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Good tunes for good food Rocking for a Cause concert a sophomore smash hit
Mikaela Warkentin, staff
F or the second year in a row, the U of M community has come together to raise funds and awareness for the UM food bank. Rocking With A Cause fell on Valentine’s Day this year.
UMSU president Prabhnoor Singh expressed gratitude for the food bank- “oftentimes when we’re pursuing postsecondary education, we have to worry about tuition costs, textbook costs, making rent. Because of that, food oftentimes is something that we don’t prioritize.” Through the foodbank, Singh shared, many U of M students get fed.
Jane Lastra has been running the food bank since the early 1990s, and has been able to see the community
service grow into what it is today. “When I started” shared Lastra, “my vision was this.”
With the concert in its sophomore year, making the event happen was no small feat but Lastra expressed that the wider Winnipeg community has stepped up, even to the point where the annual concert is outgrowing the John J. Conklin Theatre on campus. “It’s never ending, and we’re gonna go bigger. We need a bigger place” shared Lastra.
The U M Food Bank is located in room 518 in University Centre , and is open to all UM and ICM students. For more information, visit https:// umanitoba.ca/financial-aidand-awards/u-m-food-bank
PHOTOS BY ANTHONY NARDELLA / VOLUNTEER STAFF
LINZLE
HAMMY AND EMILY
UMSU presidential candidates
Incumbent executive and returning candidate vie to become 102nd president
Roy Albright Obah & Nafisah Al Lilo, staff
T
wo candidates are vying to succeed UMSU president Prabhnoor Singh, who is not seeking another term. This year’s presidential hopefuls are familiar faces in UMSU politics.
Heaven Kaur
Fourth-year biological sciences student Heaven Kaur is running to be the next UMSU president. Kaur currently serves as vicepresident, university affairs, and previously held the role of women’s representative.
Kaur said she is seeking the presidency to continue projects she began during her time in office. “Being elected as the next UMSU president would allow me that opportunity to finish the work that is in progress,” she said, pointing to her experience in “different leadership positions” and “different advocacy roles” as preparation for the role.
Transparency, she noted, is central to her approach. “I want to ensure that students know what work I’m doing,” Kaur said, referencing advocacy updates she shared this year and her plan to host “monthly townhalls” to give students the opportunity to connect directly with elected
officials.
Kaur raised the idea of a central database for course syllabi to help students make informed decisions and emphasized campus safety as a priority.
Kaur envisions her tenure to be “empowered, informed and connected.”
Fatima Shabir
Fatima Shabir is a science student running for UMSU
president.
Entering the presidential race for the second consecutive year, Shabir said her campaign is driven by growing frustration among students over rising fees and a perceived lack of visible results.
One of the main reasons she is running is that “students are paying more in fees than ever and they still do not feel like there are any visible results,” she said,
Shabir noted that conversations with students across campus often centre on the same concerns, including daily costs, access to study spaces and lounges, affordable textbooks and food prices. Shabir said many students feel disconnected from the union and want to see tangible change. “When we say a union, it’s supposed to unite us all rather than just being an organization sitting there,” she said.
Should she be voted into office, she hopes students will feel they can turn to UMSU with their concerns and “actually feel like there’s something changing there.”
Shabir added that her focus is not the title of the position itself, but ensuring that changes benefit “all students, not just a few.”
Shabir said she wants “to fix UMSU itself, and put more of the funding itself into student life.”
FATIMA SHABIR
HEAVEN KAUR
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKE
UMSU vice president university affairs candidates
Candidates outline priorities on policy, access and advocacy
Roy Albright Obah & Nafisa Al Lilo, staff
Harishan Kaur Bahara
Harishan Kaur Bahara is aspiring toward the global political economy program and is running for the position of vice president, university affairs.
Bahara is “passionate about governance, policy and overall diplomacy.” She believes everyone wants to see change and whether at minor or major scales, “if you want to see these [changes], you should be the one making them happen.”
She believes she is fit for the position due to her accumulated experiences. “I have specifically had a focus in education and policy […] I worked with our ministers of education to look at how policies are shaping our classrooms,” Bahara said.
She plans to achieve in
five major areas. The areas range from AI integrations in academics to re-strengthening student housing to campus security and to “decompression spaces”. Overall, her intended policies will be centered around “a physically and emotionally safe and welcoming environment” for students.
Bahara said her tenure would be characterized by “clarity, productivity and energy.”
She added, “I am really passionate about keeping students at the centre of every single thing that’s being discussed in the university.”
One fun thing about Bahara is that she bakes and loves to do art.
Grace Elendu
Grace Elendu is a thirdyear criminology student with
a minor in psychology who currently serves as president of the Pre-Law Society.
Elendu is running for vice president university affairs because she “strongly believes in advocacy, one that has a genuine connection with students.”
She emphasized that such leadership should not be “just a face,” but rooted in “an actual genuine attachment with students.”
A key priority for Elendu is expanding access to highdemand summer courses.
“I think we can all relate to wanting the courses that we need,” she said, adding that she hopes to work with the administration to improve course availability.
In three words, she envisions her term to be characterized by “results, connection and advocacy.”
Describing herself as “an action person” she added, “I want to show you results at the end of my tenure.”
Outside of student government, Elendu plans to attend law school after completing her degree. She enjoys writing poetry and reading and co-hosts The Black Experience podcast, which she described as “a virtual safe space for Black students on campus.”
Caris Pittman
Caris Pittman is a thirdyear political science student minoring in economics and running for vice-president university affairs. Inspired by peers involved in student governance, including the judicial board and faculty associations, she views the role as a continuation of her
campus involvement. Her campaign focuses on accessibility, transparency and advocacy. “I want to make operations [clearer] and concise for students, I believe students shouldn’t have to do hundreds of documents like I have,” she added. Pittman wants to review accessibility policies and work toward clearer processes for students accessing services. She hopes to simplify operational documents and explore translating materials into other languages. Pittman aims to work with administration to adjust polices she believes could have meaningful impact. She described her envisioned term as, “actionable, busy and fun.” Pitman also loves reading and writing.
HARISHAN KAUR BAHARA GRACE ELENDU
CARIS PITTMAN
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKE THIESSEN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
Vice-president external affairs candidates
Peters and Pinheiro detail external affairs priorities
Roy Albright Obah & Arifah Gheesah, staff
Aiden Peters
Aiden Peters is a secondyear student studying economics. Peters is running for vice president, external affairs.
“I’m very involved on campus, or at least I try to be,” Peters said. He is the vice president of the economics society and is involved with the Indigenous Students Association.
Peters is running for this position because he believes there are two ways of approaching government in the position of external affairs – as a really good friend or from an angle of pressuring them.
“Poke wherever you can to get your policies through [...] that’s sort of what I believe are ideal method for dealing with the government should be,” he explained.
Peters has also been part of organizations like the Youth Parliament of Manitoba, and he believes he knows how to navigate political systems quite well.
Peters has three main things he hopes to accomplish. Provincially, he wants to achieve a tuition freeze. Municipally, he wants to advocate for bus routes that are convenient for students. “I think that [...] especially late at night at the campus too [...] there’s not really much bus service.”
Federally, he wants to continue working with
Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) to deal with student aid and grant programs.
Peters envisions his tenure as “protest, consistence and collaborative.” He said, “I’d like to work a lot with other student unions, especially across Manitoba.”
Peters enjoys debating, biking and music.
Vivian Pinheiro
Vivian Pinheiro is a secondyear global political economy student running for vicepresident external affairs.
She currently serves
as a student senator and previously worked in an MLA’s office, where she gained experience in policy development and community engagement.
“Over the past year, I’ve gained a lot of experience in policy, in student government and understanding politics as a whole,” Pinheiro said. She believes the role would allow her to “bridge the gap between what students face […] and public decision-making.”
Transit reliability is a key focus of her campaign. Pinheiro said she has heard from students who miss classes, labs and exams due
to overcrowded or cancelled buses.
She hopes to strengthen collaboration with city partners to address the issue. “Thousands of U of M students use […] bus transit every day,” she said, adding that it is a concern that affects both students and the broader community.
Pinheiro also plans to advocate for the restoration of international student healthcare, which was cut in 2018. She said coordinated provincial advocacy and collaboration with other postsecondary institutions would be essential to keeping the
issue on the government’s agenda. “It is very important to always highlight and […] show real data, show real reasons why this is very important,” she said.
Beyond these priorities, Pinheiro cited cost-ofliving concerns, tuition predictability and renter protections as important issues.
She described her leadership approach in three words, “experience, strategy and momentum,” and emphasized that “continuity is very important.”
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
AIDEN PETERS
VIVIAN PINHEIRO
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN STAFF
UMSU vice president, student life candidates
Adeoti, Chokr, Rajesh vie for student life representative position
Roy Albright Obah & Arifah Gheesah, staff
Deborah Adeoti
Third-year Deborah Adeoti is a computer science student who described herself as a candidate with “limitless potential.”
Adeoti said the quest to see change and the need to take on that task motivated her to run for this position.
Adeoti’s main goal is to enhance the student experience at the university. “I hope to accomplish creating the best university student life that the students could possibly wish for,” she said.
When asked to describe her envisioned term in three words, Adeoti said “inspiring, different and limitless.”
