Opinion Pitches August 2018

Scorching hot pitches 

August 10, 2018

Wow! It's August?!?!?!?!

How the time has flown by! I hope you all have had fruitful summers and are excited to be dragged back to uni kicking and screaming! I know I am! Our FINAL summer volunteer meeting is coming this Monday, August 13, at 3pm! As always, there will be pitches, pizza, and good times. Hope you can make it, and I'm excited to see you there! Also, I have some updates from our good pal Richard, the Photo Editor. He's working on getting together some video content (NICE) and is looking for volunteers to participate! The list of content ideas is here. If you're interested, talk to Richard at the volunteer meeting, or email him at [email protected].

If you'd like to take any of this week's pitches or have any pitches of your own you wanna throw at me, email me at [email protected]!

Diplomatic feud between Saudi Arabia and Canada could affect 130 Saudi students at the U of A

After criticism of Saudi Arabia's human rights record by the federal Canadian government, the Saudi government is pulling scholarships from Saudi students studying in Canada. This very much affects the

, where around 130 Saudi students are currently studying.

You could discuss whether this is the right move for Saudi Arabia to take diplomatically, or focus more on the student angle, and how this may affect the freedom of Saudi students who wish to study in Canada. A student-based focus would make great coverage!

Flat-Earth faithful flock to Edmonton for international conference

is what I'm talking about! Indeed, the International Flat Earth Conference has kicked off in Edmonton, bringing many prominent flat earthers together to talk about ice walls surrounding the Earth. It would be cool to contextualize this conference within the rise of flat earth believers and conspiracy theories, and how it's managed to become part of the marketplace of ideas.

'I'm pissed off': Mayor Don Iveson reacts to 'bone-headed' decisions by city

These

include the shutting down of the Hertigate Festival's storage facility in Hawrelak Park, as well as the removal of memorial plaques on benches. Both the mayor and city manager Linda Cochrane cite "cultural issues" as a factor in these decisions.

Former dangerous offender Lisa Neve speaks about her once notorious designation: ‘You lose all hope’

Neve

in front of the Senate Human Rights Committee in Edmonton. Neve lived on-and-off the streets from her teens until she was 21, suffering from mental health issues, including schizophrenia. She implored the committee to include rehabilitative measures like victim-reconciliation programs and the like for offenders, as well as to get rid of the dangerous offender label.

City of Victoria to remove statue of John A. Macdonald at city hall

There's been lots of debate around whether such an act is reconciliatory or history-erasing (outside of the context of this particular event). Regardless, it looks like the city of Victoria is removing Sir John A.'s statue. Let me know your thoughts.