The Community Edition: April 2016

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 7 • APRIL 2016

NEW STORIES OLD FOUNDATIONS PAGES 8-9

OUR GRAND COLONIAL HISTORY PAGES 4-5

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES

PAGE 12

TOGETHER WE WORK

PAGE 6

APRIL 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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Volume 4, Issue 7 Next issue: May 4, 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

General Inquiries info@communityedition.ca

Publisher Lakyn Barton lakyn.barton@wlusp.com

Steel Rails steelrails@communityedition.ca

Social Media Manager Megan Nourse CONTRIBUTORS Ellie Anglin Natalee Blagden Christopher Cryne Christopher Emory-Moore Marichka Galadza Meg Harder Stacey Jacobs Jon Johnson Allison Leonard Andy Macpherson David Michaels Kathy Mostardi

Eric McLean-Purdon Luke Moyer Jessica O’Connell Zainab Ramahi John Roche Kristy Roth David Siebert Matt Smith Nick Stanley Jordan Snobelen Dave Thomas Darin White

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.

Reminding us that it is not quite spring, winter returned with an intense ice storm that left many parts of the region in the dark for several hours or days. Stay warm, friends. MATT SMITH PHOTO

FEATURE

8-9 FROM QUEEN TO VICTORIA

A BRIEF LOOK INTO THE HISTORIES OF A FEW BUILDINGS IN DOWNTOWN KITCHENER

3 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 7 10 10 11 11 12 12 14 14 14 15

IN BRIEF COLONIALISM ALONG THE GRAND SELLING FALSE HISTORIES DINING WITH DEATH CO-OPERATIVELY ANTI-CAPITAL 4 YEARS OF NERD NITES IN KW SEEKER’S CORNER WR’S INTERSECTING FEMINISMS UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA EARTH DAY AT THE DUMP READY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE? ARTIN’ AROUND WITH FRIENDZONE GOOD JUICE, GREAT VIBES? WAR MACHINES OUT OF UPTOWN BEEKEEPING OFF THE GRID SEXPLANATIONS: LONELY & HAPPY BRFC ON DRINKING SAISONALLY GET YOUR YOGA ON LISTINGS: WHAT’S ON THIS MONTH

THIS ISSUE WAS POWERED BY: • THREE GODDESSES: • LAKYN BARTON • ALLIE LEONARD • MEGAN NOURSE • SAM NABI: HAVE YOU

EVEN SEEN OUR NEW WEBSITE? GO ON THE INTERNET THEN HIGH-FIVE SAM

• OUR NEW PHOTO CONTRIBUTORS: • CHRISTOPHER CRYNE • DARIN WHITE • NICK STANLEY • GWEN STEFANI

THANKS FOR MAKING COMMUNITY MEDIA POSSIBLE! COVER IMAGES (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP): Matt Smith, “Kaufman Lofts”; Nick Stanley, “TWB Co-op”; and Christopher Cryne, “Grand River, March 2015”

APRIL 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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IN BRIEF

TCE launched a new website in March. Head to communityedition.ca to find web-exclusive content, fashionably laid out according to all the newest trends.

The image above is from a photo-essay about St. Patrick’s Day, in which our intrepid photojournalist spent the day embedded on Ezra Avenue.

JORDAN SNOBELEN PHOTO

Last year, 300 of you signed up for an adventure with very little information.

We’re asking you to do it again. Steel Rails 2016 is coming.

MATT SMITH PHOTO

NEWS

ARTS

URBAN

YOU CAN’T SAY THAT

WHAT YOU SEE NOT WALK, TALK, BUILD WHAT YOU GET COMMUNITY

Woolwich Township Council approved a motion restricting public input at meetings. Citizens won’t be able to speak to council unless they have contacted a sub-committee ahead of time.

Councillors say the rule is not meant to muzzle the public, but rather to make meetings more efficient. Contact a sub-committee if you’re not on board.

Four artists’ works will challenge perceptions in For the lack thereof, because you don’t think of me often at the Idea Exchange, April 16 to June 18.

Get set to contemplate illusions, missing forms and “an absence of consideration for the void … rooting this collection of works in a discussion of the elemental nature of an art object.”

Celebrate your community and get to know your neighbours during the 10th annual Jane’s Walk, May 6-8. Inspired by the work of the urbanist Jane Jacobs, the walks are led by ordinary citizens to promote walking conversations. Learn and exercise! Find out more, or organize your own walk at janeswalk.org/ canada.

PARTIES CAN WORK TOGETHER

WHAT YOU GET IS WHAT YOU SEE

DOCTORS ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

Kitchener-Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife and Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger have both located their constituency offices at Waterloo City Hall. In a refreshingly collaborative manner, the two, a New Democrat and a Liberal, respectively, held a joint grand opening ceremony March 31 to inaugurate their new facilities. There are now four levels of government under one roof.

You can find the unique items you want at the Stitch n’ Kitsch Handmade Market, April 30 at First United Church in uptown Waterloo. The spring edition of the market will feature pottery, art, dolls, textiles, accessories and more. Grab a t-shirt, some local maple syrup, crochet dishclothes and everything else that will make your handmade-dreams come true.

Finding a family doctor in Kitchener-Waterloo may be a bit easier these days. According to the Greater KW Chamber of Commerce, 11 family doctors have joined local practices in the last year, and more than half a dozen are currently taking new patients. Call Health Care Connect at 1-800-445-1822 or visit its website if you’re looking for a new doctor.

BOWLING TO PREVENT SUICIDE

WORST MUSIC? DO NOT COUNT ON IT

BUT DOES IT HAVE VISITABILITY?

The Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council is holding its seventh annual Bowl-a-Thon on April 23 at Brunswick Lanes in Kitchener. Register your team online today, and help fundraise for the council to “reduce suicidal behaviour and its impact on individuals, family and communities.”

For more information on this event and community resources visit wrspc.ca.

The Worst Ever Pop Band is actually a jazz band? Combining pop and jazz, the Worst Ever Pop Band is a Toronto quintet of talented musicians who’ve performed alongside the likes of Feist and Blue Rodeo across North America. Do they really live up to their name? Is it all a ruse? Find out for yourself and tweet about it when they perform at The Jazz Room on April 22.

The concept of visitability—the design principle that buildings should be more accessible for persons with disabilities—got a boost locally through the VisitAble Housing Forum held March 23 in Waterloo. The conference featured a panel discussion with many stakeholders, but how local policies or the building code might change remains to be seen.

CAREER INFO FOR NEWCOMERS

MAKERS SEEKING OTHER MAKERS

LEAVING THE CITY, LIKE OUR PARENTS

The eighth annual Global Skills Conference on April 13 will help internationally trained professionals. The event, organized by the KW Multicultural Centre, draws 150-200 newcomers each year, who learn about the Canadian workplace culture and labour market in fields such as engineering, healthcare, IT and financial services. Register at globalskillsconference.com

Applications are now open for installations and workshops at the 2016 Maker Expo. The organization has some funding coming in and they want use it to help local makers turn their ideas into realities. The Expo team will curate the final list of makers to be funded. This is the second run for the event which had a successful launch last fall in downtown Kitchener.

City centres across the country are being revitalized as millennials flock to the core to work, live and let loose. But are they about to leave? An article in Fortune magazine says the trend may go the other way. As they age, become more successful and want to start families, millenials are likely to head to the suburbs — ­ just as the previous generation did. Get ready to paint your picket fence.

COMPILED BY DAVE THOMAS

APRIL 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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A GRAND COLONIAL HISTORY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES WERE FORCED OUT OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO

MEG HARDER CONTRIBUTOR “Did you know that Aboriginal people were forced out of Waterloo?”

Last June—also known as Aboriginal History Month—a local Anishinaabe woman asked me this question.

Feeling ashamed and honestly somewhat skeptical, I wasn’t sure how to respond, but her question challenged me to learn more about colonialism along the Grand River and the role my Mennonite predecessors played in it.

The words of a Mississauga elder, recorded in the 1861 book History of the Ojebway Indians, by Kahkewāquonāby, eloquently summarize the earliest days of indigenous-settler relations in what is now called southern Ontario: “Before white man landed in our shores the red men of the forest were numerous, powerful, wise, and happy. In those days nothing but the weight of many winters bore them down to the grave…. A strange people landed, wise as the gods, powerful as the thunder, with faces white as the snow. Our fathers held out to them the hand of friendship. The strangers then asked for a small piece of land on which they might pitch their tents; the request was cheerfully granted. By and by they begged for more, and more was given them. In this way they have continued to ask, or have obtained by force or fraud, the fairest portions of our territory.”

The history of colonialism in this region occupies slim shelf-space, and sources are often contradictory, but not because there is no colonial history. Rather, many early settler historians seemed to have little interest in accurately or honestly documenting the colonial project.

What follows borrows heavily from the writings of the Ojibwa Methodist minister and writer Kahkewāquonāby, the local Mennonite historian Reginald Good and documents prepared by the Six Nations Land and Resource Department. Given the nature of my sources and my particular settler perspective, please treat this article as a jump-off point for learning more, preferably from indigenous people themselves, from whom I welcome correction.

