The Other Press - May 5, 2020

To those who don’t celebrate Mother’s Day Jessica Berget Editor-in-Chief

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lthough our feature this week talks about Mother’s Day and motherhood, it’s important to recognize that not everybody can or will celebrate this day.

Whether someone has had abusive parents, never knew their mothers, or they have since passed, it’s important to think about how other people interpret this day and why they might not choose to celebrate it. Namely, mothers who may have been abusive to their children, or willfully absent from their lives.

Data from a 2001 US Department of Health and Human Services “Child Maltreatment” report says that biological mothers are more likely to be abusers to their children rather than fathers. In fact, women made up nearly 60 percent of the abusers, while men made up almost 41 percent. For almost every abuser, neglect was the most common form of maltreatment.

A 2014 study released by Statistics Canada also shows a changing trend in physical abusers. Fathers in 1940 to 1959 were the abusers to children twice (40 percent) as often as mothers (20 percent);

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in 1980 to 1999, fathers and mothers nearly became equal in perpetrating physical harm to children, 34 percent and 28 percent respectively.

This statistic is very controversial for numerous reasons. Many people (myself included) assume that abuse would be more common with fathers, so seeing reports that argue otherwise is surprising.

It is a somber finding and gives reason as to why some people may not wish to celebrate a day revolving moms and motherhood. I think it is a relevant fact to bring up with Mother’s Day close by because many still hold the belief that women can do no

Brittney MacDonald Business Manager

Cover layout by Lauren Kelly and Janis McMath

Athena Little Udeshi Seneviratne Illustrators

Feature layout by Janis McMath and Christine Weenk

Atiba Nelson Staff Reporter Craig Allan Tania Arora EG Manilag Staff Writers Billy Bui Staff Photographer Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist David Douglas Timothy Easling Jonathan Pabico James Wetmore Contributors

Still from 'Mad Men'

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wrong, or are mainly victims of abuse, not the offenders. It is an uncomfortable to consider but gives important insight into other people’s experience of Mother’s Day. It is important to address positive stereotype because they can do a lot of harm as well.

Limes,

Jessica Berget Jessica Berget

The Other Press has been Douglas College’s student newspaper since 1976.

Since 1978 we have been an autonomous publication, independent of the student union. We are a registered society under the Society Act of British Columbia, governed by an eight-person board of directors appointed by our staff. Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus.

The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected through tuition fees every semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), a syndicate of student newspapers that includes papers from all across Canada.

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News

news // no. 3 • Douglas reminds students of late registration option • Trudeau’s unilateral gun ban • Doggone news ...and more

Trudeau’s unilateral gun ban ››New legislation would not have prevented Nova Scotia murders Timothy Easling Contributor

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he Trudeau-led government has banned some 1,500 weapons in reaction to the tragedy in Nova Scotia. The move has been met with opposition and many have criticized the undemocratic nature (there was no voting on the subject) of the ban.

The document contained several errors (even mistaking some website names for gun names) and would not have stopped the recent bloodshed were it already in place.

“Enough is enough. Banning these firearms will save Canadian lives,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair despite the RCMP’s investigation directly contradicting him; the RCMP stated that they have a “fairly good idea” that the murderer did not have a weapon’s license.

The recent tragedy, and how the weapons were secured, was questioned by a Nova Scotian gun range owner, Gordon Hunt as he mused that virtually all killing is facilitated illegally: “In Canada, you’re not allowed to even purchase ammunition unless you have a possession and acquisition card.”

RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell continued in the vein that no law could have prevented the killings, noting the circumstances: “…he was in possession of a fully-marked and equipped replica RCMP vehicle and was wearing a police uniform.”

The gun ban makes use of a term some have deemed sensationalist. Despite there being no legal definition for “assault-style,” Trudeau has pushed to have this non-legal term on the legally binding ban.

A common argument is that gun bans do nothing since criminals do not purchase weapons from legal outlets. If a person is going to kill someone, the fact that they can’t purchase a gun from a legal source is highly unlikely to stop them. Solomon Friedman, a criminal defence lawyer in Ottawa and an expert on the Firearms Act, told CBC in an interview: “The evidence is clear—criminals are not deterred by new offences or greater punishment. In the case of the most recent tragedy, he’s willing to commit the most serious offence in our criminal code—which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison—so how could further regulation possibly deter or prevent that conduct?”

Other experts were quick to point out that Canada’s major gun issues arise from illegal importing at the border—not from legal domestic sales. In a CBC interview, Gary Mauser—a professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University—stated: “Smuggling is almost impossible to stop since the US-Canadian border is one of the busiest in the world. CBSA cannot check the very many of millions of shipments that cross the border every day. As long as drug crime is profitable, criminals will actively bring in illegal firearms. Clearly, legislation controlling the actions of the law-abiding cannot affect this.”

Despite the fact that 70 to 99 percent of illegal gun crime (as reported by CBC)

To clarify, $600 million will be distributed to honest law-abiding Canadians who are willingly turning in their weapons, while just over $10 million a year goes to stopping real crime that contributes to gun violence.

emerges from the Canada-USA border, Trudeau has instituted a buyback program that will compensate Canadians who own now-prohibited weaponry. The program will reportedly cost up to $600 million.

Meanwhile, two years ago the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) received $51.5 million over five years to help in the fight against gun smuggling. To clarify, $600 million will be distributed to honest law-abiding Canadians who are willingly turning in their weapons, while just over $10 million a year goes to stopping real crime that contributes to gun violence.

Many, like Ontario Premier Doug Ford, expressed concern that the country is too lenient on gun-crime offenders—who often are quickly back on the streets— while punishing a number of the twomillion or so Canadians with licenses. “The problem is not the legal gun owners. We need to target the smugglers, and we need

to throw the book at these gangsters out there terrorizing our streets. Throw the key away with these people if they get caught with guns. Don’t give them a slap on the wrist and then try to point the finger at legal, law abiding gun owners.”

Ford is well-versed on the subject, with Toronto having 326 accused of gun crimes out on bail last summer. An example of those released was Shakiem Anderson, who had previously served a term in jail for possessing a loaded prohibited or restricted gun and was on a three-year weapon probation. He was charged with 22 offences; his last chase started with a hit-and-run in broad daylight with the passenger in his SUV opening fire and finished with him driving on sidewalks almost hitting pedestrians, smashing vehicles, and ramming a police car.

In addition to the fact that criminals were already violating Canada’s existing

laws, there were several items on the list that suggested Trudeau’s ban was primarily about posturing, among them the inclusion of “z.085 AR15.Com ARFCOM” and “z.086 AR15.Com AR15.com” serving as two examples. AR15.Com is a website, not a gun.

According to the Justice Department and Statistics Canada, the rate of gun murders has remained virtually unchanged since 1989—the year of the Ecole Polytechnique shootings—suggesting that gun controls do nothing to prevent real criminals.

Trudeau says he’s trying to save lives, but the data is stacked firmly against him.

Unilaterally passing regulations that are not based on real-world data during a time of crisis is a curious move in theoretical terms—and undemocratic in real-world terms.

news // no. 4

theotherpress.ca

Good spots still available… maybe!?! ››Douglas reminds students of late registration option

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ith summer graduation ceremonies suspended and a recent announcement by the Minister of Education touting that the province does not have a timeline for reopening classrooms, Douglas pushes ahead with summer registration and a summer semester.

Towards the end of March, Douglas communicated that summer courses would be online to support students’ class, program, and degree completion, with the added benefit of allowing the college to comply with the Provincial Health Officer’s social distancing directive.

Last year, according to the Douglas College “Institution Accountability Plan and Report 2018/19 Reporting Cycle,” approximately 7,500 students enroll in summer courses. The report—which is submitted annually to the Post-Secondary Audit and Accountability Branch of the Ministry of Education—states that domestic enrollments were flat and the college has been buttressed by international enrollment.

However, with international travel slowed and the transition to online instruction, there may be less students partaking in the 2020 summer semester.

To combat the flattening of domestic enrollments and decrease of international enrollments that could hamper the college’s economics, Douglas reminded

students that some Douglas programs are accepting applications.

The college prompted Canadian students, via their website, to apply to the summer 2020 semester and the

programs accepting applications by May 10.

Interested students were asked to call the Registrar’s Office via a Zoom teleconference meeting code to find out what programs would be accepting applications.

Photo by Billy Bui

Atiba Nelson Staff Reporter

Students applying to the college during late registration would be subject to all the same requirements of any perspective applicant—including fees and official documentation.

“Students applying between April 20 and May 10 must send their required documentation to us immediately. We do not guarantee their acceptance for summer if their admission documentation is delayed,” stated the press release on the Douglas News page.

Douglas does caution applicants that late registration is a difficult process, for example full courses, accessing course materials, and de-registration, but reminds students to reach out to the Registrar for more information.

