Memorial University sent out a Newsline item earlier today, March 8th, updating the university community on their ongoing collective bargaining process with the Lecturers’ Union of Memorial University (LUMUN).
In the release, the university emphasizes that “[They] are doing everything possible to reach a mutually beneficial agreement and will be meeting throughout the weekend.”
As LUMUN has given the university a strike deadline of Sunday, March 10th, at 11:59 pm, if they do not reach a mutual agreement by then, the union may choose to strike effective Monday, March 11th, at 12 am. In the event of a strike, courses taught by per-course instructors will be paused.
Memorial shared the following information with the university community, including the link to a course identification tool for students to identify which of their courses may be paused,
All campuses will remain open, including student residences, libraries, student services and food service operations.
Classes taught by LUMUN members will be paused; classes taught by non-LUMUN members are expected to continue. An online course identification tool is available now for planning purposes.
All non-LUMUN employees will be expected to continue work as per their current arrangement.
LUMUN members may set up picket lines at some campus entrance/exits. Please show patience and courtesy as this may lead to some delays when leaving or entering campus.
It is a difficult time to be an RN, nursing student, or recent graduate within the province.
On Tuesday, February 27th, the Registered Nurses’ Union (RNU) of Newfoundland and Labrador gathered at the Confederation Building for the “Profit Doesn’t Care!” rally, calling for an end to the privatization of healthcare within the province.
This transpired following a Globe & Mail release stating that Newfoundland spent nearly $36 million on travel nurses from April to August 2023. This is an over $1 million annual increase since pre-pandemic.
The RNU had two main protest demands:
Government accountability
An Auditor General investigation into the spending
This news has been met with animosity from individuals all over the province, nurses and non-nurses alike, demanding answers for the exorbitant spending. A February 20th VOCM poll concluded with a resounding 86% vote towards the Auditor General being called in for investigation.
On February 17th, the RNU issued a letter to Premier Furey and Minister Osborne, urging them to take action regarding the province-wide nursing crisis. The letter states:
“To fix the health care crisis, we need to fix the nursing shortage. Without enough registered nurses we can’t address the critical issues jeopardizing patient care in our province – we need more RNs to open long-term care beds, address the backlog of surgeries and procedures and improve wait times in our emergency rooms.”
“Solving the nursing shortage starts with retention. It’s critical that we not only recruit but retain the incredible, hard-working RNs who are currently providing health care in our province.”
RNs need a reason to stay within the province, and this is not being given to them.
A third-year nursing student at MUN, who requested to remain anonymous, says, “Less than 20% of [2023] nursing graduates in the province have a permanent full-time position, and yet there is still a demand for nurses and a shortage in staff.”
She stated that nursing students are often overlooked within the province, emphasizing their excessive amount of unpaid work hours.
“Since beginning my degree, I have recorded over 1400 hours of unpaid clinical work,” she says. “This is a demonstration of the underappreciation of student nurses by the government.”
She also described a class visit from two government officials last fall semester.
“They visited to show their appreciation for nursing students at MUN,” she explains. “They mentioned how the government of Newfoundland and Labrador is here for us in support of nurses and students. They also said that the government will prioritize their graduates and local students.”
She, and her classmates, took this as a plea to stay and work within the province. However, she feels that the values expressed in this meeting versus the government’s recent actions do not align.
She says, “It is disheartening when government representatives come to our class, tell us that they appreciate us and our work, and just months later, there are only a few graduates who have stable job positions, or job security, and the rest of the graduates who do decide to stay within the province will be looking for another position 3-5 months after starting their job. Working for a government that will say one thing, and whose actions demonstrate another, especially surrounding job security and a career, is not something that I am comfortable with if my value as a future RN is not being appreciated.”
When she began her nursing degree, she was constantly told that she would have no trouble finding a job, which initially felt true. She no longer feels this way.
She says, “Seeing the recent graduate employment numbers as someone who will start the application process later this year is not promising. Lately, I have been considering out-of-province positions for more stability. I used to think that I would be able to find a job and live comfortably as a new graduate here in the province, but with only 3 months of guaranteed full-time employment and the chance of having to reapply and reorient only months later is not comfortable for me and could cause an increased level of stress.”
