Issue 4, Vol. 153, The Brunswickan by Brunswickan Publishing Inc

VOLUME 153, ISSUE 4, FEBRUARY 2020

Editorial Board

About Us

Editorial Policy

Letters to the Editor

Editor-in-Chief Brad Ackerson

The Brunswickan, in its 152nd 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 Mathew Gracie Art Director Maria Nazareth Araújo Multimedia Editor Jules Keenan News Editor Ally Buchanan Arts & Lifestyle Editor Marlowe Evans

Staff Marketing & Sales Coordinator Noubahar Hasnain Copy Editor Julia Pazzano Reporters Emma Warwick Hannah Rudderham Keely Martin Maria Hernandez Taylor Chalker Samantha McCready Photographers Maria Nazareth Araújo Jules Keenan Volunteers Jack Sparks

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.

@thebrunswickan @Brunswickan @thebrunswickan Front Page: The 2010s being abducted by aliens|Composite by Jules Keenan. Corrections: The Brunswickan strives to be fair and accurate. To notify us of an error that warrants correction, email editor@thebruns.ca. In “The history of UNB building names,” the naming of the Aitken University Centre, Lady Beaverbrook Residence and Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium were misattributed, instead having been named for Sir Max Aitken and Gladys Drury Aitken respectively.

News Briefs by Keely Martin

Things to do in Fredericton This Month by Brad Ackerson

Welcome to the End of the decade

Are Drug and Alcohol Use on Campus a Problem?

by Samantha McCready

UNB goes to Mars: Alumni Contributing to Curiosity Rover by Hannah Rudderham

by Jules Keenan

Film Review: Parasite (2019) by Jack Sparks

Aliens in New Brunswick: Frederictonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Secret-not-so-Secret UFOlogist by Ally Buchanan and Emma Warwick

TRACE: Examining the 2015 Refugee Crisis

100 Seconds to Midnight by Marlowe Evans

Taking a Break from Your Relationship with Social Media by Samantha McCready

by Taylor Chalker

The Round-Up

A candlelight vigil was held Jan. 10 to honour the lives that were lost in the Ukraine International Airlines flight 752.

Campus Vigils and Ceremonies of Remembrance After the tragic loss of Iranian and Canadian students killed in the Iranian plane crash on January 8, UNBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Persia team held a candlelight vigil on January 10 for those in the community to honour the lives that were lost. Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 was shot down by Iranian missiles leaving 176 dead, of that 4

were 63 Canadians. Prior to the end of the fall semester, on Dec 6 UNB held a vigil to honour the victims of the 1989 Montreal Massacre, which saw the deaths of 14 women. It is a National Day of Remembrance for the women who lost their lives. As many of those women were Engineering students, it is also a day of celebration for women in STEM and a day to emphasize the present gender imbalance in STEM.

Universities Excluded from SEED Program Finding a summer job as a student this year will be a little different as there have been some changes made to the Student Employment Experience Development (SEED) program. The New Brunswick government has removed the lottery system, which had been the previous system of allotting vouchers to randomly chosen students, and instead will have MLAs recommend employers. Each MLA will be allowed to recommend 22 placements in their riding. The employers will also be limited to non-profit groups, First Nations and municipalities. Employers selected for SEED funding will be notified by March 31 and the job postings will be listed online for students to apply.

UNB Professor Helps Bring Home Gold Professor Ryan Hamilton, UNB Psychology professor, joined the Canadian World Junior’s Hockey team in Ostrava, Czech Republic as the Mental Performance consultant at this year’s IIHF International Ice Hockey World Junior’s Championship (WJC). After facing a rattling loss of 6-0 to the Russian team during the preliminary round, Canada’s U20 team, with the help of Hamilton, were able to turn momentum around beating Slovakia 6-1 in the quarterfinals and Finland 5-0 in the semi-finals. On January 5, Canada won gold, beating Russia 4-3 in the final. This comes as a great victory for the Canadian team, as last year the U20 team was unable to win a medal on home soil when the WJC was held in British Columbia. It also marks Canada’s 18th gold medal win.

