The Queen's Journal, Volume 146, Issue 2

the

Queen’s University

journal

Vol. 146, Issue 2

M o n d ay , J u n e 2 5 , 2 0 1 8

since

1873

University faces lawsuit over sexual assaults Plaintiff seeking nearly a million dollars from Queen’s and two other defendants Claim alleges Queen’s lacks adequate policy and education on sexual assault Queen’s ordered to produce contact information for two defendants accused of sexual assault

I ain S herriff -S cott News Editor After a series of alleged sexual assaults in Victoria Hall residence rooms, a former Queen’s student is taking legal action to hold the University vicariously liable.

The plaintiff, a former residence advisor,

is seeking $950,000 in damages in the Superior Court of Justice from Queen’s and two other defendants for the alleged 2014 incidents, according to court filings obtained by The Journal.

None of the allegations contained in the plaintiff’s statement of claim have been proven in a court of law.

In her statement, the plaintiff alleged that Ali Erfany and another unamed defendant carried out “a series of physical and sexual abuse.”

The two are former Queen’s students.

The statement pleads that at the time of the alleged assaults, Erfany was a residence facilitator and the unnamed defendant was a house president.

Both defendants were “employed by and/or a volunteer of Queen’s University” at the time of

the alleged incidents.

According to the statement of claim, Queen’s did not have adequate policies in place to protect victims of sexual assault on campus. Additionally, the statement claims it “failed to follow” the policies that See Lawsuit on page 4

Kingston Pride Parade marches down Princess Street

Ramna Safeer saves self with poetry

Over 450 people participated in Saturday’s parade

Queen’s alum tackles issues of identity in Year of Saving Self

R aechel H uizinga Assistant News Editor On June 16, Kingston’s LGBTQ+ community gathered in McBurney Park to celebrate Pride Day and march down Princess Street for the city’s annual Pride Parade.

Saturday’s events saw organizations like HIV/AIDS

Kingston’s Pride Parade on June 16.

Regional Services (HARS), the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), and the Kingston Youth Shelter among the 38 participants who set up dozens of colourful booths in the park.

Kingston Pride Ambassador Emrys De Sousa kicked off the celebrations with a speech in McBurney Park.

“We are not marching only for ourselves, we are marching for those who’ve come before us,” they said. “We’re marching for people today like those in Lebanon, whose pride celebrations were cancelled.

PHOTO BY RAECHEL HUIZINGA

We’re marching for the future.”

“I am so grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given,” De Sousa, who is Kingston’s first Pride Ambassador, later told The Journal. “I’m really excited to help advocate for and represent the community to the best of my abilities and do right by them.”

Ruth Woods, President of Kingston Pride, led the parade dressed in a rainbow coloured gown.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with a very dedicated executive this year,” she told The Journal. “We’ve tried to organize a good pride event, and we’re hoping everyone will have a really good day. I’m really grateful for all the people who have worked on putting this together.”

The AMS also marched in the parade, representing Queen’s undergrads.

“I think it was really important for us to join, and I think today’s a day to celebrate,” AMS Social Issues Commissioner, Myriam Djossou, See Pride on page 4

B rigid G oulem Arts Editor When Ramna Safeer, ArtSci ’18, first opened the email telling her that her book was going to be published she thought there was a mistake.

“At first I was like ‘this is wrong, I never sent anything.’

I was so ready to be like ‘oh I think you have the wrong person’,” she told The Journal.

Five months later, Safeer is preparing to publish her first book of poetry with Rahila’s Ghost Press.

Year of Saving Self is a collection of poems written by Safeer over the past year, and will be released June 30 with a celebratory reading at Queen Books in Toronto.

The book, named after one of the poems in the collection, is about coming to terms with oneself. Safeer describes it as a “self-actualizing” work that explores womanhood, diaspora, and racialized identity.

While all art reflects on the author, Safeer worked to ensure that the work was an authentic reflection of her own identity–one she says is often undervalued.

“I wanted this book to sound like it was coming from a young woman, and a young woman of colour especially,” she said.

For Safeer, the voice of young women is often belittled and demonized, and she wanted to embrace her own voice as a young, racialized woman.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sounding like a young woman, even though I think that’s a voice that often gets demonized,” she said.

While Safeer is concerned with ensuring authenticity in See Poetry on page 8

EDITORIALS

OPINIONS

ARTS

SPORTS

LIFEST YLE

Student ticketing initiative is no safety solution

A foreign exchange alternative to campus debate

Miriam Goldstein talks swapping gender in Henry V

Football player Gage B. Foster remembered

Learning about university from my late aunt

page 6

queensjournal.ca

page 7

@queensjournal

page 10

@queensjournal

page 11

@queensjournal

page 18

@thequeensjournal

News

2 •queensjournal.ca

AMS

Clubs office to perform bi-weekly space audits Clubs Director says new shift will ‘keep ’ clubs in the know Iain Sherriff-Scott News Editor Starting this fall, the Queen’s Clubs office will be performing bi-weekly space audits of club space to ensure groups cooperate with regulations.

The shift will mark an increase in audits from the former monthly routine.

According to AMS Clubs Director Regina Codera, in past years, audits have been “more infrequent.” She told The Journal in an interview its “something that will be changing.”

Codera explained the reason for space audits is “to keep clubs in the know of what’s going on and to make sure clubs are staying accountable for the space that they are given.”

“As we are so limited in space, it’s important that those clubs that have a space are using it well, because a lot of our spaces are now shared,” Codera added.

Space auditing is a practice done in conjunction with the Clubs Office and the Student Life Centre (SLC). When audits occur, the assistant director of clubs and the SLC operations sustainability manager will be tasked with performing them.

“If we find that a club has left a space in disarray, or maybe it seems that they aren’t aware that they’re going to be sharing space in the fall, we’ll just send them a notice to make sure that its ready for the fall semester,” Codera said.

When asked what auditors will look for, Codera said “we just check in to make sure clubs are staying within regulations, making sure there’s no open food, making sure it’s in orderly fashion.”

Codera told The Journal that repercussions for disorderly clubs space would be handed out “on a warning basis.”

Though clubs are only removed from a space in extreme circumstances prior to the allocation period, Codera said several disorderly audits could affect a clubs chance of being re-allocated space.

“If we find that after a couple of times, we’re still seeing the club isn’t listening to the notices, it can be detrimental to whether they’ll get space in the next space allocation period in the spring,” she said.

Monday, June 25, 2018

COURTS

Trial ends for murder of Queen’s alum Mark Ernsting Justice for cancer researcher as killer is sentenced to life in prison Raechel Huizinga Assistant News Editor On June 15, 24-year-old Calvin Nimoh was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole after he was found Memorial for Dr. Mark Ernsting.

CREDIT: SANTERRE LABS guilty of the first degree murder of Queen’s alum Dr. Mark Ernsting of his torso, propositioned Nimoh with sex, side effect of an attempted second robbery.

Dr. Ernsting graduated from Queen’s causing him to feel threatened.

As Ernsting’s family and friends with a degree in chemical engineering in Nimoh’s state of mind when he killed remember his achievements and life, 1999 before earning a PhD in biomedical Ernsting, the defence attorney told the the cancer research community has engineering from the University of Toronto. jury, was vulnerable. Earlier in the day, honoured his commitment to science At the time of his death in 2015, he was Nimoh’s girlfriend broke up with him to and innovation. happily married and working at the Ontario pursue a lesbian relationship. According to The Fight Against Cancer Innovation Institute for Cancer Research. the defence, this event triggered Nimoh’s Trust (FACIT), which funded Ernsting’s The trial for his 2015 death began in May, childhood memories of abandonment and research, renamed its annual pitch with Nimoh accused of first degree murder. same sex molestation, meriting the lesser competition the Ernsting Entrepreneurship The proceedings, which took place in the charge of manslaughter.

Award. An inaugural Mark Ernsting Drug Ontario Superior Court, saw a defence which Ernsting’s husband Robert Iseman Discovery Memorial Lecture will be held in tried to use Ernsting’s sexuality against him rejected the accused’s claim that Ernsting Toronto this fall. and failed. propositioned him with sex, calling it a The Queen’s alum who spent his days Defence lawyer Charn Gill also told the “blatant lie.” Crown attorney Lindsay Kromm growing plants, singing in a local choir jury that, when Nimoh stabbed Ernsting agreed, presenting the jury with evidence and making cancer treatment less painful nine times in the back of his head and torso that, 90 minutes before Nimoh killed for millions, enjoyed evening walks in three years ago, it was’nt premeditated.

Ernsting, he and an accomplice stabbed and downtown Toronto.

Instead, Gill told the jury that the 132 robbed 69-year-old Glynis Brownsey.

Meanwhile, the country mourns the loss pound Ernsting, who had no defensive The first robbery, the Crown argued, of a mind dedicated to healing, a voice that wounds on his hands, arms, or on the front made it likely that Ernsting’s death was a created music and hands that loved to grow.

LANGUAGE

University launches new certificate in Mohawk language and culture Two-year certificate passed at senate in April Madison Bendall Assistant News Editor On June 21, the University announced the launch of a new certificate in Mohawk language and culture for Tyendinaga community members.

The program is set to begin Aug. 13, and the deadline to apply is July 30 of this year.

The program will be delivered in the Tsi Tyonnheht Objwawena (TTO) Language and Culture centre in Tyendinaga, Mohawk Territory. The certificate targets members of the Mohawk community who want to explore the cultural, spiritual, and historical traditions of the Mohawk community at a post-secondary level.

In an interview with The Journal, Kanonhsyonne (Janice Hill), the Director of Indigenous Initiatives at Queen’s, strongly advocated for the new program.

“The certificate will provide the students a basic understanding of post-secondary education, and will familiarize the young Mohawk community with the ability to learn at a university level,” she said.

According to Hill, students who graduate from the program will have a foundational knowledge of the Mohawk language, and will be able to have limited conversation as well as recite various speeches and passages.

Hill explained the certificate is attractive of instruction during the summer, two for individuals who may not be of the age weekend days per month, one evening a or maturity to live separately from family week, as well as 19 hours of online training. members, but who still The certificate is want to achieve a postcontinued over a secondary education. two-year time frame.

She also touched The program is on the opportunities targeted to both the program offers enrich Tyendinaga for young Tyendinaga students’ cultural students, which allow knowledge and them to take courses understanding while remaining in a as well as further familiar community.

Mohawk traditions Talks of the and practices within partnership began the community. in 2016, when the Hill expanded Tye n d i n a ga and on the various Mohawk council foundations that the considered an accredited certificate provides program for students for Tyendinaga and within Tyendinaga. the surrounding The certificate was community, “there based on considerations are opportunities from previous programs within the program that experienced itself and there are success. According to Kanonhsyonne (Janice Hill), the opportunities for Hill, the most promising Director of Indigenous Initiatives at those who graduate.” results were found Queen’s - PHOTO BY IAIN SHERRIFF-SCOTT The program when an accredited will also create program was introduced within more options for members of the the community.

Tyendinaga community, with all The program will offer opportunities credits available applying towards a such as engaging and interacting with Bachelor’s degree. elders and sharing cultural knowledge.

The course will be comprised of a week

News

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca • 3

ADMINISTRATION

Three new members join Board of Trustees New members began terms on June 1 Rachel Aiken Assistant News Editor

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Four Directions on Barrie Sreet is currently undergoing renovations to expand space, as recomended by the Truth and Reconciliation Task Force.

City honours two Queen’s students with civic awards On June 20, the City of Kingston announced this year’s Civic Awards recipients.

According to the City, the awards honour residents who’ve made outstanding contributions to the comminuty.

This year’s recipients will be honoured during the Canada Day Civic Ceremony at noon on July 1 at City Hall.

“We live in an amazing city, thanks in large part to the incredible volunteers we have throughout Kingston” Mayor Bryan Paterson said in a press release.

One of the honourees, Emilio Frometa, is the former captain of the Queen’s Gaels football team and is studying to receive his masters in Industrial Relations.

Frometa is also the founder and executive director of the Queen’s Autism Mentorship Program that pairs varsity athletes with local youth. The program is meant to “foster friendships and assist with building skills.”

“Emilio saw the need, recruited volunteers and created this program, which has paired more than 40 student athletes with 80 youth and is now supported by Autism Ontario,” the City’s statement read. “He hopes to expand the program to other universities across the province.”

