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NIAGARA NEWS

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MARCH 15, 2019 • VOL. 50 ISSUE 10

niagara-news.com

NATIONAL KNIGHTS

We’re among the best in Ontario

Niagara Region confirms case of measlesBy LINDSAY TARRINGTONStaff Writer

The Niagara Region con-firmed last week there is an adult with a case of measles in the area.

“Measles easily spreads from person to person. Public Health is urging all residents to have their vac-cinations up to date,” stated a Niagara Region press release.

Niagara Region Pub-lic Health (NRPH) says measles begins with a cough, runny nose, red watery eyes and fever. After approximately four days, the disease then progresses into a rash that starts on the face and goes down the body. There may also be white spots inside of the mouth.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit aca-demic medical centre based out of Minnesota, Measles is a “highly contagious illness” caused by a virus that is mostly common in children and can “almost always” be prevented with a vaccine.

Their website states that people who have not received the vaccine for measles are at a higher risk of developing the disease.

“About 90 per cent of susceptible people who are exposed to someone with the virus will be infected.”

Continued on page 2

Jordan Koslowski (2) celebrates a point against the Vancouver Island University Mariners (VIU) during the first round of the CCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championships at Niagara College. The Knights went 1-2 over the weekend, finishing in seventh place after winning silver at the OCAA Championships last month.Story and photos on pages 10-11. PHOTO BY VICTORIA NICOLAOU

By MICHAEL HANEMAAYERStaff Writer

The Niagara News has been nominated for three provincial newspaper awards.

The college paper is nominated in the categories of College and University

General Excellence, Best College/University News-paper Website and Student Photography for the work of program graduate Beth Audet.

The annual competition is run by the Ontario Commu-nity Newspapers Associa-tion.

“Every year it’s so excit-

ing,” says Susan Pedler, who is a professor in the college’s Journalism program. “We call ourselves a boutique program because we’re so small but this is going head-to-head with the big, ‘capital J’ journalism schools here in Ontario. We’re in the running with them and that feels really good.”

Charles Kopun, the co-ordinator of the Journalism program at Niagara College says, “Beth was one of the most naturally talented students we’ve ever had in our program. I’m thrilled that the OCNAs see that talent, too.”

“She knows how to find a ‘moment.’ She can capture

setting, character and emo-tion to perfection.”

Audet now works as a multimedia journalist for Niagara This Week.

The award winners will be announced at the Awards Gala on Friday, April 5 following the OCNA’s Spring Convention in Vaughan, Ont.

College hosts Canadian College Athletic Association volleyball championships

Niagara News nominated in best newspaper, best online site and photography categories

BETH AUDET

Page 2 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

NEWS

By ALEIGH ROBERTStaff Writer

Last month, Humane Soci-ety International (HSI) shut down their 14th dog meat farm since 2015, and has shipped these dogs to loca-tions across North America to be adopted.

Between Feb. 22 and Feb. 25, the Lincoln County Humane Society received 35 of the 200 dogs rescued from this farm, which has

been referred to as “Farm 14” by the HSI.

“These dogs have been surviving in appalling conditions, in barren, filthy cages, with inadequate food and water and almost no veterinary care or human contact,” said Ewa Demi-anowicz, senior campaign manager for HSI Canada, in a media release posted by HSI Canada on Feb. 14.

“Sadly, it is likely that many never left the

cramped cages they have been confined in.”

The dogs that were taken in by the LCHS range from one to 10 years old, and most of the dogs are smaller breeds, including poodle, dachshund and spitz, but there are also a few larger dogs available, such as a dalmatian, a Boston terrier and other cross breeds.

“We are simply looking for loving families to adopt these dogs. While they will

have some different needs, most of them are not a big challenge,” says Kevin Strooband, executive direc-tor at the Lincoln County Humane Society.

These dogs are currently residing in quarantine while the LCHS works with the University of Guelph to ensure the dogs are healthy, stating that most of them are “not a big challenge” and will only require annual veterinary check-ups.

Continued from page 1Public Health is asking

people who believe they may have been exposed to the disease to call their doctor’s office or walk-in clinic before going in, so the health care staff can properly manage the care that will be needed.

While investigating the “laboratory confirmed” case, Public Health says the individual had “acquired their infection while travel-ling outside Canada.”

“Any person who vis-ited the following public locations are being asked to watch for signs and symp-toms and to ensure their vaccination is up to date as they may have been exposed to measles,” stated the Re-gion’s news release.

The public locations include:

Airline exposure loca-tions on Feb. 22:• Departing Flight, Siem

Reap, Cambodia on Ca-thay Pacific Flight #5249 at 11:20 a.m.

• Arriving Flight, Hong Kong, China, Cathay Pa-cific #5249 at 3 p.m.

• Departing Flight, Hong Kong, China, Air Canada #16 at 4:30 p.m.

• Arriving Flight, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Terminal 1, Air Canada #16 at 6:20 p.m.

• Toronto Pearson Inter-national Airport 6:20 – 9:30 p.m.

Exposure location on Feb. 27, between the hours of 3 p.m. – midnight:

West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, 169 Main St. E., Grimsby, Emergency Room and X-Ray Unit (first floor)

If you’re worried, visit your doctor

Humane Society International shut down a dog meat farm and now the dogs are on another kind of market. The dogs will be available for adoption at the Lincoln County Humane Society after they are released from quarantine. SUBMITTED PHOTO

By MADISON JUDSONStaff Writer

Alex Trebek returned to his Jepoardy-host podium this week after announc-ing to millions of fans that he has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Trebek broke the news via a video message on the Jeopardy YouTube channel March 6.

“Now, just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer,” said Trebek in the video.

He said he posted the video in order to keep the fans of Jeopardy from “reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports” regarding his cur-rent health.

Although currently living in the United States, Trebek is a native Canadian from Sudbury, Ont., which many people don’t know. He be-came a naturalized Ameri-can citizen in 1998. He has been the host of Jeopardy

for 35 years.Across Twitter and other

social media, many people are devastated by the

news.“It’s just so sad,” said

Mary Knezic, a resident of Welland. “We lose too many

good people in this world to cancer. It’s just terrible.”

Many are also sending their thoughts and prayers

to Trebek and his family.“He needs all the sup-

port and good thoughts that he can get right now,” said Port Colborne resident Jordan Caldwell.

Despite the severity of his diagnosis, Trebek is keep-ing up a positive attitude.

“Now normally, the prog-nosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and I’m going to keep working,” he said.

“And with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this dis-ease,” said Trebek in the video.

Since the announcement, the Jeopardy Twitter page has thanked all the fans for the “humbling and over-whelming” amount of well wishes and prayers.

Trebek finished his video message off strong with these words.

“So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.”

Dogs sniff out families

Trebek back after cancer revelation

Household name and game show host, Alex Trebek, has announced that he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. SUBMITTED PHOTO

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Visit waramps.ca/playsafe for the video and safety

resources.

The War Amps new “kids-to-

kids” safety video, featuring

stories from young amputees

who have lost limbs in accidents,

delivers the hard-hitting but positive

message: “Spot the

danger before you play!”

PLAYSAFE:Don’t Let It Happen

to YouBeloved Canadian host of game show Jeopardy! puts out YouTube message

NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019 Page 3

NEWS

By TALA MUHTADIStaff Writer

A new study says things are looking up for working women in Canada.

The 2019 CIBC Women & Wealth Study found the number of women in high-paying occupations is on the rise, the wage gap is slowly narrowing, and women’s earnings currently make up the largest share of family incomes on record.

“These are all positive developments, Canada can particularly take note of the fact that we’ve done better than our competitors in the US in having women par-ticipate in the workforce,” says CIBC Chief Economist, Avery Shenfeld.

The CIBC found 41 per cent of women control no less than $2.2 trillion in financial assets. The report also estimates, that by 2028, women will be in control of approximately $3.8 trillion, or more than double the number if real-estate assets are counted, representing a 70 per cent increase in just a decade.

Since the 2008 reces-sion, Canadian women have been getting more involved in the workforce, resulting in a decrease in unemploy-

ment rates and increased cash flow. Women have been accounting for more than half of jobs created in the pre-recession employ-ment peak.

“The recession set back some household finances, making having two income earners more important,” adds Shenfeld on how the recession affected women in the workforce. “Women’s education experience has also been generally on the rise, making them more at-tractive to employers.”

Since the recession, women aged 25 and over represent 52 per cent of job growth in full-time positions, 38 per cent of self-employment and 48 per cent of overall employ-ment.

The report also shows unemployment rate for female workers over the age of 25 is lower than that of male workers.

Women-controlled net-worth is growing rapidly, with most of it coming from married women and wid-ows. Twenty-two per cent of married women have reported having full control of investment decisions and 67 per cent reported shar-ing the responsibility.

The study shows that

married women account for the largest ‘pool of wealth’ amongst women, as women tend to outlive their part-ners by over five years. The study also states the fastest growing segment of the la-bor market is women aged 55 and over.

“Relative to the genera-tion that proceeded them, the new 55 to 60-year-olds are more likely to be working than perhaps their mothers 20 years earlier,” says Shenfeld.

While women’s earnings account of a record-high of 47 per cent of family income – almost double the amount seen in the 70s - they continue to earn less than men in over 95 per cent of occupations.

The study suggests that women are more likely to be employed in lower-

paying jobs than men, and while women have been successfully landing jobs in higher-paying fields, men are still paid more for the same work, ensuring the persistence of gender wage gap.

“Employers have a re-sponsibility to ensure that they’re choosing the best talent for each position regardless of gender,” says Shenfeld.

Shenfeld, says there are ways Ontario can help women have more suc-cess in the workforce. He suggests initiatives to encourage more women study science and technol-ogy. He also thinks access to affordable childcare is key. He likes the Quebec model, which offers daycare subsidies to help women

enter and remain in the workforce.

The study shows women are three times more likely to quit their jobs to care for others, which presents a

barrier to career advance-ment.

Younger women though, are staying single longer and prioritizing work over starting families.

By RENATO PEDRESCHIStaff Writer

One obstacle down, on to the next.

That is the mentality of Rhys Evans, first-year General Arts and Science student, who has embraced the role of champion for the cause to improve special-ized transit services in the region.

On Dec. 17, 2018, Ev-ans created the petition “Better service for special-ized transit” on change.org to put pressure on the Regional government and create awareness for a transit issue that is being overlooked.

As of the first week of March, the petition sur-passed Evans’ goal of 2,000 and now he is ready to face Regional council.

“I was in shock. Not that I achieved the goal but how quick it happened,” said Evans. “I was checking my

phone at night after watch-ing the Leafs game and all of a sudden, I saw that I was at 2,000, and I was like ‘oh my goodness.’”

Evans, who has attended Niagara College for five and half years and is working on his fourth diploma, has required a wheelchair for most of his life since being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth.

Niagara Specialized Transit (NST) assists those with accessibility needs commute to and from work, school and/or medical appointments across the region. However, in August NST announced services changes “due to budget constraints” that not only limited the capacity of the service but also outsourced the dispatch and scheduling to Vaughn.

“The schedulers do not understand the geogra-phy of Niagara resulting in drivers being asked to

cover appointments many kilometres apart with not enough time,” said Evans on the petition.

“The majority of people that use (NST) require cancer treatments or dialy-sis. The people that need dialysis need to go to the hospital three times a week and if they don’t get their dialysis there’s a possibility of death,” said Evans.

Evans’ ultimate goal for this cause is to have the scheduling and dispatch for NST moved to the Niagara region, and now that he has achieved his goal of 2,000 signatures the next step is to present to Regional council.

“I want them to tell me what they’ve done so far in terms of their investigation and when they’re going to put in a scheduler in the Niagara region,” said Evans.

According to a report from Regional council on Feb. 28, the Region is look-

ing at several aspects of regional transit that can be changed to improve service, such as trends in NST usage, ride pooling and a review of transit systems in surround-ing areas.

The report says the spe-cialized transit ridership in Niagara is expected to surge during the next few years due to an aging population, an increase in per centage of seniors calling Niagara home and lifestyle changes with persons with dis-abilities desiring mobility choices are the reasons for the expected increase.

