Issue 2, Vol. 151, The Brunswickan by Brunswickan Publishing Inc

VOLUME 151, ISSUE 2, OCTOBER 2017

The Brunswickan Editorial Board

About us

Editorial Policy

Letters to the Editor

Editor-in-Chief Emma McPhee

The Brunswickan, in its 151st year of publication, is Canada’s Oldest Ofﬁcial Student Publication.

While we endeavour to provide an open forum for a variety of viewpoints and ideas, we may refuse any submission considered by the Editorial Board to be racist, sexist, libellous or in any way discriminatory.

Letters must be submitted by e-mail to editor@thebruns.ca. Include your name, since letters with pseudonyms will not be printed or posted online. Letters must be 500 words at maximum. Deadline for letters is Friday at 5 p.m.

Business Manager Katie Kim News Editor Emma MacDonald Arts Editor Ryan Gaio Sports Editor Caroline Mercier Art Director Book K. Sadprasid Copy Editor Tristan Hallihan

Staff Assistant Art Director Maria Araujo Reporters Erin Sawden Tiziana Zevallos Brad Ackerson Photographer Maria Araujo Book Sadprasid Ad Manager Pouria Poursaeid

We are an autonomous student publication owned and operated by Brunswickan Publishing Inc., a nonproﬁt, independent body. We are also a founding member of the Canadian University Press. Now a magazine, we publish monthly during the academic year with a circulation of 4,000. We publish weekly online at Thebruns.ca.

The opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reﬂect the views of The Brunswickan, its Editorial Board or its Board of Directors. All editorial content appearing in The Brunswickan is the property of Brunswickan Publishing Inc. Stories, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the express, written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

@Brunswickan

Corrections On page 7 of our September issue in our story “News Briefs,” we incorrectly identified the UNBSU’s “Grade Forgiveness Policy” as the “Great Forgiveness Policy.” On pages 18 and 19 of our September issue, the story “‘I am water’: Local storyteller finds her roots on the Wolastoq” included the misspelling of ‘Samaqani Cocahq’ and ‘Wolastoq’. On page 27 of our September issue, we misattributed the article “Preparations underway for return of V-Reds women’s hockey’ to Caroline Mercier—when in fact, it was written by Brad Ackerson. We’re sorry!

Letter from the Editor Words by Emma McPhee

In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist, published an article that hypothesized a connection between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. While the paper could not prove that the link between autism and the MMR vaccine was causal, Wakefield made statements to the press that the causal link existed—despite lacking any sort of evidence and having no direct experience in immunology. Obviously, these statements were controversial. As Kevin Marsh, editor of the BBC College of Journalism writes, “The British press picked up the story and ran strongly with it. Mothers of autistic children came forward and shared their stories—tearfully—with TV audiences almost daily. Dr. Wakefield became a media celebrity.”[1] Basically, according to Marsh, the media presented the MMR scandal as a debate. On one side, there was Dr. Wakefield and some parents of children with autism; on the other side, there was a doctor representing all the actual medical experts on vaccines—those who could find no reason to believe such a link existed. However, the debate was not an equal split in opinion. It was Wakefield against the vast majority of medical researchers (as in practically all medical researchers but Wakefield). Yet the debate was not portrayed as such by the news outlets of the day. The media created a skewed portrayal of reality where Wakefield was given just as much legitimacy as the actual experts on the matter. The result was a public frenzy that still today reverberates in the growing “anti-vaccers” movement. But why did this happen? What caused journalists to allow Wakefield’s unsupported claims to reach the level of validity that they did? In a twist of irony, it was objectivity—that transcendent value of Anglo-American journalism—that was to blame. Inherent in the concept of objectivity is the idea of balance, that in order to present a true account of the news, one must seek equal comment from opposing sides. Balance has its use, of course, for it would be unfair to give a platform to express only one point of view; yet, as in the case of Wakefield, presenting two sides as if they are equally valid— when there’s no underlying evidence to support one of the arguments—does nothing to help in the spread of the truth. In fact, it does the very opposite.

With Wakefield and the MMR vaccine controversy, balance allowed for the spread of a lie, even though the media was following the journalistic principles of objectivity. In this case, though, balance misconstrued what was really going on, and caused many members of the public to believe that vaccines cause autism. The MMR scandal and the media’s portrayal of it is a cautionary tale—and food for thought, in the current media landscape. Since Trump took to the political stage, the media has come under considerable scrutiny and criticism—especially by Trump and his followers. Generally, this criticism has been aimed at bias found in political coverage. This is easy to attack because it is the more obvious: if a news outlet appears to favour one political side over another, it is not difficult to point out and pick apart. Yet objectivity, through balance, can often be equally as problematic. In an effort to appear unbiased, the media often represent opposing views as if they are equally valid, pitting one opinion against another in a forced debate that does little to add any real insight into the issues at hand, not to mention enabling constructive public discourse. However, it’s important to note that journalists are far from wholly to blame (don’t worry—I am not going to throw our lot under the bus). What is at issue, here, is that we, as a society, have come to equate truth with a lack of bias. And as long as the public expects its news to be value-free, balance will arguably remain one of the leading factors in the spread and legitimization of misinformation. Journalism is not perfect, nor should one expect it to be. Yet society’s expectations that news should be presented in complete neutrality does not reflect the real world—one that is far from black and white. Expectations need to meet reality: if we are to mend the distrust that exists between the public and the media, we need to meet on the same playing field.

[1] Marsh, K. 2014. “Issues of Impartiality in News and Current Affairs—Some Practical Considerations,” in From Theory to Practice, ed. L. Barkho, Bristol: Intellect: 220.

Letter from the Editor by Emma McPhee

New Briefs

Letter to the Editor by Julian Renaud

by Emma MacDonald

Why Study Arts? by Emma MacDonald

‘Back in the good ol’ days’: Memories of UNB alumni

Thoughts from the Arts Editor by Ryan Gaio

Artsy Things to Do This Month

by Tiziana Zevallos

Freeda Whales by Ryan Gaio

‘Right time, right place’: Sarah Hilworth’s road to UNB by Brad Ackerson

Community Kitchen Serves Fredericton’s Hungry by Tiziana Zevallos

23 4

Vasity Reds Lead the Way with Three in Women Head Coaching Positions by Caroline Mercier

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Emma McPhee

Katie Kim

Emma MacDonald

Editor-in-Chief

Business Manager

News Editor

This is the EIC, here—or the Emma-inCharge. I’m back for my sixth year at the Brunswickan—minus the semester-long break (read: huge mistake) I took in 2016—and my second year as EIC. I’m also doing an MA in Classics, but I realized last year that journalism is my real passion so I came running back to the Bruns. Yeah, the Bruns will do that to you. We’re just that awesome.

One of the things I learned in my past two years at the Bruns is the mission of producing the best material that we can while also enjoying the freedom of still being students. I’m excited to be returning as the business manager, and I hope that I can do my part in keeping that mission.