Queen’s other honouree will be Yaara Docrat, a teaching candidate who organized for popular band Busty and the Bass to visit J. G. Simcoe Public School. The band played for and mentored the school’s seventh and

News in Brief

eigth grade students.

Docrat has volunteered for the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning. She also led the new Kingston Youth4Music hub in the first Virtual Summit for Music Education hosted by The Coalition of Music Education.

The summit, hosted at the Tett Centre, brought youth from six time zones together to talk about music education.

—Iain Sherriff-Scott

Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre undergoing renovation Following recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation task force, Four Directions is under construction for expansion and revitalization.

The centre will be reopening this fall.

Four Directions, currently occupying 146 Barrie St., will be extended to include the neighbouring building. The renovated centre will house a new library, programming space and a ceremonial room. Plans for the centre also feature more meeting rooms and additional office space.

The expansion of Four Directions is a result of recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Task Force. In the Task Force’s report, Queen’s was advised to centralize Indigenous activities and traditions on campus, as well as increase the visibility of the Indigenous community.

Recommendation 13, according to The Gazette, stated Queen’s should “expand Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre and ensure that it is appropriately staffed and resourced to adequately support expanding enrolment of Aboriginal students.”

Four Directions staff will work in Victoria Hall while construction is ongoing.

—Rachel Aiken

On June 21, Queen’s Board of Trustees announced the appointment of three new members whose three-year terms began June 1.

The first new member, Dr. Marie Delorme, MBA ’00, is the CEO of the Imagination Group of Companies and Chair of organizations such as the River Cree Enterprise Board and the National Indigenous Economic Development Board, among others.

Second, David Sharpe, Law ’95 Chief Executive Officer of Bridging Finance Inc., also began his term this month. Sharpe is currently the Vice-Chair of the Dean’s Council for the Queen’s Faculty of Law and Chief Emeritus of First Nations University of Canada.

John Stackhouse, Com ’85, is the third newly appointed member. Stackhouse, formerly the editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, and editor of the Globe’s Report on Business, is currently the Senior VicePresident in the Office of the CEO at the Royal Bank of Canada. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the C.D Howe Institute and the Munk School of Global Affairs.

The Queen’s Board of Trustees is comprised of 25 members and meets four times a year. It is primarily responsible for governing finances at the University.

The recent appointment of members is part of the University’s efforts to diversify membership of the Board of Trustees.

Don Raymond, Chair of the Board of Trustees, told The Gazette, “Board diversity is an important step toward fostering a culture that encourages the inclusion of a broad range of views in the governance of the university.”

“Having board members with the necessary mix of skills and who can provide multiple perspectives results in better decisions and strong oversight,” he added.

News

4 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

‘There are years I’m never going to get back’ Continued from front ... did exist to protect students.

Additionally, the statement pleads the University failed to have adequate information or education for students on sexual assault.

The plaintiff also argued that, as employees of Queen’s, both Erfany and the unnamed defendant had an obligation to report on each other’s conduct.

In an interview with The Journal, the plaintiff said bringing the suit forward was about “justice for myself, but it’s also about taking steps to make sure this doesn’t happen to other people.”

“From my perspective, Queen’s needs to take responsibility for their students,” she said. “Having students come and pay really high fees to come to university, you expect you’re going to be in a safe learning environment.”

“That wasn’t the case for me,” she added.

According to the plaintiff’s statement of claim, incidents involving Erfany and the other unnamed defendant allegedly began in September of 2014. At the time of the first incident, the unnamed defendant was with the plaintiff in her Victoria Hall residence room.

Without the plaintiff’s consent, the unnamed defendant allegedly began to touch her inappropriately.

She asked him to stop, but he continued. It was only after the plaintiff asked two more times that the defendant got up and left the room.

Later, in October or November of 2014, the plaintiff saw the unnamed defendant on campus.

He allegedly apologized for his previous conduct and invited the plaintiff to his residence room.

The plaintiff attended the defendant’s room, where Erfany was already present. According

to the statement of claim, after sitting down with the two men, the unnamed defendant allegedly attempted to kiss the plaintiff.

As the plaintiff stood up to leave the room, the pair allegedly “threw [the plaintiff] onto the bed.” The plaintiff pleads the defendants proceeded to sexually assault her.

During the exam period in December of 2014, another incident between the plaintiff and Erfany.

At the time, the plaintiff was on 24-hour call as a residence advisor and required to keep an on-call telephone with them in order to respond to emergencies.

According to the statement of claim, the plaintiff arranged for the previous on call residence advisor to drop off the telephone at her room between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.

At around 2 a.m. that night, the plaintiff allegedly received a call from the unnamed defendant. He told her that Erfany wanted to meet. The plaintiff told the unnamed defendant no, ending the call.

Shortly after, the unnamed defendant governing bodies. called again requesting to meet. Again, the In an email exchange with a human rights plaintiff said no. office advisor following Erfany’s election, During the call, the plaintiff heard the plaintiff was told there were no policies a knock at their door. Assuming it was to have him removed from Senate, despite the residence advisor dropping off the his criminal charge. on-call phone, the plaintiff answered In the summer of 2016, Erfany was the door. convicted of unlawfully entering a dwelling When she answered, Erfany and sexual assault. was allegedly standing outside the A few months later, he was given an plaintiff’s door. He allegedly pushed the eight-month conditional sentence to serve plaintiff into the room and onto their bed. in the community under restrictions, The plaintiff pleads Erfany then allegedly probation for two years and was ordered sexually assaulted her. registered into the Ontario Sex Offender Eventually, the plaintiff was able to break Informational Registry. free from Erfany, allegedly standing up and At the time of his conviction, Erfany was telling him to leave the room. still enrolled at Queen’s. He’d also sat on After the incident, the plaintiff was Senate while his trial was ongoing. administered a rape kit at Kingston In 2017, Erfany appealed his conviction.

General Hospital.

The Journal has since learned he lost On Jan. 7, 2015, Erfany was arrested his appeal.

by Kingston Police and charged, leading to a conviction.

As previously reported by The Journal, in March of 2015, the plaintiff found In the plaintiff’s current lawsuit against out that Erfany had been elected to the the University, a motion filed shows University Senate, one of Queen’s highest that on April 27, 2018, Queen’s was ordered to produce the last known contact information for Erfany and the unnamed defendant, as they had yet to notify court of their intent to defend the action.

According to the plaintiff’s attorney, after all parties have defended, the case will move forward to examination for discovery.

In her interview with The Journal, the plaintiff said, “before and after these incidents, I didn’t feel safe in my learning environment, and also in my working environment, being an employee.”

“There are no words to describe how this has affected my life. It’s something I’m never going to be able to get back,” she said.

“There are years I’m never going to get back.”

PRIDE

‘We support each other and support our students’ Continued from front ....

similar to those from Barrie’s Pride Parade, made an appearance.

said in an interview.

“I think that the AMS, as people who represent an entire student body and its diversity, it’s just so great that we’re here and taking part in this.”

“As the AMS, I think it’s important that we recognize the diverse community and that we represent them as much as we represent everyone else, and that we show that we’re inclusive in everything that we do, and that we support each other and support our students,” AMS President Miguel “It was really nerve wracking for me Martinez added. to walk from my car to here,” she said.

Julie Greavett, a local Kingston resident, “My heart was beating fast, people were watched the parade holding signs staring at me. And that was only thirty of encouragement for the LGBTQ+ seconds of what everyone here has community. Greavett said she wanted to lived through their entire lives.” encourage marchers in case protesters,

“It was really nerve wracking for me to walk from my car to here,” she said. “My heart was beating fast.”

queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca

•5

Features

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA O’GRADY

Right-leaning students are often outnumbered in university settings.

The politics of a classroom

Right-leaning students say campus often sidelines their politics Hannah Stafl Features Editor For conservative students, entering a university classroom can be like walking a political tightrope.

According to some students at Queen’s, being in a tutorial where their viewpoints are in the minority can affect the comfort they feel when expressing their opinion in a classroom discussion.

Aidan Scott, vice-president of policy for the Queen’s University Conservative Association (QUCA), said he feels his perspectives are often discounted in class.

While he feels safe sharing his views on campus, it seems as though others often dismiss his opinion’s validity.

“Whether or not my views are taken seriously [at large], whether or not my views are generally considered in debate within the classroom … I would say not,” Scott, ArtSci ‘20, said.

He doesn’t mind the disagreement he often faces from peers for his ideas. But it’s clear that the reaction he receives varies quite drastically from his left-leaning peers.

Scott notes the pushback he receives from classmates could be more subtle, such as limiting the scope of discussion in tutorial.

He said this is undesirable in a university setting.

“We should be open to as many views as possible [and] I don’t think we are,” he said.

To bridge this gap among students, Scott feels the most effective strategy is taking the time to genuinely learn and evaluate other viewpoints and facilitate discussion between campus political clubs.

be open “toWeasshould many views as

possible [and] I don’t think we are.

— Aidan Scott, ArtSci ‘20

”

“Reading into the opposition, not making assumptions and generalizations when you go into conversation with

them … but being critical,” he said.

For Cailean Cook, ArtSci ‘20, these assumptions make up much of the friction that right-leaning students experience.

Lumping a variety of people together, he said, overlooks the many nuances between conservatives—whose perspectives vary as much those on the left.

“I think that that does do harm, because it assumes that the right is monolithic and that the right has no disagreement and that the right is far more radical or different than it automatically is,” Cook said.

He believes this generalization of the right contributes to the message that free speech and open discussion are important pillars of university—as long as it fits within unspoken boundaries.

It may come in part from the argument that conservative views may more readily harm marginalized groups than liberal views and total unmediated discussion may put these groups at risk.

This was the gist of an open letter to Principal Woolf regarding Jordan Peterson, which was signed by over 100 students and faculty from Queen’s in February. It encouraged Woolf to cancel Peterson’s talk in March.

“Your defence of the event on the grounds of free speech misrepresents its potential consequences to members of our community; the defence lends support to a special interest group, while betraying the trust of marginalized groups on this campus,” the letter said.

Cook doesn’t agree with the argument that conservative views harm these groups more than others. “I don’t know if right-wing views do target marginalized people,” he said.

However, in cases where there is faulty or problematic logic, Cook believes exposing the ideas to discussion is the best route to take.

“I think that the best way for society to progress so that we can disabuse ourselves of old, rigid, archaic thinking is to have those views come out to the open, and let’s challenge them.”

According to Cook, if ideas that deserve change and rejection are a problem, free speech and discussion are the solution.

He believes allowing a platform for ideas is where they may fall apart the quickest, unable to withstand debate and opposition.

Overwhelmingly, all of the students The Journal spoke with recognized the importance of free speech, and supported its wider application.

“It’s there to protect [the minority opinion], someone who has a dissenting view or unpopular view, it’s there to protect them so they don’t lose their ability to speak their mind,” Cook said.

While conservative students prefer an environment in which they are comfortable expressing themselves, they also believe it would improve the overall discussion.

Kyle Hanniman, a Canadian Politics professor at Queen’s, explained the practical value of having diverse ideologies on a university campus.

“I work in an area populated by a lot of right and centre-right thinkers and I can’t imagine how impoverished my thinking would be if I didn’t have these people to challenge [it],” Hanniman told The Journal via email.

Hanniman said, when talking with his right-leaning friend, “I rarely agree with him, but I always learn.”

For Hanniman, it’s unclear if left-leaning students naturally gravitate to university, or change their politics over the course of their education. However, the results are apparent to these conservative students, who may feel their beliefs are assumed.

“I rarely agree with him, but I always learn.

”

— Professor Kyle Hanniman

Molly Helferty, president of QUCA, believes that there’s still work to do in order to get to this more open-minded setting. She said the political environment on campus tends to suggest certain views are unacceptable.

“When some students and professors make the false assumption that everyone

does and should agree with their left-leaning opinions, and that anyone who thinks otherwise is uneducated, immoral or inferior in some way, it can [be] intimidating for conservative students.”

Helferty points out that while there is clearly a smaller group of students at Queen’s who identify with right-leaning views, there are more that don’t feel comfortable expressing them.

Most likely, she thinks, there are more students who remain silent because of an environment they believe is unwelcoming.

