THE MEDIUM
October 21, 2019
The Voice of The University of Toronto Mississauga | themedium.ca
Vol 46, No. 6
Read all about the troubles with elevators in CCT
NEWS
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One writer reflects on the federal election thus far
COMMENT
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Exhibit Review: It All Makes Sense: IdentityinaModern World
ARTS
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Chartwells
Did you know that stressingaboutpolitics can make you sick?
SPORTS
food service workers vote in favour of job action
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Meet Schulich LeaderAidanBritnell
FEATURES
The union that represents food service workers on campus is currently negotiating an agreement
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MELISSA BARRIENTOS NEWS EDITOR Food service workers at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus voted overwhelmingly in favor of job action on April 18. Unifor Local 414, the union that represents them, is currently negotiating with Compass Group, the organization that owns Chartwells, the food service provider for all food service locations at UTM, excluding the UTMSU’s Blind Duck in the Students’ Centre. Chartwells provides food, catering, and conference services for all students, faculty, and staff at UTM. Compass Group Canada is a national organization that provides food and support services to sectors in education, health care, business, and entertainment, among others. During the last union meeting on April 18, the majority of Compass Group workers voted in favor of job action, citing dissatisfaction with their current wages, working conditions, and the collective agreement between Compass and Unifor. Local 414, a branch of Unifor— Canada’s largest private sector union with over 315,000 members
across the country—represents approximately 150 Compass food service workers at UTM. “The Local 414 members who work at UTM for Compass are hardworking and dedicated, and they deserve to be paid appropriately for the work they do,” National Representative of Unifor Liz Marzari told The Medium. “At this time, the majority of those members are paid just $14 [per] hour,” continued Marzari. “Wages and working conditions have been a priority during this round of negotiations.” The strike mandate states that if the next round of negotiations fail, Unifor can take future job action, including a strike or lockout. No job action can legally proceed until 17 days after the conciliation officer—a neutral third party who attempts to reconcile the parties involved into a mutually agreed upon collective agreement—issues a “no board report,” a government notice stating that the parties involved are unable to settle a collective bargaining dispute. In response to the Compass workers’ overwhelming vote in favor of job action, UTM Hospitality & Re-
tail Services Director Vicky Jezierski told The Medium the university could not comment on the ongoing negotiations. “We can’t really ask about the strike plan if no one tells us that there is a strike possibility and we haven’t been told,” said Jezierski. “I’ve heard from senior management from Chartwells that they are in active negotiations with their union and nothing since.” Jezierski stated she is aware that the contract between Compass and Unifor has expired and they are currently under collective bargaining, but as a third-party, UTM has no knowledge or involvement in the negotiations. “It’s a third-party company. They have their own contract. They have their own union representation and their employees have their representatives just like anyone in the university,” said Jezierski. “In terms of Chartwells negotiations,” continued Jezierski, “most negotiations for any kind of union or collective agreements are always confidential so we wouldn’t be able to know until the contract is public and signed. Until then, we probably know less than the employees.
At least the employees would have feedback from their unions where we don’t have anything about that.” In August 2014, on the tail-end of Compass’ food service contract with UTM, the university consulted with Kaizen Foodservice Planning & Design to analyze the feasibility of a self-operation in which UTM would operate its own food services on campus like the St. George campus. The case study on the feasibility of a self-operation of UTM food services ended with a recommendation that a contract management approach be maintained. “The consultants that came back to us said we shouldn’t be going selfop because we don’t have enough volume and we wouldn’t be able to sustain the program that way,” said Jezierski. The current five-year contract between UTM and Compass expires on May 31, 2020. The university can also extend the contract for three additional one-year terms. “We were hoping not to extend the contract and just finish it at year five and then go for public tender,” said Jezierski. “Because we had a huge delay with the construction
and we need full assessment of the business to go to the market, we are reviewing all our options right now.” The procurement process for a food service provider is required for any contract over $100 thousand dollars and would be open to any food service providers who would like to participate. After the procurement process in 2014 following the expired contract between UTM and Compass, Compass was re-elected as the food service provider for UTM. “[Unifor Local 414] will continue to bargain in good faith with the employer [Compass Group] to try and reach a collective agreement,” said Marzari. “In the event that we are unable to reach an agreement, a decision will be made on what action to take up […] including [a] strike.” Negotiations between Compass and Unifor will continue on November 13, 2019. Strategies surrounding job action will be decided in the upcoming weeks. This story is developing. More to come.
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Editor | Melissa Barrientos
The trouble with the CCT elevators Students, faculty and staff troubled by the CCT elevators speak out about entrapments and waiting times MELISSA BARRIENTOS NEWS EDITOR The Communications, Culture, & Technology (CCT) elevators continue to be in maintenance in the midst of a slew of campus renovations. Ahmed Azhari, Director of Facilities Management & Planning (FM&P), said that the delay in maintenance of the CCT elevators is due to the GRT controllers—the system used to control the elevators—the button control panel, and the long wait time for unit parts. “The CCT cars are very problematic because we are working with vintage controllers and the lead time on spare parts is lengthy,” said Azhari. “As a result, when there is a part failure, we have to wait an extended period of time to successfully resource the part and make it available for the repair.” One CCT car has been retrofitted with a new button control panel after reports of vandalism. According to Azhari, when students, faculty, and staff ride the CCT cars and repeatedly push the buttons, the button control panel receives damage, increasing the probability of an elevator breakdown. UTM currently has a contract with the OTIS Elevator Company who attend to the maintenance and performance of the campus elevators. Regarding reports of elevator breakdowns and entrapments, only a certified elevator mechanic from OTIS is able to free people who are trapped. In cases of a medical emergency, the fire department is permitted to assist the situation first for health and safety concerns. The industry standard of a certified elevator mechanic attending an entrapment is between 45 to 60 minutes. “However,” said Azhari, “[the time of a certified elevator mechanic’s arrival] is very dependent on where the mechanic is coming from and the time of day. It depends on traffic, and traffic is dependent on the weather too.” The Medium spoke to ICCIT professor Brett Caraway about his experience being trapped in the CCT elevators on two different occasions. On September 22, 2014, Caraway was trapped inside CCT elevator 2 with two other students. After an hour and a half, Caraway and the students were freed by an elevator technician. “It just came to a stop,” Caraway said, “The elevator technician was able to pry the doors open and we
JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM
The CCT elevator has broken down multiple times, trapping people inside, and the people who use it daily are fed up. were able to exit onto the second floor by kind of hopping down.” On July 19, 2015, Caraway was trapped once more, this time inside CCT elevator one. Caraway was alone on this occasion and was freed two and a half hours later. “When that [elevator] failed it actually dropped me down some distance,” said Caraway. “I’m not sure how far I fell. I wasn’t expecting it when it happened. It dropped some distance—enough to really frighten me. I guess something caught, either the breaks or the cables.” “When it came to a stop the alarm started going off inside the elevator. There was no way to turn the alarm off. It was a very loud alarm,” continued Caraway. “[It was] kind of a torturous event. Two and a half hours in a small confined space with
that siren going off at a very loud volume.” In a 2016 interview with The Medium, Paul Goldsmith, then Director of FM&P, explained that the mechanical issues the CCT elevators sustain are due to the circuit board and the controllers. Goldsmith stated that if the same pieces of equipment needed to be repaired, the whole unit will be assessed for a complete replacement. Due to budget restraints and the complexity of undertaking a complete retrofitting of the CCT elevators’ controllers, FM&P will not go forward with the initial unit replacement plan. Instead, FM&P is undergoing several projects to help expediate the wait time for the CCT elevators that are within budget.
“To do a full modernization at the moment is not a viable option because it is very costly, but we are doing our best to minimize the downtime,” said Azhari. “We invested a lot of money—that button panel was an expensive upgrade—and we are planning to invest more with the budget and resources we have.” Some of the projects currently underway include working with OTIS to recognize which unit parts will soon need to be replaced, and prepurchasing them to have them readily available on campus. FM&P is also reaching out to elevator consultants to do a full condition and performance assessment on the elevators on campus. A retrofitting of the button control panel on the other CCT elevator is also under consideration.
In the last three months FM&P reports that two service calls were made for CCT elevator 1, and two calls for CCT elevator 2. “Some were related to the controller and some were related to door upgrades or door equipment issues, [which] are primarily related to the buttons,” said Azhari. A complete modernization project is currently underway for elevators 6 and 7 in the William G. Davis building. “We’re planning to do more full modernization projects in the next five years on campus,” said Azhari. “This is going to be an ongoing maintenance project. But we’re investing a lot of money, effort, and resources to help minimize the downtime of the elevators.”
MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Ali Taha editor@themedium.ca Managing Editor Paula Cho managing@themedium.ca News Melissa Barrientos news@themedium.ca Satire Gordon Cork satire@themedium.ca A&E Vinney Wong arts@themedium.ca Features Fatima Adil features@themedium.ca Sports Sarah-May Edwardo-Oldfield sports@themedium.ca Photo Julia Healy photos@themedium.ca Design Tegwen McKenzie design@themedium.ca Illustrations Tala Alkhaldi illustrations@themedium.ca Copy Jessica Cabral copy@themedium.ca Online Yasmeen Alkoka online@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Harris Watkins Saleha Faruque Kayvan Aflaki Satire Erin Delaney A&E Shalomi Ranasinghe Features Latisha Lobban Bismah Rizvi Sports Noor Bhatia Photo Hayden Mak Kellsy Ann Meneses Online Ashley Vanderkoen GENERAL STAFF Webmaster William Pau web@themedium.ca Distribution Manager Mduduzi Mhlanga distribution@themedium.ca Ads Manager Amina Safdar ads@themedium.ca COPYRIGHTS All content printed in The Medium is the sole property of its creators, and cannot be used without written consent. DISCLAMER Opinions expressed in the pages of The Medium are exclusively of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Medium. Additionally, the opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in The Medium are those of advertisers and not of The Medium. All articles published in print are also posted on our website themedium.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor will be edited for spelling, grammar, style and coherence. Letters will not exceed 700 words in print. Letters that incite hatred or violence and letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist, or libelous will not be published. Anonymous letters will not be published. MEDIUM II PUBLICATIONS 3359 Mississauaga Road, Room 200, Student Centre, Mississauaga, ON, L5L 1C6
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MiWay bus fares might increase The City of Mississauga considers raising the MiWay fare during a budget meeting SALEHA FARUQUE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR MiWay bus fares are expected to increase in January 2020 to accommodate the City of Mississauga’s plans for expansion. The fare increase was suggested by MiWay during the City of Mississauga’s Budget Committee meeting on October 2. The proposal suggested the fare change will offset the costs from MiWay’s earlier switch this year from paper ticket sales to PRESTO, and to continue transit service improvements. The proposed fare increase is expected to bring in $500,000 of new revenue to MiWay. If enacted, the MiWay fare change could affect adult and youth (age 13 to 19) cash fares, reflecting a 6.7 per cent fare hike. This means that regular cash fares would increase from $3.75 to $4 for students, adults, and seniors (an increase of $0.25 per trip). The cost for UTM’s 8-month UPass may also increase from $229 to $245.03 per year, a seven per cent increase. Likewise, the campus Summer U-Pass fare would also see a rise from $138.49 to $146.80 per year, a six per cent increase. Under the 2020 MiWay Fare Strategy, the suggested fare changes hope to encourage passengers to move from using cash fares to PRESTO passes. PRESTO pass fares will remain the same since their May 2019 increase to $3.10. “Transit ridership growth depends
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Student fares could increase to $4 for MiWay in January, and the U-Pass may be affected as well. significantly on attracting new, choice riders to the system,” said Geoff Wright, Commissioner of Transportation and Works, in a report to the Budget Committee. “To do so, continued investment in transit is needed to expand service levels and frequency, introduce transit priority initiatives, operate and maintain rapid transit services, encourage PRESTO fare card uptake, and educate the community about the value and benefits of MiWay for Mississauga.” A number of additional changes proposed by the city aim to offset the cost of delivering certain public services. For example, the Budget Committee has recommended new fees
and charges related to 2020 Fire and Emergency Services, Library Services, culture programs, transportation, Works, Parks, Forestry and the Environment. According to the 2019–2022 City Business Plan, MiWay passenger boarding was forecasted to “exceed 56 million in 2019.” This year, MiWay has added 31,000 service hours “to expand service and to address congestion issues arising from ongoing construction projects.” As a result of new transit riders, service growth, and enhancements, the expected revenue growth in 2020 is $2.5 million. This is in addition to the $500,000 new revenue as a result of the proposed fare increase.
