3 days of peace and music: In our September 8, 1999 issue, “intrepid reporter” Jason Loxton detailed the preceding moments before he entered the gates of Woodstock ’99 hell. The palpable stench of sloppily discarded trash and testosterone-fuelled sweat consumed the air with vigour. Tents and their respective citizens lined the festival grounds, making it difficult to traverse the underabundance of peace and love without bumping into shirtless, grubby men. It’s safe to say that Loxton confirms the event’s overwhelmingly negative reputation. Luckily, he found solace in Cherry Coke, which helped him embark positively through the haze and daze.
What’s he building in there?: A stroll around Camosun’s Lansdowne campus this fall may look surprisingly familiar to the campus of 1999. Now considered landmarks, the scaffolding-cloaked Young building and industrial machinery are not new to the school’s landscape. In this issue, we covered the “ahead of schedule” timeline of what was soon to be a fully realized revitalization of the building, only four to five months away from completion. The scaffolds returned years later for a different reason, and remain to this day as a tribute to its decorated history.
War on crime: Thieves were of top priority at the beginning of Camosun’s 1999 school semester. Counterfeit bill detectors were made available to all campus cashiers—one fraudulent $20 bill had already been spotted. As well, the college cautioned students to stay vigilant and lock up belongings. That would be sound advice considering the apparent wave of student crime sprees: vehicles were broken into on campus grounds, Business labs ruthlessly vandalized, and pornographic images were being printed using lab computers. Suspect was a 5’11” white male with long blond hair. Sounds eerily similar to Woodstock ’99 to me.