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Relationships and love are the most important parts of being human
OBraden Bristow, staff
ur relationships with others are the most important part of being human. I did not realize this until I was an adult. I enjoy writing, listening to music, learning new skills and numerous other hobbies or time wasters, but compared to the relationships I have with other people, they are meaningless.
The most important part of my life is my relationships with my friends, family and boyfriend. While I personally feel that romantic relationships are very powerful, there is no obligation to pursue romance exclusively. If you find com fort in friends and family but not a romantic partner, that is completely okay.
These kinds of relationships give meaning to human life, not just my own. Materialism, wealth, strong individualism and addiction to personal achievement are misdirected ways of finding meaning.
Now, enjoying a paycheque or the latest gadget does not mean you are failing at life, but pursuing those kinds of things instead of relationships will leave you empty. A big paycheque has never made me truly happy — though it is possible I just haven’t received one big enough yet. What has made me truly happy
is the time I’ve spent with my mom and dad, my friends and especially the time spent with my boyfriend, Tyler.
These relationships give me a reason to keep moving forward and keep living. I simply cannot imagine any kind
need — to form bonds with each other, and a lack of these connections is correlated to physical and mental health problems.
By being human, you are not only worthy of love but in need of love
of future where I am alone, or a world in which I am happy without the company of others. Platonic, romantic and familial relationships are the most beautiful parts of my life.
I would argue, with some measure of certainty, that those who claim that money or success is what drives them are fooling themselves. Studies have found that life satisfaction is significantly connected to a sense of community and belonging. People have an inherent need — yes,
Community ties are critical, and all communities are a network of relationships. If a network of relationships is critical to mental and physical well-being, then so are the relationships that make up that network. The fact of the matter is we cannot help but want to love each other.
In addition to the positive aspects of community and relationships there has also been research done on what happens when we lack relationships. Well-known sociologist Émile Durkheim found in his 1897 work Suicide that something as extreme as suicide is strongly correlated to a lack of integration in society. When we consider this, it puts
The casualties of modern dating
This Valentine’s Day, re-evaluate dating post-lockdown
Sarah Cohen, staff
Happy Valentine’s Day, Bisons. Whether you have a person by your side this year or not, remember that this holiday is about the love all around us.
I find that people I’ve known throughout the years, as well as people on social media, have used Valentine’s Day as a way of complaining about being single or about people in relationships.
Some have even dubbed it “single awareness day” as a way to snub those with a partner, which feels more like a day for self-pity than a day to enjoy the people around you, and that is really unfortunate. Having love in our lives is what we all long for. So, this Valentine’s Day if you find yourself single, take time to celebrate the less obvious loves in your life.
I’ve spent many Valentine’s Days not in a relationship, a couple with a partner and one or two wishing I was single, but this year is the first year I’ll be in the dating pool mid-February. I find myself doubting if dating in this post-lockdown era is even worth it.
I think dating should be a journey to find the person you
want to invest in, but modern dating in western countries is often online, dominated by hookup culture and is a process where no one lets anything happen naturally, among other things.
The pandemic restrictions left us trapped in quarantines and lockdowns during such a formative time in our social lives. Many of us graduated high school virtually and began university virtually.
We learned how to function solely as online beings. I know that I spent a year seeing only one or two people socially outside my family, and that was a commonality for others I know as well. I think that left a lot of my fellow gen-Zers with social anxiety.
Long gone are the days of passing notes in class, flirting with Starbucks baristas, meeting people in public or giving strangers your phone number. Welcome to the age of mindless motions of “hot or not” on Tinder, Hinge or Bumble. We’ve gone from When Harry Met Sally to The Tinder Swindler. The dating scene now is absolutely dominated by hookup culture. Hookup culture consists of sneaky links,
one-time or casual encounters or people that genuinely will do anything to add another name to the list. I’m all for sexual freedom, but the difference between sex and dating should not be a blurred line. Dating now is almost entirely hookup culture with a socially acceptable title.
I went on dating sites after picking myself up from being completely blindsided in an intense breakup. I thought I would find a person here or there that would make me feel good. Instead, I was met with people hiding girlfriends back home and only looking for casual encounters, with very few making it past the first date.
