Artichoke Vol.4 No.4

mag

JANUARY 2015 | VOL. 4 N o . 4

WELCOME BACK 10

WORDS(ON)PAGES Emerging Canadian artists

2 | ARTICHOKE

CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR IN CHIEF

Emma Beckett

ART DIRECTORS WRITERS

Camellia De Castro Curtis te Brinke Diana Edelhauser Luke Gagliardi Eric Schoenberger Jamielyn Mariano Melissa D’Angelo Nadia Rompas Peter Ellman Katie Powe Bryan Jan

DESIGNERS

Jacob Colosi Karen Keung

Amanda Hoff Ally Pelligrino Anna Campbell Emily Munro Erika Sternberg Heather McAlpine Lucy Bilson Maryanne Cruz Michelle Fok Scott Osborne Sarah El Sherbini Thaddeus Miya

CONTENTS

VOL 4.

No. 4 | JANUARY 2015

CREATIVE 32

EASTER MONDAY

By Luke Gagliardi

34

THROW THE FIRST STONE

By Katie Powe

WORDS (ON) PAGES 06

FROST WEEK Back to Rock

10

MAJOR SPEAK

WORDS ON PAGES Literary Community

ENTERTAINMENT

14

STUDENT FILMMAKERS Akreta Saim BFA’15 Film Production

20

THE PRICE OF ENTERTAINMENT The Cost of Toronto Theatre

16

2014 BEST BOOKS Let the Countdown Begin

22

WINTER MUSIC Boost Your Winter Sonic Spirit

18

NEW YEAR, NEW READS 2015 Book Releases

24

CARTOON FIX Shows to Get your TV Fix

LIFEST YLE

HEALTH

26

ST. VINCENT Reconciliation With St. Vincent

36

FITNESS TIPS Keep Your New Years Resolution

28

SAFE TO SAY Bands You Should Know About

38

YOGA My Yoga Mat is here to Nama-stay

30

RECIPE Gentle Lentil Soup

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR HI WINTERS! Welcome to a new year, a new semester, and the first ever online edition of Artichoke Magazine! From now on, we will be publishing our issues online through our Facebook page. There will still be small print run of a couple hundred copies for each issue, so if you want a print copy the current issue will always be available in the Winters council office and Absinthe pub, and all archives as well as the current issue will be available in the Artichoke office. Other than that, all of our news, updates,

archives, and current issues will be available through our Facebook page!

Liking us on Facebook will mean that each new issue will show up in a flippable format on your news feed.

It will also keep you up to date with info and events going on with the Artichoke and Winters College!

It's 2015, welcome to the future y'all.

www.facebook.com/pages/ArtichokeMagazine/131605956923469 EMMA BECKETT EIC

5 | Winters

EWAG Eleanor Winters Art Gallery

Jan 5-16 Shannon O’Toole - Solo Painting Show Jan 14-17 Division Festival - Theater Performances Jan 19-30 VASA Student Curated Show Mentored by Suzanne Carte (Assistant Curator of AGYU) Jan 28 Art & Poetry Night 7pm

SPECIAL PROJECTS GALLERY CFT Building

TRANSFORM Featuring Artists: Maria Won & Santiago Roballo The exhibition is held from January 19th - 30th 2015 in the Special Projects Gallery, CFT building.

The closing reception is on January 29th from 5:30pm - 9:00pm. There will be refreshments.

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FROST WEEK 2015: BACK TO ROCK Welcome back to the new year, and back to your home away from home. This week, to kick off the new semester we have some wicked sweet events happening at Winters that will inspire you, entertain you and bring back that Winters spirit we all missed during the break. Here’s the low down on what’s going on:

MONDAY: DAY 1

12:30PM POLAR BEAR RUN If you don’t know what this is think of the long jogs on the beach on a gorgeous summer day- except cold. Very cold. Want to unpack the mystery? Come to the most iconic Winters Frost Week event. No spoon necessary. Meet in the council office at Winters College at 12:30.

7:00PM TOWN HALL In the Winters Dining Hall Council will host their weekly meeting and are inviting Winters to come sit in, participate and see what being on council is all about! Elections will be coming up for the next year very soon so take the time to get to know who you’ll be voting for and what goes on behind the scenes!

1:00PM CASA FROST WEEK COFFEE HOUSE At the Fireside Lounge in the Centre for Film and Theatre: hang out, mingle, eat snacks, drink coffee and enjoy this weekly relax time with CASA.

8:00PM CASA ACOUSTIC NIGHT Come unwind in the Junior Common Room and check out some Winters talent and get serenaded by beautiful vocals, aching hearts and twangy guitar solos. Hosted by the fantastic CASA crew. We’re transforming the JCR into the most relaxing, safe haven of soulful music and eclectic snacks to start your new semester with good vibes.

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TUESDAY: DAY 2

Hell yes, there’s more 6:00PM DSA & WCC IMPROV SOIREE It’s exactly what it sounds like: the lovely Dance Student Association will host an evening of improvised movement and music in the Eleanor Winters Art Gallery on the second floor of Winters College.

8:30PM ROCKIN EWAG WORD NIGHT Poetry, words, feelings - super rock and roll. Come share your writing and enjoy the beautiful words others share with you. Snap when you feel moved. Rules still stand, sign ups will be first come, first serve to a maximum of 15 sign ups. Also in the Eleanor Winters Art Gallery.

Hosted by the magnificent Winters Free Press.

WEDNESDAY: DAY 3

12:30PM TEA TIME WITH THE MASTER In the senior common room get the chance to hang out with John Mayberry, our amazing Master of Winters College. Get the chance to ask questions, chat about what matters to you and get to know the man behind the college.

8:00PM !!POWERFEST!!

GAME NIGHT Imagine the greatest games night of all time, but multiplied by awesomeness a million times over!

We will be having tournaments!

Games including (but not limited to) Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Original Super Mario Bros. and many many more! This will all be happening in the JCR. Swing by to play your favourite games, and enter the tournament to be the Winters World Champion!

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THURSDAY: DAY 4 12:30PM WINTERS GETS POLITICAL Winters College hosts the Students Against the Israeli Apartheid Club to discuss their York University Divestment movement and what you can do to help! There’s lots of awesome resources in Toronto to learn about and get involved in. Let’s get informed, let’s get informed, let’s get informed…

4:00PM CONTRADANCE Dance your heart out with guest performers and callers and learn how to dance the partnered folk dance style and impress all your friends with your new mad skills. John Mayberry hosts and it is guaranteed to give you an amazingly fun evening of laughter and dancing.Meet in the Junior Common Room at 4:00pm.

8:00PM ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL PUB NIGHT To kick off the first pub night of the year Winters is kicking it old school.

Come dressed as your favourite generation of rock stars - whether you’re feeling glam, grunge, metal, whatever suits your style. Make that ab line shine with blasts from the past and there may be some fun prizes in store for your killer costumes.

“No, it can’t possibly get better! But wait...”

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FRIDAY: DAY 5

SATURDAY: DAY 6 LAST DAY

1:00PM ART BATTLE ART AUCTION

9:00PM WINTERS CLASSIC HOCKEY GAME

Come to the JCR to check out the gems birthed during the Art Battle of Frost Week 2014. Re-live the magic and get the chance to take home one of these works of art born in the sweet bliss of art rave madness. This will be a silent auction running for 2 hours. You can donate dollars or auction off a dance, theatrical, musical performance in exchange for the art piece. The winners will be announced at 3:00pm and any performances will be done at this time. Also meet the lovely ladies of “The Vagina Monologues”: an on campus theatrical initiative.

9:00PM PLAYWRIGHT’S PUB Ever wondered what it’s like to write a play? Want to experience the true meaning of Hemingway’s famous quote: “write drunk, edit sober”? This Frost week in JCR 10 playwrights will write for two hours and you can stop by, donate some cash and influence their writing. You can influence what they write about, shaping the subject matter, the themes, the character names and whatever you can dream up! At the end of two hours of writing there will be staged reading of all of these collective creations. All proceeds will support the 10/10/10 project and Epigraph Collective: two Winters theatre student projects.

