The Community Edition: November 2019

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2 • NOVEMBER 2019

THE SHORT END OF THE STICK:

STUDENT HOUSING WOES

PAGES 8-9

LADY GLAZE SETS UP SHOP IN BELMONT

ONE YEAR OF CONSIGN YOUR CURVES

BANDMATES AND ROOMATES: 12 MILE ISLAND

PAGE 4

PAGE 5

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NOVEMBER 2019 // @THECOMMUNITYED

IN THIS

ISSUE

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

NOVEMBER 2019

THIS ISSUE OF TCE WAS FUELED BY THE GUEST CHEF HOT DOG AT HARMONY LUNCH. $1 OF EVERY GUEST CHEF DOG SOLD IN NOVEMBER GOES TO BULLIES IN NEED, AN ORGANIZATION CLOSE TO BETH BOWLES’ HEART.

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FEATURE

8-9 SHORT END OF THE STICK: STUDENT HOUSING WOES

EDITOR’S PICK 7

TCE X TEXTILE: WALKING ON THE MOON

3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 10 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15

IN BRIEF LADY GLAZE SETS UP SHOP IN BELMONT THE SIDE HUSTLE: INSPIROUE WHO ARE THE DTK DISCOVERY TEAM? ONE YEAR OF CONSIGN YOUR CURVES BEST OF: INDOOR PLAYGROUNDS 519 SCHMECKS: UNSAVOURY FOOD REVIEWS NEW TUNE REVIEW BIKE THEFT PREVENTION FIVE YEARS OF CONNECTIVITY BANDMATES & ROOMMATES: 12 MILE ISLAND HYPERLOCAL TRAVEL: AYR REGIONAL RECIPE: HARVEST SQUASH SOUP MENTAL MATTERS: SPIRITUAL BYPASSING EASY BEING GREEN: THE TALK SEXPLANATIONS: ON NUDITY HARU NOON // EVENT LISTINGS

INSIDE

COVER BY BRIT KOVACS CONTRIBUTORS Volume 8, Issue 2 Next issue: November, 2019 75 University Ave. W Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 519-884-0710 x3564

All advertising inquiries should be directed to Kurtis Rideout at 519-884-0710 x3560 kurtis.rideout@wlusp.com

THE COMMUNITY EDITION TEAM

WLUSP ADMINISTRATION

Editor in Chief Beth Bowles beth@communityedition.ca

President Aaron Hagey

Publisher Lakyn Barton lakyn.barton@wlusp.com Social Media Coordinators Brit Kovacs Ramona Leitao Staff Writer Melissa Embury Racheal Walser Rachael MacIntosh Staff Photographers Nick Stanley Jesse Derry General Inquiries info@communityedition.ca

Mariana Bilbao Melissa Bowman Aaron Hagey Shalaka Jadhav Kristina Lalatovic Nick Revington Andrew Rutland Cara Vandermey Seemab Zahra

Executive Director Lakyn Barton Advertising Manager Kurtis Rideout Directors Rosalind Horne Emily Crump Arshy Mann Alyssa Di Sabatino Kashyap Patel

COLUMNISTS Jenna Aquino Nick Benninger Justin Clouthier Stacey Danckert Stacey Jacobs Bashar Lulu Jabbour Juanita Metzger Erik O’Neill Kurtis Rideout John Roche Breen Splitt

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.

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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NEWS IN BRIEF

PAIGE BUSH PHOTO This is Beth’s last issue as Editor-in-Chief of the Community Edition.

You’ve led us fearlessly and TCE would not be what it is without your tireless efforts and intense knowledge of CP style.

Thanks for being a great editor and I want to say an even better friend, but you were a damn good editor.

Don’t be a stranger.

And for the love of Waterloo Region and the written word, keep writing.

Because you’re damn good at that too.

– your pals at TCE

FREE MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS AT KPL

GRANNY FLATS AND TINY HOMES

NO GO ON BOHO IN VICTORIA PARK

Starting Nov. 4, the central branch of Kitchener Public Library located at 85 Queen will have free menstrual products in every bathroom. The products, which include tampons and pads, are projected to cost $1,700 per year, according to The Record. In a Facebook post, the KPL said this is a “step towards menstrual equity and dignity.”

On Oct. 28, Kitchener council approved residential bylaw changes to allow up to three residential units on a property.

This change allows for granny flats and tiny homes to appear on the Kitchener real estate scene. The bylaw will phase into effect in 2020 and some are hopeful this will increase afforable housing options.

The Victoria Park Boathouse was closed by the City of Kitchener on Oct. 31. As reported by CBC, the city discovered the current tenant had no plans to keep it open past the end of the month. The city will be reviewing the space before the end of the year, then will be seeking a new tenant to reopen in 2020. The venue is meant to host food, drink and live music.

STOPPING AMALGAMATION

CANNABIS SHOP IN UPTOWN?

LAWSUIT AGAINST WR POLICE

The Ontario government is no longer persuing amalgamation for Waterloo Region — which may have seen the merging of the three cities and four rural townships into one large city — such as what happened to Hamilton and Ottawa. Instead, the province will provide nearly $150 million to help communities find efficiencies and lower costs.

The applicant who had previously applied for a downtown Kitchener brick-andmortar at 73 King St. W. has now opted to move the possible store front to 32 King St. S. across from Waterloo Town Square.

The new store front is the former home of O.W. Sports that closed in Spring 2017 and has remained vacant since.

The Supreme Court recently dismissed an appeal of a ruling that blocked a class-action lawsuit, alleging gender discrimination and sexual harassment by Waterloo Regional Police. The Supreme Court did not provide a reason for the dismissal, but a lower court told the plaintiffs that they did not prove the union grievance process did not work.

LIVING WAGE IN LOOKING FOR CITY TAKES ON WATERLOO REGION CANADA DAY PARTY SHELTER SPACE Although minimum wage in Ontario remains at $14 per hour, the Ontario Living Wage Network says that for workers to live comfortably in Waterloo Region, their wage should be $16.35 per hour. Based off referencing the needs of a family of four including two adults working full-time, the Living Wage is meant to guide employers to pay workers fairly.

To be honest, July seems too far away to make this brief.

However it’s pretty noteworthy.

The University of Waterloo was host to the large Canada Day celebration every July 1 since 1984 — ­ until announcing that 2019 would be its last. The City of Waterloo has announced they will be taking the lead for a smaller 2020 celebration.

Waterloo Region is looking for a location for an emergency homeless shelter as last year’s site, run by the YWCA, has now been converted to a youth employment centre. The space requires fitting a minimum of 45 beds, proximity to other shelters, servicing to all gender identities and more costeffective than the past option of using motels for overflow.

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Lady Glaze, a doughnut shop located in Belmont Village, may open this November. NICK STANLEY PHOTO

HELLO, HEY JOE, YOU WANNA GIVE LADY GLAZE A GO?

THE STORE FRONT IS UP IN BELMONT VILLAGE, BUT DOORS ARE NOT YET OPEN ­— WHO IS BEHIND LADY GLAZE AND WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?

RAMONA LEITAO CONTRIBUTOR Lady Glaze Doughnuts will soon open in the property that once housed the Berlin Bicycle Cafe in Belmont Village.

The shop aims to create one-ofa-kind artisanal doughnuts, as well as vegan doughnuts, for Waterloo Region.

“We saw it more as a chance to get people eating a way that I believe in, in a product that is widely accessible to everyone,” said Mark Andrew Brown, CEO and co-owner of Lady Glaze Doughnuts.

Brown is also the director of food and beverage at Abe Erb Brewing Co., and was the executive chef at the Charcoal Group of Restaurants

in the Region.

“It’s not starting a specialty macaroon cookie store, where a very select few know what that is ...

Doughnuts have that mass appeal,” he continued.

The doughnuts at Lady Glaze will be made from scratch and by hand, with fresh ingredients and no preservatives, according to Brown. “[For instance], to make a red glaze it’s not going to be as easy as icing sugar, water, adding food colouring and calling it a red glaze,” he said.

“One thing that we invested in was a vacuum sealer and two large chest freezers. At the height of strawberry season, we will be vacuum sealing and freezing bushels and bushels of strawberries. So as we want to produce a doughnut with a red glaze, we will make a strawberry puree as the base of that glaze. It will taste like a strawberry and will come from a strawberry.”

Lady Glaze is licensed and will

offer alcohol options, as well as hot beverages, juices, and a milk program, that will offer chocolate and strawberry milk made from scratch.

According to Brown, Lady Glaze originally started out as an idea between himself and Rob Theodosiou, who is currently the President and CEO of Abe Erb Brewing Co, Settlement Co, and Grin and Grind Holdings Inc., around one and a half years ago.

