In 2019, virtually any kind of art can be accessed via smartphone. Whether streaming music from Spotify or films from Netflix, it’s easy to feel like physical media is a thing of the past.

Our cover feature this week focuses on artists and professionals who are still making art by hand, be it through shooting and developing films on actual celluloid, DJing using actual discs, or releasing albums on cassette. It’s something that we here at The Uniter have a special affection for. Despite the fact that all our stories are available at uniter.ca, we’re proud that we’re able to provide readers with a printed, physical newspaper.

Physical and print media has more value than nostalgia appeal. In this issue, city reporter Alex Neufeldt examines how a new book featuring writing and art by women incarcerated in Manitoba helps bring both useful skills and emotional support to a population that’s often dehumanized through media.

The Sept. 27 Youth Climate Strike showed how physical art, specifically protest signs, can have an impact that reaches beyond the online world. In addition to some photographs from the strike, this issue also features an interview with David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis, whose Climate First lecture tour with Pam Palmater hits the U of W on Oct. 4.

- Thomas Pashko

Published in Volume 74, Number 5 of The Uniter (October 3, 2019)