Cord Community Edition January 2013

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4COMMUNITY.THECORD.CA JANUARY 2013

COMMUNITY EDITION

INSIdE

NEWS

NEWSGlobal warming on icePage 8

OPiNiONStop bullying the teachersPage 11

Idle No More movement amplifi es

See Page 5

See Page 19

RISE OF THE CREATIVE WATERLOOVIAN

We go in search of cool in K-W. Page 12.

Ahead by a century with the ArkellsPage 20

ARTS

URBAN

JANUARY 2013 THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION2

NOTES

75 University Ave. WWaterloo, ON N2L 3C5519-884-0710 x3564

Volume 1, Issue #4Next issue: February 18, 2012

AdvertisingAll advertising inquiries should be directed to Angela Endicott at 519-884-0710 [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

Rebecca AllisonAli ConnertyDanielle DmytrazskoAlanna FaireyHelen HallSara HanafiJaime Martino Veronica NaasAdele PalmquistBranden Wesseling

WLUSP AdmINISTRATIONPresident Emily FrostExecutive Director Bryn OssingtonAdvertising Manager Angela EndicottTreasurer Tom PaddockVice-Chair Jon PryceDirector Kayla DarrachDirector Joseph McNinch-PazzanoCorporate Secretary Allie HincksDistribution Manager Angela EndicottWeb Manager Adam Lazzarato

The Cord Community Edition is the monthly magazine version of the Cord, the official student newspaper of the Wilfrid Laurier University community.

Started in 2012, The Cord Community Edition is an editori-ally 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 Cord Community Edition are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board, The Cord, WLUSP, WLU or CanWeb Printing Inc. All content appearing in The Cord Community Edition bears the copyright expressly of their creator(s) and may not be used without written consent.

The Cord Community Edition is created using Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.5 using Adobe Creative Suite 4. Canon cameras are used for principal photography.

The Cord Community Edition has been a proud member of the Ontario Press Council since 2012. Any unsatisfied com-plaints can be sent to the council at [email protected].

The Cord Community Edition circulates monthly. Normal circulation is 33,000 and enjoys a readership of over 60,000. Cord Community Edition subscription rates are $20.00 per term for addresses within Canada.

Campus Plus is The Cord’s national advertising agency.

PREAmBLE TO ThE CORd CONSTITUTIONThe Cord Community Edition will keep faith with its readers by presenting news and expressions of opinions comprehensively, accurately and fairly. The Cord believes in a balanced and impartial presentation of all relevant facts in a news report, and of all substantial opinions in a matter of controversy.

The staff of The Cord shall uphold all commonly held ethical conventions of journalism. When an error of omission or of commission has occurred, that error shall be acknowledged promptly. When statements are made that are critical of an individual, or an organization, we shall give those affected the opportunity to reply at the earliest time possible. Ethical journalism requires impartiality, and consequently conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest will be avoided by all staff.

The only limits of any newspaper are those of the world around it, and so The Cord will attempt to cover its world with a special focus on the community of Kitchener-Water-loo. Ultimately, The Cord Community Edition will be bound by neither philosophy nor geography in its mandate.

The Cord has an obligation to foster freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This obligation is best fulfilled when debate and dissent are encouraged, both in the internal workings of the paper, and through The Cord’s contact with the community.

The Cord will always attempt to do what is right, with fear of neither repercussions, nor retaliation. The purpose of com-munity press is to act as an agent of social awareness, and so shall conduct the affairs of our magazine.

Editor-in-ChiefH.G. [email protected]

PublisherBryn [email protected]

Cord Editor-in-ChiefJustin Fauteux [email protected]

Creative DesignerTaylor [email protected]

Photography ManagerNick [email protected]

Photography ManagerKate [email protected]

Copy EditorErin O’Neil

We must have had food on the brain this issue given how many tasty treats are featured

in the pages of our urban section. Veronica Nass shows how easy it is to go vegetar-

ian, while The Naughty Prude herself makes sure we’ll have a delightful, and tasty, Valen-tine’s Day. Check out the fun

on page 16.

We’re always looking for peo-ple interested in telling stories about their community. If you don’t have any formal training,

don’t worry! We’re happy to show you the ropes. Email us

[email protected] for more information.

2 NewsBehind the BlackBerry 10, Idle No More and

students left behind by the strike

10 Civic Space Fashionable biking and support for

the teachers

11 Features Rise of the creative Waterlooians:

Finding cool in K-W

16 Urban Exploring Valentine’s day guide and eating

vegetarian

18 Community Conversations With Habitat for Humanity

19 Arts and Culture Arkells and Helping Yourself on stage

22 Reviews

23 Monthly Events

Eating well in K-W

Write well? Write for us!

The Cord wins big!

Our sister publication The Cord won Best Graphic Design and Best Sports writing at the 9th

annual John H. MacDonald awards in Toronto on Jan. 12. They also were the runner up in the Best Arts writing and

Best Layout categories. Con-gratulations to all the nomi-

nees and winners.

JANUARY 2013THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

Who needs to rob cash registers?

Middle of the road LRTWaterloo Region’s planned Light Rail Transit line will see five stops in the centre of the street rather than side as was initially planned. The centre-of-the-road stations will be primarily located in Uptown Wa-terloo where many have raised concerns around incorporating the LRT trains with existing traffic.

NEWS LINE

On the morning of Jan. 13 Papa Joe’s Hot Kettle restaurant in North Dumfries Town-ship was the site of an especially daring, yet clumsy robbery. Thieves used a truck to pull an ATM from the restaurant, steal-ing an undisclosed amount of cash in the process. Apparently they had finally had enough of those transaction fees.

IN FOCUS

3

NEWS

Nothing in life is free… not even splash pads

Despite a recent $775,000 in federal funding recently given to Waterloo Park, the City will continue to charge $2.50 per person to use the park’s Lions Lagoon splash pad. The decision to charge for use of the splash pad has seen considerable pushback, with a group called Splash for Free popping up, arguing that the pads should be free to all.

Some people ARE NOT morning people

Earlier this month a Cambridge man found a stranger sleeping in his car, which was parked in his driveway, and, naturally, woke him up and told him to leave. Apparently the stranger didn’t take to kindly and promptly pulled out a knife and tried to stab the homeowner. The homeowner wasn’t hurt in the altercation and the suspect, who is described as white, 40 to 45 years old, five foot eight to five foot nine inches tall with a thin build and brown hair, fled the scene on foot.

Young workers at the Tannery complex left an inspirational message for themselves. For more on the Tannery, see page 7. • PhOTO BY NICK LAChANCE/PhOTOGRAPhY mANAGER

This month we’re talking about...

JANUARY 2013 THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

GAME CHANGE

Aft er an unstable and challenging 2012, Research in Motion (RIM) is hoping that the launch of Black-

Berry 10 on Jan. 30 will bring momentum back to the struggling Waterloo-based company.

With upset stockholders, numerous layoff s and stiff competition from Google and Apple, RIM has a lot riding on its new smartphone device.

“Nobody understands more than we do about getting BlackBerry 10 right. And right the fi rst time,” said Nick Manning, a spokesperson for RIM.

BlackBerry 10 has been delayed numer-ous times, with many launch dates origi-nally slated for the fall of 2012, but the device will offi cially launch at the end of this month. Commercial availability for the device will be shortly aft erwards.

“We’ve really listened to the demands of the consumer and the market to try and understand what people want,” continued Manning. “We’ve obviously been engag-ing with community partners and devel-opers for a very long time to share with them BlackBerry 10, to make sure they understand how they can work with it.”

According to Manning, BlackBerry 10 will feature a multi-function operat-ing system where users can quickly go from messages to Internet browsing to applications without closing anything. Th e device also features a “time shift ” photo application that takes a few photos instead of just one so users could alter the image aft erwards to get the most perfect result.

RIM has been a vital aspect of Waterloo’s economy and many, such as Ian McLean, the president and CEO of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Com-merce, are hoping that BlackBerry 10 brings more economic prosperity to the

company and the city.

“It’s a great opportunity to hit the reset button for them and I think it will be very well received,” said McLean. “I was very, very impressed with the technology and with the actual version that I’ve seen of BlackBerry 10.”

McLean added that RIM, as of late, has become the “whipping boy” for stock analysts. While RIM stock reached a nine-year low in July with a price of $7.09 per share, their shares grew about 18 per cent in November aft er the BlackBerry 10 offi cial launch date was announced.

“I think it was unfairly beaten down,” explained McLean. “I think their man-agement team has been put very well together [and] they are poised for a good stretch of positive news.”

“I don’t think people should write it off it so soon,” he added.

However, according to McLean, RIM can’t just stop at BlackBerry 10 if it is well received by the public. He noted that was one of the small reasons why people started moving towards other and more powerful competitor products.

“I think what they’ve learned from [re-cent struggles] is that they can’t wait and rest on BlackBerry 10,” he said. “Th ey’re

going to be looking to whatever else is next, whether that is BlackBerry 11 or en-hancements to BlackBerry 10 because the market is looking for the next improve-ment.”

Manning noted thatscommunity mem-bers have been very supportive over the last year and that the new product will rebuild their confi dence in the company.

“We understand the diffi culties we have faced in recent years have been hard for the community and we’re really grateful for the support they have been able to show us,” Manning explained.

“But we want to make sure we really get it right the fi rst time and deliver value for our stakeholders.”

jUStin SmirLiESCCE CONTRIBUTOR

4

RIm has high hopes for the new BlackBerry 10. Can it bring the embattled company back from the brink?

“I don’t think people should

write [RIM] off so soon.”

—Ian McLean, president and CEO of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce

“I don’t think people should

write [RIM] off so soon.”

‘Work, life balance’ Keeps work data (contacts, e-mails, notes) separate from personal data, users can switch between the modes

Smart keyboard software BB10 will feature a full touch-screen keyboard, with RIM’s heavily-talked-up ‘next word projector’ which attempts to predict words based on the fi rst letter typed.

‘Timeshift’ The phone’s camera essentially takes a video before the user hits the shutter button and then presents a selection of stills.

