The Queen's Journal, Volume 144, Issue 1

the Journal

Queen’s university

vol. 144, issue 1

M o n day , J u n e 6 , 2 0 1 6

since

1873

Professor claims Queen’s owes over $11.5 million for expropriation New Medical Building built on properties taken by University Story on page 4

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Corby quietly says goodbye after promising start Former Gael’s receiver on route to CFL, retires at age 22 was a standout athlete.

Last May, in his first showcase for CFL scouts, Corby dominated the East-West bowl Just weeks after training with the — a game used to showcase talented CIS NFL’s New York Giants and getting players eligible for the Canadian Football drafted by the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos, League Draft. former Gaels wide-receiver Doug Corby Corby set a bowl record with three has officially retired from touchdowns (seven, 50 and 63 yard catches) professional football. and a total 131 yards receiving on the day, At age 22, Corby joins the growing list of claiming the Team East Offensive Player of football players to retire before reaching their the Game. full potential as professionals.

In his fourth year, Corby translated his On May 31, the Edmonton Eskimos stardom from the bowl game to an entire released a statement announcing season. As the Gaels’ leading wide-receiver, Corby’s retirement. Since then Corby Corby was a constant thorn in the side of hasn’t spoken defenses, leading publicly about all receivers his decision, province-wide “#Eskimos HC Jason Maas confirms that leaving fans to with 19.3 yards REC Doug Corby has left the team telling speculate on per catch and Maas ‘His heart wasn’t into it.’” his reasoning. finishing second Later that with 118.4 yards — Dave Campbell, per game. day, Eskimo’s @Dave_CHED radio analyst Looking Dave Campbell back at scouting tweeted head coach Jason Mass response to reports, Corby’s main asset was his speed. the news.

At the CFL combine this March Looking back at his Queen’s career, Corby he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds J oseph C attana Sports Editor

— the fastest time for all players at the combine this year.

Because of this, Corby was ranked 20th among all CFL prospects by the Scouting Bureau prior to the draft.

The biggest surprise for Corby came this year when he was selected as one of ten Canadians invited to the Giants rookie camp.

In an interview with NFL Canada he said his jaw dropped when he saw the text from his agent.

Just eight days after being invited by the Giants, the Edmonton Eskimos selected Corby with the 53rd pick in the CFL Draft.

In a league where Canadian receivers are often used for short possession routes, Corby had the potential to become an impact player in the CFL.

“When you get a Canadian guy who has the speed that Corby has he can be a big play threat that gives you a lot of further options from a roster standpoint,” CFL Yahoo Sports writer Andrew Bucholtz told The Journal.

Instead, after only a few short days with the team, the Eskimos will have to search for a new replacement.

Bucholtz pointed out that the timing for Corby’s decision seems odd — he had gone through the entire process already with the CFL combine, Giants rookie camp and getting drafted.

“It would be different if Corby said upfront ‘I’m really not that interested in playing professional football, I have other o p t i o n s ’, ” Bucholtz said.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

See Injuries on page 12

INSIDE THIS ISSUE NEWS

EDITORIALS

ARTS

FEATURES

LIFESTYLE

New developments in decade long research misconduct case

Should universities ban student-faculty relationships?

Film screened at Isabel inspired by music and dance

Queen’s students who’ve never stepped foot on campus

Down and out in a foreign country; stories from exchange

page 2

page 5

page 7

page 10

page 17

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2 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

Queen’s student conducts research at Mount Everest PhD candidate joins multi-university team to Base Camp A riana B ascom Contributor For most students, a birthday means throwing a party or going out to a favorite restaurant. For Queen’s PhD candidate Jeremy Walsh, his 30th birthday was spent watching the sun rise at the base of Mount Everest.

Walsh has just returned from a research expedition, ongoing since April 30, that saw him and his team ascend to Mount Everest Base Camp.

The fourth year exercise physiology student had a pre-existing interest in the immediate cognitive improvements brought on by exercise.

By trekking to Everest Base Camp, Walsh could study firsthand how cognitive function is affected for subjects exercising in high altitudes for multiple days. In layman’s terms, he was studying the impact that climbing

Everest has on the human brain.

The journey to Base Camp consisted of three main stops, during which Walsh would conduct his experiments as the team — consisting of both researchers and those from non-scientific backgrounds — acclimatized to the altitude.

The trek began at Kathmandu, then to Pheriche and lastly, Everest Base Camp itself.

In addition to Walsh’s exploration of the impact of exercise on cognitive activity, there was further research being conducted by the other researchers involved in the expedition.

“The group was incredible,” Walsh said, recalling ongoing jokes and the “hilarious personalities” that appeared throughout the trip.

He noted that the connections he was able to make with primary investigators and faculty from other

universities opened doors for potential research in the future.

“If I started putting together my own trips, I know who to go after,” he said.

As for this expedition, Walsh’s participation came after a series of twists on the original plan.

The expedition was initially scheduled for May 2015, planned

by Trevor Day, an associate professor of physiology at Mount Royal University.

While Day had planned the trip for his upper year physiology class, plans were derailed by the 2015 Nepali earthquake. The following year, only a handful of students from the original trip were able to re-commit to going.

Walsh jumped at the opportunity when he heard from a friend that Day was looking for colleagues at Mount Royal University, University of Victoria and Okanagan

University College to join the trek and conduct their own research.

“The minute this came up as an opportunity, I had to seize it,” Walsh recalled.

Walsh and his group traveled lightly, hiring a local Sherpa named Nima as their lead guide.

This gave the group the mobility to conduct their experiments at various points in their trek, as well as allowing money to flow back into the Nepalese economy. “[Nima] took us into his family house in Khunde and served us tea,” Walsh said.

“It’s one thing if you’re a tourist passing by and taking pictures, but we got the chance to step into his house, see his family and understand their values and their traditions.”

In order to keep his family, friends and s u p p o r te r s updated,

Walsh created a WordPress blog titled Your Brain On Altitude, updating the site throughout his trip.

He noted that two elementary school classes had followed his journey through the blog. They sent him questions along the way, which he answered regularly.

“One of the teachers highlighted the fact that for a lot of these kids, [it helped them] see science not as boring or a stereotypical nerdy pursuit but as this exciting endeavor.”

Walsh will be integrating his research from the trek into the KNP125 class he’s co-teaching in the fall.

“When you can bring in real world experiences, and demonstrate physiology in circumstances that people might actually understand ... there’s a lot of meaningful learning that can take place,” he said.

SUPPLIED VIA DRUKAIR/WIKI COMMONS

Private company examining Clockwork confusion Shirkhanzadeh allegations strikes Queen’s Two investigators identified by Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research V ictoria G ibson News Editor A decade of allegations against Queen’s — for research misconduct, violated academic freedom and institutional non-compliance — are now being investigated by an external body.

The 10-year-old case began with engineering professor Morteza Shirkhanzadeh, who brought allegations to Queen’s of plagiarism and fabricated data in the scientific papers of a fellow Queen’s professor.

Over the last 10 years, Queen’s has taken measures to silence Shirkhanzadeh’s growing number of allegations, according to a report published by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

After sending “thousands and thousands of emails”, said Shirkhanzadeh, the Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research

(SRCR) — a national governing body for the ethical conduct of research — is now involved in examining the case.

The SRCR is charged with determining whether Queen’s is guilty of institutional non-compliance for improperly investigating the evidence that Shirkhanzadeh uncovered.

On April 8, Shirkhanzadeh posted an email on his personal website — the Little Office of Research Integrity (LORI) — from Karen Wallace, senior advisor for the SRCR. The email dates back to Jan. 22, and lists the two potential external investigators looking into the case: Martin Letendre, the managing director for Vertitas IRB — an independent ethics review board — and Larry Kostiuk, the associate vice-president at the University

of Alberta.

“The Secretariat will provide the investigators with all of the institutional non-compliance allegations that you submitted to the Secretariat to consider as part of the investigation,” it reads.

The dates of the institutional non-compliance allegations listed in the email are Dec. 27, 2012, July 21, 2014, July 30, 2014, Aug. 4, 2014, Aug. 7, 2014, Oct. 31, 2014, April 17, 2015, May 4, 2015, and Jan. 15, 2015.

Other letters have been provided to The Journal by Shirkhanzadeh, regarding allegations of misuse of agency funding and “inflation of research productivity”. These letters date back to 2013.

According to Susan Zimmerman, executive director of the SRCR, a draft of the investigator’s report may be finished as early as June, See Non-compliance on page 4

Grant Hall clocks display four different times V ictoria G ibson News Editor As convocation season carries on, the limestone clock tower on Grant Hall strikes 12. And 1:30. And 6:30, and 1:00. None of these times are correct to Kingston.

The clock tower, which has stood on campus since the turn of the century, displays different times on each of its four faces and has for an indeterminate amount of time.

The North side is set an hour and a half ahead. On the East, it’s an hour behind. The South is six and a half hours in the future, and the West adds an extra hour. For any students wound up by the matter, they can rest assured: history is simply repeating itself.

This is not the first time the Grant Hall clock has fallen out of sync — the current clock is the replacement for an older one, which displayed the wrong time for nearly 100 years.

Grant Hall was originally

designed by the architectural firm Symons and Rae, in a Victorian Romanesque style. The firm also designed Kingston Hall and Ontario Hall.

The hall was set to be funded by the Frontenac County Council, and named in their honour.

However, while details were being sorted out, Queen’s Principal Rev. George Monro Grant began publicly opposing the Council’s ban on selling alcohol in Canada, and the Council promptly withdrew their support and funding for the project.

According to archive information

by Queen’s, Grant — aging and weak — pleaded with the Council to change their minds, to no avail. This is when his students stepped in.

Over the winter of 1901-02, the students of Queen’s raised the needed $30,000 to complete the building. In 1905, they named it after Grant, who passed away See Students on page 4

News

Monday, June 6, 2016

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OBITUARY

Remembering chemistry professor K.E. Russell Lectureship in honour of professor emeritus holds first sessions after his passing

Dr. Ken Russell was a Queen’s Chemistry Professor from 1954 to 1990.

M aureen O’R eilly Assistant News Editor When beloved Queen’s chemistry professor K.E. Russell joined Queen’s in 1954, the university was small — there were only about 2,300 students.

Over the next few decades, he watched the university grow, and contributed to the school’s development both within the chemistry department and beyond.

The Russell Lectureship was created to celebrate and honour Russell’s contributions to the Chemistry Department. Beginning in 2014, the lectureship has been gathering funds to bring distinguished researchers to speak to the department.

The very first installment of the series was launched at Queen’s a mere five days after the passing of its namesake.

Russell passed away just before the inaugural lecture, which took place on April 15. According to the

colleagues whose lives he impacted at the University, Russell leaves a legacy beyond the lectureship — of dedication, selflessness, and teaching excellence.

Joining Queen’s Chemistry Department in 1954, Russell remained active in the department long after his retirement in 1990.

Russell was born in England, and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, graduating in 1948. He began teaching as an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University in 1948, becoming an assistant lecturer at Manchester in 1950, and then a fellow at Princeton in 1952.

Russell was highly successful in his research in polymer chemistry, and continued to publish his findings for a decade after his retirement.

In 1981, Russell established a partnership with DuPont Canada in purchasing the University’s first high-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.

Aside from his academic successes, Russell made several philanthropic contributions to Queen’s, ranging from the creation of the William Patrick Doolan Teaching Award to donations for the creation of the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts.

However, Russell’s colleagues, friends, and family members all agree that his greatest contributions went far beyond research and philanthropy. “[Ken] was a wonderful mentor to a lot of people in the department,” said Sue Blake, assistant dean (studies) to the Faculty of Arts and Science. Blake was a student and colleague of Russell’s for many years, and attests to Russell’s tremendous capacity for kindness and patience.

Russell also maintained a reputation for being an excellent teacher. His children and colleagues recall that in his early years of teaching, he would be provided with photographic profiles of each

of his students.

He used these photos to memorize and expertly recall the names of all 100+ students in his first-year chemistry class.

According to his colleague in the Department, Ralph Whitney, Russell was also well known for what the chemistry department has traditionally referred to as “whiz-bang” lecture demonstrations, in which he entertained students with loud and theatrical explosions.

According to his daughters Judy and Celia, a particularly exuberant demonstration once left him with temporary hearing troubles.

In 1993, Russell gave his final demonstration for the 100th anniversary celebration of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.

Russell’s work went even further still, as his colleagues emphasize that he always felt it was his duty to take on administrative responsibilities for the department and the university.

SUPPLIED BY CELIA RUSSELL

This included serving as a member of the Queen’s Senate, as chair of the Arts and Science Faculty Board, and as acting department head and department chair of Graduate Studies, according to his daughter Celia.

He was also a member and chair of the University Concerts Committee, and even worked as a proofreader for the Queen’s Gazette, alongside Celia.

“The reason that people in the chemistry department were so very fond of him was that he was a good citizen of the department in many ways,” said Ralph Whitney.

As the lectureship series kicks off in his memory, Whitney is glad to see Russell’s legacy last.

“Ken gave back to the department in many ways,” said Whitney, “and he can [continue to] do so for many years to come with this Lectureship.”

SGPS motion restricting student fees causes concern Following contention, eligibility criteria sent for review by finance committee V ictoria G ibson News Editor At an April meeting of the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS), a proposed motion on student fee eligibility criteria set off some alarms.

The motion was first read to Council on April 12, and attempted to establish three sets of criteria for student fee eligibility.

As the motion was originally written, the SGPS would discontinue any student fee contributions to organizations that pay out any salary, wage or honoraria.

Furthermore, eligible organizations wouldn’t be able to engage in “political, partisan or issue advocacy” or fund external scholarships, bursaries or charities.

The motion was moved by outgoing SGPS President, Chris Cochrane, and seconded by outgoing Vice President (Professional) Mark Asfar, and prompted pushback from council members.

Many were concerned that the new criteria would disqualify student groups with a focus on fundraising for local charities, some of which have been affiliated with the SGPS for years.