“Doughnuts kind of ended up on the docket because he knew of my experience in the past — I’d been sort of overseeing two different doughnut concepts. As we talked about it, we just saw that hole in the market,” Brown said.

Six months ago, they brought on Trudy Koen as another co-owner.

“It’s super exciting. I think when you spend 15 years marketing software or technology products, it’s obviously very different to kind of

all of a sudden start thinking about doughnuts. But different in a very fun and creative way,” Koen said, when asked what is was like getting involved in the KW food scene.

“There’s just so much opportunity to build a brand around this and we’re already really feeling it from the community that it’s something that people are excited about and that they could get behind. There’s lots of opportunity to try new things from a marketing perspective,” she said.

Koen said that the name “Lady Glaze” represented powerful female leaders.

“I guess kind of tying it down to the origins of it being old fashioned and something from the past, but also flipping that on the side in doing it in a more edgy and modern way [sic],” she said.

Brown said his inspiration for the name came from the Moulin Rouge remix of the song, “Lady

Marmalade.”

“I just liked that association and I thought: this lady can be making marmalade, why can’t she be making doughnuts?” he said. “I never thought about having it as a strong female type thing. It was more just kind of a coincidence.”

Brown also emphasized wanting transparency for their customers.

“When you come in, the first thing that you actually see is the kitchen producing everything behind a bit of a glass guard. So you see everything being produced right at the front of the shop, watching our bakers frying, glazing and topping all of the doughnuts … We’re quite excited to bring the open kind of bakerykitchen [concept] to what we’re doing,” Brown said.

Brown believes that the shop is most likely to open between Nov. 11 - 18.

“We can fully see that light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

YOU CAN ALWAYS GO,

DOWNTOWN

THE DTK DISCOVERY TEAM WANTS TO WELCOME EVERYONE

RACHAEL MACINTOSH STAFF WRITER The Downtown Kitchener Discovery team is an initiative

by The Working Centre that aims to make downtown Kitchener a more safe and welcoming place for everyone.

The team consists of pairs who work in shifts walking around downtown Kitchener with a special focus on King Street, acting as ambassadors to the downtown area.

“Their goal is to make sure they know all the people in the streets.

To talk to people, to identify, say, someone in trouble or having a hard time, or needs something. It’s pretty surprising how many people they might come across who are in distress. And whether that’s, you know, someone with a street issue or a customer, or someone who’s downtown and doesn’t know where they are,” said Joe Mancini, director of The Working Centre.

“There’s all kinds of reasons how just being a friendly presence on the street that’s familiar with everything that’s going on is a really helpful kind of role.”

Each team consists of an outreach worker from The Working Centre and someone who has experience with vulnerable groups, such as those experiencing homelessness.

“That’s kind of a criteria to ensure that the people on the Discovery Team reflect some of the culture of downtown Kitchener,” Mancini said.

Though The Working Centre has many outreach workers who help service the community, they found that their time is usually spent helping people find housing or to secure income. The Centre wanted to insure it had a team with a focus on downtown.

“So then the idea, working with the Kitchener Downtown BIA, was to think about, maybe we just need another team that could be downtown, focused on downtown.

Not taking people off the street to a medical appointment or following their legal issues, but focused on just being in the downtown, being a friendly face, identifying problems,

DOUGLAS MACLELLAN PHOTO identifying individuals who might need support,” Mancini said.

The DTK Discovery Team also works as a way to handle disturbances and misunderstandings without having to involve law enforcement.

“It’s not about policing the downtown, it’s about creating a community. So, you know, sometimes a group of people ... maybe by their actions they’re becoming a little bit more dominant in that part of the downtown, and

maybe it doesn’t feel good for everybody else,” Mancini said.

“But you don’t need the police to tell people that, you can just kind of have a conversation,” Mancini said.

The DTK Discovery team is part of The Working Centre’s Job Café, four projects that provide day labour jobs to people who wouldn’t necessarily be a part of the full-time labour market. Job Café projects include garbage pick-up, street sweeping, compost collection and the DTK Discovery team.

The DTK Discovery Team is now coming to the end of its third year.

Other cities, such as Barrie and Guelph, have started to implement their own version of the DTK Discovery Team project.

To get involved with the DTK Discovery Team, or other parts of the Working Centre’s Job Café information can be found on the Working Centre website.

Information about and a number to contact the DTK Discovery team can be found on the DTK BIA website.

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INSPIRE YOURSELF AND YOUR CLOSET AT INSPIROUE

THE SIDE HUSTLE

JENNA AQUINO COLUMNIST By day, Cynthia Dam is a Brand Designer at Hive.co in downtown Kitchener, but outside of that she is the proud owner of an online consignment shop called Inspiroue.

“The shop’s name comes from my goal to inspire people to learn how to shop more consciously. One of the ways I’m doing that, right now, is to show people that you can thrift amazing styles that you might not realize are available second-hand … thrifting is the most affordable way to experiment with your style,” Dam said.

“At the end of the day though, Inspiroue is an education and awareness piece to get people thinking about sustainability when they shop.”

While the shop itself launched nine months ago, Dam’s interest in sustainable fashion has been growing for some time now.

“I found I didn’t have a connection with any of my clothes. They were usually bought at cheap shops like H&M or Forever 21 because I was stressed or just wanted to shop.

Realizing that led me to get educated about how wasteful the fast-fashion industry really is, which changed everything for me,” Dam said.

Putting what she’s learned into practice, Dam makes an effort to

curate the most sustainable fabrics she can find.

“I generally stay away from the polyesters, the acrylics and look more for organic cottons, linen, and any other kind of eco-friendly fabrics. I also look for things that are union made in Canada and the USA, which is actually teaching me a lot about the history of certain factories and industry developments, which I really love,” Dam said.

When asked about her own personal style, Dam classified it as having become “classic and vintage, with a healthy balance of classic staples and statement pieces.”

This look is reflected in her shop’s inventory, which she replenishes by rifling through her favourite thrift shops.

“I’m a sucker for Talize, Value Village and Goodwill, and I try to explore them in different cities to switch things up. Of course, there is no shortage of great pieces to be found at a lot of local consignment shops like Luster & Oak, Special Delivery and White Tiger Vintage,” she added.

In addition to managing her online store, Dam has also been managing a YouTube vlog for the past several years. She uses the channel as a creative outlet and platform to connect with her customers, share what she’s learned about sustainable fashion and offer styling tips.

Part of her success stems from being quite well-connected with the local community.

“Moving here and working in the tech space, I’ve become part of some really awesome groups like the Makers Collective, that empowered me and made me feel like this is my

home, now. I came from Toronto and studied at Laurier throughout my undergrad, but it’s really been since I graduated that I came to truly love it here,” she said.

Before long, she began receiving invites to set up pop-up shops at local markets and events, the first of which took place at Apollo Cinema’s night market earlier this year. Since then, she’s been a part of Plant Market KW, Shopify and Makers Collective’s Shop Talk Series, Hustle + Flow’s one-year anniversary, as well as a couple of events at Arabella Park.

“Looking ahead, I’m really excited to share that come January 2020 I will be opening a pop-up store in downtown Kitchener’s Project 220 space,” Dam said. “It’s such an awesome area and I’m so grateful for the chance to craft a more complete Inspiroue experience.”

Despite her busy lifestyle, Dam is committed to growing her brand while balancing her very fulfilling full-time job.

“I think the key is to remember the things that made you want to start your side hustle in the first place, especially when things get tough and you feel like you’re juggling too many hats. That said though, it’s equally as important to avoid burnout … listen to yourself and your body,” Dam said.

“It can be easy to get lost in the journey – comparing yourself to others, looking at numbers, getting hung up on things that are quantifiable. Remember that if you’re doing what you love, it should be the qualitative value you pay attention to.”

Cynthia Dam owns the online consignment store, Inspiroue.

JESSE DERRY PHOTO

CAUTION: CURVES AHEAD

THE PLUS SIZED CONSIGNMENT STORE BASED IN GUELPH STARTED OFF AS A ONE-TIME SALE

RACHEAL WALSER STAFF WRITER

Carlie Roberts opened Consign Your Curves in Fall 2018.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAMILLA B CREATIVE STUDIO

Real talk. I hate shopping for pants.

I hate the bending, the wriggling, the experimentation and frustrating returns to the rack. I hate the contorting that goes on to find a pair of jeans that fits, is strong enough to withstand some of this drizzly fall weather, but also comes off without ten minutes of side stepping and at least one near-death experience. I hate the experience. I hate the price tag. I hate the whole darn process.

But fall is here. And so, take a deep breath folks. It’s time to wear pants again.