Words by Brad Ackerson No matter the season, Fredericton always has exciting events and activities open to the public. Below you will find seven upcoming events you can attend this December to experience the best Fredericton has to offer. Although this is not a complete list, we try to provide an array of events to attend and things to try. Something you’d like to see included in an upcoming edition of Things to Do? Send your suggestions to editor@thebruns. ca!‍

Milda’s Pizzas Comedy Night When: Feb. 11th at 7:30 pm Where: Milda’s Pizzas, 732 Charlotte St. Milda’s Pizzas will be hosting standup comedians Courtney Steeves and Maggie Estey in the latest installment of their popular comedy nights. Tickets are $10 or you can get a ticket, a 6” pizza of your choice and a glass of wine or beer for $20. Seats are limited so the organizers ask that you call ahead of time or message Milda’s Pizzas on Facebook to reserve your spot.

Freddy Beach Ice Bowl When: Feb. 15th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Where: O’Dell Park The annual Freddy Beach Ice Bowl disc golf event is back for its fourth consecutive year. The competition is open to people of all skill and experience levels and participants are encouraged to bring someone new to the sport of disc golf as their partner. Entry is $15 per person or $30 per team. The event is being held as a fundraiser for Greener Village and financial and non-perishable food donations will also be accepted.

Photo by Jessé Moura

Pink Lobster: New Brunswick’s LGBTQ Film Festival When: Feb. 12th - 15th Where: Various locations New Brunswick’s fourth annual LGBTQ+ film festival returns to Fredericton this month. The festival aims to share and celebrate the stories of LGBTQ+ communities both in Canada and around the world. A full list of showtimes and ticket information can be found on the festival’s Facebook page.

ISAO World of Talent When: Feb. 22nd at 7:00 pm Where: Student Union Building The UNB International Students Advisory Office’s World of Talent event showcases the many talented international students currently attending the

university, featuring a wide range of performances including singing, dancing and playing instruments. Admission is by donation and all proceeds will go directly to the United Way, including the proceeds from the 50/50 draw.

Beer Olympics 2020 When: Feb. 29th at 12:00 pm Where: Picaroons Roundhouse The Fredericton Craft Beer Festival kicks off its annual Beer Week festivities with an afternoon of competition and, well, beer. Teams of four will compete in a series of “challenging but fun” events with prizes for the overall winners. Entry into the competition is $120 per team, but you really can’t put a price on the pursuit of greatness. Each team member will receive three beers. Also, all proceeds will be donated to support Type One Diabetes research.

Photo by Jules Keenan 7

Words by Jack Sparks SPOILERS AHEAD. The Irishman, a Scorsese film worthy of his greats. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, perhaps Tarantino’s best. Little Women, an incredible adaptation directed by the burgeoning Greta Gerwig. 2019 was an incredible year for movies, and the best of the bunch wasn’t Scorsese or Tarantino or Gerwig—it was Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean film Parasite. “We need solidarity!” shouts Jimmy Hoffa at a gathering of the Teamsters in The Irishman. “Solidarity! Solidarity!” Hoffa is, of course, talking about the idea of solidarity within a union; of brothers in arms, standing up to their powerful employers. In Parasite, no one screams it out, but it is there: the creeping feeling that the only antidote to the sickening reality displayed in the movie is mass class solidarity. How can some live in palatial opulence when so many live in abject poverty? How can it be that so many 10

live in semi-basements while others live in veritable castles? These questions are the driving force behind director Bong Joon-ho’s newest film, though it’s not so new anymore. The South Korean thriller went wide in October in the United States and Canada. So, why exactly am I reviewing it now, almost four months after its release? It just so happens that the Oscars are approaching on February 10, and Parasite was nominated for best picture, becoming the first Korean film to receive that honour. This review is a plea to the Academy: Parasite is the best picture in a year of fantastic movies. And I really want it to win. I know I shouldn’t care about the Oscars—it’s an awards show where old white men decide what was best in the year of film, and they’re often laughably wrong (Crash over anything else, Driving Miss Daisy over Do the Right Thing, Shake-

semi-basement dwelling; the family folding pizza boxes by the hundreds to make a small amount of money; and Ki-taek stopping his son from closing the window when some sort of pesticide is being sprayed in the street. Free extermination, he says, as the spray seeps into the semi-basement and the family coughs through it and continues to fold. The true power of Parasite lies in its use of juxtaposition, that greatest of film techniques. Think of Michael Corleone at the baptism of his godson intercut with the heads of the five families and Moe Greene being assassinated on his orders. In Parasite we see the splendor and ease with which the unimaginably wealthy go about their day, intercut with Ki-jeong sitting on top of a toilet seat jettisoning water as their semi-basement floods and they, and innumerable other families, are forced out onto the streets. It is a deft use of craft to sucker punch you with the polar opposite worlds our two main families inhabit.

