Digital Edition - January 23, 2017 by SPOKENewspaper

SPOKE

A LEARNING NEWSROOM FOR JOURNALISM STUDENTS

CONESTOGA COLLEGE, KITCHENER, ONT.

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Bridging the digital gap Free program teaches in-demand skills. Page 3 48TH YEAR — NO. 2

EXPLORING THE WORLD OF MERMAIDS

PHOTO BY DEEANNA ROLLINS

Tenille Maher, professional mermaid and owner of Mermaid Paradise, helps Kassie Ciaschini, 8, fit her new monofin properly to her feet. Mermaid Paradise offers mermaid swimming lessons and many other unique mermaid experiences. For video story, visit www.spokeonline.com.

Kitchener mom loses son to fentanyl

BY JOY STRUTHERS

The house on the corner sparkled with Christmas lights. Shimmering spots of different colours danced around the doorway and down the steps, beamed from a projector in the tree directly out front. Janice Walsh-Goddard, of Kitchener, didn’t want to celebrate the holidays, but put up a tree and decorations because she runs a home daycare and has three of her own older children and a grandchild to think of. Her home is impeccable. Clean and organized and welcoming. The living room is full of toys in different containers and the soft coloured floor mats that lock together like a puzzle are stacked neatly for the kids to use. You would never suspect something had gone wrong with this family. You would

never know that WalshGoddard had lost her son Iain suddenly to a fentanyl overdose. He died from addiction May 23, 2016. Walsh-Goddard and her husband Chris Goddard had four children – Adam, now 28, Iain, Heather, 23, and Nicholas, 16. The parents have been separated for years but still take care of their family jointly. Iain would have turned 26 on Dec. 14. But this past year on his birthday, instead of celebrating with him, his family released 25 red balloons and one white one. They plan to do this each year with additional white balloons for the birthdays he hasn’t been with them. His mother described him as outgoing and hilarious. “He was curious,” said WalshGoddard. “I think being curious was one of the reasons he tried drugs in the first place.” He was the child she would

PHOTO BY JOY STRUTHERS

Janice Walsh-Goddard, of Kitchener, shows off the memorial tattoo she got after her son Iain died from a fentanyl overdose in 2016. He was 25 years old. spend hours talking with. They would talk about a number of subjects and loved

spending time together. She always worried she would lose him young. One time he dove into a pool without knowing the water was shallow and hit his head. When he was older he worked painting water towers and would send her pictures he took on his phone showing how high up he was. “He was a daredevil. The first time he went to a sleepover he had to break his wrist showing off skateboarding,” she said. Even though he took risks, he was also very careful. He was neat and clean and would take off his shoes carefully as a child, unlike his older brother who would toss them off at the door. “He was the little boy who had to line all of his teddy bears up a certain way before he could go to sleep,” she said. At some point he was introduced to drugs and it may have caused the end of

a serious relationship. That is when he started to change. Walsh-Goddard wiped at her eyes under her black-rimmed glasses, although her tears didn’t spill out because she is so practised at not letting them. Her voice caught and she ran her manicured hands through her streaked blond and red hair. She pointed to the corner, near the kitchen’s round wooden table at which she sat, where the yellow and grey paint meets. It’s a bit messy because it is unfinished. “Iain was the one doing the painting. He texted me the day before he died and said I’m painting the doors,” she said. “He was my hardest worker.” An angel that always holds a burning candle is on a CD shelf in the corner, beside a picture of young Iain in a yellow frame shaped like a flower. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

NEWS

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Now deep thoughts ... with Conestoga College

Monday, January 23, 2017

FILBERT CARTOONS

Random questions answered by random students

What do you think about when you are alone in your car? “Either what I have to do that day or the guy I’m feeling.” Lori Teixeira, first-year office administration executive

“The guy beside me picking his nose because I’m probably doing it too.” Dylan Buck, first-year woodworking

“I basically just forget about everything.”

