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PLAYING FOR CHANGE 2022 IN SUPPORT OF THE HUMAN LEAGUE ASSOCIATION & SUDBURY-MANITOULIN CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION

Coming Summer 2022 www.iinta.ca IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 2

INTRODUCING PLAYING FOR CHANGE 2022

The Human League Association and The Sudbury-Manitoulin Children’s Foundation have teamed up with IINTA (Indulge in the Arts) to deliver nutritious meals, needed toiletries, clothing, sports equipment and sponsor the P.L.A.Y (Positive Leisure Activities for Youth). These charities have helped thousands of people in their communities since being established. Now it’s your turn to make an impact with IINTA. We are presenting a two-part major event in Ontario, Canada with NHL legends and two world-renown musicians who are typically based in the UK! As a sponsor, you can feel good about your decision to support families in need while enjoying a special weekend with friends. Major attendees of the Timberwolf NHL Legends Golf Tournament: Gilles Gilbert (Boston Bruins) Dennis Maruk (Washington Capitals) Andrew Desjardins (Chicago Blackhawks) Walt McKechnie (Detroit Red Wings) Mike Palmateer (Toronto Maple Leafs) Musical performances at Playing for Change Concert: Liz Mitchell of Boney M Rasputin Rivers of Babylon Brown Girl in the Rain Daddy Cool Penny Ford of SNAP The Power Rhythm was a Dancer Ooops Up! Mary Had a Little Boy If you want the chance to play golf alongside hockey legends, watch a once-ina-lifetime concert, and have a great time then order your tickets! Visit www.iinta.ca for more information about Playing for Change 2022.

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2022 | 3

table of contents The Music Hit list 07

Penny Ford

Oak Ridge Boys

Whigfield

Mark Quashie

Free Speech & Reading Nook

69 Din Thomas

Celebrating Indigenous Creators

75 Ron Duguay

Crypto-Currencies

83 Jared Gordon

128 30

Aviation, Adventure & Specials

61 Theo Fleury

The World is Passing Me By

Legends of the Game

Cuisine, Wellness, & Beauty

What's New!

Unsung Heroes

113

Balsamic-Lime Beef

128

Released from Battle

115

Stressors & Systemic Toxicity

133 Fierté Sudbury Pride

101

Iceland

117

Grapebrands

139 Winter Flying

105

Icons of Canadian Skies

124

Healing Your skin

143 The Metaverse

Dynelle Rhodes

... and more! IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 4

WHO IS IINTA? Welcome to IINTA Inc., a hub for anyone with a taste for creative arts, sports, music, business, cuisine, fashion and more. iinta's Marketplace offers a wide range of products from multiple categories and vendors. Our monthly release of iinta Magazine features renowned musicians and athletes along with in-depth articles pertaining to literature, wellness, beauty, business, wine and more!

CULTURE ZEST THE FINER THINGS EXCLUSIVES MARKETPLACE

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CULTURE THE MUSIC HIT LIST

01: PENNY FORD 02: OAK RIDGE BOYS 03: WHIGFIELD 04: MARK QUASHIE *The views and opinions contained within subjects, content, information, data and imagery does not necessarily reflect those of iinta, iinta’s staff, or iinta’s affiliates. For full disclosure statement, please visit our Disclosure Page. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 6

HAVE YOU GOT THE POWER?

PENNY FORD By Jennifer J. Lacelle All Photos Provided by Penny Ford

For many people, thoughts of being a performer generally goes one of two ways. Either people absolutely have a passion for it, or they positively dread the idea of standing before a crowd. When it came to Penny Ford, she knew at a very young age that she was destined to be a singer. The urge, passion and desire to be a singer was so intense that she remembers thinking, “if I don’t do this, I’m going to die.” Anyone with a burning desire, a need that fills their body, mind and soul, can relate to the sentiment. It’s human nature to bring forth dreams and passions, manifesting them into reality. The trick has always been to overcome the obstacles, intrinsic and external, in order to become what one is meant to be. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 7

Music was simply in Ford’s blood. Her mother, Carolyn Ford-Griffith, was an artist with King Records while her father, Gene Redd, Sr., was a producer and executive for the same company. Neither wanted to marry, and they never did, but what FordGriffith did want was a record deal. Ford notes that her father was considerably older than her mother and says, “somewhere out of that whole thing was me.” Ford was raised by her grandparents in Cincinnati, Ohio, which also happened to be near a gospel church. She had been taking piano lessons for a little while and vaguely recalls being interested in music. But it was the sound emanating from the church that called to her. “They would open the doors in the summer the most beautiful music would be coming out,” Ford says, her face and eyes lighting up with the memory. She smiles, hands raising in the air as she listens, mentally, to the sound that drew her in as a youngster. “I got closer and closer until I joined.” The choir gave Ford what she had been seeking in her life: acceptance and validation. She recalls needing people to like her, and says she was always very hurt when kids didn’t want to play with her to a point she

was physically affected by the rejection. She now laughs about it, noting how conceited it is to expect everybody to like you. There were two things she learned, as a child, from a therapist that she still uses in her every day life. One: not everyone is going to like you. That’s just the way the world is. There are so many different kinds of people in the world that it’s impossible to be liked by everyone. Two: why should everyone like you? It isn’t an inherit right to be liked by everyone you meet. However, the thrill of performing provided her both of those outlets. When she sang, everyone clapped. So, at the age of 10, when she realized she had the gift of singing, Ford began to also realize that she would become a performer. It was around the age of 14, however, that her desire for this career path really sunk in. She would stay in her room singing into a hairbrush in front of the mirror. While most people can probably relate to that — who hasn’t used a hairbrush for a microphone, be honest — Ford says she had a general disinterest in activities other teenagers were into.

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“My friends were Chaka Khan records, my other records — vinyl records — 8-tracks and cassette tapes,” Ford says. “Those were my friends. I was in my room, by myself, I didn’t want anybody to see me, I was just into that. That’s when I knew I had to do this or I will die.”

surrender, laughing, before saying, “she knew there was nothing to stop me.”

Though, her grandmother had enough of the musical craze after raising Ford-Griffith, so she was always encouraging Ford to be a scholastic child. She says in those days, the Civil Rights era, parents were pushing and pressing for their children to receive top-notch education, and not be into dancing or singing avenues. While she was outstanding in her classes, the music industry was the only place Ford could see herself.

The push to become a musician was entirely intrinsic, no family encouraged her to take the spotlight. In fact, Ford says, despite coming from a family of musicians — her father actually produced most of James Brown’s music — she says, “none of them were around when I was growing up.”

“My grandmother, she just went…” Ford throws her hands up as if in

Singing in front of the mirror wasn’t the only activity Ford had at 14. She was also sitting in nightclubs, drinking a double Cognac, cigarette in hand, and singing her heart out to Billie Holiday songs.

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In those days, bars and clubs weren’t strictly checking IDs. As such, she had some older friends who managed to get her a few fake cards in case there was trouble. However, she says, everyone knew she wasn’t 21. “Everyone knew you had to be 21, but I sang so well they let me in,” Ford says. “I was this little kid in clubs, and they’d ask, ‘what you doing here?’ I’m here to sing.” Ford would also compete for money at these establishments, noting the idea was based on a 1970s television program, The Gong Show. It is comparable to the ever-popular American Idol program that sprung up in 2002. The biggest difference is that the older show would bang a massive gong if a contestant couldn’t sing. Every club had their own version, but the winning singer would walk away with a good $50 US. Fast forward to 16 years old and she’s in Japan, singing at one of the most prestigious clubs in Tokyo, the Mugen, for three months. When they were headed back to Ohio there was a layover in Los Angeles, and she decided to stay.

I told them [the band] I’m going to visit a cousin,” Ford chuckles, there was no cousin, before continuing, “the next time I went home I had a record deal.”

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Ford attributes Hollywood with much of her actual growth into an adult. At that time, she didn’t know she needed to have a resume, demo and headshot when approaching record companies. Instead, Ford would walk in the doors, tell them she could sing and ask who she needed to speak with.

In short, artists have a unique ability to evoke a sense a strength other people don’t always possess, but artists can also be just as vulnerable.

Spending time on the mean streets of Hollywood certainly opened her eyes to the big, wide world. Being a kid from Cincinnati, Ford was somewhat sheltered from the big pool of sharks in Hollywood, and she recalls thinking, “whoa!”

Eventually, she found her way to Motown Records. There happened to be a small bar and café on the downstairs floor, and that’s where she met two nephews of Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. The young men brought her to their aunt, Anna “Gordy” Gaye, wife of musical legend Marvin Gaye, who decided to hire Ford as a demo singer and writer.

She wasn’t accustomed to seeing people passed out, half-naked, on the street from drugs or alcohol. Ford often found herself stepping over these people just to get on stages and sing. Ford also says she saw a great number of childhood trauma manifesting in the people around her. “I saw a lot of things that drive people to become great artists,” says Ford. “What drives them is pain and trauma and things they’re trying to escape and overcome.” Despite the initial shock, Ford was sure to keep her face neutral to what she was witnessing. This was especially impactful when she realized her idolized artists really were just people, like everyone else.

“People go ‘you’re such a super star,’ but then you see them in the corner [alone],” Ford says. “I learned a lot. I grew up, essentially, in Hollywood.”

Because she was singing demos, her musical chops hit the ceiling fan and flew into the airwaves as she could record with a voice comparable to Gladys Knight or Aretha Franklin, and Ford says, “it helped sell the song.” After some time, however, she realized that they wouldn’t sign her as an artist — which meant trying other avenues. One day, walking up the street, she saw a group of men in front of a studio and began talking to them before realizing they were The Gap Band.

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The trio of brothers had risen to fame in the 1970s and ‘80s. Ford went to them everyday and chatted them up until finally someone allowed her to sing! She was brought to the president of the company, but he didn’t believe she could really play seven instruments. Despite that disbelief, Ford was invited to play and perform. Naturally, she agreed, but when the time came only herself and the engineer showed up to the recording session. The engineer, as it turns out, could play bass. Thus, the two jammed out and completed four songs by the end of the day. The company decided to hire Ford as a writer, but it wouldn’t be until later on that she was sitting in the studio, writing a song and singing the demo track that the company realized her true potential. Finally! She was signed as an artist with Total Experience Records!

It took her a year and half to complete her first album. Though, that was in part because Ford was still a minor. The contract wasn’t valid because she hadn’t yet turned 18, which the company discovered after the fact, so they had her spend a little longer working on the material. She signed a new contract when she came of age, and the album was released in 1984. Ford didn’t know her father very well, but she had mailed him letters and pictures of herself in studio. Knowing she would be in New York for a week, as part of the release promotion, she wanted to call him and tell him she had finally made it! Ford had hoped to meet him and show him how much she had accomplished. However, there would be no luck as when she did call, Ford was told he had been murdered. There wasn’t much time to grieve, however she says,

The release of the record was something that helped me get through that, and the fact that I didn’t know him very well helped.” IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 12

Ford hadn’t realized that releasing an album included such a heavy business aspect in marketing. She had been focusing on the music and having fun with it, but when it came to promoting the album, they were in radio stations selling actual products, and she hadn’t expected it. “I didn’t realize the business part, which was my detriment at the end of the day.” The company kept her busy on the promotional tour to a point that she wasn’t sure if she really felt anything, saying it was all a “blur because it was happening so fast.”

Though, it was also frustrating as the company wouldn’t pay their employees and artists regularly. She says that struggling people do some of their best work, and that was the reason for withholding funds. Despite all of this, she sparked the rest of her career. If there were a major highlight during this promotional tour it was being able to meet the family she had never known. Family that she now spends regular time with. For Parts 2 & 3 Visit www.iinta.ca

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OAKRIDGE BOYS

ETERNAL LEGENDS By Jennifer J. Lacelle

All Photos Provided by the Oak Ridge Boys

It’s no secret that the Oak Ridge Boys (ORB) — previously the Oak Ridge Quartet — have a long-standing history in the music business, starting with humble beginnings in “The Secret City.”

Historic Starts In autumn of 1942, three years into World War II, Colonel Leslie Groves selected 60,000 acres of land just outside the quiet town of Knoxville, Tennessee — the same day he was promoted to Brigadier General. This plot of territory would become a place that assisted with developing the atomic bomb. Groves was overseeing the Manhattan Project, an American development and research venture that studied nuclear weaponry.

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Oak Ridge became home to three uranium enrichment plants as well as a production reactor. It was nicknamed Secret City because the government didn’t want to attract spies. Hence, there was a lack of information presented to the general public, and workers at the facilities. According to an oral history from residents, they had little to no idea what was really going on. Some have reported only being told it was for the war effort and no more. Which, in the grand scheme of things, was likely wise on the military’s part. The original members of the Oak Ridge Quartet created the group in Knoxville and their primary styles were country and gospel. They began performing regularly at the Grand Ole Opry (which was founded in 1925) in the mid-forties. By the time the middle of the 1950s arrived, the group was being featured in Time Magazine as one of the country’s top gospel bands.

Within six years the next pair of singers, Richard Sterban (1972) and Joe Bonsall (1973) were officially members. This impressive collective has been performing together ever since! The decision didn’t come easy for Sterban though. At the time he received a call to sing bass with the Oak Ridge Boys (ORB), he was performing with world-renowned singer, Elvis — who has been one of the biggest musical sensations to ever hit the industry. “His tour was the biggest tour in the business,” Sterban says. “To be a part of that was very exciting, personally. I have great memories.” It was Golden who gave Sterban a call and asked about joining the ORB in 1972. Because he was already at the top of the world, and a fan of the ORB, it was a difficult choice to make.

Forming the New Squad Over 30 members came and went by the late 1960s, and saw more than 40 releases by the end of 1973. William Lee Golden joined in 1965, and a year later Duane Allen became a member.

I felt like they had a great deal of potential,” he says of the ORB.

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People questioned his decision to leave the King, but he says it felt right in his heart to make the move. Five years after the shift in paths, Elvis passed away (1977). It’s been 49 years since Sterban became a member so it’s pretty fair to say it was the right call. The four of them have had a wonderful career together and are still going strong. Each one brought a unique aspect to the table as they joined, with the sounds gradually shifting but not departing from the original music very much. Sterban says they have preserved the “four-sound harmony of the Oak Ridge Boys.”

Squad Goals In the 49 years they’ve been performing together, the ORB has received dozens of awards and certifications for their music. In 1978 they earned their first number one hit, I’ll be True To You. However, it was their single, Elvira, that really put them on the map. They received a Grammy Award and double platinum certification upon that release. It came out on March 17, 1981 and is still one of their top requested, and well known, songs 40 years later.

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From the years 1977 to 1992 they garnered nine Gold, two Platinum and one Double Platinum Certifications split between 12 album releases. There have been 27 organizations, groups and associations that have given them awards for their outstanding performances, music and careers since 1978. Many of these organizations provided awards on more than one occasion, totalling 61 various honours. However, that isn’t the end of the list as it doesn’t include Gospel and International awards. In the Gospel category, there are at least six associations and 19 awards. Internationally, they have received five awards.

“So many great things have happened to all four of us,” says Sterban of their long-running careers. “I grew up wanting to sing with the best group in the world. Arguably, I think I may have achieved that.” In 2011, while performing at the Grand Ole Opry, Jimmy Dickens (a country singer and songwriter) walked on stage dressed as Golden with a giant, fake beard, dark sunglasses and a cowboy hat. They joked that he looked like he could be one of them and Sterban recalls him saying, “I think I’m gonna be, because I think you’re about to be the newest members of Opry.” As he tells the story, Sterban chuckles before smiling and says, "None of us were expecting that, I could see tears in all our eyes.” The Opry is considered the home of country music and has been showcasing artists for nearly a century! It first became famous in 1925 during the first ever show, “The WSM Barn Dance.”

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It’s now a staple and made Nashville the main place for country artists to come together and perform, helping spurn massive jumps in the musical careers of upcoming artists. The Opry is also one of the main tourist destinations in the state of Tennessee, and their stage has seen artists like Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney, Bill Murray and Pharrell Williams. The Country Hall of Fame also inducted the ORB (2015). Sterban recalls being asked by their manager, Jim Halsey, to head toward the change rooms before going to the buses after a concert at the Opry. He explains they needed to have a short meeting, and when they arrived, the CEO of the Country Music Association, Sarah Trahern, was waiting for them. She informed the group that they were about to be inducted into the Country Hall of Fame. Sterban says they were all shocked and very emotional when they found out, noting it’s difficult to find the words to describe their feelings in that moment. Once again, tears were in their eyes upon the news as they exchanged surprised glances with one another. They always had a goal to perhaps be good enough performers to be inducted, but they didn’t know it would actually happen.

It’s a tremendous honour,” he says. “Now if you walk in, you see our faces with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton… to be a part of that family, it’s so great.”

Performances Pre-COVID, the band was playing 150 shows per year, entertaining and uplifting people across America. With the country, and world, completely shut down the past year and a half due to the pandemic, it was a rough patch for the music industry. Sterban says they miss being able to perform for their fans and doing what they love. Because the group works together in such a cohesive unit, all bringing different pieces to the table, simply being a part of their “brotherhood” is something special and they’ve continued to come out of such hardships together. “We’ve learned to respect that difference and become the very best of friends,” says Sterban of all their experiences.

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It’s a very special thing that we can get on the bus, travel together, and make music and help people together.”

It’s only recently, the beginning of summer 2021, that they’ve been able to perform live again. Sterban says they walked on stage for the first time in over a year and saw a house full of people, and describes the feeling as simply great. He notes that they have played for empty seats in the past and it’s truly helped them realize, and remember, the important place in their hearts for fans. Though, he says they’ve mostly missed the feedback and response from their fans. As restrictions begin lifting, the ORB is preparing to perform for more audiences and they’re excited to get back at it.

Highlights They have been able to perform in every state in America and many places across Europe. Though pinning down a favourite location isn’t so easy. Sterban says anywhere they feel welcome is where they want to play. “Wherever people are willing to spend their hard-earned money to come and see the Oak Ridge Boys, that’s where we want to play,” he says. “We’re fortunate people cheer and applaud; they make us feel welcome.”

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Though, he does recall a very special moment for the group when they were invited to play at the congressional barbeque at the Whitehouse by President Ronald Reagan. The barbeque is a place where all political sides put their differences down at the entrance and simply enjoy the company of one another as well as the music. During the group’s sound check, Vice President George Bush, approached and told them he wouldn’t be able to attend their concert that evening. However, he was quite the fan and requested a few songs on the spot. The ORB obliged and asked which ones he would enjoy hearing, at which point they realized he truly was a fan as he began listing songs that were “deep cuts.” Deep cuts are tracks that aren’t usually played on the radio and often overlooked by audiences in general. It exemplified Bush’s claim as a fan by requesting these. Sterban says they performed a miniconcert for him and ended up establishing a long-lasting friendship with him. They were honoured to perform his favourite song, Amazing Grace, at his funeral in 2018.

Giving Back Because they’ve been so blessed in their careers, they have taken on the responsibility to share their success with others. The ORB has a long history of charity work for organizations such as Feed the Children, Boy Scouts of America, Save the Children, and Compassion International (there are many more). “We’ve been involved with just about any charity that comes along,” says Sterban, noting that they try to work with those that genuinely assist people. They also want to help upcoming artists as they’re able, the way Johnny Cash or Kenny Rogers uplifted them when they were struggling. Sterban says many people helped them get to where they are and it’s their turn to offer a lending hand whenever they can. Furthermore, Sterban states that every single one of them were raised to know right and wrong, and will continue to help people for as long as the Lord “allows us good health.”

The Music Industry As time progresses, so does everything else. Changes in the music industry haven’t stopped, though probably the biggest difference is the technology.

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Sterban says in the days he recorded with Elvis, as example, the King would hold a mic and move about the recording studio as if he were performing. He also notes that the sound of music has also changed somewhat, mentioning that autotune is now quite common. Which, he notes, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “I look at the shows,” he says. “I understand why we don’t really fit in there any longer. I’m not begrudging the young artists, they made it bigger and better, that’s a good thing. When that happens, it makes it better for us… They’ve taken the bar and raised it higher.” But, as for how the industry hasn’t changed, he says it’s that “hit song.” There is simply no substitute for a track that’s going to alter the course of someone’s career. Good music is essential to keeping a career strong, and the importance of a good, strong single cannot be underrated. “That was the way when we came on, before we came on and still today,” he says.

Front Porch Singin’ Released June 11, 2021 is their latest album, Front Porch Singin’ which features some older gospel, new renditions, and entirely brand-new tracks written for them.

Dave Cobb, Nashville’s hottest producer, heard the group live and saw the portion of their Christmas show where they gather in rocking chairs and discuss what the season means to them. Sterban says it’s a very “down to earth” segment of the show, and Cobb had the brilliant idea to capture the vibe in an album, which he pitched to them afterward. Of course, they couldn’t actually do rocking chairs in front of a fireplace on a porch… but they could produce the feeling. “Working with him is a great pleasure,” Sterban says, calling him a “master” at looking at old music and transforming it, bringing them back to life. The album is a compilation of old gospel and country songs, new songs and one of their favourite warm-up songs. The latter hadn’t been planned as upon arrival to the studio one day, Cobb asked them what song they would sing to warm up before a show. Allen began singing and the others joined in. Cobb told them that was it and had them move to the microphones and record. “We had no idea we were going to do that,” Sterban chuckles.

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The Oak Ridge Boys’ goal is, and always has been, to provide their audience with positive, uplifting songs. Their latest album is no exception.

Sterban believes the most important thing is that almost every song delivers a message of positivity, inspiration and healing — the kind of legacy they want to be remembered for.

The world is in desperate need of compassion and uplifting in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic.

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SANNIE CARLSON AKA WHIGFIELD By Jennifer J. Lacelle

All Photos Provided by Sannie Carlson A melody echoes through the air, dancing with the wind and rippling through time, as the music makes its way around the globe and eventually into the history books. Whigfield, Sannie Carlson, found her place in the Guinness Book of Records for being the first debut singer to reach #1 in the UK Singles Chart (1994); selling over 1-million

copies of Saturday Night as she became an overnight sensation across the world.

Shape of the World Carlson’s father was a civil engineer and he obtained a job out in West Africa along the Ivory Coast when she was six years old. The whole family ended up moving and the world changed before their eyes.

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The Danish school system was much freer, which was very different from the French schools Carlson and her brother were now attending. “The school days were so long,” Carlson says. “I mean, really long!” Due to her father’s job, they moved every 2-3 years and this meant seeing different regions and countries in Africa. She remembers learning a number of languages, getting to see the way other people live and taking it all in like a “sponge.” She also comes from a rather musical family; her father was in a country and jazz band and her mother was a trumpet player. When she was four, her grandpa — a violinist — built her one to play as he thought it was a good idea to learn instruments. However, Carlson was more interested in singing and melodies.

“I would change the melody of whatever I was listening to,” she chuckles.

