Vol 39 issue 3

THE HOUSE OF THE UNEXPECTED PAGE 5

September 24, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 3 www.mediumutm.ca

Jane Goodall delivers message of hope Jai Sangha Jane Goodall lectured about her research and environmental initiatives as part of the Snider Lecture series at UTM last Tuesday.

The lecture, entitled “Reasons for Hope”, was held at the RAWC gym, which was filled to capacity. Goodall—a British primatologist, anthropologist, environmentalist, and UN Messenger of Peace—credited her mother with fostering her curiosity and her love for animals in her childhood. She began her research on chimpanzee behaviour at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960.

“She said to me, ‘If you really want something, and you work hard and you take advantage of opportunities and you never give up, you will find a way,’ ” said Goodall. “And that’s the message I take to every young person wherever I am in the world today.”

Goodall talked about her experience as a server at a hotel in London at the age of 23, a job she took to save money to go to Africa. A friend had invited her to Kenya to stay at their farm, and she was eventually met and hired by British archaeologist Louis Leakey.

Junaid Imran/THe MEdium

Jane Goodall gave an inspiring speech to an enraptured crowd in the RAWC last Tuesday night.

“I try to think of every single day as an adventure, because, honestly, it is. For all of us. We don’t exactly know when we wake up who we’re going to meet, what might happen, how something we love changes the way we think. We may meet somebody who is important to us who may change our lives. We don’t know,” said Goodall. “So, in a way, everything is an adventure.”

Goodall talked about the similarities between chimpanzees and humans, including her breakthrough observation of a chimpanzee using a

piece of straw to take termites out of a termite mound (to eat) and stripping off leaves from a twig. Modifying a natural object, she says, makes it a tool.

“Back then we were defined as ‘man the toolmaker’. It was supposed to make us different from the rest of the animals and make us unique,” said Goodall.

She told Leakey about the observation. “And he sent back a telegram saying, ‘Now we must redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as humans.’ ”

Goodall mentioned that she travels 300 days a year to raise awareness and educate people about environmental and animal issues. Goodall founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977.

JGI’s mission is to “improve global understanding of great apes through research”, “contribute to preservation of great apes and their habitats”, and “create a worldwide network of young people who have learned to care deeply for their human community”.

Goodall also started Roots and Shoots in 1991 as JGI’s global environmental and humanitarian youth

program. The program engages more than 150,000 youth from preschool to university in more than 120 countries.

“Think of a tree you love. It starts to grow with little roots and a little shoot. And at that stage you can think how this little thing is going to be a huge tree one day. And it seems so weak and so frail, and yet there is a life-force, a power, a magic in that seed that is so strong that those little roots will reach the water and go through the rocks, and that little shoot will reach the sun and go through the cracks,” said Goodall.

“Roots and Shoots is hope. Hundreds of thousands of young people around the world can break through and can make this work. And it is my greatest reason for hope.”

After the lecture, Goodall signed copies of her books and took photographs with attendees. Books were available for sale at the event, including Goodall’s latest book Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink.

The Snider Lectures are conducted by the UTM Snider Lecture Committee through funding from the Fletcher C. Snider Fund. The first Snider Lecture was hosted at UTM in 1974.

Clubs and Societies Week reigns at UTM What you didn’t know about the clubs and societies’ funding process Larissa Ho News Editor All types of students came out to the annual Clubs and Societies Week at UTM from September 17 to the 21.

A large number of UTM’s social and academic groups occupied booths in and outside of the Student Centre to showcase their events and increase membership. The noise and excitement didn’t die down all week, with students flocking to sign up for clubs and societies of their choice and see what UTM’s student life has to offer.

UTMAC, PAUSE, SEC, the Forensic Students’ Society, and The Medium were just a few student organizations that were on hand to answer questions, hand out flyers and candy, and offer memberships or opportunities to get involved.

Many first-year students were delighted to discover that an academic society from their own field of study

First Pub sold out UTMSU’s popular annual First Pub was interrupted by a false fire alarm.

Medium News, page 3

Politics of club funding Questioning the method for divvying up the pool of money for clubs Medium News, page 4

New play at Hart House Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is alive and kicking.

Medium A&E, page 5

GAbriel Tan-Chen/The Medium

The UTM Breakers breakdance in front of their booth during Clubs and Societies Week. or a club tailored to their specific interests exists at UTM. Many students also don’t know much about how these clubs and societies get their funding—a process that isn’t as difficult as it may appear.

Filipe Santos, UTMSU’s VP cam-

pus life, described the several steps involved. First, in order to qualify to receive funding, a club must be approved and granted recognition

by UTMSU’s Clubs Committee and Board of Directors. A club is granted recognition on the condition that it

adheres to the requirements set for all UTMSU clubs in the Clubs Handbook. The conditions include creating a constitution and attending executive training sessions.

Clubs continued on page 2

A workout for your brain Could stress be a good thing? This neurologist thinks it could.

Medium Features, page 9

UTMAC’s new president Getting to know Adam Niaz as he outlines the coming year and his promises as president.

Medium Sports, page 11

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«NEWS THE MEDIUM

09.24.2012

OUT@UTM kicks off Queer Orientation

Junaid Imran/The MEdium

One of the many activities students enjoyed at Queer Orientation was the barbecue on the Blind Duck patio.

Alexander Tkachuk Queer Orientation, an annual trocampus secondary Frosh Week held for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community, came back stronger than ever.

The orientation is designed to teach LGBTQ froshies about the resources available on campus for the unique issues they face in university life. The week is also designed to give new and returning LGBTQ students a sense of community on campus. Queer Orientation events range from catered

socials to dialogues on issues that affect the LGBTQ community, as well as gay yoga and a tour of Church Street.

OUT@UTM is an LGBTQ student group. Their contributions to the festivities began on Wednesday night with a meet and greet to help new members settle in and returning members catch up with each other.

The night featured icebreaking games, pizza, and conversation.

There were some issues early in the night with booking a room, but they were quickly resolved and the rest of the night went on without

a hitch. The first event’s turnout dwarfed expectations and set a good tone for the week ahead.

“I’m very pleased with the turnout,” said Oliver Clayton, the executive director of OUT@UTM. “We had more than 45 people at our first event, and over three quarters of them were new faces.”

Thursday was “Ally Night”. Although all Queer Orientation events are open to people of all sexualities and gender expression, Ally Night was specifically meant to accommodate the supportive straight friends of the community and to inform them how to better

support the LGBTQ community.

This event was structured as an interactive dialogue, and it also had a large turnout.

The week ended with a barrage of events on what was called “Sexxxy Friday”. There was a bake sale in the afternoon whose goods featured erotic designs and images. In the evening there were a few rounds of “Sexy Bingo”—normal bingo, except with sexy prizes like vibrators and fuzzy handcuffs. The event ended downtown at O’Grady’s Irish pub on Church Street, a kind of social climax for the week.

“It has been a lot of work,” said Clayton. “I’m exhausted. I was up all night making starburst vaginas and baking, but we have a really good team this year. We all care a lot. And it’s about communitybuilding, right? That’s what we’re doing this for.”

Queer Orientation officially continues until Thursday next week, but the last event at UTM will be the Night Crawl next Wednesday.

Students will walk through the nature trails after dark, followed by a campfire in Erindale Park. The Night Crawl is an annual tradition and a regular favourite.

The “human aspect” of club funding Clubs continued from Cover On top of this, clubs must also be “in good standing” with UTMSU. They must pass their annual audits, abide by club policies, submit paperwork, and obtain a registered UTMSU clubs account. Some of the documents that must be submitted include the club’s financial and bank statements from the previous year, a constitution, and member and executive lists.

All club funding is determined and approved by UTMSU’s Board of Directors. The recommendations to the board come from the Clubs Committee, a voting advisory body that votes on club issues. The members that sit on this committee are the VP campus life, the president, the VP internal and services, and four directors of the Board, all of whom are voted into the committee by the entire Board of Directors at one of the first board meetings.

This year, Christopher Thompson (president), Santos (VP campus life and chair of the committee), Raymond Noronha (VP internal and services), Grace Lu (Division 2 director), Dania Hasan (Division 3 director), and Mark Levi (Division 3 director) sit on the Clubs Committee. According to the UTMSU website, the Clubs Committee will “do such tasks as creating new clubs, building new club services, revising club policies, helping out existing clubs, and other tasks deemed necessary by the CC”.