As someone who is a little bit taller, a little bit wider and somehow a little bit rounder than last year, winter shopping has always been a dreaded event. My friends forward emails, text discount codes, call me when a place is having a sale — and so I had been hearing a rumour: “Consign Your Curves — it’s great you should check it out.”

“I got these pants there. I love them!”

“Seriously, just go. You’ll love it.”

And so, I went.

When I walked in the door of Consign your Curves on Elizabeth Street in Guelph, not only was the space bright and beautiful, but there was a woman behind the counter who obviously enjoyed her job. She looked at me and said, “you’ve never been here before, have you?”

Busted — I shook my head. “You

can always tell when it’s someone’s first time,” she laughed.

Her name is Carlie Roberts, owner of Consign Your Curves. The store is a by-product of Robert’s determined effort to consign her clothes – I’m not kidding.

“I was a fashion blogger and I had a lot of clothes I was turning over that I couldn’t sell in consignment stores because they were over a size 12” she told me.

“So along with a few other women, I organized a [one-time] sale.”

In 2013, the group debuted with just 13 racks and 150 shoppers.

Anyone could come in and sell their clothes, without being told they were too large or feeling judged as they looked for their sizes. The sale is in it’s seventh year now, with over 60 racks of clothing and 300 shoppers excited for new finds.

“Women — specifically curvy women, are starving for more clothing options,” Roberts said.

She now self identifies as “a curvy movement maker.”

In the fall of 2018, Roberts took her idea to the next level: a store front celebration of curvy style carrying sizes 12-32. Just this past fall, she also opened her online store.

“I just wanted to give my community one more option,” Roberts said.

Now the store acts as an intersection, as local, female identified creatives and entrepreneurs come together with consignors from Ottawa to Windsor to offer a one-of-a-kind, inclusive and accessible shopping experience.

And while the CYC Instagram story tells tales about this brand new opportunity for shoppers tired of the same five stores, Roberts was

recently invited to talk about the impact it had on her life.

On Oct. 16, Roberts presented at the Makers Collective’s Shop Talk Series at Shopify, talking about her experience managing personal wellness being in an entrepreneurial state. She explored the radical reality that this mission to make women feel validated in their bodies had taken over her life in a whole new direction.

“This wasn’t a business I was planning to start,” she admitted. “I knew there was a need, so I did it.”

And maybe the origin story is as simple as that — a woman on a mission to empty out her closet. But Roberts has big plans.

“Long term, I would love for there be a CYC in every province,” she said.

And even bigger than that, thanks to the newly launched CYC online store, an inclusive attitude world wide.

My favorite part about the store,” she said, “is that it gives the people who shop here a sense of belonging.

Everyone walks away feeling this is a safe, comfortable zone in which they’re able to shop.”

And so I think she’s right, she is a “curvy movement maker” on a mission to do good in a world of dreaded pant shopping experiences.

And you can join her, and other local CYC vendors, on Nov. 16 from 12 - 4 p.m., to celebrate one year of a hashtag turned headquarters — and maybe find some fabulous clothes while you’re at it.

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Play-A-Latte not only has this cute wooden structure for kids, but it has great coffee for parents, too! MARIANA BILBAO PHOTO

WHERE THE WILD THINGS STAY INSIDE

WITH THE WINTER MONTHS APPROACHING, MORE PARENTS WILL BE LOOKING FOR FUN INDOOR OPTIONS AROUND WATERLOO REGION

MARIANA BILBAO CONTRIBUTOR It’s no secret that the winters here are long, so it’s time we trade parks and splash pads for some snow fun and indoor playgrounds! Here is a list of some places you need to check out with the kids in your life, now that the weather is getting colder.

PLAY-A-LATTE CAFE 1601 RIVER ROAD EAST, KITCHENER I love this place, mostly because there is always something new happening and the staff is so friendly!

Skip the drive-thru before this indoor playground. If you’re looking to sit down for a good cup of coffee

or just leave the house with the little ones without the need for packing lunches or snacks, this is the place to go!

There are so many events focused on babies, kids and moms, like baby sign language classes and yoga. They also sell locally sourced handmade pieces that I’m sure everyone loves!

RECHARGE AND PLAY WELLNESS CAFÉ 550 PARKSIDE DRIVE UNIT B13, WATERLOO This place sounds like a dream, but I guarantee that it is very real! Being able to treat yourself to a massage or just a coffee while the kids are kept busy close by is just what every mom need once in a while. They currently provide massage therapy, occupational therapy, counselling services, esthetics and more — all the while your kids are being cared for as they have fun in their indoor play area. It also makes a great gift for new moms.

THEMUSEUM 10 KING STREET WEST, KITCHENER Ok, so this is not your regular indoor playground — it’s a lot more than that! Located downtown Kitchener, THEMUSEUM offers a variety of events for the little ones and immersive exhibits. They have mega blocks, a walking piano, a pin wall, a water table and so many other permanent toys for toddlers. They also have a sensory room with dim lights and walls covered with visual and tactile stimuli. It’s definitely worth checking out!

LOVE, LAUGH PLAY 541 MILL STREET, KITCHENER This is just your regular playground, with colourful toys for different ages, a great closed area for the kids to play soccer or basketball and plenty of parking around the building. I didn’t love the coffee and snack options, but you are welcome to bring your own and eat at their

tables. There are also some riding toys that need to be paid for. I always pray my kids just don’t notice.

FUNVILLA 335 GAGE AVENUE, KITCHENER Funvilla opened over a year ago and it has so much stuff for the kids to do that it’ll get them absolutely exhausted. And that’s what we’re looking for, right? They have trampolines, wall climbing a soft play structure and a ninja course.

BINGEMANS 425 BINGEMANS CENTRE DRIVE, KITCHENER It seems like Bingemans has been here forever. It’s one of the biggest (if not the biggest) playgrounds available in the Region. I get a little bit overwhelmed with all they have to offer and the kids always have a blast. They also have GameworX Arcade and a virtual reality experience that makes it more attractive for older kids.

PLAYFIT KIDS CLUB 366 HESPELER ROAD, CAMBRIDGE Located in Cambridge, this playground is also a colourful and fun option to keep the kids busy.

They have an interactive floor that we can’t wait to try! They also offer special prices on selected nights during the week.

CREEKSIDE PLAYGROUND 660 CONSERVATION DRIVE, WATERLOO 1356 WEBER STREET EAST, KITCHENER For the lovers of everything free, Creekside Church welcomes everyone to enjoy both indoor playgrounds, one in Kitchener and one in Waterloo. They are open most days of the week for a couple of hours in the morning. Check their website for more details.

WHAT MAKES A FOOD REVIEW UNSAVOURY 519 SCHMECKS

NICK BENNINGER COLUMNIST The only thing that frustrates me more as a restaurateur than dirty washrooms, might be restaurant reviews from local newspapers.

The combination of an assumedly non-existent budget and a writer with an over inflated sense of their opinion’s worth is a dangerous thing.

The thing is, people still put value in what a restaurant reviewer might say, making quite an impact on a small restaurant working hard to fill 40-60 seats nightly.

If a review isn’t well researched or is full of bias, it shouldn’t make it to print. Going to a restaurant once doesn’t make you qualified to remark

on the overarching experience. In my opinion as a restaurant owner, multiple visits with different table guests is the only way to gather an opinion worth printing.

Recently, a review in The Record upset me. It was poorly done and is potentially damaging to a long standing restaurant’s reputation.

The restaurant at the heart of this is Elixir Bistro in Galt, run by accomplished chef Pirooz Jafari.

While I have only eaten there once myself, alone and many moons ago, I can state it was a nice meal and I would return.

The reviewer, Alex Bielak outlined his experience in a way that would not encourage readers to go to Elixir.

To be perfectly transparent, I have received a less than stellar review at his pen and may have a slight biased here, even if mine was more professionally done, at least.

Does my history with Bielak make me the right person to cast this stone? I think so. After all, I am

not offering an unbiased review for would-be customers to base decisions on. I’m offering an opinion as a restaurateur who has been on the receiving end of newspaper reviews.

I’ll let you read the nitty-gritty details of the review yourself, but here is the short and dirty. Bielak spends the first four paragraphs, that’s four out of a total 11, outlining Galt’s socio-economic struggles, the chef’s social media practices, the lack of customers at the moment he was there and the chef’s current state of mind — according to him.

This is ridiculous, out of line and not the reviewer’s job. This review is started in a such a way that only the bravest of readers would ever try this restaurant and he hasn’t mentioned the menu, yet.

He goes on to discuss the food, never the service. He mentions, unfairly, that food emerges slowly, 75 minutes for entrees to quote.

