The Queen's Journal, Volume 148, Issue 9

the journal Queen’s University

Vol. 148, Issue 9

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.

Since 1873

Queen’s confirms two new cases of COVID-19 Total number of positive cases at Queen’s hits 22 C laudia R upnik News Editor

F eature : A brief history of controversies K ingston P olice force page 6

in the

PHOTO BY MAIA MCCAINN

Queen’s misses initial deadline to collect donor funding for JDUC renovation C laudia R upnik News Editor When the University conditionally approved the JDUC renovation project in 2019, it also agreed to contribute $10 million in donor

funds before the project could break ground. As of October, the University has raised just over $3 million of that goal.

“Fundraising completed prior to the pandemic has thus far raised just over $3M in confirmed and committed gifts,” the University

wrote in a statement to The Journal.

“Advancement continues its efforts with potential donors, though the impacts of COVID-19 and the economic downturn that has accompanied the pandemic have impacted those efforts in a variety of ways. The longer-term impacts

of the pandemic on the project remain to be seen.”

The JDUC renovation is scheduled to begin in May 2021, but it requires the $10 million to move forward on that timeline.

See Jduc on page 4

Queen’s alumnus Steven Heighton discusses ‘Reaching Mithymna’

Canadian author talks new memoir on aiding Syrian refugees N athan G allagher Arts Editor In the fall of 2015, Steven Heighton was midway through writing a fictional novel about Mediterranean refugees when the impulse struck him to take to Greece and actually do something about the crisis.

Heighton is an award-winning poet, author, and now, memoirist.

He attended Queen’s University from 1981-86, taking a Bachelor of Arts and Masters in English Language and Literature. His most recent work, Reaching Mithymna, is a chronicle of the 30 days he

spent on the Greek island of Lesvos, assisting Syrian war refugees hoping to reach northern Europe.

In an interview with The Journal, Heighton discussed the experience that led to the memoir.

“I was between drafts of a novel called The Nightingale Won’t Let You Sleep,” he said. “The novel concerns fictional Mediterranean refugees but, in light of what was happening on the ground in Greece, my fictional project seemed a little paltry and frivolous to me, and I really felt like I wanted to do something concrete.”

So, in a burst of passion, Heighton packed up and left for Lesvos to become an active player in a crisis he’d been passively contemplating.

“I realized it had been a long time

since I acted directly in a political sense,” he said. “I’d certainly written a lot about political issues I felt passionate about but I hadn’t engaged directly and concretely, and I decided basically in the spur of the moment I would do it.”

Since help was—and still is—so urgently needed, Heighton was instantly accepted into the fold.

“The refugee influx on the island had basically destroyed tourism and it was off-season anyway so it was easy to get there quickly.

I did a little online research and discovered that they desperately needed volunteers and you could just arrive without having any affiliation [...] and start pitching in.”

According to Heighton, that’s exactly what happened.

“I ended up helping the first day I arrived when I was still jetlagged,” he said, describing his stressful first experience in which he was tasked with guiding

The University confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 in the Queen’s community on Tuesday.

There are currently 24 active cases of COVID-19 in the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) region.

Acknowledging the increase in cases in the Kingston region, KFL&A Public Health raised the community status from green to yellow on Sept. 25. The yellow community status of COVID-19 indicates the region has “a few active positive cases, less than two active outbreaks, full local hospitality capacity, cases and contacts are being reached within 24 hours of notification of positive test results, and there is high testing capacity (community swabbing has increased).”

Yellow community status also means KFL&A Public Health now updates its COVID-19 case data dashboard every day of the week.

The University launched an official webpage tracking the number of COVID-19 cases it becomes aware of in the Queen’s community. The statistics will only reflect positive cases of COVID-19 within the Queen’s community in the KFL&A region, as confirmed by the University over the course of the noted week. to read the rest go to queensjournal.ca/news

PHOTO BY MEG KIRKPATRICK

refugees from the where they landed bus rendezvous.

coast to a

See Author on page 10

In this issue. embracing gmos, page 7. american politics matter to canadians, page 8. short story and poetry contest winners selected, page 9. queen’s sailor trains for paris 2024, page 11. children’s tv is what it used to be, page 12. queensjournal.ca

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News

2 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, october 8, 2020

‘[T]he fate of Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 lies in [the students’] hands’

In “Mask Up or Pack Up” initiative, Queen’s student leaders urge peers to act safely during the pandemic Cassidy McMackon Assistant News Editor A peer-to-peer initiative was launched by Queen’s students Oct. 2, urging students to comply with public health regulations to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The two videos feature several students wearing masks and asking peers to keep the Kingston community safe during the pandemic—using the slogans “mask up or pack up” and “space out or move out.”

“In my role of ASUS Vice President, I have been engaged in many broad conversations with the Dean of Arts and Science, as well as other University administrators about the poor behaviour of students on and off campus in the University District that puts other students and community members’ health and safety at risk,” Matt D’Alessandro, ASUS vice president, told The Journal.

“I get it. After such an isolating summer, students want nothing more than to see their friends and have fun. But we must redefine what fun looks like.”

Rector Sam Hiemstra, who also

appears in the videos, said the “Mask Up or Pack Up” initiative is concerns voiced by local Kingston the first action being put into place residents inspired him to partake by student leaders encouraging in the video. students to comply with physical “It’s really difficult to be a part distancing protocols. of conversations with external “This is only the beginning of the community members to Queen’s project. There are more initiatives and hearing how anxious and and events in the works for the worried they are,” Hiemstra told coming weeks as we enter into The Journal in an interview. close territory with Thanksgiving “My main rationale for weekend and reading week to participating in this campaign is to prepare for the possibility of remind students that we are all in students returning home to this together, and that the majority visit family and friends before of the students are following the returning back to Kingston, just to guidelines should be commended ensure that students are following for doing so, but that it really does proper guidelines.” have to be all of us coming together Hiemstra said student leaders and fighting this thing as a whole.” continue to experience tension Hiemstra said he hopes from the external Kingston students continue to follow the community and the student body. guidelines and that students who “There has still been a negative haven’t been doing so “re-evaluate reaction with external members of the interactions they’ve the Queen’s community,” Hiemstra been having.” said. “Community members “It’s really difficult to be in outside of Queen’s are still quite small social bubbles, and so I’m concerned with the number hoping that students are able of [COVID-19] cases going up to find creative ways to engage and with the number of larger with other students that are both gatherings still occurring.” safe and keep in line with what “I’ve quite candidly heard that Queen’s is as an institution and as it is frustrating to see continuous an experience.” calls to action from the University Hiemstra told The Journal the on its student population. It’s

Queen’s chooses Examity, Proctor Track for upcoming exams Students encouraged to prepare workspaces, familiarize themselves with the proctoring services

Claudia Rupnik News Editor While students adjust to remote learning, they should also be preparing for an entirely remote exam period.

Queen’s has selected Examity and Proctor Track as its two proctoring services after determining both services meet the privacy and security requirements of the University.

Both platforms have been used

by Queen’s in the last few years and will continue to be used going forward to ensure the integrity of exams.

The fall term exam schedule will be posted on OnQ on Oct. 9.

The Journal spoke with Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) John Pierce and Director (Engineering Teaching and Learning Team) Eric Tremblay about what students can expect from the upcoming remote exam season.

In the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

(FEAS), Tremblay said the first-year engineering cohort has participated in three proctored events so far this term to test the technology.

He explained that using the proctoring software for smaller assessments helps the first-year cohort become familiar with the technology that will be used to proctor their final exams. The system also allows the FEAS to determine how much technical support is needed during these proctored events.

Tremblay said, while students are completing proctored assignments, they don’t want to wait for technical support. He said the trials have allowed them to determine how much support needs to be available and how quickly they’re able to deliver it to students experiencing obstacles.

He added there were fewer calls for support from students with each additional proctored event they participated in.

For students who haven’t been required to test

the proctoring service in class, Pierce recommended independently testing the technology by completing the test quizzes offered through each proctoring platform.

Tremblay and Pierce both said the benefit of testing the technology ahead of time is removing some of the stress from the experience of writing final exams because it allows students to familiarize themselves with the platforms.

Pierce recommended students begin preparing for the remote exam experience by thinking carefully about the workspace they’ll use when writing the exam.

The University’s guideline on academic considerations related to technical failures or in-the-moment interruptions that occur during a proctored assessment only accounts for unpredictable and random occurrences. In these instances, instructors are supposed to work with individual students to address the issue.

The initiative was launched Oct. 2.

PHOTOS BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

Student leaders are preparing other initiatives for the coming weeks.

tiring to hear this all the time, and it’s difficult to engage in these conversations with people within our circles, but I think it’s an important one to be having.”

He also said students need to understand the risks associated with coming back to Kingston for their education.

“Student government and university administration really

These accommodations don’t apply to chronic failures, including persistently unstable internet connection or consistently noisy environments.

While some courses have continued to pursue remote proctoring this term, Pierce said others have shifted final assessments into other formats.

Though he couldn’t provide specifics, he said a number of

have the best interests of students on their mind when creating initiatives like this.”

D’Alessandro also said students need to recognize their role in determining the future of their university experience.

“From this campaign, I hope that students realize that the fate of Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 lies in their hands,” D’Alessandro wrote. programs in the Faculty of Arts and Science­ —particularly the humanities—have moved away from proctored exams.

Tremblay said the FEAS also reduced the number of proctored events this semester, adding that the evaluations replacing proctored exams are more authentic assessments designed to test skills directly related to the workforce.

News

Thursday, October 8, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 3

Feeling under the weather?

Long-term stress related to COVID-19 could cause unpleasant physical symptoms Queen’s professor says emotional response to second wave restrictions likely based on anger and frustration Jessica Dahanayake Staff Writer With students trying out the new and unfamiliar territory of online learning at Queen’s, a toll could be taken on their mental health.

New research has shown these effects can also turn into physical symptoms.

In an article published in the Queen’s Gazette, Kate Harkness, a professor in the department of psychology, explained that unpleasant physical symptoms can appear as a result of chronic stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “[The] worst types of stress are […] chronic, unpredictable, and

uncontrollable, and the COVID-19 pandemic checks off all [three],” Harkness wrote.

According to Harkness, a system in our bodies called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the culprit of these symptoms, which can vary from having painful menstrual cycles to pimple outbreaks. The HPA axis was crucial to our ancestors’ survival because it helped them respond quickly to life-threatening situations such as a predator attack.

Our bodies are conditioned to have the HPA axis release the stress hormone cortisol for short bursts during stressful situations.

However, when there is a prolonged timeframe of stress, like the COVID-19 pandemic, complications can arise due to the HPA axis continually firing for an extended period of time. The immune system will lose its ability to fight the inflammatory effects of cortisol, and the stress hormone will start to inflame the skin and other organs.

In an interview with The Journal, Harkness said the stress response can be different in the second wave of the pandemic.

Sexual Health Team launches initiative to promote safe sex during COVID-19 crisis

Solo sexual activity safest way for students to engage in sexual activity during pandemic Cassidy McMackon Assistant News Editor With COVID-19 hampering the ability to expand social circles, students hoping to engage in casual sex are facing the challenge of how to do it safely.

To combat this challenge, the Sexual Health Team from

Student Wellness Services (SWS) has launched an initiative to help students engage in safe sexual activity.

“The Sexual Health Team recognizes the importance of preventing COVID-19, the challenges of engaging in sexual activity during the pandemic, and the need to address how students can effectively manage both,” the Sexual Health Team wrote in a statement to The Journal.

“Our team is super passionate about Health Promotion, so we wanted to come up with an engaging way to provide students with up-to-date, relevant sexual health information from a peer perspective.”

“The emotions that people are feeling are moving away from the anxiety of ‘Am I going to get COVID?’ to more [of a] frustration,” Harkness said, referring to the anger students may feel about their lives being affected by public health guidelines once again.

Students had a brief sigh of relief when the Ontario provincial government allowed the opening of patios in early June and implemented the concept of social circles to allow people to socialize again. Last week, the provincial government reversed some of those guidelines, putting a pause on the idea of social circles and limiting the hours when restaurants can stay open.

Harkness provided a grounding perspective on the reasoning behind the guidelines being rolled back.

