Volume 24, Issue 1 - September, 2024
News, pg. 3-4
BRANTFORD
TURNS 25
Laurier Brantford marks a quarter of a century
Sports, pg. 5-7
CANADA GOES FOR GOLD
A breakdown of the summer Olympics
Arts & Culture, pg. 12-13
SUMMER IN TELEPHONE CITY
Hot events the city hosted over the holiday
Opinion, pg. 14-15
SITUATIONSHIPS
Casual, long-term, long-distance, low commitment relationships
Feature, pg. 8-9
THE LADY WITH THE RUBY GLOVE
She should have been left alone in the depths
EDITOR IN CHIEF Alexa Ford eic@thesputnik.ca
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Thando Bhebhe creative@thesputnik.ca
NEWS EDITOR VACANT
LEAD NEWS WRITER Piper Force
SPORTS EDITOR
VACANT
LEAD SPORTS WRITER
VACANT
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Sienna Bilancia arts@thesputnik.ca
LEAD ARTS & CULTURE WRITER Vacant
OPINION EDITOR Anna Pieczula opinion@thesputnik.ca
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Aaron Waitson
ed@wlusp.com
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Umaymah Suhail president@wlusp.com
FINANCE MANAGER Randy Moore finance@wlusp.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER Kurtis Rideout ads@wlusp.com
CHAIR Umaymah Suhail
VICE CHAIR Jacob Segal Rice
STUDENT DIRECTOR Elisha Felician
STUDENT DIRECTOR Madalyn Mostacci
SECRETARY Nate Dawes
Julia Rallis Megan Jacklin Karen Savoy Usfer
LEAD OPINION WRITER Niyati Pancholi
INFINITUM EDITOR Samuel Bowering infinitum@thesputnik.ca
LEAD INFINITUM WRITER
Mckenzie Martin
PHOTO EDITOR Serena Anagbe photography@thesputnik.ca
LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER Olga Steblyk
WEB MANAGER VACANT
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Sathyashini Suresh social@thesputnik.ca
VIDEO EDITOR VACANT
SENIOR COPY EDITOR VACANT
BRANTFORD MANAGER OF OPERATIONS VACANT
HR MANAGER Mackenzie Worton hr@wlusp.com
WEB MANAGER Sam Nabi web@wlusp.com
TREASURER Tusharika Tyagi
COMMUNITY DIRECTOR Brittany Kovacs
COMMUNITY DIRECTOR Shelby Blackley
COMMUNITY DIRECTOR Andreas Patsiaouros
All advertising inquiries can be directed to Kurtis Rideout at kurtis.rideout@wlusp.com.
THE SPUTNIK IS PUBLISHED BY WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Mailing address: 205 Regina St. N., Waterloo ON e Sputnik o ce location: 50 Market St., Brantford ON OD102
Well Golden Hawks, we are back and better than ever!
e Sputnik is hot o the presses of our summer break and we are ready to provide the Brantford campus with the latest scoop, like we have been since 1999.
Started in 1999, the Sputnik is an editorially independent newspaper published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. WLUSP is governed by its board of directors.
Opinions expressed within the Sputnik are those of the author and do not necessarily reect those of the editorial board, e Sputnik, WLUSP, WLU or Centra Web Printing. All content appearing in the Sputnik bears the copyrightexpressly to their creator(s) and may not be used without written consent.
e Sputnik’s primary font is Fira. We also use Utopia, Crimson and Aileron.
e Sputnik is a member of the Ontario Press Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For additional information or to le a complaint, contact info@ontpress.com or call 416-340-1981.
e Sputnik circulates monthly and virtually on a weekly basis.
e Sputnik has an obligation to foster freedom of the press and freedom of speech. is obligation is best ful lled when debate and dissent are encouraged, both in the internal workings of the paper, and through the Sputnik’s
e Sputnik prides itself on consistently providing the students of Wilfrid Laurier University Brantford with the hottest news, opinion, arts, sports and ction stories. After a particularly hot summer with temperatures reaching the 30s for days at a time, this O-Week issue is themed “Heat wave” because our team of writers, photographers and social media managers are hot, hot, hot! During our Brat summers, e Sputnik has been very demure and very mindful that we want to crank up the heat in our newsroom! is issue, we are starting o strong with a compelling opinions piece on dreaded situationships, exclusive interviews with Laurier alumni Olympians and a spine-chilling feature piece involving a particular painted lady. Putting this issue together has been such fun and I am so proud of the amazing work the Sputnik team has done and will continue to do for the entire 2024-25 school year.
Returning to campus as an alumni and working on e Sputnik is so special and I am excited to take this legendary paper to new heights.
However, returning to my old campus does pose a question for me.
“Am I technically going back to school?”
September, for as long as I can remember, has been back-to-school season. Now that graduation has come and gone for me and my class, I can’t help but wonder, “When will I fully adjust to no longer being a student? Or am I programmed now to think of this month as back to school season?”
Despite this minor existential crisis, September has always signaled new beginnings for me and for all of us because it marks the start of a new school year: a new slew of classes and professors, a new bedroom to sleep in and new people to meet. is month represents a new chance to excel and challenge yourself so Golden Hawks, enjoy your fresh start
and embrace all the newness that September has to o er. For the 2024-2025 school year we want to shine a spotlight on bigger issues in our society while keeping a pulse on local issues in our local community. It is important to recognize the hot bed of issues that are happening around us as we head into the new school year: an ongoing genocide overseas, tumultuous elections which directly a ect our nation, temperatures rising all over the planet, union strikes that jeopardize all our commuter students, just to name a few. As the next generation it is crucial to stay involved in both local and national news to stay informed and “heated” about the wrongs that are being done in our society, and of course do something about it! is is our challenge Golden Hawks, to do something!
A pro-Palestinian protest took place on Laurier’s Brantford campus over the summer
Pro-Palestinian students from the Wilfrid Laurier University Brantford campus participated in the Laurier Brantford for Palestine protest earlier this summer, aiming to stop post-secondary institutions from nancially supporting Israeli companies.
Recently, there have been student protests about post-secondary institutions receiving funding and support from Israeli companies, such as Lockheed Martin Israel. As a result, encampments and protests started at schools like the University of Waterloo and McGill University. ere are nine di erent post-secondary institutions involved in this nationwide protest. Now, the Laurier community has joined the protest as well.
Usfer Syed, a former president of Laurier’s Muslim Student Association on the Brantford campus, partnered with another anonymous alumnus, who informed him that students on campus are eager to hold protests. ey also have support from the school, who are willing to provide them with funding and nancial support.
e constable and campus security did not actively participate in the event the Brantford police department showed their support
by showing up and dealing with security measures.
“ ey were pretty helpful. ey wanted to ensure that everything went well. ey even asked me whether I needed a speci c section of the street to sit down, and they had multiple o cers nearby, “ said Syed. “ ey didn’t want to interfere with the protest.”