The Clubs Committee makes recommendations for a given club’s funding based on factors such as how

much the club requested, whether it is a new or previously recognized club, whether the club passed its audit, how much of their previous funding they spent, the amount remaining in the club’s bank account, the club’s event list, and the club’s use of emergency funding. (When clubs feel they do not have enough funding, they may apply for short-term or emergency funding throughout the year.)

According to Santos, the Clubs Committee does not expect a club to spend all of its funding, but if by the end of the year at least 70% has been used for the club’s operations, it “shows positive and supportive use of the money”.

“If a club uses less than 70% of its UTMSU funding, then they will probably not receive increased funding, because the funding given to clubs is meant for clubs to use to hold events for their membership,” said Santos. “If they are not using the amount given or are misusing it, the amount may stay the same or decrease in future years to reflect that.

Their remaining amount does not necessarily make it better or worse; it just allows [us] to make a more informed decision when assessing funding amounts.

“A club does not simply get more funding because they are holding good events. The funding process is mostly determined by financial factors,” added Santos. “We hope that all clubs are having good events and have great turnouts, but that does not solely affect their funding. Really, if clubs want to get increased

funding, they need to make good use of the funding given to them in that year, follow through with their responsibilities, apply and motivate for additional funding, and continue to gradually provide more for their membership.”

The process for funding clubs is very different from the one in place for funding academic societies, which is handled by UTMSU’s VP university affairs and academics. This year, that person is Andrew Ursel.

“The goal of this is to empower UTM students financially, socially, and administratively through creating an academic society that improves academic advocacy.”

—Prof. Jeffrey Graham An agreement was signed between UTMSU and Gage Averill, UTM’s dean at the time, to create an academic societies mandate. The Academic Societies Advisory Committee was also created at this time, comprising three members appointed by UTMSU and three appointed by the dean. One member is the chair; this year’s is Erik Schneiderhan.

The agreement requires that every student at UTM pay an academic fee levy, which the dean must match dollar for dollar. Thus, the students supply half of the funding for academic societies, and the dean supplies the

other half. A formula for allocating funding to be allotted to the academic societies is calculated based on how many students are enrolled in courses and programs in the department.

Professor Jeffrey Graham serves on ASAC and is the faculty liaison to the Psychology Association of Undergraduate Students at Erindale, which was created in 2007 with Graham as the inaugural chair.

“The idea was that the clubs have their own kind of mandate, and that is more social. The academic societies are designed to help students who want to further their career, or want to have more intimate connection with faculty and the faculty’s research,” said Graham. “So academic societies really are involved in getting the students to know the faculty better. At the end of the year, ASAC looks at who’s done what, how they’ve spent their money, how many faculty members are they getting out to these events, and that’s really our measure of how well the money is being spent. ”The goal of this is to empower UTM students financially, socially, and administratively through creating an academic society that improves academic advocacy,” he added. “It gives students a direct channel and a say in what their program looks like.”

The agreement was re-signed in 2010, and will last until 2013. It also helps to “define and describe the relationship between UTMSU and UTM in all respects to academic funding”.

“Basically, the numbers of how many students are invested into that

particular area is correlated with how much money that particular society gets,” said Di Cenzo, who was ASAC’s chair and UTMSU’s VP university affairs and academics last year. “Students are getting the benefit of the buck in that way. The money is going towards what students are studying.

It goes by a ratio of how much students are invested into that particular program.”

Di Cenzo said that there isn’t a large difference in the amount of funding from one society to another.

“If you’re a really good club, you keep getting more and more. Our system doesn’t go that way,” continued Di Cenzo. “Because if you go by how [many] students are actually in those subject POSts, in those classes, you know how many students are literally invested into that, and that’s where the money is determined.”

“We really steer ASAC clear of that,” added Ursel. “[We] have a ratio system. It works extremely well; it’s a fair system. We make sure that the only way money gets distributed is through that ratio system.”

“You’re almost taking away any of the human aspect; you’re just going purely by the numbers,” Di Cenzo chimed in.

“To a certain extent, it’s about how active a society is,” Ursel concluded.

“If you’re an inactive society, that’s really unfair to a lot of students. They have a certain amount of money allocated to them, and if they’re not doing anything with it, and giving nothing back to their membership, that’s really unfair to students.”

09.24.2012 THE MEDIUM NEWS

First Pub sold out

Fire trucks pulled up to the Student Centre, like at Frosh Pub

»

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»WHICH clubs week booths were the best?

Aanchal Vaschistha Fourth-year, DEM

Anthony Denny Third-year, Psychology

I really liked the iCCIT and the DEM because everyone was so hyper and excited.

Visual Arts, because one of my friends was there.

Ajay Sharma Second-year, Commerce

Caitlin Cook-Yeo Fourth-year, CTEP

Truth be told, I’d have to find the booth of, um, the UEC the most interesting.

I found them all interesting.

I was especially attracted to the ones with food.

Junaid Imran/The MEdium

The Blind Duck Pub hosted UTMSU’s annual First Pub once again as students partied away.

Matthew Butler UTMSU hosted its annual First Pub on Thursday night for the scores of eager students looking to dive into this pub season.

The highly anticipated pub night sold out early in the week. Tickets went on sale Monday morning at the information booth in the Student Centre and sold out quickly. Many students waited in line that night for standby tickets.

“I only got a ticket an hour before [it opened] from a friend. They were all sold out, as far as I know,” one student remarked. “First Pub is usually a good time. It’s a great way to see everyone that

you haven’t seen in a while.”

By 10:30 p.m., the line to get in curved around the Blind Duck patio. The music pounded as students huddled together in the brisk weather and made their way inside to the dance floor.

The students mostly congregated on the dance floor as the music, a mix of Top 40 songs, blasted forth from the speakers. Some were well acquainted with the pub, while others were experiencing it for the first time.

The night was interrupted at around 1 a.m. when a fire alarm was pulled inside the pub, forcing students to evacuate.

Police and fire services arrived quickly on the scene, working with Campus

Police and the pub’s security to deal with the situation as quickly as possible. It turned out that a patron had pulled the alarm unnecessarily.

Some students were frustrated.

“This sucks. Like, it’s cold out here, and we’re wasting our time. We also paid money,” one student remarked.

While they were stuck outside the pub, the attendees grew restless. Everyone settled down after about 30 minutes, when the doors were reopened.

“It’s unfortunate,” commented Chris Thompson, the president of UTMSU, about the false alarm.

Nevertheless, attendance was high and spirits were generally positive.

Post-grad schools seek out UTM students Nearly 100 graduate and professional schools set up shop to meet prospective post-graduate students at the Graduate and Professional Schools Fair last Wednesday in the RAWC. The turnout of this year’s event was “right on par with what we had last year”, according to Michelle Atkinson, the coordinator of event and employment services at UTM’s Career Centre. A total of 960 students came by from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.—two fewer than last year.

The schools were grouped by field of study, making it easier to visit multiple schools in only three hours.

A wide array of education and teaching schools greeted the potential teachers of UTM, making up about 16% of the schools at the fair. Nine law schools followed, including overseas ones. About 36% of the schools were various departments’ graduate programs, both national and inter-

national. Finally, students ventured down the length of the RAWC to visit post-graduate schools for business and MBA programs, which accounted for about 15% of schools at the fair, and health and medicine programs, which accounted for about 25% of the schools.

Steph Kolodij, an undergraduate studying forensic science at UTM, visited the fair last Wednesday. “[I was] looking to ask about forensic science master’s degrees, of which there is only one in the country,” she said.

“This school has an undergraduate program, and no one to tell us where to go from here.” Kolodij added that the only other options for post-graduate work in her field are international programs, which would have heavy tuition fees for a Canadian.

The UTM Career Centre holds workshops and sessions that help students map out their futures, from getting through admissions to building useful skills such as networking.

A representative shows a UTM student her options during the fair.

UTM student passes away at the age of 24 from a seizure

Unemployed man poses as pilot, gets arrested

US cows eating gummy worms, marshmallows, and everything else

CFIA expands its recall of beef products again

Fine for hacking student election site and editing it to “erection”

Jason Lee Fernie, a familiar face on campus, passed away unexpectedly from a seizure this past Tuesday. He had suffered from a head injury at the age of nine during a playground incident. A funeral service was held last Saturday at the Turner and Porter Butler Chapel. A reception followed at the family residence.

