Vol 41 issue 22

THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA

March 23, 2015 Volume 41, Issue 22 themedium.ca

Agreement rejected, strike goes on Ratification fails by 109 votes in the early hours as community follows anxiously on social media MARIA IQBAL NEWS EDITOR The Unit 1 membership has struck down the tentative agreement reached with U of T, according to the unofficial results of the ratification vote at 2:05 a.m. Sunday night.

About a third of the unit voted: 992 ballots were for the agreement, 1,101 against, 27 were disallowed, and four were spoiled.

This means Unit 1 remains on strike, and the bargaining teams from both parties must return to negotiations to produce a deal that the membership will accept.

FUTURE OF TERM UNCERTAIN It remains unclear what will happen to courses affected by the strike as the term draws to a close. U of T did not respond to The Medium’s questions about the number of courses, labs, and tutorials not running during the strike and the university’s plans for the courses that have been cancelled due to the strike.

On Tuesday, the University of

MUBASHIR BAWEJA/THE MEDIUM

Rallies across U of T’s campuses called for better action from U of T to end the strike.

Toronto Faculty Association—representing tenured faculty and librarians—claimed in an update on its website that “some chairs and program directors are being asked to step into struck courses taught by Unit 1 instructors”.

UTFA president Scott Prudham told The Medium that “numerous” department chairs had complained

after having been directed to teach the courses by their deans.

U of T did not respond to The Medium’s request for comment.

THE AGREEMENT In a close vote on Friday, Unit 1 members had voted to send the tentative agreement reached with U of T last Wednesday to a ratification vote

by all 6,000 of its members. The margin in favour was only 50 out of 1,528 votes.

Unlike previous proposals brought forward in the negotiations, the tentative agreement reached Wednesday was not endorsed by all members of the bargaining team. Unit 1 vicechair Ryan Culpepper and external liaison and chair’s designate Dan Bri-

elmaier did not sign the new agreement.

On its website, however, CUPE 3902 endorsed the proposal.

“CUPE 3902’s bargaining team is recommending that you vote ‘yes’ to this agreement,” it read.

In an email sent to unit members on Wednesday, the bargaining team said that the new proposal was worth more financially than the offer rejected by the university earlier last week.

“What [the new offer] does not do, however, is create the structural changes in as clear a way as we wished. Nevertheless, we are all agreed that this TA brings us much closer to the endorsed objectives of the membership,” said the email.

Also unlike previous meetings where Unit 1 members had to vote on an agreement, Friday’s meeting involved voting by double secret ballot, one to vote to bring the agreement to a ratification vote, and the other to ratify the agreement.

Strike continued on page 3

Voting begins for UTSU elections Candidates from Brighter U of T and Change U of T take questions during forum NICOLE DANESI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Candidates competing for positions on next year’s UTSU executive gathered last Thursday evening for an allcandidates meeting to present their rivalling platforms and answer questions from the floor.

Like UTMSU’s elections, which closed last week, two slates are running for the UTSU elections. Brighter U of T led by presidential candidate Ben Coleman and Change U of T led

by Cameron Wathey are the two slates competing in this year’s elections.

Coleman currently sits on the U of T’s Governing Council; Wathey is UTSU’s current VP internal.

Shortly after campaigning began last Monday, criticism arose over Change U of T’s campaign materials distributed specifically at UTM. The flyers

Watch out for the walkout UTM and downtown students leave classes to protest the strike and ask for refunds. Saini sits with them.

Medium News, page 2

Yourself on your shelf Why letting our personal lives bleed into our professional lives and vice versa isn’t such a good idea.

Medium Opinion, page 4

Stylish or styleless?

This annual event raised funds for a good cause, but it might have raised more if it had been better.

Medium Arts, page 5 JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY

Candidates from both slates addressed questions during UTSU’s candidates’ forum. featured a word search puzzle with words related to the slate’s campaign platform. Among words and phrases included in the puzzle such as “equity”, “faith space”, and “exams”, the phrase “sexual assault” was also included.

On Wednesday, Change U of T posted a statement on Facebook regarding the campaign materials which, according to Wathey, have since been pulled.

“We in no way sought to trivialize

the issue,” said the statement issued

by Wathey and Frishta Bastan, who is running for VP equity.

Elections continued on page 2

Super-socialize me Time to slow down and take a hard look around at how social media has taken over our world.

Medium Features, page 8

Medium covers cricket

Two teams’ age-old rivalry blows up in the bid to earn a title, with more overs than you can count.

Medium Sports, page 11

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«NEWS

THE MEDIUM 03.23.2015

Slates discuss platforms Elections continued from Cover

March 12, 11:20 a.m.

Motor Vehicle Accident Campus Police investigated a motor vehicle accident in parking lot 8.

Damage was minor.

March 13, 4:40 p.m.

Theft under $5,000 A student reported the theft of cash from her unsecured locker inside the changeroom at the Recreational Athletics and Wellness Centre.

March 13, 5:00 p.m.

Trespass to Property Two non-community members attempted to gain entry into the Recreational Athletics and Wellness Centre with a friend’s membership card. Both males were trespassed from campus.

March 14, 1:54 a.m.

Mischief A townhouse tenant reported that person(s) unknown had thrown an object and broke a window at his residence.

March 14, 1:30 and 8:34 p.m.

Theft under $5,000 A student reported the theft of his cellular phone that was left unattended on the bleachers located inside the gymnasium. Another student later reported the theft of his wallet under similar circumstances.

March 15, 10:35 a.m.

Trespass to Property Two students were trespassed from

Recreational Athletics and Wellness Centre for borrowing another student’s membership card.

March 15, 2:39 p.m.

Trespass to Property A non-community member and student was trespassed from Recreational Athletics and Wellness Centre for attempting to gain unauthorized access.

March 16, 1:28 and 2:32 p.m.

Vehicle Tow Two vehicles were towed off campus due to excessive unpaid parking fines.

March 17, 4:00 p.m.

Trespass to Property Three non-community members were trespassed from the Recreational Athletics and Wellness Centre for attempting to gain unauthorized access.

March 17, 1:47 p.m.

Driving Offence Three separate drivers were interviewed and cautioned for driving over the grass in attempts to avoid a picket line at the Collegeway entrance.

March 18, 12:00 p.m.

Motor Vehicle Accident A student reported that person(s) unknown had hit his unattended vehicle parked in the CCT parking garage.

These reports are those that have been released to The Medium and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list.

Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905 453 3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222 8477.

BRIGHTER AND CHANGE:

VP Internal and Services Ryan Gomes, Brighter U of T Pledged to enhance transparency on UTSU budget, increase club budgets and transparency on the funding process, make club training resources available online, authorize the sale of UTSU services at other U of T campuses, and reform UTSU’s board structure.

PLATFORM VS. PLATFORM We compare the promises and statements made by the candidates at the forum last week. Students can head to the polls or vote online from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

Grayce Slobodian, Change U of T Spoke about various issues affecting students, including high tuition, few mental health resources, large classroom sizes, and deficits in club resources; called for action “when students from UTM are made to feel like they are worth less than a St. George student”.

VP Equity Sania Khan, Brighter U of T Pledged to establish “safe, accessible, equitable, and open spaces for students, especially minority groups”, advocate for improved mental health resources, and proactive university policies and responses regarding sexual violence.

Frishta Bastan, Change U of T Performed a spoken word poem and called for the establishment of safer areas on campus.

“We felt that for us to omit sexual assault from the list of words to find would only serve to reinforce the stigma and the silence around a public conversation about sexual violence and rape culture on our campuses, which we believe is missing,” she said.

Both candidates for VP equity had addressed the campaign materials after being asked by Katrina Vogan, campaign manager for Brighter U of T, “What does it mean to trivialize an issue?” in the context of sexual assault.

“If you find yourself wanting to delegitimize a specific experience in order to boost your own campaign, I highly, highly suggest you think about why you’re doing what you’re doing,” said Khan in response to the question.

“The intention wasn’t to trivialize the word,” said Bastan during the forum. “Focusing on a cross word puzzle, on the flyer, instead of talking about the actual issues such as sexual violence is walking around the issue.”

On Friday, Celia Wandio, an anti– sexual violence advocate, announced she would be leaving the Change U of T slate to run as an independent candidate.

Wandio, a candidate running for one of two positions on UTSU’s arts and science board of directors, organized an online petition earlier this year to lobby university administration to improve the way in which the university handles sexual violence.

The petition has since attained 686 signatures.

“I want to make it very clear that my team made efforts to accommodate my views when I expressed discomfort with [the controversial material],” said Wandio in a post on Facebook. “As someone who does anti–sexual violence work and who plans on continuing to do this work, it is so important that people feel safe with me. I need survivors—and students in general—to know that if they tell me they are offended or triggered, my first response will be to apologize.”

In an interview with The Medium on Saturday, Wathey said Wandio informed the team of her decision on Friday.

“We support her decision,” said Wathey. “It’s been a pleasure to work with her.”

The all candidates meeting, which was also streamed live online, was hosted in the Medical Sciences Building at St. George with approximately 100 in attendance. The meeting was moderated by the chair of UTSU’s board, Ashkon Hashemi.

Each executive candidate had three minutes to present an opening statement, followed by a 15-minute Q&A period from the audience. Each candidate was given 90 seconds to respond to the questions from the floor.

A question posed to both VP external candidates during the forum led to criticism by Change U of T candidate Agape Amponsah-Mensah, who claimed the question had racist connotations.

An audience member who identified himself only as “Nicky” posed the question, “How do you plan to better use resources and finances towards rallying students and running campaigns at other universities?”

When asked to clarify the context of the question, the student elaborated, “We’ve done campaigns, for instance, for Aboriginal and things like that, and although it is an important and pressing issue, there are a lot more students who aren’t Aboriginal who feel like resources could be used towards campaigns that affect a lot more students.”

