The Queen's Journal, Volume 145, Issue 14

the journal Vol. 145, Issue 14

Queen’s University

F r i d ay N o v 1 7 , 2 0 1 7

since

S ebastian B ron Sports Editor

CHAMPIONSHIP COMES HOME

This story was originally published online on Nov. 14.

Men’s rugby beat Guelph 62-17, win program’s 23rd Turner Trophy

What’s Inside?

NEWS

EDITORIALS

University prepares for July Jordan peterson’s website 2018 legalization proposal discourages

See Only on page 11

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTICE KING

ARTS

Alumni brings novel American War to campus

What role does Taylor Swift play in politics?

page 10

page 13

of cannabis

discussion on free speech

page 2

page 6

page 7

@queensjournal

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA NORRIS

After a year in the hands of the Guelph Gryphons, the Turner Trophy is returning home.

“We were never going to be satisfied until we got that championship,” first-year head coach Dave Butcher said.

This has been the theme of the men’s rugby team’s season. It’s been a sentiment Butcher has preached since the early days of training camp in August and a lingering goal for players who lost out on championship glory in last fall’s OUA title game.

As waves of current and former Gaels players rushed Nixon Field celebrating in below-freezing temperatures on Saturday afternoon, Butcher knew he could finally soak in the moment.

Queen’s had won the OUA championship — their fifth in six years — over the Guelph Gryphons by a commanding score of 62-17.

“Over the moon,” Butcher said of his feelings with the victory. After the game, the Gaels celebrated behind their coach near the Nixon Field goal posts by taking photos kissing the Turner Trophy, others hugging and smoking cigars. “[It’s] the pinnacle of our whole season,” the coach added of the game. “And I’m satisfied not only to win it, but in the way we won it.”

Since assuming the role as the team’s lead coach this summer, Butcher and his staff set a precedent. Talk in the dressing room was never about winning — Butcher said his players “never once, in any game they’ve played, mentioned they wanted to win a match” — but rather about performance.

He said the team’s season focus would be matchup-specific, noting “what we want to do and how we’re gonna go about doing it” as their preferred approach to games.

Performance, in other words, came before a game’s result.

Saturday’s championship effort was no different.

“The boys epitomized what we’ve been doing all year in terms of the process in performance,” Butcher said of his team’s play, “and right from the first whistle to the last whistle they were excellent.”

The Gaels — who saw six of their players receive OUA All-Star nods this season — set the tone early, scoring within the first two minutes of regulation. Their defense, which

OPINIONS Ontario Colleges Strikes Aren’t as far from Queen’s as You think

queensjournal.ca

1873

@queensjournal

@queensjournal

LIFESTYLE

@thequeensjournal

News

2 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 17, 2017

LEGALIZATION

University to strike working group addressing cannabis legalization Queen’s prepares for July 1, 2018 cannabis legalization date announced by federal government

iain sherriff-scott Assistant News Editor

On Nov. 1, the Ontario Liberal government announced its proposed Cannabis Act which, if passed, would regulate the sale of cannabis in Ontario by July 1, 2018.

Queen’s Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration) Donna Janiec told The Journal, “the University is moving to strike a working group to address the issues legalized cannabis pose for the campus and will be taking into account the recent legislation released by the provincial government.”

The tabled legislation would establish a minimum age of 19 to use, purchase and cultivate cannabis. As well, the new rules would include a ban in public places, workplaces and motor vehicles.

The Ontario government is also looking into creating strict drug-impaired driving laws, which will include a zero-tolerance approach for “young, novice and commercial drivers.”

On Nov. 3, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) announced in order to manage the sale of cannabis in Ontario, it would move to create the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC).

The LCBO also announced the first group of 40 dispensaries to open across the province shortly after legalization. Kingston has been announced as one of the first 14 municipalities to receive an OCRC location. The province expects to have 150 stand-alone store fronts by 2020 that span over 14 different cities.

The proposed OCRC will manage the sale of cannabis and mandate dispensaries be a certain distance from schools. As reported on Nov. 7 in The Journal, it’s unclear where the first dispensary will be located and whether or not a university is considered a “school” in the language of the bill.

It also remains unclear whether or not Queen’s administration will have a say in where the first OCRC shop will be located.

According to the Maclean’s annual survey on student cannabis use, Queen’s ranked sixth in Canada, with 37 per cent of respondents saying they’ve used marijuana at least once over the past year. On top of this, Queen’s students were nearly a third higher than the national average, with 48 per cent saying they tried cannabis at least one time.

Of all 49 universities listed in the survey, the top five schools for cannabis use were Bishop’s University at 60 per cent, St. Francis Xavier University at 56 per cent, Acadia University at 53 per cent, Dalhousie University at 50 per cent and University of Victoria at 49 per cent.

With only one per cent of respondents at Queen’s saying they use cannabis daily, students at the University ranked lower than the national average of two per cent.

The legalization process continues to move forward at the federal level. On Nov. 10, former Toronto Police Chief and Liberal MP charged with overseeing legalization, Bill Blair, announced the government’s proposed cannabis tax regime. Speaking outside of the House of Commons, Blair also announced a public consultation period on the tax plans until Dec. 7.

The plan looks to add an excise tax of one dollar per gram of cannabis, or 10 per cent of the final retail price, whichever is higher.

With the existing plan, revenues will be

divided up between the feds and provinces and territories On top of the excise tax, federal and provincial sales taxes would also apply to cannabis, meaning prices will vary from province to province.

GRAPHIC BY REBECCA FROST

Queen’s researcher awarded prestigious fellowship

L’Oreal-UNESCO Excellence in Research Fellowship awarded to Kelly Suschinsky for her studies on female sexuality and arousal Queen’s researcher Kelly Suschinsky.

Cassandra Littlewood Staff Writer Queen’s post-doctoral fellow Kelly Suschinsky has recently been awarded with the L’Oreal-UNESCO Excellence in Research Fellowship, a prestigious award honouring women working in science.

Awarded annually, the L’Oreal-UNESCO prize aims to help provide funding to Canadian research projects. This year, Suschinsky was one of five Canadians awarded the prize for their work. In an interview with The Journal on Tuesday, Dr. Suschinsky said the $20,000 funding she’ll receive will help her to continue her studies on female sexuality and arousal in the Sexuality and Gender Laboratory.

She said her research has found “women on average tend to respond physically to a variety of different stimuli,” including “non-preferred sex partners” and

4/20 celebrations on Parliament Hill.

“non-preferred sexual activity like sexual aggression.”

“I would stress that is [a] physical response, not [a] subjective or emotional response,” Suschinsky said.

When she continues her research, Suschinsky said she will continue to focus on women’s sexual desire. In an interview with the Queen’s Gazette, Suschinsky said, “[w]e know women who have higher desire tend to engage in sex for different reasons than other women. We want to uncover why.”

Elevating women working in science is one of the major goals for the L’Oreal-UNESCO fellowship.

Israeli crystallographer Ada Yonath and Australian-American biologist Elizabeth Blackburn are just two examples of women who have been awarded the fellowship and later gone on to win Nobel Prizes in their fields.

For Suschinsky, supporting women in science is crucial.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY KELLY SUSCHINSKY

“Providing women with strong role models for having research careers can encourage them to stay in research,” Suschinsky told The Journal. “There’s often a lot of women at the lower levels of study — there’s lots of undergrad[ate], some at the grad[uate] and post-doc level — but once you get to the senior levels, the professorships, the numbers in some fields tend to decrease.”

In order to apply for the award, Suschinksy had to communicate the purpose of her research, her budget and present two letters of recommendation. She described being awarded the L’Oreal-UNESCO fellowship as “an honour.”

“It’s incredibly inspiring to be funded and do research on female sexuality and health by an organization that values women in science and involves women in the scientific endeavour,” she said.

PHOTO BY IAIN SHERRIFF-SCOTT

News

Friday, November 17, 2017

queensjournal.ca • 3

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION WEEK

Hillel Queen’s brings Holocaust survivor to campus Holocaust survivor Esther Fairbloom spoke to students as part of Holocaust Education Week

Sarina Grewal Assistant News Editor On Nov. 13, students filled Dupuis Auditorium and listened to Esther Fairbloom tell her life story. A survivor of the Holocaust, Fairbloom travelled from Toronto to Kingston to give her address as part of Holocaust Education Week hosted by Hillel Queen’s.

Fairbloom’s address was one of several events organized by Hillel Queen’s. Not only does the campus group aim to educate others about Judaism and Jewish history, but they also provide a community for students of the Jewish faith on campus.

Fairbloom told the packed lecture hall about her time as a young girl in Poland, where she lived in an orphanage for five years. After sending her sister away, Fairbloom’s mother took her to the orphanage shortly after her birth to keep her safe from Nazis. Her parents were shot and killed shortly thereafter.

While there, she told students how the nuns who ran the orphanage would often put her in a small cubicle to keep her presence hidden from Nazi inspection.

Eventually, Fairbloom left the orphanage with her uncle and moved to Canada at the age of 11. Though she’s been able to make a home for herself in Toronto — she has three children and has been married for 57 years — Fairbloom doesn’t

want people to forget about the horrors she and many others experienced in their youth.

Fairbloom actively tells her story in the hopes of raising awareness about the ongoing effects of the Holocaust. In an interview with The Journal following her address, Fairbloom said “[t]here’s so many deniers in this world ... telling [students about my experiences] makes it real.”

She said she still feels the effects of the Holocaust years later; often becoming anxious and fearful in situations that seem commonplace to others.

