Life pre-Helps: It’s almost hard to believe this happened in what is today an extremely cycling-friendly city, but our October 16, 1995 issue featured a story detailing a critical mass cycling protest gone wrong. The protestors—including members of Camosun’s Students for Environmental Action—were cycling on the Island Highway in protest of the banning of bicycles on the stretch of highway between Town and Country Mall (where Uptown stands today) and Thetis Lake. The protest turned ugly when police broke it up after making it clear they wouldn’t allow cyclists to ride in both lanes of the highway. Camosun students were among those arrested in the ensuing conflict.
But where are Gadget now?: We are often asked about Nexus alumnus who went on to work in journalism, and, yes, there are lots of them, we’re happy to say. This issue featured a blurb on local funk/punk/rock band Gadget, written by someone whose byline you know from the Times Colonist: local arts journalist extraordinaire Mike Devlin, who is still hard at work writing about local bands over at the TC today.
25 years of free food: The story “Food bank in need of help” talked about the Camosun College Student Society’s efforts to keep students in need fed through their food bank initiative. The CCSS continues to help out students in need today, although its food bank is temporarily closed due to COVID-19. See camosunstudent.org for more info on the student society.