Last summer, I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend what was the eighth edition of Sackville’s beloved summer music festival, SappyFest. I fell in love with the festival, and what it means to people around here, immediately.

It the big festival in a little town saw Bridge Street closed off to traffic, as the main stage and vendors took up much of the street. Acts like Chad Vangaalen, Joel Plaskett, and Shotgun Jimmie graced the Bridge Street stage. I could not have thought of a better way to finish off the summer of 2013 before heading back to school.

However, the future of Sackville’s music festival came into question following the end of last year’s festival. After eight years of putting on the music festival, SappyFest organizers were confronted with a rather large budget deficit, which made it unclear as to whether the music festival would ever be put on again.

SappyFest answered this looming question with the launch of an Indiegogo campaign, which debuted with the promise of a coffee-table book, SappyForever. The book was said to be a compilation of photos from throughout the festival’s history. A minimum donation of $100 to Sappyfest’s campaign guaranteed donors a piece of the limited run. Sappyfest organizers were able to sell all their books, and the Indiegogo campaign was a huge success, meaning the beloved festival would continue.

However, one question remains for many: ‘When the heck are we getting our books?’ Now, that question been answered as well. By way of their Facebook page and out of the blue, Sappyfest issued a statement last Thursday:

“Hello folks, we are happy to announce that the SappyForever book is at the printers and will be in our hands in a few short weeks, barring any major technical issues. … The book took a lot longer to produce than expected, but we’re sure it was worth it. Thank you again for your patience, and always, for your support,” the statement read.

Expect the launch of the book in the not-so-distant future, and mark your calendars for Sappyfest nine, which is set for August 1-3 this summer.

However, at Mount Allison, it is required students take a certain number of ‘distribution courses’ to supplement their chosen major and minor. The idea is that in taking a certain number of distribution courses, on top of your focused major and minor that you will finish university as a ‘well-rounded’ individual.

Since when is ‘well-roundedness’ defined by course codes on a transcript? It means little if the distribution course means little to the student.

I feel that the quality of my education is being diminished because of the courses I am pre-determined to take, but do not interest me, for the sole purpose of fulfilling mandates set by university administrators. This conceptualization is useless if the student is disheartened and uninspired, a notion that can transfer to their other courses that were once truly important to them. With the stress and work that university brings, it would be wise to not tamper with innate curiosity and passion for a given subject. Students should not be sitting in class and questioning why they are even attending the class.

Current distribution requirements need more flexibility in choosing which distribution interests a particular student. In saying this, I do not think every student thinks this way; there is likely a political science major out there who, aside from their political science courses, also enjoys science and classics, and therefore it is a treat for them to be able to take a classics course amid a sea of political science lectures.

Am I really more well-rounded if I take a class that I spent the entire semester unengaged with? And why is it that some courses are only offered every few years? This is not to discredit the importance of a well-rounded education, but the interests and well-being of students must be taking into the consideration.

Distribution requirements and course selection should be re-evaluated to perhaps include less required distribution courses, in order to provide students with more chance to follow which courses they are passionate about. This is then taking into the account the interest of the real-life student, and not the theoretical ‘well-rounded’ one the university is trying to mould together with their set of mandates.

Featuring artwork from artists from all over, the event has become somewhat of a tradition in the Sackville community. The event allows attendees to bid on artwork donated by artists from the local, national and international art community. Although many of the artists are professionals, the event also allows students of the Mount Allison Fine Arts Program to exhibit some of their works in a professional and unique setting.

This year, The Sweetest Little Thing will have a new home at the Royal Canadian Legion at 15 Lorne St. In previous years, the event has been held at the Owens Art Gallery.

The main event of the night is the silent art auction. Although student budgets generally make art buying an unfeasible pursuit, The Sweetest Little Thing features work that can often be purchased at affordable prices.

After the bidding is over, the event promises a continued abundance of fun-loving activities, including the ever-popular cakewalk, where event goers can purchase tickets in order to win cakes made by members of the Sackville community. People can also take in the Instant Lovin’ photo booth, try their hand in a selection of raffle prizes, and join in on a night of music and dancing. Valentine’s Day themed attire (preferably suitable for lots of dancing) is recommended.

All are welcome to attend this free event. Proceeds from the evening are divided between the Owens Art Gallery and Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre to assist with programming throughout the year.