“COVID doesn’t care that we want to be out on patios,” she said. “Instead of seeing the

Students are now living in the second wave.

guidelines as [constraints] to our personal freedom, instead see them as the best way that we have as a society to ensure the health of everybody.”

Harkness noted that while students are unable to control public health guidelines, they can control their reaction to them.

Having a routine for your day and taking time to schedule the activities you enjoy into your routine has significant positive effects on your physical and emotional wellbeing, according to Harkness. There are many activities people love to do that don’t conflict with public health guidelines.

Harkness also recommended

Students are encouraged to avoid saliva exchange during sex.

The Sexual Health Team said it’s been looking extensively at government guidelines and recommendations to compile recommendations that are “digestible, relatable, and relevant to students.”

The initiative consists of social media posts that will be shared to the Queen’s University Be Well Instagram and Facebook pages on how to have safe sex during a pandemic. The first set of posts was shared Oct. 3.

In these posts, the team advocates for solo sexual activity as the safest way to engage in sexual activity during the pandemic.

“You are your safest sex partner.

Masturbating by yourself will not spread COVID-19. If you masturbate with a partner(s), physical distancing will lower your chance of getting COVID-19.”

The initiative also suggests online alternatives to sexual

activity, such as video dating or sexting with a trusted partner, as ways to engage in sexual activity during COVID-19.

For students who choose to have sex during the pandemic, the initiative tells students to limit their number of sexual partners and keep contact information of sexual partners on hand for contact tracing in case of COVID-19 infections.

The initiative also suggests that students avoid saliva exchange, wear a mask during sex, and choose sex positions that limit face-to-face contact. Students are also encouraged to use barriers, such as glory-holes, as ways to limit face-to-face contact.

“We know that humans crave connections with others, whether they be sexual or non-sexual in nature,” the team said. “We want our social media posts to not only address the physicality of sexual

PHOTO BY MEG KIRKPATRICK

that if students are finding themselves overwhelmed or noticing their stress is interfering with schoolwork or personal relationships, it would be a good time to seek out mental health services.

She also stressed the importance of checking in with friends that might not have reached out in a while.

Despite the difficulties of the second wave of the pandemic, Harkness said the best course of action for students is to follow the recommended guidelines.

“The quickest way that we can open back up again is for everybody to follow the new restrictions.”

PHOTO BY MAIA MCCANN

encounters, but also the social aspects of relationships and how to build these relationships safely on dating apps.”

Future posts will also touch on how students can maintain their sexual health in other facets.

“Over the year, we want to highlight the importance of establishing and maintaining one’s personal barriers while online dating and how to identify relationship ‘red flags’ in an online context,” the team wrote. “We also want to highlight how normal it is to be exploring one’s sexuality and to reduce some of the stigma around topics previously viewed as ‘taboo.’”

“Our topic team does not have all of the answers, but through synthesizing evidence-based information we will communicate the best evidence to [Queen’s] students to allow them to make informed choices”

News

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Thursday, october 8, 2020

Muslim Student Association celebrates Islamic History Month QUMSA is hosting an online Islamic art and heritage event on Zoom on Oct. 25. The event will involve a poem recital, a discussion of the Quran, an Arabic calligraphy workshop led by a local Syrian artist, and a talk by an Islamic art expert.

“We’re really excited about this one because we haven’t really had a lot of artistic events relating to Islam specifically, so this Julia Harmsworth one’s gonna be pretty fun,” Hussein said.

Assistant News Editor The event is occurring instead of the month’s usual in-person movie viewing.

This year, the Queen’s University Muslim Hussein said QUMSA expects more students Student Association (QUMSA) is turning to to attend the art and heritage event than Zoom to celebrate Islamic History Month. would attend the usual movie viewing.

In its celebrations, QUMSA is focusing “With the online platform […] we believe on the promotion of and education about that it will increase attendees, just because Islam. This month, it’s running social it will be more accessible for people,” she media campaigns and hosting several said. “So I’d say accessibility has definitely online events. changed with the online platform.”

“It is a bit challenging this year because Along with Muslim student associations it’s online, but our mission stays the same around the world, QUMSA is participating in with Islamic History Month: to actively a charity week event from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. remind people of the beautiful aspects of Normally, charity week is QUMSA’s Islam and its effect on the historical and biggest event of the year. The event usually modern culture in society,” Yara Hussein, involves an auction dinner and other daily QUMSA director of Dawa and education, in-person activities. told The Journal.

Charity week is happening entirely QUMSA is posting a series on its over Zoom this year, involving a guided Instagram and Facebook pages, featuring a exercise event, a virtual escape room, and a different Muslim person each day. The daily gaming competition. posts include the individual’s achievements “With the online platform so far, it has and what can be learned from them. been definitely a bit of a struggle,” Hussein “It’s proven to be successful so far,” said. “But we’ve made the best out of it and Hussein said. “People are enjoying it.” we’ve seen it as a great opportunity to work

Virtual celebrations include educational social media series, online art, and heritage event

Queen’s looks to secure another $7 million for JDUC project ...continued from front

Though the University had said in April 2019 that the $10 million in donor funds was expected to be in place by Fall 2020 to continue advancing the project, it now asserts that the timeline to reach the goal is June 30, 2021.

“Under a Capital Framework Agreement between the University, the Alma Mater Society (AMS) and the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS), the timeline to reach the $10 million goal is June 30, 2021, with a provision for an extension to August 31, 2021,” the University wrote.

The AMS and the SGPS will contribute

Everyone is welcome at QUMSA events.

on our outreach and our networking with other clubs, and we’ve seen that to be really improved this year.”

QUMSA is collaborating with the University of Ottawa Muslim Student Association (UOMSA) on Oct. 13 to promote a virtual webinar called “A Brief History of Black Muslims in Canada.” The webinar will be led by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC).

“In the past at least, there hasn’t been enough about the intersectionality between Black people who also identify as Muslims,” Hussein said. “So this will also be a really good event to celebrate people who both identify as Black and Muslims in Canada.”

QUMSA is also hosting weekly remembrance gatherings led by its chaplain, along with monthly Sisters and Brothers events with Islamic history trivia nights.

These events were also run throughout September, and Hussein said participation was “as decent as it would be in-person.”

PHOTO BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

The association held three open houses at the start of the semester to maintain student engagement. They’re also using incentives like prizes and gift cards to encourage students to attend their events and maintaining a strong social media presence.

“So far we have a good handful of people who have signed up for our events,” Hussein said. “We’re just really looking forward to have these events online and seeing the attendees and the participation that will come with [them].”

Everyone is welcome at QUMSA events, regardless of religious affiliation.

“It’s really important to recognize our presence in Canada, and our achievements as well as remember the history of Islam in Canada,” Hussein said. “This month has great value to us because we’re able to both celebrate and reflect and share this knowledge.”

another $50.5 million over 25 years to the JDUC renovation through an annual student levy fee of $40 per student.

AMS President Jared den Otter told The Journal the AMS is in discussion with Karen Bertrand, vice president (advancement), about progress on the project. “[W]e have asked Advancement to release a report on behalf of the Advancement Office to students on the progress and to ensure transparency of the student funding,” den Otter wrote.

“Communication between the AMS and the Advancement office has been lacking, and we have reached out to Karen Bertrand to receive a more in-depth The JDUC renovation project is scheduled to start in May 2021. status update on the fundraising goal.”

PHOTO BY MEG KIRKPATRICK

Thursday, October 8, 2020

QDC has moved its classes online for the year.

News

queensjournal.ca • 5

full-length recital pieces, classes will focus on exercises, combinations, and techniques.

Dancers can also expect additional workout-style classes and small, in-person workshops later in the school year.

“It’s different and disappointing that we can’t dance in the studio, but I have high hopes,” Viel said. “We’re the dance club and recitals aren’t all that we do […] the biggest part is getting to dance. I know QDC is a club that a lot of members join just to relax, destress, and have fun for a couple of hours on a weekday.”

Viel said QDC has taken dancers’ space limitations at home into consideration and has discussed the issue with teachers as well. “[Adam and I] personally have quite limited space in our houses, but enough to make it work,” Viel said. “If you’ve got enough space—it doesn’t have to be big, we encourage [joining QDC].”

PHOTO BY BRYN HARVEY-RAYMOND “Our staff are aware of that and there will be modifications,” Adam added. “If [a teacher] notices that someone is in a really cramped space, they might suggest that instead of doing a battement all the way, do a développé so you’re not kicking stuff.”

Harvey-Raymond told The Journal that due to the ARC’s delayed reopening plan involving recreational clubs, QDC condensed four months’ worth of preparation into three COVID-19 regulations, all classes will be weeks. This process included preparing for taught via Zoom this semester. Mid-year and registration, revamping the QDC website, year-end recitals, conventionally held at taking staff headshots, creating promotional Duncan McArthur Hall, are canceled. materials, and scheduling classes.

“Our main priority for this year was “A lot of our marketing typically surrounds ensuring that we are still a resource […] events like the Sidewalk Sale, Queen’s in the being there for all of our club members Park, and having our advertisement on TVs to support them and their love of dance,” in the ARC,” Harvey-Raymond said. “We’ve Adam said. “We wanted to ensure that we definitely had a ton of challenges [ … ] trying continued to offer the same quality [of] to adapt, making sure that everyone was services, just through a more COVID-19 still hearing about our club without those friendly platform.” huge staples.”

QDC normally charges fees on a Despite obstacles, Harvey-Raymond said per-class basis, but Adam said the club is she’s “happy and excited” about what QDC charging a flat membership fee of $45 for has produced. access to all 21 classes for the semester “I have very high hopes for this club. The to ensure an “ethical, equitable way of passion this executive team has is insane delivering classes.” and we all care so, so much about this club, According to Adam and Viel, in place of and we want to do what’s best for it.”

‘[T]he biggest part is getting to dance’ Queen’s Dance Club opens registration for online classes Larissa Zhong Staff Writer Queen’s Dance Club (QDC) opened registration for a remote year of classes on Monday.

The Journal spoke to Lee Adam and Bell Viel, co-presidents, and Bryn Harvey-Raymond, co-marketing director and director of branding, about QDC’s operations for the school year.

QDC typically holds classes in the ARC’s dance studios, but due to

Queen’s Spirituality and Meditation Society takes meditation sessions online

First session to look at mindfulness, creating joy for yourself Julia Stratton Contributor For some students, meditation is an important practice to learn mindfulness, gratitude, and self-care.

Every Thursday beginning Oct. 8, the Queen’s Spirituality and Meditation Society (QSMS) will be hosting virtual meditation sessions over video-chat platform Zoom.

The sessions are designed to guide students on their own spiritual paths by fostering individual spiritual growth in a group setting.

Each session will be divided into three parts, Zoe Morgan, co-chair of QSMS, said in an interview with The Journal. The first part is a spiritual discussion, followed by a guided meditation and a question and answer period.

“We really want to offer students a chance to rediscover their own paths and really change their perspectives so they can interpret the world around them in a new light,” Morgan said.

“A lot of us just follow the path that our parents have laid out for us. We go to school, we get a job, we grow up, maybe start a family, and then don’t really think much of it.”

Morgan said the spiritual discussions will be led by a QSMS executive member and will be inspired by practices derived from Buddhism, Hinduism, and New Age Spirituality.

The topic of this week’s session is mindfulness, though future sessions may include topics like the ego and the law of attraction.

By learning from many different teachers, each on their own spiritual paths, Morgan said QSMS hopes to “give students as many diverse perspectives as possible.”

“By really focusing on yourself, your soul, and your spirit, you can really create so much joy,” she said.

Morgan added the sessions are intended to “teach Queen’s students that true happiness comes from within.”

“It’s not based on external circumstances,” she said.

She explained that meditation allows people to shift their perspectives so they can become more open-minded about their futures.

Since the University first confirmed the

PHOTO BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

2020-21 year will be remote in May, QSMS has been developing online classes.

Although the remote setting has its challenges, Morgan is optimistic.

She said offering online classes over Zoom may generate more participation because some people prefer to do meditation and practice spirituality on their own.

Participants can choose to have their cameras off and listen to the practice, which Morgan said will make sessions more inclusive to those who aren’t comfortable practicing in group settings.