The land now known as the region of Waterloo was not vacant, wild or untamed when the first Mennonite settlers arrived. Since the glaciers retreated, this land has been home to many different indigenous nations.

In the thousands of years preceding European arrival, indigenous people moved through this area in nomadic groups, following big game. Eventually, advancements in technology and agriculture led to more sedentary lives, as communities erected large palisaded villages and managed vast territories. These communities hunted and fished, and planted corn, squash and beans. Eventually, nations began to coalesce into confederacies with distinct cultures. Over time, growing wealth and economic interests lead to conflict between these confederacies.

When Europeans first arrived to the heavily populated and diverse Great Lakes region, the land was in a state of political flux. The Huron-Wendat Confederacy to the north and the Haudenosaunee to the south were struggling for control of valuable hunting grounds. European arrival exacerbated this conflict by adding further economic incentive to collect pelts, and by introducing guns and

disease. Conflict and disease resulted in the decimation of other nations, including the Neutral Confederacy, whose extensive villages continue to be found in the Grand River region, including in the Huron Natural Area in Kitchener.

In the late 1600s an Anishinaabe nation called the Mississaugas began to fill the void left in southern Ontario. A small nation scattered across vast territory, they often made summer camp in the Grand River valley, near to present day Galt, Blair, Doon, Freeport, Breslau and Bridgeport. In the autumn they harvested and stored food crops such as corn, beans and potatoes, along with wild food like fruit and nuts. Following the harvest they often gathered for feasting and celebration at the mouth of Schneider’s creek, along the Grand River.

Present day Waterloo Township was a favourite fall hunting location for the Mississaugas, who in the winter would travel deeper into the interior of the well-protected woods. One well-known wintering location was a swamp in what is now Victoria Park, Kitchener.

In the waning years of the American Revolution, the British Crown purchased land from the Mississaugas in a series of transactions that encompassed much of present-day southern Ontario, to make land grants to Loyalists. The Mississaugas believed these transactions were profitable rental agreements, that they had retained fishing and camping rights and also that they would continue to have exclusive use of some lands, such as burial grounds, planting flats, and fishing stations. Believing the Mississaugas had extinguished their title to the land, the Crown did nothing to uphold their land use rights.

The Haudensaunee, also known as the Six Nations or the Iroquois, did receive land from the Crown following the Revolution. As repayment for their loyalty, and as reparation for the loss of their territory south of the Great Lakes during the Revolution, they received land six miles on either side of the entire Grand River. This decree is known as the Haldimand Proclamation.

Shortly after the Haudensaunee obtained the land, their enterprising leader Joseph Brant sold northerly sections on the condition that a continual revenue stream be derived from these lands for 999 years, to be dedicated for Six Nations “perpetual care and maintenance.” Brant sold Block 2 of the Haldimand lands to English prospector Richard Beasley, who then resold this land to settlers, beginning with Mennonites who arrived from Pennsylvania around 1800.

These Mennonites travelled north because they had heard there was good land, and that they would be exempt from military service. They arrived to a managed landscape: the upper Grand River valley was full of planting flats and hunting parks, created by systematic burning to make ideal habitat for wild game hunting.

However, by the time Mennonites arrived to the upper Grand River valley the Mississaugas’ way of life had already been disrupted in surrounding areas. Violence, disease, and famine had reduced their population to about 330 from 1000 people only 20 years earlier.

The Mennonites and Mississaugas enjoyed some amount of mutual benefit in those early days. The Mississaugas hunted wolves, which helped Mennonites protect their herds, and provided the Mennonites with fish and wild game. In exchange the Mennonites let them use unoccupied lands.

Mennonites along with other newcomers continued to spread their settlements along indigenous-made roads, though they also met resistance from the Mississauga, who protected a few reserves of land they believed they never surrendered. For example, when settlers erected a gristmill near Galt, some Mississaugas burned it down and defended the territory thereafter.

Land loss and ensuing famine and dependency on handouts among the Mississauagas was worsened by the sale of alcohol by some Mennonites and other settlers. In dismay, Mississauga leaders converted to Methodism, and in this way were able to usher in a new sense of autonomy, to take control of their lives and to eradicate alcoholism.

In 1837 many Potawatomi people arrived in the region, after a long journey north to avoid forcible relocation to reserves by the American government. Their arrival quickly created tension with the local white settlers, and came to a head in 1840 when Elisabeth Johnson of Wilmot Township was reportedly raped by a Potawatomi man. Settlers, including Mennonites, signed a petition for civil authorities to restore order to the region, and around this time, a local Justice of the Peace named William Ellis came across two white men whipping an indigenous man tied to a tree.

According to Good, the local historian, the petition and a vigilante call to action effectively forced the Mississauga people out of Waterloo Township. After 1840, mention of Mississauga villages disappears from historical records.

Writing in 1845, Kahkewāquonāby observed that “the Indian territories have been taken away till our possessions are now so small that you would almost require a magnifying glass to see them. We are surrounded on all sides by white settlers, still encroaching on us.

“I am afraid,” he continued, “that in a few years we will hardly have enough left to lay down our bones upon, or ground enough to cover our bodies.”

Today, Six Nations is in multiple litigation processes with the federal government concerning the mismanagement of funds and outright theft of land granted to them through the Haldimand Proclamation. To honour the original lease agreements, Six Nations has requested that Canada restore with interest the money it used for purposes other than for the benefit of the Haudensaunee people for the past 220 years, and define the terms by which they will continue to share Haldimand Proclamation lands.

So, were Aboriginal people forced out of Waterloo? Records reveal land loss, starvation, violence and disease resulting from settler encroachment, as well as local popular movements to expel First Nations peoples from the region. In light of this evidence, the answer is, unequivocally, “yes.” Given this history and ongoing effects of colonialism in our region, it is clear that there is much work to be done to restore relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

Dismantling the colonial system that continues to privilege settlers is no simple task, and it can feel overwhelming to think about where to begin.

But perhaps we might start by asking our neighbours: “Did you know that Aboriginal people were forced out of Waterloo?”

FERGUS

WATERLOO KITCHENER

DUMFRIES

ANCASTER

BRANTFORD

DUNNVILLE

The Haldimand Proclamation granted the Haudensaunee people six miles of land on either side of the entire Grand River.

LAKYN BARTON ILLUSTRATION, CHRISTOPHER CRYNE PHOTO

APRIL 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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DINING WITH DEATH AND RANDOM STRANGERS

EXPLORING LIFE’S BIG AND UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS (WITH COFFEE!) AT A KITCHENER DEATH CAFE

MEGAN NOURSE CONTRIBUTOR You will die one day. We all will.

Death is one of the few – possibly only – life events that unites all seven billion people in the world. The timing, details and aftermath vary, but the dead part is consistent. This does not mean we are all equally comfortable talking about, or at peace with our deaths or the deaths of our loved ones.

This is where death cafes come in.

Death cafes are group discussions about death with little to no structure.

Started in the UK in 2010, they now happen all over the world. Local resident Crysta Fernandez and The Hive and the Grove owner Tiffany Lazic have now brought them to Kitchener.

So what happens when we die?

What happens when someone we love

dies? How should you treat someone who has lost a loved one? Can we die at home? Are their options other than a traditional funeral? The topic of death has many facets and most of us might go our whole lives without exploring them. These and other questions swirled around the room of about 10 people at the most recent cafe, appropriately held on Good Friday.

Everyone had stories to share and questions to ask over tea and a sugar skull cake. Fernandez prefaced the discussion with a note that no one was obligated to talk and that the nature of the conversation was likely to bring up a range of emotions, so self-care was of the upmost importance.

I grew up in a non-religious family.

We did not talk about uncomfortable things, and so when my grandmother died, six-year-old me had no idea what it meant.

Almost a decade later when my father died, I still did not understand what it meant. Now in my mid-twen-

ties, I have many friends who have never known anyone to die or even stepped into a funeral home.

We live in a “death-denying culture,” says Judy Nairn, executive director of Hospice Waterloo Region This continues to be my experience, as well. The mention of my death cafe attendance to several people provoked mostly concern: that I was headed down an ill-advised, morbid path; that the people there would somehow harm me; and that it would be damaging to my mental health.

The fact that there were people in our community who wanted to talk openly about death — and that I wanted to join them — was a scary thought for some. My own apprehensions about the cafe and others’ were proof of our deeply engrained death-denying culture.

Losing a parent was a very isolating experience for me. Outside of my home and immediate family, nobody knew how to interact with me afterwards. My loss made others so

uncomfortable that avoiding me was their easiest option. Many of the people I met at the death cafe shared my experience. Some had lost children, some parents and close friends. Some had hardly been touched by death.

We could all agree that most people do not know what to say to someone who has experienced death.

At Hospice, Nairn says that many people lose friends after a terminal diagnosis. The people they expected to support them suddenly stop answering phone calls because they do not know what to say to someone with only months to live.

