February 2023 Issue

Black History Month: A

Reflection of Military Pride

Journey of a Herbivore

Valentines Day in Japan

Astronomy: Winter

Constellations

February is a month of celebration, reflection, and resilience. This month marks Black History Month and Valentine’s Day. For the ULethbridge community, we have also seen the debut of the REC Room initiative on campus and a student-led protest of a controversial speaker on campus. Information about the protest is already available on our website, titled “The Crossroads Between Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: Frances Widdowson and the University of Lethbridge.” More will be published in the March issue.

In this issue, we highlight an article titled “Black History Month: A Reflection of Military Pride” as a modest attempt to encourage ongoing education of Black history in Canada. Black History Month is important to honour and celebrate Black history, contributions, heritage, and voices. It reminds us to reflect on the past, acknowledge ongoing inequalities and misunderstandings, and celebrate the vibrancy of the Black community. It is not meant to be the only time to incorporate Black voices; we must make it a part of everyday life. We encourage you to continue learning about the events that have shaped our past and continue to influence our present. With more thoughtful awareness and action, we all play a role in creating a brighter future.

Spring break is around the corner. Have an enjoyable time to recharge and come back ready to tackle the rest of the year!

Sincerely,

Contributors

Kianna Turner Editor-in-Chief

Andres Salazar Writer

Blaine Badiuk Business Manager

Han Slater Assistant Editor

Janise Michel Designer

Cailin Williams Social Media Coordinator

Laura Oviedo-Guzmán Writer

Lauryn Evans Writer

Shawn Funk Writer

How to Be Loved By Humble the Poet

Lingua

I appeared, out of nothingness

Becoming a living being Always to be wielded by you. I come from the deepest part of your existence, Speaking through you, Writing through you, Moving through you.

I am used in the most necessary of cases An infinity of mother tongues

Evolving only with your will. I am words…emotions… and actions

Making the world go round Even when you control all of me. I live through your body and voice

Where you and I become one entity…

I am…language.

Written by Vanessa Bowen

I Might Be a Language Purist (But There’s Hope for Me)

Written by Laura Oviedo-Guzmán

I don’t know whether it’s clear how much I love language. I do write for a magazine, so I must have a passion for it, right? Yes. And as of mid-December, I have a Linguistics minor to show for it— woo-hoo! Maybe my adoration results from having to figure English out as a native Spanish speaker; maybe it’s because I am very faithful to the meaning of words that people share with me. Either way, I have been fascinated with the ways in which we shift the use of words in our language for as long as I can remember. So, when one of the prompts for my Philosophy of Language (PHIL 3280, if you want to take it) class midterm paper was exactly about this, I felt electrified because I would get to talk about one of my biggest linguistic pet peeves—the term “emotional labour.” Read on to see what makes me feel like the spazztic “Roman’s Revenge” TikTok trend.

When I ponder worries about language meaning, sharing, and use, I think of TikTok. I think of this social media platform because of the curious way creators use language that I, a recent achiever of a Bachelor of Health Sciences, use to describe very specific phenomena. Terms like trauma-bond,

gaslighting, anti-social, and emotional labour are employed by TikTok users to refer to experiences that do not truly fit the definition of these terms. My unease does not spring just because they have misappropriated a term; it is further stirred by the fact that the misappropriation and misuse of these words are proliferated due to how the algorithm works on this platform. Instead of outing myself as a language purist, I like to use the friction between my lexical knowledge and the vulgar use of these terms to fuel my curiosity about why we morph word-use in this manner. In this text, I will explore how words shift in meaning over time, and the limits to the freedom language users have to shift the meaning of words in a language.

The Emotional Labour of Explaining Emotional Labour

Anxieties about how language changes are not unique to me, my time, or this particular social media site. People have attributed the plight of language to the use of the word “like” for decades, claiming that people are pulling it into grammatical categories where it does not belong. Some even liken the use of “like”

in this context to an epidemic and suggest that a speech pathologist curtail this particular use (Sankin, 2017). While I would not pathologize for the misuse of a term, I want to allow my eyes to roll whenever I hear someone use the term emotional labour when referring to, for example, lending a friend a compassionate ear or asking one’s spouse to wash the dishes. However, I stopped my ocular somersault because I want to be genuinely empathic and curious about a person’s experience.

The term emotional labour was coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild in her book Managed Hearts and describes “the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfil the emotional requirements of a job” (1985). Emotional labour elicits certain feelings in a client, which mediate the company’s success. Common examples of professions that require this ritual are food-industry jobs, healthcare, and childcare.

Thirty years after its inception, the term has been used in feminist discussions about household chores that often go unnoticed, like organizing holiday celebrations. Using the term to denote the exhaustion felt by completing this task and having one’s efforts taken for granted constitutes misuse. The same can be said of using emotional labour to refer to one’s attempts to manage other people’s emotions, like when one spends time cooking and decorating for an event to elicit happiness in others. Employing emotional labour in both of these instances is inappropriate because, in the first example, the discussion is around actions that are strictly considered work. There is no discussion of how the agent is managing their emotions regarding the chores they are doing. In the second example, the discussion is about managing other people’s emotions, not one’s own, which is not what emotional labour constitutes.

The extension of the term emotional labour is an example of concept creep. This term refers to the semantic expansion of harm-related topics to include topics which would not have been originally envisaged to be included under that label (Haslam et al., 2021). According to various sources, the concept creep of emotional labour reached its peak in 2018. This is the same year author Gemma Hartley published Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward, based on her own Harper’s Bazaar article from the previous year in which she mistakenly labels things that really fall under mental or physical work, like using her encyclopedic knowledge of her children’s school dietary lunch guidelines to make their food, as emotional labour. Based on my observations on TikTok and discussions with disgruntled Sociology majors in 2022, we are still in the rising action portion of concept creep for this term.

This instance of concept creep/inappropriate semantic expansion is primarily due to a lack of linguistic due diligence on the language user’s part. In thinking of the process involved in the re-assignment of meaning concerning the term emotional labour, I picture an individual rightfully frustrated by the asymmetrical split of household chores, eager to share their experiences with others who might relate or offer a solution. Most people do not conceptualize domestic work as literal labour, likely because it is unremunerated and therefore seen as worth less than paid work. I think this idea, coupled with the wrongful equivalence that domestic and relational matters (outside of the office) are necessarily “emotional,” is what led some people to couple the words “emotional” and “labour” to describe household management and the burden it disproportionately places on women. Emotional labour would go on to describe the fatigue felt by having people disclose difficulties and helping them navigate their turmoil. If someone is helping their loved ones with their emotions, then it follows that they are performing labour with emotions… so, emotional labour, right? Essentially, people did not do their research and came up with a shorthand to communicate their frustrations.

I am a staunch supporter of the idea that language exists to serve us, not the opposite. As users of a language with endless creativity, we can create and evolve language to describe our realities. However, the misuse of emotional labour is not an example of this. The misuse of this term, as I have outlined above, is actually a disservice to ourselves because using this term to discuss personal matters makes the discussion more confusing since this term has a pre-established meaning. Additionally, emotional labour is used as a catch-all term to discuss the burden of doing things outside of a paid role, from household management to connecting with loved ones. The extension of the term was so bad that the sociologist responsible for it was quoted saying she was “horrified” by people’s misuse (Beck, 2018).

While a year of seemingly climactic misuse of emotional labour, 2018 also saw a slew of articles on what emotional labour truly means. One of these articles is an interview between Hochschild, who invented the term, and the senior editor for the Atlantic, Julie Beck. The interviewer asks the sociologist if she is comfortable expanding the term’s definition, adding that “language evolves.” Hochschild responds that she is not comfortable with the overextension of the term because it makes the thinking “a little blurrier” and lacks class perspective when one can cite that “calling a maid to clean the bathtub [...] is too burdensome,”

constituting emotional labour. Later on in the interview, she says, “[we are] trying to have an important conversation but having it in a very hazy way, working with [a] blunt concept.” Hochschild thinks the answer is to be more precise and careful in our ideas to bring this conversation to different contexts in a helpful way (Beck, 2018).

Someone reading my words might think I am appealing to authority. I am dazzled by Hochschild and firm in my discomfort about the vulgar use of emotional labour because she is a highly decorated sociologist. She said people were misusing her term. I would say I am guilty of this if she had not gone to great lengths to study the phenomena labelled by the term, carefully classified what emotional labour looks like, and subsequently mindfully devised a pairing of words to describe said phenomena. In other words, we can experiment with language and express ourselves how we want. However, there are limits to that freedom because we cannot re-assign meaning to a term that was carefully coined to communicate clearly about a specific issue in our society. Because this term is her brainchild, which came about after rigorous research, it is appropriate and necessary that Hochschild reminds us of the limits to our linguistic freedom where the overextension of emotional labour is concerned. If we are not on the same page, her intervention at least ensures we are reading the same book.

References

Arlie Russell Hochschild. (1985). The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. University Of California Press.

