8 March 2023

U of W prof ’s talk on trans health care sparks protest

Some wanted talk cancelled, last-minute move to Zoom caused confusion

Colton McKillop, staff Aaron Moore, chair of the political science department, declined to speak to the Manitoban Boucher did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

AUniversity of Winnipeg professor’s talk on the economic interests involved in gender affirming health care caused controversy last week, leading to protests and calls to cancel the event.

U of W political science professor Joanne Boucher’s lecture, titled “The Commodification of the Human Body: The Case of Transgender Identities,” was advertised as part of the U of W department of political science’s 2022-23 speaker series.

A poster for the event said that the talk would “focus on the economic interests involved in transgenderism” and would examine the role of governments, corporate lobby groups and the medical and biotechnology industries.

The talk caused controversy among U of W students and non-students alike, and received coverage from a number of outlets in the lead-up to the event. Boucher declined requests for comment from press.

University of Winnipeg Students’ Association 2SLGBTQ* students’ director Brie Villeneuve said that they were concerned when they saw the event description, particularly its use of terms such as “the commodification of the human body.”

“ That’s kind of saying that we’re some capitalistic or pharmaceutical ploy or something, which is just a really gross way of [thinking],” they said.

They also pointed out that the term “transgenderism,” which was used in the event description, is a term not typically used by the trans community and is often utilized by anti-trans groups or individuals to delegitimize trans identity by depicting it as merely an ideological perspective.

While Villeneuve said that dialogue and academic freedom are important, they argued that hate speech should not be protected.

A Change.org petition to cancel the event gathered over 1,700 signatures.

The university released a statement saying they would not be “intervening” in the talk.

U of W assistant English professor Alyson Brickey noted that the university making clear that it would not intervene is strange, since the administration allowed the talk to go forward in the first place.

“ They’ve already performed an action that is supportive of this event, whether implicitly or explicitly,” she said. “I think in some ways, it’s something that they could have stopped earlier, or at least raised some concern about a lot earlier.”

“ They failed to do so, and now they are refusing to intervene in what essentially was within their control to change.”

Brickey said that she supports academic freedom, but that it should not be used as a cover to promote intolerance. She pointed out that hate speech is not legally protected in Canada.

However, she said that she doesn’t “think the law has anything to do with this.”

“ We have members of our community that are telling us that they are feeling unsafe and that they are feeling unwelcomed by an institution that claims to welcome them, and we ought to listen to those voices,” she explained.

Brickey and two English professors from the U of M organized a “ Trans Love Cupcake Hour,” an open roundtable event scheduled at the same time as Boucher’s lecture intended “to hold a space of community connection and really celebrate our wonderful 2SLGBTQIA community at the University of Winnipeg and in the broader city as well.”

Confusion following lecture’s last-minute switch to Zoom

Those seeking to attend the talk were left scrambling

when they arrived at the scheduled location and found a sign on the door notifying attendees that the lecture had been moved online to Zoom.

A representative from the university led a group of people waiting outside the lecture hall to the university library to view the online lecture.

The sign on the lecture hall door contained a URL for the Zoom meeting, but when the group arrived at the library, they learned that the meeting required a password to enter, which had not been provided.

The group was then led back to the lecture hall so that the Zoom meeting could be shown on the projector. By this time, the group had missed about 20 minutes of the lecture.

Boucher’s talk discussed the profit-seeking interests involved in trans health care and argued that these interested groups see increases in people seeking treatments as an expansion of potential markets.

She explored how economic and legal barriers to trans health care vary depending on what medical and legal systems one may live under. Boucher said that the costs of some treatments and surgeries may be prohibitive for

some. She continued that it was not her intent to make recommendations on legal policy concerning gender affirming health care.

Boucher also said that investors in gender-affirming health care see legal and political environments that accept and affirm trans and gender non-conforming people as “crucial to market expansion.”

She discussed the potential negative side-effects associated with some treatments and argued that pharmaceutical companies may not be inclined to closely study the effects of already profitable drugs used in gender affirming health care.

Protestors hold rally on front lawn

As Boucher spoke, a crowd gathered on the U of W campus front lawn to protest the event.

A number of people gave speeches denouncing the talk, including Manitoba NDP MLA Uzoma Asagwara.

Asagwara told the crowd that as a non-binary person themself, “these moments are tough.”

They said that trans and non-binary people “are not obligated to educate people” or to “respond to the demands

of people to justify our existence.”

“We do that work and we do it really, really well, but do that heavy lifting on your own,” they said.

“Get on Google, go to the library, go on social media and follow and support trans and non-binary people who have the capacity to do that work.”

Brook Allarie, a first-year psychology student at the U of W, said that they are angry the university allowed the talk to go forward.

Regarding the outcome of the protest, Allarie said that they “want the university to see that things like this are not okay.”

“In our modern world, we have trans students, gender diverse students — I’m one of them,” they said.

Allarie said that they feel discussions of trans issues should include trans voices.

“Why are you, as a cisgender person, trying to spread this rhetoric about transgender people without consulting transgender people, without having them be involved in the message that you’re spreading?” they said.

photo / Ebunoluwa Akinbo / staff

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UMSU submits new budget proposal

Union hopes to see more funding for Student Counselling Centre, campus security

Alicia Rose, staff

U MSU recently submitted its budget proposal to the U of M administration, recommending areas that it believes the university should direct funding toward.

UMSU president Jaron Rykiss explained that the union’s recommendations are referenced and consulted by university administration when making budgetary decisions.

Rykiss said that the Student Counselling Centre (SCC) is one area that the union hopes to see investment in. He said that although the current Student Counselling Center is a great resource for students, many may not be aware of the services it offers.

“With the increasing demands on mental health, there is going to consistently be more of a need to have strong mental health supports at university,” he said.

Rykiss said that the union would like to see the university hire more counsellors, particularly counsellors with racialized backgrounds. He said that UMSU wants the SCC

—

to be “cemented in a proper foundation” so that students can get the support they need.

Another area that Rykiss hopes to see more funds put toward is waste management on campus. He highlighted the importance of campus sustainability.

“We want to make sure that when we create an enormous amount of waste on campus, that that waste is being handled properly and that it’s being taken care of properly for sustainability reasons,” he said, adding that “no one really wants to go to a dirty campus.”

He said that waste bins on campus are often overflowing, and hopes that more funding will help to address this.

Rykiss said that, over the past year, issues concerning security have been brought to UMSU’s attention. He said that the union has inquired about increasing security cameras and security staff on campus, and would like to see campus security receive more funding.

Many of the areas of focus for UMSU’s budget proposal come from its annual survey of students. Rykiss explained that some of the information from last year’s survey was used to inform the union’s recommendations this year, but noted that with the return to in-person classes, “the playing field is completely different” when it comes to students’ needs.

He said that in addition to the annual survey, UMSU is

able to discern students’ priorities through “the conversations that we have with students throughout the year.”

“When we identify that there’s an area which is looking to need more support or when we hear from the administration that an area seems to be lacking, that’s when we say ‘okay, well if this is an important area to students then we should 100 per cent be advocating to increase supports in that area,’” he said.

He also highlighted open education resources as another priority for the union.

