Volume 46, Issue 9

November 11, 2019

Read about U of T’s Mental Health Task Force findings

News

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THE MEDIUM

The Voice of The University of Toronto Mississauga | themedium.ca

Tomasz Glod reflects on the federal election, one more time

Comment

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Thinking of visiting Agouti Sky? Read about it here first

Arts

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Our interview with the woman, the myth, the legend: Dr. Poë

Features

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Vol 46, No. 9

UTM’s most decorated female athlete is...

Sports

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UTM student arrested at HCC

MELISSA BARRIENTOS NEWS EDITOR On October 2, a UTM student was handcuffed by campus police at the Health and Counselling Centre (HCC) by two officers for seeming “at risk.”

Natalia Espinosa, a third-year anthropology student, was experiencing suicidal ideation and went to the HCC on campus to seek professional help. Joined by her friend, Anita Mozaffari, they went to get the process started so Espinosa could eventually see a psychiatrist on campus.

The HCC receptionist told Espinosa the process would require appointments with several mental health support counsellors before seeing a psychiatrist.

Espinosa was let in to see a nurse in the meantime so they could draft a safety plan. The nurse approved Espinosa’s plan to not be alone, and to stay the night at Mozaffari’s house.

Then, the nurse called campus police.

“The nurse informed us that, as was protocol, she would call the campus police to come and speak with us,” said Espinosa. “We were told to expect a 10 to 15-minute conversation with them, and then we could go home.”

Two campus police officers escorted the girls out of the HCC waiting room, where other students sat waiting for their appointment, to another secluded room. Espinosa explained her safety plan with the officers and was then told they would have to “arrest” her and take her to the hospital.

The officers did not elaborate on what the “arrest” would mean for Espinosa or if it would be recorded on her criminal record.

“I insisted with a clear mind and voice that I would fully cooperate with them, and that an arrest […] was not necessary,” said Espinosa.

Espinosa was told there was no

alternative option and that arresting and handcuffing her was mandatory according to U of T protocol.

“It was shocking to realize that I was about to be arrested, when all I wanted was the comfort and help of professionals. Especially since I have previously been in other hospitals for the same concerns and have never been treated this way during admittance,” said Espinosa.

Upon being told she was being arrested, handcuffed, and escorted to the hospital in a police car against her will, Espinosa began to cry and hyperventilate.

“The police were unresponsive to my hyperventilation. Frankly, they seemed not to know what to do. It was Anita who was able to calm me down simply through talking to me and helping me breathe,” said Espinosa.

An officer wrapped a jacket over her handcuffed hands and escorted Espinosa through the campus to

the police car outside the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre (RAWC). She was then taken to Credit Valley Hospital where she received support from staff.

Espinosa and Mozaffari have filed an official complaint to U of T. They also brought the issue of handcuffing students who appear to be having a mental health crisis forward at U of Thrive on October 10.

Beverly Bain, a professor of Women and Gender Studies at the Department of Historical Studies, has been actively supporting Espinosa and Mozaffari in their efforts to call for policy reform.

“Why students are being handcuffed, it makes no sense to me,” said Bain.

“The police represent the law.

When police come, it means they are arresting you. When they put you in handcuffs, it’s an arrest. People with mental health issues should not be arrested. People who go for help

should not be arrested. They are not criminals. They are in crisis and they need support.”

Bain believes the university should reconsider the manner in which mental health concerns are supported on campus. Bain argues that the university should hire more counsellors to decrease wait times at the HCC, provide a private cab for when students need to be escorted to the hospital for mental health assistance, and have an emergency mental health service ready so students can be accompanied to the hospital with counsellors or professional crisis workers.

“They had invoked a policy in the interest of protecting themselves, not of protecting students. If they want to protect students, they would not be handcuffing them […] That can only serve to heighten students’ anxiety and agitation, and not in any way deal with the issue at hand.”

Student continued on page 3

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Editor | Melissa Barrientos

Mental Health Task Force releases results The Student Mental Health Task Force released the Draft Summary of Themes that covers consultation talks MELISSA BARRIENTOS NEWS EDITOR The Presidential and Provostial Student Mental Health Task Force revealed the results of the response from the U of T community about mental health last Wednesday in their official draft summary of themes.

The Student Mental Health Task Force was created last year as a response to the concerns raised by students on the state of mental health services at U of T. Following the response, on March 28, U of T President Meric Gertler announced a four-part endeavor to improve student mental health services.

Part one of the four-part plan included convening a Presidential and Provostial Student Mental Health Task Force.

In July, the Student Mental Health Task Force started their Outreach & Engagement Plan which involved inperson focus groups, online feedback forms, and student-led Innovation Hub feedback sessions at all three campuses.

The final phase of their Outreach & Engagement Plan involves sharing a summary of the broad themes discussed at the consultations. The themes will be a key point of discussion for the Student Mental Health Task Force’s official report to the President and Provost in December.

The draft summary of themes report begins with a probing question: “This is what we heard: did we miss anything?”

The broad themes that the report

SHANNA HUNTER/THE VARSITY

The concerns of the U of T community regarding mental health have been heard and published. covers includes communication; education, training and awareness; services; space; partnership; culture at U of T; and institutional systems and policies.

On the theme of communication, the Task Force states that “students, staff, and faculty struggle to navigate the array of services and resources available, not understanding how to access them and/or refer appropriately.”

Communication also covers the “misunderstandings in the community about the University Mandated Leave of Absence Policy (UMLAP), leading to confusion around how the policy is applied and fear about its potential impacts,” and the “lack of clarity around the roles and responsibilities of the University when it comes to supporting mental health on campus.”

Education, training and awareness focuses on the necessity of “training

for identifying mental health issues and referring to appropriate services across all members of the community.”

Services states that “concerns about waitlists for initial assessment appointment and follow-up appointment are an issue and may deter some students from help-seeking behaviours,” and that accessibility services and health services struggle to meet demand on all three campuses.”

The Services theme also highlights the “need for increased diversity in counsellors, broader mental health knowledge, as well as comprehensive education and training for the whole staff to increase their competencies on providing services to students from Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and racialized communities with intersecting identities.”

Space notes that “the physical locations of the health and wellness clinics on campus were often hard to find,

dark, poorly lighted and lacked comfortable furniture or greenery. This enhanced the perception that mental health is not a priority at U of T.” Culture at U of T covers U of T’s culture of excellence and how “competition to ‘get in’ is expected, but competition to ‘stay in’ is problematic.” The Task Force proposes U of T should “continue to expand the notion of excellence to include wellness and become a ‘community of care.’”

Culture at U of T’s sub-sections include isolation and loneliness and added mental health stressors—like the financial insecurity brought upon students by the recent changes to OSAP. Lastly, the theme of institutional systems and policies covers the “systemic issues of bureaucratic processes causing barriers, in part because access and processes are not streamlined,” which includes how the “communication systems for appointments

and websites are unclear.”

Institutional systems and policies also stress the concern for how the “complex cases in which students need immediate care and connection with services can be complicated by U of T’s organizational structure and silos.”

Partnerships states that “community services are often overburdened and perceive that the University is better resourced, so they tend to refer students back to U of T mental health services for care, when community supports may be more appropriately matched to the students’ needs.”

The Student Mental Health Task Force asks the U of T community for feedback on whether their themes cover the majority of concerns surrounding student mental health services on campuses.

An online feedback form will be open from November 7 to November 25. Additionally, a pop-up event will take place on each campus to receive in-person feedback from November 11 to November 25.

The in-person pop-up event will be co-organized by the U of T Innovation Hub to run the student-led feedback sessions.

The pop-up event invites community members to respond publicly to the drafted themes through a post-it note activity or privately through a feedback fill-out card.

At the UTM campus, the pop-up event will occur on November 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Communication, Culture & Technology (CCT) Atrium.

Prices for city services to go up in 2020 The City of Mississauga approved the price increase of city services like MiWay and recreation programs ISIK VERA SENEL ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The City of Mississauga has approved a fee hike to several city services like MiWay transit fares, recreation programs, and library charges, among others, for 2020.

On October 2, the City of Mississauga’s Budget Committee discussed the fee statuses of services provided by the city for 2020. The recommended fee adjustments were later presented for approval to the City Council on October 9.

The fee increases and recommendations in the Budget Committee Report that was released on October 2, excluding the fee adjustments for the Meadowvale Theatre, were approved unanimously by the City Council.

MiWay proposed an increase in

cash fares for all age groups and the termination of paper tickets to persuade more people to transition to PRESTO fare cards. The PRESTO fare will remain the same, with only the cash fare for paper tickets rising.

Currently, around 73 per cent of MiWay trips are taken using PRESTO; however, MiWay intends to bring that number up to 80 per cent in 2020.

The current $3.75 cash fare was raised from $3.50 in 2018. 2020 will see an additional $0.25 rise, with the cash fare going from $3.75 to $4.00.

This means passengers using a PRESTO card will save up to $0.90 per ride.

The proposed increase in fares and charges was approved by the City Council on October 9. The fare change is planned to begin on January 6, 2020 and will bring all Missis-

sauga cash fare rates above the GTA average.

MiWay is also planning to incorporate PRESTO into the U-Pass program. Ongoing discussions with the UTMSU are being conducted for transition strategies and policies.

A pilot program for early 2020 with the UTMSU to test a small amount of PRESTO cards is being discussed.

A complete program is anticipated to commence at the start of the 20202021 academic year.

The committee reviewed fee increases for many Community Services and Recreation programs proposed by the Commissioner of Community Services, Paul Mitcham. Aquatics memberships and swim or skate passes will be seeing increases from 2.6 per cent to 4.2 per cent due to inflationary demands.

The community programs offered by the City of Mississauga, such as camps, skating, and hockey, are enjoyed by many residents due to their affordability and community orientated approach. However, community programs and camp fees are also expected to rise by 2.6 per cent.

“There are already families that don’t sign their kids up for these types of activities because of the prices,” said Farah Rana, a second-year political science student at UTM. Rana, whose brother regularly participates in community recreational programs, went on to say that this increase discourages them from reenrolling him into the programs next year.

A 2.6 per cent increase in fitness memberships and drop-in fees was also approved for all age groups.

However, the greatest modification in fitness program fees is for Private Personal Training sessions, authorizing an 11.2 per cent increase.

The fee adjustments for recreation programs will start on March 21, 2020 and continue until all adjustments are completed on March 12, 2021.

Mitcham also recommended an overall 2.6 per cent increase in the hourly rental fees for the city’s 371 sports fields, which was also approved by the City Council.

The rise in the fees of community services was deemed necessary by the Commissioner to combat the rise in labour expenditures and operational costs, as well as to adjust to inflationary constraints.

The next Budget Committee meeting will take place on November 18.

11.11.2019 THE MEDIUM NEWS

HUMANS OF UTM

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Staffing shortages at HCC

What has been your biggest struggle so far?

Loving myself. I find this is a struggle for many people. For years now, I would look for love from others and material possessions. I never felt happy.

To learn to love yourself, you need to figure out what you want in life. For me it’s fulfillment. I have recently realized that I feel good when I have a productive day. So, I started to keep myself busy. No one can make you completely fulfilled other than yourself.

It’s not easy at first, but I promise you it is worth it. I started to work out consistently, take more hours at work and spend most of my free time with friends and family. It’s crazy how much I have grown over the years. All I have to say is that when you love yourself, life gets better. When you start doing things for yourself it will feel uncomfortable at first, but over time you realize that you are the only one that has complete control over how you feel. The feeling of self-growth, its addicting.