An unidentified 32-year-old man created an elaborate scam to pose as a pilot, mimicking the hit Leonardo DiCaprio film Catch Me If You Can. On his fake Facebook profile, he had posted pictures of himself wearing a pilot’s uniform. He also made fake identity cards and managed to fly at least one flight in the cockpit.

A herd of dairy cows in the states are being fed cheaper alternatives to corn feed, which is getting costlier than ever. The worst drought in half a century has kept dairy producers scrambling to keep their animals fed.

Cookies, gummy worms, marshmallows, fruit loops, orange peels, and even dried cranberries make up part of their daily diet.

For the sixth time, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has expanded its recall of beef products potentially tainted with E. coli. Several new products have been added to its original list. Before the initial recall, tainted products were discovered at the Canadian-American border.

Last February, a former Western University graduate student hacked the student union’s election site on election night. He made comments about Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez and changed the word “election” to “erection”. Keith Horwood, 23, pleaded guilty last Thursday. He has been granted a conditional discharge.

Source: Toronto Star

Source: Daily Mail

Source: Reuters

Source: QMI Agency

Source: QMI Agency

Annette Kwiatkowski

SAna Gilani/The MEdium

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« 09.24.2012

Editor-in-Chief » Stefanie Marotta

The politics of club funding A lot of money is reserved for club funding. Over $80,000 of student money was budgeted for clubs last year. With all of this money being doled out, past experience has caused me to wonder how the student union decides which clubs receive the most funding.

Clubs at UTM range from those with large membership bases, such as the Muslim Student Association, to the smaller UTM Cycling Club. Often, club executives will gripe about cramped office space and difficulty booking venues for events, but the most frequent complaint concerns the size of the cheque they receive from UTMSU. As Dan DiCenzo, a former VP university affairs and academics of UTMSU, expressed to our News Editor Larissa Ho,

the funding for academic societies is relatively clear-cut. The amount of funding received depends strongly on the number of students in the program. He states that this is different from the process for funding clubs, in which a “good” club will get more funding.

I don’t mean to get all philosophical here, but what constitutes “good”? VP campus life Filipe Santos explained that while factors such as proposed events, budget, and financial standing are considered, the funding for clubs is ultimately determined on a case-by-case basis and recommendation by the Clubs Committee—comprising three UTMSU executives and three directors of the board.

Without an algorithm, the division of funds is arbitrary.

When the provincial government divvies money between the ministries, they take more consideration (I would hope) than to simply recommend “good” programs on which they’ll spend taxpayers’ dollars.

During that time, I witnessed just how vulnerable clubs are to the ebb and flow of student politics on this campus.

It’s no secret that I ran for an executive position at UTMSU a few years ago. During that time, I witnessed just how vulnerable clubs are to the ebb and flow of student politics on this campus.

Almost three years ago, I ran on a team that was considered the “opposition” against the incumbent slate—those yellow shirts you see every year in March. We appealled to clubs for support, but were constantly turned down. Meanwhile, the other team racked up endorsements.

Without divulging any identities, many executives from larger clubs told us that they had already been approached by the other slate and had provided their endorsement under the promise that their club would receive increased funding and their executives would receive better opportunities in the union the following year. Smaller clubs declared neutrality, expressing the fear that their club funding would be cut as a result of sup-

porting the “opposition” slate if we were to lose—which we did.

The experience was frustrating for our team and for club executives. From the feedback I received during the campaign, club executives and members seemed uneasy about the potentially volatile atmosphere.

This incident occurred years ago and shouldn’t reflect poorly on the current administration.

Then again, the current administration did run unopposed; perhaps political promises weren’t necessary. I’d be curious to see what would happen with the debate on club funding if another “opposition” team were to form this year.

Yours, Stefanie Marotta

Shut down on the shuttle bus Dear Editor, While I was covering Orientation Week for The Medium for the first issue, I went to St. George on Friday, September 7th for the cheer-off, parade and carnival. My younger sister Stephanie met with me so we could return back to our home in Mississauga on the 5:35 PM UTM shuttle bus.

Stephanie had enjoyed herself all week at frosh as a first-year student in the kinesiology program. She’d stayed overnight at a residence at St. George for the week’s events and so she had a backpack, sleeping bag and a small luggage to take with her on the bus.

She and I were at the front of

the line for the second bus that pulled up in front of Hart House for 5:35 PM. Stephanie was the first to step on to the bus and flash her bus pass, but the bus driver wouldn’t let her sit down.

“How is that bag going to fit on my bus? Where are you going to put it?” The bus driver started to speak in a loud, aggressive voice, indicating Stephanie’s small luggage.

Stephanie and I reasoned that we could put it on top of our laps and still have room by our feet for our backpacks, but the driver refused to let us even show her.

“That bag will take extra room,” she said. My understanding up till then was that seats were given on a first-come, first-served basis, and that our

bags should not be a barrier to our riding on the bus as U of T fee-paying students.

The UTM shuttle bus driver did not treat us equitably or fairly. That much is obvious.

As we tried to reason with the driver, two UTM students behind us in line attempted to help us with our case, saying, “They can put it on the floor in front.”

Yet the driver continued to practically yell at us that Stephanie was not to get on. As a UTM student with a valid T-card, I was allowed on, but I was not about to leave my sister stranded. We

arranged for a taxi to bring us home.

It makes no sense. I’ve seen other students with bigger bags of luggage get on the shuttle in the past, both going back to UTM and from it. Stephanie herself had boarded a shuttle bus a few days earlier with the same luggage she had on her that Friday when she was not allowed on.

The UTM shuttle bus driver did not treat us equitably or fairly. That much is obvious.

We emailed the UTM shuttle bus office to get an explanation.

Their reply was: “Although the website and schedules indicate that ‘drivers have the right to restrict ‘oversize’ items being carried on the shuttle bus’ this was

not the particular case on Friday. The issue was that the two buses available were full and not able to accommodate the additional items.” This is an outright lie, as Stephanie and I were first in line and the bus was empty when we tried to board. The bus driver had said Stephanie’s bag was too big to fit, which is why she was turned away. Yet there is nothing on the shuttle bus website that forbids accessibility for any reason.

How can they lie about this?

Yours, Larissa Ho News Editor The Medium

09.24.2012

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Editor » Colleen Munro

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get absurd Two of Shakespeare’s most beloved supporting players take centre stage in Hart House’s first production of the year SONIA DHALIWAL Hart House is kicking off its 2012/13 theatre season with a contemporary, existentialist spinoff of Hamlet. Written by Thomas Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead tells the background stories of Prince Hamlet’s doomed childhood friends, who are minor characters in Shakespeare’s original.

The three-act play takes the audience through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s philosophical journey. As fond friends of the prince, they are summoned to alleviate his apparent madness. The protagonists struggle with how to help their friend, but their troubles seem to evaporate when they are paid to escort Hamlet to England for a meeting with the king of England. Along the way, they discover their mission is actually a death sentence for Hamlet—a twist that throws the already imbalanced and bewildered duo into an even greater upheaval.

The play begins with a game of heads or tails. Guildenstern (Andrew Knowlton) tosses coins to Rosencrantz (Jim Armstrong), but much to Guildenstern’s agony, 80-something out of 80-something times the toss has resulted in heads. The two contemplate the authenticity of the laws of probability while trying to determine what landed them in this situation to begin with.

DANIEL DIMARCO/PHOTO

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or is it Guildenstern and Rosencrantz?) pop up unexpectedly.

And so the protagonists continue their journey dazed and confused, wondering which way they are going, what the first thing they can remember is, and what to do with their doomed friend Hamlet.

Armstrong and Knowlton impressively portray their characters as distinct individuals, something the characters themselves are unable to be. Armstrong gives a convincing portrayal of the less bright member of the duo. His clumsy stumbling about the stage and forlorn gazing up at nothing, his consistent desire

to please his better half, and his repetitive questions all embody what sets Rosencrantz slightly apart from Guildenstern.

