the carillon the staff
editor-in-chief editor@carillonregina.com
holly funk
executive director business@carillonregina.com
jacob nelson
production manager production@carillonregina.com
morgan ortman
advertising manager advertising@carillonregina.com
ty cote
technical editor tech@carillonregina.com
shae shackman
multimedia/graphics editors multimedia@carillonregina.com graphics@carillonregina.com
sarah carrier rooky jedege
copy editor copyeditor@carillonregina.com
aurel demont
news editor news@carillonregina.com
sara birrell
a&c editor aandc@carillonregina.com
hannah eiserman
sports editor sports@carillonregina.com
brad fraser
op-ed editor op-ed@carillonregina.com
sarah nakonechny
distribution manager distribution@carillonregina.com staff writer
kyle anderson hammad ali
staff writer
gillian massie
news writer
liam o’connor
a&c writer
vacant
sports writer
victoria baht
web writer
vacant
rayanne gwilliam
vol. 64
contributors
board of directors holly funk, lindsay holitzki, joseph holoein,, dustin smith, jacob nelson and cassandra byblow (honourary member)
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 forty 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 Semtember 2 - September 15, 2021 | Volume 64, Issue 03 | carillonregina.com
news
Campus fridges Well folks, it’s the first week of school, and the campus is beginning to (responsibly) buzz with activity again. I’d like to thank our staff and the contributors who helped get this first issue of the semester ready, and I’m looking forward to meeting more of both. When attending your classes this fall, remember to stay invested, do your readings before the lectures, and for the love of god please turn off your mic if you’re not talking during a Zoom class. C’mon. It’s been a year and a half.
news
p.4
Two community fridges are being placed on campus to highlight food insecurity, which impacts roughly two of every five students.
arts
Space-zos
arts
p.6
Have you ever wondered how much Canadian student loan debt Bezos could’ve paid off with his fifteen minutes in “space?” We have.
Hybrid Folk Fest
p.8
This year the Regina Folk Fest hosted a hybrid festival, balancing online and outdoor concerts to deliver an accessible Sask music experience.
op-ed
sports
Holly Funk Editor-in-Chief
photos
cover......................................sarah carrier news...........................wikipedia commons news.................................daniel oberhaus a&c......................yellowbird photography a&c................................john michael lind sports.........................wikipedia commons op-ed........................................samule sun
John Michael Lind
p.9
Current touring musician (and former Carillon staff member) John Michael Lind shares on his inspiration, dedication, and how his passions always trace back to human connection.
Paralympians
p.13
It’s about time we compare the values in the Olympic Charter to what’s been observed in Tokyo. The playing field’s never really been equal.
Blame
p.17
Whether it’s directed inward or out, sometimes blame just has no place. Read why blaming yourself for the State of the World is pointless, and just how biased our judgment can be.
news
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editor: sara birrell news@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
Vaccinations mandatory for on-campus access University will host pop-up clinics
hammad ali staff writer Vaccines are the safest and most effective defense against COVID-19, particularly the fast-spreading, highly transmissible Delta variant that is now a growing concern all across the province and Canada. With the return of many in-person courses, events, and activities on campus, on August 13, both the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina announced that faculty, staff, and students will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 1, 2021. Following that date, any members of the campus community who are not fully vaccinated will be required to undergo regular rapid antigen testing. At the University of Regina, these requirements apply to all University of Regina and federated colleges’ faculty and staff, and to students who are registered for any on-campus/in-person classes during Fall 2021 or expect to attend on-campus events or activities during the semester. At this time, students studying remotely and those who will not be accessing campus will not be required to take any actions until November 2021, at which point there will be further communication on this issue, in preparation for the Winter 2022 semester. For all those who need to be on campus for the fall semester, the university is offering one of two possible options. The first option is to get vaccinated and provide proof of full vaccination by October 1, 2021. In order to facilitate this, the university is currently developing a secure online portal where individuals can upload documentation as proof of
vaccination. Further information and instructions about uploading relevant documentation will be provided as soon as possible. Alternatively, the university will be granting exemptions to the vaccine requirement, based on medical or religious reasons, pursuant to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. All those granted an exemption, as well as all those who decline to provide proof of vaccination, will be permitted to access campus provided they undergo regular rapid antigen testing. The rapid antigen screening test involves taking a swab from inside the nostrils, and students will then have to wait 20 minutes to receive a negative test
ing taken to ensure privacy of sensitive information, Dorma mentioned that both the portal for providing proof of vaccination and the testing process will be managed with utmost concern for the privacy and security of individuals. The university already has processes in place to ensure faculty, staff, and students’ personal information, including personal health information, is protected in accordance with The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Health Information Protection Act. In addition, only a very limited number of staff will be involved in the collection and management of personal health
able for both international and domestic students. International students who are unable to meet the October 1 deadline for full vaccination due to late arrival in Canada will be provided a grace period. International students who are required to quarantine will not be allowed to leave their room during their quarantine period. They can, however, get vaccinated once they complete their quarantine requirement. Dorma also emphasized that international students will not need a valid Saskatchewan health card to get vaccinated at a university pop-up clinic, and in fact will also be able to call HealthLine 811 to book an appointment without a health
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All faculty, staff, students, and their immediate family members are able to get vaccinated on campus, as the university continues to host frequent pop-up vaccination clinics. – Hammad Ali
result before they can be granted access to campus. Additional details regarding the testing process will be made available in the coming days. More information on the vaccination requirement, testing procedure, and other issues are available at: https:// www.uregina.ca/term-updates/ vaccination.html. We also got in touch Mr. Everett Dorma, Public Affairs Strategist at the Office of Communications and Marketing, with some questions about the vaccination requirement, exemptions, and other concerns. When asked about steps be-
information. Dorma added that all faculty, staff, students, and their immediate family members are able to get vaccinated on campus, as the university continues to host frequent pop-up vaccination clinics. Students will be informed periodically about the dates and times for future pop-up vaccination clinics over their university email and the U of R social media channels. When asked about international students who will be arriving in Canada for the first time, Dorma mentioned that appointments for the on-campus vaccination clinics are readily avail-
card. When asked about all potential consequences for students who are not fully vaccinated, and/or those who choose to refuse disclosing their vaccine status, Dorma reiterated that they will need to regularly complete rapid screening tests and provide negative results. In addition, student varsity athletes who refuse to comply with the vaccination deadline of September 24, 2021 for athletes, will be removed from their team’s roster and lose access to all privileges available to University of Regina student athletes. These include the opportunities
for team or individual training, competition, and any varsity integrated support systems. Additionally, students who choose not to get vaccinated will not be able to live in residence. They will be able to cancel any existing room booking they have, without penalties, prior to movein date by emailing housing.services@uregina.ca. However, if a student has moved into residence and does not become fully vaccinated by the prescribed deadline or is not granted an accommodation/exemption, their residence contract will be terminated unilaterally and they will be required to vacate the residence, while being held financially liable as per the residence contract. We also reached out to several current students who are looking forward to a return to in-person classes and events, even if minimal. In general, students are glad that the university has decided to make full vaccination mandatory. Nathanial, a final-year student, says while there might be some concern about whether everyone will conform to the measures, he also feels that people will do the right thing, and that the measures announced for those granted exemptions seem fair and satisfactory. At present, students who do not intend to access campus during the fall semester need to neither show proof of vaccination nor seek exemption. However, the university has already mentioned that relevant information regarding the Winter 2022 semester will be announced sometime in November. It should also be mentioned that for now, the mask mandate remains in place all over the U of R campus.
Daniel Schludi via Unsplash
Inoculation nation.
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 4
news
Community fridge on campus brings mutual aid Fridges in Riddell, FNU
liam o’connor news writer Community fridges have become much more popular recently and have garnered lots of local support in Regina, both from residents and businesses. Currently there are three fridges in Regina: one in North Central, one in Cathedral, and one outside Carmichael Outreach in the Heritage neighbourhood, but there will soon be five with the University of Regina Student’s Union installing two new ones, one in Riddell Centre and one in the First Nations University building. More students are food insecure than people realize and the fridges are designed to help accommodate them, according to Cassidy Daskalchuk, the URSU Food Security Coordinator. The need for community fridges became more apparent to URSU after having “URSU Cares” events and having leftover food. URSU Cares is a bi-weekly pantry that runs on Wednesday and Thursday, where students can show up and get food free of charge. These events see about 150 students each day. Daskalchuk said, “I know that this number is just going to grow as a university reopens.” Before the on-campus fridge existed Daskalchuk would drive around Regina and donate the leftover food to different community fridges in the city. Having a fridge on campus means that students whose schedules don’t permit them to visit the URSU Cares pantry will still have access to food. Daskalchuk also pointed out that there are no grocery stores near the campus and the fridges will help address that problem. She expanded on this by saying,
Wikipedia Commons
Good food is a human right.