“I think when you’re a child, if you’re lucky enough to have parents that listen to their kids and let them do what makes them happy, you’ll play throughout your life. You’re doing what you love.” She also says she was lucky to have a great deal of love and affection from her family growing up. But things aren’t always as easy in life as we would like to them to be. Carlson lost her mother at only 14 years old and recalls becoming constantly “very angry.” Being a teenage girl is hard enough with hormones raging and she recalls questioning if life was any good and decided life sucked. “This happens to other people,” she remembers thinking. At that point, she and her brother were sent off to boarding school, where she remained for two years. Afterward, she struggled deciding what her next steps were and needed to attend post-secondary. Having always been creative, into music and knowing several languages, she considered becoming an interpreter instead of a musician. However, within six months of business classes she was bored. “I called my dad and said this isn’t what I want my future to be like,” Carlson explains. “He said, do what makes you happy.”

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Funny enough, her thoughts were, how can I make money with music? In her family, there was a belief that making money off music wasn’t possible or real. He suggested becoming a fashion designer, so she gave it a chance.

Surprise, Surprise Carlson signed up for the Smirnoff Fashion Awards, an international fashion design competition that is run by students, in Copenhagen in 1991. She created a futuristic wedding dress and obtained a number of headlines for the design. It gave her enough confidence to head on over to Italy and show people her skills. She went to multiple fashion houses to show them her drawings and books. Carlson was asked for her measurements and became a model. It paid well and let her find other jobs. It was by total chance that Carlson stepped into the music industry. She was working as a model by day and PR in various clubs at night where she just so happened to meet a DJ. As they were talking, she said she didn’t think she could support herself in music so he invited her to meet his producer. It took a few days but she went to meet the producer, Larry Pignagnoli.

She listened to some demos and was asked to perform. Within 15 seconds he told her to stop and Carlson thought, “Shit! This is not good…” While Pignagnoli said she wasn’t the best singer, her sound was a little different (which can be good in the music industry — unique stands out). So, they asked her to do a few demos over the next little while and eventually a working relationship was formed. When Saturday Night’s demo hit her ears she recalls thinking it was very different, but they recorded it anyway. It took several months for a very small label, which used to be a record store, in Spain to pick up the single.

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However, the adoring fans completed the name of the city for her. Carlson was still modeling at this point, on top of traveling for the concerts, so Carlson found herself working 24/7. Eventually, she couldn’t handle the stress and dropped from modeling to focus solely on music.

A DJ in Madrid heard the song and began playing it at his regular Saturday gig and the song blew up over the airways! An aerobics teacher got a hold of the song and created a dance, sort of like the macarena, for it and the general public’s interest grew stronger. Carlson’s song was surged to #1 in Spain for 13-14 weeks. “I remember the first time I had to perform it [live],” she laughs. “I nearly pooped my pants.” She was so nervous that she forgot the name of the city. Pignagnoli suggested writing the name down on her palm but she sweat through the ink and only the first name of the city was legible. She managed to say the first part but not the second.

Soon she received a call from BBC in London, after a show in Portugal, where they informed her Saturday Night had flown to #1 in the UK, putting her in the Guinness Book of Records. She began travelling the world at this point and flew on that path for a number of years, releasing single after single with multiple small labels.

That was madness, complete madness,” chuckles Carlson. She was welcome to take a holiday but chose to continue this road because they didn’t know how long the hype would last. By the late 1990s, she had released a couple albums, but they were selling fewer and performing less shows so she decided it was time to take that vacation.

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The Path Unseen While on a Christmas Holiday visiting her father, she rekindled a romance with a childhood sweetheart and became pregnant, so she decided to take a longer break. She changed her lifestyle entirely over the next several months. Unfortunately, she gave birth prematurely and her daughter didn’t survive beyond two days. Instead of “going crazy,” she thought that her time would be better spent working. Her manager organized a small tour in the UK and began slowly releasing singles. However, they couldn’t get that momentum back. “You know, when you’re away, in an instant you’re gone,” explains Carlson. “Everything had to be almost like a press release.”

Instead of continuing to make music, she decided to try the other side of the business and began producing until something came along. In 2012, Carlson released another album in two versions: pop and electronic. But she says nothing happened on its release so she took another break and moved to Milan, where she met her current boyfriend (also a producer). The discussion of revamping Whigfield came up and she tried to rebrand using her real name, but people continued to put the puzzle pieces together and question of her age. “It’s not easy to try and reinvent yourself,” she says. But, eight years later (2020) she released a new single called Suga and it reached #1 in the UK’s dance charts. She didn’t realize the release would happen during lockdown but it still reached the pinnacle of the charts on a “white” label and no name. When she re-released it under her name, Whigfield, it soared to #1 again! This is when she began doing live shows from her living room. While she’s back to touring in 2021, she says depending how things turn with COVID, she might have to go back to her living room performances.

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Radiating Love & Positivity Carlson was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder (which is now controlled with medication) in 2015. She finally visited a psychiatrist because she knew something was off, but didn’t know what was happening to her as some days would be fine and others should shift dramatically. She didn’t visit a professional sooner because it felt like a taboo topic, but she’s happy she finally went. “I want people to talk about it, to come out of your shells,” she says. “There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s a disease, and if there’s something wrong you can fix it. Maybe that’s why I’m so creative?” Carlson believes in remaining positive and bright in her daily life and social media as she interacts with her posts and fans, removing the negative ones to keep the space

safe and clean for everybody who interacts. “We need positivity,” she says. “We all have different problems… some can’t reach the end of the month with money or don’t have a job, but you have to give yourself some love.” Another way Carlson remains so bright is through her sports (she’s an avid runner), good eating habits and simply enjoying life itself. She mentions a butterfly in your garden as a small example of a tiny joy someone can find in life. “If you’re looking for problems… it must be very stressful.” Sannie Carlson, Whigfield, is truly as bright, cheery and radiant as the bubbly music she delivers to her fans. Her latest single is complete but she’s holding onto it a little longer, however, she promises, “It will be worth the wait!”

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MARK QUASHIE THE MAD STUNTMAN LIKES TO "MOVE IT" By Jennifer J. Lacelle All Photos Provided by Mark Quashie

Do you… like to move it, move it? Mark, The Mad Stuntman, Quashie sure does! Ever since he was a kid he’s been on the move for better and greater things! Quashie wrote and sang the smash hit I Like to Move It alongside Erick Morillo (who passed away in 2020). The anthem, released in 1994, is still a power-tripping song around the world, and made its way onto the big screen with commercials and movies like Saving Silverman, The Master of Disguise, and most prominently the 2005 children’s movie: Madagascar (and the subsequent sequels).

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Making a Move In 1978 the United States welcomed Quashie without knowing the sensation he would become! Quashie spent the first decade of his life in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to the US with his mother, Vera Austin Cox, with the help of her sister, Leta Ramautar. It was a big family with 12 siblings and Quashie was the third youngest. He spent the first couple years in Crown Heights, Brooklyn where he studied in elementary school. Quashie comments that he needed to repeat grade six because he didn’t pay attention in classes (he passed the next year).

It wasn’t a good feeling being left back,” he says. After that, Quashie made his way to Flatbush, Brooklyn on Woodruff Avenue (between Flatbush and Ocean Avenue) where they lived for a couple more years. Around 12-14 years old, they moved one block away to an apartment complex: 33 Lennox Road, second floor, unit 2A. This is where he met Colin Powell, who lived on the first floor in unit 1B.

Powell had a small DJ setup and practiced the musical chanting and rapping from his previous home of Jamaica. Quashie says this is how he got into music, though Powell never pursued a career in the industry, by experimenting with familiar and new sounds. Quashie had grown up with the sounds of Soca music in Trinidad and Tobago, where it originated, in the 1970s. This genre can be defined as African and East Indian, and AfroCaribbean, rhythms containing synthetic and upbeat sounds, almost like attending a festival or carnival. Other countries — Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados, Bahama, Belize, United States, Guyana and Dominica — began incorporating their traditional music into it and it turned into an international frenzy. Quashie was also listening to a number of Reggae artists at the time, like Bob Marley, Bounty Killer and Shadow Rank (to name but a few), who influenced the youth’s own ideas and quietly nudged him to pursue it. As he grew up, Quashie would hang out with different friends in the neighbourhood and describes getting fancy haircuts with the flat top at a local barbershop. This is one of the places Quashie would also sell some home-cooked meals for extra money.

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However, it wouldn’t be until 26 years old that Quashie would meet El General, a Panamanian Reggae artist, at that old barber shop. General told him that he knew a guy who Quashie could work with, but he’d have to give him a call in New Jersey. Of course, cellphones didn’t sit in pockets in those days so Quashie would have needed to spend $2 (US) on a payphone to give the guy a call. He recalls thinking there were other things he could spend that money on rather than a phone call, because that was a lot of money!

He says he always had a love for cooking and baking, so it was a good way to make an income at the time.

Growing Up “We were sharp dudes,” Quashie grins. By the time he was 16 years old, he and friends were “lady-killers” and would walk up and down the neighbourhood looking for girls to flirt with. They would hang-out, and on occasion be playing dominoes outdoors, and he’d see girls passing by and always think he needed to write songs about them.

“I didn’t call right away,” he says. “About a week later, he comes back and he says, did you call Erick? I was like, no… I didn’t get the chance. You gotta call him little boy, he’s a producer, he’s gonna produce you. So, I finally called him.” This is when Quashie met Morillo, who had a recording room in his mother’s basement. When Quashie arrived at the house he heard dance music for the first time. He wanted to do Reggae music, but thought it might work combining the two styles. So, into the booth he went and started to sing and rap.

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Now, this was around the time Present Reagan was voted in, so Quashie was singing about the nowformer President and Gaddafi. Morillo said he enjoyed the sound, but to swap out the lyrics. He also made a point of saying that any style of music can go “mad” if given the chance and tools. “It was amazing how Erick would make music while I was singing, rapping and writing,” Quashie says. “That’s how it [career] got started for me.”

I Like to Move it Quashie remembers being called back into the studio by Morillo to record a new track. When he arrived, they ended up just working on hook words. But, Quashie wanted to add verses to the track. As they were working on this, Morillo asked him what he enjoyed doing in Flatbush and the answer for Quashie was pretty easy: move it.

“What’s that word… eyyrya? Rawr? I was like… what are you talking about? I didn’t say no eyyrya! Oh – it’s eyeliner,” he chuckles. “I was just saying it in a different form.” He says he had a topic and was sticking to it, and it was that women are beautiful just the way they are (with or without make-up). He notes that many people don’t actually know what the song’s about, but says it’s actually a women’s anthem. Quashie and Morillo released the album Move It and within short order, that track (I Like to Move It) turned from an underground song to a global sensation, selling over 3million copies within months of it’s release. Morillo also received a call from England asking them to go perform at least 22 shows over in the UK and while they didn’t quite believe it was happening to them, they headed out.

Morillo told him to keep repeating it and then Morillo himself and another singer jumped in do the echo of the two words. Then Quashie started adding the other words, but they didn’t quite understand what he was saying at the time and he had to explain what he was saying, which Quashie heartily laughs about, mimicking the entire back and forth affair. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 33

Family & Friends Quashie says his family, especially his mother, was very supportive of his choice to pursue music. He says even his mom called him by his performer’s name, Stuntman. “They let me do whatever I wanted to,” Quashie laughs. “I was staying out of trouble, my mom loved it.” But Quashie says that even if his mother was less supportive he would have still decided to pursue music because he loves it. Before meeting Morillo, he worked at a movie theatre and a restaurant and would simply sing everywhere. The desire to be famous and to sing was strong, “but I had to make money.”

Morillo and Quashie eventually had differences of opinion that lead them to part and there was a bit of a break on Quashie’s side. In 2017, The Mad Stuntman Unleashed album came out and since then, he’s released multiple singles and is now co-producing as well as writing and singing. His latest music is co-created with numerous established and up and coming artists, including his son (performing name of Snatch), being featured. Most of Quashie’s songs have a deep theme or topic, for example, one of his latest called Dancing in the Rain is about a bad relationship and the three stages that can follow. Starting off strong, the song discusses the risks of mental health (suicide) before moving to another stage where you’ve freed yourself and are fighting to have a healthy life again. The third, and final stage, is when you know you’ve moved on and are able to find true happiness with yourself and your partner. For his latest stunt, he’s bringing in his first co-artist, Colin Powell to the recording studio.

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He’s also launching a new single, planned to be released in the third week of January 2022, so be sure to include listening to it on your News Years Resolution. While there are too many people to mention directly, Quashie listed dozens of friends, family members and co-workers who he truly has thanks for in helping him get to where he is and continue to pursue what he loves. He makes special note of his mother (Vera - deceased), aunt (Leta), Erick Morillo, his fans, and the group of dancers they initially worked with, of whom he says shows couldn’t have happened without.

A Quick Note on Christmas Quashie believes the holidays are about family and being together, especially during the pandemic, and he shared some of his favourite past and present foods to enjoy over the season. For a traditional Trinidad and Tobago feast this Christmas, make yourself a tasty glass of Sorrel or Mordi and pair it with Sweet Bread (almost like a fruitcake, but better). Quashie strongly suggests glazing it in a whisked mixture of dark Bacardi Rum, Sweet Wine, and essence of vanilla, which you would put over the top and sides then sprinkle with sugar. For the meal, try out their traditional tasty curry chicken, roasted ham and jerk pork! IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 35

CULTURE FREE SPEECH & READING NOOK 01: THE WORLD IS PASSING ME BY 02: CELEBRATING INDIGENOUS CREATORS 03: CRYPTO-CURRENCIES: WTH? *The views and opinions contained within subjects, content, information, data and imagery does not necessarily reflect those of iinta, iinta’s staff, or iinta’s affiliates. This article serves as a general topic, as researched and does not necessarily reflect the thoughts/feelings/beliefs of any Indigenous cultures in Turtle Island/North America or country. For full disclosure statement, please visit our Disclosure Page. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 36

THE WORLD IS...

PASSING ME BY By Fred Lazar I used to joke that the older I got, the less I understood. However, I have discovered during the past few years that this is no longer a joke. While I have many examples to demonstrate this, let me refer to just four. Once my wife and I got our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and the Canadian Government changed the absurd quarantine rules, we booked a flight to California to visit our children whom we haven’t seen face-to-face in over 19 months. The three-day hotel quarantine requirement that kept us from travelling never did make any sense. It only was introduced in February of this year, and most likely to appease the majority of Canadians who were envious of a few other Canadians who had the audacity to go south for a vacation. I never realized that most Canadians were selfish and jealous. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 37

If the rule did not make sense before February, why was it implemented at all? Many Canadians who travelled south discovered that if they flew to a US border city and took a taxi to the nearest border and walked across, they would be exempt from the three-day hotel quarantine rule, which applied only to travellers who arrived in Canada by air. So, other than for political reasons, why was this rule implemented in the first place? Of course, there is also the absurdity that the US-Canada border has been shut since March 2020 for nonessential travel. But this rule seems to apply only to travel by land and sea, not to travel by air. Again, why was this rule ever implemented? Now to travel to the US, we were informed by the airline that we needed to take a Covid test three days prior to our flight and of course have a negative result. The test cost each of us $200. I only mention the price because the tests we were required to take in the US three days before our return flight cost us nothing, and the test we had to take when we arrived at the airport also cost us nothing. Why did we have to pay for the test in Canada? Did the cost cross-subsidize the test when we arrived back? Were contributions made to the Liberal Party in power? Or was this just intended to deter travel?

The pre-departure test supposedly is mandated by the CDC in the US. We were asked for our results before we were allowed through security. Interestingly, the US customs and immigration agent at the airport made no such request. Why? Are Canadian airports bearing the costs for checking test results on behalf of the US? If so, why?

Coming Home In the US we had to get another test three days prior to our departure back to Canada. The stress of hoping the results would be available in time was enormous. The long-term health consequences of being subject to this stress far outweigh the minimal risks we faced from Covid since we had both vaccines. Did the Canadian Government make any allowances for the possibility that the test results might not be available in time? Walgreen did not provide any test results over the weekend. CVS did. But neither chain seemed to be aware of the Canadian Government requirement. Why hasn’t the Canadian Government made companies who provide these tests aware of the rules? Oh yes, I forgot that I am talking about the current Canadian Government, and they do not seem to be capable of doing anything right.

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Upon our return, we had to wait about 40 minutes to disembark since the immigration hall was overflowing. The airline allowed only 50 passengers off at a time. I felt sorry for the other passengers who likely had to wait an hour or more after us. When we got to the immigration hall, it was indeed overflowing — another 40-minute ordeal to get through. Why weren’t there more agents to handle the crowds? The government knows the number of passengers arriving each hour. Once we got our bags, we had to pick up kits to do the tests at home, with the guidance online of professionals. How much did all of this cost? Not that I am complaining, but why was there no charge? Supposedly, my wife and I had to self-isolate until we got the test results, one to three days. However, we did not do the tests until the following day and our samples were not picked up until the next day — two days after we arrived. The earliest we could expect results would have been four days after we arrived. Why put fully vaccinated travellers to all of this expense, stress and trouble? Unfortunately, I believe it is because most Canadians are stupid and want to discourage travel, and the government is only too happy to oblige, especially with an election coming soon.

Self-Isolation? A second example: diligently following the self-isolation guidelines after my trip, I went to my university, two days after I returned and before my test was picked up. This was my first trip in about one year. I had to check if there was any mail. I had to arrange well in advance to get into a couple of buildings. I went through the university process, required by my provincial government — even more incompetent than the federal government — and got approval. When I arrived at the scheduled time, I expected to have to go through some security screening process to make sure that I had a legitimate appointment. There was no one to be seen. I walked into the two buildings. Why did I need to go through any screening process?

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Across North America, we would only need a handful of schools. All the others could be shut down. Hence, why do we need all these schools and infrastructure when the pandemic has shown that students can be exploited with online classes?

Eyes to the Sky But it was distressing to see an almost empty campus. My university has 45,000 students, and few were visible. We have been operating online since March 2020. So, why do universities continue to invest hundreds, if not billions, of dollars in new buildings? Why do we need so many universities if we can teach students online? Why not create three tiers of universities, each one with very few operating facilities? For example, there can be the elite tier — Harvard, MIT, or Oxford for example. Everyone can enroll and pay exorbitant fees per course. But the passing rate at the elite tier might only be 20 per cent. Students would take their chances. There would be a middle tier — University of Toronto, University of Michigan, UCLA, etc. Everyone could enroll and pay less exorbitant fees, though the passing rate might be 50 per cent. Then there would be the third tier, with lower fees and a higher passing rate.

Next there is climate change. I am just beginning to do some serious research on this subject, but already I am confused. Why was the name for this movement changed from global warming to climate change, since climate change — whatever this means — depends on global warming? For that matter, what does climate change mean? Generally, theories predict certain expected outcomes. Then researchers test to see if the outcomes materialize in order to support the theory. But what are the predictions of climate change? How many more hurricanes and of what intensity should we expect each year over the next decade or two? How many more forest fires and intensity of fires should we expect? And so on. Without predictions that can be tested, climate change is a tautology – everything is climate change, and nothing is climate change.

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According to the UN climate change panel, the goal is to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. This begs several questions. What is the starting point — the pre-industrial time? What was the average global temperature in pre-industrial times? How do we know? What might have happened to global temperatures in the absence of industrialization? To answer the last question, we would need thousands of years of data on global temperatures; data that we do not have. Why does this matter? Because if we do not know what might have happened, how do we know whether current temperatures are above or below the long-term trend? Maybe industrialization has reduced global temperatures. How accurate were the original predictions of the global warming models — those developed 20 or 30 years ago? If the predictions were wrong, then why? How do we measure the volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? Is there a direct, continuous relation between global temperatures and the volume of

greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, or is it a step function relation? How do we measure temperatures around the world on a daily basis? Do we have observations for every city, town, village and remote location? Does it matter if we do not? I could go on…

Tiny Countries Finally, out of curiosity, I looked up how many small countries exist — countries that were members of the UN and had populations of less than 15 million. Why that number — just an arbitrary cut-off, and this is less than Canada’s current population. As an undergrad and grad student in Economics, I was taught the benefits of free trade and access to large markets. The European Union was created for two reasons. One was to create a domestic market equal in size to that of the US so that European companies could become more competitive. The other, which unfortunately is unlikely to happen, was to create a political union to prevent future wars among the member countries. Obviously, there are benefits for larger countries/regions. This, of course, raises the question: is there an optimal size for a country? I would suggest that India and China are too large to govern. But what is too small?

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To my amazement, there are 121 countries with populations less than 15 million, and there are 38 with populations of less than one million. The smallest country is Nauru with a population of 11,000. Why do these countries exist? Not all are poor. Fifteen have income per capita greater than Canada and there are some that have income per capita in excess of US$100,000 — Luxembourg (population 600,000), Monaco (population 39,000), and Liechtenstein (population 38,000). Other than as elite gated communities and possible tax havens, why do these three countries exist? Many of the small countries have been created during the past 30 years, as a result of the break-up of larger countries; for example, South

Sudan, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Slovakia, Croatia, Moldova, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Montenegro. Tribalism probably explains the creation of these countries, few of which are bastions of freedom and democracy. Is tribalism a good reason for a country to exist? South Sudan ranks as the least free of all countries in the world. Are any of the small countries that broke away from the USSR truly better off? In terms of human rights, freedom and income, none appear to be. In Canada, the province of Quebec has been threatening to separate from the rest of the country for the past 45 years. Scotland has been making the same threats in the UK.

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Someone recently spoke of the need to create a Pan-Africa movement to bring civility and prosperity to the continent, there are at least 27 small countries in Africa. Unless one can determine why they exist, trying to create a Pan-African movement will prove futile. While there is great potential for the continent of Africa, tribalism and kleptocracy and “civil” wars will prevent the continent from realizing the potential. Then there is the Caribbean and Central America. Again, I do not understand why the 17 small countries exist as separate entities? Other than sharing in the spoils of the drug trade, and driving many of their people out of the countries to try to get into the US, should Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador exist? Why isn’t there is a single country in Central America? The same can be asked for the Caribbean. All of these small countries have the same voting rights in the UN. Does this make any sense? As the GATT expanded membership, negotiating a new round of the GATT became more difficult and time consuming. We are now in year 20 of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, with no end in sight. Multilateralism has been replaced by bilateralism and regionalism. Are these good trends?

So, we shut down the world to deal with a health crisis that we did not understand. Nor did we consider the long-term economic, social and health consequences of the draconian measures introduced. We are threatened with draconian measures to deal with a crisis that might not even be a crisis.

Conclusion We demonstrated that students do not have to actually come to a lecture hall to learn anything in a university. I learned this a long time ago, when as an undergrad I attended fewer than 50 per cent of my lectures. In my sophomore year, when the entire grade in all courses was based on the final exam, I attended only 10 per cent of my lectures, and I still did very well. The only thing I remember from my high school chemistry course is that the more surface areas that exist, the greater the probability of a chemical reaction. Does this mean that with more countries, there is a greater chance for a war? Does the creation of more countries help the people and promote democracy? What am I missing? Help!