Universal inbox The device will feature one inbox for all types of messages (texts, BBMs,e-mails, tweets, Facebook or Linkedin messages).

Home tilesThe background of BB10 devices will feature tiles that are updated live, meaning information like e-mail, weather, news, Twitter are constantly running.

BB10 features

GRAPhIC BY AdELE PALmQUIST/CCE CONTRIBUTOR

JANUARY 2013THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

IDLE NO MORE GOES NATIONWIDE

On a cold, windy day in late De-cember, approximately 30 people are gathered at the Speaker’s

Corner at King and Frederick Streets in Kitchener. Th ey’re intently listening to a blessing led by a local First Nations leader.

Drums beat along as he passionately tells the crowd what Idle No More is about. “[People] want to know what our people are fi ghting for.”

Th e chill is most keenly felt by Miigizi Miigwan Kwe, one of the organizers of the protest. For the past 15 or so hours she has gone hungry, staging her own 24-hour hunger strike in support of Chief Th eresa Spence, the headline-making leader of Attawapitkat First Nation in Northern Ontario.

Kwe spent the night in front of Kitchener City Hall, hoping to bring attention to a protest movement that has captured the attention of Waterloo Region and the rest of Canada. “We had a bit of ignorance last night with people yelling profanities from cars … if we can get out and tell people what’s going on maybe they’ll listen.”

Since the Idle No More hashtag sprang

up on Twitter feeds nationally in early December, Canada has found itself in the midst of another mass protest movement just months aft er the climax of the Maple Spring.

Rooted in protest against proposed amendments to the Indian Act, the Navi-gation Protection Act and the Environ-mental Assessment Act, the movement has come to represent resistance to what First Nations see as the many injustices against their community.

On a much warmer day in January, Kandice Baptiste is overseeing the weekly soup lunch at the Aboriginal Student Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University. As the university’s Aboriginal student recruitment and retention offi cer, her job runs the gamut of possible problems an Aboriginal student may face on campus, from academic problems to homesick-ness.

“Th e biggest challenge that they face is culture shock — they don’t see themselves refl ected here,” she said.

Th e lone Aboriginal student in a class may be singled out to speak for all First Nations people— a daunting task, con-sidering the number of bands and people right across the country.

It’s a problem that’s refl ected in the media portrayal of Idle No More and the First Nations community at large.

Four Saskatchewan First Nations women coined Idle No More when they decided to protest Bill C-45, a bill that would, amongst many other changes, get rid of waterways protections for 99 per cent of Canadian lakes and rivers and change the terms under which bands can surrender treaty territory.

But as Idle No More began to make waves on social media networks, it came to mean many things to many people.

“For on-reserve people they would say it’s a lot about land surrender and their treaty rights,” said Baptiste. Human rights, en-vironmental rights and democratic rights are all on the table.

It makes sense then, that Idle No More has gained comparisons to the Occupy movement, another far-reaching protest that encompassed several issues. Both have made use of social media to bring their message to the masses.

“What is amazing about Idle No More is that there are thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook that read these articles and respond in unique and intel-ligent ways,” said Hayden King, a lecturer

at McMaster University specializing in the representation of Indigenous peoples in media.

For him, media that once may have got-ten away with stereotyping the move-ment, are now being held accountable by the citizens monitoring the Fourth Estate via Twitter and Facebook.

Th e comparisons to Occupy do not end at the use of social media. Idle No More claims no leadership. Individual commu-nities and organizers are free to protest as they wish and when they wish.

Yet more organized days of protest have come about. On Jan. 11 the fi rst interna-tional Idle No More day of protest is be-ing promoted, which speaks to the reach these three little words have.

King believes that Idle No More also sets itself apart from activism of the past in tone, which he calls “spontaneous, cel-ebratory and welcoming.”

Baptiste views Idle No More as a positive movement.

“I read once that our protests are really gift s … that our creators gave to us to perform so by doing them we’re gift -ing Canadians with our ceremonies and dances,” she said.

Hg watSonEdITOR-IN-ChIEF

An Idle No more protest in Toronto on Jan. 11. • PhOTO BY NICK LAChANCE/PhOTOGRAPhY mANAGER

5

JANUARY 2013 THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION

P. 519.886.1550 E. [email protected] TTY. 1.866.786.3941 www.waterloo.ca

CITY OF WATERLOO | OUR COMMUNITY

/citywaterlooVisit us online and join in the conversation at

A Message From City of Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran ...

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe, healthy and happy holiday sea-son with friends and family. January is always a good time to turn the page, start fresh and look forward to a wonderful year ahead! I hope to see everyone at many of our exciting community events in 2013. We are fortunate to live in such a vibrant community where there is so much to see and do.

The best way to find out what’s happening in and around our city is by visiting our new and improved website at www.waterloo.ca. You’ll find everything you need right at your fingertips, quickly and easily. You can find skating schedules, information about our parks and trails,

recreation facilities and upcoming events and festivals. And remember to take part in our online scavenger hunt for your chance to win a great prize. We have swim or skate passes and Uptown dollars up for grabs so visit the Living section of our website for more information. The scavenger hunt closes Jan. 25.

Be sure to stay safe this winter and take advantage of the Uptown Parkade or Station Lot on Regina Street if you are out enjoying the night life in Waterloo and need to leave your car overnight.

Looking forward to another fabulous year together!

I sat on the city council in 2005 when we decided to change our policy around where we wanted students to live in our city. Called the “Student Accommodation Study,” the idea was to create special nodes that allowed for tall buildings close to the campuses. Its impact was not immediate and in fact, the changes that resulted from the new policy are only being seen today. The results have been profound.

Take a look at all the new high-rises around our universities and all the cranes that are erecting huge new

buildings right up close to the campus boundaries. They are expected to be filled to the brim with students in the very near future. This is a tsunami of change for our little city.

Before all these high-rises were built, students lived in mostly low-rise settings in neighbourhoods all over the city. In the early days it was fairly normal for families to “take in” students during the school year, as a means of paying down mortgages. Later on, houses were converted to specialized student housing dwellings and a large new business opportunity arose to cater to students. In the case of Northdale (squashed as it is between both university campuses) just about the entire neighbourhood converted from single family to student occupied dwellings.

But today another housing model is emerging. Huge high-rises, right in

the shadow of the campuses, catering exclusively to the needs of students, seem to be the predominant trend for housing options. This should have the effect (as our student accommodation study had predicted) of draining students out of the family dominated neighbourhoods in Waterloo as they opt for this new style of living.

The original thinking was that students would want to live in close proximity to where they take classes. A further benefit would be that the houses, formerly filled with students, would revert back to homes for families in neighbourhoods all over town. Too, some of the inevitable clashes between permanent residents and students in our traditional neighbourhoods that existed before might be eased by this transition.

It is now eight years after our fateful decision to change our city in such a

profound way and as luck would have it, I still sit as a member of council. My front row seat as the city has evolved in this way has been fascinating. But has the experiment been a success? It is much too early to tell but I can see that as the new skyscrapers begin to fill up and the old neighbourhoods begin to empty of students there will be a period of major instability as we work our way through the change.

(Councillor Whaley is a lifetime resident of Waterloo whose kids attended local universities. He has been a member of the town and gown committee and is a recipient of the Waterloo Award for outstanding contribution to community life.)

w5WARD 5 COUNCILLOR

Mark Whaleyt: 519.747.8784c: [email protected]

It’s winter. It’s cold and snowy and sometimes miserable. We often prefer to stay inside, but sadly we have to work, go to school, get to the grocery store…and sometimes we have to clear a path to do so. Clearing the snow from our driveways and sidewalks is not always an easy or fun task, but a necessary one all the same.

And whose task is this? The 24 hours following a snow fall are crucial to keeping our city accessible and city staff, home owners and landlords all play a part in ensuring this happens. The city’s first priority after a snow fall is to clear all major transportation routes, facility parking lots, city sidewalks and park pathways. After these areas have been maintained, smaller side streets are tackled as well as the bus stops throughout the city. Depending on the amount of snow, staffing levels and equipment available, this can take more than a day to complete.

Home owners do their part by keeping the sidewalks in front of their property clear

for residents to get where they need to go. With children walking to school each day and people of all ages walking to work, the store, or just the dog, clear sidewalks can help us all get around safely and on time. And what about renters? Most renters don’t know that their landlord is responsible for clearing driveways, walkways and sidewalks after a snow fall, unless the renter has been specifically contracted by their landlords to assume this task. Our website, www.waterloo.ca is a great resource for anyone renting accommodations in Waterloo. It’s important for renters to have that dialogue with their landlords

so expectations and responsibilities are clearly defined.

Snow and ice covered sidewalks pose a great danger to all pedestrians, especially seniors and those who have mobility restrictions. But before you call bylaw on that neighbour who hasn’t cleared his/her sidewalk, give them a hand instead. Perhaps he/she is ill or has some other valid reason for the delay. Chronic issues however, can be reported to our bylaw department at 519-747-6280.

Remember, the more we can work together, the better served the residents of Waterloo will be.

w6WARD 6 COUNCILLOR

Jeff Henryt: 519.747.8784c: [email protected]

The City of Waterloo is committed to providing accessible formats and communication supports for persons with disabilities. If another format would work better for you, please contact:

JANUARY 2013THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION 7

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you to KW. You have a voice so make it

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aLi connErtYCCE CONTRIBUTOR

Innovation is of utmost importance at Kitchener’s Tannery District. Hundreds of startups work at Communitech, the

Laurier Launchpad and UW Velocity to turn their innovative ideas into reality.

It’s this innovative spirit that has driven entrepreneurs Stavros Rougas and Ebrahim Ashrafi zadeh to create an online platform for journalists and specialists to connect that is fast and convenient. Me-diaspotme.com is a resource for journal-ists to fi nd media-ready specialists and for specialists to share their knowledge with a broader audience through media.

For Rougas and Ashrafi zadeh, innova-tion begins in media at the content creation stage. “How do you create quality content?” Rougas asked. “Th ere’s more content than there ever was, so the question is how do you create content in a way that is feasible and ongoing? You need to do it in a kind of more pointed manner. And this basically, helps people create content.”

