Vol 42 issue 7

Creepy crawlies?

Asking questions

A risky return

“Don’t turn away”

Bye-bye playoffs

Read about conflicting reports on the presence of cockroaches at the UTMSU Food Centre.

Information is hard to come by, which makes it all the more important to keep asking questions.

Medium Opinion, page 5

Farah Khan discusses how many women of colour still aren’t getting due respect.

Blues suffer disappointing loss to the Ottawa GeeGees, knocking them out of the playoffs.

Medium News, page 2

Theatre Erindale’s graduating class returns with an exhilarating albeit challenging production.

Medium Arts, page 7

Medium Features, page 11

Medium Sports, page 15

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10.26.2015

No cockroach “infestation” Four to six cockroaches were seen crawling out of a box in the centre MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR WITH NOTES FROM NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR UTMSU has reported that there is currently no pest “infestation” inside the food centre.

Two weeks ago, Erik HernandezOberding, the UTMSU Food Centre coordinator, told The Medium that cockroaches were discovered in the food centre office in Davis.

“I was unpacking the donation boxes and a few skittered out,” he said in an email to The Medium.

“We contacted the relevant officers at the university to ensure that a pest control company [was] sent to investigate,” said UTMSU president Ebi Agbeyegbe in an email on Friday. “The preliminary report I have received from UTMSU staff is that there is no pest infestation at the food centre.”

The original reports of cockroaches came from a post by HernandezOberding on the food centre’s Facebook page. In an email on Friday, Agbeyegbe referred to reports of the pests on Facebook as “unverified”.

“We do not believe that any recent donation was a source of any infesta-

UTMSU to lobby new AV pricelist KASSANDRA HANGDAAN

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

The food centre is currently relocated in room 241 of the Student Centre. tion,” Agbeyegbe said.

In a follow-up email, HernandezOberding confirmed to The Medium that he had been the one to initially discover the roaches.

“When I initially witnessed [the roaches] it was four to six crawling out of a box, [so] my fear was that over the weekend more crawled out and that they would be inhabiting the centre or somewhere close by as there would have been ample time for others to crawl out and find

homes,” he said.

UTMSU is expected to receive the official report from Abell Pest Control early this week.

The food centre had relocated its office from Davis earlier this month after the initial reports of cockroaches. According to Hernandez-Oberding, food items, cardboard boxes, packages which the roaches could eat and lay eggs in, and clothes and hygiene bars were removed from the office.

Various reports had circulated since then alleging that the cockroaches had originated from a donation to the food centre.

As of press time, The Medium was unable to confirm the reports.

Currently, the food centre office has relocated to the Student Centre, room 241.

“We hope for the food centre to reopen its doors in the Davis Building as early as next week,” said Agbeyegbe.

UTMSU is undertaking lobbying efforts to encourage clubs and societies to write letters and sign petitions expressing their views about recent changes to the audiovisual rental pricelist introduced earlier this year by UTM. Discussed in a Ministry of Student Life meeting last Thursday, according to UTMSU VP campus life Russ Adade, the petitions would then be presented to UTM administration. “[The rise in AV costs] is affecting clubs and societies when it comes to planning their events […] it’s really cutting into their budget,” said Adade at the meeting attended by approximately eight students.

Adade further indicated that the pricelist changes may make events become too expensive to hold; in the worst-case scenario, clubs may be forced to cease hosting events.

AV continued on page 4

UTSU to hold special general meeting A special general meeting will be held on November 18 in order to pass a board structure NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR UTSU has scheduled a special general meeting following an unsuccessful attempt to pass a compliant board structure prior to the union’s October 17 deadline.

The original UTSU AGM, which took place on October 7, lasted nearly five hours and adjourned on item three of the agenda, dealing with the new UTSU board structure. The agenda included a total of 18 items after amendments were made during the actual meeting.

Although the union failed to pass a compliant board structure prior to the deadline, according to Ryan Gomes, UTSU’s VP internal, the union has since received legal counsel on the matter.

“Our legal counsel has advised us that we are not in any immediate danger of anything,” said Gomes when asked if the union has dissolved due to UTSU’s failure to pass a compliant board structure. “We will have ample notice if [Corporations Canada] have any intention of dissolving us, so that is really not a

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Another UTSU special general meeting will be held in January. concern.”

According to Gomes, a new board structure put forward by UTSU president Ben Coleman and seconded by Gomes will be presented at the special general meeting.

Although details of the newly proposed board structure have yet

to be released, in an interview with The Medium, Gomes verified that the proposal is similar to the elected board structure motioned by UTSU director Khrystyna Zhuk and includes the amendments made by members at the AGM. The structure, however, makes further changes to

the board structure, which failed to pass a ratification vote requiring a two-thirds majority with a vote count of 562 to 455.

“Some of those changes are important and significant enough that we’ve been told it is not essentially the same proposal and therefore it

can be put forward without having to go through a motion to reconsider,” said Gomes.

The upcoming meeting is scheduled to be held on November 18 from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the OISE auditorium. On the agenda are UTSU’s presidential address, approval of last year’s annual general meeting minutes, and a vote on the board structure, in addition to other items.

According to Gomes, another meeting will be scheduled early next semester to address motions put forward by students at the union’s original AGM. Procedural items not dealt with at the AGM are then sent to the board of directors to be addressed; however, Gomes and Coleman chose to host a second special general meeting to allow members to vote on all AGM agenda items.

“Ben and myself feel that it shouldn't be the board making the decision on these motions because they were submitted with the intention of being voted on by the membership,” said Gomes. “We will do a motion to refer and send all those motions the general meeting in January.”

10.26.2015 THE MEDIUM NEWS

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Mullin to return to classroom A committee has been formed to replace Amy Mullin

October 16, 12:30 p.m.

Fraud A UTM staff member reported a fraudulent student card that had been turned in.

October 17, 1:27 a.m.

By-law Offences Campus Police received a noise complaint from a campus residence. The Campus Police attended the residence area and cautioned the persons responsible.

October 17, 1:57 a.m.

Liquor License Act Campus Police observed a male holding an open beer bottle while walking out of a unit. The male was issued a Provincial Offences Notice for having liquor in an open container outside of a licensed area, residence, or private place.

October 17, 3:00 p.m.

Theft under $5,000 A student reported to Campus Police that her U-Pass was stolen from her UTM cardholder pouch. A student had lost her UTM cardholder pouch containing her TCard and U-Pass. The next day when it was found, her U-Pass was missing from the pouch.

October 17, 9:35 p.m.

Fire Call The fire alarm in Erindale Hall was activated. Campus Police and Mississauga Fire Department attended.

A garbage bin was smoldering on the first floor at the north side of the building. The fire was put out by person(s) unknown.

October 19, 10:53 a.m.

Trespass to Property Act A male was soliciting donations from students outside the Davis Building.

The male was issued a Provincial Offences Notice for engaging in prohibited activity on premises.

October 20, 8:50 a.m.

Motor Vehicle Accident A student reported her vehicle had been hit in parking lot 4. The driver of the other vehicle did not stay on scene to report the accident. Investigation is continuing.

October 21, 3:49 p.m.

Trespass to Property Act Campus Police received several reports from students of a non-community member being aggressive towards community members near the Kaneff bus stop. Officers attended the area and spoke to the male and he was verbally trespassed from the campus.

These reports are those that have been released to The Medium and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list.

Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905-453-3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/71041967@N02/8534120579/PHOTO

Mullin will end her term as UTM’s VP academic and dean on December 31.

SAMINA SULTANA UTM’s VP academic and dean has decided not to renew her position when her term ends this year. Amy Mullin, who will end her term on December 31, is heading back to the classroom.

Mullin was asked to take her current position in July 2010 by former VP Gage Averill, who was taking a sabbatical. She thought she was only going to be acting dean, but was given a full appointment in spring 2011.

After five and a half years in the position, Mullin will have a year off before returning to UTM in January 2017 as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy. Mullin, who hasn’t taught full-time since 2002, is “really looking forward to returning to teaching”.

Mullin spent her entire career at UTM, starting in 1990. In 2003, she was chair of the philosophy department. Her focuses are feminist philosophy and philosophy of art. She

has also researched “questions about responsibility of people who provide and receive care”. She is hoping to develop a new course about issues in families and ethics, and would also like to “rework some of the introductory courses”.

Mullin served in her role longer than most candidates, as one term is five years. During her time as VP academic and dean, Mullin said she has learned a lot more about “how the other departments work, their teaching needs, and their areas of research expertise”.

Mullin has seen a lot of growth at UTM. There are 173 new faculty members; in addition, she’s overseen hiring and resignation, with over 30 searches for new faculty each year.

Mullin has also been involved on the committees leading the creation of new buildings including Deerfield, IB, and the Innovation Complex.

Mullin also helped enhance visibility for experimental learning. This is

“learning by doing carefully chosen experiences and reflecting on that then receiving feedback on that”, according to Mullin.

As VP academic and dean, she helped develop new internships, new service learning courses, new field learning courses, and field trips.

Starting this year, there is a new course designation EXP, which designates courses that have significant components of experiential learning.

Mullin hopes that the next dean will be able to communicate more about what’s distinctive about UTM to the larger community and the broad range of the programs and the skills developed in each program.

Mullin does not have any input on the new person to fill her position.

An advisory committee will select her successor. The committee cannot comment publicly while the search is in progress, and the process does not have a firm end date.

Multi-faith space: a “band-aid solution”?

The new multi-purpose space is located on the third and fourth floor of Deerfield Hall RYAN ATKINSON Two new multi-purpose areas opened in Deerfield Hall intended for multi-faith, meditation, and study purposes have been deemed a “band-aid solution” to address calls for additional multi-faith space on campus.

Officially opened on October 14 and located in Deerfield Hall next to rooms 3026 and 3078 on the third floor, and next to rooms 4026 and 4078 on the fourth floor, the new spaces in Deerfield Hall are located next to a pair of large bay windows, and include a pair of couches, and a small bench for storage purposes.