Watch as the Ab Rats and Winters Cannabis Leafs battle it out for the championship. Are these two teams destined to fight forever?

Welcome back to Winters babes.

See you there.

Much Love Your O-chairs Kpowe and Azazel

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WORDS(ON)PAGES

BY EMMA BECKETT I met Nicole Brewer and Will Kemp of words(on)pages through a Creative Writing class workshop, and through them discovered a thriving literary community of emerging artists in Toronto that I had barely known existed. Nicole and Will both graduated from York in the publishing stream of the Professional Writing program, and instead of going on to work for a larger publishing house or looking for places to publish their own creative work, they took on the challenge of starting words(on)pages. words(on)pages has been publishing work by emerging Canadian artists for a little under a year and they already have several chapbooks printed, four issues of their bi-monthly periodical, (parenthetical), and plans to expand exponentially in the new year. Will and Nicole bind all of the copies of (parenthetical) and their chapbooks by hand. In addition to this, they have hosted several installments of a monthly reading series, called words(on)stages, in order to showcase the work of (parenthetical) contributors and provide an opportunity for other young and emerging writers to share their work.

After attending a words(on) stages event in November I went to an event called Meet the Presses, an independent literary market for small presses in Toronto and across the country. Will and Nicole had a booth set up at the market and were selling handmade copies of (parenthetical) and chapbooks, and this is where our interview took place.

Photograph by Ralph Kolewe

ARTICHOKE: Where did the inspiration for the names words(on) pages and (parenthetical) come from?

NICOLE: It’s the transparency. I think that it came out of a place of being really frustrated with a bunch of obscure, pretentious names with references that nobody understands.

WILL: words(on)pages is pretty fucking pretentious in its own way.

NICOLE: Well, we also didn’t know if we were just going to be poetry or fiction, and there is this huge space between poetry and fiction, and so it was kind of—

With (parenthetical), there is actually a conversation on the back of every issue and it is a real conversation that we had. When we said the name was (parenthetical), which originally came from just that I like parentheses, they said “is that a word?” and I said “yeah, it just means off to the side. Part of the whole, but ultimately inessential.” and they said “so like poetry?” I said “yeah, it adds colour” and they said “so like art.” and it was hilarious because it just perfectly defined what this is.

WILL: Yes, we want it to be cool and awesome, and it is, but yeah, it is off to the side.

WILL: What are we, but words on pages? We are just words on a page.

NICOLE: Art is ultimately inessential, but it is also… the meaning of life.

NICOLE: It allows room for growth, and I think I just liked the possibilities of words(on)pages.

WILL: Exactly. It is also ultimately the most essential thing ever, to us at least.

11 | WINTERS ARTICHOKE: What was the process that you guys went through to get this started after graduating?

NICOLE: It started more from a desire to be published. We were trying to find stuff to go to as writers, so we were trying to find reading series’ to go to that had open mics, we were trying to find small presses to find out how they got their authors and how they chose who to publish.

We actually came to this Indie Lit Market last year, and I think that was the first time we were exposed to chapbook publishers.

a small chapbook press that went for three or four years run by some pretty cool poets, Mat Laporte and Spencer Gordon.

WILL: They created these amazing, beautiful books that made us go, “Holy crap, why can’t we do that? Wait, we can, if we put the effort in.”

Jay and Hazel have been super helpful in terms of mentoring us, not only just as publishers and how to navigate publishing, but how to just be good people in publishing.

NICOLE: The ethics of publishing.

WILL: DIY chapbook stuff. [Chapbooks are short (up to 40 pages) books of poetry, art, and other creative material. They are often printed and bound by hand.]

WILL: It sounds weird, but we didn’t realize how important it is to not be an asshole in publishing, it helps quite a bit. When it comes to publishing, Jay and Hazel have been amazing.

NICOLE: We were like, these are so cool, we want to learn how to make them. So we did, and the more we learned about making them the more we learned that there is this huge community of people doing something incredibly similar. It became less about publishing ourselves, and more about what we can contribute to this community and other emerging artists.

NICOLE: For me personally, my influences for writing I have the usual, Hemingway and David Foster Wallace, and everything like that, but I am most inspired by the people that we publish in (parenthetical).

Seeing this incredible work from poets between 15 and 30 who are just doing what they do and love, and doing it amazingly. They are incredibly inspiring to me. And then we find out that a lot of these people run a small literary journal on the side, or they used to be part of a small press or something like that. So every time I learn about someone who we have published or met and they have a project of their own, that is just incredibly inspiring to me.

WILL: And publishing stuff we like, which grows the community. So yeah, it started as a desire to publish ourselves, and then quickly were like, whatever, anywhere can publish us so why not work to grow the community?

ARTICHOKE: Who are some of your greatest influences, as writers or as publishers?

WILL: Book Thug, for sure.

NICOLE: Jay MillAr and Hazel Millar at BookThug, Ferno House, which doesn’t exist anymore, but it was

WILL: Usually it is something that overlaps with your interests so you want to get involved with it. I guess me, when it comes to influences Ginsberg is the obvious one. As soon as anybody reads a single line of my work they are like “oh, you like Ginsberg.”

Yeah, it’s been a cool thing that Jay and Hazel have helped us navigate this, and then just coming to fairs and getting submissions. It’s a weird thing but it’s also a matter of observing people and observing how things work, and how they don’t work. How they don’t work is just as much an influence on us as watching something flourish and be awesome.

That’s not anything negative, it’s just that— NICOLE: Knowing what you aren’t is just as important as knowing what you are.

WILL: Yes. Thank you. For example we started out going to a lot of slams and spoken word stuff, and we quickly realized that as much as we appreciate that stuff, it’s not us. We want to publish things, we don’t want to get involved in just the slam circle, so we moved away from it, to a degree.

ARTICHOKE: What do you think makes words(on)pages different from other small presses in Toronto?

NICOLE: I think that we tend to be a lot more transparent than other small presses. We don’t try to hide any of our failures, and there is no secrecy behind how we make what we make.

We also truly and honestly don’t care about who we publish. If you send us something and we like it, we will put it in our magazine.

WILL: It is such an anecdotal thing at this point, but in Issue 2, we published a 15 year old and we didn’t know she was 15 until she sent us her bio, and we were like, who are you?

I’m not even half as good of a writer [as she is] now. So, we care who you are, but we don’t care in the sense that if it’s good, it’s good, that is all we care about.

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Art is ultimately inessential, but it is also... the meaning of life.

NICOLE: I think that we also have a focus on education as well, because we had no idea how to navigate any of this and we would really like to share that. We go to efforts to share what we learned by trial and error. I think there is an education aspect that not a lot of other small presses have.

WILL: It is that transparency thing again, it is being completely honest about our failures, and being completely honest about our successes. When it comes to feedback, generally we try as hard as we can to give as much feedback as we can on submissions, and stuff like that.

We as writers have submitted to a bunch of places, and just getting a form rejection sucks because there is so much that goes into rejection that you don’t realize until you are on the other side of things and have to reject people, and have to figure out why.

ARTICHOKE: Do you see words(on) pages expanding/growing in the near future, and if so, how?

NICOLE: Yeah, we are going to start publishing chapbooks by other people in 2015.

WILL: We have a manuscript right now.

NICOLE: We want to publish three or four people per season, to kind of be more on the same publishing schedule as other people. We would really like to start hosting workshops. We really enjoy going to schools and putting [workshops] on for classes, and we would love to start hosting them and maybe have like a multi-part 5 week workshop where by the end of it, you

get to make your own chapbook of poetry or something like that.

I think someday I can imagine us publishing books with spines...

WILL: Maybe.

NICOLE: But I also wouldn’t be heartbroken if that didn’t happen. I don’t know if I ever see us being a “publisher” in the traditional sense.

WILL: Well if we do, it might be a thing where we start another publishing house and keep words(on) pages as the chapbook and literary magazine press. Maybe, I don’t know.

That is something we will have to figure out when we get there. For now, the plan is to get chapbooks and reading series’ going and see where that goes.

ARTICHOKE: What is (parenthetical) all about?