Th ough digital media has signifi cantly changed the structures of the traditional media industry, the industry tends resist change. Rougas explains that journalism is moving away from this.

“Th e word journalism which we use...well what does it mean? It’s producing stuff .” Rougas sees room for both traditional media and the new citizen journalists who are reporting via blogs or twitter. “You get into more specifi c kind of niche areas, but you really know your stuff in an area. So you’re kind of moving beyond this idea of journalism.”

Rougas has an extensive background in traditional media. As a former televi-sion producer for TVO, he acknowledges and sympathizes with the journalist who must become an expert in everything. “When you talk to good people you can produce better stuff ,” he acknowledged.

Working from offi ces in both Toronto and Waterloo, the co-founders utilize all the resources these two areas of Southern Ontario off er.

“On one hand you’ve got all this great technology, great engineers, a certain core. On the other hand, you know, on the media side, English Canadian media is based in Toronto. Th ere’s not much here on that front.”

Launching a beta test in the coming months, mediaspotme.com will be at the forefront of media innovation: utilizing technology for individuals to tell better stories and create better content.

MEDIA AIDNew site for journalists

One of mediaspotme.com’s co-founders, Stavros Rougas. • PhOTO BY NICK LAChANCE/PhOTOGRAPhY mANAGER


For students across Ontario, return-ing to school after Christmas break sounds even less appealing than

usual.

To their dismay, extra-curricular activi-ties, including sports, clubs and events, are still cancelled and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that changing in the near future.

Public school teachers are locked in a la-bour dispute with the Liberal government that prompted the union to ban extra-curricular activities in protest of Bill 115. The legislation outlines a two-year pay freeze, the removal of banked sick days and the limiting of collective bargaining rights and the right to strike.

The Liberal government also decided to impose two-year contracts on 126,000 public school teachers and education workers, which has only fueled the fire.

Grade 12 Huron Heights Secondary School student Davis Schwartz said he feels the lifeblood being taken out of his school.

“Everyone comes to school just for the fun of it,” he said. “The people, the atmo-sphere and the events – that’s what really brings the school together. Now you just come to class and that’s it. It’s not as enjoyable as it was.”

Schwartz added that students are losing more than sports and clubs because of the protests. Anyone needing extra study help from teachers will have to look elsewhere.

Grade 12 students will be lacking school activities to put on their university ap-plications. Banquets that are held to give recognition to those pupils who demon-strated hard work are cancelled.

Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation members are protesting the legislation because they believe their democratic rights are being threatened. They want to ensure that in the future, the government won’t further restrict teachers’ bargaining options.

In the midst of the labour conflicts are the students, who are being impacted by the lack of school events.

The biggest disappointment for Schwartz

and his friends is the loss of a key social event.

“There’s no prom,” he said. “It’s most likely going to be cancelled because the teachers can’t participate and supervise, or they could be fined by the union. This is putting a damper on the last year of high school.”

To express their frustration with the extra-curricular events ban, Schwartz said his classmates held a student walkout in December.

“About 100 students walked out to show their distaste, and about 250 students took the afternoon off.”

Parents from across Ontario are also expressing their discontentment with the labour disputes by posting messages on Twitter. One mother wrote, “Angry that the (Toronto District School Board), ETFO and the Liberals could not resolve their issues (without) using children and parents as political pawns in this game.”

Joan Richardson, a parent whose daugh-ter attends Lester B. Pearson Public School, said she’s fed up with one-day walkouts and protests that result in clos-

ing the school.“It’s overwhelming and frustrating trying to find alternate plans to have my daugh-ter taken care of if school is closed,” she said. “Especially if the plans are made at the last minute.”

Elementary teachers were set to stage a one-day protest on Jan. 11 by holding a walkout, however the Ontario Labour Board determined that it would be considered an “unlawful strike”. Anyone participating could have faced fines of up to $2,000.

Courtney Ceponis, an Ontario public school teacher, said that 92 per cent of ETFO members voted in favour of a day of political protest if Bill 115 was im-posed.

ETFO president Sam Hammond said in a video on their website that the approach that the government has taken has been verygtroubling.

“We hope that (the government) would repeal Bill 115,” he said. “If not, we hope that we are able to have a concrete discus-sion and that they would allow us to have all options on the table for those discus-sions.”

ThEY’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE ITSTUdENTS dEAL WITh ThE LONG TERm RAmIFICATIONS OF ThE STRIKESara HanafiCCE CONTRIBUTOR

Is the backyard rink becoming an en-dangered species in Canada?

Robert McLeman, associate professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier, said news reports of warmer winter weather in Canada made him and his fellow researchers, associate professor Colin Robertson and Master of Science student Haydn Lawrence, come up with a plan to engage citizens across Canada to help them collect data on how warmer weather is affecting this long-time Canadian tradition.

“Skating outdoors. That is us in a nut-shell,” McLeman said of the Canadian inclination to flood our backyards in winter.

On Jan. 7, the three men launched an easy-to-use website called RinkWatch.org. They are asking Canadians who work on a rink in their backyard or in their neighbourhood to pinpoint the location of their rink on the map and log on once a week to record which days of the week the rink was skateable.

In less than a week, the website had be-come so popular that it crashed a few of times from the volume of users.

“People are really jumping in on this,” McLeman said. He is hoping their enthu-siasm continues. The website will remain online because it will take years to get reliable data about temperature changes across the country.

McLeman said much of the discussion around global warming revolves around its effect on “polar bears and glaciers,” which many Canadians can’t relate to since most have never been that far north.

“We thought this was a way to connect with families and the general public and get them to engage with environmental studies,” McLeman said.

And while many Canadians may not see the effect of global warming on a glacier, they do see how it affects what is going on in their own backyard.Not even a week into the project, about 150 rinks from British Columbia to New-foundland had been added to the map on the website. A few people in the northern United States have also added their rinks.

The project has created such an inter-est that McLeman said they now have a team of students, from different areas of study at Wilfrid Laurier, who want to work together to look at what additional information they could gather and share on the website. For instance, they are

thinking of adding a spot where outdoor rink builders, fondly known as ‘hosers’, could exchange ideas on rink building and maintenance.

McLeman said similiar websites that col-lect crowdsourced information about bird

and nature sightings that were started in the 1990s are still going strong.

“We hope people will keep coming back year after year,” he said

Visit rinkwatch.com for more info.

HELEn HaLLKITChENER CITIZEN EdITOR

‘hOSERS’ AGAINST GLOBAL WARmING

L-R: master’s student hayden Lawrence, professor Robert mcLeman, professor Colin Robertson. • PhOTO COURTESY OF WILFRId LAURIER UNIVERSITY


ThE $818-mILLION PROJECT TO BE NAmEd AFTER PUBLIC IS CONSULTEd ON POSSIBLE NAmES: ION, TRIO ANd ARC

Waterloo Region’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) is going to be named soon, with three poten-

tial names that will be determined by the public: Trio, Arc and Ion.

Back in November, Waterloo Region was accepting requests from developers to determine who will design the $818-mil-lion project.

Th omas Schmidt, the commissioner of transportation and environmental services, is currently overseeing the report along with the Region of Waterloo offi cials.

Th e report still requires time and a plethora of supplementary discussions by both the public and the regional offi cials, but Schmidt ensures that the negotiations between the Region and Bombardier, the developer chosen to produce the trains, are still underway and are going smoothly.

“Th e process in the report is still being followed and Region staff continue nego-tiations with Bombardier,” Schmidt said.

“Negotiations are going well and it is anticipated that an agreement will be reached shortly at which point a report will be presented to Regional Council for

their approval.”

Now, the Region of Waterloo offi cials and Quarry Integrated Communications Inc. are working together to propose three names for the rapid transit system.

Th e names are not arbitrary, as they all have signifi cant representation.

According to Sarah Harwood, vice-presi-dent of Quarry Communications Inc., Ion symbolizes the electrical charge, playing on the notion that the transit is always on the move. Arc is rounded like the pro-posed rapid transit route and represents a prolongation of transit in the region. Trio represents people working together with inventive and harmonious implications.

Th e name will be determined through a series of public consultations.

According to Darshpreet Bhatti, the director of rapid transit at the Region of Waterloo, this is signifi cant since public involvement is essential to the program.

“We have a full public program that will be starting soon,” Bhatti said.

“We will be going to the public with the shortlist of the names, get their feedback and then we will go back to council with recommendations in terms of the prefer-ence from the public and then we will move forward with one.”

Th ree separate public conference sessions for the proposed names will be taking place before making a fi nal decision, which is to be announced at the end of February.

Once the public has selected a name, construction is intended to begin next summer.

According to Bhatti, the Region’s use of public consultations is on schedule and the expected changes will be made as soon as they are legitimized.

“[Th e Waterloo Region offi cials] have al-ways identifi ed with this timeline,” Bhatti reassured.

“We have the public consultations coming up and we are on schedule for that, and I don’t see a reason why we wouldn’t imple-ment this model in 2014.”

Harwood shared that the narrowing down of the three contending names came with its own prolonged develop-ment.

Harwood explained that there were more than three names that were considered.

“We had a foundation of work to inspire our thinking and then we moved into a brainstorming,” Harwood shared.

“We heard from citizens and from those at the spine of the community, delving into the history and characteristics that the people told us about the community that were collaborative. We ended up gen-erating over 300 names.”

Harwood shared that Quarry Commu-nications Inc. were able to narrow down the three names based on if the names were meaningful and able to work with the technology. Th ough the process of elimination brought them to the top three names, there are still other factors that must be considered.

“Th e explorations around font and logo colours and how the name will look on the station stop are a part of the contract that is needed to be done with the region,” Harwood concluded.

aLanna fairEYCCE CONTRIBUTOR

REGION LOOKS TO PUBLIC FOR LRT NAmEGRAPhIC BY STEPhANIE TRUONG/CCE CONTRIBUTOR

“We ended up getting over 300

names.”

