The Community Edition: May 2018

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 8 • MAY 2018

THIS WAY TO THE HELLCAT PAGES 6-7

A MOTHER’S VOICE AMPLIFIED

KNOCKING DOWN SIS STEREOTYPES

DO YOU KNOW THE KW MUFFIN MAN?

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PAGE 8

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MAY 2018 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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FEATURE

6-7 KW’S DIY SCENE: AN IN DEPTH LOOK

IN THIS

ISSUE

EDITOR’S PICK 8

INSIDE

3 4 4 5 8 9-12 13 13 14 MAY 2018 15 15 THIS ISSUE OF TCE IS DEDICATED TO FRIENDSHIP. (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.) 16 17 17 18 18 19 20

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 8

AN ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF SUPERVISED INJECTION SITES IN BRIEF BOSSY WOMEN TAKE THE MIC BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN STUDENTS AND GALT #LOVEFORZION: FROM TRAGEDY, COMES ADVOCACY WR & HOWE: GETTING INVOLVED WITH ELECTIONS ADVERTISEMENT: DTK SUMMER GUIDE WALKING WITH JANE LIVING A ZERO WASTE LIFE STRIPPING DOWN WITH JULIA BUSATO COLLECTING DATA ON HOMELESSNESS NEW TUNE REVIEW: SAFE AS HOUSES TCE FICTION: WANDERLUST KW’S VERY OWN MUFFIN MAN THE SIDE HUSTLE: STEFENIE WALKER SKATING CIRCLES WITH TRI-CITY ROLLER DERBY EASY BEING GREEN: DOES EARTH DAY MATTER? OONA MOON // EVENT LISTINGS SEXPLANATIONS: CELEBRATING MENSTRUATION

COVER BY PAIGE BUSH

Volume 6, Issue 8 Next issue: June 6, 2018 75 University Ave. W Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 519-884-0710 x3564

All advertising inquiries should be directed to Care Lucas at 519-884-0710 x3560 care.lucas@wlusp.com

THE COMMUNITY EDITION TEAM

WLUSP ADMINISTRATION

Editor in Chief Beth Bowles beth@communityedition.ca

President Andreas Patsiaouros

Publisher Lakyn Barton lakyn.barton@wlusp.com Assistant Editor Ramona Leitao Social Media Coordinator Brittany Kovacs Web Manager Care Lucas Photo Editor Nick Stanley Photo Editor Paige Bush General Inquiries info@communityedition.ca

Executive Director Lakyn Barton Advertising Manager Care Lucas Treasurer John Pehar Vice-Chair Lisa Irimescu Directors Benjamin Cooke Rosalind Horne Alan Li Noa Salamon H.G. Watson Corporate Secretary Noa Salamon

CONTRIBUTORS Brad Bauer Nathalie Bouchard Melissa Bowman Stacey Danckert Megan Dawe Karli Feriolo Sophia Grande-Lawlor Cameron Hoddle James Howe Safina Husein Stacey Jacobs Jenny Kirby Jennifer Lyon Andreas Patsiaouros Kurtis Rideout Natasha Rolleman Dylan Siebert Kaitlyn Severin

Matt Smith Josh Sumi Cara Vandermey Karlis Wilde Nancy Xiao

TWITTER @THECOMMUNITYED INSTAGRAM @COMMUNITYEDITION

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 Community Edition, WLUSP, WLU or Centra Web. 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 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.

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.

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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IN BRIEF NEWS

ARTS

URBAN

600 ATTENDEES AT STUDENT FUNERAL

SAY FAREWELL TO NIGHT\SHIFT PARTY

PROPOSAL FOR ION EXPANSION

About 600 people filled the Holy Cross Lutheran Church April 28 to attend the funeral of Lam Diing, a Kitchener resident and a student at the University of Waterloo. Diing, 23, was killed April 15 at a house party in Kitchener after being stabbed during a fight. Nicholas Salim Ndayisenga, 22, faces a second-degree murder charge in connection to Diing’s death.

Join the community in celebrating the life of NIGHT\SHIFT at their Farewell Party, which will take place at Kitchener Market on May 30 from 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. NIGHT\ SHIFT, the annual place-hacking festival in KW is retiring after five years. The party will consist of past projects that were displayed in previous festivals, as well as live music performances and catered food.

New proposals to expand the light rail transit service into Cambridge have been made to the Region. The proposed route would move the line away from Eagle street, an area where many residents claimed to not want it. The estimated cost is about $1.36 billion. Officials say this route would reduce the number of properties impacted by the LRT expansion.

FAITH GOLDY EVENT CANCELLED

FROM STEM TO STEAM

NO CYCLING LANE WANTED HERE

A Faith Goldy speaking event that was to take place at the University of Waterloo has been cancelled due to security costs. According to event organizer Lindsay Shepherd, the original cost for security was to be $1,600, but increased to $28,500. The increase was due the University being told that many groups had communicated an intent to protest which led to a need to pay for security and police.

A new condo building at 70 King Street North that is currently in the planning works will include a space for a science centre.

The science centre is created by Launch Waterloo, a group that is dedicated to STEAM programs in the Region. Co-founder Tobi DayHamilton emphasized the need for incorporating arts in STEM education institutions and hopes that this centre will emphasize it.

Proposed cycling lanes on Vanier Drive in Kitchener are gaining opposition from residents who currently live there. City planners say that this would provide more options than just driving around their community. Residents in the area have claimed that the proposal would take space from residential properties and the area is not heavily used by cyclists so there would not be a need for one.

DTK’S THE BERLIN IS KITCHENER TO BID ZERO CARBON FOR MEDIA OFFICE BUILDING IN KW TRANSFORMING

What’s the deal with KW’s DIY scene? What even is a DIY scene?

You’re in luck, because we have writers like Kurtis Rideout who are eager to tell you. Flip to page 6 to figure it all out.

PAIGE BUSH PHOTO

EDITOR’S NOTE: LEAVING THIS PLACE

Sometimes I think about leaving this place.

I’m fearful and ashamed, as the Editor in Chief of an independent newspaper that focuses on Waterloo Region, to tell you that I’ve been planning to move to Toronto for the past two years.

I tell myself that there’s more opportunities there, more people who will read my writing, more live shows, more jobs, more people who are like me. I tell myself that there’s a cap I will reach here, in the work that I want to do. There aren’t tonnes of opportunities to write, here — KW has a carrying capacity and I don’t know if I’ll know when I’ve reached it.

The plan for me, is to move to Toronto in a year or two. Maybe to go back to school, maybe try to make it as a freelancer, I don’t really know. But, for someone who was born and raised in Cambridge, then moved to Waterloo for school and now lives

According to social media (and what more reliable source is there, really?) The Berlin, a restaurant downtown, will be closing it’s doors on May 14. The restaurant will be reopening in late May as The Rich Uncle Tavern, a new place that wishes to promote “hearty fare and craft beverages.” You can still catch Mother’s Day Brunch at The Berlin on May 13.

The City of Kitchener hopes to open an interactive media, film and music office to encourage more art projects to be created in the area. Council approved a two-year pilot project late April.

The office will aim to focus on industries and staff as well as growing jobs and business opportunities. The project will cost about $260,000.

The Evolv1 building at 420 Wes Graham Way is being commemorated as the first building in Canada to achieve a zero carbon rating from the Canada Green Building Council.

The office building is able to produce enough carbon-free renewable energy to offset annual carbon emissions that would be produced with its operations.

in Kitchener, I fear that living in KW, and more specifically that I have not experienced living anywhere else, for the entirety of my life could be seen as a failure I don’t want you to think that I hate KW and that I’m certain that I’m better than this place, this place that I write about for a living, this place that I interact with every day both for work and for pleasure. But the truth is, I haven’t moved to Toronto yet because I’m so afraid that this is where I actually belong and if I leave and come back, I won’t be coming back to the same place.

A couple weeks ago, I had a really good day. As per usual, I went to Princess Cafe to park myself in a chair and write for a few hours. I chatted with the owner, who I’ve become friends with just because I’ve been going there for years, and I had my favourite sandwich. Later that night I went to Ethel’s with some friends and one of the servers

played the same trick on me that he always does — he stands on my left side but taps my right shoulder making me look right when he’s actually to my left — you know, a school-yard prank.

He plays that trick on me every week and I still fall for it. As we were driving home that night, I saw a few friends standing on the corner of King and Bridgeport.

When I was stopped at the red light, I rolled down the window to shout, “hey!” when another acquaintance of mine walked in front of my car and waved.

It was just one of those days where you have nothing but really positive interactions with everyone you see.

I find comfort in the fact that if I go downtown Kitchener, I’ll probably see one of our volunteer writers or photographers. The amount of times that I see Matt Smith walking down King Street — usually with a bag from a record store — is outstanding.

I like that the same employee makes my coffee at Smile Tiger.

I like that I know who owns what businesses uptown. And I really don’t think that this feeling of connectedness comes solely from my work in community media.

I think it comes from this place that we live in and the people who live here, also.

Maybe one day I will get a job in Toronto and have to move there, and maybe it will be a really great experience. But I think we all should evaluate the place we call home. Is it just a bed where you lay your head at night after a long day at a job that you hate? Or is it a grid of intersecting streets that you feel safe walking down, a coffee shop where the owner knows you by name, a bar where you’re sure to run into people you’ve made positive connections with?

To me, that’s why KW is my home, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find that anywhere else.

MAY 2018 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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NEW PODCAST TACKLES FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP NATHALIE BOUCHARD CONTRIBUTOR Two Kitchener-Waterloo women have begun a new venture in efforts to inspire female business owners.

Katie Bentz and Katie Steckly started the Bossy Women Podcast in order to celebrate women entrepreneurs in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The goal for the podcast is to educate, inspire and create episodes which will motivate women in the community to follow their business and entrepreneurial dreams.

“The Bossy Women Podcast is an interview show which we upload every Friday, so it’s a weekly show and it’s all about inspiration and motivation for female entrepreneurs,” Steckly said.

“Some of the shows with our interviews have [local] business owners and some of them are us giving our own tips and advice and inspiration to inspire female business owners.”

Bentz and Steckly own their own businesses in Kitchener-Waterloo. Steckly is a freelance videographer in addition to being a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo. She also creates video and social media marketing for other small businesses and entrepreneurs. Bentz is a New-Hamburg resident

who attends the University of Waterloo by day but is a social media marketing super star for Arbonne by night.

The two women met at the University of Waterloo and found common ground in their love of business and entrepreneurship.

“We both just liked to bounce business ideas off each other and dream about our future businesses and what we want them to look like. We wanted to start a podcast to do a fun creative project together and meet people who have similar goals,” Bentz said.

Both Katie’s founded the name “Bossy Women” in efforts to combat the stereotype and stigma behind the term “bossy” when it pertains to women who take charge of their own destiny or independence.

“We were kind of thinking about the name for a long time. We had an idea for a podcast that would be a show with local female entrepreneurs, and I think we kind of double crossed bossy women because we both relate to the idea of being called bossy as kind of an insult,” Steckly said.

