January 2015

U of T’s Independent Newspaper Since 1978

vol 37 – issue V

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JANUARY 2015

#JESUISAHMED

By John Ashbery, from One Hundred Multiple Choice Questions (1970). 1. Thinking can help to solve problems because: (A) problems exist only in the mind; (B) problems

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Editor-In-Chief............................David Stokes Managing Editor .................Anna Bianca Roach Music Editor...........................Melissa Vincent Comment Editor..............Zach Morgenstern Science Editor........................Emily Posteraro Copy Editor...................Rebecca M. Williams Design Editor......................Daniel Glassman Contributors George Neish, Dean McHugh, Raphael Elkabas-Besnard (“Raf”), Tanja Velickovic, Jesse Beatson, Yevgeny Thompson, Seema Shafei, Christine Mueler, Sam Tracy, Issac Thornley, Kyle Quinlan, Samantha Chiusolo, Angelo Gio Mateo, Michael Baldanza, James Li ................................................................................. the newspaper - University of Toronto’s Independent Paper Since 1978. the newspaper is published by Planet Publications Inc., a non-profit corporation.

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editorial Reflections on the state of the press and freedom of speech

BY DAVID STOKES

Beyond the unspeakable atrocity of the Charlie Hebdo attack, the events this past week—from the attack itself to the media’s reaction to it and the world’s negligence of other, much more grandiose acts of hatred—reveal the hollowness of our governments’ and media’s claims to independence and transparency.

A commentator on Fox News stated, in reference to Charlie Hebdo and European immigration, that “there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim.” While that would be very neat, it’s blatantly untrue and also obvious that he was given a voice on national TV to spread Islamophobia.

Then there is the ultra-orthodox Israeli newspaper The Announcer, which edited female world leaders out of photos from the Charlie Hebdo rally in Paris.

But the rallies were already presented through deceptive media coverage: while newspaper front pages all over the world ran images that seemed to indicate that world leaders were leading the hundreds-of-thousands-strong rally, a wide shot released to French news reports shows that the front line of leaders was followed by just over a dozen rows of dignitaries and officials—on an otherwise empty street. One Twitter user put it best: “Seems world leaders didn’t ‘lead’ #CharlieHebdo marchers in Paris but conducted a photo-op on empty, guarded street.”

And nine of the countries represented by leaders and dignitaries in the march for press freedom are themselves in the bottom third of the World Press Freedom Index compiled

by Reporters Without Borders. Here is a list, put together by Twitter user Daniel Wickham, which shows that the world leaders given prom-

Why the media is playing into extremists’ hands

As a Muslim, I am expected to apologize for the recent attack against French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Like everyone who was shocked by the event, I mourn the unnecessary loss of life; yet I must also share the blame with Said and Cherif Kouachi—I am required to apologize for my kind. This dynamic, the apologetic segregation of the mournful into Muslims and non-Muslims and subsequent racial homogenization, is a sign that the heinous attack of violent aggression was a success for the terrorists who led it.

According to research group Ipsos Mori, the Muslim population in France is overesti-

mated on average by 342 per cent—in other words, the Muslim population is perceived as over three times as overpowering as the average French population.

It is in this ambiance, notoriously replete with Islamophobia and perceived Muslim threat, that the Charlie Hebdo massacre took place—and it is this same society that is reacting to the attack not by pushing back against extremism but by reacting to Islam.

The attack plays to a much larger issue of institutional racism and Islamophobia, of the effects of extremist attacks not only on the nation but on Muslim identity as a visible minority and an atmosphere that wants revenge. It serves to wound a nation and her ideals, but also to bolster differences and deepen resentment between her people. The rise of Islamophobia caused by the attack is, in fact, instrumental to the extremist cause—it is used to create an enemy common to Muslim

identity, and thus attract sympathizers.

Among the flurry of Islamophobic cartoons, it is easy to forget that among the lives we mourn for stands Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim police officer who fought against the attack. If there were heroes among the dead, it is him—a man who died defending an institution that regularly mocked his religion.

To downplay the bravery of Merabet, as the media has done and continues to do, artificially victimizes the non-racialized policemen and cartoonists and segregates the attack, thus painting it as an attack on France by Islam. Yet, it is not the loss of white lives to Islam that we should be mourning but an atrocious aggression of extremism towards French citizens of all ethnicities. By ignoring the deeply ethnic and racialized background to both the tragedy and the reaction to it, we, as an audience and as a world, are playing into the hands of the Kouachi brothers and their supporters. n

inent photo-op placement at the Paris rally are not only free-press hypocrites, but they’re by any measure worse threats to the world-changing possibilities of a free press than a couple terrorists with guns: U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron In 2013, the British prime minister publicly threatened to use court injunctions against newspapers that published information from the Edward Snowden leaks. When the Guardian published anyway, technicians from the secret service arrived at the newspaper’s office and forced editors to destroy their hard-drives with angle grinders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu In July, Reporters Without Borders detailed what it called the “deliberate targeting” of news professionals with arrests and intimidation by Netanyahu’s Israeli Defense Forces in the 2014 Gaza conflict. The next month, Palestinian photojournalist Rami Rayan was found among the dead after an IDF rocket attack on a Gaza marketplace. He was wearing a vest marked “PRESS.” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu Turkey imprisoned more journalists than any nation in the world in 2012 and 2013.

China officially took its seat last year, but many more reporters remain behind bars, and Prime Minister Davutoğlu’s government is currently prosecuting nearly 70 journalists who covered a recent corruption case.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Mamdouh Hamamreh, who works for the Palestinian TV station Al-Quds, joked on Facebook that Palestinian President Abbas looked like Fayez Kazak, an actor who played a spy on a popular TV show. For that, he was sent to jail.

King Abdullah II of Jordan Last year, Mudar Zahan was sentenced to up to 15 years hard labor in prison for publicly criticizing the state. Zahan was granted asylum in the UK, where he currently lives.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita French journalist Dorothée Thiénot was expelled from the city of Gao, where she was living, after reporting on the Malian army’s executions of suspected Islamist militants.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar Qatari poet Mohammed al-Ajami was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison for writing a poem that allegedly insulted Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. His sentence was later shortened to 15 years.

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar In 2013, Slovenian blogger Mitja Kunstelj was sentenced to six months in prison for “defaming” and “insulting” two fellow journalists

on his blog.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny In Ireland, blasphemy is a criminal offense.

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz Polish law enforcement officials raided the office of the magazine Wprost after it published a secretly recorded conversation between two government officials last year.

Saudi Ambassador to France Mohammed bin Ismail Al Al-Sheikh In May, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashings for “insulting Islam.” He was flogged in a public square in the city of Jeddah just two days before the rally.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras Photojournalist Tatiana Bolari was beaten by riot police at a demonstration in Athens last year, even though her gear “clearly identified her as a journalist,” according to Reporters Without Borders.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry Two Al-Jazeera journalists were sentenced to seven years jail and one to ten years in jail after they covered the ouster of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and subsequent demonstrations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Russia famously banned LGBT “propaganda” in 2013. Last year, officials arrested a journalist for interviewing an advocate of Siberian independence.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra Algerian authorities jailed radio journalist Abdessami’ Abdelhai for 15 months without charging him after he allegedly helped a newspaper editor flee the country. The editor had been charged with “endangering national security” because he publicly discussed president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s health.

It is ironic, then, that many in the U.S. media have criticized Barack Obama for not being at the rally. If he had, then we would have the pleasure of seeing the leader of the nation with the most wide-reaching and pernicious surveillance network stand in solidarity with free speech, whose past leaders, when they commit torture or war crimes, no matter how illegal or depraved, have no expectation of a full uncensored accounting or prosecution.

Which brings us back to Charlie Hebdo.

They were committed to the weekly evisceration of the powerful, from politicians to terrorists to clergy. Now the very people they mocked are running to co-opt the spectacle of their deaths for the purposes of power, militarism, and state-control. But let us not forget that when it was easy to ignore them, the politicians and the

media ignored Charlie Hebdo.

And what is the media ignoring now? How about the fact that three weeks ago the UN released a report detailing that in the Central African Republic, a former French colony, there had been widespread “ethnic cleansing” of Muslim people at the hands of Christian militias? Up to 6,000 people had been killed. Then there is the fact that on January 3rd, Boko Haram in Nigeria killed hundreds and perhaps as many as 2,000 people in Baga. And finally, the day before the Charlie Hebdo attack, there was the bombing of an NAACP office in Colorado. The FBI’s primary suspect is a balding white male who looks about 40 years old. Muslims everywhere are being asked to reassure and apologize for Islamist terrorism, but who answers for the terrorism carried out in the name of white supremacy? The NAACP bombing received little coverage on TV; even some locals said they had barely heard anything about what had happened, despite it being a blatant terrorist attack.

Now, on January 14, France has arrested comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, for “sympathy to terrorism” over a Facebook post.

We must mourn the men and women killed in Paris. We must mourn their lives in the spirit of resistance to colonialism, state violence, islamophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, Eurocentrism, and whatever else seeks to spread the ancient forces of greed, fear, and hatred. n

BY SEEMA SHAFEI

NEWS: 2.2% OF ONTAR ADULTS CONSIDERED SUICIDE IN 2014 ..................................................................................

Results from an ongoing survey conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) show that 2.2 per cent —over 230,000 Ontario adults—seriously contemplated suicide in the last year.

With files from Science Daily.

NEWS: DARTMOUTH STUDENTS CHEAT ..................................................................................