Despite the support from the Laurier community and the local law, there were interferences. An anonymous individual claiming to be part of the LGBTQ+ community sent a message to Syed saying he was insensitive for scheduling the protest at the beginning of Pride Month.
“It was an anonymous account, someone who claimed to be at Wilfrid Laurier. When I reached out to them there was no response. So, to me, this was someone who wanted to be an internet troll, “ said Syed. “But police were still noti ed and they were still concerned about it just in case someone tried to interrupt the protest.”
Although this was a student protest, Syed said he independently organized the protest by working behind the scenes and connecting with individuals interested in participating.
Syed explained that the goal of the protest is to ensure that post-secondary institutions respect the rights of Palestinian students and emphasize the critical importance of student rights and voice.
“After all, we are the future of the universities, whether it’s govern-
ment or politics,” he said. Many post-secondary institutions, like the University of Toronto
or the University of Waterloo, tried to stop the protests, even involving the law. Laurier, however, showed
support for the protests. e university posted on their website saying, “We unequivocally support everyone’s right to engage in these activities.”
A student protestor, Mustafa Khalil, said he believes that other Palestinian student communities at Laurier will join the cause.
“ e protests we are doing and the protests we will do will continue. It is going to have results and I can promise you it will have results soon,” said Khalil. “ e government has to hear our voices and if a one per cent change occurs, other students will see that there is a little bit of impact.”
Khalil said the protest is about bringing awareness to the cause, showing that students have a voice and what they say matters. He encourages the Laurier community to support the protests and promises what the Palestine protests are doing matters.
“You don’t have to bring ags or slogans or come prepared for the protest. Just having your presence, standing there shows a lot of support and makes a big impact,” said Khalil.
ere are recent negotiation attempts between the protestors and post-secondary institutions about cancelling their contract with Israeli defence companies. e protesting students are rm on continuing their rallies, sit-ins and encampments to convince institutions to defer their partnerships and cut all ties with Israel-associated organizations.
e 2024-25 academic year marks the Wilfrid Laurier University Brantford campus’s 25th anniversary. e university has multiple events planned to celebrate the achievement.
In September of 1999, Laurier Brantford opened its doors to 39 students. Twenty- ve years later, the university has become home to approximately 3,000 students yearly. e campus was built within Brantford’s downtown core to bring a small community feel to the campus, with majority of its buildings being historical to Brantford.
Many of the sta at Laurier Brantford have worked at the
university since the campus’s early days, such as Andrew Welsh, an associate professor and associate dean of the faculty of human and social sciences. Welsh recently celebrated 18 years with the university and reminisced on the early days at Laurier Brantford.
“It was very calm in the early years… some students would have me three or four times,” said Welsh. “It was always a commuter school.” Laurier Brantford was designed as a way for families to keep their children in the community for further education. Currently, Laurier
Brantford holds approximately 450 students from outside of Brantford just between the four residence buildings, showing that Brantford has also welcomed many students who chose to make Brantford home during their studies.
Some students from Laurier Brantford’s early years have returned to the campus as faculty and credit their connection to the Brantford community.
“It really does have that hometown feel and that’s what I love about it,” said Andrea Emond, a Laurier Brantford alumni who recently came back to the university as a marketing and communications coordinator. “When I saw the job posting, I knew it was a good t.”
While not all are fully publicized, three events are already underway to help the university celebrate 25 years in Brantford.
A “Forever Golden Mural” will be painted in the Research Aca-
demic Centre designed by artist Stephanie Scott. e mural will be printed as a paint by numbers in October, 2024 and there will be opportunities for students to sign up to help paint parts of the mural to leave their mark on Laurier Brantford. e nal unveiling will take place in January, 2025. e Student Life Levy has provided signi cant support for the project.
Laurier Brantford’s 25th anniversary homecoming will consist of events for students, faculty, alumni and community members to enjoy. Events of homecoming will include the Student vs. Alumni Basketball game at Laurier Brantford’s YMCA, Drag Bingo and more. Updates will be provided as details are nalized and released.
Finally, 25 Alumni of Impact will be held to honour and share the stories of 25 Laurier Brantford alumni who have made signicant impacts from a local level to worldwide.
New ruling prompts comments from student activists at Laurier
e International Court of Justice ruled in e Hague in July that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is “unlawful” and calls for Israel to “make reparations for the damage caused.” e ruling is an advisory opinion that was requested by the General Assembly in 2022. e ICJ opinion is not legally binding, although the ruling has the potential to in uence other countries’ actions. e ICJ summarizes and criticizes Israel’s occupation of Palestine since 1967 and “excludes consideration of conduct by Israel in the Gaza Strip in response to the attack carried out against it by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October 2023.”
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 39,897 Palestinians were killed between Oct. 7, 2023 and Aug. 13, 2024.
According to the Israeli military, in the same timeframe more than
1,530 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed.
“Israel has an obligation to bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” said Part VII of the Summary of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion“Israel is also under an obligation to provide full reparation for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all natural or legal persons concerned.”
Omar Elmallah graduated this past spring from Wilfrid Laurier University and majored in kinesiology. Elmallah said he is actively involved in advocating for Palestinian justice and has been attending protests since he was seven.
“When you’re involved in this issue and you hear so much about what’s happening and the world doesn’t really seem to care, that can be very frustrating,” said Elmallah. “I was de nitely very surprised when the ICJ ruling came out.”
e non-binding nature of the ruling is a concern for Elmallah, who said he feels the ruling is not enough to prompt the change in Israel’s actions that is needed for
the Palestinian people.
Oren Katz is a fourth-year arts undergraduate student at Laurier who is a member of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Waterloo Region and the Palestinian Justice Club (PJC).
“I think it’s the responsibility of global powers who do recognize the ICJ to make statements on this, to do what they can to get involved and ght instead of just letting the genocide in Gaza continue,” said Katz.
Katz said they believe this ruling will be empowering to continue conversations around the con ict for Palestinians in the diaspora.
ey also said the ongoing Israel-Hamas war is an opportunity to re ect on their Jewish identity and values.
“Making the world a safer place for Jewish people does not mean allowing any of us to act with impunity. It means holding all people, regardless of their identity, accountable for their involvement in structural violence and genocide,” said Katz. “I am just as proud to be Jewish as I am to be pro-Palestine.”
According to B’nai Brith Canada,
a Jewish advocacy organization, the number of antisemitic incidents in Canada has doubled between 2022 and 2023 and has now reached a record high.
According to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), since Oct. 7, the organization has seen a 1,300 per cent increase in Islamophobic incidents reported to it.
In an email to e Cord, Jessie Greenspan, Hillel Ontario’s campus director for both Laurier and the University of Waterloo, said
Hillel is concerned for the well-being of Jewish students as they return to campus this fall. Hillel International is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world.