NICOLE: It is a bi-monthly literary magazine that we print and bind ourselves. It has a focus on emerging artists so every issue we try to make sure that we publish someone who hasn’t been published before, and someone under 21 just because I think that is a really under-served group of writers. A group of really talented writers that are doing stuff that is important for them and important for the community, but who don’t get a lot of recognition.

We also pay our writers for their work. It’s not a lot because we do it out of pocket, it it $15 payment or a copy and $5 because contributors can buy copies for $10. We want to also stop authors believing that they have to write for free, so that is part

of what we are doing too is teaching people that they deserve to be paid for their art, even if it is only a little.

ARTICHOKE: How can people submit to (parenthetical), and what do you look for in submissions?

NICOLE: People can submit to us on our website. There is a page that outlines all of the different ways to submit to us. You can submit chapbook manuscripts, or you can submit to (parenthetical). It is just via email, we don’t have a submission form or anything.

In submissions, we just look for... anything. I would say “something that stands out”, but that is incredibly vague. It is stuff that, either we can feel what you felt when you were writing it, or stuff that really pushes the boundaries. Also something that stands up to multiple readings.

WILL: Yes, that is super important.

NICOLE: And in terms of style, nonfiction [submissions] have to be based in Can-Lit, so either talking about Can-Lit, or reviewing a small press Canadian book, or critical theory. We aren’t really interested in memoir or creative non-fiction— WILL: Because there is a lot of that elsewhere.

NICOLE: More theory based or Can-Lit non-fiction.

WILL: We are so adamant that we as an organization, and literary magazines in general, contribute to the community and don’t just kind of exist in a vacuum to be read and

13 | WINTERS just moved on from. You read this stuff because not only do you like the stuff in it, but it is saying something important and doing something important in Canadian literature. So that is why we want to make sure that our non-fiction, at least, is very much rooted in and— NICOLE: Contributing to that discussion.

WILL: Yes, contributing to that discussion.

Our guidelines are there for a reason, but they are also there to be broken. And again we are transparent, so if your stuff doesn’t fit we will try to explain why. It might just be that we have too many similar poems in this issue, or we don’t have the room, or it’s genre fiction and we don’t publish genre fiction, but here is a place where they might publish it.

When we reject people we try to at least give a good reason why and give some feedback and some guidelines as to where they can go with their stuff.

ARTICHOKE: Other than submitting work, what is the best way for people to get involved, either with this press or any of the small presses around Toronto, and what is the best way to support this industry?

NICOLE: Buy stuff.

WILL: Yup. We are broke as shit, but we still try to go out of our way to buy stuff.

NICOLE: Last summer something inside of me just broke, and I decided that I was not going to stop myself from spending money on books anymore.

WILL: If we want to be in this industry and we want other people to buy our work, then it would be

hypocritical of us not to buy other peoples work too.

NICOLE: So come to small press fairs, go to launches, most small presses have seasonal launches, they don’t launch individual books, so they usually have a fall or a spring launch that you can go to and see new books.

You can meet tons of new people, you can hear the readings, you can buy the books, there is usually a small discount when you are buying them at launches.

WILL: And if you come to a small press fair and you don’t have any money, make a note of the small presses that interest you— NICOLE: So that you can see them again.

WILL: Or, All Lit Up is a website run by the literary press group.

WILL: But it was super valuable and amazing. Even me, not even being involved in the internship, I learned through osmosis. Get out there, because you can only do so much submitting to literary journals, and sending manuscripts to places, and maybe you get published, but then once you are published your thing just kind of exists in a literary magazine and that’s it. People read it once and move on, no matter how good it is, just because there is so much stuff. If you want to be involved you can’t just sit on your ass at home, because if you got your stuff published it doesn’t matter because people can’t put a face to a name. If you want to get involved you have to get out there, and it’s scary. We are introverts. Talking to people weirds us out, but everybody here is an introvert. That’s the secret.

Everybody at small press fairs are shy and weird, because they like books.

NICOLE: It is basically like the notevil Amazon.

WILL: It is the Canadian literature Amazon. It is an online site for people to find books from small presses around the country. They have stuff from BookThug, they have stuff from Coach House, they have stuff from Pedlar, they have stuff from small presses that you are not going to find in an Indigo, and it is super important that if you want those books, you get them.

And talk to people. That is the way that we got into this, like Nicole interned for BookThug because we talked to them.

NICOLE: Because I walked up to BookThug and said “do you hire interns?” And that’s how I got my internship. It was unpaid.

 @wordsonpages  www.facebook.com/wordsonpages

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AKRETA SAIM

STUDENT FILMMAKER

Photograph by Sabrina Munir

BY MAYEESHA CHO

h

Few days ago I spotted a film link on my Facebook home page posted by one of my neighbors. I clicked on it to be graced by a moving 8 minute short about a dying mother’s letters to her future child. I soon figured out that the director of this short, Akreta Saim, happened to also, live in my building. Over a few coffees and multiple phone recordings, I managed to get insight into the mind of this inspirational young girl who is working her way up the film ladder with integrity. The short film is an eight minute long visual rollercoaster that re­ creates the short journey of a young woman as she struggles to be in high spirits as she lies on her death bed.

Elpis premiered in Finish Line 2014 and got nominated for CineSiege that year for the best student film. Aside from the CineSiege nomination, the film was nominated for Viewster, National Screening Institute and TIFF. The latter one was actually announced when I was in the process of collaborating with her for this mini­interview. Elpis is an experimental film following various narrative constraints of a documentary. The film, interestingly illustrates the story of a

15 | MAJOR SPEAK

young Greek­Indian girl, Ruby, who died giving birth to a child. Despite being a short film, Elpis allows the audience to experience Ruby’s emo­ tionally ambiguous journey through unique and visually stimulating shots. When discussing the film with Akreta, she mentioned that it was inspired by a true story. That imme­ diately caught my attention. Without giving much away for the readers, she managed to explain to me what about Ruby really put her on this direc­ tion. Ruby was her greek­indian who died giving birth to a baby girl, due to pregnancy complications. Ruby’s husband killed himself the night Ruby got pregnant. Akreta briefly addresses the fact that Ruby’s husband suffered from narcissistic disorder, and was therefore in love with himself, which ultimately lead to his suicide. Ruby, in her death bed, wrote a series of letters to her future daughter. Elpis. The film was initially supposed to be shots of Ruby reading the letters out to her fu­ ture child, as per her request. Howev­ er, due to technical difficulties, Akreta

was unable to carry that out, and by the time everything was ready, Ruby had passed away, leaving behind a se­ ries of letters written in Greek, and a beautiful baby girl, Elpis. During the interview, Akreta constantly reiterated how guilty she felt about not being able to carry out Ruby’s last wish, and how this movie was a creative outlet for her to let go of that guilt, and granting peace to Ruby’s depart­ ed soul. Even though the child isn’t within Akreta’s reach right now, she is adamant about having her watch the film at some point in her life.

What I found interesting about this short piece is how personal it was to the filmmaker. The film wasn’t made for a festival, neither was it made for a class, it just happened to be good enough for all these qualifications. I particularly found the artist’s per­ sonal connection to her piece very intriguing and inspiring. Akreta Saim is a 4th year production major from New Delhi, India. Being an overseas student myself, I was quite taken by how she attempted to let

her culture and traditions seep through her works. Her other works include various music videos, Dharma (a short film), amongst many others.

Through her works, she explores various socio­cultural issues, as well as spiritual elements. Her short film, Dharma, really stood out to me as it encapsulated the raging issue of domestic abuse that prevails in her hometown. She claims that most of her films, in a cultural context, are to represent her hybrid mindset which combines her newly acquired knowledge of the Western culture, and her existing connection with the Indian culture. I noticed that culture played a huge role in all of Akreta’s works. When she was speaking about making Elpis, she mentioned that the letters which served as the primary source for the script were actually written in Greek. In order to execute this project, her team and her went through the entire process of translat­ ing these personal pieces into English.

She describes her initial inspira­ tions for filmmaking to come from Bollywood, and having spent some time with Akreta, I do believe that her personality is the embodiment of everything that Bollywood stands for.

