The Queen's Journal, Volume 145, Issue 13

the journal Vol. 145, Issue 13

Queen’s University

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

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1873

Students invited to give input for future JDUC designs Revitalization project advances after years of work, negotiations with the University ongoing PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Students gathered in protest at the corner of University and Union on Thursday.

Students organize protest demanding anti-racism action from administration Eyes on Diversity and Equity Coalition brings list of demands to administrative buildings M aureen O’R eilly News Editor

M aureen O’R eilly News Editor After five months of consultations with students and the University about a potential redevelopment of the JDUC, the AMS launched a website on Monday inviting students to provide suggestions for the future building’s design.

The website features a short informational video about the goals of the JDUC redevelopment.

With a focus to make the building a more accessible, inclusive and modern space for students, the site also offers a survey where students can give suggestions for the future design of the building.

According to the AMS executive team, launching this website indicates significant progress on a project years in the making.

This Thursday, the corner of University and Union saw a heated protest from students of colour directed at the University administration.

Called the Eyes on Diversity and Equity Coalition, this newly formed group gathered and demanded the University administration be held accountable for their promises to combat racism on campus.

The group yielded signs with messages like “What time is it Mr. Woolf?” and wore t-shirts that read “Barry + Henry + DARE + DET + Woolf…? #175yearsofracism.”

Parodying a traditional ArtSci

Orientation Week cheer, one student asked the group “How do we feel?” to which they replied, “We feel so tired, oh we feel so tired, oh!”

The coalition involves several clubs, including the Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS), the African Caribbean Student Association (ACSA), Students for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Levana Gender Advocacy Center, Q-Mix, Equitable Queen’s, Ontario Public Interest Research Group Kingston and Queen’s University Muslim Student Association.

According to an informative pamphlet provided to The Journal, the Eyes on Diversity and Equity Coalition aims to “address the issues surrounding both racial and

cultural discrimination on Queen’s campus […] in light of racial tensions on campus and in the Kingston community both historically and currently.”

The pamphlet also identifies the coalition’s specific goals, which include the creation of a dedicated space for social justice on campus, additional funding for equity-seeking student groups, more scholarships for students of colour and more.

The united clubs compiled a list of 12 specific demands directed at the University administration, which they delivered to several administrative buildings on campus. The group stopped at the Principal’s Office, the Faculty of

Arts and Science office in Dunning Hall and the University Registrar in Gordon Hall, amongst others.

According to Nyah Hernandez, ArtSci ’18, the group also plans to bring their demands to this month’s Senate meeting on Nov. 28.

Enforcement of recommendations from the Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as forming clear guidelines to address racism from the University Code of Conduct and Non-Academic Misconduct system are at the top of the list of demands.

Moreover, Eyes on Diversity and

NEWS

EDITORIALS

OPINIONS

SPORTS

New student initiative

Losing your virginity isn’t

aids homeless youth

really a loss

Roundtable discusses Molly Steer runs impact of Bill 62 in Canada her way into National Championship

Romantic comedies aren’t all they’re cracked up

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in Kingston

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What’s Inside?

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Origins of the JDUC

According to a document provided to The Journal by the AMS, the JDUC was purchased by Queen’s in 1927 and built on the land of Kingston’s old Orphan’s home. The building was originally named the

See Redevelopment on page 4

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTICE KING

LIFESTYLE to be

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News

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Friday, November 10, 2017

Students launch initiative to aid Kingston’s homeless youth Locals for Locals to collaborate with Kingston’s local shops to create an impact Raechel Huizinga Staff Writer In early October, a group of Queen’s commcerce students started Locals for Locals — a project created with the goal of rallying community support for Kingston’s homeless youth.

The primary goal is to improve the quality of life for homeless youth. Locals for Locals also aims to introduce a new relationship between the youth homeless population and the Kingston community.

“It’s not just about making their [homeless youths] lives better,” Benjamin van Aalst, Comm ‘18.

“It’s about them being recognized and knowing that other people

care about their situation.”

Locals for Locals was created by van Aalst and his fellow fourth-year students Moritz Wolf, SUPPLIED BY BENJAMIN VAN AALST Taylor VandenBygaart and Sandy From left: Benjamin van Aalst, Trailhead owner James Malcolm and Mortiz Wolf.

Hsu as a result of their group project in COMM 351 this semester. social problem. Looking back “We go to restaurants and shops,” term when their exchange terms According to the University’s on his own experiences living Aalst said. “It can be anything. We come to an end, van Aalst and webpage, this leadership course in the Netherlands, van Aalst just want to get the community of his peers hope the immediate “examines the practice and impact immediately thought of Kingston’s Kingston involved.” success of Locals for Locals will of leadership in organizations and homeless population.

On Nov. 3, van Aalst and his cause it to become a permanent communities as we enter into the “As an exchange student, we peers went downtown to begin Queen’s tradition.

21st century.” have homeless people in the their first collection. They received “There have been assignments Successful past COMM 351 Netherlands, but I was shocked donations from UNDR, Overstocks, [from this course] in the past projects include Exchange by the amount of homeless people Cloth and Bagot Leather Goods, which have been really successful, Exchange, Glasses for Chile and the in Kingston,” van Aalst told The as well as $400 in products from and are still going on right now,” Smith School of Business Charity Journal. “I see them every day.”

Trailhead, an outdoor clothing van Aaslt said. “When I go back Cup hockey tournament for cancer.

Focusing on the downtown store on Princess Street. to the Netherlands, I’ll lose my For their project, students core, the group decided to petition Despite having three of the influence and control. That’s why were asked to come up with local Kingston shops for donations four group members return to we want this to be as successful an idea to improve a modern to the Kingston Youth Shelter. their home countries in the winter as possible.”

FLIP the Script sexual assault resistance program targets first year students

Free program provides students with prevention skills and knowledge about sexual assault cases

Jasnit Pabla Assistant News Editor The Queen’s Human Rights Office is introducing a FLIP the Script sexual assault resistance education program this November for first year students.

The 12-hour small-group program is designed to acquaint first-year students with the skills to recognize behavioral and situational elements of a sexual assault case. From Nov. 18 to 26, these sessions will be held for three-hour intervals. Additional sessions will be offered for the winter semester in March.

In an interview on Wednesday, program co-facilitator Natalie Brown explained the sessions are based on the pillars of EAAA — enhance, acknowledge, assess and act.

Brown said the focus of the enhance pillar will be on PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN beginning a dialogue surrounding FLIP the Script co-facilitators Catrina Mavrigianakis (left) and Natalie Brown (right). relationships and sex. “We have an open dialogue about relationships common elements to a sexual relationship and sexual goals right to be safe, we have the right and try to help women discover assault situation are being in an while in university,” said Brown, to the relationships we want, their relationship and sexual goals isolated situation, being indoors adding, “I’ve been trained for we have the right to ask for the while in university,” she said. and the presence of alcohol,” over 100 hours to facilitate physical intimacy we do or don’t “The second unit is acknowledge, she said. the program.” want,” Lotan wrote. “We are very where we help women understand In the final two sessions, act and Sexual Violence Prevention competent to defend ourselves the danger that they’re in and that enhance, the program introduces and Response Coordinator both verbally and physically.” the majority of sexual assaults Wen-Do, a style of martial arts that Barbara Lotan supported FLIP the Script emerged that we see on campus and in focuses on self-defense for women Brown’s statement in an email from over 10 years of research general are perpetrated by male and a discussion component. to The Journal, adding “the focus conducted by psychology acquaintances,” Brown continued.

The focus of the enhance pillar of the program is recognizing professor Charlene Senn at the In terms of the assess pillar, is beginning a dialogue the danger that may be posed University of Windsor. For its Brown stated the goal is to surrounding relationships and by acquaintances, people that second wave of development, increase a female’s knowledge sex. “We have an open dialogue we know.”

Queen’s was invited to incorporate of the commonality of rape and about relationships and try “The core values of the project the program on campus. its perpetrators. “The biggest to help women discover their recognize that women have the Lotan and Human Rights

Advisor Margot Coulter facilitated the program’s development this year at Queen’s by training three facilitators: Brown, Luissa Vahedi and Catrina Mavrigianakis, who are all graduate students studying at the University. “[Coulter and Lotan] raised all the funds to get this program up and running and really made it a personal mission to bring it to Queen’s,” Brown said.

As the program targets first-year students, Brown’s team focused their advertising in residences highlighting that it’s free of charge.

Even though it won’t cost anything, Brown believes the sensitive subject matter of the program may make some students hesitant to enroll.

“As a first-year, not everyone is really open to speaking about sexuality and sexual violence and so I think what I would want first years to know is that we’re going to do it in a really safe way,” she said. “It’s going to be a safe space and completely confidential and we have respect for everyone that enters that room.”

Regardless, she believes it’s important that the conversation is had and women do everything they can to protect themselves from a rising sexual assault trend.

“I think when I entered university, the statistic that one in four women will be sexually assaulted before they graduated was just a statistic,” Brown remarked.

“By the time I graduated, it felt real.”

News

Friday, November 10, 2017

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Queen’s case competition Queen’s confirms team wins first place title in death of Global Hong Kong

Development Studies student On Nov. 4, Queen’s confirmed the death of student Leah Battista, ArtSci ’19. According to the Queen’s Gazette, she passed away suddenly over the weekend.

Battista was a Global Development Studies major and a Spanish minor. She was also working towards a Certificate in Business and was on the Dean’s Honour List in her first and second years.

Hong Kong competition marks fourth win for QCCU in 2017 Panelists and the winning team post-victory in Hong Kong.

Jasnit Pabla Assistant News Editor The Queen’s Case Competition Union claimed its fourth first-place title of 2017 following an international case competition win in Hong Kong on Oct. 26.

The Queen’s Case Competition Union (QCCU) is a union made up of 20 students who regularly work together to practice and prepare for international business case competitions. Smaller teams are repeatedly formed and reworked depending on students’ availability for competitions.

Fifteen teams from around the world competed in the Citi-HKUST International Case Competition (CICC) Case Competition in Hong Kong between Oct. 21 and 26. The competition began with shorter practice cases and ended in a final 22-hour case problem.

Teams were required to present their solutions to a panel of judges made up of representatives from various companies.

Prior to the event, Daina Norkus, Comm ’19, said the team had a lot of prepping to do.

“The four of us were chosen to attend the competition at Hong Kong, so we went through a couple weeks of training and practice and got to know each other in a stronger way,” she said.