64 Dartmouth students have been charged with honor code violations after the school discovered widespread cheating in an ethics course designed to help struggling student-athletes. Almost a quarter of those enrolled in “Sports, Ethics and Religion” this fall are said to have participated in the scheme, which involved students answering questions for absent classmates on electronic devices designed to record attendance. “I feel pretty burned by the whole thing,” religion professor Randall Balmer told the media.

“I’ve never faced anything on this scale before.” With files from Gawker.

must be taken seriously; (C) mind triumphs over matter; (D) not to think would be to avoid the problem; (E) no problem can be completely solved anyway; (F) it is our duty to think our way out of the problem.

THE ROLE OF CAMPUS MEDIA IN HOLDING STUDENT LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE Should the failure of a VUSAC official be discussed in a public fashion?

BY ISAAC THORNLEY In early December, the Varsity reported that the student serving as Arts and Culture commissioner of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) had resigned from his position amid attempts at his impeachment by VUSAC executives and allegations of misogynistic and homophobic remarks.

Without delving directly into these allegations of homophobia and misogyny—simply because I do not believe there is enough publicly available information on the topic to make any such claims—I would like to focus on the purpose of this story by the Varsity, and the degree to which it was excessive and unnecessary.

A central role of any student publication on a university campus is to discuss issues affecting the reading public, i.e. students and the university community. This is neither an easy task nor an exact science; no publication, certainly this one included, is always capable of success in that regard. I mean in no way to single out the Varsity or hold them to an unreasonable standard when I say that the news story in question is less a news story than a gossip piece.

According to VUSAC’s website, the Arts and Culture commissioner is responsible for “promoting arts and culture at Vic, including producing the Bob Sketch Comedy Revue, hosting the Ultra Now Open Mic nights, running an annual trip to the Stratford Festival, and providing discounted tickets for local theatre and arts.”

The A & C commissioner is not a position with particularly high stakes.

If this story was deemed newsworthy because it involved the resignation of a student official, then I would argue that the role in question is not influential enough to warrant coverage from Canada’s largest student newspaper. If the story was deemed newsworthy because it addressed misogyny and homophobia on campus, then I would argue that not only are the alle-

“The question I’m trying to get at is whether this event merited public attention in the form of a Varsity news article.” gations largely a matter of hearsay, but there are many more productive ways to address the problem of misogyny and homophobia on U of T campus.

This university is home to countless clubs and student organizations who are devoted exclusively to addressing problems of sexism and heterosexism in a substantial capacity, i.e.

concerned far less with individual instances, such as the alleged comments of a VUSAC official, than with the institutionalized and pervasive nature of these problems. If an exploration of these problems was the purpose of this article, then one might have expected the consultation of a group such as LGBTOUT or VicPride.

I am in no way arguing here about whether the former A & C commissioner ought to have been impeached, or whether he should have resigned.

The fact is he did and the Varsity reported on it. The question I’m trying to get at is whether this event was a matter internal to VUSAC, or whether it merited public attention in the form of a Varsity news article. Considering the small scale of this story, to introduce it within a public forum, on the part of the Varsity, is merely an uncalled for act of public shaming on a petty figure in U of T campus politics, contributes to the trivialization of important matters like homophobia and sexism on campus, and normalizes gossip based on hearsay as a legitimate form of campus news reporting. n

RAF

NEWS: T.O. POLICE CHIEF SUSPENDS CARTING ................................................................

Toronto police chief Bill Blair has suspended the controversial practice of carding, which numerous critics have alleged was a racist practice.

More black men have been carded than their are black men in Toronto.

The suspension was made as part of a routine order address issued by the chief on January 1. The practice is suspended but critics argue that doesnt mean it is terminated. The police serives board — which mayor john tory sits on, and who has been highly critical of carding — will decide the future of the practice. With files from the Toronto Star.

NEWS: U OF T RESEARCHERS CREATE PAPER DIAGNOSTIC TOOL .............................................................

University of Toronto researchers have developed an ultra-low cost portable system for use diagnosing illnesses in some of the world's poorest countries. The system can be used to detect measles and rubella infection status and immunity. Awarded $112,000 by Grand Challenges Canada’s “Bold Ideas”

initiative, the system is being touted for its potential impact on infant and maternal health in developing nations. Professor Aaron Wheeler and his team have developed a piece of paper that can carry out tests. Printed for less than a dollar by a standard ink jet printer in a circuit-like design, the paper is an elaborate system that, as a by-product of a process involving magnetic beads, reagents, and patient samples, generates light. The brightness of the light emitted indicates recent infection or immunity to measles or rubella. With just one droplet of blood, four concurrent tests can be carried out within 35 minutes. With files from medicine. utoronto.com.

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the source of the gas in a hotel stairwell—a pile of powdered chlorine—and the incident sent 19 people, who were complaining of dizziness and other medical issues, to the hospital. A police investigation into who put the chlorine there is ongoing. With files from Vice News.

NEWS: COSMETIC HORMONES CAUSE GENITAL DEFORMATION, REPORT ................................................................

Hormone-mimicking chemicals used routinely in toiletries, cosmetics, medicines, plastics and pesticides cause hundreds of millions of damage to EU citizens every year, according to the first estimate of their economic impact. The endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs) are thought to be particularly harmful to NEWS: FURRY CONFERENCE male reproductive health and can cause TARGETED WITH CHLORINE testicular cancer, infertility, deformation ................................................................ of the penis and undescended testicles.

Several thousand attendees of the The new report, from the Nordic CounMidwest FurFest last month were cil of Ministers, focuses on the costs of the targets of an allegedly inten- these on health and the ability to work tional chlorine gas leak that could but warns that they “only represent a have turned deadly. The ​event is fraction of the endocrine-related diseasthe ​ second-biggest gathering of​ es” and does not consider damage to furries, the term for people who wildlife. Another new study, published dress up in expensive animal cos- in a medical journal, showed an EDC tumes and role-play (sometimes found in anti-perspirants reduced male sexually) as anthropomorphic crit- fertility by 30%. The Nordic Council, ters. Luckily, the leak was obvious representing the governments of govdue to the chemical's pungent ernments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, odor, and attendees were evacu- Norway and Sweden, is demanding the ated from the Chicago-area Hyatt European Union speeds up its plan to about 30 minutes after the leak was identify, assess and ban harmful EDCs. detected. A h ​azmat team found With files from the Guardian.

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2. In the sentence, “My vacation was spent in the mountains,” the word “mountains” is the: (A) subject; (B) predicate; (C) noun; (D) verb; (E) gerund; (F) none of these. 3. Christopher Columbus used

BY YEVGENY THOMPSON

L

Image: John H. Daniel’s Faculty facebook

ast month, on the 7th floor of the OISE building, in the Peace Lounge, Jacqui Lavalley gave a tobacco teaching. Lavalley is a traditional Ojibwe Kokomis/ Teacher, and a group of about 20 people gathered to learn about tobacco from her. “Tobacco is usually seen as something destructive, though we see it differently.”

She began her teaching: “Mother Earth’s first children are the four cardinal directions. For the first, when he came of age, she sent him in the northern direction, Giiwedinong. Her second son was Waabanong, and she sent him off into the east. The third son, she sent him to the southland; when Anishinaabe people make reference to ‘birdland,’ that’s what they are talking about. It is the birds that come and tell us when our loved ones are passing and when new ones are coming. And the ones who carries that gift are the geese. In the springtime they travel from the southland and they distribute new life to the people, so that our children are gifted with curiosity and survival skills. And when they journey back from the north to the south, they are picking up all the spirits of those young ones who have passed. I received that story when I was seven years old. It was in the fall time and all the geese were going south. And every time they passed overhead I would get really emotional and would run outside and watch them and I would cry. I asked my mom, how come I feel so sad? She said that that is what Mother Nature inspires, emotion, and sadness is an emotion that we should treasure, not just throw to the side. We should treasure that little bit of feeling, always.

“As the geese were going over, I was sitting on the step, and [a visiting elder] came outside and sat on the step too, and he said, ‘Do you feel that?’ And I said, ‘yes I do, and it makes me so sad. And he said, ‘well say bye bye, they will come back here.’ We did not have a word called reincarnation but we had like opportunity to return, like if your life was stopped at a young age, an opportunity to come back here and live some more of your life.

“This is the key to understanding how Anishinaabe pray: from the earth up to the sky, and we gather up all the wisdom on that journey.

Asemaa, tobacco, is our most sacred medicine.

Nothing can happen without this.

Then together we burn some sage.

“This helps me get used to big institutions.

Though we arent doing it because we are dirty before we pray. we are doing it because we promised we would offer this smoke to them, the four directions.”

Then Jacqui tells us about her most recent fast in the bush. She hiked out and was pulled up a big cliff and she was so tired that she fell immediately asleep. A song came to her in the first 15 minutes.

“I was transported right into my first journey. There was a disturbance in the southeast part of my lodge and I jumped up and said ‘Wenebojo!’ And this little boy stood up, saying, ‘yes my name is Wenebojo. You’re always sayin’ my name; when are you going to tell my story?’

And then all the trees turned into really old Anishinaabe people with long great hair and hide coats, and they sang a song.

Jacqui picks up a hide shaker and begins to sings the song, and invites us to sing along. After she is done singing, an attendee confesses to the group that while she was singing, a fruit fly flew into her mouth, which is fitting for a song about Wenebojo, who has a reputation as a benign trickster.

“We are all related. We are related even to

parasites, bacteria.”

Jacqui then shows us how to make tobacco ties, which are little piles of tobacco wrapped in fabric and tied closed with ribbon. As we make them, she tells us about her brother, who died from an illness related to alcoholism.

“When he was taken off life support he lasted for 10 days. The women in my family, we spent all that time making tobacco ties. We made enough to cover the coffin.”