She’s a high spirited, extremely hyper­ active and colourful human being.

Aside from being an experimen­ tal filmmaker, Akreta is a curator for Images festival, and Future of Film Showcase. Images festival is a renowned festival, known for featur­ ing works of students, and Future of Film Showcase is a student-led film festival, initiated by York Students.

After their immense success last year, and having student films showcased at AMC theatres, they’ve began putting out submission calls for their second run.

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2014

BEST BOOKS

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN

Perhaps the best part about ringing in the New Year occurs in the final minutes of December 31st. You frantically check the time until it reads 11:59 p.m. Then, when the time comes, you chant the ten second countdown in unison with those around you. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

That countdown serves as a sendoff to the past year while welcoming the prospects of the New Year with open arms. Although we bid farewell to the past year, we never forget the experiences it gave us, especially the art it gave us. I believe that the art released in 2014 was exceptionally rich, literature included.

With the hopes that 2015 will also provide wonderful new books to curl up with, let’s not forget some of the best Canadian books released in 2014. So, shall we let the countdown to some of the best books of 2014 begin?

BY CAMILLA DE CASTRO

17 | MAJORSPEAK

5. Best Poetry Collection of 2014

3. Best Graphic Novel of 2014

1. Best Fiction Novel of 2014

On Malice, by Ken Babstock.

Already a Griffin Poetry Prize winner, Babstock served us with another standout poetry collection in 2014.

The poems in On Malice are complex, yet offer a lyrical quality. Collectively, the poems deal with surveillance and the notion of being spied on by the NSA all within an experimental poetry format. It may be confusing as you try to unearth the poetry’s meaning, but all good poetry requires a little analysis.

This One Summer, by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki. The Tamaki cousins are perhaps one of the best Canadian literature partnerships – please go read their graphic novel Skim (released in 2008) if you haven’t already. Once again, the Tamakis create a beautiful balance of words and graphics to tell their story in This One Summer. It’s a poignant story that depicts a young girl, Rose on her journey of growing up while her family is breaking apart during a vacation at the family cottage one summer.

Sweetland, by Michael Crummey.

I believe the Globe and Mail summed up Crummey’s book perfectly: it’s “like a song of mourning.” Sweetland follows a man, Moses who remains on the small Newfoundland island he’s lived on most of his life, even after he is the only one left on the island. Now, Moses is haunted by ghosts of the island but overall, there is simplistic touch to the eeriness within the story.

4. Best Short Story Collection of 2014 Stone Mattress, by Margaret Atwood. Atwood took another stab at writing a short story collection in 2014 and she did it ever so well, but who would expect anything less from Ms. Atwood? While Atwood prefers to call it “tales” rather than “short stories,” it is undeniable that Stone Mattress still offers some of Atwood’s classic dark humour. And, if you enjoyed Atwood’s 1993 novel The Robber Bride, then you will be pleased to read its sequel story “I Dream of Xenia With the Bright Red Teeth” in Stone Mattress.

2. Best Nonfiction Novel of 2014 Between Gods, by Alison Pick.

There’s no denying Pick is a brilliant writer, both in poetry and prose. But, 2014 marked a different direction for Pick when she released a memoir.

In Between Gods, Pick delves into the time in her 30s when she suffered depression, as well as discovered her family’s Jewish heritage. It’s raw and moving – everything you could want from a memoir that explores selfdiscovery.

And, of course, there were many other “best books” of 2014.

Everyone’s countdown to the best books of 2014 will undoubtedly look different. Thankfully, each year the list of outstanding Canadian (and international) literature could go on and on, and here’s to hoping that 2015 is just as good. Cheers!

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2015

BOOK RELEASES TO LOOK FORWARD TO

BY JAMIELYN MARIANO

As 2014 has finally come to a close and our annual New Year’s resolutions are well underway, of course it’s only fitting to also include a list of things to look forward to while we’re cutting those carbs and chastising ourselves for buying that second cup of coffee. So without further delay, here’s a list of muchanticipated books for all you hungry, avid readers…

19 | MAJOR SPEAK

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

By Paula Hawkins (January 6) Still suffering from the brilliance of Gone Girl? Look no further – Hawkins’ debut thriller, about a woman who is pulled into a murder investigation after becoming an unlikely witness during her daily commute, sounds just as promising.

Set in the bustling city of London, Girl on the Train is told from a set of unreliable perspectives that are sure to rile those frustrations.

LOST & FOUND

By Brooke Davis (February 3) If you enjoy reading about travelling just as much as travelling itself, Lost & Found is a story that brings together three unlikely individuals in a quest for self-discovery and acceptance. A spontaneous road trip set across the backdrop of Australia, Davis’ heartfelt debut explores human grief: a concept that parallels the beauty and barrenness of the landscape itself.

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC

By V.E. Schwab (February 24) As a fantasy fanatic, the days couldn’t come any sooner for this one. In Schwab’s second adult book, Darker Shade of Magic presents a world of paralleling Londons: cities filled with magic and madness, corrupt courts and kings, and of course, Travelers – those with the rare ability to travel between parallel worlds.

THE WILD OATS PROJECT: ONE WOMAN’S MIDLIFE QUEST FOR PASSION AT ANY COST

By Robin Rinaldi (March 17) In this brave memoir, Rinaldi recounts the year she lived an open marriage: on weekdays, she’d live in

her own apartment and take various lovers, while on weekends she’d return to her home as a wife. Honest and riveting, The Wild Oats Project explores the idea of female sexuality and questions the concepts of love, sex, and marriage and how it in turn defines us.

CUT-UP APOLOGETIC

By Jamie Sharpe (April 1) Following his compelling debut, Animal Husbandry Today, Sharpe’s second collection of poems explores the beauty and tragedy of youth and the impact of human existence – in a world where meaning is constantly lost in the crevasses of our memories and fears. Profound and fittingly playful, Cut-up Apologetic is a promising follow-up for the Canadian poet.

THE WITCH HUNTER

By Virginia Boecker (June 2) As a huge fan of Miller’s play, The Crucible, the history of witches have always been intriguing to me – and the promise of magic and fantasy in Boecker’s novel make it all the better.

In an alternate sixteenth-century England, the story follows Elizabeth Grey, a renowned witch hunter who is forced to work with an enemy when she is accused of being a witch herself. …And there you have it! As we’re all still recovering from our winter break hangover and slowly getting back into our ‘functioning student mode’, keep in mind of the many things that await us in this beautiful new year. So don’t fret if you stray from your “New Year, New Me” motto; instead, look forward to the things that’ll keep you positive and happy.

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PRICE

THE

OF ENTERTAINMENT

BY ERIC SCHOENBERGER

I doubt I am breaking any new ground here when I say that live theatre and university life are both extremely expensive. I’m sure many of you can then understand and perhaps even relate when I say finding money to attend traditional theatre around Toronto seems like an almost impossible task. When I originally planned to write this article about various upcoming shows coming to Toronto in 2015 and my first reaction to seeing any one of these performances list was “there is no way I can afford this”, I realized there might be a problem here. As a bit of a preface, I am well aware that there are cheaper options for those who cannot afford to go to mainstream traditional theatre. An excellent example of this would actually be theatre at York, which is very low cost for the amount of work that goes into it. There are also many independently done shows done on a smaller scale which you can find if you look hard enough.

However, when you browse a site like Toronto-Theatre.com to see shows being put on in the near future you are very unlikely to find any tickets for less than $100. Compare that to the average film ticket which typically will be around $10 and yet some still consider to be too expensive. It’s not breaking news that theatre attendance has declined in recent years. Gordon Cox of Variety reports that, in the US at the very least, attendance of both plays and musicals has been steadily declining since before 2008 . As logic would dictate, this would likely lead to less money being put back into the theatre industry meaning fewer productions would be given a chance to flourish. This also indirectly hurts those cheaper indie productions as those expensive mainstream shows can often serve as a starting point which will lead viewers to more innovative and experimental independent theatre. The high prices, which are no doubt a factor in this

21 | ENTERTAINMENT

“So instead of the usual gym memberships people buy to fulfill their New Years resolutions, perhaps make it your resolution to go see some theatre.” lowered attendance, also discourages us, the students and the youth, from going to see these productions. I’ve known and spoken to several people who have said they would love to go see some of these shows if they just weren’t so expensive. It’s somewhat ironic as these high prices may in fact be a way to compensate for the currently lowering attendance rate at theatrical productions.