Fairbloom has also experienced multiple medical problems over the course of her life — a result of her childhood malnutrition.

“The Holocaust scars you.

You’re never really the same,” she commented in her address. “I wanted [my children] to have the life I never had.”

Calling herself a fighter, Fairbloom maintains a determined and oftentimes humorous demeanour despite all she’s been through. Not only has she faced re p e a t e d trauma in the aftermath of the Holocaust, but she told the audience she’s also battled several different forms of cancer throughout adulthood.

She said being able to laugh is incredibly important. “Life is a sense of humour,” she told the crowd.

Esther Fairbloom sharing her Holocaust experience in Dupuis Auditorium on Monday.

In addition to Fairbloom’s talk the Holocaust and ensuring the on Monday, Hillel Queen’s hosted memories of those who several other events throughout experience it live on. the Nov. 13 to 17 week, including Hillel member Charlotte two different exhibits and a Axelrod, ArtSci ‘18, said Shabbat dinner on Friday. “[i]t’s a very important week for Hillel Queen’s members raising not just awareness of spoke to The Journal about the tragedies of the Holocaust, the importance of Holocaust but the importance of carrying Education Week on campus, on the stories of those who which is also being held at other experienced them.” schools across the country.

Others iterated the importance The committee members of listening to survivors’ stories, talked about the importance as it might not always be possible of continuing discussion about in the future.

PHOTO BY SARINA GREWAL

“Survivors are growing older and passing away and it is very important that we utilize the chance we have to hear them speak and have conversations with people who experienced it,” Hillel Queen’s member Hunter Soll, ArtSci ’20, said.

“This horrible event wasn’t that far away, it wasn’t years ago in a textbook,” Soll continued. “We still have people who can recall where they were and what happened, and in 10 years it won’t be like that.”

Like Pandora's Box, some things are meant to stay closed.

TEXTBOOKS AREN'T ONE OF THOSE THINGS.

The eCampusOntario Open Textbook Library is a virtual resource that contains nearly 200 textbooks that are available at no cost. That's right, free. For everyone, forever.

So whether you need to use the library to fulfill a required reading, find research material, or support a personal interest, you'll find resources available in a variety of user-friendly formats, so you can study anywhere, on any device. They also make for great coffee table books!

Ask your faculty about adopting an open textbook for your class today.

Visit the Open Textbook Library at eCampusOntario.ca

News

4 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 17, 2017

Society of Graduate and Professional Students shares completed & ongoing projects

President Adam Grotsky talks challenges, priorities and initiatives for the SGPS President Adam Grotsky in his office in the JDUC.

Maureen O’Reilly News Editor For Society of Graduate and Professional Students President Adam Grotsky, it’s been a busy five months in office.

On Thursday, The Journal sat down with Grotsky, Law ’19, to discuss what the society has accomplished so far this year, as well as ongoing projects and priorities.

According to Grotsky, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) has three main priorities they’re trying to address through different initiatives. The first is to strengthen the sense of community amongst graduate students, as they’ve admitted to feeling isolated on campus.

“I was here for undergrad and the community you get at that level is much different than what you have at the graduate level,” Grotsky said. “[Graduate] students feel very isolated, their mental health is worse — so we want to find ways to improve that sense of community at the graduate level.”

Other priorities focus on improving access to health and wellness services as well as increased academic and career support. Grotsky said a variety of events and initiatives have been in the works to address these issues.

Designated graduate student space

“One thing we hear year after year is that graduate students need their own space on campus,” Grotsky said. “Undergrads sort of flock all the spaces, which is fine, but grad students need a place to call their own.”

One way the SGPS is currently improving graduate space on campus is through the expansion and revitalization of the second-floor graduate reading room in Stauffer Library.

Grotsky is now working with the library and a donor to have this project completed by the end of the year.

Moreover, the SGPS is involved in ongoing conversations with both the University and the AMS regarding the revitalization of the JDUC to determine how a designated graduate student space will fit into the future building design.

Grotsky said he’ll continue to advocate for a space in the JDUC that will offer graduate students both a lounge for downtime and an area for individual and collaborative study. He thinks it will create “a sense of belonging [graduate students] don’t really have right now.”

Improving graduate student experience

“The graduate student experience from an academic point of view is lagging behind both the national average and what Queen’s has set as its own targets,” Grotsky said.

graduate student “The experience from an

academic point of view is lagging behind both the national average and what Queen’s has set as its own targets,

”

— Adam Grotsky, SGPS President

The Canadian Graduate Professional Student survey conducted annually by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies identifies how people rate their overall academic experience as graduate students. Only 64 per cent of PhD students at Queen’s rated their experience as very good or excellent, which Grotsky said is low.

He said ratings are also below average for professional masters programs. As a result, the SGPS is

looking to bring these numbers up through several initiatives.

One way they’re looking to improve academic experience is by enhancing student-supervisor relationships. At an Oct. 13 Board of Trustees meeting, Grotsky pitched the idea of creating a contract between graduate students and their faculty supervisors to remedy this. While not legally binding, Grotsky said the contract would serve as a guiding document for their relationship and serve to establish agreed-upon deadlines and expectations.

Grotsky is also looking to improve professional development among graduate students. According to him, there’s a widespread misconception that most PhD students will follow careers in professorship and academia. In reality, Grotsky said only a small minority do.

Sometimes, graduate students — especially PhD students — face trouble entering the workforce. Grotsky said this is because employers see them as “overqualified” for a position or feel they lack the tangible skills necessary for the job.

To combat this perception, Grotsky hopes to introduce professional development courses within PhD programs to “make the appeal of a PhD more apparent to employers.”

Grants

This year, the SGPS has restructured their grants system to touch on social issues.

According to Grotsky, in the past there was only one general SGPS grant available to students and it was largely unused due to its aim being “too broad.”

This year, students can apply for three specific grants related to either Diversity and Inclusion, Sustainability or Accessibility.

Each of the three grants are valued at $5,000 and is offered to an individual or student group focused on improving one of these issues on campus.

Campaigns As of this October, the SGPS partnered with I Love First Peoples (ILFP) — a national charitable organization that aims to empower Indigenous youth and encourage them to engage in their education and avoid absenteeism at school.

The SGPS and ILFP are working together to run a shoebox campaign in which donors pack up shoeboxes with items appropriate for kids ranging from infant to high school age. The boxes are donated to Indigenous youth throughout the province.

Furthermore, the SGPS has worked with the Grad Club to implement the “Ask for Angela” campaign, which is already in use at TAPS services. The campaign allows bar patrons to approach a bartender and ask for “Angela” if they feel unsafe or want a safe exit from the bar.

The SGPS has also partnered with AMS to launch numerous sexual violence myth-busting educational videos, one of which has already been released.

“We’re always trying to find ways to proactively address [sexual

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

violence] on campus,” Grotsky said.

“Any issue that undergraduate students have from a social lens certainly apply to graduate students too. We’re always trying to work collaboratively as one student population to address those problems.”

Going forward

In the future, Grotsky hopes to see more collaboration between undergraduate and graduate students.

“It’s important that we try to bridge the gap between graduate and undergraduate students,” Grotsky said. “There’s lots of opportunities for mentorship, for collaboration — I would encourage undergraduate students to recognize that and to seek out opportunities to work together.”

“Graduate students can sometimes [appear] scary or intimidating because often they’re TAs or instructors in some cases.

But while they do that they’re also students … they share the same struggles undergraduate students do.”

News

Friday, November 17, 2017

queensjournal.ca • 5

ONTARIO COLLEGES STRIKE

Ontario Public Service Employees Union votes to reject College Employer Council’s offer to settle

Ontario Colleges strike enters fifth week Iain Sherriff-Scott Assistant News Editor On Nov. 16, the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU) voted to reject the College Employer Council’s (CEC) Nov. 6 offer to settle ongoing disputes in a landslide 86 per cent vote against the proposed contract.

OPSEU called the vote “historic.”

JP Hornick, chair of the faculty bargaining team for OPSEU, released a statement about the OPSEU’s choice to reject the offer.

“No one is surprised that college faculty rejected the Council’s forced offer,” Hornick wrote. “It was full of concessions and failed to address our concerns around fairness for faculty or education quality. We stand with hundreds of thousands of college students when we say ‘enough already.’”

After failing to reach an agreement in early October, Ontario colleges faculty went on strike to pressure CEC into a formal negotiation.

According to a press release from President and Executive Director of the St. Lawrence College student association Beth Insley, the issues that prompted the faculty strike were, “wage increases, job security, part-time and full-time employee ratios and academic decision making processes.”

In a Nov. 13 webcast, Sonia Del Missier, Chair of the Colleges’ Bargaining Team said “I know from being involved with previous strikes that when this is all over we have to work together again to serve our students. I have too much respect for your dedication, hard work, and expertise to offer you a contract that doesn’t address your concerns raised during bargaining.”

“This impasse is completely frustrating for us and for you, but I know that our frustration is nothing compared with the frustration that 500,000 students out of class are feeling right now,” Del Missier added.

In anticipation of this week’s OPSEU vote, faculty, staff and student protests heated up across the province. On top of this, faculty protests continued outside of St. Lawrence College early this week. Educators picketed the school’s entrance this past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Sunday, an open letter written by Deborah Megens, a Professor at Sheridan College, was

posted to the OPSEU local244 website expressing frustration towards the CEC’s treatment of negotiations so far.