“After a whole week together, the four of us got really close,” Bonnie Zhang, Comm ’19, added. “After you do a 22-hour case together, grinding out a long difficult problem, it really brings the team together.”

Two other team members — Evan Goldman, Comm ‘19, and Alice Ma, Comm and ArtSci ’18 — joined Norkus and Zhang in Hong Kong.

“Usually we take on different roles,” Goldman said. According to him, team members assigned different tasks amongst themselves based on their strengths and interests.

The CICC win marks the fourth first-place finish for QCCU this year. Other QCCU teams also placed first in the Norwegian School of Economics International Case Competition in Norway, the

Chulalongkorn International Business Case Competition in Thailand and the Rotterdam School of Management Case Competition in Netherlands earlier this year.

For Norkus, these wins are a team effort.

“QCCU has been around for five years now and everyone involved has worked so hard to develop the resources and the capabilities that we have,” she said. “Because of the hard work of our co-captains and the Commerce Office, we’ve been really fortunate to have the international exposure and success that we’ve had.”

For Goldman, the exposure to international business practices and companies has been the most rewarding aspect of his experience.

“Personally, I am really interested in pursuing a career in Hong Kong,” he said. “I think that all of us would agree that in the countries that we visit, we get a lot of really great exposure both culturally and professionally, which gives us really good insights into how working there would actually be.”

At CICC, the team competed against 14 other schools from around the globe. “It’s interesting to see the top teams and the different perspectives they bring to each case problem,” Norkus said.

“Getting to see different education systems at work, what different schools will bring to the table and in that environment, is really interesting to me.”

According to Norkus, one of the biggest challenges the team faces is adjusting to the complexity of the cases and the competitive atmosphere. “But ultimately, if you are prepared, set a schedule and support your team, you have the recipe for success,” Norkus said.

The team said their experience was extremely rewarding and they all hope to remain part of the QCCU team next year.

“QCCU is by far the best learning experience I have had at Queen’s,” Norkus said. “It not only exposes you to different cases you can work on for a real-life company, but also allows you to travel and get that cultural experience that develops a really strong network.”

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY DAINA NORKUS

In a statement, Principal Woolf said, “on behalf of the Queen’s community, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Leah’s family and friends. Our thoughts are with them at this time.”

Battista’s family requested that their privacy be respected at this time. In honour of Leah, flags on campus will be lowered this week.

— Iain Sherriff-Scott

News

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Friday, November 10, 2017

Redevelopment of JDUC to create modern student life space

Preliminary designs for the redevelopment of the JDUC. Continued from front

Students’ Memorial Union by the University, in honour of students who died during the First World War. The Student’s Memorial Union was destroyed in a fire in September 1947. Re-built in 1948, this replacement building has been used by students ever since, acting currently as the southern section of the JDUC. To accommodate a growing student population, the northern side of the building received a concrete addition in the mid-1970s. At this time, the building was also officially named the John Deutsch University Centre after Principal John Deutsch.

The Queen’s Centre project

By 2005, the student population again began to outgrow the JDUC. That year, the University and the AMS agreed to construct a three-phase Queen’s Centre, the first phase of which — the Athletics and Recreation Centre — opened in December 2009.

In 2009, the University announced both Phase 2 and 3 — the projected $24 million replacement of the JDUC — were postponed indefinitely. In an interview with The Journal in 2015 former Provost and Vice President (Academics) Alan Harrison said the University wouldn’t restart the project — at least not in its original form.

The remaining $1.2 million left over from the unfinished Queen’s Centre project — funds derived from University funding, student fees and alumni donations — were used to update several parts of the JDUC. These improvements included the 2016 addition of a skylight and a walkway in the upper ceilidh.

This money was also put towards the newly renovated Wallace Hall, which was completed this past summer.

Long-term concerns

In an interview on Wednesday, current AMS President Jennifer Li recounted the developments made

by AMS executive teams over the past three years.

In 2014-15, the AMS executive at the time began to think seriously about the long-term future of the JDUC, as it became increasingly apparent to them that the building was insufficient for a modern

student body.

It was at this time that they worked to coordinate the $1.2 million updates to the building done in 2016.

The team launched a feasibility study and their successors continued a conversation about the long-term future of the JDUC in 2015-16. The 2016-17 executive hired an architectural firm to come up with potential building designs. This work was then passed on to the current executive team, who has continued to build upon the work of the past three executives.

Student survey results

“We wanted to make sure that students would be consulted, that the design that’s finalized would have student input on it,” Li told The Journal on Wednesday.

Between Oct. 6 and 9 of this year, the AMS launched a survey regarding the redevelopment of the JDUC. The survey gaged student interest in the redevelopment, asked them to identify weaknesses in the current building and determined how much they would be willing to invest financially in the project.

The AMS executive shared the results of the survey with AMS Assembly on Oct. 19.

Vice-President (University Affairs) Palmer Lockridge told Assembly the survey saw 2,000 respondents over four days, which was “unusually high” considering the average response rate is about 800 students over two weeks for AMS surveys.

The team also conducted two focus groups, one comprised of eight female-identifying individuals and another of nine male-identifying individuals.

With only one accessible entrance and one elevator, the results showed that students were primarily concerned with the accessibility of the JDUC. The survey also showed there’s a strong desire for more club and study space.

“That was the first time we’d actually been able to hear from students that they’re looking for something better from this building,” Lockridge told The Journal on Wednesday. According to him, 94 per cent of respondents indicated their support for the project.

In terms of a financial commitment, 52 per cent of respondents said they expect the

University to pay at least 50 per cent of the redevelopment costs.

The executive team said they’re making this figure clear during their ongoing negotiations with the University.

With financial negotiations ongoing, the University hasn’t confirmed how much they’ll commit yet. But according to the Li, the University “recognizes that [the project is] a priority.”

As of right now, Li said there’s no concrete deadline set for the University to announce their financial commitment.

SUPPLIED BY AMS COMMUNICATIONS

the process of identifying how the services would be affected during construction. The team will be providing the University with recommendations on how to accommodate essential services — like the Peer Support Centre and Walkhome — throughout the construction.

Hollidge said accommodations could potentially involve finding alternate space for services to operate in until the project is complete. According to Lockridge, they’ve already begun consulting with Campus Planning on Student fee this matter.

Currently, the team is unsure of At an Oct. 13 Board of the exact length of the project.

Trustees meeting, President Li “There is an understanding that said she plans to bring forward a construction disrupts activities on “mandatory and non-reviewable” this campus and so the University student fee for this project at the would work to complete the February referendum. construction as quickly as possible,” Until the University presents Li said. their financial commitment, Li said the AMS will remain uncertain The vision for the about how much the student fee revitalized JDUC will be. Li noted levying the fee is a “standard funding model for other According to the project website, student life centres across Canada,” the JDUC revitalization “will bring so it’s “not unusual for [the AMS] an increase to study space, clubs to be pursuing this model.” and faculty society space, much Throughout all their needed facility upgrades to student conversations with the University, services, and will finally establish Li told The Journal their goal has barrier-free access throughout the been and will remain “to secure a building, making it accessible to all.” fair deal for students.”

Even though the website “We understand that students currently features rough designs who would not benefit from for the new JDUC, Li says they “are this redevelopment shouldn’t be not final.” Rather, they serve as a paying into it,” Li said. Since it’s “starting point so students can have part of the ongoing negotiations something to react to and inform with the University, Li said the their conceptions of what the timeline of when the student fee building could look like.” will kick in remains uncertain.

With an emphasis on keeping students involved in this process, Affected services the site invites any student to contribute suggestions to the The construction project designs. Li also said she, Lockridge will involve the demolition and and Hollidge are “opening [their] rebuilding of the entire northern doors” if any student groups, part of the building, which was clubs or individuals wish to come the concrete section added in forward with ideas. the 1970s. Since the southern These suggestions and section is considered historic, it comments will be fed into can’t be demolished. Despite the final project design and a this, Li said the interior could still project committee with student be renovated. representation will jointly With such a large project, manage the construction with many of the student services that the University. operate within the JDUC will be “The student life that we have seriously affected. at Queen’s is so unique, and it’s “Something that’s been really what sets us apart from other important for us is ensuring that schools in Canada, but the physical services are brought along the space doesn’t reflect that,” Li entire way throughout this project,” said. “I hope that [with this Vice-President (Operations) redevelopment], students are able Chelsea Hollidge told The Journal. to see a building that they want to According to Hollidge, she call their own and be proud to call and her colleagues are now in their own.”

Eyes on Diversity & Equity Coalition delivers list of demands to admin Continued from front

Equity Coalition demands all staff, faculty and wellness counsellors at Queen’s receive comprehensive training on how to deal with issues like racism, transphobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism and other forms of oppression.

The coalition also demands the administration release a public statement explaining why last year’s racist party wasn’t penalized under the Non-Academic Misconduct system, asks for more inclusive curriculum, Orientation Week activities and dedicated spaces on campus for students of colour.

The Journal spoke with several students involved in the protest about their experience and motivation for being engaged in the protest.

want to see change “Weactually happen. ” — Basmah Rahman, ConEd ‘18

“We want to see change actually happen,” Basmah Rahman, ConEd ’18, told The Journal. “People really disregard aspects of race issues at Queen’s.”

According to Nuria Mahmud, ArtSci ’19, issues of race at Queen’s have both academic and social effects. During the protest, Mahmud said a group of white males walked by the group laughing and said, “What’s the point? We should have a protest against them.”

“No one’s taking this problem seriously,” Haya Hassouneh, ArtSci ’21, said. “The fact that we’re telling people that we’re uncomfortable and we don’t feel safe and they’re just ignoring it and saying that it’s not a real problem is why we’re doing this.”

“As a person of colour on campus, I know the racism I face […] I know these things are constantly happening to me. So just because it’s not in the eyesight of everybody else on campus doesn’t mean it’s not occurring,” Hernandez told The Journal.

According to Hernandez, Eyes on Diversity and Equity Coalition is hoping more groups and clubs on campus will join them in their efforts in the near future.

“We’re not going to sit by and wait,” Hernandez said. “We have our eyes on the administration — the time is now.”

Friday, November 10, 2017

Features

queensjournal.ca

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IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA RANKINE

The USAT process allows students the chance to evaluate their professors.

