Volume 45 Issue 20

THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA

March 4, 201 9 Volume 45, Issue 2 0 themedium.c a

International tuition increase?

More support, less cutthroat

Say Ciao! UTM’s new italian play

ICCIT contests & opportunities

B-Ball with Andreas

News, page 2

Opinion, page 4

Arts, page 5

Features, page 8

Sports, page 11

Principal Krull discusses UTM’s future UTM’s Principal Ulrich Krull spoke about the increase in undergraduate students, OSAP changes MELISSA BARRIENTOS ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR On Thursday, February 28, the University of Toronto held their Governing Council meeting at UTM after a brief tour around the campus, where chancellors and guests were able to see the results of the campus remodeling.

Clair Kennedy, elected chair of Governing Council, first began the meeting with condolences for the late Chancellor Michael Wilson and spoke of his great contributions to mental health. An introduction to the 2019-2020 returning council then followed for both elected and re-elected governors, who will have a seat at the Governing Council table for a 3-year term.

Ulrich Krull, UTM’s Vice President and Principal, then gave a review of the UTM campus. Krull commented on the increasing influx of students, which is nearly at 16,000 students, and the “intention to level off ” in the upcoming years.

Principal Krull also commented on UTM’s move into the research

YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM

Principal Krull gave a review of the UTM campus at Thursday’s Governing Council Meeting. sphere, and the university’s reaction to the 10 per cent tuition cut.

“The intention overall is to really invest in terms of what we do as full-fledged members of the

University of Toronto”, Principal Krull said. “This campus has been built on an undergraduate backbone and we will now move toward investment and research. We want

to build out that research structurally.”

“While we do this, we also recognize: three campuses, one university. Whatever we are develop-

ing here on this campus will be tied to the other campuses […] This is something that we try to nurture: the idea that the value is not just for this campus but for the university.”

Regarding the 10 per cent tuition cut implemented by the provincial government on January 17, Principal Krull discusses proposals that UTM is considering following the government changes.

“This is a clash that’s going to come up both in this body as well as the entire university as we try to accommodate the financial implications of the tuition cut […] one of the ways of dealing with these financial cuts is simply an across the board cut. That would be the easy way of doing things, whatever percentage it requires. That does not nurture excellence. It does not change the pattern in which excellence could be found.”

Instead Principal Krull hopes to take a community approach when evaluating how the university wants to move forward.

Council continued on page 3

Town hall covers budget and new building The meeting discussed current hiring practices and the review process for the proposed ACT building ALI TAHA NEWS EDITOR During the town hall meeting held on February 26, UTM Principal Ulrich Krull provided an update on the Davis building’s construction, and commented on other projects and initiatives the university is carrying out.

The Meeting Place is near completion after its completion date of after reading week was pushed back. “it’s behind schedule, but they’re working very hard to get it done,” said Krull. “It looks very impressive. [The Davis Building] will reach its full glory once they start working on expanding the student space outside. You will really begin to notice the difference once they start constructing outside of the Davis building.”

According to Krull, the road ways around the building will be shut down and the bus routes will need to change.

In regard to the prospective Arts, Culture, and Technology (ACT) building, Krull stressed that it is a proposal under review that must still go to the central administration for approval. There are no of-

YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM

The Meeting Place is near completion after its completion date was previously pushed back. ficial plans to start constructing the building yet.

“I mention this because a lot of these types of projects can be derailed by the provincial government

announcement, which, in a sense, is a cut to us in terms of the funding.

But we’re not walking away from anything in the academic plan. This includes such things as the con-

struction projects […] We have to have a trade off somewhere along the line in terms of what we’re going to do with those cuts.”

Currently, a planning group is

looking into the logistics of the building. The group has gone to the community and collected all the “wishes” people would want for the ACT building. The building has a nominal budget associated with it of near $100-million dollars.

“If we were to delay the opening of the ACT building, then we would actually have a fair amount of saving to control for against the deficit.

All we have to do is delay some of that growth and some of the building construction. But it only deals with the short-term reality.”

On the budget, Krull stated that the university is still in the process of hiring new faculty and staff positions, but are reassessing the feasibility of such hires.

“From a standpoint of controlling costs we’re taking a look at what we can do to slow the growth of positions on the academic side.

Are there positions that don’t need to be filled immediately?”

“For example,” Krull continued, “we can slow the rate of hiring of faculty and staff. We can spread out the hiring, so instead of hiring six positions at once, we can hire four the first year and then two the next.”

Krull continued on page 2

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THE MEDIUM 03.04.2019

Aerospace hub announced

February 23rd , 2019 Police Information On Saturday, Feb 23, a student email account was compromised, and found to have been misused to leverage a phishing account to multiple University of Toronto email accounts. The account was locked, and the scope and method of compromise is being investigated.

The University of Toronto Mississauga is committed to providing an environment that protects the privacy and security of information and electronic resources necessary to support our mission of teaching and research. We expect and rely on all individuals, authorized to access University digital assets, to contribute to and cooperate with our protection measures. You can help by educating yourself February 24th , 2019 Theft A student reported the theft of their bike from a residence bike rack.

February 27th , 2019 Police Assistance Caretaking staff contacted Campus Police about a smell of marijuana coming from a classroom. Campus Police attended but the people had already left the classroom.

about our privacy and security policies, practicing cyber self-defense, using available security tools, being alert to potential danger signs, reporting unusual behaviors, and taking corrective action when necessary. Together we can keep our campus an open, safe, and accessible system.

For more information regarding your personal information security and risk management please refer to https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/iits/ information-security-risk-management.

We remind everyone to keep your password a secret at all times. The University of Toronto will never ask for your password or other personal information by e-mail.

February 26th , 2019 Municipal By-Law Campus Police observed a female smoking a cigarette in a stairwell in the CCT building. The female was issued a certificate of offence and educated on the designated smoking areas on campus.

RENE BEIGNET/FLICKR

The multidisciplinary project will bring in people from industries, academia, and government.

TANISHA KUMAR

The Downsview Aerospace Innovation and Research (DAIR) Consortium, an association of the largest aerospace companies and leading post-secondary education institutions from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), have come together with the joint mandate of developing an Aerospace Hub at Downsview Park in Toronto, Ontario. The engineers at University of Toronto have also partnered with aircraft manufacturers and academic institutions in the hope to bolster Canada’s aerospace industry.

The multidisciplinary project,

aimed at improving current initiatives and developing new research, will bring together people from industries, academia and government.

They will collaborate on a variety of cutting-edge projects, such as optimizing the shapes of future airplanes and spaceships, and designing satellites. The centre would also provide aerospace training for students.

This project, apart from improving Canada’s aerospace industry, will also provide an opportunity for graduate students to work directly in this sector. DAIR has decided to introduce new courses, such as, accident investigation class, which will examine a plane crash wreckage to identify and develop better engineering methods

for safety.

Although it will take approximately four years for this project to be completed, Centennial College opened its $72-million Downsview Campus facility for aerospace training last month. The main phase will be at Downsview in North York while other departments relocate to it.

In an interview with CBC, executive director of DAIR Andrew Petrou said, “This is the beginning of a renaissance of aerospace activity at the Downsview site.”

Petrou hopes that the consortium will provide a space for the next generation of Canadians to learn, collaborate on, and to share new ideas.

Questions on international students, OSAP Council continued from page 1 “We have reached out on the academic side to the chairs and directors of the departments and we have informed them of a whole variety of things that could be taken both as cuts and terms of income.”

Since the university is limited with domestic student tuition, but can have more economic flexibility with international student tuition, many have wondered if U of T will increase tuition for international students to offset the 10 per cent tuition cut.

On the question of whether the university will take in more international students to offset the budget cuts, Principal Krull answered, “No. We will use it as one piece of a mix of actions that will allow us to find a path forward from a standpoint of equilibrium. But the equilibrium is designed so we do not sacrifice our long-term academic plan.”

Principal Krull stated that UTM will continue to hire faculty and staff, if budget permitting, but noted that “one of the ways of dealing with the academic constraints is to simply slow the hiring process […] and to slow some of the other investments we have in capital investments.”

“On the revenue side, where we

AIMEN ALI/THE MEDIUM

Principal Krull said there will not take in more international students to offest the budget cuts. have international students, we must recognize that our long-term plan on this campus, as we move towards our vision of an internationally significant research-intensive

university, is to have about one in four of our students be international students.”

“We are running at about 24 per cent international students right

now,” Principal Krull continued, “so the discussion here, as one talks about taking in more international students, is to go from 24 to 25.”

U of T President Meric Gertler

also remarked on the recent provincial changes. “We had our first round of technical briefings with the staff from the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.

So, some of these details are coming into clearer focus, but I would hasten to add that many are still not that clear.”

“The new framework has to be in place for the 2019-2020 school year and tuition levels will be frozen for the 2020-2021 year as well. What happens after that? We’re not really sure.”

“The government’s decision will have the effect of cutting our operating revenue by $65 million year over year in 2019-2020 relative to last year’s budget. Relative to our budget plan for 2019-2020 it’s a cut of $88 million.”