Amponsah-Mensah dismissed the question and chose to respond to the original question.

On Friday, Brighter U of T released a statement acknowledging the student in question was a member of their campaign team.

“Brighter U of T would like to specifically condemn the question that was asked, and apologize for the fact that the question made the space less safe,” said the statement issued. “We have approached the individual in question, and he has spoken to the fact that he incorrectly phrased his question.”

According to the post, the student has since stepped down from his role on the campaign.

Ebi Agbeyegbe, UTMSU president-elect and current VP external,

VP University Affairs Vere-Marie Khan, Brighter U of T Pledged to advocate for mental health training intended for teaching staff, to provide informational resources to first-year international students, and to advocate for the drop credit policy.

Xinbo Zhang, Change U of T Called upon the university to provide additional services to international students and pledged to organize, “the largest career fair in Ontario, if not Canada”; pledged to establish a mental health centre.

invited both VP external candidates to explain how they will contest rising tuition if elected.

Denike promised to lobby government officials, while AmponsahMensah pledged to focus on bringing OHIP to international students and eliminating deregulated fees.

Melissa Theodore, UTMSU VP equity, also posed a question to both presidential candidates asking what Coleman and Wathey think about white supremacy.

Theodore also asked the two candidates their thoughts on “white, cisgender, straight males [...] taking up the limited spaces on the sexual violence committee”, a committee organized by Jill Matus, U of T’s vice-provost, students, and first entry divisions, to examine measures to prevent sexual violence, or take action when it occurs.

The committee, which comprises a total of 20 members, includes five undergraduate and graduate students, including Coleman.

“I am that cisgendered white man,” said Coleman in response to the question. Coleman further explained his decision to accept the invitation to sit on the committee, a decision he said was difficult to make.

“I can’t really guarantee what the university picks next in the biased process,” said Coleman reflecting on his reasoning to accept the invitation to participate on the committee. “So far I have been trying very, very hard to go to spaces where I listen to survivors.”

Also a member of Change U of T, current UTSU VP external Grayce Slobodian is running for VP internal against Brighter U of T candidate Ryan Gomes, one of three directors on UTSU’s board who represent the Faculty of Engineering.

Vying for the VP university affairs position are Brighter U of T candidate Vere-Marie Khan and Change U of T candidate Xinbo Zhang.

Voting will begin on Tuesday and will run until Thursday. At UTM, the polls will be open from 9 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. daily in CCT, Davis, and IB. Voting will also be possible online at utsu.simplyvoting.com.

VP External Jasmine Denike, Brighter UofT Pledged to advocate for lower fees for transportation and tuition, focus on firstyear transition into university; also pledged to visit UTM twice a month and to host “Accountability Cafes” once a month to ensure executives are following through with their election promises.

Agape Amponsah-Memsah, Change U of T Discussed the need to attend to equity issues at U of T.

President Ben Coleman, Brighter U of T Used opening statement to list many questions students should ask UTSU candidates during the election.

Cameron Wathey, Change U of T Pledged to address mental health issues, issues affecting international students, and issues related to sexual violence; pledged to increase support for UTMSU.

03.23.2015 THE MEDIUM NEWS

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Reject deal, students said Strike continued from Cover FUND & WAGE INCREASES According to the bargaining team’s email, the tentative agreement included an increase in the funding available for the minimum funding package and tuition relief from $3.3 million to $4.9 million over the first three years if the agreement had been ratified.

The graduate student funding package was to be administered as a fund instead of the per-person amount that the bargaining team had sought. According to the team, the funds in the package were enough to increase the minimum amount per person to $17,500 per year, in place of the current $15,000.

As for tuition relief, the funding in the new agreement “in combination with any internal awards” was enough to reduce tuition for all Unit 1 members—including international students and second-year masters’ students—to an amount that is 50% of domestic tuition.

Wages would have also been increased for all members in the first four years of their program. Because some of the wage increases offered in the first tentative agreement were re-

allocated into funds in the new agreement, the increases were lower than the agreement from February.

Among the terms of the back to work protocol were pay for 15 of the 22 working days of the strike so far and an agreement by both the university and the union not to reprise anyone for ceasing or for continuing to work during the strike.

STUDENTS, FACULTY RESPOND After the tentative agreement was announced, student and faculty groups across U of T expressed their support for CUPE 3902.

In a statement released on Friday, graduate students at OISE (the majority of whom are not part of the union) called on Unit 1 members to reject the tentative agreement.

“Ensuring there is language for per-student increases to the minimum funding package in your final agreement will enable OISE graduate students to also fight for these same increases with a strong foundation to stand on,” reads the letter.

UTM’s Faculty of Information and ICCIT also released an open letter to provost Cheryl Regehr on Thursday.

The letter discussed the effects of the

strike on the ICCIT department, noting that Unit 1 members teach entire classes in the Professional Writing and Communication program.

The faculty called on the university to increase the graduate student funding package to address decreased funding from the province and increased costs of living in Toronto.

Student leaders across U of T issued an open statement on Saturday, encouraging Unit 1 members to reject the deal.

“It has been three weeks since this strike has started and it seems that the proposed tentative agreement does little to address the grievances that initiated this labour action in the first place. If this agreement is agreed upon, it will likely mean picket lines in the near future for the next generation of undergraduates,” reads the statement, which was signed by representatives of the Arts and Science Students’ Union and Scarborough Campus Students’ Union, among others.

UTMSU VP external Ebi Agbeyegbe told The Medium that he hopes the strike ends soon to reduce the impact on students.

“Our next steps [following the results of the vote] is to reach out to students and see how they feel,” he said.

Students take to the streets Student rallies aim to pressure admin to end the strike

»IS FEMINISM STILL RELEVANT?

Gabriela Caballero 2nd year, Eng & history

Talha Siddique 2nd year, biology

Yes, but we should focus more on the Third World than on Canada.

I feel like it’s becoming more about man-hating; we need to move away from that.

Urwa Sajjid 2nd year, biology

Naived Thaker 2nd year, forensics

Yes, because there are still some countries that ignore the rights of women.

It’ll always be relevant; as long as humans exist, there will be power struggles.

Students to vote on legal service fees FARAH QAISER STAFF WRITER

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

UTM students sat outside Saini’s office to get answers about the strike.

MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Last week, students across U of T’s campuses mobilized to put pressure on the administration as the strike entered its third week.

CUPE 3902’s Unit 1 has been on strike since March 2. In response to the number of classes, labs, and tutorials affected by the strike, UTSU organized a student rally on Wednesday.

Thousands of students protested at noon in front of Simcoe Hall at U of T. Faculty from the Department of Political Science also joined the picket lines at Sydney Smith Hall.

Meanwhile at UTM, thinking that the “message would be much stronger if [UTM] joined in as well”, first-year English student and UTMSU commission member Michael Valdez organized a march with UTMSU that took place at the same time as the one at St. George.

Around 150 students met in Davis and marched around campus before returning to the building, intending to sit inside UTM principal Deep

Saini’s office in protest.

UTMSU VP external Ebi Agbeyegbe was hoping to go with the students to occupy Saini’s office, but was prevented from doing so by Campus Police. Instead, the students sat just outside Saini’s office, chanting “What do we want? End the strike! When do we want it? Now!” and “Talk to us, Deep.”

After around an hour of waiting, Saini entered the hall and sat down with the students.

Students spoke to Saini and called for the administration to end the strike and to have the tuition fees of the cancelled classes refunded.

“I’m concerned. It’s not a joke; it’s not something we take lightheartedly,” Saini said. “But there is a difference between the two sides. There are experts from both sides that are negotiating. I’m not in that room. Even if I was, I still can’t tell you when this will end.”

A student asked Saini to release a statement calling on the university to continue negotiations with Unit 1, to which Saini said that he “can’t urge [the administration] to negotiate”, since he is part of it and is “already

negotiating”. He added that statements are not released by one person, but are made collectively.

Regarding the possibility of a tuition refund, Saini said, “The term is not over yet. There’s still a lot of time to solve it.”

In an interview with The Medium, Valdez said he found Saini’s answers “ambiguous” and felt that “[students] are still being kept in the dark”.

Agbeyegbe also spoke to The Medium after the event.

“This is not the end of the action, we made noise, and the administration knows students are upset and knows how they feel,” he said.

“There’s pressure downtown.

There’s pressure in Scarborough.

We’re going to keep on putting pressure on the administration,” Agbeyegbe added.

On Thursday, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union organized a sit-in in front of the Registrar’s Office to continue their call to end the strike.

UTMSU has also released a complaint form for students to who have been affected by the disruptions resulting from the strike.

UTSU is asking students to vote on fee increases for Downtown Legal Services, one of the U of T service groups available to students.

UTM and UTSG students will participate in an online referendum from Tuesday to Thursday to vote on the proposed fee increases for the student legal clinic.

DLS provides free legal help to feepaying U of T students in areas such as academic offences, tenant housing laws, and criminal laws.

Currently, full-time UTM students pay $0.50 of their UTSU fees to the DLS each semester. Full-time UTSG students pay $1.50 per semester.

If the referendum is passed, fulltime UTM students will pay an additional $0.50 per semester. This means that UTM students will pay a total fee of $2 per year to the DLS. Similarly, full-time UTSG students will pay an increased $1.50 per semester, a total fee of $6 per year, to the DLS. If passed, the referendum will also approve for fee increases to account for inflation. By indexing the levy to the inflation rate, the DLS is aiming to make the fee “a sustainable source of funding” instead of one requiring a new referendum for each adjustment to the fees, according to DLS staff lawyer Benjamin Ries.

According to the referendum notice present on the UTSU website, DLS fees are fully refundable during the UTSU refund period.