“But growing up, both of us were called bossy at different points in our lives because we’re just independent kind of driven women and it also kind of lined up with the idea of being a boss and being your own boss.”

Bentz and Steckly explained that their target demographic ranges from aspiring female entrepreneurs to university students. However, this podcast could

serve for many women looking to gain valuable skills in business.

“I would’ve loved to have something like this where I could’ve looked for inspiration outside of the classroom.

As someone who has taken business courses in university, I think you learn the logistics of it, but you don’t learn some of the softer skills that you need to have,” Bentz said.

Steckly and Bentz try to have a wide range of diverse business owners in each episode. However, the theme of the podcast remains the same throughout each episode: women in entrepreneurship.

“We ask each guest what their experience has been like as a woman in their field and I think that is part of the core of our podcast, the experience of being a female business owner. And so it’s been very interesting to see how that looks in different industries,” Steckly said.

Although the podcast remains in the future stages of just shy of 10 episodes, the Bossy Women Podcast hopes to create a community to eventually start having networking events.

“We’ve always been very collaborative with each other about our own businesses and what our goals were. We [both] really liked the idea of creating the community in Kitchener Waterloo where we can have the inspiration from other female entrepreneurs,” Bentz said.

“Our goal in the future is, as a community, where we can have networking events and a place where we can really bring that community together.”

Katie Bentz (left) and Katie Steckly (right) host the Bossy Women Podcast — a new show dedicated to celebrating female entrepreneurship.

JENNIFER LYON PHOTO

MATT SMITH PHOTO

BRIDGE-ING THE GAP BETWEEN STUDENTS AND GALT

THE STUDENT RUN NOT-FOR-PROFIT AIMS TO FOSTER CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CAMBRIDGE AND ITS STUDENTS

NATASHA ROLLEMAN CONTRIBUTOR

Cambridge, specifically Galt, has been misunderstood in Waterloo Region for quite some time. My goal as a writer is to expose and reveal what is truly happening in Galt, by showcasing local initiatives that are creating a vibrant community which are challenging and changing old stereotypes of Cambridge.

The regenerative impact that the University of Waterloo School of Architecture has had in the historic community of Galt is beyond question. However, it is the role the students have played in connecting the local community to the

school that has been a key part in the success of Galt’s urban revitalization.

From the inception of the non-profit student initiative the “BRIDGE Centre for Architecture and Design” in 2012 (originally a master’s thesis project

by Zak Fish focusing on the impact of empty store fronts in small urban cores) to present day — a major revitalization of the downtown core of Galt has taken place, which seems to be no coincidence.

I walked the historic town and toured the campus with the current BRIDGE Co-Director Daniel Abad who is presently finishing up his master’s thesis.

“BRIDGE is a student run organization independent from the University that fosters the connection between the school and the community of Cambridge,” Abad explained. “Our mandate is to promote the discourse of art and architecture to Cambridge outside of

the School of Architecture.”

The group reaches out to the community in many ways, but their greatest resource is their multipurpose storefront space located at 37 Main Street. This is how I discovered BRIDGE — in the late evening as I walked down Main Street, I saw all kinds of interesting lights and people congregating inside of what, at first glance, looks to be an empty store.

I was peering through the window when a group of students came out and welcomed me into their end of semester night market held for the students and the community.

Abad explained how BRIDGE will facilitate any event that the student body feels there is a desire for and is willing to organize. The group runs about one event every week, and at least half of these are open to community — game nights, exhibitions, coffee houses, last week a student brought in goats —

there’s really a wide variety.

BRIDGE evolved out of a disconnect, Abad said. Students wanted to change the fact that the school has so many unique events happening all the time that the local community was never aware of. The goal of BRIDGE is to create a space where members of the local community can come view, critique and be a part of the architectural community.

Director of the School of Architecture, Dr. Anne Bordeleau, reaffirmed the university’s commitment to downtown Galt with the proposal of an expansion on April 24 at city council. Bordeleau drew on the importance of revitalizing urban cores: expanding the university across the bridge to the east side of the river would stimulate the economy, have an impact on preservation of heritage, and allow for greater involvement in social development. It would, ultimately, be

“transformative.”

Doug Craig, mayor of Cambridge also elaborated on this vision.

“What this expansion will do is give credibility to Cambridge as a university town, just like we have Conestoga outside of Blair. All of that fits together with the type of community we are building.”

Over the past six years, the hard work of student initiatives like BRIDGE has influenced the way our community is being shaped. Groups like these are developing a contemporary society that embraces urban heritage and connects members of the community. A vision fueled by creativity that has lead to expansions and has been instrumental in the revitalization of this downtown core.

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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Kitchener mother, Jaimie Farrell (pictured above with her son, Noah), is selling t-shirts and sweaters to raise awareness about the fentanyl crisis and her son Zion’s death.

BRIT KOVACS PHOTOS

#LOVEFORZION: A NECESSARY CONVERSATION KITCHENER MOTHER INITIATES ADVOCACY WORK TO EDUCATE LOCAL TEENS ABOUT DRUG USE

BETH BOWLES EDITOR IN CHIEF When I asked Kitchener resident Jaimie Farrell to describe her son, Zion Farrell-Williams, she paused smiling, while tears gathered in her eyes. It was the mix of emotions that coincides with missing someone that you loved more than anything.

“He was just so outgoing and shy … very sheepish. It’s hard for me to put it in words. The first thing I think about when I hear his name is his smile. It’s something definitely that everybody remembered about him …

It was so shy,” she said.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of Zion’s death. He was 14 and in grade nine at St. Mary’s High School. He was a dedicated athlete and a leader both at school and in his home.

“He was very much a leader, but wanted, at the same time, to please and impress people … He liked making people laugh and he liked people liking him,” Farrell said.

In May 2017, Zion came home late after hanging out with friends.

“I could tell that his eyes were red.

I knew that he smoked [marijuana].

He walked in an I looked at him and I said, ‘I’m mad at you, but I love you,’” Farrell recalled.

Zion went upstairs and played video games, then went to bed.

The next morning, his older sister Taejohnna discovered that he wouldn’t wake up.

“I didn’t know what happened, and

I didn’t know what it was,” Farrell said. While she had heard rumours that Zion may have taken Xanax, the coroner ensured her that he was healthy and that his body could have withstood taking Xanax.

It wasn’t until six months after his death that Farrell was told by the coroner that there was fentanyl in his system. She later learned that Zion had taken Xanax cut with fentanyl on the night of his passing.

Farrell explained that Zion learned how to take Xanax from friends and the lyrics from rap music. “[Initially], I didn’t talk to the media or the press because I was very scared of people labelling my son and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want anybody to associate him as a drug addict. The thing is, I’m very compassionate for people who have drug addictions … but it doesn’t matter whether I have compassion or not. My son wasn’t an addict and I wanted to make sure people knew that,” Farrell said.

As the year after Zion’s death progressed, Farrell became passionate about sharing his story.

Her goal was, and is, to inform members of the community about the fentanyl crisis.

“You don’t have to be a drug addict or a seasoned drug user to die from this drug,” she said.

After meeting with a medium who told her that Zion didn’t want to be forgotten, Farrell began her advocacy work in the Region.

It started with Zion’s name. Zion wasn’t able to travel during his short life, so Farrell asked anyone who could to hold up a sign with his name on it when they visited new places.

“So I started doing this thing

where I would ask people to hold up a sign with his name on it, because he wasn’t able to travel anywhere.

He didn’t get the chance to go to all these beautiful places in the world that he could have if he lived. So that kind of just took off,” Farrell said.

People have held up signs with Zion’s name on it all over the world, including the Great Wall of China and at the winter Olympics. Farrell just asked that the photo be posted on social media. With the success of this initiative, Farrell and her daughter developed a hashtag that they also hoped would raise awareness.

“

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A DRUG ADDICT OR A SEASONED DRUG USER TO DIE FROM THIS DRUG. - JAIMIE FARRELL

”

“#LoveForZion was my daughter’s idea,” Farrell said. “So it went from me wanting his name everywhere, to now using this platform to bring awareness. I started getting really worried about other kids, about [fentanyl] falling into other kids’ hands.”

But it wasn’t until this Christmas that the #LoveForZion movement became an tangible, opposed to a conversation. For Christmas, Farrell’s teenage cousin drew her a cartoon caricature of Zion, based off an actual photograph of him that

she loves.

“It said, ‘Merry Christmas, Mom, I love you. From Zion.’ And that was the best Christmas gift I got,” Farrell said.

After Christmas, one of Taejohnna’s friends suggested Farrell put the drawing on a t-shirt — and she did just that. The shirts and sweaters are simple, with the caricature of Zion in the centre and “LFZ” — the acronym for #LoveForZion — written below.

“I just thought it was such a great idea from a teenager for a teenager.

[The shirts are] for everybody, but I thought what an awesome way to make it almost okay and cool to say ‘no, I don’t want that drug,’” Farrell said.

“I want to find a way where teenagers [don’t] feel like they’re [uncool] if they don’t accept that drug that’s going around at a party. I want them to be able to be cool and say no, because [of] Zion.”

Farrell collects about five dollars profit from each shirt and sweater.

She’s hoping to use that money to go to Jamaica, where Zion’s father is from. Some of Zion’s family members who live in Jamaica weren’t able to travel for the funeral, so Farrell wants to go to them. She would like to bury some of his hair in Jamaican soil.

The demand for the shirts has been much higher than Farrell expected and has been a lot to juggle on top of also being a working parent, but getting the message out to the community is so important to her.

“This has helped me grieve. To keep his name alive,” she said.

“I just can’t sit down with this information and let it happen again.

It’s not right and I feel, since I’ve been sharing his story, that he’s

saved a life already.”

Moving forward, Farrell has met with a few local politicians, but her ultimate goal is to sit down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to share Zion’s story and help put an end to the fentanyl crisis. She would also like to start sharing Zion’s story in schools, in efforts to further educate students about the risks associated with drug use.

“This is an epidemic, this is a public health crisis. And it doesn’t just affect Kitchener-Waterloo. It affects us as a country,” she said.

On May 16, Farrell will be walking up McLennan Park to commemorate the one year anniversary of Zion’s death. She invites anyone to join her in remembering her son’s life.

More information can be found on the Love for Zion social media platforms.

“There’s no way that I would have allowed my son to lose his life in vain without using it to help somebody else,” she said.

“The support of the community and people around me, it takes a village. It’s not just me. It’s everybody around me.”

The Community Edition’s social media coordinator, Brit Kovacs is Jaimie Farrell’s cousin.

MAY 2018 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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THE SHOW THAT ALMOST WASN’T, AT THE VENUE THAT ALMOST WAS WORDS BY KURTIS RIDEOUT PHOTOS BY KURTIS RIDEOUT & PAIGE BUSH

“Y

o, the Hellcat got raided.”

The first message that Dylan F. Bravener sent me on Thurs.

April 11 was more disappointing than surprising, to be honest.

This presented a challenge, as the popular Dundas band, The Dirty Nil, were booked to play the Hellcat’s ‘grand opening’ in just three days, on April 14.

The Hellcat is — I should say was — the brainchild of a network of musicians and friends involved in the music scene in the Tri-City area.