Of course that raises the question of what can be done about this. What can be done to allow theatre to be more financially accessible while also managing to offset the costs of production and maintenance?

Unfortunately the short answer to that question is ‘not a whole lot’.

While lowering the price seems like

an obvious answer there is also that aforementioned problem of paying the actors and the stage crew an appropriate amount while having no guarantee that it would even be successful. So in the end it comes down to a bit of a catch 22, but the situation is not completely hopeless.

As that earlier Variety article goes on to mention, attendance rates are slowly stabilizing, likely due to a much more stable economy than was present in 2008. That could mean that with rising attendance there may more pushes for lower prices for shows making it more accessible for those on tighter budgets. Of course there are still the aforementioned cheaper options for theatrical entertainment such as

those around York. When it comes to these cheaper options all I can do is encourage all those reading this to do some research on their own to find out what they like. The more we show that we are interested in seeing these sorts of productions the more larger production companies and venues will realize that there is indeed an untapped market in the youth of today. So instead of the usual gym memberships and the like which people usually buy this time of year to fulfill their New Years resolutions, perhaps make it your resolution to go see some theatre in the city as, despite the high prices, it’ll still be worth your money.

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Your Winter Sonic Spirit

BY NADIA ROMPAS ...whenever winter hits, coping with the most mediocre tasks, like walking to class in -5 degrees weather, becomes much more pleasurable with the accompaniment of fitting tunes. Here are a few bands that might make waiting for the bus in a snowstorm feel nostalgic when the season’s change.

Moon For those days when you need a pickme-up, the minimalistic pop tunes of Halifax’s Moon could turn a ‘bleh’ day into an ‘ok’ one. Comparable to the city’s own Monomyth and Montreal’s Freelove Fenner, the catchy blend of krautrock, indie pop, and post-punk is uplifting when you can feel your toes turn into ice. With the release of their self-titled album in December last year via Bruised Tongue, Moon is making their way into the daylight.

Recommended listens: “Gomorrah” and “Stained Glass”.

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“turn a ‘bleh’ day into an ‘ok’ one”

Two Doges & A Couple of Bauds This Vancouver duo plays a fusion of hip-hop and jazz with a humorous lyrical edge that can lighten anyone’s day. Born in a dorm room, their DIY aesthetic comes from Garageband drum loops and record-and-go instrumentals and vocals. The release of a demo compilation Regardless of Genre on Bandcamp last year showcases their potential to bring something new to the table. With a plan to release another one this year, you might want to start paying attention. Recommended listens: “An Ode To Mr. Wayno” and “Pleasure To Meet You”.

Tame Impala Providing you music to walk home by, Tame Impala is a project by Australia’s Kevin Parker that ventures into psychedelic rock. The flawless overlap of hazy distorted effects and indie rock is probably the reason why their 2012 release Lonerism got nominated for a Grammy. I think I speak for every fan when I say: “A new Tame Impala record is essential in my life”. Recommended listens: “Apocalypse Dreams” and “The Bold Arrow of Time”.

DIIV If you need your fix of jingly yet heavy guitar music, DIIV might be the one for you. The Brooklyn-based band’s sonic palette consists of dreamy vocals and clean-textured intertwining Beach House melodies that are balanced with an intense rhythmic bass, creating an If there were a band that perfectly immersive mental experience that encapsulates the winter vibe it physically numbs the cold. Hoping would be Beach House. The duo their minimal US tour dates in 2014 from Baltimore plays dark dream is a hint for a new album, I’m looking pop music that over time transpires forward to stocking up on new DIIV into a spiritual experience. A for next winter. Recommended listens: combination of Victoria Legrand’s “Past Lives” and “Follow”. mesmerizing androgynous voice and punching monochromatic orchestral arrangement makes their music Elvis Depressedly instantly heartfelt. After playing new songs on their Northern Exposure Playing DIY lo-fi music with gloomy Tour last year, it is safe to say that lyrics is a specialty for these friends we can expect another album to cry from Columbia. When all you want to this year. Recommended listens: to do is wrap yourself into a burrito, “Other People” and “Norway”. maybe Elvis Depressedly’s grainy sound texture can enhance that experience. After years of releasing Hopefully one (or more) of music on Bandcamp they are finally these bands captured your fancy! releasing a debut album entitled New Like any of them? Have music Alhambra this spring via Run For suggestions? Want to talk music?

Cover Records. Recommended listens: Go on and shoot me an email at “Okay” and “Inside You”. nadiarompas@yahoo.com!

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Cartoon Fix

BY CURTIS TE BRINKE

Lets be honest, most of us don’t have the time to dedicate to an entire TV series in the middle of the school year. But for people as busy but TV obsessed as I, this doesn’t stop you.

What I have discovered over my time at York is that cartoons are the perfect middle ground. With most coming in at twenty one minutes, and a recent string of shows coming in at eleven, cartoons are the way to go for those few minutes you have when you need to be entertained in a noncommittal way.

So here’s a list of some of the best cartoons out there, for when you’re on the hunt for something to watch:

OVER THE GARDEN WALL The first TV miniseries by the Cartoon Network proved to be a joy to watch, with ten episodes creating a selfcontained story in eleven minute increments. Over the Garden Wall plays out in chapters like a dark fairy tale, and its contrast of genuinely dark and creepy to completely ridiculous make for a great watch. The story is about two brothers lost in a foggy forest that never seems to end, guided by a sentient blue bird to find their way home, all the while hunted by a shadowy character known only as “The Beast”. Its a quick watch but one that pulled me in immediately.

AVATAR In both its original series The Last Airbender and its newer sequel series The Legend of Korra, Avatar is a massive hit. The show is set in a world where the elements make up different nations and tribes (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) and where some of the

25 | ENTERTAINMENT

population has the ability to psycho­­ kinetically “bend” the element of their people. Both series’ centre around the Avatar, the spiritual middle ground of the world reincarnated with the ability to learn how to manipulate all four elements. This show is an epic in the original sense of the word, and its use of animated bending battles on top of tightly written storytelling makes it stand out as one of the best animated shows out there.

RICK AND MORTY Somewhat of an acquired taste. I stumbled across this after reading a review by the AV Club website, and immediately watched as much as I could before turning several of my friends onto it. The show is a play on the “Doc and Marty” type characters from Back to the Future. Morty is a regularly awkward fourteen year old living with his family and sociopathic genius of a grandfather. Rick’s crazy inventions and inter­dimensional travels constantly put Morty in mortal danger, with the show never playing it safe. It really should be commended on its story telling, without any two episodes in its first season being too similar. Series highlight: episode Ricksty Minutes, in which Rick hooks the family’s television set up with an inter­dimensional device that allows them to watch TV show from any possible reality. While there is a story line, most of the episode just shows you the shows and commercials themselves, with the voice actors doing improv on top.

BOB’S BURGERS I’ve spent an entire article here writing about Bob’s Burgers. If you’re not watching it yet, you really need to. It is still one of the most consistently funny shows on TV. It’s like I always say, sometimes its just nice to watch a show about people who actually like one another.

ARCHER If for nothing else, watch it for the running gags. Aside from maybe Arrested Development, no show has ever made their recurring jokes as famous as this one. Set in a fictional spy agency (previously called ISIS, whose name is now being changed)

REGULAR SHOW There isn’t a lot of logic to Regular Show, which is what makes it great.

