Vol 41 issue 11

THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA

November 24, 2014 Volume 41, Issue 11 themedium.ca

Ontario bans campus tobacco sales New Smoke-Free Ontario Act to come into effect January 1; U of T essentially complies at present MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR WITH NOTES FROM MARIA IQBAL NEWS EDITOR As of January 1, colleges and universities in Ontario will no longer be able to sell tobacco on their campuses as a result of a move by the provincial government to adopt stricter regulations on smoking. The province’s “Smoke-Free Ontario Act” will also make it illegal to smoke on bar and restaurant patios, playgrounds, public sports fields, and other recreational areas.

According to the Ontario government’s website, the new regulations are part of the province’s aim to reduce youth access to tobacco.

Selling tobacco will be prohibited in buildings owned or leased by postsecondary institutions or student unions that are used for education programs, recreation, or residence services.

The National College Health Assessment survey results from spring

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Currently, the sale of tobacco is prohibited on campus by U of T’s Smoking Policy of 1995.

2013 found that 10.8% of UTM students had smoked a cigarette in the last 30 days.

Chad Jankowski, health education coordinator at the UTM Health and Counselling Centre, said that these results were consistent with the find-

ings of both the Canada-wide reference group, which found that 11.6% of Canadian postsecondary students had smoked in the last 30 days, and the Ontario group, which found that 11% of students in the province had.

He added that the percentage of

UTM students smoking tobacco using a water pipe—a hookah—in the last 30 days was 4.6%, which is also consistent with the provincial (4.1%) and national (4.2%) results.

Asked if there were places at UTM where tobacco is currently sold, Fe-

licia Phan, UTM’s campus program coordinator for the Leave the Pack Behind program, said no.

Jankowski added that U of T’s Smoking Policy of 1995 already prohibits tobacco sales on campus. The policy states, “Cigarettes, tobacco, and other tobacco products will not be sold on premises occupied by the University of Toronto.”

However, tobacco may be obtained in other ways.

“There are ways to get not illegal tobacco but tobacco that’s been rolled on its own—not sold in community stores,” said Rovina Girn, a nurse at the HCC. “I haven’t really heard any of my patients, at least, tell me that they take part [in] that.”

Currently, smoking is not allowed on covered or partially covered patios in Ontario. With the new regulations, smoking will not be allowed on any bar or restaurant outdoor patios, with the exception of the uncovered patios by a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Smoking continued on page 2

Students prepare for town hall UTMSU Commission Meeting strategizes issues to raise at forum this week UTM becomes the Den

MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR UTMSU’s fifth Commissions Meeting last Tuesday focused on the upcoming UTM Town Hall and offered students a chance to bring up their concerns prior to raising them with university administration on Wednesday.

At the meeting, UTMSU’s executive director Walied Khogali encouraged students to attend the town hall and raise issues that concern them.

He said that the administration has the responsibility to respond to students’ needs, and in the event that students are not satisfied with the answers given by the principal or dean, the town hall will provide them with an opportunity to ask for clarification.

Nearly 100 people attended the

A former Dragon visits campus to share his insights on entrepreneurs and investors.

Medium News, page 2

Bring back the dead Do we need to update the classics if “he was not of an age, but for all time”? And even if yes, how?

Medium Opinion, page 4

She shoots, she scores Campus group writes, directs, and performs a play, all for the benefit of the outgoing Hurricane Hazel.

Medium Arts, page 5

What all’s after Con Hall?

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

UTMSU discussed the upcoming UTM Town Hall at its fifth Commission Meeting on Tuesday.

Principal’s Town Hall held last March, of whom Khogali claimed only about four or five were students.

Khogali also noted students’ com-

plaints that when their questions were submitted in advance, the administration was able to prepare their answers and read them out at

the town hall rather than discussing them with the students.

Town Hall continued on page 3

We follow up with three grads from the class of 2014 on what life is like on the other side of the curtain.

Medium Features, page 8

Two birds with two stones Has UTM ever been so successful in a pair of soccer championships all at once? Probably not.

Medium Sports, page 11

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«NEWS

THE MEDIUM 11.24.2014

UTM hosts former Dragon 3rd Countdown to Success features entrepreneur Bruce Croxon

November 14, 2:06 a.m.

Noise Complaint Campus Police investigated a noise complaint from a townhouse unit.

The occupants in the unit were cautioned and advised to be keep the noise level down.

November 14, 10:40 a.m.

Medical Call Campus Police attended the RAWC regarding an injured female. The female was transported to hospital for further medical treatment.

November 14, 11:00 a.m.

Mischief A vehicle in parking lot 8 had one of its tires intentionally punctured.

Campus Police and Peel Regional Police are investigating.

November 14, 11:07 a.m.

Theft Under $5,000 Campus Police investigated the theft of money from a wallet that was found in the Instructional Centre.

November 15, 2:44 p.m.

Medical Call Campus Police attended a townhouse unit regarding an injured female. The female was transported to hospital for further medical treatment.

November 15, 7:00 p.m.

Trespass To Property Act Two males attempted to enter the RAWC by fraudulently using a TCard. The males were banned from using the RAWC until further notice.

November 17, 12:24 a.m.

Controlled Drugs & Substances Act A complaint was received regarding the smell of marijuana near a townhouse unit. Campus Police found no persons in the area.

November 17, 2:55 p.m.

Mischief Campus Police investigated a report of mischief to a vehicle in parking lot 8.

November 17, 4:45 p.m.

Medical Call A call was received regarding an injured male. The male was transported to hospital for further medical treatment.

November 17, 5:20 p.m.

Disruptive Behaviour Two people were arguing in the library. Campus Police separated the parties and directed them to keep the peace.

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.

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

This year’s Countdown to Success featured Bruce Croxon, a former investor on CBC’s Dragons’ Den. NICOLE DANESI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR UTM’s third annual Countdown to Success event hosted business mogul Bruce Croxon last Thursday evening in the newly opened Innovation Complex.

Hosted by the Institute for Management and Innovation and sponsored by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, the event drew over 275 students to hear Croxon speak on entrepreneurship, the state of Canadian business, and his advice on how to make it in business.

An entrepreneur and cofounder of Lavalife—a dating website he sold for $176 million in 2004—Croxon is the owner of several Canadian spas and has recently cofounded an investment company called Round13.

Perhaps most recognizably, however, Croxon is a former Dragon on the hit CBC show Dragons’ Den as a start-up company investor.

Hugh Gunz, the institute’s director, invited Croxon to speak about his entrepreneurial origins, his advice on

how to spark innovation within institutions, and his time as a Dragon.

“I had to think about it long and hard,” said Croxon of his experience on Dragons’ Den, in spite of the great opportunities he said the show gave him over his three-season run.

According to Croxon, fellow den member Arlene Dickinson warned him of the celebrity that came with

“You can’t walk through an airport or go for a coffee without someone saying, ‘Hey, I got a great idea!’” signing onto the gig. “You can’t walk through an airport or go for a coffee without someone saying, ‘Hey, I got a great idea!’ ” said Croxon. “I never got comfortable with that part.”

Croxon also offered advice to budding entrepreneurs looking to kickstart their own venture.

“There are a lot of ups and downs

and there [are] a lot of painful lessons,” he said. “Being attached to what you are doing and being passionate about doing it is going to get you through a lot of tough times.”

Before the keynote, UTM alumnus Dario Di Censo (1988) was awarded the UTM Alumni Award. Di Censo is a CMA as well as the former president and current treasurer of the Alumni Association.

The annual Countdown to Success has previously hosted CBC’s Amanda Lang as well as current Dragons’ Den investor David Chilton.

“We generally choose the speakers based on their business background and also their celebrity status,” said organizer Donna Heslin of the IMI. “We want to educate and engage and also provide a great opportunity for student networking with our alumni and community partners.”

The event also featured several business- and career-related vendors and was followed by a networking session.

CPA Ontario has sponsored the event all three years so far and has made a commitment for five.

Survey finds 76.6% of UTM students have never smoked Smoking continued from Cover Another nurse at the HCC believes there is no problem with persuading people not to smoke indoors, but says this new legislation could be taking away the rights of people who smoke, since it takes away almost every place where they can smoke.

“I wholeheartedly agree with taking it out of inside places, but outside, it’s not as clear of a picture,” she said.