USAT revision process has a long way to go Queen’s broken instructor evaluation system up for review

Alex Palermo Features Editor With the end of the semester in sight, students and faculty alike are preparing for the annual 15 minutes of class time where the students do the evaluating.

As a means of evaluating teaching practices at Queen’s, the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) collective agreement has mandated the use of University Surveys of Student Assessment of Teaching (USATs) since 1995.

While these student assessments are mandatory for instructors with class sizes greater than 10 students, the changes implemented as a result of these evaluations have been difficult to quantify.

According to the Office of the University Registrar’s website, each USAT evaluation consists of four university-wide questions, up to seven selected by the department and as many as 10 selected by the instructor from 200 possible inquiries.

Once completed, the finished surveys are returned to the instructor so they can read the hand-written comments. Eventually, the surveys are scanned so the data is compiled in a straightforward graphical report for either the department heads or the Dean of the faculty.

In 2015, the president of the QUFA Lynne Hanson signed a Memorandum Agreement (MOA) to review teaching assessments with the University by appointing a Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement (JCAA).

The deadline for the review detailing JCAA’s recommendations was originally set for June 30, 2016.

According to QUFA, the committee was given an extension from the JCAA until 2017 as the revision task has proven to be much more time-consuming than originally anticipated.

Historically, students and faculty have raised concerns around the tangible change brought about through the use of USATs. In March 2016, a Journal editorial said the revision of the process was a welcome step only if the results of USATs were taken seriously.

A 2016 Journal article delved into the lengthy and controversial dismissal of

Queen’s professor Mortezah Shirkhanzadeh, due in part to his concerning USAT results.

In 2016, Shirkhanzadeh’s three-day suspension from Queen’s University was in part attributed to his refusal to meet with the dean after the results of his USAT assessments were discovered.

Shirkhanzadeh’s USAT evaluations were passed on to higher administration by the dean even though the response rate for one of the questions was 16 per cent — much too low for statistical reliability. To date, there’s no faculty policy in place requiring instructors to meet with the Dean under such circumstances.

This incident began to raise the issue of unfairly biased USAT assessments and the impossible task of dissolving the barriers department heads, instructors and students face.

“Students themselves show a lot of biases when it comes to a variety of aspects of a professor. We don’t want to ask misleading questions,” AMS Academic Affairs Commissioner Victoria Lewarne, told The Journal in an interview.

According to Lewarne, revision of the current instructor evaluation system has been held back entirely by time constraints.

AMS representatives, faculty members and representatives from QUFA’s JCAA have been sorting through massive amounts of possible USAT questions, and altering them to best suit the academic climate at Queen’s.

The questions were taken from evaluation systems at universities across Canada such as Western, Dalhousie and the University of Alberta.

themselves show “aSlottudents of biases when it comes to a variety of aspects of a professor.

”

— Victoria Lewarne, AMS Academic Affairs Commissioner

As of recently, nine final questions have been chosen. “There were a lot of questions and we wanted to find the ones that had the best value,” Lewarne said.

The next proposed steps are to run

pilot projects with the final drafted list of appropriate questions. These projects will go to classrooms from all faculties to determine if the questions chosen accurately represent both the instructor and course.

“Looking forward we’re looking into those deeper questions. For example, what system should we be using? Should we shift away from paper and into more online [forums]?” Lewarne said.

While the extension lengthened the revision process, the changes are expected to make an appearance in the next academic year.

In an email to The Journal, QUFA’s president and media spokesperson Kayll Lake and QUFA’s JCAA co-chair Michael White said they’re working together to draft an alternate student survey. Conducted through an online form, it could be tested as soon as 2018.

“At the moment we’re looking at asking better questions. There’s nothing ‘standing in the way.’ People are working very hard to move forward on what is a very important and complex task,” White and Lake continued.

Meanwhile, the faculty attitudes towards USATs clearly indicates the system is broken.

Having been a CHEM 112 professor for the last 15 years, Dr. Michael Mombourquette said USATs are “extremely inaccurate.”

“I think they’re influenced by things that aren’t related to a professor’s teaching,” he said. “The ratings are not reflective of the dedication or work the professor has put in.”

According to Mombourquette, his ratings used to be among the highest in the department. He said this changed when he began sharing the course with another, more personable, professor. “That year my rating went from way above average to literally the worst in the department.”

“I was in tears when I read those USATs. The negativity was overwhelming,” Mombourquette said. Despite the dramatic differences in his USAT scores between those years, he said his teaching methods had remained almost exactly the same.

“I was seriously wondering whether I was cut out to be a professor. I had been teaching for 15 years at that point. I still wondered: What the hell happened?”

Mombourquette said.

One little-known aspect of the USAT evaluation process is the effect the ranking has on a professor’s career and salary.

According to Mombourquette, department heads assign professors a ranking from 1-20 based on perceived teaching ability, amongst other factors.

“My salary has been hurt by USATs. I don’t think a student’s personal opinion should have an impact on [that] like it does. It’s wrong.” Mombourquette said, citing his average rating as a barrier to any possible promotion.

Mombourquette also stressed factors like where a student went to high school and what level of difficulty they’re used to tend to impact scores as well. “It’s pretty obvious that some students are well prepared and some have no idea what they’re doing.

You’re going to get a different review from both of those students as well,” he said.

While the JCAA has received an extension until 2017, their plans to simply re-evaluate the questions asked might just address one small part of a larger issue.

My salary has been hurt by “USATs. I don’t think a student’s personal opinion should have an impact on [that] like it does.

”

— Dr. Michael Mombourquette

“The way it is right now, the questions have limited usefulness. [The revision] could be a good thing,” Rob Campbell, upper-year biochemistry professor, said in an interview with The Journal.

“As of right now, we’re only able to respond [to USAT comments] after the course is done.”

Ideally, Campbell said USATs would be an accurate reflection of instructor’s teaching abilities. But the system has a long way to go before all involved parties are represented in a way that’s conducive to change.

“Students should know that we really do look at them. And those that care about their teaching do pay attention to them,” Campbell said.

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Friday, November 10, 2017

EDITORIALS Despite holding the position of Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Ottawa Centre Liberal MP Catherine McKenna has been given the name “Climate Barbie” on social media by other government officials and news organizations. Last Friday, she took a moment to address a Rebel Media reporter during a news conference on the grounds that the nickname he and his organization calls her is sexist.

The reason why it’s unacceptable comes down to the nickname’s roots in sexism. Rather than pursue her character or policies, “Climate Barbie” attacks her gender and appearance. It trivializes her right to exist in a political space as a woman.

McKenna had a right to call out the Rebel reporter at the press meeting. She wasn’t sidestepping a question because when criticized, McKenna confronted someone who was perpetuating discrimination against women in media and politics.

A news organization perpetuating this name isn’t only tactless, it’s irresponsible. All of the connotations a Barbie doll carries are presented when they use the name as a preface for the articles they write about McKenna. When “Climate Barbie” is continually perpetuated by Rebel Media, it’s very clear they’re pushing an opinion on their readers.

Rebel Media is a right-wing news organization not known for their impartial reporting. But for every person who believes that Rebel is a less-than-legitimate news source, there’s another who thinks they are. Perhaps now more than ever, language matters in news media. If Rebel Media is esteemed enough to continue to get into environmental ministers press conferences, they need to be held to a higher standard of reporting.

News media organizations need to hold each other accountable for irresponsible reporting like this in order to see any positive change. In the aftermath of the

press conference we’ve seen many of them stepping up to the challenge. Now, search results for “Climate Barbie” yield a great number of reports on McKenna speaking back on why the name is unacceptable.

It’s not McKenna’s responsibility to combat sexism at a news conference, nor should it be. Reporters are responsible for holding politicians accountable for their actions, not the other way around. Journalists have the right to ask questions, but need to be held accountable by their peers when they don’t meet the standards of journalistic integrity.

It takes more effort to perpetuate the misnomer than it does to simply call an elected official by her name. It’s not a mere sign of disrespect towards McKenna based on her politics, it’s a display of the inequity women still face in the public sphere.

S arina G rewal

“Have you lost your virginity?”

This question has been asked a thousand times and it comes with incredibly damaging connotations.

The idea of “losing your virginity” has become normalized, but the use of this phrase perpetuates a plethora of problematic ideas. Whether it’s their purity, pride, morality or worth, this phrase primarily suggests that when a person has sex, something within them has been lost or damaged. Virginity as something a person “loses” implies sex is in some way a negative or devaluing experience.

This idea has been imposed upon women countless times.

Historically speaking, ‘virginity’ became a commonly used word in the mid-1800s, specifically applied to women. A female was considered ‘pure’ and ‘intact’ if she remained a virgin until marriage: any premarital sexual relations would label her as tainted or morally corrupt. Virginity was used as a means of controlling a

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Having sex isn’t equivalent to moral or physical loss

The Journal’s Perspective

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL Volume 145 Issue 13 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal

It’s up to news media to curb sexist language in reporting

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woman’s sexuality, commodifying her body as a reward for whomever she wed.

Though the ramifications of non-marital sex have lessened, virginity is still an overly prominent concept today.

Along with being largely heteronormative and vaguely defined, the notion of virginity is viewed with a level of importance that’s sometimes exacerbated to a questionable extent. Popular content doesn’t help. A vast number of movies, TV shows and books all play into sexist narratives that overemphasize female virginity and demonize sexually active women who deviate from the perceived ‘norm,’ while contrastingly shaming men who aren’t.

The importance of a person’s “first time” varies — for some, it’s a huge decision. For others, virginity isn’t that big of a deal.

Either way, that’s okay. For the first time and every time after that, having sex is a personal choice to be made on your own terms. The

circumstances surrounding sex are up to the individuals involved, whether that be before marriage or after.

But virginity isn’t something to glorify: it’s not a prize, or something to be rid of. Sex is simply one part of many in a person’s life. Acting as if an individual’s sexual choices are a legitimate avenue by which to judge them reduces someone’s value to a single aspect of their life.

Sex is meant to be an act that’s done when you’re ready and responsible enough. The significance associated with it will vary from person to person: whether it’s with a one-night stand, your partner or your spouse, it’s up to you to define the importance of the experience.

Whenever that decision is made, consensual, comfortable and enthusiastic sex is both enjoyable and healthy: it’s anything but a loss.

Sarina is one of The Journal’s Assistant News Editors. She’s a fourth-year English Major.

