THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA
January 21, 201 9 Volume 45, Issue 1 5 themedium.c a
Hurricane Hazel is back
A statement from The Medium
Strands of Hair at Hart House
Remembering the pain
3rd place for women’s soccer
News, page 2
Opinion, page 4
Arts, page 5
Features, page 8
Sports, page 11
Same fees, new health and dental plan As of January 1, all fees paid by UTM students to the UTSU have been transferred to the UTMSU MELISSA BARRIENTOS ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
On January 1, 2019, the UTSU and UTMSU separation came into effect through UTM students’ official invoices. All the fees listed under UTSU on the 2019 Winter invoice have been transferred directly to UTMSU, including the as UTSU incidental fee ($34.47), the UTSU Accident and Prescription Drug Insurance Plan fee ($92.81), and the UTSU Dental Plan fee ($77.58). “Changes to official invoices take some time and require a lengthy process,” UTMSU VP External told The Medium. “There will not be any further transfers to the UTSU from UTM students that will be shown on the invoice for membership fees and levies as of September 2019.” The fees and levies the UTSU had collected from UTM students were transferred to UTMSU within fourteen days of receiving them from the University of Toronto’s administration, except for 15 per cent of the UTSU membership fee and 25 per cent of the Orientation levy, as per
LOGOS REPRESENTATIVE OF UTMSU AND UTSU
The UTMSU and UTSU separation came into effect through UTM students’ official invoices. their Associate Membership Agreement (AMA). “We do not know how the UTSU spent our UTM membership fees, we don’t think any of it was spent in
the name of UTM students or UTM advocacy”, UTMSU Media stated in an email. “We also see that for the Orientation levy. The 25 per cent the UTMSU will now get back is
not an amount substantial enough to make a huge impact on Orientation. We will evaluate changes to the best interest of first years and to keep it as cost-efficient as possible.”
The current Health and Dental plan organized by the UTSU will continue to cover UTM students for the paid full-year coverage, ending on August 31, 2019. The following academic year UTM students will be covered by a new Health and Dental plan organized by the UTMSU. “We did not want to disrupt the current level of service for our students,” Abdullah continued, “We will be taking the next few months, at our Board, to run an RFP (Request for Proposal) process to tender out to a new insurance broker and provider. We will be running and managing the Health and Dental plan as of September 1, 2019.” Regarding the fees and levies UTM students will be paying toward UTMSU services, the union reaffirmed there will be no financial changes following the UTSU and UTMSU separation, meaning UTM students will continue to pay a total of $340.78 per semester in incidental fees for UTMSU services ($681.56 per academic year). UTMSU continued on page 2
Campus affairs committee raises fees The 2019-20 budget will see residence, parking, and meal plan fees rise by up to ten per cent MDUDUZI MHLANGA
The first Campus Affairs Committee meeting of the year was held this past Wednesday, January 16. The meeting provided an overview of extradepartmental units (EDUs) and their ranking systems to distinguish their approval mechanisms and appointment powers. Some EDUs at The University of Toronto Mississauga include the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology. The units are defined as “flexible and multidisciplinary entities, organized around emerging research and teaching areas that span departments and divisions.” The Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre and the Institute for Management and Innovation are up for EDU-status consideration. The Bulk of the meeting was spent on discussions for the 2019-2020 UTM Ancillary Budget, which was presented by Chief Administrative Officer Saher Fazilar. For campus parking, the projected revenues for the 2019-20 academic year is $4.5 million. Fazilar proposed
parking rate changes, which entailed a 10 per cent increase in CCT underground permits and an increase of two per cent for all other permits, one per cent less than planned. Fazilar mentioned that the ten per cent increase for CCT parking was partially due to renovations. She stated, “our underground parking garage is way cheaper than any other in competition.” A suggestion for lower rates for certain groups (i.e. staff or students) among those paying for parking has repeatedly been brought up during negotiations. For Student Housing and Residence, the projected 2019-20 revenue is $16.8 million. Most housing units will be going up in price by 3.75-4 per cent. MaGrath Valley and Putnam Place skew this percentage upward. MaGrath Valley, which is in high demand, will increase by seven per cent to $10,644 for a single residency, and $6,919 for a double. Putnam Place will require a 15.63 per cent increase in cost to $10,947 to help offset the price of renovations. Fees continued on page 2
SERVICES
COST COME 2019-20 SEPTEMBER
CCT Underground Parking UNRESERVED Parking - Annual - 8-month - 4-month
$1,190.96/year
PERCENTAGE INCREASE FROM 2018-19 10%
$9,598.11 $8,822.50 $9,925.00
5.88% 3.75% 3.75%
RESIDENCE Undergraduate Student Housing -Average
$9,598.11
5.88%
Graduate Student Housing - Average
$8,822.50
3.75%
Med Student Housing - Average
$9,925.00
3.75%
Family Student Housing - Average MEAL PLANS Group A - Average
$1,794.50
$3.76%
$4,025.00
1.9%
Group B - Average
$2,480.00
1.75%
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THE MEDIUM 01.21.2019
Changes to fees and OSAP
January 10th , 2019 Noise Complaint Campus Police attended the library for a noise complaint. Upon arrival, no excessive noise was heard.
January 13 th , 2019 Police Assistance Campus Police attended the RAWC for two students attempting to gain entry to the gym using their friends tcards. The students were cautioned and advised of the policies regarding tcard usage.
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.
Anyone with information regarding any of these incidents, or any other incident, is requested to contact the UTM Campus Police at 905828-5200, Peel Regional Police at 905-453-3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Services subject to further change
ALICE PASQUAL/UNSPLASH.COM
The governmental change to OSAP will affect U of T students, especially those with lower income. Fees continued from page 2 “These rates are comparable to the Scarborough campus, less than the downtown, and more than [McMaster, Brock, Guelph and York]. Family units are comparable to the outside market,” said Fazilar. For food services, the revenue for the 2019-20 academic year is expected to be $13.4 million. Fazilar stated that the increase in food services is partially based on economic considerations such as the expected 2-3.5 per cent inflation for food. Falizar stated that the Student Housing advisory committee, the Transportation and Parking advisory committee, and Food and Services advisory committee all played a consultative role in the price changes for the upcoming school year. These
committees are composed of UTMSU representatives, staff, graduate students, faculty, campus police, and others depending on the committee. The meeting also provided an update to the implementation of the university’s smoke-free policy. Dean of Student Affairs Mark Overton expressed his satisfaction at the smoothness of the implementation of this policy. The school is looking into reorganizing the designated smoking areas as new “hotspots” develop, as well as creating additional signs, webinars and on-site smoking cessation workshops to help students, staff, and faculty quit smoking. The committee ended with a question regarding the alleged Doug Ford tuition policies. Last week, the Ford government has stated its plan to take OSAP, which has become “un-
sustainable,” and refocus it to benefit those who have the most financial need. According to the Training, Colleges and University Minister Merrilee Fullerton, most grants will go to families making below $50,000 a year. Principal Krull stated that a quarter of students at U of T are eligible for OSAP. With respect to the financial category of students with a family income of $50, 000 or less, “U of T has the largest population of students in that financial category of any university.” “The question then becomes, ‘how does the university respond?’” Krull concluded. The next Campus Affairs meeting will take place February 11th, 2019.
Hazel McCallion returns Former mayor becomes special advisor for Ford government
YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM
UTMSU services subject to change by September 1st, 2019. UTMSU continued from page 1 “All current fees UTM students pay have been set by referenda,” UTMSU Media told The Medium. “Any fees that include an opt-out will also [be] following the rules of each fee that the UTSU was bound by […] At this current time, the UTMSU will be meeting with each group to discuss the local service development from each of the service groups UTM students pay into.”
“Our Operating budget that has been passed at our board shows exactly where your money is spent. Feel free to review board minutes posted on our website,” UTMSU Media concluded. UTMSU services are subject to further change come September 1, 2019 as the changes to post-secondary education fees under the Ontario Progressive Conservative party comes into effect.
MARK BLINCH /THE CANADIAN PRESS
Hazel McCallion has served three decades as mayor, and is now appointed as Ford’s special advisor. ALI TAHA NEWS EDITOR Former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion has been appointed as special advisor to Premier Doug Ford and the province’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, Steve Clark. McCallion served three decades as mayor, and made her political
journey a successful and celebrated one. “Housing is one of our government’s top priorities and I’m looking forward to having Hazel McCallion support our work on the Housing Supply Action Plan,” said Clark in a release. “Ms. McCallion brings many decades of public service, public advocacy and, most importantly, public representation that
will enable her to provide advice […] on a range of municipal issues.” McCallion will be paid up to $150,000 per year in her new role. In 2015, she was appointed as yearlong special advisor to vice-president of U of T and principal of UTM Professor Deep Saini. The Medium will provide more details as the story develops.