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Natalia Espinosa’s hands were handcuffed and covered with a sweater.

Student continued from page 1 The HCC offers different types of clinical staff for several mental health concerns, including a full-time mental health nurse, regular nursing staff, family physicians, psychiatrists, and personal counsellors.

“We try to match mental health supports to the specific needs and situation that each student identifies when they come to the HCC, or through their initial appointment with one of our staff members,” said Erin Kraftcheck, Medical Director of the HCC at UTM. According to Kraftcheck, if students show concern for their mental health or safety “either verbally

or through a brief screening form,” they will be asked to meet a nurse for some initial support and assessment.

The nurse will also work to arrange an appointment with a counsellor or mental health nurse with the student in the meantime.

If the situation requires other support, said Kraftcheck, then the emergency department at the Credit Valley Hospital will be contacted, where the student can undergo further assessment and support in that moment.

Campus police are called to escort “at risk” students to Credit Valley Hospital.

The HCC is also currently experiencing staffing shortages for personal counselling.

“This is due to a variety of unforeseen reasons that have resulted in staff members being away from the office,” said Kraftcheck. “We are actively working on ways to resolve this temporary shortage of counselling appointments.”

“There may be some delays experienced for one-hour counselling appointments, but all students seeking mental health support will continue to receive triage, assessment, and opportunity to meet with the variety of clinicians that we have available.”

At time of publication, campus police did not reply to our request for comment.

This story is developing. More to come.

Career Centre celebrates its 40th year The UTM Career Centre honours its 40th anniversary with an open house event and a look at the past HARRIS WATKINS ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The UTM Career Centre celebrated its 40th anniversary last Wednesday with an open house event at its office.

Offering both free food and a raffle with prizes to be won, the office space was packed full of members of the UTM community.

The event honoured the UTM Career Centre’s achievements in its robust forty-year history and reaffirmed their commitment to assist UTM students for successful careers following graduation.

“It’s been 40 years. We’ve been here since 1979, which is kind of a big deal,” said Maria Ruiz, Career Outreach Assistant.

The Career Centre has won several awards in recognition for their student outreach initiatives like their pop-up shops which made them finalists for the 2013 NACE Members’ Choice Award.

“Instead of just typical tabling and marketing, it’s more of an in-demand service idea. So, we take our counsellors and some of our student staff that are trained in helping students and we take it to students,” said Ruiz.

“We answer students’ questions.

If students have questions about resumes, about interviews, about what

JULIA HEALY/ THE MEDIUM

UTM’s Career Centre is celebrating its 40th year, and their mission is still the same. to do with their degree, we answer them right then and there,” continued Ruiz.

“It’s really an opportunity for us to get out, let students know about us, and tell students how to find us and what our services are about. And we did just actually end up winning an award for that.”

In 2017, the Career Centre also ranked fourth in Canada for most impressive Career Centre model.

Just last year the Career Centre also won the Excellence through Innovation award from U of T for their program plans, a guide for your time at UTM with a focus on your program. The plans were downloaded

over 18 thousand times in the 20182019 academic year.

Looking forward to the future, Ruiz said the Career Centre is looking to provide students with greater accessibility to Career Centre services.

“One of the things that’s been on our radar for a long time is potential-

ly moving the location [of the Career Centre]. That’s not necessarily under our control but we do want to be able to serve our students better in terms of it being easier for them to find us.”

In terms of more accessible services, the Career Centre might be looking to expand their services to online platforms.

“Something we hear a lot is ‘this workshop is going on during my class’ or ‘I want to go to this networking event, but I have a two-hour commute.’ So [we are looking into] what other format or what other options we have that we can offer students to be able to access us a little bit more,” said Ruiz.

“We’re thinking about an online chat service that might be piloted at some point. It’s just about being a little more adaptable.”

The UTM Career Centre hosts sessions and workshops each week to support students looking for employment and experience.

This week a pop-up shop will be set up in front of the library on Wednesday from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., a LinkedIn Photo Day session on Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at their DV 3094 office, and their weekly resume or cover letter critiques same-day sign-up day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

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THE MEDIUM 11.11.2019

Questioning Daylight Savings Professionals question the necessity of Daylight saving time (DST) DILJOT BADESHA CONTRIBUTOR If you did not remember to set your clocks back one hour on November 3, you might have found yourselves arriving at your appointments an hour early due to daylight savings.

Daylight saving time (DST) is used to align working hours to the sunlight time available during the day. It is currently used in less than 40 per cent of countries worldwide. DST is determined by the legislation in each municipality, with 66 municipalities observing DST in Ontario.

In Ontario, the local standard time is forwarded an hour in the spring and turned back an hour in the fall.

The use of DST in Canada dates back to 1908, but its first notable use globally was by Germany in 1916 in efforts to preserve electricity during the Great War. This practice was quickly adapted by multiple countries and has been implemented on a largely global scale since.

Research and commentary on the effects of time change on our health and lifestyles is mixed. Some say it maximizes sunlight exposure during the day, along with other benefits like reduced electricity usage.

However, there is also increasing research hinting at the disruption caused by the time change.

University of Toronto finance professor Lisa Kramer has researched the effects of time changes on job performance by studying stock markets in multiple countries. The disruption of the time changes on our internal clocks has shown adverse effects on the stock market.

“The Monday following a daylightsaving time change, stock index returns tended to drop significantly on average, consistent with investors becoming more anxious following the time change and becoming less interested in facing financial risk,” said Kramer.

“In the United States, the drop in markets amounted to roughly thirty billion dollars on average every time the clocks shifted by an hour.”

Reports have also shown increased workplace accidents, health effects, and traffic collisions.

Regarding the time changes in Canada and in its coordination between provinces, taking into account school and work schedules, Kramer believes eliminating DST will be more beneficial to Canadians in the long run.

“Most of the challenges can be

overcome. And I think on balance the benefits of eliminating the twiceyearly clock changes outweigh the concerns.”

Time change may also play a role in students’ fatigue and sleep cycle disruption. “[The time change] is great for convincing myself to be more productive,” said Aimee Padillo, a fifth-year psychology major at UTM. “It gets tough to be productive and find motivation by the end of fall because it’ll be 5:30 p.m. but already so dark outside as if it’s 8:00 p.m. It feels like I’ve lost so much of my day already.”

“Time is not the issue, it’s the sunlight. Time is arbitrary, we’ll keep adjusting our schedules however we see fit. What really affects us is the hours of sunlight we get and adjusting the clock isn’t enough help,” continued Padillo.

As professional discussions continue on the benefits and disadvantages of DST and other time changes, stances are being taken around the nation. In British Columbia some municipalities like Chetwynd and Creston have opted to use Mountain Standard Time (MST) all year and have foregone DST.

November 1, 2019.

Police Assistance.

Campus Police attended a residence for a student experiencing medical distress. The student was transported to hospital via ambulance.

November 2, 2019.

Police Assistance.

Campus Police attended a residence for a student experiencing medical distress. The student was then transported to hospital via ambulance.

November 4, 2019.

Motor Vehicle Collision.

Campus Police attended parking lot 8 for a vehicle that sustained damage..

November 5, 2019.

Police Assistance.

Campus Police attended the RAWC for a student experiencing medical distress. The student was transported to hospital via ambulance.

These reports are those that have been released to The Medium from Campus Police 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-TIPS (8477).

GO passengers can soon pay their fare by tap Metrolinx will soon test their PRESTO reader to accept credit card, debit card, and mobile payments SHERYL GURAJADA CONTRIBUTOR Metrolinx, the transit agency that owns PRESTO and manages several other transit systems in the province, recently announced that GO transit buses will undergo an open payment trial next year.

With the open payment option, GO transit riders will be able to pay their fares by simply tapping their credit card, debit card, or mobile phones on a PRESTO reader.

The idea of open payment on GO transit was revealed at a press conference in Etobicoke on November 4 with Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor John Tory.

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said the much-anticipated feature will be delayed until next year.

“We are very excited about an open payment trial that will start somewhere during 2020,” said Verster.

“We are busy finalizing a way forward that would put PRESTO on your mobile device, allow for open transactions with credit cards on the system, and a couple of exciting features that would take PRESTO into the next generation.”

Several other cities, including Vancouver, have already introduced the open payment feature into their transit systems.

Metrolinx plans on first testing the open payment system on GO

Transit buses next year before potentially rolling it out on other transit systems such as the TTC. Later this month, upgraded payment devices are expected to be built beside the current devices across GO Transit and 905 transit agencies owned by Metrolinx.

Although the new devices are expected to pop up this month, transit riders will not be able to use the devices until the province-wide software, which is required to run the entire system, is fully upgraded.

The upgrading process is expected to be done sometime in 2020.

Many UTM students commute to school using the GO transit system.

Some students are excited and are looking forward to the open payment system on GO transit.

“I think it will make things so much easier for people, especially those who are always in a rush like me. With open payment, I will be able to pay my fare as soon as possible,” said Jana Barakat, a first-year communication, culture, & information technology student at UTM. Another student, Alyissa Sheechoria, a first year Communication, Culture, and Information Technology student, believes that open payment on GO transit will be convenient, especially since most people today rely on their ability to pay with their mobile phone.

“Sometimes you forget your PRESTO card at home or don’t have

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

The PRESTO readers will be getting an upgrade so you can pay with your phone. enough money in your [PRESTO] so being able to pay right on the spot with your card or phone is really convenient,” said Sheechoria.

Metrolinx Media Relations & Issues Specialist Fannie Sunshine dis-

cusses what’s next for Metrolinx.

“We have very exciting plans for modernizing PRESTO, and we’ve been actively sharing and discussing these plans with all of our transit agency partners, including the

TTC,” said Sunshine.

“We are still working to finalize these plans and will have more information to share in the future.”

11.11.2019

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Ali Taha

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Editorial

The Bland Duck Pub What do you get when you place a building with poor infrastructure, ugly interior design, and concrete flooring in the middle of UTM? You get the Blind Duck Pub. This year marks the pub’s 20th anniversary, but you wouldn’t know that if you entered it throughout the week. It’s a dry, drab room. The Blind Duck Pub isn’t a place to relax and have drinks. It’s a room with tables.

Let’s go through the list of things wrong with the pub: The seating arrangement is blocky and uninspired, and the atmosphere is bleak, flat, and industrial. The chairs are uncomfortable and the tables are old and rickety, leaving a space that should be lively, characterless.

Architecture imitates life. The pub should be the central hub of the campus, but instead it acts as a reminder of our apathetic, miserable student body.

And what is it with the pub’s hours? They’re open until 8:00 p.m. from Monday to Wednesday, but close at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, and 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

Unless students are alcoholics, most of them don’t start drinking until 8:00 p.m.

After a long week of studying, writing essays, and working, students want to be able to go out and grab drinks with their friends. The pub should be open late into the night, especially on Fridays.

Students go to the pub for cheap, greasy food but leave full of regret. It’s inexpensive, but not even worth it.

The pub’s greatest transgression, however, is their chicken wings. The pub’s renowned chicken wings have changed, and for the worse. The sauce tastes processed, the breaded wings are soggy, and the flavour is just not what it used to be.

The Blind Duck Pub needs to be advertising itself for what it is: a pub. A bar.

A chill place to hang out with friends and get drunk.

The pub needs to modernize, otherwise it won’t be seeing many more anniversaries in its future.

