the carillon the staff
editor-in-chief editor@carillonregina.com
holly funk
business manager 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
safal gangwani rooky jedege
copy editor copyeditor@carillonregina.com
aurel dumont
news editor news@carillonregina.com
sara birrell
arts & cutlure editor aandc@carillonregina.com
hannah eiserman
sports & health editor sports@carillonregina.com
katherine mutschler
op-ed editor op-ed@carillonregina.com
sarah nakonechny
distribution manager distribution@carillonregina.com
chandra wassill
staff writer
hammad ali
staff writer
gillian massie
staff writer
anima salah
news writer
syd mcwilliams
a&c writer
jorah bright
sports writer
victoria baht
contributors rose brito, amir said and veneet sharma 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 February 17 - March 2, 2022 | Volume 64, Issue 19 | carillonregina.com
news
Hello, everyone! Welcome back — to campus and the Carillon’s print issues :-). It’s our first time printing in the two years I’ve been in the job and I couldn’t be more excited. For those who don’t know what a Production Manager does, I lay out and design the paper you’re holding right now (PDF readers, please use your imagiations). So before you use this newspaper to soak your spilled coffee, we hope you have time to take everything in. And if you’d also like to see your name in print, we are always accepting new contributors!
Counter protests
news
p.3
With the occupation of Ottawa and other Canadian cities carrying into its third week, spontaneous grassroots counter-protests by residents have sprung up around the country.
Rapid housing
arts
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Regina’s new Rapid Housing Initiative will build 29 new housing units in the city, where hundreds of community members are currently unhoused.
sports
arts
the Porter
p.6
Regina actress Sabryn Rock shares on role in CBC’s upcoming show, the Porter, and her experience working on a team where everyone’s “part of the Black diaspora.”
op-ed
See you next time, Morgan Ortman Production Manager
photos
cover.................................morgan ortman news......................................lewis parsons news......................................tobias wilden a&c.................................prairie porter inc a&c........................................rooky jegede sports.............................christian wiediger op-ed.........................morgan vander hart
Frostivities
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Frost, a fresh new festival that calls Regina home, wowed attendees with ice sculptures, hoop dancing, and fire and lights shows last week.
Boobs
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Just kidding! But we got your attention, right? That’s what many people are thinking Adidas’ was aiming for with their new campaign about body positivity.
Bag ban
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Staff Writer Amina Salah summarizes Regina’s new ban on plastic bags, explaining how this step in the right direction still falls short of truly taking action.
news
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editor: sara birrell news@carillonregina.com the carillon | feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
Communities organize against white nationalist occupations Counter-protests across Canada
Lewis Parsons via Unsplash
Scratch the Canadian flag and find a fascist!
sara birrell news editor In the weeks since January 28 – when a convoy of truck owners descended on Ottawa, occupying the city’s downtown, blocking streets and services, harassing and intimidating residents, and honking horns at all hours – it’s become increasingly clear that police and the municipal and provincial governments are either unwilling or unable, or both, to respond effectively to the unfolding crisis. Likewise, establishment media in Canada has often struggled to cover the occupation accurately or critically, often repeating the occupiers’ messaging and downplaying the role that White nationalism and the tacit – and at times, like in Coutts, Alberta, explicit – support of the police are playing in the convoy. Over the past 10 days, governments at all levels have made some legislative moves in an attempt to address the entrenched convoy, which consists of around 400 trucks and has, at times, blockaded the Ambassador Bridge, a major trading route that connects Canada and the United States. On February 6, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency in the city, and the following Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a province-wide state of emergency. On February 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which grants the federal government temporary powers to override the provinces and authorize special measures. It’s the first time the act has been invoked since it was established in 1988. That same day, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told the occupiers that any vehicles involved in the blockades would have their corporate accounts frozen and lose their insurance. However, despite these states of emergency, and a deal brokered between Watson and convoy organizer Tamara Lich meant to limit the occupation to a certain area of the city, some of the occupiers have indicated that they will not be complying. Sam Hersh, an organizer with Horizon Ottawa, said that Watson had “brokered a deal to cede part of our city.” Although Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act may cause the situation to change rapidly between the time of writing this story and when this story goes to print (hours before press time on Tuesday, Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly resigned over his handling of the occupation), it’s clear that the real resistance has come from community members who have
organized and mobilized in an effort to express solidarity with their neighbours and remove the occupation from the streets. “I can’t really do justice to the frustration and anger, how palpable it is in the city,” Hersh said. “It’s very tense.” He added that, “yes, it’s the capital city, but people live here,” He said he was frustrated with the Prime Minister. “He’s using our city as a bargaining chip.” On both Saturday and Sunday, grassroots demonstrations by community members popped up in Ottawa. On Saturday, labour locals, community organizations, and residents across the city organized a march and demonstration in response to the occupation. Hersh said the march “energized” other residents of the city, who until then had been engaged in a debate over whether it was safe enough to hold any sort of counter protest given the volatility of the occupiers. “I’ve been involved in
“
olence from the occupiers, Hersh said that part of the reason that residents didn’t organize anything sooner was that “a lot of people thought they were just going to come and leave,” he said. He first heard that the convoy was coming six days before it arrived and he thought at the time, “‘you know, we should organize something.’ But then I thought, ‘they’re just going to leave.’ That was a big mistake.” He offered a warning for the next city: “If we had organized a mass rally, it wouldn’t have gotten the same numbers it got [on Sunday], but if we had organized something when these people came to town, that would have had an effect.” He said that many of the occupiers who the demonstrators blockaded were oblivious to the way residents felt towards them. “A lot of them said, ‘we didn’t know we were so hated here. We just wanted to go downtown and have fun. I thought everyone was having
smaller scale – and there, too, abolitionists and other community organizers have been on the frontlines of protest. In Winnipeg, where a number of people with semis, tractors, and trucks have been occupying the city since February 4, hundreds of people braved an extreme cold warning on Sunday to attend a counter protest. Cerah Dube and Daniel Friesen of Winnipeg Police Cause Harm, an abolitionist organization, who were part of the counter protest, said that while the Winnipeg occupation hasn’t been as disruptive as the Ottawa occupation, it’s taken enough of a toll that community members felt the need to stand in solidarity against the occupiers. “The area where they’re located in Winnipeg is less of a main hub than it seems to be in Ottawa,” Friesen said. “There’s lots of ways to avoid the area if you don’t need to go there, but there’s lots of residential areas right around there, so
I’ve been involved in different counter protests against the far right and it’s just not the same. Because this is an occupation. They’re everywhere in our city. – Sam Hersh
different counter protests against the far-right and it’s just not the same. Because this is an occupation. They’re everywhere in our city.” He added that it was difficult to convey both residents’ tension and the horror of walking in your city and “seeing a Nazi flag hanging over a hotel balcony.” Sunday’s demonstration, which blocked off an intersection and trapped members of the convoy, preventing them from leaving, was grassroots and extremely spontaneous. “I think it was started by a local dog walking group on Facebook,” Hersh said. While it began small, with around 30 or 40 people out at 9 a.m. in the bitter cold, “it grew exponentially,” to more than 1000 people. Sunday’s demonstration managed to be more effective than many of the actions taken by police and politicians. Hersh said he and others negotiated with members of the convoy who were trapped, not allowing anyone except for those with childcare needs to leave until they agreed to concessions. “Both that they take down their hateful insignia and that they agreed to never come back to our city again. And a lot of them agreed to never come back.” In addition to the fear of vi-
fun.’” And, he said. “A lot of them just didn’t care.” Hersh said that people elsewhere in Canada aren’t getting the full picture of what has been happening in Ottawa from mainstream news outlets. “For a long time they said it was peaceful. They said that the far-right element is just a small part of it, but it’s a significant part of it,” he said. “And another narrative that has not stopped is that it started as a legitimate movement and it’s turned into something worse. But that’s not the case. It was always a farright movement.” But, according to him, “most journalists have not been taking this seriously for the threat that it is.” Hersh said that he doesn’t think many of the occupiers, especially the true believers, understand that there could be consequences for their occupation. “Some of them gave up their jobs to be here. A lot of these people aren’t going to have anywhere to go.” He said it was sad, but “I don’t have much sympathy for folks who are comfortable coming to a rally with Nazi flags and White supremacist groups.” Meanwhile, occupations have also been taking place in other Canadian cities, although on a much
it’s quite disruptive to those people. There’s been quite a lot of honking, they had a train horn at one point. People are pretty sick and tired of having them be disruptive in their neighbourhood.” Dube added that “Some people don’t feel safe leaving their residences just because of how volatile and unpredictable folks that are associated with the occupation are.” She added that, like in Ottawa, “fascist imagery has been used” by the occupiers, as well as explicitly white nationalist messaging, although the media has largely been repeating the claim that the occupiers are against vaccine and masking mandates or other measures meant to protect public health. Friesen said that while it’s possible to debate whether or not the occupiers “want to enact fascism,” there is no question that, similar to what Hersh described in Ottawa, it’s a white nationalist occupation that it has little to do with public health measures. “If you look at the people who put the call out for people to participate in these actions, it is at the very least a white nationalist occupation,” he said. “It’s in no way a protest anymore at least, because in Manitoba they announced that they’ll be drop-
ping all COVID restrictions by the middle of March. So at this point they have no reason to stay there except for to dig in and to terrorize people and to feel powerful.” Although many people have been calling for the police to “do their jobs,” both in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada where white nationalists have entrenched or attempted to entrench themselves, all three organizers emphasized that the occupations themselves demonstrate whose side the police are really on. “The level of inaction does equate to support for [the occupation],” Dube said. “And I think people are starting to realize that police serve and protect a certain populace in society. They do not do that for everyone, and that’s become very clear. This idealized notion that we should be able to rely on the police is proving to be simply not true,” Friesen agreed. “I think it’s been made clear that the police are on the side of the occupiers.” In Ottawa, Hersh, who has been active in that city’s defund movement for years, said that the OPS “in many instances, have used their own mismanagement of this crisis as an excuse to get more resources.” Ottawa’s defund movement had managed to pressure the city into providing a smaller increase to the police service in the last budget, something that the police are now exploiting to ask for even more resources. “It wasn’t what we asked for, but it was something, and the police used that as an excuse [for not ending the occupation]. They said ‘because of budget pressures, we’re not able to deal with this crisis,’” Hersh said. “It’s absurd to use this as an excuse to get more money.” But, he added, calling for the police to do their jobs isn’t necessarily useful, since the police are doing their jobs. “What does doing their job mean?” he asked. “It means upholding white supremacy, it means upholding colonialism. And that’s what they’re doing. They’ve showed their true colours.” Friesen and Dube agreed that last weekend’s counter demonstration in Winnipeg will not be the last. “It wasn’t meant to be a one-off action. It was meant to be a kick off to empowering people to take action and to show these people occupying this intersection that they’re not welcome here and that we will stand up to them and that they’re not in any way the majority.” Hersh said Ottawa residents would do the same. “We’ll keep taking to the streets until all of these people are gone from our city,” he said. “We keep ourselves safe.”