“We have tried. From the beginning of contract negotiations in July 2017, we (faculty, librarians, and counsellors) came to the bargaining table with integrity, critical thinking, creative solutions, a willingness to engage in College faculty protesting at St. Lawrence College on Monday. collective problem solving, a solid commitment to social justice, and a passion for the betterment of education,” Megens wrote.

“The College Employer Council (CEC) has not,” Megens continued, “from the beginning, the CEC tabled an unacceptable, concession-laden ‘Final Offer’ that will have devastating consequences for the college education system — and it was non-negotiable.”

the beginning, “[F]rom the CEC tabled an unacceptable, concession-laden ‘Final Offer’ that will have devastating consequences for the college education system — and it was non-negotiable.

”

— Deborah Megens Sheridan College Professor

According to CBC, schools affected by the strike “have started to roll out revised schedules and policies to accommodate students facing financial costs due to the strike.”

In an attempt to save the fall semester, several institutions have been re-working class dates. Some have even pushed the first date back to as late as Dec. 22, and continuing into 2018.

Back in October, over 16,000 students signed an online petition, featuring the hashtag #wepaytolearn. Here, they demanded their tuition money back if the fall semester was lost as a result of the strike.

Amir Allana, a co-author of the petition, told CBC Toronto, “we want to send a clear message to both college administrations and unionized faculty: We pay your salaries. It is our tuition money that you are fighting over. Get back to the bargaining table, compromise and figure it out. Or we want our money back.”

PHOTO BY IAIN SHERRIFF-SCOTT

6 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 17, 2017

Features

Drug use on campus persists Four students share their stories of drug use on campus

According to the Globe and Mail, nearly four per cent of students take ADHD drugs without a prescription.

Brigid Goulem Features Editor

Illicit drug use among university students might be more common than our parents would like to think.

According to the Canadian Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey published by Health Canada in 2015, 11 per cent of 20-24 year-old respondents reported doing cocaine, five said they do speed, meth or other amphetamines, 15 per cent took ecstasy and 16 per cent reported taking hallucinogens.

Despite being illegal, marijuana, opiates, amphetamines and stimulants are a very real part of student culture on campus.

Although a large majority of students might never encounter them, these drugs exist within social circles across university campuses.

According to a 2013 Globe and Mail article, nearly four per cent of students who have no medical prescription take ADHD drugs like Ritalin, or Adderall to cope with academic demands. Typically, students can simply fake ADHD symptoms to get the drugs under their drug plan. More commonly, they buy it from friends who have a prescription.

In Canada, some students use these drugs to improve their concentration during the exam period, or when essays are due.

While these so-called ‘study drugs’ are often understood among students as harmless, for many, the academic benefits far outweigh other side effects. These drugs maintain their popularity as academic aids despite actually being addictive amphetamines with side-effects very similar to that of cocaine.

For many, drug use is simply recreational, and controllable, like alcohol.

However, what can start off as just another way to let loose can eventually lead to some serious consequences including possible death.

To understand more about illegal drug use at Queen’s, The Journal spoke to four students about their experiences.

For Jonathan*, what started off as recreational drug use developed into a very

serious problem.

Jonathan said his social life revolved around his drug use. “I found a lot of my social life, my night life, revolved around doing drugs at parties.”

Despite seeming initially harmless, he soon found drugs were becoming a problem.

“By second year it was very clear I was using drugs as a coping mechanism for some more serious issues going on in my life at the time,” he said.

Drug use for Jonathan was a way of coping with severe depression and suicidal thoughts which stemmed from a psychotic disorder. Eventually, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

“I would take drugs, including alcohol, and I would have mild degrees of psychosis that eventually turned into full blown things even when I was sober,” he said.

Before his mental health issues were addressed, drugs and alcohol were causing other serious problems in Jonathan’s life.

Academically he was struggling and he also found drugs were having an impact on his relationships with women.

Eventually, Jonathan reached out to the counselling services at LaSalle. By talking with a counsellor, he was able to lay out a plan to reduce his drug use and get healthier. He has now been sober for eight months and is recovering from schizophrenia.

For Nancy*, drugs are primarily used as a social activity. It wasn’t until she came to university that she started smoking weed.

Many of the new friends she had met on her floor were drug users and she began to join out of curiosity.

While the only drug she uses regularly is cannabis, Nancy also uses research chemicals as psychedelics from time to time. A friend on her floor showed her you can order them online and she now has them delivered to residence.

Although Nancy doesn’t consider herself to have any substance abuse issues, one of her friend’s struggles with a meth addiction made her more cautious.

“It’s really hard because she’d always be like ‘I’m going to stop now,’ and then a week later she would relapse, and I just never

knew how to deal with that personally,” Nancy said. “She was always too scared to contact some professional help because there was taboo around it, she was scared she would get into legal trouble.”

Like Nancy, Steve* said his drug use was primarily a social thing.

“I would do [cocaine] on weekends, going out to clubs, not ever in the day … but like [I would] if I was going out to Stages or something and it was a big event.”

Steve said he’s done a lot of drugs over the years, but it wasn’t until the beginning of second year that his use escalated. “I was going through a really bad breakup so I did lots of drugs to get over that.”

Although he stopped doing cocaine, he said it’s still normal for his friends to do it.

Steve said friends are the only way he could get drugs in the first place.

“It’s about who you know. If you were trying to get molly or [cocaine], you would talk to [someone you know] and [they] would talk to the dealer.”

He believes a dealer realistically wouldn’t sell to someone they didn’t know.

“If you came over, bought one or two times, and then this dealer sees you around, he’d be like ‘oh [her], I know her. But you need that introduction,” Steve said.

While many Queen’s students will have a few drinks on a night out, Billy* prefers to do drugs. Even though he started at the age of 13 with opiates and amphetamines, Billy said most of his use now revolves around cocaine.

While Billy enjoys his drug use and has no plans to stop, he urges for more caution and education. “I think there’s a big psychological component and you have to do a lot of self-reflection about how in control of your own mind [you are].”

In addition to ensuring drug use doesn’t compromise his mental health, Billy is concerned about the recent fentanyl crisis.

“What you can do is buy testing kits online and I just stockpile them in my room so that when I buy a new batch I test them to make sure I’m getting what I’m getting,” he said.

In addition to testing all of his drugs for purity, he also keeps a naloxone kit in

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

his pocket when he goes out. Naloxone kits are available for free without a prescription at all pharmacies in Ontario with an Ontario Health Card. He suggests anyone who engages in recreational drug use to carry a kit as well.

“If [drug use] is something you are remotely considering, it’s a lifesaver,” he said.

“It’s a lifesaver for your friend, it’s a lifesaver for you, so why not?”

Billy isn’t alone in his concern about the increase of fentanyl-laced drugs. In September, Health Canada issued a warning for students to be cautious about abusing drugs and alcohol.

According to the CBC, nearly 2,500 people died in Canada from suspected overdoses in 2016 alone.

Contamination of products with fentanyl or other strong drugs mean even really small doses can be fatal, especially for first time users.

Despite the fact that fentanyl-laced drugs have contributed to the deaths of several Canadians every day of 2017, Queen’s doesn’t have a comprehensive drug policy beyond the prohibition of the possession of illegal narcotics or controlled substances in the student Code of Conduct.

Ron Shore, a professor in the Kinesiology department, urges students to take precautions when taking drugs to reduce the risks of opioid overdose.

“The risks have never been higher,” he said. “If you’re buying any street-level drug now, you are at risk of contamination with fentanyl. If you think you’re using ecstasy, you want to be careful about opioid overdose.”

He advises people to never take drugs alone and to carry a naloxone kit on your person if you or anyone you know take drugs. He also recommends avoiding all street-level opioids and to be cautious when taking MDMA. But most importantly, “just be thoughtful, like anything, you’re altering your consciousness so be mindful about the implications that can cause.” * All names have been changed to protect the identity of students.

Friday, November 17, 2017

queensjournal.ca

EDITORIALS Discouraging discussion is no way to protect free speech Freedom of speech and the preservation of educational discourse are things that need to be protected on university campuses. However, this protection won’t come about by promoting fear and intimidation.

According to an article in The Toronto Star, University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson has proposed the production of a website which would list “courses and professors and disciplines that should be avoided” on the basis of the instructor’s politics. Peterson believes humanities courses such as Women’s, Ethnic and Gender studies are taught with “corrupt ideologies” and contribute to the creation of “social justice warriors.”

With infamously radical opinions, this isn’t the first time Peterson has made headlines over the past two years for arguments centered on the protection of free speech. While this is an issue that deserves thought, Peterson’s methods and rhetoric create unhealthy and unproductive polarization of students, staff and the public.

Professor Peterson’s suggested website follows this pattern.

His proposal hinges on the idea students have the ‘right to know’ what they’re getting themselves

into when signing up for a course.

While very similar to sites like “Rate My Professors,” which offer anonymous student reviews of professors based on their teaching styles, level of difficulty and, where applicable, personal bias, Peterson’s idea would specifically target professors, courses and disciplines he believes to be corrupt. He

The Journal’s Perspective encourages criticism, but only if it’s in line with his own values and beliefs.

The students looking to avoid the blacklisted courses and professors would be people who already align with Peterson’s opinions. This site would map out a way for students to complete a degree without being exposed to ideas different from their own, all in the name of protecting them from being morally ‘corrupted.’

Peterson isn’t giving students enough credit to decide what to think for themselves. The majority of university students may be young, but they aren’t ideological sponges. He grossly overestimates the power professors have over their students’ individual opinions. By pushing for them to avoid certain subjects, Peterson’s enabling the

pursuit of a degree riddled with gaps in learning.

