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Hamilton Spectator
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Peace Country Pickleball Association to open 2025 season with memorial social tournament
TAYLOR, B.C. — Pickleball players around the Peace region will be hitting the courts for the season-opening tournament next weekend. The second annual Corey Jonsson Memorial Tournament, organized by the Peace Country Pickleball Association (PCPA), will take over the Taylor courts during the first weekend of June, offering action in three divisions. It is named after Jonsson, who was one of the first members of the PCPA when it was formed in 2019. With her partner Arlene Boon, Jonsson won the silver medal at the 2022 55+ BC Games in Victoria in pickleball doubles and a gold in mixed doubles with partner Dan Hogg. She passed away in 2024, and PCPA past president Ted Euchner described her as a 'fierce competitor.' Newly elected PCPA president April Bordeleau shared that sentiment. 'Corey was definitely well loved and a very active member of our local pickleball community,' said Bordeleau. 'We're trying to keep [this tournament] a really social community vibe. '[This is] a social event to kick off our outdoor season.' Similar to tennis, pickleball involves playing on a smaller court, with paddles instead of a racquet and a harder plastic ball. What will make the tournament special is every entrant is put into a draw, with the partnerships throughout the weekend being randomly selected. This allows some members to play with different partners and learn different playing styles, says Bordeleau. 'This year we're mixing it up,' said Bordeleau. 'I've been playing for at least two years now. It is a fun activity for all ages [and] levels.' This tournament is open to PCPA members only, but Bordeleau says Kin Park sessions run by the City of Fort St. John are a great opportunity to take up pickleball or learn the game. 'If people do want to try it, come out,' said Bordeleau. 'We have paddles. We have balls [and] lots of volunteers from the club.' On Friday, June 6th, the tournament will kick off with a skills competition. Bordeleau said Jonsson's mother, Annette Reeder, will be starting the tournament with a ceremonial serve. Saturday, June 7th will feature mixed doubles, while Sunday's competition will be based on men's and women's doubles action. The Corey Jonsson Memorial pickleball tournament is open to PCPA members only, with entry fees at $30. Those interested can register online . The tournament begins on Friday, June 6th, at 6 p.m. on the Taylor pickleball courts, near Lone Wolf golf course at 9999 99th Avenue in Taylor. More information can be found at the PCPA's Facebook page .
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Tabling out existentialism with Mezok by Jyoti Dogra
Bengaluru-based Linear Festivals and the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts (PCPA) is celebrating their collaboration with Mezok, a play. Not only will this show be Mezok's premiere in the city, but it is also the inaugural show of the LinearX PCPA performances. Mezok is a multi-narrative performance that unveils the complexities of human nature. According to Jyoti Dogra, playwright and director, 'Mezok is a made up name, of a made up mountain, a mountain that sees you before you see it.' Mumbai-based Jyoti Dogra who has 20 years of solo and original work to her credit, says Mezok is the first time she is writing, directing and producing an ensemble piece. Talking about the ideation and conceptualisation of this work, she says, 'It began with explorations around a table, and from there we began building a world suspended between the real and the abstract.' 'Over the years I've been working with various pieces of furniture and somehow, I was fascinated by the table. It is three dimensional, but when you look at it vertically, it transforms into something completely different as opposed to when one accesses it from underneath. The kind of spaces a table opens up, just in terms of our presence inside it fascinated me, and I decided to work on this idea.' Jyoti and a few like-minded others developed the idea further at Nirdigantha, the art education centre at Shettihalli,over a period of two months. 'We started with a table and no plans, but within the first 20 days, ideas began to emerge — of a mountain, offices, dining tables and bureaucracy. Soon, the table stopped being a table — it became a bar, a home, a plough, a field, and more. Our material began to develop and I started to structure it; that is how the piece came about.' 'An upside down table is a space that is different from the one that is created when you stand up on it. You are in a different place altogether, and not just physically,' she adds. Though this weekend will see Mezok debut in Bengaluru, it has already completed 20 shows after opening In Bombay and has been staged in Bareilly, Hyderabad and Delhi. As many as six regional languages can be heard in Mezok — Kannada, Hindi, Punjabi, Sirmauri (a Pahari dialect from Himachal), Garhwali from Uttarakhand, and Ladakhi, apart from English — courtesy actors from Ladakh, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. 'From the beginning, I urged actors to improvise in their mother tongue, even though the rest of us would not understand. Language played an important role in the way their bodies responded to the table and the spaces within it,' says Jyoti. Jyoti elaborates on how a mother tongue causes a shift in the way a person is present in their bodies and how those changes play out when they relate to other people. 'While most of these actors now live and work in urban communities, the process was a journey back to their roots and childhood and where their families are from.' 'Though the table starts off as an object you can identify with, it has a contextual use and changing its position opens up spaces which changes how you feel within your own body,' she says, adding that, 'the table is not a prop, but is one of the actors, playing many roles in Mezok.' Linear Festivals was founded by Vishruti Bindal and Bharavi in September 2024, with the intent of 'pushing boundaries and expanding possibilities in the performing arts'. Mezok is their first show in Bengaluru and one of the more pragmatic aspects of the festivals is that their events are held at venues along metro stations to make them accessible for all. Mezok by Linear Festivals will be performed at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts on May 10, at 7pm. Tickets starting at ₹299 are available on BookMyShow.
