The Power Plant’s fall exhibition features engaging multi-medium art

October 26, 2018 CanCulture Magazine

By Natalie Michie

The Power Plant is known for their seasonal exhibitions of Canadian contemporary art. This fall, they featured five artists who presented a variety of unique multi-medium art.

Visitors were lined up around the building at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery on Friday, Oct. 19 for the Fall 2018 Opening Party.

Each of the gallery’s season exhibitions includes an opening party where admission is free and anyone is welcome.

This season, the gallery featured five artists: Abbas Akhavan, Vivian Suter, Elizabeth Wild, Karla Black and Beth Stuart.

With the intent of making visitors more aware of their bodies and the space they take up in a room, much of the work was created by the artists with the exact intent to be experienced in The Power Plant’s gallery.

As visitors entered the gallery, they were first introduced to Akhavan’s piece, an abstract exhibit with the theme of changing seasons.

Akhavan’s work ranges from site-specific installations to drawing, video, illustration and performance. His piece featured in the fall exhibit is titled “Variations on a Landscape.” (CanCulture/Natalie Michie)

His exhibit consisted of green TV screens on each side of the room, a fountain wrapped in a tarp, a stick, and a non-working iPhone charger plugged into the wall.

“His work is left open to interpretation,” said Emily Peltier, a gallery assistant at the Power Plant.

Although there was little information about Akhavan's piece, he included a written component where he asked a group of writers to write about what came to mind when hearing the word “fountain.” Their contributions were featured in booklets available for visitors to take home.

According to Melissa Gerkup, an art enthusiast and event volunteer, the way in which art is displayed here is through one panel that gives little information and another that lists all of the materials that were used.

“The rest is left up to your imagination. It’s up to you,” said Gerkup.

In the next room of the gallery, visitors admired clusters of painted canvases that were hung from the ceiling by artist Vivian Suter.

Suter’s work is inspired by the landscape and nature in Guatemala, where she lives. (CanCulture/Natalie Michie)

Gerkup said that she felt like she was in nature by the set-up of how the canvases were hung. Canvases were painted with a wide variety of colours and marks left from elements of nature, such as visible flood stains. This, paired with visitors needing to navigate the paintings to see them all, created a forest-like feeling.

In fact, a large part of Suter’s creative process is her collaboration with nature. It all started after a hurricane flooded her studio and damaged her work. From then on, she began leaving her canvases out to allow them to be altered by the outdoor elements.

“Sometimes it is hard to focus on the individual paintings, but because everything is put so closely together it makes me think that the intent was for the work to be shown as one big piece, rather than looking at each painting individually,” Gerkup said.

As opposed to some art galleries where patrons admire pieces from afar, guests at The Power Plant were invited to walk through the pieces in order to experience them in the way the artists intended them to.

This includes the site-specific piece created by artist Karla Black, who used household items such as eyeshadow, lipstick and blush to create her aesthetics influenced piece. She included her daughter in the making of the piece by having her put her handprints on the walls around the room.

Rebecca Black, a student at the Toronto Film School, said she had a hard time visualizing the planning behind such a large-scale sculptural piece.

“I love it,” said Black, “It has me thinking, did (she) do it in (her) living room first? How does someone come up with this?”

Black’s large-scale installation featured smaller details all around the room, with elements plastered on the walls. Visitors were again encouraged to walk around her exhibit. (CanCulture/Natalie Michie)

Beth Stuart’s work was displayed all around the Power Plant, including outdoors. Her piece had multiple aspects, such as video, and perhaps provided the most context out of any of the other exhibits.

Visitors saw the first piece of Stuart’s installation while waiting outside, where a traditional 18th-century bathing machine was installed. Guests were welcomed to enter the bathing machine, which was used in the Victorian era by high-class members of society to enter bodies of water.

Upstairs, Stuart’s take on traditional bathing costumes were hung, and visitors could proceed through a hallway featuring sculptures that symbolize microorganisms found in the sand.