Connor Johnston, first-year woodworking

“Depends on what music I am listening to.” Morgan Knechtel, first-year dual credit

“If something crappy went on in my day and how I would do things differently.” Alicia Douglas, first-year dual credit

Romanticizing zombies

BY CASSIDY FOULDS

There have been many theories as to what the future has in store for the human race. Just looking back through the decades, it’s easy to see the trends. All we really did was take the styles and culture of the day and add some technological feats into it. The 1980s’ version of the future was just a glorified version of the ’80s. In the 1990s and early 2000s, we seemed to think that we’d keep that grungy culture, but we’d have lots of bright lights and white rooms. In the 2010s, things started to change. The popular theory of what the future could become was a bit more bleak and medieval. Medieval as in zombie apocalypses. The idea of zombies and the living dead isn’t new. It goes further back than any zombie film you have seen. Legends, horror stories, religions and societies have all featured some sort of living dead as far back as these things have been recorded. So why now? Why the sudden interest? We could probably blame it on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Yes, the show is based on the comics with the same name by Robert Kirkham, but the craze would not have reached this height without a little help from an outlet with a much larger target audience. For anyone unfamiliar with The Walking Dead, the premise is that the dead have become reanimated. They’re hobbling around neighbourhoods, cities and countrysides, trying to take a nibble

ILLUSTRATION BY CASSIDY FOULDS

The Road to Zombie Utopia could be just one more way to romanticize an apocalypse. out of every living person they spot. Societies fall, governments crumble and survivors are left to fend for themselves. That might leave you scratching your head, wondering why anyone would actually want this to happen. That’s a valid question. I think that apocalypses present people with the idea of a free and lawless land. If there aren’t any societies, there’s nothing stopping people from quitting their desk jobs, from not paying their bills, from not having to worry about school or just life in general. It’s the classic Get Out of Jail Free card. In some cases, the zombie apocalypse is romanticized to be beautiful and exciting, as is the case in the game produced by Naughty Dog called The Last of Us, where the world

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

eTexts won’t save students money “Where I am going and all of the stuff I have to do.” Heather Waito, second-year community and criminal justice Smile Conestoga, you could be our next respondent!

In your eText initiative story, the writer notes how students will save 40 to 50 per cent of the cost of hardcover textbooks thanks to this initiative, but then goes on to state that the textbooks will be a mandatory purchase before the start of the school year. Can you explain to me how I will be saving money when I am forced to spend money?

If I can buy a used textbook for pennies on the dollar or get one for free, why am I being forced to buy an eText version that I do not want. What programs will have the privilege of being forced to buy ebooks that they can get elsewhere? Robert Gissing Mechanical systems engineering degree student

became a sort of natural utopia, short of the literal apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic impacts. In other cases, these scenarios are presented as the bane of human existence, and all that’s left is survival with almost no hope. People fantasize about a future devoid of human hustles and bustles, and that’s what is so appealing. That’s really all it is, though – an interesting fantasy in which people are freed from their worries, and only have to focus on the simplest of human instincts … survival. Do I think an apocalypse of zombies will ever take us over? Probably not. But this fad isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. Zombies are now an integral part of our culture. It’s just one more craze to add to the list.

NEWS

Monday, January 23, 2017

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New program partners with small business BY ROLAND FLEMING

A new program that will partner students with small business owners is being offered to alumni at Conestoga College and Wilfrid Laurier University and it will not cost them anything. The Digital Innovation Skills Certificate (DISC) program will accept 60 students aged 18 to 29, who will be split into two sections of 30. They will be teamed with 10 local small businesses. The program runs for a duration of 11 weeks and is subsidized entirely by Ontario’s Youth Skills Connection fund. To be eligible, students must have either a degree or diploma that is not business-related. Although Conestoga and Laurier are partners in the project, any graduate with a degree or diploma can apply. The program is focusing on non-business graduates in order to help those who may be struggling to find employment. The program will be of mutual benefit to local business owners and potential students. “We are offering really indemand skills that are solving a really important problem on both sides, both for students and small business owners,” said Jeff Mitchell, the DISC program co-ordinator. Many local business owners either do not have the knowledge or skills to compete on the digital market, or if they do, don’t have the time to devote to building their online sales. These businesses will find themselves increasingly at a disadvantage if they do not adapt to the digital age. “The candidates we’re looking to support are … businesses who are struggling to achieve real growth digitally,” said Mitchell. The process of choosing those businesses is still being conducted, but they plan to partner with a range of different kinds of business, whose size will range from about five to 40 employees. Every small business owner who participates in the program will get a team of five to six students who will be managed by a coach from a local digital marketing industry. As participants of the program, small businesses will have an initial consultation with the DISC leadership team. “The outcome of that consultation will be the creation of a problem package that really defines the digital needs of the small business owner,” said Mitchell. The program seeks to fill the digital gap for these businesses while providing relevant and marketable skills to graduate students looking for work. Students participating in the program will be learning three key components

