Volume 46, Issue 7

October 28, 2019

THE MEDIUM

The Voice of The University of Toronto Mississauga | themedium.ca

Vol 46, No. 7

The bizarre sleeping habits of humans Anthropology professor Dr. David Samson researches sleep and its role in human evolution FEATURES

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Read about why administrators are defending mandated leave policies

NEWS

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Vinney Wong writes about her troubles with accessibility at UTM

COMMENT

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What are the top five never-before seen costumes for Halloween?

Two leads from Theatre Erindale’s The Glove Thief talk shop

SATIRE

ARTS

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Learn more about UTM’s new data collection project on urban environments and climate change

FEATURES

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11

Missed this week’s Wellness Workshop? Read more about it here.

SPORTS

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10.28.2019

Editor | Melissa Barrientos

Administrators defend mandated leave policy Administrators hint at a new response to mental health but strongly defend the mandated leave policy MED KANE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR A number of students gathered at the Hart House Debate Room on October 22 to hear about the new policies University of Toronto leaders will implement to deal with the mental health crisis on campus.

The panel, hosted by the Hart House Debates and Dialogues Committee, acknowledged the role academics play in mental health. The administrators vowed to work around the aging mental health system on campus, assuring students they will build a holistic response to the crisis.

The panel featured the Dean of Students for New, Trinity, and University College as well as representatives from the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and a former Mental Health Coordinator from the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).

The moderator for the panel, Garvia Bailey, a journalist and a producer for Pop Sandbox, a multimedia production company based in Toronto, began the session by asking how the participants have seen mental health evolve on campus.

Ms. Elsie Obeng-Kingsley, a representative from UTSC, said that within the past three years, the volume of students coming to seek counseling has increased.

Her sentiments were supported by other panel members who spoke of the University’s initiative to hire more staff in order to meet the growing demand.

Chad Jankowski, a former Mental Health Coordinator at UTM who now works at the University of Toronto’s St. George campus (UTSG), said that it was “easy to throw shade at the system.” He also stressed that at times there is a lack of coordination among mental health systems at U of T, and communication between students and administrators is corrupted by misunderstandings.

He went on to say that the University has had a very proactive response to mental health, but due to the sensitivity of the issue, much of the university’s response has happened in secrecy.

In addition, other panel members spoke of how the structure of academia has radically changed since their years in college. Several members noted that students are more incentivized to go to graduate school immediately after graduation and that there was increased pressure on students to get a high GPA in university.

Bailey then questioned the administrators on whether they felt struc-

IAN ESPINOSA/UNSPLASH.COM

The controversial mandated leave policy has been officially defended by administration in a tri-campus mental health meeting. turally equipped to deal with the crisis. In response, some members spoke of how an institution as vast as U of T would have inherent difficulty in achieving rapid change.

Kristen Moore, the Dean of Students at Trinity College, said that “there can always be more resources” and “money can help with innovation.” She called for a holistic approach that would involve all members of the U of T community, including professors, staff, and students, to help fight the crisis.

She also pleaded for a greater sense of resilience among students, and for students to enhance the university’s sense of community.

The most contentious point of the forum came when Bailey asked, “How can we address polices that supposedly have good intentions but can worsen mental health?” As an example, she highlighted the University-Mandated Leave of Absence of policy, and which the panel vigorously defended.

Dr. Melinda Scott, Dean of Students at University College, spoke of how the policy actually helps some students avoid academic suspension or overt financial hardships as a result of the crisis that they are facing.

She said the policy is “valuable to students who are ill.” In addition, she stated that there is a very high bar for the policy to be enacted. Scott high-

lighted that in the past there were students who communicated their suicidal thoughts but were not placed under mandated leave to emphasize the high bar of the policy.

The policy was further discussed during a Q&A session when a student asked why there have been incidences in which students who sought help were escorted off campus in handcuffs.

Obeng-Kingsley said that this only occurs if there is an imminent risk of the student harming themselves or staff. She emphasized that the procedure is done with discreteness. Jackets are placed over the handcuffs and the student is escorted quietly off campus.

The panel concluded with the administrators highlighting student involvement in the Mental Health Task Force. They said that student representatives were very involved in the consultations and they hoped that student involvement would lead to accountability for the administration.

Discussions on mental health were not limited to the Hart House panel.

On October 24, the student-led U of T Mental Health Policy Council protested at the U of T’s Governing Council meeting.

A Mental Health Policy Council representative at the protest said the Governing Council “rejected our request to speak about the fight for

mental health supports and our work supporting students.”

As the University Ombudsperson, an independent and impartial counsellor to public complaints to institute administration, Hodnett is required to present an annual report to the Governing Council.

During her report to the Governing Council, Hodnett said she reviewed the eight cases in which the UMLAP was applied and was impressed by the university’s treatment of the cases. She commended U of T and the UMLAP. “In my 44 years here, I have never been prouder to be associated with the University of Toronto — seeing the extreme care, diligence, respectfulness and compassion with which the policy was applied in each case,” said Hodnett to UTM News.

“Students are now being offered the help they need without ending up with police records and an expulsion from the university,” continued Hodnett.

Addressing the student protests groups at the Governing Council meeting Hodnett said the misinformation of the UMLAP is a concerning topic.

“The mandated leave policy is both evidence-based and fair,” said Hodnett. “The continuing protests against the policy are neither evidence-based

nor fair.” Following the meeting, the UTSU’s Executive Committee sent an open letter to Professor Ellen Hodnett, the University Ombudsperson, asking for a formal apology for her comments on the University-Mandated Leave of Absence Policy (UMLAP) and misplaced student activism.

According to the UTSU’s open letter, Hodnett thanked the student groups for their views on the UMLAP but stated the broad consensus on the policy was unsupported.

“Dr. Hodnett accused students of using on-campus deaths as a way to critique UMLAP,” said the UTSU Executive Committee according to the open letter.

“The fact that you,” said the Executive Committee, addressing Hodnett, “told those at this meeting that you are ‘proud’ to be a part of a policy that has been criticized by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and has served as an active detriment to students seeking mental health support on this campus, speaks volumes about your views on listening to us.”

The UTSU Annual General Meeting, where they present their past work and ongoing initiatives, will be held on October 30 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at the Innis Town Hall.

MASTHEAD

10.28.2019 THE MEDIUM NEWS

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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

Cybersecurity: How to keep safe National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a review on cyber threats and hygiene

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Luke Barber and Selena Panchoo discuss cybersecurity at UTM and how everyone can be more safe when surfing online.

NOUR SAQQA CONTRIBUTOR

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the cybersecurity team at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) are highlighting the best practices to prevent cyberattacks.

Like other universities, UTM provides very high bandwidth internet access, making it a potential target for cyber-criminals. As cybersecurity threats increase in complexity with the prevalence of internet-connected devices, the need for cybersecurity and good cyber hygiene grows in importance.

According to the Canadian Center for Cyber Security, cybercrime is the most common cyber threat facing Canadians, Canadian organizations, and Canadian educational institutes.

In 2016, when ransomware—a form of malware that threatens to publish personal data or blocks computer system access to it until a ransom is paid—infiltrated the University of Calgary’s systems, over 25,000 students remained without on-campus Wi-Fi access for two weeks.

Over the past two years, more than 50 nations have published some form of strategy document outlining their stance on cybercrime and cybersecurity. This past September alone, among other similar incidents, two Southwestern Ontario hospitals became the targets of cyber-attacks.

So, what does cybersecurity look like at U of T? And how can students and staff at UTM better protect themselves against cyber threats?

To answer these questions, we met with Luke Barber, UTM’s Informa-

tion and Instructional Technology Director, and Selena Panchoo, UTM’s Information Security Analyst.

The Medium: Why would a cyber-attacker target an educational institution?

Luke Barber: On a grander scale, hackers target universities because of their intellectual property and research. If you’re talking about one of the very sophisticated hacks, they are looking to skip ahead in terms of the research and development. Like many other businesses, we have a wealth of personal and identifiable information, and that’s always a rich target for hackers.

TM: What is the cyber security office at UTM doing to prevent a security breach?

Selena Panchoo: A big part of [prevention] has to do with communication between the information security groups across all three campuses because if someone notices something that seems unusual, and they share that with the other campuses, everyone can work together.

LB: Another example of prevention would be end-user education.

That’s part of the cybersecurity awareness program that Selena has put together. End-user education is essentially the human firewall.

TM: October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. How are you and your team outreaching to students on campus?

SP: Part of it is done through the service desk. Anytime anyone comes by there, the people at the desk offer to look at their phone and make sure that all of their settings are secure.

This includes setting a pin or encryption and making sure they have updated their phone. Those are things

that really make a difference. Other things we’re doing include sharing daily tips on our Twitter account.

TM: Phishing emails are now very sophisticated. What kind of information should students and staff pay attention to?

SP: I think the first thing is to define what a phish is. A phishing attempt is a fraudulent message, and usually it’s created and sent to an individual or group with the intent of getting personal information, username or log-in details, or banking information. What students and staff want to be careful of is making sure that when they receive an urgent message that says, “Hey, you need to respond to this,” or “Could you purchase this for me?” or “Could you take a look at this file,” they stop and ask whether the message is from the person they think it’s from. Phishing messages usually look a lot like the original sender. Sometimes, they’re full of spelling errors and grammatical errors. Sometimes, they are obvious, but these days they look pretty close to what you might expect from your bank, or some other account you may have with an organization.

LB: Some of the things we tell our staff and faculty to keep in mind, which would apply to anyone, is that there’s a monetary reason why phishing is done. Phishing is much easier to do than complicated hacking. Phishes are so cheap to send.

You might look at one and go, “that’s silly. It’s full of typos, and it’s RBC. I don’t even bank with RBC. I can’t believe someone would fall for this.”

But, they’re sending millions of them, and so, at some point, they’re going to find someone who does not notice the typos, and is an RBC customer,

and they’re going to click on it.

TM: If someone clicks on the attachment, what should the person do next?

LB: One thing we do encourage students and faculty to do is come to the service desk because, beyond that, you’re probably looking at trying to run some antivirus or malware, which isn’t necessarily an accessible thing. I would also encourage students and staff to change all their passwords.

SP: The reason it is great to go to the service desk instead of trying to contact an individual person through email is because multiple people can then deal with the issue right away.

TM: If you could give students advice on how to best maintain good cyber hygiene, what would it be?

LB: Make sure your device is both locked and encrypted. Do not install or plug other things into your laptops because they could have the same payloads that the email virus could have. Also, a good guiding principle is to give away the absolute least amount of information that you need to. That’s what someone needs to be critical of.

The I&ITS department will continue to host cybersecurity activities during October like the Cyberbullying panel discussion on October 28 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Maanjiwe Nendamowinan building. The event will discuss online harassment and how to report cyberbullying.

For more information on I&ITS cybersecurity tips, visit their newsletter, I&ITS News.

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THE MEDIUM 10.28.2019

MiWay routes STTPA: Sustainability & IT improve service The STTPA panel discusses ways IT meets sustainability initiatives

UTM bus-route favourites improve service stops

PHOTO/ENTRO.COM

MiWay route changes have been introduced to popular spots.

SALEHA FARUQUE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

TASKIN ASHIQ/UNSPLASH.COM

A panel on IT was featured at the Sustainability Conference held on campus over reading week.

SYEDA HASAN CONTRIBUTOR When presented with the terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘IT’ within the same sentence, one cannot help but perceive them as being an oxymoron. It can be quite difficult to fathom that million-dollar information technology firms are capable of focusing on ecological well-being rather than solely on profit-generation.

However, contrary to popular belief, IT is known to contribute a minimal percentage to global carbon emissions. In fact, companies are now looking towards technological innovations to leverage their sustainability initiatives.

According to a recent report titled Smart 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age, a better and more efficient use of enterprise technology may be able to reduce global carbon emissions by 15 per cent and save industries approximately USD 720 billion in annual energy costs by 2020.

The second day of the Sustainability: Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice, and Action (STTPA) conference on October 17 saw representatives from prominent IT companies gather together and reinforce the idea of technology as a beneficial factor in achieving sustainable goals.

The ‘Sustainability and IT’ session grouped the head of sustainability at Hewlett-Packard (HP) Frances Edmonds, the Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Cisco Willa Black, and the Director of OEM Development at Microsoft Robert Santin in a panel discussion moderated by Brent Smiley, the Director of IT Asset Disposition at Compugen Finance.

During the session, emphasis was placed on the fact that e-waste, a term referring to electronic devices that have reached the final stage of their usability, is having a detrimental effect on the environment and is thus increasing the need for e-waste disposal initiatives.

In particular, plastics in equipment are nearly impossible to break down and thus remain in the environment for hundreds of years. “Unlike met-

als, there is no market for used plastics. The problem wasn’t as obvious before because for many years, the West exported plastics to developing countries,” said Edmonds in the panel discussion.

There is now an ever-growing need to develop in-house capacity to manage this waste because if not looked into, it is estimated that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.

In order to play its part in mitigating waste, Compugen Finance has launched the Green 4 Good program which promotes the recycling and upcycling of end-of-life IT assets by offering a price to customers to handover their used electronics in order to be picked-up, transferred, and processed.

The customers are encouraged to use their payment to support the community by contributing to charities. In fact, Compugen helped BMO save $1 million that it was putting into IT asset disposition by doing the work for them and thus turning asset disposition into a source of revenue, half a million of which has been given to various charities in the last five years.

To date, Compugen has managed to process over 1.6 million IT assets.

Eight per cent of these assets were recycled while 92 per cent were repurposed. Because of this, the program has managed to generate $3.2 million which was used to support 165 charities across North America.

In addition, HP has been relying on a closed-loop plastic recycling model which it initiated almost 15 years ago.

The idea behind this initiative is to recycle old printer cartridges—which contain a high amount of plastic—so that they may be upcycled to create new cartridges. This process has helped HP reduce its energy consumption by 63 per cent and its water consumption by 38 per cent.