Furey’s visit
Last year, Premier Furey spoke with The Muse about his visit to MUN in 2022, which he described as positive.
It was great to deliver job offers to each member of the graduating class of @MUN_Nursing this morning!
Minister Osborne and I were happy to discuss the rewarding careers they can have in our province, and our ongoing work to improve our province's health care system. pic.twitter.com/WKjIeJ8r0S
He spoke of the “letters of intent to job offers” that he issued to each member of the 2022 MUN nursing graduate class. Details regarding these job offers were notoriously vague, and he did not specify whether these were permanent, temporary, full-time, or casual positions, all of which are vastly different.
Regarding his discussions with MUN nursing students, he said:
“There was some good feedback about what their needs were, coming out of nursing school, what their desires were, and I think we took that back as feedback, and we’ll act on it.”
“Most encouraging for me was within the classes, there was a real spirit and desire of wanting to stay in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
If these comments were taken as feedback, they were not acted upon. Further, the ‘spirit and desire’ to stay in NL may remain just that: a desire, not a feasible reality.
If the government does not improve the treatment of our hard-working RNs, and hopeful future RNs, as the RNU claimed in their letter, the healthcare crisis will never cease, and the quality of our province’s healthcare will remain on a steady decline. We need to demand better for our local nurses, students, and graduates.
Attendees rally outside of the Arts and Administration Building, March 6th, 2024.
This past Wednesday at noon, the Lecturers’ Union of Memorial University (LUMUN) rallied outside the Arts and Administration building. Tensions are running high as the anniversary of the 2023 MUNFA strike echoes throughout campus. With the vocal frustrations of LUMUN organizers, the precise certainty of a strike is unknown. However, little seems to be improving, which could work to prevent such an outcome, as negotiations stall and a strike deadline approaches at midnight on Sunday, March 10th. It could now be decided by the level of dread the school’s negotiators recall brought by those difficult weeks from the year now past.
Chants barraged the upper offices of a building picketed by labour activists and trade unions in a similar fashion just a year prior. Variations of the following chants were amplified at the front steps amid an enthusiastic crowd:
“LET’S GO LOKASH, LET’S GO NEIL- GIVE OUR TEACHERS A FAIR DEAL!”
“HEY-HEY, HO-HO- ADMIN BLOAT HAS GOT TO GO!”
“THE PEOPLE UNITED, WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!”
“SHOW ME WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE! THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!”
A collection of faces familiar to audience members from the MUNFA rallies appeared before the microphone. One of the speakers was MUNFA President Josh Lepawksy, who appeared to state MUNFA’s support for LUMUN and discussed the difficulties of including the phrase “fairness” in their contract with MUN, the need to protect academic freedom, and the empowerment of workers during negotiations.
Jim Dinn, leader of the NLNDP, also took a moment at the mic to back the union’s negotiation efforts. Specifically, he criticized the maximum rate a LUMUN member can earn for their contracts- $5800 per course, with a maximum of two courses per term. He stated that the existence of these contracts was “shameful… disrespectful… [and] shows a lack of understanding or appreciation for the people who are basically here making the university operate. That is not fair.” Dinn, a former teacher himself, also spoke about the difficulty when negotiations stalled around salary “templates” stressed by the university when rejecting the demands of the union. He also mentioned plans to speak on the issue in the House of Assembly.
Bill Kavanagh of CUPE 1615 spoke in support of “solidarity amongst all of the union locals.” He also spoke on plans to bring his union members to picket during non-working hours, alongside LUMUN picket lines- should a strike unfold after the upcoming deadline.
“it is time to stop… [the] Systematic unfair labour practises of this university who… in the public eye, has a diminished reputation.”
Bill Kavanagh, CUPE 1615 President
The Lecturers’ Union has sent out a petition asking the public for support signatures, which can be found at the following link.
Attendees rally outside of the Arts and Administration Building, March 6th, 2024.
Memorial’s woes seem to be stuck on a loop, with difficulties finding permanent administrative leadership, recurring complications negotiating with labour, struggling national reputation, and financial troubles. One dominating scandal occurs nearly every semester, which often results in the firing or departure of some supposedly essential figurehead and conversion of that season’s recurring extra into a leading role on the academic melodrama that is Memorial.
