Engaging and exciting events taking this month for students to explore
C/O @BHMatMac
Black History Month is an opportunity for conversation and to delve into parts of history that are often overlooked by many in Canada. It is also a chance to celebrate Black cultures and communities. The following is a list of events, all occurring virtually, taking place over the course of the next month.
FEB. 7 – FEB. 13
Black History Month Speakers Series —Day One Tues. Feb. 9, 7-8:30 p.m. ESTHosted by Ontario Black History Society, the first event of this series will feature film director and author Cheryl Foggo and author Lawrence Hill. This event is open to everyone in the community. Further information and registration details can be found here.
Black Muslim Jeopardy Night Thurs. Feb. 11, 6–7:30 p.m. EST
Hosted by the Muslim Student Association’s Anti-Black Racism Committee and McMaster’s Muslims for Peace and Justice, this exciting and engaging game night offers Black Muslim students the chance to connect with one another. Please note this event is closed to Black Muslim students. Further event details can be found here.
Relationship Summit Thurs. Feb. 11, 8:30–10 p.m. EST
Nu Omega Zeta, McMaster University’s first Black-focused sorority, hosts their annual Relationship Summit. The theme of this year’s event is “Love or Lust?”. The discussion will explore topics including the realities and complexities of modern love, black love and self-love in today’s society among others.
Please note this event is closed to racialized and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) students. Further details and registration information can be found here.
Noon Hour Concerts: Jackie Washington Day Fri. Feb. 12, 12-1 p.m. EST
Part of HPL’s Noon Hour Concerts series, this event features LTtheMonk, Santiago Rozo-Paz, Cam Watson and Lucas Hibbs in a celebration of multi-award winning Hamilton blues musician Jackie Washington. This event is open to all community members. Further information and registration details can be found here.
FEB. 14 – FEB. 20
The Real Truth: Black History in Islam Wed. Feb. 17, 7-8:00 p.m. EST
Hosted by the Muslim Student Association’s Anti-Racism Team, this event explores the often overlooked history of Black Muslims in Islam and hopes to create opportunities for important conversations. This event is open to everyone in the community. Further information and registration details can be found here.
Guest Speaker: Mario Rigby Thurs. Feb. 18, 1–2:00 p.m. EST
In an event hosted by the Hamilton Public Library and the Black History Month Committee of Hamilton, adventurer and author Mario Rigby shares stories about his travels. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer period. This event is open to everyone in the community. Further details and registration information can be found here.
Black History Month Speakers Series —Day Two Thurs. Feb. 18, 7–8:30 p.m. EST
The second day of the OBHS’ Black History Month Speaker Series. In this event, historians and curators from Black Historic Heritage sites will speak about their respective heritage sites and museums. This event is open to everyone in the community. Further information and registration details can be found here.
FEB. 21 – FEB. 27
Black History Month Speakers Series —Day Three Tues. Feb. 23, 7-8:30 p.m. EST
The third day of the OBHS’ Black History Month speaker series. This event will feature storytellers Sandra Whiting and Kesha Christie. This event is open to everyone in the community. Further information and registration details can be found here.
Sharlene Mollett– Tourism Troubles: Feminist political ecologies of land and body in the making of residential tourism space in Panama Wed. Feb. 24, 4-5:00 p.m. EST
University of Toronto human geography professor Sharlene Mollet’s talk will focus on Afro-Panamanian women’s participation in Bocas’ tourism enclave. For further details and registration information please reach out to [email protected] or [email protected].
Author-Led Online Book Club with Jael Richardson Fri. Feb. 26, 1-2:00 p.m. EST
Hosted by HPL, author Jael Richardson leads a discussion about her book Gutter Child. Gutter Child is set in a world where society is divided into the two groups: the privileged Mainland and the policed Gutter. Part of the Gutter, Elimina Dubois is one of 100 babies taken to be raised in the Mainland in a social experiment led by the Mainland government. This event is open to the community.
Further details and registration information can be found here.
Vie Division blends mainstream and old school hip-hop in online concept videos
Established in 2014, Vie Division is bringing old school hip-hop to a student audience. The semi-professional dance crew, which consists entirely of McMaster University students, hopes to create a community through dance in the Hamilton area.
As ‘vie’ means to strive towards a goal, their name signifies the group’s continuous progression towards their goals, whether they be in terms of personal growth or in dance.