“The vagueness of that language was problematic,” SGPS council

Though he admitted that the member, Korey Pasch, said in an interview with The Journal, proposed SGPS criteria was “more adding that it was also unclear restrictive than what is being why the three clauses were mandated by the Board of Trustees,” he and former speaker Eric Rapos thought necessary.

“If it’s a non-profit organization, both indicated that the decision and most charities are, they had been passed down from above have staff, and the fact that they in some capacity.

Rapos said that fees could not go have staff would preclude them from receiving funding from the to groups off campus at all, stating “that’s from the Board, not us”.

SGPS fees.”

The Board protocol Cochrane Pasch also noted that many charities could be seen as engaging was referencing was item 13.d on in issue advocacy, depending on the May Board agenda.

The item states that, at the how the language was interpreted.

Cochrane addressed Pasch’s request of the SGPS and the AMS, concerns in an email to The protocol would be revised so that Journal, stating that another bylaw, all non-tuition-related activity fees 21.1.3.c.a.iv, was added to replace, had to be introduced or changed in part, and expand on funding through referendum.

The item states that student fees for University facilities, charitable may only go towards non-academic organizations, and student groups.

According to Cochrane, the services and programs designed intention of the proposed student to enhance student life. However, fee criteria was to avoid any none of the criteria listed in the duplication of services available original SGPS motion was explicitly and focus student funds on student listed in the Board document.

“On behalf of graduate students run services.

The proposed amendments in the department of Political would also require an SGPS voting Studies, we’d like to know what presence in each organization, the reasoning is behind all of this,” to ensure “fees are being Pasch said. used appropriately.”

“If the pressure is coming During the April Council from the Board of Trustees, in meeting, Cochrane indicated that my personal opinion, that’s the change in eligibility was related where we should be resisting or to a change in policy by the Queen’s putting attention.”

Other members of the SGPS Board of Trustees.

agree with Pasch’s sentiment, believing that it is the executives’ duty to push back on the administration where and when necessary.

During the council meeting, Philosophy representative Jared Houston said the SGPS “should be resisting the Board of Trustees’ pressure to change these fee policies.”

Cochrane disagreed, writing to The Journal that “it would be foolish to argue that a large proportion of the SGPS feels a certain way about anything in particular, as the opinions of our membership are so varied and participation is so low.”

Cochrane said he doesn’t believe the SGPS or the student body should be in a “constant adversarial role with respect to the administration”, adding that more can be achieved working together.

“I certainly think it would be foolish for a student leader to “retaliate” to a policy change, but, that is likely because I think that such reactionary approaches are, ultimately, futile,” he stated.

Speaking to the confusion around the motion, Cochrane explained that “this is a very complicated matter that, admittedly, was initially communicated poorly.”

However, he was puzzled as to why, there had been limited pushback when the motion

had originally been provided to councillors over a month in advance of the meeting.

“For whatever reason, despite there clearly being much concern over this motion, only one councillor submitted any questions,” he wrote.

The single concern had been submitted to the Vice-President (Finance) Christina Huber, who didn’t share it with Cochrane or attend the meeting where the matter was discussed.

Following the contention, the motion was voted down at the Council meeting, effectively ruling that the issue couldn’t return to council for a full calendar year.

However, at the SGPS General Meeting on April 26, the issue was revisited. After “a good amount of discussion”, according to Cochrane, an alternate solution was reached.

The contended eligibility criteria was taken back for review by the Finance and Services Standing committee over the summer, to bring recommendations to Council in September.

The committee will investigate the feasibility of continued support for external charities and ensure that the SGPS policy falls in alignment with external University policies.

News

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Monday, June 6, 2016

Settlement “unlikely” in expropriation case From front page Victoria Gibson News Editor

In an ongoing Ontario Municipal Board case, a Queen’s professor is accusing the University of taking her properties without proper compensation, with damages in the case exceeding $11.5 million.

The case, which has been filed under the Expropriations Act, was received by Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario on May 19, 2015.

The Expropriation Act allows a municipality, approval authority or public agency to take property for a purpose deemed to be in the public interest despite the opinion of the land’s owner.

The claimant, Dr. Dijana Oliver, is a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and owns the two companies named in the claim: JSN Properties Inc. and Cosmedx Incorporated.

According to Oliver’s claim, Queen’s expropriated her two properties on campus — 80 Barrie St. and 9 Arch St. — to develop the new School

of Medicine building without proper compensation.

At the time, all five residential units and eight of the commercial units at 80 Barrie St. along with the residential unit at 9 Arch St. were occupied by tenants.

On Nov. 7, 2008 Oliver entered into an agreement to sell the properties to an outside company, 114152 Ontario Limited. The two parties, according to the claim, agreed on a total value of $8,950,000 for the deal.

That’s when Queen’s entered the picture. After Oliver entered the agreement, Queen’s notified Oliver’s representative that they would be expropriating the properties — meaning she would no longer be able to complete her planned transaction, according to her claim. “[The transaction] was frustrated by the expropriation processes initiated by Queen’s University,” Oliver’s claim states.

Under the circumstances, Oliver complied with the University and on Feb. 26 2009, Queen’s paid Oliver the amount of $1,745,000

When asked for a comment, — a fraction of the planned sale 2015, Oliver did not have the funds required to complete the University Communications Officer value.

Six years later she filed the claim renovations, because Queen’s Chris Armes said that Queen’s was that she hasn’t received proper “failed to provide fair compensation.” not in a position to speak about compensation. The case has been For the costs of renovations the case. and disturbances, Oliver’s “The case has not yet come ongoing for the past year.

Oliver is seeking compensation claim seeks $2,500,000 and before the Board for a hearing”, Armes wrote in a May 30 email. for the market value of both $400,000 respectively.

According to Environment As well, the claim states that properties, as well as compensation for damages which are “natural Oliver lost more than 50 percent of and Land Tribunals Ontario and reasonable consequence her commercial tenants and all of Communications Consultant, Karen her residential tenants throughout Kotzen, the hearing has been of expropriation”.

After the expropriation, Oliver this process, equal to $1,330,000 delayed because of a request made by parties involved. purchased a replacement property for disturbance damages.

When asked about the current Further losses were incurred due at 128 Ontario St on Aug. 7 2009 for to events prior to the expropriation, state of the case, Oliver stated in $1,851,000.

According to her claim, the as Oliver had commissioned a an email that the matter is “not on property is at a “considerable redevelopment plan on 9 Arch St. hold [and] never was”.

Oliver also indicated in her email distance” from Queen’s and just completed repairs at 80 that she had changed legal counsel Barrie St. main campus.

These costs, which the claim “because there doesn’t appear to be 128 Ontario St. had been vacant for roughly 10 years prior to estimates at $55,000, were never possibility of settlement.”

Oliver and her new Oliver’s purchase. It was “effectively compensated by Queen’s.

Oliver is also making a case representation plan to continue an empty shell, and required court proceedings extensive modifications,” according for the hours lost due to this case, with seeking an additional $36,000 against Queen’s. to her claim.

During renovations, none of — $180 per hour for 200 hours lost the units were able to be leased, — as well as all legal, appraisal and The Journal will update this story as more information which incurred significant carrying other costs for the claim.

Furthermore, Oliver is seeking becomes available. costs through property taxes and interest on the full value of all mortgage interest.

At the time of the claim in her claims.

Non-compliance report expected by the end of July investigators whether to accept either party’s commentary in their with a final report slated for the final report.

Zimmerman couldn’t comment end of July.

“Their report comes to us, and specifically on the Shirkhanzadeh because it’s an allegation against investigation, as it’s currently an institution, it’s governed by the underway, however she pointed agreement on the administration to two key documents in of Agency, Grants and Awards understanding similar allegations.

The first document, the at Research Institutions,” Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible she explained.

“We attempt to resolve [the Conduct of Research, sets out the situation] at a working level, and if responsibilities and corresponding that’s not possible, it gets sent on to policies for researchers, institutions more senior levels at the agency to and agencies.

The second, the Agreement determine what is to be done.”

She noted that the first step on the Administration of Agency in the investigation is to sort out Grants and Awards by Research whether the allegation is well Institutions, governs the way that founded, and from that point, a Canadian scientific research is drafted report will be sent to both funded and honoured. the institution and the complainant.

Shirkhanzadeh said he worries Either party can respond to the about how the University will draft with counter-arguments or react if the external investigators revisions. However, it is up to the conclude that they are guilty of

Continued from page 2

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institutional non-compliance.

“The University has got a lot of money, lots of lawyers,” he said.

His worry is that Queen’s will continually delay the report with legal technicalities “until I’ve gone completely from here.”

In an email to The Journal, Dan McKeown, associate vice principal (faculty relations) said since the university is “a party to a collective agreement with [the Queen’s University Faculty Association]” investigative processes involving faculty members are confidential and cannot be commented upon.

The SRCR’s sudden interest in the case, Shirkhanzadeh said, came after eight years of trying to contact them. He estimated that the investigation is now costing them “no less than $50,000.”

“At first, SRCR did not even want to investigate my allegations

against the University, because they’re embarrassed,” he said.

“They are supposed to monitor the universities.”

He believes that SRCR’s interest was prompted by someone recently lobbying the government, which would put pressure on the Secretariat to examine the matter further.

In the meantime, two other investigations are currently underway by Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) and Professional Engineers & Geoscientists of Newfoundland & Labrador (PEGNL).

In letters provided to The Journal by Shirkhanzadeh, PEO set an investigator to look into Shirkhanzadeh’s complaints on Feb. 5 of this year.

PEGNL referred allegations to its Complaint Authorization Committee more recently, on

Continued from page 2

Encyclopedia, the original clock was also inconsistent. In 1993, it was switched — on student dollars — for an electrical mechanism, after “years of unreliable service”.

After an inquiry from The Journal about the current unreliable service, Associate Vice-Principal (Facilities) John Witjes said that

May 24.

Three days after the PEGNL letter was sent, a new post on Shirkhanzadeh’s LORI site brought to light a separate allegation of institutional non-compliance against Memorial University.

In a Feb. 2 letter from Shirkhanzadeh to the SRCR, he writes that “the investigation process followed by Memorial University was non-transparent” when examining research integrity allegations submitted in Nov. 2014.

An SRCR response is linked, dating March 11, and acknowledges Shirkhanzadeh’s allegations.

The SRCR stated in their response, also posted on LORI, that they will be contacting Memorial University for further examination.

The Journal will update this story as more information becomes available.

Students raised funds after ‘ticked’ off Council withdrew support mid-construction in May 1902.

As for the clock, the design was left to Nathan Fellowes Dupuis.

Dupuis was a mathematics and science professor at Queen’s, who later became Dean of Applied Science.

According to the Queen’s

repairs are imminent: the clock is set to become timely once more. “[The] repairs have been tendered and awarded to a company specializing in this type of work,” he wrote in an email.

“We are waiting [until] after spring convocation to begin the repair work and it will be completed this summer.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Monday, June 6, 2016

queensjournal.ca

EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

Abandon a ban on faculty-student relationships B

anning faculty-student relationships protect universities, not their students.

Martha Piper, UBC’s (University of British Columbia) interim president, recently stated that she would consider implementing a ban on relationships between students and faculty. UBC’s current conflict of interest policy requires full disclosure of such a relationship, but does not ban them outright.

“While these provisions are in place, I still remain concerned about how ‘consent’ and ‘conflict’ are defined in an environment where thereisapowerimbalance,” Piper told The Ubyssey.

While the power imbalance inherent in faculty-student relationships is concerning, a complete ban won’t help the problem either.

Restricting all faculty -student relationships doesn’t necessarily guarantee that they won’t happen. It simply means that they will continue to occur behind closed doors. With students and faculty forced into secrecy about their relationships, victims of a power imbalance may be even less inclined to report potential abuse

Ramna Safeer

Remove the price tag on success THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

or sexual assault.

Queen’s current conflict of interest policy, like UBC, also requires partners to disclose their relationship to a superior, who then makes arrangements for someone else to have control over the student’s grades.

This opportunity to tell someone protects against

the detriments of a power imbalance, but would be lost if a ban was in place. If there are punitive consequences to coming forward, partners may be more hesitant to report misconduct.

It’s time we realized that the tirelessly marketed idea of ‘living your dreams’ attaches a hefty price tag to our idea of success.

In the saturated market of millennial-aimed marketing, there’s an abundance of advice for today’s youth to quit our jobs and follow our dreams. While roaming social media, I often stumble upon motivational graphics with curly calligraphy telling me to do what I love and love what I do.

For example, a girl I follow on Instagram recently left her day job to pursue fashion design.

Her feed is full of photographs of the New York City skyline accompanied by a caption explaining how we should drop everything while we’re still young and carefree.

There’s nothing wrong with travelling the world or pursuing a career with happiness, rather than finances, in mind — but what about the large percentage of us Assistant Sports Editor

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who just can’t afford it?

Many of us have come to believe that pursuing financially lofty dreams as careers or travelling the world to find ourselves are moral imperatives rather than very expensive options.

I can’t afford those things.

I’m consciously gearing myself towards a career that is financially sound, while pursuing my creative dream in the incidental breaks in between.

Instead of cashing in my savings to travel the world after graduation, I’ll be working to pay my own way through grad school. There’s no shame in that.

This kind of rhetoric reproduces the idea that youth who don’t have solid financial nets are missing out on the ingredients for success and should feel guilty for that.

As a child of immigrants for whom a financial fallback doesn’t exist, I see the constant speeches about following your dream

Julia Balakrishnan

Brigid Goulem

Blake Canning

preventative measures.

However, a ban is an unhelpful way of addressing issues of power imbalances if we’re trying to protect students.

Models for a ban already

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The idea of a ban is valid if universities are mainly concerned about their liability. If a relationship is happening in spite of a ban and an instance of abuse or sexual assault occurs, a university can’t be blamed for not taking

Jenna Zucker

Lifestyle Editor Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Volume 144 Issue 1 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal

Sarah O’Flaherty

Ariana Bascom Sebastian Bron

Alex Palermo

Chloe Chan

Joseph Cattana

Lara Lievovitz

Business Staff Business Manager Sales Representative

Max McLernon Sebastian Jaramillo Cierra Madore

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•5

Anisa Jain

Want to contribute?