“we thought that we might as well have a way for students to have accessible and affordable food on campus that they can access whenever they need it, it can be completely stigma free. Then we just thought a fridge would be a really good way to just build a stronger community on campus and raise awareness about food insecurity.” Daskalchuk is hopeful there will be more studies done on food insecurity among students, but
they’re going to get the next meal, we’re going to help create a stronger campus community.” The Riddell Centre fridge will be located by the URSU front desk and be up and running by September. The FNU fridge will be operational in October, although an exact location has yet to be determined. Anyone is welcome to donate to the fridges and there needs to be a constant flow of donations according to Daskalchuk. They
ed in the fridge. Items should also have labels indicating whether they are halal, kosher, or other specific dietary need, and they must be placed in the correct section of the fridge. Allowed: -fresh fruits/vegetables -dried foods, with a stable shelf life -jarred and canned foods (sealed and unopened) Not Allowed: -meals cooked in an unregis-
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There’s no shame in not having enough money to buy food and hopefully this also raises awareness just to the U of R organization in general, that this is something that our students are struggling with. – Cassidy Daskalchuk
said “the general consensus is that about two out of five students are food insecure, which is about 39 per cent.” As for the cause of food insecurity, Daskalchuk believes it’s relatively straightforward: that a mix of high tuition rates and housing costs are to blame. She went on to explain “[students] need to worry about where you’re going to sleep and you need to worry about getting your education, so food tends to come last, but what a lot of people don’t realize is food is exactly what you need to succeed academically and also in your personal life, so I think that by providing students with food and taking the stress off of where
feel it is important to keep the fridge stocked at all times so students do not get discouraged if they opened it and there is no food inside. The fridges largely rely on donations from other people, but there are certain grocery stores in the Regina area that help such as Fresh-Co, Save-On-Foods, and the Regina Food Bank. URSU is asking people not to donate any kind of alcohol, homemade meals (unless they were cooked in a food safe establishment), moldy food, or anything that is bent. Almost anything else can be donated. However, the donations need to be clearly dated so people know when an item was deposit-
tered home or kitchen -leftovers -food past best before or expiry dates -damaged food or opened packaging -dented cans -recalled food items -raw meat/seafood -cooked rice -bean sprouts -raw milk cheeses/unpasteurized milk Daskalchuk spoke about the stigma of food insecurity and how this project can hopefully end it by having a fridge out in the open. She said “I think having the community fridge in the open will hopefully help reduce stigma
on campus, but some students do need these services. There’s no shame in not having enough money to buy food and hopefully this also raises awareness just to the Uof R organization in general, that this is something that our students are struggling with.” Although there are grocery stores donating to the fridges, like Fresh-co, Daskalchuk is hopeful that there will be more support from other stores and restaurants in the future, and she indicated that getting corporate support is something she is working on. To expand, she stated “I think [corporate donors] are going to be one of the biggest helps and one of the biggest donors towards our community fridge/”. She added that “At least we could create a pretty consistent schedule and we can make sure that our fridge is never empty.” For the most part, Daskalchuk said that most of the responses they have received from grocery stores are from the smaller and more local stores and not the large companies. Daskalchuk said that she knows it is not always the most convenient thing in the world for people to donate, but the URSU team can help figure something out for people who may not be able to drop off food directly. She said, “they can always reach out to the Students Union, or to myself directly and we can definitely do a food pickup or workout some type of way that’s easier for them to donate. So, don’t let it deter you, that it is in the university because we can definitely work around it.”
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 5
news
Trudeau’s vanity election may cost him Canada trending conservative
liam o’connnor news writer On August 15, a writ was dropped and Canada’s 44th election officially began. Election day is set for September 20, and it will be the third time in six years that Canadians have headed to the polls for a federal election. With only 36 days total to campaign, candidates have been busy on the campaign trail. In the Regina-Wascana riding (university area) there are four candidates: the incumbent, Conservative Michael Kram; Liberal Sean Eachern; NDP Erin Hidelbaugh, and the People’s Party candidate Mario Milanovski. The Green Party had yet to name a candidate at press time. University of Regina Professor Howard Leeson spoke to the Carillon via phone call to talk about the upcoming election. Leeson specializes in Canadian politics, Canadian foreign policy, Canadian federalism, and the Constitution. Leeson believes that heading into this election the Liberal Government was looking to capitalize on how they handled the pandemic and keeping the country afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, “it seems, I’m sure, in the Prime Minister’s eyes that this was probably a time to see whether or not people in Canada would support them. So, I think that was the stage for it.” Leeson explained that opposition parties like the NDP were ready for an election because they still have the same leader (Jagmeet Singh) from the previous election, whereas the Green Party – whose long-time leader Elizabeth May stepped down after the
Wikipedia Commons
Who will be the next PM of pipelines?
most recent election – has had a fair amount of turmoil, including one of their three MPs, Jennica Atwin, crossing the floor to the Liberals, and apparent internal divisions over the election of Annamie Paul as leader. The Conservatives also have a new leader, Erin O’Toole, who is going into his first election. According to Leeson, students should be looking at a few different key issues when they show up to the voting booth this fall. The first of which, he said, “you want to make sure that there’s going to be access to
student debt. He added, “universities, as you know, have been existing more and more on foreign student tuition, very large tuition, which doesn’t seem to be possible now. So, there could be budget crunches for universities like the University of Regina. So, what would each of the federal parties look at in terms of specific help for students.” Lastly, Leeson said students should look for a government that will provide a lot of opportunities for them once they graduate, especially coming out of a pandemic.
Canada and that has completely evaporated and they’re now tied. So, you’ve got 32 seats that used to be dominated by the Liberal Party.” Then, in Quebec the Bloc is beginning to wane and the beneficiary, according to Leeson, is the Conservative Party and not the NDP. In Ontario, Leeson sees a similar trend, where the Liberals are polling significantly worse than before. He said, “In Ontario, the liberals used to have a 14 to 15 point advantage and that’s down to four and moving in the direction of the Conservative Party.”
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In the Prime Minister’s eyes that this was probably a time to see whether or not people in Canada would support them. So I think that was the stage for it. – Howard Leeson
institutions given COVID and everything else. So that would mean that the current outbreak, the fourth wave that we’re starting into, is managed properly, that the students are kept safe at universities with in-person classes where possible.” Leeson expanded on this by saying students want to look for a government that will support post-secondary institutions on a provincial level by giving them money or in other ways. Another area which Leeson feels students need to pay attention to is which, if any, parties are offering some kind of relief on
As far as who Leeson sees taking the lead this election, he believes polling data indicates it will be the Conservative Party. He concluded, “it looks to me as if the Liberals have more or less lost the lead that they had going in the general lead and the beneficiary of that loss has been largely the Conservative Party.” Leeson continued to break down how the polling data points to a Conservative win by saying, “if you look at the regional polling data, you’ve got the Liberals, for example, used to have, at one point, a 30-point lead in Atlantic
Last federal election, Saskatchewan was dominated by the Conservatives. When asked about how the election will pan out in Saskatchewan, Leeson said, “I’m from a generation who remembers when it used to be quite a competitive system here even 20 or 25 years ago and it certainly has become a one-party dominant system now across the prairies, with Conservatives dominating.” He continued that there may be a few individual MPs from different parties elected, like Buckley Belanger, a former member of the Saskatchewan NDP who is run-
ning as a Liberal in the North. Leeson sees a “conservativization” trend in Canada over a long period of time and thinks it will be a while before there is any kind of radical political movement. He sees the same trend with new immigrants in Canada, and stated, “I think many of the new immigrant groups that are coming in from outside tend to be socially conservative in one way or another. Some of them will be economically radical, but socially conservative.” He feels this way because Canada has its problems, like pockets of poverty, but generally speaking has been a relatively wealthy country with good employment, and a large middle-class. Generally, countries like that tend to be more conservative, according to Leeson. However, Leeson said, “if you look at, again, at some of the longer-term trends, we’ve got a concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, and a shrinking of the middle class, which might impact things. Children can’t expect to own a home like their parents did, or they are not getting full-time long-term employment the way their parents did.” He said the worsening outlook for young people “might radicalize some people in the future, but not right now.” Overall, Leeson feels like this election will not be the most important one in our lifetime and it will be more of a regular cycle election. Either way, he thinks it will be interesting to see if there will be a new face in parliament and the changing of leaders in different parties.
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 6
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People are starving, Jeff
We can’t have nice things because Jeff Bezos wants to go to space gillian massie and sara birrel staff writer and news editor On July 20, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of wildly successful online shopping service (and dystopian megacorporation) Amazon, dropped $5.5 billion to be launched into space. The billionaire extended the opportunity to two companions, Bezos’ brother and an aviation expert from Texas. The space shuttle launch was broadcast on live television and when they were done the passengers and crew members popped champagne on the launch pad. The entire shuttle blasted off and landed in 15 minutes (only around four of which were actually spent in “space”). Space shuttles are being advertised as a new form of tourism that could be an actual vacation opportunity for the ruling class in the near future. However, the titanic cost of Bezos’ rocket ship ride has raised questions about whether it is an ethical choice, considering the rapidly increasing inequality around the globe and the amount of fossil fuel emissions required for a single vanity launch. There are a lot of places that money could have been better spent (we actually can’t think of a worse way it could have been
spent) and we’ve broken down some of the financial issues that could have been solved if the public kept that money and NASA simply yeeted Bezos into the Sun pro bono. Canadian students owe, on average, $26,075 per person in student loan debt. Around $75 million of that debt is held by Saskatchewan students, who owe more on average than other Canadian students and who are more likely to graduate with
lions of dollars worth of damage and left scores of people homeless. In B.C alone, $95 million has already been put into fighting fires in 2021. According to B.C statistics, the total cost over the last 10 years is currently at $2,865,600,000, an amount that places a huge economic burden on the public but is only slightly more than half of what it cost for Bezos to go to space for significantly less time than it would take to read Kropotkin’s Conquest of
something that’s only impressive to humans under the age of seven. It’s just a sliver of the budget for the bald space man. He could throw in Flint, Michigan and still not be spending as much as he spent on his environmentally destructive post-divorce midlife crisis. There’s also the rising inequity in the housing market. Housing prices in Canada have risen more in the past decade than in any other country in the world. And
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The titanic cost of Bezos’ rocket ship ride has raised questions about whether it is an ethical choice, considering the rapidly increasing inequality around the globe and the amount of fossil fuel emissions required for a single vanity launch. – Gillian Massie
so-called “large debt” – amounts over $25,000. While that debt has the power to reduce the quality of life of many of the people who are saddled with it, Bezos’ space bux could have paid it off 73 times over. Devastating forest fires across Canada and the Pacific northwest (largely caused by late-stage capitalists like Bezos) have caused mil-
Bread. Canada’s ongoing colonial project is evident in the crisis of clean water on First Nations reserves. While estimates vary, in 2017 the parliamentary budget officer estimated that it would cost around $3.2 billion to get clean water on every reserve in so-called Canada. That’s not even close to what Bezos spent to do
while many people manage to scrape by, spending 30 per cent or more on rent, hundreds of thousands of Canadians are homeless. A rough estimate from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness puts the cost of housing every Canadian at about $3.7 billion. Jeff Bezos could literally end homelessness for less money than it cost him to take a joyride into
what scientists consider, “sure, technically space, I guess.” But maybe Jeff wants to distribute his hoard a little closer to (his) home. Amazon has 1,335,000 employees worldwide. It’s well known that they work in grueling conditions, going entire days without breaks, famously peeing in bottles, wrecking their bodies so that Bezos can steal the value of their labour and leave them with almost nothing. That $5.5 billion could have been spent giving $4,000 lump sum payments to every Amazon worker on the face of the Earth. And while that’s not quitting forever and retiring on the beach money, $4000 would have done more good in the pockets of ordinary workers than it did launching Bezos into what – I can’t stress enough – was barely space. The opportunity to go to space is once-in-a-lifetime, and only few will ever experience it. It leaves a sour taste in ones’ mouth when you think of all the devastating problems that the money frittered away on making rich people feel cool could solve instead. And Bezos is just one billionaire who has entered space. Richard Branson completed his first launch nine days prior in New Mexico. Far from being aspirational or laudable, the billionaire space race makes very clear that these men are rich because others have been made poor.