In the future, Morgan said QSMS is hoping to do outdoor activities such as nature walks, outdoor meditations, and meditation retreats. It will also be offering yoga classes soon.

“What the pandemic taught us is that sometimes life’s unpredictable, but you’ve just got to accept it as it is, go with the flow, and find joy in the littlest things,” Morgan said. “Every challenge can truly be an opportunity.”

To participate in QSMS’s meditation sessions, students can sign up through the club’s Facebook or Instagram page.

Provost forms new search committee for Smith School of Business dean Provost chairs Principal’s Advisory Committee in consultation with Smith Simone Manning Assistant News Editor In the months following a watershed of Commerce students’ accounts of racial discrimination and systemic oppression within the Smith School of Business, Mark Green, provost and vice-principal (academic), announced a search for the next dean of Smith on Aug. 5.

This hiring process seeks to replace Interim Dean of Smith School of Business Brenda Brower, whose term took effect in November 2019 following the 16-year tenure of Smith faculty member David Saunders.

The previous Committee had last met in October 2019, leaving the new Committee to continue the search for a permanent replacement for Saunders.

The Provost, who is chairing the Principal’s Advisory Committee in an advisory position for Smith, accepted submissions for Committee member suggestions via email in August.

On behalf of Principal Patrick Deane, Green said members of the committee will advise him on the deanship and the present state and prospects of the Smith School of Business.

The resulting Committee is composed of 18 members in total, including Advisory Board members, Smith Commerce Society President Seby Monsalve, Associate Vice-Principal (Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion) Stephanie Simpson, Indigenous Recruitment and Support Coordinator Ann Deer, and faculty deans and professors from across the University.

“Much has changed since the previous committee last met in October, and thus I have decided to form a new search committee,” Green wrote. “I think the community needs the opportunity to reflect on the appropriate composition of the committee for current circumstances, which include an enhanced focus on equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigeneity within Smith and across campus.”

“Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane and I would like to thank Interim Dean of the Smith School of Business Brenda Brouwer for her ongoing leadership as we continue the search for the next dean.”

6 • queensjournal.ca

A brief glimpse at the role of policing in Kingston Aysha Tabassum Features Editor Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers, there was widescale change in how we view policing across North America.

Queen’s students were carefully watching this intense political moment unfold. Solidarity protests popped up in Kingston and, led by the Queen’s Black Academic Society, a social media movement saw the donation of $33,000 to organizations in support of Black lives.

Despite a desire to engage with #BlackLivesMatter, systemic racism and other forms of corruption in policing can feel distant to students—but it’s not.

The Kingston police have not been free of controversy.

Earlier this summer, Detective Brad Hughes made a public post on Facebook which claimed, in reference to the death of George Floyd, that those who died at the hands of police wouldn’t have if they didn’t resist arrest. The department launched an official investigation into the post, the results of which have not been made public.

Constable Ashley Gutheinz said in an email to The Journal, “on the organization’s end [the investigation] is an internal matter […] after previous media inquiries it was identified that internal matters will not be discussed publicly.”

A history of racial profiling

Kingston was the site of the first racial profiling study in Canada, and the Kingston Police force was the focus of a 2017 thesis by Lysandra R. Marshall, a University of Toronto PhD candidate.

Marshall used Kingston as a launching point to generally talk about policing in Canada, revealing some harrowing knowledge about the city that Queen’s calls home.

In 2003, two innocent Black teenagers—Mark Wallen and Adrian Parkes—were handcuffed and searched while walking home from basketball practice. Neither was ever charged with a crime.

The Kingston Police were accused of racial profiling and, in response, the department was instructed to collect data on the race and ethnicity of every citizen whom they dealt with in a non-casual way.

Police unions then, according to Marshall’s thesis, made it difficult for journalists and academics to access data on racial profiling in Kingston.

When the data was released, it revealed that Black folks were more likely to be stopped by police than their white counterparts—with a stop rate of 333.1 stops per 1,000 black population, compared to 149.8 stops per 1,000 white population.

Black folks were not found to be significantly more likely to be issued an arrest or citation during a stop than any other group.

At the time, then-Police Chief Bill Closs admitted to the existence of racial profiling in Kingston, but was widely criticized

Thursday, October 8, 2020 for refusing to acknowledge that his officers were at fault in any way.

Today, holding police forces accountable in Canada looks much different. The Toronto police just unanimously passed 81 recommendations to meaningfully address anti-Black racism, and the RCMP is being increasingly called out by powerful organizations to introduce long-awaited reforms which would prevent violence against Indigenous folks.

Kingston, a town where 89 per cent of residents are white, on the other hand, has yet to fully institute any such reforms.

The Kingston Police and Belle Park

In May, approximately 30 Kingston residents experiencing homelessness relocated to Belle Park, setting up an encampment.

The camp was meant to be a temporary solution to a housing shortage while arrangements were made for more permanent shelter.

On Aug. 6, after the City delayed evicting the residents throughout the summer, notes were handed out by police officers to residents of Belle Park, reminding them that camping was no longer permitted and services like portable washrooms would soon be removed.

On Sept 1, Kingston Police put up barricades in the Belle Park parking lot and refused to allow in homelessness activists as a dozen people were evicted.

“Kingston Police was only required when absolutely necessary,” Gutheinz said. “This was determined by the fact that City Council had extended the move out date for those campers who were in Belle Park and that had continued to be ignored and eventually a transition was required out of Belle Park as per City Council orders.”

Sebastian Vaillancourt, ArtSci ’21, arrived on eviction day as a volunteer for Mutual Aid Katarokwi-Kingston, a local volunteer-run initiative. He said he was appalled by police presence at the eviction.

He felt that the officers, by setting up barricades and preventing activists from helping residents move their belongings, were abusing their power.

Vaillancourt described officers as being “very u n n e c e s s a r i ly hostile to a group of people who were just showing up as concerned citizens.”

Jim Neil, city councillor for Kingston’s Williamsville district, called it a “forced eviction,” in an interview with The Journal, critiquing the closure of the Park by Police.

“That whole process, in my mind, was

probably illegal because the park wasn’t closed by council and the only reason that the Police have the right to close a public space is if there’s been a crime committed, if there’s a risk to people, if there’s potential violence […] none of those things were happening.”

Neil entered the Park on eviction day and was told by an officer that he wasn’t allowed to enter the area.

“In my younger activist days I would’ve gleefully been arrested. I didn’t, and I kind of regret that now.”

Moving forward 10.8 per cent of the municipal operating budget will fund the Kingston Police Services Board in 2020, receiving $43,486,975 in taxpayer money.

Vaillancourt didn’t see positive community value in the Kingston Police during his limited interactions with officers,

Features

racial profiling, abuses of power, and discrimination. On Sept. 17, Kingston Police announced that a committee would be assembled to look at systemic racism in Kingston.

According to Board Chair Andrea Risk in an interview with The Kingston Whig-Standard, the purpose of the committee will be “[t]o review measures currently in place to address systemic racism, both anti-Black and anti-Indigenous, as well as develop recommendations to build on the initiatives that

#BlackLivesMatter, reforming policing, and Kingston

According to Gutheinz, “the transition involved no arrests, no charges laid, and no transportation to Kingston Police headquarters.”

“All individuals were able to move off of the property and through the coordination of the City of Kingston and Housing and Social Services all attempts were made to ensure that their property was properly cared for and moved to a temporary holding area so that they had the ability and option to collect any and all items that belonged to them.”

In July, Artillery Park was established as a temporary location for homeless people or those at risk of homelessness, as the City moves towards an Integrated Care Hub (ICH) model over traditional shelters. A new proposed location on Montreal Street for the ICH has already seen opposition from locals.

especially at Belle Park.

“If we had a different structure of law enforcement, and there had been […] other people there who would’ve shown any amount of compassion or empathy, then I think we could’ve had a very different series of events [at Belle Park].”

Vaillancourt recommended that students get involved on their own. He spoke to the powerful but hidden role of community organizations currently helping locate and support former residents of Belle Park—specifically the Kingston Peace Council, a grassroots organization which “stands firmly against Western imperialism and materialism.”

At the Kingston Police department, some action is being taken to address

already exist within the Kingston Police Force.”

“The committee will work with the chief and receive input from the public and the police association, as well as from stakeholders and community partners.”

Citing that Police actions at Belle Park were likely being guided by the City, Neil wanted to emphasize that he believes “95 per cent of the time, police in Kingston do a good job.” “[Police] act upon the instructions, or the request, of either their superiors or city staff and/or private citizens. That can be difficult sometimes.”

PHOTO BY MAIA MCCANN

Thursday, October 8, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 7

EDITORIALS

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

The Journal’s Perspective

Volume 148 Issue 9 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Editorial Board Editor in Chief Managing Editor Production Manager

Features Editors

Carolyn Svonkin Aysha Tabassum

Editorials Editor

Chloe Sarrazin Ashley Chen

Editorials Illustrator

Ben Wrixon

Opinions Editor

Nathan Gallagher

Arts Editor

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Despite fearmongering, GMOs are the key to a healthy and sustainable future public perception of genetically engineered food is negative. According to the PEW Research Center, 51 per cent of Americans think it’s unsafe to eat genetically modified foods based on a 2019 survey.

The Non-GMO Project, which is responsible for all those labels on our food, argues consumers should have an informed choice about what they buy. But widespread anti-GMO sentiments are based on superstition, not facts.

Those who vehemently oppose GMOs claim our food is injected with viral particles and bacteria which are harmful to human health. In the most common genetically modified crop, corn, a gene from an insect-killing bacterium is inserted. This allows the corn to produce a protein that kills insects but is harmless to humans, negating farmers’ need to spray potentially harmful insecticides on their crops.

There are plenty of substances that are deadly to one species but not another.

Caffeine is a naturally-produced insecticide, but is consumed and enjoyed by humans every day.

In the 30 years we’ve been using GMOs, no one has found any evidence they’re harmful to human health. On the contrary, GMOs can even be used to produce crops with higher vitamin and nutrient content, which will improve our health.

Moreover, GMOs are essential to meeting the food demands of a growing population while minimizing the negative effects of agriculture on climate change. By engineering crops that need less water, we can create drought-resistant food sources at a time when droughts are becoming more frequent.

In addition, it may be possible to produce crops with a much greater yield so we can continue using farmland we already have and avoid clearing forests to create more.

Next time you see the label ‘non-GMO’ on packaging at the grocery store, don’t celebrate it. There’s no reason to shy away from a revolutionary technology that stands to aid us in the fight against climate change while improving human health.

Nathan is a fourth-year English student and The Journal’s Arts Editor.

When it comes to Zoom cameras, professors should respect student boundaries Many professors are using live Zoom calls to replicate in-person lectures. But no matter what technology we have at our fingertips, online classes will never live up to in-person ones. Mandating students turn on their Zoom cameras won’t change that.

Students and professors alike are adjusting to a remote year they never anticipated. In a perfect world, everyone would turn on their cameras and engage in a lively discussion of course material.

But that’s unlikely to happen. While professors might worry the students they can’t see aren’t paying attention, that doesn’t warrant a requirement to turn on cameras.

Whether students don’t want to show their surroundings, don’t like how they look, or simply don’t have the energy to do more than lay in bed and watch the lecture, they shouldn’t have to turn on their cameras.

Any of these reasons are valid and shouldn’t require an explanation to the professor.

More generally, having a Zoom camera trained on you for a full hour of lecture can be uncomfortable. In-person classes give a certain level of anonymity, especially in large halls. On Zoom, everyone can see you up-close, leaving many more self-conscious than they would be during an in-person class.

At the end of the day, mandating video cameras be on won’t force people to

claudia rupnik Julia Harmsworth Simone Manning Cassidy McMackon

News Editor Assistant News Editors

Nathan Gallagher

A lot of plant-based foods at the grocery store are labeled ‘non-GMO’—as if genetically modified crops should be avoided. In reality, we ought to embrace the technology.

Genetic modification to our food is as old as agriculture itself. When humans began domesticating plants, we used selective breeding to enhance desired traits. This meant greater crop yields and bigger, tastier fruits and vegetables.