“It isn’t worth [the] social implications if they actually express their conservative opinions,” she said.

Helferty believes creating an enviroment around one perspective narrows the set of ideas and arguments that students may be exposed to, a crucial facet of the university experience.

The political climate on campus tends to suggest certain views are unacceptable.

“How do you know that you can’t learn anything from these people?” she said.

According to her, disagreeing with general consensus may make some students uncomfortable, and more likely to stay quiet, even in an intellectual environment.

However, the students that spoke to The Journal emphasized that stronger than normal opposition doesn’t dissuade them from speaking their minds. Instead, it makes them more resolute in sharing their opinions.

“I feel more responsibility to actually say what I have to s ay since other people aren’t,” Helferty said.

6 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, june 25, 2018

EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

Student ticketing initiative is no safety solution The University District Safety Initiative is about punishment—not progress.

It worsens the relationship between the student body and City by failing to consult our student representatives. In short: it misses the mark.

On June 11, Queen’s Principal Daniel Woolf and Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson announced the pilot University District Safety Initiative.

The initiative will see any person ticketed in the University District during Frosh Week, Homecoming and St. Patrick’s Day attend court beginning in September.

Students’ identities will be public through the court docket.

Subsequent to their court appearance, students will be subject to the University’s Non-Academic Misconduct (NAM) system.

None of these measures mitigate behaviour or consumption problems.

Last year, Kingston Police issued over 330 tickets during Homecoming—and only one-third

Sebastian Bron

Media access for student journalists shouldn’t be considered a privilege—or a novelty. It’s a right.

Earlier this month, The Journal reported on attending a Doug Ford press conference despite initially being told by one of his staffers there wouldn’t be one.

The Premier-designate made two Kingston campaign stops on June 3. When asked whether Ford would be available to media after the first event, a staffer of his told The Journal the leader was “very busy” and unavailable for questions.

After the first event, we learned from a person in attendance that Ford would be headed to the Royal Legion Branch 560 to visit with military veterans. Neither his social media pages nor his campaign website disclosed the visit.

When we arrived, it was apparent that Ford would in fact be holding a press conference.

I would be remiss to say we weren’t informed because of our being a student paper. We certainly weren’t told this.

But being misled or denied media access disrespects our mandate as a credible news outlet.

The Journal asked Ford about his plan regarding tuition affordability. His answer spanned over two minutes and entirely failed to mention the word “tuition.”

A given in journalism, for better or worse, is someone giving an answer to a question you may not

Volume 146 Issue 2 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Editorial Board

Editors in Chief

Sebastian bron Nick Pearce

Iain Sherriff-Scott

News Editor Assistant News Editors

Features Editors

Rachel Aiken Madison Bendall Raechel huizinga Samantha Fink Hannah Stafl

Editorials Editor Meredith Wilson-Smith Opinions Editor

of those went to Queen’s students.

Under the new initiative, people who are ticketed will not have the option to pay bail either through mail or online. Queen’s alumni and non-Queen’s visitors receiving a ticket would have to return to Kingston on a weekday to attend their court date.

Through an “information sharing” agreement between Queen’s and the City, both seek to expose students to further consequences after repeated misconductrelated offences. Paterson said the initiative will also change the way Kingston tickets during major street parties.

The communication strategy behind the policy remains vague, and its rules aren’t transparent.

Modifying the ticket system doesn’t address the ambulances blocked,

the streets crowded, or the hospital beds filled by students during street parties.

Further, there’s no clear delineation set for student parties in the University District. Identifying the borders of the district will be left to the discretion of Kingston Police.

If a person doesn’t know what to do and where not to do it, it challenges the very possibility of behavioural change and progress.

According to AMS President Miguel Martinez, elected representatives were informed of the initiative, but not adequately consulted. This is cause for concern. If Kingston and Queen’s collaborate—and exclude the voices of AMS representatives—it invalidates the channels of communication between students and administration.

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Access for student journalists a right

ILLUSTRATION BY ZIER ZHOU

If Paterson and Woolf hope to avoid a negative student response, their policy-making process needs to be more conversational.

Students who behave irresponsibly when drinking often don’t deal with any repercussions beyond a fine. If drinking habits are to be curbed on campus, a solution is necessary—but the haphazard University District Safety Initiative is not it.

Both Paterson and Woolf say these changes are about behaviour, not students. But the principal of a university represents its students.

A rule employed evenly throughout the year targets behaviour. A rule employed on certain days, for certain groups and in a certain area, targets students.

—Journal Editorial Board

have expected or hoped for. And to be fair, it’s well in their right.

The Premier-designate took our question—how he chose to respond was up to him.

But the principle of our question going entirely unanswered remains troubling.

Our job as reporters is to objectively pursue the truth and offer readers a factual account in our coverage. We can ask for honesty from a person in the greater public’s interest—we should demand it.

But first, we have to land a seat at the table.

Doing that hasn’t proved as easy as it should, and it’s something we’ve seen before.

In 2014, Queen’s Athletics temporarily pulled The Journal’s media credentials to attend and report on home games after publishing a story critical of the department’s voting process for varsity team of the year.

Instances like these insinuate student journalists aren’t of value, or that we’re unworthy of trust among the people and institutions we cover.

This isn’t to say denied media access for student journalists is rampant—it’s just a problem. It happens. And why it does is concerning.

Student publications don’t just serve their respective campuses.

They serve communities and people who care. Treating them as anything but a credible news source sets a dangerous precedent.

Sebastian is one of The Journal’s Editors in Chief. He’s a fifth-year philosophy major.

Sophia Spencer Brigid Goulem

Arts Editor Assistant Arts Editor

Brittany Giliforte Matt Scace

Sports Editor Assistant Sports Editor Lifestyle Editor

Maggie Gowland Josh Granovsky

Assistant Lifestyle EditorAlly Mastantuono Chris Yao

Photo Editor Assistant Photo Editor

Tessa Warburton Amelia Rankine

Video Editor Assistant Video Editor

Carter Smith Zier Zhou

Editorial Illustrator Graphics Editor

Laura O’Grady Tegwyn Hughes Jasnit Pabla

Copy Editors

Contributing Staff

Contributors

Erin Burns Cade Cowan Allie Fenwick Haley Marando Dana Meilach

Staff Writers Michelle K. Allan

Business Staff

Business Manager

Morgan Dodson

Head Sales Representative Ben Johnstone Sales Representatives

Aidan Chalmers

Office AdministratorLiveny Krishnakumar

Want to contribute?

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

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

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

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

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

Contents © 2018 by The Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of The Journal.

Circulation 3,000

Monday, June 25, 2018

Opinions

queensjournal.ca

•7

Your Perspective

Adopting a different model for campus debate Why Queen’s should look abroad for tips in keeping protests on topic Jonah Prousky, Comm ‘20 Across the country, university students are arguing more but accomplishing less.

When controversial issues hit Canadian universities, students fixate on how they affect campus free speech instead of arguing the issues themselves.

Last November, I wrote about rethinking campus controversy and the state of campus debate at Queen’s. Since then, I haven’t seen anything change.

But it doesn’t have to be this way—especially at Queen’s. During my time on exchange at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland last semester, I was shown that campus protests can generate useful outcomes which extend beyond universities.

If Queen’s were to emulate some of its counterparts abroad, we might be able to make campus debate more constructive.

At Trinity, I saw students debate issues such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, legal abortion and student fees—all of which have been points of contention at Queen’s—through sensible and reasoned debate.

Most notably, the debate at Trinity wasn’t diatribe. Groups with opposing views on major campus issues made their arguments and pushed for students to be engaged and informed.

For example, on the issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict, Trinity’s student union put forth a referendum to determine whether or not the school should halt investments in Israeli companies. The union rallied support in favour of the motion.

Naturally, the union’s lobbying came with pushback. But there was an element of organization to the referendum

“I’m annoyed when people ask because I don’t watch it.”

Songyang Zhoue Con-Ed ‘19

process that stunned me.

Both the union and its opposition had clear leadership, and they each took to social media with the purpose of educating students. The founder of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Israel (BDS) movement, Omar Barghouti, even attended an open forum talk at the school.

Despite disagreeing with one another, both sides argued the merits of the vote instead of claiming their opposing opinions violate the boundaries of campus free-speech.

Trinity’s announcement to raise fees for supplemental exams saw many of its students take to the school’s main square in protest. People were free to voice their opinion at-large, and the substantial youth turnout garnered media attention from some of Ireland’s major outlets. The protests evoked tangible change, with university officials taking notice and removing the impending fees for supplemental exams.

Even when it came to national issues, such as the vote to repeal a state-wide ban on abortion, students again joined together.

But they didn’t do so as a means to demonize those whose opinions differed, rather to educate every relevant person with a vote.

Students at Trinity were able to find common ground when it came to contentious issues because of how they approached them: with reason and sensibility.

When Jordan Peterson visited Queen’s last semester, we replaced an opportunity to discuss real-world issues with a heated debate on free speech and safe spaces.

In none of the aforementioned examples during my time at Trinity did students break glass or yell obscenities at one another, as was the case with Peterson’s visit.

That’s because Trinity students were careful with how they employed sensationalism.

When student-fee activists at Trinity felt they weren’t being heard, they held a protest in the college’s main square. There was shouting, but it wasn’t nonsensical like the videos of screaming protestors

Prousky while on exchange.

at the Peterson rallies.

During the school’s referendum on financial support for Israel, the student union presented a platform for two sides to argue and the vote was based on the content of the school’s discussion.

The union immediately framed the issue in a way that made a debate regarding campus free speech unlikely.

To argue the limits of free speech, at Trinity, would have been unimportant.

Students seemed to have an unspoken but respected agreement or how to approach controversial issues on campus. It was the culture there to stick to the issues, amidst conflicting debate and protest.

To implement these ideas at Queen’s, our University administrators must continue to hold firm on their policy of free speech.

It’s important that students be reminded how benign their protests are if they choose to spin off big issues as being matters of campus free-speech.

Next, our student unions and governments should frame issues as they exist in the real-world. Just as Trinity approached the Israel-Palestine conflict with a referendum, we can nudge campus debate in a better direction by offering students a chance to vote on an issue that is of global interest.

Finally, the broader student-body should be tasked with shifting the culture of

Talking heads ... what do you think of the World Cup?

“It’s a great spectacle of sport.”

William Hodgson-Walker ArtSci ‘19

“It’s fun to go out for beers and watch it.”

Rachel Harris ArtSci ‘19

PHOTO BY ALYSSA DIAMOND

aimless protest that runs rampant on campus.

As I witnessed at Trinity, this starts with a group of students who make a Facebook page, engage with their peers and ensure the narrative of their side’s arguments is educationally focused.

While I was impressed by Trinity’s process of debate and dissent, I witnessed the school elect long-term support for the BDS movement. I disagreed with the decision and felt as if the student body had made an apprehensible and uneducated decision.

But when I was left to make sense of it all, the debate and protest didn’t feel pointless. I don’t think the students of Trinity made the right decision, but they didn’t argue for nothing.

When it comes time to debate the next hot issue at Queen’s, I hope our faculty, student governments and broader student population will find a way to use the ideas I’ve raised.

But if not, when the rallies and protests have ended and the moments of heated free speech talk pass, we’ll be left once again to figure out what it is we’ve accomplished.

Jonah Prousky is a fourth-year Commerce student.

PHOTOS BY JULIA BALIKRISHNAN

“I like to pretend I watch it.”

Lily Merovitz-Budning Kin ‘19

8 • queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

Arts

EXHIBIT REVIEW

Animal illustrations tell human stories Exhibition draws inspiration from workaholic dinosaurs to

Zier Zhou Editorials Illustrator From June 19 to July 14 at Studio 22, author and illustrator Wallace Edwards is displaying his creative process as a cycle of ups and downs, propelled by his boundless energy to brainstorm ideas.

Edwards’ exhibit is a lesson: when we deliberately look beyond the surface of art, we may be inspired by its course of creation and the stories left for us to freely interpret.

Many of the works are featured in Edwards’ recently published

Workasaurus, by Edwards.

children’s book, Woodrow at Sea. Using watercolor and ink, the book tells a thrilling tale of the friendship between an elephant and a mouse who find and rescue each other at sea. Together, they embark on a journey across the water.