Nairn says much of the discomfort comes from the “medicalization” of death in the last century. Multi-generation households and shorter life expectancy meant that people used to be more exposed to death and dying.

People died, and wakes were held in family homes. In the 20th century, death became institutionalized. Now we die in hospitals and funeral homes are a big business.

It’s time to take death and dying off of the list of socially taboo subjects.

The death cafes are a step in that direction. Hospice Waterloo Region will soon launch a public lecture and discussion series on various death and dying subjects. Nairn says the change needs to be systematic — physician assisted suicide is a start — and the conversations need to be open-ended. Our society needs to be able to explore questions about dying and be comfortable about it.

Going to the death cafe made me realize how much I wanted to talk about death and dying. When my father died, my teenage brain couldn’t really process it, so a decade later I find myself looking for any opportunity to explore the subject. From what death means to my own death to the logistics of a loved one dying, the cafe conversation explored a lot in under two hours.

Fernandez and Lazic have scheduled another death cafe for April 15.

A BAR BY ANY OTHER NAME MIGHT BE BETTER

ON SELLING PINTS OF BEER, SUPPER ON A CUTTING BOARD AND A REVISIONIST HISTORY OF THE REGION

DAVID SIEBERT CONTRIBUTOR With the “revitalization” of Kitchener and Waterloo’s respective town centres, new restaurants, cafes, and micro-breweries are opening monthly.

Many are choosing to name themselves after some element of this area’s history. Most recently: The Berlin, Abe Erb, Settlement Co. and The Grand Trunk Saloon.

I have patronized many of these businesses, and enjoy them. I support local businesses, brewers, and baristas and would have been disappointed if another Subway, Starbucks or Swiss Chalet had opened in Kitchener-Waterloo.

But referencing settlement era names allows us to create a nostalgic, revisionist past. In our era of uncertain economics, globalisation and tremulous meta-narratives, this past can act like an anchor, and images of the peaceful Mennonites, hardworking pioneers, or industrious town fathers can stand in for something we lack. But this is a historical retelling aimed at a certain privileged portion of the population, namely the white, educated millennials these businesses are trying to attract.

Dr. Grant Packard is professor of marketing at Wilfrid Laurier University. He shared that in marketing and branding, appeals to history and nostalgia often “come up when there’s uncertainty about the future. It’s like comfort food, today is scary and uncertain, the history is stable.” We co-opt and romanticize the past most when the present appears less inviting.

This is the heart and soul of the problem: we are rewriting the past in our own image, not as it was, but as

we would like it to have been, onto seemingly morally upstanding sepia-toned images of men in wool suits and women in high-collared dresses.

By not questioning the images of the past we are able to fill in the blanks of our collective memory with whatever we desire.

In his influential 1895 Biography of Waterloo Region, the historian Ezra Eby discussed a man known as Reverend “Indian” Sam Eby. (Too many Ebys, I know.) Sam Eby was white, Mennonite and held in high regard by other men like him. He cleared land to farm, and the first school in the region was opened in 1808 or 1809 on his property. Eby apparently earned his name through cordial and regular contact with the local First Nations. According to Ezra Eby, Sam Eby spent “much of his time” among them, and taught them “many good things, and was their law-giver, minister, interpreter and peace-maker.” A real community builder indeed.

But history is a funny, slippery thing, the way it turns and twists. No matter how much you uncover, you always find another story, another part of the picture you didn’t know was there before. Meg Harder does a splendid job explicating some of the lesser-known histories of colonialism along the Grand River on page four of this issue.

But let’s return to “Indian” Sam Eby, and another part of his story: In 1808 a letter was sent by inhabitants of the town to the Ontario Legislature. This letter said that there were settlers selling whiskey to the Mississaugas.

The “barrels and kegs” of whiskey were causing the Mississauga people to “get drunk.” The letter also said that children were “starving for hunger,” and named Eby as a whiskey salesman.

In fact, when some members of the Mississaugas chose to attend a church they avoided their Mennonite neighbours and joined the tee-total-

ling Methodists instead. Turns out the Mennonites weren’t all they made themselves out to be.

In 1840, a local Methodist minister William Peterson wrote several incendiary and racist articles in a newspaper he edited, after a Potawatomi man allegedly raped a settler woman — an allegation that is difficult to separate from layers of misogyny and racism.

(For more about the Potawatomi, see Harder’s story on page four.)

Peterson called the “Indians” “lawless,” and “two-legged wolves” who might “snatch one of your lambs or sheep and tear it to pieces.”

In highly inflammatory language, Peterson said that women and children were in danger “as long as such frightful Indians are near, as long as they sneak around your home, day and night” and called for men to “not rest, relax, or sleep” until… the others are scared away, and you may live in peace.” Rather than starve on their shrinking land, or be hounded out by their suddenly hostile white neighbours, the remaining Mississaugas disappeared from the area.

That same year William Ellis, Justice of the Peace, found two white men beating an unknown First Nations man tied to a tree. Peterson’s racist rhetoric had clearly been taken to heart.

Are these “community builders” the people we want to associate our high street businesses with? Is this the history that Settlement Co., The Berlin, Abe Erb, Grand Trunk or the many other historically branded establishments of Kitchener-Waterloo want to sell us?

This is not just a disservice to some abstract idea of history, but to the indigenous people who lived through our forebearers actions and with the consequences today. By focusing on the aesthetically pleasing and romanticized aspects of our history, we are erasing the uncomfortable parts that are still with us.

“Grand River Watershed, 2015.” The first Mennonite settlers followed hunting trails laid down by the Mississauga First Nation from the Niagara River to the Grand River. The Mississaugas roamed the park-like woodlands around the Grand, hunting game and fish in the fall and spring, and settling in small villages in the summer to farm. MEG HARDER ART

ATTN: WRITERS, ILLUSTRATORS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, COPY-EDITORS, FIRE-EATERS AND KNIFE JUGGLERS

HELP WANTED

INFO@COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

APRIL 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

6

CO-OPERATIVELY RADICAL

SOME WR ORGANIZATIONS PREFER COMMUNITY TO CAPITAL

Nerd Nite celebrated its fourth anniversary this March. DARIN WHITE PHOTO

4 YEARS OF NERD

REGIONAL NERDS NOT JUST TECH BROS

NATALEE BLAGDEN CONTRIBUTOR If you haven’t yet heard of Nerd Nite, this is a good time to get in on the action. The only regular speaker series in town, Nerd Nite has outlasted Ignite Waterloo, TedX, and Speakeasy — and it’s growing. Extending their reach, and always expanding their roster of local speakers.

In March, Nerd Nite celebrated their fourth anniversary with NERDFEST at The Adventurers Guild. In April, they will venture further north. The Kitchener-based series holds its first Waterloo-side event on the 27th at the Princess Cafe.

What’s it all about? Defining what “nerd” is or isn’t tries too hard to draw boundaries around an event that varies quite significantly from month to month. Nerd Nite has been known to hand out Nintendo-controller-shaped soaps as prizes for their popular team trivia games. They reveal little-known facts about local breweries and sharks and the stars, and also welcome artists and poets as speakers. In fact, virtually anyone can speak. The breadth of topics is one of the event’s strengths, along with a welcoming vibe and plenty of local ties.

I asked NERDFEST organizer Charlotte Armstrong about the “secret sauce” that keeps Nerd Nite going, with a strong contingent of regulars and newcomers, amounting to about 50-80 people per month.

“I’ve heard testimonials from people that were like me and struggling to find their community and feel that sense of belonging here, and Nerd Nite KW helped them just as it helped me. I meet a new person at every show and it is always awesome,” Armstrong says.

Armstrong reminds me a bit of Mary Poppins and her magically bottomless bag of bits and bobs, each more surprising than the last. Armstrong also has the energy and determination of Poppins. She has a knack for drawing people out of their shells and make them feel right at home.

“At the beginning of each show we ask if there are any new people there and the brave ones will raise their hands and we applaud them. This helps our audience members know who is new and to introduce them-

selves as well. We have a great base of about 30 regular members that have been with us since the beginning, and that always provide comical heckling when I’m on stage.”

Sometimes Nerd Nite strays from the stage. They recently brought a bunch of outdoors-enthusiasts into the woods for an owl-sighting hike.

“Nerd Nite KW is one of the most regular of the global Nerd Nite family.

We have monthly shows from September to May and field trips from June until August every year,” Armstrong explains.

“We are comparable to the Nerd Nites in cities much larger than us and this is all thanks to the commitment of our team.”

The “global” Nerd Nite family consists of over 96 satellite groups, all part of an international organization.

Nerd Nite KW has some interaction with speakers from other cities, but for the most part is KW-centric.

“We only use local talent for our regular shows,” Charlotte notes.

“If we have an opportunity to have an out of town speaker — such as the event we did at Communitech with Dr. Julielynn Wong and her 3D4MD project last summer — then it will be a special edition event. In fact, several of our speakers have gone on to give talks at Nerd Nites in Toronto, New York, Boston, Germany and Detroit.