The report also says the NST budget was projected to increase an additional 57 per cent to $2,357,000 in 2018, however through mitigation measures the 2018 budget was set at $1,907,000, a 27 per cent decrease.

Evans’ goal is to present at the March 28 Regional council meeting.

First-year Community and Justice services students, left to right Kirandeep Kaur, Navpreet Kaur and Anita Mehra, studying in the hallways of Niagara College’s Welland campus. PHOTO BY TALA MUHTADI

Things look up for working women

Niagara college student fighting for his right to access transportation. PHOTO BY RENATO PEDRESCHI

Student ready to face council with transit appeal

Observing Daylight Sav-ing Time is a choice.

Daylight Saving Time is the event that occurs in the spring and fall seasons when the clocks across the world “spring forward” an hour from Standard Time and then “fall back” an hour again into Standard Time in the fall.

Generally, most people are excited for spring time to roll around for Daylight Saving Time. Yeah, for the first few days after the clocks spring forward, people are tired and it takes a little while to get into the rhythm of the time shift. But then that means longer days, more sunlight and the warmer temperatures are on the horizon.

Some people in warmer regions of the world dis-like Daylight Saving Time, though, because it merely means more hours of the sun and heat scorching down on them.

However, one does not need to participate in Day-light Saving Time. It, sur-prisingly, is not set in stone and bound by law. Not even all of Canada participates.

While Saskatchewan is the main province to come to mind when thinking of who in Canada doesn’t participate in this biannual event, small parts of British Columbia, Nunavut and Quebec do not as well.

Due to the large portion

of land that the Prairie provinces take up, Sas-katchewan is near two different time zones: Moun-tain Time Zone and Central Time Zone. While it shares the Mountain Time Zone with Alberta geographi-cally, it chooses to follow its neighbor, Manitoba, with the Central Time Zone.

An astronomer named Earl Milton came out with several reports saying based on Saskatchewan’s location, it should be fol-lowing Mountain Time. However, in 1966, Sas-katchewan created the Time Act. Essentially, East-ern Saskatchewan regions will follow Central Time like Manitoba and Western Saskatchewan shall fol-low the status quo of the municipal government and choose what time zone they wish to follow.

Only one city in Sas-katchewan doesn’t follow the new time zone, which is Lloydminster, which straddles the boundary between Saskatchewan and Alberta.

At the moment, the Brit-ish Columbia government is in a debate about whether or not to stop following Daylight Saving Time. The divide between following it and stopping it were roughly 52 per cent for stopping following it to 48 per cent for continuing to follow it.

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted saying, “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!”, so who knows what that could

mean for the future of the United States.

Choosing to not follow Daylight Saving Time does not have to be declared officially. It can be done

easily unofficially. People can choose just not to go through with Daylight Saving Time and stick to the Standard Time that the world falls back to come

the fall season.It all depends on the geo-

graphical location and the preference of the person or region.

MADISON JUDSON

Page 4 NIAGARA NEWS • March • 15, 2019

EDITORIAL

2009 WINNER2009 WINNERC A N A D I A NCOMMUNITYNEWSPAPERAWARD 2011

BNC2009

Editor: Madison JudsonAssociate Editor: Gunce AkpinarAssistant Editor: Mariana WinzerPhoto Editor: Lisa Kelley

Publisher: Linda RooteManaging Editor: Charles KopunAssociate Editor: John RobbinsProduction Editor: Paul DaybollOnline Production: Susan Pedler

Humour can save the world, and I’m not joking at all.

As one of the universal characteristics of humans, it has many physiological and psychological benefits for us, as well as social ones.

Humour has always been a part of worldwide culture throughout history.

It has been, and is, a tool for social interaction, enter-tainment, connection, truth, acceptance, mindfulness and health.

Humour, an archaic abil-ity that frequently leads to laughter, appeared approxi-mately 35,000 years ago, ac-cording to Joseph Polimeni, a general psychiatrist from University of Manitoba, in an article titled The First Joke: Exploring the Evolu-tionary Origins of Humour.

Ancient Greeks had per-scriptions for jokes, profes-sionals and even jokebooks, says the same article.

“What makes something

funny?” was a question for ancient Greeks, too.

Since then, many philoso-phers have mused about humour: What is humour? Is it good or bad?

What is its impact on society and individuals?

Okay, that’s still a discus-sion topic. Today, there are three different theories about what makes some-thing funny:

•Incongruity/Contrast •Hostility/Superiority•Release/SublimationOtherwise “humour”

as a word didn’t appear in academic discussions until the 18th century, and they “were about laughter or comedy,” according to the Philosophy of Humour article in the Stanford Ency-clopedia of Philosophy.

Karyn Buxman, a public speaker, author and “neu-rohumourist”, says during her TEDx talk, “humour has the power to heal, influ-ence, connect and enlighten.

Humour is power.” We strongly recommend

watching this talk called “How Humour can Save the World.”

She talks about a story pitch from Cold War history.

In 1962, there was a 13-day crisis over missiles in Cuba, and delegates from both the United States and the Soviet Union met to negotiate.

Tensions were high and nuclear war was a distinct possibility.

Then one of the Soviet delegates asked, “What is the difference between Capital-ism and Communism?”

He then continued: “In Capitalism man exploits man, and in Communism it’s the other way around.”

How many times have you said something using humour, which you couldn’t say seriously?

Humour ease tension be-cause it breaks the ice, puts people on the same level

and provides an interactive form of communication. It breaks down barriers that come with status, authority and taboos.

Greek philosopher Aris-totle thought comedy is an instrument for truth.

The Name of the Rose, written by Umberto Eco, an Italian philosopher and au-thor, is a mystery novel that was set in a 14th century Italian monastery.

It tells the story of a series of murders to hide Aristo-tle’s second poetic book, which talks about comedy.

In the book, Jorge of Bur-gos, the blind and old monk, tries to hide this knowledge because he believes that “laughter foments doubt” of authority.

Otherwise William of Baskerwille, the investi-gative and open-minded monk, says, “Laughter might be a reasonable instrument to undermine the false au-

thority of an absurd propo-sition that offends reason,” because “sometimes it is right to doubt.”

In a different part of the book he states, “Perhaps the mission of those who love mankind is to make people laugh at the truth, to make truth laugh, because the only truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for the truth.”

Larry Charles’s Danger-ous World of Comedy docu-mentary series on Netflix is a great example for how humour helps people to survive in the least funny and hardest to live places in the world, mostly conflict zones and authoritarian countries.

In opens up a space for people to express them-selves, tell the truth and stay in a mindful state.

Humour has noticeable benefits on our physiologi-cal and psychological health.

It boosts the immune

system, reduces the impact of chronic diseases and im-proves a person’s mentality.

Buxman adds in her TEDx speech, humour activates gamma waves in the brain, which can also be activated by deep meditation and mindfulness.

According to HealthLink British Columbia’s website, humour has a good impact on cardiovascular problems, asthma, cancer and stress-induced diseases.

While everyone is busy, serious, productive and pro-fessional in today’s world, we need humour, comedy, laugher and jokes.

It’s a unique way for self-expression, facing our fears, breaking the ice, telling the truth and being mindful.

Let’s remember that quote from writer and hu-mourist Mark Twain: “The human race has one really effective weapon, and that’s laughter.”

GUNCE AKPINAR

Less than 40 per cent of the world’s countries participate in Daylight Saving Time. PHOTO BY MADISON JUDSON

Why must we spring forward?

Laughter makes the world go around

NIAGARA NEWS •March 15, 2019 Page 5

OPINION

Graffiti and tagging: Know the differenceSt. Catharines fights taggers in its community in hopes to someday have graffiti walls tag-free

Tagging is not graffiti nor is it art. It’s vandalism.

For those who don’t know, tagging is a way for people to leave their signa-ture on as many buildings and structures as they can. Unlike graffiti, it is usually done in one colour and is usually one or two words. Taggers will invent a name for themselves that isn’t their own and spray paint it in various places.

Some taggers are a part of street gangs. In that case their tags represent ter-ritory and warning other gangs of their presence.

Don’t be mistaken, I have true respect for graf-fiti artists. It takes talent and creativity. Graffiti is a form of self-expression and there is usually a mes-sage inside of the art itself. It leaves behind an appeal-ing picture that catches the eyes of passersby, re-laying the message inside of the piece.

Filled with bright and illuminating art, Graffiti Alley has been a spot for artists to legally express themselves through art since 2003 and any resident who commutes through the alley located behind Kully’s Sports Bar has probably noticed a variety of masterpieces with an Instagram handle @deadweightone.

Chad Macdonald, 37, is the man behind the art. He’s been painting in Graffiti Alley for 10 years: which is only half of his entire graffiti career. Un-fortunately, taggers have spray painted over his art various times.

“I mean obviously they aren’t good people. They’re going around and vandal-izing people’s shit. I used to do that, too, but I’ve gotten my stuff ruined because people get angry because I make money for it,” he says.

Tagging has left a bad taste for graffiti in some people’s mouths, mostly because many don’t un-derstand the difference. Graffiti usually makes the neighborhood look upbeat and fun, whereas tagging

makes our city look run down and dirty.

Let’s not forget that people have to clean tags off of their property, which is always my concern when I see graffiti on top of buildings. If someone has risked their life to climb a building to spray paint meaningless words, someone will have to risk their life to climb back up to clean it off.

I have lived in down-town St. Catharines for nearly two years and have had to wipe the word “Daiser,” off of my mailbox or my front door more than once a month. Even though I live on a busy street and there is really no reason to stress out about the markings in my doorway, it’s an uncom-fortable feeling to have to see someone brand themselves on my prop-erty while I’m most likely sleeping.

I personally have never looked at a tag and felt im-pressed. Who in their right mind would climb a two-story building to write one word just to climb back down? I don’t think it’s cool. I think it’s silly.

BREANNE ELRICK Columnist

A display of a tag sprayed across a directory in downtown St. Catharines. PHOTO BY BREANNE ELRICK

Helping people and your wardrobe

De-cluttering your closet can come from wanting a new wardrobe or just be-ing sick of having an abun-dance of clothing when in reality you wear the same eight outfits.

Usually, you just bag it all up and drop it off at your nearest Goodwill, but everything leading up to this point is a bit of a struggle.

Fast fashion influences trends to come and go every season, meaning a lot of people are slowly hoarding and building an extensive wardrobe before they even know it.

“I have over five pairs of the same style of leggings and I didn’t even realize it until cleaning my closet out,” says Mia Cardo, a 21-year old student. “I use them all for work but I feel like five is excessive.”

Sorting out items that are worn often, items that have sentimental value and items that you simply have no reason as to why you can’t part with can be challenging. But once

you shrink your wardrobe to staple pieces and your favorite items, it can be a very rewarding and liber-ating experience.

When donating fast fash-ion items you are simulta-neously aiding low-income individuals.

Thrift stores usu-ally carry dated clothing, although places such as Plato’s Closet, offer fast fashion at an affordable price, so when you decide to de-clutter your closet and give away a handful of items someone will benefit from that in the future.

This can also apply to other items, such as kitchen supplies, bed-ding, electronics, books and CDs. With the price of living on the rise, some families can be struggling or be in need of specific items that are collecting dust in your home.

“I got two separate vinyl players for Christmas and decided to drop one off at Goodwill because I didn’t really need two separate ones,” says Lucas Claxton, 21, when talking about his contributions to local thrift shops.

Interesting relics from the thrift store can make unique gifts, as well.

“I did get a vintage, old banker’s lamp from my sis-

ter this Christmas. Funny enough, it was thrifted.”

De-cluttering is stressful. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way it was originally planned, but the end goal is to make more room in your home for more trinkets and staple outfits.

On the other end, someone out there is get-ting new clothes for the summer, maybe they found a nice toaster to upgrade from the one that always burns the bread or maybe they picked one of your old LPs to give to a loved one.

Xaina Choukeir (left), owner of an online-based thrift shop Club Guava, aids people in de-cluttering and help items find new homes. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Donating old clothes could help serve your conscience as well as de-clutter your wardrobe

MARIANA WINZER Columnist

Page 6 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

NEWS

By RILEY RADOBENKOStaff Writer

After a 167-year tenure, the Niagara Regional Exhi-bition (NRE) will no longer be held in the fall when it returns in 2019.