I had the thought that perhaps if I put something on my Instagram story asking for people to pitch their best date idea, I’d take them up on it. Maybe it would convince me that dating could be different.
I think I expected that at least one of the suggestions would be my perfect first date, simple coffee and a walk or at least something that would make me think the person legitimately cared about making the date as good as it could be. That did not happen.
things in perspective. Regardless of who you are, you need others and there is nothing wrong with that. Love for others is the most beautiful part of being alive. If you focus your life on some kind of material gain or lone wolf mentality instead of relationships, you miss out on such a critical part of being human. If we have no one, then we have nothing.
This Valentine’s Day, and every day after, focus on what is important — friends, family, lovers, coworkers and any other person blessed to know you. Do not let yourself become consumed by material wealth or some other measure of value that people convince themselves is critical to their self-worth. By being human, you are not only worthy of love but in need of love.
I had the thought that maybe I needed to lower my expectations, but we shouldn’t lower our expectations for anyone. This experience and experiment has only reinforced all of my reasons to dislike modern dating. So, I deleted Tinder, I deleted Hinge and I left things open for the universe to decide.
Additionally, I think that social anxiety mixed with the online approach has created a mindset that we are all entitled to someone. That entitlement turns into dismissing the best part of dating — the chase. When you feel that you are entitled to having a relationship, the thought that flirting goes beyond the first date flies out the window.
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have comes the idea that we are empty beings unless we have a person. That leads to rushing things and not letting emotional connections form, a situation that can become toxic quickly and leave us with trauma we never needed. I think that we would all end up happier and in healthier relationships if we left things to happen naturally, giving ourselves time to grow with people of interest. Some things are meant to be, others are not.
Buying someone flowers or standing with a boombox outside a person’s window to win them over is extinct. Or maybe it’s just my choice in men. Where did that chase go? Yet another reason why modern dating is seriously not worth it.
I’ve found that with the sense of entitlement some
If you’re feeling the way I am, I encourage you to do what I’ve done. Delete all the apps. Leave it up to the universe. When you are ready, whether you know it or not, the universe will put the person who makes your cheeks hurt from smiling into your life. Who knows, maybe they’re already there.
comment@themanitoban.com
Horoscopes for the week of Feb. 8
Romantic valentine tips for surviving life at the U of M
Damien Davis, staff ARIES
Your tarot card for the week is the Magician. You have the essence of a wise, experienced partner. Your working hands and kind smile reveal someone who knows that paying attention to detail makes all the difference. Strangers feel like they’ve known you their entire lives. You’re careful and precise in all forms. However, don’t allow yourself to be typecast. Being the master of something doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be taken care of, so allow the hands of someone else to run through your curls. Relinquish yourself just a little.
TAURUS
Your tarot card for the week is the Sun. Are you ashamed of wanting attention? There’s nothing wrong in wanting to be cared for and spoiled. This week, you’ll find yourself channelling celestial sensuality and paying respect to the spirits guiding you. It is the polite thing to do. Keep acorns by your window and honour the plants beneath the ice, they have wisdom for you. Sunflowers crave and face the sun even when they’re dying and so will your soulmate when you enter your classroom.
GEMINI
Your tarot card for the week is Strength. Ecstasy and liberation go hand-in-hand with this card. There is pleasure, joy, divinity and harmony in nurturing your body. Your dualities will strengthen each other: masculine and feminine, human and animal, earth and machine. When your fingers brush against another’s, the electricity in the air is real and it’s the universe spilling out of you. Some may not be able to handle a whole cosmos living inside a person, but were they ever worthy to see it in the first place?
’Toban Tips
CANCER
Your tarot card for the week is the High Priestess. People divulge their secrets to you all the time. They seek you out for comfort and advice, but do they ever get to know you? You might feel like the supporting role in someone else’s story. At the party you hold yourself like a longlost lover and catch glimpses of your reflection with bated breath. This week you’ll realize that the person who has carried you this far, recognized your beauty and tended to your wounds throughout the years has been you all along. Put honey in your coffee and let it carry you to kinder, sweeter and more whimsical horizons.
LEO
Your tarot card for the week is the Hanged Man. Pushing yourself to your limits appears like suffering to the untrained eye, but you know what you’re doing. The feeling of going farther than ever before consumes you. You’re chasing a feeling from the past that you can’t readily let go of. Blood rises to the surface. Remember — these violent delights have violent ends, but communication with those you let drink from your collar bones can change your fate.