The film is further elevated by the superb acting throughout, from the Kim family to the wealthy Park family, who we later meet when Ki-woo begins to tutor their daughter on the recommendation of a friend. Speaking again of the Oscars, it’s hard not to call it nakedly racist that none of the incredi-

speare in Love winning due to a rapist’s schmoozing, and too many more to mention). Even so, it’d be amazing for a South Korean film with English subtitles to win best picture. Bong Joon-ho himself said it best in a Vulture article when asked about his movie being the first Korean film to be nominated for best picture: “It’s a little strange, but it’s not a big deal. The Oscars are not an international film festival. They’re very local.” He’s right, but a man can hope. Parasite begins by depicting the life of the impoverished Kim family consisting of the father Ki-taek, mother Chung-sook, daughter Ki-jeong, and son Ki-woo. The film is darkly comedic throughout, but it is especially so at the start. We see Ki-woo on the hunt for a Wi-Fi connection to steal, straining the phone upwards in every corner of the tiny 11

ble performances by Asian actors in the film were recognized. An especially noteworthy performance was given by Song Kang-ho in the role of the father Ki-taek. Throughout the film, we see that Ki-taek is unable to provide for his family as the patriarch, and it is his son’s actions that set the integration of the Kim and Park families into motion. Once things start to spiral out of control, Ki-taek plays beautifully his character’s descent into what is best described as a serene sort of madness; he listens and internalizes the Park family’s remarks on how he smells; he lays on a gym floor with his children after their semi-basement has been flooded; brooding, empty. It is there that his son asks him what the plan he had was to get them out of this situation. It was nothing, he replies. “With no plan, nothing can go wrong.” This is a man who has internalized an unimaginable weight; that of his failure as a father. And even in the end, he still almost throws the car keys to the Park family’s father, in what would have been a craven act of submission. Ki-taek has been reduced to a shell of a man. And then, finally, he explodes. The ending is also incredible. Ki-woo’s fantasizing about what he has to do to ever see his father again shows how hopelessly he is trapped within the capitalist system that has left his family and millions of other families in ruins. He is forced to play the game, and that’s the whole point—the game is fixed from the start. It’s so incredibly depressing, while

perhaps at first glance being hopeful and optimistic, and that’s what makes it so powerful. Bong Joon-ho ostensibly gives you that sense of hope, and then it hits you like a truck as you walk out of the theatre. You believed in the very thing the movie’s entire thematic concept has shown to be a horrifying problem. It’s the mark of great art that a slight twist of the head can turn the same scene from restorative to dystopic. Perhaps the best thing about the masterpiece that is Parasite is how timely it is. Tension between rich and poor has existed since the dawn of civilization and many (Marx, Steinbeck, Mike Gold, Walter Greenwood, etc) have written extensively on the idea of the working vs. upper class and of a working class revolution. Yet, it feels fresher than ever. It’s even worse around the world, as we see depicted in the film, but we North Americans are also witnessing the rapid disappearance of the middle class— more so in the States. But we as Canadians are ever so concerned and ever so attached to our southern neighbours. It’s the exact issue that the elite and powerful don’t want people talking about because they also understand the history; they know that revolutions occur when people feel they have nothing to lose. And with the growing divide that exists in our world, maybe the micro plot that plays out in Parasite is more prescient than we may believe.

Scope of the Problem An individual’s university experience is a period characterized by transition and academic pressures as well as newfound independence from parental supervision. During these years, opportunities to experiment with alcohol and illicit drugs increase. Despite illegality, illicit drugs are a very real part of student culture. Although the majority of students will likely never encounter them, these drugs exist within social circles across university campuses. According to a Statistics Canada survey conducted in 2015, nine percent of young adults aged 18-24 had used at least one of five illicit drugs in the past year. This rate is two times higher than individuals ages 15-19, and nine times higher than adults over the age of 25. Additionally, 83 percent of young adults have tried alcohol and displayed the riskiest patterns of alcohol consumption, with 28 percent of young adult drinkers exceeding the guideline for chronic risk. Exposure to new social situations, stressors of adjusting to new environments, heavy course loads, living in residence and many other aspects of student life increase the risk of university drug abuse. These risks can be increased in men, those living independently, members of upper-middle class to upper class families and those experiencing financial burden. Protective factors include older age, higher level of religiosity and living with parents. The use of pharmaceutical drugs is also present among students, as shown by research conducted by Health Canada, which found that about four percent of students who do not have medical

prescriptions take ADHD drugs like Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta to cope with academic demands. These students obtain these drugs by either faking ADHD symptoms and obtaining a prescription or, more commonly, by buying it from friends who have a prescription. Students often use pharmaceutical drugs to cope with stressful times, to finish an assignment or study during exam period. For many, drug use is simply recreational, social and controllable. However, what can start off as just another way to have fun can eventually lead to some serious consequences. University students may turn to dangerous drug and alcohol use for a number of reasons, including high stress, curiosity and peer pressure.

