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Pitches galore!

Hey Arts folks! It's your deputy editor Mary here. Super excited to be writing my first pitch email. Hope everyone's hanging in there and staying warm as we get to the end of January. Read on for this week's announcements and then some pitches! Just one announcement this week: The magazine is looking for volunteers to do diversions in the February issue! If you want to take a crack at making horoscopes, crosswords, or quizzes (or maybe you're already an expert), you can hit up our magazine editor Tina at [email protected] or feel free to email Tom at [email protected] and he can set you up. And now for the recurring columns:

• The Hobby Hole: Tell us about any unique hobbies you have or give a fresh take on an old favourite. It could be a passion project or an activity you do when you want to lay back, unplug your brain, and watch the hours fly by.

• Paddling up the Livestream: Wax lyrical about your favourite livestreams, put us onto some hidden-away gems, or give your hot-takes on livestream culture!

• The First Time: Try something totally new and write about your experience. It could be a cuisine you’ve heard great things about, an unfamiliar type of music, or an activity you've never tried before. Tell us about it all from the POV of a complete novice.

• Dream Team: Write about your ultimate dream collab! It might be a Stephen King children’s books series or a Billie Eilish x Tyler, the Creator supergroup. Tell us what makes your dream team such a gamechanger. 

• Off-Campus Gems: Tell us about a local gem in and around the University area. It could be a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, your favourite bar, or even your go-to convenience store. Celebrate all things U of A and Old Strathcona!

• Gateway to Gastronomy: Know any fun and easy to follow recipes? Share it in this recurring segment. 

• Exploring Edmonton: Do you know any cool places around Edmonton that people should visit? Write about them in this new series!  

• Lunch Break: An Arts & Culture series where we share fun recipes with humorous commentary. It's wholesome and lowkey, so check it out and send an installment over!

• Brew Crew/Vino Bitches: A fun, short review of your favourite (or not-so-favourite) beers, wines, or other alcoholic beverages of choice.

• Noodle Nation: Who loves noodles? You (might) love noodles! Write a column on your favourite noodles or noodle haunts.

• Pot Thots: Write about your favourite strains, equipment, dispensaries, and more in our column on the world of legal weed.

• Eating Edmonton: Write about your favourite (or not-so-favourite) local haunts in this miscellaneous foodie column. A great way to spotlight local restaurants in a time when they really need it!

• DatApp: Have an app that’s been a gamechanger? Wax eloquently about it (or a few of your favourites) in this column.

• Top 5: Top 5 streaming shows, places to cry in public, work-from-home tips...you name it, you can write a Top 5 on it!

• Diss Track: Are there 3-4 songs that grind your gears in the worst way possible? Diss the crap out of them in this column.

• Doin’ You: Everyone has something they do exceptionally well. Wanna teach others your wizardry? Walk us step-by-step through the process of a master for this column.

• Playlists: Have killer musical taste? Share it on The Gateway with a curated playlist.

• Retro on Retro: Is some classic piece of media on your mind? Reflect on it with the distance of time in this column. Discuss the qualities, staying power, and impact of your favourite old movie, video game, album, book, play, or whatever else!

• Double Take: Love spitting fire-hot takes on pop culture? You and a friend (or foe) can team up to write opposing takes on some piece of art/entertainment/media.

• ...AND MORE! I'm always open to any pitches you might have for me!

Celebrate Black History Month with Black Canadian films Black History Month is just around the corner, and the National Film Board has a free collection of films by award-winning Black filmmakers! One of the upcoming films is Will Prosper's Kenbe la, Until We Win, which will be available on February 1. This is a Francophone film (English subtitles available) following late Haitian artist Alain Philoctète as he travels from Quebec back to Haiti to develop a permaculture project with local farmers. Kenbe la won the People's Choice Award at the 2019 Montreal International Documentary Festival, and there's an opportunity to interview Prosper about the film. Several other films will also be available under the NFB collection, which you can check out here. Let us know if something catches your eye for a film review!

U of A students turning thoughts into artSix U of A students worked remotely over the summer on the RemBRAINdt, a helmet which uses electrodes to measure electrical potential between different parts of the wearer's head. Based on this data, the helmet creates a visual representation of the wearer's thoughts. The helmet has already won several awards, including first place in a provincial neuro-technology competition. Send us an email if you're interested in interviewing one of the helmet's creators!

Faculty of Extension offering course on Italian bitter cocktails Mike Angus is the owner of Edmonton's Pip restaurant and for five week's he'll be presenting a cocktail workshop called Amaro. Registrants pay the course fee, get their supplies, and then embark on a virtual learning journey in the world of cocktail creation. There are two sessions available, both running from the week of February 22nd to March 22nd. Feel free to browse the course page here. Let us know if you're interested in taking the course and writing about your experience, or if you'd like to interview Angus! 

Criminal Law professor makes podcast with his 11-year-old daughterTranslating Criminal Law: Rated G is a new podcast aimed at making Canada's criminal law system more accessible to a general audience. Each episode features Peter Sankoff and his daughter Penny in an entertaining question-answer format. To top it off with a laugh, Penny gets to conclude by teaching her dad something new (episode one included the basics of Tik Tok). Let us know if you're interested in reviewing the podcast and/or interviewing Sankoff! In the meantime, you can check out the podcast here.