🗞️ How to be supportive during Ramadan

Good morning!

At least there used to be a bit of ritual attached to the time change. You’d wake up Sunday at your normal time—according to the bedside clock—and begin your usual day. So far so good, everything is awesome. Then would come the realization, some minutes or hours later, maybe from that reminder note you stuck on the fridge: Jump clocks sunny sunny sun sun. 

Thus started the scavenger hunt for every timekeeping device in your world, and with each one found would come another hunt, for the elusive knowledge on how do you set this thing again? The action of manually sending the clock ahead an hour, controlling time with your own hands like a god, could be uplifting. And the mental work to figure out those DVD players and stoves was energizing. Nostalgia has me remembering years when these efforts defeated any feelings of jet lag over that hour lost, sacrificed for farmers without electricity or something.

But now, most of the devices get themselves onto daylight saving time, and our agency disappears along with that hour. I woke up yesterday to a world that had sprung forward at 2am, and left me behind. It’s probably going to take all week to catch up, and the only thing I can do about it is to shout into the brain fog that this madness must stop. You know what I mean? Take this simple, fog-friendly poll to let me know.

– Kyle

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌦️ 3°

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 2°

Next Day: 🌨️ 4°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

TIMELESS ADVICE

8 ways to be supportive during Ramadan

When the sun went down last night, Ramadan began; today is the first day of fasting for the Muslim holy month. If you are participating, Ramadan Kareem. If you’re not, there are still lots of things you can do to be supportive.

We first published an article with this list in 2021, when the province’s mandated COVID countermeasures were relatively strict. The article starts off describing the situation at the time, so trigger warning for pandemic flashbacks. Otherwise the advice it gives is timeless, human and insightful. Here are the basics:

• Check in with Muslim friends and colleagues

• Lead with empathy

• Make prayer space accessible

• Provide a chair

• Schedule meetings with Ramadan in mind

• Offer special Ramadan discounts on foods

• Put up greetings on storefront banners and display boards

• .Flow in the spirit of giving

For more information on Ramadan and putting there suggestions into practise, read the full story by Habiba Cooper Diallo.

🤔 Need To Know

🎁 The first day of Ramadan is also the first day of March Break. The city is celebrating schools being closed by making the Halifax-Dartmouth ferry free from 11am-2pm, Monday through Saturday this week.

🩺 A healthier world starts with you. Are you 18+? You could help CCfV learn more about respiratory illnesses and be compensated for your time.*

💰 The federal government’s pharmacare plan hasn’t started yet, so the QEII’s Reproductive Options and Services clinic is raising money to provide free contraception.  

🎭 Addicted opens this week for a limited run. Raven Dauda's (Star Trek: Odyssey) tour-de-force multidisciplinary monodrama will unapologetically get you hooked. March 12-24 at Neptune Theatre. Tickets start at $25. Book today.*

🦠 Because COVID and flu are still very much active, the province is running immunization clinics. Many of them are happy accepting drop-ins, so drop in.

*Sponsored Post

🗞️ In Other News

🎥 Halifax’s own Ben Proudfoot won the Documentary Short Film prize at last night’s Academy Awards. The Oscar, Proudfoot’s second, is for the 40-minute delight The Last Repair Shop. 

🏀 Unfortunately neither the Saint Mary’s Huskies women’s team nor the men’s Dalhousie Tigers are bringing home medals from their respective university basketball national championships over the weekend; SMU came fifth, Dal was fourth, both remain number 1 in our hearts.

🧠 Speaking of universities and sports, Dal researchers studying head injuries in football have discovered the real risk isn’t one big hit, but all the little hits during games and practises. 

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 March Break at the Museum: Enjoy free admission at the Canadian Museum of Immigration all week long, with cooking workshops sharing recipes “from near and far.” | Until Mar. 17 | 10am-5pm | Free

🗓 See Jenn Grant’s latest artwork: The Halifax singer-songwriter and painter’s newest collection of visual works, Something To Believe In, is on display at The Prow Gallery through the end of the month | Until Mar. 30 | Times vary | Free

🗓 Black Women in Electoral Politics Panel: Thrill to an all-star group of powerful Haligonians discussing the contributions and challenges Black women face in entering politics. Postponed from last week due to weather, the panel’s taking place Wednesday at the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, and the speakers—Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard, Twila Grosse, Angela Simmonds, Yvonne Atwell, Suzy Hansen and Iona Stoddard—are coming together in honour of International Women’s Day | Mar. 13 | 5:30-8:30pm | Free

🗓 Deepwater: This week is the world premier run of Dan Bray’s new play, directed by Burgandy Code. A dark mystery set in Hants County, Deepwater is on at The Bus Stop Theatre with evening shows Wednesday through Sunday, plus Saturday and Sunday matinees | Mar. 13-17 | 7:30pm (matinees 2pm) | Pay what you can

🗓 Brain Fair: Dalhousie’s Brain Repair Centre hosts the annual Brain Fair as a fun introduction to the world of neuroscience. The public is invited to the university’s Life Sciences Research Institute on Thursday for brainy displays, activities and chats with researchers (actual brainiacs), plus you can read your own brain waves | Mar. 14 | 10am-2pm | Free

🗓 Halifax Mooseheads: The hot-streaking Herd are second in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference and host the Charlottetown Islanders this Thursday | Mar. 14 | 7pm | From $21

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🚢 This week is starting slow for Halifax Harbour traffic. In the wee hours of Monday morning, just 15 minutes after midnight, CMA CGM Paranagua was due in Halifax from Montreal. And late Monday night, at the stroke of midnight, the 220-metre-long container ship is heading out for Bremerhaven, Germany.

🚢 At 9:25am, 200-metre car carrier Hoegh Transporter is supposed to end its journey from Baltimore at the CN Autoport, where last we heard a labour strike is still happening. Assuming there are no disruptions to the schedule, the Transporter will leave tonight at 10pm, for the long trip to Shanghai.

👀 In Case You Missed It

⚓️ More harbour traffic news! Cruise ship season starts in a few weeks, and it’s going to look a little different this year. Between bigger boats, a busy schedule and shrinking space for docking, some ships will be anchoring off Georges Island when they visit Halifax, tendering passengers ashore.

💸 Saying online scams are among the most common crimes people report to police, Nova Scotia’s RCMP issued a bunch of tips to avoid getting taken. For example, given that it’s illegal in Nova Scotia to ask for a deposit to apply to rent an apartment, “any rental ad requiring a deposit is likely a scam.” 

That’s it!

Thanks for reading The Coast Daily today ❤️ 

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another Haligonian.

And before you go, let us know: