The Gauntlet -- November 2022

I think we all need another break

As the fall term reading break comes to an end, students can finally begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel — but before that, of course, is having to deal with finals season or even a second round of midterms. On the bright side, we can look forward to beautiful snow days and string lights illuminating the city as we approach the holiday season.

November marks the start of a myriad of awareness initiatives such as Family Violence Prevention Month and 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence. In Alberta, Family Violence Prevention month encourages communities to learn about resources that are available to those affected by family violence through public events and activities. The Gauntlet encourages the campus community to educate themselves on warning signs of family violence and to spread aware-

ness on social media by using the hashtags #GoPurple and #WhereToTurn.

Later this month, 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence will begin as well on Nov. 25 for the International Day of for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Especially with an increase in family activities for many students, it’s important to look out for one another and to be sensitive to others’ diverse experiences to ensure that we continue to cultivate a safe and supportive community.

This month also raises awareness for men’s mental health with an international campaign called Movember. Though many men deal with their mental health silently, many of us will realize an increase in men growing out their facial hair this month as a means of raising funds and awareness for this initiative. The money raised through events and

donations to individual campaigns by those around us is put towards research and campaigns for men’s mental health and suicide prevention, prostate and testicular cancer.

Research and awareness are key processes to combating these issues. With that being said, the Gauntlet is excited to see what the University of Calgary’s new recovery program will offer the campus community. The government of Alberta has provided funding to the university to develop this program meant to help individuals struggling with addictions and mental health in a recovery-based system.

Most students don’t end up using their reading break as a means to recharge and rest so it comes as no surprise that many of us are probably just as drained as when we left before the break. With finals season just around the corner, every student knows what its like to

sacrifice their mental health for a grade. A good grade on a final or a paper will never amount to your own worth as an individual. The editorial board at the Gauntlet wants to encourage students to take their well-deserved break from all the chaos of student life and spend time doing things that will genuinely recharge them. To finish off this semester strong, we need to prioritize our own mental health insofar as we are able to put our best foot forward as we begin our final assignments or studying for our final exams.

— Julieanne Acosta Gauntlet Editorial Board

MASTHEAD

Editor-in-Chief: Sophia Lopez eic@thegauntlet.ca

News Editors: Julieanne Acosta Eula Mengullo news@thegauntlet.ca

Opinions & Humour Editor: Ava Zardynezhad opinions@thegauntlet.ca

Arts & Science Editor: Sheroog Kubur arts@thegauntlet.ca

Sports & Lifestyle Editor: Rodrigo Verney sports@thegauntlet.ca

Voices Editor: Aymen Sherwani voices@thegauntlet.ca

Visuals Editors: Megan Koch Valery Perez visuals@thegauntlet.ca

Layout Editor: Ramiro Bustamante Torres layout@thegauntlet.ca

Volunteer Coordinator: Namratha Badawadagi volunteer@thegauntlet.ca

Online Editor: Masoud Karimi Fatemi online@thegauntlet.ca

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Contributor: Sylvia Lopez // Amanda Wilson // Anjali Choudhary // Malea Nguyen // Mackenzie Ashcroft // Saeed Abdollahi // Andrea Silva // Logan Jaspers // Josie Simon // Jorja Strickland // Furor Arma Ministrat Room 319, MacEwan Students’ Centre 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 http://www.thegauntlet.ca

The Gauntlet is the official student newspaper of the University of Calgary, published monthly throughout the year by the Gauntlet Publications Society an autonomous, incorporated body. Membership in the society is open to undergraduate students at the U of C, but all members of the university community are encouraged to contribute. Stories under the Opinions and Voices sections contained herein are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire Gauntlet staff. Editorials are chosen by the majority of the editorial board. The Gauntlet is a forum open to all U of C students but may refuse any submission judged to be racist, sexist, homophobic, libelous, or containing attacks of a strictly personal nature. We reserve the right to edit for brevity. Grievances regarding the Gauntlet follow a three-step process which requires written decisions from the Editor, the GPS Board of Directors, and the Ombudsboard. The complete Grievance Policy is online at: thegauntlet.ca. The Gauntlet offices are located on Treaty 7 land.

The Gauntlet is printed on recycled paper and uses an ink made of the leftover ink from the pens used and abused during our note-taking during reading break. We urge you to recycle the Gauntlet by burning it for warmth during a cold winter night.

Cover Photo by Megan Koch

Editors: Julieanne Acosta & Eula Mengullo news@thegauntlet.ca

Family Violence Awareness Month: Bridging research and community support

trators of violence come from backgrounds of abuse who may or may not know, nor have the skills, practice or experience to interact with individuals in healthy and non-violent ways.

“Children need parents who are sensitive and responsive, in a positive way,” Letourneau said.

of better mental and physical health outcomes.

Eula Mengullo News Editor

November observes Family Violence Awareness Month. Across the province, awareness events are typically held to ensure populations can access the appropriate and necessary resources for support.

In an interview with the Gauntlet, Dr. Nicole Letourneau — a professor and researcher at the Faculty of Nursing and Cumming School of

Medicine — discussed her research working with community organizations that deliver services to victims of violence.

“The big thing that I’ve been doing — one that is nearest and dearest to my heart — is trying to help families provide the best quality environment for their children possible,” said Letourneau, who also holds the Alberta Children’s Hospital Chair in Parent-Infant Mental Health.

She described how often perpe-

The ATTACH parental education program, also co-created by Letourneau, is designed to help parents, so far mostly mothers, improve parent-child interaction quality to make them more sensitive and responsive to their children. One of their findings demonstrated that children whose parents were exposed to the program showed improvement in children’s gene expression, with downregulated inflammation in their bodies.