The show is about a blue jay and a racoon, roommates that work at a national park together. Other characters include a gumball machine, a fat green guy named Muscle Man, a goat who wears a pizza costume (while still working at the park) and a cloud person. Episodes typically end with the cast of characters entering some sort of battle in order to achieve some mundane task. Its a show about friendship that avoids saccharine and overt sentimentality, which I think is why I like it so much.

the show sends its cast of characters on increasingly outlandish and dangerous missions, all the while dealing with one another’s barely tolerable eccentricities. Part of what makes it great to watch is that it really uses the fact that it is a cartoon to its fullest, sending its characters to space, the bottom of the ocean, the jungle and the mountains. All the while maintaining some of the driest humour on TV and staging massive action sequences. Also notable is the fact that it deviates from standard cartoon episode style, and moves out of the self contained episode mode.

The show has really grown and allowed its overarching storylines to come to the forefront. Its last season took a total left turn from its original run and turned its spies into criminals, showing the creators versatility. Definitely, well worth your twenty two minutes.

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Reconciliation With

St Vincent

BY PETER ELLMAN Forgive me St. Vincent, for I have sinned. I have taken your latest Gospel for granted and greeted its redemption with only too cavalier a response. Annie Clarke’s St. Vincent released a self­titled album last year that I almost completely ignored for months. I have since come to see the error of my ways.

I first converted to the church of St. Vincent when I stumbled onto a 2007 “Take Away Show” performance she did for Paris­based La Blogothèque.

The casual romantic beauty of “Marry Me” and the curious, experimental, water­filled­glass­tapping of “Jesus saves, I spend” had me hooked. The songs (from her album of that year, Marry

Me) also covered such a tonal range of drama, romance, irreverence, and the macabre (as in“Paris is Burning”) that I could not ignore this songwriter.

Fast forward a few years. Her 2009 album, Actor, was also great­ her spectacular songwriting was enhanced and fleshed out by more full band arrangements including strings and woodwinds. Despite the quality of Actor, the time of its release was dominated by a more particular sound for me. In my own personal music fandom, 2007­2011 was ruled by modern folk acts like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Damien Jurado, Dan Mangan, Chad Vangaalen, etc. I still love those bands, but the

evolutionary turns that St. Vincent took around that time were a bit too much for me to really dig at the time­ more progressive structures, more weirdly distorted and effected electric guitar, noisier and more experimental melodies and riffs. Strummed acoustic guitars were a source of immediate gratification for me, and singer­ songwriters (like St. Vincent) who did anything above or aside from that were a little bit less accessible to me.

By the time her third album, Strange Mercy, came out in 2011, it didn’t stand much of a chance of staying on my regularly re­sync­ed ipod for long.

27 | lifestyle Despite my ignorance, looking back now Strange Mercy is fantastic.

Since studying guitar I’ve grown in my appreciation for strange and intricate guitar playing, such as the staccato, tickling riffs of “Cruel” or “Surgeon”. Also, since I’ve been studying music in general for around 3 years now, I think I’ve become a bit more open­minded in regards to strange or experimental melodies and so on, as well as instruments­ like the synthesizers or electronic drums St. Vincent uses­that I (to be embarrassingly honest) didn’t take that seriously as ‘real’ or ‘authentic’.

(I feel like I could now write a whole paper on the problems in that last sentence about the perception of ‘realness’ in synthesizers, but there are enough of those online already).

The other thing that I definitely didn’t think twice about at the time, was the awareness of social issues and specifically gender­based injustices that seem to inform some of St. Vincent’s work (again in the last 2 years I’ve taken 2 gender studies courses and feel like I am at least a bit more aware of these things). The music video for “Cruel” is a great example of this. The music video features Annie Clarke kidnapped and forced into full domestic­homemaker­mode: brushing a girl’s hair, dancing with a man, cooking a huge dinner for the family, etc. These scenes are spliced together with footage of her standing in a deep grave, and the video builds with the family burying her alive, until she is completely entombed. All the while she sings the chorus, “how can they be casually cru­u­ue­ l?”. It could just be my own interpretation based on the gender studies classes I’ve taken, but I now think it’d be pretty hard to prove that it’s not at least on some level problematizing or critiquing

oppressive gender roles in regards to family life. Plus, it’s catchy as heck.

Since I’m being embarrassingly honest here, I should say that I paid almost no attention when she released a collaborative album with David Byrne in 2012. When faced with more challenging and unique music, my ignorance and dismissiveness won out over my curiosity or patience (again all I can say here is that I’ve learned and grown a lot in a few years). So when St. Vincent’s self­titled album came out earlier in 2014, it did not register as high on my radar as it should have.

What changed in the last few months? I’ve had some time to come around to it for starters. I don’t think I’d say this is immediately gratifying music, though it is very catchy given half a chance. I also saw St. Vincent live, almost accidentally, at the free outdoor Dundas Square stage for NXNE in the summer, and was very impressed. In the promo circuit for her new album, Annie Clarke has also guested and performed on Letterman at least once or twice in the last year, and been featured on a number of my favourite NPR podcasts. The tipping point came a few weeks ago when a friend asked if I wanted to accompany him to St. Vincent’s upcoming Toronto show (March 4th) and I said basically,“#yolo, let’s do it”. Since then I’ve been revisiting all St. Vincent’s material, and continually finding new things to enjoy and admire. I’ve also been looking up more interview clips on YouTube, and feeling like I have a better understanding and appreciation for Annie Clarke’s art, based on her insightful and eloquent answers. The March 4th concert will be a sort of pilgrimage for me, and if you’re also going maybe we’ll stand in the light together.

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BANDS TO TALK ABOUT:

Safe To Say

BY BYRON YAN

It is difficult to go to a rock show in Toronto without hearing the name “Safe To Say”. Whether you see it on a bill at Sneaks or on some guy’s t-shirt, it is undeniable that this band is making noise inside and outside of Toronto. Safe To Say is an alternative/ hardcore/emo band hailing from Toronto. Since their inception in early 2012, they have put out a number of musical releases and a couple of music videos. “With Everything In Between” is their debut full length that released in the summer of 2013.

As a follower and friend of this band, it’s definitely their most mature and personal record with lyrical themes of abandonment and self doubt that drive throughout the album. Previous to this full length, they have put out demos, a split, and a very raw and uncut acoustic demo that featured songs from this album. “With

Everything In Between” is definitely more tamed and expansive compared to their previous EPs. By “tamed” I mean that sonically. There are not as much harsh vocals in this album and it expands on their range of sound as they add different delays and pedals through their guitar sounds. For example, songs like “Half Asleep” and “Bed Ridden” provide a slow tempo and stark guitars that Safe To Say have not explored yet before this album. That being said, they are still punchy with a lot of drive and have the ability to leave catchy lyrics and riffs trapped in your head. When comparing their sound to other bands, Balance & Composure and Citizen are usually names that would come up.

Truthfully though, it is difficult to tell you what they truly sound like. I can only say what it may remind me

29 | Lifestyle

“Safe To Say is a band that is constantly changing without forgetting their roots” of but it may not feel the same to you, so I urge you all to try to listen to all kinds of music and to make comparisons of your own.

“With Everything In Between” was a great debut album. It accurate showcases the band’s ability and emotional feel. Therefore giving them more listeners, more shows and more exposure thus allowing them to tour with bigger bands. Shortly after the album’s release, Safe To Say toured with Give and Take, a pop-punk/ emo band from Indianapolis, across America spanning over 3 weeks.

Some notable cities that they did on that tour include Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and New York. Before this tour though, they have been steadily playing shows in Ontario and establishing a strong fan base at home.

As a live band, they have grown exponentially with experience from show to show. Safe To Say has definitely tightened up as a band and continues to grow as time goes. They definitely do their thing when they’re on stage and their energy is visually and sonically present at all times.

Safe To Say is a band that is constantly changing without forgetting their roots and will definitely stay on my radar.

They currently do not have any January dates lined up yet because they’re taking time off to record but if you’re interested in checking them out, here are a couple of links: safetosayband.bandcamp.com facebook.com/safetosayband

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L

31 | LIFESTYLE FROM THE MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK

BY MOLLIE KATZEN:

This is a very easy fat-free lentil soup that just about cooks itself. Only one pot is needed, so cleanup is easy.