HP has also formed a partnership with the survivors of the Haiti earthquake whereby it pays the survivors a sum of money to collect PET bottles to be used to generate ink cartridges as well.

In the past five years alone, HP has

successfully been able to produce 3.8 billion ink and toner cartridges out of 830 million HP cartridges, 101 million apparel hangers, and 4.3 billion plastic bottles.

While Compugen and HP discussed their measures to reduce plastic waste, Cisco and Microsoft focused more on the social aspect of sustainability. For example, Cisco has a global presence in internet networking and created the Connected North initiative with the help of Willa Black.

The aim of this program is to leverage Cisco’s telepresence technology that overcomes the limitations of time and distance during communication, in order to aid members of the Indigenous communities in the North.

Research found that Indigenous people suffered substance addiction and had high drop-out rates due to their communities lacking access to resources for social well-being.

Black identified this as an opportunity to step in and improve wellbeing and so Connected North was launched in Nunavut in 2012. A telepresence unit was installed in classrooms and connected to university members so that they may teach the students.

Because of its immense success, the program expanded and, to date, 75 schools from Yukon to Nunavut have been empowered with 3, 211 sessions delivered so far. However, Cisco will not stop there and plans to reach its goal of assisting 100 schools within the next 18 months.

Robert Stantin, the representative of Microsoft, closed the session by mentioning the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher Program (MAR) that aims to provide groups of people that are unable to access computers, with refurbished models.

Furthermore, it has authorized third-party refurbishers to use its software in its models and offers warranties on these models as well.

In fact, just last year, approximately 900,000 PCs were refurbished, out of which 85,000 were provided to schools, 90,000 to charities, and 686,000 to consumers and businesses.

University of Toronto Mississauga students can look forward to more convenient changes to some common bus routes.

Last week, Mississauga’s public transportation service, MiWay, announced revisions to some bus routes and schedules. According to the city, these changes are meant to “provide more streamlined routing, added frequency, more service hours, and better connectivity.”

Route 101 Dundas Express, which runs Monday through Saturday, will now benefit from a Sunday service between 9:40 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., with a 20-minute service frequency.

Between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays, service frequency will be improved from 20 minutes to 15 minutes. Changes to weekday schedules have also been made on eastbound and westbound routes.

These changes will be in full swing starting Monday, October 28.

Other UTM bus-route favourites were also targeted as part of the MiWay Five Transit Service Plan (20162020).

Northbound and southbound weekday schedules for both 109 Meadowvale Express and 110 University Express were revised to minimize express route conflicts at the City Centre Terminal.

109 Meadowvale Express will see further improved service frequencies between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on for the weekday schedules. Saturday service frequency will run every 15 minutes instead of every 23 minutes, and on Sunday every 17 minutes instead of every 23 minutes.

MiWay press also announced major streamlining route changes to three additional routes: Route 38 Creditview, Route 68 Terry Fox (the new route name for 68 Windsor Hill), and the Rick Hansen Secondary School Service.

From 2016 to 2020, the MiWay Five Transit Service Plan will transform Mississauga’s transit system from its city-centre focused design to a grid network allowing more frequent and direct service along main corridors.

Planned service changes will occur every six to eight weeks throughout the year.

QSS meets & talks QSS looked at departments with mandatory fees ISIK VERA SENEL ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR The second Quality Service to Students (QSS) committee meeting, held last Wednesday, discussed department highlights and upcoming events.

Led by QSS Chairperson Nour Alideeb, the meeting started with the election of a 2019-2020 UTM student-at-large representative for the Athletics Governing Council, which resulted in the election of Miguel Cabral, the UTMSU’s Vice-President of University Affairs.

The majority of the committee’s discussions were about departments with mandatory fees like Recreation and Athletics, Career Services, and Student Transportation. Individual advisory groups will meet with the departments to work on improving them.

The departments with “opt-outable” fees like Early Learning Centre and Family Care, Student Life Clubs, and Alcohol Education and Monitoring were briefly mentioned. A single advisory group will get together at a

later time to discuss all of them together.

Dean of Student Affairs Mark Overton read a note sent by Erin Kraftcheck, Director of the Health and Counselling Centre (HCC), stating that with over 15,000 appointments every year, the centre has been working towards same day and justin-time counselling appointments.

“Over the past couple of years, through the QSS process, we’ve been working to increase access to personal counselors by gradually increasing the counselling staff available,” said Overton.

The QSS plans to have an additional advisory group get together to discuss the departments with “optoutable” fees, instead of having individual groups discuss them.

Nour Alideeb also stated that she would be stepping down as chair and that the nominations and election of a new QSS Chairperson would take place in the next committee meeting.

The next Quality Services to Students meeting will be on November 13.

10.28.2019 THE MEDIUM NEWS

First Experiential Fair Students learn about the real-life experience opportunities on campus

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Edibles available in Canada (in Dec) A year after cannabis legalization, edibles are here

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Edibles have been legalized in Canada a year after cannabis.

HEMA RAMNARINE CONTRIBUTOR JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

The first ever Experiential Fair was held at UTM and featured great opportunities for students.

ABDULLAH SHER CONTRIBUTOR Students got the chance to attend UTM’s first ever Experiential Education Fair last Wednesday, where they were exposed to various work and experience opportunities available to them.

The Experiential Education Fair, held in the Maanjiwe Nendamowinan building, had a variety of company stations and sessions where professors shared information about internships, Research Opportunity Programs (ROP), independent research projects, and thesis programs.

“It was informational, and it got me thinking more about my future and how to make me stand out as a candidate for graduate studies or work in my field of study,” said Maha Chowdhury, a fourth-year biotechnology specialist and chemistry minor.

Running for about 20 minutes each, the information sessions informed students about the opportunities available to them to gain real-life experience in academic departments, co-curricular organizations, and community organizations on campus.

The informational panels also guided students on how to apply for each experiential learning (EL) opportunity.

The fair also reminded students about the experience-based learning they could do in their upper year studies. Certain courses like the in-

ternship and thesis courses provide students with valuable experience that is applicable to work they may do after their undergraduate degree.

The information session hosted by the Department of Biology called “Experience: Get Out There and Explore with BIO400” focused on the department’s internship program, BIO400, a full-year program requiring both in-class lectures and an internship at a company. Students can choose a company from a diverse range of fields, like biotech, lab research, orthopedics, or pediatric oncology.

The Department of Psychology’s information session also highlighted its first ever Psychology Abroad course, the 2020 Summer Abroad Program in Oxford, England (PSY306Y0). The Summer Abroad Program will have EL opportunities to learn about persons with disabilities.

Other information sessions included the Department of English & Drama’s EL projects, the Career Centre’s call for on- and off-campus opportunities, the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, & Technology’s internship courses, and the Department of Language Studies’ French Summer Program EL opportunity.

There were also representatives from the Riverwood Conservancy, Theatre Erindale, RGASC, the Career Centre, Dalriada Drug Discov-

ery, and ICUBE, among others. The organizations offered opportunities for engagement outside of classrooms and academic work.

The fair was split into two sections.

Companies from various fields had set up booths in the Grand Hall and the information sessions were held on the upper floors of the MN building.

Students who wanted to explore the experiential learning opportunities for their programs could attend the information sessions and then following the session they could go back to the Grand Hall to speak to the companies present.

The layout of the fair was met with some criticism from students.

“To be honest in my opinion it was disorganized and not very well advertised,” said Chowdhury.

“For my science program I had to go to a classroom and then go back down to speak to the companies that came, and I feel they wanted resumes and for you to come prepared. But in the flyers and email about the fair it didn’t say that clearly.”

The Experiential Education Unit (EEU)’s next event will be the Grandmothers Behind the Scenes presentation by Dr. Rula Kahil on November 5 at the Mississauga Central Library.

The presentation is part of EEU’s Lecture Me series.

On October 17, exactly one year after the legalization of cannabis, cannabis edibles and other products were officially made legal to buy and sell in Canada.

Canadians will be able to purchase cannabis in a number of ways, either by buying from a local licensed store or through the official government website.

“Students who meet the legal requirements for THC purchase and use can do so as long as they don’t interfere with university operations or risk the health or safety of others,” said Mark Overton, Dean of Student Affairs and Assistant Principal, Student Services.

Similar to the legalization of cannabis in 2018, UTM will not be opposing strict regulations of cannabis on campus. Instead, they will offer students resources at the Health & Counselling Centre (HCC).

UTM will also be enhancing its health education initiatives on cannabis use and its risk on physical health, mental health, and social well-being.

“I don’t anticipate that UTM will have a significant role in controlling edibles containing THC,” said Overton. “Just as we don’t provide or sell tobacco or THC vaping products on campus, we don’t anticipate offering THC edibles either.”

The government hopes that by legally providing a wider range of cannabis products, it will deprive illegal markets of business and keep money out of the hands of criminals and organized crime by giving Canadians another, safer option.

By mid-December, customers will have a wide range of products to choose from. An “edible” is anything that can be infused with weed and then consumed, which means everything from brownies to beer could be on the market.

Producers have announced plans for cannabis-infused water, wine, chocolate, gummies, cookies, and more.

Topicals, which are any kind of product that can be absorbed through the skin, like lotions or balms, have also been added to the list of newly legal cannabis products.

Lots of new merchandise means lots of new rules however, which have been outlined by Health Canada.

Edibles will have the same age restriction of 19 years and older and are required to be clearly labelled as THC-infused products. Each package has a limit of 10 mg of THC, with no added nicotine or alcohol, and limits on added caffeine.

The packages must also be plain and “[un]appealing to youth” to keep cannabis out of the hands of minors, a large worry of those who were opposed to the legalization.

Like other food products, the labels must contain nutritional content, ingredient lists, and allergen warnings, as well as the equivalence of THC measured in dried cannabis, to make it easier to comply with the public possession limit of 30 grams.

Edibles must also not make any sort of health, dietary, or cosmetic claims.

Companies like TerrAscend Corp. have obtained the Health Canada license to sell edibles, topicals, and extracts come December.

10.28.2019

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Editor | Vinney Wong

Leads of The Glove Thief talk shop Emma Ratcliff and Samantha Dodds star in Theatre Erindale’s take on Beth Flintoff’s classic drama VINNEY WONG A&E EDITOR

Last Thursday, Beth Flintoff’s The Glove Thief opened at UTM’s Erindale Theatre. Directed by Meredith Scott, the show takes audiences back to 1589 when Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I. The historical drama follows a group of Elizabethan tapestry-makers who, under machinations of men, sew their way through political unrest while charting their own paths in English history.

Prior to the show’s opening, The Medium caught up with Emma Ratcliffe and Samantha Dodds, who play Queen Elizabeth and Rose 2 respectively, to talk about the show, their preparations, and what they hope audiences will take away from watching it.

The Medium: Can you tell me what The Glove Thief is about?

Emma Ratcliffe: The Glove Thief is partially based on the feud between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, but it has a fresh take on it with the inclusion of Bess of Hardwick, who was another historical figure [and] the richest woman of England. She takes in a lower-class girl named Rose, who becomes her servant, and they uncover the plot of what was going on with Mary, Queen of Scots, who was living in her house.

Samantha Dodds: The play is about the relationships between the women and how they kept themselves busy [with tapestry] for all the time they were imprisoned in Bess’ house. Also, the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary, even though they never met, but how that relationship existed through letters.

TM: What characters do you play and how do they differ from each other?

ER: We’re a lot different! We actually don’t interact much with each other in the play.

SD: I play Rose 2 who is the future version of Rose who is the servant that Bess takes in to help her in the castle. She is very low class and was living on the street when Bess finds her. When Bess takes her into the castle, she experiences warmth and love for the first time.

ER: I play Queen Elizabeth I. More of my material was about female leadership and what it means to be a woman in power. [Elizabeth] was always surrounded by men because that was how it was in history even though the play centres around female relationships. [She] had a

lot of male advisors helping her and [the play] follows her journey through a lot of political unrest… having to navigate men who keep trying to control her even though she technically has the power [over them].

TM: What was the preparation and rehearsal process like?

SD: We had to do a lot of research on the time period and the actual people that others are portraying.

For me, because Rose is not based on a real person, I did a lot of research on what it was like for peasants in that era and what life would be like without living in a castle or having money.

ER: Definitely a lot of research and table reads. Meredith’s a really amazing director who’s very specific [about her vision]. There was a lot of detail work, which is where the good stuff happens, such as getting down to the objectives, specifics, tactics. We rehearsed for six weeks.

TM: As you both mentioned, the play is set in a different time period. What were some of the challenges with having to act in a time period that’s so far removed from modern day society?

SD: I think the biggest challenge were the dresses, but because Meredith is taking such a contemporary look on the period, it didn’t feel that challenging. One of the things you have to remember is the people who are playing with status have to embody that characteristic when you see them. Meredith has a really good way with saying “who would the queen be like if you saw them in real life?” Meredith found a way to make the play accessible for modern day audiences.

ER: The show has a very contemporary take on it. We’re still playing in the time period, but Meredith brings that distant period together with the present. [We are able to see] parallels that are still happening today with society. It wasn’t too challenging aside from getting the corsets and props down.

TM: Female empowerment is a central them within this play, how do your characters embody that?

ER: My character has a lot to say about female leadership. There’s a lot of female empowerment at all levels of status. Every woman who is on stage is trapped in some way or another and even though they are different from one another, they’re all dealing with the same thing.

Mary is literally trapped in a tower. Rose is trapped by her circumstances, but she [eventually] breaks free of them to some extent. Bess is trapped by a marriage that doesn’t make her happy. Everyone is on the

THEATRE ERINDALE/FACEBOOK

The Glove Thief, a dramatic play about enemy Queens, has officially opened at Theatre Erindale. same boat regardless of status.

SD: Rose is trapped by her circumstances. At the beginning, you see her having no real way of moving on with her life. But when she’s taken into the castle, she’s empowered by Bess and the other women she sees around her and how they give her a sense of comradery. I think that’s really important for Rose and her journey.