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CELEBRATING INDIGENOUS WOMEN CREATORS & INFULENCERS By Jennifer J. Lacelle

Artwork by Critically Acclaimed artist: Michael Cywink

October is Women’s History Month in Canada. As such, we’re celebrating women who have either made changes in the past, are making changes now or are gearing toward a future influencer. This article will focus on the First Nations women in North America beginning with some basic history, then heading into prominent historical features and through to current creators and influencers.

History It should be noted that the First Nations are distinct in their cultures, beliefs, spirituality and individuality. In many traditional First Nations cultures (including Métis and Inuit), women and men shared a balanced role of responsibilities. As example, in many tribes, women could decide who would be chief and could also remove him from power.

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They were also revered for being the ones responsible for delivering life and the upbringing of these children. Women were respected for their mental and spiritual strengths and men were respected for their physical and spiritual strength. Women also commonly had roles wherein they could implement decisions on resource use and allocation as well as territory. Some of these include political, religious or spiritual roles within their cultures, and allowing women to expand beyond a typical “gender role” that European cultures brought during colonizing.

Men and women also had their own bodily autonomy and were considered equals, both husband and wife expected to treat the other with kindness, honesty and respect. Furthermore, many of the oral traditions told down through the generations depict women as figureheads, as example, the earth is woman. When colonizers arrived and settled on these lands, First Nations societies were forced into radical change, shifting from a matrilineal society to a patriarchal one where women were left with few rights (like the European women).

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To make matters worse, the Indian Act (1876) dictated the “rights” of the Indigenous populations (but excluded the Métis and Inuit). This act severely impacted their individuality, traditions, spirituality and identity itself. Due to the act, any Indigenous people who earned a degree from a university would lose their status; and, women who married non-indigenous men would also lose their status. It wasn’t until an amendment in 1985 — nearly a century later — that women would be able to reclaim their status or not lose it in the first place. This doesn’t even scratch the surface of the Indian Act, and there is still a great deal of work to complete on behalf of all Indigenous, Métis and Inuit cultures and people. Reconciliation can only begin when people become unafraid to learn about the history, trauma, languages, cultures and traditions that have long been denied the people of Turtle Island (a name for the North American continent among some First Nations communities).

Leaders of Their Time Women have powerful voices and these First Nations ladies knew how to use theirs to the benefits of their people. Here are a few of note, but

there’s a short top list and a comprehensive list available for your perusal as well. Catherine Sutton Nahnebahwequay In 1860, she travelled to England to petition Queen Victoria over a land dispute near Owen Sound, Ontario. She ended up being successful and the Queen granted her ownership, though the Canadian government did not honour this decision. Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture She did a lot of firsts for a First Nations woman in colonial Canada. She travelled to the US to study nursing, because she could have lost her status in Canada. She became the first Indigenous woman from Canada to fight in the US Military (First World War). She was also the first Indigenous woman to become a registered nurse in Canada, and the first to vote in a Federal election in Canada. Mary Two-Axe Earley She was a human rights activist and provoked the 1985, Bill C-31 amendment to the Indian Act by fighting for her status as an Indigenous person and winning (1981).

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generations of North Americans can begin to see things from a different perspectives and understanding. Without further ado, here are some (of the many) current creators of note: Cherie Dimaline

Current Creators Representation in the media matters! Of the overall population in Canada only 4.9 per cent are Indigenous, while that number may seem small, keep in mind that’s still 1.67 million important people. The media has spent decades depicting three basic stereotypes for the Indigenous populations in Canada and the United States: Indian Princess, Noble Savage and Native Warrior. These stereotypes are perpetuated while simultaneously under-representing First Nations in general, often replacing First Nations characters with Caucasian actors. So much history and culture has been systematically lost. This means the accurate representation, with indepth characters, of Indigenous culture and peoples is even more crucial. Through proper representation in the forms of media people consume, the next

She has become a prominent Métis author, of fiction, and is a registered member of the Metis Nation of Ontario. She credits her grandmother, Edna Dusome, as being an inspiration and says many of the stories come from her in a way. Dimaline won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature and Kirkus Prize for Young People’s Literature on her 2017 book, The Marrow Thieves, which is in the works for a television series. She was also named Emerging Writer of the Year (2014) at the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Alethea Arnaquq-Baril She is a proud Inuk and an independent filmmaker based in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Her 2016 movie Angry Inuk earned her an award from Hot Docs Festival and imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (both for Audience Choice Award), and a third award at TIFF for People’s Choice. Her latest project, as a producer, was in 2018 with the film The Grizzlies.

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Her choice in projects reflect the ancestral values of the Inuit and spark conversation on a global scale. In 2016 she was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross (civilian). Sonya Ballantyne Of Swampy Cree and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ballantyne’s work focuses on indigenous women and girls stepping out of the traditional genres portrayed in film genres of horror, superheroes, fantasy and sci-fi. In 2015 she won Gimli Film Festival’s pitch competition and screened her film Crash Site. She has done numerous talks, including TedX and as a panelist at the San Diego Comic Con (2018), and workshops. Furthermore, Ballantyne has also published children’s books. Her overall goal is to change the world and pave the wave for future Indigenous creators, and this storyteller is changing the world one story at a time.

Tracey Deer This accomplished woman is a Mohawk filmmaker, showrunner, director and writer. She believes in discussing the power of diversity and works hard to inspire future generations. She’s more than a filmmaker, and she’s proven that by speaking at multiple events and places, including McGill University, Concordia University, Champlain College, York University, and others. While she’s created, or been a part of, several successful films and television shows her most notable is the film Beans. It’s about the Oka Crisis in the 1990s between government officials and the Kahnawake reserve in Quebec that lasted 78-days — a traumatic experience which she endured as a 12-year-old. As of this year (2021), she’s been nominated for best director and best first feature for the film, which she also wrote.

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COMING SOON THE TRADING POST A place within IINTA's Marketplace for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit creators to showcase their skills, sell their product, or find the tools they need to continue creating their masterpieces.

Artwork by Critically Acclaimed artist: Michael Cywink Available on www.iinta.ca

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CRYPTOCURRENCIES: WTH? By Fred Lazar According to Wikipedia, Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as opensource software in 2009. The system works without a central bank and supposedly without a single administrator. The transactions are verified by network nodes through the use of cryptography and recorded in a publicdistributed ledger called a blockchain. Is Bitcoin money, an asset or a combination of the two? What is the value of Bitcoin, the godfather of crypto-currencies? IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 50

As I write, Bitcoin is currently worth around $35,000. Is Bitcoin a bargain, or is it destined to become the 21st century’s version of Dutch tulip bulbs? Tulipmania, as it is commonly referred, is one of the world’s most famous market bubble and crashes. In Holland during the 1600s the tulip bulb rose to excessive amounts and could be traded for at least six times the average salary. The answer depends on whom you ask. According to CoinDesk Editor Ollie Leech, “Bitcoin is going to $1 million a coin… I don’t know when bitcoin will cross $1 million but it will likely be after 2025.” The basis for his optimism is the supposed scarcity of Bitcoins. Catherine Wood, 2020’s all-start stock picker, is also bullish on Bitcoin, although not quite as much as Leech. In a May 19 interview on Bloomberg TV, she said that she believes Bitcoin will reach a price of $500,000. Her optimism is based on some model her group developed.

Influencers In this age of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, where countless influencers have created careers persuading their gullible followers, to buy anything; it is not surprising that there are “influencers” for cryptocurrencies.

John Detrixhe (Quartz, February 24, 2021) commented on valuing Bitcoin: “A question that has long bedeviled bitcoin observers is how to value it. Lately the answer to its worth has been whatever influential people like Elon Musk and star stock picker Cathie Wood say it is.” Investment banks have been influencers for decades, hyping all types of companies and assets because of the fees at the end of the rainbow. Now many of these banks are getting on the bandwagon, offering cryptocurrencies to their clients. Among them are the poster children for the 2008 mortgage debacle and financial crisis – Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs. What could possibly go wrong? The hysteria and frenzy surrounding Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies is reminiscent of the Internet/Tech 1.0 bubble in the late 1990s. During that time, Henry Blodgett was a key influencer. Bill Mann, writing in the Motley Fool on November 24, 2004, described Blodgett’s role: “Blodget's name is synonymous with what amounted to a near larceny of billions of dollars of shareholder assets…Blodget's master wasn't the individual investor, it wasn't the soft science of security analysis, and it

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sure as hell wasn't "truth" -- it was his company's desire to attract more incredibly profitable investment banking business from Internet IPOs and secondary offerings. And for a time, Blodget was great at it…Henry Blodget got in trouble with the law because he wrote messages internally at Merrill Lynch decrying the fact that he had to say nice things about washed-up overvalued piles of dreck… for fear that he would anger his true audience: the investment bankers and institutional investors who needed to win the relative performance game…Henry Blodget didn't create the corrupt quid pro quo analyst-as-investmentbanking-marketer model, and he was in no way the only person to benefit from it. He was only its most recognizable face, the one for whom the fall from glory would be steepest, only because of the heights to which he had risen. The real mystery about Henry Blodget's career as an analyst, though, is not that he put out such misinformation and poorly reasoned analysis, but why people were so willing to be misinformed. He was paid millions of dollars not so much to provide crack stock analysis, but to serve as a cheerleader, and people lapped it up. They didn't want to be told what (a company) was worth, they wanted to be told that it was going to be substantially higher six months hence…Americans tend to laugh at people in less developed countries who believe in voodoo,

curses, and other superstitions, and yet in 1999 there should be no doubt that many of the participants in the largest stock market bubble in history believed in something that was completely unsupported by reality. For a short period of time, investors believed in the magic that was emanating from Henry Blodget's keyboard.”

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So how does one value Bitcoin or any other crypto-currency? To answer this question, we must first answer the question: what is Bitcoin? It is not money and likely never will serve as money. I base this conclusion on at least three arguments.

One: Expenditures The transaction costs for using Bitcoins, or any other cryptocurrency, will become increasingly more prohibitive. As the popularity of Bitcoin has increased dramatically, and a massive herd is trying to invest in Bitcoins, with a commensurate exponential increase in trades in Bitcoin, the existing blockchain either cannot keep up with the volume of transactions — opening the door for fraud and other problems — or requires ever increasing server capacity and electricity consumption. Someone has to make the investment. Whoever this might be will require compensation. This will be reflected in increasing transactions costs for the use of Bitcoin. Crypto-currency mining requires massive amounts of electricity to run the large computer server arrays needed to do the complex calculations required for cryptocurrency transactions, as well as for the air conditioning needed to cool these facilities.

According to a recent report by Cambridge University, mining Bitcoins uses around 121 terawatthours a year, which is larger than the total energy used by Argentina. UBS recently came out with a report that highlighted this environmental issue, one that will attract attention from ESG investors. The report noted: “Crypto mining and management can contribute to carbon emissions without improving living standards, given the computing power required…We are not convinced the growing cohort of sustainabilityoriented investors can reconcile these problems.” Exacerbating the problem are the increasing hedging costs for using Bitcoins to buy or sell anything. Hedging costs rise with the volatility of Bitcoin’s price — the exchange rate between a Bitcoin and some other currency, even another cryptocurrency. And Bitcoin’s price has become increasingly volatile.

Two: Laundering Laws The second argument is based on anti-money laundering regulations. Bitcoin serves to stroke the egos of anarchistic coders and serves the needs of money launderers and gamblers. For years, Bitcoin was the de facto currency of black markets on the so-called dark web. Near anonymous (when used properly), easy to store, and able to be

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transferred without an in-person interaction, Bitcoin was a natural fit for the “Amazon for drugs,” other illicit online black-market trading, and terrorism. For obvious reasons, anonymity is critical for the key players relying on crypto-currencies. The US Government was able to start breaking down the secrecy walls around Swiss financial institutions. This created a demand for new secretive banks and safe havens, and technologies for moving money around anonymously and beyond the reach of the US. It is not surprising therefore, that cryptocurrencies have become so popular. For crypto-currencies to become mainstream and start serving the role of money, they will have to be subject to regulations similar to those covering financial institutions and financial transactions. This, however, will greatly diminish the attractiveness and role of such currencies.

Governments loom large as major headwinds to the otherwise unregulated crypto sector. Marion LaBoure, a Deutsche Bank analyst, pointed out in a recent research note: “In the end, regulating cryptocurrencies is not that difficult. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the G7, and the G20 are all keeping a close eye on cryptocurrencies. And regulation is coming. The latter part of 2021 and early 2022 could be a turning point for cryptocurrencies around the world. Regulators have cryptocurrencies on their agenda as a key priority.” Indeed, regulation already has commenced. In 2017, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Coinbase must supply the IRS with identifying information on users who had more than $20,000 in annual transactions on its platform between 2013 and 2015. Coinbase did succeed in limiting the government’s initial request for information on all Coinbase users who made transactions from 2013 to 2015 to a smaller subset of high-value users. In May of this year, the Chinese Government set out its intent to crack down on digital assets and the U.S. Treasury Department said it planned to enforce anti-moneylaundering rules and request that crypto transactions of $10,000 be reported to the government.

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China banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions. It also warned investors against speculative crypto trading. The Chinese Government also appears to be prepared to crack down on Bitcoin mining. China is the world’s largest cryptocurrency mining location, accounting for 65 per cent of the Bitcoin hash rate, a unit of measure for the processing power used by the Bitcoin network to verify transactions and mine new tokens of the cryptocurrency, according to estimates by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. The Chinese Government, which has banned financial transactions of Bitcoin and other tokens since 2019, had turned a blind eye towards the cryptocurrency mining farms in Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Xinjiang and other mainland locations, until now.

the framework of existing 1099-INT forms that taxpayers currently use to report interest earned.

According to a new report from the US Treasury Department (May 20, 2021), the US Government wants to put new requirements in place that would make it easier to see how money is moving around, including digital currencies. The report notes that cryptocurrencies pose a “significant detection problem” and are used regularly by top earners who wish to evade taxes.

Three: Who Can You Trust?

The proposed changes would create new reporting requirements built on

Cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians would be required to report more information on the “gross inflows and outflows” of money moving through their accounts. Businesses would also be required to report cryptocurrency transactions above $10,000 under the new reporting requirements. Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer of Infrastructure Capital Advisors in New York has warned that “Investors are underestimating the regulatory risk of crypto as governments defend their lucrative monopolies over currency.” According to Hatfield, the possible imposition of transaction reporting requirements in the US could be the “tip of the iceberg” of potential Treasury rules on virtual currencies.

Finally, there is the trust factor. Trust is critical for financial markets to operate, and for currencies to be accepted as a medium of exchange. The Fed was able to resort to a blank check policy starting in the fourth quarter of 2008 because of the confidence people have in the Fed, the US dollar and the US Government. People might not like the US Government or its policies, but they continue to demand and

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hold US dollars. For a long time, US $20 bills were the favorite currency of the drug cartels. Can the same level of trust develop for Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency? Who are behind these currencies? Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? What assurances are there that the respective supplies of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies will be limited, or that very few new such currencies will be introduced? Can the miners be trusted to maintain the integrity of the blockchain? Where there is money to be made, fraudsters have a way of showing up. US currencies used to have the saying: “In God we trust.” Perhaps not, but at least people trusted in the Fed and the US Government. Will people trust unknown entities who have a God-like complex? Bitcoin will not be used for transactions — the know your customer rule and anti-money laundering laws and exorbitant transactions costs will prevent this. Elon Musk did an about turn on accepting Bitcoins for the purchase of Teslas because he recognized the potential legal problems.

What is Bitcoin Then? Bitcoin is not money! Bitcoin is an asset.

Students are taught how to value an asset in Finance 101 courses. Usually, there is some cashflow or at least an expectation of some future cashflow involved. But the formula and the resulting values are based on guesses. We see this all the time in corporate acquisitions. If the original price is rejected, change the assumptions to justify a higher bid. We see how absurd assumptions can be used to justify billion-dollar values for so-called unicorns. But there are no cashflows from Bitcoins. In the rarefied strata of the art world, the value of a piece of art is determined in part by its intrinsic value — the owner can display and see the art, impressing friends and others (ego plays an important part in valuing art) — and in part by guesses of what someone might offer in the future. The value of a piece of art also is driven by “influencers” — art dealers. Was the Mona Lisa the best work of da Vinci? Was it even the best piece of art created in the 16th century? These are subjective questions without definitive answers. But at least there is only one original Mona Lisa, unlike Bitcoins and all other cryptocurrencies. There is no intrinsic value in owning Bitcoins. They cannot be seen. They cannot be put on display. But are Bitcoins an asset that can hedge against rising levels of inflation?

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There are people who do not trust governments and their central banks. They believe that governments will try to confiscate as much wealth as possible through taxation and regulation. Can anyone say President Biden and the Progressives? They also believe that central banks will assist governments by allowing increasing rates of inflation to greatly debase the value of outstanding government debt. Modern Monetary Theory only reinforces these fears. Throughout history there have been countless examples where governments have debased the value of money and left creditors impoverished. Die-hard monetarists believe that everywhere inflation is solely a monetary phenomenon.

Even as most major central banks have demonstrated their independence from government during the past 35 years, monetarists are wary that this independence can quickly disappear. The actions of the Federal Reserve since 2008 and the explosion of its balance sheet and the similar behavior of the European Central Bank since 2010, have created increasing uncertainty in the minds of monetarists about the independence of these two important central banks and the future course for inflation. There have been predictions of runaway inflation in the US and around the world since 2009. Ben Holland, Enda Curran, Vivien Lou Chen and Kyoungwha Kim writing

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for Bloomberg (“The Great Inflation Debate is Heating up with Trillions at Stake,” August 25, 2020) pointed out: “There’s hardly any question that carries greater weight in economics right now, or divides the financial world more sharply, than whether inflation is on the way back. One camp is convinced that the noexpense-spared fight against Covid19 has put developed economies on course for rising prices on a scale they haven’t seen in decades. The other one says the virus is exacerbating the conditions of the past dozen years or so -- when deflation, rather than overheating, has been the big threat.” The run-up in the price of gold from about US$300 an ounce to US$1,900 an ounce between 2003 and 2015 was driven by the fears of people who did not trust governments and their central banks. Gold was promoted as a safe haven against the inevitable collapse of major economies and accelerating rates of inflation. There is only so much gold available (1) and the quantity cannot be manipulated by any government or central bank. Even today, there are many who are predicting that the price of gold will double in the near future as inflation rates begin to rise. (1) What advocates for gold forget is that most of the gold extracted from the ground is still around. The existing stock of gold far exceeds the annual new supplies that enter the market.

Bitcoin has been promoted for the same reasons as gold has been promoted. It is not surprising that it made its appearance in 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. Bitcoin is beyond the control of governments and central banks, at least for the time being. The supply is limited, theoretically. Instead of some yellow metallic object as a store of value, a hedge against the mismanagement by central banks and the corruption of governments, there is now a digital replacement. Unlike gold that could be confiscated by governments, the supposed security behind Bitcoin might prevent confiscation. Moreover, Bitcoin is much more mobile than gold. Yet, various journalists, economists, and bankers have voiced concerns that Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. In 2013, Eric Posner, a law professor at the University of Chicago, stated that “a real Ponzi scheme takes fraud; bitcoin, by contrast, seems more like a collective delusion.” In July 2017, Howard Marks, a co-founder of Oaktree Capital, referred to Bitcoin as a pyramid scheme. On 12 September 2017, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, called Bitcoin a "fraud" and said he would fire anyone in his firm caught trading it. Interestingly, Dimon is now considering creating products to enable his clients to trade in cryptocurrencies.

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No reason to forego a fee generating opportunity even if you believe the asset is a fraud. There are many strategies for hedging against rising levels of inflation. The increasing transaction costs for Bitcoins diminish the attractiveness of using Bitcoins as a hedge. Furthermore, despite the explosion in the Federal reserve’s balance sheet, there are few signs that the inflation rate will begin to rise, despite the upward blip in May. But as long as there is money to be made in trying to avoid regulations and the long arms of the US Government and its agencies, creative people will continue to look for alternatives to work around the regulatory system. There will always be a demand, whether for Bitcoin or the next generation of digital currencies. And there will also be a demand for new ways to gamble. Wall Street is always prepared to facilitate and encourage gambling. To quote P. T. Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

the question? It all depends on how many greater fools are out there, and whether the next trendy fad comes along before Bitcoin reaches such levels and crashes. Anything can be an asset. I am surprised that no one has thought of petrifying the poop of Queen Elizabeth’s Corgis. There would be some scarcity value, celebrity value and value as art. Or how much might the ashes of any of the Kardashians be worth? I conclude with this observation by Marion LaBoure: “As fashion mogul Karl Lagerfeld pointed out, ‘Trendy is the last stage before tacky.’ What’s true for glamour and style might also be true for bitcoin. Just as a ‘fashion faux pas’ can happen suddenly, we just received proof that digital currencies can also quickly become passé.” Can anyone say: non-fungible tokens?

Does it have Value? Thus, we arrive at an answer to the question: how to value Bitcoin. The value of Bitcoin is determined by the greater fool theory. As long as there is someone willing to offer a higher price, the value of Bitcoin might continue to rise. Is a price of $500,000 or even $1 million out of IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 59

ZEST LEGENDS OF THE GAME 01: THEO FLEURY 02: DIN THOMAS 03: RON DUGUAY 04: JARED GORDON *The views and opinions contained within subjects, content, information, data and imagery does not necessarily reflect those of iinta, iinta’s staff, or iinta’s affiliates. For full disclosure statement, please visit our Disclosure Page. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 60

THEO FLEURY THE HEALTH OF THE MATTER

By Jennifer J. Lacelle Some Photos provided by Theo Fleury

Photo via: www.thestar.com

There are going to be experiences, good and bad, that shape people and recreate them into entirely different people. These defining moments leave lasting impressions emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally. It isn’t addiction that leads to mental illness, it’s the other way around. A concept that Theo Fleury, former NHL star, says is often confused and that the cause of mental illness is trauma. Fleury is now in the position to advocate on behalf of victims, though he had to take his own path filled with trauma and learning before arriving where he is today.

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NHL Career There are numerous highlights throughout Fleury’s career in the NHL, including winning the Stanley Cup in the 1988-89 season. His short stature, five-foot-six-inches, was a hindrance to being drafted or taken seriously as a competitive player in the initial stages. In the 1987 draft he was the 166th pick in the 8th round. The draft number doesn’t mean much to him, saying that being drafted sooner or later doesn’t determine the value or skill of the player. As example, he’s 61st overall for all-time scoring in the NHL. “My whole life, people looked at my height,” Fleury says. “That was always the question or statement… he’s too small, he’s never going to make it.” He worked throughout his childhood and adolescence for the opportunity to play professionally. When the chance finally arrived, he “kicked down the front door,” proved himself and played in the NHL for the next 15 years. Looking back over the span of his career, he says initially he didn’t realize just how important and prestigious winning the Stanley Cup was. He chuckles, saying men’s brains aren’t fully developed until the

age of 30 (or thereabouts), so achieving great success at a young age didn’t click. Fleury also assumed there would be numerous chances to achieve such greatness again, and again. However, he only managed to get close to the SC once more when he was playing in Colorado.