Beck, J. (2018, November 26). Arlie Hochschild: Housework Isn’t “Emotional Labor.” The Atlantic; The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/arlie-hochschild-housework-isnt-emotional-labor/576637/

Boston.com Staff. (2011, July 19). Literally the most misused word. Www.boston.com. https://www.boston.com/culture/lifestyle/2011/07/19/literally-the-most-misused-word/

Definition of LITERALLY. (n.d.). Www.merriam-Webster.com. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

Hartley, G. (2017, September 27). Women Aren’t Nags—We’re Just Fed Up. Harper’s BAZAAR. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12063822/emotional-labor-gender-equality/

Haslam, N., Tse, J. S. Y., & De Deyne, S. (2021). Concept Creep and Psychiatrization. Frontiers in Sociology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/ fsoc.2021.806147

Looking for constellations in the sky is challenging, but it is helpful to know that the coolest constellations are seasonal before you brave the cold. Thus, you might want to check a star chart to determine if the constellation you are looking for is in season. Winter constellations are among the most spectacular because they showcase the brightest stars in the sky of any season. The cold temperatures are also perfect for spotting deep-sky objects because sub-zero temperatures freeze any moisture in the air, increasing one’s visibility from the ground. Winter constellations are best viewed in the southern sky from December to March in the evening.

The winter group contains six major constellations: Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Auriga, and Taurus (there are obviously more constellations in the winter sky, but let’s keep this easy). Prominently set in the southern sky, novice stargazers can easily identify these constellations.

The winter hexagon is used to find each of the winter constellations easily. It consists of six high-magnitude stars in the winter sky; high-magnitude stars are very bright. Each star of the winter hexagon is part of a winter constellation, and they are useful as a guide to the night sky. Using stars to navigate the night sky is called star-hopping. Once the guide star is found, the lower magnitude stars that fill out the constellation’s shape are easily found.

Orion- Orion the Hunter is a prominent constellation during the winter months, owing to its central position in the south. Its seven brightest stars appear in the shape of an hourglass, and the naked eye can see the Orion Nebula located beneath “the belt” on a dark night. Illustrations show a knife holstered where the nebula sits, but I think we can all use our imagination a little. Cheap binoculars will significantly enhance this observation! Rigel is the brightest star in Orion and is one of the six guide stars in the winter hexagon.

Cannes Major- All great hunters have dogs. Fixed to Orion’s left side is the jewel of the sky, the “Dog Star,” officially called Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and it flickers so intensely that it often catches your eye from the ground, compelling many to call the Men in Black. Apart from the spectacle of Sirius, Cannes Major is made up of lower magnitude stars that appear faint underneath city lights.

Cannes Minor- Uh, why is this a constellation? Made up of only two stars, Cannes Minor is tiny, yet it contains one of the brightest stars in the sky, the guide star, Procyon. Find it above and to the left of Sirius. I am sure the dogs here enjoy the wilderness; not much else here for a stargazer except the guiding light of Procyon.

1

Sky & Telescope (2022, March Note. Each star of the winter hexagon guide stars to find six different towards the brightest star in the inside-winter-hexagon/

References

Dickinson, T. (2013). Nightwatch: Sky & Telescope, Stellarium. (2022, andtelescope.org/observing/inside-winter-hexagon/ 6

Figure

March 22)

hexagon is the brightest star from its corresponding constellation. Use these winter constellations! It is easiest to start with Rigel in Orion, then go clockwise the sky, Sirius. Retrieved January 19, 2023. https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/

Gemini- Baby, what’s your sign? The constellation Gemini is the third astrological sign of the zodiac, and it boasts two high-magnitude stars, Pollux, and Castor, nicknamed “The Twins”; these are the guide stars. All twelve zodiac constellations follow the ecliptic line, the line where the sun appears to travel across the sky (Dickinson, 2013). All the bodies in the solar system, moons, planets, asteroids, etc., follow this line too. Find them!

Auriga- Look up! Directly above your head on a balmy winter evening, you will discover five high-magnitude stars in the shape of a pentagon; enter Auriga! With a set of binoculars and a reasonably dark sky, three different star clusters from the Messier catalogue (M36, M37, M38) can be seen as dusty splotches in and around the bottom half of Auriga. The guide star in Auriga is called Capella, and it points the way to our last constellation, Taurus.

Taurus- Orion gets all the attention, but I am telling you now—it’s all bull. Taurus is the second astrological sign of the Zodiac, and it is the prize of the winter sky. The guide star, Aldebaran, is a red giant 45 times the diameter of our Sun and is part of the Hyades star cluster (Dickinson, 2013). The bull’s tail is resolved at the Pleiades (M45) star cluster, which looks like a tiny dipper. Cheap binoculars will reveal hundreds of stars between these two clusters, making it the most spectacular constellation in the winter sky!

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A practical guide to viewing the universe. Firefly Books. (2022, March 22). Explore the winter hexagon. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/inside-winter-hexagon/

Over five years ago, I watched a video of a cow that people rescued from a slaughterhouse that recognized its rescuers. This cow ran to greet those that rescued them, plopped its little (big) head into the man’s lap, and then the video showed the cow playing with a ball. While watching that video, I realized that cows are just oversized dogs. Perhaps my association is far-reaching, but it made me realize I did not want to eat meat anymore. In this piece, I will speak about my journey thus far of being vegetarian and how I feel my health has improved since making this switch. This piece will speak about food and briefly about my relationship with food. If this is something that may be difficult to read, please feel free to skip the rest of what I have written.

The next morning, after apologizing to my dog for having eaten his far, distant relatives, I announced to my family that I would no longer be eating meat. I was 17 then, and it has been five years since I last consumed meat. I will note that I am a huge lover of animals, often preferring them over any human company. I’m not here to be another voice telling you to change your diet to exclude meat. Frankly, it’s not any of my business to say that a non-meat diet is superior to a meat-eating diet. However, it does feel good when you are conscientious about what you put in your body and how it is grown, fed, developed, or created.

To begin with, I was never the biggest meat eater. Initially, I thought being a pescetarian was a good start. Then, like the cow video that started this all, I watched a video of a fish (I think it was a salmon) that was playing a game with a human where they swim into his hands. The human would pick them up and gently toss the fish, and then the fish would swim back to start the process all over again. Within that first week, I cut out all meat, including all sea animals.

The transition for me was rather easy. I never craved any meat, even when my mom made chicken adobo. I had fun learning how to make my favourite dishes vegetarian, and thankfully, mushroom adobo is just as good, maybe even better. It was new and exciting, and it helped me step into new areas of cooking.

Not to mention, my groceries are not as expensive as they would be with meat. Except when I get cashews - nuts are so damn expensive.

Being vegetarian has improved not just my physical health but also my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. I used to be quite the avid napper - I would come home from school and nap. Once I finished either field hockey practice or a game, I would nap. I used to even take naps during my spare period in high school. While I am still a lover of being unconscious, I no longer feel exhausted at the end (or middle) of my days and need to take a 1-2 hour “power nap.” I feel I have more energy; with this energy, I’ve also stopped drinking as much caffeine. This change in energy was something that I noticed within my first six months of becoming vegetarian. It is important to note that vegetarians and vegans are more likely to become deficient in iron and vitamin B12, so vitamin supplements are always a good choice.

One of the things I am most grateful for is my relationship with food has also improved. My relationship with food in my teenage years felt complex, and I will be honest in saying there are still times I feel this complexity. The transformation of my relationship with food is not from being vegetarian alone; there was a lot of work I had to do to get where I am now. However, vegetarianism played a major role in my understanding of what it means to nourish my body. I learned that when I feel good about what I am putting into my body, my mind also feels good about my actions. In a way, I was able to mend my perception of food. Spiritually, it allows me to feel more connected to this world, and plants seeds of appreciation for the life that exists here that nourishes us.

Thinking about the challenges of being vegetarian, the only one that comes to mind is that sometimes it can be challenging to find a restaurant. While many restaurants offer vegetarian dishes or versions of dishes, they can often be limited to one or two choices, be tasteless (or even overly flavourful), or just simply be completely disappointing. It is possible to find restaurants offering numerous options and great-tasting food, but this is where I have struggled the most.

As mentioned before, I enjoyed learning to make my favourite dishes vegetarian, as well as learning new recipes and building off them. In this piece, I am including two of my very own recipes, as well as my friend, Rayyan’s recipe. Please note that I do not use any measuring devices when I cook; I simply go off of what feels right and tastes right. Luckily, for this article, I decided to cook all three and actually measure how I make them so that there is a recipe to follow, and hopefully, it turns out just as well for you. These are also bank account-friendly recipes, and they aren’t hard to make, but they sure are delicious. I present my mushroom adobo, teriyaki tofu bowl, and Rayyan’s samosa recipes.

Mushroom Adobo for Two

Ingredients:

3 tbs oil

2 bay leaves

Large pack of crimini mushrooms

Garlic (to taste)

Ginger (to taste)

Black pepper (to taste)

50 ml soy sauce

25 ml vinegar

25 ml lemon juice

3 tbsp sugar or add to taste (or you can use honey as a substitute)

2 cups of white rice

Steps:

1. Start with rinsing your rice and putting it on. I use a rice cooker. I do not know how to cook rice in a pot, so if you use a pot, do your thing or google it.

