the carillon
vol. 64, issue 10
november 4 - november 10, 2021
SIS-tem issues
p. 3
campus cafe p. 7
carillonregina.com
holtby p. 11 intentionality
p. 16
the carillon the staff
editor-in-chief editor@carillonregina.com
holly funk
executive director business@carillonregina.com
jacob nelson
production manager production@carillonregina.com
morgan ortman
advertising manager advertising@carillonregina.com
ty cote
technical editor tech@carillonregina.com
shae sackman
multimedia/graphics editors multimedia@carillonregina.com graphics@carillonregina.com
sarah carrier rooky jedege
copy editor copyeditor@carillonregina.com
aurel dumont
news editor news@carillonregina.com
sara birrell
a&c editor aandc@carillonregina.com
hannah eiserman
sports editor sports@carillonregina.com
vacant
op-ed editor op-ed@carillonregina.com
sarah nakonechny
distribution manager distribution@carillonregina.com staff writer
vacant hammad ali
staff writer
staff writer
gillian massie amina salah
news writer
vacant
a&c writer
jorah bright
sports writer
victoria baht
this could be you!
contributors
board of directors holly funk, lindsay holitzki, joseph holoein, dustin smith, jacob nelson and honourary members hammad ali, cassandra byblow, morgan ortman
vol. 64
the paper
227 Riddell Center University of Regina - 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2 www.carillonregina.com Ph: (306) 586 8867 Printed by Star Press Inc, Wainwright, AB The Carillon welcomes contributions. Opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are expressly those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Carillon Newspaper Inc. Opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in the Carillon are those of the advertisers, and not necessarily of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. or its staff. The Carillon is published no less than 11 times each semester during the fall and winter semesters and periodically throughout the summer. The Carillon is published by the Carillon Newspaper Inc., a non-profit organization. land acknowledgement The Carillon is written on treaty four territory. As such, the staff recognize that we are living, working, and telling stories on and of Indigenous lands. We recognize that we are on the traditional homelands of the Nakota, Lakota, and Dakota peoples, along with the homeland of the Métis nation. The carillon understands that it is pointless to acknowledge the land on which we work without speaking to our commitment to telling stories and prioritizing voices that further the return of the land to its place sacred place in the cultures of those that live here. the manifesto In keeping with our reckless, devil-may-care image, our office has absolutely no concrete information on the Carillon’s formative years readily available. What follows is the story that’s been passed down from editor to editor for over sixty years. In the late 1950s, the University of Regina planned the construction of several new buildings on the campus grounds. One of these proposed buildlings was a beltower on the academic green. If you look out on the academic green today, the first thing you’ll notice is that it has absolutely nothing resembling a belltower. The University never got a belltower, but what it did get was the Carillon, a newspaper that serves as a symbolic bell tower on campus, a loud and clear voice belonging to each and every student.
the people’s friend; the tyrant’s foe
The University of Regina Students’ Newspaper Since 1962 November 4 - November 10, 2021 | Volume 64, Issue 10 | carillonregina.com
news
Hallowe’en season has come and gone, but there’s one final hurrah with articles on a spooky local hike and creepy literature recommendations. Focus is brought to failures in the Saskatchewan Income Supplement program, and the Sask Party’s chasing uncertain future potentials rather than bettering current and avoidable realities. This week I contributed graphics rather than writing - we would love to feature your images! We also have plenty of space to include student-journalism articles, creative writing, reviews, critiques, and even satire, so please reach out to myself or any section editor.
Poverty in SK
arts
p. 3
Saskatchewan Income Supplement program rarely gives enough to cover both rent and groceries, increasing homelessness as we head into winter.
Keeping momentum
arts
p. 5
New café boasts local products, delectable daily features, and is a gorgeous five-minute stroll from campus.
sports
sports
Shrek as metaphor
p. 7
Ever wondered why the years start coming and they don’t stop coming? How we fed to the rules, only to hit the ground running? Prepare yourself for Carillon exclusive insights on Shrek.
op-ed
Holly Funk
Editor-In-Chief
photos cover...............................samanda rakas news....................................amina salah a&c......................................jorah bright a&c............................sanjeev beekeeper sports................................arthur images sports................................diya pokharel op-ed......................................feeh costa
Brandon Hotlby
p. 9
Brandon Hotlby, hockey goalie and Cougars team member for five years, digs into position difficulties, injuries that allegedly aren’t that bad, and humour boosting team morale.
Hot potato
p. 10
Remember playing don’t-let-the-balloon-touch-the-floor as a kid? Turns out that all along, we were unknowingly training for an international competition. Now it’s here.
Taking time
p. 12
Staff Writer Hammad Ali explores how to improve work quality by intentionally setting aside time for the things that calm you.
news
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editor: sara birrell news@carillonregina.com the carillon | nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
Rally highlights the fallout of province’s catastrophic welfare system Poverty is a policy decision
amina salah staff writer In response to the burgeoning numbers of people being forced into homelessness by the province of Saskatchewan’s much-maligned Saskatchewan Income Supplement program, some Regina residents organized a rally at the Legislative Building on October 27, the first day of the new legislative session. While the rally was well attended, it also drew antivaxxers, many of whom were rude, loud, and obnoxious to other rally attendees. Alejandra Cabrera, one of the organizers of this The SIStem is Broken rally, spoke to the Carillon about the reasons behind organizing the gathering and what she hopes to see change. What is the purpose of the rally? What inspired you to go about making it happen? I’ve been working for this project that had exposed me to the system that folks were going through when navigating social assistance. As of August 31, the ministry of social services changed the income assistance program. We’ve seen a huge spike in folks who are becoming homeless. It is getting worse and worse with the weather changing. Meara Conway mentioned at a previous community emergency meeting that the ledge was going to be back in person on Wednesday October 27, she said it would be a perfect opportunity to greet the ministers when they get back to work. I jumped on the opportunity to see if there was anyone putting it on. From there, I connected with other folks who work in the same field and have experience and took it from there.
What are the main issues with the Canadian welfare system? The previous system, SAP/ Saskatchewan Assistance Program, compensated folks and gave direct deposit to the landlord. The ministry was responsible for paying utilities to the companies. SAP was still well below living wages based on inflations. It was still lacking based on how much people were getting. But it was still helpful, because it gave people the option that they wanted to pay for landlords. But they
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went over in utilities. Now there is no additional coverage. You are given a basic benefit of $285, so even if you pull that all together, it is still not enough. Maybe you have a house and power but you might not have money for food or transportation or medication. Based on how folks are unable to pay rent on the last month alone, there is about 31 per cent of evictions in September in Saskatchewan. Landlords are now not taking people who are on assistance. It is straight up discrimination but landlords won’t say it outwardly.
homelessness, they get jumped, their things are stolen, they end up in the emergency room quite often, and those are expensive things. In the long term, it is cheaper for us as a civilization. You can tell a lot about a society based on how they treat their most vulnerable folks. I think it is important the people making these policies go through the system themselves. It is important to see what folks are going through. You need to know how it actually works. They need to include other organizations. They rely so
I think it is important the people making these policies go through the system themselves. It is important to see what folks are going through. You need to know how it actually works.