Laptop ban at UTSG
JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM
A current ban on laptops is being enforced in various classes on the St. George campus. TANISHA KUMAR
Last week, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) released a Facebook post raising concerns on a current ban of laptops being enforced in various classes on the St. George campus. The UTSU’s VP University Affairs Joshua Gordin told The Medium that the laptop ban was brought to the union’s attention last year during the Academic and Students’ Right Commission. To demonstrate their problem with the ban, students decided to use laptop stickers saying, “Say No To The Laptop Ban.” They also started a postcard campaign. This year, they have designed new graphic stickers and developed a webpage where students can express their concerns regarding the ban. Gordin stated that already seventyfive students have submitted their
claims, and their professors have been contacted about them. They are now working with the Arts and Sciences Students’ Union to lobby with the dean and arts and science Council to introduce guidelines to protect students against the ban. Gordin also stated the wastage of paper, dependency of Accessibility students on laptops, as some of the reasons why this ban should not be implemented. UTM’s academic handbook, states that, “Rather than banning or regulating devices, if you [the professor] have strong feelings on the topic, it may be sufficient to articulate your preferences or expectations about etiquette clearly at the outset, in a way that does not make any undeclared disabled student feel self-conscious or conspicuous. For example, you may request that laptop users not play games or watch videos or that students using devices seat them-
selves on the sides and rear of the room to avoid distracting other students.” In reference to this, the Vice Dean of Teaching and Learning Andrew Petersen said that no division of U of T, specifically UTM, is contemplating this ban. It is a ban that is, as of now, being pushed by a small number of faculty, meaning it is conditional upon the professor’s preference. A UTM spokesperson told us that the instructors determine what resources are permitted in the classroom and the university will ensure students receive reasonable accommodations so that they can meet the academic requirements of each course and program. According to the spokesperson, a few professors at UTM have asked students to not use laptops during classes, but the request is not a hard rule or strictly being enforced.
01.21.2019 THE MEDIUM NEWS
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HUMANS OF UTM
I destress by watching movies. I also like to read up on things. I have an encyclopedia of completely useless knowledge. Someone will be like, “I wonder about this” and then I’d be able to tell you something. Sometimes I do research on things I’m not supposed to be studying rather than things I am supposed to be studying. Sometimes I feel like it’s useless because a lot of the stuff is going to be obscure anyway. I mean, in 200 years the world is going to be so different. What will it matter that I know who Tchaikovsky is?
New minors at UTM
Nova identified by U of T tech The nanosatellites used were invented by a U of T professor JOEY KABER/UNSPLASH.COM
The geography department offers a minor in sustainability. ALI TAHA NEWS EDITOR
K. ULACZYK/WARSAW UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORY
This is an artist’s rendering of what the outburst of a nova looks like. ALI TAHA NEWS EDITOR The team behind the BRITE Constellation Project, a Canada-AustriaPoland collaboration that investigates stellar structures and the evolution of stars in the sky, recently discovered a bright star with the use of nanosatellites invented at the University of Toronto. The star was later discovered to
be a nova, a massive explosion that occurs when a “small, dense star acquires mass from another closely located star.” According to a news report released by U of T, novae are a rare occurrence, with only five to 10 observed every year. Novas like the one identified by Rainer Kuschnig, a member of the team, are barely understood, and are “very, very important,” inventor of the
nanosatellites Slavek Rucinski told U of T News. “They produce heavy elements, the material of which we are made. Solid things, our bodies, our products, everything, it’s all made up of this little leftover ‘stuff ’ from massive stars.” The BRITE team are now working on a full publication on their discovery, to be published and released in the next year.
Come the 2019-2020 academic year, the University of Toronto Mississauga will have three new minor programs for students to enroll in. The Department of Geography will offer a minor program in sustainability that offers students an opportunity to “explore the theory and practice of sustainability and sustainable development,” as well as provide a practical application of sustainability theory through experiential and classroom-based learning. According to the motion, the minor program “aligns itself with UTM’s commitment to promote sustainability within UTM and beyond, recognizing that environmental awareness should guide our planning and be reflected in our pedagogical and scholarship activities.” The Department of Geography will also introduce a minor program in Environmental Law and Policy, with a focus on the ethical principles and practices surrounding
environmental issues. According to Geography Professor Barbara Murck, many UTM graduates go on to graduate programs and professions in environmental law, so this minor would provide them with a “competitive edge.” The final minor program introduced will be in Creative Writing, which will be part of the Department of English and Drama. The minor comes in response to an external review of the department and its programs that identified a significant demand for more diverse creative writing instruction from UTM students. UTM will also introduce two certificates, one in Global Perspectives and another in Advanced Economics. The certificates are part of the University of Toronto Global U Framework, a tri-campus initiative aimed at “developing globally-minded citizens across disciplines.” These changes will take effect September 1, 2019.
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MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Mahmoud Sarouji editor@themedium.ca Managing Editor Alicia Boatto managing@themedium.ca News Ali Taha news@themedium.ca A&E Paula Cho arts@themedium.ca Features Jessica Cabral features@themedium.ca Sports Vanessa Cesario sports@themedium.ca — Photo Yasmeen Alkoka photos@themedium.ca Design Alexa Neves-Hua design@themedium.ca Copy Mahnoor Ayub copy@themedium.ca Online Olivia Adamczyk online@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Kayvon Aflaki Melissa Barrientos A&E Srijan Sahu Features Fatima Adil Liayana Jondy Kevin Kim Sports Amrish Wagle Photo Julia Healy Brittany Semplonius Copy TBA GENERAL STAFF Webmaster Lyndon Amat web@themedium.ca Distribution Manager Adam Sarouji distribution@themedium.ca Ads Manager Mayank Sharma ads@themedium.ca Cartoonist Anthony Labonté COPYRIGHTS All content printed in The Medium is the sole property of its creators, and cannot be used without written consent. DISCLAIMER Opinions expressed in the pages of The Medium are exclusively of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Medium. Additionally, the opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in The Medium are those of advertisers and not of The Medium. All articles published in print are also posted on our website themedium.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor will be edited for spelling, grammar, style and coherence. Letters will not exceed 700 words in print. Letters that incite hatred or violence and letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist, or libelous will not be published. Anonymous letters will not be published. MEDIUM II PUBLICATIONS 3359 Mississauga Road, Room 200, Student Centre, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6 themedium.ca
To contribute, email editor@themedium.ca
A statement from The Medium A letter from the editors regarding the Ontario government’s announcement We’re putting out this statement with concern towards the provincial government’s new policy towards cuts in tuition and OSAP. As of this moment, the announcement, as we understand it, is not official policy yet. However, our main concerns are the cut to the six-month interest free grace period, and the introduction of an opt-out option to ancillary fees. The six-month interest free grace period is necessary to new graduates. Paying back OSAP upon graduation is already an endeavour for students entering into the workforce. The grace period was enough to help decrease debt for students, and give them an opportunity to properly pay back OSAP without the worry about interest as they look to begin their careers. With this announcement about eliminating the grace period, it becomes extremely problematic for graduates, as debt will increase immediately, and the likelihood of being able to pay off OSAP properly will most likely take longer than usual, despite the 10per cent cut for tuition. The opt-out option to ancillary fees is also a concern that we as journalists have. More importantly, societies and clubs on campus all around Ontario will struggle with the introduction of
this new option. We understand students do pay a significant amount as part of their tuition towards societies and clubs, we were students too, and a fee at the amount that UTM students pay is significant. However, it’s important to understand what these fees go towards. Clubs and associations benefit from the fees paid towards them in impactful ways. They are the center of the student experience. These are all spaces for students to identify, connect, and feel a part of something that is true to their interests, cultures, and religions. With an opt-out option, a major risk of these clubs losing their funding runs high, and suddenly students lose 50 per cent of their experience at university. It can be easy to say that you’ll optout of fees that are deemed “non-essential” because you don’t use them. However, we ask that you reflect on how clubs, services, societies, etc. are all essential to the student experience and how these benefit the campus environment. This brings us to our concern. The Medium is a part of the student fees and whether you support campus journalism, or read our paper, the purpose of student newspapers is still the same from campus to cam-
pus—we ask the questions, and do everything we can to deliver the answers. We inform you about as many happenings on campus as possible. Campus journalism often times holds anyone on campus with a position of power accountable for their actions. We allow journalistic opportunities to students who want writing experience on campus. While it may be easy to dismiss campus journalism because it may not be something you engage with, understand that if funding is lost towards it, you lose an essential service that may not be simple to get back in the future. Consider this, without your campus journalism, you lose your ability and resources to stay up-to date when major events that impact your education are on-going, such as knowing about fee increases implemented by the administration. Suddenly, no one is consistently asking about what your money is being used for by our administration and unions. Your tuition becomes a bucket of money spilled into hands, with no accountability towards it. Regardless of whether you read The Medium, The Varsity, The Underground, etc., it is a service that has been here to serve its purpose so that as a member of these campus’, you can stay informed at any time.
Ultimately we cannot control your decision, but we can ask that you understand and reflect on what it means to opt-out of ancillary fees. Spaces where students can feel welcomed and understood will be taken away, essential on-campus journalism will be stripped of its voice, and you will lose much more than can be understood at this moment. Once these services are gone because of a lack of funding, it will be extremely difficult to bring it back. We hope the provincial government and the university understand that all campus media, including The Medium, are essential services that contribute greatly to freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. YOURS, MAHMOUD SAROUJI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ALICIA BOATTO MANAGING EDITOR
CORRECTION NOTICE The January 14 articles “Major changes to student services” and “Breakdown: UTSU fees paid by UTM students” were corrected.