Sup, homies? I am the News Captain Emma of The Brunswickan, and I am quite content with that title for a girl with a leadership degree. Ya I’m still here despite the degree; unfortunately my graduation did not coincide with any realization of what I’d like to do with my life. Hope you enjoy reading my stories while I try to figure it out.

Tristan Hallihan

Erin Sawden

Tiziana Zevallos

Copy Editor

News Reporter

Arts Reporter

I’m originally from Miramichi. I took up freelance writing and editing at 16; now, I live the dream and am sometimes even paid to do it! When I’m not busy being pedantic, I’m instead busy as a POLS major who dreams of being a lawyer, novelist, poet or prof—not quite as interesting as tinker, tailor, soldier, spy, I’m afraid.

My name is Erin Sawden, and I’m a staff reporter for news. This is my first year at The Brunswickan, but my third year at UNB! I’m from Hillsborough, near Moncton, in South-East New Brunswick. My major is in Media Arts and Cultures and I’m getting a minor in English.

Hi there, I’m a fourth year journalism and political science student at St Thomas university. I’m originally from Peru and have a strange love for tomatoes. In my free time you can find me at The Cellar—if you recognize me please buy me a beer.

Ryan Gaio

Caroline Mercier

Book Sadprasid

Arts Editor

Sports Editor

Art Director

I’m this year’s Arts Editor. I love listening to oldies on AM radio while wearing a jean jacket and will one day be the winner of Survivor: Canada. Send me your article ideas, critiques, passive-aggressive comments and/or letters to the editor at arts@thebruns.ca, or follow me on Twitter and Instagram: @ryanagaio

Hey there! My name is Caroline and I am the sports editor. I am in the final year of a Joint Honours degree in Gender Studies and Political Science, and have competed as a Varsity Red throughout. I have been involved in competitive sports for upwards of fifteen years, though I do like to consider my participation in toddler t-ball to be the true start to my career.

Born in Bangkok, I’ve lived in six countries before moving to Fredericton in 2012. I love traveling the world with my camera. Capturing people’s stories and their unforgettable moments is my hobby (and sometimes my job). I’m studying journalism, communications and economics at STU. With my passion for design, I spend most of my time sketching and creating things on my computer.

Brad Ackerson

Maria Araujo

Pouria Poursaeid

Sports Reporter

Assistant Art Director

Ad Manager

I’m a third-year student working on a double major in History and Media Arts & Cultures. I was born and raised in Fredericton but would love to move to Toronto some day. Likes: movies, sports, travelling, weird music and watermelons. Dislikes: Mornings and spiders.

I’m a second-year Media Arts and Cultures student and the Brunswickan’s Assistant Art Director. I’m originally from Recife, northeast Brazil. Are you into The Walking Dead, photography or non-spicy food? Then we should go out for a hot chocolate or juice (because no, I don’t drink coffee).

I’m a fourth-year Chemical Engineering student. I’m very outgoing, love traveling and exploring. I offer a non judgemental environment. I occasionally enjoy a nice craft beer over the weekends. This is my second year working as the Ad Manager at the Bruns.

News Briefs Words by Emma MacDonald / Photo by Brad Parker

NBSA and Chamber of Commerce Combine Forces to Bring Increased Opportunity to Students The NBSA and the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce have had a busy month working together to increase student opportunities in the job market—in more ways than one. In mid-September, the Chamber announced a two year deal with the NBSA that will allow students to attend chamber events under the umbrella of the NBSA’s membership. “Most students have not had a tremendous lot of opportunities to integrate with the business community—and what tends to happen when they finish school is that they need to get out and start creating a community network,” says Krista Ross, Chamber of Commerce CEO. The Chamber of Commerce also has plans in the works for international students at UNB. 8

In September, the Fredericton Chamber hosted the national Chamber of Commerce conference event where they put forth a policy resolution entitled “Attracting and Retaining International Students through Canadian Work Experience.” It passed with a majority of 93.6 per cent, meaning it will now be an advocacy priority for the Canadian Chamber. The policy resolution included recommendations that would increase international students’ opportunities within the Canadian job market—including access to the Canada Summer Jobs program and an extension to the post-grad job search period. “We need to be able to find ways of helping them establish themselves in the community so that when they do graduate, they’ll want to stay,” says Ross.

Student Union Action Plan 2020 The Student Union presented a three-year strategic plan to council on their second meeting of the new academic year. “Our Action Plan 2020” was designed by the UNBSU executive over the summer. This plan is split into four main objectives: clear, effective communication; quality, relevant programming; opportunities for students; and a bold, active voice. Some of the UNBSU’s projects this year include adding a third vehicle to the SafeRide program, the creation of the UNBSU teams and a revamped website with an online clothing store. Climate Change Action Plan The Climate Change Action Plan Committee (CCAPC) has begun the second phase in its consultation process for the creation of UNB’s institutional-wide Climate Change Action Plan. The CCAPC sent out calls for members of the university community to join one of their eight task forces around climate change. These task forces began meeting at the end of September and will attempt to define targets and strategies for the action plan over the year. This bi-campus initiative will produce a long-term strategy that will allow the university to make positive, sustainable change on-campus that will reduce its emissions and carbon footprint.

The eight task forces make up the eight different areas that will be targeted by the action plan: sustainable food, procurement/travel, buildings, waste management, transportation, education and programs, grounds and energy/ emissions. UNB Academic Plan Another planning committee at UNB has been hard at work—this one on the draft academic plan for the university. Its consultation period ends on Oct. 4. The Academic Plan lays out the university’s priorities and objectives over the next several years and the strategies designed to achieve them. The plan includes a move towards increased interdisciplinary initiatives and course transferability between the campuses, as well as a potential PhD program in Business. Still in its draft phase, a town hall was held in the last week of September to give the campus community an opportunity to provide feedback. The crowd included members from both Fredericton and Saint John campuses, since the plan is a bi-campus initiative. Vice-president academic George MacLean moderated the discussion and said he was pleased with the input given at the town hall. “The turnout and discussions demonstrate a high level of interest, and we are grateful to have such an engaged community actively taking part in the academic planning process.”

Why study arts? A personal reflection Words by Emma MacDonald / Photo by Book Sadprasid Last year, approximately five months before graduating from Renaissance College with my Bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Leadership, I felt inspired to apply to UNB’s civil engineering program. Now that I had my liberal arts education, I was ready for my technical training that would make me a productive member of the workforce. I felt a sense of relief that this was the direction I wanted to go in—the uncertainty about employment prospects that I carried around with me during my undergrad were now gone. Of course I would get a job in today’s market with this esteemed engineering degree. Except when I returned to university in the fall, unease immediately began to creep in. The work wasn’t what I expected—and it’s not that I didn’t find what I was learning interesting. I just realized it was interesting in the”‘I’d like to read about what engineers do in the news way” not “this is what I want do for the rest of my life” sort of way. So I switched out. I dropped all of my engineering courses and picked up some arts courses I was interested in. But then I started wondering, why had I felt so much pressure to go into STEM? Why did I feel incompetent and like a failure for realizing it wasn’t for me? Why did I want it to be the right fit for me so badly? And why was it that, once I switched out, I told everyone I was just taking some arts courses—emphasis on the just.

