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On our cover Oceanographer Anya Waite’s career has taken her around the globe. Now she’s back in Halifax, taking on her next adventure Photo: Aaron McKenzie Fraser

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CONTENTS

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Vol. 19 No. 8 | October 2019

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FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

18 | THE HELLACIOUSLY HAPPY LIFE OF MARQ DE VILLIERS The world-beating Nova Scotian journalist and author has written another book. It’s about the afterlife. As usual, it’s a helluva read

7 | EDITOR’S MESSAGE As our editor prepares to cast his vote, he hurtles through time and space to the year 2119

20 | THE MEAN STREETS Halifax says road safety is a priority but pedestrian deaths and injuries are adding up 22 | THE LIFE DEEPLY LIVED After decades around the world, oceanographer Anya Waite comes home to launch her next excellent adventure on the high seas of academe

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17 | ENTERTAINMENT Hal-Con returns, live music galore at the Halifax Pop Explosion, Ben Caplan at Neptune, and much more 26 | SHOPPING: ETHICAL ATTIRE Independent local shops and designers offer affordable fashion alternatives

30 | OPINION: A VISIT TO THE BLACK CULTURAL CENTRE Discovering another side of our collective story and meeting the founders of the African Nova Scotian community

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9 | CITYSCAPE From Dartmouth high to the NCAA’s top tier, fostering natural-birth experiences, on the run in the Reich—one Nova Scotia’s D-Day story

28 | FALL FOR NEW BEERS As the weather changes, so too do beer styles: make way for darker, bigger brew

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EDITOR’S MESSAGE

What a fascinating modern age An editor’s journey to the year 2119 leaves him considering what kind of future he’s voting for

The other day I was walking down Agricola Street thinking about the election and what the future might hold for our city, when out of the clear blue sky, a magical thunderbolt struck, hurling me a century into the future. “Well,” I thought, “this is a highly improbable and almost certainly apocryphal turn of events.”

I glanced around at the Halifax of 2119, marvelling first at the steady parade of cars. I stopped a passerby. “Hey future Haligonian, what’s the deal with all of these cars? Where are the hoverbuses and teleportation tubes?”

The nice man explained that people really like cars and they’d spent a lot on roads and whatnot, so government just decided to double down on cars.

But at least car technology has improved a lot, right? Like these are super safe self-driving cars? Drivers don’t kill pedestrians anymore?

“Well, yes and no. Entitled pedestrians just kept stepping out at crosswalks, which often inconvenienced drivers, so now they can turn off the safety software. Sure, a car kills the odd person, but that’s the price of progress.”

Well, that was a little disappointing. But at least in 2119, everything runs on clean renewable energy? My new guide shook his head and looked at me is if I was a little dangerous. “Certainly that technology does exist and we could adopt it but … a lot of jobs depend on coal and oil. And if we stop, all kinds of hard working Nova Scotians would lose their jobs. How is that fair?”

But what about global-warming? “And we’re just one little province. We couldn’t fix the entire problem ourselves.” So you just did nothing? “Well, we banned straws and plastic bags. That’s something.”

That seemed reasonable. I guess. Kind of.

Still, there seemed to be a lot of evidence that global heating and climate change were something of a problem. The trees remaining were sparse and battered. Few other plants were in sight. For that matter, there didn’t seem to be much in the way of birds and other animals, domestic or otherwise, around either.

My guide explained that the environment was still changing for the worse. Summers were hot and dry, except when the frequent

hurricanes battered the city. Power outages were still common. Winters were even worse, with wild storms and enormous snowfalls.

Also, there were perks. “You know, some days the weather is very nice and sunny. We all have lovely tans. And the glaciers are gone, but… well, you couldn’t see them from here anyway.”

Desperate to find something to love in future Halifax, I kept walking. I saw one encouraging sign: every residence looked opulent and new. So many high-end developments. Giant brick and glass behemoths surround the Common, now more of a ceremonial green patch the size of a dinner plate.

EVERYTHING I LIKED ABOUT THE CITY (THE HERITAGE, THE MIX OF NEIGHBOURHOODS, THE EASE OF GETTING AROUND, THE GREEN SPACES AND NATURAL

PHOTO: TAMMY FANCY

BY TREVOR J. ADAMS

ever rich. All the poor people live in big apartment projects in Enfield City. Sure, they’re a long drive from the downtown, and there’s no transit so they need cars they can’t afford. But solving the problem would require a broad socio-economic transformation, and things are pretty good the way they are.”

The more I wandered around future Halifax, the unhappier I became. Everything I liked about the city (the heritage, the mix of neighbourhoods, the ease of getting around, the green spaces and natural splendour) was gone. All that remained was everything I dislike: the income inequality, the car culture, the environmental indifference, the careless development.

At about that moment, another magic thunderbolt struck, and I tumbled back through the space-time continuum, landing in 2019 where I left.

I keep thinking about the unpleasant world I glimpsed, the one we’re all building brick by brick, every day. But I take some heart in the knowledge the future is not set.

With a federal election underway (and a municipal one not too far away), I guess I’ll think a little harder about how I vote this time, and what the next journey to the future might be like.

SPLENDOUR) WAS GONE

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

CORRECTIONS Determined to find the good in this strange timeline, I stopped another prosperous-looking passerby and excitedly asked if this meant everyone was equally wealthy now. “Surely you fixed income inequality in the last century?” She chortled at my old-fashioned naivety.

“Oh no,” she patiently explained. “There are more rich people than ever and whoa, are they

We made a pair of fact-checking errors in our September 2019 issue. In the story, “Mixing it up” we incorrectly described how Pet Nat wine is fermented. In the story “When people are strange,” we misspelled Aoife Mac Namara’s first name. We regret the mistakes. See the corrected stories at halifaxmag.com.

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 7

CONTRIBUTORS MICHAEL COSGROVE Cityscape Michael has degrees from the UBC and MSVU. His work has appeared in Canadian Author, Access Magazine, The Coast, and Halifax Magazine. Boularderie Island Press published his first book, Salt of the Turf, in 2017.

8 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

KIM HART MACNEILL “Fall for new beers” Kim is a freelance journalist and editor of East Coast Living. Read her beer column on HalifaxMag.com. @kimhartmacneill

HEATHER FEGAN Cityscape Heather is a freelance writer, book reviewer, and blogger based in Halifax. heatherfegan.ca

BOB GORDON Cityscape Bob is a journalist and popular historian specializing in Canadian military and social history. His work has been published in The Beaver, Air Power Review, Parents Magazine, and various Canadian titles. He contributes regularly to Espirit de Corps.