2. Begin with cleaning your mushrooms. Cut the stems off, and you can cut them in half if you prefer. If they are smaller mushrooms, I recommend leaving them whole as mushrooms shrink when cooked. Heat your pan (I prefer a wok, but any pan will work that can hold liquids) to medium heat. Let your pan heat and add around 3 tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is heated, add two bay leaves and your mushrooms. Add black pepper to taste. Cook mushrooms until they are a bit golden, about 7 minutes. Add your garlic and ginger when they are halfway done.

3. Add soy sauce, vinegar, and lemon juice to pan. Turn heat to high and bring to a simmer. Add your sugar and stir well, then reduce heat to medium and let the sauce thicken.

4. Once the sauce has thickened, your adobo is now done. Maybe it needs more black pepper or garlic, maybe ginger. Add it still and just let it cook a bit longer. Enjoy!!

Cooking Tip: never put oil into a cold pan. Wait till the pan is hot before adding oil!

Written by Lauryn Evans

Tofu Teriyaki

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Pack of firm or extra firm tofu

1 tbs oil

Chili flakes to taste

Garlic

Ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

¾ cup soy sauce

water

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp cornstarch

¼ cup cold water

3 cups of white rice

Magi seasoning

Chili powder

Coleslaw vegetable mix

Mushrooms

Onions

Black pepper

Garlic

Onion powder

Red hot chili powder

Steps:

Part one: Marinating tofu

1. Start with making your teriyaki sauce. Have your garlic and ginger minced and ready to go. Put a medium-sized pot on low-medium heat. Put your oil in your pot and wait for it to heat. Once the oil is heated, add chili flakes and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. Add your garlic and ginger. Cook for around 3-4 minutes, or until you have a nice aroma. I recommend using Asian chili flakes as they do not burn nearly as fast.

2. Add soy sauce and water and raise the heat to high. Add brown sugar and honey and stir thoroughly. Mix cornstarch with cold water and add to the pot. Bring sauce to a boil, then turn the heat to medium and let thicken. Once your sauce has thickened and is to your taste, set a portion aside in an elongated container that can hold all your tofu.

3. Drain and press your tofu. I have a tofu press, or you can use a cheesecloth or paper towel and make your own press through two cutting boards sandwiching the tofu and placing a heavy-ish (textbooks are very useful for this!) item on top to drain some water. Press for 10-15 minutes.

4. Now it is time to prepare your tofu. It is up to you how to cut your tofu, but I enjoy cutting my block of tofu in half lengthwise and then cutting thin-ish slices off. Once the teriyaki sauce has cooled, add your tofu. Now, let your tofu marinate as you prepare your veggies! Part two: The rest of the dish

1. Begin by turning your rice on. Once again, I use a rice cooker, so I always start my rice at the beginning of meals. If you are using a pot for rice, do your thing.

Cooking Tip: taste as you go and let your tastebuds guide you. Add your own desired spices, or cook things in a different way than suggested in the recipe. Afterall, recipes are just suggestions.

2. For this dish, I am using a coleslaw bag mix, along with onions, and mushrooms. Begin with washing your mushrooms and destemming them. Turn a pan (I use a wok) to medium heat. Slice your mushrooms into thin-medium pieces. Julienne your onions. Add oil to your pan and allow oil to heat. Once the oil is heated, add garlic and red chili flakes. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

3. Add your onions and mushrooms to the pan. Once almost done add your coleslaw vegetable mix. Add spices and magi seasoning (or you can use soy sauce).

4. Put another pan on the stove and turn to low-medium. Once the pan has heated, add your oil and then tofu. The oil will splatter, so use a cover or protect your arms.

5. You want a nice char on each side of your tofu slices and initially this may require patience until it is done just right. This takes approximately 8 minutes for each side depending on how high/low you choose to cook it at. Be careful not to let your tofu get stuck to the pan. Cook your tofu in batches so you do not overcrowd your pan, and add more oil as needed.

6. With your leftover teriyaki sauce in your pot, reheat on low-medium heat. If the sauce has thickened too much, add a little bit of water at a time to bring back desired consistency.

7. When your vegetable mix is done, turn your pan to a low and finish cooking your tofu.

8. Place your dish once everything is done, and enjoy!

Makes approx. 25 samosas

Ingredients:

Red potatoes (approx.

6 large)

Thai chili peppers (we use 2, but adjust to your spice preference)

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp red chili powder

Salt Black pepper

Cilantro

Spring roll pastry wrappers (I recommend using the Rooster brand!)

Cooking tip: cooking a dish from a different culture? Get authentic spices to step it up a notch! (the spices for Rayyan’s dish are all Suraj)

Rayyan’s Samosas

Steps:

1. Wash your potatoes and cut them in half. Do not peel your potatoes. Put potatoes in a large pot and fill with water until potatoes are completely submerged. Turn the pot to high heat and let it boil. Boiling potatoes takes approximately 25 minutes, but this can differ depending on the size of the potatoes. To test the potatoes out, poke with a fork into the center of the potato. Fork should go in smoothly, almost like it is butter. The skin should be easy to peel off or even separate from the potatoes.

2. When potatoes are done, drain in a strainer. In a large separate bowl, fill with cold water and add ice cubes. Put potatoes in cold water and allow to cool. Once potatoes are fully cooled, take them out of the water. Now, you want to peel the skin off. This should be rather easy to do now that they are boiled - if your potatoes are not easily peelable, then they are not done.

3. Now it is time to mash your potatoes! A potato masher works best, if you do not have one, then you can use a fork (this could be a long process), or you can use a hand mixer, ricer, or food processor. If you use a machine, then be very careful not to overmix. Once potatoes are mashed, add your spices. Taste the mix as you go and add more seasoning to taste if needed. Add cilantro and Thai chili peppers and mix well.

4. Now it is time to wrap. I don’t know how to explain this in words that will make it not seem complex. So, instead, here is a visual on how to wrap them. Seal your samosas with water!

5. To fry, use something that can hold ½ a cup of vegetable oil. Before adding oil, turn the pan to medium heat (we did 5). Once the pan has heated, add your oil and allow it to heat. Once oil is heated, drop your samosas in. Do not overcrowd your pan - cook in batches. When you drop into the pan, they should start sizzling right away. If they don’t, you have not allowed your oil to heat fully. Each side of the samosa till golden brown.

6. Set your samosas on a plate that is lined with a paper towel (or two) to absorb extra oil. Allow to cool, then enjoy! You can also freeze your uncooked samosas, then make them when you want. To cook after having been frozen, microwave them for around 30 seconds each side to defrost so they cook thoroughly in the oil.

Written by Andres Salazar

Growing up in Canada, chances are that we all either played a sport or knew someone that was an active athlete. Playing sports is regular, with soccer and hockey being the most common. While we all knew people that were always on the grass field or on the ice rink, athletes representing different sports all over the place. Volleyball, rock climbing, combat sports, and curling are some of the physical activities widely accepted as great pastimes.

However, there is one sport that, here in North America, never became popular, or even taken seriously. While its larger-scale cousin is watched by millions of Canadians, table tennis seems to go completely unnoticed, relegated almost entirely to being a simple game that can be played at a friend’s man cave. Widely known as simply “ping pong”, the miniature version of tennis is seen as just that, while it is actively played and celebrated across Europe, Asia, and parts of South America and Africa. Why is it that it gets completely disregarded in our part of the world? Perhaps, it could be that many people here don’t fully understand what it entails, or what makes it such a fascinating sport. By learning a little about it, perhaps some can realize that, yes, it actually is a valid sport.

One of the most common questions that table tennis enthusiasts will hear when speaking to someone is “Wait, it’s actually a sport?.” Often followed by an even bigger surprise reaction when people find out that table tennis is, in fact, an Olympic sport. Making its debut in the 1988 summer Olympic games in Seoul, South Korea, table tennis has seen athletes from around the globe competing in the singles and doubles categories. This fact might be shocking to hear, especially when realizing that it has been an Olympic event even before commonly watched events, such as badminton and taekwondo, which debuted in 1992 and 2000, respectively (IOC, 2017). Since its introduction in 1988, table tennis has remained a consistent staple of the summer Olympiad. Though these days, the Chinese national team has been dominant throughout the years, many players from South America, Africa, and even Canada play at every major table tennis event.

Another common misunderstanding is that table tennis is not a physically demanding sport. As is the case with most physical activities, athletes at the elite level have to stay at an optimal fitness level to compete. Studies have shown that to stay competitively relevant at the international level; an athlete must possess and maintain strong muscular and cardiorespiratory endurance.