Edwards’ use of a soft-colour palette complements the lighthearted spirit of the story.

Even the treacherous waves are juxtaposed against subtle shades of blue.

This playfulness is captured in the simplicity of the drawings where small scenes like a kind sea turtle helping Woodrow return to the surface.

Although Edwards’ artistic skills may not be the most prominent feature of the exhibit, the multitude of paintings that were considered over the course of the story’s construction is striking.

This just goes to show how the cherry-picked illustrations in the book are merely a sliver of Edwards’ imagination.

Yet the viewer that stands in

POETRY

‘I wanted them to

feel hopeful.’

Year of Saving Self is Safeer’s first book.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY RAMNA SAFEER

Drawing for Edwards’ upcoming book Woodrow at Sea, on display at Studio 22 until July 14.

PHOTOS BY ZIER ZHOU

front of the art can be encouraged to think just as creatively as the artist.

The other exhibit , Workasaurus, is a piece that was painted by Edwards in 2007. His use of colored pencil and opaque paint creates the dark hues and elaborate details of a gloomy dinosaur buried in workspace clutter, aligning with the dominant theme of personifying animals.

In Workasaurus, Edwards focuses on the distance between animals and humans. The size of the stars in the darkness signify a great distance from the dinosaur, which may translate to the vast loneliness of space that parallels a life of all

work and no play.

On the dinosaur’s back sits a spear with a clock on one end and a dollar sign on the other with the spear tipped toward the money.

Workasaurus is a metaphor for our dangerous tendency to devalue time, especially when it’s not as apparent as earning money. As close as it may be, the fact that it’s never exactly within reach in the painting reveals how an uncontrolled desire for wealth can be unfulfilling.

The exhibit teaches us we don’t have to become artists or travel back in time to fulfill our youthful sense of creativity and optimism. As young adults of the modern age, it’s

critical for us to recognize that art is something more than its aesthetics, and we have the ultimate choice in how we perceive the hectic world around us.

Beyond the visual appeal of his human-like animals, Edwards succeeds in communicating meaningful motifs in his illustrations. He highlights everything from the miracle of friendship and generosity to the monotony of work and isolation.

Regardless of how imaginary the characters are, the essence of their stories represents a curious exploration of reality, rather than a complete escape from it.

her own voice, she’s also excited to be able to offer her book to young, brown women who might read it in the future—her sisters in particular.

“This book is dedicated to my two sisters, mainly because I wish that they have books and TV shows and movies that reflect their own experience,” she said. “I think that this is my little way in paving part of that and allowing young brown girls to see themselves in art.”

Safeer’s activism and art often focus on issues of race and identity. As 2017-18 AMS Social Issues Commissioner, her school work and pieces in multiple publications tackle her own questions surrounding identity and society.

Many of those questions she said arose from her time here at Queen’s.

“I don’t think it was until I got to Queen’s and fully experienced

Queen’s that I fully felt, not just like a minority, but really a desire to think about my identity as a woman of colour,” Safeer said.

While the book tackles heavier elements of identity, Safeer tried to share hope and optimism through her poetry.

“I think there’s a lot of heavier themes in it, but also I wanted it to be – especially when young women of colour were reading the book – I wanted them to feel hopeful. I didn’t want it to just be the hard parts. I hope there’s an element of balance,” she said.

If Safeer’s past works are any indication, the poems will find hope and community in even darkest of times. In her poem “How I Feel About It All”, published in the Rising Phoenix Review after Donald Trump’s election, Safeer writes of how “we come from generations of / mouths managing to smile.”

This theme of finding joy and purpose in the hardest of

times is characteristic of Safeer’s writing–and it seems to be how she lives her life. In what Safeer dubs “an interesting time to be a woman,” she is excited to be able to share her platform with other women.

At her book reading on June 30, Safeer will be sharing the stage with two other young women.

“I didn’t want it to just be me reading from a book, no one would come to that, I wouldn’t want to come to that, I wanted to invite other young, women of colour that I know that are doing incredible work,” she said.

The event promises to be a greatk night as incredible writers, artists, and people gather to celebrate an up and coming Queen’s writer.

Safeer encourages everyone to join her at her book launch.

“It’ll be fun I promise. There will be snacks,” she said.

Continued from front ...

Arts

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca

TV REVIEW

Alias Grace brings Kingston to the small screen Sarah Gadon as Grace Marks in Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Alias Grace.

Atwood adaptation confronts viewers with suffering B rigid G oulem Arts Editor

When Sarah Polley was 17, she asked Margaret Atwood for the rights to turn her historical fiction novel Alias Grace into a TV show—Atwood said no.

Twenty-on years later, Polley saw her teenage dream come true.

The resulting show, which is set and filmed in Kingston, is a vital analysis of women in television.

Alias Grace tells the story of Grace Marks—played by Sarah

Gadon—a young and poor Irish immigrant who is convicted as a co-conspirator in the murder of her former employer, the wealthy Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery.

The question of Grace’s guilt is the heart of the show.

Grace narrates her story to psychiatrist Dr. Simon Jordan, who is visiting Kingston at the request of a committee working to exonerate Grace for her crime.

The series is a filmmaking masterpiece, with Polley’s writing and Harron’s directing coming together to bring out the grittiest elements of Atwood’s story.

It’s on display in the first episode, as Grace Marks tells Dr. Jordan of her voyage from Northern Ireland to Toronto.

As Grace and her family travel across the ocean, the unthought-of realities of sailing are brought to life. The third class passengers are crammed into small, wooden bunks and share a bucket to defecate and vomit in—which is often, thanks to seasickness and excessive drinking.

The violent waves of the ocean soak them as they try to sleep below deck in the stench of their own filth and the ship’s mildew.

The fact that Grace’s mother’s death is a break from the gruesome depiction of the voyage is illustrative of Polley and Harron’s ability to elicit physical reactions from viewers.

The magic of Alias Grace lies in its turning of the spotlight onto the audience. Grace Marks’

SCREENSHOT FROM NETFLIX

story asks several questions of its viewers, and is content to leave them unanswered.

The most pressing is whether we trust what women say.

Grace’s reliability as a narrator is consistently challenged as viewers are shown images that challenge the narrative Grace is telling. At the end of the series, a voice-over tells Dr. Jordan that Grace had been changing the story to keep him intrigued.

Throughout her retelling of her life, Grace shares the suffering she’s experienced, whether it’s a sexually abusive father or sexual harassment at the hands of her employers.

Grace’s suffering is reflective of the kind seen in movements like

•9

#MeToo. As a viewer, it was hard to not holdout a small hope that Grace actually was guilty. Women across the world experience sexual abuse, and viewers empathize with Grace taking action against her attackers.

The question of innocence and motive is thrown back in the audience’s face, as the show challenges the societal fascination with the suffering of women.

This is reflected in the doctor’s response to her case. He is intrigued by the accusations, her beauty, and—significantly—her suffering.

At the end of the show, Grace writes to Dr. Jordan, criticizing his preoccupation with the trials she faced.

Addressing Dr. Jordan’s eager response to these harrowing moments, Grace says, “your cheeks would flush, and if you had ears like a dog, they would have been pricked forwards with your eyes shining and your tongue hanging out.”

Alias Grace forces viewers to confront the societal fascination with the suffering of women.

It’s what makes her important to audiences. As the episode wraps up, viewers have to come to terms that they too were intrigued with the sufferings of Grace Marks and the deaths of the women in her life.

COMMUNITY EVENT

Annual arts festival brings life to Skeleton Park Dozens of artists join together for display of music, poetry and crafts

Raechel Huizinga

Assistant News Editor From June 20 to 24, Skeleton Park was transformed into a creative outlet for dozens of art forms ranging from paintings to poetry, music and handcrafted jewelry.

With attractions including drag queen storytelling and a porch jazz parade, the annual Skeleton Park Arts Festival showcased both local and national talent.

Musical performances ranged from the funky Soul Motivators, folk singer-songwriter Noah Ross, and the Kingston Drum Circle. But a cellist, Cris Derksen, was the highlight of the festival.

Derksen performed with her striking black cello, using electric looping to build intense melodies and sound. Her mastery of slow and fast tempos inspired the audience to both dance and sit quietly.

The performance equally benefitted from a captivating Anishinaabe Hoop Dancer Nimkii Osawamick and drummer Jesse Baird.

Inspired by her home, the North Tall Cree Reserve in

northern Alberta, Derksen’s music shifted between the strength of her own voice and the power of her cello, joining together and building to a commanding volume, with support from Baird.

Famous for incorporating her Indigenous ancestry into her music, Derksen also demonstrated how she can use her cello to make her music evoke the North.

“It can be the wind, it can be ice, it can be whales, it can be seals,” she told the audience as she created each sound, which she later weaved into a somber instrumental.

Hoop dancer Osawamick, using up to twelve hoops at once, created images ranging from giant wings to a human cage.

His mesmerizing dance and bright red clothing added an energy to the overall performance in a unique combination of visual and musical art.

Meanwhile, tucked away in Hillside Park, Novel Idea and Kingston’s Writersfest hosted a poetry reading on Saturday, featuring Juno nominated Dave Bidini, Governor General award winning Steven Heighton, local poet Alyssa Cooper and up and coming poet LJ Weisberg.

Dave Bidini, who also

performed in Skeleton Park with his band the Rheostatics, treated the audience to a first ever public reading from his upcoming poetry collection, Midnight Light, which is set to be released in October.

Bidini’s amusing piece narrated his experience with a dodgy Australian pilot in Yellowknife, whose cavalier attitude about flying through unfamiliar territory set the scene for a funny exchange between passengers on the plane. Bidini’s sarcastic humour, along with highly descriptive language, created an engaging performance that had the audience laughing.

While Steven Heighton’s poem about Donald Trump was both powerful and amusing, young poet LJ Weisberg’s “Missing Certainty,” was particularly haunting. With lines like, “Everything is familiar, and it’s loathsome,” the piece describes the darkness artists feel when they can’t create.

With its focus on engaging Kingston’s youth and supporting Indigenous artists, this year’s Skeleton Park Arts Festival was far removed from the darkness of Weisberg’s poetry, instead representing both the promises and value of creativity.

Nimkii Osawamick performs with Cris Derksen at Skeleton Park Arts Festival on June 24.

PHOTO BY MARIA SHEEHAN

Arts

10 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

COMMENTARY

INTERVIEW

Swapping gender in Shakespeare Director Miriam Goldstein reinvents Shakespeare Michelle Allan Staff Writer On June 7, the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning hosted a production of Shakespeare’s Henry V that put a twist on the original.

Created by The Edge Productions, the play was set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic war and the cast was entirely composed of women.

Having a traditionally male-dominated work put on by an all-female cast doesn’t only change a familiar play, but it also leads audiences to consider their own ideas and assumptions about gender and theatre.

Director and producer Miriam Goldstein told The Journal over the phone that the company’s Henry was “very contemplative.”

“He was violent but he was also very lovely at times. By the time you get to the end of the play, you’re like, rooting for [antagonist Prince] Hal to win, and I’ve never rooted for Hal to win in my whole life because he’s such a smarmy bastard,” she said of Henry’s character.

Goldstein went on to praise her cast’s ability to give the characters an emotional depth that might have been missed in other interpretations of the play. She credits Robin Luckwaldt, who starred as Henry, for giving the character an unexpected humanity.

“She’s so sensitive and her emotional life is like a zipper. She undoes it and it all comes out, you get to the end and you’re really rooting for this romance to happen.

You forget all the weird things that he said about mowing down flowering infants, you can ignore that and root for him here,” Goldstein said.

While Luckwaldt opens up the character to the audience’s empathy, she doesn’t shy from Henry’s traditional ferocity.

The production encouraged the all-women cast to “explore characters who are tall and brawny and violent,” Goldstein said.

In that decision, Luckwaldt tackled the challenge of effectively communicating the violence of the characters through a 5’2” body without losing power.

When asked if she ever worried about losing any important aspects of the text when gender-swapping the cast, Goldstein had a simple answer: “No.” “You’re not negating their maleness

Robin Luckwaldt as Henry V. (centre) Olivia Ridpath(left) and Rebecca Lashmar (right).

necessarily, you’re not stripping these characters of their masculinity, it’s not like you’re taking away something that inherently makes them who they are, you’re just exploring the characters and bringing [in] a lived female experience which helps you explore their different sides,” she told The Journal.