“Last year was a really hard time for me. A lot of First Nations school kids took their lives. We didn’t have suicide like we do today in the long ago time. It wasn’t looked on as it is today, as something so terrible. The terrible thing is those who are left alive, that sorrow. The old time way, even as close as 20 years ago, when my mum passed. She just walked into the bush. She didn’t wait to get sick. She put on her best coat and walked into the bush. And her brothers passed in the same way. In a dream, a voice asked me if I thought of Mum’s death as a suicide, and I said no. She didn’t. It’s not running away, it’s knowing when this is over. In the north, they haven’t heard that teaching. To take your own life, I think theres a brave quality, I try to understand the pain.”

We made our tobacco ties and listened to Jacqui. Some of us exchanged recipes, talked about graduate school, and passed more tobacco, string, and fabric around. Jacqui had said that “every tobacco tie contains a teaching.” This is doubly true of the time you spend making them with an elder.

Jacqui will also be teaching on cedar, sweetgrass, and sage. The cedar teaching will be on Wednesday January 21, 2015 from 5:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m., Peace Lounge, 7th Floor, OISE. n

Student is critiqued by critics

AT ARCHITECTURE FACULTY, CRITICS COME FOR STUDENTS WORK Egos are hurt, and crying was witnessed, but above all the thesis reviews are about the thought and passion that goes into great design.

T

BY CHRISTINE MUELER

he critic finally spoke: “I wish there was an open wound on your elbow.”

The student had made a skateboard

theatre of ideas with copious human drama, colourful banter, and shaggy dog stories. For instance: Here we see beautiful renderings of coral-inspired cities floating on the world’s oceans after global warming. But the critics are unimpressed. “Do you know the portion of the world that is built on?” asks a critic. The student remains blank. “Give me a number,” demands the critic. “Twenty percent?” the student guesses. The critic shakes his head slowly. “No. It’s around five percent.

Or less. And your project is about building a thing so much larger than that. On the ocean.” Another critic asks, “How is it built?

Where does food grow?” Yet another critic chimes in: “Your project has the imaginative qualities of science fiction, but you have not attended to any of the material qualities or social imaginaries present in science fiction.

You have the skills of an architect but created a comic book.”

cebook Faculty fa

TOBACCO TEACHING

themed work—an unconvincing one, it seems.

This occurred last month at the Daniels Faculty Thesis Reviews, where over 70 masters students in architecture presented their work to critics, comprising architects and designers from some of the best firms, who asked questions and otherwise interrogated the students on their work. The event, which is open to the public, is one of the great academic spectacles of the year.

The few days of reviews feature a fantastic proliferation of models and renderings, maps and videos, which feel like a celebration of the opportunity to tell a story using architecture. There are so many that it is impossible to see them all—an unfortunate reality for the urbanism nut since each presentation is rich with insights and interesting comments from the critics. Here’s just some of what I saw: a presentation for a park in Tehran that is designed to enable “unofficial behaviours,” involving a discussion of the hairstyles of dissident Tehran girls; a residence for monks in Taiwan that doubles as a market, and about which the critics debated for ten minutes regarding the perfect placement of a pathway; a student who 3D-printed a crystalline structure in front of us; and an examination of the Ontario town of Hope, a utopian community settled by the radical Quaker cult the Children of Peace.

Success in front of the critics has its benefits: I saw a few business cards passed and quickly taken. But unqualified success is a rarity. Though students work on their presentations all semester, the reviews last only an hour each, and are the architectural equivalent of a winnowing—many fascinating models are presented, but few make it through unscathed by the probing questions of the critics.

But even the failed presentations are a

niel’s hn H. Da Image: Jo

CAMPUS SCENE

By now, the student’s thesis advisor, a faculty member who has shepherded the student and the work over the semester, jumps in to derail the pile-on with a strangely fascinating, rambling account: “Ok, so let’s stick to science fiction and coral reefs. Sri Lanka, which is surrounded by, or was surrounded, by coral reefs—there is no aggregate on the island so they have mined the coral to make concrete buildings. Hence the reason the tsunami was so devastating. Each of the four coasts of Sri Lanka has forms of coral reefs and there have been a number of experiments to propagate these, a number of which have been funded by the Arthur C Clarke Foundation, since Clarke lived in Sri Lanka, moved there because he was a scuba diver. And of course they made a special arrangement that authors did not have to pay income tax. So, about six weeks ago I had dinner with a woman by the name of Susmita Mohanty, who’s the CEO of India’s first start-up commercial space agency, headquartered in Bangalore. And she was a protégé of Arthur C Clarke. He paid for her third PhD before she ended up at NASA and Houston and back in India. Science fiction may be more truthful than the facts we think we know. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Despite this sidetrack, the critics immediately keep up their questions for the student: “I don’t see the ‘why.’ Why wouldn’t you address the malaise that has caused the flooding: human action. You’re going to destroy the ocean’s ecosystem. We’ve obviously proven ourselves to be incompetent in maintaining a land-based ecosystem. Why do you think we’d be better at an ocean ecosystem?

I find the infrastructure very beautiful but I have no idea why it’s architecture.” The thesis advisor jumps in again: “You see Nemo and the Nautilus were not devoured in the maelstrom off the coast of Norway. Nemo’s island! Jules Verne was right.” Another critic: “I don’t see a system, a reason it is the way it is.” The student shrugs this criticism off, but doing so pisses off a critic “That’s a very flip answer.” The thesis adviser rushes in to distract, again: “Jeanette Winterson, in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, says ‘the Venetian fisherman’s daughters have webbed feet.’ ” But the critic is still angry: “Oh come on! You’ve got to take a position! And I don’t want talk of literary metaphors, I just want to know what the architecture is. You didn’t finish the drawing as far as I’m concerned.

And you should be more concerned with how people respond to you. You will have to be in your professional life, why aren’t you here?”

Other presentations aren’t trainwrecks, but still show how a solid design can still be a far cry from success. One student presents their vision for a future campus building, the multicultural, multi-faith building that UofT plans to commission for where the ROM’s planetarium currently stands. The building the student has designed is nice, even well thought through—but a critic has another take, and demonstrates the kind of urban insight that makes this event worthwhile: “There probably isn’t a more multicultural place in the city than in the Target store in Thorncliffe park,” where people of

an egg to prove that the earth was round because: (A) the egg is round; (B) an egg conveys the idea of roundness; (C) eggs are not round but ellipsoidal; (D) an egg is a familiar object; (E) eggs are found

RAF

And the other academics?

In some ways the culture of the universities has gotten more intensely specialized than it ever was. So that you find a lot of people of my generation deploring the fact that nobody ever comes out of their office and sits in the lounge and discusses their ideas over a cup of coffee, or that nobody wants to go out for drinks at the end of the afternoon.

NEWS: CANADIAN TWINS ARRESTED ON TERRORIST CHARGES IN CANADA ..................................................................................

Canadian police arrested two brothers on terrorism-related charges January 9th. Ashton Carleton Larmond and Carlos Larmond were charged with counts related to terrorist activities, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement. They were both listed as 24 years old and appear to be twins. Carlos was apprehended at Montreal’s international airport just before departing to “travel overseas for terrorist purposes”, the police said. Ashton was charged with “facilitating

terrorist activity” and participating in a terrorist group. With files from the Times of Israel NEWS: ELTON JOHN FUNDS U OF T AIDS STUTY ..................................................................................

The Elton John AIDS Foundation is funding a University of Toronto study into how recent changes to Canada’s refugee policies affect people who are living with or at risk of acquiring HIV. The $75,000 grant was announced this week by the singer’s long-time partner and now husband from Toronto, David Furnish.

Image: Samantha Chiusolo

all faiths shop together, and where employees of different faiths “pray together in closets.” Compared to that, the student’s building, although much fancier, disappoints.

One critic responds more harshly, “There is almost nothing spiritual about this design; there are saunas that are more spiritual. In terms of urbanism, stacked and cantilevered boxes have become such a cliché, a kind of default institutional strategy. The planetarium dome that you are replacing is a more spiritual shape, with much more character.”

Then there are the truly great projects.

Perhaps the best are projects that beautifully reimagine what some neglected Toronto landmarks could become with some architectural interventions. My favourite project of this type was Heather Woolvett’s brilliant scheme for the Bloor Viaduct, which inserts glass pedestrian walkways into and through the bridge’s stunning nineteenth century wrought-iron superstructure. Suddenly, the most dramatic—but hidden—part of the bridge becomes a transcendent publicly accessible space. Woolvett also suggests turning the bridge’s pillars into climbing walls (a nod to the 400 suicides who have lept from the viaduct; now, though, people will climb up).

With these alterations, the bridge—already Toronto’s most beautiful—would become an instant tourist destination. Another great project also involved a nineteenth century bridge. This was Andrew Ard’s reconfiguration of the Bathurst Street Bridge, which involved turning the bridge into a civic square by building a raised platform to connect all the roads and pathways that currently channel into it. Also exciting to imagine was Nicole Reamey’s plan for a publicly accessible fish hatchery for the Humber River. These are truly inspired ideas that, if implemented, would turn under-utilized spaces into destinations. If these projects show the future of the public realm, we’re in good hands. n

I N T ER VIEW

THE DEVIL the newspaper sits down with philosphy professor Ronald de Sousa

BY GEORGE NEISH

A

As a philosopher, are you trying to make things simpler, or more complicated?

That’s a good one. As an analytic philosopher I think that I’m trying to make things more simple. But at the level at which it’s possible that things are simple, you are only looking at the way the bottom layer is organized; so those simple things may combine in many complicated ways. Insofar as they combine in complicated ways it may end up that philosophy has made things more complicated.