Bound by curiosity, I talked to numerous members of the UNB community in pursuit of my answers. Was there some kind of perceived difference between the value of an arts education and a STEM education that I had internalized to make me feel this way? And where was it all coming from? According to UNB vice-president academic George MacLean, these perceptions could come from a “conflict of ideas” about the purpose of a university education—and therefore the “value” of a degree. “When we go to university the misconception can be that we’re being trained for a job. We’re being educated for a career. That’s the way I like to think of it.” MacLean says the university does contain aspects of training, which are present in what Arts 1000 professor Matt Sears calls the “applied fields.” “What I mean by applied fields is engineering, nursing, business, education—and so UNB, like almost every comprehensive university is divided up between the liberal arts and sciences and what are essentially vocational schools,” Sears said. “Those fields have a much more explicit career focus. They have Co-op programs to introduce people to career fields—and all of that is great. But what I worry is happening is that kind of career focus is then being held up as the reason that people go to univer-

sity, the only reason.” The concept that the outcome of a university degree should be a job often runs out of line with the study of the arts and sciences. In fact, Sears says that the purpose of the liberal arts and sciences are one and the same, and any perceived divide between the two is “artificial.” “[Humanities, arts and sciences are] driven by curiosity. They’re driven by understanding the world and getting answers to questions that we don’t have answers to,” he said. It’s a sentiment shared by the Dean of Arts, Joanne Wright, who says that the arts and sciences provide a solid foundation from which to build off of. “I feel arts and science are very much understood to be foundational faculties and programs,” said Wright. “They offer a kind of comprehensive foundation from which students can then go on to other professional programs, occupations, careers.” This is an idea that is reinforced by the fact that students studying STEM disciplines are required to take around an eighth of their degree in complementary studies, which include electives in the humanities. Edmund Biden, a UNB professor of Mechanical Engineering studied history when he was a student. He said that his courses in history offered something to enhance his engineering degree. “It’s influenced my thinking about, and understanding of engineering and science ever since—in ways that are probably more important and influential to the way that I think about science and engineering than anything I did that was strictly technical.” While it seems that UNB does recognize the importance of the liberal arts education, it doesn’t always seem to be reflected in the university’s bigger picture. UNB touts the line that they are Canada’s most entrepreneurial university, and while this certainly fits the bill for many of its applied programs, arts programs struggle to find their place. This is something that Dean of Arts Joanna Wright admits. “I think STEM disciplines are—what would I say—really prominent at UNB and lots of universities. UNB’s not different from others but—and you know the mantra about innovation— sometimes Arts doesn’t feel that its contributions are captured in the dominant discourse of the university.” In many ways, the education of students is now coupled alongside commercial and industrial success. And while the there is a perceived value of arts within the university community, this isn’t always seen externally on the societal level. According to MacLean, funding decisions are made by senior management and administration based on the money received by either a government grants, tuition revenue or miscellaneous forms of revenue collection. “We need to be able to balance budgets to the best of our ability, we need projected costs and revenues so we know down the road how we can fund our programs,” explains MacLean about the decision-making process.

While it is possible to argue that there’s an onus for UNB to prioritize in investing in what’s profitable, Anthropology professor Sue Blair says that underfunding is not simply isolated to arts programs—that it extends to all units at UNB. “When I talk to my colleagues in engineering and in sciences and STEM disciplines, they’re really struggling too. Those are classes full, their labs aren’t big enough, they don’t have the resources either,” says Blair. So that doesn’t really leave me with an answer does it? The only thing my search really confirmed was that my interdisciplinary liberal arts education combined with a technical education like engineering would have been a stroke of genius. So that kind of sucks. But, different strokes for different folks—right? It wouldn’t have been for me. And I’m not the only one who’s experienced this. Dave MacMullin returned to UNB a year ago to pursue an arts education with a major in Classics, after three years spent in the workforce post-Business degree. “I studied Business mostly because I thought that I would be happy with a job in my life. That was my high goal—just to get a job… Little did I know that that wasn’t fulfilling enough for me. That just having 40 hours a week just poof gone and this job I hated wasn’t enough.” MacMullin is loving the fulfillment his current studies give him, saying, “I guess that sort of keeps me going—that I feel like I’m doing it for myself… [In my Business degree] I was caught up in suffering for this end goal that I thought that I’d be happy then. But lo and behold if you don’t like the process, you won’t like the outcome.” In our interview, MacLean said that “An arts education is about permitting yourself to move in directions that you’re not anticipating.” I wasn’t anticipating moving towards engineering, just as I wasn’t anticipating how quickly I would fall out of it—just as I’m sure MacMullin wasn’t anticipating returning to school to take a degree in what were formerly his “hobby” courses. It’s hard not to swallow the societal pill of pursuing university for reasons other than just acquiring a job. Hell, it is downright terrifying going after your own interests and passions, when it feels like everyone around you is saying it won’t take you anywhere. Sears attests to this, saying, “There’s a lot of anxiety about disciplines like arts. Because there aren’t immediately clear career paths. I talk to parents all of the time—‘What will my kids do if they take classics or history or philosophy?’ Of course there are answers…but that anxiety is what’s driving—I think—the privileging of the vocational parts of the university.” But this argument is not one the university needs to be perpetuating, according to MacLean. “I do think that this conflict about what our programs bring in terms of value is something of an inflated construct. It doesn’t have to exist and I think that we could be doing a much better job of projecting to our communities what the value of the university education actually is.” 11

During the 2017 Homecoming Weekend, we spoke to numerous UNB alumni—some of them current or former faculty—and asked them to share their stories and memories from their time at UNB. The following are the responses—some heartfelt and some more humorous—that we received from our visiting alumni.

David Crowe

Back in the good ol’ days’: Memories of UNB alumni

1975 Biology and Arts

Frank Wilson

“I was here during the Strax Affair. This was back in the late 1960s during the Vietnam War. I was down in Bailey Hall—that was where I did my work—and Professor Strax was a physics professor, and he and a group of students barricaded themselves in a room for a week or so and finally they were forced out; so that was a pretty exciting time. It was a time of critical awareness and that sort of thing. The irony of this whole thing is that the office that was occupied later became my office.”

David Charters 1962 Civil Engineering

“I came here in 1957 as a freshman and I was out of school five years—and that was tough, because you didn’t remember anything from high school. But I made it!”

1971 History “I came here in the fall of 1967, and Tilley 102—if you can imagine—there were more seats; they were all barren wood, so they didn’t look quite as nice as they look now. The walls were all unfinished, so you could see all the cables hanging down because they were still finishing off all the construction of the building, literally. Tilley Hall was literally brand new, so I had lectures in here where you could see the electrical wires hanging down!”

Al Sprague

1967 History and Political Science “Everything I owe in my life, I owe to UNB—since I’ve been an adult. I met my best friend, who was my roommate and is still my best friend after 54 years. We’ve travelled the world together. I met my husband, I wouldn’t have had my three children had I not been at UNB. I love my jobs, and I got them because of what I did here at UNB.