While a hazardous storm makes its way towards St. John’s this weekend, this January marked the fourth anniversary of the “Snowmageddon” blizzard of 2020. During the Snowmageddon, “over 90cm of snow fell on top of nearly 100cm already on the ground.” Many are declaring that another storm may arrive in St. John’s this weekend- one which may rival the infamous Snowmageddon, bringing with it estimates of 50 to 80cm of snow. Perhaps it is a sign- the static snow brought on by the campus collectively trying to change the channel.
Some say history repeats itself—first as tragedy, then as farce. While MUN can’t control the weather, they could certainly stop a strike and the storm it brings.
The Lecturer’s Union of Memorial University (LUMUN) released a statement this morning announcing that they have set a strike deadline for this Sunday, March 10th, at 11:59 pm.
After holding a well-attended rally, with an immense showing of support, LUMUN members came together for a meeting where they were consulted on the most recent offer from the University.
“LUMUN has clearly expressed to the Employer our willingness to continue bargaining if the Employer comes back to the table with a respectful wage offer,” says Alison Coffin of LUMUN. “We care about the education students receive, and fundamentally that’s what this is about. Will the university put money towards student education? Or is the top administration concerned primarily with their own wages and throwing expensive parties.”
In the release, LUMUN states “They don’t want a strike and don’t want to disrupt students’ learning, they just want the proper funding of student education and that Memorial has the power well within its means to avert a strike.”
For more information on strike facts and important details visit LUMUN’s website: https://lumun.ca/news/
Throughout their time at university, most students encounter ‘that one course’ that changed the way they think about things, or maybe even changed their entire degree or career path.
I’ve experienced this before, which made me curious about what ‘that one course’ was for other students, specifically those pursuing different studies. Let’s take a look!
For me, that course was SOCI 3150. I completed the first two years of my degree as a philosophy minor until I changed to sociology, and I was initially unsure about the change. After 3150, I knew I had made the right decision because it was the perfect mix of philosophy and sociological perspective, both of which I really enjoy.
This course made me realize my interests were broader than I ever anticipated, and I even started doing research into Sociology grad schools. This was definitely not in my mind when I began my degree, so I’m really thankful for it.
I have to give a special shoutout to CMST 4000, another fascinating course that made my head spin. This course taught topics such as conspiracy theories, surveillance, privacy, algorithms, and propaganda. Even a year after taking this course, I still think about it all the time, and it really changed the way I view the world.
Haley Winsor, who completed her BSc in 2023, majoring in neuroscience and minoring in biology, said PSYC 3650.
“It gave me a new perspective about mental health that I really appreciated,” she says. “It provided me with ample opportunity to reflect and achieve a greater understanding of various mental health disorders.”
Winsor also mentioned PSYC 3840, stating that “As students, stress is something that we all experience quite regularly, so being able to learn more about it was very interesting for me.” (So true)
Ciara Ivany, who completed her BA in Political Science in 2022, said GNDR 3500.
She says it gave her a new point of view on reproductive justice, as well as a crucial outlook on feminist healthcare approaches and gendered health issues.
“I loved 3500 because it really meshed with my interests and the topics I was focusing on in my major, but it also gave me a new perspective,” she says. “I learned so much and the content was so relevant to current political issues.”
Maria Dunphy, pursuing a BSc in Nursing, said NURS 2002. She emphasizes how interesting the material was as well as how the course was taught. She learned vital skills such as organized note-taking and study methods that she found helpful in other courses.
Karoline Keating, pursuing a BSc, majoring in Biology and minoring in Psychology, said SCI/GNDR 2001.
“This was a super interactive online course with the perfect blend of flexibility and engagement,” she says. “The content was relevant and eye-opening, especially for STEM students.”
“It gave me a new appreciation towards the impact of women in science and their struggles within a male-dominated field. It made me think twice about how I picture a ‘scientist,’ and how grateful I am to be in a university with so many female scientists.”
Anna Feehan, pursuing a BSc in Psychology also said SCI/GNDR 2001, stating that it is the best course she has taken in her degree.