Hussein Chokr
Hussein Chokr is a secondyear student hoping to study
business and is an executive member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Chokr said he wants “to create […] a community where voices of the students are heard and actionable items are taken for.” He added that his campaign slogan is “your voice, our campus” but mentions that “it goes beyond […] just listening to people, actionable items have to happen.”
A key priority for Chokr is reforming the student group reimbursement process.
He said he understands “how difficult it could be for students to get their reimbursements back,” citing concerns about long wait times and lack of clarity.
He also pointed to instances where student groups have faced funding challenges, calling such situations
“completely unacceptable.”
If elected, Chokr said he would work to simplify reimbursement procedures and prioritize one-on-one meetings with community and faculty representatives so they “feel supported”. He described his envisioned tenure as: “fun, busy, and accomplishing.”
Chokr expressed his readiness to support students so they “feel welcomed on their campus.”
Manasa Rajesh
Manasa Rajesh is an English major and an aspiring teacher who is running for vice president student life. Rajesh is running for this position as she has witnessed the lack of consistent support that students receive.
“As someone who’s been
part of faculty associations, community groups and student clubs, I’ve seen how differently each of them operate and the kind of support they need in order to succeed,” she said.
“I think I’m the best candidate for this because I can advocate for all the student groups and not just one.”
If she gets voted into office, her main focus would be faculty-based networking. “I aim to create networking events in collaboration with various faculties so students can connect with professors, professionals and mentors, and they can also carry these connections well into their future.”
Additionally, she wants to create monthly student townhalls, and push for a stronger mental health
campaign. This is to close the noticed gap between students and student leadership, according to Rajesh.
In three words, she envisions her term as being accountable, approachable and following through with my wants.
Rajesh enjoys dancing. She has been learning Bharatanatyam since she was three and a half years old. She likes to practice once in a while as it reminds her of home.
DEBORAH ADEOTI
HUSSEIN CHOKR
MANASA RAJESH
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKE THIESSEN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKE THIESSEN / STAFF
UMSU vice president, finance and operations candidates
Most-contested race focuses on finance, transparency and support
Roy Albright Obah, Arifah Gheesah & Nafisa Al Lilo, staff
This year’s UMSU vicepresident, finance and operations (VPFO) race has the most candidates of any executive position, with four students competing for the role. Each has outlined distinct priorities focused on transparency, revenue growth and student financial support.
Ameenat Arogundade
Ameenat Arogundade is a finance student from Asper school of business, vying for the VPFO position.
Arogundade is the current VPFO of the Black Students Community and she believes she helped make solid impacts by joining the community. “I believe I’m ready for a bigger role to impact the students more positively,” she said.
Arogundade hopes to accomplish more transparency should she be voted into office. “Not everyone is financially savvy, so [my goals are] making sure everyone truly understands exactly where the money
is going to and focusing on also student groups and communities who tend to be less advantageous on the financial side.”
In three words, she described her term as “responsible, student-voiced and capable.”
Arogundade enjoys swimming, watching movies and is interested in startup businesses and numbers.
Kai Jassal
Kai Jassal is an economics and econometrics honours student, also running for the position of VPFO.
According to Jassal, he has gained experience working on provincial and federal political campaigns. He has also been “an executive on two different U of M student clubs as well as an executive at a different university”
Jassal is campaigning on an eight-point platform, divided between finance and operations. His priorities include increasing UMSU
revenue, lowering student costs and expanding services available to students.
His proposals include creating a strategic plan to own University Centre, expanding MSC criteria to include subscriptions and introducing a free lunch program.
Neha Saru Magar
Neha Saru Magar, another candidate for this position, is a student at the Asper school of business studying finance. She takes delight in “connecting with people and building community.”
Magar believes “student dollars should directly support student success.” She is convinced her experience in the financial field makes her the right candidate for the position.
“With experience in research, data analysis and student leadership, I understand budgets, assess long-term sustainability and make supportive financial
decisions for the community,” she said.
If voted into office, Magar said she plans “to protect and strengthen scholarships and bursaries, improve accessibility for hardship funding and club grants, advocate firmly for students in U-PASS and health and dental negotiations and prioritize food security initiatives such as the UM Food Bank.”
In three words, Magar envisions her term in office as “responsible, student-support and student first.”
She expressed her understanding of the financial pressures students face. Magar’s goal, she said, is “to ensure strong support for the students on those realities.”
Cameron Provost
Cameron Provost, also running for this position, is a commerce student majoring in finance and marketing. He would like to run for VPFO as he has “seen a lot of things he would like to change at
UMSU”. He was previously an UMSU board director on the finance committee.
Should he be voted into office, Provost would like to implement ESG reporting — sustainable accounting practices which account for positive and negative externalities of UMSU activities. He would also like to reinvest most of UMSU’s free cash into bursaries and scholarships, student organizations and risk-free investments.
Provost mentioned he wants to make UMSU’s investments more transparent and make information a lot more accessible and readable for the general public.
Provost envisions his term with the words “accountability, transparency and sustainability.”One fun thing about Provost is that he plays hockey and rides his motorcycle.
AMEENAT AROGUNDADE KAI JASSAL
NEHA SARU MAGAR
CAMERON PROVOST
PHOTO BY MIKE THIESSEN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKE THIESSEN / STAFF
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NEHA SARU MAGAR
February 23 to March 4
Monday to Friday 1st Floor, UMSU University Centre
Are
If the ALUMO Plan is discontinued, are you in favour of UMSU implementing the UMSU Legal Program at a reduced total cost of $5 per student per year?
UMSU community representative candidates
Nine candidates vie for key community representative roles
Roy Albright Obah, Arifah Gheesah & Nafisah Al Lilo staff
BLACK STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE
Shumirai Marangwanda
Marangwanda is a secondyear political science honours student running unopposed.
Having had “the opportunity to work in spaces that [...] uplift Black people,” Marangwanda hopes to “encourage Black intellectualism and academic thought,” through this position.
Maragwanda believes she is capable of serving in this position because of her goal getter attitude and highlighting she has her community’s interest at heart.
Marangwanda also intends to embark on the promotion of Black entrepreneurship and innovation.She further seeks to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of the Black community. She said, “We exist in so many different ethnicities and cultures, and I want to celebrate that to the greatest extent that I can.”
Marangwanda added, “positions like this require people who are motivated not because they want to be seen [or] they’re looking to fulfil their resume but because they genuinely find the work fulfilling, and I find the work fulfilling.”
She foresees her term as one that will be “innovative, ambitious and communitydriven.”
ACCESSIBILITY COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE
Audita Zaman
Audita Zaman is a thirdyear student majoring in physics.
Zaman said her lived experience within the accessibility community has shaped her decision to step forward and run for this position.
“I’ve been in this community for longer than a year now,” Zaman said. “I understand the importance of being seen, heard and [represented.]”
If elected, Zaman hopes to organize more events tailored specifically for students with disabilities, particularly those with invisible disabilities who she says are often overlooked in broader initiatives. She said inclusive programming is essential to building a stronger campus community.
Outside of student leadership, Zaman is a professional dancer who performs on and off campus. She previously studied engineering before switching to physics last year.
Kristen Nguyen
Kristen Nguyen is a secondyear labour studies major who hopes to become a legal luminary.
Nguyen said accessibility is “more than just a policy issue,” describing it as deeply personal.
“As a student with a mental disability and also
a neurological disability, I have experienced firsthand navigating the university accommodation and support,” Nguyen said. She explained that she understands where these systems are beneficial and where they fall short. Nguyen pointed to strict deadlines within accessibility services as one of the barriers students face. She noted that when students miss the twoweek sign-up requirement for exams with accommodations, they are often told, “It is the [procedure] and there’s nothing we can do.” She believes that approach is not supportive.
“Accessibility is not optional — it is an obligation […] for a university to uphold,” Nguyen said, emphasizing that accommodations should not be something students with disabilities “have to fight for.”“I want to create a community that makes students with [disabilities] feel that they [belong],” she said, and added that students should not feel like “a burden to the community or the society.”
INDIGENOUS STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE
Rayden Seela
Rayden Seela is a fourthyear psychology student from Thompson, Manitoba running unopposed. He sees himself as confident in sharing opinions and thoughts.
“I didn’t see myself running this year,” Seela said. “It
wasn’t until people reached out to me [...] and said that I should do this position, that they want to see me do it and they trust me to do it.”
Seela believes he is the right candidate to represent over 3,200 Indigenous students, stressing relational leadership.“My leadership style is built in relationship, and connection and community,” Seela said. “I just want to do what my community wants — I’m just the voice to their heart.”Seela said that, as an ambitious person, he plans “to bring the Indigenous community on this campus together, united in a way that has never been done before.”
2SLGBTQIA+ STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE
Gwendelyn Freeheart
Gwendelyn Freeheart is currently studying sociology in the honours program, running unopposed.
Freeheart said their decision to run for this position is rooted in their appreciation for the queer community on campus.
“I think we have a really great queer community on campus, and I would really love to support them in any way I can,” they said. They also noted, “I know it is sometimes a struggle to get people to run for this position, so I’m excited to see what happens.”