With the discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953, it eventually became possible to directly transfer favourable genes from one species to another. Naturally, this has dramatically expanded the scope of what we can do when compared to traditional methods of selective breeding.

For example, in the 1990s, the ringspot virus was wiping out papayas. Researchers used a gene gun containing tungsten beads coated with DNA from the viral coat and shot them into the papaya’s nuclei, incorporating the viral gene into the plant’s genome. As a result, papayas became resistant to the ringspot virus.

Despite this remarkable achievement, the

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Alysha Mohamed

Assistant Arts Editor

Matt Funk

Sports Editor

Julia Mallon

Assistant Sports Editor Lifestyle Editor

Shelby Talbot

Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Kirby Harris Jodie Grieve

Photo Editor

Maia McCann

Assistant Photo Editor

Lauren Thomas

Video Editor

Francesca Lim

Assistant Video Editor

Ryland Piche Hannah Strasdin

Copy Editors

Contributing Staff Contributors

Greg Adams Dante Caloia Sabrina fielding Adrianna Prattas Julia Stratton Noor Yassein

Staff Writers

Megan Afshar Emily Clare Jessica Dahanayake Daniel green Larissa Zhong

Business Staff Business Manager

Christine Mao

Sales Representative

Bronte Simon Yoli Wang

Fundraising Representative

Sonya Patel

Want to contribute?

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.

Situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The Journal’s Editorial Board acknowledges the traditional territories our newspaper is situated on have allowed us to pursue our mandate.

We recognize our responsibility to understand the truth of our history.

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.

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Contents © 2020 by The Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of The Journal.

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participate or pay attention. Controlling that in a lecture hall is hard enough. Professors should respect that students are accountable for their own learning; if they choose not to pay attention, that’s a choice that will only hinder them later on.

If professors really care about participation, they can find creative ways to do it. For instance, many online classes use discussion forums where people can share their thoughts before or after class, engaging with the course material independently.

There’s also a chat function on Zoom, so students can participate without turning on their cameras. Professors could even do polls in real-time.

ILLUSTRATION BY ASHLEY CHEN

Sitting in class with a bunch of empty black boxes isn’t ideal, but nothing about this year is. Instead of trying to replicate in-person settings to a tee, professors should respect student boundaries and make Zoom classes as comfortable as possible.

There’s nothing wrong with professors encouraging students to turn on their cameras. But considering the diverse range of student circumstances, that encouragement should never become a requirement.

Students have gone through enough this year; we don’t need to encroach on their comfort levels, too.

—Journal Editorial Board

8 • queensjournal.ca

OPINIONS

OPINIONS

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Your Perspective

ILLUSTRATION BY ASHLEY CHEN

American politics should matter to Canadians Exploring the media’s infatuation with the United States American politics are a train wreck, but Canadians need to watch.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau once described relations with the United States as being like sleeping with an elephant: “no matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast is, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”

In many ways, this perfectly summarizes life neighbouring the US. As a country, it’s consistently divisive and no stranger to political, social, and economic disagreements, both internally and worldwide.

Canadians should care about American politics because like it or not, their business affects our business.

Unfortunately, their drama is part of the equation.

Being neighbours, Canada and the US trade everything from steel to tourists. A positive relationship between the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States has always been necessary, but not always a reality.

Consider the most recent G7 summit held in La Malbaie, Quebec. President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the future of relations between their respective countries. After the summit, Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, defending his actions as “a matter of national security.”

Trudeau retaliated by threatening

to impose his own tariffs if the US followed through, as expected.

President Trump ultimately took to Twitter, labelling Trudeau "weak" and "dishonest."

No matter how rude the President may be, Canada relies on the US for trade. According to the Office of the US Trade Rep. 2018 Report, Canada was the United States' third largest supplier of goods imports in 2018.

With heavy supply chains going both ways, the US arguably acts as Canada’s most valuable trade partner. President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs directly affects revenue, jobs, and the economy.

The upcoming Presidential election could be problematic for Canada. President Trump has taken the last few weeks to vehemently condemn mail-in ballots. If Republicans ultimately find a way to delay the election outcome, Trump could monopolize this uncertainty into a prolonged stay in power, an outcome that must be prepared for by World leaders. Even if a Joe Biden win banishes Trump to the history books, the election winner will undeniably influence the world economy.

Furthermore, being a world superpower means the US has dozens of news outlets, TV channels, and newspapers reporting on its affairs. Its media presence is simply more global than our own. Every Trump quote and blunder is seen on news stations everywhere from South

Korea to Mexico. The unavoidable nature of American politics allows its influence to extend beyond economics.

In many ways, American politics inadvertently force Canadians to analyze their own values.

Each controversial headline offers Canadians an opportunity to think, but little opportunity to reprimand the wrongs of their imposing ally. Relevant American politics remain inseparable from the US’ daily stream of controversy.

The domineering example set by the US is powerful, yet often negative.

In Canada, American precedent for handling social issues continually dominates our conversations. Despite being much less controversial, Canadians are consistently caught up in the American strife over the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-mask protests, and Trump himself.

Canadians should care what happens south of the border; doing so is easier when we recognize American politics as being a double-edged sword.

For every economic boon, there’s a disastrous Presidential Debate. While it may be rational concerns that draw Canadians into American politics, their ridiculousness ultimately keeps our attention.

In the end, Canadians must draw the line between fixation and repulsion.

Dante Caloia is a second-year Arts & Science student.

We must be held accountable for our social media usage during the pandemic The “fake news” epidemic is more COVID-19, medical professionals real than ever before. had to spend time convincing Typically, the accusation of people not to inject “fake news” is used to discredit household disinfectants. undesirable truths or by supporters This is not the only time a when their favourite politicians are false claim about COVID-19 caught in an unflattering scenario. incited disaster. Numerous However, during COVID-19, fake posts circulating social media news is directly facilitating the claimed face masks cause spread of a lethal virus. carbon dioxide poisoning. This Countless stories have sort of misinformation has questioned the legitimacy of been fuel for the detrimental COVID-19. In some respects, ‘anti-mask’ agenda. skepticism can be understood Beyond politicians, many considering the novelty of the virus. celebrities have misused their Yet, from conspiracy theories about platforms. Former professional 5G cell towers to fake doctors baseball player Aubrey Huff posted vlogging about biological warfare, an anti-mask rant on Twitter that it seems everything under the received more than two million sun has been blamed for causing views. He claimed “it’s not healthy this pandemic. to be breathing in your own CO2 all These claims are not supported the time.” by science. Many people are still This widespread lie comes vocal in their beliefs that COVID-19 without any scientific evidence is no worse than the seasonal flu, and refutes the now-common despite its mortality rate being over knowledge that masks are the first 30 times higher. line of defense against COVID-19.

As the days of quarantine When those with large social media have turned to months, it would platforms discourage wearing a have been reasonable to expect mask, they are helping spread this less misinformation in the media. virus. We owe it to the sick and Society knows more about dying not to treat human lives as a COVID-19 than ever before, yet fake political talking point. news is only getting worse.

When the President of the Adrianna Prattas is a first-year Arts United States suggested people & Science student. inject themselves with harmful chemicals such as bleach to kill the This article first appeared online on virus, it led to poison control centres Oct. 2. To read the rest of this article, across America being flooded go to queensjournal.ca/opinions. with calls. Instead of focusing on

Arts

Thursday, October 8, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 9

STUDENT WRITING

The Red Swimsuit streaked hair and a shiny scar etched across his shoulder, glanced my way, and whispered something in the ear of the

ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

Sabrina Fielding

Landon was trying to coax Vaughan off the cliff again.

“I’m not doing it.” Vaughan’s face was tinged green beneath his sunburn as he assessed the thirty-foot overhang we stood on, perched high above Georgian Bay. “Not a chance.”

“Don’t be a baby,” Landon said.

He mock-punched Vaughan’s bony arm. “You chickened out last year. Ang really wants to see it, don’t ya, Angelica?” He grinned at me, jabbing at the tender skin between my ribs.

Irritation flared inside me. “If he doesn’t want to do it, don’t make him. You pull this every year.

It’s getting old.”

Landon’s smile faded.

“Someone’s on their period. Jesus.”

He turned back to Vaughan. “Fine.

Do what you want. You both suck.” He took off, catapulting himself off the ledge. Vaughan yelped, scampering down the cliff after him.

I shook my head at the spectacular level of stupidity I’d been tolerating the last two weeks, since the three of our families arrived at the campground.

Something felt different this year. Most years I coveted these few precious weeks in July, the days stained black with campfire smoke, white sand crusting my scalp. Perhaps it was the misgivings that came with being fourteen, or maybe the boys were just being exceptionally irritating this year, but the trip seemed to be dripping by at an agonizing pace.

To occupy myself, I’d taken up a silent observation of the groups of older teens milling around the cliff. In particular, I found myself eyeing the group of older boys sitting at the very top of the escarpment, where the rock jut out before falling in as the ledge met the lake. Suicide Rock, Landon had nicknamed it. Too timid a jump over the swollen belly of the rock and you were kaput. That didn’t stop the boys from egging each other on. If anything, they seemed almost giddy, frenzied with adrenaline.

There was something mesmerizing in watching them.

They were maybe seventeen, hardly distinguishable from one another, all flailing, noodly limbs and jagged camaraderie masked as insults. I found something thrilling in glimpsing the tufts of dark hair crawling out from beneath their arms, bodies of bone and sinew and uneven tan. “Don’t be a fucking pussy!” one boy crowed, shoving his friend forward. The boy let out a primal wail.

One of them, a boy with sun-

boy beside him.

My face reddened and I looked away, something jumping in the pit of my stomach.

I’d decided I liked it, being noticed by older boys. By any boys, really. Landon and Vaughan sure didn’t notice me; I wouldn’t have wanted them to, anyway.

They were different, any shiny novelty worn away by the years of familiarity. There wasn’t anything exciting about Landon’s train track teeth and soft stomach, Vaughan’s fraught, pale, freckled complexion.

The other boys seemed a different breed, a lifetime older than my two best friends.

“Can’t I stay back this year?” I’d begged my mother. “I don’t want to spend my summer with Dad. Maggie said I could stay with her.”

“Nope, nice try, young lady,” my mother said. “Your father only gets to see you a few times a year, and I definitely don’t want you hanging around with eighteen-year-olds for the summer. Lord knows you’re already too mature for your age.”

Maggie was my cousin from Wilmer, a few towns over from mine. My mother wasn’t such a fan; she loved to criticize my Aunt Pat when she caught wind of Maggie’s new boyfriend or latest tattoo, or that she threw another party when my aunt and uncle were out of town. “My sister treats that girl like her best friend instead of her child. Who the hell lets their own daughter pierce their belly button at fifteen? No one should be looking at your belly button at fifteen. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

I, on the other hand, was fascinated. My cousin was an enigma to me, the key to womanhood lying somewhere within her box-blonde hair, her long, even fingernails painted a glossy teal, the way her voice adopted a giggly, flirtatious quality the moment a boy approached. My mother kept a big box of Maggie’s hand-me-downs hidden in her closet, ones I knew I’d never get my hands on so long as I was living at home. Most mornings when she left for work, I’d paw through the form-fitting dresses and tube tops, gawk at the shorts that hardly covered more than a few inches of flesh.

Before heading up to Georgian Bay that year, Maggie dug out a bathing suit of hers from the previous summer. It was a striking, vicious red, just a few squares of fabric that tied at the sides. “Here,” she said, tilting her head as she appraised me. “Try this on. It doesn’t fit me, and it’d look super cute on you.”

I glanced at my cousin’s muscular frame, at the skin pulled taut across her sternum.

The fact we were related felt like a cruel joke from the universe.

She was tall, tan, blonde; more Californian Pilates instructor

than daughter of a dairy farmer in Central Ontario. I, on the other hand, felt half invisible next to her. I hardly scraped five-foot-one with an almost translucent pallor, highlighting angry stretch marks that had blossomed as the planes of my body began to soften.

I went into the bathroom and slid the suit on, the strings pressing deep into the flesh of my hips and backside like fingers pressed into clay. I’d never worn anything racier than a tankini, and I fought the urge to fold my arms across my chest as I stared at the grooves it created, at the shadowy roundness of my breasts.

