex, most of
the time I just have to buy stock in
face tissues and let my cold run its
course.
I am not alone in this. The
common cold, known medically
as a viral upper respiratory tract
infection, is infamous for being the
most frequent reoccurring illness in
the world.
In Canada alone, we spend
upwards of $300 million on
prescription antibiotics and over-thecounter cold and flu treatments just
to treat the symptoms, according to a
2011 Queen’s University report.
In addition, C-Health says every
Canadian adult suffers up to five
colds a year.
A report from the Conference
Board of Canada says the common
cold accounts for about 40 per cent
of sick days, costing the economy
roughly $16.6 billion dollars a year.
Despite all this, the cold is still just
the “common” cold, and is considered
a nuisance.
No need to worry, right? I mean,
it’s just billions we’re talking about
here, and hey, we’re Canadians. No
little bother such as an itchy throat,
cough or stuffed up nose is going to
keep us down.
Note the sarcasm.
The fact is, you are going to catch
a cold at some point in the next few
months.
When you do, you will suffer
from nasal congestion, a runny nose,
sore throat and bouts of coughing
and/or sneezing.
You will be sick for anywhere
from seven to 14 days, with the worst
of it lasting up to five days.
You will pop cough drops like
candy, take decongestants on the
hour and be prepared for your ears to
pop at random intervals.
There will be times when you
look and feel like you have been run
over, but since there is nothing out
there that can cure you, you will do
your best to mask your symptoms
and power through the day.
It’s just a cold, after all.
But with the amount of nuisance
we put up with in terms of colds, why
can’t there at least be a vaccine?
Well, unlike the flu, which has
about three strains going around
each season, the common cold has 30
different strains.
Not to mention there are about
200 viruses that cause the cold,
making it hard to pinpoint what is
going to be where, let alone finding
something that will be effective
against them all.
But there is hope. Work is being
done on broad-spectrum antivirals,
which target multiple strains of
viruses, and could prove effective
against the cold.
One
compound,
Doublestranded RNA Activated Caspase
Oligomerizer, or DRACO for short, is
proving promising.
Unfortunately, it will be at least 10
years before we find out if it works on
colds.
Until then, save your sick days.
You’re going to need them.
Photo of the week: Blizzpocalypse hits Halifax
Managing Editor
Nikki Jamieson
Copy/Online Editor
Rebecca Hussman
Photo Editors
Gabby Peyton
Leah Collins Lipsett
Instructors
Reporting, writing, editing
Dean Jobb
PAGE 3
NEWS
Crackdown on texting while driving
HANNA MCLEAN
even though it is against the law,”
says Rath.
Halifax police issue more
than 3,000 tickets a year to people
distracted by hand-held electronic
devices, creating a risk of collisions.
“We hope that the increased
penalties will make people think twice
before they pick up that phone,” says
Rath.
Nova Scotia will join the ranks
of Saskatchewan and Newfoundland
and Labrador. Both provinces’
penalties include four demerit
points and heavy fines.
Newfoundland and Labrador
has the strictest penalty in Canada
with a maximum $400 fine along
with four demerits.
The lightest penalties are in
Ontario, where using a cellphone
while driving draws a fine of $280,
and Alberta, where the fine is $172.
Neither province imposes demerit
points.
Nunavut is the only place
jurisdiction in Canada with no
legislation or penalties for driving
with an electronic hand-held device.
The 2013 Nova Scotia Road
Safety Survey identified cellphone
use as the most serious issue drivers
face. This was followed by driving
while distracted, drinking and
driving and speeding.
Drivers ages 16 and older
participated in the survey, which
aims to measure the impact of Nova
Scotia’s road safety initiatives.
Seventy-three per cent of people
surveyed answered that driving
while using cell phones (either
hand-held or hands-free) was an
extremely serious problem.
Brian Taylor, communications
advisor for Nova Scotia’s Department
of Transportation and Infrastructure
Renewal, thinks cellphone use while
driving is an increasing problem.
“There was a time a few years
back that most people didn’t have an
iPhone or a BlackBerry,” says Taylor.
“Today it’s hard to find somebody
that doesn’t.”
Taylor says since people are
“hooked” on their devices, it may
take time before they change their
behaviour.
Police sometimes have difficulty
catching someone using their phone
because they’re in a moving vehicle,
so it may come down to honesty in
some cases.
“The police officer actually has
to see the person holding on to the
electronic device and using it. Then
it usually becomes a matter of your
word against the word of the police
officer,” says Taylor.
Taylor acknowledged there are
many people who could hold their
devices lower in the car, out of sight
from anyone looking inside the
vehicle from the outside.
One group that is particular
vulnerable to the new stiff penalties
are young motorists in the
graduated-driver licencing program.
The program is a staged
introduction of new drivers in the
driving environment. These are
drivers with their learners’ licences
and any new driver regardless of age
can participate in this program.
These drivers are especially
vulnerable to the stricter penalties
because one convicted offense of
using a hand-held device while
driving will cost a new driver in the
graduated-driver licene system their
license.
Winter Games.
“I speak for all of Nova Scotia
when I say that we will be behind
you when you go to Prince George,”
Minister of Health and Wellness
Leo Glavine told members of the
provincial team at the Emera Oval
in Halifax.
The games are being held from
Feb. 13 to March 1 in Prince George,
B.C.
Despite the rain, the event drew
upwards of 200 spectators as the
athletes marched in with bagpipe
players and cheered for each other.
“It’s really crazy,” said Eileen
Cryer, a target shooter who’s
competing in her first games, said of
the event.
Team Nova Scotia will look to
improve its medal haul from the
2011 games in Halifax, where the
team earned 12 medals, including
five gold.
It also received the Centennial
Cup in 2011 as the most improved
team.
During the rally, flag bearers for
the opening and closing ceremonies
were announced.
Carly Jackson, one of the bearers,
is a goalie for the women’s hockey
team.
She has also signed a letter of
intent to join the University of
Maine’s hockey team.
The other, Jared Goad, from
Truro, won the gold medal in
trampoline at the 2011 Canada
Winter Games.
Kristi Mason, a ringette player
from Cole Harbour, will carry a
lantern housing a flame from the
Centennial Flame on Parliament
Hill.
She’s a member of several
provincial and national ringette
teams. She has received numerous
accolades for her skills and
leadership and is a student at
Acadia University, where she takes
engineering.
“To sum it all up, Kristi kicks
butt,” said Chris Lydon, master of
ceremonies for the event.
Team Nova Scotia will be
sending 191 athletes competing
in 20 events, including squash,
wheelchair basketball and judo.
hanna.mclean@hotmail.com
@hannajmclean
People use them at the gym, in
bed and in the bathroom.
In our tech-crazed culture,
having a cellphone on you at all
times is normal. But in the driver’s
seat of the car, the gadgets need to be
turned off or put away — something
people rarely do these days.
The Nova Scotia government
is cracking down on distracted
driving, with harsher penalties for
those convicted of using hand-held
electronic devices behind the wheel.
Using a cellphone while driving
has been an offence in Nova Scotia
since 2008. But starting on Feb. 1,
driving while using a phone will cost
more than just money.
Those convicted of multiple
offences could potentially lose
their licence, with the addition of
four demerit points as a part of the
penalty.
Licenced drivers who reach 10
demerit points will lose their licence
for six months.
The changes include an increased
fine along with demerit points,
making Nova Scotia’s penalties for
driving while using a cellphone
among the toughest in the country.
The fine for a first offence will
be $233.95, for a second offence is
$348.95 and for the third offence,
$578.95.
Theresa Rath, the public relations
manager for Halifax Regional Police,
thinks the stricter penalties are
needed.
“We are certainly seeing that
people are still using their phones
Jessie Bauer shows why Halifax Regional Police issue more than 3,000 tickets a
year to people using handheld electronics while driving. (Photo: Hanna McLean)
Taylor says stiffer penalties
should prompt people to abide
by the law, but there will always
be individuals who will continue
to engage in risky behavior while
behind the wheel.
“A good example is our laws with
regards to drinking and driving,”
says Taylor. “They have been around
for forty plus years, and we still have
people being ticketed on a daily
basis for impaired driving.”
“It’s important now that you
leave it all on the court, the gym or
the rink,” said Mark Smith, the 2015
Chef de Mission.
“It’s not until you walk into the
arena and see the other provinces
that you realize how big the Canada
Games actually is, “said Hugh Smith,
the guest speaker for the event.
He is a member of Team Canada’s
gymnastics and was a former athlete
in the Canada Winter Games.
Smith also won a bronze medal
during the 2011 Pan-Am games in
Mexico.
The team consists mostly of
early-year university and high
school students. Age eligibility does
vary from sport to sport however.
Nationwide, more than 2,400
athletes will be competing in Prince
George.
Team Nova Scotia will be
using #supernova to document its
adventures at the games on Twitter.
How to avoid
distracted driving
Plan ahead: Read maps and
set the GPS and sound system
before starting a journey
Get your vehicle road-ready:
Adjust seat and climate controls. Make sure the dash of the
vehicle is clear of distractions
Stow electronic devices: to
avoid temptation, put your
device in bag or the glove compartment of your vehicle
Prepare passengers: Make
sure kids are buckled up and
ready to go. Pets should also
be settled before you start the
engine
Snack safely: Eat before
you get in the car. If you need
something along the way, pull
over.
Stash you stuff: Secure belongings that could roll or shift
around while driving
Be focused and alert: Keep
your eyes on the road and use
your mirrors.
Production/Design
Katie Ingram
Photos
Michael Creagen
About Us
The East Coast Post is published
10 times a year — five weeks in
November/December and five weeks
in January/February.
It is written, edited and designed
by students in the Newspaper
Workshop at the School of
Journalism, University of King’s
College, Halifax, N.S., B3H 2A1.
Contact Us
(902) 422-1270 (ext.143)
theeastcoastpost@gmail.com
Twitter: @eastcoastpostns
Facebook: East Coast Post
BEN COUSINS
ben_cousins@msn.com
@cousins_ben
Halifax is getting back to normal after Tuesday’s storm; the corner of North
and Dublin streets is still a winter wonderland. (Photo: Gabby Peyton)
CAPOEIRA: Dal class growing in popularity
Continued from PAGE 1
“The best way to describe it
though, it is fighting, it is dancing,
it is improvising and competing and
challenging each other, facing off in a
certain way. It’s a game; it’s a nice way
I feel to look at it.”
In order to become a master, or
mestre, of capoeira, you need to have
at least 30 years of experience.
Burns, who has been practicing
since 2003, is considered a senior
student, even though he does teach it
to others.
“If you went back 50 years, just
based on circumstances … because
it was this thing that happened, kind
of like folk art, so there wasn’t like
an exam you took. It was just like if
you were good enough that someone
was like ‘This guy is a master,’ it was
kind of an informal title originally,”
he said.
“These days it’s more rigorous
… You really need to have some
experience teaching and to be doing
the thing for years and years, and
have a relationship with lots of
students of your own and teachers
of your own. These days it would be
rare that someone would gain that
rank without 30 years of experience
or more.”
Dane George and two friends
founded the club last year, but they
could not host sessions until Jan. 20
because they could not find a suitable
studio space.
“It’s a little bit of a struggle to find
good spaces,” said George, president
of the club.
PAGES 1 & 2 LAYOUT BY BEN COUSINS
“In the fall I found it was difficult
to find a space near Dal that was
available consistently on weeknights.
We would like to promote capoeira
on campus and I feel that to do that
we need a space very close by.”
Dendê Do Recife was founded
in 2005 by Mestre Azeitona, Mestre
Fabio Cuencas, and Monitora Paula.
It has approximately 50 members,
and is the only capoeira school in the
Maritimes.
The closest Canadian capoeira
school is in Quebec.
Wet weather didn’t dampen
the spirits of hundreds of young
Nova Scotia athletes on Saturday
afternoon as they gathered to
promote the upcoming Canada
Athletes braved the elements for a pep rally in advance of their trip to
the Canada Winter Games in Prince George B.C. (Photo: Ben Cousins)
PAGE LAYOUT BY PAUL O’BRIEN
NEWS
PAGE 4
Millions for N.S. housing co-ops
EVELYN BROTHERSTON
evelyn.brotherston@dal.ca
@eviebrotherston
The provincial government has
taken another stab at addressing
Nova Scotia’s affordable housing
crunch.
Last week, it was announced
that $8 million will be used to fund
repairs and upkeep of the province’s
co-operative housing.
Federal Justice Minister Peter
MacKay joined Dartmouth MLA
Joanne Bernard to make the
announcement at a housing co-op
in Dartmouth.
Co-op members will be able
to apply for $24,000 per unit to
contribute to structural, electrical,
plumbing and heating repairs, as
well as modifications to make units
more accessible.
Opal Brinston, who has been a
member of the Needham Housing
Co-op in Halifax for 23 years,
welcomed the news.
“This announcement is really
going to make the people of all the
co-ops happy,” she said.
Brinston is one of 4,300 Nova
Scotians living in co-operative
housing.
The Province has a total sof
1,704 units, half of them in the
Halifax area.
Bernard, who is the minister of
community services, said that many
Bernard (left) was joined by MacKay and Brinston in announcing $8
million in funding for co-op housing in N.S. (Photo: Evelyn Brotherston)
SARAH KESTER
sarah.kester@ukings.ca
@S4R4HKESTER
Member of Parliament Rathika
Sitsabaiesan wants to eliminate
child poverty in Canada by passing
motion M-534 in the house.
The NDP MP for ScarboroughRouge River in the Greater Toronto
Area hopes to make good on
Parliament’s promise to support Ed
Broadbent’s 1989 motion to do the
same.
Motion
M-534
proposes
to eliminate child poverty by
addressing affordable housing
issues, affordable childcare, better
“
asking for childcare
for decades.
Megan Leslie
MP for Halifax
and NDP deputy leader
childhood nutrition and economic
security for families.
The way to do this, she says,
is through “measurable targets,”
though Sitsabaiesan also adds that
she has yet to formalize exactly what
those targets will be.
That’s why she was in Halifax
last week, kicking off a round-table
discussion series of anti-poverty
groups, grassroots organizations and
members of the community to learn
more about the issues and set targets
for motion M-534.
“I don’t want to reinvent the
wheel,” she said.
“I want to make sure we can
make the best wheel we can.”
Megan Leslie, NDP MP for
Halifax, was there and the two
women spoke to a room of about
50 people on the broader role the
federal government can take in
eliminating poverty.
The event was held at the
Johanna B. Osterveldt Centre on
Gottingen Street.
The issues discussed were:
• The erosion of federal
responsibility for income assistance
• The erosion of funding for
of these projects are showing their
age.
Last week’s announcement
marks the latest substantial
contribution to low-cost housing
that can be traced to Bernard’s 2013
ministerial appointment.
The $8 million will come out of
a $42 million sum of unused federal
contributions, which in October the
Province promised to put toward
low-cost housing.
The Province had been sitting
on more than $60 million in federal
funding that was set aside by
previous Nova Scotia governments.
When she was first appointed as
minister in 2013, Bernard promised
to spend the $60 million. She said
the practise of “saving for a rainy
day” was no longer justified.
Bernard, who spent nine years
on welfare as a single mother, has
previously spoken of her first-hand
experience of the challenge of
finding affordable housing.
She announced the Province’s
first round of spending allocations
last March, when a similar program
for repairs and upkeep of social
housing saw the Province promise to
draw $4 million from its $60-million
nest egg.
Lori Errington, a spokesperson
for Nova Scotia Community
Services, said in an email that last
affordable housing and homelessness
• A need for an affordable
childcare plan
• The erosion of old age security
and guaranteed income support
• The need to strengthen the
Canada Pension Plan
• The need for a national
pharmacare plan
• The fact that the Canada
Revenue Agency is eliminating the
role of advocacy groups
Leslie began the panel by
saying the federal government is
“downloading poverty onto the
provincial governments.”
But “poverty is a federal issue,”
she said.
Many of the issues Sitsabaiesan
is hoping to address with her motion
were discussed at the meeting.
Leslie spoke about the NDP’s
stance on childcare, making it more
affordable so women can return to
the workforce sooner.
“Women have been asking for
childcare for decades,” she said.
Her solution is to find money in
the federal budget to be passed on to
the provinces.
As the environment critic, Leslie
week’s announcement “does not
create new co-operative housing
units, but it will help preserve
existing units.”
A backlog of about 4,000 socialhousing applicants, which the
Province identified in October as the
reason for freeing up $42 million out
of the deferred federal funds, means
that simply preserving existing units
does nothing to increase availability
of co-operative housing or other
forms of social-housing.
A proposal for rent subsidies
was announced, which would
allow individuals and families to
rent homes they couldn’t otherwise
afford.
There are plans, as well, for the
private sector to be brought on
board.
Landlords who have vacant
rooms to let could partner with the
Province to see those rooms rented
to program-applicants.
The scale and timing of this
program are not yet clear.
Meanwhile, the Co-operative
Housing Federation of Canada has
identified 20,759 federally funded
co-op households, representing
51,898 low-income Canadians,
that are in danger of being lost by
2020, as federal housing agreements
support them come to an end.
“This is the most important
issue facing Canada’s co-operative
housing movement,” says the group’s
website.
Karen Brodeur, a spokesperson
for the Nova Scotia branch of the
Co-operative Housing Federation,
said in an email statement that her
group wants governments to “work
together to maintain, if not expand,
access to co-op housing for lowincome Canadians.”
“Housing co-ops do not need
taxpayers’ support for maintaining,
modernizing and repairing their
buildings, but governments need to
continue to subsidize rents for lowincome residents,” she added.
Brodeur doesn’t anticipate
that the existing federal operating
agreements will be renewed.
However, she said the federation
“is hopeful that through successful
lobbying, governments will develop
a plan to address the end of federal
operating agreements that would
include a rent supplement program
to protect Canada’s most vulnerable
people - including seniors, new
Canadians, aboriginal people and
persons with mental and physical
disabilities.”
The Province’s rent subsidies
program matches such a proposal.
Errington was unable to shed
light on when or how such a
program will be implemented.
NEWS
Designing posters for a cause
NSCAD University students tackle human rights through art
HANNA MCLEAN
hanna.mclean@hotmail.com
@hannajmclean
If posters don’t strike you as
something that belongs in an art
gallery, then this exhibit may change
your mind.
Art patrons gathered at the
Megan Leslie Community Art
Gallery last Friday to celebrate the
reintroduction of human rights
posters by NSCAD University
design students.
The posters were created in
collaboration with the Nova Scotia
Human Rights Commission.
Cyberbullying, cultural diversity,
disability issues, transgender rights,
race relations and freedom of speech
were the topics provided for the
project.
The students were assigned to
make a poster concerning their
issue.
One of those former students is
professional artist Jessica Korderas.
Korderas’ poster ”Monster”
addressed cyberbullying among
young people.
The poster is a scene showing a
young boy peering over the edge of
his sheets to glimpse the ”monster”
under his bed.
Koderas drew a laptop with a
glaring white screen beneath the
bed. The bottom text reads: “kids are
dealing with a new kind of monster.”
“I was bullied when I was a child
and it just interests me how it has
changed,” said Korderas. “I found it
quite shocking.”
Korderas said the age that
children begin cyberbullying—
starting as early as five years old—
startled her.
Korderas’ poster has the Kids
Help Phone number on it. Although
the piece is not affiliated with the
organization, the website gave her
inspiration.
The hostess of the night Megan
Leslie, Halifax’s MP and NDP
deputy leader opened the door of
her political office to the public as a
community art gallery for at least the
20th time.
She has utilized her office walls
as a public gallery since she was
elected in 2008.
“When I was elected I thought
‘well, we have walls, why don’t we
use the walls for good?’” said Leslie.
Leslie’s
cozy
two-room
Gottingen Street office was packed
with people from all demographics
at the opening of the poster gallery.
The posters varied in mediums
and techniques.
Some were completely animated,
while others used real photographs
and textures as a base for the overall
design.
Annelies
W.
Heerschop’s
poster “94 out of 100” addressed
unreported instances of sexual
assault.
The artist used a photo of her
own face and broke up the image
like a puzzle, a missing piece where
her mouth should be. In the blank
space are the words “94 out of 100
sexual assaults are never reported.”
Some posters contained uplifting
and inspirational messages with
positive imagery. Others displayed
disturbing images that addressed a
darker side of humanity.
Stephanie L. Young’s poster
“Bleeding us dry” revealed
a gruesome animated image
concerning transgender rights.
In her poster, a naked torso
stands arms open with bandages
wrapped around the chest. The
bandages have “$10,000” smeared
across them in blood. Under the
image are the words “No one’s body
NDP MPs Megan Leslie (standing) and Rathika Sitsabaiesan (right)
announce their motion to eliminate child poverty. (Photo: Sarah Kester)
said there’s funding earmarked for
oil that can be redirected to things
like childcare.
Sitsabaiesan said that childcare
in Toronto costs between $50 to $85
a day.
With a minimum wage of
$10.25, that’s more than half a day’s
wage going to childcare.
“We have a government who
is not willing to elevate the floor
everyone stands on,” she said.
“I chose the NDP because ... I
want to elevate the floor.”
Sitsabaiesan hopes that her
PAGE LAYOUT BY REBECCA HUSSMAN
motion will allow the government to
recommit to the promise they made
Broadbent 26 years ago.
She believes her motion will
pass.
She’s had two “high-level”
members of the Conservative Party
tell her – on the record – that they’re
voting yes.
In any case, it’s a difficult issue to
vote against.
“It’s stupid for the Conservatives
to say they don’t support eradicating
child poverty,” said Sitsabaiesan.
The vote is on Feb. 4.
Gallery viewer Katherine Boone. (Photo: Hanna McLean)
should put them in debt. Canada
needs public funding for transrelated surgeries.”
All of the posters included text.
Some had a few lines and others just
a few words.
A poster by Sixue Cui focused
on cultural diversity in Canada. The
words “Different Cultures, Same
Love” sent a powerful message when
placed under 20 colourful stickpeople from various backgrounds.
The figures are all unique in culture
and appearance, communicated
to the viewer by cultural dress and
symbols such as hijabs, cowboy hats,
and hockey sticks.
The posters were first unveiled
in May 2013 at a National Human
Rights Conference in Nova Scotia.
The commission and NSCAD
professor May Chung originally
collaborated to produce posters that
would start conversations in the
community, and give students an
idea of what real-life design work is
like.
“This is the type of design where
you’re bringing awareness to the
public, making people think and
encouraging people to somehow
solve a societal issue,” said Chung.
The designers were required to
carefully research and ponder what
they were going to say and how they
were going portray these difficult
issues through design.
“It’s purposeful. It’s not about
whatever the design student wants
to design,” said Chung. “Like when
you do a painting and it’s whatever
you feel like painting.”
Chung said the project ignited
a discussion among people
with different backgrounds and
experiences.
“A lot of students have never had
a chance to even talk about these
issues in this way,” said Chung.
“It allowed students from China
who have a very different sense of
human rights because their own
government is so restrictive to speak
with students who are from Canada,”
said Chung.
The posters will be up for the
next three months. Anyone is
welcome to visit Leslie’s office to
view the posters.
Chung and Leslie hope the
gallery will bring awareness to
human rights issues and also further
the artists’ careers.
“It’s great giving all these students
the exposure, but they’re freezing
from the exposure because no one’s
getting paid for it,” said Chung.
Only 14 of the original 45 posters
are on display in Leslie’s office, but
all pieces can be seen on NSCAD
University’s website.
PAGE LAYOUT BY JON BOLDUC
(Poster: Jessica Korderas)
(Poster: Stephanie L. Young)
PAGE 5
NEWS
PAGE 6
PAGE 7
NEWS
U.S.-Cuba reconciliation to boost trade
BEN COUSINS
ben_cousins@msn.com
@cousins_ben
Dalhousie
professor
John
Kirk was in Havana just four days
before the Dec. 17 announcement
of an attempt to restore diplomatic
relations between the United States
and Cuba.
He said he heard rumours
something was going on but had no
idea it would be this big. “I was quite
surprised to the extent of what had
happened.”
Dalhousie University hosted
Kirk, a professor with the
Department of Spanish and Latin
American Studies, for a special
lecture last week about the recent
agreement between Cuba and
the United States and where the
relationship goes from there.
Kirk said the events of midDecember were momentous, but
“despite the euphoria about what’s
going … there are major problems
that need to be addressed.”
Last week, American delegates
met with representatives from Cuba
in Havana to discuss immigration
policy, issues surrounding the
embassies and removing Cuba from
the list of countries the United States
believes sponsors terrorism.
John Kirk spoke to a group of 50 people about the importance of normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations. (Photo: Ben Cousins)
Cuba is one of only four countries
on this list, the others being Sudan,
Iran and Syria.
Kirk said it could still be a few
years before Americans can freely
visit the country. “This is good for
those of us who want to spend time
on the beach,” he joked.
He is the author of several
books on the issue, including A
Contemporary Cuba Reader: The
Revolution under Raul Castro and
Canada-Cuba Relations: The Other
Good Neighbour Policy.
He addressed a group of about
50 people in a lecture entitled “U.S.Cuba relations (finally) normalized:
The significance of recent events.”
On Dec. 17, U.S. President
Barack Obama announced he
would try to change the relationship
between the American and Cuban
people, the biggest advancement in
Cuba-U.S. relations in over half a
century.
“We will end an outdated
approach that, for decades, has failed
to advance our interests and instead,
we will begin to normalize relations
between our two countries,” said
Obama during a press conference
announcing the decision in midDecember.
“The tide has turned. Common
sense has prevailed,” said Kirk.
This means Cubans may soon
be allowed to travel into the United
States to see their families.
Kirk said part of the reason
relations have been re-established is
to help Obama justify his 2009 Nobel
Peace Prize, which he received upon
first being elected president.
Obama “had done nothing,”
Kirk said, especially given the long
and troubled history between Cuba
and the United States.
Kirk said there have been several
dozen assassination attempts by
the American government on Fidel
Castro and both countries have kept
political prisoners from each other.
Both see advantages from
normalizing the relationship.
Kirk said there are many U.S.
corporations dying to get into Cuba
once the embargo is lifted like fastfood chain McDonald’s, American
Express and many automotive
manufacturers.
Cuba is looking for better trade
through imports and exports, which
have been blocked by the United
States, and the obvious bonus of
having more tourists enter the
country.
A 2014 New York Times poll
says 56 per cent of Americans are
in favour of re-establishing ties with
Cuba.
Kirk says Cuban-Canadian
relations have always been great.
Canada’s Terry Fox is considered a
national hero in Cuba and upwards
of three million Cubans take part
in the annual Terry Fox run to raise
money to fight cancer.
Woman from Clayton Park had a ‘perfect view’ of assassination
MICHAEL LEE
michaeltee167@gmail.com
@mtaylorlee
When a friend asked Colleen
Ashworth if she wanted to see
Malcolm X speak at the Audubon
Ballroom in New York City, her
response was simply, “Oh sure.
That’s great.”
When she arrived, Ashworth
says she stood in the back corner of
the theatre behind the audience but
with a “perfect view of everything,”
including the stage.
“
He is a saint, a
He took bullets so
that I could live
and speak with you
today ... he died
could live and I owe
gratitude.
PAUL O’BRIEN
paul.obrien222@gmail.com
@paul_ob_
Kaitlyn Mitchell, a staff lawyer
for Ecojustice Canada, thinks
it’s time the federal government
enshrines the right to a healthy
environment.
“We should have air and water
that is safe and doesn’t pose serious
risks to our health,” she says.
As part of the Environment,
Sustainability and Society Lecture
Series at Dalhousie University,
Mitchell spoke about environmental
justice and social transformation to
a packed auditorium in the Marion
McCain Building.
Fellow
speakers
included
Dorene Bernard, a Mi’kmaq First
Nations activist, and Katie Perfitt, an
activist and community organizer in
Halifax.
Canada, the second largest
country in the world, is home to 20
per cent of the world’s fresh water, 25
per cent of the world’s wetlands and
20 per cent of the world’s remaining
wilderness.
Mitchell says Canada isn’t doing
enough to protect and promote a
healthy environment for its citizens.
As of 2013, the Centre for Global
Development ranked Canada last
among the 27 wealthiest countries
in its commitment to environmental
protection.
While 181 of 193 countries
in the United Nations recognize
their citizens’ right to a healthy
environment in their legislature,
Canada fails to enshrine this right
within its Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.
Mitchell says eight out of 10
Canadians believe the country
needs stronger laws to protect the
environment.
According to David R. Boyd, one
of Canada’s leading environmental
lawyers, 98 per cent of Canadians
view nature as essential to the
human environment.
For Mitchell, environmental
rights promote equality, protect
health and stop further attacks on
the environment.
“While it’s not a magic bullet,
a right to a healthy environment
is one tool that could improve the
situation and lead to more equitable
dispersion
of
environmental
pollution in this country,” she says.
In particular, Mitchell says
low-income and First Nations
communities are subject to
pollution from harmful industrial
Kaitlyn Mitchell (left), Dorene Bernard and Katie Perfitt
at Dalhousie University last Thursday. (Photo: Paul O’Brien)
developments.
In 2011, Sarnia, Ont., where 40
percent of Petro-Canada’s chemical
industry is located, had the worst air
quality in Canada.
Mitchell says residents in
Aamjiwnaang, a native reserve in
Sarnia, face high rates of asthma,
headaches, high blood pressure,
rashes, miscarriages, stillbirths and
other adverse health effects because
of the air pollution.
Bernard says citizens have the
PAGE LAYOUT BY MICHAEL LEE
power to change the fate of future
generations.
In June 2014, members of the
Mi’kmaq community in Pictou
County created a blockade over an
effluent spill at the Northern Pulp
Mill, which posed a threat to their
fisheries, ancient burial grounds and
health.
According to a Statistics Canada
Health Profile from January 2013,
Pictou County experienced the
highest rates of cancer in Nova
Scotia, while the province had the
highest rates of cancer incidence in
Canada.
As an organizer for David
Suzuki’s Blue Dot Movement, Perfitt
works to influence decision-makers
across Canada to recognize citizens’
inherent right to live in a healthy
environment.
Perfitt says the basic right to
clean air, safe drinking water and
healthy ecosystems do not serve the
best interests of the few government
officials in control.
She says the government needs
to be held accountable for the
environmental battles Canada faces,
such as fracking, pipelines and toxic
ponds.
Since October 2014, 11
municipalities across the country
have signed declarations supporting
the right to a healthy environment.
Perfitt says this was accomplished
by mobilizing community members
and ordinary citizens pressuring
government officials.
She urges young people
especially to contact and pressure
their local municipal politicians to
implement this declaration.
“A democratic, equitable present
and future won’t build itself. We
have to do it.”
Afua Cooper
James Robinson Johnston Chair
She remembers seeing the civil
rights leader walk onto the stage
almost 50 years ago.
Barely through his speech,
Malcolm was heard saying, “Hold it!
Hold it! Don’t get excited. Let’s cool
it, brothers.”
Within minutes, Ashworth heard
gunfire and Malcolm X was dead.
The date was Feb. 21, 1965 and
Ashworth, a Halifax native who
was working with troubled youth
in Harlem, had witnessed a turning
point in history.
“I was petrified, of course. I
mean, I’ve never heard a gunshot in
my life.”
She stayed frozen in her corner
as people from the audience stood
up and screamed.
“I was shaken and I was also
confused about why anybody would
want to kill him.”
As the 50th anniversary
of Malcolm X’s assassination
approaches,
Ashworth
lies
comfortably on a couch in her
Clayton Park West home and recalls
the events of that day.
She has short blonde hair and
due to an encounter with black ice a
few years ago, she now walks with a
slight hunch.
Ashworth has told a few people
her story but says it just hasn’t come
up in conversation much. “For me,
it sounds stupid, but it’s what I did
that day. I’ve had many experiences
in my life and that was one of them.”
Four people were believed to be
involved in the assassination, but
only Talmadge Hayer, also known as
Thomas Hagan, was convicted with
murder and received a life sentence
but was freed on parole in 2010.
Two other men were also
convicted in the killing and while
both maintain their innocence, they
were released in 1985 and 1987,
respectively.
Born Malcolm Little, he dropped
his last name in favour of X, calling
it a renunciation of his slave name.
Growing up, Malcolm X lived a
troubled life when his family home
in Michigan was set on fire followed
by the death of his father. Although
deemed a suicide, it was most likely
the work of white supremacists.
The death of her husband was
too much for Malcolm’s mother to
handle and she was sent to a mental
institution in 1937.
In school, Malcolm X excelled
and wanted to become a lawyer but
dropped out of high school at 15
when a teacher told him it was not a
realistic goal for a black person.
Before becoming a prominent
leader in the civil rights movement,
Malcolm X served seven years in
prison for burglary and studied
under the group Nation of Islam.
Known as a passionate, wellread and inspirational speaker,
he eventually left the group and
travelled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia,
home to one of Islam’s holiest sites.
It was from there Malcolm X
believed the civil rights movement
should adopt a more socialist view
while expanding globally to include
the struggles of not just the black
community but of other countries
as well.
El Jones, a peace activist and
Halifax’s poet laureate, says, “People
connect to his message of hope. Of
getting out of prison and making
something with your life.”
Isaac Saney, a professor in
the Transition Year Program at
Dalhousie University, says Malcolm
X believed the roots of racism extend
beyond the individual and into
economics and politics, serving as
an inspiration for a whole generation
Ashworth looks at photos from her time in Ghana, where she taught at a school for two years.
A photo of a young Colleen Ashworth taken at the end of the
Second World War. (Photo: Michael Lee)
of youth to become politically active.
Malcolm X, whose militant
beliefs labeled him as more radical,
is often placed opposite to Martin
Luther King, an advocate for
peaceful resolution.
However, Saney says by the end
of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, his
views matched those of Malcolm X,
including his critique of capitalism.
Afua Cooper, James Robinson
Johnston Chair in Black Canadian
Studies at Dalhousie University, calls
Malcolm X a prophet, as someone
“so uncompromising in his true
stance.”
“He is a saint, a martyr. He is my
brother, my father. He took bullets
so that I could live and speak with
you today … he died so people like
me could live and I owe him a great
debt of gratitude.”
For Ashworth, even though
many people are surprised by her
story, she sees it as simply another
experience in her life.
However, she is skeptical about
the police’s intentions on the day
Malcolm X was killed. “I don’t
think it was genuine if they wanted
to protect Malcolm. I think they
wanted him gone.”
