Vol 38 issue 9

New medical building officially opens Students call the new Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex home STEFANIE MAROTTA NEWS EDITOR Under a white canopy next to the CCT Building, faculty, staff, and members of the community gathered to celebrate the completion of the official opening of the Terrence Donnelly Health and Sciences Complex and the Mississauga Academy of Medicine on Tuesday.

The academy is a partnership between the Government of Ontario, UTM, the U of T Faculty of Medicine, Trillium Health Centre, and Credit Valley Hospital. This year, 54 first-year medical students officially enrolled as students at the St. George campus will call the $37 million, four-storey structure home.

The biomedical communications program and the Department of Anthropology also share the building.

In spite of the distance from St. George, the program will provide medical students with the tools and clinical opportunities to specialize in general surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, and both family

Men wear wedges for pledges LORI-LEE EMSHEY ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

The academy will have a total of 216 students in the four-year program, providing the most close-knit learning environment in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine.

The UTM Women’s Centre held the Walk Five Minutes in Her Shoes event at the Student Centre last Wednesday to raise money and awareness of violence against women. From 1 to 2 p.m., male pledges navigated an obstacle course, catwalked, and posed in heels.

“We hope the event makes people aware that the issue of violence towards women is still going,” said Synthia Truong, the advertisement and promotions coordinator at the UTM Women’s Centre. All proceeds will go to Interim Place, a women’s shelter in Mississauga, said Truong.

After the obstacle course, the pledges lined up again for the catwalk challenge. Pledges, alone or in groups of two or three, walked along a chalk catwalk and posed at the end.

Building continued on page 2

Heels continued on page 3

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

The ribbon was snipped; the Health Science Complex is officially open. and community medicine.

“I noticed that at Credit Valley the physicians want to learn about the students. I didn’t see that in the downtown campuses,” said Shawn Chhabra, a first-year Mississauga Academy of Medicine student.

“When I though of what I wanted to get out of my four years, particularly in the last two clinical years, I knew that to get that real hands-on experience, being in a smaller setting that’s more community-focussed would happen in Mississauga.”

UCS takes a pie in the face Society raises money for cancer research at the Fair for Hope ADAM ERB The Undergraduate Commerce Society filled the Blind Duck Pub with thumping bass beats, shaved heads, and flying pies for the Fair for Hope on Thursday.

The Blind Duck swelled with enthusiastic volunteers, cheering students on to give whatever they could in an effort to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. At booths with video games, baked goods, authentic Indian cuisine, and photographs, all proceeds were donated to the cause.

Students volunteered to sit on a wooden chair on the main stage of the pub and appeal to the crowd for donations. Whenever a target was met, a pie was thrown at their face, making a sloppy mess of whipped cream.

UNICEF@UTM fundraiser Principal Deep Saini dressed up as a donation box for the “Make October Count for Kids” campaign.

Medium News, page 2

Drop Fees?

What Dalton McGuinty actually promised—and why you shouldn’t believe what you hear.

Medium Opinion, page 4

Macbeth preview

The Medium interviews the director and lead actor of the production, which opens this week.

Medium A&E, page 5

The pill—and the man JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Students put themselves in the line of fire to raise donations.

“Getting hit with a pie felt awesome, though my ears are still ringing,” said Michael Jameson, a fourth-year finance student. “It made me feel silly, but it’s for a

really good cause.”

Anyone could sign up to be pied for whatever amount they had in their pocket. After the price had been named, people

would pool their money together and each had the opportunity to throw a pie.

Fair continued on page 3

What you don’t know about birth control.

Medium Features, page 8

White vs. Law Eagles basketball trounced Law at home last week.

Medium Sports, page 11

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«NEWS THE MEDIUM 11.07.2011

UNICEF wraps it up UTM principal Deep Saini dressed up as a life-size donation box with UNICEF@UTM. JEROME JOHNSON STAFF WRITER In celebration of National UNICEF Day, UNICEF@UTM organized a Halloween-themed fundraising event on Monday afternoon outside the Student Centre with their special guest, UTM principal Deep Saini, dressed as a life-size donation box.

“The students asked if I would get involved, and it’s a great, wonderful cause on UNICEF Day, helping children across the world,” Saini said. “I happen to know from a very personal experience how education can transform your life, how it can lift you out of poverty and marginalization into prominence. It can completely change—not only your personal life—it can change families and communities.”

About 10 volunteers and several members of the UTMSU Executive Board sported blue tshirts as they spread awareness

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Deep Saini, UTM’s principal and U of T’s Principal, roamed campus in a UNICEF box. of the plight of non-first-world children who can’t attend school.

“We’re UNICEF@UTM, on behalf of UNICEF, and this is our first year on campus,” explained

WRITE FOR

NEWS!

Alicia Pompey, the event organizer. “It’s called ‘Make October Count for Kids’, and we’re raising money for education because we want to lessen illiteracy in the

 Campus politics, clubs, pub nights, and more!

world. I think it would be great to give someone else a chance and we thought it would be the perfect time to raise money to tie it in with Halloween.”

Mississauga celebrates first medical academy Building continued from Cover

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email: news@mediumutm.ca

REMEMBRANCE DAY OBSERVANCE At 11:00 a.m. on Friday, November 11th, 2011 members of UTM will again observe Remembrance Day at the Flagstaff in front of the William G. Davis Building.

The ceremony will begin at 10:45 a.m. with remarks by Vice-President & Principal, Deep Saini, followed by the reading of “In Flanders Fields” by UTMSU Gilbert Cassar and the traditional two minutes of silence in commemoration of those who died in past wars.

In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Meeting Place, William G. Davis Building.

Faculty and Department Heads are asked to allow staff and students time to attend in this remembrance ceremony.

Amid the ghoulish decorations, posters, camera crews, and boombox pumping out loud contemporary pop music, the main event was coordinated into three main staging areas in front of the Blind Duck pub: a barbecue serving up $2 entrées of pork and chicken, a station for henna tattooing, and a table where bundles of candy were sold.

Volunteers posed with students in photo-ops and informed them of some of the success UNICEF Canada has had so far, including rebuilding an elementary school in Haiti that had been destroyed by an earthquake.

“We’re aiming for $500 because this is just a small-scale event, but we think the barbecue will be selling well,” Pompey said.

The goal of this and similar UNICEF drives across Canada is to send five million children in the developing world to school by the year’s end.

“I think because we’re the first ones here, there will be a lot of responsibility on us to take a lot of initiative to try and emulate the same things that are occuring downtown and make sure that we have the same resources available to us.

It’s going to test our leadership abilities,” said Jessica Rabski, another first-year MAM student.

“When I though of what I wanted to get out of my four years, particularly in the last two clinical years, I knew that to get that real hands-on experience, being in a smaller setting that’s more community-focussed would happen in Mississauga.”

—Shawn Chhabra The TDHSC includes lecture halls and classrooms equipped with videoconferencing. Lectures are broadcast live from the St. George campus so that UTM medical students can engage in the lessons and observe dissections.

“It is a testament to our ability to provide first-rate education to our students,” said Deep Saini, U of T’s vice-president and UTM’s principal. “They participated in that lecture as if they were all in the same location. I have sat through one of those lectures and it is truly an amazing experience.”

The MAM is the university’s fourth medical academy and the first based outside Toronto.

“It’s so great to have these students at the Mississauga Academy of Medicine, and I just met five of them. They are not from Mississauga, but I can assure you that I’ve already talked to them and when they graduate, they’ll set up their office in Mississauga. And I’ll be working on the other 50 as well,” said Mayor Hazel McCallion.

The TDHSC received funding from the Government of Ontario and private donors, Terrence Donnelly and Carlo Fidani, to train highly skilled doctors that will practice in Ontario and provide more efficient healthcare.

“We have here in Ontario one of the best healthcare systems in the world, but the benefits of that system must be made more accessible at the local neighbourhood and community level,” Terrence Donnelly said.

After the reception, medical students led group tours around the building.

11.07.2011 THE MEDIUM NEWS

Women’s Centre walks in her shoes Heels continued from Cover The audience voted, in the form of applause, for their favourite.

“Make it sexy,” said Antara Ashr, the volunteer coordinator at the UTMWC. Chad Jankowski, who wore a size-12 pair of three-inch pointytoe pumps, was an audience favourite and won the catwalk challenge.

Nick Biasutti, a Peer Health Education member and fourth-year student, won the prize for most money raised overall.