Don’t claim to represent us all Dear Editor, This is a response to an opinion piece written by the UTMSU Vice President External, Atif Abdullah. He’s absolutely right. An opinion, just like a news article, can also be misinformed. It is entirely understandable to get defensive, especially when he is a part of an executive team of a student government that has recently been put into the hot seat. But as he emphasizes the “multiple inaccuracies” of the previous op-ed, it’s only fair that I do the same. Except instead of simply stating that there are inaccuracies, I’m going to point them out. Let’s start with the first and most salient: defamation. Hearing the recount of a story and not being present to witness it is irrelevant. In a court of law, this is a he said-she said situation and as the burden of proof
is on the journalist, there are several witnesses, myself included, who can testify against what Atif wrote. The journalist was professional and courteous when asking the staff member about her responsibilities and motives for attending the AGM. How was this blown out of proportion to be considered harassment, bullying or aggressive? This is very clearly a legal issue in which Atif is slandering the integrity and reputation of the journalist by creating falsifications. The op-ed states that, “when an editor for The Medium began to corner and harass a part-time staff member who declined to comment about the meeting.” She did not decline, but rather tell myself, the witnesses, and the journalist that she would have to ask a member of the UTMSU executive team about any volunteer hours that volunteers
may have received. She left the conversation and did not return. Unless there is proof of any harassment that took place, this is quite literally defamation and can be legally dealt with. This brings me to the other comment on recording conversations. Perhaps one should become acquainted with the law before making unrelated statements like “executives [were] recorded without the contributor identifying themselves.” In Canada, there is a “one party consent exception to the rule against interception. [...] Section 182(2) of the Criminal Code sets out [...] The most important exception for the purposes of this article is the exception that applies when one of the parties to the communication consents to interception.” In other words, if one is a party of the conversation, they consent to a legal recording of that private conver-
sation. It is simply illegal to record a conversation to which one is a third party of. See, if Atif was actually willing to listen to the questions and critiques of those who elected them into their position, they would not brush them away as lies. Instead, their concerns would be used for the betterment of student politics, representation, and the activities of students on campus. The UTMSU claims to represent all students and yet some of us feel that our voices are not represented. When attempting to introduce motions that would benefit the union or expressing our frustrations with the body that represents us, students are shut down. An undemocratic student government? That is a very real fear, indeed. Rupinder Liddar
01.21.2019
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Hair: a celebration of hippie culture & defiance Hart House Theatre’s production of Hair portrays the necessity of defiance and youth empowerment SRIJAN SAHU ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR
Hart House Theatre and Director Julie Tomaino collaborate to bring you their peace-loving production of the rock musical Hair on the eve of its 50th Anniversary. When the musical first hit theatres in the 1960’s, audiences were shocked by its display of nudity and homosexuality. The mass shunning led critics to label it as ahead of its time and unbeknownst to its creators, several of its songs went on to become anthems for the antiVietnam peace movement. This new production presents itself in similar fashion, a time of social justice movements and political unrest. The play tries hard to force audiences to buy into its hippie culture and more or less succeeds. Hair tells the story of a tribe of likeminded hippies who struggle to stamp their individuality and ideas of freedom in the face of an oppressive government that has started a war in Vietnam. The group consists of free-spirited George Berger (Andrew Perry) who introduces himself as a “teddy bear,” Claude Hooper (Christian Hodge) an idealist with
disapproving parents, Sheila (Marisa Dashney) an NYU student and determined political activist, and a host of several other characters. The long haired hippies’ bohemian lifestyles get uprooted when one of their own, Claud gets conscripted to serve in Vietnam. Claude must ultimately decide whether to refuse the call and face disappointing his parents or serve and risk losing his life and more importantly his principles. Tomaino describes the play as, “Dense, relevant and non-linear.” In the director’s notes, she says, “Hair will challenge you—allow us to take you on a trip to another time and place where your reality is altered, and nothing makes sense. Until it does. Allow us to make you part of our community.” Act I begins with introducing the audience to the strange-psychedelic world of the tribe through the opening song of Aquarius where tribe members serenade the crowd with the famous chorus. Songs from the original play such as “Sodomy,” “I’m Black/Ain’t Got No,” and even the titular song “Hair” are on display throughout the act. The act finishes as we see Claud burning his draft letter, only to change his mind later and
SCOTT GORMAN/HART HOUSE THEATRE
The production of the rock musical Hair was held on the eve of its 50th anniversary. pull it out of the fire. The tribe then emerges naked singing “Where Do I Go?” I personally enjoyed the performance of Kevin James Doe as he embodied the whimsical personalities of Margaret Mead, Principal and Ronny. By the end of Act II, Claude undergoes a hallucinogenic trip filled with cameos of historical figures: Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, George Washington, etc., who helps him decide. While the rest of the tribe is busy at protest, Claude appears in
military uniform and a buzz cut signifying his detachment. It is at this point that one realizes that the hippies’ long hair was a symbol of their defiance, hence the title of the play. The final song has a groovy buzz to it and the audience is invited to join in the closing number. With its themes of defiance and love, Hair essentially boils down to youth empowerment. A subject as relevant today as it was during the Vietnam War. Young people found themselves dying in an unpopular
war and found their voice in activist movements. With the rise of social media and unfavorable political conditions in America and certain other parts of the world, people should be careful not to repeat the same mistake. The message is clear and timeless: for the youth to take control and share in joy and hope. With Canadian elections scheduled for early next year, the timing of the play is appropriate. Hair runs at Hart House Theatre from January 18 to February 2.
A multidisciplinary performance of The Raven U of T’s Faculty of Music stages Poe’s The Raven by combining Japanese Noh theatre and opera YASMEEN ALKOKA PHOTO EDITOR Last Thursday, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music held a multidisciplinary performance of Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven based on the original poem by Edgar Allan Poe. A well-known piece of writing is combined with concepts from Japanese Noh theatre, modern notions of film, and the beautiful art of opera. The show was a truly unique and captivating experience of storytelling. Wallace Halladay, the producer, greeted the audience with a smile inspired by passion. He told us the story of how he developed a “strange love affair with opera” motivated by his grandmother’s interest of the art. Seeing Halladay’s excitement about the performance brought about a roar of applause from the room full of people of all ages. As the lights dimmed and the show began, I wasn’t sure where to look. On the darker parts of the stage, the orchestra was seated in rows on either side of the centre, where the performer Krisztina Szabó in a long white dress lay on a red couch surrounded by books on the floor and one wooden chair. Behind the couch was a screen projecting video, and in
the middle of the audience was Gregory Oh, the conductor. At the farthest back of the stage, I could see other members of the creative and technical team working on video and lighting. The orchestra provided theatrical sound effects, like water and wind, as well as sinister-seeming tracks that aided Szabó’s performance, but the orchestra also played as a character at times—more specifically, the Raven. At some points, the music was an auditory aid to the performance, and at other points, there was an interaction between music and performer that created the sense of a “mesmerizing psychodrama,” which the show intended. Szabó seemed as though she was speaking to the sounds, music, and the air and space between her eyes and the audience. I was impressed with her ability to ignore the audience sitting directly in front of her and just embrace her role in full. Having opera be the main method telling the story allowed Szabó to truly embrace the emotion of the performance. Although she combined recitation as well as singing, she used her mezzo-soprano voice to depict weeping or screaming in a beautiful and touching way. Although before she began to sing, the first thing I noticed about Szabó was how expres-
sive her face is. She had all the musical and theatrical support she needed to convey her message, yet her facial expressions are what really added to the emotional effect. It was an image of deep grief and paranoia. As someone rather familiar with the original poem, it was fascinating to see the words be free from the page and come to life on the stage—and not just on the stage, but on the ceiling too. The video projection behind Szabó was accompanied by occasional projections on the ceiling above the stage, creating a wider view of the story. I felt that all the different aspects of the performance came together to do one thing: display the character’s internal fight with insanity. As time went on, the emotion grew stronger. Szabó’s voice got louder. The orchestra played a bigger role. The insanity grew. Szabó moved books around, took her hair out of its tie, gripped her fingers into her scalp, waved her arms around, and tossed the chair across the stage. I was captivated by the repetition of “nevermore!” as it comes at the end of nearly every stanza. Even if you weren’t familiar with the poem or didn’t understand the story being told, it was easy to be emotionally moved by the scene
YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM
The performance included the art of opera, Noh theatre, and film. taking place on the stage. For more of an explanation, I turned to the pamphlet handed out before the show. In the notes section, Paramita Nath, the stage director, explains how Hosokawa was inspired by Japanese Noh theatre. Poe’s famous poem is originally about “a man who descends into madness as he converses with a raven over the death of his beloved Lenore,” writes Nath. Hosokawa thought of “Japanese Noh plays because of [The Raven’s] similarly anthropocentric viewpoint,” meaning that characters in Noh plays are usually animals, plants, and unearthly spirits. For this production, having a
“mezzo-soprano interpret the part of the narrator (instead of a man as in the original poem), [Hosokawa] purposely revers the usual order of a Noh play (in which women’s roles are traditionally played by men) to broaden the theme to feelings of loss in general,” writes Nath. The performance was an incredible experience, allowing the audience to see what it is like in the mind of Poe’s narrator in an inimitable production. My favourite part was watching the conductor guide the orchestra as well as Szabó, as if she herself was an instrument.