According to Letourneau, attachment is a significant factor for children as this can impact their mental health and behavioural development going forward. The quality of attachment a child has with their caregiver at one year of age with insecure versus secure attachment is predictive

“And so the fact that our ATTACH intervention actually downregulates immune cell gene expression in the kids is demonstrating a mechanism that we are improving the quality of caregiving, improving the environment that the child grows in. And we’re seeing it in the physiologic changes in the child,” said Letourneau.

Additionally, as the director of Research and Education for Solutions to Violence (RESOLVE) Alberta and the scientific director of Alliance Against Violence and Adversity (AVA), one of Letourneau’s primary goals is to help community agencies make informed decisions so they can deliver services that are grounded in research to better serve vulnerable populations.

“I want to help [community outreach and organizations] evaluate what they do,” said Letourneau. “Determine what is working, determine what they might change to make it work better. I want to help organizations be innovative and use

the best evidence to guide their service delivery. I want organizations to know [whether or not] what they do works so they can make informed decisions about it.

“If we can bring the organizations that have the clients that need the help and work together with the academics that have the skills to evaluate and help [them] be innovative and examine what they do in a rigorous way, and then publish and share those results widely so that other organizations can benefit from that knowledge,” she continued.

If students find themselves in vulnerable situations of violence, the Alberta Council Women’s Shelters (ACWS) website gives directions to a variety of resources across the province. Within the city, the Calgary Urban Project Society provides a whole range of social services and can point individuals to additional support. If students are experiencing distress, the Students Wellness Services on campus also provides mental and wellness services and can transition students to the appropriate resources off campus.

November is Family Violence Awareness Month.

SYLVIA LOPEZ

U of C to lead Recovery on Campus initiative across Alberta post-secondary schools

She states that the goal of the program is to inspire fellow recovery communities across the province.

“We’re using UCalgary as an innovation hub,” said Burns. “The model is started here, and then we have the satellite schools who are spreading the word and hoping to inspire by our own model.”

When asked about how these goals may be achieved, Burns discussed that current ly, UCRC is conducting peer support meetings through Zoom, and Recovery 101 Training. Burns also elabor ated that future funding plans include outreach and edu cation, providing grants and scholarships for students in recovery and providing inclu sive models such as the possi bility of recovery housing, which may look like having a substance-free floor on cam pus residence.

Amanda Wilson Volunteer

On Oct. 5 it was announced that the Alberta govern ment had provided a grant of $500,000 to support cam pus-recovery programs across 26 schools in Alberta, with the University of Calgary leading the development. The program is a necessary component to providing student health and wellness support, as it is esti mated that at least 20 per cent of students in post-secondary institutions face problematic substance use.

In an interview with the Gauntlet, UCalgary Recovery Community ( UCRC ) director, Dr. Victoria Burns discussed the need for the program and how it had come to fruition.

“The University of Calgary recovery community started and was inspired by my own lived experience of being in recovery — being a faculty member who started their recovery journey,” Burns ex plained. “During my Ph.D., I

struggled with alcohol, pri marily throughout my univer sity career, so extending over four degrees it was very nor malized to drink to excess.”

Burns also discussed how the campus environment al lows addiction to thrive silent ly as overconsumption is in grained in campus culture and how in her experience, there were no resources to seek sup port.

Burns had begun her recov ery journey after meeting a colleague who had “recovered out loud.” She cites this mo ment as the catalyst to trans form the trajectory of her life and work.

“In 2013 and really compart mentalizing my university life, I didn’t have any peers who I knew I hid. I didn’t tell people because I was too ashamed. It was better to be in active ad diction than to be ‘recovering out loud.’” Burns explained.

This interaction inspired Burns to not only reevaluate her own relationship with sub stances but ultimately focus

her work on breaking the stigma and creating support for students who are curious about seeking recovery.

“I was advised by other academics and people I knew in recovery, ‘don’t tell any body you’re in recovery, it may affect you getting a job.’ I listened, even though I was studying harm reduction and addiction, and it felt like it wasn’t something I couldn’t discuss,” Burns said. “The mo tivation to start a collegiate recovery program on campus is because I didn’t — but if I had not been at that party that night, I don’t know where I would be today because things were getting so bad and I had no role models who were in re covery.”

Recovery on Campus is an ambitious initiative as addic tion is a notoriously complex disease to solve for both the community and the individ ual. UCRC has adopted a Col legiate Recovery program, which emphasizes education, peer support and prevention.

UCRC also uses a harm reduc tion model, as opposed to ab stinence.

“We don’t adhere to a par ticular model, like 12 Step. It’s really meeting people where they’re at. It’s for folks who are recovery curious, questioning their relationship with sub stances, a certain behaviour, in recovery already or seeking recovery,” Burns said.

“It’s about providing op tions for people, we’re really operating through that edu cation,” she said. “How can we make the campus more inclusive and recognize that addiction is also a protected disability under human right legislation? How can we pro tect that on campus?”

In terms of province-wide action, UCRC is drafting a fiveyear proposal to gain oper ational funding to elongate its mission. This occurred when Alberta Health approached the program stating that the Alberta Recovery Council rec ognized a gap in post-second ary in the recovery-oriented system of care.

The goal of UCRC is to change attitudes towards ad dictions and hold open con versations on substance use and how to better support people who wish to change this relationship. UCRC also recognizes that supporting the individual will in turn support the community and prevent broader issues as ad diction does not discriminate.

Those who are interested in learning more about Re covery on Campus Alberta are encouraged to visit www. recoveryoncampusalberta.ca.

Dr. Victoria Burns is the director for the UCalgary Recovery Community.

MEGAN KOCH

“I didn’t tell people because I was too ashamed. It was better to be in active addiction than to be ‘recovering out loud.’”