“It’s very difficult. I’m a runner normally,” said Biasutti. “But I didn’t even come close. I give [women] credit for being able to walk in heels.”

The Women’s Centre also drew the raffle for a gift basket. The basket contained over $100 worth in gift cards and chocolate and was won by Nicole Di’Orio.

After the event, pledges, volunteers, and donors celebrated with pizza, supplied by the Women’s Centre.

“Volunteers did an excellent job,” said Ashra. “It was a group effort.”

In total, the pledges, donations, and raffle tickets raised more than $500 for Interim Place, a shelter for abused women and their children in the Peel Region. Every year

»

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»what is the Ontario

Government doing for post-secondary Education?

Matt Fourth-year, CCIT

Nickie Second-year, Politics

“I don’t know, I’m uninformed about it. I guess I don’t really care.”

“They promised grants for students from families with incomes of $160,000.”

Ali Alumni, Life Sciences

Krishan Fourth-year, Engineering

“Raising tuition? Cutting back funding?”

“I have no idea what they’re doing. Probably cutting funding.”

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Male students stumbled in heels to win prizes.

Interim Place gives shelter, food, counselling, and advocacy to women in need.

“I hope the event continues next year,” said Nicole Ferreira, a fourth-year psychology student.

“Each year more people participate

and the event gets bigger and bigger.”

Students interested in joining the Women’s Centre can visit their office at NB131D or email them at utmwc@utoronto.ca. Both men and women are welcome.

Halloween Carnival raises money for Japan

Clubs come together for a common cause

UTM’s Student Centre was turned into a “Haunted Carnival” in celebration of Halloween last Monday.

UTMSU collaborated with the Japanese Society for Erindale Students, the Vietnamese Student Association, the Erindale Singapore Malaysian Society, the Indonesian Student Community, and the Erindale Gaming Organization to raise funds for the Red Cross Japanese Earthquake relief operation.

“After the Japanese earthquake, people donated for a certain period of time, but stopped after a while,” said Joleena Teo,

the president of ESMS. “Many victims have yet to have their lives fully restored after that disaster, and we hoped that an event like this can continue to create awareness that these victims still need our help.”

ESMS held a “coffin-fishing” game and created a wishing well. Fish bowls and fish tanks were set up at the booth, and participants were allowed to keep the fish they caught.

The haunted house was a maze on the second floor of the Student Centre; it drew a crowd well into the night. The maze included decorations, dark corners, scary music, and student volunteers dressed up as ghosts.

Besides the five clubs that of-

ficially hosted the event, other clubs were also invited to be part of the event to promote themselves and participate in setting up booths for the carnival. Two such clubs were Lifeline and the Organization of Latin American Students.

“Our club wanted to get more involved on campus, and especially since this is for a good cause,” said Virginia Vedia, the president of OLAS. Among those who dressed up for the event were YouTube Man (who wore a cardboard box with an iPad attached, the screen of which broadcast your face when you looked into it), a hammerhead shark, and Edward Scissorhands.

In the first half of the event, the school had raised a few hundred dollars. That was before one confident student hit the stage. He promised the crowd that if they could raise over $100, they could throw pies at any part of his body.

A few minutes and $500 later, over a dozen people volleyed gooey pastries at him.

The booths at the event were run by various campus clubs. The Erindale Gaming Association offered a booth with various Nintendo games and a donation jar beside the screen, the Pakistan Youth Alliance dished out delicious chicken biryani, and the UTM Student Support offered designer henna tattoos. The clubs were funded partially out of their own budget and partially by a

special donation from UTMSU. “All of these clubs come together for a common cause,” said Aimen Pervez, a representative of UTM Student Support. “Cancer research is a very big cause.”

Hundreds of students flocked to this event to watch the show and donate to the cause.

“It’s great to see people give what they can,” continued Pervez.

“We all needed a small break from school in order to relax and chill out. And what better way than to raise money for cancer research, grab some good food, and watch a bunch of people getting pied in the face?”

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 117,880 new cases will surface and over 75,000 cancer-related deaths will occur in late 2011 and early 2012.

Doctor discovers how to permanently turn brown eyes blue

Armageddon: asteroid comes in close encounter with Earth

Scarborough man faces charges; a woman and two children in hospital

Greek prime minister to step down pending a coalition agreement

Woman found dead at Occupy Vancouver tent city; tents to be removed

After a decade of work, Dr. Gregg Homer of Stroma Medical has figured out how to turn brown eyes blue. The process uses a laser tuned to a specific frequency to remove the brown pigment called melanin.

It takes about 20 seconds to complete and doesn’t impair the patient’s vision. Homer estimates that the procedure will cost $5,000.

Asteroid 2005 YU 55 will come in closer proximity to Earth than does the moon on Tuesday evening, allowing scientists to study the rock without launching a probe. It’s the first time in over 30 years that such a large asteroid has passed by Earth. The asteroid is about 1,312 feet in diameter and will pass about 320,000 km from the planet.

A 27-year-old man faces three counts of attempted murder and one count of attempting to disarm a police officer. Two children and a woman fell from the fourth floor of an apartment building in Scarborough. Both children were rushed to Sick Kids Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The accused man appeared in court Sunday morning and will remain in custody until November10.

The Greek prime minister avoided a no-confidence vote on Saturday after he expressed his intention to resign once a coalition deal is made.

PM Papandreou requested that President Papoulias hold a meeting with him and the leader of the opposition to work out an agreement. “This uncertainty that is torturing the Greek people must end. We must find a solution,” said the president.

A 20-year-old woman was found dead in a tent at the Occupy Vancouver protest. The woman was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead on the scene. Protestors speculate the cause was a drug overdose.

The day before, a man nearly died from an overdose at the camp. The mayor said the camp is not safe and announced that the tents will be cleared out as soon as possible.

Source: Huffington Post

Source: Reuters

Source: Toronto Star

Source: Globe and Mail

Source: CTV

CLIFF LEE

Fair continued from Cover

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11.07.2011

MEDIUM OPINION Editor-in-Chief » Michael Di Leo

Dropping fees? Look closer It’s that time of the year again.

“Drop Fees” fever has taken over our campus and, as usual, we are being treated to politically-charged rants, Guy Fawkes masks, and other assorted paraphernalia that was paid for by, well, our fees.

Irony aside (it deserves an editorial in its own right), I’d like to take a moment and meditate on an important part of the campaign. It is a number, but not just any number. This number has been quoted by student unions across the province (including our own), and it will play a crucial role in all that follows over the next few months.

30%. That’s what our student

union wants you to believe Dalton McGuinty promised to cut in student fees. Doesn’t it sound too good to be true? That’s because, simply put, it is.

Don’t believe me? Do a quick scan online. Read McGuinty’s platform. Do some research.

(You get enough practice with your assignments, don’t you?)

Here’s the lowdown: Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Party of Ontario pledged to give grants of $1,600 to students who come from families with an income of less than $160,000. That 30% everyone is talking about is the ratio of the grant to the average cost of university tuition. This is not a reduction of student fees in

any way, shape, or form—it’s just free money.

So what does that mean? Well, for one thing it means that tuition fees are likely to increase this year, as they have in the past. There is no reason why McGuinty can’t just raise fees to make up for the amount his government is spending on these grants (around $500 million). Of course, it’s unlikely that will happen, but the point is that a $1,600 grant does not a fees reduction make.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I love getting funds credited to my university account. But I do take issue when those around me (and those who

represent me) twist it into something else and then try to base an entire campaign on it.

I think this misrepresentation is an intentional attempt by our student union to drum up interest in the Drop Fees campaign scheduled to take place this coming February. Why? Because the event has proven quite unsuccessful in the past. Not only have student fees continued to rise (while per-student funding from the government has dropped), but I believe students have taken notice of the wastefulness of union spending on the campaign.

By advertising that McGuinty promised a 30% reduction in fees and arguing that the goal of the

Drop Fees rally is partly to “hold our politicians to account”, student unions can focus their antifees rhetoric on a visible target— a change from their previous unfocussed campaigns.

The reality is that student fees will rise this year. And next year. And the year after that. If our provincial government ever decides to revoke the grant, the spike will be even more visible. And when that happens, we won’t be able to argue that McGuinty promised a fee reduction.

Because he didn’t.

