Tag: Outdoor

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Opinions

Sledding my woes away on the mountain

Dalia Nardolillo and Anthony Matano get ready to sled down the mountain. Photo by Adriana Gentile.

How I discovered that snow days are good for the soul.

If you know me personally, you’d know I’m not an outdoor girlie. My dad, on the other hand, is the king of the outdoors. Whenever he wants to go for a walk, I always pass. Little did I know, fresh wintery air would do me good—both physically and mentally.

The last couple of months haven’t been the best. I’ve never been one to complain about every single detail in my life, but when things pile up, my anxiety shoots straight through the roof. 

Once 2024 hit, I was excited to start the year off fresh. I was prepared to leave behind all the dark thoughts related to my surgery in 2023. But one week into 2024, my car decided to give me a nice little welcome gift: the “check engine” light. Not only that, but my brakes were squeaking like mad. 

When my boyfriend and I dropped off Jukey (my beloved Nissan) at the mechanic, I was praying that this wasn’t going to cost me more than $500. I was shaking like a leaf as we drove off. 

The following day, the mechanic dropped a big one on me—the whole job would cost me $1,700. My heart fell out of my chest and anger bubbled inside of me. I told the mechanic to go through with the job. I couldn’t afford it, but I had no other choice.

In these scenarios, my anxiety jumps to the worst situations. I started thinking that I wouldn’t be able to save towards my goals for the year. I wouldn’t be moving along how I’d planned. I had a bit of a breakdown.

Luckily, my boyfriend was there to help me get through this time. My anxiety still loomed over my head but at least I had something positive to look forward to: snow tubing with my friends and boyfriend.

I think a bit of fresh air was just what I needed. According to the Ontario Parks website, we should be aiming to move our bodies 20 to 30 minutes per day outdoors during the winter time. By doing so, we’d immediately feel calmer mentally and our blood pressure would go down.

The day of the activity, I was looking forward to a change in scenery and getting some fresh air. We opted to get the full experience package at the mountain near Saint-Sauveur that included an option to bobsled.

Bobsledding for the first time was the most exhilarating thing that I’ve done in a while. I felt like I was in the Olympics, and I’d never felt such an adrenaline rush. I opted for my boyfriend to be the one to push the sled and jump in as we went down. Knowing me, my clumsy self would probably fall to the side or hurt myself.

Going down the mountain at lightning speed, I was so focused on the feeling of being so happy with wintery air gliding against my face. For the couple of hours that we spent at the mountain, I wasn’t focused on my anxiety. I only had positive thoughts and a really good time. I screamed it out, laughed it out, and most importantly, made memories that I’ll cherish for a long time.

If I can recommend anything to anyone going through a tough time right now, this is it. Get outside and get some air—it’ll feed your mind and soul.

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Sports

The health benefits of spring

Spring offers people fresh ways to stay healthy after a long and cold winter

Winter will always hold a special place in Canadians’ hearts, especially because of traditional northern activities like skiing and skating, but the season’s harsh weather and shorter days can mentally and physically drain even the best of us.

With spring officially underway on March 20, people can finally wave goodbye to a long winter unlike any other. As the last remnants of snow and ice melt away in the coming weeks, a fresh open-air canvas will once more be at everyone’s disposal.

Amidst troubling times, it’s important for people to take advantage of the rejuvenating weather that is upon us and reap its rewards on our overall health.

The beginning of spring means the return of outdoor workouts

Fitness enthusiasts, who have been largely confined to home workouts for months, finally found something to look forward to when the Quebec government announced gyms would be permitted to reopen on March 26.

For those who are not so eager to resume regular indoor training in public spaces, spring will allow for several outdoor activities to start anew.

Running and biking will continue to serve as accessible and effective workouts that can be performed anywhere, anytime. Alternatively, golf and tennis, both of which saw an uptick in popularity last year as relatively COVID-safe sports, will again serve as viable fitness options for those who want to best shield themselves from the virus.

Finally, calisthenic workouts and yoga routines that require minimal equipment can now be performed outside, providing some much-needed variety to these exercises that often get tedious from home.

Spring can also have a lasting effect on one’s mental health

The “winter blues” is a common issue that affects people’s mood and energy levels that stems from the short and cold winter days, which can lead people to spend unhealthy amounts of time indoors. Over the course of a few months, the negative effect on people’s overall health can be drastic.

