UTMSU board elections begin
Understanding beauty
A burning screenplay
Focusing on youth culture
The new faces of UTMAC
News, page 2
Opinion, page 5
Arts, page 8
Features, page 11
Sports, page 15
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UTMSU fall elections begin this week Students will be able to vote for two seats for Division I and one seat for Division III ALICIA BOATTO ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Students will elect the representatives this week for Division I, firstyear representatives, and Division III, the central directors, of UTMSU’s Board of Directors. PLEBISCITE QUESTION This year, UTMSU will be including a plebiscite question on the referendum, aiming to encourage voter turnout, according to UTMSU’s president, Nour Alideeb, in an email to The Medium. The question will ask students if they feel that the UTM’s Governing Council and Campus Council consider student opinions before making decisions. “The UTMSU felt the need to include this plebiscite question because a number of members felt that the costs that they pay for, being a student at U of T, are often done so without student input,” said Alideeb. “Governance bodies at the university seek to drown out students from making changes to financial priori-
OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM
A plebiscite question will ask if students think the Governing Council considers their opinions. ties and see the university empower external representatives over those who spend everyday at the institution.” Alideeb explained that these questions are often proposed during election periods. Being a plebiscite
question, however, means that students are not required to provide an answer when voting. The Medium had the opportunity to interview four of the candidates who are running in this year’s board elections.
DIVISION I Jason Francone, running for Division I, stated to The Medium that he strives to expand UTM’s social scene. “I like the idea of local talent; we can have the next big thing on our
campus. As a first-year, your mindset is on having fun,” said Francone. “I want to lower the cost of parking passes,” he continued. “Every student that owns a car has to face insurance, gas, and maintenance payments—why should they still have to pay a huge load of money for parking after spending thousands on tuition? It’s really not fair, especially for students that are already struggling financially.” Another Division I candidate, Dashvin Singh, explained how his focus would be to create a closer sense of community. “One of the main goals is to unite,” Singh said. “Giving first-year students the information, the resources, whatever it is so that they can be involved, so that they know they have rights as a member [of the school].” Singh also commented on the large amount of fees students pay, both domestically and internationally, adding how those fees should be lowered.
Elections continued on page 4
UTSU addresses their concerns with CFS The union’s letter discussed the dominance of staff voices and lack of space for criticism MENNA ELNAKA NEWS EDITOR
The University of Toronto Students Union issued a letter to the Canadian Federation of Students last Monday, addressing their concerns about the federation. The letter stated that there is “dominance of the voices of staff over those of students” in the CFS meetings, and a “lack of space for dissent and for constructive criticism.” It also addressed concerns like the “overly burdensome” process that members have to go through if they want to exit the federation, and that accessing information like bylaws, policies, and financial information is done with “extreme difficulty”. “I am very sorry that those were some of the experiences [students] had,” said Bilan Arte, the national chairperson of CFS in an interview with The Medium. “I know that our current federation structure allows for many meeting spaces. For example, there are spaces where we talk about anti-oppression training, and we talk about what that
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Several student unions plan to pass motions in the upcoming general meeting of CFS. means.” Arte also explained that the CFS has a space where students, including international, indigenous, and racialized students, can come and talk about their experiences. Earlier this month, the You Decide U of T campaign was launched at U of T, calling for a referendum
on the CFS membership. Jasmine Wong Denike, UTSU’s president, had previously reported to The Medium that UTSU was not part of the campaign, and that the CFS bylaws require that any petition be initiated by students, not the students’ union. Denike has not responded as of
press time to The Medium’s request for comment regarding whether the timing of the letter has any relation to the You Decide U of T campaign. The letter was signed by several other student unions: Ryerson Students’ Union, Cape Breton University Students’ Union, University
Students’ Union of Regina, Carleton University Students’ Association, OCAD SU, Kwantlen Student Association, Laurentian University Students’ General Association, Laurentian Students’ Union, and UBC Students’ Union Okanagan. “We, the undersigned, are members in good standing of the Canadian Federation of Students and we don’t believe the Federation is serving our membership in the way that it must,” stated the letter. “Our motivation for these reforms comes from a desire to strengthen student organizations in Canada to be truly representative and to further reflect the will of our members,” it also mentioned. “I think that it’s absolutely that kind of constructive criticism of feedback that we welcome, because we want to talk about how we can build a federation that includes as much as possible of our members and their perspectives,” said Arte, adding that the general meetings of CFS are membership-driven. The undersigned members of the letter plan on passing a series of motions at the federation’s Annual General Meeting in November.
09.26.2016 THE MEDIUM NEWS
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Calling for student involvement Academic Advocacy Week talks fees and Governing Council
September 16th, 2016, 2:35 AM By-Law Offences Campus Police received a noise complaint from a campus residence. The Campus Police attended the residence area and spoke with the individuals. September 17th, 2016, 12:55 PM Trespass to Property Act Campus Police were notified of a bag left unattended outside the RAWC, gym C. The owner of the bag was found and it was later discovered the student had gained access to the gym by another student. Both students were trespassed the gym.
September 19th, 2016, 4:00 PM Theft under $5000 A student reported his laptop stolen from a locker in men’s change room at the RAWC. September 20th, 2016, 7:35 AM Motor Vehicle Accident A student was struck by a vehicle at Residence Road and Inner Circle. Injuries were minor. September 23, 2016, 11:10 AM Theft under $5000 A student reported her cell phone stolen from her backpack as she walked between her locker and her lab.
OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM
The game was meant to represent the difficulties of presenting concerns to Governing Council. September 19th, 2016, 3:15 PM Theft under $5000 A student reported his laptop stolen from a locker in the men’s change room at the RAWC.
September 22nd, 2016, 1:30 PM Theft under $5000 A student reported the theft of his cell phone from a secure locker in the men’s change room of the gym.
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).
Fair Trade-certified UTM officially a Fair Trade campus
ELLIE LEUNG UTMSU’s annual Academic Advocacy Week last week brought attention to aspects affecting student academics on campus. “The goals of Academic Advocacy Week are to get students thinking about three main things: their academic rights, our campaign called Fight the Fees, and divestment,” said Vanessa Demello, UTMSU’s VP university affairs and academics, in an email to The Medium. “Instead of focusing on only academic supports, we expanded to include different topics that directly and sometimes indirectly affect our
academic lives,” Demello stated. UTMSU hosted an information session called, “Who Runs this Joint Anyway?”, where Nour Alideeb, UTMSU’s president, led students in a discussion over concerns surrounding U of T’s governance system, and its effect on student rights, policies, and tuition investments. During the session, students engaged in a game of Snakes and Ladders, which, according to Alideeb, represented a journey of issues that students face, including grade forgiveness, tuition fees, and parking fees, up to Governing Council meetings where students find it hard to present their concerns.
Alideeb encouraged students to learn more about their school’s administration and to take part in campus council meetings. “Our students are talking about free education, governance reform, better academic support, and a more accessible education,” Demello stated. “The conversation won’t end here, because now our students know where to find information; they’re learning more about their student rights, they know what resources they have access to and what campaigns, events, and services they should look forward to this upcoming year.” Offence continued on page 5
Lower crime rates on campus
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Fair Trade Canada announced that UTM is now a Fair-Trade. WARD SUROUR
UTM’s hospitality and retail services department announced last Thursday that the campus had obtained Fair Trade certification from Fair Trade Canada. Among several other campuses, such as Brock University, University of Ottawa, McGill University, University of Guelph, and Western University, UTM is currently the 18th Fair Trade-certified campus in Canada. The University of Toronto Scarborough gained the title last May. UTM has been working for a year and a half on Fair Trade certification to become ethically sourced. Vicky Jezierski, director of the hospitality and retail services at UTM, explained to The Medium that the designated title to UTM means providing available fair trade products for the campus, educating students on what fair trade stands for, and what it means to buy some-
thing that is fair trade, including coffee, tea, and chocolate bars. When asked whether an increase in food prices will happen on campus, Jezierski said that it will not happen. “What we tried to do is make sure we provide exceptional products, but also without cost affecting in price increase. We don’t want to bring products that are going to make students pay higher prices,” said Jezierski. Andrea De Vito, assistant director of UTM’s hospitality and retail services, listed to The Medium the planned activities for Fair Trade Week, to be held next week. Next week’s activities will include samples and specials on fair trade products, an information booth at the TFC throughout the week, giveaways, donations being collected by entering a draw to win grand prizes, as well as efforts in continuing to raise money for a Fair Trade trip to Guatemala in April.
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Annual report states that crime rates have decreased on campus. KASSANDRA HANGDAAN NEWS EDITOR ASSISTANT UTM’s campus police released an annual report stating that the crime rates have decreased on campus, in spite of a report of five theft incidents made in the week of September 9. Reports made by students to UTM’s police in the last couple of weeks cited stolen items valued under $5000 in the Kaneff Centre, Instructional Building, and Davis Building. There was also a fraud case involving an online resale of parking permits “at inflated prices”, as reported by the police. Robert Messacar, the manager of the campus police services, told The Medium that this year’s decrease in crime rate comes as a result of hiring additional staff, including two new
special constables and six new building patrollers, who serve as security guards. “We’re down from 93 in 2014 to 63 in 2015 [the latest annual report],” said Messacar, regarding the decrease of theft rates under $5000. “I attribute a great part of this to increased officer presence around the campus. Plus, we’re also engaging in educational initiatives […] like if [the campus police] sees a student leaving a laptop [unattended], then they will try and educate the student.” Additional training of the new campus police staff, according to the annual report, is provided through a collaboration between the UTM Campus Police and the Peel Regional Police Training Bureau: “[The] Peel Police [are] offering courses in
a variety of subjects, including Use of Force, Advanced Patrol Training, Mental Health Awareness training, etc.,” stated part of the report. In regards to new changes of safety programs on campus, Messacar mentioned an expansion of the WalkSafer and Work Alone programs. “[The WalkSafer program] used to operate in the late evening on Mondays to Fridays. Now it is 24/7 […].” Messacar also stated that more radios have been purchased to support the Work Alone program. “We encourage people, say, if they’re working in a lab, to take one of these radios for any personal safety issues. With these radios, you can contact the officers directly,” said Messacar.
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THE MEDIUM 09.26.2016
No candidates yet for Division IV New GRM to reach programs across UTM
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GRM allows for better knowing what students understand.
DISHA PATEL OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM
Elections will take place from Tuesday to Thursday this week. Elections continued from cover He cited the Fight the Fees campaign held by UTMSU as one of the ways students can come together and lower the price of tuition. Singh also stressed the importance of raising student awareness of events and issues so that change on campus could be achieved. “My voice alone does nothing, it is the voice of the whole,” he said. “It’s my encouragement to be a role model in the sense that we actively be involved in school events, so that students in their first year know that they have the right. They are members of the UTMSU.” Other Division I candidates include: Ali Taha, Mohammed Moiz, Gursimran Rawal, and Shveta Bhasker. DIVISON III Aseel Anoun, a second-year student, is one of three candidates running for the Division III position. Anoun wants to focus on chang-
ing the image of the student union to be more available to students. “I want to change UTMSU,” Aoun said, “I want people to know what [UTMSU’s] doing for them. I don’t think students know that half of the things that are changing, like the credit/no credit; this is because of UTMSU.” More of Aoun’s platform points include increasing the food options at UTM. When asked how she would work around the renewed Chartwells contract, Aoun stated the possibility of working with Chartwells to present additional options, such as the new sushi bar in the Instructional Building that was added in this year. “We can always aim for better. We can always tell them to add more choices,” she stated. The second Division III Candidate, Felipe Nagata, voiced his goal to help international students become eligible for OHIP. “I’ll be partnering up with unions or associations that will help me,”
Nagata said. “I want to work with the international student body, just because I feel like there’s a lot of stress when you come here, and you want to get the best from being here.” Another one of Nagata’s goals is to provide more inclusive events for students on campus. “I also want to work with more LGBTQ events on campus,” he stated. “I feel that a lot of the events are very straight-orientated.” Nagata also wants to strive to create more welcoming pub-like spaces for students that will stay later, within a future student center expansion. Students will vote for two seats for Division I and one seat for Division III as elections resume from Tuesday to Thursday this week. Two seats are supposed to fill Division IV, the part-time directors, but no candidates are running for it, according to UTMSU’s website. Election results expected to be released early next week.