At least 73 per cent of MiWay trips use a PRESTO card, collecting 77 per cent of current fare revenue. Miway plans to have 80 per cent of commuters use PRESTO by 2020. The city plans to achieve this by implementing the recommended changes, and fully eliminating the need for paper tickets by the end of 2020. If accepted, MiWay’s recommended fare change will be effective January 6, 2020. Open to the public, the City of Mississauga’s next Budget Committee meeting will take place November 18, 2019.
U of T acts on climate crisis with five year plan The U of T Low-Carbon Action Plan aims to reduce GHG emissions by 37 per cent by 2030 SALEHA FARUQUE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The University of Toronto released its new Low-Carbon Action Plan last month. Unveiled September 2019, the ambitious plan outlines a framework to diminish greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37 per cent by the year 2030, a goal below 1990 baseline levels. “To meet our goal, we will implement strategies that make our existing spaces more efficient [and] seek out innovative solutions to remove carbon from our three campuses,” said President Meric Gertler in a statement in the Low-Carbon Action Plan report. The five-year Action Plan (20192024) details tri-campus low-carbon implementation strategies and projects. According to the plan, meeting the 2030 target will involve “optimizing how we produce, distribute, and consume electricity and natural gas.” The combined efforts will impact “substantial energy and greenhouse gas reductions while improving comfort.” In a statement to U of T News,
Gertler described the challenges of “operating one of the world’s largest research-intensive universities in an urban setting while reducing energy consumption and fostering sustainability.” He believes that U of T is “uniquely well-equipped to tackle the challenge of climate change, precisely because of the size and breadth of our research footprint and institutional partnerships.” Propelling U of T on the low-carbon path are strategic initiatives with high-impact results. For example, geo-exchange systems on all three campuses will utilize the earth’s heating and cooling properties to regulate building temperature, thus reducing 16,465 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year. Similarly, the Greenhouse Gas Campus Retrofit Program (GGRP) represents more than 8,600 tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emission reduction. The 2018-2019 GGRP is a series of projects that include rooftop solar systems and ground source heat pumps. The program was made possible through combined support from
both the provincial government and U of T investments. Other focus areas include designing New Building Standards for GHG avoidance and Building Optimization using existing building energy performance. Along with Lighting Retrofits, carbon captured by campus trees, distribution improvements, and solar reliance, total planned reductions by 2024 are estimated at 44,567 tonnes of equivalent CO2 emissions. These low-carbon initiatives fall inline with U of T’s commitment to the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3). Comprising a group of leading research institutions from Canada, the United States, and Mexico, UC3 members “help local communities achieve their climate goals and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future.” U of T has joined these universities in reducing overall emissions by changing the way energy will be produced and distributed. Last week from October 16 to 18, UTM held the Sustainability: Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice and Action (STTPA) conference.
The event brought together diverse academic professionals and students, Aboriginal leaders and scholars, business executives, civil society groups, policy makers, and sustainability professionals to explore innovative forms of theory, practice, and action towards sustainable pathways. Organized by the UTM Sustainability office, students can also attend the Repair Café event on October 21 at 12:00 p.m. in the Davis Building Faculty Club room. Students are encouraged to bring broken items like small appliances, household items, and clothing for expert volunteers to fix. Free to attend, the Repair Café “helps to keep useful items out of landfills and change society’s throwaway mindset.” Gertler said U of T’s Low-Carbon Action Plan “will accelerate our efforts as we work towards our 2030 target, an important stepping stone towards realizing our vision of achieving a net-zero GHG footprint.” The Action plan will bring U of T 80 per cent closer to achieving this goal.
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THE MEDIUM 10.21.2019
New provincial funding metrics for universities
HUMANS OF UTM
Provincial funding to post-secondary institutions will change in 2020 DILJOT BADESHA CONTRIBUTOR Provincial funding to universities and colleges will change for the upcoming academic year, and UTM is gearing up to face these changes. This past July, at the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) meeting in Victoria, BC, Parliamentary Assistant for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities David Piccini commented on the new provincial funding plan for universities and colleges. “Underpinning our work in Ontario is a resolute belief that we can and must do a better job to ensure that post-secondary education is getting positive outcomes for Ontario’s students and our economy,” said Piccini. Starting in the 2020-2021 academic year, the provincial government will be tying university and college funding to performance-based metrics. This means that the amount of funding provided to post-secondary institutions will depend on the academic performances of their students. These changes will be part of the Strategic Mandate Agreements (SMA) which were first introduced in the province ten years ago and are renewed every five years. Previous agreements, SMA1 and SMA2, focused mainly on student enrolment numbers as post-secondary institutions received funding for each stu-
dent. Thus, universities and colleges with a larger number of enrolled students would receive greater funding than post-secondary institutions with smaller enrolment numbers. Currently, SMA3 is under negotiation and is expected to take effect in the 2020-2021 academic year. SMA3 will last from 2020 to 2025. Unlike the previous SMAs, the new Strategic Mandate Agreement will emphasize the outcome and performance of universities and colleges, rather than solely focusing on their enrolment numbers. Performance metrics like the graduation rate, employment rate, skills and competencies, experiential learning, and community impact will be used to determine the outcomes and performances of universities and colleges. The potential financial outcome of the performance-based funding is still unknown and UTM is currently reviewing their budget model. The financial impact of the new funding plan is anticipated to be minimal. A statement released by the University of Toronto explained the process of the new funding framework and its effect on the university budget. “The proportion of funding tied to these [performance] measures will rise beginning with 25 per cent in 2020-2021, reaching 60 per cent in 2024-2025. It’s also important to note
that even at 60 per cent, the amount of our total budget linked to these performance measures will be about 13 per cent.” “That’s because most of our budget comes from tuition and fees, and a smaller proportion comes from other revenue sources,” continued the statement. Post-secondary institutions will have the flexibility to weigh the ten metrics laid out in the performancebased funding model, which will ultimately be used to determine the outcome performance of their students. UTM will focus on priorities such as research, graduation rate, and experiential learning, and weigh the metrics correspondingly. During the October 2 Campus Council meeting Ian Orchard, Acting Vice President & Principal of UTM, said he believes the provincial funding change will produce positive effects for students’ academic experience at UTM in the future. “I think in the long run, this will mean more accountability of universities, for the overall student experience, and it is something that we will pay a lot of attention to.” UTM is currently communicating with the provincial government to determine the new performance-based metrics and how they will be measured between the other 45 publicly assisted post-secondary institutions.
New speed limits on key roads near UTM Key roads near UTM have a reduced speed limit of 40 km/h SALEHA FARUQUE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The Mississauga City Council passed a by-law last Wednesday to decrease the speed limit in 11 select Mississauga neighbourhoods to 40 km/h. The neighbourhoods across all wards (1 through 11) have seen their speed limits drop from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. The roads affecting the UTM community in Ward 8 include Unity Drive, Winston Churchill Boulevard, Burnhamthorpe Road West, and Ridgeway Drive. The proposition for new speed limits on Mississauga neighbourhoods was presented to the City of Mississauga’s General Committee on October 2. The Department of Transportation and Works consulted with local Ward Councilors to determine “roadways within each neighbourhood that are eligible for a 40 km/h speed,” according to the report Geoff Wright, Commissioner of Transportation and Works, submitted to the General Committee. According to the report, the 40
km/h speed limit will mostly apply to “single lane and minor collector roadways” on “eligible roadways.” However, “traditional speed limits” will be maintained “on major roadways.” The newly reduced speed limit is part of Mississauga’s commitment to Vision Zero, an “international movement toward the highest standard in road safety,” Mayor Bonnie Crombie wrote in the Mississauga Transportation Master Plan (TMP). The Transportation Master Plan seeks to implement a speed management program which includes “location-specific and Mississauga-wide actions,” addressing “both the likelihood of collisions and the severity of their effects.” To achieve this, the plan will advance Vision Zero though six goals with over 90 action items. This framework aims to guide the city’s transportation system through the year 2041. Peel Police 2018 crime statistics indicate that 36 fatal collisions and 41 deaths occurred in Mississauga. Out of 41 deaths, pedestrian deaths ranked highest at 18, followed by ten deaths for drivers and passengers, two
for cyclists, and one for motorcyclists. Andy Harvey, Director of Engineering and Construction, told Mississauga News the city’s Vision Zero aims to “make neighbourhoods a little bit safer.” He advised one method to achieve this is “by reducing vehicle speeds.” In a statement, Crombie pledged that Vision Zero would “promote active transportation by making it safer for our families to walk, ride, play, and commute.” “It’s another tool we can use to address speeding in our neighbourhoods and help keep pedestrians and cyclists safe.” Vision Zero is the road safety philosophy that was introduced in Sweden in 1994. The plan advances the Mississauga Strategic Plan, which further supports the city’s strategic pillars of Move, Belong, Connect, Prosper, and Green. New signage with the newly approved speed limits will start going up at neighbourhood entrances and exits this month. Once the signs are up, the new speed limits are enforceable.
My path has always surprised me. Today, I cannot think of a better place to be than being in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program at UTM with amazing classmates that I call family. I am pursuing something I am truly passionate about and channeling my love for self and others. I want to do good for this world. I want to share this love with all beings in this world. I am in the journey of trying to learn how to use art, music, poetry and performance as tools to spread the word of environmental awareness and human wellbeing. I want to be one with nature and live a life with independency and no regrets. I feel that right now I am in the right place at the right time with the right people. My future is bright and I am looking forward to it.”
October 3, 2019. Theft. A student’s belongings were stolen from an unlocked locker outside a lab in the Davis building. October 9, 2019. Fraud. A student reported that she received an email from another U of T email account in regards to a job. She was asked to send her resume to a gmail account. The individual then instructed her to send donations to an orphanage in order to qualify for the job. The student sent money but felt something was off. October 16, 2019. Trespass to Property Act. RAWC staff contacted Campus Police for a non-community member entering the gym facilities using a student’s t-card. The non-community member was issued a Provincial Offence Notice and banned from UTM for 1 year. The student was advised they cannot enter the gym until they speak with the RAWC manager.
October 8, 2019. Police Assisstance. Campus Police attended the Davis building for a student experiencing medical distress. The student was transported to the hospital via ambulance. October 10, 2019. Theft. A student put their belongings in a locker outside their lab. They had forgotten their lock for that day and upon returning to the locker, their belongings, including their laptop, were gone. They also found that their bank cards had been used for purchases. October 12, 2019. Noise Complaint. Campus Police were called to assist in shutting down a large gathering in one of the residences.