“Applying and registering once the semester starts can be challenging,” reads the online news announcement. “If you miss one or more classes at the beginning of the semester, you may find yourself too far behind to catch up. Some instructors hold quizzes as early as the second week of classes.”

As an example of the degree of difficulty associated with late registration, the Criminology diploma—the fourth most popular Douglas’ program by number of applications in the 2017 to 2018 academic year—is open to application via the open enrollment stream. Yet, at the time of writing this, only two of the 34 courses offered in the summer semester have space to register.

Instructor advocates for Douglas to do more Atiba Nelson Staff Reporter

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ith the curve flattening, the start of spring, and dwindling economic options ahead, a group of protestors have begun imploring the provincial government to ease public health restrictions which they find oppressive.

However, this group is not the only cohort upset at their institutions. Irritated college students in the United States have begun demanding their educational institutions refund tuition due to lackluster online course delivery. Some have sued their schools with the hopes of receiving thousands of dollars back.

The lynchpin of the lawsuits is that students believe their educational institutions did not honour their agreement to provide the necessary tools to learn during campus closures and mandatory online classes.

“I am missing out on

everything that [my university] has to offer—from libraries, the gym, computer labs, study rooms, and lounges,” said Grainger Rickenbaker—a student who is suing Philadelphia’s Drexel University—in an interview with Bloomberg News.

Rickenbaker pays over $60,000 in tuition and living expenses.

Although Douglas College tuition is not as expensive, a Douglas professor believes that the college should be helping students during the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit not through a refund.

Chris Maguire, a faculty member in the English language learning and acquisition (College Preparatory English) department, recently advocated for a tuition decrease of 50 percent at Douglas.

He states that the pandemic presents a good time for the college to raise goodwill in the eyes of students.

“It’s a time in our society when we need to do the right thing,” Maguire told the New Westminster Record, “it seems it would be a

good time for them to make that grand gesture.”

Maguire argues that Douglas is profitable annually and a decrease in profit over several semesters would not impact the college’s bottom line, especially when the students served by the college are facing economic hardships.

“If Douglas only makes $1 million next year instead of $10 or $7 [million], what’s the harm?” said Maguire. Although Douglas College is a not-forprofit entity, the college does have an endowment of over 20 million dollars through the Douglas College Foundation— which can operate at the behest of the college.

“Tuition [is] increasing faster than the cost of living for students that I teach, that are international, and they’re increasing [tuition] to [the] maximum allowable by law for the domestic students, and it’s not necessary to do it unless you need the money,” said Maguire.

Photo by Billy Bui

››Tuition freezes and refunds are among the proposed options

news // no. 5

29// vol 46 issue 25//

Schools Doggoneonline newsfor the summer

2020 summeron semester at Douglas will now be online only › ›The Canine coverage mail carriers, heroic actions, and puppy naming contests Craig JessicaAllan Berget Staff Writer Editor-in-Chief

he a swath through hiscoronavirus past monthhas hascut been one for the everyday and Douglas College (DC) dogs. No,life, really. is no Animals exception. are a terrific source of comfort Afterin having move all winter for many these to stressful times.

For classes to the virus, has the pastonline coupledue of weeks, storiesDC about been to extend its non in-person dogs forced have been circulating popular news class offerings forthe thespirit entire sources.

To keep of summer positive, semester.

“Inrelated supportnews of the Public here Health non-COVID ongoing, are Officer’s social distancing directive, and in some news stories revolving around some recognition students’ cool caninesofthis week. planning needs, Douglas hasthought made the difficult JustCollege when you dogs hating decision to move alloverused summercliché, 2020 courses mail people was an online. will be no in-person CanadaThere Post asked patrons to keep classes their for the summer dogs inside or onterm.” leash while deliveries are Through a correspondence email, being made because employees are getting the Other Press with DC20 bit or injured ontalked the job.

Thisthe April administration asked them variety announcement and comes in lieu theafact that of questions regarding exactly how the people are home more often because of summer semester will beweather. conducted. quarantine and warmer Though ThisPost willdeals be the first time DC has Canada with thousands of offered classes at are 100some percent online. furry friends each year, of them do Along with this, if the About coronavirus not end with tailseven wagging.

500 subsides at some point during theworkers workers are bit each year, and 150 semester, will remain online for are injuredclasses with stitches resulting from the entire semester.according For thosetoworried these interactions, Canadathat they noteven be able to take classes Post.will Some change theirtheir route, are online due theto nature course, DC afraid to goto back work,oforthe go through has said that anyof classes that cannot be some symptoms Post Traumatic Stress done online will be deferredto toCBC. the next Disorder (PTSD), according semester.

Thisgood deferment will also have One very boy was responsible to to any students that do not girl have forapply finding a missing three-year-old access to a computer, as computers will in the cold forest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. not provided by the school.

On be April 29, Constable Dan Berube and The canine switch unit—Jynx—were to online will involve a his keen training lot more than simply putting a program other police dogs when they got a call about online for child students access.

One problem a missing whoto had wandered into the many will have is getting their woodsstudents by her home.

Berube says they were books andthe other materials they may and searching thick brush, branches, need forthe theforest class.when DC said that thought they are mud of Berube working with their suppliers to this ensure no human could come through thick that students have the and forest.

That’s when Jynxbooks picked upsupplies a scent. that they needfor foranother the nextRCMP semester.

This Berube called officer to includes different delivery respond, looking and theninto he heard a soft “hello” methods for the coming from thebooks. bushes.

When askedharder if classes be cheaper “I thrashed andwill my dog led due towhere the fact that they willhere be online, me to she was—and she wasDC in said no. “Tuition fees arenowhere, based onacredits the middle of absolutely whole received per course. While the delivery

bunch of pine brush around her and she was just standing there,” Berube said in an interview with CBC. “The first thing she said was I just has hugged her.” Jynx the format of‘doggy.’ our courses changed, these service canine wastoofbe course given a treat courses continue taught by the for a job well done.faculty “Just another at same experienced as theyday would work for him,”Students Berube said. continue to earn be in person.

According to Global News, a baker’s full academic credit and havepuppies access have dozen of the RCMP’s newest to student services.” When asked how student services will remain available,

had their names decided as part of a “name the puppy” contest. The winning names— all starting with the letter “N,” as per the contest guidelines—will be given to the DC stated that “All student services will first 13 pups born this year at the Police Dog continue to be available through alternate Services models Traininglike Centre (PDSTC). delivery email, phone, The or names are as follows: Nanuq, Narco, Narley, service-specific software.”

Neeka, Nelly, Nero, Newman, Nina, Nixon, Though the class tuition will still be Niya, Noah, Nova, and Nytro. The RCMP maintained, the date for when students will have to pay for the classes has

IllustrationIllustration

by Sonam by Kaloti Sonam Kaloti

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says their canine units are a vital part of policing and deals with things like finding missing persons, drug sniffing, tracking down criminals, and changed.

Because of sometimes COVID-19, even DC has bomb sniffing.

All German Shepard dogs moved the payment date for the semester in April Canada to 27.working as RCMP service were bornDC from police dog training centre in hasthe a lot of campuses in the Innisfail, Alberta.

Lower Mainland, but for 2020, its newest campus will be on the internet superhighway.

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Arts

• ‘The Terminal’ movie review • Hugh Jackman delivers a career highlight in ‘Bad Education’ • ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’ Album Review ...and more

The title of this Netflix series is very literal 'Too Hot to Handle' promotional image via Netflix

›› ‘Too Hot to Handle’ reality

Tania Arora Staff Writer

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etflix just got hotter and raunchier.

If you haven’t checked it out, then you are missing out on the leveling up of the “oomph” factor on this platform. The scandalous and intimate show, Too Hot to Handle, was released recently. When the trailer came out, honestly, it did not catch

my attention… but the reviews made me watch it. When I did, I wished I weren’t single and quarantining at the same time. It messed up with my hormones, every male viewer’s testosterone levels, and definitely sent butterflies rapidly flying around any viewer’s stomach.

The show featured the hottest boys and girls from all around the world. And when I say “hottest,” I mean it. Everyone has a different ethnicity and background. The only common factors are beautiful faces and

dating show review

toned bodies. Again, when I say “beautiful,” I mean it.

This band of horny people in their 20s’ are thrown into a retreat where they are given spiritual sessions on how to love. They are taught the true value of relationships and how to be successful in running them.

The setting was a place any and every person would want to be right now. An exotic resort with a mesmerizing view, the best amenities, beautiful women in two pieces, and insanely cute guys with six to eight pack abs. The first thought of each participant obviously was to pick which contestant they would they nail—until they were hit by a twist.

The host of the show is a virtual assistant, “Lana.” The device rules the lives of the participants and monitors their moves even in the most private of spaces.