U of T Principal Gertler also mentioned December 31 marked the end of the Boundless Campaign. On March 19, the “final big number” will be announced at the Presidents’ Circle club event.

“It will be cause for much celebration because we’ve received gifts from over one hundred thousand unique donors. You can’t thank them all in one event, you have to have a series of events […] [and so] we have settled on this idea of having a season of gratitude.”

U of T focuses on revenue

03.04.2019 THE MEDIUM NEWS

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Economic stability at the forefront of U of T’s new strategy

HUMANS OF UTM

PHOTO FROM PEXELS.COM

You know, what really interests me is the defense aspect of criminal law. [...] This gets me in a lot of arguments with a lot of people. I understand it because in a lot of the cases, I do think that the people have done something wrong, but I’m concerned if we accept that just because it turned out they were guilty, that this is fine for a media debacle to go on. I wonder then, how long do we put up with that? Then there’s the worry that it may be eventually someone that didn’t do it. [...] We’ll eventually wind up with someone potentially who’s done nothing wrong being carried out and hung out to dry publicly and that influences the court decision and then you have somebody in jail for something they haven’t done. It’s just something that I think about a lot, and I think a lot of people don’t want to take that stance.

U of T’s strategy is designed to provide a framework to support the financial sustainability.

ALI TAHA NEWS EDITOR The University of Toronto’s vicepresident, operations and Real Estate Partnerships Scott Mabury has provided more information on the university’s “four corners” strategy.

In an interview with U of T News, Mabury stated that the strategy is designed to provide a framework for how the university will discover and develop real estate opportunities to help sustain the university financially. This will mainly be done by providing students, staff, and faculty innovation spaces, ancillary offices, and affordable housing.

“We have significant assets,” said Mabury. “We spent a year studying those assets and what their opportunities could be. We recognize the very significant demand and need U of T has around providing more affordable residential options for our faculty, staff and students, and more innovation space for the burgeoning number of start-up companies that wish to continue their development within the innovation ecosystem, of which U of T plays such an important part.”

“Almost the entire university budget—87 per cent—comes from students paying tuition fees or government operating grants,” continued Mabury. “That’s not financially

sustainable. We need to grow the remaining 13 per cent, to increase the resilience and sustainability of the institutional budget.”

To do this, the University of Toronto hopes to develop their real estate assets and deliver amenity spaces that will benefit the members of the university and, in turn, the university itself.

“The objective here will be to generate revenue that we can invest back into the university’s academic mission.”

A new science building will be introduced on the UTM campus as part of the innovative “four corners” strategy.

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U of T proposes new building Program delayed

PHOTO FROM SITES.UTORONTO.CA

The new building will be located at 90 Queen’s Park Crescent.

AYESHA HASSAN

The University of Toronto St. George campus has proposed a new building downtown, to be located at 90 Queen’s Park Crescent.

According to U of T President Meric Gertler, the building is set to accommodate urban and cultural engagement as well as connect the academic and public facets of the university.

The nine-storey building will be designed by world renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the masterminds behind New York City’s Institute of Contemporary Art and High Line. It will also host several departments, including History, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, the Institute of Islamic Studies, the Archaeology Centre, and a branch of the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish

Studies.

U of T’s Vice President Scott Mabury stated that, “it will be a building that brings a diverse group of folks together to advance knowledge around cities and how they can work successfully, contributing to a positive impact here in the city but also more globally.”

In terms of public space, the building is designed to incorporate a recital hall with a window that displays the magnificent view of the Toronto skyline, and will host 400 seats with a skyline view. There will also be space allotted to the Royal Ontario Museum.

According to U of T’s chief of university planning, design and construction Gilbert Delgado, the building will be highly interactive with the urban setting, academics, and the public, and “it [will represent] an important new addition to the cultural

corridor with the Gardiner Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Faculty of Law and Queen’s Park”.

Keeping U of T’s culture and heritage in mind, the building will include Falconer Hall, a part of the university’s Faculty of Law, into its design. Delgado said that this inclusion is a “novel and creative way of having a historic building influence a new building,” since the Falconer Hall has been a part of U of T for the past 118 years.

Abiding by U of T’s sustainability commitments, the building will follow the standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, which will result in a 40 per cent reduction in energy usage.

The tentative construction of the building is slated to begin in June 2020.

MASTER OF URBAN INNOVATION/FACEBOOK

The Master of Urban Innovation program is delayed by a year.

Krull continued from page 1 In response to The Varsity’s article on the university’s supposed-plan to over enroll students as a way to buffer the 10 per cent tuition cut, Krull stated, “We have no interest in using international students to cover the amount of money that’s being taken out of the system. There has been a lot of discussion in U of T for a number of years on being an internationally significant university.

And part of that is about having an internationally significant population. The reality is that UTM is in strong demand in the international

sense.”

Krull also announced that the Master of Urban Innovation (MUI) program has been delayed by a year because it did not receive confirmation by the government. Therefore, many of the students that would be eligible for OSAP are not.

However, they will continue to hire staff for the program, and will accept their first cohort of students in the September of 2020.

The final town hall of the year will be held on March 26 at 5:00 p.m. in the Students’ Centre Presentation Room.

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03.04.2019

MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Mahmoud Sarouji editor@themedium.ca Managing Editor Alicia Boatto managing@themedium.ca News Ali Taha news@themedium.ca

Keep competitive journalism alive, without the ego

A&E Paula Cho arts@themedium.ca Features Jessica Cabral features@themedium.ca Sports Vanessa Cesario sports@themedium.ca — Photo Yasmeen Alkoka photos@themedium.ca Design Alexa Neves-Hua design@themedium.ca Copy Mahnoor Ayub copy@themedium.ca Online Olivia Adamczyk online@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Kayvon Aflaki Melissa Barrientos A&E Srijan Sahu Keena Al-Wahaidi Features Fatima Adil Liayana Jondy Kevin Kim Sports Amrish Wagle Photo Julia Healy Brittany Semplonius Copy TBA GENERAL STAFF Webmaster Lyndon Amat web@themedium.ca Distribution Manager Adam Sarouji distribution@themedium.ca Ads Manager Mayank Sharma ads@themedium.ca Cartoonist Anthony Labonté COPYRIGHTS All content printed in The Medium is the sole property of its creators, and cannot be used without written consent.

DISCLAIMER Opinions expressed in the pages of The Medium are exclusively of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Medium. Additionally, the opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in The Medium are those of advertisers and not of The Medium.

All articles published in print are also posted on our website themedium.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor will be edited for spelling, grammar, style and coherence. Letters will not exceed 700 words in print. Letters that incite hatred or violence and letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist, or libelous will not be published.

Anonymous letters will not be published.

MEDIUM II PUBLICATIONS 3359 Mississauga Road, Room 200, Student Centre, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6 themedium.ca

To contribute, email editor@themedium.ca

YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM

As journalists, we have the responsibility to hold ourselves accountable.

It is part of our mandate and our mission to ensure that we get our facts straight, and also be open about our mistakes.

While I understand at first read this editorial may come across as hypocritical, understand that this comes from a place of empathy and a want for growth for all campus journalism.

The Varsity, St. George’s campus paper, recently wrote an editorial criticizing The Underground, U of T Scarborough’s campus journalists, for their “undue sensationalism of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) elections.”

Reading through the piece made me question the motivation behind it. I understand that it’s crucial for journalists to hold themselves accountable, however, it isn’t the job of journalists to take down or completely drag down other journalist outlets in an attempt to “hold them accountable.”

Our work as journalists is never about an “Us vs. Them mentality”.

We all carry the same mission. Each journalist outlet produces their content in different ways. The Toronto

Star nor the Globe and Mail ever go after each other for their mistakes.

Reason being, they address their own mistakes knowing full-well the consequences of their actions It’s about context, and as we journalists know all too well, there is always a story behind the story. Sources fall flat, interviews are cancelled, sources would rather not go on the record, blockades are hit, etc. There is no easy way around it, journalism is a tough job to embark upon, and stories take time to get out.

Every journalist outlet is prone to their mistakes. The Medium, The Varsity, The Underground, we all fail, but we all understand what failure means for the improvement of our work.

To The Varsity, you are correct in saying that with the provincial government’s Student Choice Initiative poses a serious threat to the financial stability of the student press. We shouldn’t resort to using the editorial section as a means to drag down fellow colleagues.

As The Underground stated in their piece, “If your objective was to offer constructive criticism, then we feel that a private forum would have been more appropriate for these dis-

cussions.” This is a legitimate and open way to address concerns. Our editorial portions of our papers are not for that discussion. Again, I completely understand that it could be viewed as hypocritical on my end with this piece, but the intention is not aimed to point fingers at who is “right” and who is “wrong”.

Discourse among journalists is essential to our growth. Taking it out on each other without having an open discussion is a failure of good journalism within our organizations. We hold our own accountable, and operate on budgets that reflect our communities. We cannot pit ourselves against one another, especially in times where our futures are so uncertain. Otherwise it becomes a battle of “who can convince the student body to opt-in to us.” That should never be the intention.

