The Queen's Journal, Volume 144, Issue 12

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the journal

Queen’s University

Vol. 144, Issue 12

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1873

Permanent closure of PHE recommeded Curriculum to be incorporated into a renewed Kinesiology program Maureen O’Reilly Assistant News Editor At this Tuesday’s Senate meeting, Arts and Science Interim Dean, Gordon Smith, announced that the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies (SKHS) has formally recommended the permanent closure of the Bachelor of Physical Health Education (BPHE) program. The recommendation comes after the faculty requested a temporary suspension on See Further on page 3

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

A scene from Thursday night’s performance of the drama deparment’s fall major.

The Servant of Two Masters serves up love and laughter

Queen’s Socialists hold affordable tuition event

The fall drama major impresses with its ‘Commedia dell’arte’ style

AMS executive condemns “vandalism” as means of protest

Clayton Tomlinson Staff Writer

Morgan Dodson Assistant News Editor When AMS President Tyler Lively walked into the AMS offices on Saturday morning, he noticed that “there were stickers and posters everywhere”. After reading their messages, he labelled it an act of vandalism. See CFS on page 3

On Thursday, the Dan School of Drama and Music opened their fall major of The Servant of Two Masters. With a talented cast plucked from the newly-renamed school, the audience was transported back to eighteenth century Venice for a hilarious exploration of marriage, love and making a quick buck. Originally written in 1746 by Carlo Goldoni, A Servant of Two Masters brings the Venetian style of street performance

known as the ‘Commedia dell’arte’ to the stage. The comedy follows the figure, Truffaldino, as he attempts to earn two wages by serving two separate masters. One of the four characters wearing the masks of the Commedia dell’arte tradition, Truffaldino is originally the servant of Beatrice, who’s pretending to be her dead brother Federigo to find her lover Florindo. Truffaldino then takes on Florindo as a second master, unaware of his relationship to his other master and unknowingly to Beatrice, who is still searching for her lover. Much of the play’s drama results

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

from this arrangement as Truffaldino is unaware of the history of his two masters and consistently presented with dilemmas when other characters fail to specify which master. Goldoni’s comedic spider web frankly examines topics of marriage, familial duty and true love through a plethora of vignettes that resounded greatly with me. I applaud the production for handling these heavy themes so tactfully, making this a show that split my sides and left me absorbed by its content See Dan on page 9

FEATURES

Stepping into a different reality in the HML

EDITORIALS

Full scholarships for athletes unproductive

OPINIONS

Male birth control result of unfair reporting

SPORTS

Queen’s triathlete takes on Ironman challenge

Mental illness awareness week on campus

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LIFESTYLE


News

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Friday, November 4, 2016

AMS Assembly recap

Nov. 3 meeting discusses Fall Term Break and policy amendments

Provost Benoit-Antoine Bacon and President and CUD Vice-Chancellor Karim Chelli.

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Agreement allows computing students to transfer between Queen’s and Dubai Canadian University of Dubai students will have the chance to learn at Queen’s for last two years of study and vice-versa Blake Canning Assistant News Editor With the signing of a new agreement between Queen’s and the Canadian University of Dubai (CUD), a strange equation may find two plus two equalling 20. The “2+2” pathway program is now set to allow up to 20 students from the CUD to transfer into the Queen’s School of Computing for their third and fourth years of study. According to The Gazette, officials from the CUD visited Kingston on Oct. 26 to sign off on the final agreements between universities. Speaking to The Journal via email, Interim Vice-Dean of Arts and Science J. Hugh Horton said this wasn’t the first of these

partnerships for Queen’s to be involved in, and hopefully one that will blossom to include future programs. “The Faculty of Arts and Science has many similar types of partnerships with universities and colleges across the world, and within Canada,” he wrote. “Some examples include 2+2 programs with Beijing Normal and Tongji University in China, our recently launched Bachelor of Music Theatre with St. Lawrence College here in Kingston, as well as several other combined certificate/bachelors’ programs with St. Lawrence.” This program will be the first of its kind within the United Arab Emirates, and for now will be limited to the School of Computing. When asked why that specific program had been chosen, Horton stated that the limitation was primarily due to the early stage of collaboration. “This is one area of particular academic strength of CUD, and where there is strong student interest,” he wrote. “Once the partnership has been in place for several years and students have moved through the academic program, we will evaluate progress and decide whether we will strategically expand the range of programs available to CUD students.”

The 2+2 pathway program will also give Queen’s students the opportunity to study at the Canadian University of Dubai for two years, giving them a Canadian-based curriculum and the cultural experience of the United Arab Emirates. All programs at CUD are accredited by the Ministry of Education, Higher Education Affairs of the UAE, which has the ability to award degrees and qualifications in higher education. However, after transferring to Queen’s, incoming students from CUD will be given the same degree opportunities in Canada as those who have spent their whole tenure in Kingston. “Assuming they meet the Queen’s degree requirements, in exactly the same way as any Queen’s student, they will be granted a Queen’s degree,” Horton wrote. Within Arts and Science, if students have taken at least 50 per cent plus one of their courses at Queen’s, they’re eligible for a degree from Queen’s, he explained. “This allows us to attract a wide spectrum of students to our campus, provide the widest range of international experiences, and accommodate those who, for various reasons, need to study away from Kingston.”

Victoria Gibson News Editor Kicking off the Nov. 3 meeting of AMS Assembly, Secretary of the University, Lon Knox, and Deputy Provost, Teri Shearer, facilitated a discussion with student leaders on Fall Term Break. The speakers posed questions of when a break should fall, as well as asking students to rank the order of importance between fall term breaks, orientation activities and pre-exam study days. The consensus from a majority of student leaders was that a Fall Term Break wasn’t desired, particularly from Engineering and Commerce, the latter of which already has a natural break for its first and second years according to Commerce Society President Bhavik Vyas. Many student leaders noted that a break, if necessary, could simply add an extra day to Thanksgiving weekend. Nursing Society President Alexandra Palmeri asked the speakers to analyze data for when students were seeking the most mental health supports, and choose their dates based on that. Policy Amendments To begin the evening of predominantly policy amendments, AMS Human Resources Director, Emma Jones, moved to remove all AMS policy pertaining to harassment and discrimination that has since been covered by the introduction of the AMS Harassment and Discrimination Policy. The AMS Harassment and Discrimination Policy was approved at Assembly on Sept. 22. Other motions to amend were made to budgetary documents, to align policy with current practices and remove “unnecessarily prescriptive” policy for matters under Board jurisdiction — some examples include minor changes in diction. One major change included the striking of a section regarding the approval and nondisclosure of total budgeted amounts allocated for full-time employees. These amounts include base salaries, projected salary increases and employment benefits. All of these motions passed without opposition. Non-Academic Misconduct

When Jones and AMS President Tyler Lively moved to change the current policies around the Judicial Affairs Office, several student leaders raised questions. The subject was the most debated motion of the evening. The changes included the proposal that the outgoing Judicial Affairs Manager would be removed from the hiring panel for the incoming manager to standardize hiring processes across the AMS.

See our full Nov. 3 Assembly recap online.


News

Friday, November 4, 2016

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Further consultation required to formally close PHE Continued from front

admissions for PHE last September, to assess the program under review. The SKHS decided to suspend admission to the program for a number of reasons, including perceived overlap of curriculum content with the Kinesiology program and a decrease in PhD programs in the field, which reduced the number of available instructors. In September of last year, Jean Côté, director of SKHS sent an email to all students and faculty in the program announcing the suspension of admission to the program. He wrote that the move was driven by a need to make the best use of limited resources in the School to continue delivering top quality undergraduate programs. Furthermore, he cited data that showed the PHE applicant pool had been slowly declining over the last few years

Contributors of the month

Jasnit Pabla The first day Jasnit walked into The Journal house, she brought her own story idea and chased it down without any help. Since that day, she’s been our most driven contributor — always asking how she can improve and when she can write another story. The News section is incredibly lucky to have Jasnit on board this year. Her clean writing makes editing a breeze, and her can-do attitude has already made her a valued contributor to work with.

Amanda Norris Amanda has been the backbone of the Sports section, providing our stories with the perfect visuals to work off of. We can’t thank her enough for her work, as she is not only dedicated to photography, but sports. We look forward to her work in the future for the sports section and The Journal as a whole.

while the KIN applicant pool almost doubled in size. According to the University’s 2015 enrolment projections, the full headcount of students in the PHE program was at 206, 56 of which were incoming first year students. The Kinesiology program on the other hand had 389 students and was projected to grow to 446 in 2017. Smith said at the Senate meeting that SKHS plans to integrate aspects of the PHE curriculum into a “renewed program” while continuing to support current PHE students to ensure their path to graduation is uninterrupted. Smith assured Senate that the decision was well-received by students and faculty alike, which was a sentiment echoed by current ASUS President Darrean Baga. The PHE/KIN program falls under the faculty of Arts and Science portfolio. “Brian [MacKay, ASUS vice-president] and I truly

appreciate the level of collaboration and transparency coming from the faculty,” Baga wrote via email. “Moving forward, we intend to ensure that the consultation and deliberation process is done in the best interests of Health, PHE, and KIN students.” The decision to close the program requires further consultation and review before it can be officially implemented, but Smith explained at the Senate meeting that his announcement is the “first step in the closure process.” According to Physical and Health Education and Kinesiology Students Association (PHEKSA) President Matthew Nelms, the proposal to close will be presented at the Arts and Science Faculty Board meeting in January. Following, it will need to be approved by “several higher governing bodies at Senate,” notably the Senate Committee on Academic Development.