VIRGO
Your tarot card for the week is the World. You are starting over; you are shedding off the negativity and hardships of past relationships and transitioning into the next phase of your life. You are celebrating this week. It’s time to dust off your dancing shoes, put on your gold jewelry and drink in the atmosphere of a room full of laughter and music. You are never truly alone on a dance floor and true to your Virgo nature, once you’ve set your mind on something — or someone — there’s no stopping you.
Valentine’s Day advice
Dear Toby, I have a massive crush on a boy who works at the Starbucks I go to every morning. Whenever I see him, I get nervous and I hope he’s looking at me too. Sometimes he takes my order and I feel the room stop! How do I talk to him? Is there a way for me to ask him out or see if he’s single without making him feel uncomfortable in his workplace? If he’s not interested, can I ever go back to that Starbucks?
Thank you, Crushed and concerned
Dear Crushed and concerned, There’s a chance he’s looking at you, too. If you are a regular at the coffee shop, then you can make some flirty small talk when you order or when you get your drink and work your way up to having some rapport with this barista. Then, if you’re feeling a reciprocating energy, you can offer your social media, or if you’re feeling brave, your phone number. You won’t know if he’s single until you ask, but if he’s taken, be respectful. And even if he isn’t interested, of course you can go back to that Starbucks! There is an element of confidence in that.
All the luck in the world, Toby the Bison
LIBRA
Your tarot card for the week is Justice. You are committed to perfect harmony and aren’t a believer in one-sided treatment. Do unto others what they do unto you. When kissed on the cheek, you kiss back. When gazed at with devotion, you gaze back. You do not love in a solo manner. While this has always been your strong suit, you need to make sure you’re giving yourself the time to simply live in the moment and enjoy the fruits fed to you without the worry of whether things are equal. Stop worrying about if it’s perfect. Start closing your eyes.
SCORPIO
Your tarot card for the week is the Awakening. Contrary to your scorpion nature, you love wholeheartedly and you drink up affection and flirtatious manners like someone starving in the desert. You crack pomegranates in half with your bare hands and offer them up like sacrifices to hungry gods. You are the definition of passion. It’s time, however, to try moderation. Don’t lose your passion, but know where and how to use it. You know how to control and steer a room, use that to harness the wild fever that runs through you when your eyelashes meet the sunlight.
SAGITTARIUS
Your tarot card for the week is the Lovers. It’s time to stop running. You’ve made it this long being satisfied with yearning from afar, with thinking that you’re not made for the long-term. You think that you pass through the night never being permanent in someone else’s life, but this is all untrue. Without even realizing it, you’ve started to unravel the red string tightly coiled within you. It’s made its way across the universe and tied itself around the wrist of someone who cannot wait to cherish the very air you breathe. Is it so wrong to take a journey as two, instead of one?
CAPRICORN
Your tarot card for the week is the Tower. You are feeling vulnerable, and while others may enjoy being at the whims of another, perhaps you’re having second thoughts. You understand that there’s no coming back from our choices, but that we can always make informed ones. Be sure that the person you’re giving your heart to has the decency to kiss it, flesh and all, without being a coward. Remember — anything can be a pact or declaration of loyalty if you give it that intention.
AQUARIUS
Your tarot card for the week is the High Priest. It’s natural to feel less experienced than others. Life does not go the same direction for everyone and some of us have had to make sacrifices that others haven’t. But you are not being left behind, waterbearer. You’re an adept learner, and despite what you may have been told love isn’t something you can fail at. Empathy and understanding, listening and paying attention, these are all traits that if harnessed allow you to see into the hearts of others just as easily as your peers. Don’t be nervous and don’t be afraid, drink from the cup knowing you can handle its potency.
PISCES
Your tarot card for the week is Wheel of Fortune. Make careful choices and take a few risks. Your ability to be open to the unknown benefits you greatly. Where others are afraid, you are thrilled. Fate and its seasons work in your favour and people are attracted to that. They can see the universe guiding you when you pass through the halls with confidence. Now is the time to self-explore — do you know yourself the same way future companions would? Or do you hide a piece of yourself so that you always have the upper hand? Basil was once considered a herb of love, sprinkle it on your meals for a helping hand if needed.