You have a reputation for being fairly

You must be aware that you are exactly the amoral sexual libertine that conservatives say dominate the universities. Are you playing it up? Are they right?

If it’s social stuff you are talking about, academics are just as stuffy as anybody else. Except those who are on various fringes, if you like.

But you know, academics are too damn busy to do too much stuff that is very out there in terms of sex and partying. What really is there for academics to do other than do their work?

Though, for example, I have this student who came in today, who has been at every single one of my office hours, whose parents came to the first one of my lectures and were very happy for him to be here. Anyway, he came in today to talk about the problem of evil, and it came up in the conversation that his father taught Sunday school. I thought that was interesting. I wondered whether his father would —as his son was gradually becoming an atheist —turn around and say, “oh my God! I should never have taken my son to that professor.”

I was thinking, when I asked that question, about that story you told about your debate with the former president of the Ontario Film Censorship board.

Oh the censor? The one who crossed herself?

Yes. You seemed to revel in it a little bit.

Of course I did! Wouldn’t you relish it? To be taken for Satan. Isn’t that anyone’s ambition to be occasionally taken for Satan?

So, I’d like you to be a reactionary for a moment. Is there a social practice that you would ban if you had to?

Well. Bad manners, certainly. I think that people do have a deplorable absence of ordinary courtesy in everyday situation. That could pass for reactionary.

I resent, for example, emails which saying, “Hi, I missed the last two classes, what did I miss? Please send me any materials about what I should know.” I mean, that seems to me to be absolutely preposterously rude as well as stupid.

So, I would ban those.

SYMPATHY FOR

t first glance, Ronald de Sousa would not strike anybody as a controversialist. But the U of T philosopher, who specializes in the science of emotions and sex, has some form in this area. His PHL243 class on the philosophy of sexuality—not, he insists, a “bird course”—is a good place to see him in his best polemical style.

After the lecture, I caught up with the bicycle-helmet-toting professor to ask him a few questions. In the course of our conversation we talked about the dullness of academics, good old-fashioned manners and being mistaken for Satan...

5

The devil happens to be a great professor

outspoken. Is there anything that you’d be afraid to say in your lectures?

I think that, although I’m very free with my opinions in the lectures, I sort of feel that I have a kind of obligation to present things in such a way that it’s not necessarily the case that my opinions are always obvious. I admit that I’m probably not very good at that. I think there are plenty of things about the details of my private life that wouldn’t be appropriate…

You came to U of T a while ago. Compared to what everyone thinks of as the pretty wild time of the 70s what are people at the university like now?

It’s incredibly difficult to answer that question. My sense is that it depends on which circumstances you meet people in. In this particular course [the philosophy of sexuality]

I think almost necessarily I meet people who are quite exceptional, I mean, they’ve accepted the terms of the course which I make quite explicit at the beginning. So, it’s not going to be people who are particularly hidebound and narrow-minded. So it’s, in short, a completely unrepresentative sample. I’m not a sociologist, I just don’t know.

If you want my sense of it, despite this ignorance, people who are in their twenties and thirties now are much more disposed to be free in their sexualities. If they are gay this is because of a change in the law; for women this is because of the change in the mores. People are much less guilt ridden and don’t have any kind of feeling that they have to be monogamous or that they only have to be interested in only one gender. This is of course an entirely self-selecting sample; but what I see of it, I like.

Are you ever trying to shock people?

No. Not really. Sometimes I get into a conversation with someone who has religious beliefs and I will be totally unsparing of my view that it is completely incomprehensibly stupid to have these kinds of beliefs. But it’s not because I want to shock them; but I am perfectly okay with shocking them.

Some time ago I was in Manchester for a PhD exam, and in the lift I got into a conversation with a woman who was wearing full Islamic regalia. She said that she wanted to ask me about some research that she was doing and I suggested we meet for breakfast. She said that she didn’t eat breakfast, and I said, “I think it’s incredibly rude of you to prefer your religious prejudices to the courtesy that it would be, if you want to talk to me, to come and eat at the time that I would like to eat.” She took it terribly well, I continued in this vain telling her that her religious beliefs were incredibly idiotic for considerable amount of time. Well, we did eventually get together—not to eat anything— and she said to me, “I will come to Toronto and convert you”. I said, “I’d rather you got me to Dubai and lodge me in style.” I have to say that I was enjoying the fact that that I was saying all of these shocking things and that she was completely unfazed. n

6

on ships; (F) the egg came first. 4. A phalanx is a(n): (A) a group of men; (B) Egyptian idol; (C) term of military strength; (D) political party; (E) plant found in swampy areas; (F) promise made to oneself. 5. In democra

LOCAL RAP ACT KMARCX AND THE SOVIET REUNION SIGNIFIES A CULTURAL SHIFT POST MODERNITY IS ITS SWAY I N THE ARTISTIC COMMUNITY

BY KYLE QUINLAN

One of the most interesting artists to emerge from the rejection of postmodernity is Kmarcx and the Soviet Reunion. Kmarcx, the 22-year old, Toronto based William Roelofs, has successfully fused critical theory and rap to create a stunning critique of postmodernity, popular culture, and advanced capitalist society. His debut album, Trap Lorde (2014), has become an underground staple. Not only is Trap Lorde politically charged but it also is one of the more innovative rap albums of the year. The production value of the album meets professional standards even though Mr. Roelofs produced it in a basement. The lyrics of Trap Lorde mock misogyny and cultural appropriation. But what truly sets Mr. Roelofs apart from other underground artists is the way his album emphasizes the importance of narratives.

Trap Lorde explores the failure of post-structuralism to provide meaningful personal narrative. In some ways the album is inspired by Nietzschean aesthetics, namely Nietzsche’s notion that personal narrative serves as a myth to allow one embrace life and overcome nihilism.

However, the aesthetic theory underlying Trap Lorde goes further. Despite personal narrative being constructed, the key notion to Kmarcx’s art is the notion that narratives hold value. Trap Lorde is innovative not only for its challenge to post-modernity. Unlike other musicians, such as Franz Ferdinand, who were merely reactionaries advocating for a return to modernism, Kmarcx is in search of a new art.

Kmarcx’s latest work has aimed to surpass the avant-garde. By releasing advanced tracks for his upcoming album Prussian Marches, Kmarcx has challenged the significance of the avant-garde. By using the techniques employed by avant-garde artists, Prussian Marches openly mocks the avant-garde for ultimately becoming what it was meant to destroy: decadent art.

The album’s title itself is meant to mock the militant faith artist place in the avant-garde, while tracks such as, Kurwa, specifically mocks radical politics. Unlike other responses to post-modernity, Kmarcx does not draw upon romantic notions of art. His art embraces the pain in life without romanticizing or downplaying it; he portrays life as it really is. Kmarcx’s music shows much career promise as a rising star in the underground community. n

ROCK / METAL

I

BY JAMES LI

t’s hard to speak definitively about the state of metal in 2014. Metal is a very broad term – more like a collection of tribes than one big scene.

There weren’t any huge polarizing crossover albums this year either. In previous years, releases like Deafheaven’s Sunbather (2013) and Liturgy’s Aesthetica (2011) gained the attention of non-metalhead listeners and the scorn of genre purists. In fact, if any album dominated the conversation this year, it was Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden, which generated a pretty surprising consensus, beloved by underground metal blogs, as well as mainstream outlets like NPR and Pitchfork.

Many metalheads tend to reward bands that do a classic style well, and there was no shortage of albums in this vein. Foundations of Burden almost does Black Sabbath better than Sabbath themselves, and anyone who appreciates slow crushing riffs would find something to like in releases like YOB’s Clearing the Path to Ascend, Triptykon’s Melana Chasmata, and Electric Wizard’s Time to Die. The crown jewel of doom metal this year, though, has to be Heathen, an elegiac 75-minute epic from Louisana band Thou.

A wave of young bands, mostly European, breathed new life into death metal this year. Teitanblood, a Spanish trio, throw all productiown standards and conventional song structures out the window in favour of pure savagery on their simply-titled album Death.

Dead Congregation from Greece takes death metal to its cavernous roots on Promulgation of the Fall. Other death metal bands are adding outside influences to great effect—Emptiness incorporates Lynchian dark ambience on Nothing but the Whole, and Pyrrhon’s The Mother of Virtues owes as much to Sonic Youth as it does to Gorguts.

But it seems that it’s in black metal where new musical ground was constantly broken this year. Toronto’s Thantifaxath might be one of the most left-field bands in the genre today, with their use of winding guitar leads and sampled strings on their aptly titled debut Sacred White Noise. On Saor’s Aura, the Scottish band adds traditional Celtic pipes to black metal in a way that’s not too cheesy (or more precisely, with the perfect amount of cheese). Similarly, Kentucky’s Panopticon manages to make black metal and bluegrass work on Roads to the North. Strangest of all might be Botanist, a one-man band that plays ecologically-themed black metal on a hammered dulcimer instead of an electric guitar.

It seems like legends in every genre made triumphant comebacks this year. Aphex Twin and D’Angelo, giants in electronic music and R&B respectively, came out with some of the best albums their career in 2014, both after fourteen years of waiting. After a similar fourteen-year wait, Godflesh, the industrial metal pioneers, released A World Lit Only by Fire, also one of the best of their career. Nergal, the frontman of the death metal outfit Behemoth, made a more literal comeback, releasing The Satanist after recovering from leukemia.

And the drone metal duo Sunn O))) managed to collaborate with the famously reclusive Scott Walker in Soused, the strangest musical collaboration in any genre this year.