Now remember, that’s 75 minutes

from arrival during which the table received wine, appetizers and any queries he may have had with a server. Folks, if 75 minutes is too long to wait for all that in a casual fine dining bistro, than take Bueller’s advice: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” Bielak’s opinions on the food is subjective and the essence of food reviewing. Frankly, he is a foodie, so I’ll give credit where credit it due. I will say I’d be more likely to return to reading his reviews if he stuck to the restaurant part of reviewing and left the rest out.

While I have spent most of my word count focused on one review in The Record, I feel it important to call out the whole category. If a paper assumedly can’t afford to pay a proper reviewer and give them the budget and the time-line needed to visit locations multiple times with several guests, don’t bother. Your unfounded opinions are hurting

people and businesses in an already almost impossible industry.

Leave it to the big papers and the online unpaid bloggers who have already taken the wheel. The world’s full of opinions and here’s mine: The Record shouldn’t feel the need to do restaurant reviews if it can’t show up with the proper tools. It’s potentially damaging and no longer necessary.

The bonus of all of this was the lively conversation it started with an old friend who used to write reviews — and that great conversation has led to an upcoming dinner date at Elixir that I am truly excited for!

Check out the online version to get my recipe for foraged sumac powder and a great tea made from the ingredient Jafari surprised Bielak with in the meatball dish.

Nick Benninger is a local chef and restaurant owner. His thoughts and opinions are his own.

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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WHEN I FIRST STEPPED ONTO THE MOON

TEXTILE X TCE SEEMAB ZAHRA CONTRIBUTOR

Man first stepped on the moon in 1969. I heard this when I was a child, barely seven or eight years. I started searching for more about it, but there was no internet in Pakistan and we were solely dependent on newspapers.

I did not know much about libraries, so I asked my father to get me some English newspapers.

He arranged a home delivery for me. The News was one of the best English newspapers in Pakistan, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy my curiosity.

One of my uncles worked at Pakistan International Airlines. He arranged for some astronomy books

in English from one of his friends in the United States, and to my surprise, somehow managed to get me an original photo of Neil Armstrong with his original signature. I was over the moon with joy.

In the same year, a new girl came to our school and became my classmate. Her family had just moved to Pakistan from the US. She shared my interest in astronomy and knew a lot about NASA. She wanted to become an astronaut, but later became a doctor of medicine, now serving in Pakistan.

Somehow, it was only me who used to talk to her about life in North America. Maybe it was because I would eventually come here for good as an immigrant.

Time took its stride. Becoming an astronaut and going to NASA

NEW TUNE REVIEW

SO BAD, HE’S GOOD ALBUM: “Sign Up” by Bad Child LINK: https://soundcloud.com/badchildsound/albums I would have a hard time believing you if you said you hadn’t heard of Bad Child at this point. The young artist has spent the past year-andchange making a name for himself on stages across the globe, but he recently made his way to Maxwell’s for a hometown gig.

Upon first listen, I thought of the classic ‘80s movie The Lost Boys. A handful of tracks on his recent project Sign Up wouldn’t feel out of place on the soundtrack, but that’s not to say his music is dated.

If anything, it’s more inspired: classic ‘80s dance vibes with a modern twist.

With electrifying production often featuring jarring synths and a steady pulse of a beat, many of his tracks translate well to a live setting.

A quick glance through his Instagram page, @badchildsound, shows a performer who is talented well beyond his years with a supporting cast that doesn’t pull any

punches.

Most recently, Bad Child dropped some enchanting visuals for the standout track “Pretty Girls” and the video is available to watch on YouTube.

If you have a good eye you might spot some familiar locations across his visual output, but don’t expect to see him stick around in one spot too long.

Check out Sign Up, available on all streaming platforms, and look out for his next local appearance.

- Kurtis Rideout, local musician, producer and ad manager for WLUSP

remained a dream. I got married and it was time to move to Canada. I was excited to reunite with my husband, who came to Pakistan for the wedding — only 15 days — then returned to Canada for work.

My flight to Canada was from Islamabad, so my mother accompanied me from Multan to see me off. I hugged her goodbye, took my hand luggage and joined my fellow passengers in the boarding lounge.

In 2005, there were no tunnels at the airport and passengers had to walk up the stairs to board a plane.

I anticipated boarding, but as it was my turn to climb up the staircase, something strange happened.

For a moment, all my excitement vanished. My feet were numb and I could not move.

“Welcome,” I heard the flight at-

tendant say, but I could not pay any attention to what they were saying. I was alone and scared. I looked back at the long queue of passengers behind me, all strangers, not a single known face. It was one of the strangest feelings I had ever experienced.

The flight attendant knew. She gave me her hand and pulled me up onto the iron step.

She held my hand warmly, as if she wanted to say that everything will be fine, don’t be scared.

I climbed up the staircase and reached my seat. I felt like a lost kid, but soon I met a couple of girls who, like me, were travelling for the first time alone. I tried to make myself comfortable, but deep inside, I was scared. After 14 hours, we finally reached Toronto, where I met my husband and in-laws who picked me

up from the airport.

I can never forget that step I put on the staircase that morning at the Islamabad Airport. In that moment, my past flashed before me, a sped-up time lapse. But that was not my first step onto the moon.

The first step I took down on Toronto Airport was the giant leap from one world to another, where everything and everyone was new, an estranged land where I had to start life all over again.

TCE X TEXTILE is published in collaboration with Textile Magazine.

Textile is a new literary publication and mentorship program that aims to highlight diverse voices in the Waterloo Region.

SHORT END OF THE STICK: THE STUDENT HOUSING CRISIS IN WATERLOO

WORDS BY SHALAKA JADHAV AND ANDREW RUTLAND PHOTOS BY EVELYN HOFFMAN AND NICK REVINGTON Everyone needs housing that is safe, sanitary and warm, but for many incoming students attending college or university in Kitchener-Waterloo, those needs are not being met.

In September 2019, alleged records from the student rental company Accomod8u were leaked online, revealing maintenance requests regarding vermin, heating and carbon monoxide that were largely ignored by the company. This served as a rallying call for students, who started speaking out against sister-companies like Accomod8u and KW4Rent for negligence and intimidating behaviour. Neither company responded to requests for comment on this article.

Syliva Skoruch, a fourth-year student at the University of Waterloo, inadvertently became a leader in this movement, after a post calling out KW4Rent led to hundreds of students reaching out and sharing their own stories. This, Skoruch claims, led to the manager of KW4Rent personally calling her and demanding she remove the post.

“He seemed very mad. He was trying to make me take the post down, telling me that creating a fuss won’t do anything at all,” Skoruch claimed.

Creating a fuss, however, is exactly what Skoruch intends to do. Since this incident, Skoruch, along with members of the Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM) and other students, organized a rally in front of Waterloo City Hall and have recently spoken at city council calling for action by the municipality.

One student with the RSM, David Moscoe, spoke about similar issues as Skoruch with the quality of student housing, but especially noted the availability and cost of it, and the structural issues that he believes put tenants — student or otherwise — at a disadvantage from the beginning.

“There’s a tremendous inequality of bargaining power between a landlord and a tenant,” said Moscoe. “You’re getting the short end of the stick in pretty much every way”.

Student housing often conjures the imagery of converted detached homes slowly falling apart; however, this stereotype is being challenged in Waterloo, where mid and highrise luxury student apartments are flooding the market.

Along the corridors of King Street and University Avenue, in what seems like days, much of the infrastructure of the luxury student apartment living has quickly replaced much of the

post-war single-detached housing.

These effects have been observed on a spatial scale, but also when looking for a place to stay.

“Every new development is a luxury development and it’s driving the rent up [...] housing prices have been rising 20 per cent in the last seven years.

Combined with skyrocketing tuition rates, the squeeze is on [students],” Moscoe said.

Driven in part by a heavily cooperative education model at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College, students are increasingly transient, studying for only four months at a time before moving for work placements usually outside the Region.

“A really large percentage of people who are renting in this city are renting four months at a time, and that creates even more unique conditions,” Moscoe said.

This is compared to Toronto, where Moscoe claims the average duration a tenant stays in a unit is two to five years.

In Waterloo, the co-op cycles often result in a quicker tenant turnover, making it difficult for students to invest in building a home. The shortened lease cycles also makes it difficult to adequately follow maintenance or repair requests through.

“It means people can’t really advocate for themselves effectively.

All the mechanisms in place … to actually help tenants, do so in a very slow and rigorous way. So if I have a problem with heating at the end of November, that’s not getting fixed before I’m moving out. And the onus is going to be on the next person,” Moscoe said.

