After a few unexpected returns of the winter weather this season, Hamilton is finally starting to come out of hibernation. With increased foot traffic downtown and the Gore Park fountain no longer running dry, the city has been overcome with a sense of vitality.
Yet there’s something different about Hamilton beyond new additions to City Hall and the flourishing gardens. I would say that much of what makes the city what it is, what defines its character and uniqueness, can be found in its people.
And sometimes more specifically on its people.
I sat on a bench overlooking King Street West with a friend trying to define what the city’s style is. He was born and raised in Hamilton, wears mismatched socks and isn’t shy of the few wears and stains on his denim shorts.
On the other hand, I was raised in Mississauga where I have not so fond memories of feeling the social pressure to always dress my best, especially if it was for a trip to the mall. This is in stark contrast to what I often see at Jackson Square, where people unapologetically dress in any way they want.
There is diversity in people’s style, but there’s an underlying attitude that seems consistent across the board. Pardon me when I say this, but a lot of people simply don’t give a shit.
I was walking along James Street North when a guy in head to toe blue and orange flannel caught my eye. I got to know him as Sean Gratton, a filmmaker, actor and musician, who was strolling around that day in his ‘I don’t give a shit about society outfit’.
To gather more evidence to support the notion that Hamilton indeed doesn’t give a shit, I spoke with Becky Katz, artist, musician and Director of Outreach at Center3, who also happens to manage the Square Wear (@square_where) Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhzpDlmnXY1/?taken-by=square_where
Square Wear chronicles the unique fashions of Jackson Square and surrounding areas. It surfaced in 2016, years after Katz and her friend, Victoria, came up with the idea late one night while in university.
Katz has captured quite a few people that give Hamilton character. She often photographs a lady named Margaret, often recognizing her from her colourful attire and shopping cart decorated in ribbons and sunflowers. She met Alyshia and Ricki last spring as they carried their two pet birds and a guinea pig for a stroll to the Bayfront.
Eye-catching fur coats, outfits that push the limits of patterns and layering, eccentric pieces and repurposed pajamas often make up the Jackson Square fashion scene.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgKO164FgsD/?taken-by=square_where
Katz paid homage to Hamilton’s attitude in Sweat Pant City, a screen printed series in collaboration with Matt McInnes that was included in the 2013 Waysgoose anthology.
“Hamilton’s [style] is wearing whatever the hell you want…there are certainly a lot of people who do try to be cool, but at Jackson Square you do see a lot of people who couldn’t care less. I love that so much, especially when their fashion sense shines through that and it’s just inherent in them,” explained Katz.
Kiera Boult is a regular on Square Wear, she pays no mind to the practicality or occasion, always dressing in what makes her feel like the boss she is.
“I dress like a crow built a nest. The shinier the better… If it is embellished and heavy with sequins or jewels I’m going to buy it, even if it doesn’t fit me,” explained Boult.
Her current favourite item is a seafoam green vinyl miniskirt, but that piece is almost retired. According to Boult, everything has its moment and if you want to look your best you can’t wear outfits competitively ever again.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ1br0QHwpc/?taken-by=square_where
Boult describes Hamilton as dressing like its 1987, a year notable for Black Monday, when stock markets around the world crashed and it was around the same time Hamilton settled into a recession as Dofasco and Stelco cut thousands of jobs.
“There’s a post-industrial feel [to the way people dress], it’s kind of gritty, vintage, second-hand, and worn,” explained Boult.
Boult has a point, but despite the city’s strange style, it’s deeply endearing. There are no rules or fashion faux pas to fear because there are no shits given in this city.
Ken Hall stepped foot onto this campus in 1951. After graduating from the Honours Geography program in 1955 and following a dedicated teaching career, he became the only two-term president of the McMaster Alumni Association in twenty years. During that time, he led a program which links female graduates to first year female students-in-residence.
Hall is also a founding member of the Student Recruiting Committee, has created an annual leadership conference on campus for high school students and is a co-founder and first president of the Geography Alumni Branch. Being a wearer of many hats, he will soon be adding a graduate’s cap to the collection during the upcoming Social Science convocation ceremony where Hall will be receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Law.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What was McMaster like back then?