If elected, Freeheart has several priorities in mind,
including event-hosting. Accessibility is central to their platform. “I would love to bring accessibility into the space more by hosting events online.” In addition, they hope to introduce “more education workshops for things like HRT [hormone replacement therapy], safe binding [and] mental health.”
Community collaboration is another key focus for Freeheart. “I’d really like to see more groups on campus working together so that we can all feel served and heard,” they said.
WOMEN’S COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE
Kultaj Kaur
Kultaj Kaur is a secondyear student in the faculty of science running unopposed. She is completing a minor in microbiology and plans to major in psychology. She said her passion for supporting women has guided her career goals and choices.
Kaur said she wants to continue advocating for menstrual equity on campus and work to speed up the restocking of menstrual products in bathrooms.
She also hopes to address physical and mental health supports for women, including burnout prevention and eating disorder recovery resources.
Kaur envisions her term as “impactful, empathetic and brave.”
SHUMIRAI MARANGWANDA
AUDITA ZAMAN
KRISTEN NGUYEN
PHOTO BY MIKE THIESSEN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
RACIALIZED STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE
Areeva Arora
Areeva Arora is a firstyear student in the science program running unopposed. She enjoys “bringing different groups of people together and [learning] about the beauty of diversity.”
Arora said her experience arriving in Canada has shaped her understanding of leadership and representation. “I don’t
believe representation is just about having someone who looks like you in a room. It’s about having someone who understands the hesitation before you raise your hand,” she said.
She added that her confidence in being fit for the role comes from her lived experience as a racialized student. “I’m running because I know how powerful it feels when someone genuinely listens and I want to be that person for others.”
Arora said one of her main
goals in this position would be “to create consistent, structured spaces where racialized students can actually talk about their experiences […] regularly.”
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE
Tirth Chaudhary
Tirth Chaudhary is a fourth-year computer science student running unopposed.
Chaudhary said his decision to run is rooted in
his experience supporting students throughout his time working at the First Year Centre on campus. He also has experience as the international students’ representative for the Science Students’ Association. If elected, Chaudhary said he hopes “to create more spaces on campus where international students feel connected.” He has heard from students that “they feel isolated,” often attending class and leaving immediately afterward.
He envisions his term as “impactful and reliable, collaborative […] and accountable.”
MATURE AND PARTTIME STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE
Sanimar Singh
Sanimar Singh is running unopposed. At the time of publication, no comment was received and no additional information about Singh’s platform was available.
RAYDEN SEELA
GWENDELYN FREEHEART
KULTAJ KAUR
SANIMAR SINGH
AREEVA ARORA TIRTH CHAUDHARY
PHOTO BY MIKAELA WARKENTIN / STAFF
PHOTO
Diversions
(Two birds flying at night crash into each other and as they spin falling in a cloud of feathers and starlight they are reminded of a time before they learned how to fly)
Will we fold into each others’ secrets would we fit each other like a spoon won’t you take my hand and chase stars with me we’ll catch them if they fall and bury them in the backyard of our childhood dreams so we can always find our way back there
Chase the shoreline fly with a flock of aeroplanes we’ll dance the moon as we find our footprints upon foreign shores
Spend the night with me making gift wrapping of our bedsheets amd every morning will be our birthday
The warmest place in the world is next to you let me sip coconuts in your arms won’t you plant my name behind your tongue that it may bloom in the garden of your smile
We’ll find a beach to name after our children and serenade the ocean as it refuses to stop kissing the shore we’ll use toothbrushes as tuning forks
fake a limp on New Year’s Eve and ride my shoulders to the highest floor so we can hopscotch the skyline
‘cause if you sing me a lullaby of forgiveness I will keep you from all the broken promises we can finger paint sunrises on each other’s skin and finally be orphans with me so we can name each other the way we once named the stars as if the constellations still held the promise we could find our way home
Two birds flying at night crash into each other and as they spin falling from a cloud of feathers and stardust they are reminded of a time before they learned how to
Do you have a poem you’d like to submit to the Manitoban? Email your submissions to arts@themanitoban.com
To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column, and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely. In Straights, like Sudoku, no single number 1 to 9 can repeat in any row or column. But rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. Each compartment must form a “straight.” A straight is a set of numbers with no gaps but it can be in any order, eg [7,6,9,8]. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight. Glance at the solution to see how “straights” are formed.
Straights Puzzle by Signdicated Puzzles
Puzzle by Signdicated Puzzles
Sudoku
Sudoku Solution
Poets’ Corner
Sidereal
Ronal Amata, volunteer
Research & Technology
Responding to ego-threat with self-compassion
The examination of kindness toward oneself and distress reduction
Mansura Akter Meghla, staff
What happens when we turn our inner critic into a kinder voice?
Research from the Soothing Ego-Threat with SelfCompassion (SETS) lab at the U of M is examining how selfcompassion can help people cope with shame, failure and other deeply painful experiences.
Edward Johnson, a professor of clinical psychology in the U of M’s department of psychology, leads the SETS lab, which focuses on what psychologists call “ego-threat.” These are experiences that challenge a person’s sense of worth or competence. They include emotions such as shame, guilt, sadness and envy, as well as broader experiences of failure, trauma, physical pain or symptoms of mental illness. Johnson explained that when individuals respond to these events with self-criticism, rumination or social withdrawal, those reactions can increase the risk of anxiety and depression.
“We are interested in examining how learning to adopt a gentler attitude of self-compassion toward one’s negative experiences can be helpful in easing distress and reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes,” he said.
Self-compassion, as studied in the lab, has three main components. It involves being kind rather than harsh toward oneself, recognizing that mistakes are part of shared human experience and approaching painful emotions with mindful curiosity instead of becoming overwhelmed by them.
In a typical experiment, participants are asked to recall a distressing experience and report their emotional state. They then complete a guided self-compassion exercise, allowing researchers to measure whether their distress decreases.
A recent project from the SETS lab examined whether selfcompassion is uniquely effective in reducing distress related to shame, or whether other approaches might work as well. The study compared self-compassionate responses to self-improvement-oriented responses. Participants reflected on a shameful experience either through a
self-compassion lens or by asking what they could learn from it to avoid repeating it.
According to Johnson, the findings were notable. “We found that self-improvement was just as effective as selfcompassion in reducing distress associated with a shameful episode,” he noted. In addition, more participants
Johnson explained that previous research suggests some people fear selfcompassion may lead to complacency. Future studies in the lab aim to explore whether those who hold this belief are more likely to prefer self-improvement strategies.
The lab’s research extends beyond student samples.
“We found that self-improvement was just as effective as self-compassion in reducing distress associated with a shameful episode”
— Edward Johnson, professor in the U of M’s department of psychology.
reported preferring the selfimprovement approach when given both options. The result raises new questions about why some individuals may hesitate to use selfcompassion as a coping strategy.
Johnson and his team have examined selfcompassion among firefighters and paramedics who have experienced trauma, new mothers facing postpartum symptoms, students managing academic stress and individuals involved in social activism. Studying diverse populations helps better understand when and for whom self-compassion is
most effective.
Johnson emphasized that the lab’s experimental design strengthens confidence in the findings. Rather than simply observing correlations, controlled studies allow researchers to test whether self-compassion plays a causal role in reducing distress.
In the broader context, Johnson hopes the research will solidify not only whether self-compassion works, but how it works and under what conditions. In clinical settings, self-compassion is increasingly integrated into psychotherapy. By identifying its mechanisms and limits, the research may help refine its application in treatment.
Beyond academic contributions, Johnson highlighted the everyday relevance of his work. Experiences of failure, regret or embarrassment are common. Learning how to respond with compassion rather than harsh
self-judgment may reduce unnecessary suffering.
He also credited research participants for making this work possible. Many have shared deeply personal and painful memories as part of the studies. “You never know what others may be carrying,” he reflected. Witnessing participants write about painful experiences with greater kindness and report feeling lighter afterward reinforced his belief that resilience can be cultivated.
For students interested in this field, Johnson recommended seeking research experience early. Volunteering in a lab and becoming familiar with ongoing work can help explore interests and build skills. As research on selfcompassion continues to grow, opportunities to contribute are expanding as well.
GRAPHIC BY TEEGAN GILLICH/ STAFF
When “free” isn’t forever
Snapchat’s new storage fees expose the risks of cloud dependency
Nawal Semir, staff
S napchat has announced it will begin charging users for storing large amounts of content with its Memories feature -- a move that signals a broader shift in how social media platforms monetize user content. This change has sparked backlash and renewed debate over who truly controls our digital lives.
According to an announcement from Snap Inc. published on its official newsroom site, the company will end unlimited free cloud storage for Memories. Instead, it will introduce tiered paid plans for users who exceed 5GB of stored photos and videos. Snapchat says the change reflects the explosive growth of the feature, which now holds more than one trillion saved Snaps since launching in 2016.
Under the new policy, users who surpass the 5GB free limit will need to subscribe to one of several paid tiers. Options include a 100GB standalone storage plan, a Snapchat+ subscription that includes 250GB of storage, and a higherend Snapchat Platinum plan offering up to 5TB. Users currently over the limit will be given a 12-month grace period to either subscribe or download their Memories before losing access to excess storage.