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“We've always strived for helping each other towards goal setting. Early on in our term, we would set goals for each other, both as a person and as a dancer and we always try to work towards that,” said Addi San Juan, a Vie Division director and multimedia student.
Welcoming students from a variety of dance backgrounds, Vie Division focuses on a fusion of hip-hop and contemporary styles. Taking advantage of team members’ unique skill sets, the group has created a style that is uniquely their own.
“What we’re basically trying to do is just create an open community where you can share your ideas through dance. After high school, I was accepted onto Vie Division and I’ve just been growing and seeing and learning from there with my post-secondary community,” said Azia Naguit, a Vie Division director and fourth-year life sciences student.
“What we’re basically trying to do is just create an open community where you can share your ideas through dance."
Typically, the team plans their semester around regional hip-hop and urban dance competitions. Early in the fall semester, they select songs as a group and rehearse choreography until early spring. Working up to performances, they bring in Vie Division alumni to help with their creative process.
Due to COVID, Vie Division has recently shifted their focus from competition to video production and concept videos. The videos showcase Vie Division’s student choreography and experimentation with different styles of dance. In a recent concept video entitled Vie Throws It Back, the group experimented with house, waacking, vogue, dancehall, litefeet and traditional hip-hop techniques.
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As the group has adapted to the pandemic they’ve become more skilled with their filmography and video editing. In their most recent video, dancers unable to attend due to COVID protocols were inserted into the video seamlessly through videography by the group’s photographer and videographer Jacob Arcas.
For students looking to participate in dance classes, Vie Division has several free and paid online videos and workshops available. The group recently held their auditions for the winter semester and hope to hold a virtual showcase in the near future.
“We're super accommodating and welcoming to anyone who is interested in pursuing dance and giving them a light to see how it is possible [to balance dance and school] . . . As much as we are a dance team, we're also just a bunch of students trying to survive university, so we're definitely a huge support to each other as students and as people outside of dance,” explained Emma Powell, the Vie Division captain and fourth-year mechanical engineering and management student.
"As much as we are a dance team, we're also just a bunch of students trying to survive university, so we're definitely a huge support to each other as students and as people outside of dance,”
By watching and participating in what Vie Division has to offer, students get to explore dance culture through the ages.
Thomas Brasch’s popup photography installation is making art accessible in these dark days
Art is often something we turn to when things are difficult, something we seek comfort and solace in. Not only is art something bright during the dark days, but it also can tell us stories that help us to imagine brighter days for ourselves.
These stories become part of our own, giving us new courage and strength to face these trying times. One such story is Thomas Brasch’s popup photography installation at 267 King St. E., which is making art more accessible while also bringing some hope and light to Hamilton.
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Brasch graduated from McMaster University with an honours bachelor of arts in french literature and returned to McMaster to complete a master’s of business degree. He went on to become a high school teacher. During Brasch’s time as a teacher, he developed an interest in photography.
After retiring, he travelled extensively and began to explore and experiment further with photography. Brasch primarily takes photos of nature and architecture and then transforms them into these round images, similar to kaleidoscopes or mandalas.
“One curator said [to me] that mandalas are actually memory palaces and your walk through them [helps] you meditate. So again, it's this idea of calming . . . it’s not just the image. In fact, it's never about one image. It's about a whole series of images that actually tell the story,” explained Brasch.
"One curator said [to me] that mandalas are actually memory palaces and your walk through them [helps] you meditate. So again, it's this idea of calming . . . it’s not just the image. In fact, it's never about one image. It's about a whole series of images that actually tell the story."
Stories are important to Brasch and a large part of why he creates art is to share these stories. From a distance, each of his photos may be beautifully abstract but if one takes a closer look they may be able to recognize the original image and see the story built into it.
Recently, Brasch reconnected with one of his McMaster classmates, Maya Premlata Rao. She loved Brasch’s art and the current installation was her idea. The building where his installation currently is belongs to Rao. The installation features unsold pieces from two of Brasch’s previous collections, Out of Darkness and Tapestry.
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“I think the whole goal with Maya and I was to share this with people in Hamilton. Yes, initially, there was the allure of getting more exposure and maybe somebody would show an interest or something. [Maya] is one of these people who is into good energy and everything. There was a good energy coming off of this,” said Brasch.
This installation is Brasch’s way of giving something to the community during these trying times, but it has also helped him realize the need to make art more accessible, especially to those who would not be able to visit a gallery, even if we were not in lockdown.