We have to speak to one another, and we have to engage with each other. Be critical, but also realize that all student journalism stands at various levels in their growth, and it is important to allow mistakes and growth to happen all at the same time. That is the whole idea behind coming to university isn’t it?

We each represent our individual

campuses, and not one publication holds their own umbrella over ours to ensure that we “do our jobs.” We cover stories across the U of T campuses as well as focusing on our own, and to have that opportunity is not as accessible to other journalist outlets.

The Medium isn’t a tri-campus paper either, but we remain strung to our UTM community, just as any other journalist outlet should.

Campus journalism is at a risk, and ego’s will not get us far. We have to remain vigilant and open to discourse amongst each other and encourage our growth.

We are journalists, we have a job to do. Don’t waste whatever time we have on means to drag each other through the dirt.

Spread awareness of journalism, accept your mistakes, embrace your failures, and keep campus journalism alive.

YOURS, MAHMOUD SAROUJI

CORRECTION NOTICE The February 4 article “Ford on gun violence: shoots himeself in the foot” was corrected

03.04.2019

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It’s De Amicis (pronounced Deh-Amechees) UTM Italian Studies’ Ciao, Professoressa! follows a professor’s struggles with adapting to cultural differences SRIJAN SAHU ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR

UTM Italian Studies presents Ciao, Professoressa!—a take on the 1992 film “Ciao, Professor!” based on Marcello D’Orta’s writings. The fish out of water comedy follows a teacher who is transferred to Corzano, a downtrodden town in Southern Italy, instead of her intended destination of Corsano. This all too convenient bureaucratic error that is unlikely to happen in real life, forces her to adjust to the vast cultural differences of her new surroundings. Initially hesitant, the professor grows to form a loving bond with her unruly students as the characters become more alike than they know.

UTM Italian Studies stages several plays over the course year in an attempt to showcase Italian culture, as well as hone student’s grasp of the language. Ciao, Professoressa! is directed by Associate Professor Teresa Lobalsamo and stars several students in her ITA315 - Italian Theatre and Performance class with strong Italian heritage.

The professor’s (Simona Stallone)

YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM

Simona Stallone and Olivia Didone are cast members of Ciao Professoressa! struggles begin when she is welcomed into an empty classroom. Upon learning that her students neglect school for jobs, she ventures across town collecting each child. She is baffled by the school’s strange workings such as the absentee principal (Adam Sarouji), an officious woman, and the janitor (Vincenzo Vigliatore) who seems to be in charge. Believe it or not, he uses his mafioso connections to charge students for toilet paper. In her at-

tempt to win over her students, she employs movie clichés of challenging the ringleader, making learning fun and trying to understand their social upbringing.

The play offers a harsh social commentary into the stark contrast between Southern Italy and its more affluent Northern counterpart. This is especially evident in the student’s demeanors that reflect the language and cultural differences that exist.

Naples is shown as an impoverishedrugged society replete with vulgarity; this is best resembled by the professor’s interactions with her students who all seem to struggle with societal pressures of poverty and crime. She has a particularly difficult time dealing with the racist and vile insults thrown her way that encapsulate the harsh Southern lifestyle. Amusingly, the professor’s pronunciation of the school name, De Amicis, becomes a

running gag.

Perhaps, the success of the play depends most on the performance of the student characters. It is a hard enough task to convincingly portray an eight-year old, but they did it brilliantly all the while, conversing in a different language. Furthermore, the wonderfully arranged stage setting and behind the scenes production embellishes the audience’s experience. From the hanged clothes airing out on the sides to the authentic Naples lingo, viewers can’t help but feel transported to Napoli. There is a projector screen on stage that provides much needed English translation as well as brief glimpses into the 1992 film, giving context to critical scenes.

I would definitely recommend watching the play as it gives an interesting take on 90’s Italy. Filled with quirky jabs at Silvio Berlusconi and an Office-sitcom inspired scene (yes, the very same), present day audiences can relate even if they are oblivious to the Italian subcontinent. Ciao, Professoressa! ends on a heartwarming note.

As the professor prepares to leave De Amici, she and her students reflect on how their time together has changed them all individually.

Ad Summit: demystifying the starving artist The theme of this year’s Ad Summit conference was well-fed artists and stable creative careers YASHLEEN JHAND

The starving artist trope has haunted the creative community for too long.

Ad Summit aims to put an end to this.

Hosted this past Saturday at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the second annual Ad Summit conference educated students about the creative opportunities available to them and how they can pursue art as a career rather than a hobby. This year’s theme is “The Well-Fed Artist” and the goal is to communicate that art can be a profitable and fulfilling career.

The conference featured talks by industry professionals along with interactive workshops that explore these careers such as SEO and copywriting. Ad Summit also partnered with Miami Ad School Toronto to host an advertising competition and the finalists presented their proposals to a panel of judges.

Domenic Lisi, the art director at “Cruel” and the keynote speaker at this conference, shared his own journey as a Toronto artist. Lisi remembered his doubts about pursuing a creative career as a student and how lost he was about his future at the end

AD SUMMIT/FACEBOOK

The second annual Ad-Summit conference was held this past Saturday at UTM. of his fourth year at Queens University. His speech expressed that while hard work and persistence are necessary to move further in the arts, success is more accessible than it seems.

The key is to recognize that for a career in creativity, skills aren’t enough.

“You need to build a brand and show it off,” he advised. That means that you market yourself, build a portfolio, and do whatever work you

can. He recounts the hours of work he did for free and how that’s helped him become successful in the industry. No matter how insignificant or unprofitable the job seems, it’s worth it if it helps build your portfolio.

The competition proposals followed Lisi’s speech. The four final teams presented ideas for advertising campaigns to promote Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico. The proposals employed

social media and consumer insights to present creative solutions that inspire curiosity.

Tara Magloire, Runda Dong, and Hayley McOstrich judged the competition and were featured as the panelists later in the conference. Magloire is an art director at Rethink Toronto.

This agency has worked with a range of brands such as Ikea, Shaw Communications, A&W, Wonder, and

WestJet. Runda Dong and Hayley McOstrich work for Leo Burnett, as art director and copywriter, respectively. Leo Burnett’s clients include Samsung, McDonalds, Coca Cola, P&G, and General Motors. They shared their experiences within the industry and demystified these career paths.

The workshops—“The World of SEO” and “Copywriting Ins & Outs” —operated in a similar vein. Led by professionals currently working in the industry, they provided students with relevant knowledge and an interactive experience. “The Struggling Artist Discussion” focused on how the trope has influenced young artists and cut their creative careers short. Many don’t recognize the financial potential in their creativity, or they don’t know how to translate a self-taught skill into a marketable product.

Although we’re constantly surrounded by advertising and the products of creative work, there is still a misconception that one must sacrifice financial stability in order to work as a creative. Art makes money and that may be uncomfortable to hear, but this discussion is necessary.

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THE MEDIUM 03.04.2019

An afternoon with author Angie Thomas The Art Gallery of Ontario hosted a Q&A session with author of The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas SAHIBA SHAH STAFF WRITER On February 24, the Art Gallery of Ontario held a talk with #1 New York Times bestselling author Angie Thomas in conversation with literary journalist Donna Bailey Nurse, discussing Thomas’s massively successful novel The Hate U Give, and her new book, On the Come Up. The Hate U Give, which has remained on the NYT bestsellers list for two years, is a novel about racial injustice and police violence in the United States. When asked about the appeal of the story and Starr, the novel’s protagonist, Thomas replied, “I’ve had so many people who say that it’s opened their eyes, or they’ve connected [with the characters].” Thomas mentioned how the book spoke not just to young black girls, but also people from across many different demographics.

“What we’re seeing—not just with The Hate U Give—but what we’re seeing in general with art is that, you know, we’re seeing a huge Black Renaissance.” Thomas mentioned movies such as Black Panther and shows like Insecure, which have seen major popularity and success recently. “Even when stories are specific, they can appeal to a multitude of people,” noted Thomas.

When asked about the nature of the Black experience in different places, Thomas said, “What I’ve come to learn, too, is that antiBlackness is global, unfortunately.”

The author mentioned hearing stories, while on tour for her book, from black people in the U.K. and Canada, and their experiences with police brutality. “Anti-Blackness is global, and it saddens me. But

I also see that blackness is beautiful. There are so many different layers to blackness, so many ways that blackness looks differently in different areas and different countries. So, I can see how beautiful blackness is even more so [and] I’m thankful for that.”

Regarding today’s young generation growing up in the social media age, Nurse asked, “What about this rumour that young people have short attention spans? What is this saying to us about the nature of YA [young adult] readers and YA literature?” Angie Thomas expressed her sadness at this assumption about young readers, mentioning that thousands of readers show up to book festivals, such as the North Texas Teen Book Festival, every year to celebrate their love for books. “It’s not that their attention spans are short, it’s that we’re not giving them things that hold their attention. There’s a big difference.”