The RAWC donated yoga mats and the Muslim Students’ Association donated prayer mats.

According to UTM’s equity and diversity officer, Nythalah Baker, the purpose of the new “reflection bays” is to facilitate “shared use by individuals quietly reflecting, meditating, praying, relaxing, or studying”. Baker added that these spaces “are simple in their design to be comfortable for all”.

SAMUEL KAN/THE MEDIUM

The area is intended to be used for prayer, meditation, study, and relaxation.

Maleeha Baig, president of the MSA, described the new space as a “good addition” but a “band-aid solution”.

“It could be built on, but is a good step forward in a direction

where people can have better spiritual and mental health,” said Baig, who described the new space as “very small, and the area that they gave us is where people usually study, and there are couches there”.

Baig claims the space is “inconvenient”, adding that “every time I’ve gone there so far, there have been people studying, and I don’t want to kick them out”.

The new reflection spaces are

an addition to other multi-faith spaces located at UTM, which includes one adjacent to the Student Centre, next to the new location of the UTMSU convenience store, and two rooms in CCT. Unlike the two gender-specific prayer rooms in CCT, the new space is co-ed.

In an interview with The Medium, Baig noted problems with the multi-faith rooms in CCT, specifically due to there not being enough space, causing line-ups. Baig compared the new space to other spaces on campus, stating that “the other spaces are nice because they are closed off, and you can close the door and relax”. This contrasts to the new space in Deerfield Hall, which Baig describes as “an open concept”, adding that this “can be nice as well, but can also be disturbing if you just want to get into the zen mode”.

When discussing the multi-purpose use of these spaces, Baig acknowledged benefits the new space allows.

Space continued on page 4

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«NEWS

THE MEDIUM 10.26.2015

Liberals sweep Mississauga Liberals win all six Mississauga ridings

»WHAT DO YOU THINK TRUDEAU

SHOULD DO FIRST AS PRIME MINISTER?

Manisha Devkota 1st year, life sciences

Ayesha Hassan 1st year, management

Lower tuition.

Decrease tuition to make it affordable.

Michael Sypniewski 1st year, sciences

Rhys Buceta 1st year, sciences

Eliminate tuition.

Repeal bills C-51 and C-24.

FACEBOOK.COM/JUSTINPJTRUDEAU/PHOTO

Iqra Khalid won Mississauga-Erin Mills, the riding in which UTM is located.

AUN SHEIKH After almost 10 years of Stephen Harper and a Conservative government, Canadians have elected a new leader, sweeping all six Mississauga electoral ridings and achieving a majority Liberal government.

The 78 days of campaigning came to an end last Monday as a new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was elected and the Liberal party acquired 184 seats in the House of Commons, 150 more seats than they had in 2011. In the City of Mississauga, all six ridings elected a Liberal MP to represent their ridings in the House of Commons.

Iqra Khalid won the seat for the new Mississauga-Erin Mills riding with 50 percent of the votes, defeating Conservative MississaugaErindale incumbent Bob Dechert,

who received almost 40 percent of votes. Khalid is one of 88 female MPs elected across the country, and one of two MPs of Pakistani decent.

Mississauga-Centre elected Liberal candidate Omar Alghabra with 55.1 percent of votes. Alghabra was a former MississaugaErindale MP who served from 2006 to 2008. Mississauga-Centre sits in the heart of the City of Mississauga in the Square One area and is a newly minted riding in the city. Alghabra immigrated to Canada at the age of 19, completed an engineering degree at Ryerson University, and then went on to pursue an MBA at York University.

The new Mississauga-East Cooksville riding elected Liberal candidate Peter Fonseca with 54.2 percent of votes, beating the previous Conservative MP, Wladyslaw Lizon. The former provincial

cabinet minister and Olympic marathon runner is husband to Mississauga city councillor Chris Fonseca.

Sven Spengemann was elected in the riding of Mississauga-Lakeshore, winning the seat, with over 47 percent of votes, from Conservative incumbent Stella Ambler.

German-born Spengemann moved to Canada at the age of 14 and attended UTM. The Liberals’ Navdeep Bain won the newly configured riding of Mississauga-Malton with 59.1 percent of votes. Bain had also previously served as an MP for a conjoined riding of MississaugaBrampton South.

Gagan Sikand won the Mississauga-Streetsville riding with 48 percent of votes. A lawyer, Sikand defeated Conservative MP Brad Butt, who earned 40.4 percent of votes.

UTMSU to present petition

New multi-faith space to be identified in new North Building Space continued from page 3 “It’s really good [...] not everyone is going to go pray, people just want to cleanse their minds and relax for a few minutes between classes,” said Baig who added that the multi-purpose use of this space functioned similarly to the multi-faith centre at the St. George Campus, which grants students the space for activities that include prayer, as well as meditation and yoga.

In 2012, a new UTMSU committee called the multi-faith steering committee was formed with the purpose of creating a “safe space for faith related discussions and an evaluation of spaces for worship at UTM, seeking additional spaces for such discussions as well as interfaith and faith-specific events”.

Published in a 2013 report now available on the UTMSU website, the committee determined that more multi-faith space needed to be added to UTM’s campus. At the time the report was published, UTM had over 95 clubs, with over 10 dedicated to faithbased organization.

According to Baker, the report was not brought forward to UTM administration; however, Baker added that “UTMSU and student faith groups have indicated the need for more multi-faith spaces on campus, which

we have been able to identify through these multi-purpose lounges.”

The Medium reached out to UTMSU VP equity Zehra Ramsha multiple times for comment on the opening of the new space and past lobbying efforts made by UTMSU to secure new multi-faith space on campus. Instead, UTMSU president Ebi Agbeyegbe provided comments to The Medium on the multi-purpose/multi-faith space.

“We did not have a say in the specifics of these new spaces,” said Agbeyegbe. “We however believe that these spaces came about by the constant pressure put on administration by [UTMSU] and our campus clubs who have worked tirelessly to find solutions for students impacted by the lack of adequate multi-faith space at UTM.” According to the report, U of T St. George has a variety of multi-faith spaces located throughout the campus, including a multi-faith centre— the Koffler House—that contains eight available rooms for multi-faith purposes, holding up to 200 students in total.

Also included in the 2013 report, U of T Scarborough has two spaces in their student centre for multi-faith– based activities, with one room able to hold up to 50 people, and a second

able to hold up to 30 people. The 2013 report also indicates that “the U of T Scarborough administration has also committed to an additional multifaith space in a new building opening in the fall of 2013”.

When contrasting the three U of T campuses, the report claims the St. George and Scarborough campuses “are convenient and practical; they are large enough to hold many people during religious practices and also during events that require more space”.

The report recommended “at least one additional room in each building would fulfill the needs of students as UTM expands and continues to grow physically”, while specific recommendations listed the IB, MAM building, and North Building as three facilities on campuses needing additional multi-faith spaces.

In an email to The Medium, Baker explained, “All other room spaces are assigned based on academic priority in Deerfield Hall; this includes classrooms, faculty offices, and program operations.”

According to Baker, new multi-faith space will be identified and included in the new construction of the second half of the North Building to undergo construction beginning March 2016.

NABEELAH SHAIKH/THE MEDIUM

UTMSU is collecting petitions to present to UTM administration.

AV continued from cover As previously reported by The Medium, the new pricelist has fee increases, which included a large PA system now costing $56 instead of $40. Small PA systems now cost $38 instead of $20.

According to Adade, UTMSU has since purchased AV carts, which include a mixer, two speakers, and a microphone, and is in the process of getting a projector.

Adade explained that the purpose of the UTMSU AV carts is to aid clubs and societies in response to the AV pricelist changes.

Although the process to rent

UTMSU AV carts is still under development, as it stands, UTMSU requires a $50 deposit from clubs and societies when renting the equipment, which is refunded in full when the equipment in the carts is returned in proper condition.

However, Adade believes the carts are not a long-term solution.

“This is not going to solve the problem in regards to AV, because at the end of the day, we have over a hundred clubs,” Adade says, noting that the limited number of carts cannot be evenly distributed among the numerous clubs and societies.

10.26.2015

MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Maria Iqbal editor@themedium.ca Managing Editor Maria Cruz managing@themedium.ca News Nicole Danesi news@themedium.ca A&E Kate Cattell-Daniels arts@themedium.ca Features Farah Qaiser features@themedium.ca Sports Eric Hewitson sports@themedium.ca — Photo Mahmoud Sarouji photos@themedium.ca Design Sarah Yassine design@themedium.ca Copy Akshaya Sharma copy@themedium.ca Online & Blog Corey Belford Kimberly Johnson blog@themedium.ca online@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Menna Elnaka A&E TBA Features TBA Sports TBA Photo Christy Tam Copy TBA GENERAL STAFF Webmaster Luke Sawczak web@themedium.ca Distribution Manager Alex Ciesielczuk distribution@themedium.ca Ads Manager Mayank Sharma ads@themedium.ca BOARD OF DIRECTORS Maryam Faisal, Jeremy Wu, Leo Jiang, Natalia Ramnarine, Rebecca Xu, Saima Khan (ex-officio), Christine Capewell (ex-officio) COPYRIGHTS All content printed in The Medium is the sole property of its creators, and cannot be used without written consent.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor will be edited for spelling, grammar, style and coherence. Letters will not exceed 700 words in print. Letters that incite hatred or violence and letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist, or libelous will not be published.

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5

Getting to the truth of the matter When answers are hard to come by, it’s important to learn how to ask If you missed it last week, UTM held its “Living Library”, an event that features special guests whom students can “borrow” for a halfhour conversation about that person’s life story.

This time, the event featured alumni who gave students advice for their undergraduate careers and beyond.

Well, if there was anything I would tell current students to do, it’d probably be to ask more questions.

The advice may sound cliché, but it takes on a new relevance if you think about access to information these days. There are an increasing number of obstacles coming in the way of finding things out, as long as someone doesn’t want you to know them.