In regards to how she thinks students will react to this legislation, she added, “We have difficulty getting them to go the 36 [feet] away from any door. So I’m really not sure how successful we will be keeping them from smoking outside at all.”

Girn said the impact of the legislation won’t be significant at UTM because the only patio the new law ap-

plies to is at the pub. She also thinks that the legislation will be more relevant to those under 18, not university students.

Phan held similar views.

“From what I’ve seen on campus, I do not think that this legislation will significantly impact UTM students,” said Phan, noting that smokers are seldom seen smoking on the Blind Duck patio or on the sports fields.

“For young adults in general, I think this legislation will just further help protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke when they are sitting on off-campus patios, in sports fields, playgrounds, et cetera.”

Although Jankowski agreed that the legislation will not have a significant impact on students’ “day-to-day experiences” at UTM, he said that smoking is not as common on campus as students perceive it to be.

He noted that the NCHA found that while 76.6% of UTM students said that they had never smoked, the students polled thought that only 6.6% of their fellow students had never smoked.

Similarly, the survey found that UTM students think that only 16.5% of students have never tried shisha, whereas in fact 81.8% of UTM students have never tried it.

“These misperceptions about tobacco use on campus are ones that the Health and Counselling Centre, particularly our Leave the Pack Behind team, are trying to challenge,” said Jankowski. “We know that students can feel pressured to conform to what they perceive to be ‘normal’ behaviour on campus, so by raising awareness of the true norms on campus, we’re helping students to make healthier choices.”

11.24.2014 THE MEDIUM NEWS

Food, fall reading week, and parking among issues raised Town Hall continued from Cover Khogali also mentioned that at the last year’s town hall, UTMSU president Hassan Havili—who was then VP part-time—brought up the need of having a heated bus shelter on campus. Havili had a petition signed by over 1,000 students.

When Havili presented the petition at the town hall, he was told by the administration that a proposal was already in the works for larger, heated bus waiting areas.

Topics students raised at the commission meeting included food services, fall reading week, study space, and parking issues.

Students expressed continued displeasure with the food prices on campus, and UTMSU VP external Ebi Agbeyegbe said that there are several meetings taking place with the administration to express the students’ dissatisfaction. He said that by April there should be new food services on campus.

In response to the fall reading week issue, VP equity Melissa Theodore said that students would have to choose between starting the academic year one week early or having a December break that’s four

days shorter if they wanted a week off mid-semester.

Regarding the study space problem that students brought up, Khogali mentioned complaints that non-UTM students use the campus library. However, instead of restricting non-UTM students from coming to the library, he suggested that the university keep its class-

The UTM Town Hall will allow students to express their concerns, make suggestions, and ask questions of the administration. rooms open along with the Presentation Room and the second floor of the Student Centre so that students could have access to more space, especially during the exam period.

Other concerns included the insufficient number of lockers available on campus. VP internal and services Bryan Chelvanaigum said that some of the lockers had to be removed due to construction. He

said that UTMSU will try to get more lockers.

During the meeting, Monica Scott, a career outreach consultant from the UTM Career Centre, told the students about the services available at the Career Centre, such as information on the opportunities their degrees can offer, resumewriting tips, workshops, and practice interview sessions.

Scott also said that a “Get Hired Fair” would be held in January.

Toward the end of the event, Agbeyegbe mentioned current and upcoming UTMSU events, including the free breakfast on Wednesdays and a multicultural week scheduled for the first week of the winter semester, as well as UTM’s Got Talent also in January.

The UTM Town Hall will offer students an opportunity to express their concerns and suggestions for improving the campus and ask questions of the administration directly, including Principal Deep Saini.

Principal’s town halls take place once a semester. Wednesday’s town hall will take place at Spigel Hall in Davis from 2 to 3 p.m. The next one will be held in March.

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»SHOULD TOBACCO BE SOLD ON CAMPUS?

Meena Ahmad 1st year, French

Fatima Sheikh 4th year, DEM

It shouldn’t be legal. The more you do to restrict these things the better.

No, because it’s harmful.

Abdulla Omari 1st year, poli sci & history

Darnel Campbell 2nd year, socio-legal

No, it is a highly addictive substance that as a campus we should not promote.

I think it should because it’s legal and people can get it off-campus anyway.

CEOs attend UTM wearable tech symposium Tuesday’s Wireless Wearable Health Tech Symposium, held in the Innovation Complex, featured visits by several important businesspeople who made presentations on wearable technology in health and medical contexts.

Organized by Jayson Parker, a UTM lecturer in medical biotechnology, the conference featured keynote speaker Ann Cavoukian, the executive director of Ryerson’s Privacy and Big Data Institute.

Cavoukian spoke about the issue of privacy in wireless and wearable devices and promoted the concept of “privacy by design”, which encourages tech designers to set privacyfriendly features in devices as the

default settings. Cavoukian said that this practice would provide financial benefits for companies as well, such as fewer lawsuits and more customer satisfaction.

Parker spoke about the regulations on the wearable technologies used in medical contexts and possible investment strategies. He encouraged investment in low-risk medical devices, such as insulin pump software, as opposed to high-risk medical devices, such as pacemaker software.

The higher-risk devices are those that have higher requirements for validation and greater costs, and hence may not bring an investment to fruition.

“The risk of the product is impacted by claims and the target user group,” Parker explained, adding that ideal targets for investment are out-

patient products and products whose purchase cost can be covered by insurance.

The symposium also featured two panel discussions, each moderated

by Parker. The first panel included representation from Siemens Hearing Instruments, GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Ernst & Young LLP, and TELUS Health, among others. The VPs and CEOs of these companies answered questions concerning the future of wearable technology and possible obstacles.

The second panel, consisting of representation from Celestica, Ryerson, Cortex Design Inc., the Ontario Brain Institute, and VMware Canada, among others, discussed the challenges of making big data a relevant opportunity for both the public and

private health sectors.

Colin Foster, a senior Health Canada officer, also gave a presentation on the classifications of medical devices as set out in Health Canada’s Medical Device Regulatory Framework.

With this symposium, Parker hopes to make understanding of the regulations on wearable technologies more accessible.

“Right now it is only really accessible by looking at very specific documents at the FDA, so we’re looking to provide a roadmap for designers and what the implications are,” he said.

“You can negotiate with [the resolutions]—you don’t go and check off boxes and say A, B, and C. So we’re aiming to clear up some confusion.”

“We hope people walk out here

saying this is doable and we should start thinking about our business development strategy and creating lowrisk products,” Parker added.

Though Parker said that currently there is no wearable device he wants to own, he is working on his own wearable that tracks food consumption. “That’s a wearable I would buy and use,” he said.

The conference also included talks

by Joseph Cafazzo, senior director and centre lead at the University Health Network, and Tom Barker, chair of Digital Futures Initiative at OCAD University.

The event was held in partnership with Life Sciences Ontario and the Research Innovation and Commercialization Centre.

Ex-president Zardari safe while explosion at hotel leaves 12 injured

Shovelling begins in Buffalo after storms pour over 2m of snow

Muslim sect launches nationwide campaign to stop ISIS

Act of kindness goes viral after photo posted on Reddit

Canada announces $200m funding for veterans’ mental health

Former Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari is reported to have been staying at the same London hotel where an explosion left at least 12 people injured on Friday. Sources say that Zardari was outside when the explosion occurred at the Hyatt Regency.

Police report that the gas explosion happened in the hotel’s kitchen. Six people have been taken to hospital.

Over 300 Buffalo residents took to the streets on Saturday to help shovel out their neighbours’ houses after a historic snowstorm last week left hundreds stuck inside their homes.

The storm is reported to have caused at least 12 deaths. The three-day blizzard began last Monday and poured 2.1 metres of snow over the city.

A Muslim community has launched a Canada-wide campaign against ISIS and radicalization among youth.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at began its campaign called “Stop the CrISIS” with an event at York earlier this month featuring discussion on how to counter radicalization. The campaign will move to Brampton on Sunday.

A photo of a note left on an Edmonton student’s car by a stranger has gone viral after being posted on Reddit last Thursday. The note mentioned that the driver had left the vehicle’s lights on. The writer left an extension cord and battery charger for the driver along with instructions to charge the car’s battery. The photo has received over 1,500 comments online.