In defense of kids growing up in the digital age, Thomas noted, “Even if teenagers are paying attention to their phones, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because so many young people are aware nowadays of lives beyond their own, thanks to what they’re finding on these phones. Kids are starting movements because of what they’re finding on their phones. They’re starting hashtags that become social justice initiatives. They’re becoming activists in their own right.

They’re proving society wrong every single day.”

The author also talked about growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, and connecting with the rich literature and history of the state. Thomas mentioned that her favourite writer from Mississippi is Jesmyn Ward, author of the Sing, Unburied, Sing, which won the 2017 National

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANISSA PHOTOGRAPHY

Angie Thomas is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give.

Book Award for fiction. Thomas talked about meeting Ward recently, and how both of them “freaked out” over each other. Thomas also noted that her favourite book growing up was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.

It was the first book Thomas read about a black girl living in Mississippi. “The Logan family in that book influenced the Carter family in The Hate U Give. I wanted them to be a contemporary version of the Logans,” Thomas noted.

Thomas revealed that she delved into some of her own experience for Starr’s story, as well as for Bri,

PHOTO FROM GOODREADS.COM

Angie Thomas discusses her new book, On the Come Up.

the protagonist of On the Come Up. Bri is an outspoken teenager who attends art school and pursues her dream of becoming a rapper. “There are stories of so many young black girls that are untold,” said Thomas. She noted the prevalence of boys’ narratives over girls’.

“Black girls are often made to feel like they’re either too much or not enough. I want my books to make them feel as if they’re perfect just the way they are. I always want to empower them with my books.”

Talking about the character of Bri, Thomas mentioned how society tries to define her with their own labels: “‘She’s too loud. She’s too aggressive. She’s too angry. She’s not smart enough. She’s not delicate enough. She’s not wise enough.

She’s not intelligent enough,’ when the fact is, she’s enough. Period.

And she has to come to realize that herself.” Bri’s voice shines through in her raps—her mode of expression.

Thomas disclosed the multiple meanings of the book’s title, “On the Come Up.” She noted, “When we say somebody is on the come up, that means they’re on the verge of making something of themselves, they’re on the verge of success, they’re on the verge of making it.” The second meaning, from Thomas’s experience in the South, is in terms of “growing up.” Thomas talked about Bri’s tale being a coming-of-age tale as well. The third meaning refers to Bri’s song in the book titled “On the Come Up,” which Thomas cited as Bri’s “rally cry.”

“You can’t stop me on the come up. You can’t stop me from making something of myself.”

The author expressed her love of hip-hop, her stint as a rapper when she was younger, and how rappers, “the good ones, are great storytellers.” Thomas stated, “You know why kids, teenagers, love hip-hop so much? It’s because it keeps it real with them. It is authentic with them, it doesn’t hold back, and that’s exactly what I want to do as a writer.” The creativity and passion translate across different artistic disciplines, including writing.

When asked about her writing practice, Thomas revealed it to be “an emotional journey.” For her novels, Thomas talked about starting with characters first. While working on Starr’s story in The Hate U Give, Thomas mentioned how she conceived the character of Bri at the same time, and how Bri’s personality differed from Starr’s.

“I’m like, okay, this is another character that I need to write. This is how these characters sometimes just blossom to me,” stated Thomas. After conceiving her characters, the next step for Thomas is figuring out the plot. For Bri’s story, a fundamental question Thomas asked herself was: “What does it mean to be a young black person in America when freedom of speech isn’t necessarily free?”

Through her characters, Angie Thomas’s message for young black girls is, “At the end of the day, you have to define yourself. You have to know yourself, and you have to love yourself.”

Currently, Angie Thomas’s books The Hate U Give and On the Come Up, occupy the #1 and #2 spots on the NYT bestseller’s lists, respectively.

A Jonas family reunion After a six-year hiatus, the Jonas brothers have reconvened as a band

03.04.2019 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 7

REWIND BELICIA CHEVOLLEAU

STEVE GRANITZ/GETTY IMAGES

Fans should expect a new album and tour from the Jonas Brothers this year.

TRISHA CLARENCE ASUNCION

In late October 2013, teenage girls everywhere were distraught when the Jonas Brothers, consisting of Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas, announced that they were breaking up the band. The announcement came right before they were set to embark on tour to promote their fifth studio album that was never released. Nick, the youngest of the band, admitted he was the one who initiated the idea that the band of brothers should split up. They felt that there were complications between them that had gone unaddressed for too long. They felt that they were best suited at the time to part ways and do individual projects.

During this time, Nick went on to pursue a solo career. He successfully released two albums and went on multiple tours. Joe also stayed in the music scene, forming pop band DNCE with his friends Jack Law-

AMNA BAIG

A required text for WRI203, Showing the Story is a collection of nonfiction short stories, most of them autobiographically written by a group of former U of T students. The stories in this book were first written as assignments by students taking WRI203, and then chosen and edited by Professor Guy Allen to be put into a book published

by Life Rattle Collective in 2014.

The book itself is divided into eight chapters, with each chapter having a specific topic on which the stories were written. It follows the curriculum of the course, with students having to write eight assignments in total, each assignment with a specific prompt.

The eight chapters of the book each contain a collection of the assignments for each specific prompt.

The book starts with the chapter: The Child, in which the selected authors present an account of an experience that happened to them as a child.

Stories such “Sesame Street” by Laurel Waterman bring back nostalgic memories that most of us have, of weekend mornings and television shows. On the other hand, stories such as “Guilt”

by Sunny Ahn evoke terror and call

less (drummer for the Jonas Brothers), Cole Whittle, and JinJoo Lee. DNCE released one album and two EPs. Meanwhile, Kevin was the only brother who stayed away from another music career. Instead, he focused on building a family. He now has two daughters with wife, Danielle.

The fate of the Jonas brothers as a band remained in limbo for five years.

Over the next couple of years while the band was broken up, rumours of the brothers’ return popped up every now and then. The boys did not comment on any of them. But on the night of February 27, 2019, fans took notice that all of the Jonas Brothers social media accounts changed the profile pictures to black. In Internet fan language, changing all profile pictures to black is a sign that a new era is coming. Everyone’s suspicions were right.

The very next day, the Jonas Brothers officially announced their comeback. It caused havoc all over the Internet. They announced that their

new single “Sucker” was set to be released at midnight on March 1. Its release was accompanied by a music video. In the video, all three brothers appear with their real life significant others frolicking around a gorgeous castle in England. It’s a playful video that showcases their relationships.

The performance shots of the boys were reminiscent of their older music videos like “Hold On” and “Lovebug.”

“Sucker” is exactly what you would expect a modern-day Jonas Brothers song to sound like. They’ve stuck with their knowledge of curating contagious hooks while experimenting with a new, punchier sound to bring into the mainstream. They’ve grown up, and so did their music. It’s safe to say that “Sucker” will be on everyone’s playlist this summer as the song topped many charts shortly after its release.

Upon the news of the reunion, fans should expect a new album and tour this year.

back the fear of having to face repercussions as a child.

School presents stories written of experiences from attending school. Mike DeLellis takes us through his experience of a UTM calculus final so vividly that it seems as though the reader is the one sitting the exam. Stories like “Choke” by Christina Hunter demonstrate the devasting consequences a few minutes of childhood mischief can have.

The chapter with experiences of family takes us through scenes from chaotic dinner times as children by Laurel Waterman to the breakdown of a marriage through the eyes of a child, written by Shane Driver.

In Relationships, the authors talk about events in a romantic relationship, either their own or someone else’s, with breakups and jilted love stories found in abundance.

Chapter 5, People, introduces a person the author knows to the reader.

The authors picked a wide range of people, from grandparents to old friends to colleagues.

Places introduces the reader to a place the author knows, and they do this by making the place the centre of the story. In “Elevator,” Bayan Khatib uses the elevator in his new apartment

building to introduce the reader to his new life and Saamiyah Ali Mohammed uses the back stairwell in Davis to show the reader that she’s built an imaginary and unnecessary boundary between herself and her new friends.

The penultimate chapter explores experiences of the authors at their place of work, ranging from the authors like Penny Verbruggen being cheated to a young Bailey Green being harassed by older co-workers and being mistreated by customers.

The last chapter consists of writeups of interviews that the authors have conducted, with the interviewees varying from family, friends, neighbours, and in one case, a sex worker.

Showing the Story is a great book that allows the reader to feel as though they’re living the scenes as they’re playing out. The book is made more impressive by the fact that it’s written primarily by our peers, for the very course we’re taking. It sets a standard, a bar to reach toward, for every new writer taking this course and anyone else considering a career in creative writing.

Showing the Story can be purchased both through Amazon and the course instructor when taking WRI203.

I should preface this by admitting that this is my first time watching an Audrey Hepburn movie. She is one of those people you hear about, but you don’t realize what makes them special until they bring a character to life on-screen.