– Alejandra Cabrera
also had the option that it could be direct. Obviously, a lot of folks chose that option. It’s hard to manage finances when your income is so tight. Now that they switched to SIS, Saskatchewan Income Support, there is no option. It’s deposited directly to the person’s bank account or they receive a cheque and they’re given a fixed amount of income, and based on that they are responsible for paying the landlord and the utilities. For a single person, they get $575 for an apartment, and that includes utilities and everything else. There is nothing you can find for that amount. At least before, the social services would cover if the person
What do you think the privileged Canadian needs to understand or know about the issue? I think it’s interesting for people to try and think about how they can think of living on $860 a month looking at the market right now for renting. For couples, they get $750 plus the $285 each. You have to make choices. Even the person with the best financial skills would struggle on that. It’s a system that was set up for people to fail. We also need to consider that housing is crime prevention. Consistent housing is crime prevention. It also saves people’s money. Every time people experience
much on non-profits. If that is the case, if they want to rely on folks in the non-profits to help navigate the system, then they need to include them in to the conversation. What changes do you think the welfare system should make for low income and people who are living below the poverty line? How should we accommodate them? Honestly, when CERB came out and people were getting the $2000. It covered peoples housing, food and more. Housing is a human right. The fact that people are living on the streets in this country is despicable, especially
Indigenous people who were the first people of this land. There is no reconciliation until they are treating First Nations and Indigenous Peoples respectfully. First of all, they need to increase the $2000 so that people can get more housing and include the option of direct deposit. We need an option for people to choose. If that is not an option, they need to provide assistance and education for people to become self-sufficient as they say. The ministry of social services is not the only problem. We need all ministries to be talking and communicating because at the end of the day they are all interconnected. They need to connect and share resources. It should be a system that is easier for people to navigate. What do you think we need to do to ensure that the work goes beyond that? We must keep city councils accountable because they are working for us. They are working for us and they need to respond to everyone’s needs. It has been amazing to see how the community has gathered to be able to help other people whether it is time or money. I also think that if you are unable to do those things, if you see anyone on the streets, say hello. People ignore them. A simple hello or acknowledging them is important. People need to show more empathy and patience with folks. They’re not in those positions because they want to, rarely is that the case. Kindness goes a long way.
Amina Salah
If you’re paying attention, the signs of fault in this program are hard to miss.
nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 4
news
Throne Speech emphasizes economic success, but ignores humanity Little thought for people
gillian massie staff writer While protestors gathered outside the Legislative Building to protest both the catastrophic impacts of the province’s new welfare program and to counterprotest against public health measures, the new session of the legislative assembly opened with the Saskatchewan Party government claiming to have an ambitious plan to create a better Saskatchewan. “This Throne Speech outlines an ambitious agenda for a strong and growing province,” said premier Scott Moe, whose leadership through the pandemic has seen more than 850 people, including three children, die of COVID-19. “Saskatchewan people know that our province’s best days are still ahead, and our government will continue to work hard every day to reflect that optimism and confidence.” The throne speech took place the afternoon of Wednesday, October 27, welcoming visitors back into the legislative assembly for the first time in more than a year. The central theme was, unsurprisingly, COVID-19 and how Saskatchewan will become a more prosperous and independent province by conquering the pandemic. Conquering the pandemic seems like a distant dream considering that there are so many new infections that the province’s ICUs can’t keep up and patients have been shipped to Ontario for treatment. Criticism has come from the NDP calling on Moe to enforce more restrictions to reduce transmission rates. While many are concerned about the hospital overload, others are resistant to vaccination mandates and vaccine passports. Anti-vaccination mandate protestors awaited government officials on the steps of the Legislative Building on Wednesday to “open the debate,” on COVID-19 restric-
Rooky Jegede
We’re so screwed.
tions. In response to protests outside hospitals earlier this year, the government has proposed new legislation to restrict where people can protest. However, there are reasonable concerns that this legislation may be used to prevent healthcare workers from picketing their working conditions at hospitals as well. Many hints toward expanding the budget for Saskatchewan’s 79 bed ICU units were involved, including more efforts into contact tracing and opening more positions within ICUs. The enor-
a record-breaking 339 overdoses. 2021 is close to surpassing those numbers with 269 overdoses calculated as far as September 6, 2021. New drug treatment beds will do nothing to protect drug users from toxic batches, nor do they address the underlying causes of addiction like trauma, poverty, and mental illness. The government also said there will be no changes to social assistance programs. The failed roll-out of the Saskatchewan Income Support program (SIS) which was introduced in
Jaw. The Seizure of Criminal Property Act will be amended to encourage the end to money laundering through illegal activities. The speech introduced a Saskatchewan Trafficking Response Team (STRT) which will stop the transportation of illegal drugs and weapons. A large portion of the Throne Speech was dedicated to new budgets and legislation for Truth and Reconciliation, something that is wonderful to see but long overdue. It is only to assume that this became a priority after
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If Scott Moe doesn’t get the fourth wave under control, too many Saskatchewan people will no longer be able to participate in that future. – Ryan Meili
mous stress the pandemic has put on the healthcare system has resulted in backlogs for surgeries and procedures, as hospital beds are being filled by COVID-19 patients. A rigorous game of catchup will call on the help of more healthcare professionals aiding the healthcare system. However, by the time services are restored, many people who have had necessary surgeries delayed due to the province’s mishandling of the pandemic may already be dead. Helping those with addictions was prioritized in the throne speech, with the government saying they will add 150 new addiction treatment beds to the province within the next three years. The current state of the drug toxicity crisis in Saskatchewan is bleak, with the numbers of dead continuing to climb throughout 2021. 2020 brought
August has ultimately resulted in the mass homelessness in Regina and Saskatoon. Camp Marjorie, a tent city erected in October currently has over 60 residents who have been evicted from their homes and are living on the ground in Pepsi Park. As the months grow colder, there is no solution from the government to get residents effective housing. A second protest, The SIS-tem is Broken, advocated for changes reverting to the original social assistance program, the Saskatchewan Assistance Program (SAP). A huge amount of the throne speech went into policies and budgeting for policing programs. The Government of Saskatchewan is further committing to add 60 new policing positions. Four Crime Reduction Teams are being added to Meadow Lake, La Rouge, Lloydminster, and Moose
the tragic discovery of unmarked graves in Cowessess First Nation and across Saskatchewan. $2 million has been funded into the continued search for unmarked and unidentified gravesites at previous residential school properties. A memorial is going to be built in recognition of Indigenous residential school survivors and those who died because of genocide practices. The memorial will be outside Government House in Regina. Additionally, Cowessess First Nation will assume the rights over the child welfare system for all involved on the reserve. This agreement is the first of its kind in Canada where a First Nation will have the right to care for community members as it sees fit, rather than have the Canadian state remove children from their communities. There will also be an implementation of culturally
appropriate welfare system practices for First Nation families. Culturally appropriate welfare system practices come with expansion of the Opikinawasowin program. There will also be signs implemented on the highway to identify different treaty territories. While these all seem like excellent steps to continuing with Truth and Reconciliation, it is important to keep consulting Indigenous people on how to improve and advance policies. As Moe likes to emphasize, Saskatchewan has been thriving economically throughout the pandemic; although again, the province’s economic well-being doesn’t necessarily translate into strong personal finances for residents, many of whom continue to struggle with un- and underemployment and poverty. Major investments and the creation of thousands of jobs have aided the province in difficult times. Among many investments, a new potash mine, three canola crushing plants, and Canada’s first wheat straw pulp facility are new additions. Revitalizations to the Prince Albert Pulp Mill and upgraded sawmills have seen maintenance and are ready for action. While Moe places success on economic achievements within Saskatchewan, many other social programming issues are needed to be dealt with. Opposition leader Ryan Meili was frustrated after the throne speech: “We all want to focus on the future. That starts with getting the present right,” Meili said in an interview with CBC. “If Scott Moe doesn’t get the fourth wave under control, too many Saskatchewan people will no longer be able to participate in that future.”
