Infinity Aerial is home to four different types of aerial apparatus’ that let you feel like you’re a superhero.
CEO and Owner Valerie Schrader owned her studio in 2007, going on a mission to bring the liberating exercises and arts to the community. Since her first opening, she has moved locations to accommodate even more apparatus’ since she had so much success at her smaller location.
Our intern, Hannah, and I were both complete newbies, but we headed up to their spot at 9032 Cotter St. in Lewis Center to give it our best shot. I had never done aerial arts before but I was certainly ready to try! I’m so glad I did because it was the most empowering feeling of accomplishment when you did a move correctly.
71% of female students disapprove of the job the provincial governmental lead by Doug Ford is doing and abortion rights and sex education are amongst their concerns
71 per cent of Ryerson students who identify as female disapprove of the job the provincial government is doing, according to a recent poll conducted by Ryerson School of Journalism students between March 1-4.
Of the people who identified as female, when asked, “Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the job the provincial government led by Doug Ford is doing?,” 71 per cent disapprove, three per cent approve, and 25 per cent neither approve nor disapprove. (Numbers have been rounded down to whole numbers.)
First-year Ryerson School of Journalism students surveyed 1,179 Ryerson University students in person and online between March 1-4, 2019.
First-year social work student Taylor Rogers said that the Doug Ford government has been “absolute garbage.”
Rogers said she highly values gender equality and isn’t seeing that in the current government.
“He’s a white male, who thinks he’s superior and he’s a higher class, so I think he’s utilizing that to dismiss women,” Rogers said.
She said that Ford’s pro-life ideologies are bad for women and promote inequality by taking away their ability to choose whether they have children.
As reported by the Toronto Star, Doug Ford questioned why teenagers need permission slips from parents for school trips but not to have an abortion.
The issue of abortion was also a concern for first-year sociology student Sissy King.
“I’m not for men having such a strong opinion about something that doesn’t affect them,” King said.
Emma Hoskins, a first-year undeclared arts student, quoted a common abortion rights advocate slogan, No Uterus, No Opinion, to explain her feelings on Doug Ford’s opposition to abortion.
“I find it ridiculous that you would make people be parents when they’re not ready to be parents,” she said.
Sex-Ed curriculum reversal
One of Doug Ford’s major policy changes since his election was the plan to reverse the Ontario sex-education curriculum to the 1998 curriculum. However, the ministry of education recently announced that the curriculum will not be entirely rolled back, according to reports from the CBC.
Instead, topics like gender-identity will not be discussed until grade 8 rather than grade 2.
King said that this is inherently conflictual with Ford’s pro-life views.
“If you’re pro-life and against abortions, then why are you taking away sex education?” she said.
Hoskin said some people argue that sex-education encourages young people to become sexually active but she disagrees.
“It just makes it so people can do it safely and they’re knowledgeable about what they’re doing and how to be safe about it,” Hoskins said.
First-year creative industries student Brennan March is concerned about the poor sex education that his high school age sister will now receive.
“She’s not going to learn the proper sex-ed curriculum and I think it’s disgusting,” March said.
Lack of LGBT+ sex-ed
Of the 17 students polled that identify as non-binary or gender fluid, 76 per cent said they disapprove of the Ford government, five per cent said they approve, and 17 per cent said they neither approve or disapprove. Numbers have been rounded down to whole numbers. The margin of error for these numbers will be larger due to the small sample size.
The new sex education curriculum that was recently implemented does not include sex education for LGBTQ issues until grade 8, according to the CBC. This is a major concern for Leandra Budau, a first-year biomedical engineering student.
“It’s already an issue where they don’t have a whole lot of it in the sex education system, so I don’t love that they’re taking even more of it out,” Budau said. “I think that’s really unsafe.”
Budau said that as a queer person she can understand the disapproval of the Ford government among her community.
March said that as someone who identifies as bisexual he can understand the wide proportion of disapproval among marginalized people like women and the LGBT+ community.