A new grading response method will now require geography, anthropology, science, and management students to rank four answers from best to worst answer, instead of answering standard multiple choice questions. Created by Professor Michael deBraga, a numeracy and scientific literacy specialist at the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Center, the GRM’s main goal is to help students think more critically instead of selecting one correct answer like that of the multiple choice format. It also aims at testing to see if the students not only recognize whether a statement is true or false, but also to what degree it is true or false. “[The GRM] has a more systematic way of identifying students’ misconceptions that our current multiple choice tests do not [have],” said deBraga in an interview with The Medium. The idea of the GRM came after deBraga used rats in his BIO356 labs and relied on the GRM to gauge students’ feedback. Following the realization that the feedback was all different, deBraga said that he com-
pared the performance of multiple choice results with short answers and GRM questions. He found that the performance level on the GRM correlated with the short answers, while the multiple choice questions had no correlation. Regarding multiple choice questions, deBraga stated that students recognize facts, look for keywords, and select answers on that basis. He also explained that professors “do not know the level of understanding they [students] have” from the multiple choice. They “cannot know the weakness of understanding” and they “cannot address that in class, [whether] in the same class or future years.” “We are going to use the GRM to influence the structure of existing multiple choice questions, and maybe be able to eliminate short essay-type questions, which would allow teaching assistant to reduce hours for grading and use those teaching assistant hours for interacting with students,” deBraga continued. Another benefit, according to deBraga, is that the grading method will change the students’ approach in studying, as they start to learn why an answer is an answer.
UTM launches Centre for Medicinal Chemistry MENNA ELNAKA NEWS EDITOR
UTM has launched a Centre for Medicinal Chemistry with a research team led by Professor Patrick Gunning of UTM’s Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences. The new centre will aim at developing drugs for cancer treatment by creating compounds that can interrupt specific biochemical processes without harming the normal cellular functions. “Patrick Gunning is the key in all of this. It’s his inspiration, in terms of how to build the molecules and actually create that therapeutic compound, which is scientifically very interesting. Potentially, that could change the world,” said Ulrich Krull, UTM’s interim principal. According to Krull, in an interview with The Medium, Gunning won $5.9 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which is considered a “very hard competition.”
OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM
Professor Patrick Gunning leads a research team aiming to find a cure for cancer. The centre also received a $7 million donation from Mississaugaboard Orlando Corporation. Krull stated that UTM is also contributing with funds, and not just relying on donations. The total investment in the centre would be worth $20 million. Krull explained that the infrastructure would require renovation,
which would involve expansion of the labs in the Davis Building, as well as the construction of other buildings, so that they can be used by Gunning’s research team. “Patrick has been, in a sense, a representative of the kind of work done at the University of Toronto. He’s showcased, not just by UTM, but by the entire university. He travels inter-
nationally for the university to talk about what he does, which reflects the value of [the] university in terms of what he does,” said Krull. By launching the medicinal chemistry centre, UTM hopes to find a cure for cancer and flourish academically as well. Krull stated that if Gunning and his team do find a way to control a
certain type of cancer or other illnesses, then UTM would know that the entire effort was worth it. “But from an academic perspective, it’s something much different,” Krull said. “To be involved in a team and learn the process of how the biology works and how the chemistry interacts with the biology, you’re learning the latest and greatest in terms of what we understand about science and molecular-level science. It’s a tremendous training platform.” Krull also explained that if everything goes as planned, that would mean proposing a new academic stream, out of the chemical and physical department, about medicinal chemistry for undergraduate students. He added that students might develop interest in the new stream, and in a few years, get it replicated at the graduate level. “My personal hope is that this will have a substantial academic impact,” Krull said.
09.26.2016 THE MEDIUM NEWS
Science Literacy Week wraps up
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»WHAT DOES ACADEMIC ADVOCACY MEAN TO YOU?
Kaylen Barber Finance
Kate Rudiuk Art & Art History
Supporting our integrity as students in university.
Events provided to students for academic help.
Lissa Chaves Sociology
Ashfaq Butt Forensic science
I don’t know what that means.
Promote education and make people more aware about it.
JEANLOUIS REBELLO/THE MEDIUM
The third annual Science Literacy Week features events to showcase the diversity of science. KAYVAN AFLAKI The third annual Science Literacy Week last week featured activities to show the diversity and excellence of Canadian science, according to the Science Literacy website. The initiative was one of 420 SLW campaigns across Canada. This year’s theme, “The Past, Present, and Future”, was selected by the SLW Working Group, the chief organizing body of the nation-wide initiative. Andrew Nicholson, a member of the UTM-specific Working Group and a librarian at the Hazel McCallion Academic Skills Centre, stated in an email to The Medium that this year’s SLW was meant to reflect the progression of science over time. “We had well over 25 volunteers helping us this year, including many students, staff, and faculty,” Nicholson wrote. “We also had two student clubs and their members giving their time to demonstrate science with experiments and several earthrelated artifacts, including fossils.” Activities for this year’s science
week included tours of a newly-constructed research greenhouse—located between the Hazel McCallion Academic Skills Centre and Parking Lot 9—by Professor Steven Chatfield of the biology department. The week also included a trip to the Credit River Valley by Dr. Dan Schulze of the Department of Earth Sciences, and an informational seminar on 445 million-year-old fossils by Vikram Chochinov of the John Tuzo Wilson Club, a student-run geology club.
Science Literacy Week was originally created in 2014 by an ecology major, Jess Hildebrand, at U of T Hands-on science demonstrations and STEM-related book displays were present at the library for the duration of the week. The subject matter of these displays covered “The History of Science”, “The Evolution of Life”, and “Science Tech-
nology over the Years.” Nicholson stated that over the duration of the week’s existence, the program has been a “tremendous” success in raising student awareness of science and how much it impacts day-to-day lives. He added that participation, compared to previous years, had also grown in 2016. UTM also received help from Let’s Talk Science, an organization that promotes public involvement in STEM fields. Nationally, the SLW campaign has signed partnerships with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, as well as some 140 other sponsors. Science Literacy Week was originally created in 2014 by Jesse Hildebrand, an ecology major at the University of Toronto. In its founding year, the initiative was based in only four libraries—York University Libraries, Toronto Public Library, Mississauga Public Libraries, and the University of Toronto Libraries. Science Literacy Week currently transpires in over 60 cities across Canada.
Turning to UTMSU for academic offence aid
Ten years of Queer Orientation Queer Orientation week provides a networking opportunity
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UTMSU’s president, Nour Alideeb, talks about Governing Council. Offence continued from page 2
EESHA HASAN
U of T’s 10th annual Queer Orientation began last week on all three campuses with events and activities related to the LGBTQ communities. Queer Orientation week provides a networking opportunity for new and returning students, staff, and faculty to engage in activities and discussions related to LGBTQ matters, according to Denio Lourenco, UTMSU’s LGBTQ coordinator. “Queer Orientation is an annual tradition at UTM for the last 10 years. It focuses on the different issues faced by the Queer Community,” stated Lourenco in an interview with The Medium. “My goal for this year is to have better and more inclusive events,” Lourenco continued. This year’s Queer Orientation is
comprised of 47 different events across all U of T campuses. At UTM, the orientation kicked off with a meet and greet event last Thursday, featuring executives from OUT@UTM, a group for the LGBTQ community.
The Queer at Work event will address issues specifically related to queer and trans people of color, and indigenous people. Sexy Bingo, an event presented by OUT@UTM and UTM SEC, took place the following day. Students got to play games and win prizes, and received some background information on sexual education.
Queer Orientation continues this week, with events including an Arts and Crafts Night, a Trans Space event, which will offer a designated discussion space for trans people to meet and talk about their experiences, and a Queer at Work panel on Wednesday that will feature speakers from Black Lives Matter Toronto. The Queer at Work event, according to Lourenco, will encourage discussions from an intersectional perspective and address issues that specifically relate to queer and trans people of color, as well as Indigenous people. The last day of the orientation will feature several events, including a Positive Space Mix and Mingle event, which will be wheelchair accessible, and a Block Party in front of the Blind Duck Pub, a film screening to celebrate the orientation, and a Night Crawl event at Erindale Park.
“We want to make conversations around serious topics like student rights, career pathways, university affairs, and academic support in a fun and engaging way early on in the school year, to better equip our students for their year(s) ahead,” Demello added. A farmer’s market was held on Tuesday to promote “access to healthier food and products on campus.” UTM’s Health and Counselling Centre also held a booth with Kimberly Green, the school’s dietician, who talked to students about the health benefits of spicy foods and gave away home-grown peppers and vegetables. The week also included a Research Opportunity Program presentation by UTM’s Association of Graduate Students, and a presentation by Downtown Legal Services in collaboration with the Political Science and
Pre-Law Association. The Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre also provided workshops this week to teach students about citations, writing skills, and academic integrity. According to U of T’s Annual Report on Cases of Academic Discipline, the rate of student offenders for the year 2015/16 has reached 382, 35 more than that of 2013/14, which was 347. The number of repeated offences has gone down from 46 in 2013/14 to 37 in 2014/15. “[…] I have personally worked on at least 20 academic-related offence cases since I took office on May 1, 2015,” said Demello, when asked about the number of cases she has dealt with to help students avoid academic offenses. According to Demello, around 200 students seek UTMSU’s help annually regarding academic offences.