in order to execute a digital marketing and e-commerce project that will strategically impact the growth of these local small businesses. “We’re talking about using these skills to bring in real dollars for real businesses,” said Mitchell. The first component will teach students how to build an online store using Shopify. Shopify is a platform that businesses can use to create an online store, and is a partner of the DISC program. Upon graduation students will be able to work as freelance sales representatives for Shopify. After learning how to build an online store, students will also learn how to drive traffic to that store through a digital marketing module. Hubspot is a digital marketing tool that students will engage with and is also a partner of the DISC program. “They will gain an understanding and mastery in things like content production, leveraging social media to amplify your messaging, and using search engine optimization,” said Mitchell. “I think they’ll really hit the ground running with timely, current skill sets, from some really great partners … a chance to apply knowledge

PHOTO BY ROLAND FLEMING

Sheila McGlashan is helping develop the Digital Innovation Skills Certificate at Conestoga College. and skills in a real small business environment,” said Sheila McGlashan, manager of part-time studies and special projects at Conestoga College. The final component will be to learn project management skills. This component of the program is being custom built by Conestoga faculty. “Our role is to facilitate the project management module to provide a foundation to help the students plan and execute a project contextual

to the defined digital skills for small business in today’s marketplace,” said McGlashan. Students will use all of these skills to complete a capstone project to promote digital growth in the business. Each business partner will be granted a $2,500 budget for the capstone project that the students will be developing. Students who complete the program will receive a graduate certificate from Wilfrid Laurier. Students can apply now to

be part of the first class beginning on March 6. Applications can be filled out at www.discwr.com. There will be some competition for entry into the program, as more than 70 students have already applied. The second offering of the program this year will begin the first week of June. For students interested in learning more about the program, information sessions are being held on Feb. 2 and 9 at Shopify in Waterloo.

FEATURE

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Monday, January 23, 2017

Mom makes noise about fentanyl

 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Walsh-Goddard was visiting her father in England when her son died. She ignored her cellphone when it started ringing, but after her eldest son tried to call for the third time she answered. After throwing her phone and running straight into a wall she fled outside and tossed herself into flowerbeds, smashing her own body into whatever was in her way. “I didn’t know what to do with myself so I lay on the ground and screamed at the sky.” She flew home the next day, after a sleepless night of staring at her own feet. For a couple of years they had struggled with Iain’s drug use and had tried to find him help. They got him a counsellor, took him to a family doctor and the hospital. She asked her own doctor many times for help. They tried to put Iain in detox and into a rehabilitation centre. “We tried tough love. We tried everything,” she said. The illness and the withdrawal were severe. Doctors wouldn’t help, the lawyer representing him in his criminal court case for driving impaired wouldn’t help. No one would listen. To pay for drugs he sold most of his belongings and stole from his family. He took a computer to sell and emptied his mother’s savings account. He was eventually put in jail for his driving violations. “This was a young man who was desperate,” said WalshGoddard. He knew he was hurting his family and himself, but he just couldn’t stop, even when he wanted to. Walsh-Goddard regrets not doing more, and is angry that help wasn’t more available. She wishes for change, and action. There are people in the community doing what they can to provide help for addicts and people at risk of contracting diseases and becoming ill or overdosing. They are also pushing for change and trying to end the stigma. The work done at Sanguen Health Centre is crucial. Violet Umanetz is the manager of outreach at Sanguen for education and prevention. They provide different types of harm reduction kits to drug users who use different types of drugs. These can be obtained at their offices and from other locations and staff also go out on the street to find and help the people who most need them. Workers go out in the community health