Obviously, a reality show cannot be that simple. Rules were laid on the table

in the second episode and that’s where the actual rule breaking began. A fund of $100,000 was set up for the contestants and each mistake would cost them money.

What could possibly be mistakes here? The cost of each one of them was hefty and the extent of the rule breaking would decide how large the deduction would be.

The sex bombs were told to preserve themselves from exploding. The rule was no physical intimacy between the contestants—no kissing, no sex, and even no masturbation. Once the rules were declared, it was interesting to see them resist their hormones every time they felt a nerve twitch down there.

And if there are rules, they are meant to be broken. The show had interesting segments on the rule-breakers, offering the reactions of other contestants. The level of entertainment did not go down at a single point. So, if you are looking for an entertaining show during this quarantine, then Too Hot to Handle is a must watch.

All the stars plus one extra for those sixpack abs.

Tom Hanks only wishes he were that invisible at the airport Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor

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ife is like an airport: it’s overcrowded, there are many different types of people, and everyone is always in a hurry to get somewhere—too busy to stop and take a look around.

The Terminal stars Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones and is classified as a romantic comedy. While there is light adulterous romance, I think this classic Steven Spielberg movie is more of a tragedy or a tragic romance instead. With a static plot in a closed setting, a movie about getting stuck at the JFK airport for months on end doesn’t seem as though it would be enthralling—but enthralling it was, nonetheless. A constant heartstring tug with every viewing, The Terminal had my eyes watering and my senses sighing.

Tom Hanks’ performance as the

stranded Viktor Navorski is emotional, charmingly dedicated, and convincingly forward. From my previous memory, Hanks played more of a dummy. But, after having watched The Terminal again the other night, all traces of “dummy” have been wiped clean and replaced with an effective persevering foreigner who learns English in a surprising and constructive manner, earns a job simply by being excellent at being handy, and draws in a unique circle of caring misfit friends who help him survive his months at JFK in exchange for participation in some hijinks.

This sentimental movie really isn’t just about one thing—it touches on many topics. It is a fish-out-of-water comedy, a romance, an unorthodox character study, and an inspirational allegory about making the most out of unfortunate circumstances.

This movie highlights the fact that we all go through hard times, and this is certainly something many can relate to considering the COVID-19 quarantine.

'The Terminal' still

››‘The Terminal’ movie review

Having the film set in an American airport forces those in the audience with the foolish assertion that all nonEnglish speaking travellers are inherently dumb to question that belief. It certainly made me realize my incorrect assumptions of Tom Hanks’ character based on my vague memory of his acting. Hanks plays

his role perfectly as a man of great wit and purpose who nobly serves his time in the commercial airport prison until he is able to escape into the snowy Big Apple.

Reviewing this classic Spielberg piece of art, I was able to take a trip down nostalgia lane—leaving me clinging to more wholesome times.

arts // no. 7

issue 29// vol 46

Premiere of new sci–fi series ‘Tales from the Loop’ is touching yet confusing 'Tales from the Loop' promotional image via Amazon Prime Video

››Flaws undermine a compelling lead and philosophical themes Jonathan Pabico Contributor

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he first episode of Tales from the Loop presents enjoyable everyday environments and a highly grounded lead.

Although the premiere has potential, it is still disappointing due to its many faults.

The plot follows Abby Ryder Fortson as Loretta, a lonely schoolgirl that discovers startling truths about herself after her mother disappears.

Fortson portrays Loretta with an innocence that supplies complicated layers to her role, even though she lacks strong screen time with the cast. She humanizes the episode’s lead by exploring how isolated she feels due to her distant family bond with her mother. Little dialogue from the script enables Fortson to be more believable. Her performance relays how kids see the world as they grow during their childhood.

Another takeaway from this episode is that it patiently unravels the plights of Fortson’s character. Wide takes of the story’s cold surroundings edited with more constrained shots of Loretta’s hometown further illustrate her struggles with being

by herself. The soft melodies and solemn tones from the soundtrack layered with the timelessness conveyed by each camera shot instill how Loretta’s relationship with her mother is ironically bound by time. This creates commentary about how time shapes our identities and defines family ties.

What further benefits the storytelling is that visual effects are used sparingly in favour of practical effects and sets. Rather

than overwhelming the narrative with CGI, this allows Loretta’s character development to be more easily accessible.

The peculiar sci-fi that gradually transgresses Loretta’s life balanced with her estrangement from her mother elevate the episode’s message about the costs of becoming disconnected from family. The premiere employs abundant shadows and subtle sound design to represent the

emotional scope of this theme.

One shortcoming is that Loretta seems unfazed by the story’s sci–fi wonders and treats them as normal occurrences. The plot could have made Loretta’s strange experiences new to her to improve believability.

The story also falls short with an enormously problematic script. Nothing substantial happens for a while due to weak suspense produced by slow pacing.

The sci–fi set pieces are underused and could have played a larger role in the narrative’s mystery. If that’s not enough, the episode could have reached the climax sooner—since that is really the only time when Loretta’s character arc becomes more interesting.

Tales from the Loop has a disjointed first entry with a lot of plot holes. The premiere takes its time developing themes and world-building to create a moving journey. However, the story contains many drawbacks, despite an impressive performance from Abby Ryder Fortson.

What can’t be denied is how disarmingly original this show tries to be in proving how the ordinary has as much to offer as the extraordinary.

Educators behaving badly ››Hugh Jackman delivers a career highlight in ‘Bad Education’

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n this pandemic, most movies have been shuffled off to next year. This has made this month’s crop of movies very small, with only a few select on demand releases sticking to their original schedule. One of them is the Cory Finley’s Bad Education.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and scooped up by HBO, Bad Education could have appeared and left the usually crowded movie scene with barely any notice. However, with the number of movies premiering in April being so few, Bad Education had a bigger spotlight than what it probably would have had during normal circumstances. It captured the moment—becoming one of the best movies of the year on any platform.

In this film, based on a true and huge scandal, Hugh Jackman delivers the best performance of his career (which is really saying a lot). He plays Frank Tassone, the superintendent of the Roslyn New York school district. Through his hard work and dedication to the district and students, Tassone has managed to get the Roslyn school district a reputation as the fourth best in the United States. Tassone is amazing at his job—he remembers every student who ever met him by name, and also property values in the district went up a lot due to his work. But, like some educators, he is underappreciated—getting

only a basket of chocolates from real estate agents as a thank you.

Jackman hits all the right notes with this role. He plays Tassone with such charisma that throughout the movie it never feels like Tassone is an outright villain. In the town of Roslyn, he is considered to be living a life of poverty compared to the rich and affluent parents of the children. The movie showcases the struggle that Tassone goes through when trying to maintain appearances for parents who might reject him if he does not conform to the image Roslyn demands.

Another performance not to be forgotten is Allison Janney as Tassone’s assistant superintendent and friend Pam Gluckin. Gluckin is everything that Tassone is not. While liked by the other people in the office, Gluckin does not meet

with the students, parents, or people in the community. She is a lot rougher around the edges compared to her counterpart and, in a way, I feel she is the true face of the struggle and sacrifice that some teachers and administrators have to go through in order to give their students the best education.

This film is on one hand about self-preservation, but is also a film about morality. This comes from the character of Rachel Bhargava, played wonderfully by up-and-coming actress Geraldine Viswanathan. Bhargava is a writer for the Roslyn High School newspaper. While researching for a story on the building of a skywalk at her school, she uncovers various accounting discrepancies in the books. When Tassone realizes that Bhargava is onto them, he approaches her

Screenshot of 'Bad Education' via HBO

Craig Allan Staff Writer

and tells her that if she goes public with this, many people are at risk of losing their jobs. Bhargava’s editor-in-chief tells her that with people like Tassone are writing his college recommendations, and other students colleges may be in jeopardy. This leaves Bhargava with a tough decision.

Should she report the story, or should she bury it and live with the guilt that she chose not to say anything?

Bhargava’s struggle in the movie got me thinking about what I and my fellow cohorts at the Other Press would do with a similar story. Assistant Editor Janis McMath stressed that every situation needs to be looked at individually, but the best broad generalization would be that scandals do more harm in the long run and tally more victims as time passes—so it is essential to expose the truth instead of sitting on it.

Life and Style Editor Morgan Hannah said “penalizing the victims wouldn’t be cool... but maybe there’s a way to report the story without having to bury it?”