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 4
news
Rapid housing initiative to provide 29 new housing units Scratching the surface of homelessness
syd mcwilliams news writer
The Rapid Housing Initiative is a federally funded program that provides supportive housing for people who are transitioning out of homelessness. The City of Regina received $7.75 million in capital funding from this federal program and it will be used to provide 29 new housing spaces to help address the issue of homelessness within the city. On February 2, the city council approved the sale of the land where the complex will be built and the provision of funds to Silver Sage Housing, the organization that will be responsible for carrying out the program in partnership with Regina Treaty and Status Indian services. The housing will be built in the northeast neighbourhood at 120 Broad Street. The location was selected due to the proximity of transportation, community
resources, and amenities. The location has been controversial due to the lack of prior communication with the community before the project was confirmed and the land sold. Due to the lack of communication, misinformation was allowed to spread about the project. Since then, however, the city has taken steps to reengage the community, including an extensive and constantly-updated facts and questions document and specific contact information for people who have questions. “I think there will always be that feeling of apprehension when there’s a major change coming into your neighbourhood, and that’s very common. I think that the steps that we took, in this case, were to make sure that we were able to really very clearly communicate the intention behind this apartment building and how we were going to be managing any potential risks that neighbours were concerned about,” said Emmaline
Hill, the manager of Social and Cultural Development in the city. “We understood very quickly that there was a deep desire for a lot of information from this neighbourhood. And the city responded with a very comprehensive “frequently asked questions” document that we posted to our website, and we’re continuing to update it as we go forward. As there are changes to any of the details of the project as we make progress, we’ll be able to continue to update that document and keep people informed.” Residents, in order to be eligible to live in the building, will have to have been working with Regina Treaty and Status Indian services for 6-12 months prior to moving in. This is to ensure they will be able to live on their own with help from the supports that are provided onsite. Supports will include healthy living services such as nutrition and personal care, social supports such as counselling, life skill training, as well as cultural supports like
access to healing spaces and traditional learning and medicines. The residence will be for people who have experienced barriers to housing in the past, and it is a misconception that it will be people in an active crisis living there. A stipulation for the funding is that 25 per cent of the housing be targeted towards women or women and their children, and a minimum of 15 per cent be targeted towards Indigenous residents. The policies of Regina Treaty and Status Indian services mean that there will be no residents in the building with a history of violent or sexual offences, as it makes them ineligible. “I think this is a really important time to be talking about housing,” Hill said. “You’ll probably notice that across Canada, this is a really key issue, and yet it is emerging differently in every community. What we’re doing in Regina might look a little bit different than what’s happening in other communities because we need to respond
to the specific drivers and issues that we’re seeing here locally. Yet we are connected to a larger question across Canada about how we manage a housing shortage and how we support more vulnerable populations in ensuring they have access to safe, secure and affordable housing. So it’s a really important issue at this time.” The Rapid Housing Initiative is a big step in Regina’s efforts to combat homelessness. The issue of homelessness has become exacerbated since the beginning of the pandemic and a recent count found nearly 500 individuals experiencing homelessness in the city, a number that almost certainly underestimates the actual instances of homelessness in the city. It will require an active and combined effort from many people in order to help, and supportive housing is a crucial step for people who are coming from homelessness.
Tobias Wilden via Unsplash
Housing initiative: 1, NIMBYs: 0
Spotify removes episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience for racism, misinformation
Streaming service faced public pressure
hammad ali staff writer
Media streaming platform Spotify has been in the news for the last several weeks, mostly in connection with their position on and handling of controversies surrounding the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, hosted by Joe Rogan. Rogan, who has always been known for providing a platform for people with unconventional, somewhat fringe opinions, invited Robert Malone, a controversial infectious disease researcher for a podcast episode in December. Malone has been vocal in his criticism and opposition of mRNA vaccines, and the threehour episode involved him making multiple unsubstantiated claims and sweeping statements. Shortly thereafter, dozens of medical experts and healthcare professionals wrote to both Rogan and Spotify, stating their concerns about the misinformation being spread through his podcast not just by Malone, but other invited guests as well. Their petition included an appeal to Spotify to remove some of the episodes that shared unsubstantiated information about COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and the efficacy of public health measures. Spotify management clearly ignored these calls, leading to the next act of this story. In the first weeks of January, Canadian musician Neil Young – himself a survivor of the last major outbreak of polio in Ontario – wrote an open letter to Spotify emphasizing that he does not wish his music to be available on the
same platform as someone who is spreading information detrimental to public health and safety. Young essentially gave an ultimatum, saying Spotify will have to choose between having his content or Rogan’s podcast, but not both. Within a couple of days of this letter, Spotify issued a statement saying they were sorry Neil Young feels that way and hope he will reconsider his opinion, while removing all his music from their platform as requested by the artist. Shortly thereafter another Canadian musician, Joni Mitchell, joined Young and requested that unless Spotify was willing to remove Rogan’s podcast, they remove all her content too. Once again, Spotify sided with Rogan and complied with Mitchell’s request.
In the weeks since then, several other artists expressed solidarity with Young and Mitchell. Not all artists were able to make requests to have their music removed, however, due to complicated distribution rights that allowed only their studios to make that request. At this point, Spotify made the bare minimum concession of saying that they would be adding a disclaimer before any content that presents claims about medical issues. The streaming service also removed more than 100 episodes of Rogan’s podcast where he was openly racist. Rogan himself went on his social media to issue a statement, claiming that he just likes to use his show to provide a voice to those who hold anti-establishment opin-
ions and have interesting conversations. He qualified his position by saying that going forward, he would take care to provide greater balance in the type of people he invites to speak. Just when it looked like Rogan might be able to ride out this issue, an old episode resurfaced where he repeatedly uses a racial slur. In the wake of this event, more than 100 episodes of the podcast were quietly removed from the Spotify library. In fact, this was only discovered when diehard Rogan fans noticed old episodes missing and took to social media to discuss this development. Spotify has since claimed that removing these episodes was Rogan’s personal decision. This was the situation until about a week ago, where it seemed
Ross via Flickr
The misinformation about the needle and the damage done.
clear that Spotify would stand firmly by Rogan and were willing to lose a substantial number of artists as a consequence of that choice. This bizarre loyalty to Rogan made sense to those who understand the revenue mechanism for Spotify. Put succinctly, Spotify earns a lot more from three-hour episodes of Rogan’s podcast than they do from the much shorter length songs from musicians. Further, most musicians have their content available on competing music streaming solutions like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube, to name a few. In contrast, Spotify reportedly paid Rogan $100 million for exclusive streaming rights, making the show a significant investment and revenue source. In the week since then, two things happened that are thus more pertinent to the revenue bottom line. First, Spotify stock prices fell nearly 19 per cent, with forecast of slow recovery in the next quarter. While Spotify insists this fall in stock value has reasons more to do with their subscription model, the timing is surely indicative. Further, over the last few days traffic to the subscription cancellation page has increased substantially, indicating that many are choosing, for whatever reasons, to not give their money to Spotify. Also, rival podcast platforms have been making competing offers to Rogan. It will be interesting to see how Spotify handles this issue in the coming days, even from a purely financial perspective.