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Exposure to beauty standards Mara Wilson’s new book exposes what it meant to be “cute” in Hollywood I wonder how many people will recognize the name Mara Wilson if I don’t mention what movies she’s been in. Some, of course, would recognize the name right away as the girl who played Matilda, or maybe even Natalie in Mrs. Doubtfire. But, I think for a lot of people, her name faded away with her career over time. The reason I bring her up, though, is because she recently wrote a book. Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame discusses quite a few things regarding her childhood acting career, her experiences with puberty, and female beauty standards. Wilson and I share a few common experiences. I used to act when I was a kid (shameless plug), and I was exposed to the same beauty standards that she was. I’m not saying that I was on the same level of stardom as Wilson, but I can at least empathize with her struggles. I barely remember anything from my acting career. I remember being cast in this probable straight-toDVD movie, the name of which I’ve already forgotten. I remember going to downtown Toronto with my uncle, surrounded by skyscrapers and men in suits who walked too fast. I was completely out of my element, but I loved feeling like I had some kind of purpose as a six-year-old kid. What made it for me, though, was this idea of feeling like I was cute. Like Wilson, I was never thought of to be the pretty girl in my class. This problem only worsened as I got older and began to spend time with noticeably pretty girls who received more attention than I ever did. But here, in downtown Toronto, I was cute to someone. Cute enough to be cast in something. Then I managed to score a gig on Treehouse; this silly little show where me and a few other kids would play games with each other in between the real TV shows. I wasn’t rolling in money or signing autographs, but there were several kids who would seek me out during recess to tell me that they saw me on TV. I would walk with my friends in elementary school and be the only one in the group to get attention. As a little kid actor, this was important to me. I was taught that being the center of attention was the most important thing. So, I ate up their words. But as I got older and my teeth began to grow more crooked and my chest began to fill out, casting agents stopped calling me back. The other girls waiting to audition didn’t have crooked teeth. They didn’t have rolls on their stomachs. Not one pimple touched their face. And
casting agents noticed. I noticed. Thus began the introduction to society’s beauty standards. Wilson writes, “At 13, no one had called me cute or mentioned the way I looked in years, at least not in a positive way. My sixth-grade crush had called me ugly, film reviewers said I was “odd-looking”, and a boy at my preteen day camp had said to me, ‘You were Matilda? Heh. You’ve gained a little weight since then!’ I went home and cried into a milkshake.” This was pretty much my life. Age 13 hit, my breasts came in, and boys teased me relentlessly. My grade five teacher constructed a seating chart which sandwiched me between two boys. I remember one of them insulting the fact that I had large breasts and I pulled his hair. I regret nothing. But this is the kind of stuff that girls had to deal with. No matter what size you were, what you wore, or how you looked, you were getting teased in one way or another. What sparked my interest in Wilson’s book was the overall idea of being exposed to these ideas of beauty standards from such an early age. Puberty is already a difficult enough time to deal with without having these added ideas of what “beauty” means. Not to mention, to learn it as an actress means to learn it more superficially/from a superficial lens. This is unfortunately the reality of the business. But, for a child to go through this… it opens their eyes to the world in an entirely different way. Wilson continues, “At 13, being pretty mattered—and not just in the world of movies and TV. The pretty girls at school had always had an air of superiority, but once we hit puberty, they seemed to matter more. My career was the only thing I had over them. Now that it was waning, I was just another weird, nerdy, loud girl with bad teeth and bad hair, whose bra strap was always showing.” I never thought that my career held me above the other girls in my school. However, not being as pretty as them, my acting served as the crutch I needed for the occasional confidence booster when they were being asked to school dances and I wasn’t. In all honesty, I also never thought of myself as being superior or more popular because I was a part of some crappy TV show one time. Besides, looking back on it now, I’m pretty sure I was the only Latina that they hired. So good for them for filling their minority quota. But to take away the callbacks and get thrust into the real world when I was still trying to adjust to
having breasts was a little too much to handle at 13. I was still looking at myself and critiquing my appearance through the eyes of casting directors. And now boys were doing the same. And my parents. And anyone else who looked at me. That kind of stuff has the tendency to hit a kid hard. Wilson writes, “…I knew I wasn’t a gorgon, but I guessed that if 10 strangers were to look at a photo of me, probably about four or five of them would find me attractive. That would not be good enough for Hollywood, where an actress had to be attractive to eight out of 10 people to be considered for even the homely best friend character.” “The real world was more forgiving. Plenty of boys were interested in me and it got easier at New York University where I fell in love with Sam, a film student with curly dark hair and warm brown eyes. But my appearance anxieties were always there, and my past was never gone.” Entering university, I can say that I feel the same things. Sure, some guys hit on me and I’ve had dates and whatnot. But, the shadow of my inner voice telling me what I had heard my whole childhood still lingered. Still spoke to me. Still convinced me that having people care about me or love me wasn’t good enough. I needed to be beautiful. I needed to be better. Wilson continues, “‘Maybe I should just get plastic surgery,’ I said to Sam. Sometimes I secretly wished for an accident where I’d injure my nose and jaw so I could get guiltfree reconstruction. ‘If you want to, you can,’ he said, shrugging. ‘But I want you to know I love you the way you are. You’re beautiful.’ I tried to believe him, but it was as if he were pouring water into a glass with a hole in the bottom. It took a toll on our relationship. In the last fight before our breakup, he told me, ‘Mara, the one thing I could never stand about you is how much you put yourself down.’” I’ve been told this myself. Guys I’ve gone out with and close friends of mine have told me that one of the biggest things I need to work on is my self-confidence. Then a vicious cycle emerges where you’re not attractive if you’re always putting yourself down, but you always put yourself down because you don’t think you’re attractive. Wilson writes, “The ones who are most critical seem to be normal people who are deeply unhappy with themselves. They want someone else to tear down, and people like me are considered public domain. I understand that celebrities have a contract with the public: they get to be the target of jealousy and
criticism, and sometimes admiration, in exchange for money and recognition. […] So the next time someone hiding behind a username decides to tell me what would make me prettier, I’m going to propose the following: I will meet them in person and ask them to listen. I will tell them about going through puberty in the public eye after my mother died of cancer. I will tell them how it feels to find a website advertising nude photos of yourself as a 12 year old. I will tell them I’ve looked at ‘cute’ from both sides now, and in both cases it just made me miserable. […] I will tell them how my mother wanted me to prove myself through my actions and skills, rather than my looks.” I think this message speaks to pretty much every person. I feel that men and women alike have stood in the mirror or heard a comment from someone that made them question their worth or their attractiveness. I believe that one of the saddest things about all of this is how it took Wilson so long to find things that she liked about herself. Having an acting job when I was young seemed fun at the time, but it really just led me down a path of other people telling me how I needed to look and what I needed to do in order to be accepted. Their voices will occasionally still run rampant in my head. I haven’t really reached Wilson’s success of shutting them out yet. And, yeah, sure, I know that this is the typical inspirational piece that people have grown tired of by now, but this is also still important enough to write about. I don’t think this will ever stop being a problem, which means that it’ll always be worth talking about. I don’t mean to preach to people or to tell you guys the things that you can hear in any Buzzfeed article titled, “Don’t Give Up On Yourself !” The messages of self-love and acceptance are important, though. Especially considering that we’re all taught from a young age what that means, and it could take decades to break free from that mentality. I mean, I may not have the selfconfidence of Kanye West, but I like to think of myself as Benjamin Clawhauser from Zootopia—the adorable fat cat that eats everything and says hilarious things. And hey, I’m okay with that. YOURS, MARIA CRUZ
CORRECTION NOTICE The Sept. 19 article, “U of T calls for CFS referendum” mispelled Jasmine Wong Denike’s name.
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You’re never too old to stop learning Don’t bog yourself down with how old you are, just focus on how much you have left to gain I was listening to Chris Hardwick speak to Neil Degrasse Tyson on The Nerdist. In their conversation, Tyson mentioned that when we become older, we forget about learning because we’re so engulfed in essentially what we all call the “real-world.” We’re required to focus on a boatload of other things in our lives, so much so that actually sitting down and learning something new is almost impossible for us. Now, I understand as you become older, you’ve got bills to pay, mortgages, and potentially a family to worry about. It won’t be an easy ride, that’s for sure. However, when we get older, I think we allow ourselves to become less and less inclined to want to learn. As we’re going through school, we’re learning, but as soon as we graduate, it’s as if we tell ourselves that enough is enough. We’ve learned everything we’re going to need and have no reason to learn any more. For those of us in our first year, graduating, in high school, or wherever you are, we’re facing a problem: we’re aging ourselves faster than we think we are. Not physically, mentally. We like to remind ourselves of how old we’re getting, and all these responsibilities that we have to deal
with and in doing so, we become less and less curious, and we just don’t want to learn anymore. We become comfortable and we’re okay with it because it means we’re safe. “Do we care about learning more?” “…Sometimes.” “Do we want to learn more?” “I mean, if we ‘have time.’” “Should I be trying new things?” “Eh, no. I’m older now. That’s something meant for when I was young.” That’s where I start to get slightly annoyed. Why is it that as we get older we tell ourselves that we can’t do things anymore because it was meant for our younger self? We’re only supposed to educate ourselves and have the time of our lives when we’re young, right? When we’re older, it’s all about knowing exactly what you’re doing, taking on our responsibilities, and fulfilling our role as adults? Wrong. This is the problem. We leave all of our risk-taking and open-mindedness to our younger selves, and later on, we attempt to fulfill this role of being the adult who knows exactly what they’re doing all the time. Gone are the days where we are able to go out and try something new or even learn something new.
We’re conditioned to believe that it’s time to grow up, time be a real adult. We’re too old and have no time to do things anymore. But why does growing up have to be this dark scary realm of responsibility and bills? As I’ve grown older, the more I’ve realized that those adults who limit themselves to the environment around them and lose the motivation to keep learning and improve themselves are the ones who will boast about how knowledgeable they are. How “wise” they are. Here’s the truth, though. None of us will ever know enough about this world for us to actually say that we know everything. I think we live in a world where it has become necessary for us to constantly remind ourselves that we’re “too old” to do anything. We’re beginning to do it right now in school. We’re getting used to the fact that it’s time to face this so called “real world.” If there’s any advice that I can give you, even if you’ve already graduated, or even if you’re 50: stop telling yourself you can’t do something merely because of your age. Physically, you may look older than you did before, your health may not be as perfect as it was when
you were young, but mentally, you’re ready to take on anything and everything. If you don’t already know this, your brain loves to play tricks on you. If you tell yourself you can’t do something, your brain will accept it as the truth and you’ll never accomplish what you want to accomplish. If you tell yourself that you can do it, then watch the difference it can make. It’s a subtle little trick, but it goes a long way. It’s the same as when we tell ourselves that we’re getting “old.” Being “old” today means that you don’t need to learn anymore, you can’t have fun. You’re an adult and you have to accept your fate. I think that allowing yourself to accept that role does more harm than good. Information can be accessed easier than it ever has been, yet we never take advantage of that and use it to better ourselves. We need to remember that as we grow older, it just gives us more of an opportunity to learn. We should never stop ourselves from learning, or stop being ourselves for the purpose of being “an adult.” There is no rule book that lays out exactly how life as an adult is meant to be lived. You are the master of what it is you want to
do in the time you have here, so why not use it to learn? Why not use life as the ultimate opportunity to take risks, to make a change somewhere, to become a better person, or to just do something that you haven’t done before? I truly do believe that age is nothing but a number. There are multiple people in this world who don’t care how old they are. They care about their experiences here and what impact they can make. As many times as you may have heard it, just because you’re older, that doesn’t mean that you’re smarter or wiser. If we all open our minds a little more, take our ego out of the equation, and realize that we all have something to offer while we’re here, we can truly be happy. There is not one way of becoming an adult, you yourself decide what kind of adult you want to be. So don’t be afraid to go to Disney world at 55, or play video games at 62, or read Shakespeare for fun at 16. Hell, do what you want for yourself. Just remember, you’re not old; you’re still learning.
Mahmoud Sarouji Managing Editor
Liberal support base erodes, Tories gain momentum Over the summer and as the new school year starts, developments took place that altered the political climate and roadmap of the province. Due to the path that the Ontario Liberals have continued down, they meet critical challenges for the next general election in 2018. Their counterpart, the Progressive Conservatives, continue to gradually ascend in the polls and take their grip on the political agenda, something that the Liberals have lost their handle on. The most recent polls from Forum Research Inc. dating from September suggest that the premier, Kathleen Wynne, has an approval rating of merely 16 percent of Ontarians, and approval ratings of the overall Liberal party have fallen to 27.1 percent, as conducted by the polling site, ThreeHundredEight. The PCs however, have steadily increased their ratings and are sitting at 45%, according to a poll conducted in September by Forum Research Inc. Meanwhile, the Ontario NDP have remained consistent—rather, stagnated, at the low 20s, trailing behind the Liberals, but nonetheless closing the gap.