These reports are those that have been released to The Medium from Campus Police and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list. Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905-453-3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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UTM talks climate action at STTPA summit UTM held a sustainability conference where different disciplines explore climate change actions ISIK VERA SENEL CONTRIBUTOR The UTM campus presented an academic approach to climate change last week with the Sustainability: Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice, and Action (STTPA) conference. From October 16 to 18, participants attended three full days of keynote speeches, panel sessions, training workshops, poster presentations, and a tour of the UTM campus. Organized through the collaborative efforts of U of T professors, directors, and students, the inaugural conference brought together scholars, professionals, policymakers, stakeholders, business executives, Aboriginal leaders, non-governmental organizations, and advocates of sustainability. The dominant conviction of the conference was that sustainability can only be achieved through the continuous practice of encouraging constructive relationships between technological, natural, and social structures, whilst preserving the ecosystem and the prosperity of future generations. Organizers and participants gathered with the shared understanding that this can solely be accomplished through the cooperation of all disciplines and specializations, which the STTPA conference brought together this past weekend. The conference featured eight keynote speakers, their ages ranging from eight to 83, and 320 presenters. The keynote speakers on the third day of the conference were sociology professor Scott Frickel and the President of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council John Cartwright. “Sustainable societies of the future
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The STTPA Summit took place over Reading Week and showcased our campus innovations. require sustainable cities,” stated Scott Frickel in his speech about exposing discreet hazards in urban cities. Frickel also drew attention to “the importance of history for thinking about the present and the future.” John Cartwright, in addition to his many professional accomplishments, has led many social, climate, and economic justice campaigns. “I don’t have to tell you that the crisis is real. Canada is warming at twice the global rate and the evidence of that change, whether there are fires, floods, heatwaves, or droughts, is getting harder to deny,” said Cartwright. In his speech, he highlighted the significance and role of community, investment, and workers in the path towards sustainability and climate
justice. Ellen Berrey, a professor of sociology at UTM, chaired a panel focused on far-right attitudes towards environmentalism and how their policies impact sustainability. The first presentation featured a study she had worked on with five undergraduate students in which they discussed the right-wing populist movements and the impacts of conspiracy theories on environmentalism. Berrey and the students gave the example of the anti-agenda 21 movement, which was “short-lived but in its own way, surprisingly impactful.” Their presentation focused on their study of the sociology of social movements and how people make meaning
of the politics of sustainability. “Conservative culture and the political ideology of white rural America deeply informs this movement,” said Kristen Bass, one of the undergraduate presenters. “They come to understand local sustainability plans as threatening their values and ways of life.” Alexandra Rahr, the Bissell-Heyd Lecturer in American Studies at the Munk School’s Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS), was a panel chair for one of the concurrent sessions. “Sustainability strategies are largely led by scientists, by social scientists, by practitioners, and by policy experts. But the role of humanities thinking in sustainability is much less
clear” said Rhar on her speech focusing on the role Humanities play in sustainability. “Sustainability, as we know, requires a mass social and cultural shift, so it’s worth investigating other social movements. Social movements that have succeeded, and social movements that have failed,” said Rahr. She also discussed the aspect of urgency that is present in sustainability discourse and quoted Jonathan Edwards, a puritan era preacher, stating, “The breath of hell itself is upon us.” “The conference went much better than we thought it would be,” Shashi Kant, Director of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management Program and the Chair of the STTPA Conference Organizing Committee, told The Medium. “We did not advertise anywhere other than on our website,” said Kant. “So we know that people are looking for sustainability.” When asked about his feelings about the future of sustainability, especially after the STTPA Conference, Kant expressed his optimism on the topic, particularly due to the diverse nationalities of the participants, stating “we have people from more than 25 countries present.” The STTPA Conference brought together multiple generations, disciplines, and occupations in the path towards a better and more sustainable future. “No academic discipline, corporation, country, First Nation, government, or organization can achieve sustainability alone,” said Kant. “We all have a role to play in the path towards sustainability.”
Peel Region Council officially denounces Bill 21 Peel Region approved a motion to oppose Quebec’s Bill 21 that bans religious symbols for public employees SALEHA FARUQUE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Peel Regional Council approved a motion on October 10 to oppose Quebec’s contentious Bill 21, which bans public workers from wearing religious symbols. The law is widely being criticized for imposing restrictions on religious expression and excluding minorities from public service work. Brought forth by Brampton Councillor Gurpreet Singh Dhillon of Wards 9 and 10, the motion asked Peel Region to formally denounce Quebec’s ban on religious symbols for public sector employees. The motion passed unanimously, with Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie telling the Council that “Bill 21 is divisive and will perpetuate exclusion, discrimination, creating class divisions and increasing systematic barriers to employment.” In addition to condemning Bill 21, the motion encourages federal parties to challenge the bill if they form government. The motion further supports a recent proposal by the City of Calgary
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Peel Region has denounced Quebec’s controversial Bill 21, calling it unconstitutional. to work with the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination (CCMARD) in addressing the harms Bill 21 would bring to Canada through a nationwide initiative. Present before the council were its delegates, members from the World Sikh Organization (WSO), and National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM). Sharanjeet Kaur, Vice President of WSO in Ontario, explained in her Council address that was shared with The Medium how the passing of Bill 21 in June triggered intergeneration-
al trauma in her community. “When our community first heard of this bill, our parents and our grandparents started to recall the trauma of what they faced when they first arrived in Canada,” said Kaur. “How many of our fathers and brothers were told to cut their hair and remove their turbans to gain employment. How could we possibly be turning the clock back now?” Bill 21, an act respecting the secularity of the state, prohibits Quebec’s public sector employees from wearing religious symbols while on the job, such as the hijab, turban, and
the kippah. Introduced by the Quebec Minister of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Simon Jolin-Barrette, the bill mainly affects teachers, judges, police, and RCMP officers, including provincial and government-level judges and attorneys. “Choosing between faith and employment are not choices we should have ever had to make, but our parents made them in the 1970s and 80s. And we are being forced to make them again today, on the cusp [of] 2020,” said Kaur. Bill 21 has become a contentious
election issue, as party leaders have argued over whether they would commit to challenging the law in federal court. This year, the bill was unanimously opposed by City Councils in Calgary, Montreal, and Victoria. Similarly, the Peel Police Services Board passed a motion condemning Bill 21 in June. Calling the bill “unconstitutional,” Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson amended the Peel motion to forward the motion to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). “Bill 21 presents terrifying constructs that are not being challenged by our leaders, by our institutions, by our neighbours, or by our friends. This normalizes a sense of distrust for people who look different,” said Kaur in her address to the council. “This normalization then leads to the validation of intolerance. And from this we will only see the proliferation of hate. We are seeing it already. The question is when will we stand untied to stop it?”
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Ali Taha
Reflecting on the Canadian election Why young people should continue to demand for change, even after the federal election TOMASZ GLOD STAFF WRITER If you’re reading this, you better have voted in the federal election. But just as I should have done work over reading week, which I didn’t do, we should develop and grow from the insights we gain when we reflect on the past. What motivates us to act, and are our actions up to the moral and honest standard we would like them to be? Let us reflect. I am disappointed by the lack of revolutionary ideas and proposals that were present in this election. Canada continues to have a Senate that does not work, an ecosystem that is dying, Indigenous peoples that do not have access to clean drinking water, an electoral system that favours the big parties, and a head of state that doesn’t live here. The list goes on. It can be argued that these ideas can really be considered as ideals— propositions that are seen more as secondary objectives to the more important primary election plat-
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Even after the federal election declares a new Prime Minister, young people should continue to care. forms. Outlandish ideas are easily dismissed, especially if they are being advocated for by youth—inexperienced, utopian-seeking brats—a demographic that does not comprehend the complexities and realities of life. The thing is, young people live
real lives—incredibly complex ones. We are siblings, children, and even parents. The people who make up my generation have different experiences compared to those that came before, and by virtue different perspectives on life and politics. By being different, their perspectives on
what is important and their ideas on how to implement them is in itself revolutionary. Young people need to realize this and forge an outlet to vocalize their perspectives. The important thing to note is that they need to be heard. Taking that voice to the ballot box
is one of the most effective ways of ensuring this. Parties gear their platforms to voters. If the voters are not revolutionary, neither will the platforms be. But alas, the election is over (or soon to be), and depending on how government is formed, we may not see an opportunity to vote for a while. The ability to be revolutionary is not restricted to the ballot box however. Be revolutionary in your daily lives. As youth we should reflect on the past with regret for the things we were unable to accomplish, face the present with pragmatism and solve the challenges we face with reason, and be optimistic about a future that symbolizes change and challenges, both known and unknown, that we will face. Apply this perspective to your daily life, and it will become a part of our culture. The culture will fuel our politics and politics will affect our lives. The change starts with you.
The climate crisis and the federal election Will the Canadian federal election be a lose-lose situation for the climate crisis in 2019? HAFSA AHMED CONTRIBUTOR Canada’s Changing Climate Report states that Canada is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the globe. The Liberal, Green, NDP, and Conservative parties have all pledged to meet Canada’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below our 2005 emissions levels by the year 2030. However, based on their climate plans, almost every party falls short of meeting the 2030 emissions target with the exception of the Green party, who are almost certainly going to lose the election. Meeting this climate target is critical if Canada wants to avoid the catastrophic risks associated with global warming, as outlined in the United Nations’ IPCC Report. What is each party’s climate plan? The Liberal and Conservative parties have been leading in this election and are most likely to form government, but whether they gain a minority or majority is still up to debate. However, neither party has a solid
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A platform may win the election for a party, but will lose in the political game of climate change. climate action plan that will meet Canada’s emission targets. The Liberal party plans to implement policies like the carbon tax in order to reduce emissions, with a minimum carbon price of $20 per tonne this year, increasing $10 a year to $50 by 2022. They would also impose a carbon tax on businesses and individuals in provinces who have no federally approved carbon price plan. The Liberals intend to phase out coal power by
2030, and have pledged to reach netzero emissions by 2050. They want to end “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies and plant two billion trees over 10 years. However, this plan will not be enough to reach our emissions target for the year 2030. The Conservatives have committed to meeting the Paris agreement targets, but will fall even shorter in meeting the 2030 emissions target than the Liberals. The Conserva-
tive Party would cancel the carbon tax. Instead they proposed requiring heavy emitters to invest in clean technology or research, funded partly by polluters who fail to meet new standards. The Conservatives would like to sign agreements that earn Canada carbon credits for achieving emissions reductions internationally, and launch a green-tech patent tax credit for businesses. While they are against a federal carbon tax, the Conserva-
tive party would let provinces decide if they want to put a price on carbon. Their plan would miss Canada’s 2030 emissions target by a proportionate amount. The NDP party have a plan that would reach farther than Liberals and Conservatives, but still fall significantly short of meeting our emissions targets. The NDP says they would retrofit buildings and would create a “climate bank” to invest in renewable energy and clean technology. They want to continue with a carbon tax and the rebate program, but intend to crack down more on heavy emitters. They would also like those who produce the most emissions to “have the most burden,” as leader Jagmeet Singh has stated, and promise to make slight changes to the requirements for industrial emitters. Like the Liberal and Conservative party, however, the NDP would not reach our national emissions target.
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10.21.2019 THE MEDIUM COMMENT» 7
Using contractualism in a sorority How I applied Scanlon’s contractualism to navigate my way through the obligations of my sorority ANA SHEVCHENKO CONTRIBUTOR What do we owe to each other? This is a question that contractualist philosopher Thomas Scanlon answers in his book of the same title (1998). This question is also very mundane. Every day we face situations where people expect us to do things, be it professors, bosses, friends, or family. Scanlon argues that disregarding expectations, or being selfish, is okay as soon as the cause can be justified to others. In today’s reality, where people have more freedom and are often confused about their place or purpose in society, Scanlon’s theory works great at explaining the ethically correct way to handle expectations. In his book, Scanlon argues that humans instinctively seek relationships based on mutual respect, and therefore pursue their interests in a way that will be fair to people with their own interests. The way to achieve this, Scanlon argues, is by following the correct process of rejection: if I want to reject somebody’s expectations because they cause me discomfort, I first have to ask myself if my actions will cause greater discomfort to the people around me—primarily to the person whose expectations I plan to reject. If the answer is yes, my duty as a reasonable human being would be to meet those expectations and not reject them. Although Scanlon’s method seems rigorous on paper, it appears very reasonable and simple once put into
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Sorority sister discusses what we truly owe each other in a society of expectations and obligations. practice. In January 2019, I joined a sorority where I was expected to invest time and money into the organization, and to behave in a certain way. While the members of the sorority made the money commitment very clear to me from the beginning, they were vague about the amount of time I would have to put in, and most importantly they omitted the social pressure that awaited me once inside the organization. However, due
to personal circumstances, I figured that leaving the sorority right away wouldn’t be wise, so I stuck around. What an awkward situation, one might say. Was what they asked of me fair? It took me time to realize that for the most part, it was not. Did this mean that I could just leave my responsibilities behind and stop fulfilling the sorority’s expectations? This part was tricky. My first reaction was to rebel after
my sorority sisters began to pressure me with demands, but this made me feel guilty. I had made a commitment, and these people expected me to plan events, show up for meetings, and spend about seven hours per week helping the organization. Although this was a more than I expected, I did choose to be a part of the sisterhood, so I asked myself what would be the consequences if I stopped showing up. Would it be fair to the sisters that
would have to pick up the slack and stay extra time? We all were students, we all had work, and it wasn’t fair to them. Now, one of the main reasons why I left the sorority was that the demands of the sisters went beyond time commitment. I was expected to not be myself inside and outside the sorority house. I felt pressured to maintain an image with a conservative disposition—I was not allowed to vape, smoke, or drink. These rules weren’t official, but there was an expectation, a pressure, and these were only a few of the things that I was looked down upon for doing. So I asked myself again, if it would be justifiable for me to disregard these expectations. If I was to be myself and exercise my free will, would this in any way harm any individual sorority sister? If I smoked, or drank, or vaped, would any of the women in the organization suffer from lung cancer or a diseased liver? The answer was no, so I stood strong. My own example from the sorority, which I find appropriate to not name, has illustrated that Scanlon’s theory provides a mature method to address the question, what do we owe to each other? After familiarizing myself with contractualism, I personally found that being ethical doesn’t always mean demanding justice. To be ethical, a person should try to be fair to others, and to empathize with others, even if those others don’t always reciprocate.