AARON McKENZIE FRASER Photo for cover story and cover Aaron specializes in locationbased environmental portraits with a diverse portfolio of national and international clients. amfraser.com

TAMMY FANCY Photo for Editor’s Message A freelance photojournalist, Tammy has shot for East Coast Living, Bedford Magazine, Profiles for Success, and Our Children magazines, plus two cookbooks. fancyfreefoto.com

RICHARD WOODBURY “The mean streets” Richard is a writer and editor from Halifax whose work has been published by CBC, Reuters, and the Chronicle Herald. richardwoodbury.ca

MARIANNE SIMON “A visit to the Black Cultural Centre” Marianne is a writer and subeditor and has published many children’s stories, articles and poems in magazines and newspapers. Her interests include teaching and conducting English-conversation classes. mariannesimon777@gmail.com

CAITLIN LEONARD “Ethical attire” A graduate of the University of Kings College Journalism program (‘18), Caitlin is a freelance journalist, writer and editor, and proud Frederictonian, currently living in New York City.

ALEC BRUCE “The hellaciously happy life of Marq de Villiers,” “The life deeply lived” Alec is a prize-winning scribbler who lives near one of Halifax’s two bridges.

Sometimes for money, he writes for newspapers, magazines, and online publications. His other interests include greasy spoons and crappy yard sales.

CITYSCAPE Labour of love Many women don’t get the chance to have natural birth experiences—midwifery advocate and labour doula Corinne Brown is working to change that

BY HEATHER FEGAN

When lifelong birth junkie, naturopathic doctor, and labour doula Corinne Brown gave birth to her first baby, she didn’t imagine an emergency cesarean in hospital.

With an education from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, Brown was working out of a midwifery clinic offering naturopathic services to pregnant mothers. She also became a labour doula.

During the home birth she had planned, Brown’s midwife discovered the baby was in breech (positioned to be born feet-first).

After 24 hours of natural labour, the home birth wasn’t happening. “I was devastated,” says Brown. “I’m helping all these women to have these beautiful birth experiences and then I wind up with a c-section?”

After the heartbreak of her own delivery, Brown became anxious. “I knew having a c-section once increased your risk of having a c-section again,” she explains. “Finding a provider who would support me in a natural birth after that was tricky.”

Love Your Labour was born. Brown created a system that women could follow to prepare themselves for a natural birth. “I basically became obsessed with research,” says Brown. “I dove into all my old naturopathic obstetric stuff, textbooks, notes, research articles, calling peers and colleagues who were doing prenatal natural obstetrics. I thought I must’ve missed something.” It evolved into a four-step natural-labour preparation system.

Within seven weeks postpartum, Brown was back to part-time clinic hours, often with her new baby in tow. “I started to implement [in my practice] the things that I had picked up with that super intensive research period of about three or four weeks.”

She says all the women who were going through these births were having these amazing birth experiences. “They’re all smooth and efficient. The midwives’ job was so easy, the women were so thrilled, the partners were empowered and excited about everything, it was just awesome.”

Two years later Brown became pregnant with her second child and used the four-step

Corinne Brown with husband and labour-support partner Kyle. She aims to teach partners how to be supportive and have meaningful involvement in pregnancies.

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 9

CITYSCAPE The Brown family on Mother’s Day 2018, the morning after the home birth of newborn Vance.

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herself. The whole point of creating it was so she could avoid another c-section. Working through all the protocols in the program herself, Brown finally had that natural birth.

“I knew I needed to tell everyone about this,” says Brown. “I needed to scream this from the rooftops.” She compiled all her information into a comprehensive digital four-module training program and members-only community called Love Your Labour (LYL).

The program maximizes the chance of giving birth naturally and minimizes the risk of c-section, interventions, or complications.

Brown believes those interventions are often used unnecessarily. She holds free weekly live webinars on natural labour preparation. Over 20,000 women have attended the webinar. To date, about 1,500 women have been through the LYL program.

Leaving Halifax to do her naturopathic studies in Toronto led Brown to starting her own business and launching LYL. She’s spent time with her inspiration, the mother of modern midwifery Ina May Gaskin, at The Farm (a self-sustaining co-operative community in Tennessee), and interviewed breastfeeding guru Dr. Jack Newman. She’s also experienced the trifecta of birth experiences herself: emergency c-section, natural hospital delivery, and at-home birth.

“When I think about my home birth I still get goosebumps; it was an ecstatic birth experience,” she recalls. “That is how birth is actually designed to be. It’s an extreme high after the baby is born, when all the hormones are undisrupted.”

Twelve years (and three kids) after leaving, Brown has returned to Halifax and is continuing to work on her business. After watching Brown’s free webinar, 32-year-old Stephanie Small, from Amherst, N.S. knew she really wanted to do the program while pregnant with her first baby.

“I think Corinne herself, there’s just something about her,” says Small. “She’s so knowledgeable and just the way she presents herself, she’s so confident… calm and cool and collected. That’s how I wanted to be and that is not how I was feeling.”

She says the information Brown presented in the webinar was information that she, until that point, wanted to ignore. “I felt that learning about it was so overwhelming that I didn’t know where to start or how to

navigate all that information and she made it really accessible,” says Small. “I had planned to just wing it. Just show up in labour and hope for the best. That’s not normally something I would do.”

Small says the biggest thing she got out of the LYL program was the mental preparation.

“It totally changed my mindset about labour and how I was going to look at this big event in my life. That was huge for me. It was so empowering, instead of being afraid I was almost pumped for labour.”

Brown says healthy, low-risk women need options. “In a normal healthy birth, women should be able to go through this experience start to finish without feeling pressure to have unnecessary medical interventions, “ says Brown. “It’s such a deeply important experience, more so maybe than some women even realize.”

Brown says her vision for the future is to have Nova Scotia “completely crawling” with midwives.

That vision is a long ways off. Robyn Berman is a midwife with the only midwifery practice in Halifax, the IWK Community midwives. She works alongside five other midwives.

“We are not meeting the demand there is for our care, currently,” says Berman. “I would say for all of the people that we are taking into care, for the past several years, probably the same number of people end up on our waitlist.”

The midwives offer prenatal care, labour and delivery, and postpartum care for lowrisk pregnancies. “One of the biggest tenets of that care that we offer is informed decision making,” Berman says. They collaborate with doctors, nurses, and specialists.

“Every single test, bloodwork, or ultrasound, anything those people would have access to with their family doctor or OB, they have equal access when they’re under our care,” she adds. “The way we work is fluid and seamless… We’re well integrated into the IWK. But of course we’d love to offer care to people who are looking for it.”

Berman feels that vulnerable people, newcomers to Canada, and low-income people especially benefit from midwifery.

“We know that those folks have better outcomes when they’re in midwifery care but we just don’t have enough midwives or enough support from the provincial government to expand our service,” she says. “That’s been the single thing that’s holding us back.”

On the run in the Reich One Nova Scotian’s D-Day story

BY BOB GORDON

Editor’s Note: As Remembrance Day approaches, look for more related stories in our November issue and at halifaxmag.ca.