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Jamming and album-making with UMC UTM’s Music Club hosts monthly jam sessions and is currently assembling a student-created album WAFIKA THOBA It is one thing to play an instrument on your own and completely another to play with other people. That is exactly why the UTM Music Club (UMC) wants you to put yourself out there and attend their monthly jam sessions or even better, take part of the album they’re recording and produce your own music professionally. Whether you formed your own band with friends, participated in music-related clubs in high school, or were forcefully dragged to tedious piano lessons, the UMC is for students to meet with other students of all different levels and backgrounds. The club is run by Mohamed Salama, Jessica Balgobin, Juan Castaneda, Fayez Habbach, Asheesh Moosapeta, and Spok. The club is recognized for their monthly jam sessions around campus, which are held for instrumentalists and vocalists to collaborate with other students who play the same or different instruments. The best thing about these jam sessions is that the club provides most of the common instruments which saves you from the hassle of carrying your heavy amp, loose picks, and tangled wires around campus. During each session, they provide acoustic, classical, and
YASMEEN ALKOKA/THE MEDIUM
The UTM Music Club encourages students to attend their monthly jam sessions. electric guitars. They also offer the bass, piano, a drum set, and a drum machine. I have personally attended multiple jam sessions last semester and I never leave without making a new friend or learning how to play something new. I remember scrambling through the halls of the student centre and overhearing insane guitar riffs and that is where I immediately began to doubt my rusty campfire guitar skills. “It is really intimidating for beginners to enter a big jam session,” Spok, the technical director, says. He even admits that for his first time walk-
ing into a jam session, all that went through his mind was, “Damn, I am not good enough.” Asheesh, the project manager, also agrees: “We do get a lot of really good players, however, you could have really good musicians who are outstanding on their own yet still find difficulty with playing with other people.” The club is looking at an exciting term as they are granting the opportunity to interested students to form groups to master and produce originals, and covers, professionally for a collaborative UTM album. This project is an exciting opportunity for all
music producers, instrumentalists, and vocalists who always longed to record their own music professionally, but never had the resources and proper equipment to do so. The members of the club break down the process of the album to multiple steps. The first step would be to form a group you would like to collaborate with. To ease the process, the club has formed a Facebook group chat where students share their skills and talents. This helps the musicians to find people of similar levels and genres of interest. The second part would be brainstorming and agree-
ing upon the sound and genre of the song. Afterward, they will move on to recording the project in the CFRE Radio studio. And finally, comes the mastering. Once the group has their desired arrangement and a good recording, all that is left to do is to figure out how to make the song sound the same across different speakers. The club is now discussing plans on how to distribute the album. They will publish them on platforms such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp, “but we’ll see if we could work with the radio because they want to start a label for the station. So if we would release it through that label, that would be great,” Asheesh adds. The club announces that it is not too late to form a group—if this interests you, don’t hesitate to reach out to the club. In addition, even if you do not play an instrument, the club is now taking requests for teaching beginners the piano, guitar, and drums. “More than anything, our goal for the club is to create a community where students come to the UMC in their free time on campus purely out of their own choice to share their knowledge and collaborate with musicians,” the group says. “Our goal is to make music! It is as simple as that,” Spok adds.
Theatre Erindale returns for a hauntingly good time Theatre Erindale’s production of Blithe Spirit is a revenge-filled comedy driven by remorseless wit REBECCA FLEMISTER This Thursday, Theatre Erindale will continue their 2018- 2019 season with Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, directed by Melee Hutton. This post-depression era comedy follows socialite and mystery novelist Charles Condomine, played by Lucas Blakley, and his wife Ruth, played by Gillian Clare, who invite medium and clairvoyant Madame Arcati to their home to perform a séance as research for Charles’ next book. In the process, the ghost of Charles’ ex wife, played by Lindsay Wu, is brought back from the dead. Theatre Erindale’s production is laden with tricks and surprises that the cast is dutifully keeping under wraps but cast members Lucas Blakely and Kyra Keith sat down with The Medium to discuss their characters and the challenges involved in bringing this 1940’s comedy to life for a modern audience. Blithe Spirit is a quick, witty play, full of rapid-fire dialogue. “The action goes from zero to one hundred like that,” says Lucas Blakely, snapping his fingers for emphasis. “This world is super swanky and super fiery and super-fast,” explains Keith. The quickness of the show is made even more strenuous as the cast must speak in British accents. “The accent is tricky - going from our usual Canadian dialect to RP. The different words they use,” says Keith. “It’s made even more difficult because the characters think ten times faster than normal people do, and they’re very
PHOTOS COURTESY OF KYRA KEITH AND LUCAS BLAKELY
Cast members Kyra Keith and Lucas Blakely discuss their characters and challenges involved. relaxed in that. They already know what they are going to say before the next person starts speaking. They know that they’re good with words and they love it. They relish in their skill. What’s challenging is keeping up with that pace because you still have to be grounded and articulate. Every thought has to be super clear,” adds Blakely. “This fast-paced energetic character quality that we have to have all the time has definitely created challenges in a two-and-a-half-hour show,” Keith admits. “Keeping the endurance and the stamina all the time—timing is key for comedy. If you slow down, if you drop a que, it’s over. The joke is
gone. Noel Coward is a funny guy. He writes really witty stuff, and to stay on top of that is really challenging.” “After rehearsal you feel like you’ve just had a workout.” says Blakely. “If comedy is athletic, Noel Coward is an Olympian.” Beyond the dialogue and the accent work, another notable challenge for the cast has been performing without an audience. Blakely explains, “You rehearse it so many times that some things might not get a laugh in rehearsal just because you’ve done it so many times. So, your first instinct is to think, oh this isn’t funny anymore, so you push it more than it needs to be pushed.” Keith adds, “But as our
director Melee Hutton says, none of us are funnier than Noel Coward. He’s done the work. We just have to deliver it.” Blithe Spirit originally premiered in London’s West End in 1941 and continued to grow in popularity, even being adapted into a film in 1945, staring stage and screen star Rex Harrison. However, the director and cast of Theatre Erindale’s production took pains to approach the story is a new and modern way. “There’s been productions where Charles is played like a complete misogynist,” explained Blakely “and we’ve worked so hard to erase that image of him. It’s so easy to look at
the lines and have the instinct to read them a certain way, but then you realize you don’t just have to say it like that just because you see words and you associate them with a certain attitude. So, for me, I took this character that is often played very one note, very rudely, and made him more charming, empathetic, and human.” “At the time the play was written, the dynamic between female and male was so different,” adds Keith. “Things an audience would laugh at then, they wouldn’t laugh at now in the same way. I think because of where we are in time, we couldn’t ignore that these things are embedded in the text, we just had to turn them on their head and say that’s not how we’re going to play them. I’m not going to play Madam Acardi as a funny old lady— I’m going to play her as a cool spiritualist who’s intelligent. We’re taking the stereotypes that people would get right away and throwing them out the window.” “We’re staying in the same time period and speaking the same words, but modernizing the approach,” says Blakely Even with their unique approach to this beloved comedy, the cast still strives to fulfill the major goal of past productions. “This play was written during the war to make people laugh, and that’s what we want our audience to do,” says Blakely. Blithe Spirit will be performed at the Erindale Studio Theatre January 24 – February 3.
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A comparison of Bird Box & A Quiet Place One writer discusses the similarities of the thriller films and why this genre is so compelling ABEER BAIG
For those of you who have been living under a rock and haven’t heard or seen any of the recent memes, Bird Box is the dystopian thriller to watch right now. However, the controversy surrounding the film is that people everywhere are claiming that it’s just a rip-off of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place. After doing some research, I found out that Bird Box is based on a book written by Josh Malerman in 2014, four years before A Quiet Place was released. Therefore, one could argue the opposite: A Quiet Place was influenced by Bird Box. In A Quiet Place, Earth has been invaded by blind murderous creatures who hunt humans through super sensitive hearing. The Abbotts are a family who are trying to survive in complete silence, which is to their advantage as their daughter is deaf and so they all communicate in American Sign Language. They live in a remote country home with a detailed safety system. In a nutshell, they are very good at being quiet. Note: Major spoilers ahead. A Quiet Place highlights the lengths that parents will go to ensure the survival of their family. It is a film with zero dialogue but such incredible tension that you don’t even notice the lack of speaking. Despite the fact that A Quiet Place holds 95 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, my review of the film was different. The
movie seems focused on the action, so fails to provide a good foundation. We only know how long they’ve been on Earth and how they kill. Because the movie is so action-packed, it doesn’t develop its characters and their relationships properly. Yes, the dad and mom are self-sacrificing and protective. The beef between Lee (John Krasinski) and Reagan (Millicent Simmonds) was so forced and pointless that it didn’t fit with the seriousness of the danger posing this family. Also, in one scene, Lee takes one of his kids by a waterfall where he can yell as much as he wants because apparently, no monsters can get them there. Let’s not forget that the mom, Evelyn (Emily Blunt), is pregnant during the whole movie. Why would these people bring children into a world where they literally cannot speak and will most likely die? Although it was great seeing Blunt and Krasinski (who are married in real life) because they are such talented actors, the premise of this movie was not well done. Bird Box depicts an unknown phenomenon that has affected the world, where people see mysterious entities and immediately commit suicide. Malorie (Sandra Bullock), a mother with two children, must make a seemingly impossible journey, blindfolded, to get to a safe house, while remembering how it all began. Birdbox does a good job of portraying a post-apocalyptic world
PHOTOS FROM IMDB.COM
Baig believes these thrillers are an escape from reality or an idea of what the future might look like. but soon becomes generic. The starstudded cast does brilliant acting, and there are several plot twists that keep you on the edge. There is the element of mystery or confusion, take your pick, where we don’t know how or why the entities kill or came to Earth. They are just as confused as the audience, so I guess that makes up for it. While the character development is strong, it isn’t a positive development, as Malorie becomes obsessed with surviving and not living. Malorie spends a good chunk of the movie harshly teaching her children how to be safe, naming them boy and girl because…names are a luxury? Everything about Bird Box soon lost its mystery and appeal, as
characters just kept getting killed off and Malorie becoming stricter with her kids. Personally, I liked A Quiet Place much better than Bird Box because it had more plot and depth to it (which is still saying a lot). Both of these movies have a lot in common as is often the case with stories in a dystopian setting. The first and most obvious commonality is that both movies have female leads who are committed to keeping their children safe and are also pregnant. The birthing scenes for both movies were difficult to watch due to the fact that there was danger posing the characters during those scenes. Another similar aspect is that fathers or father figures just don’t sur-
vive in this genre, which makes me wonder exactly what the writers are trying to say. Moreover, these movies put hearing and sight disabilities as an advantage for survival. The question we must ask ourselves now is why are these thrillers so compelling? I guess it’s just an escape from reality or an idea of what the future might look like. People like to feel tension and danger without actually being in either case. The crux of it, however, is that it shows us the importance our senses hold, which we take for granted. Sight and hearing are not something we all have, and for those who don’t, the difficulties are a reality.