A revolution defined by blood and anger The violent revolution that has broken out in Iraq must end, and the government must restore order MAY ALSAIGH CONTRIBUTOR Earlier this month, the country of Iraq broke out into a violent revolution. Protests erupted in Baghdad, the country’s capital city, and a number of other areas as well. Citizens were angered when Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, a popular Iraqi general who led the fight against ISIS, was fired. Although there have been similar protests by the Iraqi population in previous years, the protests this year are much more decentralized, and strongly reject the current political order. Lieutenant General al-Saadi has significantly contributed to fighting terrorism in Iraq and ridding the nation of the Islamic State. Last month, al-Saadi was abruptly removed from his position in the Iraqi Army and transferred to an administrative role in the Ministry of Defense. Since he was one of the few men in a position of power who diligently fought against corruption, the country was outraged.
Iraqi protestors, who largely represent the youth, responded by publicly expressing their disapproval in the streets and across social media. Though internet providers have intermittently blocked popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp, this did not stop protestors from airing footage of the violent campaigns occurring across the country. In addition to protesting the removal of al-Saadi, Iraqis are demanding solutions to the high youth unemployment rates, religious discrimination, crumbling public service infrastructure, and government corruption. According to the International Labour Organization, the estimated youth unemployment rate in Iraq was 16.56 per cent in 2018. Iraqi youth are also directing their anger and resentment towards Tehran, the capital of neighbouring Iran. They hold Iran equally accountable for bringing misery to their country as they believe Iran is responsible for bringing conflict into Iraq and exerting its power at the expense of the
public’s interest. Iraqis believe the government’s decision to fire al-Saadi is the result of the power struggle between Tehran and Washington. They believe the political involvement of these two sovereign states is the reason behind conflict in Iraq. Two days after the nationwide antigovernment protests turned violent, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi declared a curfew in Baghdad. Abdul Mahdi forbid all vehicles and individuals from entering Baghdad. The curfew exempts those travelling to and from the capital’s airport, ambulances, and religious pilgrims. Despite the curfew, hundreds of protestors have gathered in the streets to air out their anger and march for their beliefs. In response, security forces have violently retaliated with live fire and tear gas which has only made matters exceedingly worse. Their actions are the primary reason why the protests have turned into riots. The use of live fire against unarmed protestors has resulted in dozens of fatalities and hundreds of inju-
ries in the span of five days. One protestor told Reuters that “despite the curfew we are going out to protest, to demand our rights. We want to change the regime. They have arrested our people. They have done things to our people they did not do to Daesh [ISIS]. They have beaten them up and humiliated them while firing live gunfire. What did we do? Are we suicide bombers?” What distinguishes this outbreak from outbreaks in previous years is an unprecedented level of anger and violence. According to Al Jazeera News, this year’s revolution is “an explosion of raw anger rather than a focused protest with specific demands. Overhaul, rather than reform, is what those on the streets are pushing for.” In terms of what the Iraqi government is saying regarding the revolution, the Iraqi Prime Minister has expressed deep regret for the violence occurring in Iraq. He wrote on Facebook, “It saddens me and breaks our hearts [to see] the injuries among the protestors, our sons, and the security forces and the destruction and looting
of public and private properties. We stress to the people of our nation that our priorities were, and will remain focused on providing radical, realistic solutions to many of the decades-long accumulated problems.” Ultimately, Iraqi citizens are enraged with how the government is poorly and inconsiderately treating their nation. They are angrily and rightfully demanding change in the system as they wish for better lives for not only themselves, but also their children—the future of Iraq. Mass and violent protests have taken place all across the world this year, yet Iraq stands out as the deadliest one yet. There is no justification for the use of live fire against unarmed protestors who are simply imploring their government to improve the deplorable living standards. The Iraqi government should immediately put an end to the ongoing murder of innocent lives and instead establish a way to bring back long awaited justice to its nation.
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Editor | Gordon Cork
SATIRE
Chemical imbalance unphased by self-initiative
ALEX KONDRATIEV/UNSPLASH.COM
Exercise and dieting can help you be less depressed and suicidal, if you think they can.
ERIN DELANEY ASSOCIATE SATIRE EDITOR Fourth-year student Sabrina Collins was struggling with her worsening mental health until she stumbled on “The Case for Personal Responsibility,” an op-ed published in The Medium that calls for unwell students to just deal with their mental health problems. That’s when Collins decided to take her chemical imbalances into her own hands. “Just not being mentally ill never crossed my mind,” Collins said on a Facebook post published over the weekend. “My chemical imbalance and trauma make it almost impossible to leave my bed most mornings,” the student explained of her new mindset, “but today I was able to muster enough self-initiative to make it all the way to my kitchen before I started violently sobbing and had to lie down on the
floor for an hour. I called the HCC for a same day appointment, because my depression was worsening, but they said they didn’t have any appointments for a few days, so I have to wait until then to be suicidal.” When she finally met with a counsellor, she was delighted to discover a self-help group for self-compassion, only to be disappointed that it would be cancelled due to low attendance. Not left completely empty-handed, Collins was given the number for the Kids Help Phone. Students at the University of Toronto frequently note their academics as a point of stress and something that makes it difficult for them to cope with mental illness. Still, Collins recognized the importance of self-care. “I decided to give myself a self-care day yesterday, and I only fell behind on three assignments and missed two tests,” said Collins. When it came to the sound nutri-
tional advice espoused in “The Case for Personal Responsibility,” Collins faced some trouble. “My eating disorder makes everything taste like mush and makes me hate myself for eating at all. I thought about making a homecooked meal, but I couldn’t read the cookbook through all the tears in my eyes. Instead I went to the Davis food court to get a stir fry. I was able to take three bites, but I think I’m starting to feel less depressed!” When asked how she was planning on incorporating fitness into her mental health recovery, Collins explained, “I’m going to run seven miles to punish myself for eating, but at least exercise is good for my depression, right?” Now a perfect vision of sound body and mind, Collins is able to reflect on all the progress she has made. “I may feel ten times worse than I did when I woke up this morning, but it’s all about the effort, right? Right? Please tell me I’m right.”
Hong Kong protesters don’t
protest in Hong Kong GORDON CORK SATIRE EDITOR In this past Friday’s pre-season NBA game featuring the Raptors versus the Brooklyn Nets, dozens of protesters were seen wearing “Stand With Hong-Kong” shirts and waving signs reading “Human Rights Matter Here + There.” The protests were a result of tweets and comments made by NBA players Lebron James and James Harden. In a tweet that sparked the outrage, Harden tweeted “We love China.” Producer Andrew Duncan, known for pro-democracy films such as 1977’s Slapshot, reportedly bought 300 tickets for Hong-Kong supporters to protest in the stands. The Medium caught up with a father and his son who were coerced by Duncan to join him at the game. “Me
and my son were just going to head down to the pier to count shellfish but then Andrew Duncan came up to us and gave me tickets if I promised to support Hong-Kong,” said now-Pro Hong-Kong citizens extremist Bruce Halladeigh. “Hong-Kong is scary! We’d much rather protest from the bleachers!” When asked about his next steps in pro-democracy activism, Andrew Duncan told The Medium he would be buying tickets to see a Blue Jays game, picking between Olive Garden and Milestones, adopting a puppy, hosting charter fishing trips for families up to eight people, and getting his spook on at this year’s Halloween Haunt. “You know what all those places have in common? Less tear-gas and more air-conditioning.”
Conservatives outraged over suppression of free speech at UTM
UTM CAMPUS CONSERVATIVES/FACEBOOK
Joaquin Phoenix leads Campus Conservatives in free speech riot.
UTM announces extension to Subway line ERIN DELANEY ASSOCIATE SATIRE EDITOR UTM, always at the forefront of innovation, has announced its newest initiative to help students get from the start of their journey to the end of it in record time. A new 21 ft extension to the IB Subway line has been proposed. This new subway line extension would accommodate and allow for up to 15 more people an hour to get their subpar sandwiches. The 3.4 million-dollar initiative would incorporate two new rope partitions at the end of the Subway line, and would come complete with its
own state-of-the-art dirt-absorbing carpet. When The Medium consulted students on the subway line, a glutenobsessed third-year student had this to say: “I spend so much time in this Subway line, I guess an extension is good. I’ll still probably be late to my 1:00 p.m. tutorial, but at least the carpet is nice.” The line extension, extending from IB all the way to the Hazel McCallion library, is the biggest and boldest project introduced by the Facilities and Management Planning committee. A spokesperson for the Facilities and Management Planning committee commented, “We are all about
listening to students and introducing improvements to the problems they experience while at the University of Toronto Mississauga. By creating an extension to the Subway line, we reduce wait times by ten per cent, improve line occupancy by 30 per cent and appear like we actually do something to improve the campus experience.” With the Subway line extension proposal likely to be approved, the university expects to break ground on this initiative sometime early 2020. Students are told to expect a new and improved waiting experience some time in 2023.
GORDON CORK SATIRE EDITOR Campus Conservatives took a stance this reading week in hopes of advocating their right to free speech. This past reading week, dozens of conservatives and a girl gathered in the Blind Duck Pub to protest the wave of censorship on campus. To their dismay, the conservatives weren’t met with any opposition from far-left campus organizations such as ANTIFA and the UTMSU. Conservative President Ethan Bryant took to the Blind Duck stage. “Is it just me or, or is it getting crazy out there?” Conservatives cheered for their leader as he continued. “All I have are negative thoughts. I used to think my life was a tragedy but now I realize it’s a comedy!” As Ethan Bryant departed the podium he raised his arm high and saluted his fellow con-
servatives and the girl who attended. They cheered and saluted Ethan Bryant as he walked off stage. “He’s just quoting the Joker movie,” a student standing in the Chatime line said. “It’s like the white person’s Black Panther.” The Medium spoke to another student in line who said the Conservatives were making up the free speech problem in their heads. “There aren’t any rules that tell us we can’t say certain words at UTM. They’re just censoring themselves, which isn’t really a thing.” Now fully delusional, Conservative students have been reportedly scratching circles in their desks, counting the number of tiles on the ceiling, and drawing pro-Israel propaganda around campus with their blood in an effort to protest censorship on campus.