Top players focus on training that optimizes explosive movements, to increase their speed and power for their in-game rallies (Kondric et al., 2013). Training camps preparing for world championships include full-body workouts, often focusing on developing the muscles in the legs, to increase mobility during matches (Srinivasan, 2018). Preparation for high-level competitions can be grueling, with schedules that can include about twenty-two hours of weekly training, even for lower-level competitors (Ttdementor, 2017). Training includes everything from standard weightlifting, but will also incorporate hours of technical training, private coaching, and practice matches until it’s time for the day to end. Even though the sport’s playing field is relatively small compared to that of games like tennis and badminton, building the capacity to maneuver around quickly is essential for players to keep up with the ball. There is also immense mental fitness needed. Practice sessions focusing exclusively on strategy are commonplace, putting a large focus on fast-paced problem-solving. Researchers have even found evidence to suggest that the sport’s mental training improves the prevention of degenerative brain illnesses, such as dementia (Yamasaki, 2022). All of this shows that while it looks simple on tv, the highest level of competition requires immense physical and mental dedication.

There is an incredible amount of strategy that goes into table tennis. While at first glance, it may look like a simple game, the reality is that the tactics and equipment and equipment plays an immense role. Specific hand movements when hitting allow for a spin to be applied to the traveling ball, which would then change its trajectory. The opponents then must respond by catching the ball and returning it properly, as the spin would otherwise take the ball elsewhere. This makes the sport look more like a high-speed chess match, as each movement has a precise purpose, and doing the wrong stroke can lead to the opponent getting the point. Adding even more layers to the strategy of the game is the equipment. Each racket is built differently. It can be made of wood, plastic, or carbon fiber, making the racket either heavier or lighter. The rubber on the surface is the most important part. Professional players spend hours choosing the right rubber, as some might be stickier to increase the spin on the ball, soft ones make the shot more accurate, and tense ones tend to increase the ball’s speed (Liu, 2013).

The point is simple: professional-level table tennis goes beyond simply hitting the ball with a wooden stick.

The great thing about table tennis is that it can be enjoyed at all levels. A staple of the summer Olympics since the late 80s, elite athletes train for hours every day to optimize their performance. On the other hand, the game can be incredibly engaging for the two friends playing in the basement with a beer in hand, and a racket in the other. What is commonly known as “ping pong” is as legitimate of a sport as badminton, baseball, and soccer. There is an immense amount of strategy and physical preparation that, together, create something that is fun and challenging. The next time you come across a green table with a net going across it, you might remember that, yes, table tennis is an actual sport.

References

International Olympic Committee. (2017). History of Table Tennis at the Olympic Games. OSC Reference Collection. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://stillmed.olympic.org/ media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Factsheets-Reference-Documents/Games/ OG/History-of-sports/Reference-document-Table-Tennis-History-at-the-OG.pdf.

Kondrič, M., Zagatto, A. M., & Sekulić, D. (2013). The physiological demands of table tennis: a review. Journal of sports science & medicine, 12(3), 362–370. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772576/#:~:text=Scientists%20from%20around%20the%20world,Zagatto%20and%20Gobatto%2C%202012).

Liu, J. Q., Wang, B., Zhao, X., & Dou, Y. (2013). The Application of Rubber Materials on Table Tennis Racket. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 473, 116–120. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.473.116.

Srinivasan, R. (2018). Staying up to snuff, the paddler way. SportStar. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://sportstar.thehindu.com/columns/fitnesswise-ramji-srinivasan/stayingup-to-snuff-the-paddler-way/article23343605.ece.

Ttdementor. (2017). Table Tennis training in China. The Medium. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from https://medium.com/@ttdementor/table-tennis-training-in-china-c960e0a87eed/.

Yamasaki, T. (2022). Benefits of Table Tennis for Brain Health Maintenance and Prevention of Dementia. Encyclopedia, 2(3), 1577–1589. MDPI AG. Retrieved January 13, 2023, from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/encyclopedia2030107.

Considering February is Black History month, let us look into the past, so we may do better in the future to be mindful, grateful, and understanding. Stories of the war’s past become increasingly distant in our minds because of the passage of time, but for others, moments in history are as fresh as if they happened yesterday. Again, a day or a month should not provoke the conversation of black history and the challenges faced by Black, Indigenous, Desi, and East Asian people. Instead, discussing the history and current events should be an everyday consideration.

However, in this article, I will be discussing Canadian Black History. I hope to draw attention to Black History month and to hopefully spark a conversation surrounding not only Black history but the continued struggle faced by many people of colour. I will add a disclaimer here that there will be a discussion of discrimination, racism, and violence. I will also state here that I am aware of the use of Afro-Canadian, African Canadian, and black Canadian in scholarly use. Still, for this article, I will use the terminology Black Canadian to refer to African-descent Canadians.

Military History

Some of the oldest documented accounts of black military history are from the American Revolutionary War (1775- 1783) and the War of 1812 (1812- 1815). Promised their freedom and sometimes a plot of land in exchange for their service, many Black Loyalists fought against the American armies (Mathieu, n.d.). Black Canadians’ military service tradition extended across the nation, serving as some of the first Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps (1861) and serving in the British military forces and Canadian militia in the 1800s (Mathieu, n.d.). African American migrants were some of Canada’s earliest defenders of the borders and critical battalions in later wars.

WWI

During the First World War, more than 1,300 Black Canadians enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. On 5 July 1916, the Department of Defence and Militia au-

thorized the formation of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, 780 of its members were Black Canadians (Ruck, 2022). It was the most prominent Black unit in Canadian history. Its members continued the proud tradition of service to the king and country. No. 2 Construction Battalion was crucial in Canada, England, and France as they were responsible for moving supplies to troops, building depots, maintaining railroads, serving as sentries, and providing the wood needed to rebuild crumbling trench walls and dissolving duckboards (Mathieu, n.d.). However, it was not easy for Black Canadians to enlist.

In August 1914, tens of thousands of men across Canada rushed to their local recruiting centre to enlist for service in the First World War. Many Black men also tried to enlist but were rejected; some Black Canadians heard this was a “white man’s” war, while others were told the army did not require their services (Walker, 1989). By the end of 1915, the military had rejected at least 200 Black volunteers. Many white men told recruiting officers and battalion commanding officers that they refused to serve with Black men (Shaw, 2016). Lt. Col. George Fowler, the commander of the 104th Battalion, would state in his attempt to remove 20 Black soldiers from his regiment, quote:

“I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits, and I do not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes,” (Walker, 1989).

While the battle lines in Europe became pronounced, the racial lines in Canada were becoming demarcated in the labour market, for example, where covert socio-economic racism protected the racial privileges of Anglo-Canadians (Shaw, 2016). The prospect of mixing and mingling with Black Canadians unleashed an unspoken anti-Black racism that reared its ugly head with tenacious ferocity.

George Morton (1859-1927) was a letter carrier, a barber,

and an early civil rights activist that reached out to the Minister of the Militia, Sir Sam Hughes. Morton demanded to know why members of the Black community were being turned away when trying to enlist for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War (Wilson, 2022). The baton of learning why Black Canadians could not join the army was passed onto J.R.B. Whitney, publisher of the Canadian Observer, “The Official Organ for the Coloured People in Canada” (Wilson, 2022). He offered to raise a unit of 150 Black soldiers in November 1915 and was told by Hughes “that these people can form a platoon in any Battalion, now. There is nothing in the world to stop them” (Wilson, 2022). However, Hughes failed to mention that the platoon would have to be accepted by the commanding officer of an authorized battalion before it could be formed (Wilson, 2022).

The irony that would come later in the First World War was the legalization of Conscription in 1917. Many former Black volunteers who attempted to join the army were now forced to join. The legalization of conscription in 1917 caused outrage and discontent among Black communities across Canada. However, Canada still saw many Black Canadians serve in the military despite racist tensions and conscription. After the war, segregation and racist policies continued to prevail in Canadian society despite Black Canadians serving and dying for their country.

WWII

Many Black Canadians returning home from the war in 1918 still experienced the same discrimination level. A quote is taken from the Global News article, “ ‘Black Liberators’: Recovering the lost stories of Black Canadian soldiers of WWII,” given by cultural historian Kathy Grant who created the Legacy Voice institute, states:

“Here it is, they are over in Europe — you’re eating in these fancy restaurants, and you’re being served, and you come back to Canada, and they say, ‘we don’t serve these people,” said Grant. “That really hit hard.”

In the Second World War, segregated battalions were disbanded by the Canadian government, but the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy remained closed to Black Canadians. According to Kathy Grant, these military men — who back home in Canada were subjected to racism and discrimination — were not only fighting to free the world from the Nazis but to free themselves (Maclean, 2021). However, it was not long before the race restriction was dropped from the Air Force and the Navy because of a shortage of military personnel. Some Black

Canadians served in the Navy, and Black Canadian airmen served in the Air Force as ground crew and aircrew here at home and overseas in Europe. Back on the home front, Black Canadians made essential contributions by working in factories that produced vehicles, weapons, ammunition, and other materials for the war effort and taking part in other patriotic efforts like war bond drives (n.d., 2022). Black women worked in vital jobs in various industries, for example, in munitions factories in Central Canada and shipbuilding yards in Nova Scotia, filling the shoes of the men who usually worked in these environments but were away fighting in the war (n.d., 2022).