van with various supplies Thursdays in Kitchener from 6 to 9 p.m. and Fridays in Cambridge from 4 to 7 p.m. “Each week we’re seeing 150-200 people and that’s in a total of six hours,” Umanetz said. They have naloxone kits (also called Narcan) and provide training for administering this life-saving drug. Naloxone is a medication used to prevent opioid overdose and can be given to people without any risk. It will prevent the overdose for a short period of time so medical professionals have time to respond. Naloxone is also available at pharmacies to anyone who has a health card. Drug users, family and friends or people who work in the community could save lives by having the drug with them and knowing when and how to give it to someone. “Every single person should have a naloxone kit available to them,” said Umanetz. Some people may not be comfortable with needles, but training is provided no matter where you get the drug. Places like Sanguen offer longer sessions but someone can learn about naloxone and how to give it in about 15 minutes. Soon Sanguen and other outreach workers will have a nasal spray instead of a needle which will be preloaded and ready to go. “Even if they are not breathing it is effective because it is absorbed through mucus membrane,” said Umanetz. Fentanyl is to blame for a number of recent overdoses in Waterloo Region. “A huge number of people all overdosed rapidly in a cluster,” Umanetz said. It is not just new or occasional users overdosing, it is seasoned users who are very careful and have been using for some time. Many don’t know that fentanyl is in their drugs because it is being sold as something else. “It could be in anything,” said Umanetz. Police will only test drugs if they have confiscated a large amount. Also, overdoses have not been regularly recorded in the past. “As a region we are trying to get better at tracking overdoses,” she said. People need to be aware of signs and be prepared to help people in jeopardy. People in overdose can slow down and become nonresponsive, and their lips and fingernails or gums can start to turn blue. They can also overdose dramatically and fall to the ground. “The biggest red flag for

PHOTO BY JOY STRUTHERS

Janice Walsh-Goddard holds a photo of her son Iain. It took some time for her to be able to look at adult pictures of him. Now she keeps many photos of Iain on her phone that were from his Facebook page to show people. me, if I’m with someone and they’re using, is if they respond. Create some pain. If they are not responding to that, they need help,” said Umanetz. Pinch them, shake them, or try to get a response. Naloxone should be given right away, and then paramedics need to be called. Umanetz strongly feels that everyone should know about drug use and the help that can be given. People may think that it doesn’t affect them but they would be surprised to know how many people use drugs in the community. “There is so much stigma attached to drug use,” she said. More people are addressing the fentanyl crisis and opioid addiction with the increases in overdose deaths. “We are finally starting to talk about it. We are finally talking about drug use,” said Umanetz. Janice Walsh-Goddard wants to talk about it. She wants to share her experiences. She copes with her loss in different ways. She talks to others and has met a number of moms on Facebook groups who have also lost children. They support each other. Walsh-Goddard got a memorial tattoo this past December, on her son’s birthday. She plans to do that every year. “Iain loved ink,” she said. She also started a journal

so she could write down the things she wanted to say to her son. The first thing she wrote was that she no longer feared death, having lost him. She believes in the possibility she might see Iain again. She has a glass display cabinet in the hallway of her house that holds special things. There wasn’t much left of Iain’s personal items but she did keep his white Nike sneakers and a Tae Kwon Do certificate and some ribbons. Clay objects Iain made sit in front of his baby book. They have his name and his age when he made them written on the bottom. There are two family photographs, the last ones that were taken of them together, and three angels that keep watch from the top shelf. Two were presents from her son when he was younger. Walsh-Goddard took out one angel and turned it over, winding a little dial and soft music started to play. “These are my treasures,” she said. She is still just a mother trying to protect her son. She keeps Iain’s ashes in her bedroom closet because the idea of putting him in the ground was more than she could handle. They had been planning to bury him later in the year, but when it started to snow she knew she couldn’t do it. She wanted to keep him warm.

PHOTO BY JOY STRUTHERS

This clay creation was made by Iain Goddard when he was eight years old. His mother keeps some special items like this in a glass cabinet in her home. On the anniversary of his death she hopes to scatter some of his ashes. She is not confident she can do it, but knows it is what he would have wanted. “He loved to go to Algonquin,” she said. “He loved the outdoors. We are going to try to get a cottage.” Walsh-Goddard wants to help others any way she can. She does not want her loss to be for nothing. “If you have a child or a brother or sister or friend on drugs, don’t hide. Make a big noise so you can save them,” she said.