The annual Niagara fair is now an early-summer event with the dates scheduled for June 7 to June 9.

“We decided to rebrand,” said Ray Ravazzolo, past president and current volunteer with the Ni-agara Regional Agriculture Society. “We’re making a progressive change because we want this to succeed.”

The agriculture society hosted a June 2018 fair-type event called “Grow to Fair” as a trial run, which had a positive reaction from the general public and planted the seed for the board to progress with changing the dates of the NRE to early-summer on a full-time basis.

“The June event seemed to go very well,” said Ravaz-zolo. “So we all agreed last year to make the change.”

Obtaining a midway for the event was the biggest contributing factor that pushed the board to make the change.

According to Ravazzolo, the midway is a big draw for people attending the event, which is something he “saw last June.”

Due to scheduling con-flicts, the midway compa-nies have been unable to commit to attending the fall event during select years.

“They have a circuit that we weren’t on,” he said. “They weren’t going to re-arrange the entire thing for a weekend fair.”

The main focus of the fair will revolve around agri-culture, which has been the identity of the event since it was founded in 1853.

With that being said, the board is pursuing ideas for people with other interests through different events during the weekend.

“I think we’re trying to keep agriculture as the fo-cus but we’ll cater to other people too,” said Ravazzolo. “We got the demolition derby, which is always a

good draw, the truck and tractor pull, there’s agri-culture like animals and flowers, the midway is a big draw and we’re going to try for potentially some sports things.”

“A lot (of the shows and attractions) are coming back from June event for sure,” he continued. “Some of the things you’ve seen before, but we’re mixing in a lot of new stuff.”

Though that same week-end is the beginning of the

Rose Festival in Welland, Ravazzolo believes the events can work in har-mony, and that a crowded September schedule was another reason that the board changed the dates.

This includes the begin-ning of the school year, the IceDogs starting, the Grape and Wine Festival and the Terry Fox Run, among oth-ers.

“We all found there’s too much going on in Septem-ber,” he said. “There’s less

things going on (in June), so we look forward to seeing people attend.”

More students attend-ing the event is something the board would like to see, with Ravazzolo even suggesting they should consider volunteering.

“Kids are scrambling for (high school volunteer) hours, so this is a perfect opportunity for us help them in that situation,” he said. “We’re always open for volunteers.”

At the end of the day, Ravazzolo understands they aren’t going to please everybody.

He notes some people may complain about chang-ing the dates, or complain about what is or isn’t at the event, but he said he feels that the upcoming event will have something every-body will enjoy.

“As a board, we believe we have everything people want. We’re doing this for Niagara.”

The Niagara Regional Exhibition will centre around agriculture and appeal to everyone through various attractions. PHOTO BY LISA KELLEY

By LISA KELLEYStaff Writer

Come join community experts, naturalists and citizen scientists at Niagara College, Niagara-on-the-Lake campus greenhouse, for the fourth annual BioBlitz, which is set to take place from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Apr. 13.

A BioBlitz is an event where citizen scientists col-lect and identify as many plants, insects and wildlife in a designated area within a specific time frame as possible.

“The college’s BioBlitz events provide students, staff, and the community with the opportunity to connect with nature and learn about the wildlife they have right in their backyards, and how they can work to help conserve biodiversity in their region,” said Amber Schmucker, EPt Sustainabil-ity Program and outreach

co-ordinator.Students are encouraged

to grab their cameras and volunteer for an educated walk along the Niagara Escarpment, and, if needed, collect their volunteer hours for school.

There will be interactive activities for the whole family, such as a reptile meet and greet, touch tables, guided hikes and much more.

It is a fascinating project for families to walk and explore the trails of the Escarpment while looking for diverse groups of plants and wildlife.

The Niagara Escarp-ment is a United Nations “biosphere reserve” that is at the end of the grape vines, at the south end of the Niagara-on-the-Lake campus.

Wetland Ridge Trail is a side trail to the Bruce Trail and Laura Secord Legacy Trail, which intersect and can be enjoyed at the Niag-

ara-on-the-Lake campus.Species experts and

naturalists will lead guided tours around the property, explaining where to look for animal habitats and what plants not to touch while trying to identify what they are seeing.

Poison ivy does not always grow as a bush from the ground as it was pointed out last April.

“That vine growing up the tree is poison ivy. In the summer it will cover the tree,” said Margaret Pickles, a professor at Niagara College in the Pre-Health Science program and a hike leader.

The wetlands provide a learning experience and environmental awareness while the citizen scientist looks under rocks or in the swamp or at the bumble bee cultivators and witness animal habitats that are not seen in the city.

Canada geese, bufflehead ducks and several different

species of birds can be seen at the campus wetlands. Redback salamanders can be seen under fallen tree

limbs and their eggs in the swamps.

The BioBlitz will take place rain or shine.

Registration will soon take place. For more infor-mation visit sustainability.niagaracollege.ca/bioblitz

Birdwatching on the NOTL campus at BioBlitz 2017. PHOTO BY LISA KELLEY

Niagara fair moves to early June

Show off your inner green thumb at BioBlitz

By THOMAS HUNDALSTAFF WRITER

2020 Audi R8 SpyderAudi’s iconic supercar

gets sharper, bolder and more powerful for 2020. The revised front fascia inspired by the R8 GT3 racecar features extra vents and sharp-looking styling strakes. Out back, enormous exhaust tips sit on both ends of a radical rear diffuser. Above that rear diffuser sits a full-width grille and sleeker revised taillights. Tweaks to the 5.2-litre V10 engine give the regular model an additional 30 horsepower on the regular model and an additional 10 horse-power on the Performance (formerly Plus) model. Expect the 2020 R8 Spyder to rumble into showrooms with a starting MSRP simi-lar to the $198,100 price tag of the pre-facelift car.

2020 Cadillac CT6-V2019 marks the first time

since 2011 that Cadillac has its own brand-exclusive engine. Called the Black-wing, the new hand-built 4.2-litre hot-vee twin-turbo 550-horsepower V8 is mated to a 10-speed au-tomatic transmission and rear-biased all-wheel-drive and is available exclu-sively in the new CT6-V. In addition to the high-tech powertrain, the CT6-V gets subtle exterior tweaks including bigger exhaust tips and small aerodynamic aids, a 34-speaker Bose Panaray sound system and magnetic ride control. Ex-pect the CT6-V to roll into showrooms this summer.

2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

Over 700 horsepower, a track-focused dual-clutch transmission, magnetorhe-ological shocks and carbon fibre wheels. This bad Mustang is back and more steroidal than ever for 2020. The frontal opening has been re-worked to have twice the cooling grille area of the already potent Shelby GT350, the 2.6-litre Eaton supercharger has 300cc more capacity than the engine in a base-model Mustang and requires not one but two charge coolers. Three different aerody-namic packages will be available, the most extreme of which includes a race-derived adjustable carbon fibre wing and removable front splitters with dive planes. Expect the 2020 Shelby GT500 to be on sale this summer with a price tag well north of the 2018 Shelby GT350R’s $85,600 starting MSRP.

Genesis Essentia ConceptGenesis has a lot of

reputation-building to do. Spun off from Hyun-dai into its own brand in 2015, Genesis is compet-ing in the ruthless luxury car segment with no SUVs

and no halo car. Yet all the ingredients are there for Genesis to succeed. Their list of executives reads like an automotive all-star roster and the Genesis G70 just won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award. The Es-sentia Concept is a mission statement for the brand, showcasing breathtaking design, exotic materials and high-tech construction. Copper accents abound, the suspension is a Formula One-derived design with inboard shocks and part of the uni-body is a sort of structural mesh. There are rumours of the Essentia going into ultra-limited production as soon as next year but for now it remains a breathtaking concept.

2019 Jaguar F-Pace SVRPremium crossovers and

high-performance luxury cars are both very hot right now and Jaguar has decided it wants a piece of the action. They dropped their familiar 550-horse-power supercharged V8 into their F-Pace compact luxury SUV to create quite the all-weather highway warrior. Jaguar quotes a zero-to-100km/h time of 4.3 seconds and a top speed of 283 km/h. While it’s not as quick as its main competitor, the Mercedes-AMG GLC63 S, it manages to outmuscle the Mercedes on horsepower, pricing and features. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is on sale starting at $89,900.

Lexus LF-1 Limitless Concept

The Lexus LF-1 Limitless Concept is a bold styling exercise for Lexus. Billed as a flagship crossover design, it’s been given a full-length glass roof, brilliant copper paint, digital side mirrors and a “4D” navigation sys-tem. Design touches from the flagship LS sedan and flagship LC coupe abound, with the boldest interpre-tation yet of Lexus’ spindle grille up front and white leather seats inspired by the ones in a GS F giving the LF-1 Limitless Concept a true four-seat interior. While the LF-1 Limitless is a concept for now, the proportions and familiar components coupled with Lexus’ penchant for turning their concept cars into pro-duction cars mean it could very well be a production car in the near future.

2019 Maserati Levante GTS

The Maserati Levante debuted in 2016 to a some-what lukewarm response. Lacking a truly power-ful engine, it never quite measured up to the Porsche Cayenne it competed against. That is, until now. The GTS trim level packs a 550-horsepower turbo-charged V8 engine derived from the one in Ferrari’s Portofino grand tourer. Revised fascias allow for the

extra cooling necessary for the V8 engine as well as give a healthy dose of aggression so passersby know that this is the high-performance Levante. The five-way ac-tive air suspension with Skyhook dampers has been re-tuned for sharper handling and the zero-to-100km/h time is quoted at 4.2 seconds. The Levante GTS in on sale now starting at $137,500.

2019 Porsche 718 Cay-man GT4 Clubsport

It’s not every day that a manufacturer debuts a race car that customers can purchase but the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport is just that. Designed to com-pete in GT4 racing the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport has a 425-horsepower 3.8-li-tre flat-six engine rigidly mounted to the body-shell to act as a stressed mem-ber that enhances body rigidity. The six-speed dual-clutch transmission is also rigidly-mounted and the whole car clocks in at a featherweight 1,320 kilograms. A fully-inte-grated FIA-homologated roll cage is standard and a

motorsports-spec built-in air jack system is avail-able. 98-octane race fuel is required and race-spec Michelin tires come stan-dard. A Canadian price was not quoted, although a Competition-spec model is priced at 157,000 Euros.

2020 Toyota GR SupraToyota’s most iconic sports

car is back for the 2020 model year. Equipped with a ZF automatic gearbox and BMW’s B58 turbocharged inline-six, the GR Supra is ready to fight against the Porsche 718 Cayman and Jaguar F-Type in the mid-price sports-car arena. While Toyota hasn’t released many figures for the GR Supra, zero-to-100km/h is expected to go by in a shade over four seconds and it will likely top out at 250 km/h. If American pricing and options are any indication, the Canadian-spec GR Supra may be available in base and Premium trims or it may only come in one fully-loaded trim level. The 2020 Toyota GR Supra will arrive in showrooms this sum-mer with a starting price of $64,990.

Volkswagen I.D. RFollowing the Dieselgate

scandal, Volkswagen has pledged to invest heavily in producing electric cars and the I.D. R is a high-perfor-mance showcase of their electric technology. While the length of traditional rac-ing is a challenge for electric car battery capacity, the short length and increasing altitude of the Pikes Peak International Hill climb in Colorado gives electric cars a distinct advantage. In 2016, Rhys Millen took an electric Peugeot prototype up the hill in 8:57.118, set-ting a new outright record.

This record became Volk-swagen’s target and they designed and engineered the I.D. R to beat that record. On June 24, 2018 the event was on and Volkswagen sent the I.D. R up the mountain course. It didn’t just beat Millen’s record, it obliterated it with a time of 7:57.148. That’s almost a full minute, which in a race environment is almost unheard of. While the I.D. R will never be avail-able for sale, Volkswagen’s first production electric car with technology derived from the I.D. R program is expected to debut by the end of this year.

NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019 Page 7

NEWSLook at hottest debuts at Toronto autoshow

The Genesis Essentia Concept made its Canadian debut at the 2019 Canadian International Autoshow in Toronto in February. PHOTO BY THOMAS HUNDAL

Clockwise from bottom: the 2020 Toyota GR Supra, the Lexus LF-1 Limitless Concept, the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, the Volkswagen I.D. R and the Maserati Levante GTS. PHOTOS BY THOMAS HUNDAL

Page 8 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

NEWS

By GUNCE AKPINARStaff Writer

While cold winter days come to the end, Spring Equinox (March 20-21) is almost here, and there are many different ways to celebrate in various cul-tures throughout the world with one general idea: new beginnings and a time of transition.

This article is about Mesopotamian roots of the celebration of this day as Nowruz (meaning “new day” in the Persian language), which the Government of Canada included it in its national calendar in 2009.

Spring Equinox, also known as Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, is the day that subsolar point passes the equator and starts to appear on the northern side of the world.

Spring Equinox doesn’t have a certain date because of the time differences on the world. For Ontario it is at 5:58 p.m. on March 20.

It symbolizes the awaken-ing of nature, and it appears in various ways in in many cultures.Symbolizes reunion with loved ones

There are many stories from Mesopotamia, and probably one of the oldest ones is about the goddess of love, Inanna, and shepherd god, Dumuzi.

In their mythology, Dumuzi has to stay underground and can only stay with his wife Inanna for six months. The day they came together again is the day of Spring Equinox. This symbolizes the awakening of nature and the blooming of life.

Ancient Romans celebrat-ed this day with the Hilaria festival (means cheerful-ness) to honour Anatolian mother goddess, Cybele. The festival lasted seven to 10 days, and it symbolized the resurrection of Attis.

A similar story is told in

Akkadian mythology about Ishtar and Tammuz, and in Greek mythology about Demeter and Persephone.Symbolizes victory

In Babylon, the Akitu fes-tival (means barley cutting) was celebrated as a new-year festival, and in their my-

thology Marduk, the guard-ian god of Babylon, becomes victorious against Tiamat, the goddess of chaos.

The same pattern also exists in Hittite mythology as Teshup, the god of storm, overcomes a dragon. Hittites celebrate this day with a

festival called Purulliyas.Nowruz is celebrated

in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turk-menistan, Uzbekistan and by Kurdish people in Turkey.

With small differences

in the celebrations, it is usually celebrated with huge groups of people being together in platforms with music, dances, large tables filled with traditional meals and jumping over a fire to burn away all fears of new beginnings.

Celebration of Nowruz is shared by several countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Russian Federation. PHOTO BY MICHEL RAVASSARD, UNESCO HEADQUARTERS, PARIS.

Spring Equinox means celebrationWorld has many different ways to herald in the season but everywhere it marks change and new beginnings

Find the right way of exercising for yourself

There are several words that will garner varying re-actions to them depending on who they are presented to. Exercise is one of those many words.

Generally, people are far more active when they are younger and as they get older, most people slow down or stop entirely. Be-lieve me, I was one of those kids. I played baseball, took swimming lessons and Tae Kwon Do. Now, the sportiest I do is channel surfing.

Exercise is something that either people love or people hate. Exercise can be a thrill and fun for some people, while others consider some of the weight machines to be modern torture devices.

However, regardless of your views on exercise, it is important for everyone and their bodies.

The key to exercising requires three simple rules: don’t over exert yourself, set reasonable goals and make it fun.

A common reason people will choose to exercise is to stay in shape. Our bodies are important, so natu-rally we want to keep them healthy. However, each body has its own boundaries.

Pushing your body too hard while exercising can result in muscle strain, cramps and possibly dehydration if you are not drinking enough water. Always make sure that you don’t over exert yourself and drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise.

Losing weight is another reason people choose to exercise. However, it’s important to remember that the change won’t happen overnight. It takes time and dedication.

When first staring out, try to set easy goals. Once those goals are met, create new ones, such as adding an ex-tra set of sit ups or an extra

kilometre to your daily jog. Making a steady increase the more you improve will make it more attainable in the end.

For most people who exercise regularly, they tend to enjoy it. Other people dislike it because they find it boring. So, find a way that makes exercise the most fun for you. For me personally, speed walking on the treadmill or using a weighted hula hoop are my main methods.

Exercise doesn’t necessar-ily mean going to a gym and using all the big machines there either. Exercise can come in all different kinds of forms in all different envi-ronments. You can exercise at a gym, from home, in a pool. You can exercise on your own, with a friend or a group. You can do running, swimming, yoga, or dancing. Even walking to work every-day could be your exercise.

Exercise is important for everybody and everybody is different. Just do whatever exercise best fits you and your body.

MADISONJUDSONColumnist

Exercise does not have to be something you do every day religiously. Start off doing it once a week, then slowly increase to a schedule that fits for you. PHOTO BY MADISON JUDSON

Page 9 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019 Page 10

KNIGHTS HOLD THEIR OWN COURTThe volleyball championships were the big finish to a noteworthy varsity season. Here’s a look back. Photos and story by Victoria Nicolaou

Women’s VolleyballThe Niagara Knights women’s volley-

ball team ended their season with a win on home court, fighting back after two straight losses in their final match of the 2019 CCAA Championships.

Facing the MSVU Mystics, the host Knights rebounded from one set down, securing a come-from-behind victory in four sets (16-25, 25-23, 25-17, 30-28). Natasha Desjardins led the Knights offense with 13 kills to win the 4Im-print Player of the Match award. Jordan Koslowski added five service aces and 13 kills, while setter Montanna Taylor had 20 assists.

The Knights finished in seventh place in the CCAA championships after two early loses. In front of a packed crowd, the Knights opened the tournament against the Vancouver Island University Mariners (VIU). Despite an early lead, the Knights couldn’t hold on, falling in straight sets (25-14, 25-15, 25,12) to the defending champions. Rookie Madelyn Berg received the 4Imprint player award.

In the Knights second match of the tournament, the Knights fell to the Bri-ercrest Clippers (25-18, 25-18, 25-15). Knights Olivia Burnie earned the 4Im-print award with a team-high seven kills.

The VIU Mariners defended their 2018 title by beating The King’s University Eagles 3-0 in the gold medal match.

Last month, the Knights earned a silver medal at the Ontario College Athletic As-sociation (OCAA) Championships, losing in straight sets to the Fanshawe Falcons, after a 10-8 regular season.

Two Knights were honoured at the OCAA Awards Banquet last month. Koslowski was named a second team All-Star in her fourth season as a Knight, finishing with 197 kills (second in the OCAA) and averaging 3.9 points per set (fifth in the OCAA). The Knights captain ended her final season at Niagara College as the Knights all-time leader in points, kills and service aces.

Knights rookie Berg was named to the OCAA West Division All-Rookie team with 162 digs, 11th in the OCAA. Berg was one of only 10 players who had over three digs per set, finishing with an aver-age of 3.06

Men’s VolleyballAfter a strong 11-7 regular season

record, the Knights men’s volleyball team lost in the OCAA Championships semifinal to Humber College in four sets (25-22, 10-25, 21-25, 22-25).

Micah Nieuwets, named an OCAA West All-Rookie at the OCAA banquet, led the Knights with 13 points and 13 kills, Jay-don Milne had 12 points and 9 kills, while fifth-year setter Ben Fillmore led the team with 27 assists. Second-year libero Robert Zalewski was named player of the game with 10 digs and three assists.

In the bronze medal match, the Knights lost a tough five-setter to drop out of medal contention. Despite fighting back twice against the Redeemer Royals to force a fifth set, the Knights fell 15-10. Milne led the Knights with 20 points and 19 kills and Fillmore added 51 assists and 12 digs.

Women’s BasketballThe Knights women’s basketball team

finished the regular season with an 11-9 record, a playoff win over George Brown and a spot in the OCAA Championship.

After winning their opening match of the tournament, the Knights lost in the

semi-finals 80-39 to the Fanshawe Fal-cons. The Knights finished their season on a high, defeating the Durham Lords 95-55 to secure the OCAA bronze medal. Bridget Atkinson led the Knights with 34 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Hannah Baker added 19 points and six rebounds.

Atkinson, in her first year with the Knights, was named a West Division first team All-Star and the OCAA Defensive Player of the Year.

Atkinson is the first Niagara College women’s basketball player to win DPOY, averaging 4.7 steals per game (first in the OCAA). She averaged 19.7 points per game (second in the OCAA), 7.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.

Men’s BasketballThe Knights men’s basketball team fin-

ished a strong regular season with a 15-5 record, third in the OCAA West Division.

The Knights defeated Lambton in the team’s opening game of the OCAA Championships but couldn’t maintain their momentum in a semi-final matchup against Humber College. The Knights struggled offensively, falling behind 28-10 in the first quarter, and losing to Humber 94-47.

The Knights rebounded in their final game of the season, defeating Seneca College 79-65 in the bronze medal game. Van Hutchinson Jr. led the Knights to third place with 15 points, 17 rebounds and eight steals. Jordan MacDonald add-ed a triple double in the Knights win with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Two members of the Knights were honoured at the annual OCAA awards banquet. Hutchinson Jr. was named OCAA Player of the Year, an OCAA first team All-Star and a CCAA All-Canadian. Hutchin-son Jr. led the OCAA in assists per game (7.0) and steals per game (2.8), while averaging 25.2 points per game (third in the OCAA) and 12.9 rebounds per game (second in the OCAA). He is the first Niagara College men’s basketball player to win Player of the Year.

The third-year forward had a dominant season for the Knights, breaking four single-season records at Niagara College including: points (530), rebounds (270), assists (148) and steals (58).

First-year Knights guard Keveshan Padachey was named to the OCAA West All-Rookie Team. Padachey averaged 11.9 point per game and shot 44.4 per cent from the three-point line. He finished the season averaging 3.1 three-pointers per game (sixth in the OCAA).

Additional AwardsNiagara College Intercollegiate coor-

dinator Ray Sarkis will be inducted into the OCAA Hall of Fame. Sarkis became the first-ever vice-president of the OCAA Board of Directors and served as the board’s president for two years. Sarkis will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame’s builders wing after 40 years at Niagara College, and as the winningest coach in the NC men’s program with an 87-63 record.

Kaitlyn McKenna, a former All-Canadi-an in women’s basketball, is also being inducted into the OCAA Hall of Fame. McKenna, one of the most decorated ath-letes in Niagara College history, received NC female athlete of the year twice as well as rookie of the year. She made first team All-Star four times, second team once, while also receiving OCAA and CCAA all-academic honours during her time as a Knight.

Niagara College hosted the 2019 CCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championships at the Welland campus March 7-9. The top eight women’s volleyball teams from across Canada competed for the national title, won by defending champions the VIU Mariners. The Knights finished in seventh place with a 1-2 record.

Page 11 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

SPORTS

By VICTORIA NICOLAOUStaff Writer

Students and faculty from Niagara College attended the NC Sports Symposium last week to kick off the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Wom-en’s Volleyball National Championships.

The first panel of the morning focused on sports business, sports marketing and sports communica-tion. NC welcomed Toronto Star sports journalist Doug Smith, NBA Canada Direc-tor Jonathan Chang, Loretta Rogers Research Chair Cheri Bradish and Volleyball Canada CEO Mark Eckert.

Moderated by Associate Director of Athletics and Recreation, Michelle O’Keefe, the panel discussed a range of topics from e-sports and gambling to the increase in sports business programs throughout Canada.

But most of the conversa-tion centered around the difficulties surrounding an ever-changing sports land-scape and the necessary changes required to keep up with a new generation of athletes.

Chang said NBA Canada and the NBA are trying to find new ways to grow the game of basketball through-out the country with partnerships between Bas-ketball Canada, the Toronto Raptors and provincial bas-ketball federations. Chang

and NBA Canada want to instill in fans the motto that “the game is our pas-sion” and part of that is by creating sponsored events including grassroot events, exhibition games and junior NBA programs.

“We really want to touch all 10 provinces and ter-ritories with the game of basketball,” said Chang.

Chang said the NBA is trying to embrace the instantaneous world we are currently living in, in which fans want highlights and content immediately.