When I emerged, Maggie hummed in approval. “Damn, you look hot.”

I blushed, pushing my shoulders back.

“That suit looks like trash on me, but girl, you look smokin’ in it.

Enhances all the right parts.” She squinted. “God, you’re so lucky you don’t have pancake tits like me.

Waited years for them to grow, but here I am, still flat as an eight-yearold.” She sighed. “Oh well. Guess I’ll just live vicariously through you.”

I wore the suit the first day on the campground. I emerged from the trailer, fighting the gnawing urge to change back into the flowery one-piece I’d brought as extra. Dad’s eyebrows shot up when he saw me. I held my breath, waiting to be accosted by the usual does your mother know about this? Instead, he let out a short “Ah,” retreating back to his book. He hadn’t said a word about it since.

“Those your brothers down there?” I jumped at the voice behind me.

I whipped my head around and found myself staring up at the face of the boy with the scar. He stared at me in amusement, hands resting lazily against his flanks. My mouth filled with lead. “Oh. No, not really.

Not technically, anyway.”

He laughed. “Okay.” Crouching down to eye level, he stuck out a hand. His skin seemed to radiate warmth. “Jeremy, by the way.”

I floundered a moment, shaking his hand. “Angelica.”

“Angelica, huh? Never met anyone called Angelica. You should come hang out, I was just about to head down to the beach.”

I swallowed, sweat pooling in the creases of my palms. “Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. Just... give me one sec, okay?”

I dashed to the cliff’s edge, where Landon and Vaughan were circling idly at the bottom.

“I’m going to hang out with Jeremy, okay?”

“Who’s Jeremy?” Landon hollered. Vaughan said something unintelligible, giggling like a schoolgirl.

I glanced up at Jeremy’s figure above me, just a silhouette in the low afternoon sun, then back down at the boys. “Never mind.

I’ll see you guys later, okay? If my dad asks, just tell him I’m going to miss dinner.”

As Jeremy and I made our way down the rock face, I felt his eyes on me, his gaze probing.

“So...what’s the deal with those two, anyway? You their babysitter or something?”

I blinked, tempted to say yes.

But I suddenly thought of Vaughan, his face creased with laughter, the gaping black hole where his tenacious right incisor used to be, the one he’d finally lost during last year’s trip. How I’d laughed with him as we hunted for the missing tooth. “No,” I admitted.

“Just friends.”

“Oh.” His expression shifted. “So that would make you...?”

The words felt sour, stuck to my tongue. “Fourteen.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Fourteen? Shit. I guessed at least seventeen.”

Another violent bout of blushing. “I get that a lot.”

Like a gymnast, he swung himself down to the sand, holding out a hand to help me clamber down. “Well, take it as a compliment, okay?”

The afternoon drifted slowly into dusk, the sky hazy, the sunset smudging the horizon with a deep, burning orange. We spent hours drifting around the water, attempting somersaults and crooked handstands. I relished the warmth of his hands against my legs as he adjusted my form, praying I hadn’t missed a spot shaving. I happily let him show me how to front crawl like I hadn’t taken years of swimming lessons.

Some part of him seemed to take pleasure in my inexperience, and I was more than obliging to play ignorant if it meant he’d touch me again.

The air became cooler, and I escaped to the beach as the chill set in. I watched Jeremy from afar, some secret part of me aching to put my mouth on the grooves that dug deep into his arms, his chest, his stomach, trace each line and canyon until they were memorized. Instead, I just sat with my knees hugged against my chest, scratching absentmindedly at a mosquito bite.

He emerged a few moments later, flopping down beside

me. “God, that was good.” His eyes fell closed. “So, fourteen, huh?” I noticed he liked that, making questions out of bland, salient statements. It was safe, I supposed, no risk of an uninvited answer.

“Almost fifteen.” I didn’t bother to mention the six months that remained.

“Man, when I was your age, I would’ve been so intimidated being around a girl like you.” He glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re pretty chill for someone so young.”

The word chill seemed to encompass a number of things, but whatever they were, I wanted to be all of them. “Thanks.”

His hand brushed my thigh, and my skin hummed to life. “Angelica.”

His voice was low, questioning.

I turned my head and suddenly he was there, every part I’d lusted after. Before I could think, he was kissing me. I waited for the fireworks, for the desperate, hungry passion to seize me, but all I could feel was suffocated.

He was everywhere, holding my senses hostage.

When I felt his thumb brush the string of my swimsuit bottoms, it was like being inundated with air after holding my breath. I shot away from him, my head spinning.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, I just...I need to find my friends, I... ” I stood up, stumbling a little, and he held out his hand to steady me.

“Did I do something?”

“No. No, you didn’t do anything.” My body quivered like the aftermath of an electric shock.

“I have to go.”

I didn’t wait, just ran towards the campsites, the air stoking the fire in my lungs. I ran and I didn’t stop, not until I could see it again, the billowing smoke, the outline of Landon and Vaughan with sticks in hand. I ran until I could see my shadow meet theirs.

SHE MUST

Dip into that valley of the unknown, caress its invisible colour.

Swim the pond of ache, smell its perfume.

Run with a hue of red and blue, hasten its purpling.

Dance with her, you must pursue.

Breathe deeply, stop all that panting.

Inhale the mists of Moher, warm in the droplets.

Exhale those thoughts of future, be not deceived by their tricks.

Relax with her, you must be here.

Learn to play those steel strings again, finger their romance.

Listen to lyrical music, harbour its heaven.

Heed to her informed instruction, respect its cadence.

Sing with her, you must bellow.

Let the vines tangle and extend, admire their flowerings.

Watch the green develop and flow, pick the roses you like.

Sit on that honey-yellow bench, ignore the buzzing.

Grow with her, you must flourish.

Offer to walk her to and fro, listen to the sound of every step.

Have faith she will lead you truly, that the pathway is pitless.

Touch her shoulder, feel its muscle—allow its voice.

Hold her hand, you must grip tight.

Leave to the place you ventured from, find your chair.

Untie those tight laces, ease their tension.

Release your kind hold on her waist, lament its decree.

Let her go. She must be free.

—Daniel Green, Staff Writer

Arts

10 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, October 8, 2020

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

‘Three years after I went to Lesvos, the crisis was still going on’

Canadian author talks aiding Syrian refugees, writing first memoir Nathan Gallagher Arts Editor “When you’re jetlagged there’s a sense of surreality about everything [...] I was leading this group of cold, hungry, scared people farther and farther into the darkness on the far side of the town, and I was trying to follow instructions, trying to remember the instructions, and thinking, I’m just guiding them into the middle of nowhere[...] so it was with increasing panic that I was leading them ever farther but I had to pretend I was confident.”

Despite his fears, Heighton led them safely to the bus.

But he says that level of chaos was characteristic of the volunteer experience as they were understaffed and underqualified to cope with the colossal humanitarian crisis arriving on their shores every day.

“There were a lot of terrifying moments like that where I had this responsibility and was given a task for which I was woefully unqualified.”

Heighton compared the experience to being a volunteer

SUPPLIED BY STEVEN HEIGHTON

in a warzone, with the key difference being that the volunteers on Lesvos weren’t putting their lives on the line.

“One of the things I feel a little bad about is I exercised the privilege of a volunteer in being able to walk away when I was ready to walk away,” Heighton said.

Three years after he headed home, the memoir began to take shape in his mind.

“I didn’t realize I’d end up writing this memoir...I thought,

CURRENT EVENTS

Canadian author volunteered on Lesvos for a month in Fall 2015.

you know, I’m a writer, I’ll probably end up writing a short story or two and maybe an article about whatever I see there.”

Along with the memoir, Heighton ended up writing a poem called “Christmas Work Detail, Samos,” a haunting depiction of what happens when two refugees who drowned at sea wash up onshore.

“The poem is actually in the

Union Gallery plans virtual showcase of student films Gallery promotes artistic community through new online projects Alysha Mohamed Assistant Arts Editor The Union Gallery is planning a virtual showcase of student films—promoting creativity, risktaking, and poetic innovation in an effort to foster a sense of community between artists at Queen’s.

The showcase is open for submissions to current Queen’s students and recent graduates until Oct. 19 for short films and visual projects under 10 minutes.

In an interview with The Journal, Union Gallery Director Carina Magazenni and Curatorial Assistant Roy Zheng discussed the inspiration behind the upcoming showcase and the Gallery’s plans to support the artistic community amid COVID-19.

“I actually proposed the idea because I graduated from the film and media department in 2019, where we had a terrific

showcase of all student work by the end of the year,” said Zheng, now in the first year of his Master’s at Queen’s. “It isn’t happening this year, and I wanted that opportunity for my peers.”

“We encourage students to go beyond the boundaries of a single genre and have fun with their short films,” said Zheng.

Magazenni and Zheng, along with a team of students, have been looking for new ways to

PHOTO BY MAIA MCCANN

support creative individuals on campus and connect with a larger audience.

The Director, Magazenni, added that COVID-19 has actually pushed their team to be more experimental and branch out in terms of how art is showcased.

“This is our first virtual screening,” said Magazenni.

“Limitations are helping us push things in different directions and connect with people online. Though we’re

memoir,” he said. “There’s a kind of lead-in where I explain how I heard the story of someone helping to bury refugees, and then I wrote the poem—so I wrote the poem in first person but it’s actually describing another volunteer’s experience.”

Heighton never expected he’d fill a whole book with his 30 days on Lesvos, but he had a pressing political reason for doing so.

“I looked over my notes [...] and I saw there was material there that I should explore.

Maybe the main factor in my writing the book is that three years after I went to Lesvos, the crisis was still going on, and in fact it was a lot worse on the island because the refugees were no longer moving forward through the re-opening next week, it will be at limited capacity. It’s really important to us to provide an array of virtual programs right now.”

The short films will be livestreamed on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

“I’m not a huge fan of Zoom events,” said Zheng. “They’re often on your schedule but you never attend. People are on social media all the time, and with a livestream, you can jump in or

The deadline to submit your short film is Oct. 19.

island to the mainland and then into Europe. Instead, they were trapped on the island mainly in a huge camp called Moria, which just burned to the ground three weeks ago.”

While Heighton was certain he’d end up writing something about his time as a volunteer, the decision to make it a memoir—a first for him—was something he carefully considered.

“I did consider writing the whole thing as fiction [...] that would give me freedom to change what happened and also to extrapolate and speculate. Instead, I decided to stick as closely as I could to what I actually experienced there, and I thought that would make for a more powerful book.”

Reaching Mithymna is a finalist for the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize, which will be announced on Nov. 18.

As a writer, Heighton considered it very important to immortalize his experience so that others may read it and know the extent of what’s going on as if they’d been there themselves.

“I was pleased to rediscover some stories that I’d actually forgotten. In the act of writing a story based on the notes I had, other stories—stories that came between the stories I re m e m b e re d — re - e m e rg e d [...] By writing, you can actually bring things back to memory.”

out for a few minutes. It’s a really open space.”

In addition to the virtual showcase, The Gallery has just announced an upcoming virtual residency called Side-ways Artist Residency for emerging or established student artists.

Magazenni described Side-ways as “a year long collaborative residency that will result in an exhibition.”

“We really want to bring students from different programs and disciplines together to see each other’s art through a virtual platform,” said Magazenni.

“We want to show the world the talented, original content being created by Queen’s students.”

Submission guidelines for the short film showcase and the Side-ways Artist Residency can be found on the Union Gallery website.

In a final note to The Journal, Zheng described the beauty of collaboration between artists.

“Anyone can be a filmmaker.

It’s such a platform for people to connect in a community environment. This is an opportunity to connect, socialize, and get to know people in the field. You don’t have to be a film student to be a filmmaker.”

Sports

Thursday, October 8, 2020

queensjournal.ca •11

SPORTS

SUPPLIED BY JAMES JUHASZ

James Juhasz arrived in Malta in July to train for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Laser focused: Juhasz’s Olympic training gets underway Queen’s sailor faces challenges but is far from in the doldrums Matt Funk Sports Editor What’s the difference between race car driving and sailing? On the surface the question may seem silly; one takes place on land and the other on water, one relies on horsepower and the other on wind.