—Sarah Harwood, vice-president of Quarry Communications, Inc.

“We ended up getting over 300

names.”

JANUARY 2013 THE CORD : COMMUNITY EDITION10civic space

Recently, I began a new job downtown. In terms of location, I couldn’t be happier with my

new situation. Even before the job, a typical week for me entailed several trips downtown, 99 per cent of which I make by bicycle. Errands, shopping, the library, getting some work done at a coffee shop; downtown is always my preferred destination and my bicycle is always my preferred way to get there. While my daily route has changed little since my newfound employment, my new co-workers’ reactions to my travel patterns seem drastically different amongst my new co-workers than what I’m used to. As I begin the process of learning a new job and its environment, I have found myself with a small, and odd, kind of celebrity. People can’t seem to believe that I ride a bike not for fun, or for exercise, or for competition, but because it’s the easiest and most convenient way for me to get to work.

My plain grey dress pants are a source of great wonder to some, or perhaps it’s that I have the audacity to wear these plain grey pants while riding a bike that has caused this stir. I am a curiosity strictly because I am a seemingly normal person, with a normal job, wearing normal pants, arriving to work in a way that as few one or two per cent of the rest of the region does.

Though I had never really thought about it before, it has since become clear to me that I don’t look like a cyclist; I possess

none of the tribal artifacts of my assumed clan. I wear no Lycra, nor riding gloves, nor toe-clip shoes, nor helmet; nothing fluorescent at all. By appearing ’normal,’ I am a sartorial interloper, rolling between two distinct worlds. This distresses people, because I don’t look like a Lance Armstrong wannabe. It subverts their expectations of who should be on a bike.

The idea of “normal” becomes quite powerful in the context of behaviour. For some people, actively standing out comes naturally, and they embrace the attention it brings. But not everybody is interested in turning heads, and doing things that are ostentatiously different can be intimidating. This isn’t an indictment of standing out, or of competitive cycling fashion; wear what makes you comfortable.

When an activity such as cycling becomes so completely defined by the style of one special kind of user, that definition begins to present significant barriers to entry for other, less specialized users.

You see it in both the specialized clothing and in the kinds of bikes available to purchase at most local outlets – mountain bikes, racing bikes, trick bikes, but rarely the kinds of dignified upright commuters that save backs and match slacks.

Wildly dangerous speed limits and disconnected, underfunded cycling networks are the great challenges standing in the way of turning cycling into viable transportation in this community. But in the face of these too-big-for-me problems, allowing people to feel normal when they ride might be a good first step.

brandEn wESSELingCCE CONTRIBUTOR

What do you think of public

art?

Vocal Cord

The yarn bomb, that’s cool, it makes people stop and look and think. But most of the graffiti you see has messages or intentions

behind it that are negative.Tom Kelly,

Desktop Support

I don’t think it’s a negative thing, it’s not really hurting anyone. But I don’t know what its positive ef-

fect would be either.Kanchana Madulaarachchi

University of Waterloo Student

If somebody’s going out to make a community look better, it’s

great. But tagging and things like that, I don’t necessarily agree

with.Jessie Neill,

Coordinator of Living/Learning

PhOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COmmONS

I mAY NOT LOOK IT, BUT YES, I’m A CYCLIST

Branden Wesseling is a transportation advocate with TriTAG (tritag.ca). He can be found on Twitter as @KitchenerBikes.


The stories we tell each other about the world in which we live are powerful. It is a privileged

position to participate in popular debate comprised of a million tiny questions; it is also the right of any civic-minded individual.

With so many voices, it is inevitable that the more complex or controversial the conversation, the more easily obscured its truths will be. In the fraught matter of the teachers’ job action and the questionable constitutionality of Bill 115, finding the truths requires not only asking difficult questions, but also curating the responses. What isn’t written reveals as much as what is. So when writers in the public forum ask why the teachers are “using kids as human shields” — as Luisa D’Amato did in her column Nov. 21 in the Waterloo Region Record — they manipulate the

debate to intentionally suppress the stated objections of the teachers themselves, and to foreclose any possibility of real discussion.

D’Amato is representative here of the media’s general approach to reporting on the strike: the same reliance on a tired line of rhetoric which posits the teachers as villains for protesting the erosion of their rights as workers, without asking why those rights are being eroded in the

first place, or who might benefit from weakening one of the remaining unions with any real power.

They could just as easily portray the teachers as putting themselves in the firing line in front of their students, braving the blast of media and political criticism as a meaningful demonstration of the democracy they teach in the classroom.

Teachers declining to volunteer their time as part of job action highlights the degree to which educators commit their own hours and resources to the job of teaching, well above and beyond the hours for which they are paid. Ideally, this particular job action should increase public support, not decrease it, as the public is encouraged towards a fuller understanding of the high demands of teaching.

The insistence that teachers continue to work for free in order to maintain public support smacks of a haughty requirement

that groups must ask nicely for their rights or risk having them denied.

My parents are teachers, and I remember vividly the strike of 1996. Then, as now, the issues for teachers were the erosion of their rights as workers, the legislating of wages and benefits usually negotiated through the unions, and the dilution of the quality of education for students.

Yet again, the actual issues are left out of the discussion in favour of gleeful harping over senior teachers’ paycheques and job benefits to which we should all be entitled. Why would we ignore the voices of teachers and the actual content of Bill 115 in favour of the voices of politicians and yellow journalism?

This is not about a cash-strapped provincial government trying to make ends meet; this is a bully tactic shrouded in the language of fiscal responsibility and legitimized by the stories the media chooses to tell. I support the teachers because I can’t abide a bully.

ATTACKS ON TEAChERS BLATANT BULLYING

jaimE martinoCCE CONTRIBUTOR This is not about a cash-

strapped government trying to

make ends meet; this is a bully

tactic...

WhY I SUPPORT ThE TEAChERS, ANd YOU ShOULd TOO

Check out one of our other great

publications today!


FEATURES

RISE OF THE CREATIVE WATERLOOVIANArt and culture are more important to growing cities than ever. HG Watson decided to go looking for where the cool is.

Waterloo has an arts problem.

At least, that’s what they say. People seem to believe that cool, fun things aren’t happening in this city, and it’s hard to convince them otherwise. Why? Is the populace too old? Is the focus on tech and science, the lifeblood of the city, too all encompassing? Or does the gleaming beacon of Toronto just an hour and half down the 401 diminish Waterloo’s light?

Yet arts and culture is certainly here. As Waterloo grows and becomes more im-portant on the international map, it’s time to fi gure out the role it plays.

Fractures in the community

Joseph Chen has spent a great deal of time thinking about art and culture in Waterloo. He’s the founder of the Water-loo Festival for Animated Cinema, a now world-renowned fi lm festival. Th e fest originated at the University of Waterloo’s, Chen’s alma mater, but as it grew more popular, he found himself looking for a space that could support it.

Chen couldn’t fi nd anywhere in Waterloo that met his needs. He began looking in Kitchener and ended up purchasing the Chrysalids Th eatre and L-Lounge, a the-atre space in Downtown Kitchener that he now runs full time. “Waterloo has not had the benefi t of having cheap, available spaces,” said Chen.

Downtown Kitchener is full of them thanks to a dearth of decaying factories and spaces. Places like the Tannery and Th e Breithaupt Block have been refur-bished into pristine offi ces where big players like Google and Communitech can rub shoulders with people working out of smaller and cheaper places. “Rents are naturally quite a bit lower and that draws a signifi cant crowd of creatives,” said Chen.

Chen also believes Waterloo has suf-fered because the city hasn’t put as much capital funding into the city’s arts and culture. “Waterloo didn’t inject capital in the same way that the city of Kitchener

did to develop its downtown.” In years past, Waterloo didn’t need to. It had a perfectly nice downtown core. Kitchener, however, saw an opportunity to improve upon what it had.

Living in Waterloo means, for some, that you live with a dichotomy. On the other side there is Kitchener; historically work-ing class and “scary”, if you believe some people. “People view them diff erently,” said Chen. “What is damaging is when they compete with each other in areas where neither of them have the resources to compete on their own or when people withhold their attendance for one kind of fear or another.”

When Chen fi rst moved WFAC to Chrys-alids Th eatre, he estimates that atten-dance dropped 95 per cent. Old stereo-types about Kitchener are keeping people from crossing the border between the two cities. It goes the other way as well. For a certain demographic of younger folks, Waterloo doesn’t seem as dynamic as it’s rough-and-tumble little sister. “I’ve heard it oft en and over and over that real artists belong in Kitchener,” said Chen.

It isn’t just Kitchener versus Waterloo that divides the community, however. “Th ere’s a ‘suburbs versus urban’ divide here, I think,” said Hilary Abel “Th ere’s nothing wrong with either setting but the acceptance to try things in both settings is important.” Abel is well known for being the organizer of Steel Rail Sessions, a yearly party that takes place on a train to St. Jacobs. Organizing and connecting with people is her passion and while she is very good at it, you can only get people to come to what they want to come to.

It could also be that what makes Water-loo’s location so great for businesses look-ing for cheaper rents is what does damage for those in the arts scene. Toronto is more accessible to Waterloo residents than ever before thanks to improved GO service and a VIA connection. But even closer is Guelph, a small town with a tightly knit arts community.

Some of these disconnects carry enough historical baggage with them to fi ll a

Ben Wilson >> PopBerry

What could be more iconic than Andy Warhol’s famed Campbell’s soup cans? He cleverly took something normal and made it into popular art.

When we were trying to think of some-thing for the cover of this issue, we want-ed to have something that represented our city. What’s more Waterloo than the BlackBerry? Homegrown, equally famous and infamous. We think Mr. Warhol would approve.


Picture it: you’re walking down the street, off to work on a dreary January day.

Out of the greys and whites that make up the environment at this time of year, a burst of colour catches your eye. You turn and look at an old tree. One of its limbs has been covered, completely, in yarn; a tree cozy made up of a multitude of looping colours and stitches.