Having four major buildings that were here on campus at that time was a little bit confusing, getting to classes and things of that nature. You didn't quite know where to go when you first came in. No one instructs you and tells you “hey, this is where you're going”. So, you're hunting around the first couple of days to figure out where you are and what to do and so on.
It was basically all boys. Not saying that there weren't girls here. There were some some girls here in nursing program things that sort it but it was basically boys. That's the way the university was at that particular time. It's not the way it's not the way it should be, but that's the way it was then.
What is the biggest change on campus today?
The thing the thing that really amazes me about McMaster is how it has changed with the school’s population. Right now, you get people here from all over the world who come in and go to the university. There are a lot more women at the university now, too. I really think that's going in the right direction. It's just my feeling of what a university should be. I mean, you're taking your courses but a lot of the things that you do [at university] are exchanging information with other students.
When you have all these people coming in from all over the world, it’s just a wonderful opportunity to mix with them and get their feelings on things. It enriches your experience being here when that's done. It's not easy to do. I guess on campus people tend to stay in their little groups, but there are ways of breaking through on that.
Tell me about your time here at Mac.
My parents had moved to Montreal and I said I wanted to go to Mac, and this is a depression year. It wasn't the time where your parents are working to provide money for you to go to university. If you got here, you got here on your own. My dad got me a job at the Canadian National Railway at that time, [working the] five to one shift. So, I was at the university until four o'clock and then went right down to the to the CNR to work. It was tiring, and it wasn't exactly the way I expected it to be because it was a tiring experience.
There were times when I could get time off to do certain events that were were going on around campus, but I was going to work all the time and at one o'clock at night when I'd be coming home, I'd be trying to do my homework. So, I can't say "well, I had lots of fun playing cards”. It wasn't part of my life at all coming in here. I got through it, but it was it was a struggle. It really was a struggle for me.
What is one piece of advice you would give to students today?
The one thing I want to point out to them, that I think one of the key things at university, besides all the learning you put in, is making friendships. That's the key thing. In my experience, you can't do very much in this world unless you have a lot of friends to help you. So, I would say that's the thing to get the most out of in university.
On March 20, Hamilton Bike Share hosted a group event called "Three years on two wheels" to celebrate their birthday.
https://www.facebook.com/TheMcMasterSilhouette/videos/10156197677045987/
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During the next two weeks, students will be invited to participate in Your City Survey 3.0, the third version of an MSU survey aimed at collecting feedback about McMaster students’ perceptions and experiences in Hamilton.
The survey was developed by the MSU in 2011 in response to students’ growing misconceptions about Hamilton, such as the idea that Hamilton cannot compete with metropolises like Toronto and Montreal. It asked students to report on their beliefs about Hamilton’s job market and cultural scene, their experiences in the city and the likelihood that they would live in Hamilton after graduating from the university.
The first Your City Survey revealed that most McMaster students had a negative perception of Hamilton and believed its job market and culture scene were largely inaccessible.
“It is evident that students don't believe that Hamilton offers the opportunities that they think it should offer,” read part of the report. “With 58 per cent being the biggest discrepancy, it is evident that student believe that not enough job opportunities are available to them.”
In light of these results, the MSU proposed the creation of new jobs by the Hamilton municipal government and improved promotion of Hamilton’s natural beauty and culture scene.
In 2015, the Your City Survey was updated to find out whether students’ perceptions and experiences of Hamilton had improved since the first version of the survey was released.
According to an MSU report, the responses in the 2015 Your City Survey 2.0 were more promising compared to those garnered from the first Your City Survey.
“Compared to the 2011 survey, there seems to have been a marked improvement in students’ attitudes regarding Hamilton as a viable option for their future,” read part of the report. “There is still a large percentage of students in the Maybe and No categories, so we encourage the city to continue working to increase graduate retention.”
Yet, while the report highlighted that students’ perceptions of Hamilton became more positive, it also noted that there are areas where community engagement can still be improved.
“Students still clearly believe that McMaster does a better job of advertising opportunities for students in Hamilton, and also that McMaster’s efforts have improved more significantly in the past four years than the city of Hamilton,” read part of the report.
In addition, as a result of a lack of time and awareness, students continue to be deterred from gaining new cultural experiences in Hamilton.