PAGE LAYOUT BY JULIA MANOUKIAN
Born and raised in Halifax,
Ashworth decided to move to New
York after spending a year in Paris
on a scholarship. “I had no job. I
didn’t know anybody. But I’m glad I
did,” she says.
“It just opened my eyes to so
many exciting people… just finding
a world out there I didn’t know
existed.”
She moved to New York in 1957
and found a job with a church group
in East Harlem working with kids
and teenagers involved with gangs
and drugs; some were homeless and
not in school.
After the assassination of
Malcolm X, Ashworth moved to
Africa where she spent two years in
Ghana working at a school.
She became a teacher when she
returned to Canada and raised her
family in Ottawa for 20 years.
She moved back to Halifax in
1994 but continued to travel all over
the world to places like Morocco and
Russia.
“I’m very grateful I was able to
do all the things I was able to do and
I had the courage to do them …. I’ve
been very adventurous.”
NEWS
PAGE 8
PAGE 9
NEWS
Pier 21 museum helps immigrants study for citizenship test
MICHAEL LEE
michaeltlee167@gmail.com
@mtaylorlee
Over at Pier 21, a game of
“Jeopardy!” is under way as a
student chooses rebellions and wars
for $800.
“During World War I,” it reads
on the projector, “Canadian troops
captured this area in France in
April 1917, securing the Canadians’
reputation for valour as ‘the shock
troops of the British empire.’”
Another student slams a hand on
the table and answers, “Vimy Ridge.”
Correct.
These students aren’t learning
Canada’s history because they are
Canadian but rather to become
Canadian.
Organizations in Halifax are
offering courses to help immigrants
prepare for the Canadian citizenship
test, which has been made more
difficult by added content and new
language requirements.
The Canadian Museum of
Immigration at Pier 21, with seven
students currently enrolled, first
offered a citizenship test preparation
course in 2012.
The free classes derive their
content from the “Discover Canada”
study guide, offered by Citizenship
and Immigration Canada, as the
primary resource for the test.
Required topics include knowing
certain details from Canada’s history,
including which province first
allowed women to vote, and details
of federal elections, such as how
members of Parliament are chosen.
“
that will change their
citizenship.
Elisabeth Tower
Course instructor
Canadian Museum of Immigration
at Pier 21
Other topics covered in class
include Canadian symbols like the
maple leaf, Canada’s trade economy
and the capitals of Canada’s 10
provinces and three territories.
Elisabeth Tower, education
manager at the museum and course
instructor, believes making the class
fun and interactive with games such
as “Jeopardy!” is more effective than
sitting and reading, or listening to
the “Discover Canada” audiobook.
“I think that’s why a lot of people
like the course … it sets aside time
Some members of the Entrepreneurship Action Team, from left: Tonya Darlington, Moses Robicheau, Kathleen Heymans, Nick Murray, Brent MacKinnon. (Photos: Deborah Oomen)
Cheers to entrepreneurs
DEBORAH OOMEN
Course instructor Elisabeth Tower outlines Canada’s diverse history to her students. (Photo: Michael Lee)
that’s dedicated for (studying) and it
can help to bring it alive in a more
human way.”
The
Immigrant
Services
Association of Nova Scotia, an
organization helping immigrants
settle into Canadian life through
services like English language
classes and employment counseling,
offers a course similar to the one at
Pier 21 as they both use the same
study guide.
Jayne Geldart, manager of
community, language and skills,
says the test is much harder now
than it was before as more content,
particularly Canadian history, has
been added.
In the previous study guide
published in 1995, “A Look at
Canada,” there is no mention of the
First or Second World Wars, women’s
voting rights, Remembrance Day,
residential schools, the War of 1812,
Louis Riel or Canadian artists.
All of these topics and more are
covered in the 2011 guide, “Discover
Canada,” along with more content
on Aboriginal Peoples, the Acadians
and Chinese railroad workers.
In Bill C-24, which received royal
assent on June 19, 2014, immigrants
must now demonstrate “an adequate
knowledge of one of the official
languages of Canada.”
Citizenship and Immigration
Canada defines this as having the
equivalent of a level four, out of
a possible 12, for speaking and
listening using the Centre for
Canadian Language Benchmarks,
the national standard for language
proficiency of adult and prospective
immigrants.
Although Geldart says this is
a low to intermediate level, there
are no stipulations for reading
and writing, meaning someone
preparing for the test may be able to
explain verbally what they know but
may not do as well because they have
difficulty reading.
To pass the test, a score of at least
15 out of 20 is required.
Ghazi Jarrar, a masters student
in history at Dalhousie University,
moved to Canada from Jordan in
2008 and earned his citizenship in
2013.
As a history student, Jarrar
covered much of the material in
school and says the test wasn’t hard
for him.
However, he says the test
should not be made more difficult,
especially if someone has met the
legal requirements for residency of
at least three years.
Tower says the course aims to
help immigrants deal with the stress
of taking the test.
“It’s a very important test. It’s
something that will change their
citizenship, so it’s very meaningful
and very important in terms of their
status,” she says. “So a lot of pressure
ends up being put on it.”
More than 260,000 people
became citizens in 2014, Citizenship
and Immigration Canada reports,
more than any year in Canada’s
history.
Tower says the most rewarding
thing, for her, is being involved in a
“life-changing process.”
“It really is a place of privilege
for me … to be able to look at and
understand your own country, too,
by hearing about the stories and
experiences of others who are just
making this decision.”
PAGE LAYOUT BY KELLY O’CONNOR
Test Yourself:
“Discover Canada”
storyguide
Identify four rights that Canadians enjoy.
Who are the Métis?
What is the significance of the discovery of insulin by
Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best?
What is the highest honour that Canadians can receive?
In Canada, are you allowed to question the police about
their service or conduct?
Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine?
In Canada, are you obliged to tell other people how you
voted?
When you go to vote on Election Day, what do you do?
Who is your member of Parliament?
What provinces are referred to as the Atlantic
provinces?
deborahoomen@gmail.com
@deborahoomen
Students and young professionals
are building their careers over a few
cold ones.
The entrepreneurship action
team at Fusion Halifax, a non-profit
organization, holds monthly events
to create conversation and build a
community of like-minded people.
Business Over Beers was the
action team’s seventh event and with
75 people, they reached capacity at
Garrison Brewing Co. on Marginal
Road last week.
Many who attend already have
businesses set up, while others are
in the early stages and come to get
inspired.
Megan McCarthy is finishing
her degree at Dalhousie University
in management with a major in
environment, sustainability and
society.
She says that “networking is
Want to get
involved with
Fusion Halifax?
Fusion Halifax has a
number of action teams
to choose from:
• Arts and Culture
• Entrepreneurship
• Health and Wellness
• Immigration and Diversity
• People Factor
• Sustainability
• Urban Development
fusionhalifax.ca
@FusionHalifax
everything” in a small city like
Halifax.
McCarthy owns two small
technology companies: DraftCam,
a tool able to detect energy leaks
with a camera, and The Efficiency
Store, a consulting company to help
homeowners cut down their energy
consumption.
She’s also president of the
Dalhousie CryptoCurrency Club,
making her Halifax’s self-proclaimed
“Bitcoin girl.”
McCarthy uses these gatherings
to explain Bitcoin machines. The
machine is like an ATM but for
Bitcoin, which is a method of
payment used online instead of
traditional money.
Dalhousie University recently
had one installed thanks to contacts
she made through one of these
gatherings.
She thinks it’s really important
for students to attend these events to
build up their names and transition
into a career.
“There’s so many formal business
events where you have to wear suits
and there are lots of old men,” said
McCarthy. She recalled times when
she was laughed at for calling herself
CEO of her two businesses.
“But Fusion really nails our
demographic where it’s all young
people, bringing them together in
areas where we feel comfortable and
really making it inclusive.”
She thinks it’s a great resource
because it costs nothing to get
involved – she didn’t even have to
pay for her first beer.
Garrison Brewing Co. allows the
team to use the space for free and
supplies the first round of drinks.
Owner Brian Titus enjoys hosting
a community of entrepreneurs
because he’s an entrepreneur
himself.
“Enjoy each other’s company,
make connections and have fun. It’s
all about having fun,” said Titus.
When McCarthy first started
coming to these events she didn’t
know anyone, but estimates she now
knows more than 75 per cent of the
people there.
She’s from Calgary, and says
friends there thought she was “nuts”
to stay in Halifax after school and
start her businesses in the city. She
believes that with events like these,
it’s easy to network yourself.
“I show up to these things and I
get business and positions offered to
me, all kinds of stuff. You just never
know what’s going to happen.”
Host Tonya Darlington said their
focus is bringing together young
professionals anywhere from 18 to
45, but the majority of attendees are
in their twenties.
She thinks these events are
valuable for students because it
could potentially lead to a job.
“You’re in a room with a whole
bunch of entrepreneurs starting
companies that are looking for
employees.”
The team events also invite
local business owners to share their
stories. Lil MacPherson from the
Wooden Monkey and Diandra
Phipps from enVie talked about the
pleasures and struggles of starting
their own restaurants.
Darlington chose these speakers
because she felt it was important for
inspirational women in business to
have a voice.
At past events the speakers had
been predominantly men.
Organizer Moses Robicheau said
that, in Atlantic Canada, it’s easy to
make connections.
“It comes back to the one degree
of separation in Nova Scotia. You
never know who’s in the room,” said
Robicheau.
“I think it definitely gives (recent
graduates) an opportunity to get
involved if they do stick around and
that can lead to more things further
down the road.”
Adam Hayter, chair of Fusion
Halifax, said there’s a lot of excitement
around the entrepreneurship action
team, the newest of seven teams.
The teams cover a wide range
of interests including arts and
culture, urban development and
sustainability.
This year entrepreneurship
team is focusing on partnering with
Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s, Mount
Saint Vincent and the Nova Scotia
Community College.
“I really feel that the postsecondary institutes have an
important role to play to help
commercialize
entrepreneurial
ideas and match that up with the
marketplace,” said Hayter.
“My big thing is we need to do
a better job of not just attracting the
minds but maintaining these minds.
It’s really identifying each other’s
strengths, shared vision and building
towards that. It’s happening.”
Diandra Phipps, chef and owner of enVie, talks about how she started her business through her passion for eating vegan.
PAGE LAYOUT BY KELLY O’CONNOR
NEWS
PAGE 10
PAGE 11
FOCUS: HEALTH
How to cure a hangover
JON BOLDUC
@boldasaduck
We’ve all been there: the
pounding headache, the slight
queasiness
the
unrelenting
brightness of any and all lights. Yup,
congrats, it’s a hangover.
There are quite a few hangover
remedies floating around the
Internet: Sprite, chugging water
and the ever-popular solution, a few
Bloody Marys around brunchtime.
It can be hard to figure out what
will work and what’s a sham.
Dr. Colin McLeod, a naturopathic
doctor in Upper Tantallon whose
practice encompasses natural,
traditional remedies and modern
research-based medicine, says one
remedy is obvious.
“Although it might not be the
most sexy answer,” he says, the key
is “trying to control the amount
you’re taking in, and preventing the
hangover from happening in the
first place.”
McLeod recommends the classic
“one water for each drink” strategy,
and sticking to one kind of drink.
McLeod doubts some of the
research and theories surrounding
hangover cures, and says it’s a grey
area.
A recent Chinese study tested
the effectiveness of Korean ginseng
and red ginseng, two roots with
medicinal effects. They were found
to help alleviate the pain of a
hangover.
“That is something that has a
positive effect,” McLeod says.
“But other than that, there’s not
really a lot.”