Bravener and his friend/associate/ bandmate Chris Walton — one of the people behind Snake Pit, Waterloo’s infamous and now-defunct underground punk venue — had spent the last six-or-so weeks preparing to launch the underground venue in collaboration with various community members.

Bravener and friends stumbled upon the space that would come to be known as the Hellcat several months ago by chance. The space happened to back onto “Elvis Freshley,” a communal space for jamming and recording, shared by Bravener and his network of friends in the local music scene. With the impending demise of the Snake Pit drawing near, the collective dubbed the Hellcat KW’s newest DIY space.

As the grand opening of the now-infamous venue loomed closer, it appeared that the excitement for the new, underground DIY space had grown out of control.

Posters around town were wrought with clues pointing to the existence of a new go-to place for locals involved in the underground music scene. “Ask a punk,” was the only hint of any location offered by various flyers and event postings circulating Facebook, but as the hype mounted, it seemed almost inevitable that a show featuring The Dirty Nil — the band that took home last year’s Juno for best emerging artist — would slip onto the wrong person’s radar.

Evidently, the local fire marshal showed an interest in the Hellcat.

After authorities assessed the venue, long story short, it became clear that no shows would be happening at the Hellcat. Definitely not any time soon.

“Fuck,” was the only response that seemed adequate from my end, so I

went to meet Bravener at the restaurant he works at to get the full details of the story. When I approached the bar, I sat down next to him and grabbed a bottle of water and a glass from across the sparkling black counter-top.

“At least they gave you a heads up and didn’t just raid the place right in the middle of The Dirty Nil’s set,” I offered.

He ignored my comment.

There were roughly 100 tickets sold, after all, and the event had generated a lot of buzz.

The show must go on. That is something that is appropriate to say in this type of situation.

So Bravener continued to ignore me, offering an all-too-sincere, “thank you for being here right now, dude,” every now and then, between phone calls and Facebook responses.

Understandably, so; he had a lot going on. He had just three days to find a place for The Dirty Nil to do their thing, not to mention sorting out the host of other events planned to take place at the Hellcat.

“Moving to other venues was quite the feat but it worked out,” Bravener said. “People like Kyle [Wappler] from Have Hope [Shows] helped me out.”

Wappler had originally connected with Bravener to book The Dirty Nil in the Hellcat after he heard the band was looking to play a show in a fun, DIY space.

“I’ve worked with [The Dirty Nil’s] agent a lot for various things,” Wappler said. “I work with them a lot for KOI festival and I do other events for them quite regularly.” “[The Dirty Nil’s agent] actually just reached out to me and asked if I knew any cool DIY spots that we could book The Dirty Nil in because they had some time off and they just wanted to play some really cool shows,” he said.

“So, we put it together at the Hellcat.”

Unfortunately for The Dirty Nil, and the host of others involved, the Hellcat garnered too much notoriety.

Luckily, there was just enough time to reorganize into a proper venue.

While Bravener and I shared a pizza, his phone buzzed constantly with notifications from Wappler, Walton and Wappler’s collaborator, Jamie

Huenemoeder, as they scrambled to find a venue.

The four of them diligently made phone calls to various bars and clubs around the city, trying to find somewhere available for the ticketed event on short notice.

“I think we called about 15 different venues just trying to see who would get back to us,” Wappler said, after the fact.

After a few stressful hours, the group found a saviour for the event in Devon McKenzie, owner of Night School in uptown Waterloo.

“I gave him a shout and he gave me a call back and said ‘yeah, lets pull this off,’ so he pushed his DJ night back a little bit for us [to accommodate] and made it a floor show,” Wappler said.

“It made it easy for him, and easy for us, and we kept it punk rock for The Dirty Nil too.”

Though The Dirty Nil show went off without a hitch — their singa-long set was capped off with an energetic cover of Metallica’s “Hit the Lights” — a particular problem remained, that being what to do with the rest of the shows that Walton and Bravener had booked for the Hellcat.

Walton and girlfriend Stacie Jones had already begun to transition from booking bands at their house venue — the Snake Pit — to the Hellcat.

Aside from the obvious legal liabilities that coincide with organizing house shows, the popularity of the Snake Pit meant that the venue was seeing more guests than ever anticipated.

“The progression of Snake Pit going into Hellcat was like, ‘I’m getting way too many bands, I can’t continue to do shows in my house,’ because my house has become larger than I have,” Walton said.

Walton began to experience increased interest in booking from bands across North America after appearing on the podcast Taker Wide with Steve Vargas.

“Ever since that podcast, all my shows have been so successful and well attended,” Walton said.

Though the Snake Pit has gained a strong following in the local underground music community, the house venue saw its last show on April 28, as the King St. residence will soon

be demolished for alleged project development. “[So] I can’t continue to have them here,” he said. “That’s why we are doing KWCDIY.” KWCDIY — Kitchener-Waterloo Cambridge Do It Yourself — is “the phoenix rising from the ashes of the Hellcat” as Bravener described it.

A joint effort between Walton, Jones, Bravener and a host of other community members, KWCDIY is the banner that all the Hellcat shows have been rebooked under since its unfortunate demise.

“KWCDIY is like this family of friends that like to do the same niche kind of things,” Bravener said, adding that most of them are regulars at Elvis Freshley.

“The venue is ending; the community will keep going on.”

The remaining Hellcat shows have been re-booked by KWCDIY and 3 Nines Cassettes for May 4 at The Pin-Up Arcade Bar and May 15 at Harmony Lunch in collaboration with Have Hope Shows. More events will be announced soon.

As I talked with Bravener and Walton upstairs during the final Snake Pit show — two weeks removed from the events of April 11 — a realization hit me: The Hellcat represented something that could never be contained in a single room or restricted to a venue.

It was the collaborative effort of so many people. From Kyle and Jamie and Have Hope Shows to the Snake Pit, Chris, Stacie, Dylan and KWCDIY — not to mention all the bands and fans alike.

And while The Dirty Nil were never able to christen the venue that will — for the most of us — only remain a figment of our imaginations, the spirit of the Hellcat will live on in KW’s thriving underground music community.

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

7

INSIDE ELVIS FRESHLEY

WALTON & BRAVENER’S BAND FATHER BODIES

ROSS MILLER BASS/VOCALS THE DIRTY NIL

THE SNAKE PIT

NAME HERE

LUKE BENTHA GUITAR/VOCALS THE DIRTY NIL

ELVIS FRESHLEY’S FRONT DOOR

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

8

EXAMINING THE

MYTHS BEHIND SUPERVISED INJECTION SITES OPINION

JENNY KIRBY CONTRIBUTOR On April 10, 2018, Waterloo Regional Council voted to move forward with the implementation of Safe Injection Sites (SISs), specifically in Kitchener and Cambridge.

But, before site selection even began, Cambridge Council passed a bylaw banning SISs in their three downtown cores for one year while they undertake a study “in respect to land use planning policies and regulations.” Though some residents applauded their decision, others see this as a move based on stigma and misinformation.

Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig has admitted that we are in the midst of a health crisis, calling on the Region to declare a state of emergency. Residents have complained about public drug use and litter, and even set up a taskforce to remove needles found in their neighbourhoods. Last year, Cambridge and Kitchener experienced a similar rate of overdose calls, though Cambridge had nearly double the rate of fatalities per capita. Public Health has identified both the downtowns of Kitchener and Galt

as the epicentres of our Region’s opioid crisis.

Despite already facing these problems, many residents and business owners strongly oppose the opening of SISs, citing concerns of public safety and claiming that Cambridge’s cores are too “fragile” to support a SIS. Over 90 SISs have operated worldwide since the 1980s, and all of the research has come to the same irrefutable conclusions: that they reduce public drug use, needle litter, and the spread of infectious diseases; save taxpayers money; provide addicts with an avenue to recovery; and do not increase crime or drug activity in surrounding neighbourhoods.

Most importantly, they save lives.

Though they will not solve every problem or reach every person who uses drugs in our community, these sites will prevent countless overdose deaths.

Some residents feel that the Region should fund rehabilitation centres instead of SISs. Though better treatment facilities are needed, they aren’t the only tool we should use to battle this crisis, and they need not operate in competition with SISs. Our mental healthcare system needs vast improvement. We need psychologists and mental health workers to be covered by OHIP, doctors who aren’t afraid to treat patients with addiction and more certified addiction counsellors. Opening a SIS doesn’t mean losing

sight of these goals, it simply means recognizing that we are in the midst of an emergency and must act now to stop the hemorrhaging.

Many have overlooked the fact that addiction is a healthcare matter, not a moral failing or criminal issue. In 2011, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that denying drug users access to SISs violates their Charter rights because it deprives them of potentially life-saving medical care. I cannot think of another disorder whose treatment relies this heavily on public opinion. Healthcare must be evidence-based, not left up to popular vote or ideology, and municipal laws should never impede upon provincial health policies.

Will downtown Galt soon be home to a supervised injection site?

MATT SMITH PHOTO An emergency crisis needs an children, friends and coworkers. How emergency response. Opioid fatalities we treat those most vulnerable reveals have now surpassed deaths from car more about us than it does them. accidents, homicides and even the peak While Cambridge councillors may of the AIDS epidemic. Though residents have bought time to appease their think SISs will exacerbate the problems voters, time is running out for those we already face, the overwhelming overdosing and dying in our homes and scientific evidence points to the exact streets. These people need our help now opposite conclusions: SISs reduce these and we must plan both short-term and burdens on communities and, more long-term. There is no one-size-fits-all importantly, save lives. Without SISs, solution to addiction and recovery isn’t needle litter will remain a problem and possible once people are dead. parks and backyards will continue to be used as unsafe injection sites.

Most people do seem to agree on one Jenny Kirby is a Kitchener resident thing: we must do something about this who advocates for harm reduction in crisis. We are all touched by addicour community. tion: drug users are parents, partners,

HOW TO INTERACT WITH YOUR LOCAL ELECTION WR AND HOWE

JAMES HOWE COLUMNIST

TCE TRIVIA PRESENTS: YOU’VE BEEN GILMORED! THURSDAY, MAY 10 AT CHAINSAW

CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR MORE INFO

The start of May marks the start of not one, but two, elections. As the provincial election is kicking into high gear, nominations are opening for this fall’s municipal elections — I urge you to make your voice heard.

Vote on or before June 7 in the provincial election. Vote on or before October 22 in the municipal election. A single vote can make a difference. Just ask Frank Etherington who won by one vote in 2010 when he became a Kitchener city councillor.

Our most important responsibility as citizens is to vote. Yet, voter turnout is trending downward. Only half of us voted in the last provincial election. At the municipal level, which has the greatest impact on your day-to-day life, less than one out of three people in Waterloo Region voted in 2014. If you don’t vote, other voices make the choice for you.

Initially, do as much research as you can or need to in order to make an educated choice. That could be as straightforward as identifying one issue that you care about, doing half an hour of research and making your mind up on that issue.

Better yet, make a commitment to get to know the candidates and the issues.

Reach out to them and talk to them.