Conclusion

The reality of Canada’s history is not all sunshine and rainbows. It is quite the opposite. Racism and discrimination are riddled throughout Canadian history despite the accepting and welcoming visage that Canada has claimed for years. However, this is not to suggest that Canada will continue to embody the past in its future; rather, this is a learning opportunity for leaders moving forward on the significance of truth, honesty, and reconciliation. Take a moment this Black History Month to reflect on the past, learn something new and continue forward, less ignorant of Canadian history. When considering Black History Month, I hope it will provoke a conversation free of ignorance and hate because it is essential to remember the past, or we will be doomed to repeat it. I hope you learned something new in this article, dear reader, and I hope you go beyond this article to learn more about Black Canadian History.

References: (2022). “Black Canadians in uniform — a proud tradition.” Government of Canada. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/people-and-stories/ black-canadians.

Berthiaume, L. (2020). “Black Canadians fought racism, discrimination to serve in Second World War.” Canadian Broadcasting Company. https://www.cbc.ca/ news/politics/black-canadians-second-world-war-1.5793974.

Maclean, K. (2021). “ ‘Black Liberators’: Recovering the lost stories of Black Canadian soldiers of WWII.” Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/8366180/ black-liberators-black-canadian-soldiers-wwii-stories/

Ruck, L. (2022). No. 2 Construction Battalion. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/no-2-construction-battalion.

Shaw. M. (2016). “Most Anxious to Serve their King and Country: Black Canadians’ Fight to Enlist in WWI and Emerging Race Consciousness in Ontario, 1914-1919.” Social History vol. XLIX, no 100. PDF.

Walker. St.G. W. James. (1989). “Race and Recruitment in World War 1: Enlistment of Visible Minorities in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.” Canadian Historical Review, LXX, 1, 1989. University of Toronto Press. https://wordpress. viu.ca/davies/files/2017/01/Race-and-Recruitment-in-World-War-One.pdf.

There are a couple of elements that come to mind when people hear “Valentine’s Day”. Here in Canada, chocolate, the colour red and winged babies with bows and arrows are classic holiday imagery. It seems like there isn’t much change from year to year. While those pieces might seem so concrete to us, it goes without saying that countries celebrate holidays

Japan is no stranger to putting its twists on popular holidays. Whether it’s a good bucket of KFC on Christmas or having costumed street parties on Halloween, the land of the rising sun also loves to have its own spin on the classic day of romance and friendship. To get to know Japanese Valentine’s Day a bit better, I interviewed two Japanese people to see what they can tell us about what February 14th is like over in Asia, as well as what shocked them when they came here.

- Mina

“Valentine’s Day in Japan is the judgement day for girls to give chocolates and tell their feelings to their crush. So, tension can be felt on the day since they are so nervous about whether their plan goes well. I could say it is such a big event for girls for sure. On the other hand, this makes boys attentive because they expect some girls to confess

- Jin

“What are everyday things to see or do on

“Valentine’s Day in Japan is a big event for women trying to confess their love. It’s also a day to show appreciation to others (i.e., coworkers). Some people buy chocolates from stores, but most people choose to give homemade goods.”

- Mina

“You can see some funny scenes right before the day. Some boys beg their female classmates for chocolate as mercy. Even if they are not popular, it doesn’t matter anymore as long as chocolates from any girl. Some girls buy tons of small, individually wrapped chocolates and distribute them to boys for pity’s sake. On the other hand, for their crush, girls make homemade chocolates from scratch or buy expensive chocolates.”

- Jin 17

“What is different about Valentine’s Day in Japan? What shocked you about the holiday in Canada?”

“ Chocolates are usually given from women to men on Valentine’s Day in Japan. There is a day called White Day, which is celebrated on March 14th, and that is the day for men to return the favour. There are also three types of chocolate: Honmei-choco (favourite chocolate) for significant others or your crush; Giri-choco (obligation chocolate) for your classmates, coworkers, or bosses as appreciation; and Tomo-choco (friend chocolate) for friends.

- Mina

“It’s quite different since this is basically a confessing event in Japan. Here in Canada, boys can also give girls chocolate too, so I was shocked about the difference in Valentine’s Day. At the same time, it is kind of sad Canada doesn’t have the same sort of tradition because it is so much fun to see people get either excited or sad depending on whether they get any chocolate or not.”

“Here in Canada, Valentine’s Day also celebrates close friendships; is that the case in Japan as well?”

“Yes, Tomo-choco is given to friends. It is given to anyone regardless of gender.”

- Mina

“There are three types of valentine’s chocolate: 本 命 (honmei)，義理チョコ(Giri-choco), 友チョコ (tomo-choco). Honmei is for crushes. Giri-choco is the one for either mercy or obligation. Tomo-choco is the one for friends. There is something similar in Japan too.

We, here at the Meliorist, would like to thank Mina and Jin for their participa tion in our interview! The most fasci nating thing to learn about through this interview is how giving and receiving chocolate can be such a heavy event. Though Japan has its take on Valentine’s Day, one thing is still consistent with our version of the holiday: it’s a great day to celebrate those who are close to you.

Written by Andres Salazar

Every holiday has its signature snack. Halloween is known for its wide celebration of candy, eggnog and everything peppermint screams Christmas, and New Year’s celebrations are often full of alcohol. Valentine’s Day is no exception. With the holiday of love and friendship just around the corner, many are loading their shopping carts with all sorts of chocolate. Whether it’s for a single person watching Netflix alone, or for a special someone, those sweet, bite-sized cacao treats go hand in hand with the day of romance. Leading up to February 14th, it seems that everywhere we look, we are completely surrounded by Lindt, Ferrero Rocher, and anything Nestlé.

We associate chocolate with holidays and cheat-day snacks. As a result, it’s easy to forget how valuable chocolate can be in different contexts. In Japan, chocolate is a signature piece of romantic confession and is one of the key cultural ingredients in places like Belgium. However, for centuries, chocolate had a much deeper significance in Central America. Mayans held cacao in a very high position, making it a staple of religious practices, the economy, and daily life. Perhaps, by looking into the past, we can learn to appreciate those sweet supermarket treats a little bit more. Though an analysis of chocolate’s importance in the new world yields an interesting snapshot of an ancient culture, one thing is undeniable: Mayans really loved their chocolate.

These days, chocolate is seen as a delicious treat to be eaten when one craves a sweet snack. On some occasions, such as modern Valentine’s Day, it’s also seen as a symbol of love. The tender and smooth taste of something like a Hershey’s kiss is now symbolic of romance and deep friendships. Mesoamerican religious beliefs often employed cacao in a variety of rituals and festive celebrations. Known as “the food of gods”, cacao was used in rituals celebrating life. Similar to how important the growth and cultivation of corn were to Mayan beliefs, cacao was often also

depicted as under the protection of multiple deities, notably that of the god of prosperity and the goddess of fertility (Dreiss & Greenhill, 2008). The ancient Mesoamerican peoples revered the value of the cacao bean, with it being enjoyed in a drink form, even by Aztec royalty later in history (Motagna et al., 2019). Looking at its use in ceremonial and royal contexts, it’s clear that they did not take chocolate lightly.

While cacao was used in the celebration of new life, it was also employed as a symbol to help the transition into the afterlife. Examinations of ancient murals, pottery, and sculptures will reveal copious amounts of chocolate imagery in the context of funerals and the afterlife. Cacao drinks were common at funerals and many ancient Mayans were even buried with personalized chocolate drinking cups (Seawright, 2012). All of this goes to show that chocolate had a core place in Mesoamerican spiritual beliefs. To us in 2023, chocolate is rarely seen as more than a flavor or an ingredient in a dessert. Hundreds of years ago, however, it was much more important, being a symbol that quite literally, helped you go to paradise after death.

It’s clear that to the ancient Mesoamericans, chocolate had an incredibly important spiritual role, though it also had an incredibly important role in the ancient economy. More than just a valuable resource, cacao beans themselves were actually used as a form of currency. Unlike our modern money, those in Mayan civilizations used a variety of materials, such as maize and textiles as forms of payment. However, one of the most common types of currency was that of cacao beans. It was used for everything from paying for goods and services and was even used as a method to pay one’s taxes to the royalty (Learn, 2018). This idea shows up across ancient art, with depictions of locals delivering bags of dried cacao beans spread across all sorts of murals and pottery. Most of us have paid friends in pizza for helping us with mundane tasks, though I don’t think the Canadian government would be happy if we paid our modern taxes with Lindt chocolates.