Chris Baldwin, a fourth year early
modern studies and history student
at Dal, usually fills his stomach with
soda crackers the night before.
Food helps to break down
alcohol, and makes the morning a
little bit better.
“Blue Gatorade is key,” he adds.
“It gets the electrolytes going.”
Some “remedies” make a
hangover victim feel worse.
Caffeine is a big culprit. Caffeine
dehydrates and to come out on top
in the hangover game, hydration is
key.
“One of the big reasons you
feel sick when you’re hungover is
dehydration,” McLeod says. “The
caffeine adds onto that.”
A
potentially
dangerous
combination after a night of
The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market looking rather empty on a Sunday afternoon. (Photos: Paul O’Brien)
PAUL O’BRIEN
paul.obrien222@gmail.com
@paul_ob_
With more than 250 vendors
selling local products, the Halifax
Seaport Farmers’ Market may be
one of the city’s most lively spots on
a Saturday morning.
But some vendors are frustrated
with the lack of customers they see
on other days of the week.
“I find that a lot of people in
Halifax don’t even know there’s a
market here,” says Stella Thomas,
who sells Antiguan cuisine.
From Friday to Sunday she’s
been selling food, such as jerk
chicken and curried goat, since the
market’s new waterfront building
opened in 2010.
“You’ll find it slows down this
time every year, but it seems to be a
bit slower than usual,” she says.
Thomas thinks the market’s
operators could do more to make
Haligonians aware the venue is open
Tuesday to Sunday every week.
“I think with a promotional
scheme for students, maybe we could
get them to come to the market on a
regular basis,” says Thomas.
“That’s a whole lot of people,” she
adds.
Barbara Mulrooney, who helps
run Julien’s Pastries, sells baked
goods every weekend.
She says she spent most of her
time reading the newspaper last
Sunday.
She describes Fridays as “the
pits.”
Bill Wood, also known as “The
Lamb Man,” says more vendors
should work multiple days during
the week, other than Saturdays.
For him, this could help attract
more customers.
“The market’s success boils
down to more marketing and more
vendors that won’t cherry-pick and
just come in on Saturdays.”
Lane Farguson, communications
advisor for the Halifax Port
Authority, says the executive staff is
open to any sort of idea or promotion
vendors may have that would drive
people to the market more often.
Prior to the market’s move to its
waterfront location, it was located
at the Alexander Keith’s Brewery
Building on Lower Water Street.
Mulrooney says that back then,
she was happier with the sense of
community and the customers that
the location attracted.
“At the old market, I used to
have a line up every Saturday at 6:30
a.m. Because of the building, it had
camaraderie. It’s totally different
from this one.”
In the spring of 2012, the
Nova Scotia Farmers’ Market
Development Cooperative and the
City Market of Halifax Cooperative
Ltd. were facing $9 million in debt
from construction.
They decided to hand their lease
over to the Halifax Port Authority.
Since then, Mulrooney says
business became worse for her and
some other vendors.
Last June, the authority said it
planned to spend $2.7 million to
renovate the market over the next
three years.
Mulrooney says the Halifax Port
Authority should invest more money
in promotions and marketing, rather
than renovations.
“We didn’t necessarily focus
on renovations for the sake of
renovating,” says Julie Chiasson, the
market’s executive director.
“For the most part, it was that
the customer experience was not
pleasant and we knew that because
our customers told us so.”
Like
Thomas,
Mulrooney
suggests creating special deals for
university students.
“Every
September,
when
university starts, they should have
a special for students that won’t cost
the mangers anything.”
“Students
have
money,”
Mulrooney adds.
“Things like that don’t take a lot
of brainpower,” she adds.
Farguson says vendors are
more than welcome to engage in
marketing strategies.
“Julie (Chiasson)’s door is
always open… Anybody who has
an idea is more than encouraged to
bring it forward and open up that
discussion,” he says.
Chiasson says it’s more strategic
when the market staff and vendors
are working together for a common
purpose.
“We’re uniquely set up with our
website that gets really great traffic
and our own social media,” she says.
“(The market’s executive staff
and vendors) cross-promote each
other and it works best for both to be
kind of going at the same time. We
really prefer that partnership role.”
She says the market’s website lists
each vendor, including links to their
personal websites where customers
can find more information about
their businesses.
“We
certainly
encourage
vendors to get involved in those free
platforms like social media because
the reality is nobody is going to
do a better job of promoting their
business than they will,” says
Farguson.
“We’re more than happy to take
their material and retweet it through
our channels as well.”
Barbara Mulrooney has been a vendor for 28 years.
PAGE LAYOUT BY EVELYN BROTHERSTON
One sure way to beat a hangover is to drink less. (Photo: Jon Bolduc)
PAGE LAYOUT BY PAUL O’BRIEN
drinking is Tylenol.
The pain reliever is the leading
cause of liver failure in the U.S., and
can wreak havoc on the liver when
combined with alcohol, even in
relatively small doses.
Ibuprofen, however, doesn’t have
the same effect.
In terms of recovery, McLeod
had a few other tips.
He recommends “a little bit of
light exercise” and a trip to the gym.
In the world of hangovers, feeling
sorry for yourself only makes it
worse.
Laziness isn’t all that bad.
Mike Tucker, a third year
contemporary studies major at
King’s, usually lies in bed and makes
a large breakfast.
“Usually, I make two eggs,
some toast with cheese, and I curl
up on the couch next to a bottle of
Gatorade.”
Tucker also says that Gatorade is
“God’s elixir.”
For those with the money and
time to spare, intravenous hydration,
under the care of a doctor, is also an
option.
Intravenous hydration injects
fluids directly into the veins, and
although McLeod has never treated
a hung over patient in his practice,
he has used the method on people
who were feeling under the weather.
In Las Vegas a private company,
Hangover Heaven, treats those who
can afford it to a private spa room,
vitamins and an IV full of fluid.
Most of us, though, pay for
debauchery by waiting for a
hangover to run its course.
Well, cheers to that.
PAGES 12 & 13
PHOTO ESSAY
“Bondage bears” for sale at the B.A.R.E. Restraints booth, at the Everything To Do With Sex Show at the Cunard Centre. (Photo: Peyton)
Venus Envy has a vibrator for everybody at their stall at the Sex Show. (Photo: Collins Lipsett)
Hali-sexxx
LEAH COLLINS LIPSETT
leahgcl@gmail.com
@leahgcl
Trish West from Unleashed Fitness and Dance shows the
audience how to do a “chair dance” (Photo: Collins Lipsett)
A model walks in Saturday’s Latex, Leather and Lace fashion
show, directed by Styles International. (Photo: Peyton)
GABBY PEYTON
gabbypeyton@outlook.com
@gabpeyton
Strap on your strap-ons and lace up your leather.
For the seventh year in a row, the Everything To Do With Sex Show heated up Halifax last weekend. Exhibitors filled
the Cunard Centre with boobs, bondage and bunnies (the vibrating kind) for three days. Events at the show included
everything from seminars on anal pleasure, to a contest to see who could fake the best orgasm.
Models parade for the crowd at the Latex, Leather
and Lace fashion show on Saturday. (Photo: Peyton)
An exhibitor for Suzie’s Playroom introduces the
audience to sensory deprivation. (Photo: Peyton)
Lesley Neily talks tassles - nipple tassles - at the Kay Licious booth. (Photo: Collins Lipsett)
You N Me offers a dazzling display of glass dildos. (Photo: Collins Lipsett)
PAGE LAYOUT BY GABBY PEYTON AND LEAH COLLINS LIPSETT
Manager Heather Chamberlin from Venus Envy demonstrates the “PicoBong Transformer,” a flexible vibrator. (Photo: Peyton)
FOCUS: HEALTH
PAGE 14
Demand for service ‘far exceeds’ number who are available
KELLY O’CONNOR
kellyoconnor@dal.ca
@kelly_anneo
When Nicole Eddy was pregnant
with her son, she knew she wanted
to use a midwife.
What she didn’t know was how
difficult it would be – there is a
shortage of midwives in Nova Scotia.
A trained nurse, Eddy first
learned about midwifery from one
of her professors.
Since having her son, Eddy has
become chair of the Midwifery
Coalition of Nova Scotia.
“The more research that I had
done, and the more people that I had
talked to, I just said, ‘you know what,
this is definitely the best option, and
that’s what I wanted for myself and
“
You could only bang
your head against
that was positive.
Dawn Hare
Chair
my family.’”
To be licensed in Nova Scotia,
midwives must complete a four-year
baccalaureate program in midwifery,
and write a national licensing exam.
The Midwifery Regulatory
Council of Nova Scotia regulates the
profession.
Anne Jackman, registrar of the
council, says midwives do pre-natal
care and screenings, deliver the baby
and offer care for at least six weeks
after the baby is born.
“They’re doing everything that
your family doctor or obstetrician
would be doing. It’s just a different
kind of maternity care provider.”
But getting midwifery care was
difficult. Eddy was put on a waiting
list at the IWK Health Centre
in Halifax, and no midwife was
available during her pregnancy and
birth.
“If you talk to the clinics,
and certainly the IWK clinic, the
demand for midwives far exceeds
the number (available)… so there’s
obviously a need,” says Jackman.
She says there are only nine
practicing midwives in the province.
The province’s introduction of
the Midwifery Act in 2009 brought
regulations to midwifery. Under
the act, midwifery services became
covered by health insurance,
whereas previously, a woman
accessing midwifery services paid
out of pocket.
Midwives are also allowed to
work out of hospitals, and not just
do home births and work out of
small clinics.
Only three sites in the province
offer midwifery services: the IWK
Health Centre, St. Martha’s Hospital
in Antigonish and Fishermen’s
Memorial Hospital in Lunenburg.
This means some areas have lost
access to midwifery care since the
2009 regulations came into effect.
“There’s a need for midwives in
those under-serviced areas as well,”
says Jackman.
If a midwife were to work as
a private practitioner, outside of
the three sites, they would have to
pay their own professional liability
insurance, and these costs run so
high this is likely unrealistic, she
adds.
The Annapolis Valley is one
of the areas that lost access to
midwifery care. Dawn Hare, chair of
Valley Families for Midwifery, says
there hasn’t been much progress in
the six years since legislation has
passed.
She notes that the one hope is
the upcoming amalgamation of
the provincial health authorities on
April 1.
For the Valley, since they will be
in the same district as South Shore,
which currently has midwifery
services, this could open up access.
But a representative from the
Department of Health and Wellness
says the establishment of the Nova
Scotia Health Authority “will not
impact access to midwifery services.”
The Midwifery Coalition of
Nova Scotia lobbies for access to
midwifery services in Nova Scotia.
Eddy says the coalition meets
with the health minister once a
year to advocate for better access to
midwifery services.
She says movement has been
slow, but the coalition remains
hopeful.
“We’ll carry on, keep pushing …
being a pain to them.”
Eddy does note that it seems
people better understand midwifery
care.
She says that a lot of people just
don’t know about midwifery, since it
hasn’t been a predominant practice
in the last 50 to 60 years.
“I think more people are coming
around, doing more research,
women are being more independent
about finding out their options and
exploring new ideas.”
With a lack of midwife access,
Eddy says that in her experience,
more mothers are looking into the
option of using a doula at their
hospital births, for additional
support.
Doulas aren’t a substitute for a
midwife, or other medical staff, as
they don’t have the same training
and education.
A doula plays the role of a
consistent caregiver throughout the
pregnancy and delivery process.
Hare, along with a group from
her community, became a certified
doula out of frustration of the lack
of midwife access in the community.
She says this helps bridge the gap.
“You could only bang your head
against the wall so many times and
then we had to do something that
was positive.”