INGREDIENTS 3 cups dry lentils 7 cups water 2 tsp. salt 6 to 8 medium cloves garlic, crushed 2 cups chopped onion 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 medium carrots, sliced or diced Optional: 1/2 to 1 tsp. basil 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/2 tsp. oregano lots of freshly ground black pepper 2 to 3 medium-sized ripe tomatoes red wine vinegar, to drizzle on top 1) Place lentils, water, and salt in a kettle. Bring to a boil, lower heat to the slowest possible simmer, and cook quietly, partially covered, for 20 to 30 minutes. [If using canned lentils, skip this step.]

2) Add vegetables (except tomatoes), herbs, and black pepper. Partially cover, and let simmer peacefully another 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3) Heat a medium saucepanful of water to boiling. Drop in the tomatoes for 10 seconds, then take them out, peel off the skins, and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the remaining pulp and add to the soup. Let the soup cook for at least 5 minutes more.

4) Serve hot, with a drizzle of vinegar on top of each steaming bowlful.

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EASTER MONDAY A NARRATIVE

BY LUKE GAGLIARDI

The spring wind cuts with an autumnal edge, making Peterborough’s April feel like January. My family stands in a tight circle, huddled around the driest part of our backyard. It’s Easter Monday, but the only relative visiting this holiday is my uncle. My two Aunts are stuck preparing downtown’s Irish Funeral home for tomorrow’s wake.

“You shouldn’t be doing that guys,” my mom’s voice cuts our circle’s sad chatter. My uncle responds with a zany grin that cleaves his large square face, and plants his mouth over the glass bong in his callused hands. Ma shakes her head as the bubbling snap of the bong cuts the quiet that her statement carved into our circle’s chatter.

“You’re an asshole Joe,” she yells at my uncle, her hard tone tinged with love.

“You are what you ea…” his reply sputters, as he coughs the cough of an unpracticed toker.

“Wow Joe, for a firefighter you’re kind of bitch when it comes to taking smoke,” my seventeen year old self tells him.

My brother and sisters snicker, Ma grins; her creased cheeks stretching behind her cigarette.

“Believe it or not they don’t encourage this kind of training on the job,” Joe replies through his weakening cough, passing the bong to my mom. Glaring, she holds her hands in her pockets. Joe shrugs and passes it to my sister Meghan. Her lanky arms move with a deftness that quickly lights the green, filling her lungs with smoke.

“I hate watching you guys toke up,” Ma preaches through the fumes of her cigarette smoke.

“Better than us hiding, and lying,” I quip.

“He’s got a point,” my brother tells her. “When I was his age you would have crucified me if you caught me smoking. You almost kicked me out when you found my pipe floating in the living room during the flood.”

“I still don’t believe you weren’t smoking in the house, you shithead!” Ma laughs, rattling around in her huge black smoking coat. “You know what my mom…” her laugh shrivels into a wheeze at the mention of her mother. Joe’s face tightens; my brother’s equally square face mirrors it.

“Ma would have killed us, eh Lynn…” Joe fumbles, trying for a smile. “Remember that time she knocked Laurie ass backwards off that chair for being drunk at the dinner table?”

No response from Ma. Everyone cringes in silence. My sister Nicki scratches her curly auburn hair and moves her lips in the first quiverings of a comment. But Ma

33 | CREATIVE

“Did you just blow a toke at God?” interrupts with a riant reminiscence, her eyes sparkling with tears, wine, and hints of laughter.

“I’ll never forget the face Laurie made from the floor.

She looked like she couldn’t decide if she should laugh or cry… Ma couldn’t either.”

“Hard to believe that crazy lady is gone eh?” Joe adds delicately. Ma smiles and looks down. Silence covers our circle. My sister’s eyes fill up with tears, as I glance at my family and suck the bong until it fills with thick, milky, brown smoke. I pull the bowl and inhale it in one sharp breath.

“This one’s for the big guy upstairs,” I wheeze without breathing. “Take good care of Grandma Kit.” I exhale a gloop of smoke that billows towards the wispier clouds overhead.

Ma’s silence shatters into a shrill scream as she demands,

“Did you just blow a toke at God?” Sweet laughter cuts the circle, booming with the twin guffaws of my brother and uncle.

“Your god not ours mom,” Meghan laughs as she leans back and away from Ma’s instant slap.

“You’re all the assholes now!” Ma blurts before exploding with laughter.

The laughing titters into a comfortable silence. Ma’s face scrunches, her eyes unfocusing and her brain working hard. As I move to pass the bong to Nicki, Ma whispers, “You gotta believe in something guys.”

My brother’s red eyes lock her shiny orbs as he tells her “We believe in this mom,” making circular motions that encompasses our huddle.

“You believe in smoking pot?” Ma counters, drawing grins from everyone.

“Nah, we believe in family… We got that, what else do we need?” Nicki asks.

“Speaking of family, can someone go wake up Dad?” Meghan asks, bringing our attention back to the circle.

“He’s been sleeping all afternoon, he’ll be up all night if we leave him.”

“Ya,” Ma agrees. “Plus, we’re gonna eat soon. What do you guys want me to make?”

“Forget that, it’s too late for cooking, I’ll order us something,” my brother offers.

“It’s Easter Monday, is anything open?”

“Sure Lynn, the funeral home is,” my Uncle cracks with a wink. “Fuck it let’s go to Riley’s. We’ll have some drinks. Do an Obrien wake.”

“Luke won’t get in he’s underage,” Meghan reminds everyone.

“I’m not an Obrien either, but fuck it, I’ll get in. I mean, they aren’t going to ID seven people, especially when half of them have been crying all day.”

My words earn me a swat; stoned, I don’t react as quickly as my sister and end up catching Ma’s ring with my lip.

“Oh shit I’m sorry Luke, I didn’t mean to hit your face.”

“Fuck that hurts! I need some medicine,” I say, reaching for the bong in Joe’s grip.

“Screw off! I’m not sorry anymore,” Ma giggles as she goes for another slap.

“I’ll go wake up dad and get changed” Nicki says, leaving the circle with Meghan.

“What do we do with this,” Joe asks holding up the bong.

“Hide it before Mom sees it,” my brother jokes.

We all break our circle in the backyard and head towards the house. Before I get in, Ma pulls me aside and asks, “You sure you wanna try getting in, I can say I don’t want to go and we can stay here and I’ll make something?”

“Nah, let’s do it, it will be good for everyone,” I tell her.

“I love you – I love all of you so much.” Her face tightens, her lips turning white with a forced smile. “I’m sorry you went yesterday… I’m sorry you had to be the one that found her.”

“It’s not your fault Ma, you were cooking… I just thought I was going over to pick her up.”

“Are you gonna be alright?”

“Ya, I’ll be fine… I got you guys,” I tell her.

The rest of Easter Monday descended into a blackliquorice blackout of Jägermeister, and pseudo-Gaelic slurs.

By the end of the night I had forgotten most of what happened at the pub. But even after the Monday-night liquid vigil, I would never forget the hideous taste of Jäger and Redbull, I would never forget the Easter Sunday I found Grandma Kitty’s body.

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Throw The First Stone

35 | Creative

BY KATIE POWE I can’t walk on neutral ground anymore can’t pretend not to offend anymore.

So if you don’t want to hear it sit down.

Somehow we feel so small in the land of the free free to purchase, recycle, repeat.

So it seems We got the message loud and clear: Don’t act up.

Don’t throw the first stone.

Don’t shout during class time, “we’re all trying to learn okay”?

Can’t march on these streets, can’t shatter this beacon this beacon of hopethis temple of peace.

Reflecting in snow from the northern hills, we make believe that its other people who kill.

In the promised land we bear no scars yet the sign holders and trouble makers get pushed behind bars?

We don’t seem to know.

So who controls whom in this democracy?

In this temple of peace?

No thought control here!

Too far removed, too far behind I walk in doc martens while somewhere someone is walking on mines. in this home of freedom of speech lets fucking speak.

Let’s speak.

Say something, anything.

What will you do with your privilege?

Once you’ve counted your blessings like stars?

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7

TIPS TO KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION IN ACTION

BY MELISSA D’ANGELO

So you’ve decided to make a promise for 2015, great!

Now to just keep that goal for longer than a month at Tait...