The announcement marks a significant shift for a platform that built its reputation on free, disappearing content. The app’s Memories feature allows users to save Snaps privately in the cloud and has become a digital scrapbook for millions of people who have documented years of birthdays, graduations, travels and daily life within the app.
For many users, the introduction of fees feels like a sudden monetization of personal history.
ZDNet recently highlighted the experience of users choosing to export their
Snapchat Memories rather than pay a recurring subscription fee. The process, while possible, can be cumbersome for those who have accumulated years of content. Exported files may lack some contextual data, such as timestamps or organization within albums, making it difficult to recreate the in-app experience.
The backlash signifies a larger issue beyond Snapchat — the risks of entrusting vast amounts of personal data to third-party platforms.
While Snapchat is providing a grace period and paid alternatives, its
terms of service make clear that storage policies can change. Like many tech companies, Snapchat reserves broad rights to modify or discontinue features. There is no guarantee that storage limits, pricing or access terms will remain the same in the future.
This change is not unprecedented. Tech history is filled with examples of companies adjusting policies, shutting down services or altering access models once users have become deeply invested. When digital memories are stored exclusively on corporate
servers, users are ultimately dependent on business decisions they do not control.
Beyond pricing, data ownership itself is complicated. Even though users create and upload the content, the platform controls how it is stored, accessed and exported. If a user’s account is suspended or compromised, access to those memories could be disrupted. In some cases, retrieving large archives can be technically difficult or time-consuming.
Privacy advocates have long warned that convenience often comes at the cost of control. Cloud storage makes access
seamless across devices, but it centralizes personal data in large repositories that can be subject to policy changes, data breaches or monetization strategies. The more memories we store on social platforms, the more leverage those companies have over how we access them.
Snapchat’s new storage fees may simply reflect rising infrastructure costs. Storing billions of photos and videos is not cheap. However, the change highlights a fundamental reality of the modern internet — “free” or cheap services often evolve into paid ecosystems once user dependency is established.
Experts recommend regularly exporting data from social platforms, maintaining local backups on external hard drives, and avoiding reliance on a single service as the sole repository of irreplaceable content. Encrypted external drives or diversified cloud providers can help reduce dependency on one company’s policies. The broader lesson is less about Snapchat specifically and more about digital sovereignty. Social platforms are powerful tools for communication and creativity, but, like other tech companies, they are businesses first. Their priorities can shift with market pressures, shareholder demands or evolving revenue models.
As Snapchat users weigh whether to subscribe, download their archives or reduce their stored content, one thing is clear — the era of unlimited free digital storage on social platforms may be coming to an end. As companies increasingly monetize the memories we entrust to them, users may need to rethink who truly holds the keys to their digital pasts.
GRAPHIC BY EMMA GILLICH / STAFF
Assembling anyway
Winnipeg stops dangerous proposed restrictions on protesting
Mike Thiessen, staff
After a restrictive proposal to curb public protests, Winnipeg came together to shut it down. It’s a good thing we did.
On Feb. 10, the City of Winnipeg announced that the Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure By-Law, put forward by Councillor Evan Duncan (CharleswoodTuxedo-Westwood) earlier in 2025, had been drafted and would be brought before council on Feb. 17, 2026. The by-law proposed restricting protests through the use of 100-metre “buffer zones” around designated areas, including community centres and post-secondary institutions. Violations would have resulted in fines of $500 for the first offence, $1,000 for the second and $5,000 for any subsequent offences.
The main targets here were the so-called “nuisance protests,” which were defined as any sort of in-person protest that takes place in a public space and expresses, in any way, “objection or disapproval towards an idea, action, person or group” based on a list of outlined characteristics.
This definition was made as malleable
as possible — broad enough in its characteristics to try and make the city seem concerned about the safety and wellbeing of everyone, and vague enough that it could be applied to almost any given event. (Councillor Duncan did later acknowledge this lack of specificity.) The notion of “disapproval towards an idea” feels particularly dangerous in that regard.
As far as semantics go, the term “nuisance protests” is at once reductive and redundant. Yes, it breaks down any sort of meaningful movement into some menial little issue to flick away. At the same time, though, it is objectively accurate. When it comes down to it, a protest has to be a “nuisance” to someone to be effective. A protest has to get in the way, disrupt the days of the people involved in it and force a passerby to think of an issue or perspective they didn’t want to consider. Protests are innately inconvenient because they have to do with issues that people believe are worth the inconvenience.
The buffer zones also posed a substantial threat to the right to protest. These zones do make sense in more volatile areas such as rehabilitation homes
and medical facilities, and are already in place at abortion clinics in Manitoba. However, the widespread application of these 100-metre zones to every “designated facility” would mean that over 25 per cent of Winnipeg would become a restricted zone, with downtown nearly blanketed by the ban. This motion was an attempt to prevent protests where they would be seen, not only by officials or businesses or groups that need to see them, but by anybody at all. It is also a backwards move to ban protesting on post-secondary campuses. Students have always been at the forefront of social movements, as seen by the encampments in support of Palestine during summer of 2024 (as well as countless demonstrations over the course of the past decades). Attempting to shift universityaged people from forward thinkers to complacent pawns is both bad optics and simply unlikely to happen.
Pragmatically, this proposition was also
fundamentally unlikely to prevent anyone from protesting, demonstrated by the hundreds of Winnipeggers who showed up at City Hall on Feb. 17. What a complete waste of city resources it would be to send even more police and by-law enforcement to protests en masse, trying to charge everyone at any given event, following up, and enforcing, only for people to develop bad faith in the city and in turn having even more to protest about.
The motion was ultimately shelved before it made it to a vote in council, surely in no small part due to both the general public backlash as well as the organized and informed direct response to Duncan and other city councillors. This is undeniably a win for protest rights in our province, but it is important to not get too comfortable, given how quickly these sorts of freedoms can be taken away.
This winter in Minneapolis, we have all seen the erosion of assembly rights — police and federal agents cracking down heavily on protesters decrying the abduction, deportation and execution
of immigrants and American citizens by ICE. An escalation like this cannot ever be allowed to happen in Winnipeg. The criminalization of protests, no matter the subject or on what side of a political or ideological spectrum, is a slippery slope towards what seems to be imminent in the U.S. — a road heading to increased police power and authoritarianism, and a surveillance state if unchecked.
Protests need to be seen, need to be disruptive in some way, in order to affect any sort of change. People need to be able to demonstrate publicly. A healthy democratic society needs to be able to protest that which it thinks is worth protesting. These recommendations are in opposition to what a healthy democratic society needs and mostly only in favour of those who currently hold some type of fiscal or political power. Protests are for the people, and Winnipeg has proven that the people are indeed the ones who make these decisions.
GRAPHIC
The golden era of soccer
A decade that redefined greatness — can the future rise to match it?
Thandeka Katsika, staff
Ithink there are very few things in the world that bring people together the way that soccer does. Whether you are watching it from a crowded stadium or from your living room, the game has a way of unifying.
As another World Cup approaches, I think conversations about legacy and greatness are beginning to resurface, and fans like me are comparing icons and reliving unforgettable moments.
Between La Liga, the Premier League and the World Cup, there is so much about the game to discuss and so many time periods in which players showcased their talent and sportsmanship.
For many supporters, though, 2008 to 2018 represents a golden era in the game. The decade was filled with tactical innovation, excitement and rivalries that seemed to align perfectly.
At the centre of this era was the legendary rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the best players to ever kick a soccer ball professionally. Messi’s creativity and natural brilliance, combined with his vision and world-class dribbling were perfectly contrasted by Ronaldo’s disciplined athleticism, relentless passion for the game and incredible overhead kicks.
The two are not just rivals for individual awards, they have found themselves on opposite sides of La Liga, which intensified their competition. With the two Spanish sides, Real Madrid FC and FC Barcelona, having a rivalry that spanned back decades, Messi and Ronaldo on either team made every match-up feel historic. This era produced so many unforgettable goals, multiple hat-tricks and moments of brilliance that have solidified it as one of the greatest periods in soccer history.
Messi and Ronaldo’s greatness often seemed to eclipse the game itself. I think that there are many other players whose work both on and off the field helped shape that era of soccer. Neymar was one of these players. His flair and creative confidence brought a different kind of excitement to the pitch and the media.
At FC Barcelona, he formed one-third of the famous attacking trio alongside Messi and Luis Suárez. Additionally, his youthful personality and
expressive style made him one of the first modern soccer stars whose influence extended far beyond the pitch. Fans did not just care about his goals, but also his image, fashion and social media presence. I think that he represented a shift in how soccer players were viewed in the digital age.
The golden era was also defined by its international tournaments, particularly the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa. That tournament was historic for several reasons. It was the first and only World Cup
ever hosted in Africa, which made it a powerful and symbolic moment. It showed the truly inclusive nature of the sport. Spain’s victory at the tournament marked the peak of their position-based dominance, and Andrés Iniesta’s winning goal in the final became etched in soccer history.
The 2014 World Cup in Brazil continued the drama with Germany’s triumph and the unforgettable 7-1 victory that knocked Brazil out of the tournament. Even years later, I cannot believe that Germany
humiliatingly beat the host nation and the favourites to win by six goals!