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Editor | Sarah-May Edwardo Oldfield
Stressed out: Politics can make you sick A recent study has found that engaging in politics can lead to adverse health and social consequences HAFSA AHMED CONTRIBUTOR Damaged friendships, ruined family reunions, disrupted workplaces, the emotional toll of frustration, remorse, anguish, and the physical burden of stress and loss of sleep; these are all things that can be attributed to political differences, and may be the underlying cause of a number of health problems. A recent study, led by political scientists Kevin Smith and John Hibbing of the University of Nebraska, and Matthew Hibbing of the University of California, has found that people are experiencing physical, emotional, and social costs as a result of engaging with politics. Unlike traditional studies, which tend to focus on the economic costs often associated with people who are politically engaged, their research focuses on the consequences that political exposure has had on their physical health, mental wellbeing, and even their personal relationships. The results suggest some alarming effects on the welfare of people who are politically involved, especially following the 2016 election in the United States, which led to a rise in political polarization in the U.S. and spreading to other Western countries, like Canada. As the researchers note, “in the wake of the 2016 election, clinical psychologists reported a jump in mental health pathologies directly attributed to politics—what the media have termed ‘election stress disorder.’” To conduct this study, data was collected by YouGov for five days
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It turns out that stressing too much over politics and social issues can make you sick. in March 2017, amassing 800 respondents. To create representative samples, YouGov used a panel of 1.8 million people. Since this study was the first of its kind, the questionnaire was developed by mirroring diagnostic instruments used by Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous. For example, a question such as, “Does [your drinking] ever cause you to have difficulty sleeping?” would be modified in the survey to be, “I have lost sleep because of politics,” with response categories ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” The researchers drafted 32 such items designed to explore the perceived impact of politics in four main categories, including physical health, emotional health, regretted behavior, and social/lifestyle costs. The survey included variables designed to capture a wide range of individual traits
and characteristics such as socio-demographics, personality, political attitudes, political knowledge, political interests, and political activity. The researchers designed the sample to be representative of the approximately 248 million adults living in the United States. With regards to physical health, nearly 40 per cent of respondents, an estimated 94 million people, believe they experience stress as a result of politics. Roughly a fifth, or what would translate to approximately 44 million people, report losing sleep, being fatigued, or suffering depression because of politics. More than 10 per cent, or what would be 28.5 million people, report non-specific physical health issues related to politics. Roughly four per cent, or an estimated 11 million people, indicate they have considered suicide as a result of politics. In terms of emotional welfare, ap-
proximately 10 to 30 per cent of the population believed that politics took an emotional toll on them, by triggering anger, frustration, hate, guilt, or by leading them to make comments that they later regretted. Another roughly 10 to 25 per cent of people reported thinking, caring, and focusing on politics more than they want, saying and writing things they later regret, making bad decisions, ignoring other priorities, and feeling empty at the end of major political events. Approximately 29 per cent of the population said they’ve lost their temper as a result of politics. In regards to social costs, the study found that about one in five people reported that politics had damaged friendships and created problems with family, friends, and within the home. About five per cent of respondents believed politics led to financial or legal problems, or caused them to
miss time at work or school. In addition, the study found that Democrats, self-identified liberals, those who are socially and economically liberal, and people who disapprove of President Donald Trump are more likely to report negative health impacts as a result of politics. Beyond left-right orientation, other political factors are also associated with negative health impact. For example, those who frequently discuss politics and who report being more involved in politics were also more likely to score higher on all indexes. While it is undeniable that democratic governance brings benefits to our collective and personal well-being, it is also true, as this study shows, that it can have negative consequences on the relationships and health of many people. Research like this allows us to acknowledge this problem and gain insight into this phenomenon, which in turn can lead to solutions to address this problem. As the researchers note, “only by identifying, measuring, and analyzing the personal costs of open, democratic politics will it be possible to ameliorate them.” The health and social costs discussed in the study have real impacts on a person’s quality of life, as well as their physical and mental wellbeing. We as a society must continue to research and utilize resources like this to come to terms with the issue if we are to alleviate these costs while continuing to live and engage in a political world as informed and active democratic citizens.
Heathy eating also needs to sound tasty Stanford scientists find that leading with flavour increases the likeliness people will choose to eat veggies ANDREW STONE CONTRIBUTOR Taste is often the most important factor when choosing what we eat, and it is no secret that people will avoid healthier options because they don’t “sound tasty.” A recent study from Stanford University challenged how people choose their food and aimed to find out why people are less likely to eat vegetables, and how the labeling of a product can affect vegetable consumption. The study involved five university dining halls across the United States where students were monitored based on whether they were choosing to eat vegetables, and which vegetables were chosen based on how the labels described them. Over a 185-day period, the researchers wanted to find out if taste-focused labels increased vegetable consumption in students compared to other
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If a healthy food is described in a tasty way, an individual will be more likely to eat it. label types. They found that taste-focused labels increased the number of people selecting vegetables by 29 per cent over health-focused labels and increased selection of vegetables by 14 per cent over basic labels. Clearly, labeling a vegetable based on its taste
improves its selling potential, but why? Further analysis after the trials uncovered that having the expectations for a pleasant eating experience increased the likelihood that a student would choose vegetables. However, labels that described the vegetables in a positive or fancy way
did not have the same effect on selection as the taste-focused labels. It wasn’t how well the food itself and the ingredients were described that increased selection, but how well the taste of the food was portrayed to the consumer. The fact that describing vegetables by taste, rather
than by simply describing its nutritional quality, increased vegetable consumption can have significant practical implications. The World Health Organization has reported that low fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to poor overall health, such as an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Statistics Canada reported in 2017 that the rate in which individuals consume fruits and vegetables, five or more times per day, has decreased from 31.5 per cent in 2015 to 28.6 per cent in 2017. It is fair to say that the information found in the Stanford study should be implemented into how healthy foods are advertised. If given tastefocused labels, the sales of healthy foods could increase, and the risk of poor health and disease among Canadians could decrease.
10.21.2019 THE MEDIUM SPORTS» 13
Eagles get stung by Sting in season opener UTM’s Men’s Varsity Basketball fall to Seneca Sting in first game of the 2019-2020 season on the road SARAH-MAY OLDFIELD SPORTS & HEALTH EDITOR
UTM’s Varsity Men’s basketball team opened their 2019-2020 regular season on the road against the Seneca Sting last Friday October 18. The men hoped to follow up the Women’s Varsity Basketball 68-59 win over the Sting, but lost 71-84. It was an up and down game from start to finish, but our Eagle’s should be proud of the way they remained composed and fought to the winding final seconds of the game. In the first quarter, both teams fought to gain control of the game, but ultimately the Sting controlled the pace. Eagles forward, number 15, Shaquille David, started UTM off strong with back-to-back threepointers and a layup. The Sting went on a run, pushing their lead to nearly double digits. Late in the quarter, number one, second-year center Andreas Jankovic, checked into the game and right away made a bucket, tying the game at 17 a piece. But the Sting were too hot, making a couple of quick shots off ball movement to win the quarter, 17-21. The second quarter began with a splash party, with both teams taking and hitting three-pointers and short jump-shots. UTM was able to keep
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The Varsity Men’s Basketball team played a strong game but unfortunately could not beat the Sting. pace, but the Sting ran away with it, going on a 10-point lead. Number 12, senior player and starting forward Zamam Khan, made a tough and-one layup to swing the momentum UTM’s way. The Eagles seemed to click on defense, making stop after stop. Off a stop, David charged to the rim, got fouled, and headed to the line. He split a pair of free
throws, making it a 6-point game. The game got chaotic as the quarter winded down, with neither team playing very good basketball. Both teams played sloppy, turning over the ball, and neither were able to capitalize on the other’s mistakes. With three seconds left in the first half, Sting guard, number three Johnny Ankra, made a layup
drawing the foul. He made the free throw, leaving UTM to take the final possession of the half. The Eagles turned it over, and the Sting took a time-out with 0.9 seconds left. Sloppy defensive coverage from the Eagles allowed the Sting to get a shot off at the buzzer, but thankfully they were unable to score. UTM finished the half, 33-48.
The second half began much like how the first ended, with sloppy plays from both teams. UTM cleaned up their act and went on another run. Khan drove into the lane for a right-handed layup and missed, but Jankovic crashed the boards for the tip-in. Jankovic, hustling back on defense, went on to block a shot on the opposite end. The Eagles, with renewed energy and focus, managed to cut a 15-point lead to just 5. Seneca went on another run, capping the quarter with a buzzer beater layup by their forward, number nine Ricky Ricketts. Seneca continued their dominance to start the fourth quarter, leading the Eagles by nearly 20 points. Sting guards number four, Isaiah Ankra, and number eight, Raymond Yeung, dominated the entire game with nifty passes, easily knocking down smooth threepointers. UTM continued to fight, but there wasn’t enough scoring and effectiveness on defense to close out the game, and the Eagles fell 71-84. UTM’s Varsity Men’s Basketball team is back in action on October 30 in their home opener against the George Brown Huskies, and again on the road against the Fleming College Knights on November 3.
Performance anxiety can impact your memory University of Waterloo study identified a ‘next-in-line’ effect: the inability to recall information before a performance FARISHTEH KHAN CONTRIBUTOR According to a study conducted by the University of Waterloo, those who experience performance anxiety prior to presenting in front of an audience are likely to experience a decline in their ability to recall information received right before their performance. This is a side-effect of what is known as the “next-in-line effect.” The “next-in-line effect” occurs when a person fails to successfully encode the information received just before a performance into their long-term memory because one’s attention is focused on their own anxiety. Understandably, this phenomenon expresses itself more strongly and more commonly in individuals who are socially anxious since they are prone to greater levels of anxiety at the prospect of public speaking. The study was conducted by testing a complementary phenomenon known as the “production effect.” According to this concept, words spoken aloud (‘produced’) are more likely to be remembered as opposed to words read silently. This is due to a consequence known as distinctive processing—words read aloud that stand out as cognitive processes are involved in encoding auditory information. This was tested alongside the next-in-line effect in a series of four experiments. In the first experiment, students from the university were divided into two groups. The first group was assigned to the mixed-list condition and shown a series of 80 words
WILLIAM TOPA/UNSPLASH.COM
Study shows that having anxiety before a performance or presentation can hinder your memory. against a black background, with half in blue font and half in white font. The participants were instructed to read the words in white font silently and the words in blue font aloud. The words in blue were randomly spread out among the ones in white, so that participants were unaware of when they would encounter a word meant to be read aloud, thus remaining constantly alert. This method created a continuous feeling of performance anticipation throughout the experiment. In contrast, the second group was assigned to the pure-list condition.
The test was conducted the same way, except that half of the participants read all 80 words aloud and half the group read them silently. A research assistant acting as their audience was available for all groups, providing the simulated performance atmosphere that was hypothesized to lead to performance anticipation. At the end of the slides, participants were shown 160 words, 80 of which were on the slides they read (both aloud and silently), and 80 of which were distractors (words that weren’t among the words shown). Memory was tested based on how many correctly identi-
fied words were marked. The results of the first experiment proved the production effect: those in the pure-aloud condition had the best memory test results, followed by those in the pure-silent. However, participants in the mixed-list condition exhibited significantly poorer results for the silent words as opposed to the words they read aloud. The remaining three experiments were based on the same set-up with some differences. For the second one, the blue and white words were not randomly shown but rather in blocks of five blue and then five white. It was
hypothesized that the last silent word prior to the aloud block would have the poorest recognition rate in the memory tests because of the nextin-line-effect. All participants were tested under the same conditions and the results supported the hypothesis. For experiment three, once again the words were randomized, but this time the order in which blue and white words were shown was indicated to the participants before each word was shown on screen. This variation was crucial in comparing with the baseline results in experiment one, since this time the participants knew when the blue words would appear, despite the randomization in the first experiment. The continuous performance anticipation was eliminated and was hypothesized to only appear in the specific silent word before an aloud word, and not the rest of the silent words in the set. This proved true, supporting the next-in-line effect once again. Experiment four was a replica of the third experiment, with one notable difference: there was no research assistant present. This eliminated the performance aspect of reading aloud words, the results of which are reflected by the lack of self-consciousness—there was no significance in the recall-recognition ability between silent and aloud words. In conclusion, the next-in-line effect on information recall prior to performance holds across multiple experiments as shown in this study, as well as the production effect in experiment one in particular.
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Pollution might be cause of increase in violence A recent U.S. study has found a connection between increases in air pollution and rates of violent crime HIRA BURNEY CONTRIBUTOR
A study performed in the U.S. concluded that inflation in air pollution correlates with an increase in violent crimes, but poses no direct effect on property crime rates. Violent crimes include assaults, rape, homicide, kidnapping, and similar crimes, whereas property crimes include theft, property damage, and shoplifting, among others. Furthermore, changes in pollution are deemed to have no significant effects on other non-violent crimes, which indicates that an increase in pollution (as measured by the PM2.5 and ozone) can act as a short-term irritant, which can increase the propensity for violent behavior. PM stands for particulate matter. PM2.5 refers to particulate matter that are less than 2.5 micrometers, about three per cent the diameter of a strand of human hair. According to the American Lung Association, ozone, also frequently called smog, is a harmful gas molecule that targets lung tissues. At higher ozone concentrations, the effect of ozone begins to decline. On the other hand, particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of many different organic and inorganic chemical components,
HAYDEN MAK/THE MEDIUM
A correlation has been found between higher levels of air pollution and increased violent crime. and some of the components can be directly toxic or lead to systemic inflammation that is associated with adverse health outcomes. Research suggests that long-term exposure to air pollution deteriorates one’s health. It can lead to chronic disease, respiratory problems, or in extreme cases—death. More recent evidence by Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou from Johns Hopkins university suggests that this also has
short-term effects on cognitive skill development, the expression of behaviors (e.g. aggressive, anti-social) associated with criminal or violent activities, and anxiety. While air pollution represents unfavorable effects on health, it also impacts cognitive function and labor productivity, and it can impose large costs on individuals and societies. It was found that a 10 per cent increase in same-day exposure to PM2:5
is associated with a 0.14 per cent increase in violent crimes, marked by increases in assaults, which are indicative of aggressive behavior. Similarly, a 10 per cent increase in same-day exposure to ozone is associated with a 0.3 per cent increase in violent crime, or a 0.35 per cent increase in assaults. The effects of PM2:5 are largest at lower temperatures, while the effects of ozone are largest at relatively higher temperatures.