We take pride in always using local talent.”

The first Nerd Nite filled Rum Runner Pub (now TWH Social). The topics: peregrine falcons, space balloons, and Star Wars vs. Star Trek, with trivia and social time afterwards.

“When I first moved to KW in 2010, I knew no one and was desperate to find the nerd community that I knew was out there somewhere. After visiting Toronto to attend the Nerd Nite Toronto events, I contacted the “big boss” of Nerd Nite in New York City.

He vetted me and deemed me nerdy enough to start my own chapter. I was lucky enough to also be allowed to add to the Nerd Nite model of speakers and trivia to include an artist in residence and to also collaborate and support other community events,” Armstrong recalls.

This summer, watch for regular monthlies and field trips! Previous field trips have included bat hikes, visits to THEMUSEUM, and to the Observatory at the University of Waterloo.

LUKE MOYER CONTRIBUTOR Does a brewery need a boss? Does a housing complex need a landlord?

Will people make nice things if there’s no profit to be made? No, no and no, according to the worker/owners I spoke with at some of the region’s co-operative enterprises. Their co-operative work demonstrates that we can eat, drink and sleep well — and produce the same — outside of traditional profit-driven organization structures.

“In many ways, cooperative structures are a return to (ancient) cultural norms,” says Steve Izma, operations coordinator of the Ebytown Food CoOp in Kitchener.

In some cases, co-operatives are also based on a more or less explicit rejection of modern capitalist ideas about working and living together. Culum Canally, one of six worker/owners at the Together We’re Bitter Co-op, describes their work as an alternative to the “discourse on entrepreneurialism” that dominates thinking around what businesses are and should be.

“People often go into business because they want to be the next Bill Gates, and that is a farce,” Canally says.

“None of us are going to be millionaires. We’re doing this because we want to make our community a better place.”

Izma points out that the idea of com-

munity members working together to find food and decide what to do with it dates back to hunter-gatherer societies.

The idea that those who do the work make decisions about the work underlies all co-operative enterprises, no matter their members’ other philosophies. Cooperatives are democratic, but as Izma says, that doesn’t mean that cooperative life is a series of votes and elections.

“We try to avoid voting as much as possible. We try to build consensus first, before ever having to vote. If you bring something to a vote, not everyone will agree with the decision” Izma says.

At the Ebytown Co-Op, members form a buyers club where they purchase grains and whole foods in bulk from local farmers. Members decide on who to buy from and what to buy.

In the end, says Izma, members eat well and save money.

The Bread and Roses housing co-op is also in Kitchener. At Bread and Roses, residents do not have a landlord.

Instead, “the members elect an eight member volunteer Board of Directors from amongst their neighbours,” says Scott Piatkowski, co-ordinator of the Bread and Roses housing co-op. According to Piatkowski, this structure allows members to experience a level of “self-determination, community mindedness and opportunities to know [their] neigbhours” that isn’t possible in a traditional landlord-tenant arrangement.

Like all co-ops, Break and Roses does

not seek to make a profit. Operations are intended to break even, and members have often voted to ensure that rent prices are linked to income.

This allows their housing units to be accessible to people living is different socio-economic realities.

Food and shelter are key components to Maslov’s hierarchy of human needs. Beer-making is not, and yet humans apparently started brewing at least 5,000 years ago.

Together We’re Bitter has taken up this beautiful tradition. The brewing co-op in Kitchener is a “collective of people creating their own workspace that is more viable and liberating,” according to Canally.

The co-op’s resident brewer, plumber, electrician, marketing coordinator and front-staff workers each own an equal share of the business and have an equal say in decision-making.

Internally, Canally says the experience is great. He cites the team’s excellent communication and values as reasons why things have been going well. However, getting financing from banks was a major challenge.

Even credit unions can be conservative in their thinking around co-ops,” says Canally, who notes some irony, because, as he claims, co-ops are twice as likely as traditional companies to be in business ten years down the road.

TWB just opened, and so the co-op’s future remains to be seen. But, as Canally says,“we may not be doing it right, but at least we know we’re doing it ourselves.”

Folks’ be drinkin’ and workin’ together at Together We’re Bitter Brewing Co-op. NICK STANLEY PHOTOS

APRIL 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

7

MENTAL MATTERS

The Golden Triangle Sikh Association is the highest contributor to the food bank of all the region’s religious communities. PHOTO COURTESY GTSA

SEEKER’S CORNER AT THE GURU’S DOOR CHRISTOPHER EMORY-MOORE COLUMNIST The Golden Triangle Sikh Association’s (GTSA) Gurdwara Sahib Kitchener-Waterloo is impossible to miss on Snyder’s Road, just west of Highland and Ira Needles. It is entirely possible, however, not to recognize the parking gate’s silver triple sword as the Khanda emblem of Sikhism, or the white Gurdwara’s soaring triple spire as the principal site of worship for Waterloo Region’s approximately 3,000 Sikhs. And it is downright probable that most passers by do not recognize GTSA as the highest contributor to the food bank of all Waterloo Region’s religious communities.

In early March I attended a Sunday morning worship service at GTSA with a small group of university students.

We were welcomed by a soft-spoken elder, Chattar Ahuja, who paused his kitchen work to patiently answer our questions and explain temple protocol. After doffing our jackets and shoes

in the biggest coatroom I’ve ever seen, and covering our heads with supplied scarves and kerchiefs, we entered the Gurdwara’s main prayer hall.

Gurdwara is a Punjabi term meaning Guru’s door, and the identity of this community’s Guru became very clear upon entering the main hall.

The foremost Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, sat enthroned under rich brocade at the end of a long centre aisle dividing the plainly decorated hall into gendered seating areas.

I folded my hands and bowed before finding a spot on the floor to the right with at least a hundred other men.

Assembled Sikhs encountered scripture as much through devotional song (kirtan) and through the Guru Granth Sahib’s commanding physical presence as the room rendered sacred script into sacred sound. To the right of the text’s throne sat three kirtan leaders with harmonium, tabla and microphone. Their hymns undulated hypnotically between quiet spoken word over soft harmonium drone and rousing call and response over sharp bursts of tabla. Line by line each hymn was projected on the wall behind the musicians in both Punjabi and English: “By Guru’s grace, such understand-

ing is infused into me. My comings and goings in reincarnation have ended.”

“O Lord, merciful to the meek, I have placed my faith in you. Along with all my family, I have come aboard your boat.”

In an attempt to describe the intensely personal nature of encountering God through the singing of devotional hymns, our guide Chattar quoted the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak: “If the sea was ink, and I had all the world’s bamboo to write with, I still could not write enough about you, O God.” “When you pray to God, you get a feeling that is a peace in the heart, that no one else will understand,” Chatter explained.

Individuals and families came and went from main hall worship, joining and withdrawing from kirtan seamlessly and without prescription. After about 30 minutes in cross-legged observation, our group retired to the basement for langar, a traditional communal meal in which Sikhs and non-Sikhs of all social stripes are invited to share food.

In the langar hall, people mingled in seated rows facing each other while

men distributed the meal’s components one by one from steel buckets into our identical steel dishes: rice, dahl, beans, roti, yoghurt and a sweet orange rice. At the head of the hall a large tea urn warmed delicious milky chai. After langar we were treated to prashad, a blessed and delicious sweet brown paste received on bended knee and eaten from one’s palm.

I could not help but connect my experience of GTSA’s open door kirtan and langar — music and meal — with Chattar’s account of Sikh inclusivism.

Raised among Hindus and Muslims in the Western Punjab, at age 30 Guru Nanak famously declared: “There is no Hindu; there is no Muslim.”

For Chattar, this meant: “There is no conversion mission from us. Anyone who believes in the one God the Father and lives well is a Sikh.”

Emory-Moore is a PhD student in religious studies. Through Seeker’s Corner he shares his lived experience interacting the many faiths of Waterloo Region. TCE recognizes that faith and religion are complex, and that a series can’t fully capture the depth or diversity of a belief system. We’d love for you to add to the discussion: info@ communityedition.ca.

MEET ME AND ACCEPT ME WHERE I AM

TCE’S NEWEST COLUMNIST DISCUSSES THE DIVERSITY OF WOMEN IN THE REGION

ZAINAB RAMAHI COLUMNIST What is a community? Is it a place where you belong? The KW Community Foundation’s 2015 Vital Signs Report identified a “lukewarm” sense of belonging in our community.

Perhaps creating belonging has something to do with understanding the stories of those in our community.

Perhaps belonging begins with empathy and support.

In this column, I hope to demonstrate the diversity of the women living in KW; to reflect on our assumptions about the women we meet, and those with whom we have never spoken; and to imagine the ways that we might build communities of empathy and support for women who experience multiple forms of oppression because of their visible

and invisible identities.

For this first column, meet scholaractivist extraordinaire Dr Idrisa Pandit, Chair of the Studies in Islam program at Renison University College and recipient of last year’s KW Oktoberfest Woman of the Year Award.