The event was scheduled to coincide with a presentation by Richard Heinzl, the founder of the first North American MSF chapter. Heinzl was scheduled to deliver a talk the previous evening as part of the President’s Speakers Series.

But Tuesday morning, an email from Mount Allison University President Robert Campbell informed the university community that Heinzl’s talk was cancelled due to illness.

Blanchard’s presentation was organized in part by Mt. A’s international centre. Manager of International Affairs Adam Christie introduced Blanchard at Wednesday’s event.

“We are very disappointed that Dr. Heinzl could not make it. He is an inspirational speaker and was looking forward to informally interacting with Mt. A,” said Frank Strain, a member of the President’s Speaker Series Committee. “With luck we can reschedule.”

Blanchard graduated from Mt. A in 2012, where his interest in MSF took form. “I attended a lecture by James Orbinski, former president of MSF, here at Mt. A in my second year, and after that lecture, and having read his book An Imperfect Offering, I knew what I wanted to do.”

Blanchard was hired to do logistical work with MSF. He worked for the organization in transportation, construction, communications, and a variety of other capacities. “I knew about [MSF] for a long time, but I didn’t know they didn’t hire non-medical doctors,” Blanchard said.

He said it was a combination of his international relations degree and life experiences that made MSF a perfect fit for him. “[Mt. A] is good at piecing together poverty, economics, resource extraction, consumption and getting to understand how these things are all connected.”

After graduating in 2012, Blanchard immediately became involved with MSF, first being placed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then in Iraq. He returned to Canada this past December. Blanchard said MSF was relatively well known in the Congolese city of Goma, which it made the transition to a Third World country a lot easier. In places like Iraq however, MSF was not as well known, which had its challenges, including not being able to leave the camp in which they worked. He said that previous travel experience made the transition much easier.

Blanchard also said that he gained new insights through his work. “You really start to understand why countries like Iraq were at war. They have a much more complicated history and society. Even being in Iraq for six months, you hardly scratch the surface.”

The Governor General appointed Sackville-born Stewart Olsen to the senate on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recommendation in 2009. Stewart Olsen is a longtime confidante of the Prime Minister, and has worked closely with the Prime Minister since 2002.

Stewart Olsen cited a busy schedule, and a desire to spend more time working on issues facing New Brunswick, as reasons for her decision.

 Mario Levesque, a political scientist at Mount Allison University, expressed skepticism over Stewart Olsen’s stated rationale for stepping down.

“Politicians will say that they want to focus on other affairs, [or] spend time with family, which may be true to an extent. However, they are at a point where they have been pushed to where they have to resign to prevent information from coming out, or simply to get out of the limelight,” he said.

“It’s suspicious. [It] suggests there’s something there, but we don’t know. Conducting an investigation now [on Stewart Olsen] is one way of finding out her full involvement in the matter.”

The decision came days after Mike Duffy, a much-scrutinized Senator, publicly singled out members of the Senate subcommittee, claiming Stewart Olsen and Senator David Tkachuk were prepared to issue a press release calling Duffy “unfit” to represent his province of Prince Edward Island if he did not cooperate with plans for repayment. Duffy said that while he did not break any Senate rules, Harper ordered him to repay the money regardless, as he was worried about how the voting base of the Conservative party were responding to the scandal.

Duffy was given a $90,000 cheque by former PMO Chief of Staff Nigel Wright to cover improperly claimed housing expenses. Harper has denied any knowledge of that exchange. Duffy’s revelations followed a threat by the Harper Government to suspend Senators Brazeau, Wallin, and Duffy due to “gross negligence.”

Stewart Olsen stated that Duffy’s comments regarding herself and the Senate controversy had no influence on her decision, maintaining that: “it was a very difficult process and I will welcome a change.” The Internal Economic Senate subcommittee was appointed in November of 2012 with the initial task of reviewing Senator Patrick Brazeau’s alleged outstanding housing expenses.

Along with Duffy and Brazeau, the Internal committee oversaw Senator Pamela Wallin’s auditors for expenses stemming from travel fees claimed from April 2011 to September 2012. Wallin was told to repay those charges upwards of $26,000 from “other travel” during the 2011 Federal election campaign.

Letters were sent out from the committee in May to Brazeau, giving the Senator thirty days to pay back the approximately $49,000 the senate says he owes in improper housing claims.