The Canadian government has announced that it will spend $200 million toward addressing mental health issues among veterans over the next five years. Among the projects the government proposes to fund is a new Halifax centre to examine and treat veterans suffering from mental disorders. The government announced the pledge in Halifax on Sunday.

Source: The Nation

Source: Toronto Star

Source: Brampton Guardian

Source: CBC News

Source: Globe and Mail

ATIKA AZHAR

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11.24.2014

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 ASSOCIATES News Nicole Danesi Menna Elnaka A&E Kathelene Cattell-Daniels Features Andreea Mihai Sports Eric Hewitson Fergus Talbot Copy TBA Photo Christy Tam Zara Rizwan Nicole Raquinio To become an associate, begin writing and speak with your section editor!

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Not easy to update the classics We should pay attention to Ezra Pound’s “Literature is news that stays news” A lot of the media I know as “classic” comes from my parents. It’s the books I was given to read later in childhood, the cassettes sitting under the phonograph (incongruence, and a handful of VHS tapes, or at least rumours of them. It’s Shakespeare, Dickens, and the fantasy of George MacDonald, but also our own Stephen Leacock and Robertson Davies; the prog rock of Jethro Tull and the folk-ish songs of Bruce Cockburn; stuffy but wise old movies like 84 Charing Cross Road, and ones that nearly predate my parents, like A Man for All Seasons.

When I read an article like the one in features this week on “the problem with the literary canon”, my knee-jerk reaction is defensiveness about these works. How can our English professors suggest that we need to move on from great works? Bunch of hacks... and so on. But after the initial emotional reaction comes more reflection.

The first thing I noticed is that my list of classics includes recent and Canadian artists. Many of the names I love are not known across the world.

And although I intellectually concede, at first, that they probably don’t stand up to the best, that concession doesn’t diminish my appreciation for them— and it also raises the sneaky question, “Aren’t all the classics originally just contemporary local creators who are recognized later?” And what I mean by this is that I recast my canon, too,

both adding new ones and failing to hold on to the old (like Austen, who somehow never had much shelf space in our house).

And I’m all for adding new voices to the canon of dead white guys, if not throwing out a lot of the work. One of my favourite examples is Wide Sargasso Sea, which I was introduced to in my only real English lit course and recently reread. The book is a beautiful response to the colonial assumptions the author saw in Jane Eyre, but it doesn’t dislodge Jane Eyre. In fact, the earlier classic contextualizes the latter.

Other works that originate from different cultures in the first place don’t need complements from the Western canon—although they raise interesting questions about where they fit in.

Are we updating the “Western” canon, which seems unlikely if we mean we’re including very different cultures, or creating a new world canon?

(But isn’t it a bit of an illusion if we mean the English versions?) What if we still had distinct canons that were unaware of each other, but promoted that meta-knowledge in the readers instead, who should be encouraged to delve into each in turn? As with language, taking the time to learn others’ ways of communicating doesn’t have to mean overriding parts of your own.

Or perhaps the analogy doesn’t apply.

Like I said, only one real lit course.

My point is that although the can-

on is always being updated, there’s no straightforward way to ensure that the process is helpful, even following great principles like “add diversity”.

Even when I read the professors’ opinions that what speaks to a generation’s values becomes canon, with the implication that we can naturally gravitate to the new classics, I’m not so sure. Our generation has some very odd dynamics. Take, for example, the fact that when Jeff Bezos created Amazon, he had human editors reviewing and picks the books that appeared on the front page. But they were gradually replaced with software that guesses what you’re likely to enjoy reading.

This creates a risk of exposure only to more of what you already know, which is the opposite of literature’s project. Similarly, you’ve no doubt noticed that algorithms for determining what’s popular are subject to the snowball effect: what’s “rich” in attention only gets richer, on the logic that if the first 50 people who saw a post didn’t like it, there’s no point displaying it on the timelines of the next 500.

And vice versa. Even the news works like this: if you see something trending on Facebook, you’re fairly sure to hear it later on the radio and TV. Which is kind of scary. Holding up a mirror to a generation’s values is healthy; holding a mirror up to itself is just feedback and becomes the amplification of noise.

The article’s bottom line, though, I agree with. We need to read intentionally, not automatically, more now than ever—to remember that there are other ways to let something into your life than to see it on a news feed.

In fact, one way to be healthily countercultural is to actually dig up the old works and read them for ourselves. I remember a course in which Chet Scoville said it doesn’t matter about your degree, you’re not educated if you haven’t read The Iliad. I still haven’t; but in that same course I read a 2,400-year-old dialogue of Plato’s that deeply affected me—and became what I’d recommend to those looking for a fuller education. It’s not a matter of which classics we read (or listen to, or watch), but of encountering works that challenge us.

After all, the deserving classics did that. Not just being new but staying new is a better criterion.

YOURS, LUKE SAWCZAK

CORRECTION NOTICE The Nov. 17 article “‘Big man’ on campus” had several errors. For example, Juan Nunez did not say that Haris Nurkanovic had played in Europe, and Nurkanovic is not the captain of the Eagles.

11.24.2014

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Hazel McCallion’s musical sendoff Mayor of 36 years visits for “touching” performance about her as our unofficial spokeswoman KATE CATTELL-DANIELS ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR November 30 will mark Hazel McCallion’s last day in office after 36 years of being Mississauga’s esteemed mayor. Watching McCallion mingling and taking selfies with students after the show She Shoots! She Scores!, I concluded that all the arm-twisting she has done between Ottawa and Queen’s Park has been a fountain of energy (rather than a sponge). McCallion has been especially involved in the growth and expansion of UTM: walk past the library and she is the learning centre’s namesake.

The evening began with a performance in CCT1080 by eight very talented Theatre and Drama Studies students. The show told the story of McCallion’s travels from the Gaspe to Toronto to Streetsville, where she first became mayor and began lobbying for the creation of the city of Mississauga. The guests were entertained with four music and dance numbers, two of which were composed specifically for She Shoots!

EDWARD CAI/THE MEDIUM

McCallion at her 90th birthday in the RAWC. Medium staff were not allowed to photograph the show.

She Scores! by Patrick Young and Anthony Bastianon. The lively and energetic songs were interspersed with scenes based on the premise of a drama workshop on Hurricane Hazel, in which the students and

their professor re-enact memorable moments from McCallion’s time in office and play a trivia game. The only student who takes any convincing when it comes to enthusiastic participation is Stuart Hefford,

who ended up in this workshop by mistake; he thought he was attending a meteorology lecture.

After the performance, Young, who wrote the book for She Shoots!

She Scores! and is the artistic direc-

tor of Theatre Erindale, thanked the extensive cast, musicians, crew, and support team for the production. Young made it look easy, but after speaking with him at the reception, I learned just how much work, time, and research goes into creating a show like She Shoots! She Scores! While Young wrote most of the script, he also told me that much was left up to the cast. Parts of the play were “something [he couldn’t] write”, which lead to the opportunity for the director and actors to contribute to the script.

Principal Deep Saini also spoke immediately after the performance, calling it “wonderful” before speaking about the university’s close relationship to McCallion, whom he then introduced to the audience.

McCallion’s speech focused on Mississauga’s youth. “I can’t think of any event as touching as this one,” she commented. “When the young people do something, it always touches me.”

Hazel continued on page 6

Local bands climb to the Summit together Second annual Sound Summit raises over $1,400 to donate to Sick Kids Hospital NATASHA HARTONO As a horde of eager students braved the biting winter winds to catch the second Sound Summit at the Blind Duck, the lights were dimmed and what was once an ordinary space transformed into a venue.

Advance tickets were half-price, but even the tickets that became available when the doors opened last Thursday at 9 p.m. were still an affordable $10—and the first 50 attendees got a free drink with their ticket. But each of the approximately 225 attendees was given free T-shirts and miniature containers of Play-Doh as they were launched into the crowd. The $1,425 in proceeds went to support Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.

Half an hour after the doors opened, indie pop electronic band Valley opened the show with a few crowd-pleasers and a few originals. Valley, whose five members hail from Oakville and Burlington, sound like they draw influences from the likes of the Arkells, Hans Zimmer, and Phil Collins. As the lights flashed on the stage and walls, the crowd really got into the groove.

