The Navigator Vol 48 Issue 9

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JANUARY 25

FEBRUARY 7

Vol 48

FREE

VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY STUDENT PRESS

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Nanaimo joins world movement

Local music spotlight

VIU VOLLEYBALL VICTORIES

Collected moments from Women’s March on Washington - Nanaimo.

They clearly are in love with what they do and the fans agree.

The Mariners add to their near-perfect season.

CONTENTS

NEWS

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Editorials

SHIFT your perspective

News in a Nutshell --VIUSU reps renewing fight for provincial Adult Basic Education funding

Salish Sea Marine Trail --Education Expo is coming to town --Education pioneers cross the Atlantic to recruit VIU graduates

FEATURES

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Dirtyin’ The Nav: Loving the way we see fit --Making your mark in the Digital Age

Perspective from abroad

#DisruptJ20: The resistance --Nanaimo joins world movement

“You don’t look disabled” --Bunnies and stairs

ARTS

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Why the Vagina Monologues matter --Satyr Players to host One Acts Festivals at Malaspina Theatre

Local hotspot: The Vault Cafe open mic Wednesday --Art Gallery gathers coastal remnants for spring exhibit

Where comedy meets Dungeons and Dragons --Use your head to get, and give, head

Local music spotlight: Maverick Cinema featuring Stel

SPORTS & LIFESTYLE

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Women’s volleyball: Mariners win two straight games over CBC Bearcats --Low inventory and high demand in Nanaimo real estate

Men’s volleyball: Mariners continue win streak with victories against CBC Bearcats

Local photographer uses Instagram scavenger hunt to show beauty of Vancouver Island

Nanaimo Songwriter’s Circle: An art gallery for songwriters --Pad Thai à la Zyre

Comic: Texting your crush

CONTENTS

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LETTERS

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CONTRIBUTORS James Chumsa-Jones Jonah Ferguson Justin McGrail Krista Meckelborg Ado Moda

Sarah Packwood Louis Patterson Diana Pearson Megan Wolfe

THE NAVIGATOR TEAM

THE NAVIGATOR WELCOMES READER CONTRIbuTIONS To submit, visit <thenav.ca> or email <editor@thenav.ca>.

Molly Barrieau Editor-in-Chief

Jessica Pirson Graphic Designer

Avery Crosson Art Director

Zyre Hoskins Graphic Designer

Natalie Gates Associate Editor

Spenser Smith Web Editor

Cheryl Folland Arts Editor

Elissa Doerksen Social Media Sp.

Aislinn Cottell News Editor

Lynne Williams Bookkeeper

Cole Schisler Sports & Lifestyle Editor

Christine Franic Business Manager

Catherine Charlebois Production Manager

Sarah Torgerson Copy Editor

All submissions must be original work of the author. Editors reserve the right to refuse submissions, and to edit for space or clarity.

Letters to the editor should be no more than 400 words in length.

The Navigator does not pay for letters. Opinions expressed in The Navigator are expressly those of the author and/or artist and do not re e t the views o The Navigator staff.

Correction: In Issue 8 The Nav incorrectly attributed photos from the Sugar Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Spice Holiday Burlesque and Drag Show to Diana Pearson.

Photo credit: Alana Atto

DESIGN WORK Jessica Pirson Cover

Avery Crosson Spread

900 Fifth St. Bldg. 193, rm. 217 Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5S5

T: 250-753-2225 F: 250-753-2257

*Cover art inspired by Matt Lineker Photography.

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Letters

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EDITORIALS

If it bleeds, it leads

Molly Barrieau --Editor-in-Chief The Navigator

Gruesome, I know.

That phrase has been repeated to me a few times throughout my university degree, and it always grosses me out. The idea was— when journalism was still a profitable job—if there was a shooting, murder, or fire, it likely made the front page or, in our case, page five.

This concept has never changed, however, last year, it seemed that catastrophes, like the Presidential Election, always bled, and led.

Quantity prevailed over quality, time and time again, and, eventually, shouting from our windows about controversial tweets was the new newspaper. Citizen journalism took a huge spike in 2016, when just about anyone could document and spread breaking news with puppy ears and an obtuse tongue. This inevitably led to some memorable news, particularly falsified, parodies and oh so many click-bait links.

Click-bait is the use of flashy language and appealing images to garner attention and encourage hits to a site or story, “at the expense of quality or accuracy” according to Wikipedia. aka, every Buzzfeed article title.

Before I allow myself to go off on that tangent, I’ve been considering the type of news that made publication last year, and the way we are now gathering our news. Obviously, there were newsmakers that dominated the barrage of fire garbage that fired from “news” sources, forcing readers to decipher the truth, if there was any.

The other day, my First Nations professor Studies asked my seminar what truth was to us, and where we trust to get information. After a lengthy discussion of higher power, hypothesis and hierarchy, we began to talk about news souwrces, and their truths. My prof knows I’m a journalist, so I grimaced, physically, at his “you don’t watch Fox News?” friendly joke.

Theses days, finding well-balanced and honest news is near impossible. The former devotion to quality news stories has been pushed aside for a garish, eye-catching version of journalism, intended solely for the blood-thirsty audience craving the scoop of celebrity diets.

At what point will journalistic standard be an old-fashioned term?

I want to develop an understanding of

the bloody title. Back in the good ol’ days of newspapers, when the phrase “copy and paste” actually meant scissors and glue, story order was crucial to readers of physical newspapers.

Breaking news was first, followed by anything else, and if it was too long, that’s what the scissors were for.

As the one holding the metaphorical scissors these days, I have no problem killing your darlings, but there is something reassuring about publishing with The Navigator, we hardly have to mince our words, or worry if we’ve lost ourselves in search of followers and site stats.

I believe the student press is the stepping stone to determining a student’s interest in the world, even if we focus locally. If we continue to share fair and unbiased articles, we set an example for other Canadian news providers, that, even when print presses slowly decay along with Blockbusters and home phones, journalism must continue to uphold its primary objectives: do it efficiently and do it right.

Dragon enters the race

Natalie Gates --Associate Editor The Navigator

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editorials

The Canadian Press: “A brash businessmanturned-reality TV star turns his outsized appetite for success towards the most powerful position in federal politics.”

Please don’t tell me history is already preparing to repeat itself.

The day after January 17’s debate in French, Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary announced he was entering the race to become leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. The businessman and TV personality (who doesn’t speak French, but is taking lessons) was quickly met with Trump comparisons in the media.

Just hours after his announcement, O’Leary had to ramble up a defense to these associations.

“If there was a wall built around this country, I wouldn’t exist,” he said, referring to his mother being Lebanese-Canadian. “There are no similarities to Donald Trump, other than we both enjoyed success in reality business television.”

But his economic thinking does bare some similarities, such as his intention to cut corporate taxes to 15 percent, and scrap carbon pricing. He also doesn’t quite fit into the box of the party he is running for, and has called the Conservatives down in past interviews. For example, some Conservatives cringed when

O’Leary said the Canadian Armed Forces should focus more on peacekeeping, late last year (well, I’m all for that one).

But then there’s his tendency to say whatever crazy thing comes to his mind, and his apparent desire to eventually establish his name as a full-on brand. Plus, in 2014, he said it was “fantastic” that Oxfam’s report on global inequality stated that the wealth of the world’s 85 richest people, was equal to the wealth of the poorest 3.5 billion, claiming stats like this encourage people to try harder.

Wait, what?

In May, he told the National Post, “If you want to win an election, you have to appeal to people who are concerned about their financial future. All the other issues are irrelevant.”

I beg to differ.

And in case you are assuming perhaps O’Leary’s cold-heartedness on Dragon’s Den is him simply hamming it up for TV, Arlene Dickinson, who worked on the show with O’Leary for seven years, disagrees.

“Kevin’s total lack of empathy toward these Canadians who put their heart and soul on the line, I can assure you, was genuine,” Dickinson writes in a CBC article. “Kevin is funny. I often enjoyed a glass of wine with him. He’s also

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intelligent and a savvy self-promoter. But at his core, he’s an opportunist. He doesn’t do anything that doesn’t offer a path to power, fame, or fortune—and that should have us all afraid.”

Of course, it is this brash outsider-ness that many will claim is what the people want/need—as they did with Trump. After Trudeau’s many postsunny ways head scratchers, fumers, and common sense failures, I won’t be surprised if O’Leary is elected to head of the Tories in May, and we are thrown into another migraine-inducing battle between a long-time neo-liberal with a famous name, and a millionaire with a big mouth, in 2019.

While polls this early aren’t much to go on, many are, indeed, suggesting Conservatives will see him as the one to take Trudeau down, because of his “outsider status”, despite O’Leary’s clashes with the Conservative Party.

Unless you hold an active membership for the Conservative Party, you won’t be able to vote against him until 2019, if he were to get in. Try not to spend too much time quivering in the corner over such what-ifs, but maybe take some notes on what unfolds in the US, until then, for reference.

If he does make it, hopefully they’ll find a way to schedule caucus around Shark Tank and Dragon’s Dens’ filming.

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NEWS

SHIFT your perspective

“Because they’re not on the wall, you can get much closer to these paintings”.

Aislinn Cottell There are no labels on the artwork at the --View Gallery.

The Navigator

The works are not titled, there’s no indication of medium, and certainly no price tags. For someone used to traditional galleries, VIU’s style may seem odd. But there’s a good, and artistic, reason for the deviation.

“People often come to a gallery and they’re going to look for the titles, because that’s the way in,” said Justin McGrail, professor of Art and Design, and the Gallery’s curator. However, McGrail says the decision to remove labels isn’t meant to prohibit: quite the opposite. “You take away title, and it’s like, ‘Ah! What do I see?’

And it’s not to be annoying—it really is to empower people: trust your instincts. Most people who are not artists are always very self-conscious of it, but it’s okay to start small.”

The removal of labels has been the practice at the View Gallery for almost a year, however, the current exhibit truly uses the concept to its full potential. SHIFT is a collection of work by Nanaimo artist Stephen Laidlaw, current curator at the Nanaimo Art Gallery downtown.

“SHIFT is an exploration into personal identity, both private and public, questioning and re-evaluating the idea of self within these two spheres,” says Laidlaw. “Defined within my practice, shifts occur over periods of time. [Although] some not so recognizable at first glance, however subtle or indescribable they may be, they do occur. Ways of looking, thinking, constructing, and processing experiences in emphasis and direction. Revaluating and repositioning became a very significant component in the development of my artistic practice.”

SHIFT is a name that references both the art, and the display itself. The pieces themselves are representative of how an

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Justin McGrail

Pieces from artist Steven Laidlaw’s show SHIFT, currently being displayed at the VIU View Gallery.

Justin McGrail

“It changes how we physically move through space”.