Bad Education tackles a lot of subjects such as preservation, morality, and identity—and handles all of them with tremendous depth and tact. Come Emmy season (if it happens), Bad Education will surely be in the discussion with Jackman’s role an early favourite for the Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. Jackman gives possibly the best performance of his career in a TV movie. In a year of unexpected surprises, this is one of the better ones of the year.

arts // no. 8

theotherpress.ca

Quarantine is driving everyone insane, it seems James Wetmore Contributor

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hen I decided to review this album, I did not know what I was getting into. Most of what I know of Fiona Apple’s music is from her 1996 debut album Tidal, which was experimental and artsy, but nothing too radical. Then I listened to her new album, and my goodness this whole thing is just one big trip. From the first few songs your idea of experimental music is flipped, stretched, and torn apart, then covered in a thick wall of kind of weird.

Instrumentation on this record is for the most part sparse, with most of the songs based around a duo of vocals and percussion with the odd piano or keys thrown in there. Something about the whole thing feels wrong, for lack of a better term, as you can easily feel disorientated

with constant interwoven layers of vocals and odd percussions thrown at you from every angle.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters feels like a companion piece to the current quarantine taking place, as many people are wanting to get back to normal and break free of the chains holding them at home. Lyrically the album explores a similar theme of liberation, the title reflecting that one should fetch their own tool of liberation and break free from whatever it may be that is holding them back. The songs on this album reveal that Fiona Apple’s restraints come from past bullying, sexual assault, romantic debacles, amid many other themes that are beautifully paired with the hectic music that carries them.

Songs like “Newspaper” and “Relay” display Apple’s amazing use of her voice, channeling Stevie Nicks as she delivers lines such as “I resent you for being raised right, I resent you for being tall, I resent

you for never getting in any opposition at all, I resent you for having each other,” and “I too, used to want him to be proud of me, and then I just wanted him to make amends, I wonder what lies he’s told you about me, to make sure that we’ll never be friends.”

The layers upon layers of vocals on most of these tracks hammer in the distorted and confused mind frame that one would be in if they were being controlled by a partner, always being told what to think or what to do.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters is raw, rough, potentially even unfinished sounding, but that just adds to the aggression that Fiona Apple is trying to push—wanting you to feel uncomfortable or caught off guard. It’s hypnotic how the songs weave

'Fetch the Bolt Cutters' album cover

››‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’ Album Review

from one idea to the next, never losing your attention but never fully giving itself away, always keeping you on your toes. I do not understand how you can make a song sound so tribal yet sound like it would fit right in at cheer practice. It is all the right kinds of weird.

Lots of catching up

››‘Art-House America’ shows the importance of independent cinemas Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist

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ndependent cinemas or art-house cinemas are community spaces for film.

Many people—including me—who like movies go to these places to see films that you cannot see in a multiplex. This includes movies that are presented on film rather than digitally. There are also locations to talk about film and go beyond the film with conversation panels—there are also places where you can get popcorn made the old-fashioned way like in the early years of movie theatres.

When I go to the Vancity Theatre, the staff and some of the other people that I see inside know me and we talk about the film that we are about to watch, as well as some of the other films that are currently playing or coming soon.

These cinemas are also communities.

They are all currently closed because of the coronavirus pandemic; when this pandemic ends, I plan to go to a theatre and eat popcorn. All of this inspired me to watch a show I have been enjoying: Art-House America. It is a web show from streaming service The Criterion Channel.

It shows the history of some of the most famous art-house cinemas in the

United States and why they are important in discovering, developing, and preserving cinema. The programmers in these cinemas talk about how they curate their films and why they show them to their audiences as well as the outreach programs that they do in their communities. In each episode, their interviews are accompanied by the films that are currently being shown in their cinema.

In the episode on the Jacob Burns Film Centre in Pleasantville, New York, I learned that film labs allow filmmakers to develop their craft. Additionally, the late director Jonathan Demme (who directed The Silence of the Lambs) is important in the curation of the Jacob Burns Film Centre’s programming and they show his rarely seen films. After that, I watched the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense directed by Demme (this band might have inspired a famous Canadian band called Arcade Fire). After late director Bernardo Bertolucci saw this film, he got the lead member of the Talking Heads, David Byrne, to do parts of the score of The Last Emperor.

Film discussion is the theme in the episode on the Walter Reade Theatre in New York City. There is an episode on The Loft Cinema in Tucson, Arizona.

This theatre is as fun as The Rio Theatre; this interesting theatre takes their show on the road and show films to people in hard to reach places. The idea of the art-house cinema as a community space is discussed in the episode on The Texas Theatre in Dallas, Texas—and the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle. An interesting episode is the episode on the Gold Town Nickelodeon in Juneau, Alaska—I learned that it was initially used to show the founder’s documentary about the history of the gold rush in the city, and it was used to show other films only to fund the theatre.

The current curator of the theatre, Collette Costa, is fun and knowledgeable.

You can even watch the documentary that is seen in the episode. Criterion Collection recently did a GoFundMe where they raised $500,000 to help art-house cinemas stay open after the pandemic—they even got donations from Wes Anderson and Netflix. While movie theatres will not be open again for awhile, you can learn about their significance with Art-House America. After you watch it though, you probably will want to go to a movie theatre.

Have an idea for a story?  lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

Life & Style

life & style // no. 9 • Beef Pinwheels with Mash Potatoes and Maple Carrots • EI EI Ugh! • Return your hectic life to normal ...and more

What a ten-day retreat of silent meditation is like

Photo by Sage

››An interview with Sage on the Vipassana experience

Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor

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y friend Sage has always been an interesting and delightful individual, finding offbeat paths towards self-discovery and creativity. Recently, I learned that she attended a Vipassana 10-day silent retreat, so I just had to interview her and get the inside scoop on what it’s like attending something so unusual and personal.

A quick refresher on Vipassana: it’s an intense silent meditation course held in many locations all around the world. The course is free, but students usually donate to the retreat once it has ended. I wanted to know what Vipassana meant to Sage, so I asked her to describe it to me.

“Connecting with yourself without tools. Finding your purest self through the purest state. A lot of meditation techniques can get you to that purest state where you realize your truth through breathing techniques, focusing on images. Vipassana strips away every technique and crutch that you’re comfortable with. It encourages you to get ‘there’ without using anything,” said Sage in a phone interview with the Other Press.

The retreat was held in Youngstown, Alberta—also known as Sportsman’s Paradise. Sage was inspired to take on this personal challenge by Yung Pueblo, an activist, former Vipassana student, and writer who supports individuals with their healing and growth through his writing.

A day in the life of a student at the

Youngstown Vipassana Retreat Centre is heavily based upon routine and, of course, meditation. Lots of it. Phones and other devices are surrendered on the first day and shortly after, “Noble Silence” begins.

Women and men are separated except for co-ed meditation in the hall, and every single day starts at 4 am. Students are given a 30-minute break in the morning to get ready for the day ahead and shortly after, they must wander over to the hall and silently meditate until 6:30 am. Morning meditation ends with a prerecorded chanting session from Goenka (which Sage admitted that she found annoying at first), and a light breakfast is served—followed by silent free time until 8 am. Then mediation continues in the hall until 11 am. Students are given one hour for lunch and one hour after that of free time (silently), then meditation continues from 1 pm until 5 pm in the hall. From 5 to 6 pm, tea or a light snack is served, shadowed by more silent meditation until 8 pm, at which the day wraps up with discourse, a prerecorded video of Goenka’s praise for having gotten through the day, as well as instruction on what to expect the next day—and an early 9:30 pm bedtime.

Over the next 10 days, Sage challenged herself in many ways, learning to be more present and to appreciate life more. She learned about determination, her strength, and the impermanence of everything in life. That’s not to say that she didn’t have struggles maintaining a clear mind.

Like most people, Sage had wandering

thoughts.

“I noticed I would start to imagine future experiences. The whole point I thought I came here for was to figure out what to do after the retreat—like, where to move and stuff like that. I wanted to find peace of mind here and to calm down so I could figure out my life. During this time, I would also fantasize, so I said to myself: ‘You’re not being present girl, come back! Why are you doing that? Are you uncomfortable in this moment? Are you always doing this? I started to notice how often I do that. There’s a time and place to imagine your future and plan it out. But, if you’re at a meditation retreat to sit with your thoughts, feel your pain, and eradicate your pain, then why are you not present right now?’”

Her most memorable moment came during day five. During the discourse, she was feeling frustrated with the pain in her body and with people around her breaking Noble Silence. Then she looked across the room and saw a man completely still and unbothered by the noise, completely peaceful. She thought to herself that if he could be so peaceful and calm during the chaos, then so could she.

“Basically, I used him as an excuse to be peaceful, to cultivate the strength in myself to not be irritable anymore.” She had to learn to let go of the thoughts that found her during her silence and did so by imagining herself interacting with the things she had difficulty getting over. This helped give a sense of closure.

From this moment forward, Sage began to experience a sequence of memorable things happening to her— starting with a change in her relationship with food. During meals, the retreat staff would put blinders on the windows and all the chairs were facing the walls, encouraging no eye contact with one another. “This helped to enforce that this time was my own. We would politely stay to ourselves, we would wait in line— serving ourselves. I was taught how to be more present with meals and how food is medicine. My relationship with food was probably the number one thing I took out of Vipassana.”