The researchers suggest that a 10 per cent reduction in daily PM2:5 and ozone could save $1.4 billion in crime costs per year, a previously overlooked cost associated with pollution. The research also suggests that if people spend more time at home when air pollution levels are elevated, there is an increase in in-home violent crimes and assaults, and an increase in domestic violence. Outdoor air pollution affects the constituency of indoor air which may also affect domestic violence. The coefficients indicate that violent crime rises approximately linearly with daily maximum temperatures. It is important to notice and take required action of the positive relationship between pollution and crime rates since it highlights a key social cost of pollution that is absent from policy discussions and is a topic understudied. These results are startling, but the authors of this study are still interested in the roll of air pollution on human behaviour and cognition. They are now currently studying the relationship between pollution and cognitive outcomes, by determining if increased exposure to pollution correlates with poorer chess performance.
ataglance October 21
October 22
October 22
October 22
The Varsity: Federal Election Viewing Social
Election After Party
In Conversation on Student Mental Health
A Streetcar Named Desire
7:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Watch the federal election unfold at 21 Sussex Avenue.
7:30 p.m. UTM Campus Conservatives, PSLA, and UTM Young Liberals are hosting an election after party at the Erin Mills Pump & Patio.
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Join a discussion on mental health at the Hart House Debate Room.
7:30 p.m. The timeless masterpiece presented by Soulpepper Theatre Company.
October 31
October 24
October 25
October 25
Zombies and Existential Horror
Theatre Erindale’s The Glove Thief
Caffeine and Careful Thought
Art Toronto 2019
7:30 p.m.
11:59 p.m.
12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Come watch Theatre Erindale’s newest play this Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night.
The deadline for submitting an entry to the English and Drama Student Society is coming up!
Canda’s international fair for modern art runs at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. The Philosophy Academic Society’s Annual Halloween lecture in IB245.
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Editor | Fatima Adil
Meet Schulich Leader Aidan Britnell First-year UTM student Aidan Britnell is a technology innovator and the recipient of a $80,000 scholarship DANIEL REALE CONTRIBUTOR
Most students begin their first year of university with orientation, Frosh week, and maybe a new computer. Aidan Britnell, a first-year UTM undergraduate student, entered fall having lunched with U of T’s president and vice-president, attending a networking fair, and receiving a scholarship worth $80,000. Britnell is one of four U of T students who were named Schulich Leaders for 2019. They are among the fifty students nationwide who were chosen from 1,400 nominees to be awarded this year’s Schulich Leader scholarships. The Schulich Leader scholarship is an entrance scholarship which awards student leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). “I received the scholarship for science,” says Britnell. “It still feels totally surreal. I wasn’t expecting to receive it.” The scholarship is considered to be Canada’s most coveted scholarship. According to the Schulich Leader website, there are more than three hundred thousand high school candidates from which 1,400 nominees are chosen to demonstrate their unique experience in community and business leadership, skills in STEM, and
HAYDEN MAK/THE MEDIUM
Aidan Britnell, new to UTM, has been awarded a Schulich Leadership scholarship of $80,000. academic excellence for a chance to win one of fifty scholarships. Britnell is in the “the computer science, mathematics, and statistics program” and “hop[es] to eventually receive a specialist in Information Security.” On average, a four-year degree in computer science, mathematics, and statistics costs $45,680 in tuition fees alone. With the scholarship, Britnell says that he is “able to focus entirely on school” as it “removes any financial burden.” Britnell attended King’s Christian College in Burlington, where he began working towards his career in computer science. What began as volunteering for his high school’s IT de-
partment turned into a part-time job. “I managed our [school’s] servers and network infrastructure. It gave me good operations experience. I really learned about the way pieces operate and work together,” explains Britnell. Britnell recalls that he was on the phone with his boss, working on one of the school’s server network when he received the email notifying him that he had won the scholarship. “I was shocked. I [initially] thought it was a rejection letter.” In grade 11, Britnell pitched and developed an app that integrated student cards onto students’ smartphones. “People kept losing their stu-
dent cards. The school would have to print them on plastic [and] it was expensive.” He was able to create an app that allowed students to access their student cards through their smartphone’s integrated Wallet. “I developed it in grade 11, and by grade 12, it was being used by all the students at my school.” The change from plastic student cards to electronic versions was “simple [and] easy to use, but made a big impact,” and Britnell says that he wants to continue to make these types of changes throughout his work in STEM. “The craziest thing in this whole experience has probably been the
people I’ve met,” says Britnell. He joined Caleb Lammers, Adam Glustein, and Tommy Moffat—the three other U of T Schulich Leader scholarship recipients—at Massey College where they had lunch with U of T’s President and Vice President. “We had salmon. It was the fanciest meal I’ve ever had.” Britnell is now a member of the Schulich Leader Network—a network which is comprised of all the Schulich Leader recipients nationwide—something that he considers more valuable than the monetary award. “All the recipients in Ontario meet every September. We have access to job fairs that include companies like Google, IBM, and Hatch. It’s a meeting of like-minded peers,” Britnell explains. It’s these people and companies that Britnell hopes to one day work with. For now, he is enjoying his time at UTM. “I really like it here,” he says. “It is great to be challenged, great to be busy and engaged. I’ve met a lot of great professors, like Professor Mike Pawliuk [who teaches] MAT102. He is really passionate and engaging.” Britnell was first introduced to UTM through a high school cross country team meet at Erindale Park. He really appreciated the nature surrounding UTM and the small campus atmosphere and finishes by saying, “I’m glad I chose UTM.”
Advocating for missing Indigenous women Jerry Flores talks about his academic journey and his research on missing and murdered Indigenous women MAY ALSAIGH CONTRIBUTOR From a high school drop-out to an assistant professor, Dr. Jerry Flores has overcome several obstacles along his journey to academia. He is currently an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, a 2019 recipient of the Connaught New Researcher Award, a researcher and advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, and an author. The Medium sat down with him to learn more about his book, his research, and his journey in academia. Flores states that his academic journey began with his parents who played a significant role in shaping his personality. “Ever since I was little, my mom has always instilled in me this instinct of curiosity and my dad always promoted this inspired desire to contribute to social justice and to help people.” He believes that these two attributes are what kick-started his career and encouraged him to become the person he is today.
JOANNA THOMAI/THE MEDIUM
Dr. Jerry Flores is working as an advocate for Indigenous women and a professor at UTM. As a child, Flores always struggled in school, which ultimately led to him dropping out and attending an alternative school instead. Flores relates that this new school provided him with the guidance he needed in areas of math and science through different learning approaches, helping him cultivate the habits of a disciplined learner and igniting a passion for learning. Flores eventually returned to high
school and completed his preliminary foundational studies. He applied to numerous Ph.D. programs but was rejected by each program. Instead, he was accepted into a master’s program at San Diego State University and later went on to earn a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014. Following his Ph.D., Flores worked at the University of Washington.
However, he realized that he did not want to live in the United States due to prevalent racist attitudes. Flores started applying to the University of Toronto, and after three years, he finally obtained a position as an assistant professor. Flores says, “I love UTM, and not just because I work here. It is definitely my favourite branch in the U of T system—I feel like I fit in here.”
Published in 2016, Flores’s book Caught Up: Girls, Surveillance and Wraparound Incarceration is essentially “a description for what it’s like for Latinas in Southern California.” He writes about “what their lives are like before they’re locked up, what home factors contribute to them getting incarcerated, [and] what their lives are like in a detention centre.” Alongside these issues, Flores also discusses the process of reintegration into society. When examining the lives of Latinas, Flores explains that abuse is not uncommon. He says that abuse in forms of “physical, sexual [and] psychological” is often seen, “especially [with] family members [and] close friends.” As a result, it pushes women to run away from their homes and live a life on their own. Usually, they begin to engage in high-risk behaviour such as shoplifting or the distribution of drugs in order to simply meet basic needs. In the course of their escape, underage girls frequently develop “toxic relationships” with older men. Flores continued on page 16
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Could this protein improve memory? UTM professor and epigeneticist Dr. Iva Zovkic talks about her ground-breaking research on histones ELIZABETH PROVOST CONTRIBUTOR
Dr. Iva Zovkic is an assistant professor of psychology at UTM and an epigeneticist. Along with her team, she has pushed boundaries in the field of epigenetics. For this issue, The Medium sat down with her to discuss her ground-breaking research. Epigenetics, a relatively new and constantly evolving field, examines how gene expression can transform and contribute to change in an organism. One area in which Zovkic and her team are working towards unwinding is the study and understanding of genetic variances in memory. They are focusing on how a change in gene expression occurs due to a certain event and how that influences memory formation. Histones are proteins that package DNA into structural units called nucleosomes. “What we don’t know is how histones can be modified in complementary ways to regulate gene expression at the level of the nucleus,” Zovkic says. Histone modification is “highly sensitive to environmental stimuli [including] things that are happening in the rest of the cell [and] signaling mechanisms.” The category of epigenetic modification Zovkic and her lab is known for is “histone variant exchange in the brain [which] is something no one has looked at before.” Histone variant exchange is when “you can take [the] histones that make up the
nucleosome [and] swap them out with different type of histones [resulting in a] change [in] function.” Zovkic mentions that while histone variant exchange “is something that is widely studied in relation to cancer, it has never been studied in the brain before.” Zovkic’s lab is focusing on the H2A family of histones. The switching on and off of genes, specifically by the H2A.Z histone is a huge factor in memory retention. A paper published by Zovkic in Nature in 2014 was the first to “show that histone variants influence membrane[s].” Zovkic explains that “what we found is that [when] H2A.Z is bound to DNA, it reduces the strength of a membrane. When you learn, H2A.Z actually gets kicked out.” H2A.Z is a break in transcription, and when you remove it, “memory is able to form.” One of the first times the team observed a change in function due to histones replacing each other was in 2014 when researching fear membranes in mice. Zovkic and her lab found that prior to shocking, mice are excited to explore a box they are placed in. However, when “you give them even a mild foot shock [and] put [the mice] back in the box, the mice normally freeze instead of running around and exploring.” The most exciting thing Zovkic and her lab have found is that H2A.Z “may have different roles depending on whether [the individual] is a male or female.” While Zovkic and her lab “did show androgen receptors regu-
MAEVE DOYLE/RESEARCH OFFICE
Dr. Zovkic has received a grant for her research on genes and how they could affect memory. late H2A.Z binding to specific genes,” Zovkic emphasizes that these findings have not been published yet, and they still need to determine how and why the effects of H2A.Z are contingent on gender. Zovkic says that “there is lots left to be explored” including whether H2A.Z “operate[s] the same way in all forms of membrane [and] what the other family members of H2A are doing.” Furthermore, while the genes which encode for memory processing are only active within a shortterm window, the consequences last for a long time. Zovkic is trying to determine what occurs in this shortterm consolidation window that makes memories persist, even after the genes are turned off. Findings will contribute to “a whole new way
to change gene regulation by swapping different histones in a nucleosome.” Zovkic recently received a $956,000 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. With the grant, Zovkic and her lab will especially focus on the various roles of the H2A.Z histone contingent on gender, on the histone’s causal effect on Alzheimer’s, and lastly, whether H2A.Z accumulation can impede or improve gene expression. Science is forever evolving and Zovkic is looking forward to using her discoveries to enhance quality of life. Once her lab is able to characterize the relationships between individuals without Alzheimer’s disease and those with the condition, Zovkic may work with medicinal chemists to
apply her discoveries to drug development. There are several important questions surrounding the effects of H2A.Z on humans. What has been undoubtedly proven thus far is that environmental enrichment is highly beneficial in keeping the mind active. While individuals cannot escape a gene that is activating a condition such as Alzheimer’s, the risk can be minimized through education, engagement, and diversity of environments. However, it is risky to label drugs as wholly negative and always prioritize natural enrichment over drugs and artificial stimuli. In some cases of treating Alzheimer’s, the combined benefits of medicinal drugs and behavioural theory may quite possibly be the key.