Mixed with the limited in-person interactions with family and friends in recent times, the strenuosity of this year’s winter on people’s mental health has been amplified. Fortunately, the warm weather, sunny days, and fresh air can help dispel some of these common problems.

Spring gives people new opportunities to alleviate mental stress by socializing with their loved ones. People who are less fond of working out can still reap the health benefits by simply basking in the sun with others and absorbing vitamin D, which can go a long way when climbing out of an extended wintertime rut.

More daylight means more time when we need it

Having to set the time forward may leave you waking up exhausted the following day, but the long-term benefits of an extra hour of sunlight easily make up for the minor drawback.

Humans are unconsciously inclined to rest when it’s dark and be productive when it’s light. As the spring steadily dissipates into the summer, the amount of time we get to spend in the daylight will only increase.

Being able to shed layers of clothes lets us feel the sun directly on our skin, which can have a long-lasting, constructive effect on our overall health.

 

Photos by Christine Beaudoin

Collage by Kit Mergaert

Categories
Sports

Parks are packed with outdoor community rinks now open

Colder temperatures in January have allowed for outdoor skating

Up until the first week of January, many of Montreal’s ice rinks were closed, to the dismay of skating aficionados. While the city was able to install boards at most parks early in the winter season, flat ice never materialized due to inconsistent and mild weather conditions.

For the most part, skating was put on hold.

In recent weeks, however, temperatures have dropped to meet seasonal expectations, enough to finally support the upkeep of outdoor skating.

Sorbonne Park is a spacious public area that neighbours a public high school in Brossard. John*, a city employee who monitors activity there, said he was caught by surprise when the rink first opened.

“Within hours after the ice was made, it was packed with people,” John said. “It was clear from the beginning how much locals needed this to relieve their stress.”

According to the provincial government, site managers are responsible for determining the maximum number of people who can be admitted to the site at one time to comply with health measures concerning physical distancing and zero contact. In addition, they must facilitate the access to disinfection at site entrances, and must clean frequently touched surfaces.

Brossard has also installed several outdoor benches around many rinks this year to help people socially distance while gearing up, instead of relying on indoor facilities. City employees like John must ensure safety protocols are met by the locals, a process that proved to be rather difficult when traffic was abnormally high during the opening weeks.

When the weather was nice, the park had upwards of 50 people coming in and out, “John said. “At first, when the public was just eager to get outside, it was hard to manage everything at once.”

In the winter, a soccer field encompassed by an oval running track is made into an attractive skating ground. The park also has a separate ice hockey rink, a hill that suits tubing, and a playground for children, which makes Sorbonne a popular choice for Brossard residents looking to get some fresh air.

Hockey players will have to leave their sticks at home, however, as the municipality continues to ban the sport on community rinks until further notice. In order to minimize the temptation to form organized games, nets at community rinks have been removed.

According to John, he would have to warn people every couple of minutes to put away their hockey sticks and pucks when the rink opened in early January. After a couple of weeks, people eventually got the memo and the rink subsequently lost much of its appeal to hockey fans.

I still see people playing with a puck every so often,” John said. “Whether it’s in the oval track or hockey rink, unfortunately I have to enforce the rules and be the bad guy.”

Even the carrying of a stick or puck is forbidden, a notion that has sparked criticism from local hockey enthusiasts. John said that the rule is in place to ensure the proper management of activity in the park. Having individuals allowed to skate with a puck would create chaos that quickly escalates as surrounding people become encouraged to do the same.

“The disappointment from hockey players is well-documented, but Brossard believes we need to stick to this protocol so long as the pandemic remains rampant,” John said.

When the rink is closed, the entrance is closed off with a metal chain, and there is no public worker to oversee activity. John added that residents will occasionally pack their hockey supplies and make use of the rink after hours to indulge in the sport, running the risk of getting caught by patrolling city employees.

The city is handing out fines to people who play hockey when the rinks are closed,” John said. “I’ll usually give people a warning, tell them to put away their things and that will be the end of it.”

Fortunately, outdoor activities such as tubing, skating, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing are still permitted so long as participants follow COVID-19 guidelines. John said that activity is still plentiful, as people continue to look for excuses to be outside, especially once school ends next door. On weekends, families with young ones continue to make use of the space that is often overlooked compared to the hockey rink.