It’s a yarn bomb, a spontaneous act of public art in which knitters make sure a tree, a pole, or whatever else suits their imagination is covered in knitted or crocheted wool. Don’t you think that would be nice?

So did I. But reality, that frustrating crusher of dreams, taught me that public art needs a lot more planning and time to execute properly.

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at yarn bombing. I love knitting and I love public art so it seemed an easy match given that I’m hardly likely to be tagging a wall anytime soon.

The idea to cover random public objects with yards of yarn originated with Magda Sayeg, a Texan woman who decided to knit cozies for her doorknobs. Soon enough, the idea took off globally. Some yarn bombers do huge installations, covering statues, tanks and entire trees with large knitting projects.

That’s the image I had in my head when I proposed this idea. In doing interviews and researching this project, yarn bombing had come up again and again as a creative way to inject art into public spaces. Plus I wanted to show that creating public art in Water-loo wasn’t hard at all; all you need is a pair of knitting needles and some gumption.

But with gumption, you also need a little planning to undertake a large-scale project. I had originally envisioned wrapping the trunk of a tree. I knew this would take a lot of yarn (which, thanks to Waterloo store Shall We Knit I was able to obtain). What I didn’t budget for was time. As a knitter, I’m somewhere in the middle when it comes to speed. A 7x7 inch square takes me about an hour or so; this seems to be about average for most knitters.

That doesn’t seem like a lot of time but when you multiply it by the amount of squares you actually need to wrap around the trunk of a tree the time adds up. In the end we knitted seven squares – that’s about seven hours of work. Even with the help of a few brave assistants, it wasn’t close to what I would need to do a larger scale installation.

In the end, I decided to darn the pieces we’d created together like a long, patchwork scarf. It looked cool, but this would also turn out to be a mistake when we actually got to the tree we had chosen to yarn bomb. If I had kept the patches separated, I could have wrapped them one by one, creating a larger project. As it was, I had to settle for twisting our yarn bomb/scarf around the trunk a few times.

The next day, I went back to visit the yarn bomb with Cord videographer Jeremy Enns in tow. We chatted with a few people about our little project. One man had indeed noticed the yarn bomb on the way to work – but he thought it was a scarf someone had left behind. Other folks hadn’t noticed it, but were curious and interested when we explained what it was.

I don’t think our yarn bomb – or any for that manner – can truly be called a failure. Some are very small, and some are impressive in their scope. The point is simply to get people to see their public space in a different way, and bring a little more colour into the world.

13

RISE OF THE CREATIVE WATERLOOVIANArt and culture are more important to growing cities than ever. HG Watson decided to go looking for where the cool is.

YARN BOMBING 101Expectation >>Creative Commons

Reality >> photo by Jeremy Enns

cargo plane. Others simply came with the advent of technology, the growth of the universities or, as many of those inter-viewed noted, a lack of communication. Ask average Joe Waterloo why he didn’t go to the gallery opening last night and he’ll respond, “I didn’t know it was hap-pening.” People are doing wonderful and interesting things. But it’s hard for people to find them.

A model of arts growth

On the edge of the American South-West, there is an oasis of culture and cool; Austin, Tx. It’s founders, buffalo-hunters, would be shocked today to find a city that has become known for two things: it’s booming tech sector (the city is home to Dell computers amongst other tech com-panies) and its vibrant cultural scene.

The capital of Texas is also the place you can see emerging bands and eat some of the best food to be found in the United States. It’s a city that is lauded for hav-ing the best of both worlds; a growing economy coupled with culture that makes its residents happy.

It’s this kind of scene that Betty Anne Keller and Beth Rajnovich envision as Waterloo’s future. The two City of Water-loo workers (Keller manages arts, cultures and festivals and Rajnovich works in poli-cy) have been charged with undertaking Waterloo’s new culture plan; a compre-hensive study and eventual blueprint that will guide Waterloo as they attempt to funk things up a little bit.

It’s a process most cities now consider essential to their development, both economically and culturally (Kitchener completed a culture plan of their own a few years ago). The last time Waterloo had a comprehensive plan was 1952— a recreation plan in 2008 however saw the need to start addressing culture plan-ning in the city. Waterloo’s is a massive undertaking has already been going on for a year.

It’s at this point in the conversation you can’t help but bring up Richard Florida. The University of Toronto professor put

art on a lot of cities radars with his book The Rise of the Creative Class. Where once a city may have focused on simply bringing in more jobs, the concern is that people’s creative needs are being met. “Definitely one of the things we’re doing is looking to other cities…what can we borrow from other cities to achieve [the culture plan’s] vision,” said Rajnovich.

“I think the younger people living in the community…would like to see things a little edgier,” added Keller. She’s over 50, but keenly understands the tension that is mounting between the younger genera-tion of students and young professionals who are staying in Waterloo, and the older generation that is used to having their city be a certain way.

Florida’s work comes up often in Raj-novich’s and Keller’s conversation and documents. Their eagerness to support innovative culture is shown in how much they have thrown their support behind Dan Lauckner. Lauckner, the organizer of KDUB.ca, puts together the Waterloo Zombie Walk along with Shake – and – Skate, DJ’d skating parties on the rink in Waterloo Public Square.

Another arm involved in the creation of the culture plan is the Creative Enterprise Intiative. Much like a small business accelerator, CEI provides resources for creative businesses who need funding for projects. Their goal is to foster a sustain-able creative economy. Thus far they’ve helped Kwartzlab in Kitchener get money for a new laser cutter and assisted the Koi Music festival get publicity outside the Waterloo region market. “At the end of the day it’s about economic prosperity in the region and making sure that this community is competing for talent on a global level. We need to shore up our offerings in the creative sector to be able to compete on that level,” said Heather Sinclair, the CEO of CEI.

While the actual plan is ways off, the department has begun reaching out to the community. At any one of these events, everyone who cares (the City calls them

Continued on page 14 >>


community stakeholders) comes to chat about what they want in Waterloo. The ideas fly fast and furious as they try to take everything down. Still, some are skeptical. Can a cultural scene be made and not created by the grassroots?

From the bottom up

For some organizers, getting people to come out has been no problem at all. Charlotte Armstrong, Ryan Consell and Eric Moon would certainly agree. The three are the organizers and founders of K-W Nerd Nite. It’s part of an interna-tional network of events where amateurs and professionals get together to talk about whatever gets their engine going, be it astronomy, peregrine falcons or Robocop. Three participants give an en-tertaining 20-minute spiel and the rest of the night is spent playing trivia – which gets pretty nerdy and a little giggly, as you can imagine.

“It’s a social opportunity for everyone,” said Armstrong. At their events, they get everyone from undergrads at University of Waterloo to retirees. If people show up alone, Armstrong will happily introduce them to a new friend (and in a few cases, those friends have gone on to become significant others).

They’ve promoted their events almost exclusively through social media and word-of-mouth. While they to have encountered difficulty with communica-tions, they’ve still managed to enjoy some relative success with events. “There’s more freedom to do events here,” said Moon. “In Toronto, there’s a lot of different com-munities mashed into a small area. Here

because it’s smaller, there’s a little more freedom.”

Abel echoes this sentiment. Steel Rail Ses-sions has gotten bigger each consecutive year she’s taken on the project. “I lived in Toronto for 24 months and didn’t make a single friend…but when I moved back here I instantly felt like I was connected to a lot of different groups of people,” she said.

We typically think of arts and culture as going to the symphony; viewing paint-ings; seeing a band; and maybe going to a play. But in K-W, culture can mean a lot more things. It can be the kind of nerdy fun promoted by Nerd Nite (which makes a lot of sense given that there’s probably more computer geeks in Waterloo than any other place in Canada), or it can be, as Chen pointed out, talks at the Perim-eter Institute or the Centre for Interna-tional Governance Innovation. If we pull back and broaden the scope of what we consider to be culture, it becomes clear Waterloo has it in spades.

The attendance at WFAC did recover. “Eventually the people who valued our work would find us,” said Chen. Abel purposely wanted to have Steel Rails on a train because it became about exploration and adventure. People responded to this enthusiastically. Lauckner in fact enjoys that his events bring a smaller crowd. It’s not the number but the feeling, that of intimacy.

There’s no magic formula that makes a city cool (Toronto’s been searching for one for years). Waterloo has a lot of cool creativity hiding in its streets; now you just have to find it.

Continued from page 13 >>

Robocop graffiti in Waterloo. >> photo by hG Watson

THE COOL KIDSReady to start networking? We have all the contacts you need right here.

Joseph Chen

Best known for: Waterloo Animated Film FestivalYou’ll find him: At the Chrysalids Theatre in Kitchener (find them on twitter at @ChrysTheatre)

Hilary Abel

Best known for: The Steel Rail SessionsYou’ll find her: blogging at RQ magazine (rqmagazine.com)

Dan Lauckner

Best known for: Zombie Walk WaterlooYou’ll find him: On kdub.ca

Heather Sinclair

Best know for: Heading the Creative Enterprise InitiativeYou’ll find her: At the Initiative’s space on Erb (email them

[email protected])

The Nerd Nite Crew

Best known for: Nerd Nites and nerd speed datingYou’ll find them at: Rum Runners pub at least once a month. Dates at facebook.com/nerdnitekw.

The cool hunt doesn’t end here...community.thecord.ca

...for exclusive online content, including our guerilla yarn bombing video and more about upcoming events.



URBAN EXPLORING

The St. Jacobs Farmer’s market. • PhOTO COURTESY OF mUhAmmAd GhOURI /FLICKR

The Naughty Prude believes Valentines Day should not be an exclusive holiday. Feb. 14 should represent togetherness, friendship and love. Sadness and loneli-ness are emotions that are not welcomed this year. Instead of pouting or entirely

rejecting the holiday, enjoy it. Helping you get creative this Valentine’s Day, The Naughty Prude suggests activities to do around the K-W area, whether you are spend-ing it with your significant other, not-so-significant other or your friends.