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editor: hannah eiserman aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
Café review: Momentum U of R’s new café offers cinnamon buns, a variety of sandwiches, and locally sourced coffee and art jorah bright arts writer Let’s be honest, right now at the U of R, food services are scarce; there are limited options. The Tim Hortons recently opened back up, but we’ve all had Tim’s before; and the Extreme Pita has been open for a while, but that doesn’t always hit the spot. Introducing Momentum: a brand new, locally owned cafe right here at the U of R. It’s located within the Innovation Building, just a short walk away from the campus green. The walk from the green to the Research and Innovation Centre is surprisingly really nice. When I went to Momentum, it was my first time making the trek through the Innovation walking trail. The walking trail provides plenty of benches and places to eat if you want to take your baked goods outside. The coffee shop is owned by Laurie Wall and CJ Katz. Wall is the owner of Saskatchewan’s first full-service catering company, Wallnuts Expressive Catering. Wall brings her knowledge of farm-to-table food into her work at Momentum. Katz is the author of award-winning cookbooks One Loaf at a Time: The Baking that Brought us Together While we Remained
Apart During COVID-19 and One Bowl at a Time: The Soups, Stews, and Bowls of Comfort that Brought us Together While we Remained Apart During COVID-19. Alongside writing cookbooks, Katz is the host of The Wheatland Cafe, a cooking show on CTV. The café has delicious baked goods like muffins, cakes, cookies, and brownies, as well as a changing baked good of the day. When I was there it was “Sin-Buns Thursday,” described as cinnamon buns so good it’s sinful – and they weren’t wrong. The cinnamon buns were a bit small but overall delicious. The brown sugar mixed perfectly with the cinnamon, and I will probably not stop talking about the icing on those cinnamon buns, which made them perfect. It was just the right amount of sweet, but not enough overpower the rest of the cinnamon bun. Similar to the pastries, they have a changing sandwich of the day. When I was there, it was a Reuben sandwich with pastrami, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese. Some of the other options they’ve had are a Cuban Panini “TLT” with turkey, ham, and pesto aioli and an open-faced vegetarian sandwich with roasted zucchini and herbed goat cheese. To go along with the sandwiches, Momentum offers the
option of soup or a salad. I was unable to try either, but based on the rest of the food, I would expect it to be fantastic. For people on the go, they offer online ordering and pick-up through their website, which is perfect for students and professors with their busy schedules who need a quick lunch. They offer a variety of hot drinks, from teas to coffees to a simple steamer. Outside the café is a sign with different drink specials that are equally delicious. The food is seasoned incredibly well, no bite is ever bland, and each flavour mixes to create a delicious meal. Each meal is served on a plank of wood which you can return and which they’ll wash and reuse. Best of all: they work with other local businesses as much as they can. The coffee is from Ambassador Coffee’s roastery here in Regina. Momentum also offers locally made canned and bottled drinks in their side fridge. Even the art is local: produced by an artist in residence from Saskatchewan, Val Moker, that makes art in their common area. The seating area at the Research and Innovation Centre right outside the café is beautiful. The lighting is fantastic and the chairs are comfortable. The biggest complaint I have is that the tables are
much lower than the chairs and you have to lean in close to make sure you don’t make a mess. The menu changes often, providing variety for customers. When asked to remove an item from a dish for us picky eaters, they happily obliged. Their menu seems to cater to all different kinds of eaters with many different options. But, in all honesty, it’s a bit pricey. No more than your trip to Starbucks for a breakfast sandwich and cof-
fee, but for a university student, it’s not something I could sustain daily like a quick trip to Tim’s for a double-double. The food and drink are well worth the price, though. Momentum Café is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is located in Innovation Place at 10 Research Drive. Their menu can be found on their website at momentumcoffee.ca.
Jorah Bright
A nice warm drink with a dollop of whipped cream sure to leave you with a milk ‘stache.
Local artist feature: Madhavi Matta Matta talks about positivity, inspiration, and mental health amina salah staff writer This week, I interviewed local artist Madhavi Matta about her work. Here’s what she had to say! What is your background? I come from a beautiful coastal area of Andhra Pradesh, [… a] state in India. My childhood education was done there. When I was a kid [I admired nature] a lot. I wanted to colour whatever I saw on paper or canvas. My paintings are [based on] my own imagination […] One day, I wanted colours and paper, so [my dad] bought them [for me] and I started. My parents are very supportive and encouraging. My husband is also very sup-
portive and caring. After I got married, I had new responsibilities, so I stopped art in the meantime. I would feel lonely [,] so I would try to [use art to] come out of the loneliness. If you have a problem, you have a solution too. When I think of painting and colours, I feel very happy. It was a form of meditation for me. I started painting again after many years. When I came to Canada with my husband and kids, I started taking [my art] very serious[ly]. I started [to realize] it is my passion. My kids are now grown up and I’m taking the time to do more painting. After one year in Canada, I got a job at Lowes. My coworkers and managers are very friendly. I am [able to balance] my work
and my passion. I’m just looking for opportunities to showcase my paintings. I had a chance to showcase my painting at the summer bash. It gave me the chance to teach my art. I [also] had [the chance to teach] a class about a week ago. What inspires you? My inspiration is Mother Nature. I’m inspired by different seasons. I enjoy every moment. I see my own imagination in everything. Day and night. Mother Nature never makes me feel bored. [She] always surprises me with different shades and colours. My [work] and nature [go] hand in hand with people: I like different cultures, different ethnicities, and ancient civilizations. I am [particMadhavi Matta
ularly] inspired by ancient Egypt [and] Rome. What do you aim to convey in your work? My paintings are [just] my own imaginations. I don’t like restrictions […] I just need freedom [… to] do whatever is in my heart and in my mind. I just colour it on canvas. I feel very peaceful painting. If one person thinks positively as a result of my painting, I will be very happy. My painting[s] are about social causes and about mental health. [One example of this is] a piece [that I painted] called “See with your heart, not your eyes” and it [shows] a child with Downs Syndrome hugging a heart. Another one is about hope. I want
to convey messages about mental health and positivity through my paintings. Mental health is the most important thing. If you are mentally healthy, you can take care of yourself and your family. What would you say to artists who are feeling lost? If you have any passion, give some time to it. If you are always working you forget how to smile. When you are doing what your heart wants, it will not make you rich, but it will give you [a reason] to breathe. If someone wants to buy a painting, how should they do it? They can message me on Instagram (@madhavi_matta) or Facebook. Madhavi Matta
nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
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Books that keep the spooks coming
Five book recommendations to keep the Halloween spirit going through November
hannah eiserman arts editor If you’re anything like me, October is your favourite month. It’s not just a month: it’s extended Hallowe’en! I remarked in my pitch list last week that once Halloween is over, I have no idea what I’m going to count down to. I love Christmas, but sometimes it’s sad trying to celebrate on a student budget; not being able to treat your loved ones to all the fancy things they deserve. And November is always incredibly bleak as the weather changes for the worst, pumpkin spice gets booted off the menu until next year, and term paper deadlines loom. This is why I’ve decided to put together a diverse list of books – that also happen to be some alltime favourites – to help keep the spooks going a little while longer. My list includes classic and contemporary works: two short story collections, young adult fiction, and a novella. I hope everyone can find something to keep their Halloween spirit brewing! The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (2012 – 2016) This young adult series comes first because it’s simply the best. When I recommend this series and am asked what it’s about, I make sure to ask how long the person has because it’s so hard to do the story justice unless I take a full hour to explain it! But really, what you need to know is this: the series focuses on a girl, Blue Sargent, and the group of boys she befriends named Richard Campbell Gansey III (he knows his name is pretentious and goes solely by “Gansey”), Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, and Noah Czerny. Blue has grown up in a multi-generational house of full psychics but has no psychic powers. Every psychic she has ever met, however, including her own mother, has predicted that if she
Hannah Eiserman
Just two of the A&C editor’s favourite books surrounded by some fake plants (because she can’t keep real ones alive...)