YOURS, MICHAEL DI LEO

Not so much East vs. West Dear Editor, Several weeks ago, the discussion in one of my classes turned to the idea of resisting “Orientalism”. There’s a long and complex discourse around the concept of Orientalism that I won’t go into here. Orientalism, most simply, and for our purposes, deals with the way in which (colonial) Western artists, writers and so on depicted the “Orient” (which just means “east”) as mysterious, exotic, romanticized, etc. (Think colonial paintings of Arabic harems full of half-naked women.) The discussion inevitably turned to the so-called “Orient” today, and how the people of these “Oriental” countries can now resist the images put upon them by colonizers so many decades ago. Within that discussion emerged a serious problem with our terminology.

It seemed as though, despite the professor’s efforts to keep our discussion in a territory that does not label sides as “East” or “West”, the discussion continually veered into a direction that titled the “us” as “Western” and the “them” as “Eastern”. Several of my classmates began their sentences with words like “We, as Westerners…”. This type of language did not bother me so much on a personal level, as much as it did in reference to what we were discussing.

Distinctions between East and West are not as clear now as they were during the colonial periods we have been discussing in that class, especially at a university that accommodates so many international students.

No doubt, there were students in that room from the very countries that are sup-

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Di Leo editor@mediumutm.ca NEWS EDITOR Stefanie Marotta news@mediumutm.ca ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Lori-lee Emshey

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posed to be part of the “Orient” (myself included). The same obviously extends to Mississauga and the rest of the GTA. It is important to remember that many of these people, no matter how long they’ve been in North America, do not identify as “Westerners”, but also that, they may not identify as “Easterners” either. Perhaps they identify as both—or neither. The point here is that this divide is no longer as clear, and that speaking of the divide as if it were clear is part of the problem that we were attempting to address in that very class. But how can we address an issue if we don’t have the proper vocabulary to do so?

“We” are not completely “Western” anymore, especially not in the colonizing sense.

And besides, what makes someone distinctly “Western”?

Is it a certain set of values? The

shape of a person’s nose?

I hate to be cliché and fixate on the “us” and “them” terminology here, but in some way or other using these terms shows a lack of understanding of the places, and more importantly of the people, being discussed. And while I am in no way implying that this lack of understanding is the fault of those who spoke that day, I definitely believe that language is an important part of how we internalize things.

A change in language obviously cannot fix decades of colonial occupation and an acquisition of power, but it is still an important step to take before we can even begin to have effective discussions about diversity, colonialism, and modernity, among other things.

Sincerely, Carine Abouseif

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11.07.2011

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MEDIUM A&E Editor » Nives Hajdin

Something wicked this way comes The Medium speaks with the cast and crew of Macbeth, opening this week at Hart House NIVES HAJDIN A&E EDITOR In anticipation of Hart House Theatre’s latest production, Shakespeare’s haunting Macbeth, we sat down to chat with director Jeremy Hutton and lead actor William Foley, as technical preparations continued into the cold, dark night ahead...

The Medium: Macbeth is one of the most frequently staged productions in the history of Shakespearean theatre and considered by many to be one of his most popular plays. What can audiences expect from your adaptation?

Jeremy Hutton: I think the exciting and interesting thing about this adaptation in the context of a plethora of weird, modern adaptations is that it’s set in 11thcentury Scotland and that it’s traditional in that time period setting, which is kind of new— William Foley: —and obscure to the audience [Hutton laughs].

Everybody’s trying something new...

JH: So the setting is obviously not a realistic setting, as you can see these melted trees [gestures to the stage], all reaching over the stonework of society, and the way that we tie that into the witches—that’s very modern and theatrical—but the treatment of the text and time period are pretty traditional.

TM: Jeremy, you’re Hart House Theatre’s first artistic director in over 30 years, and you’ve also been the resident fight director for countless productions. A play like Macbeth definitely calls for a lot of blood and violence, so how did you approach these scenes?

JH: [Laughs.] With glee! They’re fun to do. Sometimes you wonder why—when you’re doing, say, the murder of the Macduff family—you

wonder, “Why did we do this play?”, because scenes like that are just so graphically brutal. And then, of course, there are the battles; there’s a battle at the beginning, which some people choose to stage, and it’s something that we do, and a battle at the end, and it just takes a lot of long hours of choreographing it and piecing it all together. And, you know, those fights are still not— they’re still coming together, and they just take time, time, time... with—how many actors do we have? Twentytwo?

WF: Jeez, I don’t even know...

JH: Yeah, it’s a lot of people to choreograph.

TM: So most of the cast is involved somehow in the fight scenes?

JH: Most of them. There are some people who aren’t, but there are about 12 or 13...

WF: And at one or two points they’re all onstage, so it’s pretty impressive.

JH: But the violence in this show is a very important element of what this world is like, and who this guy Macbeth is in terms of being quite comfortable killing people before the show starts and yet being quite uncomfortable with the thought of murder. I think they’re very separate ideas, those two things... and how at the end of the play he becomes hardened—mostly—to his own acts of violence. There’s still an underlying ounce of vulnerability beneath it all—or regret, we’ll call it.

WF: Yeah, a regret of once being honourable and valiant, and having those morals to back up his violent acts, at least.

JH: So, if you don’t see the violent acts, then it sort of has less punch to it. Now, you don’t see the murder of Duncan, which I think is interesting; Shakespeare didn’t write it that way, but I’m sure people have staged it that way.

TM: Will, you’ve played Iago in Othello and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet in the past for Hart House, and now you’re taking on the complex character of Macbeth—all characters that are impulsive in their own way. Can you see a bit of yourself in any of these characters, and can you relate to them in some way?

WF: I disagree that Iago is impulsive; I think that he’s more manipulative, like he’s got very specific ideas. I mean, everything is impulsive to a certain extent; something happens and you react to it. And I think [sigh] I’d like to say Macbeth, but I almost say Iago simply because of the pettiness of him, and I’m not petty—I don’t think I am, anyway; I try not to be—but I think that I can relate to that, the underdog ideal, just from my life experiences and where I’ve come from in my upbringing. I think I can associate with that sort of ideal.

Macbeth is definitely the most difficult of the larger ones, and that would include Richard III in Halifax [i.e., in The Lion on Winter with Foghorn Theatre]. He’s easier to approach in that he’s just so openly malicious—doesn’t have any regrets about it. Macbeth, all of the thoughts, everything that happens, all of the villains in Shakespeare happen on stage with him, he has to go through the thought process in front of people and that’s what’s difficult about it—for me, anyway: to get to those points. To not be as openly vulnerable, I guess. Just, his thought process is very interesting.

TM: Do you guys believe in the “curse of Macbeth”, and have you had any freaky things happen onstage during rehearsals?

[Both laugh.] WF: I’ve walked under ladders intentionally...

JH: No, I don’t buy the curse, but…

Nives Hajdin/The Medium

Hutton and Foley: obligatory 11th-century facial hair.

I mean, we did have two back injuries and a finger sliced with four stitches, but injuries happen on all shows. I have more injuries in productions of Romeo and Juliet that I’ve worked on than in Macbeth [knocks on wooden table].

WF: He’s slightly superstitious. Is this actually wood? [Laughs.]

JH: But no, we don’t pay much attention; we can’t, because we’re sitting in a theatre saying the word all the time...

WF: Yeah, I’ve barely even considered it. I’ve considered it a couple of times. We have a broken mirror over here in the costume area, and I thought that’s completely appropriate for this, because I just scoff at that kind of superstition any-

way.

JH: My theory goes that when theatres are in financial trouble, they stage Macbeth because it’s a good ticket-seller, and a lot of them still shut their doors right after having done it because they didn’t make enough money on it—and I think that’s the curse [laughs]. A lot of theatres have shut down with Macbeth as their last production.

Macbeth opens on Wednesday, November 9 at Hart House Theatre, and runs until November 26. Visit harthouse.ca for show times and ticket prices, including $10 student tickets on Wednesday nights.

Be sure to pick up a copy of The Medium next week for our review!

“The book is a sensual object” AMIR AHMED This is a story about 12 people, one course, and cartload of font choices. It has a semi-sex joke in it, too.

The course was WRI420.

If you check the UTM course calendar, you’ll know it’s called “Making a Book”. I took the course in 2011, in the last semester of my last year. It began, like all writing classes, in CCT 3124—the first room on the third floor.

I sat with the other students at room 3124’s horseshoe-shaped

conference table. It was 3:14.

The class was supposed to start at 3:10.

