It’s been an unpredictable year. If the last decade has taught us anything, next year will probably be unpredictable too.
What surprised me in looking over the list of the most-read Nexus stories in a year of calamity is how much people gravitated toward the arts. Six of our top 10 stories were about theatre—either reviews or interviews—and many of those performances centred around feminist themes. This is the first year since the pandemic began that we’ve properly been able to return to group events with any amount of safety, and it seems that what people missed most was sitting together and watching a good story.
In the spirit of this desire for theatrics, let me give you a sneak peek at what you can expect from our top 10 list this year: a teacher going against the grain and working to release textbooks for free; a steamy sapphic love affair brought to light on the stage; a battle to raise awareness for a public-health emergency that’s more likely to kill you than a car accident is; and explorations of witchcraft.
I sincerely hope you enjoy the show.
10. Camosun instructors awarded in recognition celebration
Jordyn Haukaas, student editor
In 2023, Camosun College held its second annual Teacher Recognition Award ceremony. Our student editor Jordyn Haukaas covered the event, shining the spotlight on biology teacher Charlie Molnar, who received the inaugural Mary Burgess Open Education Recognition Award. Molnar was celebrated for his contribution to open-access textbook Concepts of Biology, which is not only freely available but also is updated regularly to stay current on classroom materials.
The Teacher Recognition Award ceremony is an event that’s important to everyone in the Camosun community. Students checked out the article to read about the teachers who made a difference in their lives, and staff and teachers alike rallied behind their peers.
Anthropology instructor Nicole Kilburn was one of the teachers who received an award this year. She says that awards like these can help boost the morale of teachers.
“We put a lot of work into what we do. I think that sometimes that’s unseen,” Kilburn told Haukaas. “I know when I was a student, I didn’t really think too much about where lecture content came from, or, you know, how people come up with different assignments or assignment topics or whatever. And, you know, here I am on the other side of the equation, and I know that there’s a huge amount of work that goes into that. And to have that seen, I really feel appreciated.”
From a student’s perspective, when a teacher is happy in their job they teach better. When the school takes the time to make sure our teachers feel appreciated in all that they do for us, everyone benefits.
9. Have a great night with Goodnight Desdemona, (Good Morning Juliet)
Emily Welch, contributing writer
This particular review is fun because it pairs with Welch’s earlier interview with the play’s artistic director Tamara McCarthy. Goodnight Desdemona, (Good Morning Juliet) is set in an academic environment, following an associate professor wanting to receive full credit for her work. This setting, in combination with the intensely feminist themes of the story, is important to Camosun students, who are navigating their own academic dramas.
In addition to the thematic draw, the play was a huge success, and many readers would find the review after seeing the performance.
Welch wrote that “The play is incredibly well written, with wit and humour that left me stunned at the gutsy storylines and perfectly cast characters. The actors play about five parts each, but none were overwhelmed; they carried off their opening night with complete grace, as if they had been performing the play for years.”
8. The Last Five Years gets non-linear with relationships
Emily Welch, contributing writer
Another phenomenal arts piece from Nexus’ Emily Welch. The Last Five Years follows two characters who recently broke up as they recount their story, one starting from the beginning of the relationship, and the other starting at the end.
While the show was written and first performed in 2001, it makes sense that a non-linear piece would be popular with audiences in 2023. Living through the pandemic left a lot of us with a changed relationship to time and added an intensity to a lot of our connections. This story marries these elements in a way that would be resonant for viewers today.
Director Julie McIsaac shared a unique element of the rendition when talking with Welch.
“The way it’s originally conceived is that the only time the two characters meet up is in the middle of their story, but we’re doing something a little different, where they are both on stage throughout the entire piece,” she said in the story. “It’s very exciting; it’s new.”
7. Camosun College instructor runs for drug awareness
Nicolas Ihmels, staff writer
This was my favourite article on the list.
In August of 2022, Camosun College School of Access instructor Jessica Michalofsky lost her son to toxic drug poisoning. She set out on a run to raise awareness of the public-health crisis and the lack of action being taken around it.