Audrey Hepburn’s performance in How to Steal a Million is smart and charming. She combines wit with compassion in this hilarious movie.

How to Steal a Million is a 1960’s crime, romantic comedy directed by William Wyler, based on the story “Venus Rising” from George Bradshaw’s short story collection titled, Practise to Deceive. The film follows a wealthy art collector and his disapproving daughter.

The wealthy Charles Bonnet (Hugh Griffith) makes a fortune by forging missing paintings by famous impressionist artists and selling them at auctions and to private collectors.

He decides to loan a “Cellini” statue—forged by his father—to a Paris museum since modern tests would reveal its forgery. Someone doubts the authenticity of Charles Bonnet’s collection and enlists the help of an art detective, Simon Dermott (Peter O’Toole), to disprove him.

When Nicole catches Simon taking her father’s “Van Gogh” painting, she mistakes him for a burglar. This moment was probably my favourite in the film. The stylistic choice to showcase his shadow as he creeps in the house is interesting and effective. The imagery is accompanied by subtle music that embodies Simon’s action—it sounds like someone tiptoeing. When the camera switches to Nicole, the audience sees her reading a Hitchcock book, and the book matches the mood perfectly when she covers her face with the back cover that features Hitchcock’s shocked expression.

After enduring a misfired vintage gun and a wounded arm, these characters engage in banter that carries throughout the whole movie.

However, after doing the equivalent of checking “I agree to the terms

and conditions” without reading the terms, Charles Bonnet signs an insurance form that authorized the museum to conduct a technical exam to determine the authenticity of the statue.

To protect her father from jail time and a bad reputation, Nicole Bonnet (Audrey Hepburn) devises the heist of the “Cellini” statue along with Simon Dermott, a burglar who tried to steal her father’s “Van Gogh” painting earlier.

Despite the old charm, there are some parts of this film that made me feel uncomfortable.

Whenever there is a problem—for example, when Nicole felt chills— Charles Bonnet suggests some brandy. Alcohol fixes anything. I think it may be a running joke, though, considering Hugh Griffiths’ drunken antics that got him fired. Another part that made me pause were some of the forceful kisses that plague twentieth century films.

There was the kiss after she drives Simon to his hotel and the kiss when Davis Leland, the American tycoon, proposed to her. After her father hears about the attempted burglary, he asks, “This tall, good looking ruffian with blue eyes, he didn’t, er, molest you in any way, did he?”

And Nicole replies, still in a dreamlike trance, “Not...much.” I feel like that line might not age well in 2019.

However, the most visually disturbing was when Simon pretends to be a guard and she thinks she got caught.

He drags her from behind, muffles her voice with his hand, and then he kisses her until she realizes it’s him.

The first three seconds made me forget this was a comedy. I think the exaggerated nature of the scene is supposed to make it appear funny, and I’m sure it was fifty years ago, but it is hard to watch now.

It isn’t a terrible movie if you ignore the few plot holes. The character relationships feel genuine and the film is fun to watch. Although Nicole can be a bit naive at times, she is still likeable.

The storyline is predictable, but the acting makes it quite forgivable.

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03.04.2019

ICCIT: So you think you can design?

The Medium sits down with Kate Pak from the ICCIT Council to talk about their creative case competition BELICIA CHEVOLLEAU If you follow ICCIT council on Instagram and Facebook, you may have seen the vivid yellow, blue, and pink posts advertising a creative case competition.

The Creative Case Competition is a partnership between Bridgemark and the ICCIT Council that offers students an opportunity to showcase their skills to industry professionals with the chance of winning a cash prize as well as an interview for a summer internship with the Glenn Davis Group, Bridgemark’s parent company.

Participants designed a sub-brand for Radical Road Brewing Co. who are set to launch a new line of products for their younger consumers this spring. Students worked in teams of one to three to design the product for the 19-35 age range.

I sat down with the ICCIT Council’s VP External Off-Campus, Kate Pak to discuss the competition.

The competition stemmed from a previous graphic design competition and a newly formed relationship with the Davis agency, a sister company to Bridgemark, after the ICCIT Council organized a company tour in September. The council connected with the staff and eventually the idea was born.

Their graphic design competition focused on the design aspect of the

ICCIT COUNCIL/FACEBOOK

The ICCT Council’s social media posts of this colourful ad showcase The Creative Case Competition. industry, but with the case competition, the council aimed to arrange a more “intricate” media event that showcased the diversity of student ability. Bridgemark was excited to work with the ICCIT council to bring their vision to fruition.

The purpose of the competition is to “demonstrate the skills and abilities of CCIT and DEM students,” Pak says. Working with Bridgemark provides that opportunity since they are a branding/creative agency. The competition not only allows CCIT and DEM students to exhibit their graph-

ic design skills, but it also proves that they have an understanding of the market and “the campaigning of it.”

Participants signed up and then submitted their designs along with a one-page market analysis by February 23. The analysis explains “why their product would be profitable and their reasons why there is opportunity in the market.” The creative case competition is a two-part event.

The first part is the social media voting process. The council posts the designs on their Facebook and Instagram page for users to vote. The vote

is not restricted to UTM students, Pak says, “Anyone can vote by liking the photo [of the] design they think is best.”

Then, the teams within the top percentage pitch their design in-person to Bridgemark. Their analysis can be used for the presentation for Bridgemark and while Bridgemark converses with them regarding their proposed product. The analysis serves as preparation for the big event and also gives the contestants an opportunity to explain their design decisions.

The prize advertised is a cash re-

ward and “a chance at a summer internship.” One of the prizes is $100 cash “or a gift card” with an equal monetary value. While Pak acknowledges that “it is not a lot,” she says the real prize is the chance to be interviewed at Bridgemark for their summer internship.

Although Pak could not confirm whether it is a voluntary or paid internship, she emphasized the incredible opportunity an interview provides. In an interview, the winning team can get “their portfolios critiqued” as well as “get feedback from real industry professionals.”

Even if the participant does not land a summer internship, the experience “adds a lot of value to their careers, no matter what.” Additionally, the competition gives Bridgemark access to “a pool of qualified creative candidates,” thus the reward goes both ways.

This competition offers ICCIT students an opportunity to directly engage with a branding agency and receive feedback from experts. The experience of the competition, the in-person pitch, and interview offer invaluable knowledge to ICCIT students which makes the competition so attractive.

At the end of our meeting, I asked Pak what participants can take away from the competition.

ICCIT continued on page 10

The unappetizing truth about wasted food Exploring the extent and impact of Canada’s food wastage and how we can combat it in the future FATIMA ADIL ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR

Imagine throwing away a quarter of your groceries as soon you leave the supermarket. The amount of food waste that occurs in Canada—one of the worst countries globally in terms of food wastage—is equivalent to just that; each person discarding 25 per cent of the food they have just purchased each time they go to the supermarket.

There are two components to overall food wastage: food loss and food waste. As the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations details, food loss represents any food which is lost throughout the supply chain from producer to market. An example would be tomatoes crushed during transport as a result of improper packaging or apples rotting in the grass because there aren’t enough

harvest workers.

Food waste, on the other hand, is the discarding of food which is perfectly edible. This can occur during sorting operations when companies decide to dispose of fresh produce that does not resemble what is considered to be the most optimal shape, size, or colour, in supermarkets, where foods which are close to the “best-before” date are discarded, and in household kitchens and restaurants, where large quantities of unused food are thrown away.

The Stats A report conducted recently by Value Chain Management International concluded that 58 per cent of Canadian food production is wasted.

One third of this waste was avoidable.

This is in sharp contrast to the fact that 4 million Canadians experience food insecurity. According to Canada Without Poverty, 1 in 8 Canadian households struggle to put food on

the table.

The waste included usable groceries worth $50 billion, which is not only limited to the wasted food. The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that the cumulative cost of the wastes associated with the production of food is 2.5 times greater than the actual value of food. Associated wastes include all the energy, water, land, labour, machinery, and infrastructure involved in producing the food. The actual cost of Canada’s food waste then comes up to more than a $100 billion.

Another harmful effect of food waste is the damage incurred to the environment. The Toronto Food Policy Council states that organic matter in landfills creates methane gas which is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.

Food continued on page 10

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

Canada is one of the worst countries in terms of food wastage.

03.04.2019 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 9

Can Star Wars be seen as a “religion”?

UTM religions Professor Ken Derry discusses a new book that looks at Star Wars films and theology DANIEL REALE

Professor Ken Derry sits in a bright room on the fourth floor of UTM’s New North Building. His office—a new spot he recently moved in to— hosts two large shelves fully stacked with books.

“That pile there, those are books some of my colleagues have written.”

Derry, a Professor of Religion at the University of Toronto, tells me.

One of those colleagues is John C. Lyden, Derry’s co-editor on The Myth Awakens: Canon, Conservatism, and Fan Reception of Star Wars.

Lyden, a Professor of Liberal Arts at Grand View University, and Derry are members of the American Academy of Religion. Within the Academy, Lyden, Derry, and a group of colleagues-turned-friends, are part of a religion and film group. A little while after a trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, the team put out a call for papers within the group focused on the 2015 movie and trailer.

