How stopping to explore the culture of Hamilton helped Volume 93 A&C Reporter make up for lost experiences as the world kept turning
Time is argumentatively linear. By that, I mean it continues to move forward even if you don’t realize it. Even when you try to keep yourself awake a little longer to make the day last longer, 12:00 a.m. will always mark the beginning of a new day.
The reality that time doesn’t stop at one's will is something people spend their entire lives accepting. It isn’t that the mass population believes they can stop time, but rather a sad feeling knowing there will always be time that can’t be returned.
The reality that time doesn’t stop at one's will is something people spend their entire lives accepting. It isn’t that the mass population believes they can stop time, but rather a sad feeling knowing there will always be time that can’t be returned.
These kinds of thoughts never plagued my mind growing up. As per the average child, I was just happy to exist. I found easy happiness in holding my mom's hand as she walked me to the big yellow school bus that would always stop over the same bump and made all the kids yell.
However, in recent years, I have fallen victim to the hope that time will pause with me. I know it is truly unrealistic to hope for such a thing, but alas I am one of the billions of people who cycled through a pandemic and now I'm one of the many third-year students at McMaster University who sometimes forgets which direction on Main Street West will take her to downtown Hamilton.
Though the glaring lack of knowledge about their university town isn’t uncommon among university students, the degree to which it affects people is different. When I brought up my own fears to my friends about how little I have explored within Hamilton, they admitted they didn’t necessarily have the same worry.
To them, it was a given that they didn’t explore Hamilton as much as the average student. Though it is more than fair, it was hard for me to accept how little I knew about a city I lived in.
My worries of not knowing much about Hamilton became more prominent through my position as a reporter for the Silhouette. For almost the past eight months, I have been learning about how robust Hamilton is. Every week I have had the privilege to talk about the arts, thriving businesses and new events prospering in Hamilton.
It wasn’t as if an external person was keeping me from the plethora of culture in Hamilton, but rather the glaring eye of time. As a third-year undergraduate student, so much of the year was spent trying figure out my next steps and classes, I felt as though I would lose time if I enjoyed myself.
It wasn’t as if an external person was keeping me from the plethora of culture in Hamilton, but rather the glaring eye of time. As a third-year undergraduate student, so much of the year was spent trying figure out my next steps and classes, I felt as though I would lose time if I enjoyed myself.
The first time anxious knot in my stomach had begun to unravel was for a piece I wrote earlier this year. I had thought the interview was meant to be done through Zoom, for an upcoming exhibition. Instead, it ended up being an interview that was meant to be in-person, at the exhibit. What had been a miscommunication between the interviewee and me, ended up becoming a secret blessing.
With limited opportunities to leave the confines of McMaster this year, visiting the exhibit in-person for the interview offered me a unique chance to experience art in real-time. As I walked around the exhibit, with the artist who had spent years creating the work, I found myself truly connecting. When I was able to put aside my initial hesitancy regarding the underlying fear of losing time, I was enjoying myself. The simple mistake made me realize how fulfilling it is to explore; how even if I may lose time in one aspect, I am enriching myself in another.
As I walked around the exhibit, with the artist who had spent years creating the work, I found myself truly connecting. When I was able to put aside my initial hesitancy regarding the underlying fear of losing time, I was enjoying myself. The simple mistake made me realize how fulfilling it is to explore; how even if I may lose time in one aspect, I am enriching myself in another.
The chance to view my own life beyond the confines of my own fears would not have been possible if not for my time on the Silhouette. The undeniable reality is that time will continue, no matter what we do.
As someone who up until recently was consumed in the fear of never fully using my time correctly, I urge you to take a chance. Visit the art exhibit showing up on your feed, go to the concert even if it seems far away, stop by the street fair that pauses the traffic and let yourself be present. Let yourself take back control of the time you fear you’ll never get back.
The organization's workshop provides space for those experiencing houselessness and substance use to explore their passion for writing.
Established in 2018, Keeping Six is a community service providing opportunities for those experiencing houselessness and substance use. The organization aims to defend the rights of those who use drugs while giving them space to make their voices heard.
Created due to the opioid crisis in Hamilton, Keeping Six hopes to use its initiative to recruit members with lived experiences of being on the streets and using substances to overcome the city's drug crisis.
One of the ways in which Keeping Six creates opportunities is through the Keeping Six Arts Collective. The collective hosts events and various workshops for artists on the streets and drug use experience to explore their passions and improve their work.
Every Wednesday, the Arts Collective hosts a writing workshop at the Music Hall, located downtown on Main Street. The workshop is free for everyone to drop by and offers complementary snacks and supplies.