Cindy Brown

Anne Farnell Baker

2002 History “I loved working at The Brunswickan; I was pulled into The Brunswickan. The Brunswickan was one of the places where I felt at home. One of my firstyear professors was actually the managing editor, his name was Patrick Fitzpatrick. He was like ‘yeah, so I work at The Bruns, come over and stop by.’ And I was afraid to do that—but once I got in, I didn’t actually leave. I continued working on The Brunswickan and became Sports Editor, and then I think Managing Editor, and then Editor in Chief. And then Sports Editor again because I believed in the place; and then we cultivated our little community within the bigger UNB community and we got to do journalism.”

Peter Dunphy 1972 Mechanical Engineering

“I used to live in Bridges House. One of my fellow housemates had a motorcycle and he actually laid rubber in the lower hallway of Bridges House!”

1967 Anthropology “I think I was the first one to graduate with a major in Anthropology, and I was the first Anthropology graduate student here and I was the first one to get a masters in Anthropology from here. The undergrad was undistinguished.”

Letter to the Editor Words by Julian Renaud To call the UNB residence administration a train wreck would be a grave insult to train wrecks. Trains use rails that lead them somewhere useful, if they manage to stay on them. By contrast, residence administration has built itself a set of rails that leads directly into a cliff face, in the tradition of Wile E. Coyote. The residence administration’s many débacles are not just fascinating because of their frequency and severity—they are fascinating because the administrators responsible have gone to great lengths to insulate themselves from any and all criticism that could steer the residence system in a better direction. Alas, no matter how many people point out that the train tunnel is actually just an ACME sticker with rock behind it, the administrators do not listen. The most recent case to illustrate this phenomenon is the removal of dons from the residence system. It was a wildly unpopular move. Virtually everyone who actually lives in residence and understands the dynamics therein opposed it. The Student Union opposed it. The Joint Board/Senate Residence Committee that was established to deal with such issues opposed it. The only people I saw who supported the move with any vigour were the administrators who made the decision in the first place, i.e. Mark Walma, the assistant vice-president of student services, and Dean Martin, the director of Residential Life. For brevity, I refer to them as the Dynamic Duo from now on. I sat on the Joint Board/Senate Residence Committee at the relevant times. The Dynamic Duo made the decision to remove dons from the residence system without first seeking our input. They simply wanted us to rubber-stamp their decision after the fact. The relevant portion of the terms of reference of the Committee illustrates that it is supposed to do much more: “The Committee may make recommendations to the Board of Governors and to the Fredericton Senate on any matter concerning the residences including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, the governance, discipline and academic programs of the residence system.” The Dynamic Duo got a rubber-stamp all right: one that reads “DENIED.” The Committee sent a recommendation to the Board of Governors to delay the removal of dons from the residence system until a comprehensive report was presented that satisfied the Committee that removing dons was in the best interests of the UNB Community. We were presented with significant evidence to the contrary. Many dons, proctors, current students and former 14

students wrote to the Student Union and the Committee and eloquently described the crucial and irreplaceable role of dons in the residence community. The Committee made a decision based on the best evidence available to it, as it should. The Dynamic Duo was visibly upset by our decision. Having sat on the Board of Governors, I can say without reservation that UNB administrators are accustomed to Committees that approve all of their decisions as little more than a formality. As I noted in a CBC Radio interview with Terry Seguin on May 27, 2016, UNB administrators operate with very little effective oversight. When our recommendation went to the Board of Governors, the Dynamic Duo argued that the Committee lacked the authority to make its recommendation, even though the Committee’s own terms of reference very clearly indicate that it does have such authority. As the Board of Governors invariably sides with administrators, it accepted their argument and agreed to eliminate dons from the residence system. The Dynamic Duo did not stop there. They are now trying to ensure that the Committee will never again have the power to foil their plans, even temporarily. Walma, the assistant vice-president of student services, sent an e-mail to all Committee members recently, wherein he proposed that the Committee be disempowered from making any future recommendations to the Senate or Board of Governors. He describes his proposed change to the Committee’s powers in his own words as follows: “The Joint Committee would have no power beyond providing information and advice. It would not have the power to make decisions nor recommendations.” In effect, he wants to neuter the Committee that refused to do his bidding. One has to wonder: If the Committee had supported the Dynamic Duo in its quest to eliminate residence dons, would it have likewise argued that the Committee lacked the authority to make recommendations and then moved to strip the Committee of its powers? Students and professors came together admirably to oppose the ill-advised decision to eliminate residence dons. We only failed to put a halt to the process because we acted too late. We reacted to a bad situation. In the future, we need to proactively address the rot in our administrative structures that causes Looney Toons scenarios to arise in the first place. Ensuring that administrators face consistent scrutiny of and accountability for their actions would be a great start.

Thoughts From The Arts Editor Words by Ryan Gaio I’ve come to the conclusion that Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. I’ve always loved autumn. I’m a sucker for the way the leaves change and fall down, and I don’t even mind having to rake them up—not since the day I offered to help my grandmother with hers. As I bent and toiled, I listened to the Forrest Gump soundtrack (I still maintain this is the best soundtrack ever, #nojoke). The Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” came on, and as the opening line (“All the leaves are brown/And the sky is grey”) was sung I looked around to see that all the leaves were brown and the sky was grey. If I’d been a few years older I might’ve said, “That’s trippy, man,” but although I was still too young to know such an adjective, the synchronicity of the moment nevertheless imprinted itself onto my naive soul. Even all these autumns later, I still recall it as the summer winds its way out and the cool breeze starts to shake branches. I love sweater weather. I love apple orchards. I don’t love pumpkin spice lattes, but I do love that others love them. This year, though, what I love most about autumn is Thanksgiving. I’m not from Fredericton. I’m from a tiny town in Ontario called Niagara-on-the-Lake. It’s a nice town and it’s pretty in every season—but when I think about how it looks this time of year, I have to tip my cap: autumn is Niagara’s finest season. Soon, I’ll get to see Niagara in all its seasonal glory for myself, as my partner and I, fuelled by Red Bull and beef jerky, will make the long drive west across three provinces to my hometown. It’s been a while since I’ve been back, and the thought of being home at this time of year fills me with nostalgia: the hay bales and corn husks my parents use to decorate the front porch, the way the house smells when the cooking food mixes with the crisp scent of dried leaves. Friends, family, food: one heckuva combination. But as I’ve been eagerly counting down the days until I’m homeward bound, it’s dawned on me that not everyone has the same opportunity. My partner, for one, cannot be with her family out in Alberta—and though I hope mine serves

