The Community Edition: March 2016

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 • MARCH 2016

ART AND THE ENVIRONMENT PAGE 10

KW’S GRAND SALOON

PAGE 15

ON NOT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT BEER PAGES 8-9

D’ION TO FINISH

PAGE 11

MARCH 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

2

Volume 4, Issue 6 Next issue: April 6, 2016 75 University Ave. W Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 519-884-0710 x3564 Advertising All advertising inquiries should be directed to Care Schummer at 519-884-0710 x3560 care.schummer@wlusp.com THE COMMUNITY EDITION TEAM Editor in Chief Jesse Bauman jesse.bauman@wlusp.com

Social Media Manager Megan Nourse

Publisher Lakyn Barton lakyn.barton@wlusp.com CONTRIBUTORS Anna Beard Natalee Blagden Christopher Cryne Elizabeth DiCesare Marichka Galadza Dan Herman Stacey Jacobs Jon Johnson Allison Leonard Leah Martin Kathy Mostardi

Luke Moyer Jessica O’Connell Jessica Pett John Roche Ally Siebert David Siebert Matt Smith Jordan Snobelen Dave Thomas Kurtis Thomas Cara Vandermey

WLUSP ADMINISTRATION President Executive Director Advertising Manager Treasurer Vice-Chair Director Director Director Director Director Corporate Secretary

Bryan Stephens Lakyn Barton Care Schummer John Pehar Abdiasis Issa Thomas Lillo Rafey Sattar Fred Kuntz Angela Foster Gary Doyle Emily Crump

The Community Edition is an alternative monthly intended to engage and inform the community.

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

The Community Edition is created using Macintosh computers running Mac OS X Yosemite using Adobe Creative Cloud. Canon cameras are used for principal photography.

The Community Edition’s flag font is Lobster, an open source font created by HVD Fonts. We also use Brandon Grotesque and Petrona.

The Community Edition is a member of the Ontario Press Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For additional information or to file a complaint, contact info@ontpress.com or call 416-340-1981.

The Community Edition circulates monthly. Normal circulation is 6,000. The Community Edition subscription rates are $20.00 per term for addresses within Canada.

Preamble to the Community Edition Constitution The Community Edition will keep faith with its readers by presenting news and expressions of opinions comprehensively, accurately and fairly. The Community Edition 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 Community Edition 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 Community Edition will attempt to cover its world with a special focus on the community of Waterloo Region. Ultimately, the Community Edition will be bound by neither philosophy nor geography in its mandate.

The Community Edition 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 Community Edition’s contact with the community. The Community Edition will always attempt to do what is right, with fear of neither repercussions, nor retaliation. The purpose of community press is to act as an agent of social awareness, and so shall conduct the affairs of our magazine.

FEATURE

In like a lamb, out like a lamb. PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER CRYNE

8-9 WR’S BEST BEER?

A BUNCH OF FRIGGIN’ AMATEURS TASTE TEST THE REGION’S FINEST CRAFT BEER OFFERINGS

3 4 4 5 5 6 6 10 11 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 14 15

IN BRIEF BLACK HISTORY IN WR CEI’S SLOW DEMISE PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE SPONSORSHIPS RESETTLEMENT, BY THE NUMBERS ORGANIZING AGAINST BIG OIL MAPPING OUR MENTAL LANDSCAPE MEG HARDER’S BIOREGIONAL ART #ION UPDATES FOUND SOUNDS FLOATING IN DESPAIR CLIMATE MATTERS WASTE NOT, WHY NOT? SEXPLANATIONS REBUILT WR WR’S CO-HOUSING COMMUNITY WHO WANTS TO KNOW? FOI IN WR OFF THE RAILS AT GRAND TRUNK

THIS ISSUE WAS POWERED BY: • ALL OUR WONDERFUL CONTRIBUTORS WHO DO INTERVIEWS AND WRITE AND EDIT AND TAKE PICTURES, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE ALSO REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL LIVES • PETE WENTZ • REFRIED BEANS • FINNEGAN THE DOG (AND HIS OWNER) • LENT • RED, RED WINE • MOODYMANN

THANKS FOR MAKING COMMUNITY MEDIA POSSIBLE! COVER IMAGES (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP): Meg Harder, “Oak Bisection, 2015”; Jessica Pett, “Grand Trunk Saloon”; Matt Smith, “ION Construction, summer 2015”; and Matt Smith, “opinionated amateur’s drink beer.”

MARCH 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

3

IN BRIEF

CARA VANDERMEY ILLUSTRATION

NEWS

ARTS

URBAN

MO’ TRAINS, MO’ STRATFORD TRIPS

CAFKA’S SWEET 16 LINE-UP

OF BREWHOUSES & BREW-HOUSING

Starting “early 2016,” Via Rail plans to add a weekday trip from Stratford to Toronto, via Kitchener and Guelph, among other cities. The train would depart Stratford at 6:30 a.m., and leave from Union Station at 4:30 p.m., and currently costs at least $52.

That seems pricey, but then what is the cost of 401-induced existential despair?

In May and June CAFKA 16 will change the landscape of our cities and challenge our perceptions with its biennial public art showcase. Participating artists include Jimmy Limit, whose photographic still-lives animate store windows. Bright and enigmatic, Limit’s large-scale compositions are printed and cut in vinyl, then applied to windows.

Together We’re Bitter Brewing co-op flung open its doors and started filling growlers in February, with news of Abe Erb’s expansion into Kitchener not far behind. Meanwhile, in uptown Waterloo, the old Brick Brewery site has been earmarked for transformation into—you guessed it—posh housing, 20 storeys of it.

CASH BOOST FOR MANUFACTURING

SLACKER-SAGE HITS THE STAGE

PARK PREVIEW REVIEWED

The word “manufacturing” calls to mind shuttered factory sites, but new funding from the Province of Ontario aims to change all that. University of Waterloo is one of three universities in a new advanced manufacturing consortium granted $35 million over five years. Proof that software engineering isn’t the only engineering worth mad cash in Waterloo Region.

In the same month that Boyz II Men are expected to draw massive crowds, a steady following of smirking fans will surely head to Jane Bond to see Hamilton’s B.A. Johnston. His whimsical lyrics— one moment lamenting a missed trash day, and another comparing his ailing heart to a blinking Nintendo—are sure to delight music and comedy lovers alike. This shit does not suck.

The $1.2 million design for Mary Allen Park’s expansion in uptown has been approved. Across from the elegantly ornamented St. Louis School, the former furniture factory site is already vacant, but needs remediation work before park-shaped things take their place in this soon-to-be-beauty public space. Construction will start next year, after heavy metals are removed from the soil.

TO SERVE AND FLY DRONES

SHORT FILMS ALBUM RELEASE

RETHINKING ST. PADDY’S PARTIES

A drone made by a Waterloo-based company, Aeryon Labs Inc., aided in the recent successful search for a missing Cambridge woman. Waterloo Regional Police officers flew that baby over wooded areas, capturing photos and video to narrow their search radius. But with great power comes great responsibility—what else will WR officers use these drones for?

They’re still here! Rumours about the demise of local darlings The Short Films can be safely pushed from fans’ minds for the time being. The dance-friendly indie group presents its long-awaited “Kingdom Animalia” album/book, which has been in the works since 2013-ish. Not sure what an album/book is? Neither are we, but head to the Boathouse for answers to all your questions.

The City of Waterloo is doing away with its licensed tent on Seagram Drive, amidst the student neighbourhoods surrounding University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, a.k.a. party central. The City is encouraging pubs to open earlier to draw throngs away from Ezra Street homes and roadway into safer, supervised environments.

And so they fall asleep earlier.

SWINGING FOR SUMMER GAMES

LAUGHING FOR HUNGER

HELPING LITTLE GUYS GO GREEN

Kitchener-Waterloo is among a band of four local communities considering a bid for the 2021 Canada Summer Games, estimated to bring more than $100 million in spin-off tourism gains.

Watch for updates popping up this month and next, as senior civic staff are already in the know. Presentations to municipal councils are expected to wrap up this April.

This muddy March, the KW Comedy Festival is here to lift our spirits, and support the Waterloo Region Food Bank, too.

Nominated for “Best Festival” in Waterloo Region, the event attracts well-known comics like Steve Patterson of CBC’s “The Debaters,” and it’s a good chance to find new chuckle-worthy names, too. Last year 852,137 Canadians visited a food bank.