A spirit named Polly has been haunting The Medium office since 2015.

There is no record of her in the paper, which is why I am writing this: to make sure people know her name.

She’s been listening in on our conversations and opening the door often to let us know she’s there.

Life at the Centre

BY ALI TAHA

“So Polly writes the editorials?” Paula sat across from my desk, squinting at her laptop. Sunlight poured in through the window, making it hard for her to see.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re going to blame everything on Polly.” We were debating on whether to use the word ‘fuck’ in our editorial. It seemed too transgressive, especially by current campus journalism standards.

Twenty years ago, no one would have batted an eye. But today, ‘fuck’ might have been too much. ‘Suicide’ definitely was.

We decided to do it anyway. It wouldn’t matter once we were dead.

And besides, a precedent had been set twenty years prior. We were just

bringing back traditions of old.

----Erin leaned back in her chair. “If I was a soldier in World War II, I would have simply ended the war.

Rest in peace to your grandpa, but I’m just different. My grandpa fought in World War II. I think it was Dday. Actually, I think it was one day after D-day, so he got there late. But I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t there. Then he came back and was an alcoholic.

But he killed himself anyway so…”

The office door creaked open. Erin turned her head toward the door. No one was there.

I waved my hand. “It’s just Polly.”

----A guy in ECO100 started studying in the office. I don’t know how he got in, but he’s always at the office now.

As I sat down to write, he taught me about complements and substitutes.

“An example of a complement is something like cereal and milk, they work well together. A substitute is when you’d rather have an orange instead of an apple.”

Mind-blowing stuff. It got me thinking about Polly. She keeps us on our toes whenever the door slams—a

perfect complement to a tired editorial team.

----The Student Centre is dead on Sundays. I go to the office early to get work done, but I usually end up watching squirrels scrounge for food outside the office window. They stuff their faces into the leaves, then look up, then down, then up again. Their bodies move in an anxious, staccato rhythm. They’re searching for food in the forest, constantly paranoid.

Students are like squirrels, I think.

Unsure, anxious, and afraid.

----“Polly might have been a student once.” It was later that afternoon. I sat across from Paula and Melissa talking about spirits.

“There’s something tragic about being a student,” said Melissa. “Being young, having potential, but then dying and being stuck in this place.”

“What if you’re Polly, and you don’t even know it?” I asked.

Girl, there’s a ghost haunting my bedroom. I wouldn’t be surprised…”

Polly opened the office door four times that day.

DISAGREE WITH SOMETHING? LETTERS POLICY

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Opening the broken door to inaccessibility As much as they preach inclusion for all, a part of our community always seems to get left behind BELICIA CHEVOLLEAU CONTRIBUTOR U of T is committed to creating “a community that is inclusive of all persons and treats all members of the community in an equitable manner,” except when it comes to some of the door openers at UTM, apparently.

A few of The Medium’s most recent articles have highlighted the issue of inaccessibility at the University of Toronto Mississauga, particularly about the elevators and the Student Centre lift. When institutions fail to address the concerns of students and faculty, it not only poses a threat to their safety, but creates a barrier for disabled individuals.

For able-bodied individuals, a broken elevator or inaccessible door opener may not present much of a challenge other than a hike up a steep staircase or having to use their arms to open the door, but for a disabled person, it may be everything.

If an elevator is so unstable it needs to be classified as a ‘lift,’ UTM should be doing something about it.

In their statement of commitment dating back fifteen years, the university expressed their dedication to “persons with disabilities,” but how much is truly being done to accom-

CHEN GONG/THE MEDIUM

If you don’t need the automatic doors, don’t use them, as there are other people who need them. modate and create equitable access for them? And why hasn’t this statement been updated since November 2004?

Across three U of T campuses “well over 2,000 students” are registered with disabilities, with the majority being undergraduate students.

During an event I attended in the

Davis Council Chambers, a student pushed the door opener and it didn’t work. If you’ve ever been to the fancy, luxurious conference-style room with its long oblong wooden table and cushiony, leather office chairs, you’ll know how heavy the doors can be.

Without assistance, a disabled person would need to exert a lot of effort to

pry the weighty doors open.

The university claims they are committed to “providing inclusive and equitable access to students, employees, and visitors with disabilities,” but this isn’t the first broken accessible door opener. Around the campus, you may, on some occasions, notice that a few door-opener buttons don’t

work. While it may cause a slight inconvenience if our hands are full, broken buttons aren’t a huge issue.

But, they are an issue for those who rely on these buttons as a means to attend classes or events which enrich their university and life experiences.

Now, how does such a problem go unchecked? The university depends on people reporting these issues to resolve them. If no one reports the problem, these issues remain unresolved. As much as universities can be blamed, part of the onus falls on those who abuse the buttons, and those who fail to report non-functioning buttons.

If you don’t need it, don’t use it.

Repairs for a door opener range from $250 to $2,500 plus tax—with $2,500 being the cost to replace the whole unit. A small price to pay for a university that spent $1 million on a stone entrance sign and $52.5 million on construction and renovations.

If we cannot ensure equitable and equal access to education for all students, regardless of disabilities, what is the point of upgrades, construction, and renovations?

As much as the university preaches inclusion for all, a part of our community always seems to get left behind.

Unpacking the federal election, one more time There is a problem and people feel like they are not being heard. The best way to combat this is to listen TOMASZ GLOD STAFF WRITER Following the 2019 federal election, we have a lot to unpack (or as some Liberal MPs are finding, to pack up). Just as predicted, with all of the scandals and controversies, Canadians decided to hand the Liberals a minority government. This is significant for a number of reasons, but most importantly because as of right now, there exists a great amount of discourse surrounding the idea of national unity, and arguably the lack of it following this election.

Personally, I believe in federalism and I would like to hope that people see the federation as a tool that everyone has access to in order to voice their concerns, and affect change.

But I am not oblivious to the challenges that we face.

Let us recognize that Canada has never really been as unified as some people (especially Ontarians) like to make it out to be. This idea of a united Canadian state, with people covering territory from sea to sea to sea, remains more a goal than an accomplishment. Regional differences vary greatly between economic, social, and political lines. One cannot reasonably expect that the concerns that people are facing in Montreal are the same as in Nunavut. This is where parties and their candidates come in. We find parties adapting and implementing inclusive and comprehensive platforms for voters

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Politicians need to listen to the people who voted for them (and the people who didn’t). within these different regions.

The issue is that when a party says (or does) one thing in Alberta, it could be understood as something completely different in Ontario. This is a huge balancing act that parties need to perform. It becomes incredibly difficult when that line that politicians and parties are expected to stand on are completely different between provincial lines.

Following the 2019 election, this notion that Albertans and Saskatchewanians are inclined to separate from Canada is being perpetuated.

This is understandable since between the Western provinces, the Liberals were unable to garner a single seat (which speaks more to the need for some form of electoral reform, which is beautifully ironic) and currently more than six in 10 people believe that the country is more divided than ever.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are going to remain provinces within Canada. I am not one to dismiss feelings of resentment, but as it stands today there is no popular support for independence and no party support for

it. Also, I have never created my own country before, but it would appear to be a daunting task and a bureaucratic nightmare—and that’s when you get over the fact that you’d find yourself in a land locked country that is economically dependent on its oil exports. But no less, if this is something that these provinces really want its quite clear what needs to happen.

Fragmentation within Canada is not new—a large motivating factor behind Confederation was unequivocally about dividing people and

retrieving autonomy. Importantly however, goals within this project were met, and that was through cooperation. Today this principle remains the same. We have a goal, perhaps one that is incredibly different but we ought to work together and cooperate in order to be able to achieve it.

Achieving this goal of true unity will be much more beneficial to all parties involved than if we remain in our own separate states. Arguably, governments like Trudeau’s have recognized this and tried to achieve it by playing that very tight balancing act. Trudeau’s government nationalized a pipeline, but is also imposing a carbon tax. For some (probably in Ontario) his actions are ones that disregard the environment—not implementing enough regulation and tangible efforts towards thwarting the impacts of climate change.

Whereas on the other hand, (probably in the West) his actions are seen as setting back middle-class families and stagnating projects and efforts that would put money into the pockets of hard working Canadians.

Irrespective of how you would like to interpret Trudeau’s actions, one thing is evident. There is a problem and people feel like they are not being heard. The best way to combat this is to listen. Again, it is incumbent on all politicians to recognize this: Canadians from coast to coast want to be heard. Maybe it’s time for politicians to shut up and listen.

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“Music saved my life:” A lie we tell ourselves Musicians are not God. Attributing being alive to a famous musician or celebrity is not the way to go JULIA HEALY PHOTO EDITOR Lizzo did not invent rhythm or body positivity. Panic! At The Disco is my favourite band but they didn’t “save me.” I have a tattoo that says “golden days” based on their song because it rocks. Any problem that I have overcome, I have overcome by myself, and so have you.

You may have had the words of songwriters and the sounds of skilled musicians to improve your mood or distract you when you felt low, but attributing being alive to a famous musician or celebrity is not the way to go.

Tyler Joseph from Twenty One Pilots telling you to stay alive is a great sentiment, but Mr. Joseph did not physically manifest in your house and fix your life or halt your suicide attempt. Life can be dismal at times, and there is help out there for people who really need it. Music is a great escape and can be a form of therapy.

It is incredibly cathartic to scream at the top of your lungs at a loud concert. A lot of people on social media may share your love for a band or celebrity, and you may

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You can appreciate the talent of an individual, but appreciate the strength within yourself. become part of a community that understands your interests. Your favourite song may read like beautiful poetry and bring tears to your eyes.

However, tweeting at your favourite artist that you love them because they saved your life is tricky because

they will a) probably never see it, and b) they want you to know that you did that yourself.

They are not God. They are a human being. Just like you. This individual or group of individuals may have influence over your life

because you admire them, but the strength that it took to dig yourself out of the hole you were in did not come from the people on your sweaters and wristbands. It came from you. These artists may have handed you a shovel so you didn’t

have to use your hands, but ultimately, it was you who saved yourself. Consider giving yourself a little more admiration and credit for how hard you have worked to better your life.

Your favourite musician appreciates the love, but they do not want to hold your life in their hands.

Having said all of this, do not feel ashamed of your love for these artists and celebrities. It is a wonderful thing to discover a song that articulates how you feel and an online community that enjoys the song as much as you do. Enjoying music is a pastime I often find myself blissfully lost in. Enjoying the life that you’re living is marvelous, among other superlatives. Going through dark times and still making it through every day after that is brave because life is hard. But counting on a song or an artist to do more for you beyond increasing your mood is a difficult situation.

If you believe in everyone existing by chance, then you should feel lucky to be alive. Believe in the strength within yourself. Believe in the truth that being alive can feel pretty good sometimes.

The threat of ISIS in a turbulent world Are people in the Middle East protected from the Islamic State now that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead?

MAY ALSAIGH CONTRIBUTOR On October 27, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after a U.S. military raid in northwest Syria. Baghdadi had taken charge in 2014, slaughtering thousands across the world while also spreading an Islamic extremist ideology.

Although Trump was successful in terminating “the world’s number one terrorist leader,” this action raises several questions in regards to the safety of Middle Easterners.

Are people in the Middle East protected from the Islamic State now that the organization’s leader is dead? Will they remain in danger?

Will the U.S. government carefully monitor any possible outbursts concerning the death of Baghdadi? Will ISIS want revenge on the death of their founder? These questions are crucial to answer in order to understand the safety of Middle Easterners and Americans alike.