By day eight, Sage was able to get past physical pain in her hips during meditation by challenging herself to sit through it regardless of how she felt. She visualized the muscles in her body as red and throbbing and sat with the pain until she saw her muscles turn to a neutral grey, like a rock, and all of a sudden they grew heavy and no longer hurt.

When asked if she would recommend attending the Vipassana retreat, Sage said she would recommend going if you’re interested in putting some work into yourself for lifelong growth—and you’re ready for that growth.

Her greatest takeaway from the retreat, besides her relationship with food, is that if you don’t believe in yourself, there is no one else who will. The belief needs to come from you—you’re the one who needs to cultivate the energy in yourself.

What does Mother’s Day mean to our moms?

Jessica Berget Editor-in-Chief

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oms—some of us love ours to death, and some may have strained relationships. In any case, we often can’t imagine our lives without them and appreciate them for bringing us into this world. With Mother’s Day coming up on May 10, the Other Press gets the full scoop of the experience of motherhood straight from the source—our own moms!

Other Press: What is your favourite part about being a mother?

CC: “My journey is nothing without my kids. You could have romantic love, or drive in life, but there is nothing more intimate and empowering than like… you’re my own flesh, you know what I mean? And the sacrifices that you make. People say you get fat, or you go through so much pain—but that is because they don’t understand the internal, intrinsic sense of duty, purpose, love, and connection.”

JO: “To my two kids, being a mentor to them in all things. I like to help them and show them how to love and how be loved.”

MZM: “I get lots of love from my child, and we laugh a lot together.

We are best friends. We share meaningful hobbies and activities together so we can always enjoy the time we spend. She also helps me with all my computer troubles—I cannot solve those problems without her.”

OP: What’s the most difficult part? Biggest regret?

CC: “For me, not having a supportive co-parent—even if it was just one facet like emotional and financial support, because then I feel I wouldn’t have to work so much and then I could have been more present. The hardest part was being single. I also wish I had more time. I also told my kids I didn’t want them dating when they were young, and I feel like that subdued the normal part of forming relationships when you are young. You know, when you’re like 12 and break up with a boy and hold hands, it’s stupid—but it’s real. I felt like what happens is relationships get complex and when you’re young and your body is sexually awake, but your mind and your emotions and everything else isn’t. And I didn’t want my kids to be in a place where they were getting crushed because they were in love with some boy who broke up with them and is holding hands with another girl and now they’re suicidal.”

MZM: “It’s hard that you can’t always be there for your child— including those times they are hurt or bullied. Even if you want to take action, you cannot control your child’s friends if they hurt your kid. I can’t tolerate seeing my child being hurt by anyone—many mothers feel this way.”

OP: What did you wish you knew before becoming a mother?

CC: “I think one of the biggest mistakes parents make is that for our children’s developmental stages, we use our frame of reference.

I assume that you don’t need something because I didn’t need that when I was young, but actually your child might need that. We’re limited by our own life experience. You cannot take your life experience and infer your kid’s behaviour based on the fact that you

Enjoy your kids while they are young as much as possible. Give time to them, walk with them as they grow, be involved in all their activities.”

Don’t always say ‘no’ to your child. Be open to saying yes and giving them as many opportunities as possible.”

MZM: “I wish I had done more research on feeding a baby solid food. There are many natural foods you can make, but I leaned on pre-made baby food at the time. It is difficult to always make natural foods of course—being a mom is a tiring and sleepless job.”

child. Don’t compare them to others! Also respect their emotions, goals, and choices—including their friends!”

JO: “Enjoy your kids while they are young as much as possible. Give time to them, walk with them as they grow, be involved in all their activities.”

OP: What would you tell new mothers?

OP: What’s it like going from one kid to two, or more?

CC: “When I worked a specific job, I used to say that I lived paycheque to paycheque because of my financial contribution to my family—but I’m the wealthiest person you know. Real riches can never be stolen. You will never understand it unless you walk that path—the journey in front of you is so worthwhile. There’s just a lot of learning; it’s all a learning curve. What I would never tell new mothers is that your body is going to change in ways that makes you want to socially isolate.”

CC: “One to two is really not a big deal. It’s obviously more demanding and nothing is the same with any of them. For me, the biggest adjustment was three. By the time child four and five came along, it was like another pack of diapers and another potato in the pot. Anything after three kids is just another potato in the pot.”

MZM: “Don’t always say ‘no’ to your child. Be open to saying yes and giving them as many opportunities as possible. If they want to go to the park, to sleepover at a friend’s house, or go on a school field trip for example, allow them to experience as many wonderful things as you can. Listen to your child’s needs. If they are active, you need to help them spend that energy so you can enjoy a happy (and tired)

OP: What is the best way to celebrate Mother’s Day to you?

CC: “I don’t need that one day to feel like my kids love me. It’s not about that. I don’t need materialistic things. I desire affection through the heart, authentically. Mother’s Day doesn’t need to be on Facebook.”

I think all moms would appreciate something special from their children for Mother’s Day rather than just the same flowers and a hug. This Sunday, perhaps you can ask your mom some of these interview questions to make a meaningful connection.

Anything after three kids is just another potato in the pot.”

Illustration by Janis McMath

never did that. It’s not valid.”

life & style // no. 12

theotherpress.ca

Healthy habits to take up during quarantine Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor

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ou have to commit to a day in order for it to be a good one. Sometimes that can be difficult to do, especially when all the days seem to blend together as they do in quarantine. But there is hope! It all starts with something called the 30 Day Ideal Morning Challenge. But before we get into what that is, let’s start by outlining what your current routine looks like, distractions and all. What do you do from the moment you wake up to the moment you find yourself crawling back between those covers? After sincerely writing an outline, ask yourself if there is anything within your day that you can remove or shorten to give yourself more time.

Now that you’ve eliminated all possible distractions from your day, it’s time to bring out a journal that you can keep handy for daily use in the 30 Day Ideal Morning Challenge. First, set an intention for the day—much like a goal, setting an intention for the day gives your day shape, and it gives you something to accomplish that must be done in order for the day to have been successful.

After you’ve set an intention, list three things that you’re grateful for. Some of the world’s smartest and most successful people start their days with gratitude and I’ve personally found that being thankful is an excellent foundation to plan a day on. At first it might feel pointless or extra, but after a couple of days of listing what you’re grateful for, you begin to notice a difference in the way you feel upon waking up—you’re happier, more accepting, and things just feel brighter. Make sure that you don’t miss a day when recording what you’re appreciative for, but if you do it’s okay—just start up again.

Lastly, write down something that you plan on doing for yourself—a lighthearted moment just for you.

Whether that something is setting aside

an hour for watching your favourite show with a glass of wine, giving yourself some uninterrupted time in meditation, or making a tasty snack. Ensuring that you are honest with yourself and actually fulfilling each step of this challenge is the only way to receive the benefit from it.

The next step is physical. There are a variety of physical challenges out there to help keep you active, but my favourite one is simple: drink a glass of water first thing when you wake up in the morning, followed by a 30 second plank. We’re talking exercise here, so find somewhere comfortable to do your plank. And lastly, find the time to get in 20 minutes of cardio. Get your heart rate up and a decent sweat happening for at least 20 minutes. This may sound challenging (it is a challenge after all), but it doesn’t have to be! For example you could find a set of stairs and run up and down them as fast as you can while pumping your arms for 20 minutes, do some burpees on the carpet, and then switch into froggies (the more compact version of burpees) for 20 minutes—anything to get the blood flowing.

And lastly, work on your surroundings and what you do in your offtime. It’s easy to fall back into a cycle of not feeling good and having each of your days blend together again when you do the same thing every day. It’s a good idea to change things up and to beatify the space that you occupy. Yup, you heard that right.

By beautifying the space, you constantly have to be in, you feel more organized and earn a sense of ease and accomplishment.

My personal favourite method of this is indoor gardening—my partner and I have over 60 plants in our home, including tomatoes, aloe, strawberries, and a variety of herbs. Not only has gardening been a soothing and naturalistic hobby, but it has been a fruitful one, too! Our plants provide us with fresh home-grown veggies and berries, as well as medicines and

Illustration by Udeshi Seneviratne

››Return your hectic life to normal

natural moisturizers, help to put a smile on our faces, and they make our space look great!

Next, I’d recommend taking on an activity that requires you to build up a routine, such as writing a book or a memoir, putting together a dedicated area in your home for learning a new skill (such as meditation), playing an instrument, learning a language, or carving out a time for learning a new business strategy via

online seminars and classes. These are skills that will help you in the long run by broadening your capabilities and interests and potentially even providing you with more opportunities once quarantine has been lifted. Additionally, by taking the time to build a routine around actives, you are helping yourself create a grounded sense of normalcy. You may even have fun while you’re at it and forget all about being in quarantine!