Some of those adjust-ments include the NBA’s League Pass, which Chang called “Netflix for bas-ketball.” The League pass allows fans to watch NBA games outside the current market, or any game not shown by Rogers or TSN. The package allows fans to watch entire games, or just the fourth quarter, if they desire. Canada is the num-ber 2 market in the world for subscribers for League Pass.

“We’re trying to embrace that by adding different digi-tal offerings,” said Chang.

On the court, Chang spoke about all sports finding ways to speed up the game to accomodate a younger generation. The NBA them-selves have eliminated two time-outs per game this season, while MLB has in-stituted a pitch clock for the upcoming regular season.

Eckert spoke about the dif-ficulty in promoting sports like volleyball that do not have a professional league in Canada and tend to be expensive to broadcast.

“Volleyball is a really hard game to package. It doesn’t fit nicely into a one or two-hour window,” said Eckert.

Instead Eckert is trying to work with networks to com-bine digital platforms and promote the digital content through social media. “We’ll broadcast the matches on linear TV and occasionally we’ll get a full match broad-cast in linear as well, and see how we do there.”

Working with IMG out of the United Kingdom, Eckert said within an hour of a vol-leyball match they have 30 seconds, 1-minute, 3-min-ute and 10-minute clips online. The shorter clips get the hits immediately, but over time the longer clips have higher numbers. “We’re learning shorter is better,” said Eckert.

Bradish, who teaches sports business and is currently creating a Mas-ter’s program at Ryerson University, understands the problems facing Eckert as she has seen first-hand how students consume sports media.

“The students we know skew towards package-able, bite-sized pieces of con-tent,” said Bradish.

Smith spoke at length about the challenges facing

sports journalists in a world where everything is “im-mediate.”

“You’re never breaking news but you’re reacting to it,” said Smith. “It’s made instant experts out of ev-erybody and no one takes a breath anymore. No one sits back and says ‘what does this mean?’”

Smith said sports journal-ists are no longer writing stories about the game, be-cause by the time reporters leave the locker room, fans know already know which team won and why. Now the job is to give context to the athletes quotes and videos of the game.

“If you’re a journalism person and a writer you have to be able to tell a story that advances what people already know be-cause they can get their in-formation so damn quickly,” said Smith.

And the desire for ath-letes to bypass the media and go directly to the people presents new prob-lems for sports journalism, said Smith.

“The cutting out of the media in this day and age takes a whole level of ac-countability away. I think that’s hugely dangerous,” said Smith. “Delivering a message is great but…some sort of accountability to that delivery is equally important.”

Smith said there contin-ues to be a place in sports

journalism for the long read despite a fast-moving world, but that takes time, money and commitment to do well. “There’s a place for the bigger picture piece, the bigger picture context and I think that gets forgotten in this day and age and I don’t think it should,” said Smith.

Chang and Smith both talked about the negative side of social media includ-ing the issue of mental health and the NBA’s role in mental health issues.

Chang highlighted the NBA’s national promotion of Bell Let’s Talk explaining that the league understands top-level NBA players can have insecurities. Chang named DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love as two players who have been outspoken about the challenges they face on a daily basis.

Smith spoke to DeRozan last year when the former Raptor opened up about his struggles with depression. That conversation sparked a wave within the NBA and because of the players’ willingness to share, the NBA and NBA’s players as-sociation now has programs in place. The NBA is mind-ful that “they are normal people with normal issues,” said Smith.

NBA players have also begun to realize their social responsibility as more and more have spoken out about racial issues, police brutality and politics.

“I think what leagues and teams and players can do is hugely important,” said Smith. “It reaches an audi-ence that wouldn’t normally be reached by issues that are far beyond playing of games. And if that’s the legacy of a professional athlete, that’s a damn good legacy.”

As the panel opened up for questions, an NC as-sistant coach asked whether a WNBA team could be suc-cessful in Toronto.

“It would be a success if the business model worked and I don’t think the WNBA business model, as it con-sists today, works. I don’t think any team in the league is making money,” said Smith, despite acknowl-edging Toronto having the facilities and dynamics to support a team.

Chang added that one of the main problems with the WNBA in North America is the fact that women them-selves are not supporting women’s basketball like they do with women’s golf and tennis. In order for the WNBA to be successful “we need to get more women watching,” said Chang.

On the eve of Internation-al Women’s Day, Bradish spoke about the issues of gender equality in sports, as well as a lack of diversity in front offices. “We’ve come a long way but there’s still a lot of strides that we can make,” said Bradish.

Talking sports at the CoreNiagara College welcomes top executives and influencers in the Canadian sports industry to a symposium discussing the business side of sports in this country

To kick off the CCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championships, Niagara College hosted a Sports Symposium at the Welland campus. The first panel focused on sports buisness, sports marketing and sports communication. Students and faculty welcomed, from left to right: Toronto Star sports reporter Doug Smith, Loretta Rogers Research Chair Cheri Bradish, Volleyball Canada CEO Mark Eckert and NBA Canada Director Jonathan Chang. PHOTO BY VICTORIA NICOLAOU

Page 12 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

SPORTS

Niagara Goes Gold in 2021Niagara region set to host the Canada Summer Games in 2021 and Niagara College has a role to play

By VICTORIA NICOLAOUStaff Writer

The Canada Summer Games (CSG) is coming to the Niagara region in the summer of 2021, and Niagara College’s Sports Symposium gave students and faculty an opportunity to hear from those involved during an hour-long panel moderated by Associate Di-rector of Athletics and Rec-reation Michelle O’Keefe.

The second panel of the NC Sports Symposium, held at the Core on the Welland campus on March 7, includ-ed Director of Sport and Athlete Services of CSG Nick Snow, venue management and overlay manager of CSG Erin Edwards, NC School of Justice and Fitness Stud-ies Associate Dean Sandro D’Annunzio, NC Associate Director of Student Engage-ment Dina Fox, Canadian College Athletic Associate (CCAA) Executive Director Sandro Murray-MacDonnel and Radio and Broadcast professor at NC Peter “Dutch” VandenBerg.

The Canada Summer Games is a multi-sport, two-week competition that Snow compared to the Olympics “but just for Canada.”

All 12 municipalities in the Niagara region bid together to host the 2021 games. The municipalities will each partner up with one province or territory to create a “home away from home” feeling as part of the ’13-for-13 program.’

CSG provides “an oppor-tunity to showcase Canadi-an amateur sport but really the goal is to transform a community” said Snow, and to create infrastructure and leaving a lasting legacy through health and fitness, volunteering and commu-nity engagement.

CSG is a volunteer-led, staff supported organiza-tion and Edwards said the job is on her, Snow and the rest of their colleagues to “recruit volunteers from the community who know the community, who are keen on sport, keen on the legacy we’re building here in Niagara.”

Edwards volunteered for the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 but admit-ted she had no idea what went into putting on an event that size. Edwards told students to think about their future, where they want to go and make sure they do research first.

“The trick is if you’re someone who is inter-ested in participating is to find your angle and your way in,” said Edwards. “It’s a fantastic way to get involved and get some real-world experience in how events are run.”

In addition to opportuni-ties for Sports Management,

Broadcasting, Graphic Design and Photography students, Snow said there will be opportunities for students all over the college including medical ser-vices, food and beverage, transportation, security, IT, construction, communica-tions, media and payroll, to name a few.

“We’re building a com-pany and we have 10 staff right now,” said Snow. “There are opportunities galore…it’s a whole spec-trum of an organization.”

In collaboration with Snow and his team, Fox wanted to make sure the CSG is aware of NC students, the programs offered at the college and the opportunities available whether as a structured co-op, internship or place-ment opportunity. Fox also wants to ensure the college does its part in promoting those opportunities to the students over the next two years.

“Part of what we’re going to look to do is make sure our students, our faculty are very well aware the op-portunities are not going to be the media or hospitality or security. That there’s a lot of opportunities even in terms of some of the con-struction, the sites, other stuff like that.”

Fellow staff member D’Annunzio encouraged students to get involved somehow, whether it’s at

the committee level or as a volunteer. As incident commander of the Pan Am Games in Toronto, D’Annunzio saw first-hand how much turnover exists and told students to get involved early because “you don’t know what that can lead to.”

CCAA CEO Murray-MacDonnel added she sees a real opportunity for stu-dents to get involved and work on their “individual legacy.”

The CSG will use up to18 different venues through-out the Niagara region. The central hub, including the athletes’ village and training facilities, will be at Brock University.

The Welland Interna-tional Flat-Water Centre will host kayaking, triathlon and open water swim-ming. Other locations in the region will include: softball in Grimsby, baseball in Niagara Falls, tennis in Niagara-on-the-Lake, sail-ing in Fort Erie and cycling in Thorold and Pelham. The Meridian Centre in St. Catharines and the Niagara Falls Convention Centre will host basketball and volley-ball, respectively.

Snow said he has “some big visions and big dreams for leaving a lasting legacy of a pretty cool Canada Games parks and facili-ties” and he hopes that the CSG will be “the start of something rather than the

culmination.” “If this can be kind of a

launching point for Niagara to host more and more events in the region than we’ve done our job,” said Snow. “And we won’t really know how successful these games will have been until 10, 15 years down the road.”

The panel spoke about the Ford government’s potential decision to amal-gamate the Niagara Re-gion’s 12 municipalities and the impact it could have on the CSG. Snow acknowl-edged Ford’s decision could be difficult, but believes the CSG can bring the region together.

“The Canada Games are a celebration of sport, of culture. It’s a festival party just as much as it is a sport-ing event. I think it’s really important that we have a positive, unifying event that brings everyone together regardless of what’s hap-pening at the provincial government level down here,” said Snow.

Interested students can learn more about the CSG or potential volunteer positions through the NC’s Get Involved Portal or NC’s Centre for Student Engage-ment and Leadership on the Welland Campus.

The Symposium kicked off the Canadian Colle-giate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women’s Volleyball National Championships at Niagara College last week.

The second panel of the Niagara Sports Symposium focused on the 2021 Canada Summer Games hosted by the Niagara Region. Panel contributors included (from left to right): CSG Director of Sport and Athlete Services Nick Snow, CCAA CEO Sandra Murray-MacDonnel, NC Associate Director of Student Engagement Dina Fox, NC School of Justice and Fitness Studies Associate Dean Sandro D’Annunzio, CSG venue management and overlay manager Erin Edwards, NC Radio and Broadcast professor Peter VandenBerg and NC Associate Director of Athletics and Recreation Michelle O’Keefe. PHOTOS BY VICTORIA NICOLAOU

Nick Snow (left) and Sandra Murray-MacDonnel (right) discuss how the Summer Games will create infrastructure beneficial for the region as well as volunteering, health, fitness and engagement opportunities for the Niagara community.

NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019 Page 13

SPORTS

Hockey Parents: Not about you

We’re here for the kids. Let them play.

Every arena that houses minor hockey should have this pinned on the front door. It’s often forgotten. It’s often ignored. Because the truth is, the insanity of parents has become a commonplace within minor hockey.

In all reality, youth sports is about fun and improve-ment, as an individual and a team. Unless it’s a level of hockey that’s higher than Bantam ‘AAA’, that should be the priority.

But the sad truth is, it’s not.

From September to March, I’m usually found at an arena multiple times a week. And each week I’m amazed at how oblivious some hockey parents are. During a game, everything needs to work out perfectly for their kid. Otherwise, they’ll make a scene with whoever prevented that perfect game.

What example is that setting for the kid? That mommy and daddy are go-ing to defend you every time something doesn’t work out in your life. That’s not how that works.

It could be verbally ha-rassing the officials. It could be making a scene with a coach. It can even include yelling at their own kid in a silent arena for making a mistake.

Ask your kid how fun that is for them.

The sad truth is that most minor hockey associations can’t make it through a month, and that’s a stretch, without referees being ver-bally harassed or coaches receiving phone calls from a parent, who believe their son or daughter isn’t getting enough ice time.

Being heavily involved in minor hockey, I see things like this occur on a regular basis. Hard-working volun-teers, whether it’s coaches, officials or board members, are eventually going to want nothing to do with minor hockey if these things con-tinue. You’re already seeing that happen now.