Program advisor
Retired chef
Student
The IWK Health Centre in Halifax. (Photo: Kelly O’Connor)
PAGE 15
FOCUS: HEALTH
Tigers roar
health
BEN COUSINS
ben_cousins@msn.com
@cousins_ben
The Dalhousie Tigers’ basketball
teams played host to Make Some
Noise night, an initiative designed to
raise awareness about mental health.
The men’s and women’s
basketball teams faced off against
the Memorial University Sea-Hawks
in a pair of games on Saturday night.
A portion of the proceeds from
the two games will support mental
health initiatives.
“We don’t really have a (goal),
we just want to raise awareness
this year rather than raising funds,”
said Robbi Daley, a fifth-year health
promotions student.
She’s a member of the women’s
team and decided to organize the
A crowd of more than 500 attended
Make Some Noise night in the Dalpex.
The women played the earlier of the two games on Make Some Noise
night. Dalhousie lost a close one 66-65. (Photos: Ben Cousins)
event after she lost one of her friends
to suicide last year.
“It made me really aware of the
issue, mental health and suicide. It
made me want to do something.”
They decided to host this event
in a game against Memorial because
that team also lost someone to
suicide in the last year.
Jacob Ranton, a member of the
men’s team was originally from
Waterloo, Ont.
He took his life over the
Christmas holidays back in his
hometown.
Liz McLaughlin, who lost her
son, Alex, to suicide just two weeks
before he was set to graduate, spoke
during the half-time break in the
men’s game.
“I am certainly aware of the
stresses you face as athletes,” said
McLaughlin, whose son played
on the basketball team for Acadia
University.
She said that mental health issues
are too often overlooked because
student-athletes do not want to miss
playing time.
“We need to make it as normal
to tell your coach your feelings of
depression as it is to say you have
back spasms and leg cramps,” she
said.
Spectators were given balloons
and a pin for popping during halftime, to “make some noise” for
mental health.
According to the Canadian
Mental Health Association, suicide
is the second-leading cause of death
among people between the ages of
10 and 24.
The Lawtons Drugs chain
sponsored the event and distributed
business cards with the phone
number for the Mental Health
Mobile Crises Team.
“For us it was very important,
not just because it was basketball
but the fact that they were doing it
for mental health awareness, so we
wanted to be a part of it,“ said Janane
Chater, director of marketing and
communications for Lawtons.
The Dalhousie men’s team took
a resounding 94-66 win, while the
women lost a nail-biter, 66-65.
Professor
Unemployed
Dietician
“I might notice something
about me and wonder about
I was trans.”
Need help?
Pick up the
phone
Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team
hotline: 1 (800) 429-8167.
The hotline is a confidential
service that allows people to call
in and speak to a mental health
counsellor about any issues they
are facing.
They offer short term crisis
management and intervention for
children, youth and adults.
STREET LEVEL
Student
sure.”
Library patron
“I used to. I don’t any more.”
a lot for my answers. Or at least
an answer.”
to be careful of what your
source is.”
PAGE LAYOUT BY SARAH KESTER
Physician
“Usually I go to my own doctor.
Because someone said the
physician who treats himself
has a fool for a patient.”
“No. I don’t. I think I know myself
need to look that up.”
shit ... and then I’ll take that
information to my physician.”
PAGE LAYOUT BY SARAH KESTER
“I would say a strong no. I don’t
self-diagnose. I’m a little bit too
skeptical to believe anything
online.”
FOCUS: HEALTH
PAGE 16
FOCUS: HEALTH
PAGE 17
Hot yoga: healing or health risk?
Setting the record straight about getting your sweat on
REBECCA HUSSMAN
hussman.rebecca@gmail.com
@hussmanr
Rumours about hot yoga being
bad for your health have been
circulating ever since a few years ago
when it became a trendy way to stay
fit.
For those who have never tried
hot yoga, it is practicing a series
of yoga exercises, or postures,
in a heated room. The practice
originated in ancient India and the
general hot yoga style is credited to
Bikram Choudhury.
Katie Whitlock, a 23-year-old
from Fall River, N.S., is training
to become a hot yoga instructor.
She says that outside of India,
contemporary hot yoga studios
add that element of external heat
to mimic “what it would be like to
practice there,” in the climate the
practice originated in.
“I like the heat,” says Whitlock.
“With the added heat and the added
sweat, you feel it so much more.”
If you’ve never been to a class,
it can be hard to understand
what motivates devoted yogis like
Whitlock to exercise daily in rooms
with climbing temperatures and
humidity that averages around 40
degrees Celsius.
Many strangers to the practice
are skeptical of it, expressing concern
that exercising in such extreme heat
is bad for your health.
Dr. Kenneth Melvin, a
cardiologist at Sunnybrook Hospital
in Toronto, sets the record straight.
He says that the yoga poses
Katie Whitlock in lotus pose.
William Davis, left, Jeremy Seifert and Paul MacInnis discuss their documentary plans at Spatz Theatre. (Photos: Deborah Oomen)
Visualizing 50 shades of grain
DEBORAH OOMEN
deborahoomen@gmail.com
@deborahoomen
Mariel Duarte and Katie Whitlock, instructors-in-training at Shanti Hot Yoga Bedford, practice a variation of
their favourite yoga posture, the supported headstand (salamba sirsasana). (Photos: Rebecca Hussman)
`themselves present no health risks
to the average person.
Rather, it is the heat that can be
dangerous for certain individuals
who, because of their health
conditions, need to avoid activity
that causes a rise in blood pressure
or heart rate.
“I personally caution my patients
with active or recent cardiovascular
disease to avoid saunas, so I would
expand that to include hot yoga,” he
says.
In addition to those with preexisting heart conditions, people
over 50 years old and women who
are pregnant should check with their
doctors before trying hot yoga.
It is important to remember
that in any hot environment there
is always the danger of becoming
dehydrated or coming down with
heat-stroke, which can be identified
in the early stages with symptoms
of dizziness, nausea or lightheadedness. The remedy would be
to take a break from the practice
and drink plenty of fluids, advises
Melvin.
Andrew Murray, an instructor
at Shanti Hot Yoga Bedford, says
the heat helps newcomers “ease into
the postures” by heating up their
muscles and increasing their range
of motion.
“If you’re working with
rheumatoid arthritis or any chronic
pain, you can actually learn the
postures and explore the depths of
them without having to compromise
that.”
Kelly Donald, a registered
massage therapist and hot yoga
instructor in Halifax, advises those
who are interested to become
informed before trying the practice.
For Donald, the only thing a
newcomer in average shape needs to
worry about is getting enough water,
especially beforehand. She advises
newcomers to start drinking extra
water as early as two days before
trying a class.
“
PAGE LAYOUT BY DEBORAH OOMEN
With the added heat
and the added sweat,
Katie Whitlock
Hot yoga instructor-in-training
Murray agrees and says that
hydrating before practicing hot yoga
is even more important than rehydrating during and after.
Both Donald and Murray
warn that since the heat warms
up one’s muscles quickly and one
may experience an increase in
flexibility, beginners can get ahead
of themselves and push their bodies
too far. In order to avoid injury, they
both advise being mindful and going
at a slow pace. They also encourage
consulting with the instructor for
guidance when wanting to go deeper
into a pose.
One rumour that many hot yoga
enthusiasts are guilty of believing
to be true is the claim that sweating
releases toxins from the body.
However, Melvin says that most
medical scientists “do not believe
in the concept at all as a scientific
possibility or as a health benefit
recommendation.”
“Basically,” he says of hot yoga,
“it’s just a good sweat.”
Specific kinds of postures, such
as twists, stimulate the internal
organs and helps to speed up inner
processes like metabolism, says
Murray. He says he does not believe
in the concept of detoxification
through sweat.
“A lot of our detoxification
comes from the postures keeping
our body clean, so that we can
excrete things through our breath.
Actually … breathing is the biggest
form of detoxification.”
Murray points out that
evolutionarily speaking, there is
something that sweat does for us
after all.
“Once you start sweating, the
sweat evaporates and it also stays on
the surface of your skin to help keep
cool.”
With their new film, Dr. William
Davis and director Jeremy Seifert
want to inspire you to take back your
health.
This unlikely duo is working
on a new documentary about the
health effects of consuming wheat
and grain products.
“I do eat bread … soft and
squishy … butter on top,” Seifert
admitted. “I say all that to say that
I’m coming at this as a bit of an
outsider.”
Davis, author of Wheat Belly,
and Seifert, director of GMO OMG
– a documentary on genetically
modified organisms in our food (see
page 21 for film review) – are in the
planning stages of a new film, with
the working title 50 Shades of Grain.
The kick-off for the project was held
Sunday night at Spatz Theatre on
Trollope Street.
Davis and Seifert want to go back
to the roots of grain consumption
and explain exactly what it does to
our health. They first met in Canada
when Seifert was at a showing of
GMO OMG, and Davis felt that the
audience in Halifax would be the
perfect environment to unveil their
plans for the future.
Davis’ Wheat Belly has changed
the way many think about the
effects of having grains in their diet.
In the book, he suggests that the
consumption of wheat can cause and
worsen a number of both physical
and mental health problems such
as arthritis, acid reflux, asthma and
schizophrenia.
Seifert is coming into this project
with a different point of view and is
reluctant to give up grains.
“I truly love beer,” he said.
“You’re going to have to fight
really, really hard to wrestle that IPA
(India pale ale) out of my hand.”
The filmmaker read the bestseller
and wants go on this journey to
see for himself the health effects
of wheat and the connection to
growing obesity and Type 2 diabetes
in North America.
The Canadian Obesity Network
reports one in four adult Canadians
and one in 10 children have clinical
obesity. Type 2 diabetes is one of the
fastest growing diseases with more
than 60,000 cases per year, according
to the Government of Canada.
Davis said he already has a big “I
told you so” ready.
Though the book is already a
bestseller, the documentary should
reach a broader audience.
“Art does a great job, if it’s good
art, of helping us see something that
you might look at every day but see
it with new eyes,” said Seifert.
“I think it would be a success
if just at the end of the film people
started seeing and looking at the
food they’re eating, especially that
bottom base (of the food pyramid)
in a whole new way.”
“
You’re going to have
hard to wrestle that
IPA (India pale ale)
revelation.
She admires Davis for fighting
the medical profession.
“They mean well, but they’ve
been taught absolute bullshit,” said
MacLeod.
Paul MacInnis of Autopoetic
Ideas, the organization that ran
the event and is involved with the
filmmaking, said he just wants
people to be empowered by their
own health and hopes “people just
begin to trust their own bodies and
their own experiences with health.”
“You don’t have to wait for
data, don’t have to wait for the
food industry to confirm what you
already feel. If you’ve tried this and
have tried going grain-free, a lot of
people have profound effects and
that’s amazing and hopefully they’ll
trust that and stick with it.”
Jeremy Seifert
Director of GMO OMG
One of Davis’ main points was
that he hoped to get people off
medication and reliance on the
health care system.
During a question and answer
period after the presentation, Flora
MacLeod took to the microphone to
share her health journey and meet
Davis.
“You need to say thank you to
someone who saved your life,” she
said.
After cutting out wheat,
MacLeod said she lost 100 pounds
in eight months. On top of weight
loss, she said, injuries healed much
faster and she found herself in much
better shape.
However, around the same
time she had a brain tumour, and
felt people didn’t take anything she
said seriously about her dietary
PAGE LAYOUT BY HANNA MCLEAN
People line up to get books signed by Davis.
FOCUS: HEALTH
PAGE 18
Cold buster?
PAGE 19
FOCUS: HEALTH
DEBORAH OOMEN
deborahoomen@gmail.com
@deborahoomen
1a.