“There is a lot of elements but they are all connected,” said Nadia Nardine, a volunteer and fan of Stuart, “Altogether, it is a feminist view on the 18th century.”

Featuring exhibits since 1987, the gallery has been popular amongst visitors and art lovers for its seasonal exhibits that are always uniquely designed and different each time.

Harry Clarke, a Ryerson journalism student, said going to The Power Plant is one of his favourite things to do. He explained that he tends to go there whenever he feels anxious.

“It is a great place for me to centre myself and remind myself of my existence because for one, the artists always have such an eloquent way of describing existence,” said Clarke, “I always cry here, but it is a good release.”

The Power Plant’s Fall Exhibition will be featured at the gallery until Dec. 20, 2018.

A Look Into the Mosaic of Toronto

October 19, 2018 CanCulture Magazine

The Lives of International Students in Canada’s Most Diverse City

By Chloe Cook and Severina Chu

Every year, thousands of international students come to Canada in hopes of improving on their education and experiencing a new culture.

From their education to their lifestyle, these students encounter multiple challenges and changes that they must adapt to.

Being away from home has forced them to learn to face obstacles such as culture shock and living alone in order to engage in their new Canadian lifestyle. Each of these four international students have their own ways of adapting to life in Canada. Here’s a look into the challenges and rewards that they’ve experienced during their time here.

Divyansh Chandel

Divyansh Chandel has spent the last four and a half years adding everything from president of the Engineering Student Society, to International Student Director at the Ryerson Students’ Union to his impressive resume. On top of that, he has two startups under his belt and he is currently organizing a presentation for retired astronaut and engineer, Chris Hadfield.

“Every time I’ve taken a step to do something innovative, Canada has helped me.” Chandel said about his multiple endeavours.

In 2014, he moved to Toronto from Kuwait, India to begin an aerospace engineering degree at Ryerson. However, Canada was not his first choice. He originally applied to schools in the United States but his parents urged him to look into a Canadian education stating that it was a much ‘nicer’ place.

“When I was in twelfth grade applying, my love for Canada started growing. Everyone's so friendly, everyone's so accepting and that's one of the reasons I came to Canada.” Chandel said.

However, Ryerson did not entirely live up to his expectations. “I grew up with these university party movies, I didn't expect Ryerson to be a commuter school. I thought it would be like Queen’s or Western. I thought that's what every weekend would be,” he explained.

When Chandel came to realize that he wouldn’t be bonding with his peers over beer pong and karaoke, he took it upon himself to meet other international students like himself. He started volunteering his time to various clubs and organizations to meet new people.

As the International Student Director, he has begun to implement events such as the International Students’ Welcome Lunch, that allowed students from all over the world to meet each other and form connections as they started their school year.

While Chandel has enjoyed his time in Canada, it has not always been easy. Moving to a new country is bound to give you at least a few culture shocks and difficulties. For Chandel, one of the most difficult things about the transition was keeping in touch with his family in Kuwait.

“It was very hard in the start. I tried to have one Skype video call every weekend and at least check in with them on WhatsApp or Messenger everyday. They would check in with me too. As I got busier, it got harder,” he said.

His mother and sister moved to Canada in January of this year, so it is slightly easier to stay in contact with them now, however with his father still in India, it’s still just as difficult.

Despite this, Chandel says that he has no regrets coming to Canada. When asked about the biggest advantage his move had for him, he responded, “If you take an initiative, Canada rewards you for that initiative and that's what I love about Canada.”

Adela Zyfi

Adela Zyfi moved to Toronto from Tirana, Albania in Grade 12 in search of a better education.

“There’s a lot of corruption within the education system, so unless you pay a lot of money, you probably won’t get in,” she said, “There’s little to no chance you’re going to get a good education.”