Rykiss said that to ensure that the university works for students to the best of its ability and that the university has a strong community, “we have to pay attention to the little areas that need support.”

news@themanitoban.com

Faculty of e ducation creates Indigenous scholarships

New scholarships offered as part of faculty’s Reconciliation Action Plan

Kasey Pashe, staff

As a part of the faculty of education’s Reconciliation Action Plan, new scholarship opportunities are available for First Nations, Inuit and Métis students entering post-secondary programs at the U of M. These scholarships will be available to first-year undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in the faculty of education.

Associate dean (Indigenous education) in the faculty of education Frank Deer said he wants to make sure that Indigenous students are aware of these opportunities.

“Many people at our university say that many of their awards actually go un-awarded, and maybe one of the reasons for that is because people don’t actually know about them,” he said.

The faculty’s Reconciliation Action Plan focuses on four areas — Indigenous engagement, teaching, research and scholarship and community engagement.

The action plan was developed in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, particularly

numbers 62 to 65, which centre on education for reconciliation.

These recommendations call on governments to work with educators, Indigenous peoples and residential school survivors to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and history into curriculums and provide funding to advance reconciliation in various ways.

They also call on governments to create senior government positions that focus on Indigenous content in education and work with post-secondary institutions and educators, Indigenous peoples and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to create a program dedicated to reconciliation research.

Deer stated that recruitment and retention of First Nations, Inuit and Métis students is one of the Reconciliation Action Plan’s most important goals. He said that, in alignment with this goal, the faculty of education wanted to improve financial supports for Indigenous students, and so, decided to create the new scholarships.

Deer explained that the faculty felt entrance scholarships

were the best approach, with the intention being that the scholarships would extend to cover multiple years of recipients’ education. He highlighted the undergraduate scholarship as an example, explaining that recipients of the new undergraduate award would receive funding for two years, the length of the education program at the U of M. Research has repeatedly identified a lack of Indigenous-specific financial aid, scholarships and bursaries as a barrier to education for Indigenous post-secondary students. Deer said that he hopes the new scholarships will allow Indigenous students to focus on their studies without having to balance both a full-time job and fulltime education in order to afford rent and other essentials.

However, he said that as a faculty, “there is also the hope for us that our students come to our program ready to learn, ready to engage, [and that] they are encouraged by the support that we’re providing.”

“ We hope this will help them become a better member of the faculty of education

community,” Deer added.

There are three categories for the new awards. For the undergraduate and master’s degree entrance scholarships, successful applicants will receive $5,000 per year for two years.

Recipients beginning their pursuit of a PhD will receive $10,000 per year for two years. The master ’s and PhD scholarships also include an option to renew the award for a third

year.

Deer emphasized that these scholarships are available to both full-time and part-time students.

To find out if you are eligible for the new scholarships, as well as how to apply, please visit the faculty of education’s financial aid and awards webpage.

photo / Ebunoluwa Akinbo / staff

graphic / Jenna Solomon / staff

“We should 100 per cent be advocating to increase supports”

Jaron Rykiss, UMSU president

Student group collects period product donations

Social Work Students’ Association accepting donations to combat period poverty

Ashley Puchniak, staff

Period poverty — the lack of access to affordable menstrual products — is a social issue gaining increasing public attention. This month, the U of M Social Work Students’ Association (SWSA) will be holding a donation drive this month to fight the problem.

Lindsy DeGagne came up with the idea to hold a period product drive because of an assignment she was given in class.

DeGagne, a third-year social work student and committee co-ordinator for SWSA, decided that instead of just writing a paper on the topic, she should take action, and so she brought the idea to SWSA.

She explained that period poverty is “a really pervasive issue” for all those who

menstruate, whether it be cisgender women, gender-fluid people, non-binary people or transgender men.

“It impacts all menstruators around the world,” she said.

On average, any Canadian who menstruates may spend as much as $6,000 on period products in their lifetime.

Aside from obtaining the products themselves, another concern regarding period poverty involves having access to a safe and sanitary space to use them, such as a clean washroom.

DeGagne said that not having access to these products disadvantages minority groups and can affect menstruators’ day-to-day lives.

“It can impact your ability to enter society a certain day if you don’t have these prod-

ucts,” she explained.

“The drive is just being hosted to reaffirm our values of social justice and equity and access.”

DeGagne said that it is still unclear where the donations will go once the drive is over. Although SWSA hopes to donate to multiple organizations, it cannot predict how many products will be donated, and does not want to make promises to specific organizations in case it does not collect enough to meet its goals.

The association is looking to donate to organizations that are non-profit and that seek to assist those with lower incomes or who are a part of minority groups.

Some potential recipients include North Point Douglas Women’s Centre, Rainbow

Resource Centre, Klinic or the Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba.

DeGagne specified that the organizations who will receive these products should have the proper infrastructure to provide necessary hygiene kits.

She believes that, as a significantly gendered issue, period poverty is rooted in patriarchy.

DeGagne added that she feels the financial burden of period products is a direct result of the economic system that we live in.

that’s why we suffer from it, she said.”

Donations will be accepted from March 1 to 31. Bins to collect donated products are located at the social work student lounge, the faculty of arts student lounge, the university 1 students lounge, the Women’s Centre and Elizabeth Dafoe library.

Tampons, pads, menstrual cups, liners, any size of new underwear and monetary donations will be accepted. Those planning to make a financial donation should contact swsa@umanitoba.ca to arrange the details.

“We have structures at such an institutional level that are founded on principles of patriarchy and commodification of basic human needs, news@themanitoban.com

photo / Ebunoluwa Akinbo / staff

“The drive is just being hosted to reaffirm our values of social justice and equity and access”

— Lindsy DeGagne, SWSA committee co-ordinator

Research & Technology

U of M co-led international study on preterm births

Fewer preterm births seen during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Elah Ajene, staff

Recent data from the International Perinatal Outcomes in the Pandemic (iPOP) study found a global decrease in preterm births during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

A preterm or premature birth occurs when a baby is born before 37 completed weeks of gestation, affecting about 10 per cent of all babies born. It is the most common cause of infant death.

The iPOP study was co-led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, including three U of M researchers — associate professor of pediatrics and child health and research scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba Meghan Azad, former post-doctoral fellow and current assistant professor in the faculty of nursing at the university of Calgary Merilee Brockway and co-director of the THRiVE Discovery Lab Natalie Rodriguez.

Azad grew interested in reports of unexplained changes in preterm birth rates, as her other research is focused on infant development, breastfeeding and breastmilk. She said that she and Brockway discussed the possibility of looking into the matter further, and decided to gauge others’ interest in the subject.

“We sent out a few emails and lots of people were interested,” Azad said.

She explained that while initial studies were fairly contained in scope, the goal of the new research was to be much more expansive.

“We wanted to do a really rigorous study and look at it around the world to see if it was true and similar in different parts of the world.”

With an international team of over 150 collaborators, the study aimed to understand the impact of the pandemic lockdown on preterm births.

Results from the iPOP

study, published last week in the Nature Human Behaviour journal, found that four per cent fewer preterm births occurred within the first couple months of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Although a four per cent decrease may seem small, Azad explained that this represents an estimated 50,000 preterm births diverted during the first month of lockdown alone.