DELANEY ROMBOUGH STAFF WRITER
including U2, The Killers, Lorde, and Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, who wrote the Stranger Things title theme. In episode 123, which was released on November 22, 2017, Hirway interviewed Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is an actor, songwriter, and playwright who created the Broadway hits Hamilton and In The Heights. He has won a Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize. In September 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria, where many members of Miranda’s family still live. Being a multi-talented artist and having a platform, Miranda began working on the song Almost Like Praying in order to raise money for hurricane relief. Miranda was on a family vacation in Austria when Maria hit Puerto Rico and while he was anxiously waiting for word from his family, he began working on the demo in his hotel room bathroom at 2:00 a.m. The challenge was to include the names of all 78 towns in Puerto Rico in the song. The first order of business was to get Stephen Sondheim and the Bernstein Estate’s per-
mission to use the line “Say it loud and there’s music playing. Say it soft and it’s almost like praying,” from the song Maria from West Side Story as a sample and they both agreed. Miranda recorded an acapella demo and sent it to Trooko, who produced the song. In the span of eight days soon after, Miranda held recording sessions in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami with 22 different artists, including Jennifer Lopez, Anthony Ramos, Luis Fonsi, and Marc Anthony, who are featured on the track. His team mixed and edited the track which was released the following Thursday at midnight. The episodes end with playing the entirety of song discussed. Personally, I’m a big fan of anything behind the scenes, whether it’s TV, movies, podcasts, or music. This podcast gives really interesting insight into different artists’ creative processes and it has inspired me to consider my own creative process. This podcast features artists of all genres and with over 150 episodes, there’s a good chance your favourite has been interviewed.
REWIND KIMBERLY HUYNH NGUYEN
A ticking bomb on a moving bus. Fight scenes on a moving subway. A starry-eyed romance between a young Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Speed (1994) stands out amongst most action films, elegantly composed of action-packed sequences and an untimely romance. Unlike many other action films, Speed doesn’t dwell on an unnecessary background story. With a bomb threatening the lives of those stuck in an elevator and a ransom of 3.7 million dollars, SWAT team members, Jack (Keanu Reeves) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) attempt to diffuse the bomb. As a sacrifice, Jack releases the bomber, Howard, for the lives of the others in the elevator. All of this unravels within the first 20 minutes of the film. What’s startling about the film is that the characters and audience know the face of the bomber from the very beginning. He’s not an enigma, but a visible and active force in the film. It was a clever creative choice by the director to highlight the menacing efforts of the perpetrator along with building the frustration and helplessness in the audience. We know who he is but can’t stop him.
Under antagonizing efforts of the bomber, he teases Jack with yet another task. Same bomb. Same ransom. This time, on a moving bus that will set off the bomb if travelled under 50 miles per hour. With every movement watched by the attacker, Jack abides by the instructions, but his hope guides him to rescue the passengers. When chaos and frantic passengers erupt on the bus, Annie (Sandra Bullock) a young, quirky passenger steps up and takes control of the situation. Her immediate actions and calmness settle not only the frantic passengers, but Jack as well. Annie’s appearance, humour and charisma adds a settling effect to the situation and moments of intensity in the film. The connection that forms between Jack and Annie appears peculiar given the situation but nonetheless natural. Furthermore, the on-screen chemistry between the two makes you forget for a moment what’s at risk. The final sequences of the film reside on the relationship formed by Annie and Jack as they attempt to capture the man behind the bomb. Between the battle of a love interest and duties as an officer, the decisions lie on Jack. To read the rest of this article, visit themedium.ca.
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of your favourite songs? In the podcast Song Exploder, Hrishikesh Hirway, creator and host of the show, talks to musicians, and together they delve into the details of the music. Hirway asks why certain choices were made, and how the song came into existence. The song gets stripped down into its individual elements—the lyrics, the instrumentation, the writing process, the recording. Every song has a different journey and every artist approaches songwriting differently, and this podcast allows us a glimpse into the process. Each episode is only about ten to twenty minutes long and there’s a new episode roughly every two weeks. Hirway interviews the artists then edits himself out of the recording, so each episode ends up sounding like each artist describing their song on their own. In 150 episodes of the podcast, there have been some pretty memorable guests
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Mice & Men: Memory’s influence on pain Dr. Loren Martin discusses his recent published study on gender, memory, and pain perception FATIMA ADIL ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR
A new study conducted recently by a UTM and McGill research team has found that males remember earlier painful experiences more clearly than women. The study, “Male-specific conditioned pain hypersensitivity,” was recently published in the scientific journal Current Biology, and details how the memory of pain influences the future of pain perception to a higher extent in males. Last week, The Medium discussed the study in detail with Dr. Loren Martin, lead author of the published study and an assistant professor in psychology at UTM. When asked as to how the study was conducted, Martin explains that in his lab, “[they] typically examine how mice react to different painful stimuli.” In this particular study, Martin and his team “place[d] [the mice] on a glass surface and [shone] a light on their feet which warm[ed] up the glass.” When the glass reached a certain temperature, the mice moved their paws away as soon as they felt a certain level of discomfort. Because their goal was to “study how experiencing multiple and different types of pain would influence one pain over the other,” the team “injected a very dilute amount of acetic acid—which is vinegar—into the [mouse’s] belly.” The vinegar caused the mouse to experience a stomach ache. If the hot light was shone on the mice’s feet after inducing the stomach ache, Martin’s lab “found that [the male and female mice] became much more sensitive” to the hot light and moved their paw
away quicker. The surprising results were discovered when Martin “[brought] the mice back into the environment in which they had undergone that vinegar injection.” Martin details how the “male mice showed a hypersensitive response [meaning that] they reacted much quicker to shining that light on their foot,” while for female mice, “it was just like they had not undergone that vinegar injection [as] they were not hypersensitive.” For the male mice, the hypersensitivity lasted at least a few days. Martin concluded that memory was involved because if the male mouse was placed in an environment different to where it had received the discomforting vinegar injection, it did not show a hypersensitive response to the pain-inducing hot light. The hypersensitive response was only displayed “in the pain-associated context.” Martin believes that the male mice “learned that the environment [was] associated with a painful experience, [and therefore] were anticipating that pain making [the male mice] more responsive and hypersensitive when the lab shone that light on the [male mice’s] feet.” What’s also interesting is that when Martin’s lab replicated the study in people, they found similar results. Martin’s lab applied a tiny probe on each participant’s forearm, heated the probe up, and kept the probe on there for about a minute. After a minute, Martin “ask[ed] people to rate how painful they thought that was on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being not at all, and 100 being the worst imaginable pain.” Martin states that “on average, most people will rate [the pain]
JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM
Dr. Loren Martin is an assistant professor in the psychology department at UTM. about 40 out of a 100.” Following the probe application, Martin’s lab brought the people back and attached a blood pressure cuff to the arm and increased the pressure “to more than when you have your blood pressure taken for twenty minutes,” because they “wanted to investigate memory, and whether or not experiencing a long-lasting pain in a particular environment would influence subsequent pain responses.” The researchers furthermore asked individuals “to flex their hands to try and increase blood flow which [made] it even more discomforting.” The next day, people either were brought back to the same environment where the blood pressure cuff increase was administered or “a completely different
NOOR AL-KAABI/THE MEDIUM
The study looked at how the memory of pain influences the future of pain perception.
environment with a different experimenter, in a different building, and in a different room.” As observed in mice, “when men went back to that same blood pressure environment, they reported that same [probe] as being more painful!” The men’s pain rating “went from 40 to 45 out of 100 to almost 60 out of a 100 which is a pretty big change.” A drug was administered to the mice following the experiment to erase their memory in order to block out the negative pain memory. When asked as to whether a similar drug could be used in humans, Martin replies that it is possible; however, researchers would have to “develop a strategy where [one] could selectively erase the pain associated memory, fear, or a traumatic experience,” as the drug used in mice erased their entire memory. Martin comments that for a drug which would erase painful memories, more research on “what neurons and what neural circuit might be responsible specifically for painful memories” is required. Martin’s influential study is inspired by his Ph.D. and background in memory and synaptic plasticity. For his post-doctoral work, he started working in a pain lab where he noticed that many of “the molecular mechanisms underlying pain and memory ended up being the same thing.” Martin was “interested in eventually bridging the two” and “was curious” as he thinks “most people don’t really have memory for pain and painful experiences.” He says this study “point[s] that [individuals] might not have this very good explicit recall of memory
but physiologically, and maybe implicitly, [the] body may be actually quite attuned to [the memory of the pain].” Martin says he was highly surprised at the sex difference in the responses to pain. He explains how he was aware that, due to sex hormones, “as a whole, females are more sensitive to pain:” however, was still astonished when the results of this study suggested that the memory associated with pain has a more prominent effect in males. Martin points out the importance of using both male and female mice in experiments, as with mouse research, most people only study males, and if he had only used male mice, he “would have found the effect” however, the problem would be that “he wouldn’t have understood or even discovered that it’s not true for females.” Moving forward, Martin and his lab will be “doing a number of things, specifically, going more mechanistic with it—which brain mechanisms are involved, what’s happening with the neurons, [and if it’s possible] to disentangle pain memories from the good memories.” Martin describes “a newer branch of research which stems from this, [which] is how [individuals] learn pain, especially chronic pain.” He describes how “one of the prevailing theories is that chronic pain does not go away, because [individuals] have learned the pain” and that “one of the things that [his team and him] are planning to do in the future, is to look at whether being more intelligent makes you more susceptible to chronic pain.”