Dear Toby,
Since the pandemic began, I’ve found it difficult to get back into the dating pool. I feel like social anxiety is holding me back, but I really want to get back out there. What should I do?
Help,
Depressed romantic
Dear Depressed romantic, The pandemic certainly has made the dating scene an anxious playground. If you want to ease your way back into it, download a dating app or two. You could also put yourself out there and talk to people in public places. It may be easier if they are places you don’t frequent. When out,
try to express open and welcoming body language and a willingness for people to talk to you.
You can also try classes and activities centred around things you like to find like-minded people to connect with, which can help you get one step closer to finding your special person. If you want more thoughts on the topic, check out this week’s comment section!
Good luck, Toby the Bison
To ask Toby a question, email comment@themanitoban.com
The ’Toban staff’s super romantic Valentine’s Day picks
The best movies to cuddle up and watch with your sweetie
Moonstruck (1987)
While perhaps not the most conventional romcom, Moonstruck is by far my favourite. But how could it be conventional when the leads are Cher and Nicolas Cage?
The plot follows Cher’s widowed character, who becomes engaged to a bumbling fool before falling in love with her fiancé’s brother — played by Cage in one of his best roles of all time — while her fiancé is out of town.
What makes this film so special is how perfectly every character is cast, and the realness with which they are portrayed. In fact, it’s the authenticity of the performances — the genuine sarcasm, the one-liners, the Italian curses — that makes this film so great.
And, in my opinion, this film boasts one of the greatest supporting characters of all time, played by John Mahoney of Frasier fame. Though Moonstruck came out well before the Cheers spinoff sitcom, it is seeing Mahoney’s range going from playing the sleazy older professor who dates his young students in the film to the lovable, blue-collared Mar tin Crane in the tele vision series that for me, as his fan, show cases what a fantas tic actor he was.
From beginning to end, Moonstruck the comedy of real life.
Cher won an Academy Award for her performance, what more convincing does one need?
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride & Prejudice is one of the greatest adaptations of a classic novel in the modern era.
Starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, the film tells the timeless love story of the 1813 Jane Austen novel of the same name. Knight ley as Elizabeth Bennet and Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy must overcome their own pride and prejudices in order to fall in love.
High Fidelity (2000)
High Fidelity was recommended to me by my parents at a tender age, I think as a guide for pitfalls they wanted me to avoid. From the movie’s first line — “what came first, the music or the misery?” — I knew it knew something about me.
It is important to keep in mind, however, that while it seems like your stereotypical, run-of-the-mill male-oriented romance at the surface, Austen’s tales satirize the popular novels of sensibility from the time period.
The 2005 adaptation stays true to the purpose of the source material, depicting Darcy as an awkward, antisocial but incredibly wealthy oaf and poking fun at Mrs. Bennet’s obsession with the family’s social standing.
— Grace Anne Paizen, managing editor
The film depicts Elizabeth as a strong female lead working within the confines of class hierarchy that existed during the Regency era, something skillfully highlighted through set and costume design. Despite not behaving exactly as she should and not prioritizing love and marriage above all else, Elizabeth marries a wealthy man and achieves love without sacrificing her own values.
This Valentine’s Day, watch this gorgeous period piece that tells the story of a strong, independent woman (who thinks a little bit about falling madly in love sometimes).
— Gillian Brown, editor-in-chief
My fave, John Cusack stars as Rob, the curmudgeonly owner of Championship Vinyl in Chicago, Ill.
After a being dumped by a long-term partner, he reorganizes his record collection autobiographically — by the order in which he purchased them. This exercise in nostalgia causes him to wonder about all the women he left behind in his dating career.
On the advice of Bruce Springsteen, Rob sets about catching up with all his exes and going over what went wrong, discovering in the process that (shocker) he was the problem all along!
What follows is all heartwarming personal growth, Jack Black being silly and deep cut music references that would impress even the staunchest of snobs. It’s a real delight and perfect viewing for lonely hipsters this Valentine’s Day.
— Alex Braun, arts and culture editor
Bros (2022)
When I went with my boyfriend to see Bros I expected a gay comedy that copy and pasted the typical romantic comedy formula but swapped the sexuality. But it defied my expectations more than once, and while it didn’t break the mold, it was worth the run time.