The study analyzed aggregate data of 52 million births across 26 countries.

This summary-level data reflected births from the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, as well as data from the previous five years.

“We wanted to have that five year lead-up because trends are always happening, and hopefully we would be seeing progressively declining preterm birth rates because newborn care is always improving,” Azad explained.

“We wanted to be able to account for that and be able to confidently say, if we saw a decrease, it wasn’t just a continuing decrease that was already happening, it was a further decrease in the pandemic.”

Given the large scale of the study, the team faced some challenges in collecting data, “especially in the settings where they didn’t have the data readily available,” Azad said.

Additionally, the study looked at the rate of stillbirth during the lockdown. Azad explained that this was done to avoid the assumption that fewer preterm births meant more full term births, as an alternative explanation for fewer preterm births could have been an increase in stillbirths and miscarriages.

“We found some increases in stillbirth, but only in a few countries, so it was pretty inconsistent and certainly not enough to explain

the decrease in preterm births.”

According to Azad, the next phase of the iPOP study would involve understanding the underlying factors behind the decline in preterm births during the pandemic lockdown.

— Meghan Azad, U of M associate professor of pediatrics and child health

“I think it’s a very unique opportunity,” she said. “We could think of it as a natural experiment, where everyone in the world experienced this massive, very quick transition in lifestyle, and there are many aspects to that and it will affect different people differently.”

Azad has a few theories regarding why the decrease occurred. She suggested that the reduction in preterm births could have been the result of reduced stress due to staying at home or reduced air pollution.

Another possibility may be increased hygiene, which helps prevent all sorts of infec-

tions — a potential trigger for preterm birth. She also noted potential better nutrition as something to examine.

Azad said that determining the reasons behind this decrease in preterm births could have larger research implications.

“If we could dig into that and understand, it could teach us some important things about preterm birth in general.”

Additionally, Azad is interested in understanding individual results obtained from different populations and subgroups.

income countries, where there appeared to be a lot worse pregnancy outcomes because women weren’t able to access health care,” she said.

“So we’d really like to look at within a population, for example, the lower and higher socioeconomic status groups.”

Azad emphasized the fact that the work done for the iPOP study required significant collaboration.

“It was a big team effort,” she said. “I feel happy to represent the team and do interviews, but making sure that we acknowledge the other co-leads […] is important to me.”

“These are average numbers of the whole population, but there were reports in, particularly out of low-middle research@themanitoban.com

graphic / Jenna Solomon / staff

“

We could think of it as a natural experiment, where everyone in the world experienced this massive, very quick transition in lifestyle”

The current state of COVID-19

Masks, indoor ventilation key to slowing spread on campus

Robert Moshe Thompson, staff

The University of Manitoba Faculty Association hosted a webinar on Feb. 28 to discuss the current and future COVID-19 situation and how to make campus safer. The webinar included presentations from two experts on topics relating to COVID-19 and universities.

The first presentation was given by Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor in the faculty of health sciences at the University of Ottawa.

Deonandan’s presentation focused on the state of COVID19 in Canada today.

Superficially, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Canada has stabilized. However, these rates are calculated based on positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests collected in clinical settings, which Deonandan said are becoming increasingly rare.

“Nobody gets PCR tested anymore unless you have a particular reason for it,” Deonandan said. “Everybody else takes rapid tests or just assumes they’ve got COVID and [goes] about their day.”

Because of the lack of testing, deaths from COVID-19 are a more accurate indicator of the disease in Canada. Unlike new COVID-19 cases, which can go undetected, deaths from COVID-19 are usually recorded.

Vaccination has also significantly reduced the disease’s mortality rate.

“It’s fair to say, I think, that the disease now is not what it was in 2020,” Deonandan said.

“It’s a different disease by virtue of vaccination,” he added. “It’s no longer the existential threat to many of us.”

Despite this success, Deonandan stressed that there are still people who die from the disease. As of Deonandan’s presentation, about 26 people were dying of COVID19 in Canada every day.

Deonandan said that case data suggests COVID-19 is becoming hyperendemic, meaning that it is always present in the population at significant levels.

The rate of infection in Canada varies depending on the region. Deonandan explained that, at the time of the webinar, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were rated as “severe” in terms of cases, while Manitoba fell into the “very high” cases category.

He recommended COVID19 Resources Canada, a website that gives twice weekly updates on infection risk across Canada, for information on COVID-19 in specific areas.

The organization estimates that 1 in 43 people in Canada are currently infected with COVID-19.

Deonandan highlighted wearing masks as an effective way to ensure that less people transmit COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a respirator mask such as an N95

can reduce an individual’s risk of testing positive for the virus by 83 per cent.

“Masks work,” Deonandan said. “Despite what people might be saying, despite the noise and social media and media, masks absolutely work.”

The second presentation was given by U of M associate professor in the faculty of architecture Shauna Mallory-Hill. She is an expert in building design and performance.

Mallory-Hill said that effective indoor ventilation systems can also help to prevent transmission of the virus.

This is because COVID-19 is spread through airborne transmission.

In airborne transmission, the virus is spread through tiny respiratory particles called aerosols that can travel long distances carrying the disease. These aerosols tend to build up in poorly ventilated spaces in a manner comparable to cigarette smoke.

Virus-carrying aerosols can remain in an area for hours after the person who released them has left the room. The role of an indoor ventilation system is to increase the percentage of fresh air in a structure, a process known as dilution.

Simply opening a window can increase ventilation. An open window combined with a mechanical ventilation unit is called “mixed mode ventilation.”

suggested increasing that to six changes per hour.

Further, a 2016 study of a Hong Kong hospital demonstrated that nine changes per hour was effective in slowing the spread of SARS, MERS and H1N1.

Areas without a proper ventilation system can instead be cleansed using a portable air filtration unit.

Mallory-Hill suggested multiple measures that could be implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by air. “Filtration, use the highest possible without reducing air flow,” she said. “Clean your filters regularly. Use your portable air filtration units in under or non-ventilated areas.”

“Higher humidity is better. Cooler temperatures are better.”

Most ventilation systems perform about three or four complete air changes per hour, but since the pandemic began, some researchers have research@themanitoban.com

graphic / Jenna Solomon / staff

“Despite what people might be saying, despite the noise and social media and media, masks absolutely work”

— Raywat Deonandan, epidemiologist, associate professor at the University of Ottawa

My scary tunnel experience

Exploring the creepiest tunnel on campus to avoid the bite of winter

Ebunoluwa Akinbo, staff

The tunnel beneath the agriculture building is one of the scariest tunnels on campus. The first time I walked through the tunnel, I was on a quest to avoid frostbite. I had frostbite during my first winter in Winnipeg, and I had promised my fingers that they would never experience that again.

I ran into the agriculture building as bus 672 dropped me off. I wasn’t

ready to walk in the minus 40 degree weather after already being outside for 20 minutes waiting to catch my bus.

As soon as I entered the building, I asked a lady in the hallway if she knew the way to the tunnel. She said, “there is no tunnel in this building.”

