There were two, there were once three
oceans which adjoined the shores of Lake Ontario.
Our pasts:
they drank its fresh water and swam together,
they (they) they.
Lake Ontario,
two lived on its northern border.
Where the winters once bit off innocent ankles, where
we threw the sticks into suspension.
Men will love you: Lake Erie or Lake Superior,
Lake Michigan, Lake Someone.
They will love you and you will love them.
Men will love you, after we laughed.
After we walked on floating trees,
broke up super-still water.
[ Three oceans: you're a Physics professor,
and you find time to read novels. Your kids have deftly
learned to feed the cats. You once saw me on a
train and I was doing laundry and you thought I was
sexy. ]
Yours
was the first face that I saw.
Yours
was a freezing open window
Of course,
there will be Monday mornings and car trips in the backseat
and endless Novembers in the Zoo, where little Martin
tries not to bite at his fingers.
Lake Ontario,
she lived under your arms. And she lived around your twisting coasts.
She breathed the night air and pinkyswore; she loved you like I loved you.
She was crying into the endless nocturne, she sung down the windows and whistled.
She plays the game where you pretend to be a kid again when noone is watching,
And she (she), she didn't cry with the lowest rains. She stands under a radio tower and yells.
She kisses you the night she should have and nothing else has ever happened. Day: February 8, 2021
Lake Ontario
How to Spend your Snow Day
Photo Credits: Sam Teichman Given our recent snow day, the flurries freckling our faces remind us to enjoy the Acadia winter experience to the fullest. Some look at winter as the never-ending season of cold; however, winter provides a new selection of riveting outdoor activities and cozy indoor ones. During the chilly season, people occasionally experience Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression routed from the change in season. Winter, especially, brings darker skies and time changes that leave the mornings bright and evenings dull.
The best way to take advantage of the shift consists of winter festivities and treats. Hop into a local coffee shop to try a decadent hot chocolate and nab friends to go sledding with. Activities geared towards children, such as snowball fights and sledding inflict warm memories and giddy laughter. Transporting to younger days brings about a care-free feeling that makes for the ultimate stress-reliever from heavy schoolwork.
As for cozy activities, all the time you spend indoors avoiding the snow-filled air and slushy roads may leave you feeling cooped up in your home. To balance your indoor VS. outdoor time, take yourself on a walk for fresh air, and afterwards, queue up a movie and bake cookies (pre-made or not) or any suitable indulgent treat and watch as the snow falls outside. Just because you are sitting inside does not mean you cannot enjoy your time as much as when participating in an icy adventure.
Speaking about icy adventures, the Acadia Athletics Complex has a free skating rink ready to use. Beginners should feel equally welcome, and the front desk offers skates available upon request along with helmets. Their weekday skating times on the Acadia University Recreation website state their availability as 1:15 pm-2:15 pm Student Shinny and 2:15 pm-3:15 pm for Student Free Skate & Figure Skating.
Given Acadia’s recent re-opening of the pool at the Athletics Complex … if snowy activities aren’t your go-to, and you are looking to remind yourself of warmer days packed with swimming, feel free to book either a lane (45-minute time-slots) or register for open swim. To book, either visit their online website: https://acadiau.legendonlineservices.ca/enterprise/account/login or call: (902) 585-1568
Acadia offers plenty of options to keep busy during the chilly season –whether that be indoors or outdoors. So, feel free to explore all Acadia has to offer 😊
Reduce Your Meat Consumption – Our Planet Will Thank You!
While vegetarianism, veganism, pescatarianism, and other meatless diets have always existed, there seems to have been an increasing amount of people choosing to leave meat or meat substitutes out of their diets within the last couple of decades. Between the mid 90s and today, the number of restaurants that identify as vegetarian has risen from around 50 to over 950. This shift towards lower levels of meat consumption seems to be emerging for many different reasons, including religious choices, environmental reasons, health benefits, preference in taste, animal safety and protection, and many other reasons. Despite the wide range of motives for eating less meat, it’s impossible to say whether or not the popularity of the choice will be a lasting one.
However, whatever someone’s choice for not eating meat, the environmental benefits of removing meat from your diet are undeniable. To be clear, the environmental impacts of eating less meat overall are also indisputable. The water required to produce a single pound of beef is equivalent to taking over 100 showers. That means that reducing your beef intake could substantially impact the environment, saving a multitude of water. Further, the land required to raise animals for consumption has quickly led to issues for our planet, including deforestation due to the space requirements, climate change through high levels of carbon emissions, and the harmful effects on other wildlife through pesticides required for production. There’s no doubt that eating a meatless diet isn’t possible for everyone. And by no means is it recommended that everyone go vegan tomorrow. But even an attempt at reducing the amount of meat you eat can make a huge difference on the environment, your wallet, and your health.
Some easy ways to reduce your meat consumption include the following:
- Find out what meat substitutes you like
Tofu, eggs, legumes, and other protein substitutes can be great ways to remain healthy and fuel your body even while avoiding meat. There are so many recipes and cookbooks that can provide ideas for meatless snacks or meals while still making delicious and healthy food.
- Remove one type of meat from your diet at a time
If you don’t feel prepared to completely say goodbye to meat, maybe try eating less fish, or less chicken, or less red meat in general. If you can go a while without eating it, remove another. Another option if you’re struggling for ideas for meatless meals is to only order foods at restaurants that don’t have meat in them, since they’re coming up with the ideas for you!
- Try meatless Mondays
Avoiding meat for one day per week is a great place to start reducing your meat consumption. Try taking an entire day to make vegetarian (or vegan) meals only. And who knows, you may even discover some new recipes that you love, or start looking forward to your Mondays!