But on the other hand, 2014 was a year of farewells for other bands. GWAR’s frontman, Dave Brockie, passed away at 50 this year. Japanese-American grindcore band Gridlink’s Longhena is an astonishingly great album, but it also turned out to be their last.

ELECTRONIC / DANCE

BY JAMES LI

L

This year, we didn’t this year we didn’t get an Ok C

or even a Merriweather Post Pavillion (2009). Argua

aggressive and apparent shooting star. However, th

ing change. “Genreist” isn’t a common term but the

proven it’s relevancy in the early 2000s and observ

Metal has taken a turn for the exquisitely melodic w

it can get it’s hands on into a single, accessible 3 m

stantial shift in our current musical sphere. Artists in

and have simply created their own. Rap for the em

deranged and confused all exist. Consider 2014 th

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NO W!

isting the best electronic albums that came out this year is a fool’s errand. For one, “electronic music” might be one of the least helpful genre names. It’s an umbrella term used to describe music for nights when headphones hang out with bedrooms, nightclubs are reserved for the painfully stylish, and outdoor festivals acquire a neon tint. Some of the best electronic music came in the form of a single, a compilation, a DJ mix, or is just floating on some teenager’s SoundCloud.

This year saw the rise of “bubblegum bass,” spear-

headed by the label PC Music and producer SOPHIE. This microgenre takes cloying bubblegum pop—think Aqua or anything from K-pop and J-pop—and twists it into something cold, futuristic, and somewhat unsettling. Bubblegum bass has some serious potential to cross over—SOPHIE’s already produced a track for Madonna, so we’ll see if bubblegum bass is here to stay.

But along with the new came the old. 2014 witnessed one of its biggest comebacks in a long time: Syro, Aphex Twin’s first album in fourteen years. No genre progresses as rapidly as electronic music, so it’s incredibly impressive how fresh the long-gestating comeback from the techno pioneer sounds. If techno interests you, then 2014’s been a great year. Andy Stott’s Faith in Strangers, Objekt’s Flatland, and Clark’s self-titled sixth album are all proof that you can do interesting things in 4/4, with elements of trap, dubstep, house, and other styles bleeding into their albums.

There were also a ton of conceptual electronic albums this year, for people who like to think while they dance. Flying Lotus’s You’re Dead! tackles the concept of death in the most playful way imaginable, with scattershot jazz breaks and rapping from Snoop Dogg.

Fatima Al-Qadiri’s Asiatisch is arguably the pinnicle of globalization in music this year: a Senegal-born Kuwaiti based in Brooklyn uses British production styles – bass and grime – to envision an imagined China.

And even though Iceland-based Australian producer’s, Ben Frost, named his album this year, A U R O R A, Borealis it ain’t. Recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Frost uses cinematic soundscapes to evoke the war-torn region.

If there was any prevailing theme in electronic music in 2014, it was the body. Margaret Chardiet, the industrial artist who records as Pharmakon, uses her album Bestial Burden to document her battle with an autoimmune disease that resulted in having an organ removed. Arca, the project of Alejandro Ghersi, the producer who worked with Kanye West and FKA twigs, named his twisted glitch album Xen after his alien alter-ego who straddles the line between androgyny, femininity, and something else altogether. Elizabeth Bernholz, who records as Gazelle Twin, relives her feelings of physical self-loathing and her experience attempting suicide on her glitch pop album Unflesh.

Inga Copeland, one half of the duo Hype Williams, takes on self-image on her no-fi album because i’m worth it, plumbing the space between beauty and ugliness; confidence and vanity.

acy the president is elected by: (A) roll-call vote; (B) the will of the people; (C) the Supreme Court; (D) majority vote; (E) drawing lots; (F) straw vote. 6. Religious freedom means: (A) that God does not exist; (B) that

7

Computer (1997), a good kid M.A.A.D city (2012)

ably (and argue they will), 2014 was without its

this lack of a single album takeover is a refresh-

he distinct boundaries created by purists have

ved it’s near abolishment in the last 5 years.

while Pop has continued combining everything

RAF

minute package. We are in the middle of a sub-

n the periphery have tired of single distinctions

motionally vulnerable and Electronica for the

he year of the underdog takeover.

E

RAP

BY MICHAEL BALDANZA

arlier this year, Forbes ran an article praising Iggy Azalea entitled “Hip Hop Is Run

By A White, Blonde, Australian Woman” (they later retracted the headline). Azealia Banks, however, has voiced her concerns with Forbes’ headline and Azalea’s Grammy nomination. Her own debut release Broke with Expensive Taste also dropped this year, representing another dimension of the genre. In early December, she unleashed an emotional rant against Azalea, reigniting a central debate in hip-hop: What is hip-hop identity and to what extent does the history of Black Americans play a part in the genre?

Iggy Azalea does not offer an answer to these questions and her success has only provided more ammunition for critics decrying the erosion of hip hop from its sociopolitical roots. This year was important for the genre, touching upon current issues in American society and questioning the identity of hip hop. Various artists have attempted to answer these questions throughout the year, one of which through the permanence of dirty rap. One of the biggest songs of the year has come from newcomer Bobby Shmurda with “Hot N***a.” Another big release this year is YG’s My Krazy Life with its own viral single, “My N***a.”

Neither of them particularly stirring but their strand of hip hop demonstrates how ignorant rap will continue to entertain a strong popularity as young black men play with new notions of race.

If 2013 was the year of Chicago’s ascendancy, then 2014 has been the year of New Weird Atlanta. The R&B-tinged style unites pop sheen and Southern drawl, in which rappers with shimmering, slovenly cadences rode vigorous, trap-influenced beats. As yet, this style has yielded few great albums, but many great singles. Rae Sremmurd’s “No Type” is an anthem for adolescent lust and rebellion, performed at once with exuberance and solemnity. iLoveMakonnen released two of the year’s best: the unlikely club banger “Tuesday,” and the Mike WiLL-assisted “Wishin’ You Well.”

On the first, Makonnen bitterly details his efforts of trying to make something of himself. On the second, he addresses an ex-lover with nostalgia, regret, and passion; memorializing their shared experiences, while also expressing the neglect that he felt during their relationship. It’s an unusual rap confessional and Makonnen’s strained singing complements the plaintive tone of the song.

There were, however, some Atlantan albums of interest. Future’s Honest was the best of the bunch. Album centrepiece “I Won” is the strongest cut, standing out as one of the most interesting ballads in rap’s history. The song is a stunning glimpse of the insecurity and the guilt that results from a glamorous love. We see the vanities that Kanye and Future have committed

themselves to, expressed in Kanye’s desire to “dip [his beloved’s] ass in gold,” Future’s to see his beloved in designer clothing; we see the fleeting possibility of love in a maze of money and power and sex; we feel the pain and fear that comes from this crass materialism and clueless misogyny.

However, it is Run the Jewels 2, the second fulllength LP from hip-hop duo Killer Mike and El-P that stands out as the record that will leave a lasting impact on the genre. RTJ2 is a stronger, harder and more complex record than the first album. El-P’s production is almost unparalleled in the genre. Killer Mike trades verses with El-P, sounding like an underground rap battle against so-called “fuckboys.” The darker narratives, such as Killer Mike’s verse on “Crown,” sets Run the Jewels apart from their contemporaries. Yet, even on the albums’ bangers, the duo set a new standard for braggadocio.

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W O N

AD E R

W POP

BY ANGELO GIO MATEO

hat does “pop music” mean in 2014? Since pop music is an all-encompassing multigenre, where should the lines be drawn demarcating the category? It’s difficult to answer the question, but it’s important to consider the genre’s definition since pop in 2014 can also include hip-hop, R&B and even parody music. It is easy to ridicule and dismiss pop music as senseless music for the masses, but it is important to keep an ear out for what captures people’s ears and how those acts relate to the other genres.

This year we saw music from One Direction, Maroon 5 and Ariana Grande—all in the traditional vein of pop music. With One Direction, fans worldwide once again obsessed over a pre-teen boy band with flashy dance moves and squeal-inducing smiles. There’s nothing impressive about these boys but that does little to diminish their universal appeal.

Maroon 5, on the other hand, have been around for much longer. They’ve taken a different musical path than their earlier albums and where Songs About Jane (2002) and It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (2007) had a soul feel, V feels unabashedly “pop” representing a step back for the band. Of the three acts, Ariana Grande shines, though not necessarily without faults of her own. Grande was, as recently as last year, a child star for Nickelodeon. Her debut effort points towards the mandatory sexualization process for every evolving child star. Her music however, demonstrates that she is capable of building catchy hooks with great production beneath it. Grande’s not there yet, but she’s shown potential.

There haven’t been many one hit wonders this year, except for Megan Trainor’s “All About That Bass”

and MAGIC!’s “Rude” and they are both as equally embarrassing in their own right. On “Rude” by Canadian band, MAGIC!, the lyrics narrate a young man (unsuccessfully) asking for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage, prompting the hook, “Why you gotta be so rude? Don’t you know I’m human too? […] I’m gonna marry her anyway.” It’s almost mind-numbingly dumb. Yet, despite the lack of one hit wonders in 2014, for better or for worse, it isn’t clear that the phenomenon hasn’t been phased out altogether. The dream of scoring the next viral hit is still an attractive fantasy for many artists looking to break out into the music industry.

2014 marked the return of “Weird Al” Yankovic— the genius of parody music. Weird Al has been parodying pop music for decades now and his command of the genre testifies to his time in the music industry.

He manages to pay tribute to the original song, while adding in his own quirky traits and narratives. It is no wonder that Weird Al’s final album on Columbia Records, Mandatory Fun, received much acclaim.