Effects of Drug Use It is often believed that drug use in moderation is a normal part of the university experience, and does not warrant concern. However, there are many problems that can stem from occasional use. Some acute negative effects include missing class, falling behind in school and a lack of motivation. In extreme circumstances, more serious consequences could include arrest, deterioration in health and development of mental health problems. For one student, who will be referred to as Nathan*, what started off as recreational drug use eventually developed into a serious addiction. “I started out smoking weed when I was about 16. I was just having fun at the time,” said Nathan. “I never used hard drugs until I got to university. In second year I got my wisdom teeth removed. I got a prescription for Percocets and fell in love. Once

I got back to school, I tried everything.” “I got hooked on cocaine. It started off only on weekends, then I started using it three to four times a week. I’d do it in the mornings, when I was playing video games, chill drinking nights. Eventually days didn’t feel normal without it.” Although Nathan has since stopped doing cocaine, he said it’s normal for his friends to do it. He says friends are the only way to get drugs in the first place. “It’s about who you know. If you were trying to get molly or coke, you would talk to someone you know and they would talk to the dealer.”

Changing the Culture on Campus What all this shows is that drug use is a reality of the student experiences. Given that drug use happens at universities for a myriad of reasons, a blanket ban on substances is not the answer. University policies should instead aim to minimize harmful effects rather than simply condemning and prohibiting them. This is important, because strict prohibitionist policies increase stigma and discourage engagement with support services. Helping to reduce the pressure students face— through increased, accessible academic support and mental health treatments—can help reduce the risk factors that lead some students to abuse illicit drugs.

Addiction Treatment for University Students If left untreated, harmful substances can have negative effects on a student’s mind and body. If a tolerance or addiction forms, students can develop a dependence or craving. The Fredericton Addictions & Mental Health Services provides a range of services for individuals affected by substance abuse. This is a free, voluntary service and can be accessed with or without a referral. *Names have been changed to protect the identity of students. 15

Lucy 16 Thompson, geologist at UNB alongside the mock-up of the Curiosity rover | Photo by Lucy Thompson Â© Warner Bros. Pictures

Words by Hannah Rudderham

From collecting rocks as a toddler to studying them at age 13 and deciding she wanted to be a geologist, UNB graduate Lucy Thompson never thought she’d be working on a key instrument for the Mars rover. “I just decided that I wanted to be a geologist and I’ve never looked back,” said Thompson. “Basically, I love it.” She studied as a graduate student at UNB with Dr. John Spray, the director of the Planetary and Space Science Centre. He was recommended by the Canadian Space Agency to be a part of the Curiosity rover project and because of Thompson’s work with Spray, she began her involvement with the project when the rover launched in November of 2011. Thompson’s work contributed to the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), a Canadian built instrument installed on the Curiosity rover. The APXS is on the end of a robotic arm so Thompson and her team frequently collaborate with engineers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California to carefully manoeuvre the instrument to analyze rocks, sand, soil or specific points in the atmosphere. Catherine O’Connell-Cooper started working on the project with Spray and Thompson in 2005, near the end of her graduate degree when the project expanded to include need for a second geologist. “I was in the right place at the right time,” she said. The team is comprised partially of permanent residents such as O’Connell-Cooper who is originally from Ireland and Thompson, who is from the UK. In the Planetary and Space Sciences Centre, their expertise is in impact cratering—Mars is riddled with impact craters. One of these craters, named Gale, has been home to the Curiosity rover since it landed on Mars.

