Has it decomposed yet?: Students and staff were frustrated over the theft of cafeteria dishes a quarter-century ago at Camosun, as a story in our February 3, 1997 issue detailed. Cafeteria staff reported having to buy 600 new dishes a month to counteract the thefts, and the caf enacted a 10-cent charge for those purchasing food in permaware. A member of Students for Environmental Action complained that this was incentivizing the adoption of single-use plastics. Alas, this debate has come to an end for now as Camosun currently only offers single-use packaging due to COVID-19.
Passionate, pooping: This issue’s arts section included reviews of 10 albums, with some very whimsical language. Some of the phrases included were “apes with crayons could have done better,” “this thing reeks worse than a full Big John,” “this album kicks truckloads of ass,” and “you’ll poop when you hear this.” The single album review in our latest issue seems very humble in comparison.
Animal testing: Awareness was being raised on campus around cosmetic animal testing and cruelty in 1997. An article in this issue colourfully illustrated how some of these practices look and encouraged readers to support companies that are cruelty free, noting that often this requires doing some research. While this all still rings true, the issue is now more widely known and openly criticized as people continue to lobby against it.