Nick Revington, a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo’s School of Planning explores private investment in off-campus student housing and its implications for urban change.

Moving from Montreal to Waterloo, he noticed a considerable volume of purpose-built student housing, noting how different it is from anywhere else in Canada.

Part of what makes student housing concerns difficult to address is that there is no legal definition differentiating student housing.

Revington noted that private, offcampus student housing is regulated under the Residential Tenancies Act, just like any other rental housing and that there is nothing that makes student housing legally different. In

2012, the City of Waterloo passed a rental housing bylaw, responding generally to the need to regulate rental housing that was unsafe and unliveable, especially in student areas.

Responding to concerns of a quickly changing neighbourhood, the Northdale Plan, passed in 2016 by the City of Waterloo, aims to make the Northdale neighbourhood — the neighbourhood between the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University bounded by King Street, Phillip Street, Columbia Street and University Avenue — “reurbanized,” with higher densities and mixed-use spaces.

While the plan may aim to attract a diversity of demographics back to the area, how may we work towards building a lively, growing community when these highdensity developments are producing insufficient housing at unaffordable prices?

For many, the primarily student areas around the post-secondary institutions are their first impression of the Region and how we support students is indicative of how we value them and their contributions to our community and society as a whole.

“Would we have the range and quality of stores in uptown Waterloo if we didn’t have students?” Revington proposed.

Amongst support for tenants’ associations, investigating Accomod8u and proactive enforcement of the property standards, students also advocated for provision of social housing and the establishment of a homeless shelter in the City of Waterloo.

Skoruch emphasized the importance of supporting students in regards to housing, because she believes it will impact their ability to learn.

“Of course I believe everyone is being affected by this, but we’re [focusing on students] because we are the future of society and we just need good housing, good affordable and reasonable living conditions so we can focus in school and we can learn ... in order to actually make a change in society,” said Skoruch.

Residents all over the Region are feeling the squeeze as rents soar skywards along with the cranes that build luxury condos in our cores. Will the problems being experienced by students in Waterloo be the canary in the coalmine of the larger forces at play in our Region?

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

10

BRAKING A VICIOUS CYCLE

GETTING YOUR BIKE STOLEN REALLY SUCKS. HERE’S HOW TO KEEP YOUR BIKE SAFE

MELISSA BOWMAN CONTRIBUTOR I consider myself lucky. The last time I had a bike stolen, I was in high school, many years ago. However, I know many folks who have more recent experiences with bike theft, including this rather amazing story.

One morning I learned that not one, but two neighbours, had their bike stolen from their garage overnight. Both bikes had been in their respective garages, but not locked up. Fortunately, both neighbours got their bikes back and the culprit was found.

What makes the story unique is that the first neighbour’s bike was actually discovered in the second neighbour’s garage, where the thief apparently dumped the first bike, in favour of the second one!

I was glad to hear that both bikes were safely returned, but unfortunately that’s not often the case with stolen bikes.

Just how prevalent is bike theft in our Region? I reached out to Ashley Dietrich, a public information officer with the Waterloo Regional Police Service to find out.

She noted that in 2018, there were approximately 1,100 reports of bike theft – an average of just over three

per day! Although the final numbers are obviously not in yet, the Region has seen a decrease in bike thefts, with just over 400 reported at the end of August. She has noticed more people taking the time to secure their bikes, which may be one factor in the reduced number.

“The reality is, these are crimes of opportunity. Oftentimes people see a garage door open, or a bike laying on the lawn or a front porch and they can easily walk up and steal it,” Dietrich said.

There are some steps bike owners can take to reduce the risk of having their bike stolen.

“Always take your bike into a place of safety; that’s going to be the best place to secure your bike,” Dietrich continued.

She also noted a trend this summer where bikes were actually being taken off of vehicular bike racks.

“Always lock your bike to a solid object and make sure your lock can’t be cut. Lock it in a well-lit area with high foot traffic.”

Dietrich noted that it’s wonderful when they can return a bike to its owner.

“We’ve had a number of successful stories recently where people have had their bike returned to them,” she said.

An important step in getting a stolen bike returned is being able to prove the bike is actually yours.

Dietrich encourages people to do the “Snap N’ Save” program. This

is when you take a photo of your bike noting the serial number. You can provide that to police if you’re having to report a bike theft. If the owner doesn’t have any proof that the bike belongs to them, Dietrich said it’s very challenging for police to return those bikes.

I did wonder if it’s really worth the trouble of reporting a stolen bike.

Dietrich insists that it is.

“We do recommend you call the local number which is 519-570-9777 (or online at wrps.on.ca). Making out a police report is helpful. It allows us to note statistics and trends and if those aren’t reported then we can’t track that,” she said.

“This is a theft and it gets investigated like any other theft. Bikes are just a little more challenging because oftentimes people don’t have the proper documentation to return that bike to the rightful owners.”

Although cyclists can take steps to secure their bikes, ensuring plenty of safe and secure places to store bikes throughout our Region is an important way to encourage more people to cycle.

BRIT KOVACS PHOTO

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NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

11

STEPPING IN WHEN NO ONE ELSE WILL

CONNECTIVITY KW4, AN INITIATIVE THROUGH CARIZON FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES, HAVE BEEN MEETING FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS

MELISSA EMBURY STAFF WRITER Although there is little public awareness, a community of professional social service, justice, mental health and addiction agencies have been getting together on a weekly basis for the past five years to connect with people in our community who are at imminent harm.

Carizon’s Connectivity KW4 has been facilitating an open table dedicated to children’s mental health, youth engagement and development, family violence, individual and family counselling, credit counselling, settlement supports and collective wellness.

These are the people who step in when not stepping in may cost someone their life.

This October, Connectivity KW4 is turning five. Intake worker and overall navigator for the program, Anita Fieguth, sat down to discuss some key issues people with mental illness face in our community, the history of the organization and how they are helping change this.

“Carizon is a source of hope for our community. When children, youth, adults, couples or families face life’s challenges, Carizon programs and services provide the care and compassion to help them achieve wellness,” said Fieguth.

With a head office located in the heart of the City of Kitchener, Carizon provides a full spectrum of services in more than 70 locations throughout the Region. Connectivity KW4 is committed to providing services in a way that respects the dignity and independence of people unless an alternative measure is necessary to enable the person to access services.

“There is an understanding of the various agencies around the table and just other community partners to the work that we do, and how we do work, which is great,” Fieguth said.

Five years ago, there were not many situation tables in Ontario.

Initially, when Sue Coulter decided to spearhead the program, all of the protocols, the decisions around who should be at the table, how they work with privacy and how they define acutely elevated risk, had to be developed from the ground up.

“In my role, I make sure that the meetings run smoothly, that the information is there for everybody who needs it and that in the

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conversation around the table everybody’s heard. We use a kind of consensus model — so we make sure that if there are dissenting voices that they’re heard and everyone does come to an agreement at the end,” Fieguth said.

“

CARIZON PROGRAMS AND SERVICES PROVIDE THE CARE AND COMPASSION TO HELP THEM ACHIEVE WELLNESS.

”

-ANITA FIEGUTH, INTAKE WORKER Connectivity KW4 needs to make sure the criteria for a person, or family, or situation, is an acutely elevated risk. Fieguth explained that means that if it’s beyond the scope of an agency and beyond the scope of their connections. The situation is too big, at that point. A decision is made to bring a situation to the table. Before that happens, they try everything possible first before

getting to that point.

“So we don’t just willy nilly open everything that comes to the table because we want to be sure that this is acutely elevated and that that gives us the ability to disclose a person’s personal information because there are dangers to either them or the community and that overrides the person’s right to their privacy. We take that conversation very seriously and that can take a lot of time. The table can go back and forth. Are we opening this or not?

It’s a tough one,” Fieguth said.

They work with over 33 agencies and organizations in the community based on who is involved in the individual case. After the open table meeting, they continue to communicate over email about who’s going to visit, who’s going to intervene , while working together to try to get the person’s consent to work with them — so privacy is not an issue anymore.

“It’s their freedom to talk about this person away from the table.

So, sometimes we’ve had to keep situations open at the table because they have not been able to get consent right away. It’s the only way, legally, that we can continue to work with them, while they’re still open at the table. Because as soon as it’s closed, then those consents and privacy legislation comes back,”

explained Fieguth.

Fieguth said that the other benefit to Connectivity KW4 existing is that prior to, a lot of the social agencies around the table would have operated in what they call silos. They wouldn’t know much, maybe they knew a little bit about what the other ones were doing, but they didn’t have that relationship with someone in those agencies.

“What we found, around the table, is that those relationships formed between agencies and now I can already deal with the situation because of that. So that part has been huge,” she said.