Zyfi chose Canada because it’s an English speaking country with some of the most lenient immigration laws in the world, which helped make her decision easy. She plans on becoming a permanent resident in Canada after she graduates to help her pursue career opportunities unavailable in Albania.

Something that was difficult to get used to in Toronto for Zyfi was the diversity. Up until around 20 years ago, Albania was a communist country with a very strict immigration system in which the country was almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world. Due to the fact that nearly no one new could come into the country, Albania did not have a very diverse population.

“Coming here, I was shocked. I was like, ‘Oh my God! I have never seen people that look different than me!’” she said, “It was really awesome and I love it, but it is one of the things that really hits you.”

Moving to Canada has given her a lot of opportunities, but it has also come with its own set of challenges and barriers. Although Zyfi could speak English, Albanian, and Spanish, she said that the language and culture barrier was still difficult to maneuver around during her first years in Canada.

“I may have known English from a book, but you miss little jokes or references from shows and movies and things that are in North American culture. People would make a reference to a food or thing or a person and I would have no idea, I’d be so lost,” she said.

Another barrier that Zyfi found difficult to overcome was the 20-hour work week limit put in place by the Canadian government to ensure international students are focusing on their studies.

“Our expenses are so high that 20 hours on minimum wage is not going to cover anything, especially living in Toronto,” she said.

She stated that this rule puts a lot of students in a tough situation where they must choose whether or not to accept “precarious, under-the-table work” in order to meet their needs.

While Zyfi is enjoying her life in Canada, it is just temporary. She aims to continue travelling and seeking opportunities around the globe once she gains permanent residency in Canada.

Paula Lozada

Paula Lozada was just 16 years old when she came to Canada by herself.

Lozada was born in Dubai, where her family currently resides as she studies abroad. Currently studying business administration management at Seneca College, Lozada knew that leaving her family behind to come to Canada was a decision that would benefit her in the future.

“When I was in high school, most of my teachers were Indian. There was one specific teacher who was British but because she was white, she earned triple compared to other teachers,” she said, “Basically, if you’re coming from the West and you show that you have a degree from here, they’ll really invest a lot in you when you go back home.”

When talking about living alone in a foreign country, she admitted that there were difficulties.

“My first year here, I didn’t have any work experience from back home.” Lozada started out in door-to-door marketing, which she admits wasn’t the best experience. She then switched to retail and currently works at Nordstrom.

Another difficulty was contacting her family due to the ban in Dubai of multiple messaging platforms. Which leaves Lozada and her family limited to texting.

“It’s hard because back home, Skype is banned, calls on WhatsApp are banned, any social media calling or video chat is banned. It’s harder to keep in contact,” she said.

However, Lozada has still found ways to keep in touch with her culture and feel at home.

When she began volunteering at the Filipino festival, Taste of Manila, she was able to meet more people from the Filipino community. She also mentioned the Underground Dance Centre as one of her favourite places to go when she starts to feel homesick.

“Back home, my family and I would go dancing every weekend. (The Underground Dance Centre) is this non-profit organization where all of the people who are away from their families gather and dance,” she explained. “Whenever I can, I go to Underground because it makes me feel at home.”

But the one thing from home she can’t seem to get? The food.

There are several Filipino restaurants in Toronto, but nothing can compare to the authenticity of home cooking. “Sometimes I crave Filipino food or my dad’s cooking. I try to make it myself, but it’s not the same,” she said.

Despite the lack of home cooking, Lozada has made herself comfortable in Canada.

Her hope for the future is to become a Canadian citizen. She hopes to graduate and stay in Canada for a few more years in order to get her full citizenship. “I want to get the Canadian passport. Then, I’d help move my family here because life here is easier.”

Soumya Gupta

When the opportunity came up to study abroad, Soumya Gupta took the chance.

Though she was already studying two hours away from her hometown back in India, coming to Canada would be a new challenge. She chose to study graphic communication management at Ryerson University, which was similar to the graphic design major she was doing back home. This would be her first time out of the country, and her first time having to adapt to a new culture.