River Groves, a four-member garage punk indie group with roots in Mississauga, was the second to hit

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

The Sound Summit drew a crowd of over 200 people. the stage. The band reminded me of Billy Talent, the Hives, and DFA 1979. They performed a set of originals, including their most recent single, “Mexico”. Devoted fans and others in the audience sang along to their favourite songs.

Odd Ones (the band formerly known as J’nai) seized the energy and turned it up a notch. The Mississauga band comprised four mem-

bers, with lead singer Jeanette Ricasio being a recent graduate of UTM. The progressive alternative pop rock style shows the influence of Paramore and the Pretty Reckless.

They performed a few covers, including Billy Talent’s “Devil on my Shoulder”, as well as a few originals, and electrified the stage with a fun and loud presence, incredible guitar solos, and strong vocals.

Morakoza, formerly known as Go Diana, finished the night on a high note. The band accurately described their style as “true party rock… mixing atmospheric, textured guitars with hard club rhythms and electronics”. The four Mississaugaborn musicians’ music mellowed down the night with a unique mixture of voice, keyboard, and beats.

By around 1 in the morning, the

Sound Summit winner was picked through crowd response. An executive from CFRE announced the bands in playing order, with a listen for which band received the most enthusiastic applause.

Morakoza won the grand prize of a $200 Long & McQuade gift card, $140 worth of L&M rental vouchers, and a $100 gift card to Entripy.

Runners-up Valley, River Groves, and Odd Ones each won $120 worth of L&M rental vouchers and a $50 gift card to Entripy.

This is Sound Summit’s second year, organized by ICCIT Council and CFRE with help from Residence Council and UTMAC, and drew students from our campus as well as from St. George, and even a few parents.

“I had always wondered why we didn’t have a concert, so I just decided to begin organizing it myself,” said Ray Khan, the president of ICCIT Council. He brought a “two-page proposal” to CFRE and “ever since then, CFRE and ICCIT Council [have] worked closely and the concept has evolved to so much more than originally intended.”

Marian Penetrante, the council’s public relations director, said the event would be one of their major events next year as well.

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«ARTS

THE MEDIUM 11.24.2014

Bahari’s nightmare Soul in a wide-brimmed hat Rosewater depicts journalist’s kidnapping ARIANA LONGLEY Imagine being barricaded in a barren concrete room for five months.

No contact with anyone but a man whose only job is to break you.

Nothing to do except talk to your delusions. All this for the crime of bearing witness.

Maziar Bahari faced this reality as a journalist detained by the Iranian government in Jon Stewart’s new movie, Rosewater. The film, based on Bahari’s autobiography, documents his time spent in solitary confinement in a Middle Eastern prison.

An interview done

by The Daily Show’s “foreign affairs correspondent” led to Bahari’s arrest.

It only seems natural that Stewart would have a hand in the big screen adaptation, considering his show’s hand in the story itself. An interview done by The Daily Show’s “foreign affairs correspondent”, Jason Jones, led to Bahari’s arrest.

Questions like “Are you a spy?” followed by non-denying answers from Bahari, mixed with footage he shot of Iranian officials’ responses to peaceful protests, sparked the government seizure.

Despite Stewart’s light-hearted satirical background, this film deviated immensely from his usual tone. The story took an organic and realistic look at the tyrannical political system in the Middle East and the civilian reaction to political injustice. Being limited to a 10’-by7’ box for the majority of the movie allowed the acting to shine through and captured sensitive movements, such as Bahari’s (Gael Garcia Bernal) descent into madness.

This subtle approach to not-sosubtle content also appears in the way the film portrayed torture. Instead of explicitly showing physical punishment, Stewart decided to leave it looming in the air.

However, one of the biggest complaints moviegoers had was the use of English as the main language.

When I talked to people after the show, one man commented that the film would have been more powerful had it been shot in Persian, the native language of Iran. I suppose this was a sacrifice of authenticity Stewart made in order to have the film and its messages about government abuse, the importance of journalism, and the will of the human spirit be more accessible to a wider English-understanding audience.

Thought-provoking and inspiring, Rosewater is definitely worth the visit to the TIFF Bell Lightbox (the only theatre playing the film in Toronto at present).

Bob Dylan may not be “Forever Young”, but he’s still got it

UPLOAD.WIKIMEDIA.ORG/PHOTO

This year of Dylan’s Never-Ending Tour wraps up on December 3 in New York City.

MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR I don’t even know how to explain to you what it was like seeing Bob Dylan in concert. Last Monday, I took a girlfriend of mine and we went to the Sony Centre in Toronto to see a legend. My mother and her boyfriend were unbelievably kind enough to send me there with incredible seats for an early Christmas present.

The theatre itself was very small and intimate. The stage wasn’t dolled up or adorned with anything other than a microphone and a handful of instruments. The lights were kept relatively low the entire night, keeping the atmosphere very relaxed. But towards the end of the concert, the lights suddenly changed and shone on the curtain behind Dylan and his band to create the effect of standing directly under rain—which was pretty darn cool.

No opening act. Nothing to let the audience know he was coming.

All of a sudden, after 20 minutes of chattering, the audience erupted when the guitar first strummed and the lights were dimmed. Out came Dylan in a white shirt, light tan suit, and of course, his signature wide-brimmed hat. He looked like the hero in a Western. He sauntered onto the stage and the night began

in earnest.

Now, I know that there are quite a few people who hate on Dylan’s newer (should I say older?), raspier voice. Don’t get me wrong, of course it sounds different from what it did decades ago, but Dylan can and did still totally rock a concert.

When it came to songs like “Scarlet Town” and “Duquesne Whistle”, which were on his latest album, the quality of performance didn’t really change. The raspy quality was there

A man started doing an interpretive dance in the aisle until ushers brought him back to his seat. Three times. on Tempest and it was obviously there in concert. But I have to say that the live version of “Duquesne Whistle” (my favourite song on Tempest) was actually amazing. He clipped some of the longer notes so he didn’t have to strain his voice and the result was wonderful. It was my favourite performance of the night.

When it came to older songs like “Love Sick” (Time out of Mind, 1998), “Spirit on the Water” (Modern Times, 2006), and “Forgetful Heart” (Together Through Life,

2009), I think he still nailed them.

Because these songs were on the albums made in recent years, I expected his voice to sound pretty much the same as in the studio versions, which it did. Now, his more well-known songs like “Simple Twist of Fate” (Blood on the Tracks, 1975) differed more much from their originals, but that doesn’t mean they were poorly done. I liked the smokier versions of his classics and watching the audience get so into his performances made it that much more enriching.

Easily my second-favourite performance of the night was his encore. During “Blowin’ in the Wind”, a man started doing an interpretive dance in the middle of the aisle.

He kept going until ushers brought him back to his seat and told him to sit down. Three times. But he kept going in his seat and because he was quiet all night, I am choosing to believe that he got really excited and just wanted to start dancing. And that made me equally happy.

What can I say? There isn’t enough space in The Medium for me to properly convey my astonishment at having seen the Bob Dylan live. It was an honour to see him before he hung it up and I can confidently say that his concert was more important than my future wedding (unless I get married to Bob Dylan).

TDS honours Mayor McCallion Hazel continued from page 5 The reception with drinks and snacks afterwards was beautifully presented and well-attended. I took the opportunity to speak with the director of She Shoots! She Scores!, herself a graduate of the joint UTM/ Sheridan Theatre and Drama Studies program.

Melissa Jane Shaw described the rehearsal process: ideally, she said, a show will see one hour rehearsal per

minute of show time. In this case, though, the 35-minute performance was brought about after only eight hours of rehearsal. This was especially restricted by the various music and dance requirements, which take more effort to choreograph and perfect than other scenes. Shaw expressed her gratitude for the hard work the whole team put in. “I’m proud of them,” she said.

Fourth-year TDS student and cast member Brittany Miranda echoed

Shaw’s sentiments. From the cast’s perspective, She Shoots! She Scores! was a very positive experience, she said, in which everyone was dedicated to their work even outside of rehearsal time.

She Shoots! She Scores! was a successful parting gift and expression of gratitude to Hazel McCallion. It may be true that we’re seeing McCallion’s final days in office, but definitely not the end of her influence on this campus.

11.24.2014 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 7

Krueger’s back Support for students’ art Nickelback returns with eighth album Visual Studies Student Society brings back the art sale CHRISTOPHER ANTILOPE STAFF WRITER I wonder how many people will stop reading after they find out this is an article about Nickelback.

