Columns

I was recently listening to a podcast on how people will take great measures to avoid bad news. One of the examples given was that 20 percent of college students in a study paid $10 to not be told whether or not they had herpes, despite having all of the testing already complete. Shocking, right? […]

I’m going to let you in on a cool secret. It’s called “getting money for doing what you’re already doing.” “You mean schoolwork?” you ask. Sure—school, volunteering, you name it. I’m talking about applying for awards. Have you thought about it? Are you thinking about it now? Luckily, the Camosun website says right on its […]

Recently, I was reminded just how old school the old-school way of thinking about gender roles really is. I was chatting with an older man about younger people and our hippie ways, which included him making a crack about vegans, to which I lamented that my boyfriend is a vegan but he wasn’t one when […]

Our lives are inverted. Life is inside out. For a moment, imagine that we are trying to keep the dead dead. Suppose that the aim of life is not for it to end in death, but rather to keep the dead in their place—to keep them from living, so that we can continue to live. […]

I finished last issue’s column talking about when I had found my calling: to be a rock-star chef. This self-obsessed, ego-driven lifestyle was further encouraged by copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, readily available because everyone wanted to be friends with the guy who cooks their meals.  I attained my first chef position at age […]

Sitting on the edge of your seat, posited at the end of the beginning of the starting line. Gears shifting without synchronicity. Flailing rubber particulates from rotating tires that move without the appearance of going anywhere. Characterless smoke clouds pervade left and right. The sky opens up just as the snowfall reverses its direction and […]

Classes? In summer? Should I? By instinct I would say “absolutely not,” because I like not doing things. However, I also hate not doing anything productive and then feeling like an absolute fool for not doing anything. Instead, I’ll make the decision easier for all of us. What you need to consider is what you […]

You know that hunchy, achy feeling right between your shoulder blades and up into your neck? Some people call it “texting neck” but I think it can be equally named “Instagram neck” or “Candy Crush neck.” Too much time slouching over our phones is bad for our posture, impacting our organs, body language, and causing […]

There really wasn’t much in the way of restaurants in my small town, so my first taste of the cooking world came from working at one of the local pubs. At the age of 13, I was working weekends scrubbing pots and pans and occasionally filling in on the line during busy brunch services. It […]

A year ago I pitched the idea of Let’s Talk?, a column about women’s issues, to our managing editor, Greg Pratt. For some reason (which I’m sure he frequently regrets), he graciously allowed me the space to fight for equality.  What I had originally intended to be a hard-hitting column about the injustices women face […]