The three recent by-elections were all won by Patrick Brown’s PCs, all with resounding majorities of the vote, the most recent by-election in Scarborough Rouge River. A previous Liberal seat in which the PCs suddenly took power, with a win over 2,400 votes past the Liberal candidate, the Liberals and NDP trailed badly. The GTA seat has been held by the Liberals ever since its creation in 1999, the year in which Mike Harris won his second PC government; in other words, this isn’t a seat that the Liberals should be struggling to win and actually losing. On another note, the Northern Ontario Party has resurrected itself and is now a registered party. Their goal is to field candidates in all 11 ridings that they represent and separate from the province. Their main reason is the poor management of energy and the huge lag in the manufacturing industry that used to be the engine of Ontario. Effectively, Ontario, thought to be the most balanced province between Quebecois Separatism and the Western Alienation
phenomena, now has its own group of regional discontents. The question is, why are the Liberals performing so poorly within their majority government from 2014? The answer is found in several factors that each contributed to the current political climate. The largest one, and a forefront issue in the most recent by-election, is the Hydro/energy crisis in Ontario. Hydro costs stem from the mismanaged and poorly-handled climate change plan and the Smart Meter fiasco, which sent Hydro rates soaring—being especially expensive in the rural parts of Ontario, with Hydro bills being many hundreds per month, or even running over a thousand, which is also found within urban centers like the GTA. However, the situation is nonsensical, since energy production is fairly inexpensive, and the government actually outsources extra energy for free to neighbouring states in the U.S or to Quebec. The added up amount of energy given away is $3 billion over three years, according to the PC party. Contrast this with the damag-
ing statistic that the auditor general discovered: Ontario taxpayers were overcharged $37 billion dollars in energy bills alone from 2006-2014. This is contributed from energy rates increasing over 70 percent during this period, stemming from the justifications that were mentioned above— poorly executed government policy. Wynne acknowledged the hydro crisis upon the recent by-election result, and has decided to scale back on Hydro costs, offering Ontarians an 8 percent rebate on energy bills. However, according to the PC party, hydro rates are scheduled to increase again on November 1, rendering the quick fix impotent. Additionally, back in June, the Liberals faced massive backlash and criticism for an age limit that was implemented on intensive therapy for people with autism, meaning children over five were cut from all funds. It was only after constant pressure from the PC party leader in question period in the Legislature and outrage from Ontario families did the Ontario Liberal government scale back and restore funding.
Lastly, the corruption issues within the government has led to many becoming disenchanted with it. Over four OPP investigations are being conducted currently, and unethical donation policies in which Ministries have fundraising targets to meet, corporate and union donations are forming the government agenda, instead of the party itself. The sole statistic of 99.4 percent of wind power contracts going to Liberal party donors, instead of potentially more qualified candidates, displays wind energy being used as a tool of corruption, political cronyism and favouritism. These factors and heavy missteps taken together suggests that the Ontario Liberals face a tough journey ahead if they are to win another mandate in the next election. All that’s left to say is that the Liberals will have difficulty draining the swamp when they are up to their hips in alligators.
Joseph Corazza Third-year Political Science major
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09.26.2016
UC Follies scorches the audience St.George theatre troupe delivers a passionate performance of Mouawad’s Scorched HAILEY MASON A&E EDITOR Family, loss, mystery, and war are themes inherent to playwright Wajdi Mouawad’s portfolio. After attending Tideline last Friday at Hart House, I was anticipating the inclusion of these subjects in Scorched, even before researching the play online. But unlike Tideline, UC Follies opted to downplay the intensity of Mouawad’s script by hosting their performance of Scorched in the UC Quad, a grassy, outdoor plot in the centre of St. George’s UC building. The setting and props were even more simplistic than Tideline, offering a quaint, intimate performance under the stars—well, it was actually a cloudy evening, but you get the idea. UC Follies debuted their production of Scorched last Thursday night. Directed by Lyla Belsey and LouisAlexandre Boulet, the performance offered a respectful depiction of Mouawad’s script, despite the unconventional venue. In keeping with Mouawad’s knack for convolution, Scorched is an intricate story that begins with the death of Nawal Marwan (Marium Masood, Shai Tannyan, and Marium Raja), the mother of Simone and Janine Marwan (Nicole Bell and River Pereira). The twin brother and sister meet in the notary office of the bumbling Al-
UC Follies host production of Scorched in the University College Quad. phonse Lebel (Melissa Fearon), who outlines Nawal’s last will and testament to the twins. But Nawal’s final requests are unusual. She wishes to be buried naked, without a coffin. She asks that her son and daughter lie her face down in the grave, and pour three buckets of water over her body before filling in the hole. She wants her grave to remain unmarked until the twins deliver two letters: one to their father and one to their brother.
But here’s the catch—until reading Nawal’s will, the twins believed their father died in battle. They were also unaware they had a brother. Nawal’s requests are anything but random. As the story progresses through a series of flashbacks depicting Nawal’s life in her homeland, we slowly learn the truth behind her mystery. The twins hate their mother for her distance, her silence, and her secrecy. But Nawal is the opposite of
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a bad mother. At the age of 15, she falls in love with a young man from her village, Wahab (Shak Haq). She becomes pregnant, and the pair make plans to live happily together with their child. “Now that we’re together, everything feels better,” Wahab tells Nawal. She repeats this phrase to herself as she grows old. But of course, Nawal’s mother forbids her daughter’s plans. Immediately after giving birth, the baby is taken
away from Nawal. Wahab is then sent to a prison camp at the onset of war. Nawal leaves her village, and returns three years later prepared to track down her baby. She meets the eager Sawda (Mirabella Sundar Singh), who joins Nawal on her quest. Over the next several decades, the pair travels through a land devastated by war. They search for Nawal’s son, and they search for peace among the wreckage of their home. Scorched occurs primarily in Nawal’s memories. Time and place become interchangeable, as the scenes move back and forth between the twins in the present and Nawal in the past. During these transitions, the past and present are often displayed side by side, interacting with each other without fully stepping into the other’s scene. In one moment, the twins interact at the forefront of the stage. In the background, on a level heightened by concrete stairs, Sawda runs back and forth, calling Nawal’s name. She moves into the forefront and hurries towards the twins, who freeze in a tableau. Sawda taps their shoulders and asks if they’ve seen Nawal before running back to her scene. The twins then resume their conversation. These two dimensions turn on and off sporadically throughout the play, allowing both stories to evolve at once. Scorched continued on page 10
An evening with Ed Pien and Mary Ma The AGM hosts opening reception for two new exhibitions, Shadowed Land and Eclipse KEENA AL-WAHAIDI Last Thursday night, an opening reception at the Art Gallery of Mississauga premiered their newest fall exhibitions with Ed Pien’s Shadowed Land and Mary Ma’s Eclipse. Pien and Ma are both local artists, contributing to the growing art scene in Mississauga. In Shadowed Land, Pien focuses his newest work on memory, particularly how the history of subjective memories shapes us. Sure, the idea itself may be a bit daunting; however, the images Pien creates resonates with anyone who’s ever felt the burden of remembrance or forgetting. When I first entered the gallery, I couldn’t fathom how the beauty behind Pien’s work could reflect serious subjects of memories and trauma. Pien effortlessly portrays these in a creative way. His work encourages us to take a step forward and examine his ideas closely. Similar to the realization that our memory must take time to heal, we
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The Art Gallery of Mississauga opened its doors last Thursday for two new exhibitions. must immerse ourselves deeper into Pien’s greater outlook of the human condition. In doing so, we become more in touch with our sensitivity towards trauma, and how these expe-
riences filter through our memories. His exhibit continues to the back of the gallery, where 20 turntables line the floor. Each play a different record, but all play a ghostly melody. The
echoed, melancholic music reminds me of the nostalgia one feels after hearing a sad song from the past. At the very back wall of the room, isolated from this portion of Pien’s
exhibition, a quote reads, “This is a past that is still part of our present.” The words express the very essence of the records. Though Pien’s exhibit comes to a close, the AGM isn’t finished with artgoers yet. Mary Ma’s exhibition is small, but it has big ideas. Located in a single room, Eclipse is dedicated to Ma’s idea of the moon and its potential to be perceived artistically. Giving off a celestial vibe, Eclipse features a high-quality video projection that lures viewers into her obsession with the natural occurrence of an eclipse. The idea behind this exhibition lies within the notion that the moon comments on its own appeal. I leave the opening reception of these two exhibitions fascinated by the work of these two. Their insightful ideas resonate in my memories—I suppose Pien has taught me something. Shadowed Land and Eclipse run from September 22 to January 1 at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.
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They say there’s a journal for everyone The Spectatorial’s fiction editor discusses how U of T students can get involved JANINA MALAPITAN
The Spectatorial proudly presents itself as the University of Toronto’s “one and only genre journal.” It curates the best of original speculative fiction, genre fiction, folklore, mythology, graphic art, and poetry. This fall marks the journal’s fourth year of publications, both in print and online. The Medium sits down with The Spectatorial’s fiction editor, Benjamin Ghan, to discuss getting involved in the journal, David Bowie as a science fiction author, and finding fellow nerds. The Medium: What inspired you to join the Spectatorial? Benjamin Ghan: In my first year at U of T, which was a couple of years ago, I wanted to do more, get more involved, so I started writing for the [Spectatorial’s] blog. It was a comic book review, actually. So that got me going, and then I submitted a couple of fiction pieces. I got involved because I’m a writer; I’ve published one book and a couple short stories. So this is really what I wanted to do. I’m a huge nerd, and some of my interests are science fiction, fantasy, and
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The Spectatorial is a St. George-based genre journal that accepts work from all U of T campuses. speculative [fiction], which is often shunned and generally not accepted. TM: How do you feel that these genres are considered unpopular? BG: Well, I feel like anything can be literature, and of course science fiction is. I don’t think you can deny
that people like writers like Isaac Asimov, or Ray Bradbury, or Kurt Vonnegut, or Robert A. Heinlein, or J.R.R. Tolkien. All of these people produce literature. These themes do shape our society. We can’t ignore it. If you look at the canon of literature
throughout time, we go all the way back to Homer, which is definitely accepted as literature—there’s gods and monsters in that. Genre is only a thing that came about maybe a hundred years ago, and The Spec is here to showcase that.