Tucked away on Princess Street, The Jane Bond’s small size provides an ideal ambiance for a romantic and intimate dinner. Their vegetarian menu offers vegan and gluten free options, as well as arguably the best sangria in town. After dinner, enjoy and dance alongside The Jane Bond’s DJ Phoenix, starting at 10 p.m. (Must be 19+, 5 Princess St. W., Waterloo)

Enjoy and indulge in your artistic abilities at Waterloo Region Museum’s Valentine Wreath Workshop on Feb. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Presenting your loved one with a homemade gift is always thoughtful. This right-brained activity will enhance your expressivity, which your partner will appreciative. (10 Huron Rd., Kitchener)

There is nothing wrong with enjoying a sappy romantic movie on Valentine’s Day, especially if you are spending the night with a dear friend. The Original Princess Cinema is playing the quintessential romantic, sap-filled, and heart-warming movies Sleepless in Seattle (7:00 p.m.) and When Harry Met Sally (9:10 p.m.). Spend your night alongside Meg Ryan as she navigates her tumultuous love life. (46 King St. N., Water-loo)

For couples who prefer to have an intimate, homemade meal on Valentine’s Day, The Naughty Prude suggests Vincenzo’s, located at the Bauer Building in Waterloo. For 46 years, Vincenzo’s has built up a loyal customer base with their quality food and culinary knowledge. Vincenzo’s provides some of the freshest seafood in the K-W area. Try indulging in a dozen oysters. The known aphrodisiac will pair well with a bottle of champagne and Vincenzo’s fresh-baked treats, so your night will be both salty and sweet. If you and your partner are impartial to seafood, Vincenzo’s also offers incred-ible homemade raviolis, pastas and sauces! (150 Caroline St. S., Waterloo)

St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market also offers amazing, fresh and locally sourced ingredients for a lovely homemade dinner, open on Valentine’s Day from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (878 Weber St. N.).

Group dates are a great way to spend time with your significant other while alleviating the pressure of Valentine’s Day. Round up a group of couples and spend an afternoon or evening tubing at Chicopee Ski Resort in Kitchener. The Sunset Special offered Tuesday to Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. is a bargain at $12 per person. (1600 River Rd. E., Kitchener).

This Valentine’s Day, spend the day without any technology and get outside. Try cross-country skiing at Laurel Creek Conservation Area, or take a romantic stroll through Victoria Park, which offers more than 125 km of community trails. If being out in the blistering cold is not particularly appealing, bowling is another option for a group date. Located in Kitchener, Brunswick Bowling is open from noon to midnight, only $4.29 per game. (385 Frederick Plaza, Kitchener).

LOVE IS JUST AROUNd ThE CORNER

ABOVE FILE PhOTOS BY NICK LAChANCE


Why wait another month?

Keep up with The Cord Community Edition whenever you want by checking us out

online

community.thecord.ca

Or, follow us on social media

@cordcommunity

Cord Community Edition

Feridun Hamdullahpur has been living in Kitchener-Waterloo since 2009 and has been president of the

University of Waterloo since 2010, tak-ing over for David Johnston who is now Canada’s Governor General.

Originally born in Turkey, Hamdullah-pur immigrated to Canada to complete his PhD at the Technical University of Nova Scotia – now a part of Dalhousie University – in Halifax, before moving to Ottawa to work at Carleton University.

I WORKED: AS THE VICE PRESI-DENT AND PROVOST OF THE UNI-VERSITY OF WATERLOO.

“The nature of the job I was offered was very attractive, but where it was was even more important. Being at the University of Waterloo was one thing that was very important to me. The other important piece is that it was in Waterloo where there was a lot going on in terms of ac-tions and economic activity.”

I ATE: AT THE BAUER KITCHEN… AND MANY OTHERS.

“Because of the nature of this job, I eat out a lot. I don’t think there’s a single restaurant in this region I haven’t eaten in … when my wife and I decide we need to go out and have a nice meal, just the two of us, a no-business kind of situation, the Bauer Kitchen is a big one.”

I WATCHED: PLAYS AND CON-CERTS AT THE CENTRE IN THE SqUARE

“The first [choice] was of course the Cen-tre in the Square. That’s where we usually go for concerts or plays.”

I RELAXED: AT THE ST. JACOB’S MARKET

“It’s a very colourful place, a very lively place. I always enjoy going there. It gives me a nice international atmosphere where it makes me think I could be anywhere in the world. It’s more than just walking around, looking around, shopping. Believe it or not, that’s a great relaxation time for me. There or Conser-vation Meadows, it’s always nice just to get out for a walk.”

WHAT I STILL LOVE ABOUT WATER-LOO:

“This community has everything that you could find in a very much larger setting, but it’s maintained its small, welcoming character. You feel the warmth of a small village in a very large setting. That’s some-thing I care a lot about. It’s important to me to be in an environment where I can satisfy my social, artistic and other needs. But I’m also in an environment where I’m not in the middle of this huge ocean with millions of people around me.”

mY FIRST YEAR IN WATERLOO… FERIDUN HAMDULLAHPUR

FILE PhOTO BY NICK LAChANCE/PhOTOGRAPhY mANAGER

FOR UPDATES UNTIL OUR NEXT ISSUE, FOLLOW ALONG WITH OUR

BLOG AT COMMUNITY.THECORD.CA


COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONSW/HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

OF WATERLOO REGIONAs the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity gets set to celebrate a pair of milestones, Kitchener Citizen Editor Helen Hall catches up with chief operating officer Karen Redman

This year is a big one for Habitat for Humanity of Waterloo Region.

Not only will it celebrate its 25th an-niversary and build its 100th home, but it also has a very well-known face guiding it.

Former Kitchener Centre MP Karen Redman took over as chief operating officer of the charity in April 2012 when former executive director Ken Freeman had to take a leave for health reasons. He officially resigned earlier in January and Redman has agreed to stay until at least the end of 2013.

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian ministry that believes ev-eryone should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live. It builds homes for people in need regardless of race or religion. In lieu of a down payment, homeowners must put in “sweat equity” by helping with the construction of their home, and then must pay for the remainder of it through an interest-free mortgage with Habitat for Humanity.

Redman represented Kitchener feder-ally from 1997 to 2008, and prior to that was involved in municipal politics and served on the school board. Following her defeat in 2008, she headed back to school to get her MA in political sci-ence.

“I decided to get some academic frame-work for what I had been living for the last 20 years.”

Former Wilfrid Laurier political scien-tist David Docherty, who is a friend of Redman’s, encouraged her to get her MA, joking that she had already “earned one on the street.”

Several political friends told her not to jump too quickly at offers she would receive to volunteer her services in the community, but to allow herself time to make a decision. However, Redman said yes “right away” when offered a seat on the Habitat for Humanity board in 2009.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Habitat for Humanity,” Redman said in an inter-view. “I love their philosophy, I love the connection with the faith community. My faith has always been something that is deeply personal but very strong

in my life, and this is such a manifesta-tion of people caring for other people.”

Redman first worked with Habitat for Humanity many years ago on its very first “women’s build” where women were invited to volunteer their con-struction skills. The organization invites people from all walks of life to volunteer with the family that will be receiving the home during its construction. Many local businesses volunteer their employ-ees for a day because they see not only the value in helping Habitat for Hu-manity, but also believe it is a positive team-building experience for those who participate.

Habitat is supported by corporate and private donations and by the funds it raises at the ReStore on Northfield Drive East in Waterloo.

The ReStore is a warehouse that sells donated construction items. Some are new and some previously used.

“I think Habitat for Humanity is so much like the old quilting bees,” Redman said. “Our community is so steeped in that Mennonite tradition. Everyone works together and makes small pieces, which don’t have value or as much value as when they are knit together.”

Redman said her only frustration is that some people are confused about what Habitat for Humanity does.

“The brand is strong but not always well understood,” she said. “We don’t give people homes, they earn their homes and they pay for them.”

Homeowners pay fair market value for their homes. The down payment comes from sweat equity, and the remainder is paid through an interest-free mortgage.

“We’re offering opportunity and we offering partnership with people, but we’re not giving away homes.”

Habitat will complete the final two townhomes on Howe Drive this sum-mer, and will then begin construction on four units on Donley Street near Ottawa Street South and Kehl, including its 100th home. A huge block party is planned to celebrate the occasion.

“We obviously want to give people a decent place to live that has all the things we all want in a home, but at an affordable rate. To do that we found that the townhome was the model that would work in Waterloo Region,” she said of Habitat’s move from building single detached homes to townhouses. Celebrations are being planned during the next year to mark the organization’s 25th anniversary.

A gala is scheduled for October, but the exact date has not yet been set as they are waiting to hear if Governor General David Johnston can come. Johnston is from Waterloo Region and is the former president of the University of Waterloo. The gala will also feature the display of some unique art.

Habitat for Humanity has invited ten artists to choose up to $100 worth of material from the ReStore to make a piece of art. These items will be on display at the Habitat’s annual general meeting on Feb. 13, which is being held at the Restore, and will be up for auction until the gala in the fall. They are also hoping to have them displayed online for bidding.

While Redman is enjoying her time with Habitat for Humanity, she is not closing the door on returning to poli-tics.

“It gets in your blood,” she said. “There’s still a draw there so I’m not ready at this point to publically say I’m not consider-ing it,” she stated.

habitat for humanity Chief Operating Officer Karen Redman stands with a sold sign at one of the townhomes built by the organization on howe drive in Kitchener.

• PhOTO BY hELEN hALL/KITChENER CITIZEN


A new year is upon us and this is the time of year when we might make a resolution or two. For many, one resolution is likely the promise to eat healthier. It’s why more and more people are asking themselves this question: To be or not to be vegetarian or vegan?

It can be a daunting choice, but don’t despair. We’ve gathered some information that will assist you on your journey towards vegetarianism, and help you do it locally.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

According to the Vegetarian Society (vegetariansociety.com), there are four forms of vegetarianism. A lacto-ovo-vegetarian is the commonly known vegetarian that does not eat meat (including poultry, game, fish and shellfish) but will eat diary products and eggs. A lacto-vegetarian will consume diary products but not eggs. Alternatively, an ovo-vegetarian will eat eggs but not dairy products.

