The importance of being readers: Why we study literatureThere’s something sacred about opening a book, entering a whole new world, and becoming entirely immersed in a story. English classes were always a favourite of mine for this very reason. Although my education is focused on a very different field of study, I think that everyone can benefit from the practice of literary analysis, […] Continue Reading |
Live from Victoria: A concert-reviewing odysseyMusic is filling the summer; the City of Victoria has opened their pop-up venues at Ship Point, Cameron Bandshell, and The Fort Commons, and the regular spots still are keeping busy with live music. Victoria has so many live music events during the warmer season, most of which are free, that it was possible to […] Continue Reading |
Returning student: On starting over in mid-lifeIt’s the beginning of September and the leaves fall into a sleepy dance of ballerinas on opioids. Everything on campus looks like a movie set meant to capture the fleeting thrill of back-to-school commercials: instructors with satchels chatting with one another, overfed squirrels darting between golden leaf piles, and undergrads, breathless and excited, clutching their […] Continue Reading |
Shopping alone: On the death of the department storeOn each floor of the Hudson’s Bay department store, luxury goods stale under fluorescent light. It prides itself on DKNY and Calvin Klein. It offers Levi’s and Breville and the Wonderbra. They stew in uninhabited air and have mildewed. They wait for buyers who never show. A scuffed white hue, presumably pampered many decades ago, […] Continue Reading |
No books allowed: What libraries face when challenges hit shelvesWhen it comes to distribution of books, there’s always a question of propriety and the follow-up of censorship. The subsequent challenging, shadow banning, or outright banning of books is most common in school libraries and curriculum-required books for students of high-school age and younger. This problem is most heavily documented south of the border in […] Continue Reading |
The funding desert: How Budget 2025 leaves post-secondary strandedThe provincial government’s Budget 2025 ignores what students are up against. A crisis of funding brought on by international student enrolment caps, increasing numbers of layoffs at post-secondary institutions across BC, and closing campuses have left students floundering in the midst of their education. The future workforce has been decidedly neglected. But this is nothing […] Continue Reading |
The Canadian women’s movement: Where we come from. Where we stand.Why has society so viciously disadvantaged women? It shouldn’t be a skill-testing question: the answer is patriarchy. Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and authority in political, social, and economic spheres. It’s not limited to individual relationships—it extends to societal structures, cultural norms, and legal systems that perpetuate male dominance […] Continue Reading |
Across the Pacific: The spark that led me hereThe decision to move to Canada probably started many years ago without my even realizing it. Looking back, I’ve always been a nomad, independently chasing my dreams within my home country—the Philippines, a nation of 7,641 islands. I was 19 when I decided to leave my hometown and explore life beyond my comfort zone. In […] Continue Reading |
Love letters: Tales of dating–the good, the bad, and the unpleasantHaylie Ewing contributing writer Growing up in a group of friends more focused on video games than relationships, the topic of flirting and romance rarely came up. I wasn’t really interested in dating, either; I enjoyed watching high-school love drama from afar. That is, until I met this guy when we were both 16. We […] Continue Reading |
A man-made loneliness epidemic: Whys and hows of a North American inflictionThere was for a long stretch during my formative life a profound seclusion under blankets, enveloped only in the everyday thoughts and experiences of my sole personhood, and with the online interaction I felt required to permit. This period involved little communication with those I was, although at a time less inclined to admit, emotionally […] Continue Reading |