“It’s an important course I think everyone should take,” she says. “It taught about women scientists throughout history and the struggles they faced, highlighting the prevalence of male scientists in the current curriculum, how hard it has been for female scientists over the years, and despite the fantastic discoveries women have made, the fact that we still do not hear their names or learn about them in our classes. It was really eye-opening.”
Emma Dillon, pursuing a BA majoring in Geography and minoring in Psychology, said GEOG 2195. She initially planned to major in Education, however, she enjoyed this course so much that she subsequently switched majors.
“This course was hands-on with little test-taking, which perfectly aligns with my learning style,” she says. “It also got me interested in cartography as a career option, something I didn’t even know I was interested in before taking this course, so it really changed a lot for me.”
Emily Newman, pursuing a BSW (Bachelor of Social Work), said SCWK 2320.
This was a heavy hands-on learning course where a standardized patient was hired for students to interview and counsel. Newman emphasizes the important interview skills she learned during these mock interview sessions, such as when to use silence effectively, explaining the limits of confidentiality, and using open-ended questions. This course was self-graded, and she claims that the tendency to be one’s worst critic allowed her and her classmates ample opportunity for reflection and improvement.
“These are skills I will use as a social worker, but also things I have used and look for daily,” she says. “This course taught me a lot about how I communicate with others. I was initially uncomfortable with things like direct eye contact and silence usage when I began my interviews. This practice has made these concepts more natural to me, and I know that these skills can help grow your relationship and comfort level with a service user, client, or anyone you interact with.”
Martha King, pursuing a BEng in Mechanical Engineering, said ME 8407.
King always had an interest in sustainability and issues of climate change, and this course perfectly meshed her interests with her studies. As well, she was already interested in working in the renewable energy industry, and this course further solidified it.
“The class has a great mix of technical knowledge of different sustainable energy technologies, but we’ve also been looking at different emissions scenario projections, what those mean in terms of increases in global temperatures, climate change, and the energy transition required to meet the different projections,” she says. “Overall, really interesting stuff!”
Well, that was fun!
It’s interesting to see the varying opinions of students in different studies’ learning styles and interests, from hands-on learning to test-taking to heavy reading and writing courses. This is one of the best aspects of university for me, as my courses are fully catered to my interests.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when the semester is in full swing; if you feel bogged down with your workload, ‘that one course’ can make all the difference in the quality of your term, so it’s nice to take a moment to reflect on these positives.
Have a course to shout out? Email me at olharrhy@mun.ca!
The Lecturers Union of Memorial University (LUMUN), after 3 days of the strike vote, has received overwhelming support in favour of a strike from its members. The press release by LUMUN highlights achieving this mandate with a high participation rate, stating that the vote will have a major impact on the ongoing bargaining process.
The strike ballot had only one question, “Do you authorize LUMUN’s Executive Committee to call a strike if it deems it necessary?” Through gaining this majority, LUMUN is now authorized by its members to call a strike. LUMUN states that they do not want to go through a strike and impact students– rather that the main determinant here is whether the University comes ahead with a fair deal for the Per-course instructors after 4 years without a new collective agreement.
Alison Coffin of LUMUN pointed out that “Lecturers provide the education students pay for and it’s ridiculous that we work at a university where the Administration pays more for parties with alcohol than they spend to pay an instructor to teach a course. We love our jobs and providing quality education to our students, but that is already difficult with the minimal pay we receive and it’s going to be even more difficult without a fair deal.”
Alison Coffin is referring to the Auditor General’s report on Memorial University which shows the University spending $6,936 including on alcohol on the Employee Service Award dinner while fellow employees, the per-course instructors, get paid around $5,000 – $5,875 for teaching an entire course. It is also worth noting that the strike pay would be higher than the average wage for per-course instructors, as stated by LUMUN previously.
The Union also highlighted that Memorial University is home to the highest administrative salaries per student in Canada, with administrators’ salaries at $2,369 per student. These expenditures, according to the Union, demonstrate the capacity to pay better wages to their per-course instructors rather than simply keeping up with inflation. LUMUN is also calling for better working conditions concerning discipline and investigations especially since the University proposed its financial package to the union, which LUMUN has criticized for its ‘All-or-Nothing’ approach and its relative lack of improvements over the previous agreement.