I knew I had heard of a tunnel in this building, though, and eventually I found my way there. As I walked through the tunnel, the whistling

noise from the large white metal pipes came with a ring at intervals which felt weird to my ears. I was the only one in the tunnel at 10 a.m., and I could hear my footsteps echoing. I noticed the cracked walls and floors, and the multitude of cobwebs. I began to imagine the variety of spiders I might find.

As soon as I got out of the tunnel, I told my fingers that I wasn’t sure about the promise of preventing

frostbite if it meant being in such a spooky place. I crossed to the engineering building and when I entered the regular tunnel, I immediately felt like I was just discovering civilization.

editor@themanitoban.com

photos / Ebunoluwa Akinbo / staff

There is no such thing as an accident

Derailments and disasters are totally preventable

Braden Bristow, staff

An approximately 150car train carrying hazardous materials crashed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3. What does it mean to regular people like you and I?.

Several of these hazardous chemicals were released into the East Palestine environment as a result of the derailment. Many of them can cause respiratory difficulties and skin irritation, with vinyl chloride being particularly hazardous as it is extremely flammable and may cause cancers and death.

A class action lawsuit filed against Norfolk Southern, the rail company responsible for the train, alleges that over 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride were released into the surrounding area as a result of the derailment. Numerous East Palestine residents have already experienced symptoms such as headaches, coughs and rashes despite state and federal claims that there are not dangerous levels of chemicals in the air or water.

The disaster in East Palestine probably seems like a fluke since one would assume that a train derailment is pretty big news, and that if they happened often we would hear about them. However, this is not the case. A U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) safety summary found that Norfolk Southern averaged around 163 derailments and just under three hazardous material releases per year over a 10 year period.

Furthermore, years prior to this disaster Norfolk Southern and other rail companies strongly opposed federal regulations that enforced greater railway safety standards. These updated stan-

dards would have required the implementation of electronically controlled pneumatic brakes for trains carrying hazardous materials, a braking system endorsed by the FRA as early as 2008.

However, these brake changes were axed following Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory.

Norfolk Southern’s history and the opposition that rail companies have shown toward federal safety laws illustrate a major issue with

safety and negligence in the railway industry. Accidents happen. Machine parts fail and people mess up. But when a safety system is rejected and absurd amounts of toxic chemicals are somehow allowed to spill, companies like Norfolk Southern need to be held accountable. The federal authorities that have the power to do something need to do their damn jobs.

For one, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg needs to have increased power over corporate ongoings, and needs to actually be man-

dated to utilize that power. If a secretary of transportation, or in the Canadian context, a minister of transport, has the power to enforce safety regulations that can prevent harm or obtain justice, they should use that power.

Companies that cause death, harm or disaster due to negligence should be nationalized with their executive staff indicted or fined. In 2021, the seven major rail companies in Canada and the U.S. made a combined US$27 billion in net income. These are companies responsible for upholding the national economies, and they are clearly profiting handsomely in the

process.

That being said, there is no reason they should be trusted to do so, especially when Norfolk Southern alone is responsible for so many yearly derailments. Enforce government oversight and ownership of these companies, then watch how safe they become. There is no excuse for these types of disasters, especially when they are preventable.

comment@themanitoban.com

graphic / Jenna Solomon / staff

There is no excuse for these types of disasters, especially when they are preventable.

Shop for sustainability

How to be a conscious and intentional fashion consumer

Dina Hamid, staff

At an estimated US$2.5 trillion in global market value, the fashion industry is one of the largest in the world.

In the last 20 years alone, the amount of new clothing bought by consumers has increased by 400 per cent, with around 80 billion new garments purchased annually.

This increased demand for clothing is accompanied by environmental problems that clothing production exacerbates, such as wastewater pollution. In addition, the fashion industry accounts for more global carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping put together.

The overconsumption of clothing has become the norm because of rapidly evolving fashion trends and the popularity of fast fashion. For the sake of our planet, this can’t go on. We need to be more mindful and intentional in our approach to buying clothes in order to curb our overconsumption.

One way to do this is to invest in sustainable fashion, which is the practice of producing apparel while considering the effects that fashion production has on society, the environment and the economy. It may also be referred to as ethical fashion or eco-fashion, and requires companies to take actions like offering a living wage, using environmentally friendly materials and providing better, healthier workplace conditions for employees.

These practices come at a cost, which makes sustainable fashion brands and products expensive. However, in my opinion, sustainable fashion is worth the investment.

Buying sustainable garments means that you are paying for longevity, since sustainable clothing is often well made, uses higher-quality materials and is intended to last.

Fast fashion, on the other hand, specializes in rapidly producing trendy clothes of lower quality to keep buyers buying. Although these clothes are cheaper in price and you can buy more for your dollar, they aren’t built to last as long and will end up costing you more in the long run. If you buy a $15 dress from a fast-fashion retailer like Shein, you will constantly buy new dresses to replace those that don’t survive more than a few washes.

Prioritizing quality over quantity is one conscious way to reduce your carbon footprint. So, if you are financially able to purchase and support sustainable brands, I encourage you to do so. However, an affordable way to be an environmentally conscious consumer is to donate and shop second-hand.

Annually, 85 per cent of all textiles end up in landfills, and every second, enough clothing is burned or discarded in landfills to fill one garbage truck. Opting to donate or thrift is one way to keep clothing items out of landfills, where they could sit for hundreds of years, and put them into the hands of new owners instead. Partaking

in clothing swaps where you can exchange clothes with other people is another way of recycling clothes.

Shopping sustainably also means being intentional about the clothes you buy and buying for functionality. You

can be an intentional consumer by thinking about how a potential item will function or serve your pre-existing wardrobe. This means asking yourself if you really need another white t-shirt when you have seven others at home. It’s about being conscious of the choices you make when you visit a mall or your favourite online shop.

One last way to be more sustainable is to build a sustainable wardrobe. Simply stated, this means creating a func-

tional wardrobe full of clothing essentials or basics that are tailored to you and your personal style, and that you love and will wear not just this season, but the next season too. You don’t need to buy multiple coats every year to follow new trends if you have one or two that last and that you can’t wait to wear come winter.

on to your children or grandchildren.

I urge people to be more mindful and intentional about the clothing they buy and the choices they make to practise sustainability. Buy sustainable brands if you can, go thrifting, donate your clothes, participate in clothing swaps and build a timeless wardrobe that works for you.

A sustainable wardrobe is a timeless wardrobe that will last for years. Buy clothes that you absolutely love, will continue to love for decades to come and that you can pass comment@themanitoban.com

graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff

Pointlessness of daydreaming future humans

Ideas to spark critical thinking about social issues around the world

the approximately 4.5 billion years that the earth has existed.

Ilisten to audiobooks about astrophysics while I drive and work out, a deviation from my strict academic-adherence to the Tier building.

The last thing I listened to was Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson, world-renowned astrophysicist.

In his book, deGrasse Tyson takes a step back from Earth and describes what he believes extraterrestrial life would think about the intelligent life on our planet. He tackles topics ranging from race and gender identity to politics and war. The book made two things clear to me — one, we take the wrong things too seriously, and two, the world has too much to work on.