Earlier this year, we ran a story on a Professor Francisco Luis’ departure from UTM “for unknown reasons”. Only a hint of what may have happened was given to us when we inquired about it; as Jane Stirling, UTM’s marketing and communications director, said, the issue “was addressed in the courts and Mr. Luis is no longer associated with the university”.

Um, say that again? Courts were involved?

Perhaps even more disconcerting is what impact it may have had on his students—all we heard at the time was, “Students were provided with appropriate supports as needed.”

Okay…

What kind of supports were needed? How do we know that students were indeed helped, rather than the university just saying that they were?

The more resistance you face when asking questions, the more you should wonder if there’s something you should know.

Imagine that there are other profs at UTM in a similar situation to Luis’. How would we even know what to watch out for if we don’t know what happened? Doesn’t the university, as a publicly funded institution, owe us this information as members of its community?

That’s just one example.

Another more recent one can be found in the leading news story this week regarding the reports of

cockroaches at the UTMSU Food Centre.

Following our initial story about the discovery of the roaches in last week’s issue, a number of conflicting reports circulated about whether or not there were cockroaches there. UTMSU Food Centre coordinator Erik Hernandez-Oberding had posted about the roaches on Facebook and later told us that he had seen them himself.

However, UTMSU president Ebi Agbeyegbe referred to Facebook reports of the cockroaches as “unverified”. But there was enough weight to the reports that pest control services were called and the food centre was relocated to a room in the Student Centre.

So we asked some follow up questions. If you look closely at the answers, you might get some idea about what may have happened.

Agbeyegbe tells us, “The preliminary report I have received from UTMSU staff is that there is no pest infestation at the food centre.”

But wait—he says there is no “infestation” at the food centre. Who said anything about cockroaches “infesting” the centre? I thought we were just talking about a couple of roaches.

Again, Agbeyegbe says, “We do

not believe that any recent donation was a source of any infestation.” Neither do I. But what I want to know is whether a couple of roaches were in fact seen coming out of a donation box, as Hernandez-Oberding says.

It may not matter to you whether or not the roaches were ever there, but what you should think about is how difficult it is for us to even find out the truth about a couple of pests.

Not to mention the fact that we’ll never know what someone doesn’t want us to find out unless we ask questions—the right questions— and analyse every word of the answer so we can filter out the agendas of everyone we speak to.

The more resistance you face when asking questions, the more you should wonder if there’s something you should know.

YOURS, MARIA IQBAL

CORRECTION NOTICE The Oct. 19 article “UTSU fails to ratify new structure” mistakenly said that Grayce Slobodian was formerly UTSU’s VP internal. She was in fact VP external.

10.26.2015

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7

You actually believed in willpower?

Theatre Erindale’s graduating class examines free will in a risky and challenging season opener HAILEY MASON

Theatre Erindale kicked off its “Silver Season” last Thursday with a haunting performance of Euripides’ Orestes. Under the direction of Autumn Smith, this classic Greek tragedy adopts a new translation by Anne Carson. The production is set in Victorian England and incorporates elements of dark humour that lighten the mood of this traditionally somber play.

Six days after murdering his mother Klytaimestra, the vindictive Orestes (Nathaniel Kinghan) has fallen into the throes of madness. A gang of dark and beautiful women, referred to as the Furies, plague his mind and lure him further into insanity. The only character capable of calming Orestes is his sister Elektra (Kyra Weichert), who is also his collaborator in the murder of their mother. We learn that the two siblings murdered their mother to avenge the death of their father, who died at her hands.

The plot follows Orestes and Elektra as they anticipate the death penalty while desperately seeking acquittal for their controversial

JIM SMAGATA/PHOTO

The cast sink their teeth into Orestes, a Greek play with a Victorian twist. crime. In the mix of this drama is the sly Menelaus (Isaac Giles) and his haughty newlywed Helen (Larissa Crawley), whose betrayal against Orestes and Elektra leads to yet more vengeance.

Considering Orestes functions as a sequel to Euripides’ earlier play Elektra, in which the murder of Klytaimestra takes place, I was pleased with how easily I caught on to the plot of this play. Having no prior

knowledge of Elektra, I found the performance of Orestes to be unambiguous and perfectly understandable.

Despite the play’s underlying misogyny, the character of Elektra

is undoubtedly a dominant force.

Euripides’ work often features the presence of tortured women; however, Elektra is not confined to the role of a victim. She is a complex character whose intervention fortifies Orestes’ sanity and assists in the plot against Menelaus and Helen.

Although Orestes is set in Victorian England, this is no lighthearted parlour comedy. The mood is darkly comedic, hot, and sexual. And while Orestes’ and Elektra’s lives spiral into madness, Apollo (Nathaniel Voll) looks on and laughs.

Weichert demonstrates the strength and dominance required in this leading role. Her acting is passionate, yet controlled. Weichert’s presence lights up the stage as she infuses life into Elektra’s character and solidifies the female influence in this production.

Opposite Weichert is Kinghan in his role as Orestes. Saying that Kinghan is well suited for this role is somewhat of an understatement.

His fits of madness throughout the performance, especially in the opening scene, are frighteningly believable.

Orestes continued on page 10

Musical Theatre Club brings a new act to town New Musical Theatre Club kicks off the season with an open mic, with more triple-threat to follow KASSANDRA HANGDAAN When I first meet Ioana Luchian in one of Deerfield’s rehearsal halls, she is busy preparing the stage for an open mic event hosted by the UTM Musical Theatre Club.

Luchian—a third-year student completing a double major in math and drama and a minor in English— is president of the newly formed club.

“We didn’t have musical theatre at the school, and I love musical theatre in the way it combines drama, dancing, singing, and lots of arts,” Luchian explains when asked about the origins of the club.

Yet it would be wrong to assume that the club is indistinct from the Drama Club.

“It’s a totally different art form,” she continues. She clarifies that the MTC incorporates music and dance into their performances, and therefore varies the structure of their meetings.

As show time nears, I take my seat in the audience, and it isn’t long before the conversations around me fade. Bianca Carvalho, social representative of the Management Committee of UTMMTC and MC for the evening, takes the stage to signal the

JILLIAN SEGOVIA/THE MEDIUM

While there may be some crossover, UTMMTC is not the same thing as the Drama Club. start of the event.

Carvalho introduces Jillian Segovia, who performs a vocal cover of the mashup “Check Yes Juliet” by We the Kings and “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons.

At first, Segovia’s performance is marked by minor technical difficul-

ties when her music is unable to play.

After a few minutes of tampering with the computer, Segovia’s music carries through and when she opens her mouth to sing, she fills the room with her clear and tuneful voice. Her enthusiastic performance, emphasized the emotion audible in her voice, in-

viting the audience to clap along right through to the end of her act.

Luchian’s acrobatic act follows next. She begins by carrying two wooden blocks with her to the stage.

What follows is a jaw-dropping display of flexibility, power, and grace as she performs handstand after hand-

stand, along with splits and a series of contortions of the body—some of these tricks are performed while balancing on the blocks. At one point during the act, she lies face down on the ground and twists her lower body over her neck so her legs dangle over her head. Only when she successfully unwinds herself into a recognizably normal shape do I realize that I was biting the back of my hand in a mixture of awe and anxiety.

Other notable performances include Jacob Lively’s rendition of two original songs and a cover of Bon Iver on the guitar accompanied by the piano. Also memorable is the hilarious singing duo consisting of Hannah Gilbert and Nadia Ozzorluoglu, who perform a satirical duet entitled, “The Internet Is for Porn”.

For Carvalho, a third-year student, the reason for joining the club was simple. “I’m an English major who loves drama, so I decided to join the club,” she says.

Currently, the club is working on an ambitious spring musical: “Guys and Dolls”. More information about the production can be found on their website.

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«ARTS

THE MEDIUM 10.26.2015

What’s the scariest thing you’ve seen?

There are different kinds of fear: there’s giggly fun fear, psychological spine-chillers, and jump scares. Once upon a time, fear was witches being burned and ghosts walking the earth. These days, Halloween is a tradition of candy corn and fake-blood zombies. What happened? The Medium seeks out the best of the truly terrifying to watch and read on October 31 for those too hardcore for peanut-free safe-to-share chocolate bars.

Killer Legends: the scariest movie on Netflix KEENA AL-WAHAIDI

Netflix may be one of the best inventions of the decade (especially if you have the know-how to get the American version). Between episodes of Orange is the New Black, it may be time to check out a documentary or two...

It’s that time of year again— Thanksgiving is over, but the changing leaves and the smell of pumpkin spice lattes are just a reminder of all the good things to come this season. Especially Halloween.

Ah yes, Halloween. The most frightening time of the year. And what better way to celebrate it than to turn on Netflix and freak out a bit more over true, creepy horror stories?

That’s exactly what I did. Killer Legends, a documentary I recently

discovered, follows the stories of urban legends. Not just their accounts, but how and why they occurred and from whose alleged “true” story they emerged.

Sure, horror movies are scary

One might begin to sit and ponder about the things that they’re really afraid of—and why. and personally, they could keep me up for a week straight. But thriller documentaries? I could spend a month as an insomniac (without a trusted teddy bear or some sleeping pills, that is).

Killer Legends isn’t scary in a physical sense, but more in a psy-

chological way, where one might begin to sit and ponder about the things that they’re really afraid of— and why. One case they work hard to uncover is that of the man with the hook hand, who slays teenagers who get a little too intimate for his liking. When this leads the filmmakers to Texarkana, Texas, they spend quite a bit of time there and discover how the killer nicknamed “The Phantom” attacked five couples in one year.

The thing about horror movies is that it’s easy to get over them because it’s fun to watch the behind the scenes footage on YouTube, or maybe we really like one of the actors and remember that they act on a set with cameras and directors.

But in documentaries, this is real.

All of it. Every story, every person, every place. It’s inescapable—and maybe that’s the point.

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October Country: the scariest short stories HAILEY MASON

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So you thought Ray Bradbury only ever wrote Fahrenheit 451 ? Think again. Renowned speculative fiction writer takes things a step further with a short story collection guaranteed to give you chills—and not because of the weather.