“The School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, in partnership with the Dean’s Office at the Faculty of Arts and Science will be conducting several consultation events for students over the course of November, in-part directed by PHEKSA,” Nelms wrote in an email to The Journal. Nelms wrote that the goal of these sessions will be to “provide additional clarification with regards to the process and rationale for the proposal, in addition to visioning exercises for the future of the programs at the SKHS.” These consultations will be extended to Health Studies students as well, as the closure of PHE will likely modify their own curriculum. Nelms emphasized the importance of gathering a diverse collection of student opinions to present in a report to Dean Smith in January, and he encourages students to fill out an online

After having their space in Mac-Corry rescinded, the CFS event moved outside to University Ave.

feedback form through the PHEKSA website. “We are saddened by the recommendation for program closure, and we will continue to advocate for the best interest of the students as the process continues,” Nelms wrote in conclusion. In an email to The Journal on Thursday, Dean Smith wrote that recommending a program closure is never easy. “This is a program with a long history and proud alumni,” he said. However, Smith remains optimistic about the future of the SKHS. “This is an opportunity for the faculty and students to be innovative in designing what the programs and future of SKHS will look like — which may possibly lead to branching outside of serving only their current students to a broader Queen’s audience through new pathways and credentials.”

PHOTO BY MORGAN DODSON

CFS has no place on campus, Lively says Continued from front

The stickers were placed by supporters of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), and covered the walls of the AMS offices, across the JDUC and into the Queen’s Centre on Friday night. The timing lined up with the CFS National Day of Action on tuition increases, which was held on campuses across the country on Nov. 2. The Queen’s Socialists group had signed up to organize the day’s events, despite some controversy around the CFS and their mandate. After originally booking a space in Mac-Corry, where the Queen’s Socialists had organized a day of tabling and a free food, the AMS rescinded the group’s booked space and issued a lengthy statement from Lively condemning the action of “vandalism”. “This weekend, the AMS Offices, JDUC, and Queen’s Centre were vandalized in the middle of the night with unauthorized stickers and posters produced by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS),” Lively wrote. “These disrespectful tactics are typical of the CFS.” He argued that the CFS

“consistently demonstrates hostility to any ideas that do not conform with their hard line ideology,” and that “when the AMS joins our partner schools to lobby at Queen’s Park, it’s on behalf of our 17,000 undergraduates and not the narrow interests and pet projects of a privileged few.”

make any more bookings for the remainder of the week. However, the cancelled booking didn’t eliminate the event from happening elsewhere on campus. The group moved their event outside to University Ave., and continued to talk with students about the prospect of free tuition, giving away information booklets Flashy rhetoric and encouraging students to sign their petition. and revolutionary Jonathan Shepherd, ArtSci slogans displace the ’17, was one of Queen’s Socialists hard-work required representatives at the table. At to effect change. the event, he spoke to The Journal about the Day of Action and why — Tyler Lively, they were in support of it. AMS President “Today, four out of ten students are food insecure, and part of that Lively raised examples of is to do with the cost of tuition,” the CFS’ stance on fossil fuel he said. To him, reducing poverty divestment and Israeli politics. will require taking a close look at “Flashy rhetoric and education costs. revolutionary slogans displace “We want to pressure all levels of the hard-work required to effect government to invest in students change. Their tactics are not only and invest in our collective future,” ineffective, they are deplorable,” Shepherd said. he wrote. Available information packs on Lively confirmed in an interview the table also included material that the clubs office is reaching out from the postdoctoral equity to the Queen’s Socialists about campaign. The postdoctoral union their involvement and confirmed at Queen’s, PSAC 901, issued a that the group’s booking had statement supporting the CFS’ Day been cancelled. of Action. The group wasn’t allowed to “We are in 100 percent solidarity

with the Postdoctoral scholars and their decision to stand up for their labour rights and strike,” Shepherd said. “We have an open invitation to the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s to take a stand for students and advocate for free education,” he said. “Because there’s a lot of students on this campus suffering.” The Queen’s Socialists issued a press release on Nov. 3 condemning “the choice of some club members to put ‘Fight The Fees!’ stickers up. The club is grateful for the publicity this has brought us, and we’re excited over 100 students have signed [our] petition for free education, now!” The release continued to express disappointment in the AMS Executive, whom they claim are “trying to distract and make a big deal out of relatively insignificant stickers.” As for Lively’s statement, they labelled it “unprecedented, and unprofessional political posturing.” The group also affirmed their autonomy from the CFS, writing that “we certainly don’t take marching orders from anyone” and that they hope to have a productive relationship in future with the AMS.


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Features

Friday, November 4, 2016

IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

On the third floor of Jackson Hall, the Human Media Lab’s facility is designed by award-winning interior designer, Karim Rashid.

Mikayla Wronko Features Editor The Queen’s Human Media Lab looks like it belongs in a different reality than the limestone building it’s housed in. Located on the top floor of Jackson Hall, Queen’s human-computer interaction research laboratory is as innovative as it is colourful. The crisp, white lab is coloured with loud, neon patterns of pink, green and blue. All the furniture is curved and the windows are the curvy shape of the HML logo. The lab looks like it was inspired by what the Jetsons’ thought the future might have looked like. The facility’s design, by award-winning interior designer, Karim Rashid, isn’t even the most captivating part of the Human Media Lab (HML). The centre has been responsible for putting out cutting edge technology in human-computer interaction since 2000 when the HML was founded. The HML caught the Internet’s attention in 2011 when PaperPhone — the world’s first computer with an interactive flexible electronic display — went viral with more than 2 million views on its YouTube video demonstration. The HML’s viral momentum continued with inventions of PaperTab — a revolutionary paper tablet computer — and ReFlex, a flexible smartphone that combines multi-touch with bend inputs. All of these inventions that brought the HML fame belong in the field of human-computer interaction, a sub-discipline of Computer Science that Roel Vertegaal, director and founder of the HML, describes as “a mix of psychology, design, Engineering and Computer Science.” Prior to founding the HML, Vertegaal was a professor in Holland where he found funding and research opportunities sparse, prompting him to migrate to Canada. When Vertegaal settled at Queen’s in the late 90s, it was apparent to him that the University was lacking a lab that was MIT-styled, forward-thinking and “without questioning or being dogmatic about innovation.” But beginning the lab in 2000 was very much an uphill battle.

“I was one professor at a school that isn’t known outside of Canada, certainly not in technology-land. How was I going to compete with MIT Media Lab?” What would come to separate the HML from other research labs is its single-themed mindset. “By cutting it very thin, by having a single theme and by basically advising all students to work within that theme … we as a group can own that theme and can do more work than anyone else on that one theme,” Vertegaal said.

“We have only used two dimensions in human-computer input and human-computer output. There’s a lot of opportunity there.” In 2005, the OUI theme had ushered in interactive interfaces that would bring the HML viral fame, and challenge the norm of display interaction. The interest in their demonstration videos have attracted more funding and attention, Vertegaal said, which, overall, has created a better environment for Queen’s students.

The human side of technology Holograms and paper phones are a few of the brainwaves from the Queen’s Human Media Lab The first theme that the HML worked with was attentive user interface (AUI), which is the concept that computers need to accommodate to the user’s attentive needs. “There’s a balance that you need to reach as a user interface in terms of how you utilize the cognitive resources of your human,” Vertegaal said. After putting together innovations such as eyeBox — the first eye contact sensor — the next theme for the HML was how to interact with users on a non-flat interface or an organic user interface (OUI). “It was obvious that our computers needed to have shape … all of our software has been living in ‘flat-land,’” Vertegaal said. The professor has a tendency to add the word “land” at the end of words, like he’s positioning those ideas onto an imaginary map; technology-land, Queen’s-land, flat-land.