TM: What do you enjoy the most about playing your characters? Are there any similarities or differences that you share with the characters?

ER: Elizabeth’s really feisty and I think that’s super relatable. A lot of the script is like that with all the characters. I love getting to transform into her with the costumes be-

cause it’s very different from how we dress in real life. Although there are differences, I feel very connected to the material.

SD: Rose has this wild spirit that’s having to wear these fancy dresses. She wants to have a good time which I relate to and so it’s fun to play someone who is not used to wearing corsets. But my character is the older version of Rose 1 so she has had more experience wearing corsets, but it’s still fun to dress up.

TM: What are some unexpected things you can reveal about the show?

SD: You can hear Lizzo! [Laughs] ER: There’s a few pop songs in the play.

TM: Lastly, what do you hope viewers will take away from the

show?

SD: The obvious one is that although the time period seems so far away, what the women then went through is still relevant today.

ER: I think Rose’s arc is still so touching. Even though she doesn’t completely break free of everything that’s against her in her life, seeing her go from where she was in her life at the beginning of the play to the end where she’s starting a new chapter is really empowering.

Knowing that women can change their circumstances if they are given opportunities to do so is an important lesson that audiences can take away from watching our show.

The Glove Thief runs from October 24 to November 3 at Erindale Theatre.

HAYDEN MAK/THE MEDIUM

Emma Ratcliffe and Samantha Dodds discuss the themes of the play and the female relationships.

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A Streetcar Named Desire pulls up at the theatre Soulpepper Theatre’s rendition brings new life to Tennessee William’s award-winning classic APRIL JOY ABIT CONTRIBUTIR The theatre is plunged in total darkness. Garbled conversations, blaring car horns, rumbling engines, echoing footsteps. The sounds of the streets bring the room to life. A single spotlight shines on Blanche DuBois (Amy Rutherford). And so begins Soulpepper Theatre’s rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Director Weyni Mengesha’s retelling of Tennessee William’s award-winning classic captivates the audience from beginning to end.

With talented actors and a dynamic set, it’s difficult to focus on anything else but the reality the stage creates.

The play focuses on the complexity of humans. How fickle they are.

How fragile. Mengesha takes these qualities that William penned and holds them up in a new light. Taking what each character has and turning it this way and that for the audience to examine and understand. Coupled with the masterful use of music and scene setting, we are thrust into the characters’ lives, before things break open.

Set in New Orleans during the late 1940s, the play dramatizes the allure of fantasy and the cruelty of reality. Family. Love. Loss. Desire.

DAHLIA KATZ/SOULPEPPER THEATRE

Soulpepper Theatre is putting on a wonderful rendition of the classic A Streetcar Named Desire.

The premise of the story seems simple. Critical older sister Blanche barges into the home of her sister Stella (Leah Doz) and brother-inlaw Stanley (Mac Fyfe). Almost immediately we see Blanche’s character. A lady of etiquette and breeding with a propensity for imbibing in alcohol and a habit of lying through her flighty smile. This is a sharp

contrast to her practical younger sister with the patience of a saint and the bravery of a lion.

Blanche’s unannounced visit doesn’t sit quite well with Stanley, someone she would later describe as common, animalistic, and unsuited for her sister. This leads to both of them picking each other apart with Stella trying to find some sort of

middle ground.

Tensions run high and strings of patience are pulled taut as Blanche overstays her welcome at the Kowalski household. One too many lies, two too many arguments, and three too many drinks lead to a climactic evening where everything falls apart, just as Blanche does.

The strength of this produc-

tion lies in the casting and creative direction. Each actor is fully immersed in their character. Whether they are in the centre of the conflict such as Blanche and Stanley, or a humble flower vendor that fosters a sense of authenticity long after he’s left the stage.

It is the very same dedication to authenticity that may make it difficult to get through for audiences.

Mature themes are abundant. Sexual promiscuity, violence, abuse, mental instability. Grim topics woven into a story that needs to be told. It is this difficulty that makes the take-away so important, as long as you can sit through the lingering odour of the herbal cigarettes frequently lit on stage.

There are small pockets of reprieve. Artistic scene breaks in the form of wordless tunes and a lively band. Funny interjections by minor characters. Just enough to break the heavy message the story carries. Then we’re dragged back with dialogue that rings vibrantly with meaning. It’s three hours and thirteen minutes of sheer artistry that will haunt you long after you’ve left the room.

Talking Walls: The becoming of students The exhibition at Hart House transforms the way we view university, student life, and our futures RACHAEL MASIH CONTRIBUTOR To celebrate Hart House’s 100th anniversary, Talking Walls is an exhibit that integrates interactive spaces in the hallways of the famed student centre for arts.

Day Milman, the senior coordinator at Hart House, curated three separate exhibits: “What are you Becoming?” “Change Happens Here,” and “What I Wish I Knew: Peer Wisdom,” which will run from October 22 to October 31.

The three exhibition spaces each take up one wall on each floor of Hart House.

“What are you Becoming?” decorates the Fitness Centre hallway with rows of photographs of students. Each student was asked “what are you becoming?” and photographed with their response written on a blank page.

Each answer reflected the ways the university experience changes us.

Some responses were expected like “lawyer,” “pharmacist,” and “teacher,” which point out how university helps us become the professionals we aspire to be.

Students also responded with words like “fearless,” “good student,” “activist,” “married,” and “me.”

These words show how university does more than educate. It transforms the way you view yourself, your relationships, your political

AIMEE PADILLO/THE MEDIUM

Art exhibits are on at Hart House discussing student identity, change, the past, and the future. stances, and your work habits.

One photo stood out as oppositional. A student wrote “poor!” on his card. It was incredibly interesting to note the different responses.

Yes, we will be lawyers and activists, but many of us we will also be in debt.

Overall, the photos on the wall, embody students’ feelings about being part of the University of Toronto. The display pushes you to think of the tens of thousands of others

that walk the same halls as you, each growing and changing every day just as you are into who they’re going to be as a citizen of the world.

Upstairs, framed posters from 1919-2019 titled “Change Happens Here” line the main floor hallway and detail Hart House’s history. The piece was written by Day Milman and Dr. Leonarda Carranza and designed by Alexander Young.

The exhibit focuses on moments of increased change and tension

while the piece walks you through the inclusion of women as members of Hart House.

The process took so long, that Audrey Hozack, the Assistant Warden in 1971, was barred from entering in certain Hart House rooms.

Milman and Carranza go on to discuss the inclusion of Muslim Faith groups, LGBTQ+ groups and Indigenous voices, as well as accommodation for those with accessibility concerns.

The authors insist that Hart House recognizes its errors of the past and is reconciling with the future.

“Change happens at the speed of trust,” Milman and Carranza wrote.

The authors’ exhibition represents Hart House’s ever-present balancing act between tradition and growth.

They comment on the clash between the colonial nature of the building with the multitude of diverse art and voices inside.

“What I Wish I Knew: Peer Wisdom” in the second-floor hallway highlights quotes about growth from students. Each poster pulls a key quote from a brief interview with a student on what they wish they could tell themselves in the past.

Milman placed QR Codes at the bottoms of each poster for museum-goers to gain more context.

The interactive portion of the posters brings life to the phrase “if these walls could talk” because now we know exactly what they’d say.

If you’re interested in experiencing the exhibition, the secondfloor hallway will host a new Talking Walls exhibit curated by The Art Museum titled, “Re-imagining Place: The Hart House Centennial Art Commission” from November and into early December.

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Understanding the history of hip-hop Rapper Noyz discussed the significance of hip-hop genres during his talk at Oscar Peterson Hall RACHAEL MASIH CONTRIBUTOR Brampton born hip-hop artist, Noyz, facilitated a Hip-Hop 101 Café at Oscar Peterson Hall on October 22.

The session was the second of seven Hip-Hop 101 Cafés set to take place this Fall.

The series started at Hart House, but the coordinators expanded it to be available across all three U of T campuses.

Hart House, in partnership with UTM’s International Education Centre and Student Housing & Residence Life held a Hip-Hop focused roundtable discussion for students interested in learning more about Hip-Hop. This week’s topic was about HipHop and global issues.

Noyz came prepared with a brief history of the origins of hip-hop, as well as several sample songs that illustrate each of the topics he planned to cover in the discussion.

Although only a couple of people who didn’t work with one of the partnering organizations were present, the turnout didn’t stop the talk from being full of depth and insight.

Since each student came from a different level of experience with and attachment to Hip-hop, Noyz began the discussion with a history lesson.

According to him, Hip-hop’s roots formed in New York City in the 1970s. The city was verging on bankruptcy and experiencing an uprise

PHOTO/NOYZHIPHOP.BANDCAMP.COM

The History of Hip-Hop was a workshop presented by Noyz, a Brampton born artist. in gang activity. There were more drugs, more violence, and less funding for schools.

When kids realized school wasn’t of benefit, they took to the streets, and to Hip-hop.

The Ghetto Brothers in particular were a non-violent gang that shared music and community in a time of struggle for what was mostly Black and Latino youth. They would MC in public spaces during the 1960s.

When the art form began to get picked up by radio stations, people

seized an opportunity to speak out about the lack of services and opportunities for themselves and their families. Hip-hop emerged as a platform for social justice; a tradition that lives on to this day.

With a broad understanding of where Hip-Hop came from, Noyz explained the dominance of the genre throughout history.

“It’s not just a dope beat, it’s a relevant discourse at the same time,” Noyz said.

He went on to discuss the ap-

peal of Hip-hop’s low barrier to entry. Noyz explained that Hip-Hop evolved from the long tradition of oral storytelling, and that “all you need is a voice.”

Because of its accessibility, Hiphop has gone from a subculture of music creation in New York City to a worldwide inciter of change.

As the topic of the night was HipHop and Global Issues, Noyz introduced the participants to rap produced by artists from Latin America, Russia, and those descended from

immigrants, like himself.

Participants in the roundtable also discussed the different ways that Hip-Hop can bring social change within different cultural contexts.

In Latin America, female rappers like Rebecca Lane who has stepped onto the scene and rapped about their circumstances are paving a way for women to feel accepted in the Hip-Hop space. Not only do her lyrics reflect on political issues, but she becomes a political figure through her music.

A question that was explored during the session was: can you be a political artist without explicitly political lyrics?

Noyz answered this question by showing Baby Tape, a Hip-hop artist from Russia. Russia imposes strict regulations on popular culture. As a result, Russians have found a counterculture in Hip-Hop. Baby Tape loads his music with vulgar language and cuss words, which isn’t inherently political until you put it in context as art that breaks the rules.

As the session came to an end, we heard about the power of telling stories from the past. Noyz played Shad’s “I’ll Never Understand,” a song about his mother living through the Rwandan genocide and his own song “Keep Moving On” about his father’s life as a migrant worker.

“Just by sharing a narrative, you’re taking a stance and sometimes, these stories only exist within the sphere of Hip-hop,” Noyz concluded.

Get your scare on with this spooky to-do list From haunted house to pumpkin patches, there’s an event for everyone this spooky season SHALOMI RANASINGHE ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR

As October begins, the inevitable spooky season is upon us. Leaves change colour and fall to the ground, the air becomes crisp, and sunlight fades away quicker. Every year, October brings the Halloween season to the world, preparing us for spooky and autumn-themed fun. If you’re interested in taking part of the Spooky Season To Do List, keep reading for some GTA fun.

Haunted Houses! Who doesn’t love a good scare? Haunted Houses and mazes are a great Halloween themed activity. One haunted house that is a must-see is Legends of Horror at Casa Loma in Toronto. The castle is transformed into a huge haunted house and features a two kilometer walk, filled with horror figures and various scares. Participants take part in a self-guided walk—which allows them to move at their own speed.

Throughout the castle grounds, the walk features frightful Halloween scares. Legends of Horror runs until October 31.

If the scare of haunted houses does not excite you, head to a local farm to visit a pumpkin patch and pick apples. Grab some friends and plan a trip to pick fresh fruit and vegetables

AARON BURDEN/UNSPLASH.COM

From haunted houses to spooky treats, here are some things you should do during October. that are in season. Downey’s Farm Market and Downey’s Apple Farm are located in Inglewood and are crowd favourites with a 4.3 and 4.1 google review, respectively. Other locations close to UTM are Chudleigh’s Farm in Milton, with a 4.2 google review, and Williams’ Orchard, also in Milton, with a 4.6 google review.

Once you’ve picked your pumpkin and some apples, bake some delicious treats! Either make a pumpkin

pie, apple pie, banana and pumpkin bread, or apple crisp; the possibilities are endless. As you wait for the treats to bake, create other Halloween themed snacks. But not just any snacks, get together with some friends to bake and decorate cookies!

Bake cookies in the shapes of pumpkins, bats, and even ghosts, then ice them to your hearts desires. If baking is not your style, try a pumpkincarving contest instead!

To accompany your yummy treats, how about a Halloween movie marathon? Get into the spooky season groove with a marathon of all the best Halloween films. Watch some Disney classics such as: Hocus Pocus (1993), Halloweentown (Series), Twitches (Series), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Or, have a horror movie marathon filled with ghosts, psychopaths, paranormal activity, and creepy dolls. Some horror clas-

sics include: the Scream franchise, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Child’s Play (1988), The Nightmare on Elm Street collection, and The Conjuring (2013). You can even stream recent horror movies such as: Annabelle Comes Home (2019), IT Chapter Two (2019), Us (2019), Slender Man (2018), and Hereditary (2018).

What’s better than watching scary movies? Being in one! Take part in an escape room at NOWAYOUT Escape Rooms, Escape From the 6, or Perplexity Escape Games, all located in Mississauga. Escape rooms are a great way to use your detective skills and team work to solve the puzzle.

If you prefer to enjoy the fresh autumn air, take a fall walk and see the colours of changing leaves. Grab some friends and venture into nature.

Some trails close to UTM are Erindale Park, Meadowvale Conservation Area, and Lake Aquitaine Trail.

Whether you prefer a steady walk or a daring hike, find a location near you that provides the experience you want.