Don Learment was a 21-year-old Acadia student when he enlisted in the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. On D-Day, Major Learment commanded C Company. The following day they would provide the vanguard of the regiment as it led the 9th Brigade attack. He was about to embark on a fantastic journey, one the young collegian could never have envisioned from the bucolic confines of Wolfville.

Taken prisoner by a giant unit notorious for killing prisoners, Learment himself was lucky to emerge unhurt. On the morning of June 9, he joined a column of prisoners marched 200 kilometers to Rennes.

A month later, they were loaded into cattle cars and proceeded to Nantes and then on towards Tours by train. Allied fighter-bombers attacked the train, assuming it carried German troops.

Learment was among a group of prisoners who fled in the confusion.

After they narrowly escaped discovery by a German patrol, French civilians put them in touch with the Résistance, 20 kilometres east of Tours under Captain Georges LeCoz. Eventually 22 Allied airmen and escapees

were fighting with LeCoz. LeCoz considered him too valuable to release; the Captain was prevaricating, making no efforts to get him to England.

Subsequently, a group including Learment headed south toward a secret radio station and landing field. They learned no landings were imminent and returned north seeking advancing American troops, finding them in Tours on Sept 7.

Unbowed, Learment rejoined the North Novas. He arrived in time to take part in an amphibious assault on Oct 9 as the North Novas attacked the Breskin’s Pocket across Braakman Inlet. Learment survived several bloody months of fighting, among the Allies crossing the Rhine River into Germany. Postwar he completed his degree, while remaining involved with the Reserves. He died in Guelph, Ont. in 2006.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 11

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CITYSCAPE Grinding it out Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund’s improbable football journey from Dartmouth High to NCAA’s top tier

PHOTO: DAVID COX

BY MICHAEL COSGROVE

A few years ago, Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund didn’t make the cut at Dartmouth High; today he’s the only Nova Scotian playing NCAAA Division 1 football.

After running onto the field in front of 100,000 football fans at Louisiana State University’s Tiger Stadium last fall, Nova Scotian Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund knew exactly where to look. His mom, brother, and grandparents were sitting just three rows up, along with his girlfriend Phoebe and her parents, wearing green Southeastern Louisiana football shirts among a sea of purple LSU fans.

Now that he was the starting linebacker for Southeastern Louisiana University, his family would make the long trip down from Nova Scotia for the team’s marquee game against renowned LSU, a program with over 50 alumni currently in the NFL, Odell Beckham among them.

Although Adyemi-Berglund’s team would lose to LSU that afternoon, he and

his family would share an unforgettable moment after one outstanding play he made, the culmination of a long, and in many ways improbable journey.

To be the only Nova Scotian currently playing NCAA Division 1 football is a rare accomplishment, which demands a rare kind of resilience required for all self-made success stories. As a kid, Adeyemi-Berglund was not a standout athlete, but his juniorhigh classmates told him he ought to be good at basketball because, after all, he was Black.

“It was constant and annoying,” he remembers. “So I played, and I wasn’t very good,” he admits. “But I liked that I wasn’t good. It intrigued me.”

In his spare time he worked on his shot at the local court, sometimes shovelling snow out of the way in the winter. One cold

day at “the cage” while trying to get a basketball unstuck from the frozen mesh he slipped on the ice and fell hard on his back.

“It hurt a lot. I laid there for a while. I remember a lady saw me and helped me up.

She called my mom.” But Adeyemi-Berglund wasn’t deterred. He returned to work on his game, motivated to make one of Dartmouth High’s basketball teams in the fall.

When the roster was finalized for Dartmouth High’s junior team, he didn’t make the cut. He messaged the coach every day, begging for a spot on the team. Eventually, the coach gave in and added him to the junior team. By Grade 12 he was the MVP of the varsity team.

Football came easier. In Grade 10 he started as a defensive end and by Grade 12 he was the team’s captain and defensive

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 13

CITYSCAPE MVP. After high school, Adeyemi-Berglund wanted to play university football, but even with outstanding grades he didn’t get many scholarship offers. When Acadia offered him a meagre $1,000 he took it. “My grandparents were buying mugs and sweaters. I had an Acadia hoodie. I was all set.”

But at the last minute he had a change of heart and chose Champlain College in Lennoxville, Que. At Champlain he got more playing time and more exposure to football recruiters from other schools. He began to see Champlain as a stepping stone to NCAA Division 1 football, and in the off-season after his first year he began attending football camps in Chicago, Detroit, Wisconsin, Ohio, and North Dakota, where he matched up against top American recruits.

His second year at Champlain was a success. The team went on to win a championship, and Adeyemi-Berglund had a stellar year. His highlight tape was impressive, and so were his grades. He began emailing Division 1 football programs.

“Hundreds of schools,” he recalls. “I used to

send mass emails to every coach on a school’s directory. School after school after school.

Small schools, big schools, any school.”

Sometimes he would even try going a back door route to get a coach’s number by calling a team’s front office and pretending he was his own dad. “No one is going to connect a player right to a coach, so I would try that route sometimes,” he says. “I didn’t have time to sit around and wait.”

Adeyemi-Berglund believed coaches wouldn’t look at his online highlight tape

“I USED TO SEND MASS EMAILS TO EVERY COACH...

I DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO SIT AROUND AND WAIT.” —ISAAC ADEYEMI-BERGLUND

unless it had a lot of views. So he would set up all the computers in the lab with his highlight tape playing and go around and refresh them to raise the number of views. “I was rejected all the time,” he says. “I didn’t care.”

By March there were no offers, and time was running out. “There was a point where I was getting disheartened,” he says. ”And there were times when I would just sit up at night and wonder what was wrong, why no one was picking me up. My grades were good, I was a good player, a good student; what was wrong with me?”

Finally, a call came from Hammond, Louisiana. “I was in the locker room and I looked at my phone and I said, what is this number?” It was Aaron Schwanz, the defensive-line coach at Southeastern Louisiana University. “I don’t even remember sending them my tape.” They offered him a full scholarship. NCAA Division 1.

“I went to my room and cried,” he says. “I was like damn, is this really happening? Then I called my grandparents. A lot was going through my mind. When you’re waiting for

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because we didn’t have a lot growing up. And for my grandparents who invested so much time and love in me.”

After last season, Adeyemi-Berglund made the Southland Conference All-Academic Team, received an honourable mention on the prestigious 2018 Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana Team, and was nominated for the Cornish Award, given to the top Canadian NCAA athlete.

This year, the team’s marquee game came in Week 3 against preeminent Ole Miss (Eli Manning’s alma mater). Yet, despite a hard fought team loss (40-29), Berglund recorded 10 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, 2 sacks, and was nominated for the FCS National Defensive Player of the Week.

As his final NCAA season proceeds, AdeyemiBerglund continues to live by the hopeful advice that “success is yours for the taking,” he says. “You can be as successful as you want to be.”

