CAN’T BE AS SHIT AS 2016…RIGHT? JANRUARY 2017
Editor-in-Chief
Tabitha Peters
Page 3 - Editor’s Note Page 4 - Realistic and Non-realistic
Features Editor
Anastasiya Ivanova
Page 5 - Mind Over Matter
Arts Editor
Vanessa Butera
Page 6 - Winter Butterfly
Humour Editor
Juan Lopez
Page 7 - A New Transition
Sports & Health Editor
Tyler Drummond
Page 8 - Taking Out the Trash
News Editor
Alec Pichelli
Page 9 - 2017 Sucks So Far
Opinions Editor
Jessica Malandrino
Page 10 - Early Year Thinking Page 11 - New Year, Same Season
Staff Writer
Doris Pozo
Page 12 - Meet Our Staff Page 13 / 14 – Sex Survey
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Cover Artist - Volunteer
Sam Noto
Layout & Design
Tabitha Peters
Page 15 – Word Puzzle
Editor’s Note Hey Guys, Welcome to the year of more opportunities, luck, and less stress… just joking, welcome to 2017, the year that everyone hopes will be better than last year. I’m probably one of phew who actually enjoyed 2016, I experienced so many different things with my friends and family, and every month had its own surprise. Anyways, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Personally, I think we could have done with an extra week or so, I am not ready to be back in lectures just yet. This year, well every new year, everyone always wants to have the most common resolutions for the new year; losing weight or starting a new diet. Screw that, I am already stress-eating because of all the reading I have to do. As the new semester has now approached, new courses and professors are being introduced to us. Back to waking up early and running on campus like a mad person trying to find a whole new class all over again. I’m supposed to say this year will be great, but no one knows exactly what this year will hold. They’ll be heartbreak, new love interests, financial problems, starting a family and many more ups and downs. Just take one day at a time and enjoy what’s in the present. Also, make sure to take our sex survey for our February issue, which you will find on pages 13 & 14 and send it in to us, or, take our online sex survey on our MacMedia Facebook page.
Have fun and enjoy the year,
Tabitha Peters Editor-in-Chief
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Alec Pichelli | Sports Editor Let’s just accept it for what it was, 2016 was kind of crappy. Now that 2017 has arrived, it seems to be a year for redemption and renewal. Of course, “New Year’s Resolutions” are in the air, and they’re inevitable. People may have problems finding realistic goals for the new year, so here’s a list of realistic and non-realistic resolutions (in my opinion) for the 2017 year. Realistic – Joining a gym. It’s perfectly practical for anyone to sign up for a gym membership, as cliché as it is. However, you need to make sure you’re dedicated to the membership, as you’ll only be wasting your own time and money becoming another “New Year’s Gym Member” for about 2 weeks. Non-realistic – Finding a Significant Other. This is something tricky. Of course everyone that is single is interested in finding someone special this year, but you shouldn’t go out looking for someone just for the sake of being in a relationship. It needs to have some sort of organic feel to it, happening naturally. Yes, sliding into those Instagram DM’s and Tinder profiles does count. Realistic – Being more positive. Optimism is vital in your day-to-day lifestyle. Having a positive outlook on life opens up avenues for
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success in school and work, and it also helps to make new friends. Overall, it’s about enjoying life more than you did before. It may be hard to overlook how harsh school studies are or your minimum wage job or whatever drama is going on, but keep your head high and persevere. You won’t regret it. Non-realistic – Being a billionaire. This is just absurd. Believe it or not, I’ve heard this on multiple occasions. “This is the year my SoundCloud account blows up and I go big”. “This is the year I have good luck on the lottery”. “This is the year my idea for the pizza vending machine makes me millions!” Pump the breaks a bit. While it isn’t entirely impossible for those to happen (I’m PRAYING for pizza vending machines), but the more realistic approach is to just keep going on with your daily life and build yourself from there. Your time for greatness is coming. Just probably not this year.
By Doris Pozo | Staff Writer
I present to you a dialog with my head and heart. The positive messages may come with a cheese factor, but let’s make positivity cool again. *** I want to become a better person but I don’t know how. I try and make change but I always go back to my old habits that don’t serve me any good. Well, you must change your mind first. Nothing will happen if you don’t change your mind. Isn’t that obvious? I’m trying to make a change. I’m thinking about waking up early, as well as reading more, and helping my mother out more than before. I want to make art, I want to exercise, and I want to eat healthy. I feel so overwhelmed because I feel the days are too short. If only I had more time, then I could get all my goals done.