TM: What can genre fiction offer to readers that other fields of literature can’t? BG: It’s about ideas, but different ways to represent society. There’s also more diversity. If you look at speculative fiction and presentation, it’s always been at the forefront of diversity. You can go back to Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek of the 1960s, and its cast of characters is more diverse than whatever was on TV last night. That’s about looking at the future. TM: How has involvement in the journal affected your writing process? More specifically, the journey to your first novel? BG: It makes a difference to understand what it’s like to work with an editor, and to read so much more with so much variety from so many people. It’s been a huge influence on me and what I want to do and what I want to write. Talking to other members of the staff, being involved in meetings and with other people, it’s all been a great source of inspiration. It keeps you motivated to see so many other like-minded people and so many wonderful pieces. The Spec. continued on page
Not just for the galleries
FARIDA ABDELMEGUIED Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is one of those novels that resonates with me on several levels. Each time I reread it, I find more things to ponder about. Achebe’s novel constitutes a retelling and reclaiming of “the story”— that of African natives, their history, and the moment of contact between Africans and colonists. Through his well-planned narrative structure, Achebe provides a chronological depiction of the invasion of European men into Ibo society, a community in modern-day Nigeria, and the degeneration of this society that occurs as a result of colonialism. Achebe immerses readers into the details of Ibo society, with no mention of European colonizers, for more than a third of the novel. Thus, he decidedly opposes the tendency within colonial and postcolonial literature to characterize the moment of contact as the defining moment of a people’s history. Rather, he aims to show a complete and complex human history. Achebe teaches readers much about Ibo society, including language, traditions, values, and socioeconomic life. We understand that the Ibo existed as a complete society preceding the invasion of European forces. Perhaps the novel’s startling and unsettling nature exists because readers are exposed to an undisrupted Ibo society before experiencing the interfer-
ence of European colonizers and the breakdown that follows. Thematically, Achebe covers several motifs within the text, including the artfulness of conversation, the importance of oral traditions, and the notion of a communal voice. His emphasis on the notion of storytelling serves to provide a better understanding of Ibo society. It also conveys that Ibo culture cannot be understood within the framework of Western colonialist values. Achebe displays the Ibos’ ability to tell their own stories, to have a shared sense of community, and to build an authentic, African voice. In my opinion, Achebe’s text is quite revolutionary for its time. After its first publication in 1958, it became one of the first African novels written in English to receive global critical acclaim and critique, and its predominantly non-Western and non-imperialist inclusions may be why. Perhaps Things Fall Apart is such a powerful text because it has a corrective imperative: it is a restoration, regeneration, and recuperation of the African peoples, their history, and their voice. If we extend this notion, we can see it as a method of correction for not only the Ibo society, but for all colonized groups. Things Fall Apart is a necessary read for anyone who has an interest in decolonization or postcolonial literature and theory.
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Visual Arts Mississauga showcases local talent at Art in the Park.
KEENA AL-WAHAIDI On Sunday September 18, I decided to brave the crowds and venture over to Visual Arts Mississauga for Art in the Park. Hosted in Riverwood on the bank of the Credit River, I was greeted by an abundance of greenery as I made my way through the path towards the gallery. Tents boast local artwork in the grass outside the gallery. One tent holds canvases with painted images of Canadian landscapes, and another displays crafted jewelry. At this moment, I can’t decide what I like better: the unpredictability of artistic ingenuity, or the prospect of enjoying it in the middle of nature. Luckily, I was exposed to both. I move on to the art studios inside, and am taken aback by the vast number of booths packed into the small
space. Although these exhibits are inside, the studios are built with floorto-ceiling glass windows overlooking a forest, giving the rooms a more natural feel and look. I’m drawn towards the paintings on the wall. They depict exquisite patterns resembling henna. The canvases share carefully-painted images that are incorporated into the colour of each canvas background. I take a card from the artist, Payal Gupta. She explains to me that the unique designs on her canvases are made with syringes used to create henna patterns. This unique touch to Gupta’s work reminds me why I like supporting local art so much. Across from Gupta is the booth for Strung Out on Pearls. I’m impressed by the table of jewelry. When I try on the hand-woven metal necklace laced with purple beads, I can see why the
jewelry is such a success. I’m told to stand directly under the window, so that it twinkles slightly in the sunlight. The people around me couldn’t seem to get enough. I pass by a table of notebooks made from teabags and coffee cup sleeves. I make one last stop at a table displaying paintings of Canadian fall weather. One canvas exhibits a long pathway up North, showcasing the yellows, oranges, and reds of the trees lining the walkway. As an art lover, the two hours I spent roaming from table to table was a dream. Before heading out, I glance around and feel grateful that I belong to such a talented community of artists. If nature could mirror only half these works of art, then maybe the impending cold weather wouldn’t be so bad.
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REWIND NICOLE SCIULLI My decision to watch My Fair Lady is partly owing to Audrey Hepburn. While I knew she was an iconic British actress, I had yet to watch any of her movies. After My Fair Lady, I discovered the reason why audiences love her so much. George Cukor directs this 1964 musical. The film depicts the witty and somber story of Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), a poor Cockney flower girl in England. She enters a wager with the arrogant and misogynistic Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), a professor of phonetics, who believes he can teach Eliza to be a lady. My Fair Lady presents a critical view of the class system of Edwardian England. Throughout the musical, Hepburn was uproariously funny as Eliza. Hepburn’s character is a strongwilled, foul-mouthed young woman. She wants to work at a flower shop and have a nice life, but her Cockney accent imprisons her in poverty. Her famous catchphrase is “Ayyyyy”, and she never fails to make the audience laugh with her animated facial expressions and exaggerated accent. However, underneath Eliza’s seemingly vulgar exterior is an intelligent woman who wishes to be treated with respect more than anything else.
Higgins, on the other hand, is considered the stereotypical “perfect gentleman.” Yet, his actions contrast this flawless image. He degrades Eliza in many ways; he calls her names and treats her like “the dirt under his shoe.” He also treats Eliza as a toy, rather than a person. He stuffs marbles in her mouth to teach her how to speak and taunts her with chocolate. He never once takes her feelings into account. Eliza is an example of the way society pressures women to change their standards based on idealized images of femininity. Eliza tries to fit the standards of the society that shuns her, but her character does not change. She says to Higgins, “The only difference between a lady and a flower girl is not her behaviour, but how she is treated.” If we listen to the media’s presentation of biased and untrue stereotypes, we marginalize people without realizing it. Why should Eliza’s accent prevent her from achieving her goals? My Fair Lady is a comical and thought-provoking musical that looks at relationships and appearances with a critical eye. This film teaches us that there is much more to a person beyond their exterior. The question is whether we choose to look closer before speaking our minds.
So I heard you liked Tideline? Scorched continued from page 8
This element of interchangeability is also prominent in Tideline. I can’t help but admire its effectiveness in both performances. As the actors of Scorched move between past and present, their transitions are seamless. One of my favourite examples is the scene where Simone and Janine meet in Alphonse’s backyard to discuss Nawal’s will. The sound of drills on the street deafen their meeting. Alphonse mentions that Nawal never travelled on buses because of an incident during the war, in which she escaped a bus full of innocent citizens only to watch a crowd of militiamen assail the bus with machine guns and gasoline. As the scene between Simone, Janine, and Alphonse transitions into this horrific memory, the drills on the street assume the context of machine guns. The present moment freezes, and the focus shifts to the background, where Nawal sobs on the ground as the militiamen burn the bus. As I mentioned earlier, the setting and props were sparse. Stage lights illuminated the makeshift stage and the surrounding trees, creating
a cozy vibe in the Quad. The trees in the background were wrapped in white sheets. Four white blocks were used interchangeably on the forefront of the stage. This set was a downplayed version of Tideline, right down to the use of white stage pieces. Leading up to the conclusion, I considered Scorched to be an overall strong play. However, the ending shattered my preconceptions. The final scenes of the play offer a great disservice to the power of this script, particularly the sentiments of war and family it draws upon. Without giving anything away, I’ll say that the shocking plot twist revealed in the play’s final moments was overdramatized and unnecessary to the script. Frankly, I believe that this revelation detracts from the play’s major themes and abolishes Mouawad’s credibility. Scorched is a realistic depiction of loss and love in a country ravaged by war, yet Mouawad’s ending struggles so hard to generate shockvalue, that it ruins the authenticity of the script. Scorched ran from September 22 to September 24 in the UC Quad.
Painting the town 50% red Artists compose half their pieces in red for RED Hot
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RED Hot is the current exhibition at Imagemaker Gallery in Port Credit, Mississauga.
NICOLE SCIULLI Currently on display at the Imagemaker Gallery in Port Credit is a different type of exhibition. RED Hot features local artists, including Nada Annan, Liliane Lear, Gary Pavia, Susan Chin, Nadia Fernandez, Kristina Heredia, Nancy Phillips, and Alison Syer. What makes this exhibit interesting is that all pieces were required to be 50% red. Despite this common theme, each artist creates a radically different piece. One wall displayed Annan’s “Ah… The Sun”, “Blazing Trees”, “Power of Red”, and “Red Beauty.” These landscape paintings consist of bright red flowers and trees. Up close, the works focus on texture. The rise and fall of Annan’s brushstrokes create rhythm within her images. Her colours appear to melt into one another. Annan’s “Ruby Red” painting hangs
on the opposite wall. This canvas depicts a slice of pomegranate resting next to a full pomegranate. Instead of using acrylic paints like in her other works, Annan uses oil for this piece. Various shades of warm colours imitate a glow within the fruit. Unlike Annan’s work, the rest of the paintings in the gallery are abstract. Pavia’s “Man with Dog” looks nothing like the title suggests. The man and dog have been reduced to geometric shapes. The many lines, shapes, and contrasting colours within the piece force your eyes to move around the piece. Pavia appears to mimic everyday life, but in a way that redefines its standards in a meaningful way. Fernandez’s “Tiger in the Room” and Chin’s “Sun” also portray abstract modes of expression. Both paintings depict glowing yellows, reds, and oranges without a specific subject. Like Pavia, Fernandez’s piece differs great-
ly from its title. The painting involves a scene of crashing waves. The more I inspected it, the more I came to realize the meaning behind the title. The tiger serves as a metaphor for the violence of the waves. Another standout piece belonged to Lear, who distorts images with Photoshop, and then embroiders them in her piece, “Darlene”. Her art resembles the negatives of photographs. The contrast in colour between the people, the background, and the lines throughout the piece make her work look as though it were crafted from shards of colourful glass. RED Hot embodies the idea that art isn’t bound in a set of rules. The powerful, individualistic pieces suggest that art focuses on the experience of the observer. RED Hot is on display at Imagemaker Gallery until September 30.
Finding a like-minded audience at St. George The Spec. continued from page 9
TM: How are the journal’s different submissions organized and edited? BG: There’s the managing staff, the editor-in-chief, the creative director (who’s in charge of the layout and what illustrations go where), the online editor (who’s in charge of our blog), and then you have the content editors. I’m the fiction editor. So if you submit fiction, it’s all anonymous, and we vote on it anonymously. If you are chosen for your fiction piece, you will be working with me to get your piece ready. We’ll go through the several steps in the process of editing. So you don’t have to [submit] a perfect, finished piece. It doesn’t just have to be a book review or a movie review. I once wrote an article about how Da-
vid Bowie is a science fiction author. TM: How can someone make their submission stand out? BG: Give it your all. If you have an idea, then run with it. The more original, the more inventive it is, the better. If you think you have something that hasn’t been seen before, or if your characters are beautifully fleshed out, or if your prose is stunning— there are a lot of ways. And we read through everything. It is important to say, though, that if you aren’t picked, it doesn’t mean that your submission was bad; it could have been awesome, but it may just not have fit with what we’re doing, or it was too long, or we simply don’t have the space for publishing. If we don’t accept the first time, don’t throw it away. You can send it in the next time. Keep it, keep working on it. There is no such thing
as a finished piece. For writers, this is a great opportunity to submit something that perhaps other journals aren’t ready to take. It also gives writers the chance to learn about the editing process. It’s not like you just submit something and it gets published immediately. We go through several editing steps, we give you feedback, and we give suggestions. It’s really about making the work the best it can be. TM: Are submissions open to U of T students from all campuses? BG: Of course. You can submit both to the print journal and the online blog, which has no deadline. You can submit no matter who you are. We have published students, professors, university alumni, even people who don’t go to the university.
