The Exchange Sessions: Johannes Lodewyks

New song Let Me Out of Here brings Sierra Noble back after a five-year hiatus

Sierra Noble has a new song, a new look and new pronoun but those aren’t the only updates in the singer-songwriter’s life and career they wish to share.

A new single, Let Me Out of Here, addresses the abuse Noble suffered as a teenager, when they became a rising star in the music business.

But in an interview, Noble expands on the lyrics of the tune, the past and a five-year hiatus from recording that ended earlier this month with the song’s release.

“That was in 2016 when I was in Nashville when my body and my mind just said, ‘Enough is enough,’ “ Noble says. “The box is full. You can’t keep putting things in this box. You’ve got to take them all out and look at them and deal with it.”

A distant island and a European border

It’s at roughly 80°49′35″ North latitude and 66°27′30″West longitude.

Or, you might also know it as being in the Kennedy Channel of the Nares Strait in the high Arctic.

It’s Hans Island, an island that’s split between the Kingdom of Denmark and Canada.

The border was a bone of contention between the two nations for years, but not one that sired threats of annexation. Each simply claimed it as their own.

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, what happens to our bills and coins?

OTTAWA - Canadians are used to seeing Queen Elizabeth II on their money, but that could change following the death of the longest-serving British monarch and Canadian head of state.

However, the Bank of Canada, which produces Canada's paper bills, said changes likely won't be seen immediately.

The current $20 bank note featuring the Queen, is intended to circulate for years to come, the central bank said, and there is no legislative requirement to change the design within a prescribed period when the monarch changes, it said. New bank notes, including the portrait subject, are approved by the finance minister.

One observer says he doesn’t know if Canadians will ultimately see King Charles III, as he’s now known, on our bills.

Payment for plasma a necessary next step

In an ideal world, enough volunteers would roll up their sleeves to donate blood plasma to meet the needs of Canadian patients. That’s not happening; not even close.

Throne speech offers glimpse of PCs’ priorities

Throne speeches are more than just pomp and circumstance and the opportunity for selfies between political rivals on the beautiful marble floors of the Manitoba legislature building on Broadway. They set the agenda for the legislative session and set the tone for the government as it moves into its new session. Looked at carefully, they also reveal the priorities of the government by what is said, and also what is not said.

But they are also highly symbolic. They are delivered by the lieutenant-governor of the province, who acts as the symbol of the head of state, the Queen, but they are written by speechwriters for the government of the day.

Political scientists have studied the throne speeches delivered at the federal level to understand the thematic commonalities and what they say about nationalism over the past 30 years. Janine Brodie of the University of Alberta, for example, determined that Canadian throne speeches delivered before the 2000s embraced a more neo-liberal tone that was tied to the global economy.

After 2000, an analysis by Tim Nieguth (Laurentian University) and Tracey Raney (Ryerson University) found that Conservative throne speeches tended to focus on neo-conservative themes — emphasizing the family, the military and threats to security — while Liberals’ speeches talked about health care and Indigenous issues.

Schools struggle to increase distancing, adjust to stricter rules

As schools scramble to comply with code orange, teachers are being reassigned to new roles and classrooms in an effort to space students out by two metres — but it’s a feat some say is impossible, no matter how much furniture is moved around in their buildings.

New public health restrictions that come into effect on Monday, require schools in Manitoba’s capital and northern region to further distance students, limit extracurricular activities if protocols cannot be met, cancel field trips and pause indoor choir and the use of wind instruments.

Moments after Dr. Brent Roussin made the announcement, principal Chris Wigglesworth and her colleagues at Forest Park School started brainstorming about ways to free up space for the golden two-metre rule.

“I don’t think (it’s doable), to be honest, but we’re just going to make the distance as big as we can. It will definitely be better than what it was before,” said Wigglesworth, during an interview mid-reorganization at the K-5 school in Garden City on Friday afternoon.