Justin McGrail

artist’s work changes and evolves over time–there are apparent repeated ideas and phrases worked into different mediums, in different colours. Some pieces are textured, others smooth, incorporated text is both stenciled and scrawled. It’s an eclectic blend of elements, giving voice to the ever-evolving landscape of an artist’s mind.

And then there’s the presentation. When Laidlaw and McGrail first began discussing the exhibition, almost two years ago, Laidlaw said he didn’t want any paintings on the wall. This presented somewhat of a conundrum, because that’s pretty much the only place paintings are usually seen, other than the easel. The solution? Built into the problem. Literally.

Twenty one of the paintings have been constructed into a structure, like a 3D pop-out, that extends into the Gallery.

Another selection hang from lines that string across the room, something akin to prayer flags.

The style, McGrail says, is a blend between “white cube”, the standard of display often seen in galleries today, with lines of paintings hanging at eye-height in a white room, and “salon hanging”. White cube was originally intended to give non-traditional art some breathing room, as a change from salon, an older style in which all wall space in a room would be taken up by the art, turning the gallery into an intense, cluttered diorama.

SHIFT is both a combination and evolution of these practices, with the pieces literally coming “off the wall” and entering the viewers’ environment, but still positioned so as not to overpower. They are no longer static, but claim their own space and character that viewers can interact with.

“The shift is in the artist’s life, but also the viewer’s

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expectations,” said McGrail. “Because they’re not on the wall, you can get much closer to these paintings.”

“Most artworks are on the wall, and the light is coming from above, so your nearness is determined, in part, by the light–once you get too close, your shadow’s on the painting.

The wall actually keeps you off the painting. So by pulling them forward, you can actually get nose-close to these paintings.”

McGrail says that the effect was apparent at the exhibit’s opening, where the 50 attendees at first didn’t quite know what to make of the arrangement, but slowly acclimatized and got up close.

“It’s like the paintings are literally pushed into your space.

It creates a sense of intimacy, but, also, the art occupies the space usually used by the viewers. It changes how we physically move through the space.”

SHIFT will be on display until February 17, the next show in March will be student curated, and following that, there will be an exhibit by a local photography club.

Prior to 2015, when the space was the Nanaimo Art Gallery, they received a lot of submissions, but since they became the View Gallery, they’ve been able to focus on pieces in the art department’s collection, and student work. As the Gallery establishes itself, McGrail says he would also like to include some rotations of other Island-based artists.

“As a curator, I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to make a case for art in people’s lives on campus. To make a case for the visual arts student that there’s a place for their art. And to make art a habit. You don’t have to be an artist to go to an art gallery,” McGrail says. “The Gallery is a teaching setting for ideas, discussion, and freedom.”

NEWS

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NEWS

News In a Nutshell Aislinn Cottell | The Navigator

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

On February 6, Rose McCulley from J&R Farm will be presenting a seminar on Mason Bee care. The workshop will run from 6:30 pm – 9 pm.

Bldg. 355, rm. 203.

The bee species has never been at a more critical point than it is now, and this is an excellent opportunity to learn more about this important keystone in our ecosystem.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

The next VIU Indigenous Book Circle meeting will be held on February 6, and discuss the book Half-Breed

by Maria Campbell.

Shq’apthut: A Gathering Place, in bldg. 170, from 6 – 8 pm.

The book club offers participants the opportunity to those interested in discussing themes and ideas in In igeno s fi tion arti ipation is ree an ight refreshments will be provided.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

VIU’s PACES activity program is currently up and running for the next nine weeks, until May 15.

Activity cards can be picked up at the gym front desk, bldg. 190.

Participants can cross off a square on their Activity Card for every 15 minutes of activity, or serving of fruits/vegetables. Completed cards can be submitted at the gym to win prizes.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

The Island Short Fiction Contest (ISFC) is returning for it’s twelfth year, and welcomes submissions from Island writers in their three categories: Adult (19+), Youth (13–18) and Junior (12 and under). Adult submission is $20 per entry, Youth and Junior are free.

Entry forms are available at <isfc.ca>, at all Vancouver Island Regional Library branches, and at the Nanaimo Arts Council.

Over 2K in cash and prizes will be awarded, and the first se on an thir p a e stories ro ea h category will be published on the ISFC website. The winner of the Youth category will be published in the anthology In Our Own Voice, by Rebel Mountain Press.

Admission is $2 for students and $5 for non-students.

Optional registration can be found on <Eventbrite.ca>.

Entry deadline is March 27.

VIUSU reps renewing fight for provincial Adult Basic Education funding

“Just one of many strategies to show support for reinstating ABE funding is signing the Don’t Close the Door campaign postcard. These can be found at the VIUSU in Bldg. 193.”

Catherine Charlebois Representatives from the --Vancouver Island University The Navigator

Students’ Union (VIUSU) are preparing to petition the British Columbia government to bring back funding for the Adult Basic Education (ABE) program, which enables adults to finish or upgrade their secondary education.

Avery Bonner, the VIUSU’s Director of External Relations, and Sarah Segal, a VIUSU advocacy organizer, are going to Greater Nanaimo and Cowichan area city councils this month to present their case for the British Columbia Federation of Students’ (BCFS) “Don’t Close the Doors on Basic Education” campaign. “[The campaign] is pointed at all universities we have members in, and it’s a big provincial issue,” says Bonner. “[BC universities are] splitting up the work, but we’re making sure that all of our bases are covered.”

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News

Having already gone to Ladysmith to present their case, the two are headed to the Nanaimo City council and Powell River this month. They are not the only ones within the BCFS to do so. As Michael Olson, BCFS’s Executive Officer explains, this campaign is province-wide, and doubling its efforts to reach out to the community.

“It’s part of a provincial strategy to reach out to municipal governments and local chambers of commerce, to gain support from those bodies,” he says.

ABE funding has experienced several slashes, once in 2002, and a $6.9 million cut in 2014, despite recommendations from the BC Finance Committee.

This year, renewed pressure in the campaign has the VIUSU testifying in an annual governmental Finance Committee budget consultation tour. A postcard campaign, hosted by the VIUSU and other student unions across the

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Catherine Charlebois

province, seeks to quantify public support for the campaign by collecting and sending postcard pledges across the province to the Minister of Advanced Education.

“We’re asking [municipalities] to write letters of support,” says Olson. “It’s not just a bunch of students saying we want free things.”

The campaigns have proven successful–this year, the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce pledged its support and endorsed the campaign.

With presentations, and an upcoming social media campaign capturing video statements from ABE students, VIUSU has hopes that their efforts will help sway the government’s budgeting this year.

“It’s not just a VIU problem,” says Bonner. “It’s a British Columbian problem, something that we all have to work together with, not just now, but also in the future.”

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NEWS

Salish Sea Marine Trail Aislinn Cottell As many Nanaimoites will agree, the sea is an --integral and deeply valued part of Vancouver The Navigator

Island life. And on July 1, Canada’s 150th birthday, residents and visitors will be given a new venue with which to explore its unique ecosystem and history.

The Trans Canada Trail (TCT) and BC Marine Trails Network Association (BCMTNA) have collaborated to come up with plans for a new blueway–a saltwater travel route designed for small paddlecraft and beachable boats–which will connect The Great Trail (previously the Trans Canada Trail) from Horseshoe Bay on the mainland to Kilometre Zero of the Trail at Clover Point in Victoria.

The route, designed to be environmentally friendly will extend 257 km along Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula, into the Gulf Islands, then north past Nanaimo through the Winchelsea and Ballenas islands, across to the Lasqueti and Texada Islands, then down the Sunshine Coast, across Howe Sound and end at Horseshoe Bay. BCMTNA, a BC-based non-profit, has spearheaded the project.

Formed in 2009, BCMTNA is an affiliation of 11 BC kayaking and paddling clubs, as well as private and business members, with the mandate to develop marine trails along the BC coast. They also preform conservation efforts, with volunteers preforming

site assessments, inventories, and cleanups all along the coast.

Other partners in the Marine Trail project include the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea, which will provide the marine ecology interpretive component as the trail develops.

The Salish Sea Marine Trail will provide an opportunity not only to celebrate the rich ecology of the area, but also its important heritage, by following many of the traditional paddle routes used by Aboriginal peoples for fishing, hunting, and trading. The BCMTNA hopes to provide an interpretive program to represent these traditional territories as well, with the help of the Coast Salish communities whose history they share.

The Education Expo is coming to town Aislinn Cottell On February 3, the Year 5 Post --Baccalaureate Education students are The Navigator

presenting the Education Expo, a day of workshops and presentations which will explore 40 different educational topics. The expo will be held on the second floor of bldg. 356, the room locations for individual workshops can be found on the event website at <edexpo.ca>.

Presentation sign-up is at 9:30 am, and the event will run from 10 am–2 pm. Presentations will be between 25–50 minutes long, and workshop sessions 5–10 minutes. Every station visited will improve chances of winning door prizes, including some interesting tech, and there will be refreshments provided.

Among the presentation topics to be covered are Augmented Physical Education, an exploration of the issues with current physical education practices, and the proposal of augmented reality activities as an alternative solution.

Obscured Oppression: The Hidden Biases of Educational Technology will investigate the inherent biases that can be passed on to technology by their creators, such as an exclusively western values as opposed to a more multicultural viewpoint. Survival of the Substitute Teacher will provide techniques and management strategies for temporary teachers taking on new classrooms.

Bringing Nature Inside will explore the benefits of hands-on

outdoor learning, and outline lesson plans that incorporate nature for when students are unable to venture outside.

Reconditioning Indigenous Education will look at methods of redesigning the way Indigenous studies are taught in BC, and Coding for Non-Coders will provide a beginner’s background in computer programming for teachers who are unsure about the subject’s integration into classrooms.

Some of the hands-on workshop stations include Body Positive Health and Nutrition, Dyslexia Ed, Classroom Application of Military Training Techniques, Sensory Gardens, Social Anxiety in the Classroom, and Decolonizing Senior Social Studies.

the to recruit VIU graduates Aislinn Cottell Based in the South of England, the Bohunt --Education Trust (BET) is an academy school The Navigator

sponsor organization, well known for it’s innovative and ground-breaking educational practices. Their first school was established in Liphook in 1978, but they currently run five secondary schools across England, and are only growing.

Teachers at these schools employ a challenge and project-based curricular approach, with the aims of preparing students to meet multi-faceted problems in the real world, not just exams.

BET has been ambitious in integrating technology into its classrooms, providing Mac Airs for every student, walls that can be written upon, interactive projector tables to ensure the classroom has no ‘front’, and individual desks on wheels so students can control the room’s set up. They have also pioneered new programs in England, being the first to implement Mandarin immersion methods, in which students complete one third of their curriculum in the language, and launching the UK’s first integrated, bespoke STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) curriculum. They are invested in outdoor learning, often organizing camps and fieldtrips, and sending students on abroad trips to places such as Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and the Himalayas. Their ethos is simple: enjoy, respect, and achieve.