Our professor, Dr. Guy Allen, entered through the door clutching a ripped, worn cardboard box. The box was filled with books. They jittered, skittered, and overflowed out of the ratty cardboard. A stack of them fell on the desk as he set them down.

“The book is a sensual object,” professor Allen proclaimed.

What he meant was that a book is a physical object. It has a weight, it has a scent; the pag-

es have a certain feeling. Don’t worry—I thought it meant something else, too.

“It’s also a sacred object,” he continued. That term didn’t have dirty implications, at least.

The “Making a Book” course is the culmination of UTM’s professional writing program.

At face value, it’s a simple premise: the chance for students to compile their work, or create new work, and self-publish a bound and printed book. In WRI420, we did everything; we chose fonts, we chose spaces.

Every dimension, every cut, and

every graphic choice you don’t see when you open up a book, we made. We chose paper. We copy-edited. (So. Much. Copyediting.) I’ll repeat: it’s a simple premise. But the reality of what the course does runs deeper—it goes beyond the mechanics of prose and dives into a principle.

The principle of “Making a Book” is empowerment, Dr. Allen told us. This principle includes using short print runs to sell small books to a community.

As Dr. Allen told us in lecture, the mainstream media does not reflect the real Canada, and

the wealth of stories in vibrant communities like the GTA. You’ll never see a book about a Chinese girl growing up in India (Goodbye, Calcutta) in a Penguin lineup, or a book about a nine-year imprisonment in a Syrian prison (Just Five Minutes), or a book about the edges of where we live (Dwellers on the Threshold). There were stories out there that weren’t getting told. But I’m pretty sure that someone out there thinks they’re stories worth writing.

Book continued on page 6

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«ARTS THE MEDIUM

11.07.2011

Art exhibit takes over office space in Toronto and internationally.

As well, I would recommend volunteering or interning at an arts organization so that they can experience the way exhibitions are organized in a professional environment, as well as be in contact with artists, arts administrators, and curators. I simply joined the Hart House Art Committee when I began my studies at the University of Toronto, and that really opened up the local art scene for me.

NIVES HAJDIN A&E EDITOR To mark 100 years since the birth of Marshall McLuhan, the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery’s fall 2011 exhibition series, How Near is Far, honours the achievements of the great Canadian media theorist by featuring a number of works that address the growing permeation of information technology in society. One particular exhibit, Location/ Dislocation, takes the concept even further, addressing themes like urbanization, colonialism, and gentrification.

Ultimately, the five featured artists convey a sense of cultural displacement that results from such factors pushing our information-driven world forward.

Curated by Denise Ryner in collaboration with Barbara Fischer, the director of Barnicke Gallery, Location/Dislocation occupies an atypical exhibition space on the 10th floor of the Jackman Humanities Institute on the St. George campus, yet perfectly captures the essence of bodies or objects dislocated from their expected surroundings. Particularly appropriate to the exhibition is McLuhan’s famous claim that “the medium is the message”, as the location actually plays a much more significant role than traditional “white cube” institutions that merely function as a backdrop. Ryner has interspersed the works of Will Kwan, Brendan Fernandes, Oliver Husain, Jamelie Hassan, and Karen Tam

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Fernandes’ Dada Afrika series. throughout the office, so that the resulting effect is reminiscent of a scavenger hunt in which the viewer is expected to poke their heads around corners and into seminar rooms. Everything that appears as though it was randomly placed is in fact what you are intended to see, including the ceramic ornaments of Tam’s Terra dos chinês in a brightly painted turquoise corner of the office and Fernandes’ Dada Afrika series, in which tribal masks have been painted on the otherwise bare walls of the seminar room.

The Medium: How does the theme of Location/Dislocation fit in with your own identity as both a curator and artist?

Denyse Ryner: I was easily able to identify with the JHI’s and the exhibition’s theme of Location/ Dislocation as someone living

in Toronto, a city that is home to so many different cultures and, like many urban centres, is also undergoing gentrification, where anyone can feel a sense of displacement whether uncomfortable or pleasant. As a curator, I drew on my experiences and sought out artists that did the same. During the planning and installation of this exhibition, the artists were travelling to and from residencies and other exhibitions or professional appointments all around the world, so I was constantly in contact with these five artists who were dislocated and orbiting around the world while I was the one in the centre, pulling their work into one space and connecting their ideas to one another.

TM: What advice do you have for aspiring curators? How can

students gain experience as they work towards a degree in the arts?

DR: I would say that students should get out to as many art exhibitions, panels, talks, and other events [as] they can so that they’re aware of the artists, curators, and institutions that are currently generating buzz

Denise Ryner is the current registrar and archivist at Art Metropole, a Toronto-based artist-run centre that collects, publishes, and distributes artist books, editions, multiples, and related ephemera. She is also a curatorial assistant with the Hart House Permanent Collection and serves on the editorial board of Fuse Magazine. Denise majored in fine art history and graduated from U of T with an HBA. Visit jmbgallery.ca for more information on the current exhibition series.

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Tam’s Terra dos chinês.

Making a book Book continued from page 5 “I gained a new passion—not just for writing, but for books in general,” said Jodelle Faye DeJesus. Jodelle published her book, Opening the Lampshade, this year. The book describes her childhood in the Philippines.

“This book will scream, ‘You can do it!’ ” says Catherine Lopes, a fourth-year professional writing student. Lopes is set to start the course in January. She plans to write about food: how it goes beyond the human need for survival and lets us explore love, community, and identity.

At the end of the course, it’s a tradition to hold a launch party at The Supermarket in Kensington Market in Toronto. The party is usually sometime in June.

You’ll see posters going up soon, telling you where to go. If you’re interested, check it out. I can assure you that you’ll hear stories you’ve never imagined before.

By the way, if anyone wants to know, my book was called Loser. It wasn’t very good. In fact, the text, the layout, and the whole damn colour scheme turned out pretty crap, its only saving grace being

a spectacular font choice (Apollo MT—possibly the most beautiful font out there).

But even if my first attempt failed, maybe that wasn’t the point of the course. I’ll be releasing a free e-book called Glitch through Smashwords. com in late January, and starting a new project soon after. Maybe it’s not a good idea; maybe the story will suck, maybe no one will read it, maybe my time will have been wasted. These books, like Loser, will be hard. They’ll be brief. They’ll be DIY. They’ll probably turn out hesitant, half-baked, maybe poorly written.

But they’ll be mine. And I guess that’s a story worth writing about.

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The annual WRI420 book launch celebrates UTM’s emerging talent.

11.07.2011 THE MEDIUM A&E

Album Review: LIVELOVEA$AP—A$AP Rocky ARISTOTLE ELIOPOULOS ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR Don’t let the dollar sign fool you. New York rapper A$AP Rocky doesn’t evoke the hip-thrusting bass-busting sounds of Dr. Luke-abuser and selfproclaimed sleazeball Ke$ha. Instead, this fresh Harlem rapper, who initially found some press on the blogging website Tumblr, and who recently signed a reported $3-million contract with major label Sony, shows the Internet some real rap skills with his debut mixtape, LIVELOVEA$AP. LIVELOVEA$AP is an introduction to a rapper gaining momentum.

Trying its best to use its release to grab the attention of old and new fans, LIVELOVEA$AP includes some great songs old fans of A$AP may already

know from his memorable viral videos, as well as some new richly produced recordings. “Peso”, a highlight on the mixtape, has everything you want in a slick rap song. Its slinky, twinkling background loop is juxtaposed with A$AP’s verses and dipped with swag and resilience. Brought up on the hard streets of Harlem and aware of life’s hardships, A$AP Rocky presents toughness in his delivery, but also soaks his lines with some wit (“Graduate school of hard knocks, I can show you my degrees: / couple A, B, Cs, bad bitch double D”).

What is impressive is the subtlety of A$AP Rocky’s rhymes: he chooses to avoid obvious end rhymes and double entendres and instead opts for the less obvious assonance, embedding his rhymes within the verse rather than

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tacking them on in the stronger position. It’s a choice that makes songs like “Peso” and “Get Lit” hard to grasp at first listen but much more rewarding after multiple play-throughs. As a whole, the songs on LIVELOVEA$AP each barely reach the three-minute mark, but this works to create small snapshots—teasers, even—of what’s to come in his later major label releases.