Kitchener’s Sustainability CoLab received a significant chunk of support to help small and medium-sized businesses tackle building audits and energy retrofits to reduce their environmental impacts. Part of Ontario’s new climate change strategy, the goal is to smooth petro-capitalism’s harsh edges improve economic viability and earth-friendliness at the same time.

MARCH 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

4

CEI’S SLOW DEMISE ON THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ARTS BODY

JORDAN SNOBELEN CONTRIBUTOR

What follows is an excerpt from a longer, two-part series about the state of arts funding in the region. Head to communityedition.ca for the entire first instalment.

According to Karen Ball-Pyatt, librarian at Kitchener Public Library’s Grace Schmidt Room, the above “image is of [Levi Carroll’s] home, the log schoolhouse which was moved to Waterloo Park. The image shows the family and home when it was located in Berlin. The Berlin High School (later site of Kitchener Collegiate Institute) is the large building in the background.” P699 WHS-COURTESY OF THE GRACE SCHMIDT ROOM, KPL

A WR BLACK HISTORY ICON EX-SLAVE BECAME “A CITIZEN WHOM ALMOST EVERYONE KNOWS” DAVID SIEBERT CONTRIBUTOR Levi Carroll was born in Maryland, and lived through the War of 1812 before throwing off slavery and fleeing to Canada. He had a peg leg, so by modern standards was disabled. He outlived three wives and (probably) two sons. At the time of Confederation he was already an old man, but lived for another 30 years before he died in the Berlin House of Industry and Refuge in his mid-90s.

While researching the old wooden schoolhouse that now sits in Waterloo Park, Joanna Rickert-Hall, local historian and educator, came across this man named Levi Carroll, who lived in the schoolhouse after it went out of use.

“Levi Carroll is actually the reason I started researching this stuff. He’s the one who really captured my attention,” she said. It’s understandable, he’s quite the character.

“Here’s the best part,” Rickert-Hall continued with excitement. “Carroll’s obituary was posted twice within a couple of days, and one of the lines in one of the obituaries was ‘a citizen whom almost everyone knows.’”

And yet when Rickert-Hall began doing her research she read an article written for Black History Month that called Levi Carroll an icon of black history in Waterloo, but also said that we don’t know that much about him.

“That’s really sad… that this guy’s an icon but gets pulled out of obscurity, and basically gets showcased every February as an important story, and yet there’s always very few details about him.”

It is easy to tokenise a character like Carroll, to pay our regards every February and then refocus on the local historical bigwigs, the Abraham Erbs and Bishop Benjamin Ebys.

But that is an injustice to Carroll’s memory and to our own history.

Carroll and his family occupied a key piece of our built heritage in Waterloo Region, and yet his story is not mentioned on the historical plaque there.

There is a photograph of Carroll and his family in front of the schoolhouse, taken while he was living there. Rickert-Hall has spent a lot of time examining that picture, and for her it shows Carroll’s humanity. In the picture he is seated, one hand on his wooden leg, his family around him. The crooked roof shingles are probably left over from his day job as a shingle maker. It is not hard to imagine him climbing the ladder with his peg leg at the end of the day to fix up the roof.

The story of Carroll is part of the larger story of Waterloo Region and the arrival of ex-slaves into the community. In the realm of black history there are some undeniably horrific events, but as Rickert-Hall sees it, the story of Black History Month in Kitchener-Waterloo is also one of hope.

“There are many examples,” said Rickert-Hall. “One couple came to the area, and mennonites gave them seed and tools so they could plant a crop to

get started.”

In her research Rickert-Hall has found that the mennonites in our area provided a great deal of hope, support and work for the incoming black community that, unlike their mennonite neighbours, did not arrive in Canada whole and healthy. Families had been pulled apart and the landscape and climate were unfamiliar. Many had endured lasting horrors.

“We’re not talking about the slave story, we’re talking about the refugee story. They aren’t slaves when they come here, they’re ex-slaves. For me it’s very much more a refugee story.”

A story about people who arrived with very little and joined a community that supported them. A story about people like Carroll who struggled, who worked multiple jobs, and who at one point rented out part of the tiny schoolhouse he himself rented—but who were welcomed to Canada. It’s important to remember that the black members of Waterloo were not separate; they were contributing to the local economy, and to the community.

When Rickert-Hall looks at the picture of Carroll in front of his house she does not simply see an icon of Black History Month who we know little about, but a fellow resident of Waterloo.

“He was a person, he had to survive.

He’s going to be resourceful. He’s an ex-slave.” Rickert-Hall continued, this time about the Carroll family, the admiration clear in her voice, “I bet they were proud.”

The arts and culture community in the Waterloo Region is fractured. The community consists of thousands of artists and many cultural institutions across three municipalities and four townships, which have all been experiencing their fair share of growing pains. As a result of the fracture, a growing pressure has resulted in a sometimes toxic flow of discourse leaking out through council meetings and on social media.

But fractures can heal, and the present situation, however bleak, could develop into a coming-of-age story for the arts community. The community as a whole has the potential to come together in the coming months, presented with an opportunity to “reboot” the scene.

Once holding an influential voice that advocated and spoke on behalf of the local arts, in 2011 the Waterloo Region Arts Council suspended its operations. The Council stepped aside to allow room for a new initiative that was trumpeted as a way to make the Waterloo Region one of the world’s most compelling places to live and do business.

Creative Enterprises Initiative entered the picture in 2010, after seven years of work involving numerous studies and committees sprouting from the Waterloo Region Prosperity Council. CEI was supposed to be an innovative answer to a question that still has those in the community scratching their heads.

Prosperity Council task forces discovered that the region arts and culture sector was lagging behind other comparative cities, and was underfunded by $3 million. CEI had a solution to close the funding gap, lobbying councils to contribute $1 million

towards five key cultural institutions, explaining that they would come up with the other $2 million from private sector contributions and grants from higher level governments. CEI would use that funding to support small to medium arts and culture organizations. Kitchener Councilor Paul Singh noted that the city would never have been able to afford the cash to close the gap on its own.

Six years later, in a flurry of controversy, the organization will be closing its doors for good, its operations to be absorbed into a still-undecided initiative—some have hinted at the recently developed Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation—at the end of 2016.

CEI has come under fire from local artists who believe that the organization, ultimately failed to serve the arts community because of an unclear mandate, mismanaged finances, biases within the organization and a lack of communication and understanding of the arts community.

CEI declined to comment for this story, stating that comment would only be available for an article that centered on their future plans to focus on “placemaking” and storytelling.

Martin De Groot was the executive director of the former Waterloo Region Arts Council, and became involved in the early stages of CEI in 2003. De Groot explained that he believed the original problem started when the Council “suspended operations, giving the impression that their responsibilities were going to be absorbed into CEI, when in fact the Waterloo Region Arts Council suspended its operations because the region’s council was not going to fund multiple organizations.”

“Everybody was excited about [CEI], and it was an exciting breakthrough, the entire business community had started this, they were all in sync with the three cities, plus the region and the townships, and it was going to be the start of something really dynamic and exciting, so we just thought we’re going to get out of the way, we’re going to let this go, we’ll cease operations for awhile...and let this thing unfold,” De Groot explained.

CARA VANDERMEY ILLUSTRATION

MARCH 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

5

59.5 MILLION

A TALE OF TWO NEW FAMILIES

THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT REFUGEE SPONSORSHIP PROCESSES

DAN HERMAN COLUMNIST On the surface, Mohammad and Mahmoud have similar stories. They are fathers in two of Kitchener-Waterloo’s newest resident families. They and their families left the same region in Syria several years ago and lived for three years in neighbouring countries.

Nearly overnight, both their lives changed dramatically.

With less than three days notice, both families were told that they were headed to Canada. They weren’t told where, exactly, just Canada. A few hectic days later both families landed at Pearson Airport and were ushered to a nearby hotel to await the beginning of their new lives.

One family was greeted the following morning by a group of enthusiastic Kitchener-Waterloo residents—their private sponsors. The other family spent two more nights at that Toronto hotel before moving to another hotel in Kitchener.

While one family was quickly taken to their new home, a furnished and decorated townhouse, the other family spent three more weeks in a hotel room, waiting day after day for word that a home had been found for them.

Privately sponsored refugee families typically have an immediate support network upon arrival. In our case, a group of us worked for months to ensure that school registration and doctors appointments went smoothly, and that there was enough couscous in their cupboards.

Government sponsored refugees, on the other hand, rely on the seemingly tireless workers at local agencies like Reception House. While such agencies have done yeoman’s work to get children vaccinated and registered for school, there are limits to the miracles they can perform. They cannot, for example, immediately create more affordable housing in the region.