As we look ahead to the future of soccer, it seems promising. Players like Kylian Mbappé have already proven that the next generation is ready to continue to carry the game forward. His explosive pace and composure on the biggest stage during multiple World Cups showed that he thrives under pressure. I think he is talented and built for greatness as a player.
Players like Vinícius Júnior are shaping the future in
more ways than one. Beyond his electric performances and technical ability for Real Madrid CF, he has become a powerful voice against racial abuse in soccer. His courage in confronting discrimination depicts how the game is evolving socially. Today’s stars understand the platform they have, and they’re using it to push for change.
As another World Cup approaches, there is a sense of anticipation. New rivalries may form and new legends may rise. The beautiful game is only getting better.
GRAPHIC BY TEEGAN GILLICH / STAFF
When the Olympics edit the world out of frame
Staged unity, selective scrutiny and how the world refuses the script
Kyra Campbell, staff
T
he Winter Olympics sell the same fantasy every four years — that sport can float above the world, as if the world will politely pause its wars, repression and crises until the closing ceremony. For plenty of the Games, Milano Cortina delivered that illusion, but the politics did not stay entirely off camera. The moments where it broke through were the moments that felt most honest.
One of the clearest breaks came from Swiss broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), which aired commentary calling attention to the online conduct of Israeli bobsledder AJ Edelman, including posts that celebrated Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
The journalist, Stefan Renna, did this during the live call, which is exactly when commentators are meant to talk about the person on screen, what they represent and the story they are trying to bring with them into the Games.
RTS later pulled the segment from its platforms, even while acknowledging the underlying facts from Renna. Renna would have known that refusing to play along could invite backlash and career consequences. Yet, he still chose to call out the selective outrage on air, in a media environment that often treats “stick to sports” as the
price of admission.
That selectivity has shaped the Olympic project for years, and it sharpened once Russia and Belarus became the benchmark, while Israel remained welcome under its flag. Russia and Belarus have faced sweeping restrictions and neutrality frameworks. These restrictions were framed as the moral minimum for consequences when state conduct breaks the Olympic Truce. If that is the standard, then allowing Israel to compete under its flag while credible allegations of grave violations of international law prompt mass protest and sustained scrutiny worldwide reads less like neutrality and more like selective enforcement. This is why the boos directed at Israel during the opening ceremonies landed with such force. They cut through the spectacle and reminded everyone that the Olympic stage cannot wash a state’s conduct clean.
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) responded to tensions by doubling down on
control, especially over athletes, speech and in the specific writing of eligibility rules. Rule 50.2 of the IOC Olympic Charter prohibits political, religious or racial demonstrations in Olympic settings, including the field of play, podium moments, official ceremonies and the Olympic Village. The absurdity here is not that the IOC wants to keep athletes from being turned into instruments of political messaging, but rather the claim that politics only enter the picture when an athlete speaks. Politics were there when the eligibility rules were written. They were there when sanctions were chosen or avoided. They were there when “neutral athlete categories” were created. They were there when flags and anthems were treated as sacred or expendable. They were there when broadcasters were told that naming a double standard was inappropriate for a sports broadcast. The Olympics did not remove politics — they curated them and chose to ignore it.
The pattern shows up not only in
IOC rules and eligibility decisions, but also in broadcast choices about which countries were singled out and which contexts were left unsaid.
During CBC’s opening ceremony coverage, when Saudi Arabia entered the parade of nations, commentator Adrienne Arsenault remarked, “No women on this team, as you might notice.” It was a true observation, and women’s rights in Saudi Arabia remain an ongoing concern. The line still landed oddly because it arrived without any political context and without consistency. Other small delegations also appeared without women and did not receive the same pointed remark. Without any follow-up or explanation, the remark on Saudi Arabia read like a quick white feminist aside. This matters as it highlights the selective politics the Olympics depend on. Broadcasters will gesture at gender inequality when it’s an easy statement to get away with but rarely apply proper scrutiny or
consistency. It signalled moral distance without harder work of analysis, which fits the Games’ broader pattern of offering gestures instead of context.
The world is deeply divided and full of crises, and it is worth remembering that the people competing on the ice and in the games are living in that world too. Athletes are asked to represent countries on the most visible stage on earth, while also being ordinary people with families, friends and communities they worry and care about. This is true in different ways across delegations, including nations like Iran, where repression and state violence are currently at the forefront of their reality. The Olympics lean hard on the language of unity, but without pausing to acknowledge what it means to carry national symbolism at a moment when the nation, and the world, feels anything but united.
If the Olympics want people to believe the unity they sell, they need to stop mistaking silence for unity. Pride in athletes and pride in performance can coexist with clear-eyed honesty about division and crisis. Politics do not stop at the edge of a rink. The Games can stage togetherness, but they cannot pretend the fractured world is not in the building.
The Manitoban horoscope for the week of Feb. 23
Zodiac sign mania, flip a coin and see your fate this week
Quinn Mayhew, staff
AQUARIUS
January 20 –February 18
Do not trust a fool with nothing to lose. In other words, do not put your trust in someone who will not return the gesture this week. Make sure you set healthy boundaries to stop disappointment.
to be more understanding. I couldn’t be prouder. Keep up the good work.
PISCES
February 19 –March 20
Pisces, do not drink the midnight lemonade. Going into this week, you may want to lay off alcohol if you feel yourself over-consuming. It could be distracting you from things that matter to you.
TAURUS April 20 –May 20
Taurus, it’s about time you join a swing dancing club for how much you keep changing your mind. You need to make a decision on that specific question that’s been bothering you for a while. Make sure you make a choice soon, or you might just miss your opportunity.
ARIES March 21 –April 19
“You did good, kid.” Aries, you have really impressed me this week. You are working on communicating and trying
CANCER
June 21 –July 22
Cancer, you need to realize you cannot always get what you want. Stop trying to control everything in your life. It’s okay to let things go. When you learn to let go, things will become easier. I promise.
GEMINI May 21 –June 20
Gemini, you’ve sealed your fate this week by making a bad decision. We both know you shouldn’t have made that bad choice, and now it keeps bothering you. It’s time to face the music and own up to your actions.
LEO July 23 –August 22
Leo, Leo, Leo, what am I going to do with you? You need to get your head out of the sand and face reality. Your problems will not just go away if you choose to ignore them. Be brave, Leo.
VIRGO
August 23 –September 22
Virgo, you cannot adopt a small army of puppies even though you may want to. Everything in moderation is
Helping people beyond ourselves
My experience working with CommUNITY 204 Inc.
Marco Antonio Tolentino, staff
As a high school student in Winnipeg, I’m always surrounded by different communities, such as my school, the different school groups I’m a part of and the neighbourhood I live in. No matter the community, you cannot have “community” without “unity,” and one of the biggest examples I feel represents this ideal is CommUNITY 204 Inc. (or Community 204).
CommUNITY 204 is a grassroots and non-profit organization that devotes itself to providing assistance to houseless and marginalized communities through provisions of basic human needs and support in a variety of capacities. I first came to know of CommUNITY 204 in my freshman year of high school when my teacher took me and my classmates on multiple occasions to help make food with Main Street Project (a non-profit charitable organization near CommUNITY 204) and participate in the CommUNITY 204 Walk. The CommUNITY 204 Walk is a year-round (weather permitting), weekly outreach
rooted in community care. Every Wednesday, the CommUNITY 204 team and volunteers walk through marginalized neighbourhoods to offer a steady and compassionate presence. The team devotes itself to supporting the community with community clean-up, harm reduction and minor medical care when needed. They also provide basic necessities such as food, water, clothing and hygiene items. However, the CommUNITY 204 Walk isn’t just about providing needs, it’s also about meaningful connection. It’s a chance to build relationships, share space and engage with members of the community who may simply need a kind conversation, a listening ear, or a reminder that someone cares.
I will admit that before I went for the first time, I was a bit nervous, as I was surrounded by the stigma against people experiencing homelessness. I didn’t really know what to expect, and many of my peers felt the same way. I know that many people here in Winnipeg are scared of downtown. There
something you may struggle with. Take the time to explore other hobbies rather than continually fixating on one thing in your life.
LIBRA
September 23 –October 22
Take the time to relax. You appear to be overworking yourself, and at this pace, your health may suffer. Take care of yourself this week. You do not need to always care for everyone in your life. Let someone take care of you for once.
SAGITTARIUS November 22 –December 21
Do not watch the new Wuthering Heights this week. This movie, in all honesty, may leave you feeling sad and consumed. Try to combat this feeling of melancholy by doing things you enjoy. Really pamper yourself this week.
SCORPIO October 23 –November 21
Scorpios, this week may feel long for you. Try to minimize your social outings to avoid feeling empty, as some of the people you see may leave you feeling less than.
CAPRICORN December 22 –January 19
You may need to burn the midnight oil this week. My intuition is telling me you neglected your schoolwork during reading week. Take this as a sign to start doing your schoolwork so as to not fall behind.
was a time when I used to be scared of it too, but I’ve come to realize that there isn’t any reason to be scared, and that the stigma against homeless people isn’t based on reality — lacking a home doesn’t make a person “bad.” At the end of the day, we’re all people on a tiny little rock in the middle of
nowhere, and we’re all just trying to live day by day.