“We call on university leadership to unequivocally state that antisemitism will not be tolerated, ensure the safety of Jewish students, and swiftly hold accountable those who seek to cause harm to the experience of Jewish students,” she said.
is article is cross-published with e Cord.
Beach volleyball Olympian graduated from Laurier in 2016 and has represented Canada twice since then
e sun is shining, the sand is warm and the Ei el Tower is in the distance as beach volleyball player and Wilfrid Laurier alumni Sam Schachter takes to the court to represent Canada for the second time on the Olympic stage. Alongside his team Canada partner Dan Dearing, the pair bump, set and spike as the crowd cheers them on.
“Walking out into your rst match and being welcomed by the announcers and the crowd is always an unforgettable moment, especially your rst match of the Olympics,” said Schachter. “And it’s a nice reward for all the hard work that you had done to get to that moment and place.”
Schachter graduated from Laurier in 2016 from a communications program. Originally, he was enrolled at the Waterloo campus, but as his athletics career began and he joined the national team, he continued his studies through various schools in Toronto.
Since graduating, Schachter has represented Canada at the Olympics twice, once in 2016 and again this year. During his time at the Olympics, he and his partner played four games, winning one. Dearing injured himself, so the team was unable to compete in their playo game.
“ at was a frustrating piece, but certainly we enjoyed the overall experience and having our families join us and some of our friends was something that I think
we’ll cherish and always remember as one of the most valued parts of the experience,” said Schachter. To compete at such a high level, Schachter takes his mental and physical preparation seriously. He and his team went to training camps both in the U.S.A. and Germany. Also, the team has personal therapists and performance coaches who help the athletes manage the stress that comes along with competing at this level. For Schachter, mediation and visualization help him to calm his nerves and “create a mental directive and manifest.”
As much time and e ort goes into reaching the Olympics,
Schachter said it is important to enjoy the journey too.
“ e Olympics is wonderful to get to that point, but there’s a lot of challenges,” he said. “It’s very frustrating and a lot of people don’t make it that far necessarily. And I think enjoying what you’re doing as you’re doing it is a big part of the experience.”
Years since his graduation from Laurier, Schachter is still connected to his Golden Hawk roots.
“I’m still in touch with my former head coach and one of my best friends whom I played at Laurier with, Dave Hamilton, was able to join me at the Olympics. at was special to have someone
whom I came through university with and experienced Laurier with me there to share the Olympic experience with me,” said Schachter.
Schachter’s journey to the Olympics was not one he walked alone.
“It takes a village. Every single coach, every single partner, every single competitor plays a piece in learning the lessons to get to the Olympics. In di erent stages in my career di erent people played such huge, impactful roles,” he said.
“From my rst elementary school teacher who got me into the sport, all the way to our Olympic coach who was training us in the nal months leading up to the Olympics. Everyone has had a huge impact and have a great appreci-
ation and love for everyone who contributed to that journey.”
As his time competing at the Olympics wrapped up, Schachter said he had the chance to enjoy Paris.
“I got to really enjoy some very nice meals with my family and my ancée. We got to spend, four or ve days enjoying Paris and being able to support our female Canadian team who did extremely, truly well with the silver medal and getting to celebrate with them was something that I think I’ll always remember and cherish because it was such an exceptional result,” he said. “I have so much pride to be a Canadian and a beach volleyball player.”
In 2022, the FIFA World Cup took the world by storm as 32 nations from across the world travelled to the host nation of Saudi Arabia, each of them desperate to win the prestigious tournament. Among them was Canadian men’s national football team, nicknamed “Les Rouges”. Les Rouges reached Saudi Arabia, making 2022 the second time they had participated in the event, their debut having taken place back in 1986 in Mexico. In 1986, Canada was beaten in the opening phase of the tournament, and Argentina won the title of world champions with their shining star Diego Maradona at the helm. In 2022, history would repeat itself as Canada, which boasted the likes of international footballing star Alphonso Davies, were defeated in the group
stages Canada nished last in their group having lost every game they played. Once again, Argentina would cling the title of world
champions, and this time, they were led by yet another footballing legend, Lionel Messi.
To say Canada’s performance was tragic would be an understatement, but to say it was disappointing would not be fair. Canada is a very young country in the international football scene, and the teams faced in 2022 are some of the best in the world. Morrocco, Canada’s rst opponent, beat consistent world cup winners like Portugal, becoming the 1st African country to ever make it to the semi nals. Despite such strong opposition, Morrocco struggled as Canada frustrated their destiny in a tense match that ended in a 2-1 victory for Morrocco. e fresh-faced Canadians slipped by a single goal.
Canada’s next opponent, Croatia, has Luka Modric, a player that has won one of football’s most coveted prizes, the Ballon d’Or. ough thrashed by four goals, Canada did not go gently into the night as they had opened the game with a screamer of a rst goal. eir nal opponents, the
Belgians, had nished third place in the 2018 world cup in Russia. e Belgians had international super stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, yet with all their might, young Canada only allowed them a single goal. Despite nishing last, Canada has shown the world that they were a force to be reckoned with.
e 2024 Copa America tournament hosted in the U.S.A. was another chance for Canada to prove itself. Two years since the World Cup, Les Rouges seemed to have only gotten much stronger. In their rst Copa América tournament ever, Les Rouges had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. eir rst challenge would be against the best team in the world, Argentina. In a erce ght against the world cup winners Canada only conceded two goals. is would be their only loss in the group stages because their game against the Chileans ended in a draw and they won against the Peruvians by a goal.
Read the rest of the story online at thesputnik.ca.
e 2024 Paris Olympics began on July 26 and o cially nished on Aug. 21. Although Canada faced some less-than-ideal circumstances, including a drone spying scandal involving the Canadian women’s soccer team, their athletes persisted in competitive climates and won 27 medals across 14 sports, the most they have ever won in the Olympics.
It truly was the summer of Summer when a 17-year-old from Toronto, Summer McIntosh, became the rst Canadian Olympian to win three gold medals in one Olympic contest. She also won silver in the Women’s 400-metre freestyle.
e Canadian women’s soccer team was defeated in penalties by Germany in their quarter- nal match after a scoreless game. Even though they could not safeguard their title, they battled through the hardship and showed they are improving as a squad.
Following Team Canada’s drone scandal, Beverly Priestman, former head coach of Team Canada, was suspended for one year by FIFA.
Without an o cial coach and reasonable administration, the team battled through their rounds with fervor, despite the six points that were deducted. Canadians could not win against the Germans and will have to wait until 2028 to reclaim what was formally theirs.