In “Purple Swag: Chapter 2”, another highlight, it seems like the beat has been filtered three times and slowed down. Dipped in sludge and put into a freezer to cool, the track drips with psychedelic funk and dirt, and has A$AP slurring his rhymes to mimic the production’s effect.

Despite the buzz surrounding Rocky, in the end there’s nothing immensely challenging or innovative about this debut, and it hardly seems to hint at a rapper with a supposed net worth of $3 million. The songs sometimes benefit from a smoky, drugfuelled haze, but sometimes this approach comes across as lazy, or worse, just dull. LIVELOVEA$AP is a solid rap collection that benefits from its cohesion and short length, and its format as a free downloadable mixtape makes it hard to dismiss for its lack of innovation. If anything, A$AP Rocky benefits from a smart choice of producers and strong standouts that are easy to pinpoint in the 16 tracks. But if this mixtape is meant to satisfy the wait for his official debut, he’ll need to work fast to get it out A$AP. MMM

That’s what she said COLLEEN MUNRO ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR

If you’re one of Mindy Kaling’s 1.5 million Twitter followers, then you’re already familiar with her bubbly, selfdeprecating, pop culture-obsessed persona. And there’s a good chance that you want her to be your best friend. If you don’t follow Kaling and don’t know who she is, I’ll fill you in. The writer/actress is best known for playing the vain and possessive Kelly Kapoor on NBC’s The Office, and she’s also a writer and producer for the show. But if her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), proves one thing, it’s that Kaling is not like her television character... that much.

Constructed as a series of essays, lists, and anecdotes, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? certainly doesn’t reinvent the genre of comic qausimemoirs. Tina Fey, David Cross, Mike Birbiglia, and many others have tried their hand at the literary world with similar results. Everything you’d expect Kaling to cover, she does. Her awkward childhood and teen years, her quirky family, and her rise to success all get ample coverage in the book.

However, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to write an entertaining book. One of the most important parts of the equation is having a distinct voice, and that’s one thing Kaling definitely has. She’s just as clever and sassy as you’d expect from her Twitter feed and her The Office persona, but she’s also very relatable. When she talks about the sadness that comes with growing apart from adolescent friends and the joy that comes with finding new, more compatible friends later in youth, there’s no punchline—and there

doesn’t need to be. She’s just using her own experiences to talk about things that everyone can relate to.

This down-to-earth approach is sustained throughout the book, especially in the first third or so, where Kaling recounts her adolescence and the early years of her career. Her stories of growing up aren’t especially bizarre, unusual, or even hilarious. But they’re really enjoyable to read because of Kaling’s knack for storytelling. When she talks about how awesome her best friend Bren is, you start to think Bren is pretty awesome, too, despite knowing almost nothing about her. You root for the illequipped post-grad Kaling to make it big in New York City, even as she bombs a string of auditions and interviews. This first part of the book is kind of like a quality romantic comedy film (a genre that Kaling semi-ashamedly admits to loving)—it’s easy to point out that there’s nothing groundbreaking on display, but it’s also hard not to get wrapped up in the characters and their stories, as familiar as they may feel.

The third major section of the book, titled “Hollywood: My Good Friend Who Is Also a Little Embarrassing”, feels different from anything up to that point. In this section, Kaling discusses how she got hired on The Office, and what her time on the show has been like. It’s equally interesting, but for entirely different reasons than the earlier parts of the book. The inside look into how television shows are made is fascinating, especially for fans of The Office. Those looking for tell-all secrets from the set will be disappointed, but Kaling does entertainingly lay out some of the process of writing an episode of The Office.

However, one downside to Is Every-

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one Hanging Out Without Me? is that it’s chock-full of pop culture references.

That isn’t inherently negative, but it does bring into question how the book will age. Will the Pippa Middleton or The Real Housewives references mean anything to readers 10 or even five years from now? The book reads like a long, well-written blog post at times, which is fun, but it also gives it a somewhat gimmicky, soon-to-be-dated quality.

Questions of timelessness aside, though, this is a hugely entertaining book. Kaling writes in a breezy, readable style, and she offers up several laugh-out-loud moments throughout. It’s a quick read (as Kaling writes in the introduction: “If you’re reading this book every night for months, something is not right”), and fans of The Office and Mindy Kaling will probably find a lot to like. Kaling might be different from her character, Kelly, in some key ways (which she helpfully lays out at the midpoint of the book), but she proves here that she can be just as funny and captivating. MMM ½

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7

Fall music playlist LYSAN SEQUEIRA Lately there have been so many great new albums that we’ve been downloading them into our iTunes faster than squirrels hoarding nuts for the winter.

But can you blame us? It’s getting chilly out there, and we can’t think of a better way to keep warm than to cozy up with a new list of hits, fresh off your stereo speakers. From new faces to rap royalty, these are the songs that will make you hit repeat the moment they finish.

“Blue Jeans”—Lana Del Rey If you mixed old-school Hollywood glamour with Stevie Nicks, you’d get Lana Del Rey. This 24-year-old from Lake Placid, New York proves that she’s not just another pretty face by delivering both romantic and tragic vocals on the minimalist yet retro “Blue Jeans”.

“Houdini”—Foster the People This hip trio has generated a lot of buzz, especially during the last few months, and we’re glad that they’re not just your average indie band.

“Houdini” features a synthesizerheavy clapping-and-stomping beat that manages to sound retro and futuristic at the same time.

“Paris”—Watch the Throne This track sums up what Jay-Z and Kanye West do best: talk sh*t on the mic. From the catchy lyrics “That sh*t

cray” to the sampling of dialogue from the 2007 hit movie Blades of Glory, “Paris” definitely proves that these two are in the zone—so watch the throne.

“Shake it Out” (The Weeknd remix) —Florence + the Machine This first single off her newly released LP Ceremonials gets remixed by Toronto’s own The Weeknd, but still manages to incorporate huge drum hits and the full-bodied voice that Florence is known for. The Weeknd’s voice is nowhere to be heard, but he could have easily written the dramatic words himself.

“Party” (remix)—Beyonce ft. J. Cole Queen B sings soulfully on this throwback-inspired gem that samples Slick Rick’s introduction on Doug E. Fresh’s classic song “La Di Da Di”. She enlists the help of rapper J. Cole to fill in for OutKast’s André 3000, and he comes through with a flirtatious verse for the ladies that’ll have you grooving in no time.

“Anti-Pioneer”—Feist It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for her album Metals, but it’s definitely been worth it. Feist’s voice against the random string and bass arrangements is graceful yet dynamic, which makes it even more remarkable that she worked on this song for nearly 10 years before capturing it to her liking.

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MEDIUM FEATURES Editor » Larissa Ho

A link between birth control and sexual attraction Does the pregnancy pill affect which man a woman chooses?

Emily Acheson ASsociate FEatures editor When it comes to dating, men find women confusing. What does she find attractive in a man? What are the dos and don’ts of flirting with her? Will she prefer someone handsome or someone rich?

Women like to think they know exactly what they look for and that they are in complete control of their “mate choice”.

But science continuously brings its best shot at objectivity to the dating world, where, recent findings suggest, women are subconsciously governed by their evolutionary traits.

Every human being has their own set of major histocompatibility complex genes, or MHC genes, which play a role in the functioning of the immune system. The more different the genes between a man and a woman, the less likely that harmful recessive genes will pair up in their future children.

Previous studies, like the “wet t-shirt study”, have shown that a person’s scent can give clues about their genetic makeup. When women smelled men’s used clothing, they reported attraction to the smell of the men who had a dif-

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ferent genetic makeup from their own.

So where does the pregnancy pill come in?

Birth control pills trick the female body into thinking she’s already pregnant. This plays with her hormones, and may play a role in her attraction to certain men.

When scientists studied female attraction to men while these women were either on or off the pregnancy pill, they found differences in women’s attraction to men. Women on the pill were

more attracted to men with similar genes to their own, which would seem to clash with our understanding of the role of sex and reproduction in evolution. When off the pill, women went back to being attracted to men with dissimilar genes.

Why? Psychologist Craig Roberts from the University of Liverpool, who co-authored the study, suggests that women with the hormones of pregnancy naturally want to be near relatives who will help nur-

ture her offspring. This could explain why she favours genetically similar men. And when she isn’t taking the pill and her body isn’t convinced it’s pregnant, she is once again in search of a mate.

Some scientists have further suggested that the pill could lead to relationship troubles if a woman is on the pill while finding and dating her boyfriend. If she marries him and he’s genetically similar to her, this not only poses a threat to her future children’s health; when she is off the pill, his genetic simi-

larity could also cause her to be less sexually satisfied by him.