Regardless of the activities you choose, make sure it is safe and fun.

Halloween and autumn are a time for exciting thrills. So, get out there and create your own Spooky Season To Do List to keep you in the Halloween groove this October.

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Early Rubens: Baroque from Antwerp to Toronto

PETER PAUL RUBENS/ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

This painting of Medusa is featured in the Early Rubens exhibit at the AGO until January 5, 2020.

ISIK VERA SENEL CONTRIBUTOR The exhibition Early Rubens, which displays the earlier works of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), runs at the Art Gallery of Ontario from October 12 until January 5, 2020.

Peter Paul Rubens was very successful during his lifetime and it would be a great injustice to classify him strictly as a painter. He was employed in the royal courts of many European countries, not only as an artist, but also as a humanist, scholar, entrepreneur, and diplomat.

Early Rubens is composed of Rubens’ best works between the years of 1609 and 1621. After his return to his hometown of Antwerp, Belgium a year prior, Rubens began to apply his Italian art education and created the most influential and inspiring works of the seventeenth century, thus playing a significant role in the beginning and development of the Baroque art movement.

With over twenty prints and thirty paintings, this exhibition is a collaboration between the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Fine Arts Muse-

ums of San Francisco. The paintings on display include “The Massacre of Innocents,” “Daniel in the Lions’ Den,” and “Head of Medusa,” three of his most famous and captivating paintings.

Curated by Kirk Nickel and Sasha Suda, this magnificent exhibition spans across six rooms and even includes live music from the Baroque period. Each room has its own atmosphere and is divided into themes and genres, such as portraits, biblical scenes, and mythology.

By using different colour schemes and live music, which can be heard from all of the rooms, the thought and attention put into the sophisticated composition of Early Rubens can be felt as you walk through.

With each room more captivating and entrancing than the one before, this exhibition takes over the senses and provides the audience with an experience that resembles a journey more than it does a display.

The exhibition ends with the “The Massacre of the Innocents,” arguably the most violent and emotionally enthralling artwork of Rubens. The dark walls of the final room, paired

with strategic lighting, give the illusion of the painting glowing and staring down at you, further intensifying the brutal tragedy of the event it displays. Inspired by the biblical narrative of the same name, this painting displays the slaughter of babies and children on the order of King Herod.

“The intensity of this image, I believe, is meant to convey the toxicity of one leader’s desire for power above all else,” says Suda in an interview with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Early Rubens also features a small interactive area where people can learn about the Baroque period, review the specific characteristics that classify a painting as Baroque and make their own digital artwork inspired by the movement.

The exit leads into a gift shop that sells items with images of Rubens’ paintings or products inspired by seventeenth century Belgium. From mugs displaying “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” to an AGO exclusive tea blend inspired by Rubens’ floral paintings, visitors can bring a piece of Early Rubens and Antwerp home with them.

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10/31

Dubrow on print culture in South Asia HIRA BURNEY CONTRIBUTOR Jennifer Dubrow, an associate professor in the Department of South Asian Civilizations at University of Washington, came to UTM last Monday to talk about her first book, Cosmopolitan Dreams: The Making of Modern Urdu Literary Culture in Colonial South Asia. The book is a major contribution to the study of literary culture. Her research and teaching focuses on Hindi and Urdu literary modernisms in post-independence India and Pakistan, print culture and history of books in South Asia, and South Asian modernisms.

Currently, she is set to begin working on her second book Voicing Dissent: Urdu Literary Modernism and the Progressive Writers in 20th-century South Asia, which is based off modern Hindi and Urdu literatures.

Her research has been supported by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies and the American Institute of Indian Studies.

In her talk, Dubrow discussed Cosmopolitan Dreams and how the arrival of print fostered a dynamic and interactive literary culture. Her book traces the emergence of a dynamic and interactive Urdu print culture in late nineteenth century South Asia and explores how literature became a sight in which modern day life can be lampooned, debated, and critiqued.

Cosmopolitan Dreams reveals the cosmopolitan world of Urdu literary culture in the late nineteenth century arguing against current understand-

HAYDEN MAK/THE MEDIUM

Jennifer Dubrow discussed her new book Cosmopolitan Dreams.

10/31

10:00 p.m.-2:00a.m.

6:00 p.m.-8:00p.m.

UTMSU & Clubs Societies Haunted Carnival

UTMSU Halloween Pub Night

Zombies and Existential Horror

UTMSU & Club Societies want you to come by for some games and food!

Join the UTMSU for a fright night at the Blind Duck Pub.

The Philosophy Academic Society is hosting an educational + entertaining discussion on existential horror this Thursday.

11:00 a.m.-4:00

ings of Urdu as an exclusively Muslim language.

A central concern of the book is the ways that print helped to create an Urdu cosmopolis in late nineteenth century South Asia. According to Dubrow, cosmopolis is used to indicate how Urdu readers and writers imagine themselves as citizens of an Urdu speaking transregional yet nonnational community that was global and outlooked and consciously resisted national borders for religious identities. “The Urdu cosmopolis was threatened to be fragmented in the late nineteenth century as Urdu and Hindi were redefined along religious lines,” claimed Dubrow.

Dubrow’s talk was divided into four parts: waiting for the postman, the Urdu cosmopolis, satirizing the empire, and how we take dramas seriously. Among these, she also discussed the tale of Azad or commonly known as “Fasana-e Azad” by Sarshar as an example of the Urdu cosmopolis. One of the characters in this tale was named ‘Azad,’ which meant freedom. Overall, the talk was educational and informative, and the audience seemed to be very engaged with what Dubrow had to say.

Dubrow concluded the talk with a compelling speech, discussing the purpose of Cosmopolitan Dreams and how it presents South Asian concerns in the literary world, from a historic and a modern point of view, and its transition from localization to globalization throughout the past decade.

11/2 8:00 a.m.

UTM Model United Nations Conference Join the inaugural UTM Model United Nations two-day conference this November.

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Ali Taha

Shame on UTM for being inaccessible The hazardous elevators should have been fixed as soon as they were flagged for being outdated VINNEY WONG ARTS EDITOR Throughout my five years at UTM, I’ve had my fair share of gripes with accessibility services being inaccessible. From broken elevators in CCT and Davis to electronic door openers not working, I’ve exercised patience in hoping that UTM would make improvements to facilities that would prevent or limit these problems. However, I have been continuously disappointed by the lack of effort from the institution in making buildings accessible for everyone.

Recently, I started work as the Arts Editor for The Medium at the Students’ Centre. I was happy and excited to work with people who are so passionate about journalism, but I was less enthusiastic about the Students’ Centre’s facilities, especially the elevator.

Have you ever seen a four-by-four elevator that uses a key to operate?

I’ve only seen it once in the old North Building before it was demolished.

The elevator in the Students’ Centre fits two people maximum and the door does not open on its own. It looks more like a space locker than an elevator, which is fitting because it evokes the feeling of being trapped in

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Every student should be able to access every building on campus, especially the Student Centre. space.

Since The Medium’s office is on the second floor, I have to use the elevator to get upstairs. Doing so is easier said than done though as the key is under the supervision of the UTMSU. We work on Sundays, when the UTSMU is closed, meaning that the key has to

be prearranged for use.

For the first two weeks of my job, Ali Taha, The Medium’s Editor-inChief, arranged to pick up the key on Friday and return it on Monday—a plan that worked until it didn’t. I have not been at work for the past two weeks because the key has been inac-

cessible due to fears of liability.

Throughout my use of the elevator, employees at the info booth were adamant about being the sole handlers of the key and elevator because of fears that it would break, which is a valid concern. The problem is the elevator has been in use during the weekdays

for students and facility maintenance.

If the elevator is such a hazard, shouldn’t it be permanently closed off until facilities are able to determine its safeness? Why is the elevator considered hazardous on the weekends when student staff are not around?

These are the questions that have been repeating in my mind for the past two weeks. I don’t mind not being able to pick up my cheques, but I do mind not having access to the office so I can do my job—a job that I love and want to excel in.

As a person with a disability, I strive for independence. I am unable to be independent at my job because of these restrictions and accessibility issues. It’s frustrating because I’m not the only person with a disability on campus. If I am denied the opportunity to do my job, then what message does it send to others with disabilities who want to work at The Medium or in the Students’ Centre?

The bottom line is buildings at UTM should be accessible to everyone unless there are official rules or regulations that say otherwise. If the UTMSU is unable to solve these issues in a timely manner, the university must step in and help, otherwise shame on both parties.

The anti-Americanism of Canadians By formulating an identity based on things that we are not, we lack the ability to define who we are TOMASZ GLOD STAFF WRITER Historically speaking, an integral part of the Canadian national identity is that we are not Americans. Among other factors, this is a fundamental value that led to the Confederation and, by extension, the Canadian state.

The topic of anti-Americanism has largely been limited to the history books, so understanding if this sentiment continues in the modern day is worth looking into.

Anti-American sentiment has largely evolved from an economic resentment that was seen within the first 100 years after Confederation.

Today, it is a matter of moral superiority.

A majority of Canadians will look at the United States and quite passionately defend their businesses, celebrities, culture, music, food, and way of life. But the moment the opportunity to elevate themselves to a higher moral ground, Canadians will jump on the chance to stroke their egos. It becomes an opportunity for individuals to praise themselves for being better than the ‘the greatest na-

PHOTO/U.S. EMBASSY & CONSULATES IN CANADA

Canadians strive to be defined and identified by the fact that they are not American. tion on earth.’ Canadians will defend their universal healthcare and make sure to note that healthcare is lacking in the United States. Canadians will cite violent crimes and mass shootings as evidence that Americans have a perverted obsession with guns and violence—something that is lacking in Canada. And Canadians will praise the fact that in Canada we have a man dawning a turban as the leader of a major federal party.

This of course comes with its own problems. This anti-American sentiment is something that inhibits complacency within Canadians. Logically speaking, if Canadians are superior to Americans at X,Y, or Z(ED) and Americans claim to be the best at everything, then there is not much improving to be done. Even though Canadians may have universal health care (and Americans don’t) our system suffers from chronically long wait

times, and not all Canadians receive the same treatment.

In 2008, an Indigenous man was essentially ignored until he died waiting for medical attention. Even though Canadians don’t have the same number of mass shootings as in the U.S., we are not immune to mass killings.

And as much as people would like to think that Jagmeet Singh’s leadership signifies the ability for Canadians to accept multiculturalism and diversity,

Quebec, the second most populated province in Canada, has introduced a Bill that supports institutionalized racism. But, of course, we’re not the United States. We’re very different.

So why discuss this? Why and how is this relevant? By formulating an identity based on things that we are not, we lack the ability to define what we are. By saying that we are not better than the United States in any particular way, it implies that we have already accomplished its inverse. But this isn’t true. This rhetoric is one that does not challenge individuals to refine and expand their own identities because we’ve come to believe we’re already so great.

We must define and refine. We must define what it is that we ought to be, not what we should be avoiding, and refine ourselves until we’ve accomplished that.

When America sneezes, Canada catches a cold. We’re always a step behind. We haven’t carved out our own space. We must stop comparing ourselves to what we aren’t to make ourselves feel better. Let’s define what we want to become and strive towards it.

10.28.2019 THE MEDIUM COMMENT» 7

Joker: A double-edged masterpiece Our ability to see the pain of an isolated man driven to violence should be a wakeup call for all of us ANDRES POSADA CONTRIBUTOR I heard and read plenty of negative reviews about Joker before finally attending a not yet sold-out, discounted Tuesday screening to actually watch it. Regardless of the controversy surrounding the film, whether fabricated for publicity or real, anyone coming out of the movie will have a lot to say about it. This is because it demands you to feel a lot about it.

At times this movie felt like a really bad joke. Occasionally, I would cringe and awkwardly look around at others’ reactions to estimate how I should react. At other times, it felt scary, but the worst kind—a rational anxiety that makes you question your own assumptions about human nature. It also has the power to make your supramarginal gyrus tingle (that is the weirdly-named part of our brain that helps us empathize and understand emotions in others).

Joker evokes empathy from beginning to end, in a way which some are calling superficial or even harmful, but either-way I find it ingenious.

That is why when I saw the film, I realized that it fantastically represents something that most of our society struggles to cope with. Something that is real, and has created pain for many people.

In recent years, there have been many stories in the news that don’t veer too far off from this movie’s plot.

Violent acts by incels or loners, school shootings, and other acts of hate. This movie tells a similar tale, but from the perpetrator’s perspective—a dangerous point of view that could lead sympathizers to idolize the actions of the

TALA ALKHALDI/THE MEDIUM

Joker evokes empathy from beginning to end. anti-hero. This is why it has received the most criticism—not from a film perspective necessarily, but as a tool that is promoting sympathy for the ‘bad guys.’ This perspective proposes that the movie utilizes sympathy to justify the actions of someone who is evil by showing how society has wronged Arthur Fleck.

Although hard to deny, I would say that this criticism also misses one of the great opportunities film as a medium offers us. The ability to ignite discussions around a topic we have ignored for far too long. Joker presents the argument that many of the ‘villains’ in our society are victims before they are perpetrators. People who we have labeled as ‘outsiders’ or ‘weirdos’ can reach a nihilistic per-

spective on life, eventually leading to their immoral transgressions.

This is a serious issue which we need to address with proper diagnosis, more resources, and less stigmatization. ‘They’ are part of us—our society. We need to practice genuine empathy and understand their state of mind so we can move toward better addressing the complex social issues that inform their actions.

The powerful themes underlying Joker are applicable to the real world, like my own country, El Salvador.

I was born and raised in El Salvador, which at some point was ranked the most violent country in the world due to gang violence. I have always wanted to hear my country named in a list, but I was hoping it would

be for something a little more positive. Gangs in my country are a dire issue, and although many gang members are perpetrators of violence, they turned to violence because of something sometimes beyond them.