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

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

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Friday, November 10, 2017

queensjournal.ca

•7

Opinions: Roundtable on Bill 62

Thinly-veiled racism in Quebec’s national assembly campaign Adam Davis & Colin Goad, ArtSci ’18 Contributors You step out of the bus shelter as the 702 approaches, fumbling for your student card in your wallet. You flash your 2018 AMS sticker and get on the bus. A woman in Montreal steps out of the bus shelter, not unlike yourself. She fumbles for change in her pocket; $3.25 for a one-way ride. As the bus door opens, the driver notices who wants to get on and denies her service.

Imagine that something you feel is intrinsic to your identity, beliefs and sense of self suddenly prevents you from accessing vital public services.

Your government is forcing you to make a choice between your self-expression and the availability of social services like hospitals, day care and public transit. For many of us at Queen’s, this is hard to imagine. Disturbingly, this choice is all too real for 90 Muslim women in Quebec.

On Oct. 18, the National Assembly of Quebec passed Bill 62, which bans the wearing of facial coverings when receiving provincial and municipal public services.

Since receiving significant backlash across the country, the Quebec government has given justifications for the Bill.

At first, the National Assembly of Quebec said it’s about the preservation of secularism in the public sphere. Quebec Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard also expressed the simple idea that “I should see your face, and you should see mine.”

Yet this Bill — which claims to act to protect religious neutrality — is nothing short of thinly-veiled racism.

And let’s also be clear, this isn’t a bill about religion, or the banning of religious expression in public. It’s a bill about Islam.

Bill 62 forces the approximately 90 Muslim women in Quebec who wear a niqab to either compromise their identity and faith or lose vital governmental services. These women are forced to choose between bringing their children to the hospital or removing their niqab. We believe no other religious group would be forced to make such a choice- certainly never a Christian.

There’s no shortage of hypocrisy in the National Assembly of Quebec. A province which claims to hold secularism in such a high regard actually has a crucifix over their legislature.

Until Oct. 18, Canadians could take pride in the fact that their government resisted coinciding with the disturbing trends of minority discrimination seen in both the US and much of Europe. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Yes, Quebec has a distinct cultural and linguistic identity that’s worth protecting. While it’s important to protect the French language and culture, the

Bill 62 grants Strength and Islamophobia a resilience in the hallway pass face of Bill 62

Quebec identity shouldn’t come at the expense of liberal principles, especially not one’s commitment to religious equality.

While many are uncomfortable because of what they think the niqab represents, these people should be far more distraught with their government telling citizens what they can and can’t wear. Canada’s status as an immigrant nation and a mosaic state necessitates that we accommodate minorities and their cultural differences.

The test of our commitment to Canadian principles isn’t when they’re made easy and politically expedient, but when they’re challenged and thus we’re made uncomfortable. We must not forget that these women have a right to display and observe their religion.

The response of our Prime Minister — who once denounced the same policies when proposed by his opponents — has been sheepish. Trudeau and the Liberal Party strongly campaigned against former Prime Minister Harper’s proposed ban on wearing the niqab at citizenship ceremonies based on reasons of inclusiveness. Because of this, we should expect a more decisive response from a party that campaigned against these very ideas.

The simple fact is: the “government has no place

telling anyone what they can and can’t wear.

”

The simple fact is: the government has no place telling anyone what they can and can’t wear. While a number of civil liberty associations have launched a formal charter challenge against the bill this week, Justin Trudeau should’ve taken the lead of challenging the legislation as unconstitutional.

We wouldn’t stand for a government telling women they had to wear clothes of a certain length and we also wouldn’t stand for one that told men how long their hair can be. If we wouldn’t accept these examples, we certainly can’t accept a government telling a minority group what they’re entitled to wear.

This bill is politically opportunistic, mean, and at its core, racist.

You might ask, what does this have to do with us? If you care about living your life according to what you deem to be important, if you want to be able to freely express your identity and if you feel that no one has the right to dictate how you live your life, then you should care about these 90 women.

It’s too easy to remain disengaged on these issues and to feel like they don’t affect us. But they do deserve our attention, These women deserve our attention and we encourage you to make this attention known to your local MPs.

Ramna Safeer, ArtSci ’18 Staff Writer A couple of weeks ago, Quebec passed Bill 62 which bars Muslim people from wearing burqas and niqabs when accessing or offering public services. Since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about the local mosque I grew up attending.

I’ve been mainly thinking about the women there — the ones who wear full-length niqabs that trail the ground, hijabs and those who only veil while praying. These women and their generous hands shaped my faith and it’s this faith that shapes the advocacy work I dedicate a lot of my time to.

The women who frequented my local mosque were lawyers, teachers, stay-at-home mothers and the owners of the local convenience stores. They had Ph.D.s, Masters degrees and were home-schooled.

They were Pakistani, Somali, Arab and every nation in between. All of these connected by faith, if not by continent. For every single one of them, to veil or not to veil was a choice — a personal choice made with one’s own head and heart at the centre.

When women’s bodies and closets are legislated, their ability to choose is restricted.

The fact that a deeply personal decision can separate my ability to access a public service — something as essential as a library, a public bus or a day care — from another Muslim woman’s in Quebec, is an affront to our agency.

The overwhelmingly Western or Eurocentric tendency to “emancipate” Muslim women by exercising control over their lives is colonial in its roots.

The argument that women who wear religious face or head coverings are a danger to a democratic society, is the same argument once used by European colonizers to justify “civilizing missions” in the East.

Whether it’s wearing a little black dress or wearing a long black niqab, patrolling women’s choices is sexually violent. Sexual violence exists on a spectrum. The culture that normalizes sexual violence in our everyday lives is the same culture that makes it okay for a male-dominant society to police women’s bodies. This includes labelling dresses above the knee as too promiscuous for girls in high school and telling Muslim women they have to take off their Niqabs to get on public transit.

As states position themselves as legislators of what Muslim women can and can’t do with their bodies, they’re stating that Western governments have the appropriate power to designate what is and isn’t appropriate for our lives and ways of living.

This bill isn’t about religious neutrality, it’s about an anxiety with overtly Muslim identities. It’s about Islamophobia. If anything, it’s the farthest thing from neutral you can get.

Myriam-Morênikê Djossou, ArtSci ’18 Contributor Bill 62 isn’t only disheartening, it’s paradoxical. Instead of addressing any existing situation, it contributes to the alienation and marginalization of a minority community in Quebec.

Although politicians have tried to justify the legislation, as a resident of Quebec, Bill 62 does more than what they’ve said. The targeted group is clearly Muslims.

As a Muslim Quebecer, I grew up frequently listening to my peers and the media refer to Muslims as terrorists, barbaric and backwards. All of these were based on generalizations, misconceptions and stereotypes they held about Islam.

I’ve seen graffiti on my mosque’s walls, members of my community being killed, all of this while others were getting their car burned down.

In my view, if there’s one community that should feel unsafe and in need of a heightened sense of security right now, it’s the Muslim community.

Going beyond the security aspect, Bill 62 suggests certain beliefs held by Muslims are incompatible with a democratic society. It also infers that it’s acceptable to restrict certain practices of theirs, if that means freeing women from their perceived oppression.

The problem is, there are very few reported instances of women refusing to remove their niqab or burqa when asked to do so. The government and people supporting this bill fail to acknowledge that the wide majority of Muslim women who decide to wear a hijab, niqab or burqa, are doing so by choice rather than by coercion.

Rather than a sign of weakness or a lack of liberty, going through everyday life with a head covering is an example of strength and resilience during a time where Islamophobia has grown rampant. By asking Muslim women to remove such a crucial part of their identity, the Quebec government is fundamentally disempowering them.

Moreover, even if one fails to agree with this idea, freedom of choice, beliefs and individual liberties are at the core of liberal democracies. The idea that the state can impose upon these values by controlling what people can or can’t wear is inherently contradictory to these democratic beliefs.

In the last decade, I’ve come to observe that any event shedding the light on the Muslim community — including the 2013 proposed charter of values or the Quebec City Mosque shooting — led to the legitimizing of anti-Islam feelings. I have very little doubt this bill will have similar effects.

Rather than promoting provincial cohesion, security and neutrality, it will achieve the exact opposite.

8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

THE ISABEL

ARTS

Concord Floral tackles bullying Local production takes on peer pressures in high school Clayton Tomlinson Assistant Arts Editor After touring across Canada, Concord Floral has come to the Isabel to tell the tale of a plague afflicting 10 students attending a Toronto high school.

Written by Jordan Tannahill and originally staged in Toronto in 2013, the show has now made its way across the country. The production at the Isabel will be staged until Nov. 26 and features a cast and crew of professional theatre alum and students of Queen’s Dan School of Drama and Music.

“I first saw the show in Ottawa and knew I wanted to do it after that” Tannahill told The Journal, explaining his desire to direct the show came from its featuring of a non-linear narrative and realistic take on young people.

Set and costume designer Sean Mulcahy and lighting designer Jennifer Lennon worked with Director Greg Wanless and the student cast to bring the play to life in the Isabel.

The designers worked to create the perfect scene for the production,

PREVIEW

set in an abandoned greenhouse in Vaughan called Concord Floral, once the biggest supplier of roses in the GTA until the owner passed away. The greenhouse is run-down — there are dead leaves on the ground, and decrepit poles around the side of the stage stand covered with flaking, green paint to show the dereliction of the space.

The greenhouse doubles as a narrator, breaking down the fourth wall as it speaks about the history of the area, structuring the narrative. Alongside, the two animals in the play — a fox and a bobolink — become the only sympathetic characters in the show.

In its dereliction, Concord Floral is used by local teens for the things they don’t want their parents to know about — experimenting with drugs, drinking, having sex but also being themselves as they live with the repercussions of bullying and the witnessing of various traumatic events.

The contemporary content of the production is similarly reflected in the structure of Concord Floral.

The play makes use of non-linear structures and monologues, illustrating the connections that

Ben Sterlin, Katie Gorham and Zoe Ingram.

bind the characters together. This deeply human portrayal depicts teen delinquency in an uniquely empathetic way, noting the context it occurs in.

The show portrays a high school that isn’t far from those most millennials attended. It shows in clear detail that the effects of social media aren’t overblown — it’s a huge part of many peoples’ lives. Many haven’t lived in a world without it, so for it to be a main driver of the play’s action doesn’t overstate its importance.