“We received three papers, and they were great,” Derry says. “We received a lot of great feedback within the academy, and we had some people saying, ‘you should all make a book.’

Based off three papers!”

This call for papers conceptualized the book, which got other essay writers, religious scholars and eventually a publisher interested. The Myth Awakens was published in September of 2018. The book’s nine chapters are comprised of nine essays by nine contributors with an introduction written by Derry.

The chapters focus on race and gender, music, memory, political context and how those topics can change how people receive the Star Wars films.

The essays in the book focus on these spaces of Star Wars existence.

One essay “Memory, History, and Forgetting in Star Wars Fandom” explores the notion of memory in the retelling of stories. “[The essay] …focuses on the use of memory and the ways in which, if you want to instruct a canon, you have to do things to the memory— you have to change things, you have to forget things,” Derry says.

One thread of the study of religion focuses on the question of who creates religious stories, who tells them, and what people accept as authentic in religion.

“An example is the Christmas story—the Christmas story that we celebrate is in fact not the Christmas story that’s in the Bible. It’s sort of a mix of two stories, but then some parts of those stories are taken out because they don’t fit. [According to the Bible] Jesus is born in two different places, so we take one, but have to forget the other. It’s a rejigging of the memory,” Derry explains.

Across the 40 years of Star Wars’ existence, George Lucas has tweaked and changed the histories of the Star Wars Universe. In the expanded Universe, Han Solo and Princess Leia have three children. In the Force Awakens the couple have one.

“The other two children are completely erased,” Derry says.

“There’s a lot of parallels between how Star Wars has been manipulated and controlled by creators and owners, and the ways in which religious stories are played with and manipulated and controlled by sacred leaders and interpreters and owners. And parallels between how all of this is received,” Derry says.

People have grasped onto parts of the stories’ history, which has sparked intense debates drenched in racism, misogyny, and death threats, while stipulating the authenticity of histories within the Star Wars Universe.

The essays themselves were written in response to fan reception of the trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fan reception to the trailer was negative at times. “[The traditional Star Wars Universe]…is a very white, very male dominated Universe…put that forward…and then The Force Awakens suddenly switched that up,” Derry tells me.

Negative reception to the film was soaked in racist notions of conservativism. Some fans clung onto notions of the heroes in Star Wars being white male figures. When the Force Awakens introduced multiple black characters, female Jedi’s, and Storm Troopers of colour, the “sacred text” of many Star Wars fans was dramati-

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Derry’s book of nine chapters consists of nine essays by nine contributors and his introduction. cally altered.

“There was this hashtag started called #WhiteGenocide. Based on a trailer, based on the fact that the hero wasn’t a white guy,” Derry says.

Chapter Five of the book, “Racism Awakens,” focuses on these racist responses to the movie trailer. From a scholarly religious perspective, the chapter focuses on conservativism, and just how much story tellers can “play” with “sacred texts” before people get upset.

“So how much flexibility do you have before people get upset? And that’s what we saw with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If you change the focus from a white blonde guy to a white woman and a black man some people get very upset. So it allows us to think about those abstract questions [about religion],” says Derry.

The book is a first of its kind. Derry’s essay is based off the fact that many people had written about religion and Star Wars, but no religious scholars had written about this. “ The Gospel according to Star Wars, The Dharma of Star Wars, The Evolution of Religious Iconography in Star Wars just to name a few [books about religion and Star Wars]. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot,

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLAKE ELIGH/STAFF REPORTER/UTM

Professor Ken Derry hopes his book sparks thoughts in people about Star Wars and religion.

but none of these are written by religious scholars,” Derry says.

“If something is popular or important to people, then that alone makes it worth studying. This has had such a huge impact on people, then it deserves some scrutiny.” Derry says.

“This is the biggest pop culture phenomenon in the last 40 years, and we have not talked about it. From a religious perspective, there’s an advantage of looking at things that aren’t explicitly religious.”

One of these advantages is that lower stakes are involved in critiquing popular culture over religious texts.

“The idea of religion itself is very constructed. Religion isn’t a thing,” Derry says.

“We kind of see some things that people are doing over here and it’s similar to things that people are doing over here and we just call it religion.

But religion isn’t a thing. So there’s no more reason to think of Christianity as “religion” than to think of Star Wars as religion. So depending on the definition you’re using, Star Wars definitely qualifies as religion.”

“By turning our attention to something people don’t generally consider as religion—like Star Wars—it allows us to rethink what we mean by religion and how it functions in our lives. It becomes an interesting way to think about these issues and ideas in religious studies through this lens of Star Wars.”

As an academic, Professor Ken Derry’s published pieces have considered religion through the context of other written and visual works such as The Wizard of Oz, and Netflix series Luke Cage.

His introduction to The Myth Awakens looks at the use of “play” in Academia.

“Play matters because you take yourself less seriously, you do less harm. It allows you to put humanity back into Academic study,” Derry says.

“Pop culture is generally looked at dismissively—I think that’s why there’s a need to do it—because it does matter. So many people con-

sume popular culture, but it’s looked at as so unimportant in Academia.”

Derry speaks extensively about the notion of conservativism in response to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer from a religious perspective.

Conservativism in the study of religion focuses on how people cling to sacred stories and their histories, and Canonism focuses on how we choose the sacred stories we cling to, and what people consider legitimate aspects of their religions and sacred texts.

In all of this, people are involved— those who tell the stories, and those who receive them. In a way, notions of conservativism, legitimacy, and canon lend significance to certain aspects of stories that may be no truer than any other story. The storytellers and creators of these histories become gate keepers in a way, with an authority to write and rewrite narratives that people base aspects of their lives on. In academia, these notions of conservativism, and these gatekeepers might dictate what is seen as academically relevant the same way George Lucas or some Star Wars fans might inform what aspects of the Star Wars history must remain unchanged and unchallenged.

In studying the parallels between religious study and popular culture, we are able to tackle larger abstract ideas through more easily digestible topics.

“What would you want people to take away from this book?” I ask Derry.

“The book was written to be accessible to a lot of people. I hope it sparks thoughts in people about Star Wars and religion. The essays in the collection, some of them contradict each other, it isn’t about agreeing. Part of the point is that you could have different opinions on topics depending how you look at them,” Derry says.

“For academics—to see that there’s value to studying popular culture— whether they’re doing it or not, to judge the work by the work itself, not by the subject matter. Work isn’t important just because it’s about something ‘important’.”

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THE MEDIUM 03.04.2019

Celebrating Caribbean Cuisine and Culture Kevin Kim, Associate Features Editor, shares his experiences from the “Taste of the Caribbean” event at UTM KEVIN KIM ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR In accordance with Black History Month, the International Education Centre (IEC) collaborated with Caribbean Connections to present an event celebrating the cuisine and culture of the Caribbean.

Aptly titled “Taste of the Caribbean,” the event, which took place in the Student Centre Presentation Room on the 27th of February, featured vibrant music and an opportunity to indulge in some of the Caribbean’s most iconic dishes, making for a wonderful cultural experience.

Four specific dishes made their appearance at the event, all of which I myself tried.

First, I tried rice and peas. The rice proved to be slightly gummy in texture and mild in taste; a well-suited complement to the other dishes, which mostly featured bold flavours and complex textures in comparison.

Interestingly, although the dish is referred to as rice and peas, what may at first glance look like peas, they are actually beans—beans are typically called peas in the Caribbean.

Jerk chicken was the main and only meat option available to try.

Jerk refers to a manner of cooking which originated in Jamaica. For this method, the chicken is covered with a mixture of spices referred to as Jamaican jerk spice. A specific type of

WENDELL MACAPAGAL/THE MEDIUM

At the event, four specific dishes made their appearance, all of which Kevin Kim tasted. pepper called Scotch bonnet peppers are typically a key ingredient of the mixture. The chicken I tried certainly possessed a hot, spicy kick which I really enjoyed.

Up next was a vegetable dish called Callaloo, quite popular in the Caribbean, and is typically composed of

some leafy green vegetable, which tends to vary from region to region.

Commonly used ones include Taro and species of Amaranth. Quite many different types of seasonings are used as well. For this specific interpretation of Callaloo, the leaves used were soft and the overall taste

was what I can only describe as spicy and fragrant.

Finally, as a side dish, a fried dough with a nice crunch and an ever so mildly sweet taste rounded out the meal. Called a Festival, this dish is a type of fried dumpling commonly paired with jerk meats.

The event was an enlightening cultural activity and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Alex Henry, a member and co-organizer for the event at the IEC, shares some insight behind the event. “The event is mainly meant to showcase Caribbean culture through food and games for everyone,” she said. Having been hosted for multiple years now, the simple delight of food and music is an excellent way to convey some of the integral aspects of Caribbean culture.