Before joining a gang at the ages of 12 or 15, they were members of the poorest parts of our country, often forgotten and abandoned. Many came from broken homes, and they believed they had no other option than to join these violent groups. A social issue which many people in El Salvador, especially from the upper or middle social classes, call to fix by exercising no empathy but violence and extermination. People have completely ignoring what might have led to the wave of violence and initiation

by these groups from the beginning, just like Thomas Wayne does after the subway scene in Joker with the stock brokers. This is much like the complex social violence in Gotham that is depicted at the end of the film. By the end of Joker, the people rioting in the streets have become disaffected from a society they believe has wronged them one too many times.

It is not until we turn around and look at the disaffected segment of our society that we can start to bring about peace. I wish more movies were made from this ‘other’ perspective to help people empathize and understand the pain and isolation of individuals.

Even if they commit unjustifiable acts of violence, we can only solve it if we stop isolating and dividing ourselves.

This movie is a double-edged sword. On one side it may look like a shallow film with the potential to instigate violence and evoke sympathy towards violent individuals. However, the movie has been called by some professionals a great educational tool for understanding the causes of violence. I invite everyone who watched it or who will watch it to pay attention to the film’s second side, and the opportunity it offers.

Our ability to see the pain of an isolated man driven to violence—and all the missed opportunities throughout the movie for individuals to help him change his course—should be a wakeup call. Maybe we need to stop the blaming and division, and start paying attention to each other as individuals.

One thing is for sure: if you are someone’s boss, Joker will make you think twice about how to let go of that “weird guy” in your office.

Photography and the culture of showcase Photography has defined our sense of self, but falsely by distorting reality and tricking the viewer ANA SHEVCHENKO CONTRIBUTOR Since the invention of photography in 1839, its main originators, Louis Daguerre, Henry Talbot, and Francoise Arago, predicted one of the new craft’s main possible uses—to document history. Through examining the history of photography and even looking at its contemporary practice, it’s fair to say that the photographic pioneers weren’t wrong.

The first attempts at photojournalism, travel photography, and photographic documentation in science trace all the way back to the 1840s and 1850s. Based on the history of photography as well as the contemporary examples of social media, bloggers, and propaganda, it’s fair to argue that one of photography’s main functions in society has been to capture and exhibit events and experiences. The question is whether photography is a truthful, objective medium of documentation.

If one were to look for the essence of photography—the core

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Photography enchants by creating memories, and conveying a message through a still frame. that made it seem so magical to the society it was born into—the search

would lead to memory. Photos are fascinating because they freeze an instance—one that can never be

brought back—and give people a chance to view it endlessly and never forget. People are inherently

social creatures and like to share their memories of others, and if you are choosing to capture a moment through a photograph, you will want to make sure that it’s a happy, enjoyable memory that other people will also find pleasant, or even enviable.

For instance, in his photo collection The Pencil of Nature (184446), Henry Talbot wanted to keep a record of rural life scenes and his scientific investigations, but in an aesthetically appealing way. Talbot based some of his compositional elements and subjects on Dutch paintings. As a result, The Pencil of Nature became one of the first manuals of good photographic style, while also exhibiting Talbot’s investigations and visits to the country “in good lighting.”

Fading Away (1858), Henry Robinson’s combination print, is another great example of photography’s deceiving potential, since combination printing could be described as one of Photoshop’s oldest ancestors.

Photo continued on page 8

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Is porn your friend?

The complex consequences of photgraphy

How the internet has made pornography more addictive

Manipulating the photographer and viewer Photo continued from page 7 In this photographic game of deception, the photographer is the key player. People behind the camera possess the power to represent what they want and how they want it in order to manipulate the innocent viewer. The subjects of the photograph have little influence in the outcome and therefore are the victims to be judged by the viewers.

Examples of this power relationship are present all over history since 1839.

19th century neurologists Dr. Charcot and Dr. Diamond both photographed patients with psychiatric disorders under the excuse of medical documentation. However, the images were published and distributed, creating a stigma of what “abnormal” looks like in the 1850s.

The patients, often purposely pushed to have breakdowns, were obliged to pose for the photos, and their faces were explicitly visible on the resulting images. This practice is known as intrusive photography, since the photographer exposes the subject to the public to be mocked and laughed at.

A more recent and subtle example of the photographer’s power of persuasion is NASA’s space photo Ed White walking in space over New Mexico (1965), taken during the space race between the USA and the USSR (1955-75). The image’s aesthetic appeal is obvious, but the only practical information available on the photo is an American flag printed on the sleeve of Ed White’s spacesuit, and a small, unrecognizable portion of the Earth behind him. This suggests that NASA was concerned with promoting its own space program rather than capturing information relevant to the expedition.

Today, these unspoken aspects of photography are more present than ever. Photography has integrated itself into every aspect of human life, and with inventions like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and even Tinder, people are encouraged to take “selfies” daily, images they are con-

tinuously judged for. This attitude reinforces regressive, superficial social norms that praise the exciting, the wealthy, the fashionable, and the “pretty,” disregarding anything that falls outside this shallow scope.

The reason why today’s progressive society continues to ignore this problem is our inherited, obsessive love for photography and showcase culture. It all began back in the 1880s-90s, when a rise in the news industry caused an increased demand for photojournalism, especially for images of scandals and public figures. It extended to both, photographers intruding into the private lives of celebrities to get intimate pictures, and celebrities deliberately staging scandalous events to get the attention of the press.

However, looking at celebrity gossip and natural disasters in the paper wasn’t enough for most people, and the demand for simpler, amateur cameras grew by the minute. In 1888, No. 1 Kodak was introduced to the photographic market with huge success. The camera was small enough to carry it around your neck, had a fixed focus (you couldn’t see or adjust the focus), and was meant for casual snapshots.

The invention of Kodak encouraged people to take trivial pictures of their everyday life, minimizing the need for professional photographers. From this point onwards, photography quickly infiltrated into society: the press, marketing, arts, science, education—the list goes on.

Photography has been integrated into our society since at least one hundred years ago, and today we experience the consequences of its influence more than ever. In order to enjoy the practical and romantic uses of photography, such as documentation and memory keeping, it’s important to try and question the purpose of both the images we see every day and the ones we take ourselves. Although photography captures a realistic image of the world, it only tells one truth: the one intended by the photographer.

DISAGREE WITH SOMETHING?

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Pornography has become a huge industry in our society, but is still mostly a taboo subject.

SEAN DALY CONTRIBUTOR I don’t hold any particular moral opinion on porn. I have no intention of expressing an ethical evaluation of porn-viewing or the porn industry here. Also, I have no religious or political interest that might motivate a specific viewpoint on the “goodness” or “badness” of pornographic material, and I hope to stay out of that sort of controversy. My goal is to examine the state of porn today, and how it has deeply impacted our conception of pleasure.

Pornography has existed for thousands of years. Anthropologists have found “cave-man porn” engraved on the inside of Neolithic taverns. Most of our parents viewed porn in the form of magazines, DVDs or on late night television after midnight.

However, about twelve years ago, in 2007, the first pornographic “tube site” was launched. Now in 2019, there are thousands of such pornographic sites. They offer a free, unlimited, and constant supply of pornographic material. Many of them now offer porn scenes in virtual-reality (very exciting). However, there is a crucial distinction between these tube sites and your parents or grandparent’s playboy magazine. This distinction is rooted in how tube site porn affects your brain.

Sexual arousal is largely motivated by novelty. That is, potential mates who look like they are definitely not your siblings, because their traits are unfamiliar, tend to spike dopamine levels in the brain: the neural transmitter that tells your brain “GO GET IT.” Now, dopamine exists in the brains of all animals as the survival chemical. It keeps animals, including humans, pursuing natural rewards which ensure the furthering of the species. Anyone who has taken grade nine biology understands Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest: ac-

quiring high quality sexual mates is at the top of the natural rewards which ensure survival.

When you see that cute person walking around a corner and your heart rate increases and you feel butterflies that is dopamine surging through your brain. In reptilian language, it means that’s the mate to ensure your genes will proliferate and prosper.

Dopamine also plays a central role in addiction. The most addictive substances on earth, such as cocaine, are addictive because they release remarkably high levels of dopamine.

Our ancestors received dopamine when they saw a bright red fruit at the top of a tree and the next instance found themselves racing up its trunk to grab it. Similarly, a cocaine addict gets the same experience when they see a packet of white powder.

Now, there are three major factors that determine the addictive potential of a substance or behavior: 1) The dopamine levels it releases, 2) Its accessibility, and 3) Obstacles which restrict how much of it we can consume and how often. Chocolate cake could be potentially addictive, but the fact that we become full or sick when we eat too much is a natural obstacle which makes it hard to become addicted to.

Consuming vast amounts of porn magazines in the 1960s was limited by the fact that it might have been strange and embarrassing to go out and buy 20 magazines a day, let alone expensive.

However, when Pornhub walked down the red carpet in 2007 as the first significant tube site, a brand new drug was born.

Porn, in its new medium, releases exceptionally high levels of dopamine. It is infinitely accessible—everyone owns a phone and most porn is free (a lot of young people could justify referring to their smart phone today as “my porn-device”). There are virtually no obstacles preventing

excessive porn consumption today because of its medium.

Unlike chocolate cake, we don’t “fill up on porn.” Most people who watch it regularly (I’d bet every single person captured by the title of this article watches porn regularly), will probably relate to the idea that they don’t watch porn in a rush to climax and be done with it. They delay climax so they can continue finding a “perfect” scene.

Neurochemically, as they surf from new video to new video with multiple windows open, delaying orgasm, they are riding dopamine surges in the brain. Unlike eating chocolate cake, where the dopamine surge ends quickly once the cake has been eaten, a porn viewer today can ride as much dopamine as they want for hours on end.

Now, here is my claim: pornography in its new medium of the tube site is extremely addictive. Porn is addictive today in a way that it was not two decades ago when psychologists and progressive-minded individuals raved about porn use and free sexual expression being “healthy” and part of a good society. Many people reading this article will suspect they are watching more porn than they want to but will not consider themselves “addicted.”

If this is your experience, I might suggest an attempt to leave porn alone for one month, and you can quickly diagnose yourself. Instead of sober November, maybe try pornfree November and see how that goes.

See how it affects your study habits, the way you look at potential mates, and everything else in life. If you set an honest intention to stop, and then find that you cannot, or notice that abstaining is extremely difficult, you may have begun the first step of an invaluable journey.

Lastly, if any of this interests you, or is new to you, I’d recommend googling the “nofap” movement.

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So. What’s your plan after university?

It’s time to listen to our guts, redefine our image of “ideal success,” and strive for what’s meaningful ZAHIRA TASABEHJI CONTRIBUTOR “So, what’s the plan after?”

If you are like me, in the final stretch of university before you walk on that stage and receive your $40,000 piece of paper, you’ve probably heard that phrase a lot. Perhaps you already have it all figured out. If that’s the case, then this article will serve as your daily confidence boost and congratulations on getting your shit together. You see, most of us “average people” are still stuck in the dream phase, and often find ourselves day in and day out struggling to wake up.

“I’m taking it a step at a time,” “I’m still exploring my options,” “I’m just taking a break to figure out what I’m going to do.”

BULLSHIT. Those are the answers we’ve become accustomed to giving. We give them to spare ourselves from catching a disappointed look and being forced to engage in a dreadful conversation with those who have “made it.” The reality is that at this point in time, all we have are valuedriven dreams and aspirations of what we hope of achieving, but we have no clue how we’re going to get there. And that’s okay.

This may not be the first time you are finding yourself in this position.

Think back to four or five years ago, when you were 18 and faced with

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Planning for the future is a hard venture when you have pre-conceived notions of success. making a decision that was supposed to determine the rest of your life, or so they made you believe.

We took a leap of faith going into university because, quite frankly, we didn’t know any better. For some, their degree choice was based on extensive research about degree projections and financial prospects.

Think of it like going to Subway and ordering the Sub of the Day because it yields the most return on your investment.

But for others—like me—we decided to build our own sub. We

crafted our degree based on personal aspirations and passions, and neglected, often on purpose, to research possible career options. Personally, I went with a five-year long political science degree flavoured with Psychology and Education Studies (with a few U of Tears to top it all off).

The phrase “what could you possibly do with that degree” rang in my ears time and time again. Deep down I knew the odds were against me in the job market, but somehow I was hoping to inspire change and eventually make it up the signature menu.

Over these past few years, my educational journey has been an internal struggle between fitting in by paving a “conventional” path, and standing out by striving to find my purpose.

And along that search for purpose, the education system, informed by our society’s values, kept pushing me toward an image of “ideal success” that was nothing short of superficial.

I was told that in order to get a “real” job, I had to get an ‘A’ in school and pursue a “real” degree in university. Ironically enough, “real” felt like more of a fabrication than anything

else.

The truth of the matter is that tuition fees have started to rack up, and we find ourselves in need of that “real” job that everybody speaks about, whatever it may be. At this point, we’ve begun to deconstruct our ideals and attach ourselves to society’s so-called “purpose.” Eventually, we’ll end up getting stuck in a money-seeking narrative, and neglect our journey towards self-discovery.

When this happens (maybe it already has), just take a step back and remember what it was you were craving in the first place. Keep your dream alive, and the rest will follow later.

Graduating may seem like you’ve hit a fork in the road. You may be unsure of which path to follow. Throw society into the mix, and it may feel like there’s a bear chasing you. The choices and the paths are endless, and you may pave them all if you’re hungry for adventure.

Just remember to always listen to your gut, because it always knows.

And you never know, maybe a sub wasn’t meant for you. If you get lost and end up wandering into a Burger King, just indulge in a Whopper while you’re there. And the next time somebody asks you, “what’s the plan after?” you can say, “I’m just thinking about where my foot lands next.”

Stop, breathe, and savour the journey.

Why I work out (and why you should too) I wish to offer an activity to help you handle stress and improve your physical and mental wellbeing ELIZABETH PROVOST CONTRIBUTOR Let’s get our facts straight. I am not a fitness guru, or an Instagram model. I don’t chug protein powder for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and I definitely am not sponsored by GymShark. But I enjoy going to the gym, even if it’s not always been this way.