Similarly, Knowlton convincingly plays on Guildenstern’s unique traits. He’s bossy and quicker on his feet than Rosencrantz, often taking control of the stage. At the same time, he’s a victim of violent mood swings that lead to hilarity. At one point, Guildenstern snatches a travelling actor’s knife from his pocket and stabs him in the neck, only to find that the weapon is a prop.

But while their personalities shine beautifully thanks to the actors’ attention to detail, the fact is that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are really just two halves of one character. It seems like no one in the play can distinguish one from the other. One never appears without the other on stage (until their separate exits at the end). When Rosencrantz is in the middle of a neurotic rant, Guildenstern is there to calm him down.

When Guildenstern is begging the acting troupe to stay, Rosencrantz is off at the side, minding his own

business. In this way, the pair maintain a strange balance of their paranoia and existentialist philosophical reasoning.

The production is simple and gives the audience ample opportunity to focus on the acting. Besides a raised area of the stage and the occasional prop, the stage was left open for the actors to roam with freedom. The lighting was beautifully orchestrated; slides were put over the lights to produce elegant silhouette backdrops. One moment Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were staged in a forest, the next moment they were being presented to the king at court—all through the lighting.

I highly recommend Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, but it’s not for the fainthearted. The dialogue is quick, wordy, and unquestionably ridiculous—the absurdist, confused nature of both protagonists is sometimes hilarious, sometimes frustrating to try to understand.

But this frustration and confusion are the heart of the play. As the director, Matthew Gorman, puts it, “Stoppard gives us nothing but words, words, and more words. He is an exhausting writer to read, let alone to try and live.”

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is running for another two weeks at Hart House Theatre.

Auspicious art in a chaotic world Blackwood Gallery welcomes inspiring new exhibition from U.K. artists INA IONTCHEVA Brad Butler and Karen Mirza are an artistic duo based in London. Since the 1990s, their distinct and unique artistic expression has brought them together to produce thought-provoking art, some of which has made its way to UTM for this year’s opening of our own Blackwood Gallery.

On Wednesday, September 19, students, staff, faculty, and guests gathered in the gallery to explore abuse of power, neglect, protest, and imposing human morals in an unjust society as part of an artistic project entitled “The House of the Unexpected”.

On entering, the viewer unmasks herself: she becomes free of prejudice, barriers become her nonchalant windows, and she slowly enters the gallery footstep by footstep, through the so-called “strategies of dissensus”. Around her four white walls stare blankly, allowing her to easily take in each artwork. At this point, she might ask herself, “How can I understand the chaotic world merely by an image in an empty

YECHENG LI/THE MEDIUM

The Blackwood Gallery welcomes new artists-in-residence Brad Butler and Karen Mirza. space?”

By learning to accept.

What is acceptance? Allowing oneself to comprehend the injustices of modern society and striving to change them during our finite lives.

To our dismay, the morbid horror

of the two world wars our planet and people have experienced cannot be taken back, yet in a way they serve as a monument to teach us to search for tolerance, respect, and love.

Take a minute now, as you read, to think about all the people you

have lost throughout your life—be it through disease, war, or old age. This hardship that slaps us in the face, wears us down, tears us into pieces, is also responsible for forming us into a stronger individual—made of something indestructible.

So what can you do? Well, you can sit around and do nothing—which seems to suffice for most people.

However, if you feel a twinge of excitement and change, you may choose to protest.

Everyone has their own understanding of protest, but speaking broadly—in the interests of this article and the continuation of humankind—I will talk about the most peaceful method: communication.

Art is a medium for communication. Through analyzing or even just staring at a piece of art, the viewer automatically opens a page of an artist’s diary. After reading that page, the viewer comes away with a message and leaves the gallery with a plan—or at least a goal—to change some aspect of their life or the world.

Imagine what would happen if tomorrow every student on campus walked into “The House of the Unexpected” and it touched even every third viewer in some way. For one thing, we’d have a lot more appreciation of art, but more importantly, humankind would have taken a step towards a better world.

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«ARTS THE MEDIUM 09.24.2012

Kollaboration and competition Toronto talent contest celebrates rising Asian and Pacific Islander performers CELINA IP People dressed up in fancy clothing, busy volunteers, cameramen, and excited chatter in a theatre: you might think these sights and sounds describe the typical build-up to a movie premiere at TIFF, but in this case they actually describe the sights and sounds of a concert called Kollaboration.

Or, as it could also be called, a kickstarter for young artists.

Founded by Paul “PK” Kim in 2000, Kollaboration has since become a global movement. The first show was held in Los Angeles, and now it takes place in many cities all across North America, including San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Boston, Tulsa, and even Honolulu.

There’s a wide variety of creativity on display, including singing, breakdancing, beatboxing, rap, and comedy. Kollaboration’s mission statement is “Empowerment through entertainment”, and they seek to promote a strong Asian and Pacific Islander presence in entertainment.

When the show began, it didn’t take long to notice some similarities to American Idol (or to any talent competition shows in that

style). Like Ryan Seacrest, Kim— who is also Kollaboration’s host— was very charismatic. Following every act, he would share a little joke with a sense of humour similar to Russell Peters’.

The judges were Sylvia “Beautycakez” Ta (a YouTube beauty guru), beatboxer Terry “KRNFX” Im (a 2012 finalist on Canada’s Got Talent and the first-place winner at Kollaboration Toronto in 2008), Derrick Fung (the CEO of Tunezy, an online platform that allows fans to support and discover their favourite artists), and Helen Kim, a manager at the Sheppard Centre branch of TD Canada Trust (which is the primary supporter of Kollaboration). In the same way that Simon, Randy, and Paula of American Idol are renowned in the American entertainment industry, the Kollaboration judges are acclaimed in the Asian and Pacific Islander artistic community.

Since Kollaboration is a small non-profit organization, there is no record deal or million-dollar prize handed to the winner. But what they do receive is still spectacular: $1,000 and the opportunity to open for Clara C and Da-

Interview: Most Thieves The Medium talks to frontman Eric Koch

ANDREA AMBROGI & COLLEEN MUNRO A&E EDITOR Most Thieves took to the stage at the Sound Academy on Saturday night to open for fellow Las Vegas natives and friends, the Killers. The Medium chatted with lead singer Eric Koch about Most Thieves’ compelling new record, their big sound, and their plans for the future.

The Medium: The album, Unnecessary Maps, has a sound that’s kind of grand. It reminded me a little bit of Bruce Springsteen or Arcade Fire.

What were some acts that you listened to growing up that inspired that big sound?

Eric Koch: Growing up, Bruce Springsteen was definitely around when I was a kid—at least, some.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was around all the time when I was a kid, and I think that in what I use as a benchmark for a good song, they’re probably the band.

But I remember this experience of being in orchestra as a kid and going to the local high school and getting to play in this very large basketball auditorium. And as soon as we started playing, this gigantic reverb started. And that moment made a really impactful impression on me.

Because it was magical-sounding. It was overwhelming. I think my musical career has been an attempt to get back to that sound, in a lot of ways.

TM: What’s the story behind the album’s title?

EK: On the record, there’s a lot of his-

torical reference to maps and paths.

And in my head, they’re kind of two different things. A map is a plan.

And when you’re planning a trip, you say, “I’m going to go from this point to this point.” On a map, everything in a journey seems perfect.

But anybody who has gone on any sort of adventure knows that plan is not going to work out. Ever. And if it does, it’s not much of an adventure.

But when you’re on a path, you’re just following it. You don’t necessarily know where it’s going. You can’t see what’s up ahead, but you’ve got to get there. The nice thing about a path is that you always know where your next footstep is going to land.

So, part of the story of the record is learning to follow paths instead of maps. The title kind of came up one day as a joke about something else, and it just immediately stuck. [Most Thieves drummer] Rob [Whited] and I just kind of looked at each other and said, “Wow, I think that’s the record.”

TM: It was just announced that Most Thieves will play two Vegas gigs with the Killers at the end of the year.

How does it feel to have the chance to play with your friends in your hometown?

EK: You couldn’t ask for a better way to wrap up the year. And it’s been a pretty amazing year anyway. So to be able to walk on stage in a place that we really love and to kind of warm up a hometown crowd for our friends who have been so supportive—it’s an honour. I don’t think that we’re going to get a whole lot of sleep in the next few months. It kind of feels like this really extended Christmas Eve.

vid Choi (well-known musicians in the Asian YouTube community) on their upcoming fall tour.