This installation is Brasch’s way of giving something to the community during these trying times, but it has also helped him realize the need to make art more accessible, especially to those who would not be able to visit a gallery, even if we were not in lockdown.
When Brasch was first setting up the exhibition, a passerby stopped to admire the art and asked if Brasch had an artist’s postcard to share. He hadn’t planned on having one and as such didn’t have one to offer to this passerby.
“He said, “Well, I'm a little short of cash and I collect these” and that's when the veil got pulled away from my eyes. I had the big aha moment . . . I thought, “Here I am, I have the opportunity of sharing this art with somebody who actually enjoys it”,” explained Brasch.
Brasch strongly believes that art is meant to be shared. More than that though, he believes the stories behind art are also meant to be shared, particularly stories of hope.
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“The source image is from a prison, but the prison is the oldest prison in Uruguay. It closed in 1986 [and] it's become an art gallery. So it's that whole idea of something bad coming into something good. It’s a place for people, for creation, [for] freedom of expression. All of this is able to be there,” explained Brasch.
These kinds of stories are something he feels is sorely needed during these times, but more generally he hopes that people will come away from his art feeling a bit lighter and having found what they needed.
“I just want somebody to go and be able to take a look and just feel, even if it's just a little bit, a little bit of a feel-good moment. They may not know the whole story. They may not have checked the website or anything. If it looks like Christmas ornaments to them, that's fine,” said Brasch.
"I just want somebody to go and be able to take a look and just feel, even if it's just a little bit, a little bit of a feel-good moment. They may not know the whole story. They may not have checked the website or anything. If it looks like Christmas ornaments to them, that's fine."
The current installation will be on display until the end of February.
Hamilton photographer demonstrates the importance of exploration through photos
On Jan. 1, 2020, lifestyle and boudoir photographer Iryna Kostichin posted her first photo of Hamilton to her then-new Instagram page, 365 Days Of Hamont. The photo of the residential street was the first step in a project intended to showcase all that Hamilton has to offer.
Although Kostichin was born and raised in Hamilton, she didn’t truly start exploring the city until after she graduated from McMaster University in 2017 with a degree in social psychology. She moved out for the first time and was figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. It was in the period of self-discovery after graduation that she began exploring the city.
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During this time, she also returned to photography, a passion of hers from childhood that she had put aside as a viable career choice.
“A few years ago, I was in a really rough spot. I was graduated and I had a degree and I was in a job that I really didn't like . . . and I was like “I really don't want to do this for the rest of my life. I need to find something where I work for myself and I'm responsible for everything, job-wise”. So I ended up getting a social media coordinator job and then that year I was exploring portrait photography," said Kostichin.
Kostichin wanted to put her social media skills towards a project that showcases her hometown’s beauty and combats its bad reputation, leading to 365 Days of Hamont. To gather the photos for the page, she goes on a few weekly adventure walks, taking pictures of places and objects she passes. Her goal is to show various representations of Hamilton, from the buildings to nature to food.
Kostichin wanted to put her social media skills towards a project that showcases her hometown’s beauty and combats its bad reputation, leading to 365 Days of Hamont.
The project began as a commitment to posting daily in 2020, but over the year, this plan changed as Kostichin found the daily commitment challenging. Now over a year after the project began, Kostichin is a little over halfway through her original 365 days.
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The pandemic also limited how much she was able to explore the city because she doesn’t have a car. It has also been difficult to explore new destinations when lockdowns have closed many places in Hamilton. However, despite these challenges, Kostichin is looking forward to diving back into the project this year.
“So definitely next steps are continuing on this journey and not putting so much pressure on myself to do it every single day . . . I started out thinking I was going to post every day and get all this engagement and get to the end of 365 days, right? But realistically I haven't reached that and exploring Hamilton really isn't only a 365-day project. So I can live a whole lifetime and still not see the whole city, which is exciting I guess. So I'm just excited to continue to carry the torch and help others explore the city,” said Kostichin.
"So I can live a whole lifetime and still not see the whole city, which is exciting I guess. So I'm just excited to continue to carry the torch and help others explore the city."
For students in Hamilton that are looking to explore, Kostichin suggests taking it one neighbourhood at a time. Especially during COVID, she suggests picking a neighbourhood and just walking around it.
As her exploration of the city is tied to her self-exploration, the latter is also very important to Kostichin. Through her boudoir photography business, she is encouraging individuals to explore new parts of themselves. Her own journey from social psychology major to full-time photographer and business owner is proof of the importance of self-discovery.
