All Posts Tagged With: "SAIT"
Israeli Apartheid group booted, marijuana in class & Quidditch
What students are talking about today (April 15th)
Yeshe/Flickr
1. It’s almost April 20th, the annual day when marijuana smokers gather, often on campuses, to smoke pot, throw Frisbees and in some cases protest cannabis laws. One such protest, Fill the Hill, happens on Parliament Hill in Ottawa each year. Kyle Walton, a second-year student from Carleton University, told The Fulcrum student newspaper that marijuana is particularly important this year following the Conservative government’s omnibus budget bill, which toughened penalties for marijuana possession. Pot could become an election issue ahead of 2015. Justin Trudeau, who was elected leader of the Liberal Party on Sunday, favours decriminalization. The NDP’s Thomas Mulcair once said he believes legalization would be a mistake, “because the information that we have right now is that the marijuana that’s on the market is extremely potent and can actually cause mental illness.” He later clarified that he does not believe anyone should go to jail for possessing small amounts.
2. Speaking of marijuana, a student at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary told CBC News she plans to continue using marijuana during class despite the administration’s view that she’s committing academic misconduct. Lisa Kirkman has a medical marijuana license and uses a vapourizer once per hour, including during classes. She says she wants the school to provide a ventilated room.
Continue reading Israeli Apartheid group booted, marijuana in class & Quidditch
This week’s can’t miss shows
Where to catch USS, Propagandhi, Teenage Kicks, Arkells…
From "Lose Your Head" Teenage Kicks (YouTube)
Last Sunday, J. Biebs was booed by thousands of Grey Cup spectators in Toronto. Here are five shows near Canadian campuses this weekend where the crowds should be a little friendlier.
1. USS (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker) has a knack for crafting dance-ready hits. The Toronto two-piece is teaming up with Hello, Click for a string of dates including at the Seahorse Tavern in Halifax on Dec. 1. Ticket info here.
2. Toronto singer-songwriter Reg Vermue has been performing under the pseudonym Gentleman Reg for more than a decade. He takes his unforgettable folk-pop-dance tunes to Kingston’s Grad Club on Nov. 30 where he’ll be joined by folk-pop gems Inlet Sound. Ticket info.
3. Seven-piece ensemble The Tom Fun Orchestra, self-styled “world famous musicians,” use an eclectic mix and electric and acoustic instruments. These East Coast indie rockers play The Gateway at SAIT in Calgary on on Nov. 29. Ticket info here.
4. Propagandhi has long been revered for their politics-infused punk. They play back-to-back nights at the University of Regina’s Riddell Centre on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. Ticket info here.
5. Teenage Kicks, Young Rival, The Roxwells and Arkells are worth braving the throngs of extreme sports spectators at the Red Bull Crashed Ice party in Niagara Falls, Ont. not too far from Brock University, on Nov. 30. More info here.
Teenage Kicks offers some advice in this video that’s especially useful this time of year:
Did we miss a show? Let us know in the comments!
What students are talking about today (November 21st edition)
SAIT’s two-drink limit, bedbugs & Transgender Day
Kirti Poddar/Flickr
1. In case you needed more evidence that binge drinking is a pervasive problem on Canadian campuses consider this: SAIT in Calgary is imposing a new rule on the student-owned pub that limits patrons to two drinks before 3 p.m. and outlaws mid-day shooters, reports CBC.
2. Ryerson is the latest school to deal with a bedbug epidemic in student residences. The university has eight confirmed cases so far this year, reports The Ryersonian. As Maclean’s discovered two years ago, the problem is fairly common across Canada. Here are five things you should know about these biting beasts.
3. Despite the fact that Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza, celebrated the bombing of a city bus in Tel Aviv that injured 22 people, a cease-fire with Israel was announced Wednesday in Cairo.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 21st edition)
Can’t miss campus shows (Oct. 24th to 30th)
Dan Mangan, Rural Alberta Advantage, Poor Young Things…
The Rural Alberta Advantage (blikeng/Flickr)
Here at U. Ottawa, classes are in recess for the fall semester break, but those stuck in classrooms elsewhere in Canada also have something to look forward to this week—besides midterms. Indie bands have fanned out across the nation. Here are five of the week’s best musical distractions:
1. Little more than a year after Oh Fortune, his third full-length release, Dan Mangan is back with a fresh EP, Radicals. The tireless troubadour heads back out on tour with Toronto’s The Rural Alberta Advantage, playing the University of Guelph’s Peter Clark Hall on Oct. 26. Ticket info is here. Act quickly—this is guaranteed to sell out.
Continue reading Can’t miss campus shows (Oct. 24th to 30th)
Smartphones are ruining live music
Why can’t we just enjoy the show?
leonshishman/Flickr
Rock demigod Jack White recently left the stage unexpectedly early to the disdain of a New York City audience. No official reason has been given, but at the beginning of the show he had asked audiences to refrain from filming.
To ask this of an audience in 2012 is akin to asking them to refrain from using Facebook for a month. In all likelihood, the audience ignored that rare but understandable request and White was angered by their disobedience.
Either way, the smartphone is an now unavoidable vexation at virtually any major concert. The more prolific the song, the higher number of people reach for their phones to film the experience, rather than jump up and down like wild animals.
When did concert-goers become incapable of existing in the moment?
What students are talking about today (October 1 edition)
London shooting, Regina theft and Toronto mega-project
A Toronto development that would include 80-story towers and space for OCAD U. (Gehry International)
1. Students at Western University in London, Ont. had their homecoming weekend marred by the shooting death of 21-year-old Terrell Johnson off-campus early Sunday. A 28-year-old man was also taken to hospital. Joshua Carter, 22, is charged with second-degree murder.
2. Hannim Nur, the student who resigned from her post as president of the University of Regina’s Students’ Union (URSU), did so because she stole $700 of student money from the Canadian Federation of Students Saskatchewan by forging signatures on cheques when she was Chair. A statement from CFS-S says that the money was repaid and that they’ve updated procedures to reduce the chance of it happening again. Questions remain as to why Nur continued to work at URSU after she admitted the forgery to CFS.
3. A proposed mega-development on King Street in Toronto will house a whole lot of people in three 80-story condo towers. It will also include two museums and facilities for nearby OCAD University. The design is by Frank Gehry and the funding is from theatre king David Mirvish. Tweeters have compared the design to a tipped-over recycling bin, but Edward Keenan of The Grid points out that Gehry’s early sketch of the now-loved Art Gallery of Ontario once raised eyebrows too.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (October 1 edition)
What students are talking about today (Sept. 17 edition)
Occupy, a campus caffeine ban, campus radio and the NHL
j.dubb/Flickr
1. Ryerson lost its radio station CKLN for good last week after the CRTC denied an application to bring it back. “There were feminist programs, LGBT shows, even a series on prisoners’ rights. There was a lot of lefty politics and a lot of loopy politics. Not all of it was good, but you would struggle to hear it anywhere else,” recalls The Ryersonian. The station was shut down after years of fighting between the students’ union and non-students on the board, partly over the question how much airtime students got.
2. It’s officially one year since the Occupy Wall Street movement began. See Twitter for the latest action under #OWS, #OCCUPY and #S17.
3. One of the enduring scenes from Occupy was when University of California Davis students and alumni were violently pepper-sprayed by campus police at a peaceful protest following an eviction in November. The university just announced a settlement with 21 victims. UC spokesperson Jonathan Stein told the L.A. Times, “we did an injustice to our students that day at Davis.” Yes they did.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (Sept. 17 edition)