With the importance of the chocolatey bean being so evident in Mayan times, it may seem that it was exclusively available to those of higher classes. This is not the case. A variety of social classes used cacao for multiple reasons. As mentioned before, it was a common form of currency for trade and tax payments, though it was, of course, celebrated for its culinary potential. Most commonly enjoyed as a thick, warm beverage, it had quite a different flavor profile to our modern-day hot chocolate (McNeil, 2009). It was often mixed with servings of peppers and cinnamon, both of which helped the hot drinks have a spicy kick that would throw off most chocolate enthusiasts of today. It was also sometimes consumed as smaller, harder dishes, which could be used as a quick snack while people were working on different tasks. Unlike the processed treats of modern times that are full of sugar, Mayans kept it hardy. This only makes me wonder how a Mayan king would have reacted to eating a white chocolate Ferrero rocher ball that is covered with almonds, with a creamy and gooey milk chocolate center.

It’s crazy to think that chocolate was so important. To us, cacao is just that: an ingredient to be used for a variety of desserts and flavored edible goodies. While to us, it seems like a mundane ingredient, to the Mayans of ancient Mesoamerica, it held incredible spiritual, and economic power, on top of being a good ingredient. While this is only a sample of how influential it was, one thing is certain: Mayans really loved their chocolate.

References

Dreiss, M., Greenhill, S. (2008). Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods. University of Arizona Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tEFsZuKRbNcC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=maya+chocolate&ots=5ydysUG2TC&sig=lsk5CEnJTxahet3Cg9o5RJj0DV8#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Harris, K. (2019). Xocolatl: The Mayan Food Of The Gods. History Daily. Retrieved from https://historydaily.org/xocolatl-the-mayan-food-of-the-gods. Learn, J. (2018). The Maya civilization used chocolate as money. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved from https://www.science. org/content/article/maya-civilization-used-chocolate-money.

McNeil, C.L. (2009). Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/ book/17463.

Montagna, M. T., Diella, G., Triggiano, F., Caponio, G. R., Giglio, O. D., Caggiano, G., Ciaula, A. D., et al. (2019). Chocolate, “Food of the Gods”. History, Science, and Human Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4960. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi. org/10.3390/ijerph16244960

Seawright, C. (2012). Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica: The Aztecs and the Maya; Where did the Ritual Use of Cacao Originate?. The Keep Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/ Caroline-Seawright/publication/274837640_ARC2AZT_Essay_Life_Death_ and_Chocolate_in_Mesoamerica_The_Aztecs_and_the_Maya_Where_did_ the_Ritual_Use_of_Cacao_Originate/links/55f8b47908aec948c4864629/ ARC2AZT-Essay-Life-Death-and-Chocolate-in-Mesoamerica-The-Aztecs-andthe-Maya-Where-did-the-Ritual-Use-of-Cacao-Originate.pdf.

Proactive approach to student mental health at the heart of R.E.C. Room initiative

A student with a healthy and positive state of mind is more likely to be engaged, successful and flourishing. The University of Lethbridge’s newest strategy to enhance student mental health is the introduction of the R.E.C. Room — multi-site campus hubs designed to invite students to step away from the stress of study and research to relax their minds and connect with one another.

The R.E.C. Room (an acronym for refresh, energize, connect) is a joint initiative funded by ULethbridge and created in consultation with the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union (ULSU), Student Affairs and in collaboration with Agility, Horns Recreation and the University Library. Like the giant Jenga game students can now play in the R.E.C. Room, multiple blocks of support must come together to promote flourishing.

“It’s imperative we proactively address students’ mental health needs and promote wellness at every opportunity,” says Dr. Mark Slomp, executive director of Student Services. “With mental health issues so prevalent amongst students, and the benefits of proactively addressing those issues so pronounced, it is in every school’s best interest to promote mental wellness on campus. Our investment in the mental health of our students carries the obvious short-term benefit of enhancing their student experience, and also supports student retention and in the end, leads to successful students who go on to positively impact their communities and society as a whole.”

So, where are the R.E.C. Rooms, what’s in them and who can use them?

The Rec Room locations include the UHall Atrium, Science Commons (outside the Innovation Zone), Markin Hall Atrium, Galileo’s in the Students’ Union, the University Library (just past the circulation desk), and the Chill Zone in Agility’s Innovation Zone.

What activities are there?

The rooms will be equipped with a variety of activities, including quiet pursuits like puzzles, a giant chess board, virtual reality games, digital games and art hives/ murals, Indigenous games, as well as some active games such as ping pong, foosball, air hockey and giant Jenga. If you feel like just relaxing, there will be bean bag chairs for reading, chatting or just zoning out. Horns Recreation will also be offering events as part of this initiative, such as the recent Yoga Rave, a dodge ball tournament and outdoor games (spring).

Open to all students, staff and faculty, the concept is to improve mental wellness throughout ULethbridge.

“Research tells us that people who have strong connections and relationships with others, engage in regular play and creative activity, build frequent exercise and physical activity into their lives, laugh, serve others and participate in spiritual activity report higher levels of life satisfaction,” says Slomp. “The spaces we are setting up across campus are designed to encourage these kinds of activities and habits and serve as a catalyst for students to consider how they are deliberately cultivating a flourishing life.”

The Students’ Union played a major role in identifying what activities would resonate with students.

“Students need more support, and the R.E.C. Rooms are a fun and innovative way for the University and the Students’ Union to support students holistically rather than just purely academically,” says Gage Desteur, Students’ Union vice-president academic. “I’m looking forward to the positive impact these spaces will have on our campus and on students’ overall well-being, especially as we continue to rebuild our campus community, now that we are fully back in person.”

The R.E.C. Rooms are open for activity beginning Feb. 1, 2023.

Don’t be a Spectator! Act Now!

Written by Shawn Funk

I have a friend that I go fishing with every summer. A few years ago, on our way to the river, we stopped at a gas station to grab a few snacks. When we got back to the truck, he unwrapped a pizza sub and started devouring it. I asked him if he liked pizza subs (I didn’t) because its all he ever bought, a smirk crossed his face before he articulated a hard “No!” I had to laugh. Why would he buy the pizza sub if he knew it was crap? He told me that he didn’t want to risk trying something new because it could be even worse. He said, “at least I know what I am getting.” We laughed hard, then we went and caught a few nice sturgeons on the South Saskatchewan River.

This incident is memorable because it highlights a tendency to accept cold comfort over a chance at something better. This scenario plays out throughout our lives repeatedly. How many of us have stayed in dead end jobs or abusive relationships for no other reason but the assumption that what you have is better than what you could have? How many of us do the same things over and again, knowing that those things will not bring us closer to our goals. We continue to buy the pizza sub long after it has given us any sort of satisfaction. Our behaviours become habit. We no longer think about the pizza sub, we buy it automatically. It becomes routine. At this point, we become spectators. We watch ourselves do the things that we know we are going to do. Our bodies on automatic, we observe, and are rarely surprised by what happens, failing to actively participate in our own lives.

If you fail to act, you will be acted on.

I found myself in a bit of a situation after graduating university. I had no meaningful employment, COVID restrictions were everywhere, and I was very bored; my life had slowed to a crawl, nothing was happening anywhere. I started to let my boring routine dominate my life, and it took hold of me as I had adapted to it; I could feel the cold comfort radiating from the monthly paycheck. How could I leave now, you never know what could be out there? After some time, I got some encouragement from my mother, as we all do sometimes, and I started to scrape away the hard crust that was forming around my

tepid lifestyle. The longer one waits to break that crust, the harder it is to break. I realized that I had made the same mistake as my fishing friend, but on a much grander scale. A pizza sub is one thing, but living life is quite another. I was on a passive track, a pawn in a scheme, a mere cog, and I wasn’t pursuing any of my life goals.

Did you exchange cold comfort for change?

If this question sounds familiar, it should be. It comes from the Pink Floyd song called “Wish You Were Here.” Later in the song, Roger Waters asks, “did you exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead role in a cage?” When asked during an interview about the lyrics to the song, Roger Waters had this to say, “It’s to encourage myself not to accept a lead role in a cage, but to go on demanding of myself that I keep auditioning for the walk-on part in the war, ‘cause thats where I want to be” (O’Gorman, 2022). The lyrics implore us to act with courage. To live the life that we deserve to live. He suggests that courageous acts will eliminate the cold comfort we uncritically accept for a chance at something far greater. The song suggests that we must face the unknown, despite fear. Courage, is thus, not defined by the absence of fear; it is quite the opposite. Courage is defined by one’s recognition of fear and their willingness to stare it in the face. There is no such thing as the fearless; we are all terrified, but the courageous can overcome their fears by acting against them. Change is scary. Do you have the courage to overcome it? Yes, you do!

Have the courage to become who you are!

If you believe that everything around us is in a state of flux, it follows that nothing is ever complete, that all things are fluid, forever changing, in a state of becoming. Such a belief liberates one from the cold static that contains our being. Becoming is creative. Nietzsche argues that we “want to become those we are—human beings who are new, unique, incomparable, who give themselves laws, who create themselves” (Nietzsche & Kaufmann, 1974 p. 266). In essence, he is suggesting that we must have the courage to recreate ourselves against the weight of the conventions that corral our thoughts to fully realize our potential. All great thinkers have something in common. They all encourage us to think for ourselves; to question conventional thought, and they implore us to follow the fire that resides in us all before it is extinguished. Have the courage to become who you are!