VOICES »

U of C initiative aims to SHIFT towards an end to domestic violence

Aymen Sherwani Voices Editor

In a 2021-2022 fiscal year report from the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, it was found that one in two women will experience one incident of physical or sexualized violence and that 74 per cent of Albertans reported of personally knowing at least one woman who has been subject to domestic violence, with one woman being killed by her partner every six days. Nov ember marks Family Violence Prevention Month (FVPM) in Al berta and this year, the Univer sity of Calgary’s Faculty of Social Work is introducing a program to target this systemic problem.

Lana Wells is an associate pro fessor at the U of C and the Bren da Strafford Chair in the Pre vention of Domestic Violence in the Faculty of Social Work. Her work surrounding SHIFT is a means to bolster social innov ation surrounding ideas to solve social problems and keep those in need at the forefront of those solutions.

“SHIFT: The Project to End Domestic Violence is a primary prevention research hub that’s nestled here at the Faculty of Social Work. The role has really been about trying to understand how we can go upstream to stop domestic and sexual violence

before it happens,” said Wells, in an official U of C statement.

“Our SHIFT-to-Learn learning platform…[is] a place where we’re building educational micro-learning opportunities for practitioners and policymakers to really advance their under standing and thinking about how to stop violence before it starts.”

The key question for re searchers here is how exactly the rates of domestic violence can be lowered, particularly when there are a lot of cultural, equality-based and class-based nuances that must be factored into the equation. While the key is to focus on the initial signs be fore it’s too late, what must also be considered are the conces sions and excuses that women make for abusive partners in an effort to retain a certain degree of security and societal expect ations.

It’s a hard truth knowing that it takes an average of seven at tempts to leave a relationship where intimate partner vio lence (IPV) occurs. A large bulk of their motivations to stay rests on society’s expectation for women to “just stick it out” or to avoid ruining a “good man’s life,” should they consider filing police reports. It doesn’t make matters worse knowing that po lice-related domestic violence is an open secret in Canada, with

14 officers being charged with crimes related to IPV since 2012 in Nova Scotia alone. Six of them were members of the RCMP. It doesn’t help when judges presid ing over assault cases in Alberta ask why the victim couldn’t just “keep her legs together” and get to keep their jobs.

These initial signs exist and should not be taken lightly and it’s because the system does not support women when it’s too late. At this stage, SHIFT plans to take the policy route.

“Policymakers, system lead ers, practitioners [will] have the ability to adapt and change in real-time and, for us at SHIFT, we are really trying to support [them] to have good evidence and make good decisions to understand the problem,” said Wells. “To really have the ability to go upstream and understand the root causes of what’s causing domestic and sexual violence, so that there’s a shared under standing and a shared vision around preventing it from hap pening in the first place.”

For more information on SHIFT, please visit prevent domesticviolence.ca. If you know someone who is being sub ject to domestic violence or are experiencing it yourself, contact the Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) or the Family Vio lence Info Line at 310-1818.

Pat Adams REMEMBER THAT SUNSET WE SAW FROM HERE ONE TIME? 1984 Collection of Julia and Yolande Krueger

The SHIFT program is made to target the systemic problem of family violence in Alberta.

MEGAN KOCH

Why does the federal government keep failing at amending Indigenous relations?

Anjali Choudhary Voices Assistant

Earlier this year, after being criticized for unnecessarily drawing out a large legal battle, the federal government announced a landmark $40-billion deal to compensate Indigenous children harmed by the child-welfare sys tem. Despite all the gloating and pride from the Liberal party, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) has now announced that the deal does not meet the standards that were initially agreed upon. This ruling followed another breaking case in which the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear a group of residential school survivors’ case in obtaining sealed residential school documents. Some survivors claim that the government’s refusal to re lease the documents — which con tain proof of abuse that occurred at St. Anne’s residential school — has lowered the level of compensation they received. Again, the Canadian government finds itself in the midst of a decade-long battle against those who they have been claiming to do everything to support.

There is an eerie and heartbreak ing pattern in current reparation actions taken by the government. While it is true that no preceding government has provided such lev els of compensation, the Liberals are continuing to be exposed for doing too little and putting up an enormous fight along the way. In the past few years, conversations around performativity have largely revolved around individual people — whether that be teenagers or ce lebrities limiting their activism to social media posts. However, it is far more important to consider wheth er the individuals who are paid to lead the country also limit them selves to performative allyship.

The Liberal Party platform claims “Over the last six years, we worked to reduce the number of In digenous children in care and make sure Indigenous communities have the support they need to keep fam ilies together.”

However, Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Na tions Child and Family Caring So ciety of Canada, told The Star that the federal government has had years to comply and if they had

done so, the total compensation would have involved “hundreds of millions” but not billions. This is further to the fact that in the past nine years, the government has only completed about 10 per cent of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.

were forced to take these actions after years of kicking and scream ing? The resistance — both in the past and present in the case of the St. Anne survivors — speaks vol umes to the true intentions com ing from the House of Commons.

Stuck in the middle, however, are the Indigenous families that have been waiting years for com pensation. While criticism of the government’s motives and deals is necessary, the precarious and pre cedential nature of the settlement cannot be understated. Because of this, the CHRT’s ruling is con sequential on many different lev els for the Indigenous community.

significant setback.”

Other Indigenous community members, however, also recognize the need for the CHRT decision in holding the federal government accountable.

“It appears that [the federal government] started to realize that there were so many victims hurt by Canada that they weren’t able to include all of the victims,” Blackstock told CTV News.