Science promotes laughter and tickling

››A great defense against several illnesses and diseases Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor

Illustration by Athena Little

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hat’s something that decreases pain, boosts performance, and creates bonds between groups of people? Laughter! And it’s said to be the “best medicine” anecdotally, but there is some scientific evidence behind this old saying!

Laughter is a tangible presentation of humour and happiness that has a wealth of beneficial qualities beyond simply a physical representation of how someone might be feeling.

Happiness expressed most commonly through smiling and laughter is known to

increase brain function. Laughter also can boost your immune system and reduce the possibility of heart attacks!

In a study of a small group of healthy individuals, it was found that eliciting laughter serves the arteries nearly as much good as physical exercise. Though it’s not recommended that you skip your trip to the gym in favour of laughing, you should try to laugh as much as possible! Michael Miller, the doctor who conducted the study, goes on to talk about the endothelium—something that plays a critical role in cardiovascular health.

“The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries,” said Dr. Miller in an

interview with Psychology Today.

His study of the endothelium has allowed a greater understanding of the positive relationship between emotion and cardiovascular health.

If you’re looking for another great way to increase emotional connectivity between individuals and aid a healthy body, believe it or not, tickling is the answer!

That’s right, science promotes the benefits of tickling, as the higher acoustic complexity of this different type of laughter creates enhanced connectivity among different regions in the brain’s area for processing our joyous cackling.

After looking at all of this, it seems that it is in our best interest to make our life experiences as humorous as possible!

life & style // no. 13

issue 29// vol 46

EI EI Ugh!

››Applying for EI was easy, getting to the Craig Allan Staff Writer

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ike many Canadians, I have found myself unemployed due to coronavirus.

Yes, I have my income from the paper, but it’s not really enough. So, I had to sign up for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments. I originally did it through Employment Insurance (EI), applying a couple of days after I lost my job. After some initial worries, I received the first payment in April. Now though is the time to sign up for the second month of payments, and that is proving to be a herculean effort.

Last week I started the process of signing up for May’s payments. I did not realize that I had to put in a bi-weekly report if I signed up through EI, so I had to go back to write in the results for midMarch. They haven’t yet approved the EI report that I sent a week ago, and they’ve suggested that I should call them.

So, I decided to call them. After going through the opening messages, which you cannot skip even though they just tell you the same information, English or French,

emergency benefit plan blah, blah, blah, you eventually get to the menu where you can contact a representative. I press zero, happy my EI nightmare is going to end and... “due to high call volumes, we are unable to take your call at this time— please call back later.” When? When is the best time to call back?! If the call volumes are high now, they will never be low! Why can’t I send an email, leave a message, or have EI do the intelligent thing and just automatically approve my EI claim without the struggle? Better yet, why can’t they just allow everyone to sign up through the CERB, which I have read is only asking for a few things like personal info, social insurance number, and confirmation you meet the requirements?!

For this pandemic, I have been very understanding of the imposition the government is in. Even when I felt they were being stubborn by introducing the CERB and then only gradually changing the rules of applying to include people who were excluded from the program initially. I was calm about it because I know this is such an unprecedented event in modern Canadian history, so I accept

Photo by Billy Bui

second round is damn near impossible

that the government is going to stumble a bit when it comes to the implementation of things like this. However, my patience is running out. People need to be able to contact Service Canada for issues like this.

The lines should be going 24/7, especially if the service offices are going to remain closed. Speaking of the service offices, they really should be reopened. If places like Superstore and the Royal Bank can

install plexiglass protectors, then so can the government. If you don’t have enough people to man the phones, then you need to open up the service centres. People like me are getting trapped with no other options. We are getting close to May, and I do not see any effort to make this better.

Either roll the EI into the CERB system or make it easier.

Douglas’ Recipes for Douglas Students Beef Pinwheels with Mash Potatoes and Maple Carrots

David Douglas Contributor

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delicious and complex looking dish, this meal is certainly dressed to impress any guest you serve it to!

Ingredients: • kitchen twine • 2 beef flank steaks (thin) • 1 red bell pepper (cut into thin “sheets”) • a handful of spinach leaves • a few slices of your favourite cheese Sides: • 2 cups carrots (cubed) • 1/4 cup maple syrup • 2 tbs chives (chopped) • 2 large red potatoes (cubed) • 1/4 cup cream • 1 tbs butter or margarine • salt and pepper to taste All the hard work in this recipe resides in the prep. Start by sterilizing a large space on your countertop—this is going to get messy. Take two pieces of kitchen twine (for the two beef flanks) at 18 to 20 inches (45 cm to 50 cm) long and tape the ends down parallel to your counter about one inch (2.5 cm) apart. Lay your first flank steak on the counter width-wise on the string, leaving four or five inches sticking out on the left—as we will be

rolling them from the right. Lay the second flank just overlapping the end of the first. Don't worry if your flanks lay out longer than your string. Season your flanks to your liking.

Simple salt and pepper will do the trick, but feel free to use your favourite steak spice or smear on a thin layer of BBQ or Teriyaki sauce. In thin layers along the length of the flanks, lay down your cheese, spinach, and red pepper sheets. From the right side of your flanks, slowly and carefully begin rolling the flanks up over the layers on top of itself as tight as possible without all the ingredients

Photo by Morgan Hannah

››

squeezing out of the sides. Once rolled into a log, remove the tape holding the strings and tie the meat bundle together. Using a sharp knife, cut the excess off the ends of the log—at least a 1/2 inch from the string. If all went well, you should have two one-inch thick spirals of meat, cheese, and veggies.

In a pair of pots, boil the potato and carrot cubes separately. Once the potatoes are soft and ready to mash, drain both pots of water and begin to heat up an oiled skillet on medium heat. Now, I usually multitask here to get everything done around the same time. If you do not think you can complete the potatoes and carrots while frying the pinwheels, finish the sides before moving on.

Carefully place the pinwheels in the hot pan and return the drained carrots to the stove at a simmer.

While the beef sizzles, add the maple syrup to the carrots and the cream and butter to the potatoes.

Stir the carrots in the maple sauce occasionally and begin mashing the potatoes. Once the meat has browned up to the strings and the bottoms have a good sear on them, flip the pinwheels. Remove the carrots from the heat and stir in the chopped chives (if available, try adding some smoked paprika to elevate the dish) and finish any mashing you have left with the potatoes. Once the pinwheels have a nice sear on both sides and the meat is cooked to your desired temperature, serve and eat. Make sure to not eat the string.

Opinions

Have an idea for a story?  opinions@theotherpress.ca

• Are millennials the crises generation?

• An honest look at green energy • Restaurants after COVID-19 ...and more

Is the current pandemic a testing ground for future environmental reduction efforts? ››It’s wrong to hold the individual responsible for climate change

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here have been few bright spots in this pandemic. People have been housebound and society feels like it is at a standstill. However, that standstill has led to a cleaner world in some ways. Cities like Venice, New Delhi, and Los Angeles have all seen cleaner air from the reduction of cars due to the pandemic. Whether this is solely due to the lockdowns is debated, but the cleaner air will bring up the benefits of reduced car and plane travel—directing the discussion to environmentalism. Will this time of unexpected conservation lead to movements to reduce plane and car travel to combat climate change? Maybe, but it shouldn’t.

When it comes to fighting climate change, many feel that there is no way we can reduce the amount of air and car

travel we take. Whether it is due to how interconnected those networks are, or how it stomps on freedom and liberty, there will likely always be a reason for why we can’t eliminate plane travel or force everyone onto public transit. Though, the pandemic has shown us that we can eliminate planes and car travel, and society can still go on.

It’s not perfect, but it is manageable. For people looking to keep the status quo, it’s easy to say that reducing plane and car travel is not possible because it would disrupt the system too much. But we have done it now—and as it can be seen, the “sky is falling” doomsday notices are coming from areas other than the lack of car and air travel.

We have been learning to adapt to this change by working from home instead of traveling to an office and not flying on a plane for meetings and using online video chat instead. So now that we have done

this, it will be easy to implement those ideas into an overall reduction in car and air travel going forward, right? Possibly, but when the actual results are tabulated, it shows that car and plane travel won’t make much of a dent in the climate crisis.

Because while reducing the carbon emissions through cars and planes brought immediate relief to the air quality of a city, in the long run it won't make much of a difference. According to a Rolling Stone article, with all of our carbon pinching, we have only managed to reduce the amount of carbon going into the air by a grand total of 5.5 percent. That’s it—5.5 percent. The article also states that even if all of transportation was carbon neutral it would still only reduce the carbon in the atmosphere by 20 percent.