According to Stephanie Bertolo, the MSU associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), Your City 3.0 will be modified to focus more on transit, neighbourhood safety, and perceptions of Hamilton as a place to live after graduating from the university.
In addition, as the latest Your City Survey contained questions related to tourism in Hamilton, which generally did not concern the commuter student population, Your City Survey 3.0 will ask commuter students specifically about their unique situation and perspective.
The survey is being developed by the municipal affairs committee and overseen by Bertolo and Ryan Deshpande, MSU vice president (Education).
“These questions will help us collect more valuable data from students, which will be useful in informing the policies next year's Education Team will likely be rewriting on student housing and student engagement and retention,” said Bertolo.
The survey will be available until May 15 on the MSU website.
When Robin Lamarr was 19 years old, she purchased a 30-day pass to a Toronto yoga studio and instantly fell in love. She later became a certified yoga and Pilates instructor, delving deeper into the mindful movement practice and learning new ways to help others feel good in their bodies.
She became fascinated with integrating functional range conditioning, strength and mobilizing exercises, as well as dance, into the yoga atmosphere. Lamarr teaches movement in a way that allows attendees to tap into how they’re feeling in the moment, rather than focusing on what they look like.
Dr. Emily Bennett grew up appreciating movement and dance, but her heart was set on attending medical school. After a traumatic experience with an illness, she was introduced to a naturopath who helped her develop a better understanding of her body and the root causes of her illness.
Bennett found reassurance and comfort in the unique whole-system approach naturopathic medicine takes to address illness and wellness. The experience inspired her to change careers and pursue naturopathy.
Bennett wanted to take a more holistic, welcoming and community-based approach to make complementary medicine more accessible. She started her own private sliding scale practice where fees are adjusted based on the patient’s ability to pay.
Her private practice prospered and Bennett was able to open the Inland Island Community Wellness Centre on the corner of King Street West and Locke Street. Since 2015, Inland Island has been offering community acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, therapies and workshops all on a sliding scale.
After learning about Bennett’s commitment to decreasing financial and social barriers to wellness, Lamarr was inspired to approach her with an opportunity to collaborate. They connected and thrived off of one another’s energy.
“If you’ve ever gone to Inland Island, it’s so welcoming, it doesn’t matter what you look like, what age you are, how much money you have, you feel welcomed in her space. Those are the sorts of values that we want to put forth,” explained Lamarr.
Soon enough, the idea of a few workshops grew into the Ritual Island collective, where Bennett focused on delivering workshops and community programming relating to naturopathy and nutrition, while Lamarr focused on movement offerings.
“Wellness [practices] continue to be inaccessible to most people for a variety of reasons, not just financial. [Some people feel] like they’re not welcomed in these spaces or classes. Ritual Island is a collective that aims to explore barriers to access and it’s important to do this so everybody can benefit,” explained Bennett.
Bennett has been running a variety of workshops around the city, from smoothie making workshops that deploy properties from traditional Chinese medicine to eating right for the season and prenatal classes.
Lamarr started off teaching classes at Little Big Bowl, a downtown restaurant, once a week last summer. Even though she was new to Hamilton, the response from the community was overwhelmingly positive. Attendance continued to grow at her workshops and other businesses started joining the movement.
“There were times when I didn’t know if what I was doing was good enough to warrant a following outside of a studio, but every time I host a class and people show up, it reaffirms that I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing and that what I’m sharing does have value,” explained Lamarr.
Now Lamarr can be found teaching R&B Pilates at Sous Bas, core dynamics at De La Sol Yoga, pay-what-you-can Pilates at OM on Locke, and Ritual Flow at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on a weekly basis.
“Everyone deserves to feel amazing in their bodies. Our body is the only vessel in which we get to experience this life. We [should] all learn and get tools to feel amazing in our experience,” said Lamarr.
As the Ritual Island community continues to thrive, Bennett and Lamarr have big plans to evolve Inland Island, including Bennett’s private practice and the other practitioners at the Community Wellness Centre, under one roof with Ritual Island in the future.
“We are definitely working towards having a truly collaborative space where Emily and I can both [practice in]. … We are working towards having a space big enough to house the dreams and community that we’ve been building,” explained Lamarr.