“If I can reach a million people with my work, that has an educational function. That is well beyond what I can do in a classroom with 30 people there or at a conference with 200 people in the audience if I’m lucky.” With out-of-the-box inventions such as a flexible phone or a computer made of paper, how does the HML decide which projects or ideas they were going to pursue? For Vertegaal, the lab simply does the obvious — simple solutions to obvious problems. “Only the Elon Musks of the world do the obvious — like solar roof tiles that actually look like rooftops.” Vertegaal will also tell you that most tech inventions aren’t as revolutionary as they seem, nor are they invented by Apple. “We always say that technology speeds up so much and it’s so fast. For me, predicting the next trend is as easy as going

From left: ReFlex — a flexible smartphone , HoloFlex — a flexible holographic smartphone, and MagicWand — a handheld device with a fully cylindrical display.

back 20 years ago and seeing what people were doing.” “Apple came out with a touch bar on their MacBooks this week, a student of mine was working on exactly that prototype with Microsoft three years ago.” It’s these students of Vertegaal’s that are the driving force behind the HML — with it’s staff being primarily postdocs or masters students. “I started hiring my own students from our own department because we have one of the best computer science programs in Canada.” The next theme for the HML? Exploring holograms and other 3D technology. In May, the HML premiered HoloFlex — a flexible smartphone that creates an equipment-free interaction with 3D video. Opposed to the notion of virtual reality that requires equipment to bring users into a removed, augmented reality, the HML is now looking into exploring technologies that operate in a “real reality” where the users can interact with holograms, for example, without additional aids. The idea for holograms as a theme was inspired by the eyesight of a fly. “Flies see a lot better than us; they see every incoming angle of light, not just the projection of the angle onto the retina. So that means they actually have holographic vision,” Vertegaal said. Following the new theme of hologram technology, the HML is currently building light-field cameras and smartphones that have a “fly’s eye projection.” In an overarching goal, Vertegaal said what the HML is trying to build are systems that live in the real world and technology that understands the human psychology and is respectful of its users. “Where the human doesn’t need to adapt to the technology, but where the technology will adapt to the human and lives in the human environment.”

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY THE HUMAN MEDIA LAB


Friday, November 4, 2016

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Friday, November 4, 2016

EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

Athletic scholarships may make sense across the border, not here A

dding sports scholarships doesn’t guarantee our athletes will stay, and it may spark a cultural shift we’ll regret. Opportunities for students to play sports under full scholarships in Canada pale in comparison to American schools. Many American universities offer full scholarships for promising athletes, while here in Canada, an average sports scholarship is much less. But the glaring difference between the culture of sports in the United States and in Canada makes the parallel uneven. Games in the US draw thousands, while most Queen’s students only attend a football game during Homecoming. There’s no money for Canadian schools to invest in athletes playing for empty stands. It would take a lengthy cultural shift for Canadian universities to warrant the kinds of athletic scholarships offered by American schools and while it might be possible, a shift to a culture that over-valorizes university sports would do more harm than good.

Maureen O’Reilly

A smoke-free campus won’t help students

It would take a lengthy cultural “shift for Canadian universities to warrant the kinds of athletic scholarships offered by American schools and while it might be possible, a shift like this may do more harm than good.

A free ride through university to play a sport values a student’s athleticism over their education. By not offering full scholarships to young athletes, Canadian universities preserve the idea that student athletes are student first and athletes second, not the other way around. The central role of a university is education. Interuniversity sports are valuable experiences for students. But when a student’s athleticism is valued just as much — if not higher — than their learning, it can take a toll on those who don’t end up becoming professional athletes. Putting a degree on the backburner to focus on playing a sport may end up

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

hindering a student athlete’s future, not enhancing it. Placing such a high value on student athleticism also unnecessarily heroizes young athletes. It places them on a pedestal for their ability to rake in the revenue, making it complicated when these students fall out of line. If student athletes are being valued for their ability to make money, the way Canadian universities view sports in the US, while less profitable, may be for the better. Even if Canadian universities were to up athletic scholarships, the American sports industry is much more Digital Manager

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competitive and promising to an aspiring professional athlete. Increased opportunities for scholarships is only one of many reasons that Canadian athletes are crossing the border — more revenue means more resources, more competitiveness and a more appealing atmosphere for many athletes. Offering athletes full scholarships is a game Canadian universities might be able to compete in — but a sports culture like American schools isn’t something we should be playing for. — Journal Editorial Board

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Want to contribute? For information visit: www.queensjournal.ca/contribute or email the Editors in Chief at journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions. The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston. Editorial opinions expressed in The Journal are the sole responsibility of The Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers. 190 University Ave., Kingston, ON, K7L 3P4 Editorial Office: Business Office: Fax: Email:

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Making campus smoke-free would alienate students who smoke, when what they really need is support and acceptance to help them quit. On Oct. 20, AMS Assembly began with a presentation by a representative of the Ontario Public Health Unit about the possibility of making Queen’s a smoke-free campus. The longer I listened to the proposal, the more convinced I became that it’s both unrealistic and detrimental to student smokers. While a smoke-free campus wouldn’t subject students to sanctions if caught smoking on campus, the proposal included the idea of posting “no smoking allowed” signage around campus. The hope would be to encourage a “cultural shift” that discourages tobacco use due to its damaging effects on people’s health. There are logistical issues with this. But what’s most important to understand is that smoking is addictive and quitting isn’t simple. Growing up, our generation was inundated with advertisements and educational materials explicitly explaining the detriments of smoking. We’ve grown up looking at the graphic photos on the backs of cigarette packs and watching the TV commercials where loved ones are killed by lung cancer. We know smoking is bad for you. But at a certain point, it comes down to a choice. Students don’t need the AMS to control their lives, and they don’t need the AMS to produce a “cultural shift” on campus that has already occurred on a global scale. The AMS need not remind them that their addiction is harmful — they already know. What students need is to make their own personal choices. Under this policy, a student smoker would be forced to migrate off campus, alienating students from the University and possibly discouraging them from participating in on-campus events or clubs. Furthermore, faculty and other staff members would have their agency wrongfully limited under this paternalistic policy. The one positive point of the proposal suggested nicotine replacement and smoking cessation therapy could be provided through the Wellness Centre at no cost to those who choose to quit smoking. Instead of engaging in a futile attempt to discourage addicts from engaging in a behaviour they already know is harmful, the AMS should offer help to students who want to quit but can’t. Supporting students who choose to quit should be the focus, not alienating students for their struggles with addiction. Maureen is one of The Journal’s Assistant News Editors. She’s a third-year English major.


Friday, November 4, 2016

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OPINIONS

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Your Perspective

Male birth control coverage in the media misses the mark

Poor reporting hinders progress of male birth control methods among students Nick Pearce, ArtSci '18 Staff Writer If you want to believe recent headlines, cargo shorts will be the closest thing to male birth control for now. News outlets like USA Today and Buzzfeed recently suggested a promising new male birth control method was curtailed because participants couldn’t deal with common side effects. Besides implying that the men in the study were ‘wimps’ for not being able to put up with the drug’s side effects — some of which, they stated, are common side effects for female contraception — these article didn’t achieve much else. The media’s misrepresentation of the study detracts from actual discussion around the development of male birth control. While the responsibility of contraception shouldn’t fall solely on women, as it unfortunately does in our society, the inaccuracy of some of these reports drive men further away from sharing the responsibility. The issue at hand isn’t whether it’s the responsibility of a man or woman for putting up with intolerable side effects, the issue is that neither should. Contrary to sensationalized headlines like “Men pull out of male birth control trial after experiencing side effects”, only 20 participants of the study’s 320 total subjects dropped out, citing side effects. The remaining 300 carried on until it was cancelled. The real reason why the study ended earlier than scheduled, was a decision made by two independent committees overseeing the safety of the study. It was concluded that because of a concern about the high number of side effects, “the risks to the study participants outweighed the potential benefits”, according to the study’s press release. It wasn’t about men not liking the side effects and preferring women take on the burden instead, it was about safety. And while this study might have concluded it doesn’t mean the option for male contraception is being thrown in the trash. 75 per cent of the study’s participants were satisfied with the contraception method and stated they’d be willing to continue taking birth control. The study’s press release even stated that “given the efficacy and acceptability of this method,

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

despite side effects, there continues to be a strong rationale for continuing research.” But this is still unchartered territory. Looking at some of the headlines, there seems to be more of a concern with the men’s inability to put up with the side effects than with safety as a whole. And while some studies suggest women experience similar side effects, the two shouldn’t be pitted against each other.

recent test. The media’s misrepresentation of this case isn’t just wrong, it distracts from real debates occurring in the development of male birth control and birth control in general. It trades in analysis for a cheap headline and joke about men that can’t handle side effects. The safety of hormonal contraception is already questionable.

Contraception and its side effects should be a shared responsibility and it shouldn’t continue to be the sole responsibility of women. But female contraception has been tested and developed for years, passing presumably similar safety standards to this

Regardless of gender, a user may not always receive the necessary medical counsel. The misrepresentation of this case affects campus sexual culture especially. So far, the male role in contraception has

articles would be better served asking why there’s “a These lack of male birth control in the first place and exploring how much funding funnels into it. ”

been limited to sterilization, condoms, and, according to my grade 9 health teacher, “withdrawal.” For conversations about shared responsibility to start, there needs to be a less aggressive and accusatory approach to researching options for male contraception. A 2013 NCHA survey revealed that birth control pills were the most common contraceptive on Queen’s campus. Condoms trailed closely behind but the bulk of the responsibility still fell on female Queen’s students. Counteracting this asymmetry needs to be researched but, we can’t expect to see an immediate change to happen overnight. Instead of blaming participants for the committees’ decisions, these articles would be better served asking why there’s a lack of male birth control in the first place and exploring how much funding funnels into it. The deeper issue is the lack of funding from pharma companies. According to an article in The Guardian, there’s skepticism over whether men will buy contraceptives. Consequently, prospective funding dries up for a possible male counterpart to the pill. We need to signal that men are ready to share contraception responsibilities, even if the prejudicial coverage of male birth control studies indicates we’re not yet ready for equal sexual responsibility. Male and female students could benefit from more information about contraceptives but they’re unlikely to get it from media. There are real concerns involved in this debate: market viability, the health of contraceptive users and shared responsibility between genders. But click-bait headlines rarely lead to honest and accurate discussion. We should demand more from professional news organizations reportedly informing the public and our campus. There’s a valuable future for male birth control on campus — but don’t trust lazy journalism. Nick Pearce is a third-year Global Development Studies student.