Although veteran and former captain, Christine Sinclair, was not on this year’s Olympic lineup (she declared her retirement from international duty in 2023), defender Vanessa Gilles showed outstanding e ort and she scored the monumental goal to send her squad to the quarter nals.
e Women’s Sevens team made history this Olympics by defeating Australia to win a silver medal, their best-ever performance in Canada’s rugby history. e women won their semi- nal match 21-12 and faced New Zealand in the gold medal match. Despite their eventual descent, the women encouraged little girls and boys nationwide to join rugby leagues in their area because the sport is rapidly expanding in popularity internationally.
Josh Liendo (one silver) and Ilya Kharun (two bronze) excelled in
their men’s 100-metre butter y campaigns. For Liendo, this was his rst Olympic medal and it became a historic moment as Kharun joined him on the podium to celebrate their dual achievement.
Canada’s women’s beach volleyball team made history on Aug. 9 by winning their rst-Olympic medal after losing to Brazil in their gold medal match. ey previously defeated Switzerland in their semi- nal match 15-12. e only other time Canada has secured an Olympic medal in beach volleyball was in 1996 by the men’s team. Brandie Wilkerson, a Toronto native, helped her squad win silver by scoring a total of 149 points throughout the tournament, averaging approximately 19 points a match.
Andre De Grasse, born in Scarborough, won a gold medal as he competed in the men’s 4x100-metre relay. is achievement came as a surprise because he was not favoured to win, as he failed to qualify for the 100 and 200-metre relays. De Grasse now has seven Olympic medals and is tied with Penny Oleksiak for the most medals acquired by a Canadian
clude many new sports, including men’s and women’s ag football, baseball/softball,
and squash. With the hundreds of sports teams available to
is
able
e next Olympic
LAURIER ATHLETICS
Laurier Brantford Athletics and Recreation’s upcoming tryout dates for the first month back on campus
MEGAN JACKLIN LAURIER REC COORDINATOR
Athletics and Recreation is excited to welcome back our Golden Hawk athletes and kick o a new, fresh year! We o er a variety of programming across a spectrum of competition levels, encouraging everyone to nd their home within Athletics and Recreation! Eager to learn more?
Athletics and Recreation is housed in the Laurier Brantford YMCA, just across from Harmony Square. Your membership to use the facility and its amenities is included in your tuition so all you have to do is scan in with your OneCard. e LBYMCA is open Monday to ursday from 5:30 a.m. to 11p.m., Fridays from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Sept. 5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
(RCW Courtyard) – Get Involved Fair: Come chat with us and learn about all of the ways to get involved!
Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m. (LBYMCA, 1st Floor lobby) – Varsity Cross Country Tryouts #1
Sept. 8 at 9:30 a.m. (LBYMCA, 1st Floor lobby) – Varsity Cross Country Tryouts #2
Sept. 13 from 3:30 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. (LBYMCA, Studio B) – KAOS Dance Sport Club Auditions
Sept. 14 at 9:30 a.m. (LBYMCA, 1st Floor lobby) – Varsity Cross Country Tryouts #3
Sept. 16 to 27 – remaining extramural and sport club tryouts (Dates and times are TBD and shared on social media) Follow @laurierbrantfordgoldenhawks on Instagram to stay up to date on tryouts, events, athlete spotlights and more!
IT’S GREAT TO BE A LAURIER GOLDEN HAWK!
e gallery looms over Vinny, shrouding her in shadow. Ivy runs up its ruddy walls, in the veins of the brick, holding it together as it shudders in the wind. Her blue eyes stare up at it and it stares back. e wooden doors open and swallow her whole.
e lobby does little to welcome her either, harsh lights and grimy walls. Once again, it’s only Vinny and the guard who no longer glances at her as she slips by, sketchbook in hand.
Vinny spends days here, studying artistry. Each step takes her deeper into an array of statues, pottery, paintings everywhere. Each piece is bold in colour, oc-
She loves to imagine what it would be like to be one of these muses, perfectly dainty, womanly, desired, enough to be immortalized.
cupying more than a fair share of wall. Vinny admires their sense of importance, their ability to unapologetically take up space.
ose intrigue her the most, paintings of women, poised, beautiful, young and happy.
e silence is broken by a lilting sound from the gallery’s basement. Despite visiting often, Vinny has never ventured down there. e sound is impossible to ignore, and she nds herself following it to the stairway.
At the bottom of the stairs stands a long, narrow hallway. Dim light comes from a room at the end where a huge painting hangs. e sound ebbs and ows from that room. Hesitantly, she steps forward, the smell of mildew growing stronger. She maneuvers around frames and statues strewn about covered in sheets.
e room is tiny. A windowless, hidden, forgotten corner of the building. A vent runs along the wall, connecting grungy yellow paint to hardwood ooring. e painting hangs directly across from her, a small bronze plaque beside it titled simply ‘Lady’, credited to no one, no engraving, no signature. She has never seen this piece
before, not in any textbook, never upstairs. It’s a life size portrait of a beautiful woman wearing a dark, faded Victorian gown. Her brown hair pinned up, curls secure at the nape of her neck except for tussles framing her youthful face. Her smile is demure, her misty green eyes gaze to the side behind a curtain of dark eyelashes. She clutches her bodice with her only visible hand gloved in the most brilliant, ruby velvet. e painting itself is incredible, each brush stroke barely noticeable. e lighting in the room doesn’t do it justice; one single lightbulb hangs above the painting and Vinny, leaving much of the room lost to shadow. Vinny
knows it’s just old ventilation, but still shivers as the sound grows louder, warbled. She begins to sketch her.
Hours pass and Vinny remains standing there, sketching still. Her neck and thumb cramp. e pencil dulls. No matter what she does she cannot seem to capture e Lady’s likeness. ere’s always a new wrinkle etched, or hair out of place. Was she always so pale? Mature? Were her lips always so thin? Vinny swears she sees her blink, sees her chest slightly rise and fall. e longer she looks at the portrait, the more e Lady changes before Vinny’s eyes. Her hair grayer, cheeks gaunter, corset cinching further till her gloved hand could encompass it.
Vinny pinches herself but there’s no denying e Lady’s new appearance, the way she shrinks into herself, becoming inhuman. Her once soft features have hardened, her subtle frown deepening into a grimace. Her expression is lled with pain that permeates throughout the room. Vinny can feel her su ering. Vinny forces her eyes downward, scribbling new features over those already sketched. e noise grows louder, like ragged breath. Shaking, she presses harder against the page until the tip of the pencil breaks.
“Shut up!” She yells, throwing her notebook, but the sound doesn’t stop. e pages don’t utter; no air is coming from the vent. e breathing continues from where the painting hangs.