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 5
news
Book bans a troubling sign of bent towards antidemocracy Maus an “unflinchingly” Jewish book
syd mcwilliams news writer In early January, a school board in Tennessee consisting of ten people voted unanimously to remove the graphic novel Maus from its eighthgrade curriculum. The decision was made after a debate about the age-appropriateness of the book due to its graphic content. The choice has received a large amount of criticism and, in turn, has driven the demand for the book up and increased its sales as people advocate for its importance. The board released a statement defending their decision, stating that they
makes that Maus can be replaced with something just a bit less, less violent, less graphic, and still fill the same role? I seriously questioned that because Maus is really unlike most other things that exist,” said Marie Rowe-McCulloch, a History professor at the University of Regina who specializes in Holocaust studies. “In part, that’s because it is this unflinchingly Jewish perspective that really refuses to care whether this is the way the audience, an audience who might not be Jewish themselves, wants to hear the story. It is telling the story of the Jewish experience, the way the Jewish people involved want to tell it, and it doesn’t always paint
It can really pack a lot of information into not a huge amount of space by doing that.” Book bans in history have been used as a way to control information. The banning of Maus is part of a crusade against books on sexuality, gender, and race in the United States that has been occurring over the last few years. Banning books is not a new phenomenon, but the practice is highly politicized, with groups forcing the issue into courts and politicians using it in their campaigns. Social media has also added to the problem because people can spread information and gather support for banning the book faster than they
about why they were banning Maus. They say in their statement […] that they want to ban it from the curriculum because of its unnecessary use of profanity, nudity, and its depiction of violence and suicide. And the word in that sentence that jumped out to me was “unnecessary,” and I just thought, ‘who is anyone to tell a Holocaust survivor and the second-generation survivor, the child of survivors, what is unnecessary in order to tell a person’s story of the Holocaust?’ That seemed incredibly presumptuous to me. Also, they’re saying its depiction of violence and suicide is unnecessary, and my take is that they want to tell the story of
That’s the perpetrators. It’s like a great shame that’s visited on the people who carried out the Holocaust. But to talk about the Holocaust as a shameful event, I think, really makes clear that the perspective, whether they realize it or not, that these school board members have on the Holocaust focuses on the people carrying it out, and they think about it as something the perpetrators did. They think that the lessons that can be learned are how to not fall into the trap of doing that. I think all this, whether they realize it or not, it is informing their perspective, and that’s just a version of the Holocaust that leaves the victims out entirely and
“
... to describe the atrocities of the Holocaust as shameful is not language that victims of the Holocaust use to talk about the Holocaust. For whom is the Holocaust a great shame? For whom are the atrocities of the Holocaust a shame? That’s the perpetrators. – Marie Rowe-McCulloch
banned it due to “unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide.” Maus is a graphic novel that depicts Art Spiegelman’s parents’ experience during and after the Holocaust. Jewish people are depicted as mice and the Nazis as cats. The first part was published in 1986 and the second part in 1991. It has been an influential piece of literature about the Holocaust and was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. Maus starts with the story of Spiegelman’s parents’ experience in Auschwitz, an account that his father, Vladek, relayed to him prior to Vladek’s death. The second part talks about Spiegelman’s relationship with his parents, how it was affected by the Holocaust, and how he coped with his mother’s suicide. “This claim that the school
a nice picture. There’s a lot of complicated stuff throughout the book, and I’m really hard-pressed to think of other accounts that do that so well.” “The other thing that’s special about Maus is it talks about the Holocaust as it happens, but it also continues the story and talks about the experience of the main character,” Rowe-McCulloch continued. “It talks about the decades after the Holocaust and some of the longterm effects on survivors and how hard it could be to carry with you the knowledge and the weight of what happened in the Holocaust, even if you didn’t live through it. Plus, it’s a graphic novel, and that’s very appealing I think for honestly everyone at every level, but it also means that it communicates information both visually and in text.
used to. The American Library Association reported 330 attempts at banning certain books in their preliminary report and has said that the challenges are coming in record numbers. When asked on the intent behind banning Maus and the implications it could have going forward, Rowe-McCulloch said “I think it’s a mistake to take at face value the reasons that are being given for why this book is being banned and assume that that is the whole story, and by that, I don’t even necessarily mean that the school board is like misrepresenting what they’re doing in a devious way, but I think there’s a lot going on and I don’t necessarily find it convincing that the reasons they gave are the whole story. So as I understand it, they released a statement talking
the Holocaust, but only a fantasy version that exists in the minds of these school board members because the Holocaust involves profanity and nudity and suicide and unquestionably it is a story about violence. So to try and tell the story of the Holocaust without the violence, you simply can’t.” Rowe-McCulloch added “That’s part of the reality. And then they say the atrocities of the Holocaust were shameful beyond description, and I think the fact that they use the word shameful is super telling there because to describe the atrocities of the Holocaust as shameful is not language that victims of the Holocaust use to talk about the Holocaust. For whom is the Holocaust a great shame? For whom are the atrocities of the Holocaust a shame?
doesn’t show any interest in what it was like to experience the Holocaust. And I would argue that’s exactly what Maus is all about. Maus is a very Jewish book. It is about what it’s like to be Jewish before, during, and after the Holocaust. And it’s entirely focused on the perspective of victims and survivors. And so it doesn’t surprise me that [Maus] seems inconvenient to the school board because it’s incompatible with their view of the Holocaust.” The banning of Maus is a step backwards for Holocaust education. When misinformation is prominent and distrust of experts is spreading, it is more important than ever that youth are given the information they need to be educated consumers of information, and that starts at school.
Nick Fewings via Unsplash
Banning books is a proud fascist tradition.
arts & culture
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editor: hannah eiserman aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
Interview with Sabryn Rock Regina-born actress cast in new CBC show the Porter
hannah eiserman a&c editor The accomplished Regina-born actress Sabryn Rock has scored a major role as Gwen Barnes in CBC/BET+’s upcoming show the Porter, premiering on February 21 at 9 p.m. Rock has recently appeared in numerous notable TV shows, such as Departure (2021), Black Mirror (2017), and the Girlfriend Experience (2016). She is also a distinguished stage performer, with recent roles in Fun Home, the Last Wife, Passing Strange, and productions of a few of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s thrilling for Rock to be a part of a significant project such as the Porter, particularly because of what and who the work is about. “Obviously, it’s a pretty
Prairie Porter Inc. / Sienna Films Porter Inc.
Treating people better than the USA has isn’t the self-justifying argument you think it is.
the directors and [executive] producers. He and I have kind of been circling around each other in our careers. I’ve never actually gotten to work with him, [though] I’ve auditioned for him a bunch of times […] I found out he really went to bat for me to get the role I got […] Just to have somebody of his esteem and experience to be championing me is just huge, like, very flattering […] I didn’t even know he knew who I was, so the fact that he was really fighting for me to get the role is like, a highlight of my career.” “Funny story: I actually found out I got the role while I was in labour,” Rock says with a laugh. “So, I was going into labour, and my agent kept calling [and] I kind
first season […] only scratches the surface about how many secrets and interesting parts to her there are. But one of the biggest aspects of what she wants is a child – she’s trying to get pregnant and has lost a baby and that’s the number one thing she and her spouse want.” “That was like, a huge connector for me. I’d just had a baby and [had been] doing research about getting pregnant and being pregnant, obviously, and like, miscarriages and all that stuff. It was all on my mind. So, that was a surprising connection I didn’t totally anticipate. And that was kind of my way into her.” “She’s also, as I mentioned – no spoilers – but she’s not all you think she is. She kind of comes
parallel,” Rock says, “having just gone through the system and not actually being cared for by many people of colour. And then having [Gwen] being one of the pioneers of nursing – even though Black women weren’t trained as actual nurses until the fifties, I believe.” Rock hopes that viewers “look into the history of train porters, but also Black Cross nurses and the United Negro Improvement Association” outside of watching the show. She admits she didn’t know much about the history before the project. “I’m very ashamed to say I knew nothing about Black porters,” Rock says. “I knew what porters were, kind of, but I didn’t realize there was such a huge population of
Like, they kind of did everything and weren’t honoured for that in the way that you know, probably, white medical professionals might have been… I hope people just are interested in the history and look into it and educate themselves because I found it really fascinating. And I never learned about any of that in school and I don’t think people are teaching it.” More importantly, Rock hopes that people don’t just “watch it on February 21 and [think] ‘oh, it’s Black History Month, so I should look into it!’ And March 1 comes, and they forget about all the history or don’t have any other keen interest in looking into things outside of
“
I hope people just are interested in the history and look into it and educate themselves because I found it really fascinating. And I never learned about any of that in school and I don’t think people are teaching it. – Sabryn Rock
special project,” she says. “We’re making history by creating the show.” She notes that she has never seen “anything” like the Porter, especially coming out of Canada: “a show that kind of told Black stories and had a Black cast [and] creative team. The fact that everyone [involved] is a part of the Black diaspora […] that’s been an experience I’ve never had before, even in Toronto… Projects like this, that mean so much, don’t come along very often, and so I’m just counting myself really lucky I got to be a part of it.” Rock says that it has been incredible “getting to work with [her] peers and people [she’s] admired on the scene for so many years.” One of her most important connections on set has been “Charles Officer, who is one of
of knew that there was maybe something on the horizon, but I hadn’t gotten an actual offer yet […] Obviously, I did not answer the phone because I was… preoccupied… but the next day in the hospital, holding my son, I check my voicemail, and my agent was like ‘You got the role!’” It was “crazy” to be only a few hours post-partum and know that she would have to be filming for the Porter in just a few months, but the birth of her son connected her to her character in unexpected ways. She says she didn’t originally connect with Gwen. “I was like ‘this character is very conservative, she’s very religious,’ and those are just two things that I am not,” Rock says. “The really interesting thing about Gwen is she’s super complex and I feel like the
across as this pious, conservative, religious woman, [but] she actually has a surprising liberal side to her that will come out as the series goes on. That too also really spoke to me and I was like, what a cool kind of secret to play. Because really, she’s portrayed in a certain way but then underneath there’s way more complexity going on than what she puts forward. And I like to think of myself as a complex person,” Rock says with a laugh. “So, I feel like we connected on a few different levels… I actually do identify with her in a big way.” Additionally, “navigating the healthcare system as Sabryn, being a pregnant woman, and the fact that [Gwen] is a Black Cross nurse and a nurse of colour… that in itself was an interesting
Black porters within Canada […] it was like a different version of slavery. Like, the insane amount of work and low pay, like three day stretches on trains, being treated terribly, obviously, racist, racist treatment […] That’s a big part of Canadian history I had very little knowledge about.” “I hope that people watching it will look into these pioneers […] like, they’re the backbone of the railway system in Canada […] Also, Black Cross Nurses: a huge, huge part of taking care of Black communities in Canada. And even though they weren’t officially trained as medical nurses, they were taking care of Black communities in Canada and educating Black communities and teaching them about hygiene and health and being midwives.