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Hillewaert’s study in youth identity UTM anthropology professor Sarah Hillewaert shares her story of travel around the world FARAH QAISER FEATURES EDITOR With a large bookshelf filled with books, brightly coloured couches, and various fabrics adorning the walls, Professor Sarah Hillewaert’s office offers a glimpse into her vibrant life—and hints at the long, winding journey that has brought her to UTM. Hillewaert was born and raised in Belgium. While she was a good student during high school, she claims that she was never a stellar one. Following high school, she chose to audition for dance school. “I never [anticipated getting] into academia. I wanted to be a professional dancer,” she says. “I didn’t get in, because I didn’t have the basic technique.” The school that Hillewaert had auditioned for suggested that she take two years of technique classes, such as ballet and jazz, and then come back for a second audition. “So my mom gave me the option: ‘Well, you do that and you pay for it yourself,’” reminisces Hillewaert. “She said that I’m not going to stop you, but you get a job, you take evening classes, and you put yourself through these years, and then you
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Hillewaert was fascinated with slang—this was the beginning of her research on youth culture. put yourself through dance school.” The second option was that she attend university, with her mom paying the tuition expenses. Hillewaert decided to pick the second option. It was her sister who suggested that she should study African languages, since Hillewaert had been studying African dances. There was
also a possibility that Hillewaert could write her thesis on African dances, and that way, still be able to maintain her interest in dancing. “So I started university and I got really fascinated with the topics,” says Hillewaert. “I had one professor in particular who was really interested in languages, and how language and culture intersect. We did a lot
of work on refugee studies, working with African refugees in Belgium and the asylum process. […] We were learning several languages— we were learning Tshiluba, which is spoken in Congo, and we started learning Swahili.” As Hillewaert and her friends learned new languages, they wondered: could these new languages
help them navigate through Africa successfully? “We looked for the cheapest ticket to anywhere where they spoke Swahili, and it turned out to be Nairobi. And so I got on a plane to Nairobi, and I absolutely fell in love with the country. To me, it and Kenya were two of the most beautiful countries that I’ve been to.” While Hillewaert was in Nairobi, she stayed with a local family. One day, the children in the family were chatting among themselves, but Hillewaert couldn’t understand what they were saying. She blamed it on her poor grasp of Swahili—but then something odd happened. When the children’s mother walked in, she was incredibly upset at what they were saying. “[I thought] that my Swahili was really bad. […] [But] they weren’t speaking Swahili; they were speaking the kind of slang that they speak in the streets, and [their mom didn’t] want that kind of language in [the] house.” Hillewaert was immediately fascinated by this slang, and this marked the beginning of her research focus on youth culture. Culture continued on page 14
What’s next for marijuana legalization? With Canada moving towards legalization, The Medium explores the many complexities of this topic MAHNOOR AYUB ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR With Canada inching towards marijuana legalization, the federal government announced on April 20, 2016, that a new law is expected to be introduced in the spring of 2017. A nine-membered task force, chaired by Anne McLellan (a former deputy prime minister under the prime minister Paul Martin), will be talking to provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, indigenous people, youth, and addiction and health experts on the subject. Of the eight other members on the government task force, five are doctors. While the constitution of the task force symbolizes the focus on health, many of us may pause to deliberate over the context of this debate within a larger narrative. Kiran Siddiqui, a fourth-year student pursuing a comparative physiology specialist, has a similar view. “I’m sure this debate has many more layers than just legalizing or
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The debate is split into two: a call for prohibition and a call for legalization. prohibiting, but I think it is good that we are paying attention to it, especially its effects on health and contribution to chronic disease,” says Siddiqui.
If you find yourself doing some preliminary research on the development of the legalization policy in Canada, as I did for this piece, you may find the subject being largely
divided into either support for prohibition, driven by results shown by scientific research, or a call for legalization, motivated by the need to remove the social stigma around
active users. However, the U of T faculty is taking a more holistic approach towards understanding the complexities of the debate. In order to discuss the complexities, we’ll start with the basics. “The first thing is of course […] that cannabis is not a deadly drug,” says Harold Kalant, an emeritus professor with both an M.D. and Ph.D., who previously taught at U of T’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. “But it has shown to lead to problems with certain maturation processes required for the development of our executive functions, such as working memory, reasoning, [and] problem solving.” Kalant further explains how these processes mature during adolescence. Therefore, if the use of cannabis begins early and continues during this age, then the reduction of function may be irreversible— even if the individual stops using it. Weed continued on page 13
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Financial literacy: is there a gender gap? UTM Alumni Association’s Backpack to Briefcase event explores gender in financial literacy HALEY WEST Last Tuesday, a Backpack to Briefcase event was held at Deerfield Hall, focusing on the role of gender in financial literacy and featuring Candice Jay, Shalini Dharna, and Jess Mann as panelists. A 2016 study, “Gender differences in the financial knowledge of Canadians”, by Marie Droler, showed that financial literacy varies between men and women, with women trailing behind men in financial literacy scores. The study was based on data collected from the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey. Findings demonstrated that women had lower financial literacy scores (15% of women correctly answered key questions, compared to 22% of men), and that women are less likely to consider themselves to be financially capable. However, when financial management is shared among couples, or women contribute similarly to their male partners to household finances, there is no difference in financial literacy. The panelists discussed their experience with women and financial literacy throughout their careers. Jay is currently the vice-president
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Last Tuesday’s Backpack to Briefcase event featured Candice Jay, Shalini Dharna, and Jess Mann. at Pembroke Private Wealth Management Ltd. Dharna is a CPA with over 10 years of experience, and has previously worked as a financial analyst at the Ministry of Education, developing policies and procedures to evaluate financial statements
to ensure proper use of childcare funding. Jess Mann is the chief operating officer at Mantralogix Inc. Prior to this, she was the managing director and head of Scotiatrust at Scotiabank. Mann stated, “I didn’t see a dif-
ference with financial literacy itself, but I did see a difference in the confidence level.” There is an argument that women are as financially literate as men, but their expectation of that financial literacy is higher than it is for men. This is linked to differences
in personality. Men are much more likely to try, even if they don’t believe they have the required elements of financial literacy. Dharna has a lot of experience working with entrepreneurs, and she sees these distinct differences between her male and female clients. “[Among women] a lot of the time, I’m the one convincing them they’re on the right track and to just keep at it,” says Dharna, and states that men are more likely to start their business and then come up with a business plan later. Jay works with high-net-worth clients with an average age of 65. Among this group, particularly among the older couples, there was a tendency for the husbands to make the majority of the financial decisions and the wives to know very little about their financial situation at all. Jay has also found that many women are attempting to change this and become more financially literate, in preparation for if the family finances are in their hands, which is likely, given that men have shorter lifespans than women. Finance continued on page 14
BLC’s to-do list: inclusion, diversity, support Last Wednesday, the tri-campus Black Liberation Collective held their first event at UTM OLAYEMI MORGAN Last Wednesday, the Black Liberation Collective held their first event for the academic 2016/17 year, titled Welcome Black. The event welcomed black students to the University of Toronto community, and invited them into the BLC. Discussions revolving around what it means to be black at U of T took place, with attendees detailing their personal experiences with anti-blackness and anti-black racism at the three campuses. There were also competitions and games, such as Black Family Feud. The BLC is a loose collective of black students, from all three U of T campuses. These students come together to work on issues of systemic anti-black racism within and outside the institution. They also work on how to deal with antiblackness at the university, and encourage black students to enrich their experience at U of T. The Medium spoke to Hashim Yusuf, a committee member of the BLC and third-year criminology student, to learn more about the collective. The BLC was formed when a few students came together to host an event called Being Black at U of T. The purpose of this event was for students to come together and talk about what it means to be black at U of T, and the challenges they face.
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The Black Liberation Collective does not have any executive positions this year. But when this event occurred, a lot of students attended from all three campuses, and several interesting and thought-provoking topics were brought up. As a result of that event, the BLC was formed. Apart from the Being Black at U of T event, the BLC also holds town hall meetings, works on the demands they give to the university, and engages in other activities to eradicate anti-blackness and racism at the University of Toronto. One of the BLC’s beliefs is that
black students have the right to receive an education without having to deal with any anti-blackness or racism. This is a right they believe black students are not given, and as a result, they feel that the current education system is an unfair system. The BLC has come together to change this. The BLC’s aims for this year are to develop the nine demands they have for the university. According to Yusuf, the BLC believes that if these demands are implemented,
they will eliminate anti-blackness and racism from the university. One of the demands is to increase the funding provided to the Transitional Year Programme. This program was envisioned by the black community of the St. George campus a few decades ago. It is a year-long bridging program that supports students who may not have done well in high school when they transferred to U of T. The program is equity-focused, and aims to support students who may find the
transition to university difficult. However, according to Yusuf, the funding for the program has been reduced repeatedly each year. The program is run out of a building, located at 123 St. George Street, in the corner of campus, with a broken elevator, and is inaccessible to students. Another one of the BLC’s demands is for the university to introduce an independent African and Caribbean studies department. The BLC feels this is important because, as of now, courses on African and Caribbean history are mostly taught by white professors. They would prefer these courses be taught by black professors who have a history with these issues. According to the U of T BLC chapter’s website, other demands include addressing the lower proportion of black students, especially in professional and graduate programs, establishing mandatory equity training for U of T members (including faculty, students and administration), increasing the number of funding opportunities available for black students, and providing free education at U of T for black and indigenous students. According to Yusuf, the BLC doesn’t have any executives this year, because it’s not an official organization. However, the BLC is run by a student committee made up of students from all three campuses.
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Prepping for professional tests—with help? There are times when the university and its abundance of resources just aren’t enough for students, especially when it comes to studying for professional exams or applying to graduate and professional programs. While UTM’s Career Centre does hold recurring events to address such topics, students often find themselves needing more help. Whatever the situation may be, there are various outside services present that students can turn to for help—at a cost, of course. The Medium had a chance to talk with two of these test-prep services. KRISTEN LADAS IvyGlobal and 99point9 vary widely in terms of their size and the way they assist students, but their goal remains the same: helping students through the application process, including test-prep services. IvyGlobal is primarily a SAT/ SSAT prep company, which is based in both the U.S. and Canada. Their mission is to aid high school and undergraduate students as they prepare for major college tests, such as the LSATs, SATs and SSATs. They also provide an essay-writing and editing service, where they assist students in writing their personal essays in order to gain admission to graduate school programs. “[IvyGlobal] tutor[s] one-on-one with students, and we also have small classes which focus on certain material,” says Lisa Faieta, IvyGlobal’s assistant manager at the Toronto Head Office. “We provide education consulting, especially for business and master’s degrees.” The consultants help students find the right school, suitable to their interests and academia, at prices ranging from $100-$200 per hour of the consultation. They talk to students and parents, helping to create a “game plan.” Upon asking Faieta what common mistakes students make when
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Applying for professional programs includes completing exams and writing personal essays. writing their personal essays, she notes, “Usually in application essays, it’s hard for students to find a topic; something that shows what makes them unique. They don’t know how they should come across.” Strategies that IvyGlobal uses with students include: initial tests to see where students need the most help, creation of personalized curriculums, and offering practice tests and questions.
