Open Space: Seeing my father for the first, and last, timeI was caught in my father’s hold in the same way a fly gets caught in the sticky threads of a spider’s web, struggling to escape the suffocation. He was one of the most brilliant people I have known, and also one of the most tortured. He was a professor in art history with a […] Continue Reading |
25 Years Ago in Nexus: September 5, 2023 issueNo fishing in Fisher: In the September 8, 1998 issue of Nexus we reported on the creation of the pond in the Fisher building. The project was launched because of a suggestion from Camosun’s Health and Wellness Committee; the pond was meant to beautify the space as well as cleanse the air. In ’98 the […] Continue Reading |
Open Space: If you’re offended by Barbie, you’re part of the problemGreta Gerwig’s Barbie premiered on July 21, and it inspired a mass wave of people to put on their favourite pink outfits and head to the movies, selling out theatres across the globe in the process. The movie is a massive success: the opening weekend saw $162 million in sales and broke the first-weekend record […] Continue Reading |
Open Space: Keeping cats indoors not a solutionWhen I first heard about the movement to keep domestic cats indoors because of their impact on the bird population, I thought it might be a joke. But it’s not. For as long as I can remember, there have been cats in my family. Various cats have lived their lives with us, and their constant […] Continue Reading |
Open Space: Camosun staff and faculty need to commit to IndigenizationNot enough staff and faculty at Camosun are committed to Indigenization. Indigenization workshops to make classrooms and courses safer for Indigenous students are strictly voluntary, so staff have no incentive to take opportunities to deconstruct their biases and improve their classes. And it’s needed: both of us have either witnessed or been subject to anti-Indigenous […] Continue Reading |
Open Space: Terms “fem-presenting” and “masc-presenting” need to goI often hear people use the phrasing of “fem-presenting” or “masc-presenting” as shorthand for women and feminine people or men and masculine people. However, this phrasing still tends to flatten gender to one of two categories, while also being insensitive to the way non-cis people are treated based on how they are perceived, regardless of […] Continue Reading |
25 Years Ago in Nexus: April 5, 2023 issueHappy hempin’: In the April 6, 1998 issue of Nexus, we reported on the decriminalization of industrialized hemp production. Hemp production for commercial purposes was prohibited in Canada in 1938 under the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act, but environmentalists and farmers were pressuring the federal government to lift the act because hemp production was more […] Continue Reading |
Open Space: Euphemisms worse than honestyThe English language is one of the more challenging languages to learn. English is loaded with rules, with teaching methods that don’t always apply or even make sense. For instance, “i before e except after c” is one of the first grammar laws we are told to memorize, yet there are plenty of times when […] Continue Reading |
25 Years Ago in Nexus: March 22, 2023 issueTravelled: In our March 23, 1998 issue, we reported that a few Camosun Nursing students travelled to Bolivia to volunteer at orphanages; their instructor Dianne Perry had volunteered there and encouraged her students to do the same. The Nursing students spent 10 weeks cleaning, cooking, and getting the children ready for school. Nursing student Kerri […] Continue Reading |
Open Space: Camosun needs to improve course descriptionsStudents are wasting their breath complaining about Camosun College’s tuition and fee deadlines when there are better solutions. As we previously reported, on July 12 of last year, in a survey sent out by the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), 52.5 percent of students said the changes that Camosun were making to their fee deadlines […] Continue Reading |