One chapter discusses the predictions that people in the early 1900s made about the 2000s. That got me thinking about what my own predictions for 100 years from now might be. However, I could barely think five years ahead.

I should emphasize that when it comes to the day-to-day, I am quite optimistic. I take things as they come and try to make the best of every situation. It’s only when I think about the future of the world that I am truly pessimistic. With everything going on in the world, I don’t see a very long future for humans.

Before I dive into the numerous things I find wrong with the world, let me remind you that humans have only been living on this planet for a small fraction of

If you look through the comment article archive on the Manitoban website or look through any issue of the paper from this year, you may notice that myself and others often write about environmental issues. Climate change and environmental neglect are prominent issues that must be addressed before anything else.

If we don’t take care of our planet, there may not be a suitable place for us to live.

But will there be a place to live, or even people, if the world’s citizens can’t figure out peaceful ways to resolve issues?

It seems like every time I look for updates on the war in Ukraine, it never gets better. There are always more people dead or more cities destroyed.Russian leader Vladimir Putin has stopped participation in the last major nuclear arms treaty with the U.S., and only time will tell what the results of that will be. If that doesn’t make you even a little worried, I don’t know what will.

It’s a scary thought that everything we know could be gone or changed at the push of a button, a thought that our parents and grandparents constantly had during the Cold War. The Cold War lasted decades, and during much of that time there was constant tension and fear that nuclear war would begin between the Soviet Union and the United States. I feel like, since that time, we should have grown and matured enough as a global society to be able to work issues out diplomatically.

A five-foot-six man has the fate of eastern Europe and even us here in North America in the palm of his hand. Why are we letting misogynistic short men control our quality of life?

Over here in North America, misogynistic men and bigoted women are attempting to take control of politics. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the radical Republican representative from Georgia, has on more than one occasion created and spread misinformation and absurd, dangerous claims and ideas to the general public.

One example of this is her proposal to separate the “red” and “blue” states in the U.S. This may sound familiar to those who paid attention in history class. The U.S. already had one civil war, it doesn’t need another. If Marjorie Taylor Greene needs a reminder of what being divided like that can cause, I’ll send her my eighth grade history project on what life was like for a soldier back in the 1860s.

Alongside Greene are characters like Andrew Tate, Tucker Carlson, Lauren Boebert, Jordan Peterson and Matt Walsh, all of whom regurgitate misogynistic and transphobic ideas and policies that create a hostile environment for marginalized groups.

Here’s the thing, though. Making the world a safe and welcoming space for every person of every identity is important and shouldn’t be as difficult as it is proving to be. But there are issues that are much more pressing that, from my perspective, are often ignored.

Across the globe in countries

both wealthy and poor, nearly 830 million people are facing food insecurity, unsure of where their next meal will come from. Why isn’t that plastered across social media? Or what about access to health care, ensuring that medical care can be provided to people when they need it?

There is also the issue of being able to provide everyone with homes. It seems like there are more people than space, and to get more space the solution for some is to destroy the habitats of the wildlife that is much more important to the planet’s health than we acknowledge.

What is the point of imagining a future earth when everything seems like it’s hitting the fan? There are issues to tackle that affect regular people like you and me before we can tackle the future’s problems. The only issue is having enough time to do so.

In the end, we are all just small organisms floating on a small rock in the vastness of a universe we don’t even know the full scale of. There was a time before us and there will be a time after us. And in between, the problems we face seem big and life altering when really, it’s not that deep.

comment@themanitoban.com

Sarah Cohen, staff

From our archives 100 years ago

phdcomics.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 Hidato, fill the board by continuing the chain of numbers from 1 to 100 moving any direction or diagonally to the next number.

rows and columns are divided by black . These need to be filled in with numbers that is a set of numbers with no gaps but can be in any order, eg [4,2,3,5]. 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

How to beat Str8ts –

Like Sudoku, no single number can repeat in any row or column. But... rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. These need to be filled in with numbers that complete a ‘straight’. A straight is a set of numbers with no gaps but can be in any order, eg [4,2,3,5]. 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.

will be published here in the next issue.

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org

If you like Str8ts check out our books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store. The

In Straits, like Sudoku, no single number can repeat in any row or column. But rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. These need to be filled in with numbers that complete a “straight.” A straight is a set of numbers with no gaps but can be in any order, eg [4,2,3,5]. 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.

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org

If you like Str8ts check out our books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store. The solutions will be published here in the next issue. can find more help, tips and hints at www.str8ts.com

How

Like Sudoku, no single number can repeat in any row or column. But... rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. These need to be filled in with numbers that complete a ‘straight’. A straight is a set of numbers with no gaps but can be in any order, eg [4,2,3,5]. 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.

Sudoku

Puzzle by Syndicated Puzzles

Hidato

Puzzle by M.J.D. Doering

Straights

Puzzle by Syndicated Puzzles

Horoscopes for the week of March 8

Zodiac tips for surviving life at the U of M

Damien Davis, staff ARIES

Your symbol for the week is a Saw. Among the wheatfields and the whispers of the things that slither below the earth, the wails of distant lumberyards beckon you to look both ways before traversing the crossroads of your life. The jagged edges of an old worker’s tool reflect the highs and lows that everyone faces in life, but that is what it means to be human. Pay your respects to what grows and reaches for the sun inside the Canadian Wheat Board Centre for Grain Storage Research facility when you pass it by and you’ll receive a token the next day.

TAURUS

Your symbol for the week is a Map. Your sanctuary has become harder to locate. You’re getting lost in the walls you’ve built to keep strangers out. Spirits of all kinds paw at the door to your comfort, and in an attempt to get a good night’s sleep you’ve trapped yourself in a place you’re unfamiliar with. Pursue the art of cartography so that you may re-learn what it means to truly know yourself. Stay clear of tunnels on campus you’ve never been in before. Now is not the time to take a new journey.

GEMINI

Your symbol for the week is an Apple. Hues of red haunt the halls of your childhood home, even when you’re not present to witness them. Something is trying to communicate with you. Echoes of fruit being bitten into, the smell of decay woven into the smell of crisp life. How many times did women of ancient myth bite into their forbidden fruits before they realized something was wrong? They say its greener on the other side, but ask yourself — is something forbidden for your safety, or to suppress who sits in your chest?

’Toban Tips

Sleeping worries away

Dear Toby, I’ve been going through some difficult stuff recently and I have been sleeping a lot to avoid my problems. It feels like when I dream, I don’t have to deal with the real world since my dreams are usually fun or light-hearted, but I know the dream fantasy isn’t healthy. What should I do?

Thank you, Chronic sleeper

CANCER

Your symbol for the week is a Boat. There is no need for a burial at sea. Pick up the parts of your life that you thought were holding you back and return them to the photo album. To improve yourself isn’t the act of rejecting what’s undesirable, but accepting who you are as a whole. Practice your knots and patch up any holes growing in the vessel you live in because you’ve only got one. The seagulls, the constellations and especially the wind are all on your side, and the sea is not as cruel as you think.