For information visit: www.queensjournal.ca/contribute or email the Editors in Chief at journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions.

exist in universities in the United States that have implemented such restrictions on all students except for graduate students.

But, by placing a divide along those lines, these universities are making an unreasonable assumption that the same issues of power imbalances don’t occur among graduate students.

If universities believe that faculty-student relationships are harming students, they should focus on gathering research to prove that students are suffering without the ban and the current policy isn’t serving its purpose.

Potentially toxic power imbalances in faculty-student relationships is an important issue to discuss, but an outright ban protects universities against criticism rather than the students from harm.

— Journal Editorial Board

as condescending.

I see them as a way of defining success as something only accessible to those with money, immediately excluding those who can’t afford to have the necessary experiences.

At the end of the day, the 20-something-year-old who works two jobs to make it through school is no less accomplished than the one who spent the money to travel around the world and add an extra degree to their roster.

It’s important for us as a generation of financially struggling youth — as well as a generation that is hopefully sensitive to the needs of diverse minorities — to realize that this rhetoric caters to the richest of us.

It does little to help the rest.

Ramna Safeer is The Journal’s Editorials Editor. She’s a third-year English major.

The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston.

Editorial opinions expressed in The Journal are the sole responsibility of The Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers.

190 University Ave., Kingston, ON, K7L 3P4 Editorial Office: 613-533-2800 Business Office: 613-533-6711 Fax: 613-533-6728 Email: journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Please address complaints and grievances to the Editors in Chief.

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

Contents © 2016 by The Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of The Journal.

Uncuff access to education

Cutting criminal records from university applications is a good step forward to putting rehabilitation back into the correctional system.

The Obama administration is trying to eliminate barriers for those with a criminal history wishing to pursue higher education by encouraging postsecondary institutions to push requests for criminal records until after their admissions process is complete.

While most Canadian undergraduate programs don’t ask for a criminal record as part of an application, it’s not uncommon for graduate schools to request a police check, including the Queen’s School of Medicine.

People from racialized and low-income communities — especially black teenagers — are disproportionately targeted by the justice system in the United States. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, Black people form about 13 percent of the American population and yet they make up approximately 40 percent of the prison population.

Demographics that are unequally targeted by the justice system are thereby also at a higher risk of being denied higher education if schools continue to reject applicants with criminal records.

Removing criminal records from university applications is a move in the right direction because it erases one systematic barrier in a series of obstacles to proper rehabilitation.

Evidence of these kinds of rehabilitation efforts already exist on campus, such as Queen’s Students for Literacy which encourages student volunteers to help foster reading and literacy skills among prison inmates.

It seems hypocritical that these programs recognize the importance of education in rehabilitating inmates, but that universities still limit their pursuit of higher education. Fostering volunteer initiatives that stir a passion for learning among inmates while also barring them from university education only serves to make certain levels of education exclusive to specific areas of society.

A reason for requesting criminal checks for graduate programs such as medical school is simply to ensure trust in society’s professionals.

Doctors are among professionals who treat us in our most vulnerable state, so it makes sense to be safe.

However, the universities’ responsibility is to provide an education, not to judge what type of person deserves one.

We should only require a criminal background check if there is data to prove that admitting those with a criminal history poses a risk to student safety. If such a correlation doesn’t exist, there’s no reason to limit someone’s ability to better themselves after the criminal justice system has told them to do just that.

— Journal Editorial Board

6 • queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

OPINIONS

Every word is important, even the hurtful ones Public discussion sparked by offensive comments is valuable enough to avoid censoring Nick Scott, ArtSci ’18

Banks openly confronted Malik on Twitter, accusing the former One Direction singer of copying her work. Banks then interpreted some of Malik’s tweets as being directed towards her and she proceeded to respond with a tirade of racist and homophobic slurs directly targeting Malik’s Pakistani background and image.

Toronto Twitter personality Jasmeet Singh responded to Banks with humour and intelligence, turning Banks’ comments into something positive.

“The fact that ‘curry scented’ is an insult when curry 1000% smells and tastes absolutely delicious,” he tweeted.

Hundreds of South Asians responded by posting under the hashtag #CurryScentedBitch,

Initially, I was pretty reluctant to write this article.

Whenever something is published that has an aura of controversy around it, the writer is bound to face backlash. Yet, the importance of publishing controversial ideas is necessary for that very reason: it creates a dialogue on the issue and no censorship, not even appreciation self-censorship, should stand in for Desi the way. culture.

When I think of freedom of When I say that every word ILLUSTRATION BY JANE WILLSIE speech, I think of the freedom matters, I mean it. Words, and from censorship. The problem more generally, language, are What is labelled as offensive is with censorship is that it prevents all about context. It’s important dependent on perspective. what I want to say from ever that we understand why negative There is no universal grading sparking dialogue. messages are being relayed and scale to determine what should Censorship is different from talk about them in an open and and shouldn’t be censored, which judgement. People can evaluate uncensored manner. Without is why censorship shouldn’t exist. whatever I say along their own context and conversation, there is The content of offensive speech morals and perspectives as much as no opportunity to teach and learn. can often incite violence through they want, so long as it is out there The recent Twitter feud prejudicial wording. Victims of it for them to judge. between Malik and Banks are usually targeted because of Everyone has said something provides a platform for education, their physical characteristics (i.e. hurtful or offensive at some colour of skin), religion, point and so often we do sexual orientation, gender so without thinking of the or culture. true impact of our actions. “People can evaluate whatever I say along their own However, despite the morals and perspectives as much as they want, so What we say often inspires obvious malice of negative a response and initiates a and offensive speech, there long as it is out there for them to judge.” dialogue, which is why it is is a constructiveness to it crucial that we say the things that is often overlooked. that we do.

Offensive language is Whenever anyone puts an idea sparking a huge Desi pride it encourages people to critically not important in the sense that it out in a public domain — be it an movement. Desi is a loose term for engage with Desi culture. relays a good message, but because article, a photo or a social media the people, cultures and products Generally, there are two sides of we can challenge it in the public post — they exercise a power that of the Indian subcontinent or the censorship debate: one side in arena. It proves to be a catalyst for carries a ripple effect. What we say South Asia. favour of censoring certain forms political and social change. influences other people’s thoughts Banks’s offensive comments of offensive speech and the other The first instinct should not be and actions. became the catalyst for a that is entirely against all forms to censor the minority of people While many controversial positive social movement. The of censorship. who seek to incite negativity discussions can become easily #CurryScentedBitch hashtag The debate over whether through language. It should instead heated, even offensive and negative encouraged many young Desi or not censorship practices be to encourage all forms of speech speech has value because of the women and men to post their are appropriate remains a because they all have merit — even discourse it creates. own pictures, videos and thoughts complex issue because whenever the hurtful kind.

What sparked my interest in this on their culture. Although the arguments supporting censorship topic was the recent online Twitter hashtag was in response to a surface, the notion of freedom of Nick Scott is a third-year Political battle between British singer series of hateful Tweets, the speech enters the dialogue and Studies major.

Zayn Malik and American rapper overall outcome of the negative the line between what is tolerable Azealia Banks. language was a massive and what isn’t gets blurred.

HAVE AN OPINION?

Your Perspective

Talking heads ... around campus PHOTOS BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Have you ever been in an Internet fight? If so, over what?

“DC vs. Marvel. DC is a hundred times better.”

Akhil Dua, ConEd ’16

“Rural Ontario. Small towns.

It was a dark day.”

Brent Fallis, SCI ’17

“Western pride.”

Cindy Soerensen, GDB ’16

“I was team Peeta ...”

Amy Carpenter, ArtSci ’19

“And I was team Gale.”

Carleigh Milburn, ConEd ’20

JOURNAL_LETTERS@AMS.QUEENSU.CA “School rivalries.”

Bianca Jakisan, MA ’17

Monday, June 6, 2016

queensjournal.ca

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ARTS

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY RYAN LEE

Ryan Lee on the set of his short film, Fading Lights.

Fading Lights dazzles at the Isabel Filmmaker Ryan Lee puts an abstract spin on campus film

Alex Palermo Assistant Arts Editor Four years ago, Ryan Lee, ArtSci ‘16, never would’ve thought he’d be graduating from Queen’s with a BA in Film and the founder of an independent production company.

Originally a LifeSci ’16, Lee switched his focus from science to film after second year — finally graduating this past spring.

His latest film project, Fading Lights, was screened at the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts in late April.

Fading Lights is an unpredictable and edgy addition to Lee’s portfolio.

Though most of his videos are consistent in their high quality videography, Fading Lights is more abstract than any of his previous work — especially campus oriented videos, such as We Are the Gaels.

“There’s a lot of deliberate ambiguity within the story,” Lee says, leaving the active interpretation to the viewer.

For most of his projects, Lee’s thought process is fuelled by music, specifically indie-electronic.

“It always starts with a song,” he said, and from there the visuals come to him in fragments, like puzzle pieces sliding into place.

“I found the song [“F+L” by Point Point], and decided I wanted to make a video with it,” Lee says.

“It just so happened that I had volunteered to help the Queen’s Dance Club make a promotional video for their end of year recital.”

While filming for the club, Lee met the main dancer in Fading Lights, Gabrielle Quilliam.

“When I saw her dance style, I knew she would definitely be in a piece,” said Lee. Whether she would be in Fading Lights or another video

was not obvious at first, but once Lee heard “F+L”, the project began to come together in small pieces, with Quilliam as the lead dancer.

Fading Lights opens with a pan of a rocky clifftop sunset as music gradually fades in with the stunningly high quality image.

Quilliam’s feet are seen taking emphatic steps across the landscape and eventually the camera pans out so that both her and the landscape are visible in the shot.

Quilliam is then joined by another dancer, and together they dance as though they’re mere reflections of one another

“There’s a lot of deliberate ambiguity within the story”

— Ryan Lee, Fading Lights

In the second half of Fading Lights, Quilliam performs among flashing lights in front of an infinity mirror — a set of mirrors set up recursively producing a series of continually smaller reflections. Lee described this part of the video as an abstract experience.

“The pre-production process was so different, Nick [co-director] and I, as well as Bella [producer] met a number of times to discuss what it would look and feel like,” Lee said. The idea to stage the dancers in front of an infinity mirror, Lee said, just came to him.

“I thought that would be cool.”

Despite a number of technical limitations, the team used two locations for the video — the Isabel and Rock Dunder.

The total value of the equipment

Lee’s team rented was a whopping $115,000, he says.

“We knew of the technical challenges ... so we had to figure out how to use the stuff and build the set.”

The treacherous hike to and from Rock Dunder is daunting enough without carrying expensive camera equipment and when it’s light outside. However, because they wanted to catch the sunset, by the time they were finished filming, the team had to hike down the cliff in the pitch black.

“The producer, Bella, fell and broke a few toes actually [on the way down],” Lee said.

The video was shot in 6K resolution, as opposed to the still impressive 4K that is popular with independent filmmakers.

“I have 1.5 terabytes of footage on my hard drive right now. It took me seven days to put it all together,” he said.

The production and editing of a short film is no easy task, especially for a fourth-year Queen’s student with a full exam schedule.

The screening was on April 26, exactly a week after Lee’s final exam — a memorable finish to Lee’s undergraduate career.

The end result is a two act, four minute video that immerses and dazzles the viewer. With no script, no lines and no subtitles, the deliberate ambiguity is evident. Fading Lights is as open to interpretation as a short film can be.

Lee discovered his passion for film at Lakefield College, his high school near Peterborough, Ontario,

Gabrielle Quilliam in front of infinity mirrors during filming of Fading Lights.

where he took on the production of school spirit videos, eventually winning the school-wide Best Use of Technology award.

Lee brought his passion for video with him to university, filming special projects on campus, and starting his own collective, Reel Videography, to “capture the spirit of individuals, ideas, and communities,” according to the company’s website.

Next year, Lee plans on continuing projects with Reel Videography on contract work.

“In July I’m going down to the US for a couple months to work with another video production company,” Lee said.

He plans to scale up to more commercial projects down the road.

Arts

8 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

Personal expressions bloom at the Agnes Local artists interpret gallery pieces with personal flower arrangements

Wendy Cain’s floral interpretation of Mary Rawlyk’s triptych of prints, entitled Sewing.

Betsy Studholme Contributor

Spring took over at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre with a special exhibit entitled Art In Bloom of floral arrangements interpreting pieces in the gallery’s collection.

From May 13 to 15, 16 artists were chosen as “interpreters” and tasked to create a response to a piece of artwork, using flowers as a medium.

Preceding the public exhibition, the interpreters created their pieces on site at the Agnes. The opening gala event allowed the interpreters to engage attendees with their floral arrangements and the stories behind them.

The intent of the project was for the artists to make a personal connection to the gallery works, Katie Allen, organizer of the Agnes In Bloom Committee, said.

The exhibit was not merely an exercise in substantive analysis of the original artwork, but rather an opportunity for each interpreter to

draw upon their lived experiences and generate a response that was entirely their own.

One such interpretation by Janus Belanger of Jacob van Oost the Elder’s painting of his son — Portrait of Jacob van Oost the Younger in a Gorget and a Fur Hat (1655) — drew on Belanger’s own experience of having a nephew recovering from an accident.

Belanger’s arrangement combined elements of vivid greenery with muted tones to illustrate the darkness and light felt during a process of recovery.

Another interpreter, Wendy Cain, used a simple arrangement of thin black branches and yellow roses, mirroring the colours in the original work, to represent Mary Rawlyk’s triptych of prints, entitled Sewing (1975).

“Making something pared down and simple is often more difficult than creating something elaborate,” Cain said, speaking of the balance artists try to strike in their work.

Cain’s minimalist response to the prints effectively echoed the

delicate detailing and negative space that made the original work so significant.

Her interpretation went on to win the Art in Bloom People’s Choice award, chosen from ballots cast by exhibit visitors.