How do we help Con artists and biases Dr. Larsen discusses why people fall for con artists’ schemes missing women? LATISHA LOBBAN ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR
Flores continued from page 15 His book follows the lives of incarcerated Latinas and provides readers with their experiences inside and outside of detention centres in California. Flores mentions that there are, in fact, many similarities between his book and his current research on missing and murdered Indigenous women. He says that “the only difference is that in LA, the young women, when they leave home, end up being incarcerated [whereas] Indigenous women here end up being murdered.” Flores’ current research delves into the lives of these Indigenous women and examines cases where they disappear, get murdered, or both. When asked about what motivated Flores to launch his research, he answers, “one of the main questions I’m asking is what do Indigenous people need in order to be successful. [Furthermore] in order to be safe, what do they need and how can we help.” Flores speaks about the mistakes researchers commonly make when interviewing Indigenous women such as when researchers ask Indigenous women questions the researchers want answers to, rather than asking the women what they need and what is important to them. “I’m trying to rectify some of the mistakes academics and researchers
have done in the past.” While conducting interviews for his research, Flores asserts that one central necessity for keeping Indigenous women secure is granting them access to housing, food, and water. Indigenous women who live in remote locations, such as northern Canada, are usually in more danger than other areas due to the fact that public transit is not available. Flores states that women are often “talked or conned into extortion for sex.”
“One of the main questions I’m asking is what do Indigenous people need in order to be successful and safe.” Although Flores is already working on numerous projects, he continues to have goals for the future. He describes that an ultimate goal of his is to open up a research institute here at UTM. “I think I want to call it the Institute for the Study of Prisons, Punishment, or Surveillance across the globe.” Flores’ passion for learning and teaching drives him to constantly raise awareness of the issues he advocates for. “I want to take on a leadership role at the campus where I can help promote social change [and] social justice.”
Why do individuals fall for con artists’ schemes? Dr. Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen, visiting assistant professor in the forensic science and philosophy departments at UTM, shares his knowledge on the ingrained biases present in individuals and how con artists are able to exploit them. Larsen says that human beings have “a truth bias…which is this tendency to just always start with the assumption that what people are saying is true.” The truth bias causes individuals to be more susceptible to con artists’ schemes because they are more likely to believe them. People also have a second confirmation bias in which they are more likely to use positive outcomes to confirm what they want to be true. Larsen illustrates this through an example of a Ponzi scheme. He says that if one were to invest in a Ponzi scheme, a con artist would “make sure that maybe you get a dividend early on” which would lead the scammed individual to “confirm that they have made a good investment.” The confirmation bias results in the possibility of being “slow in actually realizing that you’re being schemed because you have all this confirming information, but haven’t really realized you’re never going to get the full amount [of your invested money]
back.” Another bias that contributes to humans’ likelihood of being conned is the probability bias. Larsen describes the probability bias as “this tendency humans have to just disregard probability.” Larsen explains, “the probability of you running into this amazing investment [through] a phone call [from] some random person or some e-mail that popped [up]…is close to zero.” The above biases cause humans to be more susceptible to the schemes planned by con artists. As Larsen details, “the con artist is of course a person who is good [in] reeling you in some scheme without giving away evidence that this is actually what’s happening.” Con artists not only prey on human biases, but also individuals’ egos. According to Larsen, a con artist would “target people [who they] know might not be smart.” This tactic works because “if you really have an inflated belief of how smart you are, then you also might be inclined to say that, of course, you are the only one [who] could see how smart this investment is.” Still, Larsen emphasizes that it would be “trivial” to simply assume that all con artists “must be very manipulative.” Technological advances have made it more difficult to “talk about a specific psychology of con men because it could be anyone these days.” Specifically, “this idea that we
have something called ‘con artists’— psychologically speaking, there is no evidence for that.” Larsen cautions that, “it’s very dangerous to confirm these stereotypes that we might have … [because] it suggests that you can put your guard down in other situations.” He shares the example of a “person who runs five hundred different dating profiles and targets lonely males from Wisconsin. If you have five hundred of those profiles online, then it can become a lucrative business. There are dating apps, Facebook, [and] Twitter.” Larsen states that con artists are “just human beings trying to fool others, and that’s pretty common practice. This is human behaviour.” He adds, “there’s no way you can efficiently reach out to people who try to cheat other people, and also, if we did reach out to them, they wouldn’t listen.” To tackle the problem, Larsen suggests informing the average person to “be extra vigilant [and to] never give out any information to people who you don’t know.” Larsen specifically advises that “whenever you see a person you don’t know who wants some information from you, start with skepticism by default and then always get a second opinion from anyone.” To finish, Larsen quotes Lieutenant Aldo Raine from the 2009 war film Inglourious Basterds, “[If you] hear a story too good to be true, it ain’t.”
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Editor | Vinney Wong
It All Makes Sense: Identity in a modern world The exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art follows a young individual and his realization of capitalism MARISSA SHEY CONTRIBUTOR Under a haze of red muted light, Kidlat Tahimik’s 1977 cult film Perfumed Nightmare plays on repeat from a projector. Between the four pillars that section this space off from the rest of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s lobby, unfolded boxes lay on the floor in neat tiles. On top of the makeshift cardboard mat, folded cardboard box chairs invite museumgoers to sit and watch the film from artist Stephanie Comilang’s memoryscape. For Nuit Blanche 2019, Comilang’s video, light, scent, and textile installation “It All Makes Sense” is on view in the lobby of the MOCA in Toronto until October 13. Comilang describes viewing the film as an adolescent as having profoundly changed her life, and the exhibit serves to recreate the memory of her first time viewing Perfumed Nightmare. It is from this shared lens that I watched the film. Shot with a $10,000 budget on 16mm film, the semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama Perfumed Nightmare takes place in 1942 and follows Kidlat (portrayed by and named after the director), a Filipino teen born in Balian, a town that worships Western cultural and technological innovation, to the extent that it erects an imitation Statue of Liberty in the town square. Growing up, Kidlat, our idealistic and ambi-
STEPHANIE COMILANG/MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Perfumed Nightmare (1977) was being exhibited at MOCA as part of Nuit Blanche. tious protagonist, is enveloped in a “cocoon of Americanized dreams” which motivates him to emigrate to Europe and start a gumball business there. Kidlat plans to travel on toward America after a year, but he learns that ushering in the New and Modern means exiling the Familiar and Traditional. When his sugary gumball bubble of enchantment popped, Kidlat becomes disillusioned by American cultural colonialism, late capitalism, and the technological innovation and industrialization that ever-deepens the divide between the first and third world. After this real-
ization, Kidlat returns to the Philippines and begins anew to define his place in the world, and his view of it. Director Werner Herzog has hailed Perfumed Nightmare as “one of the most original and poetic works of cinema made anywhere in the seventies,” and critic Gene Youngblood described it as “a bizarre, hallucinatory movie full of dazzling images and outlandish ideas. It’s both real and surreal, poetic and political, naive and wise, primitive and supremely accomplished… a dazzling testament to the liberty of the imagination.” Writer Susan Sontag says
the film “reminds one that invention, insolence, enchantment, even innocence, are still available to film.” While I am certainly not as wellwatched or good with words as any of them, I must vouch for the film as well. Beyond its breathtaking, cinematic shots of Balian, Paris, and Berlin, the film is a fresh look at the modern world that nudges viewers to be cautious of the pitfalls of Western cultural capitalism, which can overwrite self-determination and cultural memory. The film begs the question of what has been lost amidst the
gains of late capitalism and technology, and invites you to define your own level of intake and influence from the dominion of the two. I thank Comilang for introducing me to Perfumed Nightmare and giving me the space to watch it. I viewed the film from a cardboard box chair chosen because it was shaped like a Tetris block. From the installation’s placard, I learned that the boxes reference balikbayan corrugated boxes, packaging typically used to send items back to loved ones in the Philippines, and refer to “an act of exchange, and the sending and sharing of care back home.” The boxes may have made uncomfortable chairs, but I thought them to be a lovely tribute to the Philippines and, more broadly, any country that museumgoers or museumgoers’ families may have immigrated from; any country that may be portrayed as lacking something in a cocoon of Westernized wants and dreams; any country that in fact has its own abundance of beauty and tradition to appreciate independently. As I write this, it is the last day of the installation’s run, so sadly, if you are reading this, you have missed out on the memoryscape created by Comilang. But you can still watch Perfumed Nightmare in its entirety on Vimeo, and you have my recommendation to do so.
Viriditas: The future of waste and energy In a unique presentation, Viriditas touches on the future of technology and human consumption HEMA RAMNARINE CONTRIBUTOR After being ushered into a classroom in the basement of Kaneff at UTM, I was unprepared for the performance I was about to take in. An event by the Blackwood Gallery, Viriditas (In The Future Perfect) is an AV Performance-Lecture by artists Jol Thomson and Julian Weaver. It is the interpretation of their research into fusion energy, a form of energy that creates virtually no waste, but that is still at least thirty years away—and has been thirty years away for quite some time. The performance was given by Thomson who, with his face covered by a wide-brimmed hat in the dark classroom, was reminiscent of Charon escorting the dead to the Underworld, telling us about humanity’s search for a greater source of power. Thomson’s performance, which touched on fusion research, the fos-
sil fuel industry, and the ancient science of alchemy, was augmented by the images and colours flashing on the screen, adding emphasis to his words, as well as the slightly unsettling accompanying sounds, contributed by sound artist Weaver. When the performance began, I was slightly puzzled. Having read that the performance was described as a lecture, I was expecting something a little more structured, and at first I didn’t know what to make of it. However, after a few minutes, I was pulled into the presentation, the steadily flashing images in the dark classroom (which added to the ambiance), and Thomson’s even voice. As he spoke, the images and colours on the screen changed to match the theme, showing images of both ancient alchemical practices and newer technologies, predictions for fusion, and the current state of our energy sources. The colour green, one of the five alchemical colours,
JOL THOMSON AND JULIAN WEAVER/BLACKWOOD GALLERY
Viriditas was an experience that joined art, sound, and fusion energy together. was shown each time the word viriditas was spoken, which represents spiritual health, vitality, lushness, and growth. The other colours, red, yellow, white, and black, appeared and reappeared throughout the presentation. The colour black appeared as Thompson spoke of consuming the dead through fossil fuels, and images of Dante’s inferno, one of the first images of Hell, were shown as he deplored what the fossil fuel industry
has done to our planet, indirectly insinuating his thoughts of the industry. He expressed his disapproval of our treatment of the earth, and how we will pay for it in the future. We left the performance, which lasted just over twenty minutes, feeling like we’d just experienced something disconcerting and difficult to explain. All that said, Viriditas (In The Future Perfect) was unlike any other exhibit or performance I’ve been to before, having never attended a per-
formance-lecture. I was used to experiencing exhibits at my own pace, taking my time dwelling on pieces, and I tend to lean away from guided tours or visits. Being led through Viriditas was a new but interesting exhibit that I’m happy to have experienced. It also opened my eyes to lectures as exhibits of art, something else I had never considered but am now more interested in. It was an undoubtedly fascinating performance.