Talking heads ... around campus

PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN SMITH

Who’s your favourite poet?

“Shel Silverstein.”

Charlotte Heller, ArtSci ’17

“Dylan Thomas.” Emily Graham, ArtSci ’17

“William Blake.” Laura Toth, ConEd ’18

“Edgar Allan Poe.” Rory Hilson, ArtSci ’19


8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 4, 2016

ARTS

ARTIST PROFILES

The artists behind the lyrics

WEN Barber and rapper, Steven Wu, ConEd ’18, otherwise known as WEN, brings enthusiasm and powerful lyricism to the Queen’s hip-hop scene, touching on personal and social issues. In the future, WEN hopes to become a teacher in Korea and fully immerse himself in underground trap culture. He also has a cat named Chance, whom he loves very much. Q: Who or what inspires your art?

A: The big three for me are Chance the Rapper, MF Doom and Earl Sweatshirt. Chance because I like him as a person, and the way he raps is how I want to rap. I really like how he uses a lot of poetic styling, such as metaphors, similes and alliteration, and really makes it an art, unlike Future or 21 Savage. MF Doom — sometimes he talks about nothing, but it’s so lyrical, and there are so many unique aspects of his work that I like. And Earl Sweatshirt, because he’s really dark, he accepts his feelings. I feel like a bunch of rappers put up a front, but Earl Sweatshirt really appeals to the ‘oh, this is me’ a down-to-earth person, as he’s really honest about his work. Sometimes it might be dark and other times it might be very honest, but that’s what I really appreciate about his style. So, this is where I kind of draw inspiration from. Q: Do you seek to inspire others through your art?

A: I grew up with the mindset that being Asian is being inferior. Even if you don’t feel that big sometimes — it’s okay. I feel like this is something I want to translate through my work. You should always feel that you’re worth something and not let anyone take that away from you. But, at the same time, it’s okay to be emotional, it’s okay to be vulnerable, it’s okay to be a lot of these different things. I feel like a lot of the time we’re forced to put up a front and pretend to be someone we’re not, and that’s exhausting. I tried it for a while, and it’s too much. I feel like a big part of it, especially if you’re at Queen’s, it’s not so much blatant racism, but the fact that it’s internalized, such as when people won’t look my way or talk to me. For a lot of people who I’ve met here and am very close to, such as OG BEA, we all kind of think the same way collectively. I think a big part of both our works is that we want to reclaim Asian identity. We want to speak for the people who aren’t really spoken about.

Arts Editor

Falconer

OG BEA SUPPLIED BY STEVEN WU

A closer look at the performers from QNSA’s Hip-Hop and Erika Streisfield Poetry Night

PHOTO BY AUSTON CHHOR

Powerhouse Beatrice Li, aka OG BEA, is a force to be reckoned within the Queen’s hip-hop community. While BEA raps for herself, her powerful lyrics and stage presence inspires young women to pursue what they love. For BEA, not only does there need to be more female rappers in the game, but there needs to be more Asian female rappers. In her spare time, BEA enjoys binging on TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race — it’s a guilty pleasure. Q: Do you seek to inspire others through your art?

A: I don’t really rap for people, I rap for myself. Poetically, it’s an outlet for me. A lot of my raps are from personal experiences, like I have an entire rap that I presented at the Anti-Oppression Open Mic Night and it’s about my Asian experience in a Eurocentric institution, such as Queen’s. Queen’s is very white-dominated, so I wanted to express how I kind of cope with that, and at the same time display these issues that a lot of Asian-Canadians deal with. Q: Is there an clear theme throughout your work?

A: Man, it really varies! Every rap is from a different experience, you know what I’m saying? I wrote a lot when I was in Hong Kong on my exchange, so a lot about Asian culture and being immersed in that.

Q: Where do you see yourself in five to 20 years from now? A: I grew up in Hong Kong and went back for exchange … Going to Hong Kong without my family was life-changing. It’s Asia’s world city, so everyone is really cultured there, and there are a lot of opportunities for people who speak English as a first language, and people who are very outgoing. The culture there is very demur and very passive. What I’m trying to do after graduation is — I already have my teaching foreign language certificate — so I’m planning to go back to Hong Kong and teach English. They pay well, help you with your flights and accommodations and really get you started. From there, I want to apply to jobs in public relations. Rapping is definitely a hobby. It’s a really fun hobby! People like making candles and stuff, so this is my thing.

SUPPLIED BY CHRIS REID

When he’s not studying engineering, hip-hopper Chris Reid, aka Falconer, is producing beats in his student bedroom. With a recently-released EP, Falconer’s poetic lyrics and smooth backtracks make for an easy listening experience. While Falconer is currently in chemical engineering, he dreams of making music a career, continuing his writing and performing. Q: Who or what inspires your art?

A: The reason I started writing and performing was because hip-hop and art in general is an amazing outlet for much of life. No matter what happens, how good or bad it is, writing about it just makes it more real. And, it’s a great way to make it kind of concrete. It’s like self-reflection— a lot of the time we don’t have the opportunity to go back and think, so writing is a good opportunity to do that, like self-reflection. That’s 100 per cent what I’m inspired by. I also love the act of writing and rhyming, and good hip-hop. A lot of great influences like Nas, J Cole and Kendrick Lamar inspire my art. Q: Do you seek to inspire others through your art?

A: The biggest part of performing art, and in hip-hop, is authenticity. What I really try to express through my work is just relating to people and sharing my story, like any struggles I’ve overcome or any positive experiences I’ve ever had. It’s basically relating this to people in a very entertaining way. Q: Why do you think self-expression is so important?

A: Self-expression basically helps you validate yourself, it makes you feel more real. It’s really important, in any way, shape or form. You know a lot of people take selfies of themselves and I think it’s fantastic — it’s a good form of self-expression. Some people, like me, make music, some people make art, and others do math. It’s an excellent way of validating yourself and feeling real. *Responses have been edited for clarity

IN PHOTOS

Indigenous art decorates study spaces New Stauffer study rooms home to Indigenous art

PHOTOS BY AUSTON CHHOR


Arts

Friday, November 4, 2016

THEATRE

Queen’s Vagabond suspends production of Othello

Co-artistic directors apologize after backlash over casting decision

Alex Palermo Assistant Arts Editor Queen’s theatre group, Queen’s Vagabond, have announced the suspension of their imminent production of Shakespeare’s Othello due to backlash from the Queen’s community. At the start of their seventh season in September, Queen’s Vagabond announced their next production, set for November, would be Othello, following a stream of well-received Shakespeare adaptations. On Oct. 3, the production and acting cast were posted on their Facebook page. The list included Lauren Broadhurst, a white woman, as Othello, a traditionally black, male character. On Wednesday, a month after the casting announcement, the group again posted on their Facebook page announcing that the production would be suspended, citing safety concerns as the main reason for suspension. “We anticipated backlash, and we were open to conversation, however, we are greatly upset in the passive aggressive and extreme manner in which it has occurred,” the post, signed by co-artistic directors Maggie Purdon and Jessica Rossiter, stated. “Recently this production has become unsafe for the members involved, as many have been personally approached and have felt attacked. For the safety and mental health of our entire team we unfortunately feel the need to suspend our production of Othello.” After hearing about the play and casting decision, Evelyna Ekoko-Kay, ArtSci ’17, was one of the students who reached out to Vagabond explaining her concerns. According to their Facebook post, many students had also reached out to the group.

