I’m a little bit nervous for this issue. Darjeeling Jones’ latest article, “Is it Wrong that I am a Satan Worshipper”, is sure to raise some eyebrows based on the title alone.  Controversial articles are always a bit concerning to me because I know the AU student audience is a bit different from the standard college age group.  Irreverence and pushing the limits is almost expected in traditional student media, but I still, even after several years, don’t quite have a feel for what the Voice audience, or sometimes AUSU, feels is “over the line”.  Images seem to cause the most problems, so, I was exceptionally careful about the image I chose to represent this one.

And it wasn’t easy.  Type in the words “side with the devil” into an image search, and I found a lot of what comes up is either centred around gore (with a lot of zombie representations for some reason) or sexuality.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised about that, but I did find myself wondering, “Really?  Are we still all really that prudish about sex and desire that we feel it’s devilish?”  To be clear, the sexualized images that came up weren’t porn, or even anything beyond what you’d see in a Halloween costume catalogue (which is another question I have, why is applying the word “sexy” to any profession all that’s required to inspire a Halloween costume?  Not just costume in general, but Halloween costume, specifically? Sexy nurse, sexy firefighter, sexy librarian, sexy police officer, heck, I’d bet there’s even a sexy sewage worker costume out there somewhere (but I’m not to blame for what you find if you go searching for that on the internet). Since when did Halloween become a holiday celebrating sexiness?  But I have a few months to ponder that question still.) but I’m not sure why people think mini-skirts and high heels have some sort of relation to the devil.  Then again, that’s part of the point of the article I was picture hunting for in the first place.

Aside from that though, if you’re one of the many students who is working a traditional 40 hour work-week and then trying to take your university education on top of that, you’ll probably find much in common with this weeks’ feature article, where we interview student Amy Brown.  Like many AU students, she’s found the flexibility of AU to be exactly what’s needed to let her keep her job while getting an education to allow her to advance further.  And if you’ve been having trouble balancing it all while not losing your mind, she’s also good enough to give us some tips on what’s worked for her.

We’ve also got a look at, of all things, a ramen museum, some ideas for how you can spend your free time without spending a dime, advice on how to extend your life through diet, relationship advice, scholarships, events, and even a look at what being a Canadian is truly all about.  Are we all peace and love?  As the Fly on the Wall writes, we’ll stop a “hockey game to let a fight continue,” so maybe not.

Either way, there’s lots of good stuff this week, so enjoy the read!