According to Ries, 163 undergrad

students sought DLS services between April 1, 2014 and March 18, 2015.

Ries could not provide a breakdown by campus, but he said that UTM students are “disproportionately numerous” among clients of our University Affairs division, which deals with academic offences and appeals.

The last time a referendum was held for a DLS fee increase was in 2003.

This has led to a funding deficit for the DLS, says the notice, and a dip into the reserves for the past five years.

“In the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years we drew a combined total of over $41,000 from our reserve fund. We will not be able to continue doing so for much longer, and if our funding is not increased as a result of this referendum, we may see cuts,” said Ries.

The DLS launched a #VOTEYESDLS campaign to encourage students to vote yes in the referendum.

Voting will take place this Tuesday and Thursday. UTM students can vote online at utsu.simplyvoting.ca or on campus in CCIT, Davis, and IB. Currently, UTSC students also pay the same levy of $0.50 per semester to the DLS but through the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union. UTSC students will not vote in this referendum.

According to Ries, the primary funding from Legal Aid Ontario is reserved for low-income Toronto clients.

Since the DLS also serves as an education program, it receives funding from the Faculty of Law. The remaining funding is provided by UTSU, the Graduate Students’ Union, and SCSU, and this funding is earmarked for feepaying U of T students.

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03.23.2015

MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Luke Sawczak editor@themedium.ca News Maria Iqbal news@themedium.ca A&E Maria Cruz arts@themedium.ca Features Madeleine Brown features@themedium.ca Sports Jason Coelho sports@themedium.ca — Photo Mahmoud Sarouji photos@themedium.ca Design Mubashir Baweja design@themedium.ca Copy Akshaya Sharma copy@themedium.ca Online & Blog Michelle Bonsu Safia Amin blog@themedium.ca online@themedium.ca Video Russell Wu videos@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Nicole Danesi Menna Elnaka A&E Kathelene Cattell-Daniels Features Andreea Mihai Sports Eric Hewitson Sihan Zheng Photo Christy Tam Zara Rizwan Nicole Raquinio Copy Tanya Decarie GENERAL STAFF Distribution Manager Ifunanya Paulinus distribution@themedium.ca Comic Artist Corey Belford BOARD OF DIRECTORS Christine Capewell, Larissa Ho, Saima Khan, Denio Lourenco, Jaime Pokhoy, Obaid Said, Ajay Sharma, Luke Sawczak

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To contribute, email editor@themedium.ca

Professional or personal?

New tech makes mixing spheres of our lives easy, but we should be wary “Where is the divide between our personal private life and academic work life?” asks Natasha Hartono in this week’s lead feature story on social media. We are connected, she points out, with some as close as family and some as formal as employers and are accustomed to saying the same things in the same breath to both—and everyone in between—in a way we have never before been.

I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment. Particularly as a student, it’s very difficult to maintain the limits that should be set in what amount to smaller-scale models of what takes place in the adult world among interest groups, employers, labour unions, and researchers.

On the one hand we are inclined to applaud the appearance of camaraderie between coworkers or the ability to have supper with your boss. Such interactions do make our lives more human. But experience shows us that they do not make the atmosphere less corporate. And when those with serious responsibilities act first as friends it requires a great force of will to avoid inbreeding, nepotism, low standards, and oversights—due, again, to the forgiving attitude perfectly congenial to personal relationships—and these risks hinder their ability to produce good work. This often obtains in university student groups.

Media does play a part. When you go to vote for the folks who will run UTSU next year—and vote we should rather than only complain after the fact—remember the episode two years ago in which Cameron Wathey, this year a potential president, decided that since he was a film and communications student the team should release a video response to Sana Ali instead of a written one.

Sana Ali had just resigned from her executiveship with an open letter explaining her reasoning and criticizing UTSU. The criticism, judging by the videos, was taken very personally—we got long, rambling monologues about how unkind Sana was, complete with dubious choked-up voices and sniffling, instead of what we deserve from our representatives, namely argumentation. They received a good deal of backlash; thank goodness someone thought to save and reupload the videos, because they have since disappeared from UTSU’s YouTube account.

This was a case study in the extreme that U of T student politics has been dangerously inclined to for decades, that of fraternity overriding accountability. What we learned was that when the corporate meets the personal it overpowers it and, being unable to understand it, ends by being unadmirable in either regard.

Different videos that are still up are the introductions to each year’s execs.

Last year’s in particular had a strong focus on selling the personalities of the people as eminently likeable. The production values are high. This requires money and effort, and might as well be considered—not even jokingly, given the personnel recycling that is the hallmark of the student union—both long-run precampaigning and use of an existing position to obtain campaign materials. All in a fun little two-minute video.

Of course, the expansion of union affairs into our online lives has some positive effects. Hopefully they keep up the videos of town halls and candidate forums as a better record of these events than we are usually treated to.

And huge and growing numbers of us now see updates on the strike and other pressing issues on our feeds via the pages we like and follow. These things even see the occasional mention on Spotted at UTM, which they never had before. This intrusion into our private lives is a danger, as it always is, and possibly a blessing. It’s a blessing if it means it gets us to care.

It’s a danger if it means that the individual things in which we find meaning are absorbed into concerns about politics, academics, and work and, rather than changing these spheres for the better, are lost in them.

How are we affected as a newspaper? That’s a question we’ve been wrestling with for the past few years.

There’s no longer any avoiding the fact that if our mandate is to inform as many students as well as possible, we will fulfill it better if we insinuate ourselves into the lives of our readers by showing up on their social media. This represents a difficult change of focus.

The edge we have over other sources is thorough research and analysis, but the need to release news quickly lest it be out of date is directly opposed.

So, one could argue, is the need to be familiar and casual to reach a wider audience. We’ve tried to do this for two years via a blog and Humans of UTM, which I still hesitate to integrate with the rest of our content because it’s of a different nature. It gets likes, but isn’t authoritative as coverage.

But we want to know what you think. Write to us. Visit our office. At least when it comes to receiving feedback we will always be friendly.

YOURS, LUKE SAWCZAK

CORRECTION NOTICE The photo for last week’s article “UTM volleyball reborn” was mistakenly credited to Caleb Siu instead of to Zara Rizwan.

03.23.2015

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Good cause, subpar performances Style and Profyle 2015 features some neat fashion, fundraising, but the stage wasn’t hot MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR It’s pretty rare that I attend an event I dislike so much there’s hardly anything positive for me to write about it, but alas, here we are.

Style and Profyle has been on campus for the past 13 years as a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness for a different charity each year by selling tickets to their annual charity fashion and talent show for students. It seemed like it was mostly the clothing, not the entertainment, that had style this time around.

This year, they hosted an event called “Stardust” that spanned three nights and showcased work from several student designers, musicians, and dancers. Tickets were $10 in advance or $15 at the door and all proceeds went to One Prosper, a charity that helps farmers in thirdworld countries by giving them drip irrigation systems for better crops.

I went on Thursday, their first night. Emcee Vinay Thapliyal kicked it off and got a few laughs from a small, unenthusiastic crowd.

He then invited SAP’s executives to say a few words about how excited they were for the event and express their pride in the society’s growth.

The first performance was a Latin dance routine. Despite being pretty coordinated, all the dancers

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Some dancers were better than others. were very noticeably uninterested in what they were doing. Some of the dancers were also much better at executing the moves than others, which threw off the entire thing.

Next were singers Arlind Kadiri and Victor Akinwande, who sang “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. They differed in key several times, but they had an adorable energy.

Following them was a disappointing hip-hop dance routine.

There was one standout dancer who moved really well and followed the choreography, but the others didn’t flow very well together and because there were six of them, the choppy moves really stood out.

Next was June Rose, the first designer of the night. The clothing consisted mostly of crop-tops, short shorts, and other articles of clothing that looked like summer wear.

Following them was UTM’s

Dance Club. After struggling with some technical difficulties, they came out and performed. They weren’t bad as a group, but there was one particular dancer who didn’t move well with the others. There were many high-energy moves that called for hip-shaking and an upbeat attitude to match the music, but she wasn’t delivering. She looked uncomfortable the whole time she was on stage and it

was really off-putting.

Next up was singer Victoria Trotman with guitarist Jason Selvanayagam. Trotman was a great singer, but Selvanayagam fell short on a lot of the notes.

Lesley Hampton made an appearance to show off her designs next.

A lot of them had been shown at the successful Rock on Runway, but some seemed to be exclusive to this event.

Leading into intermission was Chris, a One Prosper representative. He came out and explained that their charity provides drip irrigation systems for farmers that improve crop quality and harvest amounts so they can consistently feed their families. He informed the crowd that he would be available for questions or comments during the intermission, and with that, we were off.

After what felt like too short a time, Akinwande came back on stage, this time with Selvanayagam to perform an acoustic version of “Latch” by Disclosure. Akinwande was one of the only breaths of fresh air the entire night; he sounded a lot like Sam Smith (who’s featured in the original song), especially in his higher register. Both men had a great energy on stage, which really brought the performance together.

Fashion continued on page 7

Theatre Erindale wraps up successful year Group’s 2014/15 year comes to an end with director Sten Eirik’s Living Curiosities KATE CATTELL-DANIELS ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR I walked out of the Thursday night preview of Mary Vingoe’s Living Curiosities or What You Will thinking about a lot of things. I was thinking about the kind of “it takes a village” mentality that goes into putting on a play. Everyone—actors, backstage crew, director, lighting designer— all have to give everything to the world of the play, and it was clear from the performance that everyone had. I was also thinking about all the issues Living Curiosities tackles: metatheatrics, race relations, power, gender stereotyping, and sexual orientation.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Living Curiosities follows the story of Anna Swan (Hannah Vanden Boomen), a giantess from Nova Scotia who comes to P.T. Barnum’s (Samuel Turner) museum in New

JIM SMAGATA/PHOTO

Caption.

York City. Unlike most of the other curiosities, though, Anna is not exactly a volunteer. She’s there because

the money is good, she has to help support her family, and there are few jobs in Nova Scotia for a seven-foot-

ten lady. Then, against Barnum’s orders, Anna takes it upon herself to produce Twelfth Night with a cast

of enthusiastic, if troublesome, curiosities.

Suspension of disbelief is the thing that allows actors onstage to do things that cannot technically be done by humans, or indoors. It’s how a person can wave a piece of blue fabric onstage and there is an ocean, or how an actor can spread their arms, run around, and therefore fly. All the roles in Living Curiosities require very delicate yet fearless choices. To play someone not yourself is one thing, but most of the characters in this play come with the added challenge of being, in some way or other, curiosities. I thought I’d have trouble believing people to be something so wholly not who they are, but instead I was suspended, not once thinking about stilts or harnesses or stick-on beards.

Erindale continued on page 7

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THE MEDIUM 03.23.2015

Student art on the horizon of graduation to interpretation, so I stood in front of each piece and observed it, trying to find a personal meaning.

As I walked around the room I noticed three photos of a girl struggling to put her blue shirt on the wrong way—she was trying to force her head through the arm hole. This has happened to most of us at some point, but there is a deeper undertone to the comedy. I put on the headphones and listened to the description of the things going wrong in current events.

“It’s a constructed identity of this girl who is struggling with societal norms and how she is trying to fit in,” says Jordyn Stewart, a fifth-year art and art history student and installation coordinator for Group 1. Her piece is titled “It’s 3:30 in the afternoon”.

“This piece is an analogy and symbolizes an individual’s feelings toward the need to conform to society and what it deems right or wrong,” she commented. “The installation originally contained the photographs

alone, but the idea quickly emerged into something greater—the addition of the audio component helping to convey the message.”

As I looked on, I noticed a screen on my right that seemed very obscure.

A man standing next to a toilet on the screen piqued my interest. The creator of the piece was fourth-year art and art history student John Elammar, also a volunteer installation coordinator for Group 1. Elammar’s digital video is titled “The Toilet Project”.

He stands next to a toilet on a dolly at different locations. It’s unique and audiences respond with puzzled reactions. “I was interested in photographing public toilets, so I came up with this idea where I take a toilet around with me wherever I go,” Elammar laughs. “It definitely separates itself from the rest where viewers sit and muddle over what it could mean.”

The exhibition runs March 18 to 29 and April 1 to 12. The Opening Reception is on April 1 from 5 to 7 p.m.

THE PAST WITHIN THE PRESENT Zhang Xiaogang uses formal and compositional elements such as colour, cropping, and a lack of expressiveness in his figures to call attention to the familial connection between the citizens of China in Big Family no. 4. This image of a three-person family is thrust into a monotone plane similar to that of an old photograph.

The faces share sombre expressions and similar facial structures, alluding to the single child policy enforced in China during the pre-Cultural Revolution era. The figures feature a stain, or birthmark, which is a reoccurring symbol in the series Bloodline: The Big Family. Zhang veers away from traditional proportions and questions the nature of family ties within China.

He analyzes the shared history of Chinese families by connecting his figures with this birthmark stain.

Zhang’s inspiration for painting in this uniform manner stems from the rare discovery of a photo of his mother in her youth. The Cultural Revolution led to a literal and metaphorical fire of denouncing the past; this included the destruction of family photographs. Zhang revives the individualism in family portraiture as well as connects each image on a grand scale.

In her chapter on Zhang Xiaogang,

Karen Smith mentions a number of factors that connect Zhang’s paintings with the reality confronting China.

Smith’s paramount connection of Chinese politics to civilian life portrays

history of China draws all Chinese citizens together.

Zhang had a very close relationship with his mother who, as Karen Smith reports, suffered from schizophrenia.

a sense of surveillance of the Chinese government: “With the rise of Communism, the family metaphor was repeatedly applied to the nation.”

The size of the paintings also create a watchful effect. Zhang uses the uniformity of Chinese outerwear to his advantage. Although each painting depicts different families, the recurring birthmark connects each painting to one another, much like the collective

His encounter with her photograph clearly impacted him in a very passionate way. This is important background information as it connects with the overall concept that Zhang is driving: the nature of family ties.

The content is static but the colossal figures demand attention with their piercing gaze and the particularly unusual birthmarks marking their past.

REFLECTION BEHIND THE MASK Modernization and identity had marked a new era in China by the end of the Cold War in 1989. Chinese art would find globalization and confront the erroneous Western definitions of modern contemporary art in China. Zeng Fanzhi demonstrates this confrontation with his mask series (circa 1996). In the West, it is believed that modernization is predominately a Western tradition.

Beginning with the Impressionists, Western modern art faced constant change and evolution in the short century that it was encompassed. When China was finally able to export their identity around the world, they levelled the playing field.

Zeng Fanzhi’s painting The Last Supper, 1998, displays a compositionally similar setting to that of

Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, 1498.

Thirteen figures dressed in white shirts with red neckties surround a central figure in the same attire. Each figure has short dark hair and wears a white mask. Watermelon chunks lie in front of each across a long table lined

suggesting the wave of Chinese art entering the western world.

Gao Minglu discusses Chinese modernity in his article “Toward a Transitional Modernity”. He believes that “for China, the crux [of modernity] has not been the consciousness of time but of one individual subjectivity within a strong sense of nationalism.”

Fanzhi’s The Last Supper converses with the ideas Gao Minglu propounds about how China is transforming from a “self-focused” modernity to an “interactive” one.

Fanzhi’s use of red strongly indicates the lingering nationalism in China.

The masks depict a sense of confused identity, or perhaps the willingness to be a part of Western modernization while maintaining their Chinese roots.

KRISTEN LADAS

MARIA CRUZ/THE MEDIUM

Graduating art students are showcasing in Blackwood Gallery.

Three Views of the Chinese Art Resurgence Comments on modernist pieces that bring Chinese concerns to light in the wider world NANSY KHANANO

THE FOURTH TRIMESTER Traditionally the narrative of modernist art is masculine terms, subject matter, and popularity. Cui Xiuwen, a Harbin-born artist, battles this monochromatic palette with her approach on feminine sexuality. In Cui Xiuwen’s Angel No. 2, a young pregnant woman is displayed on a small square coffee table with silver legs. She is placed in 12 different positions mirrored across a plane of cobblestone. The photograph is lined with a red wall that seems to be limiting the woman from physically standing. She wears a white form-fitting dress that contrasts with her slick, dark hair. Her face is painted with an orange powder, giving her a flushed appearance.

Propagandizing in China during the Maoist era was heavily influenced by the manipulation of images to suit the ideology of the state. Dong Xiwen’s Founding of the Nation, painted in 1953, for instance, was repainted in 1967 shortly before Mao Zedong’s death in 1976. In its remastered form several people were removed or replaced. Cui Xiuwen uses a similar technique in a more relevant context.

She portrays a young single motherto-be who must face the weight of her sexuality. During the time of the One Child Policy, many women were harassed and forced into abortions if they were not carrying male children.

This resulted in a high male-to-female ratio leading to the rise of sex trafficking and prostitution. The tension around female sexuality contributes

to the concerns of the contemporary women of China.

Although Cui Xiuwen does not consider herself a feminist artist, her bold message to females to accept independence is in correlation with Xu Hong’s article “Walking out of the Abyss: My Feminist Critique”. Xu Hong states that in order for female artists to be accepted in popular culture, they must abide by the standards of the patriarchy of male artists who continue to set the regulations in our misguided paradigm of modernity. “Without sober and selfknowledgeable feminist art, [modern art] can only be half-baked,” says Xu Hong. Similarly, Cui Xiuwen reveals the double standards of female and male sexuality.

Many of the positions in Angel No. 2 are provocative and have sexual connotations. Many of the poses feature the teen in highly sexualized positions, suggesting the sexuality that came before the impregnation.

Cui Xiuwen portrays the different moods that women cycle through during their most vulnerable state of being, namely pregnancy. The woman in the Cui Xiuwen’s photos is quite young. Regardless of her round belly, her fair features and white dress impart a sense of purity and innocence. Despite the strides in birth control technology, many women still face the unpredictable fate of their biology because of ignorance or fear of judgement.

Many new beginnings come with spring; things slowly begin to come back to life and we can finally ditch our $300 winter jackets. For some, spring means reaching the end and taking on new projects. In that line, UTM’s graduating art students will commemorate their final days of university with a two-part exhibition, Horizon Line.

The pieces range from canvas to print, digital media, and audio/visual art. More dynamic and expressive artwork can be found in CCT. The aim of this exhibition is to strengthen and develop the skills that emerging artists will take with them into the world.

It has been a while since I stepped into an art gallery, so visiting our school’s was special for me. I walked into the bright gallery and immediately fell in love with what I saw; the art was much more than what I expected.

Mainly, it was that there was simplicity that I enjoyed. I love art that’s open

with a white tablecloth. Four tapestries marked with Chinese characters line the walls, leading the eye to the window triad. Bright blue sky cuts the stark red and allows the eye to rest.

However, upon closer inspection it seems the sky is actually water, possibly a wave or maybe the tide rising,

03.23.2015 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 7

New spins on clichés Few performances stand Babadook: a good, modern horror film

out in evening of mediocrity Fashion continued from page 5

COLLIDER.COM/PHOTO

When possessed, this woman is not as docile as she looks here.

MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR It’s rare to find a horror movie nowadays that doesn’t disappoint; clichés spring up, the villains aren’t anything new, and jump scares have become the substitute for legitimate horror.

But writer/director Jennifer Kent managed to sidestep these mines with her latest film.

The Babadook is an Australian psychological thriller with plenty of scares to go around. Though it does rely on some of the old horror movie tricks, for the most part it brought something new to the table.

Amelia, a single mother, lives with her young son Sam while trying to hide the resentment she harbours for him. After her husband was killed in a car accident on his way to the birth, she has been a woman on the brink of emotionally collapsing while trying to raise a son who is constantly getting into trouble.

Why? Well, Sam’s a little... different.

He claims to see monsters and builds his own makeshift weapons in an attempt to defend himself from them.

He doesn’t have many friends and clings to his mother.

The movie doesn’t pick up for quite some time; it’s mostly filled with Sam trying to plead the case for his sanity as Amelia tries her hardest to keep it together. It’s only when the pair stumble upon a strange book entitled The Babadook on Sam’s shelf during his bedtime story that the plot becomes interesting.

The two of them flipping through the book was where the cinematography began to shine. This entire film was filled with great shots, but watching Amelia read cautiously as the camera zoomed in on the pages was pretty disturbing. I adored how Amelia would flip through the pages but wouldn’t say anything. The camera would pan over the words on the pages, which forced the reader to engage in the book as much as the characters did. It was pretty creepy to read what it said, especially when it made a second appearance later in the film.

Inevitably, the book unleashes the very thing it tried to warn them about.

Despite having seen this before in many horror films, I think Kent did quite a few things right.

The acting was pretty great. Essie Davis shone as the helpless mother trying her best to hide her resentment for her son. But she was also given the opportunity to play the deranged woman who becomes the Babadook’s

latest puppet, which was always a favourite element of mine in cinema. I love being able to watch one actor play two completely different sides of the spectrum, especially those who do it well. She nailed both roles and it was really great to watch her.

Noah Wiseman was terrific as well, which isn’t heard very often when it comes to child actors. I had quite the love/hate relationship with Samuel because—despite his constant cries for Amelia (I can only listen to “Mama!” so many times before I start to groan)— this little guy was prepared. He had makeshift weapons ready to fight off the monsters, knew when they were in the house, and promised to protect his mother. He was like a tiny Winchester.

The artwork in the book was beautiful. Usually when a book makes its way back into our heroine’s life with new warnings etched on the pages, it falls into the category of horror movie cliché. But the artwork was divine. The drawings made it original and it was horrifying to see Amelia drawn as a woman who choked and killed her own son before slitting her own throat.

The blood began to pour onto the pages and she had a huge smile on her face the whole time.

Now, I will admit that I wasn’t too keen on the idea of a monster called “the Babadook”. The only times he ever truly scared me was when he pounded on the door or when only Sam could see him. It’s pretty hard to get scared by something that tries to intimidate you by saying “baba dook dook dook”.

That said, the little details were the creepiest and had the most power. For example, in once scene Sam screams at Amelia for giving him grief about exploring the basement where all his father’s things are stored. “You don’t own him!” he shouts, which causes Amelia to step back in pain as Sam runs away.

Another is when the Babadook is slowly manipulating Amelia and she roams the house with whispering in her ears. Every so often there would be an incoherent, throaty distorted screech that was much scarier than our monster’s catchphrase.

For the last 30 or so minutes the movie fell back into the routine of dragging out the story. Too many scenes of the Babadook pretending to be Amelia’s dead husband or of claws scratching at walls. We get it—the Babadook’s a dick.

Sadly, the ending disappointed me too. Amelia scares the monster away with a scream. So now we know that monsters are frightened of middleaged women who scream at them.

Designer Diallo came up next to showcase their work. The majority of it consisted of semiformal wear and many of the pieces were very classy.

My personal favourite was a dress with a slit that went all the way up the leg, which elicited hollering from the crowd as the model strode the catwalk.

Next was one of the most disappointing acts of the evening: the belly-dancing routine. Though they started strong, none of the dancers nailed the more intricate moves properly executed in professional belly dancing. A few dancers kept looking to the others for direction like they had thrown the routine together last minute and were trying to remember it.

Following was designer Zoff. Two of the best pieces were right in the beginning, which were two red fitted gowns. The rest of the collection consisted of eveningwear and all the articles were very well done.

Megha Manvi came next to sing

“Make You Feel My Love”. She was easily one of the best performers of the night. I’ve heard her before and got really excited when I saw her come on stage after all the subpar performances leading up to it.

Next was Venket, the last designer of the night and the first to showcase menswear. The clothes were pretty unremarkable, mostly jeans and dress shirts with white stripes sewn into them.

Soliloquy, a singing duet, came after. They performed a song that unsuccessfully mixed rap and guitar.

The last performance of the night shouldn’t have been. It was a jazz routine to Christina Aguilera’s “Candy Man”. A bunch of us have seen the video before; it’s filled with a lot of great dance moves and Aguilera’s fantastic vibe. These are the things that this dance routine lacked. Once again, the dancers were completely lacklustre and some were better than others, which made the group look like a mere pack of dancing friends.

At the end, they grabbed little confetti shooters and blew confetti into

the crowd.

To end the event the performers and models came out two by two.

The executives came back out on stage to thank everyone for coming.

I went again on Friday night, only sticking around until intermission.

I had the unfortunate opportunity to watch Thapliyal rehash the same jokes as the night before, such as the claim that women call him “Tandoori Spice”, which got zero laughs from the crowd. The crowd was even smaller and more unenthusiastic that night.

I got to watch Manvi come out again, this time singing “Not the Only One” by Sam Smith, and the UTM Dance team perform another routine, which was pretty much on par with their last one, maybe a little better.

Overall, the event wasn’t as good as the cause it supported. To be fair, I did miss Saturday night, so it could very well have improved, but judging by the two nights I was there, I wouldn’t have recommended it to anyone.

Actors take on tougher projects than last semester Erindale continued from page 5 The writing of Living Curiosities is filmic in style, presenting a series of short scenes usually not involving more than two or three characters, except for some more populated rehearsal and performance scenes. This creates clusters of fascinating relationships. For example, Josephine Clofullia (Courtney Keir) develops a touching friendship with Anna despite her being haunted by her lost daughter Clara (Paige Falardeau) and ensuing laudanum addiction.

Through connections as intricate as a spider web, Clofullia is linked to Henry Jackson (Jovan Kocic) who supplies her with laudanum on Barnum’s orders, creating yet another pairing between Jackson and Barnum. Barnum has essentially saved Jackson’s life, and in return Jackson keeps an eye on the exhibits, reporting all the goings-on back to Barnum. Then there are the black albino sisters, Lucia and Alphonsia. Lucia (Brittany Miranda) roils with anger and is looking for a better future than being a museum exhibit, laundry woman, or slave while her sister Alphonsia (Mercedes Morris) befriends the Nova Scotia giantess. Certainly not to be left out are Chang (Aaron Schaefer) and Eng (Anthony Yu), conjoined twins so drastically unlike each other that, under any circumstances except theirs, they would have

run in opposite directions.

As I mentioned, Living Curiosities was written with to-the-point, rapid-fire scenes, leaving the director the challenge of linking the narrative together. It was in these dark places between the scenes that I really saw director Sten Eirik and assistant director Paige Falardeau work their magic. The soundscape was just this side of terrifying, filling the theatre with an echoing heartbeat, off-kilter circus music, and zoo noises that may or may not have included human sounds.

When I attended the readthrough, Eirik spoke of the play as consisting of “pools of light” emerging from the shadows.

When I attended the readthrough in January, Eirik spoke of the play as consisting of “pools of light” emerging from the shadows. I saw this vision carried through in both the set and lighting design, which, though highly compartmentalized, gave me the impression of only being permitted to distinguish a few key moments from the surrounding darkness. And then the end (no spoilers, I promise) sees the darkness consumed in both light

and tragedy.

I don’t know if I have ever seen a group of actors so deeply immersed in their characters. It is kind of incredible to look at the roles these same performers played in The Capulets and the Montagues in the fall and compare them to the much heavier fare of Living Curiosities. Turner’s Barnum is a truly disgusting, slimy showman and a stark contrast to the comic hero Romeo from the fall. Vanden Boomen plays a gentle-hearted yet opinionated Anna, finding all the layers and deep variety her character offers.

I don’t quite know what Keir and Kocic do to get into their characters, but it’s working. Vocally, physically, the whole package.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Chang and Eng, like Anna, have to contend with a pretty drastic physical manipulation. And like Anna, they do it with a great deal of grace and complete devotion to character that I have not seen until now. Morris and Miranda also nail down their relationship artfully, even though it hangs on a couple of lines of dialogue and a look.

The cast is supported by visitors to the museum and Barnum’s workmen (Paige Falardeau, Jack Comerford, John Wamsley, Shawn Doyle), all of whom bring remarkable life and energy to the stage.

Living Curiosities’ run ended yesterday.

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03.23.2015

The pitfalls of social media Forget endless hours on Facebook; social media has entered our academic and work lives I have to Facebook my friends who live outside Canada… except those in China.”

While it connects us across great distances, social media is criticized for making people less aware of their immediate surroundings. One of the YouTube videos that made The Times’ list of the top 10 viral videos of 2013 was titled “I Forgot My Phone” by Charlene deGuzman. The video takes the viewers through her day and they see everyone around her attached to their phones. The video has over 47,000,000 views, many of which probably happened on the same screens. People are interested in disconnecting with the online world, but it isn’t easy.

NATASHA HARTONO Social media has enhanced and transformed nearly every aspect of our lives. It has completely altered how we communicate, bringing us up to date every second. We know what happens exactly as it unfolds. Everyone has the opportunity and the platform to publish their own content. As a hotly debated new form of journalism, there’s now even a format to officially cite Twitter tweets.

Social media is praised for allowing us to communicate easily and quickly. Most criticism concerns the amount of time we spend on it and the claim that it desensitizes us to issues and presents them out of context.

It is often said that the key to making the best of social media is to maintain a balance.

Canada’s social media consumption is the highest in the world. In 2014, it was reported that 82% of our population is plugged into social networking websites and apps. What does this say about us—our social lives, our academic pursuits, and our work?

SOCIAL LIFE What might be called the holy trinity of social networking sites—Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram—provide a

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

How did students ever do group projects before Facebook? new kind of intimacy, at least when it comes to learning more about our acquaintances through a constant stream of updates. But many students have mixed feelings.

“It’s not that I don’t like [social media], it’s that there are better things that I could do with my time, like talking to friends on the phone,” says one CTEP student who asked to remain anonymous. “It’s faster and more personal. Like meeting up and

going places.”

Fourth-year biology and professional writing communications student Jessica Gelar says she still uses Instagram and Twitter but has just quit Facebook.

“I found myself mindlessly scrolling through it and getting distracted with nothing in particular, especially Vines and Humans of New York,” she says. “I just found I lost track of time easily, and when I would finally get

off, I realized I could be using my time towards other things.”

Sarah Gong, a participant in the U of T summer abroad exchange program, says social media has allowed her to stay in touch with friends she met in France and while backpacking in Europe. “I use Facebook mostly to talk to people that I’ve met abroad,” she says. “I also use it to talk to people that go to different schools. More likely I’ll text the ones in Canada, but

ACADEMIC LIFE As users, we have the choice to opt in or out of this digital environment. But opting out comes with the risk of not knowing what’s happening, and not just socially. Facebook has become an indispensable academic tool. After making groups in class, the first thing we do every time is add each other on Facebook and sometimes create a group.

Social continued on page 10

Father, son to bike 600 km for the cure UTM’s Andrew Sedmihradsky and his son Max prepare for the trip of a lifetime FARAH QAISER STAFF WRITER Max, the four-year-old son of UTM’s Andrew Sedmihradsky and a sufferer of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, will bike 600 kilometres from Ottawa to Hamilton this summer.

Sedmihradsky, the International Education Centre’s global mobility coordinator, will travel along the Trans-Canada Trail with his son in the hopes of raising money for research on this terminal disease that has no known cure.

Max’s Big Ride kicks off on June 21 this summer. The entire trip is expected to end on July 1 after 11 days on the road. Max will lead the ride, sitting comfortably in his foam-padded seat aboard a cargo bike pedalled by his father Andrew.

Sedmihradsky and his family were in Australia when they first learned about Max’s disease. “We received the diagnosis in a series of stages,” says Sedmihradsky. At first, doctors were dismissive of Max’s parents’

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

Sedmihradsky is currently in search of sponsorships for Max’s Big Ride. claims that their son was unusually unsteady on his feet. The doctors believed that Max was simply growing at his own pace.

In the end, it was Max’s daycare

provider who referred them to a specialist. The specialist suggested that Max might have muscular dystrophy. “The doctor said don’t Google it,” says Andrew. “But being

the person I am, I was Googling it 25 minutes later, and I went into a state of shock.

“It was probably the worst time of my life,” he adds. “But I think that

early on, I knew that I didn’t want to just sit there and do nothing. It’s a very serious disease, and it’s fatal, but sitting back and just kind of waiting for this to happen wasn’t an option. So here I am today.”

As Andrew began researching ways to raise funding for muscular dystrophy, he came across the story of John Davidson, founder of Jesse’s Journey, an organization that funds Duchenne research around the world. Since 1995, Jesse’s Journey has provided more than $6 million towards DMD research. Davidson had pushed his own son Jesse, a DMD sufferer, across Ontario in a wheelchair.

“It kind of just went from there,” says Sedmihradsky. “I reached out and I was hoping to align myself with an already established charity that was doing what I wanted to do.

John called me from London, Ontario when I was in Australia, and he was really nice.”

Max continued on page 10

03.23.2015 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 9

Pop culture welcomes feminism Part 3: Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran challenge our generation’s attitude towards feminism VALERIA RYRAK I was never as excited about TV as I was when I first saw the HBO pilot of Girls. At that time I didn’t know that it was the brainchild of an unknown named Lena Dunham, 26, who serves as its director, lead, and cowriter. What I did know was that for the first time in my life there was a TV show whose characters felt real in an uncanny yet relatable way. Hannah Horvath, the protagonist, and her three girlfriends seemed hyper-real to me; they resembled girls I knew, and they shared aspects of my own flawed character in a brutally honest, almost confessional manner.

Before controversy over the show’s charged and unabashed depictions of sexuality overshadowed the praise of it, cultural critics noted what a stark departure the show’s premise was from what had come before it.

Sex and the City this was not.

There was little sartorial glamour and few stable jobs or romantic relationships, and most of the sex was downright unenviable. Issues such as financial stress, workplace harassment, the unmoored nature of youth, and complex romantic striations all had a place. In short, the show was about your life and mine, only hyperbolized and made witty. The media was astounded

NYPOST.COM/PHOTO

Dunham’s HBO series Girls had its fourth season finale Sunday night. that television finally had a leading lady who did not adhere to its own definition of “pretty”.

When Dunham was featured on the cover of Vogue in 2014, the message was clear: inordinate beauty was no longer a prerequisite for the cover; creativity and brains could do. That this show could attain such a level of popularity on a network whose subscription base is 57% male is not only a testament to Dunham’s talent as a storyteller, but

also says much about this decade’s attitude towards the lives and stories of young women.

Dunham recently released a collection of creative nonfiction essays that shine a light on Hollywood’s treatment of young professional women. “There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told, especially if that person is a woman,” Dunham writes in the introduction. It’s a fair statement

given that western history is full of lacunae where female narratives should be.

What surprised me in the book was Dunham’s uncharacteristic restraint when writing about Hollywood. What she does say in the chapter “I Didn’t Fuck Them, but They Yelled at Me” hints at the fact that feminism has somehow left Hollywood behind. Dunham calls this an “era when women in Hollywood [are] treated like the paper

thingies that protect glasses in hotel bathrooms—necessary but infinitely disposable”.

Another woman at the forefront of reviving the conversation about third-wave feminism is Caitlin Moran. She’s brash, mouthy, unapologetic, and acerbic. I first came across her years ago when she was as yet unknown on this side of the Atlantic, and her advice to young women set my heart on fire. One of the hobbies she told us all to acquire was revolution. It has certainly been her own hobby in the UK as a broadcaster, TV critic, university fellow, and columnist at The Times.

In a culture known for its reticence and a stiff upper lip, Moran has highlighted the pesky social injustices that won’t go away because we have become inured to them.

Moran gave a candid interview for The Conversation, a womanoriented web series. Moran said that women have “only just now been created. We’re talking about a hundred thousand years of patriarchy and women being burned as witches and women being vilified... treated as equal to animals, owned as property. Women being sent to the mental asylum by their husbands if they became troublesome.

Dunham continued on page 10

UTM students’ end-of-term bucket list With only two weeks left in the term, students suggest how to make this year count ELEANOR NDAIGA It’s that time of the year when we’re all getting ready to bid the semester goodbye. Awaiting us are breezy warm weather, a summer bursting with potential, new experiences, and, for some, the end of our undergrad. We have 10 more days until the last day of class, and everyone seems to be scrambling to make the semester a memorable one.

It’s no wonder. I’m pretty sure we all want to feel like we’ve accomplished something this school year, be it academic, inspirational, or quirky. So we asked a few students on campus for a peek at their bucket lists.

Sara di Poce, a third-year student studying Italian and women and gender studies, would like to, “be able to read the chicken scratch notes on my papers from the TAs”, as she put it.

Bianca Marchione, a varsity rugby player, is in her final year of chemistry with a double minor in biology and Italian. Excited to be graduating in the spring, Marchione would like to dump-tackle chemistry professor Patrick Gunning before the end of the semester.

Iyarusalem Biftu, a third-year student specializing in criminology

NICOLE RAQUINIO/THE MEDIUM

Think you could do a lap or two of the pond and not get caught? and sociolegal studies, would like to do two things before the end of the semester: complete a five-kilometre run through Erindale Park, and try a macaroon from one of the fancy downtown cafés.

Shaleeza Gordon, a third-year psychology major, would like to have more than six hours of sleep before the end of the semester. I think we can all agree with Gordon

on this one, although how likely it is with exams coming up is hard to tell.

Faiza Anam, a fourth-year biochemistry specialist, says that before she dons her graduation gown this spring, she wants to do “reasonably impulsive things”.

Her list is quite thorough, in fact.

She wants to experience UTM—all of it, not just the parts we have to

experience between classes. She wants to see the greenhouse in the Davis Building. Take a dip in the pond (and not get caught). Be gutsy enough to tell one of her professors how much they have made an impact on her, try out every smoothie flavour from Booster Juice, read a good book while sitting among the library shelves, and, if it’s sunny enough, to do homework in the

middle of a green field on campus and look like one of those students on the promotional materials that universities hand out.

Laasya Annadevara, a fourthyear accounting specialist also gearing up to leave the bubble that is undergraduate life, would like to take memorable selfies in two strategic locations. The first selfie in front of the famous $1 million rock pile and the second under the giant speech bubble in Davis (yes, this exists). Obviously, a tiring day of being the queen of selfies warrants time to relax, so the last thing she wants to do before she leaves university is to have a picnic in Erindale Park.

So for what’s left of the semester, before you stash your notes away and price your textbooks for sale, before you spend the final dollars of your meal plan and plan for long days in the sun, take some time and write down one thing you want to accomplish. From thanking a professor for helping you with a course to counting how many Boundless banners there are on campus, or maybe even discovering the mythical underground tunnel for yourself, pick something and make that your “I was here” stamp for the year about to pass.