“It’s that enjoying school, and engaging with it that’s so important, and then the respect links back to achieving great things: self-respect and a sense of self-worth helps children to achieve, and achievement is far more than just exam grades,” said Neil Strowger, Chief Executive of BET. “We do believe that if our pupils leave us and haven’t got great choices ahead of them, then we’ve failed, because education should be about giving people choices, as well as opportunity.”

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So, what does this have to do with VIU? Well, Bohunt rates multiculturalism high on its list of values, as well as keys to student success. This month, educators from the organization, including Strowger, arrived in Canada, seeking teaching graduates interested in crossing the world to become part of their mission.

“Collaboration and innovation drive everything we do at Bohunt. Our experiences so far have demonstrated the value of working cross-culturally to deliver high quality education,” said Strowger. “We have long admired the quality of teaching in Canada, and the outstanding quality of graduates your universities produce.”

“We wanted to come and make contact ourselves directly.

We have a few Canadians working for us in our different schools at the moment, and they just fit so well. Because they’ve got that sound pedagogical basis, but they also are quite—well, serious makes it sound boring, but it’s not that. They’re passionate about the job and doing the job well, and their commitment levels are high.”

“This trip gives us the invaluable opportunity to meet graduates and teachers from across Vancouver and the Island and offer them the opportunity to start or grow their careers in our unique and dynamic teaching environment.”

Interested teachers are offered contracts based on their individual needs; a program is available for Canadians under 30 to work in the UK for two years or less, but BET is also registered as a Tier 4 Visa sponsor, meaning they can sponsor those who are looking for a long-term arrangement to stay in England more permanently.

According to Strowger, there is a shortage of teachers

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available in the UK, especially in the South of England. As well, the current approach to education in England is somewhat at odds with the BET vision.

“We’ve got a government that’s very keen to see a didactic approach, so they’ve changed the national curriculum and assessment system so that there are no national comparators to keep progress, which has been an interesting challenge for schools,” Strowger said. “There’s also the shift in pedagogy from an inquiry approach to much more of a traditional ‘teacher being the fount of all knowledge’, and standing at the front [of the classroom] imparting that knowledge. That doesn’t sit brilliantly with our ethos, we recognize that there’s a time and a place where that’s the most effective method of instruction, but we also want students to be engaged and responsible for their own learning, and pursuing interests outside of the classroom.”

“We think that, certainly in BC, the pedagogical approach is similar to our ethos. The new curriculum that came in a year or so ago is sort of focused on challenge-based learning and things like that. It’s quite close to what we like to do in our schools.”

“We want all Bohunt students to leave school with the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century and be active participants in our global economy. We offer them the unique chance to interact and learn from teachers across the globe, and we are looking forward to the opportunities this will open up for everyone.”

Those interested in possibly joining BET can contact Strowger at <nstrowger@bohunt.hants.sch.uk>.

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FEATURES

Dirtyin’ The Nav: the Diana Pearson ---

For centuries, the presiding cultural climate has accepted the heterosexual, Contributor monogamous couple as the most “valid” kind of relationship. The nuclear family (the perfect picture of the man, woman, and two children living middle-class, suburban lives) became popularized in the 1950s with the image of the American Dream. But, let’s be real: to only accept heterosexual monogamy as a valid relationship, is to be caught in a prudish, moralizing trap. Whether by orientation, preference, or choice, today many are choosing to cultivate relationships that do not fall inside this restrictive framework.

Perhaps you’ve heard the latest terms: ethical nonmonogamy (ENM), relationship anarchy (RA), and polyamory. These are more than just buzz words, and they are far from fancy euphemisms for a “swinger” lifestyle (which is also a valid relationship choice). Each practice has its own body of challenging and joyful philosophies, guidelines, and words of wisdom. These relationship styles may be in the minority, but they are all around you, emerging like a cacophony of gleeful whispers in the dark.

I have hopes for diversity and sex-positivity. The Pride movement has successfully spoken out against heterosexism, advocating rights and inclusion for LGBTQ+ people. Of course, we have a long way to go, but what will the world look like when we agree that people and relationships are not to be judged in terms of good or bad, right or wrong, pure or unclean?

What is polyamory then? The word can be translated as ‘many loves’; it is the practice of having more than one sexual, romantic, or spiritual partner. The essential aim

of polyamory is to engage in more than one relationship in a consensual, ethical, and honest way. If it suits you, polyamory offers the potential for an abundance of love, companionship, community, and—yes—sex . One premise of polyamory is the theory that we might fulfill different needs with different people, given the fact that we are multidimensional in our personalities and desires. Polyamory (ENM, and RA) also comes with many challenges, such as potential for misunderstanding, hurt, and the big green monster of jealousy.

Both socially and institutionally, polyamory (and ENM) are becoming more visible. In 2016, The Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family recognized this social shift by doing a study of polyamorous families. Of 547 polyamorous/ENM respondents, 35.6 percent live in BC, and 74.4 percent are between the ages of 25 and 44.

The report suggests that the “dyadic (couple) nature of committed relationships” is changing. One of the ways that marginalization functions in society is through institutions, so it’s great to see the way law practices are seeking to update policies and accommodate for jointlyowned property, child support, and allocation of debt, to name a few.

Also, as of 2013, the Family Law Act in BC recognizes up to four parents on a birth certificate of a newborn child. These changes show momentum and hint at more possibilities for a social-sexual inclusive culture that goes beyond monogamy.

I was first introduced to the concept of polyamory about four years ago, in the safe, confidential confines of a counseling session. What intrigued me right away was the high level of growth and self-discovery this

lifestyle encourages. Some call polyamory an orientation, some call it a choice; perhaps it is both. But the way I see it, committing to polyamory requires a conscious choice. Practicing polyamory requires us to face fears and insecurities that might not otherwise come up in monogamous relationships. It prioritizes personal growth and self-knowledge.

Any healthy relationship relies on communication, trust, and empathy; but in polyamory, the stakes are raised, so-to-speak, because more partners are involved, and on a practical level, time and energy are finite. It’s not a free-for-all, and the assumptions that are sometimes relied upon in monogamous relationships are no longer useful once more than two people are involved. Extra care must be taken in negotiating sexual, emotional, and scheduling boundaries.

Although the terms and resources associated with ENM, polyamory, and RA are quite new, people have been exploring forms of sexual liberty since—well, perhaps forever. In 1916, French anarchist and free love advocate Émile Armand wrote On Sexual Liberty; in it, he asked “that we cease to qualify experience as more or less legitimate depending on whether it is simple or unique.” He argued that each person deserves sexual education in order to “determine their sexual life as they intend, to vary its experiences or to hold themselves to one alone: in a word, to proceed ‘at will.’”

In other words, it should be up to us to learn about, explore, and express our sexualities and relationships, however we see fit.

MakiNg your Mark iN The DigiTal age Krista Meckelborg Our world has undoubtedly become --a digital world. If you look around, Contributor

you will likely spot at least a few people on their phones or laptops. You might be reading this in print, but you likely find most of your news online.

With the impact of the digital revolution all around us, it’s becoming both easier and harder to deal with relationships. Communication is so easy; to send someone a message from across the world only takes a few seconds. At the same time, online communication can be impersonal and easily misinterpreted. This goes for both the personal and professional.

The truth is that the online world has completely changed communication as we once knew it. But with all of the challenges also come opportunities, particularly for us as students. Opportunities to stay in touch with family and friends who live elsewhere; opportunities to build an online reputation and make yourself known to employers who otherwise would have no way to trust you; opportunities within our coming careers to connect and communicate with consumers.

This year’s MarkItUp Marketing Conference at Vancouver Island University will give students the opportunity to learn more about professional communication and marketing in our digital world. The conference will take place from February 6 – 9 at VIU’s Nanaimo Campus, and is open to all students.

Speakers and workshop leaders from across Western Canada will be sharing their wisdom with students throughout the week. Included in the lineup is Karen Hounjet, a sales and marketing expert and President of FIO Connect, from

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Calgary, Alberta. Hounjet will kick off the conference with a keynote titled, “Staying Sober Under the Digital Influence.”

Additionally, a number of VIU Alumni will be back to share their own experiences of life after university. These will include Paris Gaudet, Executive Director of Innovation Island and current BC Liberal Candidate for Nanaimo; Lisa Michaud, a career success coach; and Sahara Shaik, marketing and design strategy consultant for Panago Pizza.

The conference will feature an International Etiquette event where students from around the world will present appropriate business etiquette from their own cultures, and Lightning Talks presented by the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, where several local professionals will each give short talks on a variety of business topics.

On top of these events open to all students, select students will be presented with an actual case from a local business at the beginning of the week, and have the chance to prepare a strategic marketing plan and pitch it to the local business on the final day. All students are invited to watch these real-life pitches take place and see how the businesses respond.

“I’m really excited about the case competition,” said Samantha McLean, Co-Chair of MarkItUp. “This year we are opening it up to the public to watch which will be a really unique experience.”

Even more so than the structured aspects of the conference, the opportunities to network provided in this conference alone provide great value for those who attend. MarkItUp gives students the chance to directly interact with local community members and like-minded individuals. Opportunities like this can lead to life-time careers and the beginnings of long-

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lasting professional relationships.

“I never understood the value behind networking until I actually experienced it for myself,” said McLean.

Although created by marketing students, the MarkItUp Marketing Conference is for everyone. Foundational marketing skills such as communication, research, and creativity are universally helpful. Even more marketingspecific skills such as branding, promotion, and targeting can be applied to any professional career.

“MarkItUp isn’t just for marketing students,” said McLean. “It’s a conference that can benefit anyone. When we all finish school and go into the working world, we all need to know how to self-brand and sell ourselves to land that dream career. This event will help you achieve that.”

Our world is constantly changing and evolving; it can be hard to keep up with current trends and stay relevant in today’s world. However, it is in actively searching for and participating in self-growth opportunities such as this conference that allows you to gain an edge over every other person entering the working world. Allow yourself these opportunities.

“We are really living in a digital age,” said McLean, “and learning skills and information regarding digital marketing is important in staying relevant in the business environment.”

Registration is free, but required for all conference events.

To learn more about the MarkItUp Marketing Conference or to register, please visit <miuc.ca>.

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Perspective from abroad Natalie Gates Each year, VIU students pack their bags and board planes to immerse themselves --The Navigator

in far away lands, unfamiliar cultures, and daunting experiences—all for the chance to learn something essential and help other communities. From Students Without Borders, to the Red Cross; from internships as part of course credit, to extracurricular placements, and beyond, the opportunities to work or volunteer abroad are immense.

One student, Jaxxen Wylie, just got back from Uganda with a big bag of perspective.