LEO

Your symbol for the week is an Egg. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” a voice drones on from the radio. For weeks you’ve ignored eating in the morning. You’re far too busy after all, exams are coming and work has been hell. The cartons of eggs in the flyers for the local grocery stores have looked odd as of late. Each time you pick up the paper they get a little more distorted, discoloured almost. It’s important this week to eat breakfast, even if it’s just a protein bar. And if you feel the crunching and squishing of something under your shoes when you walk the halls of University Centre, don’t look down.

VIRGO

Your symbol for the week is a Bouquet. The moon tonight is near its fullest form and resides in Virgo. The wildflowers frozen beneath your feet reach out to remind you to be cautious. Beware what the moon will ask of you. Collect your wildflowers, your tree branches and greenery. Leave them on the ice of the quad tonight and watch the moon from the warmth of your home. The man in the moon admires a little too much this week, but your presence can be substituted with a proper gift.

LIBRA

Your symbol for the week is a Hand. Frankincense, myrrh, jasmine, the interlacing of fingers with accompanied murmurs, stained glass windows and ancient things once forgotten. The power that hands hold is often underestimated. They are capable of great violence and great love. They are an important part of who you are. You care for yourself with your hands. You create art, you hold your loved ones and you defend yourself against tyrants with your hands. Every line holds a memory.

SCORPIO

Your symbol for the week is a Sickle. Abandoned farmhouses outside the city have been crying your name at night but the sound never makes it past the highway, instead being run over by the rubber tires of everyday people. Perhaps the sound would make it to your ears if they tried a new technique, but patterns of behaviour are hard to break. You’re familiar with that. Long past are days where, sickle in hand, you had to fight for your seat at the table. You hung it up years ago in those very same farmhouses, and though it is tempting to answer a call from familiarity, resist. The fight is over, scorpion, no need to go back.

SAGITTARIUS

Your symbol for the week is a Tooth. Music from generations past plays from a cassette player you don’t own. It’s the dead of winter but the air smells like humid, hot summer nights. Wind is rolling through the trees, and imprints of someone’s back molars reside on your steering wheel. You are anticipating something and aren’t quite sure of its nature yet, but you’re sure that whatever it is will have an impact. It’s waiting for you on the gravel roads of this province, where you left parts of yourself for the coyotes to dig up later and trade their canines for yours.

CAPRICORN

Your symbol for the week is a pair of Scissors. Your grandmother must’ve kept them, surely. A pair of those old school shears. She’d use them to cut cloth and scold you for trying to use them in a craft project, as their sharpness was important to her. It’s something you’re inheriting now, the knowledge that a sharp pair of scissors goes a long way. This week, remember your elders and the stories they told you. It’s time to utilize them.

AQUARIUS

Your symbol for the week is a Table. There is laughter so cacophonous you’re uncertain of its tone. The noise is coming from faceless partygoers surrounding the table you’ve set up. You can’t remember where you are or how you got there, but you can remember the act of creating the table, the food and the floral arrangements. Whether it’s a funeral, a wake or a social, you’ve found yourself locked in an environment that is unkind to you and your hard work. It would be satisfying to flip the table, to resist the laughter that makes your ears bleed. But then you too would be a faceless attendee, wouldn’t you? Take a seat at your own table and know that this doesn’t have to be a pity party.

PISCES

Your symbol for the week is a Staircase. You’ve been here before, don’t you remember? Just the other day when you were seven years old, you climbed the stairs to wake up your sibling. Only, that wasn’t really the other day, was it? It doesn’t really matter because you’re on campus right now, climbing the stairs to the third floor of Elizabeth Dafoe Library, except you’ve been climbing for 20 minutes now and you’re certain the library doesn’t have this many stairs. In the future, pay attention to where your feet take you. Sometimes, they have a mind of their own.

Dear Chronic sleeper, Many people use sleep as a coping strategy to deal with the daily stressors of everyday life. You’re not alone! However, as you’ve mentioned, it isn’t always healthy. You can combat this by developing healthier coping mechanisms to help you deal with the difficult things going on in your life. Going for a walk in nature, exercising, journaling, meditating and practicing mind-

fulness or self-care are effective ways to deal with stress. A good way to overcome this may be finding reasons to stay up and out of bed. Exploring and maintaining hobbies, activities and passions that you enjoy can serve as a motivator to not go to sleep. Before you know it, you’ll have so many things you want to do that you won’t have time to fit excess sleep into your schedule.

So try new things, do more of what you love and try different coping techniques when you feel the urge to drift back into your dream world. You’ve got this!

Best of luck, Toby the Bison

To ask Toby a question, email comment@ themanitoban.com

Letting out a Big Deep Sigh Debut EP from Tinge makes indie gold out of personal experience

Alex Braun, staff

In the post-Phoebe Bridgers indie landscape, confessional songwriting has become the standard, and the more gut-wrenching the better.

But what gets lost in this chase for authenticity is what makes confessional songs actually great — the ability for a songwriter to find new ways into their experiences, to understand them in such a profound and fresh way that it can help us to understand ourselves.

This is exactly the rare insight that Tinge has been able to capture on its debut EP, Big Deep Sigh

Tinge is a Winnipeg-based band fronted by Anishinaabe singer-songwriter and lead guitarist Veronica Blackhawk, originally from Lake of the Woods, Ont., alongside two old friends from high school, drummer Lincoln Brown and bassist Jordan Tait.

Blackhawk started writing songs at an early age, though it took a while for them to find their current band and sound.

“I moved around quite a bit, and then eventually once I came back to Winnipeg to settle back into school and stuff, I set up the plan to do a release,” Blackhawk explained.

The plan for the EP brought the band to Adam Fuhr’s House of Wonders studio, and eventually led the band to sign with his record label of the same name.

On their first meeting, Fuhr was ambivalent about adding anybody new to the label’s roster. However, upon hearing Tinge’s material he changed his tune.

“It was like midway through, he asked me what my plan was and I was just

burnt out and hopeless at that point,” Blackhawk said.

“I was just planning to throw it up online and like a Bandcamp thing, and I was going to move to Toronto and just not have anything set up for the release.”

“[Fuhr] convinced me that it was good music and it deserved to have more of a

platform, and that he could offer that through House of Wonders.”

The resulting five-song EP

In fact, personal songwriting is very important to Blackhawk.

“I think it makes you stand out as an artist, when you are able to reach and define the depths of what you’re going through a little more,” they said. “I think everybody goes through things at a similar degree, it’s just finding ways to describe it.”

For Blackhawk, writing takes a place of private importance as a space to better understand themself, but they hope that the songs will speak to others in their universality.

Blackhawk took inspiration from Julien Baker, particularly an affecting first encounter with the song “Sprained Ankle.”

“It’s a really hard lyrical thing, like she’s just really real and really honest and with herself,” they explained. “And in that sense, it was my first time seeing somebody talk about mental health and addiction and perfectionism in the sense that she did.”

Blackhawk hopes listeners can get a similar experience out of Tinge’s music.

is a mix of pointedly observant and relatable lyrics, loudquiet-loud dynamics and

some unexpectedly virtuosic emo guitar flourishes from Blackhawk. The production is clean and unadorned, leaving the band’s dynamics with room to shine.

Blackhawk said that the songs on Big Deep Sigh were picked out of a much larger batch to display the band at its most fully formed, diverse and intensely personal.