Fieguth wants the public to know that Connectivity KW4 isn’t about calling if you need help: it’s about community partners bringing situations forward, taking people by the hand and putting a plan in place.

If you would like to volunteer or would like more information about the program please visit Carizon Family and Community Services.

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

12

NOT JUST ROOMATES:

12 MILE ISL AND

GROWING A FAN-BASE SINCE 2018, THE GROUP HAVE CREATED A DISTINCT JIVE

JENNA AQUINO CONTRIBUTOR Four-piece KW-based band 12 Mile Island is on the rise after a busy year of gigging around Southern Ontario.

Characterizing their music as indie rock with elements of funk, the group is made up of lead guitarist Nic Nolet, lead singer, trumpet and guitar player Laura Sones, drummer Dan Nash and bassist Dan Corrigan.

“As a group we’ve been playing together since January 2018, and we started playing live in December of that year,” said Nash.

“We’ve always been based in Waterloo, but we’ve played a lot of shows around Hamilton, Niagara and Toronto as well. We found our first gig through Toronto’s Cats Cove Media Group which is run by a friend of ours and we’ve played a few shows with them since,” Sones explained.

Today, the members live together in the same house, which has allowed them to really focus on their music and develop a distinctive sound they can all jive with. The band is now popular within the local arts and culture scene for writing

and performing their lively, up-beat tunes wherever the opportunity arises.

“It actually took us a while to really break into the KW music scene, but we were lucky enough to play a Sofar Sounds Waterloo show this past January and it was really pivotal for us,” Nolet said and the band agreed.

“Being able to call ourselves a Sofar Sounds featured band kind of changed the game for us, but the best thing that came out of that night was the connection we made with the chapter’s lead, Amit Mehta.

At the time, we were still trying to figure out our sound and he told us that we really just had to be ourselves and as soon as we realized that, everything started to come together.”

Since then, Mehta and his team have re-branded to Good Company Productions, hosting a wider variety of shows in the community.

“You can tell how hungry people in this city are for a sense of community, for live music, for an art scene … Amit and his team have really taken charge of fostering that environment in Waterloo [Region] and we’ve loved being a part of it.”

In the past few months, they’ve highlighted several Good Company shows including those at the Kitchener Market, Waterloo Park, Waterloo Public Square and

Trillium West. Beyond that, you may remember them from plenty of local shows at venues like Maxwell’s, Starlight, Chainsaw, Churchill Arms and Lot 42 during Steel Rails 2019.

Recently, they’ve enjoyed playing intimate, underground shows at a modest new venue, The Mountanne Music House, as well.

The most exciting news for 12 Mile Island is that they’ve just released their first single, a catchy song called Lioness, which is now available on Spotify and Apple Music.

“As songwriters, our shows are like our focus groups. With some songs, there is a visible connection with the audience. Lioness is one that people always turn around for,” Nolet said.

To celebrate this milestone, they are hosting a release party on Nov. 15 at uptown Waterloo’s Hepcat Swing Studio with the help of Good Company Productions.

Tickets are $15 and are available for purchase through their Instagram (@12mileislandband) or Facebook pages.

“We have this band where we all live together, make music and cook breakfast together … that’s kind of what we want to model at this release party. We want it to feel like we’re all cozied up in a living room … like you’re not showing up to a venue, but a home,” the band discussed.

A passionate moment from 12 Mile Island’s first preformance at Steel Rails in 2019 LINK MEDIA CO PHOTO

As a committed and talented group, their hopes for the coming years are to eventually release an EP, continue playing live shows and plan a Canadian tour.

“We were lucky enough to find a group of friends that wants to dedicate this much time and energy

to writing and playing music and this is the time of our lives that we can roll with that,” Sones said.

“As long as this keeps working for all of us, we’ll be doing it. We wouldn’t want it any other way.”

HYPERLOCAL TRAVEL: GET TO KNOW NORTH DUMFRIES

BIKE OR SHOW YOUR DOG AROUND THE LOCAL HOT SPOTS OF NORTH DUMFRIES, JUST OUTSIDE OF KITCHENER-WATERLOO

HYPERLOCAL TRAVEL

of our Region by connecting you directly with food growers and local producers.

Take a country drive through North Dumfries on an empty stomach so you can graze your way through a route that includes Faul Farms on Wrigley Road and Oakridge Acres Country Meat Store on Greenfield Road for their pasture-fed beef and bison.

JUANITA METZGER CONTRIBUTOR Tim Barrie pointed out at least five different products in his Cedardale Farm store that have a direct connection to his family history on their North Dumfries property.

“Our kettle chips, in the back — ‘Spud’s Finest’ — they’re named after my mom because her nickname was Spud,” he said.

“The packaging on these crackers has a photo of my dad as a kid. He’s the one with the striped t-shirt … And, of course, there’s all the products made with asparagus grown on our farm: pasta, pasta sauce, pickled asparagus, tortilla chips, tea — it’s all here.”

During an afternoon visit to Barrie’s Asparagus & Country Market on Kings Road, just east of Roseville, Barrie gave me the “short version” of the family and farm history. While touring the store, I also learned that Kings Road was named after his great-grandfather, James King, who began farming at Cedardale in 1892.

After making a purchase, Barrie walked me outside to open up the blacksmith shop, now a roastery for their Blacksmith & Bean fair trade organic coffee. Of course, the shop retains countless pieces of family history to go along with Barrie’s stories about his children, parents,

“

A sunny day captured downtown Ayr in North Dumfries JUANITA METZGER PHOTO

grandparents and growing up at Cedardale Farm.

North Dumfries is home to numerous ‘on farm’ businesses, like Barrie’s Asparagus, that help a local (or not-so-local) traveler absorb the flavour of what make this rural community tick.

Rural communities present a good challenge for the intrepid or casual traveler. It can be harder to get to know a rural place where it’s less likely to have a museum or visitor centre to provide the highlights. Places to explore are not immediately obvious, which just means you have to dig deeper to find destinations that fit your interests.

I admit, I have not spent much time

exploring the Township of North Dumfries. I do know it’s located in the south west corner of Waterloo Region and it’s one of four rural townships. I do know it contains the villages of Roseville and Ayr, small clusters of former settlements like Black Horse Corner.

Present-day North Dumfries has many similarities to its past history where industry and agriculture stimulated the community economy.

Guaranteed, it’s the working farms and diverse farm stores that draw me to the township, not the sand and gravel pits.

The Local Food Map, created by Foodlink Waterloo Region, makes it easy to learn about this corner

THE PACKAGING ON THESE CRACKERS HAS A PHOTO OF MY DAD AS A KID. HE’S THE ONE IN THE STRIPED T-SHIRT.

”

-TIM BARRIE, OWNER OF BARRIE’S ASPARAGUS AND COUNTRY MARKET

In the village of Ayr, catch breakfast or lunch at Mangia Organics where owner and chef Loren Hartman cooks up homemade pasta and pasta sauce according to her nonna’s very involved recipes.

Since opening on Stanley Street three months ago, Hartman has been sourcing local produce from township farmers.

Wet your whistle with a stop at the Ayr location of Settlement Coffee Co. and Abe Erb Brewing Company for

locally roasted coffee or craft beer.

When all the farm stores close for the day, Willibald Farm Distillery & Restaurant on Reidsville Road is just getting started for the evening.

Owners and business partners — brothers Jordan and Nolan van der Heyden, and Cam Formica — opened an onsite restaurant in late 2018 that now serves dinner Wednesday through Saturday, with a weekend lunch on Saturdays only.

They’re not only sourcing local food, but have been working out how they can grow much of the food they serve on the van der Heyden farm property where Willibald is located in a renovated barn. A one-acre market garden on the property and an herb kitchen garden provided much of the greens they needed for the restaurant service. They use Ontario grains for distilling their Willibald gin and whiskey aging in wooden casks and plan to grow some grains on the property for a hyperlocal farm distillery.

This month, Willibald launched a selection of three to four beers brewed on site by Joe Freund, the newest member of the Willibald team.

One of the best ways to get to know this corner of Waterloo Region is to simply talk to people who live and work here. I arrived home with a history I didn’t know the day before and a box full of delicious local food products that have a story behind each and every item.

Oh, and a bottle of gin.