The world is tricky and Concord Floral makes that clear. It also shows the broad changes that happen during our high school Jess Moniere and Stephanie Fung.

The Beaverton releases satirical book on Canadian history Co-author and Queen’s alum Alex Huntley talks new release Nick Pearce Arts Editor There are two things Queen’s alum Alex Huntley wants you to know about Canadian history: it’s absurd and we’re way too smug about it.

“It’s [also] never been t h o r o u g h ly s k e w e r e d ,” Huntley said.

Huntley and his co-author, fellow Queen’s alum Luke Gordon Field, set out to do just that with their new book — releasing an entire history of Canada presented through scrapbook-style clippings of satirical articles taking aim at everything from colonization to the War of 1812 to their predictions for the future.

The Beaverton Presents Glorious And/or Free: The True History Of Canada has some additional features to mix things up, including a short “choose your own adventure” story where John A. MacDonald fathers confederation after a massive drinking binge. Released on Oct. 31, the satirical book provides a combination of

back-of-the-history-class giggles and biting satire of Canada’s national myth-making.

“There’s a lot of sacred cows in Canadian history,” Huntley said. Such as “the wars we fought — for what reason I don’t know, but alright — [the] treatment of Indigenous people, women, people of colour. Canadian history is really racist. If it is addressed, it’s kind of glossed over. At The Beaverton, that’s not our style.”

Besides the writing, the book doubles as a photographic catalogue of the history of Canada.

That’s usually because the humour relies on a visual, including poking fun at existing Canadian history textbooks and the prerequisite photo of an arrowhead “void of context” that appears at the beginning of many books as a reference to Indigenous peoples.

“Because that’s every fucking Canadian history book,” Huntley said.

In many ways, the book is a response to the collection of short films, Heritage Minutes, history book clichés and a country that’s

SUPPLIED BY CARLY ALTBERG

SUPPLIED BY NASEEM LALOIE

years, which can turn a bully into someone who can’t overcome what they’ve done to someone else in the past.

The impact of the production is compounded by the lack of acknowledgement given to the events and experiences of the

characters, by everyone simply standing by and letting behaviours we find uncomfortable pass without comment. Concord Floral offers a thought-provoking and compassionate take on the lives of high school students not often seen in theatre.

sort of research, like who is Henry Morgentaler? Who was Emily Stowe? What happened in Halifax in 1917?” Huntley said. “We try to get complete nerds and someone who has no idea about Canadian history to read the book.”

As The Beaverton grows into a multimedia enterprise, it speaks to the ability of comedy to cut through public conversation and state an opinion in a headline that would otherwise take up a medium.com

post, preceded by a necessary, “So I wrote a thing…”

Instead, it’s a humorous take on a country still parsing its history and identity, this time with a sense of humour.

“I’ve always heard, ‘don’t do Canada’,” Huntley said. “’That’s lame, you’ll never be successful’, but I’ve seen the opposite. There’s a lot more interest in Canada than the countless websites satir[izing] American politics.”

often precious about its own story.

It works to pull apart the myths and legends that are the subjects of holidays and statues and turns them upside down.

Huntley listed some examples.

“Oh Plains of Abraham, oh Samuel de Champlain, [and] World War I,” he said, before adding in a TV narrator’s voice, “And that’s when Canada was Canada.”

“It’s ridiculous and absurd. If you look closer at these historical events you go, ‘well, Vimy Ridge was captured a year later by the Germans.’ It was great they just didn’t walk into their own artillery [which is] fantastic planning.”

To truly skewer Canada’s history, Stauffer Library ended up being a key resource for Huntley over the writing process, often settling down on the building’s fourth floor as he created his part of the book.

He explained the level of research resulted in a book that verges on obscurity for everyone but history fans.

“Not everyone’s going to get these jokes. It would require some Alex Huntley.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY ALEX HUNTLEY

Arts

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

queensjournal.ca • 9

PREVIEW

Arkells’ Max Kerman talks upcoming Kingston show A mid-tour interview with band’s front man Nick Pearce Arts Editor

Max Kerman.

This article first appeared online on Nov. 7 For front man Max Kerman, the Arkells are never far from their college band beginnings.

“A lot of being in a band is striving for the next thing,” Kerman said. “You played [for] 100 people in a city and you go, ‘next time I hope 150 show up.’”

Instead of just another 50 curious concertgoers, there’ll be a few thousand more in attendance for their show at the K-Rock centre on Nov. 24. Plus, it’ll be a slightly bigger venue than their last Kingston experience — a student party they attended after their Queen’s ReUnion Homecoming performance in 2015.

This constant evolution has defined the Arkells over the course of four albums and 11 years — going from scrappy students forming in McMaster student housing to an arena-filling fixture of student life.

“I find campus grounds really inspiring. I remember going to shows at things like Frosh events and how important that was to me,” Kerman said. “I think it’s really cool that we can be that for the next generation.”

The band’s music took a similar path, developing from straight-ahead workman Indie rock to sleekly produced pop-rock hooks.

Some of this is attributed to their own evolving musical tastes.

The band is just as likely to cite

Chance the Rapper or Ariana Grande as an influence as they are the Sam Roberts Band. The competition was a celebration of performance, community and of course, a cappella. If you missed this sold-out show, get your tickets ahead of time next year because it was nothing short of aca-mazing.

“My favorite artists or bands are the ones that keep you on your toes,” Kerman said. “When Beck comes out with a new song, you won’t know what’s it going to sound like. When Kanye comes out with a new song, you won’t know what it’s going to sound like.”

Despite these changes to their sound, the group always tries to stick to its pillars to ensure the Arkells stay as the Arkells.

“That’s the trick of evolving,”

COMMENTARY

Kerman said. “Finding that balance between pushing yourself and also remembering who you are and where your friends are … After that, you can do whatever the fuck you want,” he said.

For Kerman, the fundamentals are being a lively, energetic rock band that tells stories through their music and usually with a positive attitude — aside from a few a heartbreakers.

He says the songs similarly stick to the band’s core: politics and relationships, the two things that “really fire [him] up” and most often make the ongoing list of ideas stockpiled on his phone.

It’s the kind of commitment the band honed after touring with bands like The Tragically Hip. The Arkells recorded their 2011 record

Why your art should live online The Internet is a necessary platform for young artists Vishmayaa Jeyamoorthy Staff Writer As a theatre artist, a question I always ask myself is “how can I share my art with as many people as possible?” The answer is simple; get online.

To a large extent, I’m preaching to the choir. As young, internet-savvy millennials, we’ve already carved personal spaces for ourselves online.

But it wasn’t until I bought the vishmayaa.com domain name that I realized how much the Internet has revolutionized how artists share work.

Quickly, it became clear this was maybe the best decision I could make for myself as a young artist.

First of all, posting my portfolio online lets me reach people not only all over the country, but potentially the world. Just by virtue of having a website, my work is accessible to literally billions of people.

On top of this, having my

portfolio online is also much more financially viable.

Yes, I could print, bind and ship my portfolio to every theatre company in the country, but that would cost me hundreds of dollars. Instead, I paid under $100 to register my domain name and built my website. Bigger audiences, less money spent and the added bonus of being more environmentally responsible, having the unlimited space to update my portfolio has made online worth it.

It also helped me build a personal brand which, as artists, we all have to do anyway. I’m easy to find online because of my unique name, but also because I have the same username on every online platform I use. All of this helps me project my personal brand onto the world; it’s a narrative I can shape anyway I want.

It’s easy to pinpoint your personal brand as an artist when your work is online because you

can literally point to examples whenever you reach for your phone. Your brand can also extend past your art and point to what you’re like as an artist.

In theatre especially, that’s important. If your personal brand is professional, positive and fun to work with — and you can reflect that online — you can make yourself that much more appealing to potential employers.

Beyond the job-hunting benefits of being online as an artist, there are also social benefits. Your art becomes more accessible and contributes to a global network of fans and creators.

Art consumed online is still incredibly important. We often place a value judgement on online paintings versus a painting in a museum, but why do we?

Art is art, an audience is an audience and whatever way you do

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Michigan Left in the Hip’s Kingston studio and their cover of the Hip’s “My Music at Work” frequently made an appearance in the Arkells’ sets last summer.

“We know the guys, we know their kids. We know their management. It hits close to home,” Kerman said of Downie’s passing.

“But it’s beautiful to see people sing those songs and celebrate the music and the life of Gord Downie.

To me, that sort of public gathering is a beautiful thing because it doesn’t happen very much and speaks to how important Downie was as a dude.”

Kerman said any further covers from the band during a performance will depend on the night.

If not, fans can expect the same high-energy live show that made the Arkells a household name in their own right, rocking through songs that have taken on special significance for a new generation of Canadian music fans.

“I think the root of it is that we know how precious this job is,” Kerman said. “It’s an awesome job to have. Not many people get to pay their bills by playing their own songs across the country.“

ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE JIANG

it, you’re putting art into the world and that can never be a bad thing.

But beautiful sentiments aside, we all still have to pay rent — and going online can help you do that. Katie Rodgers, the painter behind the @paperfashion Instagram account, built an online audience for years, eventually got

sponsorship deals and commissions. Now she’s being commissioned by companies Cartier, Disney and Swarovski.

A large part of her success lies in the fact that her stunning work was online and went viral several times, catching the eyes of a lot of people willing to fairly compensate her for her work.

To my fellow artists everywhere; we all have beautiful, artistic souls.

We all want to put beautiful things into the world, but we also have to eat. Putting your work online can let you do both.

Arts

10 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

REVIEW

The Vic wrestles with trauma All-female cast explores the effects of violence in Toronto Sophie Hinton Staff Writer Currently, a student-run theatre company at Queen’s University is presenting an emotional and thought-provoking production of The Vic, a play written by Leanna Brodie and directed by Amanda Lin. Presented by 5th Company Lane and held in the Rotunda Theatre in Theological Hall until Nov. 26, audience members are confronted with a minimalist set designed by Blair MacMillan, presenting a swing set hanging from a tree that stands in the corner of a park complete with benches and beds of grass.

Overlooking the simple display, a simple pair of red Converse shoes hang from a black wire, capturing the attention of the audience as it seems out of place yet fitting.

This all-female cast production challenges the audience to consider the power of the word “victim” as it tells the story of four women racing against the clock as they search for a missing girl. The tension builds as the characters search through the outskirts of Toronto and the audience begins to have an inside look into the characters’ lives.