Phone them with your questions. Attend meetings where you can meet and hear them. Particularly ones such as those organized by the Social Development Centre of Waterloo Region that feature

conversations on key issues rather than debates.

Additionally, all campaigns require volunteers. If you have identified a candidate, party or issue that you care about, get out and help. While you can live every moment of a campaign by dedicating all your free time, you can also help out for just a few hours, or anything in between. Your level of involvement is up to you.

Volunteers are needed to knock on doors, put up signs, distribute literature, get out to vote on election day and more. You may also be able to get involved in researching policy, answering voters questions, or coordinating some part of a campaign such as volunteers.

The stronger a campaign is the more likely it is to receive votes.

I’ve included the municipal election in this column because it’s between now and late July that we will find out who is interested in serving on municipal councils and school boards. They are not backed by parties and funded entirely by donations without receiving any tax credits. These candidates can definitely use help making people aware of why they are running and how they think they can make a difference.

Or maybe you believe you have something to contribute? Think about it. We could definitely use more women, more people of colour, more people with disabilities and others who can help our elected officials be more representative of our population. And we always need people who can demonstrate that they know the issues and have a record as community builders.

In conclusion, yes get out and vote but that’s not the end of being an engaged citizen. Continue getting involved in issues that you care about or that affect your life in between elections. Keep making your voice heard.

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#DTKSUMMER ‘18

SUMMERTIME MUSIC & 2018 EVENTS downtownkitchener.ca/summer

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FREE ALL SUMMER

JUNE

#DTKSUM

Fri 1st 7pm-10pm | Luna Market

MONDAY

A night market focused on supporting indie designers, eco-friendly holistic living and alternative healing.

Goudies Lane | 4pm - 6pm

Fri 22n Sat 2nd-24th | 6th Annual Refugee Art Show

Sat 23

THEMUSEUM, partnering with CCORIC, will host the 6th annual Refugee Art Show. This year’s local theme is “Becoming Neighbours”.

Annual

Your favourite Ontario Street businesses are hosting a monthly Block Party followed by a movie in Goudies Lane the first Tuesday of June, July & August!

Showcasing the talented Makers in Waterloo Region makerexpo.ca

Live music, beer garden, vendors & more in Victoria Park tri-pride.ca

Wed May 30 - June 3rd | Open Ears Festival

Festival of new music & creative sound across the Region openears.ca

Sat 2nd | CAFKA Opens

Mon 2

A drop-

Wed 2

Free dro

Wed 2

Sun 3rd 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park

Fri 29

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Free int

Mon 4th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Tue 5th 5pm-8:30pm | #OntarioSt Block Party Nostalgia theme featuring 80’s & 90’s music, games and tons of surprises - plus a free screening of The Princess Bride in Goudies Lane!

Wed 6th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Fri 8th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Jesse Webber!

CAFKA artist, Dawn Matheson, visits Open Sesame to dicuss her exhibit: [i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]

THURSDAY

Secret Locations TBA | 7pm—9pm

Sun 10th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park

Collision of art, tech, makers, musicians, performers & community. summerlightsfestival.com Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Mon 11th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Wed 13th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Thu 14th 4pm-8pm | Tame the Lane Annual block party at the Breithaupt Block with games, food & music.

Kitchener City Hall |

Free dro

Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area presents a free biennial exhibition of art in public spaces across the Region. cakfa.org

Sat 9th 8pm-1am | Summer Lights Festival

FRIDAY

Sun 2

An intim DTK in

Fri 8th 7pm-9pm | Feminist Fridays: CAFKA EDITION!

An intimate concert series happening in your favourite book stores in DTK - in partnership with Sofar Sounds Waterloo.

Celebra Solstice outdoo and of c

Apollo C midnigh

Sat 2nd-3rd | Maker Expo

(last Thursday of each month)

Thu 2

Free int Unacco

Ontario St | 5pm—late

Free drop-in class led by Queen Street Yoga. Crappy weather?

Check @QueenStreetYoga.

Free dro

Fri 22

Sat 2nd 12pm-9pm | Tri-Pride Festival

Victoria Park Clocktower Wednesday | 12pm - 1pm Sunday | 6pm - 7pm

Wed 2

Check

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY + SUNDAY

A drop-

Thu 2

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane with music, games, pizza and surprise activities! Dropping your teen off? Grab some groceries or relax with a coffee inside J&P!

(first Tuesday of each month)

Mon 1

Fri 15th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with JoJo Worthington!

Fri 15th 7pm-9pm | Feminist Fridays: LOL EDITION!

12pm—1pm

Ladies/LGBTQ2+ Out Loud bring their inclusive comedy show to Descendants Brewery!

Free intimate lunchtime concert series on Carl Zehr Square at Kitchener City Hall BYOL (bring your own lunch)!

17 food trucks on King Street from 3pm-9pm in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters WR. At 7:30pm, Our World Music Festival kicks off in front of City Hall.

Sat 16th 3pm-9pm | King StrEATery Food Truck Festival | 7:30pm-11pm Our World Music Festival

Sun 17th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

JU

July 1

Celebrat

Tue 3r

Digital P THEMU

Wed 4

Free dro

Fri 6th

Free int + Gerim

Fri 6th Janice

Sat 7t

The re

MMER’18 MUSIC & EVENTS

18th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

Sun 8th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park

Sun 29th 9am-11pm | DTK Mile

-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

20th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

Mon 9th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

Run Waterloo Region’s two-loop certified mile-long race starts & finishes in front of Kitchener City Hall (runwaterloo.com)

op-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Sun 29th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

21st 6am | At First Light: Sunrise Ceremony

Wed 11th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

ate National Indigenous Peoples Day and the Summer e at THEMUSEUM! Join us at the crack of dawn for an or traditional Sunrise Ceremony followed by music, dancing, course – coffee! RSVP for this free event at themuseum.ca

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Mon 30th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

Fri 13th 12pm-1pm | Cruising on King Street

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

21st 5pm-11pm | DTK Patio Crawl out your favourite DTK restuaurants, bars and patios!

2nd 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch

timate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with ompanied Minors (acapella)!

nd 7pm-9pm |Feminist Fridays: APOLLO CINEMA

Cinema hosts a free screening of Practical Magic, featuring ht margaritas and a tarot card reader!

Parade with classic cars and live music, food and a licensed area

Fri 13th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Lynn Jackson!

Fri 13th 3pm-5pm | Feminist Fridays: KULTRUN Kultrun’s symposium event (The legend of the Condor and the Eagle) at Open Sesame 3pm-5pm (free), followed by a ticketed event at THEMUSEUM.

Thu 14th-15th 11am-11pm | Kultrun World Music

AUGUST Wed 1st 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Fri 3rd 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Dave Neigh!

Sun 5th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park

3rd-24th 12pm-8pm | K-W Multicultural Festival

Free multidisciplinary festival in Victoria Park featuring local and international music acts and vendors. nerudaarts.ca/kultrun

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

festival featuring performances and food tastings in Victoria Park

Sun 15th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park

Tue 7th 5pm-8:30pm | #OntarioSt Block Party

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Battle of the Bands theme ft live music (obviously), music, food, some surprises and a free movie screening in Goudies Lane!

24th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park

op-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

25th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Mon 16th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Wed 18th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

27th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

op-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Thur 19th 5pm-10pm | Shakespeare in the Park

28th 7pm-9pm | BOOKS & NOOKS

mate concert series happening in your favourite book stores in partnership with Sofar Sounds Waterloo

Driftwood Theatre Group presents Rosalynde (or, As You Like It) at Civic Centre Park as part of its annual Bard’s Bus Tour

Sun 12th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Mon 13th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

ULY

Fri 17th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Elsa James!

Fri 17th 7pm-9pm | Feminist Fridays: CAFÉ CABARET

1 | Canada Day Celebration

Neruda Arts hosts a free Café Cabaret event at Terminal’s office (305 King St)

te Canada’s 151st bash with thousands of your closest friends.

Sun 19th 12pm-5pm | KidSpark

rd 5pm-8:30pm | #OntarioSt Block Party

Free family fun celebrating all things kids in Victoria Park

Playground theme ft music, food, games and a popup exhibit from USEUM - followed by a free movie screening in Goudies Lane!

Sun 19th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

4th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

Mon 20th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

op-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

h 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch

Wed 22nd 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

timate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Jason Cave ma!

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Fri 24th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch

h 7pm-10pm | Feminist Fridays: Music & Market

egion’s 1st annual vegetarian food and culture festival!

Thu 9th-12th | Kitchener Blues Festival Live performances take over downtown kitchenerbluesfest.com

Wed 15th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

timate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Richard Garvey!

th 12pm-6pm | KW Veg Fest

Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

9th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch

Lee hosts a market and music event in Goudies Lane!

Wed 8th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park

Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall!

Fri 20th-22nd | Ribfest and Craft Beer Show BBQ’d meat & craft beer @ Victoria Park kitchenerribandbeerfest.com

Fri 20th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Onion Honey!

Sun 22nd 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Fri 24th 7pm-9pm | Feminist Fridays: LOL EDITION! Ladies/LGBTQ2+ Out Loud bring their inclusive comedy show to DTK featuring surprise guests (location TBA)

Sat 25th-26th 12pm-8pm | Link Picnic Experience African and Caribbean culture in Victoria Park!

Sun 26th 6pm-7pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Mon 23rd 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

Mon 27th 4pm-6pm | FOR-GOOD Monday

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

A drop-in volunteer party for teenagers every Monday in Goudies Lane!

Wed 25th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Wed 25th 7pm-9pm | BOOKS & NOOKS

Wed 29th 12pm-1pm | Yoga in the Park Free drop-in class @ Victoria Park Clocktower led by Queen Street Yoga

Thu 30th 7pm-9pm | BOOKS & NOOKS

An intimate concert series happening in your favourite book stores in DTK in partnership with Sofar Sounds Waterloo

An intimate concert series happening in your favourite book stores in DTK in partnership with Sofar Sounds Waterloo

Fri 27th 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch

Fri 31st 12pm-1pm | DTK Live @ Lunch

Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall with Lynn Jackson!

Sat 28th 5pm-11pm | Rock and Rumble Craft beer, food trucks, vintage/custom motorcycles and a free concert featuring Honeymoon Suite & The Northern Pikes

Free intimate lunchtime concert series at City Hall!

Fri Sept 7th 7pm-10pm | Luna Market A night market focused on supporting indie designers, eco-friendly holistic living and alternative healing.