The Curiosity rover, using the APXS, will study soil, rocks and the local geological setting to test the possible habitability of Mars. Curiosity’s job is to assess whether or not Mars may have the proper environment to support tiny life forms, or microbes. For the beginning of the mission, Thompson was at the JPL working on Martian time. A Mars day is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day which accumulates overtime. “You end up getting completely out of sync. Some of the Mars shifts we did during those first 90 days were in the middle of the night,” Thompson said. “I didn’t know what I was signing up for.” Despite 2:00am shifts and 10:00pm meetings, she still found the experience to be fun and still tells O’Connell-Cooper stories about her time in Pasadena at the JPL. O’Connell-Cooper understands how work as a geologist can be seen as boring, or dismissed as simply rocks. The excitement comes when you realize that it’s more than that—they’re Martian rocks. “You look up in the sky and you can see Mars in the sky. And you think, that’s where our rover is, it’s up there,” she said. Her other favourite part about her job is never knowing what she’s going to find when looking at her rocks. “Everyone’s always looking for the thing that’s different. Everybody gets excited,” O’Connell-Cooper said. “But even when they’re not different, even when they fit in, we can see a pattern, we can see continuity, and we can come up with the story about this because its following what we thought it would.”

Bust of alien found in Friedmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection now in Provincial Archives | Photo by Emma Warwick 18

Friedman kept volumes of notebooks detailing his studies | Photo by Emma Warwick

Words by Ally Buchanan and Emma Warwick Deep in the belly of the New Brunswick Provincial Archives, several archivists sit in the sorting room on a Friday afternoon, sifting through accountings of abductions, studies on flying saucers and illustrations of extraterrestrials. They dedicate every Friday afternoon to the sorting of thousands upon thousands of papers, books and other objects donated to the archive by Stanton T. Friedman, Fredericton’s resident UFOlogist. Originally from New Jersey, Friedman moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1980 for his wife Marilyn, a Fredericton native. This made the small city home to one of the most world-renowned experts on UFOs until his retirement nearly 40 years later. The New Brunswick Provincial Archives requested Friedman’s records and work following his retirement in 2018, memorializing his contribution to the legacy of New Brunswick. It was also important to Friedman to have his research available to the public. “He wanted all of the information to be available without restriction,” said Joanna Aiton Kerr, a

manager at the Archives. In January 2019, the Archives began the move of Friedman’s collection from his house to the provincial archives on UNB campus. It took five cargo vans to transport it all. “It’s enormous,” she said. “I’ve never dealt with anything like this.” A year later, the archives are still working on their first sorting through the material. His work existed as piles and piles of papers, letters, documents, books haphazardly strewn amongst artifacts of daily life, filling three entire rooms of his house. There have been grocery lists, memos, business cards of random places—and in one case, a list of his favourite cheeses—found amongst the correspondence with UFOlogists and reports on flying ships. Friedman also had large collections of newsletters and pulp sci-fi from the 1950s unrivaled by any other. “He was really unique in how broad his scope of collection was,” Joanna said. “Stanton collected everything.” 19

Friedman was one of the most well-known UFOlogists in the world, with a career spanning 52 years. He gave over 600 lectures across the world and published more than 90 papers, as well as several books. Friedman traveled to 20 different countries for his work and spoke at United Nations assemblies twice. He received a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Masters of Science in Physics from the University of Chicago in the 1950s before going on to work as a nuclear physicist for 14 years. Friedman credits The Report On UFOs by U.S. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt as his inspiration in pursuing aliens and UFOs. Reading the report in 1958 was his first experience with serious material on UFOs and it began his interest into extraterrestrial life, UFO incidents and government cover-ups. Members of the extraterrestrial study community were drawn to Friedman, because of his willingness to entertain all potential evidence and investigate further than others in his field. “He was one of the first to do this in the way he did it,” described Aiton Kerr.

he had “ample evidence.” “He doubted everything until he had the evidence. He was skeptical himself,” Kaltheen Marden, a frequent colleague of Friedman’s told CBC. Friedman also felt that belief in the existence of aliens was more widespread than one might believe, and that most believed or could be easily convinced. “No, I don’t get taken to be a nut. Most people agree with me once they hear the evidence,” he said in an interview with CBC in 2011. Friedman died in May of 2019 at the age of 84, in an airport on his way back from a speaking engagement. His work is recognized and memorialized around the world, and the City of Fredericton marked August 27 Stanton Friedman Day in 2007.