February.” Her “hope is that [interest] permeates throughout the year and not just one month out of the year.” When asked what she would recommend to help young folks get started in their acting career, Rock says to “take advantage of anything there is to offer.” She notes the opportunities she had, like high school drama and being on the winning team at the Canadian Improv Games in Ottawa one year. There are plenty of opportunities to be found even in a small city like Regina! “If your school has a drama program; if your university is doing plays, audition if you’re interested. Not even necessarily for acting but like getting experience on sets, or on student films, or on crews.”
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
7
Let the frositivities begin! Regina’s first winter festival, Frost, lights up the night
rose brito contributor During the cold months in Regina, I’m sure most people would rather be shut in, wrapped in blankets, and sipping on a warm cup of cocoa. However, during this past week, Regina has been encouraging many to take advantage of the cold for some winter festivities. Frost is the first festival of its kind in Regina and ran from February 4-13. It took place in four different locations across the city, including Evraz, Wascana, the Warehouse District, and downtown. The main attraction, however, took place in the Evraz location. Tickets were available to purchase, but there were also plenty of other free activities to visit in the other locations. Unfortunately, I could only experience a bit of the event. Regardless, it was worth freezing my toes off for. As soon as you pass the entryway, you’re greeted with a flurry of… sparkling rods? At first, I didn’t think it was that enchanting, but that would soon change when I came back later at night, when the park truly came to life. But before it came to that, the ice sculptures came to view. The amount of work the artists put in to make that much detail on the sculptures truly paid off. Some honourable mentions were a fiery dragon (ironic for a winter festival), an eagle, a giant photo frame, a king’s throne and a vi-
king. Not only were there sculptures to gawk at, but there was also a giant snow maze (which held a bunch of kiddos sitting at the edges) and a giant ice slide (with an equal number of children lining up). Along the road, you eventually stumble upon the Prismatica section. There were 25 structures with a special film that reflected light to make a million colours seemingly on its own. They were fun to twist and turn and all, but
and entering its new world. This story was not told with words, but instead with a beating drum that represented the heartbeat of mother nature, and the hoops that Littletent swung around his body to represent each stage of growth. At the end of the dance, he encouraged the audience to hold hands with each other and tap around in a circle to represent unity among all people. I’m sure everyone who attended the event left with a new seed of knowledge
buildings from around the world. The activity encouraged guests to grab a little passport to stamp as they “travelled” through the trail of glittering lights. The United Kingdom had a sparkling Big Ben and a London Bridge you could walk right under. The Netherlands displayed a pathway of flowers, eventually leading towards a giant windmill. China held lilypads and a giant dragon, similar to the ice sculpture from outside. These were
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Something tells me that the building will have a huge electrical bill to pay for displaying the billions of little lights that were structured into many famous buildings from around the world.” – Rose Brito
the spotlight was definitely taken by the ice sculptures. There were a couple of presentations to look forward to as the day set. The first I attended was presented in the Indigenous Village, where Terrance Littletent and his family presented the audience with various traditional dances. The audience was eager to learn the various stories that these dances would teach. One of them, if I can recall correctly, was the story of an eagle hatching
and a happy heart. My family decided to take a break from the cold and entered the Viterra International Trade Centre to see what was inside. We were looking for something, but to our surprise, we forgot about the Glow exhibit. Once we stumbled upon it, we were mesmerized. Something tells me that the building will have a huge electrical bill to pay for displaying the billions of little lights that were structured into many famous
only a few of the many places you could visit, and at the end of your trip, there were plenty of other glowing structures you could walk through and take pictures in – or be hypnotized by the intricate patterns of the lights. Whichever came first. After getting some dinner, my family and I rushed back to make it to the last shows of the evening. It was night by the time we arrived, and that’s when the real magic happened. Now was the
opportunity to really glow, and a bunch of lights radiated from the sculptures, the Prismatics, the ice slide, and the snow maze. The mystical music that played in the background really made it feel like you’d suddenly entered a fantastical world. But besides that, there were two more presentations to visit: the fire show and the glow show. Both were conducted by Daniel Tamagi and Amanda ‘Panda’ Syryda from Transflowmation. With their wands and hoops, the dark night was quickly illuminated by the intense fires and hypnotizing colours. They sure took advantage of the nighttime, and many people came trickling in to see what’s up, like moths to a lamp. There were many other activities that occurred throughout the week, such as a skating performance from both Olympic medalist Elvis Stojko and skaters from the Canada Ice Dance Theatre, two live performances featuring Big Wreck and Dean Brody, and a curling game. Though, for me, one day was enough to experience what the festival provided. Judging on the many people that came by and the positive feedback that came tumbling in, there’s no doubt that the next festival will be bigger and better than the first. I know I’ll sure be there next year for another round of cold cheeks and chilly extravaganzas.
Rooky Jegede
These dancers are probably freezing their bells off.
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
8
On Drag Race fatigue It’s just so much racing...
jorah bright a&c writer
RuPaul’s Drag Race is an important piece of pop culture, especially in recent years. It’s been instrumental in bringing queer people and queer culture to the limelight. Drag Race is often seen as the Superbowl of 2SLGBTQIA+ people; people go to bars to watch episodes as they premiere. The show has won several Emmys as well as other prestigious media awards and is generally a big deal. It has shaped drag as an art form in a major way. Those who go on Drag Race and succeed set trends for other drag artists. Social media following can skyrocket for drag artists after their time on the show. But there’s a lot of Drag Race. Almost too much Drag Race. The main series, which focuses on
American drag artists, is currently in its 14th season. The spin-off for that, RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars has seven seasons currently. All-Stars features contestants from the main show who didn’t win and who compete again for the All-Stars crown. Beyond that, each episode of Drag Race and of All-Stars has companion episodes for four different series. Fashion Photo RuView is a web series that is based on rating the outfits worn during the runway challenge. Untucked, which is the most prominent companion show, documents the contestants backstage while the judges discuss the main challenge and the runway. The Pit Stop is a general after show, featuring various hosts by season who discuss the main episode. Whatcha Packin’ features whoever was last eliminated as they discuss their time on the show and the
outfits they had, but never wore. Whatcha Packin’ and Fashion Photo RuView are only around 10-15 minutes each, the Pit Stop is currently around 30 minutes, and episodes of Untucked are 30-45 minutes each. But wait! There’s more Drag Race. The international versions of the franchise have really taken off. Drag Race Thailand premiered in 2018 and is still airing. Drag Race UK first premiered in 2019, and recently finished its third season. Canada’s Drag Race premiered in 2020 and completed its second season in December of 2021. Drag Race Holland first premiered in 2020. In 2021, RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, Drag Race España, and Drag Race Italia premiered. In 2022, Drag Race Philippines and Drag Race France are set to premiere. It’s a lot of Drag Race, to say the least. As of writing this arti-
cle, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 is premiering at the same time as RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK Versus the World, which features previous contestants from several different Drag Race series. All of this has led to something called Drag Race fatigue. Viewers are getting tired and need a break from Drag Race. Whereas most other shows have a several month period in between seasons, as soon as one season of Drag Race ends, another one begins somewhere else in the world. It’s an incredibly rapid pace and the contestants on the previous season barely have any time to enjoy the aftermath of their run before a new batch is on your screens. Drag Race has started to feel more like homework than enjoying an important piece of queer culture. Michelle Visage, one of the main judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race,
recently spoke to UK website Digital Spy, where she responded to the comments about Drag Race fatigue. Visage focused more on the importance of queer-produced television and how Drag Race has been an important piece in getting more queer people on TV. She said, “If you don’t have time to watch them all, then record them. Watch them on WOW Presents Plus.” It appears as if Visage wants people to ignore their fatigue and instead be “grateful” that we have Drag Race at all. While Drag Race has been instrumental in bringing queer culture to the forefront of news and teaching people about the queer community, it’s exhausting to try and keep up with so many different iterations. Fans shouldn’t be expected to watch everything Drag Race or risk seeming out of touch.