The other interpreted works were, selected from a variety of styles and genres, including two other Mary Rawlyk works, Wringing Shirt (1974) and Brushing Hair (1978), among others from varying years.

The fundraising gala to mark the opening of Art in Bloom supported ArtZone and Agnes Connects, two of the Agnes’ community involvement programs.

ArtZone is a youth outreach program venture that supplies a space for teens ages 14-18 to pursue creative work, while Agnes Connects is an initiative to engage new members of the Kingston community with the gallery.

Allen Grant, the Agnes’ community liaison facilitator, spoke to what the Art In Bloom exhibit meant for the expansion of the

gallery’s commitment to the public.

“Community engagement was half of Agnes’ vision when it came to her collection and her house,” Grant said. “This is the kind of thing that the Agnes should be doing more of and will be doing more of.”

The Art In Bloom exhibit serves as an effective catalyst for these goals to come to fruition. Not only did it directly draw upon community members to be

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY JANIS GRANT

official interpreters, but it encouraged viewers to be unofficial interpreters of both layers of work — the original masterpiece and the floral arrangement.

Art In Bloom’s creative combination of original work, personal stories and community outreach offered an enthusiastic opportunity to engage with the arts.

A guide to the Canadian summer festival season

S tephanie N ijhuis Staff Writer

international music, this is the place to be.

From some of the best in the hip hop and rap industry, to the sweet mellow tunes of Canadian indie artists, there’s something for every music listener in this lineup.

Some big acts include; Pearl Jam, The Killers, Wiz Khalifa and Die Antwoord.

From Osheaga to Pemberton, Canada hosts some of the best and most unique music festivals in the world. In case you’re feeling overwhelmed by the vast amount of festivals at your fingertips, here’s a guide of some of the best festivals in Canada for you to check out this summer.

BEST FOR YOUR MONEY WayHome (Oro Medonte, ON) Weekend passes: $209.99-$279.99 July 22- 24 Canadian artists you don’t want to miss: Wolf Parade, BadBadNotGood, A Tribe Called Red, Half Moon Run, Stars, Little Scream

BEST LINEUP Pemberton (Pemberton, BC) Weekend passes: $315 July 14 - 17 Canadian artists you don’t want to miss: Arkells, Wolf Parade, Wintersleep, The Zolas, The Elwins, Purity Ring

If you’re out west and looking for a great lineup of some of the best Canadian and

The Arkells, pictured playing at Queen’s Homecoming last October, will perform at the Pemberton Music Festival in July.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

See Canadian on page 9

Arts

Monday, June 6, 2016

queensjournal.ca

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Vibrant Disappearance: A chilling exhibit Artist creates works using ice and natural pigments Caela Fenton Staff Writer “I don’t believe there is such a thing as meaningless art,” said Ewa Scheer, standing amidst her artwork entitled Vibrant Disappearance at Studio 22.

“All art is about communication. If someone comes to me and says that they want a piece that does not have a message attached to it, I tell them that is not possible.”

Perhaps this is Scheers background in philosophy making itself apparent. Scheer completed a masters program in philosophy in her native country of Poland before enrolling in a Bachelor of Applied Arts at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, followed by a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Regina.

Describing Scheers work is an unruly task; words can’t do it justice. If you had to describe the northern lights, a nebula explosion, a coral reef or a living organism under a microscope to someone who had never seen such a thing before, you might be able to grasp the current difficulty of this writers task.

The best attempt to convey the sense of innovation within Scheers’ work is to describe how she creates it. First, she finds a cool natural canvas — with cool referring to the fact that, well, Scheer paints on ice. Once she has spotted a patch that interests her, she sets to work with non-toxic pigments, most often food colouring, milk, egg yolk or some combination thereof.

“Next, I play around with the paint, pour water in different places, freeze my butt off and then take a photo,” Scheer said jokingly, but the strikingly intense final products belie her modest humour.

The ice paintings capture a moment in time that lasts for seconds before ices natural tendency to melt renders it history. The combination of vibrant pigments and the structure of the ice when observed at close

Ewa Scheer’s Vibrant Disappearance exhibit at Studio 22.

range results in a simultaneously unearthly and yet wholly terrestrial image.

Scheer’s ice paintings are often referred to by the broader art community as environmental art, however the artist resists that category. “I don’t think there should be art and then environmental art, it seems like an artificial divide to me,” said Scheer.

“It mirrors the way that people often speak of the environment as something that is separate from humans, which is another fallacious division.”

Scheer used a metaphor to explain further what she means by this: “What I’m interested in with these pieces is the fact that the world is one big room and were in it together, but

the room is also us, we are the environment, there is no separation.”

Another reason that Scheer resists the term environmental art is because she thinks it implies that her art is completely green.

“My art is plastic, its acrylic, it sits behind plexiglass. While its certainly not a single-use disposable like many items our world now takes for granted, it isn’t completely without impact,” said Scheer. “I bring my human crap out into the woods. I bring my culture and impose it to make art.”

One of Scheer’s influences is Andy Goldsworthy, a British artist who creates sculpture out of sticks, leaves and rocks — really, anything that can be found in the

PHOTO BY CAELA FENTON

woods. He takes a photo of his creation and then its left again to the elements.

“He will spend hours making a configuration out of sticks, knowing its impermanence, knowing that it will collapse,” Scheer said. “Even though he finds his material within his surroundings and I do the opposite, bringing mine in with me, I like to think that we both create art by allowing ourselves to just be hominids lost in the woods.”

Vibrant Disappearance will remain at Studio 22, located at 320 King St E, until July 3.

Right next to the main stage is local favourite ice cream and French fry place, L.A. Franks.

With the money you saved on free admission, go buy a milkshake then sit and enjoy the traditional folk music and the beautiful view of the river.

BEST CANADIAN LINEUP Riverfest (Elora, ON) Weekend Passes: $140 August 19-21 Canadian artists you don’t want to miss: Yukon Blonde, Wintersleep, Stella Ella Ola, Busty and the Bass, Young Rival, The Zolas

Busty and the Bass, pictured playing in Kingston last November, will be performing at Osheaga and Riverfest this summer.

Continued from page 8

WayHome has become one of the leading Canadian music festivals, in only one year.

Although they have strong headliners, the artists you don’t want to miss are the ones you’ll find further down on the poster.

Artists such as Lindsey Stirling, A Tribe Called Red and BØRNS are up-and-coming artists that are sure to make the experience worth the money.

BEST WEEKEND TRIP Osheaga (Montreal, QC) Weekend passes: $310 July 29-31 Canadian artists you don’t want to miss: Busty and the Bass, Coeur de pirate, Dear Rouge, July Talk, The Strumbellas, Grimes, Wolf Parade, Half Moon Run

If you know anything about Canadian music festivals, then you’ve probably heard of Osheaga.

Together with a strong lineup, the location in one of Canada’s top music driven cities provides a great experience all around.

Spend the day enjoying the music, art and comedy and then, once the music is done, explore the great city of Montreal.

This festival should make every student’s bucket list.

BEST UNIQUE EXPERIENCE Hillside Festival (Guelph, ON) Weekend passes: $146 July 22-24 Canadian artists you don’t want to miss: Choir! Choir! Choir!, Evening Hymns, Holy Fuck, Casey Mecija, PUP

Known for bringing in some of the most

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

up-and-coming names in Canadian music, Hillside is continuing its tradition.

Hillside is most unique for its collaboration sessions, where various underground artists will come together and play either planned or improvised sets. This is a festival like no other, where you get to see and hear some of the most unique collaborations in the music industry.

BEST FREE FESTIVAL Mill Race Festival (Cambridge, ON) Weekend passes: Free July 29–31

It’s unlikely you will recognize any of the names on the lineup (unless you’re really into traditional folk music), but Mill Race Festival is worth the trip to Cambridge, ON. Not only is it free admission, but it’s situated right on the Grand River.

If you’re heartbroken that Wolfe Island Music Festival was cancelled this year, then you should pack your bags and head out to Riverfest.

Many of the artists you’ll find at this festival are some of the best in the Canadian Indie music scene.

Riverfest is the perfect way to end the summer with some great music and camping.

BEST METAL FESTIVAL HEAVY MONTRÉAL (Montreal, QC) Weekend passes: $149.50 August 6-7 Artists you don’t want to miss: Nightwish, Mastodon, Animals as Leaders

For those who aren’t into pop and indie rock music, this festival is for you. Parc Jean-Drapeau, where Osheaga is held, turns into a metal fan’s dream only a week after Osheaga ends.

Although the lineup privileges international over Canadian artists this year, there are still some great acts to rock out to.

10 • queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

FEATURES ONLINE EDUCATION

Queen’s degrees: just a click away Online degrees connect new demographic of students to a university degree Mikayla Wronko Features Editor Like most Queen’s students, Jessica Guthrie-Mohsen comes from Ontario and had graduated from her high school with honours. Unlike most Queen’s students, Guthrie-Mohsen has never actually stepped foot on Queen’s campus.

A mother of two with another child on the way, Guthrie-Mohsen is completing her English degree online with Queen’s while traveling between Ontario and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Guthrie-Mohsen was originally enrolled to attend university right after high school. “But about two weeks before I was supposed to begin classes, I decided that’s not what I wanted so I packed up and left for Northern Africa,” she told The Journal via email.

After spending nearly two and a half years traveling Africa, Guthrie-Mohsen settled down and has been focusing on her new family. She has now made it her goal to get her degree and eventually teach overseas.

“Because our lives are spread out between two countries, I knew it would be impossible for me to stay somewhere for a minimum of three years to complete my degree. So when I began searching for online options, I was ecstatic when I found that Queen’s was offering online courses,” the 24-year-old said.

Guthrie-Mohsen is a part of a growing demographic of Queen’s students who obtain degrees from the school without ever physically attending the classes.

The number of off-campus online students at Queen’s has increased by 250 percent in the past three years, making it the fastest growing group of online students, Debbie Rogers, marketing and communications coordinator for Arts & Science Online told The Journal via email.

Rogers described the average off-campus student as typically female, around 26 to 35 years old, working full-time and with a family at home.

“Online learning is convenient to this student because they are looking to balance work, family, personal commitments and education,” Rogers said.

Until 1971, Queen’s required students to spend at least a year attending the University on-campus before being eligible to obtain a degree. Today, Queen’s online course catalogue has grown from only offering supplementary classes — to offering complete degree programs online.

Over the past three years, Queen’s has received $3.4 million from the Ontario Online Learning Consortium — a not-for-profit organization financed by the Ontarian government — to develop online courses. About $2 million of that amount was used to create 42 online courses within Arts and Science Online, which is now the main distance studies hub at Queen’s.

Religions. She converted the pre-existing on-campus course into an online format and has been redesigning it every couple of years since.

“When we first did the online course in 2007, I, at least, didn’t have any previous experience in teaching online and so it’s been a big learning curve for everyone, faculty and students alike,” LaGrone said.

ILLUSTRATION BY LEAH PETERSEN

Though she finds her courses enjoyable, Saunders joked that Moodle — the course management system Queen’s uses as a platform for its online education — is sometimes a hassle.

“I spent the first week just trying to access my courses because I had no idea how to work it or where to go or what Moodle even meant.”

“Initially, it was a stressor,” Saunders said. “I don’t think it is very intuitive.”

Saunders said that once she figured out how to use the website, she enjoys the flexibility offered with online learning and that she can balance the course with her career.

— Lynn-Ann Saunders, “I’ve always wanted to do more education, to get a degree and to better myself.” online student Two other online educators, Jeanne Promising students the same quality of The course has grown significantly over Mulder and William Racz are teaching PHAR education they would receive on campus, the years. At the beginning, students would 100: Introductory Pharmacology. Once a the University charges the same tuition for mail in their culminating essays for marking. course on campus, PHAR 100 is now only online students as those on-campus.

Now, they can debate each other online. offered online.

However, normally teachers are not paid The structure of the course poses Dr. Racz has taught in-class lectures at additionally for developing online courses. a unique plagiarism challenge to the Queen’s since the 1970s and said there is According to Beverly King, manager instructor. Unlike other online courses, a missing element of communication in of Continuing and Distance Studies, it’s RELS 131 doesn’t have a proctored exam, online courses. In his experience, Dr. Racz considered part of their regular work of which would require students to prove is better able to emphasize information or teaching, research and service. their identities. reiterate material for students by gaging Professor Danielle LaGrone is a religious To combat plagiarism, LaGrone said she their reactions in a live lecture setting. studies professor who was recruited to tries to keep the assignments as close to “That sometimes doesn’t come through design and repurpose RELS 131: World the material as possible. “I also change up as readily in an online course because the assignments all the time as a way to prevent students are not there and they’re not plagiarism from prior years, to prevent reacting to you,” he said. someone reusing a paper for example,” Dr. Mulder, however, said she has LaGrone said. been able to have a more personal LaGrone said she tries to make RELS relationship with some of the students in an 131 more interactive with every redesign online environment. of the course she implements. “It’s different “Whereas, especially in a first year course in the sense that a regular session class, a when you have an in-class of 200 to 400 TA – most often in tutorial – contribute their students, you don’t get to really know any own perspective a little bit more. That’s of their names. But in the online course, you harder in [an online course].” see them posting in the discussion forms, Lynn-Ann Saunders is one of LaGrone’s they email you one on one so it’s a little more students in RELS 131. Saunders has been an personal that way,” she said. aircraft mechanic with the Canadian Armed The professor also said she finds students Forces for seven years and is looking to use don’t miss information the same way they Queen’s online courses as a stepping stone can in a lecture setting since all the material for further education. is provided for the students to refer back to.

“Becoming an officer in the military, you Dr. Mulder had been able to continue to need to have a degree so that’s kind of my teach PHAR 100 while on maternity leave GR APHIC BY R ACHEL LIU next goal,” Saunders said. in Hamilton.

“I spent the first week just trying to access my courses because I had no idea how to work it or where to go or what Moodle even meant.”