2014, however, really belongs to three artists who dominated the charts this year: Beyoncé, Sam Smith and Taylor Swift. If there’s one thing that’s been constant since the beginning of this past year, it’s the admiration for Beyoncé. It seems as if “Drunk in Love” has been playing everywhere all year. Her self-titled album, Beyoncé is a bold move has been praised by critics for its darker production and feminist themes.

Sam Smith, on the other hand, hasn’t received as much love from the critics. They charge that Smith can’t break away from familiar R&B tropes. However, it’s hard to deny his massive vocal talent, nor the draw of his singles “I’m Not The Only One” and “Stay With Me.” Taylor Swift and her album 1989, however, are the definition of pop in 2014. Released in late October, Swift described her fifth LP as her "first documented official pop album." Since the summer, the singles “Shake it Off” and “Blank Space” have wormed their way into our heads and hearts with a musical style that differs from her earlier works.

Pop music is always a tricky category to discuss, and for good reason. Unlike other genres, there are no standards to judge a musical piece against and it draws upon various genres in it’s quest for uninhibited appeal. Its particular role in the mass media give it a political platform as well as an artistic one. In short, when popstars speak, people listen regardless of their message being a vehicle of social change. Whether it’s a guilty pleasure or a genuine love, each person derives their own enjoyment from the music in their own way.

While the very prospect may offend rock purists, pop music is here to stay. n

8

6. Religious freedom means: (A) that God does not exist; (B) that God is dead; (C) that the individual is free to worship God as he chooses; (D) that we need to attend church only on Sundays; (E) that we

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can do as we please; (F) that there is no life after death. 7. The Antiquary is a novel by: (A) Charles Dickens; (B) William

CHEMATRIA Using artificial intelligence to power the future of medicine

BY MATTHEW THOMAS When you think of the process of drug discovery for diseases, you probably think of a scientist at a lab bench mixing liquids, pipetting things into petri dishes, sticking test tubes into centrifuges, and looking into microscopes to evalute effective therapies. Now imagine that the entire process could be done completely virtually, saving money and time. That is what Toronto-based scientists at Chematria—a bio-medical research company with a focus on artificial intelligence software—are striving to do.

Chematria’s main goal is to accelerate the drug discovery process by running their unique software comprising 50-75 thousand lines of code, through Canada’s largest supercomputer, which is based at U of T, to quickly analyze millions of chemical compounds.

Using deep neural network technologies— computer algorithms inspired by the neuronal connections of the mammalian visual cortex— the software derives the underlying patterns of the chemical compounds best able to affect the disease protein of interest. Simply put, it recognizes the properties of a compound in relation to the protein of interest, and tests their compatibility as if they were actually interacting in a cell. Then it evaluates the level of efficacy of the drug, and learns from this development for future drug-protein interactions. This is extended to determining the toxicity of the compound, and even discovering new uses for old drugs. The evaluation portion of the software requires the most human intervention, as scientists decide what types of result patterns are important.

“If the computer can provide practical insight which would be hard for human chemists to derive without [the computer], then that’s thinking enough for me,” said Dr. Heifets when asked if his software could think.

Deep learning neural networks, the “thinking” aspect of the software, have successfully been used in technology for speech recognition, like Siri for the iPhone, and object differentiation, like Google’s self driving car.

To Dr. Abraham Heifets, CEO of Chematria, this advanced type of pattern recognition meets the practical requirements of

thinking. “If the computer can provide practical insight which would be hard for human chemists to derive without [the computer], then that’s thinking enough for me,” said Dr. Heifets when asked if his software could think, in an interview with the newspaper. “It’s like saying, ‘can submarines swim?’ I think the answer tells you a lot more about what you think swimming is.”

No learner though is without a teacher.

Before this system is set to work, it must be put through a “training program,” unique to Chematria, and altered until it arrives at the correct conclusions. “We set up a training system, and then we set up an evaluation for it,” Dr. Heifets explains. “We tweak not the way it’s making the decision once it’s learned, but how it goes about learning.”

Deep learning neural networks have become so advanced that given only a few short years of existence, they can already beat human performance on many tasks considered primarily human.

The steep evolutionary pressure on the mammalian brain to attain the visual acuity at which it currently operates has existed for many millennia. Computer systems have had less than 100 years to evolve this quickly and they are already surpassing us in certain visual tasks.

The very fact that computers can match and even beat us at tasks which we are extremely good at leads to visions of a utopian future, where we develop computers to outperform us in nearly every aspect. After all, machines that learn to outperform us in certain tasks will still remain subject to those who control how they learn.

While this smarter artificial intelligence can do amazing things, some critics worry about the implications of such vastly intelligent software, akin to the Terminator robots taking over the world apocalypse scenario. In any case, we are growing with our technological advances and creating a more integrative definition of technology and humanity.

Regarding the nature of intelligence itself, Dr. Heifets had this to say: “every time we solve a problem that was considered to be artificial intelligence, we then redefine artificial intelligence as those things that we do not yet have answers for.” In this way, we are able to step back and examine intelligence as a concept.

From this new vantage point, we see intelligence as a concept which is much more elusive and hard to define than previously considered, and one which philosophers and scientists will debate for years to come.

While Chematria is currently aiding humanity by focusing on such diseases as Ebola and malaria, they are also using their software to investigate other issues in human health like lower toxicity pesticides, leukemia, and multiple sclerosis. Chematria understands that disease pandemics are far from over, and are in fact getting more complicated to control. It is this urgent need that drives Chematria to seek out the best tool in finding faster and better medicine, in the fight against disease: namely, artificial intelligence. n

Eli Fox’s Top Films of 2014 1.Hard to be a God (Aleksei German) 2.Lil’ Quinquin (Bruno Dumont) 3.Horse Money (Pedro Costa) 4.Jauja (Lisandro Alonso) 5.The Immigrant (James Gray) 6.Journey to the West (Tsai Ming-Liang) 7.Black Coal Thin Ice (Diao Yinan) 8.Goodbye to Language 3D (Jean-Luc Godard) 9.Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho) 10.From What is Before (Lav Diaz)

9

OF FASHION

POLITICS

SCIENCE

Makepeace Thackeray; (C) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow;

BY TRENT LEE rom the purple cloaks of Roman emperors to the mink furs of French kings, fashion has long been an indicator of wealth and power—the armour of politicians and peoples alike.

This is what Fashion Television personality and Globe columnist Jeanne Beker tries to convey through Politics of Fashion, her curation at the Design Exchange.

Touching upon gender, consumerism, and political conflict, the pieces are diverse and highly political. Western and Arab worlds collide through the discussion of veil politics through the appearance of Jeremy Scott’s iconic leopard-print burqa and the juxtaposition of veiled mannequins to sultry Western evening dresses. The audience is guided through anarchy in the UK with the striking punk and goth scenes of Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood.

Gas masks, bloodied fur coats and the art of iconic garçon terrible Rudi Gernereich share the floor with Nick Knight’s intense anti-racism photographs and film campaign against the fashion industry.

Politics of Fashion, with the evocative pieces and iconic names it offers, serves as a voyage not only through the trends and styles of our era, but also through our world’s most poignant and personal struggles. n Politics of Fashion, Fashion of Politics at the Design Exchange. Until January 25th, 2015.

PAINTED: “FASHION DICTATERROR” AND “MODEL DON’T GO TO BROTHEL.”

THE TRUDEAU CAMPAIGN GAVE OUT THESE PAPER DRESSES, WHICH COULD BE WORN FIVE TIMES BEFORE FALLING APART.

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SW E E T V IB E S

WORLD MUSIC

ESEMBLES

CONCERT

BY TANJA VELICKOVIC

U

of T’s Faculty of Music students put on yet another exciting show last month at Walter Music Hall, leaving the packed auditorium in awe after performing an inspiring selection of remarkably diverse traditional pieces from around the world. Directed by Gary Kiyoshi Nagata, the Japanese Taiko Ensemble asserted itself with an aggressive

Throat singing is like a game of skill in which two performers holding each other by the arms imitate sounds. and satisfying opening composition, Sanmyaku Daiko. The piece’s thunderous resonance portrayed men in the mountains communicating with each other via drums.

The ensemble’s other two pieces, Futten and Ogi Matsuri Daiko, were also pleasing visually as well as aurally, as the style of drumming that this ensemble was playing featured confident and assertive coordinated body movements, particularly in the players’ agile arms. The drumming resembled the beating of a heart and its strong, powerful vibrations could be unmistakably felt throughout the auditorium.

The second ensemble to hit the stage performed pieces that we don’t usually have the privilege of hearing.

Headed by the visiting artist Raigelee Alorut, this group of students took on the challenge of performing traditional Inuit throat singing, a custom passed down through generations.

Usually done in pairs, throat singing is a lot like a game of skill in which two performers holding each other by the arms imitate sounds (usually of nature) using only their throat vibrations. The “competitions” were humorous and light-hearted, which contrasted the aggressive and confident rhythms of Japanese drumming. This ensemble also sang a few traditional Inuit songs, including Qiujaviit and Quviasuliqpunga, which celebrated the cold climate of the north, hunting and life itself. The students wore colourful traditional Inuit costumes, all of which were actually made by Raigelee herself.

U of T’s Klezmer Ensemble— which has played at venues like the Four Seasons Centre and the Glenn Gould Studi—was the last group to perform and offered yet another musical perspective to the evening.

Directed by Brian Katz, this group played a selection of songs from the Klezmer tradition, a style of music known as “the soul music of Eastern European Jewry.” The style mixes Eastern and Southeastern European folk music with traditional Jewish music and even incorporates some

(D) Siw Walter Scott; (E) Ouida; (F) Edna St. Vincent Millay. 8. The proverb “Let sleeping dogs lie” means that: (A) dogs never tell the truth anyway; (B) dogs will be good

popular modern genres like jazz and swing. The accordion, a staple of Eastern and Southeastern European folk music, was a major component as well as the clarinet and the violin.