Fifteen minutes following the death of Baghdadi, DNA tests were conducted and soon positively confirmed his identity. Sources told CNN News that U.S. teams had collected body parts back after the mission. Trump announced that they

PHOTO/GLOBALNEWS.CA

Donald Trump recently broke the news that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed. had also obtained “highly sensitive material and information from the raid, much having to do with ISIS’ origins, future plans […] things that we very much want.”

According to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, “This is a devastating blow. This is not just their leader,

it’s their founder. He was an inspirational leader in many ways. He formed ISIS in 2014 and he led to establishing the physical caliphate throughout the region, so this is a major blow to them.”

Regardless of Baghdadi’s death, ISIS will continue to terrorize peo-

ple in the Middle East and around the world, perhaps organizing attacks in the U.S. as well. To confirm this, world leaders and regional analysts have warned that even with their leader’s death, ISIS would remain a threat worldwide. In addition, Michael Leiter, who directed

the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center from 2007 to 2011, says, “the threat is not gone at all.”

The question today relies on whether Trump and his government have any intent on controlling these threats, and staying alert for what happens after.

In an effort to answer the question of what is to come after the successful operation, Esper discusses his plan of action. “Turkey will continue to support anti-terror efforts as it has done in the past. I am confident that a decisive struggle against terrorism, in line with the spirit of alliance, will bring peace to all humanity.” He added that, “we’re going to watch carefully [our] next steps [and] as a new leader and leaders pop up, we’ll go after them as well.”

Ultimately, if the U.S. government is capable of organizing such a high-risk mission to take out Baghdadi, they should also be capable of protecting the Middle East, arguably the world as well, from possible acts of revenge. Without question, it is the government’s job to support not only the American nation, but any and all of its affiliates. Ceasing any further and unnecessary mortalities from ISIS should be just as important to the U.S. government as capturing their leader.

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Editor | Gordon Cork

SATIRE

Goat yoga was an UTM Parking Office to sell inside job spots in-line

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Pictured is Carson Lotte in his new car, waiting for a parking spot.

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The photo above is the original photo, and the goats were photoshopped in afterwards.

ERIN DELANEY ASSOCIATE SATIRE EDITOR On the cover of the November 4 issue of The Medium, a goat rests upon the back of a smiling older lady. The latest viral fitness craze, goat yoga, had apparently made its way to campus, and allowed for yoga practitioners to build resilience and exploit their animal allergies.

Except, there were no goats.

There wasn’t even any yoga. No student had visibly seen a goat until it was on the front page. Was goat yoga a stunt, a hallucination, or another odd and unhelpful activity planned

by Student Affairs and Services?

One anonymous sourced contacted The Medium in hopes of revealing the truth. “Goat Yoga was nothing more than a PR stunt. The people practicing yoga? All fake. Half of them were mannequins, a quarter

were just digitally edited in, and the lucky few interacting with the “goats,” if you’d even call them that, received hefty payouts. The goats? Nothing more than well trained monkeys abused until they behave like goats.

The goat handlers? Infamous monkey traffickers wanted on the other side of the hemisphere for crimes against humanity. It’s baaaaaaaaaad.”

The occurrence of goat yoga was an odd and unexpected thing to happen on campus. Many students were left in the dark about the “planned activity.”

“I had no idea goat yoga was happening. I didn’t see any posters, or even a tweet about it,” third-year criminology student Aaron Safez said. “I totally would’ve gone, I’ve always wanted a large animal to stand on my chest.”

The Medium managed to come into contact with one sole person

who claims they participated in the activity, but they revealed an even more horrifying revelation. The goats were actually lambs, but thanks to the Mandela effect had occurred, everyone thought they were goats.

“Listen I was there, and I could’ve sworn we were doing Pilates with a bunch of lambs,” said Lindsay Green, a resident connoisseur of animalbased physical activity, to The Medium. I would bet my first-born child that it was a lamb standing on my pelvis while I did bicycle kicks. I know a goat when I see one, and those weren’t goats. I’ve done yoga with goats before, and they’re way more flexible.”

We may never truly know what happened with goat yoga, but the UTM community can rest assured that the next time Student Affairs and Services holds an outrageous physical activity, no one will care still.

ERIN DELANEY ASSOCIATE SATIRE EDITOR The University of Toronto parking office, the most beloved section of campus administration, is proud to announce a new method of capitalizing on the student experience. Starting next semester, the parking office will offer students the ability to purchase spots in-line around campus.

The Medium spoke to Carson Lotte, the head of the parking office, about the new initiative. “We are all about helping students get to where they are trying to go, and after we oversold all of our parking spots we realized we had more opportunities to force students to pay hundreds of dollars for smaller spaces. Why wait half an hour in the registrar line when you can pay hundreds of dollars to wait ten minutes?”

The new plan would give students the opportunity to cut to the front of lines all across campus. The basic plan, which would allow students to jump to the mid-to-front sections

of any line on campus, would affect the queues of lines including but not limited to: Subway/Quesada, Tim Hortons, the women’s washroom on the first floor of IB, the Deerfield Café, and the line to exit the Blind Duck Pub. The parking office is also offering a premium plan, which would allow students the ability to cut immediately to the front of any line and give students the ability to punch one professor of their choice in the face.

“I used to always go to Tim Hortons on my commute,” one student commented, “because the line in Davis is always outrageously long, but with my new in-line pass from the parking office I’m always third in line! Definitely worth the hundreds of dollars just to get my lukewarm dirt water a little quicker.”

Premium “front of the line” spots start at $500 per year in a locked fiveyear contract, while normal spots in line, ranging from third to seventh in line, start at $325 a semester.

Boomer makes messy roommate for Greta GORDON CORK SATIRE EDITOR Greta Thunberg has landed herself scholarships at notable universities like Harvard and Yale, thanks to her noble climate activism, but Thunberg has decided to attend UTM for its ability to appear like a green campus.

It’s only been two days and Thunberg can’t get over her messy boomer roommate, Evelyn Worstcheshire.

The Medium visited their dwelling in OPH to report on the matter.

“How dare you look away and come here saying you’re doing

enough,” Thunberg said referring to the pile of dirty dishes in the sink.

“Sorry, sweetheart. Don’t get your trousers in a tizzie. Dearie, why don’t you just take a spritzle on the chesterfield,” said Worstcheshire.

“Ok, boomer.” Thunberg replied.

The Medium sat down with Worstcheshire to speak on what it’s like to live with Greta Thunberg.

“It’s swell, I suppose. I mean, Greta takes an uber to school even though we live on campus. When I was her age, we walked everywhere.

We even reused glass milk-bottles and washed diapers. In fact, if Greta wanted to help out the environment,

she could wash my diapers for me,” Worstcheshire said before having a jolly chuckle and slapping her knee.

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in class on the other side of the campus. Yet you all come to us young people for hope.

How dare you!” Thunberg said while washing the dishes and removing Werther’s Originals caramel wrappers from under the chesterfield.

The Medium requested more time with the Gen Z and the Boomer but were ushered away as a new episode of Coronation Street came on, and Thunberg had to have her daily hissy fit.

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Greta Thunberg vs. Boomer, a rivalry you wish you could watch.

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Editor | Vinney Wong

Georgia Dickie on the value of objects The artist showcased ordinary objects that reflect society’s behaviours about materialism SHALOMI RANASINGHE ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR Georgia Dickie is a Toronto-based artist. Her exhibition Agouti Sky in Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square is a presentation of street objects, brought outside of their typical habitat and into a gallery. The exhibition showcases twelve different sculptures, each encompassing an assortment of objects.

At first glance, Agouti Sky appears to be piles of junk. The exhibition features pieces of random objects that, when put together, seem like a junkyard. However, Dickie uses staging, grouping, balancing, and placing of objects found on the street to create an uncanny presentation of landscapes.

The sculpture Wendell Spinney (rainmaker) uses a huge satellite dish and other obscure objects. The satellite dish misses some wire mesh in its triangular panel. One panel includes a collage of pictures and cardboards.

The uncanny aspect in the collage is a McDonald’s poutine box lid. Alongside this are pieces of paper, with different drawings and images, torn in different directions, all stitched together with a white thread.

Wendell Spinney (rainmaker) also included hats, baseball gloves, wires, plastic, broken porcelain, a green hamster wheel, and more. When I saw the items in a pile, I imagined an alleyway filled with unwanted possessions. Interestingly, the items

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What looks to be a pile of garbage is actually an artistic commentary on society and materialism. are in good condition. This notion suggests that society gets bored of their belongings quickly, then tosses them away for the next best thing.

The gently-used items that were put on the street demonstrates the wastage of material. Each piece in the sculpture has a story regarding its wants and needs—some are easy to uncover, while others require deep thought.

The most eye-catching piece in the exhibition was Horizon (Darryl’s Paris apartment). This sculpture included a bright red three-seater

couch, hanging high on the wall, with two sagging figures melting into their seats. The figures are bodyless, merely two pairs of blue overalls. One with a Mickey Mouse gas mask and the other without a head.

This abstract piece brings forth an uncanny feeling to the exhibition.

Why is there a couch hanging on the wall? What purpose does this serve?

If a couch is on a wall, how does one rest on it? Why are overalls melting into their seat?

Bimbo Hamper was a piece curated with baskets, a blue-plastic

child seat, paper towels, and a case of plastic water bottles. This sculpture screams single use paper and plastic.

Once we use a paper towel, we throw it away, just as we throw away a plastic water bottle. Also, once a child outgrows their seat, the object gets thrown away too.

The largest sculpture in the gallery is titled Reef. This piece takes up the middle part of the exhibition and features an assortment of items, most of them include tools of manual labour such as: dollies, coil, wood, metal, a box of tools, and more. The

placement of the objects are in obscure positions which suggest the multitude of work which falls under the manual labour category. The objects are also worn-down and rusty because of their time of use.

An intriguing aspect of this sculpture was a wooden tabletop with several satellite dishes hoarded together underneath. When I first saw this, I was confused, wondering why they were on the floor. Then, I began to think of the evolution of television.

Most of us use streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Crave TV. Cable television is not used as regularly as these services nowadays. The notion of satellite dishes pushed under a table suggest society gets rid of things when something more modern and convenient arises.

Dickie utilized the entire space of the room to showcase street objects in a different form. She uses the height of the walls and open space of the floor. Her assortment of objects curates the theme that society can be wasteful considering matter is neither destroyed nor created. What we use always has a story and leaves a footprint on Earth. This exhibition helps the community to understand our impact on this planet by putting everyday objects into perspective.

We shouldn’t be wasteful, but rather mindful of the way we obtain and dispose objects.

If you’re interested in an abstract yet modern gallery, visit Agouti Sky, running until January 5, 2020.

The Dr. Seuss Experience is for the young The exhibition at Square One shopping centre brought to life many scenes from the childhood classic RACHAEL MASIH CONTRIBUTOR Last week, The Dr. Seuss Experience set up shop at Square One in Mississauga.

The interactive experience promises a fun-filled adventure stuffed with the kooky creatures and whimsical worlds that Dr. Seuss built through his beloved children’s books.

Upon entering the building, there were coat racks struggling to keep all the coats in line and a sea of strollers in the designated stroller parking area. A majority of attendees were families with small children.

The space holds nine themed rooms that all coincide with a Dr. Seuss classic and a maze made out of balloons harking to memories of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.” The walls of each room are covered in a large quote from the book the room is based on.