ZR: Who are you? What is it about you that you think others should know?

IP: I am a woman of colour who has lived in different communities around the world, all of which inform who I am. I am a scholar, I am also an activist. I am a mother and a wife and I am part of a household that in itself is quite culturally pluralistic.

I don’t like the word “diverse,” it’s a superficial identification of difference with skin colour, dress, or visible faith expression. I prefer the word “pluralism” because it conveys acceptance without changing or imposing.

ZR: What does home mean to you?

IP: I was born and raised in Kashmir,

I left as a teenager and have lived in other communities in India, various parts of the United States, and now in Canada. Home is where you are together with your loved ones. For someone like myself, in diaspora, that means multiple things: a home that I have left behind, and an adopted home.

ZR: What do you love about KW? IP: I think I love the physical smallness of the community, it’s easier to maneuver. But I don’t like the small-mindedness of the community; the challenges of difference are quite visible here. People seem uncomfortable with those who challenge “norms” of colour, faith, culture.

ZR: What has been your experience as a Muslim woman in KW? Have you felt supported?

IP: I came here as a highly educated woman with many years of experience in the United States, but arriving in Canada I struggled for years to find a job because apparently I didn’t

have “Canadian experience.” I came prepared to give to this community but there were all sorts of barriers put in my way. So, I created my own opportunities and founded a social service organization. It’s something I felt was necessary to make KW a more welcoming place.

I refuse to become a token of diversity in the groups of which I am a part. Don’t engage me because I look different but rather because I can enrich the conversation. I now feel like I am at a place where I have many allies throughout the community.

ZR: Does feminism mean something to you?

IP: I understand feminism as a core principle of who I am as a Muslim woman. Feminism for me is absolute gender justice as sanctioned by my own faith. I consider my fight for gender justice as my duty.

ZR: Any final thoughts?

IP: Be open to engagement, not just with me but with every Muslim woman. Meet me where I am.

JOHN ROCHE COLUMNIST Trauma. It’s one of those words that gets thrown around without ever really being explained. Derived from the Greek word for “wound,” trauma could refer to an overwhelming psychological experience or the psychological imprint left by such an experience. Either way, it’s important to know how to recognize trauma and post-traumatic stress and how to recover from them.

Trauma is caused by an overwhelming experience in which a person’s survival is threatened and/or their fundamental beliefs about themselves and the world are shattered. Sexual assault, military combat, child abuse, car accidents and natural disasters are wellknown examples of traumatic events.

Lesser known instances of trauma involve what are called “attachment injuries.” Children’s development is extremely dependent on the attentiveness and responsiveness of their “attachment figures” (usually parents), and if an attachment figure is not attuned and responsive to the needs of a child, then, as far as that child’s brain is concerned, its survival is threatened and it will adapt accordingly.

Post-traumatic symptoms are painful and overwhelming, but, as scary as they are, they’re simply the result of the brain’s adaptation to traumatic situations. From an evolutionary perspective, this adaptation is an attempt to ensure the person’s survival, which is pretty much the brain’s number one priority.

Imagine that every brain has its own smoke detector. When it’s functioning properly, this smoke detector alerts us to legitimate threats and cues the release of protective firefighters who come and rescue us: heightened alertness, a pounding heart and restricted digestion to make sure we have plenty of energy to fight or run away, rage to help us fight off attackers, or, as a last resort if escape or self-defence aren’t possible, a freeze response like a deer in headlights.

Trauma hyper-sensitizes the smoke detector. At the slightest hint of smoke, these firefighters come rushing in to put out a fire that doesn’t actually exist.

People who have survived trauma therefore tend to struggle with anxiety, rage, concentration difficulties, digestive issues, feelings of disconnectedness and hypersensitivity to perceived threats.

Understandably, survivors of trauma also tend to feel depressed, develop addictions as a means to escape their pain, and avoid anything that might trigger their smoke detectors.

Faced with such nightmarish symptoms, trauma survivors tend to imagine they’re broken. In reality, their brains have done exactly what they were supposed to do: adapt to threat and facilitate survival. Once upon a time, these adaptations made perfect sense and helped them survive. Unfortunately, such adaptations persist beyond the traumatic event and cause pretty major problems.

Recovery from trauma is essentially about retraining the brain to re-establish an internal sense of safety and leave behind survival adaptations that are no longer necessary. Of course, this is only possible when a person is externally safe. It’s easier said than done, but it’s precisely what good therapy can do.

If you are a survivor of trauma, your brain has done exactly what it was intended to do, and, as unbelievable as it may sound, recovery is possible.

10 VICTORIA SCHOOL OF PHARMACY

This eight-storey, foliage-clad building is recognized across the world for its innovative design by Siamak Hariri, who imagined the tower for the School of Pharmacy’s 2008 open. In total contrast, this corner of King and Victoria once held Ames Holden Tire Co., which made tires for B.F. Goodrich. The factory later diversified, hosting other rubber manufacturers, like Epton Industires, which declared bankruptcy in the 60s. The entire operation closed shop in 2006. Now known for medical genius, the site was recognized in the media as a link to cancer in many of the former rubber factory employees.

410 KING THE KAUFMAN LOFTS

In its original form, 410 King hosted The Kaufman Rubber Company, which set up shop in 1908 with 350 employees.

A name change in 1964 to Kaufman Footwear Limited reflected the company’s shift in focus. In 2000, the major employer and quintessential Kitchener business went bankrupt. Designated in 1996 as architecturally and historically significant by Kitchener Heritage, 410 King was designed by Albert Kahn, an important industrial architect of the 20th century. The Kaufman building now holds 384 condominiums.

179 KING RHAPSODY BARREL BAR

Struggling through periods of vacancy, 179 King has lived to see another business. Rhapsody Barrel Bar and Gyspy Lee currently occupy the space that most recently hosted Entertaining Elements.

This site fought through the 2000s, having short stints as both Farah Foods and David’s Gourmet. The latter opened with great fanfare as an early revitalization movement before closing less than two years later. Despite the memorable arched balcony and rooftop moldings, we couldn’t find earlier historical records of this building. What are you hiding, 179 King? Tweet at @TheCommunityEd with any memories.

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TORY

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BY ALLISON LEONARD

82-90 KING ELEMENTS & FRIENDS

The iconic marquee reading “Elements” once boasted “Capitol” in neon lettering.

Opening in 1921 with 1200 seats and a reputation as one of the best moving picture venues in Canada, Capitol’s revival style matched the traditional storefronts next store. Currently Carmella’s and Ace Shawarma (or in recent history, New York Pita), the space housed Tip Top Tailors in the 60s, A.H. Kabel Clothing in 1924, McCallum’s Cigar Store and Downing, Steen & Co. Florist in 1933, Northern Railway Co. in 1912, Berlin Gas in 1901 and most notably, the Breithaupt Estate office from 1900 to 1928.

45 (41) KING THE BERLIN

The Berlin is nationally recognized as chef Jonathan Gushue’s newest project and has a long history of serving Kitchener nightlife well, as both Ren@41 and Peter Martins (later renamed The 41). The iconic arched windows date back much further than the recent pub scene, though.

Built in 1893, the space is recognized as a heritage building and once hosted William Knell and Company. Forty-five King was purchased as an expansion in 1910 when Knell was developing the hardware and tinsmithing department of his existent plumbing and heating empire.

10 KING THEMUSEUM AND B

THEMUSEUM (formerly The Children’s Museum) sits on one of the most history-rich intersections in the city. Open since 2003, the building’s storefront has hosted a number of pubs including Exhibit, Museum Café, Imbibe and now B. Previous to its institutional identity, the massive build was home to Goudies Department Store, which opeed in 1923.

The Kitchener history runs deeper still; before its time as a department store, 10 King was home to the Clarendon Hotel.

Rumour has it that this was a hot spot for rum-running during prohibition.

APRIL 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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CLIMATE MATTERS

KATHY MOSTARDI COLUMNIST How do you celebrate Earth Day? Is it just another strange holiday? A time to reconsider our society’s impact on Mother Earth? This upcoming Earth Day—April 22—consider touring the Erb Street Waste Management Centre.

Visiting the garbage dump might not seem like a fun excursion, but I took the hour long tour last spring and found it hugely informative. It also gave me a new appreciation for how well our region deals with what we usually refer to as garbage.

The tour takes you on a bus around the 125 hectare site to view the “tipping face,” the 60 metre hill where trash is dumped. Newly laid trash is covered with plastic sheeting or spray-on mulch to keep smells down—the tipping face was surprisingly not smelly when we visited—and to keep critters out. Leachate and methane gas from the garbage is collected to protect the surrounding land and air.

I was most impressed walking inside the Nyle Ludolph Recycling Centre. This facility was filled with huge mounds of cardboard and paper waiting to be moved to a recycling facility in Niagara.

Bales of plastic film, aluminum cans and plastic bottles lined the floor. Throughout the facility a complex conveyer ran separating out metals from plastic, and a dozen workers furiously hand-sorted items as they flowed by.

Our waste management facility is not just for dumping waste but rather represents a conscious effort to direct various materials to be re-used, recycled, or properly disposed of with minimal impact on the environment. Kudos to the regional staff at our various facilities that work so hard to make this happen.

Waste Management staff routinely assess the contents of garbage bags from various neighborhoods across the region. These studies have found that half of every garbage bag is actually organic material that could be diverted and composted. For example, 50 per cent of all metal cans and 70 per cent of plastic water bottles go into the garbage. Both could easily be diverted, the materials recovered for other uses.

Our local landfill will only last so long. Current projections are for the 71 hectare dump site to close in 2030 with a total capacity of 15 million tonnes of waste. Citizens commitment to limiting waste and using their blue boxes and green bins diligently could extend the life of our landfill, save us all tax dollars and divert precious materials.

I was so impressed with the tour of our landfill that I went back for a second time in the fall with our local environmental group. These tours are regularly conducted for the public during Earth Week in April and again mid-October.

The tours are free to the public but you need to register in advance at 519-5754400.

SWIPE RIGHT or something @THECOMMUNITYED

The Erb Street Waste Management Centre—or, “the garbage dump”— is running out of space. According to current projections, the 71 hectare dump site will have to close in 2030, when it is expect to reach its maximum capacity of 15 million tonnes of waste. Waste now or forever hold your peace. CHRISTOPHER CRYNE PHOTO

A HARD RAIN’S A-GONNA FALL IN WR

BUT CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IS HARDEST FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

ERIN MCLEAN-PURDON CONTRIBUTOR More heat, more wind, more rain and a lot more turned umbrellas — welcome to Waterloo Region’s future, brought to you by reckless fossil fuel consumption.

Through its Climate Action Plan, Waterloo Region has pledged to reduce carbon emissions six per cent by 2020, from a 2010 baseline. This climate change mitigation work is important, but so too is preparing for the changing climate — the work of climate change adaptation.

By 2050 the mean annual temperature in Waterloo Region is predicted to increase by two to three degrees Celsius, and higher temperatures mean more precipitation.

“For every one Celsius rise in temperature the air holds seven percent more moisture. When that moisture condenses it comes down as more rain,” said Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.

“We get storms of greater intensity and duration.”

Climate model projections for Waterloo Region suggest a future with higher rainfall intensities.

“Bigger storms in shorter periods of time means flooding, and Waterloo Region, like everywhere else in Canada, is vulnerable to these changes in precipitation due to climate change.”

Thankfully, our local government has not pursued a management-by-disaster approach to climate change adaptation.

“The region and conservation authority are not asleep at the switch,” Feltmate assured. “They are on top of it and fully aware of the problem.”

Currently, the region is assessing local risks, updating floodplain maps, improving storm-water runoff infrastructure and encouraging new housing developments to install back water valves to flood-proof basements.

Earlier this year the Region pledged $172,000 over three years for the development of a community-wide climate adaptation plan. However, according to Feltmate many of Canada’s cities are woefully unprepared for increased precipitation.

In 2013, heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in two of Canada’s largest cities.

In Calgary, record rainfall caused rivers to swell and flood, leading to an estimated $5 billion in damages (of which $1.7 billion was insurable).

About 100,000 people were displaced, and five died. In Toronto, record rainfall triggered city-wide flooding that saw GO train passengers evacuated in yellow rubber dinghies and cars submerged on the “Lake Shore” Boulevard. In that calamitous year, Canada’s property insurance companies paid out $3.2 billion in weather-related claims.

Property insurance companies are “not the canaries in the coal mine,” Dr. Feltmate explained. “They’re the dodos in the coal mine,” because “they have a vested interest in understanding the effects of climate change and how it impacts their bottom line, and how it impacts the well-being of Canadians.”

And the potential impacts of climate change are being rigorously investigated by property insurance companies. The Co-operators Group is investigating flood preparedness in

30 Ontario communities, including Waterloo and Kitchener. Intact, the largest provider of property insurance in Canada, donated $4.25 million to the University of Waterloo in 2015 to create the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, whose mandate is to operationalize climate change adaptation practices in Canada.

However, while climate change will continue to affect us all, not everyone will be affected equally — or equally able to adapt.

Seniors, for example, are physiologically prone to extreme heat sensitivity, which makes them more susceptible to deadly heat stroke. Manuel Reimer, an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier, is investigating climate change risk perception and adaptive capacity in the region’s senior population.

“Talking to the seniors, they don’t perceive much of a risk,” says Reimer.

However, by 2050 the region is expected to experience a three-fold increase in extreme heat days (over 30 degrees Celsius). Reimer warned against relying on a single source of protection, like air conditioners.

“What happens if there’s a blackout?

Which is likely when everybody is using their air conditioning. In this scenario, many seniors don’t really have anything else set up to deal with extreme heat.”

“Raising the awareness of the need to think about climate adaptation in vulnerable populations is really important,” he explained, a sentiment shared by associate professor Johanna Wandel, with whom he has researched the effects of climate change on the region’s homeless population.

“Homelessness is managed well under our current climatic regime, however, it’s a very tenuous web that holds it all together,” explained Wandel.

“One interesting thing that came out of our research, was that especially in the transition period, when the weather is going back and forth, so in the spring and in the fall, that’s when people struggle. When you have a consistent winter weather people know what to do and they prepare accordingly,” said Reimer.

Significantly, weather exposure sensitivity from rain, heat and cold is compounded and amplified by a multitude of issues common among the homeless population, including mental health issues, social isolation, substance abuse, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Funding fell through for Wandel and Reimer’s follow-up study, which would have identified gaps in coverage and potential vulnerabilities in the homeless population due to climate change.

However, Waterloo Region is in the nascent stages of developing a community-wide climate adaptation plan. Asked if the adaptation plan will include considerations for people experiencing homelessness, David Roewade, Sustainability Specialist for the Region of Waterloo, replied, “This will be an important question to ask when we address the scope of developing this plan.”

On investigations into climate change vulnerability in homeless populations, “there isn’t much, there’s very little,” said Wandel. “And there’s so many more noisy problems.”

ION road closures, exciting downtown developments, the latest and greatest resto — amidst all this chatter, there are few signs that our community is considering its most vulnerable before and while the climate changes.

APRIL 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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“Whoop-Szo” recently played at Open Sesame, downtown Kitchener, at a show hosted by the Friendzone art collective. PHOTO COURTESY THE FRIENDZONE COLLECTIVE

FRIENDZONING: FUN WITHOUT THE FEDORAS

A NEW ART COLLECTIVE WORKS TO CHALLENGE THE PATRIARCHY, RECLAIM WORDS, AND MAKE FRIENDS

ELLIE ANGLIN CONTRIBUTOR If you’re like me, you’ve recently become aware of a flurry of art events and shows popping up in Kitchener-Waterloo under the headline “FRIENDZONE Presents…” I recently spoke to Natalie Pace, who created Friendzone, a new KW art collective, with Zach Fowler and Daniel Rolf.

“We aim to promote local music and art through events, live shows, and resource sharing,” Pace says.

The philosophy behind Friendzone’s art, events and activism is what sets them apart, and the collective’s name says a lot about the group. With their name, Friendzone aims to take

something usually used to do harm and use it instead to do good. The term “friendzone” has been criticized for being used to describe situations in which people, typically women, have refused the sexual or romantic advances of people they would have previously considered friends. The term guilts women for their right to say “no” while also devaluing platonic friendships.

The Friendzone folks are diametrically opposed to this kind of attitude and aim to provide all attendees and participating artists with safety, inclusion and respect, regardless of gender and sexuality—they have reclaimed the misogynistic term to subvert it. It also works to reclaim the innocence of the term, as the group aims to provide a fun, welcoming atmosphere where everyone is friends!

The collective, about two months old, has already done a lot. Their

punk/horror Valentine’s Day party had music by Beige and Child Leash, and a screening of Torin Langen’s short film “Malleus Maleficarum.”

Other shows at Open Sesame and The Button Factory have included Burrows, Esther Grey, Beatrix and I Smell Blood, among others.

Friendzone aims to foster local DIY art by continuing to throw live shows, hold workshops (such as their recent one about patch-making), and provide resources for artists. Throughout the month of March they offered free recording time to musicians, poets and noise artists, the results of which they will release as a compilation.

According to Pace, she, Fowler and Rolf each have “unique backgrounds in music, the arts and show promotion” that they contribute to produce their events, but they prioritize inclusivity and encourage community collaboration in everything they do. They

held an open meeting in February to determine what DIY artists and audiences want to see from Friendzone.

“We want everybody to be able to enjoy Friendzone’s events. In addition to our own efforts to promote safety and inclusivity, our events are supported by PEARS (Positivity, Empathy, Accountability, Resources, Safety),” says Pace. This means that there are designated, identifiable support people present at Friendzone’s events who are available to anyone “in need of a pal or experiencing a conflict.”