But for Queen’s sailor James Juhasz, an avid Formula 1 (F1) racing fan, the similarities are striking.

“At the face of it, it’s an individual sport, it’s one person and one piece of machinery, and they’re just trying to go as fast as they possibly can,” he told The Journal.

This has been Juhasz’s mission since he was a 10-year-old: to ride the waves as fast as possible, beating nature and leaving his opponents in the wind. When he’s alone on churning waters, he embodies Charles Leclerc pummeling down an F1 speedway.

Juhasz’ s first memories in a sailboat date back to when he was just five-years-old and his dad took him out on the water in his hometown of Oakville, ON. What started as a summer pastime quickly evolved into something more. In recent years, sailing has brought the 21-year-old to both hemispheres, and now he’s vying for a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics—something he’s aspired to for years.

“I can remember being maybe 16-years-old at training camp down in Florida, and my coach was asking the team kind of a rhetorical question, you know, ‘who of you wants to represent Canada for the Olympics?’ And of course, everybody puts their hand up, but at that point you kind of realize that it’s something that you really want to do,” he told The Journal. “[S]lowly over a long period of time and you’re constantly surrounded by people who are always pushing you to be your best and always wanting the best for themselves, and it kind of develops that competitive instinct within you,” he said.

This competitive drive for sailing is what lead Juhasz to choose to attend Queen’s, which he called a “sailing haven” due to its proximity to Portsmouth Olympic harbour, which hosted sailing in the 1976 Olympics.

In fact, Juhasz was so set on Queen’s that it was the only school he applied to. But what brought him to this school is also what had him take this semester off and defer

graduation until 2023.

The fourth-year, who is ranked nineth in Canada, is currently across the Atlantic competing in the European Sailing Championships, with the aim of making it to the World Cup Circuit after having spent nearly three months training in Malta.

COVID-19 has caused some complications to Juhasz’s plans, but overall, he feels lucky for how smoothly things have gone.

“We’re actually really lucky,” he said. “I’m training out of the Royal Malta Yacht Club […] It has its own gym, that basically nobody uses except for us, the athletes who are training there. So, we essentially have a private gym that we’ve kind [have] made to be exactly how we like it.”

Juhasz left Malta in September to begin his road trip for the European Championships—as of last week he had already competed in Italy and was currently in Poland for an upcoming race. Though fortunate to be able to compete at all, the pandemic still creates looming uncertainty about any travel plans.

“The European Championship is happening right now, but a lot of other regattas have ben cancelled, so kind of my entire schedule is in flux right now,” he said.

“It’s a constantly evolving situation. I obviously want to come home for Christmas, but if there’s a quarantine involved with doing that, then that might be a bit more difficult.”

While an opportunity to see family would be greatly welcomed, being far away from home comes with the territory. Sailing, specifically laser, is a fiercely independent sport: athletes are responsible for organizing their own training regimens, finding their own coaches, and are alone in the boat come race time.

“It’s an individual sport at the end of the day, it’s each sailor’s own prerogative to build the program that they think is going to give them the best chance of success.”

Despite this, Juhasz was quick to point out that behind the scenes, there are crucial support networks involved.

“While it is an individual sport, there’s so much that happens behind the scenes in terms of training partners, coaches, strength and conditioning, and being able to fundraise and actually make it all possible.”

Fundraising is a crucial part in realizing the Olympic dream. While team sports cover travel expenses, individual sailors need to raise enough money to get them to the events. Juhasz has started a fundraising page to help him continue on the road to 2024.

While the Gael is spending the year away

from Queen’s, he said the university has helped him progress to where it is today.

“The Queen’s sailing program is always going to hold a special place in my heart,

some of my best friends were made through that team, and some of the most fun sailing experiences I’ve ever had were a part of the Queen’s sailing team.”

Erik Siksna and Zac Hutcheson share experiences from national training camp

gym again,” Hutcheson said.

In the 2018-19 season, Hutcheson played 18 matches and 73 sets for a career-high record of 319.5 points. He was named a First Team All-Canadian in his final season with Queen’s. Meanwhile, in his first season with Queen’s, Siksna put up 164 kills and 60 digs in 18 games.

Due to COVID-19 and safety regulations,, the NEP and the coaches have taken precautions to ensure the safety of their athletes through regular sanitation of equipment and isolated courts.

“We’ve been really fortunate to be able to have a full team on the court and our coaching staff here makes [sure] everything [is] sanitized with cleaning the balls and the weights after we’re done with them, and also having our court secluded to us,” Hutcheson stated.

Siksna reiterated the challenges of taking time off due to COVID-19 and the nerves he felt getting back into playing, but he was reassured by the dedication the NEP has made to its athletes. Despite the pandemic’s complications, Siksna is making the most out of the NEP. “[We’ve] received some really good guidance from the coaches, and I think I am already playing better than I was when I left off back in March,” he said.

Siksna maintained a sharp .294 hitting percentage in his first year playing for the Gaels, ranking fourth in the OUA. The same year, he continued the streak, received the Rookie of the Year award, and became the first member of the Gaels to be the recipient of the Ken Davis Memorial Award for his on-court accomplishments.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to train at such a high level, and for the Queen’s coaches and teammates for supporting us on this journey as well.”

Hutcheson and Siksna bringing experience back home from National Excellence Program

Julia Mallon Assistant Sports Editor Two outside hitters from Queen’s men’s volleyball, Erik Siksna and Zac Hutcheson, have been training with the nation’s up-and-coming stars at Volleyball Canada’s National Excellence Program (NEP) in Gatineau, QC since the start of September.

The NEP is structured to train a select group of athletes across Canada at an elite level, giving them the opportunity to advance in the sport professionally or potentially represent Canada in the Olympics.

At 16, Hutcheson set aside his soccer cleats, opting to devote his time to volleyball, and hasn’t looked back since.

Now, he’s competing against the best athletes in Canada.

In an interview with The Journal, Hutcheson said he attributes a major part of his volleyball prowess to the dedication and support he’s received from both his Queen’s coaches and teammates.

“They helped me develop not only on the court, but also personally through my academics [and] through my leadership as well.”

This personal development has come in handy at the NEP, where a typical day consists of rigorous training on and off the court, while balancing online school during the evenings.

“On our toughest days we’re in the gym for probably close to seven hours, morning session from 9-12 p.m. with a workout after, and then from 4-7 p.m. we’re back in the

LIFESTYLE

12 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Lifestyle ILLUSTRATION BY ELISE NGO

Adapting in the current pandemic.

Planning in pencil, not pen

Reworking the future I’d mapped out Megan Afshar Staff Writer Whether it’s your first or fourth year of undergrad, we all worry about the future from time to time—I know I certainly do.

Even though most of my plans seemed pretty set at the beginning of 2020, I was still worried something catastrophic would happen.

In the new year, I applied for spring graduation—June 11—and booked flights and hostels for a summer abroad before I started teacher’s college in the fall. I had it all mapped out: After teacher’s college, I would look for jobs to teach abroad,

reuniting with my friends who I met while travelling, and after some time, I would come back to Canada to settle down and lay down my roots for the rest of my life. That’s how I always imagined it.

A week after the lockdown was implemented due to COVID-19, I was sitting in my kitchen trying to complete the final classes of my undergrad when I thought, “I really can’t do this.”

and re-watch the TV shows and movies we grew up with. With not much else to do in a pandemic, I’ve found myself revisiting a lot of my childhood staples.

What I found wasn’t the same, hilarious humour that had defined my youth. While there were some genuinely good pieces of television—like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Phineas and Ferb—strong enough to enjoy as an adult, watching most of the shows felt little different than the recent programming I used to mock. In the earlier seasons of Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place, the young actors had yet to come into their own. The jokes were stale, relying on bad puns and situational hu mou r.

T h e

through some of the shows that came out when I was too old to come across them on television. What I found wasn’t much different from what I spent my childhood watching. The storylines of Girl Meets World’s later seasons sucked me in and kept me invested, even as a 20-year-old. I was more than impressed by the boldness of Andi Mack, a show about a young girl who comes home one day to find out that who she had always t hought of as her older

I was scared to graduate in the middle of a pandemic. All my summer plans had been put on hold and I had nothing to look forward to.

I had always toyed with the idea of a gap year, but I knew my parents would never approve. They were always the ones to push me to finish school in good time so I could get a job and start my life.

But with everything else going on in the world, I considered: what’s the rush? The pandemic isn’t going away any time soon, and since I couldn’t have the summer to travel and take some time for myself, I might as well take some time off. When I enter the workforce, finding a teaching job will be hard enough already; I don’t think I’ll have a lot of success launching a career in the middle of pandemic.

Although it wasn’t easy, I decided the best course of action would be to enroll in school part-time and work for most of the year, ride the CERB train until it crashed, and find a full-time job to save up for school next year.

My path toward the future feels like it’s once again progressing according to plan—just delayed by a year. Of course, there are still some inevitable hiccups: I discovered that part-time school means paying off my student loans starting next month. But there are good parts too. I’ve also landed a job that I love for the time being, and I’m enjoying school more with a part-time schedule.

Don’t get me wrong, the future is still daunting, and I have no idea whether this was the right decision for me, but this experience has given me the opportunity to take some time to explore my options a little. Maybe I shouldn’t be rushing into the future as eagerly as I did before.

Although the pandemic has thrown a massive, year-and-a-half-long wrench into my plans, I’m glad I get to enjoy my final year of undergrad in Kingston with my best friends before we all part ways for good next year.

Disney Channel never got worse, we just got old

It’s time to stop competing over which generation had the best childhood Kirby Harris Assistant Lifestyle Editor Growing up, I had a bone to pick with 90s kids.

Every time I opened Facebook or YouTube, I was hit with nostalgia-heavy posts about a time period I only vaguely recognized. It made me feel mocked and excluded.

“Only 90s kids will understand” was plastered across the internet; “Things people born after 1998 won’t understand” was slapped onto media, toys, and snacks that were definitely part of my childhood.

I felt like people weren’t giving my generation a chance. Offended, I was always quick to protest—my childhood was going just fine, thank you.

As I grew older, more of the shows I enjoyed in my childhood began to go off-air. Eventually, there was nothing on Family Channel or YTV that was recognizable to me. I turned on the TV unable to find the stars I had looked up to for years: Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez had been replaced by teenagers my age, some looking like they might be even younger than me.

The new actors’ portrayals made me cringe. It was official: Disney and Nickelodeon shows had become worse.

Disney+ has existed for nearly a year now, and it’s given us all a chance to go back

nostalgia factor wasn’t enough to keep me from constantly cringing.

Out of sheer curiosit y, I found myself sifting

ILLUSTRATION BY ASHLEY CHEN

sister was actually her bir thmother who had her as a teenager. I guarantee that

storyline never would’ve been aired in the early 2000s.

After re-watching half of Disney Channel’s content, there was an obvious conclusion in front of me: kid’s shows today aren’t any worse than the ones I grew up with, despite how much those shows mean to me. The whole time I was sharing posts and liking comments about how “Disney Channel isn’t what it used to be,” I wasn’t living in reality, but nostalgia. I was no different than the 90s kids I used to despise.

Idealizing our childhoods is fine, but it’s time to admit that we don’t have an exclusive lease on the ‘perfect childhood.’

As long as kids and tweens are enjoying the shows on Disney and Nickelodeon, it doesn’t really matter what the rest of us think.

Shows like iCarly and Zoey101 will always have a special place in my heart, but my nostalgia doesn’t warrant bashing programs that weren’t made with me in mind. There’s no need to turn our childhood into a competition over who grew up in the best decade. A 12-year-old on social media shouldn’t have to feel like they somehow missed out on a good childhood because they’ve never seen Life with Derek.

At the end of the day, Disney Channel hasn’t gone sour or lost its magic. We’re simply too old to enjoy it anymore. Next time I see posts online claiming otherwise, I’m just going to scroll past. After my deep-dive into tween television, I’d suggest you do the same.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

LIFESTYLE

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

Studio has many acclaimed films.

A24’s filmmaking crafts meaningful art under a new mainstream spotlight

Indie film house maintains authenticity despite rising acclaim Alysha Mohamed Assistant Arts Editor From Lady Bird to Mid90s, A24 has consistently been producing intricate, aesthetically-charged films which connect with its audiences on multiple levels.