“It’s been a journey of ups and downs,” she described. “Moving away in India was easy because you’re aware of the culture and you know what to expect. Moving here, I kind of experienced culture shock.”

The culture shock came in terms of the education itself, Gupta saying that things are taught “more detailed and precise” in Canada and how the content she was learning differed from back home.

Gupta has only been in Canada for a month but through her exchange program, she’s been able to meet international students from across the globe. “A month ago, I hadn’t met anyone from any other countries. Now, I have friends from five or six countries,” she said.

Even though she’s been exposed to so many new cultures, Gupta is still able to surround herself with people who remind her of home.

“The people that I’m staying with are both exchange students from India, and we have a few more friends from India as well,” she told us. Being surrounded by people from home has helped her adapt, especially since language is not a barrier between them. She told us that every so often, her and her friends will get together and have a night in.

There are also things in the city that have helped her feel at home. For instance, when the RSU Wellness Centre was offering an Indian dance activity, she was able to meet more Indian people while getting a good heart pump. In addition, she prefers to explore the cuisines in the city that she cannot get in India.

Due to Gupta’s exchange only being for one term, she will be going back to India by December to finish her final year to get her degree. She then plans to continue school and do her masters in graphic design.

When asked if she would consider coming back to Canada, she said that it was too early to commit, though it’s still a possibility. “I always want to go back to India because the attachment will always be there. But if the opportunities are better in places like Canada, I might come back,” she said.

The Myth of Being Rich

Although all four of these students’ experiences in Canada have been vastly different, one idea was consistent among them - that the stereotype that international students are rich should be laid to rest. The widely believed notion that international students are beyond affluent is, more times than not, inaccurate and often offensive.

For Lozada, the stereotype has always made her uncomfortable. “I’ve met people who are rich, but there’s also some people who are international students and are still struggling.”

Chandel shares the same sentiment. “Some international students are getting government funds, some of them their parents have scraped together everything they could to educate their child. So one of the biggest stigmas that I don’t stand with is that international students are rich.”

Zyfi noted that while many people think international students are rich, many of them are putting themselves at risk for a paycheque. “A lot of international students find themselves in a not safe or risky position because they need to make money to support themselves.”

No matter where they came from or what they came for, these four students and many others like them, have uprooted their lives to find better opportunities in Toronto and to improve the quality of life in the city we live in.

Enduring Freedom at Nuit Blanche

October 5, 2018 CanCulture Magazine

By: Chloe Cook

Ze Mair, co-creator and performer during rehearsal (Photo by: Zahra Salecki)

What do the words, ‘Wonderland’, ‘Swamp Fox’, and ‘Enduring Freedom’ have in common? Although they sound like nonsense, they were actually military operation code names. As well as the basis of a 12-hour continuous dance installation at Nuit Blanche this year.

It all started with a list of 3,600 military operations that was compiled by Canadian poet Moez Surani. Operations: 1946-2006 was performed by approximately 60 people as a five-hour spoken word piece on the night of Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

“With the general feeling of anxiety and despair that followed the last American election, we wanted to do something that could create some solidarity,” Surani said, as well as a “physical reminder that we are not all alone in this.”

The idea was to make military operations more than just a name and to shed light on the effects that these operations had on real communities around the globe.

“The language that often gets used is from the poetic imagination: dawn, sunrise, freedom, purity. These kinds of poetic-seeming words help to create support for state violence,” said Surani.

Dancers in their fifth hour of performing (Photo by: Chloe Cook)

One of the readers that performed was Michael Reinhart, a performance creator and theatre instructor at Randolph College and the University of Toronto. Although the reading had finished, Reinhart knew that the life of the poem was not over.

“I thought it was really kind of tragic that this naming was not done in public and that we as a community could not contend with the activities that we do as a community.” Reinhart said. “What I wanted to figure out is how to allow Operations to be social.”