For Ray Bradbury fans, The October Country is a must-read come Halloween time. This collection of short stories delivers a realm of macabre characters, psychological scares, and plenty of plot twists.

“Skeleton” follows Mr. Harris, a hypochondriac who becomes obsessed with the skeleton beneath his skin. Plagued by his obsession, Mr. Harris fears that his skeleton is struggling to break free from the confines of his skin—and he’s right. As his skeleton wrestles for control, Mr. Harris is drawn into a battle of strength between mind and bone. In the heat of the action is the sinister M. Munigant, a

bone doctor who encourages Harris’ fears and makes a life-altering house visit at the conclusion of the story. This piece is uniquely creepy and the final scene comes with a guarantee of goosebumps.

“The Cistern” is equally chilling. The story takes place in a

Mr. Harris fears that his skeleton is struggling to break free from the confines of his skin—and he’s right. drab city dining room where two sisters, Juliet and Anna, sit inside watching the rain. While Juliet is indifferent to the weather, Anna is haunted by the cisterns that occupy the sub-level of the city.

She envisions a man and a woman, both dead, who live in these cisterns. When the rain comes,

they’re lifted from the dry basin and brought to life in a romantic and watery embrace. Anna fantasizes about the water guiding their lifeless limbs towards each other as the rain carries their bodies below the streets of the city. The imagery in this story is poetic as well as haunting. The idea of dead lovers living within the city’s cisterns, brought to life only when it rains, is something reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie.

What makes “Skeleton” and “The Cistern” so unnerving is Bradbury’s understated language.

Using sparse exposition, Bradbury creeps towards a set of nightmarish conclusions. His minimalism creates suspense and ambiguity that ultimately intensify the horrors within each story. Ray Bradbury’s October Country is an eerie read that will haunt your thoughts long after you’ve turned the final page.

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House of Leaves: the scariest novel KATE CATTELL-DANIELS A&E EDITOR I stumbled on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski almost by accident—a couple of my roommates were reading it for a course in video games and narrative. Copies were just lying around the house, and being a compulsive reader, I’d pick them up and flip through the pages. Physically, House of Leaves is a massive undertaking; the whole thing is 709 pages long. Plus, the narrative is anything but linear. In most novels, the reader starts at the beginning and follows the narrative to the end. But here, there are two narratives—one of which has been written entirely in the footnotes of the other.

The whole thing is a framed narrative, and the layout of the book itself is bizarre—sometimes, the type is upside down or sideways, or there are five words per page, and everything is cross-referenced and footnoted into

near-total obscurity.

The first line of the book’s introduction reads, “I still get nightmares.

In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now.” I had nightmares too while I read House of Leaves.

I was right out of my undergrad and feeling a little shaky anyway, but I wanted to tackle the book.

I’m a good reader. I am not put off by long words or long books, or complicated syntax. But something in House of Leaves shook me a little deeper than I thought it would.

The story follows Will Navidson, a filmmaker, his wife, Karen, and their two kids, who move into a new house only to find themselves waging a war against their living quarters. The house has a life and a mind of its own. It expands and collapses, building rooms and hallways overnight. Navidson gets a team of experts together, and they journey into the house’s labyrinth, trying to figure out why it behaves the

way it does and why the dimensions on the outside don’t match those on the inside. But we get Navidson’s story through the eyes of Johnny Truant, a man who, in reading The Navidson Record—a book about the Navidson family he finds lying around—spirals rapidly into madness.

My own nightmares were full of dark hallways, bottomless pits, and shifting walls. I think the most disconcerting thing is that in this novel, the house is the antagonist. That messes with a lot of what I take for granted— my house being a safe place, where the danger is outside, not inside. In this book though, people die inside the house. They get lost, they go insane.

The whole thing is very subtle, never melodramatic, but left me feeling deeply unsettled.

Since finishing House of Leaves in the spring, I don’t have nightmares anymore. But I do think about this book a lot.

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American Horror Story: the scariest TV series ADELAIDE CLARK

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American Horror Story has been running a long time—since October 2011, in fact. Directed by Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy, the critically acclaimed television series is based on real events that have happened throughout the course of American history.

The season that is by far the scariest is, in my opinion, American Horror Story: Asylum. If you get a kick out of horror, the opening theme for this season is enough to convince you to stay tuned.

Horror comes in many forms, and this season takes the genre to a whole new level. It focuses on the psychological side of horror as it zooms in on the lives of eccentric inmates during their time in an asylum run by unethical nuns. Featuring the recurring cast of Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, and the ever-reigning Jessica Lange, American Horror Story:

Asylum takes place in a fictional mental institution during the mid 1960s.

The reason why, I think, it’s the scariest season thus far is because some of the methods used to cure the mentally ill inmates are portrayals of actual practices doctors used back in the early 1950s to late 1960s. In this fictional asylum, Briarcliff Manor, inmates are—to put it lightly—mistreated.

Lana Winters (Paulson) is subjected to conversion therapy, a method used to turn the homosexual to heterosexual by conditioning them to vomit whenever they think about or see anything homoerotic. Then, Sister Mary Eunice (Rabe) performs an exorcism on an inmate using religious methods—this being one of the best-executed and most terrifying scenes of the season because of the jarring extraction of the Devil from a young man’s soul.

Another plotline that proves unsettling concerns an inmate by the name of “Bloody Face”. Bloody Face is a char-

acter that has severe maternal issues, who kidnaps women and uses their skin to make lampshades and furniture. Bloody Face kidnapped Winters and brought his maternal fantasies to life through role-play with her. The mask of Bloody Face is one of those disturbing images that sticks with you long after the episode is over.

One of the most chilling things about this season’s plotline is that, back then, “asylum” was really just a synonym for “jail”. In the season, the main characters have little to no freedom, and severe, old-fashioned, prison-like punishments for their actions. The costume, makeup, and preeminent acting generates a sense of the misery and zombie-like qualities of these tortured patients.

This trio of effects makes horror into an art form. And the best kind of art is meant to make you think, or in this case, make you sleep with one eye open…

The Conjuring: the scariest movie MAYANK SHARMA

I’m not going to lie—I don’t get scared very easily, especially when it comes to media. In a typical group of friends, I am that guy who would be the first to suggest a horror film when deciding what to watch at the theatre. I find the experience to be exhilarating and fun, but my friends don’t usually agree. So when I had to decide on the scariest movie I had ever seen, it was a bit of a challenge.

The Conjuring is a relatively new horror film that centres on the real-life married couple Ed and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), whose livelihood comes from being paranormal investigators. They are on the verge of retirement but are called in by

a Rhode Island family who claim that they are being tormented by an evil entity. The couple are forced to face their inner demons while helping the family get rid of supernatural threats. A straight-

The Conjuring terrified me because it caused me to rely on my imagination, which gives the “unknown” a whole other meaning. forward plot, right? It’s actually much more than that.

The first aspect of the film that drew me in was the director, James Wan, who was deemed the director who revolutionized the horror

film genre with Saw. However, The Conjuring solely relies on psychological scares and the element of surprise, instead of using violence and gore. Wan’s ability to play with the audience’s psychology, along with the cast’s commendable performance, builds tension in almost every scene.

Films from the same production company, such as Insidious and Sinister, had a solid plot, and kept me hooked until the middle of the film, but then showed me too much—what the actual threat looks like. The Conjuring, on the other hand, terrified me because it caused me to rely on my imagination, which gives the “unknown” a whole other meaning.

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THE MEDIUM 10.26.2015

REWIND CHRISTOPHER ANTILOPE

What happens when you take Kanye West, Fergie, and Baz Luhrmann and throw them out of 2013’s The Great Gatsby? You get what Francis Ford Coppola had in mind when he wrote the screenplay for the 1974 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.

In this day and age, literature is Hollywood’s favourite go-to for movie material. Whereas film adaptations decades ago were more of a privilege than something to be expected, today they’re just run-of-the-mill movies.

For this reason, the 1974 adaptation stands on a much higher pedestal than the 2013 version. Robert Redford portrays (the great) Jay Gatsby to a tee because he has to; being such an iconic figure in 20th-century American literature, the role of Gatsby must be executed the way it was dreamt of by Fitzgerald himself.

With Redford’s masterful depiction of Gatsby, audiences see a timid, modest Sam Waterston play the narrator of both the book and film: Nick Carraway. Think of Harry Potter, but told from Ron Weasley’s perspective, whereby you have a meek figure admiring a greater one who has all sorts of abilities and welcomes you into a whole other world. Nick is that meek character that is invited into Gatsby’s out-of-control universe: the Roaring Twenties.

The Great Gatsby, directed by Jack

Clayton, captures the essence of the times. We see the move of modernism happening, breaking away from the formalities of the past, with nonstop partying and women wearing their hair short and risqué. In this new time, women developed agency. It is a proud moment, where the partying is earned. However, what Fitzgerald does with the uproarious partying is to ultimately show its consequences.

In all truthfulness, as much as a cinephile as I am, Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal in The Great Gatsby still wins me over. He amplifies the charm that Redford has in the 1974 film, but lives and breathes the way Gatsby would. While Redford’s Gatsby exhibits all the traits of the literary Gatsby, his portrayal is too tame.

With DiCaprio’s portrayal, the golden blonde hair, the affectionate smiles, and the whole attitude of Fitzgerald’s Gatsby are emulated.

However, contrast the 1974 film’s aesthetics with the 2013 one and here is where you see your major difference.

With all due respect to Luhrmann’s interpretation of the novel, everything is lost in the over-amplification of the lights, the music (which is obviously not from the time period), and the inyour-face nature cinematography.

Long story short, old sport, if you had DiCaprio’s Gatsby in Clayton’s film, well then… you’d have yourself a mighty fine film that’s all right in the end.

MMM

I could’ve danced all night Getting in touch with Mississauga’s wearable heritage

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Wrapped, Tied, and Tucked celebrates rich heritage through textiles and how to wear them.