Daniel Oberhaus
Beff Jezos
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editor: hannah eiserman aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
Imagined Objects exhibit ‘ignites curiosity’
The Art Gallery of Regina exhibit encourages playful imagination with reclaimed and lost materials
holly funk editor-in-chief Though the exhibit takes up only one room at the Art Gallery of Regina, Imagined Objects by Jessica Morgun and Tamara Rusnak could easily take hours of your time to properly appreciate (so it’s a good thing you have until September 26 to go see it). The artists, who both hold Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina respectively, put this show together to ignite curiosity and speculation in its viewers. Some of the main themes in Rusnak’s work are repurposing, altered perspectives, and exploring “what ifs” in the form of tools that don’t (at least, currently) exist. Some of these tools come in the form of sculptures made from clay, wire, ceramic, and papier-mache. Rusnak actually destroyed old drawings to use for the papier-mache pieces of the exhibit and plans on using that same repurposing process with many of the pieces on display current-
Holly Funk
Do you think any of these imagined tools could help cure Coronavirus?
ly. Other tools come as drawings in ink and graphite, as pictured, each with a subtle trend that shifts through collections. Morgun took the theme of imagined objects a different route, and through their project
-Explain how it fits in your hand. -Explain what it feels like when you run your hand over it. -What would happen if you put it in your mouth? After conducting these in-
uses may be difficult to imagine, that is sort of the point. They’re interpretations of described sensations, and sensations are subjective – so it’s likely that this same project by any other artist would’ve produced 10 wildly dif-
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They’re interpretations of described sensations, and sensations are subjective, so it’s likely that this same project by any other artist would’ve produced 10 wildly different sculptures. – Holly Funk
Think of a Lost Thing, asked Regina residents to describe things they’d lost without mentioning what they were; what they were used for; or even what they looked like. Some examples of questions interviewees were asked include:
terviews and learning as much as she could, while staying within the bounds of the project, she took the verbal descriptions and made clay sculptures to match her imaginations evoked by the descriptions and though their
ferent sculptures. The aspect of Morgun’s display that draws the audience in is the excerpts from her interviews, printed on the wall by her sculptures. Each of the 10 quotes are no more than four sentences long
so viewers aren’t overwhelmed with context, but again - that’s the point. Each of the sculptures is set on a coloured mat, and the colour of each mat is coordinated with the colour of the interview quotes on the wall. This gives the audience a hint as to which description may have inspired each object but leaves enough ambiguity that opinions on matches will differ from person to person. While Rusnak’s pieces take on the debut side of objects created from imaginations, Morgun’s bring some closure by introducing new life to items that were grieved by those who lost them. They played with the theme of repurposing differently as well, yet both emphasized that perspective is everything when assessing something’s purpose. Or, as the self-guided tour pamphlet states: “In short, artists have the power to change the world by envisioning a better one.”
University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine
OPEN HOUSE Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021 6:30 pm Auditorium - Regina General Hospital •
Learn about the MD program from students and physicians.
•
Tour the Campus and Dilawri Simulation Centre. (in-person only)
•
Attend in-person or virtually. FREE event. Space is limited.
Pre-register online:
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
arts & culture
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Regina Folk Festival 2021: Summer Satellites Regina’s summer staple keeps it fresh with pandemic return for 50th annual festival
shae sackman technical editor The COVID-19 pandemic has persisted long enough that simply cancelling events or rescheduling to a time when things settle down is no longer feasible. All sorts of events – festivals, parties, workshops, and other local programming – have been forced to develop new ways to do the work they are setting out to do. While some organizations may look at having to create new ways to meet their missions as an inconvenience, others have embraced and stepped up to the challenge – working hard to ensure the safety and entertainment of their audiences. The Regina Folk Fest (RFF) started in the Campion College cafeteria in 1969. Ashley Martin’s detailed article in the Leader-Post from 2019 on how it was that the Regina Folk Fest started, how it evolved, and the people who kept it going is an excellent trip through memory lane. This crash course in the history of Regina’s art scene discusses the key people and events that helped to shape the festival as we know it in 2021. Some of these highlights include overcoming rowdy and unpredictable Saskatchewan summer weather, battling rogue sprinkler systems spraying down equipment, and bouncing back after a $14,000 deficit that cancelled the 1994 festival. With those issues having been successfully conquered, it’s safe to say rolling with the punches is in the RFF’s DNA. Bringing the community music and togetherness during a pandemic is just one more chapter in
Yellowbird Photography
Eekwol performing at RFF on Saturday night, giving the crowd both some great vibes and some serious outfit envy.
the Folk Fest’s rich history. Regina Folk Fest’s Summer Satellites series took place from August 6 to 8 this summer, a new twist on a much-loved summer staple festival in Regina. Summer Satellites launched with 13 artists in various configurations across the city and online for maximum flexibility. The Regina Folk Fest and their care for the community with this approach can be seen on their website, stating: “We also figured that the constellation of in-person outdoor and online micro-concerts would be a gentle
festival, of course, so we hope to return to some kind of normalcy in 2022.” The process of developing a new hybrid version of the Regina Folk Fest was not an easy one. “It was definitely challenging as we had to pivot between different plans for several months to meet changing restrictions,” Goodwyn admits. When asked how the roadblocks in planning a partially online, partially offline event were tackled, she mentions that “[i]n the end[,] the partnership with the Conexus Arts Centre granted
for this summer’s festival were discovered along the way, Goodwyn says. “It was an absolute pleasure to feature an all-Saskatchewan based line-up! There is so much talent in this province and it was amazing to see audience members soak up the good vibes at the shows.” This new approach also allowed RFF to find new ways to showcase local artists. Goodwyn explains: “The exclusively online micro-concerts were a bit of an experiment for us as we travelled to Saskatoon and Forget to meet up with the artists, mostly
“
The online content increases accessibility to the artists we present as well as helps people learn about musicians they may not have heard of before. – Amber Goodwyn
way for the community to ease back into concert-going.” A focus on providing a safe environment for their community was at the center of their mission for the shows this year, and the community responded in kind. Artistic Director of the Regina Folk Festival Amber Goodwyn offered some reflection after this month’s concerts: “I think that many of our guests felt relieved to have clear health and safety protocols in place so that they could relax and enjoy live music! Folks definitely miss our classic summer
us [the] use of their Brandt Community Stage[,] which was a huge help by taking the pressure off of having to build infrastructure for the event.” The Saskatchewan community has always been at the heart of the RFF, and this year was no different. The Summer Satellites format leant itself especially well to re-establishing, strengthening, and celebrating the Folk Fest’s focus on local talent after an especially tumultuous and isolating year. Unforeseen benefits of developing a new delivery method
in non-traditional music venues. Those were exciting challenges to figure out as we’re still pretty new at creating on-line concert options.” Taking on a new way to deliver the event also has had an effect on the future of the RFF. Goodwyn says that they “definitely want to continue with on-line concert and music engagement options moving into the future[,] regardless of how COVID evolves.” Another unexpected benefit was also uncovered, according to Goodwyn, who says
that “[t]he online content increases accessibility to the artists we present as well as helps people learn about musicians they may not have heard of before.” This month’s event demonstrated just how eager the community is to be able to engage with the arts and each other again. Attendees of the RFF were able to gather and enjoy the festival in the way that felt the safest to them. “It was really meaningful for music lovers to gather safely after so much time apart. Also[,] we ourselves as volunteers, staff and technicians were just so grateful to be able to get back to work” Goodwyn commented. “The performing arts sectors have been severely impacted by COVID.” Re-planning a music festival with complicated safety and health considerations at the forefront was no easy feat, but the Regina Folk Fest Summer Satellites series showed that it could be not only be done well, and done with the community’s protection as the foundation, but that this kind of creative problem solving actually has short-term and long-term benefits. When asked about her favourite moment from this year’s series, Goodwyn replied “my favourite moment was sitting on a blanket with my young daughter, listening to Dale Mac’s music and stories with geese flying past the stage on Sunday afternoon. Sharing great music with her in a chill, low-risk space was something I’ve missed for a long time.”