PHOTO: DAVID COX

something for so long and it finally happens, it seems surreal.”

Three years later, after a few setbacks, including having to sit out a year as an ineligible player, he now starts at Southeastern. “It’s something I take a lot of pride in. I worked so damn hard to be there.”

Linebacker and close friend Kyle Nevels attests to his work ethic. “He’s a hard worker, puts in extra all the time,” he says. “When we’re eating team meals he’s looking at game tape on his iPad.” Before the big LSU game, AdeyemiBerglund lay in his bed and visualized something he’d seen in his mind many times: beating the right tackle off the edge and sacking LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. So when it happened in the game (twice), he was unsurprised. “I’ve been seeing me hit Joe Burrow for a long time.”

Immediately after sacking Burrow, Adeyemi-Berglund pointed to his family amid the thousands of LSU fans in the stands.

“At that moment I thought . . . ‘I’m doing this for you guys,” he recalls. “For my mom

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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ENTERTAINMENT The hottest things to see and do in Halifax this month

OCT. 23–26

HALIFAX POP EXPLOSION Showcasing new and innovative music from around the world, this indie festival features some 150 artists, comedians, and speakers at 15 venues.

The lineup includes Arkells, Beauts, Doomsquad, Haviah Mighty, Japanese Breakfast, Kaia Kater, Mother Mother, Jeremy Dutcher (with Symphony Nova Scotia), and many others. halifaxpopexplosion.com

Doomsquad

OCTOBER 10

PINK MARTINI With 10–12 musicians on stage at one time, is not an easy band to pigeonhole. The multilingual ensemble (lead singer China Forbes performs in 15 different languages) offers a high-energy hybrid of pop, classical, and rock influences: they call it an “urban music travelogue.” See them at the Dalhousie Arts Centre. artscentre.dal.ca

OCTOBER 26

NOVA SCOTIA FORESTRY FESTIVAL This daylong event at Memory Lane Heritage Village in Lake Charlotte celebrates Nova Scotians’ connections to the forest for their livelihood, housing, recreation, food, and heritage. The day includes lumberjack events, canoeing, educational sessions on wilderness survival and forest ecology, maple syrup tasting, campfires, stories, and songs. heritagevillage.ca

OCTOBER 19

OCTOBER 30

NOCTURNE

NEPTUNE THEATRE

Discover unique art in a variety of media, with exhibitions and performances at venues around the city. Running from 6 p.m. to midnight, this festival takes over galleries and public spaces where you wouldn’t normally expect to discover cutting-edge art. Free bike-valet and shuttlebus service make it easy to get out and explore. nocturnehalifax.ca

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, a “Klezmer-folk music-theatre hybrid” starring acclaimed singer/songwriter Ben Caplan, opens today at Neptune Theatre. neptunetheatre.com

OCTOBER 25–27

HAL-CON

D.B. Woodside

The East Coast’s biggest sci-fi, gaming, and fantasy festival features an all-star guest list. This year’s lineup includes actors John Barrowman (Doctor Who), Tracy Lynn Cruz (Power Rangers Turbo), Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride), and D.B. Woodside (Lucifer), plus comic publisher Hope Nicolson, author Thea Atkinson, artist Doug Savage, and others. See it all at the Halifax Convention Centre on Argyle Street. hal-con.com

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 17

| FEATURE |

The hellaciously happy life of Marq de Villiers THE WORLD-BEATING NOVA SCOTIAN JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR HAS WRITTEN ANOTHER BOOK. IT’S ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE. AS USUAL, IT’S A HELLUVA READ

BY ALEC BRUCE

Marq de Villiers—who grew up in 1940s Apartheid South Africa, became a Reuters news agency reporter covering the revolutionary bonfires of mid-20th Century Latin America, moved to the Toronto Telegram’s Moscow bureau during the iciest days of the Cold War, assumed editorship of Canada’s most successful metropolitan magazine only to be slapped with a $102million libel suit in the 1980s, and has lived since 1997 with his wife along a storm-lashed stretch of Nova Scotia’s South Shore—has been thinking a lot about hell lately.

That’s what you get when you write a book called Hell and Damnation: A Sinner’s Guide to Eternal Torment, his latest and 18th released to generally warm reviews in March. People ask questions, like: What is hell, anyway?

He could say something portentous. He could muse, for example, about hell as metaphor for the awful state of human affairs (which he thinks it is). He could talk about its many manifestations in the collective imaginations of civilizations through the centuries (which, in the book, he does).

But in conversation, he’s more likely to confess he doesn’t really have a clue. The odd

18 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

time, though, he does have fun with the question, as he does today during lunch at The Port Grocer Café in Port Medway, about six kilometres from his home at Eagle Head.

“Buddhists don’t have a god,” he says, tucking into a sandwich. “On the other hand, they sure do have plenty of hells.” He notes that some historical texts portray ancient monks ardently embracing the notion of a supernatural that tortures the dead essentially by numbing them to death (again) with bureaucracy: perdition as a cosmic joke without a punchline but plenty of folding chairs.

From his book: “In Chinese Buddhism, hells were ever more pedantic and ever more frustrating. More impressive than even the punishments are the lists of sins… Here we find people who keep other people’s books, pretending to have lost them, people who lie about their ages when they get married, people who throw broken pottery over fences, those who write anonymous placards, those who allow their mules to be a nuisance, and people who complain about the weather. Hell often seems to consist of endlessly waiting in anterooms.”

He takes a sip of wine. “Now that,” he smiles, “is what I call hell.”

That might only mean that de Villiers— born 79 years ago, the son of Rene and Moira de Villiers, in Bloemfontein, a small city near the centre of South Africa—has never really gotten the hang of the whole “waiting in anterooms” thing.

Even as a kid, boredom not brimstone was the real adversary. Avoiding it is what first drew him to writing more than 60 years ago, eventually covering topics as diverse as the turbulent history and politics of his native country, modern life along the storied Volga River, the fate of the world’s supply of water, fermenting the perfect glass of wine, the clipped beauty of the schooner Bluenose, and tips for surviving a post-apocalyptic future.

“I had just finished high school and I was waiting to start college at the University of Cape Town,” he recounts. “I had seven or eight months on my hands, so I walked into the local newspaper where the news editor told me to go into town and come back with a story. I had no idea what he was talking about. But I talked to a few people, and went back to write the thing. ‘That’s great’, the editor said. I remember thinking: ‘People get paid to do this?’”

That’s not to say his writing life has been hell-free. Learning how to cover the turbulent politics of South America from his Londonbound desk at Reuters in the early 1960s wasn’t much fun. (“That was about the worst job I ever had,” he says.)

Similarly, covering Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon’s delicate dance during the breaking days of international détente as the Toronto Telegram’s Moscow correspondent in the early 1970s could be tricky.