Reinhart surely found a way to do just that on the night of Nuit Blanche. With the help of choreographers and co-directors, Magdalena Vasko and Ze Mair, and a handful of dancers, Reinhart turned Surani’s poem into a 12-hour ballet performance.

The dance piece is comprised of a sequence of movements that is repeated once for every military operation while the names are projected onto the wall. Which means that the sequence is repeated continually 3600 times, over a period of 12 hours throughout the night.

When it came to figuring out how to best represent the effects of war, it seemed that there was no better option than ballet to the creators.

“Ballet was an analogy for the military because it's skilled, rigorous, bodies that are able to do extraordinary acts that are deeply impossible yet it appears to have exceptional ease,” said Reinhart.

Michael Reinhart, co-creator of Operations going over the timing of the piece in rehearsal (Photo by: Magdalena Vasko) — Michael Reinhart, co-creator of *Operations* going over the timing of the piece in rehearsal (Photo by: Magdalena Vasko)

According to Vasko, one of the creators of the piece, translating the number 3600 into a series of physical movements was one of the top priorities when choreographing.

Vasko said that being able to represent a statistic in a way that resonated with the audience was also important. “It's interesting to put it into your body, the number that you've been talking about,” she said.

In the piece, there are approximately 25 dancers who perform the sequence of movements across a square patch of grass in the middle of an auditorium. Throughout the performance, the grass begins to fall apart, representing the effects that these operations have on the land, the communities, and the people.

According to Sara Hinding, a dancer in Operations, the duration of the piece also contributes to the message of the dance as the performers get more and more worn down over time.

“By the end of the night we're avoiding each other and we're getting frustrated and we're tired and we don't want to do things and there's dynamics and we're looking dead into the eyes of people in the audience,” she explained.

Volunteers clearing the sod off the floor after the performance (Photo by: Chloe Cook)

Carmen Leardi, who is also an Operations dancer gave an example of how the piece offers a “disturbing” contrast of the effects of the operations.

“(In) one year there were a lot of dancers coming in and the choreography was really quick. Then the next year everything tones down. There are a few dancers in the space and the choreography is stretched over a longer piece of time.”

Although most of the dancers had never danced for 12-hours straight, the tensions were anything but high. Everyone was exceptionally calm and focused.

Veronica Simpson, Operations dancer, said she kept herself busy through the night by experimenting with the choreography.

“I kept myself occupied by finding new places to make contact with the audience members and different ways to execute the choreography while maintaining the same overall form,” she explained.

Audience members were free to come and go as they pleased, allowing them to check the progress of the piece throughout the night.

According to Reinhard, there were around 1,400 people who came through the doors.

Mark Francis, an audience member called the piece mesmerizing and said that he could not stop staring at it due to the different moving parts and the relentlessness of the piece.

“I think the subject matter is obviously very dark and depressing but the form and the soundtrack and everything was super beautiful and I found it really meditative to look at,” Francis said.

Cassandra Alves, another member of the audience, noted the similarities between the military and ballet.

“It definitely parallels as if you're going through any kind of military operation which is kind of scary. The dancers literally go through it in a different form,” said Alves.

As for Vasko, who was also a performer in addition to being a creator, said finally performing the piece with all of the dancers was cathartic.

“To collectively be so devoted felt like we were on a battlefield fighting for the same cause,” Vasko said, “It was like a funeral, a remembrance, a memorial and a sacrifice all at the same time.”

Although no one is chomping at the bit to dive into another night long performance anytime soon, the experience is one that the audience, performers, and creators will never forget.
Hinding said after the performance that is was a test of her abilities, “In my opinion a piece like this is a true testament to the human spirit and what it is capable of.”