Kenya Sloane-Seale, a member of Caribbean Connections, also shares details on their contribution to the event, as well as what they do in general. “We want to provide an environment where students can enjoy Caribbean culture, promote a good vibe, and kind of give people a sense of home away from home.” Caribbean Connections tends to host a variety of events every other week or so, such as meet and greets. Collaboration with other clubs occurs quite often, such as with the African Student’s Association. Overall, the goal is to “provide a welcoming community to the Caribbean diaspora,” according to Sloane-Seale.

Although Black History Month is now over, the IEC and Caribbean Connections will continue to host a multitude of events to support and encourage the immense diversity present within UTM.

Food and the environment More than hobbies ICCIT continued from page 8

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

Research found that 63 per cent of food that Canadians throw away could have been eaten.

Food continued from page 8 A report released by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation found that 193 million tonnes of greenhouse gases are released as a result of the agencies involved in producing the food that is ultimately wasted. As Tamara Shulman, one of the authors of the report explains, that is the equivalent of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by 41 million cars driven on the road continuously for a year.

Research conducted in 2017 by the National Zero Waste Council found that 63 per cent of the food Canadian individuals threw away could have been eaten. The most prominent

types of food wasted were vegetables, fruits, and leftovers. This translates to about five hundred thousand heads of lettuce, two million potatoes, one million apples, one million cups of milk, and five hundred thousand eggs thrown away each day in Canada.

General advice entails restricting ourselves from buying and cooking in excess along with storing food correctly. Simple actions which can reduce food waste in the kitchen, as advised by Helen Sanders in an article for Zero Waste Canada, include using scraps such as vegetable peels, chicken bones, and onion skin to make nutritious soup stock. Other ideas are baking potato skins for a tasty snack and boiling meat bones to make pop-

sicles for pets.

As suggested by Shulman, author of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation report, retailers should offer imperfect produce at a discount and consumers should purchase this produce to influence retailers not to throw it away. Other suggestions in the report include preventing food waste by reducing restaurant portion sizes and adding quick-fix items to buffets in order to limit over-production.

Less food and food waste will ultimately lead to positive impacts on climate change and livelihoods and therefore, each individual should actively try to avoid wasting food

She mentioned the opportunities available for creative students and addressed the common feeling that there isn’t a place for creatives, and counters that “there [are] millions of these creative industries” that offer a chance at a “full-fledged, successful career.” Although creative abilities sometimes get dismissed as hobbies, Pak argues that the hobbies can turn “into a career.”

For students who don’t think they match up, Pak reminds us that the ICCIT students are talented and that they “do have a place” in the creative industry.

The Facebook voting period lasts from February 24 to March 3. On March 5, the top candidates will be announced, then the candidates will give an in-person pitch at Bridgemark March 6, and the winner will be announced March 22. perature to change from negative temperatures to above zero degrees, causing the snow to melt and turn into slush.

These intense weather fluctuations are causing a collection of adverse effects on our environment.

Since we went from a few days of heavy snow to warmth, the mass snow that had piled near the Don Valley area melted and resulted in floods that peaked up to 77 meters before being contained, resulting in traffic and minor infrastructure

damage.

In addition, freezing rain forecasts have increased in frequency due to the upsurge in temperatures around zero. Although this situation may sound appealing to a university student since it probably means more frequent snow days, it is dangerous to both humans and animals. These freezing rain events are dangerous to drive in because roads can become extremely icy, and trees and power lines often risk falling and blocking the road or even trapping a car underneath them.

This rain, if it falls on an animal, typically freezes causing them to panic, or even end with the animal experiencing hypothermia and frostbite—two conditions that can endanger its life.

Political figures and citizens use the intensity of these cold days to debunk global warming, but what they don’t realize is that they’re missing the distinction between weather and climate. Weather is just the day to day fluctuations that we observe—few days are cold, others are warm. Those are just the natural fluctuations that happen due to a natural weather cycle. On the other hand, climate is an average over a longer period of time.

The weather fluctuations are not what researchers are concerned about, but rather it is the climate trends that cause concern to arise.

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Jankovic finds self through basketball Andreas Jankovic’s older brother and parents moved to Toronto following the breakup of Yugoslavia SARAH-MAY OLDFIELD ASSOCIATE S&H EDITOR

“I headed towards prison or death, either way it was down the wrong path,” says Andreas Jankovic, a first year humanities student at UTM and first year center for the men’s varsity basketball team. Two major influences that saved Jankovic: a run-in with the law and mentorship from an influential activist for victims of sexual abuse.

Jankovic is the only one of his Serbian family to be born here in Canada. Both his parents and older brother immigrated from Bosnia to Toronto following the breakup of Yugoslavia and the ensuing violence and economic instability. Though he’s been back home many times, Jankovic is continually surprised at the amount of healing he sees despite some places still in ruin. “The people there, not much bothers them. They’ve seen their family and friends die. A lot of my cousin’s don’t have dads, because they died in the war. It’s becoming prosperous and there are a lot of things still going right,” says Jankovic, who’s amazed by the resilience he’s seen in the people who’ve made it through such a horrific period.

Despite the surprising growth, positivity and resilience he’d been exposed to growing up, Jankovic describes his younger self as a “nui-

sance.” He went from stealing from the school cafeteria to shop-lifting from a mall store. After the latter, he found himself sitting in the back of a police cruiser, at just 14 years old. “I was hanging with the wrong crowd, stealing from school and hiding things from my parents,” admits Jankovic. On a trip with his high school basketball team, St. Francis Xavier, he shoplifted from a Sport Chek where the police were called. “I remember sitting in the back of the cop car, with all my teammates staring at me. I couldn’t stop crying, thinking I was going to go to jail, or that this was going to go on my record.”

Jankovic was fortunate the police officer was kind and understanding. He sat down and spoke to Andreas “He said, ‘There’s so much more you can do with your life. So much more you can do for your society, to make other people’s lives better.’”

That incident got Andreas kicked off the team. It devastated him. “It absolutely killed me. My coach was one of my teachers in school and seeing him every day was so hard. I was close to tears every time. This guy kicked me off the team and I thought my life was over! I thought basketball was over! I thought ‘what am I going to do with my life now?’” Andreas saw the experience as one of the major signs that he needed to evaluate his life and future. And he did.

Jankovic began working harder in

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Jankovic plays for the men’s varsity basketball team. school, and on the basketball court.

He made the basketball team again the following year, making a promise to his coach that he had changed for the better and permanently. “I realized that one of the most important things in life is to surround yourself with people who are not only similar to you, but people who will elevate you. Elevate your motives, elevate you to be a better person and a better basketball player. People who have academic aspirations to go to university, or business aspirations. I stopped

seeing and involving myself with the people who had negative influences on me.”

His new-found drive for better, not only for himself but for the people around him, awarded Jankovic a high-school scholarship in the U.S. At 16-years-old he joined his older brother, Stefan, now a professional basketball player in Europe, to live in Hawaii. Jankovic lived with his brother for a year, until his brother declared for the 2016 NBA draft. Stefan was never drafted, but he signed a

contract with the Euroleague, which left Andreas alone in Hawaii. On an AU Representative Basketball team trip, he met what would be the second major influence on his life: the Zambutos.

Maile Zambuto and her family completely changed his outlook on life, and what he believed he could contribute to society around him.

Maile Zambuto is the CEO of the Joyful Heart Foundation, a charity that focuses its efforts towards the healing, educating and empowering survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. “She changed my life.

My parents taught me all the morals and values, being a good person and doing the right things. Maile taught me all these different perspectives.

How to be politically correct, how to have a sociological perspective on life, how to adapt the locus of control. She taught me how to be true to myself, to be honest with yourself. She helped teach me about equality, what it means to be a man, and that’s okay to break the gender norms surrounding masculinity. She taught me that you don’t have to detach from yourself and your emotions to be considered masculine. She planted a seed in me, and I guess now she’s watching me grow.” says Jankovic who still keeps in contact with his second family, sometimes daily.

Growth continued on page 12

Athletic therapy versus physiotherapy Athletic therapists specialize in sport-specific injuries, whereas physiotherapists employ a larger focus AMRISH WAGLE ASSOCIATE S&H EDITOR Athletic therapy and physiotherapy are exceedingly similar in terms of treatment and techniques used to treat an injury or illness. The main difference lies in their scope of practice and educational background.

An athletic therapist requires a 4-year bachelor’s degree to specialize in immediate care and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. Health Canada uses the CATA certification process where the candidates must meet the academic requirements in their bachelor’s degree and then finish a 1200-hour internship for practical experience, and finally finishing off with a comprehensive exam.

An athletic therapist would be present on site during a sports event, such as an NBA game, that rushes to help professional players during an injury and apply their training on assessment and rehabilitation. This very nature of emergency first response for immediate care can be applied out of professional athletics and transferred to musculoskeletal disorders, espe-

cially when related to physical activity. Using the Sports Medicine Model of care, athletic therapists apply various treatments including manual therapies, exercise prescription, therapeutic modalities and physical reconditioning. The main area of expertise is orthopedics where they focus on injuries to muscle, bone and joints.