as a suitable surrogate, there is, of course, no place like home. There are many people who, for many reasons, will not be able to spend this upcoming Thanksgiving where they want to, and I’ve been struck by this notion. I really am so, so fortunate. And it’s gotten me thinking about all the many things I take for granted in my life. It’s not a proud habit, but I must admit: I often overlook all that I have and dwell on all that I don’t. Take my work life, for instance. I have several friends who have already gotten “Grown-Up Jobs”— careers with benefits, overtime, pension plans and whatnot—but I still have no idea what the heck I’m doing with my life. I compare myself to them and feel like a failure. But here’s the thing: I have this job with The Brunswickan and I love it! It’s a cool gig—one that allows me to go to cool things, talk to cool people and, best of all, write about them. It’s not something I could necessarily call a “career,” but, for now, it totally works. And it sure beats other jobs I’ve had in the past—especially the summers I spent as a dishwasher, where the dish-pit looked so much like the room from Saw I started every shift convinced I’d find a severed foot in the corner. Working for The Bruns is nothing like that. (No detached limbs … yet!) I love this job; I’m proud of what we do, and so I’m feeling very thankful for it. And that’s what I’m trying to do more often: give thanks. It’s something I want to do all the time, but especially this month. Throughout October, I want to recognize all the things I have and I want to be grateful for them. Thanksgiving is a great excuse to do that; it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate your life, and instead of dwelling on shortcomings, failures, wants or hopes, it lets you celebrate all that you do have. So that’s what I’m going to do and I’d encourage you to do the same. Whether you’re headed anywhere for Thanksgiving or not, find something in your life that you’re glad you have and take a moment to feel grateful for it. With that in mind, I’d just like to say, to anyone who is reading this: thank you.

Artsy Things to Do in Fredericton This Month Words by Tiziana Zevallos These ten listings are hardly—hardly!—the only Artsy Things To Do this month. While I have selected ten that I think are interesting and eclectic, always remember there are many other wonderful things happening in and around the city, all month long. To let us know about an upcoming Artsy Thing To Do, email arts@thebruns.ca—we may feature your Thing in an upcoming issue! For more information about any of the following listings, please use your social media lurking skills and/or consult Google.

Oct. 7 - “Rumours”: Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show

Oct. 5 - Kathleen Gorey-McSorley Album Release Indie folk singer/songwriter Kathleen Gorey-McSorley is returning to Fredericton after her first-ever tour as a songwriter. She will present her new album My Madness Brought Me Here at The Picaroons Roundhouse with special guests Daniel Mathisen and Ian McGabhan. Admission is $20 and includes the new CD. The Picaroons Roundhouse, 912 Union Street, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 & 7 - FLOURISH Festival Presents: Perish (a mini-music fest) “We’re throwing a party~ an emerging artist party~” Immerse yourself in Fredericton’s vibrant cultural scene with this celebration and presentation of independent art, music, film and more! Taking place at various locations—including Bellwether, The Capital Complex and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre—the event will feature music by such acts as Lina Tullgren, Sam Salmon & The Grand Manan and David in the Dark, as well as visual art by Amna Khurshid, Bald Moon Mag, Melissa McMichael and more. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, 11:00 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets for all shows available at the door.

Relive the rock and roll magic with “Rumours”: The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show. Travel to Los Angeles, California and back to the 1970s without leaving your seat at The Playhouse. The show recreates the legendary band’s journey as they sold out performances on the Sunset Strip, casinos, theatres and clubs all over America. The Fredericton Playhouse, 686 Queen St., 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 12 - Australia’s Thunder From Down Under Your ultimate Ladies Night! The steamy “Best Male Strip Show” for three consecutive years (according to the Las Vegas Review Journal) is returning to Fredericton for two performances. Expect a new level of desire as you sit back and enjoy the show … P.S. Leave your partner at home. The Fredericton Playhouse, 686 Queen St., shows at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Oct. 15 - Beaverbrook Art Gallery Pavilion Public Opening The Beaverbrook Art Gallery celebrates the opening of the new pavilion and newly-renovated International Wing. The free event will include artist demonstrations and workshops, performances and the chance to be the first to explore the new spaces. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 703 Queen St., 1:00-5:00 p.m.

Oct. 19 - Gallery Hop

Oct. 16 - Monday Night Film Series: Beatriz at Dinner The NB Co-op Monday Night Film Series presents Beatriz at Dinner. Beatriz, an unpretentious massage therapist from Mexico, is stranded at a client’s luxurious Newport Beach home overnight when her car breaks down. She’s convinced to stay over for dinner, which provides the perfect scenario for opposing worldviews to collide. Be sure to arrive early as tickets sell out fast. Tilley Hall 102, 7:00 p.m.

Join the UNB Fredericton Faculty of Arts for a Gallery Hop! The free event will take off from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design before venturing to the various art galleries downtown. The evening will finish off with games and snacks at Unplugged.

formance from Casper Skills as they present their new EP—which vocalist/guitarist Neil Bednis describes as “a document of some of the earliest songs we worked on together.” The Capital Complex, 362 Queen St., doors open at 10:00 p.m. Tickets $8. The Fredericton Playhouse 686 Queen St., 8 p.m.

Hop begins at NBCCD, 457 Queen St., 6:00 p.m.

Oct. 21 - Pre Pop: Partner + Casper Skulls in Concert Named the “best new band in Canada” in 2015 by the Globe and Mail, Partner brings best friends Josée Caron and Lucy Niles together to explore a variety of niche (yet strangely universal) themes through rock. Their enthusiastic and action-packed show will be followed by an intense per-

Oct. 27 - Halloween Thriller Party 19+ Halloween spooktacular event at the Delta Hotel Ballroom with “dancing, entertainment and gore galore! DJ Savory and DJ Hawkshaw will serve up the soundtracks. Mandatory costumes—make them artsy!

Oct. 28 - Floyd Memory—Pink Floyd Tribute Concert Tribute Band Floyd Memory will perform Pink Floyd’s most acclaimed hits, including tracks from Wish You Were Here, The Wall, Animals and The Dark Side of The Moon. Numerous videos will be projected on a 12-foot circular screen as the band reproduces the legendary British band’s unique sound. Rumor has it that a giant inflatable pig will make an appearance. The Fredericton Playhouse, 686 Queen St., 7:30 p.m.

Delta Hotel Ballroom, 225 Woodstock Road, 9:00 p.m.

Words by Ryan Gaio It’s Wednesday night, the Phoenix, sometime after 8 p.m. At the end of the bar, someone with a microphone calls out one of five letters followed by a number between one and 75. The host calls out another alphanumeric combo, and another and another—until at last, someone in the crowd stands and cries the tell-tale word: BINGO! However, this is not the bingo your grandmother goes to at Club Italia on Sunday afternoons. Not at all. This is something different. This is Bottomless Bingo. What is Bottomless Bingo? “It’s your new favorite night of the week!” Freeda Whales exclaimed. Freeda is the host of these events, held every Wednesday between 8 and 10 p.m. at the Phoenix; she’s also the brains behind them. “Basically, Bottomless Bingo is drag bingo. We call it ‘Bottomless Bingo’ because we had intended for it to be some sort of really cool drink special where you pay your cover and get an unlimited drink supply—turns out that’s 100 per cent illegal,” she said with a laugh. “But the Phoenix was nice enough to offer a two dollar drink special. So the whole point is you pay five dollars at the door for cover—which supports your local queens— and then you make a donation to AIDS New Brunswick … and with your extra money, you buy beer!” The idea was born out of some traveling she did through South Asia with her partner, where they experienced Thailand’s drag scene and were completely blown away by it. “It was like nothing I’d ever seen,” she explained. “They 20