Even if students don’t agree with their professors, seeing the other side to an argument is fundamental to an education. Hearing opinions — even those they disagree with — helps students form their own views on a range of subjects in the humanities.

Professors have a responsibility to present all sides of an argument when teaching, even ones they disagree with. Even though personal bias will no doubt bleed into their classrooms, teachers need to be able to balance it by encouraging discussion and opposition to topics discussed in class.

What Peterson is championing with an idea like this won’t create an equal playing field for those with right wing tendencies.

It’s a blatant discouragement of discussion or exposure to differing views.

— Journal Editorial Board

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL Volume 145 Issue 14 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Editorial Board

Joseph Cattana Meg Glover

Editor in Chief Managing Editor

Maureen O’Reilly

News Editor

Sarina Grewal Iain Sherriff-Scott

Assistant News Editors

Jasnit Pabla

Features Editors

Alex Palermo

Editorials Editor

Ashley Rhamey

Opinions Editor

Caleigh Castiglione

Brigid Goulem

Nick Pearce

Arts Editor

Clayton Tomlinson

Assistant Arts Editor

Sebastian Bron

Sports Editor

Matt Scace

Assistant Sports Editor

Shivani Gonzalez

Lifestyle Editor Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Josh granovsky Julia Balakrishnan

Photo Editor

Nicole Langfield

Assistant Photo Editor Video Editor

Max Silverberg

Assistant Video Editor

Amelia Rankine

Editorial Illustrator

Stephanie Jiang

Graphics Editor

Rebecca Frost

Digital Manager

Lydia Noureldin Meredith Wilson-Smith Ejaz Thawer

Copy Editors

Contributing Staff

Contributors

Claire Macpherson Lauren Trossman Tegwyn Hughes Staff Writers and Photographers Abbey Dudas Ramolen Laruan Cassandra Littlewood Carolyn Thompson Joshua Finkelstein Amanda Norris Lesley Jamieson

Business Staff

Business Manager

ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE JIANG

Jasnit Pabla

On Dec. 15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has the opportunity to choose an Indigenous judge for the Supreme Court of Canada.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of such a historic appointment remains uncertain because of a bilingual language requirement still in place.

The bilingual requirement for Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) judges to speak both French and English is a barrier for Indigenous jurists who are fluent in English and their Indigenous languages in order to serve their communities.

This requirement should be overlooked in consideration of the crisis of overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in Canadian prisons.

Although Indigenous peoples represent approximately three

•7

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

per cent of the population of Canada, they currently account for over a quarter of the country’s incarcerated population.

According to an official press release from the Canadian Government, Trudeau asked his advisory committee to recommend three to five “jurists of the highest caliber, functionally bilingual, and representative of the diversity of our great country.”

While the candidates presented to Trudeau has yet to be revealed, the possible presence of either Indigenous jurists Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond of the Muskeg Cree Lake Nation or John Borrows, member of Chippewa of the Nawash First Nations, on this list is an exciting possibility expressed by major media outlets across the country.

Abby Choudhury LeeAnn Sverko

Sales Representatives

Robyn McMurdy

Office Administrator

Faith Villanueva

Kiera Sitzer

Want to contribute?

Canadians need an Indigenous Supreme Court Judge Both candidates work in Indigenous law and have personal experiences as Indigenous youth that would provide a long overdue understanding of the lives of Indigenous peoples in this country to the SCC and how colonial history has translated to overrepresentation in Canada’s prisons.

We can’t forget judges appointed to the SCC preside over the highest court in the country.

Their decisions greatly impact courts of lower levels and often set a precedent that’s difficult to override.

While neither jurist has expressed that they’re bilingual, they could make an equally significant contribution to the SCC if chosen.

Both B o r ro w and

Head Sales Representative

Turpel-Lafond have demonstrated dedication to the cause of Indigenous justice in Canada and are exactly the candidates Trudeau should be looking for as pressures to meet Truth and Reconciliation recommendations continue.

In Canada’s present, a jurist of the “highest caliber” who has experienced the effects of cultural genocide and has a deep connection with Indigenous history is invaluable to the Canadian legal system. If the SCC needs a more diverse bench, representation needs to extend to those who are put behind bars too.

Jasnit is one of The Journal’s Assistant News Editors. She’s a second-year Political Studies Major.

For information visit: www.queensjournal.ca/contribute or email the Editor 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: 613-533-2800 Business Office: 613-533-6711 Fax: 613-533-6728 Email: journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Please address complaints and grievances to the Editor in Chief.

The Queen’s Journal is printed on a Goss Community press by Performance Group of Companies in Smiths Falls, Ontario.

Contents © 2017 by The Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of The Journal.

Circulation 3,000

8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 17, 2017

Opinions

Campus workers on strike against inequality College strikes can have an impact on Queen’s too Lesley Jamieson outside on Queen’s campus.

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Being a millennial looking in this job market is tough.

As a graduate student at Queen’s University, my peers and supervisors have told me time and time again to start planning for a career outside of academia.

They say there are too many competitors for such a shrinking pool of decent jobs.

While it’s true that precarious work on college and university campuses is on the rise, it’s also true that working people are fighting back.

On Oct. 15, the unions that represent full-time and partial load faculty members in Ontario went on a strike that’s special and indicative of our present times. Unionized, full-time and partial-load workers are bargaining to combat the rise of precarious work in higher education. Not only are their bargaining demands focused on academic freedom, but they encompass the ratio of part-time and contract to full-time faculty and equal pay for equal work.

As reported by The Toronto Star, roughly 81 per cent of college faculty are on contract.

This means they’re paid a fraction of what their full-time or partial-load counterparts make and, unlike full-time faculty, they aren’t reimbursed for the preparation of classes, correspondence with students or grading.

When the proportion of part-time workers on campus increases, the proportion of poorly paid and overworked workers increases as well. To combat this, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) locals represent college faculty who help fight two current trends: unequal pay and the growth of precarious (part-time contract, and temporary) forms of work.

Not only privy to Ontario colleges, we also see these worrying trends at Queen’s.

While the proportion of permanent to

contract workers at the faculty level is less dramatic than at St. Lawrence College, the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) report 23 per cent of its faculty are “term adjuncts.” This refers to faculty that are hired on a course-by-course or otherwise limited basis rather than permanently.

This class of workers are paid roughly half of what assistant professors make and are less supported in both their administrative and research responsibilities. While an assistant professor is financially supported as both an instructor and a researcher, a term adjunct professor isn’t.

As tenured professors retire, we need to be cognizant of who’s replacing them and what this means for equality at Queen’s.

Next time you want to recommend a friend take a class with a young and passionate professor only to find they’re no longer teaching at Queen’s, ask yourself why such a talented person was unable to stay.

Chances are this professor either wasn’t offered another contract, or they needed to look elsewhere for more permanent employment. If they’re teaching the class again, maybe their term contract was renewed. However, unless they’re listed on the department website as “continuing adjunct professor,” “associate professor,” or just “professor” this person is precariously employed.

This trend is also reflected by Queen’s treatment of Teaching Assistants (TAs) on campus. Queen’s TAs wear several hats in a wide range of departments. I myself am a TA in the philosophy department and spend the bulk of the hours in my contract grading logic quizzes and meeting with students to help them with some of the more difficult material.

Regardless of how they spend their time, TA work is important and classes couldn’t be the size they are without us. But as workers, we hold the not-so-proud distinction of being the only group of Queen’s employees

who lack childcare benefits or a meaningful, employer-paid health and dental plan.

While the typical image of a TA is th of a young grad student without responsibilities, approximately eight per cent of our members are raising children and juggling tuition payments, research, work commitments and childcare costs.

The union tries to do what it can to support its members. The modest childcare bursary we distribute to our members can range anywhere from $100 to $500.

However, this doesn’t alleviate the burden of expensive childcare costs. It’s a grave mark of inequality that Queen’s TAs with children are the sole group of campus workers that must bear this burden without benefits. We look to the standard set by other teaching assistant unions who have succeeded in winning childcare benefits for their members, such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 3903 at York University.

The union of 2,000 TAs on campus — Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) local 901 — is currently bargaining for a new contract. However, Queen’s University is currently ignoring our proposals for childcare benefits and an employer-paid health and dental plan. When our union presented the employer with the demands on Oct. 16, they responded by returning the proposal with strikeouts on every line.

This was worse than a weak counteroffer.

It was a refusal to take our demands for fairness seriously.

Another group of campus workers I’d like to address is the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 229. As The Journal reported in 2014, Queen’s laid off 17 fulltime custodial workers.

Afterwards, the school introduced a new category of “caretaker” who’s paid $15.63 an hour while “custodians” and “caretaker attendants” are paid a starting wage of $23

per hour. Currently, the “new caretakers” are growing in number on campus. When the higher-waged custodians leave campus or retire, they aren’t replaced by a worker who is paid the same rate. Rather, they’re replaced by the lower-paid “new caretakers.”

The introduction of this new category of Physical Plant Services employee allows the University to pay their workers less for doing substantially the same job.

A similar situation is occurring in the Queen’s hospitality services. While part-time workers have a starting wage of $11.50 per hour, their full-time counterparts are paid a minimum of $19 per hour. This difference is exploited by the employer who, rather than hiring someone full-time, can instead exploit and hire part-timers who are paid less.

Campus employment is changing. We’re seeing growth in insecure, part-time contracts with fewer benefits. Queen’s is becoming a place where those who provide the necessary labour for the functioning of the institution, clean our residences, prepare our food, grade our midterms and teach an amazing history course, are divided into haves and have-nots.