When planning the production, Goldstein mentioned that they specifically chose to do a war play not only because the characters are predominantly male, but because it explores an experience that women have been historically barred from.

She said with war plays, “women don’t have access to that text, don’t have permission to embody that.”

She was reminded any sort of artistic deviation from the original play always feels like a great risk, but classical theatre is malleable and exploration often pays off.

“Shakespeare is meant to be reinvented, and he didn’t care about anachronism. [He] didn’t care about those things we seem to care so deeply about, so you look at it and say, ‘as long as I’m not

“It’s not like you’re taking away something that inherently makes them who they are”

—Miriam Goldstein

[ruining] the meter, destroying what I see as the heart of a particular story, I think, ‘okay!’” she said.

While the response to the play was positive, Goldstein mentioned that her team had experienced some pushback before preforming. She told The Journal the production “was called, at some point, by one of the trolls on the internet, a ‘feminist ploy’ … and that’s not what the exploration was about.”

The company was able to open up Henry V to new emotional undertones by adding a gender swapped perspective, and it was a hit with the crowds.

Goldstein said their next big production is Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. She’s hoping to achieve the fresh portrayals of characters done with Henry V, and is planning another single gender cast—but this time, all male.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY MIRIAM GOLDSTEIN

The AGO’s renaming of Indian Church has caused controversy.

GRAPHIC BY LAURA O’GRADY

Point-counterpoint:

Renaming art as reconciliation?

A debate on AGO’s

renaming of an Emily Carr painting Brittany Giliforte & Brigid Goulem Journal Staff

For: Renaming art is small step to reconciliation The recent renaming of Emily Carr’s painting Church at Yuquout Village is controversial, but has spurred discussion about reconciliation in the art world.

Originally called Indian Church, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) renamed it to help eliminate culturally insensitive language from the titles in it’s collection.

This step won’t only eliminate culturally insensitive language from titles, but it will reclaim the setting of these pieces and create a standard for the future.

The AGO’s Curator of Canadian Art, Georgina Uhlyarik, worked with Indigenous curator Wanda Nanibush to remove hurtful and painful terminology from the pieces in the Canadian and Indigenous Art department. The piece was chosen because the title was descriptive and didn’t change the meaning of the painting.

The word “Indian” is a generic descriptor for the diverse populations of Indigenous people who live in North America. However, it’s hardly even descriptive because settlers then and even now use it to describe any Indigenous communities, regardless of specifics.

The choice of using Carr’s painting to commence the process is important.

The painting itself raises questions about colonialism, because it depicts a settler structure against the backdrop of Indigenous land.

Church at Yuquot Village is a powerful piece, and fellow Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris once claimed it was Carr’s best work. Despite its power, the baggage of its name meant renaming the piece was an essential step to create a space that’s open to reconciliation.

Renaming this piece doesn’t only eliminate offensive language, but recognizes the community where the church was located.

It’s a reminder that many of the art pieces in the AGO’s Canadian and Indigenous Art department depict colonized Indigenous land and has sparked important conversation.

Discussion of reconciliation reminds Canadians that we have a history and still feel its consequences—and art is not immune to them.

Hopefully artists will consider this conversation when they name their pieces.

This move indicates to artists that culturally insensitive language is not acceptable in reputable art institutions like the AGO. —Brigid Goulem, Arts Editor

Against: Changing the name doesn’t change history Renaming Carr’s painting is an act of political correctness that aims to restore dignity while simultaneously disrespecting the history it depicted.

Though it was still incorrect to call Indigenous peoples “Indian” in 1929, the title of the painting is reflective of the ignorance that prevailed. Changing the name of the painting doesn’t change the way Indigenous peoples in Canada were treated.

Carr’s artwork is featured as part of the Canadian art in the AGO. The artwork at the gallery should reflect the truth of our country’s complex history.

The reality behind the name of the painting reminds Canadians of our colonial past and the atrocious treatment of Indigenous peoples. Renaming the painting is disrespectful to Indigenous communities because it’s a cover up, and unfair to Carr, who can’t defend her decision.

The curators at the art gallery have installed a panel to explain the painting’s original name and the gallery’s part in renaming it. Though they claim this is an attempt to “open up a conversation about colonial history” they contradict themselves by erasing proof of colonialism.

Removing “Indian” in the title doesn’t change that settlers used it incorrectly. This is a part of Canada’s history that has to be acknowledged if it’s to move forward and truly reconcile.

The title change is an action that best serves those who feel guilty—not those who are wronged—and that is hardly a step in the right direction.

If AGO were to install a panel next to the painting’s original title, with information about the Indigenous village the painting’s church is located in, and how the artist’s language no longer meets the standards of our society, it would be a true attempt to correct our behaviour.

Changing any part of someone’s work fundamentally changes its meaning and misrepresents the creator’s intention.

The gallery should offer an apology or explanation beside the painting if they anticipate negative comments about the title.

Changing it isn’t the solution.

—Brittany Giliforte, Assistant Arts Editor

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca

• 11

OBITUARY

Gage B. Foster remembered

Football player “infectiously positive” on and off the field Matt Scace Sports Editor On June 8, family, friends and teammates were delivered the tragic news of the passing of first year Queen’s student, Gage B. Foster.

Foster passed away in his hometown, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, in a fatal car crash at age 19. He’d recently completed his first year at Queen’s and was a member of the football team as a red-shirt wide receiver.

Foster celebrated his birthday a week and a half before the accident.

Born and raised in Portage la Prairie, a town of 13,000 just over an hour west of Winnipeg, Foster’s athletic prowess made him a big name in a small town. A multi-sport athlete, Foster played football, basketball, badminton, lacrosse and track through his youth.

In the wake of his death, Foster’s family has set up an athletic scholarship in Portage la Prairie under his name called the Gage Foster Athletic Scholarship Fund.

Pat Sheahan, head coach of the Queen’s football team, attended Foster’s funeral in Portage la Prairie on June 14. The service saw over 500 people come to remember the life of a young man who Sheahan described as one of the town’s “golden boys.”

“There were a lot of people pulling for him,” Sheahan said. “He was the only one in his town to go to Queen’s that year.”

The beginning of Foster’s football career at Queen’s was an unusual one after tearing his ACL playing lacrosse in the weeks prior to training camp forced him to arrive two weeks late. Sheahan said Foster’s perseverance to get back to full health was on full display throughout the year.

“He won the respect of his teammates by the intensity of rehab and recovery,” Sheahan said, adding that Foster was beginning to show signs of his former self during the offseason. “We started to see some of his explosiveness and speed come back, and that had us excited.”

While he left a clear impression with his abilities, Sheahan saw a tenacity in Foster that he felt would give him the chance to be a marquee wide receiver in the coming years.

“He had all the prerequisites to be a star,” Sheahan said.

“When unfortunate events like this transpire, you’re just left wondering what could’ve been.”

Alongside his unwavering determination and intensity on the football field, Foster was widely known for having a kind and genuine resolve. His love for life flooded into countless people’s lives, and his stabilizing positivity made people instantly gravitate towards him.

Fellow teammate and close friend, Kieran Flannery-Fleck, remembered Foster to be a big proponent in helping him get through the stressors of first year university.

Sports PHOTO BY JEFF CHAN

“He was just really infectious,” Flannery-Fleck said in an interview with The Journal.

Both in first year, Foster and Flannery-Fleck formed a quick bond with each other in the late stages of training camp. Alongside fellow first-year offensive lineman Jeff Boch, the three became quick friends.

“We basically formed a triangle.

We were pretty inseparable for the whole year,” Flannery-Fleck said, adding that Foster’s easy nature and positivity made the adjustment period of first year far more enjoyable. “You know, it’s hard for first year students to adapt … He really put an impact on myself and I think my whole floor.”

One of Flannery-Fleck’s fondest memories of Foster was his affinity for old-time rock music, which he said would serve as background music to their Friday and Saturday night hangouts with his other floormates.

“It was cool because he just brought old-school music and

PHOTO BY BRIAN OLIVER

Foster was 19 years old.

so much positivity to our group while it was stressful in first year,” Flannery-Fleck said.

But above the athletic accolades and music, Foster exuded a presence that was hardly forgettable. “‘How could you not like Gage?’”

Flannery-Fleck said. “That’s what [we’d] say when we would introduce him to new people, ‘How could you not?’”

“He’ll be missed, that’s for damn sure.”

CROSS COUNTRY

Queen’s wins bid for 2018 and 2019 U Sports Cross Country Gaels to host consecutive national championships

The women’s team finished second at last year’s U Sports Championships.

Matt Scace Sports Editor On June 13, U Sports announced that Queen’s would be the site of the 2018 and 2019 U Sports Cross Country Championships.

The championships, which bring in the country’s best cross country runners at the university level, will take place on Nov. 10 at the Hills of Fort Henry

this coming fall.

For Gaels cross country head coach Steve Boyd, the honour of hosting comes with a number of appealing aspects. Home course advantage, Boyd said in an interview with The Journal, is just one of many.

“We’re very pumped about it … It’s great for us getting home course advantage, but it’s also great for our recruiting,” Boyd

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY QUEEN’S ATHLETICS

said, explaining the publicity that surrounds the race will bring his program to the forefront of the recruiting scene.

The decision to award Queen’s two years of hosting was a step out of tradition for U Sports, who usually awards single-year contracts for those hosting national championships.

Boyd said that originally, the plan was to host for the single

year. However, in later talks, U Sports offered Queen’s a two-year contract with the condition that it would have to undergo a formal bidding process. A vote took place with Queen’s coming out as the winner.

“We opted to roll the dice and get the two years which we were successful in doing,” Boyd said.

The news comes with an opportunity for the men’s and women’s teams to prove themselves as some of the best teams in the country. The women’s

team—who went into the 2017 championships ranked first in the country for seven consecutive weeks—missed out on gold to the University of Toronto. Meanwhile, the men’s team finished fifth in the country.

“Hopefully we’ll see our teams doing really well. We have a great women’s team this year and we’re hoping we can win,” Boyd said.

“We’ll be taking dead aim at that title on the home course.”

Sports

12 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

ROWING

Queen’s rowers receive funding for training Grants allow development opportunities for Gaels rowers

Bernst, Stone and Munro at the NTC in Victoria, British Columbia.

Maggie Gowland Assistant Sports Editor After an impressive 2017 season on the water, the efforts of several Queen’s rowers are being rewarded with opportunity—both athletically and financially.

Earlier this spring, five athletes from the Queen’s rowing team received government funding for training opportunities in hopes of propelling their careers to the international stage.

Alex Bernst and Gavin Stone were both selected for Sport Canada funding after their performances at the Canadian

National Rowing Championships in November. Bernst finished fourth and Stone fifth overall for the under-23 men’s 2 km. They both received approximately $22,000 in funding.

Additionally, three rowers on the team were nominated by ROWONTARIO for funding from the province. Gaels Louise Munro and Nick Grubic both received grants worth $4,400 to devote to training, while Greta Chase received around $2,200.

The Quest for Gold Ontario Athlete Assistance Program (OAAP) removes financial strain from athletes while they train by granting them funding.

ATHLETICS

Athletes hit $40,000 in fundraising in 2017-18

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY ALEX BERNST

ROWONTARIO, the provincial rowing organization, determines which athletes have the greatest potential for development based on training test scores and on-water performances, and subsequently nominates them for the OAAP funding.

With their funding, Bernst, Stone and Munro were invited to train at the National Training Centre (NTC) in Victoria, British Columbia this summer. Munro was invited for her third place finish in the women’s 2km at nationals, despite not qualifying for Sport Canada funding. The NTC is home to Canada’s national rowing team.

Meanwhile, Grubic and Chase will remain in Kingston to train with the Kingston Rowing Club (KRC). Grubic attended an integration camp at the NTC

in the winter. He said that the volume of training was out of his comfort zone.

“I find that I need to have that work-life-training balance in order to feel good and perform better,” he said. “I couldn’t see myself out there right now just training, going home and sleeping, then training.”

For the Gaels out at the NTC, they’re training two to three times a day and six days a week.

Overall, the athletes are averaging 200 kilometres in a boat or on the rowing machine per week.

