The Artichoke Vol. 9 No.5

FEBRUARY 2020 VOLUME 9 ISSUE 4

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CONTRIBUTERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

KATHERINE COLLIER

ASSISTANT EDITOR

LAURA BOURBONNAIS

WRITERS

AMY FOURNIER

AVERY-ROSE HAMILTON

KALIA GALLACHER

MADDISYN FISHER

MASHIAT ALTAF

BRIANNA COGGANS

DESIGN EDITOR

DESIGNERS

EMILY ONG

HOLLY YOON

SAMNEET MANN

SARAH CARRIERE

SHARYL MAN

ALEX LO

COVER IMAGE

ARIANNA CANCIAN

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WITHIN THIS ISSUE

2 4 FEBRUARY CALENDAR

SPOOORTS CALENDAR

CREATIVE

6 8 9 10 14 16 VALENTINE’S DAY

BACK SEAT HAZE

DECENARY DISILLUSION

CUPID ACADEMY

OTTO

CHANGE

FEATURE

18 PLAYGROUND 2020

LIFESTYLE

20 24 YOU-TINES DAY!

SELF-LOVE SEASON

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February CALENDAR

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MON

WINTERS COLLEGE YOGA 3-4PM

PAINTING TUES

12-4PM

PING PONG WED

1-4PM

COLOURING THURS

10-4PM

SUPER BOWL OF CEREAL FRI

9-11AM

BOARD GAMES & HOT COCOA FRI

11-4PM

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19-22

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KARAOKE NIGHT (WCC)

PLAYGROUND SERIES A 7:30PM

PLAYGROUND SERIES B 1:00PM

PLAYGROUND SERIES A 7:30PM

LINGERIE PUB NIGHT (WCC)

PLAYGROUND SERIES B 7:30PM

PLAYGROUND SERIES A 1:00PM

PLAYGROUND SERIES B 7:30PM

BONJOUR MONTREAL! (WCC)

WORD NIGHT (WCC)

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SPOOORTS CALENDAR

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MON

MEN’S BASKETBALL 7-12AM, CO-ED WATERPOLO 7-12AM

TUES

CO-ED FUTSAL 6-12:30AM

WED

MEN & WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL 7-12AM, CO-ED ICE HOCKEY 7-12AM

THURS

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 7-11PM

SUN

CO-ED CRICKET 4-10PM

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Valentine’s Day

Valent For Bernard Phillie-L’Heureux

CREATIVE

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Valentin

BY KAILA GALLACHER

WOKEN BY WARM tea, placed on our bedside table relish in this simplicity divinity—is it a dream? no, in quiet majesty we exist side by side, sustained by our pace a space apart away from it all hands entwined—wait for work and school but neither can be fully embraced for reality dims in comparison to the lasting sublimity of us school ends—I cook, write, set the table, and wait write—write before the keys in the door—I know you’re here, how was your day better now a box from Sorrell, in your hands you come home to the quiet embrace of flickering candles and a homemade dinner for two.

tine’s Day

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BACK BY LAURA BOURBONNAIS

CROONING CLOUDS OF golden headlights fog into creamy astigmatism. a star-specked sky swells and simmers, splashing a creased profile in a sunken booster seat.

HAZE

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hushed directions disrupt dilated pupils until languid adult words merge into velvet slumber. in the rearview mirror, a small head bobs to the blinker’s beat, around an idle tongue.

SEAT

a full stop nudges its plush passenger out of his cocoon, to greet the polar moon.

CREATIVE

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DECENARY

ISILLUSION BY LAURA BOURBONNAIS

FEBRUARY FLOURISHES in a snowflake flurry.

Resolutions dwindle dry on dormant To-Do Lists.

Prioritized productivity hushes halcyon holidays of past pulp decades.

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Cupid Academy BY AVERY-ROSE HAMILTON

DEAR DIARY, WELL, I finally made it. I survived the first week at Cupid Academy, the official residential school for soon-to-be cherubs and deities of love. Though it is only the first week, I’m starting to feel swamped.

The principal, Ms. Aphrodite, is tough but fair. So is our chief instructor: her son Eros. The other teachers are what we call ‘the Elders’, alumni of the school who are much older than we are; they may even be older than our grandparents.