It is impossible to undermine the impact that the compensa tion will have on many families. However, how much should the government be praised when they

“It’s very frustrating that this legal wrangling is happening be cause now First Nations people are the ones who are having to wait yet again,” said Cindy Wood house, the Assembly of First Na tions Manitoba regional chief in a statement to the CBC and Global News. “I don’t know when or if compensation will flow to these kids and families at this stage. We have come so, so close to compen sation finally reaching our people.

And today’s ruling is a significant,

The rhetoric surrounding rec onciliation often revolves around Canada’s previous injustices and dark colonial past. However, these two cases and many more have proven that not only are injustices against Indigenous communities still prominent, but governments and institutions are actively avoid ing their responsibilities — even legally enforceable ones — in the reconciliation process. The onus remains with the federal Liberal Party to unseal documents, en sure every single individual that was harmed is adequately com pensated, and put action behind their words without having courts and tribunals forcing them to do so.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal oversaw the deal the Liberal government made with residential school survivors.

AYMEN SHERWANI

“Again, the Canadian government finds itself in the midst of a decade-long battle against those who have been claiming to do everything to support.”

Complete listing of student news, concerts and more: www.su.ucalgary.ca

VISUALS »

Visuals THAT NEVER Made It

SYLVIA LOPEZ — VISUALS ASSISTANT

MACKENZIE ASHCROFT — VISUALS ASSISTANT

MALEA NGUYEN — SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTANT

VALERY PEREZ — VISUALS EDITOR

THIS IS A COLLECTION OF VISUALS THAT WERE CREATED SINCE THE NEW GAUNTLET TERM IN MAY. WE APPRECIATE THE HARD WORK OUR VISUALS TEAM AND VOLUNTEERS HAVE DONE FOR THE GAUNTLET.

SYLVIA LOPEZ — VISUALS ASSISTANT

MALEA

MEGAN

RAMIRO BUSTAMANTE TORRES — LAYOUT EDITOR

ARTS & SCIENCE »

Nickle Galleries’ fall exhibition features Prairie Interlace

and Adrian Stimson

ing responded to by a variety of different communities in different ways,” she remarked.

At the centre of the gallery hangs a magnificent tapestry called Sun Ascending by Kai ja Sanelma Harris. The original work features 24 panels, 12 of which are at the Nickle Galleries. All 24 panels will be on display at the Mackenzie Art Gallery.

Being commissioned for Mies van der Rohe’s Toronto-Dominion Centre allowed Harris to create this magnificent work. Hardy said she can imagine how this piece could “offer a moment of peace and tranquillity and warmth in an otherwise really cold and sterile space.”

heavy, very personal works,” said Hardy.

In his work, Stimson depicts his conflicting relationship with residential schools as his parents worked for a series of them across Canada. The south end of the gallery features his more recent work that chronicles his ongoing thinking and relationship with the environment.

Aside from his featured works in the gallery, a few of Stimson’s artworks are also displayed on the ground floor, third floor and sixth floor of the Taylor Family Digital Library.

Eula Mengullo News Editor

The university library is home to many resources, includ ing the campus culture essential, the Nickle Galleries. The gallery features different exhibits every season, with the Prairie Interlace: Weaving,ModernismsandtheEx pandedFrame,1960-2000and Ad rian Stimson: ANTHRO-OBSCENE (and Other Works) currently on display until Dec. 17.

Prairie Interlace is a collabora tive, travelling exhibition across other institutions including the Nickle Galleries and the Macken zie Art Gallery. On a tour, curator Michele Hardy gives an insight into the variety of works that chal lenged the traditional approach es to weaving by embracing new techniques, materials, forms and scale. With her background as a textile scholar, Hardy graciously acknowledged the opportunity to have these works featured in the gallery.

“Many of the artists that are represented in this exhibition were people that I was studying with or studying about, so to be able to bring them back and bring them into this space has been just a wonderful opportunity,” she said.

The exhibition is organized into four themes: beyond warp and weft, which pushed the

boundaries of weaving and experi menting with free-form textiles created in sorts of different ways; elemental landscapes, featuring beautiful horizon lines and spaces reflective of the prairie landscape which were typically reflected in the works of artists who were re cent immigrants; body politics, which depicted the awakening of feminist sensibilities, questioning women’s role in society as well as their rights; and soft power, which questioned the role of textiles — particularly women’s roles in cre ating them — pushing them into the public sphere and using them to humanize big, bold, often very cold, modernist interiors.

In speaking about the import ance of this exhibition to today’s society, Hardy explained how art was used to champion many fore ground issues including women’s rights and environmental con cerns.

“This is an opportunity to gather some historic works and to introduce them to a younger gen eration, many of whom are so re moved from textile processes and had no idea that possibly mothers — definitely grandmothers and great-grandmothers — were so radical and were fighting to cham pion women’s rights and to make the world a better place.”

Given that this exhibition showcases works from different

members of communities — im migrants, Indigenous peoples and Métis groups — Hardy sees this as an opportunity to be more in clusive than many similar exhib itions.

“So the exhibition focuses not just on the work of settlers, but also of immigrants, Indigenous and Métis artists — we don’t have a lot of textiles from these com munities, but we do have some important examples. We’re really pleased to be able to include those, and show how modernism was be

While the ground floor cap tures the four themes of Prairie Interlace, the upper floor of the gallery hosts another, more intim ate, exhibition of Adrian Stimson: ANTHRO-OBSCENE (and Other Works)

Described as a lovely and wellknown Blackfoot artist, Stimson has visited the gallery a few times to talk about his exhibition. Hardy encourages visitors to tour this exhibition with him if they get the chance.

“It’s two different bodies of work. On the north side of the gal lery, there are three large canvas es documenting his experience with residential school. These are

Nearing the end of the tour, Hardy remarks that she hopes students, faculty members and members of the community will find the Nickle Galleries to be a welcoming space. The gallery hosts tours, talks and perform ances throughout the semester. She encourages everyone to vis it the Prairie Interlace and the Nickle Galleries website to learn more about the current and up coming exhibits.

