By Riley Hill
A new government initiative might soon bring free online textbooks to the province’s campuses. On April 9, the Alberta government announced the Open Educational Resources Initiative. The $2 million program will bring together faculty, students and academic staff from across the province to find a way to include open textbooks in undergraduate courses. Open textbooks… Continue reading Province offers money for open textbooks
By Tendayi Moyo
Albertan legislators voted down a motion that requires school boards to support the creation of gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in schools if students ask for them. The private member’s bill, brought forward by Calgary-Buffalo MLA Kent Hehr, was defeated 31–19 in a vote on the evening of April 7. Hehr said some schools in the province… Continue reading MLAs vote down gay-straight alliance motion
By Chris Adams
Student leaders and faculty have criticized the Fair Elections Act as outrageous and unnecessary, saying thousands of students will not be able to exercise their right to vote if the bill passes. The Fair Elections Act was introduced to Parliament by Canada’s minister of state and democratic reform, Pierre Poilievre. Conservative MPs argue the bill… Continue reading New bill to disenfranchise 120,000 voters
When The Raid: Redemption debuted in 2011, it made a splash due to its incredible action scenes. Many people, myself included, said it was some of the best action they had ever seen. The movie came from Indonesia, was directed by a Welshman, Gareth Evans, and prominently featured the martial art pencak silat. Its primary… Continue reading Movie review: The Raid 2: Berandal
Based on the album cover, Emm Gryner’s latest album Torrential looks as though it will be full of solemn songs about relationships and break ups. Gryner, a Juno-nominated singer-songwriter from Ontario created an album with surprising diversity. It switches from upbeat folk to indie-pop to slow emotive pieces with surprising fluidity. Gryner creates unity and… Continue reading Spun: Emm Gryner
Mistrust seems to be the name of the game in Hollywood these days. After years of media coverage on NSA surveillance, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the question of whom we can trust is being asked by screenwriters from every film studio. That question is at the heart of the latest Marvel… Continue reading Film review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
These days, coffee shop patrons are likely to get more than a frothy cappuccino and a pastry with their visit. Coffee shops offer snapshots of people’s lives, from the mundane to the bizarre. That’s what Swallow-A-Bicycle Theatre strives to portray with Eavesdrop: The Coffee Shop Show. “They could have massively dramatic stories happening, whether it’s… Continue reading All the cafe’s a stage
By Tendayi Moyo
Late Sunday evening, third-year political science student Desmond Fleece sent a mass email to his fellow students asking for last week’s notes. Fleece made no mention of feeling bad for bothering his peers. “I just didn’t feel all that bad about it,” Fleece said. “I had to get my wisdom teeth out that day. How… Continue reading Student not sorry for the mass email
Sick and tired of your friends beating your scores on 2048? One University of Calgary professor may have the solution. Cecil Quigley recently introduced a new class to teach students how to enrich their 2048 experience and feel superior to their friends. 2048 is the latest smartphone app tearing its way through the university campus.… Continue reading U of C offers new 2048 class
One of the first animal rights posts I ever saw on the Internet was a shockingly dehumanizing image that compared the factory farming of pigs to the Holocaust. It showed Jewish people behind barbed-wire fences in a concentration camp, juxtaposed with an image of pigs in squalid conditions. The caption read, “I don’t see a… Continue reading Call-out culture on the Internet