But it hasn’t always been this way. We should celebrate and support workers like the college faculty who are striking to ensure a brighter future for students. If the college faculty wins, students will face a future with better workplaces and less insecurity.

We, the Queen’s TAs, are bargaining for childcare benefits and equity with other campus workers. If the time comes and something like a strike is deemed necessary, I hope Queen’s students see the importance of helping us set a higher standard for how workers should be supported by their employer at both Queen’s University and beyond.

“Calling my mom and going to get

“Gummies. Lots and lots of candy.”

“I’m not really. I’m sitting here looking at dogs in the ARC.” Amanda Collins ArtSci ’19

“It’s going. It’s not the best, but it’s going.”

Connor Doughrty Commerce ’18

LESLEY JAMIESON, PhD Candidate and Vice President (Community Relations) PSAC local 901

soul food with friends.”

Sierra Gaudreault LifeSci ’19

Talking heads ... how are you dealing with week 10?

Christopher diaz ArtSci ’18

Lesley Jamieson is a PhD Candidate and the Vice-President of Community Relations PSAC local 901.

PHOTOS BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Friday, November 17017

queensjournal.ca

•9

ARTS

Views from Martello alley.

COMMUNITY PROFILE

Kingston’s little France Artist owner brings new life to Martello Alley

Clayton Tomlinson Assistant Arts Editor

Martello Alley is a dead-end off of Wellington Street that doubles as a scaled-down French village.

Created in 2015 by David Dossett, ArtSci ’83, Martello Alley was initially like any other gallery showcasing art for purchase until Dossett became bored of looking at the bare walls of the space.

Shortly after he opened the outdoor gallery, Dossett took the opportunity to turn those walls into works of art in their own right.

“My wife sent me a postcard from France … [which] had been sitting on the front counter and I

saw it and said ‘I’m going to paint this [alley] to look like Strasbourg.’”

The square yard was originally bare, housing the still-active apartments in Martello Alley. The murals were “done randomly — when you let your imagination go and use cheap paint…you can be creative,” Dossett said of the transformation that continues to this day.

When he started, he simply wanted to beautify the alley, asking the landlord for permission to cover the walls of the surrounding buildings. After getting the go-ahead, Dossett made his Strasbourg vision become a reality until the alley became the mock- French village it is today.

“It’s kind of like doing a diorama, only full-scale,” he said. Since all the murals are on large, imposing walls, the work takes on an immersive, three-dimensional quality.

But Dossett doesn’t just paint walls.

Most of the art shown in Martello Alley features some type of print or canvas paintings — including many works by the man who started it all.

Dossett said his canvas paintings tend to focus on nature.

Often drawing on Group of Seven influences, he voiced his plans to expand to a series of images featuring kids playing in the snow.

“What we do is tell a story

INTERVIEW

behind the art, everything here has a story,” Dossett said.

Accompanying Dossett’s artwork, the remaining pieces within the space display work by a variety of local artists. Currently, Martello has a board of 20 artists who evaluate submissions and run the day-to-day operations of the gallery.

Growing up in Kingston, Dossett realized how difficult it was for artists to exhibit work in the galleries around the city and longed to create a space that would remedy this inaccessibility.

Cathie Hamilton, ArtSci’86, is one such artist. Attending night and summer school at Queen’s in the ‘80s, Hamilton ended up in a career in teaching. Despite this, she

The Glorious Sons head home Band’s lead singer Brett Emmons talks new album, upcoming Kingston show

Claire Macpherson Contributor

When The Glorious Sons hold their own personal homecoming show in Kingston’s K-Rock Centre this February, things will be different from their days grinding out a career in the Limestone City.

Coming off a Juno nomination, the band released their album Young Beauties and Fools last month. With their fans on the edge of their seats on a three-year wait for their newest record to drop, The Glorious Sons didn’t disappoint.

“Our fans are pretty amazing.

This album was released while we’ve been on tour and within only a matter of weeks, our fans are singing along to every word at our concerts,” Emmons told The Journal.

Young Beauties and Fools is a semi-autobiographical album written by the lead singer Brett Emmons, where he poetically tells a story about the trials and tribulations of his life and of the lives of his family and friends.

Despite relaying such a deeply

personal account, the new release still works as a rock album worthy of all the typical energy of the band’s live performances.

“It’s a cohesive album of stories that sound like they’re from the same area. It’s a lot about me, it’s

The Glorious Sons.

a lot about Kingston, and it’s a lot about the people I surrounded myself with,” Emmons said.

“It’s also a lot about me, [as] a 25-year old kid trying to make sense of everything that’s going on in my life,” he added. “I just wanted

to put myself, my city, and my loved ones on paper.”

This album was a bit of a risk for the young artists, as it has a completely different sound from their first album titled The Union.

“We wanted this album to be

SUPPLIED BY ALLISON PHILLIPS

SUPPLIED BY DAVID DOSSETT

always had an interest in pursuing art ever since she was young.

The alley is unconventional in that Dossett is always present to show you the artwork displayed and explain the artists and stories behind the pieces, rather than just sell them to you.

Hamilton similarly helps show people around and doubles as a tour guide to the gallery in addition to displaying her art.

“I like meeting people and I’ve found many like to meet the artists whose work they’re looking at,” she said in front of a wall of her own paintings.

On the wall, she had acrylic, encaustic and also mixed media pieces, all exhibiting natural and local scenes.

What Dossett started as a beautification project now works to uniquely showcase a collection of local art in central Kingston.

“It’s always evolving…I’m always adding to Martello Alley,” Dossett said. different. I wanted to create an album of what rock ‘n’ roll sounds like in 2017. I also tried to get a lot more personal with my lyrics.”

The 10-song release is a mix of slow and upbeat tempo songs with the opening of “My Poor Heart,” starting off slowly but picking up a tempo that leaves listeners wanting more.

Emmons expanded on the wide-ranging shotgunmethod the band employed in their songwriting.

“This album is just me throwing a line out into the wind and hoping people catch on. That people gain a better understanding of who I am as a human being and what I’m about,” he said.

When you listen to the band’s new album, it’s easy to pick out the story of its narrator, but it’s just as easy to relate to it in your own way. Young Beauties and Fools is a personal album that encourages its listeners to revisit it over time and draw new, personal connections to its songs.

It speaks to the strength of the songwriting that people from different backgrounds can identify with Emmons’ stories and connect with them, all uniquely packaged in tightly-written rock songs.

This is an album about coming home, and will be all the more applicable with the upcoming Kingston show on Feb. 24.

Arts

10 •queensjournal.ca Ramolen Laruan Staff Writer

Academic-turned-filmmaker, Kogonada quietly reflects on the inscrutability of life in his feature-length debut titled Columbus. What else can we expect from an academic in Hollywood?

The resulting movie is a meandering reflection on architecture and its role in the lives of the film’s two leads, John Cho as Jin and Haley Lu Richardson as Casey. Despite its plodding and deliberate pacing, the film gives the viewer the space to experience the city of Columbus’ architecture and the nuanced relationships of the film’s two leads.

Jin is an American transplant in Korea, working as a literary translator that has to return to the States to see his architect father who has fallen into a coma.

Meanwhile, Casey is an aspiring architect that feels trapped in her surroundings as she cares for her mother, who’s a recovering addict.

Casey puts her life on hold for her mother, while Jin struggles to adequately grieve for his father, a man who was rarely there for his son. The film contrasts Western and Eastern parent-child relationships as both characters attempt to reconcile their past

Friday, November 17, 2017

REVIEW

‘Columbus’ is a quiet, captivating debut First-time filmmaker writes a love letter to modernist architecture

John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson.

family lives. It’s a credit that the film gives a human treatment to these personal shortcomings, offering a restrained take on what could otherwise be melodrama.

The tenderness that grows between Jin and Casey starts innocently enough, but it deepens as both characters attempt to grow out of their circumstances. Jin needed to see that love can exist between parent and child. Casey needed

someone to challenge her to find discomfort by finally moving away from Columbus.

Despite a compelling plot line, there are no major events in the narrative. The film doesn’t ask for an excessive emotional reaction from audiences to show nuance in what can feel like the blandness of day-to-day life.

This can be partly attributed to the movie’s unabashed enthusiasm for the architecture affecting the

Queen’s alum Omar El Akkad brings American War to campus

SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE

characters’ lives. It’s a love letter to the form — it doesn’t matter if nothing really happens or changes in the story until the end.

The minimalist style of the film’s modernist architecture is reflected in the sparse, sober use of dialogue and action. This is a controlled film.

Kogonado takes command in every aspect of Columbus, particularly in its narrative and cinematography, successfully expressing complex, abstract ideas.

Working with cinematographer Elisha Christian, Kogonado longed to refocus viewers’ interest in the facets of everyday life, which is mostly visualized through architecture.

This unique, often static camera work creates a

contemplative atmosphere, following people interacting with architectural space. The stillness and shallow depth of field emphasizes the dominating architecture that, despite our lack of interest, controls the way we move — metaphorically and literally — in our daily lives.

People move, architecture guides.

“When you grow up around something, it feels like nothing,” notes character Jin about his disinterest in architecture having his father work as a professor in the field.

It feels like nothing, but it does affect us. These physical constructions made a century ago continue to influence our interactions with the world.

Columbus lets its viewers become aware of this involvement of the past in our everyday lives.