CommUNITY 204 completely opened my eyes to this, and I know for a fact it’s opened many other people’s eyes. From a high school student, to whoever may be reading this, I want you to know that we’re all just people, and humans are social creatures,
evolved to live in groups and communicate with one another. To be in a community is to belong, and to help others realize that they, too, belong. A community is more than just a group of people, it’s the way we help each other in times of need. It’s the little moments that connect us all — community is unity.
GRAPHIC BY EMMA GILLICH / STAFF
Arts & Culture
Wilding out with The Weekly Y-lers
UMFM duo hosts music show and spotlights radio in the modern world
Boris Tsun Hang Leung, staff
K
yler Zaenali and Tyler
Ward are the two U of M students behind The Weekly Y-lers, a UMFM radio show that explores different musical themes and the history of musical genres.
It all began when the “Y-lers” met in a Zoom class during the pandemic, noticing their similar names. Zaenali eventually approached Ward about starting a radio show after learning about volunteering at UMFM, and The Weekly Y-lers was born.
“We [wanted] to explore different genres, especially niche genres [like hauntology or city pop] and then go into the history of that genre, where it started, listen to some of the tracks as it’s progressed and see how that genre is really taking hold in the modern day,” Ward said.
The Weekly Y-lers also airs episodes that revolve around a single idea, like songs by artists whose names end in “yler” or music Ward’s father would enjoy. Other broadcasts
include professional wrestling music and revolution and protest songs.
The duo recently tabled in University Centre in celebration of World Radio Day on Feb. 13, spreading awareness about UMFM and the opportunities it has. The U of M radio station is a platform for students to share their voice and express themselves, but it is also a community hub that is “underrepresented and underused,” according to the co-hosts. Apart from four staff members, UMFM relies on over 135 volunteers to host shows, maintain the music library, write scripts and more.
“The most powerful thing [about radio] is discovering the human aspect of it. This is local people playing local music about local events around you […] It’s people that you see every day. It’s not people that sit up in a high tower. It’s not an algorithm,” Zaenali emphasized.
Ward added, “Even when it’s not local music, it’s usually local people sharing their
perspectives and their ideas, building on that community.”
It is no secret that the radio industry has changed in past several decades. According to Made in CA, radio listeners in Canada have a median age of 53, and operating revenues in the Canadian radio industry have been steadily declining in recent years. However, Ward believes this is what makes radio shows that persist more special.
“Due to the nature of the industry right now […] the people that are staying [in radio], they really care about radio, and they put in that extra effort. When we get on air on Mondays, we have something fun, we have something usually fresh, I would say, that we want to present,” Ward stated.
Zaenali also pointed out that having more young people involved will revitalize the industry by bringing in new ideas and perspectives on what their generations want.
If there is one thing Zaenali wants to tell people
about UMFM, it is to tune in, as maybe you will find something that matches your wavelength.
“There’s just such cool stuff there, and it’s so community bonding. You learn about so much,” he said.
Samantha Martin stays true to herself Canadian blues singer overcomes
Jordan Anglin, staff
Samantha Martin and her band Delta Sugar return to Winnipeg’s West End Cultural Centre on Feb. 25, in advance of multiple new releases blending blues, soul and contemporary pop styles. Martin previously played in Manitoba during the 2014 Winnipeg Folk Festival and the 2016 Winnipeg BBQ and Blues Festival. Despite changes in Martin’s personal life and the world around her, she is getting back on the road. She proves to fans and to herself that she is still the same natural performer at heart.
“I’m not the kind of person that can write about current heartbreak. It’s always about past stuff so I know it didn’t break me,” Martin said. “I know the optimistic undertone that needs to be there to make it […] lighthearted.”
“I’m still pulling out [and] harvesting a lot of gems from failed relationships,” Martin described her songwriting. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
Martin performed while six months pregnant during her previous tour in 2022, and
her upcoming shows across Canada will be the first time she has been away from her toddler for more than a day at a time. She described her last three years raising her baby as wonderful but more tiring than her years as a touring act have ever been.
“Getting back out on the road is like getting back to me, as an individual outside of being a mom, and so I’m definitely excited for that,” Martin described.
“I haven’t lost who I am at my core,” she added. “The things that brought me joy prior to being a mom still bring me joy, I just have to carve out more time for it.”
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns were also a struggle for Martin. Her extensive touring in 2019 led her to abandon her apartment due to spending such little time at home, leaving her without a place to live leading up to 2020. She spent the start of the decade excited for new music, but the feeling turned into melancholic turmoil. Martin’s genre-bending comes from the music of her upbringing and a curiosity to discover where the artists she heard
The Weekly Y-lers is broadcasted on 101.5 UMFM on Mondays from 1 to 2 p.m. Tune into UMFM by visiting umfm.com. To volunteer for the radio station, visit umfm. com/volunteer.
odds for nation-wide tour and new music
on rotation drew their own influences from. Throughout Martin’s childhood, her mother was a fan of Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones and other rock music topping charts of the era.
Meanwhile, Martin’s older father was a hobby guitarist who leaned toward outlaw country and the Beatles. Martin’s own curiosity led her to find classic blues artists like Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters who influenced the
music her parents enjoy. Her grandparents also collected Floridian Black gospel CDs from their winter vacations, adding another dimension to Martin’s scope.
Upon showing an interest in music, her father taught her to play the guitar. She would sing along with the vocalists she admired and came to blend their styles together, which became her catalyst for discovering the musician she wanted to be.
Martin is set to release a new studio album in early 2027, her first since The Reckless One in 2020. In the meantime, a spotlighted live recording from a previous tour will also be available for fans to hear soon.
“So much has happened since the last time I recorded a record,” Martin said. “We’ll release this and remind people […] I’m still here, I exist, and I’m pretty good at what I do.”
PHOTO BY BORIS TSUN HANG LEUNG/ STAFF
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BESSY GOMEZ
“Can I live inside your pocket?”
Unapologetically camp and feminine local twee band releases “Pocket”
Jordan Anglin, staff
“P
ocket” is the second and newest single from Strawberry Punch, a local indie all-woman band featuring multiple U of M students. Singer Danielle McDonald wrote the personal yet relatable song about her own intense and obsessive feelings when falling for someone new, and the desire to spend one’s entire time with this person — or in other words, the desire to live in their pocket.
It was released on Valentine’s Day earlier this month. The twee-pop track features angelic vocal harmonies reminiscent of early 1990s alternative bands like All Girl Summer Fun Band, The Breeders, Lush or Throwing Muses.
Strawberry Punch is made up of four good friends — Tuva Bergstrom, Freja Haight, Brandy Lafond and McDonald. Being in an all-woman group is relieving for McDonald, who is happy to escape much of the misogyny present in the
wider music industry.“It’s just so nice being in a band with people who have this shared understanding. It feels a lot
“It’s just so nice being in a band with people who have this shared understanding. It feels a lot safer”
— Danielle McDonald, lead singer of Strawberry Punch
safer,” McDonald said.
“We’re all very comfortable showing up as we are to each other” she continued. “Even if an idea is not fully developed and thought out, we still feel safe enough to bring it to each other and not feel like we’re being judged.”
“Pocket” also marks the band’s first ever music video. Continuing their campy feminine theme, it depicts
the four members having a slumber party together with pillow fights, dancing and tea. It was made in collaboration with Caden Nikkel, who also directed the vampire short film Rot starring McDonald.
“Pocket” is one of Strawberry Punch’s oldest songs, which they have been wanting to release for over a year. The song has been recorded three times, but the previous two takes were not used due to creative differences with producers. The third and final version, produced by Jordan Voth in fall 2025, is more to the band’s liking. McDonald still asserts it sounds better live.
“Pocket” follows “Backyard Prom Party Queen”, the band’s first song released September 2025. A moodier garage rock song titled “Jane” is set to be the third single coming out ahead of Strawberry Punch’s debut album. The LP will be promoted with a show at Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club on May 2.
PTE welcomes playwrights into mentorship program
New Playwrights Unit offers two-year support for 2026 cohort
Carrington
Dong, staff
Winnipeg theatre company Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE) and the Manitoba Association of Playwrights (MAP) are welcoming a new cohort of eight playwrights to the PTE/ MAP New Playwrights Unit from 2026 to 2028.
Led by Brian Drader and Ann Hodges, the New Playwrights Unit aims to support playwrights through dramaturgy and mentorship, offering workshops, readings and peer support. Throughout the two-year program, those in the cohort will be able to develop their personal projects, attend monthly meetings together at PTE and receive access to the company’s resources.
Winnipeg native Kinsey Hollis, a recent graduate of the National Theatre School’s playwrighting program, is one of the playwrights joining the cohort. Hollis was initially interested in acting and began a degree in acting at the University of Winnipeg. According to her, she later took a playwriting course with Brian Drader after finding she had a few credit hours to make up.
“I found I really liked
[the course], and then it was 2020 when I was supposed to graduate, and so theatre shut down,” she recalled. “To continue to be involved in theatre, I thought I would take playwriting [part two] that year online just to keep in it, keep going.”
Hollis described her writing style as being on the “grittier” side, tending to lean darker. She hopes to write a comedy one day. She said one of the main reasons she became a playwright was to write “better roles for young women,” describing a focus of her writing being “complicated, messy female characters.” This interest arose when she was trying to audition for roles.