10

«FEATURES

THE MEDIUM 03.23.2015

As a child, one of my favourite pastimes

cheese comes from Lucy’s 2006 book, A

was visiting my dad’s office and complet-

Matter of Taste. It has big flavour, doesn’t

ing career tests online. (If you read this

require any fussing with a traditional Bé-

column regularly, you’ll already know I’m

chamel sauce, and it’s easy to double if

a bit bizarre.) Call it fate, but my love of

I’m feeding a crowd. There are never left-

food was present even then: I consistently

overs,” says Eligh.

got taste-tester as my top recommended

Eligh recommends making “a big

career. It was my earliest encounter with

batch of caramelized onions in a slow

the wide range of jobs in the food and

cooker and [freezing] them in half-cup

hospitality industries.

portions so you always have some handy.

UTM communications officer Blake

They’re great on toasted baguettes, burg-

Eligh can certainly speak to this fact. For

ers, pizza, or even in soup.” If you do

the past 15 years, Eligh has written about

heed her advice, she suggests that you

lifestyle, parenting, and food for a few

“make it on a day you can leave the win-

Canadian publications. She also served

dows open”.

as an editorial assistant to Lucy Waver-

What to serve on the side? “I serve

man (lucywaverman.com), a Canadian

this with a simple salad of tender Bibb

food writer. In that role, Eligh researched,

lettuce and sliced pears drizzled with a

wrote copy for, and taste-tested Waver-

vinaigrette of lemon juice, olive oil, and a

man’s recipes for pieces in The Globe and

splash of maple syrup,” says Eligh.

Mail, the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine, and Waverman’s own cookbooks.

“This recipe for high-end mac ’n’

Whether I become a taste-tester remains to be seen. But I’ll give Waverman’s recipe a go—with the window open.

Lucy Waverman’s Orecchiette with Caramelized Onions From Lucy Waverman’s A Matter of Taste MAKES 6 SERVINGS INGREDIENTS

3.Heat oil in large skillet over medium

• 2 tbsp olive oil

heat. Add onions and salt them imme-

• 1/2 cup diced pancetta

diately. Sauté for 3 minutes or until they

• 2 big Spanish or sweet onions, sliced thin

are coated in oil. Turn heat to medium-

• salt and freshly ground pepper

low and continue to cook onions 30–40

• 1 lb (500 g) orecchiette pasta

minutes until they become a thick

• 1 cup whipping cream

golden mass. Season well.

• 1/4 cup butter, softened

4.Bring large pot of salted water to boil.

• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Add orecchiette and boil until al dente.

• 8 oz grated smoked cheese (mozzarella,

Drain immediately and transfer to large

San Simon, or white cheddar) • 2 tbsp butter METHOD 1.Preheat oven to 350 F. 2.Sauté pancetta in small skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes or until crisped & golden. Drain on paper towel.

bowl. Stir in cream, butter, 1/2 cup Parmesan, onions, and smoked cheese.

5.Transfer to a buttered baking dish, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan, and dot with butter.

6.Bake 15–20 minutes or until pasta is hot and top is slightly browned.

Optimistic views Dunham continued from page 9 “It has only been a small amount of time that we’ve been able to speak openly about the realities of our lives and to be autonomous people and to have our own money [...] we still don’t know what women are.”

Moran also says we need to “reclaim” the word “feminist” and cites these statistics: 42% of British women and a meagre 29% of American women identify as feminists. In other words, the term has a bad reputation with connotations of manhating, aversion to sexuality, and general anarchy. In this generation especially. Moran insists that “it’s technically impossible for a woman to argue against feminism. Without feminism, you wouldn’t be allowed to have a debate on a woman’s place in society. You’d be too busy giving birth on the kitchen floor—biting down on a wooden spoon, so as not to disturb the men’s card game—before going back to hoeing the rutabaga field.”

But her view of sexism is not flat or pessimistic. She writes about how she spent hours on the most British of observation decks, her local pub, watching the interactions between men and women, and concluded that the problem of sexism is “not man vs. woman at all. What I see, instead, is winner vs. loser. Most sexism is due to men being accus-

tomed to us being the losers.” Moran argues without bitterness that there is no female equivalent to Mozart, Einstein, Gandhi, Galileo, the Beatles, Churchill, Hawking, or Columbus. Our gender’s list of achievements is paltry when compared to men’s, and it’s self-perpetuating when men view women as less capable, since this world’s history is what they turn to for justification.

For Moran, this doesn’t indicate “a prejudice based on male hatred of women”, but “a prejudice based on simple fact”. Understanding how women came to be the historical losers would provide critical insight into the work that needs to be done in our time.

I think it’s excellent that Canada’s two most notable writers—Munroe and Atwood—are both women, but North America is still yet to elect a female president/prime minister. Michaëlle Jean was by many accounts one of the most popular governor generals, but Toronto— Canada’s largest city—has only ever had two female mayors. During my four years of university, I have had exactly three female professors, only one of whom was tenure-track, whereas 80% of my school teachers have been female. See a pattern?

Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran are just two contemporaries who are doing their bit to undo it, one word at a time.

All about balance?

Social continued from page 8 Responses are instant or at least within a day. We then head over to Google Docs to get the real work done. If one of our members doesn’t have Facebook, it becomes difficult to keep them “in the loop”. We update them through email, but they can’t participate in our spontaneous conversations.

What about the students who face obstacles to being present in this way with the group?

Last year, I took Professor Peter Smit’s integrative design project, a digital enterprise management course. Smit encouraged us to rethink the way we communicate and to research how companies communicate internally. He challenged us to avoid social media to communicate with our group. We were also not allowed to meet in person.

Modelled on the “real world”, Smit divided the class into groups and gave each one accounts in different communication programs.

Our activities were monitored to ensure that we followed instructions. At the end of the term, each group presented their experiences using the programs, and the general consensus was that it was a challenge not to fall back on Facebook and other social media.

Where is the divide between our personal private life and academic work life? Through our social media accounts, students are connected with their romantic partners, family, friends, classmates, coworkers, employers, and professors, all at the same time.

WORK LIFE We have access to social media 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As

We are connected with romantic partners, family, classmates, friends, coworkers, employers, and profs, all at the same time.

Technologies infographic posted on Adweek last year, two in five employers screen their applicants using social media. Employers use social media to “evaluate the candidate’s professionalism in terms of social conduct, to evaluate the candidate’s fit into the company culture, [and] “to learn more about the candidate’s qualifications”.

One red flag can stop them dead in their tracks. Indeed, 43% of employers have found something in an applicant’s social media profile that has deterred them from hiring the candidate, while 19% of employers have found reasons for hiring in social media profiles.

If we use social media properly, we can reap benefits. Even if we leave branding aside, the job postings themselves can often be found through social media and through friends, the conversations with whom take place more often than ever on social media.

The UTM Career Centre, too, recognizes the importance of social media for professional development and holds LinkedIn workshops such as “Get LinkedIn to Your Job Search”, profile critiques, and photo days.

Cultural anthropologist Jan Chipchase draws a connection between mobile phones, electronics, and our identities. As our social media accounts become part of ourselves, there is increasing pressure to ensure that our profiles reflect us in the best light possible. If we have social media accounts, we need to maintain them and represent ourselves positively. Privacy is limited in the online world.

According to a Go-Gulf Web

PARTING THOUGHTS Social media blurs the lines between socializing, academics, and work.

Sometimes we try to do them all at once. Does this result in quality work? Do we ever get a real, fullfocused catch-up with a friend?

Amid this constant intake of breaking news, pseudo-news, cat and baby videos, and photos from your friend’s spring break trip, how do we select what we should spend and shouldn’t our time on?

Balance between social media in students’ social, academic, and work lives is the goal we set for ourselves. If we waste too much time on these websites, they lose their value.

If you can harness the power of social media and better your life, do so. Just don’t let it take over.

a result we assume that everyone is available all the time and become frustrated when they aren’t. And there are records, such as Facebook’s small but powerful “seen” notice that lets you know if your message has been read or not, and they can work with or against you.

That said, students can use social media as a tool to thrive professionally. Websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and AboutMe allow us to brand ourselves online. We now have interactive online resumes and ways to reach out to other professionals.

$5,000 from Australia Max continued from page 8 Sedmihradsky’s original idea was to ride across Canada and to camp out overnight throughout the ride.

“I realized that it was insane to attempt it with a four-year-old,” he says. “I have to pick distances that are sustainable for me, and especially for Max.” Currently, Sedmihradsky is training rigorously. “I’ve changed my diet, and I go to the gym every day before work: weights, cardio,” he says. “We tried out the cargo bike for a ride in January, but it was pretty cold, and I didn’t want Max’s first experience to be a horrible one.”

Their plan is to start at 8 a.m. each day, ride for an hour, stop to rest in a park or other area, and continue. “I don’t want to have Max in the cargo bike for like six hours or something,” says Sedmihradksy, whose wife Kerri and his parents will be their support team and will follow the pair in a van.

At first, the request for sponsorship was to friends and family through a simple Facebook post,

but it’s since gained the attention of larger sponsors and companies.

Max’s Big Ride has received about $15,000 in donations so far. Companies such as QuadLock, GoPro, the Australian company Copyworld, and Tuesday Afternoon Media have given both gear and donations. The

Max is incredibly excited for the bike ride, probably even more with the promise of ice cream. cargo bike is being loaned by Urkai European Bicycles, a bike shop in Burlington. “At the moment we’ve been focusing on coverage, because I thought it was important to show that there will be a media presence in order to get sponsors,” says Sedmihradsky.

He’s on the lookout for more corporate sponsors, and possibly finding reduced rates on both hotels and car rental places. “I’m constantly

trying to find different hooks to entice sponsors. For example, we’ll be passing through Kawartha Lakes, and there’s a company that makes moose track ice cream, which happens to be Max’s favourite, so I was thinking about possibly a tasting?” he says.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects about 1 in 35,000 boys. It is a fatal degenerative disease. DMD sufferers are in wheelchairs by the age of 12. The average life expectancy is just 25 years. However, promising research is taking place in various parts of the world. All proceeds from Max’s Big Ride will go to Jesse’s Journey.