LAUREN REEVES Sampradaya Dance Creations, a Mississauga-based dance company, performed earlier this month at the opening ceremonies of the Museums of Mississauga’s Wrapped, Tied, and Tucked textile exhibition.

Held at the Bradley Museum and Benares House, the performance was in the classical style of Bharata Natyam, which appeared, to the unversed eye of this critic, to be an exceptional musical style of dance emphasizing strong poses and flowing motion.

The show was not especially polished. At some point or other, each dancer would waver in their pose or struggle to keep time. On the one hand, this seemed distracting and unprofessional. On the other, however, it seemed to fit the mood of the evening. The atmosphere both inside the galleries and outside on the lawn was casual, warm, and, to be frank, almost disconcertingly friendly.

The performers made a stage of the porch of the Benares House. This produced a very striking effect. The

house, which is wooden, old, and exquisitely weathered, was adorned by three small women clad in brass, gold, and the brightest silks.

The exhibit itself, which can be seen both at the Benares House and the Bradley Museum, displays a small collection of traditional South Asian clothing. The name, Wrapped,

The pieces are largely borrowed from members of the Mississauga community, and each of these is accompanied by a story.

Tied, and Tucked, is intended to emphasize the wrapping of these fabrics, which differs dramatically according to the region, and is as much a part of the artistry of the textiles as the embroidery. The pieces are largely borrowed from members of the Mississauga community, and each of these is accompanied by a story— most of them were wedding gowns.

There was one room that stood apart from all the others—it featured only a single dress, a lovely green fabric with sequined embroidery, and a small iPad screen playing a looped video of an artist draping it over her daughter. An alternative presentation method might have been to project the short film over the entire wall, allowing it to dominate the visitors’ view.

For all its ups and downs, the Benares House is especially proud to host this exhibition, as it is a restoration of the home of an immigrant from the Indian city of Varanasi (formerly Benares), and has taken this occasion to remember its roots.

Yet while the dance as performed by this local company and the silken bridal gowns and heirlooms of our Mississauga neighbours are a nod to this past, they are also reflective of the community at present. This is in essence the mission of the Museums of Mississauga.

Wrapped, Tied, and Tucked will run at the Bradley Museum and Benares Historic House until January 17.

Don’t bother fighting the gods Orestes continued from page 7 While watching this performance, I was completely enthralled by the intricate movements and choreography. One moment that stands out to me is the scene in which Elektra accepts her death. She stands with her back to the chorus of Furies, heaving her body forward in a repetitive motion as she sighs. Behind her, the Furies mimic her heaves and sighs in perfect unison, creating a crowd of synchronicity with Elektra front and centre. This moment is a beautiful hyperbole of Elektra’s despair.

The body language in this scene, and the rest of the performance for that matter, is exceptionally polished.

Regarding the set, the varying stage levels function well for this performance. The large table placed centre stage not only provides Orestes with a morgue-like resting place in the opening scene, but it also behaves as a platform for sev-

eral characters to leap upon and deliver enticing monologues. The platforms located on one end of the theatre are a universal stage piece— they act as a podium for Tyndareus (Cameron Grant) when he assumes the role of judge, they provide an offset gathering place for the chorus of Furies, and they’re also an

Apollo ultimately predetermines the fate of the characters, leaving no room for individual willpower. additional spot for characters to loom over each other while giving speeches. The most influential stage level is the balcony that overlooks the theatre. This raised portion of the stage houses Apollo, the god of light and law, who oversees the play’s events as they unfold. From

his lofty post, Apollo regulates the actions of his subjects with the loud smacking of his staff against the banner. Voll’s actions also supplement the performance with dramatic effect. On several occasions, he sets into motion a Newton’s cradle, introducing a metronomic beat that sets the pace of the scene happening below.

With Apollo’s intervention throughout the play, particularly in the final scene, Orestes is no exception to Euripides’ trend of “deus ex machina”. Apollo ultimately predetermines the fate of the characters, leaving no room for individual willpower. Orestes therefore contains the lingering theme of determinism—although with the cast mechanically responding to Apollo’s will, this production raises the question of whether or not Orestes is mocking determinism or enforcing it.

Orestes runs until November 1 at the Erindale Studio Theatre.

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Farrah Khan speaks about gender violence Last week’s Feminist Lunch Hour discussed the implications of the election campaign NABEELAH SHAIKH When I think of the most badass queer, Muslim (yes, queer and Muslim), coloured woman, last week’s Feminist Lunch Hour guest speaker, Farrah Khan, comes to mind.

The latest Feminist Lunch Hour on Thursday focused on the recent federal elections and how women would (still) not benefit from the changes that are (still) not being made.

And a pretty large audience turned up.

Khan began her talk with a photo of two otters holding hands. “Otters hold hands when there [are] rough waters,” she said. “I don’t know about you but I feel like this election has been [like] rough waters. It’s been really hard to see how as communities of colour […] sometimes we’re pit against each other. When we’re thinking about this and when we think about how to move forward—I want to think about how we can work in solidarity and struggle together.”

Khan began advocating for women’s rights after living through hell in the form of childhood sexual abuse by her maternal grandfather.

Today, Khan has become a renowned, successful, and passionate public speaker on violence against women. She is a counsellor and advocate for the Barbra Schlifer Clinic (“one of the only feminist legal clinics in Canada”), the coordinator of Outburst! Young Muslim Women’s Project (a space “for young Muslim

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Following childhood sex abuse, Khan is now a passionate public speaker on gender-based violence. women to speak their truth from a place of strength”), and an editor of the graphic novella “Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project”. Khan is also an award-winning short film creator and a highlighted woman in The Toronto Star’s “People to watch in 2011”.

Alongside her many achievements, Khan is also the epitome of a survivor.

She knows the feeling of being attacked well to this day, as sometimes even Muslim communities “don’t accept her for her sexual orientation”.

She isn’t a typical “visible” Muslim—a petite “light-skinned” woman of Dutch and Indian descent—yet she still faces the same institutionalized discrimination that any woman of colour suffers from.

Khan repeatedly referred to this discrimination in her talk, stating that

while she is a Muslim woman talking about Muslim issues, all women of colour are under attack. All women of colour are institutionally made to look like they are “the other”.

Khan talked about how society discusses the issue of “saving” (but really, oppressing) Muslim women more than “saving” indigenous women or black women—when in fact all kinds of women deserve help and the right attention too. Khan’s example of the issue of wearing a niqab while taking the oath of citizenship in Canada pointed this out explicitly. “[Do] you know how many women wearing a niqab tried to take the oath of citizenship in Canada?” she asked.

“Two.” “[Do] you know how many missing and murdered Indigenous women

there are in Canada right now?” she continued. “One thousand two hundred.

One thousand two hundred. But what is the issue you hear about the most? The two women wearing a niqab.”

Khan then talked about Aqsa Parvez, a young woman of colour who sought safety to escape her abusive household, only to be murdered in an honour killing by her mother, father, and brother in the end. Parvez had barely been in Canada for more than two years, but news of her honour killing spread immediately—mostly attacking Canadian Muslim women.

Khan displayed an image of Parvez on the cover of Toronto Life, photoshopped and chosen specifically to sexualize and objectify the young

woman of colour. This disrespect to a young woman who should be honoured and mourned, not mocked and trivialized, is what sparked the creation of AQSAzine—a magazine made to honour Parvez and the issues around honour killings—by Khan and a group of furious Muslim feminists.

Khan states that politics and bills such as the “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Acts” sends a message to women of colour that says, “We don’t want you here. You don’t belong, and we have a right to police you.” To me, and Khan, this is not okay. This is why strong-minded, determined, and powerful women like Khan exist—to bring awareness of the injustice that our “justice” system does for women.

The talk was titled “Our Bodies Are Not Your Battleground” because Khan believes that “as a Muslim woman— and [like] many of us in this room who are racialized—[we] have a feeling that this election and this time period […] makes us feel like we’re under attack”.

Khan’s advice to anyone who chooses to “ally” with struggling women of colour was simply this: “Don’t turn away.”

Don’t be a bystander. If you see abuse against a woman, speak out. If you read about a bill targeting women that you disagree with, make it known.

Take on the job of helping your fellow sisters, mothers, wives, girlfriends, teachers, and best friends, and create more survivors like Farrah Khan.

Shattering the silence on an Indian tragedy Award-winning Ashok Vajpeyi returned his Sahitya Akademi award, causing controversy ANDREEA MIHAI STAFF WRITER Last Wednesday, Ashok Vajpeyi, an award-winning Indian author, spoke about what motivated him and other writers to return their awards as a form of protest against the recent murders of writers in India and the Indian prime minister’s silence on the tragedy.

From 2008 to 2011, Vajpeyi was chairperson of India’s National Academy of Arts. He has published over 23 books of poetry, criticism, and art. His work has been translated into many languages, including English, French, and Polish. In 1994, India’s National Academy of Letters awarded him the Sahitya Akademi Award for his poetry collection Kahin Nahin Wahin.

Earlier this month, Vajpeyi returned the award, causing a great deal of controversy.

Shafique Virani, professor at UTM

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Last Wednesday, Vajpeyi spoke about the recent murders of Indian writers. and director of the Centre for South Asian Culture, introduced the events Vajpeyi and other writers were protesting at “Shattering the Silence” in IB. Vajpeyi spoke about his motivation behind returning his award.

“Writers are lonely people, in the

sense that they sit there in rooms and write and hope that others will have the occasion to react, to respond, [and] to feel the sense of reality in the paper put forth,” Vajpeyi said.

“And you never know when this happens or not. But there are occasions when writers have to become the

voice of countries.”

Vajpeyi said that the movement started with 43 writers who renounced the Sahitya Akademi awards and that the numbers have grown each day. The intellectual community of India is not protesting “just a murder here or an act of vio-

lence there” said Vajpeyi, but “a very well designed pattern that is emerging”.

Vajpeyi explained that many of the national institutions are being marginalized. In fact, many of the people appointed to higher positions at such institutions are not being appointed on the basis of merit at all. For example, the National Book Trust has appointed a chairman who claims that he was a journalist in Vajpeyi’s state. Vajpeyi says that he has never heard of him and doesn’t think that the man has ever written a book.