While they are looking for a more permanent home for Ritual Island, Bennett and Lamarr hope to continue collaborating with business and host satellite popups around the city. The duo will continue to bring people together to work towards better access to wellness to the city of Hamilton.
C/O Anna Wiesen
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By: Ileena Ke
On Jan. 20, thousands of people took to the streets to protest in favour of women’s rights, and Hamilton was no exception, with a Women’s March Forward Summit held at city hall to talk about what can be done to further civil rights, at home.
The agenda listed three main workshops following the 30-minute keynote speech, all of them embodying intersectionality, or the framework that brings to light the interconnectedness of various social oppressions and how that informs one’s identity.
The summit saw delegations from a vast array of speakers about various topics such as community organizing with Pam Frache, Cindy Gangaram and women, labour and social justice; Padmaja Sreeram, Sahra Soudi and Gachi Issa covering anti-racism and anti-oppression in movement building.
“The organizing committee is just really conscious of the criticism that was received by the global women’s march movement, about not including other genders, and there not being people of color,” Daniela Giulietti, YWCA’s advocacy and engagement coordinator said, in a phone interview. “We have really tried to push [intersectional feminism] to the forefront.”
Criticisms of last year’s march were aimed at the continuous presentation of white, cis-gendered, straight middle-class women. The keynote speaker, Brittany Andrew-Amofah, Policy and Research Manager at Broadbent Institute, spoke of the significance of including diversity in race with a statistic.
“53 per cent of white women voted for Trump,” she said, then added that the point was not to antagonize white women, but to show the result of excluding various voices. “Oftentimes, race is chosen over gender.”
While the movement within the last year brought intersectionality into the rallies and events, Andrew-Amofah questioned whether it was “truly intersectional”. She referenced an image taken during a march, noting the pink hats with stubby antennae. These “pussy hats” were a form of exclusion. A symbol for a uterus, the hats centered cisgender women and left trans women out of the conversation.
Embodying intersectionality into advocacy was not the only objective for the organizers. Inspired while at the women’s convention in Detroit, and by a book on the women’s shelter movement in Canada, Giulietti wanted to revisit the energy of last year’s march.
“I really want women and other non-men genders to have the tools to be effective change makers and to create the future that they want to see in their community.” Giulietti said. “The objective [of the summit] definitely is to shift the conversation from word to action. And I think the first way to do this is through education.”
Andrew-Amofah liked to approach it as “organize to be politicized.”
“Feminism is great. It’s a place of solidarity,” she said in her speech. “If we don’t change it into… policy change, we’re going to be organizing forever.”
“What I’d like to see come out of this, is concrete change, whether they’re small or large. A greater push to work together to do something concrete. Whether it’s a motion at the municipal level, or whether it’s another campaign, like a postcard campaign to send to the federal government, I’d like to see something concrete come out of this,” Giulietti said. “We make sure the floor under all women is strong, and work together to break glass ceilings. … We work together to achieve the equity of men.”
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Maria Simmons sat comfortably on bundles of polyester, surrounded by drying fabrics, corn brooms and flowers in her Cotton Factory studio. Unlike the florist she happily shares studio space with, Simmons prefers her flowers in a boiling concoction of natural dye.
Her admiration for natural colours and a bundling technique used to dye fabrics peaked in her third year as a fine arts student at McMaster University. She had previously thought of herself as a painter, but had felt increasingly frustrated trying to force her large ideas into a single painting.
Simmons began exploring other mediums, including textiles, sculptures and ceramics. Two years later, the textile installation artist’s bundles have become a characteristic component of her artwork.
The bundling dye process consists of wrapping fabrics, placing them in a dye pot, then unraveling the bundles to reveal the final product. Simmons found the globular bundles so visually intriguing that instead of cutting the cords, she cut the process short.
“I was always way happier with the way it looked when it was all bundled. There were always unintentional marks left from tying things and constricting something in a certain way,” said Simmons.
“So I started doing that to different objects, sometimes I would wrap things inside of fabric. [I would] explore this concept of constriction, but also preserving.”
Like much of Simmons’ art, the bundles serve as objects that exist in a certain space, but don’t always make sense with the environment. They are meant to evoke the viewer with a feeling of wonder, allowing them to come up with their own ideas and stories of what the artwork represents.