kisses her true love, he will die. As a result, Blue has grown up just avoiding boys in general because it’s easier and safer, and the boys that go to the town’s all-boys, prestigious preparatory school Aglionby Academy “are bastards.” She has to put aside her prejudice when a group of the so-called Raven Boys from Aglionby come to get their tarot cards read by her family. The head of the group, Gansey, is leading the other boys in a mission to find
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ant part of the books, however, is the characters, who will immediately feel like lifelong friends. Hauntings by Vernon Lee (1890) I’m so excited to recommend this short story collection, because I’m hoping to write my master’s thesis on it. Lee is the late 19th century’s most criminally underrated Gothic horror writer. Despite being extremely prolific, scholars often only remember her for her essays and writings on aes-
agistic. The collection is available for free on the Project Gutenberg website. Dust by Arthur Slade (2001) This is another book that I will recommend to anyone who will listen to me. Slade is one of my favourite authors and was incredibly formative to my own writing practice and style. He’s also from Tompkins, a small town in Southern Saskatchewan about 45 minutes from where I grew
Hauntings just contains everything I love in stories: unhinged women seducing weak men, ghosts, and art! There’s also the occasional ritual sacrifice – and lots of murder.
– Hannah Eiserman
the Welsh king Owain Glyndŵr (anglicized to Owen Glendower), who he believes is buried in Virginia and sleeping, but not dead. He also believes whoever wakes him will get a favour, and each of the characters have their own reasons for wanting that favour. That’s just the simplest way I can describe it, but no description can accurately wrangle together how magical, fun, heart-wrenching, beautiful, and real this story is, despite also containing dead Welsh kings, ghosts, supernatural beings, tarot cards, dowsing rods, and more. It’s not a horror series, per say, but focuses on the occult, and Stiefvater is an expert at writing creepy, suspenseful, and uncanny moments that will chill you for a long time. The most import-
thetics. She was friends with and influenced popular writers such as Henry James (who is forthcoming on this list) and Oscar Wilde. She was also very well known in her time. And yet, until just a few weeks ago, I had no idea she existed! I stumbled on a story of hers in a copy of Late Victorian Gothic Tales from Oxford Press (another good spooky recommendation) and it felt like coming home. Hauntings just contains everything I love in stories: unhinged women seducing weak men, ghosts, and art! There’s also the occasional ritual sacrifice – and lots of murder. Lee’s work is known for being weird and creepy, but it’s also beautiful. She has a vivid and detailed prose style, and her work is heavily im-
up! This book is set very lovingly in that corner of the province during the Great Depression, and it’s partially that setting that makes it so spectacular. Like The Raven Cycle, explaining this book is really hard. Basically, the novel begins with a young boy being picked up by a stranger on the side of the road while walking into a nearby town, Horshoe, to get some sweets. He’s just the first of the many children to disappear in the town with no explanation. Missing children are just one of the town’s worries; the drought has threatened to financially ruin all the family farms. Luckily, a man moves to town who has discovered a way to create rain – for a price. The book is absolutely unlike anything
I’ve ever read – and in four years of an English degree, I’ve read a lot. It’s aimed at middle grade to young teen kids, but actually, it reads to me more like an adultgeared novella. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (2017) This recent and debut short story collection made Machado one of the biggest names in literary horror. The collection is quite possibly the oddest thing I’ve ever read and is very experimental in both its formatting and content. “Real Women Have Bodies,” a short story about a plague where women fade into incorporeality is equal parts disturbing and devastating – it will haunt me for a lifetime. The only story I didn’t love in this collection was a rather long one called “Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU” that was short re-writes of the synopses of the show’s episodes. But, if you’re an SVU fan, this may be a stand out! The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898) You might have heard of this one, not only because it’s one of the most popular ghost stories of all time, but because it has recently been (loosely) adapted into a popular Netflix TV series, The Haunting of Bly Manor. The novella first appeared in serial format in Collier’s Weekly and has been the subject of much criticism in the field of Gothic studies. It’s not super scary by our modern sensibilities, but it’s very atmospheric, which helps build the tension. It’s a short, afternoon read that is also available on the Project Gutenberg website. Hopefully one of these recommendations will tickle your fancy, and if not, I have more!
nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
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Dexter: the OG sympathetic serial killer returns Eight years after going off-air, a new and improved Dexter is set to return to screens this week
hammad ali staff writer The film and television industry has always had a fascination with serial killers. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that the North American audience has always had a fascination with serial killers, and these industries have simply followed the money. A quick Google search reveals no less than 24 TV shows about serial killers available on one streaming platform or another. This is even before we count thrillers, police procedurals, and detective genre shows that often have minor story arcs dedicated to the theme. There is, however, one show that stands out in the minds of crime fans for two reasons. First, since this show premiered in 2006, it arrived on the scene some time before the entire industry seems to be taken over by the hype. Second, it was possibly the first show to feature the serial killer as the protagonist, the character you are meant to root for and empathize with. Based on a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter was a crime drama series about Dexter Morgan, a serial killer hiding in plain sight as a forensics analyst with Miami Police. His adoptive father Harry, who was a police officer, noticed the telltale signs in young Dexter. Instead of freak-
ing out or trying to get Dexter to bury this aspect of himself, Harry then trains Dexter to become the perfect serial killer, the one who never leaves a clue behind and is simply uncatchable. The catch? In return, Dexter must promise to only kill those who deserve it: criminals and degenerates who somehow used their wealth and power to escape the legal process. From here, the show essentially is just a series of Dexter’s murders, always with the backstory on why these victims deserved it. In the first season, his victims range from a child molester to a gang member who keeps escaping the law because no one dares testify against him. Soon though, the storyline gets more involved. We see glimpses into Dexter’s past and are able to slowly piece together the reasons for his deranged obsession. In nearly every season, we are also introduced to one other serial killer, sometimes an adversary to Dexter, and others kindred spirits if not mentors. Interwoven with the tales of murder, police investigations, and Dexter’s frantic race to stay a few steps ahead of an FBI investigation, there’s the story of him trying to blend in. Initially, Dexter is dating and interacting with his coworkers simply because, as Harry taught him, not doing so would invite attention and scrutiny. But over subsequent seasons, maybe
simply as fan service, we see his character grow, develop empathy, and form a few genuine connections. Will these last, though? Or will somebody in Dexter’s life notice the late nights, the blank look in his eyes at times, and his obsession with blood spatters? You’ll have to find out for yourself. Fair warning though, by the end of the eighth season you may find yourself more sympathetic to a serial killer than you would have
originally thought possible. The season 8 finale was aired on Showtime on September 22, 2013. While many ardent fans feel that the last season was a bit of a letdown, any TV show fan can probably think of a show that ended on a far worse note. You know, one whose title rhymes with “name of cones.” If, like me, you are a Dexter fan who never quite got closure, there is good news: Dexter is returning this fall with
a ten episode limited series, and is scheduled to premiere on November 7 on Showtime. As fans who have seen the trailer may have noticed, it seems that all these years later Dexter has finally mastered completely blending in, playing the friendly neighbor that everyone has a nod and a smile for. Will it last? I, for one, cannot wait to find out!