No Fixed Address, the Albertabred band’s eighth studio album, was released last week, having received fairly average ratings from critics like Billboard, who gave the album 3/5 stars, to the less-than-average USA Today rating of only 2/4 stars.

These mixed mediocre ratings reflect a handful of the band’s past albums, such as the ones associated with Dark Horse and Here and Now.

Nickelback is not a bad band. Their songs are fun to listen to and they’re not meant to be taken seriously.

Now, I understand that some people don’t like their musical style, or their morals—or lack thereof. But saying “they smell funny” (I’m looking at you, Maria Cruz) or saying that “they suck because they’re Nickelback” isn’t a good enough reason to hate them. I’ve just about had it with these Nickelback haters who have zero substance to their argument.

In my opinion, Nickelback is not a bad band. Their songs are fun to listen to and they’re not meant to be

taken seriously. Their music shouldn’t be analyzed under a microscope. The upbeat, amusing lyrics perfectly embody the Canadian band’s roots. And with No Fixed Address, lovers of the band will see that if you give the band a chance, their music can be enjoyed.

The first thing I noticed about the album was that its first song, “Million Miles an Hour”, was nostalgic because it brought back the gritty hard rock of Nickelback’s earlier days. The song jumped out at me and I was impressed and surprised by how good the song was. What I also liked is how the album didn’t contain sappy romantic songs like “Far Away”, but it stuck to its pure rock genre.

I’d be lying if I said all the songs on the album were great, but along with the first track, “The Hammer’s Coming Down” is one of the best songs of the album. With crisp lyrics and the sound of an acoustic guitar juxtaposed with the electric, the song represents what I see the band stand for: unique rock music that’s not heavy metal like Metallica or soft rock like Bon Jovi. Nickelback has a distinct sound, and that sound is emphasized and enhanced on this album.

The album has new songs that are similar to past albums, whereby familiar messages about togetherness, nostalgia, women, and good ol’ rock and roll are present. For those who are always willing to enjoy a great jam session, in the words of Here and Now’s second song, “Bottoms Up”!

MMMM½

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Students were coming by all week to pick up a piece of student-made work.

MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR Stockpiled with student art, the Department of Visual Studies Student Society’s annual art sale took place on campus each afternoon last week.

Migrating from IB to the Davis Building, the DVSSS set up a table full of photos, abstract pieces, and watercolour paintings to raise money for the society.

When I arrived on Friday, I was the only one taking a look through the portfolio on the table. The first few pages were full of smaller photographs and abstract pieces that

looked like tacos, as far as I could make out—though that could just be the Spanish in me talking.

Towards the end of the portfolio, I started to see larger watercolour paintings, like a giant pink flower and a nice painting of an owl. Some of my favourites were from a collection called “Anxiety” that featured only text that read, “You know me better than that”, “You’re just like everyone else”, “You don’t mean that”, and “I don’t know how to respond to you”. I’m not sure what I loved about them so much, but if I wasn’t stuck with a student budget, I might have purchased one.

The table was also full of larger prints in little piles as well as a tiny box full of at least 100 cut-out photos selling for $2. Behind the two students manning the table—one of whom was selling some of his own art—were poster-sized pieces of the same artwork featured in the portfolio. The majority of the pieces were selling for $2 to $10.

I wound up leaving emptyhanded, but before I left, two more students arrived and were sifting through the art. Regardless of how many pieces were sold in the end, it was pretty great to see students supporting students.

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11.24.2014

A literary canon for our generation What’s the point of reading literary classics if they aren’t representative of today’s society?

KIMBERLY JOHNSON What is a classic?

When presented with this question, I thought of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the works of Shakespeare, Homer’s The Odyssey, and Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol or Oliver Twist. These are stories I know, not because I’ve read them, but because I’ve talked about them. I’ve seen adaptations and have studied them in an endless array of English courses. To me, this is what a classic is: a story archaic in every sense, yet so insightful that its themes and explorations of the human condition are as poignant today as it was in the time it was written.

What makes a classic—what books we as readers collectively decide are classics—is subjective, but when I proposed the question to English professors Chester Scoville, Alexandra Rahr, and Chris Koenig-Woodyard, they agreed on two things. First, its standing has to have endured time, and second, its values have to be important to a modern readership.

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

UTM professors explain that classics are defined by their timelessness and values.

It’s for the second reason that what we consider the classic canon seems to be in flux. Some of the titles we consider important texts vary from generation to generation.

Rahr put it this way: “The classic

canon varies because it’s defined by what we take seriously. We [as a generation] find out of a text what we need from it.”

Koenig-Woodyard also stressed the cultural component of a canon.

“One has to read a series of companion texts alongside [the classics] to understand the ways in which books are turned into classics—the way in which social, institutional, political, and ideological forces play roles in

shaping the cultural reception and historical status of a book,” he says.

He cited the example of Jane Austen, arguably one of the world’s most recognized authors, pointing out that Austen’s work was not well-read in her day. It was during the 1950s that her writing grew in prominence and was increasingly taught at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Austen remains relevant, Koenig-Woodyard says, because “if Austen holds a kind of mirror up to her society in late 18th-and early 19th-century England, when we look in her mirror we have to reconcile our image alongside those she presents: she has lessons about love and relationships that still resonate with us.”

If a classic is important because it holds a mirror up to our generational values, then why is it often a less-read book? “We’re answering the question of what makes a story great in new ways,” says Rahr in reference to what she calls the “cracking canon”.

Canon continued on page 10

The long and winding road from here Three members of the class of 2014 discuss what life is like after crossing the stage at Con Hall MADELEINE BROWN FEATURES EDITOR My three greatest fears in life are E.T., hockey nets, and graduation. The last of these haunts most undergrads. I’m assuming is the majority of us have been in school almost our entire lives.

Even when we had the opportunity after high school to immediately join the workforce and enter the “real world”, we chose higher education.

As I, along with the rest of the class of 2015, approach the end of the first term of our final year, suddenly the freedom we dreamed of from behind piles of textbooks and at the back of lecture halls doesn’t seem so exciting.

There are thousands of considerations and this freedom is too… well, freeing. It’s like one of those “choose your own adventure” books, but you’re forced to make your choice in front of an audience of parents, friends, and professors. What if you start off on the wrong path? What if your next step seems to take forever to materialize?

In these final weeks of the term, I chatted with three recent UTM grads about life six months after entering the “real world”. While each took different yet traditional routes that included

DANDI YANG/PHOTO

Is it surprising to think you might actually miss UTM when you finally get out of here? work, graduate school, and travelling, each shared similar sentiments about finishing up and moving on.

MATT SPADAFORA ENGLISH & PWC Spadafora’s post “The Truth about Life after University” on his blog, Matthew John Writes, served as the inspira-

tion for this article and very neatly summed up each and every one of my anxieties. Following a one-month trip across Europe, he chose to move home and head straight into the workforce: a retail position at Chapters. “It was my only option. I’m such a big procrastinator,” he says. He adds that he didn’t apply to graduate school in

his final year at UTM and wanted to give himself a year at least in order to “motivate [himself] to make change”.

For Spadafora, life after undergrad holds no surprises. He says he knew he wasn’t going into graduate school or an internship. A discovery he made, one that I’m sensing I’ll make as well, was that university goes on

without you once you’ve crossed the stage at Convocation Hall. “[University] is more contained than you realize until you’re outside of it,” he says.

What does he miss about UTM? “Being forced to write because of my program” and “a schedule on my own terms”—unlike work, where you receive the schedule a week in advance and you have to shape your life around it. It wasn’t until graduating that Spadafora realized that the relationships with people we meet and socialize with in university can have expiry dates. However, he does still talk to many of these people and they continue to positively influence his life.

He quickly warns me, though, that graduation is by no means the “end”, and he believes that expectation will dissipate as you move along in your life. He certainly doesn’t miss going to class, the constant responsibility, and not eating properly. “It’s hard, but inevitable. Being 21 or 22 is a part of life when you’re in transition, but you have to go through it,” he says. “You’ll feel lost at first, but there are plenty of people who graduated alongside you that feel the same.”