The magic of its filmmaking is arguably the balance between imagery and plot; A24 is known for vibrant cinematography that encapsulates the feeling of a story, allowing

its films to shift the focus from dialogue to representation.

When Moonlight shone at the Academy Awards in 2017, winning Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, it became apparent that an extensive budget wasn’t necessary to create striking art.

Audiences were captivated by the nuanced story of a young Black man coming to terms with love and his identity.

Moonlight managed to be relevant and provocative without making that the focus of its art; it didn’t push an agenda but played on universal truths.

After this milestone in the film industry, A24 has made its way into mainstream

media—but still maintains the vibe and aesthetic of its first films. Though each movie varies in plot, genre, structure, and even style, there’s a clear emphasis on evocative images and maintaining the independent, ‘art house’ feel to its work.

The stereot ype surrounding independent films is often one of struggling artists making pretentious movies, and most small production companies fizzling out before getting the chance to compete with industry regulars.

A24 disrupts this pattern and flips the notion on its head—it stays true to its roots, carving out a place in Hollywood by making its own rules.

Its filmmakers gravitate toward stories

wasn’t quite as shocking as it might have been if this were any normal election. Even more surprising, the news cycle appears to have moved on already—there are more newsworthy stories to cover that have happened in the week since.

However, the debate's potential for ridicule didn’t go unnoticed by Saturday Night Live which aired a parody of the debate in its 45th season’s premiere.

With Alec Baldwin as President Trump, Beck Bennett as moderator Chris Wallace, and Jim Carrey in his debut as Vice President Joe Biden, the 13minute skit was bound to be good—and it didn’t disappoint.

Alec Baldwin’s imitation of President Trump was nearly flawless. He matched his facial

expressions and voice so perfectly that if I focused, I could almost forget it wasn’t real footage of the President himself. And while Jim Carrey’s portrayal wasn’t as realistic, it still managed to highlight the aspects of the vice president’s performance in the debate that were most memorable.

At the end of the skit, Carrey-as-Biden's proposal of “science and karma […] [teaming] up” was a clever wink to President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

One of the amazing things about Saturday Night Live is that it can take lessthan-ideal events and not only bring what many of us are thinking to light, but turn those thoughts into something we can laugh at. That’s why comedy is arguably one of the

queensjournal.ca • 13

that are original and deeply honest, often without regard for mainstream trends.

This is what makes them so enticing: A24's dedication to producing personal, strange, introspective films sets trends rather than adhering to them.

This is a sentiment shared not only by fans, but also by the actors, directors, and screenwriters who have collaborated with A24.

“A24 has the unique ability to find and champion authentic narratives that cut to the core in a raw and honest way,” Brie Larson said in an interview with . James Franco added to this: “This is one of the things they’re great at: taking something small and delicate and giving it the kind of support that other people can’t.”

My infatuation with the production company is related to its commitment to diversity and representation—not only in terms of ethnicity, but also in terms of thought, socio-economic background, identity, and sexuality.

When I watched Waves, the deep emotional journey of an African-American family in the aftermath of loss, I felt my heart shatter and be glued back together to the lyrics of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed.”

When I watched Boys State, a film following a week-long mock government exercise in Texas, I was drawn by the humour and authentic portrayal of politics and masculinity in America.

I’m looking forward to A24’s upcoming projects like Minari and The Green Knight with high hopes, but the beauty of A24 films is expecting brilliance while having no idea how it’s going to achieve it.

I, along with many others, can’t get enough of A24’s projects. Whether you like horror, romance, action, or artsy reflective films that make you dissociate from reality, this production company does it all, and does it well.

As A24 becomes more mainstream and critically acclaimed, the company will undoubtedly feature more prominent film leaders. However, I’m confident it will maintain the originality and vibe that makes them so captivating—regardless of the exposure it continues to receive.

The return of ‘Saturday Night Live’ couldn’t have come at a better time In 2020, we need laughter more than ever Noor Yassien Contributer 2020 has been quite a year—from a deadly virus to murder hornets, it’s left us all wondering what could possibly come next. With everything going on, it’s easy to lose hope. But, as a silver lining, this year’s bizarre events are good fodder for a reliable coping mechanism: comedy.

Humour can be a helpful lens to view the crazy events that are stacking up this year. I’ve seen people commenting on how much the future generations will have to learn about 2020 and speculating on what big event might happen next—aliens, perhaps?

A particularly surreal event rife with comedic potential was the 2020 Presidential Debate which took place last Tu e s d a y .

Given the state of A mer ic a n politics, the messy debate

best ways of handling 2020, or any other unpleasant event—besides a vaccine, of course. Once we start wallowing in the seriousness of our circumstances and forget to have a laugh occasionally, it’s easy to fall into a spiral of hopelessness.

But viewing a situation as hopeless often doesn’t change a thing except by worsening your mood. If you can see the humour in the situation, it can at least help make you feel better. Then you can approach the issue with a clear head, or at least try your best to laugh and move on.

Right now, we need shows like Saturday Night Live more than ever—they help us find humour in difficult situations and show us that we don’t need to take everything seriously all the time.

Things happen that we have no power over. But even though we can’t control everything that happens, we have some control over our reactions.

Things are d i f f ic u lt— there’s no denying it.

But, as the popu la r saying goes, a day without PHOTO ILLUSTRATION laughter is a

BY SHELBY TALBOT day wasted.

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Thursday, October 8, 2020

‘The Social Dilemma’ excels as a documentary, but fails as a drama The Netflix film should’ve focused on the facts Chloe Sarrazin Editorials Editor Society has a social media addiction.

Netflix’s new documentary-drama hybrid, The Social Dilemma, not only exposes this truth, but frames our dependency on smartphones as a reality on track to self-implode.

The documentary-drama opens up with a series of interviews with former employees of Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Instagram. As the people who created and programmed these social media platforms, they know how compelling the apps can be—they helped design them.

It’s unnerving to hear these tech experts speak about how scared they are of the programs they’re partially responsible for, even if some of their risks are largely common knowledge.

Most people are well aware that Instagram and Facebook are, first and foremost, businesses, hellbent on making as much money off their users as possible. But the film draws a far scarier conclusion: social media is addictive, and it’s changing our behaviors in real life.

Since the rise of social media in the 2010s, high schoolers are less likely to date. Kids as young as 10 years old are experiencing anxiety and depression in greater numbers than ever before.

Suicide rates, especially for girls, are on the rise. Politics are more divisive than ever.

The Social Dilemma claims social media is to blame, and the numbers don’t lie.

Social media, despite all its advantages, is a toxic place. Even though many of us already know this, the film forces us to consider its implications.

Online toxicity is translating into our everyday lives, changing the way

Screenshot from 'The Social Dilemma.'

buttons, sending him advertisements and video suggestions in hopes of holding his attention for as long as possible.

While the attempt to portray what Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is doing behind-the-scenes is admirable, the film takes it in an unrealistic direction. As many of the tech experts in the film point out,

NETFLIX

we act beyond our screens and driving us apart.

But where the film excels with hard facts and first-hand accounts from Big Tech companies, it fails at creating a convincing drama element.

As the film progresses, it interweaves its interviews with a dramatized portrayal of a high schooler’s addiction to his phone. As he scrolls through social media, we’re transported behind the screen, where three men existing in some Black Mirror-esque reality manically push

A.I. isn’t a person; it’s a computer. In the case of social media, A.I. is programmed to make predictions about you based on your user history, but it’s not some malicious trio studying your every move, as the dramatization suggests.

When the boy tries to go a week without his phone, the men behind the screen send him a ping that draws him back into the social media sphere, plummeting him into a night spent scrolling through his ex’s photos. After this, he can’t pry himself away: he loses interest in both soccer and

seeing at least a handful of iPhones.

As the best-selling phone in the world, it makes sense the iPhone would pop up pretty often. iPhones are so normalized that it’s become a common joke online to mock people with Android devices.

Having the newest iPhone is also a display of wealth. If you can drop close to $1,000 on a new phone as soon as it’s released, it’s safe to say you’re doing well. But in looking at the features that are being introduced with each new update, it’s clear we

need to be questioning if the culture of iPhone elitism is justified.

While there are many legitimately valid reasons to prefer an iPhone to any kind of alternative, there’s little to suggest that other operating systems don’t have their major perks. Google’s Pixel phone has unlimited photo and video backup included in purchase, and Samsung Galaxy phones have top-of-the-line battery life.These are features iPhone users can only dream of.

The iPhone’s newest update is great for loyal users who could never imagine

his crush, instead devoting his time to YouTube conspiracy theories.

We’re all victims of the endless social media scrolling, but the drama takes this to the extreme. It portrays today’s teens as not only addicted, but slaves to their phones, no longer thinking or acting for themselves.

Smartphones have become a crutch for today’s youth; they occupy our dull moments and give us an escape from awkward encounters. But, in most cases, they don’t stop us from living our lives. We don’t decline social out ings to s c r ol l on our phones (though we might scroll while on said social outings). To suggest otherwise is both unrealistic and simplistic.

At the end of the film, tech experts agree that we need to tear down the social media system and rebuild. The men behind the screen vanish, leaving only one. The boy is freed from captivity and even exchanges a greeting with the man who once controlled him.

It’s an absurd ending to an otherwise eye-opening film. Instead of trying to dramatize their point, the producers should’ve stuck with the substance of the movie: the interviews. The facts were unnerving enough. The unnecessary dramatization took away from the hard-hitting facts, transporting us into a world that tried too hard, and failed, to accurately replicate our own.

The Social Dilemma, flaws and all, is an important watch. But next time Netflix wants to make a ‘hybrid’ anything, I suggest they stick to a single genre.

iOS 14 proves that the iPhone is far from revolutionary

The newest iPhone update’s biggest features have existed for years on Android systems Kirby Harris Assistant Lifestyle Editor

This September, Apple released a major overhaul for its iOS devices with the launch of iOS 14. With it comes the age-old question: do iPhones live up to the hype? iOS 14’s features have made the biggest aesthetic changes to the system since iOS 7 was released seven years ago.

The addition of widgets and a more customizable home screen have created a hype around iPhone software that’s been absent for years.

However, these “new” features aren’t all that revolutionary—widgets and customizable app icons have been features on Android devices for over a decade.

On a university PHOTO ILLUSTRATION campus, it’s hard to

BY SHELBY TALBOT go anywhere without

making the switch to another operating system, but Apple can’t rely on this base forever—eventually, its lack of innovation may catch up to them.

Adding pinned messages and customizable home screens doesn’t feel like an innovative risk—it seems like a move that could have been made years ago without much trouble.

New iPhones are released every two or three years, and it often feels difficult to pinpoint what makes them all that different from the previous version. More cameras being added with every release hardly feels like groundbreaking innovation. It’s been a long time since Apple felt like a real driving force in the tech world.

When Apple created its ‘1984’ Macintosh Super Bowl ad, it committed to being a revolutionary actor in the home tech world. In 2020, it no longer feels like it's living up to that image.

Going forward, it would be exciting to see something from Apple that makes the iPhone feel like more than a thousand-dollar display of wealth.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 15

Dean Winchester and Castiel.

ILLUSTRATION BY SHELBY TALBOT

‘Supernatural’ has a pattern of queerbaiting

The series has been exploiting its queer audience for over a decade Shelby Talbot Lifestyle Editor This story first appeared online on Oct. 7 This week, the CW’s hit television show Supernatural returns to air its final seven episodes. On top of being the longest-running American live-action fantasy TV series to date, it’s also a contender for the most prominent example of ‘queerbaiting’ on television.

Queerbaiting is a term that’s used in film, television, literary criticism, and more recently in social justice circles. It refers to the practice of alluding to same-sex or otherwise queer romantic relationships within a series or movie, but never actually following through in its depiction. Queerbaiting allows showrunners to reel in LGBTQIA+ audiences, who remain underserved when it comes to representation on screen, with the appearance of the potential for diversity and inclusion while maintaining the heteronormative status quo.

Although this lens of criticism may seem obscure, it’s actually a fairly pervasive concern throughout mainstream television. Series like Sherlock, Hannibal,

and Teen Wolf have all been accused of sew ing references to romantic relationships between prominent male characters into their narratives without ever allowing those seeds to grow into genuine representation.