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
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“Homeboy’s Triumphant Return”: Interview with John Michael Regina-raised roots musician John Michael Lind returns to the city for series of shows hannah eiserman arts editor
In the week before his set of homecoming shows at The Revival Music Room, Bushwakker, and Bar Willow Eatery, I sat down with musician – and former Carillon employee – John Michael Lind, who commonly goes by the moniker “JML.” Born and raised in Regina, Lind was brought to British Columbia for a job, and has been performing across Western Canada. I asked what brought him back to play, and he tells me it’s been a long time coming. “I’ve had a couple tours planned out [that didn’t happen,]” he says – one that was cancelled because of injury, and one because of the pandemic. Lind is excited to re-immerse himself in the music culture he was raised in and play some shows where old friends and family live. “People in Regina don’t know me as a musician,” he says. “I didn’t play music when I lived in Regina aside from kitchen jams and Cathedral parties… it’ll be fun to show that side of myself to all the old crowd.” As someone raised by generations of farmers, I was extremely moved by the title track of Lind’s album, Out on the Land. When asked if the song was written recently, in response to the tough times farmers are having this year, Lind says he was inspired by “seeing the plight of the family farm,” but that the song was actually written in the 80s. In fact, it was the first song he had ever written. “I’m not a farm kid,” Lind says. “I’m a city boy. But y’know, if you’re paying attention, even back then you could see the way the family farm was going.” Though the struggle wasn’t his own, he was moved by his friends who farm, the people he met during his travels of Saskatchewan, and what he could observe from the outside looking in. When asked about what inspires him, Lind says that “like so many singer songwriters, heartbreak” is a big inspiration. Song writing is “cathartic” for him and says he “finds emotion easy to deal with” in his craft. Conversely, he also says that “his relationship with his new partner” has been influential to the majority of the songs of his new album. Some of his muses are a little more unconventional, though. “I’ve got a bunch of songs about trains,” he says with a chuckle. “I love trains. So, they inspire me too… It’s the romanticism of it all. Being on the road, being on a train, travelling somewhere new, those things kinda thrill me. I’ve got a lot of road songs.” Lind grew up with, and is obviously influenced by, the “folk music of the early 60s,” which his parents listened to. They’d drive along in the family Beetle, singing along to Tom Dooley, The Kingston trio, and artists like that. He says Neil Young is one of his biggest inspirations, and the particular resonance of his guitar is the sound of the 60s for him. As he got older, he was very into the music of Pink Floyd, Van Morrison,
John Michael Lind
JML playing a tune on his acoustic guitar – got any requests?
and John Prine. Of course, I had to ask him about working on the Carillon – which he says was a “lot of fun” but also a “major panic” every Wednesday doing layout. He tells me that old issues of the Carillon were made “manually on light tables with wax and rollers.” The process involved multiple steps, Exacto knives, local photo printers, and hot wax. The now archa-
ic process of putting together a newspaper manually is probably old news (pardon the pun) for most, but for someone new to the industry, like me, this is fascinating knowledge! Lind’s former position as ads manager was a fairly new experience for him. He had sales experience from working in a stereo shop but had no experience doing layout and now had to make and
design his ads manually. He tells me that to sell ads, he just “wandered around town cold-calling, knocking on doors, to try and sell some ads and keep the paper going.” When I remarked on how different that is from the email culture of today, Lind says, “as a musician, and booking gigs, it’s still personal contact by phone call [that works better…] People still want human contact.”
Don’t be stuck on the sidelines. Getting your COVID-19 vaccine is your best shot at staying healthy. Questions about the vaccine? Visit saskatchewan.ca/covid-19-vaccine for more information.
And at the end of the day, that’s what Lind is about. He had a lot to say about how art has moved him, and while explaining why certain pieces and people touch him, he says: “Let me put it this way: Van Gogh. [He] is my favourite artist… I’ve seen some of his work [in person] and it’s just devastatingly beautiful.” Though Van Gogh depicts simplistic subject matter, Lind says its “absolutely hopeless” and perhaps “trivial,” but it affects him “to the depths of [his] soul.” According to Lind, his writing is less about what’s going on in the world, and more about what needs to be expressed. “A song can be light-hearted,” he says, “but if it’s coming from your soul and coming from your heart, I think other people will get that. And I think the point is about that connection, human connection, not so much about telling the news.” When I note the interesting jump between being a performer and his honours BA in Anthropology, Lind say that he went to university to get a better job after experiencing what he calls “early onset parenthood.” He didn’t know what he wanted to do yet and was just sampling classes here and there. He took Anthropology 100 just because it fit into his timetable. The class, apparently, “just opened [his] eyes that anthropology is just the study of humanity,” which is “a passion of his.” According to him, his “whole life has just been trying to understand my world, and who we are, and what we do in a big picture way.” Lind says people often remark that he doesn’t use his studies. But this is certainly not true, as one can see from how Lind thrives from connecting with people. “I use it every day,” he says. “I’m just not employed [in the field.]” Office culture is not for him, as someone who loves to be moving, travelling, and meeting people; “Music fits that,” he says. When asked about his future, Lind says there’s just “more touring,” and that he’ll “tour his way home.” In November, he will be touring Vancouver Island and recording an album in the new year in his home studio. His long-term vision is touring festivals, and he means that literally. Lind confides in me that the catalyst for becoming a performer was a vision, “an incredibly vivid dream […] of himself playing onstage at a long outdoor festival. It was so real, and it is still so real today. That is what sustains me and drives me, and what I’m working towards.” He volunteered for years with the Regina Folk Festival, and even recorded the twelfth annual festival and turned it into a studio album. “I’ve got festivals in my blood,” he says emphatically. JML will be rocking the stage at the Revival Music Room on August 31 at 9:30 ($10 cover charge); serenading the patio diners at Bar Willow Restaurant on September 2 at 8:30 (no cover); doing what he does best at the Manitou Music Festival at Watrous on September 5; and bringing down the house at Bushwakker on September 8 at 8:00 p.m.
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
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The Halloween Moon: book review This year, Halloween has come to stay – forever
gillian massie staff writer The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink perfectly captures the essence of Halloween – a great, seasonal, young adult novel that is innovative and suspenseful. Fink, co-author of Welcome to Night Vale, puts his writing chops to the test for his newest novel, where he channels themes of spooks and the adventure amongst the most unlikely of friends. Halloween is Esther Gold’s favorite holiday. Every year, she makes three Halloween costumes just to be prepared for school, trick or treating, and a backup just in case the other two fall short. This year, Esther’s parents have pulled the plug on letting her trick or treat. As Esther has just had her Bar Mitzvah, her parents believe it is time to make room for younger children to trick or treating. Furious, Esther is determined to deceive her parents, with the help of her best friend Agustin, and go out for another year of trick or treating. Unfortunately, Esther’s evening is filled with more tricks than treats, as she is faced with creatures from another land as the Halloween Moon blends the barrier be-
tween two worlds. Esther is thrust into the Halloween Dreamworld, where she must escape from the Queen of Halloween and her tattered army of stolen trick or treaters. There, she must ally with her school bully, Sasha, and Mr. Gabler, her neighbor with a mysterious past who is now the local dentist, to retrieve her little sister Sharon, who has been stolen by the Queen of Halloween. Fink, known for his terrifically terrifying plots, does not disappoint. The characters stay true to their roots in the spirit of being middle schoolers heading into high school. Esther, Sasha, and Agustin demonstrate hardships in coming-of-age issues such as tackling school bullies, accepting religious beliefs, and identifying difficulties in communicating with parents. At the same time, they continue to dodge the obstacles the Queen of Halloween and her henchmen throw at them. It balances very real-world, relatable issues while including unique scenarios. The intriguing characters reel you in right at the very beginning, where Dan Apple and the trick-or-treaters begin with the bank robbery. The mystery continues when Esther sees Dan’s
brother, Ed Pumpkin, driving an ice cream truck converted to sell pumpkins. Some cliché plotlines are exercised, like Dan Apple being “the brain,” while his brother Ed is “the Buff.” Other cliché character relationships are exercised, such as Esther and Sasha’s hateful relationship resulting in friendship and Esther and Agustin’s relationship resulting in romance, but this didn’t totally diminish the story’s appeal. One of my biggest criticisms of the novel, however, is that plotlines that are not answered just leave it unfinished, which leads to disappointment rather than adding to the element of mystery. The Halloween Moon is a wonderful new novel that is an easy read after a long day of classes. It’s fun and keeps you on your toes from one action-packed event to the next. Quirky side characters and loveable protagonists equate to a whimsical and wonderous world that The Halloween Moon blends. While some plotlines remain unfinished, it is still well worth a read for with an overall well-done and flowing story line. If you are getting eager for the Halloween season, this is the perfect book to get you in a spooky mood.
Gillian Massie
Yes, we’re doing Halloween decorations in September. Get into it.
Glee’s problematic representation
And that’s what we hope will never happen again on Glee
gillian massie staff writer
Content warning: Discussion of sexual violence. The hit 2010 comedy-drama television show Glee has been challenging to re-watch in recent years, considering its ill-fitting humor and character-reliant stereotypes. Glee’s popularity stems from its outcast narrative. The McKinley High School show choir group “New Directions” goes from underdogs to champions, facing obstacles along the way. The show choir is both socially and organizationally ousted by the community where normally only few students join, and it is often the victim of budget cuts by administrative staff. The ensuing plot follows an unlikely group of students directed under Mr. Schuester who are determined to win a national title. If they don’t, their funding gets transferred to Glee club nemesis and cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester. Re-runs of Glee have become incredibly tasteless with its extremely stereotypical character development (Editor’s note: Though the media has recently become aware of the intention to make Glee a satire, at the time of its release this wasn’t obvious to the impressionable teenagers who made up the majority of its fan base and lacked those critical thinking skills.) Mercedes Jones, a Black powerhouse singer, embodies the loud, take no for an answer young woman resistant to authority. Mike Chang, an Asian student, fulfills the stereotype of the highly academic student whose parents scrutinize him when he does not achieve near-perfect
grades. Brittany S. Pierce, who embodies the dumb blonde, constantly makes ridiculous choices whenever she is put in any position of authority. The Glee writers have taken these stereotypical traits and created entire characters around them, but never straying from those key identifying features, which are the roots of these stereotypes. Their inclusion of marginalized identities without moving beyond such stereotypes can also be perceived as tokenism, which is the symbolic effort of representation that ends up entrapping someone within a particular group. This is incredibly harmful because oftentimes people are forced into a corner based upon a stereotypical assumption and then ridiculed because they are perceived as a said stereotype. Lots of Glee’s humor relates to crude and obscure situations, such as Sue Sylvester’s snarky and insulting comments to William Schuester and fellow Glee club members. Some of the humor has aged quite poorly, such as situations handling sexual misconduct, which were heavily joked about in various episodes. For example, in the “Pilot” episode, original choir director Sandy Ryerson was fired for inappropriately touching a student. Furthermore, in Season 1, Episode 14, “Hell-O,” Sue Sylvester blackmails Principal Figgins by date raping him and threatening to send pictures and videos to his wife if Figgins does not give Sue her job back. These acts are meant to get laughs from fans but are insensitive to victims of sexual assault. Glee also incorporated scenarios where individuals of mar-
ginalized groups were ousted because of modern belief systems. In Season 4, Episode 17, Rachel’s boyfriend Brody Weston was discovered to be a sex worker to pay his tuition. Upon discovering this, Rachel, Kurt, and Santana were disgusted by Brody’s decision, and he was immediately rejected from the friend group. Sex work is any individual’s choice and should be treated with respect, just like any other profession. Nevertheless, the situation painted sex workers with
the same, tired old brush as a stain on society. In Season 2, Episode 3, entitled “Grilled Cheesus” – yes, they really went there – Kurt’s father suffers a heart attack, rendering him unresponsive in a hospital bed for days. The Glee club members try to support Kurt with religious serenades and by participating in prayer circles, making Kurt, a young gay man who has a complicated relationship with religion, uncomfortable and angry in an
already distressing situation. Religious beliefs should be respected in general, and particularly in distressing situations and because it is incredibly insensitive to force them upon anyone. Glee demonstrates itself to age exponentially worse with every re-run it makes. From heavily dependent stereotypical characters to mortifying sexual misconduct jokes to insensitivity to one’s intuition to a different lifestyle, it proves to be triggering for many viewers.