“More so than in previous years, people are snowshoeing in the forest and making better use of the park’s hill to toboggan and sled,” John said.

The rink in Sorbonne Park is open weekdays from 3:30 to 7 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on holidays and weekends.

*The name of this source has been changed for anonymity.

 

Photo by Christine Beaudoin

Categories
Sports

The pleasures of making a backyard rink

The activity may gain prominence with public outdoor hockey on hold

Blizzards, icy roads, power outages, and howling winds are some of the many struggles that characterize the cold winter season. Additionally, the prominence of the pandemic and the evolving restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus will make an already rough season for some even more difficult.

While Canadian winters are undoubtedly ruthless, the burdens that plague the season can sometimes overshadow the positive aspects that are unique to these times. For one, hockey becomes considerably more accessible with the opening of city-operated outdoor rinks, enabling kids and adults alike to better indulge in Canada’s prideful tradition.

This winter, public rinks will be open, but hockey games will not be allowed. Fortunately for winter sports fans, physical activities that have limited contact amongst individuals such as free skating and skiing will be permitted.

While the news comes to the dismay of hockey enthusiasts, hope is not entirely lost. The uniquely Canadian hobby of making a backyard rink lends itself well to today’s circumstances. Unlike the city rinks and indoor arenas, these personal rinks can offer intimacy that is difficult to replicate in organized hockey.

Stacey Elissa Anne, a mother of two who lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, said that growing up with two older siblings who played hockey meant her family was often busy splitting time between organized teams and outdoor rinks.

“Living in Winnipeg, my dad made sure to build us an outdoor rink every single winter,” Elissa Anne said. “It’s safe to say our lives revolved around the sport.”

Elissa Anne learned about the work involved in making a personal rink and the dedication it required when her family took to creating one of their own in 2019.

“We couldn’t have enjoyed it more,” Elissa Anne said. “The kids and their neighbourhood friends used it every single day.”

Some individuals continue to build an annual backyard rink in an effort to pay their childhood debts forward. The Tecumseh, Ontario-native Jason Bain has made building a rink a personal tradition that he has upheld for over a decade, but credits his late father for inspiring him to pass on the generous ritual. Bain believed it was his father’s way of connecting with the local kids.

Growing up, my family couldn’t afford to play hockey,” Bain said. “My dad would build an old-school rink out of snow every year, standing outside for hours even after working strenuously long work shifts.”

Nowadays, the time he spends alone outside maintaining a backyard rink for his own children is Bain’s way of connecting with his father, who would go out of his way to do the same for him as a child. Bain added that last season was the first year in which he did not build a rink in over 10 years, something that does not sit well with the Ontario-native to this day.

“Last year just didn’t seem right,” Bain said. “Even if the kids only get to skate on it once or twice, when they get older it would be immeasurably rewarding to see them do the same for their kids.”

Jeff Baer grew up in Stockbridge, Manitoba, skating on local ponds. As a child, Baer always dreamed of building his own rink one day to avoid having to trek through rough terrain and private property to find a place to skate.

This year will be the sixth in which Baer builds a backyard rink for his children, in hopes of forging unforgettable memories. While his two kids are passionate about hockey, his son is particularly fond of everything Canada’s sport has to offer.

“My 14-year-old son was born with cerebral palsy,” Baer said. “For him, hockey is everything and its tremendously helped him overcome his impairment.”

The father of two added that his son would skate at five in the morning before heading to school in past years. While his 10-year-old daughter’s team and their season are uncertain due to the pandemic, Baer has offered to host practice if the situation ever presents itself and is permitted.

“The rink may not be an ideal size to accommodate a full team,” Baer said. “However, it’s plenty large enough to host small skating workouts and drills.”

Rebecca Podniesinski’s family in Keene has resorted to making her yearly rink larger to better accommodate members of the local New Hampshire hockey club.“If we have ice that we can safely share,” Podniesinski said, “it’s just the right thing to do with the weekly shutdowns preventing kids from exercising and doing what they love.”

 

Graphic by Carleen Loney

Categories
Arts

New exhibition occupies indoor and outdoor space

Works by Corina Kennedy, Adrian Norvid, Erin Weisgerber, Andrew Forster and Erín Moure make up the FOFA Gallery’s newest collection, La Rentrée. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Experience four distinct installations in the FOFA Gallery’s La Rentrée

Like reading through someone’s journal or overlapping streams of thought, the Faculty of Fine Arts (FOFA) Gallery welcomes students back to school with La Rentrée, featuring the work of four Concordia artists and a local poet in four distinct installations.