What does that even mean? Tell me something practical. I don’t understand all these metaphors. I know my failures show me what not to do, but how can I change into the person I want to be in a practical way? The moment you say the word “want,” you are accepting that you don’t already have what you need. Your biggest mistake is saying that you “want” something. Okay then, how should I think about it, if not wanting to become better? Remember who you are. You are perfect and have everything you need within. Learn from your pain and manage your thoughts. Thoughts that are harmful to you and others are not part of your being, dismiss those thoughts before they become your actions. Love your neighbour as yourself, forgive and then change will manifest in your life. Easier said, than done.
Everything happens in its right moment. You are where you need to be in your life. Don’t blame the hours of the day. Those are beautiful external goals, but you must start internal first because you are your thoughts. I am more than just my thoughts, don’t be foolish. What can my thoughts do? Unlimited things, if you only believe. But first you must forgive yourself and others, before you step into a mentality of change. Sometimes we don’t change until we have fallen deep below the surface of the Earth, and we have to crawl our way back into the light of the warm sun.
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WINTER BUTTERFLY By: Vanessa Butera | Arts Editor
You appear like a ghost from the upper world With slender fingers, always cold Your icy gaze is stark in swirling snow Whimsical souls dwell on your every move Wings of black eyelash lace Traveling through time Fading into the winter To freeze your youth Drifting through the corners Of thrift stores The dust on record players Slow down the songs of innocence You never stay in one place Wings fluttering in frozen breath You search for another heart To steal with your dainty fingers You belong to a celestial universe Your beauty is immune to time and space But your muse is immortal Ghosting between the lines of poetry
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2017: A New Year for Self-Transition By: Jessica Malandrino | Opinions Editor
The determination for change at the beginning of the year can be productive for oneself as a person wishes to change their ways for the rest of the year. New year’s resolutions can be different for everyone and consist of so many unique ways to begin a year. These resolutions can range from: getting in shape, eating healthier, meeting new people, taking new chances, coping with stress in a better way, sleeping more, reading more, or finding a partner. In these ways, accomplishing new goals or changing routines or habits is where people begin to improve themselves for a new year. These goals can also turn out to be shorter than a year or longer than a year. Transitioning is something we will always do and by denying any progress for yourself is denying your spirit more life. However, not everyone wants to make a resolution for a new year, but in my opinion, by not changing or reflecting on something you can do different, denies oneself any productive transformation. My new year’s resolution for this year is to take more videos and pictures. I do not have social media to post pictures and videos, and so I have always had little to no position to look back at events in my life. Remembering, for me, has always been something mental. In that, I have had to look back on events of my life with family and friends in my mind without any portrait of how an event was. I found that I was lost or forgot how I became where I am. Instead of falling into the realm of social media, this is when I decided to take more pictures and videos as a way to productively reflect on my year in 2017 differently. I wanted to do this for myself because I wanted to see how exciting, thrilling, funny, or sad events in my year will affect me. By keeping track of these changes, I find that I will be able to better understand myself and where I will stand in my future of 2018. Not to say that everyone should make such a deep new year’s resolution, or any changes at all, but remember that new things will never come if you are not open to, or willing to exper ience change.
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By: Juan Lopez | Humour Editor Literally and figuratively. Literally because this year was absolute garbage. At first I was like, well it wasn’t even that bad, I mean X and Y happened but Z was ok. Well, let’s take a look at the year in retrospect and see if it was great, shall we? I don’t even know how to categorize the events on this list, so I think the cleanest way to do is so chronologically. To begin the year, the Zika virus had an outbreak with over a million confirmed infected and several thousand dead. Great start to the year. Not long after that, we got a gift from our nice friends in North Korea when they shot a rocket into space. We didn’t give them a gift in return, thank God. Then we had a sprinkling of bombings and terrorist attacks in March in Belgium and in Lahore against Christians and civilians. First quarter of the year and we have so many events happening already, no wonder they made so many memes about 2016. We can’t forget about the EgyptAir plane that crashed and killed several dozen people flying from Paris to Cairo. Then we had the United Kingdom leave the European Union, causing the trade market to have a heart attack for a day or two before stabilizing, and we also had a bombing in Istanbul that killed several dozen and injured hundreds. I don’t know about you guys, but 2016 is looking just terrible so far.