A separate study by Roberts surveyed 2,500 mothers on their attraction to their husband. Women who had been on the pill when they met their husbands rated them as less attractive and less sexually adventurous than women who hadn’t been on the pill. Roberts and colleagues say that since women on the pill are attracted to genetically similar men, the pill might also interfere with a woman’s sexual chemistry.

These conclusions have created controversy among readers and scientists. Some argue that a pair of studies, mainly relying on the fairly subjective self-reporting technique, cannot yet argue a clear link between birth control and sexual attraction. Many also feel that the scientists jumped to their conclusions too quickly and too sensationally in suggesting that a marriage’s chance of success hinges on the use of the pregnancy pill.

Readers argue that personality should also be considered, because it’s another factor in attraction.

Women take the pregnancy pill may not have the “risk-taker” personality of the women are sexually active yet choose to forgo the pill.

Ranting: the good, the bad, and the ugly Priyanka Kumar Ranting means verbally opening your brain and dumping its contents on the table for all to see.

They are emotionally charged and usually intense.

The positive side of rants is that some rants can actually be beneficial for people to listen to, for example if the rant is about a topic that needs to talked about and presented to the world. A recent example of this is Rick Mercer’s latest rant about teen suicide and gay bullying. A topic like that begs to be ranted about; people need to hear about it and learn as much as they can. Rick Mercer’s rant can open eyes and help us realize that bullying is wrong and that the way we deal with teen suicide needs to change. If audiences had ignored that rant, they would have missed out on such an important message.

Ranting can also be a healthy way to vent. Unloading your mind to a friend after the crap day you’ve had is one of the best remedies.

Letting it off your chest is a relief; you may even feel physically lighter. You might suspect you’re just complaining and your friends don’t

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Rick Mercer’s rant this September conveyed a powerful message about gay teens. want to hear it, but that doesn’t always apply. Everyone needs a good vent to unload their emotions and release tension. Rants are a good way to do that.

However, be careful that you don’t cross the line between honest venting and self-righteous ranting.

Venting is when you’re hurt and

you need to get something out of your system, and ideally you vent to someone who cares enough to listen to you and learn why you feel as you do.

This brings me to the negative aspect of ranting: you don’t have to have a good reason to rant, so you can get carried away. People can go

from honestly complaining about their day (or something else that pisses them off) and end up taking it to a whole other level, sometimes offending their audiences or making them uncomfortable. That’s not a needed venting; that’s vitriol, or even an attack.

You have to be careful what

you rant about and to whom.

There are some touchy topics that people can’t listen to a rant about.

A prominent example is the religious rant; I’ve been on the listening end of an atheist ranting about religion, and they took it too far and ended up insulting my own views. That is one of the biggest dangers of ranting: going too far and hurting people who are just trying to help you by listening to you.

Ranting can be good or it can be ugly, but I’d like to think that if you rant properly, it’s one of the best things you can do to express yourself. “Properly” means taking care about your audience, their patience, and their reaction. If you know someone doesn’t care or is touchy about a topic, it’s best to find someone else to rant to, someone who can tolerate a rant on it.

If you’re ranting about an important topic, ranting can get your point of view across more strongly, or it can make you look like a jerk. But even if you’re ranting about something that’s not necessarily interesting to you everyone, like your bad day, that’s okay, too, because it can be a source of relief and make you feel better.

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11.07.2011 THE MEDIUM FEATURES

9

The deadlines are coming!

Useful and wise tips for putting together a fabulous graduate school application Larissa Ho Features Editor It’s that time of year again when graduate school applications are due. The deadlines for different programs at different schools vary; however, the deadlines for professional programs such as dentistry, teacher’s college, law, and medicine are all within the next few months.

Are you ready for the long, drawnout, complicated, time-consuming, and frustrating process of applying to graduate school?

Whether you think you are or not, here are some tips that I’ve put together to ease the burden of this arduous journey. It might not make the process any more fun, but following these tips will help make you much more confident about your application.

Taking the LSAT, GRE, or MCAT is vital to being accepted into graduate school.

◆ Plan ahead. For example, make a timeline of things you need to do. You may want to write on a piece of paper what you’re going to do before your last year of undergraduate studies, and what you will do in September, October, November, all the way to April—from exploring potential graduate school programs to accepting your offer

of admission. This will ensure that you don’t miss a deadline or cram writing your personal statement one night before it’s due. ◆ Seek help. Get feedback from professors, faculty, or professionals in the field about what you can say in your personal statement to make it strong, professional, and clearly written. Also, send copies

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of your personal statement out to family and friends and revise, rewrite, and edit until not only you’re satisfied but everyone else is. ◆ Write your personal statement from the heart. Don’t just cut and paste what you think sounds good!

Write something unique about yourself and don’t rely on cheap, overdone statements that graduate

How to deal with midsemester crisis

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“Midsemester” is a crazy time that threatens to topple your world.

Nazifa Islam It’s that time of year again, the time when the dreaded first round of midterms roll around. It’s the very first wave of university exams, tests, and projects, and whether you’re experiencing the crunch for the first time or you’re a seasoned veteran, midterms always catch you off guard. Just one month ago, the sun was shining as you sat happily daydreaming through tutorials, and suddenly you’re looking at an enormous corpus of readings. It can be nerve-wracking, and UTM students are feeling the stress of midsemester crises.

Midsemester crises, like midlife crises, threaten to topple your world. Just as they affect the middle-aged man who sells his minivan and buys a convertible, midterms threaten to take all the normalcy and fun in your life and trade it for weeks of toil. The process goes like this. The first to go is your social life: no more parties, no more movie dates; not even a cup of coffee with a friend will fit into your schedule. Then comes the food: whether you gorge when stressed or stop eating altogether, you probably have some unhealthy habits.

Finally, you give up sleep—what are a few winks when a micro-economics midterm is looming? Thus this vicious process begins, and by the end of a few weeks of midterms, you feel like half of your former self (sometimes literally).

But what’s so terrible about midterms that puts them in a different class altogether, separate from gargantuan final papers and terrifying final exams? Perhaps the worst thing about midterms is when they take place. Having to write a midterm doesn’t mean you get to fall behind on weekly reading and regular assignments. Managing to keep on top of it all while trying to review for the tests requires some skilful acrobatics, to say the least. The next thing is that midterms hunt in packs. That’s right: when a midterm rears its ugly head, it brings company, multiplying your misery. In the opinion of Tram Nguyen, an English and history student, “Midterms are worse than finals, because they all come at the same time—like, with finals, you get that time to study and you have all the materials. Not so much with midterms.” That brings me to my next point: there’s no Reading Week before midterms. Unlike that

breezy week in December when you can cram to your heart’s content, midterms allow no such indulgence.

Midterms and term papers are upon us, but as we try to navigate our way through the next few weeks, a few things can make our lives easier. My first suggestion is to form a study group. Sure, you can go to tutorials, but in a study group you review the material by discussing it with fellow students. (Moreover, you can mutually complain about the injustice of midterms, which is great for bonding!) Another thing I find helpful is talking to your TAs. I’ll admit, after not having participated even once in four weeks of tutorials, it may be daunting to ask your TA for help or study tips. Fortunately, most TAs are forgiving and will gladly help you out. Finally, if you’re stressed and feel that it’s harmful to your health, pay the UTM Health Services a visit and talk to someone who will set you in the right direction.

There’s a lot to do with midterms on the way, but don’t give up. Midterms will pass and the sun will shine again… for a few more weeks, anyway.

school admission committees have read thousands of times. This is your chance to show your writing ability, motivation, and passion for the field you want to study in. ◆ Figure out ahead of time how much graduate school is going to cost. Don’t wait until the last minute to figure out a plan for funding your graduate education.

◆ Visit, visit, visit! Visit the campus and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Choose a campus where you actually want to live, because if you hate the place you’re living, you’re going to feel miserable. Take a look at the geographic location, reputation, campus life, and student services and facilities. Get a strong feel for the program and the school. ◆ Be polite, courteous, and professional when asking faculty for recommendation letters. This may seem obvious, but it actually isn’t to many people. Letters of recommendation are extremely important in the application process, and they can mean the difference between acceptance or rejection. ◆ Talk to other students about what it’s like being in the program.