“Other than rowing, there’s not a lot that you do,” Stone said.

“Sleep, eat, row.”

With such a hectic schedule, Bernst has only found the time to invest his funding into one resource.

“Since you’re not doing much beyond training you don’t have many expenses beyond what you need to fuel your training,” Bernst said. “I’ve spent 90% of what I’ve been given so far on food.”

Munro mentioned the benefits of training in an elite environment.

“It’s really nice to solely focus

on rowing and intermingle with the national team members,” Munro said. “They’ve been really good about integrating us into their environment.”

Part of the struggle with adjusting to the high volume of training at the NTC, the athletes noted, is preventing injury. Bernst and Stone both said that most of their time spent away from training is devoted to recovery.

“Once you finish a session you have time to recover, relax, and then get ready for the next one,” Bernst said.

But with the rowers at the initial stages of their young careers, Bernst said much of the pain gets lost in their excitement at the opportunities they have.

“We’re out here, and we get to do what we love,” Bernst said. “You kind of lose sight when you’re tired all the time and it’s kind of windy and you hate yourself, but it’s definitely a privilege to be out here and train. It’s an opportunity that not a lot of people get.”

Varsity Leadership Council makes strides in Kingston community Matt Scace Sports Editor While Queen’s athletes were busy giving fans something to cheer about during the 2017-18 season, they were also giving back to the community.

Over the course of the past year alone, the Varsity Leadership Council (VLC) pulled in $40,000 thanks to fundraising efforts.

“It’s great to see the fundraising component, but also a high priority is to give back to members of the Kingston community,” said Lana Unsworth, Associate Director of Marketing, Communications and Events of Queen’s Athletics, in an email to The Journal.

Student athletes from every sport involved themselves in giving back to the Kingston

community this year.

The newly-instated Autism Mentorship Program paired 40 athletes with 80 local children with developmental disabilities. Meanwhile, 139 athletes from 14 sports turned out for Queen’s Motionball, a fundraiser that provides an integrated environment for Special Olympians to participate with community members.

Queen’s annual Run for the Cure, which accounted for well over half of the council’s fundraising activities, was the VLC’s most successful fundraising activity. The men’s rugby team spearheaded these efforts, with the majority of the team collecting funds in the weeks leading up to the run.

“In the last couple years,

The 2017-18 Varsity Leadership Council.

we’ve had a contest to promote the fundraiser for other athletes where it’s the athletes versus the men’s rugby team … [men’s rugby] always wins,” VLC co-president and women’s basketball player Andrea Priamo said.

Alongside the VLC’s strong fundraising this year, they were also able to create a partnership with Pathways to Education, a national organization that

assists low-income children in funding their post-secondary education. While money was not raised for Pathways, student athletes were able to meet with Pathways students and talk about university life.

Coming off fundraising efforts and community projects, Priamo said the VLC is continuing to push their fundraising goals every year. With this in hand, she was

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY QUEEN’S ATHLETICS

clear that reaching a fundraising goal is one of the council’s focuses—but certainly doesn’t sit at the forefront.

“It just feels good to help,” Priamo said. “I know the impact it has on our community, and building that relationship with Queen’s Athletics and the Kingston community is really important to me.”

Sports

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca

• 13

ATHLETICS

Queen’s alum sees Stanley Cup Final Golden Knights’ strength and conditioning coach talks NHL experience Matt Scace Sports Editor When Doug Davidson signed with the Las Vegas Golden Knights last summer as the team’s first strength and conditioning coach, he had a number of expectations.

But nowhere on the Queen’s alum’s list was seeing the team reach the Stanley Cup Finals, especially in his first gig at the NHL level.

“If you said that at the beginning of the year—that we’d be in the cup final—I wouldn’t have believed you,” Davidson, BPHE ’13, said in an interview with The Journal just a week after going to Stanley Cup Finals with the Golden Knights. Despite the team ending their season in a six-game series loss to the Washington Capitals, Davidson, the experience still fresh, admitted the season was unlike anything he’d ever seen.

“It was a really special year and not just because of the results,” the ex-Queen’s rugby player said, noting the quick cohesiveness of the team from the outset of the season caught him by surprise.

“When you looked at the guys in the room, it was clear that they were all character guys [and] it makes things a lot easier.”

The Golden Knights, who entered the league this fall, broke nearly every record for a team’s inaugural season performance.

Finishing fifth in the NHL, Vegas was able to slap together a group of players and come within a couple wins of the Stanley Cup—and Davidson was there for every moment.

As the strength and conditioning coach for the team, Davidson was responsible for maximizing each player’s fitness potential. He oversaw and documented each player’s performance enhancing and recovery activities, as well as

Valley is returning for a second season at Queen’s.

WOMEN’S RUGBY

administering personalized plans for players.

Davidson was hired after spending two years with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ minor league affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins. During Pittsburgh’s consecutive Stanley Cup-winning playoff seasons, Davidson was brought up to assist the Penguin’s strength and conditioning team. He said this experience helped him manage his expectations going into this year. “[It was] a lot more travel … You’re playing nearly every other day,” Davidson said. “It was definitely a big adjustment in that respect.”

Entering the season, Davidson had a small sense of familiarity with former Penguins David Perron, James Neal and Marc-Andre Fleury, who had been chosen in the team’s expansion draft. After working with players for a full year in Vegas, Davidson

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY QUEEN’S ATHLETICS

Valley named Canadian senior women’s rugby team assistant Women’s rugby head coach to take charge of team’s defensive core Maggie Gowland Assistant Sports Editor After spending the past few years making contributions to the sport’s national landscape, women’s rugby head coach Dan Valley is once again reaping the rewards of his coaching success.

This spring, Valley—a second-year coach for the Gaels—was named an assistant coach to Canada’s senior women’s

rugby team. His responsibilities will largely tend to the defensive side of the pitch.

Valley got his first look at the national program in May at Canada’s East Camp. The camp, which over 40 players from Ontario attended, was hosted by Queen’s and held in preparation for the national team’s coming European tour in November.

Three Gaels—Janna Slivinsky, McKinley Hunt and Rachel

Hickson—attended the camp.

Valley said Queen’s representation on the national stage lends credence to the program being a pathway to Canadian rugby.

“Not to say that it’s a forgone conclusion that coming into Queen’s will get you into the national program, but we certainly have got the right group of athletes to work with,” Valley said. “The supports are here. If they want

Doug Davidson.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY QUEEN’S ATHLETICS,

said the athletes had a higher sense of professionalism than his experience in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

“In the AHL, you get a lot of young guys who are trying to figure it out,” Davidson said.

“They haven’t fully realized that the off-ice stuff really does matter in terms of staying healthy, longevity, and performing on a day-to-day basis. At the NHL level, a lot of guys—specifically the veterans—have had that learning curve behind them.”

As the stakes increased during the playoffs this spring, Davidson said much of his job was eliminating any unnecessary stressors for the players—something that’s given less attention to at the AHL level.

“When I’m in charge of meals, for example, I’m making sure

everything’s dialled in,” he said.

“That’s always stressful [and] if you make a mistake, they won’t let it slide. They play at a high level and they expect you to be at that same level.”

Just over two weeks since the season ended, Davidson is keeping busy as he progresses through exit meetings with the players and assigning summer plans.

Though unclear on how to articulate his definition of how well the past year has gone, Davidson could only assess his level of happiness—something that took moments to express.

“I’m enjoying it and I’m excited for next year,” Davidson said.

“I’m looking out of my gym right now and, honestly, I couldn’t ask for more.”

to go play for Canada, [Queen’s] is arguably the best place in the country for them to be.”

Valley added it takes plenty of assistance to get players to compete nationally. He noted most athletes lean on pillars of support besides the national team, citing provinces, clubs and universities as supports for players.

“I would argue that the most important pillar is their universities,” Valley said. “We have to cobble together this 12- month comprehensive training opportunity where they have a daily training environment that they can go to 365 days of the year.”

Valley has worked with the Canadian women’s rugby program for six years at several different levels. He was first involved as the assistant coach of the women’s under-20 national program in 2013, and kick-started the under-18 national program in 2015.

“It was a lot of fun and it was a big reason why I ended up getting this position,” Valley said about his experiences launching Canada’s under-18 program. “But it had come to a close and it was time for somebody to move that

program forward.” He further noted he wanted to make Queen’s his top priority.

In his first season at Queen’s, Valley led the Gaels to a silver OUA medal and a fifth place finish at the U Sports Championships.

And he’s hoping to continue that in the coming year.

With a class of 11 recruits, Valley is hoping to continue his program’s development as one of the most competitive in the country.

“The cycle is never about peaks and valleys, it’s about reloading every year, as opposed to having to rebuild every four years,” Valley said.

Despite no first-place finishes last season, Valley remains optimistic about what his team can accomplish.

“We could have won an OUA championship and we didn’t, and this year we run a very similar boat,” he said. “I think we’re coming in with the expectation of going in, competing and winning an OUA championship, and being very competitive at U Sports.”

“The way our program is tracking, we will get to the top—and then work our butts off to stay there.”

Sports

14 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

MEN’S HOCKEY

Greenaway headed to France to pursue pro hockey career Former Gael signs with Rapaces de Gap Matt Scace Sports Editor Unlike many fellow graduating athletes this year, Darcy Greenaway isn’t letting the end of his university experience mark the final chapter of his hockey career.

Earlier this spring, Greenaway—who spent four seasons with the Gaels—signed his first professional hockey contract with the Gap Raptors (known as Rapaces de Gap in France), a French team that’s part of Ligue Magnus. “[It’s] the best opportunity for me,” Greenaway said in an interview with The Journal about getting his crack at the pro’s. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Located in Gap, France, the team sits in the southeastern corner of

the country near Nice. As members of Ligue Magnus, the Gap Raptors are a part of the top men’s hockey division in France and compete against 11 teams over 44 regular season games.

The transition to playing in a different environment will be a massive one for the Wilton, Ontario native, who’s spent his entire career in Kingston. From 2011-2014, Greenaway played for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs before pursuing an education at Queen’s.

While continuing his career past graduation has always been a goal of Greenaway’s, it wasn’t until he ran into former Gael Patrick McEachen at a wedding last summer that he felt playing in Europe was a possibility.

McEachen, who played for Queen’s from 2010-14, played two seasons for Gap. After communicating back and forth and sharing his experiences, Greenaway set his eyes on European hockey. “[McEachen] knew I was interested in playing in Europe

The event was held in Chilliwack, BC.

GOLF

Greenaway played 105 games and logged 80 points with Queen’s.

and he’d just spent three years in France. He said, ‘Well, Darcy, go out and have a good year and I’m sure you’ll be able to come over here and play,’” Greenaway told The Journal.

Shortly after, Greenaway connected with McEachen’s agent and was being shopped to various European teams. On May 15, he signed with Gap. “He’s a player that did very well at Queen’s and, you know, maybe if I can try and mimic his success in

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY JASMINE MUSSANI

Strong season soured at nationals

Men’s and women’s golf miss cut in year-end event in Chilliwack, BC Matt Scace Sports Editor Headed into the Canadian University/College Golf Championships, men’s team captain Chris Murray held strong expectations for his team.

“We had a pretty good chance [and] I was confident in the team, I know everyone else was confident in themselves,” Murray said.

Looking at the leaderboard on the final Sunday, the team’s optimism wasn’t seen in their results. The men’s and women’s

team—who both picked up OUA silver medals this past fall—both missed the cut at the yearly event held at Chilliwack Golf Club in Chilliwack, BC from May 29 to June 1.

Murray led the way for the men’s team with a score of +7, which placed him in 39 overall among all men and allowed him to make the cut for the final day. Meanwhile, Melissa Ramnauth spearheaded the charge for the women’s team, finishing with a +24 final score—one that had her closely miss the final cut.

Murray said the men’s team’s performance wasn’t attributed to one or two people, but came as a culmination of poor showings throughout the weekend.

“Everyone seemed to have one day where they kind of struggled so it was hard to bounce back from that,” he said.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Murray and the men’s team were able to capture silver at this year’s OUA championships. The finish was the men’s team’s best since

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY DARCY GREENAWAY

the pro ranks that’d be pretty cool,” Greenaway said of McEachen.