And so privately sponsored families—like the one my wife and I, along with ten friends, helped bring to Kitchener-Waterloo—have relatively quickly learned the ins and outs of their new community, their government sponsored friends face a far less

direct path.

Research on the economic and social futures of refugees highlights some of the medium and long-term impacts of these different levels of support. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, privately sponsored refugees are thirty percent more likely to be employed two years after resettling in Canada than government sponsored ones. Other research indicates that in the long-term, the incomes of privately sponsored refugees significantly exceed those of government-sponsored refugees.

The initial experiences of these two local families highlight why. While Mohammad and his wife sat in language classes seven days after arriving in KW, their government sponsored friends had to wait until seven weeks.

Mohammad’s network of private sponsors helped him get a part-time job nearly immediately. The path for Mahmoud and his wife is far less certain.

This certainly isn’t meant to critique the flow of government sponsored refugees arriving daily. Rather, I hope it is a call to action for those of us in the community who want to see these new arrivals succeed, and who want to see our community benefit in the process.

It’s not enough to implicitly support these new arrivals. Groups like Reception House and YMCA need our financial support. Local politicians, especially federal ones, need to be reminded that it’s not sufficient to welcome refugees into our communities. They need to restore and increase funding for the groups that help integrate them into our society. And local employers and landlords need to think about how they might help through the provision of first jobs and affordable housing for these newcomers.

Ultimately, ensuring that both privately sponsored and government sponsored refugees succeed quickly in their attempts at integration will bring significant benefits to our community.

It will mean new customers in our stores, new perspectives in our classrooms and far more diverse neighbourhood potlucks! But it will also take time, effort and the participation of more of us in the process.

Want to help? Donating to organizations like Reception House or the Mennonite Central Committee is a good first step.

Countries in the world that charge refugees for travel expenses: Canada, USA and Australia 3

People forcibly displaced worldwide, as of 2014 8

4,718,230

One country that charges refugees interest on travel expense loans: Canada 3

Registered Syrian refugees as of February 19, 2016 1

$

$

$

$

$

$4,319,944,558 Total funding required by UNHCR to support those Syrian refugees 1

$

1.38%

$

678,000,000 Estimated cost of Liberal commitment to settle 25,000 refugees in Canada 2

761

Syrian refugees (government assisted and privately sponsored) that have settled in Waterloo Region, as of February 11, 2016 4

Interest rate charged by federal government on travel expense loans to refugees who arrived in 2015, who are not from Syria 2

0.76% Interest rate charged by federal government on travel expense loans to refugees who arrived in 2016, who are not from Syria 2

0% Interest rate charged by federal government on travel expense loans made to refugees from Syria who arrived after November 4, 2015 2

1-3

Years in Canada before refugees must begin repaying loans 3

$27,000

654

40

Settled in Kitchener 4

Settled in Waterloo 4

53%

53 per cent of approved government assisted refugee cases have five to eight persons on the application 8

52 per cent of approved privately sponsored cases have one person on the application 8

52%

90-95%

Percent of arriving Syrian government assisted refugees who understand neither English nor French, according to Canadian visa officers in Beirut, Lebanon and Amman, Jordan 8

7-9

Average years of total education of government assisted refugees settled in WR as of February 11, 2016 8

Estimated cost in Canadian dollars to privately sponsor a family of four, for one year, in KW 2

$0

Dollars of monthly financial assistance received from government by privately sponsored refugees 2

Difference between government assisted (50 per cent employment) and privately sponsored (14 per cent) refugees who report an income in Canada one year after arrival 2

36%

After nine years in Canada there is a zero per cent difference in earnings between government assisted and privately sponsored refugees 2

Monthly allowance for a government assisted refugee family of four in KW 6

$1406.00

Monthly cost of healthy eating for a family of four in WR 5

- $842.75

Average monthly rent for a three-bedroom unit in WR 5

- $1169.00

What’s (not) left over

- $605.75

Sources 1 UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response Inter-agency Information Sharing Portal 2 Citizenship and Immigration Canada 3 Immigration Services Society of British Columbia 4 Waterloo Region Immigration Partnership weekly briefing e-mail 5 Region of Waterloo Public Health study, based on 67 item “National Nutritious Food Basket (2008)” and assuming no restaurant visits or guests.

6 In an e-mail, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Senior Media Relations Advisor wrote that, “because there are many variables which influence how much income support a family receives, we cannot provide an example for a family in Kitchener-Waterloo... [in Toronto] they would receive $1,508 on a monthly basis.” The same e-mail stated that a family of four in Vancouver would receive $1,349 a month, and in Halifax, $1,252. An employee of a local social service agency shared an internal document with TCE that listed $1,406 as the monthly allowance in KW. 7 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada document, “Syrian Refugee Profile: Addendum — January 2016.”

8 UNHCR: Facts and Figures about Refugees

GRAPHICS BY LAKYN BARTON AND JON JOHNSON NOTES FROM JESSE BAUMAN

MARCH 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

6

BREAKING UP WITH BIG OIL DIVEST YOUR INVESTMENTS OR SHUT DOWN THE PIPELINES?

LUKE MOYER CONTRIBUTOR It’s now been two months since the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, and the heat is on for world governments to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. Since then, we’ve had a historically mild winter. Outdoor hockey has been at an all-time low, T-shirts were worn on Christmas and I would hazard to guess that the number of snowball fights in schools has dropped this year. Is this a coincidence? Probably, but the scientific evidence nonetheless suggests a bleak climate future that needs to be addressed immediately.

A general commitment to limiting a global temperature increase is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out effective ways to fight climate change.

Divest Waterloo represents one approach, and is gaining traction in the region. The organization advocates for people to divest their pensions, investments and wealth away from the fossil fuel industry. CBC reported last month that 63 faculty members of the University of Waterloo have written a letter to their board of governors to divest their pension funds away from the fossil fuel industry.

“Divestment is a way to get people involved who may not normally be comfortable with climate change action,” says Laura Hamilton of Divest Waterloo.

The rationale for divesting is a practical one.

“Talking about money gets people’s attention,” Hamilton says.

Now that a commitment has been set

by world leaders to limit temperature increases, Divest Waterloo argues, investing in fossil fuels is no longer a stable financial choice.

“If you look at fossil fuels, there are five times more in the ground than we can ever burn,” says Hamilton, and these companies will want to do what they can to make sure as much oil is burned as possible. Divesting from these companies would make their existence financially unviable.

The organization began as a committee out of Parkminster United Church in Waterloo. They decided that the impacts of climate change were the most important issue facing the planet.

“It’s not only more expensive to invest in fossil fuels, it’s a justice issue,” says Hamilton, and it was “incumbent upon those that had financial resources to take action.”

Hamilton is quick to point out that divestment is one type of action, and that effectively combating climate change requires deeper changes in our systems and ways of thinking. She and her organization support anyone who is working to fight climate change.

A different approach, which has received relatively less media attention, is direct action. For example, different groups have shut down the Line 7 and 9 Enbridge pipelines in southern Ontario and beyond.

The Council for Canadians reported that three “land defenders” were arrested on December 21 after turning off a manual valve wheel to shut down the pipeline, which carries 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

Those protesters were unable to speak because of ongoing legal proceedings, but I did connect with Trish Mills, who has been involved in anti-pipeline organizing for four years. Mills has organized resistance to climate change by participating in

discussions and forums and direct actions against pipeline development.

She has been arrested, charged and sentenced in two of those direct actions.

The rationale for direct action is practical because, according to Mills, shutdowns not only raise awareness, but also cost companies millions and can make pipeline projects financially and physically unviable.

These actions are illegal, but as Mills says “I think it’s important to encourage people to look beyond this very narrow scope and start doing and supporting what they think is the right thing to do... Historically, things like the holocaust, segregation and internment were legal, but that certainly doesn’t mean they were right.”

Mills continued to explain that “today those of us who take direct action are trying to protect communities, people, animals, land and water. We’re fighting for things that are intentionally not being protected by industry and government. There is no better time than now to start actively resisting the systems and industries that are destroying us, and this world.”

Regardless of the approach, it’s clear that confronting the fossil fuel industry is at the heart of the strategic logic behind both divestment and direct action. From an economic standpoint, however, the playing field is not equal.

Enbridge owns $62.1 billion in assets and last year reported a $629 million profit. To think that they will go down without a fight would be naïve.