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“I use psychology in my day-to-day life. Even in a social media job, a lot of it is psychology. Then being in a social media job also using photography and really discovering that aspect of myself and bringing it back and now I'm actually going to be like a full-time photographer this year and start my own business. So just because people tell you [that you] can't do it really doesn't mean you can't do it, because here I am with a university degree and I'm making money from something that I taught myself,” said Kostichin.
"So just because people tell you [that you] can't do it really doesn't mean you can't do it, because here I am with a university degree and I'm making money from something that I taught myself."
Kostichin’s story shows that with hard work and a little exploration, students might be able to turn their time at McMaster into the life of their dreams.
Transmit to these virtual and physically distanced events during your winter break
As the holidays approach, snow blankets the streets, colourful lights twinkle as they adorn the outline of houses and the smell of Pillsbury’s cookies fills the air. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the provincial government to not allow large social gatherings, the spirit of the holidays lives on.
There are still many virtual and physically distanced events that can help you recover from stressful exams and reconnect with the community. Whether you are in Hamilton or on the other side of the world, there is something for everyone in this list of eight winter events happening in Hamilton.
1. The Holidays, Mental Health & COVID-19
Wondering how to manage all the changes this holiday season? This webinar from the Hamilton branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association is taking place on Dec. 15 at 1:00 p.m. It will take a deeper look at how the COVID-19 has and will impact the 2020 holiday season. The webinar will give concrete strategies to maintain your mental health and stay connected to your loved ones during the holidays.
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2. Ushi Mart Winter Holiday Market
Ushi Mart is hosting a physically distanced in-person winter market at The Cotton Factory from Nov. 28 to Dec. 28. A wide variety of local vendors will be selling art, jewelry, housewares, clothing and trinkets. Tickets are $5, and customers will need to book their visit ahead of time as only five visitors can enter per hour. All proceeds from the market will go toward Wesley Urban Ministries, a non-profit organization that offers support to those who are homeless or living in poverty in the Hamilton, Halton and Brantford regions.
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3. Christmas Store & Tree Farm
Until Dec. 22, you can cut your own or purchase a pre-cut Christmas Tree at Merry Farms on Concession Road. It’s a 176-acre farm also popular for its corn maze and pumpkin patch in the fall. Reservations must be made in advance through their website. They also have a Christmas store on-site where you can find unique items to decorate your house. On Dec. 12 and 13, Merry Farms is offering on-site food service by The Rockton Lions Club.
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4. Art Gallery of Hamilton Film Series
If you are on the hunt for a new show or movie to watch, join the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s Online Film Series from the comfort of your home. The series, which is available for a fee, will last throughout December, and you can stream films such as God of the Piano, Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack and Rocks. Check out their website for more information about when the tickets for each film will become available.
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5. Supercrawl Livestream Series
Although Supercrawl was cancelled this year due to the pandemic, they are hosting a series of livestreamed performances every weekend until the end of December. The virtual concerts, which are held through Facebook, are free. Upcoming performances include Tim Hicks, The Dirty Nil and Terra Lightfoot.
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6. Royal Botanical Garden Express
Hop on the Royal Botanical Garden Express train through Hendrie Park, which is decorated for the season with beautiful holiday lights. Hendrie Park is the largest cultivated garden area at Royal Botanical Gardens with 12 different themed spaces. Tickets can be purchased at the main doors and the rides will remain open until Jan. 3.
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7. Goodbody Feel December Workshops
Goodbodyfeel is offering various virtual workshops for self-care, self-love and self-compassion during the holidays. You can learn about restorative postures, how to do a guided self-massage, how to bake seasonal treats, participate in an online dance party and more. Different workshops will be held each week from Dec. 12 until Dec. 31 to help you destress and relax.
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There is no better way to put yourself in a festive mood than listening to holiday music. The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Quintet will perform holiday classics and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah on Dec. 18. The performance will be available to watch online until Jan. 18, 2021. This concert is part of the orchestra’s Hamilton Series and tickets are available for $27.
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The Hamilton-based project Filipinas of HamONT is using interviews and surveys to find and connect the community
There are not enough spaces in Hamilton where BIPOC feel that they belong. BIPOC in the Steel City often feel disconnected from their heritage, their history and their community.