PHOTO BY AUSTON CHHOR

“They’re claiming to do a ton of research, and they’re claiming that their artistic choices were not made lightly, and then they say that expected backlash. But, then they go on to essentially complain that they feel unsafe and threatened, because people have called them out, people have spoke about how this is racist and how this is anti-black,” Ekoko-Kay told The Journal in an interview. “It’s not too much to ask, but when people have told you, ‘hey, what you’re doing is racist’ that you say `I’m sorry for the racism’, instead of saying, ‘we’re taking this down because you made us feel unsafe by your aggressive response’,” she said. In their original post on Wednesday, the co-artistic directors stated that their casting decisions were intentional artistic choices, “made with reason and informed intention. We feel that theatre is all about making choices, and everything is done for a reason.” Early Thursday afternoon, the co-artistic directors posted a public apology on their Facebook page. “It was never our intention to have people of colour feel as though their identities were being invalidated,” they wrote on Thursday. “We acknowledge that it was not okay.” In a Facebook message with The Journal after the apology was posted, Purdon discussed her original artistic choice, stating, “I was posing the question that Othello is not actually a play about race.” When casting the role of Othello, she explained that she was thinking of attempting to bring to light some of the less popular themes in the play. However, Purdon stated, “There is absolutely no excuse for making a casting decision that was oppressive and caused people of colour to feel as though they were invalid.”

queensjournal.ca

•9

Dan School of Drama and Music puts on a lively show Continued from front

for many days following. What made this play a hit was the interplay between characters. Right down to the waiters who spoke in remarkably-thick French accents, each actor provided their own sui generis brand of comedy. I was struck by the humour embedded in every line, mannerism and action of the characters. I laughed harder during the performance than I had at any movie or TV show I’d recently seen. According to my program, the masks worn by four of the characters — Pantalone, The Doctor, Brighella and Truffaldino — were a challenge for director Greg Wanless and the cast, requiring a heightened sense of physicality to compensate for the lack of facial expression. These masks, which I admit threw me off at first, soon revealed their use. Each actor became a physical embodiment of their character, using their actions and movements to narrate their emotions in ways the others on stage didn’t need to, which showed their ability as performers. Sam Woods’ ’18 rendition of Truffaldino, the titular servant who manages to dupe a group of wealthy Italian merchants to assuage his rumbling belly and empty wallet, drove the play with his larger-than-life personality and untamed humour. He hopped across the stage with ease, and delivered his trickster figure seamlessly — especially during the side-splitting dinner scene, when he stuffed his face with trifle while attempting to simultaneously serve two different masters without them knowing. Of the actors without masks, Gabi Sandler ’17 played a double role without breaking a sweat. Because Beatrice is forced to masquerade as her deceased brother to get the money she needs to marry Florindo, her character is thrust into many awkward situations. At one point, Beatrice is forced into a duel, using a pistol to force her opponent to capitulate. Sandler played both a gruff merchant dealing with the scheming miser, Pantalone, and the markedly-feminine Beatrice so deftly that the characters could’ve been two

Julia Dickson playing the role of Smeraldina.

different actors if not for the fact that they wore the same pinstriped suit. The phenomenal actors played their parts complimented by an ingenious set, designed by Wallis Caldoza ’17. Using two large triangular barriers positioned across from each other mid-stage, the stage crew was able to seamlessly change from the Venice waterways, to Brighella’s tavern to Pantalone’s house. As the lights dimmed, two singers popped out of the wings, one with an accordion and the other a violin, to serenade the audience as, with a simple twist of the set, we were in a whole new part of town. The costumes, designed by Parker O’Connor ’17, were also inventive and gave off an old fashioned Italian feel. Made from assorted pieces of clothing mixed with everyday household items, the characters’ outfits only revealed their trickery when examined more closely. Clarice’s skirt was made from straws and Silvio’s jacket buttons were painted bottle caps. The ingenuity behind every costume, prop and set piece is what made this show so entertaining. The director managed to elicit a diverse set of performances from the actors by allowing them to exercise their individual creativity. While most of the other characters spoke with some degree of Italian inflection, Smeraldina, the servant of Pantalone, wore a maid costume and spoke in a Southern American accent. While the choice originally seemed anachronistic to me, Julia Dickson ’18 managed to make it believable. She used the natural cadence of the accent to punctuate and amplify her lines; it seemed to me the character could have been nothing other than a Southern housemaid. In Smeraldina’s soliloquy about the iniquity of the men in the play, she railed at how they create self serving systems of justice and business that allow them to take advantage of everyone else. And, as Dickson protested against inequality, in her sixties maid’s outfit and thick Southern drawl, I felt her anger and frustration. It was surprising how relevant Smeraldina’s grievances were, given this play was written by an Italian almost three hundred years ago.

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN


10 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 4, 2016

ATHLETE PROFILE

SPORTS Once in a lifetime race Queen’s student Ben Rudson finishes 14th in division at Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii Joseph Cattana Sports Editor over Kailua Bay, and spectators watching as the sun crept over Mt. Hualalai, Ben Rudson couldn’t help but remove himself from the moment. “You kind of have to take a step back and say ‘holy crap here I am, right?’” After watching as a spectator for as long as he could remember, Rudson was in the water as a competitor at the 2016 Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. During the race, Rudson would complete a 3.86 km swim, a 180.25 km bicycle ride and run an entire marathon (42.2 km) in 46.1 degree Celsius weather without a break. In total, he’d travel 226.31 km in a time of 10:18:07, good for 14th in his division of runners. And while it may seem like Rudson had planned to qualify for this triathlon for a long time, the idea of completing one of the most physically-unforgiving races on the planet was a farfetched idea just a few years ago. After finishing his first year at Queen’s in engineering, Rudson had a lot of free time in the summer of 2014. When work was over he would either go to the Pier, have a beer, or watch Breaking Bad with his friends. But by the end of May, when Rudson racked up the empties and looked at his credit card statement riddled with junk food purchases, he decided that he needed to make a change. Rudson began to run. His first goal was to compete in the Kingston Long course Triathlon, because his father used to compete in triathlons. So beginning in June of 2014, Rudson swam, cycled or ran every day. Without any of the equipment needed to compete in a triathlon, he relied on the ARC. In the mornings, Rudson would head to the gym to swim, and at the end of his day, he would watch YouTube videos on how to swim properly. Rudson’s plan to actually

become a triathlete hinged on his father’s equipment. Not telling him about the race, he headed home to Vancouver Island for a week. His father was unsure when Ben presented the plan. “We went out to the lake and I swam while he kayaked and he said ‘I still don’t agree with this, but you can take my equipment and give it a go’.” When Rudson completed the Kingston Long Course Triathlon in July of 2014, he starting itching for more. During the 2014-15 school year, he joined up with the Queen’s Triathlon team. With every event that passed, Rudson moved up the ranks, setting his next goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. At the 2015 Ottawa Marathon, Rudson was on pace for Boston, but 200 metres from the finish line he blacked out and went unconscious. After spending time in the ICU getting treated, friends and family didn’t want him to continue. And when it came to re-evaluating the situation, Rudson decided to continue on, running the 2015 Toronto Marathon and finishing with a time that qualified him for the 2017 Boston Marathon. After the race in Toronto, he decided to set another goal. “I said lets go crazy and do the Ironman.” To qualify for the World Championships, Rudson had to win in the 18-24 male division at the Ironman Mont-Tremblant race in August, earlier this year. After coming out of the bike portion 16 minutes ahead of second place, Rudson extended his lead in the run, winning by 23 minutes. Just six weeks later, Rudson packed his racing gear and engineering homework and hopped on a flight to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. No matter the race, Rudson says fear keeps him motivated to continue. “It might sound kind of ridiculous but you’re almost terrified of these races and are training to make it less terrifying.” After a strong swim in Kailua

Bay, Rudson climbed onto his bike and headed around the concrete Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway. Just 40 kilometers into the bike, Rudson noticed that his power output was dropping, losing ground as athletes zoomed by. Racing with a short recovery time, the gamble to go to Hawaii left an impact on his body. Going into the run, Rudson can usually tell in the transition tent if he’s going to have a good day and this race was no different. “I threw my shoes on and was thinking, how am I going to do this?” In the opening states of the run on Ali’i Drive — along the spectator-full beach — he wasn’t going at the pace he wanted. Heading back onto the highway was the last thing Rudson wanted to do. “I don’t care what people say after the race, no one is finding that part fun — you might love the race but you don’t love that part.” On Queen Ha’ahumanu road, Rudson had a change of fortune. While he believes that his body was fed up and wanted to finish, Rudson found another gear. “It was the weirdest thing, and I was passing people and people on the road were like ‘what the heck,’ and I don’t know where it came from to this day.” As he headed onto the final stretch, he found his parents in the crowd, who threw him a Canadian flag to don on his back till the finish. When he crossed the finish line, Rudson was 14th in his age group, placing as the top Canadian. With this strong showing, he moved up in the world rankings, currently placed seventh in the 18-24 male division. And while Rudson doesn’t know what the future brings, he knows the next step in his career is to maximize his potential by bringing on a coach. At the end of the day, Rudson didn’t dive into triathlons for the praise, but because he enjoys it. While doing only one of running, biking and swimming is arduous, the combination of all three is what poses the greatest challenge.

and we knew it’d be tight, so we’re glad all of our boats performed as expected or better.” Scoring breaks down through different events for eights, fours, doubles, pairs and singles in both heavyweight and lightweight categories. Depending on the placement of each crew and event, the teams are awarded a certain amount of points. The bigger the boat or event, the more points each school is given, and at the end of the competition, the points are tallied up. Western finished far ahead of the pack with 607 points, while the Gaels filled in considerably lower at 265, with Brock nine points behind.

The vast gap between Western and the teams that followed seems — at the very least — daunting, but what’s encouraging is that the Gaels have been breathing down their neck for some time. 2012-13 was the last time the Gael’s women’s team captured gold at the OUA championships, but in every year since they’ve finished second at the event. And, without much surprise, Western was the only team to consistently finish ahead of them. In regards to striking gold and entering the Western “tier”, Maasarami said it’s still something the program is trying to piece together. “It’s one of those things where

we have to take it one year at a time and figure out what went well this year and what we can improve on, and just keep chipping away at it.” Since the recent appointment of new head coach, Phil Marshall, who oversees both the men’s and women’s programs, Maasarami is excited to see what’s in store for the program. “We are seeing improvement year-over-year, and we want to keep that trend going — just keep improving on the year before.” Queen’s men’s team finished fifth at the competition this year, behind Western in first place, Brock, Trent and McGill respectively.