They can be a valuable source of information. ◆ Don’t limit your graduate school search—apply to several schools! This will always work in your favour.

These are but a few tips for putting together the oh-so-important package of transcripts, personal statements, letters of recommendation, and test scores. But if you follow them, you’ll already be on the road to success.

10 THE MEDIUM «FEATURES 11.07.2011

What you didn’t know about ADHD Hakima Hafizi We all have that one crazy friend— the one that never stops talking about the hot girls or guys in their classes, checks their Facebook every two minutes during lectures, and always has something to rant about, no matter how irrelevant.

There are advantages to having such an upbeat friend, like never being bored in their company. But sometimes you just want to blurt out, “Chill already! Do you have ADHD or something?” We use medical terms loosely in our daily lives, and often condescendingly— but do we know what they really mean?

Technically, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects communication between neurons in the brain, mostly in the prefrontal cortex. The exact mechanism is unclear, and there are a number of competing theories, but by all accounts there is a deregulation of neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that modulate attention and arousal (including the distribution of seratonin). The affected area is the seat of the executive functions, processes that regulate our behaviour and control working memory, thinking, planning, focussing, and organizing.

More simply, people affected by ADHD have an extreme difficulty in focussing on something without being distracted, and are much more impulsive and restless. There are three main symptoms: 1. Inattention, often marked by difficulty in paying attention to details, inability to sustain attention when other events are occurring at the same time, extreme procrastination, and disorganized work habits.

2. Hyperactivity (any type of physical or verbal overactivity), marked by fidgeting, excessive talking, squirming while seated, and noisy and disruptive behaviour.

3. Impulsivity, marked by im-

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patience, difficulty in delaying responses, and frequently interrupting or intruding on others’ speech, to the point of causing problems in social or work situations, and reacting without considering the consequences.

Reading this, one might think, “Oh, wait. I do that stuff… so I have a neurological disorder now?”

Probably not. Everyone has selfregulation problems from time to time, but one difference with ADHD is that the symptoms impair their ability to function in at least two distinct social settings.

Although no single cause of ADHD has yet been identified, research shows that heredity can make you up to four times as likely to develop it. Other possible causes include exposure to toxic substances (especially lead) and injury to the brain from trauma, strokes, and

brain tumours. Pregnant women who drink or smoke make their offspring more like to develop ADHD. Males are also far more susceptible than females.

On the other hand, contrary to popular belief, ADHD is not caused by diet, the vestibular system, poor parenting, family dysfunction, or television. Nor is it the result of disobedience, laziness, poor motivation, or low intelligence.

ADHD is most prevalent among young children above the age of seven, but 60% of those affected carry the disorder into adolescence and adulthood, where it can interfere in almost all daily routines and schedules. Luckily, there are several resources available in Canada to help treat it.

The first step is to be assessed by a physician. Some people may deal with ADHD their whole life

and not be aware of it. Some red flags for adults are a history of difficulty with attention, issues of anger management, addictions, collecting, compulsive shopping, sexual avoidance or addiction, obsessive eating, compulsive exercise or gambling, substance abuse, and extreme restlessness.

Medication is the most common treatment; however, no single treatment works for everyone.

Medication comes in the form of stimulants and non-stimulants.

Stimulants, such as Ritalin and dexedrine (under brand names like Concerta and Focalin), stimulate the brain to make better use of the neurotransmitters. Non-stimulants are often prescribed if the patient does not respond well to the stimulants, or if the patient has a heart condition or bipolar disorder. Medication has shown to be

the most effective treatment; however, it has side effects (as with all drugs), and is often complemented by behaviour therapy.

One of the most popular behaviour therapies is Cognitive Behavioural Intervention, which teaches self-control through verbal instruction, problem-solving, cognitive modelling, and self-monitoring, with the regular aid of a therapist.

The patient learns how to organize and prioritize in different settings, and how to stick to daily routines.

An alternative treatment, Clinical Behavioural Therapy, focusses on educating teachers, parents, and caregivers on managing children with ADHD. They are taught how to react and behave so as to assist the patients’ development.

Intensive Behavioural Treatment, which is often combined with the latter, focusses on improving self-control and socialization.

In order to gradually develop social skills, the patient is exposed to a small group of people and then later to a larger group, the size depending on each patient. They can learn how to avoid interruption or excessive talking.

Finally, the Combined Pharmacological and Behavioural Intervention program combines medication and behaviour therapy. This allows the dose to be reduced for those who show progress in the behavioural programs.

Although the doctor usually decides which treatment program is right, the most valuable treatment you can give to a friend, sibling, child, cousin, neighbour, or coworker affected by ADHD is support and patience. Sometimes we’re so caught up with how we think others should be that we forget how hard it might be to actually be someone else.

So the next time you’re on the bus and some overactive kid refuses to be seated and forces the bus to stop because of his restlessness, take a minute and consider his condition. He may have ADHD.

#3: IT'S LIKE THERE'S A PARTY IN MY MOUTH, AND MY TONGUE IS INVITED! Luke Sawczak Copy-editor So, last week I promised you we’d try some do-it-yourself experiments with phonetics (the sounds of language). And I have good news: We will!

But I have to give you a disclaimer: it can be hard to predict people’s language background, so I have to be conservative and assume my audience speaks some level of Canadian English. Sorry for the inconvenience. (If worst comes to worst, get a friend and have them look silly doing the experiments!)

Ready? Here it goes!

First, see if you can pick out this

accent. Say “ride” out loud; now, say “rad”, stretching out the “a”. Try this with all the “i” sounds in your speech: “lime” (laam), “try” (traa), and even “I” (aah). What accent is this? If you guessed southern U.S., you’ve got a good ear! (Now put it in a sentence.)

But let’s try to figure out why this is. See, the “i” sound is what we call a diphthong, or two vowels packed into one. Don’t believe me? Say the word “I” real, real slow. Sing it for two bars if you have to. What do you notice? You’ll catch yourself slowly going from “aah” to “eee”, and if you really pay attention, you’ll feel your tongue creeping up. Like a creeper.

That’s all “i” is—just those two

vowels really fast one after the other. So we see that down in the South, they don’t bother going to the “eee” part—they just hang out at “aah” for twice as long.But what’s funny is that they also make diphthongs where there weren’t none.

Say “cat”… good. Now say “cay-uht”.

Keep going with “habitat” (habitay-uht) and “man” (may-uhn).

Funny how these get an extra syllable, no?

Science, right? So jokes.

Anyway, on to other sounds— and less explanation.

1. Say “Ben”. Now insert a “yuh”, so it’s like “byen”. Say it again, but stop before you say the “n”—so, not “byeh”, but “byen” without the “n”. Say it slowly if

that helps. You’ve now said the French “bien” with a perfect accent. Très bien! (This is “nasalization”, and it’s easy to do. Say “nan”, but stop before you get to the “n”… and you’ve got yourself a very whiny “nah”! Say that instead of “no” for the rest of the day to annoy all your friends.)

2. Say the letter “d”; now hold your tongue where it goes to, right before you release it—remember that spot. Move the tip back from there, hugging the roof of your mouth, until you hit a major slope (your palate). Keep it just barely on the slope and say “d” again. This is about the position of the “d” and “t” in the languages of India—can you hear the trademark sound?

3. Say “button”. If you’re a native Canadian or American English speaker, you didn’t say those “t”s right there. You saw them, but you didn’t say them.

Admit it, you just kind of clenched your throat. No, I’m serious! Do it again! Feel that? It’s called a “glottal stop”. Okay, see if you can keep that sound, and now use it instead of the “t”s in “bottle”, “falsetto”, and… you guessed it… “British”!

Or, more specifically, cockney.

Okay, we’ve dug into the down and dirty of a few famous sounds.

(If you enjoyed the majority of that, consider taking phonetics!)

Tune in next time when we explore the other half of dialect: funny-sounding words!

11.07.2011

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11

MEDIUM SPORTS Editor » TBD

Eagles-White hold court UTM Men’s Division 1 basketball defeat Law 60–45 Michelle K. Duklas associate sports editor Considering the final score of 60–45 in favour of UTM White, those who missed the game might think that the game was a runaway for UTM—but that wasn’t the case.

Both teams struggled early in the game; the referees were strict and the teams were fouled constantly throughout. There was also a lot of scrambling and turnovers.