And there was almost nothing uplifting about being sued, along with writer Elaine Dewar and his bosses, over a 50,000-word piece he authorized as editor of Toronto Life magazine in late 1980s that cut a tad too close to the bone for the powerful Reichmann family’s liking. (The suit was later settled out of court. “That was not the funnest part of my career,” he grimaces.)

Still, he admits he’s led a pretty charmed life: A decent education at the University of Cape Town and London School of Economics; generally good and interesting gigs on three continents; a truckload of prizes, including a Governor General’s Award for non-fiction; a happy and lasting marriage to journalist Sheila Hirtle, his sometimes writing partner; and a wildly beautiful spot in Nova Scotia,

where he and his wife have made a cozy home since 1997.

Mostly, though, he’s been free to write pretty much whatever and whenever he chooses; a liberty that his fans, friends and colleagues appreciate almost as much as he does. “He’s a fascinating blend of the downto-earth Canadian and the exotic,” says Nova Scotia journalist and author Silver Donald Cameron, who in the 1970s shared contributing editor duties with de Villiers at Weekend Magazine in Toronto. “He’s rooted here, but he writes hauntingly about Africa, where he was raised, and he writes with great authority because of the depth and accuracy of his research.”

So, then, given his broadly rewarding circumstances, here’s the other question he gets concerning Hell and Damnation (University of Regina Press): Why’d you write it?

The closest he comes to a public explanation is in his own blog: “This book is for those with an interest in the picaresque, but also for those who look on the human religious project with a certain skepticism, and are keeping a wary eye on the continuing overlap between faith and politics.”

Privately, the explanation is even simpler: hell is damn funny.

He recalls a 2012 article from The Economist called “Hell: A very rough guide’.” It began: “Hell is steadily losing adherents. The Infernal Tourist Board has therefore produced a promotional flyer.” It ended: “To sum up: ‘Hell: Your first resort, and your last!’” de Villiers deadpans: “I found the piece very interesting. . .well, that and the fact that Galileo once pegged the centre of hell at a place 422 kilometres straight down from the surface of the Earth, because that’s where Satan’s navel was indisputably located.”

He pauses, and digs for his wallet.

Apparently, it’s time to blow this particular anteroom.

“You know, I have an idea for another book,” he says absently.

About heaven, perchance?

He pretends not to hear. “I’m thinking about calling it The Longbow, the Schooner, and the Violin.”

That seems benign.

“It’s about wood.” He rises to leave. “Actually it’s about wood, commerce and art.”

He steps towards the café’s exit. “And war.”

Then, he’s gone into the briny sea air where, far short of eternal damnation, he goes to think a lot about whatever the hell he wants.

“HELL OFTEN SEEMS TO CONSIST OF ENDLESSLY WAITING IN ANTEROOMS.” —MARQ de VILLIERS

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 19

| FEATURE |

BY RICHARD WOODBURY

THE MEAN HALIFAX SAYS ROAD SAFETY IS A PRIORITY BUT PEDESTRIAN DEATHS AND INJURIES ARE ADDING UP On a Saturday in July 2017 Denika Coakley got a call that chills any parent. A driver hit her three-year-old daughter Arionna in a crosswalk near the Sportsplex in Dartmouth. Coakley says this was the only time in her life that she had “the weak-in-the-knees feeling.” It took the caller about two minutes to say Arionna was going to be OK. The collision affected the whole family. Denika, who describes herself as a relaxed person, is now more anxious. Arionna was hospitalized for two nights after the collision and saw a psychologist for a year afterwards. When she spotted pedestrians, she’d worry that drivers would hit them.

Denika’s oldest daughter, Maleigha, was there when it happened.

Afterwards, Maleigha would worry anytime Arionna got close to the road outside of the family’s home. “If a vehicle would drive by, she would rip her into the lawn and be like, ‘Don’t go out there,’” says Denika. “As much as it affected my daughter who got hit, it affected my oldest daughter the exact same amount, without the physical [injuries].”

Roughly every day and a half, a driver hits someone in Halifax Regional Municipality.

Halifax resident aspen apGaia [sic] is one of those people. He wears reflective stripes on his coat and backpack and carries a tiny flashlight with him at night that he points toward the ground with the pulsing mode on when crossing streets.

In the almost six years apGaia’s lived in the city, drivers have hit him at least 15 times. “All of them have happened because I’m a stubborn asshole because I’ve refused to fling my body out of the way of a car when it’s hurtling towards me,” he says. “If I had been a more reasonable person and recognized they’re a car and can do a lot of damage to me and I just simply gave up my rights, you know, waiting patiently for them to pass, then almost none of them would have happened.”

The reason why apGaia has allowed these collisions to occur is because of what he calls a “misguided” attempt to educate drivers to be aware of pedestrians and the rights they have.

Often when drivers hit him, they swear or make obscene gestures.

“Those people, I don’t have any faith they’re going to change their

According to the latest stats from Halifax Regional Police, 60.6% of the city’s driverpedestrian collisions happen in crosswalks.

20 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

behaviour,” he says. However, on some occasions, apGaia has seen a contrite look on the driver’s face, which he believes means they got the message.

On its website, the city has pedestrian-vehicle collision data covering 2012–17 that tallies collisions and fatalities. During this timeframe, the number of fatalities peaked in 2015 with five deaths.

In 2018, there were four deaths and there were three deaths in the first eight months of 2019.

Taso Koutroulakis is the city’s manager of traffic management. “I think we are seeing progress, although the data to date is somewhat mixed,” he says. “We have up years and down years.”

Koutroulakis says some of the ways the city has improved pedestrian safety is through installing pedestrian bump-outs, curving curbs out into the street at crosswalks to cut the distance a pedestrian has to cross. You’ll see an example at the roundabout at North Park, Cunard and Agricola streets.

In eight locations in the city, such as the intersection at Mumford Road outside the Halifax Shopping Centre, workers have installed leading pedestrian intervals. This allows pedestrians to begin crossing before drivers get a green light. “By starting the pedestrian first at the intersection, it makes the pedestrian more visible to the driver,” says Koutroulakis.

At some crosswalks where there are overhead crosswalk lights, the city has installed side-mounted crosswalk lights. It did this because of the complaints that if there was a tall vehicle in front of a driver, such as a bus or a truck, drivers couldn’t see the overhead crosswalk lights.

The city also asked the province to reduce the default speed from 50 kilometres per hour to 40, but wasn’t successful, says Koutroulakis.

He says the province said it would consider reducing the speed limit on local residential streets on a case-by-case basis. The city is currently working to determine the criteria.

Lower speeds improve the likelihood a pedestrian will survive a crash, but lower speed limits don’t necessarily mean drivers go slower.

“Typically, motorists travel at a speed they’re comfortable travelling with,” says Koutroulakis. He says that’s why traffic calming measures are important; they force motorists to slow.