Obviously, now that I’m getting older, I see the significance of what happened and appreciate it way, way more than I probably did then,” he says. Getting into the NHL was more difficult than actually playing in the league. He says that everything he went through in his childhood was preparation for the game. Fleury is also a “big subscriber” to the theory of 10,000 hours. Essentially, as the idea goes, it takes at least 10,000 hours of intense practice at a particular skill to become a master. Once this has been achieved, you are on the path to potential fame, fortune, and success.

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Fleury was also able to participate in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Though, he was included in the very first time NHL players were permitted to participate in the Olympics (1998), making him one of the first in history. The team in 1998 finished in fourth place, but he says they learned quite a bit from the experience. So, when the 2002 competition came about, they took that knowledge and arrived prepared. He believes it was likely the greatest Canadian hockey team ever assembled, and they took a “magical” journey for two weeks and ultimately won gold.

The Darker Path Fleury was sexually abused by his junior coach, the trauma of which caused mental illness that haunted him, prompting Fleury to find unhealthy coping mechanisms. Statistically, he points out that one in four people have endured some form of sexual assault or abuse before they’ve reached 18 years old. Fleury adds that the world’s conglomerate of child and human trafficking racks in over $150-billion each year. This means the sex-trade is making millions more than a legitimate business would. In Canada, it is estimated only 5 per cent of women who experience sexual assault have police reports

completed. Furthermore, women in Canada who do go through the process of completing a rape kit may be left empty-handed as the rape kit remains unprocessed unless they choose to press charges against their assailant. If someone’s local hospital has a rape kit (not all do), the victims go through processing (usually 2-6 hours), which can sometimes be just as invasive as the assault, before deciding their next steps. Even if the victim does decide to press charges, not all the evidence collected is transferred to authorities. Fleury points out that trauma is a commonality throughout the world, regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, financial status, etc. But it can lead people down roads darker than they could have imagined.

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Photo via https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/50277.html

“We tend to gravitate to substances as a coping mechanism to deal with it,” Fleury says, calling trauma a “perpetual cycle.” He became sober in 2005, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he decided to continue searching for different ways to improve his life as he hadn’t seen advances in other aspects.

Stigma According to professionals, a mental illness can be defined as a health condition that involves the change of emotions, thoughts and behaviour. These could be separate or combined.

However, society doesn’t openly discuss mental illness, trauma or addiction, sweeping them under the rug instead. It’s easier to pretend it doesn’t exist since emotional pain and mental illness aren’t visible. However, Fleury believes it’s one of the most important discussions people can have. It’s not easy to step into the ‘limelight,’ so to speak, because of the stigma surrounding trauma and mental illness. Society tends to tell people that vulnerability is weakness, however, it’s quite the opposite. Fleury calls it the “warrior mentality.”

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Judgment takes zero courage, but coming forward, speaking up and being vulnerable takes courage. Which means those who do speak should be celebrated not belittled.

Vulnerability is truth, and not everybody wants to hear the truth.” Judgment takes zero courage, but coming forward, speaking up and being vulnerable takes courage. Which means those who do speak should be celebrated not belittled. “Vulnerability is truth, and not everybody wants to hear the truth.” He also notes that a majority of trauma happens within a family environment. Statistically, most abusers know their victims (family, friends, partners). As it happens, people don’t want to upset the delicate balance of family so they remain quiet. But that’s where judgment, statements of disbelief and stigma can pour in, enabling guilt and “guilt kills.” “You don’t one day wake up and have a mental illness or addiction,” Fleury says. “We have a systemic trauma problem.”

Indigenous Spirituality It took Fleury about three and a half years to complete his first book, Playing with Fire. It reveals what happened to him in an honest, raw account of his trauma. While it hadn’t been hard to put pen to paper once he made the decision to tell his story, he hadn’t expected to become the face of sexual abuse survivors. He says, “After the book came out, I got run over by people.” That’s when Fleury realized it was trauma people were experiencing and most people carry it with them. The release brought about numerous speaking opportunities, many of which were within the Indigenous communities. As of 2021, he’s visited 420 First Nations communities out of the 630 in Canada.

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He discovered there was a great deal of abuse and trauma these people were trying to deal with, and says they were seeking him out to act as a leader, stating he’s a very proud Métis. Upon visiting these communities, Fleury discovered a small hub still practicing their traditional Indigenous spirituality. It piqued his interest so he began speaking with spiritual leaders, elders and medicine men. This prompted him to delve deeper and begin utilizing the provided tools in his own life, beginning to see a difference with longer periods of peace and joy. He was eventually invited to a Sweat Lodge, a very sacred ceremony, and had one of his greatest spiritual experiences. Fleury describes the process in which addiction recovery programs run; the first three steps are about spirituality, or finding what’s greater than yourself which will assist you in returning to “sanity.” He was enraptured after that and began regularly participating in Sweat Lodges, finding himself becoming extraordinarily healthier, referring to Indigenous spirituality as “untapped resources of healing.” “The neat thing is in that particular program, you get to pick your own god, whatever that looks like to you."

Helping Society Heal Within the First Nations culture, people can choose how they look at spirituality. Fleury describes it as being a holistic approach to healing with plant-based medicine, community and relationships. “I love it,” he says. “It’s been one of the biggest catalysts of taking me to the next level of healing.” Fleury believes one of the biggest keys to the healing process is simply listening. If someone tells you their story, you don’t need to have an answer or solution. Nine times out of ten, you only need to hear them out. “I just have to listen, that’s all they want,” Fleury says of his work assisting abuse survivors. “Then guiding them through their own journey, and being there with a very compassionate and empathetic heart.” People who experience trauma usually exhibit anger and resentment. As it pertains to anger, it’s a coping mechanism that helps people survive and deal with stressful situations. The reaction of rage is a way of shifting focus, allowing them to feel like they can endure. “This is an individual journey,” says Fleury. “Everybody is different, but it comes down to three core ideas:

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physical, emotional, and spiritual cores. I need to nurture those three things, when I do that there’s less drama, chaos…”

Genetics According to recent research, it appears that trauma can be passed down through the generations. It’s not a mutation of genes, however it is epigenetic, which means it changes the physical structure of DNA and the way the cell reads a gene. The term Generational Trauma is now being coined as studies progress. While anyone is susceptible to it, the most pronounced cases appear to be in groups who historically continually experience trauma of some form. Fleury says that looking through the genetic code, trauma can be passed along for at least seven generations. However, there is a bright side: people can heal. “You get to the point where you gotta make that ultimate choice,” he says. “Am I gonna live or am I gonna die?” When examining the world as a whole, it’s clear to see every single person has experienced some kind of traumatic situation. He uses political and country leaders as an example of

leading causes for “traumatic environments” over the centuries. To exemplify that, a couple of the largest groups of people who have experienced Historical Trauma (another area within the study) includes Holocaust survivors, Indigenous Communities, forced immigrants and slaves. Trying to help is the biggest thing, along with convincing people it’s possible to heal, and much of it depends on how hard someone is willing to work. There’s an “art of conversation” to healing, and that’s why he wrote his second book with Kim Barthel.

Conversations with Rattlesnakes It’s a four-year conversation between two friends, Barthel and Fleury, that evolved to a book on healing, compassion and empathy. Fleury doesn’t believe in coincidence; he strongly believes everything happens for a reason. Despite going through terrible abuse, he can now look back to see everything from a different perspective. He feels it’s a very spiritual way of looking at his circumstances. “Going through it at the time was very, very difficult,” he says. “But now I have done a lot of healing.”

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By doing so, one must deal with the emotions that bubble to the surface. Even if the feeling can’t be identified, it’s still present and waiting for you. The more people shut off their brain, which is constantly lying, the more people are capable of listening to their heart (or gut feeling). This is why ancient practices such as meditation, mindfulness and yoga are making massive comebacks. These activities allow people to shut their minds off and simply allow themselves to exist in the present. The more someone practices, the easier it gets. It’s vital to view his experiences in such a way so he can more easily move ahead. Fleury believes it was presented to him as a gift from the universe to help him build resilience.

If you’re comfortable, you’re not going to change,” says Fleury of taking the challenge to sit in one's "shit."

“When we’re traumatized, our nervous system gets frayed and out of whack,” Fleury says. “When we’re in high stress, we release cortisol, and it starts to do damage to the nervous system. How we deal with that is using these mindful holistic practices.” Fleury Enterprises offers people the opportunity to heal themselves through open conversations, practices, and offering people the security and safety they need in order to allow vulnerability and begin the healing process.

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"LIFE IS CREATIVITY" UFC FIGHTER & COACH: DIN THOMAS By Jennifer J. Lacelle Photos provided by Din Thomas

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they must make a decision. Fight… or flight. Being a small person, coming in at a height of 5’9” and one of his last weigh-ins at 144-lbs, Din Thomas decided that rather than fear his safety he would become one of the fighters he’d watched on television growing up. “When I saw the first UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championships] in 1993, I was like, ‘I gotta do this,’” Thomas says before adding, “I didn’t wanna get beat up in the street.” It wasn’t just his own safety that was a concern though, he wanted to be able to protect himself and those around him should the need ever arise. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 69

The Beginnings The UFC was still fairly young when he began training for fights, even if it had been around for a few years at that point, so it wasn’t the colossal corporation it is now. As such, there weren’t classes available for up and coming (or current) fighters. Although, Thomas believes his first martial art it would be BJJ if he had to pick, saying, “I think I’m a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu person in my core.” However, in the beginning there were no classes to attend. Rather, he would watch videos and learn how to mimic the movements. On top of that, he was attending seminars and clinics to improve his abilities all the while fighting in the ring — which meant training was always about prepping for competition.

It was so rare at the time that you almost had to be self-taught.”

Learning, on the other hand, is a scholastic process wherein one learns the correct way of doing things. Instead, he needed to learn what was correct or not based on trial and error. After about five years in the game, there were finally instructors available to fighters. Thomas’ game was already different but this allowed him to understand the reason behind why particular techniques or strikes worked and why they didn’t. The first time he stepped into the ring was “surreal” and Thomas describes the experience as if it wasn’t himself. Because he had spent his teen years watching the fights, he envisioned himself in the body of the men he watched battle each other. Because it didn’t feel as though it were him, he wasn’t nervous or afraid, it was more like being in a dream.

Thomas defines the difference between training and learning because the two are not one and the same.

“It wasn’t until I lost my first fight that it became real for me,” says Thomas as the realizations struck. “Wait, this is actually me and I’m vulnerable and if I’m not careful then I’m going to lose this fight.”

When it comes to training, he compares it to preparing for battle, and needing to stay in pique physical condition.

Over the course of his fighting career, he won 26 matches and lost nine, which was between 1998 and 2014 (which culminates to 16 years).

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He doesn’t recall a moment where it was a conscious decision to make the UFC a full-time career, saying he always figured some day he would have to find himself a real profession. So, he attended university while fighting because education would be helpful to him when finally leaving the fight-game. “It was kinda like, okay, let’s have fun while we can,” he says. “I never actualized me doing this as a job.”

Transformation Because it was trial and error as the sport developed, Thomas recalls rules being implemented as they progressed. Despite the difficulty, he says it was actually a blessing looking back at everything. The transition from fringe sport to a main attraction astonished him. He truly realized what it had become when he was watching a fight from ESPN while on an airplane. It was that moment of acknowledgement he says they were always striving to obtain. Back in 1998 hardly a soul knew or cared about the sport. But in today’s world it’s common to see on screens at bars/pubs, to sell out stadiums and see top fighters become celebrities and pull in wads of cash.

“I’m really proud to be involved in the sport and blessed to be involved at the level I’m at now,” Thomas says. “It’s a major blessing and it bring me great joy.” By the time he decided to retire (2014, officially, but his last fight occurred in 2013), he was operating a couple martial arts academies and thought he would simply fall back on those for income. However, it wasn’t enough for him as he needed more creative outlets.

Creativity Thomas now participates in many creative outlets, including shows for the UFC, a YouTube video blog call the Din Diaries and working on film sets.

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Thomas has been in a few movies and short films and says he wants to continue pursuing this avenue for the creativity and passion of acting he discovered while studying at university.

This outlet prompted him to attend another class (improvisation) and then another acting class and another. Thomas soon found himself immersed in the artistic world of performance.

“In my peak, I was still going to school,” he says. “I really thought I was going to be a teacher, teach gym class.”

His retirement from fighting prompted him to pursue more creative outlets because this expressive side still needed to be set loose — and performing is creative. While the entire Hollywood industry of film is a turn off to him, he plans to continue working in movies because the “art of acting” is a passion. “I don’t ever want to get to a point where I feel like I’m overwhelmed by the industry,” he says. Thomas intends to tell stories and create art on his own terms, up to and including, producing his own movies. His intention is to never “sell out a dollar for Hollywood.”

While studying, the opportunity to take an elective theatre class came up and he took it. This is when he realized the similarities between the two worlds. In both the ring and the stage there was an audience to perform before, the need to stand in the moment, to see his circumstances and decide what to do next.

While his background in fighting is beneficial to action movies, there’s a massive difference between the ring and the screen. Apart from the obvious difference that no one is actually taking a hit on set (or so we hope), in a true fight, all the motions are small because you don’t want your opponent to see what’s happening next. In a movie, the motions are big because the audience needs (and wants) to see what’s happening — even if that’s not realistic.

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Growth Even though he stopped coaching in 2019, except a couple of select fighters, there are three main things he looks for as a coach. 1.Decision making. He wants to see how well someone makes decisions based on the circumstances they find themselves in. 2. Perseverance. Are they capable of getting through the rough patches, the pain, and the difficulties? How easy does someone give up. If they give up easily, then it’s probably not the right sport for that person. 3.Fun. It's important to enjoy what you do (and that goes for everything).

So, if someone’s not able to have fun while participating in this sport then it’s likely not the best area for the potential fighter. He makes a point that not a single thing on that list is a physical attribute, saying he doesn’t much care about it because that can be developed. He wants a more cerebral approach to coaching his fighters over a physical one. “I like watching people grow,” Thomas says. “I like watching them grow to fill the shoes they want to fit. I like to see them achieve those goals, and set new goals and achieve those. That’s important. That’s what life is about. That’s probably my favourite part.”

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RON DUGUAY TWISTS & TURNS IN LIFE By Jennifer J. Lacelle June 4, 2021 Photos Provided by Ron Duguay

The saying “fifteen minutes of fame” is applicable to most people who hit the spotlight like a brilliant flash of light before flickering out like a sparkler at the end of the rod, leaving fans wondering: “what in the world happened to them?” This would not be the case for NHL player, Ron Duguay. He earned his claim to fame over the years, which he attributes to hard work, dedication and the consistent push

to do the best he can at whatever he decides to do. Duguay was born and raised in the township of Valley East, Ontario (which was amalgamated into the Greater City of Sudbury in 2001). The majority of Sudbury’s smaller community hubs have outdoor rinks accessible to their members. Having grown up in the Carol Richard Park area of Valley East, he had easy access to an outdoor rink.

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Duguay recalls beginning to attempt skating around three years old, like many children in Northern Ontario, and by the age of four it kind of resembled the sport. “You’re playing a little,” he chuckles. “Whatever looks like hockey.”

skipped Midget and Junior, with the Valley East team. As such, he was playing against men who were about 19 years old. He remembers playing the Manitoulin Island league where they would beat the islanders by 1618 goals and he would score 12 to 13 points.

This is where he learned to skate and play hockey until his first appearance at an indoor arena as a pre-teen. The Centennial Arena in Old Hanmer was opened in 1971, making it a new addition for hockey players in the area. This is where Duguay first experienced life in an arena, and it stuck with him. Each community was running their own team, Valley East included, which he describes as being closer to their version of an all-star team. He distinctly remembers the team colours, noting that he still has the jacket at home, were purple and yellow. “My dad was involved,” Duguay says, pulling the old memories forward. “He was my coach in bantam.” The age groups for designated categories were changed in 2002-03 by the Canadian Hockey Association. Bantam today encompasses the ages 13-14, but prior to that it was 1415 years old. When Duguay was bantam age, he was playing Junior B Hockey, having

“I knew I wanted to prove myself as good as the older guys,” he says, and attributes his dad to helping him make that happen. Since Duguay was consistently receiving trophies, and witnessing multiple successes with the teams he played for, there was an inkling in him that he was a little better than most of the other players.

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He notes that when young players are drafted to play in the OHL, that’s when they know for sure that they are as good as everyone else, and that builds further confidence. To exemplify his talent, Duguay was drafted to the Sudbury Wolves at only 16 years old. As another example of Northern Ontario talent, he mentions Dave Taylor, another hockey legend who was born in Levack, Ontario. The two initially played against each other in the NHL before playing as teammates with the LA Kings. Duguay’s life continued to evolve and change as he became more engrossed in the sport as a teenager. In the middle of grade ten he stopped attending school altogether to pursue hockey. At that point, he was so focused on hockey that he was almost never present in class. This led the principal of Hanmer High to approach Duguay’s younger brother and inform him that Duguay didn’t need to attend school anymore if he didn’t want to. When their parents were informed of this, he says they understood due to their own experience. His parents had obtained a grade six level of education because they needed to begin working. “So, I left school and started playing hockey as a job,” Duguay says.

“Doing it full time. I would play, then train, then practice.” He played with the Sudbury Wolves from 1973-77 before the NHL drafted him in 1977 to play with the New York Rangers. He was in the first round, 13th pick overall.

New York Rangers In the vocals of Liza Minelli, “Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today, I want to be a part of it… New York, New York.” Is it ironic the song was recorded the same year Duguay was drafted to play in the Big Apple for the big leagues? It was quite the change moving from the tiny, suburban mining town of Sudbury to the massive, sky-scraping city of New York. At that time, he says there were many sketchy, shady areas of the city where one had to “watch their backs.” What is now New York Time’s Square was a redlight district in those days. Furthermore, he says there was a great deal of mafia and police presence in Manhattan. Despite the sections of the city that required caution and a wary eye there were still many exciting aspects for Duguay.

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The entertainment lifestyle is a huge draw for people in New York, performers and non-performers alike. This was also at the same time the world’s most famous, and exclusive, disco club was open— Studio 54. Not only was Duguay playing with the New York Rangers, but his access to the club allowed him to meet many notable persons such as Farrah Fawcett, Cher, Andy Warhol and Steven Spielberg.

Warhol put Duguay on the cover of his magazine, Interview. Duguay says that once on the cover of Interview, you knew you “made it” regardless of profession. Then while having dinner with Spielberg, they discussed Duguay’s acting abilities as Spielberg was inclined to offer him the lead role in Raiders of the Lost Ark. While the role ultimately went to Harrison Ford, Duguay still found himself going from a noticeable player to a celebrity in his own right.

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I understood I wasn’t just playing hockey, but a form of entertaining and performing. I was a bit of a shy guy; I wasn’t the most outspoken.” The move to New York helped him break out of that shyness, though he was cautious the first couple years out there. Duguay attributes his excellent upbringing, good parents and friends, in providing him a solid foundation to understand what trouble was and how to avoid it.

He is an NHL legend in the Hall of Fame and had already claimed two Stanley Cups by the time Duguay entered the major league. Esposito, a Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, native was playing with the New York Rangers when Duguay was drafted. Esposito was the team’s Captain and he helped created a family-like atmosphere with the team. Furthermore, Dave Farrish had been drafted to the Rangers’ a year before Duguay. Since the two had played together with the Sudbury Wolves, Duguay already had a friend on the team, which made the shift easier for Duguay.

Thus, in his first year he stayed away from Manhattan and lived in Long Island where the practice rink was located. In his second year, he moved to West Chester before finally moving to Manhattan in his third year with the Rangers. He says it wasn’t until this stage of his life that he was comfortable and grown up enough to live in Manhattan itself, also noting the city shifted for the better every year. His transition over the first few years was made easier by the support of his mentor, and now long-time friend, Phil Esposito. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 79

“The team itself was very much like a family atmosphere,” he says. While he had an excellent time during this period, and brought out the best in him, he says it eventually came back to bite him since he became distracted and ended up being traded. In 1983 he went from playing with the New York Rangers to joining the Detroit Red Wings until he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1985-87. He briefly returned to the Rangers for 1986-88 before moving on to the Los Angeles Kings in the 1987-89 seasons. While Duguay never won the famed Stanley Cup, which places people in a different category—even separate from Hall of Famers—he did have a 40-goal season with the New York Rangers. Just before that season, he represented Canada in the Canada Cup in 1980. “It’s who you are as a team,” he explains. “I think team records override the personal records with the Stanley Cup.” Though Duguay says not winning the Stanley Cup brings up the question, if someone is such a good player, why didn’t your team win the cup? He says winning the Stanley Cup truly goes to the character of the player, leadership quality and “pulling guys with you.”

However, he says, “I experienced quite a bit other than the Stanley Cup.” Over the span of Duguay’s career, he had the opportunity to play with and against a number of Hall of Fame and Stanley Cup winners, including Wayne Gretzky and previously mentioned Phil Esposito. Duguay was also coached by Herb Brooks for two years; he was the head coach to the US Olympic hockey team that won gold in the 1980 game against the Soviet Union —a match which would come to be known as the Miracle on Ice. Despite not winning a Stanley Cup in his career, one of his personal highlights is playing against the Montreal Canadiens at the playoffs with the New York Rangers in 1979 (when he was only 22 years old). The Rangers came very close to winning that season, but the Canadiens kept their Stanley Cup streak, beating the Rangers 4-1. Duguay went to the playoffs seven times with the Rangers and 11 overall.

Leaving the NHL Duguay retired from the NHL in 1989 but stayed involved with hockey in other ways.

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In 2002 he joined the Jacksonville Barracudas in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL). While he intended to be a player, Duguay was approached midway through the season and informed by team management that they were planning on firing the current coach, asking Duguay to take over. He had less than two days to go from being a player to the team’s head coach, technically he began the next day. Duguay chuckles as he recalls setting the rules immediately, saying he can only imagine the comments from players after the meeting. He whipped them into shape and coached the rest of the reason, where he witnessed some of the results he sought. But he says the most important aspect was the respect the players had for him, saying, “they wanted to play for me.” At the end of the season Duguay was asked to continue coaching and he agreed on the terms that he could build his own team, which was granted. They won their championship his first full year of coaching, and he kept the position for another two seasons before calling it quits. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a coach,” he says of his time as a player. “I got to experience that.”

As a player, you can get over a bad game after a few hours, but as a coach the pressure is on 24/7. To be a coach is to live it, constantly ask what needs to be done differently, and how to teach and improve your players. He also says winning as a coach feels much greater than as a player. “You’re teaching,” Duguay says. “You’re trying to get every player a little better with every practice. You can pinpoint things… then you see the results when they’re on the ice. When you see it—your teachings on the ice—show up in a game, then you know you’ve made a difference.”