OPINION

Monday, January 23, 2017

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Vegas Knights are far from golden BY ANDREW BENNY

The National Hockey League (NHL) will be up to 31 teams for the 2017-2018 season with the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights, a team that is going to end up being anything but “golden” for the league. This was an opportunity for the NHL to make a change that could have been a potential fix to the financial problems being experienced by other teams throughout the league, but by bringing in an entirely new franchise, instead of moving one, that chance has been wasted. According to annual NHL evaluations done by Forbes, six teams have recorded negative financial numbers over the last two years. This could perhaps be attributed to an off-season or low attendance, but then there are the cases of teams like the

Andrew Benny

Opinion Florida Panthers, who have hemorrhaged $154 million since 1998, or the Phoenix Coyotes who literally had to be bought back by the league itself when previous owner Jerry Moyes thrust the team into bankruptcy. How can the league not take a look at teams such as them, or the recently struggling Carolina Hurricanes, and think that a move to the new, bigger, untapped and more excitable market that is Las Vegas isn’t the right call? After all, Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee said in a statement that the team “had already

sold an excess of 14,000 tickets for the upcoming season,” so the interest is clearly there. But the answer to why not move a team, is the same thing it always is: money. The Knights will be the first professional sports team to ever call the entertainment capital of the world home and were only made possible by billionaire, philanthropist owner William Foley, who purchased the rights to an NHL expansion for $500 million. Keep in mind that only 11 teams already in the league are valued at or above that price. That $500 million goes directly into the pockets of the 30 other teams owners. Plus, since it is them and the NHL’s board of governors who vote on whether to allow a team to move or be allowed into the league, the choice was obvious.

GEEKS TAKE OVER COSPLAY AND GAMES ABOUND AT TRI-CON KW A cosplayer looms over the convention floor at Tri-Con KW 2017 at THEMUSEUM in Kitchener. The annual convention celebrates geek and nerd culture and drew several hundred attendees on Jan. 14. For video story go to www.spokeonline.com. PHOTO BY SCOTT BLIINKHORN

WINTER CARNIVAL DANCES INTO STUDENTS’ GOOD GRACES Erica Binder, a ballerina from Toronto, performs for students in the Atrium at Conestoga’s Doon campus as part of CSI’s Winter Carnival on Jan. 9. For video story, visit www.spokeonline.com. PHOTO BY SCOTT BLINKHORN

Besides the financial blunder of creating a whole new team, it is also a painful process for fans everywhere. Expansion drafts are entertaining, but only until your team loses one of it key players. This is something that is becoming a frighteningly real nightmare for many a hockey viewer as the Vegas expansion draft day, set for June 18, draws closer. As if to justify the poorly timed move, McPhee and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman believe the team will be competitive right away, and are being extremely vocal about how they expect to see a lot of success from the franchise immediately. “We’re going to build an organization and a team that people will be proud of and

we’re going to do it quickly and we’re aiming at a Stanley Cup,” McPhee said at his inaugural press conference. The NHL hasn’t seen a new team introduced since the debut of the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000, nor has it ever seen an expansion team contend for a playoff spot in the first season – ever. But hey, who knows. Expansion itself is not the root of the problem. The NHL just needs to be focusing on creating and ensuring a solid financial backing for teams and players already in the league. The league’s board of governors should realize it would be more prudent to fix what they have, rather than bring something entirely new to the ice.