But there is a fight happening in southern Ontario, and as Mills emphasized to me, “I have no intention of stopping.” There are many others like her.

The region has many beautiful angles. CHRISTOPHER CRYNE PHOTO

CARA VANDERMEY ILLUSTRATION

UNDERSTAND YOUR MANY PARTS, BE HAPPY-ISH

TWO SOULS, SAYS GOETHE, DO DWELL WITHIN THIS BREAST; THE ONE IS EVER PARTING FROM THE OTHER

JOHN ROCHE CONTRIBUTOR Goethe lamented that “two souls, alas, do dwell within this breast; the one is ever parting from the other.”

We’ve probably all observed this inner conflict in ourselves and others: maybe we’ve been in a relationship where our lover’s affection was suddenly replaced by cold distance and abandonment; maybe we’ve bounced back and forth between an exhausting drive to achieve and a crippling lack of motivation; or maybe we’ve watched helplessly while a person we knew to be loving and gentle destroyed themselves and the people around them with rage or addiction.

A big part of my job as a therapist is to help people understand these confusing and sometimes overwhelming inner realities. How is it possible for a single person to house so many conflicting patterns of thinking, feeling,

and behaving? From the beginning, therapists have sought to answer that question by mapping out the multiplicity of the psyche. And despite their different languages, therapists have tended to agree that the psyche is not unified, but comprised of many different parts.

One way to understand the different parts of the psyche is Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems Therapy, which I’ve found to be the most useful in helping people to map out and understand their inner landscapes. In IFS language, the psyche is made up of three different categories of parts: exiles, managers, and firefighters. Parts in each of these categories are essentially subpersonalities with their own distinct—and extreme—ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. In addition to these parts, however, there is also the Self, which is the unconditioned essence within everyone. The Self is characterized by clarity and compassion.

Exiles are the aspects of the psyche that have been frozen in the past through trauma or oppressive family or cultural constraints. They contain

overwhelming terror, loneliness, sadness, emptiness, and feelings of worthlessness. Have you ever found yourself suddenly feeling like a scared or lonely child? That probably means an exile had taken over. These childlike aspects of the psyche want nothing more than to be seen, accepted, and loved, and they’ll do anything to make that happen. Unfortunately, that often means seeking out a saviour or redeemer, placing unrealistic expectations and hopes on that person and even enduring abuse at that person’s hands if it means continuing to receive their “love.”

To protect the person against the overwhelming emotion, neediness and dangerous decisions of the exiles, the psyche develops two kinds of protector parts. The first, known as managers, are the aspects of the psyche that prevent the exiles from being triggered by controlling our inner and outer worlds. They tend to be harsh taskmasters, and, despite their protective function, often cause serious problems. Self-criticism, anxiety, overachievement, body image issues and even depression all serve

the managerial function of keeping exiles locked away. Body image issues or overachievement, for example, operate according to the logic that “If I am successful or beautiful enough, then I will never feel small and helpless.” Depression and panic symptoms can also serve managerial functions by preventing a person from taking risks that might lead to failure and thus activate an exile.

Occasionally, however, the managers fail in their duty to prevent the activation of the exiles, mostly because sometimes shit happens.

A failure, loss, break-up or even a seemingly innocuous comment from a stranger can activate an exile and the overwhelming feeling it contains.

Enter firefighters. Where the managers are controlled and calculating, firefighters are reckless and impulsive, doing anything they must to put out the flames of overwhelming emotion. Firefighter activity can take the form of binge eating, excessive drug or alcohol use, sexual promiscuity, self-harming and even suicide. Needless to say, firefighter activity is often quite destructive, and it tends to lead

to profound feelings of shame.

Last but not least, there is the Self.

The Self is not so much a part as it is a person’s inmost essence. Where the parts are identifiable by their extreme character, the Self is identifiable by its curiosity, compassion, confidence, clarity, and connectedness. All people, no matter how battered or lost they may seem, have a Self; just as the sun doesn’t disappear on a cloudy day, so the Self can only be obscured, never eliminated, by the extreme activity of its parts.

At its worst, therapy (and spirituality) strengthens managers at the expense of exiles, firefighters and Self. At its best, however, therapy (and spirituality) heals, harmonizes and releases the parts from their extreme roles, while simultaneously developing a person’s capacity to live from the Self.

As it turns out, that kind of transformation is the key to the joy, freedom, and peace we’re all so desperately seeking.

John is a therapist who practices in Waterloo.

MARCH 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

7

As Leah Martin explains in her article about co-housing (page 13), “the average resale price of a house in Waterloo Region will rise to $350,000 this year.” In that article she explores the various ways that local residents are “exploring alternatives to the dominant paradigm of detached, single-family home owndership.” CARA VANDERMEY ILLUSTRATION

550 Parkside Drive, Unit B3, Waterloo, ON, N2L 5V4

Experience the many benefits of floating for yourself. Book today!

Speeds healing & Recovery Relieves Pain Relieves stress & its related ailments Improves athletic performance Enhances creativity & mental clarity

www.goflowt.com The intersection of King and Victoria Streets in downtown Kitchener keeps changing. In late February, Region of Waterloo staff released details about a $43 million mixed-use development at the intersection, including a “transit hub” servicing the ION, GO Transit and Grand River Transit systems. PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER CRYNE

(519)-577-2022

info@goflowt.com

“I don’t care what other people

think about beer”

and other things said at

A beer tasting words by jon johnson, Photos by Matt Smith

There is no doubt that the Ontario craft beer business is booming, with many breweries opening over the last few years. And what goes for Ontario as a whole also goes for Waterloo Region. Brick Brewing and Wellington Brewery (technically in Wellington County, but close enough) both opened in the mid 1980s, and they pretty much held down the local market for almost 30 years. The fall of 2013 saw Block Three Brewing Co. open in St. Jacobs, with Innocente Brewing and Abe Erb both following suit in Waterloo in the Spring and Fall of 2014, respectively.

In some industries people might consider this number of suppliers popping up as over-saturating the market, but this growth of the market is good for everyone—beer fans and breweries alike. And the breweries keep on coming. February 2016 saw the opening of TWB Brewing Co-op in Kitchener, and Descendants Beer and Beverage Co should be opening their physical brewery soon too, after contract brewing—having their recipes brewed on other breweries systems—since 2014.

This obviously means we’re living in exciting times for the local craft beer enthusiast, but what does it mean for the average drinker?

That’s exactly what a group of folks decided to figure out one night in February. We rounded up nine beers that the local breweries had on offer, and a group of people closer to the “average drinker” end of the spectrum, and sat down to do a blind tasting.

Blind tastings are interesting; beers are poured away from the group and brought in unmarked glasses to remove any preconceived notions about the brews in question. We used scoring sheets that covered a number of criteria and exchanged many questions about definitions of terms, flavour profiles and descriptors, and how much head is a good amount of head—take that how you will.

Tastings can be serious, and they can also feel a little silly, as you look around and see your friends holding beer glasses up against paper to judge the colour and sniffing deeply of the beer and taking notes before finally moving on to tasting. You’re likely not a cicerone, but you can have fun tasting, and learning more about beer while you do it.

We separated our beers into two “average drinker” categories—light and dark—and analyzed each beer in stages, starting with appearance and aroma, before finally tasting our beer. We then moved on to mouthfeel and finish, before giving the beer a score out of five, and making some notes.

It’s always important to remember that taste is subjective when you’re looking at beer. A beer may be well made, but you still may not like it, and as a person develops a taste or palate for different styles, two people may notice very different notes in the same beer. A blind tasting with a varied group can lead to very interesting tasting notes, aroma comments, and a big range of scores.

So what did our non-expert panel think of our local beers?

Here are their rankings and quotations and my analysis.

Cheers.

Scoring Details Each score is out of five.

1

Not my favourite

2 It’s good but I won’t go out of my way to try it again 3 I would for sure order this again 4 This is now my regular order 5 This will always be in my fridge. This is my forever beer. I will write songs about it.

Descendants

Block Thr

Harbinger, American Pale Ale

King Street Saison

• Average Score: 2.75 • Highest score: 3.25 • Lowest score: 2

• Average Score: 2.625 • Highest score: 4 • Lowest score: 1.75

“Tastes like it would wear flannel unironically—in like an actual country way. He’s kinda cool.”

“I think this is probably a wel beer, but I don’t want to drink more of it.”

“I wish the glass was bigger.”

(Comment from 2 reviewers.)