Vajpeyi then listed the members of the Sahitya Akademi who were murdered in broad daylight and whose murderers have not been found. For example, Malleshappa Kalburgi, an award-winning Kannada-language writer, was shot in August for his writings against superstition and false beliefs.

Vajpeyi continued on page 14

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Living Library: the alumni edition The Living Library event returned with 15 alum “books” for conversation loans with students FARAH QAISER FEATURES EDITOR WITH NOTES FROM FATIMA ALVI Last Tuesday, the Living Library event returned to UTM. The alumni-themed event included “books’ such as the former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, religion professor Ken Derry, immigration lawyer Karen Kwan Anderson, and more.

The Medium spoke to the following individuals.

TANVEER SINGH At a glance, Tanveer Singh’s life seems pretty straightforward. She graduated from UTM with a degree in psychology, and after working at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, she chose to return to school and pursue a Master’s in Public Health. However, after a closer look, it’s clear that Singh’s life

has been guided by her many personal experiences, which include her growing up with a terminally ill brother, starting a charity, and surviving depression.

RENEE WILLMON Renee Willmon is living a double life. During the day, she teaches classes about forensic anthropology and continues to analyse ancient human remains to understand the evolution of tuberculosis for her

dissertation. By night, Willmon is part of an independent team who investigate cold cases and help bring closure to the families of victims.

CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON Following his studies at UTM, the former UTMSU president has been on a “zigzag” path. Today, Christopher Thompson works at the United Way of Peel and is involved with several community engagement opportunities both on and off the

UTM campus.

MAHBOUBEH ALA HOJJATI After completing her HBSc from UTM, Ala Hojjati found herself completing an MSc in physiotherapy through an unexpected set of circumstances. Hojjati has now been practising physiotherapy for over a year.

All interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Tanveer Singh — “Surviving through catastrophes”

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The Medium: We noticed that your tagline is “Surviving through catastrophes”. Can you tell us more about the story behind that?

Tanveer Singh: I have a little brother and he’s terminally ill. He was diagnosed with a pretty bad physical disability when he was five years old.

At the time, I was 15. My adolescence, teenage years, and my early 20s have been such a great part of my life. In a way, I sort of view myself as having survived through that. Although I’m still surviving and I’m still working on it. I think that life sometimes has a way of throwing certain events at you and I think that it typically happens over a long period of time, and in my case, I feel like I experienced a lot in my younger years.

TM: Why did you decide to study psychology at UTM? TS: Psychology is something that I

fell into by accident. I didn’t want to go to UTM […] My brother got really sick, and my parents basically said that [they thought] I should spend as much as time as I can with him. In trying to stay close to family, I came here—I never planned for this. Psychology was the best accident ever.

TM: What has your career path been like?

TS: Right after I graduated—like literally a day after my convocation— I started working at CAMH. I started working on mental health–related research there. We looked at employment outcomes among people who had experience of mental health and addictions issues. When I was working with adult populations, I felt like there was some piece of the story that was missing. I didn’t really understand what it was and I kept thinking: how did these people end up here?

It didn’t feel complete—how were all these people getting here? That’s how I got really interested in public health; I really understood its importance when I was working at CAMH. TM: What are you currently doing?

TS: I work at Public Health Ontario. I do research related to child healthcare, so I think I’ll always do that—it’s like a huge passion of mine, and it has a special place in my heart.

TM: Are you doing what you thought you would be doing when you left UTM? TS: Honestly, I’ve never planned anything in my life. Obviously, I’ve worked very hard, but when it comes to the bigger scheme of things, I’ve never had a life plan. I’ve never pushed myself too hard in a certain direction because I feel it all fell into place the way it was supposed to.

Renee Willmon — “Helping the dead tell their tales” The Medium: Your biography mentions that you investigate cold cases.

Can you tell us a little more about what you do?

Renee Willmon: I’m a forensic anthropologist. I work with a group of civilians who work on cold cases as an independent group. In 2013, we tackled eight cold cases in Ontario and there was actually a production company from the east coast that followed our work and produced a documentary TV series about it called To Catch a Killer.

One thing that we noticed was that there’s a lot of potential—especially with social media and just the world being more connected— to revisit cold cases and bring some closure to families without necessarily needing the same resources that police do, and how it’s been traditionally done. Especially as there’s so many different fields now that can be brought to bear on the case. The police are so backlogged in their cold case departments and with things like community policing requiring so much effort and work, it’s really hard to divert resources to tackle cold cases. So this gap is something we’ve been trying to fill.

TM: Are forensic analysts and anthropologists similar to what we see on TV shows?

RW: No, it’s very different.

There are some small similarities—it honestly depends on which representation we’re comparing it to. In CSI, you typically have one criminalist who will come in and go to the scene, and they’re interviewing the suspects, bringing people in, and also testifying in court. They’re doing the whole spectrum. That kind of expert doesn’t really exist in Canada. It’s a much more collaborative work.

TM: Does that mean that DNA results don’t appear within a few hours?

RW: [laughing] No, they often take months to come back. Just from processing the crime scene, to having items that the crime lab won’t necessarily accept, there are a lot more steps and processes involved than what TV makes it out to be.

TM: Can you tell us about why you chose to enter the field of forensic anthropology?

RW: I was drawn to anthropology because it really allowed me to work on many aspects of the case, from going to the scene to working at the scene, working with many police divisions. That ability to be close to the entire case from the beginning to the end—I found it very attractive compared to a DNA scientist, who would work in a lab and see cases from across [the] desk or lab bench for a short

period of time and not necessarily know the result of each case, or results of your analysis and how it was fed back into the justice system. In my discipline, graduate studies is a requirement to go into the field, so I came back to UTM to do my master’s with Tracy Rogers [director of the forensics department].

TM: What are you currently focusing on for your master’s degree and how did you decide on the topic?

RW: It was the fascination with how much you can learn from a skeleton. My dissertation research is more on health and the evolution of tuberculosis and looking at prehistoric human remains. It’s just amazing how much information is accumulated in your skeleton over your lifetime. We can really reanimate the past by studying human remains, really connect that past to modern descendants, and really enrich people’s understanding of their cultural history and often give a voice to marginalized groups. Some of my research focuses on First Nations human remains, so being able to study their health at around the time of contact of European and colonial settlers [gives us research that can either refute or corroborate historic accounts of what happened.

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

10.26.2015 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 13

Christopher Thompson — “Engaging with life”

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

The Medium: Are you doing what you thought you would be doing when you left UTM? What has your career path been like?

Christopher Thompson: It was totally a zigzag all over the place, figuring it out. In fact, my first experience at UTM was getting kicked out. I got kicked out of the gym and I had to leave the school. It was because I technically didn’t have a T-Card yet—I was doing a campus tour, and you were supposed to stay with them, but I left them so quickly and went to play basketball that they asked me to leave. It’s actually funny as I ended up working for the gentleman in the gym who made me leave.

I still don’t think that I’ve fully left UTM—they still pull me back yearly. I sit on the board of directors for the Alumni Association, but I do work full-time with the United Way of Peel on the communications and engagement stakeholder. I’m a lead

writer for our CEO, for any speeches and things like that. I handle all the social media channels and the young adult projects for Brampton, Mississauga, and Calgary. So it’s interesting, but a lot of the skills I developed for these jobs started at UTM. TM: All of your experiences seem to have community engagement.

What constantly draws you to it?

CT: I love people, I loved helping, and I loved community development. I’ve done business in the private sector and I know that people love it. It’s something that I can do and I was great at, and I was paid well to do it. But in the non-profit sector, I felt like I was at home and doing more in the community to help. There’s more fulfilment there.

TM: What was the biggest highlight from your time as the president of the UTMSU? CT: I think the biggest thing that I remember and love the most was—it’s actually still right now. A

lot of the students who are now engaged, not just in student unions as execs, or just clubs or doing a lot of things. But when I come back now, I see that a lot of them have taken on the exec roles or volunteer roles or just different opportunities, and they said it was because I told them to and I talked to them.

You know, it’s a thankless job, but I enjoyed the times where somebody would, after an event, say, “Thanks to you, I made a friend.”

“Thanks to you, I figured out I liked this.” “Thanks to you, I was able to get help for academic purposes.”

“Thanks to you, I just felt like I was wanted here.” So those little things made it all worth it. But it is cool to come back, to see the people who, when I was president, were just firstyears. Ebi Agbeyegbe was someone I reached out to all the time and he was really disengaged, and now he’s the UTMSU president.

Mahboubeh Ala Hojjati —”Started from ESL; now I’m here!”

The Medium: How did you decide to become a physiotherapist?

Ala Hojjati: I started [my] undergrad at UTM thinking that maybe I wanted to do engineering, maybe something in healthcare, dentistry. The more courses I took, the more I really figured out that the things that make me excited are how the brain works, why we behave the way we do, evolution, and all that stuff. I was still thinking that I wanted to be in healthcare and, for some reason, I was thinking about becoming a dentist. I have no idea why. I did the DAT aptitude test. I applied. I went for the interview, but it didn’t go well. My backup choice was physiotherapy. The only reason I chose physiotherapy was because

my friend’s father had a really bad fall at the time and his speech and walk were affected. That’s when I saw what a physiotherapist can do

“So for those opportunities that seem really scary and you feel like you’re not going to be able to do them, just say yes.” besides just being a sports physiotherapist. I fell into physiotherapy without having planned it, but now that I look at it, I could never enjoy being a dentist.

TM: Are there any opportunities

that you wish you had taken advantage of while you were at UTM? AH: My biggest regret is that I had the opportunity to help students on residence with the academic side of things. I accepted it, but then I was like, “No, I’m going to study for my exams, for my professional school exams,” so I dropped out of it and I said that I couldn’t do it. That’s my biggest regret, because I feel like I could have learned so much from interacting with so many students and worked something out. So for those opportunities that seem really scary and you feel like you’re not going to be able to do them, just say yes. You’ll figure it out. There’s always help if you need it.