Entering the exhibition site, a small hallway prompts you to pay the Once-ler and leads you to a room

flooded with pink lights and teeming with truffula trees from The Lorax.

A prime place for photo-ops, children sat on swings and smiled for their picture to be taken.

The Cat in the Hat was brought to life in another room. An animatronic version of the character balanced books and fishbowls. Fluorescent blue and pink bouncy toys shaped like household objects filled two large bins in the center of the room.

Children were free to play with the toys as long as they put them away at the end.

The “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?” room was roaring with kids turning large gears on the walls, throwing fuzzy balls into a Seussical machine, and placing clear balls on flows of air to make them look as though they were floating.

In the next room, the Dr. Seuss experience replicated the living room from “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket.” A large bookshelf filled with multicolored books served as an interesting backdrop for Dr. Seuss’s or-

ange couch. We had to look around the room to find strange creatures which added to the fun. There was a wasket in the basket, a zamp in the lamp, and tons of others to find.

The “Horton Hears a Who” room beamed with pink flowers—some with small little voices that presumably belonged to Whos, whereas “If I Ran the Circus” was commemorated with a mini carousel ride in its room.

The room designated to “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” spurred a flurry of activity and competition. Each person received a fishing pole to hook on hoops on a rotating Christmas tree for capturing presents. Appropriately themed, the goal was to save Christmas. Small kids and parents alike laughed as they tried to hook the gifts and fill up the baskets with presents.

The last room was based on “The Sneetches” and fit about five people inside. It was the smallest room out of the other attractions. We had to wait over thirty minutes to enter the room where 10-20 Sneetch stat-

ANANYA ANANTH/THE MEDIUM

This attempt at nostalgia may only be an attraction for children. ues appeared. Mirrors on the wall, however, gave the illusion there were more.

Outside the attractions, event organizers hosted an art gallery of works inspired by Dr. Seuss.

Overall, the rooms were beautifully constructed and inspired some

serious nostalgia with many photo opportunities for the young and old.

Although the Dr. Seuss Experience claims to be for the young and young at heart, it might really just be for the young given how many children were present.

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The age of reboots appeals to nostalgia Networks are rebooting childhood favourite shows with new plots while also keeping familiar faces DANICA TENG STAFF WRITER

Every now and then, the world seems to dwell on the past. People start to miss the little things, like our favourite TV shows from when we were younger. There’s a feeling of emptiness that comes with the end of your favourite series or growing out of them. Episodes that may have been part of your daily routine soon become a memory that you might revisit from time to time as you get older. All this reminiscing prompts the recent popularity of television or movie reboots as they’re becoming a common recurrence in today’s media. The films and shows that we grew up with have now evolved alongside us, as we find ourselves in the age of reboots.

There’s something comforting about bringing back content from the past. Reboots recall old feelings and match them to modern times.

When I watched Lizzie McGuire in what seems like ages ago, I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d get the chance to see the show again sometime in the future, as a reboot for it was recently announced. Reboots

PHOTO/ROJAKDAILY.COM

Networks keep rebooting your favourite childhood shows and movies for the nostalgic pay cheque. bring about such an exciting concept; they give you what happens after “the end.” Getting to watch Lizzie as a 30 year old in New York City is something new and exciting while still keeping that familiarity of when the show first aired in 2001.

Even just hearing that Blue’s Clues

is getting a reboot was enough to make me immediately think back on the days when I used to watch that show as a child. It triggered images of the little blue dog and the Blue’s Clues notepad set I had as a kid. It brought back a memory that’s been buried deep in my mind, and

it reminded me of the joy I felt as a kid. It makes me happy to think that even though my time with Blue the dog has ended, the children today will get their chance to enjoy the same show I did with changes made to suit their generation.

Creating something new from

something old is not always a bad idea; it probably saves networks and writers a lot of work, as they build from something that already exists. I’ve been taught that literature is always recycled. Stories are always evolving and lead to newer variations, but ultimately, the same key elements are kept at their core.

The story has been told before, but it entertains us to view the infinite possibilities that lie ahead for the characters we adore, the settings that feel like a second home, and the plots we fell for.

With reboots, although audiences come for the familiarity, they stay for the new. Change is inevitable, and as we grow up, the world grows with us. The trends, technology, and beliefs of today are not the same as they were in the past, and the media needs to reflect that in order to adapt and keep up with our everchanging world. But while the world changes, it’s nice to know that some things will come back to you. A reboot is an old friend knocking on your door, stopping by to say hello for the first time in a long time.

The CW’s Nancy Drew reinvents itself The television show is the latest book adaptation by the network and fans are not impressed NATALIE LYCZEK CONTRIBUTOR

Don’t we all like a good mystery?

A murder, conspiracy theory, or disappearance; anything that sends a chill down our spine. While we may have tried to find that fulfilling mystery through series such as Riverdale, it didn’t quite succeed in achieving what we were looking for.

While on the hunt for a new bonechilling mystery, I stumbled upon a new CW series, called Nancy Drew based on the novels by Edward Stratemeyer. Nancy Drew has the same creators as Riverdale, which worried the audience because the former did not live up to its comic origins.

Despite the negative attention, I decided to give the show a try.

While it did fail in certain aspects, it flourished in others. After watching the first three episodes of the series, I found myself pleasantly surprised.

There were small things that aggravated me, but most of them were minor details that I could look past.

In the novels, Nancy lives in River Heights, whereas in the show, she lives in Horseshoe Bay. It was pretty disappointing that the iconic town isn’t mentioned. Furthermore, Nancy’s boyfriend throughout the novels, Ned Nickerson, goes by Nick in the show. Many people were saddened, but it’s just a name—besides, the name Ned in the twenty-first

MILIDAE CLAIRE UY/THE MEDIUM

The classic Nancy Drew mystery novels have been adapted for screen once more. century isn’t exactly common.

Georgia (George) Fayne’s name was also changed to George Fan. The show made the characters more diverse and decided to make George Chinese. Fan is a Chinese last name, so the little alteration makes sense.

The added diversity to the show was one thing I appreciated, as it is a more accurate representation of a multicultural America.

A detail that made many people, including me, upset was the relationship change between Bess Marvin and George. In the books, Bess

and George are not only cousins but good friends. However, in the show, they are unrelated and not friends anymore. This change made me miss the classic friendly banter between the two cousins that contributed to my interest in the novels.

Moving on to more significant issues people had, was Nancy’s character and the supernatural spin on the series. In the novels, Nancy is the perfect person. She is respectful, popular, smart, and the girl next door. However, she is nothing like this in the show. She has no friends,

issues with her father, and uses sex as a coping mechanism to deal with her mother’s recent death.

People loved Nancy because of her innocence. She was never sexualized, and the novels focused on Nancy’s abilities to solve a gruesome mystery. The problem with adapting well known characters from novels like Nancy are that her traits would be unrealistic in this era.

Making Nancy “imperfect” makes her more relatable and realistic. This new Nancy shows us that everyone makes mistakes, making

it a more accurate representation of young adults and teens in today’s society.

One of the biggest criticisms from viewers is the supernatural take on the show. In the books, the supernatural themes always have a logical explanation by the end of the mystery. The showrunners confirmed the ghosts are, in fact, real in the show. Being a sceptic myself, this made the ghostly jump-scares a little silly.

The supernatural embellishments could be a good thing if you’re all about ghosts, curses, and legends.

Except most viewers are upset about this. Nonetheless, the mystery is still intriguing, exciting, and gets you wondering: who did it? A human? Or a ghost? It makes the show creepier, perhaps on-theme for its October release.

If you did read the books, you’d enjoy the little Easter Eggs placed within the episodes. Mentions of Shadow Ranch, the Lilac Inn, John Sander, and Rita Howell are all derived from the original novels and classic Nancy Drew mystery games.

Whether you’re a fan of the novels or not, there’s something in this show for every mystery lover: ghosts, murder, secrets, lies, and more. Most of the criticism is over minuscule details that do not change the intrigue of the story.

11.11.2019 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 11

Vagabond: A rare K-Drama The show’s lack of romantic storylines makes the drama stand out

REWIND NATALIE LYCZEK CONTRIBUTOR “Ugh! As if!” is an iconic quotation from the classic 1995 film Clueless.

At some point in our lives, we might have tried to channel our inner Cher Horowitz with her confident personality or unforgettable yellow plaid outfit. While the role of Cher may have put actress Alicia Silverstone on the map, it was certainly not her first notable role.

Just two years prior, Silverstone portrayed Adrienne Forrester in the 1993 psychological thriller The Crush. Some actors in the film include Cary Elwes (Nick), Kurtwood Smith (Mr. Forrester), Gwynyth Walsh (Mrs. Forrester), and Jennifer Rubin (Amy).

The movie starts with magazine writer Nick Eliot, who moves into the guest house of the Forrester mansion. Throughout the film, 14-yearold Adrienne develops a crush on Nick, who is much older than her. At first, Nick is flattered by Adrienne’s crush on him; he views her as only a harmless child. Except, harmless is far from the truth.

After Nick rejects Adrienne’s ad-

vances multiple times, his life starts to become a living hell. Spam phone calls, missing items from his apartment, and a stitched pillow with both of their initials on it. Nick finally sees Adrienne’s crush for what it really is—a dangerous obsession.

Adrienne continued to ruin Nick’s life; she vandalizes his car, deletes his work files, and creates a shrine of him. She even takes an interest in Amy, Nick’s girlfriend, and seems eager for Amy to cross paths with a wasp’s nest. And when Nick doesn’t show up to her riding competition, it finally sets Adrienne off the edge.

She creates a scene at Nick’s work convention and even falsely accuses him of rape, getting him arrested.

Cheyenne, Adrienne’s close friend, tells Nick of a diary that Adrienne keeps, that could prove that he is innocent. In an attempt to find this diary, Cheyenne sneaks into the Forrester house. Nick runs in looking for Cheyenne, but instead, runs into Adrienne. They get into a physical altercation, and for a moment, it seems as if Adrienne won, and is about to stab Nick to finish him off.

Right before she can, Mr. Forrester comes home. Adrienne runs

off, and Nick continues to look for Cheyenne. He climbs into the attic and finds Cheyenne tied up. Mr. Forrester finds them up there and attempts to kill Nick, but just before he can, Adrienne knocks him out.

Adrienne tries to kill Nick one last time, but he punches her, knocking her unconscious.

The movie ends off with the charges being dropped and Adrienne ending up in a mental hospital. While in the mental hospital, Adrienne continues to spam Nick with letters— showing us that her obsession never really stopped. Not only does it never really stop, but the final scene shows Adrienne holding a picture of her doctor, her new obsession.

While the movie can be a bit predictable and unbelievable at times, it is an original story. Additionally, the film succeeded in keeping me on my toes. It kept me wondering what devious thing Adrienne would do next. If you enjoyed Alicia Silverstone’s work in Clueless, I would recommend giving this film a try. It truly shows us the versatility of Silverstone’s acting with an underrated and unique plot.

someone’s work and whether it’s good or bad, they judge based on the end product, disregarding what it took to get there.

This starts with allowing yourself to do it. Resist the urge to disregard your work for “not being good enough.” Just because it’s not the result you want doesn’t mean you failed.

A professor from the Professional Writing and Communication program would often tell us that our first drafts “don’t have to be good, they just have to be done,” as was a way to coax us into putting something out there.