“I found myself drawn to roles for women who had more life under their belts, who were a bit more complicated,” she explained. “I found that the women I knew who were my age, who were in their early 20s at the time, were just as complicated and had as much experience under their belts […] but were not being given the opportunity to be that on stage. The roles that I was seeing for women my age were, ‘ingénue,’ ‘sad girl in love, ‘happy girl in
love.’ And I found that kind of disappointing.”
Hollis was aware of the New Playwrights Unit prior to applying as she knew playwrights that had been in the previous cohort. Wanting to connect with other playwrights following her graduation, she decided to apply to the program.“It’s so nice to […] be a part of a group,” she said. “Playwriting is so solitary that if you don’t have some sort of structure or format with which you can meet and work with other playwrights, it’s really easy to just be a bit of a hermit and a loner […] Now I have built-in playwright friends, which is just a treat.”
When it comes to the cohort, Hollis is most looking forward to hearing the other playwrights’ voices and getting to know them better.
“I’m really excited to get to know my fellow playwrights and their voices and get to engage in their work at different levels of progress,” she stated.
For more information on Prairie Theatre Exchange, visit pte.mb.ca
STRAWBERRY PUNCH
KINSEY HOLLIS
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MICHELLE WESTMAN
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CARMAN JOHNSTON
WAG presents Abraham Anghik Ruben exhibition
Celebrated Inuit artist’s work displayed in first solo exhibition at Quamajuq’s Qilak
Carrington Dong, staff
W AG-Qaumajuq’s exhibition of works by Inuvialuit (Inuit) artist Abraham Anghik Ruben has recently been extended to run through May 31.
One of Canada’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Ruben was born in Paulatuk, Northwest Territories. Until the age of eight, he lived a traditional Inuit lifestyle, migrating as the seasons changed. This was halted when he was taken away and sent to a residential school.
In 1971, Ruben began to reconnect with his past while attending the Native Arts Centre at the University of Alaska. After working in various art mediums throughout the 1970s, he caught the attention of many Canadian art dealers.
Since 1986, Ruben has lived in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, with his wife and children, where he continues to work.
Curator Heather Campbell said that the exhibition did
not start with a set theme.
“It was meant to be a review of 50 years of Abraham’s artwork,” she explained. “When I started, there wasn’t a theme. It was part of my role as the curator to figure out what a loose theme would be and then section it out from there.”
After looking through Ruben’s artwork, Campbell found that Ruben had an interest in mythology from both the Inuit traditions and from Nordic culture.
This interest is attributed to a family connection — his mother’s aunt, Paniabuluk, assisted Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson on his exhibitions and later married him.
“[His work] was a way to find commonalities between the two [mythologies] and to explore that,” Campbell stated.
The exhibition is the first solo show in Qaumajuq’s Qilak gallery. Qaumajuq, Canada’s Inuit art centre, is dedicated to the gallery’s Inuit art collection.
“It’s so important that the space was developed with Inuit art [and] Inuit culture in mind,” said Campbell. “[It] was loosely inspired by the environment of the Arctic […] It was a lot of fun trying to explore how to use that space.”
Campbell stated Qaumajuq’s spacious atmosphere proved useful in setting up the exhibition.
“A lot of his more recent works are large-scale,” she explained. “It was perfect that we had so much space to play with in that gallery. There’s not a lot of Inuit artists that are working at a monumental scale like that, so just having that ability to place things very freely and find a way to create that relationship between the space and the works was a lot of fun.”
When asked if she had a favourite artwork in the exhibition, Campbell highlighted Ruben’s prolific body of work, describing the amount of work that he has done over the past 50 years as “mind-boggling.”
“Being able to select from
such a huge collection of works and from various decades and […] themes, it was a monumental task trying to narrow it down to the pieces that we do have,” she reflected. Campbell finished by highlighting that those who visit the exhibition will not only get to view Ruben’s artwork but hear him explain the significance and meaning behind each piece through QR codes linked to audio recordings.
“You can actually hear him talk about the piece in his own voice, in his own words, and I think that is just so special,” she said.
The Abraham Anghik Ruben exhibition is open at the WAG’s Qaumajuq gallery through May 31. For more information on the exhibition, visit wag.ca. For more on Abraham Anghik Ruben, visit abrahamruben. com.
Local play Emergency Ops is a trainwreck, literally
One-man show turns small-town disaster into live sitcom
Boris Tsun Hang Leung, staff
Local artist Hayden Maines recently performed Emergency Ops, a solo comedy about a group of civil servants managing a disaster in a small town. Taking place last weekend at the Irish Association of Manitoba, this play is part of the Little Theatre Festival, a festival that spotlights local community theatre companies.
The plot of Emergency Ops centres around a semitruck crash in an unspecified small town one Friday evening, resulting a spillage on a railroad crossing. This causes a train to derail and its tank cars to leak gas.
“This small town and the five people who just happened to show up, all having their own worst day of their lives, are forced to work together and put aside their differences to try and save their town from total catastrophe,” Maines said.
acting and more. He also worked at the Public Health Agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, updating displays in its emergency operations center and tracking shipments of COVID-19 samples and equipment across Canada.
“The original idea for the show came when I was doing my training for the logistics position […] We would go through several workshops and roleplays of different scenarios at different levels of government,” Maines said.
“As we were doing these things about snowstorms and power outages and car crashes and train derailments, I thought, ‘Man, this would make a really great sitcom in the style of The Thick of It, or The Office or Parks and Recreation.’”
Maines wanted to present
it to feature only himself. This time, he performed the dialogue using ventriloquism.
“The whole world is on fire right now, but we’re a community when we work together”
“Each person in the Emergency Operations Centre wears a different coloured vest.
— Hayden Maines, local artist and creator
Born in Neepawa, Manitoba, Maines is an artist and creator whose work spans across theatre, fiction,
a five-person show at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival last year but struggled to find a full cast, so he ultimately adapted
Those vests are on poles, and I can talk back and forth between them, and the audience can understand the dialogue between them,” Maines commented.
“It’s also allowed me to really develop the characters, identify which jokes are working, which ones aren’t, which character attributes resonate with audiences and […] evolve the story to have more character arc and relationship between them all.”
With global unrest, climate change and economic challenges weighing on people’s minds, remaining positive may seem like an uphill battle. Maines’s
Emergency Ops reminds us that community can still offer a glimmer of hope, despite the gloom and doom.
“The whole world is on fire right now, but we’re a community when we work together,” Maines stated.
“We’re not alone. We’re all in this together and we may have our disagreements, but at the end of the day, when we’re in trouble, we got to help one another.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HAYDEN MAINES
HAYDEN MAINES STARS IN EMERGENCY OPS.
ABRAHAM ANGHIK RUBEN
PHOTO PROVIDED BY WAG
Bisons women’s hockey hustles, from Dinos to Pandas
Bisons take series win one weekend, before playoff split following weekend
Israel Adeogo Abejoye, staff
The Bisons women’s hockey team spent the last two weekends taking on the University of Calgary Dinos and the University of Alberta Pandas, earning a sweep and a split for the herd, respectively.
Weekend one
The Bisons women’s hockey team secured a thrilling weekend series victory against the Calgary Dinos, winning 3-2 on Friday, Feb. 13 and 5-0 on Saturday, Feb 14.
In Friday’s intense matchup, Julia Bird struck early, giving the Bisons the lead in the first minute [01:15].
The Bisons’ strong start was followed by a penalty to Sophia Anderson in the fourth minute [04:26], but the Dinos failed to capitalize on the power play opportunity. The first period ended with the Bisons leading 1-0.
The Dinos mounted a comeback in the second period, scoring two power play goals. Sadie Keller’s
tripping penalty for the Bisons led to Hannah Reagh’s equalizing goal for the Dinos, and Bison Brenna Nicol’s penalty allowed Dino Evelyn Lawrence to give her team the lead. The Bisons responded in the third period, with Aimee Patrick scoring on a power play goal after Lawrence was sent off. The game remained tied 2-2, sending it to overtime, where the Bisons scored the winning goal.
The Bisons outshot the Dinos 40-20 in Friday’s game. In Saturday’s rematch, Hanna Bailey scored the game’s first goal for the Bisons in the 10th minute [10:05]. The Bisons held on to the lead despite Bailey being sent to the penalty box for interference. The first period ended with no further scoring.
In the second period, the Bisons’ Jessie Haner served a penalty for bodychecking but scored the herd’s second goal shortly after her return. Bird and Norah Collins padded the Bisons’ lead in the third period, making it 4-0. Alyssa Rasmuson capped off the
shutout, scoring the Bisons’ fifth goal in the 14th minute [14:30]. The Bisons dominated the Dinos, outshooting them 41-13.
Weekend two
The Bisons women’s hockey team secured a 2-5 win on Friday, Feb. 20 and suffered a 4-2 loss on Saturday, Feb. 21 in their weekend playoff series against the Alberta Pandas.
In Friday’s win, the Bisons struck early, with Nicol scoring in the first minute [01:20]. The Pandas equalized on a power play goal in the 12th minute [12:36], but the Bisons responded with goals from Bird and Haner, taking a 3-1 lead. The Pandas fought back, scoring in the 17th minute [17:02], but the Bisons’ goaltender Emily Shippam sealed the win with an empty net goal, followed by Keller’s insurance goal. The Bisons outshot the Pandas 20-27.