When it comes to the hiring process, Faieta says that IvyGlobal looks for candidates who are very familiar with English and have experience teaching or tutoring. She explains that while qualified candidates are selected based on their writing experience, all editors undergo mockteaching sessions. This way, students can feel confident when working with upper-year students. In contrast to IvyGlobal’s broad
reach, Sophia Glisch and Humayun Ahmed, the founders of 99point9, are largely based in Toronto, and operate on a smaller scale. 99point9 is a test-preparation service, which also offers essay-editing services. The two founders focus on the SAT, MCAT, and other exam preparations, and have experience with subjects such as English, physics, chemistry, and biology. Both Glisch and Ahmed began
tutoring and only charged about $10 for 10 hours a day. Ahmed says, “The demand grew. One-on-one sessions became small groups, and soon [progressed] to large classes. We had to increase the course fee to $350.” Glisch explains that 99point9 conducts eight-hour classes that “mimic the eight-hour test.” The courses cost up to $2,200 for the 14-day courses. By using strategies such as talking through students’ problems and working through questions, 99point9 helps students understand challenging concepts. They also have students make a list at the beginning of the class of what they want taught. “Instead of teaching continuously, we stop and ask very specific questions. If one person doesn’t understand, we won’t move on,” Glisch says. Ahmed and Glisch both agreed that the most important part of the service is to encourage learning. They stress the importance of remaining positive, and encourage students to motivate each other. They want everyone to know that they should not be afraid of taking risks. “Just do it. That’s what I tell my students. Just focus on yourself and what you want to accomplish. Do the impossible and make it possible,” says Glisch.
There is much to consider for legalizaton Weed continued from page 11
Michael Chaiton, an assistant professor at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, explains his research on the relationship of cannabis and tobacco among high school students in the context of this subject. “The association with poor grades and pattern of substance use has changed over time,” says Chaiton. “When cannabis use was rare, users were more likely to have poor grades. But as tobacco use became less common, tobacco users were even more likely to have poor grades,” he continues. Therefore, although he does mention that the cognitive effects of cannabis use appear to be transient in older adults, it also seems to have a longer-lasting impact on people under the age of twenty-five. Chaiton also speculates on how some of the associations between substance use and certain factors, such as grades, are driven by the social climate surrounding their use, rather than the pharmacological characteristics of the drug itself. While supporters of legalization
argue that most studies have shown detrimental effects on health only when observed in association with tobacco or alcohol use (and therefore are not necessarily representative of the causative effects of cannabis use itself), both sides do agree on the importance of regulation following legalization and the importance of cannabis literacy. “What is most important is real, science-based education that incorporates elements of harm-reduction, and is designed with input from young people themselves,” says Jenna Valleriani, a Ph.D. candidate at U of T’s sociology department. “This is something that has been missing from the education curriculum, and most youth can usually recall only abstinence-based drug education in the past, and very little cannabisspecific education.” Valleriani is also enrolled in the collaborative graduate program in Addiction Studies at U of T’s Department of Sociology. She emphasizes that education on this topic should be prioritized by starting early, and information about risks and benefits (such as medical uses) should be communicated clearly and without
judgment. Although Kalant also mentions other physical harms associated with smoking cannabis, such as chronic inflammatory disease of the respiratory pathways and the increasing number of accidents caused by impaired driving, he stresses the importance of learning from the results of legalization in Colorado and Washington, and on the importance of informed decision making.
“While it does give temporary pleasure and relieves anxiety to some extent, is the benefit you get without risk?” —Harold Kalant “I think people in the age of being university students have to think in those terms,” he says. “While it does give temporary pleasure and relieves anxiety to some extent, is the benefit you get without risk?” However, as Valleriani emphasizes, the real impact will be less on the student community and more on
youth with criminal records for cannabis possession, where cannabisrelated charges significantly and disproportionately target youth. She mentions how this is exacerbated when looking at at-risk populations and minority youth. “Criminal records for the rest of their adult lives drastically outweighs the harms to the user [….] more broadly for simply using cannabis,” says Valleriani. She explains how an effective legalization regime would include some type of lesser penalty (i.e. not a criminal record) for youth who access cannabis outside the eventual regulated system. Although decriminalization for youth offenses is one option, she mentions how “The task force will have to assess the impact of fines on youth from different socioeconomic statuses, which can still disproportionately affect young people of varying backgrounds.” Kalant also discusses his inclination toward decriminalization, by mentioning the success these policies have seen in Australia and Portugal. He explains that though “these fines won’t give you a criminal record […]
they will just behave as a deterrent to say that society does not approve.” Valleriani also mentions how most research over the last 40 years, including two important government reports, the LeDain Commission of 1972 and the Senate Report in 2002, concluded that the effects of the prohibition of cannabis and subsequent criminalization is far worse than use of cannabis itself. While the current government task force has been developing their draft policy based on the idea of protecting youth (by prohibiting legal use under the age of 25), Valleriani emphasizes how “age limits, in and of themselves, do not deter youth from using cannabis.” She explains how setting a higher age limit than alcohol, for example, will incentivize alcohol use and do little to deter cannabis use. Valleriani further says, “Young people have accessed cannabis illegally under prohibition, and will likely do so under a legalized regime. The missing piece, we hope, is access to science-based, realistic education around cannabis that gives young people the tools to engage in decisions around their own health.”
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Youth culture involves slang, hip-hop Culture continued from page 11
“I went back the next summer to do three months of research on hip-hop, youth language, and how urban youth identity was created through that language […] I loved the vibrancy of the youth culture there,” says Hillewaert. Following the completion of her B.Sc. and Master’s, Hillewaert’s professor encouraged her to enter the field of linguistic anthropology, and to pursue it further with a Ph.D. in the U.S. “It just seemed so out of this world,” says Hillewaert. “Who would ever go to the United States?” But despite how far-fetched it sounded, Hillewaert did head to the U.S. to complete her Ph.D. in linguistic anthropology at the University of Michigan. Her dissertation, titled, “Between Respect and Desire: On Being Young, Pious, and Modern in an East African Muslim Town”, focused on the youth culture in Kenya. Today, she is an assistant professor at UTM’s anthropology department. “It’s been a wonderful journey. […] I love what I do. When students ask me, would you recommend that [they] do a Ph.D.? I tell them to never underestimate it—it’s not just a study. It’s your life,” says Hillewaert. “I think [that] one of the benefits of our jobs is that every single day, you work on stuff that you’re fasci-
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Hillewaert completed her Ph.D. in linguistic anthropology at the University of Michigan. nated with, and you determine what you’re going to look at. […] You formulate research questions that you yourself really want to find out. There’s very few jobs that you can get where you can continue learning throughout your entire life and just pursue things that you are fascinated with.” Hillewaert has not had a chance to enter professional dancing yet. “On the one hand, I miss it. I wish I could go back to that, to that kind of modern dance again. […] But I do still dance, I just don’t take class-
es anymore,” says Hillewaert. Today, she is continuing her research in Lamu, a Kenyan town that historically traded with the Arab world. It had been a wealthy town once. But following Lamu’s incorporation into Kenya, the government placed trade constraints, which caused the economy to suffer. “The economy [then] shifted to a tourist[-based] economy. Tourists were fascinated by this remote town that had these beautiful stone mansions, but at the same time, was very remote [and had no] mo-
torized transportation […] a lot of tourists started coming, so [Lamu] started thriving on tourism,” says Hillewaert. But following political instability and the rise of Islamic extremist groups, Lamu’s economy is struggling, and once again, the town faces severe poverty. “I was very struck with the things young people there are struggling with. It’s quite a conservative Muslim town. You can feel by being there how proud the inhabitants are of their history and of what the
town stood for in the past. But at the same time, there is a very stark confrontation with poverty, with a lack of future prospects.” According to Hillewaert, in tourist magazines, Lamu is presented as a town that is “frozen in time” and has become a heavily exotic tourist destination. But in government discourse, officials think about Lamu in terms of extremism and radicalism, as they worry that young people may join radical groups. These two broad and conflicting generalizations prompted Hillewaert to challenge these notions. “By looking at the [everyday] practices, [I am] trying to break down the stereotypes of the extremist Muslim or the exotic Oriental image,” she says. “We try to break that down, and try to bring the realistic, and more recognisable, image to Muslim youth.” “When you look at sociology, there is a lot of discussion about these broader changes, especially in Muslim communities; but there is very little work that actually looks at the everyday negotiations. How do they go about their everyday lives? What happens in their interactions with their peers, their parents, and their elders? And how is that reflective of what they themselves are trying to figure out [in terms of] what their norms and values are?” she continues. “So that’s what I find fascinating—the very minute details through which young people negotiate identity.”
Less financially-literate? Or less confident? Finance continued from page 12 Among Jay’s younger clients, the women are predominantly unmarried females who are taking the reins and learning about investing. Overall, the way women approach their finances is different than men. Based on Jay’s experiences, women tend to worry more, but she also notices a more nurturing aspect in how women deal with their finances, while men are more performance-driven. In terms of risk appetite and risk taking, Dharna finds distinct differences between the male and female entrepreneurs she works with. “A lot of the men are willing to just jump in and then take a look at what they did, and women, in general, just take a bit more of a calculated risk, more likely to set up a plan,” says Dharna. This isn’t to say that women won’t take risks in business; merely that they are more likely to weigh the potential benefits and costs, and evaluate all possible avenues of achieving their goal prior to taking a risk. Women are constantly thinking about the big picture. To this effect, women will easily ask more questions than men, and even ask the same question in a different way to make sure that the answer remains consistent. The panel theorized that this is
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Overall, the way women approach their finances is different from men. related to personality and the inherent nature of some women to overthink and over-analyze. Both Jay and Dharna discuss how there is some element of “handholding” to their job. They need to be a coach or a psychologist, while also being aware of their boundaries and knowing when they need to refer their clients to other people, such as life coaches. “Most of the reservation [that I]
find with women when it comes to taking risks are not that they don’t think that the future is bright; they see the numbers,” says Dharna. “It’s the lack of confidence in their ability to get to those numbers.” Mann’s professional experience has led her to the conclusion that “Women just generally have a different relationship with money. How we see money is quite different, and I think that this is where
some of these attitudes stem from”. Women are more likely to spend money on things which will lead to the creation of memories and experiences, while men have a tendency to spend more on physical objects. Improving financial literacy is a goal everyone should strive for, regardless of their gender, socioeconomic status, or career path. Each panelist highly recommends that everyone seek out a
mentor. It doesn’t have to be someone older or be a formal request for a mentor, but can involve simply grabbing a coffee and talking about finances. Dharna states, “People love to talk about their successes, so ask them: How did you achieve what you achieved? […] They’ll just start talking, and you can sit there listening and they won’t even realize how much information they’re passing on to you, that you can take away from it.” Jay recommended books by David Chilton and Kelly Keen, as they are authors who write books at a novice level, and share information in a way that is enjoyable and fun. Even using Internet resources can be a great help. Simply by searching a question on the internet, one can find great articles and resources to help grow financial literacy skills and see a corresponding increase in the confidence of those skills. Additionally, there are continuing education classes offered at UTM that focus on financial literacy, as well as workshops and seminars offered through several financial institutions. All three panelists find that education, which can be used to increase financial literacy, is a phenomenon that is becoming more common.