Wikipedia Commons
A promotional photo of the cast of Glee, which must be from season one, as everyone looks about twelve (but particularly Chris Colfer.)
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editor: brad fraser sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
Steel mace training at Warrior Flow Fitness Hear from Zackary Yanyk, founder of Warrior Flow: the first Steel Mace studio in the world
hammad ali staff writer Ask any martial art practitioner and they will tell you that martial arts, whether popular ones like Karate/Aikido or more esoteric ones like Krav Maga, are more than just sports. For passionate students, their chosen martial arts regime becomes a part of life and how they look at the world. Of course, few can deny the physical benefits of being active through training in some martial arts. Historically, however, the mental benefits are also a big part of the experience. Perhaps because, as a fellow martial arts student often remarks, there is a profoundly calming effect in knowing you can defend yourself against aggression and inflict serious damage on anyone looking to bully you. With these benefits in mind, we wanted to find out a little about the opportunity for different martial arts and similar activities around Regina. This week, we spoke to Zackary Yanyk, founder of Warrior Flow, the first steel mace studio in the world which operates right here in Regina. The mace has been used in training for hundreds of years and variations of it have also been used in combat. At Warrior Flow, this medieval weapon is featured prominently in modern day training for health, fitness, and focus. We got in touch with Yanyk to find out more about this novel training regime. Yanyk is a lifelong athlete, having played football and rugby since grade 7. He has also had an ongoing battle with injuries, which led him to look for different, more fluid weight training options; a journey
which culminated in his finding mace training. We also asked him about what an interested person can expect. What got you interested in training with a mace? “I first came across the mace purely by coincidence. I was invited on a training vacation to Los Angeles, where I was first introduced to the mace. As soon as I had one in my hands, I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life. I felt a primal connection to the tool and every movement just felt, in some way, “right”. The really cool thing is that I’ve heard countless people say some-
as to how it found its way here. In the mid 90s, an ex-professional wrestler by the name of Karl Gotch retired to Florida. Karl was a legendary figure in the wrestling world, having been an Olympian, a Catch Wrestler, and then finally a professional wrestler who was so respected in Japan he was given the nickname “The God of Professional Wrestling”. In the late 90s/early 2000s, a fellow catch wrestler/professional wrestler and author, Jake Shannon, reached out to Karl. After a few discussions over the phone, Karl invited Jake to come train. During this session, Karl introduced Jake
training with different wrestlers in different styles. He was introduced to the tool in India where it has been used as a training tool for wrestlers for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.” Tell us a bit about the maces used. Are there different makes and materials? Do you have a personal collection of maces? “My own collection is quite extensive! I have a few dozen maces, ranging in weight from 5lbs all the way up to 66lbs. Most of mine are fixed weight steel maces, but I also have a custom-made water
“
As long as a student can lift 5lbs they can mace train in some form or another! A background in martial arts, wrestling, or dance does make the learning curve a little easier but is absolutely not a requirement. – Zachary Yanyk
thing similar now in our classes. The mace seems to connect with something deep inside people, something that brings out their inner warrior!” I understand mace training is very common in South Asia. What can you tell us about when and how it was introduced to this part of the world? “Yes, there are many different leverage-based tools used for training in Southeast Asia and other regions in the East. The mace, or gada, is primarily from India. There is a really neat story
to the gada. As soon as Jake used it, he realized this needed to be a staple in his grappling training. He then took the design of Karl’s gada, a 10kg wood mace, and had it produced in steel. He started selling these and teaching it all over the USA. His students soon had students of their own, and the mace took off as more and more people, both in the fight world and outside of it, started to find and fall in love with it. A little note on Karl’s introduction to the mace: after he competed in the Olympics, he began traveling all over the world
fillable mace as well as several gadas. My favorite is one I made myself where the head is in the shape of a skull!” Martial Arts is often highly recommended as not just a sport but a wellness/ grounding activity. Where does training with a mace fit into that niche of people not looking to compete seriously, but wanting to be more active? “The mace is the bridge between martial arts training and fitness training. It will not teach you self defense. It will not make
you a fighter by itself. But it will strengthen you in the ways fighters need to be strong. The Steel Mace Flow style of mace was developed based off martial arts katas, so a lot of the movements are very similar to martial forms, but the practice itself is purely for mental and physical fitness.” What sort of background, if any, should someone have or would benefit from having, before joining one of your classes? “As long as a student can lift 5lbs they can mace train in some form or another! A background in martial arts, wrestling, or dance does make the learning curve a little easier but is absolutely not a requirement. Many of my best students have never had any sort of movement background and are now world class with the mace.” Are there any special packages/offers for students? “Our new student promotion gets people access to 10 mace classes plus weekly yoga classes for just $20 for the first month!” Any words for someone who has little background and/or has not been very active for a while but is looking to get more active? “Find a movement practice that you enjoy/find entertaining. If you’re bored, or you are not enjoying yourself, you won’t stick with it. If you find what you love, you will be consistent with it, and when you are consistent, magic happens!” More information on joining classes at Warrior Flow, as well contact information, can be found on their website at warriorflowfitness.com.
Zackary Yanyk
Maces for fitness class or required protection for downtown Regina walks after sunset!
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sports
Efficient modes of transport for Rider games For the sake of the thousands of people trying to get to the stadium, transit is important
liam o’connor news writer The Saskatchewan Roughriders are back in action and undefeated. With fans back in Mosaic Stadium and no Covid restrictions, it was able to sell out for the team’s home opener, meaning about bout 33,000 fans had to find a way to get to the game. For the sake of the thousands of people trying to get to the stadium at the same time, transit is important. There are several different types of transit used for game day. A more popular option is to take the different bus routes that are offered, which the Roughriders have specialized for the games. The Roughrider transit is free for anyone who has a ticket. All they have to do to get entry on to the bus is show the driver their ticket. There are currently eight locations which the buses drive back and forth from. The buses run continuously to and from the several locations, depart 30 minutes before kickoff, and return to the drop off locations at the start of the fourth quarter. They con-
Wikipedia Commons
If you’re on a bus this empty after the Rider game you took the wrong bus.
tinue to operate the shuttle for one hour after the game. Current locations include: -Southland Mall -University of Regina (Lot 2) -Eastbound Saskatchewan Dr. at Hamilton
-Westbound Victoria Ave. at Scarth St. -Northbound Albert St. at 9th -Dewdney Ave. at Scarth St. -Dewdney Ave. at Lorne St. -6th Ave. at Hamilton
Fans who live in Saskatoon do not have to worry about transit either, because the Engelheim chartered bus takes riders from Saskatoon to Regina and then back after the game. The Game Day Express will drop off at the
stadium one hour before kickoff, and costs $50.00 per game. The chartered bus takes off from Circle Centre Mall three and a half hours before kickoff – right in front of the Co-op Grocery Store. Then, it arrives and leaves at Princess St. and 9th Ave in Regina. The bike valet is also an option for those who live in Regina and wish to attend home games. Bike valet is completely free but can only accommodate non-motorized bikes. The safely secured drop off opens two hours before the gates open at Mosaic Stadium. In order to assure the bike’s safety, there are a few steps. First, the rider has to bring their bike to the drop off location at the south end of Confederation Park. Second, they pick up a claim ticket from the attendants. Third, the rider must pick up their bike within one hour after the game has ended. If the rider fails to do so, the bike will be put into storage for one week, and if the bike is not picked up in this one week period, it will be donated.
Interview with referee Chantal Boudreau victoria baht sports writer As the Tokyo Olympics have just finished, the Carillon wanted to talk about the events a bit more, so we interviewed a referee from the games named Chantal Boudreau. Boudreau is 32 years old, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and attended the University of Regina. Her passion for refereeing started when she attended university, and she now lives in Stoney Creek, Ontario, having just finished being a referee in the 2020 Olympic games as a FIFA Assistant Referee. How long have you been a referee? Boudreau took her first course in 2010 and kept up with her training and her passion, which got her the position of FIFA Assistant in 2015. Have you travelled anywhere to referee that people would find interesting? Boudreau has been extremely fortunate to travel across the world while doing something she loves. The question should almost be where she hasn’t travelled. Here are some places she’s refereed: -2021: Tournaments in Japan for the 2020 Olympics game -2018-2019: U20 Women’s world Cup, France -2016: U20 Women’s world Cup in Papua New Guinea As well Qatar, Honduras, Costa Rice, Trinidad, Tobago and Mexico to name few extra. Were you once an athlete or player in this sport before you started to referee? If so,
how long did you play for and how far did you see yourself go? Boudreau started to play soccer many years ago. Her love for soccer started at nine years of age and she retired from it in 2014 – one year before becoming a FIFA assistant. “I enjoyed playing in the competitive leagues within Saskatchewan for many years, but soccer at the end of the day was just a fun sport for me to play with my friends”. What encouraged you or changed that you went from being a player to a referee? Boudreau went to the University of Regina and, when studying, her older brother Daniel convinced her to start officiating soccer, which helped pay for university. When she started officiating soccer at a local level, she started to really enjoy it. The part Chantal loved about the game is “I loved the challenge that the game brought and wanted to become the best official I could be”. What encouraged you to keep going? After many years of officiating, Chantal realized how much this sport really had to offer. Chantal started to have opportunities to move higher in the referee career. Chantal started off in tournaments across Canada and discovered the life of a professional referee. “I was addicted, there were so many opportunities”! It seems to be what encouraged her the most and is inspiring is that Chantal “wanted to not only be one of top officials in my province, but in my country”! What was the most mem-
orable game you’ve refed? Chantal has reffed a lot of games over her time. Although, “Walking out on to her first 2019 Women’s World Cup between Norway and Nigeria was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. After years of sacrifice, to walk out onto that pitch and realizing that I finally achieved my dream, was nothing short of in-
credible”. How has Covid changed the referee lifestyle? First, Covid brought all the games to a complete stop in the year of 2020. Chantal was in the middle of training and being a candidate for the Olympics and everything just took a pause. This became tough for Chantal mentally to keep on track with her
training because we did not know when Soccer was going to start up again. Although, this is where her friends and her had to push forward! They all pushed together mentally and physically to get back on track and to be ready for the game to start up again. That way when it did, they’d be ready – and Chantal was!