were so committed to performing; they were so well-rehearsed and it was so inspiring, I thought: ‘I want to do that here.’” Though Freeda was inspired, she was initially uncertain how she could best bring that quality back to Fredericton, since she is not a drag queen who is as interested in lip-syncing or dancing. “I had been performing at Boom, but I wasn’t getting the satisfaction that I needed from being a drag performer. Something wasn’t connecting … That’s when I realized I am not a queen who is a dancer … A lot of queens are lip synch dancers, that’s their gig. I much prefer to ‘get my life’—that’s a drag term for ‘your gig’—I ‘get my life’ on the mic hosting. “I mean, I do love to lip-sync, but it is a second love. I much prefer to just let my inner dialogue go—and that’s where my passion for getting this started came from. I realized: I wanna be hosting something. I wanna be on the mic. I wanna be doing something that’s getting a community together.” It was Freeda’s partner, Hinky Dinky, who gave Freeda the idea to start the event. “My partner said, ‘If you want to be hosting something, we should be hosting bingo.’ They used to go to it in Vancouver, and there are so many cities who have it all over, so I realized we could totally do that here! I messaged the manager of the Phoenix, asked, ‘Would you guys be interested in collaborating on this idea we have?’ And it went from ‘Yeah, we’re down,’ to it snowballing into reality because we had so much support to get it off the ground.” Even despite their high hopes, the event has far surpassed Freeda’s expectations. 'We just started it and didn’t know what would happen,

Capital Complex, Fredericton Photos by Book Sadprasid

and it just blew up; it took off. We want it to be the best it can be, so every week we’re trying to step it up and step it up and step it up—and people keep coming.” “We accept all.”

“

The community that we’re trying to facilitate is one that loves to have fun and loves to express who they are.

The event has allowed Freeda to foster and serve a sense of community here in Fredericton. So far, Bottomless Bingo has raised close to $4,000 for AIDS New Brunswick, and it all happens with as little environmental damage as possible: the bingo cards are laminated and participants mark their progress with reusable markers and rags. But the events also offer something valuable to those attending on an individual level. “The biggest part of what we try to do is make sure people are having a good time,” Freeda says. And in having a good time, we want people to be themselves. The community we’re trying to facilitate is one that loves to have fun and loves to express who they are. Doesn’t matter their gender, or sexual orientation or expression of self—we accept all and that is the vibe we facilitate. It doesn’t matter who walks in or who is there; every single person is able to have a good time and to have a smile on their face.” In creating this all-inclusive space, Freeda says she is helping the entire Fredericton community become more accepting—which it has not always been. “I would say Fredericton definitely can be an inclusive city when 21

Photos by Book Sadprasid & Maria Araujo

people, who may have never seen something like this before, connect with someone like myself, who is doing something different. “When I moved to Fredericton in 2009 there was nothing like this going on. The drag scene was non-existent. It’s something I’ve watched develop over the years, and I would say there have been times when it has not been an inclusive community; but since taking on Freeda full-time and trying to be more of a presence in the queer community, I have wanted to create an inclusive environment—and that’s exactly what we’ve done: we’ve created a spot where people can come and feel included and have a good time. “Even though in general Fredericton might be kind of a question mark in terms of inclusiveness, what we’re doing at the Phoenix is 100 per cent always inclusive, always a good time.” While Freeda works hard to build an in an inclusive community in a place that can be lacking it, she quickly brushed off the idea of seeing herself as a role model. “I don’t know if I would use the term ‘role model.’I’m just trying to be more of an inspiration to people to ‘step up the pussy.’ If you want to do something cool, do it! If you want to organize an event that will help support a community in some way, and you want to do it in a really cool way, do it! “That is the inspiration I’m trying to deliver, and if people are inspired in a way that they want to label ‘role model,’ cool, whatever, I don’t care. I’m just trying to be a mogul by doing something that has not been touched at all yet in Fredericton.” The Future for Freeda Whales The long-term future remains uncertain for Freeda. By 22

her own admittance, she’s someone who cannot be tied down—but for the foreseeable future, she remains committed to fostering the community she’s helped build here in Fredericton. She was very active in organizing several of this year’s recent Pride events and has several upcoming ventures planned at The Phoenix, including a Halloween haunted house. Her primary focus, though, is always to ensure people are having fun. “I love to make sure people are having a good time, and if I can see ways that people are either struggling to have a good time or the potential is bursting to have a good time, how do I help you facilitate that? Let me get into it and let’s do it together—and that’s what happens when you come to Bottomless Bingo: you’re having fun. “We wanna make sure every single person walking in to participate is having a great time, and it’s all in support of an organization who really needs our help and who really represents something in our community that we don’t necessarily always touch on but is present. We’re having fun and having a good time as a way to say: ‘Hey, we see you. You are a part of the community we want to support.’” So for at least the rest of the year, Freeda will continue ensuring Fredericton is having fun by serving her community and hosting Bottomless Bingo. For now, the games are held weekly, but come November, when winter hits, they will become monthly. After all, as Freeda said: “Nobody likes to commit to something once a week in the winter … especially in full drag.”

Words by Tiziana Zevallos 23

The Fredericton Community Kitchens opened their doors in the basement of the former Pentecostal Church—at the corner of Argyle and Westmoreland streets—on Dec. 8, 1982. On that day, four meals were served. Today, The Fredericton Community Kitchens serve 14,000 free meals each month. The non-governmental organization works to tackle the problem of hunger in Fredericton through the downtown in-house meal service, Northside Outreach and Student Hunger Programs—among others. On any weekday, the Kitchens’ in-house service, now located at 65 Brunswick Street, opens its doors at 7:45 a.m. and provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to over 100 people daily. As you walk in the room, there are two large gray tables followed by a food counter that invites “guests” to form in line. Therese M. Murray, Fredericton Community Kitchens’ executive director and her team refer to anyone that comes to have a meal as a “guest,” as they are welcome to come any or every day and feel comfortable in using the Kitchen’s services. She said that everyone that participates in the Kitchens—staff or volunteer—is required to sign a confidentiality agreement out of respect for the guests. “What and who you see here, remains here,” she said. “Honestly, the only thing that people have in common when they walk through our doors is that they are hungry. So, what does the face of hunger look like? Think of anyone who is hungry.” Following that frame of mind, the Kitchens count how many meals are served instead of the number of persons that come in. They do not keep a tally of how many meals each person eats, since they should feel free to have as many meals as they need. When Murray took over the Executive Director position two years ago, she printed a quote she liked on a sheet of paper and put it up on a wall in her office. It reads: “Be thankful for what you have. Your life, no matter how hard you think it is, is someone else’s fairytale.” “There’s something interesting about life. The more you pay attention to a social condition [like hunger], you can’t help but feel grateful for your own social condition,” she said. Murray has spent the last 20 years working with nonprofit organizations that deal with social justice issues. She said the progress made has been possible thanks to the food and financial donations, sponsors, community support, the committed volunteers and staff team. This year the Kitchens have seven paid staff members and over 300 volunteers. For Lola Crawford, age wasn’t enough to slow her down. At 99 years old, she volunteered at the Fredericton Community 24

Photos by Book Sadprasid

es dishes and is “a pair of hands of a semi-intelligent autonomous system, so I do whatever they tell me,” he said. “Balancing between full-time school and volunteering is definitely doable. We’re busy all the time, but even today we have the time to do it,” Chitty said.