March said that this delayed sex-education policy is only about the personal views of Doug Ford and the conservative government rather than the importance of educating the public.
“Taking away anything that gives you knowledge is a bad idea,” March said.
Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20; it may be larger for subgroups.
Horizons for Youth shelter is helping young people get off the streets and back to pursuing their passions
The sounds of slamming doors, stomping feet, and angry voices rang in John Huynh’s ears as he stuffed just his phone and his wallet of only a few bills, into the pocket of his pyjama pants.
His feet tried to catch up with his racing heart as he swiftly left the front door for the relative safety of a nearby Subway restaurant in the summer of 2018.
Toronto police arrived in response to Huynh’s 911 call and held him for lengthy questioning. The frightened 22-year-old answered with hot tears still streaming down his face.
He had become accustomed to the feeling of fear while living with his family.
“I really didn’t like living at home for my whole life. I never felt safe anywhere. And I had nowhere to go to feel safe,” now 24-year-old Huynh explained. “Even if I lock the door in my room, my dad would just find another way in, like breaking the door down.”
After taking over the family deli business, Irene and Shelley Zelden moved to the St. Claire area to open up a pub and a deli across the street. Although their pub has been around longer, the Zelden’s passion is in the deli business and this place is as close to them as family.
Zelden’s Deli & Desserts is a cross between a restaurant and a deli, bringing deli meat into their recipes and putting a modern spin on traditional deli sandwiches. Their sign reads “the evolution of deli” as they work to incorporate non-traditional items into their menu. This family-owned business is making a name for themselves with house-made classics like the pastrami sandwich and homemade spicy mustard that’s so good it was being stolen off the tables. The menu also features their evolution items such as strawberry cheese blintzes and stuffed challah grilled cheese.
When did you begin thinking about the deli business?
We had a place in Thornhill in the 80s that we sold in 1989. And then in between that, we had a few other places, pubs and restaurants, but deli was always our passion. So when this location came up, we decided to jump on it. We live in the area. We have another business in the area, the Jester on Yonge and it’s directly across the street. We have been there 15 years and we’ve been here just over two years and that’s been going good so far.
What were your original motivations in getting started with this place and starting the place across the street?
That’s kind of what we do. We’ve always been in the restaurant business.
Zelden’s serving staff served the late lunch crowd on Monday. (RSJ/Tess Stuber)
Did you choose this location for any particular reason?
It’s right in the center. When we were looking to buy a restaurant or to acquire a business we went from the East end to the West and North and South and we kind of ended up right here in midtown right in the middle, which worked perfect for us. We came from the suburbs and we both really liked the city so we moved to Yonge and St. Clair when we bought the Jester.
When you first got started, what were some of the biggest challenges that you faced?
Mostly awareness, just getting people to realize that we’re new and we’re here. This unit has had many restaurants in it that haven’t succeeded. So we had to get over that because sometimes it’s the address or the location that kind of has a bit of a stigma, right?
What do you love specifically about this location as opposed to some of your other locations or businesses that you’ve had?
I built and started this one with my husband from scratch from the bottom up with no other influences, just us. It’s sort of our baby. You know, it’s our thing. The one in Thornhill was my husband’s family business. His mother became sick and we ended up having to sell the restaurant in Thornhill. People still walked in here remembering it because it was called Zely’s Deli and we’re Zelden’s deli. So people still walk in here recognizing the name and us because we were at the deli all the time.
Where did the style come from?
We did all of the décor ourselves. I did all of it. I did the tile work. I did the upholstery. I did the ceiling. So we built it ourselves. But I really like to do that end of it as well. I like to design the restaurant. I picked a colour scheme and I just went with the colour scheme and just kept adding until it was perfect.
All of the tiling and tin ceiling panels were done by Irene Zelden who enjoys that aspect of the restaurant business as well. (RSJ/Tess Stuber)
How would you describe the environment?