The audience gets a look at the lives of women who are just as lost in Toronto as the missing girl, victimized by their own gendered experiences. The relationships of the play show the complicated nature of a film mentor versus her protégée as well as lovers and sisters who try to answer the question of who has power and what they’re supposed to do with it.

“I want people to see this production because we don’t see fully fleshed-out complicated female characters in the media.

The Drama department is 75 per

cent female but there are so many well-known male playwrights,” Director Amanda Lin said.

The show’s inclusion of physical violence, especially in the context of relationships, may not be suitable for all audience members.

It’s jarring and difficult to watch, forcing viewers to come to grips with the trauma the characters face. As dark as their stories may be, The Vic has the potential to hit home for some, as Toronto is home for many Queen’s students.

Although complicated, these characters also become relatable as they struggle with personal success, whether it’s meeting deadlines or trying to get ahead in a career field.

The Vic employed a minimalist set.

Lin explained much of the play aims to deconstruct commonly held conventions about people living with trauma, instead offering the audience a deeper, more complex account of the show’s female characters.

“We have to resist the urge to simplify people down into our idea of what a victim should be,” Lin said.

The Vic presents a story full of twists and turns that will leave the audience with an understanding of the negative effects of the word ‘victim’ and how it has the Like Pandora's Box, power to cut away someone’s humanity. They may feel angry, some things are meant sad and empathetic towards the characters and their own friends as they’re brought on a journey of love, friendship, struggle and family.

Lin elaborated that while the story can be harrowing, there’s hope to be found in sharing our stories.

“The word ‘victim’ labels people as weak, innocent and without agency. Life is complicated. That can be frustrating, but it is also quite beautiful,” Lin said.

PHOTOS BY NICOLE LANGFIELD

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Friday, November 10, 2017

CROSS COUNTRY

Running over the competition

queensjournal.ca

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SPORTS

A year after sitting a season to recover from injury, Molly Steer is making her mark on the OUA Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor As she crossed the finish line at the 2017 OUA Championships, Molly Steer was in a state of disbelief. Walking to the Queen’s tent where her teammates and coaches were waiting upon finishing nothing had quite sunk in.

A year ago, competing at the championships seemed like a long shot for Steer. On some days, even impossible.

On this day, nothing felt impossible.

At the time, Steer finished tenth in the OUA and helped lift Queen’s women’s cross country team to its first OUA championship in 13 years. ***

As a teenager, Steer was never a prodigy or at the top of the recruiting list, but was rather known for her all-around athletic ability.

Born into a skiing family, Steer’s two main sports growing up were Nordic skiing and running. Despite running throughout high school, Steer had never qualified for OFSAA or other major events.

“I was always that ‘on the fringe’ person,” Steer told The Journal of her running career.

When Steer made the Queen’s cross country team in first year, her role was largely unchanged from her high school days. Through her first two years in the program, Steer wasn’t chosen to compete in a major race for Queen’s.

She didn’t have any luck in her third year.

After developing bursitis — an inflammation of the hip — in spring of her second year, Steer was subjected to spending the 2016 season on the sidelines. Living with

teammates, Steer found the period equally difficult and motivating.

“My housemates were doing really well which was really motivating, but hard because [I] wanted to be with [my] friends,” Steer said.

As winter approached, Steer started to train on the elliptical to help limit the impact on her hip. She also took up water running, which involves strapping a flotation device around the waist and “running” in deep water.

On days when the ARC was closed, Steer travelled down to the Kingston shoreline to get her training in. “That was really hard…I would sometimes go in the lake and it was super wavy,” she said.

As spring approached, Steer slowly progressed to running on land. With her fitness improving, she began to develop confidence.

“I broke 19 minutes [running five kilometres], and then 18:20. I was kind of stuck around 18:15 and my assistant coach paced me and we ran 17:55,” Steer said. “I was just focused on everything individually; I was focused on the time and not being injured.”

With the team’s baseline testing requiring her to run five kilometres in 18 minutes, Steer knew she was going to be in for a test. In late August, she ran her official time trial in 17:52. ***

Going into the OUA championships this fall, Steer was looking for a strong performance. Where she exactly finished had less of an importance.

“I went in without any expectations,” she said. “I’m not the type that gets

Molly Steer finished 10th at the 2017 OUA Championships.

neurotic over races — I get excited. It’s just an opportunity.”

After a steady start amongst a large pack of runners, Steer was able to break off from the group in the middle of the five-kilometre race. Going stride-for-stride with some of Ontario’s best, the fourth-year runner was oblivious to her position.

“I didn’t look behind me for a while and no one was there … then I started to panic.

All I thought was, ‘don’t fall over and don’t get passed by six people,’” she recalled.

“Where she got the chutzpah to think she could do that is beyond me,” cross country head coach Steve Boyd said. “She came by us at four k[ilometers] and we were yelling at her … She just started laughing.”

“I still can’t believe it,” the coach added of Steer’s performance.

When she crossed the finish line in tenth place, the race had yet to sink in.

“I finished and I was overwhelmed … I just thought, ‘What just happened?’” Steer said.

Since the race, Steer has been pressed by

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY MOLLY STEER

family and friends on how she pulled it off.

While being able to give a comprehensive race breakdown, this question only makes her shrug.

“I have no idea [how I did it]. I really don’t know,” she said. “Things sort of come together when you’re not expecting it; it just worked out for me which I’m really grateful for.”

Steer will cap off her Queen’s career this weekend in Victoria, BC, where she’ll look to continue to make an impact at the U Sports Championships. Despite her recent success, she knows anything can happen.

“I hope to come top 20 but if I don’t … I just hope to have a really good race and know that there was nothing else I could have done,” Steer said.

Regardless of the result, Steer hopes her story serves as inspiration for people in a wide variety of situations.

“I hope it shows people that feel really mediocre that consistency and patience can bring something better than you thought it would.”

MEN’S RUGBY

Eyes on the prize Gaels to play in seventh consecutive title game, look for hardware vs. Guelph Queen’s beat Guelph 36-24 earlier this season.

Sebastian Bron Sports Editor In October, men’s rugby head coach Dave Butcher told The Journal his team had a single objective in mind.

“We’ve just got our sights set on winning the league,” he said.

This coming Saturday, the Gaels will get their shot.

After a convincing 54-7 win over Laurier in the OUA playoff semi-final, the undefeated Gaels are slated to play in their seventh consecutive championship game.

“We were hoping we did actually get quite a hard game [and] I think the score-line didn’t show how competitive Laurier [was],” Butcher said on the matchup.

Albeit on the surface a lopsided victory, Butcher said Queen’s hoped for a game

PHOTO BY JOSEPH CATTANA

“where we didn’t just walk over a team.”

“That was good for us — to be challenged in a few areas.”

By way of a home-field advantage, the Gaels play host to the Guelph Gryphons this weekend. Aside from finishing as the first and second seeds in OUA regular season — Queen’s finished first at 8-0; Guelph second at 7-1 — the teams have also met in each of the last four league championship games.

When asked if his players can aptly cope with the intensified pressures of a gold medal game, Butcher is confident. “There will always be that competitive nature going into it … we’ve been by far the best teams in the OUA, so it’s right that we’re both in the final.”

Rather than focus on results, Butcher’s players and coaches fixate on specific

roles. He said told them that the results will follow.

“We’ve never once — in any game we’ve played — mentioned that we want to win a match; it’s all about our performance. We truly believe that if we perform, we get the outcome,” Butcher said.

Perfect record aside, the Gaels are dominant on both sides of the ball.

Their defense, which Butcher called “the foundation to what we’ve built all our wins off,” has allowed an average of just under 10 points per contest. Their offense has been just as impressive, posting 58 points a game.

But Guelph poses a different kind of threat to Queen’s.

In their lone matchup this season, the Gaels conceded a season-high amount of points in a 36-24 win. Butcher said his team has rectified the areas in which the Gryphons exposed and thinks they’re prepared for any challenge the visitors may pose.

“It was by far the hardest game we’ve played this year,” the coach recalled

about the game, “but what we want to do — and it’s a theme of what we do in our defense — is never give them time on the ball … so every time they get the ball in their hands, they feel pressurized.”

The Gaels’ focus on Saturday will be tailored towards what they excel at — “It’s just about focusing on what we’re doing and how we’re focusing on executing our game [plan],” Butcher said.

“We can’t affect what Guelph do; we can affect what we do. And that’s what we’ll focus on.”

Since losing to the Gryphons in the championship game last season, there’s pressure for Queen’s to bring hardware back to Nixon Field. But this feeling, is something Butcher said the Gaels are readily familiar with.

“For us, we put pressure on ourselves every week … The only pressure that’s put on the team and the coaches is intrinsic,” he said.

“And I think the guys are ready to cope with that.”

Sports

12 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

WOMEN’S RUGBY

Women’s rugby make presence on national stage Gaels finished in tie for fifth at U Sports Championships

Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor Women’s rugby’s U Sports Championships campaign didn’t come without some bumps, bruises and a little bit of frostbite.

Their first national championship appearance since hosting the event in 2015, the Gaels finished the tournament in a tie for fifth place. The conditions in Lethbridge, AB — where the four-day event was held — were less than favourable. As the Gaels played, temperatures that often fell to negative 20 degrees were coupled with snow on the field.

“We will be able to leverage a lot of the experiences and trials and tribulations to make some really positive steps forward for our program,” head coach Dan Valley said following the tournament.

In their first match against the University of Calgary Dinos, Queen’s was stifled by their opponent’s attack. Despite keeping the match close for the opening moments, the Dinos scored first with a try in the 24 minute. Calgary capitalized on the momentum shift and took a 19-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half saw few signs of light, with the Gaels getting on

Sophie De Goede was OUA’s Rookie of the Year.

the board in the 43 minute off a try from Molly Labenski. This was the first and final time Queen’s found the end zone in the match, with the score sitting at 41-5 at the final whistle.

With a consolation match scheduled for the following day, Queen’s arrived at the field and saw multiple centimetres of snow.

As they were preparing to set foot into the cold, the referees

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

notified both teams they would be postponing the match to Saturday due to a dangerous wind chill.

“When we got to the pitch and saw the conditions, everyone was a little nervous to play,” Kara Gani, third-year fly half and OUA All-Star, said of her teammates’ reluctance to compete in the frigid Alberta weather. “It was definitely not detrimental at all [to have it postponed].”