This is a problem that Anabelle Ragsag and Jessica Vinluan are hoping that folks in Hamilton with Filipino heritage will one day no longer have to face. They are helping to tackle the problem with their community-engaged project, Filipinas of HamONT.
Ragsag is an author and educator with a background in politics who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 2009. Vinluan is a teacher, the founder of BIPOC youth organization Redefine Twenty and a second-generation Filipina-Canadian who was born and raised in Hamilton.
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With their different backgrounds, they have made their project Filipinas of HamONT for all Filipinas in the city of Hamilton, whether they were born and raised in the city, a naturalized citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer or just passing by as is the case for many students.
They have made their project Filipinas of HamONT for all Filipinas in the city of Hamilton, whether they were born and raised in the city, a naturalized citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer or just passing by as is the case for many students.
The pair met in early 2020 at a Reaching for Power workshop, an initiative that teaches BIPOC women and non-binary individuals how to make a positive change in their communities. After the workshop series ended, Ragsag and Vinluan began in June 2020 to think about creating a project for the Filipina community. In fall 2020, they received a microgrant for the project and began sharing it with the larger community in November.
The project initially consisted of a survey designed to map where Filipinas in Hamilton are located. The survey asks for participants’ demographic information including: their highest completed education level; the province in the Philippines that any member of their family is from; if they are working, the industry in which they are employed; and the effect that COVID-19 has had on their livelihood.
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The survey results will be shared to show where Filipinas in Hamilton are. As Filipinas began immigrating to Hamilton in the 1960s to build the health sector, Ragsag and Vinluan anticipated that many of the Filipinas that participate in their survey will work in this area. However, they began to find Filipinas outside of this sector when they decided to complement their survey with interviews with Hamilton-based Filipinas.
“[E]specially being born and raised in Hamilton, I didn't really think that I could see Filipinas in different spaces and I think to be able to see that . . . like, “oh, you're not just in the health sector, there's other avenues that maybe I can take if I see myself in them” . . . [The project is] validating that it's not just in the health sector, but like other aspects as well and other spaces that Filipinos are taking up,” said Vinluan.
"[The project is] validating that it's not just in the health sector, but like other aspects as well and other spaces that Filipinos are taking up," said Vinluan.
Ragsag and Vinluan have completed eight of the 10 interviews that they aimed to do. They shared the first interview on Nov. 13, 2020 and will continue to share them until March 2021. The interview series neatly exemplifies the intention behind the project: they want to share stories of leadership, empowerment and living between two cultures.
“I grew up and it was very white-dominated spaces. I think that, as a Filipina, I felt like I didn't belong in a lot of the spaces . . . I felt like I couldn't have these kinds of conversations around dual identity and things that I feel like I had difficulties navigating. So, when Anabelle brought up the idea of starting Filipinas of HamONT through the YWCA project, I was so excited because I know there's a lot of these kinds of community collectives in Toronto . . . but I also feel like I don't belong because it's Toronto and I'm from Hamilton,” explained Vinluan.
Based on the feedback from some of their interviewees, Ragsag and Vinluan are working towards running online events that will enable them to continue the important conversations they began in the interviews. They are considering running a book club where they would read works by Filipino authors and hosting workshops on the history of the Philippines.
“I saw that a lot of second and multiple generations of those with Filipino roots have this thirst to know more about what it is like. What does it mean if I don't speak Filipino, if I don't speak Tagalog, am I still Filipino? Because of my teaching background . . . I thought that's something that I can do. That is something that I can contribute to the community,” said Ragsag.
“I saw that a lot of second and multiple generations of those with Filipino roots have this thirst to know more about what it is like. What does it mean if I don't speak Filipino, if I don't speak Tagalog, am I still Filipino?" said Ragsag.
However, in starting this project, Ragsag and Vinluan do not intend to take away from the work done by established Filipino organizations in Hamilton. They recognize the importance of churches, cultural gatherings, all-Filipino sports tournaments and student organizations such as the Filipino McMaster Student Association. They aim to work alongside these organizations to connect the Filipina community.
Despite the name, Ragsag and Vinluan are not completely closing the project to woman-identifying individuals. The project is intended to evolve with community needs.
“We see that our being here in Canada is rooted to that history of a feminized migration . . . So I think it started from there but at the same time, the project is an evolving one – it's not set in stone — and we are aware that identities are fluid, as well . . . the role of those who don't identify as male or female have been there in history but they [were] erased by colonization. That is one of the topics that we want to discuss: what is it in our history that was erased? Can we uncover them?” said Ragsag.
