Lifestyles

EDITOR SASALAKIC |

Morgan Weverink, 19, outside Canada Place on his way to the B.C. Young Liberals Annual General Meeting on Saturday, October 21, 2017. Weverink is one of a
number of young people who are turning to governmental politics to make their voices heard. PERRIN GRAUER PHOTO

The next generation of politicians is becoming a rare breed

= By PERRIN GRAUER

aving a trio of candi-
dates under the age
of 30 who ran in last
month’s Vancouver city
council byelection can be seen as an
anomaly, says one political expert.

This is because young people in
Canada and other Western coun-
tries tend to view government as
rather unresponsive to their inter-
ests, according to Steven Wolden,
associate politics professor at Si-
mon Fraser University.

‘Thus, they are more drawn to
less rigidly structured systems of
engagement, such as social move-
ments.

“Traditional politics is traditional
and it’s institutionalized, very hier-
archical,” Wolden said.

“Younger -—

2
people’s values
tend to be less
hierarchical and

more horizontal,

“You may not feel
that making a

of award-winning advocacy, views

participation as key to making the

youth voice count, regardless of
— outcome.

He was. sur-
prised that so
much emphasis
was given to his

more egalitarian, little check mark age.

and so they are . “In order for

attracted to or- on apiece of paper young _ people
anizations that * ” reall to be

re also more matters, but rt does. respected in

horizontal.” — MORGAN WEVERINK, POLITICS STUDENT these decisions
The three we need to be

young candidates predictably lost.
Diego Cardona, Vision Van-

couvers youngest-ever candidate

for council with a strong history

there,” Cardona said.

“The headlines of every single ar-
ticle introducing me to the public
was that I was a 21-year-old run-

ning for office, not a 21-year-old
who is a nationally-recognized ref-
ugee rights advocate,” noting that
his opponents were not described as
“75-year-old[s] running for office.”

Morgan Weverink, a member of
the BC Young Liberals and former
Langara journalism student, said he
sees young people engaging in all
sorts of ways, and views voting as
the most important.

“Whether you feel like voting or
not, whether you feel like your vote
matters, a ballot that's cast is worth
infinity times more than a ballot
that isn't cast,” Weverink said.

“You may not feel that making a
little check mark on a piece of pa-
per matters, but it does.”

FAITH-BASED LGBTQ+

GROUPS

1. Yad b'Yad

Vancouver

Offers education on Jewish
and Israel issues in relation to
LGBTQ+ community.

2. Sher Vancouver
Offers services and support

for South Asian LGBTQ+
people, including Sikhs.

3. Integrity

Vancouver

Offers support and advocacy
for LGBTQ+ Anglicans in New
Westminster.

Keshet training events
break down barriers of
age-old mind sets

= By JENNIFER WILSON

ith a series of training
events last week, Van-
couver’s Jewish com-

munity and clergy took steps to
actively learn about and embrace
LGBTQ+ Jewish people.

Alycia Fridkin, a member of
queer Jewish group Yad b’Yad, said
the training is crucial to a dynamic
community by “shifting the gaze
away from queer and trans people

Alycia Fridkin, Lia Hershkovitz, Mia Steinberg, Dana Troster, Kathleen Muir on Monday, Oct. 23 at Suite Genius in Mt.
Pleasant for Intersections: Sharing stories at the intersections of Queer Jewish identities. JENNIFER WiLSON PHOTO

Jewish LGBTQ+ teach clergy and kin

and turning it on to organizations
themselves.”

‘The group was one of nine orga-
nizations that, in collaboration with
the Jewish Federation of Greater
Vancouver, supported the training
events created by Keshet, educating
to ensure the safety and celebration
of LGBT Q+ individuals and fami-
lies in Jewish communities.

‘The training concluded with a
storytelling workshop, facilitated
by Keshet’s Rabbi Becky Silverstein
and Christina Ware.

One participant talked about
coming out in their seventies, the
subsequent loss of relationships at
their synagogue and their disap-
pointment that a majority of the

events had been for leadership only.

Keshet also provided practical
guides to welcoming Jewish LG-
BTQs+ people.

According to Fridkin, a trans
friendly washroom sign, like those
already in place at Or Shalom Syn-
agogue, may seem like a small step
to cisgender members, “but it does
wonders to make people feel more
welcome in our community.”

Kathleen Muir, youth services
coordinator for the Jewish Com-
munity Centre of Greater Vancou-
ver, said the youth leader seminar
emphasized a need for advocacy,
not just support.

“This is life or death,” Muir said.
“Trans people are dying from not

being included, [and] choosing
pronouns is not just a luxury.”

Rabbi Carey Brown of Temple
Sholom is heartened to see so many
Jewish institutions joining in.

“We want to make things better."

Although these discussions are
often viewed as modern issues,
Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan of the
Vancouver School of Theology, said
the issues raised in Keshet training
are not modern inventions.

Key Jewish texts dating back
1500 years document a long history
of debating LGBTQ+ inclusion in
Jewish communities.

“It’s something that our tradition
has been working on for centuries,”

she said.

THURSDAY, OCT. 26,2017 |

THE VOICE

9

Eat a
pickle,
be happy

Scientists say
fermented foods
can boost gut &
mental health

= By DANICA WALKER

S ertonin, the mood regulator
that is abundantly present in
a healthy gut, is hard to come
by when exam season hits over-
drive, and food picklers argue that
eating fermented foods can ensure
gut health.

Although food has been fer-
mented for millennia, sauerkraut,
kombucha, kimchi and various oth-
er forms of fermented food have re-
cently seen an increase in popularity.
‘This isn’t just for the unique flavour,
but also because of the health ben-
efits that fermented foods can offer,
accoording to molecular microbi-
ologist Lucy Shewell.

“Supplementation with probi-
otichas been shown to positively
enhance immune system function,
improve the symptoms of lactose
intolerance, and can prevent in-
fection with pathogenic or disease
causing microorganisms,” writes
Shewell.

Fermented food is unprocessed
and probiotic, which helps promote
good gut health, according to John
Bienenstock, professor of pathol-
ogy and molecular medicine at Mc-
Master University.

"We think that targeting the
gut microbiota, the potential key
modulator of the immune and
nervous systems, could lead to a
greater improvement in the emo-
tional symptoms of patients suf-
fering from depression or anxiety,"
Bienenstock wrote in 2016 for The
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

“The composition and the func-
tion of the bacterial community
inhabiting the gut can be improved
through dietary interventions or
the use of beneficial bacteria such
as probiotics."

Andrea Potter, a holistic nutri-
tionist and sauerkraut workshop
teacher at UBC, advocates for good
bacteria. She said that people need
to stop fearing germs and claims
that introducing fermented food
into her diet changed her lifestyle
for the better.

“This is about becoming allies
with the good bacteria so that we
are immune to the bad ones,” Potter
said. “When I started taking probi-
otics and enzymes, I noticed that I
had more energy and was getting
sick less often and less severely.”

Sauerkraut can boost your gut
health. D4NiCA WALKER PHOTO