Supernatural is yet another show with predominantly same-gender protagonists: the series follows the story of two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, as they cross the US hunting monsters with their angel friend Castiel.

Since the character’s introduction in 2008, fans have detected some serious chemistry between Castiel and the older Winchester brother, Dean, spawning the now internet-beloved pairing ‘Destiel.’

Although the show has placed little emphasis on romantic relationships throughout its run, opting instead to focus more on ghost-busting and vampire decapitations, the subtext surrounding the pair often feels more like just plain text.

This subtext hasn’t gone unnoticed by viewers—in 2014, the ‘ship’ was the most reblogged ship on Tumblr. In 2015, the pair won a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV: Chemistry.

Of course, there are viewers who don’t agree that Dean and Castiel are subtextually queer—they see their relationship as a strictly platonic bromance. While each fan is entitled to their own interpretation of the show and its characters, it raises a question: how can we differentiate between genuine queerbaiting and positive representation of close same-sex friendships?

That particular line is difficult to

define. In general, the term queerbaiting is often accused of being thrown around too liberally by overeager fans looking to push a ‘gay agenda’ on an otherwise heteronormative film or show.

It’s true that for shows in genres where same-sex romance is often censored—like children’s television—hinting at a same-sex relationship is, unfortunately, all the writers can get away with. Occasionally, same-sex ships that never come to fruition are labelled as queerbaiting, despite no romantic allusions within the writing. Both of these scenarios muddy what actually constitutes queerbaiting, and can make it difficult to discern between actual problematicity and the overuse of a sensationalized criticism.

In the case of Dean and Castiel, though, it’s pretty safe to say that the depiction of their relationship goes beyond a bromance.

Whether it’s a character commenting on the closeness of Dean and Castiel’s relationship by sarcastically referring to them as ‘boyfriends,’ or Dean making a crack about the Purgatory in Miami, which is a famous gay bar, there are 11 seasons worth of queer subtext that promotes the idea of Dean and Castiel being potentially queer characters. Some of the more subtle references may sail over the heads of a chunk of viewers, but for those more in tune with queer culture, they seem glaringly obvious.

A key part of queerbaiting is intention, showrunners and writers looking to capitalize off of the increased

viewership that comes with a queer audience. Supernatural’s production team and cast are well aware of Destiel and the queer viewership it attracts: they’ve acknowledged the Teen Choice Award win, discussed the ship at conventions, and even reference it explicitly in the show.

In a particularly notorious meta episode, Sam and Dean hunt a monster at a school which is putting on a musical based on an obscure series of books written about their lives. While talking to the show’s director, Dean is confronted with the ship when the student says she’s incorporated the couple into her imaginingof the Supernatural story.

It’s a funny moment on the show, but it also mocks the fans who are invested in seeing Dean and Castiel’s relationship exist outside of subtext.

In 2005, when the show first aired, it would’ve been markedly more difficult to pitch a storyline with a same-sex couple in mainstream American television.

Now however, Supernatural has no excuse for hiding beyond queerbaiting in lieu of much-needed representation.

With only seven episodes left until the show’s series finale, it seems unlikely that Destiel will become incorporated into Supernatural’s canon beyond being a running gag. It’s disappointing that a show that has been on the air for a whopping 15 seasons, has seen the ups and downs of queer representation on television in the last decade and a half, will end its run letting down the queer audience its exploited for the last 12 years.

How COVID-19 reshaped my student finances The pandemic is the time to save Emily Clare Staff Writer In the middle of March, I lost three jobs in the span of 24 hours. One moment I was employed and living comfortably, hanging out with my friends near St.Patrick’s day—in the next, I was living through one of the most bizarre events I could’ve ever thought possible, my world uprooted.

I know that I’m far from alone in my financial struggles caused by the pandemic.

Throughout the summer months, I watched my friends struggle alongside me—even

my family was affected when my father lost his job unexpectedly.

No one’s life has escaped the pandemic unscathed. COVID-19 has altered everyone’s aspirations and forced people to re-evaluate their life plans.

At the beginning of 2020, I wasn’t planning on returning to Queen’s for a fifth year. I was set to graduate and wanted to start saving money to put towards my dream of moving abroad. But when COVID-19 hit Canada, I found myself going down a path I never planned on taking.

I decided that, in the grand scheme of things, taking a fifth year wasn’t a bad idea.

In the midst of a global economic crisis, being in school is one of the financially safest places I could be. I cannot stress

enough how grateful I am for the creation and distribution of CERB and CESB—even for someone like me who’s worked nonstop since I was 16 years old, I still wasn’t financially prepared to lose my sources of income so suddenly.

I can’t help but worry that come tax season, I will be heavily taxed because of CERB. I don’t think I am the only one who is conscious of the fact that the government’s support could come back to haunt me in the future.

This is why I’m saving every single penny that I can—now more than ever.

The pandemic has forced me to be more financially responsible, and the uncertainty of the future has been a strong motivator to start keeping a budget. As a student,

it’s important that I prioritize basic needs over luxuries, especially now that, with strict provincial guidelines back in place, my employment is once again uncertain.

This year, I even chose to forego student loans and opt to only accept grants through OSAP. These past few months have taught me the importance of balancing my funds.

Keeping a social life can get expensive, but if there’s any silver lining to these strenuous times, it’s that my friends and I have discovered inexpensive and innovative ways to make the most out of life in the middle of a pandemic.

After all, you can’t put a price on happiness—but you sure can budget it.

LIFESTYLE

16 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, October 8, 2020

POSTSCRIPT

SUPPLIED BY GREG ADAMS

Greg reflects on the aftermath of a traumatic accident.

On the first day of classes last year, I was hit by a truck. This is what it taught me.

Talking about trauma Greg Adams Contributor On Sept.4, 2019, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears started off the NFL season at about 8 p.m. It was the first day of classes last year, and I sped home on my unlit bike to watch the kickoff. The game would end up being disappointing, but I would never know: a truck turned across my path, and I was going far too quickly to stop.

I was thrown from my bicycle over the front of the truck, hitting the sidewalk face first. My memory comes back to me as I am sitting on the sidewalk, my fractured helmet beside me. I am hunched over, my broken nose trickling blood onto my legs. Hearing the thud of my body hitting the side of the truck, students rushed out from the houses near where I sat bleeding.

I knew one from my frosh group, and he called the ambulance.

I do remember the man who hit me: a Queen’s professor on his way home. He couldn’t have seen my bike in the dusk. He knelt next to me while we waited for the ambulance. His face was etched with concern, and he looked like he was going to cry. I did cry.

The paramedics who took me to Kingston General Hospital joked with me as I struggled for humour through a headache that now made lights pulse and throb. I closed my eyes. The world bounced and rattled in my head as we passed over speedbumps. My nose still bled, smashed and broken; the skin on my upper lip was grated by the concrete.

As I lay in the hospital bed, my girlfriend wiped blood off me with

a paper towel. My roommates, somewhat more pragmatically, watched me get wheeled out of the ambulance and searched for bike helmets on Amazon.

I dreaded having to call my mother, my roommate dialing the phone for me as I covered my eyes from the ceiling lights in Emergency. The first day of school had always been bookended with a quick call to her before bed, talking about lectures and the groceries I had forgotten to buy.

Now, her voice broke seconds into the phone call.

I cried for a second time.

The hospital released me late that night. The doctor warned me: “you will feel worse before you feel better.” I didn’t realize how much worse I could feel. Already, I could barely open my eyes to bright lights and my face throbbed under the painkillers I had been given.

When I ventured out from my room in the morning, my roommates reassured me that “it doesn’t look too bad.” Their eyes betrayed their concern. The skin on my lip had been shredded by the pavement, and I was told it would scar, potentially pulling up the lip like a cleft palate. My two front teeth were knocked loose and my neck cramped hard as a board, whiplash setting in.

The worst injuries were invisible. A sharp pain pulsed in the back of my head, as if it were being split by an icepick. I lay on the couch, face down. My roommates knew more was wrong than just the bruises on my face. I was left behind in conversations, somewhere beyond arm’s length, just close enough to know how little I understood.

My left eye struggled to track objects. For weeks, in games of catch, the frisbee would flicker in and out of sight, as if I was blinking rapidly. I would give up,

putting my hands in front of my face, hoping it wouldn’t knock into me. My spatial awareness disappeared. Shopping at Metro, I lost track of my girlfriend. People simply disappeared from me when I passed by them; I had no sense of 360-degree space. I walked to the dairy aisle and looked down to find myself standing in a puddle of spilt milk. I struggled to eat; I texted my mother it “was hard to get the fork to connect to my mouth.” I felt childlike, incapable.

In the weeks after the accident, I would walk to get groceries at Bearances, the corner store near my house. As I stepped off each curb, adrenaline spiked as the imagined weight of a car slammed into me again. Is it post-traumatic stress disorder to be afraid of a thing that almost killed you?

I didn’t know and still don’t.

The stress of missing classes built for me. I felt I was being sabotaged by my own injured brain, as if the race’s start gun had been fired, but the starting judge had used it to kneecap me. I went to class, my head pounding and the lectures blurring together.

Queen’s for me is an academic place. I find my identity in my classes, taking pleasure in lectures, studying with my peers, and engaging with as wide a course load as I can. Now, I felt my injured brain was betraying me, barring me from being myself.

At the end of each of my first lectures, I had the same conversation. Walking up to my professors, I told them what had happened, asking them to keep their heads up for academic accommodation requests and further follow-ups. Concern emanated immediately from all five of those professors. My requests for accommodation seemed to go by the wayside, pushed aside

by compassion and inquiry: Are you okay? Do you need anything?

Are you sure you shouldn’t drop the semester?

My professors gave me the same looks my roommates did when I came out of my room the first morning. I was prodded neither for the details of my hospital visit, nor the accommodations I might need.

I wouldn’t end up needing the support the Queen’s bureaucracy offered, but those looks gave me hope in the first few days that if I needed support, the faculty would be there behind me.

The professor who hit me reached out as well: he got in touch with my mother, first about insurance, and then about me. He asked her how I was doing. I met him again a couple weeks after the crash, standing sheepishly outside of his office, waiting for a student to finish going over a homework assignment with him.

He asked what course I was there for but broke off in mid-sentence.

No words spoken, he hugged me as if I were his son.

We talked for quite a while.

He offered me tea, asking how I was recovering. At this point, the headaches had broken, diminished to just a quiet throb. My face bore the marks of healing, the scabs and bruises barely showing through.

I was lucky. My physical injuries healed quickly, and my brain followed behind, catching up slowly. I didn’t lose the semester. I was privileged enough to risk the financial loss of dropping classes later, and so I waited. My midterms went well; staying in school was the right choice.

I didn’t lose myself. My life has returned to normal, and the traumatic brain injury that I suffered didn’t stretch out over the following years, as I know they can for so many. Last summer, I rode my bike again.

But the imagined cars undercutting me have never quite gone away. As a passenger, when cars pull out of side streets, I grab the car door handle and brace myself. I flash back to the weight of the truck clipping my left leg. I taste blood again.

My mother’s voice breaks on the phone.

Trauma was never a part of my life before being hit. While I listened to and empathized with people who described their own trauma, I don’t think I really understood what trauma entailed. What is it like to feel “triggered?” Maybe it’s that imagined weight of the car sweeping out my legs, or it’s the moment of gripping the passenger door handle.

When I speak about being hit, there is a temptation to understate how horrible those first few weeks were. People at dinner tables don’t want to hear about broken noses, confusion, headaches, and tears. There is a stunned look, a silence that no one breaks. I don’t like to cry in front of people.

But I feel a responsibility to talk about that pain, to speak publicly about such private struggles. Those of us who have made it through such dark hours, partly through sheer luck and partly through the support of those around us, can perhaps create openness and understanding for others still in the darkness.

On Oct. 7, 2019, I had my first beer in over a month. It was my birthday, and my housemates had cooked steaks. We ate, drank, and laughed. I had never had a birthday like that, nor will I ever have one again. A month before, I had not known if I would ever be the same. A month later, I realized that I never would be.