On Being via Flickr
A very angelic photo of Dexter Morgan – because all the angels I know have blood spatters for wings.
Shrek, colonialism, and the sands of time For the students who weren’t alive when it was released
sara birrell news editor
The other day, as I was reading an old Seventeen magazine instead of literally anything else, I was reflecting on cultural changes over the past two decades, and in particular, the fact that there are students attending the U of R right now who have never lived in a world without Shrek. Since I’m [REDACTED] years old, and since this year marked 20 years since the film burst onto the scene, changing everything, I thought I would review it for those who weren’t alive to see it reviewed when it was fresh and young. More importantly, it allowed me to fulfil an obligation to the A&C editor without actually having to put on pants or leave my apartment. Shrek, for those not in the know, is your standard quest narrative with the twist that it’s deliberately ripping off Disney conventions – like how it opens with a voiceover of our hero reading from a fairy tale story book before tearing out one of its pages and (presumably) using it to wipe himself in an outhouse. Subversive! Anyway, at the start of the film, Shrek bursts out of the outhouse and onto the scene to the rock music of Smash Mouth, which is another signal that this isn’t your average fairy tale! And remember, this was before the age of COVID, so we had no way
of knowing that Smash Mouth would one day sing “I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed” at a superspreader event in Sturgis that probably ended up killing hundreds or even thousands of people with questionable taste in music. All we knew then was that the years started coming and they didn’t stop coming. It was a simpler time. Bush hadn’t even done 9/11 yet. Shrek’s sartorial choices are pretty inexplicable, primarily because he lives alone and doesn’t seem to care about social conventions, so why even wear pants or that horrid little vest (or maybe bralette?) that looks like it’s made from one of those no-slip mats that your grandmother has on the bottom of her bathtub? His pants are leggings for some reason, and they’re a foul plaid pattern and colour that looks like maybe he ordered them in the waning days of the LulaRoe empire. And I’m not here to body shame Shrek, but it’s very clear that he’s been skipping leg day. While Shrek is sitting at his kitchen table eating a bowl of eyeballs, he’s blissfully unaware of the imminent arrival of ogre hunters, who want to kill him so they can expropriate his lands and deport undesirables to that location, which is a plot line that has been directly lifted from the history of the colonization of Australia (at this point I paused and hastily Googled “Shrek:
post-colonial???” but all I found was one Prezi from 2017 that was pretty shoddily done, so if you’re looking for an idea for a paper, there’s a free one right there). The film’s animation holds up as something that would be, if not impressive, at least not unimpressive in a movie released today, which is good since it took them four years to animate the thing, which is nearly as long as it took for the US to lose the Iraq war. At one point, while Shrek is explaining to Donkey that ogres are like onions, I recognize that
this is a reference to Peer Gynt, something I didn’t notice in 2001, and I wished that someone was around watching with me so that I could loudly draw attention to the fact that I am familiar with the works of Ibsen. The plot and humour also hold up in ways I won’t get into because I realized that A&C only needs half a page, so I need to wrap this up. I think if this movie were to come out for the first time today, it would receive reviews just as favourable as when it came out 20 years ago (don’t
check if the reviews 20 years ago were actually favourable, I certainly didn’t fact check this claim) but we would have had a lot more Buzzfeed articles titled, “20 reasons why Shrek is a body positivity icon we can stan,” which is unbearable. Let me know if you do a paper on “Reclaiming the swamp: a postcolonial approach to analyzing themes of displacement and repatriation in Dreamworks’ 2001 film Shrek” because I’d like to read it.
Sanjeev Beekeeper via Flickr
Before makeup and after.
nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
8
We need to talk about Dance Moms Abby Lee Miller was abusive in many ways, but the body shaming may have been the worst
jorah bright arts writer JoJo Siwa has become a household name these days. Kids know her from multiple works with Nickelodeon and her kid-friendly content. Adults know her as the first person to compete in a same-sex duo on Dancing with the Stars. She’s a gay icon, but few know her from way back when she first came onto the scene on Abby Lee Miller’s Ultimate Dance Competition, a spin-off of the popular show Dance Moms. Dance Moms first started in 2011 and ran for seven seasons from 2011 to 2017, with an eighth season premiering in 2019. The show followed young dancers and their mothers as the children learn and compete several new dances every week under the instruction of Abby Lee Miller. Miller is known for being incredibly mean and verbally abusive to her students. She claims that it’s just “tough love” and she’s helping bring out the best in her students, but her actions often lead the girls on the show to have panic attacks and shed violent tears. In 2014, Miller was even sued by a student for assault after they left the show, though the case was eventually dropped. Dance Moms had a lot of problems – and I mean a lot. Miller was rampant with racism, and the show often featured problematic dances (anyone else remember when Jill wanted her white daughter to play Rosa Parks? Yikes.), but one of the most common issues found on the show was body shaming. Miller dished out a lot of the negative body comments, and she received some herself. The most notable of these experiences was in season two. Miller threw a chair at a young dancer because her mother, Kelly Hyland, didn’t
Mingle Media TV via Wikipedia
The moms of Dance Moms who don’t dance and are just moms (and ones who subject their kids to torture, basically).
have time to put stoppers on the bottom of the chair. In response, Hyland said, “I’ve been here all day, making costumes for you, while you were down the road eating. Stop eating! That’s why you’re fat!” This line is now one of the iconic lines of the show, but Hyland using Miller’s weight in retaliation for being violent with her daughter isn’t acceptable either. Since then, Hyland’s el-
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by the size of the thigh botma-ing [sic] into the air” that Nia had been lazy and unproductive. Holly was clearly upset by this and told Miller she needed to stop. Another dancer, Ava Michelle, now known for her leading role in the Netflix original Tall Girl, danced for Miller in season four, but was featured on later seasons as part of a different team. Miller was frequently
that she just had a lazy eye, but it was a medical issue that would later need surgery. Miller made a comment about Chloe’s eye which was edited to say “Chloe’s finished, she’s washed up,” and Chloe’s mother, Christi, responded with “do you know anything about that kid? No!” It was later revealed that Abby had made fun of Chloe’s eye which was caused by a medical condition.
Miller says that she used to weigh her dancers and then write their weights on the wall. Hyland said that the dancers in these situations were seven or eight years old.