The school sits on what used to be Ms. Aphrodite’s temple, but now its like a giant Greek palace with rooms and hallways galore; you can easily get lost if you’re new. I have gotten lost twice already. The walls are covered in tapestries and sculptures, and the garden out back is just gorgeous. I like the giant waterfall the best.

CREATIVE

We also must wear a uniform whenever we are on school grounds. A white dress shirt with the school’s crest stitched over the heart, a champagne-coloured vest, a red jacket with the school’s crest stitched over the heart, tan pants for the boys and tan skirts for the girls, white socks, and black closed-toe shoes. At least we don’t have to worry about what to wear. That is unless it is ‘Casual Dress Day’: a day every month when we can wear whatever we have in our closet, within school regulations of course.

One of the things that I am looking forward to is an event that takes place every spring just before school ends for the year. It’s called ‘The Placement’.

Unfortunately, that is reserved for the seniors. Once you reach your graduation year, the school’s teachers decide where you will be placed for the entirety of your career in love; it can be anywhere in the world. I have always wanted to see the world and I am so curious as to where I will be placed in four years.

Another thing that only seniors get to do is decide what kind of love they will specialize in. Once you pass your sophomore year, you get to choose classes in specific kinds of love which will decide what your future career will be. I’m glad that I’m only in first year, I have no idea what I want to do.

Classes here are like high school but more…complex. Take the classes I just took this week for example. Math has an emphasis on trajectory and distance calculation; for casting our love magic on people for the proper effect. Gym is typical: basic cardio, track and field, gymnastics, stamina, archery, etc.

Chemistry is all potion-making, like at a wizard school, so there are no

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backfires or malfunctions. I heard that last year there was someone who made a standard love arrow potion but once it hit a fellow student, that person fell in love which soon turned to a range of emotions; they called it ‘The Mood-Swing Mayhem’.

History is kind of self explanatory, recounting the history of cherubs and love deities from around the world along with the past of love holidays, love criminals, and all kinds of such banter; it’s only the first week but I could have sworn that I heard snoring in the back of the room today. Shop shows us how to create all the gadgetry we may use in our future careers, mainly our bow and arrows; other such gadgets include love grenades, gas tanks, trackers, databases, storage containers, and whatever else we may need to get the job done. Then there is a class called ‘Couple Pairing’, an entire class on how to find and pair up the right people; there is a huge emphasis on research, detailorientation, and probability, gives me a headache most of the time.

The people here are a… variety of personalities. However, I cannot help but notice that out of the mass population there are what humans call ‘cliques’; they have already decided what they will become. There are the Old-Fashioned Romances, the Modern Romances, the Summer Romances, the Unconditional Loves, the Family Loves, the FriendshipColleague Loves, the Playful Loves, the Obsessive Loves, and the Puppy Loves; to name a few. Then there are the ‘the Delinquents’ as the teachers have put it.

It is rumoured that they are going to be the ones who have a career in negative love like Greed, Lust, Gluttony, and Vanity.

I, however, belong to that select but expansive group called ‘the Unknowns’:

we don’t know what kind of love we want to do which makes us the receiving end of much of the Delinquents’ jokes and pranks.

Living with these people is just as…lively as it is going to class with them. There are four ‘houses’. They’re like human postsecondary dormitories; each stands for a symbol of love. Weird, right? There are the Hearts, the Roses; this is my house, the Swans and Doves, and the Apples. Each has its own mascot, cheer, and banner.

Let me tell you, Spirit Week is in a couple of weeks and yet I have seen a mad rush in preparations. I once heard from one of the seniors on my floor that when she was in first year, during the fall Spirit Week, things got so crazy that it took the entire security team plus half of the staff to calm everything and everyone down, causing classes to be canceled for the next week due to untold damage to the school and the injuries to at least half of the people involved. This school is nuts; I guess when people here get into something they can get into it. Maybe I’ll share more ‘crazy day’ stories if I hear anymore.

Putting all of this into consideration, I’m excited and curious as to what will occur in my years here, if there will be any more stories like the ones I’ve told you about, that I can tell the freshman in my graduation year, and my kids when I’m grown up.