News

Monday, June 6, 2016

queensjournal.ca

• 11

Illustrations by Kia Kortelainen | See full story online at queensjournal.ca/news

Dream Courses selected for fall semester M organ D odson Assistant News Editor

“Words in Place: Settler and Indigenous Stories of Kingston/ Cateraqui” was developed and will be taught by Laura Murray. The seminar course explores the Indigenous history of Kingston through archival materials, community conversations, memoir, poetry and artwork.

“Environment and Sustainability” was developed and will be taught by Allison Goebel, Stephen Brown, and Alice Hovorka.

The course gives a foundation of sustainability knowledge and what is needed to reach future environmental goals.

“Population and Global Health” was developed and will be taught by Dr. Lindsay Davidson and Dr. Melanie Walker. The class introduces students to the foundation of population and global health in relation to Indigenous history and culture better preparing students for difficult cases.

Greg McKellar retires after twenty-seven years

Previous AMS presidents share admiration for permanent staff member M organ D odson Assistant News Editor All good things must come to an end, eventually — and for decades of AMS leaders, the April 27 retirement of Greg McKellar was just that.

McKellar, the information officer for the AMS, served almost three decades since he was hired in 1989. In his role, McKellar acted as a liaison between Queen’s administration and the AMS. However, he also took it upon himself to provide guidance to the waves of students employed by the AMS over his 27 years.

The Journal spoke to past AMS Presidents who served during McKellar’s tenure, each of whom spoke about the unique impact McKellar’s dedication had on them.

Affairs Commissioner in her third hiring panel.

“He was the obvious choice for year, but never considered herself the position,” Nowlan said via email. “presidential material”.

McKellar, she says, gave her the Nowlan remembers McKellar distinctly as a person who confidence to run.

“As it turns out, my year as AMS was “incredibly enthusiastic and passionate” about a President was one of the most range of student-related and wonderful and formative years of my life,” she recalled. “I owe post-secondary-relevant issues.

During his first year, McKellar tremendous thanks to Greg for played a large role in the his mentorship”.

“Greg’s retirement is truly the restructuring of tuition funding, end of an era for the AMS,” she said.

Nowlan recalled.

Sarah Corman - Year 10

Michael Ceci - Year 20

McKellar had been in office for a decade when Sarah Corman, ArtSci ’00, was elected as the AMS President.

Corman spoke to how McKellar truly devoted his career to helping students and mentoring student leaders — going so far as to credit him with her presidency.

“It is doubtful that I would have ran for AMS President had it not been for Greg,” Corman told The Journal via email.

Corman explained that she had served as the AMS Municipal

Fast forward another ten years to 2009. Michael Ceci, ArtSci ’09, had just been successfully elected as the AMS President for the 2009-10 academic year.

Ceci’s term saw significant structural changes to the University’s administration with the hiring of Principal Daniel Woolf, two new vice-presidents and multiple other turnovers in senior staff.

Ceci explained that having McKellar was critical during this time of change. “Permanent

and training to prevent sexual violence on campus.

Lotan is the first to take on this On May 5, Queen’s announced the role at Queen’s as it was created hiring of its first dedicated Sexual as part of Queen’s official Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Assault Policy, which passed though Coordinator — Barbara Lotan. the University’s Board of Trustees Assuming her role on May 24, on March 4, 2016.

Lotan will now be the key point Lotan comes into the role of contact for students, staff and prepared with extensive faculty impacted by sexual assault experience in supporting survivors or violence. of domestic and sexual violence, as In addition to her role as a first well as managing sexual assault responder for survivors, Lotan is policies and programs. tasked with coordinating campusCurrently completing her wide education initiatives, support master of arts degree in conflict

studies at Saint Paul University, Lotan has accumulated several previous degrees and diplomas.

These include certification in police leadership from Dalhousie University, a B.A. in psychology and criminology from Carleton, and certification from the Canadian Institute of Conflict Resolution.

She has also been involved on an ongoing basis with the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Program at the Perth & Smiths Falls District Hospital.

However, concerns have arisen about whether the portfolio

Scott Nowlan - Year One

Scott Nowlan, ArtSci ’90, was there since day one with McKellar.

Serving as the AMS President at the time, Nowlan personally sat on McKellar’s

staff are part of the institutional memory,” he said.

McKellar helped to navigate the AMS hiring process, by working with executives to determine the necessary attributes and skills of incoming staff. He was, truly, “an invaluable resource” to Ceci and his council.

“He always acknowledged his role as an advisor. He never tried to push any agenda or undermine the students,” Ceci said. Ceci believes that this is what allowed the student leaders to achieve their full potential.

McKellar, to Ceci, was the most sincere example of “bleeding tri-colour”, especially during a time of change for Queen’s and its students.

Kanivanan Chinniah - Year 27

The last AMS President to have worked with the veteran staff member was Kanivanan Chinniah, ArtSci ’15, who was president for the past academic year.

“My own experience — and

that of countless others — would not be the same without Greg McKellar,” said Chinniah via Facebook message.

According to Chinniah, his staff relied on Greg’s “wisdom and insight” to make some of their most consequential decisions of the past year.

“His support and guidance on a variety of topics — particularly on our non-academic discipline regime — were second to none.”

Non-academic discipline was one of the more contested topics between the AMS and Queen’s administration over the past academic year.

However, what Chinniah admires most about McKellar is beyond just his knowledge of Queen’s and the AMS as organizations.

Rather, Chinniah echoed the sentiments of his predecessors: what he admires most about Greg was the deep and meaningful personal relationships he formed with AMS leaders, past and present.

Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator hired

M aureen O’R eilly Assistant News Editor

of the role is too large for a single individual.

In recent months, former AMS Social Issues Commissioner, Emily Wong, and former Rector, Mike Young, both expressed concerns to The Journal about whether one person will be enough to handle the delicate and taxing mandate of the job.

Lotan has worked in several fields that contribute knowledge to her new role at Queen’s, beginning as a Police Constable for the Perth Police Service from 1990-98.

Since then, Lotan has worked as

Got a tip? Email us. journal_news@ams.queensu.ca

a Child and Youth Worker with the Upper Canada District School Board, a Program and Public Education Coordinator with the Lanark County Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Program, and as a Public Education Coordinator with the TriCounty Sexual Behaviour Program in Lanark, Leeds & Grenville Task Forces.

Lotan was not available for media interviews, but has begun her work in the Human Rights Office on campus.

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Monday, June 6, 2016

SPORTS

Injuries, money and the future of football JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Weeks after being drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos, Doug Corby (number 23) retired from professional football at the age of 22.

Continued from front page

“But he attended the combine — did well at the combine and looked like he was interested.”

While Corby might seem like an outlier, going through the draft process just to retire before playing a single down of professional football, there are multiple plausible speculations for his decision.

According to Bucholtz, there have been a growing number of young retirees because of the CFL’s pay scale. If Corby was to have made the Eskimos, he would likely be paid the league minimum — $52,000.

While this is still a considerable sum, compared to salaries in the NFL — where the average yearly salary is $1.9 million — it’s incredibly low.

Furthermore, in a sport like football, where contact defines the game, it raises the question — how much money is it worth to risk potential health issues for a few years of football?

One of Corby’s major scouting question marks going into the draft was his health. While he doesn’t have a history of concussions he missed three games in his final year at Queen’s due to injury.

Bucholtz also identified a trend in the CFL where a majority young retirees have been Canadians. For Bucholtz, their outlook is much different compared to American

ROWING

GRAPHIC BY RACHEL LIU

players, who don’t see the minimum salary as a deterrent.

“A lot of the American players don’t really care what the conditions are exactly like in the CFL, they don’t care how much money they are making and so on, they are using it as what they hope is a shot to the NFL and a big contract,” Bucholtz told The Journal.

While Canadian players are retiring due to injury, they also have looked to life beyond football.

Ben Heenan — the first overall pick in the 2012 CFL draft — retired this April to pursue a career in farming. Just last year, running-back Steven Lumbala announced his retirement to take a better paying oil and gas job.

“When you consider what some of these very smart university-educated guys can make in other fields, and the rising amount of information we are learning what football can do to you, some people really think it’s not worth it,” Bucholtz said.

With the new information that comes out everyday on concussions and the potential long-term negative effects football has on players’ health, it’s understandable to see a guy like Corby step away from the game.

In the NFL, concussions have been a major factor in players’ retirement. Chris

Borland — a former middle linebacker on the San Francisco 49ers — was the first player to start this trend, when he retired one year into his career. Now in both leagues players are retiring before they’re forced to by career ending injuries or age.

“I think guys retiring young makes others consider that if they do really want to keep playing is it worth getting banged up,” Bucholtz said.

Corby also isn’t the first Queen’s player to retire before playing. In 2014, Sam Sabourin — a linebacker for the Gaels, ranked 12th by the CFL Scouting Bureau — informed the league he wouldn’t attend the combine to focus on school and other career pursuits.

Now, Sabourin is the strength and conditioning coordinator of the University of Waterloo’s football team.

As far as football goes, for now at least, the book is closed on Corby. As reported by The Journal last year, Corby plans to finish his degree at Queen’s in the winter semester of 2017.

While it may have come as a shock to many, Corby’s decision to walk away from football is starting to look like the new norm for athletes as they try to find a different life when the game is over.

Abusow dominates in Philadelphia Queen’s rower wins the largest collegiate regatta in North America

J oseph C attana Sports Editor After a year of disappointment and bad luck, Queen’s solo heavyweight rower Danielle Abusow needed a reminder of how far she had come.

Just last October at the Canadian University Rowing Championships she had lost her oar under her boat in the time trials, causing her to finish in last place.

Now, as she prepared for the final race of the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia on May 14, Abusow wrote “Earned Not Given” on her left hand to keep herself focused all the way through.

Even though she was 10 seconds faster than anyone else in the qualifying races, Abusow knew that anything can happen in one race.

“As soon as you think you have it before it’s over, someone is probably going to come up from behind you to beat you which it happens occasionally.”

For the 2,000 meter final, Abusow battled through windy conditions, focusing only on the writing on her left hand.

While Abusow knew she would have to be

more technical in her stroke to keep her boat from tipping, she knew the others were in the same situation.

“You pretty much have to stay calm,” said Abusow. “[Rowing] is a very big mental game, so you can be matched pretty evenly on a physical level as someone, but it takes a mental aspect to get to the next level.”

Abusow finished first by a 12 second advantage on her closest competitor.

Abusow believes that she pulled away from the pack at the 500 meter mark. With the water becoming clear for only a short period of time, Abusow pushed hard and used that momentum to propel herself to a 12-second victory.

It had taken a lot of work during the off-season to get to this point, she said, looking back.

Following her disappointment in October 2015 at the Canadian Championships, Abusow had to fight through a lingering back issue and the difficult weather situation in Kingston for on-water training — only allowing her to get on the water 10 times in the month leading up to the race — to get into shape leading up to the Dad Vail Regatta.

To take a fresh approach, Abusow decided

Abusow won the women’s single Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia earlier this month.

to change her usual off-season routine and in November teamed up with CrossFit Queen Street to work on her core strength.

While she saw improvements physically, Abusow saw the biggest change come to how she approached races.

“Before I would try to go as hard as I could in a race without a lot of strategy,” said Abusow. “I found that when I did the crossfit workout you needed a plan to do the workout, so I learned how to pace myself better and think more when I’m racing.”

For the entirety of her university career, Abusow raced as a lightweight rower. In this category, rowers must be under 130 pounds and weigh in at races. Citing it as being “mentally and physically taxing”, Abusow decided to make the shift to heavyweight rowing, where there are no restrictions.

SUPPLIED BY DANIELLE ABUSOW

In this open category, Abusow is often the shortest competitor. While the average rower is anywhere from 5’10 to 6 feet, this former lightweight rower is only 5’6. Despite the significant disadvantage in height, Abusow knew nothing would stop her from the change.

“The short people kind of get pushed away [from heavyweight rowing], but I’m the type of person who keeps going.”

“People always see [height] as an issue, but I look at it as I’m short and I’m going to try anyways.”

Going into her fifth year, Abusow looks to gain momentum from this win. Next for her is the Ontario Regatta in June.

She will finish her summer season with the Canadian Henley Regatta in the beginning of August.

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ALUMNI PROFILE

Dr. Scott Lynn leads golf biomechanics research Queen’s grad finds funding in Los Angeles

J oseph C attana Sports Editor Those who have golfed with a random partner before may know that often conversations on the course are there just to fill the awkward silence. But every now and then you come across someone worth listening to.

During his PhD in biomechanics at Queen’s — with a specific focus on knee arthritis — and as a member of the Queen’s golf team, Scott Lynn spent his summer weekends driving from Kingston to Toronto to play at his local course.

Arriving in the mid-afternoon, Lynn was often paired with the same insurance salesman.

By the end of the summer, the two had developed a friendly golfing relationship.

One conversation between the two still sticks out in Lynn’s mind.

“At one point during that summer he stopped and said, ‘you know I made a ton of money in insurance, but I hated every second of it. If I could go back and do something else — even if I make less money [I would]. You have to find something that makes work less like work’.”

In 2008, Lynn took the advice to heart, and decided that instead of looking for funding for research in knee arthritis, he would combine his passion for golf with his academic background and apply for research funding in golf biomechanics.

Unfortunately, he was rejected from every Canadian school he applied to. For Canadian schools, a sport that can’t be played year round doesn’t translate into profitable research. Instead of giving up, Lynn decided to look south of the border for funding.

After countless applications, the Toronto native is now an associate professor and researcher of golf biomechanics at California State

Dr. Scott Lynn (left) has worked with some of the world’s best golf coaches, including Sean Foley (right), who worked with Tiger Woods from 2010-14.

SUPPLIED BY SCOTT LYNN

“If I talk biomechanics to some golfers, it will paralyze them. If you are thinking about how the ground reaction forces are causing your pelvis to spin at a current rate, you might not be able to pick up the club anymore, there is too much going on in your brain.”

— Dr. Scott Lynn on preferring to work with coaches

University, Fullerton (CSUF).

With his research, Lynn hopes to achieve two things; to make the game safer and prevent injuries.