Yes, I believe humans are causing climate change—but the majority of it is not coming from individuals, but

instead from private institutions. All the power going into our homes and our electronic devices come from somewhere, and that somewhere is usually not very environmentally friendly.

Some feel that in order to stop climate change we have to stop looking at it from our own individual point of view.

There is an idea that if we all just don’t travel on planes or drive cars that we will stop climate change—but that is simply not true, and I believe that idea is more harmful than anything. If we want to stop climate change, we have to change our big industries like utilities and construction along with reductions in transportation carbon emissions. The best way to do that is to lobby the government for changes to our energy structure, big companies, and industry systems that expels carbon on a higher level than any individual ever will.

Photos by Billy Bui

Craig Allan Staff Writer

opinions // no. 15

issue 29// vol 46

Students should prioritize wellness over education during the pandemic ››Health comes first regardless of what some institutions may encourage EG Manilag Staff Writer

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lobally, the coronavirus is still a pressing issue and vaccine formulation is still in progress. During this unprecedented situation, people are encouraged to stay in the safety of their homes. Schools have been shutdown as well and have been transferred to an unchartered dimension: the internet. This means that school and some flexible jobs will ultimately be done from home. But is this a good thing for students? And having this situation in mind, should students concentrate more on building wellness or continuing education?

According to CBC News, mental

health issues and other concerns have increased due to coronavirus. In an online survey from the Angus Reid Institute, 44 percent of Canadians describe their mental health with the term worried. Others say they are anxious (41 percent),and some say they are grateful (34 percent). The rest describe their emotional state with bored, optimistic, depressed, normal, untroubled, numb, and pessimistic. Most of this has to do with self-isolation and social distancing.

For students, studying at home is likely to be a struggle rather than smooth sailing.

A commentator in the New York Times’ student opinion blog stated, “although we do have online school now, it is not the same. Working from home is worse as I don’t care to admit, my work habits from

home are not the best. I am easily able to procrastinate at home and having class in bed is not the best idea. Plus, I can no longer get the one on one help teachers provide if needed.” The same is true for workers. Geeta Malhotra, a techie based in Bengaluru, believes that this situation has not only made her home a stressful place, it has also made her restless: “I am eating whenever I want. Sometimes two meals a day, sometimes four times a day. The little walking I used to do has also stopped. I have put on four kgs of weight since the lockdown and I am having trouble sleeping at night so much that I have been sleeping for less than four hours,” she said.

Another thing to keep in mind is the notion that a weakened immune system allows for easy infection. We know that students are one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of experiencing high levels of stress. There is no doubt that stress increases the chances of being sick— emotionally, mentally, or physically.

Nevertheless, there is still this idea that education requires total attention from its students, with or without the pandemic. This is especially true for students who are graduating or preparing to take board and licensure exams— studying is still key. Although exams and other academic endeavours are important, we should consider the present

scenario. This semester should not see a prioritization of grades—the focus should be on the wellness of students. Although maintaining a healthy lifestyle is our individual responsibility, there are people, places, and rules that make our health better or worse. Everyone faces a different situation in life—some have it worse and some have it better.

In this unprecedented situation, I think it’s best to be utilitarian and think about the greatest good for the greatest number. In the Philippines, a “mass promotion” policy has been implemented for students amid the pandemic, and according to the country’s higher education agency—Commission on Higher Education (CHED)—it’s up to the universities and colleges to decide whether to pass all students or not. Some parts of the global south are active in their adaptation. Having said that, if poorer countries have made utilitarian acts to lessen the impact of coronavirus, then maybe countries in the global north can do more with these ideas.

Ideas like reducing the list of requirements in the course syllabus and being flexible in grading and making schedules. As long as this pandemic is around, I will always argue that it is generally reasonable to have bad marks. I can’t stress this enough: it’s better to have good health and bad marks than bad health and good marks.

in a war that is as old or older than them.

Then we watched the slow-rolling doom of global warming and its promise of speciesexistential obliteration, if not all. Forests became grazing lands and oceans became plastic fields and oil slicks, all while we struggled with calculus and high-school drama—aware of the news cycle but oblivious to the actual day this world would become ours.

There has been much debate regarding the prevalence of anxiety and depression amongst millennials. Some say it’s the lack of religiosity and the increased expectance towards sin, while others say that these feelings are not new but have been present and unspoken in every previous generation. Nonetheless it has been coupled with an unceasing rage to change and reimagine the world; yet in my eyes, this struggle for change is poorly thought-out and often irrational after further inspection. The future leaders who

surround us and appear in the media shout for a change that they cannot articulate.

Worse still, the rush for change disappears when they must implement it amongst themselves. Ours is a generation that rightly sees problems while attempting only the facsimile and shoddy fixes. Occupy Wall street slipped into nothing 10 years before Greta Thunberg would demand change while obstinately declaring she was not there to provide answers.

Soon, if not already, the crises generation will become the stewards of the world at large. We will shape governance and global relations, we will preside over the workings of every corporation, and we will be both the victims and beneficiaries of the history that preceded us. We can only hope that history has engrained temperance and inner strength while pandemics and recessions have made the necessities of prudence clear.

For whom the bill tolls ››Are millennials the crises generation?

Matthew Fraser Opinions Editor

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hey called those born between 1901 and 1927 the greatest generation. They were renowned for their bravery, innovation, and nation-building ambition; they fought the wars that made modern life possible, they begot the creations that would lead to our current technological state, and they laid the foundations that our modern arts and philosophies arose from. Years have become decades and we are now in the midst of the millennial comeuppance.

All around the world those born between 1981 and 1997 are slowly and steadily rising to the tops of governmental and corporate hierarchies. Yet, that which we have seen on our way to the top has been markedly different than our parents; we have experienced a global recession, a rare global pandemic, and we will probably live through a second global recession.

We were privy to the dual terrors of mass violence and climate change and now, while mired in bad habits, face an internal sickness of faulty mind states. If the greatest generation has come and gone, we may be the crises generation.

The 2008 financial crisis buckled America and shattered the veneer of prosperity that covered globalization.

Banks went under, stock markets crashed and people watched their lifetime savings

vanish into thin air; for many between the ages of 11 and 18 (in 2008) these were times of adult panic that didn’t make sense. How could a bank fail and it drag the rest of the world into such a perilous position?

Eleven years later the internet was teeming with bat soup and sickness memes, but when Italy and Spain began to see their daily deaths counts exceed 500 all jokes had to stop. Though we are not yet out of the virus’ insidious grip, economists predict a second global recession to follow the frightening human loss. Around the world countries have slowed considerably or stopped, while here in Canada we can watch our government hemorrhage money to keep the country afloat. It will come as a shock to many a millennial when the bill comes as we plan for homeownership and meagre retirements; all that was promised to old age has vanished for the youth today.

The greatest generation faced war but we have watched the world crumble thrice before our very eyes.

Violence has been the ordering factor of our generation. Not the violence of war or revolution (though both of those are prevalent) but the violence of heartless terror. Millennials came as Columbine imprinted itself on the North American world. Thereafter, 9/11 was our Berlin Wall; the day after which nothing could be the same. Certainly, there has been war but few, if any, could have predicted fighting

opinions // no. 16

theotherpress.ca

The future of the environment Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor

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t’s no secret that the downfall of the planet could happen someday. But what if I were to tell you that we are already amid that downfall and there seems to be nothing we can do to combat it?

For a while, I’ve wondered what humans could do to prevent an awful fate for our planet and I have found that there isn’t anything that we would be willing to do because the true problem is us. Everything that humans are doing is destroying our planet—for example, capitalism breeds consumption and I feel that will lead to our demise. The truth is that there are too many people using too much, too fast. You might try to combat that statement with: “What about our green initiatives such as solar and wind energy? What about trying to be 100 percent sustainable?” But green energy will not save the planet—some feel that our human impact is just too great.

After watching the 2019 Michael Moore documentary, Planet of the Humans (directed by Jeff Gibbs) my perspective of green energy has changed.

The documentary explains that “green” technologies are just a distraction from making a real plan to save our Earth. Jeff Gibbs states that green “renewable” energy and industrial civilizations are one and the same. He claims that wind turbines and solar panels are “desperate measures not to save a planet, but to save our way of life,” and argues that just because we are using wind power and solar panels does not mean we are not also burning fossil fuels.

Solar and wind energy are intermittent energy sources, which means that the

reality of converting to 100 percent sustainable energy is impossible because of how unreliable they are.

Backup fossil fuels-powered facilities are always running on idle.

In Planet of the Humans, Gibbs went to an eco-festival in Vermont which was intended to be fuelled by solar energy, but when it rained, they converted to biodiesel and then hooked into the electrical grid. Biodiesel is just the use of plant and animal material as a “renewable” energy source.