Grads continued on page 9

11.24.2014 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 9

Waking up to caffeine addiction Becoming addicted to caffeine is as simple as ordering that one triple venti no-foam latte tive, if someone weighs 70 kg (154 lbs), they would need 14 g of caffeine to kill them. There’s about 200 mg in a medium Tim Hortons coffee, which means you’d need about 70 cups of it to reach that dose. Even the 260 mg in a tall Starbucks cup would require over 50 cups. And the human stomach can’t hold that volume.

But in any case, even before hitting four grams, the brain can begin to hallucinate and become hyperactive.

ARANIE VIJAYARATNAM STAFF WRITER It’s that time of the year when the lineups at Tims, Starbucks, and Second Cup get longer than usual, with students opting for that extra large rather than large cup. Some of us may not even consider themselves coffee drinkers, but that can of Red Bull or Monster becomes so appealing during exam time.

Whether it’s cold or warm, each of those drinks has one key ingredient: caffeine. It stimulates our brain and “wakes” it up, so we can do more tasks throughout the day. That comes with consequences: addiction and desensitization.

CAFFEINE & THE BRAIN Many parts of the brain have receptors with multiple functions. For sleep and alertness, these receptors react to a molecule called adenosine.

Throughout the day, we accumulate adenosine, and become more tired.

When enough receptors fill up with adenosine, our brain tells us to go to sleep. As we sleep, the adenosine is cleared.

Caffeine shares a similar shape to adenosine, so when we drink that Tim Hortons double double around 6 p.m., caffeine blocks the receptors and prevents drowsiness. Our brain stays awake and we can fit more cram sessions throughout the night.

But the brain adapts to this lack of fatigue by creating more adenos-

COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG/ PHOTO

It’s actually healthier to slowly wean yourself off caffeine rather than go cold turkey. ine receptors. This means we start to need to take more caffeine to keep us alert—the start of an addiction.

HOW ADDICTION STARTS At the same time, caffeine stimulates our body in other ways. It increases adrenaline, a hormone that speeds up our heart rate, increases blood flow, and opens up the airways in our lungs. It also stops another hormone, dopamine—associated with happy feelings—from being reabsorbed into

the brain, which means you temporarily feel happier. Actually, caffeine and cocaine have a similar effect on the brain in terms of their effect on dopamine, although caffeine is not as aggressive.

Caffeine addiction starts when it begins to affect dopamine levels. The more exposed the brain is to dopamine, the happier we feel. This is why when someone stops drinking coffee after a few weeks of excessively drinking it, she feels withdrawal symptoms.

The future belongs to you Grads continued from page 8 CORNELIA AUDREY THEATRE & DRAMA STUDIES Audrey moved to the big city after wrapping up her four years at UTM and entered “the biz”. She’s kept herself busy with independent films and a commercial. However, she’s also putting in hours as a waitress at Jack Astor’s and a marketing and promotions position, raising the funds to travel and film a documentary with another recent UTM grad. “I want to do theatre and acting along with humanitarian work,” she says.

The documentary will feature interviews with women around the world to discover what happiness means to them and how they achieve it. They’ll fly to Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand.

The two started planning the trip and saving money a year in advance.

She advises other students considering travelling on graduation to make a game plan. “Work in any field that pays during the summer, because it comes down to money,” she says.

For Audrey, life after graduation is more uncertain than she expected.

She describes the first summer as a “roller coaster”. She believes this uncertainty is particularly true of those graduating with arts degrees. “There’s no direct path. You have to go from day to day and one audition at a time,” she says.

Like Spadafora, she misses the sense of community in her program, neighbourhood, and work, as well as the parks near Sheridan and UTM. “Thankfully, there’s not a lot I don’t miss,” she says. “I really liked it. I guess I don’t miss the homework and the lack of things to do in Mississauga.”

She advises current students to take opportunities and to keep people in their networks. “Cherish the time with your communities and friends,” she says. “Make time to talk to professors, who can support you upon graduation.” For Audrey, who stresses the adage “Work hard, play hard”, it’s what you do outside of the classroom that you’ll remember.

DANDI YANG PSYCH & ANTHRO I spoke with Yang over the phone as she walked home from lecture. She’s working towards a Master of Education at OISE in student development and student services in postsecondary education. The choice of program was a natural for Yang, who worked in residence and at summer camps as an undergrad and expected to go on to grad school. But as she was applying, she wasn’t certain whether to take a year off. “My parents helped me make the decision,” she says. “They said I should at least apply so I didn’t have any regrets.”

Yang describes grad school as a “half-step into life”.

“You’re doing school, but you have

time to look around and free time to be part of life,” she says. The greatest shock was just how difficult the job market is, and you really do, as Drake put it, start from the bottom.

She’s currently doing volunteer work related to her studies, but thanks to a scholarship, there’s no rush to find work—although she says she’ll start looking.

“I didn’t feel like I was contributing in undergrad—there was a lot of memorization,” she says. “Here there’s a whole new type of learning. It’s a lot different. I feel like I’m contributing to the conversation and applying myself.

I have no regrets.” But Yang misses the UTM community. She loved the small campus, the ability to schedule classes back-to-back, waking up 20 minutes before class and still making it on time, and the small class sizes in psych. Like Audrey, she appreciates living in a bigger city with less isolation and more food options.

Yang concedes that most fourthyears are usually thinking, “I just want to get this over with.” But she warns that it’s important to think about the future.

“Once you walk out, you’re an adult. Think about what you want to do when you still have your professors, academic advisors, the HCC, and other support systems. Plan ahead,” she says. And she doesn’t just mean for more schooling: “If you want to let life take you wherever, at least make that choice.”

Dopamine levels begin to decrease and fall back into its normal range, so we don’t feel as perky as we did with that warm cup of coffee.

CAN CAFFEINE KILL? There is a lethal limit to caffeine.

However, the human body is filled with several tricks that prevent us from reaching a caffeine overdose.

They found that approximately 150 mg per 1 kg of someone’s body weight can kill someone. To put it in perspec-

OPTIONS You can try to escape caffeine addiction by quitting cold turkey or by slowly weaning yourself off of it.

Many doctors recommend gradually reducing caffeine intake, as it can be harder to focus, be productive, and be happy if you quit cold turkey.

Although it takes longer to be clean, the withdrawal symptoms aren’t as severe and the body doesn’t go through much of a shock.

The best rates for a reduced caffeine intake as you quit are approximately: Coffee: quarter of a cup each day (drinking the same brand throughout) Energy drinks: half a can every two days Caffeinated pop: a can or half a bottle every two days The occasional coffee or caffeinated drink doesn’t hurt the body, but like everything we take into our bodies, moderation is key.

Exams are tough, but an addiction is even harder to beat.

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THE MEDIUM 11.24.2014

Tradition lives here UTM’s Aboriginal elder spends a weekend in residence I personally have never held a dinner

clinic coordinator at the Sports Clinic

party. That said, I’m a diehard fan of

(in Davis beside the RAWC), shared

Come Dine with Me (the British origi-

her lemon chicken recipe that I finally

nal as well as the Canadian remake)

uncovered a student-friendly, dinner

and my favourite icebreaker question

party–worthy recipe.

is, “For your last supper, who would

“It was given to me by my mother-

you invite and what would you eat?”

in-law and I like it because it’s really

However, student life doesn’t exactly

simple, but tastes delicious,” she

scream dinner party. I’ve debated

says. “The chicken is moist and the

starting my own supper club, but busy

lemon sauce is perfect without any

and regularly changing schedules, fi-

extra seasonings to it.”

nances, and a lack of friends who like

I agree completely, having been fed

cooking anything besides spaghetti

a similar version of this dish by my

and tinned sauce have squashed this

French host mother over the summer;

dream.

nothing makes classic chicken bet-

However, I remain firm in my belief

ter than a spoonful of cream. Follow

that students should have one “fan-

Walczak’s suggestion to serve it with

cy” recipe in their back pocket. And

rice and simple veggies and, by golly,

“fancy” by no means entails difficult.

you’ll have a meal that probably out-

In fact, if a certain situation arises—

shines half the dishes on Come Dine

like a date with a special someone, a

with Me. Let’s put it this way: whip up

break-up and “I’m sorry” meal with a

a batch of your own “(Not Your Aver-

special someone, or just a plain old

age) Lemon Chicken”, set the table,

“occasion”—the last thing you prob-

and call me over. I promise I’m a well-

ably want to do is spend hours craft-

behaved dinner date—even if I do get

ing a Michelin star–worthy meal. It

a bit grouchy after my 8:30 p.m. bed-

wasn’t until Magda Walczak, assistant

time.