Wylie spent four months in a small village working on community outreach focused on sports and recreation as part of an international internship program for Aboriginal youth called the Victoria International Development Education Association (VIDEA). Before his departure, the second year criminology major was just as nervous as he was excited as the realities of living in a “third-world country” for the first time sank in. Thankfully, VIDEA prepared him and the 10 other Aboriginal Canadian students thoroughly.

Knowing the dark reality of “volunteer tourism,” Wylie was careful about his program choice. “I always wanted to go to Africa, but I didn’t want to just tour around,” he says.

“When I saw the posting, I liked that it wasn’t just volunteer tourism, where the cause dries up as soon as the volunteers leave. This one was sustainable.”

Bendowi, population 60,000, is a small village surrounded by crops, crops…and more crops. It has one major market, and one refrigerator in the whole area, from which a vendor sells soft drinks to passer-by.

“They play a lot of soccer there, but balls are hard to come by compared to the average income,” he says. So, he focussed on creating after school sports, with soccer leagues for both youth and adults. They also began fundraising to build a proper soccer field.

During his time in Uganda, he and the other interns stayed in traditional style huts with no electricity, internet, or running water. “It was a learning curve for sure,” he says.

But what stood out about the village to Wylie was the strong sense of community that held it together. “They are a lot more open there and community orientated,” he says. “No one ever seemed to complain. Once I came back, I noticed a lot of complaining here.”

Many students had to trek long distances to make it to class every day. Wylie recalls one student who happily walked 10km every day, both ways.

The teaching staff at the primary school were all around Wylie’s age, in their early twenties. They worked 7 am to 11 pm, and earned on average two dollars per day. “I really noticed their dedication for work, the fact that they could still be so motivated.”

Wylie says his Criminology education helped with his

adjustment and the culture shock. “In criminology, we try to understand how people’s upbringing has an impact on who they are,” Wylie says. “You have to take a step back and listen, because everyone’s got a different story of who they are, based on different perspective. You have to just sit there and listen without judgement.”

Near the end of Wylie’s internship, there was a soccer tournament where 1000 people came to cheer each other, on emphasizing the importance of community and focus on relationships in the village.

VIDEA also has programs for non-Aboriginal students, as well as for graduates. While Wylie focused on development through recreation and sport, other focuses include agriculture, textiles, working with orphanages, and other administrative work. Read more about the program at <videa. ca>.

Now, as Wylie makes his way through his degree towards grad school, he plans to keep his eye out for more international programs and continue to gain experience, and perspective.

“If you have any interest in working overseas, absolutely give it a try,” Wylie says. “Realize you’re going into a whole new world. You will make mistakes and look foolish sometimes, but if you can laugh at yourself once in a while, you’ll love it.”

Fare Review In partnership with the Regional District of Nanaimo, BC Transit prepared three fare structure options for public consultation.

All fare options assume one fare change is made September 1, 2017.

FARE TYPE

AUDIENCE

CURRENT

Adult/University Student

OPTION 1

OPTION 2

Senior/Youth

$2.25

Adult/University Student

$22.50

Senior/Youth

$20.25

Adult

$67.50

University Student

$55.00

Senior/Youth

$41.00

Adult/University Student

$6.25

Tickets (10)

$3.00

$3.00

$22.50

$27.00

$27.00

Review the full fare proposal at www.bctransit.com under Nanaimo, pick up a Fare Review brochure on board and give us your comments:

$70.00

Online Survey: www.bctransit.com > Nanaimo > Fares

$50.00

Email: rdnfares@bctransit.com

$65.00

DayPASS

We want to hear from you!

$2.50

$2.50

Cash

Monthly Pass

OPTION 3

$70.00

$40.00

$40.00

Phone: $5.00*

$5.00*

$6.00*

Senior/Youth

$5.50

Semester Pass

University Student

$176.00

$170.00

$182.00

$182.00

Paper Transfer

All

Yes

No

No

No

1-844-995-5703

Mail: RDN Fare Proposal PO Box 9861 Victoria BC V8W 9T5

6363

*DayPASS only available to purchase on board with cash or two tickets.

www.bctransit.com

Publication

Navigator

Insertion Dates January 25 and February, 2017

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Size

6 col. x 77 agate lines (9.75” x 7.5”)

Approval

Fulya_Ozkul@bctransit.com 250·385·2551

Colour

BW

Created By

Megan_Roberts@bctransit.com 250·385·2551

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#DisruptJ20: The resistance James Chumsa-Jones By now I hope you have --participated in or are least Contributor

aware of the events on January 20 and 21. You may have also seen the hashtags “#InaugurateTheResistance,” “#J20Resist,” or “#DisruptJ20” floating around the news and social media. In case you are unaware, these hashtags refer to the various actions across the USA and Canada to disrupt the inauguration of Donald Trump into the oval office of the White House. Planning the action for J20 started as soon as the US federal election results came in last November, and it has brought together several groups and movements.

Along with several protests throughout the US, many activists travelled from afar to Washington D.C. where the inauguration ceremony and the main action was happening.

Several non-profits, grassroots organizations, and political parties of various stances have simultaneously organized actions within the city against the Trump presidency. The schedule of the events that started on January 14 is listed on < disruptj20.org>.

ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, an anti-imperialist and anti-racist organization founded in 2001, organized a gathering at the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue. Bernie Sanders was praised by the organization for starting a campaign that offered “a new direction and opportunity to take on entrenched power and extreme inequality” yet it was lamented how “[t]hat campaign was largely suppressed”.

The march on the White House was led by the Workers World Party, an intersectional Marxist-Leninist organization.

The event was advertised on their website and Facebook as a “stand against capitalism” and a “fight for socialism,”

claiming that “the Democrats want [to] divert rage against Trump into a stronger, pro-war stance against Russia”. The Workers World Party has a radical agenda, hoping that the “Anti-Trump struggle [will] blossom into a struggle against the entire system of capitalism, [and] white-supremacy”.

Other groups that were present included the Movement for Black Lives Matter, various labour unions, environmentalists, and feminists.

The Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration was a fight back against Trump’s sexist comments during his campaign, as well as his appointment of Mike Pence as vice president, which may be detrimental for the rights of women in the US. As a member of Congress, Pence has an atrocious record when it comes to opposing Planned Parenthood and access to safe abortions; CNN has even quoted him opposing the use of condoms by claiming that they are “too modern”. Pence has strong conservative views, discourages women from joining the military and participating in the workforce, and has signed a “religious freedom” law that legalizes the discrimination of sexual minorities.

The Women’s March in Washington is for reproductive rights, civil rights, LGBTQIA rights and inclusiveness of “Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women,” as listed in the Unity Principles on <womensmarch.com>.

In support of this, 370 “Sister Marches” took place on January 21 across the country in cities such as Chicago, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas, and in cities outside the United States such as Vancouver, Toronto, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Vienna, Brussels, Granada, Beirut, and Nairobi City, to name a few.

There was even a Sister March in Nanaimo from the

Diana Krall Plaza to Maffeo Sutton Park, attended by almost a thousand protestors. In Victoria a rally held in Centennial Square to support the Washington Women’s March was immediately followed by a “Solidarity Trumps Hate” march.

Disrupting J20 was about more than just preventing a “nasty” man from becoming president of the United States; it was also about resisting the “nasty” movement behind him.

Those who have shown open support for Donald Trump include neo-Nazis, the KKK, and a reactionary movement known as the alt-right. This online ultra-conservative movement is primarily made up of young white males who are anti-feminist, anti-safe space, and anti-political correctness. The alt-right has shown to be against multiculturalism and holds white-supremacist views, believing that “freedom of speech” means being able making racist and anti-Semitic comments.

DisruptJ20 and the resistance of Donald Trump are many things to many people. For feminists it is challenging male chauvinism, misogyny, and patriarchy. For ethnic and religious minorities in the US, it is a struggle against systematic discrimination and white-supremacy. For Bernie supporters and progressives it was a fight against a corporate oligarchy that protects the interests of the wealthy while ignoring the needs of the poor and middle class. Anarchists and communists of the far left see it as an opportunity for radicalized liberals in a class struggle against an imperialist government that they believe allows men like Trump to be president. Whether it was a protest against racism, sexism, or capitalism, the threat of Trump’s presidency is an incentive for many different movements and peoples to converge and stand in solidarity with each other, to perhaps make America great for once.

NaNaiMo joiNs worlD MoveMeNT

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1 — Eleanor White and Geraldine

Manson provide prayers for the large crowd. Photo by: ManlyMedia

2 — Terra Groenewold climbs a tree

for a better vantage point to support the march. Photo by: Paul Watkins

3 — Sonnet L’Abbé, VIU professor,

led the protesters to Maffeo Sutton Park. Photo by: Spenser Smith

4 — Hundreds of signs held high,

each sharing different messages of the March. Photo by: Spenser Smith

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"you don’ Why it’s time to pick up the slack and support students with invisible disabilities Sarah Packwood “Because they’re not obvious to --spot, invisible disabilities may be Contributor

overlooked and misunderstood,” The Rick Hanson Foundation states. “And unfortunately, this can lead to discrimination or exclusion of those with an invisible disability.”

VIU supports and accommodates students with invisible disabilities in many ways, but a lack of knowledge on the effects of invisible disabilities, and other nuanced biases, pose unique challenges for these students. Generally speaking, there is a severe lack of education on invisible disabilities and their necessary accommodations among instructors and other faculty at the school.

Invisible disabilities are essentially disabilities that are not easily, or not at all, seen by others. Examples include chronic health issues, learning impairments, and mental illnesses, which tend to impact daily living. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines “disabilities” as “an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.” WHO also notes that “disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon.”

This year, VIU has over 800 students registered with Disability Services. Denise Hook, Access Specialist with Disability Services, says that students’ education-related barriers are determined individually and are generally dependant on their disability. However, Hook says that a “lack of understanding and awareness of what invisible disabilities really entail and how they affect people” also tend to impact students with invisible disabilities.

According to a VIU’s Disability Awareness Club representative, who wished to remain anonymous, the overall acceptance of disabilities is not consistent department-todepartment. They explained that many students benefit from the support and advocacy of the specialists in the Disability Services office. “Sometimes people just don’t get it; they don’t understand, and that’s why we have Disability Services oncampus,” the representative says. “[The Disability Service] lobbies for change in the classroom.”

Hook also noted that certain departments of the University tend to be more proactive about accommodating disabled students. She says instructors of the less proactive departments don’t necessarily have a lack of compassion for disabled students, but rather “instructors often don’t have that awareness of, or experience with, people with disabilities, so they don’t understand disabilities.”

Ultimately, a lack of understanding leads to a lack of support for students with invisible disabilities.

Hook explained there are still some people at the University who carry the notion that disability accom mo d at ion s a re equivalent to cheating in the classroom. “It’s a broad misunderstanding and there needs to be more education so people can understand that it’s just levelling the playing field and removing barriers,” she says.