Pixabay
Even the recent Cruela reboot hasn’t made zebra stripes fashionable.
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Olympic-sized inequality in Tokyo 2020
Did you know Paralympians see more medals than Olympians for less media and money?
gillian massie staff writer The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo have been advertised as the most gender-equal games ever. Statistically, this is correct, showing female athlete participation at 49 per cent and male at 51 per cent – but delving into actions of gender-based discrimination shows that the Olympics are far from achieving gender equality. Not only do the Olympic Games prove to be problematic, the Paralympics and Special Olympics remain outside the spotlight despite being advertised as parallel to the Olympic Games. Disparities between different athletes competing within the Olympics have had individuals question a hierarchy within the games despite it being an equal opportunity for all athletes. The Olympics is a bulldozer that infects the media. Promotional videos and commercials divide each event through dramatizations that emphasize the capability of the best and most athletic human bodies. Set after the Olympics, the Paralympics take place, which do not receive nearly as much media coverage as its counterpart. Despite being proclaimed as an equal event, it is very clear that the priority remains on Olympians, while Paralympians remain relatively unseen by the rest of the world. Canada’s Paralympic team has typically had greater success than the Olympic team. In Rio, five years ago, the Paralympic team won 29 medals, compared to the Olympic team winning 22. While Olympians should be celebrated for the merit and high excellence of sport, this is significant because many of the Paralympic events are not even broadcasted . This year in Tokyo, CBC is reporting a recording breaking amount of coverage for the Paralympics at
Wikipedia Commons
NASCAR has nothin on the corners these folks can pull off.
120 hours. However, the Olympic Games received 3,775 hours of coverage time . Each National Olympic Committee is in charge of paying Olympians for receiving gold, silver, and bronze medals. This year, Olympians and Paralympians alike from Canada will be paid the same amount for their places on the podium in the Tokyo Olympics. Olympians in Sochi 2014 received $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze medals. However, Paralympian’s did not receive a cent if they earned a medal. The stark contrast between awarded honorariums for athletes demonstrates the prioritization between different athletes. Equal pay for
create outlets focusing on female athletes, controversies surrounding female athletes tend to overtake the headlines rather than focusing on their successes. Beyond this, many news outlets still focus the majority of the attention on male athletes’ success. While there are strides to making Olympic events gender neutral – such as relay events in track and swimming – there are still events that do not have any female participants, such as the long racewalk and decathlon. Furthermore, no men compete in women-dominated events such as rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming. Heterosexual norms paint a picture of what sports are deemed acceptable
anybody to participate in whatever sport that makes them increase the enjoyment of what they would like to do. Encouraging equal representation within the Olympic committee will make for more accurate policies for athletes, coaching, and other staff members. The Olympics administration is currently unbalanced. Starting with the International Olympic Committee, there is no equal representation of males to females, with only 33.3 per cent of women on the executive board and 37.5 per cent of committee members being female . The Olympic Charter outlines the prospects and values of the Olympic Games that the
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Sport is genderless, and it should be participated in as such. There should be an encouragement for anybody to participate in whatever sport that makes them increase the enjoyment of what they would like to do. – Gillian Massie
athletes demonstrates a step in the right direction to achieving Olympic Charter values . Media slander against female Olympic athletes began before the start of the games early in June. After a positive drug test, Sha’Carri Richardson’s disqualification from the women’s U.S.A track team caused an internet uproar of individuals campaigning for her to compete. This was followed by the banning of swim caps made for Black women’s hair because they caused an abnormal shape that was not traditional to the head. While many media corporations have made attempts to
for each gender norm. Women’s sports are typically more feminine options, including dance elements and eloquent forms. Men’s sports are rougher and more intense, including more elements of strength and power. More importantly, there is hardly any mention of athletes that identify as non-binary showing a complete lack of representation to their community. Like a lot of mainstream media, the Olympics uses subtle cues to signify cultural heterosexual norms to their viewers. Sport is genderless, and it should be participated in as such. There should be an encouragement for
International Olympic Committee puts forth. Olympism is the core fundamental within the Olympics, defined as: “Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles” (Olympic Charter 11). Olympism exists within the Olympic Charter to coexist “Without discrimination of any kind” (Olympic Charter 12). Representation in the Olympic realm matters when making accurate and ethical policies
for women participating in the games. Furthermore, these statistics only cover the female to male ratio. An intersectional call to the Olympics needs to be portrayed for the needs of athletes of different ethnicities, races, disabilities, genders, and religions. The worldly halt that the Olympics causes every two years has astronomical influence over its viewers, as everyone stops and turns on their television to show support for their national athletes. The Olympics is a time when great nations of the world unite to compete in sport and in friendship to create new relations with individuals of other regions. The Olympics still has a way to go in order to achieve gender equality, and broadcasting stations have demonstrated commitment to highlighting female athletes. Yusra Mardini, a Syrian civil war survivor, competed in the 100-meter butterfly swimming event last week. Mardini is currently competing on the Refugee Olympic Team and inspires others with her story of hope. Canada’s first transgender athlete, who goes simply by Quinn, won a gold medal in weightlifting paving the way for the success of other trans athletes. Success for Paralympian Brent Lakatos is on the horizon as he heads into his fifth Paralympics who already has seven medals before the games begin. Looking through these mediatized events and showing the inspiring stories of Olympic athletes is much more important than enforcing gender roles. Equal media representation will demonstrate the prioritization of equality among athletes. Encouraging the greatness of sport, success, and friendship should be the top priority.
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon | 14
sports
Interview with Cougars soccer players
Hear how De Amaral and Rhinehart practice, prep, and play now that the season’s on victorIa baht sports writer As the fall term is slowly crawling inta action, fall sports are coming back into action as well! A main sport to look forward to watching this season is the female Cougar Soccer Team. This year, the team is welcoming 18 rookies, and they are looking forward to showing up for this season strong and ready! Here for you this week, we interviewed two new players, Delaney Rhinehart and Cassandra De Amaral, to get you pumped about this upcoming season and to help you get to know the players you’ll be watching from the edge of your seat. Where were you born? How long have you been playing soccer for? What are you studying this upcoming school year? De Amaral is 19. She was born in Vancouver, has been playing soccer for 12 years now, and is a goalkeeper. She will be continuing her studies this term with the Faculty of Arts studying Psychology. Rhinehart is 18 and she was born in Lloydminster, Alberta. She has been playing soccer for seven years now, and is enrolled in the Faculty of arts studying Police Studies. Where did you get your experience and or training? De Amaral got most of her experience in Fusion FC. This is a high-performance organization and was created to compete in the highest level of soccer in Canada. She then moved to TSS - now called “Total Soccer.” This academy has become the most estab-
lished and successful youth sport academy in the province. Rhinehart started off her training in Lloydminster with the Meridian Soccer Program and did a lot of training with the boys’ team because there was no team for girls. Through the time Delaney spent training at this program, she felt playing with an all-male team really pushed her out of her comfort zone. “It helped shape me to who I am today. It has helped me to become an aggressive player.” This is because she got the enjoyment and the competitiveness of play-
conditioning sessions throughout the week, and training session groups sometime broken up into the players positions: defense, mid-field, forward, or goalies. This gives the team an opportunity to work on specific strengths and weakness so they can improve their strategy and performance the next game. They end the week looking back on the week’s specific goal and working through some fun end-of-the-week games to complete the overall goal. What is your favourite part about your position? De Amaral is a goalkeeper.
part about playing soccer that has kept you committed all these years? De Amaral loves playing for the team and the competitiveness of the game. She loves “putting it all out there together as a team and for the team!” Rhinehart has stuck with her because of the game and feeling satisfied with the sport – as it helps provide comfort when stressed, fun when need, a family and playing the game in full in general. What are you guys most looking forward to now that the season is back in person?
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They also complete strength training and conditioning sessions [. . .] This gives the team an opportunity to work on specific strengths and weakness so they can improve their strategy and performance the next game. – Victoria Baht
ing against boys that were five to seven inches taller than she was. Moving forward, she attended Lake Land college, then moved to Saskatoon where she started to train with the Regional Excel Program (REC SK). What does a Cougars soccer team training week look like during the season? They start off their week with a specific goal or task to really focus on that week, and get a new goal each week through the season. During the week they train twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening. They also complete strength training and
Her favourite part is “Being the rock to everyone in the back”. Let’s say there is a shot on the net, but she makes the save: “Everyone can feel composed and get ready to get back in the mind(set) and in positions to play on with the game”. Rhinehart plays fullback (defense position, part of protecting the net before it gets to the goalkeeper). Her favourite par of this position is the running! As she runs along the field this gives her the chance to work one-vs-one, getting slide tackles and action in the game. What is your favourite
De Amaral said she is ready to compete again and ready to support and show up for the University of Regina. Rhinehart is excited to play towards the opponents and get competitive again in the game. She is as well excited to see where the Cougars go this year as they have 18 rookies this year and are excited to show other teams what “Regina is coming at them with”. How can University of Regina students get ready for this season and support you guys as a team? Well, now we can have an audience at the games. So, they
would love to see people come out and cheer the team on. Another thing to look forward to is our social media – we have Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and we are having a media day to keep our news fresh for our followers to feel connected to the team. What is your team doing to keep each other safe while Covid-19 is still active? Everyone on the team is required to get vaccinated, and when they spend time together indoors (change rooms and training rooms) masks are worn and required. When the team practices and plays outside, they mostly try to keep a safe social distance, as well as keeping a radar and staying away from places that have had outbreaks. As they travel for games, they make sure they follow the requirements of the schools that they are going to to keep both them and their competitors safe. The Women’s Cougar Soccer team is ready to show up for this season strong and ready. If you are as ready for this season as they are, their first game is on September 10. But get excited to come and watch their first home game on September 18 against Winnipeg! The season is fun, but it is fast! It works out by having four games in a division. This then leads to the quarter finals where the four winners will move onto the Canada West Final Four. With the last step at the Championship at the National Tournament! Let’s support the ladies hard this season and make them proud as an audience!