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I guess we can look at something not terribly depressing: The Olympics, held in Rio in August, the Olympics were a great success… even though people realized that Brazil did not have the infrastructure to support the games and certain events, particularly those involving water,
were frowned at when competitors realized the water was polluted. Then we have the North Koreans firing off some nuclear tests again in September, with world leaders condemning them for the umpteenth time. And then to top off a splendid year, we had Donald Trump become the president of the United States of America. Oh, let’s not forget about the deaths of several prominent members of society, such as Prince, Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and others. After taking a look at everything, I can’t quite see why it is that people say 2016 was bad. Seems alright to me. All joking aside, this article in no way should be taken as an insult to any events or individuals that have been mentioned. The aim of this article is simply to critically look at events that occurred in 2016 and determine that the year was, all considering, pretty shit. But hey, if Donald Trump is president and we’re still alive, then I’d consider that a good start to the year. Granted, he’s not in office yet… so we’ll see how that turns out.
My Journal: 2017 Sucks so far By: Tabitha Peters | Editor-in-Chief
Given what everyone has said about last year, 2016 wasn’t bad for me. I enjoyed a good 80% of it. That other 20% was just a few things that couldn’t be avoided. I was fortunate enough to have spent my summer with loved ones and connect more with those whom I was just getting to know. I also turned 21, and worked fulltime at the Bay once the schoolyear ended. School grades were pretty good too, so I didn’t complain. Christmas and New Year’s Eve was good last year, I visited a lot of family, spent time with my boyfriend and my friends, and I ate a ton of food…also gained a few pounds, calling it holiday weight. As soon as the new year came in, it wasn’t so bad…until school started. Somehow my luck and spirit just kept on decreasing. On my first day back to school this year, I was already running late. You’d think that by being in my fourth year I’d know how to be punctual by now… I guess that’s something we all lie about on our resumes. I had forgotten to renew my parking permit…and when I mean “forgotten to” I really mean, “was too lazy too.” I ended up circling York for an hour until I couldn’t take it anymore. I left campus. Before I decided to leave, I anxiously texted my classmate to tell my professor that I’m trying to find parking and I’ll be in class as soon as possible, but no one replied until class was over. The Second day I got to campus around 9am in the morning, missing my 8am class. Just know that I’m still on holiday mode and haven’t really adjusted to this semester yet. I was so tired; I took a small nap in the MacMedia office… I had to. I ended up having two more classes for the rest of the day, which made me finish at 7pm and I didn’t get home until 8:30. Hadn’t really eaten all day because I forgot my credit card at home. Tired and hungry, two of the worst feelings to experience at the same time. On the third day, I made it to my 9am class, 10 minutes before it started. I excitedly walked to ACW and then saw a scrappy looking paper sign on my classroom door that said “cancelled!”. Imagine the look on my face. No message on moodle to warn the students. My only class for the day, and I came for nothing. I struggled to wake up at 6am and no good came out of that day. I again, left campus. The second week got slightly better, I was able to finally buy textbooks because the crowd of people died down in the bookstore. It’s still a shitty week, but I’m trying my best to stay calm and just get through the day. Bad luck or bad timing, I still missed one lecture again because I overslept, and I was late for two classes. I’m a senior, but that doesn’t exclude me from still acting like a student.