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Exploring consciousness in Between Three Worlds The four short films spoke about feminism, otherness, and acceptance of Black culture ADA WOGU CONTRIBUTOR “Between Three Worlds” is a series of four films created by GhanaianAmerican filmmaker, cinematographer, and producer Akosua Adoma Owusu, and is the second in the 2019-2020 UTM’s Women and Gender Studies Feminist Lunch Series, showcased in the Maanjiwe Nendamowinan (MN) building on October 8. Drawing on the idea of “double consciousness,” first described by sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois, whereas there is “a source of inward ‘twoness’ putatively experienced by African-Americans because of their racialized oppression and devaluation in a whitedominated society” via The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Owusu explores the concept of triple consciousness for African immigrants who come to the United States. An analog camera follows a reimagined Tracy Chambers (Esosa E) of the 1975 film Mahogany starring Diana Ross. This inspired Nollywood-styled sequel is titled Mahogany Too, a version that feels like a long-lost vintage film reel—mysterious yet just as vibrant despite the lost years. Tracy’s essence drifts outward from Esosa as she moves comfortably within the lens of the camera in the white dress and colourful neck piece featured in Mahogany. Based on the short story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, On Mon-
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In the second Feminist Lunch Series, filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu showcases her work. day of Last Week is a film that tells the story of Kamara, a Nigerian woman who joins her husband in America and works as a nanny. In her job, Kamara meets with Tracy, the mother of the family, causing her perception of society to shift. In the second short, Split Ends, I Feel Wonderful, a mosaic of found footage from black hair salons plays in kaleidoscopic visuals. The last short film ,White Afro, part of the hair trilogy in which Split Ends is also part of, intertwines voices from two different cultures. The instructional video teaches hairstylists how to
create “curly perms” for their white customers while the voice of Owusu’s mother herself rises up in sudden intervals. Owusu uses triple consciousness and the cinematic space to show the experience of African immigrants who find themselves in not just African and white American environments, but African-American environments as well. In this space, constructions of blackness, feminism, queerness, and otherness also interact. During the luncheon, I asked Owusu if she creates her films with
themes of triple consciousness and collision of identities in mind. “Absolutely,” she said. “I think I sort of use that as a way to center my work, because the subject matter of my works varies from black hair care to [the works of Adichie].” Owusu went on to explain that she uses the “notion of triple consciousness as a way to sort of expound on De Bois’ double consciousness… [expanding on concepts] like feminism, immigration and queer culture.” The collision of identities is personal for Owusu, but not unique to
her as she points out that identity is something that everyone struggles with. “We’re all sort of wrestling with a sense of place or where to belong,” she added. “Before it was a burden, but then it started becoming a generative space where I could constantly produce using that as the center or the core.” As for her use of analog films and other tools to achieve vintage aesthetics, Owusu drew inspiration from her Sankofa mentality. “[In] Ghana there’s a saying where they say, ‘go back from the past and bring back to the present in order to move forward,’” she explained. “I think it’s so important for us to return to our past, our history. I’m always borrowing from history, taking texts or art that inform my practice early on and thinking, ‘how can I translate that to speak to the issues of our time now, these current events?’” Owusu expressed that using analog super 8 film plays with memory and time, saying, “I may not be able to express [the imagery] in writing, but I feel that [the] moving image or film has become the format and primary medium of choice.” Currently, Owusu is gearing up for her first feature length film being shot next year. It is an expansion of the short film Owusu made based on the writing of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, On Monday of Last Week. Owusu has a DVD box set which includes thirteen of her short films that is available to purchase on the website Grasshopper Film.
Joker blurs the line between joy & sadness The highly anticipated film starring Joaquin Phoenix has initiated conversations about mental health and violence DALIA MICHAUD CONTRIBUTOR Todd Phillips’ Joker has been the talk of the town for a while now. In fact, if you have been on the internet lately, you may have heard mentions of it (whether it be through memes or articles). However, between the time that it won first place in the Venice film festival and its eagerly anticipated release on October 4, it has sparked a lot of controversy, notably surrounding its disturbing content and potential for promoting violence amongst certain audiences. In fact, having read up on the film before going to see it, I was worried that I would not be able to handle it. The truth was that, as usual, the Internet has blown things out of proportion. If you know the Joker, then you know what to expect when you go see a movie with his name as the title. He is, after all, one of the most notorious comic book villains. A movie alone cannot be blamed for the violent acts witnessed in today’s society. Phillips creates a tragic backstory that remains ambiguous enough to suit the Joker’s image while still interconnecting the plot with important elements of the DC comics. This adaptation follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a lowly, unfunny
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Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role has been torn apart by critics but loved by fans. clown who aspires to become a comedian. Fleck lives with his sickly mother (Frances Conroy) in a drab, grey apartment in Gotham City, and the two of them struggle to make ends meet. Meanwhile, Fleck suffers from several severe mental disorders, notably a condition that causes him to respond to uncomfortable or frustrating situations with uncontrollable
laughter. This brilliant addition to the Joker’s character blurs the lines between joy and sadness throughout the movie and makes it very difficult for the audience to tell when he is happy and when he is upset, or if he even feels emotions in the same way as we do. Right from the very beginning of the film, when Fleck is ambushed by a group of delinquent boys, it is clear
to us that society has not been kind to him. He is an awkward loner, and not even his therapist cares about him. If he turns to crime that is society’s fault, not his. It sounds ridiculous when I put it like that, but Joaquin Phoenix portrays this pathetic character so convincingly that the audience can’t help but feel sorry for him. Phoenix embodies the Joker per-
fectly, complete with disturbing fits of laughter that will haunt you for days, and entrancing dance moves that he sprinkles throughout the film, only adding to the disconcerting atmosphere. However, despite how convincing Fleck’s side of the story may seem, it is important to remember that Phillips loves to play with the truth throughout the movie, inevitably creating a very unreliable narrator. Other notable elements that contributed to creating this unsettling ambiance are the cinematography by Lawrence Sher, which perfectly captures the gritty, dangerous vibe that made 1970s New York City what it was, and the costume design from Mark Bridges, which brings out the essence of Joker with a stunning red, orange and green three-piece suit. All in all, whether it is because I have always been a fan of the Joker or because this was simply a considerable cinematographic feat, I very much enjoyed this movie. Was it the movie of 2019? Well, I really wouldn’t know since I haven’t seen every movie that came out this year, but I do know that I was hooked from start to finish, and intend on going to see it in the theatres again. I definitely recommend that you go see it too.
Is violence in films justified? The outcry about films inciting violence misses the bigger issue of gun violence in America
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Exploring DEMOS A Reconstruction This current project at the MOCA examines concepts on architecture and technology
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Are depictions of violence in movies to be blamed for violence in real life? MAYA SUPER CONTRIBUTOR The highly anticipated film Joker was released in theatres earlier this month. Prior to the release, Joaquin Phoenix’s long awaited single-standing Joker origin story was met with mixed reactions. When The Dark Knight came out in 2012, another movie featuring the Joker, a shooting took place during the screening in Aurora, Colorado. Gun control activists were worried about Joker inciting another mass shooting and took to social media to express their concerns. Is this movie going to trigger more shootings? Is the character of the Joker too glamorized? For decades, violence has been a common theme in movies. The Saw series featured people being grusomely tortured and killed. Yet, there was no outcry when those movies became a franchise. Graphic deaths occur so often on screen that audiences are now desensitized to them. The movie Tropic Thunder spoofs this by showing a charac-
ter being shot to death on an open field. The desensitized reaction is repeated later on in the movie when the director steps on a land mine and is killed. The use of violence acts to provoke audiences and immerse them into the movie. Violent imagery in movies does not equate to real-life violence for a majority of movie-goers. Perhaps we are being too sensitive about the Joker. The Joker as a character is a psychopathic killer who toys with everyone. His victims are people who have isolated him. The years of isolation have caused him to develop an “incel” personality where he feels as if he’s being discriminated for his lack of sexual appeal. This type of character has resonated with people who self-identify as incels and have contributed to mass shootings in the past. While incels are part of the reasons why mass shootings happen in the United States, the media are over-exaggerating the Joker’s influence this time around. The Joker is a fictional character who has existed long before 2019. Audiences should be aware about
his transgressions by now. One goes into a movie such as Joker expecting violence. By fear-mongering this movie, the ultimate message of class and power are being ignored. The film comments that when the poor get health cuts, the rich benefit. The movie speaks to Joker’s class struggle and does not glamorize his crimes. The real problem of mass shootings is the normalization and legalization of gun access across North America. Assault weapons can be found virtually anywhere in the States and are the reason for rises in shootings. Lack of background checks when buying rifles or handguns compound the problem. There are few regulations controlling gun violence and the lack of accountability that comes with shootings. The issue is not the mediums of art which portray the violence. Joker, like other movies, touches on themes that reflect society. It comments on isolation and alienation. However, the movie is not a cause for shootings. The lack of gun laws are.
REWIND DELANEY ROMBOUGH CONTRIBUTOR As far as movie musicals go, West Side Story, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, is a classic. West Side Story is a movie adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, and Arthur Laurents, which was originally inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Star-crossed lovers Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood) from different families, or in this case, New York City gangs, fall in love, causing problems of loyalty, violence, and race. The story centres around two gangs on the West Side of Manhattan: The Jets, a white American gang led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn) and The Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang led by Bernardo (George Chakiris). As if these two gangs didn’t fight enough already, their problems only get worse when Bernardo’s sister Maria falls in love with Tony, who is one of the cofounders of The Jets. On the surface, these gangs don’t seem very threatening with all the singing and dancing they do (dance battles seem to be their preferred form of fighting,
at least at the beginning) but there are serious issues that divide the two gangs who are both intent on ruling the West Side. Of course, it’s a problem when members of rival gangs go and fall in love with each other, but it’s an even bigger problem when one of them is white and one of them is Puerto Rican. While the West Side Story is first and foremost a love story, themes of racism and immigration bubble below the surface. The white Jets don’t want to give up their turf to the Puerto Rican Sharks, who they view to be beneath them, and Bernardo doesn’t want his little sister to be with a leader of the Jets, leading to lots of animosity, violence, and revenge between the two gangs. A lyric that Anita (Rita Moreno) sings in “America” sums it up perfectly: “Life is all right in America / If you’re all white in America.” The two gangs try to keep their hatred for each other on the down low, at least during daylight hours and out of view of the police. But when the sun goes down the weapons come out during a rumble to settle once and for all who will get control of the West Side. Tony and Maria want nothing to do with the rumble that Riff and
Bernardo arranged and try to prevent it from happening. They just want to take the money Tony has saved, but they don’t realize that the rumble is somewhat about their relationship, at least for the Sharks. It was supposed to be a fair fight, no weapons, but then Riff pulls out a knife. I won’t spoil what happens but if you’ve read Romeo and Juliet, you know how this ends. West Side Story is one of Bernstein and Sondheim’s most celebrated musicals. The movie features songs including “Maria,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Tonight,” and “Gee, Officer Krupke” and Jerome Robbins’ choreography is beautiful. The score, lyrics, and dance are a great melding of ballet, jazz, traditional Broadway, and Latin-American song and dance. All these elements make for a richly complex and moving musical. The mix of love song duets, ensemble dance, and character solos are classic musical theatre and give everyone in the cast a chance to shine. West Side Story is a riveting mix of drama, story, music, song, and dance, which is why it still holds up in 2019, 60 years later.
ANDREAS ANGELIDAKIS/MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Long-running DEMOS exhibit has been toned down in its size.
ISIK VERA SENEL CONTRIBUTOR DEMOS – A Reconstruction by Andreas Angelidakis, described as an invitation project, features 74 large vinyl encased foam blocks of various shapes and sizes that are covered in colorful patterns and can easily be moved around to form new shapes and structures. This interactive display is credited as the first-ever invitation project housed in the Museum of Contemporary Art and was opened to the public on September 22, 2018. Available to people of all ages, DEMOS – A Reconstruction motivates participants to delve into critical concepts surrounding architecture and technology. Although initially encompassing the entirety of the first floor, the display has currently been reduced to a single corner, next to the elevators that take you to the rest of the museum’s exhibitions. Due to its reduced size and limited space, the display isn’t as visually entrancing as it used to be. However, there is a creative space next to the project, which holds art supplies and magazines where individuals can make their own artworks and collages. Considering the interactive structure of the project, it would be enjoyed best by children and large groups rather than solo patrons. DEMOS – A Reconstruction was also featured in Nuit Blanche 2018, where Angelidakis had it arranged in a structure resembling a stage
and used as seating for the viewing of Tetris Mountain (2003), Building an Electronic Ruin (2011), and MINERVA (2014). These three videos explored Angelidakis’ digital projects preceding the creation of DEMOS – A Reconstruction. Born in Athens, Greek artist Andreas Angelidakis went on to study architecture in California and has received multiple awards for his academic achievements in the field. Angelidakis is a world-renowned artist and has had exhibitions in many cities around the world including Mexico City, Milan, Beijing, Istanbul, and Tokyo. In the early years of the 2000’s, Angelidakis was a member of NEEN, a collective that analyzed and worked with digital art, defined as “the emotional landscape of the internet” by the collective. The purpose of interactive art is to remove the viewer from their passive position and include them in the artistic process. The interactive art itself can’t achieve its purpose unless the viewer participates, thus creating a unique experience for everyone involved. This is why artworks that require audience interaction are meant to be open for interpretation and don’t offer much information regarding the display. The ground floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art, where the DEMOS – A Reconstruction project is located, is free and open to the public. The exhibit runs until January 5, 2020.