Nisht Gesorgt, Yiddish for “Don’t Worry,” was a tune that lived up to its name: it featured exquisite accordion solos and had an indisputably cheerful vibe. Chassidic Waltz—arranged by the students themselves—featured a breathtakingly beautiful melody, while Odessa Bulgarish was also an uplifting and fun piece that even included some traditional Southeastern European Kolo dancing.

All three styles of music contrasted and complemented each other to create a diverse kaleidoscope of musical tradition. While the Japanese drumming ensemble took things to a powerful level, the Inuit throat singers exposed an amusing yet equally as powerful tradition that’s in danger of being forgotten. The Klezmer Ensemble reminded us that a people’s traditional music can still be dynamic and ever-changing. We’re definitely looking forward to what the Faculty has in store for us this year. n

CAN PROTEST SONGS BE SAVED FROM CRUEL POLITICAL CLUTCHES?

BY ZACH MORGENSTERN

C

anada has produced a number of iconic popular musicians over the years: Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Buffy St. Marie come to my mind most readily. Their best days may be behind them, but fear not, Canada: this country has a new music sensation and his name is Stephen Harper.

If you have not checked out the Prime Minister’s work I highly recommend you do so. You’ll probably be amused simply because his setlist choices are very recognizable, and because, well, he’s singing them. The songs themselves are not great. Harper’s talents as a singer are on par with his abilities as a charismatic speaker; he does passably so long as he does not take risks. The arrangements are also rather mediocre, as can be heard on his cover of “Sweet Caroline.” The song, as originally performed by Neil Diamond in 1969, derives its beauty not from its compositional structure, but from Diamond’s angsty delivery and its soft orchestral production.

That affect is entirely lost in Harper’s keyboard-accordion based cover.

What is most egregious about Harper’s performances, however, is that he tries (and fails) to steal the coolness of a number of songs, while ignoring their messages. In 2011, Harper was filmed struggling to perform John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Perhaps Harper’s word flubs should be seen as symbolic of the cognitive dissonance he must have felt while singing a song that called for no possessions and no countries to kill or die for.

Harper has also covered John Denver’s “Country Roads.” While the song itself is not overtly political, it is part of Denver’s broad catalogue of homages to nature. Harper’s decision to replace Denver’s reference to West Virginia with West Alberta, is thus particularly insulting. If the man who sang “Rocky Mountain High” and “What Are We Making Weapons For” was alive today, he would most certainly be protesting the tar sands.

Perhaps it’s petty to additionally target Harper for singing the Beatles lyric “I get high with a little help from my friends” while his government puts out sensationalist anti-marijuana advertisements on TV and Youtube. I doubt that the left-Scottish-nationalist Proclaimers would be too happy to hear Harper butchering “I’m On My Way,” but I suppose he can be excused for that one too. It’s much harder to argue his performance of the hippie Guess Who anthem “Share the Land” is justified when Harper has arrogantly continued the Canadian government’s colonial approach to land distribution with recent attempts to smear first nations governments as corrupt and his outright telling Peter Mansbridge that an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is not a priority.

Perhaps there is hope, however, in the fact that Stephen Harper of all people feels the need to sing protest songs. “Imagine,” “Share the Land” and “Country Roads” clearly resonate with people. Perhaps then these, and more overtly radical tunes, will one day find use in better political homes.The iconic 60s protest singer Phil Ochs once argued that revolution will only come to America if Elvis Presley becomes Che Guevara.

Maybe Och’s hope was a pipe dream, but surely Elvis and friends can find a better embodiment than Stephen Harper. n

I NT E RVI E W

STUDENT PUBLICATION RESEARCHES TERRORISM AND GLOBAL SECURITY

BY DAVID STOKES

T

he Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society Official Student-run Blog was founded in February 2014, with the aim of getting students involved in discussing issues related

to terrorism, security and society.

It is Canada’s first student-run blog on terrorism-related issues.

We asked Rob Denaburg, an M.A. Candidate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and the blog manager, some questions: tn: What do you research— the security, intelligence, or human right's aspects of global terrorism?

RD: I’m interested in the security and intelligence aspects, but I recognize the importance of human rights–or lack thereof–and how they are both violated by perpetrators of terrorism, and also how being denied human rights can lead to the perception that terrorism is a potential avenue to reduce the injustice they are facing. Intelligence is critical in the sense that it often informs CT policy and operations. Security is a broad term that encompasses everything from threat assessment, policy response and formulation, etc. There are also aspects of human security that play into the causes and consequences of terrorism. tn: What careers are involved in this field? RD: There are a lot. Obvious ones include policy and intelligence analysts, threat analysts, fieldwork, intelligence agents, etc. but there are also people who are doing work to study the root causes of terrorism and how to address them, or apply lessons learned from empirical studies in other fields (e.g. criminology) to terrorism. tn: Have you or any of your members received additional scrutiny at border crossings or in other capacities due to your work with a terrorism related blog?

RD: I don’t think I have… tn: Have any members of your group completed research or data collection in the field?

What are some of the difficulties of acquiring data and doing research in this field?

RD: I haven’t collected data in the field, but worked for [an organization] which does its best to collect data from open-source reports, and compile it for the purposes of providing data for academics and practitioners.

Difficulties, obviously, are with lack of reporting and accuracy in areas where a lot of the terrorism occurs–even with conflicting reports about events with high media coverage. It’s simply hard to get hard figures, or do proper surveys. tn: How can interested U of T students get involved?

They can send us an email expressing interest to tsasblog@ gmail.com. This is an interest-based initiative, so if you find issues related to terrorism, security, and society fascinating, join our conversation. n You can find their website at www.tsasblog.wordpress.com/

NEWS: HEALTH CANADA CONSIDERS HOME ABORTION PILL ................................................................

A major Canadian medical body is urging Health Canada to approve an abortion pill that would allow a woman to end a pregnancy in the privacy of her own home. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada says allowing Canadian women access to mifepristone would have no impact on the number of women choosing abortion but would help make an “intensely personal issue” a private health matter between a woman and her doctor, said chief executive officer Dr. Jennifer Blake. Dr. Jennifer Blake, professor of ob/gyn at the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Health Canada is expected to decide this month whether to approve mifepristone.

The drug has been under review since 2012. The normal review process is a maximum of 300 days.

“Clearly this limit has passed,” said Dr. Joel Lexchin, a professor in the faculty of health at York University in Toronto. Already in use in more than 50 countries, mifepristone is considered the “gold standard” for medical abortions and is included in the World Health Organization’s list of “essential medicines.” When combined with the drug misoprostol, mifepristone induces an abortion similar to a natural miscarriage within one to two days after a woman takes the pills. The drug provides a non-surgical option to abortion and would make abortions safer by allowing them to happen earlier. There are currently no officially approved drugs for medical abortions in Canada. With files from O.Canada.com NEWS: CANADA’S RULING CLASS DOESN’T REPRESENT CANADIANS, STUDY. ................................................................

The ruling Conservatives and federal cabinet don’t look remotely close to the Canada they represent, says a new study. Kai L. Chan’s independent demographic study, called “Canada’s Governing Class: Who rules the country?”, was prompted by curiosity about the tensions between the governing Conservatives and Canada’s scientific community.

He wondered how many MPs came to the job with an academic background in the sciences, and then decided to expand the scope of his research to other areas. Despite their image as coming from the elite, Chan found Conservative parliamentarians actually have the “lowest incidence of higher education” among the three major parties; almost one-third of Tory members in the House and Senate don’t have post-secondary credentials. “Along the party lines, the Liberals are the most highly educated, and they have the highest uptake in law (33.3 per cent) and doctoral-level degrees (17.5 per cent),” said Chan, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a PhD in economics from Princeton University. “The percentage of parliamentarians with science and engineering degrees (13 per cent) is abysmally low, but there is no shortage of people with arts degrees (73.3 per cent) in Parliament.” Chan’s findings are based on information found on the official and personal websites of MPs and

as long as they are asleep; (C) dogs often play “possum”; (D) dogs become angry if awakened; (E) dogs sleep with one eye

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Recovery

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and

Relapse B

BY DEAN MCHUGH

eing released from the hospital is a time for storytelling. When you open First Year Healthy—a graphic novel by 27 year old U of T dropout Michael DeForge—you find the protagonist fresh out of “the hospital.”

This is as good a sign as any that Michael DeForge has a tale to tell.

In the book the narrator/protagonist finds a job where she meets her boyfriend, an undocumented immigrant from Turkey who gets involved in petty crime. Around Christmas he ventures out on business, but when he doesn’t return home, his boss hunts down the narrator to find him, with gruesome consequences.

All this occurs through the narrator’s steadily declining mental health. Her psychology is found more in the illustration than in her own commentary.

The first page, for instance, is stratified into layers, one depicting the narrator smiling hugely at work at the fish market, while under the yellow floor we are privy to fish blood draining into a nightmarish network of pipes. And throughout the rest of the book, apparently inconsequential patterns and symbols chart the narrator’s emotional state better than her language will allow. But the book’s poetry doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of action: superhero comics were the teenage DeForge’s inspiration for drawing, and the characters are pragmatic and active, struggling though murder,

Image: Michael DeForge

Toronto-based graphic novelist Michael DeForge has drawn a tale rich in unanswered questions about our attitude to mental health beyond the hospital.

Through mythic figure and symbol, First Year Healthy explores the beauty of fantasy within the struggles of mental illness

Can a community be blamed for not caring about those who refuse care?

escape and near-death experiences.

