Stardust in the waters: a journey through a provincial parkHalf a block past the entrance to the Butchart Gardens, the van crunched onto the side of Wallace Road. The three of us, all local teenagers, crawled out to the gravel pathway between the wall of trees and the empty road. We pulled up our coat zippers and clicked on our flashlights. Mine, a police […] Continue Reading |
Victoria Beer Week brings more cheers to another yearWith its abundance of craft breweries, it’s pretty clear that Victoria is a beer-drinking city, so a beer-specific week seems perfectly natural. Enter Victoria Beer Week. “There was a group of us that started meeting, all kinds of different people, but all related to beer,” explains Joe Wiebe, co-founder of the festival and author of […] Continue Reading |
Island sketching group brings artists togetherThe room is crowded. People mill about looking at the variety of local goods available. But some stand back, taking in the scene. With bound books in arm and hands moving with purpose, they sketch. Island Sketching, a Victoria artist meet-up group, was started in June of 2013 by Brian Hebb and his wife Cheryl. […] Continue Reading |
Camosun College keeps an eye on e-cigarette usage on campusInsufficient research regarding the safety of electronic cigarettes (or e-cigs) has major cities across Canada, including Vancouver and Toronto, considering a ban on their use in public. The lack of laws preventing e-cigs from being sold to minors creates concerns that they will encourage smoking among youth. Unknown health risks also have governments and institutions […] Continue Reading |
BC human rights activist and TEDx speaker Lauryn Oates brings Afghanistan issues close to homeNot many people divide their time between the BC coast and Kabul, Afghanistan, but human rights activist Lauryn Oates does just that. When the Vancouverite was 14, an article she read about Taliban cruelties inspired her to respond to the what she saw as a lack of action from the western world. She was horrified […] Continue Reading |
Municipal voting important for students, says Camosun College profMunicipal voting day for British Columbia is November 15. Municipal elections deal with many issues that matter to students, says Camosun political science professor Dan Reeve. “Things like sewage, which has an environmental impact, or transit, or bike lanes, or low income housing… these things might drive you to the polls,” he says. Reeve also […] Continue Reading |
Local company Anian Surfboards goes off the gridLocally owned and operated, Anian is a Victoria surf shop that sells Canadian manufactured surfboards and clothing, and, if that’s not cool enough, they are also currently in the research and development stage of manufacturing their own wetsuits. But what makes Anian truly unique is how they source their power: solar energy. Anian, founded in […] Continue Reading |
E-sports challenge conventional sports for popularityVideo games are big business. In 2013, consumers in the US spent over $20 billion playing video games. That’s double the amount they spent on going to the movies, and slightly more than the combined revenues of the NFL, NBA, and NHL. Inside this 40-year-old industry, a new sector, electronic sports (or e-sports), has seen […] Continue Reading |
Wine fest brings international tastes to VictoriaAn upcoming wine festival taking place here in Victoria will celebrate and expose attendees to wines from around the world. As an added bonus, students checking out the event might find a pathway to an interesting career, according to one of the presenters. Stuart Brown, a local sommelier who graduated from the International Sommelier Guild […] Continue Reading |
Victoria’s booming craft-beer scene fosters fest, online museum, breweriesHomer Simpson once extolled on an episode of The Simpsons that beer is “the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” So it’s the cause of much excitement (and hangovers) that the Great Canadian Beer Fest will again take place in Victoria on September 5 and 6. Two days may not seem like […] Continue Reading |