The show kicked off with a marvellous a cappella performance by the enchanting group Intentional Accidentals. They blew the audience away with their harmonious, beautiful tunes and synchronized choreography reminiscent of what you might see on Glee.

[Intentional Accidentals] blew the audience away with their harmonious, beautiful tunes and synchronized choreography reminiscent of what you might see on Glee.

They were followed by the lovely Sylvia and Jerome, who had the crowd singing along and waving their arms to their cover of fun.’s “We Are Young”. The third finalist was the alternative rock group Maybe Refuge, who offered the audience the comfort of their

cover of Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose”.

Up next was a freestyle singing and dance competition featuring members of the audience. The dancers duelled while the singers showed off their vocal prowess.

One girl particularly wowed the audience with her renditions of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” and “Empire State of Mind”.

Our attention was soon brought back to the stage by the comedic antics of Asiansploitation. They had the audience laughing uncontrollably with their skit involving a parody of Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love to You”, which they turned into “I’ll Be White for You”. Their act was followed by the final three competitors: the breakdancers Team Sexy, the Korean rap duo Thoroughbred, and the mesmerizing beatboxer Young.

The audience was then treated to two guest performances. The first was given by the singersongwriter Joseph Vincent,whose humble demeanour and smooth vocals have earned him a strong fandom on YouTube, with over 240,000 subscribers. He also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year, where he performed Mike Posner’s “Cooler

than Me”. At Kollaboration, he delighted the crowd with his cover of Maroon 5’s “Payphone” and several other songs, including his soon-to-be-released single “Blue Skies”.

The second guest appearance was a rap duo from LA’s Korea Town, made up of the artists Dumbfounded and DJ Zo. They had the audience standing on their feet and bobbing their heads to their energetic rhythms and cool sounds. Before they left, they welcomed judge Terry “KRNFX” Im to the stage and the two DJed in the background while Terry broke out his famous beatboxing sounds.

At the end of the show, Maybe Refuge and Young were crowned the winners and earned their place on David Choi and Clara C’s tour. Confetti flew all around as the audience applauded and all the Kollaboration crew and performers took a much-deserved bow.

The night concluded with a meet-and-greet with Joseph Vincent.

All in all, Kollaboration was an exceptional experience, and I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to go next year.

Not many curveballs

Eastwood shines in solid but predictable Trouble with the Curve

WARNER BROTHERS/PHOTO

John Goodman, Amy Adams, and Clint Eastwood talk shop in Trouble With the Curve.

Marlo Young From heart-wrenching moments between a father, Gus, and his daughter Mickey (Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams, respectively) to lighthearted banter between the daughter and her love interest (Justin Timberlake), Trouble with the Curve is a diverse and entertaining film. It is an easy Sunday afternoon movie, and though it lacks suspense and plot twists, it presents a genuine portrait of the complex relationship between a single father and his daughter.

The plot centres on a trip Gus takes to scout the “next big thing” in baseball, Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill). Mickey joins Gus to keep an

eye on his ailing health, and winds up trying to make sense of their relationship.

The role of a cranky old man is nothing new to Eastwood, but one can hardly blame him for taking such a role yet again when he delivers a stellar performance every time. As rough and unapproachable as he seems in some scenes, he uses the details, like the quiver of a lip, to show his endearing sensitive side.

Co-star Amy Adams also presents a solid characterization. Showing a different side from the naïve heroine we are used to seeing her portray (in such films as Enchanted and The Muppets), here Adams plays a quick-tongued, no-nonsense workaholic, who has undoubtedly

learned a few tricks from her father.

Justin Timberlake, playing Mickey’s love interest, lacks some of the depth that Eastwood and Adams have. Though fun and cute, he often comes across as cheesy.

The soundtrack subtly enriches the story, without being overbearing or interrupting the flow of the movie. The song “You Are My Sunshine” by Carly Simon is used particularly poignantly; it lends a deep connection to the characters that, often, only music can.

Unfortunately, the plot was fairly predictable, and any surprises it tried to pull were heavily foreshadowed. Despite this, it’s an enjoyable movie with good acting—simply a nice break. MMM

09.24.2012 THE MEDIUM A&E

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The Killers’ triumphant return Killers fans find a cure for their deprivation as Vegas chart-toppers return for first Toronto show in over three years ANDREA AMBROGI Last Saturday evening Most Thieves, a new ensemble from Las Vegas, opened for the Killers at the Sound Academy.

Opening up for such a hard-hitting band is a tall order, and fortunately for both the audience and the band, Most Thieves did not disappoint. They were as good live as they are on record, if not better. Their sound was swelling and climactic and they held their own despite only playing a handful of songs. To add to the pressure on them, the show began almost half an hour late. There were more than a few irritated in the audience, but when the band stepped on the stage, they got the crowd going.

A few minutes past 10 p.m., the lights were shut off and the chilling opening music for the main act began. The crowd’s excitement made the floors shake. Anticipation broke into hysteria by the time the Killers took the stage.

They began the night’s festivities with “Runaways”, the first single on their new album, Battle Born.

Even though the album had only come out four days earlier, the audience was incredibly eager to hear the new track.

They launched right into “Somebody Told Me”, a staple of their

WILLIAMS AND HIRAWAKA/PHOTO

The Killers move with the times and embrace the “Instagram look”. live acts. That led into “Smile Like You Mean It” and “Spaceman”, which worked the packed audience up into a sea of bouncing people.

“Flesh and Bone” was the second song they played from their new album. The crowd enjoyed it, but it didn’t get the same reaction as their tried and true hits.

“For Reasons Unknown” and “Bling (Confessions of a King)” brought the band back to their rocking Sam’s Town roots and brought the energy of the room right up. “Miss Atomic Bomb”, another track from Battle Born, led into “Human”, which sent the crowd into hysteria. They toned it

down with the power-ballad “Here with Me”, another new song, which transitioned nicely into “A Dustland Fairytale”.

The show slowed down even more with a sweet rendition of “Heart of a Girl” before closing the first part of the show with the heaviest-hitting songs in their

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arsenal: “Read My Mind” and the crowd’s favourite, “All these Things that I’ve Done”.

During the long bridge of the latter, frontman Brandon Flowers took to the mic and got personal with the audience. He introduced the band and successfully showed that you can still be in love with your craft a decade into the game.

Flowers’s genuine enthusiasm was charming and endearing, and it made the long wait outside for the show more than worth it.

The room lit up as the audience chanted, “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier,” and nearly burst at the seams when an explosion of Kand lightning-shaped red and silver confetti rained down over the crowd.

The band took back to the stage after a short break to play “The Rising Tide” and “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine”. They closed the night with an explosive version of “When You Were Young”, a song that got even the biggest stick-inthe-muds jumping up and down.

The Killers are one of the few bands on this planet that knows how to play a smashing live show.

Their songs take on a new life and the energy they create in a room is spine-tingling. Flowers’ vocals are so powerful on stage that he breathes a magical emotion into the act.

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« 09.24.2012

Editor » Carine Abouseif

In profile: Patrick Gunning The Medium talks cancer research with a major voice in medicinal chemistry AYESHA MALIK One of the leading voices in the field of medicinal chemistry works here at UTM. Long before he started here, Patrick Gunning completed an Honours BSc in chemistry at the University of Glasgow and remained there to earn his PhD. Impressed by the “art” of molecules, Gunning conducted post-doctoral research on the subject of medicinal chemistry at Yale.

After completing his post-doctoral research, Gunning decided he wanted to continue a career in research, specifically in medicinal chemistry.

Gunning accepted a position at UTM a few years ago. His decision was partially influenced by the resources the university was able to provide him. For example, when more space was needed for the rapidly expanding number of lab personnel, the university renovated the lab.

The personnel he gets are another benefit to being at UTM. Gunning describes his PhD students as “excellent”, adding that this was one of the “smartest decisions” he has ever made.

“My group is fantastic,” he says.

“They’re highly motivated individuals.”

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

In the lab with Professor Gunning.

His team consists of international research fellows from America and the United Kingdom. Currently, Gunning’s lab consists of five postdoctorates, 12 PhD students, and five undergraduates. In the last four and

half years, the group has published over 40 manuscripts.