Carlos César C. Jr via Wikimedia
They’re basically unidentifiable because there’s just been so damn many
Exploring the Tinder Swindler
How the catfish extraordinaire extorted $10 million on the popular dating app
amina salah staff writer
If a man is telling you his enemies have it out for him, those enemies are probably law enforcement. The Tinder Swindler is a Netflix documentary directed by Felicity Morriss, the producer who brought us the hit documentary Don’t F**k with Cats. The documentary tells the story of women who were duped by a con artist who uses the pseudonym Simon Leviev. He made his money by essentially love bombing women on the dating app Tinder. He would then fake an image of old money wealth, telling women that he was the son of a diamond business owner. Simon scammed $250K out of one of the women, Cecilie Fjellhoy. Another named Pernilla Sjoholm was also lied to, believing that he was the son of a wealthy business mogul named Lev Leviev. Simon Leviev, born as Shimon Hayut, managed to swindle around $10 million from victims all over the world from 2017-2019. In 2015, he was sentenced to two years in prison in Finland. By 2019, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison in his home country of Israel. Hayut’s con was able to go on for that long because he would take advantage of people’s need for
love and acceptance and genuine, honest human connection. He saw this and jumped at the chance to win the hearts of his victims. Hayut essentially tricked them into loaning him money with the false premise that he would repay them more than what they had loaned out to him. He would take them to expensive restaurants and fly on private jets using money he had borrowed from other victims he had scammed. Hayut would take advantage of his victim’s empathy by letting them know that he had enemies who were looking for him. These enemies were dangerous people who were out to get him, out to harm him and all of his loved ones. He would then send pictures showing that he and his bodyguard Peter had been attacked by said enemies. He claimed that he was unable to use his bank cards because his enemies might track him. As a response to the so-called security breach and threats, he would ask his victims to help him out by either loaning him cash or using their credit cards. Some of Hayut’s victims even took out loans to help finance him. He would circle this money retrieved from victims onto potential future victims. Basically, it was all just one massive Ponzi scheme.
When he saw that his victims were worried or getting anxious, Hayut would send them forged cheques and bank transfers. By the end of the documentary, Hayut had been in prison for five months. His victims are still paying off their debts to this day. Out of curiosity, I decided to snoop on his Instagram and what I saw was astounding. It was almost as if he had never been in prison at all. He’s now out, living his best scammer life, posing in private jets, decked out in world-class designer couture. Even though the law seems unable to properly charge someone like him, I feel that people like Shimon Hayut will eventually be punished by divine intervention. In some ways, Hayut is a reflection of society. Appearance matters; image is extremely important. It doesn’t matter if beneath that image there is falsehood. What matters is that the image appeals to people. The takeaway from this? If a man is telling you his enemies are after him, those enemies are probably the feds. If a man is telling you his enemies are after him, those enemies are probably the CIA. If a man is asking you to take out loans for him, tell him to kick rocks or ask his wealthy father. You aren’t the one.
Mika Baumeister via Unsplash
The app you can’t even get a decent match on, let alone $10 million dollars like Shimon Hayut.
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
9
Digital art tips & tricks Some ways to step up your portrait game jorah bright a&c writer
Digital art has become more and more popular in recent years as more and more people switch their mediums from traditional to digital. Artists are sharing their work on social media and gaining a following from it. With this rise, more and more people are getting involved in art and learning how to draw. I was one of those people. I started drawing in late 2019 and switched to digital during the initial lockdown of 2020. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about digital art and picked up a few tips and tricks that I am here now to share with you. I use Clip Studio Pro for my art, but these tips should be universal for any program! References One of the most important pieces of drawing is using references. If someone tries to tell you that using references is wrong or cheating, they’re lying to you. Using references is more than okay –
the more you learn. Texture One of the biggest things that I’ve learned in the past few months is to add texture to your drawings. Adding textures makes drawings feel more realistic. For clothing textures, grab a noise brush, add a clipping mask onto your clothing layer, change the blend mode on the clipping mask to multiply, set your brush to the colour of the clothes, and draw. Once you’re done that, lower the opacity to your liking. I tend to stick around 25% to 40%. Then, do it again on a new clipping mask layer but with the blend mode set to screen. Then, lower the opacity, I recommend 10% to 18%, but it’s up to you. For skin texture, the premise is the same, but I recommend looking up a skin texture brush for whatever drawing program you use. Lighting and Shadows Adding lighting and shadows to your drawing can be incredibly important. It adds a great deal of depth. The easy way to do this is to apply a clipping mask to your base
nose and the top of your ear will usually line up with the bottom of the eyebrow. The corners of your mouth will line up with the centre of your eye. And to extend past the face, your hand is normally the size of your head, your feet are the same size as your forearm, and your elbows are at the same point as your bellybutton. Remember: these are very, very general rules of proportions. Not everyone’s face and body will be like this, and it’s okay if it’s not. These art rules are often taken from old European artists who used themselves or other European models for their art. Keep that in mind when you research art techniques. If you don’t line up with their rules, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. Eyebrows Eyebrows can make or break a portrait drawing. They are key to expression. Furrowed brows can mean anger while raised brows mean surprise, all while the eyes never change in shape. When you work with portraits, pay attention to how the eyebrows are placed
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If someone tries to tell you that using references is wrong or cheating, they’re lying to you. Using references is more than okay – and is standard practice for almost every professional artist. – Jorah Bright
Jorah Bright
What does she ask her nail tech to get that look?
and is standard practice for almost every professional artist. Using references will help you with your drawing. When looking for references, I recommend AdorkaStock. They have a huge gallery of pose references meant for artists. You can likely find what you’re looking for, or something similar, if you’re looking for a pose reference. Additionally: Frankenstein your references. Combine them. It’s a lot easier to put a face reference onto a body reference and make it one than having them separate and trying to make them work together. That being said: use more than one reference. Use as many as you need. Not sure if one thing looks right? Find a reference. Use yourself as a reference if you need. Lots of artists use their own hands as references when drawing hands. Practice I know, I know. When you ask an artist what you can do to make your art better, they always say to practice. But they’re right! My art from a year ago is so different from my art right now. The more you draw, the more you learn. Keep practising. A good way to practice is to do individual studies. Find a few references for something you want to practice and focus on that. Want to do a nose study? Grab a few pictures of different noses and draw them. See how the lines and the planes can be different. You can do these studies for almost anything: anatomy, eyes, hair, portraits – and the more you study,
layer and use multiply for shadows and screen for highlights with the colour of your base layer as what you’re using. This will give you the basics of darker and lighter than your original colour. But don’t stop there. As much as your drawing has more depth to it now, leaving it here can make it look muddy and less visually interesting. After that, play around with complementary colours. A complementary colour is whichever colour is opposite on the colour wheel. Using complementary colours allow your shadows to stand out more and your art to look more distinct in its colours. Watch Other Artists Watch other artists. Find videos of other artists, whether they be simple tutorials, speed draws, or process videos. Watch the way other artists do things and see if it can be applied to your art. My personal favourite Youtube channel to watch is Drawfee. Each episode has three to four people drawing in their own unique styles. By watching so many different styles, there’s a lot you can pick up on. And each video has a different drawing challenge, so there’s a lot of different things they draw that you can learn from. Planes of the Face Learning the planes of the face – the ways that the skin lays on the face above muscle and bone – can be really important in anatomy practice. But a simpler way of learning face anatomy and proportions is by using your own face. The bottom of your ear will usually line up with the bottom of your
and curved. Warm-up Drawings I cannot stress this enough: warm-up drawings are one of the most important things in art. If you are about to draw a big piece that will take you a long time, warm up first. Sketch something small, anything you want. Doing warm-ups will prepare your muscles for drawing and can prevent small injuries in your hands and shoulders. Warm-up drawings can help with linework and get you in the right frame of mind to work on a drawing. Hand Stretches If you are an artist, please take care of your hands. If your hand starts hurting, stop drawing. Many artists wreck their hands by ignoring aching hands and continuing to draw. Stretch your hands before you work on a drawing. Add this to part of your warm-up drawing. If you are someone who draws a lot, consider buying a hand brace for carpal tunnel prevention. Have Fun! Even if you feel like your art is terrible, you just made art. You took something that didn’t exist before and then created it. It’s a great feat. All art is good art. Keep drawing, keep practising. Draw because you love it and you have fun doing it, not because it may be good or bad. And those are my tips and tricks! I hope they are helpful to you, and I wish you happy drawing.