As a result, he quickly garnered a massive fanbase and widespread media attention, frequently appearing on shows such as CNN, CBC and Larry King Live, including one appearance with Bill Nye. He received fan mail from across the world, telling stories of abductions, drawings of creatures seen in the sky and samples of dirt and wood collected at landing sites. Although he debunked many of these accountings, Fieldman was committed in his pursuit of life beyond Earth. “He was out to prove that UFOs were real,” said Aiton Kerr. The original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident, Friedman remained convinced throughout his life of the existence of aliens and their visitation to Earth, claiming that Friedman’s collection extented to three entire rooms of his house | Photo retrieved from Provincial Archives 20

THANK YOU to all who joined us in celebrating the exceptional achievements of faculty of management students, faculty and alumni at our 32nd Annual Business Awards Dinner held on Nov. 21, 2019. Congratulations to the students who received scholarships and bursaries in recognition of their achievements and to our distinguished award recipients: 2019 CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION CPA Atlantic School of Business & CPA New Brunswick 2019 CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT Anne-Marie (née Van de Brand) Gammon, MBA, FCPA, FCMA, (BBA ’83) President and CEO of Atlantic School of Business Michael Tsamaz (BBA ’84) Chairman and CEO, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. (OTE) Thank you to all our sponsors for making this event possible: TITANIUM SPONSOR McCain Foods Limited PLATINUM SPONSOR Ignite Fredericton GOLD SPONSORS CPA Atlantic School of Business CPA New Brunswick Enterprise Holdings Grant Thornton UNB.ca/management

CONGRATULATIONS MADISON JANES Winner of the 2019 McCain Foods Scholars Prize Awarded on Nov. 21, 2019 at the 32nd Annual Business Awards Dinner Below (L-R): Devon Moir, Advisor, Global Talent Acquisition with McCain Foods; Madison Janes, 3rd year BBA student and winner of the McCain Foods Limited Scholar Prize; and Dr. Devashis Mitra, Dean, Faculty of Management.

Words by Taylor Chalker Photos by Maria Nazareth AraĂşjo From January 17 - February 14, the UNB Arts Center will be exhibiting TRACE: Tracing the Space of the Refugee Crisis. This exhibit examines the 2015 Refugee Crisis and its ongoing impact in the Mediterranian, featuring 14 prints and an accompanying documentary film. Through TRACE, artists Raluca Bejan and Ioan Cocan, and curator Natasha Lan, work to turn the gaze from the individual refugee experience to the spaces where refugees seek safety. A separate exhibit will also take place at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery from January 14 - February 7, shown in the Artist-in-Residence studio. Dr. Raluca Bejan is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at Dalhousie University, and a former

professor at St. Thomas University. With degrees from Lucian Blaga University and the University of Toronto, Bejan was also Visiting Academic at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at Oxford University in 2016 and 2018. Ioan Cocan works in media arts and graphic design, has a BA in Mural Arts and a Masters in Fine Arts, Interactive Media and Environments. TRACE was curated by Natasha Lan, a Toronto based curator and artist who is a graduate of Ryerson Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School of Image Arts. She is currently a graduate student and an administrator in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. The photo exhibit examines the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos and several others surrounding them. It focuses on the space that holds those 23

seeking refuge, rather than the commodification of suffering. Bejan explained that the crisis is a “structural matter,” originating in wars and issues of inequality that lead to the influx of refugees.

Ultimately, he, Bejan and Lan felt that this needed to be documented with a “sense of awakeness” to demonstrate the extensive loss of life experienced by those seeking a safe haven.

While the media provided coverage of the refugee crisis, it focused on the suffering experienced by those seeking asylum, and did not continue past the initial moment of crisis. Natasha Lan explained that while the media has moved on, the effects of the crisis are “still reverberating.” In the years since 2015, refugees have continued to arrive on shore.

Accompanying the photo exhibit is a documentary Bejan describes as a “narrative account of the visual images.” The film further illustrates the precariousness of the endeavor to find safe haven, discusses the risks taken and features testimonials from refugees, camp workers and locals. It details the danger that was initially involved with helping refugees, as it was previously against the law to offer them a ride or give them sanctuary.

The prints featured in this exhibit are elegant in a ghostly way, and provoke concern about the fate of those who had to exist in such spaces. However, one photo in particular invokes a true feeling of fear. The photo titled “Not Named or Identified by a Name” is, as described by Ioan Cocan, a “jacket graveyard.” Lifejackets lie in large piles, as far as the eye can see, and act as “emblems of people that managed to cross and didn’t manage to cross.” Cocan found it difficult to walk through this space, and struggled with the decision to capture this image. He recognizes that this is “not a comfortable package” and must be delivered with awareness of the suffering that led to these photos.