James Bowen, former student advocate and current executive director of VIU’s Students’ Union, says he supports working disability education into new professor orientations, as he infers it would be difficult to make major changes in terms of creating a mandatory disability information session for all professors of the university.

Yet, Hook says there is already an opportunity for Disability Services to speak to new instructors at their orientations, and that the more difficult instructors to reach with disability education, are the ones already employed at the University.

She explains her office has tried multiple avenues for “getting the message out” to professors, but have had little success.

For example, workshops held to educate professors on the needs of disabled students “often aren’t well-attended,” Hook

says. She says mandatory information sessions at the start of each school year would be ideal, in terms of educating professors on disabilities and informing them of appropriate accommodations for disabled students.

These under-attended information sessions are just one of the ways Disability Services continues to go above and beyond in their support and advocacy for disabled students on campus. Their job starts in their office, where they work in various ways to provide one-on-one support to students, but they branch further by reaching out to others at the University in hopes of increasing the support and safety of the students they serve.

Disability Services hosted a celebration for International Day of Persons with Disabilities at VIU in December with an accompanying workshop by the Canadian Mental Health Association, and a film screening of Touch of the Light. With the theme of invisible disabilities, the fair served to raise awareness of this type of disability among students.

By holding this type of event on-campus, Disability Services is publicly acknowledging that some VIU students are facing each day with unseen and sometimes silent illnesses. This is another step towards creating a safe learning space on campus for all students. There are still many small actions that would result in positive impact, which both university professors and students should take part in to ensure safe learning environments. Basic disability education, acknowledgement/consideration of students with invisible disabilities, and simply believing students who say they’re ill are some key first steps to making VIU a safer learning space for students with invisible disabilities.

For more information on invisible disabilities, visit <InvisibleDisabilities.org>. For more information on VIU’s Disability Services, head to <viu.ca/disabilityservices>.

“There are still some people at the university who carry the notion that disability accommodations are equivalent to cheating in the classroom.”

Bunnies and Stairs The Navigator

Bunnies:

Stairs:

To Sonnet L ’Abbé for organizing the Nanaimo Women’s March on Washington.

To people not covering their mouths while coughing.

Save the rest of us, please.

The more the merrier! Submit your bunnies and stairs to The Nav by emailing <editor@thenav.ca> or Tweet us @theNavVIU. Bunny: Something nice, funny, positive, or sweet that happened in your life.

Stair: Something mean, annoying, negative, or gross that happened in your life.

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Discovering

Leah Westwood Catherine Charlebois | The Navigator

A lone gravestone sits under the protection of a willow in the Bowen Cemetery, moss creeping up its side, with the name James M Brown engraved on its rocky surface. Below it, in a faded and barely legible script, the text reads: In loving memory of his beloved wife who departed this Life May 22nd, 1875.

Nameless on her own gravestone, Leah Brown née Westwood lies in her final resting place in a Dunsmuir family plot. One hundred yards down, her husband lies in a grave with his second wife, Louisa Rumming, and two of their children, Robert and Violet.

Her obituary in Victoria’s Daily British Colonist is a measly paragraph, with Nanaimo’s shipping affairs taking precedence over her death.

“It is our painful duty to announce the sudden demise of Leah Brown, the beloved wife of James M. Brown, tailor, Front Street, on Monday morning last. She leaves a husband, seven young children and a large circle of relatives and friends to mourn her loss.”

The Nanaimo Daily Press only adds her funeral arrangements.

Born in Worcestershire, England in 1841, Leah was daughter to Elizabeth Westwood née Tilley and William Westwood. Coming from a large family, she made her way across the Atlantic on the Sailor Prince in 1848. Her family arrived in the United States in time to be recorded in the 1850 Missouri census, and left in a Mormon convoy of 340, with 61 wagons, headed for Salt Lake Valley in 1852. The family’s 4 month overland journey on the Oregon Trail in Captain John Tidwell’s 5th company, rife with cholera epidemics and constant threat of attack, arrived safely at the head of the convoy in late September.

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The Westwood family, consisting of Leah’s grand-parents, parents, and siblings were reportedly detained by the Mormons from making their way to California, by persuading them to play and sing in their Tabernacle. Stowing away with a company of soldiers, they put their musical talents to rest and made their way to California, where they settled for six years before heading over to Victoria on the Pacific, where William Westwood purchased and began operating the

“I forgot the babies”.

Lion Brewery in 1860. They moved to Nanaimo’s Mountain District, now East Wellington, around 1861, where they bought 650 acres of land and started the first dairy business in Nanaimo.

In 1863, the family sold their coal rights to an American named R.D. Chandler, who developed the East Wellington Mine. Coming from an illustrious family, Leah’s grandfather Joseph Westwood, a veteran of the Crimean War and the eldest survivor of the Battle of Waterloo, was reportedly the first nail manufacturer in Nanaimo as a blacksmith under the Vancouver Coal Company. Her brother David, has Westwood Lake named after him, due to his long residency in the area.

As children, Leah and James had lived in towns only eight miles apart. Their lives took

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them on similar paths, full of near misses, from the East Coast of America, overland to California, and diverging from the Cariboo to Victoria, finally converging in the blossoming town of Nanaimo.

A handsome man full of tales of adventure and a steady tenor voice, the thirty-five-yearold married gentle twenty-year-old Leah on December 12, 1863, at St Paul’s Cathedral.

They soon settled in East Wellington, in a house half way to Nanaimo, which they later named Ashlar Farm, affectionately called “The Farm”.

Built by hand for his bride, reportedly mostly in four feet of snow, James Miller Brown’s cabin was unusual for its time. Situated three miles north of Nanaimo on Comox Road, it had a center part flanked by a wing on either side. A labour of love, it also had chinks in the walls in case of “Indian attacks,” and cleverly placed trees in the yard to give cover from enemy fire. With no plaster for the interior, the inside walls were instead covered in white canvas stretched taught. Always considerate of his wife’s needs, James built Leah a Dutch-style oven, claiming that no bread ever tasted as good as baked in that oven. In the summer, despite seed shortages, Leah had a garden, where she tended to her pink, sharply petaled Sweet-Williams and puffy English double daisies along with her orchard of apple trees.

Leah hosted a variety of military officers on leave from the British Naval base in Esquimalt, her husband acting as their guide around Nanaimo. One said officer was so impressed by their unusual home, that it is reported he may have built a replica as a hunting lodge on his estate in Ireland.

Paralleled by sweet images of domestic bliss, life in early Nanaimo was one of adventure. Leah,

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despite her gentle character, could shoot as well as any man, and would slip a pistol in her pocket and walk out on Comox Rd. as far as she dared, with her two eldest sons when her husband was late coming home. Wolves were a common danger, and as such, Leah’s home boasted five wolf pelts on display.

In this cabin, Leah bore 5 children, her first child a still-born daughter. James William came in 1865, Joseph Miller two years later, Leah Elizabeth in 1868, and Clara Emma in 1869, who went by Bernice, supposedly the name of one of her father’s old sweethearts.

In 1871, the Browns settled on Front Street where James set up a tailoring shop. In their new establishment, Leah gave birth to three more sons, George Stanley (1872), Benjamin David (1874), and William Henry in 1875, who died that winter. His father would recall him as always laughing, with long light curls. In 1876, Leah gave birth to the last of her nine children, a boy named John. She died an hour after his birth, and he didn’t live much longer, passing away at barely six-weeks-old.

Leah and her sons, William and John, were buried in the pioneer cemetery on Wallace Street.

James, heartbroken by the death of his beloved wife, reburied her in haste in 1878, in the new Comox cemetery upon hearing that the old one was closing. After moving her grave, James was reported as saying, “I forgot the babies”, and never forgave himself for his lapse in memory.

Leah never did get reunited with her lost children.

At 35-years-old, her life seems to be but a mention in the history books, a repetition of the same epitaph, not doing justice to a woman who lived in the shadow of her illustrious husband.

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Though we don’t know a lot about her, she was clearly beloved by all who met her. After her passing, her husband raised their six surviving children by himself, remarrying only 17 years later.

A strict but loving father, James Miller went on to have eleven other children with his second wife.

Standing by her husband’s side, Leah witnessed him become a founder, Grand Master and charter member of Nanaimo’s Ashlar Lodge No. 3 and Freemason at Nanaimo’s first Masonic Hall, being left alone as her husband went out of his way to attend all meetings.

Her children became prominent figures in the community, namely Joseph Miller, who became an internationally renowned master clock smith, and the city’s youngest elected councillor; his daughter, Audrey Alexandra Brown, became a famed Canadian poet.

Her daughter Clara Emma, married George Norris, founder of the Nanaimo Daily Press, Vancouver Island’s second oldest newspaper.

From sea to land, to farm to city, Leah’s short thirty five years were by no means ordinary. She was a pioneer, home maker, beloved mother, and wife and is now in her final resting place overlooking scenic Nanaimo harbor. Nestled under the protection of her willow tree, Leah Westwood remains tended to, alone yet an ever present imprint in Nanaimo’s history. A ghost in flickers of memory, Leah Westwood lives on, as the poem engraved on her stone remains: All must to their cold graves, But the religious actions of the just Smell sweet in death and Blossom in the dust.

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One of the only pictures of Leah Westwood.

Courtesy of <Ancestry.com>

Leah s h s an s fina resting p a e rie with his se on wi e Lo isa an two o the hi ren ro that nion Catherine Charlebois

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Why the Vagina Monologues Matter Cheryl Folland I had the opportunity to sit down with --Nicole Saugstad to chat about the The Navigator

upcoming production of The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler. Personally, I’ve never seen the show, in it’s many productions across the world, but have heard of it’s impact moving forward equal rights for women.

The production is a series of monologues read by actors in an intimate setting. Each year focuses on a theme.

It’s important for all gender identities to learn where privilege is and how to support those around us who maybe aren’t on the same societal level. It’s about equity, being equal in value.

How can students and faculty be involved?

N: We are having auditions for female identifying actors to read cue cards for the performance. There’s no memorization.

What is the significance of this production? Why should All we need is brave women who can speak clearly. Aside people attend? from that, any gender-neutral, non-binary or male individuals looking to help can volunteer for the February 7 show. We will Nicole: This year’s theme is largely about women in the need helpers for a variety of tasks including selling themed workplace; what they experience, the obstacles they face, the goodies, ushering, ticket checking, etc. impact of sexism and inequality.

Great! How can we sign up?

In the current North American political climate, this is extremely relevant, how is this year’s show different N: Anyone interested can come to the VIUSU to sign up than previous years? or email <women@viusu.ca>.

N: With the President in the US, the worldwide women’s rights marches that took place, and wage inequality being something our female identifying students are familiar with, this show will give a time of reflection, identification, laughter and heartfelt tribute to what it means to be a woman.