HANNA MCLEAN
JULIA MANOUKIAN
julia.manoukian@dal.ca
@J3wleah
Don’t expect David’s Tea’s cold
survival kit to necessarily help you
survive your cold.
The “Starbucks of tea” is
marketing “Six teas to get you
through cold season,” each offering
a blend of ancient remedies, along
with the cold survival kit, containing
some of these “cold-fighting teas.”
Some ingredients are eleuthero
root and echinacea (Cold Zing),
peppermint and juniper berry (Cold
911) or ginger and pink peppercorn
(Super Ginger).
“There’s no strong evidence
out there that any of these would,
in a tea bag formulation, be strong
enough to do what they say,” said
Tannis Jurgens, associate professor
of medicinal chemistry and natural
health products at Dalhousie
University.
Statistics Canada estimates
Canadians consume more than
10 million cups of tea each year –
roughly 300 cups per person.
For centuries, ginger has
been used for anti-nausea, and
peppermint for stomach illnesses.
But these ingredients’ health claims
have never been clinically proven.
“People wouldn’t have continued
to use them (the ingredients) if
there wasn’t some perceived benefit,
whether it’s real benefit or it’s
placebo,” says Jurgens.
David’s Tea’s website says of the
cold survival kit, which sells for
$24.50: “Feeling queasy? Nothing
a little North African Mint can’t
handle. And when all else fails, dip
into your emergency supply of Cold
911 for guaranteed relief.”
There are many herbal teas on
the market with natural product
numbers – meaning the actual
number of milligrams of each
ingredient is available, and the
product has been proven to work
through continued use.
David’s Tea website offers
information
on
nutritional
information,
ingredients
and
preparation instructions, but the
actual milligrams of the ingredients
is not available.
Unlike the product description
of the cold survival kit, the product
description for Cold 911 states:
“With its soothing citrus and mint
aroma we can’t guarantee miracle
results, but at least we can guarantee
it tastes great.”
Employee Lulu Knowles says
their health teas aren’t supposed to
be a replacement for medicine, but
“it’s not just old wise tales, the stuff
actually works,” she says. “It’s like an
internal Vick’s VapoRub.”
She says many nurses and
doctors come in and recommend
the cold teas to their patients.
“I think these claims are trying
to be very vague,” says Jurgens.
Some of the ingredients, such
as echinacea, have been used in
studies that tried to show more
concentrated ways to stimulate the
immune system. Even for more
concentrated products, Jurgens says,
the evidence is not strong for colds.
“As we are not ‘health experts,’
we are not in the position to provide
PAUL O’BRIEN
paul.obrien222@gmail.com
@paul_ob_
Halifax’s winter weather may be
ghastly, but your diet doesn’t have
to be.
During the cold winter months,
Jessie Doyle says both good health
and happiness are achievable, but
only with the correct diet.
Doyle is a registered holistic
nutritional consultant and a cofounder of Fruition, a raw food
bar located at the Halifax Seaport
Farmers’ Market on Marginal Road.
Last Sunday at the market,
Doyle and Fruition co-founder Seth
Graham held a workshop involving
tips and recipes on how to stay
healthy during the winter season.
When choosing a diet, Doyle
says it’s important to choose one that
leads to a lifestyle change, emotional
well-being and long-term success.
First, one should strive to “design
a lifestyle you’re happy with and not
commit to a crazy scheme that’s not
sustainable for you,” she says.
Doyle says cleanses, such as 10
days without drinking juices, are
unsustainable in the long-term.
In most cases, once a cleanse is
Jessie Doyle presenting a workshop on how to eat healthy during the winter at the
Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market. (Photo: Paul O’Brien)
completed, old eating habits quickly
return.
She recommends a diet based
on whole foods, such as fruits,
vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes
and whole grains that haven’t
been processed and are free from
additives.
“Sometimes, when we talk
about eating whole foods, it means
cooking from scratch, which can be
overwhelming,” says Doyle.
For university students, however,
Kraft Dinner isn’t the only option.
By searching simple and easy recipes
on websites, such as www.helpguide.
org, she says, eating healthy can be
“achievable for almost anyone.”
Doyle encourages people to
shop locally from small-scale farms
because they provide fresher and
higher nutrient-filled foods. If
purchased from a local source, they
also have lesser chances of being
processed and containing chemical
sprays.
Wendy McCallum, a registered
holistic nutrition consultant, food
PAGE LAYOUT BY NIKKI JAMIESON
hanna.mclean@hotmail.com
@hannajmclean
Employee Lulu Knowles showcases Cold 911 tea. (Photo: Julia Manoukian)
you with the health benefits of our
teas,” says Stacie Keenan, public
relations manager, David’s Tea.
Jurgens says that due to a lack of
quantifiable data, colds are a hard
thing to study, so it’s not a bad thing
that the claims might be a little off.
“It’s not like you’re drinking
tea to reduce your blood pressure
… who’s to say your sore throat
would have gotten better in five days
with no treatment or six days with
treatment?”
David’s Tea drinker Kristine
Bobak says she drinks Cold 911
“because it soothes my throat and
clears my sinuses when I’m sick.
As to whether or not it’s actually
effective …”
Jurgens points out without
a natural-health certification or
clinical trials, there’s no way to
tell for certain if the teas work for
everybody.
“There is a lot of historical use,”
she says. “But proving it in our
sort-of western medicine style is
challenging.
“I think what they’ve done is
looked at the traditional plants that
were used for traditional things, and
just put them together, which is a
reasonable approach.”
With a cold, she adds, “you’re
going to get better whether you
drink tea or not.”
coach and educator from Halifax,
says to not be afraid to use frozen
produce, especially if it’s local.
“It’s often more nutrient-dense
than produce that has been sitting in
the produce section of the grocery
store for a long time.”
To stay healthy during the
winter, she says vegetables, such
as garlic and onions, are especially
supportive of the immune system.
On a regular basis, Doyle
recommends drinking a nutrientfilled smoothie in the morning,
which can be prepared in five
minutes the night beforehand.
As simple as it sounds, Doyle
also says that drinking water is the
number one recommendation.
“You want to drink eight cups of
water a day.”
As soon as you wake up, drinking
water with a touch of lemon will give
you Vitamin C, boosts your immune
system and metabolism, wake your
digestive system and decreases
your risk to illnesses and diseases,
amongst other benefits.
Brittany McGuirk, a human
nutrition student at St. Francis
Xavier University, encourages
people to also drink green tea.
Amongst several benefits, green
tea improves blood flow and reduces
cholesterol.
“It’s also good for your heart and
your brain,” she says.
To solve digestive problems, such
as irregular bowel movements, gas
and heartburn, Doyle encourages
people to try food combining.
This process involves eating
meals containing the same food
groups, such as fruits only with
other fruits, nuts with seeds and
dry fruit, vegetables with anything
except fruit, and grains with starchy
vegetables.
“Different types of foods,
specifically carbohydrates, fat and
proteins, should be kept separately
in our bellies because they all need a
different balance of chemicals in our
system to digest,” Doyle explains.
Overall, to maintain a healthy
immune system and healthy lifestyle,
Doyle says it’s important to sleep
well, avoid cigarettes and drinking
too much alcohol, and to stay active
and happy to reduce levels of stress.
“These thing all really do
increase our overall health, decrease
our chance of getting sick in the
future and decrease our chance of
getting a cold today.”
Inspired by our theme of health, we decided
to try out some homemade healthy beauty
treatments to see if they were truly effective and
worth the effort.
All three treatments were made with
products and supplies found in our kitchen, so
grocery shopping and a trip to the drug store
were not necessary for this endeavour. We broke
each creation down and reviewed its quality in
the aftermath of the trial-runs.
1. Oatmeal
face mask
Ingredients: 1/3 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup
of hot water, 2 tbsp of honey, 2 tbsp of plain
yogurt, 1 egg white.
You might be surprised what a few cupboard staples can do for your skin. (Photos: Deborah Oomen)
Directions: Mix the hot water with the
oatmeal and let it sit for two to three minutes.
Mix in the egg white, yogurt and honey and stir until it’s all blended. Apply a thin layer to
1b.
your face and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse it off with warm water.
Review: The texture of the mask definitely leaves something to be desired. It was still very
chunky and little bits of oatmeal kept falling off. About five minutes in it started to tingle,
but this may have been because of the use of flavoured vanilla yogurt as opposed to the plain
yogurt the ingredient list called for. It was tougher than expected to rinse off, but the skin
instantly felt smoother after using it. The yogurt moisturized while the oatmeal soothed.
Overall, the treatment was worth having stray pieces of oatmeal left around the hairline.
2. Hair repair treatment
Ingredients: 2 tbsp of coconut oil, 1 tbsp of virgin olive oil.
Directions: Mix coconut oil and olive oil in a small bowl together. Apply mixture from
root to tip and pull your hair into bun. Put on shower cap if you have one. Leave for 15-30
minutes.
Review: It was necessary to shampoo hair twice due to the density of the oil, but the hair
definitely felt thicker and more nourished. In the future, when putting the mixture in your
hair, we recommend applying it about two inches away from the scalp to avoid excessive oil
at the hairline.
2.
Oatmeal face mask during assembly.
(not pictured)
Ingredients: 2 cups of raw coffee grounds, 1 cup of raw sugar, 2 tbsp of coconut oil, a few drops
of vanilla extract.
Directions: Mix the coffee grounds, raw sugar and coconut oil together. When relatively
smooth, add in a few drops of vanilla extract. Put into a container or mason jar for storage and use
on body when showering.
Hair repair treatment.
Review: The scent of the body scrub is awesome and smells better than most store-bought
scrubs on the market. The scrub provides instant relief for dry or irritated skin, so no lotion is
required after showering. The one downfall was the mess. The coffee grounds make for a messy
tub, but other than the clean-up, this concoction gets two thumbs up.
PAGE LAYOUT BY MICHAEL LEE
ARTS/LIFE
PAGE 20
PAGE 21
ARTS/LIFE
SARAH KESTER
sarah.kester@ukings.ca
@S4R4HKESTER
Sam Krueger has kept a journal
all his life but it’s not every day he
reads it out loud for an audience.
A second-year student at the
University of King’s College, Krueger
shared his innermost thoughts as
part of the popular Shame Series
at the university’s Infringement
Festival.
Krueger’s
journal
entries
detailed his frustration with his
father for pressuring him to work
harder. He also wrote about a “hot”
early girlfriend. He was 14.
He and four other students
closed out the “Best of the Fest” last
Saturday night.
The week-long Infringement
Festival showcased student-written
theatre. Audience members voted
throughout the week on their favourite shows and five were picked to be
performed again Saturday night.
“
At King’s, which
knows everybody, so
it’s really fun.
Molly Lowson
Internal coordinator
The Jewel Wizards improv troupe discuss their prison break
at the King’s Infringement Festival. (Photo: Sarah Kester)
The festival featured nine
student-written plays and two
improv troupes in addition to the
Shame Series. There were other
events throughout the week such as
radio plays broadcast on CKDU and
a craft night with cats.
In the Shame Series, new this
year, students read journal entries
they wrote as children.
“It’s relatable,” said Molly
Lowson, a fourth-year student and
internal coordinator for the festival,
said. “They are talking about MSN
and Facebook, technology we all
grew up with. And at King’s, which
is such a small community, everyone
knows everybody, so it’s really fun.”
Clare Workentin, a King’s
student, conceived the idea with
Krueger when he had his journal out
and was sharing the entries. Both he
and Workentin thought it would be
worth performing.
Similar programs, such as the
podcast “Grownups Read Things
They Wrote As Kids,” have become
popular. The cross-Canada tour,
which CBC broadcast, was in
Halifax in December.