COMMENTARY

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Monday, January 23, 2017

Financial future is gloomy BY RILEY LINSEMAN

A financial report released by the Finance Department last month suggests that Canadians’ wallets will be taking a hit once again. The report is looking ahead to 2050 and beyond, making many predictions about the country’s finances. The Liberals have been known to be big spenders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t changing that perception. Looking as little as eight years ahead (2025), Andy Blatchford, a Canadian Press journalist who analysed the report, wrote in a Jan. 5 article the government will have run up a $25-billion deficit. The report states that it looks like the deficit will continue to grow, with $36 billion being added to it in 2030, and another $38.8 billion in 2035, $33.9 billion in 2040, $21.6 billion in 2045 and $2.2 billion in 2050. An even scarier thought is what all these add up to. “If such a scenario plays out, the document says federal debt could climb past $1.55 trillion in 2050, more than double its current amount,” Blatchford said in the article. How can a government rack up this much debt? The report suggests it’s because baby boomers are starting to retire now. For the first time in the history of Canada, there are more people 65 years of age and over than there are children under 15, Blatchford said. This means there will be fewer people working, thus fewer paying income tax, but more money being spent on programs and services for seniors. During the election, one of the reasons people voted Liberal was because they were assured the party would never run up more than $10 billion in deficits. They promised we’d be out of debt by 2019. The reason so much money is currently being spent is to try and help Canada’s weak economy. According to a story in the Financial Post, the country’s economy will stay stuck on a less-than-five per cent growth rate until 2030. The estimated rate for 2016-2020 is 1.8 per cent and only 2 per cent from 2021-2030. Despite this, the government shouldn’t be spending like it’s Christmas. Running up a trillion-dollar deficit is outrageous and unacceptable. Fiscal responsibility must be the order of the day, or future generations will pay dearly for the Liberals’ mismanagement. The views herein represent the position of the newspaper, not necessarily the author.

Letters are welcome Spoke welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be signed and include the name and telephone number of the writer. Writers will be contacted for verification. No unsigned letters will be published. Letters should be no longer

than 500 words. Spoke reserves the right to edit any letter for publication. Address correspondence to: The Editor, Spoke, 299 Doon Valley Dr., Room 1C30, Kitchener, Ont., N2G 4M4

The binge-inducing streaming service, Netflix, is growing in viewership and addiction. Will we ever care about the outdoors again?

Tax talk opens my eyes

I turned 20 at the beginning of this month. I have been living an hour and a half away from home for two years now, and I am pretty self-sufficient when it comes to getting to school and work, spending wisely and understanding basic life skills. However, a couple of days after my birthday, my parents decided they wanted to have the ever so dreadful and painfully confusing tax talk. For roughly two hours we discussed how to pay taxes, how to file your taxes, what can and cannot be written off and basic things to keep myself organized throughout the year. Since then I have been thinking a lot about what we are taught in school, and how it doesn’t prepare us for the real world. The average person spends roughly 15 per cent of their lives in school, not including the time that they are in post-secondary. Students are taught math, science, history, geography, English, gym, French and arts as well as different high school electives. However, out of all this

Brandy Fulton

Opinion time that is spent in school between the ages of four and 18, I have never been taught real life skills. Now this goes back to the talk with my parents. It was like teaching a kid their ABCs or 123s. I was asking what seemed like dumb questions, and although I was given an answer I still had no clue what I was doing. Unfortunately, this goes further than just paying taxes. My mom’s friend referred to balancing a chequebook while we were talking and I had no idea what this meant. I had to pretend to check my phone so I could look it up on Google. Did you know that if you don’t pay your taxes, you could be fined anywhere from $1,000-$25,000 and face one year in prison, according to the Canadian Income

Tax Act? Few people know about these kinds of laws. If I wasn’t so open to my parents about what was going on in my life, I would have never understood that I was working at a job that was discriminatory toward my religion and desire to go to church, because I was also never taught about basic human rights. In 2014, high schools in Oklahoma added courses to their curriculum that taught students 14 life skills in personal finance. This included balancing a chequebook, saving for retirement, rights and responsibilities for renting and owning a home and identity fraud and theft. Other schools across the U.S. have been making these changes as well. I urge the government to add these to our curriculum. I think that these need to be taught in high school so students who are preparing to leave their families and move out will understand what is coming. Isn’t it better to teach a subject that affects everyone’s life, rather than one that only affects a few?

SPOKE

IS PUBLISHED AND PRODUCED WEEKLY BY THE JOURNALISM STUDENTS OF CONESTOGA COLLEGE Editor: DeeAnna Rollins Assignment Editor: Robert Janes Advertising Manager: James Wells Spoke Online Editors: Scott Blinkhorn, Cassidy Foulds

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The views and opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of Conestoga College. Spoke shall not be liable for any damages arising out of errors in advertising beyond the amount paid for the space. Letters to the editor are subject to acceptance or rejection and should be clearly written or typed; a MS Word file would be helpful. Letters must not contain any libellous statements.

FUN & GAMES

Monday, January 23, 2017

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Useless Facts

Oh Cliff!

Horoscope

Michael Jordan makes more money from NIKE annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

Week of January 23, 2017

Aries

March 21 April 19 This January you got off to a rough start on your New Year’s resolutions. February is coming and will grant you many new opportunities for a new year and a new you.