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Korea Herald
04-03-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
[Robert D. Atkinson] Korea's digital gamble: Will new tech rules hurt innovation and help China?
South Korea is on the verge of making a costly mistake by copying Europe's misguided digital competition regulations. The Korean government's proposed competition rules for major internet platforms misunderstand how digital markets function and would actually hurt Korean consumers' online experience. Even worse, by unfairly penalizing large American technology companies, these policies risk provoking President Trump, who is already looking for excuses to slap tariffs on adversaries and allies alike. Korea should think twice before giving Trump a reason to retaliate and escalate tensions. Parliament's Platform Competition Promotion Act (PCPA), modeled after the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), would place strict rules on platforms like social media sites, search engines, and online marketplaces. Separately, Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is considering changes to its competition rules along similar lines. These 'reforms' would, among other things, restrict how platforms rank search results, display products, and integrate services. Rather than making markets more competitive, Europe's new tech rules have created unexpected problems. While Europe's DMA is still new, early results suggest that it has harmed users, slowed economic growth, and made it harder for startups to expand, leading many to move their businesses elsewhere. For example, Google had to remove some search features in Europe, forcing users to visit multiple websites to find information that used to be easily accessible in one place. Additionally, Apple was forced to allow third-party app stores, creating security risks and confusion for users. Europe's struggles with the DMA should be a lesson for Korea. For example, if Kakao is forced to allow rival payment services within KakaoPay, the seamless integration between chat, shopping, and payments could be disrupted -- making it harder for users to complete transactions. What's more , if Korea bans common business practices like promoting a company's own products or bundling services together, digital services could become pricier and less user-friendly. Indeed, many small Korean brands and retailers depend on platforms like Coupang or Naver Shopping to reach customers. If e-commerce sites are forced to prioritize competitors in search results, smaller businesses will have a harder time standing out. While the PCPA and KFTC's adjustments would burden US and Korean firms, Chinese firms would largely escape scrutiny. Why? Because China's tech companies fly under the radar in Korea as the regulations target platforms that meet certain market thresholds, often linked to Korean revenue or user numbers. By contrast, US companies like Google and Apple, as well as domestic leaders like Naver and Coupang, are likely to cross these thresholds and be subject to the new restrictions. While Korean and US companies would struggle with compliance and increased restrictions on their business practices, Chinese firms will expand in Korea, strengthening their foothold in AI, cloud computing, and e-commerce. For example, Chinese e-commerce giants like Alibaba and Pinduoduo have been aggressively entering overseas markets, including Korea. By leveraging lower costs and government-backed subsidies, these firms could capture a larger share of Korea's online retail market -- putting pressure on domestic companies like Coupang and Naver. Additionally, China's dominance in AI-driven recommendation algorithms could give its platforms an unfair advantage if Korean firms are restricted in how they personalize search results and shopping experiences. Finally, this isn't just a techno-economic issue, it's a diplomatic one. Make no mistake, the very prospect of these regulations is already putting strain on US-Korea trade relations. US Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) introduced the US-Republic of Korea Digital Trade Enforcement Act, which calls for greater scrutiny of Korea's trade policies and potential retaliation if American firms face such discriminatory rules. And if Korea continues to consider this approach, it will likely be seen as a red flag for the new Trump admin, with US Trade Representative nominee Jamison Greer already signaling things could escalate things even further. In fact, the second Trump term is likely to be quite different than the first. Trump has already expressed his frustration both with allies like Korea and adversaries over what he perceives a system rigged against America. The fact that the United States runs a trillion-dollar trade deficit with the world is something the President thinks about every day. And he has already said that he is tariff man and will apply tariffs to resolve these problems. Adding insult to injury by copying the EU (likely Trump's next big target for tariffs) and applying laws that target US technology leaders is likely to just 'poke the bear.' Korea would be well advised to do otherwise. It's time for Korean policymakers to take a strategic pause. There is no crisis; in fact, there is nothing that current Korean competition law cannot adequately address. Watching how these laws unfold elsewhere would allow Korean policymakers to craft a smarter approach that protects innovation, competition, and national security. But more importantly, now is not the time for Korea to be seen as passing unfair regulation that lets President Trump say that Korea is 'taking advantage of America.' Robert D. Atkinson is president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Lilla Nóra Kiss contributed to this article. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed.