Maggie Ward, the current leader of the group moved from Fredericton, New Brunswick to Hamilton to finish her Ph.D. in English at McMaster University. Although Ward did not finish her Ph.D., she now works as a bookseller and freelance proofreader. She joined Keeping Six as a grad student and has been working with them since.
In an email statement to The Silhouette, Ward described how the workshop began as a way for the organization to create space for anyone to drop in and work on their free writing or prompts. The workshop started in 2021 at Gore Park before moving to the AIDS Network, the Hamilton Central library, the New Vision United Church and now, the Music Hall.
Ward became the pseudo-leader of the group when the peer leader and co-founder of Keeping Six was no longer able to attend the workshops. She provides writing support through prompts and feedback, helping writers flesh out and improve any creative ideas they might have. The group has free rein to work on what they would like, but a majority of the work being done goes towards the content for Keeping Six’s quarterly zine.
Ward explained Keeping Six’s purpose and the organization itself is different from anything else in Hamilton.
“We're focused on harm reduction, with a firm belief that art is harm reduction . . . The writing group and the zine are opportunities for folks to share their stories, which are rarely heard,” Ward stated.
Additionally, the group has received a consistent number of participants over the last few weeks, but not as many as when it first started. Ward hopes that the Music Hall as a new venue will encourage more people to attend since it is in the same location as the weekly art workshop Keeping Six also hosts.
Ward wants everyone who visits the workshop to leave having had a positive experience and feeling reinvigorated about their writing.
“I hope that folks who come to the group leave feeling like their stories are worth telling; that they're genuinely important. I also want them to feel less intimidated by writing. We encourage all forms of expression,” she explained.
“I hope that folks who come to the group leave feeling like their stories are worth telling; that they're genuinely important. I also want them to feel less intimidated by writing. We encourage all forms of expression,”
Maggie Ward, leader at Keeping Six Arts Collective
The workshop is also open to students if they wish to attend, as a good way to work on and receive feedback about their writing or just get to know more about the community and Keeping Six. Ward encourages anyone passionate about writing to drop by the workshop and to check out the zine to see what the Keeping Six community has to say.
We didn't get the chance to say farewell in person and celebrate the achievements of our graduating staff members this year, so instead, we're putting them in a little online spotlight. The Silhouette family is proud of all our soon to be graduates for their tireless dedication to the Sil, their passionate efforts to learn and grow at McMaster and their commitment to supporting their communities.
By Nisha Gill, Staff Writer
“My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get to be so late so soon?” wrote Dr. Seuss.
Over the last year, there has been increasing awareness and action on a number of important issues: including accountability, accessibility, climate change, diversity and 2SLGBTQIA+ rights. The arts and culture community in Hamilton, including the Arts & Culture section here at the Silhouette, have been working to raise awareness and to spur action on the aforementioned issues. Here are a few memorable events from the past year.
Early in September 2019, A&C Editor Andrew Mrozowski had a chance to sit down with the Right Honourable David Johnston, former Governor General of Canada, and chat about a variety of topics. Their conversation covered everything from his career within politics to his advice for students as well as his new book Trust: 20 Ways to Build a Better Country. This was a great way to kick off the year, with an emphasis on collaboration, trust and the power of storytelling; all of which are going to be very important for the year ahead.
Next up was Supercrawl, Hamilton’s annual weekend-long street festival. As always, there were a number of spectacular events and exhibitions, but two in particular stood out for the way that they addressed important issues. First, McMaster professor Adrienne Crossman’s installation art “Flags” addressed what it means to be a queer person in the 21st century as well as the oppression faced by the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
“It’s just the continuation of a conversation. So the text reads ‘subvert’, ‘deviate’ and ‘resist’ as forms of resisting oppression but on the back where it says resist it more speaks to the fact that existing as a queer person, a visibly queer person or anybody that doesn’t suit the way that people might perceive as normal — just existing itself is a form of resistance which I think can be a very radical sentiment,” Crossman said, when interviewed for the original article.
Second from Supercrawl was McMaster alumnus Christopher McLeod’s “EMERGENCY Pt. 2: Structures of Actions” installation exhibition. This was a follow up to a previous piece that the artist set up for Supercrawl in 2018. This year’s installation had taken the key issues people had highlighted last year — safe streets, health and the environment — and put the focus on what individuals can do about them, by asking attendees to commit to a level of action on those issues.
“Are we all just going to sit around and sort of watch what’s happening, or are we going to step up and try to make a difference?” asked McLeod, when interviewed for the initial article.
In early October 2019, the membership trade association of local brewers, Ontario Craft Brewers, promoted a meeting with Sam Oosterhoff on social media. Oosterhoff is a Progressive Conservative member of provincial parliament from the Niagara-West riding, who had previously claimed he wants abortion rights removed and that he opposes the use of more gender-neutral terms. MERIT Brewing Company believed that the OCB’s post with Oosterhoff cast an unfavourable light on the industry that did not reflect MERIT’s values. They saw it as their responsibility to hold the association accountable for their actions, and to push the conversation surrounding corporate accountability.
When interviewed for the initial article, Tej Sandu, co-owner of MERIT Brewing Company, explained: “Conversation is not enough; action needs to follow a conversation . . . You still need to have conversations to get to action . . . We’re trying to do our part. It’s inherent and embedded in what MERIT’s about, from why we are called ‘MERIT’ to what we strive to do here and has been our experience. This is something that we feel is not only our responsibility, it’s our privilege to be able to speak out on these things and it’s something that we are doing because we’re passionate about it.”
Later in the month, on Oct. 7, 2019, The Pale Blue Dot, a sustainable, environmentally conscious store in downtown Hamilton, ran their second clothing swap in partnership with Grain and Grit brewery. A great proponent of environmental consciousness, not only through their shop but also through events and workshops, the Pale Blue Dot contributed to a more sustainable Halloween with a dedicated costume section at the swap.
Nov. 9 - 10, 2019 brought a special performance by the Kronos String Quartet, as part of The Socrates Project. The group’s performance included a rendition of “Sun Rings”, composed by their friend Tyler Riley, accompanied by recordings from NASA missions. The performance was meant to foster hope and encourage solidarity and connection during difficult times.
When interviewed, prior to the publication of the article, David Harrington, founder and violinist of the group said, “I think that by allowing ‘Sun Rings’ to enter your life, I think a person will find a larger sense of appreciation for what we have right here, right now. Music is very mysterious, we never know when we will connect with another listener . . . it just gives more of a sense of wonder and wonder is such a beautiful thing.”
We often forget that to move forward we need to first confront our past. Deanna Bowen’s exhibit A Harlem Nocturne, which debuted at the McMaster Museum of Art in January 2020, is a reminder of Canada’s long history of systemic racism and injustice in Canada. Taking its name from the nightclub that her family operated in Vancouver decades before, Bowen’s work blended personal and public history to create an intimate and powerful exhibit that explored race, migration, historical writing and authorship.
“I would encourage people to see themselves in what I’m doing. There’s so much rich history in our own family histories. And I think it’s important to emphasize that everybody’s family story has some impact on the making of a nation . . . You know, it’s about recognizing that the power to create our history and our personal and our national narrative really does kind of boil down to people like you and I,” said Bowen when interviewed for the initial article.
February 2020 was an eventful month, coinciding with the release of our annual sex positive Sex and the Steel City issue on Valentine’s day. Full of a variety of excellent articles, including opinion pieces, artist and business profiles, this year’s issue had a special focus on identity and explored topics from queerness to body positivity, from romance to sex.
February also saw the chance to catch up with McMaster professor Henry Giroux in a two-part article series after the publication of his newest book The Terror of the Unforeseen, which featured a forward by Julian Casablancas, the lead singer of The Strokes and Giroux's good friend. The Terror of the Unforeseen was inspired by a sense of urgency following the rise of right-winged movements across the globe and focuses on how the rise of this kind of ideology affects universities, media and culture.
“I tried to take seriously the notion that politics follows culture, meaning that, you can’t really talk about politics unless you talk about the way in which people are experiencing their everyday lives and the problems that confront them,” Giroux explained when he was interviewed for the original article.
March 2020 turned the spotlight to sustainability initiatives once again, with pieces on Humble Bee, Hamilton’s own urban beekeeping company who has set up apiaries on campus, as well as the fabric store Needleworks. Needlework is more than just a fabric store, providing sewing lessons and workshops, which encourage their customers to express their creativity while also practicing sustainability.
In response to escalating concerns with COVID-19, many events and exhibitions have been cancelled, and many businesses and restaurants have had to close. However, we are still committed to supporting the McMaster community as well as the arts and culture scene, by highlighting key initiatives such as community donations by restaurants and food banks, author readings on social media and festivals that have adapted to the need for physical distancing.
Awareness and action on important issues has been a central component of the arts & culture community this past year, and hopefully it is a trend that continues. Afterall, as Dr. Seuss wrote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
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