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TRUE NORTH DTK WEDNESDAY

MAY 30

DOWNTOWN KITCHENER ALL AGES | ALL WELCOME

14 REASONS

TO LEAVE YOUR HOUSE ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

FREE CONCERT ft. THE BEACHES @ Carl Zehr Square | 7:00pm-10:30pm

DTK PATIOS OPEN + LIVE MUSIC

Various locations downtown | Begins at 4pm

LIVE MURAL PAINTING

@ King Street at Young Street | 5pm til LATE

MAKE YOUR OWN ROBOT W/ INKSMITH & ARTSHINE @ 44 Gaukel Street | 6pm-8pm

RESISTOR CASE W/ THE CRITICAL MEDIA LAB @ 44 Gaukel Street | 6pm-8pm

GOLDEN HOUR YOGA W/ QUEEN STREET YOGA

@ The Clocktower in Victoria Park | 7:30pm-8:30pm (RAIN BACKUP: Queen Street Yoga @ 44 Queen St S)

NIGHT\SHIFT FAREWELL PARTY

@ The Kitchener Market: 300 King St E | 6pm-10pm

MARKET MASHUP ft. MAKER EXPO + TWB BREWING @ Kitchener Market: 300 King St East | 6pm-10pm

HUMAN RECHARGE STATION

@ Goudies Lane b/w Ontario & Queen St | 5pm til LATE

HACKING HEALTH CAFE

@ Kitchener City Hall, 10th floor | 6:30pm-8:30pm

DOING GOOD “FLOURISHING BUSINESS CANVAS”

@ WR Small Business Centre @ Kitchener City Hall | 6pm-8pm

MAKERS CO. PODCAST LAUNCH PARTY

@ Rhapsody Lounge: 179 King St W | 6pm til LATE

$7 WEDNESDAYS

@ THEMUSEUM: 10 King St W | 10am-9pm

CAFKA ART INSTALLATIONS Various locations

truenorthwaterloo.com/festival #TNDTK | #DTKSUMMER

13

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

MATT SMITH PHOTO

HOW JANE’S WALKS ENFORCE COMMUNITY BUILDING MELISSA BOWMAN CONTRIBUTOR It is clear to both long-time residents and recent arrivals to Kitchener-Waterloo that our Region is growing and changing quickly. This development has sparked many conversations about neighbourhoods, diversity and intensification. Such conversations will be explored in greater depth the first weekend in May, for the twelfth year of Jane’s Walks.

Jane Jacobs is well-known for her impact on neighbourhood development, influencing such prominent urban planners as Robert Moses and William Whyte. Jacobs’ community-based approach to urban planning led her to author The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961. Jane’s Walks started in 2007, a year after Jacobs’ death, to celebrate her contributions to city and neighbourhood life. These

walks, according to the Jane’s Walk website: “activate the ideas of Jane Jacobs by supporting a community-based approach to city building through citizen-led walking tours that make space for people to observe, reflect, share, question and collectively reimagine the places in which they live, work and play.”

Jane Jacobs encouraged residents to examine and explore the pockets of their neighbourhoods with intense curiosity. Jane’s Walks exemplify the common phrase, “think globally, act locally.” They are local events part of a global movement, with walks occurring in hundreds of cities in over 45 countries this year. Kae Elgie and James Howe, volunteers with Jane’s Walk Waterloo Region, reflected on this phenomenon. “[Participating in a Jane’s Walk] is a good excuse to have a conversation,” said Elgie. “Not every walk leader is a Jane Jacobs’ disciple. In fact, I think some people may disagree with her quite a lot. But the point that she had, that you learn about things by walking around looking at them and talking

about them, I think everyone who does Jane’s Walks thinks that’s a good idea.”

Howe also explained how the event can further instill community engagement.

“To go on a Jane’s walk is a great way to get to know your community or your neighbourhood and the people that are in it,” he said.

Elgie observed that as well. “I started looking at the city in a different way and as you go on more walks you start thinking about different angles [of that neighbourhood.]”

Howe further instilled that the walks aren’t just about community engagement, but also acts as an homage to the work that Jacobs did, herself.

“One of the important things about Jane Jacobs,” Howe said, “is that our cities and planning are not something that we should be leaving just to the experts and the politicians. It’s something that is about people and people caring about connections with other people and their neighbourhoods.”

Whether walk leaders are aware of her or not, they are following in

Jacobs’ footsteps. They are examining and reflecting on the places they occupy daily and then creating space for conversations about those issues.

Leaving it up to people to decide what topics to explore creates a wide array of walk options, as evidenced by this year’s line-up.

Participants can join a walk that visits film locations for the HBO show The Handmaid’s Tale. Or sketch and discuss development projects in the midtown neighbourhood. Or hop on a bike and visit three local breweries while discussing the benefits and challenges of biking in the Region.

Clearly the walks this year are as unique as those organizing them. Elgie reflected on the diversity of these walks and commented that the only real connection between any of them was the fact that it’s posted on the Janes Walk website.

One walk that provides a diverse perspective is scheduled for Friday evening in Cambridge. Shannon Markle of the Idea Exchange is particularly excited about this walk.

“We talked about the idea of having

a Jane’s Walk that was focussed on welcoming people to Cambridge, letting them know a little about the town they’ve chosen to make their home but told by other people who have come here, settled here, in the recent past,” Markle said.

Though Jane’s Walks are naturally local, this walk combines global perspectives and experiences with the local neighbourhood. The Newcomer Stroll will allow attendees to meet their neighbours, discover new parts of the community and learn about other newcomers.

Markle is thrilled to see this team of newcomers work together as they organize and prepare for this walk.

“It’s a way for them to become leaders in their community. They were really wanting to talk about the potential of the city and about the way the city is developing. They are really excited to be celebrating the community they’ve chosen to live in.”

FILLING A NEED WITH A ZERO WASTE SPACE KARLI FERRIOLO CONTRIBUTOR Picture this: you’re out to dinner with some friends. You feel full but still have a lot of food left on your plate. Naturally, you would ask your server to wrap up your leftovers, likely in a styrofoam or paper container.

Now instead, you pull out your reusable container and fit your remaining food inside to take home. This might seem unnatural for many people, but for Ellin Park and Kevin Choi of Zero Waste Bulk, it is a common part of their zero waste lifestyle.

“For me, it started with minimalism, just trying to reduce the stuff I own,” Park said. “And there is a lot of overlap between the minimalist and zero waste communities, especially online.”

Park stumbled across the zero waste movement by accident only a couple of years ago. Since then, she has turned her passion into action by planning to open Waterloo Region’s first zero waste store called Zero Waste Bulk.

When Park and Choi first began their zero waste journey, they quickly realized just how difficult it is to find products that fit their lifestyle, all in one place.

“Everything is scattered. If I want to get my bulk foods, I go to one place.

If I want to get my produce I go to another place. If I want to get lifestyle items, such as toothbrushes, you go to another place,” Park said.

Out of this frustration, the idea for Zero Waste Bulk was born. Zero Waste

Bulk would be the first store of its kind in Waterloo Region; a one-stopshop where individuals can find the products they love and need, all with less waste.

“We have this trash problem. We are producing so much waste and not even that, we are consuming so much mindlessly,” Park explained. “Zero waste is more of an aspiration. Zero Waste Bulk would help the customer live zero waste, but it is almost impossible for the store to actually produce zero waste.”

Customers often do not see the waste that is produced by stores that have items shipped in. Products are often wrapped in layers of cellophane — a plastic that is not recyclable and destined for the landfill.

Park and Choi may have plans to launch an online store before securing a physical store location in Waterloo Region. However, it is still their goal to open a physical store in the near future.

“There are definitely people who are into trying to live zero waste [in Waterloo Region]. Ever since I started working on the store I have met a bunch of different people interested in trying to live zero waste and they have expressed that they are really excited for this and that they really want this.”

If you are interested in the zero waste lifestyle or simply want to produce less waste, Park and Choi encourage everyone to talk about zero waste more, to make it more common and well known. As well, be sure to not give up and learn from your mistakes for the next time. Before you know it, bringing your own containers to restaurants will become second nature.

BRAD BAUER PHOTO

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

14

GUELPH-BASED

PHOTOGRAPHER BENDS

CONVENTIONS OF BEAUTY BETH BOWLES EDITOR IN CHIEF Guelph-based photographer, Julia Busato, has a simple goal.

“I want to make people feel good,” she said, over coffee on a rainy afternoon in downtown Guelph.

“That’s what I want to brand myself as. Not the do-good photographer, but somebody who is making people fall in love with themselves again.”

Busato has been a photographer for 16 years, but has been a paid photographer for 11. In the past four years, however, her photos have garnered a tone of attention.

“I’ve been through a lot of abuse and stuff as a kid, and I always try to do different artwork to let those demons out. As soon as I picked up a camera, it hit home. When I first started, it was a lot of dark, moody photography.”

When Busato first started taking photos, her subjects were usually abandoned houses or photos that depicted violence. But then that changed.

“I just started going: okay, so what can I find beautiful in this world, instead of dark? I don’t want to photograph things anymore that trigger me, I want to start photographing things that make me feel good,” she said.

That’s when she started playing with the conventions of beauty.

Busato’s photography, to say the least, is unconventional. As primarily a boudoir photographer, her subjects generally don’t fit within the strong confines that is “Westernized beauty.”

Her Instagram feed is full of beautiful boudoir photos of “plus size” women — a demographic that is rarely portrayed as beautiful or sexy.

She became interested in complicating the typical boudoir narrative — that is that boudoir modelling and even lingerie is only for thin, able-bodied women. From this, came the Manny Series.

Busato saw a photo by another photographer of a “plus size” woman holding a mannequin in front of her.

She was inspired by this photo and wanted to try it herself, but do more with the concept than just make a political statement about body image and self-esteem.

“I saw this image and I’m like, that’s really cool. What can I do with it?

The first one I did was my friend and makeup artist, Megan, who’s a plus size girl,” Busato said.

The first photo in the Manny Series featured Megan holding a mannequin

in front of her to express that she refuses to be restricted by a certain size that society and Western culture has deemed “acceptable.”

Since that first photo, the project evolved into discussing several issues, outside of the realm of body positivity.

“As soon as this went viral, everyone came out of the woodwork [and the project focused on other issues like] eating disorders, mental illness, diabetes [to name a few],” Busato said.

Busato’s goal has been to evolve the Manny Series as much as she can. She wishes to address stereotypes and misconceptions that can be used to oppress groups of people. The Manny Series acts as a way to complicate and transform the narratives that fuel and create hateful, oppressive, or ignorant ideas and thoughts.

Right now, the Manny Series is focusing on masculinity. Her latest projects have involved naked men holding the mannequin in front of them, with messages written on the

“

I DON’T WANT TO PHOTOGRAPH THINGS ANYMORE THAT TRIGGER ME, I WANT TO START PHOTOGRAPHING THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL GOOD.

”

- JULIA BUSATO, PHOTOGRAPHER mannequin. The messages range from: “Fuck your masculinity” to “Live, love, grow abundantly, with intention.”

Busato is still looking for men to participate and share their stories.

“They are really hard to photograph, because they don’t want to be vulnerable,” she said.

Ultimately, Busato’s goal for the Manny Series is to showcase her photos and her subject’s stories in a book, hopefully to be created by the end of the year.

“I don’t tell people’s stories. You’ll notice on social media that I just put their name. I don’t tell their story.

I’m there as an outsource for them to get something out for themselves.

So when I put the book together, I want each person to do a little tiny paragraph of why they did it or what it meant to them. That way you can realize [more about] their story than just them taking part in it,” she explained.

“It’s 100 per cent collaboration, it’s not about me, I’m taking the photo [but] it’s not about me. I want to put this book together and say, these are the people that are real life people.