Gaels establishing an identity Women’s basketball sweep weekend series against nationally-ranked fifth McMaster and Brock Sebastian Bron Sports Editor This article first appeared online on Oct. 31, 2017.

Women’s basketball are picking up right where they left off last season.

With wins against the McMaster Marauders and the Brock Badgers, the Gaels swept their weekend home series. They are now 3-0 on the season.

“The players are doing their thing — and they’re doing it quite well,” Queen’s head coach Dave Wilson said of his team’s strong start to the campaign.

Friday’s game saw the women start off slow against the nationally-ranked fifth Marauders, who opened the first frame on a 15-3 run and, at one point in the game, led by as much as 17.

“We came out very slow, very tentative,” Wilson said. He added that McMaster simply was “incredibly sharp [and] shot the ball exceptionally well.”

Down 51-36 at the half, Wilson tinkered with his rotation in hopes of keeping the visitors “off balance.” His team ripped off a 17-6 run in the third, and closed the Marauders’ lead to just five going into the fourth quarter.

The Gaels wouldn’t look back after that.

Sparked by an 18-1 run, the team scored 29 to the

PHOTO CREDIT LETHBRIDGE ATHLETICS

When Saturday rolled around, Queen’s was ready to go.

Despite the quick two-day turnaround, the Gaels came out and put every last inch of themselves into the match.

“It was just one of those games that we knew that it was our last game of the tournament; we just wanted to give it our all. It was so much fun to play and a great way to end our season,” Gani said.

Led by U Sports women’s rugby Rookie of the Year Sophie De Goede, the Gaels stormed out to a 21-0 lead in the first 22 minutes and never looked back. De Goede accounted for Queen’s first two tries and helped player play less than 30.”

Wilson admitted that having the luxury of depth and capable players is at times difficult in terms of managing his rotations and lineups, but joked that it’s “a problem I would like to have.”

When asked if his current roster is similar to last year’s, Wilson — who is in his 36th year as the women’s head coach — said otherwise.

“This is a very, very different team from last year. We have different personnel, we have different ways of running our

Marauders’ 13 points in the final gates … so we wanted to come out quarter and secured themselves a a little bit better.”

After sealing the game 80-39, comfortable 90-79 win.

“Eventually they got tired,” Wilson again emphasized Wilson said of McMaster’s the wealth of talent on his inability to hold their roster — “[i]t’s a characteristic of lead. “[T]heir legs were tired, their our team,” he said.

“Finishing fourth in the shooting percentage continued to drop from the first quarter [to] the country [last season], our fourth — and ours actually highest-minute getter played [less] than 25 minutes,” Wilson. “And went up.”

Queen’s shot 83 per cent there wasn’t anyone else in the from the floor in the fourth, only final-eight [teams] that had a missing two shots and hitting five from beyond the arc. McMaster, meanwhile, shot 20 per cent from the field in the closing frame, converting on a meager three-of-15 shots.

“For us, it was a matter of our bench being deep and our [ability] to continue running,” Wilson said, crediting his roster’s depth for tiring out opposing teams. “The depth that we have and the ability that we have to run is a big advantage.”

Queen’s carried every bit of momentum into Saturday’s game against Brock.

The team looked sound on both ends of the court, pushing the pace through the first half and holding a 39-15 lead.

“In the first couple minutes of the ball game, I thought we played really well,” Wilson said about his team’s quick start. “We talked about the way the game went [against McMaster] where we came out very slow from the Marianne Alarie scored 15 points in the win against Brock.

the Gaels ultimately celebrate a 38-10 victory.

Albeit a convincing win, Gani said the team still felt the ill effects of below-freezing temperatures.

“You never want to blame the conditions, but it was pretty hard to play the dynamic rugby we [play] when you’re playing in minus 20 [degrees] and the snow is blowing in your face,” Gani said describing the conditions. She said conditions in the consolation match were very similar to the day prior, with a sheet of snow still covering the turf.

“The ball would be dropped and you’d pick it up and your hands would be covered in snow,” Gani continued. “It took a lot to get used to, but we definitely played the best we possibly could in those conditions.” “[The conditions] were unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my 15 years of coaching,” Valley said after completing his first full season as coach of the team. “I thought we did a nice job of acknowledging that everyone was going to have to play in it.”

The season was a success on many levels for Queen’s. Valley said it showed him that the future is bright for his team.

“Everyone was super happy to be in that position and be able to go to nationals because only eight teams in the country get the chance to have that type of experience,” Gani said.

“I think we were happy with that result — we’re just one big family as this point.” offense — but that’s not a bad thing,” the coach noted.

Despite sitting at 3-0, Wilson said the team remains in the process of finding its established identity.

“It’s going to take some time to get everyone meshing together … But at the same time, we’re a very talented team,” he said.

The Gaels hit the road next weekend, playing away to Algoma on Nov. 10 where they’ll look to keep their hot streak rolling.

PHOTO BY AMANDA NORRIS

Friday, November 10, 2017

queensjournal.ca • 13

LIFESTYLE

Shivani Gonzalez Lifestyle Editor When I was younger, I loved romantic comedies. The idea of that initial spark, the inevitable complications to overcome and the eventual happy ending of falling in love gave me such hope and happiness for what the future could hold in terms of my romantic life.

But then one day, I came to the realization that romantic comedies are unrealistic and portray the wrong message to every single party involved.

In real life, Allie stays married to that other man and Noah lives alone in his house in The Notebook.

Jonathan and Sarah lose each others’ numbers and never see each other again in Serendipity.

Jamie and Aurelia never learn each others’ languages and she’s forever known as the foreign girl who cleaned his summer home in Love Actually.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

CULTURAL COMMENTARY

The problem with romantic comedies Why they should be the exception, not the rule These are just a few examples of the endless rom-coms out there that overly romanticize certain aspects of relationships and are completely inaccurate in how they play out in real life.

One of which is the romanticization of the struggle within a relationship. This isn’t to say relationships aren’t hard work at times, of course they are, but these movies make it seem as if rejection or the obstacle of having another person in the picture is going to make the outcome more rewarding in the end. Sometimes such a blatant obstacle just means it’s not meant to be.

The other issue with these movies is the common occurrence

CULTURAL COMMENTARY

of over-the-top, romantic gestures characters perform to successfully sweep their love interest off their feet.

This aspect of rom-com movies gives a seriously unrealistic portrayal of relationships that raise the expectations of viewers to impossibly high standards. At the end of the day, it’s unlikely the person you’re thinking about or crushing on is going to hold a boombox over their head outside your window or rent out Grand Central Station for a flash mob. And guess what? That’s perfectly okay.

As a girl who’s had her fair share of complicated relationships, it’s easy to get swept up in the

rom-com movie mentality and think that, regardless of the complications of trying to be with a certain person, everything will work out in the end. But a lot of the time, it doesn’t.

I recently had the realization that this struggle is overrated. A love story can be as simple as this: girl meets boy, boy texts girl to ask her out, boy and girl go out, boy and girl realize mutual admiration for each other and decide to be in a relationship. The end.

The whole plot of a roadblock that needs to be overcome or a romantic gesture that needs to take place in order for the relationship to work makes for a great movie plotline, but isn’t a great example

for real life.

While it can be easy to think about this logically and realize how problematic these standards are, growing up in a world where so many movies are riddled with this plotline can make it easy to turn to them as a model of how we should live our lives.

Being in love is a wonderful and fortunate experience on its own. There’s really no need for the extra trauma and flourish that comes with unrealistic romantic gestures and obstacles to overcome.

We shouldn’t use romantic comedies as the guidepost for any future relationships.

While the upswell of music, multiple roadblocks and the general sentiment that whatever your problems are, you’ll find love are great in any movie, making sure we take our own lives and feelings out of the situation and enjoy them for what they are is imperative.

Remembering Roy Halladay Former Blue Jays pitcher was a once-in-ageneration player for Canadian sport fans Joseph Cattana Editor in Chief For Blue Jays fans growing up, Roy Halladay was a superhero.

A larger-than-life figure, the Blue Jays ace pitcher nicknamed Doc was a constant star for Canada’s lone MLB team.

Over the course of his 18-year career — 11 of which were spent in Toronto. Halladay was a combined 203-105, eight-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young Winner as the best pitcher in the game.

On Nov. 7, Halladay died in a plane crash. He was 40.

In the days that’ve passed since, there’s been a lot of outpour about Halladay. A once-in-a-generation talent, Halladay was the ultimate professional when he took the mound every five games. While I

could go on about his mechanics — his slow wind-up, high leg kick and bringing his arms together above his head to gain momentum were legendary, yes — his impact is left somewhere else for me.

I’ll put it bluntly, the Blue Jays were a bad team when I grew up.

The late ‘90s and 2000s were a tumultuous time to be a Jays fan in Toronto. Throughout their multiple rebrandings, the organization sold fans on the idea of the team getting better, contending with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

That was false hope. What they should’ve done was sold us on Doc. Although he was a man of few words while he played, Halladay taught baseball fans about hard work. If you were to look back on his career, Halladay wasn’t the hardest thrower, nor did he have

Roy Halladay.

the biggest amount of break on his pitches.

But what left me in awe every five games was how he fooled opposing batters. Known as a meticulous planner, Halladay knew every opposing batters’ tendencies; what they liked, what they didn’t and how to throw them off.

When I think of Halladay, I don’t think about the no-hitters or him throwing a perfect game or the postseason no-hitter he threw as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. I see the stoic Halladay walk slowly back to his dugout while the opposing team shook

their heads in defeat.

At the end of the day, Halladay let his play do the talking.

Typically, when a star player leaves a team, fans are typically upset they’ve left. When Halladay was traded in 2009 to the Phillies for a bunch of prospects who didn’t pan out, Blue Jays fans weren’t mad. Rather, there was a sense that he already gave everything he could to the city of Toronto and he needed to move on so he could chase a World Series ring.

While he was never quite able to achieve that, Halladay retired as a Blue Jay in 2013 after signing a ceremonial one-day contract.

SUPPLIED VIA WIKIMEDIA

Toronto’s favourite baseball son returned home, albeit for a short time.

I could go on and on about what you meant to Toronto, to Canada and to Major League Baseball, but that’s best left for someone else to do. As just one fan, all I can say is he defined what an athlete should be like as a role model. Dominant on the mound and professional on and off the field, they don’t make them like Halladay anymore.