“Tasted different, but also kin same… My emotions are conf

I actually thought this beer would rank higher with our panel. It’s a very drinkable beer and, I think, very palatable to the average drinker. Its tight high to low score range makes it clear this was the least polarizing of the beers we tried.

The comments on this beer w interesting, and not surprisin me, King Street Saison is a go tryway beer to the saison styl still hedging closely to an ale is more palatable to your ave beer drinker.

TWB

Block Thr

Pullman Porter

Guy on a buffalo COF

• Average score: 2.8 • Highest score: 3.5 • Lowest score: 2

• Average score: 3 • Highest score: 3.75 • Lowest score: 1.5

“If Vanilla Coke was a beer. Smooth, and inviting like good R&B.”

“Highschool girl who was way than me, but still wanted to b friends.”

“A guy who is way too cool for me and knows it.”

“Reminds me of childhood, and eating molasses on toast.”

From talking to the TWB folks, I know this recipe will change, which I am interested in, but I also love it as is. Spent a recent night drinking a good share of this beer, and was not disappointed.

“Guy you should break up wit just don’t.”

“Like tomatoes I don’t really w eat, but it’s pretty good anywa

While I don’t usually like coff ters too much, I was pretty im by this, as I often am with new Block Three releases. It’s rich flavourful.

ree

abe Erb

TWB

INNOCENTE

Buggywhip IPA

Wobbly Wheel IPA

Charcoal porter

• Average score: 2.91 • Highest score: 4 • Lowest score: 1.5

• Average score: 3.2 • Highest score: 4.5 • Lowest score: 2

• Average score: 2.96 • Highest score: 4 (2 of them) • Lowest score: 2

ll-made k any

“Totally crushable. I would consume many of these, but in a way that would make me happy-drunk.”

“Like a movie or game with awesome visuals, but peeled back it falls flat, like a Star Wars prequel.”

nd of the fused.”

“This is a good beer.”

“Like a guy who talks a lot, without actually telling you anything. Will get pie at 3:00 a.m. and share.” (This was the 4.5 scorer, so this is a positive comment.)

n

were ng. To ood enle, while e, which erage

ree

FFEE PORTER

y cooler be

“Kind of gross.”

As we got to the hoppier side of the pale beer section, things got more polarizing. It became clear that one of our reviewers was not a fan of American style IPAs, though the others generally quite liked this one.

Personally, I like the balance and hop flavours a little more in this IPA, so I’m not surprised that it did better than Abe Erb’s. Even the non-IPA person ranked this a little higher.

Waterloo

Wellington

dark

Russian Imperial Stout

• Average score: 2.85 • Highest score: 4 • Lowest score: 1

• Average score: 2.9 • Highest score: 4.5 • Lowest score: 1.5

“Mediocre at best. Mom likes him.”

“Creamy and rich and full bodied, but also tastes medicinal.”

“The safe guy I would date begrudgingly.”

th, but

want to ay.”

fee pormpressed wer h and

“Yes, I used a fucking lettuce (arugula) to describe this.”

“I don’t love it, but I would probably marry it.”

“I’m having a hard time caring about this one. Not that good, not that bad.”

“Maybe I’m drunk. Maybe it’s Halls.”

I guess there’s a reason Waterloo Dark has been a stalwart for so long— the comments show it as the least offensive, but also fairly uninteresting.

At the same time, the scores show that our panel would likely gladly drink it again.

This is one of my favourite beers to drink in the winter, though admittedly it took a long time for me to come around to it. It’s dark, heavy, and boozy. I can see the medicinal comments, but they don’t come off that way to me. Take one before bed.

“A wannabe hipster that I want to hate, but secretly love.”

I find this to be a solid, drinkable example of the charcoal porter style.

It’s not surprising to me that this is the beer Innocente has available in the LCBO. I think any other beer in their roster would have had a more polarizing result with our panel.

What did we learn?

For one thing, six people is a small sample size that led to very close scores overall. But also, and perhaps more importantly, there’s a beer out there for every beer drinker in the region. Most reviewers had at least one beer they scored a four, and all reviewers had a beer they scored a two or lower. The fun thing with local beers is that the only way to know if you’re going to like them is to try them, and there’s so many out there!

MARCH 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

10

Meg Harder on top of her piece, “Future History of the World I.” PHOTO COURTESY MEG HARDER

“Elevation of the Great Lakes Region.” PHOTO COURTESY MEG HARDER

ARTIN’ AROUND OUR BIOREGION WITH MEG HARDER

LOCAL ARTIST’S WORK MEDIATES AND BUILDS RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NATURAL AND HUMAN WORLDS

ALLY SIEBERT CONTRIBUTOR Art means a lot to Meg Harder. It inhabits a significant place in her personal life, but more important is how attentively Harder contemplates and constructs meaning in each of her artistic creations.

“I always enjoyed art as a hobby,” says Harder, “but I didn’t start thinking about what art could do in the world until university.”

After graduating with a degree in fine arts from the University of Waterloo, she chose to remain in the area and now calls Kitchener home.

There is a noticeable richness of thought in all of Harder’s work, and she credits her most recent inspiration to bioregional theory. In this framework, humans seek both physical and spiritual sustenance

from within natural borders, like watersheds or ecosystems, rather than within those we’ve drawn ourselves.

“I have tried to consider which ecological features weigh heavy on the collective consciousness of the people who might live in this region. Looking at the stars in the sky from this latitude is a recognizable connection to this place. The Niagara Escarpment is a land feature that is very present in the stories we share, same with the Great Lakes, Bruce Trail or Grand River watershed.”

In December 2015, Harder exhibited this series in the gallery space at the Kitchener Public Library. She created the large exhibition, called “Mediating Nature,” with funding from the Waterloo Region Arts Fund.

These pieces combine wood-burning, collage and embroidery in earthy tones that creatively interpret local systems, landforms and organisms.

As Harder explains, this series is about “being a mediator between the natural world and the human world, with the hope of strengthening the

relationship between the two. But it’s also ‘to mediate’ in the sense of creating, or making, artistic materials of the natural world.”

Harder was recently chosen as the first ever artist-in-residence for rare, the charitable research and nature reserve near Cambridge.

“They’re very intentional about not only inviting PhD students to do their research, but also writers and artists to come and take inspiration from the land. It’s an obvious good fit for the kind of subject matter I’m interested in.”

But as much inspiration as she takes from a world where flashing signs and concrete lines do not dictate where we live, Harder feels that we can still mediate nature within the city itself.

“You can try to escape the city to be more in touch with your local ecological community, but there’s also a lot to learn about your own area. Being aware of what birds are in the trees or when someone has intentionally planted native species or what restoration projects are happening in the

city is enriching.”

Explaining what it’s like to be an artist in the city, Harder explains that “upon graduation I didn’t feel exceptionally prepared.”

“I started small, looking for easy opportunities to get out there and motivate myself to make things. My art isn’t very traditional, so I’m tempted to put more energy into shows that support artists in non-commercial ways.”

One of her upcoming projects is doing exactly that. Used to working in numerous mediums, Harder has recently been constructing debris huts in gallery and open air spaces.

“It’s a design that elicits different reactions in different contexts. In the art gallery, people just liked it for its form, but I think it was more effective, more conceptually dense, when I put it outside.” She especially noticed her audience questioning their conception of shelter when she built a debris hut in St. Catharines, a city experiencing an intense period of gentrification.

She called that installation “Surviving

Downtown.”

Working with CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener + Area) this spring, Harder is planning to install a village of debris huts on Victoria Park Island, one that will resonate with the tent-city protest that occurs there every year and with the Indigenous and settler history of the area.

Activism in art is essential, but is also a balancing act.

“I really value the poetic nature of art, and to get too politically pointed, too didactic, can take away from that.

But at what point am I doing or saying nothing? I’m trying to keep both beauty and an idea in the picture.”

With humble artistic and intellectual grace, Harder hopes for the rest of us to respond.

“Art gives me the freedom to explore ideas and dream really big about what could be possible. The artist might inspire the ‘do-ers’ of the world to do the practical thinking. Maybe reality can follow.”

“Maize,” (left) and “Future History of the World III” (above). PHOTOS COURTESY MEG HARDER

MARCH 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

11

ION TRACKS CREEP NORTH UPTOWN BUSINESSES BRACE FOR NEW ION CONSTRUCTION ANNA BEARD CONTRIBUTOR Downtown Kitchener is no longer the only city core dealing with the economic silence that attends ION construction. Uptown Waterloo is now in the throes of work to upgrade and relocate underground water services along King Street. The section of King Street between Erb and William Streets will be closed for the next 10 months.