She stands closer. So close she can smell the paint, years of neglect, a stale smell that tinges the nose and leaves a coppery taste in her mouth. Slowly she reaches up and places her palm on the canvas. Her ngers brush against it,
tracing the rough, bumpy surface, frame to gilded frame. It’s merely just paint and canvas, she reminds herself. Yet the heartbeat under her ngertips when they pass over
e Lady’s chest is undeniable.
e Lady clearly inches at her touch when her hand strays to that scarlet glove. It’s as soft as velvet. e Lady’s eyes follow Vinny as she traces her outline, moving slightly. ey’re uncanny. e pain
It whispers Vinny’s name. She pulls back her hand and stares at The Lady cautiously, who does nothing but stare back.
in her expression is overwhelming, there is hunger too. e breathing becomes a murmur.
She pulls back her hand and stares at e Lady cautiously, who does nothing but stare back. e whispers continue yet her mouth never moves. Hesitantly, Vinny reaches out again only to feel liquid. e canvas ripples like water under her ngertips. e ruby glove starts to bleed down the
dress, onto the frame. It drips onto the oor, pooling around Vinny’s feet. e puddle grows larger every second, thick and sticky. Vinny forces herself to lift her eyes and meet e Lady’s gaze. It burns to her core. e Lady has shrivelled into herself, her eyes sunken further back, she’s skeletal, but they’re still penetrating. She turns her head to face Vinny and her lips curl back into a desperate, anguished cry. e whispers sur-
round her, calling Vinny’s name, full of urgency, pain, longing. Vinny’s stomach sinks.
Her feet begin moving of their own accord. Inch by inch she approaches the bleeding painting, staring into the eyes of the beast. Her heart pounds against her chest. Inside Vinny is screaming, crawling away by her nails, but her body disobeys.
When Vinny nearly collides with the frame, e Lady smiles for the rst time. A wide, grotesque smile, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. e frame begins to crack loudly. A single, spindly gloved hand reaches forward, shaking the surface of the painting so violently
the rest of her image blurs. Painstakingly, ngers begin to materialise before Vinny, then the hand, where it rested against e Lady’s chest now remains a gaping hole, giving way to the grey background of the painting. e Lady exes her ngers one by one, more red splatters to the ground with each popping joint. e frame cracks again, ready to give way. e Lady leans forward. Adrenaline kicks in, Vinny turns to run.
Suddenly e Lady grips Vinny’s shoulder, red droplets soak down her back, a nauseating smell lling her senses. en she is yanked backwards. Screams escape her lungs. e Lady’s unpainted hand claps over her mouth, pulling her head through the liquid canvas.
Now the small, dimly lit room is empty aside from a large painting and a sketchbook sprawled on the hardwood oor. e portrait depicts a Victorian woman, youthful, sitting in a dark green dress. She faces forward, frowning, blue eyes open wide, like a deer locked in headlights. A pained, miserable muse. She clutches her chest with one hand gloved in a white velvet, slowly spidery veins of ruby red seep into the pristine fabric. e cracks in the golden frame fuse once more. e lightbulb over the portrait ickers o as the wooden doors above close for the day, once again the lady is forgotten within the depths of the gallery.
A young girl with an unstable home life tries to summon a demon, believing that it will solve her problems.
Kitty smirked at the giant pile of plastic wrappers that had covered the sweets she and Ti any had been picking away at for the past three hours. She closed her journal bound in pale leather and glanced over to the bed; Ti any lay there sound asleep. rough the window that hung above the bed the soft blue glow of twilight streamed into the room.
Now is the time, Kitty thought.
“Ti any, get up,” she whispered. Ti any blinked blearily at her.
“Already?” she asked.
“Yes, now is when the swells of the realms are largest, you can reach down and touch them lapping at the side of our metaphysical boat.”
Together the girls rolled up the rug that depicted a portrait of Ti any and her smiling parents, hardwood was beneath, a perfect canvas that would allow Kitty the power to x the world. Chalk clenched in her st; she began to draw.
With a ourish the last symbol
was complete, a surge of power entered the air. A static that emanated from the circle, it was the precursor to promises of power and ancient secrets. Kitty smiled. Ti any inched.
“ at is annoying,” Ti any said, she stuck a nger in her ear. “I mean sure it’s cool and all, but does it have to be so, you know.”
Kitty did not know.
“ is is the means...”
“To power. You said that already, but you would think great power would be grander, not make your head all frizzy. Mom makes me use conditioner when my head gets like this.”
Kitty bristled. e static danced in her ears, pounding on the drum, a rhythmic, yet random thrumming, buzzing and it would not stop, insistent that she let it inside.
“My Mom hurt Dad, hurt me.
She doesn’t love me. She left but the entities in there will replace her. Right the wrongs.”
Ti any face softened, “Sorry Kitty. Did you want to continue?”
“Yes.”
en they heard a call from downstairs. Ti any looked back to her door, ran over to it, cracked it open.
“Our parents are leaving; you want to say goodbye?”
“I suppose, but we don’t have much time.” e girls stood, and walked out onto the landing, the sound of static drifting out of the bedroom behind them. Down the ight of stairs Kitty saw the two adults on the front porch, she watched as her dad leaned over and kissed Ti any’s mom. Beside her Ti any squealed and sprinted down the steps, Kitty following hesitantly behind.
“You two are dating?” Ti any cried.
Standing on the last step, Kitty’s voice wavered. “Are you?”
Her Dad turned with a shy smile. “I supposed our secret would come out soon enough.”
“What about Mom? Aren’t you angry?” Kitty asked.
Her dad’s expression turned melancholic; he stepped back inside. “I was but I let it go, now I am happier, healthier.” en he hugged her. “Are you okay with me dating?”
In his embrace, Kitty looked over his shoulder at Ti any’s and her mom’s beaming faces. At once the hurt began to heal.
“I am.”
Behind the hugging gures, the moon rose, the last moments of twilight vanished. In the bedroom the static died.
e rst time her feet ever touched Earth, she squealed with joy. It was a sound she never let out before, she didn’t even realise she had made it. e grass was wet with dew and prickly, it tickled her feet with every step. e air lled her lungs, sweet and fresh. A butter y uttered by her. Finally a real insect.
e hatch behind her opened and she turned to face him, to share her excitement, but he wasn’t even looking at her, just at the tablet in his hands. Its light re ected in his crimson eyes, and illuminated his rusty orange skin. She studied the stars tattooed on his head, knowing they’d be covered up soon, just like hers.
“Do you have your assignment?”
It was the rst words he had spoken to her since the mission began. Still in their own tongue. It felt strange, these words were the last she’d hear in her own language for 334 sols, half of a year.
“It’s in the ship still.” He didn’t bother to nod, just let out a disapproving grunt. e ship was small, consisting of their two seats angled to the ground, illuminated by the control panel, and piles of equipment. ere wasn’t room to stay, they’d
have to venture out. She remembered watching the Elders build the ships from scratch as a child, she couldn’t believe she was lucky enough to use one. She grabbed her own tablet, trying not to knock any equipment over. It had survived the landing; she wouldn’t be the reason something broke.