At CSUF, Lynn has been able to work in the school’s biomechanics lab. With both motion capturing cameras and force monitoring plates in the ground, Lynn can analyze 3D images and study

MULTI-SPORT ATHLETICS

people’s movements during their “If we try to teach everyone swing. Instead of overhauling the same thing we will probably someone’s swing, Lynn makes fuck up 90 percent of the people minor changes to avoid harmful we are trying to help,” Lynn said. body motions.

“Every single person is a new puzzle While it was once believed that to solve.” every golfer could be taught the Since moving out to Southern same swing, Lynn has deduced that California, Lynn has become a since every body is different, every leading researcher in the world new client needs a fresh approach. of golf biomechanics, working

with both Sean Foley and Chris Como — the former and current swing coaches of Tiger Woods.

While some would rather work directly with professional golfers, Lynn prefers to work with their coaches.

“If I talk biomechanics to some golfers, it will paralyze them,” Lynn said. “If you are thinking about how the ground reaction forces are causing your pelvis to spin at a current rate, you might not be able to pick up the club anymore, there is too much going on in your brain.”

“I can get all technical with the coaches without worrying that I will screw up the golfer, and let them figure out how to translate into a way for the golfer to understand.”

Lynn’s work goes beyond golf. From 2012-14, he helped the Los Angeles King’s training staff to create individual workout plans for the players. Currently, he is doing the same thing with the Anaheim Ducks.

While he does enjoy his time working with some of the world’s best athletes and coaches, Lynn wants to make the game easier on the casual golfer.

His most important client is the man who introduced him to the game — his father.

“My dad is 75 years old … he walks the course and carries his clubs five days a week in the summer,” Lynn said. If we can get more people [like that], look at the potential healthcare benefits.”

At the end of the day, Lynn hopes to make athletics easier for everyone.

“A study that came out said that walking a golf course is 10,000 steps on average, and most people say the average physical daily activity is 10,000 steps. To me, you have to disguise the exercise, make it not a chore.”

Keeping your options open Former Queen’s hockey player’s thesis on being a muti-sport athlete S ebastian B ron Staff Writer If you watched the NFL draft, you might have come across this staggering stat: 224 out of the 253 players selected (86 percent) played multiple sports in high school.

If that’s not striking enough, the number in the first round alone was even higher: 28 out of 31 (90 percent).

The NFL draft presents an interesting idea: could playing more than one sport actually help an athlete’s development instead of hindering it?

Yannick Laflamme, a UOttawa masters student in human kinetics and former Queen’s varsity hockey player, seems to think so.

In an article he wrote for SciencePerfo — a site dedicated to bridging science and sport —Laflamme highlighted the perils of early sport specialization and the overwhelming

benefits of sport diversification in young athletes.

The concept associated with sport diversification is that physical and cognitive abilities may develop more quickly by being involved in a multitude of sports.

Laflamme explained there is a potential crossover effect due to the diversity of the playing environments of different sports.

In other words, skills acquired from one sport are transferrable to another.

“By playing only one sport, an athlete will likely just learn the skills required for that sport,” he said.

For Laflamme, there are multiple examples to support his thesis: “In basketball an athlete will learn how to jump and throw, but just because they know how to jump and throw does not mean they can play good baseball —

because baseball requires more than both of those skills. For instance, in baseball, a player needs more hand-eye coordination than basketball. If the two are combined and played at a competitive level, the athlete’s intelligence is enhanced.”

Of course, he added, the more similar a sport is, the more the athlete uses the same skills — and the faster new skills are developed.

Moreover, the diversification method values playing over practicing because the more a young athlete enjoys competing, the more likely they are to continue playing sports later into their 20’s and 30’s.

“Playing brings a pleasure of the game to kids that practice does not,” Laflamme said. “When mature enough to specialize, the athlete is willing to dedicate

According to Laflamme, it’s beneficial to play two sports for athletic growth.

more effort on his sport of choice — so practice becomes more important and critical.”

In some cases, however, specializing is imperative in attaining athletic success.

Gymnastics and figure skating require an unparalleled

PHOTO BY AUSTON CHHOR

amount of physiological skills, Laflamme said.

The problem with single-sport specialization is that it seemingly blocks the potential of reaching your best athletic self.

See Dual on page 15

Sports

14 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Veronika Lavergne trades in NCAA for Gaels Tall expectations for 6’4” new recruit S arah O’F laherty Assistant Sports Editor

SUPPLIED BY BILL ZISKIN

It doesn’t often happen that a team gets a second chance on a recruit — but in the case of the Queen’s women’s basketball team, they’re pretty happy they did.

Earlier this month, Queen’s announced the signing of 6’4” post Veronika Lavergne — a player they originally tried to recruit out of high school who later opted to go to University at Albany (UAlbany) in the United States.

In her time on the NCAA Division 1 team, Lavergne saw limited action, playing in only the first 12 games of the season, averaging just over 10 minutes per contest, with 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.

Queen’s assistant coach James Bambury believes that the “cut-throat” NCAA experience was difficult on Lavergne, who dropped out of UAlbany in February.

“People’s jobs are on the line, people’s scholarships are potentially on the line, playing time is on the line and that tends to be held over everyone involved so there’s a lot more tension for individuals to perform than just the team,” he said.

Prior to signing with Queen’s, Lavergne stayed at home in Ottawa, helping out with her old competitive basketball team and training with a former coach of hers.

When she wasn’t in Ottawa, Lavergne would do the two-hour drive from Ottawa to Kingston,

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where she watched the Gaels play and practice.

With a wingspan of 6’7”, Lavergne’s physical attributes present the Gaels with a new opportunity to dominate the court this season, said Bambury.

“Those extra three inches [in height] and four or five inches in wingspan really create size matchups that no one we’ve had in the past five years has been able to create,” Bambury said.

Lavergne will also be bringing some important qualities to the team, separate from her stature.

“She’s a unique kid in general and a unique player on the court.

She’s got very good hands for her size, and she’s honestly a sponge, she’s constantly learning”.

For Lavergne, strong recruiting trips by Queen’s while she was in high school made a lasting impression. When it came time to pick a new school, she looked back on those meetings.

“I remember the team was so welcoming and everyone was so nice … everything about the whole experience was great,” she said.

While she’ll be focused on the court, Lavergne also knows she is gaining a valuable education.

“Academics have always been a big part of my life because it’s hard to get anywhere without an education and I really like learning, so Queen’s is a great place,” Lavergne said.

While her stats at UAlbany

don’t speak volumes about her success there, Lavergne believes she has taken a lot away from her one year at the NCAA level.

“I’m probably a lot more aggressive than I was and I am a lot more strong, physically and mentally. I’m a lot more balanced as a player.”

While Lavergne is excited about the upcoming season, there are some nerves associated with joining a new team as well.

The chemistry between a team’s players is often a factor in their success, a fact that Lavergne readily acknowledges.

“Chemistry is a big part of winning so with new faces this year it will be interesting to see how we blend as a team, but I think we will be able to,” Lavergne said.

While the season doesn’t officially start till October, Lavergne is excited to hit the ground running.

She joins guard Bridget Mulholland — a prized local recruit who turned down the NCAA for Queen’s — as well as a veteran core group of players to help Queen’s get back into CIS contention.

“I can’t wait to compete against all the other teams in the OUA because we are going to have a really strong group of girls coming back this year.”

SUPPLIED BY JASON SCOURCE

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• 15

Sports In Brief Trio of Gaels take part in 14th Annual East-West Bowl

Former Gaels fullback, Gleben, signs with CFL Lions

Former Queen’s rugby player is Rio bound

On May 14, top CIS football players from across the country travelled to McGill’s Percival Molson Memorial Stadium to play in the 2016 East-West Bowl. The fourteenth annual CIS All-Star game served as a platform for elite CIS players who will be eligible for the 2017 CFL Draft to showcase their skills.

While the 2015 edition of this showcase saw only two Gaels invited, this year Queen’s sent three players representing the East team in their 29-14 loss.

On the offensive side of the ball, third-year lineman Daniel Hayes played a role in the East’s producing 168 rushing yards, to which fourth year running back Jonah Pataki (right) contributed six yards on two rushing attempts.

On defense, fourth-year defensive lineman Zac Sauer registered one of the four sacks on the day for the East squad. Sauer led all Gaels this past season with 4.5 sacks, while also adding a forced fumble on the year.

Throughout JOURNAL FILE PHOTO the weekend, the student athletes were put through practices, team meetings and a combine, where Pataki tied for the highest vertical jump at the event at 37’.

Recent Queen’s graduate and former fullback of the Gaels football team, Justin Gleben, has traded in his tricolour for orange and black, signing with the CFL’s BC Lions this summer.

Gaels fans might remember Gleben as the player who scored the final touchdown of the Gaels 2014-2015 season. He was among ten other graduating Queen’s players to have attended CFL training camps.

The Barrie native spent five years at Queen’s, during which he was an effective blockingback. Gleben dressed for a total of 27 games, eight of which were during the 2015-2016 season.

During his time as a Gael, Gleben added an impressive 112 yards on his 10 receptions throughout his career and scored a touchdown all three times he was handed the ball in the backfield.

The role of the fullback is traditionally overshadowed by their speedy counterpart — the halfback or running back — but it’s one that provides essential plays in dire situations.

Fullbacks are used as a utility, blocking with the offensive line or using their entire body to punch the ball into the end zone from a short distance away.

Last season, the BC Lions had the second worst rushing attack in the league. The Lions will therefore likely look to Gleben to play an important role in opening holes for the team’s running backs to use effectively.

As Rugby Sevens makes its inaugural appearance at the fast approaching Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, former Gael Rose LaBreche (BSc. ’10), will make history as one of 12 women’s rugby match officials.

LaBreche is also representing Canada in this prestigious role as the sole Canadian Sevens match official — male or female. A keen rugby player herself, LaBreche was forced to give up playing the sport in 2011 due to a serious concussion.

2016 won’t be the first time rugby appeared at the Olympics — Rugby Union, the better known version of the sport that features 15 players on either team, previously appeared in the Olympic Games between the years 1900-24.

The most obvious differences between Rugby Sevens and Rugby Union are the number of players and the amount of game

— Bilal Shaikh

time. While the pitch remains the same size and the rules of the game remain the same, the technical and tactical aspects of the game differ greatly.

Sevens is a much faster paced and high energy game than the 80-minute Union game. With only 14 minutes of playing time in a match, there is little room for error on both the parts of the players and the officials.

This small window of game time means that the calls that officials like Labreche will make could have huge impacts on game outcomes.

The Queen’s Gaels rugby teams play Sevens primarily as a method of developing their player’s skills during the fall season.

The 2016 Summer Olympics begin on August 5 with the Rugby Sevens tournament running from the 6 to 11 with the women’s tournament occurring from the 6 to the 8.

— Sarah O’Flaherty

— Sarah O’Flaherty

University stadium renovations LeBreche (centre) was the lone Canadian selected to referee Rugby Sevens.

UOttawa

Penn State

McMaster

Michigan

Queen’s

VIP boxes added to Richardson revitalization checklist

20.57 220 43 8 93 Value in dollars (millions)

Dual sport athletes Continued from page 13

But if sport diversification is so widely accepted as the most effective way to develop an athlete’s cognitive skills, it certainly begs the question: why do so many multi-sport athletes discontinue playing two sports at the collegiate level?

While in high school multi-sport athletes have become the norm, in university they are scarce.

Director of High Performance and Sport Operations at Queen’s, Sean Scott, thinks the scarcity of multi-sport athletes in universities is a product of competing academic commands and a desire for a social life.

At Queen’s, the lack of multi-sport athletes is readily apparent.

Gill Pegg, a member of both the rugby and wrestling teams, is the only dual-sport athlete

in the school.

It was only after being cut from the women’s hockey team, Emma Chown was able to start for the rugby team. She wouldn’t have been able to play both sports at Queen’s, since their schedules overlap.

Laflamme credits this trend to time.

“Two-term sports draw a thick line between what you can and can’t do,” he said.

“Athletes on the basketball or hockey teams simply don’t have the time to do nordic skiing or ultimate frisbee.”

The days of successful dual-sport athletes in both college and the pro levels have likely faded, but that shouldn’t limit young kids from participating in different sports to achieve their true athletic potential.

At a Board of Trustee’s meeting in May, a motion to increase the budget of the Richardson Stadium revitalization by $300,000 was approved, adding VIP seating to the construction agenda.

With the budget now at $20.57 million, four VIP boxes have been added to the plan — with two on either side of the press box.

While they were not in the final budget, Associate Vice-Principal (Facilities), John Witjes said in an email to The Journal that the VIP boxes were originally envisioned as part of the revitalization project, however, they were removed due to budget restraints.

SUPPLIED BY RUGBY CANADA

To include this aspect in the greater stadium revitalisation, Stu Lang — the lead donor on the project — gave an additional donation, allowing the University to integrate them into the official plan.

Witjes said the VIP boxes will help to attract major sporting events and concerts.

“They are a valuable asset in a modern stadium and will enable Athletics and Recreation to host additional events that may not have been attracted to our venue without them,” Witjes said.

Currently Richardson stadium is on-track for its major opening on September 17 when the Gaels will host the Western Mustangs.

— Joseph Cattana

16 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

LIFESTYLE TRAVEL DIARIES

Celebrating the King’s birthday in Amsterdam Orange clad partiers fill the city streets for Kings Day A udrey R ott Contributor “Gelukkige verjaardag!” is the phrase I was awoken to as people sang down the halls of the Maastricht Guesthouse. It means “happy birthday.” Since arriving in the Netherlands in January, my friends and I had all been anxiously awaiting the Koningsdag — or King’s Day. On April 27, locals and tourists alike flock to Holland’s biggest cities, dressed from head to toe in orange — a colour that does few complexions justice — to drink and celebrate the birthday of the ruling Dutch monarch, King Willem-Alexander.

There is an unwritten rule stating that Amsterdam is the party central of Koningsdag. Being the carouser Queen’s exchange students we are, it was only natural for my friends and I to hop on the train to the capital.