Kitchens every Tuesday next to a close group of friends. She saw the Kitchens transform over the years from serving one meal a day at noon and having no cook, no full-time coordinator and no automatic dishwasher, to incorporating delivery vans that reach the the north side of the city and the creation of partnerships with 18 schools in the Fredericton area to provide nutritious meals for kids everyday. Crawford passed away in her 100th year of life and is greatly missed by everyone in the Kitchens. “Even in her last senior years, [Lola] would modify what her volunteer capacity would be, so she’d be sitting on a stool and counting the meals,” Therese said. “Every volunteer is precious, just like every donation of food is precious.” Adrian Davis has been volunteering at the Fredericton Community Kitchens for a year. He dedicates eight to 20 hours a week—mainly driving a van to deliver meals at many destinations around the city. “Driving now, I get to see different parts of Fredericton and [it’s amazing to learn] how all the different organizations support each other,” he said. For Tony Fitzgerald, the first week of November will mark his 6th year volunteering at the Kitchens. He retired from working at the IT department in UNB on Oct. 31, 2011 and came to work in the Kitchens the following Wednesday. He has not missed a Wednesday shift since, where he wash-

As the staff and volunteers get ready to open the kitchen for lunch at 11:30 a.m., organized chaos unfolds. The staff and volunteers stand behind their stations to serve the meal of the day: spaghetti and meatballs with a side of salad and cinnamon rolls as dessert. Therese M. Murray prepares to open the doors, while chef Louis Cosman gives last minute directions to serve the food they have been preparing for the last couple hours. “I’ve spent my entire career on the private sector, working at hotels and restaurants, and it’s just really rewarding to be in a place like this where I can give back [to the community] now,” Cosman said. Cosman said he spent 35 years chasing someone else’s dollar and now he’s helping people. He said the work can sometimes be frustrating, but when he sits down at the end of the day and puts the positives and negatives together, there are far more positives than there are negatives. “Especially when you watch [the guests] come in here and they smile, and they go back out and they smile. We did our job. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life—and I’ve been doing a lot,” he said. According to the 2016 Food Security and Insecurity in New Brunswick Report, four out of the ten organizations that provide meal services could not meet the needs of their population—they estimated that on average they met about half the demand. The Fredericton Community Kitchens will be making a detailed announcement regarding the expansion of the Student Hunger Program by the end of October. They hope this will allow them to meet the demand for meals in the greater Fredericton area. 25

“Right time, right place”: Sarah Hilworth’s Road to UNB Words by Brad Ackerson / Photo submitted Like most hockey players, Sarah Hilworth never really planned on coaching.

next several seasons while serving as captain, posting a total of exactly 100 points in 100 career games.

The fact that she was hired this past June to lead the revived Varsity Reds women’s hockey team speaks more to her knowledge and passion for the game than to any childhood dreams. In fact, if not for a career ending injury in her final season of eligibility, Hilworth may have never discovered her love of coaching.

Unfortunately, Hilworth’s playing career came to a premature end when she blew out her knee while blocking a shot early in the 2012-13 season. Not happy to simply sit back and be a bystander, she began looking for alternative ways to help her teammates.

Hilworth’s first foray into the world of collegiate hockey came not as a coach, but as a player. In 2008, the Vancouver, B.C. native was offered a scholarship to play for the University of Alberta Pandas—the same year UNB made the controversial decision to cut its varsity women’s hockey team. In just her second season with the team, she established herself as one of its top forwards en-route to a national championship. She continued to be a vital member for the 26

“I was trying to figure out how I was going to be a captain still, so I started to be almost a player-coach, trying to lend help to players and kind of give them my perspective on how they were playing and things they could do, in-game adjustments,” said Hilworth. “Even when I could get back on skates—immediately I was trying to skate around even though it was pretty busted up still—just trying to do different skill work with players.” Once she came to the realization that her playing days

were over, she began looking for her next challenge. She was able to find it working and learning as an assistant coach under University of Alberta head coach Howie Draper. Hilworth says she was quickly bitten by the coaching bug. “Just seeing those girls have success—and I know that feeling of what it means to win, and how much effort and how much time it takes—it made me want to coach and give them a platform for them to experience that.” It was during this two-year stint as assistant coach that she gained an even deeper understanding of the game than she ever had as player. “[Draper] kind of took me under his wing, and he really opened my eyes to the game and how much more there is to it than just strapping on a pair of skates. I was really lucky to learn from the best.” In 2015, Hilworth took on another new challenge—this time as head coach of the Olds College Broncos, where she would be tasked with building a new team from scratch. “They’re a small college—about 2000 people—and [Olds] is mainly agricultural, so it was definitely a challenge to recruit at some times,” she said. Despite those inherent difficulties, Hilworth does not sound like someone who would trade even a second of her experiences at Olds, saying, “It was amazing—the people that I met, the network that I started to gain. It really started to open my eyes to what I like as a coach and what I see to be important.” Additionally, this experience gave her the confidence to pursue another massive challenge, one that would see her move across the country to build UNB’s returning women’s varsity team. “[Once] I got here for my on-campus interview, I fell in love with it; it was a no-brainer for me. It was the right time, right place and right culture for me,” said Hilworth. “Coming in, you’re not quite sure of the climate you’re walking into—

and it has been unbelievable.” Now that Hilworth is settling into the UNB community, she knows there is much work to be done. She has already recruited several players for the team’s return in the 2018-19 season and knows coaching a team made up of rookies will be a difficult task. “Our age might come into effect a couple of times, just being so young,” she said, adding, “It’s just teaching them about the game within the game … We’ve just got to get them to play smart hockey right off the bat.” However, Hilworth says both she and the players are up for the challenge. “I like being the underdog; I think there’s something special to that, and all the players that have committed so far love that we can come [without] expectations but we can embrace the moment every single night.” As for specific goals for the team’s first season, Hilworth says she wants the team to maintain a good goals-against average, a good record on home ice and ultimately a playoff spot. “We want to establish ourselves as a contender right away.” In the meantime, Hilworth’s focus remains on building the roster and team culture—just as she did in Olds. “Coming over and taking a program from the start, you get to make the decisions. We get to make the culture and there is no one to blame but me, so hopefully we can do it right.” Although Hilworth’s focus remains on the future, she still takes time to reflect on and appreciate the winding road that has led her to what she feels is the perfect place for her. “It’s been a long journey of lots of injuries—lots of ups and downs during my playing career—and I think it has all made sense now looking back. Everything that I’ve taken from coaches I’ve had in the past and I’m really grateful for where I grew up and where I am now … But I’m still young enough to keep going.”