– Jorah Bright
dest daughter has condemned her mother’s words and fat shaming. Miller frequently attacked another dancer, Nia Frazier, for her looks. Nia was the only Black dancer on the competition team from season one through eight. In season two, Nia had gotten her hair done in braids, which her mother Holly said had been approved by the studio. In an action that was both racist and shaming Nia’s looks, Abby told Holly to “fix this hair, cause it’s horrible” and called the braids inappropriate. In one of the last few seasons featuring Nia, Miller insinuated that the young girl was fat. While ranting about how none of the girls had been working over the summer before competition, Abby said to Holly that she didn’t believe her daughter had been working because she could “tell
unkind to Ava about her body, at one point saying her arms were “horrendous,” and forced the girl to dance with an unstable umbrella because she believed Ava needed something to cover them. She also told the girl she looked like a praying mantis because of her long limbs. Miller forced Ava to stand next to another tall dancer, and when Ava was shown to be taller than her, Miller told her that she was cut from the team because of her height. Ava revealed on So You Think You Can Dance that this majorly affected her body image. The show tried to hide Miller’s body shaming at times. Dancer Chloe Lukasiak left the show in season four because of comments made about her appearance. Chloe had silent sinus syndrome, which made one of her eyes slightly smaller. Many believed
In September of 2021, Chloe revealed on her YouTube channel that she developed an eating disorder after leaving the show. Because she was no longer dancing as much after leaving the show, she started gaining weight, and she believed it to be “unacceptable” according to her standards of beauty, which were likely warped by Miller and the show. Miller’s body shaming wasn’t exclusive to the show. In an interview with Hollywood Unlocked, Miller revealed that she used to force her dancers to jump while carrying 10 pound bags of potatoes, and Kelly Hyland said in a meet and greet that while doing this Miller would tell the children that “this is what it would feel like if you gained ten pounds.” In the same interview, Miller says that she used to weigh her dancers and then write their weights on the
wall. Hyland said that the dancers in these situations were seven or eight years old. According to Hyland and her daughters, Miller went so far as to name each dancer’s stomach and often told the girls to “suck them in.” The behavior continued into season eight. Dancer Pressley Hosbach said that Miller told her “nobody wants to see those thighs,” which made Pressley incredibly upset and insecure about her body. In one of Pressley’s solos, Miller tried to have her wear a costume with a huge skirt in an attempt to hide her legs. Cheryl Burke, best known for Dancing with the Stars, took over for Miller in season seven of Dance Moms. Burke often talked about how Miller treated the girls and how she could see the lingering effects. Burke told US Magazine that “It was tough, there were a lot of tears, anger and insecurity. It was shocking to me. I couldn’t believe these beautiful girls that have zero confidence. That’s not the way to live life.” Burke added that the girls said they’d “been traumatized” by Miller “and her teaching methods.” Since the show has ended, the mothers who have made comments on Miller’s weight have said that they regret those decisions and wouldn’t make them again, but Miller has said nothing of the sort about her words towards her dancers. Dance Moms had a lot of problems, but one of the biggest was body shaming, which is clear to see from Abby Lee Miller’s words, actions, and the reactions of her dancers.
sports
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editor: vacant sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
U of R hockey goalie shares position pros and cons Ever wondered how long a slapshot to the facemask makes a goalie’s ears ring?
victoria baht sports writer The hockey season just started for the University of Regina’s Cougars, and the Carillon did an interview with a member of the men’s team: Brandon Holtby, who has been playing for the Cougars for five years now. He is currently studying Business Administration
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Arthur Images
Crouching for the save, or because you’ve had to go since first period?
from (roughly) 4:15 pm-5:45 pm (…) Then we have two games every weekend on Fridays and Saturdays, and on Sundays we help at what’s called “Cougar Cubs” where we teach new-to-hockey kids how to skate and get to enjoy the game of hockey. We are split into groups for that so I’m not out
screens.” This happens when the opposing team is about to shoot, and someone moves in front of (the goalie) and you never get to see the puck “release” from the ice. This is tough to react to as a goalie, as you don’t get the initial read on the puck’s direction and height at which it’s coming to the
ice – knock on wood! I’ve gotten my arm slashed, fractured my left arm, and have gotten my bell rung with a knee to the head, or hitting my head on the post. But the worst injury so far is my ankle from my old skate, which I currently still play with. My old skate was too tight and tore my
WHL. I now play against a lot of guys who played in the WHL, and play with a lot of guys in the WHL, but personally I never had a shot to play in the WHL starting that late. What is it like to get hit with a slapshot in the face mask?
I believe this goes beyond hockey and into all other sports, but knowing someone that played at a high level in hockey or merely having a lot of money will help you move forward in sports in youth hockey. It’s hard for some kids to make higher level teams – especially goalies, (because there are only) two of them on one team…
– Brandon Holtby
and majoring in Finance, completing his certificate in Economics, and is also the Chief Investment Officer for UR Investing. You are a goalie for the Cougars team at the U of R. What do you mostly focus on when it comes to practice time? I mostly try and focus on reacting to shots and keep my hand-eye coordination involved (basically focusing on the puck) in practice. It’s easy, with not playing a game for a week, to get relaxed in practice and lose that focus that goalies need to be sharp for games. What does the Cougars hockey team schedule look like on a regular weekly basis between training, practices, and games? The team schedule is decently busy. It starts with 9 am workouts Mondays and Wednesdays, then it’s followed by practice which is Mondays to Thursdays
there every Sunday, but one Sunday a month.” As a goalie, say you have an opponent coming your way. What do you do or say when you have a teammate blocking your view of the puck? This is a great question that I hope my teammates read, but when a teammate is in the way of me seeing the puck, I am usually screaming “get out of the way,” or “heads up I can’t see.” I try my best to call out their name if I have time (…) There is a lot of communication on the ice, so sometimes they don’t hear me, but using their name seems to work. Even though we all know you don’t like being scored on, what is one goal that was hard to save and what was tricky about it? I find some of the hardest goals to save are what’s from something called “moving
net at. This makes for a very difficult save, and is something I try to work on every day by training my reaction time in practice. What is one of the toughest things about being goalie that you’d give yourself a toast for sticking through? The position of goalie is the easiest position to visually see mistakes (made by the player). It doesn’t matter if you don’t play hockey or haven’t seen hockey before; most people can understand if a goal goes in, the goalie didn’t stop it. This is probably the toughest thing about being a goalie, but is also the reason I love it. To strive for perfection, of not letting in a goal, or to make a big save. What was the worst injury that you have gotten on the ice? Did you power through it, or did you take the safe route and take a break? I’ve honestly been lucky for the most part for injuries on the
bursa sac in my ankle, which now is pretty big and gross, and I will need surgery on it once I’m done hockey. I’m hoping maybe to get surgery this summer. What was the biggest obstacle that you had to overcome while playing hockey? The biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome when it comes to playing hockey is the “politics” that come with hockey in Regina. I believe this goes beyond hockey and into all other sports, but knowing someone that played at a high level in hockey or merely having a lot of money will help you move forward in sports in youth hockey. It’s hard for some kids to make higher level teams – especially goalies, (because there are only) two of them on one team – at a young age because of these factors. It’s honestly a miracle I have made it this far, I didn’t play AA (tier 1) hockey – good hockey – until I was in grade nine, which was my “draft year” for the
I’ll keep this one short – NOT good! In all honesty, it depends a lot on how it hits you, but it can hurt a lot. If you’re lucky sometimes it won’t hurt at all, and sometimes, this is the worst, it makes your ears ring for like a minute. Who would you say is your funniest teammate? This is tough, I think we have a lot of funny characters on our team, and everyone has a different sense of humour. However, for myself, I think the funniest guy on the team is Ben Duppereault. I might be a bit biased because he is the only other fifth year on the team with me and I’ve been around him a lot, but he’s someone that can make you smile or laugh every day at the rink with some joke. Or just by him being his goofy self.
nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 10
sports
Balloon World Cup debut instant success The sport we’ve all been training for our entire lives
gillian massie staff writer The first Balloon World Cup just debuted in Barcelona, Spain, with great success among viewers and players across the globe. The event is truly captivating to watch, with suspense at each dive to swat the balloon up and away from the ground. The best competitors gathered from across the globe to partake in the inaugural (yet nostalgic) event. If you can remember back to the good ol’ days of your childhood, perhaps after a birthday party or a celebration, this event is very similar to the ultimate post-party pastime: don’t let the balloon touch the ground. While we lived in a society with no laws for playing balloon keep up, it is not quite the same for Balloon World Cup competitors. Contestants have two very simple rules: you cannot interrupt the path of your opponent, and you must always swat upwards. Striking the balloon downward is strictly against the rules and will result in a point awarded to your opponent, but just because you cannot strike the balloon downward does not mean that competition is bland. It is truly a game of wits where you can smash it upwards so it bounces off part of the course to hit the ground faster; or swat it in the complete opposite direction to make your opponent dive across room, only to swat it in the opposite direction yet again. The playing field is nothing
Diya Pokharel via Unsplash
In other news: world-wide balloon shortage causes eight-year delay for “Up” sequel.
like you have ever seen in sporting history, but really is a nostalgic and comfortable setting: a living room. The course truly embodies the child-like essence of the event by playing on a course where you can use the furniture to assist your
playing. The field is an eight-byeight meter living room, fully equipped for a keep-away balloon extravaganza – or a small dinner party – with couches, recliners, lamps, side tables, a dining room table, and small car for the finale,
signifying that a point has been awarded. Each of the contestants typically wear gym attire so they can move at ease. However, they must wear a helmet for their protection within the course. Hard objects like a dining room table, can result in injury. The finale to the Balloon World Cup was ultimately given to the Peruvian victor, Francesco De la Cruz, who expertly used the car to his advantage to block his opponent from hitting the balloon. He won 10,000 euros, which is equivalent to roughly $14,335.25 Canadian at the moment. The event was a success overall and an absolute hoot to watch; one can only hope that event organizers return next year to make it even bigger and better and that they can have a live spectator audience in years to come once COVID-19 is under wraps. Furthermore, they could continue with other course settings, such as a fraternity house or home-gym, to really challenge players’ skills in managing different terrain. Maybe a clown making balloon animals could be the half-time show – the possibilities are endless!
because why not? Matches typically last between two and five minutes, and the winner is declared by who has the most points, which are awarded once the balloon touches the ground. Each point is announced by a referee who blows a whistle
Carillon staff attempt QVN’s Spooky Hike What could possibly go wrong while walking uphill on wet leaves in the dark?
victoria baht sports writer So, as everyone knows, Halloween season has just passed. The way you celebrated may have consisted of carving pumpkins, decorating your homes, getting dressed up, going trick-or-treating, and most likely eating one too many candies. The usual seems like a good standard every year, but let’s say this year you wanted to try something different like going on a spooky hike... You’re in luck! This hike, which takes place just outside of Lumsden, is a great idea for you and your friends or family to enjoy together. The description on their Facebook page, QVN’s Hallowe’en Choose you Own Adventure Hike, reads: “We will have two Hallowe’en-themed adventure tales set up on the trails. One is a shorter adventure, the story is less spooky, and it’s suitable for younger participants or those who are more hesitant to find out what goes ‘bump’ in the night. The other is a longer adventure, there are more graphic descriptions, and it’s suitable for older participants or those who like the thrill of a chilling tale. Choose the adventure you want to take.”
Sounds like a great time, right? I thought so, as did some other Carillon staff members, so we bought some tickets. Normally when you buy a ticket online you get a confirmation email containing your ticket and maybe directions to the events – we did not, which seemed concerning. Friday night came along, and we got in a car and tried to get in the Hallow-
een spirit. By the end of the night, we’d absolutely succeeded. We drove to Lumsden and had no idea where we were going, because when you search up the location it takes you to the middle of the town of Lumsden, which makes even finding the parking lot a challenge. Imagine this: the event started at 7 pm at the end of October, and it’s a spooky hike,
which makes you think you should do it at nighttime or at least dusk. If so, good luck finding your way in the dark! Let’s start this hike. You drive to the parking lot and come towards the head of the trail where you find some information like maps and guided tours of where you should be heading. You head down a hill, but keep in mind it
Oliver Guhr via Unsplash
Oh, you just lost cell coverage too? I’m sure we’ll be fine…
may already be dark outside. It was for us, and about five minutes into the walk someone in our group said “why are we walking towards murder right now?” You read that right, folks, it was scary already at point one. As you keep walking and take a slight turn, you come up towards the ski shack. Don’t be fooled by it seeming like just a ski shack – we got scared by just our reflections in the windows. From this point in the hike, we’re pretty sure things stay simpler to find and follow, or at least they did for as long as we continued. We did not finish the entire hike because it was really dark, and we thought for safety reasons it was time to head back. Regardless, that group and I are sure that it was a great idea, and would be fun for families to enjoy providing you don’t head out too late. Whether this year or in events like this in the future, we want to make sure our readers are being safe. When you go on your own spooky hike, try to make sure you go during the day – or at least make sure that you’ll be back to your vehicle by night fall – and take the kids along as well!
op-ed
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editor: sarah nakonechny op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
Grabbing the world by the steak
First-hand experience as a female working in the meat industry
Sarah Nakonechny
Wilbur sure is looking tasty.
Being a female nowadays is hard. We are held to such specific expectations, and when you don’t fit into those boxes you are slandered and ridiculed by those around you. You must be dainty, polite, and anything else that makes you smaller to allow the males in the environment more space to take up. Now imagine trying to do all of that while working in a position that is stereotypically understood to be “a man’s job.” This is something I experience every single time I step into one of my places of employment. For those unfamiliar with who I am or what I do outside the walls of the university, I am a meatcutter. Yes, you read that right. I go to work, and I trim loins from animals that have been butchered. I can eyeball steaks to be the ounces that you want, and I can bring grown men to tears at how gorgeous I can make a wellington look. So, what’s the problem? Clearly, I’m good at my job, I like my job, and heck I even like the people that I work with. The problem is not the way those within the company view me and my position, the problem is with the rest of the world. My specific store is primarily operated by women. Our manager is a woman, almost all the staff are women, and the primary meatcutters are women. We are more than capable of doing the work and doing it well. Again, you might be thinking, what’s the issue? The issue is going in to work and having people refuse to take your advice, and needing your male co-worker to reiterate the exact same sentence for it to be taken seriously. The issue is never having anyone believe that I’m the meatcutter who’s been
called from the back to come cut their order. The issue is having people stare at me like I’m absolutely insane when I tell them what I do for work when some of the other work I do is quite frankly a lot harder and more worthy of that reaction. Any woman who works in a male-dominated occupation, typically, is also surrounded by a ton of male co-workers – so I suppose I’m lucky in that sense. But, in the same breath, I am constantly being
How can I be so sure that it’s not just my insecurities creeping forth, but rather, it’s the public that I’m forced to interact with that holds these views? It’s more than just the stares or casual whispers to their partners that I witness while they’re in the store. It’s being asked, on multiple different occasions, where the meatcutter is and when he will be back. Even after I am introduced to them by my co-worker as the meatcutter, that is still the question
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We do it because, quite frankly, we do the rest of the cooking and cleaning process. Might as well start from the very beginning – if you want it done right, do it yourself. – Sarah Nakonechny
challenged more than is necessary about my abilities and my knowledge, and I know I’m not the only woman at my store who is. We are meant to be frail and dainty. Why are we the ones doing the manual labour of trimming cuts, moving heavy boxes of product, and willingly being covered in an assortment of animal blood in the process? I’ll tell you why. We do it because we can. We do it because we don’t owe you explanations as to why we can’t. We do it because, quite frankly, we do the rest of the cooking and cleaning process. Might as well start from the very beginning – if you want it done right, do it yourself.