The book demonstrates an interaction between multiple storytelling techniques. There’s a dose of Turkish folklore that rears its head like a subplot purposefully trying to hijack the main narrative. And there’s no dialogue; instead, every voice is mediated through the narrator’s indirect paraphrase. Her sentences are punchy like comic-book speech-bubbles, and so straightforward they’re almost childlike, rarely deviating from a subject-verb-object construction: “He had a son with a round old bitch who lived just on the outskirts of town. He had moved in with her when he first got into the country. She let him sleep in her guest room for free so long as he got on top of her every now and then. She surprised him with the boy about seven months after he had moved into his own apartment.”

For all her talking, we still never quite know who the narrator is. She never says her name. She has no eyes (they are obscured by her giant and globular, ochre hat-hair). Her anonymity can start to feel threatening—she could be any one of us. And First Year Healthy is ultimately critical of the attitude that mental health is a concern for hospitals and health professionals alone, locking into a growing acceptance that caring for our mental health is everyone’s everyday responsibility. In the story, however, this care is sadly not heeded as the narrator charts her sense of

alienation from the rest of her locale after leaving the hospital. Wandering with her boyfriend’s child through a blizzard at night, she witnesses her neighbours ignore her cries for help.

As the narrator’s environment grows increasingly toxic, her concise sentences start to seem more like strategies of containment and evasion, to guard herself from the reader’s scrutiny. She keeps up this disaffection, as if we readers are on a discharge panel to whom she must prove that she’s OK. Without altering the tone, DeForge miraculously makes the narrator speak of a secure grasp on reality, while, over the story’s arc, trust in her version of events is progressively lost.

In its forty pages, First Year Healthy is a fable whose moral is never entirely clear. How are we to sympathize with a character who hides her truth? Who is responsible for the actions of those experiencing severe distress or delusions? Can a community be blamed for not caring about those who refuse care? The protagonist is a tightly knit paradox. This is her story, but she gives no answers. n First Year Healthy in stores January 20, 2015. The launch is happening Wednesday, January 28 at Type Books, 883 Queen St. W, 7-9pm. Published by Drawn and Quarterly at $14.95.

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open; (F) a watchdog never sleeps.

Image: International Space Station

We live within sodium lighting

ANTHROMECHANICAL

CITY

BY SAM TRACY

Science writers often cite the freakish fact that for every one human cell, we are hosts to ten microbial ones, and most are in our digestive tracts, which house about a hundred trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other tiny creatures. As one gastroenterologist puts it, with only mild exaggeration, “we’re ten per cent human and ninety per cent shit.”

In the same way, the majority of Toronto­—this landscape you see all the time, your civic body—is made up of shit you see and feel but don’t focus on or realize is effecting you. For instance, if you walk outside after 4pm this time of year, you will notice that you are bathed in the streetlight’s yellow light.

That chemical-yellow-glow dictates your vision of the whole city. Its colour comes from the high-pressure sodium that feeds Toronto’s streetlights. The behaviour of high-pressure sodium is more important to the feel of Toronto than the behaviour of city council. The city we live in is hard and strange: chemical, engineered, commodified, controlled. The manufactured and arbitrary nature of our urban landscape—and by extension, mental response to the landscape—is often invisible to us.

But not to Michael Boughn. In his new book of poetry, City: Book One: Singular Assumptions, Boughn, a U of T lecturer, fully revels in our anthropocentric, anthromechanical urban landscape, finding its harsh matter to be a series of brutal delicacies ceaselessly on offer: “endless oil shits / air fouled excretions / oil seeping / red trail doom / invincible asphalt coffin / what happens next / around a corner / counterfeiting spirit / vast boxed spaces stacked / fading into smudged / plastic / bumper to bumper, sun / silver maidens beckoning / in haze.” The book has fun in finding words to fit the unnatural situations and sights that the city endlessly breeds. He also enjoys finding ways to reveal the perverse aspect of everyday things.

Take Boughn’s poem, “The War on the Car”— the title is a lifted phrase that is a staple of humanist pundits—but Boughn performs a détournement of the trope and pushes the argument farther than the pundits allow themselves to. Boughn sees the car as

a widespread but hitherto unacknowledged BDSM practice wherein we are “sewn tight, imposed angular / bound vision into knotted / contortions leave limbs / wrenched, dislocated, cramped.” “War and car don’t rhyme / though you’d never know it by looking.”

In another poem, he seems to pillory city-planning for it’s facile depiction of people as “small hearts demanding to know / shopping pleasure / cultural satisfaction / looking for landmarks”, and he shows how quickly this depiction can be disturbed by imagining that same space possessed by real people with dangerous and ambiguous thoughts: “a red star in the flames / gun on the seat.”

Boughn sees the car as a widespread but hitherto unacknowledged BDSM practice wherein we are “sewn tight, imposed angular / bound vision into knotted / contortions leave limbs / wrenched, dislocated, cramped.”

To live in the city is to be overwhelmed. Those who commute to and from U of T from the suburbs (where the majority of people in Toronto live) will understand how the size and impersonality of the city grinds you down, making your thoughts abstract and skeletal: “Of frail reminding / distances of sagging flesh to be home / dinner / through broken / green margin / insistent engine roar / ruling out nothing.”

The book is as messy and annoying as this city.

Sometimes the words cohere, and sometimes they don’t and I have no idea what Boughn is talking about, but the effect is consistently exciting. The book often breaks out into long unrelenting passages that are beautifully descriptive: “impassible blockades of jammed up steel and rubber / founding economies of pain / and routine passages through unthought habits against blank skies of late February. Food and roof wander in labyrinth’s multitude of reasons and become stone. Not stoned, which would reopen negotiations with traffic patterns toward possible, what? entropic fibrillations or analogical eruptions into parking lots across GTA, little gestures of love oozing into / front seats with hot pizza / … spontaneous topographical coitus” This uninhibited emotional expressionism is a welcome contrast to the dry drivel that passes for thoughtful reflection and writing on Toronto. The urban affairs columns and urbanism magazines will ruin Toronto if left unchecked. It’s like they are possessed by some simpleton virus that makes them speak only in the terms of psychological realism and historical fact.

The city isn’t some lifestyle or even a collection of facts.

Those publications simply can’t find perverse pleasure in the kinds of things you can find beside a highway overpass. But those are the places that prove the city’s domain. Cities overflow and overwhelm. They should result in unreasonable art. The greatest and most revealing poem about Toronto, by the late poet Daniel Jones, is called “Things I Have Put Into My Asshole” and lists as examples such things as “the CN Tower” and “the intersection of Bathurst and Queen.” Someone now must find a way to put Martin Grove and Dixon Road in their asshole. We need to love Toronto that much. Boughn is not naive, and in a powerful way, he has put Toronto in his asshole too. n City Book One is published by BookThug. $18

BY DAVID STOKES

HER E IT IS

12

It is hard to tell if Eleonore Faber’s field is home to the highest confusion, or the rarest beauty. Faber is a mathematician, a specialist in algebraic geometry, and more precisely, in singularity theory. Though, as she said to me when I came to her office to learn about her work, “It’s easier to explain with pictures, which is the reason why I made them” The pictures in question are a gallery of what Faber has titled ‘Sekiguchi’s 17 Free Divisors’.

The Free Divisors, which grace our cover, are globular, iridescent congeries, stupendous in their near hallucinogenic suggestiveness.

They are surfaces, defined by equations. “If you plug in this equation equal to zero, you get a bunch of points satisfying the equation. It’s like in high-school - just that you have more complicated equations. Now, most of the points are nice and smooth, but there are also these singular things—a point where a surface has a self intersection. These are the points where things make problems. The equations somehow don’t behave the way they are supposed to behave. We are interested in the behaviour near this singular curve. We want to classify how bad the singularity is.” Singularities are bad?, I ask, perplexed. She laughs. “Singularities are usually thought of as bad. They are beautiful to look at but, some people call singularity theory catastrophe theory.”

And Eleonore’s shapes are some of the more catastrophic singularities. While a surface like a cone has only one singular point, the Free Divisors have whole curves as singularities. “Basically, curved singularities are thought of as worse than points, because their singular locus is very big.”

What she tries to do is resolve the singularities.

“You cannot get rid of a singularity, but you can find a projection from a smooth surface to a singular surface: you take the singular point and you blow it up in the sense that you magnify it, and find a way to resolve it.”

In particular, Eleonore tries to find non-commutative resolutions, which are also interesting to physicists in string theory.

One thing that’s very interesting about these shapes is that they are discovered almost by accident in mathematics, sometimes repeatedly, by different people in different branches of the field. Sekiguchi found them when he was looking for some deformations. But they pop up in other areas, where they always find the same equations.

“You draw the surface and it basically goes on forever. But I cut them all with a sphere, so they look finite but they are actually infinite.

I chose a sphere because it would look nicer, and the singularity only happens very close to the origin so you don’t really need the rest of the plane.”

What’s the point of studying these shapes? Eleonore doesn’t know exactly. But she does tell me that many mathematical discoveries that initially don’t seem particularly useful end up becoming essential to contemporary life. One example is the digital encryption that allows online shopping to be secure, the mathematical basis for which was discovered well before computers became mass produced and used by everybody.

Eleonore started studied technical mathematics in Austria as undergrad, but she says a little jokingly that she liked the pictures of these singularities and sorta just fell into being an expert in them. She was the one who named these shapes after Sekiguchi. And there are only about 50 to 100 people in the world who work professionally with mathematics of this nature. “These are really things that no one has thought about before, and the questions that come up no one knows the answers.

Somethings a question is easy to solve, but sometimes you don’t find a solution at all.” n