Tickets for the February 7 show: $10 for students, $15 for non-students.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, show to follow at 7 pm.

Satyr Players to host One Acts Festival at Malaspina Theatre Cole schisler On January 26 and January 27, the VIU Satyr --Players acting club is hosting their annual The Navigator

One Acts play festival at Malaspina Theatre.

Tickets are $5, and the proceeds will go towards supporting VIU student theatre. The festival will feature five plays that are written, directed, performed, and technically-designed entirely by students.

Satyr Players president Hailey McConnel says that organizing the One Acts festival has been rewarding. She has gotten to work with many of her fellow students. Although

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the work can feel overwhelming at times, she is enthusiastic about putting on the festival.

“It’s a great way to support young artists and actors,” she says. “I’m excited to see everyone work together and put on a great show. I hope to see a lot of people come out and support the students. We’ve all worked so hard, and it’s a great, cheap way to support local theatre.”

Doors open at 6:30 pm, and viewers are advised that the plays may contain content that is unsuitable for a younger audiences.

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The plays featured for the festival are: Irrational, by Bridgette McDougall 3CCs of Quack by Jessie Wilson Broken Love by Jocelyn Dickinson and Belle Warner Scag by Cole Schisler Election at Mayflower High by Miranda Lum The Malaspina theatre is in building 310, across from the library on VIU’s upper campus. For more information, visit the Satyr Player’s Facebook page.

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loCal hotspot: the Vault CaFe open MiC Wednesday Cheryl Folland Over the next few months, The Nav will --be showcasing local venues that provide The Navigator

a platform for artists looking to break into the music and spoken word scene. These venues focus on local comedians, musicians and poets by providing them with a once a week slot to get their work out to the public. This week, we’ll be focusing on The Vault Cafe—one of Nanaimo’s only all ages venues.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of visiting The Vault Cafe, located at 499 Wallace Street in Nanaimo’s downtown core, I strongly recommend it. Art by local paintings adorns the wall in an open gallery style. Each painting remains on the wall until purchased by customers. With a high overturn, the theme changes from week to week. At this week’s show, pop abstract paintings high in colour and sporting easily recognizable comic book heroes add a splash of ironic colours.

Be sure to arrive early, as seating is limited. Though this is not a limiting factor in the summer, due to the large outdoor patio, it can be an issue in the winter. While you’re waiting for a show to start any given night, try the locally sourced unique menu items. From shrimp and bacon penne to gluten free brownies that taste like heaven, there’s something for everyone.

Open mic night varies from week to week. Artists come in and sign up on a chalk board located beside the baker’s case.

There are approximately 19 slots. This week featured many first time performers. My personal favourite was Raymond.

A quiet and shy young man, dressed in a hoodie and jeans, took the stage to sing The Zutons’ “Valerie” along with a digital track. Cheers and gasps erupted from the audience as Raymond poured out a soulful sound. His style is reminiscent of Motown meets classical voice. Slicing through vocal runs like a hot knife in butter, it was no surprise when the crowd

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roared in applause at the end of his song. With a quiet, barely audible, “thank you”, Raymond exited the stage and returned to his friends.

Other performances ranged from slam poetry, country and bluegrass to original singer songwriters. One developing star named Max, had power packed lyrics to soulful acoustic guitar riffs. Singing about heart aches and unrequited love.

“Waiting for the time to stop, so, I can throw what’s left of you in my garden when no one’s watching.”

The room is silent as they soak in the soul from this petite pixie.

“I want nothing more than a padlock to keep you out.”

A listener commented, “Max is wise beyond her years.

You can hear the life lived in her voice.”

If you’re looking for a place to showcase your work or find a new favourite artist, come on down to The Vault Cafe on a Wednesday night.

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Courtesy of Nanaimo Art Gallery

Art gallery gathers coastal remnants for spring exhibit Molly Barrieau The first exhibit of 2017 and last in a --series of three for the Nanaimo Art The Navigator

Gallery (NAG) opens this week with a reception in the recently renovated space, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the gallery.

Landfall and Departure follows Nanaimo’s longstanding history and connection to the harbour located merely metres from the doors on Commercial St. Featuring artwork, photos, recordings and archival material from the Nanaimo Archives, the NAG develops the good and bad that arose from the jobs and resources the harbour created for Nanaimo and its residents.

Chris Kuderle, Administrative Director of the NAG, said in a press release, “Throughout its existence the Nanaimo harbour has seen the displacement of the Snuneymuxw people who had utilised the harbour’s resources for

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thousands of years, the arrival of precarious mine workers from China, UK, and Scandinavia, and the World War II internment of Japanese Canadians who ran successful herring salteries and boat-building companies there.”

There is abundant history in the waters, and the physical remains shown at NAG this spring not only come from Nanaimo, but across the world, and even “harbours of the imagination.”

Following two years of resource-based exhibits Black Diamond Dust (2014) on coal mining; and Silva (2015/2016), forestry, Landfall and Departure will ideally gather our historical relational knowledge of our harbour city for future Nanaimoites, and travelers alike.

The exhibit will run from the reception on January 26 to March 27. Admission is by donation.

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Where CoMedy Meets dungeons and dragons louis patterson When I was in community college, --commuting for an hour each day, I ontri

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was lucky enough to come across the informative, engaging, and, thank the Forces That Be, free medium of entertainment known as the podcast. I would spend my drives listening to stories, comedians, lectures, and whatever else took my fancy, while cruising up and down the Island. In this dreary time of the semester, when the buzz of returning to school slowly fades into due dates and monotony, I present you with one of these treasured podcasts, one of which I wait for in anticipation every second Thursday: The Adventure Zone.

The Adventure Zone is a podcast started by Justin, Travis, and Griffin McLeroy and their father, Clint McLeroy, about a Dungeons and Dragons campaign they started two years ago.

Now, let me stop you here.

Because if you just cringed at the words, “Dungeons and Dragons,” let me explain. If your very soul leaped at the phrase, “Dungeons and Dragons,” let me still explain. The McLeroys

play a very fast and loose version of the game, focusing less on the technicality, and moreso on the story telling and, most notably, the comedy.

I have never, in all my years of living, heard a funnier group than the McLeroy’s. Their comedy is quick, filled with cultural references, and has left me reeling with laughter. What’s more, the story telling is brilliant. Griffin, the orchestrator of the events and characters that Clint, (Merle Highchurch) Travis, (Magnus Burnsides) and Justin (Takko) encounter, forces talking trees, moral dilemmas and hilarious circumstances upon his family episode after episode, leaving both them and the listener engaged and laughing.

What’s more important is the reason why you should listen to it. I would recommend this podcast because of its— and I use this word with emphasis—uniqueness. It is able to strike a chord as something comedic and fresh, as well as engaging and deep. Their references and commentary as characters and podcasters are uniquely comedic, unlike any other speakers, writers, or YouTubers that I’ve heard. Their

stories are unique in their production on both a macro and micro level, marrying strong archs and stories with wellpaced episodes. It’s engaging, funny, while still remaining something of substance. It was worth listening to because it was able to keep me coming back, week in and week out, becoming something interesting that wasn’t my education.

If you jump into it now, you’ll have about 54-hour long episodes to work with (good thing binging isn’t a thing) for your breaks, days-off, or commutes. Put down your textbooks, my fellow students. Pull your gaze away from the seventh puppy video you’ve watched on Youtube. Download the Podcast onto your phone, put on a jacket, and go for an hour long walk. Or get some tea or something and relax. Enjoy one of the only good things that’s emerged from the internet in the past two years.

Check out <maximumfun.org/shows/adventure-zone> to listen to the best decision you’ll make all semester.

Use yoUr head to get, and give, head ado Moda This article contains mature content.

--Today my life trajectory has changed. I believe ontri

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a door has been opened that cannot close; well not without getting my favourite body part injured in the process. I happened across a Facebook post about masturbation, and, of course, had to investigate. As is common Facebook practice, I creeped the profiles of the commentators.

I was curious about who else would be so bold as to publicly share their opinion about masturbation. That’s when I came, so to speak, upon Ryan Levis. It was obvious fairly quickly that Ryan doesn’t just have a half-cocked idea about masturbation.

At first glance of his page, one can tell he’s not shy about getting to the meat of it, and other potent topics. His personal Facebook page shows a post-coital, black and white picture of himself, reclining in the nude. I’m assuming post-coital, based on the pose, and prolactin-soothed facial expression.

In my first meeting with Ryan, he called himself an erotic.

That again came across in his description of his erotic art photo shoots, and group erotic massage sessions. Clearly this man is not inhibited about his body, or sexuality. If I compared his charm and confidence to a dong, I’d say at least nine inches, uncut.

I delved deeper, including his YouTube channel, and Kickstarter page from back in 2014 where he raised seven thousand smackers to publish his book, Dick Loss Prevention vol. 1. By this time I was totally fascinated, because I really wanted to find out what this threat to my dick might be, and how to prevent such a horrible fate. I had not even laid my hands on Ryan’s glossy, black, piece of work—my curiosity aroused by his YouTube teasers. But me being a testosterone fueled male animal, I would not be teased, I wanted the whole enchilada. So I messaged him, a complete stranger, and asked him if he would be interested in meeting me—and with very little context, he said sure.

The one thing that struck me almost immediately was what a perfectly modern cliché of west-coast hipster maleness he embodied. It was his headband and long hair, colourful

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handmade sweater, and politically correct verbiage which in some contexts would put him in a category of twerps I find a touch pretentious. But Ryan came across as very authentic, not contrived. He also told me more than once that he’s a slut.

I’m not sure if that was his way of telling me he’d accept a blow-job, or of emphasizing that his anti-dick loss philosophy really pays off.

But what makes this guy tick? How did he get to be so in touch with what it means to be a guy, and also have a perspective on male shortcomings that are usually only achieved by being a middle-aged double divorcée, or a mother of teenage boys. At 30 years old, Ryan has a rare degree of self awareness. Yes straight white boys, you’ve all been painted with the same brush, and you need to step up your game.

Yes, this is evolution, and yes it’s a really really good thing, because it means keeping your member, and the rest of you, happy and healthy.

I guess what really grabs-me-by-the-balls the most about Ryan’s work is the pointing out of how men are often falling short of their potential—not just in how they show up in their families, and communities, and romantic relationships, but primarily for themselves. Dick Loss Prevention vol. 1, covers topics from basics like home and personal hygiene, to more advanced topics typically only discussed by women, regarding mental and emotional well-being; and how to “have more sex, and better relationships”. The beauty is in the conciseness and delivery; it’s quite tongue-in-cheek, suck-my-dick humorous.

Ryan calls it “the world’s most callous self help book.” It’s presented in a way like a dude talking to another dude, which sounds, at times, condescending, but comes across more as straight-shootin’.