In Saturday’s rematch, the Pandas struck first, but the Bisons tied the game and took the lead in the second period.
The Pandas regained the lead in the third period and scored a fourth goal to secure the win. The Bisons outshot the Pandas 22-36. In the quarterfinal’s playoff on Sunday, Feb. 22, the Bisons won the Pandas 6-2, qualifying
for the semifinals. The Bisons outshot the pandas 22-25, and will now play against the Mount Royal Cougars in the semi-finals on Friday, Feb.27 and Saturday, Feb.28, at the Cougars home.
Mixed results for men’s basketball in CW tournament
Bisons defeat Bobcats in play-in round, lose to Thunderbirds in quarterfinals
Abdul-Jalilu Ahmed, staff
The Bisons men’s basketball team defeated the Brandon University Bobcats 79-68 in the Canada West play-in round on Thursday, Feb. 12. The game was hosted by the University of British Columbia (UBC).
The Bobcats took an 11-7 lead at 6:24 in the first quarter. Tito Obasoto made a layup for the Bisons at 4:29 to tie the game 11-11. The Bisons then took a 20-13 lead with 54 seconds remaining, following Brandt Lenz’s jump shot. However, the first quarter ended with a 20-15 score after Sultan Haider-Bhatti made a free throw to add 2 points for the Bobcats.
At 7:40 in the second quarter, Daren Watts scored on a layup to give the Bisons a 24-18 advantage. Travis Hamberger made a layup for the Bobcats at 5:40 to level the game 24-24. Watts made a layup with 30 seconds left to push the Bisons ahead 36-29 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Watts made a layup at 7:35, assisted by Mason Kraus, giving the Bisons a 40-34 lead. Kraus made a three-point jump shot
at 6:10 to push the score to 43-39. At 3:59, Haider-Bhatti made two free throws to give the Bobcats a 48-47 advantage. Munroop Gill made two free throws at 0:44, extending their lead 55-51. Taven Vigilance kept the Bisons within reach, as he scored on a layup with 33 seconds left, to cut the deficit 55-53.
In the fourth quarter, Obasoto hit a free throw at 8:22 to give the Bisons a 60-55 lead. At 3:30, Obasoto made two free throws to extend the advantage 70-58. Watts made two free throws at 0:34, pushing the lead to 78-68. Kraus made a free throw with 24 seconds remaining to secure the Bisons’ 79-68 victory.
On Friday, Feb. 13, the Bisons fell 77-69 to the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West quarterfinals.
Kraus made a tip-in at 8:54 in the first quarter, giving the Bisons a 4-0 lead. Gus Goerzen made a jump for the Thunderbirds at 7:17, tying the game 4-4. At 3:03, Obasoto made a layup, assisted by Manyang Tong, to level the game 10-10. Karan Aujla made a layup at 0:27, putting the
Thunderbirds ahead 18-15. At 6:48 in the second quarter, Nikola Guzina made a free throw to give the Thunderbirds a 28-17 advantage. Lenz made a free throw at 1:33 to cut the deficit 34-27. Tong made a free throw at 0:16 to bring the score to 36-28. The Thunderbirds ended the quarter with a 39-28 lead.
In the third quarter, Watts
made a three-point jump shot at 9:00, bringing the score to 41-31. At 4:58, Raj Dhadda made a three-point jump to widen the Thunderbirds’ lead to 51-36. Watts scored on a layup at 1:07 to cut the deficit to 55-46. With 31 seconds left, Watts made a three-point jump shot to make it 57-49. Kraus made a free throw at 8:21 in the fourth quarter to bring the score to 64-50. At
6:05, Obasoto made a jump shot to narrow the gap 65-60. Watts made a tip-in at 2:32, cutting the gap to 69-64. Kraus made a free throw at 0:43 to make the score 75-66. With five seconds remaining, Vigilance made a free throw for the Bisons but it was not enough as the Thunderbirds held on for a 77-69 win, securing a spot in the Canada West semifinals.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY GRAEME KELLY
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY VAMSI NADELLA
HANNA BAILEY (20)
The Dinos curse continues
Bisons women’s basketball loses against Calgary Dinos in playoffs
Faiyaz Chowdhury, staff
The Bisons women’s basketball team played against the Calgary Dinos in the Canada West Women’s Basketball Championship play-in round at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia on Feb. 13. The game was hosted by Trinity Western University. The Dinos won the game 91-67 and made it to the quarterfinals.
The game started with the Dinos taking an early lead 9-3 at 7:03 with a three-point jump shot. The herd slowly found its footing, later cutting into the Dinos’ lead [16-13] with about two minutes remaining. The Dinos ended the quarter with a 22-15 lead.
In the second quarter, the Dinos’ choked the herd’s offence, outscoring them by 26 points to the herd’s 14 points. With nearly five minutes remaining in this quarter, a three-point basket by Dinos’ Milica Gajic made the overall score 40-20. For the rest of the quarter, both teams
were equal on execution. The first half ended with the Dinos leading 48-29. Ayva Khan shone for the Bisons, scoring 10 points in this quarter.
The Bisons redeemed themselves post halftime in the third quarter by outscoring the Dinos 25- 21. This quarter kept the Bisons in the game, but hanging by a thread. The overall score at the end of the third quarter was 69-54 –a 15 point lead for the Dinos. Darya Rom scored 10 points in the quarter for the herd.
The last quarter had the Dinos continuously increase their lead by 23 points, 79-56, with 4:18 remaining in the game. At 3:45, the Dinos did not seem to be slowing down.
Raya Hafez made a threepoint jump shot to create an 84-63 advantage, then another three-point jump shot by Amélie Collin, a two-point jump shot by Emma Yarwood and the last two points by two free throws from Megan Weisgerber expanded the lead. The Dinos ended the
game winning 91-67.
In this game, the Bisons had four players who scored double digits —Anna Miko scored 11 points, Khan scored 10 points, Taylor Schepp scored 11 points and Rom scored 18 points. The Dinos had five players who scored double digits — Kourtney Oss scored 16 points, Christine Geraldo scored 20 points, Pollyanna Storie scored 13 points, Lilia Skumatova scored 10 points and Gajic scored 14 points. The Bisons women’s basketball team has not won a game against the Dinos in the past 18 years.
The Dinos had more than twice the assists the herd had (15-7). The game ended with the herd shooting 35.1 per cent (20-57) FGMA-A, 37.5 per cent (9-24) 3PM-A and 78.3 per cent (18-23) FTM-A, whereas the Dinos ended the game shooting 55.9 per cent (33-59) FGMA-A, 47.1 per cent (8-17) 3PM-A and 73.9 per cent (1723) FTM-A. The Dinos’ higher assists and better shooting
was reflected in the scoreline.
In the 2025-26 women’s basketball season, the herd won eight and lost 13 games overall, 8-12 in the conference.
The Bisons won by their highest margin with 63–35
(+28) against the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves in a preseason game and lost by their highest margin with 100-63 (–37) against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
Icy shoes to fill Five graduating seniors will make interesting changes for the men’s hockey roster
Faiyaz Chowdhury, staff
The Bisons shared a press release on Feb. 3 stating that five seniors for the men’s hockey team will be ending their time as Bisons. The five athletes are Codey Behun, Michael King, Evan Toth, Jackson Arpin and Jonny Hooker.
The Bisons finished the 2025-26 season with a 12-16-0 record. The herd had a better record playing away games, posting a 9-5-0 record, while struggling to maintain consistency at home at the Wayne Fleming Arena with a 3-11-0 record. January featured a strong stretch that included road sweeps of the Trinity Western University Spartans and MacEwan University Griffins and wins over the University of Alberta Golden Bears and University of Regina Cougars. Despite ending the year on a threegame losing streak, the herd showed resilience and growth throughout the season.
Compared to the 2024-25 season, the herd showed clear improvement. The previous season saw the Bisons finish 8-20-0, struggling at home (5-9-0) and on the road (3-11-0).
The 2025-26 season included a much stronger road record.
Hooker, a fourth-year student, concludes his Bisons career as the captain of the herd. He played 28 games over
the 2025-26 season, scored 10 goals, recorded 11 assists and accumulated 21 points. He also scored two game-winning goals this season.
Arpin, a fourth-year student, played in 26 games this season, registering five points — three goals and two assists. He was the only athlete to score a shorthanded goal for the herd this season.
Toth, a fourth-year student, skated in 24 games in 2025-26 with four assists.
King, a fifth-year forward from Winnipeg, played in 28 games, recording two goals and two assists for four points. He played in all the available games, showing his consistency and reliability.
Behun, a fifth-year student, played 24 games, collecting five points — three goals, two assists. He also had 24 shots, averaging one shot per game, suggesting a winning urge for the team.
With these five players graduating, the Bisons men’s hockey team will look to fill key leadership and roster roles heading into the 2026–27 season. The program will also name a new team captain to succeed Hooker, while head coach Gordon Burnett may evaluate adjustments to the lineup and team strategy as the herd builds on the progress shown this year.