Of course, there was a time
when Krueger didn’t want people
reading his thoughts. To keep spies
away from reading his childhood
journal, Krueger wrote warning
after warning on the cover page:
“Keep Out.”
Julia Kennedy, another King’s
student who read on Saturday,
devised an even more elaborate
The First Nations Aamjiwnaang reserve, one of the communities that experience severe and
often fatal health problems from the Chemical Valley’s toxic pollution. (Photo: vice.com)
strategy to keep her journal safe.
She wrote it on her computer
and saved the document as “Report
on Nasturtiums.” As an extra
precaution, she would switch the
font to one written in symbols to
fool any intruders. Especially, she
says, her “evil” brother.
Kennedy’s journal explored
her 11-year-old struggles with
misogynistic songs as well as a worry
that her diary was the only place she
could reveal her true self.
Krueger isn’t so worried about
keeping people out anymore. He
says he journals a lot more but
doesn’t write warnings on the front
page. He also keeps some of his old
journals with him.
“I like to keep them around for
posterity and to remind myself of
who I used to be.”
“Best of the Fest”
• “Citizenry of Folk”, written and directed by Mark
Foster and Sansom Marchand
• “Dick Flass”, written and
directed by Zach Greenham
• “Star Girl”, written and
directed by Darrin Carr
• “Old Wizard’s Tales: An
Improvised Story”, written
and directed by Allanna
Ward
•The Shame Series
Jonny’s Jams:
JON BOLDUC
@boldasaduck
Hospice, The Antlers, 2009
Comparing a relationship to
cancer might seem a bit cheap, or a
bit misguided, but in many ways it’s
true. Sometimes, you cling to what
little love you can get from someone
while they slowly destroy who you
are.
At its core, Hospice, released in
2009, is a concept album centred
around a nurse at a hospice who
falls in love with a terminally ill
patient.
The ensuing romance is
remarkably flawed: rife with abuse,
screaming and constantly being
hurt.
Beneath the narrative, there
is the feeling of being tethered to
something unhealthy: the lashing
out and the constant regret, and the
feeling of inescapable conflict that
pervades throughout a cancerous
relationship.
“You’re screaming/And cursing/
And angry/And hurting me/
And then smiling/And crying/
Apologizing,” singer Peter Silberman
wails in a cracking falsetto on
“Epilogue.”
Throughout Hospice there’s a
stretched out feeling of impending
catastrophe, the same sort of feeling
a terminally ill patient must feel
before the inevitable happens.
The same kind of catastrophe
latent in an abusive relationship;
things fall apart, people are hurt, but
for reasons that defy logic the two
explosive people end up together
again, only to fall apart again.
Musically, Hospice is a morose
affair, indie pop drained of colour,
heard in shades of sadness.
The album boasts excellent
harmonies, and Silberman sounds
like he’s about to fall apart through it
all. And he is. We’re all about to fall
apart.
PAGE LAYOUT BY HANNA MCLEAN
Hi, How are You, Daniel Johnston,
1983
Daniel Johnston has one of the
most compelling stories in indie
history. Born and raised in a religious
Virginian family in 1961, he has
spent most of his adult life battling
depression and schizophrenia.
It’s hard to listen to Johnston
and not relate his music to his own
mythology.
For example, in one of the most
widely told stories, Johnston, while
flying home from a gig in his father’s
two-seat plane, deep in a manic
episode, thought he was Casper the
Friendly Ghost.
Johnston apparently grabbed
the controls and hurtled the plane
towards the ground. Johnston’s
father managed to save their lives.
Johnston has a knack for
catchy, Beatle-esque melodies, and
through the lo-fidelity sludge that
he utilizes in his early work (he
recorded Hi, How Are You in a
garage) moments of brilliance shine
through, particularly in the excellent
“Walking the Cow.”
“Tried to point my finger/But
the wind keeps blowin’ me around/
In circles, circles,” he sings.
Johnston once said he had a
nervous breakdown in the middle
of recording this, and the 30-minute
long album remains unfinished.
Johnston pounds away on chord
organ, and the listener can’t help but
wonder where the mania ends, and
if it even matters.
Underneath the lack of polish,
Johnston is a capable songwriter.
Docs shed light on health issues
REBECCA HUSSMAN
hussman.rebecca@gmail.com
@hussmanr
Within the past decade, many
groundbreaking
documentaries
about health have been released,
from Supersize Me (2004) to Sicko
(2007) to Food Inc. (2008). Others
have flown under the radar. Here are
reviews of five recent, eye-opening
documentaries that deal with
health-related issues and are worth
watching.
Milk? (2012)
Sebastian Howard, Batchfilms,
Netherlands. 58 min.
Milk: is it really as good for us as
we’ve been told? Marketed originally
as a healthy beverage, cow’s milk has
become increasingly scrutinized for
its alleged negative health effects,
including the link of the main milk
protein, casein, to certain diseases.
This documentary does a great
job highlighting the controversies
surrounding the dairy industry and
milk consumption, without being
one-sided. Fundamental myths
are dispelled by qualified experts,
while other milk-related issues
remain open-ended, inciting more
questions than answers.
Milk? is extremely important for
the health-conscious and all dairy
consumers to see: it may make you
think twice before having that next
ice cream cone.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10 glasses of milk
Why We Breathe (2013)
Jonathan Pears, BackToAwake,
United States. 50 min.
Anyone who practices yoga will
tell you that it is not only a practice
– it’s a lifestyle.
Yoga gives practitioners the
ability to be mindful and manage
stress, which has become all the
more useful in the informationsaturated, digital climate of today.
With more than 50 interviews
from across the United States, Why
We Breathe does an impressive job
of explaining why so many find yoga
seminal to their mental, physical
and spiritual well-being.
Rating: 9 out of 10 deep breaths
Fed Up (2014)
Stephani Soechtig, Atlas Films,
United States. 58 min.
This
information-saturated
documentary
discusses
the
development
of
chemically
generated agriculture, chemical
pollution, the invention of modern
pesticides.
It discusses how biotech
companies, such as Monsanto,
originally claimed that their
technology would be used to help
address world hunger, yet there is
overproduction in the U.S. and not
enough food is distributed overseas,
where it is needed.
The documentary advocates for
re-establishing the connection to
farming and one’s own food.
Above all, this film touches on
how consumers in the U.S. have the
right to know what is in their food,
and are fed up with not knowing.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10 sweets
Canada’s Toxic Chemical Valley
(2014)
Patrick McGuire, VICE, United
States. 30 min.
This 30-minute short is about
an area in Sarnia, Ont. known as
Chemical Valley, where 40 per cent
of Canada’s petrochemical industry
is based.
Through intimate interviews,
it shows that the people of Sarnia,
blue-collar workers of the petroleum
industry and First Nations on
the neighbouring Aamjiwnaang
reservation all experience health
issues as a result of their close
proximity to the refineries.
Citizens have no warning when
poisonous chemicals leak into the
air and usually are the ones notifying
the oil company, Shell, when this
happens.
PAGE LAYOUT BY SARAH KESTER
The Aamjiwnaang claim to
have higher rates of cancer than
the national average, yet no federal
attention is paid to the issue, despite
protests.
Rating: 10 out of 10 smokestacks
GMO OMG (2013)
Jeremy Seifert, Compeller Pictures,
United States. 93 minutes.
GMO OMG is the story of
one concerned father’s three-year
long quest to discover exactly what
genetically modified organisms
are, what they are in and why, what
makes something ‘organic’ and
to understand why products that
include GMOs do not include labels
that say so.
It does a great job of explaining
exactly how biotech companies
have monopolized seeds and crops
in the U.S., and how the Food and
Drug Administration has worked
with these companies rather than
work with the people to get GMO
products labeled.
The film can be emotionally
manipulative at times, especially
when Seifert draws in his children,
but it’s worth it to learn more about
the agriculture industry and its
relationship to the FDA. Just get
comfortable before starting this film
– it is a bit of a long one.
Rating: 7 out of 10 organic seeds
A still of Jeremy Seifert and his two children, Scout, 6,
and Finn, 8, from GMO OMG. (Photo: youtube.com)
ARTS/LIFE
PAGE 22
Tony, Rosalyn and Amélie learned that blue whales live in every ocean in the world. (Photo: Sarah Kester)
A whale of a bake sale
SARAH KESTER
sarah.kester@ukings.ca
@S4R4HKESTER
A blue whale might be bigger
than a goldfish, but that didn’t stop
a local Grade 3 class from adopting
one.
They just have to decide what to
name it.
Rosalyn Chen, one of the
students, likes “Bubbles.”
Her classmate, Tony Liu, offered
“Marshmallow.”
The class at LeMarchant St.
Thomas School in south-end
Halifax, made chocolate chip
cookies and held a bake sale – and a
vote – to raise money for a donation
to the World Wildlife Fund.
The blue whale – the world’s
largest animal – won out over the
emperor penguin, the arctic fox and
the hippopotamus.
National Geographic estimates
there are between 10,000 to 25,000
blue whales in the ocean.
The organization’s website says,
“Aggressive hunting in the 1900s
by whalers seeking whale oil drove
them (blue whales) to the brink of
extinction.
Between 1900 and the mid1960s, some 360,000 blue whales
were slaughtered.”
The idea for the LeMarchant
class to adopt a whale started with
classroom helper and former pastry
chef Jackson Martin.
He offered to do a baking project
with the kids.
“Originally, we were going to just
bake the cookies and let the kids eat
them,” says their teacher, Katie Mott.
Then they started to think bigger.
Way bigger.
They decided on a bake sale to
help school renovations.
But Mott asked the class, “What
else do we all care about?”
The answer was unanimous.
“Well, we all liked animals,”
Rosalyn reminds her teacher.
“And then after recess we told
you and then you said that WWF
saves animals,” she says.
“And we all agreed,” says Amélie
Krueger, another student.
Donors voted for their favourite
animals, chosen by students, during
the bake sale.
Mott had the class research facts
about each, including the winning
giant cetacean.
“I learned that the baby blue
whale is eight metres,” says Rosalyn.
“I learned that the adult blue
whale is 33 metres,” adds Amélie.
The class measured it out in the
hall, standing 133 steps away from
each other – almost the length of the
school.
It took them two days to bake the
cookies.
“The first day we made the
dough,” says Amélie. “And the
second day we rolled them.”
“But without Jackson it would
have been three days because he
cooked them,” adds Tony.
The students’ goal was to reach
$40.
They made $65.15 in one day.
They weren’t able to make
enough cookies for the entire
school, so the sale was only open to
teachers.
“
We wanted to give
that actually needs
we don’t really need
Amélie Kruger
Grade 3 student at
LeMarchant St. Thomas School
But that didn’t stop other
students from getting involved.
“We had kids who were coming
and giving donations even though
they knew they couldn’t get anything
PAGE LAYOUT BY EVELYN BROTHERSTON
back,” Mott says.
The WWF’s symbolic adoption
program supports conservation
efforts and works to protect wildlife
and habitat, said WWF Canada in
an email.
“Our animal adoptions are
symbolic, which means donors are
helping us save all animals at risk,
not just one.”
An adoption kit comes with a
certificate and a plush toy.
The students are waiting for
theirs to arrive in the mail.
In the meantime they received
something else.
“Jackson, he gave us this apron
and a chef hat to keep,” says Tony.
“And they’re professional ones.”
Why did the class donate the
money?
“Because keeping the money to
ourselves is greedy,” says Rosalyn.
“And we wanted to give it to an
animal or something that actually
needs the money because we don’t
really need the money and other
people do,” finishes Amélie.