Their next exhibition will fea ture David Garneau’s Métissage It will examine Garneau’s rich and prolific work dating back from his earliest pieces to his most recent paintings. The exhibition is being curated by Mary-Beth Laviolette and will be featured in the gallery come January.

The Nickle Gallery is found in the first floor of TFDL.

SAEED ABDOLLAHI

New insights discovered into how Neanderthals may have lived

Sheroog Kubur Arts & Science Editor

While the idea of form ing communities seems very human, recent develop ments show that commun ity-building may be a feature of Neanderthal life as well. A group of closely-related Nean derthals was discovered in the Chagyrskaya cave in Serbia ac cording to findings published in Nature. The group contained 11 Neanderthals total, including a father, daughter and two other distant relatives, as well as sev en others who were likely from another nearby clan. This is the first time researchers have been able to find Neanderthals with such close relations and gives insight into what their so cial dynamics could have been.

“It makes you wonder what the familial relationship be tween these individuals were and how they were interacting with each other,” said Lauritis Skov, a University of California researcher. “It is a little glimpse

into a Neanderthal family.”

The study began in 2007 by a group of Russian paleoan thropologists with the Russian Academy of Sciences. This cave has been a looking glass into Neandrathal life, offering bone and teeth fragments, butchered bison bones and over 90,000 stone tools.

It involved collecting samples from Neanderthal DNA by drill ing holes into teeth and bone

fragments found in the cave. Two samples shared half their DNA, cementing them as hav ing either a father-daughter or sibling relationship. They were able to discern the male and fe male as a father and daughter thanks to mitochondrial DNA — the variation between the two allowed the researchers to nar row the relationship down to a father-daughter one.

“That is really exciting be

cause what we have is a com munity, and we can start to understand a bit about how these communities worked,” said Lara Cassidy, a Trinity College Dublin geneticist who was not involved in the study.

Neanderthals are distant relatives of humans that lived 430,000 to 40,000 years ago in Eurasia. They are a group of highly-mobile hunter-gath erers, making it difficult to pinpoint closely related clans. This marks the first time that close relatives have been se quenced together, giving in sight into their social struc ture. They were found to be living in clans of 10-30 and it is posited that females often moved from clan to clan, as supported by 12 mitochondrial DNA samples collected from a cave in Spain, all of which were female.

“We estimate that between 60 to 100 percent of women in any community actually come from other communities,” said Skov.

This discovery also high lights that this clan was likely to have all died together, most probably from starvation due to a lack of sufficient bison gathered. The weather con ditions were harsh and com petition for resources against animals of the day was fierce — it’s likely that not gather ing enough resources for the season would have been detri mental.

“Life back then was rough, they survived by hunting bison,” Skov said. “You can im agine if, in one year, they don’t manage to hunt and catch all they need — something sad like that.”

It has also been noted that this social arrangement may not have been universal, but specific to eastern clans by Cassidy. It is possible that fe males move from clan to clan in this region, but it could also be unique to the clan. Regard less, this discovery remains a substantial step in understand ing how they may have lived.

Reading the news can distract you from important thoughts

Megan Koch Visuals Editor

S ince 2020, news channels and social media have been full of negative and sometimes scary stories. It’s important to stay caught up on current events, but two recent stud ies show that consuming news might be distracting when try ing to complete other tasks.

The Gauntlet sat down for an interview with doctoral student Chelsie Hart to talk about the research, which was directed by Dr. Julia Kam from the De partment of Psychology and the Internal Attention Lab at the University of Calgary.

The first study focused on COVID-19-related news dur ing the peak of the pandemic.

A second study occurred later and focused on more general news consumption as opposed to strictly coronavirus content. Both studies show how thoughts are often task-unrelated (TUT) after consuming news media.

“[TUT] is essentially just when your thoughts sort of turn in ward and you start thinking about whatever is on your mind rather than whatever task you’re currently doing,” said Hart.

Hart predicted that the first study would show an increase in the frequency and likelihood of TUTs after consuming news media. The results of the study confirmed she was right. The second study, which took place over a year later, shows similar conclusions.

To reduce the frequency of TUTs, Hart shared that it’s a good idea to avoid news con sumption within two hours of an important task. However, she also noted that TUTs are very dependent on what’s important or concerning to individuals, even outside of the news. Mo tivation is another factor that affects the level of focus on any given task. According to Hart, the most important thing to do before tackling an important task is to monitor what kinds

of media you’re consuming and when you’re consuming it.

“Having grown up before smartphones were a thing, I can tell you that it’s very easy to access news now. It’s very easy to have notifications that instantly distract you. It’s very easy to just pick up your phone,” said Hart.

Even though it seems this generation may be more sus ceptible to TUTs, Hart said that there were countless ways people got distracted even before smartphones existed. Newspapers, ads, television and magazines were contributors to TUTs, too. The biggest change is perhaps the routine that came along with getting the newspaper to read with break fast, compared to the instant access to news that this gener ation has grown accustomed to with smartphones.

“It’s hard to say whether we can really blame technology for an increase in task-unrelated thoughts. I think it might make

a difference depending on what you use your smartphone for, but I think no matter what people are going to be exposed to news,” said Hart.

There is a silver lining with TUTs. Although it can be annoy ing or stressful to get distracted from particular tasks, TUTs are important for creativity and problem solving.

“It’s not that you want to avoid task-unrelated thoughts,” said Hart. “They’re not always a

bad thing. A lot of research as sociated it with making errors on tasks, but it’s also associat ed with creativity and planning and problem solving. So, it’s not something you need to avoid all the time.”