Varsity Reds Lead the Way with Three in Women Head Coaching Positions Words by Caroline Mercier / Photo by Andy Campbell Women in the coaching world are few and far between, whether it ‘s at regional, national or international levels. It has been a topic of debate amongst the coaching community and that debate does not cease when it comes to Atlantic University Sport and all of the varsity athletic programs within it. There are 80 head coaching positions in the AUS conference. 10.5 of these positions are held by women, three of whom coach with the Varsity Reds. Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s rank in at second with two each and Acadia, St. Thomas and Université de Moncton hold the third position with one apiece. Memorial University has a single woman

who is the Co-head coach of one of their programs. St. FX, UPEI, MTA, and CBU have no coaches who are women. The Varsity Reds lead the race with their trio of women coaches, one of whom was hired within the last year. Robin Ferdinand of both men’s and women’s swimming, Jilliane Portelli of women’s volleyball, and Sarah Hilworth of women’s hockey are the holders of these positions and have shown that working in a male dominated field is not going to stop them from being a part of the sports that they love. “I think it’s normal, it’s what I expected, you know, taking a coaching job, that I would be surrounded by male col-

leagues,” said Portelli. She started coaching with UNB shortly after finishing her time as an assistant coach with Ottawa U. She was hired in the position after long-time head coach, John Richard, became the athletic director of the Varsity Reds. “Luckily, the men here are very open and very supportive and we’ve formed really good relationships in this hallway,” she said, referring to the hallway in the Currie Center that has the offices of the four court sports—men’s and women’s volleyball and basketball. Women’s volleyball is different from other AUS sports, with an even split of three head coaches per gender. “We have a really nice dynamic where there are three females, and one of them has been here longer than anyone,” Portelli said. In other disciplines, equal division is—most often—not the case. Both Ferdinand and Hilworth are the only women head coaches in the AUS conference for their sports, with Ferdinand being joined only recently by a co-head coach with Memorial University Seahawks swimming. They are part of a group that makes up a miniscule percentage of overall head coach positions in Canadian university athletics. This balance can lead to an interesting dynamic. “Occasionally, especially some of the older male coaches, will say things like ‘sweetie’ or ‘hon.’ They kind of make it so that, because I’m a female, I’m not on the same level as them—but you just kind of keep plugging along and earn respect,” said Ferdinand. “Honestly, until we get to the [coaches] meetings, I don’t really think about it.” “When you walk into a room, you hope that people just see you as a good [coach] and don’t see you as someone young, or someone who’s female,” said Hilworth. Hilworth’s coaching staff for next season is an anomaly because it’s the only staff in the conference for women’s hockey with both assistant coaches being women. Their goalie coach is the only male on the bench. “For us to be able to bring in three strong females to take the lead in terms of coaching here, [it] shows our squad that there is a life after hockey and that you can continue to be in sport and be a female,” Hilworth said. Hilworth hopes that the representative coaching staff will help to inspire other women to pursue coaching themselves. “If there’s moms in the crowd, they can go ‘yeah, I can coach

my daughter’—or if there’s a girl who’s been kind of interested in that coaching aspect in grade 12, she can see a role model and be proactive in her development,” she said. All three of the women coaches at UNB have had coaches that have been role models to them in their professions, regardless of gender. They look to continue the tradition of being positive role models in their athletes’ lives. “I think every coach that I have ever had was a role model for me, so I would assume that, whether as a male or female I would be a role model,” said Portelli. “Being a female, and being able to inspire those athletes by walking the walk, I think that goes a very long way,” said Hilworth. Speaking of their past, each of the trio believe that the coaching community has made large strides in the way of equality. “I think that there are definitely more women coaching; you see more and more every year,” said Portelli. “All throughout the states and the NCAA, a lot of their women’s teams are headed by women—and even overseas you’re seeing women in strong leadership roles in sport. It’s still very much male dominated, but I think there is a lot of equality amongst us regardless of gender that wouldn’t have been there probably 20 years ago.” Despite this increase, many women who become coaches fill unpaid assistant positions. “It’s too bad that we can’t pay more assistant coaches, because I think that would help,” said Hilworth. “It’s a matter of giving the tools to the female coaches and saying you can do this, and give them the confidence.” The women head coaches on the UNB staff have a sense of comradery. “We’re pretty lucky here to have a good group of strong female coaches—we kind of have each other’s back,” said Hilworth. “We try to meet every once in awhile and have a little girl-talk session, and we’re really excited now that Sarah has joined the crew too, and that we have another person,” said Ferdinand on her friendship with Portelli. Though UNB leads the way, there is still more progress to be made for women in the male-dominated coaching world.

Men’s volleyball Oct. 27 @ 5 p.m. University of Montreal Swimming Oct. 14 & 15 Amby Legere AUS Invitational

UNB

Women’s soccer Oct. 15 @ 1 p.m. Mt. A Oct. 20 @ 5 p.m. UDEM, Oct. 21 @ 3 p.m. SMU Msoc Oct. 15 @ 3:15 p.m. Mt. A Oct. 20 @ 7:15 p.m. UDEM Oct. 21 @ 5:15 p.m. SMU

Men’s lacrosse Oct. 14 @ 12 p.m. Mt.A College Field Oct. 22 @ 1 p.m. Acadia BMO Oct. 28 @ 5 p.m. DAL BMO Women’s rugby Oct. 15 @ 2 p.m. STU (technically UNB is ‘away’ but the game is still in Fredericton) Oct. 21 @ 2 p.m. UKC Men’s rugby Oct. 4 @ STU, Oct. 11 @ STU, Oct. 14 @ Mt. A, Oct. 21 @ UPEI Men’s football Oct. 7 @ 1 p.m. Holland College, Oct. 28 TBA Playoff Tournament Begins

SPORT

Men’s hockey Oct. 4 @ 7 p.m. UDEM, Oct. 14 @ 7 p.m. UPEI, Oct. 27 @ 7 p.m. Acadia

How closely have you been reading the Bruns in the past month? Test yourself with this crossword puzzle, featuring answers from the past month’s online stories and this month’s magazine. Submit your completed crossword to the Brunswickan’s office (Room 35 in the SUB) to win a prize! The first person to submit a correct puzzle will automatically win a free pizza from Domino’s. Everyone else will be entered into a draw for another free pizza, which will be held on Oct.. 27. We will draw four winners. Best of luck! If no one’s in the office, please slip your crossword under the door with the date, time, your name and your email written on it. Thank you!

Across 1 Science, technology, engineering and math; abbr. 2 Women’s hockey, Sarah _____ 4 Whales, first name 6 Former UNB hockey team name (no spaces) 7 Fredericton Sept. music festival 9 UNB club team who sent 2 athletes to Francophone Games Down 1 Fredericton roller derby team 3 UNB b-ball tournament, last name 5 Number of V-Reds women coaches 8 UNB res now closed, abbr.

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