Ragsag and Vinluan hope that this project will enable them and other Hamilton-based Filipinas to continue learning more about their history and heritage. By having these conversations with their community and connecting with established organizations, the project will help ensure that every Filipina in Hamilton feels they belong.
WHAT IS IT
Gold Bars Dessert is a travelling dessert shop that opened in March 2020. From butter tart bars to brownies, the shop specializes in dessert bars. Gold Bars Dessert offers holiday-themed bars and uses seasonal ingredients.
They offered Easter egg brownies around Easter, peach cobbler bars during Ontario’s peach season in August, pumpkin spice bars in October and are currently selling holiday cranberry bars and candy crunch brownies for the holiday season.
Gold Bars Dessert has also partnered with the Hamilton-based specialty coffee company Detour Coffee to offer their whole beans. Gold Bars sells espresso and medium roast, which were handpicked to pair with their dessert bars.
The dessert business combines owner Germaine Collins’ love of adventure with her love of sweets. The adventure lover has created a business that allows her to travel and connect to people through food.
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HOW TO GET IT
While the shop doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar location, they frequent farmers’ markets and host pop-up shops. In the summer and early fall of 2020, Gold Bars Desserts was a weekly vendor at Connon Nurseries’ Fall Farmers’ Market in Waterdown. They also did a Christmas pop-up at Connon Nurseries on Nov. 28. Check their website and social media to find out where they’ll be next.
When they are not at a market, Gold Bars dessert does local doorstep drop-offs. If you’re located in the Greater Hamilton area, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga or Toronto, you can order online for next-weekend delivery. The delivery days are announced on their website and on their social media.
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THE COST
At markets, you can buy individual bars for $3. For doorstep drop-offs, Gold Bars Desserts sells the boxes of bars on their website. A box of nine bars is $20 to $25 depending on the type. Each bar is about the size of a coaster. The delivery is an additional $5.
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WHAT TO GET
You really can’t go wrong with any of these dessert bars. They’re all decadent, filling and beautifully decorated. I would definitely recommend the OG brownie if you’re a chocolate fan because even after a couple of days, the brownie is still moist and rich inside. If you’re not a chocolate fan, I’d recommend the blondies or lemon bars.
If there is a seasonal dessert bar when you’re looking to purchase, definitely try that. I tried the cranberry holiday bars and it gave Starbucks’ cranberry bliss bars a run for its money.
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WHY IT'S GREAT
Gold Bars Desserts is perfect for the sweet tooth who adores a large, classic brownie or dessert bar. The variety of flavours and the seasonal creations make it an exciting business to visit month after month.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the perfect way to support a small business and satisfy your sweet tooth without having to leave your house. Having Collins visit my house on a Sunday afternoon to deliver me handmade sweets was the highlight of my weekend. With the pretty packaging and Collins’ handwritten notes, Gold Bars Dessert bars make the perfect gift for your loved ones.
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Fourth-year student Abi Oladesu is beautifying clients through her business Desu Beauty
Abi Oladesu has been doing makeup for most of her life. She started having fun with her mother’s makeup from the age of 10 and decided a few years later to challenge herself to increase her skills. She did someone else’s makeup for the first time when she was about 16.
During her second year at McMaster University, the biochemistry student started thinking about taking makeup more seriously. However, it wasn’t until she was quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic that she decided to take the leap and start her business, Desu Beauty on Oct. 30, 2020.
There are three components to Oladesu’s business. As she has received many requests for makeup tutorials and enjoys teaching, she decided that she would post makeup tutorials on Instagram and offer beginner and intermediate lessons.
The second part of her business involves posting her own makeup looks in order to improve her skills and show clients what she can do. Lastly, she does makeup for clients’ weddings, photoshoots, proms, graduations and other events.
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It is important to Oladesu that when she does clients’ makeup, she isn’t turning them into a different person but highlighting the best parts of them. This goal stems in part from her own experience with makeup. When Oladesu was a preteen and early teenager, she used makeup as a way of hiding her face. Now she uses makeup to accentuate her features and seeks to do the same for her clients.
“Obviously nobody wants that for themselves, but I don't think there's anything necessarily bad about [being self-conscious] in the sense that we all feel self-conscious once in a while. We're in a society where the beauty standards are very high and they change all the time, but it's important to remember . . . you're the one that at the end of the day determines your worth to other people,” said Oladesu.