If you would like to learn more about Hart’s research, you can read the study online under the title “Task-unrelated thought increases after con sumption of COVID-19 and gen eral news.”

Neanderthals have been found to form communities.

VALERY PEREZ

Careful when consuming too much news.

MEGAN KOCH

SPORTS & LIFESTYLE »

Verney sports@thegauntlet.ca

FIFA World Cup: What you need to know

season difference. The monthlong event will feature 32 nations competing in six groups of four. The host nation of Qatar will kick things off, followed by nonstop group showdowns for a total of 12 days. The top two countries to have the most points out of every group will then be selected for the knockout-style tournaments. These remaining 16 teams will battle it out for a chance into the finals on Dec. 18.

tan Ibrahimović, Cristiano Ron aldo, Lionel Messi and many others.

Rodrigo Verney Sports & Lifestyle Editor

The greatest event in mod ern soccer history heads to its 21st edition. The event held in 17 different nations makes its first trip to the Middle East since its inception. Qatar, named the “country of the future,” had the honour to host the event this

time around despite its hard sum mers and small size. In addition to this, the World Cup will start on Nov. 20 making this the first winter edition ever. With it ever approaching, here is a prepared a list of things for you to get up to date while you get the face paint and snacks prepared.

The basics of the event will remain the same despite the

Teams are just as ready as fans are to walk on the field with so many stars potentially heading to their last World Cup and some nations making their first appear ance ever. There are definitely a lot of matches to watch out for. For starters, group meetings will feature some exciting matchups like USA vs Iran on the last day of group matches, which adds the social factor that the World Cup brings as well. Beyond that, we might be witnessing the last world cup of big names like Zla

With such a big tournament comes big predictions. What sense would it make for us to avoid theorizing about the finals themselves? Brazil seems to be the favourite nation so far with France and Argentina follow ing close by. Still, within the top five are England and Spain even with the internal struggle Spain’s organization was facing with its goalkeeper and general distrust within their team.

Unfortunately, the trophy doesn’t seem to shine in Can ada’s path. The nation improved since the last time we saw their rosters with the addition of Al phonso Davies — the nation’s most expensive player. Davies has the prestigious title of UEFA Champions League champion. He looks to be a rider and a force to shake Canada’s top foes. How ever, soccer as a sport relies on

so many other factors other than star power. The team is relative ly new and has very little World Cup experience. This doesn’t mean that Canada has nothing to look forward to. They can defin itely have a good tournament run while building a solid foundation for future editions.

It isn’t a surprise to anyone that the World Cup represents much more than just a soccer event. It injects billions into a country’s economy. It transforms societies and unites people. It is a tool for social and economical development disguised as a sport ing event. The matches are set to happen throughout the day; it just depends on what nation you are trying to watch. Times are posted on the FIFA World Cup website if there is a specific team you wish to watch. Meanwhile, we can only speculate. Who will emerge victorious among so many stars? Only time will tell and the count down has already begun.

VALERY PEREZ

The FIFA World Cup starts on Nov. 20.

Andrea’s Book Nook: Mystery books you need to read

Andrea Silva Volunteer

I

n honour of Halloween pass ing, the goal of this piece is to recommend some mystery and suspense reads that will keep any reader engaged.

TheBirthdayGirl by Melissa de la Cruz

This book tells the story of El lie, a woman who seems to have it all. Ellie has decided to cele brate her fortieth birthday with a huge party at her new house in Palm Springs, in order to show off her wealth to all of her guests. Nonetheless, her plan does not go as she envisioned, as Ellie spends the night of her fes tivity worried about secrets she has kept from her husband, her financial situation and the prob lems of her oldest daughter. The reader also gets an insight into

another birthday that changed the course of Ellie’s life: her sweet sixteenth. The plot un folds in alternating chapters, as the reader slowly learns about Ellie’s past and how it impacts her present circumstances. The Birthday Girl is an intriguing mystery novel that would make a perfect read for the fall season.

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

When Emily meets Adam, she thinks she has met the man of her dreams. That is, until she meets her future mother-in-law, Pammie, who is nothing like the sweet and caring woman she ap pears to be. Adam, on the other hand, seems to have an extreme ly close relationship with his mother. Pammie is determined to end his son’s relationship and is willing to lie and manipulate to get Emily out of Adam’s life.

This story follows the evolv ing relationship of these three characters, and how, as the plot develops, so does the antagon ism between the two women. Overall, The Other Woman is a page-turner psychological mys tery that will keep any reader hooked.

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena

Fred and Sheila Merton have been murdered in their home in Brecken Hill, in upstate New York. Earlier in the even ing, they had an Easter dinner with their three adult children, Catherine, Dan and Jenna, who left the house extremely upset by the events that occurred in the family gathering. Fred was a cruel man, engaged in many complicated relationships. Sheila was a cold woman, dis tant from her children. Now

that they are dead, their mil lion-dollar fortune is destined for Catherine, Dan and Jenna. As the three have something to gain from the death of their parents, the siblings are con sidered suspects in the murder case. As the story progresses, it is revealed that each sibling has deep secrets and reasons to seek their parents’ fortune. The reader will have to sort through a series of lies, alibis, and sus picious behaviour to figure out who murdered Fred and Sheila, which makes this book an en joyable read for any mystery enthusiast.

EveryLastSecret by A.R. Torre Cat and her husband, Wil liam, are living the dream life in their affluent neighbour hood in Atherton, California. Neena Ryder is a life coach with many secrets and high

ambitions, who is married to a loving but average man, Matt. William, as the owner of a large multi-million-dollar business, hires Neena as a “life coach” to increase his employees’ confi dence and productivity. As the story progresses, it is revealed to the reader that Neena desires William, his wealth, and the life he could give her. With the de velopment of the plot, her inter est in him grows into an obses sion, as she does everything she can to insert herself into his life. Although Cat does her best to welcome their new neighbours to the community, she realiz es that Neena is not someone she can trust or wants near her husband. Nonetheless, Cat is ob livious to what Neena is capable of doing to get what she wants. Every Last Secret is a great read with insightful characters and an engaging plot.