I know for a fact that in multiple minor hockey associations in the Niagara region, we’ve easily lost a handful of great coaches at all levels because they were tired of dealing with the parents and inability to please them all.

Just a few years ago, I can recall that a local associa-tion asked a long-tenured coach to step down from a volunteer position halfway through the season because

of the overwhelming com-plaints that mostly revolved around their kids not receiv-ing enough ice time.

That’s disheartening.I’ve always been amazed

by the parents that have the nerve to tell somebody else how to run their team. In most cases, these parents have zero, or very minimal coaching experience, yet they are the demographic that knows it all.

A lot of the problems revolve around parents’ obliviousness to their own kid. Minor hockey is out of control in this aspect. Par-ents are chasing the dream for their kids. They think their kid is a NHL-calibre player. Trust me, if your kid is good enough, he’s getting the ice time he deserves.

Bothering the coach to get your way isn’t helping the kid. It’ll hurt the kids’ relationship with the coach. I’ve heard of skilled players being cut at rep tryouts just because the coach doesn’t want to put up with the parents. That’s a completely valid argument.

Every now and then, there is a case where the parent does have a valid argument against the coach, and in that case, say what you need to say. But otherwise, unless there is a concern about your kid being in an abusive or toxic environment, keep quiet and let the coach do his or her job.

With that being said, you don’t have to agree with your coaches. Through my eight years of ‘A’ hockey, I’d be lying to you if I said I agreed with everything they said or did. You don’t even have to like them for all I care. But there needs to be a line of respect. There’s a reason they’re behind the bench and you’re not.

And that’s the way it goes for officials too. As a fifth-year timekeeper, I interact with officials on a daily ba-sis. I’ve gained a whole new level of respect for them and the nonsense they put up with. Like I just mentioned, I don’t always agree with them, and yes, there are bad officials, just like there are bad players and coaches. But you need to take a good hard look in the mirror if you think that warrants waiting outside the referees room after a game just to verbally harass, and the odd time physically abuse them.

The only thing that gets accomplished out of that is usually a report, a bad repu-tation for the entire team and every now and then, a lawsuit.

Now I totally would expect a coach to defend a player, and if it’s an obvious missed or bad call, sure, say what you need to say. I can respect that. That’s what a good coach would do. But I won’t feel bad when you get ejected for defending

a kid who is pressed up against a referee swearing his head off as opposed to going to the penalty box as instructed.

Let’s remember that most officials in minor hockey are people who enjoy the game and want to give back. They are just like the players and the coaches, they make mis-takes too. Put yourself into their shoes. They, normally, don’t deserve that. That’s the exact reason the number of referees goes down every hockey season.

Even the off-ice officials, the timekeepers, deal with this nonsense. There have been countless times in my five years that I’ll walk by a coach or parent following a game, and they’ll make some comment to me about the officiating. That’s real out of line considering we have nothing to do with any of the calls the officials make.

Now to prevent that from happening, leagues and associations are consider-ing a zero-tolerance policy. Word on the street is a local governing body will grant referees the ability to either give a penalty or ejection to a coach or a parent if they say one thing about a missed call.

And if you thought that was crazy, leagues in Alberta are considering banning fans from watching their own kids play to prevent the issue. And you damn well know that if it works there, it’ll be applied everywhere.

Let me be clear, not all parents are like this. The majority of them are great. But unfortunately, it’s the bad ones that ruin it for everybody.

It’s at a point where it’s out of control. I’ll reinforce that parents are chasing the dreams for the kids. You need to re-evaluate if you’re hoping your kid goes pro just for a bragging oppor-tunity or financial relief. If the kids want it bad enough, you’ll know and it’ll show.

If they don’t want it, and have other passions, that’s perfectly alright. It’ll show

too when they give you at-titude about going to power skating and skills develop-ment camps in the spring and summer months.

Scrolling through Face-book about a month ago, I found a post that explained that TSN analyst Ray Ferra-ro talked to a minor hockey club going through a hard time and dealing with these issues. He highlighted many of these things. But the one thing that was brought up really stuck with me.

He said something along the lines of “The odds of going pro are extremely

low but the odds of having to find a career and a job to pay bills and be a husband and father are extremely high and it’s not dictated by if you played ‘AAA’ hockey.”

There’s no intent here to make anybody mad. Like I previously mentioned, the majority of hockey parents are great. I love their enthu-siasm and dedication. And I love being involved with a minor hockey association that always produces a great product.

But when I go to the arena, I go to support our teams. Not to break up

fights in the crowd or shield referees to their dressing room.

My main objective in this column was to just remind parents not to cross the line with hard-working volun-teers who want to give back to the game. Enjoy the ride while it lasts. Minor hockey eventually will come to an end for your kid, and you don’t want to regret not en-joying the moments because you were worried about the little things that take away from the fun and love of the game.

We’re here for the kids.

Extreme consequences being discussed to tame the ongoing problem

Parents going onto the ice to yell at referees has been one of the extreme examples of this rising issue. SUBMITTED PHOTO.

RILEY

RADOBENKO Columnist

Page 14 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

ENTERTAINMENT

Last week Stephen Amell, star of the CW’s long running show Arrow, announced on Twitter that Oliver Queen and Team Ar-row will end their run in a 10-episode eighth season.

Amell, who plays the title role of Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow, told fans that the desire for him and the show runners was to go out on their own terms. They wanted to finish the show that created an entire televi-sion landscape as strongly as it began.

Arrow has been my fa-vourite show since the first episode. It reminded me of why I love television - the best can reach through the screen and impact lives. And Arrow has changed mine for the better. I’m heartbroken to see it end, but I also understand why they are choosing to say goodbye.

I’m not sure why I began watching Arrow seven years ago. I’ve never been a fan of comic books. Or superhe-roes. But watching the pilot I quickly realized this show wasn’t about meta humans, super strength or multiple earths. All of those elements slowly fused itself into Ar-row eventually as a result of the spin-offs the show’s

success created (not just on the CW but on other major networks). But at the heart of Arrow was a man who experienced unthinkable tragedy, fighting to survive.

In the opening moments of the pilot, we watched as Oliver’s father killed himself, in front of his son, to save his son. In the years following that heartbreak-ing moment, we’ve watched Oliver slowly come back to life. Instead of letting the horror he experienced take away his humanity, Oliver opened up and let people into his world. Instead of using a bow to diminish his light, Oliver used it to fight for a life he never thought he deserved. Instead of waiting for death, he began hoping for the future.

Arrow is far from per-fect television. The Oliver and Felicity (or Olicity) break-up was unnecessary. Damian Dhark’s magic was a bit much. Ricardo Diaz as the villain was never believ-able. The writing of Laurel Lance’s character lacked consistency and logic.

But the writers never shied away from taking chances – good or bad. Instead of following “comic canon” and the wishes of comic fans, Arrow estab-lished its own world.

They recognized when something wasn’t working – specifically the relationship between Oliver and Laurel – and made a decision in Season 1 that altered the entire Arrow landscape.

The introduction of Felicity Smoak, played by Emily Bett Rickards (originally hired as a day player), changed Arrow. Felicity became the female lead and Oliver’s love interest. She lightened the show, coming in like a breath of fresh air. Arrow still remained Arrow – dark and gritty - but it became something even better when Felicity, and ‘body-guard’ John Diggle, were by Oliver’s side.Few shows can pivot out of a story that is not working and even fewer dare to do it. But Arrow recognized their faults, and found another way.

Arrow is an origin story. And because of that the writers never let the main characters get off easy. As hard as it was to watch – we all want to live in Barry Allen’s world where coffee shops name drinks after the heroes - that was never Ar-row’s style. The characters faced real consequences in every decision; there was never an easy fix. The writ-ers understood the journey Oliver had to go through to become the Green Arrow.

The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Black Lightning exist be-cause of Arrow.

That’s why it’s called the Arrowverse. Maybe instead of diminishing the character of Oliver by claiming he isn’t a hero because he used to kill bad guys or because he doesn’t have super powers (side eye the Flash specifi-cally), the show and their

fans should be thanking him.

Arrow has always tried, as much as possible, to stay grounded in reality. They showed every week that people are not all one thing; we can change, hope and strive for something better no matter our circum-stances.

Arrow’s world is not black and white because the real world is not black and white. Star City isn’t Central City. It is not bright and shiny, with every villain getting a cute nickname.

Oliver is a superhero because he turned himself into one. His abilities were forged in a fight for his life – not at birth or in a lightning strike. The bow and arrow

are not his strength; they are his tools. His bravery, heart and intellect are what make him a superhero.

Felicity is a hero because of her strength, her spirit and her ability to outsmart anyone. Diggle fought in two wars and brought back with him the lessons (both good and bad) to help Oliver and help save Star City.

Oliver and Team Arrow are heroes because they fight for people who cannot defend themselves, in a city where an anti-vigilante law tried to diminish them.

They understand that every time they go out into the field, they may not come home alive.

Arrow is the only show on the CW’s superhero

schedule I still watch. It raised my expectations that few shows can live up to. I can count on one hand the number of episodes I have missed watching live. I can’t imagine not having Arrow, Olicity and Team Arrow on my television screen every week.

I hope that Oliver Queen gets the ending he deserves. He is a reminder of what we are all striving to achieve. But no matter what, Arrow leaves behind a legacy that goes far beyond 171 episodes.

Arrow’s impact on the Arrowverse, and on its fans, has been immense and will continue to endure long af-ter the Green Arrow hangs up his hood.

RILEY

RADOBENKO Columnist

Every day, I’ll log onto my social media accounts and usually find one or two tweets or ‘hit pieces’ from irrelevant media companies criticizing Barstool Sports, which is a controversial, multimedia entertainment company.

The consensus on the Internet is if you consider yourself a ‘stoolie’, which is what the site’s fan base is called, you’re a racist and sexist loser in life. I find that a bit aggressive considering I’m a fan of the company and the work they produce, and I’d like to think that every person I’ve met in my life doesn’t think about those words when my name comes up, whether they like me or not. I’d like to think I’ve never done or said anything in my life that war-rants that terminology.

Despite all that, the amount of disapproving looks and cold shoulders I get when I say I’m a fan of Barstool is remarkable. I get it. Their content is not for

everybody. They are a company that

believes any publicity is good publicity. Due to this, they lack core values and ethical morality.

Most Internet and entertainment companies that began 10 years ago are dead, or have deleted anything in their history that would show a negative connotation towards the company. Barstool didn’t.

They’ve said a lot of harsh things. They’ve done a lot of scumbag things. And although they’ve dialed it back, they still say and do things today that constantly offend people.

But in a politically-correct world, they push the boundaries in an ef-fort to be funny. They’re comedians, sports fans and averages guys and girls who are blunt, honest and will fight back when somebody unsuccessfully attempts to bring them down.

Does that make their con-tent people malicious?

A handful of their content people were in Washington, D.C. last summer doing an event. I attended and they were some of the nicest people I met. It was one of the hottest days of the year, and of the guys I met, they

each took a picture and talked to me for 25 minutes. The next day, it was a near tornado outside, yet they stayed to make sure every person in the lineup that went down the street was able to get a picture.

I reached out to Jared Carrabis, the Major League Baseball (MLB) and Boston Red Sox writer for Barstool, hoping he’d contribute to one of my Niagara News columns. He responded and gave me the answers within an hour.

People have a precon-ceived notion about the people who work for Barstool just based on the negative connotation the company gets, or by the character they portray on social media. Yet, when you meet their content guys personally, they’re some of the nicest, down-to-earth people you could meet.

Let me be clear when I say I don’t agree with a lot of controversial things that have been said by their employees. I’m sure other Stoolies can agree with that. Like any other company, Barstool messes up. Some-times they say the wrong things. Sometimes they handle issues poorly. I know for a fact they’ll be the first

to admit that.But that’s what makes

Barstool real. That’s the reason they rose above and became a pirate ship in an arguably dying industry.

That’s the reason they’re one of the fastest growing media companies on the Internet. That’s the reason they have such a loyal fan base. I understand their content isn’t for everyone. I’ll be honest, I don’t like all their content. And I under-stand that my opinion on the company is an unpopu-lar one, so I expect to get some backlash.