"We're in a society where the beauty standards are very high and they change all the time, but it's important to remember . . . you're the one that at the end of the day determines your worth to other people," said Oladesu.
This mission is embedded in the name of Oladesu’s business. While she originally called it Desu Beauty as a reference to the last four letters of her last name, she realized upon reflection that it had a deeper meaning for her.
“I'm a very large fan of anime and so desu . . . basically means “to be” . . . I am [also] Christian [and] in the Bible, it's like “we are beautifully and wonderfully made” . . . So to be that beautifully and wonderfully creative person, you have to love yourself in every aspect, whether that's with wearing your natural face out and being super proud of it or getting the skills to do your makeup really well so that every time you look in the mirror . . . you’re like, “wow, I feel beautiful, I know I'm beautiful.” . . . I want you to be the best version of yourself or at least to look at yourself and be like "wow, I feel like that beautifully and wonderfully made person,"” explained Oladesu.
Since she started, Oladesu has received positive reception and a lot of support from family and friends. Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic has decreased the number of events for which people would get their makeup done. At the same time, Oladesu credits the pandemic with giving her the time to start her business.
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Oladesu also sees online classes as a blessing for her since she started her business. Instead of spending all day on campus and then doing makeup appointments, she can better make her own schedule by doing makeup during the day and watching recorded lectures afterwards. Managing the business alongside her demanding degree and other commitments has also encouraged her to better prioritize her time.
Oladesu looks forward to continuing to grow her following and reach more people through her business. As she will be graduating soon, she is considering how she might integrate her love of makeup into her career.
“I'm definitely a cautious person so . . . right now, I definitely am going to finish my biochemistry degree and I'm going to see if I could get a job with that. But working with makeup has gotten me interested in cosmetics in general so [maybe] I can mix my biochemistry major with cosmetics and then possibly go into formulation or something along those lines,” said Oladesu.
"I definitely am going to finish my biochemistry degree and I'm going to see if I could get a job with that. But working with makeup has gotten me interested in cosmetics in general."
To other students with a skill they are considering turning into a business, Oladesu says to just start. She recalls that she felt the need to have high-quality foundations in every colour before she began her business. However, since she started, all her clients have used colours that she had already had.
“There's nothing wrong with humble beginnings. You don't have to have everything, you don't have to have the best of everything," Oladesu said. "It's better to just start because honestly, I feel like people appreciate watching you grow and watching you improve.”
Piper & Carson’s second album Edgewalker’s Remedy is about divesting from colonist structures
By: Tracy Huynh, Contributor
For singer-songwriter duo Piper & Carson, music is about disarming people, building community and creating intentional art that heals. They sought to embody these ideals in their second album, Edgewalker’s Remedy, which was released on Oct. 23, 2020.
Piper & Carson is the stage name of duo and couple Piper Hayes and Carson Ritcey-Thorpe. Hayes and Ritcey-Thorpe met when Hayes, who was raised in the east end of Toronto, was performing at a Harvest Bash in Ritcey-Thorpe’s hometown of Millgrove.
Feeling a deep connection with the land and the community, the two moved to Hamilton five years ago. In 2017, they released their self-titled debut album, Piper & Carson. The theme of nature is apparent throughout their music, with sounds of water and birds underlying the melody.
Their second album, Edgewalker’s Remedy, is about divesting from capitalist and colonial systems. The title paints a picture of how colonialism pushes groups of people to the edges of society. Tackling themes of anti-racism, Indigenous sovereignty and respecting the Earth, the album is strikingly relevant to the topics currently explored by media today.
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For example, in Mother’s Prayer, background heartbeat sounds, vivid imagery and lyrics such as “Decolonize your mind/You don’t own anything” bring attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s clear from the first listen that this duo isn’t trying to shy away from topics that spark conversation.
“We felt really strongly that it's really our responsibility as settlers here to be part of anti-racism and to be part of amplifying the voices of Indigenous people. It's people [and] it's communities that are going to change things. I have very very little faith in the current structures that are in place,” said Hayes.
The duo has been amplifying Indigenous voices by sharing content from Indigenous activists on their social media platforms. However, they aim to create a long-term exit strategy from social media.
“For years it has felt imperative as musicians to have a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account. Lately, however we are questioning this reasoning and wondering what better ways we can collectively invest in each other and our relationships,” said Hayes and Ritcey-Thorpe in a press release.