As a town that prides itself as an architectural haven, Columbus, Indiana, is important to Casey because its buildings have consoled her, especially in times of her mother’s heroin addiction.

Jin, on the other hand, is uncertain about the city’s prominent architecture because it reminds him of the very thing his father loved more than him.

Kogonada’s Columbus is thoughtful and mature, and is made so by its refusal to resolve any of the questions it’s dealing with.

The film feels ordinary, unimpressive even, but if you look at the ordinary as something that isn’t ordinary at all, Columbus might just be a little more than impressive.

Author discusses acclaimed novel and journalism Nick Pearce Arts Editor

This article first appeared online on November 17th.

It’s 2074: half of Louisiana’s underwater, the President of the United States has been assassinated, fossil fuels are banned and a second civil war is erupting as southern states break off to secure the remains of the coal industry.

Needless to say, Omar El Akkad’s American War isn’t a light read. A former Journal Editor in Chief and Queen’s alum, El Akkad’s decade worth of experience reporting on climate change, conflict and disaster have found a home in the pages of his new novel.

It’s a harrowing book about the radicalization of protagonist Sarat Chestnutt in a world in which torture, terrorism and drone strikes are a new part of the American fabric.

For El Akkad, he was simply bringing the conflicts he witnessed home.

“How easy it is, when you’re living in a relatively peaceful part of the world, to ignore everything else,” El Akkad told The Journal. “If I’d written a novel, and set it in the Middle East or set it in Afghanistan or set in any of the places in which

these wars are actually physically taking place, it would have suffered from the same problem of distance.”

“So I took everything that was happening over there and put it over here.”

The book’s real-world influences result in a jarringly realistic vision of the future, mostly because much of the subject matter has already happened.

El Akkad offers no easy answers to his readers as they explore a narrative interwoven with news clippings, documents, memoirs and oral histories.

It’s as dense as any existing conflict, and despite being created before Trump’s election announcement, is often prescient. As El Akkad notes, most of the book’s reception has referenced the US’ increasingly polarized political climate, counter to the book’s pre-Trump candidacy origins.

El Akkad explained the difficulties of releasing a book that wouldn’t be read outside of its context.

“It was difficult because this thing that had belonged to me for two years, belonged to me and nobody else, suddenly belonged to everyone but me, which is what happens when you publish a book, you lose all control over it,” he said. “And whatever

interpretation the readers give it is the valid one. Yours no l onger matters.”

“I have 350 pages of an alternate America, you throw enough darts at the board, eventually you hit a bullseye and effectively come true.

But that’s not that impressive,” he added. He said the novel shouldn’t just be read as a road map for the future.

El Akkad’s actually looking forward to the day it can be discussed outside of today’s politics, saying “that [they] will also change, either because Trump will be gone or we’ll all be dead.”

Despite the discussion generated and a largely positive critical reception, El Akkad almost never completed the book. He’d already written three novels — which, according to him, will never see the light of day — and deleted American War during a particularly frustrating period of the writing process. He even took the time to empty the recycling bin.

“Usually the beginning is fine, and you get 50, 60 pages in and you realize your connective tissue isn’t working,” he said. “You have your ending. You have your mileposts. But you can’t quite get there. You have to rework and reworking is where the self-doubt creeps in because you can see the

Omar El Akkad.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA

whole structure shaking. You think, is this thing ever going to stand on its own?”

After the deletion incident, El Akkad managed to find an earlier draft to work off of to complete the novel.

“What keeps me coming back is stubbornness,” he said, expanding that writing was one of the few things he returns to after experiencing challenges.

Fiction was El Akkad’s first love, and given the opportunity to pursue it, he had little choice not to, especially after feeling like it was time to move on from full- time journalism.

Still, his readers can see a

common strain through his journalism and his fiction — a deep concern over the human face of conflict and a changing world.

Even more so when it starts looking so plausible.

“Non-fiction journalism is by definition concerned with answers — where, when, how. The world’s not all answers,” El Akkad said. “Fiction’s the place where I go explore questions to which I have no answers. American War provides no answers. It’s not what it’s there for. Fiction’s the underside of that coin. Both are valuable for interpreting the world.”

Friday, November 17, 2017

queensjournal.ca

SPORTS

Only the beginning Continued from front page

Butcher last week told The Journal was the “foundation to [the team’s] success,” also kept busy in the opening half, limiting Guelph to just three points and heading into the break up 29-3.

“It was huge — huge,” Butcher said, alluding to how important his team’s defense was in the win.

“Guelph … credit to them. They threw absolutely everything at us, but they just weren’t able to break us. It’s a testament to the boys’ work rate on defense.”

Winger and fourth-year Kainoa Lloyd agreed with his coach.

“Even though we scored a lot, what really helped us was our defense,” Lloyd said. He added the appointment of Butcher this season “brought a lot of defensive work to us that really showed [because] we barely had any points scored on this season.”

After extending their lead 43-3 in the second half, Guelph

converted on a pair of tries to no avail. Queen’s would cruise till the final whistle and bag the program its 23rd OUA gold medal, most of any Ontario team.

“We just decided we were going to stick by the game plan, not do anything fancy — keep it simple,” Lloyd said. “And that’s what made us win.”

“It’s great to end […] on such a dominant win. I mean, nothing’s better than winning an OUA gold medal in Kingston at home — so I couldn’t be happier leaving Queen’s like this.”

With last weekend’s championship matchup marking the team’s seventh consecutive title game appearance, optimism was riding a high. Butcher, however, believes this is just the beginning.

“I think this is only the start of what we can do,” he said of his hopes for the future of the program.

• 11

PHOTO BY AMANDA NORRIS

Queen’s featured in its seventh consecutive OUA Championship game.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Women’s soccer finishes season on podium Gaels finish third in the OUA, miss out on national championships Kainoa Lloyd scored three tries against Guelph.

Joshua Finklestein Staff Writer The women’s soccer team wrapped up their season with a hard-fought bronze medal on Nov. 5 at the OUA Championships in Oshawa.

The Gaels came into the four-team playoff riding a high.

They beat the University of Ottawa 2-1 — 5-4 on penalty kicks — in the OUA quarterfinals on Oct. 29 to make the final four.

Matched up against the Western Mustangs in the OUA semi-finals, Queen’s and their rivals from London couldn’t find a winner in the opening 90 minutes and went to overtime with a U Sports National Championship and OUA Championship final berth on the line.

Unfortunately, the Gaels were unsuccessful in overtime.

Another shootout wouldn’t be needed, as Western’s Jenna White scored a header in the 94th minute. The goal put the Mustangs ahead 1-0 — and that’s the way it would finish, effectively eliminating the Gaels from contention in the gold medal game.

Considering the team’s strong performance throughout the

game, head coach Dave McDowell said he was left frustrated with the final score line.

Speaking about the result, McDowell mentioned the coaching staff had discussed the possibility of a set piece deciding the match right before Western scored.

“It was just one of those games,” he said. He added that defending the set piece was something the team was prepared for, but they simply had a lapse in mental judgement in the moment.

Faced with the difficult task of preparing for the bronze-medal match the next day, McDowell noted how he was impressed with his players’ resolve in rebounding from their semi-final loss. He said their recovery was helped by the following team dinner they enjoyed at defender Savannah Meyer-Clement’s home in Oshawa.

Matched up against the host UOIT Ridgebacks, the Gaels bounced back with a commanding 3-0 victory to grab themselves a bronze medal.

Despite UOIT’s performance not being to the standard to which they typically play — the Ridgebacks defeated the Gaels 1-0 in the 2016 OUA gold medal

PHOTO BY AMANDA NORRIS

game — McDowell said his team’s play was impressive nonetheless.

“It was a really good team effort,” McDowell said of the victory.

“We had good contributions from everybody on the team.”

Lidia Bradau, Matija Skoko and Alexandra Doane all scored in quick succession after the half to put the match and bronze medal beyond the Ridgebacks’ reach.

According to the coach, this

year’s women’s team — who finished with an overall 14-4-1 record — was one of the most impressive groups to represent Queen’s in recent history.

Comparing them to last season’s team which qualified for the U Sports National Championships, McDowell said the 2017-18 Gaels were unique.

“From our perspective, this was a more complete team,” he said. He added the team’s well-roundedness could be credited to his players’ pride in playing for Queen’s.

“It’s a very interesting dynamic with these fourth and fifth-year players and these emerging

Gaels players posing with their bronze medals.

first-year players,” McDowell said. The Gaels experienced a considerable turnover in the off-season, which was highlighted by having six first-year student athletes feature in the OUA tournament.

“This year was particularly good [and] the first years were fantastic … they bought into the culture.”

The influx of new players, coupled with the strong guidance they’ve received from the team’s veterans, has the head coach excited for the coming season.

“We’re looking forward to what these young [players] can do in the next little bit,” he said.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY UOIT ATHLETICS

Sports

12 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 17, 2017

Cross country misses out on gold at U Sports Championships Women finish second, men fifth at national championships Claire Sumner (left) and Branna MacDougall (right) finished in second and third place respectively.

Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor Going into last Sunday’s U Sports National Championships, the women’s cross country team knew they had a target on their back.

After spending the past seven weeks as the top ranked team in Canada, the Gaels were beat by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at the championship in Victoria, B.C., placing second overall and a steep 19 points behind Toronto. The men’s team, meanwhile, finished in fifth.

“It’s a pretty bitter pill to swallow but that’s why you run the race — it’s not how good you are on paper,” cross country head coach Steve Boyd said, “it’s how you execute.”