With TV helicopters flying

Ben Rudson began running triathlons in 2014.

SUPPLIED BY BEN RUDSON

Women’s rowing takes silver medal in OUA championships Gaels squeak past Brock in a close finish for second Sebastian Bron Staff Writer The women’s rowing team had a strong weekend at the OUA Championship Royal Canadian Henley Rowing Course in St. Catharines, locking in a silver medal. Western, who won gold in both men’s and women’s this year, was in control for much of the competition, sweeping all the women’s weight classes with

first-place finishes. The Gaels managed to keep it close, however, and at one point came within nine seconds of topping the Mustangs. The Gaels’ women’s team ended the day with second place finishes in the heavy 2-, heavy 2x, lightweight 8+ and the heavy 8+ categories, and a third place finish in the lightweight 4+. Lead women’s coach, Rami Maassarani, said he was pleased with the result, though at times their shot at a second-place finish seemed dicey. “Overall, we’re pretty happy with the result. It’s pretty much what we were shooting for,” he said of the team’s performance. “But it was extremely close with Brock


Sports

Friday, November 4, 2016

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• 11

MEN’S HOCKEY

Ming continues scoring streak

Gaels follow loss with shootout winner Matt Christie Staff Writer

The men’s hockey team played back-to-back games in Kingston last weekend, on Friday against the Waterloo Warriors, and Saturday versus the Laurier Golden Hawks. “I felt we actually played really well in both games this weekend,” head coach Brett Gibson said. “I wish we could have executed some more of our scoring chances but the guys I felt were good this weekend.” On Friday, the Gaels fell behind 2-0 in the first period, after being outshot 10-5. The Gaels got on the scoreboard in the second period with Graeme Brown burying his first goal of the season, making it a one-goal game. However, less than a minute later the Warriors replied, regaining the two-goal lead. Queen’s Eric Ming led the charge in the third, down 3-1. After 14 shots against Waterloo’s Mike Morrison, Ming was able to find a weak spot, scoring his seventh goal of the season. Down 3-2, head coach Brett Gibson pulled his goalie for an extra attacker, which led to two more goals for Waterloo and a final score of 5-2. Following only their third loss of the season, the Gaels had a shift in fortune on Saturday. In the first period, Queen’s tallied three goals, one from OUA-leading goal scorer, Ming, followed by Ted Hunt and later by Warren Steele. Although they came out strong, the Gaels’ defense had a couple of lapses leading to two goals against as the Gaels headed into their dressing room with a 3-2 lead. After Laurier tied the game at 3-3 in the second period, the rest of the game remained a draw that neither 4-on-4 nor 3-on-3 overtime periods could break. The game was decided in a shootout. With the first shot for Queen’s, Slater Doggett used a fancy deke to fool the Laurier goalie, Colin Furlong. On the home side, goalie Jacob Brennan was able to stop two Laurier shooters, leaving the game on the stick of former Erie Otters defensemen, Spencer Abraham. Abraham faked to the left, stretching out Furlong, pulled the puck back to his backhand and lifted it past Furlong’s outstretched pad for the shootout win. Coach Gibson acknowledged his veterans for stepping up the Gaels’ play as of late. While he did mention Ming and Doggett for their offensive efforts, he made it clear that the men in net are the ones keeping the team together right now. “Kevin and Jake give us a chance to win every night,” Gibson said, in praise of his goaltenders. Queen’s advanced their record to 5-2-1 this past weekend and head to Windsor to take on the Lancers on Friday evening, November 4th.

The women’s soccer team celebrates Laura Callender’s 110-minute, game-winning goal.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

PHOTO BY AMANDA NORRIS

Callender’s late winner puts Gaels in Final Four Late-overtime goal gives women’s soccer chance to repeat championship Joshua Finkelstein Staff Writer The women’s soccer team is heading back to the OUA Final Four. The reigning OUA Champions began their title defense this post-season with a 1-0 extra time win over the Ottawa Gee Gees. Laura Callender’s 110th-minute goal sealed the winner for her team in what was a thrilling quarterfinal knockout match. The Gaels were matched up with a familiar opponent on a chilly Sunday afternoon at Richardson Stadium, with the teams having already played two closely contested matches this season. The Gee Gees had the advantage in the season series, taking a win over the Gaels at home and splitting the points with a draw in Kingston. It was a match that took place primarily in the midfield, with both teams managing to keep the play away from their nets. Even before extra time, penalties seemed a foregone conclusion, with neither team losing their defensive resolve, and players on both sides feeling the effects of a hard-fought ninety minutes. However, in the 110th minute, with just ten minutes to go before spot kicks, midfielder Matija Skoko outran her Ottawa defender to a ball by the corner flag, stepping around her opponent to send a cross pass to fellow midfielder Laura Callender standing in the 18-yard box. Callender, square to the net, ran the defensive line past two defenders to give her just enough room to place the ball into the bottom right corner of the opposing net, past the helpless Gee Gee’s keeper. It was an incredibly clinical highlight reel finish, made even more impressive by the fact that the Gaels had already been on the pitch for just shy of two hours. Coach Dave McDowell couldn’t understate the importance and class of the game-winning goal that clinched his team’s spot in the semifinals. “For her to roll across two players and then finish — that’s pretty special,” he said. McDowell also talked about his words with the team at the end of regulation time. “Our mindset was just keep going,” he said, adding how he thought they were already the better team in the second half and just had to “keep the wheels turning.” He knew that when it came down to it, “we just had to generate something special,” as shown by Callender’s spectacular finish. Callender echoed her coach’s sentiments about the team’s mindset after 90 minutes. “We knew we were the fitter team. There was a feeling on the bench and in the girls on the field that we were going to get it — we just had to find an opening”, she said. More specifically on her role in finding that opening, Callender said, “everyone else

was tired so I was just trying to get a shot on target. I was just trying to push my way to goal.” Callender added how playing a tough game like this one at the start of the playoffs could be very beneficial to the team. “To get a challenge this big — it gives us confidence early on”, she said. “It really prepared us for the next few games playing tough opponents.” The Gaels travel to London to face Western on Friday, with the winner of that match earning a berth in the CIS National Championships, and a shot at the OUA title the following Sunday. As Callender said about her team’s return to the Final Four, “we’ve been working so hard for this, even from the end of last season … we’re excited to be back and defend our title.”

OUA FINAL FOUR TEAMS

Western Mustangs

Queen’s Gaels

UOIT Ridgebacks

Windsor Lancers


Sports

12 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 4, 2016

CROSS COUNTRY

Sumner wins gold in provincial cross country Championship Gaels’ women’s team finishes second despite individual gold and bronze finishes

SUPPLIED BY ROBIN KASEM

Claire Sumner won the Queen’s Invitational (picture) in October and the OUA Championship last weekend.

Sarah O’Flaherty Assistant Sports Editor The 2016 regular season has been one to remember for Gaels’ cross country runners Claire Sumner and Julie-Anne Staehli. Last weekend, the pair led their team to a silver medal at the OUA Championships, with Sumner taking home an individual gold medal for her first place finish and Staehli an individual bronze. The Guelph women’s team claimed their 13th consecutive OUA gold while the Western men’s team ended Guelph’s 11 year tenure as reigning champion. The Gaels’ men’s team finished the day in fifth, with their top runner, Eric Wynands, finishing in 10th individually. The women’s victory comes fresh off the heels of the Queen’s Invitational Tournament two weeks ago, where Sumner and Staehli place first and second, respectively, in

the first women’s eight-kilometre run in Canadian interuniversity history. “[The Queen’s Invitational] really made me realize how good I actually felt in the race situation. So, going into the OUA’s I was confident, but there’s so much competition,” Sumner said. “[Winning gold] was a shock still, but during the race I was feeling good.” Sumner finished the tight six-kilometer OUA Championship race with a time of 20:16.7, with U of T’s Lucia Stafford crossing the finish line a mere 0.4 seconds behind her. But, during the race, Sumner says she didn’t realize how close it really was. At the beginning of the race, Sumner joined the large front pack, which she says tends to help her performance during the race. “I do really well when I’m in a pack running,” Sumner said. “It gives me more energy and I feel more relaxed.” For the majority of the race, Sumner

Growing pains for women’s hockey team

kept with the pack. When it came to the final kilometre, the group spread out, with Sumner taking the lead. This is something she finds can be both a blessing and a curse. “It’s hard to be at the front, because you don’t know where everyone else is, but it also helps because it makes you run faster.” In the final few moments, Sumner was in the lead and could hear the crowd’s cheers for the runners behind her. “You get nervous and excited, because you can easily go from being in first to being in eighth in these huge groups.” While the race was tight throughout, Sumner felt confident in the final few seconds that she would walk away with a gold. “I knew that I had it with less than 100 metres to go. I’m not used to winning so it was pretty surreal,” she said. Along with Sumner and Staehli’s top finishes, their three other teammates placed 17th, 18th and 19th, helping to solidify the team’s overall second-place win. Sumner says the depth of this season’s team was an important deciding factor in the team’s silver medal. One of the biggest shifts she’s seen in her

racing has been in how relaxed she is during the race. “When I was younger, I used to get worked up about it, but the more experience I’ve gotten, I’ve realized the more relaxed I am, the better it goes and the more fun I’m having,” Sumner said. The next competition on Sumner’s horizon is the CIS Championship in Quebec City, hosted by Laval. Traditionally, the gold medalist of the OUA Championship is favored to win at CIS. This favorable position is motivating for Sumner, but she’s trying not to let it get to her. “Running, I find, is 50 per cent mental and 50 per cent fitness,” she said. “The more confident you are, and the more competitive you are, the better you’ll do, that’s how it works for me.” Sumner expects that teams from the West will bring stiff competition and she’ll be prepared for a tough race. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to win just because I won one race,” Sumner said. “I’m just going to try to keep the pressure off, but still run to win.”