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

What advice would you offer to a current UTM student?

TANVEER SINGH Take care of yourself. Some people might already be really good at that but I think [a lot of us aren’t].

We don’t learn that—well, I didn’t learn that. It took me a long time to learn that. I think that we need to pay attention to our needs and do a really good job of nurturing ourselves.

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

RENEE WILLMON I would say not to settle for something that you’re not excited about.

There’s kind of a fine balance of feeling like you’re ready—like you have the right prerequisites—and if you wait for that feeling, I think that you’ll always be waiting. You kind of have to have a little bit of that entrepreneurial desire to just, like, jump in and learn as you go.

But if you’re a year or two into your undergrad and you don’t feel like you’ve hit your stride and haven’t found your passion, then it’s never too late to change, or to find a creative way to implement what you’ve already learned, but to take it into a new direction.

There’s so much opportunity to be creative, and I think that that will be the biggest challenge. There’s

so much opportunity that picking that path will be the hardest choice.

Follow what you’re good at, but make sure it’s also something that you enjoy and are passionate about.

On the days when it feels like work, and you don’t want to do it, you can always remember why you got into that line of work.

CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON University is about getting to know your community, what you like, and, more importantly, what you don’t like. A lot of people come in thinking they know what they like or they’re following one path and honestly, I think you need that zigzag a little bit. Obviously it’s easier to do it a little straighter, but until you figure out who you are and what you need to do and what you want to do when you leave, try new things.

HAZEL MCCALLION People have to be creative. They can’t go along with the same old thing. They have to realise that with every profession, they could be creative. Professional people today need to be challenged. In other words, a doctor graduates. You

have to look at the improvements that can be made to our health system—and many improvements can be made. All professions—engineering, doctors—there are so many opportunities to be more creative and not just do the normal thing. Do you realise that with climate change, there is no city in Canada that has a system that can deal with climate change? Our sewers are not designed to withstand climate change—they’re too small.

Think about it. We’ve been going along developing cities with the same sized pipe as we did 30 years ago. So engineers have to be more creative—they have to look down the road. Every profession has to be looking down the road—what can be done better?

Don’t be satisfied with graduating as whatever you’re graduating and just go along with the gag. You have to be creative and innovative.

MAHBOUBEH ALA HOJJATI The biggest thing is just to get involved. Do something—whatever makes you excited about what you’re about to do. UTM is great for that.

14

«FEATURES

THE MEDIUM 10.26.2015

Old textbook? Donate it From pumpkin spice lattes to roasted

can reduce cholesterol), let’s be honest

pumpkin seeds, and even the carved

here. Plain old pumpkin tastes rather ter-

pumpkins

doorstep—yes,

rible. It could explain why most of the

we’ve reached that time of the year

pumpkin-themed products contain bare

when pumpkins are unavoidable. I’ve

hints of the fruit.

on

every

even noticed that pumpkin spice hair was recently trending on Instagram.

The pumpkin epidemic isn’t just limited to the lines at Starbucks. In 2012,

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

Since 2013, Textbooks for Change has donated over 52,000 textbooks to African universities.

However,

there

is

one

pumpkin-

themed dish that actually contains more than just pumpkin spice that I enjoy greatly: creamy pumpkin soup.

Americans ate over approximately five

I’m not talking about plain old soup

pounds of pumpkin per person. Accord-

here. It’s creamy and heavy, with just

ing to a previous census carried out by

the right amount of flavour to warm your

Statistics Canada, over 92% of pumpkin

toes as winter approaches. If you’re

sales occurred during Thanksgiving and

looking for a little warmth this evening,

Halloween.

then this hot bowl of creamy pumpkin

While pumpkins do offer several ben-

soup is exactly what you need.

efits (they’re dense in various vitamins

KASSANDRA HANGDAAN For most students, the burden of academia often leaves little time to do anything else. However, involvement in extracurricular activities or nonprofit organizations on campus can prove to be an enriching experience.

For OreOluwa Otegbade, volunteering for Textbooks for Change— a social venture that donates textbooks to African universities—has been an extremely rewarding experience. Based in Ontario, T4C owes its roots to founder Chris Jenssen, a graduate from Western University.

Since its inception in 2013, the organization has donated 52,000 textbooks to African universities and raised $131,500 in donations and microloans.

“I am very passionate about social impact and education. I was casually surfing for possible summer jobs [on UTM’s Career Learning Network] and this [one] was hard to resist,” says Otegabe, a second-year business administration major.

Through the efforts of Adam Frye, the director of business development at T4C, the organization has been able to partner with Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; Moi University, Kenya; and the University of Ghana.

The organization is also hosting ambitious projects with the 39 Country

Initiative, run by Richard Ivey Business School. The initiative aims to collect books, journals, and cases for shipment to 39 participant countries with a per capita GDP of less than $2,000 a year.

Otegbade explains that T4C is expanding, having drop-boxes for textbooks placed at university campuses and Goodwill Industries locations across Ontario.

“T4C is new at UTM, but exists [at] about 15 other schools in Ontario,” she says.

Currently, the T4C team at UTM is preparing to host three textbook drives for the year. According to Otegbade, the team collaborates with other clubs on campus to incorporate textbook drives in events like fashion shows and concerts.

Past events for the UTM T4C team include campus workshops and business competitions.

The organization’s goal is to donate over one million textbooks to African universities within five years.

“Imagine getting rid of that statistics textbook that gave you migraines for a good cause?” Otegbade jokes. Now UTM students can do so through a textbook drop-box that will soon be installed in the library.

At the drop-box, students will be able to donate their used textbooks

or textbooks that they no longer use.

When asked about donating textbooks to T4C, many UTM students were receptive of the idea. “[Our textbooks] are being used for a cause, as opposed [to] for personal gain, so I guess in a sense it’s good,” says Aaron Currie, a thirdyear criminology and political science student. “It makes you feel a little bit good inside that you’re making a difference.”

Hannah Musni, a second-year geography student, expresses a similar sentiment. “I think it’s a really good idea. [The students that the organization donates to] are in more need than we are. I mean, we do complain about textbooks being expensive, but truly, we do have resources to buy textbooks here.”

When asked about their preferences between donating textbooks to T4C or donating textbooks to the UTM community, Jene Estigoy, a second-year political science specialist, said that she would prefer donating to T4C. “There are courses that change the required textbooks every year, so selling them back to lower-year UTM students would be useless,” she explains, noting the more practical value in donating to T4C.

Vajpeyi has faith in better days Vajpeyi continued from page 11 On September 28, in a village near Delhi, an angry mob murdered 52-year-old Mohammad Aklaq. The mob killing was carried out based on the rumour that Aklaq had eaten beef. Cows are sacred in the Hindu religion and thus are not killed by them.

However, Vajpeyi said that the rumoured beef had turned out to be goat meat. The tragedy does not end there—Aklaq’s 22-year-old son remains in critical condition.

“The idea that you belong to a minority, whether it is of faith and religion, whether it is of opinion and beliefs, whether it is a minority opinion of anything, you are an issue under doubt, under suspicion,” said Vajpeyi. “Writers themselves are of a minority, everywhere in the world, in all countries. But they exist because they are a minority who have

a right to exist. Now you are being told you should say this; you should not say this. You should eat this; you should not eat this. It is the state that is exceeding its limits.”

Vajpeyi said that India’s civilization has sustained itself through plurality. “I’m fond of saying that nothing in India is allowed to be singular for a long while,” he said.

“Everything singular turns into plural, whether [it is] god, religion, language, costume, food, cuisine, custom. [In] all of these, there is plurality.”

Vajpeyi said the writers decided to give back the awards on two grounds. The first was that all the awards given by the Sahitya Akademi have nothing to do with the government. It is a harmless national organization, though funded by the government. But at the same time, the Sahitya Akademi did not do anything to condemn the murder of one

of its own award-winning members.

“This kind of institution, that is a national forum for writers paid to represent writers, decides to represent the state,” said Vajpeyi.

Vajpeyi says the writers who have returned the awards belong to different political parties, making them pluralistical politically, too. By returning the awards, the writers are trying to make the point that they do not like the politics governing their country.

“We don’t like the politics of murder and violence,” said Vajpeyi. “It is unacceptable that Muslim families feel they need to move so that they have the support of numbers to feel safe.”

Vajpeyi spoke about how religious violence has become an ominous presence across the world today.

However, he concluded his talk on a positive note, saying he had faith that India would ultimately triumph.

and minerals, have few calories, and Pumpkin Soup (Adapted from BBC Books’ 101 Global Dishes) SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS • 1 kg pumpkin, chopped • 4 tbsp olive oil • 1 clove of garlic • ½ cup milk • 750 ml of chicken broth • Coriander leaves, chopped • Sour cream, to serve

4. Transfer the mixture into a pot. Add the chili, garlic, and chicken stock to the pot.

5. Simmer the mixture for approximately 10 minutes and allow to cool for a few minutes.

6. Pour into a blender. Blend until the soup is smooth and creamy.

7. Pour the soup into bowls. Add sour

METHOD 1. Preheat the oven to approximately 200 C.

cream and sprinkle each dish with coriander.

8. Serve immediately. (Personally, I

2. Place the chopped pumpkin and olive

would recommend preparing croutons

oil in an appropriately sized tray in the

or lightly toasting bread to dip into the

oven.

creamy soup—it helps give the dish an

3. Roast the mixture for approximately 20 minutes.

extra crunch.)

10.26.2015

»

15

Blues return home with their woes Toronto’s 45-9 loss to Ottawa and Laurier’s win over Queen’s ends playoff possibility ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR U of T Varsity Blues football couldn’t hold back the Ottawa Gee-Gees in a crucial playoff-determining match-up in the capital city, losing 45-9. The Blues came into Saturday’s contest with strong hopes that they’d make the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.

The matchup would have seen the winner grab the sixth and final playoff spot for the OUA playoffs if the Laurier Golden Hawks lost to the Queen’s Gaels. That wasn’t the case in Kingston, with Laurier defeating Queen’s 49-26. With the win, Laurier grabs the sixth playoff position for the second consecutive season.