SYLVIA LOPEZ

Not all podcasts are two dudes and a mic

low-commitment series you need to figure out what could be offered — it mixes science fiction and thriller elements with enough multimedia storytelling to keep you on the edge of your seat. If you want to get into fiction podcasts but don’t know where to start, this is your best bet.

Darkest Night

Warning: Deals with themes of death and torture.

tween each death amount to a jaw-dropping ending. Each episode ranges from 25 to 45 minutes and the complete ser ies is only two seasons, making it easy to burn through.

around 25 minutes long and touch on some pretty extreme themes without losing their cheerful facade.

Myths & Legends

Sheroog Kubur Arts & Science Editor

Before podcasting became synonymous with embold ened people with microphones that think their opinion is gos pel, there was a community of podcast listeners that enjoyed the serialized fiction genre. Considering most podcasts are available for free and deliver top-notch content and story telling, it’s only natural that those who are fans of audio books or immersive fiction

Rabbits

The Public Radio Alliance is the gateway production com pany into serialized fiction podcasts. Of the series they have to offer, Rabbits is the least involved and the most beginner friendly. The series follows Carly on the search for her friend Yumiko after she went missing while play ing the fictional alternate-re ality game Rabbits. It’s the

This podcast is for those who aren’t fully convinced by how intense audio storytell ing can be. The series follows a newly-hired assistant tasked with working on Project Cy clops — an experimental tech nology that allows the viewer to go into the final moments before an individual’s death. The story is told through binaural audio, meaning that listeners are at the centre of each of these oftentimes in credibly gory and gruesome deaths. While the story is told in an anthological format, the underlying threads be

The Milkman of St. Gaff’s This podcast is for those who know what Welcome to Nightvale is and want some thing more. The series follows Howie, a young man who de cides to commit to the life of a milkman on the island of St. Gaff’s. While the premise is incredibly mundane, within the first 10 minutes of the first episode you very quickly real ize there’s more to the life of a milkman than meets the eye. Our narrator Howie is hilari ously unreliable when talking about the eldritch-horror-level experiences he has and chron icling his potential arrest for deserting the ongoing war on the mainland. It’s a funky spin on the classic “not everything is what it seems” trope with enough worldbuilding to feel convincing. The episodes are

This podcast is for those who read the Percy Jackson series as a child and thought it wasn’t enough. Each epi sode tackles a different story of folklore around the world, ranging from the classic tales of the Knights of the Round Table to vengeful Japanese spirits who like to play tricks on their victims. The narrator is conversational and injects a sense of comfort while telling the stories. If you’ve wanted to get into more classic mythol ogy but the stories were just too long, this is the place to look. There’s no set order, so it’s best to pick out whatever sounds the most interesting and get to it. The episodes run relatively long, often hitting the one-hour mark, so it’s best to curl up and listen to this podcast when you’ve got a lot of time on your hands.

dip their toe into the world of serialized fiction podcasts.

MEGAN KOCH

Check out these fiction podcasts.

OPINIONS & HUMOUR »

Qatar’s not-so-beautiful game

Logan Jaspers Opinions & Humour Assistant

A s the Canadian men’s team qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1986, it’s fair to assume that this year more Canadian eyes will be on men’s soccer — spare me the cries of “football” — than ever before.

As the host of the World Cup, Qatar will be receiving a tre mendous amount of attention as well. Qatar has prepared an image of itself to show the world, an image of welcoming, luxurious hotels and restau rants and magnificent stadiums purpose-made for the World Cup. These grandiose displays are, of course, superficial and tell little about Qatar. Dispos ing of the state propaganda, what is Qatar really about?

With power concentrated in the Qatari monarchy and royal family, Qatar is an illib eral and despotic petrostate. Qatar jails poets for poetry, has no free press, and disenfran

chised much of its population for largely symbolic elections — elections that were constant ly delayed from the initially planned date in 2004. This contempt for free expression is extended to the foreign press as well, as media will be banned from recording from places like government offices or worker camps, making investigative reporting on potentially em barrassing topics impossible.

Even worse is Qatari foreign policy, which is defined by the financial and ideological back ing of terror across the greater Middle East, including groups like Hamas, the Iranian Revo lutionary Guard Corps, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Qatar’s state friends aren’t much better, as Qatar endorsed Turkey’s war of ethnic cleansing against Syr ian Kurds and are increasingly cozy with Iran.

Given Qatari autocracy, their small size and population and their middling record as a soc cer team, it’s ostensibly sur prising that they received the

privilege of hosting the World Cup. Indeed, the host selection process for the 2022 World Cup was shady if not blatantly cor rupt. Former FIFA president and aspiring convict Sepp Blatter said in his memoirs that Qatar cheated to win the hosting rights, compounding tremen dous evidence suggesting Qatar bribed key FIFA officials to vote for Qatar before the 2010 vote on the World Cup host.

Once they won hosting rights, then came the task of building stadiums. These sta diums have been constructed by migrant workers — work ers largely from Southeast Asia and East Africa — who live under the Kafala spon sorship system, a system that allows employers to prevent their employees from leaving the country and opens the door for exploitation. There are numerous reports of pay being withheld from work ers for up to seven months, meaning that the conditions of many workers have been tantamount to slavery. And under the blazing Qatari sun, at least 6,750 foreign workers died building these stadiums, though the real figure is likely higher.