While Greenaway recognizes playing overseas doesn’t equate to the NHL, he’s seeing the contract as a platform for keeping his career going. He said he hopes this will allow him to make a living through the sport.

“It’s a bit of a different path, but it’s one that can be long-term for a guy entering pro hockey,” Greenaway said, explaining he’s also taking the situation yearby-year. “I’m going into it with an open mind. I’m going to go over there and work hard to prove myself.”

When Greenaway departs for Gap on Aug. 5 for training camp, it’ll be a long way from the town on the St. Lawrence River where he’s spent his entire career making a name for himself. Leaving Kingston, Greenaway is aware

of the difficulties that moving to another country creates—but remains full of gratitude for his time in Kingston playing hockey.

“It’s going to be a huge adjustment [and] I’ve always been around home. But it’s been so fun for me to have the opportunity to play in my hometown for so long,” Greenaway said. “There’s very few guys who get that opportunity but it’s a pretty good opportunity for me [in France].”

The adjustment Greenaway foresees, however, doesn’t appear to faze him. For the 25-year-old, he’s just getting the chance to do what he loves and feels ready to do so.

“I think I’ve still got a lot of hockey left and I’m not ready to be done,” Greenaway said.

“I feel ready to do this and I’m really ready to start my pro hockey career.”

claiming silver at the 2011 OUA championships. They had finished in third place for the previous two years.

With numerous upper-year golfers graduating, Murray expects to see some fresh faces on the main roster for the 2018-19 season.

Murray said he and his older counterparts have been working to make sure the Gaels have strong leadership for the coming years.

Murray said they currently have immense faith in this group.

“The theme going forward is that it’s a new iteration of the team,” Murray said. “What I can say for certain is that there’s a lot of potential going forward.”

Meanwhile on the women’s side, team captain Robyn Campbell said the outing was hardly the performance they were hoping for, but still take pride in the OUA silver medal they clinched in the fall.

“We did the best we ever have. Everyone was a little more determined. I would also say the team was the closest it’s ever been—everyone wanted to win for each other,” Campbell said of their OUA campaign.

“Unfortunately the results

didn’t show through to nationals.”

Unlike the men’s team, the women’s group will have the vast portion of their leading players returning for the 2018 season.

Campbell, alongside teammates Melissa Ramnauth, Jasmine Mussani and Sierra Singh, will all be returning with their eyes set on another successful OUA championship season. The four women represented Queen’s at both OUA’s and nationals.

The weekend also marked the final tournament of Bert Kea’s career as head coach of the golf team. Kea decided to retire this year after 19 years at the helm.

Currently, an application process for the head coach position is taking place.

“Despite how we played, it was a good end for him,” Campbell said. “He didn’t get to go out to Vancouver with us last time so it was good for him to be able to come on this trip.”

Murray concurred it was a unique experience to have Kea at the tournament and have him finish his career with them.

“He’s as committed as anybody,” Murray said. “It was great to see him out there—pretty special.”

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca

Lifestyle

• 15

FASHION AND BEAUTY

How to get the ‘summer look’ without the beach How to look like you’re not working a 9-5 job while working a 9-5 job

GRAPHIC BY LAURA O’GRADY

Sporting a summer look at work.

Dana Meilach Contributor According to social media, the arrival of summer means we should all be chilling on a rooftop patio, tanning on a beach, travelling around the world or lounging at a cottage.

But this isn’t really the reality for most university students.

In truth, most students are just as busy during the summer as we are during the school year.

Whether we’re working or taking classes, it’s hard to find the time to tan.

The Journal’s compiled some beauty tips to look like you’re out enjoying the summer sun when you’re really inside looking at a computer and trying not to cry every time you check Instagram.

Sun-kissed skin: Tanning tricks The tan is the most noticeable trait of any summer look, but if you’re stuck inside most of the day, the only sun you’re getting is when you wait for the bus to work.

Here’s two types of tanners to fake a tan depending on your skin, experience and preference.

First, Gradual Tanning Lotion—for inexperienced tanners who want a light to olive skin tone. Second, Express Self Tanner—for experienced tanners who have a darker skin colour.

The biggest benefit with the gradual method is you control the depth of your tan. That is, by applying more lotion over time, you have less of a chance of getting an over tanned, Oompa-Loompa look. It’s also less likely for the tan to come out streaky because of its

LIFE HACKS

lighter layers.

Express self-tanner usually has a better effect on darker skin—it avoids streaks, uneven coloring and stains on your clothes.

Trend watch: Summer looks

Vertical stripes, grids and gingham patterns are everywhere right now. The best way to rock these trends are as pants, two-piece sets and jumpsuits—a perfect variety for whether you want to dress them up or rock a casual look.

Summer also means everyone is stepping up their shoe game. The white sneaker look is as strong as ever, but Stan Smith Adidas and Nike Air Force Ones are pretty overdone. To stand out, look for fabric sneakers or other brands.

If your summer job isn’t the casual Friday type, mules

Smoothie recipes for the summer

are your best friend. Neutral colors like black or white are easy to dress up or continue to wear through the fall months, while pinks and blues act as statement pieces while still providing that business look.

Unfortunately, summer humidity brings tons of frizz. 45 minutes of styling hair with heat tools can be undone by 30 minutes outside. Remember that episode of Friends in Las Vegas where Monica’s hair keeps expanding?

That’s my life for the next three months.

Oil based sprays, defining gels and anti-frizz products are your best friends—boys, you too.

If you already have a natural texture and just want to combat frizz, I find that mousse is the best option—my favourite is Pantene’s curl defining mousse. If you wear your hair in b ra i d s , the trendy thing is to insert thin metallic rings throughout the pieces framing your face.

Natural, beach-ready summer makeup To start, always prime your skin with an SPF-moisturizer and use an SPF lip balm.

For summer foundation, I like to use a powder with buildable coverage to reduce shine. If you are dedicated to your liquid foundation or don’t wear makeup, use a translucent powder to absorb oil.

Next, add depth to your face using a bronzer in your eye crease, hairline, and hallows of cheek bone. Add blush to cheeks and nose to add some color back into your face. You want to add enough pigment so that you don’t look like an extra on The Walking Dead but also not like you’re nursing a bad sunburn. Use a matte for bronzer and blush to balance out the highlighter we will use next.

Lastly, the most important thing about summer makeup is getting a glow, so break out that highlighter and put it on your cheekbones, brow bones, eyelids, and collarbones. This look can be rocked on its own or added to with eyeshadows, lip colors, and more.

If these tips work for you, that’s great. If not, don’t worry— we’ll all be back inside sunless Stauffer for 24 hours a day in just a few months.

Learn how to make these at queensjournal. ca/lifestyle PHOTOS BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Interested in writing? Join the QJ Lifestyle Contributors 2018-19 Facebook group.

Lifestyle

16 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

STUDENT LIFE

How to fill a plan-free summer Four easy ways to bridge the gap between semesters

Cade Cowan Contributor If the question, “So, what are you doing this summer?” fills you with dread, you’re not alone. In fact, plenty of Queen’s students find themselves with nothing to do between the winter and fall semesters.

If you’re looking for a way to fill your calendar for the next few months, here are some suggestions of accessible summer plans.

Summer school

While it might seem daunting to continue the grind of school past April, summer courses have their advantages.

For starters, summer courses are more relaxed than their fall or winter counterparts.

There are no 8:30 a.m. lectures and—typically—no expensive textbooks. With most being run through the web, you can sip a coffee in Starbucks or at home and watch your video lectures in style.

Extra school work in the Jasnit Pabla Copy Editor

The current political and social climate in Canada has been dominated by increasing efforts to reconcile with the tragic history suffered by Indigenous peoples—a history which was portrayed with effectiveness and intensity in Canadian director Stephen Campanelli’s newest film, Indian Horse.

Based on the award-winning novel by the late Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse is an unapologetically graphic account of the very real history of the experiences of Indigenous peoples in residential schools. It is told within the context of the fictional life of one character, Saul Indian Horse.

After being abducted to St. Jerome’s Indian Residential School, Saul discovers a love for hockey while witnessing firsthand the racist, abusive and aggressive treatment against Indigenous students.

When addressing the different forms of abuse fellow students at St. Jerome’s endure, Campanelli doesn’t shy away from causing viewers to look away in horror or discomfort—mirroring Wagamese’s style in the original novel.

As a viewer in a near-empty theatre in the middle of a weekday, I was able to both experience the film and see its impact on an audience.

My friend—whose tension I felt building beside me—covered her eyes as students in the film were

summer can also lead to a reduced course load come fall semester.

Even if Queen’s doesn’t offer any summer classes that interest you, an official Letter of Permission to the school can formally allow you to take courses at other universities.

Volunteer positions

Volunteering is a great summer option for those of us who aren’t working but still want to bolster our resumes.

If you’re in Kingston this summer, a good place to look for volunteer listings is on the City of Kingston website.

United Way also has an excellent searchable job site for budding volunteers.

This kind of work gets you out in the world—and often in the sun. It’s a fun way to

Looking at an empty calendar on a summer day.

build your resume while making a difference in the community.

Work on your health and wellness

For people who put their health and wellness on the back burner during the school year, the summer months offer enough time to focus on yourself.

With a four-month break, you can test out different kinds of mental or physical

MOVIE REVIEW

routines without stress—and by the time school rolls around, you’ll have found the right one for you.

Taking time each day to meditate, do yoga or engage in something more intense like running, will have serious health benefits in the long term.

Wellness activities don’t have to be strictly physical.

Reading, journaling or even scrapbooking could help relieve stress and get you prepped

Indian Horse provides new narrative for Canada Day Bringing Canada’s tragic history and sheltered truths to popular cinematic landscape

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

for the academic year.

Become a tourist in your own town

Though most attractions in major cities appeal to tourists, you don’t have to be a visitor to enjoy the town.

Visiting tourist attractions this summer can act as a fun way to grow more familiar with your surroundings.

Take a guided tour or visit a museum, hike a local trail and see popular landmarks first-hand. It might seem silly, but there’s a chance you’ll find a new appreciation for the places and people around you. as a child begins to take a toll on him, and he continuously becomes more vulnerable without hockey—turning to alcohol, losing a place to sleep, and living an empty existence.

Saul eventually begins to heal, but only after the leader of a substance-abuse counselling group lends him advice. The leader told him to him to simply cry.

For viewers, Saul’s acceptance regarding the tragic experiences of his people ties in the importance of Canada’s continuing dialogue and efforts to reconcile a tainted past.

For Canadians, the film highlights why it’s imperative for citizens to understand the history of their country and encourage further efforts towards reconciliation.

For viewers, Saul’s “acceptance regarding

A still from Indian Horse.

forcefully fed soap, locked in small metal cages in a dingy basement, and committed suicide over the graves of their only friends.

A scene revealing the extent students were sexually abused spurred those around me to express their discomfort, cursing and at times pleading to the screen, “No, oh God no.”

For someone who’s against talking and whispering during films, the audience’s reaction was entirely foreign to me, and it served as a testament to the power of the film.

An important facet to Indian Horse is in its connection to the narrative surrounding the Indigenous experience in Canada, from the Confederation in 1867 to 1996—when Canada closed its last residential school—and all the way to today.

For instance, it speaks to how residential schools fashioned their curriculums around Christianity.

Students spent more time maintaining their underfunded residence with physical labour and memorizing the Lord’s Prayer than they did learning

SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE

meaningful life skills.

When Saul suddenly leaves St. Jerome’s after being recruited to his first hockey team, the Moose, he ventures to communities throughout Ontario and is exposed to the blatant racism some Canadians harbor. His experiences eventually push him away from his love of the sport, and any possibility of a future professional career.

From a physical altercation in a bar to another on the ice, Saul realizes the extent of the racial divide in Canada. His experience

the tragic experiences of his people ties in the importance of Canada’s continuing dialogue and efforts to reconcile a tainted past.

”

Wagamese put words to experiences that have proved difficult for many to vocalize; Campanelli brought to life an adaption that reaches further than any classroom documentary ever could.

Indian Horse is impactful, a necessary experience and, most importantly, brings thousands of marginalized true stories to life.

Lifestyle

Monday, June 25, 2018

queensjournal.ca

Recreation last perfected.