Wikipedia Commons
Proof that soccer is equal parts short bursts of energy and standing while watching others’ short bursts.
op-ed
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editor: sarah nakonechny op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
Navigating your first year
Accessing resources, events, or chatting with professors; there’s endless layers to the uni experience
As someone who has navigated university in a multitude of ways, the best piece of advice I can give is to give yourself permission to be new. The anxious and nauseating butterflies, excited wide eyes, and clammy hands are all normal. Some people just project confidences in hiding those signs better than others, but it does not mean they are not just as unsure as you are. Do not be too hard on yourself if you were an Einstein in high school but you lose your footing a bit in university - they are not the same. They are both forms of schooling, yes, but the curriculum and structure are completely different. The workload makes it more important to be organized, and it is a direct investment in your future. As you may have figured out, there are a lot of formalities that need to be followed. But fear not, there are also a lot of resources for students. I urge you to not feel like you are a bad student for using them or that you are too good for them; they would not exist if they were not meant to be good for students. For example: the writing centre can be a life saver when you are writing papers, counselling services can help with the stress that comes with being a student, and the student success centre can help with getting equipment and accommodations when necessary. There is no shame in accessing any of these or others for help. You needed to be taught how to use a spoon at one point, right? Give yourself a break. No first-year university student
starts out knowing what they are doing. It is a process of learning how to learn the material properly, ironically. Another thing I suggest is going to the buildings your classes are in a bit before they start, because you are inevitably going to get lost and be late if you wait until just before, thinking it will be simple. It’s not. Even better, take a tour of the campus if it is offered at your high school once you have picked your major, and do more in-depth walk throughs of the buildings you know you will have classes in. If nothing else, ask around! You might find a second- or thirdyear student who can point you in the right direction, or maybe another first year, so at least you can be lost together. You can navigate the concrete maze and go exploring; either way you will be learning something, even if it is what not to do next time. Unless you have no desire, enter competitions, go to events, and maybe join clubs or other student groups. Do not avoid doing something because you are intimidated by the idea. Experiences are part of the learning process, as learning is ongoing – and never one dimensional. Another strong recommendation is to utilize academic advisors and career counselling in planning all phases of being a post-secondary student. Even as you are applying, if possible. Even though you can get career counselling in some high schools, it is important to remember that universities are much more equipped in comparison with
tools to help with this sort of thing. Not to mention their inter-working knowledge due to it being their job to help you navigate what is best suited to you and how to achieve it. Lastly, be courteous to yourself and other students, and remember there are different pathways in university and life that people are meant to take. Some go to get degrees, others to upgrade for work, some get certificates or diplomas, and some come for accredited training certifi-
cates in a specific career. No matter what the case, nobody is out of place here, and any level of investment in yourself that you achieve is worth celebrating. Whether it’s a Ph. D in Psychology, a certificate in Justice Studies, a business diploma, or an education degree, it takes work, dedication, and perseverance. Pat yourself on the back once in a while – you deserve it.
rayanne gwilliam contributor Element5 via Unsplash
A hopeful student pretending that their life will not inevitably fall apart during another semester of school.
From hiding in the back to being front and center Getting involved in your university community will only add to your experience
Attending university can be different straight off the hop depending on the type of person you are and how involved with your faculty you want to be. This is coming from a person who was hiding in the background of class, tucked into their notes, and since the pandemic is now a student that has switched faculties, is a part of a student society, the student newspaper, and is involved more in the community. So yes, getting involved with other students and your professors can help you out personally in so many ways. First off, do not be terrified to approach your professors! They are people too and seem to be willing to help a face over a student ID number. When you are in a class with over 150 students, is the prof going to know who you are? Most likely not. So, it is up to you to go up to that professor, to just even say hello and ask for clarifications about the expectations or course material. Why? For one it will show that you care, you are curious about the course and what is required of you, and that you are not scared of them. Once you have said the initial hello, the rest is pretty easy moving forward. Saying that hello can help you ask questions about the information that you may have missed, and it can help you get more background history on why you did so well or so poorly on an assignment that you were expecting the opposite of. It can help you gain insight to what your career is going to be like and so much more. Remember, you are here to get an education for your future career. Your professors will more than likely have stories or information to give insight on what your career is going to be like. Professors are a big part of university,
obviously. What else is big? The number of students. This may seem scary, but what benefits do you get from going up to a student in a class? Now, you have someone to talk to about the class content. When you actively talk about what you are learning and aren’t just stating the facts in your paper, it can help train your brain better to know the information. It is also a great way to get notes from someone if you miss class for some out-of-the-ordinary reason. Because really, who answers those mass emails of “I missed class help me?” Speaking from a personal perspective, I am more willing to give my class notes to someone I have talked to a couple of times over a stranger. Best case scenario, you may also end up making a friend, and who does not like friends? Next opportunity on how to get involved is in your faculty’s student society. What is your student society? First off, it is a society not a sorority. This is not like what you see in the movies where they sing clap along songs and live in a very small house. A society is a group of students that get together to help other students, for events, or to provide other opportunities. There are two options normally for getting involved: one is an executive team where they are in charge of planning events, fundraising, and representing the students; the other option is as a regular student-at-large. These are students that go to events when they want and help provide input on what they would like to see in the future. These events can be in-person or virtual with how things are going right now. Some events that are happening on campus that you may see coming up this year are a drag show, student lounge events, peer-to-peer mentorship, art
events, welcome week, and more! These events can help you get out of your dorm to go with your roommates to get to know one another, or out of your house away from your siblings to go meet new people. University can be scary, but it does not all have to be. If you have the chance to go and talk to someone in person this year, go and do it! If you have everything online and are debating on saying hello, at least you can hide your scared jittery face
behind a computer while you do it! Make the most out of your university experience while you can – trust me, it will be worth it. Remember, I went from hiding in the back to now being a part of my society and so far, I am loving my degree and career so much more.
victoria baht sports writer
Another posed photo of students pretending that they are not dead inside to be used for promotional purposes. Naasspom via Unsplash
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
op-ed
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
16
Maintaining and respecting all boundaries
Consent isn’t just for romantic relationships; it should be upheld in all encounters
Idin Ebrahimi via Unsplash
What is this a picture of? Not sure, but there’s a clear boundary drawn...
As we move into a new academic year, we have the opportunity to come into contact with a variety of new people in a range of different roles. Regardless of whether these people are faculty, peers, coworkers, or any other role, you can imagine it is important to know that maintaining boundaries you are okay with and respecting the boundaries of others are vital for ensuring positive relationships. Boundaries are the limitations that are put into place between two people in order to help guarantee that lines are not crossed, and ensure that expectations are clear in order to avoid misconceptions later on. These are important to have set for any relationship that you may be a part of, whether it is professional, romantic, or platonic. Here are some ways to ensure that you can maintain your own boundaries as well as ways to make sure that you are properly respecting everyone else’s as well! First, it is important to think about what you are okay with before keeping in
mind that everyone has different expectations and desires that need to be recognized and respected. It is perfectly acceptable that your boundaries may not look like others. When thinking about what you want for boundaries, there is a lot to consider. Professionally, you must consider how much
considerations regarding the sharing of personal information, physical intimacy, and the overall general progression and direction of the relationship. As you can see, there is a lot to sit and think about before rushing into something of this nature. Now that you have hopefully thought
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Boundaries are not a rigid idea but rather it is fluid and can change as the person grows and changes… – Sarah Nakonechny
you are okay with working, if you feel confident leading projects, or if feel as though you need more training among many other decisions. Romantically, there are a lot of
about what boundaries you want in place, it is time to think about how you are going to convey those to other people. One cannot just assume that other people know what you are wanting if you are not explicit in sharing that information. It is important to be prepared to have conversations with people you are involved with in order to share what your expectations and desires are for the variety of topics you have chosen to set specific boundaries for. If you have shared these expectations about your boundary desires and the other individual(s) involved do not choose to respect and follow those, it is important to address that. Your needs and wants are valid, and if someone is not respecting them it is vital that you bring attention to it or do your best to remove yourself from the situation if it cannot be remedied. Although this removal process can be challenging, it is important that you respect yourself and your desires by ensuring that those around you can also uphold and follow the lines that you feel need to be put into place for your own comfort and peace of mind. Second, it is extremely important to remember that other people have different personal boundaries set in place, and those must be respected regardless of what your boundaries are. This may sound confusing given the fact that you should respect your own and make sure
that you have your lines drawn our clearly. This is also true for those around you, and you want to make sure that you do not cross those lines either. Some people are a lot more liberal, and their expectations are not as strict as others, but that does not mean that those restrictions are not still present and deserve to be respected. It is never okay to overstep someone else’s boundaries, regardless of if you feel theirs are too rigid or because you assumed that they were the same as yours. To make sure that this does not happen, there needs to be a conversation about what is expected from and for each party. By having this conversation, the chances that something happens and lines are crossed will be lowered. Respecting someone as a whole person is important. Having conversations about boundaries are not one-and-done types of conversations. In any situation that you find yourself in, it can be difficult to ask the person for clarification on where they stand before proceeding with your actions, but it is important. The process of asking for an update on how one is feeling about a specific topic or action is known more formally as requesting consent from someone. Without this confirmed assurance that they are okay with what is unfolding, you should not proceed with the event or action in question. Boundaries are not a rigid idea, but rather they are fluid and can change as a person grows and changes which is why it’s important to check in and make sure the other person is consenting in the moment. In order to ensure the best quality of care where workplace duties and expectations are upheld, and to respect the autonomy of those around you, it is important to check in with them while also being honest when they do check-ins with you. For the sake of gaining a clear understanding of what others need and what you need from them, all cards need to be laid on the table when having these conversations. Upholding respect for another’s personal autonomy is something that everyone deserves to have and is something that we need to do for everyone.