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By: Mustapha Safadieh | Contributor
The first week of this year I looked back at everything I’ve taught myself. I’ve come to the conclusion that while I’m above average in a few fields, I am the master of nothing. University is a good time to experiment. It’s a good time to pick up different hobbies and to get a feel for yourself, but somewhere along those years I’ve picked up too many, from photography to web designing, playing the guitar to writing, even practicing Kendo for a good year and a half. My dad tells me I’m young and I have the whole world in front of me, that I could do anything. I asked him what he did when he was my age and he didn’t reply. I’m not sure that I’m that young, and I’m positive that I don’t have the whole world to look forward to. A lot of it, yes, but will there be enough time? I think back on my time as a guitarist, and compare it to my time as a writer. I’ve been writing professionally for significantly less than I have been playing guitar, but I would argue I’m a better writer than a guitarist. Not sure what that says about either skill. I compare my time as a guitarist to my time as a photographer, and then my time as a photographer to my time as web designer. I see the same connection here again: I’ve been designing websites for longer than I have been taking photographs yet I feel like I’m a better photographer than I am a web designer. I feel like I’m a better guitarist than either a photographer or a web designer and I wonder what determines the level of a person’s skill if not the amount of time devoted to it. I have a lot of hobbies, but I feel like none of them are refined enough. In first or second year this wouldn’t concern me, but as I come closer to graduating, I can’t help but feel like I would have been better suited to be just a guitarist or just a writer or just a photographer. Will I have been measurably better at one of those skills if I gave up the other two? My mom tells me my age is the time where you learn a lot of different things. She says what means the most to me will stand
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out; it’ll be what I do after the years have passed. “Don’t worry habibi,” she says. “You’ll look back at everything you once practiced and be glad you did them at all.” I certainly don’t regret anything I’ve learned. In fact, I’m barely satisfied. I wish I could learn more, do more, be more. But as I pile on hobby after hobby, I can almost see my time spread thinner and thinner. There are long periods where I neglect one or more of my hobbies, and it usually throws me off for a while. Then I get better at something else for a bit and I sort of juggle my hobbies, unsure of what should have priority. I think my biggest fear is not having enough time to do all of the things I want to when I graduate and find a job. I wouldn’t know what hobbies to hold onto. I suppose my mom is right, and the most important ones will make their way into my life regardless. I mostly hope that it is a subconscious decision, and strangely enough I look forward to finding out what kills will be dominant.
New Year, Same Season By: Tyler Drummond | Sports & Health Editor
Every year, as the calendar year changes, we find ourselves in the best part of the sports year. In North America, the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB are the major sports and the New Year ramps up for ¾ of the major sports companies. January marks the beginning of the NFL playoffs, which culminates with the Super Bowl in February. For the NBA and NHL, the regular seasons start to ramp up, as the playoff push begins and teams fight for higher seeding. It’s the beginning of the most exciting few months of sports, as seemingly every day you can watch football, basketball or hockey. In the NFL, the most popular sport by far, it’s the best time of the year. Every week is single elimination, as the wild card round leads to the divisional round. The divisional round to the conference championship, a week break for the Pro Bowl (the NFL’s all star game) and then concluding with the Super Bowl. It’s the biggest sports game of the year, and the buildup to it is always fun and exciting. With the NBA and NHL in January, both are around the midpoints of their regular seasons, which means the quality of teams are starting to shine through, and the playoff pushes begin. For the top teams, it’s all about fighting for home court (or ice in the case of hockey) advantage throughout the playoffs, and for the lower level teams,
it’s about trying to make that final playoff push. Even the bad teams may be thinking about getting wins for a coach that may be on the hot seat, or even trying to get in the best position for a high draft pick. Excluding these three, there are other great sports moments early in the New Year, like the college football playoffs, college basketball, international hockey, and there always seems to be soccer on somewhere. Thank goodness sports gives us something to do when it’s cold as hell outside. For a little perspective, here’s a list of sporting events that occur early in the year: 1. NFL Playoffs/Super Bowl 2. Second Half of NBA Regular Season 3. NBA All-Star Game 4. NBA Playoffs 5. Second Half of NHL Regular Season 6. NHL All-Star Game 7. NHL Playoffs 8. Australian Open (Tennis) 9. African Cup of Nations (Soccer) 10. Winter X Games 11. World Alpine Ski Championships 12. Masters 13. Kentucky Derby And that’s only naming a few.
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Tabitha Peters
Juan Lopez
Editor-in-Chief
Humour Editor
“I chose to be a Journalist because being a Mermaid wasn’t availible to me.”
"What can I say, I'm number Juan in everything."
Doris Pozo Anastasiya Ivanova Features Editor “Your Highness here...seriously, that's what my name means."