TRACE is a viciously effective exhibit that considers the largely unseen narrative of the refugee crisis and its geography. It contrasts what is shown in the media with what is happening on the ground, while also contradicting the idyllic images of the Mediterranean featured in tourism advertisements. By day, these islands are beautiful places to relax on the beach and enjoy a swim in the ocean. By night, that same ocean takes the lives of countless individuals searching for freedom, and the morning sees those beaches covered in more than just lifejackets.

Photo “Not Named or Identified by a Name,” depicts a pile of abandoned lifejackets used by refugees | Photo by Maria Nazareth Araújo 24

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Full day includes lunch 25

As of January 23rd, we are only 100 seconds away from dying. That sounds a little bit like clickbait, but it’s true—at least, according to the Doomsday Clock. The Doomsday clock was created in 1945 after the development of nuclear weapons. It’s a theoretical clock whose hands move closer or further away from “midnight,” which represents Doomsday, or the so-called end of the world. The clock is managed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The hands of the Doomsday clock move based on careful research and analysis conducted by the “Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 13 Nobel laureates,” according to the Bulletin’s “2020 Doomsday Report” by John Mecklin. This clock has been the measure of the status of the world for nearly 75 years, and never has it been this close to midnight. Previously, the closest the clock had been to midnight was two minutes. It was two minutes to midnight in 1953, during the cold war. The clock was moved to two minutes to midnight once again in 2017 because of climate change, the buildup of nuclear weapons programs and the devolution of international treaties. It is currently at 1.67 minutes to midnight, the closest it has ever been. History lesson over. Now that we all have the background information, I can delve into the issue. How does it feel? How does it feel to be barely 20 years old and know that the world is closer to destroying itself than it has been in the past 75 years? I don’t know. It makes the world feel so small and delicate– as though all the issues (climate change, politics, etc.) that made them move the hands of the clock are small enough to fit in my palm. My world feels delicate, and it makes me feel delicate too.

existence. Right? Probably. The problem with the apocalypse is that even though I feel like I can see it coming, I don’t know how it’s going to kill me. The whole concept of a Doomsday almost feels like a ploy from a cheap B-horror movie. I’ve had too many conversations lately about the Doomsday Clock. I’ve had so many conversations about life and death, and different historical examples of how people have reacted to the belief that everyone was going to die (the plague, the world wars, famine). What am I supposed to say about the fact that we might die? It would be different, I think, if I couldn’t see everything that was going on. Almost easier to ignore the whole issue—if, say, I had never seen a forest fire, or an animal that had starved to death, or the aftermath of a bombing. But I have seen those things, either through my own eyes, or someone’s camera lens, and there is no denying—no matter how hard some people try, there is no denying—the fact that the planet is dying and that we’re killing it. I’ve spent a lot of time writing about hope, because I really believe in that quotation from Inherit the Wind, that, “it is the duty of a newspaper to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” I’ve worked at trying to be positive and trying to think of ways to bring hope and light. But it’s 100 seconds to midnight, and it’s getting dark outside.

But I mean, it’s not as if when the imaginary hands get to midnight, everything will just blink out of 27

Words by Samantha McCready Photo by Maria Nazareth Araújo Do you check social media numerous times a day and end up spending more time on it than intended? How often do you open your phone and suddenly find yourself having lost 30 minutes or even hours of your day? It’s easy to get lost in our screens as we hop from app to app and scroll through social feeds. Frequent social media use doesn’t make you weak. In fact, social media companies are designed to hook you in and keep you engaged. It’s in social media companies’ best interests that you spend as much time as possible on their websites. The fact is that not all the time we spend browsing our social media accounts are productive. Hours spent gazing on our phones can be hours doing something productive. It’s time we started paying attention—not only to how much we use social media, but also to how and why we use it. When we use social media, we become a spectator of other people’s lives and put on a performance of our own, whether we are aware of it or not. What we post on social media creates the illusion, through carefully curated images and text, that our lives are always positive and eventful. Seeing the highlight reel of other people’s lives can lead to comparison and jealousy, or a fear of missing out, which often causes dissatisfaction in one’s life. When we only see the highlights, everyone else’s lives seem perfect because we don’t realize that everyone experiences hardships and inevitable struggles—they just aren’t posted online. There’s a lot to consider when using social media, but a good place to start is being conscious and deliberate with your actions. Who are you following and how do their posts make you feel? Does posting a selfie really make you feel good, or does it just give you a shallow level of validation that is dependent on others’ reactions? Is it possible you are using social media as an unhealthy coping