Dancers in motion during a rehearsal (Photo by: Magdalena Vasko)

‘Black thighs save lives’: Dainty Smith at the Highbrow Burlesque

April 16, 2018 CanCulture Magazine

By Isabelle Kirkwood

It’s getting late in The Danforth. The east-enders are dragging their feet as they saunter back from the office in a mid-February flurry. The streets begin to clear out as the night grows colder, but at the Social Capital Theatre, Dainty Smith is only just warming up.

The green room is at peak chaos. The room is teeming with flying feathers and the musky odour of perfume as dancers fix on their bedazzled pasties and coat on the last strokes of lipstick in a frenzy. Smith is priming herself for Highbrow Burlesque, a monthly spectacle where erotic entertainment meets vaudeville cabaret.

“I've been doing this for over ten years and I've never gotten over being nervous,” Smith said. “I think that's probably a good thing.”

In 2011, Smith assembled a “wolf pack” dance troupe known as Les Femmes Fatales, a dance collective of women of colour espousing female and black empowerment through the art of burlesque. Tonight, she’s dancing solo, but her activism still fuels every performance.

“I’m interested in the ways in which I can reclaim my body and find self-love as a black woman on a platform,” Smith said. “We tell stories onstage, loving and owning our bodies. Being able to do that is a defiant act.”

After a year in George Brown’s theatre program and discovering black burlesque icon Josephine Baker, Smith decided to teach herself to dance for burlesque. Those days were lonely but liberating, and overtime, she began to trust her body and her instincts as she learned about herself, her style and the power of the female gaze. All this translates into what she does today.

Her outfit of choice is her black velvet tap shorts that sit high on her waist over sheer pantyhose, paired with a black brassiere and trademark pasties.

“I probably wear too much black on stage,” she said. “It's sort of a 40’s or 50’s retro aesthetic.”

The theatre isn’t as kitschy as a typical burlesque show. There is no crimson curtain or intricate set design. The stage itself is quite small. The visual vacancy onstage acts as a canvas for the performers to make their own statement. For this Highbrow event, Smith splits her time between dancing and hosting the show. For Smith, her role as emcee pivots upon the perfect medium of entertainment and education.

“I encourage folks to respect the performers, respect the art, respect women,” she said. “But I think that it's really important that the audience is not passive in entertainment and in art.”

Smith grew up as a preacher’s daughter in a Hebrew-Pentecostal Church in a majority-white suburban neighbourhood. She now describes herself as “the church girl gone bad.” Her religious upbringing both shaped her approach to emceeing and developed her focus on the “sacredness and holiness” of marginalized women’s bodies. She said burlesque is now a form of church for her.

“Can I get an amen?” she shouts, beckoning the microphone to the audience before they bellow a powerful “amen!” back.

The audience includes couples looking to experience a unique but timeless form of entertainment. To lighten the atmosphere, Smith cracks a few quips about intersectional feminism. She said this allows the guests to feel included and respected through storytelling and humour.

Intersectional feminism is a framework of analysis which attempts to identify how interlocking systems of power impact those who are most marginalized in society. The term was first coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in the late 1980’s. Crenshaw discussed Black feminism, which argues that the lived experience of a black woman cannot be understood in terms of being black and of being a woman considered independently, but must include the interactions, which frequently reinforce each other.

After a series of lively performances, it’s show time for Smith. Tonight’s routine is set to the tune of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five, a classic jazz number. While some of the performers’ flairs are more high-flown or humorous, the spirit of Smith’s performance appeals to raw emotion, while her sensual choreography casts a steamy spell over the audience. Her movements are performed in sultry and soulful arrangements under the ghost light of the stage, that build up to the climactic pasty-reveal. That build-up, Smith said, is what she loves most about the performance.

“It's one of the few moments that a woman is really in charge and in control of her body,” Smith said. “There’s something really powerful about a woman on stage, taking as long as she wants before she shows something.”

The audience response ranges from beguilement to elation. The date-night couples are wide-eyed, almost paralyzed under her gaze, while the more seasoned burlesque spectators hoot and holler when she sinks down to her knees or raises her arms above her head in fluid, spiraling motions.