Men are often criticized for being egotistical and selfish, which I think is a shotgun approach. It doesn’t target the real problems; why, because the real issues are hidden like some esoteric knowledge, protected by a secret society. Men don’t talk about important stuff very often; not real stuff,

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not cock longevity stuff. It’s usually only the men that have been brought to their knees by life experience, that will allow themselves to look at the demons that live in their psyches; which is really too bad. Those insights could be put to great use by the young men of the world, instead of taking 40 years to reinvent the under-the-leg, left-handed stroke.

As Ryan states in the preface, “We (men) hide our weaknesses to save-face among dudes, and by doing so ,we fuck our shit up even more.” Because men don’t talk about what makes them tick in an authentic way, it really undermines their power, their empowerment, which is really what every guy wants. Really, every person wants empowerment, being effective at life, but deeply engraved in our culture and in men’s psyche, is the need to be strong. What does that mean beyond the obvious superficial? Does it mean more than just physical strength? I believe, (and I believe Ryan Levis believes), that it means owning who you are, without shame. It means being able to change in the locker room without hiding under a towel. It means being able to take care of what needs to be done, like your laundry, or your taxes; and even better, admitting when you don’t know, because that’s power too.

Pretending that you know something when you don’t, or are healthy when you aren’t, is really just going to undermine everything, and ultimately your confidence in yourself, and that, boys, will give you a limp dick, and then you’re going to have to drink a lot, and then you will be very sad indeed.

So don’t lose your dick. Read Ryan’s book and save the life of your lil’ buddy, your partner-in-crime, your magic flute.

Give him a nice home and keep him clean; then he might just be able to make some lasting friendships, and get into some nice places. Whether you’re a dick owner, or you’re fond of someone who has one, Ryan Levin’s Dick Loss Prevention vol.

1 is worth a read. I just hope that vol. 2 has more dick pics.

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LOcAL MuSic SPOTLighT: MAveRick cineMA FeATuRing STeL Cheryl Folland Nanaimo’s music scene is alive and well. On any given night, there is at --The Navigator

least one live show happening in the downtown core.

Moments after arriving at The Vault Cafe, at 8:20 pm for the 9 pm show, a sign marking sold out was taped to the door. A small crowd began to gather outside in the -1°C evening in hopes to snag a seat. One member mentioned, “We’re happy to stand on the street and listen to them.”

Stel, the opening band from Victoria, BC, made sure to appreciate those left in the cold. The band (comprised of brother and sister Adam and Sophia Stel, Brianna Herms, and Zach Smith) made their way outdoors. They played a stripped down remixed acoustic version of Will Smith’s Prince of Bel Air and handed out some CDs before taking the stage.

Once on stage, Stel played original songs with a few remixed covers thrown in. Their style is best characterized by rock meets folk, sporting a creative mix of electric and classical instruments. They did an excellent job of energizing the crowd and setting the stage for the headliners.

Maverick Cinema, described by fan Jeremy Strom as, “Fantastic, their sound really matches where they’re from.

Very West Coast-esque.” Matthew Boudot compared their sound to Coldplay, saying the performance was both “energizing” and “alive.”

After the show, I had the opportunity to sit down with the members of Maverick Cinema and get to know them a bit. Peter Bird (drums), Marshall Dillabough (lead vocals, guitar), Spencer Hiemstra (synth, guitar, brass), and Seth Recalma (bass guitarist) had a lot to share.

This is your third show in your local tour, how has tonight’s show differed from the previous two?

Marshall: Hometown shows are always more energized. We have a larger following in Nanaimo than we expected. There’s been a lot of growth and new faces.

Peter: Aside from a few friends, most of tonight’s audience came because they heard about us, not because

they know us. That’s pretty cool.

Seth: Nanaimo is the most rowdy crowd. It feels more exciting to play to your people.

What influenced your decision to join the music industry? Musicians? Experiences?

Marshall: I was out shopping with a friend one day, to get them a new keyboard, and randomly picked up a guitar in the shop. I’ve been playing ever since. I had played piano before, but this was different.

Seth: Nirvana and Skrillex Spencer: Seth, she thinks you’re serious, she’s writing that down.

Seth: Seriously though, Two Door Cinema Club and Arctic Monkeys, stuff like that.

What are your day jobs when you’re not touring?

Marshall: I work in the dairy department at Country Grocer.

Peter: I’m the youth and young adult director at The Meeting Place Church in Nanaimo.

Seth: I’m currently in the BBA program at VIU and I work at Footlocker.

Spencer: Web design.

One last question, what’s next for Maverick Cinema?

Marshall: First, we have five more tour dates, which can be found on our Facebook page or website. After the tour, we plan to take some time to write and hopefully record more before the summer. We’ve got two songs recorded so far and are working for a six song EP. Peter: We are in the process of booking a national tour, going as far as Québec, for this summer.

Keeping the energy up, the crowd dancing and finishing the show with a much demanded encore of three songs—they clearly are in love with what they do and the fans agree.

For more information on Maverick Cinema head to <maverickcinema.com>, where you’ll find a list of all upcoming tour dates, music and announcements.

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Women’s Volleyball: Mariners win two straight games over CBC Bearcats Cole Schisler Since returning from a tournament in San --Diego California over the winter break, the

The Mariners celebrate as Coach Hyde looks to the scoreboard.

Cole Schisler

Power hitter Andrea Cankovic spikes the ball.

Cole Schisler

The Navigator Mariners have been a force to be reckoned with on the court.

“We’re definitely more balanced,” Head Coach Shane Hyde said. “We have offense coming from all positions, whereas before San Diego, we were only putting the ball to our outside hitters.

Now, we’re spreading the ball around a lot more.”

Coach Hyde was impressed by the work ethic of the girls down in San Diego. He thought that players who usually see less play time took the opportunity to shine at the tournament, and proved that they were ready to play when they get the call, and in future seasons.

Following the tournament, the Mariners have only lost one match, where they fell 3-2 to the College of the Rockies Avalanche.

The Mariners beat the Avalanche in the following match 3-1.

This weekend, the Mariners took on the visiting Columbia Bible College Bearcats. Despite struggles early in the match, the Mariners managed to beat the Bearcats in three straight sets.

They took the first set 25-18, the second set 25-22, and the third set 25-22.

“CBC gave us a bit of a push and we started to panic a bit,” Coach Hyde said. “I thought Megan Rosenlund played well offensively, and Mikayla Wagner was almost automatic with her offense. Our defense was sporadic, it was really good at times, but left some holes in other places.”

The Mariners repeated their success over CBC in Saturday’s matchup. They easily dispatched the Bearcats, taking the match in three straight sets. They won the first 25-12, the second 25-15, and the third 25-14.

Heading into the last stretch of regular season, Coach Hyde hopes to guide the Mariners to another CCAA National Championship title. He says that the Mariners need to improve their movement of the ball, and they need to eliminate any elements of panic in their playstyle.

In the 40-year history of the CCAA, a handful of teams have won back-to-back titles at nationals, however no team from the PACWEST conference has ever repeated as national champions.

“The PACWEST conference is the strongest conference in the country,” Coach Hyde said. “We have to win provincials before we can make it into nationals, so we can win nationals just as much as we could lose nationals. We’ve got pretty much the same team that won it last year, there’s no doubt in my mind that we could win nationals this year.”

Low inventory and high demand in Nanaimo real estate Cole Schisler Heightened demand for homes in Nanaimo --has led to an increase in the cost of The Navigator mortgages and rentals since 2015.

According to the 2016 annual sales summary published by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, (VIREB), the average price of a single family home in Nanaimo has increased 13 percent since 2015. Inventory of single family homes has hit a historic low for Nanaimo with 85 percent of single family homes occupied. The shift has also affected the rental market, as few rental properties are being developed, and available properties are sold quickly.

Janice Stromar, president of VIREB says the market is extremely competitive. Nanaimo has always been a popular destination for Albertans, and retirees from across Canada looking to settle on the West Coast, but Nanaimo has recently become moreattractive for residents of the Lower Mainland and other areas across British Columbia.

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“There is very limited inventory and a lot of demand,” Stromar said. “You can put a house on the market Monday and you’ve got an offer by Monday night or Tuesday morning.”

Currently, the average cost of a single family home in Nanaimo is $404,695, in comparison to the $755,000 average in Victoria, and the $919,300 average in Vancouver, so while the Nanaimo market is becoming more expensive, it is a steady growth comparatively, which makes it attractive to families and retirees with fixed incomes.

“If you look in the past, you’ll see this kind of increase.

It’s about a 14-year cycle,” Stromar says. “It goes up for seven years, then back down. BC is leading Canada in the economy, and we’re backed by solid job growth, so I don’t think it’s out of control at all.”

Nanaimo is now a community shaped by the University.

With that growth comes an influx of students looking for places to rent off campus while they pursue their degrees.

Rob Kelly of Ardent Property Management says that demand for

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rental properties has increased, because over past decades, the City of Nanaimo did not invest in new rental units, which led to a gap in available properties. At the same time, Malaspina University College transitioned into what is now Vancouver Island University.

“It’s more difficult to be a landlord now,” Kelly said.

“There’s less incentive for people to become landlords and produce the supply. The buildings are expensive to buy, and the rate of return is low.”

For renters looking to land a place, Kelly says that wouldbe tenants should develop good references to show landlords that they are committed to living in a rental unit for the long term.

“For VIU students, in first and second year especially, it’s hard to prove that continuity,” he said. “If they prove they’ve been committed to any kind of organization, or they are someone that’s responsible in their community, that’s what landlords look for.”

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Men’s Volleyball: Mariners continue win streak with victories against CBC Bearcats Cole Schisler The Mariners added to their near perfect --season by defeating the Columbia Bible The Navigator

College Bearcats in back-to-back matches over the weekend.

The Mariners have suffered only one loss this season to the Capilano Blues back in November, where they lost a hard-fought match 3-2. Over winter break, the Mariners travelled to Los Angeles for skills training camp. Since then, they have developed their depth, built chemistry, and are harnessing their confidence into success on the court.

“It’s always nice when you do a trip like that, the guys get a chance to gel a little more,” Head Coach Abe Avender said.

“Their discipline has been really good all year long, so it was nice to get all the boys together before second semester.”

Coach Avender is proud of how the Mariners devoted their efforts to training while at the camp. He said that the players have a strong desire to train as hard as they can and to turn their work into concrete results. Coach Avender is hoping to carry that dedication into provincials.

“We’re focused on staying consistent,” he said. “One thing we talked about for the first half of the season is getting better, but now it’s more about specializing what’s already in place.

This is the fun time too. All the teams start getting better and they’re hungrier to win.”

On Friday, the Mariners displayed that hunger to win by beating the CBC Bearcats in three straight sets. The Mariners came out with high energy and had the match well in hand from the first serve to the last. The Mariners took the first set 25-18, the second 25-12, and the third 25-16.