mechanism for something else going on in your life, such as loneliness or a mental illness? Consider your time on social media as an investment; are these sites where you want to spend your limited time and energy? After all, when you look back on your life from the future, what will you wish you did with your time? Unless you’re ready to drop off the grid and move into a log cabin in the woods, cutting technology completely out of your life isn’t realistic. What you can do is try to use social media mindfully. Here’s a few practical tips that could benefit those not looking to go cold turkey on social media: 1. Delete the time-consuming or useless apps off your phone. You can always redownload them if you really want or need to in the future. 2. Disable automatic log-in when you open a social media app. That way, you will find it a hassle to always have to enter your username and password each time you want to use the app. 3. Have an idea of what kind of life you want to live and what activities you’ll engage in to replace the time you used to spend on social media. For example, if you usually check your phone every night or morning, develop a new practice. Maybe you want to start meditating, reading or keeping a journal. 4. If you’re not going to delete your apps but want to keep track of screen time, check out the app “Screen Time” in your settings. This tracks your total screen time use, what apps you use most often and more. 5. Kick the multi-tasking habit. 6. Turn off your notifications to give yourself more control, so that you don’t get sucked in to scrolling through your socials without the intention of doing so.

Stacey Langlois

Braden Duffley

Chris Rogers

“I think they’re real. I think aliens look like us.”

“I think there’s other life forms out there, but I don’t know where.”

“In my opinion, I think it’s the military. They’re... hiding stuff.”

Nikolaus Werenka

Shifa Taj

Meghan Murphy

“I think that the universe is so vast that there’s no chance that they’re not out there somewhere… If life could exist here, it’s arrogant to think it couldn’t be in other places.”

“I think they’re awesome.”

“I think that it’s nice if you believe in them.”

Want to share a cartoon of your own? Submit it to editor@thebruns.ca and it may be used in an upcoming issue!

Send any questions regarding school, university culture, or life in general to dearsharkie@thebruns. ca in less than 100 words for a chance to gain really bad advice from everyone’s favourite red herring. Disclaimer: Please don’t actually follow this advice.

other means. So, gather your posse, whatever food reminds you of the 2010’s and enjoy. (My favourite snack of the 2010’s was definitely strawberry gogurt tubes. Or maybe Yop? Herrings are big on dairy products).

Dear Sharkie, I’m getting really freaked out by the idea that my childhood’s over. Like, the whole decade I grew up in is gone forever. I have attachment issues—how do I say goodbye? Love, Ugg Boots

If you really, really feel that the 10’s (I hate having to say that) need a send off, and a nostalgic movie night won’t cut it, attempt the following semi-occult and possibly illegal ritual.

Dear Ugg Boots, I understand childhood nostalgia, and anxiety about actually becoming an adult. When I was a young fry, things were a lot easier—I didn’t have to run a newspaper or work for a living or worry about the police catching up to me. However, what’s really been so good about the 2010’s or whatever you want to call them? I mean, your parents obviously had issues this decade, naming you something like Ugg Boots. Those things were horrendous. Now you’ll be reminded of soggy feet and bad ankles for the rest of your life. What else do we have to show for the 2010’s? Everyone knows the best Disney Channel shows were from the 2000’s. I only parasited my way onto Disney+ so I could watch Lilo and Stitch again. If you’re missing the culture that you grew up in, or what passed for culture in the 2010’s, have a movie night. Since Blockbuster closed movies became very accessible via…

Start by walking out into the middle of the woods—alone. Be cautious, else you’ll end up eaten by forest spirits without having achieved your goal. (Always achieve your goal before getting eaten). Now, once you’re deep into the woods, call on the Holy Fidget Spinner. To summon its spirit, dump out a pumpkin spice latté and then chant out “Let It Rip!” like a true Beyblade Master (I’m going to be sued for copyright over this article. Nobody tell on me, and I won’t tell that you’re out in the woods summoning demonized children’s toys). Once the Holy Spinner has received your positive vibrations, he will appear. Either he’ll allow you to pass on to the 20’s, or he will drag you back to Fidget Spinner Hell and make you listen to “Baby” by Justin Bieber for all eternity.

PDA on Valentine’s Day, 2002

Single’s speed dating, 2005

Ugg Boots, if you really can’t deal with leaving your childhood behind—let the fidget god take you. Otherwise, like the rest of us, you’ll have to make due with the Roaring 20’s.

More PDA on Valentine’s Day, 2002