My relationship with going to the gym can be defined as “friends with benefits” type of situation. By that I mean that I am not constantly at the gym—it’s definitely not an everyday occurrence—but whenever I need to clear my mind, it’s the first place I go.

And let’s be honest, with the craziness of university, that ends up being several times a week.

I am not here to give you an intricate workout routine, or tell you that you should work out. Rather, I wish to offer yet another activity that has helped me and may help you handle stress and improve your physical health and mental wellbeing.

I’m sure you’ve all heard that physical activity increases productivity, decreases stress, and betters your health, all of which is true. The one thing most important to us is our health, both physical and mental. Stress on its own is a catalyst for many diseases and disorders, and physical activity

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The feeling you get after working out is what entices people to go back to the gym every day. can act as a gatekeeper that may serve you well in the short-term and longterm.

I consider myself to be in good physical shape, but keeping shape is

not why I work out. I don’t go to the gym to look a certain way; I go in order to feel a certain way. After a workout I feel accomplished, refreshed and clear-minded and I’m ready to take

on the rest of my day without letting the stress of it all get to me.

It is important to define why you do what you do. This includes working out. Although managing your

weight or your physicality is definitely an advantage, there are many others that should come first, such as: building strong bones, muscles and joints; feeling better overall with more energy and a better mood; lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels; ameliorating your sleep; and lastly, balancing the chemicals and hormones in your brain and body.

Different people will enjoy different parts of working out. For me, the beat of my music is what allows me to disconnect from the hecticness of this world. For you, it may be something different, but finding that aspect is what will allow you to stay motivated and make the most of your experience.

There are many other obvious alternatives to going to the gym. Walking, running, biking, swimming, tennis, basketball, soccer, yoga, pilates, and many more. What is crucial is finding what you love, what makes you feel good, and then sticking to it, until you get bored, and then switching it up.

So, who knows, maybe next time we can talk about why I’m training for a triathlon!

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Editor | Gordon Cork

SATIRE

Five never-before App introduces women to used costumes for serial killers Halloween

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If you’re into serial murder and suicide, this app is for you.

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Read this if you’re worried about cultural appropriation or staying warm as a sexy cat on Halloween.

ERIN DELANEY ASSOCIATE SATIRE EDITOR For all those shawtys with a screwed up back, you too can flex your curved spine by dressing as a skeleton with scoliosis. No longer the nerd’s disorder, girls from all around the world are showing off their back braces and x-ray scans, and reaping the sweet, sweet reward. So arch that back ladies, and you’ll be a hit.

Ever wanted to go on the date of your life with a hot guy? Well, grab some circular sunglasses, flared pants, and a misunderstanding of what it’s like to be a murder victim, and you too could be Ted Bundy’s next victim!

Have a favourite anime, video game, superhero, or book? Having trouble picking which character to be? Why not be every single cosplay character at once! While being so many characters at once, you’ll be guaranteed to be the star of everyone’s ‘For You’ page.

Do you miss the simplicity of 2016, before Trump was elected, Vine ended, and killer clowns chased people all across the globe? Did you get played by a boy you knew was no good for you? Do you love Insane Clown Posse? Well, grab some lipstick, and look in the mirror because you’re a clown!

All you have are negative thoughts!

For all of the former theatre kids

incapable of developing any sense of maturity, Tik Tok’s got you covered!

The app has so many musicals to choose from, the most popular being Beetlejuice and Heathers, two fan favourite cult films rehashed into musicals to cash in on nostalgia. To complete your scary good costume, try combining vertical black and white stripes with your obnoxious personality, or combine plaid patterns with half-baked attempts at lip syncing.

Teens these days are terrifying enough, but with these trendy costumes, you’ll be the scariest thing to hit the internet since it was revealed Tik Tok may just be a vehicle for the Chinese government to spy on you.

HAMZAH MOHAMMED CONTRIBUTOR The internet is abuzz following the release of the new dating app, Slaughter Daughter™. The app pairs hot suicidal teens with serial killers.

The Medium caught up with creator Eric Harris last week to talk about the app. “I wanted to create a way for every girl with smooth skin who smells of my mother who passed when she had me due to complications to live out their fantasy of dating a serial killer.”

Slaughter Daughter™ includes many features for you to live out your preferred method of death.

With GPS location tracking always on, there’s no need to swipe for a man—he’ll come to you!

“There’s no real point to the app.

I’m scared for my life when I meet any guy,” said sociology student Abby Stevens.

The app has received backlash due to its euthanasic nature. Mental Health awareness initiatives have criticized the app for promoting self-harm and suicide. Pro-life clubs have spoken against the app because it goes against the conservation of life.

We caught up with the ghost of first and last time Slaughter Daughter™ user, Allison Cheeks. “It’s my body, my choice. If I want to get slaughtered with a machete, that’s nobody else’s business.”

UTM Quidditch team tried for witchcraft ERIN DELANEY ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR After years of conflict, the UTM Campus Christian groups have successfully tried the Quidditch team for witchcraft. The two groups have always had their fair share of quarrels, but the rivalry between the two campus groups sky-rocketed during 1618. While the Christian group is trying the Quidditch team, the People-of-Colourful-Magic would like

to remind the public of the mass burnings during The Thirty Years’ War. “The team captain is a total witch,” said Christian group leader and third-year theology and Spanish major, Jesus Christ.

Quidditch Captain, Angelina Johnson quickly responded to the insult saying, “If I’m a witch, Jesus is a mud-blood!”

Despite the Quidditch team’s efforts, they were found guilty of

witchcraft, heresy, and being virgins.

The Quidditch team were stripped of their wands, and their brooms were returned to UTM’s custodial closet.

The Quidditch team’s members are set to be burned at the stake on the North Field this Friday at 6:00 p.m. The UTMSU is proud to provide s’mores for a toonie.

UTM QUIDDITCH/FACEBOOK

The Quidditch team has been tried and convicted for witchcraft.

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Editor | Fatima Adil

The bizarre sleeping habits of humans Anthropology professor Dr. David Samson researches sleep and its role in human evolution BISMAH RIZVI ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR

Dr. David Samson, assistant anthropology professor at UTM, won the Roger Broughton Young Investigator award at the World Sleep Society’s conference in Vancouver this September. The Roger Broughton Young Investigator award recognizes junior scientists who have made significant contributions to sleep research. The Medium sat down with Dr. Samson to discuss the award and his research on sleep.

Samson says winning the award is an indication for him “that [he is] on the right track.” While the majority of sleep researchers are neurologists by training, Samson is an evolutionary anthropologist and therefore, approaches sleep from an entirely different perspective.

Working with wild chimpanzee populations and studying their sleeping platforms as a graduate student sparked his interest in sleep. Samson also observed orangutans at the Indianapolis Zoo and experimentally manipulated the type of sleeping environments of the orangutans. Some nights, Samson and his team would provide straw material, whereas on

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Dr. Samson was given an award from the World Sleep Society for his research on sleep. other nights, they would provide high-quality foam. When the orangutans slept on better material, “they actually scored better [the] next day on touch screen cognitive tasks [and] had better accuracy.”

Samson has worked with small scale hunter–gatherer societies such as the Hadza, an indigenous ethnic group who live in Tanzania. The studies with the Hadza revealed that “our sleep is linked to our sleep environments and our downstream ability to perform.”

Sleep’s importance extends beyond humans to primates and perhaps, animals as a whole. However, very few researchers, including Charles Darwin, an influential evolutionary science scholar, have studied sleep in the context of evolution. When Samson realized that “no one [was] looking into sleep’s role in human evolution,” he decided to pursue this field equipped with the phylogenetic skills he learned at Duke University and the limited existing literature on the topic.

Samson’s work reveals that “humans are bizarre sleepers.” He says that “we are evolutionary outliers when it comes to two things: we know the qualitative feeling of being sleepdeprived and having that downward shift in mood—that lack of ability to quickly shift our cognition to higher levels. We know that our minds and bodies are linked to our sleep, because we feel this every time we are sleep-deprived.” However, while one would predict that “since humans [have the largest brains out of all] pri-

mates and we need sleep for high level cognitive functioning, they would sleep the most,” humans “surprisingly sleep the least [out] of any primate on the planet.”

The second behaviour which makes humans evolutionary outliers is that “out of the short seven-hour average [time spent sleeping], humans have the greatest proportion of REM [out] of any primate.” REM, which stands for rapid eye movement, is the deepest stage of the four-stage sleep cycle and contributes to “innovation, memory consolidation, emotional recollection [which are] all these things we think of as important to human success.”

While REM contributes to vital cognitive skills, it also increases our susceptibility to danger. During the REM stage, humans require a significantly higher level of arousal to awaken. Therefore, if someone calls your name during REM, you might not wake up. To summarize, human sleep is shorter in duration and has a longer REM stage as compared to other animals and Samson mentions that “humans had to overcome some challenges in our environment and ecosystem” to sleep this way.

Sleep continued on page 16

UTM launches huge data collection project New initiative aims to conduct novel research on connection between urban environments and climate change FATIMA MINHAS CONTRIBUTOR

Amid the climate crisis and rising concern amongst the academic community and the public, UTM’s Centre for Urban Environments (CUE) is launching a new initiative which entails collecting thousands of data points in the GTA in an effort to conduct novel research on the connection between urban systems and the environment.

The new project is the first of its kind and is called the Urban Environmental Network— CUE’s UrbEnNet. Researchers from across the three University of Toronto campuses will be conducting research on environmental factors regarding soil, air, biology, and the social aspects of the urban environment. Ten professors will be heading the new initiative and thirty different researchers are associated with the massive data collection project. The aim of the initiative is to solve large questions surrounding how the urban environment system shapes the environment.

Scientists will measure, monitor, and conduct experiments on all as-

pects of the urban environment. Observational and experimental studies will focus on examining pollution and the outcomes for different organisms. One experimental study, headed by Dr. Marc Johnson, Director of the CUE, involves the Ecotron—a dome that can manipulate environmental controls such as temperature, humidity, and soil. Through the Eco-

tron, researchers can mimic growing conditions and species’ effects such as the transfer of genetic change over different generations of some organisms.

Dr. Matthew Adams, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at UTM, is one of the faculty members associated with CUE. He conducts research on urban en-

vironments and urban air pollution exposure. Adams mentions that the government only monitors thirty sites across Ontario, fewer than ten of which are located in the GTA. With the UrbEnNet initiative, Adams will make a terrestrial monitoring network of one hundred monitoring sites.

Since the government’s monitor-

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ing does not include air pollutants, Adams hopes to use the UrbEnNet monitoring sites to investigate volatile organic compounds such as benzene levels, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. Though pollution has decreased in the GTA due to reduced manufacturing processes and process control, there is a shift in the cause of pollution. As Adams explains, “Now we see a lot of transportation-related air pollutants [which is] what we deal with in this GTA region. Each vehicle itself does not admit a lot of pollution, but when we aggregate all of them up, that’s where our concerns are.”

Such studies are critical to the future of urban population as air pollutants pose an unknown health risk to residents. Adams says that through UrbEnNet, they are “really trying to track these pollutants that are in lower concentration [and] haven’t historically been monitored, but that have these more chronic long-term effects.” Long-term exposure can result in cancer, loss of life, and other adverse chronic health effects decades down the line.

UTM Centre for Urban Environments is running a project researching cities and their environments.

Urban continued on page 16

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Discussing Islamic Art and Architecture UTM assistant professor Dr. Ruba Kana’an discusses the changing field and her journey to academia MAHERA ISLAM CONTRIBUTOR

“The field of the study of Islamic art is very young. We are now at a stage where people are asking more meaningful questions [so the] field is in a very exciting phase,” says Dr. Ruba Kana’an. Kana’an recently joined the UTM faculty as an assistant professor of Islamic Art and Architecture in the Department of Visual Studies. She sat down with The Medium to discuss her journey to academia, her field as a whole, and her hopes for her students.

Kana’an originally studied architectural engineering at the University of Jordan but was always interested in archeology. “I grew up in a part of the world where you’re surrounded by historical buildings and I [was] always [curious] about who built them and why,” she says. She worked as an architect for a short while, focusing on solar energy, however, “decided that [her] passion [was] really the history of Islamic art and architecture.”

Therefore, Kana’an went to England to complete a Master’s and Ph.D. degree in Islamic Art and Architecture from the University of Oxford.

Before joining UTM, Kana’an taught at the University of Oxford and worked at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. At the museum, she had the opportunity to work with the Ministry of Education to integrate the study of Muslim civilizations and history into the high school curriculum.

Kana’an’s research aims “to learn more about Islamic art” by examining “the combination of Islamic art,

Islamic history, and Islamic law.”

Her current book project focuses on “the history of [the] development of Friday mosques…their architecture, and [and] how a Friday mosque [has] fit in a city throughout the Muslim world [and] throughout history.”

Kana’an’s other project explores the “vague idea of an artist in history.”

Kana’an says that she is “look[ing] at what does a pre-modern artist mean?

What is their agency? What is the in-

art and architecture is very different than researching in the field. “There is a big question mark. When you say ‘I’m teaching Islamic art,’ you are expected to be teaching the art and material culture of one-fifth of the world’s population.” Kana’an discusses how each course in Islamic art and architecture has to include “quite a lot of background history, geography, [and] religion.” Otherwise, many students in the classroom might continue to

currently teaching, Kana’an mentions a few that she is particularly passionate about. FAH:395Artists and Craftsmen from the Muslim World delves into artists from the pre-modern Muslim world. “I like people to think of art as a product of living human beings with life experiences. Part of that life experience is their Muslim faith and the cultural contexts of the regions they lived in.”

Kana’an mentions that when she

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Dr. Ruba Kana’an is new to UTM and has brought her knowledge of Islamic architecture. tellectual property? Who says what goes on what object?”