Although they didn’t leave as national champions, the day didn’t come to an end without some stellar performances from a handful of Queen’s runners.

In her final cross country race as a Gael, fifth-year Claire Sumner claimed the silver medal. Her teammate Branna MacDougall — who placed first in the OUA championships — finished in third.

On the men’s side, fourth-year

Eric Wynands was named a First Team All-Canadian with a seventh place finish.

“That was the one thing I thought we had for certain was the team title … it’s too bad we couldn’t do it this year,” Sumner — the 2016 individual national champion — said of the program’s performance.

Despite strong performances from Sumner and MacDougall, the Gaels’ supporting cast fell short.

Molly Steer, Taylor Sills and Amy Stephenson — their final three scorers — finished 25, 30 and 32, respectively. The performance was a stark contrast to the women’s OUA Championships two weeks ago, where they finished well ahead of Toronto and brought home a team gold medal.

At the p rov i n c i a l championships in Windsor, Queen’s beat Toronto 62-37. In Victoria, the Varsity Blues got the better of the Gaels and won 92-73.

“They say winning OUAs and U Sports [in the same season] is extremely difficult to do … I guess it’s true,” Boyd said.

Albeit without a podium

Men’s hockey drops pair of weekend games Gaels struggle against UOIT and Carleton at home Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor This story was originally published online on Nov. 14.

Head coach Brett Gibson said he doesn’t have a magic wand to help fix the men’s hockey early season struggles.

Coming off a difficult opening to the season against nationallyranked opponents, the Gaels were unable to get a win over the UOIT Ridgebacks and Carleton Ravens this past weekend. The pair of losses puts Queen’s at a 4-3-3 record and places them fourth in the OUA East.

“They were definitely not the

results we wanted,” head coach Brett Gibson said, adding the sub-optimal performances should remind the team “[i]t’s time to get things back on track.”

The loss was the Gaels’ fifth in their last six games this season, three of which were decided by two goals or less.

The Gaels’ penalty kill struggled against UOIT on Friday night, with the Ridgebacks’ first three goals coming off of the powerplay.

Down 3-0 at the end of the second period, the Gaels made a final push in the third period.

After Ryan Bloom scored at the 6:28 mark on the powerplay, Slater Doggett put Queen’s one goal away from tying the game

finish, the men’s team reached their pre-season goal of placing fifth in the country.

“The guys delivered,” Boyd said. He added the men’s goal this season was “top five at [U Sports] … [And] I think we got the best result we could’ve asked for.”

“As a team, we ran to our potential,” Wynands concurred.

“I don’t think there were any gaps we could have filled but I’m happy with how we finished our season.”

With rain coming down consistently during the race, runners from across Canada faced off against the typical west coast weather. To make it more difficult, the course bottlenecked from large to small within the first hundred metres, making the athletes run in a tight path.

“I remember sprinting at the beginning, I was booking it,” Sumner said about the conditions.

“I got myself right to the front — I was told to set the pace.”

In CoGro on Wednesday, Sumner reflected on her final race in a Queen’s singlet. Over her career at Queen’s, Sumner won the 2016 OUA and U Sports Championships and was also named 2016 OUA Athlete of the Year.

“That was my goal to medal … so at the end I just said, ‘I’m happy where I am now,’” she said.

“I felt strong the whole time so it was great for me.”

Following a fifth place p e r fo r m a n c e at the OUA championships two weeks ago — a poor race by her standards — Sumner felt

The Gaels currently hold a 4-3-3 record.

with less than seven minutes left.

As the clock wound down, the Gaels pulled goaltender Jacob Brennan to bring on the extra attacker. Unable to muster up any offense, the Ridgebacks put the game away with an empty-net goal, ultimately winning by a score of 4-2.

Saturday’s matchup against the Carleton Ravens saw a very similar outcome. With the score sitting at 2-0 after two periods of play, the Gaels fought back to narrow the Ravens’ lead to 2-1 after a goal from second-year defencemen Graeme Brown.

Despite having a seemingly re-energized attack, the Ravens sealed the game late in the third period with two goals in the last two minutes. The final score read 4-1.

The weekend saw some significant absences for the Gaels. On Monday, Gibson returned from a three-week-long coaching stint for the Canadian

Under-17 hockey team at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in British Colombia.

“It is painful,” Gibson said. “I live and die with this program and to see them struggling when I’m away is hard to go through.”

Gibson noted his distance between the team will allow him to come back with fresh eyes on how to approach the final games of the first half of the season.

“It starts with mentality — our theme this year is karma. We’re going to get what we deserve and we deserve the results we’ve had because we’re not doing the right things both on and off the ice,” Gibson said on the Gaels’ sluggish start to the year.

“For me, I don’t have a magic wand. We have to move forward and try to find ways to get the results we need.”

In addition to the absence of Gibson, the Gaels roster has been reduced by injuries. Goaltender Kevin Bailie, defenceman Nathan

CREDIT : APSHUTTER.COM

content with her finale.

“I was crossing the line knowing it was my last one and being very satisfied,” she added.

In spite of the weekend going less successfully than hoped, Boyd reiterated he’s tremendously proud of his program and athletes. While he will lose a number of top runners to graduation, recent signings by the team give Boyd great comfort in the future of his esteemed program.

“Look at the big picture: we’re still one of the best male-female programs in the country. We’re right in that mix again and with the possibility of being one of the top programs in the country in the next couple of years,” Boyd said.

“Things are looking good.”

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Billitier, as well as players Cory Genovese, Nevin Guy and Jaden Lindo have all missed time this season.

“That’s a lot of firepower in our lineup but you should never let injuries be an excuse,” Gibson said.

The weekend marked the closing of a difficult stretch for the Gaels, where they took on top-ranked teams such as McGill, Concordia and UQTR. Despite these matchups, the Gaels didn’t go in with low expectations.

“I knew it was going to be a tough stretch, but we’re supposed to be a top team and to me, we failed that stretch,” Gibson said.

The Gaels will spend the upcoming weekend in Northern Ontario where they will take on Laurentian and Nipissing as they try to get back on track.

“It’s a good thing to get on the road. I get to spend a lot of time with them and we can figure some things out,” Gibson said.

Sports

Friday, November 17, 2017

queensjournal.ca

• 13

COMMUNITY

Emilio Frometa making impactful plays off the field Football player just one example of Queen’s athletes giving back to community by mentoring Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor For Emilio Frometa, football has never been his sole focus.

After three years of being a student athlete, the Gaels offensive lineman is ready to make his impact beyond the gridiron.

Alongside countless varsity athletes, Frometa introduced the Queen’s Autism Mentorship Program (AMP) in November.

Starting this year, the initiative pairs varsity athletes with children that suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to provide kids

with a role model.

“You’re basically a super cool best friend for a kid in the community who has ASD,” Frometa, who’s currently enrolled as graduate student at Queen’s told The Journal.

Participating athletes are first paired with a child with ASD and spend roughly three hours of time together per week. During these gatherings, the athlete and child will engage in activities ranging from playing sports, going to the movies or working on school work.

“You’re giving really good role models the ability to have a

Frometa poses with the women’s basketball team on AMP’s opening night.

AMP members on the program’s opening night — Nov. 4.

huge impact in someone’s life,” Frometa said. He added that athletes involved in the initiative serve as mentors to the children.

“The program hopes to facilitate not only the friendship, but [a] relationship that helps develop social skills as well as motor skills.”

Currently, the AMP has paired

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY EMILIO FROMETA

over 40 student athletes with local youth — a number that continues to grow as the program’s presence expands on campus. Currently, the program has athletes from field hockey, cross country, soccer, lacrosse, swimming, rugby, football, basketball, ultimate frisbee, volleyball and hockey.

Frometa’s inspiration came from his own mentorship experiences in his early years at Queen’s. Working with a young local boy, he realized the impact ASD can have on a child and their family.

“It’s really hard to quantify the impact of a child who has ASD, especially when you’re not around,” Frometa said. “But those two or three hours, where you can go grocery shopping or take a break, you don’t realize how much that means to the family.”

“It alleviates a lot of the pressures associated with ASD and that’s kind of the goal of the program,” he said.

Alongside the youth-to-athlete relationship the program aims to build, the AMP has also turned

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY EMILIO FROMETA

its attention to ensuring local children that suffer from ASD feel like a part of the Queen’s athletics community.

On Nov. 4, the AMP was launched at a women’s basketball game. Frometa said the kids were treated as “guests of honour,” with areas of the ARC designed to engage AMP members with the game as well as allow them to take a break from the action.

The program’s accommodations received an outpouring of support from local families.

“My goal is to try to make [Queen’s home games] accessible for kids that have disabilities,” Frometa continued.

While Frometa plans on graduating this spring, he hopes to see the program grow far beyond Queen’s campus. With St. Lawrence College well on its way to joining the AMP, Frometa is already seeing his work extend outside of campus.

“The goal is to have the AMP at every university in Ontario,” Frometa said. “You’ve just got to plant the seeds and let it grow.”

fill a gap in your program

Athabasca University has over 850 courses for you to choose from to meet your needs. Monthly start dates of undergraduate courses fit into your schedule so that you can work at your own pace.

Fill the gap and save a semester.

www.athabascau.ca/course

14 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, November 17, 2017

Lifestyle Column

Taking my seat: Politics and Hollywood The politics of Taylor Swift’s (lack of) feminism and why it’s a problem Taylor Swift as president.

Carolyn Thompson Staff Writer Ready for it? I wasn’t. In case you missed it, Taylor Swift released her sixth studio album titled Reputation last Friday.