Resources

Nietzsche, F. W., & Kaufmann, W. (1974). The gay science: With a prelude in rhymes and an appendix of song. Vintage Books.

O’Gorman, M. (2022, July 31). Why Pink Floyd’s wish you were here is their saddest song. Radio X. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/ pink-floyd/why-pink-floyds-wish-you-were-here-saddestsong/#:~:text=The%20song%20is%20about%20Syd,thanks%20to%20heavy%20drug%20use.

Wellness Practices That Carried Me Through 2022

Written by Laura Oviedo-Guzmán

Okay, so it’s not January anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to talk about wellness practices that helped me last year. We evolve our habits and understanding of wellness through trial and error, which is an atemporal process. Plus, what better time to talk about simple wellness habits than after the new year’s excitement has worn away and you’re about to hit midterm?

Before we get into the list, I will tell you that I’m a simple gal. Since 2021, I’ve abided by the principle of “this is the year of good enough.” For example, doing a six-minute pilates workout is better than not doing any exercise at all. I also abide by the KISS principle–“keep it simple, silly.” I refuse to have elaborate routines that increase my friction with my goal activity/mindset. Read on for my favorite, doable wellness practices that carried me through last year (and that I’ll be carrying onto 2023).

Walking:

Years ago, a family friend said that if the benefits of exercise could be bottled and sold, it would be flying off the shelves. I was probably young enough where it was less cringey to scowl and walk away as a response. Despite my disdain about being reminded that movement is a basic need for us, their words were stored in my brain. Years later, when taking Personal Health and Wellness (HLSC 1010), I came across an article that called exercise the “polypill” against many mental and physical conditions–“a single treatment with at least 13 documented health benefits” (Sims-Gould et al., 2017)--, essentially echoing my friend’s words.

I tried many forms of exercise in 2022–barre, HIIT, hot yoga–and while they all have their place, I could not stick to any one of them because there was too much friction between me and my target action–exercising.

From too-long fitness classes to special equipment, there were too many steps to complete before I could begin to reap the benefits of exercise. For me, walking was the answer.

Walking epitomizes the KISS principle where exercise is concerned. I can do it anywhere, and it doesn’t require any special equipment. If available to you, all you need is comfortable footwear and weather-appropriate clothing before you’re off. Additionally, you can walk outdoors at your gym, around the uni, or at one of the few near-ghost malls in Lethbridge. If all else fails, you can walk in circles around your living room. For example, I did this for 1,000 steps once, and I was determined to hit my goal of 10,000 steps daily.

You’ll be happy to know that the 10,000 steps a day is not as important as some people make them out to be. In a journal article from 2018, Hallam et al. report that you can reap the mood-boosting benefits without reaching the step target when walking, especially if you’re walking with someone (p. 5). What matters is that you meet the 150-minute-per-day requirement set by the World Health Organization (2022), which works out to about a 22-minute walk a day. If that sounds like too much at once, you can always split it into two, 11-minute walks. Remember, KISS!

Praying/Meditation:

Okay, I can feel the eye-rolls from here, across spacetime. You do not have to be religious or even spiritual to practice gratitude. What I do is that I spend a few minutes each night thinking about all the wonderful beings in my life–my family, my partner, my dog, the aunts and uncles I haven’t seen in a decade, and even the neighbor who kindly sets our garbage bins out for collection each week.

I basically run down the list until I fall asleep. You can think about anyone you want. Include your friends, your favorite profs, and the kind barista you see on your regular trips to the Coffee Company. There is no limit to who you can feel grateful to, and I truly believe that I’m better off recognizing the value in the people with who I share tangential relationships.

The next day, upon waking, I open my eyes and think fondly about last night’s sleep, the bed I slept on, and waking up. If I still struggle to get out of bed, I think about how grateful I am to have the opportunity to go to work (school for you, probably) and learn something new. Some days getting out of bed is a little harder. If this happens to you too, and you happen to share the habit of showering in the morning, you have a second opportunity to do this exercise.

A while ago, I came across an Instagram post from one of those borderline-sigma male pages where the creator stated they shower with cold water at the beginning of their shower, typically for one minute. They use this minute to list everything they’re grateful for. From experience, I can tell you it’s really difficult to get through a full minute–I’ve only managed about 40 seconds. I can also tell you it’s really difficult not to find something or someone to add to the list of little gratitudes, even if it is to distract myself as the clock runs out.

Lastly–and look away if you hate prayer and mentions of a higher power–I do put things in “God’s hands” when I don’t know when I’m freaking out. I’m not saying anything new when I say life is full of unpredictable events and situations that frustrate us and make us feel pain.

Before I pray, I fall into the trap of mulling things over, thinking that if I think enough, I will find myself an answer to whatever weirdness is happening. When my hippocampus is all tuckered out, I realize I’m getting nowhere and say to myself I don’t understand what’s going on, and it sucks, but I know I will learn something from this. I finally accepted that doing this was okay and not a cop-out when I wrote a paper about how refugee survivors of torture coped with the aftereffects of traumatic events. One of the salient coping skills was having faith in a higher power because it allowed them to interrupt trying to find the cause of their experience (Taylor et al., 2020). In other words, it puts the distance between themselves and their experience, giving their brain a break. The distance allowed them to focus on hope and all the new possibilities that were available to them in a safer environment. I figured that if it’s good enough for people with deeply disheartening experiences, I could at least try it for the stress I feel about scary-to-me situations. Ultimately, understanding that life is not under my control is really helping me navigate it in a more mindful and calm way.

Easy Breakfasts:

The final tip I have for you is to eat breakfast if you can stomach it. I had always been a breakfast person. In my country, it’s typical to eat scrambled eggs, scallions, and finely chopped tomatoes mixed together for breakfast. Add to that some bread, a little prism of cheese, and fresh orange juice, and you have a wholesome, nutritious breakfast. In 2021, I strayed from my typical, varied breakfast and began relying on some sweet pastry and coffee to start my day. I was so cranky and felt like I couldn’t really enjoy eggs if I ate them in the morning because I felt a little nauseous.

One day, at the start of Soup Season, I googled breakfast soup and was met with the most offending obvious answer–changua, a soup from my home country Colombia. I felt secondhand embarrassed for myself through my grandparents and resolved to make it the next morning.

Here’s the dead-easy recipe (sorry, vegans!):

1 cup water

2 cups milk

2 scallions chopped

2 eggs

Salt & pepper to taste

Cilantro, optional but strongly recommended

Bread and butter

Combine the liquid ingredients with the salt and pepper. Once it boils, crack the eggs into the mixture and add the scallions. Wait three minutes. Add the cilantro and serve with buttered bread on the side.

You can always halve the recipe if you don’t want leftovers, but I recommend cooling the rest if you have time and storing it in the fridge for the next day.

Another easy breakfast? A half cup of cottage cheese, a few raspberries, and honey, with a piece of toast on the side. If I have time, I’ll scramble an egg, but I’ll always start with cottage cheese and fruit.

Bonus tip: Dry brushing!

Dry brushing has changed me for the better. Yes, it’s wonderful to have a smooth canvas on which I can apply lotion later, helping my legs feel like dolphins when I rub them against my sheets at night, but the biggest thing for me is how it prevents and treats ingrown hairs. Dry brushing helps promote circulation and exfoliates the outer layer of the skin. Increased circulation means that our skin gets the nutrients it needs to power cell turnover. Exfoliation mean that the outer layer of skin is removed, bringing the ingrown culprit closer to the surface.

Dry brushing is also great for waking yourself up because the firm bristles leave your skin feeling invigorated. The slight discomfort (read, pain) that you feel when the brush makes contact with your skin promotes the release of endorphins, which help you feel well and counteract pain. It will be uncomfortable for as long as you do it, but the more you do it, the more you begin to crave dry brushing for its after effects.

Remember, don’t dry brush if you have sensitive or broken skin. Begin from the lower half of the body–the ankles–and work your way up. You do not need to mash the brush against your skin; medium-light pressure is all you need. For a great guide on how to drybrush, visit the Cleveland Clinic’s Health Essentials page on dry brushing.

(2018). “Happy feet”: evaluating the benefits of a 100day 10,000 step challenge on mental health and wellbeing. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/ s12888-018-1609-y

Sims-Gould, J., Vazirian, S., Li, N., Remick, R., & Khan, K. (2017). Jump step - a community based participatory approach to physical activity & mental wellness. BMC Psychiatry, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-0171476-y

Taylor, S., Charura, D., Williams, G., Shaw, M., Allan, J., Cohen, E., Meth, F., & O’Dwyer, L. (2020). Loss, grief, and growth: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of experiences of trauma in asylum seekers and refugees. Traumatology. https://doi.org/10.1037/ trm0000250

Wellness Team. (2015, January 26). The Truth About Dry Brushing and What It Does for You. Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic; Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/thetruth-about-dry-brushing-and-what-it-does-for-you/

WHO. (2022, October 5). Physical activity. Physical Activity; World Health Organization. https://www.who. int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity

The Diamond of The Goddess Rangda

Written by Liberty Blair Charissage

Across the long stretches of the Hundred Isles, beyond the rotting rice fields like black fetid cesspools, lay a Charnel-Land of the Goddess Rangda. Inside the dark and oily charnel ground, where the discarded, disassembled skeletons of criminals and vagrants lay beside the corpses of babies, stretched out to be eventually eaten by dogs and other less speakable things, was a tiny hut—a hut surrounded by the scorched and blackened earth. The sickening sweet stench of death filled the charnel land. Insects hissed and buzzed everywhere, breaking the Primordial Silence, which waits patiently for the nose of civilization, which mocks such Silence, to end.