Dr. Gunning’s research focusses on the manipulation of protein signalling in a cell. More specifically, he and his team are working on molecules

that would affect protein-to-protein interactions, looking in particular to control the interactions involved in the creation of cancer cells.

Currently, the team’s main interest is a protein called STAT3, short

for “signal transducer and activator of transcription 3”. Proteins from the STAT family control factors like the growth, survival, and specialization of a cell. They also handle aspects of immune system development and play a role in tumour surveillance. When STAT3 proteins interact with each other, they can produce abnormal cell growth; such growth is involved in the creation of cancer cells. STAT3 proteins also affect cancer cells’ resistance to drugs.

Gunning and his team have created molecules that hinder STAT3 protein-to-protein interactions.

These molecules have the potential to become treatments for cancer and multiple myeloma.

Gunning and his team are now collaborating with clinical oncologists to study the effects of these proteins in vitro and in vivio (in test tubes and in live subjects, respectively). These studies, which are conducted primarily at Princess Margaret Hospital, should eventually lead to clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies.

Gunning believes post-doctorates should conduct their research somewhere new, where they can start new projects and achieve as much as possible in a short time.

VOL 2 EP 2: EVERYDAY LANGUAGE CHANGES Oh, hello! Welcome back to this column, in which I try to make the study of language interesting to everyone.

Today’s topic is “Is it good for language to change?”

First, I’m not talking about stopping it. We just can’t. Imagination if there was a national committee whose job was to create a list of words we’re not allowed to use, which new ones are approved, and what they mean. Some countries and languages actually have such committees. But nobody can enforce such laws when regular people aren’t willing, and they sure ain’t gaining traction with the advent of the Internet.

But rather than discuss theory, I’m just going to show you one tiny change currently underway. It’s a lexical change, which means one word is changing form or meaning. This one is from English, whose phrases tend to run together into one word over time (goodbye space, goodbye hyphen.

Something else to think about during this discussion is whether a language is the same between the written and spoken forms).

Our word is “everyday”.

The dictionary says this is an adjec-

tive. It means “ordinary”, as in “something you see every day”. By that definition, its proper use would look like “an everyday experience”.

And when I was growing up, that was what it meant. But in the last few years it’s been used differently. Now, more and more, I see signs that promise “great coffee everyday” or “everyday a brand new you”.

“Great coffee ordinary”? “Ordinary a brand new you”?

Something’s changed.

It’s easy to see what happened. The phrase “every day”—that is, “each day”—has just started to collapse.

The typical reaction from a good language purist is frustration; after all, it’s such an obvious mistake! But I see it everywhere now! Everybody uses it for everything!

Hold on. “Everywhere”? “Everybody”? “Everything”?

See what I mean?

Yeah, English tends to create new words like that, by joining them. The fancy name for the process is “amalgamation”. And some of its results are now so familiar that we would never think to question them.

But is “everyday” really the same?

Let’s look at the anatomy of a compound. I know of four words that successfully merged “every” and something else: everything, everybody, everyone, everywhere.

One typical feature of new words is that they fill a gap in the language, that their place isn’t already blocked by another word. You can see that “everywhere” has that feature. Can you think of a different way to express what it means? Definitely not “every where”.

After all, what’s a “where”? And how do you know when you’ve caught ’em all??

But what about “ever ything”?

Would you say it means something other than “ever y thing”?

Similarly, “everyone” doesn’t just mean “every one”. It means “every human being”. Same with “everybody” and “every body”. The two-word version just doesn’t do the one-word version justice.

But what about “everything”? Would you say it means something other than “every thing”?

Hmm… tough question. I’d say it does, but I can’t put my finger on it.

Maybe it’s because “I love every thing” sounds funny. And I’m not sure that “every thing is blue” means everything is blue. Whatever the difference is or isn’t, it’s awfully subtle.

So far, the new “everyday” doesn’t have that feature. So far it’s being used to mean the same thing as “every day”.

But you can never predict in what new clever—or stupid—or so stupid it’s brilliant—way language will change.

“Every” itself first appeared about 800 years ago when people started running the expression “ever each” together—an expression that just meant “each”, but had a bit more emphasis. And before it solidified as “every”, Chaucer himself used the half-formed “everich”. Within about a hundred years all four of the above compounds had been formed.

How did this happen? People probably just used them a lot. If nobody explicitly tells the children of tomorrow that “everyday is a good day” is a mistake, they’ll assume it’s normal.

If you ask them whether it means the same thing as “every day”, a few of them might scratch their heads and say, “Hmm… tough question.”

And if it acquires even a subtle difference in meaning, it’ll have a foothold. In fifty years the language might have provided itself with a genuinely new word. And if it justified itself by doing something no word had done before, would it be so bad?

I’m a copy editor, and my whole job consists of keeping this paper’s language up to a certain standard. I still think of it as a mistake. No way would I let “everyday is a good day” through.

But I’m also a linguist, and we’re taught first and foremost to coolly observe language without judging what’s right or wrong. I’m well aware that today’s standard is just yesterday’s innovation.

So would it be so bad?

No, it probably wouldn’t.

On the other hand, maybe “everyday” will just fizzle and die. After all, the 19th-century coinages “everywhen” or “everyhow” didn’t catch on.

Maybe some changes really are just kind of dumb.

But “everyday”? Only time will tell.

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09.24.2012 THE MEDIUM FEATURES

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Keep your brain in shape with a little stress Neuroscience suggests we can condition our brains with small sessions of acute stress JILL LIM Experience breeds toughness. Picture your brain building its resilience with every stressful experience you encounter, being trained like the hardened body of an Olympic athlete. Instead of drowning under the pressure, your mind thrives on it. You welcome deadlines, exams, and social conflicts as challenges rather than burdens.

Stress makes you strong rather than weak. You feel, in short, ready for anything.

John Coates, a Wall Street traderturned neuroscientist, explores this idea of a “toughened person”— someone mentally and biologically braced to handle stress—in his book The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust. Like a number of mental health researchers, Coates views mild bouts of stress as a natural and necessary mechanism to keep our bodies and brains on alert. “Resilience to stress comes from experiencing stress,” he writes.

In Coates’ understanding, a toughened person views stressful situations as a novelty, a challenge, and an opportunity for gain. On the other hand, an individual who lacks mental toughness views stress as a threat, something to run away from. Coates observed that experienced financial traders who work on stress-driven trading floors show heightened stamina under pressure. He also mentions that in 2004, scientists at Stanford

EDWARD CAI/THE MEDIUM

Neuroscientist John Coates believes we can train our minds like athletes train their bodies.

University found that squirrel monkeys exposed to mild stress at an early age show the same sort of acquired resilience.

Yet stress continues to damage our lives every day: it often causes depression, exhaustion, and even failure. So what allows athletes, financial traders, and squirrel monkeys to keep pushing themselves while others give up? What do we need in our bodies, brains, and bloodstreams to become “tough”?

Coates turns to the strict exercise regime of top athletes for the answer, describing a simple yet strict plan: stress, recovery, stress, recovery. Like physical strength, building mental toughness requires a trained and care-

ful balance of the body’s hormones.

When faced with the pressure of a deadline, first date, or exam, a part of your brain called the hypothalamus releases several hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, that put your body on alert. You get sweaty palms, weak knees, and a racing mind, the signs of your body’s call to arms. The Centre for Studies on Human Stress calls it a reaction to acute stress, an “on the spot” pressure that may actually help your mind and body adapt to tense situations. Your body braces itself, pumped up on a natural high.

But like most highs, it never lasts.

If we live under daily pressure, we risk remaining in a constant state of stress. Our hormones remain imbal-

anced. Too much cortisol may make our bodies feel too gutsy for too long, burning up all our energy and leaving us exhausted. Acute stress takes on a hellish afterlife called “chronic stress”.

Under chronic or prolonged stress, we feel tense, tired, and trapped. How do we use stress to our advantage?

The trick is to preserve our surges of energy, not let them burn us out.

Coates calls it “homeostasis”, a scientific term for the balance of hormones in our body. The word derives from the Greek words homeo “same” and stasis “stable”. Remaining stable.

Balancing the ratio of hormones in your brain and body allows you to draw on energy-providing resources like cortisol only when necessary.

Think of the meticulous workouts of athletes. Elite athletes break muscle tissue with intense training, then recover for a day or so, only to follow that rest up with more muscle exhaustion. The body builds strength.