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Attendees participate in the Saturday afternoon drum teaching workshop.

(Not Your Average) Lemon Chicken MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SAMINA SULTANA

INGREDIENTS

lemons into a bowl, making sure to

• 4 chicken breasts

discard any seeds that may fall in.

• 2 lemons • 2 cups (500 ml) 35% or whipping cream METHOD 1.Dip the chicken breasts in flour and brown in an oiled frying pan over medium-high heat.

2.Squeeze the lemon juice out of the

3.Add cream (straight from the carton and not whipped!) to lemon juice and mix together.

4.Put chicken in an oven-safe glass dish and pour lemon and cream mixture overtop.

5.Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 45 minutes and serve over rice.

The Aboriginal Elder in Residence weekend, an event held by Residence Life that lives up to its name, took place earlier this month. The purpose of the weekend is for students to interact through traditional teaching and activities that let them experience Aboriginal culture.

The event started with a traditional Aboriginal dinner, which for the last few years of this event has been classic Chinese takeout. The kick-off dinner encouraged participants to get to know each other and prompted discussion about the idea of identity in community.

The Aboriginal elder in residence and our campus’s traditional elder is Cat Criger, a First Nations person. He is Cayuga (Guyohkohnyoh in the original language), one of the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse), also known as Six

Nations or Iroquois. For more than 16 years, he’s worked as a traditional teacher and healer in the Native and multicultural community in Canada, the U.S., and Wales. At U of T he is a traditional teacher at the First Nations House and the standing elder for the Council for Aboriginal Initiatives.

Being the traditional indigenous Aboriginal elder through the Department of Student Life, Criger has been involved with the weekend-long event since its creation.

He usually invites other members of the Aboriginal community to take part as well.

This year’s guests included Eddy Robinson, the founder of Morningstar River, a Toronto Aboriginalbased Aboriginal cultural consulting and traditional song and dance company, and Cindilee EckertFlagg, an education administrator for the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre.

According to Jenna Menzies, the community development coordinator for Residence Life, a few of the standout events of the weekend were the “Women’s Full Moon Ceremony” on Saturday night featuring Eckert-Flagg and the “Drumming Circle” featuring Robinson.

“The Sunrise Ceremony was also a very refreshing way to begin a Saturday morning,” added Menzies.

This particular event was attended by 32 students.

“I was able to experience something that opened my eyes to a whole new type of learning,” said one of the student participants.

“It was much more hands-on and got me focusing on how [our Canadian history] was affecting me. Not only did I learn about the ritual and why specific things are done but I also learned about the Aboriginal community, as Cat spoke a lot about stories and other rituals, ceremonies, and traditions.”

Read more to read better Canon continued from page 8 Rahr points out that there’s a sentiment that many students, regardless of their discipline, have identified as “the problem with the literary canon”: the fact that they establish and live in conventions.

By contrast, Kevin Mahiri, a medical student at Western, argued that while he valued literary competence, he felt that students needed to “expose themselves to not just accepting literary conventions, but different perspectives”.

Scoville felt that while it was a problem that students weren’t reading the titles typically considered “classics”, the bigger issue is that the canon actually isn’t changing enough. ”The question of what classics you’re talking about may depend on your point of view. In a multicultural society and univer-

sity, one can’t rely on only the same list of must-read texts now that our predecessors did a century ago,” he says.

If this seems hard to reconcile with the observation that the student’s conception of the “classics”

“In a multicultural society and university, one can’t rely on only the same list of must-read texts now that our precessors did.” does change, that’s the problem.

While the canon in literary circles is being updated, many people outside the ivory tower accept without question the canon Koenig-Woodyard calls “the canon of dead white

people”. The values of our increasingly diverse culture are changing.

We tell stories in different ways and consider different things great.

This is Rahr’s concern. For her, the problem isn’t whether we’re reading classics, but whether we’re creating a well-read citizenry. What one gains from reading a classic is how to really read; that is, to dissect and analyze what we’re reading rather than racing through to finish the story. Arguably, a true classic does precisely that. It forces us to slow down.

What we read, and why we read it, is changing. But what shouldn’t change is reading in this intentional way, especially in a quickening and increasingly distracted world. We need classics, old or new, to be a tool in understanding both our language and the state of our society and humanity.

11.24.2014

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11

Two championship wins in two days UTM breaks records in Div 1 and tri-campus men’s soccer under coach Robert Brown JASON COELHO SPORTS EDITOR In the span of two days, UTM won two championships in Division 1 and tri-campus men’s outdoor soccer. This marks the first time in the history of UTM that both titles have been won in the same year.

To add to this remarkable feat, both teams earned their victories under the guidance of coach Robert Brown.

“It is very special to me to win both of these championships,” said Brown, who will be the head coach of the UTM men’s soccer team at the OCAA level.

Brown has done it all when it comes to UTM soccer. In 2007 as a student, Brown played for UTM, winning the Division 1 title for men’s outdoor soccer, the last team to do so until this year’s squad. Being a coach at UTM since 2008, Brown has had the privilege to break a series of records in his time as coach. The tri-campus men’s soccer team has now won backto-back championships, another first in UTM’s soccer history. Brown states that his confidence in both of his teams’ ability to win was evident

JACK KRIST/PHOTO

The men’s Division 1 team poses for a photo after their 2-1 victory over New College A. from early tryouts. “Obviously, it’s my goal at the beginning of each season to win the championships,” he states.

“I felt very confident that we put together two very strong teams and that we had a chance to be successful in both leagues.”

Though championship games tend to be more nerve-wracking than

most, Brown did not foresee the way each final would play out. Both of his teams played extremely close matches that ended up being decided in the second frame of extra time by a single goal.

For Jacob Monaco, a second-year finance major and goalie for the Division 1 squad, the extra time was par-

ticularly tense. “As a keeper in extra time, there is an even greater amount of pressure to perform,” he said. “Being the last line of defence, one slipup would cost us the game.”

Despite the nerves, Monaco felt calm in the final minutes as the momentum shifted in his team’s favour, giving them a boost to score the

game-winner and beat New College A 2-1. “When we finally scored and got the win, there was a huge sigh of relief knowing all of our hard work paid off,” he said.

The tri-campus game was a little more even; after 90 scoreless minutes, both UTM and St. George Red went into the extra frame in search of the only goal that needed to be scored.

Luckily for UTM, that goal came from central midfielder Eddy Dabire.

The situation may seem eerily familiar for UTM fans who watched last year’s championship game unfold.

How so? A year ago, it was Dabire who scored the game-winning goal in extra time against the same team to win the tri-campus championship.

The game-winner came with about 10 minutes into the extra-time half as UTM received a free kick outside the box.

“I requested a near post cross from free kick taker Johar Fikiri-Chapman,” said Dabire. “Sure enough, he delivered a great ball and I was able to header it past the goalie for the game winner. It was an amazing feeling.”

Soccer continued on page 12

Blues inaugurate Goldring with a win Men’s basketball team earn 13-point victory over Nipissing at the centre’s grand opening ADAM PENKUL On a cold Friday night, students flocked to the newly opened Goldring Centre for High Performance Athletics for its grand opening game.

The facility, built this year for the Pan-American games, is also the new home of the Varsity Blues men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams, among other sports.

Although it was finished in early November, the Goldring Centre had its official opening on Friday night, during the Blues men’s basketball home opener against the Nipissing Lakers.

Both teams came into the game looking to rebound from losing records. The Varsity Blues (1-3) were going into the game in third place in the East Division, and Nipissing (0-2) was looking to move up from fourth in the North Division. The atmosphere in the new centre was very excited as the teams took the court.

The game began at a very fast pace, with both teams playing a very strong defence. Both teams turned the ball over several times and missed multiple chances before Nipissing opened the scoring 1:40 into the game.

Toronto was playing well but

MARTIN BAZYL/PHOTO

Third-year forward and UTM student Manny Sahota drives to the net against the Nipissing Lakers. struggled to score until 4:19, when Devin Johnson got a quick layup and foul to get Toronto on the board.

This sent the Blues on a 10-point run that gave them an early 10-5 lead.

The scoring picked up, with both teams going back and forth, but neither team was able to build a solid lead. Nipissing ended the quarter with a couple of baskets to finish with a 16-12 lead.

