social issues

Comment January 5, 2016

More on the STEM gender gap

In early November, I wrote an editorial about the gender gap in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. The article was met with polarizing opinions concerning what I had written: some people really agreed with me and some people did not.

I think the only thing I really regret about that editorial is the last statement I made, which comes off as flippant and shouldn’t have been included. However, I do not back away from my initial statement about gender-focused initiatives.

Comment December 1, 2015

The lack of meaning in Christmas

What do yoga and Christmas have in common? Both are ancient, both are deeply spiritual, and both have been swallowed by the gaping wound that exists in place of our collective soul. Our consumer culture has rendered the most beautiful fruits of human endeavour, living spiritual traditions, into experiences engaged in for personal pleasure.

Things that were the epitome of the sacred – the mastery of the body by the soul, the celebration of the mercy of the divine – are profaned, and not innocently so. To innocently profane yoga would be to do it unmindfully. To innocently profane Christmas would be to ignore it. But instead, both these have been defiled by consumerism: emptied of their original meanings, they have been re-filled with the most disgusting aspect of our culture.

News November 24, 2015

Province sets sights on campus safety

In a marquee promise emerging out of last week’s speech from the throne, Manitoba’s provincial NDP government pledged legislation aimed at increasing campus safety. The…

News November 18, 2015

Students protest over racism at Yale

The issue of racism on U.S. university campuses is gaining international attention again after disputes over offensive Halloween costumes came to the forefront at Yale University.

No Picture

Arts & Culture November 10, 2015

Unsettling the settlers

After reading Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada, a settler Canadian would know more about themselves than they would like to. Two Canadian…

Editorial November 10, 2015

“We didn’t know how to help”

Mental illness has historically been a difficult topic for discussion, for such reasons as a lack of knowledge of its effects or the naive belief that it’s a rarity even in today’s society.

Editorial November 3, 2015

Closing the STEM gender gap

When I was 13 years old, I was selected by my school to attend a “Women in Information Technology” seminar at the University of Winnipeg. The goal of the event was to encourage young female students to consider a technical career in information technology. It was one of many initiatives held across Canada in an attempt to close the gender gap in STEM fields – sciences, technology, engineering, and math.

Comment October 27, 2015

Don’t be an idiot

One of the first articles I ever contributed to the Manitoban was an indictment of one individual who on Halloween of 2013 chose to hit Stereo Nightclub in blackface. The photo of the individual was shared hundreds of times on social media, according to the CBC. The image was posted as a part of Stereo’s promotional photography albums. Thus the establishment also came under rightful fire for allowing the individual in.

This Halloween, save everyone the grief and the media circus.

If you, as a non-black individual, want to dress up like a culturally iconic black celebrity such as Jimi Hendrix, then I’ll applaud your right to do so, but only if you leave your face the colour it is.

No Picture

Comment October 20, 2015

The reactionary Pope

The papacy has never enjoyed as glowing a reception as today, and notably among progressives. Pope Francis has been met with praise for his strong condemnations of “unbridled capitalism” and the visible inequities and environmental degradation it has produced. This focus on social justice, the pontiff’s seemingly humble, compassionate persona, has convinced many on the left that he is to be considered a “radical pope” and a force for institutional change. I think caution needs to be urged in applying this label, largely because many of the moral positions of the Catholic Church are fundamentally conservative in nature.