Our records have shown that participation at Tait Mackenzie has increased over the last 5 years, how exciting! Participation has increased 26% in recreation, 26% at the fitness centre, 45% for aquatics, 36% in intramurals and 41% within sports clubs (courtesy of Lisa Arai, Marketing and Events).

These numbers show us that you, the students, are showing a greater interest in your health and fitness which, and we can all agree, takes great dedication and determination to keep on track.

And having conferred with your friends, you decided that you want to take this initiative to increase your fitness for your new resolution. Just make sure to keep some key factors in mind:

1. Be Realistic You want to set goals that are achievable, not goals that seem almost impossible to reach. This means you’re not going to decide “Hey, cold turkey with smoking” or “I’m NEVER going to eat [insert your addictive snack here]”. No, you want to make choices that will benefit you and not cause any more stress on your body on top of the exertion you’re already adding. A great example may be “I will drink a bottle of water with every meal” or “I will work out at least 15 minutes per day”. You want to have something realistic so you have no reason to easily give up on your commitment!

37 | HEALTH 2. Create an Outline So you’ve decided to work out starting 2015. In order to do so, it’s best to have a plan in place to follow and dedicate yourself towards. An outline of your work out will help you focus on the areas you’d like to improve and allow your mind to realize and visualize the task you need to accomplish. This will help you get started when you walk into the gym and you won’t be standing around wondering “uh, what should I do next?” ... No! Your plan will help move you toward the next machine, or the pile of weights calling your name from across the room.

5. Don’t Beat Yourself Up Having mentioned compromise...if by chance you do fall short a day on working out or you happen to eat something you said you wouldn’t, don’t get upset with yourself. It happens. It’s passed. And now you’ll work just as hard to keep up with your promise. If you beat yourself up, you’ll neglect the great work you’ve achieved, and leave space for your brain to convince you “hey, you might as well give up at this point”.

NO! You’ve come so far and can’t just stop; push through and prove you can do it! Your body and brain will thank you later.

3. Track Your Progress Every day that you work out or do something physically active, pertaining to your goal, you want to write it down (whether in a journal or on a fitness program). This will help you feel accomplished and show that you’ve been working hard, successfully. Seeing progress tells your brain that you’ve moving forward and gaining some progress from your start date.

6. Stick to It Now that you’ve started, you need motivation to keep going. Besides I know you can do it...you just have to wanting to have that “bikini body” think so, too. or “abs of steel,” keep in mind some useful research that has been * http://www.huffingtonpost. conducted by a team of experts: com/james-clear/forming-new Phillippa Lally, a health psychology habits_b_5104807.html researcher at University College London conducted a study which is published in the European Journal of Social Psychology: she along with her team, discovered that on average, it takes more than two months before a new behavior becomes automatic—66 days to be exact. The length it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally’s study, it took anywhere from 18 to 254 days for people to form a new habit. That means anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into your life— not 21 days as the myth goes (Huffington Post). You have to keep at it before it becomes natural for you to attend the gym regularly. It doesn’t happen overnight, folks.*

4. Reward Yourself This does NOT mean stuff your face with candy and chocolate. A reward doesn’t necessarily have to be an unhealthy food choice, it could mean maybe going out and buying yourself workout clothes for motivation, or maybe treat yourself to a night out. Try to stick to a healthy diet as planned, and not compromise your goals as a ‘reward’.

7. Keep Trying You’ve come a long way since 2015 started, and you can’t give up. It may seem as though, visually, you aren’t making progress: not true.

Internally, your muscles are learning the movements and effort needed to accomplish your lifts, your runs, and your stretches. Over time, they will learn that these movements are normal patterns and will become easier to perform. It may seem hard at times and you will get tired, but the more you keep at it, the more strength and endurance you will build. We have a saying in the Performance and Conditioning Gym in the Tait basement: “Don’t let your worst enemy lie between your own two ears”.

38 | ARTICHOKE

my yoga mat is here to

NAMA-STAY by diana edelhauser

39 | HEALTH

Disclaimer: Many New Years resolutions, I find, are all too similar – like fads, their stay is short-lived and wind up on a shelf. Or, too put it in modern terms, they end up as a one-time Instagram post captioned “new beginnings”, but never return with the caption “still at it”. So to clarify, this is not about a New Years resolution. Instead, I’m writing this as a conscious account of taking steps toward self-betterment.

There’s something very appealing about living the “yoga lifestyle”. It seems so serene and ‘Namaste’ and soothing.

I guess that’s the way those actually living it feel. But among readings and the hustle bustle of student life, I’d venture to say that most of us couldn’t associate those adjectives with our daily routines. Starting in November of 2014, however, I set out to change that… I set out to make those words the first I would choose to describe my state of mind, physical condition and outlook on life.

My zeal to commit to yoga was sparked by realizing that my good vibes were slowly fading, that I needed a new hobby to devote myself to, almost a replacement to the thirteen years of karate that a broken foot had put an end to. I’ve never been one for crochet, and what twentyyear-old girl doesn’t want to look great in a pair of leather pants, so after a bit of research I decided that yoga would satisfy all my wants. Plus, so many girls I knew were post ing pictures of themselves in graceful scorpion and dancers pose, so as with many other things, I thought, “if they can do it, so can I”.

That first mantra is maybe not so destructive, but the one that followed is: “I’m going to be so good at this”. It sounds optimistic enough, but really if you’ve ever tried tucking your knees i nto your armpits and balancing on your palms you’ll understand what is meant by the saying “making it look easy”. Because it’s damn hard. Even downward facing dog, the position that every beginner does a million and two times, proved difficult for me. So if I’m going to be blunt, yoga hurts my ego. After over a decade of high kicks and shadow boxing in the karate dojo, perhaps my worst injury is the one inflicted by my attempts on the yoga mat. I’m no longer graceful or technical, no longer the me I once knew when I put on my black belt before every karate session. Instead, the yoga mat humbles me. And maybe, that’s the point.

As a fashion columnist I’m expected to tell you about clothes and hair and beauty, which yoga pants flatter you the most or which nail polish looks the best when you’re doing hand-to-heart at the end of your yoga flow. But when I’m lying in Shavasana, none of that matters. Instead I find myself mesmerized by different ideals presented to me in the videos I follow: “Allow yourself to be in the moment”, “don’t do the move perfectly, but learn to do it with integrity”. And yea, at first, this all sounded like a bunch of wishy-washy brainwashing, which I assume, causes many to roll their eyes and never return to the mat. But when I really listened and gave in to the peacefulness of it all, I was hooked. And I still am hooked. I have found that going through my yoga sequence, I fumble and hesitate and keep a leg slightly bent. But when I roll up the mat and carry on with my day, my soul may as well be made of fluffy clouds.

I’m far from attempting parsva salamba sirsasana and I don’t practice in a class but rather in my apartment, but it is a commitment I am choosing to honor. It’s a journey I encourage everyone to attempt, whether you practice every day or once a week. In a way, I’m glad that it’s proving more difficult than I had anticipated, because I can finally say I do have a new hobby and a new project to work on, and that project is me.

Afterword: I can’t help but disclose some of my favorites when it comes to yoga wear, inspiration and practice videos so here we go: Yoga with Adriene and Fightmaster Yoga are two channels on YouTube that offer great instructional yoga sequences for all levels and for free, since money should not be the reason you respect your body and what it needs.

If you ever feel like yoga isn’t doing anything for you, I urge you to reconsider and visit LA-based yogi Michelle Arenal’s tumblr (www.kea-yoga. tumblr.com). Total fitspiration.

Men, don’t feel like you have to be any less man when you carry your yoga mat around. Check out www.brogamats.com, where you can buy carrying bags such as the “downward facing log” and totally get away with your mat looking like … well... a log, or an unwrapped burrito ($35.00).

LuLuLemon isn’t the only yoga wear store out there. Check out Mika Yoga Wear (online store; try the Kaya legging in rainbow sherbet for $70 USD) and Lolë (try the Tadasana pants, $90 CAD).

“My zeal to commit to yoga was sparked by realizing that my good vibes were slowly fading...”

Namaste!