The second quarter picked up on the momentum of the first, with

both teams continuing to go back and forth. Neither team led by more than four points, and the lead changed six times in the quarter. The teams went up and down the court very quickly and both were very aggressive in the paint. As the first half wound down, the scoring slowed down, and it ended with Nipissing leading 30-29.

As the second half began, both teams came out ready to fight for the win.

The half started with both teams shooting three-pointers and a couple of fast breaks, but neither team was able to pull away. Halfway through the quarter, Toronto found a rhythm and took the lead with a 6-0 run, only to see Nipissing respond with a run of their own to stay within one point at 47-46.

But the Varsity Blues would not let up, and they finally built a lead in the last three minutes with a 10-3 run. Denis Ankrah capped off the

quarter for the Blues by shooting three points with seven seconds left in the quarter to finish 57-49 for Toronto.

Ankrah started the final quarter with another one of his five threepointers of the night, and Toronto picked up where they left off. The crowd was very excited as the Blues took control of the game on offence and defence. Even so, as the game wound down, the teams lost intensity.

The Lakers made a late push, but Toronto’s lead was too wide, and the game ended with Toronto getting the 72-59 win.

Denis Ankrah put in a fantastic performance, shooting nine of the 10 field goals and five three-pointers.

“I just try not to miss shots,” said Ankrah, a third-year kinesiology major. “I know I’m a big part of this team—when I’m playing well we usually play well. So I try to contribute in any way I can.”

Ankrah believes that the Blues’ shooting made the difference in the second half. “We know we have good shooters, and in the first half our shots weren’t falling, but in the second half we started to get more,” he said.

Blues continued on page 12

12

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 11.24.2014

Bringing it all back home to Canada The Eagles’ Sam Dumcum reflects on his athletic achievements and his journey to UTM JASON COELHO SPORTS EDITOR “Life works in interesting ways,” says Sam Dumcum, reflecting on his unconventional journey to UTM. This fall, Sam became a full-time student.

Having spent six years in southern California as part of the U.S. Marines and the U.S. duathlon team while attending MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California, Dumcum saw his journey take an unexpected turn when he finally felt it was time to return to his home province of Manitoba.

And yet less than a month after returning home to Steinbach, Manitoba, he found himself on a plane to Toronto.

Strange as it may sound, the reasons were clear to Sam. “I met one of the most dynamic, intelligent, and beautiful women I had ever met,” he said.

After meeting his wife—now his wife of six years—and working through various jobs, Dumcum started his own media and promotions business in 2012. His desire to build his business is what brought him to UTM. “It was obvious that I needed to up my skills,” says Dumcum, a digital enterprise management major.

While school is his priority, running is his passion, a constant that has stayed with him despite the ever-changing variables in his life.

“In a sense it was the accessibility of running: a pair of shoes and away you go,” says Dumcum, contentedly.

Growing up, Dumcum’s family moved around a lot, and his choices of sports varied from place to place.

His main sport, figure skating, eventually lost out to his newfound love of running, but Dumcum credits his time in figure skating with instilling a high compete level in him that fuels his running.

At the moment, Dumcum is one of the runners on the first incarna-

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Dumcum, a former U.S. duathlon grand prix champion, has competed for both Canada and the U.S. tion of the UTM Eagles cross-country team. Since finding a passion in running, Dumcum has built an impressive list of credentials that would make him a valuable asset to any running squad.

Living in both Canada and the States has allowed Dumcum to compete for both countries at high levels. He has competed as an under-23 junior elite triathlete, which required over 23 hours of training a week, while working a part-time job and going to school. For those unfamiliar with triathlons, this is a competition involving three cycles of swimming, cycling, and running The opportunity to compete nationally and eventually go pro was within reach, and although he did qualify for multiple national and world championships, the intense commitment became too much to keep up without full sponsorship.

The intensity of training for these triathlons began to take its toll. “I felt like I was on the edge of physi-

cal and mental collapse all the time,” recalls Dumcum. After a traumatic head-on collision that forced him to take a break from competition, Dumcum reevaluated his goals and found ways to balance the competing aspects of his life. Dumcum believes beyond question that he was at his peak performance between 2004 and 2006.

During that time, Dumcum shifted from triathlons to duathlons, a similarly staged competition involving cycling and running. After finding help through coach Chris Maund, who changed aspects of Dumcum’s routine with focus on the mental and physical side of training, Dumcum made it onto the podium in 2005 and 2006 as champion of the U.S. duathlon grand prix. Not only did he achieve success in athletics, qualifying for the world championship team, but Dumcum also garnered academic successes, landing on the dean’s list at his college.

His experience makes him more

than qualified to compete at the OCAA level for UTM, and Dumcum is excited to help his new teammates achieve the same level of success.

Running has the interesting duality of being both an exercise and a sport. For those who run as exercise, running is the endgame. But it’s a different story for those who run in a competitive setting.

After Dumcum’s extensive training, his understanding of running has encompassed a broader spectrum to include both physical and mental aspects, giving him the necessary mental tools to cheat his body into performing even when it doesn’t want to comply.

“For me, mental is the biggest part of the game,” he says. “If my head isn’t in it, I’ll run around campus instead of running 10k in Erindale Park.”

The difficulty for many who run, whether for exercise or when training for a marathon, is having the

motivation to start. Dumcum considers self-motivation one of the most important tools a runner can have in getting out the door. “It doesn’t matter how good your gear is—if your head isn’t in it, you’re beat before you even hit the trail,” he says.

If Dumcum does feel lethargic, his headphones or a well-deserved treat at the end of his run can get him going.

“Sometimes I run in the rain because it makes me feel competitive and hardcore,” Dumcum jokes.

“Finding whatever gets you out is the most important tool you can have.”

Dumcum cites a talk he heard by Olympic gold medalist Simon Whitfield, who revealed his own tricks to get himself to run. “For him, listening to podcasts makes a 50-minute run not seem like a run—he’s just listening to a podcast,” he says.

Despite his successes and his desire to continue training, Dumcum’s relationship with running is a strange one. “Eighty percent of the time I hate running,” he reveals. “I know 50 km a week is a lot of time to spend doing something you hate, but I love competing, and even more, I love winning—even if winning is only doing better than I did last time.”

He says the “runner’s high” he feels post-run makes his efforts worthwhile in the short view, but it’s his inherent competitiveness that keeps him coming back for more.

After three meets and one OCAA provincial championship under his belt this fall, Dumcum will be able to focus on school while also completing offseason training with the cross-country team.

The team will be spending the next few months working with personal trainers at the RAWC and using the indoor track to build strength and speed in preparation for the 2015 season.

UTM’s new soccer dynasties Soccer continued from page 11 UTM’s soccer victories bode well for the school that will be upping the ante come 2015 with competition at the OCAA level.

“It is really an exciting time to be in the soccer program at UTM because we are only going in the right direction,” says Brown.

Varsity program coordinator Jack

Krist considers this the golden age of soccer at UTM, noting that our campus also won an OCAA extramural coed soccer tournament at Humber to make it three titles in two days.

“This is the perfect time for the move to varsity and the players and coaching staff have worked very hard for this,” says Krist. “The decisions ahead for Robert Brown will

be even harder as he looks to select our first-ever OCAA varsity team.

With many excellent players from the tri-campus, division, and even the UTM Campus Rec leagues, I do not envy his task.

“However, I know that the soccer program is in great hands with our coaches and the dedicated and hardworking athletes at UTM,” he adds.

Blues dig heels in at new digs Blues continued from page 11 Head coach John Campbell, who’s entering his second season with the team, knows there’s still a lot of work ahead for the players.

“It’s going to be a real challenge,” he said. “We’re a team with a small margin for error, so we need to play the best we can.”

Campbell thinks the support they

receive from fans is key. “It was a great atmosphere for our players to play [today],” he said. “The crowd was not only large, but engaged, which helped the players lose some of their nervous energy.”

The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team also played spectacularly in their earlier game against the Nipissing women, thrashing the Lakers 73-23.

The men’s squad is now 2-4 after a 64-67 loss to the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday. After backto-back home games this weekend, the team will go on a short road trip, playing two games against Carleton and Ottawa next weekend and then breaking until the new year.

The Blues will play their next home game on January 7 against Ryerson.