Both the MUN Students’ Union (MUNSU) and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association (MUNFA) have demonstrated their support for LUMUN in this bargaining process. LUMUN states that ultimately “…. this is an issue about whether the University will treat teaching students as a priority and fund it adequately or not.”
Is the widespread use of English killing off other languages? When did languages start becoming extinct? Does it matter?
It may seem insignificant that languages are dying. Does it make a difference to your life if a language in some part of Asia is extinct? It’s similar to if an animal species becomes extinct, it may seem sad, or even painful, but is it actually significant? Realistically, if it makes no difference to a person’s life, chances are they’re not likely to spend more than ten seconds thinking about it.
But David Crystal, the world-renowned linguist, begs to differ. He argues that languages are important and we must do something to save them. Language death is exactly what it sounds like- when nobody speaks the language anymore, and thus, dies off. It’s hard to guess the exact number of extinct languages, but according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 230 languages went extinct between 1950 and 2010.
Perception of English as the superior language
Although there are about 7100 languages spoken today, only 23 languages are spoken by more than half the world’s population. These languages are perceived as superior, compared to local languages.
Part of the reason languages are dying is because of the perception of the English language. Today, more than ever, English is seen as the superior language, the language that an individual must speak to get ahead in life and accomplish great things. Of course, this perception is debatable. On one hand, English is viewed as a global language. On the other hand, shouldn’t people from all around the world still speak their local languages, retaining bilingualism, rather than only speaking English? Does it have to be one or the other?
It’s also important to remember that the English language was spread through colonialism. In various countries, the English language was viewed as superior because that’s how the colonizers portrayed themselves and their language. Specifically with the British Empire, English was, in a way, shoved down the throat of the local people. This belief continues today- a belief from hundreds of years ago that if you speak English, you will immediately have access to global opportunities.
Today, English is spoken all around the world. To speak English is just a given. If an individual doesn’t speak English, there’s the perception that they’re ‘uneducated.’ Those who speak English as a first language usually only speak one language. Statistics Canada reported that in 2021, English was the first language spoken by 75.5% of Canadians. Although French is one of the official languages of Canada, the proportion of bilingual English-French Canadians is just 18%. Those who speak English as a second language are bilingual. Learning another language is time-consuming and requires a lot of effort.
World Map showing English speakers percentage by country (Map via Wikimedia Commons)
Language and culture
Language and culture are intertwined- one doesn’t exist without the other. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, both American linguists, created the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. This hypothesis dives into the concept of linguistic relativity, which suggests that the language an individual speaks affects their thoughts and perceptions. This principle considers the question- does the language we grow up speaking directly shape our worldviews?
The two linguists explained that different languages perceive the world differently. To explain their hypothesis, Whorf explored the Hopi language, a Native American tribe language. He found that the Hopi people and Europeans have distinct ideas of time. In the Hopi language, Whorf claimed that there are no grammatical variations for the future and the past, and it’s impossible to keep track of different time periods. Eventually, the researcher Ekkehart Malotki published Hopi Time, where he discovered that the Hopi language does have a sense of time, but that there are differences in how the Hopi people view time, as compared to Europeans.
Although Whorf’s research holds a wary position in the linguistic field today, perhaps his ideas about linguistic relativity are still relevant. It is unlikely to preserve thoughts or perspectives when an individual attempts to translate concepts- things just simply get lost in translation. That doesn’t necessarily mean that language shapes thoughts, but rather that language is a part of our thoughts. Thus, languages are tied to cultures and are a part of how we think and perceive the world.
This leads us to the question- if languages are dying, does that mean cultures are dying with them? Moreover, culture is tied to identity. Thus, if everybody around the world is choosing to speak only English, there’s a sense of identical identities- to some extent. Languages are a method of sharing ideas and concepts, as a result, maintaining cultural diversity is vital. With every language that dies, another source of knowledge and culture dies with it.
Is there hope?
As we’ve discovered, languages are dying. But in some ways, there’s hope. There could be something done about it. David Crystal discusses language revitalization. He argues that if there’s funding, courses and teachers can play a significant role in saving a language. Having the language documented is equally important. Getting the language written down, recorded, and analyzed are all methods of documentation.