The Mariners stayed consistent, and defeated the Bearcats in Saturday’s match as well, winning again in three straight sets.

The Mariners won the first set 25-17, the second 25-18, and the third 25-21.

“We hoped to create enough pressure that the other team would make errors,” Coach Avender said. “We tried to limit the errors on our side to improve our chance to turn balls over.

Regardless of the quality of the team, if you can put pressure on them, you can control the match.”

The Mariners set a goal of keeping themselves to eight errors or less per set; Coach Avender identified nine errors in the first set, seven errors in the second, and only three errors in the third. Coach Avender hopes that the discipline and depth of the Mariners will carry them for years to come.

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Braydon Brouwer winds up to spike the ball.

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The Mariners gather around Coach Avender.

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Local photographer uses Instagram scavenger

Megan Wolfe ---

Think about your favourite places to explore around Nanaimo. If you’re like me and Contributor you’ve only lived here for a few years, the list is probably short. However, if you’ve lived in Nanaimo your whole life, your list is probably a lot like Jonah Ferguson’s. Ferguson is so familiar with the area that he can tell from a single Instagram photo where the photographer went. He recently realized that there are people like me, who don’t know where a whole lot of anything is, so he came up with the idea for Instacache Nanaimo.

On his Facebook and Instagram accounts under the name of InstaCacheNanaimo, Ferguson is going to leave a prize and a notebook at the location of the photograph he took on every other Sunday. The first person there wins the prize, but don’t worry if you don’t make it. For the following three weeks, he’ll leave a notebook at the location and all you have to do is write your Instagram name in four out of five of the notebooks to be entered into a draw for a grand prize after the initial 10 weeks.

“I’d post pictures and I’d have people message me asking, ‘Hey, where is this?’ I’d always be surprised by this, because I thought these were pretty common spots,” he says, as he plays around with his red carabiner. In an effort to incorporate photography, and adventure, while inspiring others to get outside to explore these well-loved spots, Ferguson decided to give people a little encouragement. “By adding gift cards, it gives people even more incentive to get out of the house and explore all the cool new places.”

Ferguson has been talking to local businesses, like Islandish, The Buzz Coffee House, Tap House, and local brand RSDK for sponsorship for the prizes he provides at the locations. His hopes for this interactive version of geocaching are not just limited to Nanaimo. Ferguson is hoping to get other photographers to share some of their favourite spots, and for Instacaching to become an Island-wide experience that will encourage friends and family to experience Vancouver Island.

Some of Ferguson’s favourite places are Cottle Hill, Witchcraft Lake, and Jack Point.

Some of his photos aren’t exactly what you would call a ‘great idea’. Although the shots are breathtaking, he’s had to climb some sketchy cliffs, that were wet, without a helmet, harness, safety net, or another person there to make sure he doesn’t get hurt, or die. Though he’s a newcomer to the photography scene, Ferguson has been getting a lot of support and love from the community and his friends, and is excited to see where he can take his passion.

If you’re looking to get involved with Insacache Nanaimo, follow it on Instagram using #instacachenanaimo or follow the InstaCacheNanaimo Facebook page. Ferguson will post the picture of where he’s hidden the prize every other Sunday at 1 pm. The latest prize was dropped on January 22.

Jonah Ferguson

The rushing waters of Millstone Creek beneath the upper Bowen Park Bridge.

theoxypub@outlook.com

Daily Drink and Food Specials Breakfast Specials Karaoke every Thursday and Friday Music Trivia every Saturday

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Nanaimo Songwriter’s Circle: An art gallery for songwriters Cole Schisler When Kenny Brault joined the Nanaimo --Songwriter’s Circle in 1997, it had been The Navigator

running for only a year. Since then, he says that the people may have changed, but the style of the Circle has stayed the same.

“The styles are the same in that they are undefinable,” Brault says. “People come sharing songs from their hearts.”

The Songwriters Circle was founded by late Vancouver Island folk musician Jerry Paquette, along with singersongwriter Ric Lafontaine, children’s performer and banjo player Ian Johnstone, as well as Jim and Jannette Erkiletian, who form the Owl & Pussycat Duo. “We got together and decided that we needed a circle for people who were making their own songs, and doing their own arrangements,” Jim Erkiletian said. “It’s moved around over the years, but now it’s housed at the Oak Tree Manor.

We meet at 7 pm on the first Thursday of every month.”

The idea for the Songwriter’s Circle was incepted by Jerry Paquette. He ran a recording studio out of his home in Nanaimo, where he recorded artists from across BC and the United States.

Paquette was deeply involved in the Nanaimo music community

as a promotor, member, and mentor until he passed away in May of 2010 following a five-month fight with cancer. Since then, it has been tradition to honour Paquette by playing one of his original songs at the beginning of every meeting.

Kenny Brault discovered the Songwriter’s Circle through his music partner Alice Frank Campbell, who introduced him to Jerry Paquette and Rick Lafontaine. That connection motivated Brault and Campbell to focus on creating and preforming their own music. They recieved a grant, and used it to record their first CD at Paquette’s studio. Brault then developed a close relationship with Paquette and Lafontaine.

“Ric sang on our CD,” Brault said. “I was the best man at his wedding in 2000, and he was there for me when I had to bury my son in 2003.”

Through the Songwriters Circle, Brault has collaborated with many other artists. He played bass in a trio called Alicken Hue, with Alice Frank Campbell and drummer Hue Van Heck.

He played on an album for Fiona Stewart, and Stewart, in turn, sang a song on Brault’s solo album Mandolin Only’n, for his late son, Lee, who was also a musician.

Brault played bass with Campbell for 20 years. He has also

played with the groups, Sticks in Your Head, Third Rock, and Fiona N’ De Boyz. He now plays in a Latin trio, Terrazetto, which he has been a part of for six years. Terrazetto was reborn when Brault met singer Carrie Ingrisano, and drummer Dave McGrath at the Songwriter’s Circle.

“It’s been absolutely magical,” Brault says. “We’ve developed a really good bond.”

Brault hopes that people will become more aware of the Songwriter’s Circle. He says that songwriters should come to the circle because it is a place for them to bring their art and share it with others in the song-writing community.

“It’s a culture of songwriters,” Brault says. “Out of that develops a relationship. Sometimes people will collaborate, or share ideas. It’s a place people can hang up their art. The circle motivates people to write more songs, and create new songs. It’s like an art gallery for songwriters.”

The Songwriters Circle meets at 7 pm in the lobby of the Oak Tree Manor, 325 Hecate St Nanaimo, on the first Thursday of every month. For more information, find them on their Facebook page.

Pad Thai à la Zyre Zyre Hoskins ---

Why buy pad thai at a restaurant when you can make it at home? This student-budget The Navigator friendly meal is perfect for those nights in, when all you want to do is watch Netflix, drink beer, and curl up with a bowl of warm comfort food. This recipe serves four hungry people, or 5-6 regular people. With a prep time of only 20 minutes, and cook time of half an hour, you’ll be pressing play in no time.

Average cost: about $30-40 depending on deals. $50 if you don’t already have some stuff lying around.

Ingredients: Pad Thai 1 package rice noodles 1 head of garlic, minced 2-3 Thai red chillies, sliced thinly 5-10 mushrooms (depending on your feelings on mushrooms) 6 chicken thighs (boneless, skinless is ideal) 2-3 medium sized red onions (to taste) 2-3 baby bok choy, base removed, chopped into roughly 1inch pieces 1 package bean sprouts

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Garnish 1-2 bunches green onions 1-2 bunches cilantro 1 cup crushed peanuts, plus more for topping to taste Sauce 2 bottles “Memories of Szechuan” sauce from President’s Choice Instructions 1. Mince garlic. Slice chilies (leave seeds in for heat), slice onions into medium-thin pieces, slice mushrooms, bok choy (use the stems for added crunch), green onions, and cilantro.

2. Cut chicken thighs into 1 inch pieces. Soak rice noodles in a bowl of warm water, fully submerged. Add a tbsp of oil to a large pot and let warm on medium-low.

3. Add minced garlic and chilies and cook until garlic begins to brown, stirring often. Add half of sauce and 1 cup water, stir, and turn to high heat. Once bubbling, add chicken, mushrooms, onions and crushed peanuts. Cover, stirring occasionally.

4. Once chicken is cooked through, drain noodles and add to pot. Mix in bean sprouts and bok choy. Cover again and cook until noodles are soft. Serve with a drizzle of the remaining sauce, and top with cilantro, green onions, and more crushed peanuts (if you feel like it). Add lime juice for extra zest.

theNAVIGATOR

Zyre Hoskins

SPORTS

LIFESTYLE

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Brandon Kornelson is a Sociology and History student. He hopes to become a journalist.

Contact Brandon at <brandonkornelson@shaw.ca>.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

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Robbie Burns Night

Satyr Players: One Act Festival

A&H Colloquium Series: “Perfect Pitch”

Jimmy Rankin

Malaspina Theatre Nanaimo Campus

Malaspina Theatre Nanaimo Campus

Doors 6:30 pm

Starts 10 am

$5

FREE

Fox and Hounds 11 High St., Ladysmith 11:30 am – 10 pm $5

The Port Theatre 125 Front St. 7:30 – 9:30 pm $32

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1

2

3

4

BorschtFest 2017

Fringe Flicks: Captain Fantastic

WordStorm: Open Mic

LGBTI Refugees A Public Presentation

Kobo Town: Calypso-Reggae

Moshka Yoga with Live Music

Flotsam and Jetsam: Life on the Westcoast

Brechin United Church 1998 Estevan Rd.

The Queen’s 34 Victoria Cres.

Moshka Yoga Nanaimo 1881 Dufferin Cres.

Malaspina Theatre Nanaimo Campus

Starts 7 pm

Starts 8 pm

6:30 – 7:45 pm

2 pm and 7:30 pm

FREE

Doors $15

Suggested Donation $10

Students $15

St. Michael’s Ukrainian Parish Hall 4017 Victoria Ave. 12 – 3 pm $10

Avalon Cinemas Woodgrove Centre, 6631 North Island Hwy. 7 pm

Tandoori Junction 489 Wallace St. Starts 6:30 pm $5

$13

5

6

7

Spring Sundays

Mason Bee Seminar

On Site Art 2017

VIU’s Milner Gardens & Woodland 2179 West Island Hwy.

Nanaimo Campus Bldg. 355, rm. 203

VIRL North Nanaimo 6250 Hammond Bay Rd.

Students $3.25

6:30 – 9 pm Students $2

1 – 4 pm FREE

JOIN THE NAVIGATOR ONLINE

THENAV.CA /THENAVIGATORNEWSPAPER @THENAV_VIU

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theNAVIGATOR

CALENDAR

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Podcasts available Sunday themastheadradio.wordpress.com #Mastheadradio

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