It was the last game of fifthyear quarterback Simon Nassar’s career. Nassar went 21-for-49 for 257 yards, also rushing twice for 17 yards and one touchdown. The long-serving quarterback has been a leader of the program longer than he’s been the starter.

Shuffled between second and third on the depth chart for the majority of his Varsity Blues career,

MARTIN BAZYL/PHOTO

The Blues finish eighth in the OUA standings while Laurier takes the sixth and final playoff spot.

Nassar made a significant impact last year, not only showcasing himself as the best quarterback for the Blues but arguably as the best in the OUA—Nassar has record-setting performances attached to his name.

Even though Nassar won’t be on the field next year receiving calls

from coaches Greg Gary and Luigi Costanzo, his mental approach to every game, practice, and meeting will likely pass on to the minds and attitude of the rookies and leaders of next year.

Third-year running back and UTM criminology student Lukas

Gavac of Mississauga rushed 12 times for 81 yards.

Also in his last game for the Blues is receiver Boris Isakov, who made six catches for 97 yards. Isakov had a four-year career playing football for the Queen’s Gaels, until he transferred to Toronto for his

master’s program three years ago.

Rahul Madan, who favoured the left boundary and made some spectacular catches, caught five receptions for 92 yards.

Third-year UTM student Nick Hallett has been an exceptionally bright spot for the Blues defense this year. Hallett had six tackles and one forced fumble in the loss.

The Blues couldn’t handle the Gee-Gees’ aerial attack or their quarterback, Derek Wendel. Wendel went 34-for-46 for 564 yards and four touchdowns adding 53 yards on the ground rushing four times. With the game’s personal accomplishment, Wendel set the single-season Canadian Interuniversity Sports record for passing yards with 3,136. He also rewrote the record books with 346 attempts and 216 completions.

UTM’s TJ Morton and punter for the Varsity Blues punted a season high 12 times, averaging 43.1 and kicking one for a game-high 54 yards. Morton was arguably the best punter in the CIS this year, recording a 40.2 average with 17-of68 kicks landing inside the 20-yard line.

UTM Eagles end UTSC Raccoon reign The rivalry between UTM and UTSC didn’t disappoint the exuberant crowd in Varsity Arena DANIEL BILYK The tension was high as the Zamboni circled the ice one last time at Varsity Arena. UTSC fans littered the stands across from the benches, and the notorious “Duck Hunt” was about to begin. The first game of this season was the latest in a historic rivalry between the UTSC Raccoons and the UTM Eagles—a rivalry that the Eagles have not won since 2008.

The players power onto the ice and start warm-ups and dozens of UTSC fans cheer. The Eagles are not only up against the team on the ice, but also the fans in the stands.

When asked about how it felt playing his first game as an Eagle, third-year rookie defenseman Zakk Collins said, “I felt confident that I’d bring my A game.”

UTSC fans cheered and pounded on the glass as the puck dropped and the rivalry game began. Thirty seconds into the game, UTM had their first breakaway chance. Knocked aside by the goaltender, UTSC regrouped and broke out of the zone, which led to their first goal. UTSC

FACEBOOK.COM/UTM.MENS.HOCKEY/PHOTO

The Eagles defeat the Raccoons 6-1, their first victory over their rivals in seven years. was leading 1-0 in under two minutes. With a shaky start from the Eagles, they collected themselves and shut down the UTSC forwards, only allowing another four shots in the first period.

The Eagles trailed 1-0 going into

the second period until Eagles defenseman Zach Zubac opened the scoring for the Eagles with a shot from the blue line. With the offense being shut down by Eagles defense, UTSC began playing an extremely physical game, drawing three pen-

alties and giving UTM another chance to take the lead. UTM ended the second period leading the game 3-1 and the teams headed to the change rooms for the Zamboni to flood the ice.

The Eagles, taking a run of pen-

alties, were forced to kill a 5-on-3 penalty kill for nearly four minutes.

UTM goaltender Andrew Anastas faced 15 shots in the third period and made more than one incredible save to keep UTM ahead. The Eagles slowed down the game and took a commanding lead, defeating the UTSC Raccoons 6-1 to win the East vs. West Classic Challenge Game for the first time in seven years.

“It feels amazing. The last few years those guys have been goons and would run us through the boards,” said third-year Eagles forward Philip Power. “It feels nice to start the season showing them up in front of their fans. They said they were going on a duck hunt, but I say we went raccoon exterminating.”

This year’s annual East vs. West Classic celebrated 13 years of the bitter rivalry. A devastating win to end a losing streak for UTM has the players fired up, ready to take on the rest of the season, and continue to play their best.

The Eagles will face off next against UTSG Red on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the historic Varsity Arena.

16

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 10.26.2015

UTM women learn the Wen-Do way Female-oriented self-defense workshop taught awareness, avoidance, and action ASSIA MESSAOUDI There were flyers around campus and posts on social media saying, “Wen-Do is a program designed for women by women.”

I walked into the Faculty Club last Thursday to see mats lining the floor. The first person to introduce herself was our instructor, Deb Parent. Also present with a big smile on her face was special constable Bobbi-Jo Duff, who is part of the UTM Campus Police.

This was my first self-defense course and I was slightly nervous.

I thought we’d get into action right away, but the first 45 minutes were spent talking about our experiences and why we felt the need to take this course. We discussed everything from awkward touching on public transportation to times we felt uncomfortable but didn’t want to say anything. Our Wen-Do instructor promised that after the three-hour course, we’d leave feeling more confident and armed with the power to defend ourselves from attacks.

Wen-Do is a form of self-defense for women that was created in Toronto in 1964. The name of the practice translates to “women’s way”. Wen stands for women, while dō is the Japanese word for way or path. Ultimately, Wen-Do means the woman’s way of defending her-

UTM CAMPUS POLICE/PHOTO

Fighting back—“surprising” the attacker—is more effective than screaming and trying to flee. self.

The practice of Wen-Do consists of three goals: awareness, avoidance, and action. The awareness goal comes from the idea that we need to be aware of both ourselves and our surroundings. We need to know that we’re at risk of being attacked simply on the basis that we’re female.

Avoidance is a skill that is most powerful when the situation calls for it. It is the opportunity to walk

or run away when you have the chance.

The action is when the WenDo training comes into play. On mainstream media, the woman being attacked screams but doesn’t fight back. Wen-Do teaches that our strongest tool is the element of surprise. The attacker most likely believes the women will simply cry and not fight back, so when we do fight back, the attacker is going to be surprised.

Parent instructs us to “embrace our inner [empowerment]. Good girls go to heaven; bad girls go everywhere,” she says with a smile.

After our talk, we stand in a circle and breathe together, centring ourselves and trying to be present to what’s happening around us.

Parent begins to teach us selfdefense moves. One of the most powerful skills we learned was to yell. Yell as loud as you possibly can before breaking into your Wen-Do

moves. According to Parent, “The hardest part for 50 percent of women is learning to yell.”

After three hours of shouts and practicing with mats and partners, I know how to defend myself by breaking someone’s collarbone, kicking, stopping someone’s oxygen flow momentarily, and breaking someone’s nose. We learned how to get out of chokeholds, get an attacker’s hands away from our body, and how to establish our line of justice. Parent teaches us that some steps are considered soft Wen-Do (non-permanent) and some moves are considered hard Wen-Do (permanent, possibly lifethreatening).

When I asked Parent about the extent to which we can defend ourselves with regards to the law, she said that the law gives us a lot of leeway to use our bodies in selfdefense. She mentions that using sprays teaches women to rely on something other than themselves.

“A lot of women will say that they’ve never had to use Wen-Do in their lives, but the skills they learned give them a sense of entitlement, empowerment, and validation, says Parent. “Self-defense convinces us that we’re worth protecting. It is about loving ourselves despite the messages we’re fed every day.”

Weekly workout tips ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR MORE USEFUL PUSH-UPS The “dead-stop push-up” is what it sounds like. Allow your chest and clenched core to rest on the floor while your hands—shoulder-width apart—rise off the ground an inch or two. Have your hands come off the ground; this eliminates help from your stretch reflex—the rubber band–like tendency of muscles— making you push through a full motion range and eliminating the possibility of cheating or ineffective form. If you want to take this pushup to the next level, elevate your feet on a bench, box, or step instead of the ground. Ten of these will feel like 30 regular push-ups.

BOOST YOUR BENCH PRESS Most men and women approach the bench press as if more reps with an extreme amount of weight is an accomplishment, but this isn’t true—

your only accomplishment is back pain in 10 years. Instead of allowing the overloaded amount of weight to bounce off your chest—cheating many important muscles triggered in a press—use something called a “pause”. This magical and frightening word to someone with benchpressing experience will likely get you better results using lighter loads.

Squeeze the glutes, crunch the abs, and grab the weight with hands shoulder-width apart. Once the weight is in the air, fill your lungs with air and then slowly bring down the weight until it’s barely touching the bottom of your sternum. Hold the weight there for one to five seconds, and then explode up using your chest and core. By using this technique, you not only build up your chest, but you’re also strengthening your upper back. Get ready for some serious gains.

AIR SQUATS EVERY DAY Spending at least two to five minutes

a day in a deep squat position can be painful for those short moments, but it can save you from constant back problems in the future. As students, if we’re not working out or walking to class, we’re sitting for more than 70 percent of our day—this leads to improper back form and weak posture. Deep air squats will give you the much-needed flexibility you crave in your ankles, knees, and hips and prevent back pain. Grab a pole or rubber band and attach it to the wall and begin the squat. Move your hips backward, press your heels firmly into the ground, core crunched, chest and face parallel to the wall, and sit down with your knees pointing outward. Follow these steps and you’ll notice improvements after a minute or two. Improve your time every day. You’ll see benefits ranging from a boost in confidence to better sleeping patterns. You can try these exercises either in the training facilities at UTM or in the comfort of your own home.