Children receiving Māori education (photo via Te Ara)
There haven’t been many successful cases of language revitalization. However, there is a successful revitalization story of the Māori language in New Zealand. They included the concept of “language nests”, which are organizations that provide children under the age of five with a domestic setting where they can learn Māori. The idea is that the children will retain their Māori skills once they leave their “nests” and hopefully inspire the new generation to continue learning the language.
When a language dies out, there’s a lot that dies with it. But we have the power to change that.
Are you a music lover or consider yourself a music connoisseur of sorts? If your answer is yes, then check out these reviews of the latest singles from emerging Canadian artists!
Patient Love – The Neighbourhood Watch
The newest single from Toronto-based indie group The Neighbourhood Watch, Patient Love, is a ballad of falling in love and lowering your guard, which showcases the band’s singer-songwriter abilities.
Lyrically, it feels good. Simple, repetitive, but very beautiful.
Musically, the track is simple. Piano chords placed over drums and an acoustic guitar. Personally, my favourite aspect is the choral harmony that overlaps the lead vocals on the second and third choruses. If you were to play me this song and tell me it was a filler song on The Lumineers’ new album, I would believe you. If you’re a fan of the indie-folk, Lumineers, Noah Kahan type of music, this song does exactly what it should. You can add it to your playlist, or just sing along. It may not stand out, but it’s truly an enjoyable listen.
Waiting For The Laughter, sung by Iskwe, and composed by akaMatisse and herself is a slow roll of some of the most beautiful instrumentation I’ve heard in a long time. The lyrics of the song are somewhat mediocre and don’t really shine through. However, that is most definitely not the point of this song and Iskwe’s beautiful voice is able to take centre stage.
Waiting For The Laughter is a constant build of instrumentation, over the gradual crescendo of a marching snare. The experience of hearing this song for the first time is almost ethereal. Nearly the entire song is a build-up to something which never truly comes, just the gradual fade out of the outro… Almost as if you are, you know, “Waiting For The Laughter”. The highlight of this song is the violin. From the very opening, the violin builds alongside the rest of the track, into an incredibly gorgeous solo during the chorus. As well, the violin during the chorus has a call and response, imitating the lead vocals, which genuinely made me feel like I was ascending into some sort of higher form of being.
Overall, if you are a fan of, or are looking to get into chamber pop music, Waiting For The Laughter is a song to listen to.
The Dream Eaters are a dreampop duo who have been making music since their conception in 2015. The most recent single released by the duo is titled Subhuman. Personally, I’m a fan of dream pop music. I enjoy listening to the upbeat synths, the high-pitched vocals, and quick and light drumbeats. However, I absolutely do not enjoy listening to this song. Imagine if you took an 80’s synthwave song, modernized it, and made it absolutely horrific.
The lyricism… Honestly, need I say more. The lyrics are a spoon-fed, jumble of words, which sound like they’re trying to be deep and inspiring but are severely failing at that attempt. The vocals are sung by Jake Zavracky and Elizabeth “Red” Lebaron, the two members who make up The Dream Eaters. And for a duo, their vocals don’t sound pleasing together.
The backing track is upbeat, it’s quick and light. But there’s just something so off about it. The bass synth line just does not fit in with the melody, I think there’s a guitar, but it honestly sounds so off-putting that I can’t tell what instrument they’re trying to play. The only reason this song doesn’t have a lower rating is because there happens to be a synth solo that I enjoy, which shocked me just as much as I’m sure it does you.
As I was listening to this song, I was curious if possibly the band had just missed this time around. I did a little dive into the world of The Dream Eaters, their breakout hit titled Fuck My Skull, in which the opening line is “murder me and fuck my skull”, is somehow a song I would play for my parents before I landed on Subhuman.
If you’re feeling subhuman and needing to be loved, this song will not inspire the boost I think The Dream Eaters had in mind when composing.
Connor Roff is a singer-songwriter who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a heavy and passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, a yoga instructor, and a dual citizen between Canada and the UK. As well, Roff was a core member of the London Contemporary Voices choir. His newest single, Somewhere Green, is a testament to his vocal ability.