Gotta go, I think I see the Don’s light under the door.

Wish me luck in the weeks to come.’

The End

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OT BY MASHIAT ALTAF

CREATIVE

TTO HELD IN THE arms of love the love in arms the savory embrace of him shot up into pieces missing every time he leaves bittersweet happiness is an ocean we stand on different shores a polaroid picture in my head of every touch and kiss and laugh hangs in the air amidst the battlefield when will he come home my heart counts every second that it is not with me because he took it with him to war 

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CHANGE

CHANGE

CHANGE

CHANGE

CREATIVE

BY KAILA GALLACHER LET WATER FREEZE, rearrange, form intricately constructed brilliance of glittering, snow do not try to perfect it or change it let water teach you as it freezes, constructs for the beauty of change is imperfect a note about this poem:

change is a messy process. It is growth and growth is not easy, but do not let that make you hate it. You need to embrace this uncomfortable process. By February, most New Years goals have been abandoned. It is often because we focus on the wrong aspect of what our goals mean to us—we will look better, feel better, be better (only when we have made this change)… this is not the right attitude. Banish that mentality. When we focus solely on what we want to out of these goals—we treat them as a means to end, and not an end in themselves—we need to accept and enjoy the process, relish in the fact that we are making changes we wish to see in our lives, for our own sake—not for anyone else’s. Abhorring the often painful, messy process of change gets you nowhere.

Change is hard and it is not pretty, but in its own way—it is perfect. Recommit to accepting the messy process of change in yourself. It is okay to accept it. Observe it without judgement. You are exactly where you need to be right now. You are doing exactly what you are meant to be doing— or else, why would you be doing it?

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PLAYGROUND IS A student run theatre festival at York University that runs from February 11th-14th, 2020. The theme of the festival this year is The Five Sense: How Do You Experience the World Around You? Each of the 14 shows in our season pertain to this theme and are entirely written, produced, and performed by students. The shows will be divided into two series, each series getting 3 performances each during the week. Tickets are on sale on the York University box office website for $7.

Feb. 11th: Series A, 7:30pm Feb 12th: Series B, 1:00pm. Series A, 7:30pm Feb. 13th: Series B, 7:30pm Feb. 14th: Series A, 1:00pm, Series B, 7:30 pm

SECTION TITLE

Logo: Emily Hughes

Photography: Fiona Vandermyden

Executive members: Julia Nelles (Technical Director) and her assistant Liane Low, Michael Reynolds (production manager) and his assistant Sara Cerna, and Brandy Lau (Production stage manager) and her assistant Tessa Dougan.

Artistic Director team: Jade Silman and Catherine Rose Brown, and their assistants Ashley Boldt and Chloe Currie.

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YOU-TINE’S DAY!

LIFESTYLE

BY MADDISYN FISHER

FEBRUARY BRINGS THE one and only: Valentine’s Day. Yes... We all understand that this holiday is bullshit and it is meant to fit capitalist ideals.

HOWEVER, there is so much good on this love day! The idea of taking time to celebrate the love in your life is important. Unfortunately, if you are single, it can lead to some depressing feelings. Whether you are in a relationship or not, here are some tips for this year’s Valentine’s Day!

1. Practice Gratitude.

Love does not need to be romantic. We all experience many different types of love in our lives. Family, friends, coworkers, partners, hook up buddies, pets, etc. Love is not something we should hide anymore. Valentine’s Day can be a day meant for showing gratitude for all of those relationships.

Try waking up and journaling about all the love in your life at that moment.

List the top 5 you are grateful for.

Appreciate it and acknowledge it so that your Valentine’s Day starts off with thankful and positive thoughts.

2. You Do Not Need Perfection.

Over the years I have seen an increasing pressure to have “perfect” Valentine’s Day. Whatever that means!

I challenge people to keep things simple this year. Build a fort with friends or a partner, turn on Disney Plus, have some snacks, and just be in the moment together. You do not need to go out for a fancy dinner you cannot afford, or get eyelash extensions so that all photos look amazing; or go out downtown and spend hundreds of dollars. If that is what you want, go for it, but it is not necessary. Keeping things simple will allow you to enjoy the small things. Those small things are more important than anything else. Those are the precious memories we all hold dear and near to our hearts.