An upcoming Friendzone event called “More Mosh, Less Macho” is an “unconjoined two-day hardcore fest,” and is centred around changing the traditionally masculine and exclusionary atmosphere of the hardcore scene.

The fest takes place at Open Sesame, downtown Kitchener, on April 21 and 26.

As a collective, Friendzone is young,

and their dedication to community engagement belies the young ages of the co-creators. But perhaps their youth is what makes this collective such an exciting addition to the KW art scene. Friendzone is new, fresh, and offering something different to KW. They are, and they cater to, anti-establishment cultural producers who resist mainstream aesthetics and modes of production, and seem to be doing so with hearts of gold. They are conscious of the barriers that often make art inaccessible, and aim to dismantle them to bring weird and joyful art to everyone.

Pace emphasized that interested folks should look them up and get in touch at friendzonecollective@gmail. com.

Is West King West even a thing? Please say it won’t be. MATT SMITH PHOTO

DO YOU CARROT ALL? NEW JUICE BIZ SQUEEZES INTO DTK

SOME PEOPLE CALL IT NUTRITION, OTHERS CALL IT GENTRIFICATION - EITHER WAY IT TASTES LIKE KALE

MEGAN NOURSE CONTRIBUTOR Three white millennials walk into a juice bar. What a cliché, right?

Downtown Kitchener is now home to two juice bars, right across the street from each other, near to the intersection of King and Water Streets. Goodvibes makes their own cold-pressed juice on site, using local produce whenever possible. The business, open for a few months now, was started by Drew Butterworth and Llyod Arbour.

Cold pressed juice is a status symbol, the same way a venti Starbucks

cup is — only supposedly healthy.

The internet is saturated with green juice recipes, expensive cleanses and pictures of California one-percenters like Gwyneth Paltrow drinking kale based concoctions.

So what is it doing in Kitchener and should we be buying into the trend?

It’s up to you. Goodvibes’ most expensive juice is The Gardener, ringing up at $10; kale, romaine, cucumber, celery, green bean, spinach, lemon and ginger fill the 400ml bottle. The price tag seems outrageous, but Butterworth and Arbour say that three pounds of produce go into each bottle. They also note that our culture is accustomed to not paying fair prices for food. Instead, most of us buy mass produced and highly processed food

with little nutritional value, for the lowest possible price.

Paying $10 for a glass of lettuce is a stretch from our cultural norm, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Butterworth and Arbour are fighting the “cheaper-is-better” culture.

Goodvibe’s section of downtown is in mid-gentrification with businesses like Slices Diner and the New York Rock head shop across the street from PURE juice bar + Kitchen and GoGo mart. The latter businesses cater to the downtown lunch crowd, which, with the Tannery and Breithaupt block nearby, is quite large.

Goodvibes is benefiting from their proximity to the tech world as well.

The One Victoria condo building across from the already bougie Kaufman Lofts has likely sealed

the deal on gentrifying that end of downtown.

Some people walking by Goodvibes will roll their eyes at the business that is arguably representative of downtown’s rapid revitalization-cum-gentrification, the same way they will at the various luxe condos sprouting up. But Arbour and Butterworth assure that their clientele covers a wide spectrum of income levels, and Butterworth says you only need to drink a small amount to get a significant nutritional benefit (even though it might still leave you hungry). So far, the business partners say they’ve been welcomed in the downtown.

The space is small – a juicer and a fridge was all they needed to start, said Butterworth. His original home juicer sits in the storefront on dis-

play, mostly retired since Arbour and Butterworth purchased an industrial sized machine. The fridge is stocked full with various juices, cold brew coffee, local maple syrup and housebrewed kombucha, a recent addition.

Butterworth and Arbour say they are committed to making the business as sustainable as possible.

“Our goal is to get to zero waste,” Butterworth said. They are currently seeking a local farm to take their produce waste as food for animals, and ask customers to return all bottles for reuse.

So whether or not you are interested, juice bars are likely here to stay. And if you want an easy way to get the green veggies nutritionists are always talking about, Goodvibes might be your place.

APRIL 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

12

KEEP WAR MACHINES OUT OF CIVIC SPACES WR OPINION

ANDY MACPHERSON CONTRIBUTOR On March 7, Waterloo’s city council approved the funding for a light armoured vehicle III (LAV) memorial in recognition of the service and sacrifices of Canadian military personnel in Afghanistan. The LAV will be installed uptown, near the Waterloo cenotaph. If funding from local donors and service groups cannot be found, the council unanimously decided to contribute a maximum of $28,000 from a contingency fund. The monument is offered

by Canada Company, a charitable veteran’s advocacy organization that hopes to place 250 decommissioned LAVs across the country.

Proponents of these memorials see them as a “modern way to remember a modern war,” a reminder of Canada’s Afghanistan mission, in which 40,000 troops served, 2,000 were injured and 158 were killed between 2001 and 2014.

I am not against the idea of a publicly funded permanent homage to important people and events, values and ideas — symbols of who we are, where we’ve been, and where we dream to go. The LAV monument project concerns me because the question to council was not: “What type of monument do we want?” but rather “Where will we put a LAV monument?” I am deeply concerned that militarism and the business of war will be put on a pedestal in our civic space.

And the LAV monument is directly linked to the business of war. Heated debate surrounds Canada’s $15 billion contract for the sale of upgraded LAVs to Saudi Arabia, a country infamous for its human rights violations. Morality aside, the LAV deal may also be illegal.

Daniel Turp, a professor of international and constitutional law at the University of Montreal, argues that the government is failing in its legal obligations to implement arms export restrictions.

It’s a shame that the LAV will simultaneously become a symbol of honour and appreciation for Canadian veterans and a tool in the arsenal of a repressive regime.

At $28,000, the LAV monuments are both expedient and cost effective for city councils wanting to honour veterans of the Afghanistan mission.

But is expediency and cost effectiveness a legacy we want? Canada has recently welcomed thousands of refugees from war torn countries. Many have recently arrived to Kitchener-Waterloo. They should not be greeted at City Hall by a war machine, complete with turret and gun.

Revisiting the monument design process may be costly and time consuming. There would certainly be conflicting ideas on what would be the most appropriate form of memorial to be constructed. But I would rather see greater effort put into designing a modern, symbolic, poignant and thought-provoking monument acknowledging the tragedies of war and expressing hope for a peaceful future. Decommissioned LAVs belong in the National War Museum and not in front of City Hall.

In this combat simulation, Canadian soldiers on patrol with a LAV 3 encounter a hostile crowd in the village of Ertabat Shar, Afghanistan. A lawsuit filed in federal court in March alleges that Foreign Minister Stephane Dion is breaking the law by allowing the export of LAVs to Saudi Arabia, in a $15 billion arms deal. PHOTO COURTESY FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

Local beekeepers argue that attempts by provincial apiarists to regulate and monitor bee health are proving counterproductive. PHOTO COURTESY THE UNNAMED BEEKEEPER

UH-HUH HONEY: KEEPING BEES AND SECRETS

THE BUZZ ON LOCAL BEEKEEPING AND HOW THE ONTARIO BEE ACT CAN FORCE KEEPERS UNDERGROUND JESSICA O’CONNELL CONTRIBUTOR The bees, apparently, are dying.

However, residents of Kitchener-Waterloo have adopted different strategies to prevent this decline, despite sometimes-counterproductive laws and regulations.

Some gardeners, knowing that bees like clover, lavender and basil, will plant those. Others know not to till their soil too early or too deeply, so as to minimize the chances of disturbing solitary bee larvae. Some will reduce the amount of pesticides around theirs yards, hoping that will bring the bees back.

Another option is to keep bees in your backyard. Increasing the number of hives in a neighborhood is one way to help foster healthy colonies, and you can be officially recognized as a beekeeper by the province, if you certify your hive(s) under the 1990 Bees Act of Ontario.

To better understand beekeeping

in the region I sought one out, who I will call The Unnamed Beekeeper.

Requiring that all beekeeping operations be registered, even if they are in your own backyard, the Bees Act states that you cannot operate a hive within 30 metres of any property line. The “location of hives” section under the Bees Act essentially bars city-dwellers from operating a hive, including this dedicated bee-philosopher.

The Unnamed Beekeeper’s passion radiated as soon as they showed me their first Langstroth hive. These square, stackable boxes hold frames containing a sheet of wax hexagons for the bees to start developing brood and honeycombs. The Beekeeper’s passion remained obvious while they showed me their foundation and foundation-less top bar hives, and a handmade wooden hive, a long and horizontal top-bar structure with a little window to view the bees at work.

Registering one’s hive with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food

and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) allows Ontario’s Provincial Apiarists to keep accurate records on bee populations, health and growth, but most importantly, to act as an official body working to manage infestations and potentially transferable pathogens throughout the region and beyond.

An OMAFRA operator told me the Bees Act is “enforced on a complaint-basis,” and Wael Haddad, the Apiary Data Coordinator, ensured me that bee-inspectors in the region do inspect registered backyard hives. If inspectors find a backyard to be too small they must remove the hive.