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How About Today? Duguay hadn’t developed a plan for retirement, since his focus had always been hockey, but he says he was simply meant for New York. The fame he garnered in the city at the beginning of his career might have gotten him traded due to his distractedness, but it certainly came back to assist him later in life. He was approached to work for the Madison Square Gardens Network as an analyst. He worked there from 2006-2018, and earned two Emmy’s during this time. Due to his shy nature, and lack of training in analytics, it took four years for Duguay to become truly comfortable in the position. However, he had a better idea of what to observe and discuss having now been a player and coach, saying, “that helped me be a better analyst.” After leaving MSG, he was approached by the New York Post in 2019 to host a hockey podcast. This brought him to a full 360 degrees! The company’s page six gossip column that liked to talk about him, which Duguay feels somewhat influenced his trade in 1983, is now employing him. The podcast, Up in the Blue Seats, is actually the 12th most popular, just behind Don Cherry.

Because Duguay has a strong New York Rangers following, that is what the show predominantly covers. However, it wasn’t just being a Rangers’ player, a hockey coach and an analyst that has continued to capture the public’s attention. Duguay is still active on the ice participating in various charity games. In 2009-10, Duguay also competed on the hit tv show, Battle of the Blades. The show pairs professional figure skaters with professional hockey players. A competitor’s chosen charity receives money based on their rankings in the competition. Duguay made it through half of that season. Pre-Covid, he was sometimes playing 75 games a year around the world at different events, including charity functions. Predominantly, these games would be played in Canada, Russia, Switzerland and the US.

What’s got me to where I am today is a foundation of working as hard as I could at what I was doing. Now I’m reaping the benefits.”

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FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE:

JARED GORDON By Jennifer J. Lacelle Photos of Jared provided by Jared Gordon

The UFC has a unique and interesting history, from its founding straight through becoming the one of the top grossing sports of the modern world. It was initially created in 1993 as a mixed martial arts association. It’s based off the ancient Greece Olympic event known as Pankration, which is dated around 648 BC. More recently in history — eight decades ago — is the Brazilian form of MMA called Vale Tudo (“anything goes”), which helped add interest to the sport. From there, the UFC became sanctioned in the USA and they haven’t stopped growing since.

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There are currently 1,189 athletes (male and female) signed to the UFC’s roster. Many of these athletes are making incredible income between fighting and commission from pay per view events, some of which are well into the millions.

Throughout high school, he was getting himself into trouble, being arrested more than once, partying often and taking drugs. Gordon says he was well-aware as a teenager that he’d become an addict, but at the time he didn’t care.

There are 12 weight divisions in the UFC; eight in the men’s category and four in the women. Among the lightweight division is Jared Gordon, a 33-year-old, 5’9” tall fighter nicknamed “flash.” Some might think MMA or the UFC is a bad road to go down because of the violence or injury, but sometimes it’s martial arts that saves people.

After graduating high school, he decided to find some sort of purpose in his life and found MMA (2007). It was how he kept himself from “sinking completely” by keeping him focused on something else, active and fit, and some measure of discipline. However, it was around the same time that he began taking pain killers and the addiction he was suffering took him off-course.

Drowning in Chaos Before even hitting double digits, Gordon was self-medicating to dull the pain that he was suffering. At nine years old, he began smoking weed after being sexually assaulted by a male camp counsellor.

I think that really changed my life permanently,” he says.

“When I was nineteen I started taking painkillers, which was my demise,” he says. “Eventually they don’t work anymore… I started taking heroin and going into harder drugs.” Gordon went to rehab at 21 and then again multiple times between 22-27. He was arrested several times during those years as well. Of course, overdosing on drugs is a possibility when taking drugs. Gordon says when someone is overdosing, they don’t realize it because they don’t feel it — or feel anything for that matter. He says if he was going to die from an overdose he wouldn’t have known.

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However, the scariest moment of his life was potentially facing 25-years to life in prison. Gordon spent a couple weeks in jail as he awaited the judge’s decision and recalls the fear riddling his mind and body. He says being conscious during that time and constantly worrying about the outcome was probably the scariest thing Gordon has experienced. “Then seeing the judge and wondering what was going to happen…” Gordon reminisces. The case did end up being dismissed and the relief was speechless. There were no charges in his record, no felony or misdemeanor either. Of course, during the years he was taking drugs and relapsing he was on and off in the fighting world. When taking drugs, the ability to focus for training or fighting isn’t there, so he would stop. Gordon had two years of sobriety in which he fought but then relapsed again. He says it was either one or the other but never simultaneous. “I think I had to hit my bottom for me to get sober,” Gordon says.

Sobriety & New Life At 27 years old, Gordon finally got himself sober and it is six years of sobriety as of December 2021. When he attended AA, he was told that finding as higher power, or a God, to rely on was an essential component to healing.

Which seems to be a common theme among those healing from trauma and addiction. Looking back to Theo Fleury, who found his way through healing — in part — using traditional First Nations spirituality. Alcoholics Anonymous uses a 12-step approach wherein the second step is to believe in a higher power. According to research, studies exploring the recovery to faith connection in the healing process has an 84% positivity factor. The psychobiological effects of believing in a higher power is another area of research that may indicate this belief acts as a substitute of the addiction due to the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathways formed. The act of prayer, meditation, experiencing early romantic love and drug abuse have a common link: activating those pathways and experiencing intense emotions. That in no ways discredits those who go through various forms of counselling and healing processes in which a higher power is discussed and discovered (or not).

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Gordon says a huge part of helping himself recover was finding God and knowing that’s who he can rely on when he simply can’t change or control situations in his life. Another massive impact in his recovery is the ability to help others who are suffering with addictions and struggles. “It makes me feel good,” says Gordon. If he could see and speak to his former self, Gordon says he would tell himself that he’s just going to have to learn it all the hard way. He believes it’s likely that without his experiences he would never have gotten sober.

Amateur, Pro, & UFC

I would just give myself a hug and say good luck.”

Now that he’s been sober for six years, he couldn’t possibly ask for a better life. He no longer has to look over his shoulder, wake up and seek a fix, or committing crimes. Gordon is finally financially stable, was married on October 29, 2021, and in a career he loves.

Fighting as an amateur and then going professional has a few differences. But primarily, it’s the guidelines set in place that change. The rules become more “vicious” stepping from the first level to the next, meaning it’s even more dangerous. Fighters also get paid, finally, as a professional. Fighters need to be fit, for obvious reasons, but there’s also a great deal of mental acuity required. Gordon describes it as playing a chess match with your opponent. The point is to win and you do that by figuring out the other fighter, not necessarily injuring them.

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“You gotta learn how to win.” Before signing to the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Gordon had 13 professional fights. He says stepping into the UFC’s ring brought an increase of anxiety and nervousness because you’re finally in the “grand stage” of an arena packed with hundreds to thousands of viewers. Not to mention being on television. “Every fight is the most important fight,” says Gordon. This is because every time a fighter has to go into the ring their career is on the line. If a fighter is winning, they’re doing well. But once a fighter begins losing a few in a row there’s a possibility of losing your contract in the UFC. Gordon typically trains three times a day, usually for an hour but

sometimes each session could go a little longer. On average, he says, his training is about 3-5 hours a day, six days a week. Training for fighters may change slightly depending on who the next opponent is because they have to figure out the challenger’s strengths and weaknesses. They need to see and understand what they, themselves, are good at. These different aspects of fighting are based of various metrics. It’s not about changing an entire routine, but the finding the details. The proudest moment for Gordon in his fighting career is definitely making his major debut in the UFC. He finally got to where he wanted, recognized his dream and achieved his goal. “It’s one thing to get into the UFC and it’s another thing to stay in the UFC, so winning my first UFC fight was a big deal,” he says. “That was almost five years ago, so still trucking.”

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ZEST AVIATION, ADVENTURE & SPECIAL FEATURES 01: UNSUNG HEROES: THANK YOU 02: RELEASED FROM BATTLE 03: ICELAND: THE LAND OF GIANTS 04: ICONS OF CANADIAN SKIES *The views and opinions contained within subjects, content, information, data and imagery does not necessarily reflect those of iinta, iinta’s staff, or iinta’s affiliates. For full disclosure statement, please visit our Disclosure Page. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 88

UNSUNG HEROES

Johnny May, and Inuk Bush Pilot. Photo from CBC News

THANK YOU TO OUR METIS, FIRST NATIONS AND INUIT PILOTS

I spent most of my life in the air or being a pilot for so many years. My history in aviation is not older than when men took to the skies to fight in the air. My grandfather (father of my father) was one of the first fighter pilots on the Eastern front — Russia. He was shot down, spun to the ground and survived to tell the story. In his photo (below) he is shown standing next to the crashed plane with his broken foot.

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However, being a Canadian Métis, I was curious to find out how many pilots who flew or who are still flying out there making their silent mark in our time. There are not many if one looks at the big picture. A large thank you is due to these individuals who have remained hidden in records and time. Particularly those whose military records did not reflect their heritage. Christmas is the season of giving, so the least Canadians can do is say an enormous thank you to all these courageous folks who put their lives on the line for Canada.

WWI When the first world war started, North American Indians were not drafted but 10,000 volunteered for duty. In Canada, 4,000 registered First Nations people signed up to fight, but thousands more (who no longer held status), the Inuit, and Métis also volunteered. At the end of the war, 50 medals of bravery were awarded to various Indigenous soldiers. However, prior to 1915, the Canadian government was unsure about allowing First Nations members to fight. It is said this was due to fear that the German army may not provide them the same courtesy as prisoners of war as other Canadian soldiers.

Only after the British requested countries recruit Indigenous people did the Canadian government begin actively pursuing this avenue, including going onto Reserves. In 1917, conscription was enacted and happened to include the First Nations communities — which was protested. So, the government created a limited exemption to overseas battles beginning January 1918. While it’s unclear what the precise number of First Nations soldiers is (in Canada), as there is no record of those without status, it’s speculated to be close to 6,000. Some historians, still digging for answers, suggest the number is much higher and approximate 35% of those with Status volunteered to fight, some records indicate it was about one third.

WWII Canada declared war in 1939 and began developing the economy and militia to support the endeavor. During the second world war, over 25,000 Native Americans volunteered. In Canada, there were 3,090 registered First Nations who fought along with thousands more un-registered, Métis and Inuit. Of course, the numbers aren’t accurate as some records indicate the registered First Nations soldiers

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were closer to 4,300 plus the prementioned who fought without recognition of their heritage.

The enemy couldn’t figure out what they were planning because of the unknown language. As for the fighter pilots extraordinaire during WWII there was Lieutenant Hiawatha Mohawk. He flew on the P-47 in the Italian theatre and scored twice (kills). Mohawk was one of the few who survived and continued to fly jet aircrafts with the military.

Ladies of WWII

Sourced from Wikipedia.

One of the highest ranked First Nations soldiers was Oliver Martin, a Mohawk from the Six Nations Grand River reserve. He received the rank of Brigadier, which was the highest rank for any First Nations member in the military during the war. It’s the fourth highest rank in the Canadian Military. On the aviation side, 30 DFC, Distinguish Flying Cross (which is the third-highest medal in aviation), were awarded. Then the Navajos Code-Talkers who made an impact during many raids of the Pacific campaign using their own language to communicate enemy maneuvers and positions to command.

Approximately 800 female First Nations joined the WACs (Women Army Corps). Some joined the Naval Reserves in the Emergency Services. In Canada, there was Mary Greyeyes Reid who was the first of the First Nations women to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces during WWII.

Mary Greyeyes, second from left. Sourced from Wikipedia.

So many have given their lives for our freedom. Today we have many Canadian Indigenous pilots flying all over our blue skies. There is one in particular that I would like to salute and introduce.

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He became a very well-known figure (a living legend) as being the first Inuk pilot in Eastern Canada. He is credited with saving the lives of many Inuit in search and rescue missions. He was also known for operating medivac airplane services to transport sick Inuit to health centres. He was inducted in the Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame.

Mr. Treskin next to his crashed plane. Provided by Michel Treskin.

His name is Johnny May, though commonly known as Inuk Bush Pilot (top photo). He was born in 1945 and was living in Kuujjuaq.

He got his licence in 1962 and never stopped flying and saving lives. May turned 76 recently and has logged over 40k hours, a typical flying career after 40 years will normally log 2025k hours. Johnny has surpassed everyone I know and still flying; he is an amazing individual! There are so many others who have left their mark in our short Canadian history. I invite you to read up on some whose exploits have been recorded and deemed extraordinary.

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SWITCH BROKER NETWORK IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 93

RELEASED FROM BATTLE THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

LIEUTENTANT COMMANDER MARK KELLER'S STORY By Jennifer J. Lacelle Personal photos provided by Mark Keller

There are a special group of people in society who step up to the plate and put their lives in danger to defend their family, home and country. Too many who complete this arduous journey return very different people and can often no longer fit society’s mold. In the United States, statistics report approximately 20-22 veterans commit suicide every day. That’s a minimum of 7,300 people each year. Homelessness is also prevalent in veterans, especially those whose relationships and marriages fall apart, and are unable to hold down jobs. Lieutenant Commander Mark Keller, a retired US Navy Naval Flight Officer, was almost another veteran who couldn’t escape the ghosts of war.

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Prior to mid-2021, if anyone were to ask Keller how he felt since retirement, it wouldn’t have been a good answer. If he had been asked if there was such a thing as God, he would have said no. If someone asked about his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, physical and mental health, he would have called himself a wreck…

The Beginning Keller was always the type to seek out an adrenaline rush, calling himself a thrill seeker. Even as a child he was into “anything going fast,” and includes BMX bikes, motorcycles, dirt bikes, downhill skiing and, “jumping off pretty much anything.” As he grew up, the need to thrill seek remained evident when he spent four years in the Air Force (1987-91) before leaving service and going to college. He now has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s Degree in National Security Policy. Through the grapevine, Keller learned some restrictions on eyesight requirements for US Navy pilot training had lowered so he decided to give it shot. Initially, he was rejected as one of his eyes didn’t pass the test. However, they chased him down to recruit him for a different position: a

Naval Flight Officer. He was officially commissioned in 1996 and remained in active service until 2012. Keller was one of the few people who obtained higher than normal amounts of combat time as he served in Kosovo (1999) and Iraq (1999 & 2001). He was also in the Indian Ocean during the 9/11 attacks (2001), which prompted them to head to Afghanistan. However, in 2005 one of the most tragic incidents of his career occurred. While working as a strike operations manager, which wasn’t new to him as he had the combat experience with laser deployed bombs as well as free fall bombs (from tactical aircrafts), Keller was advising the airwing commander on deploying these weapons. So, in 2005, the U.S. Military was chasing down Al Qaeda, hunting for their weapons caches, and completing precision strikes, some in areas with civilians. “The big thing is making sure the weapon goes where it’s supposed to because you don’t want to get innocent people,” Keller says. “I tried to make a case that we should use some [different] techniques.” He recalls persistently attempting to convince those in command to adjust a few tactics from the regular

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“boiler plate” plan out of concern for collateral damage. Keller makes strong note that they are a great men, warriors and human beings who stuck with what they believed was the right course of action. Within a couple months, with no alterations to strike protocols, he was a mission commander for a pair of F14D Tomcats with callsign “Blackcat 33.” A call about suspicious activity was reported by an Iraqi civilian, which prompted the team to sensor the area and it was determined a group of people were up to no good. He was asked to send off the weapon, but there was a small disagreement over how to deploy it.

Keller attempted to convince the pilot to deviate from the boiler pot plan slightly as a safety measure. However, they “deployed by the books.” The bomb did not reach the strike location and fell short, landing on an Iraqi police officer’s home and killing between 9-12 people inside. The rest of that deployment lead Keller to work “furiously” to convince those in command to deviate from their typical strike deployments. Eventually, they did change course but Keller was consumed with guilt over the incident. That guilt made it home with him.

Return “I came home depressed,” Keller says. “My marriage fell apart, my wife kicked me out, three months later, I’m 42, I’m diagnosed with prostate cancer…” However, those weren’t the only ailments Keller was suffering from. At the time he didn’t realize he was also going through PTSD. He describes getting into a toxic relationship which only triggered the anxiety more. It wouldn’t be until a year and a half of struggling through the Veterans Administration that he was finally able to see a practitioner but he IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 96

remembers the person being “drastically incompetent” and walking away.

It’s now been over a year since he stopped taking the medication (Dec. 2021).

After having a panic attack, a private doctor prescribed him Ativan, which he was to take four times a day. However, rather than assisting Keller in the healing process, he found it made the PTSD worse and eventually he began self-medicating (addiction).

He calls himself a former “raging case of PTSD,” with lots of anger, inability to focus, and having a cognitive deficit. Keller believes PTSD is not so much a disorder as a healthy body’s response to a traumatic event that later becomes an issue (the PTSD). For soldiers, returning to a normal paced lifestyle while cranked up to 110 per cent simply doesn’t compute.

I was not functioning,” he says.

It took some time but he returned to the doctor and told him what was happening only to be taken off, but says there was no consideration for withdrawal symptoms and dependency issues. Enduring nightmares, seizures and nearly dying, Keller spent seven months sitting in a darkened room with noise cancelling headphones just hoping to make it to the next day. A different physician prescribed him Valium and properly tapered him off the substance over two years.

“You can’t slow down from your combat mode,” Keller says. “I was driving like a maniac, like I was trying to survive… I was getting into fist fights, and I’m not a fist fight guy.” The body releases cortisol (the stress hormone) during times of great stress, which is meant to keep someone alive — the fight or flight instinct. So, when people are undergoing these traumas, the body is doing everything it can to keep them alive. This means forcing the person to operate, and remain razor sharp, at a high level of stress. Eventually, when doing this constantly, it becomes the new ‘normal’ but it’s super unhealthy. Especially when returning, or stepping into, a slower pace of life because that no longer feels normal.

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the organization Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS). It was founded by Marcus Capone, who had also gone through the procedure, and his wife Amber. What is the mysterious treatment? Neurogenesis using Ibogaine and 5MEO-DMT. Some clinics include sound meditation, nutrient and amino acid infusion, yoga, acupuncture, stem cells and a hyperbolic oxygen chamber.

Healing After nine-years of suffering in retirement, Keller heard about a plant-based treatment for PTSD from a friend, Matt Buckley, who was responsible for running the Top Gun Operations after his service in the Navy. Buckley was also suffering from PTSD and decided to try this “new” treatment with Marcus Luttrell (the Lone Survivor). When they returned from treatment, they did a podcast detailing the what occurred and how it’s already helped them. A third party called Keller and told him that maybe it would be beneficial to him as well. He listened to the podcast detailing their experiences and decided to call up

In short, neurogenesis is a process by which new neurons are created in the adult human brain. These newbies will connect with preexisting pathways and help maintain neural plasticity, which has been shown to help those with brain injuries and neurological disorders. What do these natural chemicals do? Well, they are a key component in the adult brain for strength of memory, learning and plasticity. Ibogaine is a naturally sourced psychoactive compound that increases the production of brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). Ibogaine is derived from a West African plant and has become increasingly popular in treating heroin and cocaine addiction, though it’s been used for over a

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century as a medicinal plant. The psychedelic properties are reportedly quite powerful. 5-MEO-DMT comes from the secretions from the Bufo alvarius toad. Essentially, the person will inhale the dried secretions in a form of a vapor for a psychedelic effect. It’s also becoming common use for people who are seeking spiritual exploration or help with PTSD. Keller’s experience with the treatment process was the most “profound” moment in his life (next to the birth of his children). The healing method includes counseling, fasting, and the treatments itself. After the “trip” of Ibogaine, members have the next day to discuss their experiences and simply recover. The day after that is the 5-MEO-DMT, which Keller notes is sometimes called “the God molecule” it’s so powerful. The effects are usually about half an hour, whereas the Ibogaine can last 12-14 hours. Patients are monitored by professional staff during the procedures. Keller says everything’s done in a very particular way with medical supervisions and counselling, which makes it a true therapeutic experience.

“It’s powerful and healing stuff,” he says, and further states, “I was not a guy who went looking for a mystical experience. I was a guy who just wanted to feel better.” It’s important to note that in the US, this is not an “approved” procedure, which causes many to either refuse it altogether or do it in secret. “You can’t do this plant medicine and legally fly an airplane,” Keller says. “Civilian pilots can’t even talk about suffering from PTSD; there’s this whole culture where guys are struggling with their lives and there’s no way for them to get help without jeopardising their careers.” Thus far, through VETS, over 500 SEAL and U.S. special forces individuals have undergone the medicinal-plant program with astounding results. Keller also says Stanford University has been doing follow-ups and are currently studying 50 individuals pre- and post-treatment.

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Creativity Coming in on the heels of the second Top Gun movie is a documentary, No Fallen Heroes which will also be released in theatres on May 27, 2022. It discusses the harsh reality many veterans endure and the planttherapy. The story shows the before, during and after of the treatment process.

Participating members will discuss their experiences during the doses and articulate the benefits they have felt since their treatment. Overall, Keller says his experience has given him a new outlook on life and will hopefully be able to start working again in the next year or so. Instead of carrying around pain and anger, he says he now realizes, “love is the answer to everything.”

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ICELAND: LAND OF GIANTS By Douglas Landsborough Photos Provided by Douglas Landsborough

When Norse explorers first landed on the shores of Iceland, they believed that the island was home to mythical giants. From the soaring mountains to glaciers that can span the horizon, Iceland is nothing short of awe-inspiring. On this island nation, natural beauty is combined with a culture that values time spent with loved ones and appreciating everything life has to offer. No matter what you are into, Iceland likely has an experience for you. If you are an adrenaline seeker or are seeking a relaxing, rejuvenating getaway, Iceland is a hidden gem of a destination that is only now starting to get the attention that it deserves. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 101

The People of Iceland As an island nation, Iceland has historically been focused on both their independence as a country and their togetherness as a people. This has led to a culture that values one another, one where your friends, family and neighbours are appreciated and can be relied upon. In this regard, equality is a fundamental aspect of Icelandic society; the country is seen as a forerunner for both LGBT and women’s equality and is consistently ranked as one of the best countries to live in for women. Beyond that, the people of Iceland are very welcoming to tourists. Anyone travelling to the country often find smiles from strangers and a willingness to help out. Though the Icelandic language still exists, everyone in Iceland speaks English fluently. What might take some visitors by surprise is how laid-back Icelandic towns are after working hours. Icelanders are incredibly hardworking people, as they have had to be to survive the harsh winters and the nature of being an island with limited natural resources, but this mindset leads to after-work hours being laid back, spent with family, enjoying what life has to offer.

Don’t let that discourage anyone looking for an active nightlife, though! Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, is a popular destination for backpackers and boasts an incredible nightlife.