But at the end of the day, I’ll still read the blog, watch and listen to their content and wear their merchandise. Why? Because I enjoy Barstool’s content and know the people who work for them and support them aren’t bad people as the general consensus on the Internet makes them seem. Because at the end of the day, Barstool is one of the fastest-growing media brands on the Internet.

They’ve always said you’re either with them or against them, and that’s been nothing but true the past few months.

All I got to say to that is ‘viva la stool.’

Arrow ending after eight seasons

Arrow star Stephen Amell announced the decision to end the successful CW show at the conclusion of season eight on social media. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Sports media that pushes society’s buttons

El Presidente Dave Portnoy, Big Cat, KFC, Kmarko, PFT Commenter and the rest of the Barstool team bring you entertaining talk of sports and pop culture. PHOTO BY RILEY RADOBENKO

VICTORIA NICOLAOU Columnist

NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019 Page 15

ENTERTAINMENT

Captain Marvel heralds a new era

Relive an island adven-ture, explore a new region and battle your way to victory in these upcoming, anticipated titles for Ninten-do Switch.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is an action-adventure video game that was first released for Game Boy in 1993 and now it’s being reborn in HD graphics on Nintendo Switch.The original was the fourth installment in The Legend of Zelda series and the first for a handheld game console.

When it was first re-leased, the art style was pixelated and in black and white until the colour version was released for the Game Boy Colour. The new art style for the 2019 remake gives the game a whole new look and feel. The colours are vibrant and incredibly pretty, almost making it feel like a whole new adventure entirely.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for the Nintendo Switch is set to release later this year.

Pokémon is a franchise that was first released in 1996. Since then it has been incredibly successful and popular around the world. It has more than 100 games to its name and continues

to release new games and memorabilia quite fre-quently.

The newest edition to the franchise, Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, will take place in the Galar

region. The starter Poké-mon players will get to choose from are Grookey, a grass type chimp Pokémon, Scorbunny, a fire type rabbit Pokémon, and Sobble, a wa-ter type lizard Pokémon.

Galar is an expansive region with environments ranging from countryside to cities and forests to snowy mountains. As always, play-ers will be able to train their Pokémon to take on various

Gyms and earn the title of Champion.

Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield for Ninten-do Switch is set to release in late 2019.

Fire Emblem is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise that has been popular since its release in 1990. The series consists of 15 main games and three spin-offs with the new Fire Emblem: Three Houses be-ing the 16th main title.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the first game in the series to be released on a home console since Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn in 2007.

The game takes place on the continent of Fód-lan where the player will teach one of three mighty houses from the prestigious Officer Academy. As their professor, the player must lead the students in their academic lives as well as on the battlefield.

Fire Emblem: Three Hous-es for Nintendo Switch is set to release on July 26.

These are just four of the most anticipated titles com-ing to Nintendo Switch this year. For more information and to see all the games be-ing released visit nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/archive.

Captain Marvel hit the-atres last Friday just in time for National Women’s Day. Despite the polarizing re-views that seemed to wage its own ‘Civil War’ because of a misconstrued comment by Brie Larson, this next installment in the Marvel Universe was better than anticipated.

Last year, Larson spoke up about diversity issues in the movie reviewing industry in a press conference for A Wrinkle In Time.

She said that she would be paying attention to what her press looked like and the critics reviewing mov-ies, and has since begun to make sure her press days were more inclusive. Some Marvel fans interpreted her comment as an attack on white men.

I had some doubts going into the movie due to the controversy because of these views, and the fact that Captain Marvel seemed to have a lot more buzz than an equally important DC female superhero: Wonder Woman, but I left impressed.

The movie opened with a compelling scene and ended with the hyped-up transition into Avengers: EndGame that I anticipated. I learned

who Captain Marvel is, where she came from, how she got her powers, in a comfortable and well-paced manner we’ve seen in previ-ous Marvel origin stories.

While it may not have been as mind-bending and captivating as Doctor Strange, I was still on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

What I’m saying is I wasn’t bored at all through-out the entirety of the movie. There were intense action scenes, excellent CGI and effects and in-credible line deliveries. It was very akin to what I’ve experienced in theprevious Marvel films.

In fact, I thought the air-plane scenes in the movie

outdid the scenes in the two latest Star Wars movies. As my boyfriend put it, “Cap-tain Marvel did Star Wars better than Star Wars.” The chase scenes were engag-ing, exhibiting sharp turns and quick maneuvers that were dizzying but satisfy-ing. I was invested the whole time.

There were a few scenes

introducing female empow-erment and overcoming weakness, but they didn’t feel forced or poorly placed. It was realistic and accurate to today’s society, and I felt it was important that they addressed this in some way. I think that the direction and writing of this movie accurately portrayed this.

However, Larson’s perfor-

mance wasn’t exactly what I had imagined for Captain Marvel. In some instances, her character is referred to as being ‘too emotional’, which is something that I didn’t see on screen. Throughout the movie, Lar-son seems to be very steady personality-wise, without a real sense of dimension.

This isn’t to say that Larson wasn’t good; she just wasn’t what I had imagined. It’s still early though and I am anxiously waiting to see if her character in Endgame will continue to step up to the plate.

The chemistry between Larson and Samuel L. Jackson was great. I en-joyed watching them work together on screen. There were many charming scenes between that looked like it only needed to be attempt-ed once, it was that real.

I came away from the movie excited to see what will happen next and how Captain Marvel will fit in with the rest of the Avengers.

Although some fans don’t agree with Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s comment, suggesting that Captain Mar-vel is the universe’s most powerful superhero, I think she is a strong contender.

Captain Marvel is worth the watch and I think it’s possible that Larson will open up the doors for a new take on this superhero, as well as opportunities for more diverse film review inclusion.

Captain Marvel hit theatres last Friday for National Women’s Day and has become the highest grossing movie with a female lead ever according to several stats. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Upcoming titles for the Nintendo Switch

Titles from the Game Boy era are being revived and revamped for the Nintendo Switch. SUBMITTED PHOTO

BRIENAH CASSAR Columnist

TONI WHITE Columnist

Page 16 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

ENTERTAINMEMT

The title Resident Evil carries with it a mixed bag of emotions.

Whether it be in reference to the video game series or the movies, one thing is always clear: people recog-nize the name.

But when we harken back to the video game series, we see that there are many neglected, ageless classics of the horror genre that deserve to be brought into the modern era and the remake of Resident Evil 2 does just that.

Resident Evil 2 (remake) was released on Jan. 25, and has made its way to instant fame in the gaming commu-nity for its brilliance.

The newly released ver-sion gives the player an option of difficulty settings tailored to a new age, sport-ing a fresh third-person over-the-shoulder view and modern graphics.

The game itself features many tight spaces, dark eerie corridors and hall-ways, the same puzzles one might find in the original PlayStation 2 version and a repackaged story.

The original Resident Evil 2

was released on Jan. 21, 1998, and is a testament to horror gaming.

The fixed camera angles, creepy music, claustropho-bic gameplay and limited resources made the players heartbeat skip a beat or two if a surprise enemy lunged out at them from seemingly nowhere, or if a boss fight was initiated and the player wasn’t expecting it.

The remake does do some things differently that might get under some people’s skin.

The change in camera position might not ring the nostalgia bell of some looking for that classic experience, some of the rooms have changed, Tyrant appears slightly more in the campaign than the original, the gun-play is a lot smoother and enemies can easily chase you into different rooms now.

There are, however, many things the player can do in the remake to make it feel more original, such as selecting the original soundtrack and even swap-ping out the modern outfits for their original 1998 version, blocky pixelated features and all, assuming you own the downloadable content. If you do not, then you can unlock an in-game, high-definition version by beating the game on any difficulty.

The new Resident Evil 2 has kept the story largely intact as to the original and is built for not only bring-ing back longtime fans, but also bringing in a newer audience.

Despite all of what could have gone wrong, like totally ruining the story by altering it too much, making the gameplay unbearably easy or hard, not adding anything worthwhile or just making it a money grab,

Capcom did it right. The developers not only

brought the game back like they did with the HD remasters of Resident Evil and Resident Evil Zero, but completely built this game from the ground up and might even start a healthy trend in the video gaming industry.

The developers at Capcom went one step further in their care for the original game, adding extra game modes.

Without spoiling any de-tails, you can unlock a mode called the “Fourth Survivor” which features everyone’s favourite antagonist. Like-wise, there are three freely added modes for different characters in the game and how their stories would have been had they not died during or prior to the events of the game.

If Capcom does more of these complete remakes in the future for all of the founding games, those be-

ing Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil Code Veronica, they will certainly bring in a whole new fan-base and revive a genre that recently has had so little justice.

Though in moving for-ward, if this is to be a trend, Capcom must give their future games as much love and dedication as they did for this remake in the oth-ers. If not, the whole trend could fall flat on its face.

Gamer or not, you’ll find few people who haven’t heard of the legendary video game, Tetris.

It’s an age-old classic that first appeared on the scene in 1984 to widespread critical acclaim. The idea behind Tetris was incredibly simple - drop an endless series of blocks, each in a limited number of shapes, down to the bottom of the screen until you’ve made a complete row, which then gets cleared and gives you points. You repeat this process for as long as you can until you’ve failed to clear the blocks and prevent them from reaching the top of the screen, after which, you get a “game over” and high score based on how well you did.

A simple enough concept, but in today’s video game environment, simple alone doesn’t do a game many favours and Tetris hasn’t re-ally done anything to truly shake up its formula since

the initial release. Well, until now that is.Tetris 99 bursts onto

the Nintendo Switch with a colossal twist. It’s Tetris but as a battle royale game. For the uninitiated, battle royale games are a genre that have become massively successful and popular in recent years, featuring huge numbers of players, usually around 100, all vying to be the last man standing. And thus, the 99 in Tetris 99 is made clear - 99 players, all playing their own individual game of Tetris, hoping to be the last man or woman standing. But the twists don’t end there.

In an effort to truly emphasize and enhance the competitive nature of this game, the developers have added a number of features. Primary among them would be the ability to directly interfere with another player’s board through “attacking,” in which you can bombard your foes with cumbersome grey blocks, being able to select from four different types of targets among players to go after.

This means that in addi-tion to the normal stress of a Tetris game, you’ll

have unexpected pieces appearing on your board from unknown players, which can completely ruin a strategy you had planned. It’s a wonderful addition for making the game even more intense.

Naturally, the game does have a few flaws.

Visually speaking, the game certainly isn’t ugly by

any means, but it does lack flair. The menus are mostly the same color and have a very basic, digitized look, whereas the game itself looks about as good as any old Tetris simulator you can find.

Another issue is the game offers no form of instruc-tion for the rules, controls or mechanics of the new

features, leaving players on their own to try to com-prehend these mechanics. Fortunately, Tetris is by no means a difficult game to grasp, so figuring out the majority of the controls is actually quite easy, although the new mechanics will elude all but the most ob-servant of players without resorting to looking up an

explanation online.Overall, Tetris 99 is a

wonderful game. It’s simple, intense, free, portable, doesn’t take up much mem-ory and – most important of all – it’s fun.

If you own a Nintendo Switch or have access to one, there is no reason you shouldn’t pick this absolute gem up.

Capcom games re-released a reastered Resident Evil 2 featuring familiar challenges. SUBMITTED PHOTO

MIGUEL WELLS Columnist

DEVYN STEWART Columnist

Tetris 99 comes to the Nintendo Switch as a battle royale. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Resident Evil 2 remaster a success

Tetris is back... as a battle royale?

New release includes better graphics while maintaining the same familiar story and puzzles

NIAGARA NEWS •March 15, 2019 Page 17

ENTERTAINMENT

September 11, 2001.It’s a date that the world

will never forget. People all over the globe

shocked to their very core at the tragedy unfolding in New York City, Pennsylvania and even at the Pentagon and the countless lives lost as a result.

In Gander, Nfld., a small frozen town on a rock in the North Atlantic, life was continuing much like it always did, despite the day’s events.

The school bus drivers were picketing, the locals carrying on with their daily activities.

Life was seemingly unaffected by what was occurring in New York City, approximately 1,103.57 miles away.