Summoned to this shunned land were Terry the Terrible, the outcast holy man of a subhuman race, and Shesha the Warrior, a crossbreed of Naga spirit and Axolotl-person. They awaited beside the hut in religious expectation for the Goddess Rangda. The charnel-land named after the Goddess Rangda. Rangda - - - the witch - - - whose name meant widow - - - who was Scion of Chaos in the Ocean Archipelagos. The hut, structured like a temple, stretched before Terry and Shesha. It remained eerily silent. However, the two figures’ wait wasn’t long. The door to the hut opened. A clawed hand caught the doorframe. Glowing eyes became visible in the slanted, square darkness of the doorway. A huge, long slavering tongue fell to the scorched ground, a gesture and symbol of the Goddess’s starvation and her yearning for the forbidden.The two pariahs, Terry the Terrible and Shesha, respectively, bowed low; Rangda was their Goddess in these regions.The unseen one in the diagonal door frame spoke in a terrible voice filled with wrath and outrage, “Choejar the Jeweler has stolen a precious ritual ingredient of mine. A flayed human skin sack with an eyeball still attached. My diamond is inside that sack.”

Word and legend had come to Shesha and Terry the Terrible of the infamous Choejar the Jeweler, who knew nothing sacred and whose trade was thievery. Shock and horror filled the two pariahs’ hearts upon hearing of the blasphemy of stealing the diamond of Rangda. Rangda’s clawed hand reached out, and a finger uncrooked. “Go! You are to be my avengers for this insult! Return my

ritual ingredient!” Many know there are somethings stolen from Rangda, and often returned to Rangda. Horror turned to anger in the hearts of Terry the Terrible and Shesha. Anger turned to action. They flew off to their task.

The door to the hut of Rangda closed. Terry the Terrible and Shesha’s journey drove them far across the Multi-Coloured Lands, the waters of the Ocean Archipelagos to the grassland of the Great and Numerous Towers. They walked into the Haunted Jungles that rest near the Goddess River Ganga, only to find they had to gallop on horseback through the nomadic valleys of the Seven Flames. Then finally, they climbed the snow-speckled mountains of the Himel. Thus they followed the long, faint trail of Choejar the Jeweler. There, in the mountain lands of the Himel, they found that Choejar the Jeweler, was not called a jeweler or even a thief but the king. He was a ruler, a king of a kingdom of substantial size and wealth. When the two came into this kingdom and learned of the prestige of Choejar, the great philosopher Zhuangzi’s words passed the green lips of Shesha. “The petty thief is incarcerated, the great thief is made a lord - - - Zhuangzi, Chapter 29.” quoted Shesha. Although the people widely knew that the philosopher was a mystical being of divine nature, some heretics proclaimed that the philosopher Zhuangzi had been a human being. Meanwhile, Terry the Terrible’s mind bubbled with the tales of thieves being the first in the dynasties of many kingdoms throughout the Multi-Coloured Lands. Suitably lodged in an out-ofthe-way opium house, Terry the Terrible and Shesha began penetrating the fortress palace of Choejar the Jeweler-King. They crept through the passages of the fortress palace, weary of the few yet deadly soldiers that patrolled the fortress-palace - - - until finally, they found the treasure vaults where Choejar hid his plundered hoards. When they discovered these golden and strange hoards which Choejar the King-Thief had purloined, the two were almost hysterical with jubilation.

Here was everything they had ever wanted as they gazed their eyes upon the secret, exotic metals carved across the Multi-Coloured Lands. Terry the Terrible and Shesha could take exotic metals

carved across the Multi-Coloured Lands. Terry the Terrible and Shesha could take a life’s fortune from the vaults and still never want within a thousand years of indulgence. Yet, soon their exuberant behaviour died, for if Choejar the Jeweler-Thief-King had journeyed and been daring enough to embezzle the far-away Goddess Rangda, then surely the man would hunt them to the ends of the Multi-Coloured Lands for a slight against him. Therefore, they debated right in the midst of the treasure vaults in the depths of the palace fortress whether to steal from the stealer. Shesha admitted that it was wrong on a moral measures to steal because the treasure was stolen goods which meant that the original people would have even less chance of getting back what belonged to them. Terry the Terrible, a holy man not for moral considerations, considering his nature of white-skinned subhumanness, proposed and argued that their taking of the horde constituted a part of Rangda’s revenge which they must inflict.

Yet, in the end, what halted the debate was a combined glance at a Vajrapani statue cast in gold, staring down and yawning at them with gem-encrusted fangs. The statue’s proportions hinted at the Divine. A Divinity had commanded them there.They then decided to continue with their quest; for the Gods in the Multi-Coloured Lands hate the ones who tarry at worldly concerns, and the ones who commit this tardiness come to fates where they are never seen again. With this fear energizing them, they quickly snatched at a bag of human skin with an eyeball stuck in the socket and looked within. Inside was the glittering diamond of Rangda. Excited about their triumph, Terry the Terrible and Shesha bounded out in their escape from the palace fortress. Relieved by escaping the danger and happy at completing a good and fair job, the two sneaked back to the opium house.

Shesha the Warrior entered the opium house to procure a tiny amount of hallucinogenic opium to celebrate. When Shesha appeared outside with the opium, the smoke pipes fell from his webbed claws to the ground. For a massive figure in a cloak of many colours loomed over and clutched at the throat of Terry the Terrible. Terry held the human-skin sack, inside the diamond of Rangda. The figure held Terry aloft. Terry’s single eye bulged. His mouth gasped in silent terror. The face of the figure expressed a joyous anger, for the figure was Choejar the Jeweler, there to take back the diamond that was stolen from him and that he, in turn, had taken from the distant Goddess Rangda.

Terry’s single eye watered and rolled in its socket while the eye muscles of his other socket twitched. His singular eye spotted Shesha and begged for help.

Instantaneously Shesha‘s claw lowered to grasp his black axe holstered on his side. Axe drawn, Shesha crept, holding the black axe high aloft to slice Choejar. Yet his claw stayed, and he swiveled his axe to the blunt end to knock out the king rather than kill him, for the title of king-murderer is a hard one to fling off and lose. The swing was tremendous. Choejar the Jeweler dropped Terry the Terrible. Terry fell on his back to the ground. Choejar reeled and lurched at the impact of Shesha’s direct hit. Then he rebounded and glared furiously at Shesha. Yet Terry sprang up and punched the tall Choejar in his genitalia. Choejar squawked. Shesha made another hammering swipe at the Jeweler’s head, knocking Choejar to the ground.

Shesha and Terry the Terrible breathed deep in the night’s darkness. Choejar’s attack upon them had been so sudden and struck them with fear. They looked down at the human-skin bag with the sunken eye upon it. They swiftly opened it and gazed in. The diamond of Goddess Rangda was still there, in the bag. They sighed in relief. Then the spines on their backs contorted in terror, for they heard something familiar. “Good. Good. My slaves” called a familiar voice. The slobbering, hungry face of Rangda tasseled out of the murk of the Himil Mountain night. A trembling Shesha placed the top of his black axe on the ground and, axe still held in claw bowed. Meanwhile, Terry the Terrible presented the human skin sack wherein Rangda’s diamond lay. He opened it. Goddess Rangda laughed and sang, “Yes! Yes! My ritual ingredient!” Long claws picked up the human skin sack, and the other clawed hand procured the eyeball sunken in the human flesh skin, plucking it out. The claw hand held it tenderly - - - for it was a precious ritual ingredient. Meanwhile, Rangda, with her other claw, turned the human skin sack upside down, and the diamond fell as if it were less than a bobble. The diamond dropped, crushing the frail head of Choejar, made fragile by Shesha’s axe’s blunt end poundings. It plopped with the weight of karmic resonance. Rangda then vanished, returning to her far-away Charnel-Land. As for Terry the Terrible and Shesha, they took the diamond. It did not seem appropriate to call it Rangda’s anymore since she cared little for it. They stole the diamond because the Multi-Coloured Lands are cruel to the outcastes and low castes, and any money for such pariahs is a valuable thing, never to be tossed aside. Yet, the vengeance of a king’s dynasty, especially the family of Choejar the Jeweler, is never long to be unsatiated. Soon, Terry the Terrible and Shesha were grateful to be rid of the diamond with only a few pennies and their lives to their names.