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A new year, a new lineup for UTM The 2016 UTMAC squad looks to make a profound impact on the UTM community this year JESSICA CABRAL
In March 2016, the UTM community came together to elect a fresh group of seven individuals that would soon build the UTM Athletic Council executive team for the 2016/17 school year. In an interview with The Medium, the new president, Prince Dim, sat down to answer questions about the UTMAC’s outlook for the year. The current athletic council is comprised of seven executive team members: president Prince Dim, VP administration Abdallah Alzoubi, VP finance Amit Yadav, director of intramurals Eddy Dabire, director of special projects Mariam Musse, director of campus recreation & wellness Sulaymi Arriaza, and director of public relations Naomi Senwasane, as well as three hired associates, Akindeji Kehinde, Katrina Flahat, and Eugene Maninang. The associates work together to promote the importance of balancing a university career with a healthy, active lifestyle. The responsibilities of each position vary from managing the budget, booking events, advocating health awareness, and organizing special projects, such as pub nights, Frosh collaborations, and the Athletic Banquet. Although Dim is passionate about
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The new UTM Athletic Council plans to accommodate the growing UTM population. athletics and is an avid runner, while reflecting back on the election process, he confesses that joining the Athletic Council was a new experience for him. “This is one thing I never really had the opportunity to do at UTM. I have worked several places on campus and I have a really diversified portfolio. But I have never done anything related to politics or been in a leadership role, so I figured why not give it a try?” he says. Dim explains that the former UTMAC president, Bilal Rafai, played a
significant role in assisting the team with transitioning into their new positions. “Rafai laid the foundations of what he did and how he did it. He gave us some helpful tips as well, on how to start off the year and how to handle certain difficulties that he had experienced [last year] as president,” Dim says. In contrast to last year’s UTMAC, Dim emphasizes his team’s plan to utilize their budget to accommodate the growing UTM community. When asked if his team was doing anything
differently than last year’s group, Dim replied that they “already are”. “First of all, homecoming is something they never did, and we are planning to get that done. The way we handled Frosh this year was completely different than the way they did it in previous years. I feel [that] with the ever-growing UTM population size, we need to start handling a few things differently,” he says. “We have a slightly higher number of students coming in this year than there was last year, so even though we work
with similar projects and similar budgets, it is imperative we start doing a few things differently.” The ultimate long-term goal of the UTMAC team this year is to increase the school spirit within the UTM community. Dim hopes to double the percentage of people who attend UTMAC events on campus, and increase the school community’s overall involvement in athletics. To accomplish this, his plan is to target the first-years and spread awareness about UTMAC throughout the UTM campus. “One of the things we really wanted to do differently [this year] is we want to make sure that by the time our tenure is done, everybody will know who UTMAC is and what UTMAC does,” Dim says. Dim wants to tackle the issue concerning the knowledge of UTMAC, and he believes that getting first-years involved is the solution. “I want to make sure I address the problem, especially through firstyears. First-years have very little to limited involvement on campus, because they’re still just learning and trying to figure out where they fit in in this whole new world, right?” “I feel that trying to get them more involved would be a great thing,” he continues. “We want the first-years to help us increase campus-wide school spirit.”
Running around the competition Haseeb Malik is a big reason why UTM cross-country is on the OCAA map of top schools NOOR AL LABABIDI
Of the many talented athletes at UTM, Haseeb Malik, the captain of this year’s cross-country team, won Male Rookie of the Year Award for being an outstanding cross-country runner for the UTM Eagles. Although it was his first year at UTM, Malik succeeded in getting all the way to nationals, but without the rest of the team. The Medium sat down with Malik to discuss his achievements, those who have inspired him, and what he’s excited for moving forward. While he managed to kick off a successful athletic career in crosscountry, Malik wasn’t always involved in the sport. “In high school, I used to play a lot of basketball—never really did cross-country ‘till grade 12,” he said. “I didn’t honestly know that I wanted to become a runner; I just did the beep test one day and set the school record.” This prompted him to participate in track and field in grade 11, which he admitted was success-
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Malik is the captain of this year’s cross-country running team. ful. “So, I thought I might as well do cross-country in grade 12.” Though, Malik didn’t get involved with cross-country simply through his own merit. His admitted source of inspiration is one of his high school teachers, Mr. Pool. “He used to do these things called ‘Ironmans’, and Ironmans are intense, like a triathlon
but with much longer distances,” Malik said. “He [kind of] motivated me a lot and really pushed me.” This led Malik to push himself even further when he found the opportunity to do so on UTM’s cross-country team. Although he hasn’t done an Ironman yet, Malik participated and succeeded in his first duathlon last sum-
mer in Niagara Falls, which consisted of 60 other competitors. “I finished fifth overall, and I was first in my age group,” he said. “I hope to do more duathlons in the future. Definitely multi-sport events, not just running.” When it comes to cross-country at UTM, Malik expressed his excitement in regards to the team this year and
being able to run alongside some of the members from last year’s team. “Most of the runners that were on the team were first-years, so I guess we were [facing] the same struggles with time management; but we also helped each other out,” he said. “We were a great team last year, but this year I think we’ve been working really hard.” Malik also discussed the success of the team’s participation at the Fanshawe Cross-Country Rotational last Saturday at the conservation area in London. “I came in sixth overall, as a team we came in fourth.” He went on to explain that this was better than last year’s ranking, where the team came in fifth. “You can see that improvement, and it’s still so early in the year, so there’s still so much room for improvement.” As for his plans for the year, the computer science student said he hopes to take the whole team to nationals. “It’s fun going individually, but you don’t have that team feeling [that you have] when you go together as a team, that long bus ride going to wherever we’re going.”
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THE MEDIUM 09.26.2016
The art of Nia Settling the stress at UTM Dance NOOR AL LABABIDI
I had no clue what I was in for when I agreed to go to a Nia dance class, one of the many extracurricular programs offered to students at the RAWC. In the background, meditative Indian sitar music filters through the speakers, and I immediately relax. The instructor was shuffling barefoot across the floor to the music, so I took my shoes and socks off and awkwardly tried to imitate her. It was difficult because it looked like she had a steady tempo and almost instinctual way of moving to the music; her hands swayed softly in front of and beside her as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, all the while moving across the room towards the music player in the dance studio. The music stopped playing and another lively beat started streaming into the room. “It’s all international music,” the instructor said, and then showed us the steps to some basic dance, martial arts, and yoga-inspired moves that we would be doing in the hour-long class. They weren’t complex and structured the way they normally are in other dance classes. Rather, they were simple and abstract, and required you to move your limbs and whole body naturally, without thinking too much about controlling the move. It sounds easy, but it really isn’t. As I mentioned earlier, it was actually difficult at the onset, despite my already having an intermediate-level experience in a variety of dance forms. The only way I could shirk that feeling of defeat and find my literal footing in the Nia genre of dance was by reminding myself to forget about choreography and control. Instead, I let the music guide when I decided to move and how I did. The music consisted of a range of global tracks, as promised, that varied in culture of origin and influenced the moves that the instructor prompted us to do.
There was no one count that was consistent through every song; it changed with every track, keeping us constantly alerted and waiting on the balls of our feet for what was to come next. Rhythm, repetition, and liveliness were the only things consistent throughout the playlist. It led us through the jazz, African, Spanish, bohemian, and martial arts-inspired moves that the instructor was demonstrating. This atmosphere made for a workout with the transcendent effects of meditation, elicited by the entrancing repetitive beats. It left me damp with sweat, but with a calm and sharp mind by the end of it. “Music leads to movement leads to magic, is what it’s all about,” she said to me during a conversation after the class. “It came to be because there were so many people that had injuries from some of the high impact aerobics […] so the founders [of Nia] decided to put something together that would work in your body’s way, so that anybody could do it.” Which is true. Nia does not demand fitness, dance, or age experience—it calls for natural and unforced movement. “I don’t care if you’re following the choreography; if the piece of music speaks to you and you want to dance in the back corner, that’s fine with me,” she said. “There’s always opportunity for what we call ‘free dance’, but I don’t do that because we don’t have the time.” She also explained how most participants are intimidated by that aspect of Nia and have requested her to choreograph those gaps for them, as she usually demonstrates steps. “Everybody thinks everybody’s looking at them, but what they don’t realize is that you get so into your own thing, you don’t know what the next guy is thinking,” she stressed. The objective of the entire art is to immerse yourself in the energy of your own experience of the music and how it courses through your body in the movements you make.
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The Mindfulness Meditation class acknowledges one’s emotions.
KAITLYN FERNANDES
When the August bliss starts to fade and September comes onto the scene, those first weeks of the new school year can quickly become overwhelming. In an effort to combat stress, UTM’s Health and Counselling Centre launched a brand new drop-in Mindfulness Meditation class, held in the RAWC’s multi-purpose room on Wednesdays from 12-1 p.m. Although I had no prior experience meditating before attending Wednesday’s class, I still hoped that I would emerge from the session with an unwavering inner peace, and perhaps some mental superpowers. Wednesday’s meditation group included about 10 students. Some had just come from the gym, but others came straight from class. The group is led by a different member of the health and counselling staff each week on a rotation. So, depending on the instructor, each week might differ slightly in the meditation exercise as well as the overall tone of the session. Sitting cross-legged on mats with the lights turned down, we began the class by simply closing our eyes and paying attention to our breathing for five minutes, a relatively common relaxation technique. It seemed easy enough, but every now and then my mind would wander and I would forget what I was doing. After a lengthy five minutes, we headed into the focus of the session, which was a “body scan” that lasted
about 30 minutes. We laid down on our backs, and our instructor asked us to concentrate on each body part, one at a time. No body part was too insignificant. After “scanning” each part, we were asked to imagine the body part dissolving. We worked through each body part, until I felt the tingly numbness that comes from such an acute awareness of one’s body. Throughout the session, the emphasis on mindfulness came in the form of acknowledging our emotions, accepting how we felt, and suspending all judgments. I would say the session was more therapeutic than relaxing, simply because we were continuously encouraged to remain in the present. Did I achieve inner peace? Not quite. Since it was my first time, it was hard to keep my mind clear the entire session and not fall asleep. Mindfulness meditation is not a one-time, fixall strategy for stress relief. The more you do it, the more you’ll achieve in each session, and the easier it becomes. I didn’t find the session quite as helpful as a high-intensity workout is for stress relief—but everyone has a unique way to manage stress, and meditation is just one method. Regardless, I did walk out of the class with a huge smile and the feeling like nothing could touch me. There are a host of apps on the market that attempt to teach this technique. UTM’s own psychology professor, Norman Farb, consulted on Toronto-based Mobio Interactive’s meditation app Wildflowers Mind-
fulness, which allows users to follow guided meditations and monitor their state of relaxation by comparing their thumb print or face colour before and after meditating. Other apps include the highly-acclaimed Headspace, which provides 10-minute beginner meditation sessions for different aspects of life. Several apps come in the form of videos or games combined with a relaxing soundtrack. The biggest difference I’ve noticed between meditation apps and attending an in-person mindfulness and meditation class is the level of commitment I give to the exercise. In a room meant for meditating with an instructor guiding me, it’s easier to remain focused, since there isn’t any potential for distractions or intrusions. Classes might help prevent beginner meditators from simply giving up when things get a little boring. I also enjoyed the fact that when I went to the meditation class, I left my phone behind. For me, a phone is a sign of stress, and it’s wonderful to set aside time to be away from it. In a promotional post on the Headspace website, clinical sport psychologist Kristin Keim notes that stress reduction, improved sleep patterns and recovery times, enhanced endurance, and an improved sense of identity are four reasons athletes should be willing to give meditation a chance. She adds, “The practice can help athletes through injury, as well as overcome challenges such as the transition back into sport or out of sport.”