“I hope that they’re able to connect with themselves in a depth that isn’t necessarily easy but is needed work,” they said. “It’s hard to deal with your mental health, but coming through with art and music it’s a lot less challenging.”

Big Deep Sigh is available to stream on major platforms and for purchase at tingetheband.bandcamp.com.

arts@themanitoban.com

“I hope that they’re able to connect with themselves”

— Veronica Blackhawk, Singer-songwriter and lead guitarist of Tinge

image / House of Wonders / provided

Reclaiming what it means to be French Enough

Short film explores the diversity of Canadian francophone identities

Damien Davis, staff

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) kicked off Francophonie Month on March 1 by streaming Fransaskois singer-songwriter and filmmaker Alexis Normand’s 18-minute film French Enough.

The film is set at Normand’s family cabin near Wakaw Lake, Sask., where she and her family unpack the struggles and triumphs of reclaiming francophone Canadian identity on the prairies with one anglophone parent and one assimilated parent of French descent.

Normand first pitched the film in 2019 with an accompanying album in mind. The film was originally released in 2022, and the album will be released later this year.

“I knew I wanted to do a film about francophone identity, specifically the experiences that I know as a francophone, and looking into the tension points and the weird

shame or insecurities around language,” Normand said.

She had pitched the project to the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF), which has connections to the NFB. The RVF is a cultural event celebrating International Francophonie Day, a day that promotes the French language and its diversity across the globe.

The pieces fell into place after the proposed film resonated with NFB department representatives.

“I was so nervous,” Normand said. “It was my first time I was sharing my new songs and this film with people I didn’t know and it went really, really well. A lot of people cried, a lot of people saw themselves, I cried — it was very validating and I’m like, ‘okay, my idea’s good.’”

The film extends itself to deeper conversations being had in francophone communities, such as those about exogamous structures — where each parent comes from a different cultural background — as well as “l’insécurité linguistique.”

“It’s literally insecurities about the way I speak — my accent, the regional expressions I use, sometimes I’m second guessing how I conjugate verbs, it’s that,” Nor-

communities, she has never seen it explored in a familial context.

Part of the process of making this film involved Normand unpacking uncomfortable feelings.

“I felt shame, and I had to hide the fact that we speak English at home,” she said.

“In my professional world or in my outside world, especially when I was navigating francophone spaces, I identify as francophone, but I always had this resistance because my family doesn’t correspond to that traditional model of what francophone looks like.”

mand explained. “It’s not feeling comfortable speaking French.”

She added that, while this is an issue that a lot of people talk about in francophone

Normand wanted the film to express the idea that, though some aspects of her story are unique, it is also a story that reflects the situations of several families within the community.

“There are a lot of families, and it’s not just exogamous English-French, there’s bicultural families, there are families who are learning French or who know French as a third language,” she said. “It opens the door to that, to those experiences, because they’re just as valid as the traditional model of what Francophonie is ‘supposed’ to look like.”

“I wanted to validate those realities and also the struggle.”

Normand hopes that viewers gain a new understanding of what a different version of francophone life can look like, the inner workings of a bilingual or multicultural family and the complexity of these kinds of identity journeys.

French Enough is available to stream for free on NFB’s website.

arts@themanitoban.com

photo / NFB / provided

“My family doesn’t correspond to that traditional model of what francophone looks like”

— Alexis Normand, Singer-songwriter and filmmaker

LARP and the creative Misthaven of Underworld

How live action role play fosters Manitoba artists

Jessie Krahn, staff

In the words of Ursula K. Le Guin, people who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons from within. Without the ability to indulge in fantasy, many of us lose out on the opportunity to really get to know ourselves.

Luckily for Manitobans, some brave adventurers step forward in the summer to battle all varieties of magical beasts on our behalf.

Misthaven is one of Manitoba’s dark fantasy Live Action Role Play (LARP) guild houses. Like tabletop role-playing games, LARP allows players to create and insert their own original characters into an established fictional universe.

Speaking to the Manitoban, one of Misthaven’s guild masters and co-founders, Coltin Day, described LARP as taking “what happens in popular fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings or series like The Witcher and [acting] that out in real life.”

“You actually get to swing the sword, slay the dragon, that kind of thing,” Day explained. “You don’t just imagine it in your mind’s eye, you actually get to participate and basically put on that persona for a day, a weekend or however long our events are.”

Rather than imagine

entirely new settings, rules and systems from scratch, many LARP groups build on and tweak pre-existing templates that can be molded to their liking. Misthaven uses a base game system called Underworld.

Misthaven’s current membership is about 44 players according to Day. Underworld’s entire player base is harder to measure, as some guilds have been founded in Florida and even Japan.

U of M faculty of arts student and Misthaven player Lauren Perry assists with Misthaven’s public relations and social media operations.

Perry described LARP as an “interactive, improvised theatre experience.”

“It’s very akin to playing pretend like when we were kids, except now we have money, and we are more able to play in a more complicated form,” she said.

Day explained that games are usually prepared for by guildmasters, who “facilitate the game by writing quests” for the overall story that rope in the players’ characters.

Fully immersing themselves in the story, LARPers

not only act as their characters, but dress in garments and come equipped with props that suit the setting of the game.

Day said that prop weapons — which are primarily made of latex foam — can range from homemade crafts using PVC pipe and pool noodles to realistic, “commercial-grade” weaponry from vendors like Epic Armoury.

Day described the interest in purchasing gear as “fashion-forward.”

“You’ve got to look good when you’re cutting down goblins,” he said.

Perry said that “an interest in fantasy, interest in fantasy literature or movies, pop culture [and] an interest in theatre,” as well as gaming, crafting, sports and a general desire to be part of a community all spark people’s interest in LARPing.

Day believes that LARP draws people in because it offers them a chance to create memories.

“It’s a peak memory,” he said. “You go out and you enjoy it, and after you come back from it you don’t have something tangible, you have the experience.”

ence where you become more than yourself.”

“That’s what I think draws people into LARP, the opportunity to escape — in a healthy way — their lives.”

For Perry, LARP draws people in because it provides “a creative outlet, a safe space for personal growth, a place to have an adventure and to experience a story together with a welcoming community.”

LARP does not strictly involve simulating combat. Misthaven’s most recent event was a pre-season Yule Ball complete with dancing, a three-course meal and a masquerade theme.

—

Due in part to the ways that LARP encourages creative production, many players with theatre backgrounds are drawn to Misthaven. However, there is no one reason why LARPers play.

Day also thinks that LARP alters players in positive ways. He described how some participants who were initially shy and hesitant about public speaking or improv used LARP as a way to overcome and escape their inhibitions by taking on a different persona.

“You don’t need to be that shy person, you can be that loud knight who stands up for what they believe in,” Day said. “You can be whatever you want. It’s so freeing in a way, to be able to have that opportunity and that experi-

Misthaven’s regular seasonal programming picks up from May 5 to 7, with events spanning entire weekends including optional campouts. Weather permitting, an event will take place each month after that until November.

As adult society loses some of the magic of childhood, then, LARP equips people to seize the day, embark on an adventure and become more than what they are.