sarah nakonechny op-ed editor
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |
op-ed
People are bad at placing blame
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Although we may think we have the answers on how the world works, there is always more to learn Content warning: sexual assault, blaming survivors of sexual assault I am the type of person who always wants to understand why things happen the way they do. I never really left that childhood stage of asking “why” about everything, which has mostly been a benefit seeing as I am a student journalist and a psychology major. Sometimes this default mode works really well because it helps me pick up on patterns, and also because it keeps me curious when I’m trying to solve problems. Few things stifle creativity like frustration, but few things nurture it like curiosity, so feeling excited about searching for the next step when life goes belly up has worked in my favour. This drive can also inhibit me, as it makes it more difficult for me to accept when there is no way I can make a situation better. Some days are not so bad, and I can mostly accept it. On others I get sent spiralling because when I cannot figure out how to fix a problem, I tend to assume the problem is me. That does not mean that I believe I caused the problem or am solely to blame for it, but I will get angry with myself because I am convinced there is a solution – some “why” I’m not seeing – and will feel inadequate when I cannot find it. I have a drive to find reasons for things, which can translate to a drive to assign blame when things go wrong, and most of that blame is directed internally. Of course, that is not the only direction blame can be pointed – it’s very easy to assign blame to others when things do not go as planned, though it is not always wrong to place blame elsewhere when you cannot solve a problem. For example, blaming the handful of companies who cause the majority of the world’s pollution
and holding them accountable for their actions would make a larger impact than you as an individual committing to taking reusable bags with you when you shop, but as an individual you only have control over one of those things so blaming yourself for the State of the World (™) is not placing blame where it really belongs. My need to place blame somewhere comes from the idea that if I know what caused something and it’s a thing I don’t want to happen again, I now stand a chance of stopping that thing. When you’re a kid you learn that when you touch something hot, it burns you, and you gradually learn to exercise caution around these
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little spiral and have the urge to toss blame one way or another. There is a concept, though, from social psychology that does a good job of outlining why it’s so tempting to assign blame and close the case before considering what really happened. The just-world hypothesis is based around the idea that people like to think of the world they live in as somewhere that is predictable and safe, where actions always have the same consequences and people always get what they deserve. When events happen that show people the world might not be as predictable and safe as they thought, they want to find explanations so that they can avoid the unpleasant
I understand the drive to find a reason behind events, behaviours, and choices, but you have to remember to not let your auto-pilot drive to find reasons navigate your search. – Holly Funk
things because you do not want that to happen. It can also help when figuring out what to do more of. People generally feel gratitude and joy when you offer to share what you have with them, so you can find patterns that show you how to improve the lives of others too. Even though there’s often something that likely caused an event to happen that you can watch for as a red flag next time, that is not always the case. When I am genuinely not sure what happened to cause a situation, that’s when I’ll hit my fun
or traumatic thing that they hear, witness, or experience. Ever heard of a sexual assault survivor being asked what they were wearing when they were assaulted? That is a perfect example of the just-world hypothesis. People obviously want to avoid being sexually assaulted, but the way they think around it places blame on the person it happened to. They are convinced there is a reason people who sexually assault choose certain people to assault, and that by not being “one of those people,” they’ll avoid being
assaulted. They essentially try to find a sole cause for the event (i.e., how the person was dressed) that they can blame for the event and avoid, because they’re terrified of the unknown level of risk, of something they may truly have no control over. So, is it okay for them to blame survivors of sexual assault if it’s just to make themselves feel safer? Abso-fucking-lutely not - that isn’t how the world actually works. People aren’t assaulted because of how they dress. They are assaulted because someone who felt entitled to that experience with them chose to take it from them. It’s not like assaults weren’t a problem back when people were wearing petticoats, because it’s never had anything to do with what the person who got assaulted was wearing. But believing that it did can give people some amount of perceived control, because in their minds they know what causes the things they don’t want to experience. To circle back, I’d simply like to leave you with a word of caution. I understand the drive to find a reason behind events, behaviours, and choices, but you have to remember to not let your auto-pilot drive to find reasons navigate your search. Sometimes that autopilot will lead you down completely incorrect routes because it saw an easy explanation, and sometimes the easy ones don’t accurately reflect what’s going on in the world. People are bad at placing blame because we don’t like the way the world works. We like predictability and consistency, not new odds every day, so we imagine how we’d like the world to work and act as though it’ll listen.
holly funk editor-in-chief Samule Sun
They’re probably ruminating...
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
carillonregina.com | the carillon |18
op-ed
Distanced learning: not all bad?
Fourth-year Arts student parses pros and cons of distanced learning
Andrew Neel via Unsplash
Except my at-home workspace never looks this clean...
It will shock absolutely no one (I hope) that the University of Regina has returned to in-person classes as of August 30, 2021. When I spoke to other students this summer – which was considerably more than last year – I heard nothing but gloomy reports of how miserable the past year had been for them, having been shut inside. I made sure to smile, nod, and empathize for the most part…but the truth is, I did not think that distance learning was all that bad. There were downsides to it, of course, like the actual people-dying-from-the-pandemic aspect. As many clinical reports showed, quarantine and lockdown conditions caused severe mental health deterioration in many people, particularly students. I am not in any way trying to dispute that – for many people, quality of life diminished severely – or somehow say that the pandemic was a good thing. I did, however, notice many benefits of taking my classes from home. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the privileges I have that made this a good experience: I am a younger student who lives away from home but have supportive parents who are able to contribute to my education. I live alone and have my own study and workspace in my apartment – though it is just a corner in my basement suite under one of the few windows. Conditions are obviously less ideal for students who lost full- or part-time jobs they needed to pay for…well, everything...and for students who are unable to work comfortably from home because of roommates, siblings, or parents. I do think, however, that many of these aspects of distanced learning can benefit anyone. With that having been disclaimed, here are some benefits I noticed from a year of distanced learning: first, not having to commute. Housing near the university fills up extremely fast and is not always in the best condition. Regina is also a city designed for cars, and our public transit system is flawed and underfunded. More importantly, owning a car isn’t financially feasible for everyone, and neither are university parking passes. I personally dislike driving and opt for our “included with tui-
tion” U-Pass, which means a half an hour commute to and from the university. This is still not a long commute, as citizens of Regina reports over hour-long commutes by public transit if transit comes to their area at all. Staying home eliminates a lot of wasted time that can be spent more wisely. This isn’t to say that productivity needs to be one’s biggest focus, especially during the pandemic. Although, speaking as a fulltime student who has been working at least two jobs year-round to get by, time is of the essence. Even if that extra hour a day isn’t spent working on an essay, reading, or studying, it is still invaluable time to a student. An extra hour for a university student means more sleep, more time to prepare a nutritious meal; more time to unwind with a TV show or movie, or more time catch
of time or exhaustion, and talk to people more in my classes. I made more friends over Zoom this year than I made in the previous two years of in-person school. I think these new connections were more easily forged because my social battery was functioning at much higher levels and because the circumstances forced us to be. If we didn’t make intentional efforts to connect with our cohorts, we wouldn’t connect with anyone at all. When I was working as a Teachers Assistant at the Writing Centre over Zoom last year, if there were no appointments in the time slots while we were switching shifts, we would often all stay on the call to chat about classes and current projects. I also had classmates take an email that was only meant to have a submission of feedback
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I make sure to smile, nod, and empathize for the most part… but the truth is, I did not think that distance learning was all that bad. – Hannah Eiserman
up with a friend, even if virtually. Conversely, remote learning for me as an introvert meant not having to participate in extraneous socialization. I know, can I sound any more privileged? But personally, I find being around people, particularly in large groups, very draining if I have to do it for a long period of time. Eventually, this can lead to further burn out of the social kind, in addition to the mental burn out of school. This often leads to social withdrawal, which means not seeing friends or family in quantities that are enriching or beneficial for me (or them.) Instead, the pandemic led me to reach out to my friends and family more often, rekindle relationships I had let go due to lack
and extend them into full conversations instead. Being more isolated somehow helped bring us together by leading us to reach out to people we might not have – because in a normal classroom setting, when your session is over, you just pack your bags and go. One benefit of distance learning for me that may be a pitfall for others is that, as an English honours major, most of my schoolwork is reading hefty novels, and most of my classes are just discussing those hefty novels. The aforementioned extra hour in a day meant more time to do my syllabus readings, and, as a result, I was able to come to class more prepared. With more time to prepare and dedicate to my studies, my grades improved.
I do acknowledge, though, that it is certainly a different feeling to discuss a book over Zoom, but it’s not impossible. Online learning models don’t work as well for students in the sciences or fine arts who often require a hands-on approach. A friend of mine in Engineering often remarked that his professors weren’t as available for questions or to explain concepts as they might have been in-person. The downsides to distanced learning are obviously more apparent. For those students who thrive on social activities and chatting with their peers, learn best by auditory or hands-on learning, or have learning environments that aren’t conducive to learning, online learning is not a viable solution for education indefinitely. However, it does expose many gaps in our education system that can be improved upon, either by making more classes, or aspects of classes, online – or simply addressing the root problem. If anything, the pandemic proved a need for a better work-life and school-life balance, more leniency, empathy, and understanding from professors for students who have a tough enough time when it’s not a pandemic, affordable housing solutions for all - not just students, and a better system of public transit. Changes can be made to our modes of delivery to make them more hybrid. Just one example being that professors could now provide online copies of lectures for when students are sick or unable to make it into class – and, in addition, this would make classes more accessible for those who are hard of hearing or have auditory processing issues and struggle in a classroom setting. The bottom line is that we can learn from some of these positive aspects of distanced learning, and that perhaps all the struggles we faced in the last two years weren’t for nothing. Good can come from the flaws being exposed in our systems, particularly our educational systems – if we choose to address them.
hannah eiserman arts editor
sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
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carillonregina.com | the carillon |19
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editors: sarah carrier, rooky jegede graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | sept 2 - sept 15, 2021