Before I get into it, let’s make one thing clear: I used to be a huge Swifty. I’ve been to her concerts, purchased her t-shirts and up until now, bought all of her music.

Now, I think people may argue celebrities don’t have a duty to get involved in politics. While their job is in the limelight, they aren’t choosing to run for public office and therefore shouldn’t be expected to speak on issues. In fact, Billboard magazine just released an article posing the question “When did feminism become a job requirement for female popstars?”

Well, I think those people are wrong and Billboard missed the mark.

Josh Granovsky Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Music streaming has forever changed the way we listen to our favourite artists. But has our collective flocking to services like Spotify or Apple Music changed the way music is made too?

On Queen’s campus, you’d be hard-pressed to find a student still paying for music on iTunes.

The new musical norm of our generation is shelling out $5 monthly for a student streaming plan. While this new method may prove cost-effective for us, the already arduous task of making a living as an artist has never been more challenging.

Spotify says the average amount of money rights holders receive from streams of their songs is between $0.006 and $0.0084. This means for an artist to earn what they’d regularly be paid in a month on minimum wage, their songs must be streamed over 150,000 times.

In an attempt to adjust to this new reality of music making, artists are already discovering loopholes and other tricks to maximize their profit. Music releases from the past month — specifically from Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign and Taylor Swift — exemplify the struggling artist’s attempt to capitalize off of streaming culture.

Listening to Chris Brown’s latest album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon, has never been more difficult. And it’s not because of the quality of the songs or his troubled and violent history. It’s because

I’ve talked about this before; it’s complacent and a privileged position to be in if you can choose not to talk openly about politics.

Now, I don’t think everything Swift does needs to be political — nobody would expect that of the American pop singer-songwriter. However, her silence during last year’s election and the past year of Trump’s presidency has been unacceptable.

Taylor said it first, ‘Everything Has Changed.’ And this change is seriously affecting millions of people in America, many of whom are probably her fans.

Mashable writes, “Taylor

Swift will never be your feminist hero but who cares?” Well, that’s true. She probably won’t be anyone’s feminist hero but her reputation with both young children, teenagers and millennials is, arguably, unparalleled to any other female pop star in the world.

And if not for a political voice, can we at least know if Swift voted?

If we want to increase voter turnout among young people, we need to make voting cool and accessible. I think young adults need to see their celebrity heroes voting too. Swift isn’t a feminist hero but I really believe she’s a celebrity hero for some and

STREAMING WARS

one that needs to step up and speak out.

Along with one’s celebrity title comes with, in Swift’s case, 104 million Instagram followers, 85.6 million Twitter followers and 73.9 million Facebook page likes.

She literally has more Twitter followers than Donald Trump; imagine the difference she could make and the people she could reach by simply talking about one issue.

I’m not saying Swift hasn’t done anything of importance beyond the realms of her music career. Her assault trial (and win) this past summer was a really important, and symbolic victory for women,

How this month’s music releases show streaming’s effect on music Students’ most popular listening method is altering music quality and structure the album, released on Oct. 31, consists of 45 songs and runs over two-and-a-half hours. You may be wondering what could compel someone to release an album this long.

The answer is the little green-and-black app sitting on your phone.

Charting the top-selling 200 albums in America, Billboard began counting streaming towards its album chart in 2014. The math behind this streaming integration is 1,500 song streams from an album are equal to one standard album purchase. Under this rule, albums with more songs technically have a larger chance of “selling” more copies. Since 10 tracks are defined as an album, 1,500 people listening to Brown’s album in its entirety would actually equal out to four album sales instead of one.

Making longer albums to capitalize on this sales trick isn’t a new concept. Drake’s number-one mix tape More Life has 22 tracks and The Weeknd’s double-platinum Starboy has 18. But whereas Drake and The Weeknd’s albums utilize the new rules to their advantage, Chris Brown’s 45-track monster is straight-up manipulation. Brown even begged fans on Instagram to

stream the album on repeat while they sleep, because apparently stream revenue is more important to him than consciously appreciating music.

While the streaming boom has obviously affected release strategies, its effects can also be seen on the music quality itself. Brown’s album contains a solid 10 quality songs, including standouts like “Party”, “Questions” and — though I hate to say it based on the title alone — “Juicy Booty.” The other 35 songs sound like they’re filling space.

A similar example is Ty Dolla $ign’s Beach House 3, released on Oct. 27. An aspect where the content of Ty’s album differs from Chris Brown’s is that it’s mostly good, receiving positive reviews from music critics across the web. But the album’s six weak spots come in the form of “interludes.”

Beach House 3 features six placeholder tracks which each run a little over 30 seconds.

The interludes don’t sound like anything in particular, other than miscellaneous drums and whispers. The purpose the tracks serve is strictly monetary, since a song must be streamed for over 30 seconds for an artist to receive payment. By sprinkling in these random fluff tracks, Ty Dolla $ign makes the same amount of money on them as he does on regular four-minute songs with little effort.

If you need any more proof of streaming’s impact on the industry, look no further than pop music’s biggest star, Taylor Swift. In 2014, Swift

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

survivors and victims. Her pledge to make donations to multiple organizations that help survivors and victims of sexual assault was amazing and something I applaud her for.

However, her country’s in a constant state of turmoil and with the media and public interested in anything and everything Swift-related right now, she has the perfect opportunity to talk about issues that might be important to herself, her fans or her country.

Swift’s literally given a microphone every time she goes anywhere. Her voice is important and right now, it’s amplified. We need to get away from political complacency and hold our celebrity heroes accountable.

We’re not ‘Out of the Woods’ yet and I promise you politics isn’t going out of ‘Style.’ You want to stop this ‘Bad Blood’, Taylor?

Speak out. released her record-breaking album 1989 and held off on putting it up for streaming until three years later in 2017. Swift’s latest album, Reputation, is only expected to be held from streaming services for a week.

If music’s most commercially successful artist can’t even be excused from playing the streaming game, can anyone?

Streaming is no longer an option of listening to music; it’s the norm. As artists begin to cater to our obsessive streaming habits, we listeners can expect to see longer albums and shorter tracks in the near future.

Personally, I’m excited to review Chris Brown’s next album, which is sure to have between 1,000 and 2,000 tracks all lasting approximately 30.01 seconds.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

Friday, November 17, 2017

Lifestyle

queensjournal.ca

Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Bunch in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

• 15

SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE

In praise of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s honest take on mental health

CW’s musical-rom-com takes mental health beyond a story arc Lauren Trossman Contributor A couple years ago when I was on the hunt for a new TV show to binge, a friend suggested I try the CW network’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

I asked what kind of show it was and he told me it was a dark romantic-comedy-drama-musical. In my confusion at how a show could possibly balance all of these genres, I jumped in and have been hooked ever since.

Though the concept of a romance-drama-comedy infused with musical breaks might sound absurd, if not completely implausible, creator and star Rachel Bloom is able to seamlessly weave these various genres together and create a touching, emotional and hilarious masterpiece.

From its inception, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has excelled at creating a truthful portrait of its complicated protagonist, Rebecca Bunch.

While its premise — a girl who moves across the country in hopes of falling in love with a man she briefly went to summer camp with — is that of a conventional or slightly zany rom-com, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is far from typical. Bloom flips the rom-com trope and reveals its dark side, showing that someone who’s changing their life or putting it on hold in the hopes of a far-fetched love affair is often not mentally stable.

Rather than exploiting the dramatic aspects of mental health when it’s narratively necessary, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend goes where most shows never do in creating a protagonist whose mental illness is an integral part of their character. Most shows unfortunately typically use mental illness for an episode or two as an arc, often ending with the character acting as if the illness never happened. Recent examples include an episode of Scrubs in which a main character is diagnosed with postpartum depression until shortly after when it’s never spoken of again, or Scandal where the protagonist’s undiagnosed PTSD drives her to murder and then is

magically cured without intervention.

Television portrayals of mental illness like that of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rebecca Bunch are important in creating relatable characters for audiences living with chronic mental illness. While Scrubs’ postpartum depression storyline showed a touching portrayal of mental illness, it quickly faded, alienating viewers who thought they may have finally found a character to relate to.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend made Rebecca’s anxiety and depression clearly understood from the first episode and while it isn’t always a major plot line, it’s a recurring and prominent theme in all choices she makes.

Another aspect of mental illness television often gets wrong is the reality of treatment. Shows tend to vilify mental health professionals and medications, choosing to have characters “fight it on their own.”

While this may provide some interesting character development, it discourages viewers with real mental health issues from seeking the proper treatment they may need. Shows like UnReal and Pretty Little Liars depict medication and therapists as soul-sucking monsters who drain protagonists of their creativity and freedom.

While Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rebecca isn’t particularly invested in her treatment — in the pilot episode she dumps her medication down the drain and is frequently seen ignoring all of her therapist’s advice — her unwillingness to seek treatment is never shown in a positive or empowering light. The show frames her reluctance to treatment as an obviously unfavourable decision for her and the negative consequences are always evident.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend highlights the ups and downs that accompany chronic mental illness, finding the balance between the avoidance of both sensationalizing or minimizing its challenges. Though television is usually a place lacking honest portrayals of mental health, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s unconventional approach provides a relatable protagonist who’s equally open about the humour and hardships that accompany her mental illness.

Lifestyle

16 •queensjournal.ca

POSTSCRIPT

A tour outside of Kingston Exploring the surrounding areas Nicole Langfield Assistant Photos Editor

Friday, November 17, 2017