Jorah Bright
A yeehaw kinda gal.
sports & health
10
editor: katie mutschler sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
Ban the bra: Adidas’ “scandalous” commentary on body positivity Is it not safe for work, or just Twitter being Twitter?
katherine mutschler s&h editor On February 9, the official Adidas Twitter account posted a photo of a variety of women’s breasts with the caption: “We believe women’s breasts in all shapes and sizes deserve support and comfort, which is why our new sports bra range contains 43 styles, so everyone can find the right fit for them.” The hashtag included was #SupportIsEverything. As can be expected, there were a lot of mixed opinions on this advertisement. Some people believe the advertisement was just a way for Adidas to tap into the body positivity movement and make money. Others believe it was a great advertisement and
Christian Wiediger via Unsplash
The breast bras around.
photoshop and typical bodies one sees in fitness ads. In this Adidas advertisement, the chests are of all varieties; they are not just the perky ones one would expect to see. There are diverse body shapes, stretch marks, skin colors, and different sizes of chests. Some of the criticism of the advertisement comes from the question “is a woman’s chest appropriate to show?” Many of the comments under the post are sexualizing the women in the ad or making jokes about the NSFW nature of the photo. Some people have even called the advertisement tasteless. Some underwear companies responded by show-
to make money. When Cathy McComb, the professor of “Underwear and Social Meaning” class was asked for her opinions, she said, “I think this ad is an attempt by Adidas to be perceived as a supplier for the growing Free the Nipple campaign. The FTN movement was formed by artists and activists worldwide to bring to light the double standard with reference to the exposure of women’s breasts versus men’s chests in popular culture. I presume that Adidas actually sees an opportunity to sell more merchandise rather than a reason to take a moral stance.” The fear for many is that this ad is a way for
should be able to find a sports bra to fit them, and that this ad shows the variety of shapes and sizes that breasts may come in. When looking through the #SupportIsEverything hashtag, there are a lot of people praising Adidas for their campaign. The official Woodward Sports Network Twitter posted photos of men topless in solidarity and showed the variety of men’s bodies and fitness levels. There are unattainable standards for all genders, especially in fitness. People are praising Adidas for fighting against these arbitrary standards. When looking at this photo, many of my friends felt empow-
creators like John Glaude (aka Obese to Beast) show photos of themselves with their loose skin. There is usually one kind of body in fitness, and it is not attainable for the majority of people. People want representation in fitness, and they want it now. There is one final angle that I want to approach this advertisement with. The Sunday before I discovered this advertisement, I had to report someone for harassing me based on how much of my chest was showing. During this time, I felt a lot of anger, shame, and disgust. When I saw this advertisement, even though I knew it was probably just a way
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When I saw this advertisement, even though I knew it was probably just a way for Adidas to market and make money, I felt at peace. I was able to see people use this campaign as a way to take back power, just as I am currently taking back power as I write this article. – Katherine Mutschler
that it created a discussion. I will walk you through what body positivity is and give some of the opinions on how this advertisement creates a broader conversation. The body positivity movement has a vague beginning. Some people believing it is a movement that began for burn victims and amputees to experience representation, others claim it began as a fight against diet culture and unattainable standards for people. For the purpose of this article, I will be defining it as a movement that creates representation of all kinds of bodies, that there is a fight against extreme
ing genitals as a way to parody the advertisement. The official Fleshlight Twitter made a post showing various Fleshlights and saying, “we believe vulvas of all shapes and sizes should be supported,” imitating the language of the original Adidas ad. This opens up a conversation that goes beyond a bra: whose nipples are okay to be shown? How does gender binary play into it, and how can transgender and non-binary people contribute to this conversation? Of course, Adidas was expecting this controversy when posting the ad, and many people assume that this was a way
Adidas to market towards people who believe that the female presenting nipple is okay to be shown (only Tumblr 2018 veterans will remember) and that they will be attracted to Adidas because they feel the company aligns with their values. Despite the controversy, Adidas has claimed that this campaign was made for good reasons. After a tweet was made by someone shaming female bodies for showing too much skin, Adidas responded with their campaign and the phrase: “All bodies should be celebrated and supported, without shame or exception.” Adidas claims that all people
ered by the image. Even knowing it is just a campaign, it has created an opportunity for many people to talk about their insecurities. Adidas is not the first company to hop into the body positivity discussion. For one April fools’ “prank,” Aerie got into some heat for their #AirieMan campaign, where a diverse cast of men were shown. It was later revealed that it was a prank, and after backlash, Aerie actually adopted the campaign to try and “do some good.” Rihanna has been praised for her Fenty shows, which includes all genders and all bodies (including people with disabilities and pregnant people). Online content
for Adidas to market and make money, I felt at peace. I was able to see people use this campaign as a way to take back power, just as I am currently taking back power as I write this article. The act of talking about bodies in fitness, bodies in media, and the sexualization of various genders brings back control to the people who are marginalized and victimized in sports and media. Whether this campaign by Adidas is a money grab, distasteful, or a part of a social movement, it creates a conversation for the sports and health world – and that is all that matters to me.
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
sports & health
11
An interview with a registered dietician: Sydney Wright Learn about your cake and eat it, too
victoria baht s&h writer
What is something all of us do 3-5 times a day? The answer is eating! Is this something that you feel guilty about doing? Is this something that you are trying to get better at? You are in luck. The Carillon decided to do an interview this week with a registered dietitian, Sydney Wright, who has been registered for almost two years. A unique aspect of her work is that she takes a non-diet approach. Sydney works in Regina in private practice at “Food to Fit Nutrition”, and she works at “Bridge Point Center for Eating Disorder Recovery” in Milden, SK. We are going to talk about healthier food options you make, and a reason why you choose the foods you do. Then we will look at how food sources can fuel us. Where did you go for post-secondary education and how long did it take you? “I went to the University of Saskatchewan at the College of
when it comes to eating disorders.” What does a typical day look like as a dietitian? Sydney has two types of days when she is involved with work. Private practice, which involves “Meeting with clients virtually going to the office to see them in person.” BridgePoint, in Milden SK: “I go on sight and stay over night. At BridgePoint we eat all our meals together and have morning, afternoon and evening meetings.” What is your feeling about the term “cheat day”? “Implying eating as cheating does not work. You must eat food to stay alive, function, and enjoy life. Look at this scenario: if you were to hold your breath for as long as you can, eventually you will have to gasp for air, although when you do this no one would consider that cheating. Often with cheat days people try to restrict and it is a planned binge which is a disordered eating behaviour. Cheat days are slippery slope that can get you into a binge cycle, and I would not recommend cheat days.”
and avocado oil has different fats.” What are some good brain foods that our students should know about? “Carbs [are] our brain’s best friend. Carbs get a bad reputation because they seem to be associated with weight gain, although this is not true. Our brain is one of the only organs that cannot store energy, and it likes to run on sugar. Having carbs is important to have your brain to function at an optimal level. Research is showing about 120 grams (depends per person) of carbs a day (480 calories) just for our brains to function at baseline to think, remember, move around, and have emotions is a sustained amount. If you pair carbs with fiber or protein they will last longer. Plus, omega-3s are good for brain development. An example would be fish, walnuts and flax seed.” What supplement should be taken regularly? “I would never regularly not recommend for everyone because everyone is different. Although those of us that live in Saskatche-
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Implying eating as cheating does not work. You must eat food to stay alive, function, and enjoy life. – Sydney Wright
Pharmacy and Nutrition, and to get into the preprogram you have at least one year of prerequisites. I started in Psychology at the University of Regina. That was two years at Regina and four years in Saskatoon.” What motivated you to be a dietitian? “Ironic story, but I was neck deep in an eating disorder around the time I discovered the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition. It was my own disorder that led me to wanting to be healthier. Then I went through school and it motivated me to become a dietitian.” What is the most challenging part of your job? “All of the work I do has to do with trauma. I am grateful for all my trauma informed training. The hard part is knowing the issue is not something I can help with. This can involve no support system, no safe home environment etc.” How does trauma relate to food habits? “Big or small trauma is almost always the underline of an eating disorder. Eating can be a way to cope with the trauma, and it can be about or not about the food
What is a more affective way to lose weight? Do you restrict the “bad foods” to a limited amount, or do you cut them all out entirely and then have them occasionally as a treat? “With a non-diet approach, we do not promote weight loss. Instead of categorizing foods into healthy and non-healthy we try to keep all foods neutral. Look at chips; this something someone would look at for being ‘bad’, but when we keep it neutral you can look at what purpose the food can serve. They taste great, are a convenient snack, but won’t keep me full for a long time and don’t have a lot of protein or fiber. Knowing that, you can decide the best time to eat. I personally would not recommend restricting foods that we see as bad because the more we restrict, the more drawn we are to them, and the more power they have over us.” What oil is best to cook with? “So, it depends on what you are cooking or baking, although the more variety the better. Olive oil is a good source of Omega-9’s, canola oil good for Omega-3’s,
wan should take Vitamin D.” Is going by your BMI accurate for everyone in our society or does it differ based on your lifestyle? “BMI is not accurate for most people. It was developed looking at White European men in the 1800’s, so it is not super accurate. Even if you are a White European man, the accuracy dates were only predicted body composition in 50% of people which means it only had 50% accuracy rate even when it was first developed. It is not accurate, it does not consider how much muscle someone has, bone structure, variables of genetics. Even though BMI can be a tool to tell if they have dropped weight fast or gained weight fast for health reasons, I do not recommend going by the BMI.” I don’t know about you guys reading this, but I loved all of these answers and finding out why I eat what I do and how my body works. Thank you, Sydney, for educating us all about foods in a non-diet approach, and I hope all you Carillon readers go eat some good food to fuel your bodies!
Ella Olson via Unsplash
Andrew Parry
Who’s hungry!?