Moreover, athletic therapists usually work closely with sports clinics as well as sports or national teams.

Thus, they’re known for their assertive style and variety of therapeutic tools to seek out the most efficient way of treating injuries or increasing the rate of recovery, in addition to a preventative method of helping patients achieve their maximal physical performance. Their focus is to help patients regain, maintain or exceed the necessary physical level of performance for their sport. Overall, the core target patients for athletic therapists are individuals that lead an athletic lifestyle and are regularly dependent, to a considerable extent, on their optimal physical fitness.

On the other hand, physiotherapy is defined as the science of move-

ment that focuses on the underlying physical issues to help recover, sustain and maximize an individual’s physical strength, mobility, function and overall well-being. In part, they seek out the root cause of an injury and treat it accordingly. This profession would require an additional 2-year Master’s degree and includes a much wider scope of training, including neurological disorders, orthopedics, cardio-respiratory rehab, stroke rehab, pediatrics, geriatrics and burn patients.

Most physiotherapists commonly decide to expand on a specific area of interest and continue their education after graduation. As such, with a broader scope, physiotherapists are not limited to sports injuries as all anatomical injuries fall in their purview. These individuals would work in hospitals, clinics and senior homes to treat a wide spectrum of patients and illnesses.

The typical patient for a physiotherapist usually seeks out treatment for some chronic injury or after a major trauma like a car accident. Another significant part of the job includes

NAAÏRAH PAUROBALLY /THE MEDIUM

An athletic therapist is often present during a sports event. helping children with various disorders overtime as they grow.

It is also quite common for both types of therapists to attain certification in knowledge for other types of fields in health care. Physiotherapists usually study acupuncture and various osteopathic techniques. Manipulative therapy is also a major area of

focus, where electro-therapy equipment and exercises are used for the massaging of muscles to enable joint mobilization and manipulation. Athletic therapists on the other hand usually expand into muscle energy, massage therapy, and osteopathic techniques complementary to their rehabilitative methods.

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THE MEDIUM 03.04.2019

The bitter side of sugar Jankovic’s Dairy and grain products also contain many added sugars journey to utm

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Jankovic isn’t happ with how the season turned out for UTM.

Growth continued from page 11 Jankovic continued to grow under the love and guidance of his second family. After living with them for a year, he finished his senior year of high school at an even better basketball school. And then began his first year at Orange Coast College, a community college in California. Jankovic went through a period of depression in his freshman year and made the decision to return home to Canada.

Jankovic got into contact with Assistant Coach, Jovan Pajovic, and with the help of Supervisory of Varsity and Intramural Sport, Brittany Tierney, he transferred to UTM. The decision to come to UTM wasn’t just a basketball one, but an academic one. Jankovic recognized he didn’t have enough of the drive or passion for the sport like his older brother.

“To be successful in basketball, you need to really have a passion for it.

People are always saying “ball is life”, but don’t put in nearly enough work to back that up. Euroleague fans are crazy. There’s a lot of pressure to perform. Not even the refs have it easy, they get spit on by fans and like players they get a lot of death threats,” explains Jankovic. Transferring from the Canadian education system to the American, and back again, was a unique experience for Jankovic.

Unlike in the U.S., Jankovic was unable to transfer the credits he’d earned at Orange Coast to his new school, UTM. He had to start from scratch, and in more ways than one. “I was struggling in high-school, getting 60’s. But when I went to high school in the states it was a lot easier to get good grades. I didn’t have to study as much. Now I’m not used to all the studying I have to do, like hours every day.” But Jankovic welcomes the challenge and considers himself incredibly grateful to attend one of the top universities in the world, the top in Canada. It’s another opportunity to challenge himself. “I’m in humanities right now, but I’m looking to transfer into something a little more challenging,” says Jankovic.

Jankovic is a strong believer in the locus of control, which is the belief of how much control one has in their lives. It was instilled in him dur-

ing his time with the Zambutos and emulated in the great and influential basketball player he looks up to, LeBron James. “There are things that are out of your control. I exercised this last summer when my grandfather passed away. There are always going to be people dying, or being mean to you, or whatever. You can grieve and get upset, but at the end of the day you have to accept you can’t control those things. I just try to help out when I can and be kind to people. If I forget to hold the door open for someone it bothers me for like an hour after. You just have to try and leave a situation better than how you found it.” LeBron James is someone he looks up to. “I look up to him because he’s a strong advocate for the locus of control. But also, I just like who he is. He’s more than just a basketball player, it’s everything he does off the court that inspires me. He isn’t willing to just put his head down and dribble, ignoring the problems and injustice around him. He does everything in his power to control what he can.”

Jankovic isn’t happy with how the season turned out for UTM. “Our coaching staff is great, but we’re not playing with enough hunger to close out games. But we’re still young, and we’re still continuing to grow. In the end, it comes down to what hurts more: losing the game or not doing everything you could to help your team win.”

UTM’s varsity men’s basketball staff have a lot of faith in Jankovic, and what he can bring to their evergrowing program. “‘Be a force to be reckoned with’ is what they’re always telling me. Just be confident. Confidence is something that I’ve always struggled with. The main thing I need to do is be a confident basketball player, there are a lot of other things I can add to my game, but that’s the main thing I need.”

Jankovic, a 6’9 center for the UTM Eagles, has one special reason for why he wears #1. “It’s going to be the number I wear for UTM, the number I’ll wear my entire career here, representing our Eagles varsity program. I want to leave a legacy here, to represent UTM and to do it with morals and values that inspire future generations,” Jankovic says.

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Despite containing natural sugars, fruits with the same amount of sugar as junk food are healthier.

BELICIA CHEVOLLEAU Despite knowing about the dangers of consuming too much sugar—diabetes and cavities—my childhood involved stuffing my pockets with sugar packets and snagging an orange-flavoured lollipop at the end of my yearly check-up.

After being scolded for my sugar addiction, I came to associate sugar with candies, dessert, and soft drinks. However, sports drinks, cereal bars, milk, and even fruits contain sugar. The issue pertains to the kind and quantity of sugar one consumes.

In certain foods and beverages, there are natural sugars and added sugars. The American Heart Association defines natural sugars as sugar “found naturally in foods such as fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose),” while “added sugars are sugars and syrups put in foods during preparation or processing or added at the table.”

The difference between them is that added sugar is derived from other substances, removing the nutritional factor that helps regulate consumption. Therefore, fruits with the same amount of sugar as junk food are healthier. In fruit, there exists fibre, vitamins, potassium, and water that help slow down the absorption process.

When you think about added sugars, you usually think of candy and soda, but dairy and grain products, such as flavoured yogurt and cereal, also contain added sugars. Usually, a good indicator is ingredients with the suffix ‘-ose’, namely sucrose,

glucose, fructose, and lactose (excluding plain milk). However, there are many other names for sugars such as maltose (the dreaded ‘ose’), nectars, evaporated cane juice, corn syrup, honey, and molasses.

Many companies will try to disguise the sugar with healthy sounding ingredients like fruit concentrate or agave nectar, but it is still sugar!

Now sugar isn’t inherently bad for you.

Sugar is a carbohydrate your body uses for energy. However, certain types of sugar and sugar combinations can have adverse effects on your health.

Glucose and fructose are natural sugars. Glucose circulates in your blood and regulates your blood sugar. It is easily broken down and absorbed, most of which is converted into energy.

We need this energy to function.

As the World Health Organization points out, “Sustaining energy balance is critical to maintaining healthy body weight and ensuring optimal nutrient intake.”

Intaking too much glucose can cause your pancreas to overproduce insulin, says organics.com, and this results in “low sugar levels.” They also argue that too little glucose results in low energy levels. With anything, but especially your diet, balance is a key component to a healthy lifestyle.

Fructose is sourced from fruits, vegetables, and honey, and it’s added to flavoured “beverages such as soda and fruit-flavoured drinks,” healthy eating states. When sugar

is not consumed from its natural source, but rather processed, it becomes lipogenic and difficult for the muscles and brain to absorb. Too much can result in weight gain since it does not release insulin or produce leptin, the fructose begins to “behave more like fat in the body.”

The nutrients in fruits help with this process, which is why fructose is best when absorbed from fruits and vegetables.

Sucrose, commonly referred to as ‘table sugar’, is a combination of fructose and glucose and it is usually extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets. However, fruits and vegetables also contain sucrose.

Enzymes will separate the glucose and fructose in the body with glucose providing energy and fructose “will be poured into fat synthesis,” according to healthyeating.sfgate. com.

The American Heart Association suggests no more than 36 grams (150 calories) of sugar for men and 25 grams (100 calories) for women.

For every gram, you get 4 calories.

When you consider that some junk food and soda contain more than 25-36g per serving, you get an idea of how bad it is for you and your body.

Always check the nutritional label. Many foods have a lot of sugar, but no nutritional value. These foods may be sweet, but high blood sugar and unhealthy weight gain are bad for your heart and can lead to heart disease and leave you bitter.

The same thing that gives you energy can negatively impact your health.