Coates believes that we can train our minds the same way: we can toughen our brains through exposure to acute bouts of stress, but must balance it out with periods of rest. Between periods of stress, exercise makes a perfect pacifier. It has been shown to lower levels of cortisol, conserving energy for when your body and brain need to jump into action.

As a student, I naturally believe that the more hours I spend in the library, the higher my rate of success.

The longer I stay awake, the better.

The more I think about a decision, the easier it will be. I assume that resilience comes from never letting my guard down, never stopping for a breath. But this mindset characterizes the staleness of chronic stress rather than the mental workout I need if I am to toughen up.

Instead of expending our energy on all-nighters right before a deadline, perhaps we should focus instead on routine. Stress, recovery, stress, recovery. “Once we come to understand the signals our bodies send us, including stress,” Coates writes, “there is a great deal we as individuals can do to toughen ourselves against their ravages.”

In other words: take a breath, take a break, take it on.

10 THE MEDIUM

«FEATURES 09.24.2012

They’re more afraid of you...

Is intimidation keeping students away from their professors’ office hours?

SAFIA AMIN Clammy hands? Loss of words? Don’t worry, it’s common among undergraduates to sweat, stutter, and go blank when speaking to their professors. Conversations that last for 20 seconds feel like hours, questions that needed to be asked are forgotten, and even planned meetings go by in a blur. Many students feel intimidated by their professors.

But why is this fear so common?

Why do so many professors plead with us to come to their office hours, only to sit in an empty office waiting for the time to pass? If you’re a first-year, have you ever asked yourself why you get nervous around your professors? Do you have a sense of inferiority? Are you worried about making a bad impression?

Some students who approach their professors feel no fear or anxiety, but many others find at least one of their professors frightening. Sometimes that fear goes away as you transition into your upper years, but sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the fear is based on factors other than unfamiliarity.

“It really depends on the professor,” says Ayan Dine, a third-year student of English and women and gender studies.

“If they’re nice and outgoing, then sure, I wouldn’t mind going to office hours.

But if they’re intimidating, and they’re really strict and stern, I wouldn’t go. I’d be too afraid.” Dine added that she feels more comfortable visiting professors

Economics students line up for Professor Bailey’s office hours. during office hours when they make an effort to build a relationship with their students.

Most professors try to be approachable, but many of the students we asked said they were still afraid. They perceived their professors as more interested in research and less interested in teaching. Or they perceived their professors as less inclined to give them the help they needed. Others said that a professor’s personality wasn’t the problem at all.

For many students, the first time they walked into their professor’s office hours, the main concern was “trying not to sound stupid”.

Andrew Sepielli, a philosophy professor, understands this feeling. “It’s much easier to get into conversations

with people when you presume that the person thinks well of you,” he says. “But if you’re not really sure, and if you really value the other person’s opinion, then you might avoid those circumstances.”

Sepielli explained that although some professors seem intimidating, it’s really just their teaching styles that give students that impression. “Some professors respond in a sort of adversarial way,” he explains. “I feel like professors kind of see argumentation, and backand-forth ‘Is this right? Is this wrong?’, as the kind of fundamental mode for interaction, whereas most people don’t.”

Most people need a natural dose of small talk before they can begin interacting at that level—which makes the kinds of professors Sepielli talks about seem too intense.

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

As Sepielli sees it, students shouldn’t be afraid of their professors. After all, sometimes the professors are just as nervous about interacting with the students. “You know how if you’re going camping in the woods and you see a bear, people say ‘The bear is more afraid of you than you are of it’?” he says.

He says students should worry less about looking foolish in front of their professors. “One thing to remember about professors,” he adds, “is that everyone who does this for a living loves what they do, to an inordinate degree.”

He says that professors appreciate the enthusiasm that makes you speak to them in the first place. In other words, you can’t go wrong talking to someone about what he or she loves.

On the other hand, not all students

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find their professors intimidating. Professor Lee Bailey, for example, who teaches economics, has office hours three times a week for the same class.

His office is always full.

What does this mean? Are some professors simply less intimidating? Or does the fear of doing poorly in certain classes outweigh the fear of the professor? Or perhaps it’s just a matter of proportion. The intros to economics and psychology usually have more than 1,000 students enrolled in each.

In their upper years, students may also begin to go to their professors’ office hours more. Classes become smaller and more familiar, and meanwhile, it becomes necessary to meet with professors outside class for things like proposing a thesis or proceeding with independent research. And once in a while, office hours are purely a discussion between people who are passionate about the same topic.

So maybe it’s all a misunderstanding.

Maybe professors don’t really mean to be intimidating at all. Besides, on the students’ side, does it make sense to worry about looking like less than a genius in front of someone who’s supposed to guide you? Probably not.

Nevertheless, many students will continue to feel that way. But hopefully, as time passes, your enthusiasm for the subject might tip the scale and finally outweigh your fear. You’ll just hold your breath, walk in with a smile, and realize they’re not as scary as they seem.

09.24.2012

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Editor » Isaac Owusu

The promise of UTMAC’s new leader The Medium sat down with UTMAC president Adam Niaz, who promises big surprises and changes JASON COELHO The UTM student body had the opportunity to elect a new president for the UTM Athletic Council last March. By an ever-so-slight margin of 32 votes, Adam Niaz, who seemed like an innovative candidate with an experienced team, beat the competition.

Fast-forward five months, and Niaz is now ready to put his ideas into action. He assures students that his experience makes him more than certified for this position.

“Last year I worked as an associate [at UTMAC],” he says. “And that experience and mentorship from the executives helped prepare me for this upcoming year, and it’s already shown.”

As for his science background, he says he’s interested in both the mental and physical aspects of sports, and one day hopes to pursue a career in sports science.

Coming away from a very successful day of the UTMAC Frosh, Niaz hopes he can maintain that energy throughout the year. He says he’s aware of his duty as president, and plans on fulfilling the promises he made during his campaign.

“Our job is to give back to the

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Niaz sporting a UTMAC shirt in his office inside the Davis Building. students,” he says. “I’m trying to give students here at UTM the best possible experience they could possibly get through athletics, through recreation, through healthy living.”

Whether you’re an athlete or a fan, this year he seems to have a lot in store for the UTM student body, first-year students in particular,

and he can’t wait to get started.

“We’re trying to improve the intramural program to show athletes some support through a better fan experience, so that we can motivate them to work harder,” he says. By giving athletes more recognition and putting highlight reels of their performances on an upcoming UT-

MAC website redesign, Niaz and his UTMAC team feel they can give the athletes the exposure they deserve.

He also plans on improving awareness of the importance of safety in sports, especially regarding concussions and avoiding the many physical and mental dangers

that threaten athletes. But his work doesn’t stop there.

“Get ready. There’s a lot more coming,” he says. One of the things he has planned, he says, is making Health Week “bigger than before”.

He also says he’s looking forward to this year’s UTM Charity Week.

His other plans include collaborating with the RAWC to bring a seasonal ice rink to UTM. “Between classes you could have a skate,” he says. “We would like to set up some hockey drills as well.”

Besides the events on campus, Niaz and UTMAC are planning a few outings to sports events for UTM students in the near future.

For example, they have tickets to a Buffalo Bills game on Sunday, September 30 at the Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo against the New England Patriots. There are also two outings to the Air Canada Centre for Toronto Raptors games this season, and a possible visit to our campus’ good friends, the Toronto Argonauts.

As he gets the ball rolling, Adam is confident in himself and his team to bring about the best year UTMAC has ever had.

“This is the best possible team that could have been assembled,” he says. “Our plan is to wow you!”

Another dark spot in NHL history NHL owners and players’ Collective Bargain (dis)Agreement leads to locked-out season—and bitter fans JUSTIN HERNANDEZ The word “lockout” has become too closely associated with the National Hockey League. Just seven years after the last lockout caused the entire season to be lost, Gary Bettman, the league’s commissioner, is locked in another labour dispute between the players and the owners.

The previous Collective Bargaining Agreement expired last Saturday at midnight. Now, instead of another exciting season for fans to cheer for their favourite teams, the NHL is locked out, meaning there will be no hockey until the owners and the players come to an agreement.