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
carillonregina.com | the carillon |12
sports & health
Women’s curling tournament: an interview with Taylor Stremick Victory for the women’s team victoria baht s&h writer This past weekend, the University of Regina women’s curling team had a tournament, and saying they did a good job is an understatement. This was the Canadian West tournament, and it was a home game taking place in Regina, SK, involving three teams: University of Regina, University of Alberta, and University of Brandon. Each of these teams did well in this tournament, but the University of Regina’s team was lucky enough to take home the championship! The Carillon contacted a team player to get the insights of the sport itself and how the tournament went down. This week we are hearing form Taylor Stremick herself, so let’s get down to business! How long have you been curling for, and what is your position? Taylor has been curling for a long time now, she thinks around 10 years, and she is currently third position. For those readers who do not know curling well, what is third position? “Third [position] is the person who has the opportunity to throw two stones and is in charge of ‘calling the line.’ When the
skip throws the rocks, I am the one down the line that holds the broom and calls the line.” What does it mean to “call the line?” “I am down in the ‘house’ and calling to sweep or not to sweep, which is essentially [if] you are wanting the rock to curl or not. So, if I call ‘sweep the rock’ it will remain straight.” Curling seems like a very mind driven sport that needs lots of thinking. Can you explain the skill you have to line up perfectly for your shot?
Taylor explains both positions: “For thrower perspective it all comes from practice which creates a natural feeling. I try my best to stay up to date with all the different techniques, plus I listen to the best coaches and how they inform on how to throw right on the broom. This is my first time calling the line as a third so this was a big step, and so honestly [my teammate] Krystal Englot and my coach Tom were a great help. Listening to coaches always ends well.” In your opinion, what is the
most important position in curling? “I personally do not think there is one important position; we all work as a team. I cannot really say which is the best, hardest, or the easiest, because they are all equal!” To Taylor, it seems like curling really is a team effort and that it is meaningful to the curling team to work together. Can you tell us how the tournament happened in detail, for those who could not make it? “This was the Canada West
Tom Hamon
The women’s curling team brought down the house (get it? Curling joke)
tournament, and it was great to have a home rink advantage. We ended up going two wins and two loses and between the three of us teams all of us had a 2-2 record. Which meant on Sunday it came down to who had the best ‘stone draw’ which it turned out to be us and that won us first place!” Alberta has won Canada West the last two times here, so it felt good to beat that rivalry. How is your overall season going after this weekend and what do you expect to see for the rest of the season coming up? “Our Canada West nationals got cancelled due to COVID-19, so this is the only ‘true’ event, so our season is done. Although the team is still curling in a league once a week with the men’s team. Now we get the opportunity to play other teams too.” It was great to hear the U of R team was victorious. The Carillon wants to wish the women’s curling team a last congratulations on your championship and a huge thank you to Stremick for taking part in this interview. We hope both the women’s and men’s teams continue to work hard for next season and that everyone gets more opportunities next season to play!
NBA All-Stars roster Let’s hear what’s going on with basketball
amir said contributor
TJ Gragotta via Unsplash
This season sure has been a slam dunk.
With all votes and decisions finalized, the 2022 NBA All-Star game is officially mapped out, with team captains LeBron James and Kevin Durant drafting players for their respective teams in a live-streamed conference call. The game is set to take place in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 20, and it’s sure to be one for the books. On February 3, the day my original article about the All-Star game was published, the All-Star reserves were officially announced after being chosen by head coaches of the two conferences. If you read my first article, you’ll know that I made a few predictions. Read on to see which I got right! The reserves, according to the NBA’s website, are as follows: Eastern Conference: Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers James Harden, Brooklyn Nets (about that…) Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors (called it!) Western Conference: Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns Luka Dončić, Dallas Mavericks (called it!) Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves After the selection, two other players were added as replacements for Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, an eastern starter and western reserve respectively, who are unable to play due to injuries. Added to the list as their replacements were first-time all-stars LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets (called it!) and Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs. The live-streamed draft took place on February 10. The rosters of Team LeBron and Team Durant, besides the eponymous team captains, are as follows: LeBron’s starters: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks; Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors; DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls; Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets. Lebron’s reserves: Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat; Luka Dončić, Dallas Mavericks; Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers; James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers; Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz; Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns; Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors. Durant’s starters: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers; Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies; Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics; Andrew Wiggins, Golden State Warriors; Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks. Durant’s reserves: LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets; Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns; Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz; Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls; Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks; Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs; Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves;
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors. Highlights of the live stream included Kevin Durant being asked to provide an update on his injury recovery process and bluntly replying “no,” LeBron bursting into uncontrollable laughter and hiding his face behind a clipboard (more on that shortly), and the usual wit and sarcasm of former NBA superstars and current analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. James Harden, who was selected as an all-star for the tenth time of his career, recently left the Brooklyn Nets, where he played alongside Kevin Durant for the Philadelphia 76ers. The lead up to and aftermath of the trade could be the subjects of their own lengthy article, but the situation clearly did not sit well with Durant. During the draft, he refused to pick Harden as a teammate and left him as the only player not to be selected. This elicited snarky comments and laughter from Charles Barkley and LeBron James, while Durant maintained a straight face. He did, however, crack a small smile a couple of times, presumably knowing full well how silly the whole situation was and how petty he was being. This game is shaping up to be an interesting one, with legendary players on both teams and plenty of drama involved. Who will win? My money’s on Team LeBron (don’t gamble, kids) but there’s only one way to find out for sure: watch the NBA All-Star game on February 20.
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editor: sarah nakonechny op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
Live to suffer and suffer to live
The way we talk about our engagements isn’t always what motivates us to continue them The way we frame our thoughts and reasoning for why we spend our time doing different things makes all the difference as to how we will feel about ourselves as a result. By looking at everything that we do through a negative or forced lens we are not going to find the enjoyment that we should in the activities we are participating in. Even if this is something that we genuinely enjoy doing, if we feel as though we are doing it because it is something that must be done we will lose that spark of enjoyment. Isn’t that why they suggest that
do this, and I am sure that many of you will agree that you do something similar, is when I look at exercising. If asked by someone why I choose to go to the gym or for runs, my immediate thought is because I like to torture myself, or another answer along those lines. It is always surrounding the idea of punishing myself as the reason why I bother to engage in this activity. Truthfully, when I think about it in a more genuine way, that isn’t why I do it. I enjoy the rush of adrenaline when I hit a new personal record and the feeling of
ent similar benefits. It is as though the idea of participating for the sake of my team, rather for my own enjoyment and success, appears to be a better answer. I present a very similar answer whenever I am asked what I’m studying or why I chose to attend university. The reason I came to university is because I love to suffer and the reason why I took on two degrees is because I’m crazy. Again, this isn’t really the case. I did want to pursue more schooling and I do love both of my degrees an ungodly amount. However, it feels as though
the expectation that your reasoning cannot be self-fulfilling in any sense? Instead of accepting the fact that these are my reasons and I am doing them for me, it still does not feel like this is something that can be said out in the world. These are thoughts and rationales that must not see the light of day and one must hide them away from the eyes of the world. It has come down to accepting that regardless of the reasons I tell people why I am doing an activity, it ultimately doesn’t really matter. I can tell them whatever it is
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Ask most people why they chose the areas that they did, and they are going to tell you that they did it because they want to help people, or someone else inspired them, or any number of reasons that are outside of themselves. – Sarah Nakonechny
one should not turn their hobbies into their profession, as you will lose the reason why you loved it in the first place? I, like many others, am guilty of framing things in this kind of negative way. I’m guilty of doing things because I have to and not because I want to. By looking at things as though they are a balancing act, we think that we must do so many things that we don’t enjoy just to be able to justify spending time on the things that we are passionate about. This is something that I have been trying to train myself out of and I encourage any of you reading this article to consider the ways that you might be doing this and challenge your way of thinking moving forward. One of the most obvious ways that I
being capable enough to perform the way I do. It is also a nice way to thank my body for allowing me the opportunity to engage in such an activity by taking care of it and strengthening it to ensure that my performance and abilities can be maintained long term. Why then is my initial response one that screams self-loathing? Again, I’m not sure. When asked why I participate in sports, which can be considered a very similar type of activity, my answer is very different. It centers around the ideas of enjoyment and the fostering of community with my teammates. Thinking about it seems quite strange, that these two are separated so much in the way that I choose to frame how I talk about them, as they both pres-
admitting that and going into details about it is selfish and not why I should be doing it. It’s almost as though the reasoning isn’t good enough. Ask most people why they chose the areas that they did, and they are going to tell you that they did it because they want to help people, or someone else inspired them, or any number of reasons that are outside of themselves. So maybe it’s because my reasons do not sound good enough or that the people pleasing reasons I have come up with sound too Miss America for me to want to use them. This somehow leads us back to the “everything is horrible and I’m only here to live out my predetermined punishment” mentality. How does one go about trying to reframe these ideas – especially when there is
that I think they want to hear, or I could give them the true answer and explain the details of my motivation. People are going to come to their own conclusions anyways about why they think I’m doing it. The only thing my answer will do is either confirm or deny their believed motivation, which means that ensuring that I remember why I am doing these things and that the way I phrase these does not reflect my true feelings about them is what is important. Doing what bring me satisfaction, although it may be hard, is more fulfilling than trying to change my motivation for engaging with it in the first place.
sarah nakonechny op-ed editor
Volodymyr Hyrshchenko via Unsplash
Ah yes – my thoughts also resemble a child’s art project.