That is, until, the “plane people” arrived.

Thirty-eight planes – nearly 7,000 people – were re-directed to Gander with no way to leave or to con-tact their families.

Frightened, desperate and some even millions of miles away from their homes, they were greeted by the locals of Gander with open arms, open doors and most importantly, open hearts.

This is that story. This is Come From Away, a Cana-dian musical celebrating life, love, and what it means to be different from some-one in a thousand ways, yet connected and united in our humanity.

It first workshopped at Sheridan College in 2012, later moving to a sold-out engagement in Toronto before securing Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfield Theatre for a successful run since February 2017.

Now, after an engage-ment in Winnipeg, Toronto has seen its triumphant return, once again featur-ing Canadian cast members and crew and performing to sold-out audiences.

First playing at Mirvish Production’s Royal Alexan-dria Theatre, Come From Away extended its run since it began earlier this year and moved to Toronto’s Elgin Theatre in February 2019, until April 2019.

The show features a diverse cast of only 12 people, each playing mul-tiple characters ranging from Newfoundlanders to both crew and passengers from the planes.

Not once do any of these performers stumble in their transitions, instead moving fluidly from one character to another, continuing to tell the story from all sides.Nothing is fake with these performances or cheapened

by the pacing. Instead, everything is re-

markable. It isn’t difficult to see the genuine enjoyment on these performers’ faces as they move throughout the motions of the show.

It’s a production that, for all intents and purposes, shouldn’t work, but it does.

Come From Away is dif-ferent than other shows and it’s these differences, all bundled together, that make it a success.

Song-writing team, and married couple, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, seemingly did the impos-sible by compacting what easily could have been two hours’ worth of material, into roughly 100 minutes without sacrificing any of the beauty. Come From Away moves quickly and succinctly through its plot, giving no time for reflec-tion or even applause in between songs.

Instead of allowing view-ers to praise performers as soon as the song finishes, their admiration and affec-tion accumulates until the very end, leading to stand-ing ovations, shed tears, and smiles as blinding as the stage lights.

Another impressive detail is that the show has no main antagonist.

It directs the audience’s focus not onto characters to hate, but characters to love.

Ali Momen plays several of these characters that au-diences no doubt love, and is even especially talented as a performer in regard to the transitions between characters.

He owns every character he brings to life as though they were crafted solely for himself.

Where one minute he is the exuberant Kevin J., full of snarky come-backs, a general distaste for his current surroundings, and a deeper longing to be

back in his home of New York City, grieving with his family for all that has transpired, in the blink of an eye he instead embod-ies the role of Ali, a Muslim chef stranded in Gander with everyone else, yet divided from them by only the color of his skin.

Judged, mistreated, ra-cially stereotyped and even downright harassed, Mo-men’s Ali never wavers in his faith, nor his kindness.

Multiple times throughout the course of the show, Ali offers to assist with the food preparations for the other plane passengers, yet is repeatedly warned to stay away from the kitchens, a move that is presented out of fear due to his religion rather than a reluctance to impose upon the passen-gers for help.

Finally, the Gander volun-teers learn of Ali’s career as a successful chef and restaurant owner and invite him back into the kitchens.

Momen plays this mo-ment with his head held high, not angered over his previous treatment, but just as willing to be of service.

If the audience wasn’t convinced of Momen’s gift as a performer before this moment, there is no doubt they were after.

Saccha Dennis, the per-former behind the character of Hannah, among other unnamed roles, similarly de-livers a performance that is nothing short of captivating.

From the very first mo-ment her character is in-troduced as a passenger on one of the diverted planes, audience members can feel her emotions as she sorts through them, one by one.

Her confusion, her fear upon arriving in Gander which soon gives way to shock once she learns what really transpired across the United States, and then hor-

ror when she remembers that her son is a firefighter in New York City.

Each one of these emo-tions layers over the last, building and building until the viewer is utterly invested in Hannah’s journey.

Dennis guides Hannah through her desperation for answers, her frustra-tions at being an ocean away from her son, and finally, her grief.

Anyone who has ever known loss in some form can feel her pain, which, as a result of Dennis’ truly incredible performance, is both haunting and raw.

It’s carefully constructed character arcs like these ones that makes Come From Away so special.

No matter who you are, when you’re sitting in that audience you can instantly connect yourself to the story.

Viewers can find them-selves in Ali’s strength, Hannah’s love, the compas-sion of the Gander locals such as Beulah, (played by Lisa Horner), the utter devotion to the safety of

the animals on the diverted planes displayed by Kristen Peace’s Bonnie, a volunteer with the Gander SPCA who risks her own safety to sneak aboard the planes and care for the abandoned animals, and especially in the character of Beverly Bass.

Bass, in 1986, became the first American female captain in history and was the pilot of one of the diverted planes forced to land in Gander. Played by Eliza-Jane Scott, Bass is given moments of reflec-tion, dedication to her craft and lines filled with crack-ling anxiety that emotion-ally engage the audience, particularly in the number ‘Me and the Sky,’ a high-powered song calling out sexism and showcasing not only Bass’ impressive ca-reer but Scott’s wide range of emotions as a performer.

Come From Away’s musi-cal numbers are, in fact, their own masterpiece. Each one captures a diverse set of moments and emo-tions in the show, from the

opening ‘Welcome to the Rock’ that brings a deli-ciously Newfoundland feel to it, to the moving ‘Prayer’ which is sure not to leave a dry eye in the house.

There’s a reason Come From Away has seen the success it has so far. It’s a show that doesn’t highlight our differences, but our likenesses.

The scene that truly high-lights this comes in the be-ginning of the show when buses carrying frightened plane passengers arrive at makeshift shelters through-out Gander.

On one of these buses, a terrified African man and his wife observe the shelter awaiting them and the military officers sta-tioned throughout, and are reluctant to step foot off of the bus.

The driver, unsure of how to proceed, notices the Bible clutched tightly in the woman’s hands.

Although knowing he can’t read the language it’s written in, he understands that the passages, the teach-ings are the same.

Taking the Bible, he turns to Philippians and points at chapter 4, verse 6.

“Be anxious for nothing.”No matter our orienta-

tions, our backgrounds, our religions, we can all connect to the emotions played out on stage, because at the end of the day, that’s what truly connects us.

Our humanity. Our faith.Come From Away tran-

scends religion, borders, stereotypes and so much more to instead become something that all can enjoy and learn from.

It’s a show about love.It’s a show about unwav-

ering acceptance.It’s a show about unshak-

able kindness.Most importantly, it’s a

show about understand-ing that, as they say in the show’s closing number, ‘We all come from away.’

Canada finds its heart in Come From Away

The Toronto cast of Come From Away, now playing at the Elgin Theatre. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Eliza Jane Scott and the cast of Come From Away perform ‘Me and the Sky,’ at the Elgin Theatre. SUBMITTED PHOTO

SARAH HOOKEY Columnist

Page 18 NIAGARA NEWS • March 15, 2019

FEATURE

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you probably know that the world recently celebrated International Women’s Day, (or at least the portion of the world that’s not made up of Republicans and Trump supporters).

And really, that’s gotten me thinking. As a proud feminist myself, I say that sometimes you need to feel empowered. Sometimes, and especially now with how utterly frightening the state of the world can be for women (Handmaid’s Tale anyone?) we need to take things one step further.

Who says that smashing the patriarchy (and boy, does it ever need smash-ing) has to be confined to only one day?

Everyday can be Interna-tional Women’s Day if you let it.

To help me with that, I turn to music.

In that spirit, I’ve put together a list of my five favourite feminist musical theatre songs. (And no, ‘Cell Block Tango’ will not be on this list.)

I Can Do Better Than

That—The Last Five YearsIf you haven’t heard of

this show, or even seen the 2014 movie starring Anna Kendrick and Broadway veteran Jeremy Jordan, I highly suggest you do. Not only is it a wonderful film chronicling what it really means to be successful and to love another person, it’s also home to brilliant numbers like this one.

Kendrick’s Kathy sings this to her then fiancé Jamie to express her desire to break free from the sex-ist stereotypes expected of girls in her hometown; pregnancy, marriage and then staying in that same town for the rest of their lives. Kathy’s strong-willed stubbornness comes across clearly in this number as she strives to truly become somebody in the acting world with Jamie by her side.

The Schuyler Sisters—Hamilton: An American Musical

You knew Hamilton would make it on here at some point. The entire show is filled with refresh-ing bouts of female empow-erment, highly quotable lines and, of course, the Schuyler Sisters. When you think ‘girl power,’ and ‘Broadway,’ chances are this fierce number will come to mind. The aforementioned trio of sisters are as strong-willed as you’ve ever seen

and from their very first entrance, it isn’t hard to see that they’re ready to make their mark on the world around them, and the audi-ence as a result. The old-est, Angelica, combats the blatant sexism she encoun-ters in the number from the character of Aaron Burr with this set of lyrics:

“I’ve been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

So men say that I’m intense or I’m insane.

You want a revolution? I want a revelation

So listen to my declaration:‘We hold these truths to be

self-evidentThat all men are created

equal’And when I meet Thomas

Jefferson,I’m ‘a compel him to in-

clude women in the sequel!”Now that’s what I call

feminist.

I Don’t Need Your Love—Six the Musical

Okay, if you haven’t listened to Six, stop reading this and go listen. Trust me, it’s well worth your time. A quick synopsis from the official website, since it is a fairly new musical:

“From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak

into a 75-minute celebra-tion of 21st century girl power. These Queens may have green sleeves but their lipstick is rebellious red.”

Now if that isn’t a feminist celebration, I don’t know what is. Basically, any one of the songs in Six could work perfectly for this list but ‘I Don’t Need Your Love’ in particular is a brilliant standout.

The song details Henry’s final wife, Catherine Parr’s, reluctant marriage to the king and her decision to take back her life after his sudden death, thus freeing herself from only being a wife in his story and instead becoming a main character in her own. Parr, through her song, details the things she had accomplished in her life, including fighting for female education in a time when a woman’s value was equated to the wealth of her husband and how many sons she had given birth to.

She ends the incredibly powerful number with the declaration that her and the other wives are finally “tak-ing back the microphone,” and that it’s time to rise above what went down in history to sing for them-selves for once.

Right Hand Man—Something Rotten!

Let’s make something clear, everyone should want to be at least a little bit like Bea Bottom. She’s quirky,

she’s funny, she’s a no-nonsense woman and she’s smashing the patriarchy one day at a time.

Set in the Renaissance, Something Rotten! could have easily stuck with history when it comes to their female characters. In that time period, women were little more than background characters without even a single line and expected to be docile creatures. But not in this show. Where the men are bumbling and, honestly, a bit clueless, the women are resourceful and at times the only thing keeping their husbands alive (see the end of the show if you don’t believe me). In this song, Nick Bottom’s wife Bea implores him to let her help him with his business ventures and his day-to-day problems by singing lines like this:

“Sure I could stay in the background

Just smiling every now and again

But just to be a pretty ladyThat would be a pity babyLet me be your right hand

manI am stronger than you

thinkDon’t be thinking I ain’t

toughI am where you oughta goWhen the goings getting

rough”Bea is aware of the ste-

reotypes enforced on the women around her and she isn’t conforming to them herself. Not one bit.

Defying Gravity—Wick-ed

Do I even have to explain this one? This is easily the ultimate feminist anthem when it comes to musical theatre. The song sees Elphaba (later nicknamed the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’) finally breaking free from the cage the world had put her because of her past and allowing herself to live to her truest potential by transcending her stereotypes and no longer being ashamed of the power within her. She may be declared a monster by those around her, but she declares in the end of the song that:

“Nobody in all of Ozno wizard that there is or

wasis ever going to bring me

down”

Elphaba’s strength and message isn’t just some-thing we should admire, it’s something we should strive to live by ourselves.

Okay, there you have it. Five musical theatre songs for your inner feminist. Now, the next time you feel like smashing the patriar-chy, you’ve got a playlist at the ready.

Theatre and National Women’s Day

SARAHHOOKEY Columnist

The cast of Six: The Musical, now playing in London, U.K. at the Arts Theatre. SUBMITTED PHOTO