So on behalf of the young kid who tried to mimic your pitching style and the slightly older one who’ll always look back in awe, thanks for everything Doc.

Lifestyle

14 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

POLITICS

Taking my seat: Claiming to be a feminist isn’t enough Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Leah Brockie Contributor

Under the leadership of Phillipe Couillard’s Liberal government, the Quebec National Assembly adopted Bill 62 in mid-October.

Bill 62 bans Quebec citizens from accessing provincial and municipal public services while having their faces covered. Even though initially the bill was only directed at provincial services, it was later expanded to include municipal services as well. This effectively encompassed every service used by Quebecois citizens on a daily basis, from public transit to the healthcare system.

The bill allegedly emerged out of concerns for public safety.

However, it also stipulates that the ban applies for the duration of a citizen’s use of a public service.

This means anyone using a public service can’t simply show their face upon entering to mitigate any supposed ‘security concerns’ and then cover back up. Whether

they’re covering their faces for religious reasons — Muslim women wearing a niqab or burka — or not, these people will now be forced to remove their covers for the entire duration of their time in that public space.

How are members of government reacting?

Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee said the ban wasn’t aimed at any particular group, despite public allegations. But, please. Last time I checked, white Catholic men don’t often cover their faces for religious purposes. Did Couillard’s

SUPPLIED BY WIKIPEDIA

team seriously think the public would buy the claim that this wasn’t an intentional move on the part of their government targeting Muslim communities?

In all of this, where was our superhero of a Prime Minster?

It seems with every flip of his glossy hair, he’s spouting what a feminist he is.

But this bill is perhaps the most blatant, undisguised move to limit the rights of women that we’ll see in this country during his time in office. I can’t think of a more basic infringement on the rights of

Justin Trudeau needs to live up to the self-proclaimed title of being a feminist women than one which tells them what they can and can’t wear. How do we still consider what a woman chooses to wear an appropriate topic for public debate, or one that the government has any business legislating on?

When campaigning in Quebec for the by-election just days after it was passed, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed both the rights of the provinces to pass their legislation and his ‘respect’ for the province to take a stance on the issue.

While he later came out to

Julia Balakrishnan Photos Editor

When I started my tarot journey six months ago, I was both skeptical and excited to do clear-cut readings that would tell me my future.

I was brought into the idea by a good friend after she had listened to me go on for hours about various dreams I’d had — a number of which had come true.

“Sounds like you need an outlet,” she said. The next week, we found the perfect deck of cards for me at the front of a comic store on Bloor Street — it was Italian art deco, for beginners and on sale.

When I was alone with all 78 of the cards in my room, I got nervous. I sorted them over and over, and wondered if I was ever going to remember them all. The deck had come with a little book explaining each card in depth, but I didn’t want to be dependent on it.

I wanted to be a cool psychic.

I learned my cards and their nuances very gradually by reading through each suit on their own and doing practice readings with them individually. The typical tarot deck has four suits, like regular cards, in addition to the trump cards known as the Major Arcana. Every suit card has its own sphere of

Julia and her tarot cards.

MYSTICISM

PHOTO BY NICOLE LANGFIELD

Finding yourself in a deck of cards How I learned about tarot card readings life — Cups is emotional, whereas Pentacles is material, for example.

I worked my way up to using the whole deck over a month.

The best way to learn is to constantly do readings for yourself from the get-go. As you make personal associations with each card, it becomes pretty much impossible to forget what they mean. I have cards that I associate

with myself, my family and my closest friends.

As you learn more spreads — the order you put the cards in, with a different meaning assigned to each placement — you eventually learn each card can be read in multiple ways. The more you allow yourself to contemplate the big questions you’re asking, the more nuance can be brought

into a reading. It wasn’t long before I was abandoning my beginner’s book altogether.

But beyond memorizing, the biggest learning curve for me was finding out how to be honest with myself. Sometimes tarot readings can be deeply emotional, cutting to the heart of an issue that you’re not prepared to acknowledge.

There were weeks when I refused

say he didn’t think it was the government’s job to tell women what they can wear, he made it clear the federal government wouldn’t be challenging this bill.

I don’t care if you think this is a move to ban an oppressive, patriarchal symbol — frankly, the same arguments have been made about short skirts and bikinis — it’s an assault on a woman’s right to choose what she wears and how she practices her religion. This is a paternalistic, patronizing bill that has no place in Canada, especially in the name of a phony ‘security concern’.

You can’t call yourself a feminist to make a catchy slogan — “because it is 2015” — and not follow through when it matters. If Trudeau really wants to self proclaim the title of a feminist, he needs to start putting his money where his mouth is and openly stand up for women’s rights in his country. to do a love reading because I was so distressed.

But by pinpointing your problems, you can find relief. In reality, this is the true value of tarot: it’s not really telling you the inevitabilities of your future, but rather making you think seriously about the ways you’re handling important situations in your life.

For the average skeptic, it’s easy to think of tarot as a tool of contemplation to figure out different methods of taking care of an issue. For the true believer, there are definitely a lot of “aha!” moments that you can’t explain as coincidence.

By far, one of the most rewarding aspects of practicing tarot has been doing readings for my friends. Not only is it simple and fun, it also invites people to open up to you, and can sincerely help them with something they’ve been struggling with.

One of the most important things I make sure to tell my friends before a reading is that there’s no real way to predict what’s to come — rather, tarot shows you the path you’re currently walking on and where it might lead.

The potential of your future awaits, but it’s not going to come from a deck of cards. It’s going to come from you.

Want to get involved? Join the ‘QJ Lifestyle Contribs 2017-18’ Facebook group

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

Lifestyle

queensjournal.ca • 15

CULTURAL COMMENTARY

When security endangers safety A look into the ethics behind Apple’s privacy policy Meredith Wilson-Smith Copy Editor This article first appeared online on November 7th.

According to his mother, Jesse Galganov used his iPhone to contact his loved ones every day, as most of us do. Now Galganov is missing, his mother is fighting for Apple and T-Mobile to tell authorities where and when he last used it and in this case, common sense appears to have been suspended.

CBC reports that on Sept. 28, the 22-year-old Galganov texted his mother, Alisa Clamen, from Peru, informing her of his plans to go on a four-day hike and that he would contact her again on Oct. 2. The Montrealer had landed in Lima on Sept. 24 to begin an eight-month-long backpacking trip through South America and Southeast Asia before beginning medical school in Philadelphia. But after Sept. 29, all communication from his phone stopped and nobody has heard from him since.

Travelling alone, Galgnaov shared his location with his mother through the Apple feature “Find my Friends.” According to the Montreal police report, the last location indicates Galganov was in Huaraz, 400 km north of Lima, at 4:53 p.m. on Sept. 28. His T-Mobile account, to which his mother has partial access, indicates the last time his iPhone connected to the Internet was at 4:52 a.m. on Sept. 29.

At press time, Peruvian authorities had received limited co-operation from Apple and T-Mobile. But further clues about Galganov’s movements and contacts around that time remain locked, despite his mother’s pleas.

To access another person’s “Find my iPhone” location, a 90-hour account recovery process is started, contingent on an international law enforcement agency’s request to release the information. On Oct. 15, Ms. Clamen contacted Apple through Interpol and the RCMP to initiate this process.

Apple has yet to respond to her request on the grounds that sharing Jesse’s information is considered a violation of his privacy.

This is standard Apple policy — after the 2015 San Bernardino shootings in California, the company refused both FBI and federal Justice Department orders to unlock the shooter’s iPhone. The company argued the creation of a “backdoor” to unlock software would cause security risks and create a dangerous precedent for other organizations to access encrypted data.

In principle, Apple’s entrenched respect for the privacy of others is legitimate. But where is the line drawn? At what point does the relentless protection of privacy become a danger in itself?

Queen’s Political Studies professor Andrew Lister told The Journal though we tend to focus on the specifics of a life-ordeath situation, Apple must operate by a general policy that applies to many different cases. That policy is “applied by imperfect human beings with limited information,” according to Lister.

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the government’s data demands in the San Bernardino case “chilling.” Not only did he deem the creation of “backdoor” software

SCREENSHOT VIA GOOGLE MAPS

a “master key” that would “undermine decades of security advancements,” Cook took great issue with the principle of the request.

Arguing the FBI’s demands were a step towards a total disregard for individual privacy, Apple’s stance was the government — or other governments — could extend the breach of privacy to build and implement surveillance software without the public’s knowledge. Apple’s public Customer Letter challenges the FBI due to “the deepest respect for American democracy.”

Queen’s professor and security expert Christian Leuprecht has a more pragmatic view. Speaking to The Journal on Oct. 24, Leuprecht argued “under the guise of privacy, it’s in [Apple’s] business not to cooperate.”

If customers know Apple is willing to hand encryption keys to external agencies, there’s a “reasonable chance they’ll defect to other products,” according to Leuprecht.

Despite Apple’s adherence to privacy on the supposed grounds of principle, the fact remains, though an extended and difficult process, the state can use other legal means to obtain encrypted data – like “obtaining a search warrant on a house.”

The control of data is largely a game of politics and principles due to its abstract nature. In theory, Apple is correct: the release of an individual’s data may compromise their safety.

In the words of Professor Lister, there’s a danger in heightened privacy stakes today, as an “increased concentration of easily communicable information … exists about us in one place”.

Though careful not to minimize a parent’s anguish, Leuprecht made the point that the state’s authority to track a person must be reserved for “exceptional circumstances.” If there’s no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the state has no ethical justification to pursue a citizen’s personal information.

But a focus on a company ideology is useless when that company may hold the key to a person’s rescue.

Principles and values are indispensable — they provide a public moral compass and serve as a basis for human behavior. But these intangibles become dangerous when they turn against dictating common sense, and common sense is never enshrined in the rules.

If you have the ability and capacity to help a mother whose son is missing in Peru, you should do it. It’s counter-intuitive not to help a mother — or any person — in need.

If Apple does seek democratic interests, they should do so by exercising their power to help a suffering citizen. It’s impossible for Apple to evaluate every plea for assistance individually, which is why their overriding policy exists. But when a life is at stake, it’s common sense to re-evaluate circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

Tim Cook once said of his personal life, “where I valued my privacy significantly … I was valuing it too far above what I could do with other people.” The same is true of technology companies today in their refusal to cooperate with the Galganov family’s pleas to help find their son..

16 •queensjournal.ca

Lifestyle

Friday, Nov 10, 2017