Hear me out, have you ever found yourself longing to frolic in the sunlight of a large empty field? Yes? That’s exactly what this song is. If you have not felt longingly towards this sensation, listen to the song, you will.
Oddly, this song is more of a feeling than it is music. The backing track, composed by James Turner, builds beautifully. The chorus has a very heavy bass, which doesn’t match the subject matter of the song, but I find it works. The lyrics are incredibly descriptive, you really don’t have to use your brain to understand the message being thrown at you. The vocal harmonies throughout the chorus are so subtle that on my first listen, I didn’t even hear them. The subtleness of the harmonies emphasizes Roff’s lead vocals, which are the focal standout of the track. The vocals are so lovely that I couldn’t tell if they were over-pitch corrected, or his voice was just that good.
For indie-folk listeners, I would recommend trying this song out. It isn’t the best song I’ve heard or the worst, but the feeling it provides is so incredibly distinct that it’s worth a listen.
“Who cares, it’s definitely cool” is the motto of Canadian-based music group M’Grasker, and I must admit, they nailed that one. I know absolutely nothing else about this band, but honestly, who cares because it is cool, it’s so cool. The group’s latest single, Kiss & Smoke Weed, is an incredibly fun song. The title horribly misled me originally, I was expecting possibly a slow R&B or hip-hop song. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the upbeat, funky track which followed my pressing play.
I don’t know how to put into words the way this track makes me feel. The lyrics are fast and they’re well written and they’re sung in falsetto. The drums have a quick tempo and are incredibly groovy. With the addition of a bubbly guitar and an incredible synth solo, AH, the song is just so good. It’s almost as if you can tell they composed this while high and you can tell just how much fun they were having while writing. From this one track, you can sense M’Grasker’s love for music, and they transport you into their bubble of creating solely for the enjoyment of it. It’s an impossible task to listen to this song and not appreciate just how much of a bop it is.
Kiss & Smoke Weed has had a minor chokehold on me since my first listen. Do yourself a favour and play this song.
Post-punk, garage rock band Slightest Clue released a single entitled “Why Can’t I Call You?” leading up to the release of their Carousel EP. The track gives a very grungy feeling with heavily distorted guitar riffs, a solid intro bass line, and a consistent drum line. The Vancouver-based group describes their music as a “quilt made by your nana, not sure how all the patterns fit, but somehow it works”. This song doesn’t fit that description, to me at least. It feels cohesive, the instrumentation works amongst itself and alongside the vocals, the vibe of the lyrics and the subject matter of the song match the track itself. Overall, it fits.
As much as I feel the song works, it’s not overly special. As far as post-punk rock music goes the song is slow and it’s a little bit boring. It feels like a filler track, which piqued my curiosity on whether it really was a filler song. I did a little bit more of a dive into the rest of the EP, and it is quite good.
As far as any emerging band goes, some songs are a hit, and some are a miss. “Why Can’t I Call You?” is a slight miss, but I would recommend listening to the Carousel EP from Slightest Clue.
Unrequited Love Blues – Moira & Claire, Logan Richard
If you are a fan of indie folk-pop and are feeling an unreciprocated love, which I feel is most indie folk-pop listeners… and I say that because I’ve been there. Moira & Claire have also been there, and they wrote a song about it!
“Unrequited Love Blues” is a ballad of you guessed it, unrequited love. The track is bubbly and upbeat, the vocals blend well together, and the feature Logan Richard was a welcome addition to the song. A ballad of unrequited love may sound a bit tragic, but the song is quite cute and inspiring. Moira & Claire tell the story from the perspective of a girl in love with a boy, unsure if he feels the same. Logan Richard tells the same story from the perspective of the boy, and of course, he does feel the same! The song is very Lizzy McAlpine-coded.
The track is fun, it’s cute, and the lyrics are a little bit on the nose but if you’re in the market for a fun folk-pop song that you don’t need to use your brain too much to understand, then I would recommend giving this one a listen.
Laurence DaNova is a world traveller and singer-songwriter aspiring to capture the essence of the places he’s been and the people he’s met through the production and lyricism of his music. His latest single, “Resurfacing” was released in January of 2024, and has left me feeling some sort of way ever since.