Whether it’s the vague beginnings of an idea, or an emotionally charged rant. Rarely will we submit the first draft during the final. It goes through multiple editing sessions, multiple workshops to temper it into something we can be proud of.

But there won’t be anything to edit unless you put your pen to paper, fingers to the keyboard, sometimes even head to wall.

Consumption is also an important part of the creative process. And yes, I’m pretty sure this includes snacks.

You can’t work on an empty stomach. In order to produce something, you must study it. You must be a good reader to be a good writer. A good listener to be a good musician.

Learning from what’s been done and applying it to your own work and then refining it further through

practice will help sharpen your skills.

It all seems daunting, but you don’t have to do it all at once. You don’t need to write an entire book or script or symphony. You can start with a short paragraph, even just dialogue, maybe a few bars.

Get into the habit of regular creation. Gradually, you’ll start to improve. After a while you can revisit old work and see it from a different perspective. Not everything you produce will be showcased but everything is important. Whether you manage to refine, repurpose, and rearrange it to suit greater work or whether it simply helps you get your proverbial gears going.

At the end of the episode, Fink and Cranor assign two short assignments. Because that’s definitely something we students need more of.

The consume assignment is to visit the YouTube channel “Song-ADay” by Jonathan Mann. It shows an example of regular creation. The create assignment is taking an idea you’ve been wanting to work on and spend an entire hour on that idea alone. You can do the whole hour in one sitting or break it up into shorter times spanning however long you’d like. What’s important is getting your idea out there and they advise to start with this.

BAEGABONDEU/IMDB.COM

This new action-based drama is not your typical K-Drama.

DEEMA ABU NASER CONTRIBUTOR Vagabond is a new action-based Korean drama currently airing on Netflix. Action-based Korean dramas are rare in Korea, making Vagabond all the more precious. As a K-drama veteran for the past nine years, I can tell you with complete certainty that the drama is a great one, and here’s why.

Cha Dal Geon (Lee Seung-Gi) is a stuntman who cares for his recently orphaned 12-year-old nephew, Hoon. They’re both the only family they’ve got left. Hoon, growing up with Dal Geon, wants to be a stuntman too and takes up taekwondo.

Hoon gets offered to go on a trip to Morocco to perform a taekwondo act with his team in front of the Korean Embassy of Morocco.

Hoon flies on the plane with his classmates and teachers, and everything appears fine. Halfway through the flight, the plane, B357, malfunctions and crashes. Everyone dies.

Or do they?

In Korea, Dal Geon is grieving the loss of his only family, the nephew he regarded as his own son. The Korean Embassy of Morocco, where intern and secret NIS (National Intelligence Service) agent, Go HaeRi (Bae Suzy) works, offer to fly the bereaved family members to Morocco. At the airport, Dal Geon finds a video that Hoon took on the plane and had sent him before he died. He recognizes the face of someone in the video and sees him at the airport.

How did someone survive the fatal crash?

Dal Geon and Hae Ri spend the rest of the series discovering the true corruption of the government of Korea, secrets about the plane crash, and about their own feelings for each other.

Vagabond has many strengths, such as its well-thought out action scenes that take place both in Morocco and Korea. The drama had a whopping $25 million budget and the action scenes reflected it with realistic stunts. Another strength is the powerful advancement of the plot. It’s not stagnant; the writers and producers don’t spend unnecessary time over usual K-drama tropes, like misunderstandings or cliché romances that do not make sense. Instead, they focus more on making each scene fast-paced and dynamic.

One of its biggest weaknesses lies in the fact that there is barely any romance. I love the lead actors, Lee Seung-Gi and Bae Suzy, and think they make a great pairing. They have been cast as a couple before in K-drama Gu Family Book, but Vagabond focuses more on action and drama rather than romance.

Another weakness is its broadcast schedule. Unlike other shows that release entire seasons on Netflix, Vagabond follows the traditional Korean broadcast schedule by releasing two episodes per week. This is annoying because I’m forced to wait instead of binging all the episodes at once.

Despite my annoyance, I highly recommend Vagabond for its unique approach on action in K-dramas.

APRIL JOY ABIT CONTRIBUTOR Imagine this: you’re on your laptop staring at a blank word document.

Time dwindles as your deadline approaches. You know what you want to do but you can’t seem to make it happen.

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor propose a solution. Their podcast Start with this is designed to set ideas in motion. The podcast helps creators to strengthen their foundations and two short assignments to get them started. One “consume” assignment, one “create” assignment.

In the first episode, they talk about execution. The kind of execution that requires more than the sharp blade of a guillotine or the deadly voltage of an electric chair.

This execution requires work. Horrifying, I know.

Before we have a chance to run for the hills, Fink and Cranor remind us that putting in work is an important part of the process. To be more specific, regular creation is an important part of the process.

But what is regular creation? They define it as constantly putting your ideas out there. Working bit by bit, practicing and developing your craft. Building “muscle memory of artistic execution.”

This is something people understand at a fundamental level but might not internalize. They see

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Editor | Fatima Adil

The legendary Professor, Judith Poë Professor Poë talks about her journey to academia, her teaching career, and her advice for STEM students ELIZABETH PROVOST CONTRIBUTOR

“They call me a legend,” says Judith C. Poë, a beloved professor of chemistry at UTM. Poë, who joined the UTM faculty in 1970, humbly thinks that the expression refers to her age. However, she couldn’t be farther from the truth, as she is a legend. A chemistry legend.

In high school Poë completed all the available science and mathematics classes, but had originally intended to pursue journalism. However, everything changed when she first studied chemistry. “There I found a fascinating topic which began to give me an understanding of so many of the observations that we make every day, as well as a science that allowed for the creation of next things. I was hooked,” she says.

Poë attended University of London’s Imperial College of Science and Technology for her undergraduate and post-graduate studies. With time and study, she became particularly intrigued by inorganic chemistry, the study of the fundamental principles of bonding and reaction mechanisms.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUDITH POË

Dr. Poë has been teaching chemistry at UTM and leaving lasting impressions since 1970.

She selected bioinorganic chemistry as her specialization, wherein she studied “the mechanisms by which metalloenzymes catalyze metabolic reactions with the aim of synthesizing biomimetic metal ion complexes that could be used as substitutes for defective or missing metalloenzymes. Over the years this evolved into an interest in metal-based drugs and their use in

the treatment of disease.”

Poë also channels her passion for this topic in the CHM333H5: Bioinorganic Chemistry course that she teaches.

Throughout university, Poë faced the same adversities that many students face today. She was required to take courses in order to fulfill her program requirements and found it lim-

iting to not to be able to diverge and explore various additional interests.

In order to graduate, she was required to pass two language translation exams. French, she was familiar with from high school, but German, she knew not a single word. Therefore, in the week preceding the exam, she spent every waking hour translating German chemistry papers to English.

From this experience she learned, as all students do at one point, that although cramming can effectively lead to doing well on an exam, it is not necessarily learning.

Poë moved to Canada with her first husband and they both began their careers at UTM, then referred to as Erindale College. As Poë was from the United States and her husband, a British native, they found Canada to be a good compromise of both their cultures and a good place to settle.

UTM was seeking fresh and forwardthinking individuals and “it presented an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development and direction of a new institution.”

Next year, Poë will be celebrating her fiftieth year of teaching at UTM. Throughout her career, Poë has had many memorable moments, both big and small. Following student nomination, she was the first to receive the UTM Teaching Excellence Award in 1991. In 2000, she was the first woman to serve as the president of the Canadian Society for Chemistry and she proudly represented and promoted chemistry education.

Poë continued on page 13

The intersection of business and tech The UTM Society for Algorithmic Modelling aims to bridge the gap between business and technology ZHENGYU LI CONTRIBUTOR

Collaboration between business and technology has been steadily increasing in the industry over the last few years. Experts from technological backgrounds such as computer science, mathematics, and statistics are encouraged to work with professionals from business backgrounds such as finance, economics, marketing, and accounting. Unfortunately, the result of such collaboration has not been successful or ideal. We find it hard to communicate with people from a completely different background, given the fact that there is no intersection in the knowledge base. Slowly, they begin to reject the concept of collaboration, leading to the loss of a truly innovative project.

A newly founded club at the University of Toronto Mississauga is taking the initiative to encourage collaboration between students from technological and business backgrounds. UTM Society for Algorithmic Modelling (UTMSAM) is a student-run club dedicated to the application of machine learn-

ing, artificial intelligence, data science, algorithm development, and mathematical modelling. This year, UTMSAM is focusing on combining talents from the technological and business aspect together. By doing so, the club hopes to develop a project that can showcase the effectiveness of such collaboration by the end of this school year. The Medium sat down with Scarlett Tran, the co-

founder and president of UTMSAM, for a short interview.

Tran, a second-year student at UTM specializing in finance, majoring in economics, and minoring in statistics, credits her experience working “on side projects over the summer” as the inspiration behind UTMSAM’S establishment. After completing “a sufficient amount of market research,” she knew how

she wanted the side project to work.

However, she says that “the only problem was that [she] did not have the skill sets to implement such a project into a web application,” prompting her to realize that the “the key to developing an innovative project is a collaboration, especially between business and technology.”

UTMSAM is currently holding workshops as frequently as possible.

NATALIE DEMIDOVA/UTMSAM

UTMSAM is a student-run club focusing on combining talents from technology and business.

As Tran details, “these workshops cover topics that can potentially establish bridges between the business world and the technology world. For instance, our next workshop will be on predicting stock prices using machine learning. The key takeaway of this event is not to show that such algorithm guarantees a profit in the market, but to show how we can apply technology to the market using financial knowledge.”

Another major goal of UTMSAM is to form a team with diverse backgrounds. Tran hopes to recruit students “not only [from] business, computer science, and mathematics, but also physics, psychology, chemistry, biology, and any other programs.” The team members will be selected based on their “interest and passion” and then participate in a Kaggle competition. “A Kaggle competition is a contest related to dealing with an enormous amount of data and solving a real-world problem,” Tran explains. “We hope [that] we will be able to showcase our result at the end of the year and further spread out the influence of UTMSAM by bringing more students together.”

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Cartography, rebels, and African history Dr. Julie MacArthur recently won the UTM Annual Research Prize for her research on African history BISMAH RIZVI ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR

Dr. Julie MacArthur, a historical studies assistant professor at UTM, recently received the UTM Annual Research Prize. The prize recognizes researchers who are making significant contributions within their field and who are effectively communicating their research to the public.

For this issue, The Medium talked to MacArthur about her journey to academia, her research, and her award.

“It was quite an honour. I was quite honoured even just to be nominated by my department,” says MacArthur.

MacArthur, who specializes in African history, was surprised to win the award, especially since “there hasn’t been a lot of space given to African history” in the past.

“To know that the university was not only fostering [research in African history], but really supporting it and highlighting it through such an award, was really quite special.” Beyond the recognition, the UTM Annual Research Prize also awards two thousand dollars in research funding which will aid MacArthur significantly as most of her research takes place in East Africa and thus requires additional expenses such as travel costs.

MacArthur began her academic journey at the University of Toronto. Similar to many students, she felt unsure of which path to pursue.

However, after meeting with some inspiring history and African studies professors, she decided to pursue history. As she was interested in African music and had been exposed to African culture at a young age, she realized that she wanted to specialize in African history.

“I had a couple of amazing profes-

sors—who are now my colleagues— [such as] Melanie Newton and Eric Jennings at the St. George campus.