The Landscape of Iceland For anyone who visits Iceland, it will take no time at all to realize why Vikings believed giants lived on the island. Glaciers, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, lava fields and volcanoes all make up the diverse landscape of Iceland. If you decide to rent a car and drive around the Ring Road that is just over 1,300 kilometres long, you can see volcanic rocks, ancient ice fields, icebergs floating in crystal-clear water and awe-inspiring mountain peaks... all in just a few hours of driving. The various landscapes of Iceland are something from a fantasy novel. Here are just a few things to keep in mind when traveling around Iceland: Iceland exists on two continents, and you can scuba dive between North America and Europe. The Silfra Fissure is a beautiful, crystal-clear space that exists between two tectonic plates and swimming there is a must.

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There are upwards of 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland. With massive glaciers in the center of the island receding over the centuries, combined with rain and snow, an incredible amount of water pours over the beautiful landscape of the country, making its way towards the ocean. Travellers should be sure to check out many of these stunning waterfalls, like Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, two waterfalls on the South Coast of Iceland that both tower 60 metres in height. Volcanoes have helped form the island and are still there to this day. While you will need to rent a Jeep and trek to the centre of the island if you want to see the aweinspiring lava fields, the impact of the volcanic nature of the island is everywhere. Black sand beaches and lichen-covered fields of volcanic rock look like something from outer space, while hot springs and sulfur pits are incredible natural phenomena that can’t be missed. Take advantage of the natural heat made in the Blue Lagoon to treat yourself to mineral-filled hot springs that are as rejuvenating as they are good for your skin. Because of the waterfalls and geothermal nature of the island, about 85% of Iceland’s energy use comes from renewable sources,

with oil being imported almost exclusively for vehicles and fishing fleets. There are few guarantees in life, but you can be assured that a visit to anywhere in Iceland outside of its capital will treat you to breathtaking views and scenery that will stay with you for a lifetime.

The Seasons of Iceland Being so far north, Iceland has very unique seasons that you should keep in mind when planning any type of travel. Spring in Iceland is a great time for anyone looking for adventure and runs from March to June. The snow of winter has melted and plants are beginning to bud again. Accommodations during spring are typically cheaper than during peak times like the summer, but experiences like hiking and whale watching are available with the thaw. Summer spans June to September and is the peak travelling season in Iceland. For those used to a warmer climate, it’s important to note that temperatures in the summer usually range from 5C (40F) to 15C (58F). Everything is open during the summer, including the sun; a phenomena known as the Midnight

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Sun occurs during this season, meaning that some days during the summer experience 24 hours of sunlight. Fall runs from September to December brings more rain, snow and unpredictability. While experiencing like dog sledding are available, many other cultural events start up again after tourist season. Winter comes in full force in Iceland between December and March. Snow and frigid temperatures can show up suddenly and close off entire roads or sections of major routes like the Ring Road. That being said, those who love the idea of the Northern Lights and incredible sights like ice caves are in for a treat during Icelandic winters, even if the sun is only around for five hours some days.

An Unforgettable Experience There are so many unique experiences to be had in Iceland, whether you are an adrenaline seeker, looking for cultural experiences or want to see some of the most breathtaking sights in the world. Though this island nation has traditionally been seen as a layover destination or just a small country on the map, it is a must-visit for just about anyone.

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ICONS OF CANADIAN SKIES: JRCC TRENTON & 424 SQUADRON

By Douglas Landsborough Photos by RCAF, Maj. Claude Courcelles, Rod Larocque, Maj. David Baird, Cpl. Sebastian Boucher, Patrick Cardinal, DND/MDN

Almost as soon as he could walk, Major JeanFrançois Dupont wanted to fly. With a rich history in aviation that started as an Air Cadet and with a glider license, Maj Dupont is now the Lead pilot for 431 Air Demonstration Squadron—known to most Canadians as the Snowbirds. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 105

Alongside his fellow pilots and backed by technicians, mobile support operators, support clerks, and engineering, logistics and public affairs officers, Maj Dupont dazzles audiences across Canada and the US, performing feats that at times look impossible. Before joining the Snowbirds, Maj Dupont wanted to be a fighter jet pilot. Because of a delay in that training, he opted to become a flight instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) instead. What was supposed to be a year or two turned into four years in that role and saw Maj Dupont deployed to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, where approximately 30% of all of RCAF’s flying hours takes place every year. It was at 15 Wing where Maj Dupont saw the Snowbirds flying nearly every day. Beyond the impressive technical skill on display, Maj Dupont remembers thinking how fun the formations and maneuvers looked. Still, joining the Snowbirds was not something that Maj Dupont planned for his career, at least not initially. But when the opportunity arose to join those who took to the skies with such awe-inspiring maneuvers, he decided to put his name in for consideration. It was almost a natural flow from flight instructor to the high-skill piloting of a Snowbird, and

that launched the first three seasons (2010-2012) that Maj Dupont had with the Snowbirds. Following the 2012 season, Maj Dupont made a switch to search and rescue, flying the CH-149 Cormorant helicopter out of 19 Wing Comox on Vancouver Island for three years. The job was rewarding and exactly what Maj Dupont said he needed to be doing at the time—navigating difficult skies, hoisting people to safety and, ultimately, helping people in need. The major said it is “one of the best jobs in the Air Force, for sure.” When he was presented the opportunity to join the Snowbirds again, Maj Dupont returned to 15 Wing Moose Jaw. He spent a year as the Deputy Commanding Officer for 431 Sqn and has been Snowbird 1 Team Lead since 2019.

Who are the Snowbirds? 431 Air Demonstration Squadron is made up of approximately 80 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel. The roles involved with the squadron span include pilots, technicians who keep the Snowbirds’ iconic CT-114 Tutor in pristine condition, operations personnel and public-facing positions. The Snowbirds play an important role in Canada.

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With every performance, they are acting as ambassadors between our Armed Forces and the rest of North America. Through the actions of 431 Sqn—both in the sky, on the ground and behind the scenes—the professionalism, skill and dedication of CAF members is on display for the world to see. This year is a historic one for 431 Sqn, too. 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Snowbirds, who have flown every year since 1971. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the celebrations initially planned for this notable season have been limited. A normally busy early season has been padded with training as event organizers across Canada and the US were uncertain about restrictions and budgets.

Luckily, as things are continuing to improve, the remainder of the season is looking closer to normal, getting the Snowbirds to fly across the country and into the US. In celebration of their 50th season, the Snowbirds are mixing some old moves with new ones. Past maneuvers and music are mixed with the new, resulting in shows that have the appropriately named 50th Split and classics like the Double Diamond Roll, the Concorde Combo and other formations that are nothing short of astounding feats of piloting. One of the lesser-known changes has been a subtle addition to the appearance of the Tutor jets. Amongst the classic blue stripe is a brand-new gold stripe in commemoration of 50 years of the Snowbirds.

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As Team Lead, Maj Dupont is the one heading formations, but he emphasizes how critical every member of the team is. They could not be successful without the expertise of a solid core of pilots.

The Second Line Astern is at the back of the formation. This role is less about fine-tuned movements and more about making your plane work. Because this role is so far back and moving more slowly than the others, the plane sometimes runs out of power. Maj Dupont says that these pilots “have to cheat a little bit,” which is a different way of saying they must keep a plane in the air that no longer wants to be up there. Ultimately, every Snowbird pilot has to use their well-trained skills to make sure their plane is where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.

Inner Right and Left Wing, and First Line Astern are pilots who are the epitome of smooth, precise flying to maintain that strong core.

Snowbird Training Every season sees at least some new Snowbirds in the air.

Lead and Opposing Solo roles are, for the most part, more aggressive when flying by themselves while adopting that smooth control when part of the formation.

When it comes to training, the pilots of 431 start from scratch every year. Each summer, Snowbirds-to-be arrive in Moose Jaw to be trained for performances starting in the following season.

According to Maj Dupont, these are the pilots who “want to be beat up by Gs (gravitational forces) on a daily basis.” Definitely not a role for everyone!

Just as Maj Dupont was, these are all accomplished pilots within the CAF, but they might have little-to-no experience flying in formations.

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Training takes place daily, starting with small formations and gradually getting bigger, though the planes are spaced widely apart. Once those are mastered, they return to small formations but fly tighter this time around. Then, it’s back to the big formations with tight spacing. Once formations have been mastered, loops and rolls are added in for basic maneuvers, gradually reducing the space between planes throughout the winter. Toward the end of training season, integrated moves like splits are added in. Somewhere along the way, Maj Dupont says, “Magically ... we put everything together and it just clicks.” That magic has happened for half a century now, since the same method of rotating new Snowbirds in every year is the way it has always been done. Training moves to Comox towards the end of winter, where the weather is near-perfect for flying. The focus becomes more about how routines look from the ground, where

countless Canadians will watch in awe from, since the technical skills have already been turned into habits. Once in Comox, the Snowbirds also practice flying over water and up in mountains, where the pilots can’t use the horizon as a reference point.

The Snowbirds’ Plane: The CT-114 Tutor Designed and built in Canada by Canadair, the CT-114 Tutor is the iconic plane flown by Snowbird pilots. The Tutor has been used for all 50 seasons by the Snowbirds, keeping the tradition alive to this very day. A relatively light plane, the Tutor is still kept in excellent condition by the skilled technicians of 431 Sqn. Whether that means repairing, maintaining, adding new parts like smoke streamers or basically rebuilding the entire aircraft, the CAF personnel responsible for the Tutors do an amazing job keeping the jets in perfect working order.

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Though the Tutor was originally introduced as CAF’s primary jet trainer, it was replaced in 2000 by the CT-155 Hawk and the CT-156 Harvard II. These days, the Tutor only sees use in the expert hands of 431 Sqn. Up in the air, the lightweight nature of the jet makes flying upside down and other maneuvers easier than with other aircraft, but its flat-wing design also means that more precision is needed to stop the audience from seeing the Snowbirds bobbing while flying in a straight line. Perception is everything, and everyone on the ground knows that the Snowbirds are flying side-by-side. What not as many people know, however, is that the planes fly as close as six feet to one another. In some maneuvers, the wings of the planes actually overlap each other by a couple feet, with nothing but a mere four feet of height separating the two jets. The control that Snowbird pilots have over their Tutor jet cannot be overstated.

A Career in the Skies Despite the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, the Snowbirds are still flying 30 shows across Canada and the US this season. Whether acting as ambassadors to our own citizens

or south of the border, Maj Dupont and the Snowbirds love talking to people after the shows. It’s one of the reasons that the major prefers smaller shows to larger ones —you can really connect with the audience, answer questions and get some great feedback. Being from Québec City himself, Maj Dupont always considers flying out of CFB Bagotville a highlight, too. Internationally, he also recounted being able to fly between the famous bridges of San Francisco. For those thinking about a career as a pilot—whether as a Snowbird or flying something else—Maj Dupont says to set yourself a goal to be a pilot and just work hard towards it. Don’t get discouraged by failure, since everyone has ups and downs in their career. For kids, school is a must in order to become a pilot. While many of us still look at Snowbird pilots with a sense of awe as they pull off the impossible, Maj Dupont reminds us, “We’re not superstars or superhuman. We love to do our job and do the best we can ... We strive to do better every day.” For those of us who will get to experience the spectacle that is a Snowbird show this season, it’s hard to imagine that it can get any better.

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THE FINER THINGS CUISINE, WELLNESS & BEAUTY

01: BALSAMIC-LIME BEEF 02: STRESSORS & SYSTEMIC TOXICITY 03: GRAPEBRANDS 04: HEALING YOUR SKIN *The views and opinions contained within subjects, content, information, data and imagery does not necessarily reflect those of iinta, iinta’s staff, or iinta’s affiliates. For full disclosure statement, please visit our Disclosure Page. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 112

By Deke Zaher This is my go-to BBQ marinade that works well with various cuts of beef, but my favorite use for this recipe is for beef ribs or kebabs! Due to the level of acidity and abundance of flavour in this marinade, you will only need 40 minutes for this dish to marinate properly. The longer you marinate, the more it breaks it down everything holding the muscle intact, so don't overdo it or the meat may become too tender and fall apart.

As this marinade can serve several various cuts of beef, this recipe is strictly to help get you to the grill. Different cuts require different methods so I'm keeping this one simple. I created this recipe 20 years ago and it still satisfies the “WOW factor” I am looking for when I’m serving guests or catering. It gets them every time and is an absolute must try!

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Getting Started Method: BBQ Prep time: 45 mins

Ingredients 2-3lbs Beef (your favorite choice of cut) 2oz EVOO 2oz Lime juice 2oz Balsamic Vinegar 2oz Worcestershire Sauce 2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder 1 Teaspoon Chili Flakes Sea Salt Fresh Cracked Black Pepper or Montreal Steak Spice

Instructions Step 1: Season the beef with the sea salt and cracked black pepper. Alternatively, you may use a small amount of Montreal Steak Spice. Rub it into the meat and then put it aside for a couple of minutes while you make the marinade. Step 2: In a bowl, combine all liquids (EVOO, Balsamic, Lime and Worcestershire). Step 3: Add the garlic powder and chili flakes into the liquid mix and stir well. The garlic powder acts as a thickener which will help the marinade coat and stick to the meat better. Step 4: Transfer the seasoned meat into a large zip-up bag or baking

dish, pour in the marinade and mix the meat into it, covering everything (if using a baking dish, be sure to cover it tightly with plastic wrap). Once everything is tightly sealed, put the marinated beef into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. At this point, take the bag or baking dish out so that you can stir and flip the pieces of marinated beef, and then put it back into the fridge for another 20 minutes (for a grand total of 40 minutes). Step 5: There you go, BBQ masters! The beef is now ready to grill to your liking. I hope you love it and good luck. Don't forget to check out and follow @ZahersTestKitchen on Instagram for exclusive content! Yours truly, Chef Deke Zaher / Zaher's Test Kitchen

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STRESSORS &

SYSTEMIC TOXICITY By Anna Rhymer This is a crazy world we live in with a global pandemic, gyms closed, depression mounting, nutrition lacking and coping mechanisms trying to save today... and tomorrow .... and then next... and so on. But that doesn’t mean we can’t pull out the ole’ tool box, dig deep and ensure we minimize how the exterior environment affects us in all capacities. Let’s talk about cellular toxicity: the one thing that dictates overall health and wellness, or risk for long term illness and disease. Each cell in the body — brain cell, skill cell, lymphatic cell, etc. — is comparable to a balloon. Quick science lesson: the balloon is a phospholipid membrane. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 115

This is a permeable membrane which allows nutrition to be carried into the cell by water (hydration), and allows toxins to be eliminated from the cell (flushing) after the cell uses what it needs to “power up.” If we are stressed, eating poor nutrition — think processed food and chemicals — or not exercising, this membrane tightens up and doesn’t allow nutrition in or toxins out. What’s the result? Cellular toxicity! This also means a higher risk of longterm illness and disease.

What can we do? Optimally we delve deep into our skill sets and identify all our stressors and try to fix them one at a time. Sound like an overwhelming task? That’s because it can be without the right tools in our kit or tricks up our sleeves. Let’s start with the basics. Three simple steps will take you forward by leaps and bounds in your overall health and eliminating your risks. 1.Hydrate! Drink 1oz of water per pound of body weight a day. For example, if I weigh 150lbs, I drink 150oz a day — or 18.75 measured cups. 2.Move! Take a mindfulness walk, do some deep breathing, and live in themoment on your journey.

This will clear your mind and get your muscles firing as well as kickstart your lymphatic system. Lymphatic system: The lymphatic system is a network of tissues and organs that help rid the body of toxins, waste and other unwanted materials that can be dangerous to our health over time if not expelled. 3.Make a grateful list! Write down ten things you’re grateful for before you get out of bed, and do it by hand. It’s proven its far more beneficial to put pen to paper than typing. Be sure these are things you’re really grateful for, not just “I love my new truck.” The body vibrates at different frequencies and the mindset of gratitude is the highest frequency a human can vibrate at. This sets you up for an amazing mindset and vibration for the day. Humans vibrate in neutrality at 250hz but in a state of joy or gratitude, we can vibrate at 540hz which is slightly less than absolute peace and enlightenment. These three seemingly simple steps will change your health, and be a catalyst to a new and improved future. Our best recourse is action, so stop your old habits and create new ones: start today and take action!

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WINE TIME GRAPEBRANDS By Kelly Louiseize

Photos Provided by Grapebrands & Kelly Louiseize Out of 900 wine samples tested each year, Donato Carozza and Franco Stalteri can sniff out the best by instinct. “It hits you right there,” Franco says, pointing to his heart. Donato nods. “Agreed. Passion is king in this business and it has always led my brain. It has been all heart all the time.”

How they became one of Ontario’s top wine agents started 23 years ago when Donato gave up his career as a bond representative, his Yorkville pad in Toronto, and a BMW 325I to learn the art of wine making in Italy. It sounds romantic, sure, though it was anything but, he says. After graduating from York University in Business Management, Donato took a job selling assurance

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bonds to construction companies. When the market went hard, (premiums increased and clients began questioning their policy) he had to rethink his career choice. So, he took off to the Province of Treviso where his Uncle Bruno owned a 60 million litre winery in a small village called Montebelluna. Translated, it means nice moon hill. Moons seem to be an important symbol of transition in Donato’s life. It was there he stayed learning the craft, waking at 6 a.m. to clean out the garbage disposals, moving to plastics and packaging, cleaning fermentation tanks and eventually to testing laboratories, and into the vineyard. On his days off he visited neighbouring wineries, learning the subtle differences that would make their grapes different than another and their wine a signature of pride in the family. In a country populated by vineyards, it is the smallest of nuances that give a vineyard its reputation. Donato was consumed with knowing everything there was to know about wine making. Somewhere down the road he would put that knowledge to good use.

A Night to Remember On a clear night, a full moon so close one could touch it, he and Uncle Bruno visited friends in Sardegna, an Italian island south of France and west of Italy on the Mediterranean

Sea. He and his uncle sat down to zuppa di pesce (fish soup). It had been simmering for 12 hours, its Mediterranean flavours burst open with every spoonful.

“It’s cooked in tomato soup — just fantastic,” he laughs. After mopping the bowl with bread, he and Uncle Bruno migrated to the laboratory. The side door on the wine production facility was open and it was there they performed sample testing until close to midnight. Sharing a bottle of grappa talking about wine and life, the men philosophized. “Wine is like music, it is all about the feeling, the mood. You must drink what you love. Once you find out what you love, don’t hesitate to explore other wines, ask questions. Once you begin to understand wine like you do music, it becomes a mood and food thing. They work together in life,” Donato recommends. In the laboratory the following day Uncle Bruno prodded Donato about his future.

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Greater Toronto Area restaurants and large companies were his first points of contact. Their “edge to the wedge” was a new sparkling Prosecco. It was Donato who introduced that lively, refreshing taste to Ontario, he says.

Franco Stalteri (left) Donato Carozza (right)

He suggested he fly back to Canada and begin his own wine agency. His tutorage with Uncle Bruno was coming to an end. In the following weeks, Donato prepared to return home. Back in Ontario, the LCBO’s heavy restrictions on wine products were continuing to suppress consumer choice. Donato approached the LCBO for a license and registration of which he was approved. That was a fête in of itself since those tickets were like winning a lottery. Uncle Bruno sent his nephew three Venetian wines: a white, a red and a sparkling. “You should be able to cut the market in half starting with these,” Donato recalls his uncle saying. This was also a time before cell phones and the smooth transference of text, email and online banking.

For restauranteurs, the price point could not be denied. This allowed other products to be introduced. Owners also liked the fact that these wines could not be found on LCBO shelves. Despite a three month wait for orders, that they were required to pay upfront, Donato’s customer base grew. “I wouldn’t go home at night until I was productive. I would go to a Yorkville restaurant and order an appetizer. The owner would come around and soon he was sampling my products. Before I left, I made a sale.” So successful was he that David French, head of operations at the LCBO, wanted to use him as the poster boy to show how a new system can benefit operations. An estimated 300 agencies opened but soon collapsed after realizing how difficult it was to penetrate the market and stay focused. Only 100 of those agencies are in existence today with Grapebrands being one of the top 10.

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To show his support, French provided Donato space to house an inventory of wine at one of the LCBO warehouses. This was a real cue. It meant his clients didn’t have to provide funds upfront and could receive their purchases the next day.

This was great because I always stumbled over myself asking for money upfront.” Soon these cases grew from a 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 plus. During that time Donato was living out of two small rooms in Yorkville. One was his office and the other his bedroom.

Grapebrands introduces Charlie’s Burgers “I was scratching my pennies just to make my payments. I cut (metaphorically speaking) my arms off and grew new ones during this time.”

One evening while hosting a wine event at the Pier Palace, located in the west end at the mouth of the Humber River, he was introduced to Franco. The wine event had a bit of a theatrical slant to it. In the library of the home, Donato served wine vintages while waitress angels distributed samples of sparkling wines. Each wine group had a theme. The idea of creating a night based on a theme and delivering good food paired with stellar wines set in motion Charlie’s Burgers. For those unfamiliar with Charlie’s Burgers, it is the most recognized dinner series across Canada, says Franco. Each month, one of Canada’s top chefs had cart balance over the supper menu and Grapebrands would pair boutique wines and select locations. People invited to these exclusive events are given a guest card along with suggestions for attire.

Today, he services over 600 Greater Toronto Area restaurants, of which 400 are consistent buyers. Clientele from restaurants were exceptionally supportive. Yes, he says, there was a darkness of uncertainty in those days, but I just kept at it and didn’t raise my head until the day was done. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 120

For instance, if it was a cruise ship evening, guests were told to arrive in nautical style fashion. So popular were these events that they had to create secret codes and passwords to let guests in and keep transients out. “It was all cloak and dagger with maps and special codes,” Franco chimes in. In fact, part of the thrill was the secrecy of meeting a strange man by a mailbox who would confirm their password. Other times he was the man on a park bench reading a newspaper upside down. Each month the theme would be different and held in a distinct location, with a turnover of 50 new enthusiastic guests. “We created an experience for people that was exciting. Each dinner sold out and we had 1,000 people wanting to get in. It was lively, intimate and fun,” Franco says. It attracted guests from all over the world: Denmark, Spain, Sweden. The evening was so unique that Charlie’s Burgers made #3 on New York City’s best Food and Wine magazine in 2010. Chef Louis Charest, who managed the Canadian Governor General kitchen, decided to have an Arctic menu with whale, muskox and of course Arctic char, which he experimented and served to the princess of Japan, Aiko Toshi, several weeks later.

The dinner club became such a craze that Charlie’s Burgers had their own following of people who treated it like a cult, Franco says. Guests would compliment the gentlemen on wine pairings and inquire how they might purchase a case of Georgio Pellisaro from the Piedmont region, or Brunello from Tuscany or a French Chablis which happened to be Donato’s current love. “It has never been about the sales pitch. My goal has been to inspire people with a bird in hand approach,” says the man who is more comfortable rolling up his sleeves and dirtying the knees of his jeans with vineyard soil. “It is important to drink better and live better, enjoy life for today and understand wine like you consume fine foods and music, with passion and meaning. Discovery and exploration are great ways to learn about wine or simply enjoy it more sensibly. Guests asked to buy wines and of course we wanted to sell them but more than anything we wanted them to enjoy the evening. We talk business the next day.” Donato and Franco cannot count the number of suppers they’ve organized, but each event brought more people inquiring about the wine selection. Out of that demand came CB Wine Program, a membership that delivers three boutique wines to one’s door each month, including details of where the wine was crafted, its process and operators.