When asked about contemporary Islamic art, Kana’an emphasizes that the field is young. While “well-established museums of Islamic art focus on early Islam, the interest and focus on contemporary Islamic art is very recent.”

Kana’an says that teaching Islamic

have misconceptions, or “Orientalist” ideas, such as the idea that Islamic art and architecture is the same throughout the world and has remained unchanging throughout time. She points out that there are currently only three people teaching this subject in Canada, two of which are at the University of Toronto campuses.

In terms of the courses that she is

first arrived at UTM, she noticed that many students hailed from various ethnic minority backgrounds.

“I developed a course last year on art encounters on the Silk Road. [In the course,] I bring together the experience of the Silk Road as a spatial concept that linked China and the Muslim world throughout history.”

Kana’an states that having a class of

students with diverse backgrounds allows everyone to learn from each other. “I developed this course because I feel it is a way for people to connect together and see that this notion of the global connection has always been there.”

Kana’an also points out the importance of preparing students for their careers post-graduation. Her fourth year seminar course, FAH495: Islamic Art and the Museum, focuses on the recent resurgence of Islamic Art in museums and gives students the opportunity to “have a product at the end of [their] project that they can include in their portfolio or [give them] something to talk about in a job interview.”

When asked about what she expects her students to learn and take away from her courses, Kana’an responds that she ardently hopes that her students will be able to “think of Muslim civilizations as similar to any other civilizations that have built within them a huge diversity of expressions [and] ideas, and not to think of Islam as something relegated to the past and [of] Muslims as people who are different or the other.”

She says that art is an opportunity to see “how Muslims dealt with issues and came up with different solutions to express their diversity.” Kana’an tries to be positive as an educator despite the fact that “the knowledge of geography of the world is very limited to the West [and] a very Eurocentric knowledge of history and geography.”

She ends by saying, “I wish for my students to have a broader knowledge of the world.”

Reflexive behaviours and the visual system Dr. Baohua Liu talks about the visual system, the mammalian neocortex, and neural plasticity FATIMA ADIL FEATURES EDITOR

Dr. Baohua Liu recently joined the UTM faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology. The Medium sat down with him to talk about one of the largest decisions of his life and his research on the brain.

Liu’s journey in academic research started when he was a fourth-year undergraduate student completing a work-study in a physics lab at Nankai University in China. After completing his Bachelor’s degree in physics, Liu enrolled in a graduate physics program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Liu’s wife soon joined him in the United States; however, she was studying in California which was about three thousand kilometers away from Liu in Wisconsin. Liu, who considers family “as the most important thing,” therefore decided to transfer to the University of Southern California and “made the biggest change in [his] life” which was to study neuroscience instead of physics. Fortunately for Liu, “neuroscience turned out to be a very interesting topic because it consists of the most important organ in our body, the brain.”

After completing his Ph.D. from

the University of Southern California, Liu was offered the opportunity to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego following which he joined the UTM faculty.

Liu studies the neocortex which is a component of the mammalian brain involved in higher order brain functions. As a graduate student, he

studies on how the visual cortex processes information, “we barely know how the information is used.”

As Liu explains, the sensory information received by the visual cortical neurons “is not directly used by the visual cortex. Instead, the information [is] rout[ed] to higher cortical areas or down to the brainstem where the sensory information was con-

cuses on how the neocortex is only found in mammals and how mammals have “a much higher level of plasticity than other animals, especially invertebrates.” Liu says that “we can make a bold hypothesis that plasticity behaviour comes from the neocortex” which leads to the question of how the neocortex contributes to the plasticity of a mammal.

JULIA HEALY/THE MEDIUM

Dr. Liu made a big leap when choosing to study neuroscience, but it ended up changing his career. “was mainly focused on how visual cortical neurons take in [and synthesize] information” following which he “started [to think about] what the next important question” would be.

Liu says that while there are many

verted into motor commands which guide our actions.”

Liu wants to examine “how the visual cortex modulates the behaviour mediated by the brainstem.” Another important avenue of his research fo-

Liu chose to focus on reflex behaviour and specifically, “the visual cortex, how information is processed and integrated at the level of the brainstem, how this information is converted into motor commands,

and [ultimately, how] it influence[s] the execution of behaviour.”

Liu expands on reflex behaviour: “When we turn our head or when we walk, the eye moves in the opposite direction of the head [which ensures] that the absolute location of the eye is kept relatively stable [and] that you can see a sharp image.”

Liu says that “studying how the cortex contributes to this reflexive behaviour will facilitate our understanding of the visual system as a whole, [including] how motor actions interact with the sensory information processing [and] how they work together to help us perceive the visual world.”

In terms of the clinical aspect, “there are several diseases caused by the malfunctioning of inner reflexive behaviour.” Understanding the mechanisms behind reflexive behaviours can provide insight into how to formulate more effective treatments.

Liu attributes his inspiration to pursue academia to his curious nature. As a kid, he used to wonder “why butterflies [were] colourful [and] why the sky looks blue.” He studied physics as he believes “physics is the basis of everything,” and is now excited to be researching and teaching biology which, according to him, contains “many things for [him] to explore.”

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Marine ecosystems and climate change Award-winning researcher Dr. Azizur Rahman discusses how coralline algae combats climate change FATIMA ADIL FEATURES EDITOR Oceans cover about 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface and marine organisms play an important role in combatting climate change as they absorb greenhouse gases such as CO2. For this issue, The Medium sat down with Dr. Azizur Rahman, a senior research scientist at the University of Toronto, to discuss how coralline algae is able to fight climate change.

Rahman states that “coralline algae is a very abundant species [found] under the ocean” and forms a strong skeleton on the sea floor. To determine “how the skeleton forms under the sea [and] why it is very strong,” Rahman led a team of researchers from UTM, UTSC, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Australian National University to examine the molecular mechanisms involved.

Rahman and his team “harvested [the coralline algae] from Newfoundland and Labrador” and conducted “in vitro experiments where [they mimicked] the water composition and water chemistry of the ocean in

DREW LESIUCZOK/OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Dr. Rahman is researching marine ecosystems and how they play a role in climate change. [their] laboratory.” They were able to discover that chitin was a key player in the formation of coralline algae’s skeleton. As Rahman explains, “chitin is a polymer, and [while it] is used for medical purposes, cleaning water, [and] for fertilizer, this is the first time it has been identified as being involved in forming the skeleton under the sea.”

Another interesting question Rahman sought to answer was why coralline algae was not susceptible to bleaching—a common disease affecting coral—and ocean acidification. Rahman and his team found that the skeleton formed by chitin protects the coralline algae and enables the algae to “deflect climate change.”

Rahman has been interested in marine organisms since he was a child and completed his Master’s degree in Fisheries from Bangladesh. He moved to the University of Ryukyus in Japan for his Ph.D. degree, attracted by Japan’s coral reef islands. Following the completion of his Ph.D. in Marine and Environmental Sciences, Rahman was

awarded the Presidential Award for Scientists, the highest honour given by the University of Ryukyus for outstanding novel research findings, and was accepted into a highly competitive postdoctoral fellowship program at the University of Ryukyus.

He then received “an invitation from Munich University” to complete another postdoctoral fellowship in Germany and spent three years conducting research and teaching.

Rahman arrived in Canada and joined UTM in January 2013. He hopes to “establish marine biology as a subject [at UTM] in the near future” and wants to dispel the misconception that since the University of Toronto is not located near an ocean, we do not need to study the ocean.

“We must study the ocean to understand environmental and climate change,” he says.

Rahman concludes by “invit[ing] students to join [him] in studying this interesting subject” of marine biology when such a program is available. For now, Rahman’s “main goal [is] to study the response of marine organisms to climate change” and he says that his team and himself “will continue to research other species.”

Cities and the How can students improve their sleep? environment Sleep continued from page 14 To demonstrate the importance of sleep, Samson starts his ANT402H5: Wild Nights: Sleep, evolution, and performance in the twenty-first century class with a “chronohack.” Chronohacks tap into a person’s circadian rhythm to improve their quality of sleep or activity upon waking. Samson’s best advice is consistency: sleep at the same time every day and wake up at the same time every day.

“If you’re super consistent overtime, allow the environment to cue into your suprachiasmatic nucleus— the master circadian clock [in the brain,] and you get that as amplified and synchronized as possible to your environment, then your body knows when things are going to happen.

Your sleep quality is increased, [you have more] restorative sleep, and the idea is [that] you wake up [feeling] completely ready to tackle the day.”

Light hygiene also plays an impor-

tant role in determining the quality of your sleep. Samson advises minimizing light sources, especially sources of blue light such as cellphones and television. He challenges students in his class to take light hygiene a step further and only use candle light after sunset.

Samson acknowledges that for students, it is challenging to consis-

“If you’re super consistent overtime, you wake up [feeling] completely ready to tackle the day.” tently sleep around seven hours each night while juggling deadlines and tests along with jobs and extracurricular activities. Another “big trade-off for young adults is shortening social alliances over sleep. Often, [young adults] choose building social capital over sleep.” However it is important

to remember that while making time for sleep when one has so much to do may seem counterintuitive, sleeping properly can improve cognitive function and productivity leading to an overall better performance.

Samson continues to search for more answers about sleep. Currently, he is working with communities in Northern Alaska and specifically elders among the Yup’ik communities.

The “massive variations in light and temperature” in Northern Alaska have “an impact on the timing of sleep and activity.” Samson spent this summer building relations in Alaska to help “interface with the community” and will continue to study their sleep patterns using actigraphy, a non-invasive method of monitoring cycles of rest and activity.

His future research plans include looking at the flexibility of sleep in the primate order and creating a database of natural human sleep outside of the Western context.

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Getting good, consistent, sleep is an important aspect that affects your everyday life.

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The project is saying that cities need to plan for climate change.

Urban continued from page 14 The Adams’ lab is a perfect example of how scientists and social scientists need data to be able to understand human-environment interactions, especially in regions with layers of complexity and spatial variation like the GTA. The UrbEnNet project, through modelling and understanding environmental changes, will pave the way for informed policy and positive social change as climate change becomes a localized issue.

“We just aren’t gathering as much information as we need to start answering or solving these problems.

And I think something like UrbEnNet will be one of the most comprehensive projects internationally to understand how a city functions,” Ad-

ams summarizes. “Right now, cities need to start planning for things like climate change as it’s absolutely the right time to be doing this. There are physical scientists, biologists, [and] social scientists—there are people collaborating from many disciplines on this project. And that’s what really

“Right now, cities need to start planning for things like climate change as it’s absolutely the right time to be doing this.” makes [UrbEnNet] and the depth and breadth in which these questions will be assessed very unique.”

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Editor | Sarah-May Edwardo Oldfield

Making healthy food choices at UTM UTM Wellness 101 Workshops on Wednesdays at the Wellness Hub are both insightful and inspirational FARISHTEH KHAN CONTRIBUTOR Most of us have heard of the Wellness Hub in passing, but what we don’t realize is just how accessible it is. Enter Davis, and instead of turning right towards the new food court, turn left and the first door to your left is Room 2077A: The Wellness Hub! True to its name, it’s a charmingly cozy room, perfect for modestly sized gatherings and intimate conversations. I happened to have the pleasure of experiencing one such meeting myself, having signed up for the Wellness Hub’s Wellness 101 Wednesday session last week, one of a series of workshops that takes place every Wednesday. The focus of this particular workshop was making healthy food choices on- and offcampus.

Leading this week’s session was UTM’s registered dietitian, Kimberly Green. Immediately, Green was warm and approachable, and the close-knit group at the Hub contributed to a relaxed session where we got to have a genuine conversation with her on how to be our healthiest, happiest selves.

The session started off with an introduction to the bedrock of healthy eating: Canada’s Food Guide. The food guide is essentially a graphic representation of how we should por-

PHOTO/UTM HEALTH & COUNSELLING CENTRE

Wellness Hub, hosted by HCC, is a weekly event promoting and workshopping health initiatives. tion our daily food intake according to the three major food groups, with half the intake being devoted to fruits and vegetables, and a quarter each to proteins and whole grain foods.

There’s also a corner dedicated to reminding us to make water our ‘drink of choice.’ By no means is the guide the whole story in choosing our diet, but it is a fairly reliable reference point to begin with. In fact, Canada’s Food Guide is a readily

available online resource that provides not only the above-mentioned graphic, but also delicious recipes, tips and tricks that make transitioning into a healthier lifestyle all the more fun and easy. You can check it out at canada.ca/foodguide, whether you’re a beginner or just looking for cool new recipes.

The conversation continued with a series of questions from the workshop participants. For example, how

much water should an individual drink? Green’s tip of the day was to focus on your body’s signals, so if you’re thirsty, don’t ignore it. We also talked about the quantity of sugar, and the recommended daily amount.

Ideally, individuals should have between 20-50 grams of sugar. This led to a related and heavily debated topic: the merits and demerits of artificial sweeteners. The consensus reached was that people should avoid certain

products like Splenda and Sucralose, which have been observed to spike blood sugar, and choose more natural sweeteners like Stevia are safe alternatives.

Green also gave us a rundown of our on-campus options. The newly renovated Food Court in Davis is a prime example of UTM’s efforts to accommodate people with dietary restrictions and allergies. Colourcoded food icons indicate vegetarian, vegan, halal, and gluten-free, among other dietary options. She was quick to emphasize the need for vegetarians and vegans to incorporate meatalternative proteins such as lentils as well, rather than leaving proteins out entirely.

On another note, the department behind our dining experience, UTM Hospitality, is constantly looking for new ways to improve and expand.

They are looking for feedback from students, and can be reached at hospitality.utm@utoronto.ca. After all, as Green said, we usually “vote with our dollars,” so if we keep paying for unhealthy foods, those are the kinds of options UTM will invest in.

At the end of the day, university life is demanding, and self-care may inadvertently take the backseat. But it’s never too late. Green said one thing that really resonated with me: “Our body is resilient. Our body is forgiving.”