According to TSN, the revenue of the NHL has grown since the last lockout (which took place in the 2004/5 season) from $2.1 billion to $3.3 billion. Now the owners want to reduce the players’ salaries, while the players, of course, want their salaries to remain intact. Both sides are arguing over how to divide the revenue—and leaving the fans caught in the middle.

BOSTON.COM/PHOTOS

NHL players and player representative Donald Fehr before the press.

Several big-name NHL players have already signed onto teams in Europe just so they can play hockey. Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins will play in his native Russia for the KHL’s Metallurg

Magnitogorsk. His fellow countryman Alexander Ovechkin will join Dynamo Moscow. With so many big names in hockey going to play in Europe, one wonders whether the season can still be saved even if they

come to an agreement early enough.

The last NHL lockout saw the disappearance of an entire season.

If another season goes, what will it mean for the fans?

Michael Norrie, a sports fan and

third-year UTM student, comments, “If there are games cancelled, then I would just have to watch other sports. But then I would still miss watching my favourite team play hockey.”

If it continues, the lockout will result in the loss of the euphoric sensation of watching the Toronto Maple Leafs beat their arch-rival, the Montreal Canadiens.

Adam Ostermeier, a second-year hockey prospective, says he is trying to enter the league in the highlevel contracts, but with the NHL on a lockout he is unable to do so.

Who gets the blame? Norrie he blames both parties: “The owners and the players are already rich and they would fight to get more money,” he says.

However, Ostermeier blames the owners: “The owners are already rich, and they would cancel games just to get more money.”

Regardless of who is to blame, it is the fans who will feel the repercussions of the lockout. Hockey is meant to be played on the ice, not in the boardroom.

12 THE MEDIUM

«SPORTS 09.24.2012

Low impact, low resistance, intense workout

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The hydro-riders in use during an instructional class.

JASON COELHO As students begin another year of seemingly endless readings, essays, and tests, it’s good to know that the RAWC is on their side when it comes to blowing off some steam. It’s a state-of-the-art facility, and it continues to improve by offering even more programs to students at our campus.

On the dock this year is a set of exercise machines that have won the hearts of many fitness enthusiasts over the past few years: the hydro-riders. Those who know about it swear by it, although the rest might have no clue what it is. It’s essentially an exercise bike that can be used in swimming pools. It’s not an entirely new

concept, but it’s certainly innovative.

The hydro-rider adds a therapeutic element to a fitness workout. “Being in the water is part of the therapeutic aspect to it,” says Andrew Griffith, the instructor of the UTM hydro-rider sessions at the RAWC swimming pool.

Griffith says there’s a balance between the intense workout and the therapy: the warm-ups and cool-downs can be thought of as “an aqua version of hot yoga”.

“It has an intensity level just as hard as a spin class, but a lot different than a typical spin class,” adds Griffith. He explains that the session itself is supposed to be an intense workout: “Haven’t gotten anyone who said it was easy.”

The machines also provide variations different from those of a traditional spin class, such as an upper body element, since movement in the water creates resistance in the upper body.

Also, the temperature of the water helps regulate the temperature of the body, and the buoyancy of the water reduces the impact one feels on a regular bike.

“They do not have the traditional loading of the spin-class bike,” says Andrew Bellerby, the RAWC’s fitness program coordinator.

Another popular use for the hydro-riders is the rehabilitation of athletes who have suffered injuries. The hydro-rider can help athletes recovery more quickly, as

they can move faster in the water than on land.

“For knee-replacement surgery, hip problems, lower back problems, it’s a form of hydrotherapy,” says Griffith.

However, UTM does not currently offer a rehabilitative hydrotherapy program.

“It’s something that we will explore. Our primary motive is to run classes attractive for the students; if we do decide to do any outreach for the community, that would be a different target audience,” says Bellerby.

“I do get a lot of positive feedback,” says Griffith. “They enjoy the class and enjoy the intensity level. And they feel that when it’s over, they’ve had a good workout

and it was worth their while.”

Bellerby and Griffith understand that many students find the workout daunting, but the level of difficulty depends on how rigorous the student wants it to be.

“That’s one of the big benefits: it’s a gentle activity that can be ramped up and made more intense for people that want to work hard. It’s so different, and so unique,” Bellerby says. “It’s a scalable workout, something that’s great for beginners, not a big aerobic base. It’s really good for the introductory-type participant looking for something really different.”

Hydro-rider classes are held every Monday from 5:10 to 6 p.m. at the RAWC swimming pool.

Having what it takes to make the cut New faces and old come out to show their stuff at the Division 1 and Tri-Campus team tryouts at the RAWC EBI AGBEYEGBE The eagerness for the upcoming sports season is tangible as the tryouts for the men’s basketball and men’s soccer come to a close.

Both teams hosted three-day tryout sessions. The first two days were open to everyone, but the third and final day was by invitation only. Players of both sports were placed into either the TriCampus team (otherwise known as Junior Varsity) or the Division 1 team.

Last year ended with some regrets for both Tri-Campus teams, more so for the men’s soccer team.

“Last season was a big disappointment. We had high expectations, and for whatever reason, it didn’t work,” said Omar Jbaihi, the team’s coach.

A total of 33 players competed fiercely throughout the 90 minutes of soccer tryouts. The coaches put the players through both offensive and defensive drills, ending with a full-team scrimmage.

Old and new players alike put

in their best efforts to show the coaches they deserved a place on the final roster. Jbaihi said he is looking to keep the players that were on the team last year together so as to build more team chemistry.

By keeping the same core players from last season and adding some new players, Jbaihi hopes to build a stronger team to bring home the trophy this year.

Meanwhile, basketball has always been a popular sport on our campus and this year is no exception: over 70 people showed up for

the first day of basketball tryouts.

On the third day of tryouts, there were 35 hopefuls looking to make the final cuts for Junior Varsity and Division 1. The 35 hopefuls were cut down to 28.

Since both teams have lost a lot of players since last year, some new faces are bound to show up in both Junior Varsity and Division 1.

“We got better last year; we finished second. And this year, with the best players from the Div 1 team joining the Junior Varsity team, we will be even better,” says

Jonathan Harvey, a fixture on the team for the past couple of years who tried out again this year.

The players participated in some warm-ups and ended with a long session of 5 vs. 5. After the tryouts, the coaches of both teams thanked everyone who tried out.

Last season didn’t turn out the way either team wanted it to, but with this season’s intense tryouts, the addition of new talent to both squads, and guidance from coaches, UTM students will want to pay attention to this season.

Varsity Blues drop third game in a row ISAAC OWUSU SPORTS EDITOR On Saturday, in front of a national television audience, the Varsity Blues football team took to Guelph, where they lost to the Gryphons in a tight contest: 31– 29. The loss drops their season record to 1–3.

Both teams felt each other out, leading to a quiet first half with a pair of safeties and touchdowns by Guelph’s running back Rob Far-

quharson on a five-yard dive for the goal line. Paul de Pass caught a 13-yard touchdown on a Hitch pass from quarterback Richard Quittenton. The teams went into halftime tied at 9–9.

Both teams’ offences came alive in the second half. Quittenton took a lot of hits all game, but it was his rush early in the third quarter towards the left sideline

by Gryphons linebacker Jake Reinhart that took him out of the game. Simon Nassar, a second-

year student and third string quarterback, came in to replace the fallen starter and led an almost magical comeback.

The Gryphons marched to a lead late in the game, following Nassar’s one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Farquharson added a four-yard plunge in the end zone and the defence added another two points, forcing a Blues safety. Guelph receiver Alexander Charette caught a 10-yard pass from quarterback Jazz Lind-

sey, while Dillon Dimitroff pulled in another major for 26 yards and pushed the score to 31–16.

All in all, Nassar completed eight of 13 passes thrown for 106 yards and two touchdowns that day, as well as a score rushing the ball. It was in the final three minutes that he threw a 25-yard touchdown strike to receiver Todd Inkila to seal a 70-yard drive that only lasted 41 seconds. His 27-yard touchdown pass to de Pass with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter

made the game interesting. Nassar was unable to complete his pass for the two-point conversion, which would have tied the game.

That leaves coach Greg Gary with his third straight defeat.

UTM’s contribution to the game was still felt: running back Stephan Boroniec caught a pass for 13 yards, defensive back Larry Broni provided two tackles, defensive linemen Justin Marra provided one tackle, and Abi Olusoga added four.