Taurus April 20 May 20

Don’t be afraid to be overly self-confident this week. You’ve worked hard, rock it.

Gemini May 21 June 21

Decisions are often difficult for you. This week a big decision you have been struggling to make will become clear.

Cancer June 22 July 22

Call the family member you have been avoiding. Blood is thicker than water.

Leo

July 23 August 22 This week will see a brief break in your stubbornness and productivity will ensue.

Virgo

August 23 September 22 Your good memory will be more than helpful this week. Don’t procrastinate on the things you haven’t forgotten.

Libra

A snail can sleep for three years.

September 23 October 22

Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

Something simple will catch your eye this week and appear to be a beautiful masterpiece worthy of The Louvre.

The slogan on New Hampshire licence plates is “Live Free or Die.” These licence plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.

Scorpio

October 23 November 21 Your intrigue of the darker side of life will get you into trouble this week. Be cautious of the dark alleys that catch your eye.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

Sudoku Puzzle

Sagittarius November 22 December 21

Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner that every row, every column and every 3x3 box accommodates the digits 1-9, without repeating any.

A confrontation spurred by your short temper will occur on Wednesday. Don’t worry, it won’t take long to resolve.

Capricorn December 22 January 19

This week your wit and seriousness will bring you something big and unexpected.

Aquarius January 20 February 18

Simple words in conversation often invoke a poetic response in you. Write those down this week and reread them on Friday.

Pisces

February 19 March 20 Your trustworthiness will grant you something extraordinary this week. Be open to new things on Thursday in particular.

Eloki Richbeam channels languages unknown to earthlings when she feels inspired. As a result she finds peace in stargazing and swimming at night.

Word Search

NEWS

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TALKING ABOUT HOW HIS ART CAME TO BE

Travelling home for the holidays is worthwhile BY SHARON SAMUEL

PHOTO BY WENDY HUENUL-VALDES

Artist Patrick Cull talked about the history of the Huron Tract, which inspired his artwork, at the Open Sesame consignment shop in downtown Kitchener on Jan. 11. For video story go to www. spokeonline.com.

Monday, January 23, 2017

It was good to be home again. My journey back to India began on Dec. 9 when I boarded my 9:15 p.m. Emirates flight. Wow, that Boeing was a big one. I sat in my comfortable seat, leaning on the window and trying to sleep as I had a 13-hour journey ahead of me. After reaching Dubai airport I took another flight to Kuwait to meet my mother. I loved being at my mom’s place because she cooks so much food for me to eat that I miss her right now. Some of the Indian dishes she prepared were spicy chicken curry, pepper chicken, lamb curry, crab fry and fish fry. I missed idli (a savoury cake) and dosai (a type of pancake made from a fermented batter). Unfortunately, I don’t know how to cook them. But my taste buds had a pretty good time with everything my mother served me. After a food-filled fun time

with her, I continued on my journey to India to meet my father, relatives and my friends. The temperature in Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, when I landed was 30 C and I took off my jacket immediately when the hot wind blew over my face. I enjoyed the heat while my fellow Chennaites had a hard time coping as it was winter and temperatures fluctuate between 22 and 30 C, which is chilly to them since they are used to summer highs of 35-43 C. Three weeks with my father was really not enough. One of our traditions every morning was to take a photo together. I have 23 photos of my father and me that await photo frames. My country was and is struggling a bit with certain financial changes as demonetization is going on. There are also lots of protests in my state as people try to save our cultural sport Jallikattu, where a bull is released in a crowd and a person from

that crowd has to grab the bull’s hump and ride as long as he can and bring the bull to a stop. Animal activists and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in India are against the sport due to human fatalities and injuries sustained by the bulls. The Supreme Court of India banned the practice in May 2014. Other than those two things that cause confusion and tension in my country and in my state, my stay was pleasant and enjoyable. I hope and wish my people would have peace after the problems subside. After I waved a sad bye to my father at Chennai International Airport, I boarded my flight back to Canada on Jan. 9 and arrived back in Kitchener on Jan. 10. It actually felt good when the cold breeze touched my face. Although I miss my family, I am happy to be back in the snowy weather with my Spoke family and friends.