The film pays its respect to the numerous 2SLGBTQIA+ subcultures, identities and sexualities while also manag ing to, at times, meaningfully reflect on the culture itself. These reflections and in-jokes are much more appreciated if one is actually a part of the homo sexual under ground, so to speak.
While the main romantic pair of Bobby and Aaron have a genu inely engaging relationship dynamic, the film suffers from romantic comedy tropes that you will either love or hate. Namely, initial falling in love, then conflict and finally beautiful resolution.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
The classic romcom How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days gives some unconventional advice on what not to do in the dating world.
The plot of this film follows magazine columnist Andie and advertising specialist Ben. Andie bets a friend that she can lose a guy in 10 days based off her previous failures, and Ben bets that he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days.
The film also tackles topics such as monogamy, prejudice, masculinity and sexuality. Which, to the films credit, are not often touched upon in hetero romcoms.
2022’s Bros is a pretty decent gay romantic comedy. From the outset, the film seems cynical and self-aware. However, through periods of sincere self-reflection on romance and more than one raunchy sex scene, Bros finds its footing.
— Braden Bristow, columnist
Although these methods seem to get Andie her dream guy at the end, they would not be applicable in today’s world. Unless of course you want to create some real life rom-
Andie gives Ben stuffed animals, fakes vegetarianism, gifts Ben a “love fern” and buys him a puppy, while Ben decides to put up with these unconventional practices because his ego is bigger than his
So, would this work in today’s complicated dating world, outside of the alternate realm of romcom films?
The short answer is: most likely not. No romantic relationship can take off if ego is prioritized over legitimate feelings.
Long story short, be yourself. Don’t force anything this Valentine’s Day. The right person will fall for your crazy antics, even if they involve a love fern.
—
Ashley Puchniak, news reporter
’Toban tracks — Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?
Tunes for Bisons casting love spells this Valentine’s Day
RDamien Davis, staff
omantic comedies are often considered the quintessential Valentine’s Day films.
Stories about couples meeting, falling in love, engaging in some shenanigans and finding their way to a happy ending. It’s a straightforward formula.
While this isn’t a bad thing and I think that romcoms get a little too much hate, I would argue that it reinforces a long-standing tradition of Valentine’s Day being cheesy and lighthearted when it holds the potential to be so much darker and romantic than that — more magical.
Anna Biller’s The Love Witch is always on my mind when this season comes around. It’s a film that encapsulates an atmosphere of obsession, sensuality, desire, cravings, darkness and, of course, witchcraft.
Halloween isn’t the only
day for casting spells and summoning spirits. Why can’t Valentine’s Day be another holiday with whimsy and mystique?
People create love spells around this time, buy charms and amulets to attract potential suitors and even wear certain crystals just to increase their likelihood of securing a date.
There’s something so old world and mystical about the whole concept of people lighting candles and channeling something from beyond to bring them closer to love, and I think that’s what’s missing from Valentine’s Day. We have to put the romance back in “necromancy.”
This playlist was made with these themes in mind, as well as the fact that there can only be so many playlists about magic that feature Stevie Nicks and Lana Del Rey.
So for a fresher listening experience, I brought
’Toban cornertable
some electronic and alternative tracks into the picture. From Cocteau Twins ethereal vocals, to the desperation in Yves Tumor screaming its devotion against the backdrop of one of the most ridiculous guitar solos on the album Heaven To A Tortured Mind, this is an ode not just to The Love Witch but to everyone who needs a little magic in their love life this week.
So, whether it’s for summoning a soulmate from beyond the grave or getting ready for a date, enjoy getting lost in some dreamy, romantic, whimsical and obsessive tracks.
Sea, Swallow Me — Cocteau Twins, Harold Budd, The Moon and the Melodies Genesis Grimes, Visions Road Head Japanese Breakfast, Soft Sounds from Another Planet Kerosene! Yves Tumor, Heaven To A Tortured Mind
Joshua Whitehead — Making Love with the Land
Jessie Krahn, staff
I like Valentine’s Day because it gives me an excuse to watch people talk about their loved ones. Their eyes start to rove around the room as they smile a little in spite of themselves and their shoulders relax. People are endearing when they talk about what is dear to them.