13

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

LATCHING ONTO A

SUPERFICIAL “FORGIVENESS”

SPIRITUAL BYPASSING IS A WAY OF AVOIDING SUFFERING — AND IT’S REALLY INEFFECTIVE

MENTAL MATTERS

JOHN ROCHE COLUMNIST

BREEN SPLITT PHOTO

HARVEST SQUASH

SOUP BOWL REGIONAL RECIPE

BREEN SPLITT COLUMNIST As the weather gets cooler and our sweaters get thicker, squash becomes a plentiful ingredient and warm soup begs our attention. This harvest bowl is a harmonious pairing of creamy squash soup and hearty belly-filling toppings, making it the perfect meal to cozy up with on a chilly November evening. Squash is nutrient and fiber-dense, full of vitamins and antioxidants and is so easy to work with. You can easily customize this soup bowl with whatever may be hiding in your fridge, or what calls your name upon a trip to the market.

This recipe was made using produce from Thorne’s Farm Fresh Produce, who can be found at St. Jacobs Market.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED: 2.5 - 3 cups squash, cleaned, cut into large 4-5 inch sections, skin on. Use a spoon to remove any seeds. I used 2 large Delicata, but Butternut or Acorn would work well, too.

1 large sweet potato (or 2 small) 1 large white potato (or 2 small) 1 onion or shallot, roughly chopped 2 heads of garlic, chopped 5-6 cups of Vegetable Broth 1 cup dry white wine Olive oil Half of a fresh lemon Sea Salt, Pepper, Chili Flakes, Garlic Powder, Nutmeg PREPARATION: 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

While oven is preheating, prepare squash and place onto baking sheet.

Also place whole sweet and regular potatoes onto baking sheet. Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook squash and potatoes for 30-40 minutes, or until tender.

2. While squash and potatoes are baking, sauté onion and garlic in a pot with olive oil. Once simmering, add dry white wine and continue to simmer until excess liquid cooks down. Cook onions and garlic until carmelized and well-browned.

3. Once tender, remove squash and potatoes from oven. Allow to cool.

4. Once onions and garlic are cooked down, add your vegetable broth to the pot. Turn off heat and allow broth to cool alongside your squash and potatoes.

5. Once squash and potatoes are cooled, remove the skins of the squash and potatoes, and discard/compost.

Add squash, potatoes and broth to a high-power blender. (If you do not have a high-power blender, a hand blender works well too!)

6. Blend on high until the desired consistency is achieved. Add extra broth if a thinner consistency is desired. Once blended, add soup back into a pot.

7. Bring temperature back up to a simmer and add nutmeg, chili flakes and garlic powder accordingly.

Simmer for 10 minutes, squeeze in fresh lemon and taste throughout and season with desired amount of salt and pepper.

8. Garnish with your favourite starch, veggies, nuts or seeds. I topped my bowl with cumin-spiced basmati rice, brussels sprouts, green beans, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and flake sea salt.

Ask any spiritual teacher, philosopher, or psychotherapist worth their salt, and they’ll tell you the same thing: life is painful. And they’ll also tell you that for some reason or another, the more you try to avoid life’s painfulness, the more painful life becomes.

In my practice as a therapist, more often than not I see spirituality used as just one more clever way to avoid pain, and since avoiding pain only creates more pain, it ends up becoming one more thing that’s making people’s lives worse instead of better.

Using spirituality as a way of avoiding suffering is called “spiritual bypassing,” and when you get down to it, it’s really only about as effective as drug addiction or staying in bed all day.

At its best, spirituality shows us how to accept the pain of life. The really wild thing is that as soon as we truly just allow pain to be there, we

transcend it. As soon as we fully allow ourselves to be the imperfect, anxious little humans that we are, in that precise moment we also tap into our divine nature. This is the fundamental paradox at the heart of any mature spiritual teaching.

In this healthy and mature form of spirituality, there are no shortcuts around suffering. The very first Noble Truth of the Buddha is, after all, that “existence is suffering.” A central symbol of Buddhism is the lotus of enlightenment, which only grows out of the mud of suffering.

Then there’s Christianity, always shoving a dude on a cross down our throats, telling us that what we think will annihilate us will actually launch us into a resurrection beyond our imagining.

More recently, there’s Eckhart Tolle, saying that if you want to become conscious, you have to walk right into the belly of your unconsciousness and just sit there with it. This, he says, is the esoteric meaning of the practice of alchemy, where we transform the base metal of suffering into the gold of consciousness.

What a bunch of downers, eh? Since facing the pain of existence is quite literally the last thing anyone wants to do, we’ve come up with some creative re-interpretations of these classic

Live readings and performances about the impact of prison

spiritual teachings.

Maybe we latch onto a superficial “forgiveness” as a way of avoiding anger, disappointment or sadness.

Maybe we hang onto the promise of some future paradise — it doesn’t really matter whether you call it nirvana or heaven — to anesthetize ourselves to the pain of this moment.

Maybe we plaster a saccharine smile on our faces and hide behind a grating, ultra-spiritual tone to avoid the vulnerability of true authenticity.

The list goes on, but the underlying principle is always the same: I don’t want to feel pain, so I’m going to mobilize some “spiritual” concept to help me avoid it.

As an expert avoider myself, I’ve learned the very hard way that there’s no shortcut around suffering. Even when I dressed my avoidance up in sophisticated spiritual concepts, it still just made my life shittier. Spiritual bypassing attempts to lead us away from our pain, but actually gets us stuck in it. Mature spirituality leads us into the depths of our suffering, but in so doing, paradoxically liberates us from it. The former is just another trap, while the latter is, well, awesome.

John Roche is a therapist in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Registry Theatre 122 Frederick St, Kitchener

TICKETS ARE $15 AND AVAILABLE AT EVENTBRITE AND AT THE DOOR

Featuring: David Delisca

Toronto Poetry Slam alumni and four-time member of the Toronto Poetry Slam Team, winner of the 2013 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word national competition in Montreal

Thursday, November 21st 7-8:30pm

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

14

HOW TO HAVE THE TALK

ABOUT CLIMATE BREAKDOWN EASY BEING GREEN

STACEY DANCKERT COLUMNIST Between the election and recent climate strikes, there has been a lot of discussion in the media lately about human-created climate change and the role that our youth could play in advocating for solutions to improve the outlook of their future world.

With that, an increasing number of people may be talking about these issues with their kids. So I wanted to help identify some tools and give you some ideas to help make that conversation easier.

You could start by talking with other adults. Climate breakdown is not something many people talk about regularly, due to fear or worry. Talking with others could avoid making the conversation too overwhelming.

Try to frame the problem at a level that kids can understand. I don’t believe in shielding kids from everything but rather keeping the conversation open so that you can

expand on their knowledge over time.

Although most discussions on this topic suggest focusing on the positive, I would argue that we have to strike a careful balance between helping them understand that it is a complex issue that will affect almost everything, without overwhelming them.

Don’t attempt to give them all of the information at one time: that would be too much for anyone. But do give examples and explain that it touches all corners of the globe and that if we work hard, we could stop the worst of it. As with other topics that may be challenging to discuss (like sex), assume children are hearing about it outside of your home and that the information they are hearing may not all be correct.

You can use videos to help explain the basic concepts of climate breakdown and some of its effects. For example, Greta Thunberg, the 16-yearold activist who was the driving force behind Friday Strikes, gave a great Ted talk about her perspective. There are many great videos geared to a range of ages that could be helpful. Stories can also be helpful to make it feel less distant.

Talk about their feelings and practice ways to release stress. Think of ways your family could work to take

positive actions. Help them feel like they can be part of the solution. Get books, or connect to apps that provide simple actions and decide on which to aim for together.

Attending climate marches, writing letters to local politicians, or making positive changes in your own life can all be helpful in alleviating some of the stress that they may feel about the problems we face. They could even start a club or lead actions at school to help share their new knowledge with others.

Remember that climate breakdown encompasses a lot of areas of your life, so try to choose a variety of things to do surrounding water, energy — transportation, heating, stuff you buy and food — as well as waste.

Obviously not everyone will become the next Greta Thunberg, but it does seem that the pressure the strikes put on politicians in our recent federal election may have helped to change Canada’s trajectory and get us a lot closer to where we need to be and that is truly a positive effect.

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

The kids are alright. Climate Strike in uptown Waterloo on Sept. 27, 2019.

JORDAN SNOBELEN PHOTO

WITH NOTHING

ON BUT THE RADIO

SEXPLANATIONS

STACEY JACOBS COLUMNIST I like being naked. I like the feeling of freedom it brings. For those of you who know me, you know I do not like restrictions, including restrictive clothing. Bras are one of my least favourite things in the world.

But finding a time and place to be naked is tricky.

Nudity is not accepted in public except for in very specific places — such as nude beaches or nudist resorts. But why is this? Why is the naked body so unacceptable, so feared, so hated?

Why can’t I swim naked, or lay naked in the warm sun? These are things I should be able to do in my own backyard if it weren’t for the close proximity of my peering neighbours thinking I am “indecent.”