The closure was expected by business owners, after the Region worked with GrandLinq to push construction past the 2015 holiday shopping season.

“The 10-month closure ensures GrandLinq can get all of the civil infrastructure work completed for the 2016 holiday shopping season,” explained Kimberly Moser, Manager, Rapid Transit Community Relations for the Region of Waterloo.

“This includes all of the underground utilities as well as all the ION tracks, overhead catenary poles and [the] LRT stop at the public square.”

For the most part, business owners sound understanding, but also frustrated about delays in action and too much miscommunication.

“GrandLinq was great to protect the streets for holiday shopping and I wish they’d continue with that good will but there has been a lack of communication with businesses,” said Mandy Brouse, co-owner of Words Worth Books.

Brouse explained that during meetings with GrandLinq, businesses between Willis Way and William

Street expressed the importance of keeping access to Hughes Lane open.

At the time of writing, Hughes was still closed.

“We anticipate having issues with deliveries. We went to a meeting with GrandLinq to explain that the space had to stay open but now it’s not. It’s frustrating,” said Brouse.

Brouse explained that the City of Waterloo seems to be offering a wait and see approach to construction.

She hopes that the City will continue to listen to business owners and encourage GrandLinq to stay accountable.

“We keep hearing that it’s the nature of construction but the communication is too top down. If they change the plan, they need to tell us right away. The wait and see attitude isn’t good enough... We’re learning to take everything we’re told with a grain of salt.”

Fellow uptown business owner and Ward 7 councillor Melissa Durrell explained that while emails from GrandLinq have been plentiful, the information within them isn’t always up to date.

“I get emails daily about what’s happening. Its tough, I understand this is a massive project and I understand that things aren’t always going to go the way they’re planned.

There are a lot of balls up in the air and communication needs to happen faster saying we’re sticking to what we were going to do.”

While the section of King Street in uptown is closed, the Uptown Waterloo Business Improve Area is encouraging business owners to use this opportunity to renovate or update their stores. In 2016, the Region provided a grant of $20,000 to the BIA in addition to the City of Waterloo’s recent passing of the Community Im-

provement Plan. Money from these two sources can be used to support a wide-range of activities including advertising, promotions, events and communications.

“If you’re going to do work, now is the time to do it. It’s hard to give tax dollars to private businesses, but the BIA will help you get to the point where your business is up to date and renovated with a fresh coat of paint,” said Durrell.

Throughout 2016, the Region and GrandLinq will also continue to support all businesses along the ION corridor through bi-weekly construction updates, one-on-one meetings, way-finding signage to assist customers, pedestrians, drivers and deliveries, social media activity and events.

Durrell added that while there’s a sense of frustration, there’s a sense of optimism within the community.

“On the whole, we’re trying to be positive. The neighbourhoods have been banding together and you see them supporting our local businesses.

We’re all just waiting to exhale. I’ve never felt this close to the people who live in uptown. There’s anxiety because we know it needs to happen, but there’s a lot of uptown love.”

When asked about summer festivals and other events that uptown is known for, Durrell explained that none of the regular summer programming will be missing, it just may look a little different.

“Arts cultures and festivals are some of our best economic tools.

The best way to attract people into the core is to give them something to go to, they may just need to wear different shoes.”

ION construction is moving into Waterloo. The section of King Street between Erb and William Streets will be closed for the next 10 months.

MATT SMITH PHOTO

M(APP)ING ALL THE SOUND MY LONELY FLOAT APP ALLOWS USERS TO ARCHIVE SOUNDS ACROSS SPACE AND TIME I CHECKED MY PHONE TWICE & I WAS SALTY

KURTIS THOMAS CONTRIBUTOR It’s an unseasonably warm Monday night in Kitchener as I pop on my headphones, open the app Found Sounds, and click on the Sound Walk tab. After that it’s not long before something entirely surprising happens. I start walking down King Street and a kaleidoscope of sounds begin to hit my ears. I hear LRT construction, fireworks, cars honking and what I’m pretty sure are bagpipes. None of the above are actually present on the mostly quiet street.

Found Sounds is an ongoing art project created by local artist and sound engineer David Jensenius. Compared to Instagram, but for sounds, Found Sounds allows users to quickly record and share the sounds happening around them. Those sounds are then geotagged and added to a live map of where you are, sounds fading in and out of your earbuds as you get closer to, or farther away from where they were tagged.

Unlike traditional social networks, which promote likes and followers, Jensenius is putting his main focus

onto the sounds themselves.

“I’m interested in the idea of gathering people who are like minded and interested in sounds and field recordings, and that sort of sonic exploration. There’s a person in Argentina whose been capturing synthesizer sounds, and I have no idea who this person is, and no real way to contact him and leave a message other than the sounds he’s putting out there in the app. It’s sort of provocative in that way where we want to know more but can’t.”

In the past two years of its development Jensenius has seen worldwide adoption.

“Version two, which I released a month or two ago, got coverage in the UK magazine The Wire on their website and that saw a big explosion especially in the UK and in Europe.

There’s been some growth in Asia too.”

Jensenius continues, explaining that “it’s exciting to see because people are using it as I sort of imagined they would use it; recording sounds of trains and ambient sounds. I was sort of initially worried that everyone would go to a Justin Bieber concert and there’s been very little of that actually.”

But Found Sounds has the potential to become something greater than a catalog of sounds.

“There are archived sounds online of certain geographic regions. There’s a great one of New York City, but it’s really quite old, and I thought it would be nice to contact those researchers and build a Sound Walk of New York in the 1800s where you can walk around and hear horses instead of automobiles and get both of those senses at once.”

As for the present?

“I’m hoping in a weird way that by putting on headphones and listening to sounds that used to be there, or sounds that people find interesting, that it opens people’s ears and lets them listen to what’s happening around them, just in their daily lives, maybe a little bit different, or a little bit more closely.”

As I walk by Kitchener’s City Hall I watch people skating on the ice rink and hold up my phone to record that recognizable skate-on-ice sliding sound. It may not be particularly unique, like the man who recorded a song to his breakfast toast in Sweden, but it’s one that I’m already excited to come back and visit when the warmer months cause this year’s rink to disappear, adding one more layer to the soundscape of our city’s street.

MEGAN NOURSE CONTRIBUTOR Shower first, use the special soap, don’t forget ear plugs and then get into a non-descript tank filled with warm water and 900 pounds of Epson salt. That was a Friday night for me in February. In the name of journalism I went “floating” at Flowt, an aptly-named business in the north end of Waterloo.

Floating is a type of sensory deprivation, first developed by American physician John C. Lilly in the 1950s.

The point is to provide an atmosphere free of sensory stimulation. Flowt delivers.

The salt in the tank made it impossible to sink, so floating was—believe it or not—the only option once the water coffin swung closed over my body.

And the inside of the coffin was—believe it or not—pitch black and free of distraction. For 90 minutes it was just me and my thoughts, buoyed by the salt water. The guy at Flowt’s front desk assured me that the time would fly by. It did not.

Apparently floating has a host of benefits, including the relief of chron-

ic stress, managing anxiety and depression and elevating your creativity.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Lisa and Homer visit a new age floating centre. She hallucinates, finding herself in her father’s shoes (and her cat’s paws). She learns a lesson in empathy while floating. I just got bored.

After the first few minutes of wading in, making sure there were no monsters in the water and finding my preferred floating position, there were 85 minutes of uninterrupted silence.

Except for both times I got out to check the time on my phone, because I thought there was no way it had not been 90 minutes.

I tried to find some sort of meditative peace while in the water coffin, but it just didn’t happen. Instead I tried remembering full episodes of Broad City in my head for entertainment.

There are definitely some people who would find comfort in the floating process. Ninety minutes of quiet and no distractions is hard to come by— days are filled with distractions and Flowt did give me quiet time. If I was the kind of person who meditated, I might have liked it better.

Usually, I hate people and only ever want to be alone, but at Flowt I found myself very alone and hating it. Is there no happiness in the world?

MARCH 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

12

CLIMATE MATTERS

SEXPLANATIONS

KATHY MOSTARDI COLUMNIST There was a lot of ‘climate talk’ on the news and radio in the fall leading up to our federal election and associated with the Paris Climate Summit. It’s easy to feel that with our new pro-climate government and the agreement coming out of the Paris Climate Summit that we can rest on our laurels.

However, the hard work of climate justice must be ongoing, incremental and bold to make real on our climate commitments federally, provincially and personally. The issues of climate mitigation and adaptation are still pressing and we’ll need ongoing citizen pressure to keep our new federal government to task.