But the loves we celebrate at this time of year tend to rest around the same temperature — hot, heavy and romantic. Feb. 14 ought to be a time for us to celebrate all kinds of loves, past and present.
After making waves with Jonny Appleseed in 2018, Treaty 1 storyteller Joshua Whitehead’s latest virtuosic collection of essays Making Love with the Land certifies his visionary capacities while paying tribute to a variety of great loves in the writer’s life.
Part tribute to a love postbreak-up and part generous disclosure of the storyteller’s journey to self-love, Making Love is a pensive assemblage of many of Whitehead’s cherished memories with people he loves.
Essay collections can be Frankensteinian in their make-up, often lassoing scattered published and unfinished pieces across an author’s life and ordering
them together as loosely related opinion writing. But Whitehead’s essays cohere in style and subject, not just as afterthoughts piled together.
The essays also entirely sidestep divisions between fiction and nonfiction, and deploy an authorial voice of many attitudes rather than a monolithic one.
At times intimately confessional and at others just saucy, the voice brings the reader into confidence about everything from his reservations in private conversations to his euphoric connection to his two-spirit identity, as well as ongoing bereavements for loves long lost.
Making Love’s prose periodically drifts into a verselike place and back again throughout. The result is a breathtakingly lyrical style that doesn’t just flow but soars through Whitehead’s ruminations. The collection begins with this musicality at the fore. The first paragraph in the opening essay “Who Names the Rez Dog Rez?” needs to be read aloud to let its rhythm breathe fully and to appreciate the alliteration spilling out of every line.
This musicality and detail in Whitehead’s writing extends to the multiple languages of Making Love. The
book switches between Cree romanizations, syllabics and English often within single sentences.
“A Geography of Queer Woundings” in particular bubbles with Cree vocabulary and hops so quickly between languages that new words started to hold meaning for me not long after they were introduced.
As the inclusion of Cree romanizations suggests, Making Love’s bilingualism invites non-Indigenous — particularly white settler — readers to grasp the opportunity to learn and understand Indigenous languages and cultures outside of colonial languages.
While Whitehead’s focus is often joyful, colonialism stains many treasured memories.
In “My Body Is a Hinterland” Whitehead describes bringing his partner to Gimli, Man. as a way of sharing the dearer parts of Treaty 1 with him. What ought to have been a romantic evening is spoiled as the pair overhear other patrons at a bar making queerphobic and racist comments.
After that, Whitehead describes the poisonous amount of bird excrement in the nearby lake, resulting from flocks of gulls attracted to fishermen’s garbage. The
Me and Your Mama Childish Gambino, “Awaken, My Love!”
Gotham Love BAKGROUND, LT-GLOBE-XXX
Give Me a Reason Boy Harsher, The Runner (Original Soundtrack)
Nightcall — Kavinsky, Nightcall
Romanticist — Yves Tumor, Heaven To A Tortured Mind
Scorpio — Mareux, Scorpio Can you kiss me first — College, Teenage color EP Polycephaly — Doon Kanda, Polycephaly
arts@themanitoban.com
author likens his body to the lake and the bigotry he has experienced to feces.
The reek of scat — ongoing colonial violence — can’t be ignored, and likewise the motif of crap runs throughout the collection.
However, the love Whitehead’s authorial voice holds for his culture, community and even himself makes life not only survivable but joyful.
“My Aunties Are Wolverines” is a powerful description of Whitehead’s grief in the wake of one of his matriarchs’ passing that wells up with a deep and abiding love for his late aunt.
The book offers the best experience the creative essay genre can give too — a feeling of connection with a kindred spirit.
Making Love has the precise focus of a documentary. Whitehead notates the most minute slices of his life into little histories with an attention to detail that weaves readers completely into the fabric of the writer’s inner world. The result is a multi-dimensional, highly sympathetic and profoundly human point of view.
“The Year in Video Gaming,” for example, is a reassuring testimonial on the normality of forming deep and
medicinal attachments to Fire Emblem characters.
From long-term weather-worn residents of Manitoba to insomniac grad students, to anyone who has been subject to an ekphrastic exercise — writing poetry about art — in a writing workshop, Making Love extends a hand to a diverse audience.