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“If it is good enough for my table it is good enough for someone else’s,” Donato says. Downtown Toronto deliveries are by bicycle which adds to that European flavour. To say this collection of wine tasters helped buoy the business during COVID is an understatement since most of the restaurants had to close with gradual reopening occurring in 2021. Grapebrands represents over 130 companies from Spain, France, Washington D.C. and Italy, with over 1,200 imported wine products. Over the next two years they will be developing the website to create that same cultural experience.

“We don’t want to lose our wine, that is our spine,” Donato says. “We want to continue to create meaningful experiences that are epic in quality and commitment. Our hearts are in the right place and we want to continue giving our members a reason to stay.” So, it was something about the moon from Montebelluna that led his heart to Sardegna which carried his passion back to Canada. In delivering wines as a way of life rather than a way of income, he found his calling, a calling he now shares with the world.

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HEALING YOUR SKIN By Nigelle Fredette

The Holidays! It's the time of year when we rejoice and celebrate with those dear to us, an opportunity to exchange laughter, stories, and well-wishes. Overall, it's best described as a "gift of time" spent with loved ones or maybe best with ourselves. After what we have endured over the past two years, I believe most would agree that time was often not on our list of priorities. Instead, we raced around trying to play catch up due to the pandemic, and we came face-toface with ourselves. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 124

So how do you plan to use the gift of time to love and care for yourself? You might ask, "Is it too late?" I firmly believe that it's never too late! Let me take this opportunity to explain the "why" and, most importantly, the "how." It's essential for your mental health to feel good about yourself by making a point of having "me time." Before thinking that’s selfish, know that when you give yourself the mental break with time for what you enjoy, it benefits those around you as well because you’ll feel more uplifted and that will pass along to them. While you brace yourself from the cold, it's the perfect time to start brightening and correcting your skin. With the hot summer sun taking a rest for the next several months, your skin is getting a well-deserved break. In the last issue, we touched on the damage caused by sun exposure on your skin. We followed up by mentioning a wide array of products available to cleanse, exfoliate, hydrate and moisturize. Today, let's embark on the beauty of technological advances and discover how this can add sparkle to your life.

Why consider technology for your skin? Firstly, it assists with getting both immediate and long-term results, which means we can all appreciate the advantages technology has to

offer. which means we can all appreciate the advantages technology has to offer. What can be offered to you in your quest for youthful, glowing skin? To achieve the refreshed look that we all desire, two of the industry’s most popular units are Forma and Lumecca by INMODE. Often, they worked best by using them together.

What is Forma? According to the manufacturer’s description, Forma is, “a skin and tissue remodeling technology equipped with a subdermal heating applicator. Radiofrequency travels via electrodes to deliver a noninvasive and pain-free treatment, and its controls allow the device to reach optimal temperatures. In essence, Forma stimulates your skin to produce more elastin and collagen since as we age, it slows down. The immediate reaction I get from my clients when doing the Forma is, how incredible it feels! Forma effectively treats the forehead, upper and lower eyelids, nasolabial folds, jowls and neck."

Lumecca This one is mainly described as being flicked by an elastic. Again, directly from the people who made it: "Lumecca is a breakthrough intense pulsed light (IPL) that delivers up to 3X more energy in the 500-600 nm range to improve efficacy for vascular and pigmented lesions.

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Lumecca can reduce vascular lesions, port wine stains, rosacea, angiomas and spider angiomas; superficial leg veins and more." According to INMODE and results that are seen in clinic, "Lumecca [can also be used] to effectively treat benign pigmented epidermal lesions, including dyschromia, hyperpigmentation, and ephelides (freckles)."

Treatment Results Every treatment improves your skin and leaves you with even better results. The heat and radiofrequency from this treatment are delightful. The even better part of this

technological miracle is that you will leave the office with immediate and visible improvement. For optimal results, eight treatments are recommended. In the beginning, the treatment would take place once a week for six weeks. Coming to the end, the time between the last two visits would be distanced. Depending on the intended goal, Lumecca is only done once a month until optimal results are attained. The vast majority of clients are incredibly appreciative of the results when following the recommended timeline. To quote the article Why Does Happiness Matter? from The Guardian, "Being happy is not just about feeling good. Research shows that it also makes us healthier, more productive – and nicer." To conclude, I believe it's more important than ever to take care of ourselves to feel happy with who we are. So why not take the gift of time to pamper yourself? Not only would you feel better with the results, but the happiness you will experience will also contribute to being healthier!

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WHAT'S NEW? MUSIC, LGBTQ+, AVIATION, FREE SPEECH... 01: DYNELLE RHODES: THE WEATHER GIRLS 02: FIERTÉ SUDBURY PRIDE 03: WINTER FLYING! OH SNOW... 04: THE METAVERSE ...AND MORE *The views and opinions contained within subjects, content, information, data and imagery does not necessarily reflect those of iinta, iinta’s staff, or iinta’s affiliates. For full disclosure statement, please visit our Disclosure Page. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 127

DYNELLE RHODES

THE WEATHER GIRLS CONTINUING THE LEGACY By Jennifer J. Lacelle Applicable photo credits: Ulrich Wolf & Nektardesign. All photos provided by Dynelle Rhodes

Who hasn’t heard the saying, ‘it’s raining cats and dogs?’ Usually, it means there’s a heavy downpour of rain outside with overcast skies. But what coms to mind when you hear, ‘it’s raining men, hallelujah, it’s raining men?’ No doubt, you sang those words out! The classic hit (It’s Raining Men) was released in 1983 and nearly 40 years later the song is more popular than ever with people from a massive range of demographics knowing all the lyrics.

The Weather Girls Originally, The Weather Girls were the power-duo of Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes-Armstead. Both women were naturally talented and sang in their church choirs growing up, but were also trained to sing. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 128

Having always been drawn to ballads and songs with stories, the song’s softness and harmonies continues to be alluring to Rhodes. Though, she says, it’s also in the vocal delivery of the song that captivated her.

Despite all this roaring talent, Rhodes never imagined being a singer. Instead, she thought she would become a secretary. She says she was very good at it then but now you couldn’t pay her enough to do it. “I loved typing,” she laughs.

To me, a song has to say something, it has to mean something,” she says.

She joined Lockwood Elementary as a secretary, her enjoyment of organization and planning coming into full swing. The same year she got the position, she was pregnant with her son and received a call from her mother about joining The Weather Girls. Filling the Shoes “I thought she was joking,” says Rhodes. “Momma, stop pulling my leg.” In fact, it wasn’t a joke! Her mother insisted that she come join her so Rhodes says she grabbed her clothes, her baby and took a leave of absence from the school. That leave of absence turned into never going back.

As Rhodes grew up, her musical tastes generally stayed the same but the music itself changed. But the road her life took and the stories that make up her own tale have also played an important role to music she chose to listen to. The music evolved as she did.

Rhodes says her debut as a weather girl was in a club called Sweetwaters and she recalls being a “nervous wreck.” Wash’s shoes were big ones to fill and the woman could hit high notes Dynelle’s voice didn’t quite reach.

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“You have to have a lot of nerve and balls to fill her shoes,” Rhodes says. “My mother, she knew I could do it.” They rehearsed over and over again until they were sure it was perfect and the day of the show she was told to “sing your little heart out” and that all would be okay. The Weather Girls received a standing ovation from the audience, and she’s been a weather girl ever since. As of May 2022, it will be 31 years. Touring with the group wasn’t new to her as the first time she travelled with them they did the Eddie Murphy tour in 1985 (before she was officially a member). As an official member, her first was called Best Disco in Town. She mentions another tour with other acts, such as the Gibson Brothers and Evelyn Thomas.

All I have are good memories."

The group relocated to Europe in 1991 and have consistently performed sell-out concerts and venues over the last three decade. Rhodes is residing in Germany permanently. Rhodes was able to perform with her mother for over 14 years before Rhodes-Armstead passed away in 2004. While being a professional singer had always been her mother’s dream, Rhodes is now carrying on the legacy. “She lived a good life and I thank God for her,” says Rhodes. “And for the gift she left me to carry on singing music. I was the lucky one.”

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She says it’s simply a risk with touring and that it’s part of life to take the good with the bad. In 1995, her all time favourite concert was in Amsterdam in a super arena filled with 96,000 people! She recalls going from the floor all the way to the top on a lift and then began the classic hit It’s Raining Men. Simultaneously, men dressed in sailor suits were descending from the skies on ropes!

Tours The most unexpected aspect of touring is when the bus breaks down. Back in the day, you could be heading to a concert when suddenly the bus stops in the middle of nowhere and you simply have to wait for another one to come and get you. She recalls the crazy parts of having to sleep on the bus because they were too far from a hotel. Or even not being able to shower, instead, arriving just in time to perform, do the concert, and jump back on the bus without the chance to get cleaned up.

In 2019, at another concert in Holland, 98,000 people gathered to watch them perform. The people, again, went berserk over the hit song. Rhodes loves seeing the audience lip-sync the words and know the lyrics.

To this day, when you hear It’s Raining Men, you still see the people going crazy!”

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Legacy In July 2021, The Weather Girls released a new single, Pride Strong, with Jimmie Wilson and Alan Vukelic. Of course, in the midst of a pandemic, it’s harder to promote. “In general, it’s difficult to promote music independently,” Wilson says. However, the anthem song has been well-received by their audiences despite the pandemic stifling a lot of industries. Wilson says that Pride Strong is written in the same “vein” as It’s

Raining Men as an anthem song, noting the infamous one is still in the top 10 list of gay anthem songs! Rhodes adds, “It’s an empowerment [song] and to be proud of who you are.” The Weather Girls and Wilson are currently in the studio planning out their next hits, a few new pieces and a couple of covers, and are hoping to complete them shortly. They’re also excited to be revamping It’s Raining Men and releasing this version into the wild world of music!

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COMMUNITY MATTERS

FIERTÉ SUDBURY PRIDE By Jennifer J. Lacelle All photos provided by Fierté Sudbury Pride

Workplace discrimination against Mary Ross brought together a group of 300 people in Sudbury, Ontario back in 1997 to fight for equals rights of those in the Queer community. It was the city’s first pride march. This is how Fierté Sudbury Pride began, and they’ve been growing over the past 25 years into a vast community that helps people no matter their sexuality, gender identity/fluidity, ethnicity, age, income, etc.

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Community The current (interim) Chair/President of FSP is Katlyn Kotila, 22-years old, who volunteered to look after the role when the previous leader needed a break. Before that, Kotila was the Communications Lead (20192021). She never intended to volunteer when she first attended Pride Week in 2019. Kotila found herself so amazed by the event that she went to the coordinators and community to tell them as much. “Wow, I really have to compliment you,” she recalls saying. “I’ve been in Sudbury my whole life and I never met people who felt like they understood. I feel more represented than I have in my entire life.” At the time, Kotila hadn’t ‘come out’ in her personal life. Generally speaking, there are many people (particularly youth) who feel fear about showing themselves as they are. Quite often, harsh results follow them when they reveal their true selves: homelessness, abuse, and being shut down by family or friends. It’s not an easy life, which makes community all the more important. “They know what it’s like to have an identity that’s not known by society,” Kotila says. “For me the best part is being community and getting to

know these people on a personal level and being involved in something bigger than myself.” After attending the Annual General Meeting, same year, she thought, “what the heck?” and put her name forward for the Communications Lead role with FSP. She was only 19 at the time but she carried out the two-year term. Part of her role was helping with the organization of Pride events and running the social media. They were planning for a big pride event for 2020, but ended up having to go online where they managed to complete two full online informative panels, showcase music from Queer artists, and send out pride packages for youth all from a distance. Now, as the interim Chair/President, Kotila’s role has expanded and she’s enjoying every moment of it. Due to COVID, most of the in-person affairs cannot be completed and FSP has swapped over to online and hybrid (a combination of virtual and live) models. However, Kotila is seeing the positive in this as it allows FSP to reach even more people through the hybrid model. It gives people more access to enjoy the same events from the safety and comfort of their own homes.

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“We want to make sure everything we’re doing is community [driven],” Kotila says.

The Bigger Picture Taking an expansive look at North America, there are now millions of people who identify as members. In Canada alone, one million people identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. However, despite the growing numbers of people who are finally able to speak their truths, the work is hardly done. According to statistics, hate crimes jumped by 41 per cent from 2018 to 2019 with over 263 reported cases. Between 2007 and 2016, the average number (annually) was closer to 141 (according to the Toronto Police Services). The top four demographics targeted, accord to TSP (2016), were members of the LGBTQ+, Jews, black people and Muslims. The hate crimes committed against these individuals, in relation to sexual orientation, have been some of the most brutal. Kotila also makes note of this viciousness, saying, “While we’ve seen not as much violence in certain areas, there’s still a lot of violence in certain areas. Black-trans women have been murdered and beaten and attacked in very violent ways.” In Canada, nearly 500 youth (10-24 years old) die from suicide.

Ryan Wildgoose & Katlyn Kotila, 2019.

While it’s hard to determine accurate statistics, since many remain ‘in the closet,’ it’s estimated that youth within the LGBTQ+ community are 33 per cent more likely to attempt suicide than the general population in that demographic. There are also statistics indicating that those within this community are more likely to be of a lower socioeconomic status. It was discovered in an Ontario-centralized study that half the trans population in the province earn less than $15,000 a year. Mental, and physical, health issues generally stem from past traumas (abuse, bullying, etc). Members of the LGBTQ+ community are at higher risk of depression, anxiety, phobicdisorders, substance abuse, suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc.

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“We have to do extra things to stay safe,” Kotila says. “It starts to eat at you and it affects our daily lives.” Without resources, people aren’t able to get the help they need. Kotila says there are many within the Queer community who consult one another to find doctors or therapists who are safe to visit. The reason is that many medical professionals still refuse services to members of the Queer community or haven’t created a safe space for them.

Resolutions? For Kotila, education is an important advancement that needs to start happening within society. She says there’s a deeply imbedded homophobia in our culture. Children learn from a young age that being

being different is considered “bad” and it’s time for that to change. Part of society’s way of life has been to encourage heterosexuality as the norm, and it’s so deeply engrained and nuanced that it teaches those who may be different to “feel ashamed.” “Most of the time I’ve noticed those who are reluctant just don’t know any better,” she says. “So, they don’t actually know what it’s like. Until they are directly impacted by it in some way, there’s a lack of understanding… but the way we combat that is through education.” Eliminating the stigma around homosexuality is also part of the education process society needs to undergo.

FSP at Owen Sound Pride, 2018.

YES Theatre Performs at Big Gay Cabaret, 2019. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 136

Once stigma has been removed, it opens the doors to allowing people into welcoming atmospheres where they can actively participate in the conversation. It’s also more than providing members of the LGBTQ+ seats at the tables, though that’s an important step. But to actually hear the words they speak and to value their input, critique, and thoughts is a must! However, Kotila doesn’t believe it’s entirely up the Queer community to fight for the change. Everyone needs to be equally responsible, though she says the members of LGBTQ+ will continue fighting for equal rights.

Outlook for 2022 Pride Week for 2022 is July 11 – 17th.

Kotila says that they’ll likely be sticking to the hybrid model for their Pride events this coming year, but encourages everyone to participate. Anyone who is interested is welcome to reach out to them through their social media (Facebook, Instagram), website, or email. “Don’t be afraid to get involved,” she says. FSP is currently undergoing a few changes to their operating management, so there will be more opportunities for volunteers to get involved. Of course, no one is obligated to disclose their orientation or identity and she also strongly encourages allies to step up. “If you’re willing to be supportive and welcoming and help us, you’re welcome!”

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COMING SOON THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY HUB There's nothing like a good conversation, a few friends, and people who acknowledge you to make the world a safer, better place for everyone. With IINTA's upcoming hub, you'll see a wide range of content, including featured interviews, showcases, and events.

Rainbow Big Nickel (Sudbury, ON). Photo provided by Fierté Sudbury Pride.

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WINTER FLYING Oh Snow! By Michel Treskin

There are many differences between winter and summer flying. As it pertains to winter flying, its both fun and rewarding. For example, the increase in performance due to the cold weather is like comparing night and day. Most engines, including jet engines, will perform much more efficiently with colder temperatures. For those living in the great white north, they will notice the effect of cold air with their cars’ performance.

Likewise, this difference is very noticeable when flying an aircraft with smaller engines which produce minimal performance during warmer months, and then flying when the temperature is -15°C. It will be an eye opener for those who never experienced flying in colder temperatures, and definitely something to consider for that weekend warrior who only flies once a month.

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This increase in performance during an unplanned go around will make that much more challenging the control of the aircraft’s attitude. More horsepower means an increase in tendency to pitch up during power application.

Advantages Another significant benefit of flying during winter is cold air. This will translate into clearer and more stable weather, meaning turbulence levels will be almost nonexistent — even when the wind is blowing strong. Air travellers will appreciate the smooth ride and will probably praise the pilots in the front for his smoothness without knowing that the air is perfectly still in winter months. Visibility in both day and nighttime is much better than in the summer months; as there are less pollutants in the air such as dust and pollen, which tends to make visibility not as crisp. The horizon will be sharp and distinct, and this will help with attitude flying for those who are not inclined to fly on instruments. The weather will be less likely to deteriorate as quickly as it does in the summer months. Additionally, and in my opinion, winter weather is easier to predict. Night flying is a sight to see and experience especially if there is a

snow blanket everywhere. The snow will reflect the lights from homes and lamp posts, and it will look like a fairy tale scene if flying away from a big city. Passengers flying above at higher altitude, will notice that effect as well and can appreciate the beauty of winter nights. During the Christmas holidays, all the colorful lights seem brighter and if to that you add the snow effect, it makes night flying much more attractive. In the winter months, there is a greater chance to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) when night flying in a high-latitude region. The closer you are of the Artic Circle; the more intense the display will be. If you are flying as a passenger at night and know that the route will be passing close to the top of the world, keep an eye out for an incredible light show.

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Considerations Airplanes can also be equipped with snow skies and used like float planes on frozen lakes and snow-covered fields. However, caution must be exercised when landing on unfamiliar areas because of ice ridges, crevasses and snow drifts which cannot be detected from the air. Having said this, there are also elements that need to be taken into consideration when flying during these months. If the wind starts blowing, just like highways on the ground, the dreaded ‘drifting snow’ will start. This winter phenomenon might cause partial white-out conditions

And increase accumulation of snow drifts. On a runway, it could cover centerline markings and it might, if severe, make the environment void of any contrast (complete whiteout). While winter flying can be the most satisfying experience, it can also be less forgiving than the summer. When preparing for a flight, serious consideration must be taken in regards to emergencies, such as a forced landing, some of which may require spending the night waiting for rescue. Warm clothing and winter survival kits must be prepared and carried at all times. It will increase the take off weight by at least 10 per cent if you have all the right tools for survival.

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Taxying and landings are of the utmost importance especially if operating in a remote airfield where snow and ice removal is less of a priority than a larger airport. Black ice is existent even on taxiways and runways. Snowbanks, airfield lighting, and even markings for orientation might be obscured by snow and ice. Therefore, a high state of alertness will be required during winter operations. Many insidious facets of winter flying need to be measured if the outside temperature is between -15°C and 2°C with visible moisture. Carbon monoxide is another element that needs careful contemplation and planning on how to handle. This is particularly important when flying in colder temperatures. A detector in the cockpit will definitely be a way to ensure that no engine exhaust leaks are present while using the cabin heater. Nonetheless, and despite of the preparation that these flights must be subjected to and all the elements that pilots need to take into account before flying on winter months, winter flying is an experience like no other. Have a great winter everyone and stay safe!

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THE GROWING METAVERSE ...and Valentine's Day?

By Fred Lazar Happy Valentine’s Day — from the real world. People who celebrate this day do so with cards, chocolates, flowers and/or good meals. But the metaverse is arising. What will Valentine’s Day look like in the future in the virtual world? Will people be celebrating with family and friends as they do now? Or will their avatars celebrate with other avatars of total strangers? Will the metaverse become Ashley Madison on steroids?

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Evolution The metaverse has evolved from online games. Developers of these games have been able to attract large followings, in particular among young men, who hide from real-life and society, playing these games for hours each day. Developers have also discovered their audiences are willing to spend large sums of money to buy digital weapons, for example, to give them an advantage in the games they play. The metaverse now consists of numerous virtual lands, with new ones being developed every day. It’s now being promoted as the Internet 3.0 and is touted as the next big investment opportunity. ‘Get in early and become a billionaire,’ or so the promoters want you to believe. Facebook believes the metaverse is the company’s future, and for this reason the company’s name was changed to Meta. I guess the number of people addicted to Facebook and Instagram has peaked, and the company needs to attract a new and growing group of addicts. Joe Castaldo, writing in The Globe and Mail on January 7, 2021, pointed out: “A handful of upstart companies are spending millions to purchase land in online worlds that can only be visited on computer screens or

through virtual reality headsets — worlds with names such as Decentraland, Sandbox and Somnium Space. These virtual real estate moguls plan to monetize their pixels through property development, rental income and advertising.” Decentraland, for example, is a cartoonish 3D city where users, represented by on-screen avatars, can chat with one another, gamble, attend concerts and other events, and soon shop in newly created fashion districts. Castaldo noted: “Sotheby’s set up a gallery in Decentraland last year to auction NFT artwork, and Atari, the video game company, built a casino. In other virtual worlds, fashion brands such as Gucci sell NFT clothing. Nike Inc. bought a company in December that makes virtual footwear.” Cards, chocolates and flowers for your virtual world’s “true love” avatar will soon be available in a virtual world near you. But be wary since sexual assault has been reported in one of the virtual worlds. The avatar of your dreams might turn out to be a nightmare. I am curious to see how the virtual worlds will deal with the inevitable criminal activities that will arise in these worlds.

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Money, Honey NFTs and cryptocurrencies play integral roles in the development of the metaverse. Transactions are usually conducted in a cryptocurrency unique to each digital world. Castaldo explained: “One of the primary activities for Decentraland users today is shopping. They can purchase digital clothing and accessories for their avatars, or digital artwork. Each virtual object is considered an NFT — a digital asset whose ownership is recorded on an online public ledger called a blockchain. An NFT can only have one owner at a time, meaning it can be traded and resold almost as though it were a physical object.” Developers of the metaverse have combined two of the four horsemen (NFTs and cryptocurrencies) of the apocalypse to create the third horseman. I wonder what will turn out to be the fourth?