The NBC comedy’s second season wipes the first season’s slate clean and focuses on an entirely new murder trial, so you can definitely jump in cold. Kristin Chenoweth stars in the 13-episode season as an eccentric heiress whose husband is found dead and stuffed in a suitcase in the trunk of her car.

With a premise as insane as this one, Trial and Error’s only options are to implode or amaze.

I’m cautiously optimistic.

Josh Granovsky Lifestyle Editor The notion of summer seems to confuse television makers worldwide. Networks have to keep producing shows—it’s still their job—but they’re also mindful of people taking a much needed break from their screens to soak up the sun.

The remedy to this television programming conundrum? Experimentation.

Summer TV has become notorious for functioning as a content wasteland. Networks will use the season to air shows they couldn’t find room to premiere during the year, or try their hand at quirkier programming, and air something with as low of a budget as possible. I mean, with everyone outside and with the stakes lower than ever, it’s worth a shot.

There are some bright spots, however, amidst a summer schedule that is mostly game shows made for channel surfing. Here are four of the most promising summer TV shows you can watch during tanning breaks.

GLOW, Jun. 29

Nothing screams “summer” like female wrestling leagues in the ‘80s, or at least that’s what Netflix hopes you’ll think with the second season of their beloved comedy.

GLOW follows a group of actresses-turned-wrestlers trying to sculpt an entertainment empire out of dramatic fights, flashy costumes and massive hairstyles.

The show’s first season—an

• 17

Making It, Jul. 31

Stars of summer TV shows.

TV

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

Four summer TV shows worth stepping out of the sun for Highlights from television’s quirkiest programming season easily-bingeable 10 half-hour episodes—was fairly well received last year, highlighting the promise of the show’s cast and narrative.

Based on early reviews from GLOW’s sophomore outing, it appears that promise has been realized.

With this upcoming season set to delve deeper into the complications of sexism, female friendships and father-daughter relationships, all while remaining a comedy, GLOW is likely to be the watercooler show of the summer.

Start catching up now to get ahead of the curve.

Sharp Objects, Jul. 8

HBO’s Sharp Objects combines so many TV buzzwords it’s almost difficult to mention all of them. Gillian Flynn adaptation!

Director of Big Little Lies! Amy Adams! Those three elements alone are enough to garner an Emmy nomination.

Amy Adams stars in this eight-episode miniseries as a crime reporter who, after being discharged from a psychiatric hospital, is sent to investigate a murder in her hometown. In classic cable-miniseries fashion, the murder spirals into a mind-bending mystery with Adams’ character at the centre and, just my guess, will probably feature plenty of shots where she looks wistfully out a window.

Seems like a winning formula

to me.

Trial and Error: Lady, Killer, Jul. 19

No show flew further under the radar last year than Trial and Error. The true-crime parody hilariously spoofs documentaries like Making of a Murderer while providing genuine shocks through the twists of its own fictional murder case.

The show also features one of the strongest c o m e d y ensembles on television, mirroring the small-town sensibilities Parks and

Remember that point I mentioned about networks using the summer to try out quirkier fare? Welcome to Making It. A m y Poehler and Nick Offerman host this s u m m e r competition show in which eight ‘Makers’ from across the United States are brought together to test their craftsmanship.

Each episode revolves around a central theme relating to popular DIY trends and challenges the contestants to think as far outside the box as possible.

A crafting reality show that basically asks its viewers to turn off their screens and create something is definitely a gamble for a TV show. But I trust Offerman’s woodworking expertise, Poehler’s upbeat enthusiasm and their shared humour will guide this show into breezy television territory.

If these four shows don’t do it for you, you can always stick to classic summer fare like America’s Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance and your vacationing friend’s Instagram stories.

CULTURE COMMENTARY

Miss America’s axed swimsuit competition sends mixed messages Removing the pageant’s beauty element has pros and cons Haley Marando Contributor The recent changes to the Miss America pageant are said to mark the end of an era and spark newfound empowerment. However, these decisions may come with troubling consequences.

The official Miss America Twitter account tweeted a video last week supported by the hashtag #byebyebikini. The short clip showed a small white bikini vanishing into a puff of smoke with gold letters spelling out “Miss America 2.0” appearing from a haze.

This tweet appeared moments after newly-appointed chairwoman of the Miss America Board of Directors, Gretchen

Carlson, announced on Good Morning America that the Miss America organization will undergo changes set for the upcoming competition on Sept. 9, 2019.

Carlson, who won Miss America 1989, announced Miss America is no longer a beauty pageant—it’s now a competition.

“We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance, that’s huge,” Carlson said in her exclusive interview with Good Morning America.

Following this statement, Carlson announced the elimination of the swimsuit competition. It is the only portion of the Miss America competition that has been a part of the pageant’s 97 year history.

There will also be a revamp of

Disappearing swimsuits.

the evening gown competition.

Contestants will now wear their own chosen attire of whatever makes them feel most confident, as opposed to the customary formal dress.

The focus of Miss America 2.0 will see a shift from beauty to brains, as “it’s going to be whatever comes out of their mouth that we’re interested in,” Carlson said.

Carlson is no stranger to change.

She was one of the first women to spark activism with the #MeToo movement after filing a lawsuit with claims of sexual harassment against Roger Ailes, former Fox News CEO and Chairman.

Last December, the Miss America organization found itself directly in the middle of the #MeToo movement when former CEO Sam Haskell and top executives were exposed for making sexist and vulgar comments towards pageant

contestants in emails. Those who were accused resigned.

These major changes to the iconic competition have received an outpouring of praise. But they also face criticism.

The most noteworthy pushback derives from past contestants themselves. Former runner-up to Miss America 2014, Crystal Lee, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the swimsuit competition “delivered a powerful message: that beauty and brains are not mutually exclusive and that you can be a feminist and flaunt your body.”

The question now lingers: do these changes to Miss America aid in the empowerment of women or do they create new limitations on what women can or cannot feel good about?

The dismissal of the pageant’s beauty component could perhaps give the impression

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

that beauty and brains can’t work in unison to fulfil female empowerment—or that empowerment can’t come from one’s physical appearance at all.

Feminism calls for the universal support of all women and celebrating one another for all that we possess, which includes both brains and beauty. We all find empowerment in our own individual way, and learning to let mental and physical qualities co-exist peacefully is in all of our best interests.

As for the future of Miss America, we can expect to see an inclusive competition that will display the knowledge and activism of a diverse group of amazing women. Whether or not the competition will live on beyond this change after years of declining ratings is yet to be determined.

Lifestyle

18 •queensjournal.ca

Monday, June 25, 2018

POSTSCRIPT

How my late aunt Susan’s words guided my life and education Reflecting on my aunt’s speech about gratitude and hope

ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA RANKINE

Ally listening to her aunt Susan’s speech.

Ally Mastantuono Assistant Lifestyle Editor Recently, I’ve been bombarded with advice about how to navigate university.

I never expected the most meaningful guidance I’d receive, for university and life, would come from a speech my late aunt delivered over seven years ago.

The speech—and her battle with cancer—taught me happiness isn’t something you’re granted once you’ve ticked all the right boxes, and it’s most certainly not something to postpone.

My aunt Susan delivered it at a banquet for university students and faculty. She discussed hope, gratitude, and advice for students moving forward—advice that stands as a valuable reminder of why the last few years of her life were so fulfilling.

Growing up, Susan played a major role in my life. She was my friend, my trustworthy ally, and my compassionate second mother whose warmth and care defined my childhood. After she passed from cancer, her memory and philosophy continued to inspire my family and I, shaping the way we interact with one another and the world.

In her younger years, she was as ambitious as she was hardworking. Bright, driven, and infectiously positive—she sped through life with the need to conquer it.

During her undergraduate studies at Queen’s, she dedicated countless hours to her schoolwork. She had a genuine passion for occupational therapy and welcomed the chance to impact the lives

of others.

This passion earned her a seat on the student council, and pushed her to work towards enhancing student life and learning.

In her free time, she waitressed at the QP and was a majorette in the university band, proudly waving the Ontario flag at the Cotton Ball Parade in Dallas, Texas.

When she graduated, Susan quickly achieved her dream and became an occupational therapist, treating chronic care patients and people with schizophrenia. After a few years, she put her career on hold and married her husband Norm—completing her master’s degree at Western soon after.

Her life was hectic but good. She’d set her goals and realized them, and she could finally enjoy everything she’d worked towards.

Susan was also incredibly resilient, which she was forced to prove time and time again.

Forty-eight hours “after giving birth to

her second child, Susan learned her husband had died of a bacterial infection misdiagnosed as a pinched nerve.

”

Forty-eight hours after giving birth to her second child, Susan learned her husband had died of a bacterial infection misdiagnosed as a pinched nerve. Heartbroken, she continued on fearlessly for her newborn daughter and four-year-old son.

A couple of years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Although she went into remission after months of chemotherapy and radiation, the cancer returned and spread; Susan passed away in 2011.

I wish I could say my mind is chock-full of clear memories of my aunt, but that’s not the case.

I remember posing for her constant photos, her pancake art on summer mornings, and presenting her with a key lime pie when she first beat cancer. Most of all, I remember the smile that never left her face: it made you feel like there was nothing more exciting than creating a great day.

Susan’s optimism made her more than a cancer patient.

Her illness not only gave her a reason to fight back, but also to give back.

Susan’s optimism “ made her more than

a cancer patient. Her illness not only gave her a reason to fight back, but also to give back.

”

Along with taking the opportunity to become an even more devoted mother, sister, and friend, she began canvassing and fundraising for cancer, and giving public speeches about her life and story.

On her final birthday, Susan hosted a giant Halloween party and managed to raise $13,600 for the Cancer Assistance Services of Halton Hills, an organization which supported her during treatments.

She had an itch to give back—and a talent for captivating an audience. Whether speaking to over a hundred friends at her annual Christmas party, or giving an address at her local Curves gym, she loved to tell her story and was often encouraged to do so.

The speech I was lucky enough to find was given to students at Grebel University College towards the end of her life. Asked by a close friend to inspire the audience with her life experience, Susan decided to share with them all the things she knew “for sure.”

“The first thing I know for sure is life happens and it happens to everyone eventually,” Susan said.

“What I know for sure is we need each other … I know for sure that people are incredible.”

What struck me most were all the things she “wished” she knew—before she learned them when fighting cancer.

“

I discovered she hadn’t always been the fearless woman who I grew up with, and in many ways was like me.

”

“In preparing for today, I thought what would I have liked to tell myself when I was in university,” she said. “At university I thought the girls in my class who spent evenings watching the then hit show Dallas were wasting time. [Later,] I couldn’t understand my sisters-in-law who would spend Saturdays walking around malls with nothing in particular to shop for.”

“I now know that it is important

to sometimes do nothing, especially with others, because it is then we are open to creating real, human bonds.”

I discovered Susan hadn’t always been the fearless woman who I came to know, and in many ways was like me.

A self-proclaimed “workaholic, type A perfectionist,” she struggled with worry, inadequacy, and vulnerability. She put things off, spent too much time working, and was often held back by the fear of making mistakes.

Her younger self spent so much time trying to achieve happiness, she failed to realize that it’s a state of mind.

I was 12 years old the last time I was able to talk to Susan.

My biggest worry was waking up for school on time, and I still picked up a Barbie every once in a while. At the time, I may not have appreciated what my aunt had to say in her speech.

Today, in the midst of figuring out my life, it’s something I certainly value.

I’ll always be thankful my aunt’s speech found me at the right time in my life. I know I’m lucky to have had one more conversation with someone I loved, even if it was one-sided.

said by my “Asauntbestherself, ‘we

choose what defines us. Make an active decision to decide who you want to be.

”

If I’ve learned anything from my aunt’s life, it’s that you shouldn’t wait for something like cancer to force you to start living.

The decision to be happy is our own—and it’s one that we make every day.

As best said by my aunt herself, “We choose what defines us. Make an active decision to decide who you want to be.”

Susan has left me with a lot of things: a great childhood, wisdom for the future, and my cousins, who are two of the most important people in my life. She also left me with the desire to enjoy everything that I have, especially when life doesn’t go according to plan.

“I wish I knew when I was younger how resilient I was,” Susan said. “I now know I can cope with almost anything. If things are bad, things get better. Despite sadness, life is beautiful. There is always hope. We really only have today, so rejoice in it.”