Look at their face.”

Busato hopes that the book will help further share stories that need to be given a platform.

“If it’s a story that I [personally] can’t tell, I still want to put it out there. I still want the world to change. And if this is my small little contribution to it, to how society sees people, I’ll do it,” she said.

Ultimately, Busato isn’t your average photographer. Her subjects are typically people who have been told by our society that they shouldn’t model, or be photographed (which is absolutely absurd if you look at how beautiful every single one of Busato’s photos are). But because of this, Busato works even harder to create an inclusive and safe environment for her subjects, who are oftentimes wearing little to no clothing.

“I usually tell people it’s okay to be nervous, it’s okay to feel anxious, but you’re doing this for you. Yes, you say you’re doing this for your husband, or your boyfriend, or whatever, but you’re doing this for you. This is for you to fall back in love with your body, with yourself, with how you want to live your life. This has nothing to do with just gifting somebody some fancy pictures. I want you to come for you and not for other people,” she said.

“I always tell them: I’ve got your back. I’m here. If you feel like crying, cry. If you want to dance naked in my living room, we’ll do that, too. I don’t want people to feel uncomfortable.”

And while the work that Busato is doing is unique and important, she still receives negative feedback from people on social media. She receives negative and cruel comments, her photos are removed from Instagram constantly and she was banned from Facebook for 30 days.

“Everything I put up is censored.

If I see a nipple, if I see anything in the nether regions that’s out there, I sensor everything … I try to cover as much as possible [while] I still think that hiding nudity from kids is an issue. Nudity is not sexuality,” she said.

And at the end of all the negativity and the positivity, after hearing both painful and happy stories from her subjects, her goal still remains the same.

“This is, in my form, my political stance. I really want the world to be able to see beauty in everybody, not just the Cindy Crawford’s of the world,” she said.

“It has to be everybody. And that’s how I see the world. I see beauty in everybody I meet.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JULIA BUSATO

Julia Busato (centre) started the Manny Series nearly a year and a half ago.

ANGELA BRUZZESE PHOTO

DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE A PODCAST? SUBSCRIBE TO TCE RADIO ON ITUNES. OK? OK.

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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PIT COUNT HELPS GATHER DATA ON HOMELESSNESS RAMONA LEITAO ASSISTANT EDITOR The Region of Waterloo is aiming to end homelessness with the push of the Ontario government and the encouragement of the Canadian government.

“It’s not far fetched, it’s possible to do, but you have to have the right resources for the right kinds of things,” said Deb Schlichter, the Region of Waterloo’s Director of Housing.

“It’s an ambitious goal but there are some other communities that have started to make that happen and we want to be one of those.”

Earlier in the year, the federal government provided a guide as to how to tackle the issue of finding the level of homelessness in local communities, by providing an online guide on methodologies that could be used. Later in March, the Ontario government mandated that service management areas have to participate in either a count or a survey to track how many people experience homelessness every two years.

“While the federal government is saying it’s good to do it, the province is saying that you have to do it,” Schlicter said.

And so, the Region of Waterloo started their data collecting in April as part of their process in ending homelessness.

The Region conducted their second Point in Time Count (PiT Count) —

which was also recommended by the provincial government — on April 23, with 93 volunteers registered.

“You just take one day in a particular year and you go out and count everyone on that day,” Schlicter said. “That sort of gives you a sense of the size of the group that’s homeless. It’s just from that day, so it’s a snapshot.”

The first Point in Time Count was conducted in 2014, before the government mandated communities to conduct them.

In addition to the count, the Region is also conducting surveys to get a better assessment of the demographic of the homeless.

“The importance is that if you’re just doing a count you really only know numbers but you don’t know more than that,” Schlicter said. “The survey gathers a lot more information we get a sense of what people’s issues are, what their concerns are, and their risk level. Because we use that to help us when people want to access supportive housing, house grants — we need to know how at risk they are. That’s how they get prioritized.”

In addition to the PiT Count, the Region also conducted a Period Prevalence Count from April 12-26 in the rural areas.

Schlicter emphasized the importance of having a count in these areas.

“The other part of doing count is that homelessness is not visible. You don’t necessarily see it. Especially with rural homelessness, that’s why we have rural agencies helping us with this, as well,” she said.

“It’s really about relationships, these people really connect to these groups

so we have to make sure we have an accurate count. If it’s not accurate, it’s not worth doing. It’s not an easy group sometimes to find, so we have to work with people who are already connected and can help us do that well.”

Registry Week is another assessment that took place in the Region from April 12 - 30, where emergency shelters and street outreach programs are analyzed extensively, given this winter’s increase in need for shelter space.

“We have a typical shelter that gets funding for the Region, and they have a capacity. And when we reach capacity we move to what we call our overflow model,” Schlicter explained.

“We don’t ever say ‘we’re full.’ We have other ways of trying to manage the numbers.”

“Over the winter, the numbers have gone up. Typically, we see numbers go up anyway in the winter so it’s not surprising, what was surprising is how many we see in the winter is much higher than normal. We had to devise some other way of managing the numbers, but we have a system in place to manage.”

Schlicter hopes that the data collected from April will be beneficial in tackling homelessness by providing insight on how they could better improve the services that are already in place, such as their home-based

NANY XIAO PHOTO support program and their access system.

Schlicter also mentioned that the types of services needed for certain people experiencing homelessness vary, which is why getting a bigger picture of the Region’s homeless population is important.

“The kind of supportive housing that we need for that group is different than those with lower risks. It informs our programs and informs our resource allocations [as to] where we’re going to put our money. We’re putting it in not building more shelters, but to building more homes. And that’s how we’re going to end homelessness.”

NEW TUNE REVIEW

FEELIN’ ALIVE WITH

SAFE AS HOUSES Song: “Alive” by Safe as Houses Link: http://smarturl.it/SAHAlive When one thinks of musicians who ooze harmonies, the groups or artists that often come to mind are Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, even the Beach Boys — not generally bands in our own backyard.

If harmony is something you’re looking for, then you should take a listen to the local band from Kitchener-Waterloo who go by the name Safe As Houses.

I streamed a new song of theirs on YouTube, “Alive.” It’s a mellow, melodic tune with heavy harmonies throughout the four and a half minutes. The song begins very soft, then slowly builds to where the vocals are

matched with the sounds of strings, showing the band’s unique talent and sound. There’s even a break near the end where you can hear what sounds to be a trumpet or horn section.

The eclectic sounds of Safe As Houses are shared with indie folk/rock bands and artists of today like The Head and The Heart, The Decemberists, Manchester Orchestra and Bright Eyes, to name a few.

If you like what you hear, and want to support local talent, the band is having their upcoming album release party on May 11 at Starlight in Waterloo.

Doors open at 7 p.m. Advanced tickets are $15.

WE SERVE BEER (and wine)

- Cameron Hoddle

FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @COMMUNITYEDITION

APOLLOCINEMA.CA

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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W A N D E R L U S T WORDS BY DYLAN SIEBERT

TCE FICTION This is the story of the people who had forgotten their own story.

They lived a long time ago, by the shore of a lake, in the midst of a great and ancient forest. When the sun shone, it turned the waters to gold, and when the moon rose it changed them to silver, and all through the night and the day the great forest breathed and the people went about their work. They were content.

Beyond the village by the lake, where people worked and laughed and lived, there were wild places that offered silence and solace to those who sought it. In the stone lake to the south, deep beyond thought, the rain pooled and fish swam under sheer walls of rock. Across the river to the north, the crumbled pillars of a long-forgotten road showed the way for those who sought their heart’s ease in roving far from home.

But most beloved of all the great wild places was the wood beyond the water.

There, on the lake’s eastern shore, the rays of the setting and rising sun stole through the pine branches and turned the air to mystery and breathlessness. Young people would take their fishing boats across the water and lie down on soft beds of needles, watching the blue sky through the branches darkening into night. And when they returned, with the wind among the pine trees still whispering in their ears, the old people would watch them and smile, remembering.

But for one young man in the

village, there was no contentment in the journeying out and the coming home again. For as he went about his work, his ears were full of the wind through the pines, and ever he heard it whispering: ‘elsewhere, elsewhere’.

And each time he returned from the Wood Beyond, his heart was more troubled than before.

At last he came before the elders of the village and said, ‘I am going now, to dwell forever in the wood beyond the water. There I have found silence and deep peace, and having once known it, I know too that this place is no home of mine. I will take with me as many as will come.’

‘Do not go,’ said the elders, ‘for when you leave, silence will come to where we are and remain.’

But the young man could not be dissuaded, and set off one morning with a great many companions, both young and old. They landed their boats on the far side of the lake and raised a new village, and there they dwelt in happiness among the tall groves they had grown to love.

But soon their love grew uneasy, for the soil was poor there, and their first harvest failed.

That winter was a hard one, and when spring came again the people argued about how best to plant and gather. As their voices rose through the pine branches, the young man who had led them felt the peace of the Wood Beyond seeping away, and the wind off the lake picked up and made the pine trees sway.

‘Elsewhere, elsewhere,’ it whispered to him, and finally he spoke, urging his companions to gather their possessions and move further east.

And this they did.

In a broad valley with deep earth, they built a new village, but when the spring floods came, the land was flooded, and they lost what they had sown.

Again they picked up and moved, but the next place they chose proved too open to the north wind, and the place after that had the taste of bad metals in the water. So it continued, year after year, until those who had been young grew old, and those who were young had no memory of the village by the lake. Ever further east they roamed, and ever the voice of the wind whispered to one and all: ‘elsewhere, elsewhere’.

At long last they came to the shore of the great sea, and as the sun went down behind them it seemed that all the waves were turned to gold.

The young man who had led them first was now an old man, and as he looked out over the water he heard the restlessness in his own heart echoed and re-echoed. ‘Elsewhere, elsewhere,’ sighed the waves, and he was moved almost to tears.

‘Here is the answer to our long wanderings,’ he said, ‘for when first we yearned to cross the water, our desire was only an echo of this greater yearning. Let us build greater boats than before, and sail across the wide ocean to where we shall find our home at last.’

Many were troubled and would not go, but the old man’s will was strong, and at last they agreed.

Then they built ships and put their children and their belongings into them, and began the long journey over wave and along the pathways of the wind. When at long last, and after many labours, they landed on the far shore of the world, they saw a

great town built on a cliff above the beach. As the dawn broke over the hills before them, they climbed the steep pathway and came to the edge of the town.

Over all that place a great silence hung, and a lone woman walked back and forth with her infant child in her arms. The old man approached her, and in signs and halting words he told her of their journey.

‘We have come so far,’ he said, his voice trembling. ‘In all these long years we have found no place to call home.’

‘I have lived here all my days,’ said the woman, ‘and I have never called this place home. What you seek is elsewhere.’

At this, the old man’s longsuffering heart broke, and he wept there before the woman and all his people. ‘Then our journey was in vain, and there is no home for us.’

‘Maybe,’ said the woman. ‘But if I could find such a place for my son as the one you left behind, I would give everything I have to bring him there.

Since there is no hope for you here, take me home with you.’