Jeannette Montufar is a Winnipeg-based pedestrian safety expert and the founder of MORR Transportation Consulting. She says 90% of road fatalities come down to human error, which mainly stem from distracted driving. Cell phones are drivers’ primary distraction.

“What we can do as engineers or road safety professionals is design

PHOTO: RICHARD DRDUL

STREETS “Bump-outs” to shorten the crossing distance and prevent drivers from speeding around stopped cars are an easy way to make crosswalks safer.

a system that as much as possible accounts for human behaviour, but we can never eliminate the human element,” says Montufar.

Education is another important factor but doesn’t take hold immediately. “If you want to educate an entire generation about something, say drinking and driving for example, it’s going to take at least one generation before it sinks in … I can’t launch a campaign on no drinking and driving today and expect a change in behaviour by next year,” says Montufar.

One of the things apGaia would like to see is more enforcement. “I don’t see uniformed police officers on the corner, writing tickets for failure to yield to pedestrians and if there’s no consequence for breaking the law and endangering the lives of pedestrians, then people will continue to do it,” he says.

Montufar says enforcement has a limited impact. She uses the example of drivers who are speeding and then see a police officer.

The usual response is to slow down. “Enforcement is only effective within the vicinity and within the timeframe of when I am enforcing something,” she says.

Last summer, Halifax council adopted a goal of reducing fatal and injury collisions by 20% within five years. Koutroulakis says the city is committed to improving pedestrian safety. “From an engineering perspective, we’re doing our best to make improvements to the network to make it safer for pedestrians,” he says.

tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 21

PHOTO: AARON MCKENZIE FRASER

22 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

| COVER STORY |

The life lived AFTER DECADES AROUND THE WORLD, OCEANOGRAPHER ANYA WAITE COMES HOME TO LAUNCH HER NEXT EXCELLENT ADVENTURE ON THE HIGH SEAS OF ACADEME

BY ALEC BRUCE

Once, many years ago and for no apparent reason, a Portuguese cop claimed the future scientific director of the Ocean Frontier Institute in Halifax was a prostitute.

“I was 20, alone in the Azores, waiting to join a five-week research cruise of the North Atlantic,” Anya Waite recounts. “Suddenly, this guy grabbed my arm and started dragging me down the gangway. He saw I was the only woman among 100 scientists and crew on board. He was sure I was. . .well, you know.”

Then again, people have been saying strange things to the good doctor, about the good doctor, for as long as she can remember.

There was that time, for example, when an academic superior tried to corner her by insisting: “Feminism is over; stop fussing and get back to work.”

There was that other time when a lab supervisor attempted to compliment her by professing: “Your data set gives me a hard on.

Thanks.”

And the moment when the new dean of one university, which employed her as the sole female acting head of school, commented that it did not, in fact, employ any female acting heads of school.

It’s not that she goes out of her way to attract the attention of weirdos, she says. It just seems to come naturally (like the violin, which she plays avidly when she’s not examining the biological-physical couplings of marine organisms).

Or maybe it goes with the territory of having worked on almost every continent, doing some of the most prestigious academic jobs, in oceanography and environmental systems engineering, the world has to offer. “You have to put yourself in the way of things,” she smiles broadly. “It’s about the life deeply lived.”

That should come in handy now that she’s at the helm of one of Canada’s more intriguing and recent experiments in public-private sector collaborations. Part think tank, part incubator, part Dragons’ Den, the Ocean Frontier Institute came to life 28 months ago thanks to a $227-million commitment from the feds and various nongovernmental agencies to push the limits of collaboration between marine researchers and the rest of us.

Global warming has started the countdown on sustainable innovation in ocean sciences, where practical applications already affect everything from offshore fisheries and aquaculture to transportation and renewable energy. The Institute, which is led by Dalhousie University and its partners at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Prince Edward Island, aims to cultivate the best, newest ideas in the field.

According to Waite, who became its science head only last year, it’s exciting, timely and necessary. “We’re trying to move ocean studies to a more useful place in the conversation,” she says. “Historically, research is an ivory tower, and we’re really working to break that down; OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 23

| COVER STORY |

“DAD TAUGHT CLASSES AND WROTE BOOKS, BUT MOST OF ALL HE LOVED TO JUST GET UP AND HEAD OUT THE DOOR AND INTO THE WOODS” —ANYA WAITE

Top: Waite waters samples at Dalhousie while studying for her honours degree in the 1980s.

Left: Taking samples from Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia.

PHOTO: PAUL WEITE

Below: After high school, Waite studied violin, considering a career as a musician.

to make the dialogue easier between academics and their potential stakeholders, which include governments, industries and communities.

In fact, it won’t be easy, and it certainly won’t be a straight line.”

That alone may render her the perfect candidate for the job.

Born and raised in Halifax, the youngest daughter of a famous historian and a woman who had once been arrested for anti-Nazi agitation in her native Croatia, Waite’s early life wasn’t exactly placid or predictable.

“Dad taught classes and wrote books, but most of all he loved to just get up and head out the door and into the woods,” she says about her father P.B. Waite, now 97. “My sister Nina and I would put on back packs and go with him when we could. He was passionate about conservation.

He actually wanted to be a forester. In fact, he was one of the reasons Crystal Crescent Beaches became a provincial park. He and three of his walking buddies from Dal arranged to have the land purchased from the owner, who had wanted to turn it into a gravel pit, and put into the Province’s hands.”

Her late mother Masha, meanwhile, was a force to be reckoned with.

“She once hosted a delegation of Chinese economists in the 1970s before that country’s markets had opened up,” Waite says. “At one point during 24 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

dinner, my mother blurted, ‘Chinese economists, eh? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?’ To their credit, they loved it. The thing about her was that you couldn’t really get away with anything. She expected us kids to perform academically, engage with the world, stay fit, and, above all, challenge shoddy thinking wherever we encountered it.”

It was a tall order, and Waite did her best to fill it. After high school, she studied violin, thinking she might become a concert musician. She switched to English because, she says, she loved to write. But biology grabbed her and held on tight. And she was good at it, though that did not always guarantee smooth sailing.

The thing about inheriting both your father’s and mother’s passions and principles—wanderlust and intellectual honesty in equal measure— is that you tend to invite a certain amount of disruption into your life.

So it was for Waite in the early 1990s, when, having earned a BSc from Dalhousie and a PhD from the University of British Columbia, she entered a post-doc program at the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.

She hated it. “I left because I was devasted that the conversation there wasn’t about science anymore,” she says. “It was about money just when funds were shrinking.”

She thought about becoming an orthodontist because, she laughs now, “At least I’d have a dental plan.” Instead, she took a job running a microscopy lab in New Zealand. Then, after conducting a seminar for that country’s National Institute for Water and Atmosphere, she fell in love with oceanography all over.

She embarked on research excursions, honed her academic skills and credentials, published original papers on complex topics, and embraced the rigours of teaching and training young minds. In 1997, she moved to the University of Western Australia in Perth, where she rose to the lofty position of Winthrop Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering.