A vegan pledges to protect animals by not eating meat or partaking of any animal by-products. For example, to be vegan means that you choose not wear leather shoes, eat cheese or honey, and you support a more environmentally, eco-friendly lifestyle.

WHERE TO GO?

Whether for health reasons or a lifestyle choice, vegetarianism and veganism are gaining in popularity, which in turn is opening up consumer markets for producers and vendors alike. Established local specialty health food stores like The Old Kitchen Cupboard in Kitchener and The Natural Food Market in Waterloo offer a variety of vegetarian and vegan dietary products, but they’re no longer alone.

Large grocery chains are diversifying and expanding organic areas to carry vegetarian and vegan-friendly products too. Sales of natural products have been consistently ris-ing, demonstrating that this area is a growing trend for grocery retailers with potential

for further development.

Traditional market venues such as the downtown Kitchener Market and the St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market continue to be valuable resources for locally grown produce and products. Growing in popularity are the seasonal UpTown Waterloo Market and Bai-ley’s Local Foods buying club. In addition to locally grown produce and fruits, Bailey’s offers other local options like grains, breads, preserves, cheeses, peanuts and peanut butter, honey and dried beans. Both the market and buying club are bringing local produce and products closer and making them easier for busy people to access.

Restaurants are expanding their menus to include locally grown produce and better vegetarian and vegan options. At Borealis Grille & Bar in Kitchener, you can try the zucchini and corn fritters or the hand-made vegetable samosas.

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT?

Taking the first step to a healthier lifestyle, which could include becoming vegetarian or vegan, begins with education. Equip yourself with tools and knowledge by accessing a variety of information from differing sources. A visit to the local library or bookstore like Words Worth Books, 100 King S will provide you with plenty of cookbooks and guides.

Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming can help get you started. These sisters are the authors of best-selling cookbooks Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood and Quinoa Revolution. Quinoa’s popularity has recently skyrocketed. The United Nations General Assembly has even declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. To learn more about this versatile, gluten-free, high protein grain and find recipes check out patri-ciaandcarolyn.com.

Whether you’re following a traditional, vegetarian or vegan diet, information is either a click or short distance away. Having such diverse, local resources is the benefit of living in a well-balanced community like the Waterloo Region and could increase chances of keeping that New Year’s resolution beyond the month of January.

vEronica naaSCCE CONTRIBUTOR

ThE BEST WAYS TO EAT VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN IN K-W

GRAPhIC BY STEPhANIE TRUONG/CCE CONTRIBUTOR


ARTS AND CULTURE

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

It’s a safe bet that many Canadian musi-cians are jealous of Max Kerman and his band mates in Arkells.

Starting Jan. 19, the Hamilton-based five-piece will be hitting the road with Canadian icons The Tragically Hip for a cross-country tour, which will stop in Kitchener on Feb. 5.

“It’s a very Canadian experience,” said Kerman, the band’s front man over a crackling Skype call as the band made its way between Boston and Philadelphia as part of their current tour.

“We’re touring with the Tragically Hip, it’s the middle of winter, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, finishing in Toronto on Valentine’s Day. It’s just really exciting.”

While spending a month playing arenas with the Tragically Hip will certainly be a new experience for Arkells, the young band are no strangers to lengthy, cross-country tours. Kerman and his band mates – lead guitarist Mike DeAngelis, bassist Nick Dika, drummer Tim Oxford and keyboardist Anthony Carone – have become known for their relentless tour-ing schedule, spending the majority of the past four years on the road.

They covered a big chunk of North America, touring almost non-stop from September to November. and, after taking a brief rest in December, they were back at it in early January. And they haven’t released a new record in a year and a half.

“It’s just the nature of the business,” said Kerman. “I think we’re really one of those

bands that make their living by touring and there’s a lot of bands like that out there… this is what we signed up for.”

In 2009, that rigorous touring schedule brought Arkells through K-W five times in 12 months while they crisscrossed Canada, building their now solid fol-lowing north of the border. But Kerman knows that the month his band will spend with The Tragically Hip is anything but just another tour.

“It’s definitely a privilege to be able to go out with a big band like them and a band that means so much to Canadians, so for that, we’re really grateful,” he said. “For us, it’s also a really good chance to play in front of a lot of people that haven’t heard us before and I think that’s the kind of opportunity every band looks for.”

But if the tour does bring Arkells some new fans, it won’t be the first time The

Tragically Hip have helped them out. Kerman and his band mates spent the winter of 2010-11 in Bath, Ont — just outside of Kingston — recording their 2011 album Michigan Left at the Bath House Recording Studio, a studio the Hip themselves have frequented.

“Gord Sinclair, the [Hip’s] bass player is just a great guy and he’s really supportive of young Canadian bands and he actually suggested that we use their recording studio,” said Kerman. “When you’re a young band, it’s always nice to have a guy like him support you.”

Since the 2008 release of Arkells’ debut album Jackson Square, the band has built their reputation on their energetic live show — which has been know to feature covers of everything from Stevie Wonder, to Hall and Oates, to Katy Perry — play-ing small clubs, bars and a few festivals. However, the stage will be a little bit

larger when they hit the road with The Hip. With venues like the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, the Sleeman Centre and the Air Canada Centre — the tour’s Feb. 14 finale — on the docket, the Arkells will be getting a crash course in something they only have a bit of experience in: playing rock music in an arena.

“Each venue has its own kind of chal-lenges. It’s going to be fun trying to figure out [playing in] the bigger arenas, be-cause it isn’t something we’ve done much of,” said Kerman. “But no matter where you’re playing, if you put on a good show, people will come back. That’s the theory we kind of abide by.” Tragically Hip wsg. Arkells play at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Feb. 5. Doors @ 7 p.m. For ticket pricing and information visit theaud.ca.

jUStin faUtEUXEdITOR-IN-ChIEF, ThE CORd

The Arkells play at Elements Night Club in February 2012 • PhOTO BY KATE TURNER PhOTOGRAPhY mANAGER

hamilton rockers the Arkells cross Canada with the Tragically hip.

The world according to ArkellsVirginaIn “Whistleblower” the protagonist finds himself awake in the wee hours of the morning in a motel, pondering calling out the up-to-no good company he works for.

Michigan“Michigan Left” pays homage to the state’s unique left-turn system (cars make U-turns instead of regular lefts at the light). The song references empty lots, so it’s certainly set in the urban ruins of Detroit.

SarniaNeed directions to the Chemical City? Just listen to the lyrics of “Where U Goin?” “403, 401, 402 you’re on the run.”

HamiltonAs a Hamilton-based band, most of their songs make reference to the Hammer. “John Lennon” recounts drunken nights headed home during university, while “Book Club” is all about getting a ride back down the QEW.


A new year means a new you, right? Well, maybe not, says Th eatre Brouhaha’s original play Help

Yourself, a story that focuses on Donny, a pseudo-therapist who helps clients justify their most immoral thoughts and actions.

Written by Toronto’s Kat Sandler, and co-created by K-W native Danny Pagent, Help Yourself won the Best New Play Contest at the 2012 Toronto Fringe Festival. Here in Kitchener, it won the Best of Fringe award, receiving an extended run aft er the festival. Now on tour, Th eatre Brouhaha’s fi rst stop is Kitchener-Waterloo, where they’ll mount two shows: Help Yourself and Shel Silverstein’s one-man play, Th e Devil and Billy Markham.

Tom McGee, founder, dramaturge and head of development for Th eatre Brouhaha caught up with the CCE to speak about his company and their upcoming tour.

“Essentially we were sitting around a bar and we were frustrated with the fact that the kind of theatre that we like to see wasn’t happening enough,” said McGee regarding the inception of Th eatre Brouhaha.

Th eatre Brouhaha’s intended audience is the “HBO generation,” - twenty- to thirty-something young professionals. “[Th ey] like cultural events... but don’t really consider theatre when they’re fi guring out their evening plans because it doesn’t

necessarily speak to them and doesn’t necessarily refl ect the world they live in,” said McGee.

With this in mind, Th eatre Brouhaha quite simply seeks to create new Canadian work to make theatre relevant for young audiences who’ve become accustomed to slick TV shows and movies for entertainment.

Toronto crowds have been quite receptive to this mission. “I’ve had a guy come up aft er Delicacy (premiered Oct, 2012) and say to our producer, ‘you know I wish movies were this good,’” said McGee.

With the burgeoning young professional community and large student population, McGee believes K-W to be the perfect fi t for Th eatre Brouhaha.

While Help Yourself will be performed at the Registry Th eatre, McGee will star in Shel Silverstein’s Th e Devil and Billy Markham which will be presented in a more intimate and relaxed environment at Imbibe in downtown Kitchener.

Before Shel Silverstein penned classics like Where the Sidewalk Ends and Th e Giving Tree, he was a writer and cartoonist for Playboy Magazine where Th e Devil and Billy Markham fi rst appeared. Surprised by the play’s racy past, McGee was intrigued as soon as he picked it up.

“It’s this raunchy, funny, dark story about a luckless gambler who loses his soul to the devil in a game of dice,” he said, “and then essentially spends the rest of the play

trying to con his way back out of hell. So, if you can imagine Johnny Cash versus the devil, that’s basically what it boils down to.”

As part of the Th eatre Brouhaha experience, the company hopes to create a full evening for their patrons that goes beyond the rise and fall of the curtain.

“If you’ve chosen to spend your time with us to see our play, if you want to hang out aft erward, we want to hang out aft erward,” said McGee.

“We’re working on the sort of the idea of the Brouhaha Circus where we just show up and take over parts of your town for a weekend and then disappear into the night.”

Th e award-winning Help Yourself, which explores the grey areas of our morality, will be performed at Th e Registry Th eatre on Jan. 25. Tickets are $10. Th e Devil in Billy Markham will be presented at Imbibe the aft ernoon of Jan. 25.