By the time the curtains are closed, Smith is exhausted. Using her body and voice to intrigue and inform is a taxing but worthwhile enterprise for her, so she takes time to chat with the guests and her fellow dancers after the show ends. Many of the audience members, particularly those who came for a casual date night, are more seduced by the message than the striptease.

Smith’s energy and commitment to burlesque feeds off the sisterhood that develops from women supporting each other, whether it’s fixing someone’s broken heel in the green room or offering survival tips to women, particularly of marginalized communities. Making connections with people she assumed she had nothing in common with has been a capstone for her career.

She shuffles into a large swing coat and wraps her head in a colourful bonnet, her ankles are left rather exposed to the elements. She has a shopping bag overflowing with costumes and makeup. As she leaves the theatre and moves into the unrelenting flurry, she too is now dragging her feet. Her night was long but valuable.

“What really makes the showgirl is the glitter and glamour, but also the bandages and self-actualization,” Smith said. “It's pretty beautiful.”

This piece was edited by Jacklyn Gilmor

Canadians cut drinking to aid in cancer research

March 5, 2018 CanCulture Magazine

By: Sara Jabakhanji

Sonja Koenig knows exactly what it’s like to witness loved ones battling cancer. At 10 years old, she lost two of her grandparents to the disease. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and this year she decided to fight back.

“Many of my tears have been dedicated to this awful illness and for once, I want to have the upper hand and make a true impact,” she said.

Koening, 25, works as a bartender in Toronto. She took on the challenge of going completely alcohol-free for the month of February to raise money for those affected by cancer.

Koenig is among thousands of Canadians that took part in Dry Feb this year. It’s an initiative run by the Canadian Cancer Society that challenges Canadians to give up alcohol for the month of February in order to raise funds for cancer research and support services.

In recent years, the fundraiser has grown increasingly popular with more participants each year Like Koenig, many choose to do it to honour people in their lives who have dealt with cancer.

Koenig began the year intending to take a break from alcohol, but after coming across a Dry Feb profile that belonged to a friend of hers, it all clicked. She realized she could raise funds while also staying sober.

“It was like the cherry on top and [it] gave me the extra incentive to make it happen,” she said.

Koenig said that since then, it has been an ongoing personal journey dealing with friends and family members of all ages who battled different kinds of cancer.

In 2016, her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and Koenig witnessed her battle.

She said she’s proud to say that her mom “kicked cancer’s butt.”

“She has shown everyone who knows her how strength, faith and positive thinking can aid in such a difficult battle,” she said.

For those working behind the counter like Koenig, giving up alcohol is anything but easy. Gatherings after work when she and her coworkers could relax and drink made it tricky to commit to being alcohol-free, especially after a long shift.

Luckily, Koenig had a strong support system. She said that many friends offered to pass on drinks when they were with her, or to do something social that didn’t involve alcohol.

She said being around alcohol is a constant temptation she can’t escape, but she managed to work her way through it for the month, reminded of the impact that cancer has had on her family.

Drinking and cancer risk

Cancer is linked to 30 per cent of all Canadian deaths, making it one of the leading causes of death in Canada.

Elizabeth Holmes, a health policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, said that drinking too much alcohol heightens your risk of developing certain kinds of cancer.

“We’ve known this for 30 years now,” Holmes said. “That’s why we see the increase in the head and neck cancer.”

Heavy drinking has been linked with cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum and breast. A study by the National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism found that when people cut out drinking, their risk for developing cancer plunged.

Dry Feb aims to get Canadians to drink at less harmful levels by encouraging them to take a short break from alcohol and reflect on their drinking habits. Meanwhile, they’re raising money for those already affected by the disease. Participants can sign up as individuals or form a group and make this challenge a team effort.