This does not sit well with urban beekeepers, who argue that there are ways to keep backyard bees without disturbing the neighbours. For example, an urban beekeeper can raise hedges six feet high around their property to force their bees to leave at a safer height. And the bees will leave, as a worker travels within a six kilometre radius to collect nectar and pollen

from a variety of flowers.

The Unnamed Beekeeper also argued that the section governing the location of a hive undermines OMAFRA’s work to support healthy bee populations in Ontario.

To illustrate this concern, The Unnamed Beekeeper brought up the case of the small hive beetle. The beetle entered Ontario in 2010, and weakens hives by eating the brood and food supply and then, rather disrespectfully, by defecating and tunneling through the bees’ wax-protein. When the beetle was detected, registered bee keepers were contacted by provincial apiarists and told not to move or sell their bees or their potentially infested equipment. According to the Unnamed Beekeeper, the beetle has turned into a disruptive threat to colonies that will need to be continually managed.

OMAFRA wants beekeepers to call when their hives have an infestation, and to inform other beekeepers of up-

and-coming risks. But since the Act basically bars backyard beekeeping in more densely populated areas, The Unnamed Beekeeper and many others avoid OMAFRA’s registration card. By staying off the radar they also reduce the accuracy of the data that OMAFRA depends on to do its work.

When an infestation occurs, people like The Unnamed Beekeeper are in a tight spot. They are concerned about the overall health of bee populations, but they also don’t want to have their bees confiscated by OMAFRA. Many backyard beekeepers also lament that this regulatory body does not recognize their efforts to keep bee populations strong and healthy in suburban yards, work they argue benefits us all.

For now, these backyard beekeepers must remain unnamed, and discreetly care for bees as they keep their hives out of plain-sight.

APRIL 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

13

HOW MANY TIMES CAN WE MENTION THAT STEEL RAILS IS COMING? AT LEAST ONE MORE.

APRIL 2016 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

BRFC ON BEER

SEXPLANATIONS

JON JOHNSON COLUMNIST Summer is coming, which means it’s time for some new beers to hit the LCBO. So, finish up your stouts and make room in your fridge for fresh batches of wheats, session IPAs, radlers and saisons.

Saison is a term that you’ve likely seen on the LCBO shelves here and there.

With some people complaining that breweries have jumped the hoppy IPA shark, beer drinking palates progressively opening to new tastes, and the saison style itself offering a big field of play, I wouldn’t be surprised if this summer we see a big influx.

But just what is a saison?

By most accounts, the saison style originated in the 1700s in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium.

Farmers would brew the beer in the fall, using what was available from that year’s harvest, and ferment the beer over the winter. The beer would then be served to the seasonal farmhands (“les saisonniers”) while they worked the crops during the hot summer months.

This was likely another case where beer was safer to drink than the water available, and so the saison would have been the worker’s primary source of hydration. While modern saison’s usually have a five to seven per cent alcohol by volume, their original counterparts were closer to 3.5 percent ABV, which is good, because in some cases farmhands were entitled up to five litres a day.

Saison recipes varied widely from one farmhouse to the next, but were always intended to be refreshing. Depending what was on hand, they included spices or various additives. As Europe industrialized and potable water became more commonplace, the saison style became less and less common. A few small Belgian breweries kept the style alive, until fairly recently when it has become popular again.

Like the original saisons, today’s recipes maintain a broad flavour profile, though the yeast flavour is a defining characteristic. Breweries still use a variety of ingredients, creating their own take on the usually unfiltered, bottle conditioned brew with complex flavours. Saison-specific yeasts, and other strains suitable to saisons, typically impart fruity, tangy flavours, and a billowy head, with an almost champagne-like carbonation.

So now that you know what a saison is and where it comes from, which one(s) should you drink this summer? Saison Dupont, one of the best examples of the style, was readily available in the LCBO last year, and hopefully will be again.

Personally, Boulevard Brewing Co.’s Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale was my favourite LCBO offering in the style last year.

King Street Saison from Block 3 leans a little heavier on the ale side to me, but definitely bears that saison yeast flavour, which might make it a great entry point.

Block 3 has been doing a lot of good work with Belgian yeasts, so if you like the flavour, keep your eyes open as we’ll hopefully see more from them, and from others. Whichever you choose to help you stay hydrated — while working on your crops or your tan — I’m sure you’ll find a refreshing beer with interesting flavours.

STACEY JACOBS COLUMNIST I recently attended a workshop about loneliness, which I often think about in terms of intimate relationships. It’s a topic I often discuss with youth as part of the provincial sexual health education curriculum. As a sex educator I interact with individuals and couples on a regular basis and have come to the conclusion that most people are looking for companionship and intimate connection. What’s more, many people are lonely, even people in intimate relationships. Society puts overwhelming pressure on people to be in a relationship, which makes me wonder whether and how much of peoples’ loneliness is socially constructed.

At work I regularly play an activity with youth that discusses relationships.

It often sparks dialogues on remaining in an unhealthy relationship because they simply want to be in a relationship.

Experiencing a great deal of peer pressure to be with someone, they feel more socially included when dating.

I have also spoken with adults who admit they just do not want to be alone.

They are not happy in their relationship but they are willing to stay. Many adults will settle in an unhappy, unfulfilling or unhealthy relationship because it is preferable to being alone. These are often smart, successful people.

Society has done an excellent job of convincing us that being single is not a desirable permanent state. You should always be on the lookout for “the one.”

Single people are often asked whether they are dating anyone, as if being single is not a choice anyone would make.

Being single is a choice we can make — and a choice that many people make, for many reasons. We need to stop assuming that because someone is alone they are unhappy.

Don’t get me wrong, relationships can be great and can have many benefits.

But I also think that being single can have many benefits. You can get to know yourself without worrying about impressing someone else or making compromises. You have more time to develop close friendships and stay connected to family. You have more time to concentrate on yourself both physically and mentally. You get to make all the decisions about the way you live your life. And just because you are not in a relationship does not mean you cannot have sex, both with yourself and with others.

People have told me they are in a relationship for financial reasons. This makes sense to me, because who can afford a mortgage on their own? Some people want to be in a relationship so they can have regular sex — not always the case. Some people simply don’t have time for a relationship with work and their other interests and passions. And there are always people who simply think the best company is their own.

To answer Bon Jovi’s question, “What do you got, if you ain’t got love?”: yourself, close friends and interests you have time to pursue. That’s pretty darn good.

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14

GRAPHIC COURTESY ELIZABETH SOBKA

IS YOGA FOR EVERY BODY? NEW COLUMN TAKES A HOLISTIC VIEW OF LIVING WELL IN WR

KRISTY ROTH COLUMNIST In Canada, we often think about yoga as a fitness class. Something flexible women do after the farmers market or before a coffee date with friends. We’ve heard of the yoga body, the yoga diet, and I think we all own some variation of yoga pants.

But yoga was born of something else.

Something bigger, and older, and more steeped in wisdom and tradition. Yoga literally means “to yoke.” It’s a practice designed to unify: body and mind, sweetness and stability, and ultimately humans and the divine. Patanjali codified the Yoga Sutras in 400CE and the practice of yoga began to spread throughout India and the world. Today, it’s one of the fastest growing “industries” in North America.

New to yoga? Here are three things you should know:

IT’S RIGHT FOR YOUR BODY An Asana practice may seem like it’s only appropriate for the young, thin, able-bodied people in our world. However, yoga can be practiced by any body, and can be modified for all abilities.

Yoga can help you lengthen and cultivate flexibility, or strengthen to overcome injury. It can help you heal a broken heart or a sore back. It can help you feel a sense of belonging in your daily life.

The trick is to find the right practice, the right studio, and the right teacher.

Also, don’t hesitate to use the straps or blocks in your practice - they will assist in a full range of movement.

Not sure what’s best for you? Try the 30 Day Challenge at Moksha Yoga, Yoga For Round Bodies at Queen Street Yoga or Yoga for Beginners at Fearless Heart Yoga.

YOU CAN AFFORD IT I’ll admit it, yoga classes can be expensive and establishing a regular (preferably, daily) practice is important. If you’re loving yoga but lacking the funds to practice at your favourite studio, consider:

Home practice: It’s free and 100 per cent targeted to where you are today.

Go online: There are so many free or inexpensive online resources. My favourite is YogaGlo.com, where $18/month gives you access to hundreds of truly excellent and easy to sort classes. $5 classes: Most studios have a weekly community or “Karma” class where the proceeds are donated to charity!

Energy Exchange: Volunteer your cleaning services in exchange for free yoga.

IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN POSES Yoga is about more than poses. In fact Asana is just one component of the eight “limbs” designed to guide a yogi through life. The yogic path begins with the Yamas & Niyams, the Dos and Don’ts that teach us how to be kind, honest, clean, and perseverant (among other things), and reaches completion with Samadhi, a state of bliss.

This philosophy, the yoga practiced off the mat and in the world, is in my humble opinion the most beautiful, challenging and rewarding aspect of the practice.

APRIL 2016 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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