The final essay in the collection briefly touches on one terrible Valentine’s Day Whitehead experienced post-break up, but like the rest of Making Love the essay gestures to the expansive possibilities for love and life beyond single romantic relationships without succumbing to cynicism toward romantic love altogether.
Making Love breaks the boundaries of genre, showing Whitehead’s breadth as a writer and a focused, unwaning voice.
It is at once a generous memoir, a critical intervention and a compendium of Indigenous knowledge wrapped in symphonic ecstasies.
Making Love with the Land is available at major retailers.
The herd hosted the Jim Daly Bison Classic this Feb. 3 and 4 at Max Bell Centre.
As a whole, the meet was very successful. Many Bison athletes earned new season bests or personal bests.
The meet started on Friday with the Bison relays absolutely dominating this yearly track classic, which included the 4x200 metre. The women had the third fastest time for the 4x200 in the Canada West Conference (CanWest).
Saturday afternoon was a chance for the track and field team to improve its standings, and to earn personal bests on home turf. With the Bisons hosting this meet, the herd was looking for podium finishes on home soil.
With both the men and women ranking in the top ten in the U-Sports rankings, the expectations continue to mount going into the upcoming Canada West Championships at the end of February.
The men are currently ranked second in the U-Sports standings, with 65.5 points and the women are ranked
ninth with 27 points, just one point shy of the Dalhousie University Tigers who are currently in eighth place.
Rachel Mann, who competed in the 60-metre hurdles for the U of M, said, “the team as a whole did really well, pretty much everyone had a season’s best or personal best.”
Indeed, going forward the team has all the momentum it needs to continue to climb the U-Sports rankings.
As the end of the track and field season fast approaches, the team looks fierce in both the individual and group races.
When it comes to shot put there’s none better than Anna McConnell, who has reached and even out-performed the national standard, frequently throwing over 14 metres, with an outstanding 14.44 metre best.
Overall, the track and field team continued to impress with Chioma Nwagbo ranked tenth in U-Sports and fourth in the CanWest Conference for the Women’s 600 metre race.
Mann went on to add, “our relays, we have a really strong
“The team as a whole did really well, pretty much everyone had a season’s best or personal best”
— Rachel Mann, Bisons track and field team
pool, and we have pretty much in every event, we should have one or two people in finals.”
With the U of M men’s team currently sitting third in the U-Sports rankings for the 4x200 men’s relay, as well as the women currently sitting in ninth place in the U-Sports 4x200 metre standings, it’s safe to say expectations will be high for both the men’s and women’s teams in this much-anticipated event.
Another notable duo from this year’s track and field roster is Dawson Mann and Tristan Allen, who currently rank fourth and fifth for the men’s 600 metre race, boasting individual times of 1:18.25 for Mann and 1:18.47 for Allen.
With the U of M working hard to dominate both track and field events, the herd is set for a blazing finish to this track and field season as it ends.
Sports fans can continue to cheer on the herd as the track and field team looks forward to the CanWest Championships on Feb. 24 and 25 in Saskatchewan.
The herd will try to improve their rankings this week at the South Dakota State University Invitational from Feb. 10 to 11.
sports@themanitoban.com
Bisons series with Wesmen ends in draw
Redemption’s the word as women’s volleyball team ace matinee
O
Joshua Brandt, staff
n Feb. 2, the U of M women’s volleyball team made the short cross-town trip to the Duckworth Centre to take on its bitter rival, the University of Winnipeg Wesmen.
Going into the match, the herd were on a roll, having won six games in a row.
Out of the gate, the Wesmen nabbed the first two sets to take a 2-0 lead, looking for the sweep.
However, the Bisons stormed back to take the third set 25-18.
Ultimately, that would be the only set the herd would win, as the Wesmen prevailed in the fourth to take the game 3-1, ending the Bisons’ six game winning streak.
The statistical leaders for the herd on Feb. 2 were Julia Arnold, who collected 20 digs, Katreena Bentley who dished out 37 assists, Ella Gray who blocked five Wesmen attacks and rookie Raya Surinx who recorded 11 kills.
The game at home on Feb. 4, however, was a different story altogether.
The Bisons thundered out to an early 1-0 lead, snatching the first set 25-18 with relative ease.
