This Halloween, Throw Away the Cat Ears!

Halloween is a great excuse to unleash that quirky part of yourself that already dresses up in a wacky costume every other day of the year. People have so many different interests and beliefs and this occasion is the perfect opportunity to make individuality come alive, or dead depending on what your going for. 

Unfortunately, the trend in adult halloween celebration, has shifted away from quirky and towards something a lot more revealing.

It’s not even that young women and girls are using halloween as an opportunity to dress in practically nothing, put a pair of animal ears on their head and call themselves a “cat.” It has more to do with the fact that these costumes are entirely unoriginal and defeat the purpose of what is supposed to be a celebration of fright and creativity, a chance to experiment with that part of ourselves that pushes boundaries and steps out of comfort zones. 

I’ll admit that I have definitely used halloween as an opportunity to look sexy in something tight, but as I’ve matured a bit, I’ve discovered that there are other ways to be cute without shortening the skirts and tying the tops of my friends high school uniforms. 

I have a few friends that make it their mission to be original with their halloween costumes. My aim this year is to refrain from pulling my sister’s old tutu and body suit from her closet and calling myself a ballerina. 

My inspiration? 

1) The belief that I, like everyone, have a creative inclination to be silly and not worry too much about      what other people think

2) My very cool friend's halloween costumes from this year and past years. 

Emily as the U.S government shutdown

Riley as Mitt Romney with his "binders full of women" 

Becky is cute and creative in her "Freudian slip" costume

Emily as "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" 

My Friend is smrt

My good friend, Mike Skwark is one of the funniest people I have ever met. His humour stems from his ability to completely disregard what other people think of him. I envy this quality in my friend and I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t be the talented rap artist that he is if he actually paid any attention to others’ judgements. 

When Mike’s rapping, he’s not Mike, he’s smrt His rap persona embodies a lesson of being yourself and expressing your thoughts and beliefs, no matter how controversial those ideas may be. 

This is not to say that Mike gets on stage and spits out extremist rhetoric. It’s simply that he makes a conscious effort to remain true to himself. This stance against conformity is reflected in his rapping and whenever I see one of his videos or attend one of his shows I’m always so impressed by his ability to communicate a message of individualism through his lyrics. 

Check out this smrt video and let me know what you think. 

Try Something New!

Trying something new is the best way to brach away from your usual interests and discover new things about yourself. Here's one activity I like to do when I feel grounded in routine:

Every Monday night, the Rose n Bee Pub provides apprehensive Winnipgers with the opportunity to break out of their comfort zone. Karaoke night at the Sherbrook watering hole is a great way to showcase or possibly even discover a hidden singing talent in a relaxed and fun environment. The pub just celebrated their one year anniversary last month so if you haven’t checked it out yet, stop by this Monday night, get in free of charge, take a $3 shot of tequila, and sing your heart out!

More Than the Coffee

In light of CBC’s Information Radio hosting a competition for the best cup of coffee in the city, I want to talk about what exactly constitutes ‘the best cup of coffee.’ For me, someone who doesn’t drink a lot of coffee, I believe that it has a lot to do with the unique environment that a good coffee shop is able to create and sustain. Thom Hiebert, owner of Thom Bargen Coffee and Tea on Sherbrook agrees!

“Service and experience are just as important as the cup of coffee itself. I really believe that I can give the best cup of coffee to a costumer and they can have a terrible experience with the space and with the people and not only will they not come back, they will probably say that was a terrible cup of coffee to their friends. I don’t even think the quality of the coffee is the most important thing that we do here.”

I really appreciate a tasty green tea, not overly steeped, not too bitter, but I could find that in my kitchen. When I head out to Thom Bargen, Cafe Postal, Parlour, or any of the other local coffee shops in Winnipeg, I’m there for another reason. Something special and nostalgic, that lives in the coffee shop environment."

In a time when social media allows us to communicate opinions and ideas rapidly, institutions like the coffee shop are among the few remaining destinations where the process of conversing is brought down to a much more natural and anecdotal level.

“The coffee shop is definitely a place for people to come to share ideas.” Says Louis Leveque Cote, a barista at Café Postal on Provencher. Sometimes two costumers will be talking and then another costumer or one of us who works here will just jump in."

When I scroll through my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds, the content is very much reflective of my interests and opinions. I think most people would say the same about their social media identities.  It’s when we branch away from what is familiar that our own perceptions on life begin to expand and become more complex.

“We have a bike polo group that comes into Café Postal. I never used to know anything about bike polo and from talking with them, now I do. There is a church just down the street and on Sundays people stop in for a coffee after the service is over. You really get a sense of all the polarizing view points that are out there.”

So as you make your way around the city trying out all the local coffee shops that made it into the final five of Information Radio’s Best Coffee Competition, make sure you put away your smartphone and pay careful attention to your experience. A cup of coffee is special in its ability to attract people from all walks of life. 

Ben Swims With Belugas!

How to define sub-culture has been a major question of mine over the past couple of years. This may sound like a bizarre subject to contemplate on a regular basis but for me it's consuming because varying degrees of "different" or "unusual" define everyone's life.

If we say that someone or something is sub-cultural it usually implies that they are standing against societal norms or social morays. A rebellion of sorts.

I've come to think of it a little differently. While the term sub-culture definitely characterizes people whose membership to a certain group places them outside of the boundaries of normal, it's also true that we all behave in ways and participate in activities that don't conform to the rigid standards of how our society expects us to act. 

From this understanding, which may not be your personal definition of the term, I go about investigating Winnipeg looking for people and events that venture away from their comfort zones, often from society's comfort zones, and tread in beluga-infested waters. 

This week, I had the amazing opportunity to report for Culture Days. I went to some very cool events and hung out with some very cool people, many of whom were branching out of their comfort zones and expressing themselves in new ways. 

Ben Chafe was one of these very cool people. For Nuit Blanche, the all night events that takes place on the Saturday of Culture Days, Ben showcased his video project Leise at Union Sound Hall. Leise can be described as a series of projections against a wall of various media images. Ben had a bunch of his friends dance in front of the images creating live performance art. His own conception of the work outlines it's quirkiness best: 

"It tells a story from darkness to lightness, back to this spooky glow... Basically this sort of Mickey Mouse meets Lord Voldemort meets your stupid six year old cousin. And they all do like, meth or something." 

Union Sound Hall was one of the busiest Nuit Blanche venues this year. As someone just beginning to showcase their work publicly, Ben was very nervous to be part of an event with so many other experienced artists.

"The other artists who submitted their videos are friends of mine and are super talented, it was a big deal to even be on a loop with their names attached. It was nice to have our families there and have everyone embrace it for what this little video was. My friends involved in the video itself are really brave for having their image shown in a big room like that, there was a lot of love in the air."

Ben shares that he would be very excited to be part of Culture Days and Nuit Blanche next year, he feels Winnipeg is a very interesting place to be for a young artist. 

"I would be more than keen to be apart of something again next year. Winnipeg undoubtedly loves art and loves to party, it's a romantic night where the two really come together and the city gets to celebrate it as a family."

 Ben and his very cool work during the year's Culture Days demonstrate the positive impact of trying new things that scare us. For Ben, dabbling with sub-culture altered his understanding of his artistic capabilities and pushed him out of his comfort zone.