Before I say anything else about this song, I must let my absolute disdain for the opening line be known. “For you, the one whose ankle is chained to the anchor.” He literally just described the cover photo for the single. The song is meant to allude to the occasional sinking feeling in life, and in the song, he himself dives into the water to save someone and, I think, they both drown and the “shipwreck underneath” becomes their home. Now, personally, I like to think of it as them becoming mermaids but that’s just me. I just absolutely hate how in-your-face that opening lyric is. I genuinely don’t know; it just ruins the entire song for me. Hot take probably but like, we understand what the photo is, and what the song is, you don’t have to describe it to us.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, the song is okay. I really like the production; the backing track does make me feel like I’m underwater. I don’t like the lyrics, some of them are super in your face trying to be deep, and some of them are so deep that they don’t match, and I can’t tell what’s going on. I’m incredibly confused about where I stand on this song, I hate it but I kind of enjoy listening to it. It sounds good, but like it doesn’t. I am incredibly conflicted.
February 23rd-24th saw Memorial University’s Sea-hawks fly to the Scotiabank arena in Halifax for the AUS Championship. The top six teams from Atlantic Canada competed for a spot in the upcoming U Sports Final 8 tournament in March. With a conference W/L ratio of 9-11, Memorial University’s Seahawks cemented their spot on the court.
Source: Atlantic University Sports Women’s Basketball
During Friday’s game, Memorial (6th place) faced off against Acadia (3rd place) in the quarterfinals. Remaining down going into the second half of the game, Memorial turned the momentum around and carried through for the win. With only three minutes left in the game, Alana Short secured a pair of free throws to make it 69-67, which kept Memorial ahead.
The game’s final score of 71-68 for the Sea-Hawks brought with it the Semi-Finals, where Memorial University was to play UNB’s Reds.
The last two seasons saw Memorial University defeated in the quarterfinals; Memorial made it to the Semi-Finals back in the 2020 season, and last won the entire tournament in back-to-back wins during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
With an early lead after the first quarter, the Seahawks put on the pressure for UNB’s second-place team. The game eventually came to an end with the Reds winning 71-48. The championship game was played with UNB vs Saint Mary’s, where the defending champions at Saint Mary’s took the win for the second year in a row.
Game 2 Memorial @ UNB Source: Udantha Chandraratne
The AUS Championship tournament brings the end of the 2023-2024 regular season for women’s basketball. With it, star players Rebecka Ekström, Hannah Green, Claire Hickman, Erin Long, and Alana Short get ready to say farewell, while celebrating all that they have accomplished. We look forward to your continued growth and success in everything you do. You wore the red and white proudly.
Pre-season for the 2024-2025 season will commence again in the fall.
The Lecturer’s Union of Memorial University (LUMUN) has released a response on their website to the University’s recent Newsline item about the ongoing bargaining process.
In the release, the University illustrates the financial package they offered LUMUN last Friday. They state that the package offers a wage increase that represents “a pay increase, by 2025, of 46% for those at the bottom of the current range ($5,000/course going to $7,312) and 25% for those at the top of the range ($5875/course going to $7,312).”
Better working conditions with regard to discipline and investigations is a key point that LUMUN has said was excluded from their package. Further stating that “Any language that they no longer wished to negotiate was intentionally excluded from the package, which itself contained very little language, most of which involved minor changes to the collective agreement.”
The University’s release includes a statement that their proposed wage increase will bring them to the average per-course rate for Atlantic Canada. LUMUN has countered that statement, saying, “Were we to strike, all of our members would be making more on the picket line than they would be earning this ‘average’ wage’.”
When reading Memorial’s Newsline statement, LUMUN asks we keep in mind “what has been left out of it, namely its ‘all-or-nothing’ nature and most of the outstanding language issues, and recognise it for what it is: an exercise in power by attempting to sway the University community in their favour, and an attempt to divide our membership ahead of any strike vote.”
The strike vote will take place on February 29th, more information to come.
To read LUMUN’s response in its entirety, the release can be found here: https://lumun.ca/2024/02/27/afraid-of-a-strike-lumuns-response-to-memorials-newsline-bargaining-proposal/
As well, their strike facts and FAQs page can be found here: https://lumun.ca/2024/02/23/lumun-strike-facts-and-faqs/