And as the wanderers turned their faces once more to the west, they began to remember.

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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JOSH SUMI PHOTOS

TAKING IT LESS SERIOUSLY WITH CHEEKY ART THE SIDE HUSTLE

KAITLYN SEVERIN COLUMNIST Stefenie Walker, Kitchener-Waterloo-based artist, creates some very entertaining works of art, all of which are hand-drawn. Her drawings include phrases such as: “Lower your Expectations”, “You are cool as hell,” and “Suck a Giant Dick,” to name a few.

Walker, also known as “PsychPsten,” on Instagram and “PsychedelicPsten” on Etsy, is a self-proclaimed poster artist and an Etsy seller based out of Kitchen-

er-Waterloo. While her art is only a parttime gig, she likes to have fun with it. So why not turn that into some cash flow?

“This stuff is fun. It’s sort of my catharsis. It’s what I do to chill so I just throw on some YouTube videos or something and let it play in the background ... Bob Ross is a [must],” said Walker.

During the week, Walker works at her full-time job at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. In her off time, she studies for her bookkeeping course, and then hangs out with her daughter, a creative eight-year-old who seems to have taken over her mother’s artistic genes.

Growing up, Walker was surrounded by family members who also identified as artists and photographers. Her grandmother, a talented painter who specialized in water colour, was a major

influence on Walker. Both shared a passion for art, but to be anonymous with their work.

“They did an art show at her home one time, she was the featured artist,” said Walker. “I asked her how she felt about it and she was like ‘I prefer [anonymity]’.”

Walker started selling her work on Etsy and around the K-W Region in the last two years, but she always seems to be working on something with her hands.

She went to Wilfrid Laurier University and majored in archeology, then went to Conestoga College for Women in Skilled Trades, and later worked in areas of construction.

Since she started selling her work, Walker has become a part of four Etsy shows, and will be participating in the “Etsy Made in Canada: Spring Edition!” show on May 5 at RIM Park. While she

specializes in creating letter-sized posters and cards, Walker is also planning to sell more t-shirts, based on a high-demand for it. On Etsy, she has sold 132 of her own products and even more in-person.

“I think people are starting to appreciate more of a hand-made and unique and interesting [art].”

While she tries to stay around the K-W Region, Walker said that that sooner or later, she’ll think about branching out of KW and potentially start selling her art in the surrounding areas, such as Guelph.

“I just kind of go with the flow,” said Walker. “I’m trying to grow as a person and not say no to some things. So, if things pop up — like a store asks me to put some stuff in — then sure.”

Even if her customers at art shows and

followers on social media refrain from purchasing her work, Walker said she always admires the way her art brings about a positive reaction out of people.

“It’s not so much that people are buying it, but they always get a kick out of it.”

Going forward, Walker explained that she’ll always be drawing if there’s a desire for it, and she enjoys working and selling her art as just a side-hustle. With her daily routine – work, school, and parenting – she says she enjoys where she stands with her art right now.

“I think it’s a good balance where it is right now.”

DO YOU KNOW THE MUFFIN MAN?

KITCHENER MAN BRINGS HIS 445 MUFFIN RECIPES TO MASTERCHEF

KARLIS WILDE CONTRIBUTOR Kitchener’s Peter Maltais, a 56-yearold truck driver, nearly made a splash on MasterChef Canada in the series’ fifth season. With a promising run-up and a few excellent dishes submitted to the judges, Maltais was eliminated from the competition just before making the top 12.

“Am I disappointed?” Maltais said. “Absolutely not. I’m not disappointed at all.

It was such a major achievement to do it, it was kind of like a dream come true.”

For Maltais, the show was an exciting opportunity to be a part of a competition he had been watching since its inception with his wife. It was her encouragement that pushed him into auditioning.

“My wife and I would watch it and she would encourage me, I should participate,” he said. “Once I stopped drinking

and smoking I took cooking way more seriously and it seemed … I could actually maybe get on that show.”

Maltais found that cooking became a great way for him to flex his creative muscles. Much of that creativity was put to the test from the desire to feed both of his visiting granddaughters the exact foods that they wanted for dinner.

Instead of either girl compromising, Maltais began to make mini muffins.

“I wanted to make them happy and I wanted to feed them so much,” he said.

“Like everything that they wanted.”

“So if I make them in little wee mini muffins, I can make a pizza one and I can make a chicken one … they just have tiny bellies so they can have four or five different things and have an assortment of foods.”

This has led to a number of unique creations: from sardine muffins — which Maltais ceded were not his greatest work — to French onion soup muffins, which work to capture the essence of the classic dish, down to the melted gruyere on top.

“They asked me, ‘how many mini muffins can you make, Grumpy?’ and I said,

‘I can make a thousand!’”

At 445 different recipes, he’s nearly halfway there. And those thousand mini muffins just might be the future for Maltais.

MasterChef Canada, while an opportunity that Maltais was grateful to have had — and an opportunity he encourages anyone else with a passion for cooking to try out for — is not the end of his cooking journey.

In the near future, he hopes to open up a food truck to sell mini muffins. He believes that the opportunity to come up and try ten drastically different bites in ten drastically different dishes — both sweet and savoury — could be an exciting and interesting alternative to other food truck fare.

As for the name?

“Grumpy’s,” he said. “That’s what my grandkids call me. They’ve got too many grandfathers so I didn’t want to be known as Grandpa number three so …

I’m Grumpy!”

“Even little kids in the neighbourhood call me Grumpy. To meet me, I may look grumpy. But once you get to know me, I am the farthest thing from grumpy.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF CTV

MAY 2018 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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BRIT KOVACS PHOTO

SHE’LL SKATE CIRCLES AROUND YOU

THE TRI-CITY ROLLER DERBY AND HOW THEY PROMOTE TEAMWORK, DIVERSITY AND CAMRADERIE

SOPHIA GRANDE-LAWLOR CONTRIBUTOR When asked to describe roller derby, Lisa Hagen explained: “it’s like playing chess while someone’s throwing rocks at your head.”

Number nine on three of the Tri-City Roller Derby teams: The Vicious Dishes, Plan B and Thunder, Hagen plays the positions of inside butt and brace.

After a friend suggested the sport, Hagen began her journey into the world of derby by attending the Learn to Skate sessions and Roller Derby Foundations classes offered by Tri-City Roller Derby.

Becoming Lisa’l Injection, the skater graduated from the bootcamp, which is taught by veteran players, through a

minimums test.

“It’s a certain set of skills, you need to be able to do 27 laps in five minutes, you need to be able to skate on one foot, and weave through cones; it’s very fun. Once I graduated from that, then I went into the Total Knock Outs, which is our team of all new skaters and then I was lucky enough that I went on to our home team, and now I’m on our travel team,” Hagen said.

The presence of roller derby has been steadily growing within the Tri-Cities and in surrounding areas such as Guelph, London, Toronto and Hamilton.

While teams play each other within the Region and surrounding cities, there are also international teams from Europe and the United States who come to play against the region’s teams. In this year’s tournament called Put Up Your Toques, teams from Canada, the UK, Sweden and the US will participate. The tournament is being held at the Waterloo Memorial

Recreational Complex on May 4-6.

Hagen noted that the community has been supportive of roller derby and roller skating as places such as the Moses Springer Community Centre have invited the Tri-City Roller Derby to perform demonstrations and the Waterloo Memorial Recreational Complex is offering roller skating in their recreational programming.

Hagen also noted the welcoming and inclusive nature of the derby community.

“It’s extremely diverse … inclusivity, diversity, it has a huge LGBTQ+ community and a transgender community. It’s for all body types and all levels of athletic ability,” Hagen said.

Hagen noted that there are also men involved as referees or volunteers in derby as well.

“They’re fantastic because we always need officials and other volunteers as well, but it’s a very female centric space,

it’s very empowering, and it’s different competing when everybody you’re competing with is another female.”

The team is also welcome to transgender and gender non-conforming players.

As a full-contact sport, derby is often perceived to be a high risk for injury, but Hagen suggested it is not as common as one might think.

“I would say that they’re not as common as perception might make it out to be. There’s a lot of safety involved,” she said.

The players wear full protective gear including helmets, mouth guards, elbow pads, wrist guards and knee pads.

“We also usually have a risk management person there, so there’s always somebody to provide first aid,” Hagen added. “That being said, it is a full-contact sport. We have more padding than rugby. We’re also moving on skates so there’s higher momentum, more velocity. It’s really fun.”

As a skater operated, not-for-profit derby league, the Tri-City Roller Derby is sponsored by local businesses such as Abe Erb and Chainsaw; they are also members of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which is the international governing body for the sport of women’s flat track roller derby. The league continues to offer Roller Derby Foundations, weekly classes that aim to teach skating fundamentals and the rules of the game.

Hagen acknowledged the impact joining Tri-City Roller Derby through Foundations has had in her life.

“It’s very hard to be unhappy on roller skates. The second you get on them, it feels like flying. There’s tons of adrenaline, there’s a lot of teamwork, and camaraderie,” Hagen said.

“I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s made me a much better person.

It’s made me a stronger leader. It’s made me look at other women differently.”

EARTH DAY, AND WHY WE STILL NEED IT EASY BEING GREEN

STACEY DANCKERT COLUMNIST Earth month has just ended and there were many ways to commemorate the day, locally. It is certainly a busy month for those of us who are actively involved in building local sustainability efforts; we often miss out on great events. So it had me pondering the question: do we still need Earth Day? Earth Day began on April 22, 1970 (1980 in Canada), to call for environmental protection. Originally Earth Day brought people together and educated on the importance of environmental protection (beginning soon after the

pivotal publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring).

More recently, Earth Day has been used to educate about climate change, and the risks of not mitigating it. Since the greatest threat to our natural environment is climate change, many considered it a success when finally, in 2016, 122 countries signed an international agreement committing to carbon reductions that would maintain temperatures below two degrees Celsius.

Most Canadians now understand, at least generally, the need to cut carbon emissions, and governments are reacting with legislation. Within this context, what purpose does Earth Day serve now?

Recently, momentum has grown around environmental efforts. Locally, all levels of government from federal to municipal have committed (or are expected to commit) to a carbon reduction target that they believe will limit

warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But, at the same time, historically, we have not been great at keeping our target commitments.

In fact, climateactiontracker.org rates Canadian policies as ‘highly inefficient’ in terms of meeting the 2030 Paris Climate Commitment. Similarly, the Environmental Commissioner suggested that Ontario’s targets are also at risk because ministries are not well-aligned in working toward climate goals.

Within our ever-changing political climate, Earth Day may now be more important than ever. It stands as a reminder of our current commitments and presents a unified voice to continue to pressure politicians to keep those commitments.

With current targets already at risk, we need to continue applying pressure so that failing is not an option. And with every election, the risk of cutting targets grows. After all, the benefits of reducing

carbon emissions occur over many years, and are often difficult to measure, making the solutions incompatible with our short-term election cycles and the constant political pressure to cut spending.