I am asked. I have been asked if my tiny hands will be able to handle holding such a large knife. Or, my personal favourite, being questioned about my sexuality, as apparently no straight woman would do such work. I will never be able to understand why it is so hard for people to just smile, agree that my position is as stated, and let me do my job without the commentary. I am painfully aware of who I am in that setting and of every move I make, as one wrong step will only confirm in their minds that I should not be doing this work. What is even more frustrating is not the ridicule and snide comments from cus-
tomers; in the grand scheme of things, I’m just going to tell myself they’re jealous that they can’t do what I’m doing and move on. What is worse is the discrimination in the industry itself. We see this in the products we get in. I am forced to wear uniform clothing that is way too large regardless of how small of a size is ordered because the industry still does not accommodate the few women that are believed to be present. All the butchers’ coats will forever be too wide, and I will continually have to wrap myself like a burrito for it to be functional. Don’t get me started on how trying to purchase steel toe boots that fit me and were not pink was almost impossible. I realize that I could’ve bought my boots from the men’s section, but that is not the point. I should not have to be covered in pink for what I wear to be deemed women’s attire. I know that my industry is progressing at a better rate in accepting women into a wider variety of male sanctioned roles than many others. That does not make it any easier having your role questioned every time you step foot in front of that cutting board. I do not hold doubt that I can do my job, I hold doubt that I will be secure enough to survive backlash if I am deemed incapable – which would only stem from a sexist point of view. Things may be going better, but there is still a long way for us to go in making women feel successful and safe in these types of roles.
sarah nakonechny op-ed editor
nov 4 - nov 10, 2021
op-ed
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
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Improve your work by planning to not work
You are able to do better at the work you have to do when you balance it with things you want to do The world around us has glorified the hustle, the burning candles at both ends, and the idea of never slowing down and taking some time for yourself. All around us, there is also an obsession with monetizing everything about our lives. We are told how to make money from our hobbies, how to make money online by setting up a podcast or a YouTube channel, and how to create a resume and/or online presence that is supposed to help us get a job/make money. Somewhere in the last two decades, it seems to have become unfashionable to just exist, just be, without somehow making money/making your resume look good/making progress towards your career goals. I like to think I am no less ambitious than the next person, and I have certainly, at least on a few occasions, made money from my hobbies and personal interests. Yet when I take a step back and consider this, this obsession seems not just unhealthy but also counterproductive. I have worked in universities and research labs for more than a decade now. I have also had a second job involving writing for most of that time. I think it would be fair to say that both my jobs call for substantial creative and intellectual effort. Mindful of this, I am usually always on the lookout for how to do a better job. I read pretty much everything I find on how to use one’s time better, be more productive, and how to do better quality work – the last item is particularly important. Often, we glorify the hours we spend at work, not ready to admit that for most of those long hours our attention was divided between 10 different things, and we did very shallow, low-intensity work. This is exactly where we can do better, and when we figure out how, we might find ourselves with more leisure time to spend on things we love and not always obsess about the hustle. For me, the secret to getting more work, and higher quality work, done was to limit the number of hours I spend on it.
Many of us can probably relate to the feeling. I noticed that when I sat down to write a paper and told myself I have 10 hours to do it, the work took me 10 hours and was not substantially better for it. What is worse is now I had just spent 10 hours on one paper, did not get a chance to start on any of the other items on my to-do list, and I can forget about downtime to read a good book or watch something fun or go out for a walk if the day is nice. When I began my graduate program, I was pretty sure this
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writing about deep work, drastically reducing your work hours, and using self-care to improve the quality of your work hours. The premise is simple - so simple that one is allowed to harbour doubts about if this would even work. Anecdotally, from my own life, it does work. If I sit down to write a paper and give myself two hours to work on it, somehow at the end of two deeply focused hours what I have is not so much worse than what I used to crank out after a day of divided, half-hearted at-
The most famous metaphor along these lines is of the man who is trying to chop down trees with a blunt saw, because he is too busy to sharpen the saw.
– Hammad Ali
approach was not going to be sustainable and wanted to learn what had worked for other people. So, I set aside time in my daily schedule to do some reading and research on how to do better. If you have ever tried reading about productivity and time management, you are aware there is a lot of fluff out there. Also, depending on how bad you currently are at getting things done (and I was bad), there is a lot of advice aiming for low-hanging fruit that you can benefit from right away. However, over time and as I got marginally better at managing the demands on my time, saturation set in and most of these surface level hacks no longer made enough of an improvement to my situation. This is when I found the people
tempts at writing. And now, I had the remaining eight hours to do other things, or even just do something to relax. Of course, one catch is that we are now talking two very focused hours with your phone put away, and without multiple unrelated tabs open on your browser. However, I find this a more than acceptable compromise given that I have more open hours to devote to some of those things. Some writers have compared this approach to that of taking the time to care for your tools instead of just working away with tools that are clearly not up to the job anymore. The most famous metaphor along these lines is of the man who is trying to chop down trees with a blunt saw, because he is too busy to sharpen the saw.
While a little campy, I now see the value in this metaphor. How often do we keep pushing ourselves to get more done while our mind and body is drained and in no condition to keep producing? I know that now, so I often just wrap up for the day, eat something, take a nap, maybe watch a fun movie. Either late that evening or the next morning, I am once again able to create/ analyze/do meaningful work. I am still not a fan of the constant hustling, always trying to win a race or make a little more cash. However, I guess that is the world we find ourselves in, with little hopes of significant change anytime soon. For now, I know that I find it much easier to engage in self-care when I am aware that it can be a tool towards improving my working hours. Eating a balanced home-cooked meal, getting enough sleep, reading your favorite author, and occasionally just enjoying sitting in a park might can all be investments into being more effective during your working hours. As one author puts it, take all the downtime you need. The only rule is once you are working, do not let your downtime/leisure activities creep into your work hours in the guise of web surfing and scrolling your phone. I still struggle with it, but I also feel a lot less fragmented and guilty about taking care of myself. For those wanting to read more about the concept of working fewer, more focused hours and investing the rest of one’s time in self-care and renewal, I recommend pretty much anything by Cal Newport, Professor of Computer Science in Georgetown University. A lot of his content is also available on his blog: https:// www.calnewport.com/.
hammad ali staff writer Feeh Costa via Unsplash
Never has someone looked so unhappy while performing self-care.
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photos by shae sackman, technical editor
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editors: sarah carrier, rooky jegede graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | nov 4 - nov `0, 2021
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