I recently spoke with a man in his 70’s who said, “We are born naked, it is a natural way to be, bodies were not meant to be shamed or feared, bodies were meant to be celebrated.”

I could not agree more.

How did we get to a place where we feel discomfort, embarrassment, shame and hatred for our bodies, and the bodies of others? Why are stretch marks and cellulite unacceptable and ugly? Why must I cover up certain body parts, but not others?

This hiding, this secrecy, this fear of being seen, cannot be good for us.

I don’t want to close my blinds when I change or walk around my house naked. I want to see the sun and the

moon through my windows, but I have been taught to close my blinds.

I have even been taught to sleep with clothing on. But why? Is sleep not better without the restriction of clothing that gets bunched up and twisted as I toss and turn?

Maybe if we saw a diversity of real bodies more often, we would feel better about our own. Maybe we wouldn’t be so hard on ourselves and the way we look. Maybe we could concentrate on all the amazing things our bodies allow us to do and stop trying to attain a perfect body which does not exist.

I often get asked by parents if their children should see them naked.

Nudity in and of itself does not harm children. Seeing naked bodies bathing, changing, doing everyday things is not harmful. And many young children love being naked. They can’t wait to strip and run down the hallway.

They have not yet learned the discomfort and shame that adults have. Oh, to be young again.

For me, nudity means freedom and a little rebellion. It is not about sex or sexuality. It is about feeling comfortable in my own skin and confidence in myself. The more I am naked the less self-conscious I become, and this may sound ridiculous, but the more I can concentrate on things that really matter to me.

Nudity may not be your thing, but think about why that is? Maybe you can give it a little try and see how you feel. Because it may feel fantastic.

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

NOVEMBER 2019 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

15

EVENT LISTINGS

WE’VE HAND SELECTED SOME COOL UPCOMING EVENTS AND WRITTEN SOME WITTY COMMENTARY. YOU’RE WELCOME.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24

INDIGENOUS MAKER’S MARKET 176 WYNDHAM ST NORTH

12 MILE ISLAND RELEASE PARTY HEPCAT SWING

PAINT YOUR GOODEST BOY (OR GIRL) THE DOG HAUS

This is the second Indigenous Maker’s Market to come to Guelph, with thousands of people attending to witness local Indigenous makers, artisans and entrepreneurs.

You’ll engage in Indigenized conversations, discover unique gifts and learn about their programs.

This event will be cash only.

Our pals from 12 Mile Island is celebrating the release of their debut single, Lioness, with opening guests Seagram Synth Ensemble.

Undeniably enjoyable, you’ll find yourself lost in the lead guitar’s riffs and the gusto in their front woman’s vocals. Bring cash for the bar and for their merchandise table.

As if the seventeen folders of dog photos on your cellphone, computer and the framed portrait on your work desk isn’t enough, you can now paint your favorite furry pal! Don’t fret, you don’t have to admit that the photo was sketched out prior to your arrival and take all the credit for the beautifully blended strokes.

Market • Donation • 11am - 4pm

Music • $15 • 7:30 - 10:30pm

Art • $65 • 1 - 4pm

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24

MONIGRAM COFFEE ROASTERS

BY THE HAND ART SHOW

INTERACTIVE WILLY WONKA APOLLO CINEMA

KW COLLECTIBLES EXPO BINGEMANS (MARSHALL HALL)

Take an Instagram photo of their entrance, pick up a latte and head upstairs to feast your eyes on an eclectic mix of art. There will be glasswork, there will be pottery, there will be leatherwork. Perhaps even a painting or two. Bring cash or a card if you’re feeling risky. Please note, this event isn’t accessible.

The potential for any of my social outings to become interactive places me at risk for a panic attack, but then you mention Willy Wonka and I’m willing to chance it. This event will have bags full of imaginative snacks and props with a list of audience-led prompts and shouts.

Remember to buy early.

The ultimate way to blow your Christmas budget is to be exposed to nearly two hundred tables of vintage toys, vinyls and comic books. On Facebook, their event page wrote there was too much to list in all caps, which means they’re seriously prepared to blow the nostalgia off your pants. Good luck.

Art • Free • 9am - 4pm

Film • $13-17 • 4 - 5:30pm

Expo • $0-5 • 10am - 3pm

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28

REMEMBRANCE DAY

SANTA CLAUS PARADE KITCHENER

STARTUPS AND BEER THEMUSEUM

Remember to wear your poppy, donate your change to the Red Cross and have a moment of silence at 11 a.m. to remember those whose lives were, and are still, affected by war.

Lest we forget.

On the 16th day of November, my city gave to me road closures and parking anxiety. Deck the roads with boughs of traffic cones, fa la la la la, la la la. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, in our knit apparel as we sit on a curb and watch a bearded man in a red robe wave. Don’t forget to bring blankets, lawn chairs and cocoa.

What do you get when you mix the fastest growing start ups and a few local breweries? Potential. Shake hands with the individuals you’ve stalked on Linkedin for the past year as you make new connections and sample some of the craftiest brews.

This free public event is in support of oneROOF Youth Services.

Holiday • Free • All Day

Parade • Free • 10:30am - 12:30pm

Community • Free • 6 - 9pm

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29-30

NINETIES TRIVIA NIGHT CAFE PYRUS

TAMPON TUESDAY BLACKSHOP RESTAURANT

FEMINIST NIGHT MARKET THE W

Test your knowledge on the decade that brought us Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, the birth of the first Tamagotchi and the collapse of the USSR. All the proceeds from this fundraiser go to supporting a refugee resettling in the Region.

This event is all ages and has a maximum of six per team.

Menstrual hygiene products are one of the most requested yet least donated items at food banks. So, head to Blackshop for a networking event with a handful of guest speakers and platefuls of appetizers.

Entry is a donation of a menstrual hygiene product, or forty seven, and a toothy smile or a high five.

The YWCA presents their feminist night market where locals can connect with twenty uniquely talented makers and craft breweries.

The W is a collective space for women, providing programming and workshops that are fully womyn focused. So, sip a brew as you support this local night market.

Fundraiser • Monetary Donation • 6 - 8pm

Birthday • Donation • 5 - 7pm

Market • Free • 6 - 10pm

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1

SEVEN SHORES CAFE

CLOTHING SWAP

RADIO LAURIER’S DIRTY BINGO CHAINSAW

WORLD AIDS DAY VIGIL KITCHENER CITY HALL

Does wearing a piece of clothing that could’ve potentially been worn on a stranger’s worst day of their life, excite you? Us, too. Clothing swaps making that dream a reality, so pick your laundry up off your floor and toss the clothing you want to swap to the side. Shopping sustainable is all the rage right now.

Call your grandmother, Radio Laurier is collaborating with the Stag Shop to bring vibrators and debauchery to a classic game of bingo. Local drag superstar, Miss Drew, is returning to host this year to make you laugh, cry and fake an orgasm in public. Traumatizing? Of course. Intriguing? Obviously.

Join the members from ACCKWA, the AIDs Committee of the Region, at a vigil celebrating those living with HIV and honoring those we’ve lost. The Red Scarf Project will be present to sell scarves created by community members to raise funds for their support programs food security efforts. This is kid friendly.

Swap • $4 • 7 - 9pm

Fundraiser • $5 • 7 - 10pm

Community • Free • 2 - 4pm

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3

ACOUSTIC FOLK JAM TWB CO-OP BREWING

EIGHTIES DANCE PARTY THE CAUSERIE

EVERYWHERE

Are you fond of the Paul Rudd ‘Slappin’ Da Bass’ memes? Perhaps you just enjoy flannels, beard oil and the sound of an acoustic guitar bouncing off of pot stills. Well, TWB is hosting a weekly acoustic folk jam, so you can get those fingers on the strings you’ve been up dreaming about. Oh and there’s beer, too.

Clock strikes upon the eighth hour, and the sun begins to fade. Still enough time to figure out, where to stash by cash to pay. And when the night falls, the Causerie’s dance floor calls. We want to feel the heat with somebody. So when the night falls, my dancing feet call (as long as they’re 19-years-old or older).

Channel your inner Philedelphia creamcheese angel because it’s Brit’s day of birth and she’s passionate about spreadable cheeses. Go buy yourself a rubber pig from Dollarama and give it to a dog, because that’s what Brit would want.

Don’t talk too much about sauces or food that isn’t a neutral colour.

Music • Free • 6 - 9pm

Dance • $15 • 8pm - 2am

Birthday • Free • All Day

EVERYWHERE

COMMUNITYEDITION.CA @THECOMMUNITYED

BRIT’S BIRTHDAY