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Zovkic’s journey to academia & her award Dr. Iva Zovkic recently won the 2018 Dorothy Shoichet Women Faculty Science Award of Excellence LOUISSA BARNES
Impassioned epigeneticist and assistant professor of psychology, Iva Zovkic has been a part of the UTM community since 2014, and was recently awarded the 2018 Dorothy Shoichet Women Faculty Science Award of Excellence in Psychology for the great strides she has been making in her research on the role of epigenetics in memory formation and age-related neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s. According to Zovkic, this award is one of the best she could ask for, calling it the “gift of time.” Winning this award will allow Zovkic to dedicate more of her time to research in the upcoming school year. Last week, The Medium had the opportunity to speak with Zovkic about her labyrinthine journey to her career in academia, what fueled her interest in epigenetics, and what winning the Dorothy Shoichet Award means for her research. When asked about her journey to becoming a professor, Zovkic explains, “My big goal was actually to become a lawyer. I was going to be prime minister after that. I actually started campaigning right after high school. So, I was a history major, and a minor in politics in my first year, taking psychology as an elective.” It is from there that Zovkic decided
MAEVE DOYLE/OFFICE OF THE VICE PRINCIPAL,RESEARCH
Dr. Iva Zovkic is an assistant professor of psychology and has been at UTM since 2014. she wanted to study psychology. Her interest was in industrial organizational psychology. In the second year of her undergrad, she decided to major in psychology and minor in business but realized quickly that she was not so keen on business. She was however, starting to realize her passion for research. According to Zovkic, there was only one problem, “I was freaked out by science, I didn’t want to do biology at the time. I avoided every biology class that I could.” Until one term, Zovkic enrolled in a third-year psychology course called “Motivation and Emotions,” com-
pletely unaware of the heavy science content of the course. However, the course was taught “in an accessible way,” opening her up to the idea of science. “I started to think maybe I could actually do this, and before I knew it, I decided to take all of those courses I was avoiding in neuroscience.” A key eureka moment in Zovkic’s academic career came during her graduate studies. Her principal investigator (the person in charge of a research project) brought her to an epigenetics conference. “It really changed the debate from Nature vs.
Nurture to Nature via Nurture, basically meaning that there are definitely genetic differences [amongst us] but our experiences can also act upon your DNA. You’re getting [DNA] changes that are being activated or repressed based on your experience.” From then on, she became passionate about epigenetics. For her post-doctoral studies, she took on a fellowship at the University of Alabama Birmingham. “I went from [behavioural-intensive] study to the more molecular-scale mechanisms of memory. It was a really cool experience. I really enjoyed my work
there. I chose to focus on a new epigenetic mechanism that we haven’t studied in the brain yet, and I was able to get a publication about that, which kind of started a new subfield of epigenetics. With that discovery, I was able to get a job here, and I’ve been here ever since.” Currently Zovkic’s research is focused on the study of epigenetic mechanisms of memory and “memory formation and how we maintain memory overtime.” “One of the things about the brain is that it’s so dynamic and responsive to external stimuli. It can either lose that sensitivity to what’s happening or become oversensitive. Once you tip the balance in either direction, things can go wrong. Understanding what’s good and what’s bad for the brain, learning and memory in various contexts is super exciting to me. There are a lot of biological changes that need to happen for a memory to become long-lasting—It goes through a lot of molecular events which stabilize that memory. We know that epigenetics fits into this picture, but how it fits in changes over time. I’m really interested in understanding that process, and how that process falls apart in the case of conditions such as Alzheimer’s, or even PTSD,” Zovkic explains. Award continued on page 10
Dr. Rennet inside the classroom & out Last week The Medium caught up with Dr. Alexander Rennet to talk about his teaching and his hobbies KEVIN KIM ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR The Mathematical and Computational Sciences Department has been gaining traction at a rapid pace, which will likely continue for as long as the skills typically required of mathematicians and computer scientists retain incredible relevance across disciplines such as economics, chemistry, biology, and so many more. Although many professors make up this department across UTM, last week The Medium sat down with Dr. Alexander Rennet to discuss his journey to becoming an assistant professor, teaching stream, his research, and his interests outside of the classroom. When asked about his reasoning for focusing on the pedagogical side of his doctoral career, Rennet explains, that he always “did a lot of teaching.” “I started in my second year of undergrad as a TA and TA’d all throughout undergrad and graduate school. So, I had already taught a lot, and I really enjoyed that part of academia,” he says. According to Rennet, the nature of research and publication also impacted his decision to focus on teach-
ing. “Research is great, [but] there are two features that drove me away. One is the typical ‘publish or perish’ mentality; you have to produce, you have these invisible deadlines, you have to keep pumping out research—which is fine, if you enjoy it. The other thing is that you can get pigeonholed into a particular area,” he explains. During his undergraduate degree, Rennet had undertaken a focus in mathematics and philosophy and continued onto a combined program, attaining his master’s and doctoral degree in Berkeley. Eventually, following some mathematical research, he settled in at UTM as part of the teaching stream faculty. Rennet typically teaches one introductory calculus course every year, MAT133, MAT134, or MAT135, in addition to MAT223: Linear Algebra I. By request, mathematical logic (MAT309) and combinatorics (MAT344) are courses that he also teaches yearly. “Mathematical logic was my research area, and that’s a course that I’ve taught since I came here as a postdoc. I was only teaching one course when I came here as a postdoc, and it was logic. I always request logic,” Rennet says. “I didn’t initially request combinatorics, as it wasn’t my specialty, but I was offered it, and
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Dr. Alexander Rennet teaches in the mathematical and computational sciences department. I thought it’d be interesting to teach. Since I taught it the first time, I’ve requested it [as well]. As for the rest, it’s typical for the teaching stream faculty to do some of the first and second year teaching, and to coordinate at least one.” This semester, Rennet is currently coordinating linear algebra.
Outside of academia, Rennet mainly concerns himself with family, taking care to raise his two sons along with his wife. His main pastime consists of Olympic weightlifting, which he has been practicing for a number of years. “It was initially something that I did because it was a fun way to get
to the gym; it piqued my interest. I’ve been doing [Olympic weightlifting] since before my first son was born.” Of course, consistent training is bound to be a perpetual challenge for someone with a family to raise and students to teach, but he finds ways to practice the hobby whenever he can.
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Granted clemency: what comes next? Sociology assistant professor, Dr. Jerry Flores, discusses what Cyntoia Brown’s clemency means LATISHA LOBBAN Cyntoia Brown’s story is heartbreaking, but not unique. She was born to a teenage mother who had been incarcerated many times through her early life and battled with alcohol and drug addiction. She was also born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Brown was adopted at the age of two, and shared a close relationship with her adoptive mother. In her adolescence, she was lured into sex trafficking by an older pimp. On August 6th 2004, 16-yearold Brown was solicited for sex by 43-year-old realtor, Johnny Allen, in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon meeting outside a Sonic restaurant, Allen greeted Brown, negotiated on a price for the act, and bought her something from the restaurant. The two headed to his home nearby where Brown later killed him when they were in bed. Brown got scared when Allen reached over the edge of his bed and assumed he was reaching for a gun. Brown used a handgun from her purse to shoot him in the back of the head. The Medium spoke with Dr. Jerry Flores, an assistant professor in the department of sociology about Cyntoia Brown’s situation. Flores points out how problematic Allen’s initial actions are. “A grown man solicited and negotiated how much he was going to pay a girl for sex. He got her to come down on the price. Instead
COURTESY OF DAN BIRMAN
Cyntoia Brown was prosecuted for shooting the man soliciting her, as an underage girl, for sex. of focusing on the fact that a grown man is soliciting an underage girl for sex, Cyntoia is being prosecuted for shooting him.” Brown was charged with first degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery—she stole Allen’s wallet and guns after the incident. Brown was held at the Juvenile Detention Centre in Tennessee for one year before the judge decided to try her as an adult and transferred her to the Tennessee Prison for Women. In 2006, she was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the first 51 years. After spending 13 years in prison,
Brown’s case gained media attention when celebrities like Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and Cara Delevingne called for her release in 2017. The hashtag “#FreeCyntoiaBrown” went viral online. Tennessee’s governor, Bill Haslam, granted Cyntoia Brown executive clemency on January 7th, 2019 and she will be released on supervised parole for 10 years in August 7th, 2019. Clemency is when the government shows leniency to someone they believe to be wrongfully convicted. Flores describes clemency as representatives at the state and presidential level “overriding what a series of judges decided. It is quite, quite rare
and this kind of thing never happens. The government decides this person has been wrongfully convicted and been in jail long enough.” Flores continues to say that the media attention in this case could have been an influence in her clemency. “Cyntoia Brown’s is not atypical or rare. There are thousands of cases just like [hers]. Women are abused, run away get in trouble and are locked up. The only difference that I see here is the media getting involved. Celebrities like Rihanna, Kim Kardashian … [it’s] surprising that Kim Kardashian got involved. [She] usually doesn’t get involved in this sort of thing. [There is] so much
uproar and support from everyone.” Flores goes on to say that he is “really happy and pleasantly surprised about this given the political climate of the States.” However, Flores explains that Cyntoia Brown’s battle to keep her freedom will not be easy. Flores compared parole to a suspended sentence and states that “any small mistake can lead to incarceration. [In Cyntoia’s case] she will need access to toiletries, education, housing, hygiene products in whichever community she lives in. Some women end up getting into relationships with older abusive men, start using drugs, shoplifting to fulfil their needs.” Flores went on to compare Brown’s case to Khalief Browder who was charged with theft and had a case which garnered a lot of media attention. Browder committed suicide after his release which Flores suggests could be due to being “damaged from being incarcerated and [overwhelmed by] the media attention of his case.” Reflecting on the situation, Flores also states that he is very concerned about Brown. “She’ll come out and be overwhelmed by being in the spotlight and having all these liberties. She needs someone to guide her and help her get on the path that she needs to be on or she may end up committing another crime, even a small crime, and be re-incarcerated because she is on parole.”