This article grabbed my attention in no small part because since graduating high school I’ve lost three friends to the same thing. It’s a paralyzing experience, but Michalofsky took action, running across southern BC in May and June of 2023 to raise awareness.
“So, currently in British Columbia seven people are dying a day from toxic drug poisoning,” Michalofsky told Ihmels in the story. “And we are in the seventh year of a publicly declared public health emergency. And yet, the rate of death is going up, not down. I think the rate is now double what it was when the public health emergency was announced back in 2016. So, I’m running across BC to make people aware of the resources that exist and to protect themselves and their families.”
It’s important to remember that 100 percent of toxic drug poisonings are preventable. This is a threat to people who use drugs every day, but it’s also a threat to those who are trying a drug for the first time.
“I want people to be alarmed, I want people to be worried,” said Michalofsky. “Because, at this point I think everybody knows somebody who has died from this and I think that people aren’t taking it seriously enough… A lot of people are dying from this, and the government’s not taking it seriously, and the approaches they’re coming up with, a lot of them are paternalistic and I think are not going to help.”
Michalofsky went on this run to hold local government to task for the lack of action around this emergency. This article is important to Michalofsky’s Camosun community, but also to anyone who has lost someone to toxic drug poisoning.
6. Camosun alumnus creates award for mature students
Jordyn Haukaas, student editor
Did you know that in Canada anyone who begins their degree after the age of 21 is considered a “mature student”? When Pauly Singh returned to school at the age of 41 for his Digital Communications certificate, he found a shocking lack of resources for financial aid. He paid for his schooling out of pocket, but the lack of funding to help mature students stuck with him.
In response to this, in 2023 he launched the Leap of Faith Award, for mature students in Digital Communications making the risky choice to change their career path by returning to school.
“How many other people are out there in the same boat as me and are scared to go back to school because of past teachers, or they don’t have the financial opportunity, or they just don’t have the right motivation or encouragement? And then I’m sitting there and I’m like, well, I want to say thank you to Lois [Fernyhough, Camosun Communications chair], thank you to the school, and the program itself to kind of keep that going, because positivity feeds positivity,” said Singh. “I called this The Leap of Faith Award because that’s exactly what I did. I just went into a leap of faith, not knowing what was going to happen. I just did it and came out with flying colours.”
As a 27-year-old who returned to school this year for my own career change, I’m so happy to see the community coming together to support the furthering of education for anyone bold enough to make the leap of faith.
5. Miss Julie raises important questions with outstanding performances
Emily Welch, contributing writer
Victoria is a small city, but we’re known across the country for our love of the arts (just take a look at how arts-heavy this list is), and Miss Julie is a fantastic example of what Victoria can bring to the table.
Miss Julie is a play that explores the fallout of a steamy night of romance between two women, one of whom is the other’s employer.
Welch reports that “Miss Julie is… a production that requires intense concentration, as the whole play is one long, very heated, conversation between three characters. It might get a bit uncomfortable at times, depending on the viewer’s ability to sit and watch people go through every known difficult emotion there is as they try to figure themselves out. It rises and plummets, then rises and plummets again.”
I was sad to miss this show. It seems unflinching in the face of difficult themes, such as feminism, classism, gender, and the generally complicated experience of sapphic desire in a homophobic world. It sounds like a firecracker of a play.
4. Vinegar Tom well-produced but not much of a play
Lane Chevrier, staff writer
Amid the glowing reviews that make up the majority of our list this year, it’s fun to look at a piece that is a bit more critical.
Nexus writer Lane Chevrier reviewed a production of Vinegar Tom put on at the University of Victoria’s Phoenix Theatre. Set in a university lecture, the script attempts to tackle the topic of witch trials (literal ones, not cultural ones) through the lens of academia.
Chevrier has a lot of warmth for the production and the acting, noting the heart that shines through in the show’s attention to detail. The criticism comes in when the source material is examined.
As Chevrier puts it, “Ultimately, the Phoenix Theatre production of Vinegar Tom was produced with great care by several dozen talented people who should be proud of what they’ve created. However, the lacklustre source material takes the university venue far too literally by presenting an impassioned lecture rather than a compelling story.”