Wanting to further reject the predatory capitalist practices of the music industry, Hayes and Ritcey-Thorpe did not put the album on streaming platforms. Instead, the album is available on their website and Bandcamp in a pay-what-you-can model. They wanted to make decisions centred around their art, rather than around what would do well on the market.
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The project also includes a companion book of lyrics and stories for “adult children.” The book features custom illustrations by Métis artist and friend of the couple Riley Bee. The physical and digital versions of the book are available on their website.
“Our goal is to just get us all collectively to slow down, reflect and hopefully seek out the connection to this natural world, to step into that as much as possible and build and foster wonder,” said Ritcey-Thorpe.
Hayes and Ritcey-Thorpe recorded their latest album in their Hamilton home in the midst of the pandemic. For the pair who are used to performing live, this was new territory. With the help of their friends, Greyson Gritt and Chris Bartos, the duo navigated the challenges of learning new equipment, setting up their home studio and working digitally with other artists.
It was important for the duo to collaborate with artists like The Rough and Tumble and Lacey Hill. They found that the digital space combined with the insights of other artists allowed for creative and serendipitous ways of building a song.
Piper & Carson are livestreaming a show on Nov. 29, 2020. As with their other work, tickets are being sold using a pay-what-you-can model. Hayes and Ritcey-Thorpe are going to use the show to serenade, tell stories and connect with their guests. Through this show, they continue to build community with their music even during the pandemic.
The Wig Hall is an opportunity for students to try something new with their hair
After years of wearing the same hairstyles, second-year kinesiology student Inès Ndzana wanted to switch it up. Inspired by celebrities wearing wigs and weaves, Ndzana got a wig made when she was in Grade 11 and loved it.
A few years later, Ndzana learned how to make her own wigs and opened her business in October 2020. The Wig Hall offers custom wig construction as well as wig colouring and styling for ready-made wigs.
“I was always wearing wigs, switching it up. I just liked it. I have my curly one if I want to have fun. I have my short one if I want to be serious and professional. And I just liked how quickly I could switch it up,” explained Ndzana.
As someone who has always enjoyed challenging herself and learning new things, Ndzana had started exploring how to make wigs in early 2020. However, it was not until the early months of the pandemic that she had an opportunity to really dive into it and perfect her process. Using her mother’s sewing machine, she taught herself how to sew and made her first few wigs.
During her first year at McMaster University, she had also noticed that many of her friends would make trips back home just to get their hair done because they couldn’t find a stylist around campus or weren’t comfortable having their hair done by someone new.
“My friends always go back home to do their hair. I'm learning a new skill and I want to give out, you know? If I have the skill, I want to do it . . . There's obviously still room to grow, but for the most part, I feel like I perfected my wig making and I was like "okay, why not bring this to Mac? Why not bring this to campus so that girls don't always have to go so far if they want wigs or stuff like that?"” said Ndzana.
The Wig Hall is very much a student business for students. For example, one barrier Ndzana identified that might prevent those interested in wigs from trying them was the financial cost, as custom wigs can often be very expensive. So it’s very important to her that her business is accessible to students.
At its core, The Wig Hall is about giving people an opportunity to try new things, to take a leap of faith and to find something new that makes them feel good and comfortable in their own skin.
“I just hope that someone comes in and sees the style they've never tried and gets that style and they walk away loving it. Or they've never gotten colour on their head and they walk away loving it . . . I want everyone to walk away loving it, feeling inspired and just seeing it and be like, "I want to try that" or "we're gonna switch it up’ or ‘I'll get a longer length" or "I’ll go really short this time,"” said Ndzana.
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Speaking of leaps of faith, starting The Wig Hall was a huge leap of faith for Ndzana. Initially, she had been nervous about the launch, unsure if anyone would be interested in her business, but it seems she needn’t have worried. The reception so far has been incredibly positive, which has been especially heartening.
She’s so glad now that she took that leap and encourages other students to do the same if they have an idea.
“If you have an idea and if you want to do something, you should absolutely do it because it's scary and it's daunting and it's anxious, but once you do start and once you get the ball rolling, it is very fun and you learn a lot of things and you enjoy the ride. So I would say if you have an idea, work on that idea, start it and a lot can come from it,” said Ndzana.
Through The Wig Hall, Ndzana is making wigs more accessible to students and giving them an opportunity to try something new. But more than that, her business is also an incredible example of the good things that can come from taking a leap of faith.