Maybe the anti-social behaviour encouraged by Covid and governments. Ryan Cooper, a self-professed NFT sceptic, described NFTs as follows: “The details of how NFTs work are a fascinating study in how utopian technobabble, heavy advertising, and the appearance of instant effortless wealth can convince millions of people to fling money into an incredibly dubious "investment." To create one, you inscribe some metadata about a piece of art (like a link to an image) onto the blockchain of some cryptocurrency (typically Ethereum) with a smart contract, requiring payment of a "gas fee" (using up something like 48-kilowatthours of electricity, or as much as the average U.S. household used in a day and a half) which puts a time stamped permanent record of the metadata onto the blockchain, naming you as the owner. Hey presto, you "minted" a new digital... thing like that, unlike any normal piece of data, can't be replicated, but can be sold."

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He added: "An NFT isn't even really scarce. Nothing is stopping someone from minting another NFT of the same image or whatever - the two would be distinguishable of course, but nothing on either token would indicate one is better or more legitimate than the other. Or they could use a different cryptocurrency and blockchain (or set one up themselves) and do the same thing. The only actual limitation is the mind-boggling amount of electricity required, and perhaps whether the resulting carbon emissions will end up drowning the servers hosting the image file with the rising sea levels." Elon Musk has argued that he does not really see any future for the metaverse. He cannot envision people walking around for hours with virtual reality headsets immersing themselves in unreal

worlds and avoiding or ignoring everything real that is happening around them. Will the teenagers who are spending hours playing online games such as Minecraft and Roblox really move into the metaverse to waste their time? Promoters of the metaverse believe this will happen. If they are right, we are in trouble. China was right to strictly limit the daily time people can spend on games or other virtual reality experiences. The leaders in China have seen the future, and they are acting to ensure that the digitalcreated apocalypse does not materialize, at least in China. Maybe sanity will prevail in the rest of the world.

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ROSE & VANILLA PEAR

Wine Dessert to Love

By Deke Zaher Single? Love wine? Need more fruit in your diet? Well, do I have a show for you. How about we get drunk!?

Before starting, here is the truth: you want to use the smallest pot you have.

Not us, actually… I mean, alcohol and pears. Let’s try “Mandarin-Moscato poached pears stuffed with a Rose, Vanilla Mascarpone and crushed Pistachio honey-crust.

This recipe calls for lots of wine as the pears must be fully submerged (worth it, trust me). The recipe is also tripled because you’ll crave it again after you try it the first time. Besides, you don’t want all that wine to be boiled in vain. A dessert so nice, you can have it thrice!

Let me put that broken heart back together for you, baby!

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You would most likely be disappointed if you did this for only one pear anyhow. If you’re okay with sharing, this recipe is also perfect to impress on date nights and is super easy to make fancy. Best of luck and I hope you adore it! Total time: 1.5-2 hours

Ingredients 3x Anjou pears (Bartlett/Bosc also work) 5 oz Honey (2oz for filling + 1oz per pear dip) 1 Cup Pistachios 475 grams Mascarpone Cheese 1 Cup Sugar 1 oz Rose Water 1 oz Vanilla (real) *suggestion: Madagascar Bourbon 750ml Bottle Moscato Wine 3x Mandarin Oranges Roses for Garnish (optional)

Tools Required Small pot (big enough for three pears) Coring tool (tomato shark, melon baller, for coring pears) Tenderizer or mallet (crushing Pistachios) Sandwich bags (as piping bags) Fruit Peeler (for the pears) Knife Cutting board

Instructions 1.Wash and peel the pears. 2.Use coring tool, gently boring a hole through the bottom in the center of the pear, to remove the core. 3.Add sugar and the full bottle of Moscato into the small pot. Cut the three Mandarin oranges in half and place them in pot. When boiling, shut off and add the pears. Let sit for 20 minutes. 4.Afterward, take the pears out of the pot and set on paper towels in a bowl. Let cool for 15 minutes and then place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes. 5.While the pears cool, make the Mascarpone blend. In a small mixing bowl, use a spoon to fold and blend the Mascarpone with the 1 oz of Vanilla, 1 oz of Rose Water and the 2 oz of Honey. This will be the filling and pillow for the pears! Feel free to also throw in some crushed pistachios. 6.Take this time to crush the pistachios and cut the roses (optional). Alternatively, use a garnish of your choosing to decorate the plate.

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Plating 1.Put 1 cup of the Mascarpone blend into a small sandwich bag and seal tight (remove most of the air). Cut a 1 cm hole at the corner of the bag to use as a piping bag. 2.Pipe a 3-4 inch “pillow” on the plate for the pear to sit on as a base. 3.Firm but gently, hold the pear upside down in one hand. Use the other hand to fill the inside of the pear with the Mascarpone blend. (If you choose to get fancy, bore a tiny hole in the top stem area so you can fit a rose in there to top the pear.) 4.Roll the bottom of the pear in some honey and then roll again in the crushed pistachios.

5. Gently place the pear onto the "pillow." 6.Use roses (optional), more crushed pistachios to decorate around the dish. Suggestions for garnishes include chocolate, cool fruits like Pineberries (see cover image). This is your time to shine, superstar! Whatever your cause (or predicament) or celebration, I hope this helps enhance your Valentine’s Day. Happy (self) #LOVEday. Until next time, Chef Deke Zaher www.zaherstestkitchen.com @zaherstestkitchen (Facebook/Instagram)

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OVERCOME THE WINTER BLUES SUNSHINE IS MEDICINE By Anna Rhymer

There are many incredible gifts people receive from sunshine. It helps strengthen the immune systems, stabilize moods, and most importantly fight disease! However, when the days get shorter and daylight dwindles, it’s not uncommon for people to catch more colds and other viruses along with feeling a little more sleepy than usual. Unfortunately for some people the “winter blues” are more than feeling lethargic or wanting to crawl into bed a little early.

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For some, the changing of seasons translates into a very noticeable depression that makes it hard to function and focus on simple daily tasks. The winter blues may be a simple answer to feeling low when heading into the colder seasons, but there might be a different reason for it than you think. Did you know living in the dark can affect everyone—even if you are a ‘happy-go-lucky’ person and have no past history of depression? Winter blues, also know as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), is known to be linked to a lack of sunlight.

Melatonin The reduction of sun causes a lack in the production of melatonin, which tells our brain it is time to sleep. Melatonin is a hormone that increases when it’s dark, decreases when it’s light and helps regulate serotonin levels in the brain and control our circadian rhythms (sleep patterns). With SAD there will be a decrease in melatonin which is known to affect moods, particularly if someone becomes sleep deprived. SAD is also known to be caused by a disturbance in the normal circadian rhythm of the body. Sunlight entering through the eyes influences this rhythm.

When it's dark, the pineal gland produces melatonin, which is responsible for the drowsiness we feel each day after dusk. Light entering the eyes at dawn shuts off the production of melatonin. During the shorter days of winter, when people may rise before dawn or not leave their offices until after sunset, these normal rhythms may become disrupted, producing the symptoms. There is also evidence linking SAD to a reduced amount of the neurotransmitter serotonin; it’s the feel-good substance that is increased by antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

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Insufficient exposure to sunlight has been associated with low levels of melatonin and serotonin, an increase in carbohydrate craving, weight gain, and sleep disturbance. Symptoms of the Winter Blues: Feelings of sadness during the winter months Lack of motivation to complete some tasks but can handle major requirements such as going to work and taking care of the house Trouble sleeping Spending one or two days in bed

Treatments Lifestyle changes and self-care routines are key to improving your mood in the winter months. Light therapy uses a device that gives off bright, white light. It’s considered the best form of treatment for SAD at this time. It typically requires sitting for 20-60 minutes each morning in front of a light box that produces much more light than ordinary indoor lighting. The idea behind light therapy is to replace the diminished sunlight of the fall and winter months. In several studies, light therapy has had beneficial effects on SAD symptoms similar to those of medication or CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy).

However, light therapy, also known as phototherapy, benefits around 6080 per cent of people. Research on SAD and light therapy is limited, and the FDA does not approve of, test, or regulate light therapy boxes. Quick note: light therapy sometimes has side effects like dizziness, nausea, headaches, or tired eyes. This form of treatment may not be appropriate for people with diseases of the retina, recent eye surgery, bipolar disorder or those taking medicines that increase sensitivity to light. Both prescriptions and natural products may be used. Prescription medication is antidepressant medications like SSRIs. However, there is no conclusive evidence from randomized trials to support the use of SSRIs in the treatment of SAD. A few studies involving very small numbers of people have looked at melatonin and St. John’s wort for treatment of SAD, with unclear or inconsistent results. Single small studies of Vitamin B12 and Ginkgo biloba for prevention of SAD did not find that the supplements were beneficial. Furthermore, some dietary supplements may have side effects or interact with pharmaceutical medicines.

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St. John’s wort is known to interact in harmful ways with a large number of medicines. Research has found that people with SAD often have low Vitamin D levels. Because of this, people with the condition are often encouraged to increase their intake either through diet, exposure to sunshine, and/or vitamin supplementation. Some vitamins, including vitamin D, may be toxic if taken in excessive doses. It’s always recommended to talk with your health care provider about any dietary supplement you’re considering taking, especially if you take prescription medicine.

Psychotherapy is another route to try. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can be an effective treatment, particularly if it is used in conjunction with light therapy and medication. CBT involves identifying negative thought patterns that contribute to symptoms and then replacing these thoughts with more positive ones. Psychodynamic Therapy is yet another possible solution. Based on the assumption that SAD is compounded by unresolved, unconscious conflicts rooted in childhood, this type of therapy aims to help the client understand and better cope with depressed feelings by talking about those past experiences. Psychodynamic Therapy may last for several weeks, but typically continues for months or even years. Healthy habits and lifestyle choices can also help reduce SAD symptoms. Things that you can do include: Getting regular exercise Getting enough sleep (routine) Eating a healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and protein Vitamin D Stay connected with friends Indulge in the little things Practice mindfulness and optimism Massage Therapy Plan something to look forward to

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SAD Statistics “I can identify when a student is dealing with mental illnesses like depression because they are very lethargic, reluctant to engage, and they isolate themselves,” says an AP psychology and world history teacher (Gerard Coury). SAD challenges students in school and in their social lives as well. A lack of motivation and desire to go out occurs because of a change in mood and energy. With many students, grades start to lower and attendance goes down according to KidsHealth Behavioral Experts. SAD is estimated to affect 10 million Americans SAD is four times more common in women than men The general age of those affected is estimated to be 18-30 and rarely affects people younger than 20 The incidence of SAD decreases as the individual ages Six percent of individuals with SAD require hospitalization

10 Food Tips for a Happier Winter: Lean proteins: these carry plenty of amino acids, which may positively affect your mood. They’re also a great source of energy, which you’ll need to help beat fatigue.

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toward your hippocampus, a major portion of the brain that stores memories, provides emotional responses, and helps with navigation. Limit sugar intake: it may give you a little happy boost at first, but research suggests too much sugar and too few omega-3 fatty acids can functionally change your brain and slow it down. The crash after a sugar high can easily make you feel worse than before especially if you’re feeling depressed.

Omega-3 fatty acids: these have been praised for their health benefits, including possibly influencing your mood. Sources that contain the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids include flax seeds, walnuts, and salmon. Berries: stress aggravates depression symptoms and exhausts your body. Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries may help prevent the release of cortisol; a hormone produced by the adrenal gland. During stressful situations, cortisol heads

Folic acid: some research on folic acid’s effect on the brain has given insight into how it can boost your mood. There’s some evidence that the body uses it to create serotonin a neurotransmitter that affects mood but there’s no conclusive evidence as to how it works. Including it in your diet is a good idea regardless. You can get high amounts of folic acid in leafy greens, oatmeal, sunflower seeds, oranges, fortified cereals, lentils, black-eyed peas, and soybeans. You can’t control mother nature, winter, cold or darkness. But there are a variety of tools you can adopt to boost yourselves up when your environment brings you down. Dig deep into your toolbox, ask for help, try different approaches, and know that ultimately this too shall pass.

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POTENCY OF SELF-LOVE YOU'RE NOT SELFISH By Nigelle Fredette

In an ever-changing world, with demands consistently shifting, many of us are coping with stress and being overwhelmed. Despite this, our survival instinct drives us with trying to perform to the best of our abilities; whether that be caring for family and friends, being available for those who need encouragement, or in careers. During these unprecedented times, the human in us will likely feel stressed, anxious, sadness and occasionally angry. This is why it is more important than ever to take the necessary time to indulge in selfcare. It’s time to discuss the importance of self-care, what self-care looks like and how taking care of yourself impacts your daily life along with those around you.

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Myths

Physical Health

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions revolving around the topic of self-care. Dr. Tess Brown, a UK trained and registered Clinical Psychologist, CBT and EMDR Therapist, highlights the 5 Common Myths about self-care.

Physical self-care ranges from eating healthy, drinking plenty of water, exercising, getting a facial, taking a shower or a nice hot bath. By getting the necessary rest and putting in a bit of exercise, you will likely feel more energized.

Those myths are that self-care is selfish, expensive, time-consuming, must be earned, and lastly, only for women. When thinking of self-care and reading over these common untruths, it is likely that everyone has believed one or a few of these points. The good news is these are myths. There are many inexpensive ways to give yourself a bit of love without the worry of being left pressed for time and increasingly overwhelmed.

In Harvard Women's Health Watch’s Fitness and Exercise column, Drs. Golen and Ricciotti explain how, “Exercising also boosts oxygen circulation inside your body.”

One factor that many struggle to prioritize is self-care. Caring for the body, mind and heart has a significant, positive impact on your overall health, families, and friends. However, many are unaware that these components are connected. If you neglect one, it is certain to affect the other. Therefore, the idea of selfcare being selfish couldn’t be further from the truth. University of Toledo identifies various forms of various forms of self-care; physical, mental, and spiritual/social.

Worried that exercising is too timeconsuming? There are proven exercises that are guaranteed to boost your energy levels without equipment or going to the gym. Simple exercises may include breathing techniques, a brisk walking routine, simple stretches, yoga postures, and an exercise routine where one imagines holding an energy ball. Don’t forget to take time to sit in the sunlight with your glass of water or cup of tea. If you’re in a geographical zone where the sun isn’t always shining, consider acquiring a sun lamp if your health care provider thinks that this is the right thing for you.

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On Alberta Health Services website, they reaffirm how, “Our mental health affects how we think, feel and act. It also influences how we handle stress, work productively and contribute to our community.”

Mental Health As previously stated, self-care and mental health are co-dependent. According to The National Institute of Mental Health, “When it comes to your mental health, self-care can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy. Even small acts of self-care in your daily life can have a big impact.” The important thing to remember is that good mental health cannot be achieved without the other and vice versa. While the way people approach mental self-care differs, one thing is certain for all: mental self-care starts by pressing pause on the busy world around us while doing something we enjoy.

Implementing more than one activity is essential for it to have the greatest impact, but it is important to gradually add another activity rather than to risk being overwhelmed with too many tasks. In the end, it’s important to listen to your body and mind and nourish it accordingly.

Spiritual and Social Health Lastly, the urgency for social/spiritual self-care is particularly important. Let’s examine what social/spiritual self-care looks like followed by certain things you can do to keep it healthy.

Everyone is different, so it’s important to try a variety of activities and see what works best. Some examples of mental self-care range from developing supportive friendships, mindfulness, reflecting on things that you are grateful for, reading a book or possibly listening to a podcast. IINTA MAGAZINE | WINTER SPECIAL 2022 | 160

Spirituality has different meanings for everyone. Some will associate spirituality with traditions, customs, and/or religion. These individuals will find solace in religious services or reading religious texts that feed their inner selves. Others find a deeper spiritual connection through nature, the arts, in one another or within themselves. Most often, people neglect to nurture their spirit. Humans tend to focus on mental and physical self-care, but fail to recall the spiritual self is in desperate need of care; hence why some lack the feeling of being at their best. Rachelle Williams from Chopra, recommends the need to nurture your spiritual side through the practice of Yoga, meditation, mindful walking, maintaining good clear

space (smudging and the power of scent), connecting with the community, journaling or by reading inspirational material. The important piece to remember from this, it that when we take the time to show ourselves, love, we are more capable to be available for those around us. We have a clearer perspective of the world around us, are better equipped to care for and help each other and have more energy to tackle life’s challenges with more confidence and with better judgement. Valentine’s day is around the corner so, before spreading love to others, make sure you love yourself first! This way, they can appreciate being around a happy, healthy you!

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CB WINE PROGRAM GROUNDHOG DAY By Douglas Landsborough

For no particular reason, we’ve been thinking about the movie Groundhog Day lately. It’s an interesting movie that can be interpreted in a few different ways. On the one hand, it can look like a horror movie: waking up to the same day, every day, with no hope of escaping the horrible time loop you’re stuck in. You slowly descend into insanity—and some people might be feeling like that these days.

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On the other hand, the movie lets the main character, Phil, indulge in a consequence-free life. While we don’t endorse people living as if there are no consequences, we do believe in indulging in something new. Learn ice sculpting! Take piano lessons! Drink some wine (especially this one)! If you haven’t seen it in a while, definitely give Groundhog Day another watch. This month, the wines we have are the exact same as last January. Just kidding. We actually have an incredible selection of some very expensive wines (with this month’s picks coming in at just over $250) from Dashe, a tiny yet excellent producer in California. Though small in size, Dashe is a fantastically pedigreed winery with vineyards in Sonoma and Mendocino. They’ve been named as one of Robert Parker’s favourite “under the radar” wineries and, unlike most other California wineries, exclusively make small batch, indigenous yeast fermented wines with very little fining or filtering. This month, we have three of their big reds for you, including an incredibly aromatic blend of seven grapes and a reserve release of the wine that started their entire operation, Dry Creek Zinfandel.

We also have included a very serious single vineyard Cabernet Franc that can be aged but, let’s be real, you should probably just open it. We hope these wines give you exactly what you need this month: transporting away from the daily repetition of life or, oppositely, just a little grounding. Most of all, we hope they help your January be a little lighter and happier.

Featured Wine #1 2017 Delta Reds A blend of seven grapes, this beautifully aromatic wine just sings from the glass. It is full of plush blackberry, raspberry and blackcurrant fruit quality that really couldn’t be from anywhere but California. Drink this bottle first. Vinification: 42% Carignan, 18% Mourvedre, 16% Teraldego, 15% Tannat, 5% Zinfandel, 2% Barbera, 2% Petite Sirah. Tasting Notes: Dark ruby robe, explosive nose of ripe black fruit, along with some tart red fruit like raspberry, redcurrant, and cranberry. This follows on the big, bold, and fruit filled palate. A lovely bright and big expression of California fruit quality. Food: Soft cheese, hard cheese, all cheese. Also great with burgers, grilled flank steak, green sauces,

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braised meat tacos, sandwiches, Sunday afternoons. Pork above all, especially with the sandos from our featured Sakai Bar. This wine has enough fruit to go with a range of dishes, including most Mexican plates. Cellaring: Will be fine for up to five years in the cellar, but we’d drink it soon.

Vinification: 90% Zinfandel, 10% Petit Syrah, picked in mid September, just before the wildfires. Aged for 14 months in French oak, 20% new. Tasting Notes: Dark purple robe with blackcurrant, cherry and chocolate on the nose, and a dense, concentrated palate of cassis, with notes of cacao and spice in the background. Velvet tannins. Food: Most meat or mushroom dishes would be great here, but we would go Southern BBQ above anything else. Cellaring: Can wait up to a decade in the cellar, but good luck waiting that long.

Featured Wine #3 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Let this bottle transport you back to the way wines used to be made. It is a rare California Cab with great acidity and balance, showcasing exactly how Mendocino County compares to Napa.

Featured Wine #2 2017 Dry Creek Reserve Zinfandel A complex and intense expression of Sonoma, this bottle is a beautiful blend of Zinfandel from 2017 from the winery’s two favourite vineyard in the region.

Vinification: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot. Very slow fermentation for almost a year in stainless steel with indigenous yeast, then 20 months in French oak, 30% new. Tasting Notes: Purple robe with blackberry, cassis, violets and black pepper on the nose.

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On the palate, cassis and black cherries give in to darker, earthier flavours and a lovely soft mid-palate. Finishes with fruit and black pepper. Food: Steak, mushrooms, anything grilled, game, and above all, lamb. Cellaring: Drink whenever you’d like over the next ten years; this wine is lovely now but is not getting worse. Want to try some of the most unique wines in the world? Just click here to learn more about the CB Wine Program.

Other Benefits for Members Working with the Cheese Boutique and Maître Fromager (Cheese Master) Afrim Pristine, the CB Wine Program puts together a selection of delicious cheeses every month, available to CB members for an exclusive discount. This month’s selection includes: Sliced Milano Salami, Sliced Bresaola, Sliced Prosciutto, 2 x Belgiosio Burrata, 200g Brebiou (soft sheep's milk cheese), 300g Piave (hard Northern Italian cooking cheese), 200g Chemin Hatley Road (beautifully textured Quebec farmstead cheese), 200g Moliterno with Red Wine (Complex Italian sheep's milk cheese), 1 Jar Garlic Dill Pickles, 1 Jar Cipolline Olives. Members of the CB Wine Program can get all of these incredible cheeses and accompaniments for

$125 (versus the $155 retail value) with free delivery in the GTA. For those interested, please email Julia at julia@Cheeseboutique.ca As always, the CB Wine Program wants to highlight some phenomenal local restaurants. It’s been a difficult time for restaurants, coffee shops and bars to navigate the pandemic, so we encourage you to order takeout and buy from local bottleshops. If you’re looking for some incredible pairings with this month’s wine, we cannot suggest Sakai Bar enough. Their Japanese comfort food is exactly what we need during this sort of weather. Take your pick from the menu, as all of it pairs well with the wines included this month.

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Sakai Bar is available for takeout through Ambassador, ThursdaySunday, 5:30-9:30pm, located at 1576 Dundas St. West.

Our other restaurant recommendations include: Le Swan is open for delivery through Ubereats and takeout through their website. 892 Queen St. West. Le Phénix is open for takeout six days a week (closed Wednesdays) with a great back patio at 1263 Queen St. West. 416-342-1587. Osteria Rialto has a great takeout menu posted online every Thursday for pickup Friday and Saturday. 1006a Bloor St W. Pompette has a beautiful weekly menu full of elegant French food and incredible wine available through Tock. 597 College St. Restaurant Pearl Morissette's new bakery, RPM Bakehouse is opening up in Jordan Station, Niagara, check their Instagram for hours.

Edulis has a perfect take home menu available through Tock. 169 Niagara St. Pizzeria Badiali has traditional takeout pizza every Wednesday to Sunday. 191 Dovercourt. Enoteca Sociale has a classic Roman takeout menu available on Tock, as well as offering delivery through Ambassador, Doordash, and Ubereats. Aloette has a classic French Bistro takeout menu available through Tock. 364 Adelaide St. West Bar Isabel has their iconic food, cocktails and wine available for pickup through their website. 797 College St. If you want to get your hands on incredible, exclusive bottles every month, sign up for the CB Wine Program. The wines curated from around the world are unlike anything you will find on store shelves, all at a discounted price through our program.

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PROUD SPONSORS PLAYING FOR CHANGE 2022 IN SUPPORT OF:

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