Eagles soccer secure spot at Provincials UTM Men’s Varsity Soccer headed to OCAA Provincial Championships with big win over Sheridan Bruins ANASTASIA WU CONTRIBUTOR

On Wednesday October 16, the UTM Men’s varsity soccer team faced off against the Sheridan Bruins on our home field. The Eagles managed to pull through and end their regular season with a 2-1 win, and 7-2 record overall. The Bruins played a rough game from the very start and seemed to push the Eagles to their limit. The condition of the field didn’t help the team due to the rain from earlier in the day. The wet playing field caused many players to slip and fall, but despite all these factors, the Eagles came out on top and finished with a win. Their determination, teamwork, and communication throughout the whole game are what helped bring the team the win they deserved.

In the first half, goalkeeper Andrey Volkov (#0) showed a lot of leadership by communicating and directing players throughout the game. Not only did he show great leadership, he also made many good saves and wasn’t afraid to come out and challenge his opponents. This helped pre-

UTM ATHLETICS/FACEBOOK

Eagles played a tough game with bad weather conditions and are on their way to OCAA Provincials. vent any potential shots or goals on net and was especially effective in the second half. Players Martin Iyamabo (#12) and Jens Winkel (#19) made good challenges and played a strong, consistent game. They were always first to the ball and put pressure on the opposing team at all times which helped the Eagles regain possession of the ball.

It didn’t take long for the Eagles

to score the first goal of the game by Mohammad Golmakani (#9). Securing this first goal set the game in motion for the boys. They began to string more passes together and maintained most of the possession in the first half.

However, the Bruins didn’t make the game any easier for the Eagles. The game got more intense and a lot more aggressive. At the end of the first half, the score was 1-1.

In the second half, the game intensified. Each play was quick as both teams rushed to beat the clock in an attempt to score one last goal. The Eagles made it difficult for the Bruins as players Mark Barbuto (#2) and Prabdeep Singh (#23) stepped up their defense and blocked a lot of the shots made by the opposing team. This allowed the Eagles to push up their offensive lines where Faris Ammari (#4)

opened up a lot of opportunities by making runs, great crosses, and shots on the net.

In the last two minutes of the game, Ammari’s determination paid off as he made a perfect cross to the middle of the penalty box where Jasjack Bhamra (#5) was able to get a foot on the ball and finish the play with the final goal of the game. This left the final score at the end of the game 2-1, a hard earned win for the Eagles.

The men’s varsity team played a great game and proudly finished their regular season with a win against the Bruins, a final score of 7-2, and a spot at the OCAA Provincial Championships. Throughout the season, the whole team played exceptionally well.

They had great communication in every game which lead to great teamwork and, in most games, their passing was on point. With these skills, they were unstoppable. Even the determination of the entire team was very strong and it made the whole team work that much harder and better.

This article is the first part of the Eagles’ journey to Provincials. Part two is on page 20.

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Suicide attempts on the rise in black teens A Pediatrics study has found suicide attempts have risen in black teens more than any other ethnic group HIRA BURNEY CONTRIBUTOR In a recent study performed by the Pediatrics Journal, it was observed that black children, particularly boys five to 11 years of age, experience an increase in the rate of suicide deaths; where their suicide rate is found to be two times higher when compared to their white counterparts. The study was conducted using the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, a national representative school-based survey from the years 1991-2017.The purpose of this study was to research if the racial and ethnic subgroups of adolescents in the States were at a higher risk for engaging in suicidal behaviors. It was deduced that, over time, among all other racial groups, only black youths have experienced an increase in suicide attempts.

Suicide is listed as the second leading cause of death in youth aged 12 to 18 years old, and in the year 2017 it was the cause of more than 2,200 adolescent deaths. Childhood maltreatment, mental health concerns (for example, depression), neurocognitive functioning deficits, and other risk factors have all been associated with suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, and death by suicide.

This study further discusses the gender disparity in youth suicidal be-

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Studies show suicide attempts among black teens have increased more than any other race. havior. It found that girls, compared to boys, are more likely to attempt suicide and have suicidal ideation.

Whereas boys are more likely to die by suicide than attempting or ideating suicide.

Within racial and ethnic subgroups, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaskan native boys and girls have the highest rates of suicide, followed by non-Hispanic white boys

and girls, non-Hispanic black boys and girls, then Hispanic boys and girls. Non-Hispanic Asian American or Pacific Islander youth have the lowest suicide rates in the United States, as per the Pediatrics study.

However, in the years between 1991 and 2017, there were different trends noticed among these groups from the initial suicide alignment.

A significant linear decrease in self-

reported suicide ideation and suicide plans was observed from the period between 1991 and 2017, and female adolescents overall were shown to have significant decreases in suicide attempts over time. Black adolescents, on the other hand, had positive linear trends for attempts among both boys and girls, and boys had a significant linear increase in injury by attempt.

This change was reasoned to be due

to the social etiologic factors that are disproportionately experienced by black adolescents, which include racial discrimination, adverse childhood experiences (ex: abuse and neglect), and poverty, all of which have been positively associated with suicidal behaviors in this demographic.

Researchers believe that the rising rates of suicide attempts in black youth may be related to the documented disparities in mental health treatment and common social etiologic factors disproportionately experienced by black youth.

Findings further reveal that over that span of time, almost one in five adolescents are thinking about suicide, and more than one in 10 have a suicide plan. Despite increased attention given to the creation of campaigns to reduce youth suicide in the United States over the last decade, these findings suggest that continued concern and attention regarding suicidal behaviors among high school– aged youth is warranted.

This matter requires urgent attention from health care professionals and government officials to reduce the stigma of having mental health illnesses in the black community, and increase help-seeking behaviors to prevent intentional deaths and the loss of young individuals.

Hope is key in anxiety disorder recovery Having hope throughout treatment is beneficial as it encourages individuals dealing with anxiety disorders SURUTIGA RANJAN CONTRIBUTOR Many students struggle with anxiety caused by a variety of things, including relationships, family, and academics. Apart from therapy and counselling, medication is often presented to help deal with the anxiety.

Regardless of the type of treatment recommended to an individual, having hope may be the key to help them overcome their anxiety disorders.

A recent study performed by Matthew Gallagher from the University of Houston explored the extent to which hope plays a role in recovering from anxiety disorders. Hope is often confused with the idea of optimism, but, for the purposes of the study, hope is described as the ability to establish the steps needed to achieve goals and follow the plan effectively by overcoming the obstacles that appear in the path.

The study aimed to “(a) quantify the magnitude and timing of the impact of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) on hope, (b) examine the extent to which changes in hope during CBT were consistent across principal diagnosis and treatment protocol, and (c) examine the extent to which intraindividual changes— the changes that occur within an individual—in hope predicted changes in self-reported and clinician-rated anxiety outcome.”

The study was conducted on 223 individuals between the ages of 18 and 66 who were being treated at an outpatient clinic for one of four

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Having hope while undergoing anxiety treatment is shown to have a positive outcome on results. anxiety disorder. Each individual was randomly assigned to a transdiagnostic CBT group, a disorder-specific CBT group, or a waitlist-controlled condition group. For all the conditions, assessments occurred during the baseline session, session four, session eight, session 12, and session 16.

A six-month follow-up assessment was performed for individuals who remained in active treatment conditions.

The level of hope in individuals was measured using The State Hope Scale.

Clinician-rated levels of anxiety were evaluated using the Hamilton Anxi-

ety Rating Scale. Self-reported levels of anxiety were measured using the Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale.

The first analysis performed for this study involved calculations that indicated increases in hope were a result of disorder-specific and transdiagnostic CBT (focuses on commonalities between anxiety disorders). CBT conditions showed greater changes in hope than other conditions. Furthermore, levels of hope increased over time from the initial baseline assessment to the six-month follow up assessment.

The second analysis focused on when hope changes in CBT. The results showed that changes in hope began early in treatment in CBT, however, the change in hope in the first four weeks of treatment for the waitlist condition was negligible.

The third analysis performed showed that there were small increases in hope across both transdiagnostic and disorder-specific protocols and the amount of change in hope was similar across all four anxiety disorders being tested: panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia and obsessive-compulsive

disorder.

The models showed that the correlation between changes in anxiety and changes in hope are consistent throughout the treatment phase and until the six-month follow-up assessment.

The final analysis investigated “the indirect effect of the treatment on intraindividual changes in clinicianrated and self-reported anxiety using intraindividual changes in hope.”

These results showed the importance of intraindividual changes in hope during CBT in predicting changes in anxiety levels.

Overall, the results of the study supported the initial hypothesis that hope is a transdiagnostic mechanism that encourages beneficial changes in symptoms across all forms of treatment conditions. The results of the study also showed that there is a strong relationship between changes in levels of hope and levels of anxiety symptoms.

The findings of this study show how important hope and other processes will aid in understanding the recovery process of patients recovering from anxiety disorders. Physicians will be able to modify their care to better help patients as well.

Knowing that something as simple as having hope throughout treatment is beneficial and will encourage individuals dealing with anxiety disorders. Even though progress may not be visible to them immediately, this research shows them that with hope, individuals are still making progress in their recovery.

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Road to gold cut short for Men’s Soccer Men’s Varsity Soccer knocked out of championship by Seneca Sting after 6-2 loss in Provincial Championship ASHLEY BECKLES CONTRIBUTOR It was a cold and windy Wednesday October 23, in Peterborough as our Men’s Soccer team began their warmup, preparing for their quarter-final match against the Seneca Sting. The team looked to continue their threewin streak at the OCAA Provincial Championship hosted by Fleming College this week in Peterborough.

The Eagles started off strong, scoring in the nineteenth minute, a beautiful assist from Adam Czerkawaski to Mohammad Golmakani to take the 1-0 lead. This goal was shortly answered by two goals by the Sting’s Egrinaldo Tavares and Adam Waithe.

Another assist from the Eagle’s team captain, Czerkawaski, to Golmakani had the Eagles tied 2-2. The Sting scored once more before the end of the first half, sending our Eagles to the locker-room to regroup for the

second half of the game. The first half ended 3-2, with the Sting in the lead.

Unfortunately, our Eagles could not keep the Sting’s offense from advancing, allowing four unanswered goals in the second half to end the game 6-2. Our Eagle’s senior player Mohammad Golmakani was named Player of the Match, scoring UTM’s only goals against Seneca.

This match breaks the three-game win-streak the Eagles had going into the OCAA Provincial Championships, ending their road to the gold medal game. It has been an exciting season for our Men’s Soccer team, who ended the regular season ranked second in the West Division, with a 7-2 record, and entered the post-season in the top 15 in Canada.

The team hopes to keep this momentum heading into the indoor soccer season, kicking off January 18, 2020.

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With bad weather and tough competition, the Eagles have been kicked from the OCAA Provincials.

Health: A topic at UTM’s STTPA Conference

Health and well-being session held at Sustainability Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice & Action conference SYEDA HASAN CONTRIBUTOR The first day of the Sustainability: Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice, and Action (STTPA) conference allowed people from various industries to come together to discuss the topic of health and well-being and its link to sustainability.

Titled “Health and Well-being,” the session was chaired by Jae Page, an MScSM graduate and teaching assistant at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).

The discussion kicked-off with Sparkles Ransom presenting his talk called “Understanding the impact of legalization of Marijuana: A literature Review.” Marijuana is a mixture derived from the flower called Cannabis. It is comprised of around 400 living compounds and three different plant species: CBD, Sativa, and Indica.

According to Ransom, it is the most commonly used drug today with around 22 million people utilizing it per year. Marijuana has been grown for over 5,000 years with the oldest recorded policies dating back

to 1619.

It was known to have quite a positive reputation as it was primarily used to treat sickness, and create fabric, paper, and food, amongst others.

However, excessive use led to an increase in crime rates over the years and so it was criminalized and made illegal between the 1930s and the 1940s.

After much effort, the use of marijuana is starting to become legalized with California being the first state to legalize it in 1996.

However, legalization remains a controversial topic, since many people are still against the use of marijuana for many reasons. Others argue that the marijuana industry can provide an additional stream of revenue for economies, by creating an entirely new job market.

Ransom was followed by Paul Eme whose session was called “Review of Methodologies for Assessing Sustainable Diets and Potential for Development of Harmonised Indicators.”

Eme emphasized the need to develop sustainable diets. Sustainable diets contribute to the intake of food and nutrients and aid in providing a

KIRA HOLLAND/DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

The STTPA occurred during reading week and featured panels on cannabis and its effect on society. healthy life for both present and future generations, but have a low environmental impact.

He defined such diets as being “protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems” while also

ALYSSA MADRASTO/INSTITUTE FOR MANAGEMENT & INNOVATION

Immigrant healthcare was also a topic of discussion during the three-day sustainability conference.

being accessible, affordable, economically fair, culturally acceptable, healthy, safe, and adequate in terms of nutrition.

The idea was that whatever is in the community surrounding us is enough for us to survive and thus there is not a need to exploit the environment to create processed food.

His study looked at the different manners in which people have analyzed and created sustainable food systems and, based on this research, Eme proposed that there should be specific indicators to define food as being sustainable. These indicators need to be able to be applied globally across all different systems.

Byomkesh Talukder added on to Eme’s talk by addressing the idea that part of developing a sustainable food system is to create one that does not exploit the land.

Although the human population is thriving and healthier than before, our health has come at the expense of land degradation. As the population continues to increase, more land will be required in order to access more

food and housing services.

In addition, practices such as deforestation, fragmentation, and livestock management have resulted in substantial declines in natural life and are giving way to diseases such as, but not limited to, Ebola, Dengue, and Malaria.

To close off the session, Fese Elonge touched on the importance of immigrants having access to healthcare services in order to eliminate and cure the aforementioned diseases, along with others.

While Talukder emphasized that increasing populations will have a detrimental effect on land, Elonge stated that increasing immigrant population leads to the exacerbation of healthcare system issues.

There are a lot of disparities in the policies associated with immigrant healthcare and if they are not solved, then it is essentially a violation of human rights to not be able to give this group of people the tools needed to survive.