Nathan Drescher's Camayak portfolio

By Nathan Drescher (Nathan as photographer) + 1 other for Algonquin Journalism - 8 min read

Russian student finds herself cut off from home

Elizavita Sidorovich, a Music Industry Arts student, has received an outpouring of help from her peers and faculty at the college. — Photo credit: Nathan Drescher

When Elizavita Sidorovich first heard that Russia had invaded Ukraine, the Music Industry Arts student wasn’t surprised. “I just knew that something was going to happen,” she said. “They’ve been doing this since 2014.”What Sidorovich, 20, didn’t realize, however, was how the war in Ukraine was about to affect her personally. Sidorovich is an international student from Russia who is...

Tiffany Dover Is Dead is the best podcast about truthers I've yet heard

Tiffany Dover is Dead, a podcast by NBC News — Photo credit: NBC

Tiffany Dover was a nurse from Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was one of the first to publicly receive the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer. During her televized press conference following her shot, she passed out. Conspiracy theories immediately sprang up around the world. But were any of them true? NBC reporter Brandy Zadrozny strikes out to debunk the conspiracies in the podcast...

I broke up with the internet and saved my marriage

The internet and I have had a rocky relationship, so I decided it was time to break up with it. — Photo credit: Pixabay

Pain scrolling was a term I had never heard before January. It loosely means to scroll through painful posts and blogs and forums, searching for doom and gloom. Reddit, TikTok and a million support forums are filled with advice from deeply negative people. I became a victim of doom scrolling when my 12-year marriage suddenly blew up in my face....

The Lost Regiment: the book series that became a movie franchise that never happened

The original cover of the first book in The Lost Regiment series.

I was so excited the moment I learned one of my favourite book series was going to be made into a bunch of movies. Finally, The Lost Regiment, by William R. Forstchen, was getting the accolades it deserved. And then I waited. And waited. After two or three years, I learned the sad news – there would be no movie....

Winter coat drive is helping keep students warm

Julia McCann, the program coordinator for the Food Cupboard, is helping to keep students warm this winter. — Photo credit: Nathan Drescher

Cold students in need can get a winter coat thanks to the Food Cupboard. The Warm Up for Winter coat drive kicked off in early November and coats are available right now. “This is the first time we’ve had a coat drive,” said Julia McCann, the program coordinator for the Food Cupboard. “We’ve given away 14 or 15 jackets so...

Ottawa's own "Wonder Woman"

Stephanie Schreiber spent half a decade earning her black belt in Jiu jitsu. Now, when not at her day job helping to fix the RCMP, she's passing on her knowledge to the next generation of Ottawa's martial artists. — Photo credit: Nathan Drescher

Every Wednesday evening in Ottawa’s south end, a diverse group of children clomp their way down a narrow flight of stairs to a below-ground martial arts dojo called 100% Martial Arts. They are here to learn Jiu-jitsu. The underground studio is softly lit and industrial-chic. There are jet black pipes above and a faux brick wall along the left side...

I tried to replace my computer with VR —and failed miserably

Nathan Drescher thinks VR headsets are impractical, sweaty and not a little dorky. — Photo credit: Cameron Ryan

It was my first time in this particular office, and I was more impressed by the view of the mountains out the windows than the Zoom screen with the Hollywood Squares of my classmates' faces floating on the wall. Compared to everything else in the room, those mountains looked real. They were not real. Everything I was seeing was being...

By the numbers: How College ward sent Johnson and Sutcliffe to city hall in the municipal election

College ward residents chose Laine Johnson to represent them at Ottawa City Hall. The municipal election happened on Oct. 24. — Photo credit: Nathan Drescher

Laine Johnson won the seat on city council for College ward in the Oct. 24 municipal election, making her the first new face for the ward in 20 years. But voter turnout was low, and the races for the council seat and mayor were tight. The Algonquin Times crunched the data from the official results, and here is what we...

Can it with the funny business in the washrooms

Cranky old student Nathan Drescher wants you to keep it down in the lavatory — Photo credit: Aadil Naik

If you Google "Algonquin College" you’ll find most people believe us to be a smart and ambitious bunch. But Google has never spent any time inside one of our Ottawa campus washrooms, where crowds of people mill about, hoot and holler and even vape. I don’t want to come off as a cranky old man, but let’s can it with...

New book details alumni's battle with leukemia

One Step at a Time is available on all major online book platforms. — Photo credit: Nathan Drescher

One Step at a Time is Algonquin College alumni Brian Fraser’s autobiography. He spent the last months of his life working on it but was unable to finish before he died. His friend, Callum Fraser, also an Algonquin College alumni, took over and finished the book, which was released on Oct. 17. One Step at a Time is an emotionally-charged,...