Corina Kennedy, a graduate of Concordia’s studio arts program, contributed her piece, titled Tender for All. It features carved characters that mimic the way lettering is traditionally carved into the marble walls of old-fashioned banks. The artist explores “limited, disjointed and repetitive language” in an imitation of the way debt collectors communicate with their clients. Kennedy’s insulation foam installation is massive, occupying the entirety of  the York Corridor Vitrine, by the entrance of the gallery.

After having shown Tender for All in a studio space in New York, Kennedy found that tailoring the insulation foam to fit the York Corridor Vitrine was a new challenge. “The sheer length and foot traffic around it is gratifying enough,” Kennedy said. “But seeing it behind that glass is really delighting [to] me because insulation foam is something that is supposed to get hidden behind a wall. So the glass is just the opposite of that.”

Since graduating in 2007, Kennedy has accumulated her share of student debt, so she wanted to express the stress associated with that. She added that the struggles of “many viewers […] with student debt” may be reflected in this work. The artist imagined passersby will only stop at her piece for a moment before moving on, because so many people put off confronting their debt.

Inside the gallery, Concordia painting and drawing professor Adrian Norvid’s collection of drawings and paper sculptures dominate the space. Sprawled across the walls, The Bejesus explores Norvid’s thought process during his creative endeavours in a crude, comical way. His other piece, The Black Bumhole Opera is at the centre of the installation, and explores the “dirty” and “grimey” culture surrounding heavy metal music.

In a separate room from Norvid’s display, Erin Weisgerber’s piece, Minerva’s Owl, explores a variety of film processes. By capturing New York’s Kodak tower through three different types of film, the Concordia graduate intended to show her viewers a raw, playful approach to cinematography. One example of this is Weisgerber’s decision to keep all glitches with the camera and film in the piece. The film loops through cycles of day and night, which are projected onto a wall. The space between the projector and the wall is divided by three mesh screens, enabling the viewer to walk between them and experience the different film techniques to interpret the piece.

Outside the gallery and spanning the facade of the Engineering and Visual Arts (EV) building is Andrew Forster, a part-time studio arts teacher, and Erín Moure’s contribution. Paraguayan Sea presents an excerpt of Brazilian writer Wilson Bueno’s book of the same name. The large, yellow banner of text stretches across the outside of the building, catching the viewer’s eye as they walk past.

Andrew Forster and Erín Moure’s contribution to the exhibition is called Paraguayan Sea (pictured here). Photos by Kirubel Mehari.

Bueno’s original text was written in three languages: Portuguese, Spanish and Guaraní. Moure, a local poet and translator, incorporated the original Guaraní text into the piece and translated the Portuguese and Spanish parts into English and French. By doing so, not only did Moure make this beautiful text available for English and French speakers, but she also emphasized the diverse cultures within Montreal.

The creative process behind the project was twofold; Moure provided the translation of the text while Forster designed the final product. In his colleague’s words, Forster became “intrigued by the text and by the nature of a polylingual text as ‘skin.’” Forster then took this idea and decided to bring it to the public by “laminating it to architecture.”

Paraguayan Sea interrupts the noisy advertisements on Ste-Catherine Street and explores public speaking, surface, depth and the utility of art in a public space. The text itself has been described by the artists as “a murmur heard in the streets of a city at all times.” The translated version of Paraguayan Sea has been published and will be available for purchase at the FOFA Gallery on Nov. 9 during a discussion panel of the artists’ work. Both Forster and Moure will be present at the event.

The indoor exhibitions at the FOFA Gallery are open Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Oct. 20. Paraguayan Sea is open 24 hours and will be up until Dec. 8. Admission is free.

Feature photo by Kirubel Mehari

Categories
Music

Top Ten : Outdoor music festivals

If you’re like me, you’re already dreaming about summertime, and outdoor festivals go hand in hand with my season of preference.

10. Osheaga Music and Arts Festival; Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without the mention of our own Osheaga Festival right here in Montreal. Held every year in Jean Drapeau Park on beautiful Ste-Hélène Island, Osheaga has been bringing together musicians, artists, and music and art lovers since 2006. Although the annual summer festie doesn’t boast on-site camping, festival-goers build a sense of camaraderie through the commute from downtown to the park via shuttle, bicycle or footmobile.