This is the third year Holmes has participated in the initiative, making it an annual tradition. This year she decided to join a team of three with her co-workers so they could encourage each other throughout the month.

“At its heart, Dry Feb is definitely an individual event,” Holmes said. However, she said that being part of a team helped her along the way.

“There is some competition when you are part of a team, like who’s going to be the one to get the most funds,” she said, “because we’re all in it to raise as much as we can.”

A national issue

It might not come as a surprise that Canadians love to drink. In fact, a 2017 World Health Organization report found that Canadians drink more alcohol per capita than the global average. Statistics help to understand how these drinking patterns were formed over time.

Whether they’re celebrating a friend’s nineteenth birthday with a glass of champagne, or going out for the occasional cocktail, drinking has become a lifestyle habit that Canadians often adapt as they get older.

Less alcohol consumption is linked to a decreased risk of cancer. So, just how much drinking is too much?

Holmes said that those who choose to drink should aim to minimize their intake by keeping it to less than one drink a day for women, and less than two drinks a day for men.

In the Society’s follow-up surveys collected in the following months, around 70 per cent of Dry Feb participants reported a significant decrease in their drinking. Holmes said many also reported that they became more aware of their alcohol consumption and how often they decide to drink in the months following.

Resetting your tolerance

Alcohol has been listed as one of the top three causes of cancer deaths worldwide. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, in 2015 an estimated 10,700 Canadians were diagnosed with cancer found to be caused by alcohol.

Studies show that a short break from drinking can in fact spark healthier drinking habits and help cut down on alcohol consumption. It’s also better for your liver, and can help you lose weight and get more sleep.

The Canadian Cancer Society recommends the 30 day break for social drinkers, as they say it can do wonders for your overall health.

The frequency of drinking and the amount consumed, as well as family history are all factors that affect how fast tolerance can grow. Every time you drink alcohol, you begin to build a higher tolerance.

For those who drink regularly, a break also allows the body to ‘reset’ its tolerance for alcohol. The higher someone’s tolerance is, the more difficult it is for their body to recognize what isn’t normal. Having an alcohol-free period every so often can help tackle heavy drinking by reducing that tolerance.

Support is key

Pablo Doskoch, a student at the University of British Columbia, was the top fundraiser of this year’s Dry Feb. Doskoch said he found the experience rewarding both in taking a break from alcohol and raising money for cancer research.

He said he did Dry Feb as a token of support for his father.

In December of 2016, Doskoch’s father was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer, and continues to fight the disease. This inspired Doskoch to participate for the first time last year, and once again this year.

“With my father's ongoing battle with brain cancer and many others who are also battling this horrendous disease, it is the least I can do to try and support everyone’s fight against cancer,” he said.

Doskoch explained that socially, abstaining can definitely be a struggle.

“[After] a long week, going out for dinner with friends after school and wanting to have that drink is tough.”

Through this break from alcohol, Doskoch discovered how declining to go out for drinks with friends can make an impact on drinking habits in the long run.

“Being a young kid in university, my peers are often drinking and want [me] to join them, but saying no is important,” he said.

The results

Doskoch and Koenig both surpassed their initial target goal, raising significantly more than they had anticipated.

Having participated in Dry Feb before, Doskoch wanted to aim higher this year and was able to surpass his $8000 target goal by more than $500 dollars.

Koenig said she entered the month with the goal of raising $500 and came out with $2043.60 in donations.

“I think it's such a beautiful thing to watch people come together for such a good cause,” she said.

Koenig said she would like to see the funds put towards not only cancer research projects but additionally, towards programs and facilities that provide cancer patients and their families with emotional and social support, such as Gilda's Club Simcoe Muskoka.

She said she knows first-hand the difference these programs can make on people’s battles with cancer. “Although it is difficult, I can say that I've had the privilege of witnessing how such a horrible disease can bring people together under heartbreaking circumstances,” Koenig said.

This piece was edited by Jacklyn Gilmor.