Players interested in joining Misthaven can find this season’s scheduling and other information on the group’s Instagram, @underworldmisthaven, or at https:// underworldlarp.com/guilds/ winnipeg-larp-misthaven/.

arts@themanitoban.com

“You become more than yourself”

Coltin Day, Underworld: Misthaven guildmaster

photos / Misthaven / provided

Bisons track and field nearing season’s end

Men’s team win CanWest banner, women finish fourth as both prepare for nationals

Quinn Mayhew, staff

The U of M track and field team thrived during the Canada West (CanWest) conference championship on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25 in Saskatoon, Sask., as it reached the podium on several occasions.

Madisson Lawrence and Anna McConnell both won gold medals on the women’s side, dominating high jump and shot put respectively.

Shot put phenom McConnell secured first place with a 14.62 metre throw in women’s shot put. Meanwhile, Lawrence went on to jump a height of 1.72 metres, receiving first place for her leap.

Lawrence also dominated the women’s indoor pentathlon, which consists of five events: an 800-metre run, 60-metre hurdles, high jump,

long jump and shot put. Her victories in both the 800metre race and high jump facilitated her first overall finish in the women’s pentathlon at this year’s CanWest championship.

The herd absolutely set the track ablaze in the men’s 600metre, with Tristan Allen and Dawson Mann coming in first and second place respectively. Allen had a time of 1:18.89, coming in clutch to grab the gold medal alongside his teammate Mann who finished at a close second with a time of 1:19.48.

With both men pushing each other in races and into medal contention, internal competition will be steep enough, let alone the competition these two will face at the upcoming U-Sports nationals from March 9 to 11.

The Bisons are set to compete in the U-Sports nationals in Saskatoon, Sask. The herd will look to the results from this recent CanWest championship as motivation and a confidence builder.

As the Bisons head into the biggest championship of the year, second year Daxx Turner will feature prominently. Turner placed first in the men’s triple jump at this year’s CanWest championship with a mighty effort of 15.06 metres.

Overall, the CanWest championship meet was successful for both the women and men, but it was the men who really stood out.

The aggregate point total for the men’s team was 148.50, winning first place for the second straight year and receiving the coveted CanWest banner in what was a season highpoint for the men thus far.

With the men’s team looking formidable coming out of the CanWest championship, they’re sure to be a shoo-in for some medals at nationals as well.

The women placed fourth overall, just behind the University of Calgary Dinos, with 75 points. They are also looking very strong heading into nationals, especially in both the shot put and high jump events, as well as pentathlon, which Lawrence completely monopolized at the CanWest championship.

Ultimately, going into nationals, the track and field teams are both looking promising event-wise and strong

Sports teams’ schedules

mentally, as the track and field season nears its end.

Track and field fans can look forward to some fast racing as the Bisons’ track and field season draws to a close March 9 to 11 in Saskatoon, Sask.

sports@themanitoban.com

The U of M track and field team thrived during the Canada West conference championship

photo / Ebunoluwa Akinbo / staff

LANEIL SMITH | CO - OWNER MARION STREET EATERY GRADUATE OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT RED RIVER COLLEGE

Bisons fall short in championship bid

Joshua Brandt, staff

F or the first time since 2014, this past weekend the University of Manitoba women’s volleyball team competed in the Canada West (CanWest) conference semifinals, facing off against the Mount Royal University Cougars (MRU) in a best-of-three series. A trip to the U-Sports nationals in Vancouver, B.C. was on the line for the victor.

To reach the semis, the sixth place herd upset the third seed University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (UBC) in the quarterfinals.

Bison Julia Arnold noted that, in the matchup against UBC, “we thought we had a pretty good shot going in.”

The Bisons and the Thunderbirds never played against each other in the regular season, meaning that the herd had the advantage of being a novel opponent.

Jumping ahead to the first semi-final game against MRU on Friday, March 3, the herd firmly believed they could beat the Cougars.

Arnold explained, “as the season has gone on, we’ve gotten way better and we’ve kind of found our feet and we’re kind of rolling now.”

She noted that in order to turn the team’s confidence into tangible victories, the team needed to acknowledge that “[MRU are] a really physically team, so serving and passing is always really important, but against this team we’re going to need to get them out of system a lot.”

The Bisons are also considerably younger than the Cougars, many of whose players are either in their fourth or fifth year of eligibility.

When asked if youth would factor in, Arnold said, “we’re learning and getting better all the time.”

“Even though we are a young team, we’ve been playing together for a few years now, and I think our ability to work together and learn together has been really beneficial for us,” she added.

On the road, the Bisons fought valiantly in their first game against the second place Cougars, managing to snatch the game’s second set. However, the women’s team ultimately went on to lose the

match 3-1, failing to score over 20 points in all three of the sets that they lost.

The herd was led by rookie superstar Raya Surinx, who racked up 20 kills in the match. Incidentally, Surinx was also recently named to the CanWest second all-star team and to the CanWest allrookie team.

Eve Catojo recorded a team high four blocks and added a service ace, Katreena Bentley dished out a game high 47 assists and Arnold countered Cougar attacks all game, finishing the match with 11 digs.

Heading into the rematch on Saturday, March 4, needing a win to keep the series going, the herd was also looking to keep their dream of reaching the CanWest championship game and of punching their ticket to the U-Sports nationals alive as well.

A loss meant the herd would play in the third place

match against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen (U of W).

Overall, it was a very tight match, with an aggregate point differential of just 75-64 for the Cougars. However, MRU did win the match in three straight sets, making it appear, as if the Bisons didn’t show up.

But the herd certainly did.

Surinx once again led the squad in kills with 15, adding three aces to boot. Ella Gray added 11 more kills and a team high 11 digs. Bentley put up 36 assists and Arnold dug 10 balls, giving her the most digs of the series with 21.

Arnold has been excellent for the herd all season long, amassing the second best digs per set output in CanWest.

When asked what the key to her game is, Arnold explained that it’s “just the will to keep the ball off the floor as long as possible,” she said.

“I think coming into practice everyday with that mindset, and just focusing on getting just a little bit better every day […] is really important.”

It’s also crucial to understand that, as libero, “you’ve been chosen to be the defensive specialist,” Arnold added.

The herd will need her outstanding play moving forward as they’re set to play rival U of W on Friday, March 10, at the Duckworth Centre in a winner-take-all CanWest bronze medal match, with a trip to the U-Sport nationals on the line.

The team is a tight knit group and will rely on that in the bronze medal match.

“The biggest thing about this group is that we’ve established a really, really good team culture and we’re all really good friends genuinely and I think that is a big aspect in what goes into our success this year,” Arnold said.

Students should make the short, cross-city trip and flood the Duckworth Centre on Friday, March 10 at 7 p.m. to support the herd as it attempts to make nationals.

sports@themanitoban.com

The herd dropped two straight in the semis to MRU, will play U of W Friday for third

“The biggest thing about this group is that we’ve established a really, really good team culture”

— Julia Arnold, libero

The U of M women’s bisons volleyball team, pictured here in an earlier game this season, dropped the best-of-three series in the CanWest semifinals. The herd will take on the

U of W Wesmen for the bronze medal.