Though Qatar has passed multiple reforms, including increasing the minimum wage and easing movement restric tions for migrant workers, how enforced these regulations are and what impact they have

had on migrant workers is un certain. This reform, in good faith or otherwise, comes too late for those thousands of workers who have died and the thousands more who have toiled under exploitation.

Given their domestic op pressiveness, their support for terrorism, their corruption, and their practice of modern slavery, it’s clear that Qatar should never have been host ing the World Cup to begin with. Yet starting on Nov. 20, they and billions worldwide, including millions of Can adians, will watch “the beauti ful game.” Across much of the world, soccer is an institution that transcends mere sport and the World Cup is that in stitution’s pinnacle. When the World Cup means so much to so many, they will watch it regardless of who’s hosting it. So if one is going to watch, at least watch knowing that there is something far more sinister to Qatar than the Qa tari government lets on.

MACKENZIE ASHCROFT

Qatar will be hosting the FIFA World Cup despite the issues surrounding their bid to host, amongst other things.

“Given their domestic oppressiveness, their support for terrorism, their corruption and their practice of modern slavery, it’s clear that Qatar should never have been hosting.”

What your favourite food vendor in Mac Hall says about you

and don’t like.

Coffee Company

You are a classic overachiev er who sacrifices happiness for productivity. I recommend lay ing off the caffeine and getting a good night’s sleep.

Dairy Queen-Orange Julius

You are an easy-going extro vert who loves rainbows and committing tax fraud. But behind your playful facade, you’re cold, calculating and manipulative.

Freshco Poke

You desire power and control over others. Some people call you abrasive — and they’re correct.

Kobe Beef

Three weeks from today, you will enter a parallel universe where you marry Edward Cullen from Twilight. You and Edward will sell knock-off Disney stick ers on Etsy for the next three decades.

Korean BBQ

rejection, and it’s thrown you off your game. But don’t worry, a new opportunity will present itself soon.

Oriental Wok

You’re a social butterfly who always knows the right words to help someone having a bad day. However, sometimes people take advantage of your kind na ture.

Tim Hortons

Josie Simon

Gordon Ramsay’s Sous-chef

Irecently visited the wizard who lives in the Science A Building and they told me all the world’s best-kept secrets, including what your favourite food vendor in Mac Hall says about you — yes, you! Below, I will disclose the wis dom they imparted to me.

A & W

You have an air of mystery

DELUSIONAL STUDENTS »

about you. There is something about your smell that people find hypnotic yet disturbing.

Bake Chef Co.

You have a superiority com plex that gets in your way of find ing success in your chosen field. Try politics.

Canadian Pizza Unlimited (CPU)

People often accuse you of be ing basic — but you don’t mind. You know exactly what you do

Carl’s Jr.

Your obsession with Taylor Swift’s new album Midnights is getting out of hand. After streaming the album on repeat since its release, you’ve become severely dehydrated and your friends and family are becoming concerned.

Fresh Delights

You’re like a Koala, cute, yet dangerous. Next Friday, you will receive good news.

You’re the it girl of U of C. Not only are you beautiful on the out side, but you’re also empathetic and loving.

Mr. Pretzels

You often isolate yourself from others because you’re afraid of rejection. Try letting people see the real you — you might be sur prised how others will respond to your authenticity.

Noodle & Grill

You’ve recently experienced

You often use manipulation and deception to gain the upper hand in your close relationships. People fear your intellect.

Umi Sushi

Empathy and compassion come naturally to you. You’re a natural-born leader who values close relationships.

Starbucks

You’re financially irrespon sible and prone to self-loathing. You crave attention and fear abandonment.

Incredibly naive students vow to study early for the soul-consuming midterms

Jorja Strickland Study Guru

This year, there has been a re cord high of students taking an official vow to start studying early for their midterms. How ever, the question must be asked — can they follow through?

Between an instinctive ten dency towards caffeine-fuelled all-nighters and a deep-rooted, communal trait of procrastina tion, these vows seem as flimsy as New Year’s resolutions. Let’s be honest, there’s no way you have time to learn a new language and no, saving money is not at all plausible, especially when rely ing on Starbucks as sustenance. These idealistic vow-makers are going to face many challenges throughout their journey, from the ongoing notes and assign ments to the new show that just came out on Netflix, they need some backup to fulfill their com mitment.

There are only a few key ways to complete this vow, a prom inent one being to romanticize studying. That’s right. It’s time to resort to TikTok yet again to guide us through troubled times. Turn studying into an aesthetic, with those insanely expensive highlighters, a massive mug of coffee — preferably iced — and a new playlist that will bring trauma post-midterms. If you don’t want to employ the use of those questionable study sup plies, another desperate meth od is gaslighting yourself into believing studying won’t be that bad this year — poor engineer ing majors get hit especially hard with this strategy. Alternatively, you can consider joining study groups where you must interact with that one obnoxious student that actually wants to put in an effort — gross.

None of these options seem favourable, but at least with the excuse of studying to maintain

your vow, you’ll get out of three main things:

• Family gatherings with young kids who have yet to learn boundaries

• That run that you were defin itely going to go on — definitely

• Hanging out with that one

friend that is doing too well at university to be good for your own self-esteem.

I can safely conclude that, although with the best inten tions, this vow to study early for midterms is hopeless. Being the youthful university students that we are, we are too far set in our ways. Instead, I put for ward a proposal to just give up

now. Take the easy way out like a champion. Get back to that Netflix series that you’re watch ing for the fifth — okay, ninth — time, concede that it’s “all basically common sense any way,” and promise yourself that next semester will be different. Next semester you will absolute ly start studying early. You may even take a vow to prove it.

What

Careful with making promises you can’t keep.

MEGAN KOCH

VALERY PEREZ