Reducing our national and global emissions load quickly is both monumental and complex. Yet there is much we can do as individuals to play our part in lessening our CO2 load and advocating for substantial climate action.

Here are my thoughts on reducing personal carbon emissions. Some of these are simple, easy actions. Others require change in our attitudes and the high priority we place on personal convenience and unlimited shopping choices.

Drive less and drive the speed limit.

This is hard to do when one lives in a sprawling urban community and ones’ job or errands often take place many kilometres away. Now might be the time to consider car-pooling to work or sharing errands with a neighbour. It takes a little organization at first, but flexibility and dedication between like-minded parties can make this work. Reducing speed and limiting fast acceleration can lower your fuel consumption by 30 per cent.

Eat local foods seasonally and avoid the emissions from foods transported long distances. Eat less meat, particularly beef, one of the biggest contributors to emissions in the agricultural industry.

Give up bottled water. I still don’t understand our society’s enormous consumption of bottled water when our municipal water supply is clean, tested regularly and cost pennies. “Ease of use is not an excuse for this wasteful and unnecessary luxury. Same goes for plastic bags. Stash a cloth bag in your purse or backpack to have on hand when needed.

Plant a tree—or more and help boost our earth’s natural air cleaners and carbon sinks. Much of our original forest cover in Ontario has been reduced by urbanization and agriculture. Severe weather events wreak further havoc on our tree cover. Let’s take the time to rebuild this vital component of our ecosystem.

Write your MP, MPP and Ministers of the Environment. Substantive social change requires us to be active citizens.

We must keep the pressure up on making carbon reductions our highest national priority for the next decade (at least). Advocate for a strong price on carbon which will help initiate new jobs and opportunities in the green energy sector. Voice your opinions, your priorities and your ideas with your representatives on a regular basis.

None of these actions require hardship or severe restrictions to our comfort. What it takes is focused commitment to do a bit each month and live what we value.

STACEY JACOBS COLUMNIST I was recently trying to decide whether abortions or STIs are more stigmatized in our society. Then I realized it doesn’t matter. What matters is the devastating effects stigmatization has on all people’s health and well-being. I will repeat: all people. Not only people who have had an abortion or who have, or have had, an STI. All people.

Because of the silence, shame and hushed voices around these topics, people do not get the education or support they deserve and need. Because of resistance to, and lack of sex education, people do not know how their bodies function, how pregnancy happens, how to prevent pregnancy, how STIs are contracted and how to protect themselves.

And because no birth control method (other than abstinence) is 100 per cent effective and because there is safer, but not 100 per cent safe sex, even people with comprehensive sex education can get pregnant or contract an STI. I have worked at Planned Parenthood for close to 10 years and I could have an unplanned pregnancy!

When we continually speak of topics in a negative way it leads people to feel shame, guilt, fear, anger and hatred.

These emotions harm everyone due to their tendency to influence behaviour.

It is a popular misconception that only certain types of people have abortions or contract STIs. But people of all ages, ethnicities, religions, cultures and income levels have abortions. STIs do not care who a person is, how much money they make, or how many people they have slept with. When opportunity knocks, STIs answer.

Speaking about STIs and abortion in hurtful and negative ways is also harmful. You may not know your family member has an STI because they are too ashamed to tell you. You may not know your best friend had an abortion because they were fearful of your judgment. Even people in committed relationships sometimes hide or lie about this information with their partner, often due to fear and shame.

People do not realize how common STIs and abortions are because people feel they have to hide this information.

When people have the courage to be open about their experiences they are often ridiculed, harassed and made to feel dirty, bad and evil. These negative reactions remind others to keep quiet, perpetuating the silence.

Most of us feel more confident when we feel good about our decisions and life choices, and most of us feel more liberated when we are able to share our feelings, experiences and concerns. Only by alleviating stigma will people be free to be their whole selves. Anyone out there thinking this does not apply to them better think again. It can happen to anyone. If not you, someone you care about. Stigma. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Keep an eye for future installments of Climate Matters, in which Kathy writes about our relationship(s) with climate change, and so much more!

The usually-full bins outside Carbon Footprint. JESSICA O’CONNELL PHOTO

WHERE OUR TVS GO TO DIE

LOCAL E-WASTE RECYCLERS DIVERT OUR ELECTRONIC TRASH JESSICA O’CONNELL CONTRIBUTOR Between Benton and Peter Streets on Courtland Avenue lay three plastic bins. They are placed outside next to a large “FREE” sign, which catches my attention and draws my eyes to the accompanying words: “E-WASTE DROP OFF.” Since reading this sign I have wondered, what happens after a person drops off their slowly operating laptops and cords of unknown origin? What does such a place do with my outdated electronics? Where does it all go?

With these questions in mind I enter an unmarked door behind the dropoff boxes and meet Christine. She is sitting behind a desk and more than willing to answer my questions—she is the patient, organized grandma helping her son, and his seven year old son, deal with the never-empty bins outside their company’s shop, Carbon Footprint: Salvage and Recycle.

Christine’s job is to look at every cord, screen, audio device, router and tangled string of Christmas tree lights dropped off in those bins. She attends to each item, assesses its reusability and then decides if she will break it down. She identifies what is what, and then places like items next to one another.

Christine explains to me that Carbon Footprint’s goal is to divert these electronics from too easily ending up in the Region’s landfill on Erb Street.

Given current practices, the Region predicts that the only landfill in Kitchener-Waterloo will be operational until 2030.

Carbon Footprint sells their sorted

goods to a recycling company in Cambridge called Greentec. This company wants the electronics stripped so that their machines can easily shred and sell like bits to further downstream recyclers—those who sell and use our old bits to manufacture new ones.

Christine says that they are “not making a lot of money, but it’s keeping everything out of the landfill.”

And according to Christine, Carbon Footprint has so far diverted 118,335 pounds of electronics from the local landfill by sending e-waste to Greentec, and by offering a drop off site that is free and accessible from the curbside.

Christine’s grandson appears on the Carbon Footprint pamphlet that she prints out for me in her office.

Pictured under the words “Eager Recycler!” he is shown on one of the company’s first father-son home pickups.

Floyd, Christine’s son, drove around collecting his neighborhood’s e-waste after he distributed pamphlets in his community, slowly introducing his e-waste and metal diversion startup to local residents. Floyd aims to teach his son how he can “minimize the effects we are having on the environment.”

Once word of his service spread, Floyd bought the plastic bins and now electronics come to them, allowing more time to be spent disassembling, sorting and maximizing cleaner loads for Greentec.

They have also had to park a trailer for scrap-metal next to the bins because, as Christine exclaims, “people were dropping off everything!” They bring this trailer straight to Triple M Metal, which pays them a market price

that barely covers the transportation costs and hassle to make the drop-off but at least, Christine repeats, “these things aren’t filling the landfill.”

In 2004 the region banned e-waste from recycling bins, while appliance and retail sales continue to steadily rise. Today e-waste can be dropped off at the landfill, but for a fee. Municipalities, now worrying about the safe disposal of junk alongside landfill capacities and heavy metal contamination, want to divert e-waste elsewhere.

One strategy appears to be hope, namely that private entrepreneurs figure out the value of electronic trash and get to work.

Christine tells me she worked in a potato factory in Prince Edward Island for 20 years before coming to Ontario.

Working and raising her kids, she explains, recycling was not on her radar.

These days, Christine thinks about recycling every day, as she sorts through barely recognizable material, discovering its value along the way.

She says she is also learning something new every day, but hates that her hands are always black: colours from the metals get under her fingernails as she pulls our stuff apart, retrieving raw materials.

Before I leave she prints out Carbon Footprint’s number for me, using a label printer she recovered from one of the bins. She can’t believe someone was going to throw it out. After a little fiddling, it works perfectly.