Earth Day helps to remind us of the risks that we face unless we push for bigger and bolder action. Maintaining the urban tree canopy becomes harder with expanding pest populations. Eating and growing local food becomes harder with more erratic weather (more flooding, bigger ice storms, greater wind, more drought). And enjoying our forests and natural areas suffers growing threats from biodiversity loss and invasive species devastation.

So, while we have seemingly come far, the reality is that we still have a long way to go. The journal Science suggested the key needs to meet our emission targets include: cutting global emissions by 2020 (and again by 2030),

steadily decreasing land use emissions (agriculture and deforestation), and carbon sequestration technologies need to store double the carbon of trees and soils by 2050. These are pretty hefty goals. And, in addition to all of that, we also need to plan how to cope with the growing issues that will increasingly occur from the changes that are already set in motion.

I’ve decided that Earth Day is still essential to our future. In fact, it needs to grow even larger. We need to push even harder, so that our politicians know how important immediate, and bold action is.

So I guess I’ll see you April 22, 2019.

Stacey Danckert is the co-director of Waterloo Region Environment Network (WREN).

MAY 2018 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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ARTS & CULTURE EVENT LISTINGS THURSDAY, MAY 3

SATURDAY, MAY 5

JIMMY CARR: THE BEST OF, ULTIMATE, GOLD, GREATEST HITS WORLD TOUR CENTRE IN THE SQUARE

As part of his world tour, comedian Jimmy Carr is making his way to KW and performing his best sets of jokes. Visit centreinthesquare. com for more information and to purchase tickets online.

Comedy • $39.50 - $45.50 • 7:30pm

FRIDAY, MAY 4

In collaboration with Seven Shores Cafe, the organization will be celebrating 5 de Mayo with the Mariachi Trio Mexico Amgigo band.

In case of rain the location will be changed. Check out their Facebook event for more updates. some scene-favourite tunes.

Party • Free • 12pm - 2pm

STEEL RAILS TICKETS ON SALE! THE INTERNET

An interactive art party on a train — everything else is a mystery until you board. Where the train goes doesn’t even matter because it’s the ride that counts.

Tickets go on sale at noon.

Last year, tickets sold out in under 10 minutes so get your refresh button ready.

Party • $55 • Tickets on sale at 12pm

EQUITHON 2018 UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

This social innovation hackathon is an opportunity for hackers to collaborate and think of solutions to equity, such as women empowerment, minority rights, disabilities, mental health.

Beginners and veteran hackers are welcome. The hackathon runs until May 6. Although applications are now closed, there is waitlist available on their event page on Facebook.

Hackathon • Free • May 4 - 6

DARK VS LIGHT SOCIAL ART STUDIO

To celebrate May 4, Social Art is hosting a Star Trek themed paint night. The painting, Dark Vs Light, will be on a 16” x 20” canvas. All supplies will be provided. Be sure to arrive 25 minutes early for preparation. For more information and to book tickets online visit socialart.ca.

Paint Night • $35 • 6:30pm - 8:30pm

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME APOLLO CINEMAS

Appollo Cinema will be screening the fourth movie in the Star Trek series, the Voyage Home.

Attendees are encouraged to bring lights, swords and wear costumes.

First 50 people to purchase tickets get a vintage Star Trek Paperback.

More details available on their Facebook event page. May the 4th be with you and live long and prosper.

Film • $10 - $14 • 7pm - 9pm

THURSDAY, MAY 10 YOU’VE BEEN GILMORED! GILMORE GIRLS TRIVIA NIGHT CHAINSAW

Oy with the poodles already! The Community Edition is back this month with Gilmore Girls trivia.

Call Kirk’s mom to arrange a ride with Ooober and get ready to snack like it’s movie night (but save room for a late night Luke’s run).We promise to not throw any deviled eggs at your car, and we do not officially endorse any secret rich kid societies, but if you jump, we’ll jump, Jack. We recommend that you come early to secure your spot, people really love this show. Trust us. Check out our Facebook event for more details.

Trivia • $5 • 7pm - 9pm

SATURDAY, MAY 12 3 NINES MINI FEST! PART 1 CHAINSAW

“SPRING IS HERE AND I WANNA FREAK!” — This mini-festival is meant to celebrate/highlight the first year of operations for 3 Nines Compact Cassettes.

Performers include Ned Flangers, stevedave4lyfe, Kyle Taylor, Thou Shalt and Burnaby will be gett. Vendors, including 3 Nines Compact Cassettes, Zegema Beach Records, Pressed by Nick, Malcolm Klimowicz, Cheech Glass, Don’t @ Me, and more TBA, will also be selling/displaying art and merchandise.

Festival • $5 • 8pm - 11pm

MONDAY, MAY 21 VICTORIA DAY CANADA

Maybe a good day for an ice cream cone? Unless you can think of a better way to celebrate colonialism.

Take a walk around Victoria Park, too. I guess.

Holiday • Free

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23 MALE ALLIES TRAINING SESSION THEMUSEUM

SATURDAY, MAY 5 ETSY MADE IN CANADA: SPRING! RIM PARK

NERUDA ARTS PRESENTS THE (ANTI) 5 DE MAYO KULTRUN MARKET/SEVEN SHORES PATIO

This annual market offers products created by +75 local Etsy shops such as A Bit Stitchy, All Over the Map Studios, Boosh, and more. We even heard rumours that our pal Jon “BRFC” Johnson is going to be there. Okay, they’re not rumours, he’ll actually be there. Hi, Jon! Visit the Facebook event page for more details.

Male Allies, a program of the Sexual Assault Centre of Waterloo Region is providing a session will teach about the role of men in ending sexual and gender-based violence.

Community workshops and open dialogues will take place, which wil cover gender, masculinity, sexual violence and bystander intervention. Please note this workshop is for men only. RSVP is also required. Visit eventbrite.ca to register.

Market • Free • 10am - 4pm

Workshop • Free • 7pm - 9:30pm

FRIDAY, MAY 25 FATHER BODIES “JUST DRUNK ENOUGH” LP RELEASE CHAINSAW

“A lil punk rock party pack” presented by Sir Rexington J. Attack.

Father Bodies will be supported by Frank Dux, Dong Vegan and Got Social. Karaoke at 11:30pm.

Music • $5 • 7:30pm - 11pm

GIVE A SHIT MOVIE PREMIERE HARMONY LUNCH #HaveHopeShows presents the Give a Shit Movie Premiere. Give a Shit

provides a look into Ontario’s music scene and how Exclaim! Media has helped grow the scene by creating open avenues of communication “amongst fans accross the country.”

Special musical guests include Peacemaker, Nightwell and King of Scorn. Stick around for an after party where a DJ will be spinning some scene-favourite tunes.

Film/Music • $5 • 7:30pm - 11pm

SATURDAY, MAY 26 KITCHENER METALFEST 2018 MAXWELL’S MUSIC HOUSE

In order to fundraise for the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre, Rockin Rod is hosting Metalfest, which will feature bands such as Vesperia, Atria, Lutharo, Raider Maitreya and more. Prizes and raffles will also take place, if the headbanging isn’t enough of a draw to go!

Festival • $10-$15 • 7pm

ROSIE THE RIVETER BOWL-ATHON KINGPIN BOWLOUNGE

SASC will be hosting this fundraiser to raise funds for their counselling program. Registration begins at 12:30 and includes two hours of unlimited bowling, shoe rental and red-and-white Rosie bandana.

Those registered are encouraged to raise $80 in pledges. Those who raise the most will be able to collect exciting prizes. Check out the event page on Facebook to register and get more information.

Fundraiser • $25 • 12:30pm-3pm

WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 NIGHT\SHIFT FAREWELL PARTY KITCHENER FARMERS’ MARKET

A farewell to downtown Kitchener’s “festival of participatory pop-up art & performance.” This event aims to celebrate five years of interactive creativity and will feature installations and performances from various NIGHT\SHIFT alum.

Food and drink will be handled by TWB Co-operative Brewing. Expect more details soon, and check out the event page on Facebook and look for updates.

Party • Free • 6pm-10pm

FRIDAY, JUNE 1 LUNA MARKET KITCHENER CITY HALL

Luna Market, a KW Night Market, will be held the first weekend of June. Their goal is to showcase indie designers, eco-friendly holistic living and alternative healing in the Region. Their tag-line appears to be “WITCH + WELLNESS,” which is cool as hell.

Market • Price not set • 7pm-10pm

COMMUNITYEDITION.CA @THECOMMUNITYED

MAY 2018 // @THECOMMUNITYED

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CELEBRATING MENSTRUATION SEXPLANATIONS

STACEY JACOBS COLUMNIST The uterus. Everyone’s first home.

It protected us, grew with us, and propelled us into the world. The uterus played such an important role in all of our lives, and yet we speak about menstruation in negative, hushed or hostile tones. Menstruation is simply the uterus cleaning itself, a process half the world takes part in on a regular basis.

May 28 is Menstrual Hygiene Day — a day to celebrate menstruation. A day to bring awareness to what menstruation is and is not. A day to recognize how lucky we are to live in a country where menstrual care and management is often possible. And menstruation is sometimes celebrated; celebrated because it is a sign of health, celebrated because it is a sign of fertility, celebrated because it is a sign you are not pregnant, but more often it is not celebrated.

I often hear menstruation talked about as if it were a curse, or gross, or at the

very least inconvenient.

I speak to people of all genders and ages about menstruation. I speak about menstruation as a positive experience. I explain why menstruation happens, how the menstrual cycle makes pregnancy possible, how menstruation is a natural, healthy process, how the beginning of menstruation marks a milestone in the body’s development and how some people have period parties to mark their first period as a positive life changing experience.

However, often people have heard so many negative messages about menstruation that I wonder if the positive messages get through. They ask about cramps, pain, heavy bleeding and leaking through their pants. They want to know how to make menstruation stop. They want to know how to keep it a secret.

And this is because the messaging surrounding menstruation is one of shame, stigma and silence.

We see advertising about menstruation, but it is confusing. Why blue liquid? Menstruation is red, or brown or pink – not blue! Is it so unappetizing to see menstrual blood? I unwillingly see violence, blood and gore every day in the media, and this is ok, but it is not ok

to see a natural bodily cycle that made all of our lives possible?

When we are free to communicate and learn about menstruation in accurate, realistic ways, we are able to hear the truth about our bodies. That our bodies bring new life into the world, that our bodies are able to clean and rejuvenate themselves, that our bodies tell us they are healthy or unhealthy if we chose to listen to them.

We can learn about menstrual care products such as menstrual cups, reusable pads and menstrual underwear that are both cost effective and environmentally friendly, as well as learn how menstrual care is essential to meeting six of our Sustainable Development Goals — goals that hope to end poverty, protect the earth and allow people to live in peace with dignity and respect.

How can you argue with that? You can’t, so learn about menstruation, respect menstruation and celebrate what our bodies are capable of, if not always, at least in May.

Stacey Jacobs is a sexual health educator for SHORE Centre.

TICKETS FOR STEEL RAILS ‘18 GO ON SALE FRIDAY MAY 4 AT NOON. YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS. VISIT THE STEEL RAILS 2018 FACEBOOK PAGE FOR MORE INFO.

JENNIFER LYON PHOTO