When she slipped out of the hatch again her partner was already transformed, his familiar features replaced by odd ones. His head full of hair, skin transformed, light, straight, smooth; hair where
constellations once adorned his head. He looked di erent, what the Elders called human. en he was o , no more words, no good luck. She watched him for a while, then noticed the sky turn dark, she needed to transform now.
It was like lucid dreaming, separating yourself from your body and inhabiting a new one. She couldn’t remember when she rst imagined this body, this person, but her face had begun showing
Inside the dilapidated skyrise, the soldier raised their launcher and pointed the barrel towards a distant hilltop. ey pulled the trigger, propellent ignited, the missile sped away. Ballistic Omni Ordinate Munition Series One online. TARGET, LOCK, DETONATE.
“Connection achieved.”
At a signal the missile blinked its camera shutter until the world came into focus. Below lay a crumbled city, indistinct silhouettes clambered over debris and each other. It quickly passed from view, replaced by a forest of emerald-green leaves with large tunnels of mud carved through it.
“Sub-conscious loaded.”
From high above the pattern looked like a zebra, striped pattern camou aged in its environment. A strategy used to hide from predators. Such a beautiful aspect of the hunt. But what it saw below wasn’t beautiful. Was it? Muddy footprints
and tire tracks ran throughout the forest, like disease through a body, the corruption of a beautiful thing.
“We have consciousness.”
Beauty. How could it, a thing of black carbon, copper wire and circuit boards recognize beauty? It didn’t know. No. I don’t know, that felt better. I need a name. Booms, that was a good name.
“Get its focus.”
Booms felt a ping from its receiver, from which a small almost indictable line of signal ran back the way Booms had own. Another ping, like a static shock in Booms’s mind. Booms had a purpose. Below Booms, the world had become a slight blur, it blinked, and the world came back into focus.
“Prepare the ood.”
Another static shock, then the small stream of signal began to burst its banks with information.
Images of men in red dessert patterns with black carbon guns and an insignia of an eagle with a single wing. e images became Booms’s world. is was its purpose the signal screamed.
TARGET, LOCK, DETONATE. Booms observed the world ashing by and compared it with the ood of images it received. On
up in every dream she had. Blurry but there, materializing more and more every night until suddenly she had woken up not herself. But it was her.
She looked down at her hands, no longer a deep violet but a deep tan. She turned her head a little, fascinated with how hair felt as it moved. It tickled her as much as the grass. Her uniform was still on, the grey jumpsuit everyone wore back home. She wondered what humans dressed like, if she’d t in. Fitting in was incredibly important on Mars, and even more important for her mission.
After one nal look at the ship, she headed the opposite way of her partner, following the tablet’s directions. e grass was still just as tingly on her feet, she didn’t ever want to wear shoes again if this was what all of Earth was like. She trekked through the eld, ignoring the desire to explore the nature around her, until she could see lights ahead.
a hilltop it saw a series of buildings, men in red scurrying, sending orders, orchestrating from above. ey were its targets. Booms felt a sub-routine activate. Booms blinked its camera in confusion, that single piece of code seemed to be the last thing it was capable of. at action was nal. Detonate. Fear ashed in Booms’s mind. It didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to die. She tried reach out to the signal, but it was silent.
Fear went away, replaced by a burning anger as hot as the ames propelling her towards her end. Booms wanted to kick and scream, but she had no limbs, had no mouth. She was denied those behind the ood of information in her mind, so she would make herself heard. Far below, two men, one dressed in patterns of blue, the other in red, red weapons at each other, dodging amongst a crowd of gures dressed in beige. Booms locked on, then dove, air whistling around her ns. She would prefer her own voice be heard, but it would do. A nal act of protest. Below her the gun re continued, unaware. e beige simply trembled.
e Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, Brantford’s local theatre, was nominated for the Best Teamwork Award for a soft seat theatre or performing arts centre for the rst time this spring. e nomination was presented during the Canadian Live Music Industry’s Awards on June 4, 2024.
Local theatre is an important part of both Wilfrid Laurier University and Brantford’s community. It is a place for people to come together and enjoy the arts in all of the forms that it comes in: music, acting or comedy among others. As well as being a place for the community to belong and celebrate together for important events.
“It’s one of those extraordinary places in a community that people develop connections to and love for it. It’s a place where milestone things happen; we have graduations here all of the time, so people are celebrating life events here. We have people getting married here and proposing here that connects
us to their lives,” said Glenn Brown, the manager of the Sanderson Centre.
Not unlike many of the other buildings in downtown Brantford, there is a history to the Sanderson Centre.
It began as a theatre called the Brantford Supreme Playhouse, a vaudeville theatre. A vaudeville theatre usually showed more specialized shows like song and dance or burlesque comedies. e building was later transitioned into a movie theatre because movies became more popular in 1930. at is until the movie theatre wanted to expand and move down the street to the mall that Laurier students now know as One Market. In 1986, the movie screens were taken down and live theatre was back.
Buildings being repurposed is not uncommon in Brantford. Many of the buildings that Laurier had purchased that now hold classrooms have interesting histories that began long before Laurier’s lecture halls took over.
Brown has worked at the Sanderson Centre since 1986. is was around the same time that the building was purchased to be renovated back from being a movie theatre to a live theatre space
again.
From there, Brown worked his way up the ladder from lighting board operator to technical director to be in the managerial position he currently holds.
“We have got your attention and your imagination for 90 minutes,”
said Brown. ere are so many options for types of shows and events for people to buy tickets and see, from dances to plays and musical and comedic performances. such as Disco Inferno and Classic Rock Revival.
anks to a partnership between Laurier, Conestoga College and the Sanderson Centre, this year at a time not yet announced, Fusion Beats will be back — an opportunity for student performers to get on stage.
KATIE
BIRD
PRESIDENT
LBBIU
Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford Books It Up is excited to be back and sharing all their favourite book recommendations with you. Unfortunately, the school year usually means less time to read but do not worry because LBBIU has some great novella recommendations. ese books are all under 115 pages and despite being a shorter book, they will still have you completely invested and meeting that reading goal.
Evidence of the A air by Taylor Jenkins Reid is an 88-page novella told entirely through letters. is book will have you completely wrapped up in the characters and their lives. e story follows Connie as she stumbles upon
information that nobody wants to nd, her husband is cheating on her. Connie decides to send a letter to a man named David, whose wife has been cheating with Connie’s husband. is novella lets you dive into the connection that two complete strangers formed out of heartbreak from the illicit a airs of their spouses.
Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood is a cute and fun 112-page novella that will have you giggling because who doesn’t love a forced proximity romance? e story follows Mara, an environmental engineer who moves in with Liam, a big oil lawyer. ese two do not see eye-to-eye and therefore cannot stand each other. But the more time these two spend together under one roof, the closer they become and the further their
di erences seem.
Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez is a 61-page novella that will pull on your heartstrings and make you wish it was longer. e story follows Holly, a hospice nurse who after a long day, goes to her car to nd a spicy note that was not meant for her. Holly leaves a note back and one anonymous note leads to more. e notes have brought these strangers closer than they thought, but will they be able to recognize each other when they meet in real life by accident? ese novellas are a perfect way to keep reading during the school year and they are also the perfect solution to a reading slump. If the books leave you wishing there was more, no need to worry, as all three of these amazing authors have other great reads you can dive into.
ere are events put on by the city all throughout the year. Because students are not on campus for the summer holiday, there were several events missed out on.
Saturdays in Brantford are Farmer’s Market days, a day for local businesses to shine and share their trade. Along with the market, on pre-selected Saturdays there was also “Trail Mix Live!” Trail Mix Live! brings music from local artists and Branford’s 70 kilometres of trails systems together.
Trail Mix Live provided market goers with free entertainment and live performances from local artists. Along with the live music, there were other types of artists such as chalk artists and caricature artists among others.
e City of Brantford is making it more accessible for people to listen to local artists music.
“People that are accessing the trails can scan the QR codes and discover local artists and listen to their music and stu like that as they are walking along the trails, but this was kind of to bridge the gap and ll that live music piece so people can really experience the artists in person,” said Chelsey To-
RELATIONSHIP ADVICE
e following submission has been edited for clarity and readability.
Went on a date to a dinner with a guy, super awkward, I had to make all of the conversation…. He still wants to go out… don’t know how to tell him that I’m not interested.
Oh no, I think many of us have been there unfortunately. My advice is to be honest with them. Tell them it is not going to work.
I have to tell you; I am kind of curious though about what they thought of how the date went. If you are up to it, maybe compare notes so to speak. Best of luck.
bin, Brantford’s tourism marketing specialist.
Another array of events took place in the heart of the city and middle of campus, Harmony Square. ese events were all free
to attend, as all events at Harmony Square are throughout the year.
“ is day and age the economy is really tough, so the opportunity to have these things for free that’s what we love,” said Jennifer Mid-
dleton, the special events supervisor for the City of Brantford. ere were events for all ages, at a variety of times and days throughout the entire summer season. According to Middleton, some of the most popular events this season were roller skating, movie nights and music night. ese were all weekly events for all to attend. e roller skating event gave many people a sense of nostalgia according to Middleton, but was also something new and excited rst-time roller-skaters. e movies nights were typically family movies but that didn’t stop people of all ages from sitting down with their favourite movie snacks and enjoying a feel-good family classic. For the music lovers, music nights covered all the genres over the
course of the summer, such as tribute country songs by True Rodeo.
A highlight for many this summer was Elvis in the Square, in tribute to Elvis Presley. An amazing day of music and the opportunity to see the Harmony squirrel, Harmony Square’s mascot, in an Elvis costume.
A Canada Day event took place at the Lions Park Arena in the Steven Brown Sports Complex, which entailed a day of Canadian music, carnival fun and trinkets to purchase.
“Our community thrives o of being together,” said Middleton. “ e happiness that I see when the community come together for these events is something that brings me joy every single year.”
romance is confusing.
It appears the ideal relationship to Gen Z, those currently aged 16 to 27, is one that can be summed up as a situationship. As the Barbie movie so eloquently put it, having a “casual, long term, long distance, low commitment” partner seems to be somewhat of a norm in our lives today. I, for one, can say this is a rst-hand experience as well as an observed experience of many of my friends. e situationship is prevalent and it usually forces one party into a corner of a loss of self-respect.
Do not get me wrong, I, for one, understand the desire to want to hold onto someone or something as long we can. Having part of something is better than having nothing at all, however this spiral can leave you feeling unful lled and arguably emptier than you felt before. To take away the meaning of romantic interactions, by labeling them “friendships” when there is an obvious air of attraction and
Love exists and you are allowed to want it and have it. You should not have to settle for a breadcrumbed relationship, where many aspects are what would be deemed a romantic relationship. We all deserve to be loved openly, and with the knowledge that our partner, or partners, like and desire us in the same way we desire them. You can demand and expect love from someone whose actions seem to be expressing that feeling. You are allowed to be hurt and draw boundaries when someone is not loving you in the way makes you feel loved.
e search for love in the modern world amongst young people is a labyrinth. Are we all falling in love with the people we meet, but facing the hurdles of commitment or are we simply falling in love with the idea of being in love? Being consistently bombarded with rom-coms, romantic books and fairy tales, do we enjoy love as an abstract concept? Romanticizing the idea of being with a person,
doing typical romantic relationship activities because you like the activities and not the actual person you are doing them with, is a very real experience. We all need to recognize, that perhaps the desire to be in a romantic relationship is not because we desire it, but because we have been socialized into wanting one.
e song e Love You Want by Sleep Token posed a question that has popped into my head when I nd myself in situationships wanting to get a deeper connection. e question is, “Seems your heart is locked up and I still get the combination wrong, or are you simply waiting to save your love for someone I am not?”
Being stuck in a cycle of wondering why no one will commit to you or form a deeper connection with you and vice versa is something that needs to be recognized and re ected upon. Relationships form in a variety of ways, but if one party is holding back and su ering because of it, the relationship is unhealthy.
On Jan. 30, 2020, the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 as a public emergency and on March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was soon declared a national pandemic. As the cases started to rise, many changes to daily life happened and one was the shift from in-person learning to online education.
Universities, colleges and other forms of education soon vouched for this change to limit people-to-people interactions and to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus disease.
I agree that this transition was a necessary response to an unexpected crisis, but as we move beyond the pandemic, the question arises: should this shift continue?
Is online learning better than in-person learning?
Being a university student, my
answer is between yes and no. Yes, because I could attend my classes from any location—whether it’s my own house or my friend’s dorm. I could also study at my own pace and make my schedule. If I’m unwell, I can still attend my classes and complete the course material without risking others’ health. However, I lean more towards opposing online learning.
Ever since the pandemic hit and everything moved online, I found it
hard to make friends and I became lazier than ever. Being an extrovert, I craved the feeling of a classroom where I could be around people and laugh. Most of my professors didn’t like using Zoom or Microsoft Teams. But who can blame them? Sometimes the internet would freeze, people wouldn’t talk in class conversations or show themselves. And even when students were participating, some
professors had negative attitudes that impacted the overall feel of the class.
e United States of America’s o cial government website says online learning does have an impact on mental health, where students experience problems with anxiety, stress, depression and other issues.
In my case, I was one of those students. ough, I’m not the only one feeling confusion between online and traditional learning.
Aqsa Sha , a third-year business technology management student said she prefers in-person classes because she faces issues with time management and retaining information in her online courses.