At one point in the second set, the Bisons trailed the Wesmen 19-13. But a prudent time out call and the savvy substitution of Light Uchechukwu into the game facilitated the Bisons’ 29-27 comeback victory in thrilling back and forth action.
In the third and final set, the Bisons steamrolled a defeated Wesmen squad 25-19 to take the match 3-0 and improve its record to 13-7.
With the victory, head coach Ken Bentley also picked up win number 1,100 with the Bisons.
When asked if the team plays with extra motivation against a rival like the Wesmen, Bison second-year Eve Catojo said, “it’s really ingrained in our team philosophy to stay even keel,” and that “we’re not playing the team, we’re playing the rotation and the number, so it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the net, we’re playing everyone the same.”
Catojo was named player of the match, recording five kills, three blocks and an assist, making her presence felt in the middle.
However, she was swift to point out that individual awards are only reflective of team success, stating, “it’s not a one-man show, it’s volleyball.”
Alongside Catojo, Arnold was also a key performer in Saturday’s match.
itioned heading into the playoffs. The top eight teams make the playoffs, and the team currently resides in sixth place in the Canada West Conference (CanWest) standings, coming in at 13-7.
practice is perfect and everything is done with intensity and intention.”
“It’s a good environment to be in, you know, the pressure’s on so we’ve got to really perform,” she said.
Bison briefs
Joshua Brandt, staff Bisons hockey
On Feb. 3 and 4, in the thick of a tightly contested race for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Canada West Conference, the U of M men’s hockey team lost two critical games against the first place University of Calgary Dinos.
On Feb. 3, the herd lost 5-1, with Winnipeg native Hayden Ostir tallying its only goal. On Feb. 4, the team managed to close the gap a touch, losing 5-3 instead. Scoring a hat-trick on Feb. 4. — and the sole goal scorer over the weekend — for an aggregate total of four goals in two games, Ostir should quite possibly consider a career in paleontology after he’s through with hockey, as Dinos seem to suit his talents.
Mired in eighth place, the herd has two games left in the regular season.
To qualify for the playoffs, the Bisons will need to win at least one game against the second place University of Alberta Golden Bears. The Bisons play the Golden Bears this weekend, Feb. 10 and 11, at home.
Along with a victory of its own, the herd will need some external aid. The University of Regina Cougars and the MacEwan University Griffins must also lose both their remaining games for the herd to make the playoffs.
The women’s team also played the Dinos over the weekend — at home in frigid Manitoba.
The results of the women’s team’s games were similar to the men’s, in that the herd lost both.
On Feb. 3, the Bisons did put up a stiff challenge, leading the game 2-1 at one point with Ashley Keller notching her third of the season, before ultimately losing 3-2.
On Feb. 4, it was not the Dinos, but the herd’s offence that went extinct, as the team lost 4-0.
The top four teams in CanWest will also host playoff games beginning Feb. 24. The Bisons trail the Wesmen and the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades, who sit fourth and fifth respectively, each with a record of 14-6.
“It’s not a one man show, it’s volleyball” — Eve Catojo, Bisons women’s volleyball team
“I did everything I could out there to help my team win,” Catojo said.
Arnold duplicated her dig output on Feb. 2, once again scrounging up 20 Wesmen attacks, many of which in the spectacular one-armed lunge style.
Catojo praised Arnold’s excellent performance, saying, “I just love playing with her.”
The Bisons are well pos-
Catojo said the mindset for the team heading into the last two weekends of the regular season is “basically just nose to the grindstone.”
She emphasized that the team is focused on “making sure every play that we do in
Investors Group Athletic Centre has been a fortress for the Bisons this season, as the team boasts an extraordinary 11-0 record when playing at home.
The team’s prowess at home makes securing a home playoff match all the more important.
The herd’s next games are Feb. 10 and 11 against the Fraser Valley Cascades at Investors Group Athletic Centre.
sports@themanitoban.com
Unlike the men’s team, whose playoff wick has nearly been smothered, the women’s playoff hopes are still smoldering.
The seventh place Bisons play the second place University of Alberta Pandas in Edmonton on Feb. 10 and 11. To make the playoffs, the herd must win at least one game.
Although both the women’s and the men’s team have slim odds of making the playoffs, Bisons hockey supporters should channel the words of Jim Carrey: “so you’re telling me there’s a chance!”