UTM got the first basket of the slow-starting game. UTM’s Daniel Pinnock netted the first 3-pointer of the game, and by the first timeout the score was 11–8 in UTM’s favour. That lead quickly faded when Law scored five points in a row.

UTM pushed back into a lead of 17–13, after Pinnock and Jordan Lisacek each scored a layup.

Law quickly called a timeout, which worked in their favour when they got nine points in a row.

This was a tough stretch for UTM as Law’s Put Pyia drew two fouls and Robert Puibish drew one. Combined, both Pyia and Puibish earned three of those nine points.

By halftime, the score was 19–22.

When the game resumed, the points went back and forth until UTM’s Pinnock scored a 3-pointer and tied the game

KRISTINA WATERS/THE MEDIUM

After pulling ahead in the third quarter, White never looked back.

24–24. From that point on, UTM barrelled ahead and never looked back.

Manny Gill, Zak Khan, and Josh Somi pushed UTM ahead with a score of 43–35, Gill with four points, Khan with a layup and a free throw, and Somi with two 3-pointers.

Adam Elsenstat drew a foul soon after and snatched two points for Law, but UTM quickly retaliated and snagged another four points. Khan, Gill, and Julian Niera took advantage of Law’s late-game struggles and forged ahead with six more points.

The final score was 60–45.

“Manny Gill was the leader of our team,” said Lisacek. “He had a rough first half of the game. He

wasn’t motivated and he had difficulty focussing. But he got past that. By the end of the game, he had 15 points. Without Manny, we probably wouldn’t have won the game. He deserves props.”

UTM players Zak Khan and Daniel Pinnock each scored 10 points.

Harpreet Gill, UTM White’s coach, admitted that this game wasn’t their best. “To be quite honest, I don’t know how we won this game. We played poorly,” said Gill. “I guess it shows character, though. The guys knew what to do.”

UTM White said goodbye to many of their veteran players at the end of last season. “We have six new players on our team this year. We’ve struggled to integrate

Magical Messi FC Barcelona striker nets his 200th goal during Champions league play LYSAN SEQUEIRA At only 24 years old, Lionel Messi is already setting records and accomplishing feats the sports world hasn’t seen since Wayne Gretzky made fools of everyone on the ice. The Barcelona striker’s latest achievement was his 202nd goal for Barcelona (in 286 games), which was accomplished on November 1 with a hat trick in a Champions League game against Viktoria Plzen.

In the world of sports, 200 goals may not have the same

ring to it as 600 home runs, but consider some of the soccer greats: Maradona didn’t hit the 200 mark until he was 25, and the Brazilian Ronaldo (threetime World Player of the Year and winner of two World Cups) only hit it at 26.

Messi’s talent is unquestionable, but he’s also part of the most dominant club team of our generation. He might never reach Pele’s all-time record of 1281 goals, but it hardly matters—Messi is already on the fast track to smashing the Barcelona record this season.

WONDROUSPICS.COM/PHOTO

the new players with our veterans. But we’re slowly getting

there,” he continued.

UTM White, who suffered a humbling loss in their last game against UTM Blue, were determined to win this game. But it was easier said than done.

“We had the best intentions,” said Lisacek. “Unfortunately, the referees didn’t let us play our game the way we wanted to. We play a very physical game, so we had to adjust our style of play to avoid getting fouls. Once we did, we were able to pull ahead of Law.” Not only did they pull ahead, UTM White finished big—15 points ahead of their opponents. UTM White plays their next game at Scarborough on Wednesday, November 9 at 8 p.m. against the UTSC Raccoons.

12 THE MEDIUM «SPORTS 11.07.2011

Last-pitch effort Men’s Tri-Campus soccer team ends season with 3–0 loss to UTSC

Men’s volleyball double-header Last Thursday UTM’s Div.1 team took on UTSC, followed by Tri-Campus vs. St. George Ingrid Meldrum

EDWARD CAI/THE MEDIUM

MICHAEL DI LEO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF After a 45-minute delay due to referee problems, the Men’s Tri-Campus soccer team kicked off against UTSC this past Sunday. It was the team’s final game of the regular season, and they were looking to make the playoffs—even though it would require a 7-goal win against the

Raccoons, a top-ranked team.

The game started quickly enough. UTSC scored within the first few minutes, and little changed from that point onward. Daniel DeFusco scored two goals for UTSC and Dave Branch scored the third.

UTSC won 3–0.

Although the Eagles lost, goaltender Munees Malik had a breakout performance with 11 saves.

WE HAVE A PILE OF MONEY AT THE MEDIUM'S OFFICE.

Last Thursday, the UTM Men’s Division 1 and Tri-Campus volleyball teams played a double-header against UTSC and St. George campus teams.

Division 1 played first against UTSC and won only one of three sets.

The first set was a nail-biter, going into overtime, from which UTM came out on top,with a final score of 26–24. In their second set, the Eagles started out strong and took the lead right away, but Scarborough made a comeback with a number of strong attacks. Although the Div. 1 team did not win their third set either, their teamwork was apparent and they made some great plays.

Immediately after the Div. 1 game, the Tri-Campus team took on St. George. The Eagles dominated the

first set with a 25–15 win over the previously undefeated St. George team. They also took the second and third sets with 25–22 and 25–17 wins, wowing the crowd with fantastic and enthusiastic plays, while fans cheered and flaunted signs for the home team.

Even the referee was impressed by the big plays, admitting that the saves were “as good as you’ll see anywhere”.

Stew Arevalo, UTM’s coach, mentioned that this year’s team was very fresh, with only a few returning players. He said that players had matured in their game, and that they “took two steps growing up as a team” during their play in Thursday’s game. Coach Ian Collinson from St. George also commented after the game, saying, “You guys got lucky—and we’ll see you in playoffs.”

Challenge accepted.

Syed Zoha Kazmi/THE MEDIUM

The UTM Tri-Campus team dominated in all three sets against St. George.

Race to the buzzer Eagles-Blue reflect on the two-team system in Men’s Division 1 basketball

Want to get at it?

The following positions are now open: Design Editor, Sports Editor.

EDWARD CAI/THE MEDIUM

Eagles-Blue and White played against each other at home on October 26. Blue won 75–46.

To apply contact editor@mediumutm.ca

ISAAC OWUSU ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR A deliverance for UTM Division 1 men’s basketball may be at hand.

After starting the new millennium by winning six championships in seven years, there is an expectation for the team to do well—but the question is, which team will it be? Regaining their past lustre will be a challenge, but to make matters more interesting, this season UTM has two Eagles teams chasing the title: Blue and White. They boast matching records of three wins and one loss, but as the A-team, Blue faces even more pressure to bring a championship back to UTM and not let White beat them to it.

This is the first season in which two UTM Div. 1 basketball teams have vied for a chance at the intramural championship. While Blue is UTM’s original Div. 1 team, White has always played in Div. 2. They moved up to the more competitive division after their championship season last year.

Faiz Ahmed, a small forward in his third season for Blue, feels that having a second Division 1 team to share home court is good for UTM, but at the same time he doesn’t wish the best for the other team. “They can compete in this league, without doubt. Do I think they’re going to win the championship? No, we’re going to win the championship.”

Goal-setting is important in Ahmed’s pre-game preparation. As a psychology major who aspires to develop a career in basketball coaching or sports psychology, he feels the presence of his team’s rivals will help Blue focus. “My motto for the season has been ‘hard work’.

We have to win the league; anything less than that is failure for every single player on the team. That’s the mentality; that’s it, nothing less.

We are the best team in the league, skill-wise—we just have to transfer that to a championship.”

The confidence of Ahmed and his teammates is not unwarranted.

The team has had success in the last two regular seasons, but upsets in

the playoffs in consecutive seasons have brought out the character of the players. “We always get every team’s best effort. We’ve got an on/off switch and sometimes we don’t turn it on in time. We’ve got a target on our back, too; we’ve got a crowd. We’re usually a top team, and there usually isn’t a crowd when we go downtown. They want to beat us, but it comes down us wanting it before those last-minute situations.”

He acknowledges that selfish ambition and complacency have been to blame for their playoff losses.

This season’s new adversities have been a gift, rather than a curse, and have provided a sense of urgency.

“We’re really offensively focussed.

Sometimes you just have to man up on defence. Defence is all about pride. The team chemistry is good; it’s been better before, and it’s also been worse, but we’re all friends, we get along. We understand what it takes: hard work.”

The first step in solving the problem is admitting there is one. Blue is ready for step two in the process.