As financially strapped exchange students nearing the end of our time abroad, we decided to approach Koningsdag in a slightly unconventional manner. Instead of booking an expensive hostel in the heart of Amsterdam, we opted, ambitiously, to take the two-and-a-half-hour train journey to Amsterdam the morning of and return on the last train back that night.

Our morning began with a 7 a.m. wake up call, which was a lot easier than expected due to our sheer excitement for the festivities that lay ahead. Dressed the color of the Dutch royal family hailing from the House of Orange, we made our way to the train station.

The Koningsdag party began on

the usually dull and dreary train ride to Amsterdam Central Station.

Most seats of the train were full of party-goers playing music and singing songs in anticipation.

As the train pulled into Amsterdam Centraal, the singing got louder and the crowds got larger. Everyone piled out of the train and entered the bustling streets of Amsterdam that were closed to traffic for the day.

Amsterdam was a city alive.

The enormous masses of orange clad, slightly-merrier-than-normal crowds transformed the usually tranquil city into the largest buzzing urban party I’d ever seen — imagine a slightly dispersed St. Paddy’s day celebration on Aberdeen Street in Kingston.

The Amsterdam canals were congested with boats full of partygoers blaring music and the Red Light district full of wide-eyed tourists.

On Koningsdag, it is legal for all people to sell their goods on the streets without a permit, transforming each street into a large marketplace that felt rather like a mass good ol’ Canadian garage sale.

I put my expert bargaining techniques I’d learned in the Florence Leather Market earlier during my exchange to the test, purchasing a bright orange ‘I Love Amsterdam’ T-shirt for only four euros.

For the two weeks approaching Koningsdag, the weather networks had called for thunderstorms and overcast weather. But the weather forecasts proved once more to be reliably unreliable and it didn’t rain once.

Street parties in Amsterdam for Koningsdag — or King’s Day.

Koningsdag began in the late 19th century as an attempt to try and unify the Netherlands through a national holiday. The first ‘Prinsessedag’ or Princess’ Day celebrated the four-year-old Princess Wilhelmina.

Each year, the royal family celebrates the festivities in a different city. This year the family spent the day in Zwolle, a city an hour northeast of Amsterdam,

but the King and Queen made their way back to the capital in time for the after parties.

Unfortunately for us, we didn’t run into the famous monarch, but were told by our friends that he enjoyed a night of celebrating with world acclaimed Dutch DJs: Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano.

There was no shortage of events to attend on Kingsday. Following the morning’s festivities, at around

SUPPLIED BY AUDREY ROTT

4 p.m. some exchange students hopped on the tram to attend music festivals slightly outside the city.

I chose an electronic, deep house and techno festival, the Bakermat festival at the Sloterdijk train station, just outside Amsterdam. I came away from the concert thinking that the Dutch are very tall, but know how to party.

The highs and lows of being a camp counselor The drawbacks of working at a summer camp don’t necessarily outweigh the benefits

SUPPLIED BY ASHLEY RHAMEY

A shley R hamey Assistant Lifestyle Editor I open my eyes to find a seven-year-old poking my shoulder and asking me to take her to the bathroom. It’s 6 a.m. and the beginning of my workday.

When we return to the two-room cabin where we live with 12 other seven-year-olds and my counseling partner the day is already in full swing.

I scramble to get my giggling, largely non-compliant campers dressed and covered in sunscreen and bug spray in 20 minutes — something most parents or babysitters could tell you is impossible. We

arrive at the dining hall miraculously with seconds to spare.

Sound a bit frantic for a Sunday morning in June? It’s just a day in the life of a camp counselor, a summer job different from any other.

You might have heard that while other university students are building their resumes with internships and field-specific summer jobs, camp counselors spend their summers hanging out and playing with kids.

Don’t believe it. Working with children outside all day can be the more appealing choice in comparison to a mundane desk job, but it certainly isn’t free of challenging work.

While camp offers many positive

experiences, it’s important to know what an inclusive social environment where you you’re getting yourself into, the good and the can grow. bad — and the ugly.

I started my first year as staff at a summer camp terrified that I was too shy and Community inexperienced to succeed. I felt overwhelmed by all the fun, interesting people I met my My friends back home will likely have a first day and was convinced I would fade knee-jerk reaction of groaning for the rest into the background. of their lives when they hear the phrase I The opposite happened. I was valued begin far too many stories with: “This one for my quiet personality rather than simply time, at camp …” told to be more out-going. What I had But I can’t help it. Experiencing what is perceived as a personal flaw was turned into affectionately referred to as ‘camp culture’ a strength. forges stronger bonds between staff than My camp friends are friends that I can’t your average colleagues. It’s not a cabin in See help on page 17 the woods that people are returning to, it’s

LIFESTYLE

Monday, June 6, 2016

help keeping. We spend 8 - 10 months of the year apart, but come back each year as if we left for a weekend. Weirdness is encouraged, odd talents are made famous, and not a day goes by that a kid doesn’t say something wildly inappropriate and we laugh so hard we cry.

Personal Growth

coming back to you.

In high school, I picked up a habit of pretending not to care about things to avoid embarrassment. At camp, I was pushed to let people know what I liked and what I was good at as an example to the children, who were so easily influenced by my attitude. In doing so, I had to put away my insecurities.

At camp, I achieved so many personal goals: speaking to over 300 people at once, making life-long friends in a place I didn’t know a soul, portaging a canoe all on my own.

The focus of the job is always to help the kids have fun and learn independence, confidence, and social skills. All of the positivity directed at them has a way of

A few of my friends and I once worked out from our paychecks that we were getting paid under minimum wage. After a little research, we discovered Ontario summer camps are legally exempt from paying students minimum wage because they are hosting their employees.

Because they were technically paying my living expenses, my pay was dismal in

Continued from page 16

The Pay Problem

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• 17

comparison to some of my friends who opted carelessness can be catastrophic. to spend their summers working in the city.

As a new camp staff member, I had trouble learning to put the kids first.

High Stress Babysitting Sometimes when a kid is homesick at 2 a.m. pushing it onto someone else is an appealing The majority of summer camp counselors way of coping with the stress. in Ontario are teenagers and university and Summer camp has always seemed like a college students on their summer break. different planet. Each year the staff becomes From the outside, such a young demographic tightly knit and the constant activity that can make the job seem trivial. comes with running around with a bunch of But anyone who takes the job under kids makes for some great days. There are the assumption that it will be relaxing will certainly, however, bad days.

Working with kids gives me plenty of be shocked at how much physical and mental stamina it really takes. Camper opportunities to just be one again too at a populations can be in the hundreds, time in my life when adulthood is looming. leading to a ton of running around and the The responsibility I was given, however, occasional crying-into-your-pillow pity meant that I really became more of a grown-up than I ever thought I could be. party for counselors.

The more kids at the camp, the more possibility for accidents and medical emergencies as well so just one moment of

TRAVEL DIARIES

Exchange misadventures Among the ups, the downs of studying abroad The wrong bread at the wrong time Traveler: Lara Liebovitz Abroad in: Milan, Italy Comm ’17

A series of unfortunate events Traveler: Alan Wren Abroad in: Maastricht, Netherlands Comm ’17

It all started on what was supposed to be a quiet final Saturday night in London, where I had spent the weekend visiting friends.

I had an early flight the next morning, so the plan was to grab a few drinks and call it quits fairly early. But, one thing led to another and next thing I knew I was cabbing home in the early morning, more than a little bit tipsy.

Fast forward a few hours and four slept-through alarms. I was still in London and my plane was long gone. Adding insult to injury, I discovered I’d lost my credit card at some point the previous night.

I used my debit card to book a new return flight and, with a confirmation email received, I said goodbye to my friends and headed for Heathrow Airport.

Upon getting off the metro at Heathrow and heading up the escalator, I checked my pockets only to realize my phone was no longer there. My only hope was to ask a metro employee to see if my phone was on the train at the next stop.

I spent the next 10 minutes freaking out until, thankfully, I was told they had my phone one stop down the line.

After this stressful detour, I headed to check in and put this whole experience in my rearview mirror. However, when I arrived at the check-in desk, I was informed that my flight booking did not go through, despite getting an email that said it had.

So, not only did I not have a flight home, but I now had no way to access money — my debit card was blocked when I tried to purchase the new flight ticket.

Sitting alone in Heathrow and about three seconds away from a full on mental breakdown, I got a message from my housemates back at Queen’s asking if I wanted to FaceTime.

Now, the only positive of this story is that after hearing my dilemma my unreal housemate, Connor, offered to buy me a

SUPPLIED BY ALAN WREN

plane ticket back to Brussels. Quite a few hours later and a few more hundred dollars lighter than expected, I was on my way home.

I landed late at night in Brussels to discover that the trains back to Maastricht, where I am on exchange, had stopped running for the night — not that I even had enough money to buy a ticket. But Connor saved the day once again and bought me a train ticket home for the next morning.

The trains didn’t start running again until 7 a.m. and after the flight mishap I was worried about missing it. I avoided going to sleep and spent the next nine hours watching movies on my laptop. The next morning I headed to the trains, ridiculously ready to just get home I then discovered that my housemate accidentally booked a train from Brussels Central Station, not Brussels Airport — where I actually was — so I needed to buy a ticket to Central Station.

However, thinking that my train was paid for, I had spent my last 10 euros on dinner the previous night.

After asking complete strangers, I gathered the five euros needed to get to Central Station and I was on my way. All I had left to do was catch two connecting trains and I would be home.

Now, keep in mind that over the entirety of this story I had gotten only a few hours of sleep. Of course, given the current state of my luck, I fell asleep on the train and woke up one stop past my connection. I figured I would be able to backtrack.

On the way back, a ticket checker came by and she told me I had to buy a ticket for the one stop, despite me explaining my situation and informing her I did not have any money.

Luckily, the man sitting across from me offered to pay for my ticket, or else I don’t know what I would have done.

Fortunately, this time I stayed awake and made my connection. Finally back in Maastricht, almost a full 24 hours later than intended, my nightmare was over.

I was very selective when deciding where I would go on exchange because of my peanut/ nut allergy. I had to stay far away from Asia due to the strong language barrier and because most dishes there are cooked with peanuts. Everyday would be a constant battle for a bite to eat.

Coming to Milan, I was very careful about what was in the pastas and pizzas I was eating and definitely steered clear of gelato.

I would inform the waiter of my allergy before ordering and they were typically accommodating.

Milan is different from other Italian cities as most people don’t speak English there.

Despite the language barrier, I learned how to say “I am severely allergic to peanuts and nuts” in Italian: “Sono gravemente allergico alle arachidi e noci.”

In 20 years of having a peanut allergy, I have never had a reaction nor used an Epipen.

One day in Milan, three friends and I went to bakery. The waiter hadn’t taken our order yet, but put down some bread and veggies to snack on while we waited.

The bread was whole grain and appeared okay from the outside, so, I took a bite. I noticed a big, yellow seed in the middle of the slice, put the bread down and continued on with the veggies.

After an amazing meal, the four of us went to the Sforza Castle. We hung out all day and as we were ready to leave — five hours post eating the mysterious bread — I began to feel sick. I started coughing, thinking

something was stuck in my throat.

As we went into the subway, I began to have a heat flash. My face got very red and I began to burn up. I was scared.

We went out of the subway to get fresh air, but just as I started to feel better, hives began forming across my neck.

My two new exchange friends began to worry. They asked me what I would typically do if this ever happened and I honestly had no idea.

I began to look for a pharmacy for Benadryl but it being a Sunday everything was closed.

After about 10 minutes the hives began to spread.

At this point I started realizing it must be an allergic reaction. This seemed weird to me considering I hadn’t eaten for around five hours. I had been taught that if I were anaphylactic the reaction would hit me right after contact with the nut.

My friend Amanda called an ambulance for me and it arrived within minutes. I was breathing the whole time and my heart rate was fine. They gave me adrenaline in the ambulance and my hives were gone soon after. I felt 100 percent better and was only sent to the hospital for a quick checkup.

It may sound crazy, but I took this as a positive experience. Having never had a reaction before, I now know what it’s like.

I also know to double check any bread before eating it because something so simple can be so dangerous.

I was in a big city, with many hospitals within a few kilometers, doctors who spoke English and two amazing new friends who helped me when I needed it most.

See Stories on page 18

SUPPLIED BY LARA LIEBOVITZ

LIFESTYLE

18 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 6, 2016

Stories from studying abroad

Continued from page 17

A first class surprise

Traveler: Chloe Chan Abroad in: Aarhus, Denmark Comm ‘17

I came out of the flight bathroom from the back of the plane and carefully maneuvered my way to my seat. As I approached my row, a flight attendant captured my attention with her serious, stone-cold expression.

“Come with me,” she mouthed out, as her hand gestured me to walk towards her.

Puzzled and slightly intimidated, I followed her to just outside the cockpit.

“The old man sitting directly next to you,” she said, in a concerning tone. “He wet his pants. We have already perfumed the area and did our best to clean up.”

I felt very sorry, yet I could not formulate a verbal response. Not knowing how to react appropriately, I stood there blankly like a deer in headlights.

say in that order. Losing any of these three is panic-inducing and a great way to put a damper on an awesome trip.

I was having fun in the Ukraine with over a week left to go on my travels and no return ticket booked when my phone died. No matter what I did, the only sign of life I’d get was the Apple logo tantalizing me for a few seconds before fading to black again.

So, for my communication with the outside world, not to mention much of my entertainment, I was left with a fairly old and somewhat cranky iPad mini whose storage was so full that I soon didn’t even have enough space to take a picture. Yes, for a while I was that idiot taking pictures with his iPad. This was an acceptable substitute, but was rather unwieldy at times.

To add insult to injury, a series of screw-ups left me with about 36 hours with nothing to do before leaving Lviv for Kiev.

By the time I’d trudged through the pouring SUPPLIED BY CHLOE CHAN rain and collapsed on my bed in Ukraine’s “Would you like to move up to one of our capital, I was not in the best mood.

Of course, that’s a great time to find out first class seats?,” she asked.