Gaels split results for third straight weekend Matt Scace Contributor Just six games into the season, the Queen’s women’s hockey team is still finding their groove. The Gaels split their two games on Halloween weekend, taking down the Varsity Blues 3-0 but dropping their Sunday afternoon contest to the Guelph Gryphons by a score of 3-1. Queen’s currently holds a 3-3 record as a result. Their win against the Blues was the Gaels’ third win of the season and goaltender Stephanie Pascal’s third shutout of the season. The team displayed their consistently strong defense in a back and forth game with multiple chances for both squads. In their Saturday game against the Gryphons, Queen’s was frustrated not to get a better result. Despite being down 2-1 at the end of the first period, they skillfully controlled the pace of play and put Guelph under exhausting pressure in the early minutes of the second period. Small errors marred the performance, putting them in a hole that they were unable to climb out of. “[It] was a game that I thought we could’ve come out on top. We weren’t winning a lot of the races to the puck and some of our choices were either too soft or lacked a bit of focus,” coach Matt Holmberg said after the game. “Yet despite that, we came within a hair of almost pulling it out.” Down 2-1 with just under ten minutes to play, the Gryphons committed two penalties to give Queen’s a two-man advantage for over a minute. In what was likely their greatest opportunity to equalize

the score, the Gaels came up short. Similar situations were presented during the game, shedding light on something the Gaels have previously emphasized they’re working on improving. “Our power play continues to need some work. We’ve had opportunities in all three of our losses to help ourselves out by converting on the power play and we’ve given up those opportunities,” Holmberg said. The Gaels’ management operates in six-week re-evaluation periods — a time frame that they see fit to understand the mechanics of the team and what they want to fix. Coach Holmberg explained that going into the next six weeks, there’ll likely be certain changes to the team’s current strategy. “We, as coaches, will start to talk about it, reassess in terms of either [defensive] pairings or lines or anything else that we may want to do to make a change,” Holmberg said. What will likely be at the forefront of this discussion will be the Gael’s ability to capitalize on the man advantage and other opportunities that have lost them games that could have easily gone in a different direction. And while this won’t be an overnight process, members of the team emphasized their willingness and desire to work as hard as they can to make the team as strong as they can be. The Gaels hit the road this weekend, travelling to St. Catherines to play Brock on Friday and then exorcise their Halloween demons in a rematch with the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday.

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Friday, November 4, 2016

MENTAL HEALTH

queensjournal.ca

LIFESTYLE

• 13

My friend has a mental illness, how can I help? Victoria Stevens Contributor At one point or another, there’s a great chance that you will know somebody struggling with a mental illness. Knowing how to help a friend is almost as important as knowing how to help yourself. It can make all the difference. I suffered from anorexia nervosa for four years. For those of you who don’t know, anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by restricting diet and excessive exercise. It began when I was fourteen and had just started high school. A combination of anxiety about this transition and insecurity about being far less than my image of perfect created the perfect storm. I began restricting my eating and working out excessively. I completed my treatment prior to coming to university in the fall and since then, I’ve been able to stay healthy with the support of friends and family. Through all the guidance I’ve received from people involved in my journey to recovery, I was able to discover what strategies were truly helpful to me. The tips I’ll share are things that worked for me, but everybody is different. Everyone’s struggle is individual so make sure you adapt to the friend that you’re helping. It can be difficult to know when to approach speaking with a friend if you’re concerned about their mental health, let alone how. For me, having people who were willing to help me on my own terms was

invaluable, being there when I wanted to talk as opposed to forcing me to share. I had many friends who were able to help me cope with it and wanted to be there, but I also lost many friends who weren’t willing to be involved with me anymore. Most of this happened when I was in the ninth grade, and no one had yet discussed mental health with us at length. Many of my friends at that time weren’t sure what was going on and thought I was starving myself for attention. That year, I lost many friends and as a result, I spiralled further into my anorexia. However, I had a few friends who, to this day, stuck by me and helped me through my struggle. But it wasn’t easy for a lot of people to be there for me. I was quite private about my disorder and didn’t want to feel like a burden to others by constantly talking about it. However, they were aware it existed and were always there if I decided I wanted to talk about it. They were also a crucial part of my happiness and my recovery. My friends allowed me to talk out my feelings when I needed to, but also let me know that no matter what, they were there. Forcing any friend, or badgering them to talk about their struggles with you, isn’t a helpful way to behave. What was more meaningful to me was when friends would routinely ask if I’m okay, keeping the lines of communication open. I had friends ask me if there was anything they could do to help me and normally, there

By the numbers: mental health at Queen’s

Sarah Hannaford Contributor

40,

the number of years Queens has had health and counseling services on campus.

45

minutes, the length of one counseling session at Student Wellness Services. According to the 2012 Queen’s student health and wellness survey:

30

per cent of students experience average stress levels, 40 per cent above average levels and 20 per cent tremendous stress. Strategies used to combat stress included:

74 per cent, talking to friends and family

64 per cent, distractions

57 per cent, getting enough sleep 57 per cent, regular physical activity 56 per cent, setting priorities 51 per cent, eating a healthy diet 43 per cent, using time management

62

strategies

per cent of respondents described mental health problems as the consequences of stress.

46

per cent of Ontario university students in 2016 reported feeling depressed

in the previous year, up from in 2013.

40 percent

wasn’t. Simply being there was helpful, because recognizing that people loved me and were there for me gave me the strength to recover. Keeping yourself educated on different mental illnesses is important, both in helping a friend and helping yourself. Many of my friends were uneducated about eating disorders and would therefore try and force me to “just eat,” thinking that was the solution to all my problems. Not only was this unhelpful, it made me more agitated and anxious about eating because there was so much pressure to do it. In turn, they’d become irritated with me, as they didn’t understand why I was unable to do something that came so naturally to them. Being educated on different mental illnesses will help you understand what your friend is dealing with, and the best way to approach it. Helping your friend find happiness in little things can be extremely helpful. While I was suffering, I felt a little lost, not wanting to go out to certain places anymore. My friends would take me to coffee shops or to the mall, where I was able to distract myself for a little bit and have fun. Sometimes I didn’t want to talk about how shopping for clothes or eating in a restaurant was hard for me, I just wanted to have fun

4

per cent of respondents had considered suicide during their last semester at Queen’s.

10

per cent of respondents had received counseling through Queen’s services.

13

per cent didn’t know there were support systems for student’s mental health.

5

Number of main types of mental health problems: mood, anxiety, eating, psychotic and substance-related disorders.

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

with my friends. Most importantly, remember that someone isn’t their disorder. I was always very insecure about people looking at me and seeing anorexia instead of myself, Victoria. I still went to parties and to movies like everybody else. I still did my homework and turned in assignments and celebrated holidays with my family. Some people would tip toe around their words with me and I didn’t like that. I hated feeling like I was different. I encourage people to act as you always would, because your friend is the same person, they just have this extra mountain to climb. Remember, above all these tips, help someone who may be struggling with a mental illness find the resources they need. Referring them to a mental health professional can be a difficult conversation to have, but it may be essential. Making sure they are aware of the resources available to them is key to their recovery. With mental health being such an important fixture in our lives, we must know how to handle it when we, or someone close to us, is mentally unwell. Friends are so important to our mental health and having them by your side can make a huge difference. According to the Queen’s 2013 NCHA Student Health Survey:

58.4 per cent of respondents were

stressed due to academics

32.8 per cent due to intimate

57.2

31.2

relationships

per cent due to sleep difficulties.

per cent reported binge drinking in the previous two weeks.

15-24

is the age range most susceptible to mental health disorders, according to Stats Canada data.

1 in 5 of youth in Canada report

substance abuse, mood and anxiety disorders.