There will also be a kick-off event on April 17 in Burlington.

Max is incredibly excited for the bike ride, probably even more with the promise of ice cream. “Trying to explain what we’re planning to do to a four-year-old is impossible,” says Sedmihradsky. “But he understands that we’re going to be going on a special bike ride, and he loves the bike because he’s right in the front and has the best seat in the house.”

03.23.2015

»

11

Top cricket teams battle for Div. 1 title United 6 and Pk Tun’s year-long rivalry comes to a shocking one-sided finish in cricket final SHAHRIYAR NISAR One of the most enthralling seasons of intramural cricket at UTM ended with United 6 beating Pk Tun in the Division 1 final. These two teams had developed a rivalry since their game in the semi-final last semester, in which United 6 came out on top, and their final season game that determined playoff rankings, which put Pk Tun at the top of the division going into the playoffs.

Both teams remained at the top of the division throughout this semester and deserved a spot in this year’s final. Both the previous encounters had gone down to the wire and more intensity was expected in the final, but unfortunately it did not go as expected.

Having won the toss and electing to field first, United 6 dominated from the start and never took their foot off the gas. Mit Patel, the most consistent bowler this season, conceded only three runs of his first over.

Mian Kamal, Pk Tun’s bowler, repeatedly attempted to outduel Patel by varying his pace to deceive

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

United 6 and Pk Tun dominated Division 1 competition throughout the season. the batsmen. Pk Tun’s batting had put up an exceptional performance throughout the season, but a combination of some tight bowling, phenomenal fielding, and sloppy running had Pk Tun in all sorts of trouble at 13 runs with the loss of three wickets after four overs.

Shayan Hemani provided a glim-

mer of hope by hitting a six of the first delivery of the fifth over, but his hard work was undone when he became the third batsman in the innings to be run out. This was followed by the dismissal of Ehsan Sardar, who was caught brilliantly by Mian Kamal.

Shayan Shamim was the last man left and he helped Pk Tun to achieve a

modest total of 44 before he too was dismissed, PK Tun having failed to play a full eight overs.

United 6 needed to score 45 in eight overs to win the game against a side not known for their bowling.

Their openers, Viraj Sutaria and Manmeet Singh, batted sensibly, varying according to the needs of

the situation. They took a little time to get their eye in and settle down, scoring 16 in the first three overs.

Once the foundation was laid, they began scoring at more than a run a ball, with six balls in an over that means United 6 were scoring more than six runs an over, working the ball around for ones and twos and hitting the odd boundary every now and then. Manmeet and Viraj scored 23 and 13 respectively, and with the aid of nine extras, United 6 chased down the target in six overs without losing a wicket.

Manmeet Singh, who was also the president of the UTM Cricket Club for the year, was proud of his team’s performance.

“It was a great performance from the team. Really happy to score the last run and take the team to victory,” he said. “This was my last match as a United 6 player and it was a perfect ending to my cricketing career at UTM. “Winning Division 1 in both the semesters is more than a dream come true for all of us,” he added. “I am going to miss playing with United 6.”

MoveU squad

Rico’s breakout season

keeps growing

Coach praises Rico as team leader after her first year in OCAA

ERIC HEWITSON ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR With a list of seemingly unending exams and essays piling up this time of year, it’s difficult to commit yourself to exercising. Fortunately, with Move U’s Sneaker Squad, students have the opportunity to put their right foot forward and join in a walk around our beautiful campus with other adventurous students.

“It’s the perfect opportunity to take notice of our beautiful campus and the extensive trail system.”

The walking group for Sneaker Squad is a free program that encourages students to get together on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5 p.m. in the RAWC lobby. From there you spend around an hour taking in the beautiful environment of the campus.

“Sneaker Squad provides students

the opportunity to be physically active in a social and supportive setting with other students and the occasional staff or faculty member,” says Madeleine Brown, a fourth-year theatre and drama studies specialist and coordinator of Sneaker Squad. “It’s the perfect opportunity to take notice of our beautiful campus and the extensive trail system we have right on our doorstep. Too often we come to campus, go to class, and go home. Sneaker Squad gives students the chance to explore what the area has to offer.”

Along with the walking group, there is a Learn to Run program, which meets at the same times in the RAWC. Andrew Lozzo, a fourth-year biology and psychology major, leads the running program and works with Brown to ensure an enriching student experience for all who join. “We’ve seen significant results with upwards of 20 students coming out. The program will conclude with a group of runners participating in Harry’s Spring Run-Off at High Park. We’ve been very happy to have such a great reaction to the program,” says Brown.

MoveU continued on page 12

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Christina Rico thrived at varsity level and looks to be a bright spot in the future of UTM soccer.

JASON COELHO SPORTS EDITOR Christina Rico has been playing soccer for more than half her life. Like many kids who went through a rite of passage playing in youth soccer leagues where the rules don’t matter and the players score in their own nets, Rico started at the age of eight and quickly fell in love with the game.

Before she ever wore an Eagles jersey

or called herself a varsity athlete, Rico moved up the ranks in competitive soccer playing for the North Mississauga Soccer Club on the elite A team and the Mississauga Falcons on the Premiere B team for four years.

She became used to the high level of competition, and her desire to play at the varsity level in university became her goal. “Playing varsity soccer in university has always been a dream of mine since I started playing,” says

Rico. But when she came to UTM, she learned that a varsity program didn’t exist despite the many opportunities to play soccer on campus.

In her freshman year, Rico played on the Division 1 outdoor and indoor team, the highest level of soccer possible at UTM until the introduction of varsity earlier this year.

Rico continued on page 12

12

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 03.23.2015

Soccer has a bright future Destressing before exams Rico continued from page 11

MoveU continued from page 11 In a social aspect, participating in these programs gives you the chance to get to know other students who share similar interests inside and outside the classroom.

Research has shown that exercise increases neurotransmitter activity and blood flow to the brain, aiding your ability to learn.

One of the great features of Sneaker Squad is the support and involvement of faculty. Today, Professor Sanja Hinic-Frlog, Department of Biology, will participate in a walk-along, engaging with the students who come along.

Sneaker Squad is also very excited to announce that Principal Saini will get out and walk with students next Monday, after having to can-

cel last time he was to come out.

The side effects of moderate exercise like spending an hour on a weekday evening walking around the scenic campus include better study habits, more energy, and higher test results. Research has shown that exercise increases neurotransmitter activity and blood flow to the brain, aiding your ability to learn. More prominent are the long-term impacts of exercise—improved self-image, cognitive functioning, ability to manage stress, and reduced risk of colds and upper respiratory tract infections.

Before the school year ends, take advantage of the programs here on campus over the next two weeks that help you keep a positive mindset, especially during this hectic time of year. All you need is an hour and a comfortable pair of shoes.

Besides, you’ll get the chance to take a selfie with the deer on campus, which I’m sure everyone is eager to do.

When Rico realized that it was possible for her to try out for the UTM’s first ever varsity soccer team, she didn’t hesitate.

After playing with coach Damian Yearwood in the fall on the women’s tri-campus team, Rico was thrilled to hear of her acceptance onto the OCAA squad that would compete in indoor tournaments throughout the school year.

Over the course of the year Rico has noted the team’s improvements playing against OCAA teams that have been playing at this level longer than anyone on the Eagles squad. “I believe for our first season we did great,” says Rico. “As a team we stuck together, listened, and implemented many of the things we worked on in practice. Growing up, I was always told that to get better you need to play against the best, and that happened this season for our team.”

After the team was unable to qualify for provincial championships, the freshman season came to an end.

Rico, like many of her teammates and coaches, still believes that things are looking up from here. She has faith that the team will only keep improving in years to come, and with teammates like Justine LeBlanc and Danica Post, whom Rico mentions as two

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Eagles players who have mentored her and been integral to the team’s success, the future does look bright.

Another important element is the guidance of head coach Damian Yearwood, assistant coach Nik Pavic, and team manager Diane Fric. Yearwood, who has an impressive coaching record at UTM as a three-time coach of the year since his start in 2005, was excited to build a team and nurture

“If she were physically capable of doing so, she would play every minute of every game.” players in the new soccer program.

Players like Rico are thankful for the effort he put into their development. “They are some of the best coaches I have ever had,” says the second-year sociology and linguistics major. “We are an extremely lucky team to have three individuals who genuinely care for our progress and success in soccer and in life.”

Coach Yearwood has nothing but praise for Rico in return, a player who met the requirements of selfmotivated smart player. “Her importance to the team is beyond question,” says Yearwood, now in his ninth year as a UTM soccer coach. “And if she

were physically capable of doing so, she would play every minute of every game.”

Yearwood sees Rico as a leader on the team and is excited to see her develop as a player. “Although she is just in her second year, her positive attitude and dedication enables her to lead by example and inspire the team,” he says. “I hope to see Christina become more vocal in the future in order to better communicate with teammates and become a well-rounded leader in the program.”

Yearwood and Rico are both dedicated to making sure that a dynastic future of UTM soccer becomes a reality. After sending shockwaves through the OCAA in its freshman year, the varsity program has shown that it has the potential, the talent pool, and the resources to take large strides in years to come.

Christina Rico is just one of the many dedicated and talented athletes UTM has the privilege to call an Eagle. As we continue journeying into the OCAA in an effort to establish ourselves as a sports powerhouse, let’s hope that more and more of our athletes, those who represent us outside the campus boundaries and wear the Eagles logo across Ontario, get the recognition they deserve at home before they go out and earn it on someone else’s turf.