9. Exit Festival; Novi Sad, Serbia – Exit Festival keeps people up all night long with big name acts like Iggy Pop, the Beastie Boys, Snoop Dogg, M.I.A., Deadmau5, Portishead, Wu-Tang Clan, Bad Religion and tons more. What makes Exit different from other festivals? Firstly, it began as a student-initiated project against the Milosevic regime in 2000. Secondly, it has been hosted at the beautiful Petrovaradin fortress since 2001, and finally, the music doesn’t start until late at night, with musicians performing until dawn.

8. Rock al Parque; Bogota, Colombia – As one of the longest established festivals on this side of the Greenwich Meridian, this Colombian festival has been, well, rocking the park for 17 years. With that kind of longevity, you know it’s got to be good. The festival’s international and inter-genre flair sets it apart from other festivals that boast more mainstream or specialized genres. The three-day-long festie has hosted musicians from France, the Netherlands, Germany, Peru, Jamaica, El Salvador, Spain, the U.S. and plenty more.

7. SXSW Music Conference and Festival; Austin, Texas, U.S. – If finding new, emerging and upcoming music is your schtick, then SXSW is, hands down, the festival for you. For five days, over 2,000 musicians take over practically every venue available in Austin to showcase their talents for the festival’s 45,000 patrons, 2,941 media members, as well as an undisclosed number of industry bigwigs. In addition to non-stop live music, SXSW also holds musician workshops and conferences, and features big name speakers like Nas and Bruce Springsteen.

6. Big Day Out; Australia and New Zealand – This multi-city festival goes on tour every January, hitting up Auckland, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth between the last week of January and the first week of February. Taking place in prime southern hemisphere summertime, the festival secures huge acts like Kanye West and Soundgarden, who, no doubt, are drawn to the festival to escape the cold and soak up some of that warm, golden Australian sun with up to 50,000 festival attendees.

5. Burning Man; Black Rock Desert, Nevada, U.S. – Burning Man is the most elusive festival in North America—maybe even the world. This week-long arid experience is so much more than a music festival, with many attendees left unable to explain their time at Burning Man. It’s more like an experiment that happens to include some amazing music and art. The temporary community is built upon “radical self-expression and radical self-reliance” with each year dedicated to a different theme (2011’s was “Rites of Passage”). There are no rules, and money is of no value. At the end of the festival, a giant effigy of a man is burned to the ground, hence the name of the festival.

4. Sasquatch! Music Festival; George, Washington, U.S. – Held every year in the awe-inspiring Gorge Amphitheatre on the Columbia River, Sasquatch! Music Festival’s four stages are graced by some of the biggest names in music. Foo Fighters, Death From Above 1979, Modest Mouse, the Flaming Lips, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails and countless others have played during the four-day long festival, but tons of indie bands get their beginnings there, too.

3. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival; Indio, California, U.S.– As one of the largest outdoor music festivals in North America, you’d better believe Coachella is a damn good time. While camping at the festival is the most popular (and arguably the best) way to experience Coachella, those who can’t live without their hair straighteners and who prefer to have daily showers also have the option of shuttling into the festival grounds from nearby Los Angeles. The festival is held over two weekends every April, so if one weekend doesn’t work for you, then you can catch the same acts the next weekend—or why not go to both?

2. Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival; Manchester, Tennessee, U.S. – So, I’m a little biased in placing this festival so high on the list—after all, I did meet my significant other here and if you ask me, I’ll tell you that my time at ‘Roo changed my life. Literally. Located in the heart of Tennessee, a mere 90 minutes from Nashville, Bonnaroo is an epic experience of music, art and community. With 80,000 campers, over 100 acts, including stand-up comedians, on more than 10 stages spread over 700 acres of lush Tennessee farmland, Bonnaroo will soon become your gospel.

1. Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts;  Pilton, Somerset, U.K.– Although the beloved Glastonbury is not happening this year, its triumphant return is scheduled for 2013, and rightly so. As the largest outdoor music festival in the world, this festival has been rocking the masses since 1970, the day after Jimi Hendrix died. With over 40 years in the game, dozens of stages and upwards of 140,000 attendees, Glastonbury is the festival of all music festivals.

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