This moment was just the beginning of Gibbs’ revelatory unveiling of the truth behind humankind’s “green” initiatives.

“Everywhere I encountered green energy it wasn’t what it seemed,” Gibbs states early in the documentary.

Major corporations such as Sierra Club and 350. org and public figureheads with Earth-saving promises have been in cahoots with Wall Street and billionaires in leading our environmental movements down a dirty path. Solar panels and wind turbines are not a long-term solution, they are not as renewable as we think they are, and they are far from carbon neutral.

The conversion from diesel energy to solar and wind energy is a “green” movement that is peddled to the public as a game-changer… when in reality

Illustration by Morgan Hannah

››An honest look at green energy

it is an illusion. Planet of the Humans illuminates the manufacturing process of solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars and how they are all environmentally destructive with a lengthy and largely toxic list of elements required, including cobalt sourced by child labour; rare earth metals; sulphur hexafluoride (which is 23,000 times more warming than CO2); gallium arsenide; ethylene-vinyl acetate; hydrofluoric acid, and petroleum to name just a few. When taking a look at

how energy alternatives to fossil fuels are constructed, it begs the question whether these alternatives are worth it or if we’d be better off carrying on with the status quo, only at a highly reduced rate of consumption.

By not taking the time to think about these data-backed arguments about the problems in our energy system, humankind is running headfirst into our downfall. Awareness can help cultivate the path to change.

Are we ready to take the risk? ››Restaurants after COVID-19 Tania Arora Staff Writer e have all been waiting for the day when we can resume our normal lives. But at this point, even though officials are planning to gradually reopen the economy, the question arises: is it safe yet?

Assuming it is safe, the question becomes which businesses should open first?

Throwing 50 to 400+ people under the same roof and expecting them to be safe seems a little impractical here.

Comparing restaurants to parks, we see the advantage of open spaces over confined places, and that’s even with the tightest of precautions. Small restaurants could change their seating arrangements and create a greater distance between the guests. But restaurants with expensive and immobile interiors will have to find ways to accommodate their guests without disappointing them, if they manage to reopen that is.

The greatest risk to this situation is sanitizing the area after every guest exits the premises; this could entail a fulltime staff member being responsible for

Illustration by Udeshi Seneviratne

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sanitizing and rearranging the dining area.

The scope of that activity would depend on the businesses size. Busy food chains like McDonald’s or Tim Hortons with self-service and huge hourly turnovers

will face challenges creating strategies and ensuring proper implementation while small businesses could be impacted by operational cost.

Still, no matter how promising or

responsible an employee is, supervision is necessary. The entire setup would involve an increase in workforce. Half to ensure sanitization, the other half to verify it. But will that be enough? The food industry is one of the riskiest so caution will be imperative not just on the floor, but behind the scenes as well.

Regardless, if someone does get sick, who will be liable? Will the guests be blamed for coming to the restaurant?

If the restaurant is blamed, who will be held accountable: the company or the employees? If the employees are blamed, how will the authorities figure out the person behind the infection? Food goes through multiple hands before being served.

Each case would involve tracing whether it was front staff, someone in the kitchen, the manufacturer, or the wholesaler. Is anyone prepared for these investigations and do we have a plan for containment? Who will be sent in quarantine? We all are aware that the symptoms of the virus appear after a week or two so if even a single person contracts it, the whole business is likely to unravel. Is the government ready to risk it all over again?

Humour

Have an idea for a story?  humour@theotherpress.ca

humour // no. 17 • How to practice for your road test while quarantined at home • How to wear a mask when out in public ...and that's everything!

How to practice for your road test while quarantined at home ››Every good driver knows how to flip the finger EG Manilag Staff Writer

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f you were or are planning on taking your road test, you probably have already realized that right now is not exactly the ideal time for the quiz. You can still practice though! Here are some tips on how to get ready for your eventual road test.

Download a car driving simulator app If you want do not want to get yelled at by your mom or dad (0r both at the same time) when failing at parallel parking, then a driving simulator app is just the thing for you. With the app you can do tons of crazy cool things. Beating the red light without getting caught or fined, for example. You could also drive cars that you know you cannot afford for the rest of your life.

That’s right my friends, I just got myself a customized Ferrari SF90 Stradale Wait for a mass promotion Who wouldn’t like that? Giving all L drivers a promotion would totally be nice.

It’s not their fault that they have to wait indefinitely. I mean this quarantine could

Illustration by Athena Little

Practice a speech for your driving instructor Why stress yourself practicing behind the wheel to get that license when you can just talk your way out of it? Just write something persuasive, utilitarian, and emotional. That will definitely get the instructor hooked. And they might say something along the lines of “great job and great speech, I will now let you pass even though you said you totally didn’t see that tree in the middle of the road.”

possibly last a lifetime. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?

Practicing honking your horn at other drivers and giving the finger You know what really grinds my gears?

Drivers who don’t do a full stop before a stop line or a stop sign. They may feel safe in disobeying the rules because they’re used to it—but that’s not the case for other drivers they might encounter… especially

those new ones. These outlaws somehow deserve to be honked at. But the people who steal your parking—they deserve the finger.

Read those driving books You could be the very first person to ever read ICBC’s driving manuals. Let me know if you made it so that I can feature you in the Other Press World Records.

Be mad at yourself for not passing it the first try You could’ve been driving on the streets of Vancouver by now, but what did you do? You failed. Thrice! And now that road tests are suspended indefinitely and your license is about to expire, you are left with no choice but to blame that person behind the wheel.

Creative Works trendsetter Sonam Kaloti Arts Editor

Illustration by Sonam Kaloti

shave my banshee hair so nobody will copy me this time because i detest being trendy. i digest originality. i will dye my legs: impose bright green. bath in rose water. i will not share the petals online. i do not even like baths. i am simply here to spite you all.

The Editor out there Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor My work is chopped up like a piece of raw meat.

I sent it in to the editor like a prized calf being shuttled off to a butcher.

I was unaware and naive to think that any good could come of it.

Like a grey rice strainer, my words and thoughts sift through— they become lifeless and shapeless and helpless and hapless, too.

Every time I relinquish control and send my words out into their care, they butcher them, they beat them, like meat on a cutting clock with no fat to spare.

I can’t look and I can’t think, I only seethe and loathe.

Years’ worth of work that cannot be taken back home.

And into the gutter, what’s left of my inspiration what once was as smooth as golden butter.

When confronted about how they’ve stripped my work of its wonder, I’m waiting on end, empty silence between emails— I become lifeless and shapeless and helpless and hapless, my heart roaring like waves of thunder.

Photo by Morgan Hannah

They have taken my words, my thoughts, and dumped them into the sink they have scrubbed them clean of their meaning, and I watch as it goes bleeding down the drain.

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11. Bureau 12. Sides 13. Novice 18. Wise one 23. Move like a bunny 24. Body of water 25. Between baby boomers and Millennials 27. Sphere 28. Shortened part of TGIF 30. __-haw 34. Rainbow’s shape

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DOWN 1. Daughter of Loki 2. Lacto-__ vegetarianism 3.Unison 4. Oxcart frame 5. Sgt. or cpl., e.g.

6. __ ed Euridice 7. Ponders, with “over” 8. A battery terminal 9. 605 in Ancient Rome 10. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective

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Weekly crossword: Open up

39. Caviar 40. Supreme Court Justice appointed in 2010 45. Mystical 48. Spanish Ms. 49. “Amazing __” 52. Outdoorsy pastime 54. Stereotypical place for crude chitchat 58. Vancouver-based punk band 59. Trap, idiomatically 60. Liver inflammation, for short 61. Feel bad 63. Possess 64. Super-precise timepiece 69. Most common colour on national flags 70. Spats 71. Reverberate 72. Triage locales 73. Wobble 74. Dermatologist’s area

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ACROSS 1. Sacred 5. Itinerants 11. Frequently, poetically 14. Ingredient in many Mediterranean dishes, for short 15. Run numbers, say 16. Aptly named insect 17. Hair donation charity 19. Distant 20. Large parrot 21. The past, in the past 22. Horned ungulate 24. Some home appliances 26. V in the sky, perhaps 29. Cosmic substance in classical theories 31. What to show a new person, with “the” 32. Leg joint 33. Sea in northern Europe 37. Kick out

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44. Mythical human-snake hybrid 46. Average grade 47. However, briefly 49. Sullen look 50. Turns 8 into 10, perhaps

51. Play a part 53. Apple desktop 55. River through Switzerland and France 56. Send payment 57. Give one’s two cents 59. Greedy person’s desire 62. Bits of land in la mer 65. Mon. follower 66. Business ethics abbr.

67. Greek X 68. __-Tiki

Comic by Timothy Easling

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Crossword