[They] inspired me to learn about the ways in which colonialism and post colonialism [have] impacted our contemporary [world],” acknowledges MacArthur. She also credits John Lonsdale at the University of Cambridge and Bethwell Ogot, a historian based in Kenya, for providing the

MacArthur’s first book, Cartography and the Political Imagination in Colonial Kenya, was published in 2016 and discusses the second largest ethnic group in Western Kenya, the Luyia. Interestingly, “they did not exist as an ethnic group nor claim[ed] to exist as an active group before the 1930s.” Considering the perspective that all ethnic or national communities are imagined, the Luyia fasci-

ing borders is “a product of colonial intervention.” She says that “borders sort of symbolize how you define yourself as a nation, as an ethnic group, [and] as a sovereign people”.

As part of her research, MacArthur traced down the courtroom trial documents of Dedan Kimathi which had been hidden from the public for over sixty years. Kimathi, one of Kenya’s most famous rebel leaders,

HAYDEN MAK/THE MEDIUM

Dr. MacArthur, recipient of the UTM Annual Research Prize, researches African history. mentorship and encouragement she needed to delve into the field.

Feeling frustrated with the lack of research on the topic, MacArthur began seeking answers to her own questions. “There was a fascinating collision of these questions at a very interesting moment in African history where there was also a lack of research being done. That really threw me in, and since that point, I’ve been spending three to four months out of every year on the continent,” she explains.

nated MacArthur because they “sort of picked the date and decided to become a community.” Moreover, while the Luyia speak seventeen different dialects, claim several different ancestors, and participate in a variety of cultural practices, they still feel united by the geographic space they live in.

The Luyia exemplify the “importance of defending not just territory, but [particular] mapped space, to designate [the] space as a homeland.”

MacArthur argues that the importance of mapped borders and defend-

lead the Mau Mau revolution in the 1950s as a field marshal. At the time, the British were actively torturing Kenyans and imprisoning people in detention camps. The British legally executed over 1500 people by hanging—the largest number of people to ever have been executed during an anti-colonial emergency. Finding the trial documents was a major moment as it presented real evidence concerning Kimathi and ultimately prompted important conversations surrounding the brutal realities of the Mau Mau

revolution.

MacArthur discusses the findings of the trial and their implication in her 2017 book, Dedan Kimathi on Trial: Colonial Justice and Popular Memory in Kenya’s Mau Mau Rebellion. She also displayed her work as an exhibition at the Supreme Court of Kenya. MacArthur feels that conveying research in ways beyond a book or research paper is “so important to bring the public and the academic closer together.”

Currently, MacArthur is interested in the alternative mappings of decolonization, which entails the various ways in which Africa’s borders could have been decided when nations gained independence from Britain mainly between 1950 and 1970.

“Most thought the borders would be either erased or changed, but that did not happen. [We] see these debates re-emerging in the past ten years in particular, as people imagine what alternative nations could look like in Africa,” MacArthur states. Her upcoming book Radical Cartographies focuses on these different decolonized mappings.

Having double majored in film, MacArthur also studies, teaches, and curates African cinema. She recently wrapped up a project with the Toronto International Film Festival, specifically working on their African program. MacArthur says that her “academic and film work have always been on slightly parallel tracks.” She hopes to bring the two together with a book discussing the relationship between African cinema and history.

“I’m at the stage in my career where I’m excited to start putting down into a book the kinds of explorations as a curator, as a scholar, as a historian, but also as a teacher, that I’ve had experiencing teaching African history through, and with, film.”

Professor Poë’s experience at UTM Poë continued from page 12 Poë remains highly involved in the UTM community. She regularly participates in field trips and organized events with residence students. “My fondest memories of UTM all involve my students and how fortunate I am to have them as an ever-evolving family to which I can contribute and with whom I continue to learn,” she says.

The University of Toronto Mississauga has changed in many ways throughout Poë’s fifty years. The campus has transformed from one and a half buildings to the expanse that it is now. The eminence and significance of research has grown and the student experience has been increasingly enriched. Poë also remarks that the birth of the internet has had a profound effect on the way information and education is delivered, shared, and interpreted.

Poë has never stopped working on her own projects. An ambitious professor, she is constantly aiming to increase the educational level of chemistry at UTM and in the greater community. In recent years, undergraduate UTM research students, in

collaboration with local high schools and under Poë’s guidance, have developed a system of teaching high school chemistry through problem-based learning. Next year, this project will be adapted into CPS401Y5: Research and Development in Science Education, a fourth-year course available to students completing a Chemical and Physical Sciences major or specialist program.

To any student currently in a STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—area of study, Poë gives the following advice: “Despite pressures from your parents, you don’t all have to aspire to be doctors. There are a multitude of other professions through which you can contribute to society while satisfying your intellectual curiosity. Follow your passion and embrace it.”

Poë is not only passionate about chemistry. She is also an ardent supporter of the Chicago Bulls, an American professional basketball team.

Speaking with her has truly inspired me in my journey as a student, and if you get the chance to connect with her, she will undoubtedly inspire you as well.

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Professor Poë masterfully teaches several chemistry courses at UTM.

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THE MEDIUM 11.11.2019

From compositional art to readymades Marcel Duchamp’s readymades challenged the idea of art as a planned composition for the first time SASHA RODRIGUEZ CONTRIBUTOR

As outlined in Rosalind Krauss’s opening line to a chapter dedicated to Marcel Duchamp’s Etant Donnés in “Art since 1900,” a textbook she co-wrote with four other art historians, “One way […] of characterizing the aesthetic climate of the sixties is to notice the degree to which Picasso’s reputation had become eclipsed

by Duchamp’s.” Indeed, although Picasso, Braque, Metzinger, Kandinsky, and other artists in the early twentieth century played with the standards of painting and laid the grounds for abstract expressionism, they were still following the rules of pictorialism.

By drifting away from making art to choosing readymades—a term coined by Duchamp that refers to

a prefabricated object of the artist’s choosing that is elevated to the status of art, and thus liberated from its original function—Duchamp became, and may still remain, a scapegoat to those who wonder why “real,” figurative art was replaced by impersonal geometric patterns, minimalistic metal cubes, theatrical performances with no plot or obvious meaning, identical repetitions of Campbell soup cans, and well, urinals.

What is the point of this work of art? Can I find a place for it in my living room to add to my artsy decor? Would my five-year-old son be able to replicate this work? As frustrating and ignorant as these questions might sound to most art lovers, these inquiries were the engine for a new generation of conceptual artists after Duchamp’s Fountain.

Before Duchamp’s readymade, art was compositional. There was

PHOTO/WIKIART.ORG

The Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917.

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a visual experience and retinal relationship between the viewer and the work of art. The existence of a composition both in painting and sculpture implied the existence of a maker—the artist—who was evaluated according to the standard’s composition and skill.

As early as in 1913-191414—before Picasso’s revolutionary Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was even presented to the public—Duchamp created, but did not yet display, his first readymades, Bicycle Wheel and Bottle Rack, challenging the idea of art as a planned composition for the first time. He took an existing industrial object and rid it of its function by misplacing it and sometimes combining it with other trivial mass produced objects.

Duchamp’s readymades were ordinary, and industrially produced to praise the everyday and the momentary—two concepts that fascinated Duchamp—to establish an intellectual rather than visual artviewer interaction, to question the purpose of objects and of art itself, and to liberate the artist from crafting.

Up until Duchamp, the traditions of art required the artist to be the designer and craftsman of his work, who ideally would be recognizable from his “signature” subjects and technique. Duchamp removed the making and designing of art from this equation and moved the accepted relationship of the artist, their art, and the viewer of the art in an intellectual direction. Now, the artist’s main accomplishment was the idea: the artist became more of a thinker than a maker.

Thus, Duchamp removed the focus from the work of art and placed it on the immortality of the concept, which essentially would be what the artist would be remembered for.

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PHOTO/WIKIART.ORG

Bottle Rack by Marcel Duchamp, 1914.

Duchamp didn’t see the point in authorship or signature style; anyone could copy his readymades without any training or skill, but those will only be replicas of the original thought. This shift in the artist’s role in the creation of art was one of the bases for the exploration of new purposes of art, especially in the works of Ellsworth Kelly, Carl Andre, Allan Kaprow, and Fluxus artists.

Marcel Duchamp is one controversial figure in modern art. He has been, and still is, praised by some and questioned by others, and an attempt to uncover the whole com-

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plexity of his motives and ideas would be desultory.

It would be appropriate to quote sculptor Carl Andre in this respect: “Art is what we do. Culture is what is done to us. A photograph of an art object is not the art object. An essay about an artist’s work is not the artist’s work.” However, regardless of the reading of Duchamp’s work and intentions, it comes without saying that his substantial contribution to conceptual art has served as the base for many artists to come after him, and is still present in contemporary art today.

12/05

12:00 - 3:00

7:30

8:00

10:00 - 6:00

Presentation Room

Theatre Erindale

Hart House Theatre

IB

UTM FSA Presents: FAYCE

The Oresteia

Portia’s Julius Caesar

UTM Exam Jam

Hungry for some Filipino food on campus? Want to support local Filipino restaurants? Join the UTM FSA for a classic Filipino meal.

Theatre Erindale Studio Series presents their latest production of The Oresteia.

Portia’s Julius Caesar is an unapologetically feminist take on Shakespeare’s classic account. Watch Hart House Theatre’s rendition this weekend.

UTM’s semi-annual Exam Jam returns for a full day of academic review and fun!

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Editor | Sarah-May Edwardo Oldfield

Quiet star-athlete leaves loud UTM legacy UTM’s most decorated female athlete is a recent graduate but still heavily involved in campus athletics SARAH-MAY OLDFIELD SPORTS & HEALTH EDITOR

Jayde Forde is a recent graduate from UTM. She completed a major in math and a double minor in statistics and economics. Forde’s family is from Montreal, with roots in Barbados. Forde was born in Toronto but moved to Brampton when she was just a baby and now lives with her mom and aunt, two of her biggest supporters.

“My mom has always been supportive,” said Forde. “My dad has never been in the picture. My mom always encourages me to do what I want, especially in soccer. But she’s one of those annoying soccer moms that scream at you while you’re on the field. But she’s the reason I’ve reached where I am today and achieved all that I have.”

Despite her heavy involvement in athletics and sport, sports is not a thing in Forde’s family, let alone soccer. “I really don’t know where I get it from.”

Forde’s mom, like most parents, put Forde in various activities as a child, from Girl Guides to soccer.

When she was four years old, Forde was enrolled in a sports camp that featured soft ball, soccer, dodgeball and others. “I just liked soccer the most.”

Forde’s mom gave her the chance to try other things, but Forde wasn’t interested. In high-school Forde was just as much a multisport athlete as she is now, having played soccer, basketball, and volleyball. But soccer was always her favourite.

Forde played for UTM’s Varsity Women’s soccer team for three and a half seasons, but didn’t join the team in her first year at UTM. Like many young women entering university, the decision to stay involved in sport is a tough decision, especially if eventually going professional isn’t the goal.

“I’d played soccer my whole life.

And I wanted to see what it would be like without it. I wanted to experience my first year of university without sports. I just did school and spent time with friends. And then I realized how much I missed it, and how much I needed it to be a part of my life. It impacted my grades and my physical health.”