“My in-person class helps me stay productive due to better engagement exercises, like having sessions or activities related to classes, discussions and perspectives of people in real-time,” said Sha To make it clear, Sha is not against online classes.
“Online learning is e ective but factors like course content, instructors and the view towards the class
from a student perspective all play a role in making it more e ective,” she said. “ ese are more important in an online environment [than an in-person one] … due to mandatory attendance requirements making up for the lack of engagement that comes naturally with students.”
Another student, Bashir Miloudi, said that in-person classes have a stronger e ect than online in terms of overall class experience.
“In virtual learning, there is a lack of social interaction and technical problems also surface,” he said.
When asked if he would choose online or in-person, Miloudi vouched for both options.
Currently, Wilfrid Laurier University o ers more than 250 online classes and in May, 2021, Laurier announced new updates for eLearning.
Mary Scott was named the new director of eLearning and Paul Kleinschmidt was hired as the manager of teaching and learning. Kleinschmidt will help manage the technology used for teaching and learning.
Preserving Indigenous land and artifacts found during recent construction is crucial
Almost 1,3000 Indigenous artifacts were recently found at the hamlet of Newport. Since the discovery, the County of Brant has cancelled their construction project until future excavation projects are completed. However, the county should leave the site alone, even after they nish excavating the area.
On March 24, 2022, councillors from the County of Brant approved a $325,000-plan to create a Grand River access point on Newport Road. Despite the expensive fees, the councillors approved the project to address the “speeding issue” along Newport Road, which runs o Cockshutt Road.
Kathy Ballantyne, Brant’s director of parks and facilities, said the county will implement several strategies to address safety issues,
including speed reduction sign installations. is plan includes a drop-o zone for canoe and kayak paddlers on the riverside of Newport and a parking space nearby, so they don’t have to carry their equipment.
In addition, the county also planned to install a parking lot for 37 vehicles, an information kiosk, a picnic area, portable washrooms, lighting, gates and landscaping. e project was set to receive $100,000 from the Brant Waterways Foundation and $10,000 from the Hamilton Halton Brant Regional Tourism Association. e remaining funds will come from the county, which is $215,000. e county said they hoped the new access point would provide a new trail and create capacity for those who enjoy paddling the Grand River.
Although a lot of time and money has been spent on the project, it would still be disrespectful to develop over land possessing historical artifacts that date back 9,500 years, as reported by Archaeological Consultants Canada.
e ndings from the unoccupied riverside property included projectile points, pottery, ire nails, ceramics and clothing buttons used by nomadic hunters and gatherers in the early and middle Archaic periods.
Paul Racher, a management and senior review principal at the Archaeological Research Associate, said these artifacts make Newport a great site because it’s di cult to nd artifacts that date far back into the past.
Even though Brant is famously known for possessing many archaeological sites, such as the base point site located near the Grand River in Brant County, that doesn’t mean there are great sites that preserve Archaic artifacts. It’s even harder to preserve much older artifacts found there because the artifacts are too delicate to handle.
If this were the case, then it would be better to avoid developing the site where these artifacts are to respect the Indigenous communities living in the area and ensure that undiscovered artifacts don’t get damaged by human
interference.
Ballantyne said the point of the excavations is to “bring awareness to truth and reconciliation and be respectful of our Indigenous neighbours,” rea rming the county’s belief that they should preserve the history left behind by these discovered artifacts.
Gary Warwick, a retired Wilfrid Laurier University professor in the archaeology and heritage studies department, said a small population of Indigenous tribes lived in southwestern Ontario during the Archaic period. He estimates that only 200 to 300 Indigenous individuals lived in the area.
He said getting rid of the site after excavating the artifacts would be “a real loss, especially from an Indigenous perspective because it’s a loss of their ancestor’s mark on the landscape.”
Also, he said the county is correct in their actions, by discontinuing its plans to develop the site where they discovered the artifacts.
Warwick believes that leaving the land unused would help the county save money to build an-
other access point somewhere else along the Grand River.
“When it comes to site protection, it’s not that hard. e province will register the area, so everyone will know which site has protection,” said Warwick. ere aren’t any plans to create new access points, and the county hasn’t decided what they would do with the land after completing the excavation. It would be better to leave the land alone to respect the local indigenous communities.
Does attending university alter the way that we view the world and everything in it?
I still remember my rst day of university, Sept. 8, 2021, when I was a student at the University of Toronto. I was freshly out of high school and just started to transition into my criminology program. I was scared, confused and excited. To say the least, I was feeling everything at once. My thoughts were, “What if I fail a class? What if I get poor grades? Will I be able to make new friends? How will I balance my social life?”
Feeling overwhelmed, I dropped out and in September, 2022, I joined the digital media and journalism program at Wilfrid Laurier University. is was a huge change and a blessing. I went from being a criminology major to something totally di erent.
I thought university would be about books and earning a degree. But soon, I realized it’s a place where my ideas have been challenged and my views have expanded. rough new friendships, classes and experiences, university has reshaped how I interact with the world.
My program has taught me to question everrything before believing blindly, report stories in a balanced manner, search for the truth and speak for those who might not have a voice.
In my rst year of university, I
learned more about Indigenous studies than my years spent at high school. For example, I learned nature is important and holds deep spiritual and cultural signi cance, with mountains, rivers and forests playing key roles in Indigenous people’s traditions. As basic as it sounds, nature is a crucial part of our world that deserves respect and to be taken care of.
Similarly, other students have also had a shift in how university has helped them navigate the world around them.
Khushi Patel, a third-year stu-
dent minoring in religious studies, explained how her coursework has helped her understand the impact of religion on social conversations.
“I was attending a tutorial ... when the students asked our TA for her perspective on the Punjabi farmers’ protest in India. However, when she said that she disagreed with the way farmers approached the situation she faced immense backlash from Sikh students,” said Patel. “ is made me realize how quickly people divide the situation through their beliefs on culture and religion.”
Patel shared that university taught her the importance of mental growth.
“As I interacted with peers from diverse backgrounds, I can understand their positions on various issues. is helped me expand my own perspective on such topics ... I was able to open up to aspects I might have not considered,” said Patel.
Ayse Aras, a fourth-year psychology student, said that during her
undergraduate years, she learned new skills and gained more knowledge about her major.
“ e hands-on experiences that come with university helped me develop valuable skills beyond the classroom,” said Aras. “For example, in my program’s volunteer experience, I worked with Ukrainian immigrants. is builds more connection with world issues, as well as empathy for people a ected by the issues.”
Aras said she uses the information she has learned in psychology without realizing it.
“I like having these skills because you start using them almost on a subconscious level, for school, at work and more,” she said.
I don’t think there’s one de nite answer as to how a university has changed a person’s perspective. However, going to university and getting higher education does inuence how a person acts beyond university through the experiences they are given.