A note to university lecturers: feel free to treat your classroom as a theatre. The theatre certainly feels comfortable treating itself as a classroom.
3. The Unplugging resonant and heartfelt tale of survival
Amy Lynch, contributing writer
I actually saw this play performed in the theatre, so it’s especially fun to revisit the review.
The Unplugging follows two women surviving on their own following a global failure of electronic technology. One of these women is Indigenous and relies heavily on the teachings of her family to help her and her friend make a home through the winter.
It makes sense to me that this kind of story would resonate with audiences. Our reliance on electronic tech has permeated into every crevice of our lives, and the loss of that would change everything. Particularly, the way we retain knowledge has shifted: if we need to know something, it’s immediately available to us through the internet, meaning that we don’t keep personal records of helpful information. We even throw out instruction manuals, because if we need to know something later, we can just Google it.
This play was an interesting way of exploring that idea. While it didn’t knock my socks off, I did like it. It felt like really cohesive community theatre. In this review, Lynch agreed that the story is ultimately told well.
“What makes these themes truly come alive are, of course, the performances,” wrote Lynch. “Played with heart, sincerity, and a good deal of comedy, the performances lend well to the characters they’re portraying. A few lines here or there might feel overacted, but it’s hard to complain about an over-expressed syllable when the whole of the play comes together so well.”
2. Yaga looks at witches, Slavic culture through murder-mystery lens
Nicolas Ihmels, staff writer
Another play about witches!
This much-anticipated murder mystery has several things that would lead readers to an interview with one of its lead actors.
Yaga is a show that plays off Slavic culture—a culture that is central to both Ukraine and Russia. Meditations on the shared heritage of the mythology of Baba Yaga are going to be poignant and timely this year.
Actor Nicholas Nahwegahbow said to Nexus’ Nicolas Ihmels that “the audiences can expect a fun murder-mystery ride which changes their perspective on the word ‘witch.’ I want the audience to take away a bit of knowledge about Slavic culture as well as a bit of knowledge of the story of Baba Yaga, which is very familiar to Ukrainian and Russian people. I would also like the audience to know that we are welcoming Ukrainian actors on our stages and that we support and stand with Ukraine.”
Beyond this, readers and audience members alike this year were particularly drawn to feminist themes. With an older woman at the helm of the story, explorations of what it means to be a witch, and the tie-in with two countries on everyone’s mind, it’s no wonder this article captured people’s attention.
1. Open Space: Terms “fem-presenting” and “masc-presenting” need to go
Kim Fehr, contributing writer
Our most-read story this year goes to Nexus contributor Kim Fehr!
This is also interesting because it’s the only opinion piece on our list. The opinion in question was the most attention-grabbing article we published, so let’s unpack it.
In May, Fehr argued that the terms “fem-presenting” and “masc-presenting” were unhelpful. These are terms used as shorthand to describe someone as more masculine or feminine. While the aim is to define something in a way that is less gender-restrictive, Fehr says these terms fail at that goal.
This is a piece that is close to my heart. I’m a nonbinary person, and the way I present myself day to day is quite fluid. I agree with Fehr that while the intention is good, the final result is a vocabulary that continues to reinforce the idea that you can only be masculine or feminine. Most of the time I’m not wanting to be either.
In Fehr’s words, “As much as I understand and love broad terms, this case should be an exception. The terms ‘fem-presenting’ and ‘masc-presenting’ suggest homogeny in how these groups present, how they are perceived, and how they experience that perception. However, such a wide range of people cannot possibly all be perceived in the same ways.”
The fact that this article not only exists but is the most-read article of the year warms my heart. The attention paid to this line of thinking shows that Camosun students tend toward a desire to understand their peers. Some may have read the article as an introduction to new ways of referring to each other, and others may have found solidarity in a published story that reflects their experience in the world a little better.
Thank you for joining us as we revisited the most-read stories of the year. My fingers are crossed for all of us as we try to get an education in a chaotic and changing world. Look out for each other, keep making good art, take your vitamins, and remind your friends you love them. And thanks for reading our stories throughout 2023.