HOW-TO: The “best kind of award” FEATURES How to conduct an interview Award continued from page 9
Although Zovkic’s big goal at the beginning of her undergrad was to become a lawyer, by the end of her undergrad, she admits that she knew she wanted to follow this path to a career in academia. “If you are going to purse [higher] academia, you need to really want it because it’s not an easy path. When you’re collecting data, it’s not always going to work. It’s going to be tricky at times, and there are days where you are going to have one failed experiment after another. It is definitely stressful at times,” Zovkic notes. Grateful to Ashley Monks, the chair of psychology and an associate professor in the department, for nominating her for the award, Zovkic says that this honor is “really the best kind of award you could get.” “I get a reduction of 1 full credit, so I only have to teach one half credit next year. That opens up a lot of time,” Zovkic says. “That award is going to make a huge difference because I can really use that time to write grants and brush up on my research on Alzheimer’s Disease. And with that extra time, more funding, and getting that research off the ground, it’s much easier to keep it going. I’m hoping to make really productive use of my time—it’ll be a lot of grant-writing, paper-writing, and attending conferences for me.” Despite this great achievement coming early on in Zovkic’s career, she does have some ideas of what
future steps she hopes to take in the research process. “I do what I do because I have a major interest in basic science, but the older I get, the more I start to worry about what impact I’m making, if any, in the real world. I think I am starting to believe that the research I’m doing will lead to, at least, steps in the therapeutic approach towards memory disorders, especially Alzheimer’s,” Zovkic explains. “I really want that to be an actual achievement—a real benefit to people, not just some written line on a grant. Another thing I really want to do is introduce better mouse models, because I feel like right now, we have a lot of models that have limited utility for various reasons.” Zovkic admits that balancing research and teaching can be “tricky” at times, but she manages to dedicate different time to each. In the summer when she’s not teaching, Zovkic explains that she spends her time catching up on her research. “Teaching is something that’s actually a lot of fun. You get to talk to new people, and you get to have an audience for your exciting ideas, but at the same time it’s an extremely timeconsuming endeavour when you’re trying to balance your research with your teaching goals. I think it gets easier over time, but when you’re first setting up your lectures the first time around it’s almost like you get nothing else done,” she says. In regard to her experience as a woman studying science, Zovkic, speaking only from her own experi-
ences, hasn’t “really ever felt like being a woman has stopped [her] from anything, nor has [she] felt like it was some kind of barrier.” “I think I’m partly lucky because of my odd path to science. I came into psychology, which is actually very dominated by women in the undergrad department. Even in my postdoc, I saw a pretty fair gender ratio. And all the guys that I work with are always awesome, and very helpful. I’ve never really had the experience of not working with collaborative men. And I actually like that, that’s how I think it should be. You shouldn’t feel like your gender influences anything about how you do work, and I’ve never felt like it does.” For the students taking Zovkic’s courses, she hopes that they can take away other valuable lessons instead of simply learning how to “memorize everything.” “I think what I want my students to take away, first of all, is the excitement about knowledge and getting information. Second, is knowing how to find information and evaluate it critically. I’m really big on making my students evaluate data and understand research in my class. It can be daunting, but what I really want them to take away from all of this is to learn how to think. We can all memorize stuff, but for how long? I think it’s important to become an independent thinker, and if you don’t know something you can go figure it out. That’s really what university’s about, to learn how to think,” Zovkic says.
Step 1: Prepare your questions beforehand. Before you conduct your interview, draft up a list of questions beforehand. Good questions are ones that are open-ended, rather than questions that can be answered with a simple “Yes/No.” Step 2: Send an email to your interviewee to schedule a time to meet. Your editor will provide you with the contact information you need. From there, you should contact the individual and offer times when you are available to meet. Step 3: Attend the interview with a recording device and a notebook. To ensure you capture accurate facts and quotes, make sure that you record the interview but also jot down notes in your notebook to flag important points from the conversation.
Step 4: Using your recording device. Place your device (ex. cellphone) on the table, turn on the recording function, and ask your subject if you have their permission to record the interview. This way you have their response on the record. From there, simply allow the device to record for the duration of the interview. Turn the recording device off once the conversation has ended. Step 5: Transcribe your interview. To ensure accuracy, listen to the recording and transcribe the interview in a word document before you write your article. Step 6: Write your article. When quoting the interviewee, make sure that you identify the subject with either their position at UTM (professor etc.) or their year and program of study. For example, “...says Jane Doe, second-year history major.”
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Women’s indoor soccer places third After playing a total of five 25-minute games, the women defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks for third place LOUISSA BARNES
This past Saturday, January 19, before the crack of dawn, the UTM women’s varsity soccer team filled onto a coach bus to the Pickering Soccer Club for the 2019 Centennial College Invitational, their first soccer tournament of the season. It was a full day, and the women put forward a formidable effort. In total they played 5 matches, ranking third out of an overall seven. Their first match was against the Laurier Golden Hawks, and our Eagles went into the match ready to conquer, scoring a goal within the first minute of the game. The team started the first game with almost everyone on the roster slated for field time, but unfortunately one of the team captains, Azza Adhoum, sustained an ankle injury, effectively immobilizing her for the rest of the tournament. That didn’t keep our Eagles down however. They played their first match with a strong midfield, and a heavy-handed offence. Towards the end of the match, the Golden Hawks
UTM ATHLETICS/FACEBOOK
The UTM women’s varsity soccer team scored third place out of an overall seven. managed to stumble a goal into our net, but the girls sought immediate retribution, sliding a goal right back in the opponent’s net, claiming the win 2-1. In their second match, the team went head to head with the Sheridan Bruins, facing a little more of-
fensive heat from their opponent in this game than the last, but putting forth a strong defensive wall. Vanessa Cesario was a driving offensive force, making passes for the goal every chance she got, without hesitation. Other team captain, Kayla Rice, fiercely worked the midfield, and
drove offense at her every opportunity. A couple minutes to the match call, the Bruins player gets blue carded in a minor confrontation with Rice. Noor Aldoori steadily held down the defensive fort. The women put up a fierce resistance, but after quite the struggle, the
Bruins slipped in a goal, ultimately taking the match 0-1. “We had a good performance, and I think we managed to rattle Sheridan a bit. We matched their level and put on a good fight. We’ve lost to them in the past, but I think we’ve improved a lot since then,” Aldoori weighs in after the match. With regard to their next match—“Our coaches have been watching how they move. They’re really fast, and there’s one girl who is always blocking up front. It’s a challenge but I think if we bring the same energy as our last game, we can really drive it home.” And that they did. Their third match was against the Conestoga Condors. The girls played hard, put up a stone wall defense, and really pushed the offense, but ultimately the match was a impasse. Two minutes to the match call, there was a controversial ref call in favour of the Condors, that ultimately opened the door for them to score a goal. Once again, the Eagles sought their retribution, Isabella Charum making the last-minute goal, closing the match at a tie, 1-1. Soccer continued on page 12
Success for Raptor 905 future stars and fans Fans got to hear from the Raptor 905’s players Duane Notice and Myck Kabongo, this past Saturday SARAH-MAY OLDFIELDTITLE On Saturday, January 19th the Raptors 905, Let’s Get Together!, and the National Basketball Youth Mentorship Program hosted From the Playground to the NBA, an interactive learning event for parents and their young basketball players, to celebrate mentors and mentees as part of National Mentorship Month. Let’s Get Together! is a not-forprofit organization, whose mission is to help create opportunities to value learning and to encourage supportive parental involvement. The National Basketball Youth Mentorship Program (NBYMP), strives to be a mentorship platform to use the game of basketball to positively impact the lives of young athletes, by providing the resources they need to be successful on and off the court. On a frigid afternoon, families from around the GTA gathered at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre (formerly the Hershey Centre) to watch the Raptors 905, the Toronto Raptors G-League affiliate team, as they took on the Greensboro Swarm. Young athletes and their families were treated to an exciting game between two teams of up and coming future NBA stars. It was a low scoring affair to begin the first half of the
PHOTO FROM LETSGETTOGETHER.CA
The Raptors 905, Let’s Get Together!, and the NBYMP hosted “From the Playground to the NBA.” game, which saw highlight dunks and blocks by Raptors 905 two-way contract player Chris Boucher. And a shower of threes from guard, Jordan Howard, and forward, Malachi Richardson. The Raptors 905 took a 58 to 48 lead over the Swarm. Following half-time performances by talented youth dance groups, the Swarm came out of the locker room to begin the second half with ferocity. But hustle plays for rebounds, steals, and a highlight reverse dunk by Boucher saw the Raptor lead bal-
loon to nearly 20 leading in the final quarter. The Raptors withstand one last push by the Swarm to take the game 109 to 103. In its second year running, From Playground to the NBA did much more than bring young basketball fans and their families for an entertaining afternoon. The event allowed youth and their parents hear from Raptor 905 players: guard Duane Notice, forward Myck Kabongo, and assistant coach, Charlse Dube-Brais, and their families, on their personal
stories of challenges and success. Following the game, and short meet and greet where fans could interact with the players, Notice, Kabongo with their mothers, and Dube-Brais with his wife, sat down for an intimate discussion about mentorship and sport. As one might think, it takes a lot to become that kid on the playground to getting paid to play the game you love. It takes a lot of sacrifice. “It can be hard. Not being able