Simmons has been inspired by modern myth, folklore and superstitions through the lens of her Mennonite and Irish heritage.
During the 2017 Equinox graduate show, one viewer took this level of interaction with Simmons’ art to the next level.
“This one woman came and immersed her whole body into the artwork. Nobody knew what to do because it was so bold… she dived right into it and stayed there too,” said Simmons.
The textile installations have a distinctive colour scheme of red, pink and orange hues achieved by natural dyes that Simmons often makes from madder root, pomegranate, willow bark and marigold. The bundles also vary in size and shape.
“It’s this strange process of everything being determined by my arms’ length and what my strength is. So it varies with the different kinds of [bundles] I can make at different points of time. Some days I would feel a lot stronger than others and the work changes based on that,” explained Simmons.
Simmons’ artwork has appeared in solo shows at the Hamilton Audio/Visual Node, better known as HAVN, the Silent Barn which is a community space for artists in New York and, most recently, as part of a collaborative commission for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Over the past year, Simmons has been inspired by modern myth, folklore and superstitions through the lens of her Mennonite and Irish heritage. She believes that myth has an underappreciated role in modern society and hopes her work sheds light on the stories and experiences around her.
“With a lot of my work last year, it was rooted with marriage superstition, which came out of a personal place because I was engaged and then not engaged very suddenly. So I was reading through all of these historical marriage myths and I found ones that were really interesting to work with,” explained Simmons.
Through textiles, sculptures and a performance piece titled ThreshHOLD, Simmons explored marriage superstitions such as rituals where people would jump over brooms when they would get married.
Since starting her full-time job as a curator at Gallery Stratford, and co-running the Chosen Family Collaborative Group, a print zine and online exhibition spaced based in Hamilton and New York City, Simmons has found herself very busy.
“One of the things that I held myself to if I was going to get a full-time job is that I had to continue creating work. The way I’ve done that is by focusing on more collaborative pieces with different people,” said Simmons.
With her more collaborative pieces, Simmons hopes to do more performance-based and interactive installations. She’s currently building glacier props for a Hamilton Aerial Group show, as well as designing an interactive sculpture made up of organ pipes from her childhood church.
By Hess Sahlollbey
As urbanization continues to shift world populations from rural areas to major cities, a social movement has been growing where urban residents perform their own farming. These urban farming enthusiasts eschew processed foods and manufactured products in favour of cultivating and harvesting their own food.
While small urban patches for fruits and veggies are often visible around the city and backyard chickens are nothing new, urban bee-farming businesses like Hamilton’s Humble Bee have been expanding their hives into all of the regions and neighborhoods across the city.
The Honeybee team, originally founded by Luc Peters and now co-owned by Dan Douma, has more than 20 years of beekeeping experience. What started as small project in a backyard has now seen their urban bee farming business almost doubling every year and on the verge of reaching 200 hives by the end of this year.
“We brought the bees back into the city so that they could thrive and grow again and do what they are supposed to do,” explained Douma. He entered beekeeping field after he became frustrated with the rampant use of pesticides in commercial honey production and unsustainable agricultural practices.
“It’s out of necessity that we did this,” said Durma. “We want to keep the bees alive and it’s too depressing to keep these bees on farms where they rapidly die off.”
Humble Bee is currently located in the Cotton Factory, a transformed industrial building from the 1900s.
From their space the duo offer beekeeping lessons, sell tools and beekeeping equipment as well as soothing sprays, lip balms and candles. The roof of the building doubles as their apiary, a place where Peters and Douma aim to open more rooftop apiaries throughout the city.
The duo have set their sites on McMaster as a location for one of their future apiaries.
While they have previously had colonies behind McMaster in Cootes Paradise, Peters and Douma would like to potentially house them on the universities’ roof. They also plan to launch a series of free workshops for Mac students interested in taking the plunge into bee farming.
The classes that the duo teaches, which are in high demand and consistently sold out, hammer in the basics of beekeeping and the essentials to keep a healthy and prosperous colony. Their seminar covers all aspects of the colony from workers, drones and the queen all the way up to the macro environment.
The equipment required to keep bees were all on display and the duo covered the costs involved in starting a hive as well as the Ontario Bees Act, which sets the rules for beekeeping in Ontario including registering your bees and passing an apiary inspection program.
Hobby beekeeping and urban agriculture also has a strong and growing following allowing farmers to connect with other urban farming enthusiasts.
“Our motto is that the bees come first over everything and we are not about to risk our bees for profit,” said Peters. The team’s approach to is always to make more out of a few hives, rather than have a lot of hives that barely produce and are barely looked after.
Currently their Humble Bee honey can be bought at the Mustard Seed Co-op grocery on store on York Boulevard, where a colony can also be prominently spotted from the street.
"It’s out of necessity that we did this. We want to keep the bees alive and it’s too depressing to keep these bees on farms where they rapidly die off.”
Dan Douma, Humble Bee, Co-owner
“One of our big goals is to have hyper local small batch honey where we’re moving towards labelling everything according to the neighborhood it was produced in,” said Douma. “Ideally we would have one bee yard in every neighborhood of the town and that neighborhood listed on the label”.
The duo have also worked with a non-profit in Toronto called FoodShare which is focused on providing fresh food to underserviced neighborhoods and working with urban farms to create job opportunities in big cities for people recovering from mental health issues.
The duo aim to start their own FoodShare branch that would allow them to be more involved in the community. The program would allow people to heal, recover and grow emotionally and spiritually alongside the urban agricultural spaces that they maintain and toil in year-round
This move in urban and hobby farming is one where everybody wins in the city as it ensures more pollination, homegrown food and healthy bees in the city.
To learn more about the book he is featured in along with other chefs from The Other Bird, Debauch, visit http://debauchcookbook.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/TheMcMasterSilhouette/videos/10155974712365987/
We currently associate Hamilton with urban coffee shops, a growing music scene, craft beer and steel mills, but did you know that Hamilton has a rich history of notable people and Canadian claims to fame that have gone forgotten with time. Let's take a walk back through history and see what sorts of things and people happened in Hamilton back in the day.
The sole Hamiltonian to ride on the disastrous Titanic in 1912, Dr. Alfred Pain was a doctor who studied in Hamilton before working at Hamilton City Hospital. He was visiting London to continue his studies before coming back to Canada. He booked a ticket on the Titanic as a second class passenger, and quickly befriended Marion Wright, a passenger from Yoevil who was sailing back to New York to meet her fiance. When the boat started sinking, Alfred aided in bringing Marion to the lifeboats. He died in the sinking.
The John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport was originally a Royal Canadian Air Force base called the Mount Hope Airport. After the war, the base wasn't used as much so in 1963 the Department of National Defence declared it surplus to its needs and the Department of Transportation assumed ownership.
Today, the airport is considered Canada’s largest dedicated courier/cargo airport.
Currently an outdoor shopping centre on Barton Street East in Lower City Hamilton, The Centre on Barton used to be home to one of North America's first malls, Centre Mall. In 1955, the mall was built on the former land of the Jockey Club racetrack. The tenants occupying the space today are TD Canada Trust, Shoppers Drug Mart, Canadian Tire, Walmart and Metro.
John Ryckman, a citizen of the Barton township, described Hamilton in 1803:
"The city in 1803 was all forest. The shores of the bay were difficult to reach or see because they were hidden by a thick, almost impenetrable mass of trees and undergrowth...Bears ate pigs, so settlers warred on bears. Wolves gobbled sheep and geese, so they hunted and trapped wolves. They also held organized raids on rattlesnakes on the mountainside. There was plenty of game. Many a time have I seen a deer jump the fence into my back yard, and there were millions of pigeons which we clubbed as they flew low."
It's hard to image current Hamilton full of trees and animals!
Humiliations and Public ExecutionsThe first public execution was the hanging of a woman who committed the first official murder. The victim's name was Bartholomew London.
1930 was the last recorded year a pillory device was used. A pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands. The device was formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse.
In 1859, Hamilton had it's last public execution, which still causes controversy. The man hung, Harry Lee, was convicted of killing his girlfriend, although many think that the conviction was a racist decision. Lee was black and spanish, and people believe that he was set up for the murder of his Jewish girlfriend, Mary Rosenblatt.
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