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
op-ed
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
Zooms’ true colours From video calls to chatting with friends, Zoom has seen it all (and then some) In about a month, it will be two years since students at the University of Regina started getting emails about the pandemic, the need to practice social distancing, and the temporary move to online delivery and working/ attending classes from home. Since then, we have tried a gradual return to a normal way of life, while being set back by new developments in the pandemic. We still hope that there is an end in sight soon, but there is no denying that it has been a weird two years, in every sense of the word. Hopefully, we have learned some important lessons that will stay with us even when all of this is behind us. While I doubt anything can make up for the stress and isolation we have gone through, the optimist in me hopes that there can be some silver lining - maybe just the realization of how much we took for granted about our daily lives up to March, 2019. One big part of our online lives during the last two years has been video conferencing solutions. While somehow Zoom seems to have become the most successful, to the extent that many of us now use Zoom as a verb for making a video call the same way we use Google as a verb for searching something, there are also rival softwares like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and for that matter the hastily launched Rooms feature on Facebook Messenger. At least one peer of mine back home lamented how he is in four classes, and each is using a different app for video meetings! In the first few weeks of this pandemic Zoom was also being used for more than just online classes and work meetings. Looking back, I feel a little self-conscious in admitting that some friends and I used it for virtual hangouts for a few weekends, gaming together or just chatting for a couple of hours over tea or coffee. As the lockdown persisted though, we stopped that soon enough. Most of us were getting enough screen time
through work and school, and while seeing friends was nice, additional screen time was not. Personally, I have found Zoom to be a mixed bag. I cannot appreciate enough how easy it has made my life in terms of scheduling. In addition to being a full-time student and a part-time writer, I volunteer in several school and community organizations. In the pre-pandemic life, this often meant having to schedule multiple meetings, not all of them necessarily on campus, and worry about commuting and coordinating
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dents is part of my job. Nevertheless, I feel justified in my concerns when said student explained to me that no, they simply could not articulate their question in an email for me to respond to in an asynchronous manner and yes, a Zoom meeting was non-negotiable. On the two occasions I relented and scheduled a meeting with them, each lasted five minutes and involved asking one question. I only remember one of the questions: “What is the maximum possible value of n?” I invite the readers to decide if this could indeed have been asked over email, sparing
Personally, I have found Zoom to be a mixed bag. – Hammad Ali
everything. Now, I happily schedule a Zoom meeting, knowing I can do my own work up to the last minute before meeting time. It probably makes sense, then, that we have collectively found it easy to overdo this aspect of it. Just yesterday, I had five Zoom meetings. By the end of the day I was done with computers, meetings, and sitting at a desk. Yet I am back at it today, with two Zoom meetings scheduled. However, the worst aspect of the Zoom experience for me has been the casualness with which we have abused this convenience. In my work as a teaching assistant, I had encountered one student who repeatedly asked for Zoom meetings to discuss homework problems. Of course, helping these stu-
me from having to set aside my thesis work and schedule a video call. Then there are the amusing Zoom blunders that are now the topic of dozens of memes. I maintain that the most used phrase in the last couple of years is “You are muted!” said each time with a little more exasperation. Worse though, is when you should have been muted but weren’t, and now the work meeting you are in is featuring your pets, child, or some mix of the two as background music. My favorite along those lines, however, must be the time I was joining a prayer service, and one member of the congregation kept getting unmuted. The icing on the cake was how each time it happened, their dog began barking in what I am willing
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to bet was perfect tune with the songs in the service! Unless the meeting involves a very small group or I am the one speaking, I also like to keep my video off. A related recurring nightmare always involves a series of hopefully unlikely events, like my camera suddenly coming on, and my clothes somehow disappearing at that same instant. I am relieved to report that this has not happened so far, and the most embarrassing video incident that I have had to endure are the times when my facial expressions betrayed my inner thoughts about an idea someone suggested. I wanted to write mostly about the blunders we made in our many video meetings since 2020 but putting my thoughts on paper has made me think. Many of these incidents, I feel, portray the privileges some of us have. How many of us live in a house with personal space away from pets, kids, and other family members? How many of us already had the hardware and sufficient internet access to facilitate a complete move to our work and school lives online? Among those who did not already have the infrastructure, how many had enough savings to be able to invest in setting one up? How many were comfortable enough with technology to use it so often? I know that having each of these things does not make me a terrible person, but I think we need to acknowledge how much privilege we have only now becoming visible in the event of a crisis or a pandemic. Maybe that can be one of the lessons we take from the past two years, and learn to be more mindful of.
hammad ali staff writer
Iyus Sugiharto via Unsplash
Zoom, the program that did what Skype couldn’t manage
feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
op-ed
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
Plastic or no plastic, this is no longer a question
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It’s disgraceful that we had to wait
Morgan Vander Hart via Unsplash
American Beauty, who?
On February 1, 2022, the Plastic Checkout Bag Ban came into full effect. “We are joining municipalities across the country in our move to ban plastic checkout bags and become a more sustainable city,” Bob Hawkins, the city councillor stated. “Regina residents made it clear that this is the right move. Over 10,000 residents took part in public engagement on this initiative, and 77 per cent indicated that the reduction of single-use plastic items is an important issue to them,” Hawkins went on. The City of Regina’s Plastic Checkout Bag Ban is important because it is an initiative that is meant to remove the use of plastic bags in stores. Prior to the imple-
ending up in our landfill, in our recycling processing facility, and littered throughout our community will be reduced.” The City of Regina detailed the importance of minimizing plastic waste that has been entering the landfill for the longest time. This would thus extend the life of the landfill as the City of Regina identified. The goal here is to prevent plastic litter, and in a perfect world perhaps eradicate it. According to the City of Regina’s website, the average Canadian uses 200-300 plastic bags at checkouts every year. Reusing bags unfortunately is not the only solution due to the reality that many will still end up
fills each year. My hope is for the ban to extend to other aspects of day-to-day life. It is unreasonable for fruit to come packaged in plastic. On one hand, we are doing something that is helping alleviate the dangers we have created through our landfills. But on the other hand, the damage continues if produce wrapped in plastic and plastic bags meant for carrying produce within stores are allowed. It’s quite a puzzling dichotomy. When I went to Superstore last weekend, the bylaw was in full effect. However at the Safeway in my neighbourhood, plas-
and it would be impossible to do so because for one, you are not a billionaire. All we can do as citizens is try our best given our circumstances. I am astonished that it took as long as it did to implement this bylaw. I am not having a hard time with the bylaw because I have always carried reusable bags every time I’ve gone out since I was 16. It has always been important to me. I try as hard as I can to decrease the amount of plastic I use. I made the switch at 16 to reusable metal straws and carrying my water bottle with me everywhere I go so that I do not have to use plastic. This is absolutely the step in the right direction.
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For the longest time, corporations have gaslighted us into thinking that it is up to the ordinary person to solve the issue of environmental catastrophe that is looming over us. The reality is that it is not up to us, it is up to the multi-billion-dollar, capitalist, money hungry corporations to solve the issue that they created. – Amina Salah
mentation of the ban, the city ensured that it reached out to businesses all across Regina to help them prepare for when the ban came into practice. There were details put together so that businesses could inform their customers of the change that would be coming. It was important for people to understand what was coming their way so that they may make informed decisions and be prepared when they are shopping. Kim Onrait, the executive director of citizen services emphasized, “We are providing time for plastic bag users to get in the habit of bringing their own reusable bags to stores before the ban takes effect in February […] By switching to reusable bags or containers, the amount of plastic waste
in landfills. The bylaw only applies to bags that are provided to customers at checkout, and does not include plastic bags that are provided for carrying fruits and vegetables or produce that already comes wrapped in plastic. This proves that this should not be the end of it. There is still more that needs to be done to reduce the amount of plastic being used. According to the Government of Canada, Canadians use almost 15 billion plastic bags each year. Canadians also use 57 million straws every day. About one third of plastic in Canada is created for packaging or single use needs, and 2.8 million tonnes of plastic end up in Canadian land-
tic had been banned for quite some time. They provided paper bags or cotton bags that can be purchased. I am satisfied that the ban is being upheld everywhere else; this is exactly what the city needs. For the longest time, corporations have gaslighted us into thinking that it is up to the ordinary person to solve the issue of environmental catastrophe that is looming over us. The reality is that it is not up to us, it is up to the multi-billion-dollar, capitalist, money hungry corporations to solve the issue that they created. You can recycle as much as you want, go plastic free, go vegan, go zero waste, but none of that will help alleviate the harm that we have inflicted on our planet because it is not up to you to fix it,
However, I can’t help but feel like the city is just putting a Band Aid on a wound that has been festering since the start of humanity. It seems like they are throwing a bone for us to chew. “Here! Now you can stop bothering us about climate change and the environment!” It seems like a ploy to make people think this is enough, that this is all that is needs to be done. But the reality of our world shows that the work around climate change is continuous and lifelong.
amina salah staff writer
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editors: safal gangwani, rooky jegede graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | feb 17 - mar 2, 2022