It’s very comfortable in here. And I’ve had customers, like single women that come in and actually say that they feel very comfortable coming in, you know that to a place on their own. This is very comfortable here. We are a very family business. We’re not corporate at all. We like to know that people know that the owners are here and we run the place, you know, and we’re very hands-on. My staff likes it too. I’m not like an owner that just walked into the kitchen and they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s worked out really well here.
Who are the main cooks?
My husband doesn’t cook. He’s on the meat slicer. I’m the main cook and then I’ve got three or four other cooks with me. They’re all self-sufficient now because they worked here for two years, but I taught them all the recipes.
Irene Zelden started selling her homemade spicy mustard in jars because the popular condiment was being stolen off her tables. (RSJ/Tess Stuber)
How much trial and error did you have when you started making the menu? Where did the ideas come?
Most of it came from my mother in law and the original Zely’s so I really already had all my recipes and knew the direction we were going to go with everything. Except we’ve added like an evolution sort of twist to our menu by doing deli meat pasta, quesadillas and stuff where we’ve infused our deli meats. We just thought you know, just to be a little bit different than anybody else.
How often does your menu change?
It’s pretty consistent. If it does change, it’s very minor. We do the evolution stuff which is new stuff that you wouldn’t see, but we also stuck with really traditional stuff as well like the beef knish and matzah balls and Kishka and potato latkas. All that is made in house except for the kishka.
What are your most popular items?
I want to say our pastrami because we do our pastrami in house and we have a special dry rub that you can’t get anywhere else. So if you like our pastrami, you can only get it here. We have so many popular dishes. The reuben is also one of our top sandwiches. And then we do also our steak sandwich, which is really one of our favourites as well.
What would you say is your biggest source of income?
Right now I think (the restaurant and catering) are pretty much hand in hand. Our lunch trade and our brunch trade are pretty much the busiest times of day. The weekends are the busiest. We have a unique brunch menu, that’s why. There’s a lot of stuff on our brunch menu that other places don’t do like our breakfast nest, our breakfast “Zkillet”, our cinnamon roll pancakes and our strawberry cheese blintzes.
So what’s next? What are the future plans?
The evening business and the catering are two things that I would really like to concentrate on building. (The catering) has been picking up in the last few months. We only have 40 seats so you can really only do so much with a space this size. In order for us to really be out there and get our name out, we go to offices and cater. People order trays for home and stuff too.
My name is Tess, I’m 18 years old and if I get killed tomorrow I want my little sister to know that I’m doing this for her.
No person should have to consider this. Especially kids. But unfortunately, this is the reality that we have to live with every day. We go to school in fear, and these fears are real.
Following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting, my high school was business as usual. I went to class, I listened to lectures, I took notes. But I didn’t learn. I haven’t done any learning since 17 students were brutally shot dead. School has continued for the majority as if we are expected to show up to school without fearing for our lives.
But how can I learn when all I can focus on in class is where I’ll go if a shooter comes into the building? Or how fast I can get to my sister if her elementary school is attacked. I’ve decided it’s three minutes if I’m parked in front of the school and obey no traffic laws.
The list of school shootings in America is larger than any other country. This violence directly corresponds to our lack of gun control.
It’s time to say goodbye to the cliquey vibes of yoga and exercise in Columbus.
Studios are beginning to pay more attention to who their clientele is and the limited range of people that traditional yoga spaces bring in.
Ashton Colby, a yoga instructor RYT200, is part of a new initiative in Columbus to create inclusive and accessible yoga classes. For those that aren’t familiar with the RYT200 yogi term, it means that Ashton completed 200 hours of yoga teacher training.
Ashton found that in many yoga classes, they would use language particular to the women’s body or to the man’s body that he couldn’t connect with because he is transgender.
“It takes me out of my zone when we assume that bodies are just this way or that way,” he said.
Tess Stuber 
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