Pleasantly surprised, I immediately that your credit card has been cancelled. I nodded. I walked back to my row and hadn’t used it much because I knew there was reached over the soiled aisle seat to swiftly gather my belongings. I never thought I would have the luxury of being in the first class cabin as a broke student.

With only 15 minutes flying time left, the complimentary upgrade was a short lived but enthralling experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the gloriously spacious leg room, premium plush seat and extra friendly service.

Needless to say, one man’s misfortune had an unexpected benefit for my travels.

a chance of it being compromised. But even with being careful, it didn’t matter.

So, I had to rely on cash. No problem, other than those pesky withdrawal fees. But relying on cash becomes a big problem when you only have 7 hryvnia, equaling less than 50 cents in your wallet and the first six ATMs you go to don’t accept your bank card.

Finally, I found one that worked, but I became understandably paranoid for the rest of the trip. I’d find myself unable to withdraw money and be stranded with minimal cash in my wallet. In Moldova, it took me three tries before I was able to get money, so these fears weren’t unfounded.

My phone dying and my credit card being cancelled within less than 48 hours of each other was not a fun experience. Luckily, the last of the holy trinity, the passport, held up its end of the bargain and is now home to a lot more stamps than it was a few months ago.

Crazy stuff happens when you’re on exchange, but I’ve learned to take it in stride — it’s all part of the experience and you’ll be left with some great stories to tell.

Two out of three is bad

Traveler: Spencer Belyea Abroad in: Edinburgh, Scotland ArtSci ’17

Money, passport and phone.

Those are three of the most important things to have when you’re travelling and I’d

SUPPLIED BY SPENCER BELYEA

HEALTH

Fats are friends, and food Breaking down the truth about fats in a way that won’t leave you hungry M eghan B hatia M onica M ullen Contributors

and

What if we were to tell you fats are your friends! Wait, what?

That doesn’t make sense. Are you confused yet? Well, the science around fats sure is.

Between old studies being retracted, new studies constantly being published and Dr. Oz announcing another super food every week, keeping up with

dietary trends can definitely be overwhelming. There are many misconceptions out there, so we’ve broken down the studies for you.

Here are the essential fat facts broken down and explained using fats as relationships. Disclaimer: Most foods have a mixture of fats in them, but certain types dominate.

Let’s use the on-again-off-again relationship to represent transsaturated fat aka trans fat, the fat found in fried foods, baked goods,

margarine and anything with hydrogenated oils.

Some may say it’s obvious that unstable relationships aren’t a good idea, just like science strongly implies that trans-saturated fats are unhealthy for you. But, no matter how many times we end up with a stomach ache, we still fantasize about deep fried food and convince ourselves that this time the relationship is going to be different.

The next divide isn’t quite as

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

clear, but stay with me as I try to explain how the couple who lives on the same floor in residence is like unsaturated fat, which is commonly found in avocados, fatty fish, nuts, seeds and different kinds of oil.

Previously, science has said that unsaturated fats were good for you and this became commonly accepted knowledge.

Meeting a guy or girl who lives just down the hall seems like the perfect arrangement, at first. But, before long, the don starts warning you that floor relationships may not be a good idea, just like how scientists are now starting to cast doubt on the health benefits of unsaturated fats.

Which leaves us with the longdistance high school relationship and saturated fat, found in cheese, butter, beef, pork, chicken and tropical oils. The high school long distance relationship is what we have no consensus on: is it good, is it bad, will it last? Your friends and you debate whether or not it will work out, but you just never know. The science against saturated fat is also double guessing itself.

Assigning a fat to either of these relationships is not an exact comparison, which is only fitting

since the science around which fats are good for you is so ambiguous and divided.

We know our body needs fat to survive. However, the jury is still out on saturated fats versus unsaturated fats, which is a debate most people tend to think was settled ages ago.

Personally, we would’ve thought of saturated fats as unhealthy before researching this topic and this may or may not be true.

Yet, coconut oil is very high in this type of fat and is often seen as a better substitute to butter, which only goes to show what a health fad can do. The one thing currently agreed upon is to avoid trans fat.

We’ve made a meal filled with lots of fats and they taste pretty good, so we sure hope they’re not bad!

Check out their recipe on page 19

LIFESTYLE

Monday, June 6, 2016

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• 19

BUSINESS ADVICE

Business Basics: Mortgage Loans Begin your preparation for adulthood with a guide to the housing market

SUPPLIED VIA FLICKR

S ammy Z ucker Contributor

Most mortgage loans have five-year terms but it isn’t expected that you will repay the principal amount fully during that five-year Overheard in Leonard cafeteria: students period. It would be almost impossible unless talking about purchasing a house you won the lottery or received an inheritance. on Aberdeen.

They were discussing how renting a house The Amortization Period was a dumb idea, concluding it would be a much wiser investment to purchase a house For this reason, mortgage loans are rather than paying rent to a landlord and amortized over a longer period than the term having nothing to show for it. It was a no of the loan. The amortization period is the brainer, they agreed. They would all go to a period of time that it will take you to pay off local Kingston bank tomorrow and apply for your loan completely. a mortgage.

The longer the amortization period, the Little did they know how complex lower the amount you will have to pay the mortgages really are — let me tell you why. bank on an annual basis. But in the end, you Gone are the days when house prices will pay more interest as the principal amount represented a small multiple of your annual is outstanding for a longer period of time. income. That’s where mortgage loans come So, let’s go back to a house that those into play. overheard students wanted to buy.

Let’s assume the house is listed for Down Payments $499,000, a realistic price for a house in the University District. .

The first thing you will need to consider Let’s say they have $25,000 lying around when buying a home is how much of a to meet the minimum five percent down down payment you can afford. That is, how payment and the bank loans them the balance, much cash of your own do you have to plus the mortgage insurance, as this is a high purchase a house. ratio mortgage.

The size of the down payment you can They then obtain a five year variable rate afford will affect the type of mortgage you mortgage with a 25 year amortization period can get. In Canada, there are two types of and an interest rate of 2.6 percent. mortgages: conventional mortgages where Their monthly mortgage payments would you pay a down payment of at least 20 be around $2,200 percent of the purchase price; or a high At the end of the five year term they ratio mortgage where you can only afford a would’ve paid the bank around $60,000 in smaller down payment. interest all told and they would still owe about High ratio mortgages are more risky $400,000, that would presumably, take the loans for banks, so they require you to next 25 years to pay back. obtain mortgage insurance and to pay the While $2,200 per month may not seem insurance premiums. like a lot to buy a house compared to paying rent, they would also have to pay home Mortgage Loans insurance, property taxes and some amount for maintenance and repairs.

A mortgage loan is similar to any other loan in that there are four variables; (i) Loan to Value (LTV) the principal amount of the loan; (ii) the interest rate; (iii) the term; and (iv) the When reading mortgage loans, the term amortization period.

Loan to Value (LTV) is frequently mentioned.

LTV is the amount of money being The Principal loaned against the value of the property. This metric is used by banks to help assess the The amount of money that the bank is risk of their loan. The higher the LTV, the prepared to loan you is called the “principal” riskier the loan. amount of the loan. The principal amount of Let’s use an example of a property that is the loan together with your down payment valued at $100,000 and compare a 60 percent would form the top end of your housing LTV to an 80 percent LTV. purchase budget, or the amount of money If the LTV is at 60 percent, the bank is you have to spend on a house. prepared to lend you $60,000 and if the LTV is 80 percent, the bank is prepared to lend The Interest Rate you $80,000.

In the 80 percent LTV situation, the bank Banks are not in the business of lending is taking a greater risk. If the value of the money without something in return. This property is reduced by 20 percent or more, “return” is the interest that you will pay to the their principal will be at risk. bank on your loan.

Whereas in a 60 percent LTV situation, Mortgage loans have the lowest rate of the bank has a much greater cushion. The interest for borrowers because the risk of the property would have to lose 40 percent or bank losing money if you default is very low. more of its value for their principal to be at risk. To account for this higher risk, the The Term bank will charge a higher interest rate for an 80 percent LTV loan than a 60 The term of the loan is the period during percent LTV loan. which the loan is outstanding, at the end of Now you can confidently walk into a bank which you will have to pay the bank back the to talk to them about a mortgage loan. principal amount remaining.

Fat for days and parsley three ways Continued from page 18

Lemon parsley salmon, whole wheat couscous, olive tapenade and avocado salad.

High fat foods include salmon, avocado, and olives.

Lemon Parsley Salmon 4 salmon filets 4 - 7 lemon slices ¼ cup parsley, chopped 1 tsp garlic Salt and pepper to taste Olive oil

Top salmon with all other ingredients and bake on a lined pan in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Whole Wheat Couscous

1 cup whole wheat couscous 2 cups boiling water ½ lemon, juiced and zested ¼ cup parsley, chopped ½ tsp salt

Put couscous in a pan and add 2 cups of

boiling water. Cover with the lid and let stand for 10 - 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Mix in lemon juice, zest, parsley and salt.

Olive Tapenade

½ cup mixed kalamata and green olives 1 tsp garlic

Blend together in a food processor, magic bullet or another means of getting a fine paste!

Avocado Salad

½ cup tomato, diced ½ an avocado, diced 1 tbsp red onion, finely diced ½ tsp salt and pepper 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Mix ingredients in a bowl and let stand in fridge until the rest of the meal is done. Then add to some spinach or your favourite green for a tasty salad.

We hope you enjoy and leave a little room for fat in your life!

GRAPHICS BY RACHEL LIU

20 •queensjournal.ca

LIFESTYLE

POSTSCRIPT

Monday, June 6, 2016

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

When the bird leaves the nest

Moving into a single room apartment can mean learning how to be alone for the first time VISHMAYAA JEYAMOORTHY Staff Writer This summer, I officially moved out of my parents’ house, because I’m not a child anymore ... right?

Welcome to adulthood; turns out the whole adult-at-18 thing is a lie and I have no idea what I’m doing.

I thought I would be okay, I decided to stay in Kingston this summer. No school, no obligations, no one to answer to — this being independent thing was going be amazing. I love my parents but after spending the school year living away from them, I wasn’t ready to go back. I was ready to live alone!

Except I wasn’t.

Since returning to Kingston after a post-exams visit to my parents, I’ve managed to screw something up every day — all by myself.

Opening the door to my apartment for the first time in three weeks, I was greeted by the Arctic temperature in my house — the heat had been turned off, and despite the warm weather, my house was still ridiculously cold. There has to be some irony in the fact that I’m wearing flannels in my house to stay warm in June when I wore shorts in the middle of December.

Comfort aside, living alone has been pretty sweet — I never have to worry about annoying my housemate with my music or the dishes I tend to leave in the sink. The downside of my housemate leaving is that sometimes I get a little paranoid, alone at night.

Just last week I thought I heard someone trying to break into my house. As I hit the floor and crawled to the bathroom, the only room that has a lock in my house, I shakily dialled 9-1-1. I was about to hit the call button when I heard a decidedly inhuman scratching noise at the window. After briefly considering and discarding the possibility that aliens actually were real, I gathered up my courage and peeked out the window to find a noisy family of squirrels having a grand old time on my veranda.

Let’s have a moment of silence for all the years the squirrels managed to scare off my life.

I’d consider myself a pretty self-sufficient person; I’ve more or less managed to feed and dress myself during the school year. I’m a whiz at stain removal, and I make excellent salad dressing. And yet, living alone was proving to be a series of ongoing disasters.

What is it about the summer that makes everything so much harder?

Living on my own is a very new and scary idea for me — it’s really something I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do. I have a very large family that is also very supportive — so much so that the line between being supported and being sheltered becomes a little fuzzy. When I came to Queen’s, I left home without having a lot of basic life skills because my parents took care of things for me.

While I’m extremely grateful, I’m starting to wish that I had learned more of those skills when my parents offered to teach. For example, cooking lessons with Amma (that’s my mom) would have been great during the week that I went through box after box of KD — I would have saved myself from a lot of unnecessary heartburn.

But no matter how poor my diet gets over the summer, the independence of living on my own means a lot to me. I’ve be able to make decisions for myself, and though I keep screwing up, there are lessons to be learned that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

Just yesterday I learned how to use a plunger! I might have had to call my dad — twice — to figure it out, but I did it, and you better believe I’m proud of myself.

Even more than learning new home repair skills, living alone has given me the confidence to depend on myself. I’m learning to trust myself to take care of any problem that comes my way.

For example, last night, I walked home by myself after dark. I’ve never done that before, but I was forced to be brave enough to do that. This summer, I’m the only person I can rely on for the day-to-day things that need to be done.

Living alone, I get to make my own choices, no matter how productive they are (or aren’t). Last week, I didn’t leave my bed until 3 p.m., and that

was only because I was hungry. I finally have time to go out with friends because I’m not juggling school with work and extracurricular activities anymore. I learned that now is the time for me to enjoy my new social life away from home.

One of the most important lessons I’m learning from this summer is that there is a difference between being alone and being lonely. I’m the type of girl who always makes plans with friends because I never enjoyed my own company before. One of the things I love most about my big family is that there is always someone to turn to for company.

However, if there’s anything I’ve truly been forced to do this summer, it’s make peace with the fact that sometimes I can’t surround myself with other people.

By learning how to be alone without being lonely, I’ve become a person who will be fine by herself. In Sri Lanka — where I’m from — it’s not uncommon for girls, even those who are educated and working and living their best lives — to go from their father’s house to their husband’s house. I always planned to make time for myself in between those places and I’m starting to realize, that time is now.

In some ways, I’m more responsible; I always know where my keys are, and I always check that the stove is off. For all that living alone feels like, with all its disasters, I’m having a good time. If anything, I’ll walk away from this summer with some good stories and a new ability to handle some truly absurd situations — not a bad trade off.

I’m on the cusp of adulthood right now. This summer, I have and will continue to learn a lot about my true capabilities, now that I’m making the decisions my family used to make for me.

My family is still with me in other ways. What they’ve given me is more than their company; they’ve given me the morals and values I need to go forward into the world. They’ve given me all the tools I need to realize the expectations they have for me. It’s my own coming-of-age story, and I’m going to figure it out soon — I just hope that I do before I run out of KD.