MARCH 2015 // @THECOMMUNITYED

13

REBUILT WR: CARNEGIE KPL CO-HOUSING WR CITIES CHANGE, AND BUILDINGS COME AND GO. TCE LOOKS BACK TIME TO SHARE THAT WHITE PICKET FENCE? LEAH MARTIN CONTRIBUTOR

Originally built in 1904 with money from Andrew Carnegie, the Kitchener (formerly Berlin) Carnegie library graced the corner of Queen and Weber Streets until its demolition in 1962. Kitchener’s new central library was opening just down the street, and the aging building was demolished not long after the original photo was taken. The Commerce House office tower was later constructed on the site and remains there to this day. Commerce House’s modernist and brutalist elements stand in stark contrast with the classic lines of the old building. Fortunately other local Carnegie libraries survived the dark days of heritage neglect, for example in Ayr, Elmira, Galt, Hespeler, Preston, Waterloo, and New Hamburg. MATT SMITH WORDS AND BOTTOM PHOTO. TOP PHOTO, “P010257 KPL,” COURTESY OF THE GRACE SCHMIDT ROOM, KPL

More than 100 people attended the Waterloo Region Co-Housing Project’s inaugural meeting at the Kitchener Public Library in February. The large turn-out suggests great interest in co-housing in the region, and that many people are exploring alternatives to the dominant paradigm of detached, single-family home ownership.

Full disclosure: While I have yet to dip my toes into the real estate market, I do choose to share life and home with three housemates and two “just about” housemates living across the street. Between the six of us we share a basement, pantry, backyard garden, community garden plot, laundry line, kitchen appliances, canning equipment, household chores and, most importantly, weekly meals followed by a time to reflect with each other on the stuff of life. Sometimes that involves asking who left a banana peel in the half-inch of water that always lingers in the bottom of our kitchen sink. But I digress.

Co-housing conjures up images of the communes of the 1960s, but broadly understood the term refers to living situations where people have private residences but share whichever facilities the group decides to keep common.

Co-housing “proper” came to North America by way of Denmark in the late 1980s, and arose as a response to the alienation and lack of community interconnectedness felt by people living modern, fast-paced lives in single-family homes. While co-housing projects exist throughout the world, including a handful in Ontario, no such community currently exists in Waterloo Region—not yet, anyway.

According to a report published by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the average resale price of a house in Waterloo Region will rise to $350,000 this year. Homeownership will come later, if at all, for my generation. Maybe the aspirational white picket fence will be shared?

Kaitlyn Jantzi lives with her husband and 18-month old son in a downtown Kitchener home they co-own and co-habit with friends, in an arrangement she calls “co-housing lite.” The two families share a mortgage, have a legal document of partnership, and eat together at least twice a week while living in completely

separate spaces.

Jantzi and her husband’s interest in co-housing started through casual conversations with friends years ago. Feelings of isolation while living abroad further cemented their desire to share life and home.

The layout of their home contributes to a sense of shared life. There is no need to go outdoors to move between units. Finding someone to keep an eye on a curious 18 month-old while you scrape off the car is as easy as running upstairs.

Alan Parish and Wendy Pearle, two of the Co-Housing project facilitators, lived for four years in an EcoVillage in Ithaca, New York. At the EcoVillage, houses were constructed facing each other across a common walkway. Cars were parked on the periphery of the village, which meant that you walked past your neighbour’s front door on your way home, instead of pulling into a driveway or garage.

There is a lot of privilege in having access to the kind of social and economic capital required to own a home, alone or with others. While living in community does allow expanded access to that material and social capital—and introduces some economies of scale—homeownership is still not accessible to everyone. When asked about the possibility of including subsidized units for people who live on limited incomes, Parish said that the people involved will shape the project.

The Co-Housing project facilitators still have a lot to do. The specifics of this project are unknown, as they will depend on who is involved and what is important to them. Deciding where to locate the nascent project will be one of the first major decisions interested parties will have to make. Many co-housing projects are new builds.

Making big decisions about housing is stressful enough within a single-family unit, but as Jantzi explains, “in any relationship you have conversations and make decisions. With more people, the conversations are longer and decisions are harder.”

However, she sees longer conversations and harder decisions as a small price to pay for the intimacy and depth of relationship that comes from sharing a home and life with others.

For Parish, co-housing taught him the importance of respectful, consensus-based decision-making; “you don’t have to make decisions in a hurry. In fact, it’s better if you don’t because you usually end up making better decisions.”

Intrigued? The Co-Housing meets for a second time early March, at the KPL.

MARCH 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

14

WHO WANTS TO KNOW? FOI REQUESTS IN WR BUSINESS INDIVIDUAL

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

PUBLIC

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

MEDIA

TCE BREAKS DOWN THE LAST SIX YEARS OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS SUBMITTED TO THE REGION 5

10

15

20

25

30

ALL DISCLOSED PARTLY EXEMPT NOTHING DISCLOSED

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

PARTLY NON-EXISTENT NO RECORDS EXIST WITHDRAWN FORWARDED OUT ALLISON LEONARD ILLUSTRATION. DATA FROM REGION OF WATERLOO’S DATA CATALOGUE the few that were filed were returned partly exempt or undisclosed.

ALLISON LEONARD EMERITUS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Deep in a regional documents office, someone works to compile documents, paperwork, information and data as requested–at least in some cases.

The region releases the information about said freedom of information requests to their open data site.

TCE collected and analyzed the last six years of details about Waterloo Region’s FOI requests to consider trends, like which sectors are filing, disclosure rates and which records don’t exist. A few highlights follow.

Requests by industry Sorted by industry, there are the most requests from the business sector, which also have the highest disclosure rate. In other words, they ask for and receive the most information. Individuals make the second largest number of requests, many of which are filed through an agent, for example to access client files for court cases or Ontario Works files.

Media filing is lowest overall, and

Total requests by year 2011 was the year of highest requests, mostly because of a spike in building information requests from businesses. Despite a political focus on liberating data and ease of access online, last year saw the fewest filings since 2010.

Interpreting yearly data 2010-2011: Spike in environmental site assessments, contributing to high business requests and development in the area.

2012: Highest amount of requests regarding GrandLinq (by media and public) were either undisclosed or withdrawn.

2013: Highest level of crime and crime prevention records.

2014: Highest rate of requests for Ontario Works client file reports, over half of which were returned partly exempt or non-disclosed.

Weirdest request In 2010 an individual requested a food product complaint investigation for pumpkin loaf purchased at [company name removed] in Kitchener.

WANT TO WRITE? DRAW? TAKE PICTURES? COPY-EDITT? INFO@COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

MARCH 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

Inside the new Grand Trunk Saloon, downtown K-town. JESSICA PETT PHOTO

WILD WEST IN DTK

GRAND TRUNK SALOON BRINGS THE HEAT, AND DELIVERS SOUTHERN FARE

ELIZABETH DICESARE CONTRIBUTOR “Fun. Casual. Good food. Cocktails.”

Those are the four words that co-owner Manish Patel used to describe The Grand Trunk Saloon: downtown Kitchener’s newest restaurant. He opened the Saloon on January 22 with Darryl Haus.

“It already is what we envisioned, just a cool place to hangout,” he explained.

Their driving motive to keep the restaurant’s vision alive was to “make a fun place to hang out in downtown Kitchener.”

As soon as patrons walk through the front doors they are greeted by a large cocktail bar, images of trains, artsy prints for sale and cozy seating areas. There’s also a piano in the front entrance, which gives the space a nice old-time feeling.

While the trains might seem out of place at first, they showcase the reasoning behinds the restaurant’s name. Those familiar with Canadian history would immediately link the images back to Canada’s old Grand Trunk railway, which ran through Kitchener (back then, Berlin), across Canada, and even down into the southern United States. The name brings together the history of the region, the restaurant’s connection to southern comfort foods and even hits on the current state of LRT construction.

“We wanted kind of a southern boxcar theme,” said Patel. “It kind of

links this region with the south, and back then, that’s how things were done: by rail. Saloons were where people went to hang out and eat and drink and have fun.”

A cool, casual hangout space is definitely what The Grand Trunk Saloon is offering downtown Kitchener.

Even at 11:00 p.m. on a rainy Friday night the restaurant was filled with groups of friends enjoying cocktails and sharing loud, happy conversations.

The cocktail bar is a new, fresh take for the downtown scene, typically filled only with craft beers. They definitely serve the best old fashioned in town. If you’re feeling risky, order the humidor, which is a spicier take on the traditional bourbon drink.

Patel explained that their unofficial tagline is “soul food and cocktails,” which they serve up well.

Despite being open for roughly one month, The Grand Trunk Saloon has been busy, and the staff are excited to be a part of downtown Kitchener’s growing culinary scene.

“We absolutely love the dynamic of making downtown Kitchener a place to come and eat and drink,” Patel enthusiastically said. “We’re all in this together.”

The next time you’re craving some creamy mac and cheese, chicken and waffles or hot tamales, head on down to The Grand Trunk Saloon.

Four hot tamales out of five hot tamales.

Soul food and coctails are the Saloon’s specialties. JESSICA PETT PHOTO

15