LIFESTYLE

14 •queensjournal.ca

FOOD

A guide to eating with dietary restrictions in Kingston

tofu schnitzel — made vegan upon request. Atomica Pizza & Wine Bar

This chic Brock Street bistro has a gluten-free and vegan pizza crust and pasta noodles, and all their pizzas can be ordered with soy cheese. Windmills

Amadeus Café

This cozy restaurant serves German and Austrian dishes and has a good selection of draught beers. For vegetarians and vegans alike, I’d recommend the one-of-a-kind

your parents, Chez Piggy offers a copious selection for alternative diners including a grilled vegetable panini which could easily be made vegan by requesting no cheese and a vegan grilled cauliflower ‘steak’. They offer gluten-free toast and any pasta dish can be made gluten-free upon request. For seafood lovers, Chez Piggy offers dishes made with sustainably-caught, ocean-wise catches, including their oysters Eat Lover

Michelle Allan Staff Writer When the Sleepless Goat Café closed last year, gluten-intolerants and vegans lost a staple. It may be rare to find alternative diet options, so we’ve assembled a list of places that cater to a variety of different diets from vegans, vegetarians and the gluten free to seafood lovers and ardent carnivores alike.

Friday, November 4, 2016

PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN SMITH

A favoured brunch spot that’s nice enough to take your parents to, Windmills has a myriad of gluten-free options allowing you to eat most of the menu, including their pizza, brown rice English muffins, tortillas, flax loaf bread, rice noodles, cranberry raisin French toast and a number of desserts.

This small batch bakery makes delicious and entirely vegan treats. They’re famous for their donuts, but their menu is always changing. While they don’t have a physical location, they will deliver straight to your door. Mango Restaurant

This casual, long-running traditional Greek restaurant has a fair amount of satisfying and filling vegetarian options, including the veggie kebab, greek salad and dolmadakia. The fettuccine primavera, fettuccine Alfredo, Athenian pizza and spaghetti Greco are all vegetarian. Queen’s Pub

The on-campus pub favourite isn’t famous for their variety, but the avocado toast is a new innovation and completely vegan. They also label all their foods containing gluten, soy, egg, dairy, etc. Score Pizza

This make-your-own pizza place is new to Kingston, but already well-known for their stone oven pizzas and craft beers on tap. Like Atomica, their crust is vegan and gluten-free and all pizzas can be ordered with soy cheese. Sir John A’s Public House

Chez Piggy

The go-to bougie restaurant for impressing people or dining with

Grecos Wine Bar & Grill

Mango will provide a vegan menu on request and most of the curries are made with coconut milk. The house pad Thai can easily be made vegetarian or vegan and their coconut lime soup is a personal favourite.

This pub occupies the former law office of our first prime minister. Vegetarian options include the Portobello mushroom burger, breaded zucchini and deep fried pickles, while vegans can taste the homemade hummus, sweet potato fries, house salad, and — hold onto your kilts — the vegan haggis.

Famous Kings Restaurant

This simple counter serve offers traditional Lebanese food. Their falafel pita is fully vegan — even with all the toppings — and their fries with vegetable gravy contain no beef flavour and no dairy of any sort. Geneva Crepe Café Bistro

This French style café expands beyond the definition of crepe. They offer a vegan and gluten-free crepe, both savory and sweet, but also many selections for meat and seafood lovers, such as chorizo sausage, pesto chicken and B.C. wild-caught smoked salmon.

LAST WEEK’S SUDOKU ANSWERS

Smoke’s and Bubba’s Poutinerie Becoming vegetarian doesn’t mean giving up poutine. however Smokes offers vegetarian gravy and lots of veggie toppings to choose from. For vegans, if you ask nicely, Bubba’s can make a vegan version of poutine with their tomato sauce and fries.


LIFESTYLE

Friday, November 4, 2016

queensjournal.ca

• 15

POSTSCRIPT

Trichotillomania: hard to pronounce, and harder to talk about Losing strands of hair to a mental disorder you may not have heard of

Ashley Rhamey Assistant Lifestyle Editor When I was ten years old, my sister came home from school with head lice. As a precautionary move, my mom cut my long, glorious hair into a short bob. I hated it, so I grew it out long again and kept it that way, refusing to have it cut beyond a simple trim. I protected it as best I could afterwards, all the way to my first year of university. To my neverending shock, the threat to my locks didn’t end up coming from a stylist’s scissors, but from my own two hands. Trichotillomania is a mental disorder associated with impulse control. Its most distinctive symptom is an inexplicable urge to pull hair from one’s body. It most often manifests during early adolescence, but it can still be triggered in adults by severe stress, depression or traumatic events. In extreme cases, the hair pulling can leave people partially or completely, and even permanently, bald. As a result of the embarrassing nature of the disorder, those with it are at risk of becoming socially isolated and sinking even further into depression. The summer before my first year of university, my parents went through a messy divorce. When September rolled around, I wasn’t doing as well in my classes as I thought I was going to. I’d never learned to study and things weren’t coming as easy to me as they did in high school. Like many first-year university students, I couldn’t keep up with the materials and found myself getting my first bad grades. Being surrounded by droves of high-achieving people at Queen’s made me feel pretty inadequate. Simultaneously, my home life was beyond my ability to fix. While I didn’t realize it at the time, all these factors of stress took a toll on me in an unexpected way. It wasn’t until I went home for Christmas that I found out exactly how; your typical teenage girl’s worst nightmare. I had bald spots. Me. The surreal experience of having my mom freak out when braiding my hair was a little too much to immediately react to. With the help of my now frantic mom and two mirrors, I was able to see the three spots of plain scalp on my head. They were a little smaller than quarters, just far enough to the back of my head that I couldn’t see them myself. I always ran my fingers through my hair unconsciously my whole life, it was just a natural movement that I never thought much of. That year when running my hand through my hair, I gradually began searching for strands that felt out of place. Everyone has a couple of strands here or there that have a different thickness or texture to

A full head of hair isn’t something I can take for granted anymore.

them than the rest of their head. When I touched one that felt odd, I would play with it absentmindedly. Without realizing exactly what I was doing, I had begun to go a step further and actually pull them out. It didn’t even feel like something I was conscious of, let alone do enough to actually have visible hair loss. Once I understood I had actually, honest-to-God, been pulling my hair out, all I could think about was how embarrassed I was.

That year when running my hand through my hair, I gradually began searching for strands that felt out of place.

I imagined all the people who had seen the back of my head in the past few months. Had they whispered to their friends as I sat in front of them in class? What about behind me in line at the grocery store? Suddenly, every giggle I had ever heard in the background noise of my university life felt like they it was meant for me. I never wanted to leave the house again. I felt stupid, confused, and distinctly unfeminine. I became hyper aware of my appearance, never wearing my hair down and always pinning it to make sure it never showed my

bald spots. I obsessively searched for more spots. I routinely caught myself in a panic when my hand reached up to pull when I wasn’t paying attention. I stopped going out with my friends and cut myself off, afraid that they would find out and think I was a freak. The prospect of going bald isn’t inherently terrifying. But to a teenage girl who has grown up in a culture that connects hair with femininity, losing it made me feel more like Smeagol than a girl. I was no longer comfortable in my own skin. Maybe, if I had decided to shave it off myself, I would’ve felt differently. The feeling of not being able to control my own body or appearance was what made it so painful. In reality, not a lot of people would have noticed the spots of sparse hair unless they actually touched it or stood inches away from my head. My case was mild compared to what it could’ve been if my mom hadn’t noticed it, which is what thousands of people across the globe have to deal with. I knew going into university that it would be stressful. People can develop eating disorders, depression, and a plethora of other mental health struggles during their time here. I knew about those, but this was the one I never saw coming. Mental health, something I thought I was knowledgeable about, turned out to be far more complicated and

expansive than I knew. Regardless of what it manifested itself as, my disorder came about from suppressing how I felt. I didn’t talk to anyone about the things that were bothering me and it was too much to take on alone. When I didn’t let it out by talking to someone, afraid of letting people see me struggle, the stress found a different way to show itself. The stigma surrounding mental health issues, and the idea that

Mental health, “ something I thought

I was knowledgeable about, turned out to be far more complicated and expansive than I knew.

struggling makes you appear weak, weird, or both, is a reason why very few people jump at the chance to talk to someone when they’re in trouble. I was definitely hesitant to be open about it. But staying secretive about mental health issues like Trichotillomania is what blindsided me in the first place. It doesn’t make you a freak to have problems, and it doesn’t make you a drama-queen to talk about how you feel. It makes you human. Not everyone who loses their hair has a mental health cause for it. Whether your struggle is

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

medical or mental, it’s never something you can simply stop from happening. It’s a process that can involve a lot of pain and humiliation. What I realized through my time working with counsellors, family, and friends to control the hair loss, was that they never saw me differently because of it. My self-esteem and selfperception as a woman had been intertwined with my hair. The biggest hurdle in overcoming that was understanding that although it’s a part of me, it isn’t all of me. People care about me the same with or without it, and over time I was able to care about myself with the same indifference to what was on my head. Two and a half years later, my bald spots are gone. If you saw me, you’d never know I was once in danger of losing my hair. I was lucky, my mom was able to see a physical indicator that something was wrong. Not everyone who struggles with mental health will have that obvious of a signal to pick up on. Things like Thrive Week, that get people talking about mental health, are so important in order to spread awareness. They have the ability to spark conversation from both the people struggling and their families and friends. It can help people find ways to ask for help, and have help find them when they need it most.


16 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 4, 2016


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