But eventually, she ran afoul of that institution’s old boy network.

“I was there for 17 years, most of them good ones,” she says. “But, it sort of closed in on me. There were serious gender issues. As I was getting more and more senior, I was getting more and more push back to the point where I was worried about my career.”

Then came an offer in 2014 from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany, of section head for polar biological oceanography to lead studies in, among other things, the microenvironments of the tiny marine plants and animals known collectively as plankton.

The move was a sea change, both figuratively and literally. “I thought here’s a spot where I can actually say what’s on my mind. I came from a place that said, ‘Please do sit down and be quiet,’ to one that said, ‘Speak up, we hired you for your brain. . .der kopf.’”

As chance would have it, that cognitive derring-do was precisely what Halifax’s Ocean Frontier had been searching for. “From the moment she arrived last year, her enthusiasm at being back in Atlantic Canada and for ocean research were immediately evident,” says Wendy Watson-Wright, CEO of the institute. “Her abundant energy and ideas will certainly help us achieve a lasting legacy.”

Surfing at Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia.

Adds Waite’s long-time colleague Paul Snelgrove, OFI’s Newfoundland-based associate scientific director who undertook his own post-doc at Woods Hole when Waite was there: “Working with her again, I can see her passion has not diminished whatsoever. It’s great to have her back playing a critical role for ocean sciences here in Atlantic Canada. She is already making a difference.”

Waite admits she wasn’t looking for a move back to her origins. But the timing seemed as irresistible as the opportunity. After 30 years abroad, here was a chance to bring it all home, squaring the big, broad circle that has been her life.

Now comfortably ensconced in her hometown with her husband and kids, in a job she’s frankly crazy about, is she worried that things will get strange again, that the weirdos will come out to play again?

She shrugs and smiles slightly. tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 25

SHOPPING

ETHICAL ATTIRE INDEPENDENT LOCAL SHOPS AND DESIGNERS OFFER AFFORDABLE FASHION ALTERNATIVES

BY CAITLIN LEONARD

Black Market’s Samantha Reid, sporting designs she bought at the Grafton Street shop.

26 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

It’s a large task to improve ethical standards in a world where “fast fashion,” mass-made, inexpensive clothing dominates. But shops like Black Market and MXM, both unique to Halifax, are making a difference one dress, T-shirt, and bracelet at a time.

Stores like these offer designs that were made in good working conditions and bought directly from the designers. Black Market, a well-known shop in downtown Halifax on Grafton Street, has been open for over 30 years. Inside is a colourful culture blend: walls covered in arrays of earrings, shelves holding sticks of incense and handmade journals, and racks of stylish cotton dresses and flowy jumpsuits. The most interesting part of the store might not actually be what’s sold, but how the owner acquires it—personally from international vendors.

Lauren Parsons, co-owner along with Wiebke Kunjl, has been on 13 of the yearly buying trips, which might include countries like India, Thailand, Bali, Ecuador, and Turkey. “It’s nice when we can get a full story from the vendors and a good feeling from them,” she says. Parsons believes the authenticity of having direct sales from vendors is why the customers respond well to the store.

The original owners, Dawn and Dominique Villermet, now retiring, have made many connections through their travels, often by popping into a new spot or even following the trail from a beautiful piece of jewelry worn on the street. “We’re always meeting new people,” Parsons says, “We’ll wander the streets of Delhi looking at little stalls, and keeping our eyes open for what’s beautiful and original.”

Parsons says they buy from working-class producers, family businesses, and independent artisans; sometimes they see the whole process of how an item is made. She says in India the staff have fostered many real friendships. “When we do business there we’re laughing, joking, and having chai,” she says. “They genuinely care about us too, and that’s a special feeling.”

They work with small factories in countries like Thailand and India.

“In places in India,” she says, “it’s a floor where the tailors all work. We can walk in to see 20 of them saying hello. It’s all very relaxed.”

She says often tailors already have clothing designs, but also heaps of fabric to choose from. “We can tweak the designs too,” she says, “or bring our own ideas. We like doing that, and people back in Canada are loving that stuff.”

At MXM, the focus is on unique designs (often local) that aren’t mass-made.

“IT’S NOT ONLY A CLOTHING SHOP, BUT LIKE A LITTLE GALLERY, SHOWING DIFFERENT THINGS FROM DIFFERENT DESIGNERS” —EMILY XIAO MENG

At Black Market “what we buy changes all the time and we get a lot of variety,” says co-owner Lauren Parsons.

Parsons says Dawn and Dominique set an excellent example on how to work in different languages and cultures. “They’re very creative,” she says, “and have a lot of fun with it. It’s about giving back to the countries.”

Samantha Reid, an employee at Black Market, says she decided to shop at the store long before working there. “I like what they stand for,” she says. “Fast fashion is really damaging to the planet and there are so many other options. It would be silly to not to try your best. You end up with original pieces as well.”

MXM on Lower Water Street also showcases international designs.

The store is geared toward what’s fashionable and trendy, with a

collection of bright designs from Korea and China, plus designs from local fashion students at NSCAD University.

The store’s owner and creator, Emily Xiao Meng, majored in textiles and fashion at NSCAD. Originally from Beijing, s he says the idea for MXM came to her because wanted a business opportunity that would allow her to stay in Halifax post-graduation. “I wanted to find a job as a fashion designer or assistant, but couldn’t,” she says. But with this idea, she says, it’s only the beginning. “It’s not only a clothing shop, but like a little gallery, showing different things from designers. I think that’s a new model,” she says.

The store also sells its own line of handmade jewelry and designs made by Meng, sporting the MXM label. She says that because Halifax offers a relatively small client base, her brand doesn’t need a large factory to make clothing. “It’s all local,” she says. “The next level is to design our own clothing and maybe even make our own fabric.” tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 27

DRINK

FALL FOR NEW BEERS AS THE WEATHER CHANGES, SO TOO DO BEER STYLES: MAKE WAY FOR DARKER, BIGGER BREW

BY KIM HART MACNEILL

Autumn is when brewers turn from easydrinking summer session beers and pilsners to roasted malts and boozier beers. While I don’t hold fast to the rule of dark beers for dark months, this season heralds the return of many of my favourite styles.

First up is pumpkin beer. Few styles divide beer lovers so sharply. Those who love pumpkin beer see it as the herald of autumn. Those who don’t… well, who cares? They should simmer down and let the rest of us drink what we enjoy.

Pumpkin Paddler from Schoolhouse Brewery is named for the Windsor, N.S. tradition of paddling person-sized, hollowed out pumpkins across Lake Pisiquid, which runs behind the brewery. Rich amber malts and pumpkin pie spices (with a generous ginger 28 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

addition) make this taste like a glass of pie without tipping over into the too-sweet zone.