Tom mcGee in his show, The Devil and Billy Markham • COURTESY ThEATRE BROUhAhA

amY griEfCCE CONTRIBUTOR

Award winning Toronto theatre troupe drops into Kitchener

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DANCE WITH THE DEVIL


REVIEWSURBAN CONFUSIONNethermind Collective’s new show is an out-of-this-city experience

FILM REVIEW

Django Unchanined2012Dir. Quentin Tarantino

We all know what we are going to see when go watch a Quentin Tarantino fi lm; excessive violence, copious amounts of blood, pop cultural references, quick witted dialogue and characters unlike any that you have ever encountered.

Unfortunately, like every great director, there are some inconsistencies across their work where audiences are left to wonder what exactly was the intention of the fi lm that they just saw. Sure, Taranti-no’s last picture Inglourious Basterds was enjoyable, but there was no humanistic element that made you truly care for the characters involved.

Now arrives Django Unchained, the latest cinematic installment from Tarantino. It’s a gritty western that takes a delicate peri-od of American history in the thick of the slave trade and makes it guiltily comedic, if not heroic, as we watch the lovable and charismatic duo of Jamie Foxx as Django, a former slave, and Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz, pursuing bounties across America.

Together as bounty hunters, the two embark on a journey that is extremely graphic as we frequently see women abused, slaves beaten and depicted in shackles, and other inhuman contrap-tions for entrapment.

Th e fi lm as a whole is tough to watch at times, yet it’s almost impossible not to remain entranced. Tarantino frankly ap-proaches America’s dark past, not in an attempt to comment on slavery, but more so in an eff ort to acknowledge its preva-lence and to place you in a world where you are witness to atrocities that were common on a daily basis to those who endured it

Featuring an impressive supporting cast that features the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio as the captivating villain and plantation owner Calvin Candie, along with Samuel L. Jackson as his loyal house-keeper Stephen, Django Unchained is a great fi lm not only for die-hard Tarantino fans, but also for those who want to fi nd a human element in a fi lm that endears them to a hero whom one can only wish existed during the American slave trade.

Where one may see a simple wall, an artist may see a canvas. Th e Nethermind Collective is a

group of artists who gather inspiration not just from their experiences but from the environment in which their works are to be featured. Th eir most recent exhibit is housed at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery as the third stage of the Gal-lery’s exhibition season.

As you enter the gallery, all separation between gallery and room is forgotten. Each piece not only improves the space it fi lls but accentuates and is even defi ned by the environment it’s in.

From the entryway, wires precariously hold a crop of wheat few feet above the fl oor, framing a grave site further on in the exhibit. In Ascension, the name of the piece, wheat stalks tower over the exhibit. By climbing a set of stairs, viewers are consumed by the wheat fi eld as if lost in the Prairies.

Th e artist, Mary Catherine Newcomb, had great diffi culty resizing Ascension just to fi t inside the gallery, and by plac-ing her piece in midair she hoped to depict the hopes and futures of the crop that she tended.

Beneath Ascension, skulls laugh omi-nously among themselves near the wall. Catherine Heard’s Grave is composed of multiple skulls arranged in a bordered section of the fl oor. As you walk amongst the skulls, each expression captivates and bewilders. Some smile silently with a toothy grin while others stick their tongues out at their jawless comrades.

Heard experimented with multiple media such as porcelain and wax in order to fi nd materials that could be x-rayed. Each x-ray appears similar to that of a human skull and are displayed over the gravesite.

Over the skulls, a video plays on a screen in a tiny room. Scenes of wind blowing against a plane, a tornado and cop car being beaten by a strong gale wind appear on the screen. It’s interesting to watch such scenes, yet such a simple movie

seemed out of place at such an experi-mental exhibit.

I quickly forgot the movie until a group of miniatures models in a separate room brought back its memory. It soon became apparent that the screen was display-ing the live experiences of these models against fan-created winds.

Th e most surprising model was a cotton ball slowly spinning on a contraption. It was shocking to think someone had con-jured such an idea as to create a tornado from a rotating cotton ball but Johnny Dixon’s Stormy Weather had.

One piece was baffl ing and lulled me back to it. Th e Torch Series was composed of seven pieces of clay squished by unknown hands. Tom Dean clarifi ed the mean-ing of his piece. Each lump of clay, he explained, had been modeled by one of the Nethermind Collective artists. Each piece of clay seemed like a torch, hoping to burn long aft er they’re gone; much like the experimental ideas of the collective. Th ree with the Nethermind Collective runs at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery (263 Phillip St) until Mar. 9, 2013.

rEbEcca aLLiSonCCE CONTRIBUTOR

Ascension by mary Catherine Newcomb • PhOTO BY REBECCA ALLISON

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MONTHLY EVENTSmUSIC

COmmUNITY

ARTS

MuSicShake – and – Skate

When the weather gets cold, you can either stay inside and be miserable or you can get out on the skating rink and dance. At Shake-and-Skate, a family friendly DJ’d free skate, you can dance to different music each night (and if you’re off age, enjoy the heated patio at near by Beertown).

Waterloo Public SquareJan. 19 and Feb. 2 @ 7 p.m.KDUB.ca

cOMMuNiTyUnited Way Fundraiser: An Evening with the Kitchener Rangers

Have you ever said to yourself: I could have played pro hockey if I had just prac-ticed more? See if that’s actually true at this event where you can hit the ice with the Kitchener Rangers. You’ll also be able to tour the new dressing rooms, take part in a silent auction, and even hang out with a few future NHLers.

The Aud$20Tuesday, Jan. 29 @ 7 p.m.

ARTSMeeting People Is Easy: Speed Net-working with KWAG & Kitchener Public Library

Networking can be difficult. Don’t you wish there were a place where you could network with people of all sorts, and also have a great atmosphere? The Kitchener–Waterloo Art Gallery is filling that void by holding a special speed-networking night! Socialize and have a good time with new friends at this event. You can also enjoy the contemporary art, not to mention a tipple at the cash bar and some tasty hors d’oeuvres.

Kitchener–Waterloo Art GalleryFREEThursday, January 24 @ 7 p.m.

–Compiled and written by Adele Palmquist

JAN. 18Mary Catherine QuartetThe Jazz Room, $12, 7p.m.

Sublime BeethovenCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 8p.m.

JAN. 19Jim Lewis TrioThe Jazz Room, $18, 7p.m.

Sublime BeethovenCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 8p.m.

Drums, Drums, Drums!Centre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 2:30p.m.

Chris Coole, The Blackwood TwoMaxwell’s Music House, $10 advance, 9p.m.

JAN. 23Lindi Ortega and Dustin Bentall & The SmokesMaxwell’s Music House, $10 advance, $12 at the door, 8:30p.m.

JAN. 24Julie DoironStarlight, $9 advance, 8p.m.

Blue Rodeo - 25th Anniversary TourCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 8p.m.

J’nai wsg. TBAMaxwell’s Music House, $5, 8:30p.m.

JAN. 25Cory Weeds/Steve Davis QuintetThe Jazz Room, $20, 7p.m.

An All-Gershwin EveningCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 8p.m.

Moster Fever wsg. TBAMaxwell’s Music House, $5, 9p.m.

JAN. 26An All-Gershwin EveningCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 8p.m.

Youth OrchestraCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 2p.m.

JAN. 31Welcome to NashvilleCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 7:30p.m.

FEB. 1Shafton Thomas GroupThe Jazz Room, $12, 7p.m.

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experi-enceCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 7:30p.m.

DJ Flash – Throwback Records CD Release Party – Volume 23Starlight, $5, 10p.m.

Broken Calibur, James and Blackburn, The DickensMaxwell’s Music House, $5, 9p.m.

FEB. 2Peter Beets TrioThe Jazz Room, $20, 7p.m.

The Bosswich, The BeatdownMaxwell’s Music House, $5, 9p.m.

FEB. 7Plants and AnimalsStarlight, $15 advance, 8p.m.

Elsa Jane, Carly Maicher, Zachary LuckyMaxwell’s Music House, see max-wellsmusichouse.ca for ticket pricing, 8:30p.m.

FEB. 8Barb Fulton QuartetThe Jazz Room, $15, 7p.m.

FEB. 9Jamie Reynolds TrioThe Jazz Room, $16, 7p.m.

Ekhaya, Roots Raggae, Dindindi, Azonto, Kwaito & Afro-Beat DJMaxwell’s Music House, $15, $10 stu-dent, 7:30p.m.

FEB. 10Kristine Schmidt and her Special Pow-ers wsg. Ol’ TimeyJane Bond, $8, 7p.m.

FEB. 13Ben Caplan, Jack McNairn, Anthony Damaio, JP HoeMaxwell’s Music House, $8 advance, $10 at the door, 8:30p.m.

JAN. 19Resolution for 2013 A Poverty Free OntarioMary’s Place, 84 Frederick St, RSVP by January 17th to [email protected] or 519-579-1096, Ex. 3010, 1:30p.m.

Skate-n-Shake, w/ Kurtbradd & VeigaWaterloo Public Square, FREE, 7p.m.

JAN. 22Rummage SaleFirst United Church, 3p.m.

JAN. 27Alzheimer Society of Kitchener Water-loo Walk For MemoriesWaterloo Memorial Recreation Complex, for more information or to download a pledgeform visit www.alzheimerkw.com, 1p.m.

Debate on Electoral Reform with Sté-phane DionGreek-Cypriot Hall, 2p.m.

FEB. 2Year of the Snake Chinese New Year FestivalWaterloo Memorial Recreation Com-plex, FREE, 12p.m.

Skate-n-Shake w/ DJ Flash & DJ PrestoWaterloo Public Square, FREE, 7p.m.

JAN. 18 – mAR. 10Gather...Arrange...MaintainKitchener – Waterloo Art Gallery, gallery hours

JAN. 19The Brush OffThe Museum, see themuseum.ca for admission prices

JAN. 26Learn the Basics of Wood CarvingKitchener – Waterloo Art Gallery, $65, 12p.m.

JAN. 27Walk the TalkKitchener – Waterloo Art Gallery, FREE, 2p.m.

JAN. 30The Number 14Centre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 7:30p.m.

FEB. 2Lord of the DanceCentre in the Square, see centre-square.com for ticket pricing, 7:30p.m.

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