- Buy less meat
This one might sound simple, but without the temptation of meat sitting in your fridge or freezer, you’ll naturally eat less meat. Around 20% of meat ends up being thrown out or wasted anyway, so buying less meat will not only make an impact on the planet, but will also save you some cash and reduce food waste.
- Don’t be afraid to try ‘fake’ meat
Trying to make a big dietary change and cook everything yourself can be extremely overwhelming. Learning to rely on pre-cooked substitutes for your favourite meals that include meat can be really helpful. Veggie burgers, veggie sausages, veggie dogs, and plenty of other mock meats are easily accessible and prepared, while tasting very similar to their real meat counterparts.
For some people, even these options are not plausible and saying goodbye to meat seems impossible. If you still choose to include meat in your diet, perhaps you’re making eco-friendly decisions in other areas of your life, and there is no doubt that every little difference counts. But even if everyone chose to eat one less meat-including meal per month, the impacts would be astronomical. So whether you want to try ordering a veggie burger the next time you go to a restaurant, or you completely remove meat and meat substitutes from your diet, or don’t make any changes to your diet at all, I urge you to be more conscious of the effects of your food choices.
British Columbia Couple Flies to Yukon for COVID-19 Vaccine
Canadians put faith in the healthcare system to be fair, and as the Canadian government continues to decide where the COVID-19 vaccine should go first – to the most vulnerable people – a few entitled people may mistakenly believe that they are an exception to the policy. White River Nation, located in Beaver Creek, Yukon, was granted some of the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to administer to its high population of Indigenous elders. However, the CEO (at the time) of Great Canadian Gaming, Rod Baker, and his wife, Ekaterina, flew into Beaver Creek so they would not have to wait to receive their dose. The couple filed a form vowing to self-isolate for the standard 14 days for people arriving out of province, which they said they would do in a motel in Whitehorse. Two days later, they flew to Beaver Creek, Yukon.
The Bakers were seen at the community center where the Moderna vaccine was being administered, and many people just assumed that they were Canadian Border Services (CBSA) workers. The couple received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, once the couple asked someone at the center for a ride to a local airport that is rarely used, people caught on to what was happening. Officials contacted the motel that the Bakers were allegedly isolating at and discovered the Bakers had checked out. Rod Baker and Ekaterina were later located in Whitehorse waiting for a flight back to Vancouver.
The Vancouver couple will have to wait for their eligibility group to receive the second dose of the vaccine, health authorities assured the public. A person is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 until both doses are administered.
The First Nation were alerted of the incident of the day after it happened. This angered many members of the community because the Chief was not informed, nor was the local COVID team contacted. Furthermore, White River First Nation (WFRN) said the fine that the Bakers received for failing to isolate after entering a different province, would be meaningless to such wealthy people, arguing that the purpose of such a penalty is to seriously discourage any similar future behaviour.
Rod and Ekaterina did not only put White River at risk but the entire community, when failing to self-isolate, as well as lying to health care professionals in order to “skip the line” and put themselves over vulnerable elders.
SRC Decoded: What you missed January 29th, 2021
The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) is a council composed of a body of students elected by their peers, who are tasked with running the Acadia Students’ Union (ASU). The SRC meets every Wednesday at 5:30 PM in the Beveridge Forum located off the Michener Lounge in the Students’ Union Building (SUB). Each meeting is open to the public and students are welcome to attend meetings to learn more about the decisions being made on their behalf.
After some general grounds-keeping conversations and new introductions, the Student Representatives Council started their meeting!
This meeting centred mostly on the goals each council member had for the rest of the term.
Lara Hartman began with her plans, highlighting her desire to ensure she is supporting arts students as best she can (as the arts senator).
There was a short change of topic, while Lydia Houk discussed the possible re-emergence of a program wherein the Town of Wolfville councillors are paired with members of the SRC as part of a mentorship program. Lydia thought this would be an especially valuable opportunity for the new members. Brendan MacNeil then briefly touched on an opportunity for council members to collaborate with the Sustainability councillor for the Town of Wolfville before turning it over to Sadie McAlear, the new Community Relations Councillor.
Sadie emphasized that she’d like to have a better understanding of the SRC, make stronger connections within the community, and also some projects that she would like to undertake. Lydia followed mentioning goals surrounding getting feedback from a diverse population of students and also having more collaboration between the students and the faculty. Robbie Holmes proceeded, sharing his aim of helping ensure a smooth transition within position roles, as he has much familiarity with the council. Brendan Keeler said he had plans to make information more readily available and straight-forward for future VP Finances as well as creating a full volunteer program for the Finance office.
Alex Surette spoke about his goals to bring more students into the sustainability initiative as well as a sustainability project focused on reusing clothing. Blake Steeves went next and described his goal to run a successful social media campaign for the general election and to ensure Cheaton happens! Jodi Chaffer said he would like to continue growing and establishing his initiative from last semester researching campus and also to increase MCAT and LSAT studying support for students. Zach Goldsmith strives to be a good bridge between the Theology Department and the ASU and to hold the event which he organized last semester. Menat Tahoun put an emphasis on her desire to communicate well with the incoming professional studies senator and make a smooth transition. Molly Anderson said she would like to make decisions and discussion within the SRC as accessible and comprehensible as possible to students, and also properly storing and archiving outstanding documents. Finally, Brendan MacNeil shared his goals. He would like to increase the employability of students as Acadia and to equip them with as many tools as possible throughout their education so that they are prepared to enter the workforce. Additionally, like many others, Brendan aims to ensure the transitions of roles happen smoothly and effectively.
The council wrapped-up with a few small conversations and the meeting was adorned!