It has a creamy mouthfeel like a silky stout.

My favourite pumpkin beer is by far Breton Brewing’s Jack’d Up Pumpkin. Each batch features 45 kg of pumpkin purée. Last year, the brewery changed the recipe to favour the cinnamon more prominently, thanks in part to customer feedback. You’ll find cans at NSLCs across the province from late September until it’s gone, usually just before Halloween. If you order it at the brewery in Coxheath, N.S., taproom staff serve it in a glass rimmed with a pumpkin pie spice and sugar blend to drive home that pie flavour.

Like a lot of spiced beers, let your pumpkin ale warm up a little before you crack open the

can the can, suggests Andrew Morrow, Breton’s co-brewer and co-owner. Take it out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter while you drink another beer or pour it in a glass and hold it in your hands for a few minutes before sipping. That way the spice and sweet pumpkin aroma float out of the glass enhancing your experience.

Also on tap this month is Tanner and Co.’s new Barrel-Aged Porter, its first barrel-aged brew. Brewer and co-owner Dan Tanner built the recipe to resemble one of his favourite wines, South African Pinotage. “It is like a great porter and a high end port all in one glass,” he says.

The beer starts with Tanner’s house porter recipe, which is aged in charred rum barrels

PHOTO: ANDREW MURPHY

from Ironworks Distillery in Lunenburg, N.S. Raspberry purée, fresh blackberries, and blueberries finish it off. Expect flavours of vanilla, caramel, and a hint of smoke, plus sweet berries. Find it at the brewery in Chester, N.S. at least until the end of the month.

September saw the return of Boxing Rock Brewing’s Triple. The golden-hued Belgian ale weighs in at 9.2% which means you shouldn’t open a 750-ml bottle alone. This year, to please those of us without a partner in craft-beer crime, Boxing Rock released this hefty ale in 355-ml bottles so you can tipple without tripping. It’s sweet and smooth, with just a touch of alcohol heat on the finish. Find it at Local Source Market on Agricola Street.

Another returning favourite is Big Spruce Brewing’s Amarzen Grace (märzen). This traditional Bavarian beer-style offers hints of toffee and a medium body. I first tried it last year in an oversized stein at the Marion Bridge and Area Oktoberfest in Cape Breton, served by folks in dirndl dresses and leather lederhosen just to up the authenticity. It’s a don’t-miss experience. The sweet beer cuts through the grease of traditional sausages to make for a delightful pairing. Find it at the brewery and, if we’re lucky, on tap around town.

Cooler months are a great time to stay home, and that means opportunities to break something out of your cellar. If you don’t have one yet, dark, high alcohol beers tend to age best, so fall is the perfect season to start. Visit halifaxmag.com for our primer on starting a beer cellar.

One I’ll break out soon is Unfiltered Brewing’s Commissar 2017, an oak-aged imperial stout. The Halifax brewery brews a new batch every two years. The 2019 version is oak-aged and rumfortified, in short, the perfect way to christen your new cellar. The 2017 pours black as night with subtle cocoa and rum flavours, plus a finishing burn that spreads slowly through your throat to remind you who is in charge. Find it at the brewery and Bishop’s Cellar.

For those looking to start a cellar on a budget, try Orval Trappist Ale. A 330-ml bottle of this Belgian-made beauty runs $5 at Bishop’s.

The beer’s Trappist-monk brewers makes only one commercially available beer. It’s extra dry, and dry-hopped during its second fermentation to craft an intense and funky palate pleaser that ages well.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

OCTOBER 2019 halifaxmag.com | 29

OPINION

A VISIT TO THE BLACK CULTURAL CENTRE DISCOVERING ANOTHER SIDE OF OUR COLLECTIVE STORY AND MEETING THE FOUNDERS OF THE AFRICAN NOVA SCOTIA COMMUNITY

BY MARIANNE SIMON

Recently I joined a friend to visit the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia in Cherry Brook. Since moving to Halifax from India, I’ve been visiting museums and galleries, trying hard to learn about my new home. I was excited; this was an overdue stop on my itinerary.

I expected to see a big museum but it turned out to be a small building set in charming surroundings. A sign there proudly proclaimed that the Freedom Stone was dedicated to the memory of Black Nova Scotians’ ancestors and their quest for liberty.

The Centre opened in 1983 to protect, preserve, and promote the history (dating back to the 1600s) and culture of African Nova Scotians. It is also a cultural gathering place.

I was told that the first recorded Black person to come to Canada was an African named Mathieu de Coste who arrived in 1608, serving as an interpreter of the Mi’kmaq language to the governor of Acadia. There’s a portrait of de Coste in the museum. A few thousand Africans arrived in Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Muster Book of Free Blacks of Birchtown and The Book of Negroes provide valuable details of those early arrivals.

The Book of Negros is a document created by Brigadier General Samuel Birch that records names and descriptions of 3,000 Black Loyalists, enslaved Africans who escaped to British territory during the American Revolution and were evacuated to Nova Scotia as free people.

Racism and slavery are sensitive topics for discussions. But at the Black Cultural Centre, these topics are available to visitors for discussion and were presented with great national pride. The artifacts in the centre of the museum and the different posters took me back to grimmer times. It helped me better understand African Nova Scotia history. I spent an afternoon there and wished I had the whole day to study, admire, and appreciate all the exhibits and artifacts.

The museum unfolds the history of a marginalized people, enduring hardships and heartbreaks but keeping an unbroken spirit. I felt like I was moving around with all those people

30 | halifaxmag.com OCTOBER 2019

represented in the museum. I learned about the lives and feelings of those first settlers as they cleared the forests and planted crops, building new lives; generations leading to athletes who triumphed in their fields, and acclaimed entertainers and artists. I thought of people laughing with their families, tears falling from a mother’s eyes as her child was carried away to the burial ground. The experience was deeply emotional.

The museum’s stories are of pride and resilience. It tells of people who survived centuries of oppression and continue to fight all challenges and injustices meted out to them.

“We shall overcome, we shall overcome, someday.” I could hear the famous gospel singer Mahalia Jackson’s booming voice filling the museum. She was singing with all her might, her voice piercing every heart. I had to blink very hard to stop my tears, but they fell anyway. I found kindred spirits there in the museum. I witnessed the true stories of the Black Nova Scotians playing out. Underlying it all was a mixture of triumph, celebration, and gratitude.

I stood for a long time in front of the photograph of William Hall. The Royal Navy sailor from Avonport was the first Black person and first Nova Scotian to win the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award of the British military honours system.

I admired the man and his valour, proud that his greatness was recognized by the world. He will always be one of the brilliant stars in the Black Nova Scotian horizon.

The stories of the kings and queens of Africa filled me with awe.

As I took leave of all at the museum, I could hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech echoing around me. And Rabindranath Tagore, my beloved Indian poet, was singing: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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