Less is more for a love holiday!

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3. Take Time For You! Another amazing thing Valentine’s Day can do for you makes you appreciate the beauty of yourself. Why not turn Valentine’s Day into a self-care day?

Do a face mask, take a bubble bath, go see a movie with no makeup, have a pyjama party, eat a smoothie bowl, etc. Pick something that makes you feel good about yourself and do it! You can invite your partner to join you or your friends as well. Taking a day for yourself is so incredibly important and as students, we don’t get to do it enough. So use Valentine’s Day and make it a You-tine’s Day!

4. Do Not Compare Yourself to Others.

It is hard... I know. However, looking at other couples or people enjoying the standard love activities and wishing you had that can be harmful to your mental and physical health. For this You-tine’s Day, blind yourself to comparison and enjoy the company you have. I know many people who delete social media apps or stay away from their phones to be able to enjoy the holiday. If you need to do that, do it! There is no shame in putting yourself first.

5. Do Not Hate On Love!

Now... Having a You-tine’s Day can lead to a negative reaction to love.

This happens to people in romantic relationships and people who are not.

Let people live their lives how they want to live it without judgement! If someone gets flowers to be happy for them. If someone gets surprised with a valentine to be happy for them. If someone gets a bigger teddy bear than you be happy for them. Tearing down others’ experiences with love is not okay nor will it help you. February 14th is meant to be a day of love, not hate. If you become envious of others understand where it is coming from and talk about it. That way those negative feelings leave your body and you are free to correct that behaviour.

You-tine’s Day will be one for the books! Let’s be thankful and happy for others on this day without breaking the bank.

Love, MadFish xoxo

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SELF-LOVE SEASON BY AMY FOURNIER

2020 IS ALL about clear vision and confidence. I made it a goal this year to focus on nurturing the relationship I have with myself. Inspired by the iconic Ru Paul: “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” That being said, I compiled a list of fourteen things that you can do this month for the mind, body, and spirit. I dare you to try at least one of them.

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1. Learn something new that interests you. Sure, you are probably taking a plethora of classes at York to fulfill your degree requirements but why not take an elective that is totally different from your major just for fun?

2. Create sticky note affirmations for yourself.

Write something nice about yourself that you love and stick it somewhere visible such as on your mirror, desk, or books.

3. Cook your favourite meal or bake your favourite treat from scratch. There is something very therapeutic about preparing a nice meal for yourself.

4. Watch your favourite movie for the hundredth time while eating popcorn and snuggling something soft.

5. Take a luxurious bath (if you have a bathtub of course). If you don’t have access to a bathtub then do something nice for your skin such as a face mask or body scrub.

6. Endeavour in something artsy. Suggestions: calligraphy, painting, drawing, photography.

Art is a great outlet for stress and you do not have to be talented to reap the benefits.

7. Try a new hobby or class such as yoga, dance, pilates, or improv theatre.

8. Talk to a counsellor at York or look into YFS Wellness Centre activities. These resources are totally free for York students so please check them out if you have not already.

9. Go for a run or a long walk.

Moving does wonders to your mental and physical health and has even been proven to boost your confidence.

10. Listen to a new podcast.

Podcasts are a commuter’s best friend! Topics vary widely so I am sure you can find at least one that interests you.

11. Unplug and Unfollow. Try disconnecting for a period of time and see how much spare time you actually have for other activities.

Unfollow any people who do not inspire you to be a better person or brighten your day. If you do not want to unfollow people, just mute them.

12. Call a friend, family member or anyone who inspires and supports you.

13. “Brain dump.” Reflect on your feelings, whether good or bad and express anything that may be on your mind by writing it in a journal or diary.

14. Take yourself on a date.

Have a solo *insert your name here* day where you do and go everywhere that you love. Have a drink at your favourite coffee shop, take yourself to a movie, or spend some time outside.

Bonus if you buy yourself your favourite flowers or a cute little plant.

Happy self-caring!

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