Alec Pichelli News Editor "Loves Iced Tea. A solid 7.7/10"
Jessica Malandrino
Staff Writer “Philosophy & Professional Writing Major. My dream is to gain superpowers and help save the world.”
Vanessa Butera Arts Editor “Fourth year English Major. When I’m not writing poetry about the recurring butterflies in my life, I’m out-hipping the hipsters.”
Tyler Drummond
Opinions Editor
Sports & Health Editor
“I am an avid reader, I enjoy midnight walks, reading inspiring theory, and reading 1 and writing poetry.”
"Writing my way through sticky situations since 1995."
Fill it out and either drop it off under our door at our MacMedia office in McLaughlin College, room 004c OR take our online survey located on many Facebook YorkU Pages and on our MacMedia Facebook group page. Forward it to your York friends! Anonymous results will be printed in MacMedia's annual February (Love/Sex/Romance) issue and posted online. Get dirty!
What is your Sex? o Male o Female o Other: __________ What is your sexual preference? o o o o
Male Female Both Other: __________
Are you currently in a relationship? o Yes o No o It’s Complicated Number of past sexual partners: o o o o o
1-2 3-5 6-10 11-20 Other: __________
What is your preference in the bedroom? o o o o o o o
Rough Passionate Experimental Soft Kinky I only do it to orgasm Other: __________
How often do you do the Nasty? o o o o o o o
1-2 times a day 3+ times a day Few times a week Once a month Once a year Whenever I can Only when I need to procreate
Would you rather Give up masturbation of Never receive oral sex again? o Give up masturbation o Never receive oral again
What is your favourite position? o Doggy-Style o Missionary o Cowgirl / Reverse Cowgirl o Spooning o 69 o Lotus o Stand & Carry o Other: _________ One night stands are … o Fun (If no one gets attached) o GROSS (who knows where they’ve been) o Risky but I’d do it anyways
Do you like to Cuddle? o Only after sex o Before sex o Yes! I’m a cuddle machine o Occasionally o If I have to o No Which one of these would you want to use during sex if you had to choose? o Strawberries and Whipped Cream o Chocolate sauce o Honey o Flavoured Lube o Sushi (Samantha from Sex and the City approves) Ideal Threesome Expectation for you would be … o o o o
Two girls, one guy Two guys, one girl Three girls Three guys
How Often do you watch porn? o o o o
Everyday Every week Once in a while Only when I’m about to have sex o Ex, Never!
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Do you have a Fetish? If Yes, what is it?
What Makes You Orgasm More?
Hard as a rock but no condom, what do you do?
o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o
o Have sex anyways o Forget about doing it until a condom is found o Does everything but sex
Feet Role Playing Body Piercings Tattoos Lingerie Hair Pulling Shoes I don’t have one Other: __________
Oral Hand Stuff Intercourse Anal Masturbation
Faking an orgasm is … If you had to choose one role-playing scenario to incorporate into your sex life, what would it be?
Does Size Matter? o o o o
Yes No It’s how you use it I don’t care, I love the person o Nope, I love when it’s small
o o o o
The Boss and Secretary The Teacher and Student The Cop and Criminal The “I can’t pay my Landlord” o The Pizza Delivery guy o The Nurse and Patient o Jackie & Kelso
When you get down and dirty, what song best describes it?
Where do you mostly like to get your freak on? (select all that apply)
o Drunk In Love – Beyoncé o Earned It – The Weeknd o Panty Droppa – Trey Songz o Let’s Get it on – Marvin Gaye o I Just Had Sex – The Lonely Island o Can you Handle it? – Usher o I’m a Slave 4 U – Britney Spears o Dirrty – Christina Aguilera
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Bed Couch Car Public Transit Park On Camera Shower Beach Plane Kitchen Counter Chair Pool Elevator Stairs Classroom
Have you had sex at York? Toys in the Bedroom? o Yes o No o Sometimes
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o Yes o No o Not yet but I plan to
o Acceptable o Unacceptable What is your ultimate sexual fantasy? _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________
What is your strangest/funniest/most embarrassing sexual experience? _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________
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Get ready for our Annual SEX/LOVE/ROMANCE issue next month!
Send us your most awkward/embarrassing/ funniest sex stories to
MACMEDIA.EIC@GMAIL.COM All will be posted anonymously