to go to every party, or to miss that family event or holiday, because you have a practice, or a game, or you’re on the road,” said Notice. DubeBrais, his wife and two small children under the age of three, have lived in a variety of countries across the world in only three years. That sounds like a lot of work, and a lot stress, but Dube-Brais doesn’t see it that way. “It doesn’t really feel like work, when you love what you do, when you’re passionate about it,” he says. Obviously, players and coaches sacrifice a lot of time and effort to reach this stage in their professional careers. But we can’t forget the individuals who have helped them, and continue to help them become successful. “I was the only girl in the house,” said Notice’s mom Suzette. “There was always competition. And there was basketball everywhere: outside, the living room, the kitchen, the basement, in the hallways when the boys should be sleeping.” To support him in his goals and in his dream to play basketball, Suzette researched all the best programs and training opportunities for her son. Often spending countless hours on the road driving Duane to practice, games, and the like nationwide. 905 continued on page 12
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THE MEDIUM 01.21.2019
OCD is not a joke: an insider’s look Obsessive thoughts may include complaints of contamination, self-harm, contracting diseases or morality MARIA KHAN Like most mental illnesses, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has a tendency to be casually treated in conversation as a personality descriptor. How many times have we heard someone describe themselves as “OCD” simply for liking their desk tidy, or their bed made? How many times has someone been described as “bipolar” for having mood swings? These tendencies bring up more important questions of mental health awareness. In light of Bell Let’s Talk day on January 30th, an interviewee, who prefers to remain anonymous, shares her insight and her own experience with OCD. The interviewee, 32, confesses to having suffered from serious symptoms since the age of 18, when her cleaning got “out of hand.” According to the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto, the typical onset of OCD is indeed late adolescence, and complaints of contamination and dirt-related obsessions and compulsions are common among OCD patients. Other types of obsessive thoughts may concern self-harm or inflicting violence, contracting disease and illness, morality, or sex. Obsessive-compulsive behaviour can be ritualistic—one woman complained of having to wash her hands six times with soap, and six times without, according to the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. They are purposeful and are aimed at mitigating feelings of anxiety so as to gain a brief relief from tension, although sufferers do not derive any pleasure from these behaviours. Diagnosing OCD is by psychiatric interview, when a person is seen to “display or complain of either obsessions or compulsions or both, to a degree that affects his everyday functioning or causes him distress” (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Men-
NAAÏRAH PAUROBALLY/THE MEDIUM
Complaints of contamination and dirt-related compulsions are common among OCD patients. tal Disorders). Many OCD patients, including our interviewee, are acutely aware that their behaviour is extreme and deeply inconvenient to themselves and those around them. On discovering her condition and how it affects her, she claims that it all began when she stopped inviting her friends over, for fear that they would eat chips or food. “The hunt for crumbs, even invisible ones, would keep me up at night. I would sweep, swab, dust and wash my apartment every single day, no matter what. If I got late coming home from work, I would do it anyway, well into the night sometimes, waking up tired and angry for work the next day.” Secondary effects such as the one described by our interviewee (anger, irritability) are known to manifest if the disorder is taking up hours of the sufferer’s time each day, according to the Clarke Institute. As confirmed in our interview and by
Success all-round Soccer continued from page 11 After the match, Rice weighs in, “The call was a little controversial, but we let it get to us a little more than it should have, which I think is what lowered our guard just long enough to let the other team score. What we need to remember is that even if the ref makes a bad call, the game goes on. We still have to play our best.” As for their headspace going into their next match against the Centennial Colts, “They’re not as strong, they’re a slower team. So, I think if we come out right away with our guns blazing, it’ll throw them off track. I think an early goal will shake their confidence enough for us to win.” The Colts came with a little more offensive pressure than anticipated, and the teams were head to head. We saw a lot of offensive drive from our girls in this match, Emilia Missing taking the initiative every opportunity she got. There were a few close calls for both teams, but the match was starting to look like another impasse. In the last moments of the match,
Charum scores the winning goal, putting our Eagles in conditional third place, slating them in for a final rematch against their first opponents of the day, the Laurier Golden Hawks. Our Eagles drove a hard bargain, Rice and Charum driving a tagteam offensive play at the onset of the match. The Golden Hawks came back with a vengeance however, making a formidable attempt to take the Eagles’ place in third. Five minutes into the match, Laurier landed a goal. Our girls amped up their defense but doubled down on their offense, and really picked things up in the final moments. Rice and Sydney Miller managed to make back to back goals in the critical last minutes of the game, claiming another uncontestable victory at 2-1. After the tournament, a proud coach Sonia Carreiro tells The Medium the women are a team to watch this season—“The girls team had a great turnout. They played really well as a unit and showed great potential for making provincials this year.”
researchers at Clarke, they also have marked effects on family functioning, often by making unreasonable demands on loved ones. “My family suffered my mood swings and accusations that they don’t care about the amount of work I do to keep the house clean,” says the interviewee. “I asked them to stop blow drying their hair and various other unreasonable demands were made on them to keep the house in the state I left it in, when I knew that was never going to happen considering we were 4 women and a dog living in that house.” The worst of her OCD-related suffering involved stress-induced hair fall and rashes on her head. This would happen if time was too short to give in to certain compulsions. “Also, crying from the frustration of being stuck in the cycle and clinical depression, which I was temporarily on medication for. The OCD was
part of the reason for that depression.” the interviewee is not alone in this; a 1994 study claims that “67 per cent of OCD patients suffer from at least one episode of major depression over the course of their lifetime.” When questioned on how she deals with it, she speaks candidly: “I deal with them by giving in a lot. I budget my time accordingly. Sometimes, I force myself to let it be but then I get a stomach upset from anxiety, even if I’ve forgotten what impulse exactly I decided to quash.” The interviewee confesses not to have committed to any kind of a treatment program. However, there are multiple treatments that have been found to be effective in combatting OCD, including psychological treatments like cognitive-behavioural therapy, with the strongest evidence supporting ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention therapy). This is done via gradual ex-
posure to feared situations and consequences, in increasing intensity as anxious responses diminish. According to a study by Foa et al., 74-80 per cent of patients undergoing ERP experience reduced symptoms. Another mode of treatment found to be effective are anti-depressants, which are often used in combination with psychological treatments. Although in many cases sufferers are already aware of their condition, our interviewee admits to having grown marginally in self-awareness over the years. “At night, I force myself not to get out of bed more than once or at most twice to go back and check the lights. I force myself not to sweep an already swept floor just because I’ve seen 2 hairs. I’m more realistic about the knowledge that it’s an illness, not a normal state of mind.” When asked what influenced this improvement, she cites her family as a driving force. “It made them unhappy the way I was and to see me like that. It took a toll on us all.” When asked what she thinks of OCD being considered a quirk, she says: “That’s ridiculous. A quirk is flipping a penny into a pond when you pass one or eating only with brass utensils. Having an obsessive disorder is an illness and […] limits the level of happiness and contentment you get out of the moments that make up life because you waste several of those moments doing absolutely needless, pointless things just so that you feel okay—but it’s temporary. People who think it’s a cute quirk have obviously never met anyone with actual OCD.” Coming back to this thought, it’s important to make the distinction between somebody who merely has unusual or intrusive thoughts versus somebody whose daily functioning is hindered by their obsessions and compulsions.
Hearing from the pros 905 continued from page 11 Dube-Brais’ wife, Cyriele, has traveled with her husband from France, to China, and now Toronto, to support him in his coaching career. “In France, I was a director of communications for a large company. But I left all that to support Charles. I’ve had to learn to adapt, and I think that’s a good thing,” she says. Despite their children being so young and having already moved around so much, Dube-Brais believes his children will have developed a strong foundation. “They speak French, and are learning English. They were even learning Chinese when we were in China,” says DubeBrais. In terms of learning and growing as a player, feedback and criticism is what Notice and Kabongo believe to be a crucial part to not only reaching the next level, but achieving your full potential. “Before and after games we some-
times go over film. Coach will show me all the things I did well, but also all the things I did that I could do better and how. Constructive criticism is very important if you want to be a successful basketball player,” says Notice. “You’re not the only one who has a story,” says Kabongo. “Usually the people who are giving you feedback and constructive criticism, they’re telling it to you for a reason. I didn’t always like listening, especially when I was kid and it got me in trouble. Now that I’m an adult I know better. You don’t only need to receive it, you need to be willing to apply it, that’s the other part.” Foundation and parenting is important, especially when you’re raising student-athletes. “Your body is your tool,” says Nene Kabongo, Myck’s mother. “You need it to be successful. And for that to happen you need to take care of it, by eating right and the like. And you need to protect it.”
Alison Canning, the Executive Director of not-for-profit Let’s Get Together!, and parent of a young basketball player, was ecstatic with the overwhelmingly positive responses to the event. “It was incredible to see all the faces (even the young ones) in the listening intently to what the families had to say and learn for over an hour. Today we gave parents and their children an opportunity to change and do better,” she said. Canning also mentions that there is a commitment by the Raptors 905 organization to replicate an event such as this again next year. Overall, From the Playground to the NBA was a great success, all thanks to the collaborative efforts of Let’s Ge Together!, the National Basketball Youth Mentorship Program, and supporting organizations, the Mississauga Sports Council, Ontario Basketball Association and the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Center for Student Engagement.