In her second year, Forde was encouraged by her Residence Don and member of UTM’s Varsity soccer team, Jennifer Soehner. “[Soehner] saw me playing soccer at one of the Colman Cup events and encouraged me to try out.” Forde tried out the following year and made the team.

Alongside playing Varsity soccer for UTM, Forde was heavily involved in campus athletics playing intramural volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, and

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Soccer is a big part of this alumna’s life, so she has returned to UTM to coach. soccer.

Forde described the transition from student to student-athlete as different but “a good different.”

“It definitely helped with time management, which was non-existent for me in my first year. In my first year, I just did things whenever I wanted. Soccer gave me structure. I don’t think I saw it as being difficult [being a student-athlete] because it was fun. Soccer was always fun.”

One of her favourite moments about playing for UTM was scoring

Forde played center back at UTM, and prefers the position. “I think I see the field the best when I’m back there. When I’m striker, I feel like I’m useless. I’m not the kind of player that uses all these tricks to get around defenders. It’s not what I’m strong at.

I’m strong at defending—catching up with someone with the ball, taking it away or clearing the ball. I feel like I can see the channels to pass, as a striker you just see where to score.”

Carreiro has nothing but positive things to say about Forde. “Jayde

cer teams growing up, each team more competitive than the last.

Forde’s mom believes if her daughter joined all the teams that offered, she might have had an opportunity to play for team Canada. But Forde, herself, has no regrets. “I had fun.”

Surprisingly, Forde doesn’t follow soccer: she’s an NBA fan. “I love soccer, but basketball is just a lot more fun to watch.” Her favourite teams are the Raptors and the Golden State Warriors. Her favourite player is Stephen Curry. “He can shoot threes,

UTM ATHLETICS/FACEBOOK

Jayde hopes to inspire and lead the future female athletes of UTM, and change the culture. a goal in the final seconds of a game.

“I scored a goal in the 90th minute, tying the game and causing the other team’s coach to yell at their goalie.”

Forde’s other favourite moment was when she was named an OCAA All-Star in her final season of play.

An award given to a select few athletes, as each division picks 10-15 that stand out within the league.

Her former coach, assistant coach and Humber hall of famer, Sonia Carreiro, reiterated the incredible accomplishment. “It was a great accomplishment that Jayde had in her soccer career at UTM—she was the first UTM Women’s Soccer player to be named to the OCAA All-Star team in the 2018 outdoor season.”

Forde is one of the most decorated female soccer players that UTM has had in our five years as a varsity program. Game in and game out, Forde was known for her outstanding defensive play. On the field she took over the games, unyielding to any attack that came down her way. She was the type of player that you hated to play against but you loved to have on your team.

“Forde not only put in the work on the field but she also put in the work off the field as well. She grew into a player that bought into the team atmosphere and gave it 150 per cent at every game. Forde was a coach’s dream,” says Carreiro.

Forde played on a number of soc-

and he just seems like a great person outside of basketball.”

On the UTM’s Varsity team, Forde felt she was someone the team could rely on. “If I’m back there [center back] it’s not as big of a worry.

They’re confident in me to help out in case our defense broke down.”

It’s been nearly a year since Forde graduated from UTM and from the Women’s Soccer team. She now helps out with the team as a manager, assistant coach of the Tri-Campus Women’s Basketball team and is the head coach of UTM’s Tri-Campus Women’s Soccer team. Forde goes to team practices and games.

“My old teammates are the rea-

son I wanted to come back. I’d made such close bonds with them.

And the Coach asked if I wanted to stay involved, and I said yes.” Forde made the decision to coach to see what it would be like on the other side. “I’ve always played. I’ve never really coached anything before. I’m just learning and seeing the different challenges. And it has been challenging, but it’s been fun. I’m learning new things all the time, and I’ll learn as the year goes on.”

Carreiro wasn’t surprised with Forde’s decision to stay involved in the game. “When the opportunity came up for Jayde to coach her own team, she did not hesitate and was up for the challenge. She is someone who loves the sport and wants to be involved with the community. And although Jayde may not be as outspoken as her peers, she has grown into a leader who leads by example. She has continued to inspire others by her dedication and compassion to others.

She is always the first one to help anyone out who needs it.”

Forde sometimes underplays the impact she has on her teammates.

Current senior varsity soccer player, Noor Aldoori believes that Forde is a true leader by example. “Playing with Jayde was such an honor because she was a player who you could just put your entire faith in. Every game she would show up and execute her job very well—no complaining, no excuses. She was not always the most animated and vocal player, but when she was, it was always something very meaningful and important.”

Playing for UTM has brought Forde out of her shell, having always been a shy person. “I’m definitely still a little shy, but I’ve become more outspoken. I feel like sports is in my blood. I just like to play things and be active. Being a part of an athletic community just makes sense. I feel like I’d be lost if I wasn’t a part of something, even if I’m not playing.”

Forde’s heavy involvement in sports at UTM paid off when she was awarded UTM’s highest Athletic Award: Female Athlete of the Year. It was a secret goal of Forde’s to win the award, having won it at every school she attended from middle school to high-school. In 2018, she capped off her academic and athletic journey at UTM with her fifth and final Female Athlete of the Year award.

Despite the awards and the praise, Forde wants her actions and attitude to be how people remember her.

“I hope that for future students I’m someone they can look up to, and strive to be like. The female sports culture at UTM hasn’t been the greatest. I want other women to see the types of experiences you can have when you just try, whether it be a sport you love or something new.”

16

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 11.11.2019

Treating depression just got more effective New metacognitive therapy proves to be a more effective form of treatment for symptoms of depression ANDREW STONE ASSOCIATE S & H EDITOR Depression is one of the most destructive mental illnesses, and most people have likely suffered from depression, or have known someone who has dealt with the disease in some way.

According to a report from the World Health Organization in 2018, more than 300 million people worldwide are affected by depression.

With the availability of many types of therapy and antidepressant medications, depression is quite manageable. However, it is important to note that depression affects people differently and treatments can have varying effectiveness.

A recent article published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology discussed potential changes in treating depression in the future. The study wanted to understand whether Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) is an effective treatment and if it is better than other types of depression therapy.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most commonly used treatments for depression,

HAYDEN MAK/THE MEDIUM-

Metacognitive therapy hopes to stop the cycles of rumination and worry that cause depression. along with antidepressants. CBT is a structured form of therapy that is problem-focused and goal orientated.

This therapy aims to aid people in dealing with depression by helping them learn to identify, question, and change their attitudes and beliefs that contribute to their emotional and behavioural reactions to problems.

The problem with CBT and many

other treatments is that they don’t strive to deal with the long-term effects of depression. CBT has been known to have relapse rates of up to 60 per cent after two years and does not provide patients with preventative measures for future symptoms.

This is where Metacognitive Therapy hopes to address the problem. MCT, as its name implies, focuses on chang-

ing the metacognitive beliefs (a person’s internal thoughts) people have that maintain states of worry, rumination (continuously thinking about the same negative thought), and fixation that are associated with depression.

MCT strives to treat the current symptoms and enlist strategies that prevent patients from relapsing.

These strategies are used to fight off

negative thoughts and beliefs that run rampant in a depressed person’s mind that bring them to relapse. Some of these strategies include conceptualization, learning triggers for rumination, attention training, challenging beliefs about uncontrollability of rumination, and relapse prevention.

The report is a follow-up to a previous study where 39 patients (ranging from 18 to 54 years of age) with major depression were given weekly MCT sessions for 10 weeks. After one year following treatment, 34 patients participated in the follow-up assessment. They found that 67 per cent of the patients were considered recovered and 13 per cent had improved.

The final 20 per cent were found to be unchanged in their mental states.

This report shows that MCT has the potential to be a game-changer in treatments for depression. While the study praises its effectiveness for the subjects of the trials, they also emphasize that more research should be conducted to fully grasp MCT’s capabilities and if it really is more effective than other treatments.

Air pollution The long arm of childhood experience impacts child mental illness Childhood experiences and family SES is shown to impact quality of health in mid-life and in later adult-hood

Acute exposure to harmful air particles has shown to increase admissions to ER pediatric psychiatrics NOOR BHATIA CONTRIBUTOR

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

A low socioeconomic background can create a higher risk for health problems later in life.

HIRA BURNEY CONTRIBUTOR A recent study by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) based in Germany, studied the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood and its later effects on health satisfaction across the course of an individual’s life. This study supports the notion of a “long arm of childhood conditions” that is defined in the study as “an enduring influence of early life conditions on adult morbidity and mortality.”

Nadia Steiber, one of the researchers, believes that a higher socioeconomic status, in numerous situations, tends to promote good health and healthy aging. Individuals that tend to enjoy better health at all stages of their life are commonly those with higher levels of education, in higher occupational positions, and are financially stable with greater access to

resources.

Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are at a higher risk of an earlier onset and a faster progression of functional health problems later in life. They are at a higher risk of developing, and dying from, cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. Although the health implications of low socioeconomic status during childhood may not be visible in mid-life, childhood conditions can still show a lagged effect on health satisfaction in later life when chronic diseases start being felt. Additionally, the mortality risk from some cancers is higher among those of lower socioeconomic status in childhood.

For mid-life, parental education mainly has indirect effects. Since childhood conditions set the path to adult attainment and later health exposures, this again implies that policies that help to mitigate early disadvantages are of central importance.

Given that effects of low parental education on health satisfaction in midlife are indirect and irreversible, later intervention can make improvements to earlier disadvantages.

However, the research performed that produced these conclusions has some limitations. Using a subjective measure of health, which is one’s own satisfaction with their current health, is subjective and differs from person to person. Also, self-assessing health is somewhat associated with physical health and even more strongly associated with mental health as age increases.

The results obtained from this research suggest that the most appropriate time for intervention is childhood. Improving the socioeconomic conditions and health-relevant environments earlier in life lays the foundation for a positive socioeconomic status trajectory, and reduces healthrelated problems later on in life.

It only takes short-term exposure to certain particles in the air, which cause air pollution, to significantly increase the frequency of visits to the emergency department of pediatric psychiatrics. These particles, known collectively as particulate matter, have different sizes and are measured by their aerodynamic diameter.

A particulate matter of size 2.5, referred to as PM2.5 (particle matter that is 2.5 microns or less in diameter), was investigated in a study conducted by the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio. The study focused on explaining the exacerbating effects of acute exposures to air pollution, and how this is related to the associated risks for pediatric psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits. The study was conducted using a time-stratified case-crossover study to evaluate the potential association between PM2.5 exposure and psychiatric pediatric ED visits. A time-stratified case-crossover design involves comparing exposure levels when the health event or situation occurs to exposure levels when it does not.

The study was conducted over a five-year period. Researchers found

evidence that showed a significant link between short-term PM2.5 exposure and an increase in psychiatric ED visits in both children and adolescents of various ages and both sexes. Researchers took data from 13,176 patients who visited the psychiatric ED category and who were diagnosed with various disorders and problems such as stress, anxiety, adjustment, depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, and suicidality.

Another important finding of this study was the association between short-term exposures to air pollution and psychiatric ED visits being strengthened by an additional factor: community deprivation.

Community deprivation is a collective term including social isolation, childhood sexual abuse, deprived of educational attainment, or any other factors pertaining to social deprivation The study also suggests that material deprivation, lack of basic necessities such as food and water during childhood, negatively affects the normal functioning of the brain and immune system, thus making children much more susceptible to air-pollution related respiratory diseases. Overall, this study has found compelling evidence that emphasizes a need for further research.